Real Life Inspirations for Game of Thrones Characters

Ned Stark and King Richard III

Eddard "Ned Stark"

King Richard III

Both Ned Stark and King Richard III share similarities in terms of their political careers and personal lives.  To start with, both of them supported leaders who obtained their thrones by rebelling against inept kings.  Ned Stark plays an active role in Robert's Rebellion, which results in the overthrow of the mad Targaryean king and the establishment of the Baratheon dynasty.  Ned Stark continues to serve King Robert Baratheon by serving as Warden of the North and as the Hand of the King.  Likewise, Richard began his political career by supporting his older brother Edward in his efforts to depose of the mentally unstable King Henry VI during the English War of the Roses.  During his reign, King Edward IV entrusted his brother Richard to govern much of Northern England.  Similar to Ned Stark, Richard was admired by his peers for commendable public service and personal conduct.  Although  both men fathered illegitimate children, they remained fairly loyal to their wives and raised large families.  Moreover, the two men were admired for their loyalty and leadership skills. 

Although both Ned Stark and Richard were popular Northern rulers, they had little aptitude for court of politics, in part, because they clashed with their queens.  Ned Stark incited the wrath of Cersei Lannister when he confronting her about Prince Joffrey's illegitimacy.  His decision to confront Cersei stemmed from his wanting to prevent harm from coming to Cersei and her children.  However, rather than accept a quiet life in exile, Cersei induced Littlefinger to order Ned Stark's arrest for treason.  Similarly, Richard argued that the children of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville were illegimate, because their parents were never truly married, in order to justify his claim to the throne.  Although King Richard III clashed with the mothers of his rival claimants to throne, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort, he was reluctant to impose harm on women and children.  However, this proved to be his undoing, because he was outmanuevered by the two women.  During the Battle of Bosworth, Margaret Beaufort's son Henry Tudor killed King Richard III.  After being crowned King Henry VII, he married Elizabeth of York, the daughter of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, and the two began the Tudor dynasty.  Meanwhile, King Richard III's name in history was blackened by Tudor historians.  Many of the stories about King Richard III are unsubstantiated, such as the one about him murdering the two princes in the tower.  Thus, the political careers of both Ned Stark and King Richard III ended terribly, even though the two men were respected during their life times. 

Robb Stark, Robert Baratheon, and King Edward IV

Robb Stark

Robert Baratheon

King Edward IV

I believe that Robb Stark resembles King Edward IV during his younger years.  Both Edward and Robb Stark led rebellions against ruling dynasties after their fathers were murdered.  Edward's father Richard, the Duke of York, was killed by the Lancasters, and the duke's severed head was placed on a pike.  This event left Edward the head of the House of York, and Edward later became king of England after dethroning the Lancaster monarch King Henry VI.   Likewise, Robb Stark retaliated against the Lancasters when they executed his father by accepting the role of King of the North and by waging war against the Lancasters.  Although both King Edward IV and King Robb Stark were admired for their military skills and charisma, they often refused to follow the advice of their elders, especially when it came to their marriages.  King Edward IV created tension and strife among his Plantagenet relatives when he married the noblewoman Elizabeth Woodville in secret.  Some felt that King Edward IV should have married a woman with political connections and wealth such as the French Princess Bona of Savoy.  Similarly, King Robb Stark jeopardized his rule by marrying Talisa instead of the daughter of Walter Frey.  Not only did King Robb Stark lose a political ally, he and his family lost their lives at the hands of the Freys at the Red Wedding.

In contrast, the older King Edward IV is rather similar to King Robert Baratheon.  After successfully rebelling agianst the ruling dynasty, he ruled his country during times of prosperity.  However, he became fat and complacent over time due to his womanizing, drinking, and hedonism.  His early death led to political instability, because his heir was only a child at the time.  Clearly, the events in the life of King Edward IV inspired the story about the rise and fall of King Robert Baratheon.


The Lannisters and The Borgias

The Lannisters

The Borgias

The Lannisters are loosely inspired by the Borgias, one of the most notorious families in Rome.  After becoming Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia used his position to promote his family.  For example, he encouraged Cesare Borgia and Juan Borgia to pursue careers within the church and military, respectively.  He also arranged marriages for his family members in order to cement ties with prominent Italian royalty and nobility.  Although most of the stories surrounding the Borgias are dubious, their reputation for murder, incest, and corruption serves as the inspiration for the Lannisters.  For example, the rumored incestous relationship between Cesare Borgia and his sister Lucretia Borgia bares resemblance to that between Jaime and Cersei Lannister. 

