The Continuation of Misrepresentation

The Continuation of Misrepresentation 

In George R.R. Martin’s novel, A Game of Thrones, the portrayal of people of color (PoC) is exceptionally racist. The individual character development for PoCs is severely inadequate because it is centered around the development of white characters like the “slave savior” Daenerys. Martin utilizes this through his description of the Dothraki, especially Khal Drogo. His outreaching descriptions make the characters seem more enticing and interesting in order to capture his readers in his risqué writing. By doing so he creates the PoC characters as hyper-sexualized and hyper-violent and highlights their “different” skin color with crude details.

In one of the first scenes in the novel, Danereys, Viserys and Magister Illyrio walked onto the pillard courtyard waiting for the appearance of the Khal Drogo, Danereys’ future husband. “His skin was the color of polished copper, his thick mustachios bound with gold and bronze rings…and lords from the Summer Isles with skin as black as ebony” (Martin 35). Martin makes it vividly clear to his readers that Drogo and his tribe are men of color unlike the rest of the characters in the novel with his in depth descriptions. No character in the novel who is not of color is given any specification that he/she is a not a person of Martin’s description of Drogo is very dehumanizing as it supports the notion that he is hyper-sexualized and is being depicted as a sexual object. “Drogo’s braid was black as midnight and heavy with scented oil, hung with tiny bells that rang softly as he moved. It swung well past his belt, below even his buttocks, the end was brushing against the back of his thighs” (Martin, 36). The description of Drogo’s braid sounds very similar to a horse’s tail and, not to sound vulgar, but very similar to a man’s penis. This hyper-sexualization tends to be the trend reserved for PoC’s in medieval novels and films, like Star Trek. Star Trek had a sex ritual scene where a woman of color was growling and crawling like an animal towards a commander in a seductive mannerism.

When Daenerys saw Drogo with her own eyes, “His face was hard and cruel, his eyes as cold and dark as onyx” (Martin, 37). Before Drogo made his first appearance in the novel, it was already predetermined by Daenerys and the readers that he was a man to fear due to Viserys pronounced plan that he would rape her, a young innocent white girl with long white hair. His “dark as onyx eyes” symbolizes his evilness, thus, solidifying the opinion of Drogo’s character to be intimidating, dangerous, and feared (Martin, 37).

The portrayal of PoCs in medieval fantasy will continue to remain the same if writers chose to stay within the realm of racism to simply and selfishly profit off of it without any interest in the immorality that strings behind it. Writers of medieval fantasy need to implement truth into their works to break the misrepresentation of PoCs and the belief that they are hyper-sexual and hyper-violent beings.

- Kianna Marrs