If you haven’t been tracking it, Game of Thrones is back — and it’s up to its same old tricks: namely, violence, incest, and great power politics. My opinion is that House of the Dragon is a mediocre follow-up to the original series, but it’s still an interesting meditation on power and rivalry in brutal world.
Well, DALL-E, the AI-fuelled art creator, is good at putting famous or iconic figures into bizarre scenarios, so we thought: who better to insert into the cold and calculating world of Westeros than some of America’s biggest power players — our presidents!
Thus, feast your eyes on these deranged computer-generated portraits of our political leaders wandering around in realms of medieval depravity. It weirdly fits…too well!
Ronald Reagan Hanging Out With a Dragon
Can you picture the Gipper at Dragonstone? I certainly can. I asked DALL-E to make this picture of the former president and a scaly beast in the style of an Edward Hopper painting so…just try to imagine them sitting at a lonely diner together at 2 in the morning.
Richard Nixon Riding a Direwolf
Yes, this is supposed to be “Richard Nixon” astride one of the most beautiful beasts in all the Seven Kingdoms. IMO, it looks more like Donald Rumsfeld riding a large tamarin monkey but, hey, it’s not bad for a picture that was generated in 24 seconds.
Bill Clinton on the Iron Throne
I feel like the Clintons would have done well for themselves in Westeros. I asked DALL-E to put Bill on the Iron Throne and it conjured up this cartoonish portrait where he appears to be wearing a ceremonial toga. Have at it, QAnon fans!
Jimmy Carter in a Castle
DALL-E didn’t respond very well to “Jimmy Carter in the throne room at King’s Landing” so we just plugged in “Jimmy Carter in a castle” and got this. It definitely got his features right! The castle, though, doesn’t look all that different from his peanut farm in Georgia.
Abraham Lincoln and a Three-Eyed Raven
This is supposed to be Abraham Lincoln and the three-eyed raven. It turned out well, but also creepy! We may never know who the person in the photo below the raven is.
JFK on the Iron Throne
DALL-E, show me: “A cyberpunk illustration of JFK as King of Westeros.”
Teddy Roosevelt Battling a Dragon
I found this one pretty disappointing. I mean…if ever there was a U.S. president that you’d want to see fight a dragon, it’d be T.R. However, what should be an awesome, shit-kicking blowout between two mythic beasts, looks more like the Monopoly guy fighting a teddy bear.
Gerald Ford Waving a Lannister Banner
I found this one disturbing. I typed in “Impressionist oil painting of Gerald Ford in a suit of armour waving a Lannister flag” and got this. The program actually got the Lannister flag correct but it also managed to make Ford look totally fucking terrifying. This looks vaguely like some terrible fascist art from the 1940s or 50s (you can sorta imagine it on the walls of Fulgencio Batista’s castle or something). Well done, art robot!
George Washington, Also With a Dragon
This is supposed to be George Washington hanging out with a dragon. DALL-E made the dragon look like a Gecko and also added a horse for some reason. Artistic licence, I suppose. It also decided to show them dogpiling on the founding father, making the finished work look, to me, like that famous painting about sleep paralysis, Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare. Weird!