GoT Changed One Crucial Detail About Daenerys Which Later Affected All HotD Targaryens, Too
Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen was perfect if not for one tiny detail that went against the books — and her flaw then translated to the HotD Targaryen actors, too.
Game of Thrones only had two ways of recreating the original books’ characters: they were either incredibly close to George Martin ’s descriptions or completely random. There was no in-between. While some characters, like Daario Naharis, looked nothing like they were supposed to, the key protagonists were done really well.
This, for one, goes for Emilia Clarke ’s Daenerys Targaryen. For obvious reasons, the creators of Game of Thrones made the character older than she was in the books, but in terms of Dany’s behavior (until the finale, but that’s a different story) and appearance, Clarke portrayed her perfectly. Almost perfectly.
There was just one crucial detail that was changed.
You see, in George Martin’s books, the Targaryens — who are of ancient Valyrian descent — had white skin, white hair…and purple eyes. If you’re now struggling to remember how Emilia Clarke looked with purple lenses, don’t worry: she didn’t have those. In the show, she had her natural green eyes. Why, though?
According to the explanation the showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss gave in the “special features” section of Game of Thrones Season 1 Blu-ray edition, the reason they decided against purple lenses was that “actors act with their eyes, and [purple contact lenses] really hurt the emotion." This makes total sense, honestly.
Later on, this decision translated to House of the Dragon, as well: despite the prequel show being completely dedicated to the Targaryens, not a single character has purple eyes. While it goes against the lore, in our eyes (got it?), the decision was completely justified.
Actually, Game of Thrones was far from the only live-action adaptation that ignored the canon eye color of its main character. The Harry Potter movies famously decided against making Daniel Radcliffe wear contact lenses, too, even though in the books, Harry has green eyes. The movie version of the character has Dan’s natural blue, instead.