Chaos is a ladder: A study of identity, norms, and power transition in the Game of Thrones universe
| Author | Ronnie Olesker |
| DOI | 10.1177/1369148119885065 |
| Date | 01 February 2020 |
| Published date | 01 February 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148119885065
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2020, Vol. 22(1) 47 –64
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1369148119885065
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Chaos is a ladder: A study of
identity, norms, and power
transition in the Game of
Thrones universe
Ronnie Olesker
Abstract
This article examines the interplay between identities, norms and power transition in the HBO
series Game of Thrones. Using discourse analysis of season 7’s transcripts and viewing the show,
I conclude that the most dominant themes to emerge are those related to identity and norms, in
the context of hegemonic power transition. The season focuses on the impact of normative and
ideational factors on how alliances operate and on the prospects of cooperation between alliances.
I find that identity distributions across great powers impact the ability of characters to muster a
successful challenge to the existing world order. Furthermore, I find that the survival of actors whose
normative commitments are mismatched with their alliance is not guaranteed through the alliance.
Thus, the show serves as an effective knowledge production site for exploring the consequences of
power transition and alliance theory as power begins to transition in our own universe.
Keywords
alliances, game of thrones, identity, norms, pop culture, power transition theory
Petyr Baelish: ‘I imagine you’ve seen things most men wouldn’t believe. To go through all of
that and make your way home again only to find such chaos in the world, I can hardly
imagine’.
Bran Stark: ‘Chaos is a ladder’.
(Ep. 4 ‘Spoils of War’)
Introduction
The HBO series Game of Thrones (herein: GoT) has become a global phenomenon – at
the time of writing it was the most watched and pirated show on television today (Hibberd,
Government Department, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, USA
Corresponding author:
Ronnie Olesker, Government Department, St. Lawrence University, 23 Romoda drive, Canton, NY 13617,
USA.
Email: rolesker@stlawu.edu
885065BPI0010.1177/1369148119885065The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsOlesker
research-article2019
Original Article
48 The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 22(1)
2014). The show is a medieval political fantasy about the contestation of power between
several large and small families called ‘Houses’. The ‘game’ is a contest to sit on the Iron
Throne and rule over the seven Kingdoms in Westeros, the continent in which most of the
families reside. Westeros is plagued by an icy threat from the far north – the White
Walkers – a group of undead magical creatures who seem set on destroying all life in the
known world.
Literary theory often sees fantasy as subversive since it has the potential to violate
normative assumptions about the social order (Jackson, 1981: 14). Yet, as Serwer (2011)
notes, the genius of the Song of Fire and Ice books and the GoT television show is infus-
ing the genre of fantasy with many realistic elements. TV critic Eric Deggans observed
that ‘its story, rooted in a world that often punishes heroism, rewards the wealthy, and is
filled with treachery, feels like a sadly appropriate mirror of our own’ (cited in Tharoor,
2017). The show has the ability to be ‘both a window to the supernatural and a mirror to
reality, often in the same episode’ (Walters, 2016). The creators, D.B. Weiss and David
Benioff, noted that it is ‘about people, and power, and the pursuit of power, and how that
affects those without power’ (D’Addario, 2017). In other words, the show is about
politics.
Consequently, it has received increased attention from scholars,1 including those in the
field of International Relations (IR). This article uses GoT as a space for interrogations
about how power and identity are connected. Using qualitative discourse analysis that does
not privilege a single scene, character, or plot line, I find that identity and norms can best
explain the power transitions and alliance formation that are central to the season’s plot.
The main argument advanced here is that identity and normative commitments matter
for both inter- and intra-alliance success. Most importantly, the survival of characters
whose normative commitments are mismatched with their alliance is not guaranteed
through the alliance. In other words, the normative commitments of actors within each
alliance have an impact on their survival. Therefore, the show serves as an effective
knowledge production site for exploring the consequences of power transition and alli-
ance theory.
IR scholars studying power transition have tended to focus on material accounts of
these transitions but more recent scholarship has noted the importance of normative
(Kupchan, 2014) and ideational changes (Allan et al., 2018), which impact the extent to
which the transition is peaceful.2 For example, the peaceful transition from the British to
American hegemony can be attributed to their shared Anglo-Saxon identity (Allan et al.,
2018; Kupchan, 2014). However, when a new rising power differs ideationally and nor-
matively from the existing power, we may find that the transition is unstable and violent,
or that the hegemonic challenger fails since it cannot adapt to the identity distributions in
the existing world order3 (Allan et al., 2018: 845).
While our own system is still in the beginning stages of this power transition, the GoT
universe is fully immersed in the emerging new balance of power. It therefore allows us
to test some theories that explore the consequences of such transition while contributing
to the growing literature that focuses on the cultural dimensions of international security
(Katzenstein, 1996). The analysis of season 7 reveals, more than existing scholarship has,
that identity and normative commitment impact not only power transition, but also the
survivability of actors within each alliance battling for hegemony. What I uncover here
using GoT as IR text, is that characters whose normative commitment diverges from that
of their alliances are eliminated. While the writing of this study was completed before the
airing of season 8 – the final season of the show – the arguments are confirmed by the plot
of the final season, indicating the predictive strength of the argument presented here.
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