WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for books\seasons 1-5 of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. Proceed with caution.
Is it any coincidence that the sixth season of "Game of Thrones" aired its final episode around the same time that "Hamilton" creator and star Lin Manuel-Miranda handed over his title role in the hit production to his understudy, Javier Muñoz? Both have generated a lot of pop culture buzz recently, and these coinciding events only ratcheted up the hype.
Personally, I think it was cruel to put these two happenings so close together, since the "Hamilton" and "Game of Thrones" fandoms share members. Although highly dissimilar for multiple reasons ("Game of Thrones" has a mostly-white cast, unlike "Hamilton's" intentional racial\ethnic diversity; "Hamilton" focuses around very real events, while "Game of Thrones" comes entirely from fiction, etc.), their thematic similarities and exceptional craftsmanship bring the crossover appeal.
Here's who I think would tell whose story if the people of Westeros took to the stage and put on a show in the room where it happened....
Cersei Lannister - Angelica Schulyer
Both Cersei and Angelica are women too smart for their time. Their gender holds them back from assuming positions suited to their natural intellect and cunning. Cersei has finally managed to overcome this hurdle this season, but it took a lot of dead bodies to do it (not that she cares). Angelica deserves to be more than just the daughter and wife of rich and powerful men, but she never gets it. Only Hamilton lets her be his equal.
Angelica and Cersei also share the unfortunate fate of loving men they can never marry: Angelica because she gave him up to her sister (see "Satisfied," below), and Cersei, because he's her twin brother.
Unlike Angelica, who never physically acts on her love for Hamilton, Cersei continues to be intimate with Jaime. Angelica is definitely more of a sympathetic character than Cersei, but I feel that Cersei is very misunderstood and deserves readers' and viewers' sympathy, even as we hate her for her crimes.
Varys - King George III
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Everyone's favorite eunuch and the Mad King of "Hamilton" both have the same droll mannerisms and look similar in appearance. George lacks Varys' gravity, but, then, he still has all of his parts.
Maria Reynolds - Shae
I have some problems with the way David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and their team of writers characterized Shae while adapting her character for HBO. In the novels, Shae and Tyrion had a beautiful love story that put them in my top 3 GoT OTPs ("Game of Thrones" One True Pairings, for those not fluent in fangirl), behind Dany and Drogo (RIP #toosoon) and Jon Snow and Ygritte (also RIP #toosoon). "Game of Thrones": HBO Edition cheapened their romance, and Shae went from one classic archetype—"hooker with a heart of gold"—to another, more modern one: "gold digger."
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(Me watching Shae on "Game of Thrones.")
Only the readers of the Reynolds Pamphlet and her husband would call Maria Reynolds a whore. She had Hamilton out of loneliness, not as part of her profession. But both Maria and Shae came to their ruin at the hands of men—Shae more literally than Maria. They've known helplessness and hurt and let it make them stronger. (It also doesn't hurt that Jasmine Cephas-Jones would make an amazing Shae in a GoT musical.)
Eliza Hamilton - Catelyn Stark
These two characters exemplify the quote, "behind every great man is a great woman." Eliza shares Cat's quiet strength and devotion to family. Their husbands were both martyred for politics, and we hated to watch them die. Hamilton's and Ned's murders ripped apart two enviable power couples. Eliza and Cat are both the "best of wives and best of women" in their respective universes.
Philip Hamilton - Oberyn Martell
These two have "blown us all away" from their first introductions. Charming, passionate, impulsive, unforgettable—and dead too soon—The Red Viper of Dorne and the heir to Hamilton's legacy have a large fan following. Vengeance enacted on behalf of family created their downfall. Oberyn's demeanor is a little more world-weary than Philip's naivete, since he's older, but they come from the same kind of family: influential and rich.
Thomas Jefferson - Tyrion Lannister
Jefferson and Tyrion both know how to make a splashy entrance. These arrogant, smart and privileged ladies' men keep their serious side concealed until they need it. They resent those who have gained the favor of their fathers (Jaime, with Tywin) or father figures (Hamilton, with Washington), but sometimes accept favors from them anyway. Jaime and Tyrion have a better relationship than Jefferson and Hamilton, but they have that brother bond, and are less similar.
Aaron Burr - Littlefinger (Petyr Baelish)
Burr and Littlefinger keep their ambitions at the forefront. Each man always tries to prove himself, but for different reasons. Burr, an orphaned "trust fund baby," does not want to let the family legacy fall. He comes from the sort of background Littlefinger dreamed of having. As Littlefinger and Burr get closer to "the room where it happened," they sell out people close to them.
Most importantly, both Burr and Littlefinger have killed people they claimed to love in order to save face or advance themselves politically. Both murders could be considered crimes of passion, although passion of a different sort for each.
Alexander Hamilton - Daenerys Targaryen.
The two most compelling characters in their narratives have a lot of commonalities. Like Hamilton, Dany came from nothing, and Hamilton is "stormborn" in his own way.
Dany and Hamilton both entered politics young, but, since "their minds were older," they quickly rose past their older, more experienced, richer competitors—Burr and Jefferson for Hamilton, and her brother Viserys for Dany. Stubborn and hotheaded, lovers and fighters, these characters' boundless ambition and vulnerable humanity keeps us reading, watching and listening for hours. Martin and the HBO scriptwriters have not finished telling Dany's story. It will be interesting to see who lives and who dies over the course of upcoming seasons and books.
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