Māori Mythology

Māori Mythology encompasses the traditional creation narratives, legends and folktales of New Zealand. Deriving from the Polynesian tradition, Māori mythology is among the world’s youngest. Its stories survive today through accounts recorded by 19th-century British scholars and oral tradition.

Because Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, were never a single nation, and because their stories transmitted by word of mouth, there is not one mythological narrative. Key details differ from place to place. The most familiar stories come from North Island traditions, many of which British governor Sir George Grey recorded in his ‘Nga Mahi a nga Tipuna’ (1853). 

Ātua are supernatural beings resembling gods or deities. Over 70 in number, they personify all aspects of the living world. Many genealogies trace descent to a particular atua. Some of the most well-known include:

• Tāne-Mahuta – atua of the forests and birds. In wooded New Zealand, he, not Tangaroa is humanity’s tutelary deity.
• Tangaroa – atua of the ocean and its creatures. Analogous to Tangaloa/Kanaloa – the sea god of Polynesian mythology.
• Tāwhiri-mātea – atua of the weather. 
• Tū-mata-uenga – atua of war.
• Tama-nui-te-rā – atua of the sun. 
• Rongo-ma-tāne – atua of kumara (sweet potato), cultivated foods and peace.
• Ruaumoko – atua of earthquakes.
• Whiro – atua of misfortune.
• Mahuika – atua of fire.
• Hine-nui-te-pō – atua of death.

Long ago, the Sky Father Rangi-nui and the Earth Mother Papa-tū-ā-nūkū joined in a tight and loving embrace. Their 70 children, the original ātua, lived in the dark and confined space between them. Some wanted to separate the two; others did not. Eventually, Tāne-mahuta wrenched his parents apart with his legs and forever separated the sky from the earth, letting light into the world. To this day, Rangi-nui and Papa-tū-ā-nūkū grieve their separation. 

Our world is one of many, each layered above and below. Some traditions speak of an atua called Io-matua-kore, the uncreated one, who dwells in the highest plane. Whiro, who tried to usurp Tāne, dwells in the lowest.

Each of the ātua bestowed a piece of their essence on the first person, meaning although humans die, we too are divine. 

Māui, a demigod appearing across Polynesian mythology, is one of the most famous figures of the Māori tradition. His deeds include:

• fishing out the North Island of New Zealand
• tethering the sun so it passed slowly across the sky
• stealing fire from the goddess Mahuika and granting it to the world

Hine-nui-te-pō, the goddess of death, shepherds the souls of the dead to the next world. Māui met his doom when trying to defy her.

Māori myth blends into history with the tales of discovery and migration from Polynesia. There are stories of fearsome ogres, moving mountains, dragon-like taniwha, elf-like turehu, and bloodthirsty sea demons called ponaturi.

As the ātua represent natural forces, they are still significant for many in New Zealand today.

Sources: Witi Ihimaera – Navigating the Stars (2020), Te Ara Encyclopedia

See Also:

• Polynesian Migrations
• Myths and Legends

Myths and Legends

Myths and legends are the sacred narratives of a culture. Like music, they are a human universal. Most myths have ancient origins and are transposed across generations by spoken word or sacred writings. Seldom are they ascribed to a single author. These stories blend religion with history, literature and science. They are the oldest recorded stories in the world.

Myths explain the way the world is through story. Carrying a deeper ‘spiritual truth’, they often deal with the origins of the universe, the deeds of supernatural beings and heroic individuals. Myths encapsulate a culture’s collective values and heritage; they both inform and reflect their worldview. Myths create cohesion and common values across a society and people who have never met.

Yuval Noah Harari, author of ‘Sapiens’:

Fiction has enabled us not merely to imagine things, but to do so collectively. We can weave common myths such as the biblical creation story, the Dreamtime myths of Aboriginal Australians, and the nationalist myths of modern states. Such myths give Sapiens the unprecedented ability to cooperate flexibly in large numbers.

Finnish Folklorist Lauri Honko:

Myth, a story of the gods, a religious account of the beginning of the world, the creation, fundamental events, the exemplary deeds of the gods as a result of which the world, nature, and culture were created together with all parts thereof and given their order, which still obtains. A myth expresses and confirms society’s religious values and norms, it provides a pattern of behaviour to be imitated, testifies to the efficacy of ritual with its practical ends and establishes the sanctity of cult.

