The biggest fantasy series right now, and easily the biggest since J.R.R Tolkien first uttered “Hobbit,” is George R.R. Martin’ s A Song of Ice and Fire. From the Wall to King’s Landing, the series is epic in scope, rich in history, deep in character, and drenched in blood. Despite my appreciation of Martin’s transcendent storytelling, I have never been able to get past the copious amounts of blood, gore, and human cruelty that suffuse this beloved series. I realize that it is my own sensitivities that prevent me from enjoying this once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece, but I cannot help but ask: Why so much blood?
What is it about the darker side of human nature that fascinates us about this kind of storytelling? Why so many beheadings? Why so many human monsters? Don’t we have this kind of stuff in our world already? How is this ‘escapism?’ These are rhetorical questions meant for discussion only, I in no way mean to preach that this kind of storytelling is bad or even at all negative.
Why do we enjoy (perhaps the wrong word, but I hope my intent is clear) reading about these truly terrible and violent things from which, if we were faced with them in real life, we would (ok, most of us, I hope) recoil from in horror? Is it fascination at cruel, amoral behavior? Is it shock value? Bread and circuses? Mere curiosity? Is it something deeper that reaches all the way back to our violent beginnings as a species? All of this? None of this?
Violence and bloodshed are, of course, not new to fantasy fiction. Take this passage from one of the founding fathers of the sword and sorcery genre, Robert E. Howard:
“In an instant he was the center of a hurricane of stabbing spears and lashing clubs. But he moved in a blinding blur of steel. Spears bent on his armor or swished empty air, and his sword sang its death-song. The fighting-madness of his race was upon him, and with a red mist of unreasoning fury wavering before his blazing eyes, he cleft skulls, smashed breasts, severed limbs, ripped out entrails, and littered the deck like a shambles with a ghastly harvest of brains and blood.” – Excerpt from The Queen of the Black Coast, 1934
Um, ouch? This passage clearly defines the brutal nature of the world of Howard’s Conan tales. The scene described is horrific and bloody, but it nonetheless brings a thrill to the reader with vivid description and masterful use of the language. Tolkien, too, captures the brutal nature of conflict and battle. The Battle of the Five Armies, Helm’s Deep, and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields are filled with vivid depictions of death and violence as men battle for existence against the forces of darkness.
Despite the brutality of battle in the worlds of Hyboria and Middle-Earth, the violence there is typically confined to the battlefield. G.R.R. Martin pushes it to another level by bringing the violence home. Quite literally. From the moment a young boy is shoved out an open window, it becomes clear that no one is safe in Martin’s world. Beheadings, torture, rape, mutilation, and animal cruelty run rampant throughout this world. Yet this series is beloved by millions of readers, most of whom (I hope) find such acts to be reprehensible.
So I ask you, Faction readers: What is it about this that draws us? What repulses us? Is it in any way because of the violence that GRRM is so popular? Despite it? Is it a factor for you? How can I get past it?! Ok…that last part is my problem, not yours, but you get the idea.
Do you read Martin at all for the violence, or is it what, like me, keeps you away? Where does this fascination with brutal violence come from?
Of course there are no easy (if any) answers, but it forms the basis of fascinating discussion, and I look forward to hearing what the community has to say! This is the fantasy epic of our time. What does that, if anything, say about our world today?
