The Song of Ice and Fire

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The song of ice and fire , in English A Song of Ice and Fire , is a fantasy saga by the American author George RR Martin . Between 1996 and 2011, five volumes were published in the original English version , and two more are planned to conclude the saga. The books have sold 85 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 47 languages.

There are different editions in Germany . In addition to a 1: 1 translation that has so far comprised five volumes, the version in which the original five works were divided into two volumes each is widely used, so that the German edition in this case comprises ten volumes. In addition, there are so far five novellas that take place about 100 years before the novel. In 2014 a handbook on the history of Martin's world was published.

The fictional universe of the saga resembles the European Middle Ages , mixed with fantasy elements. Martin places a focus on the "darker side" of people and society and the moral shades of the characters, in contrast to the - traditionally clear in fantasy literature - ascribing good and bad .

The series based on the books, which ran from 2011 to 2019, is entitled Game of Thrones . The English-language graphic novel series has been published under the title A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel since 2012 .

action

Main features

The continents of Westeros (red), Essos (east), Sothoryos (south) and Ulthos (southeast) as well as the summer islands (west of Sothoryos)

The action takes place in a world in which the seasons can stretch over several years and the duration of summer and winter cannot be foreseen, while the transitions in autumn and spring are relatively short. With the beginning of the plot an unusually long summer is drawing to a close.

The main setting is the continent of Westeros. The Seven Kingdoms, which have been a kingdom for nearly 300 years, stretch across most of Westeros. The kingdom is strongly feudal . The individual parts of the empire differ significantly in their culture, religion, climatic conditions and social order. Many of the details worked out in Westeros and also in Essos (e.g. the "Titan of Braavos") are borrowed from European and Asian history.

The great aristocratic houses, each of which ruled one of the seven kingdoms relatively autonomously, play a central role. The empire has been ruled by the House of Targaryen from its inception until a war passed over to the House of Baratheon under the leadership of Robert Baratheon 14 years before the start of the novel.

The action begins in Robert Baratheon's last year in reign. Tensions build up between the most powerful noble houses, which lead to an open battle for the throne after Robert's death. In particular, the former advisers of the king, the brothers of the late ruler and the influential houses of Lannister (in the more recent German translation "Lannister") and Stark played a key role in the conflict that followed for years and was marked by numerous intrigues. In the first three original volumes, the battle for the throne is a central theme of the plot in the Seven Kingdoms, while the consequences of the war still play an important role in the fourth and fifth volumes.

The main storyline is expanded and supplemented by two additional storylines: The Night Watch, guardian of the wall on the remote northern border of the empire, is faced with the threat of wildlings and the undead; in addition, according to prophecies, with the onset of the imminent multi-year winter, an invasion of the mysterious "others" living in the north is feared. Meanwhile, on the neighboring continent of Essos, the surviving members of the Targaryen dynasty and their followers are trying to find a way to recapture the throne of Westeros.

Structure and style

So far, each chapter has a central main character , from whose point of view the plot of the chapter is described. The first volume started with nine central characters, but after completing the fifth volume there are currently 31 personae . New reflector figures are usually already known to the reader from previous chapters, so that the reader's opinion about the character can change repeatedly. The story is becoming increasingly complex: the total number of characters named in the books is now over a thousand people, including dozens of main characters.

Martin attaches great importance to the detailed character drawing of his characters, accordingly one hardly finds stereotypical villains or heroes in the song of ice and fire . Another special feature of the series is that Martin does not stick to common clichés and therefore does not shy away from letting important main characters in his story die unexpectedly. This enables Martin to build up a high level of tension as none of the characters are safe. In a TV interview with Conan O'Brien , Martin said:

“We've all seen films where the hero is in a tight spot - he's surrounded by 20 people, but you know he's going to get away with being the hero. Actually, one is not afraid for him. I want my readers and viewers [of the Game of Thrones TV series ] to be afraid if my characters are in danger. I want them to be afraid to turn the page because the next character couldn't survive. "

