‘Lord Corlys of House Velaryon,’ boomed a voice rich with respect. ‘Lord of the Tides, Master of Driftmark.’
The door to the iron throne room swung open and in walked the powerful House of the Dragon family – with Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) at the helm. He’s a strong Black man with long white hair styled in dreadlocks.
They all descended a set of stairs – his wife Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) next to him – and members of his house walked confidently behind. They were dressed impeccably while the courtiers on either side applauded in admiration – they clearly knew sauce when they saw it.
When I watched this scene, I silently squealed with joy. As someone who has been reading fantasy from early childhood, a scene like this is one I’ve been craving for an eternity.
I’d wager there were countless people of colour like me who were applauding that entrance – and who maybe even felt like they were walking behind him themselves.
Seeing a Black character in a fantasy epic who wasn’t a pirate, servant, or some other easily-killed-off appendage to the storyline gave me goosebumps.
In my opinion, House of the Dragon’s diversity makes it more compelling, and it makes its world even richer than Game of Thrones’. Works of fantasy like this – and indeed, most things – are stronger when they embrace diversity.
House Velaryon is an ancient, respected house in the House of the Dragon universe. Lord Corlys Velaryon is considered the greatest seafarer the world has ever known.
He is a crucial power player in the show and his son, Sir Laenor, marries the king’s daughter. He is not a minor character, but has a major role in this fantasy world.
Steve Toussaint has spoken about how on set, supporting artists would approach him to tell him how much they appreciated seeing a Black person have a vital role in a fantasy programme.
He’s received many supportive messages. However, there were others who weren’t as pleased.
After the announcement of his casting, what seemed like an army of fans besieged social media, frothing – book copies and highlighters in hand – to complain that in the source material, the Velaryons are not Black.
One Twitter user wrote: ‘Who gave them the idea to cast Black actors as members of House Velaryon? Doesn’t make sense at all and the wigs they make them wear also look hilarious.’
While someone on Reddit commented: ‘Nowadays being inclusive is more important than respecting the author’s vision.’
In fact, even George R R Martin’s collaborators for various works of his in the past, Linda Antonsson and Elio M García Jr, complained about the casting, saying: ‘There are no Black Valyrians and there should not be any in the show’.
What strikes me as rather odd is the fact that the fantasy genre is all about imagination, about taking the world that we have, twisting, morphing and repackaging it in a way that shocks, fascinates, even inspires us.
In the Game of Thrones universe, there are dragons, ice zombies, giants – even an ice giant. However, having a Black man as the head of a powerful house just stretches the imagination a bit too much.
Toussaint said the same in an interview with Men’s Health: ‘[People] are happy with a dragon flying. They’re happy with white hair and violet-colored eyes, but a rich Black guy? That’s beyond the pale.’
It’s fascinating that that is where the line is drawn for some people.
In the past, these outcries used to demoralise me, but now, they feel like incessant murmurings in the background that will hopefully decrease in volume as time marches on. It’s a different world now from the one that existed in 2011 when Game of Thrones first graced our screens – we now have the Black Lives Matter movement.
House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal seemingly understands this, as he said: ‘It was very important for Miguel [Sapochnik, former co-showrunner] and I to create a show that was not another bunch of white people on the screen. We wanted to find a way to put diversity in the show, but we didn’t want to do it in a way that felt like it was an afterthought or, worse, tokenism.’
And I think they did an admirable job of it.
It’s interesting to note that the Velaryons being Black is actually crucial to the plot, as it is an open-secret that Rhaenyra’s children are not Laenor’s, something made obvious by, among other things, their pale skin colour. This also helps to ensure that the diverse casting does not come across as tokenism.
The Velaryons are a fascinating tribe; Lord Corlys is a good man, but he is blinded by his own ambition. His daughter Laena Velaryon is a fiery character, who rides the largest dragon in the world.
His son, Laenor is gay and struggling to reconcile his sexuality with the marriage duty that is being imposed on him. He also happens to be an awesome fighter too. In the third episode, we see Laenor riding a dragon, soaring over his enemies and burning them.
It still baffles me that I got to see a person of colour riding a dragon into battle.
This is the fantasy genre, yet it seems that all too often, the creators of these stories choose to allow themselves to be inhibited in regards to diversity. To them, that’s the one area where imagination seems out of bounds.
But House of the Dragon’s diversity is its strength. In fact, it helps to make it better than Game of Thrones, in my opinion, because it makes the show feel more relevant. The dilemmas the characters face are more absorbing because they feel realer, and that’s because they are more representative.
I certainly hope that the trend of ensuring there is diversity in movies and TV shows continues. It makes fantasy worlds richer and it simply feels right.
To the people who have complained about diversity in shows like House of the Dragon, I would ask you to take a second and really ask yourself why. In a world rapidly plunging itself into a climate disaster, and plagued by economic and political crises, why is the casting of an ethnic minority actor on a fantasy show the thing you choose to be incensed by?
I would ask you to probe deeper into your own subconscious in order to get to the heart of the issue.
Once you’ve finished, you may start to enjoy the show and appreciate the central ethos of fantasy, one which galvanises us in this doomed reality we live in: that anything and everything is possible.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing James.Besanvalle@metro.co.uk.
Share your views in the comments below.
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Black History Month
October marks Black History Month, which reflects on the achievements, cultures and contributions of Black people in the UK and across the globe, as well as educating others about the diverse history of those from African and Caribbean descent.
For more information about the events and celebrations that are taking place this year, visit the official Black History Month website.
