Welcome to Sword Without a Hilt, a fan blog dedicated to magic, religion, and gender in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels and related writing, as well as in HBO’s adaptations Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
I’m Diana Dunlap, an actor and writer with a lifelong passion for the histories of magic, witches, and gender. I’m downright obsessed with every facet of A Song of Ice and Fire, Fire and Blood, and the HBO adaptations - and what’s more fascinating for a witchcraft historian than the mysterious magical landscapes of Westeros and Essos, with their many and varied religious perspectives?
My training as a historian focused on women and gender in Early Modern Europe (that’s roughly from the arrival of the printing press to the French Revolution), including the witch-hunts that exploded during that time. Melding my backgrounds as an actor and historian, I shared this history with visitors from all over the world in my adopted hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, through interactive theatre and museums. I’m now developing my own online history platform, Notorious for Witchcraft - Salem 1692, while pursuing a variety of creative projects.