Have you ever wondered how the world of Game of Thrones works? It’s a fascinating universe full of dragons, unpredictable seasons, and mysterious magic. Even though it’s a fictional world, some parts of it can be linked to real-world science. Let’s explore some of these connections and see what makes this fantasy world tick!
In Game of Thrones, winters and summers can last for years, and they don’t follow a regular pattern like they do on Earth. On our planet, seasons change because of the Earth’s tilt as it orbits the sun. But in the world of Westeros, things are much more complicated.
The scholars of Westeros, known as the Maesters, try to predict these long seasons. Some theories suggest that the planet’s axis wobbles or that its orbit is unusual. However, these ideas don’t fully explain the irregular seasons. A group of students from Johns Hopkins University proposed that the planet might orbit around two stars, making its seasons impossible to predict. Of course, magic could also be the reason!
The land of Westeros has a rich geological history. Scientists have imagined that the North, with its icy Wall, is near the planet’s Arctic Circle. Meanwhile, the warm deserts in the South are similar to Earth’s 30th parallel. The landmasses of Westeros and Essos might have once been connected, just like Africa and South America.
Millions of years ago, glaciers covered Westeros, shaping its valleys and mountains. The jagged Black Mountains resemble our Rocky Mountains, formed by tectonic forces. This geological activity also exposed valuable resources like Lannister gold.
Valyrian steel, a legendary metal in the series, is lighter and stronger than regular steel. It’s similar to Damascus steel, an ancient alloy whose secrets were lost over time. In the story, Valyrian steel is forged with dragonfire, adding to its mystique.
Speaking of dragons, could they really exist? Some scientists think dragons might breathe fire like the bombardier beetle, which mixes chemicals to create a fiery reaction. However, the physics of flying and breathing fire make real dragons unlikely—unless magic is involved!
The Wall, a massive ice structure, would melt under its own weight in reality. Wildfire, a dangerous substance in the series, is similar to “Greek Fire,” an ancient weapon. Milk of the poppy, used for pain relief, is like our modern opiates derived from poppy plants. Dire wolves, giant wolves in the series, actually existed in the past as Canis dirus.
Combining science with fantasy makes the world of Game of Thrones even more intriguing. It helps us imagine how such a world might work and adds depth to the story. What do you think? Does adding science to a fantasy story make it more interesting, or does it take away some of the magic? Let us know your thoughts!
Remember, exploring these connections can make the story richer and more engaging. And as they say in Westeros, “A Lannister always pays their debts.” Stay curious and keep exploring!
Imagine you are a Maester trying to predict the seasons in Westeros. Create a model using a globe or a ball to demonstrate how the tilt and orbit of a planet could affect its seasons. Discuss with your classmates how a dual-star system might impact these seasons differently compared to Earth.
Using a blank map of Westeros, label and color different geological features such as mountains, deserts, and icy regions. Compare these features to real-world locations and discuss how tectonic activity might have shaped them. Present your map to the class and explain your findings.
Research the properties of Damascus steel and compare them to Valyrian steel. Conduct a simple experiment to test the strength and flexibility of different metals or materials. Share your results and discuss how the fictional properties of Valyrian steel enhance the story.
Explore the science behind fire-breathing creatures by studying the bombardier beetle. Create a safe chemical reaction that mimics the beetle’s defense mechanism. Discuss the challenges dragons would face in reality and how magic might solve these problems in the fantasy world.
Participate in a classroom debate on whether adding scientific explanations to fantasy stories like Game of Thrones makes them more interesting or detracts from the magic. Prepare arguments for both sides and engage in a lively discussion with your peers.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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[MUSIC] Science is coming. [MUSIC] The Game of Thrones universe is one of the most brilliantly complex and utterly fascinating fictional universes ever created. But it is a fictional universe, and the only rule of a fictional universe is that it is self-consistent. It doesn’t have to agree with our science, logic, or even our commonly agreed-upon moral code that says harming others is not a good thing. There is only one god in that universe, and his name is Gurm.
