Four years after the controversial last season of Game of Thrones, fans are beginning to reconcile with the series after HBO’s House of the Dragon, a series that has sparked a sort of Game of Thrones renaissance online. As viewers delve back into the world and woes of Westeros, new layers become revealed that were overlooked before. This can be credited to the meticulous world building and character development imagined by George R.R Martin, which wove together subplots and subplots that one may discover new details after even several views. One connection that is rarely discussed is that between the characters of Robb Stark and Daenerys Targaryen. This may well be because the characters never meet in the show, and one of them dies long before the other, but their development and inner worlds are more parallel than one may initially notice.
5 I Want to Go Home
Both Robb Stark and Daenerys Targaryen start off their character arcs as reluctant heroes. Robb Stark is thrust into the political chaos caused by the attack on his brother Bran, and the subsequent kidnapping of Tyrion Lannister by his mother. He is further pushed into war when Joffrey Baratheon recklessly calls for the head of Ned Stark, with the death of the Stark patriarch, rallying the North into rebellion. Daenerys is likewise handed cards that she has little control over, with the burden of preserving the family name resting solely upon her and her brother Viserys. Daenerys arguably has the worst share of this burden, as it is up to her to marry an utter stranger in a foreign land in order to secure an army. “I want to go home”, she confesses, a line later echoed by Robb Stark as he explains that he is not fighting for glory or for songs to be sung about him.
4 Questioning Their Power as Young Warriors Proving Their Worth
Both of these characters face a degree of what we would refer to as imposter syndrome. While Daenerys grows quite comfortable with the idea of becoming a ruler by birthright, she questions her ability to eventually hold the Seven Kingdom during the time in which she struggles to keep peace in Slaver’s Bay. Robb Stark questions his own ability to be King in the North when he can't even hold the North, following the seizure of Winterfell by Theon Greyjoy.
The two young warrior rulers are desperate to prove their worth. They continually question what sort of influence they truly hold and whether or not they are worthy of it. “How can I call myself King if I can’t hold my own castle? How can I ask men to follow me..” Robb cries to Roose Bolton in his encampment after the Greyjoy invasion of Winterfell. In Mereen, Daenerys explains to Jorah that she needs to be more than just the mother of dragons; she needs to be someone that can inspire people and keep order. Both characters are hungry to prove something not only to their people, but to themselves.
3 Not the Kind of King/Queen I’m Going to Be
Both Robb Stark and Daenerys Targaryen express their desire to be a different kind of king and queen than the one they are fighting to eventually supplant. They don’t want to rule strictly because of their surname or because of a privilege they happened upon. Both characters express this early into their journeys of building followers and proving their worth.
2 A Passion for Justice
Robb Stark and Daenerys Targaryen have a passion for justice. Robb Stark establishes that justice is his central motivation for fighting against the Lannisters. When his future wife Talisa expresses disapproval for the selfish motives of war, to which Robb explains that he fights for justice. Not only do the Lannisters have his sisters, but he must have them answer for the death of his father. Daenerys shares this passion as she witnesses the treatment of the slaves in Astapor. She explains her decision to crucify the masters as “I will answer injustice with justice”.
1 Stabbed Through The Heart
In their final moments in the series, Daenerys Targaryen and Robb Stark meet a similar and tragic fate. Robb is murdered by Houses Bolton and Frey at the infamous Red Wedding, an episode that left viewers shocked as the credits played in utter silence. The final blow that ultimately takes the Young Wolf’s life is an arrow through the heart, leading the king to tumble down beside his slain wife. In an equally heart-wrenching scene for a character that so many rooted for, Daenerys is killed with a dagger through the heart by the man she loved, Jon Snow.