Winter is Coming: The Medieval World of Game of Thrones

by Carolyne Larrington

Overview

The debate and discussion around Game of Thrones has covered questions of climate issues, industrialization, and questions of power, sex and gender. But in this essential companion to both George R.R. Martin's novels and the HBO show, Carolyne Larrington explores how this remarkable universe was constructed from the actual Middle Ages. The book examines sigils, giants, dragons and direwolves in medieval texts; ravens, old gods and the Weirwood in Norse myth; and a gothic, exotic orient in the eastern continent, Essos. From the White Walkers to the Red Woman, from Casterly Rock to the Shivering Sea, this is an indispensable guide to the 21st-century's most important fantasy creation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350134744
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/11/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	736,850
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Carolyne Larrington is Fellow and Tutor in Medieval English Literature at St John's College, Oxford, UK. Her previous books include The Women's Companion to Mythology; The Poetic Edda; King Arthur's Enchantresses: Morgan and her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition (I.B.Tauris 2006, paperback 2014); Magical Tales: Myth, Legend and Enchantment in Children's books (edited with Diane Purkiss); and The Land of the Green Man: A Jourbaney through the Supernatural Landscapes of the British Isles (I.B.Tauris, 2015).

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Chapter One: The Centre
Chapter Two: The North
Chapter Three: The West
Chapter Four: Across the Narrow Sea
Chapter Five: The East
Epilogue
Notes
List of Further Reading
Index

Editorial Reviews

For long-time lovers of A Song of Ice and Fire, the most interesting parts of Larrington’s book will be those where she goes off the beaten path… Larrington has an inviting style, and transitions easily between descriptions of the show or books, history lessons, and comparisons between the two. It’s a very thorough book that covers nearly every nook and cranny of the Song of Ice and Fire mythology, from the Night’s Watch and the Ironborn in the North all the way to Qarth and Asshai in the far east. Even superfans well-versed in the story’s historical bases will find plenty to chew on, and casual viewers who never bothered to think about it may find an entirely new way of looking at looking at their favorite show.

Dan Seicke