George RR Martin on Historical Influences in Game of Thrones

A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones Author George RR Martin Interview

[mjameshenry]

When I was reading Book II of the Histories by the Roman historian Tacitus, I came across this gem:

"In his private ambitions a man may feel his way and take less or more from fortune's hand according as he feels inclined, but when one covets a throne, there is no alternative between the zenith of success and headlong ruin."

I thought it was striking how closely that mirrored Cersei's famous advice to Ned. Maybe Martin has read Tacitus, or maybe not, but I think it goes to show how good a grasp Martin has on how history works.

[trequor]

He makes a great point about Tolkien's pale imitators. Everyone tried to do what he did, but without the respect of the work that backed up his world. Tolkien was a very unique man with a unique education and life experience.

[gregcampwriter]

Tyrion's use of a chain across the harbor comes straight out of Byzantine history.

[TOCR]

I love historical fiction and fantasy so when I see the parallels I get really excited. I wish there was more of George's kind of fantasy out there.

[mackfarlainethebarenakedau]

He did once say that he doesn't make up anything that he writes in the books; he just takes stuff from real history, changes it, makes it his own, and that's A Song of Ice and Fire. Of course, I'm paraphrasing.

[notsureiL]

That's why I like game of thrones it's connected to history. The mad king was mad his name rattling him out Nero was crazy according to historians. Just dig and there is a lot of parallels and connections to world history.

[OOHyeahpeggyhill]

4:08 the sound i make listening to this moderator

[zbrown]

Honestly I feel like most allegory and symbolism is purely coincidentally. It just shows the human ability to find patterns.

[Jeroen]

His last book came out in 2011. That's history too..

[TheHonoredMadman]

History has so many cool figures that could inspire bad ass story, I mean look no further than Olga of Kiev or Saint Moses the Black. Just really cool figures

[elliemae]

Viserys’ death has got to be linked to roman history, Crassus one of Caesars allies, got killed in the same way when he invaded the east

[Delirium-ie]

The game of thrones geography is very similar to the middle ages . People in the north considered as bloody barbarians, warriors, superstitious, believe in magic, white walkers etc. maybe they are German tribes .In the south is king s landing people there are more educated, civilised, culture, music and arts are more sophisticated, politics and conspiracies also, eunuchs .Reminds me of the Constantinople.In the east dohrakis are the mongols and quarth maybe Persian empire.The iron islands reminded me the vikings, with their ships doing invasions and also were very cruel

[frecchia]

the sleeping girl at 2:47 is the real main character of the video

[Brandonhayhew]

Characters inspired by historical characters.

[mashiyatahmed]

with the new house of the dragon series coming out, the central conflict will be, again, that of succession. and the specific dynamics of this particular conflict relating to the targaryen line has jarring similarities with the succession dynamics that led to the 1066 battle of hastings. i have watched the HBO series but just now have begun reading the books. thanks george rr martin.

[thecakeisalie]

George nailed the question about his writings coincidentally having connections to broadly-applicable allegories. That woman was trying to push him into a corner of having to accept that his work is analogous to contemporary political events and George was like "fuck off dumb bitch." It's moments like these when I remember that the mind driving the wit of characters like Tyrion, Tywin Littlefinger and Cersei is real and incarnate.

[micahocon]

i'm trying to find a quote where he talks about how exciting history is having all the elements of fantasy but real history is even more exciting (im paraphrasing) does anyone know where its at?

[thekumarkshatriya]

I love inciant history of any country.

[PabbyPabbles]

Read surface-level Wikipedia stuff about the Sengoku period in Japan. One of the big inciting element that started the descent into a century of warring states that the Shogun of the time didn't have an heir, so he pulled his brother out of monkhood and named him the next guy. He then proceeded to have an unexpected son a year later. The various Daimyo took sides and started having at it right in the capital of Kyoto, and it kept escalating and becoming more complicated. Over time a more or less unified Japan went back to a bunch of fighting states with a powerless Emperor and a powerless Shogun in name only at the top.
The inciting event is called the Ōnin War if you'd rather read actual information instead of this rando's comment

[John]

Crazy that the red wedding has an inspiration. Humans right?