Ok, so there are plenty of bloody battles – and I do mean plenty and I do mean bloody – in Game of Thrones. And yes, there is incest and greed, murder most foul and mayhem in general, but I still contend that at heart Game of Thrones is a perfect romance.
Here are four reasons why:
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Jon Snow – The Ultimate Romantic Hero
Obviously, Jon Snow is the perfect romantic hero. Hell, he even has the hair to prove it. And that body – don’t forget that body. Oh my! I can give you dozens of reasons why he is the perfect hero, but I will settle for just a few. First, Jon is a flawed character, who learns and grows through the love of a woman. He comes to the Wall arrogant and naïve, yet by the time Egret dies, Jon has discovered he has much to learn, although we still find him perfect. He has matured, becoming both a better man and a better leader. Second, he knows when to pay attention to his woman, and when to focus on the world’s important issues. In the current season Jon may be attracted to Danaerys, but that must simmer while he prepares to fight the Whitewalkers. He is King of the North after all, with an entire people to protect. A hero never shirks his responsibilities. Third, Jon is a fierce warrior on the outside, but he is soft on the inside. He is a family man, protective of the Stark family, of his brother Watchers at the Wall, a loyal friend, and a man of his word. And did I mention that there are his bloody good looks? This is a hero worth swooning over if ever I saw one.
Tommen and Margaery – The Ultimate Sacrifice
Tommen and Margaery. What could be more romantic than a King who would forfeit life, crown and kingdom by throwing himself out a window for the woman he loves? Tommen may be a youthful innocent when his scheming family arranges a marriage with Margaery’s equally politically ambitious clan, but he grows up quickly and learns to reject his mother, be a king and stand by his woman. Tommen overlooks Margaery’s previous marriage to his older brother and quickly becomes enamored with the woman who initiates him in the ways of love. In a true “Romeo and Juliet” moment, Tommen throws himself from the castle window upon his wife’s death. If that’s not romance, I don’t know what is. After all, it worked for Shakespeare and has for over 400 years.
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Sex – The Ultimate Offering in Every Form Possible
There’s loads of sex. Contemporary romantic fiction is liberally sprinkled with hot sex and so is Game of Thrones. We have affection and sex from the beginning. In Season One in the loving marriage of Caitlyn and Ned Stark, and the premarital sex their son Rob partakes in leading up to the now famous Red Wedding. We have Dany’s wonderful training in the ways to tempt her Dorthraki husband and there is the constant coupling of brother and sister Cersei and Jaime, which fits the bill for many erotic fiction tales today. And for the sweet romance lovers, we have the generous abstinence of Tyrian during his brief marriage to Sansa. Definitely all romantic fiction material.
The Happily Ever After – Ultimately Couples End as They Should
A romantic story requires a couple, a crisis, and a resolution that ends in happily ever after. Here your view may differ from mine, but Joffrey’s death by poisoning seemed like the perfect end for his marriage to Margaery. Ditto, Sansa bringing in the hungry dogs to end Ramsey’s cruelty. Tell me you weren’t happy when that happened. I was positively gleeful. Sure, all of these are violent and some endings were technically less than happy but we cannot say that they were dissatisfying. They were incredibly satisfying. They offered that ‘aah’ moment as well as any happy ending.
But Wait, there’s more ….
Of course the series isn’t over either, but I think the characters who truly belong together in GoT have a tendency to find each other. From Dany and Jon – our key heroes in this saga – to secondary relationships, be they siblings like the Starks, real, like Samwell and Ginny, or bromance, like the loyalty we see between Tyrian and brother Jaime despite all obstacles that come between them. And, of course, poor Hodor, who is bound to Brandon Stark to his ultimate demise.
Still, I must hedge my bets on this whole hypothesis, for Game of Thrones has a season and a half left until its conclusion. As we know, anything can happen and usually does. But the possibilities are fraught with romance: Dany and Jon, Samwell and Ginny, Sansa and Littlefinger, even Brianne and Tormund. Still the winter is long and it is here.
Want more Game of Thrones?
- The TV Series: www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones
- The Books by George R.R. Martin A Game of Thrones / A Clash of Kings / A Storm of Swords / A Feast of Crows / A Dance with Dragons
Want more Romance?
- “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
- The Beguiling Bachelor Series – Bedazzled, Beholden and Bedeviled