Influences

Martin has repeatedly stated that the theme of each story, the "human heart in conflict with itself" was for him ( the human heart in conflict with itself ); it was only worth writing about, as William Faulkner put it when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Otherwise the genre of the narrative does not matter. Martin names the books of his childhood, especially The Lord of the Rings , as the most important artistic influence . His biggest criticism of imitators of JRR Tolkien's work was that their action often takes place in a kind of utopian “Disneyland Middle Ages”. To avoid this lack of seriousness and realism, he was also influenced by historical novels and events from the European Middle Ages . These include the Wars of the Roses , the Crusades , the struggle of William the Conqueror for the English throne and the Hundred Years War . For this reason, magic and fantastic creatures are only used sporadically and very subtly. The plot focuses on the intrigues and power struggles of the ruling class.

The song of ice and fire is said to have been inspired, among other things, by the seven-volume French book series Les Rois Maudits (English title The Accursed Kings ) by the French novelist Maurice Druon , which thematizes the Hundred Years War between England and France.

Reception and review

The broad reception by the contemporary audience and the invitation to the author to continue writing (“Write, George! Write!”) Are some of the central themes in the German-language reviews of the song of ice and fire .

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung located the epic in February 2015 apart from “a fancy costume ham” and attests to its quality: “The panopticon in space and time uses fantastic elements to subtly bring the diverse cultural aspects into the present. The question of how the raison d'état should respond to threats couldn't be more topical. "

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote in July 2012:

“Martin's penchant for complications, which elevates the gossip to literary quality because it requires strict control of the content, tolerates the greatest possible abundance of literary artifacts. Since the beginning of the series, the events have therefore been told from numerous perspectives. Although Martin satisfies age-old reader longings for masses of juicy action, his presentation of a world of lust for power, hatred and revenge is extremely contemporary. […] Martin's readers regularly drive the author, who took four years to complete the fourth part and six years to complete the fifth, back to his desk on the Internet to complete his perfection. Their urge is selfish but explainable. The fear that entertainment literature betrays the literary work of art to market pressures and reader expectations can hardly be refuted any better than with Martin's novels. The 'Song of Ice and Fire' celebrates literary autonomy with a great festival of storytelling. "

Volumes

The saga was originally intended to be three volumes. As the story grew during the writing process, the number of planned successors rose gradually. Martin now plans to conclude the plot in seven volumes.

After the first three volumes of the series had appeared at shorter intervals, it took Martin about five years to complete the fourth volume, A Feast for Crows . Despite his assurance in 2005 that the fifth volume in the book series was almost finished, A Dance with Dragons did not appear until July 12, 2011. Martin explained the long delay with complications in bringing together the increasingly complex storylines.

Martin was originally supposed to submit the script for the as yet unreleased sixth volume, The Winds of Winter , in October 2015, but then postponed it to December 31, 2015. On January 2, 2016, he stated in his blog that he had not been able to complete the work on the manuscript on time. Instead he is still months away from completion, even if he has already written hundreds of pages. In May 2019, Martin stated on his blog that his work on The Winds of Winter was still not finished. He denied speculation that he had already completed the sixth part of the series and deliberately withhold the novel at the request of HBO or the Game of Thrones producers. In addition, Martin wrote that he had not yet started work on the last novel in the series, A Dream of Spring , and would not do so until The Winds of Winter was fully worked out.

English

The following volumes are planned:

  • The Winds of Winter
  • A dream of spring

The work will also appear as a graphic novel :

German

Various versions of the English-language original have appeared in Germany.

Ulisses Medien und Spiel Distribution publishes a 1: 1 edition of the volumes in German that corresponds to the original. The number is limited to 1000 pieces. 200 copies are numbered and hand-signed by the author.

The publishing house blanvalet , from book nine Penhaligon, divided the first five volumes into two books each for the German paperback edition. A new translation has been published since the end of 2010. One of the most noticeable changes is the clarification of some names.

