Spoilers ahead for the latest episode of House Of The Dragon, “We Light The Way.”
House Of The Dragon, we have a problem.
A spin-off of HBO’s wildly popular and occasionally problematic Game Of Thrones, this fantasy prequel had every opportunity to course-correct many of the original’s dubious choices. And yet…
Apparently, old habits die hard as House Of The Dragon found itself relying on the same unfortunate trope that plagued GoT—one that’s been all-too-common on television for years: Killing off LGBTQ characters.
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We see the trope— known as “bury your gays”—time and time again, from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Grey’s Anatomy, where queer characters are treated as expendable and frequently offed as some sort of turning point for our (typically straight) heroes.
Related: Bury Your Gays: 109 Dead Gay and Bisexual Male TV Characters, And How They Died
Previously, on House Of The Dragon, we were introduced to Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate)—a prince who made a pretty bad*ss entrance on the back of dragon—and Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod), canonically queer characters from George R.R. Martin’s source novels. Their arrival was an exciting one that boded well for a series still trying to find its footing.
In the most recent episode, “We Light The Way,” Laenor and Joffrey’s romance was confirmed with a stirring love scene that gave queer fans hope for positive representation—but that didn’t last long.
Laenor is preparing to marry Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock)—also queer-coded—in an arrangement that will keep them politically aligned while allowing the two to enjoy their own relations outside of the marriage. In other words, Laenor and Joffrey would be free continue their fling behind closed doors.
Related: The “Game of Thrones” finale failed its two gender nonconforming characters
But it’s at the wedding (frequently fraught ceremonies in the world of GoT, it should be said) where Joffrey confronts fellow knight Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) about his past affair with Rhaenyra, and Criston does not take it well. He brutally beats Joffrey to death, thus ending another queer character’s storyline before it has room to go anywhere. We’re left with the tragic image of Laenor sobbing over Joffrey’s body.
Look, it’s a Game Of Thrones story, we get it: People are dropping like flies in Westeros! But it’s hard to brush this particular death off as House Of The Dragon exploits yet another queer character for trauma porn.
Related: Kit Harington shows off his best assets in Game of Thrones’ most-watched episode ever. Coincidence?
Joffrey’s untimely demise calls to mind that of both Renly Baratheon (Gethin Anthony) and his lover, knight Loras Tyrell (Finn Jones), in GoT: Two more gay men of Westeros whose stories came to callously cruel ends.
Again, its 2022. Why are we still doing this??? By telling an epic new story within the world created by George R.R. Martin, House Of The Dragon had the chance to do right by its queer characters—and its queer fans!
Here’s what Twitter has to say about House Of The Dragon’s employment of the “bury your gays” trope:
They do the queers so dirty on these GOT shows my god
— JOHNNY SIBILLY (@JohnnySibilly) September 19, 2022
house of the dragon doing a speedrun of bury your gays is kind of impressive actually
— ???? (@dunwaIl) September 19, 2022
This is so… HBO I’m in your walls #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/LgTVfv23Tp
— out of context house of the dragon (@oochotd) September 19, 2022
gays never get to win the game of thrones ? #HouseoftheDragon pic.twitter.com/hl5N1ZGuxR
— depression (@raccoonmum) September 19, 2022
why couldn’t they LEAVE THE GAYS ALONE #HouseOfTheDragon #hotd pic.twitter.com/VjQjR7nH95
— Ratcole (@2__jet__2) September 19, 2022
why are the gays never happy ? #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/kgUbrGe6qC
— cade !! (@c4deio) September 19, 2022
Of course, we’re only halfway through House Of The Dragon‘s first season, so there’s still plenty of time for the series to make good and give characters like Laenor and Rhaenyra the complex, nuanced storylines they deserve. But we should be demanding better than this.
New episodes of House Of The Dragon air every Sunday on HBO.
dbmcvey
Gay characters rarely survived in the first GOT series.
inbama
And they’re rarely called gay anymore in Queerty articles like this one.
So much for “Free of no agenda but the gay one.”
mr_r
This story seems to be a re-write of a strange LA times article, mentioned on another page.
GoT and House of the Dragon are set (like many fantasy tropes) in a world loosely based on Dark Ages / Middle Ages Europe. It’s trying to create a brutal, dangerous setting where many characters – men, women, gay, straight are violently killed, often due to the superstition, ignorance and ruthlessness. It’s trying to depict a world where openly gay people would face extreme danger by being gay. It evokes times in real life history where this would sadly be true.
Bizarre to me that people are demanding a show like this to give gay characters happy endings.
What’s next – an article criticising Handmaid’s Tale for being too sexist?
DarkZephyr
The GoT universe isn’t the middle ages. Like you said. *Loosely* based.
