It’s a bit of a cop out, isn’t it, for Martin to talk about the diversity of Westeros at a certain time period as if it were historical fact rather than a universe of his own making populated exactly how and why he wants it to be. He’s said in the past that Westeros is an analogue for England, but if he saw fit to populate his fictional England with ice zombies and dragons, there’s no reason to suppose that a few more non-white occupants should be outside the realm of possibility. Martin is also doing the same thing here he did when controversy arose around last season’s sex scene between Jaime and Cersei. When he doesn’t want to take responsibility for a problem, Martin tends to distance himself as a creative force behind the HBO series.

To his credit Martin has, in the past, bemoaned the fact that some of his more prominent non-white characters like Chataya, Alayaya, and Strong Belwas were either cut entirely or absorbed into lily-white characters like Ros, Littlefinger, and Daario Naharis. But those changes are nothing compared to the decision to cut a strong and empowered Arianne Martell (who, according to Martin, looks like this) from the cast next season; as we’ve discussed, the decision was likely made for various, legitimate story reasons, but the headstrong Dornish princess could have gone a long way towards fixing the very concern outlined above. No matter what Martin or series creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff may say they want, the diversity gulf in Westeros is only getting worse in the translation from book to screen.

“Must all black people in the series be servants, guards, or charlatans?” At least for now, the answer appears to be yes.