Whether you’ve read the book series by George R.R. Martin or have only tuned into HBO’s outrageously popular T.V adaptation, it isn’t hard to see the similarities between Game of Thrones and Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings. Not only have both series had huge literary and cinematic success, they also bring their fans out of their own mundane existence into a world where elves, dragons, and dire wolves run rampant. Into a world where virtually anything can happen.
The difference between Martin and Tolkien’s fantasies, in my mind, is a good dose of modern world realism. Game of Thrones’ Westeros and Essos reveal the bloody, incestuous, scheming world behind the “good will always prevail” mantra of the war in Middle Earth.
1. The Line of Succession
In Lord of the Ringsthere is one true King, Aragorn son of Arathorn, heir to the seat of Gondor. He spends some time as a Ranger in the wilds of Middle Earth, but he is always the King. He just needs to grow into the role and no one questions his legitimacy, at least not in the books. The movies differ slightly because Sean Bean’s Boromir is extremely unhappy when Strider’s true identity is revealed at the Council of Elrond. In the books however, Boromir about falls over, flat on his face, to pay fealty to his long, lost King.
Now, Martin takes that direct line of succession and smashes it gleefully into dozens of little pieces, scattering them all over Westeros and Essos like a child playing marbles. Dynasty is not an issue in Lord of the Rings, but it is in Game of Thrones. King Robert Baratheon, at the beginning of the series, is a first generation usurper, who stole the throne from the Targaryen’s, and his own line of succession is tainted because his wife Cersei Lannister got it on with her brother Jaime, and the three royal children are his offspring. Not to say that Robert is childless—he’s got bastards all over King’s Landing, any of whom could make a claim for the throne (We’re keeping an eye on you Gendry!).
And then he’s got his two brothers who want to claim the throne after a rumor gets spread that Robert’s children are products of incest between the Queen and her king-slayer brother (which of course, they are). Traditionally, Stannis, Robert’s eldest brother would be next in line, but really, who cares? Cersei’s son Joffrey is technically the king after Robert is killed in a boar hunt, but Renly, the youngest Baratheon brother, outs himself as a Queen too. Whoops, I mean, King.
Stannis calls himself a King; Rob Stark up north at Winterfell calls himself a King in order to get revenge on the Lannister’s for his father Ned’s rather unfortunate beheading. There’s even a wilding King across the wall, stirring up trouble.
Then, of course, there are two pesky Targaryen’s across the sea. One with dyed blue hair who claims to be Aegon VI, the baby who was thought to perish when Robert Baratheon conquered the Iron Throne from the Targaryen’s. The other is Daenerys Targaryen, who as we all know, intends not to be a Queen, but a Khaleesi. She’s already a pretty bad Queen in Mirren, but hey, why not see if she can do better in Westeros?
Oh, and did I mention Jon Snow might be a Targaryen too, with his own claim to the throne? Yeah, apparently the theory is that he’s actually the son of Ned’s sister Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen, and Ned just claimed him as his bastard to protect him from the Baratheons and the Lannisters. This isn’t actually proven though and Martin is pretty mum on the subject.
The point is though, that people don’t usually do what you want them to; men aren’t always faithful and neither are women. The real world isn’t as nice as “here’s Aragorn, he’s got the blood line and he’s a pretty decent guy, so he’s gotta be king!” If Martin had written that story line, Aragorn would have ended up being the byproduct of a dwarf his mother had had an illicit affair with, and that wouldn’t have been all that far-fetched. Martin shows us that people lie, they cheat, they are greedy and lustful, and sometimes just plain stupid. And sometimes, things that you would never expect to happen, do.
2. Good vs. Evil
In Lord of the Ringsthere are very clear lines of who is good and who is evil, with very few characters in between that are a mixture of both. Everyone’s tempted by evil in Tolkien’s novels, but those who do choose it are wholly corrupted by it. Basically, there is no grey area.
There is Sarumon, the white wizard, who used to be kind of okay and then turned just plain evil, raising orcs and beating up Gandalf on this strange, spiky platform at the top of his tower at Eisengard. And there’s Pippin, whose mischievous nature has him riding the border of good and evil—his big mistake is when he becomes obsessed with the palantir and, looking into it, allows Sauron to see where the hobbits are. But really, he’s relatively harmless and in the end, his heart remains as pure as that gorgeous voice of his in the movie.
George R.R. Martin calls B.S on that unrealistic idea of humanity.
