Sometimes I Think That “A Song of Ice and Fire” Is Inherently Contradictory

For a long time now I've been fascinated by George R. R. Martin and his epic creation. However, it wasn't always so. I watched the first season of Game of Thrones in late 2012 when it was relatively unknown, at least compared to how it would eventually become, and while I found it interesting, though I didn't quite get it and made the worst predictions ever, I didn't have the thirst to continue on through the second season. Later on though, in the summer of 2014, I went back, now with four seasons available, and got immediately quite hooked. Nowadays I have seen the show at least thrice, and the first four seasons two more times, and the first season by itself like two or three extra times on top of that. I also read the books once, currently rereading them, and I've listened to George in interviews countless other times... And in all those times I can never tell where my feelings for this story lie, because at times I rather dislike some of its elements, while other times I love some other elements so much that I'm left in awe of George's genius. But while my indecision is a particular idiosyncrasy of mine, I also think it might be in part due to the nature of the story, which seems to leads towards contradiction. As George is fond of saying, the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself, but I wonder if that conflict goes beyond the characters per say to extend itself all across the story, even into its expansive world and all the weird symbols therein.

“The Iron Throne” by Marc Simonetti

It could well be that this entire story hinges on the human writer in conflict with himself... George's background was mostly in the realm of science fiction, and yet his magnum opus is hailed as one of the greatest fantasy series of all time. In fact, some fans maintain theories that A Song of Ice and Fire is actually sci-fi in some way, maybe an advanced world that was brutally set back by some apocalyptic event, and now our so-called medieval characters live surrounded by the remnants of advanced technology that, in their ignorance, they call magic. Either way it's a pretty cool theory, and fairly grounded in the fact that the magic of Westeros seems itself grounded in a distinct sense of realism which could suggest that it is actually more of a weird science that no character fully comprehends. That would be an interesting point to talk about but for now it's more of a setting stone for my proper point here, which is that this struggle between fantasy and realism leads ASOIAF into inherently contradictory forces. I'm not entirely sure that this alleged contradiction is inherent but I am fairly sure that, as far as I can see it, it does pop up on many occasions, with the iron throne being the major symbol of it.

The television show has made the iron throne a total icon, and with good reason because it looks cool and ominous. But the throne in the books is meant to look very different, much more imposing and scary, made from the thousand blades of Aegon's enemies as a physical symbol of his power over them, and as such it's a construction so large that it's almost more of a tower than a throne. Of course, due to practical concerns, the throne had to be smaller in the show, and due to aesthetics perhaps, it had to be more symmetric, prettier if you will. In fact, in one of the episodes Littlefinger even comments on how the claim that the throne is made from thousands of blades is bogus, seeing as there aren't even two hundred in there. It's quite the meta comment, the show somewhat poking fun at an idea from the books, sorta like lampshading but in a good way for a change, thought it's also precisely one of the same ideas that George found in the early and often exaggerated reports of history out of which he drew inspiration. For instance, George often talks about the Black Dinner, a real event in scottish history, as his inspiration for the Red Wedding, however, he jokingly derides later historians for discovering the real truth about the event, a much less cinematic truth which doesn't work as well in fiction. And so George decided to use the rumors and exaggerations as inspiration for his own story. Only thing is, doesn't it seem inconsistent that some things in ASOIAF are meant to be grounded in reality, while others are just meant to look cool and awesome and crazy? So where do you draw the line? Why make some aspects of the story so darn realistic while making others crazy and shocking out of a sense of mystery and wonder, and of course, fantasy?

Other examples I can think of would be the castles of Dragonstone and Storm's End, both of which are described in detail in the books, the former being a weird, almost lovecraftian construction, made up of seemingly impossible materials, and the latter being a construction that gives weight to some of the sci-fi theories that fans put forward. So my question is this – if the point of the story is to create real, believable characters, with very human thoughts and inconsistencies, very human hopes and fears, very human qualities and flaws, why then turn around and make everything else a magical adventure of unceasing wonders?... I have written a little bit about some criticisms I have of this story before, namely when it comes to its scope, and I think this relates to it again. In other words, I have the feeling that it becomes difficult to care about the detail and the minutia of the story, as well as the character's dramas, jealousies, sibling rivalries, parental issues and whatnot, when there are also these massive, bizarre constructions, and even entire worlds, filled with supernatural wonders. On this point I think The World of Ice and Fire ends up being a constant source of inconsistency because we are told of countless bizarre lands with strange peoples and stranger customs, filled with magic so interesting that it casts a rather large shadow over our entire main cast. The question then becomes – why am I reading about, say, two young sisters not getting along when I could be reading about a distant land filled with mythical beasts and inhabited by tribes of legendary warriors and sorcerers?

I suppose the contradiction is more than inherent, it's inevitable, because if the story did shift to one of those lands, it would inevitably become more of the same, it would be populated by other characters, some more interesting, others less so, but all of them decidedly human. It almost seems to be a constant theme in storytelling whereby the unseen is perpetually more interesting, and as such I don't attribute it to ASOIAF as a proper criticism, I do so as more of an observation, almost a pet peeve if you will. Because it does seem like a constant tug of war that leads the story into some strange directions, some of them odd but understandable, like having hardcore fans of the books complaining that the show made certain characters into generic avatars of goodness, but also bemoaning that the throne and some of the castles aren't as crazy and awesome as they are in the books. In a way I understand the criticism because it would have been a more faithful adaptation, but is it coherent per say? Doesn't it make more sense to think that, if the goal is to subvert the old common tropes of the graceful kings and honorable knights, shouldn't it also be to subvert the old common tropes of magical castles of lore and legend?

I dunno, maybe not... Maybe no matter how outlandish the scenario, the story will always be the same because it will always be about people, and like Michael Scott once said, people will never go out of business. It's just a strange little thing because this story seems to be one that, like its author seems to prefer, struggles against itself, against its own heart, to the point where, at least to me, it either breeds contradictions or those contradictions are inherent in any story because they are inherent to any human being. Still, that does seem to place the characters in this story at odds with their own world, surrounded by the very stark realities of the realism of the world on all sides, and controlled by their own very flawed and very human natures, and yet they also find themselves living in castles of strange foreboding magic. Somewhere along the line is the story itself, pulling characters in one direction and then the other, all towards a hopefully not too distant ending... But until that ending does come we will always be left with a constant and very addictive urge to return to Westeros so as to hopefully figure out the contradiction. So I almost wanna say that if the contradiction is in fact inherent, then it may also be a rather good thing.

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