A Game of Thrones Study Guide

George R. R. Martin was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on September 20, 1948. His father, Raymond Martin, was a longshoreman, working in ports to load and unload ships, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. In 1953, the family moved into federal housing projects, where Martin lived for the next 14 years. As a child, Martin wrote stories about monsters that he would sell to classmates and other children from his neighborhood. He attended Northwestern University, where he received a degree in journalism. During the Vietnam War, Martin became a conscientious objector and served as a VISTA volunteer at the Cook County Legal Service Foundation for two years in place of military service. During his 20s, Martin wrote short stories before publishing his first full-length work of fiction, Dying of the Light, in 1977. He went on to publish several subsequent novels, which often delved into horror and science fiction genres. Martin has also worked in TV, including time spent as a writer on a 1985 remake of the Twilight Zone. He is most well-known for his series A Song of Ice and Fire. A Game of Thrones, published in 1996, was the first book in that series. The latest novel in the series, A Dance with Dragons, was published in 2011. A Song of Ice and Fire then became a successful, Emmy-award-winning television series.

A Game of Thrones takes place in an entirely fictional world with its own fictional history. However, several real-life historical events inspired events and settings in A Game of Thrones. The story of royal succession in A Game of Thrones is loosely based on the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England that took place from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fought between two rival royal houses, the Yorks and the Lancasters. The mental instability of Richard IV, of House Lancaster, led Richard, the Duke of York, to pursue the throne. Though the houses and families involved in the War of the Roses do not correspond exactly to the houses and families in A Game of Thrones, certain similarities are evident. For example, the capricious reign of Aerys II Targaryen earns him the moniker the “Mad King,” reminiscent of Richard IV’s reputation. The fall of Aerys II Targaryen ultimately leads to a competition for power that ends in a devastating war, similar to what happened in the War of the Roses. A Game of Thrones also takes place in a feudal society. Feudalism was the prevailing form of government in Europe from the 5th century to the 15th century. Several other historical parallels can be found in A Game of Thrones. For example, the Wall in A Game of Thrones is based on Hadrian’s Wall. Construction on Hadrian’s Wall began in 122 in Roman Britain, and that wall was intended, like the Wall in A Game of Thrones, as a defensive fortification to protect against potential invaders from the north.

A Game of Thrones is the first book in George R. R. Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire. J.R.R Tolkien’s series The Lord of the Rings is one of the most often cited influences for the novels in Martin’s series. Both A Song of Ice and Fire and The Lord of the Rings are epic high fantasy series that touch on questions of right and wrong in worlds inspired, in part, by medieval Europe. While The Lord of the Rings is primarily concerned with metaphysical concepts of good and evil, A Game of Thrones delves into the complexities of political narratives and political intrigue that lead people to act immorally. In that sense, A Game of Thrones depicts characters as neither innately good nor evil (as is often the case in The Lord of the Rings) but as facing choices about whether to act morally or immorally depending on different factors at play in the complex situations they find themselves in. George R. R. Martin has also cited Shakespeare as a major influence on A Game of Thrones. Much of A Game of Thrones takes inspiration from the Wars of the Roses, and Shakespeare’s play Henry VI has been credited with inspiring the phrase “Wars of the Roses.” Another series of novels that influenced Martin is The Accursed Kings, a set of seven books about the 14th-century French monarchy by Maurice Druon.