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Parallel Lives: Connections Between the Lannisters and Historical Dynasties

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Game of Thrones - A View from the Humanities Vol. 2

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse one of the main families of the fantasy saga of Game of Thrones: The Lannisters, who have many historical counterparts that could serve as a source of inspiration for George R. R. Martin. As Plutarch did with his series of biographies commonly called Parallel Lives, a comparison will be made with several historical characters that might be considered the alter ego of the main members of House Lannister: Tywin and Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, the wealthiest and mightiest peer in England, who was known as the “Kingmaker” in the War of the Two Roses; Cersei and queen Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI of House Lancaster, king of England; Jaime Lannister and Cesare Borgia, the condottiero and son of Pope Alexander VI; and finally, Tyrion and Claudius, an astute Roman emperor who, however, in his youth was outcast by his family due to his physical defects.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ripoll (2012: 31).

  2. 2.

    See Jones (2013).

  3. 3.

    Larrington (2017: XII–XXIII).

  4. 4.

    Suetonius, Julius Caesar 47.

  5. 5.

    See Gabriel (2010: 33–39). On this Philip’s strategy to strengthen his power in Greece, see Gabriel (2010: 92–94).

  6. 6.

    Martin et al. (2014: 204–205) (“The Seven Kingdoms. The Westerlands. Casterly Rock”).

  7. 7.

    Cicero, Letters to Atticus 1.16.12.

  8. 8.

    Martin et al. (2014: 316–317) (“Appendix: Lannister Lineage”).

  9. 9.

    In an interesting discussion about power, after an argument between Tywin and king Joffrey, Tyrion said to his father that he had sent to bed the most powerful man in Westeros, but Tywin answered him: “You’re a fool if you think he’s the most powerful man in Westeros. (…) Do you really think a crown gives you power?” (Thrones S3: Ep.10, “Mhysa”).

  10. 10.

    Thrones S2: Ep.6, “The Old Gods and the New”.

  11. 11.

    Thrones S3: Ep.9, “The Rains of Castamere”.

  12. 12.

    SoS 52 Catelyn 7.

  13. 13.

    Homer, Odyssey 4.529–536.

  14. 14.

    Haimson Lushkov (2017: 53–56). She also mentions another ancient pattern for the Red Wedding: the nostoi which were the stories of the Greek heroes’ return after the end of the Trojan War. Like Agamemnon and Odysseus, Robb Stark goes back to the Twins after his victories against Lannister forces in the War of the Five Kings.

  15. 15.

    Larrington (2017: 32).

  16. 16.

    Larrington (2017: 31).

  17. 17.

    See Hibbert (2009).

  18. 18.

    Hollingsworth (2014: 27).

  19. 19.

    Martin et al. (2014: 125) (“The Fall of the Dragons. The Year of the False Spring”).

  20. 20.

    Larrington (2017: 134–139). Muhlberger (2017: 53), also suggests that Kingsguard knights have many parallels with the late medieval orders of chivalry founded by royalty such as the Garter or the Golden Fleece. Nevertheless, unlike these last orders, Kingsguards had a more active role: to protect and to serve the monarch.

  21. 21.

    Finn (2020: 33–35).

  22. 22.

    GoT 9 Bran 2; Thrones S1: Ep.1, “Winter is Coming”.

  23. 23.

    SoS 12 Jaime 2.

  24. 24.

    GoT 46 Eddard 12; Thrones S1: Ep.7, “You Win or You Die”.

  25. 25.

    Goldsworthy (2011: 51–65).

  26. 26.

    Hollingsworth (2014: 212–214).

  27. 27.

    Machiavelli (2014).

  28. 28.

    Thrones S1: Ep.3, “Lord Snow”.

  29. 29.

    CoK 22 Bran 3.

  30. 30.

    Thrones S1: Ep.3, “Lord Snow”.

  31. 31.

    See Finn (2020). She explains very well that the unfriendly image and the difficulties to sympathize with Cersei are mainly due to the fact that Martin and the HBO producers, Benioff and Weiss, integrated all the negative medieval stereotypes into one character at once.

  32. 32.

    Haimson Lushkov (2017: 31).

  33. 33.

    Mares (2017: 149).

  34. 34.

    Harris (2004: 30–49).

  35. 35.

    CoK 9 Tyrion 2. However, in the TV series, it was Joffrey who ordered the gold cloaks to perform this task (Thrones S2: Ep.2, “The Night Lands”).

  36. 36.

    Finn (2020: 34).

  37. 37.

    Darcy (2016).

  38. 38.

    See Prince (2019). We wish to thank the author for providing us with a copy of her interesting paper.

  39. 39.

    Frankel (2014: 96).

  40. 40.

    Short (2011: 61).

  41. 41.

    Della Quercia (2017: 34–35).

  42. 42.

