There are many sights and stories to see at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Egyptian temples commissioned in the time of Augustus; a portrait of Alexander Hamilton which outlasted his final shot; even a million George Seurat dots that combine into a single, lovely stroll through the park. Yet there are bloodier deeds and memories hidden in these antiquated beauties, and we were reminded of many during a guided, unofficial Game of Thrones tour provided by Museum Hack.
As a local event designed to highlight the type of art and artifice that built the ancient worlds George R.R. Martin pulls from while constructing his own in “A Song of Ice and Fire,” there were amusing anecdotes about the similarities between Daenerys Targaryen and Margaret of Antioch, a Catholic saint who is alleged to have walked through fire and been swallowed by Satan in the shape of a dragon and lived (for a time) to tell the tale, as well as the connection between Bartholomew, the apostle skinned alive and crucified upside down, and the Flayed Man on House Bolton’s sigil. But perhaps the most unshakable allusion we were reminded of during our museum hack is the history of Greek Fire, and how it most clearly and unequivocally inspired Martin’s green wildfire inferno in A Clash of Kings (the inspiration for the second season of Game of Thrones).
read more: The Real History of the Red Wedding
Obviously after Constantinople finally fell at the end of the Middle Ages, that became a bit of a problem. With the formula fully lost a handful of generations later once that displaced royal line ended, scientists and historians have ever since speculated on what could make a flame so indestructible that apparently the only thing discovered to thwart its thirst was vinegar, a flavorful acid that invaders learned to soak their leather garments in lest they too wanted to burn.
read more: The Real History of The Sparrows
And now Cersei Lannister has become enthralled by its power, using it rather incredulously to blow up the Great Sept and kill her enemies while not somehow burning a third of her city down in the process (because once wildfire or Greek Fire starts, it cannot be stopped). Logic aside, it was a striking power move, and one that makes Cersei a force to be reckoned with by any more popular foe. Daenerys might have dragonfire, but Cersei has a weapon that could burn Dany’s fleet to ash, should the Silver Queen approach by sea, and if she should approach by land, Cersei might complete Aerys II’s dying hope of unleashing the substance on the city: “Burn them all.”
Game of Thrones Season 8 returns on April 14. You can read our own predictions for it right here.
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David Crow is the Film Section Editor at Den of Geek. He’s also a member of the Online Film Critics Society. Read more of his work here. You can follow him on Twitter @DCrowsNest.
