#SpoilerAlert!: Does Game of Thrones Have a “Gay Problem?”

Fate sealed: King Renly Baratheon (Gethin Anthony, right) with Sir Loras Tyrell (Finn Jones)

Yes, SPOILERS AHEAD for the season-six finale of Game of Thrones, so turn back now if you haven’t seen it or don’t yell at me on Facebook…

According to New York magazine’s Brian Moylan, Game of Thrones, has been having a gay problem with characters, and I agree.

Loras Tyrell dies within the first 15 minutes of the show, and it was a BIG disappointment for gay GOT fans. During his trial and moments before his death, he was forced to renounce his sexual orientation and the man he loved. He confessed,

“I have laid with other men, including the traitor Renly Baratheon. I’m guilty of depravity, dishonesty, profligacy, and arrogance.”

Fucking High Sparrow!

Gay GOT characters have met with some especially gruesome ends, which seems to be the way to go on the show:

• Renly Baratheon was killed by a shadow monster that climbed out of Melisandre’s womb.

• Oberyn Martell had his face caved in by the Mountain.

• Loras suffered both physical and psychological violence.

• And poor Hodor. The character was presumably asexual, but the actor who played him, Kristian Nairn, was the only openly gay actor in the huge cast.

It seems the only remaining LGBT characters are lady-lovers, Yara Greyjoy and Ellaria Sand (who’s bi) and they only seem to be into female prostitutes.

But the show creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss made the gayness of these characters much more explicit than it is in the books. George R.R. Martin seems resistant to adding gay characters to the series. In 2014 he said,

“I’m not going to do it just for the sake of doing it. If the plot lends itself to that, if one of my viewpoint characters is in a situation, then I’m not going to shy away from it, but you can’t just insert things because everyone wants to see them.”

“Insert things.” (snicker) Somebody could still come out of the closet, but it does seem sad the way shows have a history of offing gay characters. Seeing LGBT characters is important, but audiences are increasingly sensitive to their fate, especially given the massacre in Orlando and decades of best-pal sidekicks and the long shadow of AIDS stories.

We want to see ourselves, but we all gotta have hope too.