"I actually started the Tree out of spite because all their descriptions (and fan representations) make them look the same — beautiful, silver-haired and purple eyes," she told Vox via email in 2016, after first drawing the tree, "and it frustrated me to see them as elf-clones."
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Maryon’s frustration is understandable. The Targaryens are much more than pretty blondes with big pets, and their convoluted dynasty has vast repercussions for the present and future of Westeros.
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[I]t got me interested in their ancestors, so I worked from there. At first I never thought I'd do the whole bunch, but it's when I realized that I was already halfway through just by making Maekar's descendants that I gave in: "While I'm at it, might as well do the rest…"
Maryon says the project turned out to be "a very challenging artistic exercise, to keep on coming up with facial variety all while maintaining the same 'silver hair-purple eyes' features and some genetic similarities."
"I had to find inspiration and study some real people's faces so I learned a lot since I started."
Above all, a look at the full family tree reveals how often and how strategically the Targaryens secured the future of their line by marrying into other powerful families like the Martells, the Baratheons, and the Velaryons, just as many figures in real-world history have done. And when Maryon was finished, she says she'd actually become fonder of the Targaryens than she was when she began:
"[I]n the end it made me appreciate House Targaryen much more since now I share a personal story with each and every one of them, and I would suggest anyone who likes Game of Thrones to be curious about them because they have a lot of stories to tell."
You can see these and many more excerpts from the Targaryen family tree, as well as other Game of Thrones portraits, on Maryon’s DeviantArt page. She’s stated that she hopes to eventually produce a print version of the full family tree, but in the meantime she's done a few more complicated Game of Thrones projects, including a set of Major Arcana tarot cards.