Skip to main content
Home

Information for:

  • Alumni
  • Applicants
  • Current Students
  • Staff
  • Parents
  • Job Vacancies
  • Covid-19
  • Cymraeg
My country:

Main Menu

    • Study Options
      • Study Home
      • Why Study at Bangor?
      • Undergraduate Study
      • Postgraduate Taught Study
      • Postgraduate Research
      • Part-time Courses
      • January Start Courses
      • Degree Apprenticeships
      • Study Abroad
      • Work Experience
    • Study Advice
      • Apply
      • Already Applied?
      • Fees and Finances
      • Scholarships and Bursaries
      • Get Ready for University
    • Explore Bangor
      • Virtual Open Days and Visits
      • Virtual Student Experience

    Find a Course

    Order a Prospectus

    • Student Life
      • Student Life Home
      • Bangor and the Area
      • Social Life and Entertainment
      • Accommodation
      • Clubs and Societies
      • Sport
      • Virtual Student Experience
    • Your Experience at Bangor
      • Student Support
      • Skills and Employability
      • Study or Work Abroad
      • Fees and Finances

    Student Profiles

    Student Videos and Vlogs

    • Choose Bangor
      • International Home
      • Why Bangor?
      • Location
      • Accommodation
      • Student Support
      • Contact Us
    • Apply
      • Entry Requirements
      • Tuition Fees and Scholarships
      • How to Apply
      • Already Applied
      • Study Abroad
      • Exchanges

    Country Specific Information

    Join us on a Virtual Open Day

    Bangor University International College

    Covid-19 Information

    • Research
      • Research Home
      • About Our Research
      • Research in our Academic Schools
      • Research Institutes and Centres
      • Research Portal
      • Research, Innovation and Impact Office (RIIO)
      • Energy
      • Research News
    • Postgraduate Research Opportunities
      • Postgraduate Research
      • Doctoral School
    • Events and Training Opportunities
      • Researcher Development
    • The University
      • About Us
      • Our Mission
      • Annual Review
      • Our Location
      • Academic Schools and Colleges
      • Services and Facilities
      • University Management and Governance
      • Vice Chancellor’s Office
      • Working with Business
      • Working with the Community
      • Sustainability
      • Contact Us
    • Working for Us
      • Job Vacancies
    • University Management and Governance
      • Policies and Procedures
      • Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
    • University and the Community
      • Pontio
      • Sports Facilities
      • Conference Facilities
      • Places to Eat and Drink
      • Public Events
      • Widening Access
      • Services to Schools
    • Business Services
      • Business Services Home
    • Collaboration Hub
      • Collaboration Hub
      • Funding for Collaborative Research and Development (R&D) & Innovation
      • Business Facilities and Networks
      • Consultancy, Specialist Expertise and Knowledge
      • Commercialisation and Intellectual Property (IP)
      • Student Placements and Internships in Business & Enterprise
      • Training and Continuing Professional Development
      • Degree Apprenticeships
    • Conferencing and Business Dining
      • Conferencing Facilities
      • Business Dining
    • Contacts
      • Research, Innovation and Impact Office (RIIO)
      • Get In Touch
    • News
      • Current News
      • Research News
      • Student News
    • Events
      • Events

    • Study Options
      • Study Home
      • Why Study at Bangor?
      • Undergraduate Study
      • Postgraduate Taught Study
      • Postgraduate Research
      • Part-time Courses
      • January Start Courses
      • Degree Apprenticeships
      • Study Abroad
      • Work Experience
    • Study Advice
      • Apply
      • Already Applied?
      • Fees and Finances
      • Scholarships and Bursaries
      • Get Ready for University
    • Explore Bangor
      • Virtual Open Days and Visits
      • Virtual Student Experience

    Find a Course

    Order a Prospectus

    • Student Life
      • Student Life Home
      • Bangor and the Area
      • Social Life and Entertainment
      • Accommodation
      • Clubs and Societies
      • Sport
      • Virtual Student Experience
    • Your Experience at Bangor
      • Student Support
      • Skills and Employability
      • Study or Work Abroad
      • Fees and Finances

