After a year of waiting, Game Of Thrones fans have finally been treated to Daenerys’ reaction to finding out Jon Snow is, in fact, her nephew and, understandably, it didn’t go all that well.
Jon appeared to be quite devastated as he told his new love the news he is the son of her brother Rhaegar, and while you might assume she’d get upset about that fact, the Dragon Queen was visibly more upset about his superior claim to the Iron Throne.
“If it were true, it would make you the last male heir of House Targaryen. You’d have a claim to the Iron Throne,” she tells him.
Correction: he’d have a better claim.
And while it might not seem like the first reaction we’d have to finding out you’ve been sleeping with your nephew, Emilia Clarke has explained the brutal response and it actually makes a lot of sense.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, she said that Dany focusing on the threat to her claim makes sense given everything she’s been through.
“The related thing, to her, is so normal… She could have easily married her brother. It’s not a thing. It’s a thing for Jon, but let’s just forget about that. The main thing is we’re up for the same promotion and I’ve been working for it for my entire existence.”
At this point in the show Dany’s been working her whole life to reclaim her inheritance and she’s closer than ever to obtaining it.
“This is my whole existence… Since birth! Dany literally was brought into this world going: RUN! These f***ers [in Westeros] have f***ed everything up. Now it’s, ‘You’re our only hope.’ There’s so much she’s taken on in her duty in life to rectify. There’s so much she’s seen and witnessed and been through and lost and suffered and hurt to get here… and Jon doesn’t even want it!”
OK, that makes total sense.
Daenerys: I’ve literally been working my entire life for the iron throne
Jon: I’m Aegon Targaryen and I have a better claim
Daenerys:
#GameOfThornes #got8 pic.twitter.com/xk2o6y1Dwq— Louie V (@Real_Louie_V) April 22, 2019
#GameOfThrones GOT
Daenarys: goes 7 seasons of conquering Essos, hatches 3 stone eggs into Dragons, loses her unborn child and Khal Drogo, goes into fire unharmed, loses a dragon, nearly diesJon: I am Aegon Targaryen
Daenarys: pic.twitter.com/NmozcC7wcY
— andrea madrid (@andreamadrid00) April 22, 2019
The episode’s writer Bryan Cogman told the publication that Emilia and Kit Harington nailed the “very difficult” scene.
“What really upsets Jon is that he’s a blood relative to the woman he’s in love with.”
“Jon is taken aback when essentially the first thing she says is acknowledging that he has a claim to the Iron Throne. Kit and Emilia play it beautifully. It’s a very difficult scene to pull off; so much has to go on behind the eyes.”
Sadly, we didn’t get to see any more of their interaction because they heard the horn announcing that the Army of the Dead were at the gates of Winterfell.
You can watch the scene here:
The episode’s writer Bryan Cogman told the publication that Emilia and Kit Harington nailed the “very difficult” scene.
“What really upsets Jon is that he’s a blood relative to the woman he’s in love with.”
“Jon is taken aback when essentially the first thing she says is acknowledging that he has a claim to the Iron Throne. Kit and Emilia play it beautifully. It’s a very difficult scene to pull off; so much has to go on behind the eyes.”
Sadly, we didn’t get to see any more of their interaction because they heard the horn announcing that the Army of the Dead were at the gates of Winterfell.
You can watch the scene here:
https://twitter.com/emiliacIarked/status/1120153978074009602
Kit also spoke to Entertainment Weekly last week after the first episode of season eight where he finds out his true parentage and said what he loves about Jon is “his purity”.
“He doesn’t f***ing want [the Iron Throne]. He doesn’t want that f***ing information. He doesn’t want to know. He has no ambition for the throne. He’s never wanted that.
“The end of the world might be coming soon but at least he’s in love with somebody and knows who he is, and then comes this sledgehammer… If Jon could go back in time and say: ‘Whatever you’re about to say, don’t tell me,’ he would. He’d happily be in ignorance.”
If only! Now, if you need us we’ll be mentally preparing for episode three…