HOUSE of the Dragon has brought the world of Westeros back to the silver screen in fiery form. The epic tale of dynastic ambition, destructive dragons, and silver-haired subterfuge has proved a hit with fantasy fans despite the controversial final season of Game Of Thrones. But it’s not all fantasy – as ever, George RR Martin’s imagined realms are populated with characters, events, mythologies, and themes from real history. After all, his self-described alchemical process for creating fiction is to take history, change the colours, dial it all up to 11, and weave it all back together.
Though we no longer have such obvious parallels as the Wildlings and the great wall at the edge of the world to work with, the amount of Scottish history still echoed in House Of The Dragon has been a pleasantly geeky surprise. These are just a few of the slivers of Scottish history from the first half of the season.
