Grit, Realism, and the Message of Game of Thrones

The Song of Ice and Fire franchise (both books and TV show) has a definite appeal. It creates a rich fantastic pseudo-medieval world. While Martin has claimed it strives for “gritty realism” and rampant misogyny, violence, and sexual assault have been justified by “realism,” it is an inescapable truth that the franchise is not realistic. Both the books and the TV show opens with spirits of winter murdering wildlings, and then members of the night’s watch (as then reanimating the corpses). Dragons were used to conquer and unite Westeros. Summer and winter are much longer and more variable in length than the seasons of Earth, and can go on for years and years. People return from the dead, and yet, misogyny, sexual assault, and gratuitous violence are included for the sake of “realism.” While I disagree that the “grit” of Game of Thrones needs to be so sensationalized to be “realistic,” and have some doubts as to the “realism” in the first place, I believe there is a reason for Game of Throne’s grit.

Martin said that he wants fantasy with more “grit,” as he admits that it is fantasy, an argument for “realism” would hardly apply. However, the work is cynical and explores human depravity, especially as it ascertains to power. People who seek power much sacrifice morality, if they are to be successful, and even then, power is unfulfilling, and perilous to maintain. To me, the fantastic backdrop to a tale of political intrigue, posits that even if you can change everything else, you can’t change human nature, and human nature is far from unambiguously good. In the books at least (having only seen the one episode of the show, I can’t speak for it), most characters have clear motivations that drive them, sometimes to do terrible things. The book narrates from all sides of the conflict, and makes it clear that there isn’t an unambiguously good side, and even good sides that could easily be natural allies fail to make peace or find common ground. People stick to principles even when in the wrong, or abandon them when in the right. I believe it’s a commentary on humanity and is very much applicable to the present. In our modern world-view, violence is thought to be a more accepted method of resolving political disputes in the Middle Ages than today, allowing the dark and violent aspect of humanity George Martin wants to portray to be more easily accessible.

Prostitution in Game of Thrones

Although George R.R. Martin didn’t get most of medieval prostitution right, there are several areas where his work has accurately depicted medieval prostitution. Prostitution, for the most part, is legal in all of Westeros and it is common to find brothels both, in major cities, and small towns. Each brothel usually has an owner, who greatly profits of the prostitutes and who is also taxed by the city. In fact, a very influential character of the series, Littlefinger or Petyr Baelish, rises to power due to his massive income from prostitution and the King often looks to him for sponsorship. This is similar to the article we read that stated brothels were huge sources of wealth in the medieval times.

Lord Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger. Owner of the largest brothel in Westeros.

Another striking similarity between Game Of Thrones and actual Medieval prostitution is the social aspect of prostitution. While prostitutes themselves are incorrectly portrayed as “happy”, the people who use these prostitutes aren’t necessarily looked down upon. This resonates with the reading in that prostitution is considered the lesser of two evils. Throughout the series we see men of all classes use these brothels including kings, knights, princes, priests, septons, squires, sell-swords, high lords and even one lady. These people were never really looked down upon but sometimes we come across characters who were morally against prostitution. We see this when Littlefinger brings Catelyn Stark to his brothel and she is ashamed and in Tywin Lannister, who despised his son, Tyrion, for using prostitutes (although most of his anger stemmed from Tyrion being a “half-man”).

The brothels themselves seemed to be embellished and we see, that as the economic status of a particular city decreases so does the state of the brothel. When we compare the brothel in King’s Landing to that of Mole’s Town (A town close to The Wall), this is made obvious. While this wasn’t discussed in depth in the reading, it seems obvious that this would have been the case in medieval times. Brothels that needed to cater to higher born and richer individuals would be more embellished than those brothels that needed to cater to the common man. Furthermore, richer brothels would have more money for customer satisfaction than the poorer ones.

Brothel in King’s Landing

Brothel in Braavos

GRRM also seems to have captured aspects such as the desire for foreign women. Prostitutes in brothels around Westeros are seldom from the city itself and usually from a foreign land. These foreign prostitutes are viewed as exquisite and hence cost more money and are usually reserved for those high-born. Furthermore, people seemed to value the different sexual practices of these foreign women highly, and these prostitutes would garner a reputation for their skills. While this certainly may have not been true in the middle ages, the aspect of foreign superiority in brothels goes hand in hand with what we read.