Kulturkampf

[HaughtyFrank]

One thing I'll say in defense of the Neckbeard Lore Guy though: he's consistent. There's this weird argument that if a fan is critical of a white character being changed to another race, they're racist. Nah that guy is just consistently a stickler for 1:1 shit. I'm not that guy but can understand and respect him without calling him racist unless he's actually racist based on other shit.

To me personally I don't really care unless it's just bad casting or stupid. Or even in case like HOTD, which most fans enjoyed, no one really cares about the  Velaryons being black except the most joyless book people. Does my lore brain think "they can't be black, it fucks up the entire point about pure Velaryon features..."? Sure. But it was damn good casting of a damn good actor, and he's nailing the role so I can't complain. Books are the books, shows are the show. I'm the type of person who just wants the SPIRIT of the source material respected. GOT didn't do that at all in later seasons.

Personally I just somewhat care about whether there's some sort of internal logic to it. Like the Lotr show has that Harfoot village of nomads who never interact with any outsiders and yet that village is somehow as diverse as a modern US city. Wheel of Time does the same thing, a remote village that never has any visitors and yet diverse like any big city. Meanwhile HOTD felt pretty smart about it by choosing the Velaryon family tree that lives further away. Kingslanding is already in the south, so feels fitting that the people across that sea would then be darker. 
None of that is dealbreaker but I think there's a way of just plopping diversity into your show and a way that actually enhances the world building.