The rise, fall and resurrection of the most powerful political family in history.

Part 1 focused on Tywin and Cersei Lannister and Rhaenyra Targaryen and their real life imitations.

Part 2 will take a look at Eddard Stark, Joffrey and Tommen Baratheon and their HotG counterparts.

* Spoilers for Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon season one

Table of Contents

• Sons becoming king without any knowledge or experience
• Cersei enables Joffrey’s behaviour / Indira enables Sanjay’s behaviour
• Forced sterilisation
• Shocking, sudden, head-spinning deaths
• Both Sons of the queens die in exactly the same way
• David Vs Goliath
• The Resurrection of Jon Snow/Rahul Gandhi
• House of the Dragons

Sons becoming King without any knowledge or experience

“You Know Nothing.” – Ygritte

Queen Cersei’s sons, Joffrey and Tommen. Scions of fabulous wealth and power or heirs to a poisoned chalice.

Both Queen Cersei Lannister’s and prime minister Indira Gandhi’s sons were bequeathed king like powers without any knowledge or experience of the role and were totally ill-equipped to take over. Sanjay Gandhi was given charge of a mass sterilisation programme even though he had no experience in politics or public health policy.

After Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984, her son Rajiv Gandhi took over. Rajiv was an Air India pilot. The only airline which allowed him to be in charge of the lives of 200 people was Air India, considered by many Indians as the worst airline in the 1980s. However, the fact that no airline except Air India would allow him to be in charge of 200 passengers, didn’t stop Rajiv from being in charge of a billion Indians.

So a Nehru-Gandhi, an airline pilot for the worst airline in the 1980s, who wasn’t even a politician and had no political experience, became the prime minister of India. I think you’re beginning to see a pattern here.

Cersei enables Joffrey’s behaviour / Indira enables Sanjay’s behaviour

“The Things I Do For Love.” – Jamie Lannister

“Love is more powerful than reason.” – Tyrion Lannister

“Entitled”, “Outstandingly mediocre,” and “Bad boy.” An apt way to describe King Joffrey, but this is actually how The Print described Sanjay Gandhi. “Sanjay didn’t have the makings of an ideal political successor. But there are perks to being your mother’s favourite.”

Anyone who watched Game of Thrones would know that Joffrey was also entirely unsuited to being the King, but like Sanjay Gandhi, he was protected by his mum.

There are many similarities between Sanjay and Joffrey. Both were favoured by their mother to take over as head of the country, as the other son was considered too quiet and timid. There were constant concerns about Joffrey due to his behaviour, the same with Sanjay, which leads me to my next point.

Forced sterilisation

“It’s hard to put a leash on a dog once you’ve put a crown on its head.” – Tyrion Lannister

Male forced sterilisation is a spectre that looms large in Game of Thrones. Three of the principal characters in the show—Varys, Grey Worm, and Theon Greyjoy—have undergone various forms of this. Daenerys Targaryen’s army, “the Unsullied,” is made up entirely of men who are forcibly castrated.

You’ve gone too far, you’ve begun your slow descent into madness I hear you mutter, fearfully under your breath. There is no connection between this and the Gandhis! Or is there?

Indira Gandhi’s son Sanjay, although possessing no experience in politics or public health policy, started a programme of forced sterilisation. The BBC writes: “During the 1975 Emergency – when civil liberties were suspended – Sanjay Gandhi, son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, began what was described by many as a “gruesome campaign” to sterilise poor men.

Sanjay Gandhi probably telling his mum the prime minister, how to run the country, even though he has zero political experience and isn’t an elected politician, or holds any political office. His only qualification being Indira Gandhi’s son, however.

The BBC writes “During the 1975 Emergency – when civil liberties were suspended Sanjay Gandhi, son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, began what was described by many as a “gruesome campaign” to sterilise poor men. There were reports of police cordoning off villages and virtually dragging the men to surgery.

