Game of Thrones

Contents
Contents......................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 4
1

Plot........................................................................................................................... 5

Cast and characters................................................................................................. 6

Production................................................................................................................ 8

3.1

Conception and development............................................................................ 8

3.2

Adaptation Schedule.......................................................................................... 9

3.3

Title sequence.................................................................................................. 11

3.4

Filming............................................................................................................. 11

3.5

Costuming........................................................................................................ 13

3.6

Sound............................................................................................................... 15

3.7

Visual effects................................................................................................... 15

3.8

Language......................................................................................................... 15

3.9

Effect on location............................................................................................. 16

Availability.............................................................................................................. 17
4.1

Broadcast......................................................................................................... 17

4.2

Home video...................................................................................................... 17

4.3

Piracy............................................................................................................... 18

4.4

IMAX................................................................................................................. 18

Other media and products..................................................................................... 19

5.1

Soundtrack....................................................................................................... 19

5.2

Accompanying material................................................................................... 19

5.3

Merchandise and exhibition............................................................................. 19

5.4

Other works based on the seires.....................................................................20

Reception............................................................................................................... 21
6.1

Cultural influence............................................................................................. 21

6.2

Critical response.............................................................................................. 22

6.2.1

In general.................................................................................................. 22

6.2.2

Use of sex and violence............................................................................. 23

6.3

Fandom............................................................................................................ 24

6.4

Viewer number................................................................................................. 25

6.5

Awards............................................................................................................. 26

Lisad............................................................................................................................. 31
Pildid......................................................................................................................... 31
Tabelid....................................................................................................................... 31

Introduction
Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created for HBO by David Benioff
and D. B. Weiss as showrunners and main writers. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire,
George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, the first of which is titled A Game of Thrones.
Filmed in a Belfast studio and on location elsewhere in Northern Ireland, Malta, Scotland, Croatia,
Iceland, the United States, Spain and Morocco, it premiered on HBO in the United States on April
17, 2011. Two days after the fourth season premiered in April 2014, HBO renewed Game of
Thrones for a fifth and sixth season1. The fifth season is scheduled to premiere on April 12, 20152.
The series, set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos at the end of a decade-long
summer, interweaves several plot lines with a broad ensemble cast. The first narrative arc follows a
civil war among several noble houses for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms; the second
covers the rising threat of the impending winter and the legendary creatures and fierce peoples of
the North; the third chronicles the attempts of the exiled last scion of the realm's deposed ruling
dynasty to reclaim the throne.
Game of Thrones has attracted record numbers of viewers on HBO and obtained an exceptionally
broad and active international fan base. It received widespread acclaim by critics, although its
frequent use of nudity, violence and sexual violence towards women has attracted criticism. The
series has won numerous awards and nominations, including a Primetime Emmy Award nomination
for Outstanding Drama Series for its first four seasons, a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best
Television Series Drama, a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in both Long Form and
Short Form, and a Peabody Award. Among the ensemble cast, Peter Dinklage won the Primetime
Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and the Golden Globe Award for
Best Supporting Actor Series, Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Tyrion Lannister.

1 Goldman, Eric (April 8, 2014). "Game of Thrones Renewed for Season 5 and Season
6". IGN. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
2 ibberd, James (January 8, 2015). "'Game of Thrones' season 5 premiere date
revealed". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 8, 2015.

1 Plot
Game of Thrones roughly follows the three storylines of A Song of Ice and Fire.[6] Set in the
fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the series chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among
the realm's noble families for control of the Iron Throne. As the series opens, additional threats
emerge in the icy North and in the eastern continent of Essos.[2]
The novels and their adaptation derive aspects of their settings, characters and plot from various
events of European history.[7] A principal inspiration for the novels is the English Wars of the
Roses[8] (145585) between the houses of Lancaster and York, reflected in Martin's houses of
Lannister and Stark. Most of Westeros, with its castles and knightly tournaments, is reminiscent of
High Medieval Western Europe. The scheming Cersei, for instance, calls to mind Isabella, the "shewolf of France" (12951358).[7] She and her family, as depicted in Maurice Druon's historical
novel series The Accursed Kings, in particular, inspired Martin.[9] Other historical inspirations for
elements of the series include Hadrian's Wall (which became Martin's great Wall), the legend of
Atlantis (ancient Valyria), Byzantine "Greek fire" ("wildfire"), Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age
(the Ironborn) and the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki), as well as elements from the Hundred Years'
War (13371453) and the Italian Renaissance (c. 14001500).[7] The series' great popularity has in
part been attributed to Martin's skill at fusing these disparate elements into a seamless whole that
appears credible on its own terms as an alternative history.[7]
"The Sopranos in Middle-earth" is the tagline showrunner David Benioff jokingly suggested for
Game of Thrones, referring to its intrigue-filled plot and dark tone combined with a fantasy setting
that incorporates some magic.[10] In a 2012 study, the series was listed second out of 40 recent U.S.
TV drama series by deaths per episode, with an average of 14.[11][12]

Pilt 1 Power and violence are central themes of Game of Thrones, and the great number of
weapons made for the series some of which are shown in this exhibit reflects this.

