Sunday, December 31, 2017

Join us January 15th for the Watchers on the Wall Awards!

WotW season7-awards

After months of nominations, debate and voting, we’ve finally reached the end point- the Watchers on the Wall Awards are coming! Join us Monday night, January 15th at 7PM EST for our live ceremony, broadcast live via Youtube. We’ll be announcing the results of all your voting in a fun-packed evening. As we announce the Watchers on the Wall Award winners, we’ll be sharing our thoughts on season 7 and tossing in a few worldwide giveaways of amazing Game of Thrones merch at our party.

The broadcast will be embedded into a post right here on the 15th, so be ready for the event to begin, because the giveaways will start with the very first commenter on the ceremony post! Be there at 7PM EST sharp. The rest of the contests will be popping up throughout the ceremony so tune in, join in the fun, and win!

If you can’t make it that night, don’t worry- we’ll be posting the awards results afterward and the broadcast will remain available for later watching.

Save the date, and thank you all for your contributions, in making this year’s Watchers on the Wall Awards happen!

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Checks and Balances: Arya, Braavos and Debt

Coin

In the most recent season of Game of Thrones, Cersei Lannister checked off a major item from her royal To Do list:

  • Kill Sansa Stark
  • Make Jaime do whatever I want
  • Win – in general
  • Pay back the Iron Bank of Braavos

The crown’s overall debts were established early on in the series, and gradually new information revealed that the bulk of that debt was to the Iron Bank, a financial institution known to be ruthless in regards to collecting what’s owed them.

This might have not seemed an insurmountable problem in the first few seasons when the Lannisters were regarded as the most monied of houses, but Lannister gold reserves are no longer replenishable: their once-lucrative mining concerns have for some time been depleted.

The outstanding debt to the Iron Bank realistically had to be dealt with – not only was the Lannister unofficial motto of always paying their debts now in doubt, but the Iron Bank had proven themselves not at all reluctant in funding challenges to the Lannister regime. (It’s unclear if the Iron Bank added the cash they gave to Stannis Baratheon onto the amount already owed by “the crown”, but I wouldn’t put creative accounting past them.)

Cersei took advantage of one of her hobbies – punishing her enemies – to wipe away her debts with the bank.

Gold

The capture of rebellious Highgarden’s treasury squared accounts and put her back in the bank’s good graces – and allowed her to secure a new line of financing with which to bring in Golden Company sellswords to support her administration.

It’s worth asking why she bothered to pay off the bank with Highgarden gold and then shoulder a new debt from Braavos when she could have just lived with the old unpaid debt and used the spoils from House Tyrell to hire the sellswords.

If we are just looking at dollaros (Westeros dollars) amounts, it seems to be exactly the same. Either way, Cersei is in debt the bank but has cash in hand. The difference is that the goodwill of the Iron Bank and Cersei’s credit score vary significantly in these two situations. Mercenary companies might not want to be hired by individuals who don’t have a good working relationship with the Iron Bank. That’s just business.

Cersei negotiated extra time onto the repayment schedule from the bank’s representative, Tycho Nestoris, by suggesting that her rival Daenerys Targaryen was bad for the bank’s business. The disruption of the slave economy by the Mother of Dragons/Breaker of Chains would have been felt in the financial hub of Braavos. Cersei’s suggestion that the Iron Bank had investments in the slave economy raised the ire of book-knowledgable fans who were angry at the suggestion that any Braavos institution would be involved, however tangentially, with slavery.

Braavos was a city founded by escaped slaves and in the books had a fairly aggressive anti-slavery ethos. I don’t really want to argue for or against that (by bringing in boring details about economics and Volantene triarchs and so on) but the show has reasonably established the bankers as practical and focused on the bottom line.

When Stannis came to petition them for funds, they were only interested in how sound it would be financially to loan him money. They had no interest in the rightness of his claim or if his policies were socially just or even that he had the personality of a lobster.

Game-of-Thrones-Iron-Bank-of-Braavos

Tycho Nestoris: Across the Narrow Sea, your books are filled with words like usurper, and madman, and blood right. Here, our books are filled with numbers. We prefer the stories they tell. More plain. Less open to interpretation.

It remains to be seen how much of a direct role the Iron Bank will play in the final season of Game of Thrones, but I assume that Tycho Nestoris and his buddies will be keeping a close eye their investments with Westeros ushering in an apocalyptic conflict. It wouldn’t do for the world to end with outstanding loans unresolved.

But the Iron Bank of Braavos isn’t the only powerful organization from that city, and Cersei isn’t the only person who might have to worry about foreign balance sheets and debts. I’m talking about potentially unfinished business between Arya Stark and the legendary Faceless Men.


Before we get much further, I want to assure everyone that my goal is not to try to defend Arya’s time in Braavos, or convince you that it ended satisfactorily. But let’s take things at face value.


Anyone who has used a credit card or has cashed a check has some experience in how banks work. We don’t have to know the particulars of Cersei’s indebtedness – we don’t need to know the interest rate, or if she had to put anything up for collateral. Even without knowing those details, we all more or less understand the banking rules.

But the rules surrounding the practices of the Faceless Men are a bit murkier. We have to intuit things from Arya’s first-hand experiences with the mysterious murder-cult.

Arya earned her tuition to Assassin Hogwarts by making the acquaintance of Faceless Man assassin Jaqen H’ghar. While Jaqen and two ne’er-do-wells were trapped in a cage, Arya saved the three of them from certain death in a fire.

Jaqen

As a result, Jaqen approached Arya with a straightforward proposition: Arya had prevented three deaths so to fix this imbalance Arya must nominate three people for Jaqen to kill. (This wasn’t presented as something Arya could refuse.)

Arya eventually twisted the choices offered her by her murder-genie to secure her escape from Lannister-held Harrenhal; Jaqen was forced to help in Arya’s escape or kill himself as one of her named choices.

This communicated at least some idea that the Faceless Men observed a kind of ledger of deaths and lives, and recognized a need to keep things in balance or equilibrium.

Over the course of several seasons, Arya traveled to Braavos to learn the ways of the Faceless Men, headquartered in the House of Black and White. While in the House of Black and White, Arya learned some of the mysteries of this Death cult. She assisted with euthanasia, learned about poisons, and developed the skills to remove faces from corpses – a primary component in the Faceless Men’s signature ability to magically assume another’s identity.

And she was registered in hands-on assassination classes. There were rules to this activity: Arya was tasked to give “the gift” to an unscrupulous maritime insurer, but she ignored him to attack a target of opportunity: her longtime nemesis Ser Meryn Trant.

Arya was punished for giving the gift to the wrong person, since as a Faceless Man initiate the act of death-dealing fell within strict House of Black and White regulatory codes: one could not go about killing willy-nilly.

Arya broke with the House of Black and White after she opted not to kill another target, and was briefly hunted by “the Waif” whom she lured into a trap. (I’m being very charitable with this summary, okay?)

Arya

Presenting the Waif’s face to her guidance counselor in the House of Black and White, Arya announced her intention to return home.

Arya: You told her to kill me?
Jaqen H’ghar: Yes. But here you are, and here she is. Finally, a girl is No One.
Arya: A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and I am going home.
Jaqen: Splendid. Feel free to take a bunch of faces, and here’s your graduation diploma. A man is very proud.

Okay, maybe the guy-who-uses-the-Jaqen-face didn’t actually say that last bit. It was more like this:

Jaqen: :-/

When we next see Arya, she is using a borrowed face (either one from the House of Black and White or one she … obtained … during her travels) to set up Walder Frey for his last family meal. Literally.

