The Real Events That Inspired the Greatest Show on Earth
I just added a poll to the sidebar asking how much you know about the Wars of the Roses. If you could take a second to answer it, I’d really appreciate it! I never know how much to explain or what to explain when I write posts. My assumption is that most people reading this blog aren’t familiar with the Wars of the Roses, so I tend to explain the background on that basis. But, I don’t bore you, so…
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George RR Martin may draw inspiration for Cersei Lannister, Game of Thrones’ ruthless, cruel, vengeful, and manipulative queen, from two different queens in Wars of the Roses: Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret of Anjou. In Cersei Lannister: The Evil Queen We Love to Hate, I discussed the similarities between Cersei and Elizabeth Woodville. However, I’ve stubbornly resisted acknowledging any similarities between Cersei Lannister and Margaret of Anjou. However, I received quite a few great comments and emails on this topic—thank you very…
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With both Game of Thrones’ Walder Frey and his possible real-life counterpart Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, it always seems to come back around to marriages. Marriages define the men, could enrich them, and did lead them to betray the leader to whom they had sworn fealty and switch sides. Most of Frey’s energy is concentrated around marriages for his children and himself. When he chooses to betray Robb, he does so at a wedding. George RR Martin appears to…
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Today Galileu, a Brazilian magazine about science and culture, interviewed me about my take on the history behind Game of Thrones. Here is a link to the article: A verdadeira Guerra dos Tronos. I’ll try to post an English translation of it soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of images taken of version translated using Google:
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Today, I realized I’d made an oversight about Walder Frey, the treacherous lecherous slayer of Robb Stark. I kind of had an “Oh no!” moment. Rather than returning to my series of posts about the “Second Sons,” I’m going to correct this right away. George RR Martin may have drawn inspiration for Lord Frey from Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (“Warwick the Kingmaker”). As I’ve mentioned previously, George RR Martin likes to mix and match his “borrowings” from history….
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When Ned Stark finds Arya’s sword “Needle,” he quickly realizes the sword wasn’t some castoff from one of his men. Ned knows the sword was superb quality and custom-made for his daughter. Luckily for Arya, Ned accepts her interest in learning to fight. But, how does Ned know the sword was superior? He found “Mikken’s mark” on the blade. That is, a symbol indicating Mikken, the best blacksmith in Winterfell, created the blade. But, what is a blacksmith’s mark? And, what is the significance of…
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