He understands that good people do bad things; I mean Tyrion disembowels his own father but he has a good reason…. Tywin Lannister has his entire company of soldiers rape Tyrion’s first wife and then convinces him that she was a hired prostitute, who didn’t really love him. Upon learning the truth, who wouldn’t fire a cross bolt at that narcissistic a.hole? George also understands that bad people sometimes do good things, like when Jaime saves Brienne from being raped by bandits and killed by a bear. I mean he kills a King, but he does save a maiden—Surprise! Prince Charming is a back-stabbing, oath-breaking murderer. I’d say that’s the definition of conflicted morality.
3. Sex
In LOTR, you don’t have it. Nope, none. There is no sex and relatively little kissing. There are a bunch of children running around though, so I’m sure the Middle Earth men and women do get down and dirty sometimes. However, if they do, it’s behind closed doors.
This is way different from how couples act in GOT. Everyone is getting it on in Westeros and Essos. They have sex with men, women, whores, their wife’s brother, their sister, their son’s girlfriend, etc. Homosexuality is accepted as commonplace. Rape is a gruesome reality, but a reality nonetheless. Sometimes people even fall in love with their rapist (Daenerys and Khal Drogo) and their relationship turns out to be the best love story since Romeo and Juliet. You know if Juliet had lived to conquer half a continent and magically hatch some dragon eggs.
4. Women
A product of the pre-suffragist era, Tolkien basically only understood two kinds of women; he’s got the beautiful maiden, waiting to be saved by her prince charming, and then he’s got Eowyn, horse-princess, breaking boundaries by going to war against Sauron and his host of disgusting orcs. Hey, she even slays the Witch King of Angmar or as I like to call him, the weird guy with the funny hat. Man was he surprised about the loop hole in that whole “No man can kill me” thing.
Now, these are good characters, even great ones. I really like Arwen and Eowyn; they’re gorgeous, mystical, and in the movie version, played by some pretty awesome actresses (here’s looking at you Liv). But holy crap, where are the other women in this universe? Are there only two? Three, counting Galadriel, but she’s cut from the same cloth as Arwen. In the movie version, I did see some women running away from orcs and bandits, trying their best to not get raped. But that’s it. All. Finito.
In my opinion, Game of Thrones does a way better job depicting the variety of women-kind. He’s got his beautiful princesses like Sansa Stark, his riding warrioresses like Brienne, but they are so much more than that. My favorite break in the princess character was when Sansa puts that purple-faced monster Joffrey in his place after he brags about giving her Rob Stark's head.
“Or maybe he’ll give me yours.”
……………chills
Brienne also breaks character by being, let’s face it, pretty ugly (or, at least, she is supposed to be according to the novels).Tolkien’s warrior lady was gorgeous; Martin’s has a big heart and an even bigger sword.
And these are only two examples out of the multitude of women that live in Martin’s fantasy world. He’s got whores, maids, sea-captains, incestuous queens, and cross-dressing little girls who can kill grown men. He’s even got a woman that hatched live dragons but who is, after all, only a silly-young girl that tends to fall head over heels for the nearest desert barbarian (RIP Khal Drogo). These women are deep, interesting, unpredictable, and complex. Dare, I say it? They have layers.
When asked in an interview on Strombo how he writes women so well in his novels, Martin replied, “You know, I’ve always considered them to be people.” Touché.
5. Happy Endings
This one is pretty simple; Tolkien will give you one. You can pretty much count on the main good guys making it out alive and moving onto find peace (except golem, but who cares). Martin, on the other hand….
Well, half his main characters are already dead, so the outlook for them is not looking so good. The other half are still waiting on the man to finish the series but at this point in their short, fantastical lives, nothing's really going so hot.
Daenerys is bald, far away from any kind of civilizations, and her children are pretty pissed at her. Not to mention, every kingdom she conquered has gone to hell, and she is no closer to the Iron Throne than she was book one.
Cersei is also bald and humiliated from being forced to walk naked through King’s Landing (she was accused of adultery and incest, imagine that!).
Jaime’s down a hand. Theon’s down several fingers, teeth, and one very important member. Jon Stark’s down a red-headed wilding and his own un-un-dead life.
Stannis is an ice-cycle.
Tyrion, in the books, found another Targaryen, lost him, and then was made a slave who rides pigs in Essos. In the TV series, he was given Mirren to look after….so, actually, I guess he's doing the most okay right now. He has a whole new city to play with.
Who even is Arya Stark, of Winterfell? Oh, crap.
Will there be a happy ending for them? Sure. Maybe. Probably Not.
Oh, well. It’s more fun this way isn’t it?
Stay tuned…..
