When HBO’s adaptation of Game of Thrones began, little did most of us know how important hair would be. But whether it’s Cersei’s eternal pixie cut or Kit Harington’s is-he-really-dead? hair-watch, the follicular comings and goings of the fantasy epic’s cast have been legitimate business for years now. So let’s all read a little too much into this dramatic new look Emilia Clarke unveiled on Instagram, shall we? Why not; it’s a long off-season.
Employing the hashtag “#khaleesikicksoff,” Clarke announced her return to the Game of Thrones set with a newly platinum head of hair. For seven seasons now, she’s been wearing a series of white-blonde wigs (of varying degrees of quality)—but just when I thought Game of Thrones had really nailed the Mother of Dragons’ hair (those elaborate, wind-resistant, seaside Season 7 braids were a marvel), Clarke fully commits and bleaches her head.
Why would the natural brunette go to these lengths after so many years of wigs? (Interestingly enough, after having red dye regularly poured on her head for six seasons, actress Sophie Turner just switched to a wig last year. And people could tell.) Well, first of all, we should note that there likely still will be plenty of wig usage—or at least extensions—on the upcoming season, since Clarke’s natural hair length is much shorter than Daenerys’s. But it is also possible that the dragon queen will eventually go shorter. As many book readers have noted over the years, Daenerys should actually have shorter hair already: in the books, when Drogon rescues her from the Dragonpit and douses her in fire, she survives but loses her hair in the process. In other words, fire cannot burn a dragon—but hair is another matter.
So, will Dany get part of her famously long, blonde hair singed off in the final season? Will she crop it off to make getting ready for battle easier? (Missandei, surely the one responsible for those elaborate braids, will thank her.) Will she cut her hair in grief over the loss of a loved one—in fine literary tradition? Or will having blonde hair on Clarke’s head simply make things easier from a technical standpoint, especially if that hair is going to get mussed and fussed while fighting in the Great War to Come? Listen—we have more than a year to come up with even more possibilities than these, so get to thinking. There are no wrong answers.
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