Tożsamość w kontekście religii i magii w Pieśni lodu i ognia
Identity in the Context of Religion and Magic in A Song of Ice and Fire

Author(s): Karolina Glück
Subject(s): History, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Library and Information Science, Theology and Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: This article takes as its starting point the statements of two fantasy writers – Orson Scott Card and George R.R. Martin – concerning the significance of creating religious systems in fictional universes, as they complete the overall image of the depicted reality. Another context is provided by the investigations of a Polish scholar, Bogdan Trocha, which show that in the fantasy genre there occurs a degradation of the function of religion, resulting in the remythologisation deprived of cult. The first part of this paper presents the synthetic overview of religions through which Martin characterises the communities of his world and the analysis of functions of the chosen magical elements used in A Song of Ice and Fire. In the second part, identity dilemmas of Martin’s characters are taken into consideration. On the example of Theon Greyjoy’s lot, the spiritual aspect of searching for identity – determined by the elements of the quest described by Trocha – is examined.

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