An astonishing 6.2 million Indian men were sterilised in just a year, which was “15 times the number of people sterilised by the Nazis”, according to scientific journalist Mara Hvistendahl. Two thousand men died from botched operations.”

There you go, I haven’t started my descent into madness… not yet anyway…

When Joffrey died, it was thought that it was an accident due to choking, but it was later discovered it was an assassination. When Sanjay died, it was thought to be an accident, but as he had three assassination attempts, there are numerous, rife conspiracy theories wondering whether he was also assassinated, one of the suspects being his mother Indira.

Of course, it is too hard for anyone to come even close to Joffrey’s level of evilness, but according to Apoorva Vishnoi, Sanjay did try. “Mass sterilisation, gagging of the press, jailing of opponents, and suppression of civil rights might be de rigueur for Westeros people but still pretty high by Indian political standards.”

Both Sanjay and Joffrey died early, leaving unfillable vacuums in their mothers’ hearts as well as in their minds, deciding which member of the family could now take over, in order for the family to stay in power.

Shocking, sudden, head-spinning deaths

“I’m sure cutting off heads is very satisfying, but that’s not the way you get people to work together.” – Sansa Stark

Sansa Stark in happier times. Should she have gone to Kings Landing or stayed in Winterfell?

When King Joffrey ordered the beheading of Ned Stark, I was in denial. I could only repeat, “They can’t kill Ned can they” again and again. I looked to my wife for support, praying that she would somehow be able to do something to stop this, but she sat there, like a statue, open-mouthed, her face had gone white, just staring at the screen.

Probably wishing for a husband, who was strong and silent, who would hold her in his arms and comfort her. Instead, she got a ranting, blithering lunatic like me, walking back and forth, waving his hands in the air, screaming hysterically in a high girlish pitch, having an anxiety attack followed by a nervous breakdown.

Ned’s death was still the most sudden and shocking until the red wedding, when the denial level was so high that I just kept shaking my head and saying no, hallucinated a little and then had a full on nervous breakdown. Ned lost his head, I Iost the plot! My wife saw weaknesses in her husband that no wife should ever have to see.

Ned was my favourite character. He was the man I wished to be and probably failed miserably at. Strong, quiet, noble, honourable, surely Ned would be there till the end, I could take notes and I was confident that I’d learn much from him, that I would end up being like him by the end of Game of Thrones.

I just needed a few more seasons of Ned. I was therefore so angry when Ned Stark was executed, in such a dishonourable manner, that I promised myself I would never watch Game of Thrones ever again. However, like many of my promises to myself, to lose weight, eat healthily, drink less wine, go to the gym more, or maybe just once, I also broke this promise when season 2 started.

Ned and I both lose our heads. BY MAGALI VILLENEUVE/PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE.

Ned’s execution has parallels with Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. Ned was the head of the family that had been kings of Winterfell and kings of the North. Rajiv had been a pilot for Indian Airlines, but after his mum Indira died, he skyrocketed up the political stratosphere to become prime minister, like Ned with his headquarters and residence in the North. These Nehru-Gandhis sure can climb the ladder quickly can’t they?

Ned fell from grace after his best friend Robert Baratheon died and wasn’t king anymore. Ned ultimately died after unselfishly campaigning for a new king, sending a letter to Robert’s brother, Stannis Baratheon to take over, even though Ned could have become King himself. Rahul had lost the 1989 election, but the Gandhis don’t campaign for others to be king, just themselves, so Rahul was campaigning to be prime minister again. Which is also the start of events that led to his death.

In just the same way Ned lost his head, Rahul lost his too, in a bomb blast. It probably wasn’t cut as cleanly, but you can be assured that after the explosion, Rahul’s head was systematically and violently removed from his shoulders.

Ned was murdered for campaigning for the right person to be king, even though he could have easily become king himself and was much better qualified.

Rahul was murdered, campaigning for himself to be prime minister, when it could have easily gone to someone much better qualified.