‘Mythology’ refers to a culture’s collective body of myths and legends. The word myth comes from the Greek ‘mythos’, meaning story.

Examples of Myth: 

• The Osiris Myth
• The Great Flood
• The Ramayana

In modern English, ‘myth’ is sometimes used to describe something commonly believed but untrue. This is not the scholarly definition, however. Experts seldom speculate whether a particular myth is empirically ‘true’ or not. A sacred narrative is the primary definition of a myth.

Legends, as defined by Oxford Dictionary, are ‘traditional [stories] sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not authenticated.’ Typically, they seem more credible than myths and often focus on heroic or saintly human characters instead of divinities. 

Examples of Legends:

• The Trojan War
• King Arthur and the Holy Grail
• El Dorado

Folk Tales are traditional tales from a particular culture. Unlike myths and legends, folk tales are not religious and focus on ordinary people or magical creatures rather than deities and heroes. While high literature, and epic poetry is often recorded by a culture’s elite, folk tales spring from the oral tradition of the common people.

Examples of Folk Tales:

• Androcles and the Lion
• Brothers Grimms’ Fairy tales
• The One Thousand and One Nights

Because myths, legends and folk tales are primarily oral and are retold by different peoples, the same story can have multiple versions, with names and key details varying. Through that measure, they would constantly improve. Most myths and legends do not have an official version.

Most of these traditional stories are thousands of years old. The staying power of myths is a testament to their value. 

Sources: Lauri Honko – the Problem of Defining Myth, Oxford Dictionary, Philip Wilkinson – Myths and Legends, Yuval Noah Harari – Sapiens

See Also:

• Magic and Religion
• Yuval Noah Harari – Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
  
• Mythology:
  • Māori Mythology
  • Inuit Mythology
  • Venus, the Queen of Heaven and the Dying God
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh
• Folklore
  • Asturian Folklore
  • Folklore of the Orkney Islands
  • How Syuna the Rockfish got his Flat Head

Haida

Haida are the indigenous people of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, and Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, USA. Traditionally they lived by fishing, hunting, raiding and trade.

Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, consists of two main islands and 150 smaller ones. Biologists call it the ‘Galapagos of the North’. The temperate rainforest that covers the islands includes trees over 100 meters tall and moss seven inches thick. Unique species include the Sitka spruce and Haida Gwaii black bear. Migrating birds from around the world nest, and seals and whales beach in Haida Gwaii. Salmon fill its rivers. Today, the archipelago falls under Haida heritage areas and National Parks.

Haida were hunter-gatherers. In lands so abundant in fish and wildlife, however, they could settle in one place and sustainably forage rather than move from place to place – a rare luxury in hunter-gatherer societies. Haida gathered edible plants, hunted deer, birds and bear, and caught salmon and seafood. From hollowed red cedars, they carved canoes that took them as far as California, where Haida not only traded but plundered and enslaved.

There were once 100 self-governing villages in Haida Gwaii. Their people identified with one of two clans – the raven and the eagle. One could only marry a member of the other. Within each clan were 20 lineages, each of which had economic rights to particular groves, rivers and fishing grounds.

Haida art exemplifies the distinct Pacific Northwest style, with stylised depictions of animals such as ravens, eagles, orcas and bears carved and painted onto wood. Symbolising lineage, these images traditionally decorate Haida canoes, houses and, most famously, totem poles. Haida manga began publication in 2001.

The potlatch ritualises social and economic ties between lineages and commemorate births, weddings and deaths. In these public ceremonies, attendants exchange gifts, perform dances and music and settle disputes. They are essential to Haida culture.

Haida worldview was essentially animistic, with a supreme being at the top. Today most mix Christianity with traditional beliefs. As in Pacific Northwest and Koryak traditions, the trickster Raven is central to Haida myth. His schemes inadvertently create the fabric of our world.

The Haida’s ancestors migrated to the islands at the end of the Ice Age 13,000 years ago, when the rainforests emerged. Their customs and folklore bear striking similarities to the Koryak people of eastern Siberia, meaning the two are likely related.

