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  ===Villain arc===
  The decision to turn Daenerys from a hero into a villain, a route that had long been a fan theory, was controversial. Alex Abad-Santos of ''Vox'' stated, "The implication that Daenerys Targaryen is going mad is the greatest fraud ''Game of Thrones'' has ever perpetrated." He argued that it is "essentially a bait-and-switch" because, for seven seasons, the audience has seen Daenerys as a good and moral person determined to abolish slavery and create a more just society, and that the show suddenly characterizing her as unwilling to listen to her advisors contrasts the various times she sought and heeded their counsel, including when she decided against flying to King's Landing to burn down the Red Keep and when she chose to "defend the North against the Army of the Dead." Eliana Dockterman of ''Time'' echoed these sentiments, opining that because Daenerys and Jon "proved the most popular heroes to cheer for — not only because they cheated death but because they spent time with those who weren't like them and learned to understand them," turning Daenerys into the villain in the last few episodes feels like "an unearned turn in the story".
  Most critics found the villainous turn, which was realized after Daenerys needlessly murdered thousands of innocents by burning down King's Landing, rushed and therefore unearned. Calling Daenerys his favorite character and the arc emotionally draining, Mike Hogan of ''Vanity Fair'' said that although the show had been clear that Daenerys has a temper, "we have seen her balance that violence with mercy, kindness, and above all shrewdness. We have spent years watching her grow from a helpless girl into a seasoned leader who has been through a lot." He added that turning Daenerys into a villain "after a run of bad luck that was admittedly pretty bad" made no sense. Dockterman added that "yes, Daenerys has used fire and her dragons to enact vengeance and punishment before, but up until season 7, everyone she burned was either evil or an enemy" and "there's an additional layer of latent sexism to be analyzed here too: Cersei and Daenerys are two power hungry women, literally evil queens in fairytale parlance" while "men like Theon and Jaime have been redeemed; Jon Snow looks to be the obvious choice for a selfless king." She said that "in just a few episodes, Daenerys quickly transformed from a woman who has prided herself on saving the downtrodden to one who burns the innocent." Critics felt that the villain arc could have worked via a strong message that power corrupts everyone, but that the show needed to lay better groundwork for it.
  Other reviewers welcomed the villain arc. ''Vox'''s Andrew Prokop said that Daenerys "may well have been the series' ultimate villain all along" and that the show and George R. R. Martin's ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels had foreshadowed this. He said that "Daenerys has long been capable of great compassion — and great violence" and that "the great power her dragons give her" enables the latter. He pointed to Daenerys being "angered by the Meereenese nobles' crucifixion of slave children" and ordering "an equivalent number of captured nobles crucified," and addressed other instances of her cruelty, such as when she burned Samwell Tarly's father and brother to death when they refused to kneel for her. He said that, in one of Martin's books, Daenerys "implies that her only fear is herself. She's afraid of what she might do." Prokop, however, agreed with the complaints that the twist was poorly executed. James Hibberd of ''Entertainment Weekly'' also pointed to signs that Daenerys was always destined to be a villain, such as her vision in the House of the Undying where she walked through the Red Keep and saw white ash (then thought of as snow) falling into the throne room. He questioned: "Did we already think Dany was capable of burning thousands of innocents? Or were we in denial about her murderous ways? Did we really think somebody who crucified 163 people because she assumed they were all responsible for killing slaves was a good person?" Acknowledging that the show had perhaps been "a bit tricky in playing her murderous moments as heroic" and that the turn was therefore shocking, he said that Daenerys always chose extreme violence when very upset. Hibberd felt that the show tested Daenerys's character, "and in doing so, the thing that the show is actually pushing is a debate about Dany's morality, bringing that question into the foreground of the show after letting it sit quietly in the background for so long."
  Rose Moore of Screen Rant stated that "having Daenerys turn into the villain fits perfectly" within the series, where Targaryens "have a tendency to madness" and that it creates "a beautiful villain origin story." Moore reasoned that having Daenerys go from an exiled innocent to Queen and savior of her people to a villain shows "how her grand ideas of freedom weren't enough to make her a hero" and that "how an obsession with power, and a determination that she is 'right' in believing that the Throne is hers, is enough to take her from Mother to Dictator." To Moore, there exists a "wonderful symmetry to having the death of the Mad King set the events of ''Game of Thrones'' in motion, only to be wrapped up by the ascension and death of a Mad Queen." Prokop also felt that the series could not end "with a triumphant Daenerys Targaryen heroically taking the Iron Throne" because "it wouldn't be ''Game of Thrones''".
  Fans generally attributed the change in Daenerys's arc to the writers throwing away her character development, with many criticizing it as character assassination. ''HuffPost'''s Elyse Wanshel said, "It was an upsetting turn for a strong and sympathetic female character whom many believed would emerge as the series' hero." Emily VanDerWerff of ''Vox'' quoted writer Sady Doyle stating, "Women who expected Daenerys to become a benevolent feminist ruler, to break the wheel and end the cycle of oppression, were not stupid; they were following basic story logic." VanDerWerff said that "many people have related to Dany deeply, seeing in her an avatar of feminine power they hadn't seen elsewhere in pop culture when the show debuted in 2011. ... HBO's marketing has more than leaned into this in the past, playing up the aspects of the story that made Dany feel like a 'chosen one' figure." She said that after Daenerys's vicious or vindictive actions, the show "would return to the idea of her fundamental principles, her desire to right wrongs and break wheels. Why wouldn't people come to heavily identify with that character?"