As the end of Game of Thrones slowly approaches, fans and viewers are desperately looking for clues as to what might happen in the final series.
Set to air next year, the eighth season will be the last in the current GoT saga as we know it. The final series should hopefully bring the world of wildlings, dragons, white walkers and red witches to a satisfying conclusion.
The programme has graced our screens since 2011, providing good old fashioned escapism with more than a hint of bloody violence, questionable relationships, dark humour and the uneasy feeling that no character is safe from death.
As the actors prepare to say goodbye to the roles they’ve had and lived with for the past eight years, some of the cast are commemorating their time on the show in a number of ways.
While two actors married, Maisie Williams shared a bloody photo as a sign off, and Sophie Turner got herself inked with the House Stark sigil.
Now, Emilia Clarke has added herself to that list as she has also gone under the needle to get a permanent reminder of her role on the show as Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.
Nope, she didn’t get that mouthful tattooed down her arm, instead she got three dragons on the inside of her wrist.
Check it out:
Looking like she’s either finding the whole thing hilarious, or is still in pain, Emilia captioned the photo ‘MOD [Mother of Dragons] 4 LYFE!!!!’
The tattoo shows the dragons Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion (of whom she is the mother…) flying in formation.
If you’re in to Game of Thrones, then you’re in to fan theories. If you’re not, then can you even call yourself a fan? Probably not.
Now, I don’t want to alarm anyone, or get you too over-excited, but I’ve got a theory for the ages based off nothing but Khaleesi’s new ink. Hold on to your dragons…
As we all know, Viserion was tragically struck down by the Night King and became undead and into something resembling an ice dragon. Despite fans all over the world expressing their shock and sadness, no-one was as upset as the Mother of Dragons herself.
We all know what happened next as the white walker army marched through the Wall and into Westeros thanks to the ice-fire of the newly undead Viserion.
I hate to jump to conclusions but the caption attached to the picture of the new tattoo got me asking a lot of questions about what Daenerys is going to have to do in the final series of GoT. Namely, and not to be too blunt, she’s going to have to kill Viserion.
Her caption says she ‘aint NEVER forgetting her babies’. I appreciate this is fiction but that sounds a lot like a person who’s had to say goodbye to their child in a way no parent should have to suffer.
If you can identify a way in which Daenerys can bring Viserion back from the undead, I’ll happily say I’m wrong. I just don’t think there is a way given the relentless and mysterious nature of the Night King’s quest.
Without wanting to break any hearts, what happened to Viserion at the end of season seven is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his fate on the show. And the emotional turmoil some of our favourite characters (Khaleesi in particular) are going to have to go through in the upcoming final season.
It’s not much, but the caption is more than enough to suggest sacrifices are going to be made in Game of Thrones like we’ve not seen before – I’ve seen conclusions based off a hell of a lot less.
I’m putting my dragon eggs in the ‘RIP Viserion’ basket. If you don’t want to go through the heartbreak in about 6-7 months time, I suggest you come to terms with it and do the same.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.