I‘m curious how they handle the whole issue around the parentage of Rhaenyra‘s children if Corlys (and thus his children) are black. After all, Rhaenyra (the heir to the throne) is married to Corlys‘ son (at least in GRRM‘s canon), who has the typical Valyrian features. However, the parentage of their children is in doubt, since they don’t share the silver hair of their parents, which is a big plot point that contributes to a succession crisis (sounds familiar, doesn‘t it?)
However, if Corlys is black, then so is his son (or at least mixed), which would mean Rhaenyra‘s children have to be mixed looking too, otherwise it would be too obvious that they aren‘t her husband‘s. Wrong hair color is one thing, but if those kids are of the wrong race, then there’s no plausible deniability whatsoever. As a comparison, imagine if they had cast a black actor to play Jaime Lannister in the original series, lol. Everyone would‘ve immediately known that Cersei‘s kids aren‘t Robert‘s. The only way around that would be if Rhaenyra‘s lover (and real father of her children) is black too, which would be a bit too much.
Another question is, if Corlys Velaryon is black, then so would be his parents. Does that mean the Velaryons have always been black? But they are a Westerosi noble family (though of Valyrian descend), which has intermarried with other Westerosi nobles (including the Targaryens) for centuries. Does that mean there are a bunch of mixed race aristocrats running around Westeros? And shouldn‘t the Velaryons themselves have become more light skinned over time if they‘ve intermarried with Westerosi? But the actor in that pic does look very black – not mixed at all, but purely black. And those Targaryens don‘t look as if they have any black ancestry either.
I guess they could simply change the history of House Velaryon, and make them newcomers from Essos or something. Of course, this would mean Rhaenyra is married to someone different. I really wonder how they write themselves out of this.
variety.com
Jon Neu
well enough, I would have agreed with you. But from knowing Jon Neu's posting style on this forum, things being book accurate is his usual intent. He sometimes does 1 to 3 word posts like that to bait out the more questionable posters here, while also trolling people like yourself. It's devious but it gets the job done and also gets a conversation flowing.
