game of Thrones

This article covers the American television series. See A Game of Thrones (disambiguation) for additional meanings .

Television series
German title	game of Thrones
Original title	game of Thrones
Country of production	United States
original language	English , Dothraki , Valyrian
Year (s)	2011-2019
Production company	Television 360, Grok! Television, Generator Entertainment, Startling Television, Bighead Littlehead
length	50-80 minutes
Episodes	73 in 8 seasons ( List )
genre	Fantasy , drama
idea	David Benioff , DB Weiss
production	David Benioff, DB Weiss
music	Ramin Djawadi
First broadcast	April 17, 2011 (USA) on HBO
German-language first broadcast	November 2, 2011 on TNT Series
occupation
synchronization

Game of Thrones (English for "Game of Thrones", often abbreviated to GoT ) is an American fantasy television series by David Benioff and DB Weiss for the US cable broadcaster HBO . The critically acclaimed and commercially successful series is based on the novel series A Song of Ice and Fire (" A Song of Ice and Fire ") by the American writer George RR Martin , who also initially worked on the series. The later seasons, however, increasingly deviate from the book.

The action is set in a fictional world and takes place on the continents of Westeros and Essos. The seven kingdoms of Westeros resemble the European Middle Ages and are shielded from an area of ​​eternal winter in the north by a huge wall of ice. Spring, summer, autumn and winter can last for several years or even decades; their length is variable and unpredictable. The story begins at the end of a long summer and is initially told in three storylines, largely in parallel. Tensions build up between the powerful noble houses of the empire, which ultimately lead to an open battle for the throne. Winter is looming, and a threat from a foreign power is looming in the far north of Westeros, where the night watch on the wall is supposed to protect the kingdoms. In Essos, Daenerys Targaryen is striving to regain power as heir to the Westeros royal family, who were deposed years ago.

The complex plot includes numerous characters and thematizes, among other things, politics and power struggles, social relations, wars and religions. Numerous characters have differentiated moral facets; individual protagonists also perish in the course of the series .

It was first broadcast on April 17, 2011 on HBO, followed by the German-language first broadcast on November 2, 2011.

In total, the series consists of eight seasons, with the first six seasons each consisting of ten, the seventh season of seven and the eighth season of six episodes. The last episode of the eighth season and therefore the entire series premiered on May 19, 2019 in the United States and on May 20, 2019 in Germany.

action

prehistory

The action takes place in a fictional world based on the European Middle Ages , in which summer and winter can each last for several years. A kingdom stretches across most of the continent of Westeros, which is called the Seven Kingdoms after its predecessor kingdoms . These seven kingdoms in turn emerged from many other, older kingdoms. In the north, the royal lands, which are about the size of South America , border an area of ​​eternal ice, protected by a huge wall of ice that was built several thousand years ago and is protected by the night watch. To the east of Westeros is the continent of Essos, separated by a strait. There are two other continents called Ulthos and Sothoryos. Not much is known about them, however.

The first human settlers, the "First Men", settled Westeros up to the far north several thousand years ago. At first they fought the original inhabitants of Westeros, the so-called "children of the forest", but an understanding was reached. Many events in older history, such as the “Hero's Age” and the “Long Night”, are only known in broad outline, as written records have only survived from a later period. While the first humans were able to stay in the north of the continent, they were largely displaced in the other realms by the "Andals" who later immigrated. The Andals brought the new belief "the seven" with them to Westeros (seven faces of a single god), whereas the First Men continued to pray to the old nameless gods that they had adopted from the children of the forest.

The North, the Riverlands, which were temporarily united with the Iron Islands before the Targaryen invasion, the Westlands, the Arryn Valley, the Reach, the Stormlands and Dorne were once independent kingdoms. Around 300 years before the start of the plot, the Valyrian nobleman Aegon Targaryen , later also called Aegon the Conqueror, conquered all empires except Dorne, which was peacefully integrated into the empire almost 200 years later. The Targaryens thus established their royal rule over all of Westeros. Aegon's main weapon was dragons, but they died out a few centuries later, well before the series' plot. Magic hardly plays a role anymore, the stories about the "white hikers" are only considered myths from a bygone era.

