Talk:Themes in A Song of Ice and Fire

Dragon Image
The image seems inappropriate, as it is an example of what the text explains the series is not: it serves as the opposite of an illustration and should be removed, or perhaps replaced by an image depicting ancient times but with less overt fantasy elements. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.174.233.45 (talk) 17:34, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Discussing Honour and Realpolitik
There seems to be no detailed discussion of the tension between honour and realpolitik on this page - which is arguably the central theme of the whole series. Would anyone mind if I added a couple of paragraphs exploring this theme? The sort of ideas that would be covered would amount to a summary of this article: Honour and Realpolitik - A Song of Ice and Fire Grovulent (talk) 07:19, 14 April 2012 (UTC)
 * This Themes article only got started recently (as a WP:Spinout article) and still has a long-ish way to go before being "good", so article expansion with no WP:Original research (i.e. based on third-party sources) is always welcome. However, see WP:USERGENERATED what sources are considered appropriate/reliable in the first place. I can't tell whether the author in your provided link is a professional journalist or a "certified" expert in this field to qualify as a source. – sgeureka t•c 07:30, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Comparison to women in other series
Game of Thrones vs. Girls: "Modern" vs. Fantasy Women This has to do with the TV series, but it seems to fit better over here. The article is basically discussing feminism in GoT and comparing it to the feminism in more modern-set series like Girls and Sex and the City. It makes statements saying that though Game of Thrones comes off as misogynistic, it features stronger more empowered female characters than other series set in "post-feminist America." I think it offers a view that isn't presented in the article yet: how the series stacks up against others in the feminism department. I don't really want to mess with the section so I'll leave the link here. If it isn't added, I'll add it later. ~Cheers, Ten  Ton  Parasol  23:04, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Is this article about the themes in Martin's work or is it a comparison to Tolkien's?
In just scan/reading this article it seems like J.R.R. Tolkien is mentioned at least once (and sometimes more) in every paragraph. This is supposed to be about Martin's story, not a comparison to one other author's work. Not even to mention that the statements made about Tolkien's work are often wrong (or at least un-cited conjecture). Discussing Martin's story as it relates to other fiction, or even to other fantasy, is fine for an article about the themes of his work, but singling out and repeatedly contrasting him to Tolkien is not the purpose of this article. 133.48.61.207 (talk) 06:27, 10 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I removed most, but not all, superfluous references to Tolkien. Before adding them back please try to think about whether or not they are important aspects of a discussion of Martin's work in its own right, not a discussion of how Martin's work compares to Tolkien's .133.48.61.207 (talk) 06:50, 10 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Late in the game, but I agree. The parallels between Martin and Tolkien have been overblown.  Tolkien is all about language with heavy religious and epic overtones and Martin is best described as a naturalist.  Their methods were different too: Tolkien took folk beliefs and worked backward and Martin took an existing genre and tilted it to the side. Darkfrog24 (talk) 21:41, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Harrying of the North
Although the War of the Roses inspiration is well known, shouldn’t Harrying of the North be mentioned.

Especially the TV adaptation, the knight king, wihts, destruction of settlements and winter (with south being swapped for further north to cater for both stories to play out simultaneously) are clearly inspired by this event. I haven’t read the books but I understand it is downplayed in the books. The difference in inspiration adaptation is also notable by interpretation of historic recordings. Chocolateediter (talk) 19:58, 6 November 2020 (UTC)