It’s no
secret that George R. R. Martin examined several religions and mythologies when
creating his world in the series A Song
of Ice and Fire—and the Game of
Thrones HBO series. What is fascinating is how he blended these particulars
together, and use them in plain sight to enrich the series.
As the
television series moves into its last two brief seasons, and the supernatural
forces start becoming more pronounced, it’s worth it to examine some of the
source material to inform on our understanding of what’s going on in this rich
world. Let’s start with the most prominent supernatural aspects, the gods of
ice and fire. Rh’llor is the fire god, which everyone knows thanks to
characters such as Melisandre and Thoros. There is no doubt that priests of the
“one true god” have power. Melisandre can’t be poisoned or burned, she gave
birth to a shadow demon, and recently she resurrected Jon Snow, a feat she
copied from Thoros. The fire god has a counterpart, not really mentioned in
either the show or the series. It’s simply known as the Great Other, but it is
the power most likely behind the Others (White Walkers in the show). Yes, the
show recently revealed that the Children created them, but that’s off-book, and
actually clashes with the timeline of the show (but I won’t go into that here).
What this
gives us is diametrically opposed elemental forces. It extends further when we
examine the dragons. Obsidian, known as dragonglass, is created from either
dragonfire or volcanoes. Likewise, Valyrian steel is forged using dragonfire.
The walkers, for their part, are overly obsessed with ice, able to freeze at a
touch.
Martin has
admitted that this religion is based on Zoroastrianism—centered in Persia,
modern-day Iran—which features Ormazd, a god of light, good, and knowledge.
Opposite—literally—of Ormazd is Ahriman, which is darkness, evil, and
ignorance, the true antithesis of Ormazd.
The
Zoroastrian creation begins with Ormazd using his light to create all manner of
things, including all of the cosmological standards: earth, moon, stars, sun,
other gods, and life. However, this light proves to be disruptive to Ahriman.
He was resting comfortably in the chaos before creation, but Ormazd messed all
of that up, so he’s cranky.
Ahriman also has the power to
create, but everything seems to be a parody of what Ormazd makes in order to
destroy or corrupt creation. Essentially Ormazd is responsible for all that is
good in the world, while Ahriman creates everything evil. Ahriman even goes so
far as to create an evil version of woman, complete with special, feminine
evils, in order to corrupt the humanity that Ormazd created.
These two are locked into an
eternal struggle, though the outcome in Zoroastrianism is obvious as light and
knowledge will ultimately prevail over darkness and ignorance. But it’s the
adversarial role that’s important, especially for Game of Thrones. Clearly Ormazd is Rh’llor, while Ahriman is the
Great Other—carrying the metaphor of ignorance to the being’s name. The
struggle is reflected in the title of Martin’s series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Theirs is an elemental struggle, fire
meeting ice. Warm light and knowledge war with cold darkness and ignorance.
Their duality keeps creation in motion, much like the seasons.
This duality is rare in mythology;
it’s a blending of monotheism with polytheism. Most cultures of the world
developed polytheistic mythologies, such as: Greece, Egypt, India, and Babylon.
Some, like the Egyptians, have hundreds or even thousands of gods, not unlike
the current number of Pokémon.
The Persian
myth, though, while not monotheistic, is very close to it without suffering
from the same innate logical problems of it. Monotheism was very difficult to
understand in the ancient world for a couple of reasons, which many medieval
authors struggled with in regards to the early Christian Church.
The big
problem for monotheism comes from the nature of God: If there is only one
ostensibly benevolent creator god, then where did all of the bad stuff in the
world come from? and why would a benevolent god do that to people? Quite simply
This is a concept that still hasn’t been resolved as people quickly decry “Why
did God let this happen?”
But the
duality of Ormazd and Ahriman—and by extension Rh’llor and The Great
Other—sidesteps this problem. Ahriman is the source of that evil, actively
trying to tear down and create parodies of Ormazd’s creations. The Great Other
has the Others, a parody of humanity, embracing the cold darkness and wanting
to extinguish light. They further distort creation by raising up undead wights
to fight their battles.
While
Ormazd is a representation of good, it’s not completely clear if Rh’llor feels
the same way about humanity. This may simply be a war for victory, where
Rh’llor doesn’t care about humanity’s—or the world’s—survival, so long as The
Great Other is defeated. The numerous sacrifices, painful resurrections, and
destruction by dragons may indicate that he is not as benevolent as Ormazd, and
simply that Rh’llor and The Great Other are both giants in the playground,
ready to trample the ants beneath.
As the
inevitable war with the White Walkers comes closer, these two deities are going
to become more prominent in their roles, as their magic has become more
pronounced.