Reality Vs. Romance

Although Westeros is a fantastical world full of knights and queens and dragons, the novels in which it appears are invested in exploring reality. This forces the work’s gritty realism to jut up against antiquated romantic ideals about honor and valor in Medieval societies throughout Europe and can be seen as a response to such epic romances as Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.

Unlike classic romances, in which there are “good” and “bad” characters, almost everyone in Westeros is a bit of both. Rather than archetypes, the history is interested in exploring people, and this becomes more apparent as time moves forward in the history. Further back, Aegon the Conqueror is presented in an almost entirely favorable light, and Maegor is almost entirely presented as a villain. But as time moves forward, Archmaester Gyldayn seems to acknowledge and address this oversimplification: “Looking...