When Europeans made contact in 1723, there were around 50,000 Haida. An 1863 smallpox outbreak emptied their villages. By the time Canada annexed Haida Gwaii in 1900, there were only 500 left, a number sustained to this day. Like other First Nations, Haida children were victims of the Canadian Indian residential school system in the 20th century. Today there are 501 Haida, 445 of whom speak the language. The name ‘Haida Gwaii’ (meaning Islands of the People), was restored in 2009.

Sources: American Anthropologist, Canadian Encyclopedia, Coast Funds

See Also:

• Inuit
• Apache
• Plains Nations
• Bears

Succession

“Not to be crude about it, but politics is what comes out the asshole. Wouldn’t you rather be up front, feeding the horse?”

Last year I said Marvelous Mrs Maisel is the best thing currently on television. Looking back, I humbly retract my words – had I been aware of Succession in 2019, I might not have said so.

Created by Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show) and directed by Adam McKay (Step Brothers, The Big Short), Succession is HBO’s new flagship drama. It follows the trials and tribulations of the aptly named Roy family, a fictional business dynasty who rule a sprawling empire of media and finance. This 1% drama is told through a darkly comedic lens with what TV tropes calls an ‘eat the rich’ mentality. Horrible people in horrible situations with an ‘imperial’ opening theme.

Logan Roy is a self-made man and tyrannical mogul of Waystar-Royco, a bloated conglomerate running cable news, print media, theme parks and cruises. Though he is ageing and should consider which of his imperfect children is to inherit, he is happy to keep them guessing.

Logan rules through fear. His company hides a web of lies and deceit that rewards and incentivises the most backstabbing and conniving behaviour. He is a titan in the industry, seeing everything through the eyes of a businessman and only showing his children love when it suits him.

Though its characters are morally compromised and widely dislikeable, they are distinct and well-crafted (and unfortunate) enough to draw the viewer in.

Main characters:

• Logan Roy – Head of Waystar Royco. Played brilliantly by Scottish actor Brian Cox.
• Connor Roy – Logan’s business averse eldest son. He spends his time collecting Napoleonic memorabilia and dating an escort in his New Mexico ranch. Played by Alan Ruck.
• Kendall Roy – groomed for succession, but compromised by a drug problem. Most invested in Waystar-Royco’s success. Played by Jeremy Strong.
• Siobhan, ‘Shiv’ Roy – the most like her father of the three children. Works outside the family businesses as a political consultant for liberal candidates. Played by Sarah Snook.
• Roman Roy – the youngest Roy child. Foulmouthed, sarcastic and incompetent. Played by Keiran Culkin.
• Tom Wambsgams – Shiv’s long term boyfriend and head of the cruise division. Lampshaded as somewhat of a buffoon among the conniving Roys. Played by Matthew MacFayden.
• Cousin Greg – the bumbling, overwhelmingly naïve newest member of Logan’s entourage. Played by Nicholas Braun.

The Roy family is a pastiche of real-life business dynasties like the Murdochs, Redstones and Trumps. Their leading cable network, ATN, is modelled on Fox News.

Dialogue is the show’s forte. Subtext and snarky one-liners reign supreme. Succession indulges in the indirect, jargon-laden speech beloved by businessmen and politicians. Its characters eschew middle-class morality and spew words like they have no meaning. Hostage crises are ‘administration action functions’. Fetching lattes fall under a range of ‘target orientated tasks’. Words are ‘complicated airflow’.

Rookie cousin Greg desperately wants to be like his remorseless colleagues, and when facing a panel, he comes out with gold:

Senator Eavis: Gregory Hirsch, executive assistant to Tom Wambsgans, correct?

Greg: Yes. Yes, if it is to be said.

Eavis: I’m sorry?

Greg: Uh, if it is to be said, so it be, so it is.

Eavis: Are you all right?

Greg: Uh, yes. Uh, I merely wish to answer in the affirmative fashion.

Eavis: You can speak to us normally.

Greg: Oh, no — thank you, sir. Uh, uh, so I shall.

Greg’s relationship with mentor / adversary Tom (above) makes for the most laugh-out-loud moments of the show. Though they both are connected to the family, unlike the teams of suits and executives who trail Logan, they are not quite a part of the inner circle they desperately seek to join.