And then she used his face to commit mass Freyicide.

I think it’s worthwhile to consider that even though Arya feels that she’s quit the House of Black and White, she might not be free and clear of their regulations and professional ethics when it comes to killing people. Especially when killing people using Faceless Men abilities and talking about training to be a Faceless Man.

These activities feel like they’d fall into the same unsanctioned category of killing Meryn Trant.

Would the House of Black and White consider this a problem? We don’t necessarily have any evidence either way from Jaqen’s inscrutable reaction to Arya leaving at the end of Season Six. But my gut reaction leans toward the argument that it is probably not easy to walk away from a religious order of assassins.

Maybe Arya had squared things with the House and Black and White by killing the Waif (in the grand order of things, it might all be the same to the Many Faced God if the Waif killed Arya, or Arya killed the Waif. There’s a death and a life.) Maybe there were no hard feelings about Arya leaving, but she’s been racking up kills which is measurable currency in a way to the Faceless Men.

Please indulge me in a thought-experiment.

Imagine if Cersei, after paying off the Iron Bank, opted not to borrow any more money.

CerseiAndTycho

Tycho: Really?
Cersei: Yup. I’m going to make money the old fashioned way. I don’t know what that means, but I’ll think of something.
Tycho: Well, if you ever want any cash, just send us a raven.

Now imagine that Cersei, not really fully understanding things or thinking things through, sent a raven to the Iron Bank with a “Hey, send me some money” message. And that the bank did just that. (I’m visualizing a very large raven hauling a sack of gold to King’s Landing.)

Cersei: Free money! Delightful! I’ll send another raven.

Eventually, the bank would come calling for the loan to be paid back, probably based on the interest calculations from before.

Cersei: Wait, I have to pay this back? But I don’t want to!
Tycho: I see. Unfortunately that’s not a choice you can make without consequences.

In similar fashion, if Arya Stark is going to act like a Faceless Man, she is probably expected by the House of Black and White to behave like one. With consequences.

Clearly I’m creepng into Season Eight speculation, and I want to make it clear that I have no advance knowledge of any plot details for the upcoming season. I have no friends in the industry to leak to me any scripts, I’ve not been staring into mystical fires, nor letting swamp witches taste my blood in exchange for prophecies. So don’t worry.

I don’t know how likely it might be for the eighth season of Game of Thrones to feature a visit to Arya by a Faceless Man representative. The show has a fair amount of serious plot to burn through already.

But it makes sense that the Faceless Men wouldn’t let face-changing Arya’s murder-spree go unchecked, no more so than the Iron Bank would uncharacteristically forgive any debts from Cersei. And regardless of how much sense it would make for the Faceless Men to get involved, the major advantage would be in giving Arya Stark a meaningful storyline in the final season.

Arya Stark’s story started strong in the series, with the plucky wolf-girl struggling to survive as she was dragged from one conflict zone to another. Then she broke free and spent a significant amount of her narrative arc in Braavos with the Faceless Men.

We know that Arya has some well-established character motivations: she has her list of names to kill. What’s she’s lacking is complication and stakes.

It’s possible that Arya’s storyline in Season Eight will consist of her successfully pursing revenge by killing Cersei and somehow killing Ser Gregor Clegane, but that seems a bit obvious and on-the-nose. And let’s face it, we all kind of want Cersei and the Mountain to be dispatched by people other than the wolf-girl, possibly by respective fraternal relations.

It would be more interesting if Arya had some plot complication – possibly in the form of demands from nigh-unstoppable identity-fluid assassins.

Faceless Man: A girl has been taking liberties.
Arya: Whatever. Please tell me that someone has taken out a hit on Cersei. I’ll do it!
Faceless Man: A girl is guessing wrong. A girl must not give the gift to the queen.

We don’t really know the opinions of the House of Black and White in regards to the White Walkers invading Westeros. Unlike the interests of the Iron Bank, who will most likely be concerned by how this might effect their investments. But I can imagine that cash from the Iron Bank could be used to secure Faceless Man cooperation in protecting certain business partners.

Tycho: Things are a bit crazy in Westeros at the moment, and there’s been a ridiculous amount of regicide lately.
Faceless Man: And?
Tycho: We’d rather that Cersei Lannister not expire before she makes good on our recent financing agreements. In case you know of any homicidal moppets who might wish the queen harm, it would be conducive to business if you can rein such a person in.
Faceless Man: :-/

There’s a certain harmony in the checks and balances of the Faceless Men and how they view life and death, I can imagine a representative of the House of Black and White presenting Arya with an equation showing that the unsanctioned deaths she has caused can be balanced out by her giving up any plans to pursue the last people on her list. No more gift-giving.

With the added incentive, I’m assuming, that any further Arya violations might be balanced out by even more death, the unfortunate deaths of those near and dear to her. Unless she cooperates with the House of Black and White.

Arya_and_Jaqen_The_Dance_of_Dragons

Arya: Wait. You can’t balance out death with more death.
Faceless Man: Don’t look to deeply into this. That’s how we got all those crazy Braavosi Fight Club theories during Season Six.
Syrio Forel: Just so!

It would also be somewhat ironic (and consistent) for Arya’s obligations to her instructors to be a hindrance in carrying out her personal wishes.

Will there be enough time to squeeze in something like this in the final six episodes of Game of Thrones? I hope so, if only to provide a more organic basis of conflict for Arya’s storyline (as opposed to the manufactured-feeling of last season’s Arya-Sansa-Littlefinger dynamic) and also to somewhat redeem the time Arya spent in Braavos.

As viewers, we invested time and attention in Arya’s journey to becoming a Faceless Man.

In my opinion, Braavos owes us some returns on that investment.

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Saturday, December 30, 2017

Watchers on the Wall Awards: Best Speech of Season 7

Best Speech banner

The characters of Game of Thrones have a lot to say, and they always do it with style. In our Best Speech category at the Watchers on the Wall Awards, we celebrate the big moments of season 7 when characters stepped up and spoke their minds with wit, panache, and all the drama we expect from our favorite show. Last year saw the little bear Lady Lyanna Mormont take the prize with her season 6 declaration for the King in the North; who will take it this year?

The finalists chosen by our readers for Best Speech are:

Olenna Tyrell sends her regards to the Lannisters:

Davos make a case for Jon’s cause before Daenerys:

Sansa uses Littlefinger’s lessons against him:

Cersei delivers vengeance for her daughter against the Sands:

Arya gives House Frey a send-off, with Walder’s face:

The complete results from round 1 voting in this category can be viewed here!

Final round rules: Cast your vote for the winner in our Best Speech poll. In the finals, fans have one vote to cast. At the end of 72 hours (Tuesday 1/2/18 at 6PM ET), the speech with the most votes will be the winner! The results of the poll will be revealed during the live Watchers on the Wall Awards ceremony- date and time to be announced tomorrow!

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More returning actors for Game of Thrones Season 8!

Alys and Ned Game of Thrones

Casting news for Game of Thrones continues to trickle out of Westeros, and we’ve learned that two familiar faces will return, as well as a new name in a new role!

Although she was only on screen for a short time, it was significant that Alys Karstark — the last surviving heir to Karhold after the rest of her house was defeated alongside Ramsay Bolton — was called upon by Jon Snow in Season 7 to reaffirm her family’s loyalty to House Stark. So significant, in fact, that actress Megan Parkinson will return to the role for Season 8, according to a listing on the actress’ talent agency website. Independent Talent lists Parkinson, who portrayed the Northern noble in Season 7, as Alys Karstark in Season 8 as well.