The deaths of sons

“What we don’t know is usually what gets us killed.” – Petyr Baelish

When Queen Cersei Lannister blew up the Sept of Baelor, the religious epicentre of Westeros, with hundreds of people inside including her son’s bride, her son did what most sons may do when realising they have a homicidal, psychotic mother with a penchant for mass murder. He walked onto his balcony, carried on walking until there was no balcony left…and then walked some more.

Tommen didn’t want to carry on after his wife Margaery Tyrell was killed. Many men would probably feel the same. Image. Ranker.

Sanjay Gandhi, who was poised to succeed her, had three assassination attempts, was shot at three times and then died after his three-seater plane crashed on the third day of March. Ok, I just made the date up to make it sound more spooky, but the rest is true.

Cersei might have killed her son Tommen, albeit not on purpose, after he grew more powerful than her and started to question her actions and began to listen more to his wife than his mother. According to rumours and conspiracy theories, Indira Gandhi may have also killed her son, after he grew too powerful and questioned her actions and took more advice from his wife Menaka Gandhi… allegedly… maybe… I don’t know and I don’t have what could be referred to as concrete evidence or any evidence really. Fact-checking this would take as long as writing the article itself.

Consequently, Sanjay Gandhi’s wife joined the opposing political party as did her son, who has just been elected as part of Narendra Modi’s party the BJP. Maybe Menaka knew that Indira was also indirectly involved, which is why she jumped ship…. or maybe Modi just had better policies… again I don’t know, both my wife and mother feel that Indira Gandhi had a hand in her son’s death, but I know that will never be categorised as substantive evidence, so please feel free to do your own research on these conspiracy theories and let me know if you find anything meaningful… or just juicy!

Both Sons of the queens die in exactly the same way

“What good is power if you cannot protect the ones you love?” – Cersei Lannister

Both Queen Cersei’s sons, Joffrey and Tommen, die young. The eldest is assassinated, the younger dies after falling from a great height and lands on the ground, quickly, violently, and suddenly.

Both Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s sons, Rajiv and Sanjay, die young. The eldest is assassinated, the younger dies after falling from a great height and lands on the ground, quickly, violently, and suddenly.

David Vs Goliath

“All my life men like you have sneered at me, and all my life I’ve been knocking men like you into the dust.” — Brienne of Tarth

In the battle of the bastards, Jon Snow was widely tipped to lose to the Boltons, who wanted to take over as Kings of the North. When Modi took on Rahul Gandhi of the Indian congress party in 2014, it was another David Vs Goliath battle. The INC at one point, the most powerful political party in the world with more than 400 seats and enough power to change India’s constitution.

Modi was the son of a tea seller, who himself sold tea in train stations and grew up in poverty, the epitome of the rags to riches story of the multi Oscar winning film, “Slumdog Millionaire”. In contrast, Rajiv Gandhi grew up in billionaire, diamond encrusted, gilded halls of power.

But David beat Goliath in 2014 and has kept on beating him since.

Three is the magic number

“I believe in second chances. I don’t believe in third chances.” – Doran Martell

According to trip hop rap trio, De La Soul, “Three is the magic number” and has relevance in Game of Thrones. Three is the number of times the horn of the night watch must be blown when white walkers are spotted. It has only been blown three times in history. It is the number of times Tyrion Lannister slapped Joffrey before Tyrion is imprisoned. Personally, if Joffrey was slapped 100 times, I would still enjoy the 100^th slap as much as the 1^st slap!

In the Red Wedding and “Mothers of Mercy,” these episodes stand out as three main characters in each die. I will not say who as I have already given away too many spoilers.

If they lost Missandei, many men and women may lose their temper and probably want to destroy a city too. But was she the main reason why Dany Targaryen became the mad queen?

The death of three of her closest friends, Missandei, Jorah and Rhaegalas well as her dragon Viserion, eventually prompts Daenerys Targaryen to give in to her grief and burn most of King’s Landing.

Missandei, Jorah, Rhaegal or Viserion. Which is the character whose loss put Dany over the top? And a rather gratuitous opportunity to show another photo of Missandei!

