*** *** *** SPOILERS (up to ADWD) AND THEORIES (for after) *** *** *** I've been reading the wikipedia article on the
War of the Roses and I'm noticing the huge correlations between it and A Song of Ice and Fire.
No spoilers in this bit if you're up to date on the HBO seriesMainly though, I noted the following:
First off, it is obvious that the House of Lannister represents the House of Lancaster and the House of Stark the House of York.
Now Robb Stark is in my opinion clearly Edward IV, Duke of York. First, his father Richard, Duke of York (Eddard Stark) is killed by the Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. Notably, Richard's head is mounted on the walls of York by Queen Margaret, wife to King Henry VI. Edward IV subsequently wins a victory over the Lancastrians and is crowned King of England, based on the fact that the has a better claim to the throne than the Lancastrians.
As King however, he secretly marries Elizabeth Woodville (Jeyne Westerling), the widow of a Lancastrian knight. This (among other things) enrages his old supporter, the Earl of Warwick, who had been trying to set him up with a French bride. Eventually, he betrays Edward IV and joins forces with (ex-) Queen Margaret to restore Henry VI to the throne. Here we deviate from A Song of Ice and Fire, as Edward IV is not killed, but rather becomes king again later.
Here come the spoilersNow my theory is that the Earl of Warwick is Roose Bolton. Another fact that links him to this character is that his army and Edward IV's army fought separately against the Lancastrians, with Edward winning at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross (in A Song of Ice and Fire the battle of the whispering woods) and Warwick losing the Second Battle of St Albans (in the books the Battle of the Green Fork), but surviving and later linking up with Edward again.
At any rate what is interesting is the battle in which Warwick is slain. This is the Battle of Barnet which was fought at 4 in the morning in thick mist. The Lancastrian army outnumbers the Yorkist army almost 2 to 1. As both armies advance, the nearly miss each other, the left flank of either army meeting the centre of the other. In the thick mist however, the "star and rays" sigil of the Earl of Oxford is mistaken for the "sun in splendor" sigil of Edward IV by the recently turned Marquess of Montagu's men, who subsequently attack their own Lancastrian allies. The Earl of Oxford then starts fighting Montagu's men, thinking they have switched sides again and the Lancastrians ultimately lose the battle. The Earl of Warwick is cut down as he tries to mount his horse.
Oddly enough, we find ourselves at the end of A Dance with Dragons with an impending battle in the snow, with a 'Lannister army' led by Roose Bolton about to attack the army of Stannis Baratheon. Although they outnumber them, the Freys and Manderlys are already at eachother's throats with the allegiance of the Manderlys being very questionable.
My theory is that the parallels continue and that Roose Bolton's men start fighting each other in the snow, after which his army is defeated and Roose Bolton is killed.
Do note I have carefully avoided any spoilers from the already released chapters of The Winds of Winter, so it may be you already know I'm completely off. If so, please don't tell me.
