Halftime Score: Nudity in Game of Thrones

The Score

Women: 12

Men: 3

Female Nudity

HBO invents all reasons to have naked women. Even when a female prostitute is naked as can be the camera angles find excuse to never show anything of the male clients. Instead the men walk about either clothed, or with a strategically exposed women covering up his naughty bits. Perish the thought of a naked man in a brothel!

Even when female nudity makes no sense, they throw it in.

If Margaery knew that Renly was gay and unseduceable, why did she her top off? Asking if he wants her brother to help, awsome. Excuse for more female nudity, not so awsome.

With Joffrey’s of prostitute beating, the nudity cheapened the scene. It would have been more powerful if she had kept her clothes on, and shown no sign of anything at all sexual in that scene and that he gets his kicks from pure violence, instead of the mix.

That Stannis/Mel scene… what’s with him being fully clothed, not even slipping out his pecker for a moment, and her being totally naked? Lopsided-much HBO? Besides. Melisandre should have been on top. Stannis is too rigid to take charge with his mechanical thrusts and make a mess of the Painted Table.

Male Nudity

Notice how nothing is censor-worthy on the men. And as lovely as Episode 5 was without a boob in sight, and instead Gendry’s fine, fine smithing, the scales are rather a little unbalanced. Dear HBO: those of us who appreciate the male body like a little ass too, maybe even a tentacle.

quantumblog said: What do you think of Jaqen?

I liked the little bit of him I’ve seen so far! I’m glad that they didn’t keep the hair colour. Some things sound neat on the page and look awful on the screen. They’re not going with the more unreal aspects of characters’ physique and it adds to the earthiness of the sereis’ look. And handsome, oh yes. Between him and Gendry’s random growing into hotness this season, poor Arya has still competition for my attention. Let’s home a certain bath scene isn’t cut.
Dear Followers: you guys rock! Seriously, if you haven’t introduced yourself yet don’t be shy :) I know this tumblr has been a little quiet recently, but things will gear up again soon. I been, erm, busy digesting Game of Thrones.
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Dear Followers: you guys rock! Seriously, if you haven’t introduced yourself yet don’t be shy :) I know this tumblr has been a little quiet recently, but things will gear up again soon. I been, erm, busy digesting Game of Thrones.

wild and free: MY CATELYN AND ROBB RELATED THOUGHTS

fauxkaren:

Because everyone is waiting on pins and needles for my opinion.

Really, I think HBO just does not understand the Robb and Cat storyline. They’re playing Robb As Hero completely straight. I think part of that is a by-product of aging up the character. It’s kind of hard to sell Richard Madden as a Boy King. So in the books when Robb pulls the Grey Wind stunt with Cleos Frey, it’s immature posturing. But in the show when he does it with Jaime, I think we’re supposed to read it as him being bad ass which completely misses the point of his character (the point being a deconstruction of the idea of a boy king).

But the way Cat was handled was even worse. There were four big mistakes with the way Cat was written in tonight’s episode.

1. In the books, it is CATELYN who suggests to Robb that they go to Renly and get the Baratheon brothers to work together to take down the Lannisters. I love that it is Catelyn who has the political mind to see this solution. The fact that in the show they gave that idea to Robb does away with the idea we see in the books that while Robb is a capable general on the battlefield, he needs help ruling. It also de-emphasizes Catelyn’s perceptiveness and cleverness.

2. I didn’t really like the fact that the only reason Cat gave for not sending Theon to Balon to treat was because Balon was untrustworthy. I mean, that is true, but in the books she relents and says that if Robb has to treat with Balon send someone else other than Theon. I think that in order for later events to be most impactful, it’s important that she tell Robb specifically NOT to send Theon. Her opposition to sending Theon also shows her wisdom. Theon is a HOSTAGE. He is their leverage over Balon. WHY WOULD YOU GIVE UP YOUR LEVERAGE, ROBB? Robb was letting his emotions and his affection for Theon make his decisions for him.

3. I was annoyed that Cat didn’t get her line about girls not being worth it. Catelyn knows how the world works and she knows that in Robb’s eyes his sisters aren’t worth giving up his prize hostage of Jaime Lannister. I mean, I believe Robb loves his sisters, but he also doesn’t want to risk angering his bannermen and they would be mad if he traded Jaime for Arya and Sansa. But with the line about girls not being worth it, it becomes explicit that Cat understands how the politics of it all is very gendered and how girls aren’t worth much in this game of thrones.

