White Tyene?
"The SDCC 2014 press release described Tyene as the daughter of Oberyn and Ellaria - which is very confusing: Oberyn is a "salty Dornishman" and Ellaria is a "sandy Dornishman", both non-white characters. If TV-Tyene is indeed Ellaria's daughter, they cast her based on her biography in the novels, then when they changed her TV series biography they did not recast accordingly."
That makes absolutely no sense. Rosabell Laurenti Sellers is Italian. Pedro Pascal is Chilean. Indira Varma is half-Indian half-Swiss (though of Italian descent.) Spaniards (and descendants of them) and Italians look pretty much alike —as a Spaniard, I can assure you of that. Southerners in both countries are more tanned and look “less white”, and Northerners pretty much all look pale and rosy, though very few of us are blonde. Anyway, whatever you call it, the point is Pascal and Sellers (and half of Varma) are of a very similar ethnicity. Tyene could easily be the daughter of Ellaria and Oberyn. It’s not even unlikely; this is not a matter of suspension of disbelief, or accepting it as TV-reality —it’s 100% believable, because the actors DO in fact share a very close ethnicity. —ArticXiongmao (talk) 23:44, March 2, 2015 (UTC)
1 - I wrote this too quickly while on a break in school and need to fix the wording.
2 - ....Sellers looks much lighter skinned than Pascal or Varma.
Italy and Spain both have ethnic continuums. It would make no difference to me if Sellers is from Spain or Italy.
Pretending that Sellers was said to be "from Spain"....I'd say she looks like she's from northern Spain, despite being cast to play the daughter of TWO characters from southern Spain.
No, Tyene doesn't look like she's the daughter of Ellaria and Oberyn, based on the actors' appearances.
Sellers doesn't look particularly dark skinned or even olive-skinned. I've seen darker/tan skinned Italians before and she isn't one of them.
NO, they do not "share close ethnicity" - you just said that "ethnicity" in Italy and Spain are fluid and on a continuum...
let me get terminology correct here: we're talking phenotype, not genotype. Whatever ethnic origins Sellers has, based on the photos I have seen of her (including the few we've seen in full costume).....from empirical observation, she doesn't look as dark skinned as Oberyn and Ellaria.
...do you claim that based purely on appearance, Sellers appears to be roughly the same ethnicity as Pascal and Varma?--The Dragon Demands (talk) 07:12, March 3, 2015 (UTC)
Well, of course I do. You seem to be quite ignorant about this. My father, a Spaniard technically born in the North but with parents from the South, wouldn’t look out of place in Dorne, or any Arab country, especially when he tans. His siblings, however, wouldn’t. At all. One of them is blonde! My mother, a Northerner, is blonde and has blue eyes. Their offspring? I have green eyes, dark blonde hair, and pale skin. My brother has dark hair and blue eyes.
Tyene could easily be the daughter of Ellaria and Oberyn. It’s not even unlikely. They pretty much all look like the same ethnicity, except maybe Ellaria, who looks more Indian and naturally darker-skinned (Pedro Pascal IS and LOOKS white outside the show; he was just tanned and had makeup for the role.) This is not a matter of suspension of disbelief, or accepting it as TV-reality; it’s 100% believable, because the actors do in fact share a very close ethnicity. I see more unlikely-looking off-springs every day where I’m from.
As for why Tyene looks paler than his father; any reason! If you really wanna justify it for some reason, fine: considering her character, maybe she spends more time reading and less time under the sun! And hey, anyway, the comments on "The Watchers on the Wall" prove you're literally, literally, the only one who seems to have this issue, the only one who doesn't find it believable. Have you considered, per chance, that you are simply wrong? I don't think you realize how ridiculous this complaint ks from a production standpoint: "Oh, we found the perfect actress for the role... Pity, her skin tone is half a shade too pale, we simply cannot cast her!". Ludicrous. —ArticXiongmao (talk) 08:22, March 3, 2015 (UTC)
....I'm not sure if you understand what I'm saying: to a certain extent, you can have in a narrative a father who is blonde, a mother who is blonde, and their child have black hair, and just assume that they look like one of their grandparents.
It's a bit more difficult to do this with different races, i.e. two blonde European looking parents suddenly having a sub-saharan black child, with zero mention that they had a black grandparent. This is of course not as drastic in Dorne or Spain which has a long history of intermarriage (the Martells do have some Andal DNA rattling around in their background).
...even so, you are contradicting yourself: First, you claimed the Sellers-Tyene looks "ethnically similar" to TV-Oberyn and TV-Ellaria. ...Then in your next sentence you shift to saying that Sellers-Tyene indeed looks "paler" than TV-Oberyn, but wave this aside saying she could easily just resemble a grandparent.