2 Cast and characters

Like the novels it adapts, Game of Thrones has a sprawling ensemble cast, estimated to be the
largest on television3. During the production of the third season, 257 cast names were recorded. 4 In
2014, several of the actors' contracts were renegotiated to include the option for a seventh season,
and included raises that reportedly made the cast among the best-paid on cable TV.[15] The
following overview reduces the list of characters in Game of Thrones to those played by the actors
credited as part of the main cast.[16]
Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark (Sean Bean) is the head of the Stark family whose members are involved
in most of the series's intertwined plot lines. He and his wife Catelyn Tully (Michelle Fairley) have
five children: the eldest, Robb (Richard Madden), the dainty Sansa (Sophie Turner), the tomboy
Arya (Maisie Williams), the adventurous Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and the youngest, Rickon
(Art Parkinson). Ned's hostage and ward Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) used to live with the Starks
before encountering the sadistic Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon). Robb's wife is the healer Talisa
Maegyr (Oona Chaplin), and Arya has befriended the blacksmith's apprentice Gendry (Joe
Dempsie). Ned's bastard son Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and his friend Samwell Tarly (John Bradley)
serve in the Night's Watch under Lord Commander Jeor Mormont (James Cosmo). The red-haired
Ygritte (Rose Leslie), one of the Wildlings led by Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju), is Jon
Snow's romantic interest, and Sam cares for the young Wildling Gilly (Hannah Murray). Catelyn is
served by the tall warrior Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie).
Ned's old friend King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) shares a loveless marriage with Queen Cersei
Lannister (Lena Headey), who has taken her twin, the "Kingslayer" Ser Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj
Coster-Waldau) as her secret lover. She loathes her younger brother, the clever dwarf Tyrion
Lannister (Peter Dinklage), who is attended by his mistress Shae (Sibel Kekilli) and the sellsword
Bronn (Jerome Flynn). Cersei's father is the fabulously wealthy Lord Tywin Lannister (Charles
Dance), and her oldest son, the cruel Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), is guarded by the scar-faced warrior
Sandor "the Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann).
3 Hibberd, James (May 29, 2012). "'Game of Thrones' scoop: Season 3 character list
revealed -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
4 "Season 3: By the Numbers". Making Game of Thrones. November 2, 2012. Retrieved
November 3, 2012.

The king's "Small Council" of advisors includes the crafty Master of Coin, Lord Petyr "Littlefinger"
Baelish (Aidan Gillen) and the eunuch spymaster Lord Varys (Conleth Hill). Robert's brother
Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) is advised by the foreign priestess Melisandre (Carice van
Houten) and the former smuggler Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham). The wealthy Tyrell
family is represented at court by the ambitious Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer).
Across the Narrow Sea, siblings Viserys (Harry Lloyd) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke)
the exiled children of the king overthrown by Robert Baratheon are on the run for their lives,
trying to win back the throne. Daenerys has been married to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), the leader
of the nomadic Dothraki, and is guarded by the exiled knight Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen).

Pilt 2 Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) leads the principal cast from season two onwards.

3 Production
3.1 Conception and development
According to David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the two came up with the idea of adapting George R.
R. Martin's novels to the screen in 2006, after Benioff began reading the first novel, A Game of
Thrones. He called Weiss to share his excitement, and Weiss finished the thousand-page book in
"maybe 36 hours".[17] They successfully pitched the series to HBO, and convinced Martin a
veteran screenwriter himself in the course of a five-hour meeting in a restaurant on Santa Monica
Boulevard to agree to the idea. Benioff recalled they won Martin over with their answer to his
question: "Who is Jon Snow's mother?"[17]
The series began development in January 2007.[18] HBO, after acquiring the TV rights to the
novels, hired Benioff and Weiss to write and executive produce the series, which would cover one
novel's worth of material per season.[18] Initially, Benioff and Weiss were to write every episode
save one per season, which Martin, who also joined as a co-executive producer, was attached to
write.[18][19] Jane Espenson and Bryan Cogman were later added to each write one episode of the
first season.[2]
The first and second drafts of the pilot script, written by Benioff and Weiss, were submitted in
August 2007[20] and June 2008,[21] respectively. While HBO found both drafts to their liking,[21]
[22] a pilot was not ordered until November 2008,[23] with the 20072008 Writers Guild of
America strike possibly delaying the process.[22]
The pilot reportedly cost HBO between US$5 and 10 million,[24] and the total budget for the first
season had been estimated at US$5060 million.[25] In the second season, the show obtained a
15% budget increase to afford the most important battle in "The War of the Five Kings", the civil
war central to the season.[26] The season 2 episode "Blackwater" had an increased budget of US$8
million and the average episode has a budget of US$6 million, which is two-to-three times more
than a typical network or cable series costs per episode.[27]

Pilt 3 Showrunners D. B. Weiss and David Benioff created the series, wrote most of its
episodes and directed some of them.

3.2 Adaptation Schedule

Showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss intend to adapt the entirety of the still incomplete A
Song of Ice and Fire novel series, if HBO permits it. They envision the series to have a scope of
some 80 hours, about eight seasons' worth of material.[28]
In 2013, producer Frank Doelger said "[w]e'll probably get through to seven seasons".[29] Benioff
and Weiss said they do not want to pad Game of Thrones out so as to wait for George R. R. Martin
(who has taken up to six years to write an installment of A Song of Ice and Fire) to finish writing
the last two novels. Knowing the broad outlines of Martin's intended ending for A Song of Ice and
Fire, and concerned that extending Game of Thrones to ten seasons would kill its sense of
momentum, they consider it possible (but not preferable) that the TV series ends before the last
novel is published.[30]
As of April 8, 2014, six seasons have been ordered and four have been filmed, adapting the novels
at a rate of about 0.8 minutes per page.

10

Pilt 4 George R. R. Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, is attached to the series as a
co-executive producer and wrote one episode for each of the first four seasons.