Seventeen years (in the books: about 15 years) before the series began, a rebellion broke the rule of the House of Targaryen . The trigger for the revolution known as "Roberts Rebellion" was the kidnapping of Lyanna Stark by the Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and the murder of several high-ranking personalities (including the then Lord of Winterfell, Rickard Stark ) by King Aerys II . The Houses of Stark , Baratheon , Arryn and Tully then raised their banners against Aerys, who could rely on the mighty House Tyrell in the distance and House Martell in Dorne. The war lasted a year; only the battle of the Trident, in which Rhaegar Targaryen was killed by Lyanna's fiancé Robert Baratheon, brought the decision. Shortly afterwards, the troops took the house Lannister (original Lannister ) the capital of King's mouth (in the original King's Landing ) in the coup - King Aerys, who is also "the mad king" is called, was thought to get support - and looted them. Aerys himself was killed by Jaime Lannister , a member of his bodyguard. Then Robert Baratheon ascended the throne. A few years later he had to put down a rebellion of the House of Greyjoy (originally Greyjoy ) from the Iron Islands. As a security measure, he sent Theon Greyjoy, son of Balon Greyjoy (the Lord of the Iron Islands), as a ward to Winterfell.

First season

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Season 1

The plot of the first season follows the novel plot of the first original volume A Game of Thrones quite closely . The eponymous political “Game of Thrones” is repeatedly alluded to.

The series begins at a time when a new power struggle threatens to break out. The main participants are the powerful aristocratic families Stark, Lannister and Baratheon. King Robert Baratheon asks his old friend Eddard Stark if he wants to serve him as the king's hand, since his last hand, Jon Arryn, has passed away. Eddard and Arya follow this invitation with his daughters Sansa, who is to marry Robert's son Joffrey. He rightly suspects that his predecessor, who was like a surrogate father to him and Robert, was murdered. It turns out that the Lannister family, from which Robert's wife Cersei hails, has its own goals for the Iron Throne. The conflict between these families and the other influential noble houses (such as the Greyjoys, Tullys, Arryns, and Tyrells) eventually leads to Robert's murder, Eddard's execution, and war. At the same time, an ancient and dangerous power is awakening in the north, beyond the huge ice wall that shields the seven kingdoms there, but of which hardly anyone takes any notice during the battles for the throne in the south. Across the sea on the continent of Essos, meanwhile, the surviving members of the former Targaryen royal family, Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen, plan to return to Westeros to reclaim the throne. Viserys enters into a deal with a khal of the Dothraki equestrian people, through whom Daenerys is supposed to marry said khal (Khal Drogo). When he dies, Daenerys lays three allegedly petrified dragon eggs on the stake and also goes into the corpse fire, from which she emerges unharmed and accompanied by the hatched dragons.

Second season

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Season 2

In the second season, the plot of the second original volume A Clash of Kings is essentially presented, with the differences in content compared to the original book being greater than in the first season.