In addition to Alys Karstark, young Ned Umber, who represents what’s left of House Umber — another Northern house who fought against Jon in the Battle of the Bastards — also reaffirmed his family’s fealty, and the actor who portrayed him, Harry Grasby, also will return in Season 8. Wiki of Thrones reported recently that Grasby was spotted at the Belfast airport, so it’s safe to say that we’ll see the heir to Last Hearth again in the final season.

As for new faces, the Lisa Richards agency lists Irish actor Seamus O’Hara as “currently filming on HBO’s Game of Thrones,” and casting site Spotlight.com reports that he will play a character known as Fergus. It’s not a name from the books, so we’ll have to wait and see who Fergus is and what his role might be.

It’s not surprising that houses Umber and Karstark might feature prominently in at least one episode of Season 8; Last Hearth, the Umber’s castle, is the closest to the Wall and likely will be the first one for the Night King and his army to come across, with Karhold not far from there. But will the castles fall without a fight, or will Ned and Alys have bigger roles to play? Only time will tell.

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How to Get the Game of Thrones Spinoff Right – A Video Essay

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We’re all excited for HBO’s planned Game of Thrones spinoff …but I think it’s fair to say that we’re all a little worried about it too. In my latest video essay, I share my thoughts on what components make a spinoff successful and hint not-so-subtly at which spinoffs I’d like to see most.

What are your thoughts on the spinoffs? And which historical events in George R.R. Martin’s world would you most like to see adapted into a TV show? Share your thoughts with us below.

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Watchers on the Wall Awards: Best VFX Scene of Season 7

VFX Scene. banner

Best VFX Scene is always a tough category at the Watchers on the Wall Awards because some of the best visual effects on Game of Thrones will never be noticed- and that’s how it should be. But we still love to celebrate the huge effects-heavy scenes that GoT is so incredible at, so it’s time to dive into the pool of flaming-hot nominees and come up with a winner!

The final nominees for Best VFX Scene of season 7 are:

Daenerys arrives with her dragons, Viserion is killed, and Jon & company take on army of wights

The Dothraki jump through the flames, as Drogon turns soldiers to ash and lays waste to the loot train

Jon pets a surprisingly happy and receptive Drogon

Undead Viserion brings down the Wall, and the army of the undead walks through

Drogon makes a splashy entrance at the Dragonpit with Dany on his back

The complete results from round 1 voting in this category can be viewed here!


Final round rules: Cast your vote for the winner in our Best VFX Scene poll. In the finals, fans have one vote to cast. At the end of 72 hours (Saturday 12/230/17 at 12PM ET), the scene with the most votes will be the winner! The results of the poll will be revealed during the live Watchers on the Wall Awards ceremony- specific date to be announced soon!

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Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Game of Thrones holds its record as the most torrented TV show with Season 7

Euron is happy piracy is alive and well

Euron is happy piracy is alive and well

Official Game of Thrones viewership figures keep climbing year after year, with season seven smashing through the show’s previous records, getting an average of more than 10 million people watching the show on HBO’s first airing. But many more people are watching, through repeated airings, online services, international broadcasters… and also through less than legitimate means: as we reported on September, more people torrented season seven than any previous season. But it goes further than that!

TorrentFreak reports that with this latest season Game of Thrones held onto its title as the most torrented TV show, for the sixth year in a row (that is, since season two.)

Despite its plummeting viewership on AMC, The Walking Dead remains in second place as the most downloaded TV show through BitTorrent, and a new show took the third place on the podium this year: Rick and Morty (a great show, despite its fandom.)

According to TorrentFreak, “the highest number of people actively sharing an episode across several torrents was 400,000 at its peak, right after the season finale came online.” This is not surprising, as the first airing of the finale broke a record on HBO as well; it was watched on more than 12 million screens across the United States.

Of course, these figures only take into account those who downloaded the episodes through BitTorrent. Many used other torrenting or P2P (peer to peer) programs, or other avenues altogether, such as direct downloads and streaming. To be honest, it’s probably impossible to know just how many people downloaded season seven, though you may recall we recently got close to a definitive figure, and it’s pretty crazy!

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Relive seasons one through seven with HBO’s Game of Thrones Marathon

GOT Marathon

We should all get used to the idea that season eight isn’t coming for a long while. Of course, we could take a nap for a year, but we may as well take advantage of the longest off-season yet and look back on everything that has happened these last seven seasons. In this last week of 2017, HBO has that ready for you, with a Game of Thrones marathon!

Yesterday, HBO announced this new event in this action-packed Youtube video:

The marathon begins today at noon, on HBO 2, and it will go on until the year ends on December 31. A continuous marathon, from season one to seven, for six days!

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The Night That Ended: The Holidays in Westeros

Winterfell snow

As there are carols in the air and holiday cheer all around us this time of year, you may be wondering if there is anything similar for our fantasy friends in Westeros? Are there decorated trees, candle lighting, a Santa Claus throwing presents down chimneys, or any sort of midwinter holidays going on? We’ll take a look at what George R.R. Martin has his characters celebrating and how they compare to our real-life traditions.

One thing to keep in mind with Westerosi holidays is that the highly irregular seasons have a huge impact on when and what the people of Westeros celebrate. In our world, there are festivals and feasts that mark the changing of each season to another, and harvest and midwinter festivals. Christmas was originally a raucous pagan midwinter celebration of the brutal cold being half over, one that converted Christians brought with them. But when there are years or decades between winter and summer, there’s very little to regularly celebrate or convenient seasonal changes to look for. In the Long Summer, you’d be harvesting food all year around. And the Long Winters or Long Nights, you’d never know when it was half over as the years of cold drag on and on; so how would you know when to celebrate? Especially with icy butchers lurking in the dark.

In the South, there are more holidays that we would recognize. Each of the aspects of the Faith of the Seven receives their own feast. The one we see celebrated is Maiden’s Day.

Fast and purify . . . oh, for Maiden’s Day. It had been years since Cersei had been required to observe that particular holy day. Thrice wed, yet she still would have us believe she is a maid. Demure in white, the little queen would lead her hens to Baelor’s Sept to light tall white candles at the Maiden’s feet and hang parchment garlands about her holy neck. A few of her hens, at least. On Maiden’s Day widows, mothers, and whores alike were barred from the septs, along with men, lest they profane the sacred songs of innocence. Only virgin maids could . . .

A Feast for Crows, Cersei IX

Margaery Cersei morning after

In this particular passage Cersei is formulating the strategy that leads to the arrest of Margaery Tyrell. Cersei orders her man Osney Kettleback to seduce the young queen to have her tried for being unfaithful to her husband and the Faith of the Seven. Failing that, she continues manufacturing evidence that Margaery is not a virgin, and the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms is arrested. Not exactly a joyous holiday.

The Seven Kingdoms also celebrate New Year’s Eve as we know it: a night of drinking, debauchery, and fun had by all, as they turn the calendar to another year. Despite their lack of seasonal changes they still manage to count the number of days in a year, likely by tracking the positions of the star in the sky. The wedding of King Joffrey to Margaery Tyrell took place on the first day of the new year and century, 300 A.C., likely an attempt by the Crown to have a citywide celebration to mask Joffrey’s historic unpopularity and to turn a new leaf.

“I rather liked these accommodations. Have you set a date for this great wedding?”

