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Ida Rochani Adi - Popularizing Epic NarrativeHUMANIORA

VOLUME 24 No. 3 Oktober 2012 Halaman 303 - 314

* English Department, Faculty or Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada

POPULARIZING EPIC NARRATIVEIN GEORGE R.R. MARTIN’S A GAME OF THRONES

Ida Rochani Adi*

ABSTRAK

Penelitian ini bertujuan mendiskripsikan bagaimana menghidupkan epos pada awal abad ke-21melalui kajian cerita fantasi epos fenomenal Amerika, A Game of Thrones. Sejalan denganperkembangan manusia yang semakin mengandalkan rasionalitas, epos yang jauh dari rasionalitasseharusnyalah hilang dari kehidupan masyarakat. Akan tetapi, pada masa sekarang ini epos masihberpengaruh kuat dalam masyarakat, seperti yang ditunjukkan oleh cerita fantasi A Game of Throneskarya George R.R. Martin, seorang penulis yang dikategorikan sebagai salah seorang yang palingberpengaruh di dunia tahun 2011. Penelitian kualitatif dengan pendekatan genre dan semiotika inibersimpulan bahwa ada unsur-unsur fantasi yang kental dalam formula dan arketipenya. Dalammemenuhi selera pembaca, formula dibangun melalui representasi rasional dan kombinasi yang tepatantara konvensi dan invensi. Dari analisis konvensi dan invensi ini, penelitian juga menunjukkan adanyahubungan yang erat antara mitos dan cara hidup masyarakat meskipun dalam dunia modern sekalipun.

Kata Kunci: epos, genre, fantasi, legenda, mitos, populer

ABSTRACT

This research is intended to show the sustainability of epic in latest years of human historythrough the most phenomenal fantasy in American literature, A Game of Thrones. Along with thecapability of human beings in thinking clearly and sensibly, it is commonsensical that people tend tofree themselves from irrationality. The reality shows, however, that the existence of epic fantasy stillhas power in appealing audiences or readers. This is the case with A Game of Thrones written byGeorge R.R. Martin who was given the award of One of The Most Influential People in 2011 byTime magazine. This qualitative research, using genre approach, finds out that in order to becompatible with today’s society, an epic seen in A Game of Thrones, which is commonly known as astory centering on the legendary hero and his heroic deed in oral folk tradition, keeps its power asan epic fantasy narrative through certain archetypes and formulas. Through genre analysis usingsemiotic approach, the research brings about conclusions that the elements of high fantasy, elementsbuilt through rational representation, and a smart combination of convention and invention bringsabout its popularity. It is also concluded that there is a close relationship between the myth and themode of people living even in the most modern context.

Keywords: epic, genre, high fantasy, legend, myth, popular

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INTRODUCTION

Along with the development of how peoplelive, think and feel, change in every aspect of lifeis inevitable. This also concerns with values,aesthetic criteria, taste, and methods on howpeoplemake justificationoversomething. Literarywork of art also experiences the same asconfirmed by Gans (1974: 70-71) and Davis(1992: 9-10). Lakoff and Scherr (1984: 29) alsopoint out: “Beauty is defined by those in power,and as the possession of power shifts, beautywill vary with it. Since what is beautiful at anytime and place is determined by the vagaries offashion, it is unpredictable and not based on anysort of universal aesthetic.” This change can beclearly seen in popular literary genre.

This becomes more important when dealingwith epic. Epic is a work of literature or film havingheroic deeds as its subject matter (http://dictionary.reference.com). An epic regarded asa story of the ancient life can be said as movingaway far frommodern life. It is evenmoving fartherfrom today’s reality when the epic is dramatizedin fantasygenre which is known as a storydealingwithnon-reality. How cana work dealing withnon-reality and taking place in the old days stillfascinate audience knowing from the popularityof epic fantasy like AGame of Thrones byGeorgeR.R. Martin.

This novel is actually part of a series entitledASong of Ice and Fire. Although the novel seriesis planned to comprise seven books, only five ofthemare available.Theyare:AGameofThrones,A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast ofCrows,andADance with Dragons. These novelsare adapted into TV series Game of Thrones,the first season of which debuted in the U.S. onApril 2011. Game of Thrones, which is still airedin three seasons, is well received by the publicand nominated and won numerous awards.Season 1 won EmmyAwards as the OutstandingDrama Series and Best Television Series—Drama at 69th Golden GlobeAwards.The secondseason is adapted from the second book of ASong of Ice and Fire novels namely A Clash ofKings which is aired on HBO onApril 2012.

