THE WALL DEFENDS ITSELF

Heraldry

 Hi there. My name is Zack Soto and I’m a cartoonist/illustrator/printmaker/publisher who is hopelessly addicted to George RR Martin’s amazing fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. The characters, the intrigue, and definitely the immense amount of world-building have drawn me in and captured my interest from the start.

 I’m currently in the middle of re-reading the series for the first time, spurred on by the upcoming HBO adaptation of GAME OF THRONES.  I wanted to get all the details fresh in my head so I could follow along without stopping to try and remember the significance of any plot points, etc.  Little did I know, my re-read has spurred on a full blown OBSESSION, and I’ve been blowing through the books as fast as my various work schedules allow (I read the whole of STORM OF SWORDS in the downtime of a recent trip home to visit family, it took me about 4-5 days, and I was still managing to have a good time in the real world besides!). 

 When I originally read these books, about 4 years back, I was taken in almost as much, but a lot of the subtleties and background detail passed me by. I was inhaling them more than soaking in them, if you know what I mean. This time, the historical asides and descriptions of the various house lineages are more digestible and therefore fit into the context of my reading, expanding my understanding of Westeros and giving me insight into both past and future events in the series on a level that I didn’t have the first time I read through the books. I’m not trying to say I’m any kind of scholar or even the nerdiest of all my friends about this world, just that I’ve definitely spent a lot of time lately thinking about Mr. Martin’s creation in recent months. There’s a lot to chew on there.

 Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of good (and not so good) fan art online for the books, and I keep meaning to do my own. I’m deep in the middle of several huge projects, so working on fan art seems sort of weird and maybe a waste of time, but darn it I want to! So I will. I’m going to try and do at least one art post a week, and I will be posting my favorite examples of other people’s ASOIAF-inspired art that I enjoy. I might also post images from the HBO GoT series if they strike me, and mayyybe even just general real-world Medieval related art or artifacts, if I feel they relate. I will NOT be trying to post every single GAME OF THRONES related piece of art out there, though. The content is filtering through me, and I have my own peculiar taste, but feel free to send me links to art you find or do. 

A note on the name of the blog:

  Vaes Dothrak is the one great city of the Dothraki tribes, and contains both markets where tradesmen from all nations may come to trade, and the Godsway which “ … is lined with monuments of gods taken from the people the Dothraki conquered.”  Tip of the hat to Sean T Collins (of the great new ASOIAF blog BOILED LEATHER) for the suggestion. Somehow, that and  ”The Wall Defends Itself” (a re-occurring phrase in the books) seemed like they fit in with our collective impulse to try to add to/appreciate/etc the rich world of A GAME OF THRONES. We can add our own interpretations of these people and places without changing the basic awesomeness of GRRM’s achievement. 

A Note on Spoilers:

 There will probably be spoilers.