Hypothetical GoT/RL parallels

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

Which GoT house/family/dynasty would you compare to the following countries?

1. USA
2. Russia
3. Japan
4. France
5. Your own (other than the US)
6. Some obscure country of your choosing

:-)



My take:

1. USA is definitely house Lannister of Casterly Rock. Anything can be bought with lots of money, even if the money isn't guaranteed by gold any more. What matters is to create the impression that you're powerful - that would keep your rivals away.



2. Russia kind of resembles the Greyjoys of Pyke. Warlike and unhinged, yet lacking economic foundation under their feet. Everyone else despises them and fears them, but doesn't take them too seriously.



3. Japan must be the Targaryens of Dragonstone. A former mighty empire, now but a mere memory. Still in possession of technology of the highest ranks, but only a shadow of their previous glory.



4. France must be Tyrell of Highgarden. Punctilious and refined, but when it comes to battle they're the first to turn to their heels. Still, they smell of the nicest perfumes and cook like gods, I'll have to give them that.



5. My own country (Bulgaria) is the Starks of Winterfell. Never defeated in battle, not a single banner captured by the enemy - and yet, lost all the wars that mattered because of stupid leaders.



6. Oh, and the cherry of the cake, Macedonia. Given their constant claims on other people's history, I'd say they're the Wildlings from beyond the Wall. THIS LAND IS OURS, DAMMIT!

Your take?

Comments

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

The US must be the whitewalkers. Wherever they set foot, they leave corpses and scorched land behind. ('Cept, the Night King would later reanimate the corpses).

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

[retiredwizard.livejournal.com]

BS.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the Native Americans, Vietnamese, Nicaraguans, Philippinos, Okinawans, Japanese, Koreans, Cambodians, Iraqis, Yemenis and many others would've loved to agree with you... if they lived in a parallel universe.

(frozen) (no subject)

[retiredwizard.livejournal.com]

>>>Koreans
>>>Koreans
>>>Koreans

You are unbelievably stupid with your anti-americanism.

>>>Native Americans

Yes, being in Stone Age hurts.

(frozen) (no subject)

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

> You are unbelievably stupid

And you're getting an official warning for violating the very first rule of this community.

I trust you've read them before subscribing, right?



Your next violation will result in a suspension.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Russian semi-bots having poor online manners is hardly a surprise. Russian semi-bots defending America, on the other hand...

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

Why not add Germans... twice? After all, the US participated in both world wars and lots of Germans died in those. This would make as much sense as half the others on the list.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Kein Problem, mein Herr!

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

Danke schoen. Consistency is what's really important after all.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

How very German of you!

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me, which house or civilization from GoT would you compare to Germany?

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

I'd go with House Tyrell. They're not the richest but they end up paying for everything and the women running the place are more competent than pretty much anyone else around.

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

Good points. But aren't the Tyrells a bit too temperamental and artistic to be Germans? (Granted, Germans were known to be artistic and idealistic prior to the 20th century, the cold/calculating stereotype is a relatively recent thing...)

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Heh

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

USA = Baratheon. Fat, loud, and convinced they rule the world.
Russia = Lannister. Cunning, drunk, got the occasional talented (and drunken) genius.
Japan = Stark. Principled till (pointless) death.
France = Tyrell. Nice wine, hot women, cowardly men.
South Africa = Dothraki. A bit rough, nice costumes, weird wedding customs.
Obscure (HAH!) Iceland = Wildlings. Bad frozen food, hard to kill.

[airiefairie.livejournal.com]

Actually GRRM was fairly transparent in making his parallels between the various groups and geographical regions in his fictional world and the history of the real one. Stark is Scotland, Lannister is England, Greyjoy is the Vikings, the wildlings are the Picts, Dorne is Spain, the Dothraki are the Huns, Qarth is Persia or possibly India, Braavos is Italy, The Reach is France, Baratheon is Germany (or was it Wales?), Targaryen is the Romans... etc. Some I don't remember, like the Tullys and Arryns but I am sure there are also historical parallels.

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

I know. Most major events in his books are also based on specific events in history. I'm not talking about that. I'm looking at these parallels from a more entertainment/stereotypes point of view.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

On a slight sidenote, a comment I saw elsewhere:

PLOT TWIST: Bran wargs into Jaime, and what we see at the end of S1E1 in the show is actually warged Bran screwing Cersei when he suddenly realized they're in the tower he fell from, and he sees his young self by the window. Realizing his cruel fate, Bran knew he had no choice but to push himself off the tower, or else history will change and Macumber might rub them all off his eye.

MIND: BLOWN!

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

So really Bran is a little pervert who frames an innocent Jamie for something he did? Next we're going to see Bran as the unwilling source of evil in Westeros, going back and making people commit heinous acts to ensure historical consistency.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Dunno, maybe. If he doesn't have a choice in order to save the Multiverse from imploding.