Sansa Stark and Anne Neville

Sansa Stark

Queen Anne Neville

Sansa Stark was loosely modeled after Anne Neville, the wife of King Richard III.  Both Sansa Stark and Anne Neville were both into Northern nobility.  As the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, the "Kingmaker", Anne Neville was married off during her teenage years in order to satisfy her father's political ambitions.  Her first marriage was to Prince Edward of Wales (see The Bastard King), who possibly inspired the character of Prince Joffrey.  After the death of her first husband and father, Anne was left with a massive inheritance, which made her the subject of dispute between her brother-in-law George, Duke of Clarence, and her cousin Richard, Duke of Gloucester.  Despite George's attempts to hide her from Richard by disguising her as a servingwoman,  Anne married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who later became King Richard III.  Although Anne was directly affected by the events of the War of the Roses, little is known about her, because she kept a low profile.  Like Sansa, she is often viewed as a passive poltical pawn, but perhaps there is agency underneath subtlety of these two noblewomen. 

Theon Greyjoy and Arthur of Brittany

Theon Greyjoy

The events in Arthur of Brittany's life are rather similar to those in Theon Greyjoy's story.  Arthur, Duke of Brittany was the son of Geoffrey Plantangenet, the older brother of King John of England.  According to the laws of primogeniture, Arthur aruably had a stronger claim to the throne than King John.  With the support of his mother Constance of Brittany and  King Philip Augustus of France, Arthur rebelled against his uncle King John of England.  Moreover, Arthur took his grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine hostage.  In a sense, Arthur is similar to Theon Greyjoy in that he turned against his relatives and rebeled against a ruling royal household.  However, turning against one's relatives was not uncommon in the Plantagenet royal family.  In fact, Eleanor of Aquitaine supported her sons in an uprising against her husband and their father King Henry II during the Revolt of 1173-1174. 

Nonetheless, both Arthur and Theon failed to realize their ambitions and to hold onto their captives, and instead they became prisoners.  Arthur was outmanuevered by his grandmother, and he was eventually captured by King John, who was known for being cruel fot his prisoners.  Similarly, after Theon lost control of Winterfell and of the younger Stark brothers, he was captured, tortured, and castrated by the sadistic Ramsey Snow.  While Arthur was imprisoned at Rouen, King John was rumored to have ordered William de Braose to blind and to castrate the young duke.  Unlike Theon's captor Ramsey Snow, de Braose refused to do such actions.  Thus, King John might have killed Arthur himself during a visit to Rouen. When de Braose's wife Maude accused King John of murdering Arthur, he imprisoned Maude and her son at Windsor Castle, where the two starved to death.  Meanwhile, de Braose escaped to France.  King John's cruelty towards his prisoners and his possible murder of his nephew contributed to his unpopularity among the nobility. 

Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Stark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_of_England
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Robert_Baratheon
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Robb_Stark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_IV_of_England
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Borgia
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/House_Lannister
http://www.comicvine.com/house-lannister/4060-58665/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sansa_Stark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Neville
https://thecreationofanneboleyn.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/the-deconstruction-of-anne-neville/
http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/arthur_brittany.htm
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Theon_Greyjoy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine

The Bastard King: Illegitimacy and the Throne

King Joffrey

In the hit TV series Game of Thrones, doubts about Prince Joffrey's legitimacy led to political instability in Westeros.  Ned Stark is executed after discovering that Prince Joffrey and his siblings were not the children of King Robert Baratheon.  Instead, they were the products of Queen Cersei's affair with her brother Jaime Lannister.

Questions of Joffrey's legitimacy weakened his claim to the throne and destabilized his rule.  During his reign, his right to rule was challenged by his uncles Stannis and Renly.  Perhaps the reasons for Joffrey's cruelty stemmed from his insecurity over his legitimacy.  Historically, kings with weak claims to their thrones had dealt with their subjects and poltical rivals mercilessly.  For example, King Henry VII Tudor struggled to justify his right to rule England based on his ancestry, which was tinged by the possibilities of illegitimacy.  His father Jasper Tudor was the son of King Henry V's widow and the Welsh adventurer Owen Tudor and his mother Margaret Beaufort was descended from the Beauforts, the illegitimate offspring of John of Gaunt (see family tree below).  The Beauforts were legimitized when John of Gaunt married his mistress Catherine Syndford.  To stabilize his rule, King Henry VII killed members of the Plantagenet royal family who had stronger claims to the throne than his, and he imposed burdensome taxes on his subjects.    By eliminating his rivals and by generating revenue for himself, King Henry VII secured the English throne for his family.

King Henry VII, a possible inspiration for King Joffrey

The themes of illegitimacy and kingship as portrayed in Game of Thrones are loosely inspired by actual historical events.  Questions of a monarch's legitimacy can seriously disrupt the line of succession.  For example, during the War of the Roses, the Yorkist and Lancaster branches of the Plantagenet royal family fought for the English throne.  Some doubted that Edward Lancaster, the Prince of Wales, was the son of the mentally unstable King Henry VI, and circulating rumors indicated that the prince was the product of an affair between Queen Margaret of Anjou and the Duke of Somerset.  Like Prince Joffrey, Prince Edward had a reputation for being bloodthirsty in battle and for treating his wife Anne Neville cruelly.