A Game of Throne is the first book of Martin’sseries entitledASong of Ice andFire. It comprises759pages in 73 chapters.Although the novelwonseveral awards, it was not until 2011 that the storybecame a New York Time Best Seller. This canbe said as a result of HBO television series thatpremiered in April, 2011. The question raised,then, is how can the novel become popular 15years after it was first published. Is it because thenovel meets the taste of today’s readers while itcould not in the year of its publication? Or is itbecause the inviting powerof thebook that resultsfrom other factors than the book itself? Knowingfrom the fact that Martin began writing the novelin 1991, we can then raise a question: how couldhe possibly grasp the idea of making such epicfantasy? What kind of convention did he makeuse of? What invention did he create that makesthe novel fulfill today’s readers’ need? Thosebecome the research questions on which thisstudy is based.

With the development of the internet, thenovel is also adapted into a social network gameslikestrategy boardgame, roleplaying games, andcollectible card games. The Best TraditionalBoard Game was also awarded in 2003. Besidesthe success of television series adaptation, thenovel was also made into comic. WhenA Gameof Thrones successfully penetrates the marketand becomes a source of inspiration for manypeople to producemoreadaptations, thequestionraised then is: what is it in A Game of Thronesthat can move people to consume it? This is alsoan important question to answer. Therefore, theresearch objective is formulated as follows: (1) toexamine what kind of formula are used in the epicfantasyAGame of Thrones and (2) to investigatethe reasons behind its popularity, and to makejustification on the cultural behavior or universalpattern that may underlie its popularity.

Whendealing withpopulargenre,onecannotplace his or her mind in literary world tradition, asgenre in popular literature is fluid, running throughwith the development of what people like anddislike. It can be even said that since genre muchdepends on readers there is no static criteria of a

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genre. This assumption is based on the fact thatfirst, there is no commonly recognized definitionof popular literary genre as critics use the wordto refer to anything they want and there is oftendisagreementamong them. Thisargumentmarksthat study on popular literature as intended in thisresearch is important to be carried out.

The inclination toward epic narrative can beseen in the emergence of a lot of epic novels,films, and television series since the year 2000.Along with Martin’s A Game of Thrones, forexample, are Steven Erickson’s The MalazanBook of the Fallen which consists of eight books,J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy The Lord of the Rings,which became popular in the year 2000s throughfilmseriesalthough thenovelwaswritten in1950s,The Gladiator, The Prince of Persia, Clash ofthe Titans, and others. The occurrence ofabundant epic fantasy narratives shows that thiskind of story still has appealing power in society.Those facts bring about an argument that theremust be reasons behind such popular tendency.

Epic literature originally comes from the oraltradition of ancient civilization in the form of poetryand commonly presented in narrative, dramatic,and lyric forms. The famous examples of epicnarrative poems in English literature are JohnMilton’s “Paradise Lost”, LordByron’s “DonJuan”,and anonymous Beowulf. It is commonly knownthat the epic literature can be in several differentgenres such as war epics, historical epics,romantic epic, science fiction epics, and fantasyepics. Such categorization of epic, however, isbased on historical observation rather thanestablished definition of a genre or sub-genre.

A Game of Thrones can be categorized ashaving fantasy genre. Fantasy is defined as atype of stories that deals with non-reality. Sinceother genre like science fiction or horror can alsodeal with non-reality, a clear-cut definition of agenre is not easy to formulate. Therefore, if epicfantasy genre is popular, it must have animportant position in the society, “it becomes amatter of cultural behavior that calls forexplanation along with cultural patterns” (Cawelti,1976: 21). Hall also proposes a definition of

‘popular’as “forms and activities which have theirroots in the social and material conditions ofparticular classes, which have been embodied inpopular traditions and practices” (Hall, 1998: 449)

With regard to popular literature, severaltheories underlying this study are put forward.Popular literature as a product of popular cultureis often “authorless” (Mukerji, 1991: 50). Thismeans that the most important element inpopularliterature is why and how the popular literaryworks reach the public. Dealing with popularnarratives, Kaminsky (1974: 214) points out thatanyting todowithpopularnarratives, “itspopularityis not mystical. It … corresponds to an interest,even a need of viewing public.”

Since A Game of Thrones is proved to havethe capability of attracting wide readers, it mustoperate within a system or a structureunderstandable to the readers.Although the storyis an epic fantasy whose epic is fictive, it can,one way or another, reflect common cultural beliefas Metz, one of the most important theoreticiansin film semiotics, says:

The Plausible, I said, is cultural and arbitrary:I mean that the line of division between thepossibilities it excludes and those it retains (andeven promotes socially) varies considerablyaccording to the country, the period, the art,and the genre (1974b: 244).

