George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" / "Game of Thrones" captivates a mass audience as well as critics in highbrow literary circles. The interdisciplinary contributions of this volume explore the popularity of Martin's complex "secondary world" in its various media forms as a book, film, and video game. The methodological diversity of the essays from literature, history, politics, film studies, religious studies, musicology, medieval studies, and game studies creates new perspectives on numerous thematic and poetic aspects of the "World of Ice and Fire" - from the role of religion and sexuality to the dynamics of power and violence, as well as the function of riddles and prophecies.