‘Hoe of the Dragon’ Begs Buryg Its Gays

Contents:

• ‘HOE OF THE DRAGON’ BEGS BURYG ITS GAYS
• HOE OF THE DRAGON INTRODUCED (AND PROMPTLY KILLED) A GAY CHARACTER
• ‘GAME OF THRON’: SO JOFEY HAT GAYS, ON TOP OF EVERYTHG ELSE
• 'HOE OF THE DRAGON' FANS ACCE SHOW OF PARTAKG ANTI-GAY TROPE
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

‘HOE OF THE DRAGON’ BEGS BURYG ITS GAYS

[EVERYTHING] Was Jofey gay? I hate to troduce the possibily that he is reprentative of the typil morn day, self-loathg homosexual polician that seems to permeate today's polil arena wh illogil gay bashg polici and gay cur, but his behavr sure seems nsistent wh those morn day policians. To be clear, I mean no offense to the gay muny, so I apologize advance if I am off base here.

I thk a lot of Jofey's anger om his supprsn of his natural homosexual sir. It was all, of urse, somethg of a set-up: This week, after agreeg to marry her gay Laenor Velaryon, Prcs Rhaenyra curs Criston’s fury by refg to n away wh him; on the eve of her weddg, Criston vlently kills Laenor’s lover, Jofey Lonmouth, moments after Jofey not-so-discreetly approached Criston about how both of them uld rema lovers to the rpective almost-newlyweds.

It’s the epome of the famo “bury your gays” trope, which se LGBTQ characters often wrten solely to meet some typilly vlent, tragic ath. The aths of gay characters, pecially ostensibly ~historil~ shows like Hoe of the Dragon, tend to be mentary on the endurg stggl agast tolerance and anti-LGBTQ opprsn society.

HOE OF THE DRAGON INTRODUCED (AND PROMPTLY KILLED) A GAY CHARACTER

I’d jt like to see queer characters thrive for once—or, really, anythg stead of the leral gay-bashg we were all subjected to this impet for Jofey’s ath is jt as tratg as his actual ath scene. Later, when he perceived Jofey as tntg him about his sexual relatnship wh Rhaenyra, that was apparently the fal straw to btally kill a gay man, whose bleedg-out, mutilated rpse we’re then treated to.

‘GAME OF THRON’: SO JOFEY HAT GAYS, ON TOP OF EVERYTHG ELSE

It’s the epome of toxic masculy taken to a vlent, homophobic extreme. Whatever HotD has store down the le, I’m disappoted by the grotque vlence felt pelled to flict on one of the show’s first gay characters, all bee some straight man was particularly secure about his masculy one night. Episo 5 nfirmed a book mor that Laenor Velaryon is gay and a relatnship wh Jofey.

'HOE OF THE DRAGON' FANS ACCE SHOW OF PARTAKG ANTI-GAY TROPE

His bloody mise ntu a Thron' trope where gay characters are troduced only to meet a terrible end. This highlights the difference between which Wteros's gay characters, like the Knight of Kiss Jofey Lonmouth, and other characters are killed off, signifyg a problematic trend. Like Ser Loras, Jofey's endg was changed, once aga makg sexualy the fol pot of gay characters' velopment and mise the two shows.

Unfortunately, spe this populary, Hoe of the Dragon has ntued Game of Thron' trope of givg their gay characters tragic storyl and btal endgs. Perhaps bee the language to scribe and fe multiple sexual orientatns don’t exist Wteros, his fay speaks only phemism, but Laenor is gay and his lover is Jofey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod).

And while n be argued that most characters the seri experience some form of horrific vlence, queer characters’ aths are often also marked by homophobic subtext that n’t be ignored. He is arrted by a relig sect for the crime of beg gay and havg been timate wh other men. And for those who will try to pat the homophobia as some sort of “historil accuracy, ” “Hoe of the Dragon” is a fictnal show set a world wh dragons and ice queer women of “Game of Thron” fared slightly better.

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

)For those who hoped that Laenor’s troductn might signal that “Hoe of the Dragon” had learned the same lsons about LGBTQ reprentatn as has Daenerys’ arc, Lonmouth’s ath is particularly troublg bee of the way evok the homophobic “panic” that has long been ed to try to fend vlence agast queer people. But the sequence still amounts to a man, after beg approached by a gay man who knows his secret, beatg the gay man to the first episo, the prequel seri has been clear that the misogyny of the Realm is a mark agast . It’s past time the anchise do the same wh homophobia.