Emilia Clarke recently admitted feeling deeply hurt and angered after learning that David J. Peterson, the Game of Thrones language expert who developed Dothraki and High Valyrian, had criticized her pronunciation of the fictional language. The actress opened up about her emotional reaction during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, revealing that Peterson’s remarks had stung despite the languages being entirely fictional creations.
Quick read:
-
Clarke felt hurt and angry reading Peterson’s 2017 comments calling her Dothraki “not fluent.”
-
Peterson claims Clarke misunderstood; her character wasn’t meant to speak perfectly.
-
He praised her High Valyrian skills in 2013, contradicting the criticism narrative.
The Criticism That Stung an Unsuspecting Actor
Clarke explained her frustration during her interview, emphasizing the effort she invested in mastering the conlang. She said: “I put so much energy into learning Dothraki. But the creator of the language, I read in an article, said I sucked at Dothraki. I was like, ‘What, bro?!’ It’s not real! It’s not a real language! I can’t suck at it because me saying it on the TV, that’s how it goes… Honestly, I was so hurt. And then really pissed.”
Her frustration stemmed from Peterson’s 2017 Rolling Stone interview, where he remarked: “It’s always funny to me to hear Emilia Clarke speak Dothraki. Of course, her character is not supposed to be fluent, and it really sounds… not fluent. It’s great for her character, she understands and she can speak. She just doesn’t sound quite right.”
A Linguist’s Rushed Defense
Peterson quickly issued a statement to Entertainment Weekly attempting to clarify his position, claiming Clarke had misunderstood his intentions. He asserted: “I think Emilia may have misunderstood what I said, because I’ve never criticized her Dothraki. Why would I? Her character was never supposed to speak it like a first language, so she never had to be good at it.”
Peterson further defended his comments by drawing a comparison: “Criticizing any imperfections in her Dothraki performance would be like criticizing Colin Firth for stuttering in The King’s Speech. It would be entirely missing the point.”
Read next: Emilia Clarke Is Done With Fantasy After Game of Thrones—No More Dragons, Ever Again
If you have any important filming news about House of the Dragon, or if you want to collaborate with us or want to write for us, please drop us a message here.
