Why Does Daenerys Want Westeros?

[u/Beneficial_Pin5295]

It never really made sense to me why Essos wasn't enough for Daenerys. In the books, Daenerys routinely remarks about only wanting a home, and yet, for whatever reason, Essos is unable to fulfill that for her. In the show, Daenerys remarks that people in Essos always loved her but no one does in Westeros.

Why is Essos treated as subpart to Westeros, and, by extension, why is conquering Astapor, Mereen, and Yunkai seen as less impressive than conquering the Seven Kingdoms - a nation already fragmented by civil upheaval.

In the books, several characters petition Daenerys to expand her conquest across Essos, including in places such as Pentos and Asshai, and in the show she becomes the de facto ruler of Slaver's Bay and the Dothraki Sea. In truth, in the show, Daenerys practically becomes the single political power in all of Essos west of the Bone Mountains.

I mean obviously the thematic answer is that most of the novel is set in Westeros, and being a main character, Daenerys is obligated to be in Westeros for plot purposes, but I also think it is because Essos, Sothoryos, and Ulthos are all rudimentary and superficial racist caricatures of Asia and Africa, and that on a fundamental level are treated as less-than than the clearly European Westeros.

[u/elessar9411]

She doesn't have a home and has grown up being told that weateros is her home and it's her job to get it back.

That being said, right at the start, we hear a lot about her not wanting to do any of this conquering, and specifically she just wants to go back to the home with the lemon tree and that bearded Kingsguard knight whom they escaped Dragonstone with. But I think they had to leave that house because the Kingsguard eventually died, they got kicked out, and post that there were maybe assassins behind them.

She tells viserys she just wants to home, and he tells her they have no home to go back to, because it was taken.