100 Fun Facts About Game of Thrones Season 1

Season one of Game of Thrones adapts the first novel of which fantasy book series?

A Song of Ice and Fire began as a planned trilogy, but George R. R. Martin's story outgrew three books, and the ten episodes cover only the first novel, A Game of Thrones.

What are the words of House Stark, which Ned speaks in the first episode of Game of Thrones?

Winter Is Coming: Ned says it to Catelyn as his reason for taking ten-year-old Bran to watch a beheading, adding that the boy won't be a boy forever.

Which position does Robert ask Ned Stark to fill after the death of Jon Arryn?

Hand of the King: Ned would rather stay at Winterfell, and accepts only after a letter from Lysa Arryn claims the Lannisters murdered her husband, the last man to hold the post.

What had the Night's Watch deserter Ned executes in the premiere seen beyond the Wall?

White Walkers: the ranger had watched one kill both his companions, but Ned insisted they had been gone for thousands of years and beheaded him for desertion.

Which two dead animals, both house sigils, do the Starks find on the road?

A stag and a direwolf: Ned means to kill the dead wolf's orphaned pups until Jon points out there are five, one for each of the Stark children.

Who gives Daenerys three petrified dragon eggs as a wedding gift?

Magister Illyrio Mopatis hands over eggs long since turned to stone, yet in the season's final scene all three hatch on a funeral pyre.

What does Jaime Lannister say as he pushes Bran from the tower?

The things I do for love: Bran had climbed the tower and seen Jaime with his twin sister, the queen, and the shove was meant to keep their affair secret.

What does Arya name the sword Jon Snow gives her before he leaves for the Wall?

Needle is Arya's joke on the needlework she hates: her sister Sansa can keep her sewing needles, she says, because now she has a needle of her own.

Which direwolf does Ned reluctantly kill himself in "The Kingsroad" after Nymeria cannot be found?

Lady, Sansa's wolf, had hurt no one: Cersei demanded a direwolf die for the attack on Joffrey, and with the guilty wolf gone the innocent one paid instead.

Which sworn brother of the Night's Watch gives Jon the mocking nickname "Lord Snow"?

Ser Alliser Thorne coins it after Jon beats his fellow recruits in the yard, sneering at a bastard raised in a lord's castle, and the insult gives episode three its title.

Who does Ned hire to teach Arya swordsmanship in King's Landing?

Syrio Forel, once First Sword of Braavos, later holds off the Lannister guards sent for Arya with nothing but a wooden practice sword so that she can run.

According to Grand Maester Pycelle, what were Jon Arryn's last words?

The seed is strong: following Arryn's trail, Ned finds a smith's apprentice the dead man had visited and recognises him as King Robert's bastard son.

Which veteran knight does Joffrey's court dismiss from the Kingsguard after Robert's death?

Ser Barristan Selmy led the Kingsguard for King Robert, and the new court pushes him out and gives his command to the queen's own twin brother.

What does Tyrion give Bran on his way south through Winterfell?

A saddle design: it lets the paralysed Bran ride again, and when Robb asks why he would help, Tyrion says he has a tender spot for cripples, bastards and broken things.

Which fearful, overweight new recruit does Jon defend from the other trainees at Castle Black?

Sam Tarly tells Jon his father gave him a choice on his eighteenth nameday: take the black and give up his inheritance, or die in a hunting 'accident'.

How does Loras Tyrell beat the Mountain in their King's Landing joust?

By riding a mare in heat: she distracts the Mountain's stallion, and in his rage he beheads the horse and goes for Loras until his own brother, the Hound, steps in.

According to Varys, which poison was used to kill Jon Arryn?

The Tears of Lys: Varys blames Arryn's squire, Ser Hugh, who can no longer be asked, having been killed in a joust just before Ned meant to question him.

Why does Ned resign his office in "The Wolf and the Lion"?

Robert orders the assassination of Daenerys to stop a Dothraki invasion, and the failed poisoning is what finally makes Khal Drogo vow to cross the sea.

Which member of Ned's household is killed when Jaime ambushes him in the streets of King's Landing?

Jory Cassel, the captain of Ned's guard, dies fighting Jaime, who then lets the wounded Ned live as a message: he wants his captured brother Tyrion back.

Where is Tyrion imprisoned in a "sky cell" while awaiting Lysa Arryn's judgment?

