TV historian reveals the real stories behind fantasy epic Game of Thrones
AT LAST! Game of Thrones - the most eagerly awaited TV show in the world - is back.
Millions of fans from across the globe have tuned in to the penultimate series of the bloodthirsty, sex fuelled drama.
Among them will be TV historian Dan Jones - a Middle Ages expert and avid Game of Thrones watcher.
Here, he reveals the real history behind the story lines.
Jamie Lannister: Gottfried von Berlichingen
Gottfried – known as Götz of the Iron Hand – is not particularly well known.
In 1504 the German knight lost a hand in battle but had a metal one made straight away so he could carry on fighting.
Jaime Lannister had his hand chopped off in series three but later had a gold one made to replace it.
Daenerys Targaryen: Cleopatra and Joan of Arc
She is a powerful and sexy leader with a strong moral compass and a ruthless streak.
Daenerys is based on Henry Tudor in the Wars of the Roses story – the one everyone was always worried would come to England and take the throne.
In real-life, Henry marched under a dragon flag but George R.R. Martin turned up the heat – Daenerys has fire-breathing dragons to protect her.
When Daenerys is on the great pyramid of Meereen, she is like Cleopatra. And when she marches with her army of the Unsullied, I think of Joan of Arc.
You could also compare her to Brit warrior queen Boudicca, in armour and leading men to war.
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Joffrey Baratheon: Richard II
The most-hated monarch in Game of Thrones is a clear tribute to Richard II, King of England from 1377.
Both were boy kings and each was notoriously malicious and cruel to others.
Both took the throne surrounded by older family members trying to control them but very quickly prove they cannot be controlled.
Both were also, to a degree, psycho-pathic.
Lannister army: Japanese samurai
The Lannister army has ornate armour based on that worn by Japanese Samurai warriors, rather than chain mail.
Jaime Lannister was given a Valyrian steel sword – one of the only things that can kill White Walkers – by his father, Tywin.
It is now on loan to Brienne of Tarth.
The swords are based on King Arthur’s Excalibur.
Tywin Lannister: Edward I
Author George R.R. Martin has admitted he modelled the head of the house of Lannister on Edward I.
Known as Longshanks because he was tall for his time, Edward I – Hammer of the Scots – was king of England from 1272 to 1307.
Tywin Lannister died on the toilet after being shot dead by his dwarf son Tyrion.
Edward I died of dysentery on his way to Scotland.
The Red Wedding: The Black Dinner
Viewers were shocked when Robb Stark, his mother and wife were killed at the Red Wedding.
This happened in real life at the Black Dinner – a blood-spattered feast that took place at Edinburgh Castle in 1440.
Then, the guardians of Scottish King James II killed the teenage Earl of Douglas and his brother.
Tyrion Lannister: Richard III
In the GoT books, Tyrion is a repulsive dwarf ridiculed because of his looks.
But actor Peter Dinklage who plays Tyrion, is often described as a sex symbol.
Richard III – whose skeleton was dug up in Leicester in 2012 – had a deformed spine and was said to be very ugly.
Like Tyrion, he was also accused of killing his nephews, Richard’s being the young “Princes in the Tower”, said to have died in 1483.
AS a Game of Thrones fanboy, I spend a great deal of time trying to unpick the tangled web of real history that lurks beneath the surface of the show’s battles, brutality, torture, squalor and almost pornographic sex.
Since I sat down to watch the first-ever episode, I’ve been constantly trying to work out the real events that inspired the saga, and who the show’s juiciest characters are based on.
My speciality as a historian is the War of the Roses, when the houses of Lancaster and York and their allies fought for generations over the English crown in the 15th century.
There is no doubt this merciless family feud that engulfed medieval England is the inspiration for the blood war between the fictional houses of Lannister and Stark in Game of Thrones.
Could psychopathic boy king Joffrey Baratheon be Richard II?
Is the show’s most popular character — scheming but lovable dwarf Tyrion Lannister — really Richard III?
Game of Thrones is mostly set in fictional Westeros, a land of ambition, murder and revenge where the ultimate prize is to sit on the Iron Throne and rule over the Seven Kingdoms.
In a bid to win the throne, several leading members of the house of Lannister compete against their deadly rivals from the House of Stark.
Lannister = Lancaster. Stark = York. It is said that American author George R.R. Martin — creator of Game of Thrones — has a copy of my book on the history of medieval England on his desk at home.
Whether that is true, I don’t know. But what we do know is that George did once visit Hadrian’s Wall.
There is no doubt the Roman wall that runs from Carlisle to Newcastle is the inspiration for the fabled Wall in the north of Westeros.
Hadrian’s Wall — designed to keep out undesirables such as the ancient Picts — was just a few metres high.
But as Martin himself says, he takes real history, “files off the serial number and turns up the heat to 11”, pumping it up to give it a mighty twist.
So George let his imagination run riot and made his solid ice wall 700ft high to keep out the White Walkers — a zombie army of the dead.
The Wall is defended by the ruthless but celibate men of The Night’s Watch — similar to the Knights Templar who protected Jerusalem during the Crusades.
At the start of this new series, winter has arrived.
In the world of Thrones, winters last for years — like in ancient Viking folklore, where three winters in a row with no summer are said to herald the final reckoning or Ragnarok.
In the faraway southern lands of Westeros are city states similar to ancient Greece.
And across the Narrow Sea in the continent of Essos lie desert areas populated by slave traders, assassins and dragons.
There is also a vast grass wilderness that a tribe of butchering horsemen named the Dothraki call home.
They resemble the Scythians — a group of little-known nomads who ruled from the Black Sea to China for hundreds of years.
Like the Dothraki, blood-thirsty Scythians hung their enemies’ scalps from their animals’ bridles and used their victims’ skulls to drink from.
A huge cast of characters pass between these worlds, plotting, slaughtering, warring and — more often than not — indulging in the pleasures of the flesh.
What has also made Game of Thrones so addictive is that no character is safe. Just like in real life, horrible things happen to totally undeserving, good people.
People who look like they should be the heroes get killed. That’s life. That’s history.