Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire

A dragon looms over our capital.
Just as Game of Thrones fan favorite Daenerys Targaryen's progression into ruthless tyrant resulted in the fiery destruction of King's Landing, the authoritarian advances of President Donald Trump threaten to set our country ablaze.

Fire & Blood, Fire & Fury by Sally Frazer draws gripping, if terrifying, connections between Dany's reign and Trump's presidency. Both, Frazer argues, feature chillingly similar red flags of authoritarianism, the distinct, telltale signs that forewarn of impending tyranny.

Perhaps the most horrifying component of Frazer's comparison is that despite their transparently dictatorial attitudes and behaviors, both despotic leaders continue to enjoy inexplicably high levels of public support. It would seem that Americans are susceptible to the allure of both fictional and real-world autocratic figures.

In the most compelling and comprehensive analysis of Game of Thrones to date, Fire & Blood, Fire & Fury highlights the shared authoritarian features of Dany and Trump's leadership and illustrates the negative repercussions of their oppressive approaches to governance. This side-by-side analysis observes the parallels in how these figures' fans have understood and responded to the threats they pose. It examines the cult-like blind allegiance shown by a fanatical subset of their supporters and asks why so many Americans have been unable to detect the early signs of despotism in these polarizing leaders.

From "fire and blood" to "fire and fury," "break the wheel" to "drain the swamp," "Dracarys" to "You're fired!" this book explores the striking similarities between these two leaders and demonstrates how Game of Thrones can teach us to stop playing with fire and resist the advances of real-world tyrants.

Hodor, Bran

It’s an obscenity to go into somebody’s mind. So Bran may be responsible for Hodor’s simplicity, due to going into his mind so powerfully that it rippled back through time. The explanation of Bran’s powers, the whole question of time and causality—can we affect the past? Is time a river you can only sail one way or an ocean that can be affected wherever you drop into it? These are issues I want to explore in the book, but it’s harder to explain in a show. I thought they executed it very well, but there are going to be differences in the book. They did it very physical—“hold the door” with Hodor’s strength. In the book, Hodor has stolen one of the old swords from the crypt. Bran has been warging into Hodor and practicing with his body, because Bran had been trained in swordplay. So telling Hodor to “hold the door” is more like “hold this pass”—defend it when enemies are coming—and Hodor is fighting and killing them. A little different, but same idea.


Stannis Baratheon

Stannis killing his daughter was one of the most agonizing scenes in Thrones and one of the moments Martin had told the producers he was planning for The Winds of Winter (though the book version of the scene will play out a bit differently).

Sansa Stark, Petyr « Littlefinger » Baelish

Jeyne Poole was included in the pilot—she’s shown giggling next to Sansa—but she’s never seen or referred to again. I actually wrote Jeyne into “The Pointy End,” my first script, when Arya killed the stableboy. I had some stuff with Jeyne running to Sansa being all hysterical and dialogue in the council chamber with Littlefinger saying, “Give her to me, I’ll make sure she doesn’t cause any trouble.” That was dropped. I was trying to set up Jeyne for her future role as the false Arya. The real Arya has escaped and is presumed dead. But this girl has been in Littlefinger’s control for years, and he’s been training her. She knows Winterfell, has the proper northern accent, and can pose as Arya. Who the hell knows what a little girl you met two years ago looks like? When you’re a lord visiting Winterfell, are you going to pay attention to the little kids running around? So she can pull off the impersonation. Not having Jeyne, they used Sansa for that. Is that better or worse? You can make your decision there. Oddly, I never got pushback for that in the book because nobody cared about Jeyne Poole that much. They care about Sansa. My Littlefinger would have never turned Sansa over to Ramsay. Never. He’s obsessed with her. Half the time he thinks she’s the daughter he never had—that he wishes he had, if he’d married Catelyn. And half the time he thinks she is Catelyn, and he wants her for himself. He’s not going to give her to somebody who would do bad things to her. That’s going to be very different in the

Rickon Stark

They were doing a faithful adaptation, but I knew they’d have to cut some things. The biggest thing was Dan and David called me up and had the idea of eliminating Rickon, the youngest of the Stark children, because he didn’t do much in the first book. I said I had important plans for him, so they kept him.

Mélisandre

You’re supposed to debate that. Melisandre wanted everyone to think that the spell she did with the leeches killed the three kings, but there is another explanation: Her ability to see the future through the flames showed her that the kings were going to die because of the machinations of other characters. Seeing their deaths were coming, she just staged this demonstration to take credit for their deaths.

Le Trône de Fer

It wasn’t easy for me. I didn’t want to give away my books. It’s not easy to talk about the end of my books. Every character has a different end. I told them who would be on the Iron Throne, and I told them some big twists like Hodor and “hold the door,” and Stannis’s decision to burn his daughter. We didn’t get to everybody by any means. Especially the minor characters, who may have very different endings.