Gwendoline Christie claims GoT violence is empowering to women

Wendoline Christie stars as Brienne Of Tarth in Game of Thrones. Photo / HBO

Game Of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie, who plays the towering swordswomen Brienne Of Tarth, has defended the show's violence.

Christie says the HBO medieval series shows women can be tough, strong and violent, when needed, and that's about balancing the genders and empowering women.

She says even though it's fiction, there is some connection between the characters and the scenes and history.

"I've always been quite clear about my attitude toward gender equality and female empowerment," Christie told Entertainment Weekly.

"And a lot of this show is inspired by actual historical events, and that's what's occurring with the women.

"Women have been treated appallingly in history. Men have too. Human beings have.

"What this show is doing is shining a light on women and has an exploration of female characters that has rarely been approached beforehand I applaud that.

"Yes, those scenes are difficult, and they should be difficult.

"They should further illuminate human consciousness about how we interact as human beings."

Besides empowering women, a number of female characters, including Sansa Stark, are subjected to cruelty.

Sansa Stark, a character in Game of Thrones. Photo / HBO

Christie says that in part is historically true too but they should not be seen purely in isolation.

"Those downfalls and points of agony and pain that affect us so acutely with these horrific events that the female characters go though, those events are not the only things that happen in the show," she said.

"The show is so dense and so complex. This isn't just a season-by-season story, were looking at this story as a whole."

The fifth season of Game Of Thrones ended on Monday with more than half a million viewers tuning in to see the final episode.

The sixth season will not air until April, 2016.

- AAP