History And Geography Of Game Of Thrones

[Travy1991]

This thread is predominantly for non book readers who are interested in learning some background information provided by the show/HBO/DVDs/BluRays ONLY. Book readers are welcome to join in but No Book references at all please (even spoiler tagged ones).

Game of Thrones is a massively complex show with its own detailed geography, history and genealogy. It is so complex that the show often can't go into great detail about this information and it may leave some viewers confused or wanting to know just a little more.

This thread intends to help show-only viewers with various background information that has been provided via HBO and which the show itself may or may not reveal in the future. We are only going to talk about historical events or cultures that have been touched on briefly in the show such as the history of the Seven Kingdoms (examples: Robert's Rebellion, the creation of the Wall, the difference between the Andals and the First Men) or the complicated family tree of House Targaryen (Is Rhaegar Dany's brother/uncle/cousin?) or where everything is in Essos (how far away is Braavos from Qarth etc).

[Travy1991]

This is very interesting. Could you tell us (maybe not in this thread though) which elements you're talking about? I know G.R.R Martin got inspired by the war of the roses and a good chunk of Britain history, but I'd be interested to know more. Without spoilers of course. Is that too tricky?

 

 

I'm going to answer this above question from another thread, asked by Isazouzi here: http://forums.previously.tv/topic/6191-s04e05-first-of-his-name/page-2.

 

George R.R. Martin used many influences in creating the world of Game of Thrones which can be seen in the show. The Wars of the Roses played a large influence in his work as did medieval society. I'm no expert on the Wars of the Roses but here are some of the ways in which real-world medieval cultures and structures influenced his world.

 

Westeros: The Wall was very much inspired by Hadrian's Wall which separated the north of England from Scotland. The lands beyond The Wall are roughly analogous to Scotland while The North is roughly analogous to the north of England. The Iron Islands with its seafaring, violent people are somewhat similar to Vikings and the Iron Islands share similarities with Scandinavia. Dan and David have stated on DVD commentaries that The Vale was somewhat analogous to Wales with its mountains and valleys. The Reach is somewhat similar to France as they have many vineyards there and the people are that little bit more liberal as evidenced by Olenna Tyrell's relaxed attitude towards Loras' "sword swallowing" tendencies. The Crownlands are roughly analogous to the south of England with King's Landing being a loose interpretation of medieval London or Paris. Dorne has clear Spanish analogies as evidenced by the Dornish on the show being of real-world Latin ethnicity and speaking in Spanish accents. With the rest of the regions of Westeros is a bit of guess work. I think The Westerlands share similarities with the West Country of England with its vast mining resources. The Stormlands seem to share similarities with northern and eastern continental Europe, heavily forested, cooler climate and coastal (I'm thinking Germany and The Baltic States). The Riverlands seem roughly analogous to Ireland  because the show is shot in Ireland but also because it was often attacked by outside forces, has many rivers and lands that range from fertile to hilly and because Michelle Fairley seems to maintain a slight bit of her Irish accent too (although accents on the show are pretty inconsistent overall).

 

Essos: Essos' Free Cities seem to be inspired by medieval cities as opposed to countries. Pentos, which we seen in the first episode, was made to have certain Grecian elements, which would suggest it shares similarities to Athens. The Dothraki are loosely based off Mongols. Slaver's Bay seems to share similarities to Persia and North Africa, specifically the pyramids seen in Meereen. Qarth seems roughly inspired by the Middle-East and the sub-continent. I get a Babylonian vibe from Qarth for sure. The actors playing Shae and Jaqen are both from Germany and come from Lorath, a free city, on the show. I'd imagine Lorath must be inspired by some German city.

 

Sothoryos: Sothoryos is a third continent that can be seen briefly south of Essos in the opening credits. The Summer Isles and Naath are two islands/island groups that lie off the coast of Sothoryos. Grey Worm and Xaro Xhoan Daxos are from the Summer Isles and Missandei is from Naath. Sothoryos seems to be inspired by central and southern Africa.

 

Of course, none of these regions are supposed to be strong analogies of any specific country or city. Martin just took some influences of different historical cultures and lands and mixed them together, adding sprinkles of fantasy. The lands beyond The Wall may share similarities to the Picts of Scotland but these lands are large and have arctic temperatures similar to Canada and the people similarities with Inuits. King's Landing may share similarities to medieval London and Paris but it has a much warmer climate. Dorne appears to have some Arabian influences. Meereen shares similarities to the Incans and the Mayans too. Nothing is a direct copy and paste but it's fun to speculate what influenced Martin as well as the writers, costume designers, location scouts, art directors and set designers in creating this fantasy universe roughly inspired by our own historical one.

[Meredith Quill]

Great post @Travy1991

 

The Wars of The Roses were fought between two rival branches of the House of Plantagenet; the Houses of York - sigil, a white rose (Stark) and Lancaster - sigil, a red rose (Lannister), mainly between 1455 and 1487.

There is little doubt in my mind that these Houses were the inspiration for the Stark & Lannister names.

 

This was dramatised most recently in the period drama 'The White Queen', as told predominantly from the point of view of Elizabeth Woodville (the white queen) who married Edward IV.

I know not everyone enjoyed it but I did and it didn't hurt that Edward IV - Max Irons - is totally yummy. ;)

[Travy1991]

Great post @Travy1991

 

The Wars of The Roses were fought between two rival branches of the House of Plantagenet; the Houses of York - sigil, a white rose (Stark) and Lancaster - sigil, a red rose (Lannister), mainly between 1455 and 1487.

There is little doubt in my mind that these Houses were the inspiration for the Stark & Lannister names.

