How medieval castles in France inspired several stories in Game of Thrones

The idea of Game of Thrones came to George R. R. Martin‘s mind at a time when he had distanced himself from writing television and movie scripts. He just wanted to write a story that was straight from his heart, unadulterated, and not specifically for a live-adaptation. Martin took inspiration for the world of Westeros from a number of real-life accounts, including the castles of France.

George R. R. Martin thinks of new characters on long drives

Martin has a different way of thinking, and that was evident from his interview with Time Magazine, where he said:

“Sometimes it happens to me on long-distance drives. When I was younger I loved to take road trips, and get in the car and drive for two days to get to L.A. or Kansas City or St. Louis or Texas. And on the road, I would think a lot about that.”

How a trip to France inspired ideas about Game of Thrones characters

On one of his trips, Martin went to France. He recalled, “In 1993, I think it was, I visited France for the first time. I had begun Game of Thrones two years before in ‘91 and I had to put it aside because television was happening.

And for some reason, I had rented a car, I was driving all around Brittany and the roads of France to these little medieval villages and I was seeing castles, and somehow that just got me going again. I was thinking about Tyrion and Jon Snow and Daenerys and my head was full of Game of Thrones stuff.”

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