Game of Thrones Star Emilia Clarke Claims It Was “Hell” Learning Her Final Speech

Actress Emilia Clarke might have spent nearly a decade reciting lines in Dothraki for Game of Thrones, but her final speech in the series was so complex that the actress claimed the process of learning it was “hell.” In a featurette on the series’ home video release, per Entertainment Tonight, the actress recalled the overwhelming anxiety of preparing for the dramatic sequence, with the actress ultimately claiming that she was able to muster the dialogue like “magic” when the time came to deliver the monologue. All eight seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones are currently available on Digital HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.

“I knew that speech was going to be really important, and I spent a huge amount of time learning it. And for the first time in my whole Game of Thrones career, I got that word perfect,” Clarke shares in the “Duty is the Death of Love” featurette. “I’m being so brutally honest here — I was in hell learning that speech. This pretend language was literally eating me up. I couldn’t do it.”

She added, “And then, magic happened. I woke up in the morning, went on, and it all came out. I was probably fighting not what I was fighting, but what Dany was doing.”

Daenerys’ trajectory throughout the series was beloved by fans, even if it concluded with a controversial demise. Early seasons of the series saw the character evolving from being merely an object in other characters’ journeys to fully embracing her own agency in pursuit of the Iron Throne. Her desire for power ultimately led to her downfall, as her anger towards those who denied her of the power she felt she was owed led to her razing King’s Landing, killing countless innocents in the process.

Clarke previously revealed that it was the Battle of Winterfell in the final season that was the tipping point for the character’s brutality.

“In the actual battle itself, Dany’s impatient to get in there. She’s like, gunning for a fight,” Clarke shares on the Game of Thrones‘ home video release. “She’s ready to take this guy down. She’s a fierce warrior, although you don’t see a lot of hand-to-hand combat with her, she’s ready to fight to the death.”

She added, “Especially at this point, there’s a lot of anger – she’s got all of that in her to put into this fight. It’s not just the matter at hand, but I think because of everything at an emotional level that’s gone on, she’s able to go into her cold-blooded side.”

All eight seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones are currently available on Digital HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.

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