There's not a whole lot Emilia Clarke and her Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen have in common: Unlike the dysfunctional coming-up of the Khaleesi, Clarke comes from a loving, traditionally nuclear family from the outskirts of London. Where Daenerys is fierce and tempestuous, the actress's friends describe her as goofy. She is sadly lacking in dragons (the dragons are key). Oh, and she's a natural brunette.
Like most Targaryens, Daenerys' icy-white hair is her defining feature, which means that Clarke has spent the better part of the last decade wearing platinum wigs. But late last year, Clarke finally bent the knee and dyed her own hair blonde — which means she and her Unburnt alter ego have more in common than ever before.
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In the June issue of Vanity Fair, Clarke tells writer Joanna Robinson that the initial motivation to ditch her brunette hair was one most people can relate to: hair fatigue. “I got to a point where I said I just want to look in the mirror and see something different," she explains. "So I was just like, ‘Fuck it, it’s the last season. I’m going to dye my hair blond.’"
But there's one thing she maybe should've considered before getting into the bleach. If Clarke's GoT character is recognizable for anything (that's not the magic of CGI), it's that frosty hair, the implications of which she didn't realize until after she left the salon. Even without Daenerys' intricate braids, Clarke tells Robinson that her blonde hair makes it even harder to keep a low profile while running regular, normal-person errands (because, duh) — and for that, she says, her blondification was "frigging stupid."
But Emilia Daenerys has been through worse. If she can eat the heart of a stallion, then she can learn to love her blonde hair. And from the looks of those freshly-done roots, it seems as if she already has.