Beric Dondarrion, although revived six times, was revived from the dead three times. He has much in common with Rahul Gandhi, who has lost three Indian elections in a row, but his political career has also been revived from the dead.

The Resurrection of Jon Snow/Rahul Gandhi

“Death is so final, yet life is full of possibilities.” – Tyrion Lannister

Jon Snow knows nothing…because he is dead. Image: Bustle

On the surface, there is nothing in common with Jon Snow and Rahul Gandhi. Except, both are scions of the most powerful families in their respective worlds. Also, one of the most common phrases in Game of Thrones, spoken to Jon Snow is “You know nothing.”

Ygritte, who never tires of telling Jon Snow, that he knows nothing…and then has sex with him. Image: Screen Rant

Which is a phrase that I am guessing has also been used many times against Rahul Gandhi, nicknamed Pappu (Hindi for small, inept boy). Considering his nickname is village idiot, Rahul may have more in common with Hodor!

But there is one more similarity. Jon Snow got knifed god knows how many times. I watched it three times, just for research and fact-checking purposes, but was so horrified, upset, and close to tears, I kept forgetting to count properly. Anyway, it was a lot. However, the following season, like the second coming of Jesus Christ, he was alive again! Why couldn’t they do that with Ned?!

Many people have wished Rahul Gandhi would also die. He has in fact suffered his political death many times. If a politician loses an election, he/she will not be leader of the political party anymore. If he/she loses a landslide election, their political career is over. Rahul Gandhi is the only politician in history to have suffered two landslide defeats, but still be running in a third election as head of his political party.

He has now lost three in a row as part of the I.N.D.I.A alliance. However, as the Indian National Congress (INC) has won more seats than expected, this defeat is now viewed as a victory, even though the BJP have 240 seats to INC’s 99! Rahul Gandhi has now become the de facto leader of the INC and had not conceded defeat even a week after the election.

Rahul Gandhi, described by award winning TV comedy host John Oliver as an “Indian Han Solo.”

Jon Snow was stabbed six times (I just googled it, a lot fewer tears) and came back from the dead. Rahul Gandhi was politically stabbed three times, but his political career has also come back from the dead. That Rahul is still here, his critics will say, is due to nepotism and lack of meritocracy. His supporters will say he never gave up, even though he does not seem to have anything else to do and never seemed to have a proper job. But whatever, he is back, and the resurrection of Rahul Gandhi is complete!

House of the Dragons

“I’m no ordinary woman. My dreams come true.” – Dany Targaryen

Did Rhaenyra Targaryen inspire Indira Gandhi or was it the other way round? Image: British GQ

As well as Cersei, Indira Gandhi could have partly inspired Rhaenyra Targaryen.

Both inherited rulership from well-liked & benign fathers that divided opinion.

Both started popular, but their subjects and people turned against them as they became more authoritarian.

Both were fatally betrayed by people they trusted; both had one son who died and one son who ended up in power (Aegon III & Rajiv Gandhi).

I am going to summarise this comparison for two main reasons:

1. I have already exceeded my 2,500-word limit and promised my small, ever-dwindling circle of readers that this article would be less than my usual 4,000 – 5,000 words.
2. Considering that the main plot of House of the Dragons is an unquenchable thirst for power by one family by any means, the entire story mirrors the Nehru-Gandhi family’s history.

Did I get it right or wrong? Let me know whether you agree with my theory on the parallel journeys between the GoT, HotD and HotG families.

That’s the end, but if this article gave you an appetite for more lust for money and power, don’t you worry, in the Game of Thrones universe, there will always be a family prepared to do whatever it takes to increase their wealth and supremacy.

And as long as Indian politics exist, there has always been and always will be a Nehru-Gandhi trying to cling to the top. But also tragically for them, Sanjay died early and Indira and Rajiv Gandhi were assassinated. They have encapsulated GoT’s most famous quote.

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.”