Tabel 1 Adaptation schedule

Season
Season 1

Ordered
March

Filming
Premiere
2, Second half of April 17, 2011

Season 2

2010[32]
April 19, 2011

2010
Second half of April 1, 2012

Season 3

April 10, 2012

2011
Second half of March
2012

Season 4

April

2013[33]

2, Second half of April

2013[35]

2013

2014[36]

Novel adapted
A Game of
Thrones
A Clash

of

Kings
31, About the first
half of A Storm
of Swords[34]
6, The second half
of A Storm of
Swords,
some

and

elements

from A Feast for

Season 5

April 8, 2014[4]

Second half of April

2014

Season 6

April 8, 2014[4]

TBA

2015[5]

TBA

Crows

and A

Dance

with

Dragons[37]
12, A Feast for
Crows

and A

Dance

with

Dragons[38]
TBA

11

Seasons 1 and 2 each adapted one novel. For the later seasons, the creators conceive of Game of
Thrones as an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire as a whole, rather than of individual novels.[39]
This gives them the liberty to move events back and forth across books according to the
requirements of the screen adaptation.[40]
The four seasons filmed so far each consist of ten episodes. Most episodes from the first and second
season run for about 52 minutes, while many of the third season's episodes are 56 or 57 minutes
long. The series' pilot and the second, third and fourth season finales run for more than an hour
apiece.[41]

3.3 Title sequence

The series's title sequence was created by production studio Elastic for HBO. Creative director
Angus Wall and his collaborators received the 2011 Emmy Award for Main Title Design for their
work on the sequence.[42] It depicts a three-dimensional map of the series's fictional world,
projected onto the inside of a sphere, which is centrally lit by a small sun contained within an
armilla.[43] As the camera swoops across the map and focuses on the locations in which the
episode's events take place, complicated clockwork mechanisms let buildings and other structures
emerge from the map and unfold. Meanwhile, accompanied by the title music, the names of the
principal cast and creative staff are displayed. The sequence concludes after about one and a half
minutes with the title card and brief opening credits indicating the episode's writer(s) and director.

3.4 Filming
Principal photography for the first season was scheduled to begin on July 26, 2010.[2] The primary
location was the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[44] Exterior scenes in Northern
Ireland were filmed at Sandy Brae in the Mourne Mountains (standing in for Vaes Dothrak), Castle
Ward (Winterfell), Saintfield Estates (the Winterfell godswood), Tollymore Forest (outdoor scenes),
Cairncastle (the execution site), Magheramorne quarry (Castle Black) and at Shane's Castle (the
tourney grounds).[1] Doune Castle in Stirling, Scotland, was also used in the original pilot episode
for exterior and interior scenes at Winterfell.[45] The producers initially considered shooting the
whole series in Scotland, but eventually chose Northern Ireland because of the availability of studio
space.[46]
The first season's southern scenes were filmed in Malta, a change in location from the sets in
Morocco used for the pilot episode.[2] The city of Mdina was used for scenes in King's Landing,

12

and filming also took place at Fort Manoel (representing the Sept of Baelor), at the Azure Window
on the island of Gozo (the Dothraki wedding site), and at San Anton Palace, Fort Ricasoli, Fort St
Angelo and St. Dominic monastery (all used for scenes in the Red Keep).[1]
For the second season, shooting of the Southern scenes shifted from Malta to Croatia, where the
city of Dubrovnik and nearby locations allowed exterior shots of a seaside walled medieval city.
The Walls of Dubrovnik and of Fort Lovrijenac were used for scenes in King's Landing and the Red
Keep. The island of Lokrum, the St. Dominic monastery on the island of Trogir, the Rector's Palace
in Dubrovnik and the Dubac quarry a few kilometers to the east were used for scenes set in Qarth.
Scenes set north of the Wall, in the Frostfangs and at the Fist of the First Men, were filmed in
Iceland in November 2011, on the Svnafellsjkull glacier and near Smyrlabjrg and Vk on
Hfabrekkuheii.[1]

Pilt 5 The walled city of Dubrovnik stands in for King's Landing from season 2 onwards

For the third season the production returned to Dubrovnik in Croatia. The Walls of Dubrovnik, Fort
Lovrijenac and nearby locations were used for scenes in King's Landing and the Red Keep. One
new location Trsteno Arboretum is the garden the Tyrells use in King's Landing. The third season
also returned to Morocco (previously used in the pilot episode), including the city of Essaouira, to
film Daenerys's scenes in Essos.[47] The production employed three units ("Dragon", "Wolf" and
"Raven") filming in parallel, six directing teams, 257 cast members and 703 crew members.[14]
One scene featuring a live bear, Little Bart, was filmed in Los Angeles.[3]

13

Pilt 6 Ballintoy Harbour was redressed as Lordsport on the Iron Islands

The fourth season returned to Dubrovnik and included new locations in Croatia, such as Diocletian's
Palace in Split, Klis Fortress north of Split, Perun quarry east of Split, Mosor mountain and Baka
Voda further down to the south.[48] Filming took 136 days, ending on November 21, 2013.[49]

Pilt 7 The Azure Window in Malta was the site of the Dothraki wedding in season 1

