 Yet Martin felt historical fiction, particularly when set during the Middle Ages, had an excitement, grittiness, and a realness to it that was absent in fantasy with a similar backdrop.Thus, he wanted to combine the realism of historical fiction with the magic appeal of the best fantasies, subduing magic in favor of battles and political intrigue.He also decided to avoid the conventional good versus evil setting typical for the genre, using the fight between Achilles and Hector in Homer's "Iliad", where no one stands out as either a hero or a villain, as an example of what he wants to achieve with his books.