So my husband and I have finally started watching the HBO series Game of Thrones. Everyone has their own point at which the willing suspension of disbelief breaks. You have to be willing to accept certain things to enjoy a fantasy. Giant icewall, sure. Dire wolves? No problem.
Dragons? I’m good with that.
But will someone please explain to me why Daenerys Targaryen is not horribly, horribly sunburned?
She has no melanin. Look at her. I mean, I get sunburned sitting outside at my niece’s graduation for two hours. She is in an equatorial environment with bare shoulders.
Why is she not bright, bright red, with blisters and peeling skin?
Especially when so much of her skin is exposed to the sun? 🙂
Because fire cannot kill a dragon.
It is known.
It is known.
I knew that! P-}>
Because she’s a proper Targaryen and fire doesn’t burn her, of course. Including silly little freestanding fusion reactions several light-minutes away.
Then, I would want someone to express surprise that she hasn’t been sunburned.
That wouldn’t be unreasonable, but since nobody has expressed surprise that nobody has murdered the fuck out of Joffrey, I would say there are bigger fish to fry in that vein.
This comment is win. Also, in the first few episodes they have her get into a boiling bath and I believe straight up touch fire. I thought her fire resistence was set up well in the books and series. As a pale, pale person myself I wish I had the same power.
This comment is indeed win.
Perhaps the severe vitamin D deficiency is a key factor in the Targaryen madness.
She is magically immune to fire; I guess that extends to sunburn…
I always thought it was her ancestry and connection to dragons.
Hehe 😉
I know I’m reaching here, but… There is a scene in the Pilot where she deals really well with hot water. And her family has that whole dragon and fire connection going on, so… Well.
But I’m glad you started watching the show, Mary! 🙂
She is protected by the same magical field that kept the castaways on LOST looking cover-spread-gorgeous and that makes sure that everyone in REVOLUTION smells nice. 🙂
I think this is the key.
Don’t forget about how The Walking Dead features, somewhere offscreen but quite nearby, fully functioning car washes.
I haven’t read the comics, so this is pure speculation, but I always assumed they just drive the cars through a herd of rain-soaked walkers until they’re clean.
Stands to reason. That’s why the walkers always look so filthy: it’s from all the car-washing they do.
To be fair, they were really careful about the continuity of clothes on LOST, to the extent that costumes didn’t get washed often because the characters didn’t have the facilities to do so.
I somehow doubt the actors would have acquiesced to a similar policy regarding bathing and washing their hair.
It’s got to be the dragon connection, because the Mother of Dragons should not burn. Regardless, she is strikingly pale and I’m still giggling about this.
I have nothing to say but “Bwahahahaha!”
Fire cannot kill a dragon.
She only looks pale. She applies a thick layer of pale makeup every morning, all over her green scaly skin, in order to disguise the fact that she’s actually one of the Saurian Overlords secretly infiltrating the…
… wait, that might be another story.
[Deleted for being stupidly offensive.]
–MRK
Zeem, I don’t know you, so I don’t know your positionality on this, but for me, this comment gets a ‘Really?’ and a thumbs-down.
wow. that’s a really ugly thing to say.
For a serious answer? Herbal sunblock or some such remedy. I know that there are berries that help your skin avoid burning, although the use of those ought to provide her with a deep brown color from the exposure. Perhaps she has some kind of concoction that keeps her skin from browning.
Given that this woman walked through fire, I’m pretty sure she can handle a few rays. What I’m interested in is why her companions aren’t burnt to a crisp. I live in AZ and hike around the desert quite often. I can get away with not wearing sun screen if I wear a wide brimmed hat and long sleeve pants and shirt. But I don’t see that happening for her on a HBO show.
So I’m left with only one simple answer. People don’t get sun burnt in his world.
I’m only four episodes into the first season, so things that happen later don’t actually help with willing suspension of disbelief now.
Good point. And I really don’t wear long sleeve pants. Just don’t have an edit button:)
Anyway, I was reading some reviews of Divergent, and the thing that comes up the most in the review that are negative is that the author never bothers to explain how the society got set up in the first place. And this got me thinking about the whole sunburn thing.
What if people in George R.R. Martin’s world just don’t sunburn. His sun doesn’t give off UVA/UVB stuff. But then how can he explain that without breaking the fourth wall? How do you translate our world to another world without breaking the narrative?
And then this got me thinking some more. If a character doesn’t pee in a book, do we immediately think that characters don’t pee happen behind the scenes? Can we assume that the characters put something on that protects them from the sun behind the scenes?
This is what’s tough about fantasy. We have to go with it to a degree to enjoy it. Living essentially in a desert environment and enjoying backpacking in it, I wear clothes that cover me up that are as thin as possible in the summer months for sun protection.
Of course, I think it might just be a bait and switch. We’ll show you lots of flesh, and you’ll forget about that nasty thing called the sun:)
I do not watch the show, but now I’m intrigued.
“Then, I would want someone to express surprise that she hasn’t been sunburned.”
Her people already know she can survive fire, so they wouldn’t do it. And as for everyone else, they would have to have someone mention it every time they met a new group of people for it to seem “realistic”. Seems to me that that would get old after awhile. Also, I think ‘some’ of the people she meets wouldn’t be surprised since she already has the reputation as the “Mother of Dragons;” they might already expect it if they know what that implies.
No one knows any of this in the first episodes.
Actually, no. It only takes one comment to establish that it is a deliberate dramatic choice. Willing suspension of disbelief isn’t about realism, it’s about helping the reader/watcher believe the unreal.
Oh… I was thinking you were talking about towards the end of the season when they are wandering in the desert. I really don’t see a problem before that because they know they are traveling and have supplies for it. Maybe one of her wedding gifts was sunscreen 😛
“It only takes one comment to establish that it is a deliberate dramatic choice.”
I get that as a storytelling principle, but to me it would draw more attention to itself if there were only one mention and no one else she met afterwords had the same reaction, though I guess you could just say it happens off screen. If it isn’t mentioned at all, then only those who noticed it would even wonder about it.
Those type of things never bother me, especially in fantasy, I just assume that there is an in-world explanation for it and move on. As Brian’s comments suggested, I can assume that they would be smart enough to have some sort of protection knowing they would be wandering around on horseback with dothraki. I also don’t need to see her shaving her legs to except that she isn’t hairy.
Read the first two books and absolutely hated them. There is no redeeming qualities to be found in these characters. I dare say I’d hate to meet Mr. Martin because he has a very sick world view. Good luck with your watching.
Sorry, but please do not make the mistake of confusing the author with the story. He’s doing a retelling of the War of Roses.
I think the No UV/their skin is different theory is the only one that works for all the characters to be okay. Which, considering how long their seasons are, why not?
The actress must be wearing some really good opaque and UV blocking makeup, however.
Mary! Wonderful to see you again at the Nebula signing, and many many thanks for flagging down the bartender so I could get the Coke I so needed.
Personally, while she’s not dark, she may just have the kind of skin that burns. She’s definitely paler than I am, and while I’m a light-olive tone, I don’t really burn. I tan, and then tan on top of that.
Plus, what everyone else says: She is a dragon. And it is known.