“Joffrey and Margaery shall marry on the first day of the new year, which as it happens is also the first day of the new century. The ceremony will herald the dawn of a new era.”

new Lannister era, thought Tyrion. “Oh, bother, I fear I’ve made other plans for that day.” –

A Storm of Swords, Tyrion I

Unfortunately, that holiday is again spoiled by court scheming with the death of Joffrey by poisoning. They just have the worst luck at celebrating anything in Westeros with George R.R. Martin at the wheel.

Robb

It’s notable that Robb Stark plans his attack on the Ironborn holding Moat Cailin on New Year’s Day as well. He had hoped to take advantage of the defenders making a bit too merry the night before.

Three hosts will leave the Twins, but only two will reach Moat Cailin. Mine own battle will melt away into the Neck, to reemerge on the Fever. If we move swiftly once my uncle’s wed, we can all be in position by year’s end. We will fall upon the Moat from three sides on the first day of the new century, as the ironmen are waking with hammers beating at their heads from the mead they’ll quaff the night before.”

A Storm of Swords, Catelyn V

And again, another fine holiday celebration gone awry as Robb is slain at the Red Wedding with most of his men and leadership before they can put this plan into effect.
Aside from the other six holidays for the Faith of the Seven and New Year’s Day, the novels and show are conspicuously lacking in feasts and festivals. The other main feast we see is the Winterfell harvest festival which signals the coming fall. Of those we’ve seen so far, the Northern party seems by far the best. Almost all the nobility left in the North following Robb calling his banners turn up for a rip-roaring good time in Winterfell.

Lord Wyman Manderly, Lady Hornwood, the Cerwyns, Mors “Crowsfood” and Hother “Whoresbane” Umber, the Tallharts, Meera and Jojen Reed, and the Cassels all descend on the castle bringing gifts and food and drink to share. In normal times, almost all the lords of the North may have arrived at once. As brought up earlier, the inconsistency of the seasons means that this may be the only autumn harvest festival the North sees for years. Winters sometimes only last a couple of years, but have been documented to last decades. Many will die of starvation and freeze in the unmerciful cold of Northern winter, so the harvest festival of the North is something of a last hurrah, especially for the older folk.

Bran Stark winterfell

With Robb gone south, it was left to the crippled Bran Stark as acting lord to preside over the feast.

The low stone steps balked Dancer only for a moment. When Bran urged her on, she took them easily. Beyond the wide oak-and-iron doors, eight long rows of trestle tables filled Winterfell’s Great Hall, four on each side of the center aisle. Men crowded shoulder to shoulder on the benches. “Stark!” they called as Bran trotted past, rising to their feet.

“Winterfell! Winterfell!”

He was old enough to know that it was not truly him they shouted for—it was the harvest they cheered, it was Robb and his victories, it was his lord father and his grandfather and all the Starks going back eight thousand years. Still, it made him swell with pride.

A Clash of Kings, Bran III

Then came the dancing and singing and hard partying of the Northerners. And, of course, George’s infamous food porn.

Such food Bran had never seen; course after course after course, so much that he could not manage more than a bite or two of each dish. There were great joints of aurochs roasted with leeks, venison pies chunky with carrots, bacon, and mushrooms, mutton chops sauced in honey and cloves, savory duck, peppered boar, goose, skewers of pigeon and capon, beef-and-barley stew, cold fruit soup. Lord Wyman had brought twenty casks of fish from White Harbor packed in salt and seaweed; whitefish and winkles, crabs and mussels, clams, herring, cod, salmon, lobster and lampreys. There was black bread and honeycakes and oaten biscuits; there were turnips and pease and beets, beans and squash and huge red onions; there were baked apples and berry tarts and pears poached in strongwine. Wheels of white cheese were set at every table, above and below the salt, and flagons of hot spice wine and chilled autumn ale were passed up and down the tables.

Lord Wyman’s musicians played bravely and well, but harp and fiddle and horn were soon drowned beneath a tide of talk and laughter, the clash of cup and plate, and the snarling of hounds fighting for table scraps. The singer sang good songs, “Iron Lances” and “The Burning of the Ships” and “The Bear and the Maiden Fair,” but only Hodor seemed to be listening. He stood beside the piper, hopping from one foot to the other.

The noise swelled to a steady rumbling roar, a great heady stew of sound.

A Clash Of Kings Bran III

Night King Beyond the Wall

Near the end of the harvest feast, we are told of a song that we do not learn the words to, but seems critical to the Northerners and the celebration.

Much later, after all the sweets had been served and washed down with gallons of summerwine, the food was cleared and the tables shoved back against the walls to make room for the dancing. The music grew wilder, the drummers joined in, and Hother Umber brought forth a huge curved warhorn banded in silver. When the singer reached the part in “The Night That Ended” where the Night’s Watch rode forth to meet the Others in the Battle for the Dawn, he blew a blast that set all the dogs to barking.

Two Glover men began a spinning skirl on bladder and woodharp. Mors Umber was the first on his feet. He seized a passing serving girl by the arm, knocking the flagon of wine out of her hands to shatter on the floor. Amidst the rushes and bones and bits of bread that littered the stone, he whirled her and spun her and tossed her in the air. The girl squealed with laughter and turned red as her skirts swirled and lifted.

A Clash of Kings, Bran III

It’s almost certain the song “The Night That Ended” contains details of the defeat of the Others (White Walkers). Every autumn the North celebrates that they’ve beat back the icy demons of winter and brought summer back. While there is for sure a particular day the Long Night ended and the North triumphed, it may make no sense to celebrate it, as during any particular year the day could fall in the dead of winter or the height of summer. There’s also likely a corresponding spring festival celebrating the same, a “we survived winter” party and mourning those who did not.

As for what we would think of as holiday and Christmas decorations, Westeros is lacking. The closest the Westerosi come to what we would recognize as decorations is the ancient Northern practice of “decorating” weirwoods. Old God worship is tied to human and blood sacrifice, and this gruesome image from the books:

It’s said they hung their entrails in the branches of the heart tree, as an offering to the gods. The old gods, not these new ones from the south. Your Seven don’t know winter, and winter don’t know them.”

A Dance with Dragons, Davos IV

The original language of the First Men—known as the Old Tongue—has come to be spoken only by the wildlings beyond the Wall, and many other aspects of their culture have faded away (such as the grislier aspects of their worship, when criminals and traitors were killed and their bodies and entrails hung from the branches of weirwoods.)

The World of Ice and Fire

A gross, bloody version of garland on a Christmas tree. Like most things in Westeros. the holidays and festivals are horrific and often get people killed unexpectedly.

As for mythological figures like Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Sinterklass, or Odin, Westeros again is lacking. There’s only the Others and they are closer to a Krampus-like figure: a half-human demon who punishes the wicked children while rattling chains. Except there’s no carrot to the Krampus stick. There’s no jolly figure bringing cheer and presents; the only gifts are slaughter, undeath, and the icy blue eyes of doom.

There’s also a vaguely Krampus-like figure wandering the Nightfort according to the terrifying tales of Old Nan.

This was the castle where King Sherrit had called down his curse on the Andals of old, where the ’prentice boys had faced the thing that came in the night, where blind Symeon Star-Eyes had seen the hellhounds fighting. Mad Axe had once walked these yards and climbed these towers, butchering his brothers in the dark.

Or maybe it wasn’t Mad Axe at all, maybe it was the thing that came in the night. The ’prentice boys all saw it, Old Nan said, but afterward when they told their Lord Commander every description had been different. And three died within the year, and the fourth went mad, and a hundred years later when the thing had come again, the ’prentice boys were seen shambling along behind it, all in chains.

