Fire & Blood
My roommate Matt and I recently watched the first (and only currently released) season of House of Dragons. The show is based on a few chapters of Fire & Blood by George RR Martin. Matt had read the book already and highly recommended it to me. He even went so far as to say he liked it better than the books from the Song of Ice and Fire series. Now that I’ve read it, my own opinion is that Fire & Blood is a fine book and all, but it’s kind of like extra credit reading for fans of A Song of Ice and Fire. I’d way rather have Mr. Martin release the other books from that series than keep going with all the other works he has going on that exist in his world of Game of Thrones.
I have to hand it to Mr. Martin, he knows how to create interesting narrative structures. The chapters of A Song of Ice and Fire are each told in the perspective of a single character, which is super cool. And Fire & Blood is written as though George RR Martin were a historian recounting the events of the Targaryen dynasty.
That’s all I’ll say about the book. The following are some quotes I got from it that I think offer interesting insight in the world of Game of Thrones.
Beginnings of things
Many assume, wrongly, that the reign of King Aegon I Targaryen began on the day he landed at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, beneath the three hills where the city of King’s Landing would eventually stand. King’s Landing grew up around Aegon and his court No one planned King’s Landing. It simply grew
Aegon was the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms; therefore, he should have seven champions, Queen Visenya decided. Thus did the Kingsguard come into being; a brotherhood of seven knights, the finest in the realm, cloaked and armored all in purest white, with no purpose but to defend the king, giving up their own lives for his if need be.
Powers of things
The scales of a full-grown dragon were harder than steel
No common fire can damage Valyrian steel.
Unorganized tidbits
there was a wisdom in this that went beyond a simple love of music. For the singers of the realm, in their eagerness to win the favor of the queen, composed many a song in praise of House Targaryen and King Aegon, and then went forth and sang those songs in every keep and castle and village green from the Dornish Marches to the Wall. Thus was the Conquest made glorious to the simple people, whilst Aegon the Dragon himself became a hero king.
Singers were the instruments of public relations and marketing for Queen Rhaenys Targaryen.
“Thrice I tried to take her north beyond the Wall,” Alysanne wrote to Jaehaerys, “but every time she veered back south again and refused to go. Never before has she refused to take me where I wished to go. I laughed about it when I came down again, so the black brothers would not realize anything was amiss, but it troubled me then and it troubles me still.”
King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm
This is the salutation given to the King of Westeros. The First Men are mentioned in this book but the Andals and Rhoynar are not. Anyway, the Game of Thrones wiki says they were three different peoples who inhabited Westeros and now the population of Westeros is all a mix of them. Strangely enough, the salutation leaves out the Valyrians.
A map of Westeros
Whenever I read Game of Thrones books I always wish I had a map of Westeros in front of me so here’s one that looks like Google maps, made by Reddit user selvag:
