70 Amazing Facts About Game of Thrones

Over the course of eight season , Game of Thronesbroke many records , create a few contestation , and gave us 73 challenging episode of goggle box . And , of course , it made us all require a dragon of our own .

The series wrapped up with its final season in 2019 , but there ’s more Thrones telly on the way . While we wait for George R. R. Martin ’s prequelHouse of Dragonsto attain HBO , here are 70 facts about Game of Thrones to surge you over . Valar morghulis .

1. There’s an unairedGame of Thronespilot.

The first original , directed bySpotlightwriter - film director Tom McCarthy , was so dreaded it had to be shelved and reshot . “ We got everything wrong on a very basic level with the writing of it , ” show co - Jehovah David BeniofftoldVariety . One of the biggest problem ? None of the protagonist he and Weiss invited to follow the pilot “ realized that Jaime and Cersei were brother and babe , which is a major , major game dot that we had somehow failed to establish . ” In 2019 , a copy of that original script was unearthed , whichrevealeda number of interesting point .

2. Catelyn Stark and Daenerys Targaryen were originally played by other actors.

In the original pilot film , Catelyn Stark and Daenerys Targaryen were play by Jennifer Ehle and Tamzin Merchant , respectively ; by the meter the show aired , they had been replaced by Michelle Fairley andEmilia Clarke .

3. The Stark kids were different ages in the show than in the books.

When the bookA Game of Thronesstarts off , the Stark children aremuch youngerthan their on - screenland similitude . Bran was supposed to be 7 , while the player who played him ( Isaac Hempstead Wright ) was 12 ; Arya ( play by Maisie Williams ) blend in from 9 to 13 , while Sansa ( Sophie Turner ) go from 11 to 15 and Rickon ( Art Parkinson ) from 3 to 6 . In perhaps the most , ahem , starkdifference , ifGame of Throneshad stayed completely straight to its source material , Robb Stark ( Richard Madden ) and Jon Snow ( Kit Harington ) would have been only 15 and 14 years old , respectively .

4. George R.R. Martin had a cameo in the original episode.

George R.R. Martinhad acameoin the original pilot as a invitee at Daenerys and Khal Drogo ’s wedding . When the function of Daenerys was recast , the scene had to be scrapped . Martin later on lobbied for a less - glamourous , but belike more memorable , theatrical role : a lop mind on a post . Butaccordingto Martin , “ Those severed heads are expensive … So unless I render my own , I do n’t get to be a cut off pass ! " Benioff and Weiss offer him the opportunity to make a cameo appearance in Season 8 , but Martin did n’t have the sentence because he wasworking onThe Winds of Winter .

5. There were a bunch of other casting close calls onGame of Thrones.

Ehle and Merchant weren’tGame of Thrones ’s only could - have - beens . Gillian Andersonturned down anunspecified roleon the show , as didThe Wire ’s Dominic West . ( Judging by the fact that , per West , the role would have involved shooting “ in Reykjavik for six months , ” it was believably Mance Rayder , a purpose that finally go to Ciarán Hinds . )

The Hunger Gamesfranchise ’s Sam Claflinauditionedfor Jon Snow and Viserys Targaryen , andOutlanderstar Sam Heughanauditionedfor a variety of roles , including Renly Baratheon and Loras Tyrell , seven times . sore Men star Jared Harris and Oscar winner Mahershala Ali were also reportedly up for roles on the show .

6. Arya Stark was the hardest character to cast.

" I call up we believably looked at 300 girls in England and could not find the right Arya , " Benioffsaidat SXSW in 2017 . “ We just could not cast her . ”

They found Maisie Williams while going through hearing TV in a Moroccan hotel lobby with bad Wi - Fi , and select her video free-base on a belittled thumbnail that wait promising . “ There was just something about that little lilliputian thumbnail brass that just seemed right , ” Benioff said . “ She take care about 7 . Like she was 12 , but go on 7 . So we clicked on the auditory modality video and waited about 40 minutes for it to download . When we saw that sense of hearing video she was just f***ing awing . ”

7. Peter Dinklage almost turned down the role of Tyrion Lannister.

In a Reddit AMA , Peter Dinklagesharedthe reason why he was n’t now sell onGame of Thrones .

" I had one hesitation , because of the fancy literary genre , I told [ showrunner David Benioff ] I did n’t desire a really foresightful byssus and pointy shoes , " Dinklage said . " [ Benioff and D.B. Weiss ] check me this case and this world was n’t that . They severalise me about his complexity , the fact that he was n’t a Hero of Alexandria or a scoundrel , that he was a womanizer and a juicer , and they painted a flawed and beautiful portrait of him , so I signed on . "

8. Kit Harington showed up to his audition with a black eye.

9. David Benioff pranked Peter Dinklage by telling him the show had been canceled.

After the pilot was pick up , David BenioffprankedPeter Dinklage by call him and tell him the show had been canceled . " I recall it was when the pilot was picked up , " Benioff said . " I was with Tom McCarthy and we called him from a Yankees game . " It was six hour before Dinklage learned the accuracy .

Dinklage himself was a fan of toy trick on set , and he recite in an show onJimmy Kimmel Live . " I like to pretend I ’m dead . It ’s always fun , " Dinklagesaid . " Just my leg sprawled out in the trailer . You ’ve got to get really smushed into the trading floor in a very awkward position . " He said he would wait hours for someone to find him .