    Student Profiles

    Student Videos and Vlogs

    • Choose Bangor
      • International Home
      • Why Bangor?
      • Location
      • Student Support
      • Contact Us
    • Apply
      • Entry Requirements
      • Tuition Fees and Scholarships
      • How to Apply
      • Already Applied
      • Study Abroad
      • Exchanges

    Country Specific Information

    Join us on a Virtual Open Day

    Bangor University International College

    Covid-19 Information

    • Research
      • Research Home
      • About Our Research
      • Research in our Academic Schools
      • Research Institutes and Centres
      • Research Portal
      • Research, Innovation and Impact Office (RIIO)
      • Energy
      • Research News
    • Postgraduate Research Opportunities
      • Postgraduate Research
      • Doctoral School
    • Events and Training Opportunities
      • Researcher Development
    • The University
      • About Us
      • Our Mission
      • Annual Review
      • Our Location
      • Academic Schools and Colleges
      • Services and Facilities
      • University Management and Governance
      • Vice Chancellor’s Office
      • Working with Business
      • Working with the Community
      • Sustainability
      • Contact Us
    • Working for Us
      • Job Vacancies
    • University Management and Governance
      • Policies and Procedures
      • Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
    • University and the Community
      • Pontio
      • Sports Facilities
      • Conference Facilities
      • Places to Eat and Drink
      • Public Events
      • Widening Access
      • Services to Schools
    • Business Services
      • Business Services Home
    • Collaboration Hub
      • Collaboration Hub
      • Funding for Collaborative Research and Development (R&D) & Innovation
      • Business Facilities and Networks
      • Consultancy, Specialist Expertise and Knowledge
      • Commercialisation and Intellectual Property (IP)
      • Student Placements and Internships in Business & Enterprise
      • Training and Continuing Professional Development
      • Degree Apprenticeships
    • Conferencing and Business Dining
      • Conferencing Facilities
      • Business Dining
    • Contacts
      • Research, Innovation and Impact Office (RIIO)
      • Get In Touch
    • News
      • Current News
      • Research News
      • Student News
    • Events
      • Events

Information for:

  • Alumni
  • Applicants
  • Current Students
  • Staff
  • Parents
  • Job Vacancies
  • Covid-19
My country:

Search

Close

Breadcrumb

Share this page:
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Cymraeg

Share this page:
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Forget Jon Snow, watch the young women to find out how Game of Thrones ends

This article by Raluca Radulescu, Professor of Medieval Literature and English Literature, Bangor University was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Sky Atlantic/©2017 Home Box Office, IncSky Atlantic/©2017 Home Box Office, IncFor Game of Thrones fans, the current series has been a bit of a mystery. As the television writers have picked up the storyline where author George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice novels ended, there is, for the first time, no original text to refer back to.

Much virtual ink has been spilled recently over the role of the female characters in the political struggle, yet one of the most crucial themes of this series is going largely undiscussed: the role of children, particularly young girls.

The children of Game of Thrones might form the thick-woven fabric of the tapestry we have been watching, but they have not really taken centre stage. There were little nods in past episodes towards the vital importance of the children in Game of Thrones: take the little orphans of King’s Landing, for example, who killed Grand Maester Pycelle of the Citadel – a rather more unusual turn of the plot. Later episodes have been more obvious about the power of children, but it is only now that the series is being so explicit about it.

The latest episode to air, episode six, lays the central role of children and young people on a little more thickly. Without giving too much away, the struggle between Sansa and Arya, the Stark sisters, seemingly Arya Stark: Sky Atlantic/©2017 Home Box Office, IncArya Stark: Sky Atlantic/©2017 Home Box Office, Inccomes to a head, while a shocking event involving Daenerys Targaryen causes her once more to tearfully utter the phrase “they are my children”, while telling Jon Snow that she is unable to bear a child of her own. We have also recently heard that current queen of the Seven Kingdoms Cersei is pregnant once more with a new heir to the Lannister line.

