"Game of Thrones is perhaps best read as a meta-textual critique/parody/travesty of the epic fantasy series form, particularly its multiplicity of viewpoints, fetishistic proliferation of back-story/history and secondary creation, and sprawling geopolitical action. The characters in Game of Thrones seem curiously self-aware about the absurd nature of their world... while the hobbits and elves in Lord of the Rings seem to take as a matter of course the fact that they live in a world where people will break out into many-versed songs about five thousand year old love affairs between elves and men, the people of Westeros (and Easteros, and Southeros, etc.) tend to be slightly exasperated at the proliferation of houses, sigils, and house mottoes they are forced to live with, as if they are uncomfortably, perhaps subconsciously, aware that they are trapped in a fictional matrix that is more and more fraying at the edges."