While a satirical drama first and foremost, Succession does not shy from Shakespearean turns. It is a glimpse into the web of business, politics and media that controls America and the crushing egoism of those involved. Season Three premieres next year.

See Also:

• The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
• The 2010s

John Prine – That’s How Every Empire Falls

This is a song written by RB Morris and recorded by folk singer-songwriter John Prine (1946 – 2020), who died from COVID-19 earlier this week, age 73. Its cryptic lyrics tell how moral rot destroys the soul of a man and a nation from within. It featured on Prine’s grammy-winning 2005 album ‘Fair and Square’.

John Prine is from Maywood, Illinois a suburb on the outskirts of Chicago. While working as a mailman, he wrote songs and played at local bars, which caught the ear of Kris Kristofferson. Prine then opened for Kristopherson in New York and released his first (self-titled) album in 1971. Its standout track is Sam Stone. Arguably his best, it tells a sobering tale of  Vietnam veteran’s struggle with heroin addiction. Through both tune and spoken word, Prine’s songs often touched deep subjects, others were lighter and humorous.  All told stories with a personal touch. He wrote most of his own songs with That’s How Every Empire Falls being a notable exception.

Prine never broke the mainstream, but in his life attracted a dedicated fanbase and was an icon in folk circles. His biggest fans included Johnny Cash, Roger Waters, Bruce Springsteen, Bill Murray and Bob Dylan.  In total Prine received 11 Grammy nominations and won three, including a lifetime achievement award in 2020, a few months before he died.

‘That’s How every Empire Falls’ is not his best, or even most popular song, (I personally love Lake Marie) however in the context of his death, and the state of America right now, it is certainly the most prophetic.

Lyrics:

He caught a train from Alexandria, just a broken man in flight
Runnin’ scared with his devils, sayin’ prayers all through the night
But mercy can’t find him, not in the shadows where he calls
Forsaking all his better angels: That’s how every empire falls

The bells ring out on Sunday morning like echoes from another time
All our innocence and yearning and sense of wonder left behind
Oh gentle hearts remember, What was that story? Is it lost?
For when religion loses vision, That’s how every empire falls

He toasts his wife and all his family, the providence he brought to bear
They raise their glasses in his honor although this union they don’t share
A man who lives among them was still a stranger to them all
For when the heart is never open, That’s how every empire falls

Padlock the door and board the windows, put the people in the street
“It’s just my job,” he says, “I’m sorry,” and draws a check, goes home to eat
At night he tells his woman, “I know I hide behind the laws”
She says, “You’re only taking orders”: That’s how every empire falls

A bitter wind blows through the country, a hard rain falls on the sea
If terror comes without a warning, there must be something we don’t see
What fire begets this fire, like torches thrown into the straw?
If no one asks, then no one answers: That’s how every empire falls

See Also:

• Pitchfork – Life, Death and John Prine

Peoples of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is home to five major ethnic groups and nine smaller ones. Being a mountainous land at the crossroads of empires, Afghanistan was historically settled by various people and nations. Today each group practises its own distinct culture and generally lives in different parts of the country while mingling in the cities. Though they might all be seen as ‘Afghans’ to outsiders, within the country ethnic divisions predominate.

Pashtuns make up 42% of the country. They are represented in both the urban elite and the rural poor. After the British invasion of Afghanistan, the Pashtun homeland was split in two. As a result, over 500,000 also live in neighbouring Pakistan, mainly in the mountainous border region. Sunni Muslims since the 9th century, Pashtuns live in a tribal society where clan loyalty is paramount. Rural Pashtuns still wear traditional clothing and follow an honour system called ‘Pashtunwali’. Pashto, their native language, is an Indo-European tongue related to Persian. Many also speak Persian (Dari) and Urdu.

Tajiks are a Persian speaking people indigenous to Central Asia. They are 27% of Afghanistan and the majority in neighbouring Tajikstan. The 19th-century Russian invasion of Central Asia cut their homeland in two as the British did the Pashtuns. Tajiks were highly represented in the ‘Northern Alliance’ who fought the Taliban. Also known as ‘East Persians’, Tajiks descend from the settled Persian communities of Afghanistan, in contrast to the traditionally pastoral Pashtuns. Unlike the Persians of Iran, they are mainly Sunni Muslim.

