Game of Thrones by George R. Martin
The book called Game of Thrones by George R. Martin reflects on the storyline based on events that occurred a long time ago when preternatural events occurred each season throwing and altering the balance of the nature (Irwin 37). The land that has both long summer and winter has trouble brewing within the protective walls of the kingdom. The tale is told of warriors, the royal family, soldiers, ladies, lords, and assassins who are brought together by the change of events and omens forecasting the troubles and negative forces that the kingdoms can succumb to (Martin 17). The book addresses warriors driven by aggressiveness and motivated by the change in the command where they kill the enemies at the order of their leaders. In pursuit of the throne of the kingdom, families fight whereby a prince can kill his sister to get back the throne.
Game of Thrones addresses a change of events based on fantasy, but by analyzing the book in a different perspective, the reality that most kingdoms face and leadership regimes are considered, as well. Various groups fight for a common objective where amid the plot, betrayals, victory, terror, and tragedies are the order of season (Irwin 111). The book addresses the deadliest conflicts where the leaders have to tackle the clashes successfully to avoid being overthrown. It would be appropriate to note that Game of Thrones series is a masterpiece that comprises a genre of modern fantasy. Different experiences, which make the series interesting and address up to date reality issues, include romance, adventure, mystery, and various personal experiences (Adi 307). The franchise stand as one of the most imaginative fiction books of all centuries. This literary analysis will address the intellectual importance of Game of Throne as it creates a more realistic impression that reflects on the common occurrences in our lives rather than the conventional high fantasy that is realized upon reading the book.
In spite of the fact that an epic world and events are narrated in Game of Thrones, each character of the story possesses some traits and qualities that prevalent to the members of the modern society. The high fantasy considered in this book gives an imagination of an epic magical world where powerful evil forces threaten to consume the hope, justice, and honor that have previously prevailed in this peaceful land (Irwin 93). Justice must stop the evil occurrences from altering the peaceful way of life of these kingdoms’ citizens. The book depicts characteristics of the world filled with the myths where high fantasy genre is exhibited in the epic world, which is full of both magical creatures and spells. Although George Martin’s book, Game of Thrones, displays morally ambiguous characters, who convey well the genre of fantasy, the characters evidence an overall realistic impression rather than the high fantasy assumed to be the background of the story. Through appreciating this work and trying to place it in real life situations, the storyline can seem more realistic; hence, it introduce an intellectual importance to the reader of the book (Adi 311). The characters portray some of the traits we come across in real life; thus, through the book, one can understand the normality of such personages and learn how to tackle the issues associated with this people.
In addition, the book portrays all the characters as either an enemy or a friend. Through the main heroes, the reader can relate a turn of events to real life situations. For example, Eddard Stark, a lord of the North, and the King are old friends who are going to provide a positive impact on the Womankind by a fruitful mutually cooperation while Cersei Lannister, who is a wife of the king, perceives Rob Stark as an enemy that must be eliminated (Martin 475). The reason is the difference in goals. To be more specific, the king’s wife conceal an extremely dangerous secret about her children. In turn, Rob Stark is convinced that he must reveal the mystery attributed to the king’s descendants. These characters are not only examples of such relationships, and the whole plot of the book is built on this perception. Therefore, Game of Thrones represents all heroes as friends and enemies.
The book explains on the real society where people, who are tainted to do some offensive deeds, are not the ones while those that seem to be good are the one behind most of the bad occurrences in the community. The public considers that the morally bad people are the ones who are ugly or wear some unpleasing attires while at a closer evaluation, they are the positive guys (Popper 94). For example, a character in this book that gives meaning to this real life situation is Cersei Lannister who plays a role of a scheming woman who was responsible for a murder of Jon Arryn. Based on her appearance, she does not seem a kind of criminal characters who we see in real life situations. She is a beautiful queen who possesses a positive reputation; hence, based on her physical traits, one cannot discern if she is the one behind the death of Arryn (Martin 141). This instance is of intellectual importance in that the reader understands that morality cannot be judged based on the appearances. Although Cersei Lannister seems to be a moral person as portrayed by the demeanor of a queen, she has evil plots that are covered by her innocent look. Therefore, it is evident that the story spotlights the double game of people, in particular of the kingdom’s elite.