10. The show’s nudity wasn’t easy for Emilia Clarke.

Though Daenerys Targaryen turned out to be a career - switch office for Clarke , the actress admitted that her other days on set were n’t easy . On her very first daylight of filming , she devolve off of a horse in front of the crew and , humiliated , cry . Plus , there was all the nakedness required of her character — not to mention an infamous rape fit . " Once , I had to take a trivial time out , " shetoldEsquireof filming the first time of year . " I said I need a cupful of tea , had a bit of a cry , and was ready for the next scenery . "

As she toldThe New Yorkerafter the series finale had aired , “ In so many of those other here and now , you probably get word a lot of Emilia ’s pain rather than Daenerys ’s pain , because it ’s not comfortable , it ’s not soft . A film set is an fantastically scary billet to be for the first time . ”

11. Sophie Turner adopted Sansa Stark’s direwolf.

Sophie Turner , who plays Sansa Stark , take over Zunni , the Northern Inuit dog that played her pet direwolf on the serial publication ’ first time of year . “ Growing up I always want a dog , but my parent never wanted one , ” TurnertoldCoventry Telegraphin 2013 . “ We kind of come down in love with my character ’s direwolf , Lady , on set . We knew Lady died and they want to re - home her . My mummy persuaded them to have us adopt her . ” Sadly , Zunniepassed awayin 2017 .

12. Eating the “horse heart” was terrible for Emilia Clarke.

The horse core Daenerys had to corrode in time of year 1 was fundamentally a jumbo gummy candy — one that , per Clarke , tasted a slight piece like bleach . ( It also had pasta running through it to mime arteries . ) She ate28 ticker , and apparently did a lot of puking between takes . To make the proceeding even grosser , all the fake blood made Clarke so steamy that she gotstuckto a toilet .

13. Jon Snow’s cape from the Night’s Watch was made from an IKEA rug.

14. Charles Dance picked up some butchering skills for a scene inGame of Thrones.

Veteran actor Charles Dance took his part as Tywin Lannister very seriously : In Season 1 , a setting need his character to clamber a deer , and he worked with a bumbler to pick up the skill so that he could actually do it while film ; hetoldthe Daily Beast that it ’s the craziest thing he did onGame of Thrones . “ This blunderer arrive with a drained animal and they gave me a little room to shape in , give me a sharp knife , and depict me how to skin it and spill the catgut into a bucket , ” Dance order . “ The next day , they give me another dead animal , and we shoot it . It was a bloody good time , but it have me two days to get the smell off my hand . ”

15. Sean Bean had some fun with his own decapitated head.

In a Reddit AMA , Sean Beanrecalledthat , while on - set , he kicked the model of Ned Stark ’s decapitated principal around “ like a football . ”

16. The internet spoiled Robb Stark’s fate for Richard Madden.

While reader of George R.R. Martin ’s A Song of Ice and Fire serial make out that Robb Stark ’s days were probably numbered onGame of Thrones , Richard Madden — the role player who take on him — decided to keep himself in the dark about the account book as part of his preparation for the tv set office . But that did n’t stop fans , or the internet , from order the Golden Globe - acquire actor that his reign as King in the North would be curtly - endure .

" A thousand people spoil it for me before I had a chance to pick up the third book , " MaddentoldEntertainment Weekly . " I record [ the books ] time of year - by - season . I do n’t require to preempt where Robb is going and that ’s what I ’ve done since the show started . I also made the fatal flaw of Googling . So that kind of reinforced what masses were suggest — aver that something terrible was go to happen and giggling . "

17. The Red Wedding was based on real historical events.

Martin toldEntertainment Weeklyin 2013 that “ no matter how much I make up , there ’s stuff and nonsense in account that ’s just as risky , or worse . ” case in point : The Black Dinner of 1440 — a dinner party / trap that ended in the murder of two children — and the Massacre of Glencoe of 1692 , during which soldiers claiming to need shelter due to a full fort slayed their host . Martin used both events asinspirationforGame of Thrones ’s Red Wedding .

18. Look closely at the faces in the House of Faces and you might recognize someone.

from time to time , the behind - the - scene team onGame of Thronesends up in front of the tv camera : Many of the faces on the House of Black and White ’s Hall of Faces belonged to the show ’s yield squad . " You need enough faces that you do n’t sense the repetition , but you plain ca n’t face up cast thousands and thousands of people because that ’s prohibitively expensive , ” Weisssaid . " We used all the boldness molds we have ever used before . Both David [ Benioff ] and myself appeared many , many times in the Hall of Faces … there is at least 20 or 30 of me in there . "

19.Game of Thrones’s weapon masters got inspiration from history.

Tommy Dunne , who served as weapons master onGame of Thrones , toldMental dental floss in 2014 that when he was realize weapon system for the show , “ I [ looked ] at dissimilar menses and unlike earned run average — Egyptian , monolithic , ” and modeled some of the show ’s weapon on their real historic counterparts .

Not all artillery on the show were make adequate . The weapon section would make “ hero weapon ” for the camera out of New materials like steel , but they were too dangerous to actually use while combat ; for that , they crafted steel out of either aircraft aluminum — which is unattackable and flexile and safe to fight back with — or , if the tantrum take stunts or animals , out of rubber . An exception was the pointer : by from golosh tips , they wee made just like the veridical thing . If they were made of frail woodwind instrument , they ’d shatter upon allow for the bow .

Flaming arrows did get some modifications , though . " A normal arrow might be 32 inch , but for flaming arrows [ like we used in Season 2 ’s Battle of the Blackwater ] , ” Dunne told Mental Floss , “ we add another six to eight inches to a large slice of Sir Henry Joseph Wood . Then we put on a foam wad that is impregnated with a chemical substance mix and we burn it , so it ’ll be drab , depending on the mix that the special effects team put on them . "

20. Dothraki is a real language.

In 2014 , Living Languagereleaseda conversational language row that will have you talk like Khal Drogo in no time . The trend was craft by linguistDavid J. Peterson , who worked with HBO to make the Dothraki heard on the show . you may learn a few primal phraseshere .

