The demonic spawn is a well known symbol that dates back to even the Biblical times with references to demon babies being made in the Torah. They were created to show straying away from God and the consequences that resulted from that. The word in Hebrew used for these children was Nephilim which translates to giants or fallen ones. The demon child is used in a falling from grace in the Albina myth, the King of Tars, and A Game of Thrones.
In the Albina myth, the women travel to an uninhabited island as a punishment for trying to kill their husbands to avoid being subservient. They become masculine on the island and learn to fend for themselves but are seduced by an incubus and have children who become the giants of Albion or demon children. The women can be interpreted to create these demon children because they have gone on the wrong path. They were led astray and created demon children because of their change in beliefs.
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| Actual real life image of the giants |
In the King of Tars, the Princess of Tars is forced to convert to Islam because of her marriage to the Sultan of Damascus. She becomes pregnant but is horrified to learn that she has beget a child that is a lump of flesh. She and the Sultan try to make the baby normal by using their religions, Christianity and Islam respectively. The Sultan’s methods fail while the Princess’ methods turn the baby normal and the Sultan becomes Christian as a result. The changing from Christianity again causes a demonic baby to be born.
In A Game of Thrones, Daenerys is forced to marry Khal Drogo and covert to his lifestyle and beliefs as a result. As opposed to the King of Tars, Daenerys actually is happier as a result and is supposed to give birth to the “Stallion who Mounts the World”. However, when she tries to change her beliefs again by using blood magic to save Khal Drogo’s life, her child becomes stillborn and looks like a monster. This is in stark contrast to the other two texts when the changing of lifestyles from the predominately Christian one to another creates a demon child. Daenerys does give birth to demon children through a conversion back to her old lifestyle when she hatches dragons over Drogo’s funeral pyre and begins to proclaim herself as the blood of the dragon.
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| How could Daenerys not love this? |
The demonic spawn is used many times to show the effects of falling from what the author considers to be the correct religion. In the Albina myth and the King of Tars, this is patriarchal Christianity while in A Game of Thrones, it is the old beliefs of Daenerys that her family is the blood of the dragon and blood magic that cause her to mother demonic children.. In A Game of Thrones however, it is used more positively when Daenerys hatches the dragons and to make her more powerful as opposed to the the King of Tars which shows the lump child as only causing grief.
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