‘Game of Thrones’ season 4, episode 8: Emilia Clarke on big Dany – Jorah moment

Is Danaerys starting to go on a little bit of a power trip? She has certainly become more fiercely independent on “Game of Thrones” this season, and that in turn leads to some pretty tough decisions.

Tonight, one of those came in her choice to send away Ser Jorah after learning about his past allegiances through a pardon that was sent to him. We’ve known for some time that this man has some skeletons in his closet; however, we also knew that he would never do anything to harm her, since Jorah is completely loyal to Dany now and is in many ways in love with her (even if it is unrequited).

So as you would expect, this was a complicated scene for Emilia Clarke to film. Speaking about tonight’s episode to Entertainment Weekly, she explained that this scene in particular was one of the rare times that she started to question her character:

“Emotionally for me it was so intricate … Jorah’s been with me since day one, season one. The scene itself is unpleasant because I — Emilia — know that what Dany is doing is wrong, And it was the first time I’ve ever felt that.”

The way in which we interpret this is that Dany is a woman who tends to constantly look at things in terms of them being black and white, and she often relies on Jorah to see the grey area. This is what we saw earlier this season with him campaigning to her to not be ruthless. Unfortunately, he was the target of her ire this time, and he could not properly advise her to find that grey area when it came to saving his own hide.

It will be fascinating to see what comes of Jorah now, but if you wan to get some further reaction to tonight’s shocking episode, click here for more on The Mountain and the Viper. Also, sign up for further TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: HBO