Game of Thrones was the biggest TV show of the past decade, a product of the creative genius of George R. R. Martin. The epic fantasy took inspiration from various real-life events in medieval history. One of the many recurring themes in Martin’s books is the mistreatment of women, which is also true of the medieval world, and will be the key focus of conflict in the upcoming prequel House of The Dragon.
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In the SDCC 2022 House of The Dragon panel, Martin addressed the issue as to why Westeros is so anti-women, “My books are fantasies, obviously, but I do follow history a lot. I get inspiration from history, and I take elements from history and turn it up to 11 — obligatory ‘Spinal Tap’ reference — or to 111. ‘Game of Thrones,’ as many people observed, was based loosely during the English’s War of the Roses.”
“This show was based on an earlier period in medieval history called The Anarchy. I pilfered freely from real history — Henry I, the king of England, when his only legitimate son drowned while trying to cross the English Channel, was left with only one legitimate child, which was his daughter Matilda. And he named her his heir and he made the lords of the kingdom swear fealty to her. And then some years later he died and most of the lords of the kingdom forgot about that oath and said, ‘Oh, it doesn’t apply,’ because here comes her cousin Stephen who crosses the channel quickly and steals the treasury and gets himself crowned king and they entered a period called the anarchy.”
Martin notes that the events in House of The Dragon will mirror that bloody history and will be the major cause of conflict in the show.
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