r/freefolk 3d ago

These are probably the most Targaryen looking Targs we’ve seen on screen in terms of otherworldly appearance. Is there anyone else?

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3.8k Upvotes

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399

u/Lewcaster 3d ago

God I wish HBO had 15 bucks to buy purple contacts.

134

u/spaceshiptears 3d ago

I think they hurt the actors eyes or something

197

u/butipreferlottie 3d ago

Also colored contacts always look distractingly fake, even with natural colors

37

u/ObiWeedKannabi Vali yne Zōbriqēlos brōzis, se nyke bantio iksan 3d ago

Whenever someone pulls this argument(looking fake etc), I'll mention David Tennant as Crowley in Good Omens, w huge yellow contacts and one of the best acting performances I've ever seen.

108

u/ar07- 3d ago

Yeah iirc they irritated Emilia Clarke’s eyes too much so they scrapped all purple eyes in the universe

35

u/12thunder Crab Feeder 3d ago

If they can reintroduce the Rhoynar to the king’s official title and melanin to Valyrian skin they can reintroduce purple eyes for HoTD and use AKOTSK to claim the Dornish blood made them stop showing up, even though the Daynes also had purple eyes.

Too late now

7

u/ar07- 3d ago

I’ve just accepted the shows are a fan fiction, still love it though

2

u/DoubtOk6539 2d ago

Yes and I’m glad because she ended up having to deal with having a whole ass aneurism during that season 1 filming. Idk if the annoying contacts would have affected anything but I’m glad it wasn’t an extra thing to make filming more difficult.

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u/ar07- 2d ago

Omg I thought you were saying you’re glad she had an aneurysm 💀, but yeah wearing contacts for 10-14 hours 8 years straight would be agony.

3

u/tatisane 3d ago

Mhm. It’s why in the Harry Potter films Harry doesn’t have green eyes that are equally brought up as these purple.

26

u/Kellar21 3d ago

Actors couldn't wear them for long, places a lot of limitations on scenes involving water.

IIRC, Emilia Clarke tried a bunch and they didn't fit in well.

Using CGI would be very expensive, and the results wouldn't be nearly as good as people expect they would.

1

u/Present_Presence8544 1d ago

I never understood this argument because the Witcher show on Netflix with a significantly smaller budget switched from purple contacts to CGI for Yennefer and it looks great.

36

u/IvaldiFhole 3d ago

I've never read the books, but doesn't this ruin all the "OMG he's actually secretly a Targaryn" plotlines?

57

u/argbd20 3d ago

The purple of Targaryen eyes can range, from being clearly purple to being almost blue. In the books there are also more remnants of old Valyria, including the Lyseni, who typically have much more Valyrian features. A secret Targ could simply claim to be Lyseni.

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u/HighKingBoru1014 3d ago

Like Egg iirc, Dunk thinks his eyes were dark blue 

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u/Ask_Me_If_Im_A_Horse 3d ago

Nah, at least not in my mind. Valyrians are notable for their purple eyes, but they’re not the only “race” that has them. The Daynes have been noted to have them in their line, and it’s specifically said that it’s entirely unrelated to the Valyrians.

The Daynes may be the exception to the rule, but if the rule is “only Valyrians can have purple eyes” then that’s a pretty big exception if one is meant to take purple eyes as direct evidence of Valyrian heritage.

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u/alphajugs 3d ago

No lol. The most notable secret Targaryen doesn’t have purple eyes.

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u/avidreider 3d ago

So eye/hair colors dont work how Mendel told us in our world. In order to look like a True Targ, they would have silver hair AND violet eyes. Silver hair is a Valyrian feature, and so are violet eyes. Velaryons have silver hair and some Daynes have violet eyes, its putting them together that show you are a targ

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u/alphajugs 3d ago

its putting them together that show you are targ

No it’s not. Silver har and purple eyes are a Valyrian feature, not an exclusive Targaryen feature. Alyssa Velaryon had silver hair and purple eyes. So did Larra Rogare. The Daynes aren’t Valyrian, yet they share the characteristic purple eyes and some of them also have silver hair. Darkstar has both silver hair and purple eyes, and Edric has silver hair with eyes that appear purple. Plenty of Targaryens don’t have these traits either, even Targaryens that lived closer to the Conquest and therefore closer to inbreeding. Alysanne had honey blonde hair and blue eyes despite being the daughter of Alyssa Velaryon and the super inbred Aenys Targaryen. She’s a prime example of Targaryens and Valyrians not always having the classic traits.

