Why Boston Is Basically Just ‘Winterfell’ Right Now
HBO
The first and most obvious reason that Boston is basically just Winterfell, the northern fortress in the popular book-turned-HBO-series Game of Thrones is, of course, that winter is coming. Currently, Boston, which has received over five feet of snow in the past 30 days, seems to be smack in the middle of a winter as severe as those they constantly warn each other about in the show’s often-repeated mantra. And worse, the seasons in George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” series are wildly unpredictable with summers and winters sometimes lasting years on end. In our world, climate change means that Boston’s seasons are only going to become more Westerosi in their randomness.
The parallels don’t end there. Winterfell is the subject of much contentious warring between various lines for power. Just look at Robb Stark and Theon Grayjoy engaged in this epic eye-duel.
The fortress is the ancestral home of the House of Stark, but since Season 1, the Starks have had a pretty tough run of luck. Theon Greyjoy has his eye on the northern capital. Roose Bolton, too. Like Winterfell, Boston is the site of its own struggle for power between lines … MBTA lines, that is. Ah yes, it is time of year when the T is “experiencing delays.” This morning, the House of Red Line faced a setback in its quest for power when a disabled train in Quincy forced stranded passengers to hike along the tracks.
MBTA passengers walk the Red Line tracks after their train was disabled in Quincy this morning. (pic @LeslieNECN) pic.twitter.com/j5jz85kpRj
— BostonTweet (@BostonTweet) February 9, 2015
Which lines will reclaim control this winter? Which will lose power? As Cersei might say, when you play a game of thrones, you win or you die. And the Red line, it seems, has taken the latter option.
Boston and Winterfell share another threat: white walkers. From the first scene of the HBO show, in which a weird red-eyed ice-monster thing beheads a few rangers, it’s clear that some not-so-human creatures are threatening the people of Westeros. An ancient race that most believe to be just myth, the White Walkers have risen again thanks to the onset of a long winter. Boston, too, has an ancient, presumed-fictional race in its presence. Ever since the first big snowstorm of 2015, there have been rumors of a Boston Yeti. It seems the existence of 15,045 feet of snowfall in Boston has given the Boston Yeti cause to rise again and walk our streets. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to kill everyone in his path and reanimate them to do his bidding. Actually, he’s a vegan, and mostly, he just seems to shovel snow.
Still, the similarities are difficult to ignore. If you’re not convinced, or you’re super confused about what we’re saying here, hey, you can always catch up on the series while you’re snowed in today. What the heck else are you going to do for the seven years of winter we have ahead of us?