3.5 Costuming
The show's costumes are inspired by many cultures, such as Japanese and Persian. Dothraki outfits
resemble the Bedouin's (one was made out of fish skins to resemble dragon scales), and the
Wildlings wear animal skins inside out like the Inuit.[50] Wildling bone armor is made of molds
taken of real bones and assembled with string and latex resembling catgut.[51] While extras who
portray Wildlings and the Night's Watch wear hats as would be normal in a cold climate, main
actors usually do not so viewers can identify the characters. Bjrk's Alexander McQueen highneckline dresses inspired Dormer's unusual funnel-neck outfit, and prostitute costumes are designed
to be quickly removed.[50] All clothing, whether for Wildlings or for women at the royal court, is
aged for two weeks to improve realism on high-definition television.[51]
About two dozen wigs are used for the actresses. Made of human hair and up to 2 feet (61 cm) in
length, they cost up to $7,000 each and are washed and styled like real hair. Applying the wigs is a
lengthy process; Clarke, for example, requires about two hours to style her brunette hair with a
platinum-blonde wig and braids. Other actors such as Gleeson and Turner receive frequent

14

haircoloring. For characters such as Clarke and her Dothraki, hair, wigs, and costumes are
processed so they appear as if they have not been washed for weeks.[50]

Pilt 8 The costumes of Ygritte, Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane reflect the harsh climate in
which they are worn.

Pilt 9 The rich dresses worn at the royal court in King's Landing advertise their wearers'
wealth and status.

Pilt 10 Functional weapons and armor, like Brienne of Tarth's (left), were manufactured for the
series.

3.6 Sound
Unusually for television shows, the sound team receives a rough-cut of a full season to work on,
and they approach it like a ten-hour feature film. Season 1 and 2 each had a different sound team,
but for the third, fourth - and going into the fifth - season, the same team has been working on the
sound.[52] For the show's blood and goo sounds, the sound team often uses a shammy. For dragon

15

screams, they have used the sounds of two tortoises mating, as well as dolphin, seal, lion and bird
sounds.[53]

3.7 Visual effects

For the large amount of visual effects in the series, HBO hired the VFX companies BlueBolt, based
in Great Britian, and Screen Scene, based in Ireland, for season one. Most of the environment builds
were done as 2.5D projections, to give the viewer a good sense of perspective, but also to keep the
amount of programming from becoming too overwhelming.[54] The season one finale "Fire and
Blood" was nominated for an Emmy Award for Visual Effects in 2011. Due to the effects becoming
more complex in the upcoming seasons, including CG-creatures, -fire, and -water, the job was given
to German-based Pixomondo. Pixomondo served as lead VFX producer for seasons two and three.
Nine of its twelve facilities contributed to the project, with Stuttgart serving as the lead.[55][56]
Additionally, some scenes were produced by Peanut VFX (Great Britain), Spin VFX (Canada) and
Gradient Effects (USA). The episodes "Valar Morghulis" and "Valar Dohaeris" earned Pixomondo
the Emmy Award for Visual Effects in 2012 and 2013, respectively. For season four, HBO again
switched VFX companies, this time to Mackevision, also based in Germany.[57] The season four
finale "The Children" won the Emmy Award for Visual Effects in 2014. Additional producers for
season four include Rodeo FX (Canada), Scanline VFX (Germany) and BAKED FX (USA).

3.8 Language
The Westerosi characters of Game of Thrones speak British English, often (but not consistently)
with the accent of the English region whose geographic location corresponds to the character's
Westerosi region. For instance, Eddard Stark, as Warden of the North, speaks in actor Sean Bean's
native northern accent, while the southern lord Tywin Lannister speaks with a southern accent.
Characters foreign to Westeros are often (although not always) played with a non-British accent.
[58]
While English is used to convey the common language of Westeros, the producers charged linguist
David J. Peterson with developing the Dothraki and Valyrian languages as constructed languages,
based on the few words used in Martin's novels.[59] Dothraki or Valyrian dialogue is subtitled in
English. The BBC estimated that, through the series, these fictional languages were heard by more
people than the Welsh, Irish and Scots Gaelic languages combined.[60]

16

3.9 Effect on location

Game of Thrones receives funding from Northern Ireland Screen, a government agency financed by
Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund.[61] As of April 2013, Northern Ireland
Screen has awarded the show 9.25 million and according to government estimates, benefited the
Northern Ireland economy by 65 million.[62]
Tourism Ireland has a Game of Thrones-themed marketing campaign similar to New Zealand's
Tolkien-related advertising,[63] and Invest NI and the Tourist Board[62] also expect the series to
generate tourism revenue. According to a government minister, the series has given Northern
Ireland the most publicity in its history outside politics and the Troubles.[64] The production of
Game of Thrones and other TV series has also provided a boost to the creative industry in Northern
Ireland, contributing to a growth of 12.4% in arts, entertainment and recreation jobs from 2008 to
2013 (as opposed to 4.3% in the whole of the UK).[65]
Tourism organizations in other filming locations also reported notable increases in bookings after
their locations appeared in Game of Thrones. Bookings through one web portal in 2012 increased
by 13% in Iceland and by 28% in Dubrovnik, Croatia. In 2013, bookings increased by 100% in
Ouarzazate, Morocco, where Daenerys's season 3 scenes were filmed.[66]

17

4 Availability
4.1 Broadcast
Game of Thrones is broadcast by HBO in the United States, and through its local subsidiaries or
other pay TV services in other countries, either at the same time as in the U.S. or some weeks or
months later. The series's broadcast in China on CCTV, beginning in 2014, was heavily edited to
remove scenes of sex and violence, in accordance with a Chinese practice of censoring western TV
series to prevent "negative effects and hidden security dangers", according to the People's Daily.
This resulted in viewer complaints about the incoherence of what remained of the series.[67]
The broadcasters carrying Game of Thrones include Showcase in Australia, HBO Canada, Super
cran, and Showcase in Canada, HBO India in India, Sky Atlantic in Ireland, SoHo and Prime in
New Zealand, HBO Pakistan in Pakistan, HBO Philippines in the Philippines, M-Net in South
Africa, and Sky Atlantic and Sky1 in the United Kingdom.[68]

