

Young Richard II had the throne taken from him in 1399 by his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke (Henry IV), which installed the Lancaster family to power. So far, this all sounds shockingly like the Baratheon family. This entitlement became particularly strong within the Lancaster family, descended from Edward’s third son, and the Yorks, descended from his fourth son. Edward’s oldest son was already dead, but his grandson, Richard II, was ten years old and became the king before Edward III’s three other surviving sons, skipping a generation and creating numerous claims to the throne within the family and its offspring. Historically, the death of King Edward III in 1377 kicked off the drama. Truly understanding the Wars of the Roses is convoluted and complicated business that few have the energy to fully absorb, so let’s look at the Cliff’s Notes version: Martin was able to take these events and put them at the nucleus of his incredible fantasy world, expanding outward with a woven tale that uses history as its core. Thus, the Wars of the Roses served as the basis for much of the series’ drama, particularly as it applies to the conflicts between the Lannisters (and by extension, Baratheons), Starks, and the original War of the Five Kings. Its Battle of Towton in 1461 is considered the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil, so much so that archeologists are still uncovering human remains from the fight today.
#The real war of thrones series
Much like its fictionalized counterpart, The War of the Roses was a convoluted and brutally violent series of events. Neither family had dragons or ice zombies or crippled sons with magical abilities to bend time and control animals, but the story of the War of the Roses does include plenty of throne rivalry, weak monarchs, shifting loyalties, murdered princes, scheming protectors of the realm, and even assistance from outsiders across the “narrow sea”-here, the English Channel. Even today, the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire associate with these colors. The Lancasters were represented by a red rose The Yorks, a white one. The families involved were the Lancasters and the Yorks, and if it isn’t yet clear which two fictional Game of Thrones families they are adapted into, you need to get caught up on Westerosi politics. The conflict originated after The Hundred Years’ War, which created social and financial troubles that, combined with the eventual mental problems suffered by Henry VI, revived an interest in Richard, Duke of York’s claim to the kingship. In the late 15th century, decades of feuding over control of the English throne took place between two squabbling families of prominence. It’s been a long time since The Wars of the Roses, the series of battles which ultimately led to the installation of Henry Tudor as king. The funny thing is, a lot of Game of Thrones is based on real-world history. Few of its people are granted the pleasure of a comfortable death, wars and struggle are constant realities, and there’s always the looming threat that an army of ice zombies could wipe out civilization. We’re all glad we don’t live in a world quite as violent and terrifying as the one depicted in Game of Thrones (2011 - ).

A number of the major players in these conflicts were adapted into characters vying for power in similar ways in the books and on the television series. The wars were a series of battles between the Lancasters and Yorks, two noble families in British rule, both of whom believed they deserved the crown. Martin based much of the War of the Five Kings on the events of the Wars of the Roses.