The Eyrie's sky cells need no bars: one side is open to a sheer mountain drop and the floor slopes towards it, so a prisoner can roll out in his sleep.

Which sellsword volunteers to fight for Tyrion in his trial by combat?

Bronn wins by refusing to fight like a knight: he dodges until Lysa's champion tires in his heavy armour, then kills him, and Tyrion walks free.

What clue makes Ned realise Joffrey is not Robert's son?

He lacks the Baratheon dark hair: Sansa's wish for golden-haired babies sends Ned back to Arryn's book of lineages, where every Baratheon on record is dark.

What does Daenerys eat during her ritual before the Dosh Khaleen?

A raw stallion's heart: once she has eaten all of it, the crones proclaim her unborn son the 'stallion who mounts the world', the khal who will unite every horde into one.

How does Khal Drogo give Viserys his "golden crown"?

He pours molten gold over his head, and Daenerys watches the brother who called himself the dragon die without pity: 'He was no dragon. Fire cannot kill a dragon.'

Through which opening in the floor are prisoners of Lysa Arryn's court sent to their deaths?

The Moon Door: Lysa's young son begs to see Tyrion 'fly' through it, but after the trial by combat it is her own champion's body that goes down.

Which character speaks the line "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die"?

Cersei says it to Ned after he warns her to flee the capital with her children before Robert learns whose they are, and she adds that there is no middle ground.

What animal fatally wounds King Robert while he is out hunting?

A boar: as the dying king dictates his will, Ned quietly writes 'my rightful heir' where Robert says Joffrey, having learned the boy is not his son.

Who holds Ned at knifepoint in the throne room with the words "I did warn you not to trust me"?

Littlefinger had been asked to win the City Watch for Ned, and when Ned moves against the queen its men cut down the Stark guards instead.

Which grisly item does Ghost bring Jon after he takes his vows before the heart tree?

A severed hand: it comes from the bodies of Benjen's missing rangers, which are carried back to the castle, where one rises in the night and attacks.

Which season one episode was written by George R. R. Martin himself?

The Pointy End: Martin had written for television for years before his novels, and this script for his own story was his first in at least a decade.

How does Jon destroy the wight that attacks him in Lord Commander Mormont's quarters?

With fire: the dead ranger pulls a sword out of its own chest unharmed, and it stops only when Jon sets it alight.

Which healer treats Drogo's wound after he kills the raider Mago in a duel?

Mirri Maz Duur later admits her cure was revenge: Drogo's riders had sacked her village, and her blood magic costs Daenerys both her husband and her unborn son.

Which sword does Lord Commander Mormont give Jon in "Baelor"?

Longclaw is Mormont's thanks for saving his life: the family's ancestral blade, with its bear pommel recarved as a wolf's head for Jon.

Which family was Maester Aemon born into, as he reveals to Jon at Castle Black?

Targaryen: Aemon is the Mad King's uncle, and he tells Jon he kept his vows while his family was destroyed, the same choice between duty and kin that Jon now faces.

What does Walder Frey demand in exchange for letting the Stark army cross at the Twins?

Marriages for two of his children: Robb must wed a Frey daughter and Arya a Frey son, and Robb's broken promise is what brings on the Red Wedding two seasons later.

Which English actor made his debut as Walder Frey in "Baelor"?

David Bradley, the Hogwarts caretaker Filch in the Harry Potter films, plays Frey as a sour old lord who bargains hard with Catelyn before he lets her son's army across.

Where does Arya perch to watch her father's judgment outside the Great Sept?

On the base of a statue: it is Baelor the Blessed's, which gives the episode its title, and from there Ned spots her and sends Yoren to pull her away.

Ned Stark is beheaded with what?

His own sword: Ice, the greatsword Ned used to behead a deserter in the first episode, is swung by the royal executioner after Joffrey breaks his promise of mercy.

Robb defeats and captures which Lannister in his first battle, in "Baelor"?

Jaime is taken because Robb let a captured scout believe all 20,000 northmen were marching on Tywin, then sent only 2,000 that way and fell on Jaime with the rest.

After Ned's execution, the northern lords proclaim Robb what?

King in the North: the lords were arguing over which of Robert's brothers to back until the Greatjon said he would kneel to neither, only to a Stark.

Under what alias does Arya escape King's Landing with Yoren's recruits?