Relating what Metz states and the popularityof A Game of Thrones, it can be argued that thenovel must reflect culturally held beliefs orcommon universal values and taste. In order tofind out such reflection, the investigation first ofall should deal with the elements or the formulasof the story as intended in this research.

Investigating formula of popular literaryworks, the research then operates within genreanalysis. The word “genre” generally means kindor classification and it is generally used in literaryworld referring to literary forms like prose, poetry,and drama. In its development, it experiencesvariations depending on, for example, themes,forms, characterizations etc. Wellek and Warrenstates:

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Genre should be conceived, we think, as agrouping of literary works based, theoretically,upon both outer form (specific metre orstructure) and also upon inner form (attitude,tone, purpose—more crudely, subject andaudience). The ostensible basis may be oneor the other (e.g. “pastoral” dan “satire” for theinner form: dipodic verse and Pincaric codefor the outer), but the critical problem will thenbe to find the other dimension, to complete thediagram” (1956: 231).

If genre means categorization, the questionthen is what kind of classification does popularliterature belong to? Genre in popular fiction is“subject to constant process of change andadaptation. Because different audiences will usea genre in different ways at different times, itsboundaries can never be rigidly defined, and atthe same time it is susceptible to extensivesubdivision” (Maltby, 1995: 108). The categoryof a genre, therefore, is made by the readers asTudor (1986: 7) states that genre “is what [people]collectively believe it to be”. As long as it isconcerned with the reader, the categorization ofa certain genre is difficult because genres areflexible. Genre “becomes an ever changing andevolving concept” (Basinger, 1994: 108) asreaders’ taste is always changing along with thedevelopment of the society.

Genres are so varied that Fowler (1989: 216)even argues that there are so many unidentifiedgenres. According to Chandler (1997:68) “Theclassificationandhierarchical taxonomyofgenresis not a neutral and objective procedure”.Therefore, genre in popular fiction according toone source can be different from other source asFeuer (1992: 144) states: “A genre is ultimatelyanabstract conception rather than something thatexists empirically in the world.”. According toTasker (1993:55) “Genre is in fact a mobilecategory, and the bounds of generic purity cannotbe clearlydrawn within an industrial context whichis constantly developing, shifting the terms ofpopular narrative.”

Dealing popular narrative, Kaminsky (1985:226) states: “Each genre has its roots in myth”From this statement, it can be argued, in epicfantasy narrative, there must be certain elements

that show the continuance of the myth.Nevertheless, myth and genres also rise and fallin cultural favor (Slotkin, 1985: 2). On theconcepts of myth and genre, Slotkin defines themas follows:

Myth has to do with the continuity of meanings:the transmission from generation to generationof a characteristic ideology or system of beliefsand values, embodied in a continuously evolvingset of narrative fictions and a language ofsymbols. Genre has to do with the continuity offorms: the persistence and the development,from generation to generation, of particularways of telling or transmitting stories, makingsymbols, structuring systems of representation.The concept of myth directs our attention towardthe ways in which our material and social historyshapes our cultural productions (1990: 1).

Liszka (1989: 164) points out: “a myth is asymbolic, idealized representation of the socialreality to which it is organically related. Society isnot symbolic order. Rather, society is the realityfrom which and for which mythologies engenderrepresentation.” He further states: “myth is aproduct of society and the means by which thesociety recreates itself in symbolic form” (Liszka,1989:165). Barthes dealing with myth todayperceives: “…myth isasystem ofcommunication,that it is a message. This allows one to perceivethat myth cannot possiblybean object, a concept,or an idea; it is a mode of signification, a form.Later,weshall have toassign to this formhistoricallimits, conditions of use, and reintroduce societyto it…” (1972:109).

Based upon such statements, this researchthen uses semiotic approach as a means ofmaking justification because “meaning is not‘transmitted’ to us, we actively create it accordingto a complex interplay of codes or conventions ofwhich we are normally unaware” (Chandler,2007:11). Through Barthes’s concept of myth, itcan be argued that myth is an irregular systembecause it is based on the construction alreadyexisting before and myth is second–ordersemiological system (1972: 114).

Besides semiotic approach, genreperspectives is also used as an approach.

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Therefore thereare twoanalysescarriedouthere,genre and semiotic analyses, each of which usesadifferentapproach.Oneapproachcomplementstheother,producingamorecompleteandcomplexanalyses. Therefore, no single approach is moreimportant than the other. By using a semioticapproach the research is intended to show howmessagesare constructed inorder to explain howA Game of Thrones embodies meaning and howthis meaning is transmitted, signified, to thereaders. The genre approach is used to explorethe historical and syntactical meaning of the epicfantasy genre.