A war rages in the empire between Roberts brothers Stannis and Renly Baratheon and the new young king Joffrey I Baratheon, who rules exceptionally tyrannically. Joffrey receives support from Haus Lannister, his mother's home, Cersei. Stannis and Renly, on the other hand, disagree and argue over who is their brother's legal successor. Renly relies on the Stormlands and the influential House of Tyrell, while Stannis trusts the mysterious Melisandre more and more. The north has declared itself independent after the execution of Eddard Stark in King's Landing under Robb Stark, Eddard's son and the king of the north, and is waging war against the Lannisters in the river lands and in the west. After her father's execution, Arya Stark fled north with the help of a brother from the Night's Watch, but on the way most of her fellow travelers were captured and taken to Harrenhal, the headquarters of the Lannister Army. For a short time she is Tywin Lannister's servant and is recognized by Petyr Baelish, but not betrayed before she can escape. Her sister Sansa is a Lannister hostage in King's Landing, where she is abused by Joffrey Baratheon. After a decisive battle with Robb Stark, Jaime Lannister is his prisoner and serves as a hostage to keep Sansa and Arya safe. Tyrion Lannister tries, as the new reigning hand, to keep the situation in King's Landing under control, whereby he has to assert himself against his scheming sister Cersei. In the meantime, Balon Graufreud plans to profit from the battles for the throne in the realm on the Iron Islands, in which he lets his son Theon Greyjoy conquer Winterfell, the home of the Starks. The men of the night watch meanwhile undertake an expedition to the country beyond the wall to investigate the unclear situation on site. Meanwhile, Daenerys Targaryen is fighting for her life and the existence of her followers on the continent of Essos, with whom, thanks to the help of Xaro Xhoan Daxos, she is a guest in the city of Qarth for some time. During their stay, their dragons are stolen and brought to the House of the Immortals, as the resident warlocks want them to give them a boost of magical power. Daenerys can save herself and her dragons. After finding out that Xaro Xhoan Daxos lied about the extent of his wealth and was involved in stealing the dragons, she leaves the city.

Third season

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Season 3

The third season covers about the first half of the third original volume A Storm of Swords , which is too extensive for a single season, but with several deviations or modifications to the plot in the books.

In Westeros, the Lannisters seem to have practically won the so-called "War of the Five Kings". Stannis Baratheon, who was potentially the greatest threat, was defeated after the decisive battle on Schwarzwasser and has only a few troops left. House Tyrell has joined the Lannisters and Joffrey's proposed marriage to Margaery Tyrell is set to reinforce the new alliance of the two most powerful houses in the realm. The Tyrells, however, are warned by Sansa Stark of Joffrey's inhumanity and malice. While Tywin Lannister now actually rules as the new hand in King's Landing, Tyrion's position at court has become very uncertain, but Cersei also has to recognize that her influence is waning. Tywin Lannister also plans to marry Tyrion Lannister to Sansa Stark and Cersei Lannister to Loras Tyrell. Robb Stark has won every battle, but he seems to be losing the war. The Lannisters have great resources, the men of the Iron Islands continue to romp in the north and Winterfell is now a ruin after Theon Greyjoy's betrayal. Robb's love marriage with Talisa also put a strain on his relationship with the Freys. He tries to save the alliance with House Frey, but at the later so-called "Red Wedding" he is betrayed by the Freys and the Boltons, the remains of his army are destroyed, his mother, Talisa and her unborn child as well as himself are murdered in cold blood.

Sansa is still a hostage of the Lannisters, which should actually be reinforced by the wedding with Tyrion, but he treats her courteously and kindly. While Bran and Rickon, together with Meera and Jojen Reet (originally "Reed"), are on their way to the wall in the north, Arya is on the run in the river lands. She comes across the "Brotherhood without Banners", which Gendry, the bastard son of Robert Baratheon, sells to Melisandre, who wants to sacrifice him to her god to help Stannis. Ser Davos Seewert helps Gendry escape from Drachenstein. Arya is kidnapped by the bloodhound Sandor Clegane as he plans to bring her to her family for a reward. Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister and Brienne von Tarth are on their way to King's Landing, where they are captured on the way by men under Lord Bolton, a follower of the Starks. Jaime loses his right hand before he is ransomed by Tywin Lannister. In Essos, Daenerys Targaryen reaches the city of Astapor on the so-called Slave Bay, where she wants to acquire trained elite troops, the so-called "Immaculate", to win the Iron Throne, but she has other goals. Unexpectedly, Ser Barristan joins Selmy Daenerys, who in the further course of the plot makes it clear, among other things, her intention to take action against slavery in Essos. After buying all the Immaculate with one of her dragons, she frees Astapor with them from slavery and offers them freedom as well. But the Immaculate choose to fight for them. She later reaches Yunkai, persuades the mercenary army of the "secondborn" to join her, and also frees Yunkai from the slave owners. In the land beyond the wall, most of the men on the Night's Watch were massacred by the “White Walkers”; the few survivors try to reach the wall and warn the people of the south of the new threat. Jon Schnee has apparently joined the wildlings under Manke Rayder, (in the original Mance Rayder ), the king beyond the wall, but his loyalty is put to the test when he falls in love with the wildling woman Ygritte. Rayder plans to venture south to avoid the danger posed by the white walkers, but to do so, the wall must first be overcome.