  1. The Lords of Winterfell. 1997, ISBN 3-442-24729-2 .
  2. Winterfell's legacy. 1998, ISBN 3-442-24730-6 .
  3. The Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. 2000, ISBN 3-442-24923-6 .
  4. The seeds of the golden lion. 2000, ISBN 3-442-24934-1 .
  5. Storm of Swords. 2001, ISBN 3-442-24733-0 .
  6. The queen of dragons. 2002, ISBN 3-442-24734-9 .
  7. Time of the crows. 2006, ISBN 3-442-24350-5 .
  8. The dark queen. 2006, ISBN 3-442-24416-1 .
  9. The son of the griffin. 2011, ISBN 978-3-7645-3104-1 .
  10. A dance with dragons. 2012, ISBN 978-3-7645-3102-7 .

Penhaligon has also published a hardback edition.

  1. Winter is coming. 2016, ISBN 978-3764531522
  2. Ours is anger. 2016, ISBN 978-3764531584
  3. Hear me roar 2016, ISBN 978-3764531591
  4. Aim high. 2017, ISBN 978-3764531805
  5. A grim enemy, a loyal friend. 2017, ISBN 978-3764531812

The 20 audio books produced by Audible to date are read by Reinhard Kuhnert , two audio book parts each correspond to a German paperback; since 2012 they have also appeared on MP3 CDs in accordance with the German book classification.

Associated Works

Novellas

So far, five novels have been published on the series. The first three stories relate to the hedge knight Dunk and his Knappen Ei (in the original Egg ) and are set about a century before the events in the song of ice and fire . The first two novels appeared in the anthologies Legends (Eng. The 7th Shrine ) and Legends II (Eng. Legends Lord John, the magical pact ) by the author and editor Robert Silverberg . The third novella appeared in the anthology Warriors by Martin and Gardner Dozois . In German it was published together with the first two in the anthology Der Heckenritter von Westeros: The Judgment of the Seven (2013).

At the end of 2013, The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens, a fourth novella in the volume Dangerous Women edited by Martin and Dozois, appeared. The story is about the battle for the throne between the Targaryen, known as the "Dance of the Dragons". In 2014, the fifth novella The Rogue Prince, or, A King's Brother appeared in the volume Rogues published by Martin and Dozois . There the history of the civil war in question is dealt with. The latter two novellas can also be found in the Fire & Blood manual .

The stories The Hedge Knight and The Sworn Sword were later as a graphic novel implemented and published in a German version under the title The stern knight and the rear Knights II - The sworn sword in Panini Verlag .

Published so far:

Novellas:

  • The Hedge Knight. 1998 (Ger. The Hedge Knight. In: The 7. Shrine. 1999, ISBN 3-453-15299-9 )
  • The Sworn Sword. 2003 (Eng. The sworn sword. In: Legends. Lord John, the magical pact. 2005, ISBN 3-492-70094-2 )
  • The Mystery Knight. 2010 (German. The mysterious knight. In: The hedge knight of Westeros: The judgment of the seven. 2013, ISBN 978-3-7645-3122-5 )
  • The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens. 2013 (Eng. The Princess and the Queen or the Blacks and the Greens. In: Queen in Exile. 2015, ISBN 978-3-7341-6012-7 )
  • The Rogue Prince, or, A King's Brother. 2014 (Ger. The King's Brother. In: The King's Brother and 20 other short novels. 2016, ISBN 978-3-7645-3175-1 )
  • The Sons of the Dragon. 2017 (in: The Book of Swords ). ISBN 978-0399593765

Comics:

  • The Hedge Knight. 2004, Dabel Brothers Productions (Ger. The Hedge Knight. Panini Comics, 2007, ISBN 978-3-86607-482-8 )
  • The Sworn Sword. 2008, Marvel Comics (Eng. The Hedge Knight - The Sworn Sword. Panini Comics, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86201-538-2 )
  • The Mistery Knight. 2017, Random House LCC US (Eng. The Hedge Knight III - The Mysterious Knight. Panini Comics, 2018, ISBN 978-3-7416-0678-6 )

Audiobook (mp3-CD):

  • The Hedge Knight of Westeros: The Judgment of the Seven. - unabridged reading v. Reinhard Kuhnert (Random House Audio, 2013 ISBN 978-3-8371-2571-9 )

Manuals

At the end of October 2014, The World of Ice & Fire: the Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones, a manual written by Martin with the help of Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson, was published. It offers a "historical representation" of Martin's world in the form of a fictional history .

