While maybe not on the earth-shattering level as some other events in Game of Thrones’ first season, the nature of Renly Baratheon and Loras Tyrell’s relationship certainly resulted in some gasps, as well as some particularly juicy fan fiction. That’s because instead of just being close friends, as many readers and viewers assumed them to be, the two are actually lovers.
Since the reveal, which sent me and likely many others to Google with a, “are Renly and Loras gay,” query, I’ve read numerous annotated and footnoted explanations as to how the original Martin novels actually do imply that the two are in a homosexual relationship with one another. This wasn’t shocking because I have any problem with it – in fact, I find it a pretty interesting development – but rather because my literary gaydar is apparently defective.
