Game Of Thrones: 11 Characters Who've Changed Most Since Season 1

10. Daenerys Targaryen

Then

The Daenerys we met early in Season 1 was a young girl who was effectively in the servitude of her older brother, who sold her to the Dothraki. She was innocent, sweet-natured but naive, and horribly abused by the men around her. That started to shift in Season 1, as she developed a touching relationship with Khal Drogo, and strengthened massively in the season finale when she walked into the funeral pyre, and emerged the Mother of Dragons.

Now

Even though Daenerys emerged with three baby dragons at the end of Fire and Blood, she was still something of a lost little girl. Since then she's been on a journey - to get back home, yes, but also to find herself, an army, something to fight for and the kind of ruler she wants to be and indeed can be.

It's been a long hard slog to get to this point (and not always an enjoyable one to watch), but whereas the other two leads of the show - Jon and Tyrion - have largely retained the same key characteristics and morals, I think we've seen a fair bit of change in Daenerys. She's developed into someone who knows what must be done, is compassionate yet won't let people stand in her way, and is becoming a much shrewder political operator (thanks to help from the likes of Tyrion).

She realised that it wasn't enough to have a birthright, she had to be an effective ruler, and was prepared to put the time in at Meereen to do that. The Daenerys of Season 1 was nowhere near ready to take over Westeros; now it seems inevitable that this version of Dany will do so, and she's certainly earned her shot.