Anakin has a clear motive, and a logical progression from naive to evil.
Danny just decides to lose her shit one day.
Honestly a huge amount of people overlooked the red flags with Danerys, because reasons. The final flip to full on crazy was poorly done, but there was a history of violent and cruel outbursts.
Let Kahl Drogo violently kill her brother. Burned Mirri Maaz Durr alive. Crucified the slave masters of Meereen. Burned the horse lords alive.
I think the difference is those are portrayed in a way where you’re still supposed to be rooting for her. Every one of those people, as brutally as they were killed, were monumental assholes. And instead of letting the viewer grapple with the fact that they’re on the side of a sadistic monster torturing someone to death, to explore the dangers of prioritizing vengeance over justice, the story just moves on. There’s a lot they could have done to bring the consequences of Dany’s shortsighted rage into perspective, really give the viewer several moments of “yeah, I see why she did it in the heat of the moment, but damn, that’s fucked up”. Then, her subsequent heel turn would feel like the logical conclusion of her arc.
Then just give her time to be the main antagonist for a bit. What’s the point of spending a series long arc setting up a powerful villain if she’s not actually given any screentime as the villain?
True but each of those times her violent outburst felt grounded. Character A does a very bad thing to Danerys, and she reacts. It made sense to her character. Kings landing didn’t, because the people of Kings Landing cheered her arrival. Cersci was not popular and about to fall anyway, Danerys could have had what she wanted, Westeros and the love of the people.
To make her turn work Cersci needed to fall before Danerys got to Westeros and someone likable is on the Iron throne. Now the people want to hold onto their new monarch who saved them from Cersci or have Cersci turn likable. She had a rough start but through experience becomes a good leader only to have Denarys dethrone her. Something other than RING THE BELLS.
It only feels grounded because you get her pov and the other side is obviously bad (according to her), so they totally deserved it. She showed up to several cities, murdered the fuck out of them, took what she wanted and left. Yes the turn to full on evil was handled poorly, but all the signs were there before hand. Tyrion’s speech after the fact said as much.
