George R. R. Martin based The Wall in Game of Thrones on an iconic real-life location

George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is known for its incredible world-building and engaging plot. Did you know that Martin was inspired to create the iconic Wall in his books from a real-life location? In an interview, Martin shared about his visit to this location.  Moreover, This was also where he imagined the intriguing plot around his version of The Wall from Game of Thrones.

Inspiration behind the Wall

In an interview with Laura Miller in The 92nd Street Y, New York, George R.R. Martin discussed his inspiration behind the iconic Wall in the north of Westeros:

Well, it was Hadrian’s Wall actually in 1981, ten years before I even dreamed of writing his books, I visited England for the first time, and my friend Lisa Tuttle with, whom I have collaborated with, was driving me around England and Scotland, showing me the sights and we came to Hadrian’s Wall or the bit that remains to it.

This was around this time of year, actually. It was late October, It was fall. It was getting dark and cold in England and Scotland. We arrived right near sunset as the last of the tour buses were leaving. So we climbed up on the wall and pretty much had it to ourselves, which was really cool because we had a lot of tourists around us.

Martin continued, describing what he imagined on the top of Hadrian’s Wall:

“I stood up there, and the wind was blowing, and the Sun was going down, and I looked off. I tried to imagine what it was like to be a Roman Legionnaire from Italy or North Africa or the Near East who’d been sent to this really cold place on the edge of the world.

Who knew what the hell was beyond there? And you were like the last outpost of what they thought of as a civilized world. You know they had legends and beliefs, and they are made very well that there were monsters or demons beyond there, depending on where they came from.”

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