In Westeros there is a never ending struggle for power, man fighting man, knight fighting knight, even King fighting King, but it is not always these people that are making the decisions for the Kingdoms. It is usually the women behind the man. Although Westeros is stuck in a world similar to the middle ages and the women may not have rights, yet many of these woman still have power. The powerful women in Westeros range from a Wildling named Osha to the Mother of Dragons named Daenerys, and all kinds in between.
Behind most of the powerful men in the show there is always a powerful woman , behind the King of the Seven Kingdoms is Cersi. This powerful woman serves as the Queen regent until her son is of age, she has had numerous men, women and even children killed to secure the power of her son as well as her own power . Then there is Catelyn Stark who stands behind her son Rob, the King of the North. Although she is a amazing mother and kind woman she controls of the political side of gaining power for her son in anyway possible, that includes taking prisoners and breaking alliances. Then you have Melisandre who is the power behind Stannis Baratheon, one of the five men trying to become King. She is a powerful priestess who has used her power to kill and defeat the enemy's of her lover Stannis.
But it is not just the women behind the Kings that have power, there are also women who earn their power like Brienne and Ayra. Brienne of Tarth is a Lady and heir to the Tarth families power and money but instead of marrying a wealthy man and having children, she instead chose to become a knight. Brienne is a very strong and loyal woman who has earned her power, she has served as protector to King Renly and Lady Catelyn Stark. You also have young Ayra Stark of the North, she much like Brienne was expected just to become a proper lady and marry young, but she is instead a skilled swordsmen and wants to be a knight. Ayra has showed her true inner strength after her father was beheaded and is now just trying to survive pretending to be a poor orphan girl, while planing a way to avenge her father.
Some other ladies that have power in Westeros are the widowed Lady Margaery Tyrell and the imprisoned Lady Sansa Stark. Margaery was the wife and future Queen to Renly Baratheon until his untimely death. The thing that makes her so powerful is that she was only married to him so she could become the Queen of Westeros and didn't ever care that her husband didn't love her, but instead loved her brother. Sansa is another interesting case because she is often a hated character because she is with the enemy and doesn't do anything about it. But to live the life she is currently living would be a struggle daily, she is the future Queen of people who hate her betrothed Joffery (myself included), she is living with people who want her family dead, she is beaten for entertainment and knows that she will have to bear children for a man she despises. They may call her little bird as a term to show her sweet and soft appearance but on the inside she must be extremely strong and brave to live day to day.
Although there are lots of Queens and Lady's who have power in Westeros there are also women who do not have 'power' in the sense of money and political power, they instead use what they have, inner strength and wit. Osha is a wilding, wildlings are people who live in the forest and do not listen to the King and call themselves free people. Osha was all of this until she was captured by the Starks and made to be one of their children's servants. Osha has showed her strength and wit by saving the two youngest Stark children from being imprisoned by a crazy man. She risked her life to save the boys and showed extreme loyalty to the people she works for.
Then to the east of Westeros across the Narrow Sea we have the young, courageous and powerful Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryens. Daenarys is the last of the exiled Targaryen royal family, whom ruled Westeros for the last 300 years before the rebellion which saw the destruction of all that once was the Targaryen empire, which originally only left she and her brother Viserys, until she had him killed during one of his violent mood swings. Daenerys shows strength by surviving the life dealt to her and becoming a strong, brave and independent young woman. After her mother died during childbirth and she and her brother were sent off to live in exile until they were old enough to one day reclaim the throne. In order to do so her brother decided to sell her off to marry a Dothraki leader (tribal people) for gold, putting this young girl in a scary and new position. But do to her determination and bravery she began to thrive learning more about herself and her new people, and she became pregnant much to the delight of her people. When she was pregnant she would talk to her people and ask questions, the most important being about dragons. The Targaryens are said to have dragon blood and to have ruled dragons many years ago but they are all dead now, and she learns that they are born in fire. She was given 'dragon eggs' for a wedding present and began experimenting with them, while doing so she discovered that fire nor heat can hurt her, but that was no the case for her brother when she orders melted gold to be poured on him for disrespecting her. When this happens you realize that this little girl is changing into a strong woman. Then her husband becomes sick, and not even the best magic can help him, which claims the life of her unborn child, putting her in a diffuclt position to go on or give up, but she continues on. She makes the desicion that she must kill her husband to end his suffering, while still dealing with the lost of her child and still trying to help her people. This in my opinion shows her true strength. So at his funeral she goes into the fire with her 3 dragon eggs much to the terror of her people, but she emerges from the fire once it is burnt out and was not harmed nor where the 3 baby dragons she was holding. Daenerys is now the Mother of Dragons and plans to raise them as her children and then win back the Seven Kingdoms. She is currently dealing with powerful people across the Narrow Sea so she can get ships to go to Westeros and get what is rightfully hers, the Iron Throne using fire and blood.
The men of Westeros may get to be the most famous of the people of Westeros but they women are just or even more powerful in some cases, and if the power continues to shift as much as it is now Westeros may soon be ruled by a Woman.