Arry is a boy's name: Yoren cuts Arya's hair short and smuggles her out among his Night's Watch recruits, who include Robert's unknowing bastard, Gendry.

How does Daenerys end Drogo's life after blood magic leaves him catatonic?

She smothers him with a pillow, knowing he would rather die than live on as an empty shell, then burns his body on the pyre she walks into with her dragon eggs.

Which actress originally played Daenerys in the unaired pilot before Emilia Clarke was cast?

Tamzin Merchant played Daenerys in the first pilot, but it was so poorly received that the episode was remade almost from scratch with a new actress in the role.

Which composer was brought in only ten weeks before the Game of Thrones premiere to score the show?

Ramin Djawadi took over after Stephen Warbeck left, and was told to avoid flutes, which were already a fixture of other fantasy scores.

Which cast member won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for season one?

Peter Dinklage won for 'Baelor', the episode in which Tyrion rouses his hill tribesmen for battle, is knocked cold in the charge and wakes only when the fighting is over.

Which Scottish castle, seen in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, was Winterfell in the unaired pilot?

Doune had played several different castles in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, because permission to film at the other Scottish castles the Pythons had chosen fell through.

Which Mediterranean island country provided the exterior locations for King's Landing in season one?

Filming in Mdina and on Gozo caused controversy when a subcontractor damaged a protected ecosystem.

Which elderly Game of Thrones character's actor died before season one aired, earning an episode's dedication?

Old Nan was played by the Welsh actress Margaret John, and rather than recast the part after her death, the show left the old storyteller out of season two.

Daenerys's wedding was first filmed for the unaired pilot in which North African country?

Morocco: once Daenerys was recast the whole wedding sequence had to go, and with it George R. R. Martin's cameo as one of the guests.

Which star of the BBC's 1995 Pride and Prejudice was cast as Catelyn Stark before Michelle Fairley?

Jennifer Ehle, the BBC's Elizabeth Bennet, filmed the pilot as Catelyn but felt it was too soon after her daughter's birth to take on a series, so the part was recast.

Which actor landed his first television role as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones after starring in War Horse on stage?

Kit Harington later joked that whenever he annoys the showrunners, they threaten to put the disliked unaired pilot on YouTube.

Which stableboy of Winterfell carries Bran after his fall in Game of Thrones and speaks only a single word?

Hodor was the first acting role of Kristian Nairn, a club DJ from Northern Ireland, who earned enough from the part to buy his mum a house.

Which actor, famous as Boromir in The Lord of the Rings, plays Ned Stark in Game of Thrones season one?

Sean Bean led the cast as Ned, yet the ninth episode, Baelor, is his final appearance: the apparent hero is executed before the season ends.

Which actor, later DC's Aquaman on film, plays the warlord Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones season one?

Jason Momoa himself suggested Drogo's duel with a defiant raider, after noticing that the supposedly great warrior had never been shown fighting.

Tyrion Lannister goes by which mocking nickname in Game of Thrones season one?

The Imp is a jibe at his dwarfism. Tyrion arrives at Winterfell with the royal court and then rides north with Jon to see the Wall for himself.

Which Dothraki title does Daenerys hold in Game of Thrones season one as the wife of the warlord Drogo?

Khaleesi caught on far beyond the screen: in 2012, 146 newborn girls in the United States were given it as a first name.

The unaired Game of Thrones pilot never made clear that Jaime Lannister and the queen were which kind of relatives?

Brother and sister is the plot point the pilot fumbled. A friend at a private screening told the creators to change everything, and around 90 percent of it was reshot.

Aerys II, the ruler Jaime Lannister killed before Game of Thrones season one begins, is known by which nickname?

The Mad King was the father of Daenerys and Viserys, and Ned still holds it against Jaime that he broke a Kingsguard oath to kill him.

Which bodyguard of Prince Joffrey kills Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, in Game of Thrones season one?

The Hound, Sandor Clegane, rides the boy down on the prince's behalf, a killing that earns him Arya's lasting hatred.

Which smith's apprentice in Game of Thrones season one does Ned deduce is an unacknowledged son of King Robert?

Gendry is the boy Jon Arryn visited shortly before dying, and the series made him older than he is in the novels.

In what kind of place does Catelyn, travelling in disguise, have Tyrion seized in Game of Thrones season one?

