Game of Thrones debuts the beautifully deadly Sand Snakes

Don’t be fooled by the title of HBO’s newest behind the scenes peek of the upcoming fifth season of Game of Thrones: the weapons of Dorne aren’t just whips and steel, they’re sex and badassery.





This featurette gives us the best look yet at the Sand Snakes, the late Oberyn Martell’s (Pedro Pascal) bastard daughters by Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma). They’ll be played by beautiful young actresses Jessica Henwick (Nymeria Sand) , Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (Tyene Sand), and Keisha Castle-Hughes (Obara Sand), and each one is paired with a specific type of lethal Dornish weapon.

Obara, being the oldest, takes after her father and is deadly with a spear.

Middle child Nymeria will depart from her book weapon of choice and instead wield some nasty-looking daggers.

 Youngest Nymeria will wield a mean whip. Yeah, “deadly, nasty, mean” that’s the style of the Sand Snakes, alright.



The sisters all share the last name “Sand,” the bastard title of Southern Westeros (like John “Snow” is Northern) share a mother in this iteration. It might irk fans of the Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin as in the text each of the Sand Snakes had a different mother. Also in the book, Nymeria was more of a poisoning gal. But if TV shows were like the source material, we would have seen the Lazarus Pit on Arrow by now. We haven’t. Conclusion: TV shows adapt for thrills and simplicity.

And, you know, sometimes just to add nipples to some armor. I can hear you through the screen: “Oh, NOW I remember where I’ve heard of the Sand Snakes before.” Yes, denizens of the internet, these costumes have nipples on them. I bet you didn’t notice. When photos of the cast leaked from filming last year, this seemed like a Joel Schumacher level mistake. The nipples are still there, but – as in the Obara still above – don’t seem to be the Earth-shattering big deal on screen as they were on set. The focus of the whole thing seems to be on building Westeros, something the HBO Adaptation has been doing a stellar job of thus far. Giving Obara a vengeful gaze and her father’s spear design, plus casting ladies that look attractive enough to actually be offspring of Pedro Pascal and Indira Varma goes a long way to softening the nipple armor. Although if the upcoming Season 5 has lessons to teach with the Sand Snakes and the structure-breaking Cersei flashback sequences we’ve been told to expect, I can’t imagine anything is good about being a young woman wronged in Westeros. Game of Thrones Season 5 returns to HBO and your friend’s HBO Go account you’ve been stealing from him on Sunday, April 12.

Article By Dave Gonzales