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In GoT Season 7 Episode 5 - Eastwatch, before Randyll Tarly

and his son are incinerated by Drogon,

he asks Tyrion why he is supporting a foreign invader.

The Targaryens were ruling Westeros from King's Landing hundreds of years before and the Baratheon dynasty is probably not more than 20 years old.

He actually seem to have fought on the Targaryen side, during Robert's Rebellion (something that the TV series doesn't show) but the Battle of Ashford is why he one of the great commanders in Westeros.

So why does he claim Dany to be a foreign invader when she is actually the daughter of the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen?

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    Doesn't he explain that in the dialogue?
    – Paulie_D
    Aug 15, 2017 at 10:33
  • Rickon...? Dickon... got a laugh every time in our house.
    – Tetsujin
    Aug 15, 2017 at 10:48

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Essentially, although technically Danaerys is Westeros-born...having been born on Dragonstone she spent most of her life on Essos.

Then she brings a barbarian horde of Dothraki, Essos Unsullied and Dorne allies to invade Westeros.

"One with no ties to this land; with an army of savages at her back."

Randyll can a very inflexible person when he believes himself right and so, to him, this makes her a foreign invader and he couldn’t accept rule by a foreigner.

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    I would expand this mentioning that in the minds of many westerosi lords, the Targaryens are invasors from a foreign land, no matter how long has passed since that first invasion (at least, in the show it seems so, I have no idea how this is explored in the books)
    – Federico
    Aug 15, 2017 at 12:23
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    Randyll arc was kind of foreshadowed when Sam brings Gilly to Horn Hill. He considered her to a foreign savage as well....
    – Skooba
    Aug 15, 2017 at 12:54
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    @Federico The Targaryens over time did build up local mixing and alliances through marriage and all that. Baratheons after all come from Orys Baratheon, also a Valyrian ancestor, and had domain over a kingdom (Stormlands). On top of that, Velaryons, Hightowers, Arryns, Harroways, Strongs, Martells, Daynes, Darrys, they all had some family ties to the Targaryens (and nearly Lannister of course). The North is fairly isolationist, but that's a quirk of the North, it doesn't seem as pronounced elsewhere. Much of this is glossed over in the show of course.
    – DariM
    Aug 15, 2017 at 21:37
  • @Federico: the Targaryens are invasors from a foreign land, no matter how long has passed since that first invasion That first invasion created Westeros. Before the invasion, Westeros did not exist (not as a unified nation, at least). Therefore, the Westerosi aren't really opposed to Aegon's invasion, which is literally the founding of their country as they know it. Targaryens have recently become hated due to the Mad King's crimes. But they were historically accepted as rulers before the Mad King.
    – Flater
    Aug 21, 2017 at 10:29
  • @DariM but that's a quirk of the North, it doesn't seem as pronounced elsewhere Dorne seems similarly isolated. They shared some ties (Rhaegar-Elia), but they are politically separated (still calling themselves kings and princes without objection from the Iron Throne, for example).
    – Flater
    Aug 21, 2017 at 10:32

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