4. And finally and most aggravatingly, I raged at her line about it being time for her to go home. WAS THIS EPISODE WRITTEN BY DUDEBROS FROM WESTEROS.ORG? I THINK IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. I mean in the book she does want to see Bran and Rickon, but she knows that her duty right now is with Robb. So her wish to see Bran and Rickon in the books is more of a “I wish we were all safe in Winterfell” or a “I wish I could be in multiple places at once” type thing. In the book she makes a conscious choice to be with Robb because she knows that he needs her more at that moment in time. But Robb is a typical teenager about it being all “MOOOOOM. STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DOOOOO” and he tries to send her away to various places. And I feel like by changing things to have Catelyn want to leave Robb and be with Bran and Rickon, it’s like the showrunners are validating all the dudebros on westeros.org who complain about what a terrible mother she is for abandoning Bran and Rickon.  I am actually really angry that Catelyn said “it’s time for me to go home”. It’s just like the show is pandering to all of the Cat Haters who criticize her for not being with Bran and Rickon and UGH. NOPE. STOP IT.

Now does this ruin the show for me? Nope. I enjoyed plenty of other aspects of tonight’s episode. But, it does bother me that the showrunners don’t understand my favorite character at all.

This, this and this says what I feel, except better. I like that GRRM didn’t go the typical route with focusing on Robb, but instead the focus was on wonderboi’s widowed mother. They are neutering Cat in the show.

(via spearwife-deactivated20120531)

Source: fauxkaren

Game of Thrones, Epsiode 02.01 Feels

Most important errand of the day: obtaining snacks to watch Game of Thrones. I am full of feels.

ZOMG the opening credits don’t take us anywhere new! First disappointment.

Myrcella gets a line. Woo! I hope we can hear many more in the episodes to come. Tommen’s first line will be like kittens.

Chella! Are those black ears she’s wearing?


Osha! I’m glad her hair is no longer in her face. It’s like watching someone run with their shoelaces untied. Not that she should be clean or anything, but that hair was bugging me. All better now. Osha knows everything. Everyone else knows shit.

Drogon looking good. Did they do a better job on Dany brows this season? Or will they go black again in Quarth? One can only hope. No Irri! I hope she’s not cut/dies :(

Dany and Rackharo have a Moment. Am I the only one who wants them to exchange more bodily fluids than just blood?

Looks like they did cast a Selyse! There is hope for Team Shireen. Even if Selyse doesn’t get any lines. Way to contribute to her marginalization HBO. I hope they don’t also reduce her to joke about female liphair.

Everyone gather round for a toast. Stannis is all like, do I have to? The painted table is win. And I don’t even care that Stannis isn’t bald. I loved the three of them, they work well together, and I think are the strongest group of the new cast.

The ruby glows ever so subtly.

My feelings on the direwolf are mixed. In the still Greywind looks pretty badass. He’s realistic, but, but I can tell the wolf is from a greenscreen. The lighting wasn’t so good on him. Ah well, could be worse.

Littlefinger, looking mighty old. I won’t be able to watch when he gets it on with Lysa. I don’t want to picture Lysa rooting her dad.

Ahhhh, Cat, there you are! I’m miffed they cut so much her out. It should have been her eye fucking Jamie, not Robb. I hope she gets juicy bits in the Stormlands.

Come on Joff, you saw it coming. Look at Cersei’s face. It’s a warning. You asked for it. Work those eyebrows Cersei!

I guess I have to give my hopes up. Looks like they cut out the two most major women of colour and made them white. (psst Linda this is how whitewashing is done) Seriously HBO? I thought you were better than this. RIP Chataya and Alayaya. I mean, I guess with Ros it’s economy of character, but they could have at the very least kept Alayaya black and similar to her original character, instead of some random white lady.

