Is Game Of Thrones Influenced By Gone With The Wind?

George R.R. Martin is the man behind the revolutionary HBO adaptation of the fantasy novels “A Song Of Fire And Ice”, Game Of Thrones. Martin always talks about the novel, “Gone With The Wind” whenever he is asked about the contrast between ‘A song of fire and ice’ and ‘Game Of Thrones’. He believes that “they’re both true to the spirit of the work”!

A Comparison Of Anti-Heroines!

The novel and the fantasy series had one main thing in common, their anti-heroines! Gone With The Wind had Scarlett O’Hara and Game Of Thrones had the lesser liked ‘Stark’ sisters, Sansa Stark.

Scarlett was an antiheroine in the truest sense. She was somebody who did not care about the consequences of her actions, she always wanted to fulfill her needs. One such instance from the novel is when she publicly denounces after seeing the ruins of her childhood home, the Tara Plantation. She says, “As God is my witness, they are not going to lick me. I am going to live through this. And when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again!”She was portrayed as a ‘flawed heroine’, she was vain and fickle-minded.  The legacy of this antiheroine lives on forever and a part of her can be seen in ‘Sansa Stark’.

Sansa is oblivious to the political happenings around her initially, similar to Scarlett(who hated the mention of war). Sansa believes that her ultimate goal in life is to get married. Both of these anti-heroines set their eyes on the wrong men. Sansa falls in love with Prince Joffrey but he destroys her by beheading her father. Similarly, Scarlett sets her eyes on her neighbor, Ashley Wilkes. Even though her destruction is not as bad as Sansa’s is, he still takes everything from her! Towards the end of the series, Sansa becomes Queen in the North, through unfair methods. She manipulated Danny and Jon by pitting them against each other. Likewise, Scarlett and Rhett Butler become the only characters in the novel to hold onto their status in Reconstruction. Both Scarlett and Sansa are tenacious and tough. Scarlett has struggled so much in life and that has made her very manipulative.

Survival- A Comparison

The theme of Gone With The Wind is survival. It is all about how some people come out strong from destruction. It follows the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’. It’s about the qualities that people have to fight and win at the end of it, which others lack. Similarly, in Game Of Thrones, we see the survival struggle of Daenerys Targaryen aka Dany. She is born into a struggle for survival. Dany does not get the crowning birthright she deserved. She struggles with her ancestors’ history. All her life, she went behind the ‘Iron Throne’ but in the end, she lost all her happiness.

Other Comparisons

One other major comparison is the backdrop that the novel and the series are set in. They are both set in times of war and strife. Likewise, comparisons are made between Scarlett O’Hara and Daenerys Targaryen, Rhett Butler, and Jaime Lannister also.

Also Read About The Rumoured Game Of Thrones Prequel.