Plot
Main article: List of Game of Thrones episodes See also: Synopsis of A Song of Ice and Fire"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."
— Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon), "The Climb"The series roughly follows the multiple storylines of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Game of Thrones chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among the realm's noble families for control of the Iron Throne. As the series opens, additional threats are beginning to rise in the icy North and in the eastern continent of Essos.
The settings, characters and plot elements of the novels and the TV series are derived from a very broad range of periods in European history. A principal inspiration for the novels was the English War of the Roses (1455–85) between the houses of Lancaster and York, reflected in Martin's houses of Lannister and Stark. Most of Westeros, with its castles and knightly tournaments, is based on High Medieval Western Europe. The scheming Cersei, for instance, calls to mind Isabella (1295–1358), the "she-wolf of France". But the series also combines such varied inspirations as Hadrian's Wall (which became Martin's great Wall), the fall of Rome and the legend of Atlantis (ancient Valyria), Byzantine "Greek fire" ("wildfire"), Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age (the Ironborn) and the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki), as well as elements from the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and the Italian Renaissance (c. 1400–1500). The series' great popularity has in part been attributed to Martin's skill at fusing these disparate elements into a seamless whole that appears credible on its own terms as an alternative history.
"The Sopranos in Middle-earth" is the tagline showrunner David Benioff jokingly suggested for Game of Thrones, referring to its intrigue-filled plot and dark tone combined with a fantasy setting. In a 2012 study, the series was listed second out of 40 recent U.S. TV drama series by deaths per episode, with an average of 14.
Read more about this topic: Game Of Thrones (TV Series)
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