‘House of the Dragon’s handling of LGBTQ characters surpasses Game of Thrones’
The Game of Thrones prequel series is adding some much-needed LGBTQ representation to the realm, writes Tom Chapman.
By Tom Chapman
HBO is gathering its rainbow-coloured bannermen, as House of the Dragon sets sail for the Seven Kingdoms once again.
Taking place 172 years before Aerys II “the Mad King” Targaryen, House of the Dragon explores the sprawling branches of the Targaryen family tree.
Like Game of Thrones, there’s a diverse cast of movers and shakers racing toward the Iron Throne, with the fantasy epic already adding some much-needed LGBTQ representation to the realm.
While George R.R. Martin has never been afraid to add a shock death, Game of Thrones was tarred with that ‘Bury Your Gays’ brush.
Some three and a half years after the finale turned one of the best shows of all time into a dumpster fire for the ages, have we learned anything from its mistakes? House of the Dragon’s ‘Driftmark’ episode broke a curse of the Seven Kingdoms and modern television as a whole.
Just one week after sites like Distractify slammed House of the Dragon for being another ‘Bury Your Gays’ show, episode seven proudly showed its true colours and threw a curveball that no one saw coming.
Those who’ve read Martin’s Fire & Blood history of the Targaryens assumed more tragedy was on the way to House Velaryon, with the loveable Laenor doomed to shuffle off this mortal coil.
In the books, this frees up Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) to marry her uncle, Daemon. Yet in the TV retelling, instead of having Laenor (John Macmillan) killed by his jealous lover Ser Qarl Correy (Arty Froushan), Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) concocted an elaborate fake-out where Laenor was free to sail off into the sunset with his lover.
It’s a clever twist on the source material, which made it clear Laenor was killed by Qarl but also also implied Daemon was behind it.
This rare happy ending in the Thronesverse (especially for an LGBTQ pairing) is a far cry from the death of Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod), who was Leanor’s previous lover and brutally beaten to death during episode five’s Green Wedding.
Even though ‘Driftmark’ gave an odd sense of compassion to the usually barbaric Daemon, it might have something to do with a cut scene that could completely change the character’s backstory.
In the same episode we were writing our angry ‘Bury Your Gays’ placards over Joffrey’s demise, HBO nixed a scene that confirmed Daemon is bisexual.
As shared by the Twitter account “Out of Context House of the Dragon,” the deleted scene shows Daemon and a male servant sharing a kiss.
There were already theories about our “Chaotic Bisexual King,” as back in episode five, Daemon remarked that Laena Velaryon was almost as pretty as her brother.
Tongues wagged about his whispers to the male servant once episode six aired, but couple this with the deleted scene, and we see a whole new side to Daemon.
Despite this being a move in the right direction to distance House of the Dragon from Game of Thrones’ often problematic portrayal of the community, it still has us questioning why Daemon’s bisexuality has been cut so far.
Now he’s married to Rhaenyra, it’s not as likely to be as relevant.
Daemon wouldn’t be alone in his Targaryen bisexuality, and if you dive deeper into Martin’s novels, Rhaena Targaryen was rumoured to be bi because of her close relationship to Elissa Farman – who went on to steal her dragon eggs.
Elsewhere, Prince Daeron Targaryen was supposed to wed Lady Olenna but reportedly preferred the company of Ser Jeremy Norridge. Back in Thrones, the writers nixed Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) having a relationship with her handmaiden like in the source material.
Instead, Dany romanced the likes of Daario Naharis and Jon Snow. Game of Thrones is often cited alongside The Walking Dead and The 100 for using its LGBTQ characters as canon fodder, and although some of these are directly drawn from the books, other arcs were butchered beyond Martin’s novels.
Renley Baratheon and Loras Tyrell didn’t get much screentime before Renly was offed by a smoke demon, while Oberyn Martell died in THAT infamous fight with the Mountain. Beyond this, Loras met his maker off-screen during Cersei’s attack on the Sept of Baelor, and even Cersei herself was canonically bisexual in the books.
Things only get worse when you remember Olyvar was instrumental in Loras’ downfall but was never heard from again, and finally, it was up to Indira Varma to confirm (via Entertainment Weekly) that Ellaria Sand died rotting in the Red Keep.
It’s true that Thrones gave us some boss bitch energy in the form of Gemma Whelan’s Yara Greyjoy, but even then, there were complaints she only survived because she was given some weighty LGBTQ plot armour.
House of the Dragon has already been called out amidst allegations of ‘queer-baiting’ due t Alicent and Rhaenyra’s early sexual chemistry, but considering the pair are literally at each other’s throats these days, we doubt it’ll be explored further.
There’s no denying that things are heating up in House of the Dragon, and we don’t just mean because of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s orgy scene. Still, it remains to be seen where we go in terms of representation.
Here’s hoping Laenor gets to keep his happy ending and isn’t brought back for a surprise return later on.
As for Daemon, we’ll be keeping our eyes on his dalliances. Well, Aemond Targaryen will only be keeping one eye on him.