Now I'm just plain confused: the question is simple. Do you think that Sellers looks like Oberyn and Ellaria?
If "No", a separate and entirely separate question would be, "are they going to say that she looks like a grandparent or something?" -- and Third...why would they bother with making such a convoluted explanation, instead of just casting an actress that looks more like Ellaria?--The Dragon Demands (talk) 09:00, March 3, 2015 (UTC)
And hey, anyway, the comments on "The Watchers on the Wall" prove you're literally, literally, the only one who seems to have this issue, the only one who doesn't find it believable. Have you considered, per chance, that you are simply wrong? I don't think you realize how ridiculous this complaint ks from a production standpoint: "Oh, we found the perfect actress for the role... Pity, her skin tone is half a shade too pale, we simply cannot cast her!". Ludicrous.
....in the comments section on a single fan news site, in a single day, I made a few points and they didn't generate many replies....leading you to conclude that no one has ever raised this issue?
Have...have you been following the threads on this at Westeros.org?
Did you watch the Westeros.org Season 5 casting response video, which pointed out the criticism I am making now? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q69aQeKWLQ
--The Dragon Demands (talk) 09:06, March 3, 2015 (UTC)
Okay, this was my fault for making a crappy quick edit in the first place, I should have had citations to begin with, but I have them in now.
I just put in the better thought out note about TV-Tyene's casting, and it cites the specific time in Elio and Linda's video in which they point out 1 - how odd it is that Sellers doesn't really look like TV-Oberyn or TV-Ellaria, and more importantly 2 - There were so many odd things in the SDCC 2014 press release, and particularly that bizarre "no comment" reply to what should have been a simple confirmation, that Tyene is officially "on hold" -- we're not considering those statements to be true until we actually hear any further word from HBO (frankly I'm more inclined to think the press release was just in error).--The Dragon Demands (talk) 09:38, March 3, 2015 (UTC)
---
I think you (and Elio and Linda, for that matter —whose opinion is a reputable source in this matter... why exactly? If anything, your own opinion as an administrator of the Wiki was more relevant than whatever they think) are hopelessly confused about the matter of ethnicity and appearance.
You wanna talk phenotypes? Fine, I'd be happy to! Yes, Tyene could easily be Oberyn and Ellaria's daughter. Simultaneously, she is indeed paler. If you think that is in any way a contradiction, I can only fathom that you must live in a place where people are all the same race and all have the same level of exposure to the sun (and you're a New Yorker, if I remember correctly, so I know that's not the case.) I'm pale as fuck, right now. I haven't gotten out much, you see, and I live in Northern Spain so it's constantly raining right now, and when it isn't there's still no sun. My dad was tan until recently, and as I told you he usually looks like an Arab. Right now he's almost as pale as I am, and he now looks... well, white, because he's not tan. Is this difficult to grasp? How tan one is doesn't have that much to do with ethnicity, unless you're black. In any case, even if you were right (which you aren't) and it was mildly unrealistic that TV-Tyene was TV-Oberyn's and TV-Ellaria's daughter, the fact is that they liked the actress and they stuck with her, and her acting is more important than the fact that she looks too pale for you. That's the kind of silly fanboy criticism that is laughed at in any genuine film analysis conversation.
Oh, and you're insisting they're "different races." As I pointed out, THEY AREN'T. Oberyn's actor is of Spaniard heritage. Ellaria's actress is half-Italian. Tyene's actress is Italian. So... how are they different races, exactly? They have had different levels of exposure to the sun; they're pretty much the same race.
Anyway: as I told you, if you REALLY want to justify it (for some reason), Tyene must spend more time in-doors (as I do) than her parents do, and so she is paler. Maybe she reads the Seven-Pointed Star a lot. Hm... I wonder, isn't that like her whole point in the book? Also, she's supposed to look virginal, untouched, innocent, in the books at least; as fucked up as that is, in that society that would involve not working under the sun and hence looking pale (as Oberyn says in the show about a whore in King's Landing: "they like them pale in the capital; it shows they don't work the fields", which is very much a real life thing too, at least until recently.)
As for the supposed incongruities in the HBO press release, I think we'll know soon enough if any of it was wrong. I mean, of course it isn't, and Trystane is the heir and Tyene has been made Ellaria's daughter; those mistakes couldn't have been made by accident. The only mistake was suggesting the marriage plan was Tywin's, not Tyrion's, and that's an understandable mistake that involves switching a single name, as opposed to the other supposed mistakes. But if you wanna believe that, good for you. In a month or two we'll know the truth :) —ArticXiongmao (talk) 10:59, March 3, 2015 (UTC)