Why, hello there, Gendry.

turncloaks: eatoncrow: lilpocketninja: missfolly: New forensic techniques in archaeology reveal existence of high status Africans living in 4th Century AD York “A picture of multi-cultural Britain in 4th Century AD has been revealed using the latest forensic techniques in archaeology. The new research, published in the March issue of the journal Antiquity, demonstrates that Roman York of the period had individuals of North African descent moving in the highest social circles. Dr Hella Eckardt, Senior Lecturer at the University of Reading, said: “Multi-cultural Britain is not just a phenomenon of more modern times. Analysis of the ‘Ivory Bangle Lady’ and others like her, contradicts common popular assumptions about the make up of Roman-British populations as well as the view that African immigrants in Roman Britain were of low status, male and likely to have been slaves.” “To date, we have had to rely on evidence of such foreigners in Roman Britain from inscriptions. However, by analysing the facial features of the Ivory Bangle Lady and measuring her skull compared to reference populations, analysing the chemical signature of the food and drink she consumed, as well as evaluating the evidence from the burial site, we are now able to establish a clear profile of her ancestry and social status. “It helps paint a picture of a Roman York that was hugely diverse and which included among its population, men, women and children of high status from Romanised North Africa and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.” The ancestry assessment suggests a mixture of ‘black’ and ‘white’ ancestral traits, and the isotope signature indicates that she may have come from somewhere slightly warmer than the UK. Taken together with the evidence of an unusual burial rite and grave goods, the evidence all points to a high status incomer to Roman York. It seems likely that she is of North African descent, and may have migrated to York from somewhere warmer, possibly the Mediterranean. The Ivory Bangle Lady was a high status young woman who was buried in Roman York (Sycamore Terrace). Dated to the second half of the fourth century, her grave contains jet and elephant ivory bracelets, earrings, pendants, beads, a blue glass jug and a glass mirror. The most famous object from this burial is a rectangular openwork mount of bone, possibly from an unrecorded wooden casket, which reads ‘Hail, sister, may you live in God’, indicating Christian beliefs.” Dear Merlin fandom… Dear fantasy authors who squawk about there being no PoCs in Dark Ages and Medieval Europe: In. Your. Stupid. Face. Merlin fandom and Lindaaa were the first things I thought of while reading this But it is tooooo far for them to sail there. Everyone knows only white people travel. /sarcasm In other news, this is awsome.
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turncloaks:

eatoncrow:

lilpocketninja:

missfolly:

New forensic techniques in archaeology reveal existence of high status Africans living in 4th Century AD York

“A picture of multi-cultural Britain in 4th Century AD has been revealed using the latest forensic techniques in archaeology. The new research, published in the March issue of the journal Antiquity, demonstrates that Roman York of the period had individuals of North African descent moving in the highest social circles.

Dr Hella Eckardt, Senior Lecturer at the University of Reading, said: “Multi-cultural Britain is not just a phenomenon of more modern times. Analysis of the ‘Ivory Bangle Lady’ and others like her, contradicts common popular assumptions about the make up of Roman-British populations as well as the view that African immigrants in Roman Britain were of low status, male and likely to have been slaves.”

“To date, we have had to rely on evidence of such foreigners in Roman Britain from inscriptions. However, by analysing the facial features of the Ivory Bangle Lady and measuring her skull compared to reference populations, analysing the chemical signature of the food and drink she consumed, as well as evaluating the evidence from the burial site, we are now able to establish a clear profile of her ancestry and social status.

“It helps paint a picture of a Roman York that was hugely diverse and which included among its population, men, women and children of high status from Romanised North Africa and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.”

The ancestry assessment suggests a mixture of ‘black’ and ‘white’ ancestral traits, and the isotope signature indicates that she may have come from somewhere slightly warmer than the UK. Taken together with the evidence of an unusual burial rite and grave goods, the evidence all points to a high status incomer to Roman York. It seems likely that she is of North African descent, and may have migrated to York from somewhere warmer, possibly the Mediterranean.

The Ivory Bangle Lady was a high status young woman who was buried in Roman York (Sycamore Terrace). Dated to the second half of the fourth century, her grave contains jet and elephant ivory bracelets, earrings, pendants, beads, a blue glass jug and a glass mirror. The most famous object from this burial is a rectangular openwork mount of bone, possibly from an unrecorded wooden casket, which reads ‘Hail, sister, may you live in God’, indicating Christian beliefs.”

Dear Merlin fandom…

Dear fantasy authors who squawk about there being no PoCs in Dark Ages and Medieval Europe: In. Your. Stupid. Face.

Merlin fandom and Lindaaa were the first things I thought of while reading this

But it is tooooo far for them to sail there. Everyone knows only white people travel. /sarcasm

In other news, this is awsome.

