Another point on people using Dany's mercy against her: in both the books and the show, the shepherd who comes to her with the burned body of his daughter, it COULD be a trick. The sons of the Harpy in the books are more paranoia-inducing than in the show, but essentially it could have been a trick. And even if it wasn't, Dany can still wonder if it was, because they really go out of their way to try and use her affection for the people against herself. It's precisely what leads her to realize that she has to "remember who she was made to be", as Quaithe keeps telling her in her head, culminating in her accepting the idea of resorting to fire and blood to rule, because keeping the affection she has for the people would seemingly doom her for her enemies' own sake.
By the end of ADWD, Mereen is plagued and Dany had been sending people out to save people regardless. I doubt she will continue along that approach when she returns. Wouldn't surprise me she would outright burn those sick outside to protect the rest of the city.
Exactly.
It would have been much more interesting and compelling to discuss Dany burning the red keep and killing thousands, perhaps even killing more by accidentally setting off the wildfire.
But then they wouldn't be able to have the Darth Dany scene where she changes into black and becomes a Sith Lord complete with evil demon wing imagery.
Choosing to strip her decision of all of the nuance just to make it simplistic good vs evil plot point was just pathetic.
They could have actually done all that. Dany wouldn't necessarily be glad she killed innocents, but would be confident it was necessary. Her dressing in black, Drogon behind her, it still all works out. Of course, you wouldn't have had the whole city burned, unless accidental wild-fire did so, and even that would still work as Dany could still blame Cersei for it, say she had booby trapped the city and the blood is on her hands.
It's sad how a little tweak would have allowed them to hit the same beats, but not have the audience they took a dumb or lazy road to it.
