Over the next few months, we are going to examine the political insights of A Song of Ice and Fire through a series of character studies. Join us!

Every couple weeks or so, we will pick a different character in the series, and use him or her as a jumping off point for a discussion of the political insights contained in the books.

We will post an original article to start the conversation. If you want to respond or write your own reflection piece on that character, you can either comment on these articles or send us your thoughts via email. Anything that you think will add to the debate is welcome, be it musings, fully worked-out theories, or just links to articles or forum disccussions that you find on point.

We look forward to talking through these texts together!

Articles in the Series

A Politics of Ice and Fire

The introduction to the series. Realism, Idealism, and G.R.R. Martin. Read here.

The Argument and the Action

Why we think a character by character approach is appropriate. Read here.

First Up: Varys

The first character in our series is Lord Varys, The Spider and Master of Whisperers. A man of tremendous amount political wisdom, he has some of the most explicit insights into politics in the series.

Varys – A MACHIAVELLIAN BEAST
Varys – A Eunuch
Varys – HIS RIDDLE
Varys – Defender of the Realm

(Image: Symbols of the Seven Noble Houses by twipzdeeauxilia, distributed under a CC BY-SA 2.0 licence. Via Flickr.)