1. The Entire Series Is Inspired By The War Of The Roses
George R.R. Martin has confirmed that the series is loosely based around The War Of The Roses in 1455, as the Yorks and Lancaster battled it out in England. Those names sound familiar, right? (Starks and Lannisters.) Martin discussed the influence of historical fact with author Bernard Cromwell, saying: "Fantasists enjoy certain freedoms that historical novelists do not. I can surprise my readers by killing kings and other major characters, but the fate of the kings and conquerors in the real world is right there in the history texts, we know who lives and who dies before we ever crack the novel open. "When battle is joined at Helms Deep and the Pelennor Fields in Tolkien, or on the Blackwater Rush and in the Whispering Wood in my own fantasies, the outcome of the fight is unknown until the author reveals it on the page, but the historical novelist is bound to trod the road laid down by history." There's a definite factual vibe running through A Song Of Ice And Fire, but Martin isn't afraid to break all of the rules and deviate from history in order to pen a breathtaking story, something that he's in the process of achieving.