Academic analyses of the A Song of Ice and Fire series
"A Song of Ice and Fire" is an ongoing series of epic fantasy novels by American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. The first installment of the series, "A Game of Thrones", which was originally planned as a trilogy, was published in 1996. The series now consists of five published volumes, and two more volumes are planned. The series is told in the third-person through the eyes of a number of point of view characters. A television series adaptation, "Game of Thrones", premiered on HBO in 2011.
"A Song of Ice and Fire" takes place in a fictional world, primarily on a continent called Westeros, and additionally on a large landmass to the east, known as Essos. Three main story lines become increasingly interwoven: a dynastic civil war for control of Westeros among several competing families; the rising threat of the Others, who dwell beyond the immense wall of ice that forms Westeros's northern border; and the ambitions of Daenerys Targaryen, exiled daughter of the deposed king, to return to Westeros and claim her throne.
Magic and realism.
Martin has said he believes in "judicious use of magic" in epic fantasy. "I wanted to keep the magic in my book subtle and keep our sense of it growing, and it stops being magical if you see too much of it." Effective magic in literature, Martin claims, needs to be "unknowable and strange and dangerous with forces that can't be predicted or controlled." Before "A Song of Ice and Fire", Martin initially considered writing an alternate historical novel without any magic. He therefore avoided overtly magical elements in the series. While the amount of magic gradually increases, Martin claims the series will end with less magic than many other fantasies have.
Since all fiction is essentially untrue, Martin believes it needs to reflect reality at least in its core. He agrees with William Faulkner's statement in his Nobel Prize speech that "the human heart in conflict with itself" is the only thing worth writing about, regardless of the genre. He thus tried to give the story a little more historical fiction feel than a fantastic feel like previous authors' books, with less emphasis on magic and sorcery and more emphasis on swordplay and battles and political intrigue. "The Atlantic" noted that the series attempts to mash together fantasy and realism as two seemingly contradictory genres of literature, and Martin's books are generally praised for their realism. "The Atlantic" saw the realist heart of the "Ice and Fire" books in that "magic lingers only on the periphery of the world in which the characters dwell, and is something more terrifying than wondrous. ... It's a fantasy story that defies expectations by ultimately being less about a world we'd like to escape, at times becoming uncomfortably familiar to the one we live in."
The unresolved larger narrative arc of "Ice and Fire" encourages speculation about future story events. According to Martin, much of the key to "Ice and Fire"'s story future lies sixteen years in the fictional past of which each volume reveals more. Events planned from the beginning are foreshadowed, although Martin heeds story developments to not be predictable. The viewpoint characters, who serve as unreliable narrators, may clarify or provide different perspectives on past events. What the readers believe to be true may therefore not necessarily be true.
World.
Martin intentionally avoids most overt fantasy elements in "Ice and Fire", preferring to instead have "carefully rationed magic". He set the "Ice and Fire" story in an alternate version of Earth or a "secondary world". The story takes place primarily on a continent called Westeros, but also on another continent to the east, known as Essos. The style varies to fit each character and their setting; Daenerys's exotic realm may appear more colorful and fanciful than Westeros, which is more closely based on the familiar medieval history of Europe. Martin was intentionally vague with the size of the "Ice and Fire" world, omitting a scale on the maps to discourage prediction of travel lengths based on measured distances, though the continent of Westeros may be considered of the size of South America. Complete world maps are deliberately not made available so that readers may better identify with people of the real Middle Ages who were unaware of distant places. As each new book has added one or two maps, readers may be able to piece together a world map by the end of the series.
The fictional history of Westeros stretches back some twelve thousand years. The "Ice and Fire" story can be considered to be set in a post-magic world where people no longer believe in dragons and the Others. The characters understand only the natural aspects of their world, and the magical elements like the Others are not within their understanding. Coming from an impoverished family background of former wealth, Martin always felt attracted to stories of fallen civilizations and lost empires. The lost empire of Valyria in "Ice and Fire" was once a high civilization similar to Rome before the Dark Ages. These elements may give the story a poignant sadness. The Wall, which Martin believes to be unique in fantasy, was inspired by Martin's visit to Hadrian's Wall in the North of England close to the border with Scotland. Looking out over the hills, Martin wondered what a Roman centurion from the Mediterranean would feel, not knowing what threats might come from the north. The size, length and magical powers of the wall were adjusted for genre demands. Similarly the Titan, an extremely large statue in the city of Braavos, is comparable to the historical Colossus of Rhodes.
One of the most conspicuous aspects of the world of Westeros is the long and random nature of the seasons. Fans have developed lengthy scientific theories for the seasons, but Martin insists there is a supernatural fantasy explanation instead of a scientific one. Martin rather enjoyed the symbolism of the seasons, with summer as a time of growth and plenty and joy and winter is a dark time where one has to struggle for survival.