Fourth season

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Season 4

Costumes from the 4th season of characters at the royal court

The fourth season deals (with a few changes and modifications) about the second half of the third original volume A Storm of Swords .

The rebellion of the north against the throne is effectively over, but the situation in the empire remains tense, especially since Stannis is still alive and whole parts of the country have been devastated by the war. Jaime Lannister has returned to King's Landing , but is greeted coolly by Cersei, while Tywin urges his son to take over the inheritance of Casterlystein (in the original Casterly Rock ). Tyrion is now married to Sansa Stark, who is traumatized by the news of the brutal murder of Robb and Catelyn. Although Tyrion is now master of the coin, he is still de facto isolated at court while the Tyrells have grown in influence. Joffrey's royal wedding to Margaery Tyrell is also approaching. Prince Oberyn Martell from Dorne arrives at court and is eager to take revenge for the murder of his sister Elia, who was murdered at the end of Robert's rebellion during the sack of King's Landing on (as he suspects) Tywin Lannister's orders by Gregor Clegane .

The north continues to be partially controlled by men from the Iron Islands, where the new guardian of the north, Roose Bolton , is planning his next move. Ramsay tortures Theon Greyjoy and eventually learns that Bran and Rickon are still alive. Beyond the wall, some of the Night Watch's brothers mutinate, kill Jeor Mormont and take Craster's keep. They later also take Bran and his companions prisoner, but they break free when Jon Snow attacks and defeats the mutineers. Bran, Hodor and the Reets finally reach the werewood tree Bran had dreamed of, but when they are attacked by revenants, Jojen is killed. The others are rescued by the last children of the forest and Bran begins his training as the next three-eyed raven. On the wall, the men of the night watch prepare for the attack of the wildlings under the leadership of Manke Rayder.

Arya Stark and the bloodhound are on their way to Hohenehr after the Red Wedding, which they witnessed, but when they learn that Lysa Arryn has died, the bloodhound decides to go with Arya through Westeros. A little later both are found by Brienne von Tarth, who Arya wants to protect according to her oath. It comes to a fight between Brienne and the bloodhound, in which this is defeated. Arya takes his money from him and leaves him to die before heading to Braavos. After she showed a bravosian coin to a captain from Braavos, he took it with him on his ship.

In Essos, Daenerys Targaryen has reached and conquered Meereen, the last remaining and largest city in Slave Bay; meanwhile, her growing dragons are becoming more and more difficult to control. Rhaegal and Viserion are therefore chained in an underground dungeon, Drogon cannot be found.

During his wedding, Joffrey Baratheon (Lannister) is poisoned by Olenna Tyrell and dies after drinking the poisoned wine. During his passing he points to Tyrion, whom he had previously chosen as cupbearer in order to humiliate him. Cersei has Tyrion locked up immediately and demands Sansa as well, but she was able to escape in time with the help of the fool she had previously saved. He takes her to a ship on which Petyr Baelish is waiting and tells her that he has sent the fool to give her a chain. He indicates that the poison, "the strangler", was hidden in the chain, but Sansa does not recognize the connection or suppresses it. Lord Baelish takes her to Hohenehr, where he marries her aunt. Tommen Baratheon is proclaimed the new king. Tyrion is heard on Joffrey's murder. He is given little opportunity to defend himself, and when his lover, Shae, testifies against him at the end of the trial, he demands a divine judgment through a duel. After no warrior could be found at first, Oberyn Martell visits him in the dungeon and assures him that he will face the fighter from Cersei, the "mountain", in order to avenge the murder of his sister. In combat, Oberyn has a clear advantage due to his agility, but when he inflicts an almost fatal wound on the mountain, he becomes careless because he wants to hear the confession of Clegane, who is lying on the ground. This tears him off his feet and crushes his skull. Tyrion's death sentence is due to be carried out the next day. During the night, however, Jaime frees him from the dungeon. Jaime explains that Varys will help escape, and the brothers say goodbye to each other. Tyrion goes into his father's apartment. There he meets Shae, who apparently slept with Lord Tywin. Tyrion is overwhelmed by grief and anger, he strangles her and finds his father in the toilet, where he threatens him with a crossbow. Tywin admits that he always hated Tyrion, but that he will not execute him as Lannister. When Tywin repeatedly calls Shae a whore, Tyrion kills his father with the crossbow. Varys brings him aboard a ship that will both leave the capital.

