[SPOILERS] 'Game Of Thrones' Red Wedding Based On Real Historical Events: The Black Dinner And Glenc

[Yavin4]

The king of Scotland was fighting the Black Douglas clan. He reached out to make peace. He offered the young Earl of Douglas safe passage. He came to Edinburgh Castle and had a great feast. Then at the end of the feast, [the king's men] started pounding on a single drum. They brought out a covered plate and put it in front of the Earl and revealed it was the head of a black boar — the symbol of death. And as soon as he saw it, he knew what it meant. They dragged them out and put them to death in the courtyard," Martin told EW.

"The larger instance was the Glencoe Massacre. Clan MacDonald stayed with the Campbell clan overnight and the laws of hospitality supposedly applied. But the Campbells arose and started butchering every MacDonald they could get their hands on. No matter how much I make up, there’s stuff in history that’s just as bad, or worse."

To this day, the door at Clachaig Inn in Glen Coe has a sign on the door denying entry to Campbells.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/game-of-thrones-red-wedding-black-dinner-real-events_n_3393099.html?utm_hp_ref=books&ir=Books

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Fascinating.

Martin's books, and the tv series, certainly show a general environment of grimy reality.
Certain storylines are filled with so much squishy mud, rain, cold, that I squirm watching it.

[malthaussen]

2. History is full of this stuff.

As is mythology. The violation of the "guest-friend" relationship is central to the Tragedy of the House of Atreus, for example. Pick a culture, any culture, and you'll find variations on this theme.

-- Mal

[loli phabay]

3. one thing the campbells though not all where campbells stayed with the macdonalds

Old macdonald had been late swearing fealty so william ordered campbell to take his troops and kill the glencoe macdonalds.