Are we the Starks or the Lannisters?

By Matthew Dunn

                The fantasy series Game of Thrones on HBO has captured some of the highest ratings that the channel has ever seen.  The series, based on the novels by George R.R. Martin, is a tale of a fantasy world called Westeros, where noble families fight for power.  Much of the first three seasons of this show deals with the conflicts between two of these families, the Starks and the Lannisters.  Even though the series is fantasy, it seems to echo many of the events happening in the world today. 

                The Starks in the series are a noble house who control the northern lands of Westeros.  The Starks value honor above all else, even when it puts them in dire conditions.  In the first season, the family patriarch, Ned, is sent to the capital of Westeros to serve as the lead advisor to the king.  Ned is quickly overwhelmed by the amount of backstabbing, spying, and plotting which leads to his inevitable downfall.  Due to his trusting nature and his desire to keep his family safe, he eventually ends up without a head, thanks to the rival Lannister family.

                The Lannisters in contrast, seem to value power above all else.  During the series the Lannisters are in control of the country’s monarchy.  The Lannisters most influential character throughout the series is the eldest daughter of the family, Cersei, who serves as Queen of Westeros.  Cersei is driven only by her lust for power, and her desire to keep her children safe.  When Ned Stark discovered that her firstborn son, Joffrey, was the illegitimate product of incest between her and her brother Jamie, she outmaneuvers him, and has him imprisoned.  Joffrey once he has control of the crown, beheads Ned, as a show of force to all others would challenge the Lannisters. 

                In the second and third seasons of the series, Ned’s son Robb, seeks vengeance for his father’s murder.  He rallies his loyal troops from the North and marches to the South.  He wins key battles, but he is not able to gain much ground on the powerful Lannister forces.  Like his father, Robb puts a great deal of emphasis on his code of honor, and this eventually leads to his undoing.  He is outwitted by the patriarch of the Lannister family, Tywin, and is murdered at a wedding feast. 

                The United States fights in multiple countries around the world today, in the name of freedom, security, and democracy.  When Presidents Bush and Obama spoke to the nation about the goals of these wars, they sounded much like the Stark family calling for honorable sacrifices.  Islamic terrorists who attacked the U.S. on 9/11 were against our way of life we were told.  In Lannister fashion, the Islamic terrorists seemed to call for war on an honorable people.  Therefore, U.S. leaders called for vengeance much like the Starks would.   

                However, in reality Islamic terrorists seems to share much more in common with the Starks than the U.S.  The Starks of the North are a tribal people, and the people of the North are hold on to their traditions because of the harsh conditions of their region.  People in the North are deeply spiritual and hold on to old religious beliefs even when the rest of the world seems to change.  In the North, the Starks even practice honor killings, and they personally behead members of citizens who break the codes of honor.  Any one of these descriptions could just as easily fit many members of Islamic fundamentalist groups. 

                In fact the United States in its culture today seems to behave much like the Lannisters.  Our nation seems to be completely driven by desires both carnal and material.  Even though we still have sexual taboos, they seem to be flaunted everywhere, much like the Lannisters flaunt the taboo on incest in their world.  The Lannisters are the richest and most powerful family in their world, yet none of the members of the family seems to be happy.  Sounds almost like America, doesn’t it.  

                What is perhaps more disturbing though, is that the United States increasingly has behaved much like the Lannisters in the realm of foreign policy.  Jeremy Scahill’s recent book and documentary Dirty Wars, details how the United States have conducted secret military actions around the world.  We have routinely got into bed with unsavory characters in order to fight the war on terror, and also have committed atrocities.  In one particularly disturbing story from Dirty Wars, U.S. Special Ops raided a party at night, killing several people, who had no known links to the Taliban or terrorists.  This sounds eerily similar to Lannister actions at the Red Wedding where they murdered Robb Stark. 

                Perhaps Martin’s tale is a warning about empires or perhaps it is a prediction of what comes to empires.  We find out in the third season, even the supremely wealthy Lannisters have accumulated large war debts.  Tyrion Lannister, who is serving as the bookkeeper in the third season, says this is dangerous because if they don’t pay their debts, the lenders will support their enemies.  Time will only tell if both the Lannisters and the United States have overleveraged themselves.  If this is true, then both the United States and the Lannisters could fall from powerful dragons from the east.