Hazaras are 9% of Afghanistan and hail from its mountainous centre. Though they speak Persian, Hazaras descend from 13th century Mongol invaders and their appearance is distinctly more East Asian than other Afghans. Being Shia Muslims in a Sunni dominated state, Hazaras face severe discrimination. The Taliban massacred thousands of Hazara between 1996 and 2001.

Uzbeks, at 9% of the population, descend from the Uzbek Khanate, a 11th-century Turkic state. In the ‘Great Game’ of the 1800s, the British-backed Pashtuns seized land from the Russian-backed Uzbeks and made it Afghan. Many Uzbeks supported Afghanistan’s Communist government against the Mujahideen in the 1970s. Neighboring Uzbekistan is named after them. The Uzbek language is of the Karluk Turkic branch.

Nomadic peoples of Afghanistan include the Turkmens, Aimaqs and Balochs. The Nuristani people (above) are unique in their light featured appearance. They claim descent from Greek soldiers who settled the region when Alexander the Great conquered Bactria in the 300s BC, though most scholars believe the Nuristanis are indigenous to the region.

Sources: Encyclopedia Iranica, Minority Rights, NPR, World Population Review

See Also:

• Iranian Civilization
• Turkic Migrations
• The Kite Runner
• Deeyah Khan

Iranian Civilisation

Iran has one of the oldest and most influential civilisations in the world. Iranian culture dominated Central Asia and the Middle East from the time of Cyrus the Great to the Islamic Conquests and in some ways continues to do so.

Greater Iran includes the countries and peoples who speak Iranian languages, from the Euphrates to Indus Rivers. These include:

• Persians (Iran)
• Kurds (Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria)
• Tajiks (Tajikstan, Afghanistan)
• Pashtuns (Afghanistan, Pakistan)

Other nations that were once a part of Iranian empires but today have different cultures include Iraq, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. ‘Stan’ is the Persian word for land.

Persia is the old Greek world for Iran and its English name until 1932. The modern Persian language swapped the P sound for F, so ‘Persia Proper’ is today Iran’s Fars province. The Persian language is Farsi. The Zoroastrians who fled to India when the Muslims took over before the language changed are called the Parsi.

‘Iran’ comes from the Sassanian name for Persia, ‘Eran-Shahr’ which derives from ‘Aryan’. All Persians are Iranian but not all Iranians are Persian.

Five Dynasties ruled Iran before Islam. They mainly followed the teachings of Zoroaster, a Bronze Age prophet:

• Medians (non-Persian Iranians, 678 – 549 BC)
• Achaemenids (Cyrus, Darius etc, 559 – 330 BC)
• Seleucids (Macedonian, 305 – 63 BC)
• Arcasids (Parthians, 247 BC – 224 AD)
• Sassanians (Persians, 224 – 651 AD)

As Western civilisation grew out of Rome, and Chinese out of the Han Dynasty, Iranian civilization sprang from the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Cyrus the Great conquered most of the known world and established an administration system that lasted centuries. Even Alexander the Great, who conquered it, retained the Persian system.

The Muslims who conquered Iran in the 600s ushered an age of foreign rule. Arabs, Turks and Mongols ruled Iran. Although the foreigners adopted elements of Persian culture, they were still considered foreigners. The greatest scientific advances of the Islamic Golden Age were made by Persians like Avicenna and Al Khwarezemi.

The Safavid Dynasty restored native rule in the 1500s. They retained Persian culture, made Persian, not Arabic, the country’s official language and made Iran the centre of the Shia Muslim world. In 1979 clerics overthrew the last Shah, Reza Muhammad of the Pahlavi Dynasty, and replaced the monarchy with a theocratic republic, ending 2,500 years of imperial rule.

Though Greater Iran is overwhelmingly Muslim today, it has given the world four religions:

• Zoroastrianism (900s BC -)
• Mithraism (200s BC – 300s AD)
• Manichaeism (200s AD – 1400s)
• Baha’i (1800s -)

Central to the Iranian philosophical and religious tradition is an emphasis on truth and spiritual purity.

Historically Persia lay between the eastern and western halves of Eurasia. The Silk Road ran through it meaning Chinese inventions like chess, gunpowder and silk came to Europe via Persia.

