The tragic Game of Thrones finale didn’t have a happy ending for Daenerys Targaryen, but a new cosplay sees the character back on the Iron Throne.
An impressive new Game of Thrones cosplay features Daenerys Targaryen taking her place atop the Iron Throne. Based on the novels by author George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones first premiered on HBO in 2011, running for eight seasons before coming to an end in 2019. The show features a standout cast, but one of the longest-running characters is Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys, who, after fighting for multiple seasons to ascend to the Iron Throne, goes mad with power and is killed by Kit Harington’s Jon Snow.
Now, a new cosplay shared by Der Ehrenmaddin on Instagram recreates Daenerys’ memorable Game of Thrones season 8 regal look. Check out the cosplay below:
While Daenerys didn’t get to actually sit on the Iron Throne in the HBO series, the impressive cosplay remedies this, imagining a different ending for the doomed character.
Should Daenerys Have Survived Game Of Thrones?
Game of Thrones is known for its brutal and surprising character deaths, and only a select few characters who are introduced in season 1 actually end up surviving through to the end of the series. Daenerys plays a prominent role in earlier seasons, chronicling her journey to find allies in exile before, finally, she reaches Westeros in season 7. Upon reaching Westeros, the land where most of Game of Thrones actually takes place, Daenerys embarks on a ruthless campaign for the Iron Throne, which she believes is her birthright.
Game of Thrones season 8, in particular, is a very divisive season for the show, with many complaints levied at how the final chapters of the story play out. Daenerys herself is a primary subject of this divisiveness, with her transition from ambitious outsider to a ruthless tyrant not feeling entirely believable. While it’s certainly fair to take issue with Daenerys evolution into the Mad Queen, the real problem with the storyline and her death is that it feels rushed, with season 8’s reduced episode count resulting in a transition that doesn’t feel earned.
As a result, Daenerys’ death in the Game of Thrones finale lacks the impact that it might have had if her transition into being the Mad Queen played out more gradually. There’s still a tragic irony to the fact that Daenerys gets so close to the Iron Throne but never actually gets to sit upon it, but the strength of her final moments would’ve been greater had her arc been given more room to breathe.
