#black dinner

[vintageoculus]

Story of the Black Dinner, the real historical event that was the inspiration for the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones.

[the-busy-ghost]

I know that children were often expected to grow up faster in fifteenth-century Scotland, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t stop thinking about how the 6th Earl of Douglas and his brother (that is, kind of 12-13 and 16-17) were roughly the same age as my younger brothers when they were executed at the Black Dinner.

It’s bad enough that it was such a heinous act, without at least one of the victims being basically a child and the other little more than that. Dying is one thing, formal execution another.

Though I’m pretty sure they weren’t the first or the last, and I’m not supposed to take sides, it’s still sad.

[allons-ytogothamcity]

Can we just take a second to love that George R.R. Martin fashioned the Red Wedding after the infamous Black Dinner from Scottish history? Can we talk about how amazing he is?

[mightyandbright]

That's pretty neat.

[royalty-n-reality]

Did you know that The Red Wedding from George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice was inspired by Scottish History?

The Red Wedding is based on a couple real events from Scottish history. One was a case called The Black Dinner. 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. 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. 

-George RR Martin

[guthbrand]

[iamnedstarksmissinghead]

The Red Wedding is based on a couple real events from Scottish history. One was a case called The Black Dinner. 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. 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. --George R R Martin on the origin of The Red Wedding

[humanoidhistory]

Novelist George R.R. Martin talks about the very real and bloody inspirations for the infamous Red Wedding scene in Game of Thrones:

The Red Wedding is based on a couple real events from Scottish history. One was a case called The Black Dinner. 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. 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.

(Quote from Entertainment Weekly. More on the Black Dinner here.)