Necessarily, this is going to make this post a bit more of an omnium gatherum catch-all, with a bunch of discrete topics. This week, we’re going to keep looking at the elements of culture beyond simple subsistence (with the caveat, noted last time, that subsistence systems often dictate over elements of culture). Last week, we looked at the subsistence systems of historical Steppe nomads and Great Plains Native Americans and found that the Dothraki subsistence system was less than a pale imitation of them, having stripped out nearly every activity from the daily routine of survival which wasn’t brutal or violent. Martin’s claim that the Dothraki are “an amalgam of a number of steppe and plains cultures” holds up in the face of research. We’re looking at, in particular, the degree to which George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s Game of Thrones. This is the third part of a four part ( I, II, III, IV) look at the Dothraki from George R.R.
This series is now available in audio format.