Daenerys Is Finally Wearing Targaryen Red, And That's Very Important

My anxiety levels are rising.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead, so if you know nothing and wish to continue knowing nothing, leave now.

HBO

Daenerys Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, etc. has gone through many different and iconic looks since we first met her in Season 1 — and each look reflects some aspect of her journey.

HBO

Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton told BuzzFeed last year that color plays an especially big role in Dany's costumes. In previous seasons, she wore blue to show her loyalty to Khal Drogo and the Dothraki. We've seen her move steadily toward charcoals and grays as her autonomy grows. "She’s actually becoming herself," Clapton said. "She’s been in these very pale grays and whites — it’s like purity to her."

But one important color has been noticeably absent from Dany's wardrobe in past seasons: red, the color of House Targaryen.

HBO

"Dany hasn’t had her red since she was with [Viserys], her brother," Clapton said last year. "And maybe that’ll come back."

Red is a shared color in the Targaryen and Lannister sigils — and a shared color of importance in Cersei's wardrobe. "When we first saw [Cersei], she was actually not terribly often in red," Clapton said. But as Cersei's power grew, so did her affinity for the color.

HBO

"As she asserts her power, she became very bright red, very Lannister. And then it went to more of a blood-red," Clapton said, "and then it went to black, which shows she’s in mourning for her children."

And this season, we're finally seeing Dany claim the color in her own way. The very first time we saw her, she was wearing her iconic dress–pants combo with just a liiittle bit of Targaryen red shining through.

HBO

According to Clapton, "No matter how sort of formally dressed she is, she always has boots and she always has trousers, so she can always run if she needs to."

And in the second episode, she's got some red embellishments on her dress — subtle, but noticeable.

HBO

In the third episode, we see her wear some more pronounced red as she welcomes/low-key imprisons Jon Snow in Dragonstone.

HBO

Perhaps it's a visual cue to the King in the North, a reminder of her heritage and birthright to the throne. (Little does she know that Jon's, ya know, a Targaryen himself and almost certainly has a higher claim to the throne than she does.)

And this week, the red cape was back.

HBO

Coupled with her three-headed dragon jewelry, Dany seems to be fully embracing her Targaryen lineage. And that could be very good, or very bad.

HBO

Dany's done some pretty badass stuff — but there's been a theory floating around for a while that she might be in danger of going down the same path as her father, Aerys II Targaryen, aka the Mad King.

HBO

Long story short: The Mad King went, well, mad. He tried to burn down King's Landing with wildfire, and would have if Jaime Lannister hadn't killed him.

That theory resurfaced during tonight's episode, when Dany killed Lord Tarly and his son Dickon after they refused to pledge allegiance to her — despite Tyrion trying to talk her out of it.

HBO

Still, Tyrion tried to see her reasoning. Varys, however, did not.

HBO

Varys served as master of whisperers to King Aerys, and drew a savage parallel between Dany and her dear old dad.

HBO

Showrunner David Benioff weighed in during Game of Thrones: Inside the Episode — but there still seems to be room for interpretation.

HBO

"Hopefully people watching will have their own [perspective], and they'll decide for themselves what they think," he said.

Maybe the red is a visual signal that she's headed down the same path as her father. Or maybe, like Cersei, Dany's power is growing and she's just reclaiming her roots and leaning into the Targaryen Look.

HBO

We'll find out soon enough.

HBO