4.2 Home video

The ten episodes of the first season of Game of Thrones were published as a DVD and Blu-ray box
set on March 6, 2012. The set includes extra background and behind-the-scenes material, but no
deleted scenes, because almost all the footage shot for the first season was used in the show.[69]
The box set sold 350,000 units in the first seven days of its release, the largest first-week DVD sales
ever for an HBO series. The series also set an HBO series record for digital download sales.[70] A
"collector's edition" of the box set combining the DVD and Blu-ray versions, a dragon's egg
paperweight and the first episode of season two was released in November 2012.
DVD/Blu-ray box sets and digital downloads of the second season were made available on February
19, 2013.[71] First-day sales again broke HBO records, with 241,000 box sets sold and 355,000
episodes downloaded.[72]
The third season was made available for purchase as a digital download on the iTunes Store, in
Australia only, in parallel to the US premiere.[73]

18

4.3 Piracy
Game of Thrones is widely pirated. The significant delays in availability outside of HBO or its
affiliates[74] and the cost of subscriptions to these services contributes to this. According to the filesharing news website TorrentFreak, this cost ranges from 15 to 25 U.S. dollars per month in the
U.S., up to 26 pounds per episode in the UK and 52 Australian dollars per episode in Australia, if
somebody were to subscribe to a service exclusively for Game of Thrones.[75]
TorrentFreak estimated Game of Thrones to be the most-pirated TV series of 2012,[76] 2013[77]
and 2014.[78] One episode was downloaded about 4,280,000 times through public BitTorrent
trackers in 2012, about equal to the number of broadcast viewers.[79][80] Piracy rates were
particularly high in Australia.[81] This led US Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich to issue a public
statement[82] condemning Australian piracy of the series in 2013.[83] One copy of the third
season's premiere was the most simultaneously shared file in the history of the BitTorrent
filesharing protocol, with over 160,000 sharers and more than a million downloads.[84] The season
four finale episode was downloaded via BitTorrent approximately 1.5 million times within 12
hours, setting a new record for illegal downloads.[85]
Observers, including series director David Petrarca[86] and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said
illegal downloads did not hurt the series' prospects, as it benefited from the resulting "buzz" and
social commentary, while the high rates of piracy did not significantly translate to lost subscriptions.
According to Polygon, HBO's relatively relaxed attitude towards piracy and sharing login
credentials amounted to a "free-to-play" model for premium television.[87] To counteract piracy,
HBO said in 2013 it intended to make its content more widely available within the week of the US
premiere, including through its digital service HBO Go.[88]

4.4 IMAX
Beginning January 23, 2015, the last two episodes of season four were shown in 205 IMAX theaters
in the U.S. Game of Thrones is the first TV series released in this format.[89] The show earned
$686,000 in its opening day at the box office[90] and $1.5 million during its opening weekend.[91]

19

5 Other media and products

5.1 Soundtrack
The music for the series is composed by Ramin Djawadi. The first season's soundtrack, written in
about ten weeks before the show's premiere,[92] was published by Varse Sarabande in June 2011.
[93] Soundtrack albums for the subsequent seasons have also been published, featuring tracks
performed by the bands The National, The Hold Steady and Sigur Rs. The series's instrumental
title music has been much covered.

5.2 Accompanying material

Thronecast: The Official Guide to Game of Thrones, a series of podcasts presented by Geoff Lloyd
and produced by Koink, was released on the Sky Atlantic website and the UK iTunes store. A new
podcast was released after each episode, featuring analysis and cast interviews.[94] In 2014, HBO
commissioned a free album of rap songs about the series, Catch the Throne.[95]
A companion book, Inside HBO's Game of Thrones by series writer Bryan Cogman (ISBN 978-14521-1010-3), was published on September 27, 2012. On 192 pages, illustrated with concept art and
behind-the-scenes photographs, the book covers the creation of the series's first two seasons, as well
as its principal characters and families.[96]

5.3 Merchandise and exhibition

HBO has issued licenses for a broad range of merchandise based on Game of Thrones. These
include various games, replica weapons and armor, jewellery, bobblehead dolls by Funko, beer by
Ommegang, and various items and apparel.[97] Top-end merchandise includes Ulysse Nardin
wristwatches for $10,500[98] and resin replicas of the Iron Throne for $30,000.[99][100][101][102]
[103]
In 2013 and 2014, a traveling exhibition of costumes, props, armor and weapons from the series
visited or is to visit several major cities in Europe and the Americas.[104]

20

Pilt 11 A selection of Game of Thrones merchandise sold in HBO's New York City store

5.4 Other works based on the seires

The series has also inspired other works, including four video games based on the TV series and
novels. The strategy game Game of Thrones Ascent ties in particularly closely with the series,
making characters and settings available to players as soon as they appear on air.[105]
The fall 2012 ready-to-wear collection by the fashion brand Helmut Lang was inspired by Game of
Thrones.[106][107] In March 2012, Wiley-Blackwell published Game of Thrones and Philosophy:
Logic Cuts Deeper than the Sword (ISBN 978-1-118-16199-9). This entry in Blackwell's Pop
Culture and Philosophy series, edited by Henry Jacoby and William Irwin, aims to highlight and
discuss philosophical issues raised by the show and its source material.[108]
In 2013, Game of Thrones was notably parodied on the cover of Mad on April 30,[109] as well as
by a web series, School of Thrones, which set the story in a high school whose students vie for the
title of prom king and queen.[110] Two pornographic parodies of the series were also announced in
2013.[111] The "One World Symphony" company announced, in 2014, a musical production based
on television series including Game of Thrones.[112]

21

6 Reception
Game of Thrones was highly anticipated by fans before its premiere.[113][114] It has since become
a critical and commercial success. By 2014, according to The Guardian it had become "the biggest
drama" and "the most talked about show" on television.[115]

6.1 Cultural influence

Although the series was dismissed or patronizingly reviewed by some critics prior to being aired on
account of its genre trappings,[115] its subsequent success has been credited with an increased
popularity of fantasy themes and mainstream acceptance of the fantasy fandom. "After this
weekend", CNN.com wrote on the eve of the second season's premiere, "you may be hard pressed
to find someone who isn't a fan of some form of epic fantasy". According to Ian Bogost, Game of
Thrones continues a trend of successful screen adaptations, beginning with Peter Jackson's 2001
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and continuing with the Harry Potter films, that have established
fantasy as a lucrative mass market genre and serve as "gateway drugs to fantasy fan culture".[116]
The series' success in overcoming prejudices against fantasy was attributed by writers interviewed
by The Guardian to a general longing for escapism in popular culture, the series' frequent use of
female nudity, and its skill in balancing light-hearted and serious topics dragons and politics that
allowed it to claim the sort of prestige enjoyed by conventional top-tier drama series.[115]
The series' popularity greatly boosted sales of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, soon republished
as tie-in editions, which remained at the top of bestseller lists for months on end. The Daily Beast
wrote that Game of Thrones was a particular favorite of many sitcom writers, and consequently the
series has been referenced in many other TV series.[117] Together with other fantasy series, Game
of Thrones has been deemed responsible for a substantial increase in purchases (and abandonments)
of huskies and other wolf-like dogs.[118]
Game of Thrones has also been the basis of additions to the popular vocabulary. The first season's
frequent scenes in which characters explain their motives or background while having sex with
prostitutes gave rise to the term "sexposition" to describe the practice of providing exposition
against a backdrop of sex and nudity.[119] "Dothraki", the name of the nomadic horsemen
appearing in the series, was listed fourth in a list of words from television most used on the Internet,
compiled in September 2012 by Global Language Monitor.[120] After the second season, the media

22

began using "Game of Thrones" as a figure of speech or as a comparison for situations of intense
conflict and deceit, e.g., the court battles about US healthcare legislation,[121] the Syrian civil
war[122] or power struggles in the Chinese government.[123]

6.2 Critical response

6.2.1

In general

The critical response to the four aired seasons of Game of Thrones has been very positive. All
seasons were listed on several yearly "best of" lists published by US media, such as the Washington
Post (2011), TIME (2011 and 2012) and The Hollywood Reporter (2012).[128][129][130] Seasons
2 through 4 obtained a Metacritic rating of more than 90, which the website rates "universal
acclaim". Each season from 2 onwards has also achieved a higher Metacritic score than the previous
one. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America placed Game of Thrones in the fortieth place on the list
of the 101 best-written TV series.[131]
The performances of the very large, predominantly British and Irish cast have been widely praised.
American actor Peter Dinklage's "charming, morally ambiguous, and self-aware"[132] portrayal of
Tyrion, which won him an Emmy and a Golden Globe award, among others, was particularly noted.
"In many ways, "Game of Thrones" belongs to Dinklage", wrote Mary McNamara of the L.A.
Times[133] even before, in season 2, the "scene-stealing actor's"[134] character became the series'
most central figure.[134] Several critics highlighted the performances of the women[133] and child
actors.[135] 14-year-old Maisie Williams, already noted in the first season for her debut
performance as Arya Stark, received particular praise for her work opposite veteran actor Charles
Dance (Tywin Lannister) in season 2.[136]
Reviewing the first season, critics noted the high production values, the well-realized world and
compelling characters.[137] Variety wrote "there may be no show more profitable to its network
than 'Game of Thrones' is to HBO. Fully produced by the pay cabler and already a global
phenomenon after only one season, the fantasy skein was a gamble that has paid off
handsomely."[138]
The second season was also very well received by critics. Entertainment Weekly praised the "vivid,
vital, and just plain fun" storytelling,[139] and The Hollywood Reporter said the show made a
"strong case for being one of TV's best series", its gravitas making it the only genre show
dramatically comparable to shows such as Mad Men or Breaking Bad.[140] The New York Times

23

published a mixed review, disapproving of the characters' lack of complexity and their confusing
multitude, as well as the meandering plot.[141]
Tabel 2 Metacritic ratings per season

