Notes on Contributors ix Foreword by William Irwin xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction: The Winter of Our Discontent 1 Brian A. Pavlac Part I Kings, Queens, Knights, and Strategy 17 1 High and Mighty Queens of Westeros 19 Kavita Mudan Finn 2 A Machiavellian Discourse on Game of Thrones 33 Jacopo della Quercia 3 Chivalry in Westeros 47 Steven Muhlberger 4 Of Kings, Their Battles, and Castles 57 Brian A. Pavlac Part II Slaves, Barbarians, and Other Others 71 5 Barbarian Colonizers and Postcolonialism in Westeros and Britain 73 Shiloh Carroll 6 A Defense against the "Other": Constructing Sites on the Edge of Civilization and Savagery 85 Brian de Ruiter 7 The Eastern Question 97 Mat Hardy 8 Slaves with Swords: Slave?Soldiers in Essos and in the Islamic World 111 Robert J. Haug Part III Women and Children 123 9 Rocking Cradles and Hatching Dragons: Parents in Game of Thrones 125 Janice Liedl 10 "Oh, my sweet summer child": Children and Childhood in Game of Thrones 137 Helle Strandgaard Jensen and Magnus Qvistgaard 11 Writing the Rules of Their Own Game: Medieval Female Agency and Game of Thrones 147 Nicole M. Mares 12 The Power of Sansa Stark: A Representation of Female Agency in Late Medieval England 161 Danielle Alesi Part IV Religion 171 13 Continuity and Transformation in the Religions of Westeros and Western Europe 173 Don Riggs 14 Religious Violence in Game of Thrones: An Historical Background from Antiquity to the European Wars of Religion 185 Maureen Attali 15 Coexistence and Conflict in the Religions of Game of Thrones 195 Daniel J. Clasby 16 "I shall take no wife": Celibate Societies in Westeros and in Western Civilization 209 Kris Swank Part V The Background 225 17 By Whisper and Raven: Information and Communication in Game of Thrones 227 Giacomo Giudici 18 What's in a Name? History and Fantasy in Game of Thrones 241 Sara L. Uckelman, Sonia Murphy, and Joseph Percer 19 Setting up Westeros: The Medievalesque World of Game of Thrones 251 Gillian Polack Appendix: List of Books and Episodes 261 Index 000.