I recognize that HoTD and RoP are making calculated decisions when it comes to their casting choices… and I love it. I couldn’t be more excited to see black Velaryons, brown hobbits, dwarves, and elves; it’s what the genre needs. I’m tired of folks cloaking their predispositions to be discriminatory in “good faith arguments” over the “source material.” Adaptations adapt things. And in this case, I believe it’s for the better.
The idea that in a world as vast as middle earth we wouldn’t find anyone black or brown if we were to travel there is ridiculous. You can imagine Ringwraiths but not a black hobbit? Get over yourself.
Old Valyria was:
the capital city of the once-great civilization known as the Valyrian Freehold. The city of Valyria is located on the eastern continent of Essos, southeast of the Free Cities, on the Valyrian Peninsula, a large peninsula extending southwards into the Summer Sea.
Essos, the free cities, and Sothoryos (which sits across the Summer Sea from Westeros) are all known to be home to diverse groups of people (meaning PoC definitely live there). House Velaryon being black is totally plausible and is justified masterfully here. Unless of course you believe that PoC can not, would not, or should not have come into power in such a prominent way in Westeros.
Watch the short video above for the rest of my thoughts.
(Not so) White Noise