The footfalls sounded heavy to Bran, slow, ponderous, scraping against the stone. It must be huge. Mad Axe had been a big man in Old Nan’s story, and the thing that came in the night had been monstrous.

A Storm of Swords, Bran IV

According to European tradition, Krampus gave out punishment to the naughty children on Christmas. He would hit them with birch branches and rattle around his chains to scare them. In some stories, he would even take the naughtiest children with him to Hell. The “Thing that came in the Night” seems very similar- a monstrous being that punishes children and chains them up.

That’s reason number 65341 why it would be terrible to live in the world of Game of Thrones. We should be happy the worst we deal with around the holidays is family gatherings, overly-opinionated uncles, and overplayed songs. Have a very happy holiday- and run if ‘The Rains of Castamere” starts playing!

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Watchers on the Wall Awards: Funniest Scene of Season 7

Funniest Scene banner

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: for a gruesome drama packed with tragedy, Game of Thrones is often hilarious. That’s why we pay tribute every year to the funniest scenes of the season, with the Funniest Scene category in our Watchers on the Wall Awards. Our readers have taken on the difficult task of narrowing it down to just five finalists in the category, and come up with this stellar list of scenes that put a big smile on our faces in season 7.

The final nominees for Funniest Scene are:

Gendry introduces himself to Jon Snow honestly

The Hound and Tormund discuss their mutual acquaintance Brienne

Samwell’s Poop and Soup montage at the Citadel

Dany is introduced with a host of titles; Jon is merely “King in the North”

Sam and Bran’s awkward reunion with scrolls and Three-Eyed Raven references

The complete results from round 1 voting in this category can be viewed here!


Final round rules: Cast your vote for the winner in our Funniest Scene poll. In the finals, fans have one vote to cast. At the end of 72 hours (Wednesday 12/27/17 at 12PM ET), the scene with the most votes will be the winner! The results of the poll will be revealed during the live Watchers on the Wall Awards ceremony- specific date to be announced in the near future!

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Ben Crompton embodies Dolorous Edd in his thoughts on Game of Thrones Season 8

Dolorous Edd Tollett 701

Edd Tollett was left in command of the Wall with only one last order given by Jon: not to knock the Wall down while he was gone. Though through no fault of his own, that didn’t go so well, did it? Dolorous Edd is not a lucky man, though he is lucky enough to have survived until the end of the series. Or is he? Actor Ben Crompton has a few very Edd-like things to say about that, as well as about season eight as a whole.

Interviewed by Metro, Crompton admitted he was as pleased as he was surprised that his character had survived so long, though he is pretty sure Edd wouldn’t agree:

“I’m grateful and so is my mortgage. In a way I’m surprised just because, just for a character to have that longevity in a show where characters get killed off so regularly,” Crompton says. But for poor Edd, it’s a different story: “In a way it’s penance for him. He’s a character who, of all the characters, he’d be quite happy if he dropped off this mortal coil, and in a way it’s punishment for him to have to endure everyday life.”

But this story isn’t about him (a fact with which I’m sure Edd would be quite content.) There is a greater tale to tell in the remaining six episodes, and the big question seems to be whether the show will stick the landing or not. Crompton is, as ever, realistic about it: “Whatever we do there’ll be fans who love it and fans that won’t be satisfied. However [showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] choose to end the show there’s always going to be people who have their opinion about how the show should end.” That said, he adds that he’d be “surprised if people are disappointed because there’s a lot of effort and love gone into this, and I think it’s very satisfying. So hopefully everyone will agree.”

So, eschewing the greater end-game questions, what do you think about Edd’s fate in season eight? Is our favorite gloomy crow likely to survive the wars to come, much to his disappointment? If not, how do you imagine he will fall? Heroically? Comically? Grimly?

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From the Maester’s Desk – The World of Game of Thrones

westerosmap

George R.R. Martin’s world is vast and rich, like a proper fantasy setting should be. If you can believe in the world and feel like it’s a real place, then the author has done half of the job.

From frozen wastelands to beautiful green riverlands and busy city capitals, there’s a lot of iconic sites, with plenty of elements that help to make them instantly recognizable. The Red Keep? That’s in King’s Landing! The House of Black and White? That’s in Braavos, no doubt!

The people working in HBO’s adaptation have done an amazing job in choosing the filming locations and bringing Martin’s world to life. It’s certainly no small task, but the effort has paid off. I still remember feeling amazed at the variety of places featured during the first episode of Season 1, from the moment the southern gate of Castle Black opens and we see the Wall. No teasing, no beating around the bush with that reveal -it’s a brilliant shot that gets your attention during the first few seconds of the story.

The show has come a long way, and budget constraints are mostly a thing of the past but the more modest budget of the first couple of seasons make their achievements all the more impressive.

Sacrifices had to be made for the sake of realism and practicality, however. What works on the written page may not work in a live action TV series, and many of the locales couldn’t have been portrayed the way they are described by the author.

So, for this new article I’d like to invite you for a walk in the world of Game of Thrones, and look at some of the differences (and similarities too!) that exist between the novels and the screen adaptation. Don’t worry, we’ll borrow Littlefinger’s jetpack (or one of Dany’s dragons) so the journey won’t take too long!

The Continent of ESSOS

Valyria

The Towers of Valyria by Ted Nasmith

The Towers of Valyria by Ted Nasmith

Our first stop will be the once-proud capital of the Valyrian Freehold (which was technically an empire, but there wasn’t a single ruler: all freeholders had a say).

The city was destroyed by a catastrophic event known as “The Doom”. What happened exactly remains unknown, but it was most likely the powerful eruption of a chain of volcanoes known as the Fourteen Flames, considering how it’s described as a series of explosions that filled everything with smoke and fire, along with powerful earthquakes that destroyed everything and fragmented the Valyrian peninsula. Other explanations involve magic and curses, but I think natural disaster is the most believable scenario.

In the novels, many people believe the city is cursed and full of demons, and anyone who dares to get close to the ruins would die a horrible death. It is unlikely the action in the books will take us there, but we got to see Valyria in the fifth season of the show.

The temple ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia served as inspiration for the show version of Valyria, appearing as charred ruins that have been largely overtaken by the jungle. Visually, it is really striking and it (possibly) confirms it’s not a haunted land crawling with horrors (though it does house the stone men, a change from the source material).

There’s precious little art for the book version of Valyria. We can see lava flowing in the streets (it was channeled in controlled flows to power up something unspecified), and also sphinxes and towers with orb-like decorations. I feel like a show version of Valyria in a live-action prequel would have a more restrained approach, without veering much into high fantasy territory.

I can only imagine some of the complications Valyrians would have to deal with in the book version of the city: unless the lava flow was constant, because of magic or any other reason, it would eventually cool off and solidify, clogging the channels. And even if the flows were controlled, to have them in the city was asking for trouble: how many distracted or drunk Valyrians had a horrible demise as a consequence?

Meereen

Meereen by lvlorf3us

Meereen by lvlorf3us

When it comes to Meereen, the crown jewel of the Bay of Dragons (formerly Slaver’s Bay), the feeling I get from both the novels and the show is of undercooked potential. For all the time we spend in there (and we spend a lot of time), we don’t get to know much about the place and its culture. We know that the Meereenese like to see the battles that take place in the fighting pits, but not much apart from that. Even during the first episode of Season Six (“The Red Woman”), when Tyrion and Varys walk through the streets, the city seems oddly empty. And there aren’t many (if any) recognizable places like in King’s Landing (such as Littlefinger’s brothel, the Sept of Baelor, Flea Bottom and streets bursting with activity).