Rating

6.2.2

Season 1
80

Season 2
90

Season 3
91

Season 4
94

Use of sex and violence

Despite its otherwise enthusiastic reception by critics, Game of Thrones has been criticized for the
amount of female nudity, violence and torture, and sexual violence against women it depicts, and
for how it depicts these themes.
The amount of sex and nudity in the series, especially in scenes that are incidental to the plot, was
the focus of much of the criticism aimed at the series in its first and second season. Actor Stephen
Dillane, who portrays Stannis Baratheon, likened the series's frequent explicit scenes to "German
porn from the 1970s".[142] Charlie Anders wrote in io9 that while the first season was replete with
light-hearted "sexposition", the second season appeared to focus on distasteful, exploitative and
dehumanizing sex with little informational content.[143] According to the Washington Post's Anna
Holmes, the nude scenes appeared to be aimed mainly at titillating heterosexual men, right down to
the Brazilian waxes sported by the women in the series's faux-medieval setting, which made these
scenes alienating to other viewers.[144] And in the Huffington Post, Maureen Ryan likewise noted
that Game of Thrones mostly presented women naked, rather than men, and the excess of "random
boobage" undercut any aspirations the series might have to address the oppression of women in a
feudal society.[145] Saturday Night Live parodied this aspect of the adaptation in a sketch
portraying the series as retaining a thirteen-year-old boy as a consultant whose main concern was
showing as many breasts per scene as possible.[143][146]
In the third season, which saw the character Theon Greyjoy tortured at length and eventually
emasculated, the series was also criticized for its use of torture.[147] Madeleine Davies wrote in

24

Jezebel that "it's not uncommon that Game of Thrones gets accused of being torture porn
senseless, objectifying violence combined with senseless, objectifying sexual imagery". But,
according to her, the series' violence tended to serve a narrative purpose, except for the titillation
and torture of Theon Greyjoy in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair".[148]
A scene in the fourth season's episode "Breaker of Chains" in which Jaime Lannister rapes his sister
and former lover Cersei triggered a broad public discussion about the series's depiction of sexual
violence against women. The scene caused outrage, according to Dave Itzkoff of the New York
Times, in part because comments by director Alex Graves appeared to indicate that he did not think
what he filmed was rape.[149] To Sonia Saraiya, writing in the A.V. Club, the series's choice to
portray this sexual act and one between Daenerys and Khal Drogo in the first season both
described as consensual in the source novels as a rape appeared to be an act of "exploitation for
shock value".[150] The Times wrote that critics fear that "rape has become so pervasive in the
drama that it is almost background noise: a routine and unshocking occurrence".[149] George R. R.
Martin responded that rape and sexual violence are common in war, and that omitting them from the
narrative would have undermined one of his novels' themes: that "the true horrors of human history
derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves."[149]

6.3 Fandom
The novel series A Song of Ice and Fire and its TV adaptation Game of Thrones have an
exceptionally broad and active international fan base. In 2012, Vulture ranked the series's fandom as
the most devoted in popular culture, ahead of Lady Gaga's, Justin Bieber's, Harry Potter's or Star
Wars'.[151] Fans include political leaders such as U.S. President Barack Obama,[152][153] former
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard,[154][155] and Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans,
who, in a 2013 speech, framed challenges of European politics in terms of quotes from Martin's
novels.[156]
In 2013, BBC News said "the passion and the extreme devotion of fans" had brought about a
phenomenon unlike anything related to other popular TV series, manifesting itself in a very broad
range of fan labor, such as fan fiction,[157] but also Game of Thrones-themed burlesque routines, or
people naming their children after characters from the series:[158] "Arya" was the girl's name rising
the fastest in popularity in the US in 2012, from 711th to 413th position.[159] Writers cited by the
BBC attributed this success to the rich detail, moral ambiguity, sexual explicitness and epic scale of
the series and novels.[158]

25

In 2013, it was reported that 58 percent of its viewers were male and 42 percent were female, and
the average male viewer was 41 years old.[160][161] According to the marketing director of SBS,
Game of Thrones has the highest fan engagement rate of any TV series known to her: 5.5% of the
series's 2.9 million Facebook fans were talking online about the series in 2012, compared to 1.8% of
the more than ten million fans of HBO's other fantasy series True Blood.[162]
Among the many fan sites dedicated to the TV and novel series, Vulture noted in particular
Westeros.org and WinterIsComing.net (which provide news reports and discussion forums),
ToweroftheHand.com

(which

organizes

communal

readings

of

the

novels),

and

Podcastoficeandfire.com.[151] There are also many podcasts covering the series.[163]

Pilt 12 Two fans costumed as Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen. Cosplay is a popular
activity at fan conventions.

6.4 Viewer number

The first season of Game of Thrones had an average of 2.5 million viewers for its first Sunday night
screenings, and an average gross audience of 9.3 million viewers per episode including all repeats
and on-demand viewings.[164] For its second season, Game of Thrones had an average gross
audience of 11.6 million viewers.[165] The third season was watched by 14.2 million, making
Game of Thrones the second most-viewed HBO series after The Sopranos.[166][167] In the fourth
season, HBO said that its average gross audience of 18.4 million viewers, later adjusted to 18.6
million, had beaten The Sopranos for the record.[168][169]

26

Pilt 13In this manipulated image published by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama,
a fan of the series, sits on the Iron Throne in the Oval Office with the King's crown in his lap.

