Daenerys Targaryen is one of the main protagonists on "Game of Thrones" — avid viewers can't wait to see her reclaim the Iron Throne with vicious dragons by her side. But the average viewer may not have noticed how far she's moved away from her goal.
We first met her in Pentos, a city on the western edge of Essos and just a short boat ride away from King’s Landing. Though her plan is to return home to Westeros, Daenerys' journey has taken her in the opposite direction from the Iron Throne in both the book and show.
After marrying Khal Drogo, Daenerys headed east towards Vaes Dothrak with her new husband's horde of Dothraki nomads. She had to go there to participate in Dothraki rituals, securing her place as their queen. The group traveled for close to a year, according to the books. (This only takes five total episodes in the show.)
After they arrived in Vaes Dothrak, Khal Drogo died from an infection, and Daenerys was cast out from the Dothraki. With her newborn dragons, she decides to keep moving east, looking for shelter.
She wandered all the way to Qarth, nearly 1,500 miles away from Vaes Dothrak. The timeline on this is vague in the books, but the trek is covered in just three episodes of season two. Clearly, the showrunners opted to speed up the process for the sake of the show. Daenerys secured ships in Qarth and sailed to Slaver’s Bay.
Her first stop was Astapor, home of the Unsullied army. Daenerys decided she couldn’t stand by and witness its horrible slave conditions. After killing the slave traders and winning the loyalty of the Unsullied, Daenerys headed to the next slaver’s town, Yunkai. She conquered Yunkai, freeing more slaves, and then moved onto Meeren.
Daenerys spent all of season five and the fifth book in Meeren, trying to rule the city as Queen. Though she began traveling west again, the young queen is very far from Westeros. Ever since fans saw her dragons, the hope has been that Daenerys will storm into Westeros and take the Iron Throne for herself. But seeing her journey on a map really brings to light how far she is from achieving that goal.
As of now, she still has a good 3,000 miles to go. It's also worth noting that her last known whereabouts are a mystery. She flew away from Meeren on her dragon, and fans are in the dark about her true location.
Since the show has now surpassed Daenerys' book storyline, perhaps the upcoming season six plot will shed light on her forward progress.
