Elizabeth Warren Is Rooting for Daenerys Targaryen in ‘Game of Thrones’
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is a Game of Thrones fan, and her favorite character is, perhaps unsurprisingly, Daenerys “Stormborn” Targaryen, who Warren says, “has been my favorite from the first moment she walked through fire.” We learned this in a column Warren wrote for The Cut published Sunday evening.
In the piece, Warren outlines her reasons for her fandom. Daenerys is fair, she fights for the people, and she wants to end slavery. But in talking about Daenerys, Warren can also, subtly, talk about herself. Like the paragraph below, in which she describes the Dragon Queen—or is she describing herself?
“This is a revolutionary idea, in Westeros or anywhere else. A queen who declares that she doesn’t serve the interests of the rich and powerful? A ruler who doesn’t want to control the political system but to break the system as it is known? It’s no wonder that the people she meets in Westeros are skeptical. Skeptical, because they’ve seen another kind of woman on the Iron Throne: the villain we love to hate, Queen Cersei of Casterly Rock.”
Hm, I wonder which presidential candidate is advocating creating a new political system in which the rich and powerful no longer control everything?
It’s also a smart campaign move to capitalize on this cultural moment—as is publishing it mere hours before the next episode of perhaps the last appointment TV shows airs. After all, the Game of Thrones is a political one, so it’s interesting to hear what a political candidate thinks of the players.
It’s also an excellent metaphor. Fighting against President Donald Trump can often feel like battling Cersei Lannister—who somehow, always ends up on top, at least so far, though often because she has almost unlimited funds. (Cersei, however, definitely has more brain power than the current occupant of the White House.)