Possible Inspiration for King Joffrey

Families arranged marriages in order to form political alliances and to increase the wealth and power of successive generations.  Since paternity was difficult to prove, women were expected to demonstrate faithfulness to their husbands, whereas men were allowed to have affairs outside of marriage.  Fears that illegimate children spawned by a wife could inherit the husband's property generated conflicts within royal families.   Although Prince Edward's legitmacy was questioned, it was never proven.  Were rumors surrounding Prince Edward's inheritance based on truth or were they politicially motivated?  Did bastards inherit the throne?

The recent genetic analyses of King Richard III's skeleton provides valuable insight on the legitimacies of the Plantagenet and Tudor royal families.  Scientists had discovered a false paternity incident due to female infidelity upon finding a mismatch in the Y-chromosome types between the Yorkist King Richard III and his Lancaster relatives.  This discovery re-ignited rumors that John of Gaunt, the ancestor of the Lancasters and Tudors, was illegitimate.  If that were the case, then all of the Lancaster kings (King Henry IV, King Henry V, and King Henry VI) as well as the Tudors had no right to inherit the English throne.  Altnernatively, King Richard III's grandfather Richard, the Earl of Cambridge, might have been the illegitimate son of Isabelle of Castille and her lover John Howard.  Perhaps this was the reason why Edmund, the Duke of York, left the Earl of Cambridge out of his will.  Although this break in the family tree would weaken the Yorkist claim to the English throne, the Yorkists are descended from two sons (Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and John of Gaunt) of King Edward III, the first Plantagenet king.  Thus, the break in the family tree can potentially do more to

jeopardize the Lancasters' and Tudors' claims to the throne than the those of the Yorkists.

 Note that the descendents of Richard, Earl of Cambridge could trace their lineage to Lionel, Duke of Clarence and Edmund,  Duke of York.  The Lancaster Kings were descended from John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster.  King Henry VII Tudor was descended from the Beauforts, the illegitimate descendents of John of Gaunt.  The Beauforts were legimized upon John of Gaunt's marriage to Catherine Swynford.  Owen Tudor, the father of Edmund Tudor, was married to Henry V's widow Catherine of France (not shown in family tree)

In addition to being descended from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and Edmund Duke of York, the offspring of Richard, Duke of York, are also descended from John of Gaunt from their maternal side.  Interestingly, Anne Neville, Edward, Prince of Wales, and King Richard III are all descended from John of Gaunt.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30281333 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulrodgers/2014/12/03/dna-casts-doubt-on-richard-iiis-legitimacy/http://persephonemagazine.com/2013/09/the-real-game-of-thrones-joffrey-baratheon-v-edward-of-lancaster/

Kit Harrington's Royal Ancestry

Kit Harrington as Jon Snow

Kit Harrington, who plays Jon Snow on the hit TV show Game of Thrones, has royal ancestry.  In fact, he can trace his lineage all the way back to King Charles II, who ruled Great Britain during the late 1600s.

King Charles II

King Charles II was the eldest son of King Charles I, who clashed with Parliament over religious, financial, and political matters.  Both his refusal to work with Parliament as well as his belief in the Divine Rights of Kings contributed to the English Civil War between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians.  After defeating the Royalists, the Parliamentarian general Oliver Cromwell ordered that King Charles I be tried for treason.  In 1649, King Charles I was executed, and Great Britain was briefly governed by Parliament under Oliver Cromwell.  Eventually, the eldest son of King Charles I returned from his exile to be crowned King Charles II.  His reign brought about the restoration of the Stuart monarchy and the end of republican rule.

King Charles I

King Charles I is remembered as one of the least successful British monarchs.  However, as the second son of King James I, he was initially not expected to inherit the throne, and the heir to throne was his popular elder brother Prince Henry Stuart.  Unfortunately, Prince Henry died at age 18 of typhoid fever, creating a succession crisis.  Considering that the reign of King Charles I ended disasterously, I wonder how historical events during the 1600s would have played out had Prince Henry lived.

Because Prince Henry never became king, little is known about him.  Although Kit Harrington is directly descended from King Charles I and King Charles II, I believe that Kit Harrington looks more like Prince Henry than either of these two kings. Indeed, Kit Harrington bares a strong physical resemblance to his Stuart ancestors.

Prince Henry Stuart

Kit Harrington

http://ethnicelebs.com/kit-harington http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/periods/stuarts/death-prince-henry-and-succession-crisis-1612-1614
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/charles_ii_king.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/charles_i_king.shtml