George R.R. Martin is obsessed with heraldry. If you’ve read A Song of Ice and Fire, you know the man can spend three pages describing a lemon tart or the specific shade of a knight’s surcoat. But the one detail fans can't stop arguing about is the violet Game of Thrones eyes. Specifically, the haunting, otherworldly purple eyes of the House Targaryen. When the show first aired on HBO, people were genuinely confused. Why did Emilia Clarke have blue eyes? Why wasn't Harry Lloyd's Viserys rocking that deep indigo stare from the books?
It wasn't a mistake. It was a choice. A practical, annoying, and ultimately polarizing production decision that changed how we see the "blood of the dragon."
Why the Violet Game of Thrones Look Failed the Screen Test
The logic was simple. In the books, Targaryens are beautiful but "wrong." They have silver-gold hair and eyes that range from light lilac to dark violet. It’s their mark of Valyrian exceptionalism. It’s what makes them look like they aren't entirely human. Naturally, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss wanted to keep this. They actually tried.
During the pilot phase, both Emilia Clarke and Harry Lloyd wore violet contact lenses. They looked stunning in still photos. But there was a massive problem: the lenses acted like a wall.
Acting is about the eyes. When you shove a thick, colored piece of plastic over an actor's pupil, you lose the subtle micro-movements of the iris. You lose the "soul" of the performance. The showrunners felt the emotional weight of Daenerys’s journey was being muffled by the gear. Plus, 2011-era contacts were notoriously uncomfortable for long shoots in the Moroccan heat. The production team decided that human emotion was more important than lore-accurate eye color. So, the violet Game of Thrones eyes were scrapped.
Honestly, it was probably the right call for the medium, even if it broke the hearts of the book purists. If Dany's eyes didn't look "real," her connection with the audience might have felt artificial from the jump.
The Science and Lore of the Valyrian Stare
In the world of Westeros, violet eyes aren't just a fashion statement. They are a genetic marker of Old Valyria. While the Targaryens are the most famous examples, other houses with Valyrian roots, like House Velaryon or House Dayne, occasionally sport them too.
Wait. House Dayne?
Yeah. Ashara Dayne is famous for her "haunting violet eyes," despite not being Valyrian by blood. This has sparked a decade of fan theories. Some think the Daynes are proto-Valyrians. Others think it’s just Martin showing that genetics in his world don't follow our rules. In our world, purple eyes basically don't exist, outside of very rare cases where lighting makes ocular albinism look violet. In Martin's world, it's a sign of power.
The shade matters.
- Daenerys Targaryen: Described as having violet eyes.
- Aegon the Conqueror: Darker, almost purple eyes.
- Rhaegar Targaryen: Dark indigo.
- Aerion Brightflame: Bright violet, almost glowing.
When you remove this from the show, you lose a bit of the "alien" quality of the family. The Targaryens practiced incest specifically to keep these traits—including the eyes—pure. By making them look like "normal" people with blonde hair, the show grounded them. It made them more relatable, sure, but it also took away that sense that they were magical beings who just happened to be living among mortals.
House of the Dragon and the Continued Absence
When House of the Dragon was announced, fans thought, "Okay, now we have the budget. Now we have better VFX. Surely the violet Game of Thrones eyes are coming back."
Nope.
Ryan Condal and the team stuck to the precedent set by the original series. They kept the actors' natural eye colors. Matt Smith has blue eyes. Emma D'Arcy has blue/green eyes. The logic remained the same: performance over pigments. However, they leaned much harder into the silver wigs and the specific Valyrian costumes to compensate.
There's a technical side to this too. Post-production digital eye coloring is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. You have to rotoscope every single frame where an actor blinks or moves their head. For a show with hours of footage, you’re talking about millions of dollars just to change an eye color. When you've already spent the budget on Vhagar and Caraxes, the eyes usually get the axe.
The Disappointment of the "Purists"
Is it a big deal? Some say no. Others argue it changes the stakes of certain plots. Take the "Young Griff" storyline from the books—a character who claims to be Aegon Targaryen. His primary evidence is his Valyrian features. In a world where anyone can have blonde hair (hello, Lannisters), the violet eyes act as a biological "blue checkmark."
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Without them, the visual language of the show relies entirely on hair. It makes the world feel slightly less magical. It’s one of those "sacrifices for the screen" that reminds us that books and TV are totally different beasts. Martin’s prose can imply a thousand things with a single word like "amethyst," but a camera lens is literal. It sees what it sees.
What You Can Do to Bring Back the Magic
If you’re a fan who really misses that specific aesthetic, there are ways to engage with the "true" look of the characters.
First, check out the official Fire & Blood illustrations by artists like Doug Wheatley. These are the gold standard. They capture the sharp, regal, and slightly terrifying look of the Targaryens that the show occasionally softens.
Second, if you're a cosplayer or a fan artist, don't feel beholden to the HBO look. The violet Game of Thrones aesthetic is making a massive comeback in digital art and fan edits. Using high-quality "circle lenses" or digital post-processing can give you that look that the show runners were too afraid to commit to.
Lastly, read the books again. Seriously. Pay attention to the way characters react to seeing those eyes for the first time. It isn't just a color; it’s a physical manifestation of the dragons they used to ride.
The violet eyes represent the tragedy of House Targaryen. They are a reminder of a collapsed empire and a bloodline that is slowly fading from the world. Whether they are on screen or just in our heads, they remain the most iconic "what if" in the history of fantasy casting. Keep that in mind the next time you see a Targaryen on screen; they are supposed to be looking at the world through a much more colorful lens.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Creators:
- Study the Lore: If you're writing or creating in the GoT universe, distinguish between "lilac," "indigo," and "violet." Each shade often correlates with the character's temperament in Martin's writing.
- Cosplay Tip: If you want the Valyrian look, skip the cheap drugstore contacts. Look for "opaque" violet lenses designed for dark eyes to get that eerie, authentic pop seen in official book art.
- Support the Artists: Follow official ASOIAF illustrators like Magali Villeneuve, who consistently portray the Targaryens with their canon-accurate features, providing a visual bridge between the books and the show's interpretation.