#but ppl tend to stan them without any critical approach

[lemonhemlock]

I can’t find the post now, but recently you reblogged something about how the show didn’t think through the implications of making the Velaryons black- it phrased mte very well! I love the actors chosen to portray all these characters- Steve Toussaint is wonderful, and as you said, Wil Johnson absolutely maximized his time as Vaemond. Both actresses for Laena were criminally underused, and Phoebe and Bethany are excellent! I have no complaints about casting! But the writing for the Velaryons specifically just makes it so uncomfortably obvious. For one, in F&B, this family is already shafted by team black. Laenor cuckolded and eventually killed, Vaemond murdered and the cousins mutilated- in the context of the show, for saying the very obvious truth! Like I’m shocked they didn’t think through how this would play on TV, aside from allowing Laenor to live (which is its own thing that has weird ripples they also didn’t seem to think through)

The show then takes it a step further and makes Rhaena and Baela little more than set dressing for the first season. In F&B, we know both girls have plenty of significant moments to come, and if they were white characters played by white actresses, it wouldn’t seem so glaring. But obviously they aren’t, and it instead reads like black characters getting shelved in favor of white leads. It’s just so frustrating to see major showrunners not seem to comprehend how these choices will be viewed by modern audiences. Sorry to rant in your ask! It was the first time I’d seen that touched on in a way that really spelled out the problem here.

Hello there, thanks for dropping by. I'm torn on the issue of the Velaryons, because, on the one hand, for all the criticism, it does make a difference, especially for the actors. You have to question whether HotD would have really been improved upon if everyone were white. It's a ridiculous question to ask, because networks trying to be more inclusive and hire more actors of colour is always going to be a good thing at least for said actors' careers. And the Velaryon actors really hit it out of the park with their limited screen time. Even so, the visibility spike they must have had by appearing in a very popular show watched by millions can't hurt, no matter how mangled their character's development is. So, ultimately, are we really worse off with making the Velaryons black? Not saying I have the answer to these problems, but it's not as easy as just dismissing this decision for diversity points.

On the other hand, there's really no way to say this differently, but not only are the Velaryons shafted hard by the Targaryens in the book, they also end up shafting each other. Corlys does his darnest to prevent his granddaughters from inheriting, Baela and Rhaena bring their 6-year-old cousin Daenaera to marry her off to their brother, Alyn cheats on Baela etc. It's very messy. All of these characters are flawed and meant to be critiqued, but race-swapping them has also geared the conversation away from that, since they already suffer from being shelved in favour of white leads, like you said, so fans are perhaps more wary of being critical of them.

It's true that Baela and Rhaena are reduced to set dressing in the show, but their participation in the war is very limited in the books too. I've criticised their acquiescence to Rhaenyra's betrothal plot in the show, but they're content to be the consorts and not heiresses in the books, as well. So this is not just a show-only thing, it's in line with their book behaviour.

There is also a popular interpretation of Rhaena's character as a symbol of hope and reconciliation for the Targaryen dynasty. It's true that she is the more diplomatic and gentle of the sisters, but, in the wake of HotD... how do you chime into the conversation to point out that ultimately this is a character that was designed to be a white Targaryen girl who just hatched a fire-breathing monster and could very well partake in that supernatural power? (Baela is worried she might use Morning to avenge her first husband's death) I realise that mine is decidedly the unpopular interpretation, but for a corner of the fandom that is so hellbent on criticising the Targaryens for their use of dragons and wholeheartedly agrees that Westeros is better off without them, Rhaena gets off the hook a lot for perpetuating this very system.

In addition, no one bothers to point out that Morning also dies pretty shortly afterwards (for a dragon). Where exactly is the hope here and for whom? Not for the King, certainly, as Rhaena leaves court because her brother cannot stand to be in the presence of dragons (she says she feels unwelcome). He is known to history as dragonbane as the last known dragon dies in 153 AC, so there's no way Morning was older than 24 when she died. After that, House Targaryen's obsession to bring dragons back will haunt them for the rest of their history.

[This is more of an aside, not criticism, but indicative of the same environment. Rhaena's marriage to Garmund Hightower is also seen through rose-tinted glassed. Fans like to think that her six daughters are indicative of a happy relationship, but they do not take the Lady Sam situation into account. If you look at the Hightower family tree, the High Septon refused to marry Lyonel, the heir, to Lady Sam and for a good chunk of time, all their six children were illegitimate. Martyn, the second son, had no issue. Which means that the High Tower would pass to Garmund's line. Perhaps we should interrogate if the reason they had so many children was because what Garmund needed/wanted was a boy, but they just kept having girls. In any case, this exercise was rendered futile at one point, as the new High Septon did indeed agree to marry Lyonel and Lady Sam, after which they got their children legitimized.]