The first episode of The House of the Dragon pleasantly reminiscent of the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, which were without a doubt the best of the series of, at that time, HBO. Dragons, battles and dreamscapes love what really hooks the viewer: political plots and the portrait of the human condition.
Betrayal, love, power, war… All the themes are clearly inspired by real events that took place in feudal Europe and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
The parallels are more than evident. And when you see the first chapter of the house of the dragon you can’t help but constantly think about the events and books that inspire series like this. In the days in which we live, where everything new becomes old faster and faster, the classics remain more current than ever, since they always deal with topics that will never cease to interest us. These are some of the ones that constantly came to my mind while watching the first episode of The House of the Dragon.
I, Claudius by Robert Greaves
Like Game of Thrones, The House of the Dragon constantly reminiscent of the historical novel and television series I Claudius. What’s more, it’s a copy with dragons, zombies and explicit sex scenes in between. Although I must confess that I am not objective: I Claudius It is my favorite TV series.
The Robert Graves book on which it is based is a fictional autobiography of Claudius, a Roman emperor who does not have long to live. In his memoirs he evokes his childhood and youth when he was an ever-present spectator of the struggles for absolute power in Rome during the period of the first four emperors from Julius Caesar to Caligula. Claudius belonged to the Julio-Claudian dynasty, but he was never intended to rule the Empire. He was lame, stuttered and drooled. This apparent ineptitude for the position was what, curiously, saved him from the fatal fate suffered by other patricians during the mandate of Tiberius and Caligula. Fate made this poor man, lover of the Roman Republic, end up being the absolute monarch of the largest empire in the world.
Through its pages, the reader will not only know what Rome was like during the dawn of the imperial period in a fairly reliable way, but will also be able to enjoy a wonderful portrait of the virtues and miseries of human beings. Power, greed, betrayal and excess are the protagonists of the book and the series. The reader will soon see that George RR Martin was inspired by Claudius to create Tyrion Lannister and by Caligula to portray the greedy and stupid Joffrey Baratheon. Martin himself has said that he is an admirer of Graves’ work, that what he did was reconstruct the autobiography that Claudio himself wrote and that was lost over time. For this, he based himself on the texts of the Roman historians of the time, which he himself translated.
The BBC series is fantastic too
If what you like about Game of Thrones is the political maneuvering, the betrayals and the fights for the succession, I highly recommend that you read the novel or watch the TV series.
It was produced in the seventies and looks like a play due to the low budget. But I encourage you to watch at least the first chapter in full. It will hook you. There are no dragons or special effects, but his dialogues and performances more than make up for it. I Claudius you will like it more than house of the dragon if you give him the chance. It is even better that you read the novel first, of course.
And if you enjoy reading him and what is told in it, there is no better way to delve even deeper into the history of Rome than to read the Roman historians Graves draws on. The Life of the Twelve Caesars of Suetonius, the books of the history of rome of Livy and the Parallel lives of Plutarch are a good start. For a more complete vision of the entire period, one of the most complete and best valued books is Decline and fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.
The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli, in The House of the Dragon
Although it is not a novel or a history book, this political treatise is essential to delve into power and politics, central themes of The Dragon House Y Game of Thrones. It’s more, both series are clearly imbued with Machiavelli’s philosophy.
The Prince inaugurates what we now understand as politics, since he separates power and the State from religion and traditional morality. His life as a diplomat allowed him to meet the great protagonists of the time, and he was responsible for organizing the popular army of Florence. This experience and his intelligence served him to write a treatise to instruct the princesbut that to us, humble readers, it serves as a manual to govern ourselves.
Numerous characters in the series are inspired by the verses of this illustrious Italian. They know how to adapt to any circumstance in search of their own benefit. When the opportunity arises, they do not hesitate for a moment to do evil to gain the desired power.
As I have stated before, the great attraction of The Dragon House is to perfectly mix fantasy with politics. And there is no better manual to understand the latter than Prince. Almost all current editions include the notes written by Napoleon Bonaparte, an admirer of Machiavelli and of seeing himself reflected in any illustrious character or action that extolled his already large ego.
Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War
If what interests you in both series is the war and the conflicts between the different factions, the History of the Peloponnesian War It is one of the best books you will ever read on the subject. Narrated by the Athenian general Thucydides, it recounts the events related to the war between the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, and the League of Deos, led by Athens for the hegemony of Ancient Greece.
In addition to being a classic of universal literature, which has inspired the most illustrious authors, It is one of the first history books ever written.. Within the eight books that the work consists of, all the stages, causes and consequences of the conflict are perfectly detailed. The reader will soon draw the clear parallels between the Peloponnesian War and the current geopolitical landscape.
The classics help us understand the mistakes of the past and anticipate those we may make in the future. In the HBO Max series, the wars are told in the same way, without establishing a clear limit between good guys and bad guys, but exposing the motives and desires of each protagonist with whom to empathize or disagree.
Macbeth and Hamlet by William Shakespeare
It is known that the history and universe of George RR Martin is clearly inspired by the Wars of the Roses. Under this name a series of civil wars waged for control of the throne of England at the end of the 15th century are known today. It faced two rival branches, the Lancasters and the Yorks named in the books and the HBO Max series as the Lannisters and the Starks.
Much of what we know about these wars is thanks to Shakespeare’s theatrical tetralogy about it (‘Henry VI’, ‘Henry VI’, ‘Henry VI’ and ‘Richard III’). But we also see clear references in the development of the characters, who, in addition to being Machiavellian, are very Shakespearean. in the series Game of ThronesCersei Lannister perfectly embodies the personality and actions of Lady Macbeth, a woman who, using her cunning and malice to manipulate men, comes to power until it consumes her.
Obviously, Shakesperare has influenced any writer, but in Martin’s work there are not only explicit references, but also the main plot is very similar to such popular tragedies as Macbeth Y Hamlet. It is theater and many of the playwright’s lexical geniuses are lost in translation. But Shakespeare captivates, and after reading it it is impossible not to fall into the conclusion that almost all television series are, at best, a rehash of his works.
The Borgias, by Mario Puzo, the key to The House of the Dragon
Several families and their struggles for power are portrayed in Martin’s work. Inspired by historical and literary events, it is difficult to find a better example than the different narratives on which we can find Borgia. This house of the nobility, coming from Aragon, ended up being a very influential family during the Renaissance in Italy. Two popes even came out of this: Alexander IV and Calixtus III. The Borgias have captivated numerous writers for being an influential, cruel and very powerful family.
Thanks to his patronage, artists such as Michelangelo, Bosch or Leonardo da Vinci enjoyed special protection and were able to create several of their best-known works. The equivalence between the Lannisters and the Borgias is evident, including incest, conspiracy and the use of any means to reach the ultimate goal: to enhance and perpetuate the legacy and hegemony of the family.
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The Borgias narrates the life of the family until reaching the pinnacle of power and how they lost it after an innumerable string of misfortunes caused by their own greed. If you enjoy the betrayals within each family in the series, you’ll like delving into this historical novel.