21.The Office’s Dwight Schrute influenced Dothraki.

In one episode ofThe Officein 2012 , Dwight Schrute was teach Dothraki and immix an objective noun and a transitive verb to produce the phrasethroat tear . Linguist David Peterson had n’t look at doing that , but he liked it so much that he canonized it and called it “ Schrutean compound . ”

Dwight Schrute is n’t the only someone who has made an wallop on Dothraki : The Dothraki Bible for bird of Jove , kolver , was name after Stephen Colbert . And the word for good and kind iserin — Peterson ’s wife ’s name .

22. You can learn High Valryian via an app.

In gain to the “ substantial ” language it teach , Duolingo offers a course of instruction inHigh Valyrianto heighten yourGame of Thrones - watching experience .

23. The White Walkers had their own language.

Peterson call that language Skroth . “ “ It was actually croak to be for the very first scene of the show where the White Walker comes and cuts that cat ’s head off . There are parts where you pick up them kind of grumble and vocalize , ” Petersonsaidin 2015 .

But ultimately , Skroth was scrapped because , harmonize to Peterson , “ I think ultimately they decided they did n’t want them actually saying stuff and even subtitle it . That might have been a piddling corny , honestly , for the first step tantrum of the show . ” For Season 2 , a phone room decorator create an water ice - cracking sound that finally brought Skroth to life — albeit without an actual language behind the sounds .

24. Several characters were played by multiple actors.

A handful of character reference have been played by more than one actor over the trend of the show , notably Daario Naharis ( Ed Skrein in Season 3 , Michiel Huisman in Seasons 4 , 5 , and 6 ) , Tommen Baratheon ( Callum Wharry in Seasons 1 and 2 , Dean - Charles Chapman in Seasons 3 through 6 ) , and his sister Myrcella ( Aimee Richardson in Seasons 1 and 2 , Nell Tiger Free in Season 5 ) , and Gregor “ The Mountain ” Clegane ( Conan Stevens in Season 1,Ian Whytein Season 2 , and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson in Seasons 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , and 8 . )

25. Ser Pounce, King Tommen’s beloved cat, is dead.

Ser Pounce — King Tommen ’s royal Caterpillar — was introduced in Season 4 , and turn out to be an excellent prop for Margaery Tyrell ( Natalie Dormer ) to succeed the kernel of yet another baron , the very young and very sweet-scented Tommen Baratheon ( Dean - Charles Chapman ) . It only took a unmarried scene for the little fuzzball to find his way into the hearts of viewers and , for a lilliputian while , Ser Pounce became a spot of an internet sensation . But after Tommen ’s death by self-annihilation , the computed tomography disappeared .

If the timing seemed suspicious , you ’ve clearly been pay attention . " Cersei detest the name ‘ Ser Pounce ’ so much she could not allow him to endure , " BeniofftoldEntertainment Weeklyof the feline ’s untimely death . " So she came up with her most demonic [ execution ] . Ser Pounce ’s death was so frightful we could n’t even put it on the breeze . "

26. There was more than oneMonty Python and the Holy Grailconnection.

Part ofGame of Thrones ’s original wasshotin one of the castles used forMonty Python and the Holy Grail . Three season later , in “ Breaker of Chains , ” an unnamed Meereenese warrior cry a serial of taunts at Daenerysthat include“Your female parent was a hamster , ” “ Go and boil your butt , sons of a silly person , ” and “ I botch up my nozzle at you ” … in Low Valyrian , of class .

27. The most-InstagrammedGame of Throneslocation is in Croatia.

Game of Thronesfilmed all over the world , but themost instagrammedshooting location is Krka National Park , a popular holidaymaker attractive feature in southern Croatia that ’s known for its stunning waterfall . You may recognize the localization from several episode , include Season 4 ’s “ Breaker of Chains , ” where Arya and The Hound cross the Riverlands .

28. The show’s VFX artists based the dragons’ movements on real-life animals.

To create realistic movements for Daenerys ’s dragons , the essence squad withdraw breathing in from actual animals . According tovisual effects supervisor Sven Martin , they studiedbird and bat wings and behaviour . The dragon ’ colour came from animals like frogs and chetah . And when Dany deary Drogon , his doings was cat - like .

29. Starving dragons were the most difficult VFX challenge.

Martin has said that the hardest scene he ever created occurred in Season 6 , when Viserion and Rhaegal were chained up underground and not eating . “ My animator and I put forget me drug around our necks , ” Martinsaid , “ and our VFX manufacturer , Sabrina Gerhardt , hold back the [ reins ] , so to speak , as we acted out what it would be like to be wound dragons . We filmed the whole thing , and that help us nail down the details . It was a lot like movement capturing , without the technological process , in that it helped us to find the subtleties of the performance . ”

30. The dragons would be too big to fly in real life.

The heaviest bird to ever take flight of steps was around 150 pounds , and the largest flying reptile was 550 . Both of those animals were right smart modest than Dany ’s dragons — so Drogon would n’t be capable to take off in real life , accordingto expert .

31. Jackhammers and bison vocalizations were used to create the sound design of the dragons.

Sound architect Paula Fairfield , who joinedGame of Thronesin Season 3 , used many different techniques to produce the sounds of the dragons . Among them were Tibetan chant and utterance from bison and her own hot dog . She used a jackhammer , holler Game of Thrones sports fan , and dangling bones , among other things , to create the strait of Zombie Viserion .

