Can the fifth season of Game of Thrones be read as an allegory about the Republican party civil war? [Spolier Alert: If you haven't seen last night's finale and plan to, don't read this diary.]
It's not so far-fetched. Consider:
* A traditional power is overcome by the fanaticism that it sought to co-op. Is Cersei Lannister a stand-in for the likes of Eric Cantor and Robert Bennett? Was her Walk of Shame primarying by another name?
* A well-meaning moderate tries to make common cause with immigrants, compromises border security, and is purged for his troubles. Was Jon Snow's fate a cautionary tale for Marco Rubio?
* A once supremely rational man certain of his place in life succumbs to certitude and winds up at the end of a sword wielded by a glowering blonde. Are Stannis Barratheon and Brienne of Tarth stand-ins for Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton?
* An Ice Queen surrounded by a horde of unquestioning believers rides a dragon into the clutches of another horde, this one a rapacious army whose lust for destruction can never be satisfied. Sarah Palin, anyone?
* The remaining power in Westeros are king-makers who have no friends, who have no regard for anything other than their own power, who flay their enemies, and who brook, well...nothing. If the Boltons aren't Fox News, what are they?
* A eunuch and a cunning dwarf find common cause in trying to control the uncontrollable. Verys + Tyrion = John Boehner +Mitch McConnell?
* Meanwhile, a mindless host of zombies grows in number and prepares to descend upon the once Peaceable Kingdom. Are the White Walkers in reality the horrors of modern liberalism, infested with immigrants, gays, feminists, students, and the 47%?
Stay tuned.