The title of The Game of Empire suggests what it is about: the building and destroying of empires. Its central theme is that of political power. The agents of the Emperor of the Terran Empire seek to preserve the emperor's supremacy; the Merseians seek the Terran Empire's destruction; and Olaf Magnusson seeks the Terran Empire's throne for himself. It is in the character Magnusson that the theme of political power reaches its full complexity, for Magnusson simultaneously seeks to make an empire for himself and to destroy that empire.