MrMichaelJ
Can we please stop trying to apply the modern distaste for homosexuality upon every other era? Look it up. I’m sure it wasn’t all pride parades by the Catholic church has a LOT to do with modern views on homosexuality and people too easily equate it to all of history.
DMos
Not sure why anyone would be surprised. He dies at Ser Criston’s hand in the books too. The only difference is that in the books he gets killed AFTER the wedding instead of before it, but it’s not like anyone should have a reason to expect gay characters to do well in Westeros.
MrMichaelJ
Yeah us silly gay people thinking being gay surely means being beat to death. Sorry but I literally just finished watching the scene and am livid.
MrMichaelJ
Aye yi yi I mistook what actually went down in the scene
GlobeTrotter
Not this again – people, it’s called FANTASY for a reason! Anyone looking to sci-fi to fulfill hopes of “representation” will only end up sorely disappointed.
Instead of looking externally for validation, look to yourself. Validation that comes from within is permanent and cannot be lost or taken away.
MrMichaelJ
It’s not a matter a validation. It’s a matter of gay men once again being portrayed as sexual predators where the only viable thing a straight man can do is beat him to a bloody pulp. The story VALIDATED gay bashings.
GlobeTrotter
Isn’t that a bit of an overreaction? Fact is, angels and devils come in all colors, sizes, shapes and sexualities. There will be gay angels, and there will be gay devils. Just because the show portrays a bad gay character, it doesn’t logically follow that gay bashings are being “validated”.
This reminds me of an interview I once saw of John Amos from the 70’s sitcom “Good Times”, in which he lamented that it would be impossible to do a TV show about a poor, struggling black family from the projects in today’s political and cultural climate. Black families on TV today MUST BE educated, upper middle class or rich with a highly sophisticated lifestyle and acculturated tastes. This unrealistic portrayal comes off as fake but TV executives have no choice – all depictions of African-Americans must provide “positive representation” or else your TV show gets cancelled.
MrMichaelJ
I just rewatched the scene and, yes, I mistook what actually happened. I thought it was the result of the gay guy brushing up against the knight. My mistake.
MrMichaelJ
Wow, I have never ever been so f’n offended by the portrayal of a gay man. So you introduce a gay character and at the end basically have him molest the straight man who has to react out of such anger that he beat him to a bloody pulp? I am blown away. So he confronts and tries to make an ally out of the straight guy and at the end feels him up? And this leads to such anger the straight guy has to beat in his face? Wow, WTF.
MrMichaelJ
Just rewatched the scene – that actually didn’t happen. Thought it may had and the bashing afterwards is what I thought led to the violence.
GlobeTrotter
@MRMichaelJ: now might be a good time for a bit of self-introspection, to examine why you were triggered into jumping to the wrong conclusion in the first place.
Prax07
After the shitty ending of the original series they couldn’t pay me to watch this shit show.
bachy
I see there are several interpretations of the wedding murder here. My understanding is that Joffrey attempted to bring Criston up to speed on the situation; he revealed that he and Laenor were lovers and that he knew that Rhaenyra and Criston were lovers as well. He was proposing to Criston that they both devote themselves to protecting the prince and princess – a commitment which would preserve their own lives too! Maybe he was a bit blunt, ok, but not cruel or perverted. I thought he was just being honest and wanted them all on the same page; even perhaps to form an alliance of sorts with Criston, who he perceived as being in a similar position to himself.
It is Criston that is half off his rocker at this point. It is almost typical of the kind of situation which unfolds when a very intelligent/privileged person (Rhaenyra) becomes sexually involved with someone kinda… dumb (Criston). Criston doesn’t understand the subtle moral dynamics of survival in a world of privilege and power because he’s never had it. The knight’s simpler, morally black and white world is imploding, so he does what warriors do when pushed to their limit – he goes into a battle frenzy and slaughters Joffrey.
I appreciate the political problem known as “murdering your gays” in contemporary entertainment. But the dynamics leading to this murder elucidate an even larger problem, one which many of us face today. Like many modern queers, Rhaenyra has learned (very quickly) that a sophisticated understanding of sex and desire must be embraced if she is to have any erotic fulfillment at all. But her simple, unpolished lover is upended by his encounter with this sexually complex milieu. Criston spirals out of control, bringing doom and destruction to all of them, himself included.
ZzBomb
If you watch this show, you’re only setting yourself up for another GoT disappointment again.
Just saying
RIGay
Kill the gays, but incest is okay. Must EVERYTHING be about the Republicans?
IvanPH
At least, this show features gay characters.
Lord of the Rings in Amazon has absolutely zero queer characters.
LumpyPillows
Well, there weren’t any in the source material either. In fact, the Tolkien books really did not address sexuality at all. The was no sex in the books – none. Everything in the books that seems at all sexual was highly sanitized – G-rated.