Peasant Rebel Leader Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Well, there's obviously various layers of the story. A direct retelling of a historical story would just be boring after all, and would not have any benefits - or rather negatives as it would blur the real story. And one should distinguish between the storyline similarities (War of the Roses analogy f.e. or the Fall of Rome/Valyria) and the "flavour" similarities, or the context: Colossus and Banks in Braavos, Dornish = Moorish similarities, the Horse culture of the Dothraki. And here, you can have various combinations that don't really affect the story or analogy. Does it really matter if the outside culture of Dorne versus the other kingdoms is painted more like Moors or more like Wales? So it's more additive: The Riverlands can be Holy Roman Empiric in the sense of the 30 years war and Harrenhall as a symbol for strong kings but high Federalism at the same time. It can also be linked to the English devastation of France in the 100 years war, the BwB does take things from the Robin Hood story,So, various layers don't contradict each other, is what I am saying. Two thing I would like to add which I haven't read in here already:1) What about the "Heptarchy"/England in the 700 AD's? the various kingdoms (!) who acknowledge in the end the hegemony of Mercia? I also count 6 to 8 big regions, depending on how you count: Wessex, Essex, East Anglia, Kent, Sussex, Mercia, Northumbria, Wales. Also somehow is reminding of how difficult it is to count the seven kingdoms (with the Iron Islands and the Riverlands, the Kinglands...), could anyone better versed in English history tell how far this analogy would go?2) The Vale = Switzerland is really not a good analogy. During the middle Ages, the Alps were seen as scary and deadly, also until the 30 years war, the Swiss were very active in most of the wars, also the nobility which seems to be very active in the Vale, is losing battles after battles against either Valley Communities (the Hill Tribes?) but mostly against City Republics (Berne, Zurich, Basel). And I didn't have the impression that there were big cities in the Vale... So, the Scottish Analogy seems better to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Littlefinger Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Kings Landing- RomeSeat of power, magnificent to look upon but basically a shit hole.The Wall- Hadrians Wall.Built on the Northern England/Scottish Border to keep the Scots out.Dorne- The Mediterranean. Dark hair/eyes. Spicy food.My opinion anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ojji Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 What country is this "Viking" you're talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormlander Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Well Norway, Sweden and Denmark right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verona stark Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 The Vale is clearly Switzerland - because they always remain neutral no matter what. ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stannis the Great Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Umm... the Vale kind of participated in that small war known as Robert's Rebellion. You know just a tiny war that didn't really matter to the point that they effectively remained neutral. Yep. That's right. The Vale is much closer to Switzerland in terms of geography in that it is a mountainous region. Whoa someone called Rome a shithole? They had bloody sewers and toilets! It's nowhere near medieval towns/cities where people just chucked their stuff onto the streets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldplums8 Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 So...so...no Asians in the whole wide Westerosi world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodooqueen126 Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 So...so...no Asians in the whole wide Westerosi world?Yi Ti babe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verona stark Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Umm... the Vale kind of participated in that small war known as Robert's Rebellion. You know just a tiny war that didn't really matter to the point that they effectively remained neutral. Yep. That's right. The Vale is much closer to Switzerland in terms of geography in that it is a mountainous region.Whoa someone called Rome a shithole? They had bloody sewers and toilets! It's nowhere near medieval towns/cities where people just chucked their stuff onto the streets.I was making a sarcastic joke, not really anything else. I know they participated in Robert's Rebellion. It's really hard to portray tone over the internet, so I was hoping the smiley at the end would show that. =/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hear Us Roar Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 most of the 7 kingdoms are genericbutdorne= north africaThe wall= hadrians wall to keep out the wildlings/scotsthe free cities are the cities held by Rome/Valariairon islands= scandinavia at the time of the vikingsThe rest of the 7 kingdoms are pretty much the same except the weather/dominant religion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peasant Rebel Leader Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 The Vale is clearly Switzerland - because they always remain neutral no matter what. ;DNeutrality in the sense as we know and understand it stems from 1815 and was first practicioned in 1914, not really the timeframe GRRM is writing about, isn't it?And the strength of the Swiss against the Habsburgs lied with the cities, not the valleys. Again, history shows how much Fantasy "the Vale" really is that we see in ASOIAF: the mountains are a harsh, violent, cold region, not a power base in any case. All I want to say is that Switzerland = Alps is just a stereotype, nothing more and certainly can't be found as a topic before the 18th century Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Littlefinger Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Whoa someone called Rome a shithole? They had bloody sewers and toilets! It's nowhere near medieval towns/cities where people just chucked their stuff onto the streets.LOL, plus it was entirely overcrowded and diseased and the people acted as a mob. There was no other city like it in it's day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stannis the Great Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 LOL, plus it was entirely overcrowded and diseased and the people acted as a mob. There was no other city like it in it's day.That's ancient Rome. ASOIAF is more or less set in the equivalent of the Middle Ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Littlefinger Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 This is something that I have been wondering since getting into ASOIAF. Martin must have modeled them after some sort of culture in history. That's ancient Rome. ASOIAF is more or less set in the equivalent of the Middle Ages.I don't think it matters hun. 'Some culture in history' doesn't mean ONLY middle ages. Ancient Rome is still history. And there are similarities. I am not saying KL is definitely based on the city of Rome because it probably isn't.It's just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TyrionsFlagon Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 I like France for the Reach. Hahaha. All they're good for is their wine. They stay out of wars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arianne Flint Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Wasn't that desert-ish back then, actually ancient Rome got a lot of corn from Northern Africa.And here I was thinking all this time that corn was a New World commodity.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The GRRumbler Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 And here I was thinking all this time that corn was a New World commodity.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MaizeI think that's because corn was refered as a generic term for grains, not actually corn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Harren Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Slaver's Bay is probably New York because they both speak bastardized versions of a great language.So do the inhabitants of every region of the world - you should visit Ireland and hear the variation of accents within tiny geographic spaces.As far as I can see valyrian is like Latin during the medieval period, and the various dialects of it are like what developed into the Romance languages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodooqueen126 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 So do the inhabitants of every region of the world - you should visit Ireland and hear the variation of accents within tiny geographic spaces.As far as I can see valyrian is like Latin during the medieval period, and the various dialects of it are like what developed into the Romance languages.Although it shares some linguistic similarities to Greek, by some horrible, unfortunate coincidence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aedan Stormrage Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Although it shares some linguistic similarities to Greek, by some horrible, unfortunate coincidenceNot really 'linguistic similarities' other than they have some similar names. Other parts dont't seem to fit. For example, the only Valyrian example we have. I would say the names and words look like greek passed through latin and words reminiscent of Brythonic but passed through different transliterations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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