I'd argue that Thrones was about all of that, the court drama and the violence. The political intrigue is definitely the highlight for me now, but I'm not going to lie, the thing that made me check out the show was seeing a gif of Khal Drogo ripping someones tongue out through their throat. Before that I was on some "fukk that nerd fantasy shyt, they need to bring back the Wire and the Sopranos"
Now, 10+ years later, I've read the books like 3 or 4 times and most of all the side stories with it and I'm having nerdy ass arguments online over minor bit parts of the story.