This isqualitative research.Approachingdataqualitatively or interpretively has “reflective”characteristics in nature because qualitativeapproach places the researcher as the subject ininterpreting data. Therefore, interpreting data isclosely related to researchers’s interpretation. Intheoretical tradition, this research is put ininterpretivism perspective underlying symbolicinterraction. In otherwords, this research isplacedin semiotic perspective.

This qualitative research is textual analysisin nature. As textual analysis, this studyinvestigates how the popular novel A Game ofThronesmakes meaning in the formulationofepicfantasy genre. The formulation of the genre isexpected to find out how the novel becomespopular. The primary data in this research is thepopular novel A Game of Thrones. As the novelis imaginative creation or fictive narration, factualevidence is used as secondary or supplementarydata. The supplementary data which are usefulin the signification includes both written, printed,or audio-visual media which are available inlibraries, archives, and centers for visual historyin the form of, for example, posters, photos,magazines, and music.

Using the model offered by Glaser andStrauss (1985: 64-68) in grounded research, theresearch processed the data taken from thepopular novel A Game of Thrones by orderingthe formula in the story in terms of epic fantasy tosee the similarities and differences. Thecategories made depend on the intended

analysis. For the purpose of genre analysis, thecategories fall into theme, setting, icon, motif, andother formula of the novel, whereas for semioticanalysis, the data were made into units ofsignifiers, signified and signs of both first-orderand second order of semiological system asproposed by Barthes.

The genre analysis is carried out withsyntactic approach. According to Webster NewWorld Dictionary, the term syntactic which isusually used in linguistic context means “thearrangement of words as elements in a sentenceto show their relationship”. In the context ofpopular literary studies, however, “syntactic viewprivileges the structures into which they arearranged” (Altman, 1986: 30). Such method ofanalysis is intended to lead to an understandingof A Games of Thrones as the work in questionand explore the reasons for the persistence andchange of myths, types, forms, and formulas. Instudying the genre, therefore, this research isintended to provide a framework of the formula ofepic fantasy genre.

Since formulas, as it is other form of myth,deal with conventions rather than inventions(Cawelti, 1971: 27-29), this genre analysis meanssearching for the conventions and inventions inthe epic fantasy genre. The conventionsinvestigatedwill show the regularities in thegenre,while inventions foundwill show changes. Inotherword, this analysis is like using a historicalapproach. It is conductedbycataloguingcommontraits, characters, attitudes, settings, themes, andmotifs inAGame of Thrones.

In carrying out semiotic analysis, twosemiological systems proposed by Barthes ischosen as a method of making justification. Onsemiotics, Barthes points out:

There are two semiological systems, one ofwhich is staggered in relation to the other: alinguistic system, the language (or the modesof representation which are assimilated to it),which I shall call the language-object, becauseit is the language which myth gets hold of inorder to build its own system; and a myth itself,which I shall call metalanguage, because it is asecond language, in which one speaks about

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the first. When he reflects on a metalanguage,the semiologist no longer needs to ask himselfquestions about the composition of the languageobject, he no longer has to take into accountthe details of the linguistic schema; he will onlyneed to know its total term, or global sign, andonly in as much as the term lends itself to myth(1972: 115)

The theories above underlie the methods ofanalysis to determine signification of the popularnovel.As the approach suggests, in carrying outsemiotic analysis, making meaning of the imagepresented in order to read the myth, this researchuses related product consumed by the societylike, for example, magazines, posters, albums.The observable phenomenon in the society isused to discover the regularities of the pheno-menon in question. These regularities areexpected to predict or explains some relationshipin terms of how A Game of Thrones builds itselfin such a way that enable it to become popular.

THE ARCHETYPAL ECHOES OF HIGHFANTASY

A Game of Thrones, the first of book ofMartin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, is a storyabout how noble houses fight for the throne. Thenovel consists of 759 pages in prologue and 73chapters, each of which is presented in differentpoints of view and is entitled by the name of themain characters. The story consists of three plotlines that are arranged not in orderly way butconnected one way or another around the warover gaining the throne of the Seven Kingdom.The plot of the first story line is about the houseof Stark, a noble house led by Eddard Stark. Thesecond story is about princess Daenerys, aprincess of an old royal family and the third storyis about the illegitimate son of Eddard Stark,namedJonSnowwhodedicateshis lifeprotectingthe civilized Seven Kingdom in special militaryorder called the Night’s Watch.