  • George RR Martin, Elio Garcia, Linda Antonsson: The World of Ice & Fire: the Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones. Bantam, New York 2014.
    • German translation: George RR Martin, Elio Garcia, Linda Antonsson: Westeros: The world of ice and fire - Game of Thrones Penhaligon Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-7645-3136-2 .

At the end of 2018, Fire & Blood was the second fictional history work. It deals in more detail than The World of Ice & Fire with the Targaryens family from their accession to about 150 years before the start of the Song of Ice and Fire plot .

  • George RR Martin: Fire & Blood . Bantam, New York 2018.
    • German translation: George RR Martin: Fire and Blood - First Book: Rise and Fall of the House of Targaryen of Westeros . Penhaligon Verlag, Munich 2018.

Television series

The transmitter HBO began in 2007 with the production of the television series Game of Thrones the after submission Song of Ice and Fire . After the casting, the preparatory work and the creation of a pilot film, the actual filming of the series began on July 26, 2010.

Although the series sticks closely to the book at the beginning, there are numerous changes as the plot progresses. The producers David Benioff and DB Weiss emphasized that from the second season onwards, no 1: 1 filming of the books is planned, but rather the entire material of the song of ice and fire will be adapted, with parts from other books being incorporated into the respective season. Seven seasons had been produced by 2017, the eighth and last aired from April to May 2019.

HBO and George RR Martin have announced that they will produce at least three more Game of Thrones spin-off series after the show ends, based on unused and expanded material from A Song of Ice and Fire.

Games

Over the years and the increasing number of readers, The Song of Ice and Fire has grown from a pure fantasy saga to a brand. In the course of time, numerous by-products appeared, some with great success.

  • A board game under the title "A Game of Thrones" (German title: " Der Eiserne Thron ") as well as two expansions of the game with the titles "A Clash of Kings" (German title: "Die Thronkriege") and "A Storm of Swords" "(German title:" Storm of Swords "). The distribution of the game is in the hands of Fantasy Flight Games .
  • An English living card game called "A Game of Thrones", also distributed by Fantasy Flight Games . The German edition of the game has been published by Heidelberger Spieleverlag since July 2012 under the title "The Iron Throne - The Card Game" .
  • Another board game from FFG, which is a mixture of tabletop and role-playing game, called "Battles of Westeros". The base game includes units from the Stark and Lannister houses. The first expansion is entitled "Wardens of the West", the second expansion "Wardens of the East" was released in autumn 2010. The Heidelberger Spieleverlag published the German version (as "Die Schlachten von Westeros") in October 2010. German editions of the extensions were published in 2011. In August 2012 FFG brings the "House Baratheon Army Expansion", which for the first time adds units of the House Baratheon. The German version "House Baratheon - Troop Expansion" was released in autumn 2012.
  • A pen & paper role-playing game distributed by Green Ronin .
  • A computer game implementation in the form of a real-time strategy game : " A Game of Thrones: Genesis " was released in October 2011 by the developer Cyanide Studios so far exclusively for the PC . However, it received only moderate reviews in the specialist press.
  • A computer role-playing game with the title " Game of Thrones ", also under development by Cyanide Studio, was released in May 2012 (North America) and June 2012 (Europe) for PC , PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 . The game introduces new characters and tells an independent, early storyline to the series of novels.
  • An English-language browser game and social network game called " Game of Thrones: Ascent " from the Disruptor Beam development studio has been available for free since February 2013. The game, licensed by the US pay broadcaster HBO , is based on the TV series Game of Thrones , but also uses characters and events from the book series. The game was initially only available on Facebook , but it can now also be played on the Kongregate online platform and directly on the developer website. Despite a large number of bugs , most of which have now been fixed, the game has received moderate to good ratings in the specialist press.
  • On December 2, 2014, Telltale Games released the first ( Game of Thrones - Episode 1: Iron from Ice ) of six scheduled episodes of a PC game set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire . The action begins in the middle of the third book and deals with the fate of House Forrester , which is loyal to House Stark.

