Game of Thrones and the Monomyth

HBO recently aired the finale of the sixth season of the wildly popular television series Game of Thrones. The purpose of the present sample essay provided by Ultius is to discuss the relationship between one key revelation from this season finale and the concept of the monomyth. The essay will proceed through four main parts. The first part will describe the revelation from the finale itself. The second part will then delineate the relationship of the revelation to the monomyth. Then, the essay will compare this relationship to another relationship from another very popular story. Finally, the essay will reflect on whether one should expect the show Game of Thrones to resolve itself in accordance with the traditional monomyth, or whether some serious twist on the archetype may instead be in store for fans and viewers.

The Revelation in the Show

In Game of Thrones, there is a character named Jon Snow, who is believed to be the bastard son of the deceased king Ned Stark. Within the context of the show, being a bastard would essentially make Jon a kind of nobody: he had no real rights to any claims of descent or inheritance, and he was an outsider as far as society was concerned. This stigma of being a bastard would seem to have shaped much of Jon's experience of life over the course of the show as a whole. Ned's wife, for example, hated Jon, since he served as a reminder of Ned's betrayal of her. Likewise, although Jon was generally including as a part of the Stark family, he always seemed to know that as a bastard, he could never truly be one of them, and that the sense of family was all just more or less a fantasy. 

In the recent season 6 finale, though, it was revealed that this was not actually the truth of the matter (see Benioff and Weiss). A son of Ned has a vision: "after Ned stormed the tower, he approached his sister Lyanna Stark's blood-soaked bed, where she made him promise to protect her newborn son from harm. This is the baby that Ned brought back with him to Winterfell after Robert's Rebellion. Jon Snow wasn't his bastard; he was his nephew" (Bell, paragraph 4). In other words, it turned out that the entire story of Jon's parentage had been a lie, and Ned had perpetuated this lie in order to honor the last wishes of his dying sister. Moreover, given the backstory and context of this revelation, it is almost certain that the actual father of Jon would then be a man named Rhaegar Targaryen: a man who was the eldest son of a previous king of all the nations and the rightful heir to the throne. The Targaryens are the family that has the strongest rightful claim to that throne; and as the son of Rhaegar, this would mean that Jon himself was suited for the throne by virtue of his royal blood.

Moreover, many commentators have pointed out the especial significance of this revelation in conjunction with the fact Martin's original novel series, on which the television show has been based, is actually entitled A Song of Ice and Fire. As Yglesias has pointed out, the concept of ice is associated with the Stark family, since the Starks have been the historical rulers of the kingdom in the North; whereas the concept of fire is associated with the Targaryen family, due to the historical affinity of the Targaryens with dragons. According to the revelation, Jon's mother would be a Stark, and his father would be a Targaryen. This means that in a quite literal sense, Jon himself would be the "song of ice and fire" that is referenced by the title of Martin's entire novel series. This would, of course, be a highly significant turn of fortunes for a man who up until now thought himself to be, and was thought by the whole world to be, nothing but a common bastard.  

Relationship to the Monomyth

The concept of the monomyth has been developed by Campbell, perhaps most famously in his work The Hero with a Thousand Faces. One of the most important points made by Campbell is that in a very large number of ancient myths, a basic narrative structure can be found—a structure to which he gave the name of the monomyth. The main idea in these myths is that the hero is at first unaware of his own nature or destiny, and must thus be initiated into this mystery and called to go forth on his adventure. From this point, the hero faces a number of trials that progressively reveal his nature to him; this usually culminates in literal or metaphorical death, through which event the initiation of the hero is completed. Finally, the hero then returns to the ordinary world with some kind of secret power or gift—a power or gift that can redeem all of his people. This generally completes the monomyth cycle. 

In Game of Thrones, now, it is clear that Jon Snow fulfills the monomyth archetype of a hero who is completely oblivious of his own nature and destiny: he believes himself to be a mere bastard, when he is fact the son of a Stark and a Targaryen. Indeed, even at the end of the season 6 finale, Jon still does not actually know who he is, although he has clearly gone through several trials that have upped his status from mere bastard to the King of the North. Moreover, one of these trials consisted of Jon experiencing a literal death and resurrection, which is a crucial archetype within the structure of the monomyth. And Jon would now seem to be poised at a place where—as a result of his experiences, aptitudes, and royal destiny—he may be the only one able to save his people from the threats (both internal and external) that threaten to destroy them: internally by unifying all the kingdoms as the legitimate Targaryen heir, and externally by then turning this unified world to face the threat of the army of the undead from beyond the Wall in the North.

It is, of course, important to not treat Campbell's archetype of the monomyth in too literal of a way. It is after all an archetype, which means that any specific instantiation of the archetype will necessarily follow its own twists, turns, and contours. However, after the revelation of the season 6 finale, it is uncanny to note the convergences that undeniably exist between certain phases of the monomyth and certain phases of Jon's own experiences. In particular, the contrast between Jon's self-concept as a bastard and the actuality of his royal blood is one of the most classic reversals found in the monomyth. The hero thinks himself to be a common (or even less than common) person; he has no idea who he is; and when he is first told who he is, his natural reaction is usually to recoil in disbelief. The fact that Jon still doesn't know, this late in the story, is unusual from the perspective of the monomyth. But the reversal implied in the recent revelation is a classic exemplar of the monomyth. 