Some little details described by Martin in the books are inevitably lost, since it’s not relevant to the plot: such as the Graces and their robes of many different colors, or the apparent love Meereenese have for eating dogs. We don’t need to see a poor pupper getting offed, but such “exotic” dishes could’ve made their way to the show.

Perhaps Meereen needed one or two more locales for the characters to interact, apart from the Great Pyramid, but with enough differences to avoid turning it into a rehash of the Westerosi capital. I get that Dany and her advisors can’t go prancing around with the Sons of the Harpy at large (and when that threat is eradicated, we leave Meereen!) but that could be solved with having an Unsullied escort following them.

That said, I think the general look of the city had a good transition from book to screen. The Great Pyramid looks amazing (and how awesome was the moment when the Unsullied bring the Harpy statue down?) and Daznak’s Pit has nothing to be jealous of, comparing to other shows and movies with Roman amphitheater-like places.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mayan Revival architecture was a main inspiration behind the Great Pyramid, Hollyhock House and the Ennis House in particular.

The FREE CITIES of ESSOS

Braavos

Braavos by Jean Sébastien Rossbach

Braavos by Jean Sébastien Rossbach

Braavos is a sprawling group of islands connected with stone bridges. Not many trees or any kind of vegetation to be seen, but there are many different canals and also ports scattered all around the city, for ships and boats to arrive.

There are many different temples (all gods are worshipped in Braavos, and none is above any other), brothels and inns. You could say it’s possible to find anything you want, with the exception of slaves, however, that sort of commerce is forbidden.

Apart from the House of Black and White, the guild of the Faceless Men, Braavos is also home of the Iron Bank, the richest bank in the known world and financial backer of the Iron Throne since the time of Robert Baratheon. And like any bank worth its salt, they merciless and if you owe them, they’ll find a way to make you pay.

The real-life inspiration for the towering Titan of Braavos surely is the Colossus of Rhodes, a 108-feet tall statue of Helios that once stood in the greek city of Rhodes. The Colossus’ stay was short lived, since an earthquake reduced it to rubble.

The show’s version of Braavos looks like it jumped straight out from the page. I’m still amazed at how perfectly they nailed the look and feel of the city, with its busy and noisy streets, and even showing the need of having to use a boat to go to certain parts, in Arya’s case, to the House of Black and White. The building itself isn’t quite how I imagined it when reading, since I was expecting something more temple-like. Not too flashy (these are assassins we’re talking about), but perhaps more aesthetically pleasing than a rocky block. Its size and lack of windows make it rather intimidating, however. Production designer Deborah Riley looked at Varanasi on the bank of the Ganges and the way the buildings rise out of the water as inspiration for the House of Black and White.

On the other hand, the interior of the House of Black and White is downright amazing, the Hall of Faces in particular. I had in mind something like Marc Simonetti’s illustration for the 2013 ASOIAF calendar, but the show made it bigger and more impressive. The candle lighting and Ramin Djawadi’s score give it an ominous feeling unlike any other place in Westeros. The Ellora Caves in Western India and the Temple of 1000 Buddhas in Hong Kong were the real-life inspiration behind it, and as Riley herself says: you lay the two of them atop each other, and you get the Hall of Faces.

The Continent of WESTEROS

Highgarden

Highgarden by Feliche

Highgarden by Feliche

One of the things I love about Highgarden is that it’s a like a castle out of a fairy tale, with its white stone walls and a hedge maze that is designed to entertain and to slow enemies down in case of invasion. (Alas, a hedge maze certainly won’t stop them, but it takes time to either cut or burn a way through it!) All structures are covered in a variety of vegetation, such as ivy and climbing roses. These people take their gardening/flowers motif seriously!

There are groves, fountains, flowers and statues within the wall, as well as all kind of musicians: singers, fiddlers and pipers. There are even pleasure boats to sail along the Mander (the largest river in the Reach).

All the grandiosity showcases House Tyrell’s wealth and power (whether or not they’ll prove to be easily defeatable “golden roses” remains to be seen in the books), and their love of comfort and a relaxed and peaceful lifestyle are apparent, a contrast with many other noble houses with a preference for warfare. I certainly can’t see either Roose Bolton or Randyll Tarly listening to music or sailing in a pleasure boat!

The show offered a small glimpse from afar during the third episode of Season 7, “The Queen’s Justice”, when the Lannister forces take Highgarden. The Castillo de Almodóvar del Río in the Andalusian province of Córdoba, and the Trujillo Castle in the province of Cáceres were used to portray the Tyrell castle on-screen. It is not white, and doesn’t seem as big as its book counterpart, but the showrunners kept some bits: the vines in the walls, lush vegetation around it, and a fountain in the courtyard.

The show’s version of Highgarden is more or less how I imagined it, with the exception of the color: it was indeed completely white in my imagination. Nevertheless, it was satisfying to be able to finally see it, if only for a few seconds, after reading and hearing so much about it.

Casterly Rock

casterly

Casterly Rock by AndrewRyanArt

As it was the case with Highgarden, Season 7 offered us a glimpse of the Lannister stronghold during the third episode.

It sits atop a rocky hill beside the Sunset Hill. But here’s the thing: said rocky hill is said to be three times the size of The Wall. It is truly immense, and the live-action version is not as imposing in comparison. This was most likely a matter of keeping it realistic and practical: it would’ve been way harder to stage the attack of Dany’s forces otherwise, though I can picture the Unsullied climbing the hill in a similar way the wildlings and Jon did at the Wall. The brevity and flow of the scene required something less complicated, not to mention it would’ve required extra stunt work and digital effects.

No real-life castle was used as a location: all of Casterly Rock consists of sets and VFX work, and we really didn’t get much of a close look. I must say that at first I was a bit surprised at how plain-looking it is in a way: No statues or any kind of ornamentation, just white walls and halls. And while Tywin wasn’t a pompous man, the way the Lannisters have adorned the Red Keep and personalized their weapons, armor and jewelry, among other things, mainly with a lion motif, the contrast was noticeable. You’d think there would be a Tywin statue somewhere, not for vanity (as it was Joffrey’s case), but as a constant reminder of who is in charge. There’s in fact a bit in A Feast for Crows in which a stone statue of Tywin is commissioned in honor of the recently deceased Lannister patriarch.

The Game of Thrones version of this castle didn’t live up to my expectations. But I wouldn’t say it wasn’t well-made: it did the job and there was excitement in how Tyrion’s plan was foiled by his siblings. For that alone, it was worth it.

Dragonstone

Dragonstone by Marc Simonetti

Dragonstone by Marc Simonetti

Stannis famously disliked Dragonstone, because it was a cold, damp place on an island where nothing grows. But for Daenerys, it was like coming home, at long last. She was born on Dragonstone, after all.

The ancestral Targaryen castle is a fascinating place in the novels, built with stone and shaped like many dragons of different sizes. There are dragon statues all over the place, as well as dragon-related ornaments (in the shape of dragon wings, dragon tails and so on). Gargoyles and many other fantastic creatures in the battlements. Clearly, the Targaryens pulled out all the stops when building this castle. But while do I like to imagine descriptions such as the Great Hall of Dragonstone shaped like a dragon lying on its belly (and I mean, that Marc Simonetti art of the castle is quite badass), there can be too much of a good thing, and I think that a faithful portrayal in the screen adaptation would’ve been overkill at best or cheesy at worst. Not even Count Dracula had bat-shaped everything at his castle, and you can’t say he lacks style. Now, Batman, on the other hand…

But I digress. Point is, the show version of Dragonstone is more restrained and I think it’s better for it. The dragon ornamentation is limited to a couple of big dragon heads flanking both sides of the iron gate entrance (the heads are clearly inspired by the feathered serpent heads on the Quetzalcoatl temple, located in Teotihuacan, Mexico).

