I see a lot of similarities between Jenny Humphrey from Gossip Girl and Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. I’ve done a lot of deep dives comparing the characters from Gossip Girl and Euphoria, but I realized that another show I love, Game of Thrones, deserves to be mentioned in these conversations too.
Especially considering how similar Jenny and Daenerys are. It’s kind of uncanny. These are my thoughts.
Aesthetics
I’ll start with aesthetics and get this one out of the way early on, since it’s the most obvious and basic similarity between Jenny and Daenerys.
They’re both drop-dead gorgeous: blonde hair, blue eyes, clear skin, pretty smiles, and incredible senses of style.
Of course, they exist in very different worlds, so their fashion senses are very different. But within the worlds they exist in, their fashion holds up against anyone trying to scrutinize them.
Jenny dressed well to fit in on the Upper East Side, from season one when she wore bright colors like pink and yellow to season three when she aimed for a more gothic-chic wardrobe.
Daenerys dressed like a woman in leadership as she traveled through Pentos, the Dothraki Sea, Dragonstone, King’s Landing, and so many other places on her mission to “break the wheel.”
She evolved from ethereal, medieval-inspired dresses that gave the vibe of a powerful woman who men still fantasized over and eventually started wearing dramatic long-flowing capes, structured shoulders, high collars, floor-length gowns, draped sleeves, leather belts, harnesses, and beyond.
So when it comes to aesthetics as a starting point, Jenny and Daenerys share their beauty and ability to dress well in common.
Both obsessed with becoming queen
The next comparison I drew between Jenny and Daenerys is the fact that they both sort of serve as social climbers in their worlds, although in very different ways.
They were both desperate to escape their humble beginnings, and they both revealed their willingness to step on other people to achieve their goals.
Jenny and Daenerys both revealed an obsession with status, recognition, and legitimacy in various ways, but the similarity remains regardless.
They both grew fixated on what they believed they deserved in their respective worlds.
Jenny spent time clinging to social rankings, popularity, validation, and hierarchy on campus.
Daenerys spent time clinging to birthright, destiny, and dreams of breaking the wheel.
For both of them, their social-climber tendencies morphed into a sense of entitlement.
They both had deep desires of becoming queen—Jenny as Queen Bee of Constance with Blair Waldorf as her predecessor, and Daenerys as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
And by the way, while Jenny is a textbook social climber on the Upper East Side, Daenerys was never a typical social climber in the same way.
Jenny was obsessed with gaining acceptance into an elite social circle through strategic alliances, perfecting her image, and networking with the right people.
Daenerys didn’t care about being accepted into any elite circle. She simply wanted to replace everyone in power by becoming the most powerful person above everyone else.
Her goal was achieving political sovereignty over popularity, but the social-climber tendencies she did harbor included the way she carefully cultivated her public image, strategically formed alliances based on rising to the top, and became deeply obsessed with legitimacy and recognition the entire time, same as Little J.
They both cared about becoming queen.
Jenny and Daenerys both overcompensated so much
A massive similarity between Jenny and Daenerys was the level of overcompensation they both did because they both felt they had something to prove.
In other words, they both had a chip on their shoulder the entire time as outsiders trying to ascend in elite worlds where they knew they would initially be met with pushback and negative judgment from others.
Jenny came from Brooklyn and did everything in her power to infiltrate Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
She was desperate to fit in with classmates who were much wealthier than her.
She wanted to make a name for herself among people who had far more resources than she did.
So much so that she was willing to help her older brother, Dan Humphrey, run the Gossip Girl blog so they could both write their way into popularity.
Which is the definition of someone overcompensating because they’re sooo desperate to reach a certain goal or attain a certain lifestyle.
For Daenerys, she started as a powerless exile who was sold into marriage and constantly felt the need to prove how bold, strong, and dominant she was to avoid ever being looked down on or treated like a pawn on someone else’s chessboard.
She never wanted to feel as powerless as she did during the early stages of her journey again, so overcompensation naturally spilled out of her.
Toxic relationships for Jenny and Daenerys
We watched toxic relationships play out for both Jenny and Daenerys on Gossip Girl and Game of Thrones, which is why I see this as a major similarity between the two of them.
Starting with Jenny, nearly every single romantic relationship she had on Gossip Girl was problematic.
Asher was her first boyfriend, and he was secretly gay.
She fell for Damien when she dated him, but he was a New York City drug dealer.
