Daenerys Stormborn and... ISIS (GoT Spoilers)

[Deleted]

Has anyone noticed that Dany's activities in Game of Thrones are starting to resemble more and more the activities of the terrorist group ISIS (well, with the exception that there's nothing honorable about ISIS). So:

Essentially both Daenerys and Al-Baghdadi have had to deal with an incompetent sidekick who got killed (Viserys and Osama/AQ) in their attempt to reclaim what they believe is theirs to rule. Targeryans wanting their kingdom back, jihadis wanting their caliphate back.
Both come from the east.
Both want to take over the west.
Both have taken over vasts territory in the east, (pretty much over night) including cities, and established their own little "kingdom" to use as a platform for warfare against the west.
Both have an army of thousands of crazed fanatical followers who hide their faces (Unsullied, jihadis) (also gathered pretty much over night)
Both have committed mass purges (although Dany only killed slave masters)
Both have dangerous weaponry (tanks, helicopters, dragons, what difference does it make?)
And this is very important: Both were SEVERELY underestimated by western powers who didn't take them out in their infancy of power when it was easy to do so (Ned Stark, Obama, thx Obama)

[Tradewind]

This some Stretch Armstrong level reach...at least its something new I guess.

[Sledfang]

GoT has a lot of parts that can be seen as very rough historical or social parallels.

Their ability to strike the right ratio between a sense of realism and fantasy is part of what has made it a hit.

[Deleted]

Hmm, also both seem to have the capacity to sway some westerners and other traitors to their cause. (although really only 3 in Dany's case: Jorah, Ser Barristan, Daario Naharis) Almost forgot.

Also Dany is arguably somewhat evil (though not ISIS-level evil) since she just wants her kingdom back, ignoring what her father/uncle did as the Mad King. Likewise, ISIS don't care that the Ottoman empire was brutal and would like to rebuild something similar, but even more brutal.

Then again most leaders in GoT are evil.

Hmmm, inc new series: Game of Drones IRL?

[Stormdash]

Ideologically, Dany would use ISIS for dragon food. Slavery, rampant abuse of women and children? Omnomnomnom

[lockedout]

Osama bin Laden was an incompetent side kick? Ok buddy. Timmy Osman was far from incompetent.

[Moralgy]

Both have women as their leaders.... wait a second.

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This some Stretch Armstrong level reach...at least its something new I guess.

This is going so far that you would be ripping Armstong's arms off.

[Independent voter]

There's dragons and slaves. The dragon eating the child could symbolized something I suppose.

[Deleted]

Has anyone noticed that Dany's activities in Game of Thrones are starting to resemble more and more the activities of the terrorist group ISIS (well, with the exception that there's nothing honorable about ISIS). So:

Essentially both Daenerys and Al-Baghdadi have had to deal with an incompetent sidekick who got killed (Viserys and Osama/AQ) in their attempt to reclaim what they believe is theirs to rule. Targeryans wanting their kingdom back, jihadis wanting their caliphate back.
Both come from the east.
Both want to take over the west.
Both have taken over vasts territory in the east, (pretty much over night) including cities, and established their own little "kingdom" to use as a platform for warfare against the west.
Both have an army of thousands of crazed fanatical followers who hide their faces (Unsullied, jihadis) (also gathered pretty much over night)
Both have committed mass purges (although Dany only killed slave masters)
Both have dangerous weaponry (tanks, helicopters, dragons, what difference does it make?)
And this is very important: Both were SEVERELY underestimated by western powers who didn't take them out in their infancy of power when it was easy to do so (Ned Stark, Obama, thx Obama)

well to be fair, ISIS is like a throwback to the ancient/medieval times, and GoT is based on real history (or draw inspiration is perhaps more accurate).
So, not that weird.

[Thekri]

Has anyone noticed that Dany's activities in Game of Thrones are starting to resemble more and more the activities of the terrorist group ISIS (well, with the exception that there's nothing honorable about ISIS). So:

Essentially both Daenerys and Al-Baghdadi have had to deal with an incompetent sidekick who got killed (Viserys and Osama/AQ) in their attempt to reclaim what they believe is theirs to rule. Targeryans wanting their kingdom back, jihadis wanting their caliphate back.
Both come from the east.
Both want to take over the west.
Both have taken over vasts territory in the east, (pretty much over night) including cities, and established their own little "kingdom" to use as a platform for warfare against the west.
Both have an army of thousands of crazed fanatical followers who hide their faces (Unsullied, jihadis) (also gathered pretty much over night)
Both have committed mass purges (although Dany only killed slave masters)
Both have dangerous weaponry (tanks, helicopters, dragons, what difference does it make?)
And this is very important: Both were SEVERELY underestimated by western powers who didn't take them out in their infancy of power when it was easy to do so (Ned Stark, Obama, thx Obama)

Ok, so this is a bit of a stretch... a really really big stretch actually. ISIS has plenty of historical parrallels but GoT doesn't really apply. By line

