The historical inspiration for “A Song of Fire and Ice,” as any beginning reader of the series with basic Google search skills knows, is of course the Wars of the Roses. But the literary inspiration for this series refers to an earlier war that came before it – the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. I recently read the first volume from that source of inspiration. (I’m not sure if this topic came up here or not. In any case – the introduction is a bit long).
In the mid-50s, French author Maurice Druon (1918-2009) – a member of a Jewish family who fought for the Free French forces during World War II – began publishing what would become his “magnum opus”, a series of historical novels called “The Accursed Kings” that describe how France and England were torn apart in the murderous war between them throughout the 14th century. The series was a huge success in France, and was adapted into a television series twice (in the 70s and in the last decade), but outside France it was known mainly among the hard core of historical fiction fans. One of those fans, who discovered the series when he was a young writer in his early career, is George R.R. Martin – who openly admitted that it was an important source of inspiration for him when he wrote his magnum opus.
Just recently, as mentioned, I read the first volume in Drouon's series, called The Iron King in English translation. For fans of "A Song of Ice and Fire," it's definitely a fascinating experience – you can feel where a lot of things we know in Martin's books came from. The book, it should be noted, begins before the war itself, and follows the twilight of the reign of King Philip IV of France, against the backdrop of the execution of the leaders of the Templars (who were framed by Philip IV for treason so that he could loot their money), the attempts of the ambitious nobleman Robert of Artois to reclaim his father's estate that had fallen into the hands of his aunt, and the attempt of Isabel, King Philip's daughter, to escape her unhappy marriage to the King of England.
It is easy to identify the types of characters and plot lines in Drouin that influenced Martin: First and foremost, King Philip IV, whom Drouin portrays in a way that is distinctly reminiscent of Robert Baratheon – a character who undoubtedly has his corrupt and despicable sides, but it is hard not to sympathize with him and his attempt to hold together a kingdom on the brink of collapse. Even the manner in which the two characters meet their deaths is similar.
The Templars in the book are reminiscent – not in a specific storyline or in a specific character, more in character – of the Night’s Watch. There’s something about Jezebel that reminds us of Cersei Lannister from the beginning of the “Game of Thrones” – A woman whose unhappy marriage has turned her into a bitter and evil person. Robert of Artois… Honestly, I’m not sure who he inspired. There’s something of Jaime Lannister in him, and also of Thimble. The fact that all the heroes in the book (all of them!) are real historical figures makes the experience of reading it particularly fascinating.
Above all, the most powerful source of inspiration in the book for Martin was, I think, the general atmosphere. In its most basic form, The Iron King shows how the ambition and selfishness of people with enough power can lead an entire country to catastrophe. This is certainly something that you can feel in Martin's books as well.
But what else is there in the book? Unfortunately, very little. In Draun (in the first volume at least), there is no equivalent to the Stark family: he simply has no good people, period (in the first volume, at least). They are all shit, to one degree or another. Combined with a somewhat awkward style – although this may be the fault of the translation – this makes the reading experience quite tedious. Most of the time I didn’t really care what was going to happen. Still, the reference to “A Song of Ice and Fire” is strong enough to make me consider trying the next volume. I haven’t decided yet.
And if you haven't read the book yet, you're welcome to watch the mini-series that was created after it. Below you can find the first episode with English translation.
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