Why won’t Game of Thrones give LGBT characters like Yara a break?

My problem isn’t so much that same-sex loving characters don’t get a happy ending on Game of Thrones. No one really does. But same-sex love is treated as a plot device on this show

Yara Greyjoy is one of the show's few LGBT characters

*This piece contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season seven, episode two*

As it so often does, last night Game of Thrones left me screaming at my television screen. Now in its seventh season, showrunners David Benioff and D B Weiss probably assume we’re used to the unpredictable horrors they routinely inflict on the denizens of Westeros. But last night was different, and has me wondering whether I can stomach watching this show again.

As they sailed for Dorne at Queen Daenerys behest, Yara Greyjoy and Ellaria Sand – two of the handful of LGBT characters the show has given us – begin flirting. It looks like the two are about to hook up when Euron Greyjoy (Yara's brutal uncle and rival for the throne of the Iron Isles) attacks their fleet. Euron manages to kill most of their sailors and get a knife to Yara’s throat, but the episode leaves Yara's and Ellaria’s fates unknown.

They must survive. Game of Thrones is a brilliant show that has me and millions of other viewers on the edge of our seats week after week, but it has a horrible record of writing same-sex couples. The only other real same-sex couple was brought down way back in season two, when Renly Baratheon was killed by a shadow demon birthed from the womb of Melisandre.

The symbolism of a vagina demon killing a gay man told gay audiences everything we needed to know – homosexuality leads heterosexual retribution. This became even more obvious when, at the end of last season, Renly’s partner Loras was arrested for “buggery” and put on trial by a far-right religious cult which demanded heterosexuality or death. In the end that cult was blown to smithereens by Queen Cersei, but it was of little consolation as Loras was killed along with them.

My problem isn’t so much that same-sex loving characters don’t get a happy ending on Game of Thrones. No one really does. But same-sex love is treated as a plot device on this show. None of the lesbian, gay, or bisexual characters we encounter are main characters. Instead, they are background players who, for the most part, serve to further the storylines of the main – and straight – characters.

When same-sex love is shown, it is often portrayed as something decadent or weak – such as when Oberon’s bisexuality was considered as a Dornish eccentricity rather than a valid sexuality. He was shown to be a promiscuous dandy, but we didn’t see him form any meaningful relationships with men. His relationship with Ellaria was fleshed out, though.

Of course, that was before he had his head smashed in. Yet another LGB character that meets a grizzly fate. This was a common trope in 20^th century literature and television, where homosexuality was seen to lead to tragic ending. So taboo was showing same-sex love in a positive light that E M Forster held off on publishing Maurice until he was dead, afraid editors and the public wouldn’t accept it.

But we don’t live in the 20^th century, and gay and bisexual characters – and audiences – deserve better. Game of Thrones loves playing with gay and bisexual trauma as a plot device, but it doesn’t ever seem willing to actually let us be fully formed people with our own agencies and in charge of our own destinies. When two characters finally do find a little joy – such as sharing Yara and Ellaria sharing a kiss – they are immediately attacked or killed. We never get to see what might have been.

Which is why I’m rooting for Ellaria and Yara to survive. I don’t know what’s going to happen to them, but I hope it ends with them ruling Dorne and the Iron Isles as coregents. I’ll settle for them actually becoming fully formed, dynamic characters who serve as more than a plot device in Daenerys’ quest for the Iron Throne.