Alright, so one series I have wanted to watch on television for a while (and there are not many, as I am not a particular tv watcher) is Game of Thrones. Not surprisingly, I’d like to read the books of the series as well, as I have not had the chance to do so yet, and have a lot of books to read already on the list. So, for whatever reason, I have kept up as best as possible on the series before reading it, and tonight I got to see my first episode, which means I will probably try to do some catching up on the series later on in both reading and watching so that I can piece more of the elements of this immensely complicated tale together.

I like complicated tales, and the show seemed to demonstrate some of the most important truths that one can learn about savage societies (which is all of human societies, at some level). For one, many societies have children as rulers, and those societies are generally in trouble. There are several pitfalls that come about when the immature hold positions of power. Some may become foolhardy and convinced of their own wisdom, lacking sense and discretion because they lack seasoning, and may fall into errors of rashness and trusting their own judgment. Others may be so overwhelmed by power that they flit about from one adviser and favorite to another, never developing their own confidence, which is necessary (in moderation) to rule over other people. It is very difficult for those who acquire power too early when they are immature and unseasoned to develop the proper balance between confidence and wisdom that is necessary to rule well.

It is a difficult thing for some people to be as wise as serpents when they are really as harmless as doves. Those who are people of decency and integrity are not often subtle enough to survive in a dangerous world. Among the more tricky balances we have to maintain is the balance between decency and prudence. I must admit, speaking for myself, that prudence is something that I do not tend to possess by nature, but all the same I recognize it as useful and at times have suffered because I lacked sufficient discretion. Those who are decent and good people and not sufficiently subtle will suffer terribly in corrupt and wicked societies, where the prudent have to keep their head down and avoid danger. In fact, people like me may be canaries in a coal mine, a way of determining of a given society or institution is being ruled by people of decency and integrity (in which case life will be pleasant), or people who are corrupt and insecure (in which case life will not be very pleasant). It may not be the most glamorous of jobs, but someone has to do it, right?

Another lesson one can learn, a lesson that is familiar to anyone who is a student of history, is the security that one seeks to gain from offices is largely illusory. Crowns and offices attract competition, while not providing the resources necessary to channel that selfish ambition into security. Because the cunning and unscrupulous often seek power and offices and are skilled and manipulation and control, they in turn fear that others will do unto them what they have done unto others, with the result that they can never be confident in their security and are always seeking to maintain power through the use of domination and control as well as shifting alliances based on convenience, marriage pacts, and other means by which the untrustworthy seek to maintain some simulacrum of trust in their dealings with others, to assuage their own souls, at least.

Needless to say, even though I only have a slight familiarity with George Martin’s work, or its small screen adaptation, it appears to show a nuanced and sophisticated view of life in a world not unlike our own, with what appears to be a somewhat cynical understanding of power that is often termed Machiavellian. Let us not forget, though, that Machiavelli, though he was a cynical and worldly-wise person, was not the friend of tyranny and oppression that he was assumed to be. Indeed, by positing a support of naked power and ambition stripped of divine right rule and all pretensions to morality, he undercut the legitimacy of authoritarian systems of rule and made it possible for republican virtue to have its day in the sun. No power can endure without righteousness, for the houses of the wicked are divided by their competition for the same offices and power, and in order to gain support a ruler must give up resources to those who will aid his rule, in the knowledge that they may betray him. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown; rulership and leadership in a fallen world are not child’s play.