Since the new season of "Game Of Thrones" (GOT) is near I decided to make a comparison between that fictional world and our world. Yeah, I know that being a fictional world is not supposed to resemble our world, but you would be surprised.
If you haven't watched the show please DO NOT read the article because there may be spoilers ahead, and no one likes spoilers.
The first thing I want to point out is that "Game of Thrones" explores the greed of the different people who want the power. It is not only about who is the most powerful family, but who is actually willing to do anything to get to the throne. Also, there is something about that throne, the last kings were killed because of it. Comparing it to real life, in history there have been a lot of coup d'ètat, so it is a possibility that the leader of a nation is assassinated by someone who wants the power. It does not matter if they are not assassinated, in the real world power means everything and sometimes people abuse it. That is why having a show that explores how power can ruin a family, or even the world, is very interesting. Those who have power can do whatever they want, including the neglect of the people's needs.
There are certain families, in GOT, whose stories are explored. The Targaryens, for example, had the power for a while, but lost it to Robert Baratheon (the King Slayer). The power is held by the family who has the Iron Throne, so it is basically a dynasty. In our modern world, where democracy exists (or should exist), there are no more dynasties, but we can use examples like communist governments or ancient societies. In other words, the power is controlled by a small and privileged group of people, which govern over the whole territory from a central point. Furthermore, all the other government officials respond to the family who has the power. Even if there is a central power, each area has a powerful family who governs over that area. This would be called states. In our world, there is a president and each state has their own governors.
In Westeros there is a lot of violence because a war is coming. The people who live outside the frontiers are deemed as dangerous and savages. Also, there is a use of chemical weapons and child soldiers. In our world, those who are not understood are put aside by society, there has been use of chemical weapons while on combat, and there is still a problem with child soldiers. Also, in Westeros, marriages are arranged between powerful families to gain more power. In our world, some religions practice arranged marriages, but they are not to gain power.
Something that shocked me was the religious fanaticism explored in season 5, even Cersei Lanister was a victim. Religious fanaticism exists everywhere and it gets worse when you give them power. The Lanisters almost lost the Iron Throne because they gave to much power to the religious fanatics. In our world, religious violence exists and it often happens as terrorist acts around the world. Fanatics do not care about power, they want "equality" and "followers", but they also create fear and instability.
Our world is not that different from Westeros right? Not everything is mentioned here, but we will have to keep watching to know what else relates to our world.
