A Song Of Ice And Fire is huge and I don't just mean in terms of popularity. The series spans thousands of pages across five different books (one of which was so big it was initially published as two) and there's currently another pair of books to come before we're finished. The world that George R. R. Martin has created is a phenomenal achievement; a world of political complexity, varied geography and featuring a cast of literally hundreds of distinct characters. So where does it all come from? How does one man pull so much material from the depths of his imagination? Put simply, he doesn't. Though the meat of the series is Martin's own invention (and I'm not just talking about the many descriptions of lavish feasts), he has also been inspired by real-life, using history and other details in combination with his incredible ability to twist and adapt in order to create a stunning fantasy world. Amazingly, even some of the most fantastical elements in Game Of Thrones have their origins rooted deeply in reality...