FairfieldtoldVanity Fairthat she saw Drogon as Dany ’s lover and Viserion and Rhaegal — whom she called “ the bros”—as more like Beavis and Butthead . Her favorite conniption from Season 7 involved “ the bros … waking up on the cliff in the aurora , and they ’re burping and they ’re kind of hissing and have up , getting quick to go take tutelage of business up northward . … Those panorama are everything . I mean , they are as much fun as — to me , anyway — as the dragons flying around blow sh*t up . ”

32. The show has inspired scientists.

In 2018 , entomologist Brett Ratcliffe made headline for refer three newly discovered mallet species after Dany ’s tartar . He mark themdrogoni , rhaegali , andviserioni . And in 2019 , Australian scientistsnameda new coinage of bee flyParamonovius nightkingafter the Night King .

33. Daenerys Targaryen originally had violet eyes.

In the record book , the Targaryen family members are notable for their silver hair’s-breadth and violet eye . During shooting , Daenerys and Viserys ( Harry Lloyd ) Targaryen primitively wore violet contact lense , but Benioff and Weiss decided they negativelyimpactedthe actors ’ ability to portray emotion .

34. The time between seasons 5 and 6 was Kit Harington’s “darkest period.”

“ Mydarkest periodwas when the show seemed to become so much about Jon , when he died and came back , ” Kit HaringtontoldVarietyabout his year on the show . “ I really did n’t like the focusing of the whole show coming onto Jon — even though it was invalidating my trouble about being the weakly link because thing were about Jon . ”

Even though Jon was numb in the show , Harington had been spotted on the solidification — and was still disport his far-famed Jon Snow locks , which conduce sports fan to wonder whether he was really stagnant at all .

“ It was n’t a very good fourth dimension in my life story , ” Harington say . “ I feel I had to feel that I was the most fortunate person in the earth , when in reality , I felt very vulnerable . I had a shivering time in my aliveness around there — like I think a lot of people do in their twenty . That was a fourth dimension when I come out therapy , and started talk to the great unwashed . I had feel very unsafe , and I was n’t talking to anyone . I had to feel very thankful for what I have , but I felt unbelievably interested about whether I could even f***ing act . "

35. But that “dark” timedidget Kit Harington out of a speeding ticket.

After being swear to privacy about his fate in the 6th season , Harington wasforcedto give up the solution after being pulled over for speeding . The officer , a fan of the show , gave him two option : either handle with the punishment for hurrying or say him whether Jon Snow would dwell or die in the next time of year . Harington ab initio imagine the valet was joking , but after a 2nd look he say him : “ I am animated next time of year . ” To which the ship’s officer responded , “ On your fashion , Lord Commander . "

36. The White Walkers were created using extensive prosthetics.

There were some VFX elements to the wights and White Walkers , but for the most part , the animate being were created using extensive foam prosthetics , which were glued to the actors in a operation that took hour . Creating a individual prosthetic fibre required four to six weeks and the work of 10 to 15 artists .

Their weapons were likewise complicated . concord to Dunne , the White Walkers ’ weapon of choice " is a flake more intricate because it ’s an ice sword … These are clear rosin swords that are oven - parched — it ’s clear glass that depend like a fragment of ice . "

37. Emilia Clarke suffered two aneurysms duringGame of Thrones’s run.

In a 2019 piece forThe New Yorker , Clarke uncover that , after wrapping the first time of year ofGame of Thrones , she was work out with a trainer when she matte up like “ an elastic band were squeezing my Einstein . I try out to ignore the pain and push through it , but I just could n’t . I told my flight simulator I had to take a break . Somehow , almost grovel , I made it to the locker way . I pass on the toilet , sank to my knees , and continue to be violently , voluminously ill . Meanwhile , the pain — shooting , stabbing , constricting pain — was getting worse . At some storey , I knew what was pass : my brain was damage . ”

She was get an aneurism . “ As I later learned , about a third of SAH [ subarachnoid hemorrhage ] patients go immediately or shortly thereafter , ” Clarke wrote . “ For the patients who do survive , urgent intervention is required to seal off the aneurysm , as there is a very in high spirits peril of a second , often fatal bleed . ”

It was the first of two aneurysms Clarke would experience while shoot the show . The second occurred after the third time of year of the show , after Clarke went in for Einstein operating room . “ I come forth from the operation with a waste pipe come out of my head . Bits of my skull had been supercede by titanium , ” she wrote . “ These days , you ca n’t see the scrape that curves from my scalp to my spike , but I did n’t live at first that it would n’t be visible . And there was , above all , the perpetual worry about cognitive or centripetal loss . Would it be concentration ? memory board ? Peripheral vision ? ” She kept the aneurysms secret until 2019 .

Clarke survived , of course of action , and has since create a Jacob’s ladder calledSameYouthat helps the great unwashed who are recovering from brain hurt and stroke .

38. Peter Dinklage won a Golden Globe forGame of Thronesin 2012, but his mom was betting on Guy Pearce.

Before Dinklage win the Golden Globe forGame of Thronesin 2012 , he utter with his mammy back in New Jersey , who told him , “ Have playfulness , but have you seenMildred Pierce ? Guy Pearce is so good . He ’s gon na win . ” He wryly noted how mama keep us all humble .

39. You’ve probably been mispronouncingKhaleesi.

While being interviewed for The Allusionist podcast , linguist Peterson discover the rampant mispronunciation ofKhaleesias " a real spikelet in my side . " So just how should we be saying the Dothraki password ?

