Spoilers for Game of Thrones season six episode seven below
In latest episode of Game of Thrones on Sunday, we learned that Yara Greyjoy likes having sex with women.
And after the Greyjoys moved their Iron Fleet to Volantis to stock up on supplies, we saw the group indulging in an abundance of women and ale, including Yara herself.
Before hitting the high seas, she proclaims:
Since it’s my last night ashore for a long while, I’m gonna go f**k the tits off this one.”
What is so great about this episode is the fact the show doesn’t present Yara sexual preference as some big, shocking reveal — in fact, it goes unacknowledged – which is very refreshing
Her sexuality is treated as blithely as, say, Oberyn Martell’s, who was bisexual, and it marks a very welcome departure from the franchise canon, in case you were wondering whether this detail is part of the character’s story all along.
#YaraGreyjoy made out with a total babe on last night's episode of #GameofThrones https://t.co/6LXzX58qPE #GoT #LGBT pic.twitter.com/7HxaRlG50V
— The Feminism Project (@TheFeminismProj) June 6, 2016
Actress Gemma Whelan, who plays Yara, told HBO that she didn’t previously know her character wasn’t straight.
I had no idea! I reckon she’s any way. I don’t think she’d limit herself to one or another. Anything goes. Get the job done with whatever if fun and interesting.”
However, George R.R. Martin may think otherwise. When asked whether Yara (named Asha in the books) was gay, he responded on his blog,
I have a number of lesbian and bisexual women in the novels (and a couple who experiment), but Asha [Yara] is not one of them. Unless I am forgetting something…”
Oh, well… we didn’t mind the creative alteration for the TV show.
Meanwhile, GOT star Sophie Turner wants Sansa Stark to ‘swing both ways’.
In the Game of Thrones universe, I think she’s going to have to swing the other way – because the men thing isn’t working for her.”