The plot of the three stories is seen notconnected to each other although one way oranother there are dialogues mentioning therelations. The seemingly unconnected chaptersof each story line add to the intricate story line.

Each story line is not arranged chronologically.Chapter entitled “Tyrion”, for example, is basedon the point of view of Tyrion who belongs of thenoble house of Lannister. Since the Lannisters isthe antagonist of the Starks, this family does notbuild the story line in itself. This also adds thecomplication of the story. The existence ofDaenerys is like inter-chapter sketches and so isthe existence of Jon Snow, who is an illegitimateson of Eddard Stark. These all make the plot likefilm scenario rather than a novel. If the narrativeis in the form of a film, it would be easier tounderstand since visual representation is easyto understand but not so if it is told in verbal form.

If fantasy is defined as a type of story thatdeals with non-reality narrative, the complicatedstory lines seem to serve the first requirementsof a fantasy genre. The more complicated themore it looks beyond ordinary life. Thisassumption may contradict the nature of popularnarratives which are usually simple in order to beunderstood easily. Adi’s research on actionmovies of 1990s concludes thatAmericans tendto watch film which needs more brain activitiesbecause it often uses terms or issues that arenot commonly applied by ordinary people(2008:75). It means the readers demand that theirintelligence is engaged in the narration. This canalso answer why A Game of Thrones gain theBest Seller after 15 years of publication whenpeople become more educated and well learned.

While fantasy deal with non-reality, epicfantasy deals with non-reality in the past. Boththe setting of place and time of A Game ofThrones also follow this formula epic fantasygenre. The place does not live in reality, forexample “ ’my speech may be Tyroshi, and mygarb Datraki, but I am of Westeros, of the SunsetKingdom’ Dany told him” (Martin, 1997: 542). Theimaginary places are named in such away thatcannot be associated with reality. The setting oftime is made as if taking place hundreds of yearsago. There is no exact definition of the years. Inthe appendix of the novel, the years of the firstgeneration of Targaryen is mentioned. “dated byyears afterAegon’s landing; 1-31Aegon I:Aegonthe Qonqueror, Aegon the Dragon; 37-48 Aerys

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I: Son ofAegon and Raenys; … 262-283Aerys II:The Mad King, only son to Jackerys … The LastTargaryens” (Martin 1997: 756-759). In thenarrative, the description of the years is providedin implicit way, for example:

The Targaryens are the blood of the dragon,descended from the high lords of the ancientfreehold of Valerya, their heritage proclaimedin a striking (some say inhuman) beauty, withlilac or indigo or violet eyes and hair of silver-gold or platinum white (Martin, 1997: 756)

The house of Targaryens is the oldestgeneration in the story, whereas the house of theStarks is a generation when the story is told. It isdescribed: “The Starks trace their descent fromBrandon the Builder and the ancient kings ofwinter. For thousand of years they ruled fromWinterfell as kings in the North” (Martin, 1997:739). Such description is indeed beyondrationalitybut it should be created in order to meetthe fantasy of the epic genre.

The convention of epic fantasy genre orcommonly regarded as having high fantasyformula is in the form of the existence of magicalanimal like dragon. However, unlike in otherfantasy story, dragon, other magical animal ormagical power usually appear from the beginningof the story and exist along with the developmentof the story, like in The Lord of Ring, Eragon, andThe Chronicles of Narnia. InAGame of Thrones,however, the dragon appear almost in the end ofthe story when Daenerys burns herself in theflame with the dead Khal Drogo, her husband,and fossilized dragon egg due to prove her loyaltyto her dead husband.

… the logs exploding as the fire touched theirsecret hearts. She heard the screams offrightened horses, and the voices of the Dothrakiraised in shouts of fear and terror, and SerJorah calling her name and cursing. No, shewanted to shout to him, no, my good knight, donot fear for me. The fire is mine. I amDaenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons,bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don’t yousee? Don’t you SEE? … The third crack wasas loud and sharp as the breaking of the world.… She was naked, covered with soot, her

clothes turned to ash, her beautiful hair allcrisped away . . . yet she was unhurt. Thecream-and-gold dragon was suckling at her leftbreast, the green-and-bronze at the right. …and for the first time in hundreds of years, thenight came alive with the music of dragons(Martin, 1997: 734-735)

The appearance of the magical dragonalmost at the end of the story is the innovation ofthe writer. Wolf, which conventionally appearedin fantasy genre also exists in the story. Thefrightful big white wolf is thesymbol of Stark family.Every Stark’s child is given a wolf by the fatherbut unlike wolves which have magical power ascommonly found in fantasy and horror genre,these wolves are ordinary although it hasextraordinary strength. The existence ofprophetic dream, creepy atmosphere, womenforetelling the future, and incest is also a way inmaking the story like epic fantasy genre. Whencompared with The Lord of The Ring,AGame ofThrones can be regarded as epic genre ratherthan an epic fantasy because of the lack of magicand other super-natural power.

