Game of Thrones is about climate change

[LordOfTheSevenKingdoms]

The petty squabbles amongst the houses of men in the pursuit of an iron chair while an impending, yet stoppable, doom is at their doorstep. The White Walkers, the Others, descend upon a Westeros to find that their job is already being done for them by those who they intend to destroy. The Seven Kingdoms tear themselves apart instead of coming together to defeat their common enemy. Is this an analogy for mankind's inability to come together to combat climate change, and in doing so, condemn themselves to an impending doom?

Consider Dany's vision in the House of the Undying while she walks in the destroyed throne room covered in snow.

Consider the amount of men that have died in the name of Kings since the Nights Watchman who witnessed the return of the White Walkers was captured and later beheaded by Ned Stark in episode 1. These men could have been better used to combat the Night King and his army, right?

GRRM does not seem like the type of author to give fans the happy ending they so desire.

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." -Ramsay Bolton

 

Just an idea I had while I await the return of GoT in season 7.

[The Marquis de Leech]

I think this is a matter of applicability being confused with allegory: a meaning derived from reader experience than from authorial intent.

On the ending front, Martin has said he's going for a bittersweet one.

[Relic]

sooooo deep

[Red Man Racey]

This probably belongs in the show forum since all references in the OP are to the show.

[A Bong of Ice and Fire]

I don't think the book series is about climate change specifically.  I think it's about the never-ending quest for power on multiple levels (the never-ending game of thrones), how different people and groups approach that quest (some are ruthless, some have honor, etc.), and how this quest blinds people to greater threats.  You can relate that to climate change if you want, but I think it's a more universal theme.  It's about humanity.

[velo-knight]

As a narrow issue, the OP is definitely correct that ASoIaF and GOT are about climate change - even the Stark words make that clear.

More broadly speaking, the series is about a predictable natural disaster threatening a realm whose political institutions are not up to the task of preventing and adapting to it. The big difference between the story and climate change as experienced today is that climate change is our fault. As far as we know, the Others are not coming down to threaten the kingdoms of men because they're fuelled by the emissions of Cersei's wheelhouse.

In ASOIAF, the failure of political institutions to prepare for or thwart the Other menace is causally separate from the menace happening, at least as far as we know. In our world, the cause of global warming is generally agreed on by experts, but the world's political and economic systems have generally resisted efforts to address the problem. There's a common kernel there - from the hand that gets sent to King's Landing or the preference for fossil fuel jobs and infrastructure over alternatives by the public, the people who need to respond to the crisis just don't want to see the evidence in front of them.

I think this topic should be more explored, though. In 1996, when AGOT was published, climate change was known to the public, albeit less so than it is today. It's not unreasonable - given GRRM's personal and political views - that he wanted to incorporate climate change and climate denial in his world.