CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - A military historian who teaches at The Citadel was recently published in a Vice News article because of the ties he made between historical events and the HBO show “Game of Thrones.”
Michael Livingston has been teaching English at The Citadel for more than 10 years.
“Any way that I can get the Citadel out there in a positive form I think is tremendous and a chance that I want to take," Livingston said. "Right now, Game of Thrones is doing that.”
Livingston has used his degrees in history and medieval studies to draw parallels between Game of Thrones and historical battles and rulers.
“He based some of this on Wars of the Roses, which is about a 33-year war that happens in England sometime around the 15th Century," Livingston said about George R. Martin, who wrote the books that inspired the TV show.
Martin has even confirmed in the past that the show is based on events from the War of the Roses.
Livingston said based on what he knows about the war, there is one character who is most likely to win when the series comes to an end.
“It looks an awful lot like Daenerys Targaryen," Livingston said. "It really looks like Daenerys Targaryen.”
His prediction and his fandom aside, Livingston said getting national attention for making historical ties to the show spreads a larger message for what he’s trying to accomplish as a college professor.
“And it I think shows the value of looking at history and knowing something about history to be able to recognize the stuff going on," Livingston said. "It makes it, I don’t know, kind of educational in a way.”
The next episode of Game of Thrones airs on Sunday night at 9 p.m. on HBO.
There are only five episodes that are left before the series ends.
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