Another Case: Harry Potter

In order to clarify the nature of the monomyth, perhaps it would be helpful to apply it to another very popular story: the Harry Potter series. At the beginning of Rowling's story, Harry is living with his abusive aunt and uncle, knowing only that he was orphaned by his parents when he was still a baby. Soon, though, Hagrid shows up, and he is told about his destiny within the world of magic. As per the monomyth, Harry's initial reaction is disbelief. Eventually, though, he comes to learn that his parents were no ordinary people within the world of magic; rather, they were the ones who were responsible for the demise of the evil Voldemort, making them a kind of moral royalty within the world of magic. Moreover, Harry learns that the events that led to the demise of Voldemort marked him as well, such that he is not just some ordinary orphan in the world but rather the one who is destined to ultimately challenge Voldemort again and rid the world of him for good. 

Now, the parallels between the completed story of Harry Potter and the emerging story of Jon Snow should shed some light on the nature of the monomyth itself. Harry thought he was just a normal orphan but then learns that his parents were responsible for saving the world; Jon thought he was just a normal bastard, but would now seem to be about to learn that he has royal blood and may well be the true song of ice and fire. Again, this parallel is indicative not of some sort of plagiarism, but rather simply the fact that both Rowling and Martin are (consciously or unconsciously) drawing on the original source of the monomyth. Indeed, one of Campbell's key points is that the utilization of the monomyth is almost never conscious; people were making use of it long before any discipline such as comparative mythology could have existed. It would thus seem that the monomyth is actually reflective of certain primordial structures or archetypes within the human soul itself, which is why so many stories—both ancient and modern—make use of it, perhaps without even knowing that they are doing so. 

A Twist on the Archetype?

The plot of the show Game of Thrones has now passed beyond the point at which it can draw material from Martin's novels; that is, Martin has not yet wrote the story that is now being told by the show. It is therefore the case that no one actually knows how the show is going to end. Commentators have speculated, however, that the classic resolution of the hero's journey reflected in the monomyth—through which the hero staightforwardly saves the world—would perhaps be too much of a cliche for a story written by Martin. This is because Martin is known for reversing many of the heroic tropes normally found within the fantasy genre, and for killing of key characters in a way that few other authors would dare to attempt. In this context, if Jon were to just neatly realize his destiny and save the world, this would a very un-Martin-like reversion to ordinary fantasy tropes. 

This is how Grossman has put the matter: "George R.R. Martin is fond of sudden reversals. The tasty but poisoned dish, the false god who abruptly proves all too real, the unsalvageable rogue who strikes a hidden vein of decency when we—and he—least expect it" (paragraph 1). That is, Martin's narrative mind is very unorthodox, insofar as it stays truer to life than most narratives in its embrace of complexity and its rejection of superficial dichotomous conflicts between good and evil. In this context, it would be quite a surprise if Martin wrapped up his story in close congruence with the archetypical monomyth, which is nothing if not a classic a straightforward account of good, evil, and redemption. It would seem more in line with Martin's style that some sort of tragic reversal would occur, whereby Jon (or others) would learn of their true destinies, only to realize that it is actually too late to do anything with this knowledge. On the other hand, even Martin may feel the need to resolve his grand epic with a psychologically satisfying ending, even if this involves falling back onto the tropes of classical mythologies. This remains to be seen. 

Conclusion

In summary, the present essay has consisted of a discussion of the relationship between Game of Thrones and the monomyth. The main point that has been made here is that given the revelation of Jon Snow's parentage in the season 6 finale, Jon is now set up to fulfill the role of the classic hero as this is delineated by the archetypes of the monomyth. In particular, the reversal from bastard to true king implied by the revelation is paradigmatic of the kind of reversal that characterizes almost ever hero in terms of the monomyth. Viewers and fans, though, would perhaps do well to not become too attached to this interpretation, insofar as Martin is known for pulling off significant reversals of the narrative and mythical tropes that people have come to expect from other works of fantasy literature.

Works Cited

Bell, Crystal. "What Jon Snow's Parentage Really Means for the Game of Thrones Hero." MTV News. 27 Jun. 2016. Web. 30 Jun. 2016. <http://www.mtv.com/news/2897891/game-of- thrones-jon-snow-parents-revealed/>. 

Benioff, David, and D.B. Weiss. "The Winds of Winter." A Game of Thrones. HBO, 2016. TV show.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: New World Library, 2008. Print. 

Grossman, Lev. "Books: The American Tolkien." Time. 13 Nov. 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2005. <http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129596,00.html:>.

Martin, George R.R. Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1). New York: Bantam, 2011. Print. 

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic, 1998. Print. 

Yglesias, Matthew. "Game of Thrones Just Revealed Jon Snow's Real Parents." Vox. 26 Jun. 2016. Web. 30 Jul. 2016. <http://www.vox.com/2016/6/26/12029644/winds-of-winter- recap-jon-snow-parents>.