'House of the Dragon' Fans Accuse Show of Partaking in Anti-Gay Trope
newsweek.comWarning: this story contains spoilers for episode five of House of the Dragon.Just one week after House of the Dragon fans celebrated Westeros' first black — and gay — dragon rider, they are now calling the show out and accusing it of homophobic tropes.In the most recent episode of the HBO series, viewers were introduced officially to Laenor Velaryon's (Theo Nate) male partner, Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod) and witnessed the deep love the pair had for each other.But by the end of the episode, Joffrey would be dead in one of the show's most gruesome murder scenes yet.The premise of the most recent episode saw King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) arrange a politically strategic marriage between his daughter and heir, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) and Laenor.Both youngsters are not so interested in marriage to each other because Laenor's heart is with Joffrey and Rhaenyra has her own paramour, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).The pair come to an agreement that they will marry and have an open relationship where they keep their current lovers.Criston, who also serves as Rhaenyra's protector, seethes at the prospect of her marrying someone else and tries to encourage her to run away with him, but becomes enraged when she does not agree.Later, at the welcoming dinner for Rhaenyra and Laenor's wedding festival, Joffrey works out that Criston is the princess' lover.He approaches him with a proposal, saying they could work together to protect their loved ones during their marriage and that way ensure they would always be near them.But a clearly upset Criston lashes out at Laenor and viciously attacks him in the middle of the reception beating his face to a bloody pulp.It was this scene that lead to outrage amongst the show's.
