Once I like something, I’m the sort of person who plummets headlong into it. As a result, I know the Harry Potter books back to front, have watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy many many times, and keep a Master Yoda figurine on my desk. I doubt, however, that any of these works or perhaps any in the future will grip me the way I have been gripped by George R R Martin’s Game of Thrones.
I began watching Game of Thrones just 3 months back and I have been hooked. So, what’s so special about the Game of Thrones?
1. It’s like real life – there’s no good versus evil. The LoTR trilogy is a great example of traditional fantasy writing. You have the good (dressed in white) and the evil (dressed in black). The evil gets really strong before the good win, against the odds.
George R R Martin has been careful to have Game of Thrones resemble real life. There aren’t strong good or evil characters. Instead, most of the characters are morally ambiguous with a few “good” characters sprinkled across opposing sides. This makes the character development very interesting as you examine the motives behind the actions of these complex characters.
2. Power, love, and fear. The series is all about the 3 most powerful forces that exist – power, love, and fear. These 3 mess with our emotions and test our character. It reminds us that most can make it through adversity but very few survive the test of power.
It almost feels like George R R Martin asks us to put ourselves in the situation and ask ourselves – what would I do?
3. Complex plot lines and moving it forward from different perspectives. The Game of Thrones has many different plot lines. That isn’t so special. These plot lines keep coming together at different times. That’s not overly special either. What is special however is the fact that George R R Martin advances these plot lines from different perspectives. So, you’d hear one story line from one character’s eyes and return to move forward from the eyes of another. That’s incredible.
And if you think you’ve read books with many twists and turns, wait till you read these books..
4. A sense of fairness. George R R Martin seems to favor a sense of fairness in his writing. When there’s war, everyone pays for it in one way or the other. It isn’t obvious at first but every one is indeed fighting their own big battle no one else knows about. Much like real life.
5. No overplay of mysterious powers. While magic does make more than an appearance in the Game of Thrones, it isn’t decisive. The story is still about humans and human emotions and that’s what makes the story line so riveting. There aren’t traditional heroes or villains either. In fact, if ever there is a hero, you should worry.. as his/her death is probably on it’s way.
HBO’s production team have done a fantastic job with the TV series. It’s hard to call it a TV series as each episode could easily be a 1 hour movie and their casting is near perfect. I’m glad for the TV series as I might never have gotten to the books like many others and George R R Martin’s genius mightn’t have gotten the audience it deserves. In recent Real Leader interviews, I’ve been asking our real leaders about their favorite TV shows and “Game of Thrones” is a constant favorite. That’s amazing.
I head into a weekend knowing there will be plenty of Game of Thrones to keep me happy. My wife and I are onto the 4th book on our Kindle apps (there are 5 in total) and will do plenty of reading over the weekend. We will also be playing the excellent Game of Thrones board game when our friends come home today. There’s bound to be plenty of GoT lingo thrown about (“it is known,” “mummers farce” and many more quotes!) when we hang out.
It still amazes me that one exceptional man’s brain has created this whole universe that has touched so many lives. Thank you George R R Martin!
PS: If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones yet, I hope you’ll consider checking it out this weekend. You can thank me later.
A Learning a Day 