Game of Thrones – A View from the Humanities Vol. 2 Heroes, Villains and Pulsions Edited by Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio Fernando Lozano Rosario Moreno Soldevila Cristina Rosillo-López Game of Thrones - A View from the Humanities Vol. 2 Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio Fernando Lozano Rosario Moreno Soldevila Cristina Rosillo-López Editors Game of Thrones - A View from the Humanities Vol. 2 Heroes, Villains and Pulsions Editors Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio Fernando Lozano Departamento de Historia Antigua Departamento de Historia Antigua Universidad de Sevilla Universidad de Sevilla Sevilla, Spain Sevilla, Spain Rosario Moreno Soldevila Cristina Rosillo-López Departamento de Filología y Departamento de Geografía, Historia y Traducción Filosofía Universidad Pablo de Olavide Universidad Pablo de Olavide Sevilla, Spain Sevilla, Spain ISBN 978-3-031-15492-8 ISBN 978-3-031-15493-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15493-5 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Pali Rao/Getty Images This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A b bout this ook The chapters in this book focus on G. R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and the TV series Game of Thrones. To avoid confusion Game of Thrones in Roman type refers to the universe, Game of Thrones in italics alludes to the TV series, whereas A Game of Thrones, usually abbreviated as GoT, is reserved for the homonymous first novel of Martin’s saga. Titles in A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) are cited as follows: A Game of Thrones. New York: Bantam, 1996 = GoT A Clash of Kings. New York: Bantam, 1999 = CoK A Storm of Swords. New York: Bantam, 2000 = SoS A Feast for Crows. New York: Bantam, 2005 = FfC A Dance with Dragons. New York: Bantam, 2011 = DwD References to the novels are presented as follows: title of the novel + chapter number + the name of the character from whose point of view the chapter is written + the number of the chapter from that character’s point of view. Example: SoS 23 Arya 4. Game of Thrones, the television series, is shortened as Thrones. References to specific passages are presented as follows: Thrones + season number + episode number + episode title. Example: Thrones S1: Ep.1, “Winter is Coming”. vii C ontents 1 Heroes, Villains, War and Violence in Game of Thrones 1 Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio, Fernando Lozano, Rosario Moreno Soldevila, and Cristina Rosillo-López Part I “The Things I do for Love”: Heroes, Villains and None of the Above 9 2 Scheming in the Shadow of Tyrants: The ‘Littlefinger’ Type in Roman Historiography 11 Antonino Pittà 3 Parallel Lives: Connections Between the Lannisters and Historical Dynasties 29 Víctor A. Torres-González and Marcos Rafael Cañas Pelayo 4 The Tragedy of Eddard Stark: Greek Tragedy in A Song of Ice and Fire 55 Isidro Molina Zorrilla 5 “Was it a God, a Demon, a Sorcerous Trick?”. Magic, Performative Rituals, and Moral Standards in A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones 77 Maureen Attali ix x CONTENTS Part II “Some Allies are More Dangerous than Enemies”: Warfare and Violence 113 6 Juggling “a Hundred Balls in the Air”: Reflections of the Year of the Four Emperors in the War of the Five Kings 115 Louis Autin 7 The Punic Wars in the World of A Song of Ice and Fire 137 Iván Moreno-Marín 8 The “Battle of the Bastards”: A Tactical Iconic Narrative 155 Carlo Lualdi 9 Some Heads Are Gonna Roll: Punishments and Executions in G. R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and in HBO’s TV Series 177 Denis Álvarez Pérez-Sostoa 10 From Greek Tragic Drama to Fantastic Terror: Tragic Echoes in A Storm of Swords’ Red Wedding 201 Alexia Dedieu Index 221 n C otes on ontributors Alfonso  Álvarez-Ossorio is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Seville, Spain. Both his PhD thesis and most of his research have been devoted to the socioeconomic and cultural study of piracy dur- ing the late Roman Republic and the early Empire. He is editor of The Present of Antiquity: Reception, Recovery, Reinvention of the Ancient World in Current Popular Culture (2019). Denis Álvarez Pérez-Sostoa is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of the Basque Country. His main research line focuses on the Middle and Late Roman Republic, mainly ancient diplomacy, warfare and post-war settlements, with a special regard to hostages and prisoners of war. Maureen Attali obtained her PhD in History and Anthropology of Ancient Religions at Sorbonne Université (Paris, France). A postdoctoral researcher at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), part of her research deals with the reception of Antiquity in contemporary fantasy works with a focus on religion and gender. Louis Autin is maître de conférences (assistant professor) in Latin lan- guage and literature at Sorbonne Université, member of the research cen- tre Rome et ses Renaissances (UR 4081). His research areas are in Latin historiography (esp. Tacitus), the political and social history of the Roman Empire (political communication, history of information, rumours) and the classical tradition/reception, from the commentaries on Tacitus in the early modern period to the reception of Antiquity in con- temporary fictions. xi xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Marcos Rafael Cañas Pelayo holds his PhD in Modern Age from the University of Cordoba and his research interests are social history in the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, cinematography and the role of new technologies in education. He has written several papers in international journals and universities such as the University of Palermo, University of Évora and University of Buenos Aires. Alexia Dedieu is a PhD Candidate at the Université Grenoble Alpes and the Università degli Studi di Pisa. She studies the reception of Greek trag- edy and especially the scholarly reception of Euripides in the sixteenth century. Fernando Lozano is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Seville, Spain. His research focuses on the study of Roman religion during the Empire and, specifically, on the imperial cult, as well as Reception studies. He has authored and edited several monographs on these topics. Carlo  Lualdi is a PhD Student in Classics and Ancient History at Warwick University. His main academic interests are in military images, Hellenistic warfare and modern reception of ancient warfare. He is con- ducting a doctoral research project focused on the battle scenes part of the decorative apparatus of Messapian funerary monuments dating between the late fourth and the early third century BCE. Isidro Molina Zorrilla is a PhD candidate in Greek Philology at the University of Málaga, where he teaches Classical Mythology. His research interests lie in the area of Greek Literature (especially tragedy) and its reception on cinema and pop culture. His publications include articles in journals like Ágora, Tycho and Cuadernos de Filología Clásica. Iván Moreno-Marín is a graduate in Geography and History (University of La Rioja) and holds an MA in Advanced Historical Studies in Ancient History (University of Seville). He is a PhD candidate in Ancient History at the University of Seville with a thesis on Socii Navales in the Western Mediterranean during the Roman Republic. Rosario Moreno Soldevila is Professor of Latin Philology at Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain. Her main lines of research include the Epigrams of Martial, the oeuvre of Pliny the Younger and amatory motifs in classical and late Latin literature. She has authored or co-authored ten monographs, including A Prosopography to Martial’s Epigrams (2019).