18. Perhaps the most blatant appropriation from history, the War of the Five Kings, fought across seasons one through four of Game of Thrones, is a fantasy reproduction of the Wars of the Roses
A core component of the show’s narrative between the closing episodes of season one and lasting into season four, and with the repercussions of the conflict resonating throughout following seasons, the War of the Five Kings is a protracted civil war in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Sparked by the death of King Robert I, the war is fought between three combatants seeking to claim the Iron Throne – Joffrey Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, and Renly Baratheon – as well as encompassing two independence movements led by Robb Stark, King in the North, and Balon Greyjoy, King of the Iron Islands.
Although condensed to only a five-year period by Martin, the War of the Five Kings is patently inspired by the English Wars of the Roses. A generations-long conflict, lasting for a total of thirty-two years from 1455 until 1487, the rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet – the House of Lancaster and the House of York – engaged in a violent struggle for the throne. Ultimately concluding, as in Game of Thrones, with the deaths of the entire male royal line, the throne was ultimately passed to a distant relative, Henry Tudor. Encompassing mothers ruling in their son’s name, claimants growing up exiled in distant lands, and a wealthy non-royal family acting as the true power behind the throne, the parallels are beyond count.