First instruction to maintain power and preserve order: The prince does not have free range to conduct evil, but must strive for goodness as the primary measure of actions.

Daenerys gives conquered soldiers a choice: "Bend the knee and join me. Together, we will leave the world a...

Her character development throughout the seasons unfolds within a dynamic that probes fundamental questions of politics and leadership. 

Machiavelli examined the same questions in the 16th century in his treatise, The Prince.  Daenerys may be a version of the redeemer  he talk ...

Beyond the practical insight they may afford us, The Prince and Game of Thrones also reciprocally inform the respective viewing and reading of one another. 

Just as The Prince elucidates the politics of Game of Thrones, so too does Game of Thrones

Machiavelli ends his treatise The Prince invoking a "redeemer" who shall save enslaved Italy from the domination of foreign powers that have left her gravely wounded and "almost without life". If we consider The Prince through the optic of its concluding chapter, it becomes evident that

Third instruction to maintain power and preserve order: When can a ruler enter into evil -  "if necessary" and when all other options fail.

• Pointing to his sister as a negative example, Tyrion suggests that an overreliance on fear presupposes an overuse of cruelty.  
• Once a rul...