There’s no question about Daenerys Targaryen’s identity—her house ruled the Seven Kingdoms for almost three centuries, and she has proven herself the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea after leading the Dothraki army.
Emilia Clarke’s portrayal of the character easily made us believe she was born to play the part, but what really is her identity outside of her Game of Thrones persona? What’s her family and cultural background? With such great beauty and talent, Clarke surely has an interesting story to share.
Did you know that Emilia Clarke is part-Indian? Yes, and she’s proud of it!
Emilia Clarke has a loving relationship with her family, and she revealed her favorite activity with them is sitting around a table and just talking about anything under the sun. Like other families, hers also kept a secret.
Not a lot of fans know that Clarke has South Asian roots, but this was something she has revealed in the past. In a cover story of Harper’s Bazaar, she talked about her maternal grandmother who was half-Indian. “My grandmother was colonial Indian, and it was a big old family secret because her mum had an affair with someone in India,” she shared with the outlet.
It wasn’t something that her grandmother proudly wore in her life as Clarke said she used to cover up her skin with makeup (via Vanity Fair):
The fact that [my grandmother] had to hide her skin color, essentially, and try desperately to fit in with everyone else must’ve been incredibly difficult. So, yeah: history of fighters.
Despite so, she loved India more than she loved England. Clarke was 16 when her grandmother passed away, and to pay homage to her ancestry, the actress went to India with her boyfriend to scatter her grandmother’s ashes. Unlike her late granny, the Game of Thrones star is proud of her heritage. “I love that part of me—I’m like one-eighth Indian,” she noted.
Like Daenerys’ pride in being a Targaryen and doing everything to reclaim her family’s legacy, Clarke’s display of respect for her ancestors simply mirrors that of her on-screen persona.
Daenerys Targaryen’s journey is reminiscent of Emilia Clarke’s story
After learning about Clarke’s intriguing ancestry, it’s now easy to see the similarities she shares with Daenerys. The story of her Eastern roots definitely resembled that of the Mother of Dragons’ journey in the show. While she is of Valyrian descent, her family has made a home in Westeros, although she’s not forgetting where she came from.
It’s also very thoughtful of Clarke to travel across continents just to make her grandmother happy one last time. With the actress scattering her granny’s ashes in the soil of India, she’s now one with the place she loved the most.
Clarke might only be one-eighth Indian, but she’s embracing it without question. Hopefully, we see her explore more of her ancestors’ culture in the future.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
