alcasinoroyale
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Post by alcasinoroyale on Mar 31, 2017 0:03:23 GMT -5
Some examples in terms inspiration for Westeros locations, a lot of these seem obvious:
The Wall is Hadrian's Wall. The North is likely Scotland with some Scandinavian elements. The Vale = The Alps/Switzerland The Iron Islands = Also Scandinanvian, Vikings. The Riverlands = Germany The Westernlands and The Crownlands = England The Stormlands = Wales and Belgium The Reach = France Dorne = Spain
A lot of the free cities feel Mediterranean, specifically the city states of Italy. Braavos is based on Venice and Amsterdam. Valyria seems like a combination of Ancient Rome and Greece. King's Landing, I could see parallels with Constantinople. Slaver's Bay is based on Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
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alcasinoroyale
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Post by alcasinoroyale on Apr 27, 2017 18:48:26 GMT -5
Cersei, I had mentioned in the OP that she shares similarities with Margaret of Anjou, but I think George also used inspiration from Isabella of France. Supposedly she had her husband killed after starting an affair, and then became the Queen regent when her son Edward III of England was crowned just as Cersei had Robert killed and then became the queen regent for Joffrey before he married Margaery. British and French history is fucking complicated.
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TheMadQueen
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Post by TheMadQueen on Apr 27, 2017 18:56:36 GMT -5
Cersei, I had mentioned in the OP that she shares similarities with Margaret of Anjou, but I think George also used inspiration from Isabella of France. Supposedly she had her husband killed after starting an affair, and then became the Queen regent when her son Edward III of England was crowned just as Cersei had Robert killed and then became the queen regent for Joffrey before he married Margaery. British and French history is fucking complicated. The She Wolf of France = The Lioness of the Rock mwahahah
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alcasinoroyale
King of Winter
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Post by alcasinoroyale on Apr 27, 2017 19:01:34 GMT -5
Cersei, I had mentioned in the OP that she shares similarities with Margaret of Anjou, but I think George also used inspiration from Isabella of France. Supposedly she had her husband killed after starting an affair, and then became the Queen regent when her son Edward III of England was crowned just as Cersei had Robert killed and then became the queen regent for Joffrey before he married Margaery. British and French history is fucking complicated. The She Wolf of France = The Lioness of the Rock mwahahah I've also noticed that a lot of the Royal House sigils from that time, have the number three correlated somewhere.
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stannisforking299al
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Post by stannisforking299al on Apr 27, 2017 19:16:33 GMT -5
I don't know if this really applies to this subject all too much or if this has been posted before, but Westeros is basically just Britain and Ireland photoshopped together
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alcasinoroyale
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Post by alcasinoroyale on Apr 27, 2017 19:27:55 GMT -5
I don't know if this really applies to this subject all too much or if this has been posted before, but Westeros is basically just Britain and Ireland photoshopped together Some great photoshop skills. At least Tolkien's Middle Earth is a bit more creative. I've also seen this one.
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Post by Singer of Death on Apr 27, 2017 19:38:52 GMT -5
I remember this post from Reddit that it list all the heraldry from GoT that resembles to several historical coat of arms. Unfortunately, I can't find it, but i do remember that there's this heraldry that looks exactly like Stannis' sigil - the head of a stag in a heart with a crown on top of it. Another one heraldry parallels to Bolton's sigil. It didn't exactly feature a flay man though, but it shows a man on a breaking wheel instead, sharing the evoke of brutality.
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alcasinoroyale
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Post by alcasinoroyale on Apr 27, 2017 19:57:28 GMT -5
I remember this post from Reddit that it list all the heraldry from GoT that resembles to several historical coat of arms. Unfortunately, I can't find it, but i do remember that there's this heraldry that looks exactly like Stannis' sigil - the head of a stag in a heart with a crown on top of it. Another one heraldry parallels to Bolton's sigil. It didn't exactly feature a flay man though, but it shows a man on a breaking wheel instead, sharing the evoke of brutality. This isn't from Reddit, but they discuss some inspirations for sigils here: history-behind-game-of-thrones.com/historical-periods/sigils
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Post by Singer of Death on Apr 27, 2017 20:02:18 GMT -5
As someone who's a fan of history, i would like to indulge myself putting interesting facts and tidbits about comparing historical parallel to Asoiaf/GoT constantly. High Sparrow & Girolamo Savonarola
Someone pointed out that the High Sparrow shared more similarities with Savonarola than Martin Luther which i agreed. Although GRMM compared the High Sparrow to Martin Luther, i don't think the analogy is strong. Martin Luther only spoke against the Church's corruption, especially its indulgence practice, sparking the Protestant Reformation. He did not went against the nobles or anything like that. In fact, he openly expressed his hatred towards the peasants (especially their revolts) and sided with the nobles occasionally. The High Sparrow is rebellious towards the nobles and royals while Martin Luther toward the Church. While here, both the High Sparrow has a lot of commons with Savonarola. Savonarola is a a friar who heavily denounced the Church's corruption, the clergies, and the nobles. He was very popular among the commoners and displayed an extreme fundamentalist attitude such as destroyed most of Italian's arts and books and preach about the Book of Revelation and stuff. Also, both of them ended up burned alive (High Sparrow blew up in the sept, Savonarola burned at the stake).
