WARNING: This article contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones” episode 3×06, “The Climb,” as well as trigger warnings for sexualized violence against women. Proceed with caution.
Before I begin, I should mention that I am a massive “Game of Thrones” fan. I personally think it is one of the best TV shows to come around in recent years. HBO has successfully managed to bring a fantasy series to the masses and make it cool and sexy. I have watched the series since the beginning and after the season one finale, read all of the books in a dangerously short space of time. I am a big fan.
This is why this article is so hard for me to write. I don’t want to dislike anything to do with it at all, but the truth is: “Game of Thrones” dances the line between being feminist and being disastrously misogynistic. Whilst there are tonnes of strong female characters on the show, such as Dany, Brienne, Cersei, Lady Stark and Ayra, the show also makes use of many scenes of sexual violence against women.
HBO TV shows are notoriously full of nudity and “Game of Thrones” is no different. We have seen numerous naked bodies since the very beginning of the show. Of course, with the repeated exception of Alfie Allen (who plays Theon), these images have primarily been naked women. Ross Douthat, a New York Times columnist, put it succinctly when he wrote that he would “respect Game of Thrones‘ sex scenes more if the leads were disrobing as often as the extras, or if the men were exposed half as often as the women.”
One of the characters that has been seen in the buff numerous times is Ros, a prostitute from Winterfell, played by Esmé Bianco. Ros was a character invented for the TV show and doesn’t feature in the books, but despite this (because I usually hate when they change things) I have really liked Ros’ character. She was a woman who took her destiny into her own hands and despite her contextually questionable profession has been shown to be a character of deep compassion and strength. As a prostitute in a country as misogynistic as Westeros, Ros hasn’t allowed herself to be broken. That is why, in episode six of season three, when we saw her death at the hands of the tyrannical King Joffrey, I felt cheated. Ros deserved better.
In an interview Bianco did with HBO that was released the day after the episode aired, she said Ros’ death was another example of Joffrey’s cruelty. But she also said that she was shocked when she discovered how her character was killed — by Joffrey, of all people? Really?
After three seasons of “Game of Thrones”, the viewers understand what a sadistic bastard King Joffrey is. We know. We’ve got it. We have watched Joffrey kill Lord Stark, then force his daughter Sansa to look at his head on a pike and proceeds to have her beat by his guard. We know he’s a little shit that doesn’t deserve the throne (THE KING IN THE NORTH!), so why must the writers of “Game of Thrones” constantly try to prove it again and again and why must they use violence against women as their tool for this? Last season we saw Ros beat a fellow prostitute to death whilst Joffery pointed a crossbow at her. We have also witnessed Joffrey have Sansa Stark beaten bloody and her clothes ripped off her in front of a whole court. These scenes were horrendous to watch, but this week it went that step further. Joffrey murdered Ros by tying her to a post and riddling her body with arrows — most of them shot into her breasts and groin.
Bianco’s comments in regards to the scene, and how we didn’t see the details of the death but rather the aftermath, were telling:
We see a lot of gory deaths on ‘Game of Thrones.’ It’s another example of how evil Joffrey is and how cruel, but I like that you don’t actually see it happening. I think there’s more of a shock. I’ve seen stills and it looks absolutely beautiful, like a painting. Really, every scene she’s been in is like a Caravaggio. I’m just glad she didn’t get her head chopped off.
Violence against women — particularly sexualized violence against women — is historically prevalent in all cultures. Women who take control of their sexuality — as Ros did in her profession as a prostitute, even in relationships with men who sought to take away that power — are constantly targeted for their “audacity”. For women, taking control of their own sexuality is incredibly dangerous.
The death of Ros through Joffrey’s sexual depravity is the ultimate example of how little the character of Ros is worth. Despite being built into the series as a fully formed character, Ros is used as a pawn by Littlefinger and cast aside when she is no longer useful. To the men in power, women are nothing more than bodies to be used, abused and then discarded. It is interesting that she is murdered with a crossbow, too, as it can be seen as a phallic reference; male sexuality killing female sexuality. (In a previous episode, there is an extremely sexualized scene in which Margaery strokes Joffrey’s ego by talking about the power of his crossbow — the relationship between Joffrey’s masculine power and his weapons has been well established.)
We don’t need anymore examples of Joffrey’s cruelty to understand him. George R.R. Martin gave us plenty of examples in his novels where Joffrey’s tyranny is shown; why did the writers have to use Ros’ character as a platform to show us what we already know? Ros is reduced from a strong, sexual character to nothing and I think that’s a real shame.
I honestly hope that this is the last we see of this type of sexualized violence against women, especially considering what is in store for Joffrey in the coming seasons. I hope that old Joff gets his just desserts.