A roadside inn, the Inn at the Crossroads, is where she calls on her father's bannermen to arrest him, the act that tips two great houses toward war.

Which wildling woman is captured near Winterfell and kept on as a servant in Game of Thrones season one?

Osha surprised her own creator: George R. R. Martin had imagined a hard-bitten older woman, but Natalia Tena's audition won him over.

Which creature, marked by a third eye, keeps appearing in Bran's dreams after his fall in Game of Thrones season one?

A raven with three eyes haunts his sleep, and in later seasons Bran sets off beyond the Wall to find it.

Which ward of Ned Stark does Tyrion mock as a hostage for his father's failed rebellion in Game of Thrones season one?

Theon Greyjoy has lived at Winterfell since his father's uprising against King Robert failed, raised with the Stark children but never free to leave.

A prop head on a spike in the Game of Thrones season one finale drew an HBO apology for resembling which president?

George W. Bush's likeness was there by accident: the production rented prosthetic heads in bulk, and HBO later had the shot re-edited.

The gears in the Game of Thrones opening credits were designed to recall the inventions of which Renaissance figure?

Leonardo da Vinci's machines inspired the cogs, as if a monk in a tower had crafted the whole map himself. The sequence won one of the season's two Emmys.

Which uncle of Jon Snow vanishes beyond the Wall in Game of Thrones season one, his horse returning without a rider?

Benjen is a ranger of the Night's Watch, and finding him is one aim of the expedition its commander plans beyond the Wall as the season ends.

What becomes of King Robert's will when Ned presents it to the court in Game of Thrones season one?

The queen rips it up in front of the whole court, and the guards Ned was counting on turn on his own men instead.

Before trusting his novels to the makers of Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin asked them to guess what?

Jon Snow's mother was the test: the author asked the two would-be showrunners who she really was, liked their answer, and backed their pitch.

Which of Robb Stark's siblings declares that he will never come home in Game of Thrones season one?

Rickon, the baby of the family, says it as his eldest brother calls the bannermen to war and leaves Bran in charge of Winterfell.

Which pair of writers created the HBO series Game of Thrones and wrote eight of its ten season one episodes?

Benioff and Weiss came from film and misjudged TV timing: several episodes ran about ten minutes short, so they wrote 100 extra pages of script in two weeks.

What keeps Tyrion, placed in the vanguard, from seeing his first battle in Game of Thrones season one?

He is knocked unconscious as his own men charge and wakes to find the fighting over, having been placed up front by a father he suspects wants him dead.

The Paint Hall studio, main home of Game of Thrones season one, stands in a Belfast district named after which ship?

Titanic was the most famous product of the Harland & Wolff shipyard that once filled the site, and the Paint Hall there became the main studio from 2010.

In Game of Thrones season one, the prop Emilia Clarke eats during the Dosh Khaleen ritual was really a giant what?

Gummy bear is how a showrunner described the three-pound prop, which Clarke said tasted of bleach. By the last take she was close to vomiting for real.

Catelyn was born into which house, whose seat of Riverrun comes under attack in Game of Thrones season one?

Tully is her father's house, which is why Tywin sends Jaime with half the Lannister army against Riverrun once the two families are at odds.

To which brother of King Robert does Ned send a letter naming him the rightful heir in Game of Thrones season one?

Stannis is the second of the three brothers, so Ned judges the crown is his by right; Renly, the youngest, urges a coup and then flees the capital.

In Game of Thrones season one, which crime explains why Ser Jorah Mormont lives in exile, far from Westeros?

Selling men into slavery, in his case captured poachers, cost him his home. Across the sea he guards Daenerys, until a royal pardon tests where his loyalty lies.

In which Free City across the Narrow Sea do the exiles Viserys and Daenerys live as Game of Thrones season one begins?

Pentos is where their wealthy host helps arrange the match with Khal Drogo, and where the author of the novels filmed a wedding-guest cameo that was later cut.

Arya's fencing master in Game of Thrones season one teaches a nimble style from which Free City?

Braavos gives its name to the Braavosi school of fencing, built on speed and quick thrusts, which suits the slender blade Arya carries.

The huge bannerman nicknamed the Greatjon, who rallies to Robb in Game of Thrones season one, leads which house?

Umber is the house of Lord Jon Umber, called the Greatjon for his size. A page of Umber family history written for the series is glimpsed in episode four.