AQ isn't incompentent and isn't dead, OBL wasn't incompetent and is dead, but was never a sidekick of ISIS by any stretch.
ISIS came from the east? Isn't that relative? Isis came from Syria and spread into Iraq, which is moving east, not west.
ISIS doesn't want to conquer the west.
ISIS hasn't taken over particularly vast territories, and even if they had that doesn't draw a very strong parallel by itself.
Ok, ISIS has fanatical followers, other than that I see no resemblance at all to Jihadis. Unsullied are disciplined, military trained, mercenary slaves. Jihadis are undisciplined, poorly trained, religiously motivated pilgrims.
Mass Purges... ok, sure I will give you this, although the nature and motivations were totally different.
Dangerous weaponry.... ok, how would you expect to conquer things without dangerous weaponry? And Dragons are basicly a superweapon that nobody can effectively fight, tanks and helicopters everybody has, and in most cases better than ISIS has.
Severely underestimated... well, when you consider they weren't dangerous until recently, and there are literally thousands of islamist groups, and ISIS is basicly just a name change for groups we have been fighting for decades... not really.

One parallel you missed is that despite causing hysteria neither Daenerys or ISIS has done crap to the west yet, although both are being taken EXTREMELY seriously, when both are still in the infancy of their power.

[Deleted]

So ISIS were exiled from there homeland by the Baratheons, got married to Mongols and are now freeing slaves with dragons.

ISIS makes so much sense now.

[apepi]

And this is very important: Both were SEVERELY underestimated by western powers who didn't take them out in their infancy of power when it was easy to do so (Ned Stark, Obama, thx Obama)

This is wrong, actually her spies made her seem weak so they would not feel threatened by her.

[Nachturnal]

There just isn't enough tinfoil in the world lol.

[Deleted]

Ned Stark = Obama.

Someone call for help, my sides have achieved orbit.

[Moralgy]

I'm a little shocked that the OP is trying to make ISIS seem like the good guys.

[Deleted]

ISIS doesn't want to conquer the west.

You don't know their agenda very well then. They do. Though it's not just the west I guess. The want global domination eventually. That will never happen but it's their agenda.

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I'm a little shocked that the OP is trying to make ISIS seem like the good guys.

Uh no, I specifically said that, unlike Daenerys, there is nothing redeemable about ISIS.

[willtron]

How high are you? This is brilliant.

[Deleted]

Ned Stark = Obama.

Someone call for help, my sides have achieved orbit.

Well if you think about it they're essentially both liberals so.

[Kasierith]

The problem with all the "comparisons" between GoT and history is that they aren't real connections so much as a few similarities here and there that make us, as humans, eager to establish connections that really aren't there. GoT's mirroring of real history is just shallow enough to draw assumptions as freely as possible whether or not they are actually applicable.

For the list of things....
1) military history has been filled with the concept of reclaiming land that one believes is rightfully there.. there was a 400 year period in European history where such claims were the primary casus belli for warfare. Want someone's land? Find a random old document going back possibly hundreds of years that placed that land in your ancestor's control, and then claim that its rightfully yours. The Ottoman Empire collapsed because of this dynamic; the harem system directly led to dozens of heirs fighting over land that they believed was rightfully theirs, causing it to collapse in on itself.
2) East is relative. If you want to go into an "invasion from the East" dynamic, you should be comparing Daenerys to the Khans. Which is probably the closest you'll get to connecting GoT to actual history.
3) See above. West is relative. Also, last I checked they're spreading more east than west; Europe and Northern Africa are quite free of them currently. Unless you want to refer to an ideological west, which is just silly because its scope is so broad.
4) ISIS is not spreading over and taking massive cities essentially overnight; this conflict has been going on for quite an extended time now. Also, see every single expansion based war ever in history. Again, if you want truly rapid domination of cities, look at the Khans, not ISIS. Or just go to Alexander the Great or Napolean.
5) Why is it significant that people who fight in desert terrain cover their faces? That's like saying that the Viking invasions of northern England and the Muscovite invasion of Finland are connected because they used winter clothes.
6) Saying that Dany committed mass purges, and then pointing that they weren't mass purges but instead removing a particular dominant caste in society contradicts your own point. Removing those in leadership positions if they refuse to accede to your demands is not purging, it's removing the old leadership in order to establish an order that you desire, and it's been done more times than be counted in military history.
7) In terms of modern warfare, the weaponry that ISIS possesses is a tame kitten compared to what any of the superpowers are capable of fielding. Their primary strength is in numbers+being well equipped, not having overwhelming weaponry at their beck and call. Unlike dragons which are pretty novel compared to anything being fielded in the books.
8) Half of all wars fought throughout history. From Hannibal's campaign against Rome, to the Mongol invasions, to the Hunnish invasion of China, to the expansion of the Japanese empire, to the expansion of Muscovy, to the rise of the Nazi Germany, to the American Revolution, to Napolean, to the Hundred Year War, to the Peloponnesian War........ you get my point, I hope. Being underestimated is a strong hand to have in war.

If you want to compare Daenerys to modern history, compare her to the Mongols or the Khanates. That's where the comparisons are, if there are any to draw other than vague, stylized similarities feeding off of "common knowledge" misunderstandings of history.

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Well if you think about it they're essentially both liberals so.

Actually, Ned Stark would be a conservative, if you want to use the actual definition of the word instead of thinking that American political orientation is relevant to anything not America.

[Sliske]

What the fuck did I just read.