Fans Threaten To Boycott ‘Game Of Thrones’ Book After Authors Cry About Black Valyrians

Source: Ollie Upton / HBO

People are moving to boycott a new “Game of Thrones” book because its two co-authors are joining the chorus of whiny white and white-adjacent crybabies who have their medieval-era long johns in a bunch over the casting of Black actors to portray characters who were described as pale in the source material.

From The Grio:

Fans of the sprawling fantasy series are boycotting the new book out this month, “The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One,” because of what they perceive as a “history of racism” from co-authors Linda Antonsson and Elio M. García Jr.

Fans’ dismay with Antonsson and Garcia dates to well before George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic was adapted for HBO. The husband-and-wife writing team has collaborated with Martin for years, serving as fact-checkers for some of his latest works, according to Variety. Together, Antonsson and García created Westeros.org together, an online blog dedicated to the series.

“There are no Black Valyrians and there should not be any in the show,” Antonsson said, referring to melanated actor Steve Toussaint, who plays Valyrian figurehead Corlys in House of the Dragon. During an interview with Variety, Antonsson of House Karen defended her stance by boohooing about being “labeled a racist, when my focus has been solely on the world building.”

“Diversity should not trump story,” she said.

It’s clear that Antonsson of House White Privilege sees everything through a very Caucasian lens. If she didn’t she would see the very obvious hole in her logic. How exactly does Valyrians being Black change the story? Why does she think the “world building” ceases because characters whose race was arbitrary in the first place end up being portrayed by Black people? This white woman is really trying to throw a “whites only” sign over a fictional Westeros and she’s out here pretending there’s nothing racist about that.

“If George had indeed made the Valyrians Black instead of white, as he mused on his ‘Not a Blog’ in 2013, and this new show proposed to make the Valyrians anything other than Black, we would have had the same issue with it and would have shared the same opinion,” she continued.

Again, this is Caucasian logic. When characters of color are portrayed by white actors, you are basically taking roles from non-white actors, who are already historically and currently under-represented in the fantasy genre, and giving them to white actors, who already enjoy virtually unlimited representation across genres in TV and film.

Antonsson is essentially saying: “Forget what diversity in casting does for Black people and people of color who finally get to see themselves on the screen in non-stereotypical roles—my little nerdy white feelings are hurt because now my ‘world-building’ has been interrupted by the presence of negroes on horses.”

Maybe it’s time white people who make these easily dismantlable arguments need to come to glory on the possibility that they’re racist, at least to the degree that their whiteness is clouding their good judgment.

White privilege is and has always been a hell of a drug, after all.