" I wanted to check that if something was spell differently , it was pronounced differently , " Peterson explained of his process of transforming the handful of Dothraki words George R.R. Martin had created into a full linguistic communication . " That worked pretty well for everything except the word Khaleesi … There ’s no elbow room it should be judge ' ka - LEE - see ' free-base on the spelling . So I had to resolve , ' Am I going to respell this thing because I know how people are go to say this , or am I break down to honour that spelling and pronounce it other than ? ' I made the latter determination and I reckon it was the unseasonable decision . "

( That said , in his bookLiving Language Dothraki , Peterson writes that " many Dothraki words have multiple orthoepy variants , often look on whether the speaker is aboriginal or non - aboriginal . Khaleesi , for exercise , has three separate pronunciations : khal - eh - si , khal - ee - si , and kal - ee - si , " which at a later degree in the rule book spelled is " ka - lee - si . " )

40. Starring inGame of Thronesmade it impossible for Isaac Hempstead Wright to be a “normal” college student.

When he was n’t playing Bran Stark , Isaac Hempstead Wrightwas a bookman at Birmingham University . But he admitted that equilibrise his role as co - ed and star of one of television ’s most pop series was n’t easy . " I could n’t take the air out of my halls without having to take a selfie , ” the actortoldEsquire UK . " I had the nicest flatmate . But it made it quite unmanageable to make friends . I do n’t call up I ’ll ever be able to have a normal university experience , which is kind of sad . I could n’t relax and go out and have a drink or get intoxicated or whatever , because if I did someone would be like : ' I saw Bran and he was all f***ed up . ' "

41. Both Emilia Clarke and Lena Headey have playedThe Terminator’s Sarah Connor.

Clarke star alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger inTerminator Genisys , act the role of Sarah Connor . The part was previously played by Cersei Lannister herself , Lena Headey , in the shortly - live TV series , Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles .

42. The trees lining the Kingsroad might not be around much longer.

People have long flocked to Northern Ireland to search the enchantingDark Hedges , but the scenic localization ’s appearance in season 2 ofGame of Thronesreally put the holidaymaker attractive force on the map . Visitors who take the air down the " Kingsroad " these days may notice something amiss , though . In 2019 , according toThe Independent , powerful flatus uprooted one of Ballymoney ’s illustrious beech trees , which have been a prominent characteristic of the townsfolk since the eighteenth century . There were once 150 beech Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree at the land site , but only 60 to 90 trees are still support today , fit in to different estimation . Some precipitate victim to past storms , while others suffer from guff .

43. George R.R. Martin made the showrunners guess who Jon Snow’s mother was.

Before he ’d bestow his benediction on D.B. Weiss and David Benioff , George R.R. Martin asked the two wannabe showrunners the doubtfulness that antecedently spurred thousands upon grand of row of sports fan speculation : “ Who is Jon Snow ’s tangible mother ? ”

“ It was very much like a test question , ” BeniofftoldVanity Fairin 2014 . “ Basically , it was like : ‘ Guess . I need your surmisal to be intelligent and I want it to be based in the facts of the creation , ’ ” Weiss added . “ We had already discussed it . We ’d had like a two - hr conversation about it . It was jolly well - trammeled district for us . ”

44. Sean Bean never learned who Jon Snow’s parents were.

Although Sean Bean knew from the beginning that his character , Ned Stark , would die early on , he was n’t told many other plot point — not even the fact that Jon Snow was n’t actually Ned ’s bastard .

When ask if he jazz of Jon ’s true origin , the actoradmitted , “ No . Like with everything withGame of Thrones , it was kept very dark and secret … I recall that ’s the sort of magic and the glory ofGame of Thrones — that ’s why it ’s so stunning and breathtaking when these secrets are unveil . ”

45. One actor played five characters inGame of Thrones.

Welsh actor and stunt performerIan Whytehas played a rattling total of five use onGame of Thrones . In Seasons 1 and 2 he was a White Walker ; also in Season 2 , he played Gregor Clegane ( one of three histrion to play that persona ) . Whyte — who is more than 7 feet tall — has played a giant many prison term : In season 3 and 4 , Whyte play Dongo the Doomed ; in Seasons 5 and 6 was Wun Wun ; and in the end , in Seasons 7 and 8 , he bet the unknown wight giant drive down by Lyanna Mormont .

46. The Battle of the Bastards took inspiration from history.

To create Season 6 ’s Battle of the Bastards , director Miguel Sapochnik looked to real life conflicts , specially the Battle of Cannae in 216 BCE , in which the Carthaginians circled the Romans and succeed . The sequencerequired65 stunt performers — which is more than some films use .

47. Kit Harington needed a safe word while filming The Battle of the Bastards.

In a behind - the - scenes featurette , longtimeGame of Thronescamera hustler Sean Savage shared that his very pet scene to film over eight seasons was the moment during the Battle of the Bastards " when Jon Snow is forced to the land and then trampled . And this seemingly immortal hero of ours looks like he ’s close to the end . "

When Harington return to the ground , Savage brook over him and filmed from above as scads of stuntmen pile on top of the worker . The scene was n’t whole script , so so as to secure that Harington would n’t be injured , " we had a sort ofsafe word[so ] that we could call it off at any point , " Savage say .

48. The actor who played Ramsay Bolton was almost cast as Jon Snow.

Iwan Rheonwas the moon curser - up to play Jon Snow . The role fit to Kit Harington , and Rheon went on to play Roose Bolton ’s sadistic illegitimate child Logos , Ramsay , instead .

“ I think they made the right choice ; it would ’ve been a very unlike Jon Snow if I ’d played him , ” RheontoldInterviewmagazine in 2016 . Ramsey was exhaust by his own hunger hounds , who were unleashed by Sansa Stark — and though it ’s hard to imagine his death being any more brutal , the original barb was actually dubbed “ too macabre ” to air .

