On the Fear of the Void and Killing Babies in Pascal, Nabokov, and Game of Thrones

The article places Game of Thrones within a tradition of pessimism, reaching back to Blaise Pascal and coloured by Nabokov’s vision of birth as a separation between two voids. This lineage provides a philosophical thread to analyse the motivations and actions of the protagonists of Game of Thrones, in particular their relation to child-killing. The void looms large in the world of Game of Thrones as the unchartered space beyond the wall. It is the awareness of the reality of this void and the horrors it harbours which is shown to propel those who have it, to go to the greatest lengths to preserve the life of a child.