Seen but not heard

From the start of the series, and indeed Martin’s novels, the struggle over dictating the future of the Seven Kingdoms has been very similar to that during the real-life Wars of the Roses. Cersei’s naked ambition and her son Joffrey’s stark cruelty (puns intended) remind of Margaret of Anjou. She was the 15th century French queen to the mentally unstable Lancastrian king Henry VI, whose son – allegedly begotten in adultery, though not incest as in Game of Thrones – was Prince Edward.

Like Margaret of Anjou, Cersei uses her reputation – and children – to her advantage. She takes charge of the family fortunes and boldly looks at the future as an opportunity for herself. There’s every chance she’ll don armour at some point, as Queen Margaret herself was rumoured to have done during the Wars of the Roses.

Unlike Margaret, however, Cersei faces a battle with the upcoming dynasties of women. Cersei still believes that she is the most important woman in Westeros, but the younger females we first saw as children have come more into the limelight during this and the last series. Cersei’s power is waning, while other prominent women such as Daenerys, or indeed the young lady Lyanna Mormont – the head of one of the great families of the North – are unafraid to ride into battle. Even Sansa, who Cersei once tried to humiliate and oppress, is now standing in as ruler of the North while her half-brother Jon Snow seemingly prefers his place in the heart of the action.

Jon Snow: Sky Atlantic/©2017 Home Box Office, IncJon Snow: Sky Atlantic/©2017 Home Box Office, IncSince the first episodes, we have been watching these young women grow and change – but only now is their true significance being made clear. Where once they were shown in the more expected, traditional roles of a medieval female, now they are warriors in their own right. A feisty young Arya has transformed from the lively girl with her sword “needle” to an assassin, a “Faceless Man” trained in the dark arts and haunting Winterfell. Sansa meanwhile has become a different kind of fighter, going from dreams of being a princess to overcoming years of abuse and ultimately emulating her own strong mother, Lady Catlin Stark.

Valar Morghulis: All men must die

Yet Cersei is not that “old” – and potentially still has decades ahead of her to sit on the Iron Throne. If there’s one lesson that can be learned from Lady Olenna of House Tyrell – the wise older woman who tells Daenerys she has survived many powerful men – it is that even when women are no longer young and the focus of attention, they still have some influence to wield. Cersei may have lost her first three children – and the control she had in using them as pawns to her game – but her new pregnancy could very well serve to change that once more.

Ultimately lineages are the most important factor in winning the game of thrones – and it could very well be that Cersei’s new child grows to fight a ruling Daenerys, who, as of episode seven, had not yet named an heir to her throne.

As the battle focuses between the two – or three, if you count Sansa – queens, it has never been more clear that the young female combatants are now far more relevant than the adult male leaders – most of whom have been killed off. As children these women signalled change in dynastic struggles – but now they are grown up, they are heralding a second echelon of much wiser, perhaps untainted rulers: theirs is the future of Westeros.

Publication date: 25 August 2017

Home

Research

  • Doctoral School
    • Doctoral School
    • About Us
    • Funding and Scholarships
    • Doctoral Training Partnerships
    • Doctoral Supervisors
    • Links & Resources
    • Current Research Candidates & Staff
      • Training & Development
      • Competitions
      • Contact a Director of Postgraduate Study (PGR)
    • The Research Experience
    • Kess II
      • How to Apply
      • KESS II Scholarships
      • KESS II Partners
      • KESS II Contacts
    • News
    • Sustainability
    • Events
    • Contact Us
Home

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn

Bangor University

Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DG, UK

+44 (0)1248 351151

marketing@bangor.ac.uk

Visit Us

Maps & Directions

Policy

  • Legal Compliance
  • Modern Slavery Act 2015 Statement
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy and Cookies
Map

Bangor University is a Registered Charity: No. 1141565

© 2020 Bangor University