An element from the novels that was kept is the Painted Table. Originally commissioned by Aegon the Conqueror, it was later used by Stannis Baratheon and is currently owned by Aegon’s descendant, Daenerys. It’s a very cool prop that matches its book description, looking both useful and cumbersome. Can’t really carry it with you, which tells me the Conqueror should’ve asked for a detachable table that could’ve been disassembled and then put together again.

Winterfell

Winterfell by Lino Drieghe

Winterfell by Lino Drieghe

Grab your furs and a cup of hot cocoa, because we’re going to a very cold place.

Winterfell is the ancestral home of House Stark, located in the North. It was built atop natural hot springs that keep the castle warm and its occupants comfortable.

Inside its big, thick walls there’s a godswood, a courtyard and several towers, one of which is broken and the other abandoned.

The show version of Winterfell is large, and yet it’s somewhat smaller than its book counterpart, which is a massive castle and couldn’t have possibly been portrayed that way during the smaller-scale first season of the TV series. It doesn’t need to be enormous, in any case, as it seems there’s more than enough space for the Stark family and even several guests (as seen when King Robert Baratheon visited).

The library tower was omitted from the show, whereas in the novels Tyrion spends time reading in there, and later someone (most likely the catspaw assassin) starts a fire in the tower. Can’t say I missed these moments much, since later we learn that Tyrion likes to read anyway (when talking to Jon) and the assassination attempt on Bran worked just the same.

I like Winterfell as a whole, in both books and show, but if I had to pick a favorite part of it, I’d go with the godswood. It was perfectly realized in live action, and offered one of the few moments between Ned and Catelyn. How I miss both of them! There are difficult times ahead for the remaining Starks, but if they (and Winterfell) managed to survive the Greyjoys and the Boltons, surely some undead won’t be the ones who buck the trend.

Water Gardens

"Intrigue in Dorne" by 1oshuart

“Intrigue in Dorne” by 1oshuart

When it was announced that the Alcázar of Seville would be used as the location for the Water Gardens, I was very excited. I had the fortune of visiting the Alcázar a few years ago, and words don’t do it justice. It was an inspired choice for the Dornish palace, just perfect. Even if the Alcázar wasn’t what Martin had in mind when writing the novels, it fits the description really well, with the pools, the fountains and all the greenery, like an oasis in the desert-like environment of Dorne.

The Dorne storyline in Season 5 was objectively lackluster, though, and its poor reception with critics and fans alike resulted in the elimination of all things related to it: We never got to see Sunspear, for example, and the arcs of characters like Doran were cut short. It’s a real shame, because I keep picturing other magnificent places that could’ve been other parts of Dorne, like the Alhambra, with its own “water gardens” in the Generalife, intricate carvings, marble floors and stained glass, or the Mezquita in Córdoba with its red and white arches and marble pillars.

I don’t think Dorne will receive a second chance any time soon, in either the coming spin-off or other GoT-related media (with the exception of the forthcoming novels, of course), but at least we got to be in the Water Gardens for a bit of time.

Harrenhal

Harrenhal Ruins by GrendelGrack

Harrenhal Ruins by GrendelGrack

This castle isn’t just big, it’s the largest in the whole continent. But size alone couldn’t spare this building and its original occupants from getting burned to a crisp by Balerion the Black Dread. The dragon fire left Harrenhal a melted and charred ruin that has since fallen into disrepair, rotting away with time.

Not only is the castle too big, it’s expensive to repair and maintain. Just like Jaime said to Bronn, “Think of the upkeep!”

Ever since the death of its founder, King Harren Hoare, the castle has changed hands many times, and it has always meant bad luck for its new tenants, since all of them have met a horrific death. (Curiously enough, both Tywin Lannister and Roose Bolton held Harrenhal and were later killed by their own sons.) This has led people to believe the castle is cursed.

Though in the show we mostly see the castle interiors and not much from the outside, the sets are very well made and the camera angles help to make it look like a real place.

If I miss something from the novels, it’s Arya being the “Ghost of Harrenhal”, exploring the castle while doing her chores, and sleeping beneath the Wailing Tower at night. I wanted to see the ruined sections of the castle and the bat-infested ceilings, but I understand that budget and time limitations didn’t make it possible.

Men fear the Wailing Tower and the stories of the ghosts that inhabit it, but Arya knows better – ghosts can’t do harm, but living men can.

Riverrun

Riverrun by Ted Nasmith

Riverrun by Ted Nasmith

There, between rivers and surrounded by green, rich lands, stands Riverrun, the former seat of House Tully- currently with an unknown status. It was in the hands of the treacherous House Frey, but considering Arya Stark killed Walder Frey and all his male heirs, the castle seems to be up for grabs.

Riverrun may not be the biggest castle in Westeros, but it has one of the best defense systems: in case of siege or invasion, the sluice gates can be opened to turn it into an island fortress, rendering it almost impossible to assail. Sure, it can still be attacked with catapults, but any invading soldier would have to swim to reach it, a difficult proposition when one is wearing chainmail and armor.

The show version of Riverrun is quite similar to its book analogue, particularly to the interpretation of the artist Ted Nasmith. The glimpses we get from the outside are few and brief, mostly from a distance, but we get to spend more time inside, in the main hall and the garden.

Though many important moments from the novels are kept (like Hoster Tully’s funeral, Cat talking to the Blackfish and Jaime seeking to parley), some elements from the castle were lost, such as the Wheel Tower and its waterwheel. And just like in Winterfell, there’s a heart tree inside. No serious omissions to be honest, but they could’ve been nice touches.

Though the front gate of the castle was built on Game of Thrones, the rest of the structure was digitally made. As is the case with many other locations, the digital parts blend so well with the practical ones and its surroundings, it’s hard to notice Riverrun is not a real place!

The Eyrie

The Eyrie by Lino Drieghe

The Eyrie by Lino Drieghe

This is one of the instances in which I feel the show limitations in regards to budget actually helped to improve on what was on the written page. The castle itself is tinier and the climb to reach it less troublesome- in the books it can take half a day, at best. Just imagine being the lord or the lady of the Eyrie, finally reaching the Gates of the Moon located at the bottom of the mountain, and then remembering you forgot something at the castle! It’s not very practical at all, but the need to go smaller pays off in spades when it comes to the Moon Door.

In the novels, the Moon Door is an actual door made out of weirwood, and it stands vertically, not on the floor. Its purpose is the same, opening to a precipice in order to make “people fly”. But I’d say the show version, the hatch that opens to a very long fall, effectively adds to the feeling of vertigo and turns the Moon Door into an unique kind of death trap, since going with a vertical door would be, in a way, a repeat of the Sky Cells.

Because of its isolated location in the mountains it’s likely we’ve already seen all the action that could’ve taken place in The Eyrie during Season 1 and the A Game of Thrones book, but at the same time its status as a castle that has never been taken by an invading army makes me wonder if it’ll play a part in Season 8, when the army of the dead march into Westeros (not that it would help much against an undead dragon, truth be told).

One small detail worth adding: the show version of The Eyrie was actually retconned during Season 4. It’s but a small glimpse and the changes are subtle and therefore easy to miss, but instead of a single rocky top, the castle now perches on two of them (the empty space in between makes better sense for the Moon Door). It also seems to have sprouted additional towers and gotten shorter, but still very cool to look at!