As commonly found in epic fantasy fiction,the fundamental features of A Game of Throneslie in spectacular scenes of the setting andsituation. That is why the setting often takesoutside the ordinary life in order to heighten theintensity of the fantasy. This can be seen, forexample, in the description of the castle.

The chamber was richly furnished. Myrishcarpets covered the floor instead of rushes,and in one corner a hundred fabulous beastscavorted in bright paints on a carved screenfrom the Summer Isles. The walls were hungwith tapestries from Norvos and Qohor and Lys,and a pair of Valyrian sphinxes flanked the door,eyes of polished garnet smoldering in blackmarble faces. (Martin, 1997:184)

An epic fantasy genre is like adventure genrewhich deals with heroes who are responsible toovercome problems. The hero is commonlydescribed as strong, full of muscle, who fightsagainst villain and at the end wins the princess.In A Game of Thrones, however, such hero is

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absent. The only hero with such criteria falls intoEddard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell but Martinputs him dead at the beginning of the story. Therest of the main characters cannot be regardedas ones. In other words, it can be said that Martinmoves away from the convention of traditionalepic fantasy genre because the narrative doesnot focus on one specific hero with his effort insaving the world. He builds the image of goodcharacters through comparison with the villains.Both good characters and bad characters,however,hasheroiccharacteristicsandbadones.This makes A Game of Thrones move beyondthe tradition of epic fantasy genre. Like what thetitle suggest, the story stresses the idea war inwinning the thrones.As far as the motif of actionis power and authority, it is hard to distinguishthe characteristics of the hero or the villain.

Martin’s AGame of Thrones is not like otherepic fantasy narratives such as, The Chroniclesof Narnia, Eragon, The Lord of The Ring, andHarry Potter.The distinctive difference lies in themost important narrative formula: the quest of thehero, fighting between the hero and the villain,the motif of the hero to take action, and thetriumph of the hero. InAGame of Thrones, thereis no particular hero having a quest, takingjourney, fighting the villain and becomestriumphant. The character seemingly meets thecriteria of the epic fantasy hero in this context isJon Snow. He has a quest and takes journey toaccomplish his mission but his motif is onlyprotecting his family, a motif which is regardedsimpler that the motif of common epic fantasyhero. Moreover, the story does not center on him,he is among other heroes in the story. Therefore,he cannot be regarded as meeting therequirement of traditional epic fantasy hero.

The distinctive innovation that Martin makesis in the role of women. The women dominatethe whole points of view. Generally, epicnarratives have formula of action genre. The rolesand characteristics of women can also be tracedin the depiction of women in narratives of actiongenre. The result of investigationshows that thereare two characteristics. These depend on therole she is playing. When her role as the major

character in epic narrative of legendary heroine,shecan havemasculinecharacteristics, butwhenshe is put in epic fantasy narratives, she isdepicted as having feminine characteristics. Forexample, female France legend heroine Joan ofArc who has inspired an industry with more than20,000 books and 50 films (Chrisafis, 2007) isportrayed as masculine-like woman. Adi in herresearch on action films of 1990s also marks theimportance of androgenous representation.Women in action films are becoming moremasculine.Mostlyshorthair, strongmuscle, silent,and rarely smile woman signify this (2008:148).In AGame of Thrones, such hybridity is negatedwhen dealing with woman representationalthough she has male characteristics such asbrave, domineering, powerful, and free.

The global challenge on the role of womandoes not change the sexual roles in epic fantasygenre. In A Game of Thrones, there is a clearcode of value and sexual roles with masculinedominance. Father’s role cannot be like motherin Indonesiancommunityby takingcareofchildrenand cooking, for example. Although a girl hasfreedom to say her opinion and a daughter istreated the same as a son in the family, a fatheris a patriarchy with clear rules and lines ofauthority. The demand of gender equality isdescribed in different way in the story. Althoughshe may have a strong authority over the country,she cannot escape to show her femininity. Thiscan be seen in the portrayal of two strong womenin the story: the queen, Cersei Lannister andCatelyn, the wife of Ned Stark. Martin’s innovationon the role of women in his epic fantasy narrativeseems toanswer readingpublic.Altman(1982:14)comments the phenomena in 1982: “theexpectation that the growth of gay self-assertionwould lead toamuchgreaterdegreeofandrogynyand blurring of sex roles seems, at least for themoment, to have been an illusion.” The blurringsex roles is also applied in male characters of AGame of Thrones. Androgyny look, as seen insome characters, also become reader’sidentification and desire in epic fantasy.