Despite that, many things in Game of Thrones can be linked to the real world, drawing inspiration as if through the thirsty roots of a weirwood tree. Many of these connections are interpreted by fans, but some have been verified by the author himself. There are many competing religious philosophies, numerous similarities to real-life historical characters, or the fact that they look like us. But we are not going to be talking about those… Here’s where I would give you a spoiler warning, but come on. You clicked on this. Spoilers are coming.
Why are the seasons so unpredictable? In the Game of Thrones universe, winters and summers are known to last years at a time and apparently show up when they please. We know that the summer/winter cycle normally averages around 5 or 6 years each, and as the story begins, the most recent summer has stretched to nearly ten years. On Earth, seasons are caused by our axial tilt leaning one side of Earth toward or away from the sun during our annual trip around it, but George’s world isn’t so predictable.
The Maesters of the Citadel are the scholars of Westeros, who are supposed to calculate when the next Polar Doom will arrive. Westeros isn’t an industrial society, but the architecture, metallurgy, and medicine we see in the Known World suggest that these individuals are a fairly scientific bunch. Many theories have attempted to explain the reason for these seasons, but most of them collapse quickly.
We know that the Westeros-ian world has a moon, and that it used to have two. Maybe their moon isn’t as large as ours, so the planet’s axis, unstabilized by lunar gravity, wobbles. However, according to astronomers, moons don’t stabilize planets; rather, a moonless planet should spin more evenly than one with a moon.
Then what if its orbit, instead of a nearly circular ellipse, was extremely elongated? Well, that doesn’t work either. While it could cause extreme seasons, they’d still show up on a regular schedule. Even complex combinations of orbital stretches and wobbles could be predicted by any society that knows basic algebra.
Well, then maybe it’s tugged on by the gravity of a neighboring planet, or its sun has a variable output. George R.R. Martin did write his first novel about a planet falling away from its parent star. It’s most likely that the Game of Thrones planet… it needs a name. Planet Hodor! lives in a very strange solar system, around a pair of stars. Last April, a group of graduate students from Johns Hopkins University published a paper showing that if the world of Game of Thrones was subject to the complex dynamics of three celestial bodies orbiting each other, predicting a planet’s seasons would be impossible.
Of course, it could also be due to magic, which is a simpler explanation. And what about that world anyway? At the planetary science blog Generation Anthropocene, Miles Traer and Mike Osborne have constructed a detailed geologic history of Westeros stretching back more than 500 million years into the fictional past. They determined that, since the North is cold enough to maintain a wall of ice year-round, it must be near this planet’s Arctic circle, and since the south is warm enough to be covered by deserts, which primarily exist near Earth’s 30th parallel, that Planet Hodor has a radius of 4,297 miles or about 10% wider than Earth.
We know that the First Men crossed into Westeros on a land bridge near Dorne, and like Africa and South America, the coastlines of Westeros and Essos seem to fit like puzzle pieces. They were probably separated beginning 25 million years ago by a spreading rift, like the one in the middle of our Atlantic Ocean. And 40 million years ago, Westeros was likely covered by a huge ice sheet, which retreated as glaciers, cutting the great valleys south of Winterfell and the Riverlands between Harrenhal and The Twins.
The description of the jagged Black Mountains sounds a lot like our own Rocky Mountains, which were formed around 60-80 million years ago. This would also mark the birth of the Mountains of the Moon and the high Westerlands, as north and south Westeros collided just like the fault beneath the Himalayas. That violent uplift is what exposed all that Lannister gold from its origin deep within the crust. That era also would have formed the Iron Islands.
Valyrian steel was an alloy forged in the ancient empire of the Valyrians, lighter and stronger than regular steel, and whose secrets were lost during the Great Doom, when volcanoes devastated Valyria. That Valyrian steel was forged with dragonfire, which is not actually a thing, but it’s almost certainly a reference to Damascus steel, an ancient steel alloy developed in India around 300 BC. Like Valyrian steel, the secrets of its forging were lost to history forever.
