Game of Thrones & Nietzsche's Logic of Power (NO SPOILER)

« Game of Thrones », a TV series phenomenon no one needs to introduce anymore, may well have constituted in itself, for the millions of viewers it gathers, an interesting introduction to Nietzsche’s theories. 

Indeed, however surprising this might appear, through blood, dead bodies, rapes and blood again, one can still easily perceive and understand many mechanisms of the logic of Power the philosopher describes in his works. I will try to make this obvious to you. 

Inside the books George R. R. Martin has written lives a great number of characters. Every one of them is driven by specific ambitions and desires, precisely described as Martin switches his narrative point of view at every chapter of A Song of Ice and Fire, making the reader move with him from one character’s mind to another.

However, one may quickly notice a common point between all the destinies presented : for every one to reach his/her objectives implies to clash with the other. In a cruel imaginary medieval world where impunity is a dominant rule, safety and pleasure can only be found through power. Thus, throughout the entire plot, Stark, Lannister, Baratheon and Targaryen try to fight their way to the throne of the realm, with the purpose of securing their family and beloved. 

The different families, their sigils and mottos 

What is Nietzsche's vision on the logic of power ?

Nietzsche, on the other hand, focuses in an important part of his work on the analysis of the logic of power at work in our society, and its link with the notion of moral.

For Nietzsche, moral does not derive from altruist actions that society would have forgotten were enacted with selflessness, as his contemporary thinkers (Rée, Bentham, Spencer) claim. To him, an « altruist » side could not be subject of a memory-lapse, because it is inherent to the altruism that the self-sacrifice related to it has a positive effect for the beneficiary. As a consequence, the origin of the History of moral has to be found elsewhere.

This is this reflexion that brings Nietzsche to think of moral as the result of a building process having precise and rational roots : 

In former times, as power was unequally divided, a small amount of noble people ruled over the overwhelming number of slaves at their feet. Back then, moral did not exist in its contemporary form, as the nobles, free of any opposition, created a set of values in which they stood high, having power being considered as « good », while lacking power and the qualities attached to it is seen as « bad ». 

Such a structural unequal sharing in power and its consequences embody the trigger of a particular state of mind in the slaves’ mind : Ressentiment. This feeling is a strong hatred grown on the fertile soil of the pain they go through. Setting aside the notions of « strong » and « weak », and driven by their ressentiment, they imagine a world in which their pain is not pointless, and will be rewarded. In this world they create,  it is no longer the rule of power that is at work (the distinction between « strong » and « weak »), but rather a distinction between « good » and « evil ».

This fantasy would have remained one if not for the entry of a third actor in the « game of thrones » : the second sons. In a world where primogeniture is the dominant habit, these boys have been set aside from power after having tasted it, and are reduced to the role of the priests. However, they are full of envy, ready to make constant efforts in order to obtain what they closely missed. 

To do so, priests, basing themselves on the world created by the slaves’ Ressentiment, established that one is to be considered free of his/her actions, and that he/she will be judged according to what his/her choice was. From now on, the adjective « good » is, according to the priests, to be applied to actions being taken in favor of those who suffer. To match with this new set of values, they introduce the notion of « pure/impure », spiritually being able to go beyond the « good » and « bad » favored by the nobles. The consequences of these modifications are the priests taking control over every single action of the masters. Whereas before, they did not doubt the legitimacy of the oppression they were inflicting on the weak, they then dare not fully make use of their strength, afraid of being categorized by the priests as « impure ».

In the end, according to Nietzsche, the Ascetic Ideal established by these practices is a turning point of the History of Moral and explains the subsidiaries developments towards the contemporary notion of moral, as well as a fundamental notion for the study.

How is this theory related to the events told in A Song of Ice and Fire ?

As presented above, the characters depicted are eager to fulfill always-increasing power needs. To do so, they do not hesitate to use a large panel of cunning strategies. This lust for strength and authority goes as far as some characters even trying to seize the influence held by the « Church » or the religious authority in place. Concretely, the powerful royal family in place goes beyond the limits applied by the religious authorities in town. For these characters making the best out of any opportunity they meet from the beginning of the novel, this a very wrong move, that brings the entire people against them and reveal that individual power may be overshadowed by the multiplicity of weaknesses. 

As a consequence, Game of Thrones delivers an interesting insight on the bond religion and slaves have come to develop : religious moral, even in a tyrannic political system were nobles pay not much attention to the priestly mode of valuation, embodies in the slaves’ spirits the last barrier against the entire breakdown of resistance against the strong. Somehow, religious precepts Nietzsche think of as ways for second sons to claim their due helped maintaining a certain order in societies were nothing else was able to prevent the masters from completely enslaving the weak.

How powerful they might have been, Game of Thrones nobles transgressing the Ascetic ideal are brutally thrown into Nietzsche's logic : the moral established by the priests allows for a control of the powerful by the weak. 

Do you agree with the arguments presented ? Are you familiar with any other illustration of Nietzsche theory ? I would like to read whatever reactions you may have to this post and would gladly answer to them.