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THE URGE OF RATIONALREPRESENTATION

When a piece of literary work popular, it mustoperate within a system or a structureunderstandable to the readers.Epic fantasynovellike A Game of Throne is not exceptional. Sinceepic fantasydealswithnon-realityanddramatizessomething in the past in which it is commonlysupported with non-realistic formula, making itunderstandable needs serious effort of the writer.After investigating throughout AGameofThrones,it is found out the fictive formulas of the epicfantasy should be put in context. It means suchformula should be arranged in relation with otherformulaswithoutviolating thecommonsense.Therepresentation cannot violate the laws of logic.

In A Game of Thrones, like any other epicfantasy novel, the sequence of cause and effectplays an important role in creating reasonablenarrative. Martin’s concern with this issue is seen,first of all, in the representation of the maps ofThe North and The South in the beginning of thestory and the genealogy of the noble houses inthe appendix. Although the story also deals withthe areas of West and East, they are not givenmaps. The absence of those two maps evencreates a more convincing story. The story doesnot look mechanical. It is only in those twoimportantareas that shouldbe taken intoaccount.The genealogy of the houses seems to convincethe reader of the existence of the epic. Althoughnotall charactersappeared in the genealogyhaverole in the story, in which some of them are noteven mentioned in the story, their presence inthe lineage makes the epic looks reliable. Thismay conclude that it is not only the presence thatcan create the story convincing but also theabsence.

Other factors in celebrating reasoning poweris through language, names, vivid visualization,and a balance between strange elements andfamiliar elements. It is common sense that in aworld, which does not exist, there is also astrangelanguage used by the people living in that world.The people inhabit the world should also acquiredifferent names. However, if the language

invented is so strange, it cannot be understoodby the reader. Therefore, Martin does not createlanguage which is too far from reality. The effortsmaking it like epic fantasy lies only in the diction.Martin’s effort in creating this can be seen, forexample,

Dany smiled. ‘My son has his name, but I willtry your summerwine,’ she said in Valyrian,Valyrian as they spoke it in the Free Cities.The words felt strange on her tongue, after solong. “Just a taste, if you would be so kind.”(Martin, 1997: 542)

Qohor, Valyrian, Lys, Myrish, and Norvos aremade up places, they have their own language.Although Martin invents the names of places thatsounds “not English” in order to strengthen theformula of epic fantasy, the language they usedoes not experience a lot of variation.

In order to make the epic convincing, Martinis careful in describing the age of the character.Robb Stark, in the age of 14 already leads anarmy and later becomes the king of the Northwhile his sister, Sansa, the eldest daughter inStark family is 11 year old and becomes the futurewife of Prince Joffrey, who is 12 year old. JonSnow, the illegitimate son of Eddard Stark is inhis 14. When compared with today reality, thoseages are too young to have responsibility asleaders and they are even not in marriageableage. Since they are from old days, such depictionis justifiable. Beside the age, number ofcharacters is also important factor in making theepic fantasy more convincing. At least there are182 characters in the story. They all have namesand even the dead character, at least 32characters, and minor characters like guards alsohave names.

Martin’s A Game of Thrones is not the onlynovel dealing with a lot of characters. Other epicfantasy likeLordsof theRings performs thesame.With a lot of characters, the writer not only hasfreedom in creating the world of fantasy moreconvincingly, but also has a way in making thegrandiose story. The problem raised with suchquantity is in the plot structure of the narrative.That explains why the ending of A Game of

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Throne is not satisfactory. When the dragon eggshatched, the readers must be curious whathappen with Daenerys. Robb Starks, Jon Snow,Sansa Stark, and Prince Joffrey also just begintheir stories. The readers are left without anycertain ending.

Moral or value standard cannot be separatedfrom life. Since a work of literary art is an imitationof life, it cannot negate such standard as a codeof conduct of the characters. It is also throughthis moral standard that a theme can be built bythe plot Along with development of how peopleview life, the value standard also goes with it.With this idea it can be said that standard of valueis not absolute. It depends on people’s need atcertain time in certain place. Therefore, it can beargued that value standard on which a story isbased must be the value standard that the writerholds or the value that the author perceives asthe standard of value of the people. The hero ofA Game of Thrones who is supposed to be thevalue bearer does not perform as one. The valuestandard seems to be negated. There is no valuethat should be protected or fight for. The drivingforce for leading their lives is not the moral itselfbut his purpose, which are political rather thanideal. Every character, whether he is good or bad,has justification of his action.