Speaking of dragon fire… what if dragons could exist? How could a living thing breathe flames? My colleague Kyle Hill came up with an interesting theory. Like the tiny bombardier beetle, dragons could secrete reactive chemicals that, when mixed, react violently and shoot out of an orifice like rocket fuel. And if dragons chewed on certain rocks and metals, they could coat their teeth in minerals, creating a spark.
Unfortunately, our idea of a fire-breathing flying dragon is about to come crashing back down to Earth, because physics. As Bran Stark found out the hard way, gravity seems to work in Westeros just like it does here. And that means the Mother of Dragons’ offspring are grounded. The largest bird that ever lived was the giant teratorn, with a wingspan of 7 meters. Not big enough.
Dragons are probably more like pterosaurs. But even the largest of those, Quetzalcoatlus, maxed out at 11 meters from wingtip to wingtip and 250 kg. But Daenerys’ dragons are bigger than that by the time they hit puberty, and dragon lore says they never stop growing. Even with a pterosaur’s hollow bones and ability to take off, it seems dragons wouldn’t work. Unless, of course, magic.
The Wall? Won’t work. A sheer cliff of solid ice stacked 700 feet tall would melt at the bottom under its own weight and would fall apart unless it was sloped. Wildfire? Works. “Greek Fire” was an ancient precursor to napalm made from petroleum, sulfur, and saltpeter and was the most potent weapon of its time. Add a little trimethyl borate, and you’ve got a flaming substance ready for battle.
Milk of poppy? Works. Our opiate drugs from morphine to other derivatives are all derived from the poppy plant. Dire Wolf? Works. The extinct Canis dirus was the largest wolf to ever exist, covering North and South America, with thousands found in the La Brea Tar Pits alone.
Of course, the universe of Game of Thrones would live or die just fine whether or not it agrees with our science. But by combining the two, as Raymond Chandler said, “The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous.”
What do you think? Does bringing science into a fantasy story diminish the wonder, or does it help the fictional world truly “exist” in our own? I think it makes the story richer. Let me know what you think in the comments. And remember, a Lannister always pays their debts. Subscribe, and I will pay you back with a new video every week. Valar Morcurious.
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This version removes any explicit language and maintains a respectful tone while preserving the original content’s essence.
Science – The study of the natural world through observation and experiment. – Science helps us understand how the universe works by using experiments and observations.
Physics – The branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. – In physics class, we learned about the laws of motion and how they apply to everyday life.
Seasons – Periods of the year characterized by specific weather conditions, temperatures, and lengths of day. – The tilt of the Earth’s axis causes the different seasons we experience each year.
Geography – The study of Earth’s landscapes, environments, and the relationships between people and their environments. – Geography helps us understand how mountains and rivers shape the land and affect human activities.
Glaciers – Large masses of ice that move slowly over land, formed from compacted layers of snow. – Glaciers carve out valleys and shape the landscape as they move over time.
Mountains – Large landforms that rise prominently above their surroundings, usually having steep slopes and a significant height difference. – The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in North America, known for their stunning peaks and diverse ecosystems.
Steel – A strong, hard metal made of iron and carbon, used in construction and manufacturing. – Engineers use steel to build bridges and skyscrapers because of its strength and durability.
Dragons – Mythical creatures often depicted as large, powerful reptiles with wings and the ability to breathe fire. – Although dragons are creatures of fantasy, they capture our imagination and appear in many cultural stories and myths.
Chemistry – The branch of science that studies the composition, structure, properties, and changes of matter. – In chemistry, we learned how different substances react with each other to form new compounds.
Fantasy – A genre of imaginative fiction involving magical elements and fantastical worlds. – Fantasy stories often include elements like wizards, dragons, and enchanted forests, taking readers on adventures beyond reality.
