Awakening the Dragons: The Heroine’s Journey to Motherhood, as Illuminated by Game of Thrones

Abstract

This study used alchemical hermeneutics to contemplate the transition to motherhood as an opportunity for a heroine’s journey. It defined the heroine’s journey as the individuation process of awakening previously exiled feminine aspects of the psyche and ways of being in the world, as represented by the alchemical symbolism of the petrified dragons. The study drew on psychoanalytic, Jungian, feminist, and depth traditions to consider the TV series Game of Thrones as a collective dream, a modern myth, and a fairy tale. The study of the main heroine’s transition into a mother of dragons illuminates the established archetypal storylines about women and motherhood, as well as the alternative narratives trying to emerge in the collective. In clinical and theoretical support of the transition to motherhood, this research highlights the impacts of generational and individual traumas, considering connections between embodied sexuality, playfulness, dreaming, and the possibility of conceiving a new life of the Self. The study investigated how pregnant women may harness their growing libidinal energies to gain a sense of empowerment in navigating, metabolizing, integrating, and drawing strength from activated unconscious shadows and projections. By focusing on this uniquely feminine experience, the study addressed the gap between the reductionist approaches of mainstream psychology, the depth tradition that championed children’s needs, and feminist scholarship that aimed to emulate male experiences and excluded matricentric studies.