Religious Conversion in a Song of Ice and Fire
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“All Men Must Serve” Religious Conversion in A Song of Ice and Fire By Marie Hansen Master’s Thesis Department of Foreign Languages University of Bergen May 2017 Sammendrag Denne masteroppgaven undersøker hvordan George R. R. Martin’s episke fantasy-serie A song of Ice and Fire kan bidra til en diskusjon angående religiøs konvertering. Ved å støtte meg på forskning fra sosiologer, antropologer, psykologer og religionsvitere, har jeg analysert ulike grunner for konvertering hos fire utvalgte karakterer i Martins bøker. Jeg argumenterer for at konvertering sjeldent er et resultat av plutselig klarsynthet, men at det heller er et resultat av en mengde små og store medvirkende faktorer. Det første kapittelet tar for seg temaet om kontekst, og hvordan forskjellige faktorer innenfor kontekst enten underletter eller undertrykker mulighetene for konvertering. Kapittelet er delt i to, der første del tar for seg den totale miljøkonteksten som konverteringen befinner seg i, inkludert politiske systemer, religiøse organisasjoner, økonomiske systemer, etc., mens andre del tar for seg den umiddelbare verdenen til den konverterende, inkludert familie, venner, religiøst samfunn, og nabolag. Kapittel to fokuserer på hvordan det å miste sin identitet eller en følelse av tilhørlighet kan være grunner til religiøs konvertering. Ved å analysere karakterene Bran og Arya Stark, undersøker jeg hvordan de gradvis mister sine identiteter og sin tilhørlighet til Stark-familien, og hvordan dette er en viktig medvirkende faktor i deres konverteringsprosess. Det tredje og siste kapittelet belyser temaet “makt” i forhold til religiøs konvertering. Første delen av kapittelet er en analyse av Stannis Bratheon, hvor jeg undersøker hvordan hans søken etter makt virker som en viktig drivkraft for hans konvertering. Andre del av kapittelet tar for seg karakteren Lancel Lannister som et eksempel på konverteringen av enkeltindividet under prosessen ved massekonvertering. Her ser jeg på den mulige massekonverteringen av Westeros som en helhet nå når den religiøse militærorganisasjonen “the Faith Militant” har gjenoppstått. Kapittelet tar også for seg de mulige konsekvensene for det religiøse livet i Westeros som både Stannis’ konvertering og gjenoppstandelsen av the Faith Militant medfører. ii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Laura Saetveit Miles, for never giving up on me, and always pushing me towards completing my work. She has provided me with endless amounts of good advice, making me see Martin’s works in a whole new light. Our many, sometimes overly-excited, discussions of the books and the TV- series are also much appreciated. If not for her, this thesis would not be what it is today. I also wish to express my sincerest thanks to my family, without whom I would never have been able to finish this thesis. My father, supporting me with an infinite stream of what we like to call “flybensin”, or “flight fuel”, continually supporting me and motivating me over the phone in between great and distracting talks of football. My mother, for always telling me how proud she is of me. You have no idea how much those words means to me every time I hear them. Also, for her amazingly comfortable hugs, and many wonderful dinners and baked goods only a mother can provide, when I have visited. My sister for the wonderful support and kind words she has given me over the phone during my many episodes of frustration, for the many sister-trips we have taken these last few years, and for always telling me that she is “rooting for me”. And Last, but definitely not least, my brother, for always distracting me with hilarious memes, snaps, videos and great discussions about films and TV-series. You have given me the best kinds of breaks in between my writing sessions. Finally, I wish to thank my dear friends Anette and Tore for volunteering to read through my final draft, helping me see my thesis with two new sets of eyes. Thank you both for also keeping my mind sharp with the many lovely quiz nights we have been to throughout the year. Along with our game nights and other social events, they have served as perfect breaks from an otherwise hectic daily life. As one of my fellow students said to me after meeting you, “you’re lucky to have such good friends”, and I couldn’t agree more. iii Table of Contents Sammendrag ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. iv Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Characters ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Religions ............................................................................................................................................ 10 The following chapters ...................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 17 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 17 Macrocontext .................................................................................................................................... 18 Microcontext ..................................................................................................................................... 27 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................................... 35 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 35 Bran – the broken boy ...................................................................................................................... 36 Arya – a girl of many names .............................................................................................................. 49 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 64 Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................................... 67 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 67 Stannis – Azor Ahai Reborn ............................................................................................................... 69 Lancel Lannister – The Warrior’s Son................................................................................................ 85 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 96 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 98 Works cited ......................................................................................................................................... 104 Abbreviations Got – Game of Thrones CoK – A Clash of Kings SoS 1 – A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow SoS 2 – A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold FfC – A Feast for Crows DwD – A Dance with Dragons It is important to note that some versions of the book series divides some of the books, like the version that I am using which divides A Storm of Swords into two different books. iv For Martin André my fellow nerd Thank you for being the bitch to my jerk v Introduction “Who knows more of gods than I? Horse gods and fire gods, gods made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air … I know them all. I have seen their peoples garland them with flowers, and shed the blood of goats and bulls and children in their names. And I have heard the prayers, in half a hundred tongues. Cure my withered leg, make the maiden love me, grant me a healthy son. Save me, succor me, make me wealthy … protect me! Protect me from mine enemies, protect me from the darkness, protect me from the crabs inside my belly, from the horselords, from the slavers, from the sellswords at my door. Protect me from the Silence.” He laughed. “Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray.” (Euron “Crow’s Eye” Greyjoy, FfC 293-294) George R. R. Martin is undoubtedly one of the most popular writers of epic high fantasy in modern times, having made huge success with his book series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was also made into the highly successful HBO TV-show, Game of Thrones. The series currently consists of five