Whom does Ned Stark, ruling while the king hunts, send to arrest Gregor Clegane in Game of Thrones season one?

Beric Dondarrion gets the task after word of raids on Riverlands villages, which Ned recognises as Lannister revenge for the arrest of Tyrion.

Jon Snow hopes to become a ranger in Game of Thrones season one, but which Night's Watch branch takes him?

The stewards claim him as personal aide to the Lord Commander, which a friend reads as a sign that he is being groomed for command.

The Castle Black set for Game of Thrones season one was built in what kind of abandoned site in Northern Ireland?

A quarry at Magheramorne gave the builders a ready-made cliff: its stone face became the foundation of the Wall, complete with a working lift to the top.

What everyday location stood in for the courtyard of Winterfell in Game of Thrones season one?

A car park doubled as the castle courtyard, while a wine cellar played the Stark family crypt.

Which breed stood in for the extinct direwolves in Game of Thrones season one, because wolves themselves were ruled out?

Northern Inuit Dog stand-ins looked the part, and UK safety laws plus scenes with child actors made working with wolves impractical.

Which Game of Thrones actress's family adopted Zanni, the dog that played her character's direwolf in season one?

Sophie Turner's family took Zanni home once the season wrapped; on screen the animal belongs to her character, the elder Stark daughter.

Which English actor practised with a butcher before his first scene as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones season one?

Charles Dance had never skinned an animal, so he spent an hour learning from a butcher; the deer carcass he works on in the scene was no prop.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones season one, comes from which country?

Denmark is where he found fame in 1994, in a horror film fittingly titled Nightwatch, years before he guarded a king in Westeros.

Which instrument was the composer of Game of Thrones season one asked to avoid, as too familiar from other fantasy?

Flutes and solo vocals were both ruled out, so that the score would have a musical identity distinct from earlier big fantasy productions.

Before HBO said yes, the creators of Game of Thrones first pitched the series to which rival cable network?

Showtime heard the pitch first, in March 2006, only weeks after the two writers had met George R. R. Martin.

Which mute character in Game of Thrones season one was the first acting job of rock guitarist Wilko Johnson?

Ser Ilyn Payne is the king's silent executioner. Johnson, guitarist of the 1970s pub rock band Dr. Feelgood, had never acted before.

Which actor, a descendant of the author of Oliver Twist, plays Viserys in Game of Thrones season one?

Harry Lloyd is a great-great-great-grandson of the novelist Dickens, and he bows out in the sixth episode, when the would-be king gets the crown he demanded.

Which veteran of The Empire Strikes Back and an Indiana Jones film plays Grand Maester Pycelle in Game of Thrones?

Julian Glover took the part after Roy Dotrice, first cast as the aged counsellor, had to be replaced for medical reasons.

Which director of Ned's execution episode in Game of Thrones had already filmed major deaths in Rome and The Sopranos?

Alan Taylor was hired for exactly that record: he had directed the deaths of Julius Caesar in Rome, Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood and Christopher Moltisanti.

Which writing assistant, the unofficial lore keeper of Game of Thrones, wrote the fourth episode of season one?

Bryan Cogman assumed the assignment was only an exercise that a professional writer would redo, yet his draft became the finished episode.

Vermithrax, a dragon Viserys names in Game of Thrones season one, is a nod to which fantasy film?

Dragonslayer, from 1981, features a beast called Vermithrax Pejorative, which the author of the novels has called the best dragon ever put on film.

Which linguist built the Dothraki language heard in Game of Thrones season one from the few words in the novels?

David Peterson won the job over more than 30 rival language inventors, in a contest run for HBO by the Language Creation Society.

In the TV series, which ranger survives the opening scene of Game of Thrones only to be beheaded by Ned Stark?

Will is the survivor on screen, a switch from the novel, where Gared is the one who escapes and is executed.

Which woman, once betrothed to King Robert, does he honour in the Winterfell crypts in the Game of Thrones premiere?

Lyanna Stark was Ned's sister, and years on the queen admits that her husband never got over losing her.

Which companion does Tyrion bring to King's Landing against his father's wishes as Game of Thrones season one ends?

Shae is played by the German actress Sibel Kekilli, whose accent led the writers to make the character a foreigner rather than a native of Westeros.