Whenever I talk about Game of Thrones, people who are unfamiliar with the series of George R.R. Martin books or the TV series based on them will often ask: when and where is the story set?
The answer I generally give is basically: the past, a sort of alternate-reality Middle Ages. That seems to put most people in the right mindset.
But in The Guardian, Adrian McKinty considers the evidence and comes up with a tantalizing theory: maybe Game of Thrones is set not in an alternate-reality version of the past, but in the Earth’s distant post-apocalyptic future.
McKinty bases his theory on an analysis of the provenance of Game of Thrones in the high fantasy tradition, which was basically conceived by Tolkien. Tolkien’s Middle Earth was made up of bits of the prehistoric Germanic world that Tolkien so loved, but it was later revealed that the setting was “a planet in a parallel universe where (according to The Silmarillion) the sun went around the Earth and the world was originally flat.”
But jump forward to Jack Vance, who, McKinty says,
…had no time for faux-medievalism and suggested instead that dragons, swords, magic, different races of men and so on would all actually be possible on an Earth millions of years hence, when the continents had changed shape, technology had failed and human and animal evolution had continued along its merry way.
Others followed in Vance’s wake, including Gene Wolfe and even the Dungeons and Dragons universe, and McKinty thinks Martin is part of this school, too:
It seems to me, then, that it makes more sense to regard Game of Thrones as taking place not in some canned version of our medieval past but in the far future when the continents have shifted and some humans have evolved extraordinary physical and mental abilities which, to paraphrase Arthur C Clarke, are indistinguishable from magic.
All but the most basic technology has been forgotten…so battles are fought between humans with swords and shields. Dragons have evolved or been genetically engineered from lizards and the more useful animals such as cows and horses are still around. As the sun expands, Earth’s orbit becomes more eccentric and massive variations in climate are to be expected, resulting in stretched-out summers and long, deadly winters.
When it comes to stories set in fantastical worlds, I’ve generally been of the opinion that situating the setting in relation to the real world—putting the stories on another planet, say, or Earth’s past or future—is essentially meaningless. All that matters to me is the internal logic of the fictional world, and a compelling story that takes there.
But I still find McKinty’s theory tantalizing. Even if it’s not what Martin intends, it’s an interesting way of looking at things. Somehow, the notion that all this torture, killing, and war is taking place not in an alt-past but in a possible post-apocalyptic future makes Martin’s chaotic world seem even more brutal. It’s completely unnecessary to enjoy Martin’s books, of course, or the HBO series based on them—but it’s still something I’m going to remember as I watch season 4 this spring: What if this isn’t a version of our past, but a vision of our future?
Shannara did the post-apocalyptic nuclear holocaust destroyed the world thing and when I was 12 or whatever and discovered that it was actually the earth in the future, IT BLEW MY MIND!
So.
Daniel Casey says
are we resistant to the idea that Westeros is another planet? The long summers and winters suggest a different tilt and revolution than Earth at any past time or at any future date.
I’m not resistant to it. I’ve considered that before, though I’m attracted to the notion that it’s a future Earth because that seems to open up new and resonant ways of approaching the story. I still think it’s essentially immaterial to the story, but I put it into the category of things that are fun to think about.
Though either way, and to hit on Chris’s point above, I don’t really expect any kind of “it’s future Earth!” or “it’s another planet!” kind of reveal, at least not in the narrative itself. Perhaps one day Martin will let something slip in an interview, J.K. Rowling-style.
I’m happy either way, with Westeros being some far future time, or just a typical medieval fantasy world.
But I enjoyed this article, thanks for posting it.
adam says
The Book of the New Sun books are dense as hell but totes worth it to read if you haven’t yet.
Drew says
From being a fan of the books since 97, and an equal fan of the HBO series, these past sixteen years I was always under the notion Game of Thrones was set in a completely new universe. By that, I mean I believed it wasn’t Earth’s past or future, or planet. Although it never really mattered.
But if I had to say, deep down, I don’t believe it to be Earth at any point. But a completely new planet. Not sure why people are becoming obsessed with the question though. It was never such an issue until the TV show started, then suddenly people needed to know.