Entertaining a Notion: The Lannisters are Spaniards

Websites and the mouths of colleagues are abuzz with the latest and last series of HBOs adaption of A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones. Whilst I am familiar with the series, my interest waned sometime ago; this is a pungent and apt criticism. Besides, I do not watch much in the way of television these days.

Anyway, I might as well share this with you as a pet theory. It is of little significance really, but may provoke thought.

It is commonly known that A Song of Ice and Fire draws upon Medieval European history for much of its inspiration: the Wars of the Roses are frequently mentioned. This has spawned various articles, images, &c mapping on bit of Westeros or another to Europe - or vice versa.

Some of these have more worth than others, but I like to see folk thinking about history and how it can be applied to a certain kind of narrative. However, I'd tend to quibble with at least one of their interpretations. Dorne certainly may be thought of as Spanish: we even have authorial fiat on this. However, I should say that it rather represents a Moorish Spain - with a different faith, different mores and somewhat distinct physical features.

If we can map most of Westeros to Western Europe, what of the rest of the Iberian Peninsula? Some can be put in the Dornish Marches. But I'd like to make a case that The Westerlands, home of House Lannister can be thought of as having similarities with Northern Spain.

The mountainous terrain is perhaps one example of this - though that alone is scarcely enough. The long, ocean-facing coast line compares well to the Atlantic, with a sort of Bay of Biscay to the south. Its inhabitants are closer to the capital and court of Westeros than other regions (Dorne, the North and the Iron Islands are somewhat peripheral). The most famous castle of the region is Casterly Rock - which is almost a phonetic reading of Castille. The Lannisters have as their arms the lion: not unique to Spain, but pointing nicely to the Kingdom of Leon. The insistence on wealth and gold maps nicely onto an Early Modern Spain, reaping the rewards of Europe's discovery of the Americas.

[The notion that A Song of Ice and Fire speaks as often to the Early Modern as to the Medieval is not new; however, given Martin was willing to put a Late Medieval Venice equivalent and Pseudo-Babylon on the same continent (and stick down the Colossus of Rhodes at the entrance of the lagoon), linking it all to one time period is a fools errand.]

Said trade might also correspond nicely to the Kingdom of Aragon. We have at least one Westerlands name straight out of Spain: Jaime. Wikipedia suggests that this is simply in the style of distorted real world names, as 'Eddard' for Edward; perhaps, but I mention it anyway. House Westerling, a Westerlands house of narrative relevance bears several sea-shells on its coat of arms - which feels rather like a reference to Santiago de Compostela with its Pilgrim trail and sea-shell badge.

Is all this proof? Barely. But we construct parts of our images of fictional worlds from real places. Here is a little material to perhaps make those images richer.