49.Game of Throneswas the most pirated tv show for six consecutive years.

grant to TorrentFreak , Game of Throneswas the most pirated show for six back-to-back years — from 2012 to 2017 . In 2015 it had more than twice the illegal downloads of the 2nd most pirated show , The Walking Dead . In 2018,The Walking Deadfinally took over thetop spot … but only becauseGame of Throneshadn’t secrete a new sequence since 2017 . In 2019 , the premiere of the final season pirate 55 million times in just 24 hours , accordingto The Verge .

50. It wasn’t Lena Headey making Cersei Lannister’s Walk of Atonement in Season 6.

Rebecca Van Cleave execute the picture au naturel , while Headey did it clothed ; the show ’s VFX team then flux the scenes together . Van Cleave beat out more than 1000 other actress to film that picture . ShetoldEntertainment Weeklythat “ I never in a million class would have guess I would be in Dubrovnik skirt by hundreds of extra and work party extremity throwing food at me , but it was amazing . ” ( playfulness fact : The production ’s Christmas treefeatureda Walk of Shame ornament — a defenseless Barbie with its hairsbreadth curve short , assume a sign that take “ shame ! ” )

51.Game of Throneshas an official rap companion album.

In 2014 , HBO put out an officialGame of Thrones - theme rap record album called “ get the commode , ” which they unloosen for barren viaSoundCloud . They did it again in 2015 , before the show ’s fifth time of year ( though loudness two contained some overweight metal caterpillar tread ) . Contributors include Method Man ( “ The Oath ” ) , Snoop Dogg ( “ Lannister ’s hymn ” ) , Big Boi ( “ Mother of Dragons ” ) , Talib Kweli ( “ Lord of the Light ” ) , and Anthrax ( “ Soror Irrumator ” ) .

52. The Loot Train Attack took 18 days to shoot.

D.B. Weiss described Season 7 ’s Loot Train Attack succession — in which Daenerys taunt Drogon into struggle in Westeros for the first time — as “ like a time travel movie … what if someone had an F-16 that they play to a medieval struggle ? ” The shoot was a monolithic logistic challenge . It took plaza in Spain , and required the presence of many different departments , “ all working at the very extreme point of their abilities , ” product intriguer Deborah Riley say in a behind - the - scenes audience . “ There ’s a circle of continuity to make certain that we ’re in the right quad in the ripe part of the process mull the proper amount of burning . ” Not only were there typeset bandaging challenges , but they also need to have camera flying in double-dyed sentence with pyrotechnics so that VFX artist could put Drogon in later on . In Season 6 , there were 11 shots of Daenerys on Drogon ; there are more than 80 in the Loot Train Attack succession alone .

The sequence took 18 days to shoot , and , consort to Director of Photography Robert McLachlan , took week and weeks of planning out front of time . “ Everything has to be so tightly nailed down well in advance in ordering for it to be budget . Each one of those shots with a flying lizard in it is budgeted to the 2nd . It ’s so wildly expensive to create those images , ” hetoldtheHollywood Reporter . “ There ’s also a lot of planning ahead in letting the ocular effects section know where we ’re going to need more weed than we would physically be able-bodied to create after the fire start — adding more fires and building it up , putting in elements we would n’t be able-bodied to do otherwise for safety concerns or gauzy logistics . ”

53. The one-shot in the Loot Crate Attack is actually several shots spliced together.

Mid - battle , there ’s a seemingly - unseamed one - shot of Bronn ( Jerome Flynn ) run through the chaos , but there are actually three cuts in the sequence . “ We could have done it in one guess , but in ordering to add together thing like burn bodies and dragon flying overhead , we ended up splitting it into three segments that the optical consequence section helped us meld together , ” MacLachlan said . “ They did a fantastic job . Even sleep together where the cut are , I ca n’t even see them , watching them now . ”

54. The showrunners knew well before the series ended how the books will end.

George R.R. Martin distinguish D.B. Weiss and David Benioff the “ broad strokes ” of how the series will end . “ Last year we perish out to Santa Fe for a calendar week to sit down with [ Martin ] and just talk through where things are going , because we do n’t acknowledge if we are move to catch up and where precisely that would be , ” BeniofftoldVanity Fairin 2014 . “ If you know the closing , then you’re able to put the groundwork for it . And so we need to know how everything end . We want to be capable to set thing up . So we just sit down with him and literally went through every reference . ”

55. Martin didn’t expect the show to catch up with him.

The series did catch up to Martin ’s Good Book , of class , and then overtook them . After the series coda bare to a fair amount of rebound , Martin gave an interview in which he mark , “ mass know an end — but not the ending , ” Martin enunciate . “ The makers of the TV show had overtaken me , which I did n’t look . ”

" I ’ve been so tedious with these books , " MartintoldRolling Stone . " The major points of the ending will be things I told [ Benioff and Weiss ] five or six years ago . But there may also be changes , and there ’ll be a lot added . "

In another interview , Martin pronounce that if Benioff and Weiss been wholly close to the books , the show would have range forfive more seasons .

56. The final season featured several callbacks to Season 1.

Prior to Season 8 , Maisie William said in an interview withEntertainment Weeklythat after she knew the ending to time of year 8 , she went back and rewatched the first time of year .

" After reading the scripts I went back and watched time of year 1 again , because so much of it refers back to that season , " Williams said . " There are so many view that will see interchangeable . And also I watched just to remind myself of the arc I ’ve taken already . I need Arya to go full circle and try for some kind of normality like when she was younger . "

57. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who plays The Mountain, needed a stunt double for the first time ever in season 8.

out front of Season 8 , Iceland nativeHafþór Júlíus Björnsson , who play Gregor " The Mountain " Clegane in the TV serial publication , toldMashable the concluding season was " the gruelling time of year I ’ve filmed for Game Of Thrones . " Filming got so complicated that , for the first time in his four seasons on the show , Björnsson — who is a strongman in actual living , and of late discover the world’sdeadlift criminal record — demand a stunt double to recreate The Mountain .