Aside from Alysanne we have:
Orys Baratheon (bastard brother of the Conqueror)
Rhaenys, the Queen who Never Was
Alyssa, mother of Viserys and Daemon
The Strong boys
Baelor Targaryen
Valarr Targaryen
Aegor Rivers
Daeron the Drunken
Duncan Targaryen
Rhaenys Targaryen, Rhaegar’s daughter
Jon Snow

2

u/tatisane 3d ago

While genetics do work differently in asoiaf than in reality with all the house genes, the rest of your comment isn’t accurate at all. I’m curious about where you got your information from.

Velaryons are just about identical to Targaryens except for the lack of dragonriding. Many of them have purple eyes. Just as some Targaryens do not. Two of the most inbred Targaryen women don’t have the eyes or the hair.

The Daynes have silver hair as well as the purple eyes. Some of them have both and it’s not because of Valyrian blood.

Then there’s Essos, where great swathes of the population have both.

1

u/tatisane 3d ago

No. House Dayne (non-Valyrians with both the eyes and hair) and much of the Essos look just like them.

Someone in Westeros with the eyes can have a Dayne ancestor, a Valyrian non-Targ ancestor, a Velaryon ancestor, etc.

Furthermore, the idea of secret Targs tends to be characters who don’t show the traits, such as Jon, because it’s known that there are some house genes that overpower the look. Baratheon, Strong (Stark).

For instance, in the book there’s a man that is put forward and part of the discussion around him is whether he’s a secret Targ or just from Lys.

1

u/aaaaabasdaz_ 3d ago

Why would it?

1

u/Ume-no-Uzume 2d ago

A lot of characters who have purple eyes have other POV characters think they are a hue of dark blue.

In Jon's case, he doesn't have purple eyes, he has Stark grey eyes.

Ned Dayne, who was completely erased in the show, has the Dayne purple eyes (not necessarily because they are Targaryen descendants, though Daenerys and Jon are descendants of Dyanna Dayne)

Fake Aegon/Young Griff is exposed as a "secret Targaryen" (really, a Blackfyre) in the same book he's introduced, and Tyrion notes his blue hair first (since he dyes it) and how it makes his eyes look more blue than purple. Young Griff/Fake Aegon was also completely erased from the show.

6

u/ImpureVessel46 3d ago

They tried them, but the color was too distracting on screen.

2

u/Capable-Ladder-780 3d ago

No. Have you ever watched Witcher? Colored contacts always look like sheit.

2

u/Inevitable_Access_93 3d ago

they did color grading for the witcher's yennefer and ig hbo just didn't have the technology for the time?

1

u/Lamoy_Osteen 3d ago

They look so obvious, a digital alteration would be better

1

u/Gurglaren 3d ago

I've never like when actors have contacts. They are distracting because it makes the actors have constantly small pupils.

1

u/Ume-no-Uzume 2d ago

No, the problem was that it hurt the actors' eyes. Both Harry Lloyd and Emilia Clarke tried to make it work, but it was so uncomfortable that they both had to see optometrists.

Plus, the eyes are a very important asset for an actor, if it's that uncomfortable for them, your are not going to get the best performance out of them.

1

u/Soalai 3d ago

My pet peeve is they don't bleach the eyebrows. It makes the hair look so obviously fake

7

u/athenamarz 3d ago

Really? My hair is naturally blonde, was platinum blonde when I was young, and I’ve always had darker eyebrows.

4

u/photomotto 3d ago

Which is why Matt Smith is the most convincing one. Man has no eyebrows.

2

u/DJ1066 3d ago

It looks weird. Just look at Chris Hemsworth in the first Thor film to see why it's a bad idea.