(via the-north-remembers)

Source: missfolly

Game of Thrones Love Trailer: The Mystery Frames

Joffrey being cruel to Ros. It looks like they’re going to involve her in the plot even more this season. I didn’t like their insertion of Ros so much in season 1. It is not the fleshing out of a prostitute that I minded so much, because I prefer to get into the head of one instead of having faceless random women like in the books, it’s that they failed majorly at fleshing her out. She is always shown in a sexual context, always on the job, always clean, and the worst that happens to her is that she’s bored with Pyrcell giving the impression that being a prostitute is just dandy in Westeros. In this season I hope that they use her character better.

Robb and Jeyne. I wish we would get a proper look at Oona instead of always in shadows.

Theon in bed with a woman. Probably the captain’s daughter?

Shae is fierce, telling some dude who is boss. I look forwards to seeing the continuation of HBO’s development of her character. She was a bit of a doormat in the books. Now she stands head to head with Tyrion.

A first look at the stunning Steven Cole as Kovarro. Could he be Dany’s love interest instead of Joreh, please?

Cersei agreed to marry Robert - she could have refused

Cersei knew that being queen meant she was expected to do her marital duties and to provide her husband with an heir. No woman in Westeros is going to fail to realize this.

Cersei was not intimidated by Robert, she was disgusted by Robert following their wedding night.

Cersei, because of her disgust with Robert, choose to deny him heirs. However, she knew that if she denied him sex, she could potentially lose her position as queen.

Cersei did not want to lose her crown, so she did not deny Robert sex. She just made sure to make it unappealing by simply lying there.

Robert was insensitive about it, yes, but given how she plainly showed her disgust for him, how easy was it for him to do his duty? I don’t think he got drunk before sleeping with whores. He got drunk to sleep with Cersei because of her apparent disgust with him.

Robert had no reason to think she was not doing the same thing as him; going through with an unpleasant duty.

If Cersei had truly wanted to, she could have said no. The consequences would have been unpleasant for her, but because of society, not because of Robert. Because of this, one cannot argue that Robert raped her. As far as he understood — and as far as she saw it as well — they were performing their expected marital duties.

He could still have been more considerate, no doubt about it. But he didn’t rape her. They were both in that marriage together and they both made the other act badly.

Ultimately, it comes down to Cersei’s desire to be queen which kept her from risking an end to the marriage as well as to Westerosi attitudes about marital duties and heirs. She is trading her body for social status and paying the price for it.

- hippoiathanatoi, aka Linda, the mod at Westeros.org

How to argue that Cersei is a whore (“she is trading her body for social status and paying the price for it.”) instead of a victim of marital rape (“Because of this, one cannot argue that Robert raped her.”)

Yes, POOR ROBERT, POOR POOR ROBERT FOR NOT-RAPING CERSEI HE WAS ONLY TRYING TO DO HIS DUTY CERSEI TOTALLY COULD HAVE SAID NO.

This is the person GRRM, HBO, and a ton of fanboys have chosen to represent Game of Thrones fans.

(via fatpinkmast)

This is way too fucking gross.

Cersei stands to lose a lot more than her crown by denying Robert sex.  He is really fucking strong, if you didn’t realize, and can cause her a lot of physical pain.

ACTUALLY WAIT WOW THAT’S JUST WHAT HE DID.  If he would hit her for talking back, is it really hard to believe he’d hit her for not giving in to his sexual demands?

What is this distinction between Robert and society?  PEOPLE MAKE UP SOCIETY.  SOCIETY does not exist without PEOPLE.  What is the point of this argument?  “Blame society, not Robert?”

“She is trading her body for social status and paying the price for it.”  <—— THIS IS DISGUSTING.  She is a woman who lives in a society where women are valued ONLY FOR THEIR BODIES and she dares (!!!) to use that to keep herself from becoming a total victim.  And somehow we should be reveling in her misfortune, OKAY.

Jesus, I’m really pissed.  THE WHOLE SOCIETY values social status, but that aside, Cersei faces a lot more than just not becoming queen by refusing Robert.  She agreed to marry him, she did not think that being someone’s wife would mean that she would have to endure painful sexual advances from someone who has proven himself willing and capable of ABUSE.

GROSS.  Nobody who has these opinions speaks for ME, that is for damn sure.

(via onionjulius)

Not that it even matters because all of this is already so valid but ALSO let’s not forget that when Robert dies (leaving Cersei with a perfectly fine amount of political power before her father takes it away from her and leaves it with the incompetent Tyrion.  There is nothing she will gain from another marriage ok) he plans to marry her off again for his own political gain almost immediately.  Cersei can do nothing.  She is married off.  That is rape; especially by the contemporary standard you seem to be adamant about holding her to.

