As we all begin counting down the months until Game of Thrones finally returns to screens in 2019 (it’s not that far away now…right?), Emilia Clarke just redefined what it means to be the girl with the dragon tattoo. As she promised during an interview back in May, the IRL Daenerys Targaryen has delivered on the perfect, permanent tribute to her character as the show comes to an end.
With the eighth and final season just around the corner, Emilia has declared herself the “Mother of Dragons forever”, with the trio of Daenerys' dragons tattooed in tiny silhouettes onto her right wrist. The seriously cool commemorative ink features “her babies", Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion, each flying off into the distance, but now staying close to her forever.
The big reveal photo, taken at Dr Woo’s famous tattoo studio in Los Angeles, shows Emilia looking over the moon with her latest inking, which she captioned: “MOD 4 LYFE!!!! Made sure this mamma ain’t NEVER forgetting her babies….” The hashtags #WithFyreAndInkBaby and #MODGotHookedUp are also pretty brilliant.
Fortunately, the tattoo doesn’t give too much away in terms of spoilers for how Daenerys’ epic story may conclude in the eighth season of Game of Thrones, set to air in the first half of next year.
Fans were quick to assume that co-star Sophie Turner’s Sansa Stark tattoo was giving the game away, as she chose the Stark family dire wolf emblem and “The pack survives” to be written on her forearm. Since then, she’s confirmed that it’s just a heartfelt declaration of her loyalty to the family of the North.
Filming for Game of Thrones, winner of Outstanding Drama Series at this week’s Emmy Awards, came to an emotional end earlier this year, with cast and crew of the HBO series bidding farewell to Westeros when production wrapped on July 6. At the time, Emilia described how the show had changed her life, writing: “It’s been a trip @gameofthrones". She added: “Thank you for the life I never dreamed I’d be able to live and the family I’ll never stop missing”.
Let’s all just pretend this is an impromptu, great tattoo decision from Emilia, and not an emotional tribute to the end of the greatest TV show of our generation, okay? Sigh... Valar Morghulis.
