Years after a rebellion spurred by a stolen bride to be and the blind ambitions of a mad King, Robert of the house Baratheon (Mark Addy) sits on the much desired Iron Throne. In the mythical land of Westeros, nine noble families fight for every inch of control and every drop of power. The King's Hand, Jon Arryn (Sir John Standing), is dead. And Robert seeks out his only other ally in all of Westeros, his childhood friend Lord Eddard 'Ned' Stark. The solemn and honorable Warden of the North is tasked to depart his frozen sanctuary and join the King in the capital of King's Landing to help the now overweight and drunk Robert rule. However, a letter in the dead of night informs 'Ned' that the former Hand was murdered, and that Robert will be next. So noble Ned goes against his better desires in an attempt to save his friend and the kingdoms. But political intrigue, plots, murders, and sexual desires lead to a secret that could tear the Seven Kingdoms apart. And soon Eddard will find out what happens when you play the Game of Thrones.
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Among the hundreds of blades welded together to form the Iron Throne, one of them has a much older claim to fame. Look carefully and you can spot Glamdring, the sword used by Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, hidden among the swords of vanquished kings and lords.
Among the grim row of severed heads on spikes at the end of season one, one of the prop heads was made in the likeness of George W. Bush. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have confirmed it was intentional, tucked in among the beheading scenes for anyone paying close enough attention.
It's a subtle one, but a few of Jon Snow's companions at the Night's Watch share names with Frodo's closest friends from The Lord of the Rings. It's the kind of overlap that feels like a deliberate nod between two of fantasy's biggest sagas rather than a coincidence.
There obviously weren't real wolves running around the Winterfell set, so the direwolves were played by Northern Inuit Dogs, a breed specifically developed to look wolf-like while still being trainable and safe around child actors. Two of the original season one pups, Odin and Thor, went on to become minor celebrities in their own right, complete with their own social media accounts.
Odin and Thor, the two Northern Inuit dogs who played the direwolf pups Summer and Grey Wind, weren't treated like ordinary animal actors. Their owner had them insured for a million pounds apiece, and over the years following the show they went on to meet roughly 400,000 fans through appearances and tours.
Tyrion's furious speech from his jail cell in season four is one of the show's most memorable moments, but Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has said it wasn't originally written to be delivered to Jaime. He pushed for the idea that Tyrion should be speaking directly to his brother, and the writers agreed to rework it that way.