Just.  Fuck off.

(via satankatic)

How does Linda still manage to surprise me? I guess she shouldn’t after she’s already trivialized pedophilia. She’s a filthy rape apologist. Thank goodness there’s you lovely tumblrers in the fandom to shout her down or else I might give up on it all together.

Someone needs to sit GRRM down for a long coffee and show him how to use a spreadsheet program so that he can keep track of everyone’s hair colour for himself. I suspect he’s not too bright with computers and will need much handholding. Or he could just hire someone to keep his facts straight for him.

There is no way he should keep his dependency on the RanLinda team, I think they are already poisoning him with their bile. The hacked-up prose of Dance (which they edited and if you’ve seen their fanfiction their writing is worse than Stephanie Meyer’s and should be nowhere near a professional book) should be evidence enough of the negative effect they are having on the series. Forget for a moment their disgusting hold on fandom, but they are affecting the actual books for the worse.

I think they like to keep GRRM in the dark about how easy it is to manage facts and the basics of data management. Databases are trivial and it is something he should have set up for himself from day one when he decided to write a bigass fantasy novel. Too late now, but in the next five years it takes him to write The Winds of Winter, surely he can find a spare moment or two to learn to do this for himself. Linda and Elio like his dependency on them and encourage further dependency by not teaching him how computers work. The moment GRRM doesn’t rely on them is the moment their days are numbered.

Everyone here, please take a moment to screencaption her bile. Take a moment to write to HBO and Sky and GRRM. Let them know that their association with this woman is harmful, that she is highly toxic, volatile, and holds a large part of the fandom in contempt.

I can already see her counterpost. “Irrelevant whiners” “panties twist” “little feminists upset” “rape is ok, stop shipping” “cunt-stained fingers” “use a dictionary” “no reading comprehension”. I bet next she’ll post the definition of rape from the dictionary and try to show that what happened between Robert and Cersei doesn’t fit it. No wonder she can’t seem to finish a university degree. You need something for that in order to reason; what’s it called again? Oh yeah. A brain.

(via leslieknope-deactivated20121011)

Source: fatpinkmast

The Bigass Fantasy Maps I Love Post

Let’s begin with a classic: Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea. I love all the islands, the scattered nature of her world, the mythos of the place names, the possibilities of having so many lands and so many peoples. It feels so real.

Tamora Pierce’s Emelan and surrounding lands. This is the only nothing-justified fantasy map I know of. Sure there’s a sea in the middle, and a tip of one at the top, but that’s it. We’re truly inland here, travellers going by road rather than ship.

My strong dislike of Steven Erikson’s writing not withstanding, he does have one cool world. Like Earthsea, only with continents, we get a complete world. It goes to both poles and wraps around all the way. Another world that gives hints of richness and looks truly real.

Holly Lisle’s Matrim is so win that I’m willing to overlook her straight-lined, right-angle border and stick it in my fantasy map love post instead of my fantasy map hate post. I love the craters, the swooping chains of islands, the curves of continents, the darkness of magic that has scarred her world. You get a deep sense of story just from the map alone. Plus, it’s in colour and has coffee stains!

Being Canadian, I really hate fantasy authors who write off the northern bit as empty wastes where nothing happens and they don’t bother with up there. In J. V. Jones’s Sword of Shadows everything happens up there in this top-justified world. She does have a giant gap called the Great Want, but there’s lots of plot going on there too. The map suggests cold, and I feel cold to bone just reading them.

The last two are from Jude Fisher’s Fool’s Gold. I have no idea what the fuck is going here, I can’t even remember what the books are about. I just love that the maps are round, uncharted is not where the page ends and it’s just so damn unique.

Honourable mention: I’ve never read Adrian Tchaikovsky yet, but for the scale of his world the map has an impressive amount of detail.

Sub Specie Aeternitatis: timelordoftheblacktower: monalisawasdutch: Tumblr Of Thrones: The...

chameleonarcher reblogged your post: The Bigass Things I Hate In Fantasy Maps Post
I love how two of the three “problems” with the Middle-earth map are not actually naturally occurring features of the land. The mountains surrounding Mordor were constructed that way by Sauron. The “hole” in Mirkwood is a bloody road made by the Elves. It actually isn’t even a hole, it’s a dotted line showing that there is a road there. This map just did it wrong. And OMG, more than one tributary comes down from a mountain range!? That NEVER happens anywhere in the real world!