Fifth season

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Season 5

The fifth season deviates even more strongly from the books, with the volumes A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons being viewed thematically as a unit, since roughly the same period is treated from different perspectives.

In Westeros, Tywin Lannister's death threatens to erode the power of his house. Cersei tries to rule as regent for Tommen and thus comes into conflict with the new Queen Margaery and the Tyrells, who are concerned about their own position. At the same time, a new religious reform movement is emerging whose members are known as sparrows (in the original "Sparrows") and who fanatically advocate a return to a simple life in the sense of the belief of the seven. Cersei sees an opportunity to destroy the Tyrells, and gives the sparrows power and the ability to impose judgments. The leader is the so-called "high sparrow", a simple man with very strong beliefs. Brienne of Tarth tries to track down Sansa Stark and bring her to safety in order to keep the oath made to Catelyn Stark. At the wall in the far north, Stannis Baratheon is planning his further military action against the Boltons and the Lannisters, to which he wants to oblige Wildlings. In the Night's Watch, a new commander is elected with Jon Schnee, whereas Stannis had intended to raise him as Jon Stark to the new Lord of Winterfell in order to secure the loyalty of the Stark supporters. The Boltons are trying to consolidate their own position of power, although they must continue to expect revolts from strong loyalists. For this reason, Ramsay Bolton forces a marriage with Sansa Stark in order to at least symbolically end the conflict between the two great houses of the north. In the southern kingdom of Dorne, displeasure with the Lannisters is stirring; calls for revenge for the death of Prince Oberyn are made, which come mainly from his lover Illaria Sand and her children, the sand snakes. Prince Doran Martell pursues a different policy.

In Essos, Tyrion reaches Lannister with Varys Pentos. Varys persuades Tyrion to travel east to Meereen to see Daenerys Targaryen, whom he wants to put on the throne of Westeros. On the way, however, Tyrion is kidnapped by Jorah Mormont, who wants to give him a gift to Daenerys. When the two pass the ruins of Valyria, they first see Drogon and are later attacked by the "stone people". One of them touches Jorah and gives him the "gray scale" (in the original "Greyscale"). They are later captured by slave traders who sell them to the newly opened battle arenas, where both meet Daenerys. She banishes Jorah again, unwilling to forgive him, but accepts Tyrion and later decides to make him her advisor. She tries hard to maintain control of Meereen, but there is strong tension with followers of the old order, the "sons of the harpy", who do not shy away from murder. Arya Stark arrives in Braavos, where she joins the assassin group of "faceless men".

In the last episode, Cersei confesses to Lannister, who is being held by the sparrows, whose leader now holds the office of High Septon, that she slept with her cousin Lancel Lannister. She then has to perform a walk of penance naked through King's Landing, the walk of penance. Arya Stark killed Ser Meryn Trant on her own initiative and is therefore blinded; Jon Snow, after taking the wildlings to the other side of the wall to fight the white walkers, is ambushed and killed by members of the Night's Watch, including the boy Ollie. In the north, the Boltons smash the army of Stannis Baratheon, who is seriously injured and is finally found by Brienne, who executes him for the murder of Renly Baratheon. Sansa Stark, now forcibly married to Ramsay Bolton and repeatedly abused by him, escapes from Winterfell with Theon and is saved from Ramsay's henchmen by Brienne and Podrick. Daenerys Targaryen has been rescued by her lost dragon Drogon during an attempted assassination, but is outside of Meereen in an unknown location and is discovered by a large Dothraki horde. In order to avoid desecration and abuse, she tells the Khal that she was once a Khaleesi, but now she is to remain in Vaes Dothrak in the temple of the Dosh Khaleen, the widows of the Khals, until the end of her life. Meanwhile, Tyrion Lannister reigns temporarily in Meereen, who tries to negotiate a peace treaty with the slave owners, as they seem to support the sons of the harpy eagle.

