Female Characters in the Novel “Fire and Blood” and the Television Series “House of the Dragon”

A Biopolitical Context

Abstract

The article is a study of the ethical and political motives behind the behavioral strategies of the main female characters in the novel “Fire and Blood” and its HBO adaptation “House of the Dragon”. Special attention is given to how female characters develop their own identity formation strategies, distinct from those expected of them based on their social, familial (matrimonial), and power status, and how they utilize the means available to them (marriage, childbirth, family resources, emotional labor, etc.). By addressing the concept of “biopolitics” as discussed by M. Foucault and G. Agamben, the author demonstrates how G. Martin employs ideas of biopolitics and biopower to engage with the same themes that serve as the leitmotif of “A Song of Ice and Fire”: the essence of power, the differences in male and female power strategies, and the images through which the source of power is visualized, particularly through the work with the body and corporeality in its various manifestations (including the demonstration of childbirth). Thus, the article not only deepens the understanding of female roles within the context of the fantasy world but also offers broader reflections on power, identity, biopolitics, and resistance to biopolitical control.