Among other things, Persia has given the world:

• lutes
• polo
• ice cream
• refrigerators
• windmills
• banks
• armoured knights
• poetry of Hafez and Rumi
• The Shahnameh (Book of Kings)
• Avicenna, father of modern medicine
• hospitals
• trigonometry
• carpets

While the Syrian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures were largely subsumed into Arabic, Iran retained its unique identity. Modern Islamic civilisation is arguably a mixture of Arabic and Persian influences. The Persian example helped internationalise Islam and allow it to spread as far as it has today. Sir Muhammad Iqbal, the spiritual father of Pakistan, claimed:

“If you ask me what is the most important event in the history of Islam, I shall say without any hesitation: “The Conquest of Persia.” The battle of Nehawand gave the Arabs not only a beautiful country, but also an ancient civilisation; or, more properly, a people who could make a new civilisation with the Semitic and Aryan material. Our Muslim civilisation is a product of the cross-fertilisation of the Semitic and the Aryan ideas. It is a child who inherits the softness and refinement of his Aryan mother, and the sterling character of his Semitic father. But for the conquest of Persia, the civilisation of Islam would have been one-sided. The conquest of Persia gave us what the conquest of Greece gave to the Romans.”

Sources: Richard N Frye – The Heritage of Persia (1962), Iran Review

See Also:

• Cyrus the Great
• The Sassanian Empire
• Mani of Babylonia
• Peoples of Afghanistan

Top Films of 2019

Here are my favourite  films of 2019 ranked from ten to one. Subject to my opinion and what I saw, of course.

Honourable mentions: Rocketman, Yesterday, Toy Story 4, Knives Out, Blinded by the Light, Little Women,  Avengers: Endgame (highest-grossing to date!)

10. The King

• The latest film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Immaculate set design and costumes and gritty fight scenes. Historically inaccurate at times and, though he gave a good performance I found (unpopular opinion) pretty-boy Timothee Chalamet miscast as the martial king Henry.

9. Marriage Story

• About a rich white liberal divorce with all the legal nastiness. Sad and compelling. Stars Scarlett Johanson and Adam Driver.

8. Dolemite is my Name

• Eddie Murphy stars as ambitious but down and out comedian Rudy Ray Moore in 1970s Los Angeles. With zero experience he directs and finances a homemade kung-fu themed Blaxploitation film. Murphy’s best performance in years.

7. Jojo Rabbit

• The latest from director Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnorok). A shy boy and proud Hitler Youth finds out his mother is harbouring a Jew. Waititi is hilarious as a camp Hitler, his imaginary best friend. Quite moving toward the end.

6. El Camino

• A sequel movie to the tv show Breaking Bad (2008-2013). Rivetting conclusion to Jesse Pinkman’s story.

5. 1917

• Two British soldiers travel through no man’s land to halt 1500 men from advancing to their deaths. Thrilling and harrowing: brings the horrors of trench warfare to life.

4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• A colourful and violent ode to 1960s Los Angeles.

3. Joker

• A disturbed and impoverished clown turns violent. More psychological thriller than DC flick. Dark but engaging. We live in a society.

2. The Irishman

• Mob epic from Martin Scorcese. Suspenseful and thematic.

1. Parasite

• Well crafted, topical and deeply unsettling. A Korean language film and only non-English one to make the list.

What were your favourites? What should/will win Best Picture at the Oscars? What were the best foreign-language films?   Let me know in the comments below!

Game of Thrones’s Legacy

Last Monday, television juggernaut ‘Game of Thrones’ concluded its nine year run with its eighth and final season.  Since 2011, Game of Thrones has proven a worldwide cultural phenomenon –  it is the most watched, (and pirated) television show of all time.

Game of Thrones has won the most Primetime Emmy Awards of any television drama:

• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage) – Season 1, 2011
• Outstanding Drama Series – Season 5, 2015
• Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage) – Season 5, 2015
• Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (David Benioff and DB Weiss for ‘Mother’s Mercy) – Season 5, 2015
• Outstanding Drama Series – Season 6, 2016
• Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Miguel Sapochnik for ‘Battle of the Bastards’) – Season 6, 2016
• Outstanding Supporting Actor In a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage ) – Season 7, 2018
• Outstanding Drama Series – Season 7, 2018

It was nominated for a further 28.  Gauged by Emmy wins, Season 5, followed by 3,6 and 7.

