People of Color in Game of Thrones: Shadows in Westeros
World-building is a skill not all authors possess. With an expansive setting, well fleshed-out characters, and even intricate relationships to tie one character to the other, it takes immense thought and accuracy to see a story through. The best example that comes to mind is that of George R.R. Martin who penned the fantastical A Song of Ice and Fire that was eventually adapted into a series for HBO titled Game of Thrones.
The story has everything, from fire-breathing dragons and undead soldiers to incestuous relationships and ultimate betrayals that make trust a rare commodity in the wild, wild world of Westeros. Somehow, despite creating such a vast world, Martin seemingly forgot to make it ethnically diverse and authentic. Among over 150 major characters who play a crucial role in furthering the story, there are close to no Black characters or people of color who hold a significant role in the story.
While roaming the streets of Westeros, we would find people of color in thousands as passersby who make up the background characters in Game of Thrones. Then, we see mostly Blacks and people of color in the storylines that focus on slavery. Is this really an accurate representation of a world where dragons are real and a single Throne rules seven large continents? Game of Thrones has come under public scrutiny multiple times only because of this glaring issue that makes it difficult for the masses to resonate with the characters. Here’s a deeper dive into the way people of color are treated in Martin’s intricate world and how their fate seems to be doomed for eternity.
The Bottom of the Barrel
In season 1, we are introduced to the savage Dothrakis who mount their horses and gallop across the free fields with Khal Drogo as their leader. Viserys makes a deal with the Dothrakis to give them his sister Daenerys and in turn, have their support for when the Targaryens claim the Iron Throne. However, things take a dramatic turn when Daenerys makes Drogo fall in love with her and kill Viserys for his unending greed.
This might be one of the only scenes where a person of color is portrayed as more powerful than their white counterpart. But is the representation in the right light? The Dothraki are ultimately shown as animals who don’t think before they do something. They cannot be trusted for their allegiance because they will twist on their heels the first chance they get. Game of Thrones portrayed people of color at the bottom of the barrel.
Not just the Dothraki, take Sallador Saan, the Black pirate lord, and Xaro Xhoan Daxos, the cunning merchant of Qarth, both of whom are shown as untrustworthy characters. They are seen on screen for just a few scenes but that is enough to let their cheating and lying images be formed in our brains. Are these the only roles we can keep aside for Black people and people of color? Can they not represent people in power who drive justice and establish a peaceful realm?
In a season-wise dissection, we only see a couple of characters who are not predominantly white. Let alone the main characters, Game of Thrones fails to establish people of color in well-written secondary characters too. The landscape of Westeros seems white-washed, to say the least. People of color have been used as instruments to showcase poverty, street filth, and the low quality of life along the bad parts of the continent. White people hold the hegemony of portraying reigning characters in the show and hence hogging all the spotlight.
Some die-hard fans argue that the show’s setting impacts the diversity of characters we see on the show. But the primary problem may not lie in the lack of Black people on the show, instead, it focuses on how the minimal Black characters are portrayed in the storyline. Had they been absolutely absent from the show, we could have understood that the setting mattered. Even then, Westeros spans seven kingdoms (or countries) and it’s a bit hard to believe that neither of those countries have a population of color.
People of Color and Their Doomed Relationships Moving one step further in our deep dive, we now look at how people of color have been doomed to fail in romantic relationships as well. Game of Thrones promises no paradise where happy endings are the norm and characters walk on rainbows. Quite the opposite, Westeros is a land where nightmares come true more often than dreams. Even then, the probability of Black people or colored characters failing to achieve their desires is higher than White people.
Looking at the increasing ambition for the Iron Throne, we notice how every White character from all the houses aspires to claim the crown. On the other hand, is there any character of color who dreams of sitting on the Iron Throne? None that we can think of. Was that written as such because Black people are not capable of such ambitious dreams, or because they accepted their fate of only being cunning pirates and merchants on the periphery of King’s Landing?
Moreover, in their race to claim power, White characters in Game of Thrones have used people of color to get ahead. Daenerys Targaryen, the supposed White Savior and Breaker of Chains, has two partners of color but she commits to neither, Daario Naharis and Daxos the Merchant. While it has been portrayed that the Targaryen princess stays away from romance to not deviate from her path, her philosophy is thrown out of the window when she gets involved with Jon Snow. Surprise, surprise, another White character!
Daenerys frees the slaves and the Unsullied from their owners and gives them a chance to live on their own or join her on her crusade to claim her birthright. There, she meets Missandei and Grey Worm who become her most loyal allies in the fight against other houses. The two soon fall in love, but we all know how it ends. It almost feels as if people of color are being set up to face sad endings and disappointments. Their love affair is short-lived and sacrificed all because of Daenerys’s feud with the Lannisters.
Let’s travel to the sunny side of Westeros where Dornish people drink wine and enjoy life. The Dorne inhabitants might be the only characters of color who hold a rather significant role in the Game of Thrones storyline. Oberyn Martell is hell-bent on avenging the death of his sister Elia Martell who was killed because of the Lannisters yet again after Rhaegar Targaryen leaves her for Lyanna Stark. A colored character is thrown away for another’s greed yet again. The examples of this action are endless.
Oberyn suffers a brutal death and Ellaria, his lover, too faced the wrath of the White characters of Lannister's name soon after. Their love story is cut short, yet again showing how people of color and their romances are doomed to fail in the cruel world of Westeros. We understand that Game of Thrones is no fairy tale for the White characters either, but the narrative feels a bit more harsh towards Blacks and people of color.