George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, and the television series Game of Thrones based upon them, are often accused of lacking a moral center. “Bad guys” win and prosper, while “noble” characters lose and suffer. These complaints, however, rest on certain conventional expectations of the fantasy genre. While it is true that the books and show may not present a traditional, Christian-influenced moral universe ala the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, they are not without moral value. Their overarching ethical vision actually has more in common with the ideals of non-attachment and disinterested action associated with Eastern religious traditions than with Christian or other traditionally Western ideals. In this regard, a major interpretive key to the morality of Martin’s world comes from the training of the character Arya Stark by the Faceless Men, an order of face-shifting assassins. In her training, Arya learns to become “No One,” laying aside her identity, history, and preconceptions about life, death, society, and morality, and enabling her to act with a Zen-like detachment. Arya’s training makes explicit a dynamic that applies to characters throughout the novels (and show): characters who fixate on personal desires or rigid conceptions of role or duty face more difficulty than characters who are able to let go of such desires and conceptions and become, in various senses, “no one.” Understanding Martin’s world in this way not only illuminates questions of morality in the series, but also reveals ways in which the series critiques conventions of fantasy literature.
About the presenterBrantley Craig
Brantley Craig has taught English, Religion, and general humanities at colleges around the Mid-Atlantic. He has written and spoken on interreligious dialogue, the relationship of religion and myth to modern culture, American poets and poetry, and popular culture titles such as Hamilton and Game of Thrones. He has also served as guest editor for the Journal of Scriptural Reasoning.