Oldtown

The Hightower at Oldtown by Ted Nasmith

The Hightower at Oldtown by Ted Nasmith

When we reach Oldtown during the Season 6 finale (“The Winds of Winter”), the awe Sam and Gilly feel is palpable. It’s the antithesis of King’s Landing- a big city but beautiful-looking with a pleasant smell, and well-organized streets that serve as evidence a lot of thought and planning went into the construction of Oldtown. No shantytowns or Flea Bottom-like nasty slums!

It’s a shame we couldn’t see much of the city itself, since a handful of moments from the books that take place in Oldtown were discarded and Sam’s own arc was cut short and changed quite a lot. It’s understandable, both in terms of budget and storytelling, but I definitely missed the Quill and Tankard Inn and the cobbled, clean streets (quite a contrast from the image we have of big medieval cities).

The Hightower did appear in the show, and is spectacular-looking, with its great beacon on top. It was also fitting that it’s one of the first things Sam and Gilly see when arriving (I mean, it’s hard to miss) under a clear day and a radiant sun, and the last, before they leave under the cover of night in a rather bittersweet moment.

The Citadel was kept as well, since it’s integral to the plot. We don’t see it from the outside, but we got to visit its immense library, the largest in the known world. Those of us who love books would certainly love to visit! The rest of it is plain-looking, but that is to be expected from a place full of scholars. Most people are there to study, after all. There’s no need for embellishments or unnecessary distractions.

We are left to wonder if the showrunners would’ve kept the couple of green sphinxes flanking the gates of the Citadel. They do make a partial appearance in the “Complete Guide to Westeros” extra from the Season 1 Blu-ray set. I imagine that if they had been able to make the jump to live-action, the designers would’ve tried to make them look unique to the world and not Egyptian-style since that could’ve felt out of place.

Pyke

Pyke by Lino Drieghe

Pyke by Lino Drieghe

I don’t know what it is with the people of Westeros and their predilection for impractical and sometimes mortally dangerous households, but here we have yet another example of that: Pyke is a castle located on an island of the same name, sitting rather precariously on rocky towers, with its parts connected by swaying rope bridges. To be fair it was formerly a cliff that has been eroded by the sea, but if that’s not a sign that it’s probably a good idea to move, I don’t know what is.

The idea is neat, however, and I have to give Martin mad props for coming up with these crazy buildings. The show keeps some of the important parts: the look from outside, the rope bridges and Lord Balon’s solar, but leaves out the kitchen, the Bloody Keep and the Great Keep (where the Seastone Chair/Salt Throne is located).

Should the Greyjoy siblings make it to the end of the show (or Yara at least), I wonder if we’ll get to see the famed throne of the Iron Islands. I have a feeling that we won’t, and a coronation similar to Euron’s will be the end of it. It probably isn’t worth it to build a new prop that would only get a few seconds of screen time, if that.

When the Kingsmoot took place in Season 6 (Episode 5: “The Door”), it happened on Pyke and not in Old Wyk like in the novels, most likely to avoid the trouble of introducing a new place (even if technically part of the Iron Islands) when the audience is already familiar with the home of House Greyjoy. I was left wanting to see Nagga’s Hill (the story of Nagga and the Grey King already introduced in the “Histories & Lore” bonuses from the Blu-rays), but alas, it was not to be.

King’s Landing

King's Landing by Ted Nasmith

King’s Landing by Ted Nasmith

The capital city of Westeros was founded by Aegon I Targaryen, and the name comes from the fact it is situated on the spot where Aegon’s ships first landed from Dragonstone to begin the conquest of the continent.

Despite being home of the Red Keep and the Iron Throne, many characters feel nothing but derision for King’s Landing. Crime is rampant, it’s unsightly, smelly and overcrowded. Lady Olenna in fact confirmed “you can smell the shit from five miles away”.

And yet, it’s hard not to feel great esteem for the capital, as readers and watchers. After five books and seven seasons, we have grown familiar with it and its many iconic landmarks: the sketchy alleyways of Flea Bottom, the beautifully built and decorated Great Sept of Baelor and the grand Red Keep.

Quite a significant change from the books is how King’s Landing is presented as a warm, kinda tropical place; Malta and Croatia have been used as filming locations for the exterior shots of the city. George R.R. Martin said he had in mind something more akin to medieval Paris or London.

The Red Keep itself doesn’t exist in real life, its interiors are sets and digital effects help with shots from outside. Its looks more or less match the many interpretations from different artists, and the book descriptions to a degree, with the notable exception of the color: it’s named Red Keep but it doesn’t look so red. It’s sort of a very pale red. This one change puzzles me somewhat, it doesn’t “ruin” it by any means, but it sort of takes a bit of its impact away, particularly when you have stories such as the color coming from the spilled blood of Aegon’s enemies (which of course isn’t true, but I would’ve loved a brighter red. It comes down to personal preference in the end).

The interiors of the Red Keep are breathtaking. One look at the Great Hall with the Iron Throne is all it takes to be mesmerized by all the artistry and work that went into it, with the large columns, decorated marble floor and a stained-glass window behind the Throne.

The Throne itself is now a pop culture icon: even people who haven’t read the books or watched the show know what it is when they see it. This is not a knock on the novels, but the show version of the Throne is yet another example of how simpler, smaller designs can be more effective than big, over-elaborate ones. I cannot see the enormous, asymmetric pile of swords from the books that require many steps for the king to reach the top and sit on it becoming this famous, let alone working well in a filming set.

King’s Landing has appeared in all novels, and in most episodes of all seven seasons. We can only wonder what’s in store for the final season, but a battle is to be expected, either between the living and the Night King and his army of undead, or between Cersei and Daenerys.

The Wall

At the Night's Watch by Walid Feghali

At the Night’s Watch by Walid Feghali

Well, we have reached our final destination: the Wall. Like the Iron Throne, it’s one of the elements from the world of ASOIAF/GOT that most people can identify in an instant. Big wall of ice? There’s only one book/TV series where you can see it!

You’d think there’s not much that can be said about it, and you’d be right, but there’s a small difference: the show version has a “scythe”, a giant pendulum-like bladed weapon attached by a large chain that when is dropped obliterates everything on its path. The only time we have seen in action was during the ninth episode of Season 4 (“The Watchers on the Wall”) when Dolorous Edd orders it to be unleashed on wildlings climbing the Wall. Suffice to say, nothing remained of them.

For a long time the Wall served as a large-scale Chekhov’s gun that was introduced from the beginning of the story and finally crumbled down in the Season 7 finale (“The Dragon and the Wolf”) in a way that I frankly didn’t see coming. (Well, I did see it coming after Viserion was turned, but for a long time “undead dragon” was not among my theories).

The entirety of the Wall didn’t come down, however- only the Eastwatch portion. Castle Black still stands, and the brothers of the Watch will no doubt play a part in the upcoming final season of the show.


And so, our little journey through the world of Game of Thrones concludes. Some places were left out, since there was not much material to work with (such as the Dreadfort), but I hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing and remembering my own trip through the novels and the TV show, from the very beginning.

It’s been amazing to watch the world of Westeros grow, both in number of locations and different cultures, and to see many of our beloved characters visiting new places far from their homes and everything they know. And though it is likely we won’t see many new places in the eighth and final season, we’ll certainly see them under a different lens. King’s Landing is going to look very different now that winter has come, and the major battles ahead will change the face of Westeros in one way or another, regardless of who comes out on top.

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