THE MEANING OF “A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE”
Some say the world will end in fire,
“I am known for titles that have several meanings”
Revanshe: There is some question as to what “A Song of Ice and Fire” refers to. Some people think it dwells on elements, such as the wall and Others and dragons, while others think it refers more to a character or characters, the favored one being Jon. Any comments?
George_RR_Martin: No comments on that one … except that I am known for titles that have several meanings.
—Transcript of Chat with George R. R. Martin on March 18, 1999
“I like titles that work on several different levels”
Shaw: The series title (Song of Ice and Fire) draws on two images that are opposite. With these images, do you mean to suggest that any kind of peace and reconciliation are a lost hope for the people of Westeros?
Martin: No, not necessarily. I think the contrasts of ice and fire, of love and hate, all the things that they symbolize is one of the themes of what the series is about. You can’t really encapsulate that in a nutshell, but that’s certainly a part of it. I like titles that work on several different levels where the title seems to have an obvious meaning but, if you think about it, also a secondary meaning, perhaps even a tertiary. That’s what I’m striving for here.
—Interview with the Dragon, 2003
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
“That’s for my readers to argue out”
Shaw: As the novels unfold, Jon becomes increasingly identified with the northern cold and ice, just as Dany is closely tied to the southern heat and fire. Will these two ultimately embody the central image of the series, Ice and Fire?
Martin: That’s certainly one way to interpret it. That’s for my readers to argue out. That may be one possible meaning. There may be a secondary meaning, or a tertiary meaning as well.
—Interview with the Dragon, 2003
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
“People say I was influenced by Robert Frost’s poem, and of course I was”
Why your saga is called A Song of Ice and Fire, because of the Wall and the dragons or is something more beyond that?
Oh! That’s the obvious thing but yes, there’s more. People say I was influenced by Robert Frost’s poem, and of course I was, I mean… Fire is love, fire is passion, fire is sexual ardor and all of these things. Ice is betrayal, ice is revenge, ice is… you know, that kind of cold inhumanity and all that stuff is being played out in the books.
To say that for destruction ice
“greater and more dangerous threats”
For people who are not familiar with your work, the series takes place in an imaginary world. There is a struggle for control of the kingdom. This dynastic war is essentially one of three main plot lines. There are the other plot lines involving these sort of superhuman characters, and then there’s the exiled Targaryen daughter who seeks the return of her ancient throne. Why those three main plot lines?
Well, of course, the two outlying ones — the things going on north of the Wall, and then there is Targaryen on the other continent with her dragons — are of course the ice and fire of the title, “A Song of Ice and Fire.” The central stuff — the stuff that’s happening in the middle, in King’s Landing, the capital of the seven kingdoms — is much more based on historical events, historical fiction. It’s loosely drawn from the Wars of the Roses and some of the other conflicts around the 100 Years’ War, although, of course, with a fantasy twist. You know, one of the dynamics I started with, there was the sense of people being so consumed by their petty struggles for power within the seven kingdoms, within King’s Landing — who’s going to be king? Who’s going to be on the Small Council? Who’s going to determine the policies? — that they’re blind to the much greater and more dangerous threats that are happening far away on the periphery of their kingdoms.
And of course, you can see that all through history. It’s a common dynamic that takes place in history. You know, the Greek city-states, before the birth of Christ, you know, and fighting with each other, squabbling with each other, even as Philip of Macedon built up his armies to conquer them all. But you even see it in modern times, you know — the political struggles of France, under the Third Republic, while the Nazi threat is rising.
But the French politicians would almost rather befriend the Nazis than each other. And maybe our lessons in the modern day too. Who knows? I mean, we have things going on in our world right now like climate change, that’s, you know, ultimately a threat to the entire world. But people are using it as a political football instead of, you know … You’d think everybody would get together.
This is something that can wipe out possibly the human race. So I wanted to do an analogue not specifically to the modern-day thing but as a general thing with the structure of the book.
“Ice and fire of course are also opposites”
Q: The first question I have to ask you has to do with a poem that probably most of you will know, which is the poem by Robert Frost entitled Fire and Ice and it says … .
The first question clearly Mr. Martin is, what are the ice and fire of the poem in his work, are they desire, are they hate, are they good and evil, what are they?
GRRM: Well ice is frozen water. And fire, fire is the result of combustion when a substance unites with oxygen and gives off heat and energy. But are they hate and love and these other things too? Yeah of course. I’m working on a number of levels there, and I’ve always loved a certain amount of ambiguity. Words or scenes or sequences in books that can be read in many different ways, that have several meanings when you look at them, that mean one thing when you look at them this way, and another thing when you’re looking them the other way. Ice and fire of course are also opposites, they’re a duality and there’s a lot in my books that are about duality. Certainly the religion of Melisandre, one of the most important characters, I think is basically a dualist religion with the premise that there are two gods. It’s somewhat based on Zoroastrianism, and a little bit based on Catharism, Albigenses heresy who I know had some roots here in Spain once upon a time, before they were all killed. The idea of a world divided between good and evil, war between the two, which is so basic to so many fantasy starting with Tolkien, but much more so in the case of Tolkien imitators, was something that I wanted to recast and think about and maybe subvert a little. But I’m still using kind of the language of it, and some of the symbols associated with it. So all of these are grist for the mill, it’s not something as simple as saying ice is this and fire is that. They’re both many things. And one of the most important things is that both of them, ice and fire will kill you dead. So they’re both dangerous in their own ways, hate, love, desire, coldness, they can both be deadly.
—KOSMOPOLIS // George R. R. Martin - July 28, 2012
izzy806
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
prguitarman
kianamaiart
annaxmalina
