Game of Thrones’ LGBTQ community less likely to be fans of The Hound

With such a diverse fandom, it’s no wonder the interpretations of the Game of Thrones characters and their plot lines have varied over the years based on viewers’ race, gender and political affiliation.

Game of Thrones fan site, Watchers On The Wall, have compiled a survey which revealed that men and women have opposing takes on classic moments, such as Jaime Lannister poisoning Olenna Tyrell – with substantially more than half of men backing the Ser Lord Commander while under 50% of women felt the murder was justified – and Stannis Baratheon defeating the wildling army.

Looking at the LGBTQ community, respondents were much more likely to hail Shae, the prostitute who struck up a relationship with Tyrion Lannister, as a hero than other viewers, while they were also less likely to be a fan of The Hound. When Brienne of Tarth defeated Sandor Clegane, 65% of LGBTQ fans were ecstatic while just 51% of the remaining audience shared the same reaction.

The findings also revealed older audiences were much less likely to be a fan of House Lannister or House Baratheon, as well as the moment when Robb Stark beheaded Karstark and Jaime poisoning Olenna.

Taking a glance at the disparities in race, Watchers admit that the data proved problematic because a ‘large majority’ of respondents were white, while some ticked more than one racial box.

However, they note that African, African-American and black respondents were big fans of some of Daenerys’ most iconic moves: from burning the khals to executing the Taryls.