Game of Thrones: 'race is relevant' 

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Nathalie Emmanuel, who plays freed slave Missandei on Game of Thrones, has addressed accusations that the HBO show is racist

This article contains spoilers for the first four seasons of Game of Thrones

Since it first aired in 2011, HBO\'s successful fantasy series Game of Thrones has been subject to accusations that the show is "too white", and that non-Caucasian races are cast only in minor, subservient or stereotypical roles on the programme.

Many of the allegations have centred on the storyline of Daenerys Targaryen (Emila Clarke). Sold as a bride to Khal Drogo, leader of the horse-riding Dothraki, she later rises to become a powerful queen, and makes it her mission to end the slave trade.

In 2012, a Salon articled titled Is Game of Thrones Too White? described the show’s depiction of the quasi-Mongolian Dothraki as "positively cringe-inducing" and as "racial caricature".

After the finale of the third season of the show saw Daenerys invade the foreign city of Yunkai and liberate its slaves, a number of commenters argued that a scene in which the queen is borne aloft by the darker-skinned inhabitants of the city had "colonialist" undertones.

In a 2014 comment piece, Game of Thrones: Too much Racism and Sexism, The Guardian\'s Daniell Henderson wrote about how "the camera pulls back to show [Daenerys] floating in the middle of this sea of arms like the bright planet in a constellation of darkness", and queried whether or not anyone at HBO "remembers the visual impact of slavery?"

A scene from the season three finale of Game of Thrones

One woman intimately connected to Daenerys\'s storyline is Nathalie Emmanuel, who stars on Game of Thrones as Missandei, a freed slave who goes on to become a personal servant and close companion to the young Targaryen ruler.

"I think it\'s really difficult," Emmanuel told The Telegraph, when asked about the criticism the Daenerys plot has received. "We\'re dealing with a fantasy world here, but at the same time we\'re dealing with a fantasy world in an almost Medieval setting, set around a fantasy version of the British isles, where history tells us that a queen would have been white, generally. Slavery, which we know is part of all of history, would have been a thing. That\'s kind of what you would expect in this kind of story."

The actress continued: "I understand people\'s feelings on the issue, but, at the same time I think the show is really good at creating characters of all races and colour that have power and education. It\'s not just a stereotype of \'white powerful person\' and \'enslaved non-white person\': I think it\'s a bit more complicated than that."

MIssandei herself – an intelligent but cautious young woman – is an example of one of the shows more interesting non-white characters. The programme-makers have expanded upon the version of the character outlined in author George RR Martin\'s original books, imbuing Missandei with more "personality", and introducing a burgeoning romance with fellow freed slave Grey Worm. (As Grey Worm is a eunuch, it\'ll be interesting to see how the story plays out in season five).

Emmanuel, who was speaking at an event to promote the DVD release of the fourth season of the show, also pointed out that Daenerys\'s decision to end the slave trade can be interpreted as the empathetic reaction of someone who has been in the same position, rather than the act of a privileged "saviour".

"Daenerys as a character, she\'s been sold like a slave, for the advancement of men, to gain power – so it\'s a different type of slavery, but it still counts," she said. "Regardless of how you feel about the fact that you\'ve got this white woman saving all these slaves, she\'s coming from a place where she understands and almost feels that she\'s been in a similar place."

She added: "They [the programme-makers] just show a girl who has seen something she finds wrong, and is doing something about it. To bring race into it – obviously it\'s relevant, but it\'s not fundamentally what it\'s about. "

Nathalie Emmanuel at the premiere of the 2013 film The Frozen Ground (Rex)

When asked last year on his blog about the lack of racial diversity in Game of Thrones, author George RR Martin (whose A Song of Ice and Fire book series inspired the HBO show) wrote: "Westeros around 300 AC is nowhere near as diverse as 21st century America, of course... but. that being said, I do have some \'characters of colour\' who will have somewhat larger roles in [Martin\'s next novel] Winds of Winter."

Speaking specifically about the show, Martin also made reference to the decision to cast the black actor Deobia Oparei as Martell guard Areo Hotah, a new character who will be seen in the forthcoming fifth season. "I do think HBO and David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] are doing what they can to promote diversity as well, witness the casting of Areo Hotah," he wrote. "Of course, Hotah IS a guard, but he is also a viewpoint character in the novels, a brave and loyal warrior."

While Hotah\'s race is not specified in Martin\'s books, the character is described as "white-haired", and the official artwork linked to the books portrays him as a white man.

Game of Thrones: the Complete Fourth Season is out on DVD and Blu-ray on February 16. Season five of Game of Thrones premieres on April 12.

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