The sixth volume “Winds of Winter” is still a long time coming, in October at least one new companion book to the “Game of Thrones” novels will be released. Creator George RR Martin is criticized for this. Because “Rise of the Dragon” was written by two “superfans” who have attracted attention in the past through controversial statements. Other fans are now demanding that he end the collaboration.
Elio M. García Jr. and Linda Antonsson don’t just run the fan forum Westeros.org, but know the world of the “Song of Ice and Fire” so well that the author personally asked for support. Already in 2015 they wrote the background volume “Westeros: The World of Ice and Fire” for Martin.
But for just as long, many fans have been critical of the collaboration and, above all, have accused Antonsson of racism. “At this point, everyone in the ASOIAF and Game of Thrones fan base knows that Linda Antonsson is viciously racist,” wrote SueTheFury, who runs the fansite watchersonthewall.com operates, on Twitter. “People who choose to work with her know that and accept it. There are no more excuses.”
At this point everyone around the ASOIAF and Game of Thrones fandom knows Linda Antonsson is virulently racist. People choose to work with her knowing this and accept it. There’s no excuse anymore.
— SueTheFury (@SueTheFury) March 17, 2022
Should everything be like in the George RR Martin books?
The controversy mainly revolves around the series casting. Even “Game of Thrones” cast some white characters in the books with non-white actors, but limited them to supporting roles. The casting for the prequel “House of the Dragon” focused more on diversity, the central family of Velaryons was cast with black actors.
For example, Antonsson complained about the casting of Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon because “there are no Black Valyrians, and there shouldn’t be any on the show.” As early as 2012, she criticized in a blog post the casting of the role of Xaro Xhoan Daxos in the original series with black actor Nonso Anozie because the character was described in the books as pale.
Antonsson herself rejects the accusation of racism: she just wants everything to be like in the books. If Martin had made the Velaryons black instead of white in the books, and the TV series changed that, she would criticize it the same way, Antonsson pointed out “Variety”. Fans would criticize “picked out statements without context”. It bothers her “to be called a racist when my focus has always been world building”.
“The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty” will be released on October 25th and aims to shed more light on the history of the Targaryen family of rulers and dragon riders.