Elodie, the heroine of The Lady and the Dragon (Damsel), on Netflix, has many similarities with another fan of fantastic creatures: Daenerys in Game Of Thrones. Here are 5 elements that bring together the characters of Millie Bobby Brown and Emilia Clarke.
Is Millie Bobby Brown the new Emilia Clarke? Besides their British origins, the star of Stranger Things and the interpreter of Daenerys in Game Of Thrones today share another rather original common point: having a hellish relationship with dragons.
The two actresses thus demonstrated their astonishing alchemy with these winged creatures, respectively in the film The Lady and the Dragona real hit on Netflix since its release, and in Game Of Thrones, obviously. Here are 5 proofs that Elodie, the anti-princess in distress from the Netflix production, is indeed Daenerys’ heir.
Warning, spoilers ahead for the film The Lady and the Dragon as well as on the 8 seasons of the series Game Of Thrones. If you haven’t seen them yet, we advise you to move on!
An arranged marriage…
Elodie, a young noble who spends her days chopping wood with an ax to help her impoverished people, must accept a deal that is particularly profitable for her kingdom: a high-ranking wedding with Prince Henry. Accompanied by her sister, Floria, as well as her father and her stepmother, she travels to Aurea, in order to get married, and thus allow her family to recover an immense fortune.
In The Lady and the Dragon, Elodie therefore does not choose her husband, only agreeing to marry him in order to save her family from a disastrous fate. What she doesn’t know, however, is that she will soon be thrown into a cave, inhabited by a dragon. Moreover, for the clarity of this article, and since he unfortunately does not have a name in the film, we will henceforth affectionately nickname him Dragounette.
In Game Of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryan experiences a rather similar existence. Her brother, Viserys, thus organizes her marriage to Khal Drogo, the leader of the Dothrakis. A clearly non-consensual relationship, which even begins with a rape in season 1, only established out of geo-political interest, thus allowing Viserys to raise an army to recover the Iron Throne.
But a marriage that ends in fire and blood
At the end of The Lady and the Dragon, Elodie does not hesitate to kill the one who represents the origin of her misfortunes: Queen Isabella of Aurea, who arranged the marriage with her son, Prince Henry, for the sole purpose of serving Elodie as a meal to Dragounette. But the sovereign had not anticipated that the young woman would form a shock team with Dragounette, who burned her on the spot, letting her golden crown melt on her face.
Does this remind you of something ? In Game Of Thrones, it is precisely Viserys, the man behind the arranged marriage between his sister Daenerys and Khal, who ends up with his head literally covered in gold. While he threatens the two spouses, demanding a crown, Khal Drogo gives him exactly what he wanted: a golden headpiece melted directly on his face, in episode 6 of season 1. An important death, which establishes Daenerys as the sole heir to the Iron Throne.
Dracaries Damsel version
Speaking of being all fired up, both Elodie and Daenerys are determined to take revenge on their oppressors, within the very heart of the city they built. In The Lady and the DragonElodie thus allies herself with the winged creature supposed to transform her into a snack.
In a burning finale, she leaves the possibility for the court of Isabelle d’Aurea to leave, before Dragounette arrives and burns everything in her path, including the queen and Henry, the famous prince who is not at all charming. . 1000 points for Elodie and Dragounette, 0 for the torturers.
In Game Of Thrones, Daenerys engages in a similar activity, now infamous: ravaging the city of King’s Landing on the back of Drogon. In episode 5 of season 8, the Targaryen heiress reduced the city to ashes, even though the bells had rung, signifying that the opposing camp had laid down their arms. Even more cruel than Elodie’s action, this major destruction results in the death of thousands of civilians, revealing Daenerys’ limitless brutality towards the end of the series.
And 1, and 2, and 3 dragons
Drogon, Raeghal and Viserion: three names to give goosebumps, which will remain engraved in the collective unconscious for a very long time. Daenerys’ three “babies” are thus decisive in the story of Game Of Thrones.
Coincidence or not, in The Lady and the Dragon, three eggs are also presented. Several centuries ago, Dragounette gave birth to three children, literally killed in the bud by the first king of Aurea. It was following this event that the fantastic creature placed a curse on the kingdom: regularly sacrifice 3 young girls of royal blood as retribution, otherwise Dragounette would transform the people into living skewers.
Ladies clearly not in distress ?
With their unconventional journey and their desire to overturn the codes imposed on their gender, Elodie like Daenerys are the opposite of the famous damsel in distress presented in fairy tales. The first thus does not need anyone to oppose Dragounette, and even become her ally, while the second was first sold as a defenseless creature during a marriage of interest, before becoming the supreme mother of dragons.
But to achieve this status of badass heroine, both had to face torture, suffering, as well as the loss of loved ones, before being able to take their revenge on life (and on men). Also). A sinister path, reminiscent of that used in the rape and revengea film genre in which women suffer sexual violence, often graphic, before punishing their attackers.
These narratives, often voyeuristic and sexist, have finally been remixed in a feminist way in recent years thanks to films like Promising Young Woman. Unfortunately, The Lady and the Dragon does not seem to take this route, preferring to show Millie Bobby Brown screaming for more than an hour, undergoing several tortures and stripping a little more naked in the process, obviously.
On this point, we also think of torture pornanother genre of horror cinema which consists precisely of brutalizing individuals for entertainment, as in Saw For example. So certainly, Elodie fights valiantly with the sword and manages to thwart the trials that lie in her path, notably thanks to the power of sorority and the young women who were brutally sacrificed before her.
But this is not enough to highlight a truly powerful heroine, as was also proven Game Of Thrones, which already used suffering as a nauseating storyline lever for its female characters (as for Sansa). With The Lady and the DragonNetflix is missing an opportunity to finally rectify the situation, in 2024. Too bad.
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