Each has good and bad sides. It dependson justification of the action. The death of EddardStark seems to symbolize the death of criteria ofgood deeds. The only motif in joining the war forthe thrones is political one. Establishing order insociety can be the motif behind Robb Stark whenhe wants to fight the Lannisters but his motif canbe also a revenge over the death of his father,Eddard Stark. Robb Stark’s motif can also comefrom his moral obligation as the oldest son in thefamily when the family is threatened to beeliminated by King Joffrey. The sinful JaimeLannisters has a heroic capacity because he triesso hard to defend his family. Tyrion Lannister,the coward and opportunistic individual also hasthe capacity of caring although his motif is only tobenefit himself.

Although celebrating reason is noticeable inthe story, the gods still persist. This fact shows

that Martin cannot escape from the fundamentaldriving force of man’s existence.Thiscan be seenin the following quotations:

The gods of Winterfell kept a different sort ofwood. It was a dark, primal place, three acresof old forest untouched for ten thousand yearsas the gloomy castle rose around it. It smelledof moist earth and decay. … This was a placeof deep silence and brooding shadows, andthe gods who lived here had no names (Martin,1997:29).For her sake, Ned had built a small sept whereshe might sing to the seven faces of god, butthe blood of the First Men still flowed in theveins of the Starks, and his own gods were theold ones, the nameless, faceless gods of thegreenwood they shared with the vanishedchildren of the forest (Martin, 1997:29).

The above quotations shows the existenceof the gods. They not only exist but are alsopresent in their lives. When Princess Daenerysshould face calamity due to the death of herhusband Khal Drogo, she blames the gods forher suffering: “What had she ever done to makethe gods so cruel?” (Martin, 1997: 528). Catelynalso does the same.

These are the ones who keep the old gods,she realized. She asked herself what gods shekept these days, and could not find an answer.It would not do to disturb them at their prayers.The gods must have their due . . . even cruelgods who would take Ned from her, and herlord father as well. So Catelyn waited (Martin,1997:722).

A Game of Thrones is human product. It is,therefore, not an autonomous area of humanexperience with significant impact from political,economic and other forms of social behavior.When a novel becomes best-seller, gains manyaward, and is remade into many different forms,it must be because it contains elements thatembody values and attitudes that its readers wishto see affirmed. Therefore, the popularity impliessome kind of psychological wish fulfillment of thereader. This means that violence created in thenovel, one way or another, reflects what thereaders want. According to Smith: “Value

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judgments appear to be among the mostfundamental forms of social communication andalso among the most primitive benefits of socialinteraction.” (2001:4). Smith’s opinion justifieswhy A Game of Thrones is like a fascinationtoward violence, intrigue, sex, war, and power.Celebrating natural impulse of power, sex, andviolence as displayed by Martin through AGameof Thrones can then be regarded as moral. It iscontradictory with generally common belief thatthe acts of a person who is subject to his naturalimpulses cannot be classed as moral.

Something moral is formulated by reason notby feelingbecause the first stageof moral being—of one whose acts can be classed as good orbad morally—is when he is capable ofdistinguishing between good and bad actions.What distinguish permissible violence from illegalone lies in the motif behind the violence.Acloserlook at the novel will show how the shift inunderlying elements was related to changingattitudes toward violence. In primitive society,when men’s concern is around getting food byusing their physical power, bloodshed becamethe only solution to settle up the dispute.Althoughphysical power are still used tremendously in AGame of Thrones, this epic fantasy displays whatis commonly found in modern society like,negotiation, trick, intrigue, and strategy.

CONCLUSIONA Game of Thrones is seen as moving away

from traditional epic fantasy although in somecases certain formulas still remain. Thedevelopment of rational thought may provide thereason for the changing attitude toward moralfantasy as displayed by AGame of Thrones.Themost noticeable change is in the depiction ofheroines who play more important roles and theattitude toward moral values. The gradualchanges do not necessarily show that Martin asthe author and the readers move away fromtraditional epic fantasy novel because somecharacteristics still persist. The main reason forthe sustainability of epic fantasy characteristicsis that this kind of story still fascinates readers

while the reason for the invention is the develop-ment of society. Violence, moral ambiguity, andsexuality become the way the novel appeals tothe readers. The success of AGame of Thrones,however, does not depend only on them. It alsodepends on the way George Martin verbalizesthem by smart combination of old and newformula.

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