 

This was dramatised most recently in the period drama 'The White Queen', as told predominantly from the point of view of Elizabeth Woodville (the white queen) who married Edward IV.

I know not everyone enjoyed it but I did and it didn't hurt that Edward IV - Max Irons - is totally yummy. ;)

 

Yeah The War of the Roses was a clear inspiration for the story. I must check out The White Queen - I remember it being advertised a couple of months ago. There's some macabre Scottish history in Game of Thrones too. The Red Wedding seems to have been inspired by the Black Dinner. Of course, the show dialed up the events of the Black Dinner to the eleven!

[Meredith Quill]

Yes that's right Travy, the RW was inspired by the Black Dinner, I remember reading GRRM mentioning that in an interview somewhere.

[Independent George]

The 'Histories and Lore' animated features on the Blu-Rays provide a lot of excellent, non-spoilery info on the subject. They're available on YouTube, though, of course, you're best off not reading the comments. Partly because of spoilers, but mostly because prolonged exposure to YouTube comments has been proven to cause IQ loss.

 

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3 (Part I)

Season 3 (Part II)

[Travy1991]

Yes to any of the Unspoiled people out there, never ever read the YouTube comments. Sadly, a large group of the A Song of Ice and Fire fanbase love to spoil the books for the uninitiated and YouTube is one of their favourite places to do so. Those above videos are great though if you want to get caught up. If you do have a Blu-ray player and some spare cash though, please buy them. Just to show your appreciation for all the work the Game of Thrones people put into the show and supplementary material.

[Lady S.]

The actors playing Shae and Jaqen are both from Germany and come from Lorath, a free city, on the show. I'd imagine Lorath must be inspired by some German city.

I think all that means is that the show cast two German actors so a German accent=a Lorathi accent. Aside from that, we know next to nothing about the free city of Lorath. It's not quite the same as Dorne where a Chilean actor who speaks English with an American accent and a British actress of Indian/Italian descent are actually faking accents for the show.

We have seen Braavos now, though. And it's a canal city based on Venice.

[Lammy-pie]

Hey guys,

 

My mate has just made a pretty cool GoT infographic on how Game of Thrones is inspired by real events, people and places. Apparently he used this forum during his research so thought it's only fair to share it with everyone.

 

So here it is...

 

A History of Ice and Fire – Game of Thrones infographic.

 

Hope you like!

[dr pepper]

Weak.

[Meredith Quill]

A number of posts have been moved to this new topic created especially for unspoiled to ask questions of book walkers. 

[CletusMusashi]

My biggest thought, whenever I try to do a cram-session on the geography of the show is...

George R. R. Martin really phoned it in on the names of those continents, didn't he?

[Avaleigh]

At least there's no confirmation on Planetos/Earthos. Not to my knowledge anyway.

[Lady S.]

The 'Histories and Lore' animated features on the Blu-Rays provide a lot of excellent, non-spoilery info on the subject. They're available on YouTube, though, of course, you're best off not reading the comments. Partly because of spoilers, but mostly because prolonged exposure to YouTube comments has been proven to cause IQ loss.

 

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3 (Part I)

Season 3 (Part II)

And Season 4 is now already up.

[John Potts]

Cletus Musashi George R. R. Martin really phoned it in on the names of those continents, didn't he?

 

He did indeed - but it's ridiculous, really. Nobody calls themselves "over to the left" - and yet all the continents in Planetos(?) are defined in terms of their relative position. It would be far more realistic if they were all called "Middle" (the derivation of both Germany and China in our world), because everyone sees themselves as being in the centre of the world (which they are in a spherical planet).

[Lady S.]

His world building isn't too deep in a few areas. We don't even have major differences between the Seven and the gods of the forest beyond matters of ceremonial worship, and there's no equivalent terms for Christian and pagan, as if anyone would just be called a follower of this or a believer of that. And there's plenty of other things annoyingly vague.

[Hecate7]

But he's not calling places what they call themselves, is he? He's mapping like a medieval map-maker. It's all from the pov of whatever Essos is east of, and Westeros is West of, isn't it?

[John Potts]

I guess Hecate7, but I was assuming that was what Westerosi people (well, Maesters, I guess) called them as opposed to some theoretical island placed somewhere between the three Continents. It would be perfectly reasonable for the Westerosi to call their Continent "Centralia" (or presumably, Centeros) and define the others in terms of it. Of course, that assumes that the world is round, which isn't necessarily the case - if the world is flat, then it really could be closest to the Western edge of the planet, although it would be surprising if anyone knew that (as well as a bit of a cheat on GRRM's part to pull that at the 11th hour).

[Constantinople]

But he's not calling places what they call themselves, is he? He's mapping like a medieval map-maker. It's all from the pov of whatever Essos is east of, and Westeros is West of, isn't it?

 

There's not much that Essos is east of and that Westeros is west of, except parts of the Narrow Sea and some of the islands in it.

 

One of those islands is Dragonstone,  Given it's history, perhaps it's the "centerpiece", except there are parts of Westeros that are east of Dragonstone.  Also, so far as I know, Westeros and Essos were named long before Dragonstone acquired any significance, or even its current name

 

From looking at the maps, most of the islands in the Narrow Sea don't "fit".  There's either some bit of Westeros that is east of that island, or there's some bit of Essos that is west of the island.

 

But it looks as if the Stepstones, or some of them, may qualify.  It looks as if all of Westeros is west of them, and all of Essos is east of them.

 

Perhaps the Stepstones are the center of the world.

[BlackberryJam]

I've been listening to the Histories and Lore from the DVDs.  Jaime's narration of the Kingsguard is pretty heartbreaking.

[Gareth3]

I'm waiting for Hodor to do one of those. Maybe on giants...