“ All the seasons prior to this time of year that we just finished filming , I never had stunt doubles . I always did everything myself , " Björnsson say . " But the last season I film … I had a stunt doubly there . "

58. Scientists calculated the odds to try and predict who would survive season 8.

Reidar Lystad and Benjamin Brown — injury epidemiologists at Sydney ’s Macquarie University — watched all the episodes ofGame of Thronesthat had aerate before Season 8 with an oculus toward fatality rate trends anddeterminedsome key factors that they retrieve indicated who was most potential to dwell or die in Season 8 , statistically speaking .

The work base that low - born Male with a high level of loyalty were the most likely to be kill , while upper - grade women had a better survival of the fittest rate . In addition , switch allegiances seemed to lengthen a character ’s lifespan .

Using these criteria , theresearcherssuggested that Sansa and Arya Stark had the good statistical luck of outlast the series as they changed loyalty .

The study show that while Daenerys Targaryen and Cersei Lannister had the high - yield factor working in their favour , the fact that they remain ferociously patriotic to their initial goals probably did not bode well for their ultimate natural selection .

Not far behind the Stark sister in term of selection chance were Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister , who LystadtoldHuffPost were both " very much still in the run . "

turn over that Sansa , Arya , Jon , and Tyrion are all alert , and Daenerys and Cersei cease up bushed , it seems the research worker ’ prevision were spot - on .

59. Through the end of Season 7, injuries—especially open neck wounds—and fire were the most common ways to be killed.

injury — specifically an open neck wound or wound to an unspecified part of the body — were the most potential cause of destruction on the series until the end of Season 7 , while burning ( a.k.a . the only way to stamp out a White Walker , and a punishment Daenerys ’s dragon are very skilled at inflicting ) was the 2d most vulgar way to be knocked off . In hypothesis , after Season 8 ’s two great dragon - lead battles , it became the # 1 manner to break down in Westeros .

60. Real people named their kids afterGame of Thronescharacters.

In the year 2014 , per the Social Security Administration , “ Khaleesi ” was the United States ’s 755th most popular baby name for girls , up from 1021th place in 2013.In England , Khaleesi , Arya , Tyrion , Brienne , Sansa , Bran , Sandor , and Theon also saw a rise in popularity afterGame of Thronesbegan airing . ( What , no Dagmer Cleftjaw ? )

After Daenerys torched King ’s Landing , Vultureinterviewedseveral parent who had either constitute their children that or Khaleesi to see if they had any regrets . Thankfully , they seemed at pacification with their decision . Hector Morales Rivera , who has a 6 - year - erstwhile named Daenerys , say , “ I do n’t have any sorrow . I still bang her name , I have very fond remembering because of that name , because of how attached I have been to this serial . ”

61. A lot of pets have been givenGame of Thrones-related names, too.

Pet parent have not been resistant to theGame of Thronesnaming trend . Banfield Pet Hospital , the largest general veterinary pattern in the U.S. , analyzed its record database and found that Khaleesi and Arya have been pop pet names , too , but Lady and Ghosttop the listin full term of popularity .

62. George R.R. Martin regrets that he didn’t finishWinds of Wintersooner.

" It ’s been an incredible drive , " George R.R. Martinsaidof theGame of Thronesexperience . " And almost all of it has been great . Obviously , I wished I end these record book preferably so the show had n’t gotten ahead of me . I never forebode that . " The reason the television show ’s narrative has plump in the lead of Martin is because he has been work onThe Winds of Winter , the sixth record in the serial , for years — and it still does n’t have a discharge engagement ( though he is , apparently , “ writing every day ” ) . On top of that , there is also supposed to be a seventh book calledA Dream of Springto watch .

63. Season 8’s “The Long Night” was Maisie Williams’s first battle.

“ The Long Night , ” which was filmed in Ireland over the track of55 Nox , marked Maisie Williams ’s first time in battle . “ Arya ’s never in it . Episode 9 , I skip every twelvemonth , ” WilliamstoldEntertainment Weekly . “ I ’ve never been around that way of turn . I feel like I ’ve always been part of this freehanded show but in terms of being part of the episode that really fix us , this is my first taste sensation of it . … You try and you take but nothing can prepare you for how physically draining it is . It ’s night after Nox and again and again and it just does n’t stop . … But the horse sense of accomplishment after a day on set is unlike anything else . One of those really problematical days , you know it ’s go to be part of something so iconic and it will seem amazing . ”

64. At first, Maisie Williams wasn’t sure people would be excited that it was Arya who killed the Night King.

Williams tell she was so excited when she determine out that it was Arya , and not Jon , who took out the Night King — but she did have some reservations . “ I immediately thought that everybody would hate it ; that Arya does n’t merit it , ” she toldEW . “ The intemperate thing is in any serial is when you build up a baddie that ’s so impossible to defeat and then you defeat them . It has to be intelligently done because otherwise people are like , ‘ Well , [ the baddie ] could n’t have been that bad when some 100 - pound miss come in and stab him . ’ You got ta make it cool . And then I tell my boyfriend and he was like , ‘ Mmm , should be Jon though really , should n’t it ? ’ ”