But they are problems!

If Sauron had constructed Mordor, he probably would have made it circular, not square. Circles are the most efficient shape for a given circumference. If they were created from irradiated evil or whatever, again, circular because it has no preferential direction unlike squares. Do you really believe that he would actually bother to make the mountains a right angles to the compass directions?

It also doesn’t matter that the “bloody” road was made by elves. Would they also happen to make it perfectly align east-west? Would they make it so straight? Not even modern humans do that. And his rivers are unrealistically aligned.

So yeah, they look fake even from a, well someone with magic powers made it, point of view. Which is a lazy, horrible excuse in fantasy. I hate fantasy authors and apologists who say “magic did this/superhuman people made this” therefore it explains all the flaws and things they didn’t think of. Admit it, Tolkien was a terrible cartographer.

Source: fantastiquecollective

Snark + Kissing: The Bigass Things I Hate In Fantasy Maps Post

Snark + Kissing

I totally love this, but I feel honour-bound to point out that the Kushiel world ‘just like Earth’ map is because those books are based on an alternate version of Earth, with an Earth-like history and somewhat Earth-like religious systems. Terre de’Ange is basically France, and all the other countries are modified Earth countries.

Okay, I’ve finished being an un-funner now, carry on.

Yeah, Kushiel wasn’t the best example for The Not Really Earth Fantasy Map. At least she doesn’t hide it, though her inconsistent time periods are a bit boggling. The worst offender is map I saw in a R. A. Salvatore books, the Demon Awakens or something I think, that was North America, the Maritime parts, though I couldn’t find a copy of it online.

Source: fantastiquecollective

The Fantastique Collective: The Bigass Things I Hate In Fantasy Maps Post

rantingsatyr:

I agree for the most part but 1 thing. Fantasy names in a fantasy setting. Seriously. Granted as long as the name isn’t overly ridiculous, but really? 

Perhaps this is just me, but what makes people think in a non-English speaking or say, non-American cultured world is going to have everything in English?

Why hello thar, Billy!

That really seems out of place for me. Yes, I understand that we’re ‘translating” for the most part

Um, my beef is not with that the names in Valdemar are made up. Of course the place names are fictional. It’s that they sound made up. A good world-builder will have their names sound like they belong in the same fictional language, that they flow and all that. Mercedes Lackey’s place names sound like a bunch of syllables spat out by a blender. She also has an apostrophe fetish and nothing screams fantasy author creation louder that apostrophes.

Source: fantastiquecollective

J. V. Jones

This is all about my love for J. V. Jones.

J. V. Jones is what most fantasy authors should be. First she wrote a generic, though well-done, fantasy trilogy. That would be the Book of Words. Not too much new here, but it’s a load of fun.

But then, she actually learned and turned awsome. Her next series, Sword of Shadows is gritty and visceral and interesting and fresh and cold. It makes my shiver, and I’m Canadian. The characters are very human, and the setting is barren and unforgivable. This might be European-based fantasy, but it’s parts of Europe that have not been done. It’s four books long, and counting. She takes her time between books, but it is so worth it.

Plus, she goes on awsome trips, has an active lifestyle and hikes and shares her photos on her blog. She knows trekking through wilderness and its shows in her works. I can feel the dirt under my nails and the hunger in my belly and being lost in a bigass forest when I’m reading Sword of Shadows.

charlottewaldo said: I’m all about upping the racial diversity of Game of Thrones. I’m wondering how much a factor where they choose to film reflects how diverse the background players are. They have done open casting calls and have hired the people that have shown up.


That is true, given their European locations, white extras were probably easier to come by. However, it probably would not have taken too much extra effort to find twenty, fifty, however many they use, say black extras by specifying it on their casting call. Their locations weren’t *that* white.

Vague glimpses of the extras on set in Qarth. Why did I do this? I was curious about if they would give Qarth racial cohesion, since they did cast a black actor for Xaro Xhoan Daxos. I didn’t like how in season 1 the Drothaki were racially random, so maybe they might make up for it in season 2. It is hard to tell from a few blurry snaps, but I think they are doing to same thing to Qarth as they did to the Drothaki. White people nation=mono-racial and cohesive. People of colour nation=anything goes.

Qarth is a port, so it does make sense for it to be ethnically diverse. However, when it is a white people port, like King’s Landing, we don’t see the same racial diversity. So I’m a little disappointed at the inconsistency, but won’t make a final judgment until I see the actual show.