By: Alex Bloom and Janis McMath

The Red Viper — certainly no stereotype

While there is not much representation of non-heterosexual relationships or characters in Game of Thrones, when those characters do appear they are far from token characters. Sir Loras Tyrell, the first of these characters, and the mother of dragons even takes female lovers when she feels like it. While there certainly could be a lot more representation in this department (and others), the characters who break the mould of Game of Thrones’ sexuality are not disappointing.

The Good:

The Red Viper, while only appearing in the show for a short while, added a healthy dose of charisma to the show. Played by Pedro Pascal, the Viper is a sharp-witted, openly bi-sexual, badass in a world that condemns any same-sex sexual contact. He isn’t intimidated, though, and he is very transparent about his sexual preferences. At one point he is sitting half-dressed in his bed when Tywin Lannister comes to speak with him and he coyly invites Tywin to sit with him in bed (spoiler alert: he refuses the offer). As he puts it, just sleeping with women is missing out on half the fun.

     His female lover is totally fine with his interest in men and they don’t stigmatize it at all. When some Lannister men accuse him of bestiality and try to attack him, he pins one’s hand to the table with his knife and calmly persuades them to leave. He isn’t portrayed in a condescending manner, and his sexuality doesn’t define him. He is simply a Dornish man who finds people of all genders attractive.

The Bad:

For all the charm that the Red Viper brought to the show, his legacy will always be a bittersweet one because of the manner of his death. Fine, kill him off; he got cocky fighting the Mountain, of all people, but did it really have to be that gory? It is already clear that the Mountain is a monster and this was just overkill, literally. In the book, the Mountain simply punches him in face, killing him quickly due to his immense strength. Did we really need to see his head explode? Even for Game of Thrones this was a bridge too far. – AB

Jaime Lannister and Cersei rape scene

There have been lengthy debates on the role of sexual violence in HBO’s Game of Thrones’ storyline. Some say it’s only in there for shock value and is harmful in its casual depictions of sexual assault. Others say that the world George R. R. Martin created is already a harsh one, based off of the likely realities of gender relations in medieval Europe. Regardless of which side of this debate you may fall on, there are some departures from the book that included unnecessary scenes of this nature in the TV show.  

The Ugly:

HBO, you really fucked up. Good gourd. Sweet ol’ Jaime Lannister has been on a redemption arc ever since he lost his hand and began to travel with Brienne and befriended her, and yet for some reason you decided to completely butcher his character with an unneeded rape scene. HBO, I really don’t understand what message you were trying to get across here — and it honestly seems that you didn’t either.

     When Game of Thrones director Alex Graves was interviewed by Vulture, he stated that the sex scene was “[u]ltimately, . . . meant to be consensual” and rambled on about how the consent was indicated by Cersei “[wrapping] her legs around him” and some stupid horseshit about how Cersei was “kissing [Jaime] aplenty.” Aplenty? Aplenty? Bitch, do you know what else Cersei was doing “aplenty”? Repeatedly screaming ‘no’!

     Alex Graves also stated that the sex scene “becomes consensual by the end,” but the last thing that Cersei says in the scene is literally “Don’t, don’t”— to which Jaime responds, “I don’t care.” This end is nowhere near consensual, and these overpaid monkey-brained directors should understand what message their scene portrays, instead of trying to weave some shit-stained tale about how if you squint really hard, you’ll see that Cersei actually consents in the scene. Bullshit. Consent should be clear, as it was in the novel.

     Sure, even the scene in the novel could be construed as questionable at points, but at the end of the scene, Cersei very clearly states “quickly, quickly, now, do it now, do me now” and “my brother, sweet brother, yes, like that, yes, I have you, you’re home now, you’re home now, you’re home.” That, Alex Graves, is what consent is, and I honestly don’t understand how you messed up so badly when you were doing an open-book test with the answers right in front of your dumb face. We need proper representations of sexual consent in media, and if you have to spell out your supposed consent, you’ve failed. – JM