She had a one-night stand with Chuck Bass, who treated her like she was completely irrelevant as soon as the hookup was over, even though he was the one who took her virginity.
And she went through an on-and-off relationship with Nate that was super toxic because she desperately wanted her happily ever after with him, but he could never be the boyfriend she really wanted or needed.
Daenerys’ love life left much to be desired as well.
Her marriage to Khal Drogo quite literally started with a brutal assault.
Her fling with Daario was mostly based on their impulsive, carnal desires and physical attraction since there was such a power imbalance between them.
Her brief engagement and marriage to Hizdahr were purely political, with barely any romantic affection or connection and a mutual level of distrust between them.
And Jon Snow was her blood relative who ultimately ended her life.
Jenny and Daenerys both had their fair share of toxic experiences when it came to love.
Jenny and Daenerys both faced betrayal from their brothers
A similarity between Jenny and Daenerys that a lot of people might not pick up on easily is the fact that they both faced betrayal from their brothers.
Starting with Jenny, Dan Humphrey was never abusive or physical with her, but his betrayal still took place in more subtle, emotional ways. Dan was an overly sexist older brother to Jenny.
Blocking her romantic connection with Nate Archibald was one of the worst things he could’ve done, even though Jenny would have never blocked Dan’s relationships with girls like Serena and Vanessa.
Dan came across as super hypocritical, criticizing Jenny and her attempts to fit in on the Upper East Side, even though he was doing the exact same thing the entire time.
Dan constantly came across as the unsupportive sibling who didn’t fully understand the world Jenny was navigating, even though Jenny was always supportive and considerate of him.
But worst of all, Dan pulled Jenny into his web of lies surrounding the Gossip Girl blog, making her his complicit ally in the mess of his double life.
And the whole time, he still posted some of the most heinous and wild rumors about Jenny—his own little sister—on the internet for the whole world to see.
Jenny’s situation with her stepbrother, Eric van der Woodsen, was also pretty messed up because of their hot-and-cold sibling relationship.
Eric even sabotaged Jenny on the night of her debutante ball because he wanted to knock her down a peg when she was trying to level up her popularity status as Queen Bee.
Lastly, Jenny also harbored quite a bit of unspoken trauma from discovering her secret half-brother, Scott Rosson, when she was already 15 or 16 years old.
Having that type of secret unloaded onto her shoulders likely came as a massive shock because that type of revelation would turn anyone’s life upside down.
Scott never did anything directly to Jenny to hurt her, but his very existence was enough to make her question so many things about the foundation of her entire life.
In Daenerys’ case, her brotherly situation was certainly a lot worse than Jenny’s.
You’ll get no argument from me on that.
Her older brother, Viserys, treated her more like property than family.
He did not treat her like a little sister he wanted to love and protect.
He spent time repeatedly humiliating her, intimidating her, threatening her with physical violence, exploiting her, endangering her, and eventually selling her into marriage with Khal Drogo, even though Daenerys was terrified.
She experienced firsthand cruelty from her older brother.
But both Jenny and Daenerys were betrayed by their brothers.
Friendship losses
An unfortunate comparison Jenny and Daenerys share on Gossip Girl and Game of Thrones is the fact that they both went through heartbreaking friendship losses.
To be specific, the reasons for those friendship losses are vastly different and not comparable at all.
But the fact that they both experienced what it feels like to lose a friend they once loved is why I draw this comparison.
In Jenny’s case, she was close to Vanessa Abrams for years.
They were both Brooklyn girls who understood the hardships of trying to navigate the rich, expensive, and upscale world of the Upper East Side while coming from a more humble and low-key lifestyle across the bridge.
Vanessa was almost like a big sister to Jenny, and they had each other’s backs.
But their friendship fell apart when they realized they both had romantic feelings for Nate Archibald.
The love triangle between Jenny, Nate, and Vanessa created big drama on Gossip Girl—tons of lies, betrayal, and heartbreak.
And in the end, both girls didn’t get the guy. But their friendship still died anyway.
In Daenerys’ case, her friendship loss actually ended in death. She was best friends with Missandei, who was her closest confidante and ally.
The loss of Missandei really broke Daenerys.
In fact, it’s what kind of tipped her over the edge into turning evil and embracing the dark side.
She didn’t actually want to copy her father by becoming the Mad Queen, but witnessing her best friend die absolutely pushed her over the edge.
Friendship losses are absolutely a comparison between Jenny and Daenerys.
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