Female Game of Thrones characters were truly badass, whether they could work a sword like Arya and Brienne of Tarth or were politically intuitive like Sansa and Daenerys. However, many of them went through the wringer on the HBO series in ways that fans have taken offense to. There was a time when George R.R. Martin, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy book series, responded to the criticisms of his female characters by saying, “I take issue.”
Women on Game of Thrones went through so much violence with moments still leaving us shocked today. Most notably was back in Season 6 when Sansa was raped on her wedding night by her new husband, Ramsay Bolton. Fans criticized that the scene focused too much on Theon Greyjoy’s heartbreaking reaction rather than Sansa’s reaction. Plus, that violent moment never happened in the books. U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill said she’d no longer watch the series after that episode and news outlet The Mary Sue said they’d no longer cover the series.
George R.R. Martin, whose bestselling books inspired the Emmy Award-winning series, spoke to Time in 2017 about the criticisms regarding the violence brought onto his female characters. The famed author admitted to being surprised by the negative fan reaction to those violent scenes:
Yes, it has, actually. And I take issue with some of it. I don’t think the criticisms are true or apt. I know everyone has a right to their own opinion but… whatever. I’m writing a war story, essentially — the Wars of the Roses. The Hundred Years’ War. They have “war” right in the title of each of my inspirations here. And when I read history books, rape is a part of all these wars. There’s never been a war where it wasn’t, and that includes wars that are going on today. It just seems to me that there’s something fundamentally dishonest if you write a war story and you leave that out.
It looks like George R.R. Martin was trying to be realistic in taking inspiration from elements of war he found in history books. It’s no wonder the kingdoms in his books were against women if he turns historical moments “up to 11.” The American author argued that culture in Westeros was no more misogynist than a similar period in real-life history. It may be brutal to watch, but true war stories from history for sure weren’t short of gruesome violence to any gender.
Another controversial moment from Game of Thrones that didn’t happen in the book series was Khal Drogo sexually assaulting Daenerys on their wedding night. George R.R. Martin revealed the original wedding night scene was very different from when original Daenerys actress, Tamzin Merchant, filmed the pilot:
And I should point out, and you probably know this if you’ve read the books and watched the show, Daenerys’ wedding night is quite different than it was portrayed in the books. Again, indeed, we had an original pilot where the part of Daenerys was recast, and what we filmed the first time, when Tamzin Merchant was playing the role, it was much more true to the books. It was the scene as written in the books. So that got changed between the original pilot and the later pilot. You’d have to talk to David and Dan about that.
According to Business Insider, the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga had Daenerys and Drogo’s wedding night portrayed as technically consensual, but showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt the transition from fear to a joyful relationship would have been too quick for TV and not make sense. Even Emilia Clarke apparently had issues with the way the wedding night scene was originally written and felt it wasn’t working for her. Instead, the adaptation showrunners felt it would be best to show Daenerys’ abusive situation from the start and see how the relationship transforms.
While Game of Thrones fans may have taken issue with seeing the female characters of Westeros endure violence, these badass characters didn’t allow themselves to be victims. Even though the trauma Daenerys went through after her wedding night wasn’t fully explored, the eventual Dragon Queen slowly learned to assert power over Khal Drogo which further develops their marriage. Sansa ended up being a strong force with her Game of Thrones ending being Lady Stark, Queen in the North. Seeing these strong women go through traumatizing violence may have been heartbreaking to watch, but it’s a comfort knowing they eventually found the strength and courage to take power back.
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