"There is something chilling about the way Dany has responded to the death of her enemies," says Benioff, who points to the death of her own brother Viserys (Harry Lloyd) as a specific example. "Even when you look back to season one when Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) gives the golden crown to Viserys, and her reaction of watching her brother's head melted off. He was a terrible brother, so I don't think anyone was crying when Viserys died, but…"
Daenerys did not kill Viserys, but she didn't flinch when he died gruesomely before her very eyes. As for the people Dany did kill along the way, without so much as batting an eye, the list includes:
• Mirri Maz Duur (Mia Soteriou), the Lhazareen maegi responsible for effectively dooming Khal Drogo. Dany burned Mirri Maz Duur alive in a funeral pyre, undeterred by the woman's screams of pain.
• Xaro Xhoan Daxos (Nonso Anozie) of Qarth, and Dothraki handmaiden Doreah (Roxanne McKee), both of whom Dany locks away in a vault without food, resources or any real hope of survival — only emptiness, and the certainty of a slow death.
• Kraznys mo Nakloz (Dan Hildebrand), betrayed and burnt alive by the Mother of Dragons, in one of her earliest and cleverest acts of war. In Dany's defense, the Astapor slavedriver absolutely earned his fiery fate, though she was clearly energized by the act of violence.
• Khal Moro (Joe Naufahu) and his fellow Dothraki warlords, all of whom Dany trapped inside a grass building and burned alive, after delivering an extensive monologue about her worthiness as a ruler.
• Varys the Spider (Conleth Hill), killed at the start of "The Bells," executed by dragon-fire due to his treasonous choice to back Jon Snow. Again, in Dany's defense, she did once warn Varys what would happen if she ever caught him in an act of betrayal; consider the threat fulfilled.