Sixth season

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Season 6

The sixth season is the first season of the series, which is largely based on original material that does not appear in The Song of Ice and Fire books. In addition, however, some storylines were taken from the upcoming book The Winds of Winter .

Over the course of the season, the bloodhound is shown again, which Arya thinks is dead. After the break in season five, Bran Stark appears again. North of the wall, as a three-eyed raven, he trains his warg skills (= ability to mentally merge with humans or animals and to perform actions). One night Bran notices the army of the dead and the Night King in front of his hiding place, who can also "see" Bran mentally and draws him by touching his arm, which means that he is no longer safe in hiding from the white wanderers. A few minutes later, the cave under the weirwood tree is attacked by revenants, the Night King and the White Walkers. The children of the forest, Brans direwolf Sommer, Hodor and the old three-eyed raven die during the escape. Meera now has to pull it alone, but before both are almost overtaken and killed by the revenants, Benjen Stark suddenly appears and saves them. Jon is brought back to life by Melisandre through magical powers. Before his death he sent Samwell Tarly, Goldy and little Samwell to the citadel in the city of Altsass, where Samwell is to be trained as a maester. Jon hangs Allisar Thorn and the other traitors, including the little boy Olli, and then resigns from his position as Lord Commander and from his watch ("My watch is over"). He meets Sansa again, who fled Winterfell with Theon and Brienne. Theon moves back to the Iron Islands, where he tells of the death of his father and his uncle Euron Greyjoy becomes King of the Iron Islands. Theon escapes with his sister and wants to join the only surviving Targaryen.

Daenerys is found by Jorah and Daario Naharis and burns the temple with himself and the khals in it. She is unharmed again, and the entire Khalasar is now following her, having shown her strength. She is now ready to forgive Jorah, but he refuses because he is concerned for her safety because of the gray scales. After confessing his love to her, she orders him to find a cure and return to her (“If I conquer the Seven Kingdoms, I need you by my side”). When Meereen is attacked by the sons of the harpy, it is successfully defended by the dragons. The sparrows Margaery and Loras keep Tyrell captive in King's Landing, and Tommen tries to free them while Cersei recovers from the course of penance. Kevan Lannister serves as the king's hand for so long. A dispute ensues between the Lannister and Tyrell Houses. Tommen succeeds in freeing Margaery, and there would soon be a process that should contribute to the liberation of Loras Tyrell.

Resurrected by Melisandre, Jon Snow prepares with Sansa for a fight against Ramsay Bolton to retake his homeland. Ramsay can almost win this because of troop strength and a tactically clever ambush, but Jon's army is saved by the knights of the green valley. Sansa had contacted Petyr Baelish behind his back for help. During the trial of Loras Tyrell, the sea fire is lit underground at King's Landing on the orders of Cersei Lannister. The sparrows and the Tyrells die when the septa explodes. Shortly afterwards, King Tommen rushes out of the window and dies. Cersei is crowned the new queen. With the murder of the Tyrell family and Oberyn Martell by the Lannisters, Ellaria Sand and Olenna Tyrell want to announce the war against the Lannisters. Bran arrives at the grove of the gods in front of the wall and has a vision that reveals that Jon's actual parents are Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Jon banishes Melisandre from the north for the murder of Sharin Baratheon and is proclaimed King of the North shortly thereafter. Arya Stark disappears from Braavos after she had to fight off the homeless in a fatal duel and has now become a "faceless man" ("A girl is finally nobody. A girl is Arya Stark from Winterfell, and I'm going home now") . She serves Walder Frey his two sons in a pie and then cuts his throat. Daenerys Targaryen moves to Westeros with hundreds of ships, the Greyjoy, the Army of the Immaculate, the new Dothraki people and their three dragons. At her side is Tyrion Lannister, whom she has made her hand.

