How to win The Game of Thrones
Daenerys Targaryen is poised to take the Iron Throne. We assess her chances of victory
By Carolyne Larrington
“History is written in blood,” the fantasy writer George R.R. Martin told Rolling Stone in 2014. “The kings, the princes, the generals and the whores, and all the betrayals and wars and confidences: it’s better than 90% of what the fantasists make up.” But Martin’s saga, “A Song of Ice and Fire” (on which the HBO television series “Game of Thrones” is based) doesn’t feel like fantasy. Sure, his world has magic and dragons, but his kings, princes, generals and whores behave like they do in the history books. Like their real-world counterparts, they are forever forging alliances, plotting coups and scheming to take the greatest prize in all the land, the Iron Throne of Westeros.
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