ConnorMc1eod t1_iuatr9u wrote on October 29, 2022 at 10:16 PM

Reply to comment by AbsurdlyClearWater in Opinion | ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘The Rings of Power’ Both Use Diverse Casting. One of Them Does It Better. by Solid_Rice

Ehhhh the black Valyrians makes sense, how does it not?

They are a different blood line than the Targaryens also from Old Valyria. Old Valyria is much more racially diverse than Westeros especially with the lands beyond the immediate coastline where the Free Cities and Old Valyria are.

yoaver t1_iujjtme wrote on October 31, 2022 at 8:26 PM

Valyrian is an ethnicity in the books. And Valyrians were very much not diverse at all. They thought they are superior, and it was taboo for them to marry the "lesser" races, especially because their genes comtain the magic dragon connections.

Black Velaryons don't make sense from a lore perspective, and it's kinda hilarious whenever Corlys talks about his "pure valyrian blood", but it doesn't matter much to the show and the acting is still great.

It's at least a bit better than the pure tokenism in Rings.

ConnorMc1eod t1_iujl81z wrote on October 31, 2022 at 8:36 PM

But are "races" defined by the same parameters we define races in current year Earth? Valyrian being an ethnicity is irrelevant because we don't know exactly what defines that ethnicity.

All I remember was blonde, fair hair and purple eyes being indicative of Valyrian blood. Nothing specific to skin color.

Regardless I am glad you and I (and basically everyone else) agrees it's superior to how RoP handles it with no attempt to even hand wave it away with a goofy explanation.