Seventh season

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Season 7

The victory of Daenerys Targaryen in the Battle of the Gold Way over an army of Lannisters . Depiction on the official Game of Thrones tapestry (modeled on the Bayeux tapestry ; on display at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland).

The seventh season is largely about the arrival of Daenerys Targaryen in Westeros and her planned campaign of conquest. Despite the now open conflicts, especially between House Lannister and House Targaryen, the great danger of the White Walkers and their army of the dead in the far north persists. Because of this danger, Jon Snow travels to Drachenstein and asks Daenerys for help, but there is a conflict over his position as King of the North, which Daenerys does not recognize. Arya Stark and Brandon Stark are returning to Winterfell for a reunion with Sansa Stark. Littlefinger intrigues and tries to play the Starks off against each other and thus continue to influence Sansa, which in the end becomes his undoing. Brandon Stark learns that Jon's real name is Aegon Targaryen and that he is the legitimate son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen; Samwell Tarly also knows Jon's real parents. The alleged kidnapping and rape of Lyanna by Rhaegar, the trigger for "Roberts Rebellion", are a mistake.

Meanwhile, Cersei Lannister plans to destroy her enemies and receives support from Euron Greyjoy. The Lannisters destroy the Tyrells and neutralize Asha Greyjoy's fleet and Dorne, while the Targaryens troops gather to strike back. In this context, Daenerys uses her dragon Drogon and with him and the Dothraki destroy a Lannister army, which Jaime is deeply shocked by. Jon goes beyond the wall with a squad and takes an undead prisoner to present to the Lannisters so that they can see the real danger that threatens Westeros. Jon finally swears allegiance to Daenerys after she came to his aid but lost one of her dragons in the process. After the Lannisters know of the threat from the undead beyond the wall, which everyone is afraid of, a temporary ceasefire is agreed. But Cersei is already planning a future betrayal, whereupon Jaime breaks away from her, although she is expecting a child from him. Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen sleep together without realizing that they are related. During Ostwacht, the undead under the Night King break through the wall with the help of the undead dragon Viserion and invade the north of the kingdoms.

Eighth season

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Season 8

Season eight begins with the arrival of Jon and Daenerys in Winterfell. There one prepares for the forthcoming battle against the army of the Night King; They receive unexpected help from Melisandre, who, despite her exile, has returned to do her duty. Jon Snow learns from Samwell that his real name is Aegon Targaryen and that he has a greater claim to the Iron Throne than Daenerys, who tells Jon this. It is not only confronted with this problem; much of the Northmen don't trust her, including Sansa. At the Battle of Winterfell, her advisor Jorah Mormont and Theon Greyjoy, Beric Dondarrion and Edd Tollett fell victim to the undead, but Arya Stark was able to kill the Night King at the last moment, which also defeated all the other White Walkers and the undead. After the battle, Melisandre takes off her magical collar, ages rapidly and dies at the gates of Winterfell.

Following the celebrations after the battle has been won, Jaime and Brienne sleep together. Jon, on the other hand, cannot maintain the love affair with Daenerys due to their family relationship. In turn, she not only feels rejected, but also sees her goal of becoming queen threatened by Jon's claim to rule. She asks Jon not to tell his siblings what his real name is. Jon does not respond to this request, however, and the secret also reaches Tyrion and Varys through Sansa.

Because, contrary to their announcement, they did not provide any support in the battle against the Night King, the surviving warriors of the north, Immaculate and Dothraki go to war with Daenerys and their remaining dragons against Cersei, who in the meantime are supported by the mercenaries of the Golden Company received from Braavos. In the vicinity of Drachenstein, however, they are surprised by the fleet of Euron Greyjoy, who succeeds in killing Daenerys' dragon Rhaegal and capturing Missandei, who soon after is in front of Daenerys and her allies on the gate of King's Landing of Cersei's henchmen Gregor Clegane is executed. When Jaime hears about it, he moves to King's Landing to protect his sister, whom he still loves, from the wrath of Daenerys, where he is first captured by the Immaculate, but freed by Tyrion and sent to Cersei's rescue. Tyrion asks his brother to leave the country with Cersei.