Another character who represents the aspect of intellectual importance through understanding the theme of moral ambiguity is Petyr Baelish. He is portrayed as a righteous person since he works for the king, Robert Baratheon, and helps Eddard Stark and his wife, Catelyn in the quest of finding who murdered Arryn. The general impression of Baelish and how his traits are expressed in the book give the reader an idea of an irresponsible person. Martin points out that the role played by Baelish is that of an ambitious person who Martin describes to be “too clever” (257). Eddard sees Baelish as a character who is driven by the ambitions of uplifting his low birthrights. Therefore, he perceive Baelish as an untrustworthy person whose performance is motivated by the thirst of rising the chain of command. Finally, the reader understand the real personality of Baelish when he helps in unveiling the cause of death of Arryn. His deceitful morals are suddenly transformed into a trustworthy person who is driven by the urge of doing well for the welfare of the society. Eddard regrets to be unwise in trusting him; thus, he expresses his apologies by being remorseful and approaching Baelish for forgiveness. Based on such a moral ambiguity, we may choose bad people over good ones; thereby, eventually making a wrong decision. This applies in our modern society where innocent people are apprehended for the deeds that they have not committed. As a Petyr Baelish, most of the accused people are blamed for incidences that trusted people had committed, in this way,, attributing to most of the negative occurrences witnessed in our modern world.
Furthermore, some of the characters express two types of traits, the bad and the good ones, which reflects on some people in our current society. They have both a darker immoral side while at the same time portray good traits that are of help in the society. It is necessary to learn how to deal with such people where their good side can be employed for the well-being of the society while the bad side can be gradually improved to match the morality expected out of the person (Popper 210). Tyrion Lannister is a character in the book who portrays this impression. He is acts as a mentor to Jon Snow, a young character in the book, who is a bastard. He urges him to embrace his status of being a bastard and use it as a strength in life since, in most of the cases, this name is used by people to humiliate him (Martin 257). As per the book, Tyrion acts as a wise mentor who helps this youth out of the challenges he faces by urging him to remain positive and turn his weakness into strengths. The immoral side of Tyrion is expressed through his heavy drinking habits and the lust he possesses. Therefore, he is a two-sided character who can turn to be a more influential mentor to even the entire society if transforms his bad side into being good.
Another group of characters who are of intellectual importance in Game of Thrones and make the reading more realistic than being a conventional fantasy includes the Night’s Watch. This is an organization that is made up of numerous warriors who play the role of protecting the seven kingdoms from intrusion by the enemy. However, the general outlook of these people does not give an impression of trustworthy people who can be given such an important responsibility to perform (Irwin 134). Based on the high fantasy utilized in the reading, this group of warriors seems to be a part of the evil society as defined by their scary way of dressing, which is black clothing. Although their appearance may present that of unwanted people in the community, they protect the seven kingdoms from enemies and dangerous creatures that may penetrate from the vast wilderness beyond the kingdom walls (Martin 159).
In addition to the black clothing that resembles those of sinister ring wraiths, the background of this Warriors add to their moral ambiguity. The group is created from people who are rejected in the society due to their misconduct or unpleasant past. However, these warriors are determined to protect the Seven Kingdoms. Therefore, at a glimpse of these servants, one may see their irrelevance due to their bad background, which in some way might have negatively impacted on the society. Nevertheless, at a deeper evaluation, the reader understands that people are not ones sided at all times; thus, they may have one positive quality of the morality spectrum. The bad traits of these warriors are transformed into being good for the overall welfare of the society. This represents a meaning in real life where one can transform the negativities associated with him or her into something of use in the society.
This literary analysis will address the intellectual importance of Game of Throne as it creates a more realistic impression that reflects on the common occurrences in our lives rather than the conventional high fantasy that is realized upon reading the book.
In essence, the literary review represented the intellectual importance of Game of Throne, as well as showed that George R. Martin uses the high fantasy to define heroes and villain. He depicts characters who have moral ambiguities, some with scheming hearts aiming at the destruction of the society and some who seem bad but serve the society for a noble cause. Similar to real life situations, these looks may be deceiving hence it is vital to first understand a person before making conclusions based on his or her appearance. Hence, Martin created characters who we encounter in our daily life; thus, the book is meaningful in the handling of such ambiguous people.
Works Cited
Adi, Ida Rochani. “Popularizing epic narrative in George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones.” Jurnal Humaniora vol. 24, no. 3, 2012, pp. 303-314.
Irwin, William. Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper Than Swords. Ed. Henry Jacoby. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
Martin, George. A Game of Thrones. Bantam Books, 2011.
Popper, Karl Sir. The Open Society and Its Enemies. Routledge, 2012.
