Game of Thrones is filled with bastards. No, not those kind of bastards (though it has them too). We are talking about the other kind, the illegitimate sons and daughters of Westeros' many noble houses.
Keeping track of all of them and their various bastard titles is a challenge for even the most diehard Thrones fan. Thankfully HBO has just released a new video that dives deeper into the bastard culture of Game of Thrones.
I'm a big Thrones fan, but this video even dives into some details I've never even heard of. For example, all the various "bastard" names for each of the regions of Westeros.
We all know Snow is used in the North, thanks to our pal Jon Snow, but some of the others we have yet to really encounter. In the Westerlands the name "Hill" is used. In the area around King's Landing, bastards take the name "Waters".
Then you have "Sand" in Dorne, which we will be encountering more than a few times in season five, as the show travels to the southernmost region of the continent for the first time.
Bastards in Dorne don't carry the same stigma that they do in the rest of Westeros. Prince Oberyn Martell's daughters, collectively known as the Sand Snakes, are bastards, but each are treated with respect and will have a large role to play in the upcoming season.
That's a far-cry from the rest of Westeros, where bastards are seen as a mark of shame upon their houses. Case in point is Jon Snow. Eddard Stark's bastard child is the only blemish on a man who is otherwise considered to be one of the most honorable men in Westeros.
It's interesting to think about how if Jon Snow was born a legitimate heir of Winterfell how different his life would have been. Had he felt welcome in Winterfell (something Catelyn Stark seemed determined not to have ever happen), Jon wouldn't have left for the Night's Watch to make something out of himself. Ramsay Snow, the bastard of Roose Bolton, also has a lot to prove. He is constantly trying to do right by his father, and eventually succeeds when Roose names Ramsay his legitimate heir.
The social classes of Game of Thrones are part of makes the show so captivating. With customs and practices based heavily on actual medieval history, Game of Thrones gives a glimpse into what the world was once like, filled with lords and ladies, bastards and bannermen. Just minus the dragons, of course.
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