“Was it a God, a Demon, a Sorcerous Trick?". Magic, Performative Rituals, and Moral Standards in A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones

Abstract

The contrasting and evolving relationships between the concepts of magic and religion in both A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones can be analysed by comparing the beliefs and rituals described in the narrative with those documented in Greek and Roman source material. Characters with magical abilities embody Otherness from the viewpoint of the Westerosi patriarchal society, like in ancient Greece, where magic was predominantly associated with Persia and with women. Magic is achieved by using blood, fire, and spells, or through a god-given ability, in Greek charisma. Its practitioners can cast illusions, project their souls in other beings and manufacture ghostly assistants, abilities which were all mentioned in Antiquity. Magic is used to carry out very specific tasks: to obtain prophetic knowledge, to resurrect or reanimate the dead, to eliminate contenders for power, and to win battles; all those specific goals were described in Greek and Roman literature. Following the current trend in anthropology of religions, the narrative does not clearly distinguish magic from religion; however, the TV series ended up establishing a clear hierarchy of religions, like the early twentieth-century historians of religions who belonged to the “primitivist school” and whose conclusions were motivated by morals rather than by actual history.