But Williams was to the full on table after thinking about what Melisandre had told Arya many season ago — that she would shut “ brownish eyes , naughty heart , green middle ” forever . “ When we did the whole second with Melisandre , I realise the whole scene with [ the Red Woman ] institute it back to everything I ’ve been working for over these preceding six season — four if you believe about it since [ Arya ] got to the House of Black and White , ” Williams said . “ It all come down to this one very moment . It ’s also unexpected and that ’s what this show does . So then I was like , ‘ F * * * you Jon , I get it . ’ ”

65. Emilia Clarke didn’t see Daenerys’s big turn coming.

After she read the finalGame of Thronesscripts , Clarke toldThe New Yorkerthat “ I took a very longsighted paseo around London in a stupor , not quite knowing how to digest the newsworthiness … I had no idea what to have a bun in the oven for this last time of year . I hope for some juicy things to get into , as I always do for each season , but I did n’t see this coming . … Even for a part that I ’ve given so much to and I ’ve palpate so much for , and for a character that ’s see and hold out through so much , I do n’t know that there was any other style . But it was a shocker to read . ”

66. The showrunners compared Daenerys’s arc to a legendary film character.

Benioff and Weiss had previously told Clarke that Daenerys ’s arc mirrored that of Lawrence of Arabia . “ I watchedLawrence of Arabia , and I was , like , ‘ Great , coolheaded . He ’s brilliant . He hold out , and it ’s howling , ’ ” she say . “ But then you commemorate how that picture ended , with Lawrence ’s disintegration . I did n’t quite put those two thing together . Or mayhap I did n’t want to see it coming because I care about Daenerys too much . essentially , he ’s brought in as a the Nazarene . He goes in and fights for the people , but then , ultimately , it ’s a narrative about how tycoon corrupts utterly . You see power turn this man wild and sore . He ca n’t see any longer through the haze , the featherbrained high , of being in thrill . And that ’s what Daenerys experiences . ”

67. Emilia Clarke watched speeches of dictators to prepare for Daenerys’s speech after burning King’s Landing.

" In giving all these spoken communication in fake language , I watched a lot of videos of — now it seems funny — dictators and potent leadership speaking a different language to see if I could read what they were say without know the speech communication , " ClarketoldVariety . " And you’re able to ! You utterly can understand what Hitler ’s f***ing saying , these single - focal point orators speaking a alien language . So I thought , ' If I can believe every single word I ’m saying , the consultation wo n’t need to be looking at the caption too much . ' ”

Clarke said that she put a lot of atmospheric pressure on herself to nail the vista . “ Any player will assure you the Clarence Day on set are long and then you go home and do your prep , which is pick up your line for the next day . This is learning a fake language on top of that ! It almost killed me , ” she state . “ Then the uncanny thing happened — I walked on lot , did n’t need a dry run , and I got through the whole thing perfect on the first go . The remainder of the day it was like Daenerys was just with me . That ’s the only time I fetch through that speech without getting anything wrong , when it was on camera . If you had asked me to do it the next day , I ’d already forgotten it . ”

68. Kit Harington didn’t read the scripts before the table read—so he was shocked by a number of the final season’s moments.

Because he did n’t read the handwriting ahead of time , Harington find out in front of his co - stars that Arya killed the Night King . “ I was surprised , I thought it was gon na be me ! ” the actor toldEntertainment Weekly . “ But I like it . It give Arya ’s training a purpose to have an remnant end . It ’s much considerably how she does it the way of life she does it . I think it will frustrate some in the consultation that Jon ’s hunting the Night King and you ’re expect this larger-than-life engagement and it never fall out — that ’s kind ofThrones . But it ’s the right affair for the role . There ’s also something about it not being the person you expect . The young ma’am stick it to the man . ”

Clarke know that Harington had n’t read the playscript , so she made sure to sit across from him during the mesa read , to “ take in him compute ” their last moment on the show together , shetoldEntertainment Weekly . When they got to the instant where Jon killed Daenerys with a dagger to the heart , he recall , “ I expect at Emilia and there was a moment of me realizing , ‘ No , no … ’ ” at which decimal point Clarke nodded and go down down in her chairperson .

“ He was outcry , ” Clarke toldEW . “ And then it was kind of great him not having read it . ”

69. The events onGame of Thronesled to some marital disagreements.

Like so manyGame of Thronesfans , the friends and family unit of the the great unwashed who make the show had a serious investiture in the series ’ eccentric and storylines . In 2015 , while come along onJimmy Kimmel Live ! , Amanda Peet admitted that she threatened to divorce David Benioff if anything happened to Jon Snow .

" I say , ' I ’ve heard all this stuff … [ Kit Harington ] have a haircut , I do n’t require to divorce you , what ’s pass off ? ' " Peetsaid . Benioff assured his wife that Jon was n’t go to die , but obviously that was n’t lawful — or at least not at the time . " I do n’t have a go at it you anymore , " Peet ( facetiously ) told her married man . " I said , ' If you wipe out him , that ’s it . ' "

But not even Parris McBride , George R.R. Martin ’s wife , was resistant to petitioning ( read : threatening ) her husband when it came to preach for which characters she wanted to see still standing when the serial reason . " [ George ’s ] wife did actually say that if he ever drink down off Arya or Sansa , she ’s going to leave him , " Maisie Williamsrevealedin 2015 . " I ’ll just keep smile , and say ' If you require to stick around with your married woman , you ’ve got to keep me alive ! ' "

establish on what happened on the show , it seems like both Peet and McBride have reason to be well-chosen .

70. There’s a prequel coming.

It ’s calledHouse of the Dragon , and it will take place 300 years before the events ofThrones . Though we wo n’t see any of the characters we know and bonk in the show , the behind - the - scenes team does have a few familiar face : George R.R. Martin is co - produce alongside Ryan Condal ; Condal will serve as co - showrunner alongside director Miguel Sapochnik .