The world of "A Song of Ice and Fire" is primarily populated by humans, although giants, the so-called "Others" and the Children of the Forest appear as other sentient species in the extreme North of Westeros, beyond the Wall. In addition to ordinary animals such as dogs, cats, and horses, some species of animals inhabiting Martin's world are similar to real-world Pleistocene megafauna such as aurochs, direwolves, and mammoths. Of these megafauna, only aurochs are commonly encountered throughout Westeros, as a domesticated herd animal. Direwolves and mammoths are only found in the Lands Beyond the Wall in the extreme north. The direwolves adopted by the Stark children exhibit signs of being far more intelligent than common dogs or wolves. Each wolf pup grows to reflect the temperament of the child they bond with. Mythical creatures such as mermaids, unicorns, manticores, kraken, leviathans, basilisks, and most prominently dragons (although their description is more akin to wyverns) also appear or are mentioned.
Children of the Forest.
Children of the Forest are presented as the original inhabitants of Westeros, but unseen for thousands of years. They are thought to be diminutive humanoid creatures, dark and beautiful, with mysterious powers over dreams and nature. They were graceful, quick and agile, able to move with quiet swiftness on land as well as through mountains and trees. George R. R. Martin has said: "The children are ... well, the children. Elves have been done to death".
In the background of the series, the Children of the Forest fought a series of wars against the First Men (a civilization of primitive warriors wielding bronze weapons and riding horses), until the Pact of the Isle of Faces, wherein the First Men obtained control of the open lands and the Children that of the forests. The Pact was weakened after four thousand years by the emergence of the Others, who were vanquished by the combined use of obsidian, fire, the magic of the old gods, and the building of the Wall. In the following centuries the Children gradually disappeared, and it was presumed that they left Westeros or became extinct. Little of their legacy is present in the series beyond their worship of nameless gods, still practiced by some in the North, and the remaining Weirwoods through which the Children communicated telepathically.
The Others.
The Others (referred to as White Walkers in the television series) are mysterious creatures that dwell in the northern regions of Westeros, beyond the Wall.
The Others resurface at the beginning of "A Game of Thrones" after the War for the Dawn, which led to the construction of the Wall. They appear as tall, gaunt, graceful humanoids with glowing blue eyes and pale skin. They wear armor that shifts in color with every step, and wield thin crystal swords capable of shattering steel.
Dragons.
In the backstory of "A Song of Ice and Fire", Aegon the Conqueror brought three dragons to Westeros and used them to unify the Seven Kingdoms. His descendants bred them in captivity; but most were killed in a civil war between rival Targaryen heirs 150 years before the story begins. At the beginning of the story, they are considered extinct until late in "A Game of Thrones" when Daenerys hatches her three dragon eggs in the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo.
The dragons in the story are scaled, fire-spewing, reptilian creatures with animal-level intelligence. Though some accompanying artwork for "A Song of Ice and Fire" portrays them with four legs and a detached set of wings, George R.R. Martin insists that this is incorrect. His dragons are serpentine and slender, and they have four (not six) limbs (similar to a wyvern), the front two being wings. Martin first considered having the Targaryens use a pyrotechnic effect to feign dragon powers, but decided on living dragons instead, though he refused to give them human speech. Comparing the dragons to modern-day nuclear arsenals, Martin questions whether supreme power enables the user to reform, improve, or build society.
Global climate change.
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 It's kind of ironic because I started writing "Game of Thrones" all the way back in 1991, long before anybody was talking about climate change. But there is — in a very broad sense — there’s a certain parallel there.
 George R. R. Martin, interview with "The New York Times"
In the series, the threat of a global climate change is ever present. There are no regular seasons that occur at expected intervals. Winter and the accompanying cold temperatures it brings may last for a number of years or even a decade or longer. During this time, thousands if not millions may die from starvation or the ravages of war and violence that often coincide with mass starvation. The White Walkers or others represent the personification of this threat. Yet, despite the nature of the threat as an existential danger to the very survival of the human race, many of the powerful in Westeros choose to deny its existence or ignore it. This is most prominently seen in the conflict between the Starks and the Lannisters that forms the basis for the story in "A Song of Ice and Fire". The Starks (along with their patronage of the Night's Watch) defend all of Westeros against the threat of winter. They acknowledge its inevitability and do everything in their power to prepare for and prevent the disasters that may come from a prolonged winter and open warfare with the White Walkers. However, their attempts to warn others about the threat and rally the great houses to their cause are generally not successful.
Politics and society.
According to Ethan Sacks New York's "Daily News" found the story focus "more on Machiavellian political intrigue than Tolkien-esque sword and sorcery". Since Martin drew on historical sources to build the "Ice and Fire" world, Damien G. Walter of London's "The Guardian" saw a startling resemblance between Westeros and England in the period of the Wars of the Roses, where "One throne unifies the land but great houses fight over who will sit upon it. With no true king the land is beset with corrupt, money-grubbing lords whose only interest is their own prestige. Two loose alliances of power pit a poor but honorable North against a rich and cunning