The following graph shows viewer numbers for the first airings:

Season:

1 (2011)

2 (2012)

3 (2013)

4 (2014)

Season 4

Ep. 1
2.22

Ep. 2
2.20

Ep. 3
2.44

Ep. 4
2.45

Ep. 5
2.58

Ep. 6
2.44

Ep. 7
2.40

Ep. 8
2.72

Ep. 9
2.66

Ep. 10
3.04

Season 2

3.86

3.76

3.77

3.65

3.90

3.88

3.69

3.86

3.38

4.20

Season 3

4.37

4.27

4.72

4.87

5.35

5.50

4.84

5.13

5.22

5.39

Season 4

6.64

6.31

6.59

6.95

7.16

6.40

7.20

7.17

6.95

7.09

6.5 Awards
The first season of Game of Thrones was nominated for thirteen of the 2011 Emmy Awards,
including Outstanding Drama Series. It won two, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
and Outstanding Main Title Design. Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister, was named best

27

supporting actor by the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Scream Awards and the Satellite Awards. In
2012, the second season won six of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

28
Tabel 3 Awards

Year

Award
Emmy Awards

Scream Awards

Television

Category
Outstanding Supporting
Actor in a Drama Series
Outstanding Main Title
Design
Best TV Show
Best Supporting Actor
Breakout Performance
Female
Critics Outstanding New Program

Association Awards
Satellite Awards
2011

2012

Best Supporting Actor

Series, Miniseries or
Television Film
Screen
Actors
Guild Outstanding Performance
by a Stunt Ensemble in a
Awards
Television Series
Golden Globe Awards
Best Supporting Actor
Series, Miniseries or
Television Film
George Foster Peabody
Award
Television Critics
Association Awards
Screen Actors Guild
Awards
Creative

Arts

Program of the Year

Outstanding Performance
by a Stunt Ensemble in a
Television Series
Emmy Outstanding Sound

Recipient
Peter Dinklage (as Tyrion Lannister)
Angus Wall, Hameed Shaukat, Kirk Shintani and Robert
Feng
Game of Thrones
Peter Dinklage
Emilia Clarke
Game of Thrones
Peter Dinklage

Game of Thrones

Peter Dinklage

Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones

Matthew Waters, Onnalee Blank, Ronan Hill and

29

Awards

Mixing For A Comedy Or

Drama Series (One Hour)
Outstanding Sound
Editing For A Series

Outstanding Special
Visual Effects

Mervyn Moore for the episode "Blackwater"

Peter Brown, Kira Roessler, Tim Hands, Paul Aulicino,
Stephen P. Robinson, Vanessa Lapato, Brett Voss, James
Moriana, Jeffrey Wilhoit and David Klotz for the
episode "Blackwater"
Rainer Gombos, Juri Stanossek, Sven Martin, Steve
Kullback, Jan Fiedler, Chris Stenner, Tobias Mannewitz,
Thilo Ewers and Adam Chazen for the episode "Valar
Morghulis"
Michele Clapton, Alexander Fordham and Chloe Aubry
for the episode "The Prince of Winterfell"
Paul Engelen and Melissa Lackersteen for the episode
"The Old Gods and the New"

Outstanding Costumes For

A Series
Outstanding Makeup For
A Single-Camera Series
(Non-Prosthetic)
Outstanding Art Direction Gemma Jackson, Frank Walsh and Tina Jones for the
for a Single-Camera Series episodes "Garden of Bones", "The Ghost of Harrenhal"
and "A Man Without Honor" (tied with Boardwalk
Empire)
Radio Times Audience
Game of Thrones
Award
Best Drama Series
Game of Thrones (tied with Breaking Bad)

2013

British Academy
Television Awards
Critics' Choice Television
Award
Television Critics
Outstanding Achievement
Association Awards
in Drama
Creative
Arts
Emmy Outstanding Make-up for a
Single-Camera Series
Awards
(Non-Prosthetic)
Outstanding Special
Visual Effects

Game of Thrones
Paul Engelen and Melissa Lackersteen for the episode
"Kissed by Fire"
Rainer Gombos, Juri Stanossek, Sven Martin, Steve
Kullback, Jan Fiedler, Chris Stenner, Tobias Mannewitz,

30

Screen Actors Guild

Awards

Outstanding Performance
by a Stunt Ensemble in a
Television Series

Thilo Ewers, and Adam Chazen for the episode "Valar

Dohaeris"
Game of Thrones

31

Lisad
Pildid
Pilt 1 Power and violence are central themes of Game of Thrones, and the great number of weapons
made for the series some of which are shown in this exhibit reflects this.2
Pilt 2 Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) leads the principal cast from season two onwards...............4
Pilt 3 Showrunners D. B. Weiss and David Benioff created the series, wrote most of its episodes and
directed some of them..........................................................................................................................6
Pilt 4 George R. R. Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, is attached to the series as a coexecutive producer and wrote one episode for each of the first four seasons......................................7
Pilt 5 The walled city of Dubrovnik stands in for King's Landing from season 2 onwards.................9
Pilt 6 Ballintoy Harbour was redressed as Lordsport on the Iron Islands..........................................10
Pilt 7 The Azure Window in Malta was the site of the Dothraki wedding in season 1......................10
Pilt 8 The costumes of Ygritte, Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane reflect the harsh climate in
which they are worn...........................................................................................................................11
Pilt 9 The rich dresses worn at the royal court in King's Landing advertise their wearers' wealth and
status...................................................................................................................................................11
Pilt 10 Functional weapons and armor, like Brienne of Tarth's (left), were manufactured for the
series...................................................................................................................................................11
Pilt 11 A selection of Game of Thrones merchandise sold in HBO's New York City store...............17
Pilt 12 Two fans costumed as Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen. Cosplay is a popular activity at
fan conventions...................................................................................................................................22
Pilt 13In this manipulated image published by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama, a
fan of the series, sits on the Iron Throne in the Oval Office with the King's crown in his lap..........23

Tabelid
Tabel 1 Adaptation schedule........................................................................................... 7
Tabel 2 Metacritic ratings per season...........................................................................20
Tabel 3 Awards.............................................................................................................. 25