See also

literature

  • Patrick Charles: More than magical swords and princes of darkness. George RR Martins "A Song of Ice and Fire". In: Hannes Riffel, Jakob Schmidt (Ed.): Pandora. Science fiction and fantasy. Volume 4, Shayol Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-926126-82-5 , pp. 76-91.
  • Henry Jacoby (editor): The Philosophy at Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Power, Morals, Intrigue , Wiley 2014, ISBN 978-3527507986
  • Markus May, Michael Baumann, Robert Baumgartner, Tobias Eder (eds.): The world of "Game of Thrones". Cultural perspectives on George RR Martin's “A Song of Ice and Fire” . transcript, Bielefeld 2016. ISBN 978-3-8376-3700-7 .
  • Jan Söffner : Thinking about ›Game of Thrones‹: George RR Martins ›A Song of Ice and Fire‹ , Wilhelm Fink 2017, ISBN 978-3770562091
  • George RR Martin : Fire & Blood. 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones. Bantam Books, New York 2018, ISBN 978-1524796280 .

Web links

Commons : A Song of Ice and Fire  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Yu: George RR Martin, Fantasy's Reigning King in The New York Times Style Magazine. Article dated October 15, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2020
  2. Tobias Steiner: Transmedia narration in the narrative universe of 'Game of Thrones' . ( Memento of March 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) In: Journal of Serial Narration on Television , Number 4, Winter 2013.
  3. Elio M. Garcia and Linda Antonson: Foreword to Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper Than Swords (English)
  4. Hündür Erikson: A Song of Ice and Fire - George RR Martin (1996 -?). In: https://discourse.at/ . July 3, 2017, accessed June 28, 2019 .
  5. List of Characters - A Wiki of Ice and Fire . Wiki of the English-language fansite Westeros.org. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  6. Interview: GAME OF THRONES creator George RR Martin on the future of the franchise - Part 2 Assignment X. Accessed August 7, 2019 .
  7. George RR Martin Talks About Why He Kills Off Popular Characters And The Status Of His Next Book . Entertainment website starpulse.com . Retrieved June 28, 2013. (translated)
  8. ^ A b Ian Irvine: George RR Martin: Tolkien for the 21st century. In: Independent , July 23, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  9. Faulkner's speech
  10. Karolina Webb: George RR Martin on Sex, Fantasy, and 'A Dance With Dragons'. In: The Atlantic . Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  11. Interview: George Martin . In: Deep Magic , 41, 2005, pp. 19-21
  12. GRRM Interview Part 2: Fantasy and History. On: entertainment.time.com, April 18, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  13. So spake Martin at Westeros.org
  14. Linda Richards: Interview - George RR Martin. In: januarymagazine.com. January 2001, accessed May 26, 2016 .
  15. Write, george! Write! In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 27, 2015.
  16. Write, george! Write! In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 27, 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2017
  17. Power and feeling. NZZ February 8, 2015, accessed July 4, 2017.
  18. Beyond the ice wall lurking deadly spirits . In: FAZ , July 29, 2012.
  19. George RR Martin missed deadline for new book . In: Spiegel Online , January 2, 2016.
  20. Idiocy on the Internet ; georgerrmartin.com, May 13, 2019, accessed May 15, 2019
  21. George RR Martin: Bibliography. In: George RR Martin's Official Website. Retrieved December 23, 2009 .
  22. Jump up ↑ A Song of Ice and Fire - The Cult Fantasy Saga. audible.de, accessed on February 27, 2009 .
  23. HBO Pilot To Film In Northern Ireland. iftn.ie, April 23, 2009, accessed April 26, 2009 .
  24. 3 spin-offs: This is how Game of Thrones builds its own MCU. Retrieved May 7, 2019 .
  25. Review: Game of Thrones Ascent . Carol Pinchefsky, March 14, 2013, Forbes online magazine . Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  26. Game of Thrones Ascent Review ( Memento from May 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). Nick Tylwalk, February 21, 2013, Gamezebo online magazine . Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  27. Presentation at Telltale Games