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Post by Singer of Death on Apr 29, 2017 14:24:51 GMT -5
I'm surprised GRMM not only knows a lot of about western history, but particularly he got certain things right abut Imperial China which Yi Ti was definitely inspired from. Yi Tish empire last for about 8000 years = this is an exaggeration with Chinese' history. There's a popular belief that Chinese civilization last for about 5000 years, but historians argued it's only about 3000 due to the earlier dynasties that were most likely mythical. But it is certainly older than Ancient Rome and Greece. Yi Ti faced a civil war between 3 regions = homage to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The 3 kingdoms fought each other to be sole ruler of unified China, claiming themselves to be direct successor of the Han Dynasty. Empress Bathi Ma Lo who took charge in ruling in place of her mentally ill husband = Empress Dowager Cixi or Empress Wu Zetian could be the inspirations. Empress Cixi act as empress regent over her nephew who was too young to rule. Empress Wu Zetian was said to be extremely powerful and influential more than her husband who was deemed to be weak according to old historians. Yi Ti regard other civilizations to be barbaric and uncivilized = China has a long history of xenophobia, looking down on any cultures they deem to be barbaric including Korean and Japanese. This answers questions why China didn't colonize or expand their territories further because they felt they were surrounded by barbarians who do not deserve Chinese culture. Furthermore, they believed that had everything they needed unlike the Europeans who need trade to obtain resources from other cultures like spices and tobacco. Yi Ti's arch-enemy is the Jogos Nhai who are normads people that are similar to the Dothraki = many people say that they are the equivalent of the Mongols in the east with China, but i find they are actually closer to the Jurchen. The Jurchen, like the Mongols, were nomadic people that came from Manchuria, who constantly fight the Chinese and were responsible for bringing destruction upon towns, cities, and some of their dynasties. They shared many customs with the Mongols which wikipedia explain further details. Additionally, the Jogos Nhai said to shaved their head which the Jurchen also did (though styles varied). In fact, by the time the Jurchen overthrow the Ming Dynasty and established the Qing Dynasty (the last Chinese imperial dynasty), they renamed themselves as Manchu and enforced the law that all men (including Han Chinese) must shaved their head. This was considered humiliating and disgraceful by Chinese's standard, but if one refuses to obey this, they get executed.
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moiaf
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Post by moiaf on May 1, 2017 8:17:22 GMT -5
I'm surprised GRMM not only knows a lot of about western history, but particularly he got certain things right abut Imperial China which Yi Ti was definitely inspired from. Yi Tish empire last for about 8000 years = this is an exaggeration with Chinese' history. There's a popular belief that Chinese civilization last for about 5000 years, but historians argued it's only about 3000 due to the earlier dynasties that were most likely mythical. But it is certainly older than Ancient Rome and Greece. Yi Ti faced a civil war between 3 regions = homage to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The 3 kingdoms fought each other to be sole ruler of unified China, claiming themselves to be direct successor of the Han Dynasty. Empress Bathi Ma Lo who took charge in ruling in place of her mentally ill husband = Empress Dowager Cixi or Empress Wu Zetian could be the inspirations. Empress Cixi act as empress regent over her nephew who was too young to rule. Empress Wu Zetian was said to be extremely powerful and influential more than her husband who was deemed to be weak according to old historians. Yi Ti regard other civilizations to be barbaric and uncivilized = China has a long history of xenophobia, looking down on any cultures they deem to be barbaric including Korean and Japanese. This answers questions why China didn't colonize or expand their territories further because they felt they were surrounded by barbarians who do not deserve Chinese culture. Furthermore, they believed that had everything they needed unlike the Europeans who need trade to obtain resources from other cultures like spices and tobacco. Yi Ti's arch-enemy is the Jogos Nhai who are normads people that are similar to the Dothraki = many people say that they are the equivalent of the Mongols in the east with China, but i find they are actually closer to the Jurchen. The Jurchen, like the Mongols, were nomadic people that came from Manchuria, who constantly fight the Chinese and were responsible for bringing destruction upon towns, cities, and some of their dynasties. They shared many customs with the Mongols which wikipedia explain further details. Additionally, the Jogos Nhai said to shaved their head which the Jurchen also did (though styles varied). In fact, by the time the Jurchen overthrow the Ming Dynasty and established the Qing Dynasty (the last Chinese imperial dynasty), they renamed themselves as Manchu and enforced the law that all men (including Han Chinese) must shaved their head. This was considered humiliating and disgraceful by Chinese's standard, but if one refuses to obey this, they get executed. I think GRRM is a history buff although, he could have done better historical research for the Dothraki whose portrayal comes off a bit racist.
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Post by Singer of Death on May 1, 2017 13:39:41 GMT -5
I think GRRM is a history buff although, he could have done better historical research for the Dothraki whose portrayal comes off a bit racist. I would like to throw in the Ironborn as well cause GRMM simplified them compared to how complex Vikings and Mongols actually were instead of the popular image that they were just raping savage.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 15:21:28 GMT -5
The current iteration of Cersei is giving me some Mary I of England vibes.
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Post by moiaf on May 2, 2017 18:52:06 GMT -5
I think GRRM is a history buff although, he could have done better historical research for the Dothraki whose portrayal comes off a bit racist. I would like to throw in the Ironborn as well cause GRMM simplified them compared to how complex Vikings and Mongols actually were instead of the popular image that they were just raping savage. Yes, I think GRRM over exaggerated these traits. If he had been more nuanced with them it would have been better for both the world building and the characters. Euron is suppose to come across as this evil generous but he's almost a caricature at this moment. It looks like in TWOW there will be more depth to him by the excerpts we've received, nevertheless there's still an anime villain feel to him. In my mind.
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Post by Lovely Lyanna on May 2, 2017 20:02:08 GMT -5
The current iteration of Cersei is giving me some Mary I of England vibes. I like the comparison. Like poor Mary I, Cersei is difficult to like, yet given their background you can see how they ended up as they did. Hear Ye, Hear Ye! New decree! From this day forward, Bloody Marys will be called Bloody Cerseis when I drink them on Sunday.
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