    Finn (2017: 27); Larrington (2017: 120–121).

  43. 43.

    Cassius Dio 43.19.2–3.

  44. 44.

    Thrones S7: Ep.3, “The Queen’s Justice”.

  45. 45.

    Märtin (2014: 30).

  46. 46.

    Thrones S5: Ep.5, “Kill the Boy”.

  47. 47.

    GoT 64 Catelyn 10; Thrones S1: Ep. 9, “Baelor”.

  48. 48.

    SoS 22 Jaime 3; Thrones S3: Ep.3, “Walk of Punishment”.

  49. 49.

    Hollingsworth (2014: 274).

  50. 50.

    Hibbert (2009: 143–148).

  51. 51.

    Hollingsworth (2014: 203).

  52. 52.

    Thrones S8: Ep.4, “The Last of the Starks”.

  53. 53.

    Thrones S8: Ep.6, “The Iron Throne”.

  54. 54.

    Thrones S8: Ep.5, “The Bells”.

  55. 55.

    Hollingsworth (2014: 262–289).

  56. 56.

    SoS 5 Tyrion 1.

  57. 57.

    Haimson Lushkov (2017: 155). Paradoxically, in ancient Egypt dwarfs were seen as people with celestial gifts. See Dasen (2013: 54–58).

  58. 58.

    Suetonius, Claudius 30.

  59. 59.

    Suetonius, Claudius 3.2.

  60. 60.

    Powell (2016: 195).

  61. 61.

    Suetonius, Caligula 23.3; Nero 6.2.

  62. 62.

    SoS 29 Sansa 3.

  63. 63.

    Thrones S3: Ep.8, “Second Sons”.

  64. 64.

    Suetonius, Claudius 3.1.

  65. 65.

    Suetonius, Claudius 5; 33; Cassius Dio 60.2.5.

  66. 66.

    Suetonius, Caligula 15.2.

  67. 67.

    Suetonius, Claudius 10.4.

  68. 68.

    GoT 48 Eddard 13; GoT 50 Eddard 14; Thrones S1: Ep.7, “You Win or You Die”.

  69. 69.

    Gracia Rivas (2012: 511–513). The figures may vary according to the sources.

  70. 70.

    Gracia Rivas (2012: 514–518).

  71. 71.

    Thrones S2: Ep.9, “Blackwater”. Haimson Lushkov (2017: 159–160) makes another interesting comparison with Themistocles’ cunning strategy in the Battle of Salamis (480 BCE) because he tricked Xerxes into sending the Persian fleet into the straits and then he blockaded the exits, so the Persian ships neither could turn back nor manoeuvre well in this confined space.

  72. 72.

    Suetonius, Claudius 26.2.

  73. 73.

    See Southon (2019: 178–185).

  74. 74.

    Suetonius, Claudius 44; Cassius Dio 60.34.2–5; Tacitus, Annals 12.66–67.

  75. 75.

    For instance, when Tyrion planned to visit the Wall, Jaime asked him if he were not thinking of taking the black, but the dwarf answered: “What, me, celibate? The whores would go begging from Dorne to Casterly Rock” (GoT 10 Tyrion 1).

  76. 76.

    GoT 43 Tyrion 6.

  77. 77.

    GoT 70 Tyrion 9; Thrones S1: Ep.10, “Fire and Blood”.

  78. 78.

    CoK 45 Tyrion 10; Thrones S2: Ep.2, “The Night Lands”.

  79. 79.

    Thrones S4: Ep.6, “The Laws of Gods and Men”.

  80. 80.

    Thrones S8: Ep.5, “The Bells”.

  81. 81.

    Haimson Lushkov (2017: 155–161).

  82. 82.

    Thrones S8: Ep.6, “The Iron Throne”.

  83. 83.

    GoT 39 Tyrion 5; Thrones S1: Ep.6, “A Golden Crown”.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Mr. Patrick Fitzsimons for his revision of the English text.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Seville, Seville, Spain

    Víctor A. Torres-González

  2. University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain

    Marcos Rafael Cañas Pelayo

Authors
  1. Víctor A. Torres-González
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  2. Marcos Rafael Cañas Pelayo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Víctor A. Torres-González .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Historia Antigua, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

    Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio

  2. Departamento de Historia Antigua, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

    Fernando Lozano

  3. Departamento de Filología y Traducción, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain

    Rosario Moreno Soldevila

  4. Departamento de Geografía, Historia y Filosofía, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain

    Cristina Rosillo-López

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Torres-González, V.A., Cañas Pelayo, M.R. (2023). Parallel Lives: Connections Between the Lannisters and Historical Dynasties. In: Álvarez-Ossorio, A., Lozano, F., Moreno Soldevila, R., Rosillo-López, C. (eds) Game of Thrones - A View from the Humanities Vol. 2. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15493-5_3

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