HBO's Game of Thrones made us sick to our stomachs for eight seasons with its brother-sister and even aunt-nephew love scenes. Now, HBO's The White Lotus continues this trend with season 3's brothers-lovers storyline. But a star of the satirical dramedy claims that the incest in The White Lotus is far worse than what we saw in Westeros. And it oddly makes sense!
Over the past few years, The White Lotus has gained mainstream popularity. Creator Mike White tackles many tricky and uncomfortable topics head-on in the show. Its previous seasons dealt with white privilege, class conflict, and extramarital affairs. Now, season 3 delves into incest. In episode 6, "Denials," we learn that the Ratliff brothers Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) engaged in a drug-fueled makeout session that escalates into something more intimate.
After the episode's release, star Natasha Rothwell (Belinda) spoke about the incest scenes on the Las Culturistas podcast. She claimed that the Ratliff brothers' NSFW scenes are hitting fans harder than the ones in Thrones. "You can’t really project yourself onto one of the characters of Game of Thrones and be like, ‘That could really happen to my children," she said. The star further argued that The White Lotus may make viewers worried that, "I might be dating a guy who f***ed his brother,’ you know?”
Her logic sounds flaky at first, it actually makes sense for two reasons :
Because Game of Thrones is a period drama, it can be tough for viewers to relate to many characters on a deeply personal level. But most characters and situations in The White Lotus feel real and palpable.
Secondly, when villains like Cersei and Craster (a wildling who marries his daughters) engage in incestuous acts, you feel disgusted by them, rather than terrified that someone in your close circle might be doing the same thing.
George R.R. Martin faced a bizarre allegation over the incest in Game of Thrones
An unhinged group of Game of Thrones fans have long speculated that authorGeorge R.R. Martin endorses incest, and other extreme things in the show, simply because he includes them in his stories.
The author addressed this bizarre allegation while speaking to Gamer Next Door years ago. "Avoid incest, I may write about incest but I do not endorse it, " he told a reporter. He said in another interview: "No matter how much I make up, there's stuff in history that's just as bad, or worse."
This hasn't stopped the conspiracy theorists from accusing him of having a filthy mind. However, there's a huge reason why they are all wrong.
Game of Thrones' source material A Song of Ice and Fire draws inspiration from real European history. Martin confessed that he recreated "a version of" many real historical events in his books. The Red Wedding was inspired by the gruesome Black Dinner of 1440 and the Massacre of Glencoe from 1692. Both these events consisted of betrayal and the unexpected slaughter of unassuming guests.
Similarly, the incest in Westeros, though extreme, has roots in real history. Back in the day, it wasn't uncommon for members of European high society to intermarry, and interbreed. Marrying a first/second cousin or even an uncle was considered a sound decision to keep the wealth and property within the family. Martin uses a version of this in his fantasy saga with the Targaryens marrying close relatives to retain control of their dragons.
There's no denying that incest can be a huge selling point for shows like Game of Thrones and The White Lotus. I am nervously excited to see where Mike White takes season 3's incest storyline. Though I'll always be grateful to George R.R. Martin for scrapping the Jon-Arya romance from his first draft of Song and Ice and Fire saga.
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