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Re: House of the Dragon has an explanation of sorts, I gather. Cannoli Send a noteboard - 08/09/2022 11:56:55 AM

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It's specifically the Velaryon family, not the Targaryens themselves, who are black. While the Velaryons are also Valyrian and share the genetic tendency for white hair and purple eyes, the showrunners decided to make them black as they have always been a seafaring, exploring family and hence could plausibly have some black ancestors. Their skin colour isn't actually mentioned in the books, but apparently Martin did have the idea of actually making them black at one point in the writing process when the Velaryons were intended to have a significantly larger role, so when the showrunner heard that, he considered it a good enough cover for actually doing so on the show. Fair enough, I think.

Also a major issue with Rhaenyra's story going forward is that she marries a Velaryon. The children she produces in that marriage bear no visible resemblance to their father, while they do look a lot like a man often in her company, making it clear that they resulted from an adulterous relationship. The whole point of the marriage was to reconcile the bloodlines, and ensure that a descendant of Rhaenys, who had been passed over for the crown for Rhaenyra's father, would one day ascend the Iron Throne, except Rhaenyra is not actually producing those descendants. She is violating to social rules of Westeros, and even depriving her husband's next in line relatives of what should be their inheritance by insisting that her children are those of her husband. She advocates torture when her juvenile brothers repeat the rumors of the paternity, and her father uses mutilation and threats of death to suppress the news.

All this stuff is crucial to understanding some of the opposition to her claim beyond "Sexism!" At the same time, given that her husband appears content with the arrangement, being gay himself, and welcomes her children as his own (even trying, and eventually succeeding, in naming one after his deceased lover) nor do the Velaryons appear to have a problem with their (adoptive) grandchildren inheriting the family name and properties, we are perhaps supposed to be questioning the strict adherence to bloodline inheritance, and maybe compensate for the depiction of Cersei and Joffrey appearing to endorse that concept.

With the paternity of Rhaenyra's children being blatantly and obvious Not Laenor, it just might be necessary to have some visual way to make it clear to the audience, especially since Rhaenyra, unlike Cersei, is not dumb enough to ever admit it. When she has a black husband and pale sons there is not going to be nearly as much doubt as there would be if they tried to maintain the books' descriptions of Rhaenyra and Laenor. Both the Targaryens and the Velaryons in the books have fine features with aquiline noses and the "inhuman" beauty of Valyrians, whereas Rhaenyra's kids are brown-haired with pug noses.

It's the corollary to Wheel of Time, where making the Two Rivers people homogenously black or oriental and Rand a ginger would make the question of his paternity more nebulous. If Rand or Egwene or Nynaeve or Mat NEVER doubted his paternity, even denying any questions when brought up, as all four do in the books, when he is supposedly the product of an interracial marriage but has absolutely no racial traits from his father, it just seems like they're delusional. Rand's identity crisis hits harder if it comes out of the blue, whereas the ginger son of a very black father should hear the news that Tam found him with a bit more of a Leia-like attitude "Somehow I've always known..." As it is, the show addressed that problem nonsensically, including making Nynaeve an adoptive Two Rivers person as well. What was the point of "Two Rivers people could be black!" if she's a foundling raised by a woman they refuse to name, despite her mentor having one in canon?

And more to the point, if Rand being a redhead is so critical, if the appearance of the Aiel is so iron-clad that Loial instantly and firmly believes he is Aiel, despite some very non-Aiel behavior, why did they cast a black woman as the most prominent Aiel character? Because that's what they equate with a bad temper? Fits, looking at Nynaeve and Siuan...

Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
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I guess every TV series from now on will show wildly multiracial groups with no explanation - 03/09/2022 03:37:31 PM 248 Views
Welcome to Woke-Hollywood..... - 03/09/2022 07:46:14 PM 105 Views
Also they might be revealing more than they want to signal - 03/09/2022 08:45:12 PM 117 Views
House of the Dragon has an explanation of sorts, I gather. - 03/09/2022 10:57:35 PM 115 Views
The Velaryon family being black is fine..... - 04/09/2022 04:22:42 AM 101 Views
Why? *NM* - 04/09/2022 05:57:45 AM 43 Views
Re: House of the Dragon has an explanation of sorts, I gather. - 08/09/2022 11:56:55 AM 96 Views
You do know we know the actors for the Strong boys? - 08/09/2022 05:39:17 PM 66 Views
Yeah, they don't look much like Velaryons - 08/09/2022 07:57:40 PM 85 Views
Yes for it is Posh *NM* - 04/09/2022 12:32:21 AM 36 Views

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