Warning: If you still haven’t seen the Game of Thrones finale, spoilers will be found below.
By now, everyone’s either accepted the Game of Thrones outcome for what it was despite glaring season 8 problems, or they’ve blown off some steam by signing a petition for a rewrite. That last option obviously won’t result in HBO pouring out hundreds of millions to redo two years’ worth of work (despite over 1.5 million signatures as of this writing), but that same gathering of fans has now channeled some of their seemingly angsty energy for a good cause.
Reddit user Ella_Ellaria (writing in the same community that launched the above petition) has started a new campaign to fundraise for SameYou, the charity started by Emilia Clarke after she revealed her brain aneurysm struggle while filming Thrones. Elle_ellaria, who identifies herself only as Sarah, admitted to Entertainment Weekly that she did sign the initial petition (which she says is “pretty obvious it’s a joke”). Her fundraising page honors Clarke for “bring[ing] us Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, one of the most iconic characters in TV history” and continues while explaining its purpose:
“Since the tongue-in-cheek nature of that petition has flown over a lot peoples’ heads, to the point that it’s prompted backlash from some of the cast, we wanted to show that Game of Thrones fans appreciate the hard work of the incredible cast & crew despite their constraints. We wanted to send a message that even though fans have been very vocal in their disappointment with the conclusion of the series, none of that is directed at the cast and crew — all of whom did an incredible job bringing Westeros to life.”
So far, the page has raised nearly $45,000 over the weekend and hopes to go further. Sarah told EW that she holds a “great deal of love and respect for Emilia Clarke.” Further, she empathizes with how Clarke worried that people would turn against Daenerys and “seemed like she really struggled to come to terms” with her character’s heel turn. To that end, Sarah wishes to keep funneling fan angst, tongue-in-cheek or not, to Clarke’s fight against the devastating nature of brain injuries.
(Via Reddit & Entertainment Weekly)
