Come to think of it, it’s also basically the same length as the hair of her brother Viserys, who was also an evil idiot.
Is this a subtle hint to a big change for the character, one that’s been alluded to frequently on the show? Or is it a more specific plot point?
2. Cersei forces her to do the walk of shame
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Cersei hates Dany with every fibre of her being. She sees her as a threat to everything she holds dear. If Dany does eventually make her way into King’s Landing, you can bet Cersei won’t be happy about it.
And what’s the worst possible punishment she could think of for an upstart queen? Why, the worst experience she’s ever been through, the walk of shame, shame, shame.
The Sparrows may be long gone, but their favourite punishment will have lingered long in Cersei’s memory, and a key part of the ritual of the walk of shame is getting your hair lopped off.
Could that be the fate of Dany’s locks? Or does the hair loss involve something a bit closer to home?
3. She gets attacked by her dragons
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HBO
Now, bear with us on this one, because it contradicts everything you know about the show. Yes, in season one when Dany walked through the fire to birth her dragons, her clothes burned away but her hair was untouched, because she’s immune to fire, right?
Um, wrong. She actually kept her hair because the showrunners decided that while total nudity made sense for the telly version of the character, wearing a bald cap did not.
In George RR Martin’s books, both Dany’s clothes AND hair burn away when the dragons are born. Could the same book-faithful thing happen if they turn on her in season eight?
There’s an easy way to retcon season one so it happens that way in season eight – normal fire doesn’t harm Dany’s hair, but DRAGON fire does.
One of those dragons has a very good reason to be annoyed. Drogon’s cool, he’s clearly Dany’s favourite and has been fairly spoiled. Rhaegal, on the other hand, well, Rhaegal has plenty of problems to take up with his mother.
Locked away in a too-small space for most of season four (with brother Viserion), Rhaegal has been treated cruelly by Dany – a situation that’s never really been resolved. Possibly because at least Rhaegal had Viserion (who he probably bonded with in that pyramid) to share the burden.
Well, until his mother made the terrible decision to fly north of the wall to take on the Night King, leading directly to Viserion’s death.
Are dragons forgiving, or do they hold grudges? Clarke’s haircut could hold the answer.
But perhaps there’s a much simpler solution…
4. She decides to join the fight
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HBO
Because Dany’s got dragons, we’ve never really seen her join the fray. She’s usually burning enemy soldiers from a distance, or running away from them on the back of one of her pets.
So, could the haircut signify that’s about to change? Most warriors prefer to keep their hair short so enemies can’t gain an advantage by grabbing at it – has Dany gone for a tactical chop, to give her more manoeuvrability on the battlefield?
Of course, there are warriors in Westeros who prefer to keep their hair long, warriors Dany is very close to. Perhaps their traditions are the key to understanding the dragon queen’s style change?
5. She loses a major fight
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2016 Home Box Office, Inc
Dothraki warriors wear their hair LONG, braiding it as it grows. Plenty of people have compared Dany’s season seven braiding to her ex-sun and stars Khal Drogo’s hairdo, so it makes sense to wonder if Dany gets a cut for the same reasons he would.
Dothraki warriors only cut their hair after they’ve lost a battle: could it be the same for Dany?
6. It’s a symbol of leadership
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HBO
Of course it could be a lot less complicated, it could simply be that Dany’s taking a leaf out of Cersei’s look-book and has decided that the Seven Kingdoms prefer a blonde leader with a trimmed barnet, and is acting accordingly.
Whatever the reason, we’ll find out when Game of Thrones returns – which gives us plenty of time to speculate further.
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