HBO really changed the game. When Game of Thrones first aired, it wasn't just the dragons or the brutal beheadings that got people talking; it was the "sexposition." That's a term coined by critics to describe the show's habit of delivering heavy plot details while characters were, well, getting it on. But looking back, the lesbian sex scene game of thrones viewers often bring up—specifically the one involving Yara Greyjoy or the Sandsnakes—was doing more than just moving the plot. It was a chaotic, often messy attempt at representation in a high-fantasy world that usually defaulted to the male gaze.
Honestly, it’s complicated.
George R.R. Martin’s world is famously bleak. Westeros is a place where power is the only currency that matters, and sex is frequently used as a tool for manipulation. However, when we talk about the lesbian sex scene game of thrones featured, we have to look at the Season 6 moment with Yara Greyjoy and a nameless tavern girl in Volantis. It was one of the few times we saw a female character’s queer identity treated as a casual, integrated part of her personality rather than a shocking twist or a tragedy.
The Yara Greyjoy Factor
Yara was a breath of fresh air. While Cersei was navigating the patriarchy through marriage and Daenerys was conquering cities, Yara was out there being a pirate. In the episode "The Broken Man," we see Yara at a brothel. She’s not there for a "political" reason. She’s there because she wants to be. She’s encouraging her brother, Theon, to find his old self again while she drinks ale and enjoys the company of a woman.
Gemma Whelan, the actress who played Yara, has spoken in various interviews about how she appreciated that Yara’s sexuality wasn't some grand "coming out" moment. It just was. That’s a level of nuance you didn't always get in earlier seasons of the show.
But let's be real.
The show had a bit of a track record. Earlier on, in Season 1, we had the infamous scene where Littlefinger is "training" Ros and another girl while explaining his entire life philosophy. That scene is the textbook definition of sexposition. It wasn't about the women. It was about the man talking over them. It felt performative. By the time we got to Yara’s scenes, the vibe had shifted slightly, though the show never quite escaped the "male gaze" criticism that followed it for a decade.
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Representation or Spectacle?
It's a fine line.
Critics like Emily VanDerWerff and others who covered the show's run often pointed out that Westeros is a heteronormative nightmare. For a long time, queer representation was limited to Renly Baratheon and Loras Tyrell, and even then, their relationship was often framed through the lens of tragedy or secrecy. When the show pivoted to showing queer women, it often felt like it was playing to a specific demographic of the audience rather than exploring the interior lives of the characters.
Think about the Sandsnakes.
In Season 5, there’s a scene in a Dornish jail cell involving Tyene Sand. It’s a scene designed to be provocative. It’s high-tension, it’s flirtatious, and it’s very much centered on the physical beauty of the actresses. Does it count as a lesbian sex scene game of thrones fans would call "good representation"? Probably not. It felt more like a "Look how edgy Dorne is!" moment than a deep dive into character motivation.
The Evolution of the "Sex Scene"
As the show progressed into the final seasons, the sheer frequency of sex scenes dropped off. The stakes got too high. There was no time for tavern visits when the Night King was knocking on the door. This shift actually made the earlier scenes stand out more in the cultural memory. They became markers of an era when the show was still trying to find its footing between "prestige drama" and "pulp fantasy."
The difference between the books and the show is pretty staggering here, too. In A Song of Ice and Fire, Dany’s experimentation with her handmaid, Irri, is internal and exploratory. It’s about her loneliness and her search for comfort. On screen, the showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss often took these quiet, internal moments and turned them into loud, visual spectacles. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it felt cheap.
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Why We Are Still Talking About It
People still search for these scenes because they represent a specific moment in TV history. Game of Thrones was the last "monoculture" show. Everyone watched it at the same time. Because of that, its portrayal of sexuality—especially queer sexuality—was under a microscope.
If you look at modern fantasy like House of the Dragon or The Witcher, you can see the DNA of these earlier mistakes and successes. They’ve learned that you don't need to have a naked body on screen to explain the tax code of King's Landing. They've also learned that if you’re going to show a queer relationship, it should probably have some emotional weight behind it.
The Real Impact on the Cast
It wasn't always easy for the actors. Gemma Whelan actually mentioned in an interview with The Guardian that the intimacy on set in the earlier years was a bit of a "frenzied" affair. This was before the era of Intimacy Coordinators became standard in Hollywood. Now, thanks in part to the conversations sparked by shows like Thrones, sets are much safer. There are professionals whose entire job is to make sure that a lesbian sex scene game of thrones or any other show films is handled with consent and comfort as the priority.
What Fans Frequently Get Wrong
A common misconception is that these scenes were just "filler." While some definitely were, many served to establish the culture of specific regions. Dorne was meant to be sexually liberated. The Iron Islands were meant to be harsh, but Yara’s defiance of social norms showed a different kind of strength. The sexuality was the world-building.
Also, it’s worth noting that the "tavern scene" with Yara wasn't just about her. It was the first time we saw Theon truly confront the trauma of what Ramsay Bolton had done to him. The contrast between Yara’s vibrant, unapologetic life and Theon’s brokenness was the whole point of the scene. The sex was just the backdrop.
Navigating the Legacy
So, where does that leave us?
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Westeros isn't a place you'd want to live, but it is a place that forced us to have hard conversations about how we depict women on screen. The show was a pioneer, for better or worse. It gave us powerful characters like Brienne of Tarth and Olenna Tyrell, but it also leaned heavily into tropes that we’ve mostly outgrown in the 2020s.
If you’re revisiting the series, keep these things in mind:
- Look at the power dynamics. Who is in control of the scene? In Yara's case, she usually is.
- Notice the background. Often, the most important dialogue in a "sexposition" scene is happening while the camera is focused on someone's shoulder.
- Compare it to the books. If you really want to see the difference between "visual spectacle" and "character growth," read the Irri chapters in A Storm of Swords.
Moving Forward with Fantasy
The legacy of the lesbian sex scene game of thrones era is one of transition. We’ve moved past the need for "shock value" and into an era where queer characters in fantasy get to have actual storylines. We don't just see them in brothels; we see them on thrones, on the battlefield, and in the quiet moments in between.
To better understand the evolution of these portrayals, it’s helpful to watch the behind-the-scenes documentaries like The Last Watch. It gives a lot of perspective on how much work went into the visual language of the show, even the parts that were controversial. You might also want to look into the work of Intimacy Coordinators like Ita O'Brien, who has been instrumental in changing how these scenes are filmed today. Understanding the "how" often makes the "why" much clearer.
Don't just take the scenes at face value. Analyze who the scene is for. If it feels like it’s for the character, it’s usually good writing. If it feels like it’s just for the audience, well, that’s just old-school TV.