Eh, he probably didn't even make the top 10. There's a lot of evil people on this show. Ramsay, Joffrey, The Mountain, Meryn Trant, Cersei, Craster etc.

You…you haven't seen Once More With Feeling??

But that would be rewarding AMC for their shameless season splitting tactics.

Also, Jonathan Pryce was robbed.

I'd give Battle of the Bastards more credit than that, but it really is all about the battle sequences. There can't even be all that much dialogue or writing involved!

I love Marti Noxon. Always thought she got too much flack from Buffy fans, but then I actually like Season 6.

Yeah. I mean, I like him. I think he does well with his limited range, and that he has some charisma. But he's never going to be a great actor.

No. Weirdly, they didn't submit it for anything, not even directing. Very odd. Maybe it was past the nomination cut-off point?

Sophie Turner would have been a great choice

I also have feelings about the participants in this patrician circlejerk.

Apparently you need a minimum amount of screen time to classify as a lead, and no character in Game of Thrones gets it.

You'd be hardpressed to find a bigger Game of Thrones fanboy than me, but some of these choices are just bizarre. Dinklage? Emilia Clark? Battle of the Bastards…for writing?? At least Miguel Sapochnik and Lena Headey got nods.

It's a celebration of Austrian über-masculinity over American hyper-masculinity, since everyone but Schwarzenegger gets taken out like a punk.

Fair enough. I'm not entrenched in that fandom enough to know

She isn't on most of them as it is. But it was just an example of an alternative.

Surely Rowling would have at least said something. And it seems unlikely that an author as best-selling as Rowling would have no input at all on the cover for her 7th book. If she'd said "Don't have Hermione on the cover, I want her race ambiguous", I kinda doubt there would have been much objection.

Makes sense. I suppose my follow up question is then, did people see that subtext before Rowling said that Dumbledore was gay? Or is what Rowling said colouring people's perceptions of it?

Did she not approve the cover art? I deliberately didn't mention the movies as I know her involvement would be more limited.

Couldn't his motivation work as a very close friendship? The books didn't seem to hint at anything more. To the extent to whether I wonder if Rowling didn't just decide he was gay in retrospect.

Hermione is still white on all the covers of the books though. It seems fairly clear Rowling intended her to be white. Why not just say "Fuck you, they can cast a black Hermione if they want, it doesn't matter".