IMDB, however, tells a different story. Here I calculated season ratings out of ten by determining the average score of each season’s episodes.

• Season 1 (2011) – 9.1
• Season 2 (2012) – 9.0
• Season 3 (2013) – 9.1
• Season 4 (2014) – 9.3
• Season 5 (2015) – 8.9
• Season 6 (2016) – 9.1
• Season 7 (2017) – 9.2
• Season 8 (2019) – 6.6

Season Four, by the way, was the one with the Purple Wedding, Oberyn Martell and the battle on the Wall.

Best Episodes

• The Rains of Castamere (Season 3) – 9.9
• Hardhome (Season 5) – 9.9
• Battle of the Bastards (Season 6) – 9.9
• The Winds of Winter (Season 6) – 9.9

Game of Thrones’s writing was stronger in the early seasons when it followed its source material. A higher budget and more-advanced CGI picked up some slack in Seasons 6-8, but the final season, which had six episodes instead of the usual seven, left viewers wanting. Too many plot threads were left hanging or deemed irrelevant. Toward the end Game of Thrones’s sprawling cast and labyrinthine plot, long its boon, became a hindrance as its writers struggled to tie loose ends with tact. An estimated 50% of fans were disappointed with the show’s ending.

Game of Thrones is based off American author George R.R Martin’s epic fantasy series, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ (1996 -). David Benioff (who wrote the 2002 blockbuster ‘Troy’) and D.B Weiss met with Martin in 2006, and won the book’s rights after a five hour meeting where they accurately identified Jon Snow’s mother. They successfully pitched the show to HBO in 2007 with Martin as executive producer.

The original pilot was a failure however and after being granted a second chance, Benioff and Weiss recast and reshot 90% of the episode.  The first season aired in 2011, the same year George R.R Martin published ‘A Dance with Dragons’, the latest in A Song of Ice and Fire. Eight years, and the whole television series later, book fans still await the next installment.

Martin wrote four episodes of Game of Thrones, one for each of the first four seasons.

1. ‘The Pointy End’
2. ‘Blackwater’
3. ‘The Bear and the Maiden Fair’
4. ‘The Lion and the Rose’

Game of Thrones launched careers. Unknowns before it aired, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clark, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Richard Madden and Rory McCann have since become household names. More than anything, Game Thrones has proven that in our era, television has surpassed film.  Quality acting, costumes, set design and dialogue with battle scenes and special effects worthy of Hollywood, a good series can do it all, only with a far greater cast and much more time.

See Also:

• Why Did King’s Landing Burn?

The Dubliners – Raglan Road

 

‘Raglan Road’ was first written as a poem by Patrick Kavanagh in 1946. He dedicated it to Hilda Moriarty, a university student Kavanagh met, and pursued a brief affair with, on Raglan Road in Dublin. After she criticised his poetic skills for their dreary subject matter, Kavanagh promised he would immortalise her in his poems.

Luke Kelly of the Irish folk group The Dubliners put Kavanagh’s poem to music and in 1986. It has since become a well-known addition to the Irish folk tradition. I love the mournful tune and how Kelly delivers. Frances Black sang it at the funeral of IRA leader cum North Irish first minister Martin McGuinness in 2017.  It also features on Martin McDonagh’s ‘In Bruges’ (2008) – one of my favourite films.

The lyrics tell the tale of a man who falls in love with a woman on Raglan Road. He knows the relationship will hurt him, but goes in anyway. Man, I can relate.

Lyrics:

On Raglan Road on an autumn day,
I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare
That I might one day rue
I saw the danger, and I passed
Along the enchanted way
And I said let grief be a fallen leaf
At the dawning of the day.

On Grafton Street in November,
We tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passions pledged.
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts
And I not making hay,
Oh I loved too much and by such by such
Is happiness thrown away.

I gave her gifts of the mind
I gave her the secret sign
That’s known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint without stint
I gave her poems to say
With her own name there and her own dark hair
Like clouds over fields of May.

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet,
I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly,
My reason must allow
That I have loved, not as I should
A creature made of clay
When the angel woos the clay, he’ll lose
His wings at the dawn of day.