Bad Kids: Incestuous Fantasy and Phenomenon in A Song of Ice and Fire

Abstract

Bad Kids:Incestuous Fantasy and Phenomenon in A Song of Ice and Fire Michaela Baca Why does Western culture hate incest? Many versions of medieval Arthurian literature, including the alliterative Le Morte d'Arthur, feature King Arthur, one of history's most beloved heroes, participating in it. George R. R. Martin's hit series, A Song of Ice and Fire (perhaps better known as Game of Thrones), contains incest and is central to the plot. Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur has never been out of print, and Martin's series has exploded into a true culture phenomenon. This paper discusses how incest is manifested as a taboo in literature and why Martin chooses to use it as a main plot point (in his book series, not the television show that it inspired), thus tying incest directly to the medieval history in which he grounds his work. Specifically, in Martin, incest begins as a fantasy between two consenting individuals, but, when that fantasy becomes an actual phenomenon—when the incest produces a product—the taboo situates itself inside that product: the child. It is first necessary to look briefly at the origins of the incest taboo itself to understand its importance in the context of the paper. The question of why this particular taboo exists at all points back to the early hominid demonstrations of incestuous tendencies, suggesting that the practice is at the root of human desire and that a taboo against it is necessary to keep people from engaging in it. The incest taboo fits into the idea of the "other," a foreignness that speaks to the world in which one lives. Bruce Fink describes this foreignness as "a discourse or language that precedes [human] birth and that will live on after [human] death."1 The Roman Catholic Church governed marriage law in the Middle Ages, but the incest taboo long predates the organization of the Church. Turner and Maryanski provide a succinct explanation regarding the taboo's origin, tracing it back to the mother-son avoidance patterns demonstrated by hominids.2 Incest avoidance in this biological sense reduced the likelihood of the birth of unfit offspring. Tied to their presentation of Bachofen's idea of the "horde"—that is, a loosely knit group of [End Page 83] unrestricted promiscuity3—Turner and Maryanski trace the development of hominid relational status, incorporating the growing emotional intimacies that resulted in what they argue is the "conjugal pair that is the backbone of the nuclear family."4 Moreover, the development of emotional intimacy resulted in offspring remaining with their parents longer, enhancing the emotions tied directly with sex and love, thereby raising the number of incestuous occurrences between fathers and daughters, as well as sisters and brothers. Thus, humankind tabooed incest. Nevertheless, society has not entirely shunned the practice. In a 2012 interview with Pamela Horton at the Playboy Comic Con Party, George R. R. Martin responded to the question "Where do babies come from?" He answered, "avoid incest at all costs here. I may write about incest but I do not endorse it, let us make that perfectly clear."5 Martin pointed to a universally acknowledged truth in his interview, which holds that incest is taboo, while still remaining a matter of discussion. The surface, for him, has barely been scratched when it comes to the question of how and why to talk about incest. Martin's fantasy world, Westeros, is based around Europe during the Middle Ages. By reading his series through a medieval lens, modern readers can trace his plot motivators and themes in order to tease out what Martin questions about incestuous intimacy in his popular series. Incest in Westeros is used as a means to question the ways in which it is perceived and understood, while simultaneously engaging in a universal taboo. Martin is able to create an incestuous medievalism that at once draws in readers and repels them. Medieval literature is rife with examples of incest, like Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire expands the accidental incest that occurs between Arthur and Morgause through Jaime and Cersei Lannister, twin siblings of one of the...