Daenerys, disturbed by the deaths of Rhaegal and Missandei, appears increasingly suspicious and isolated. Varys therefore has doubts about her suitability to be ruler. After he secretly opposed her and tried to have Jon recognized as the rightful heir to the throne, Daenerys put him to death. Tyrion then wrests her promise to show leniency towards the residents of the capital, provided that they submit to her. The ensuing siege of King's Landing ended unexpectedly quickly; Daenerys destroys both the Euron Greyjoy fleet and the Golden Company on Drogon with little effort. When Cersei's troops and the townspeople surrender, Daenerys surrenders to her anger, goes into a frenzy and uses her dragon to destroy most of King's Landing, killing countless innocent people, including women and children. The Dothraki, the Immaculate and the Northmen also take part in the massacre. Arya and Sandor Clegane have sneaked into the red keep. Arya wants to murder Cersei, but the bloodhound realizes the danger and sends Arya back; However, he himself does not allow himself to be dissuaded from the fight against his older brother Gregor, as a result of which they both fall together from the tower into the raging fire below. Jaime Lannister, after killing Euron Greyjoy in battle and having himself been seriously injured, reaches Cersei and tries to escape with her, but both are buried under the collapsing keep and are killed.

After the victory, Daenerys addresses her troops and announces that she wants to "liberate" the whole world. The shaken Tyrion gives up his role as the hand of the queen and is arrested by Gray Wurm and his retinue of the Immaculate as a high traitor. After talking to the imprisoned Tyrion, Jon has to admit that Daenerys has become a tyrant, so he stabs her to death after one last kiss in front of the Iron Throne. Drogon finds her, melts the throne with his fire and flies away with her corpse.

In the ruins of King's Landing, the representatives of the most important houses - Arryn, Stark, Tully, Graufreud, Baratheon, a prince from Dorne, Tarly, Royce and Tarth, as well as Davos Seewerth, whose status in the empire is unclear to him - advise together with Tyrion Lannister and Gray Worm, what should happen to the realm. The north is declared an independent kingdom under Sansa, Bran Stark is declared ruler of the remaining six kingdoms and Tyrion, who proposed him, is made his hand. Bran cannot father children, but from now on the crown should no longer be hereditary, but the kings should be elected. Tyrion leads the king's council, which consists of Ser Davos, Grand Maester Samwell, Bronn, who is now master of the lands of the vastness (formerly House Tyrell), and Brienne von Tarth, commander of the Kingsguard. Podrick becomes the deputy commander of the Kingsguard. Gray Wurm and his people of the Immaculate are offered to found their own house, but they refuse and instead prepare their passage to Naath, the home of Missandei. Arya sets sail after announcing to Sansa, Jon, and Bran that she will explore the world west of Westeros. Jon Schnee, whose punishment Gray Worm has called for, is sent into exile at the Wall to rejoin the Night's Watch. However, he soon leaves them behind to join Tormund and the Free Folk of the Wildlings and move north beyond the wall.

Institutions, titles and races

The night watch

The night watch, an institution several thousand years old, is a community of different men who have dedicated themselves to the task of securing the northern border of the empire. There are 19 fortresses along the wall , as the great ice wall is called, but (at the time of the plot) only 3 are still inhabited by the night watch (Ostwacht an der See, the black fortress & the shadow tower). The wall forms the northern border of the empire and extends from east to west across the entire continent. The night watch secures the few entrances that lead through, patrols along the ice wall and scouts beyond it in order to be able to take action in good time before wildlings can penetrate. For this purpose, a strip of land south of the wall is available to them, the so-called donation, the region got this name from the legend that Brandon the builder gave the land to the Night Watch. In times of civil war or succession disputes, the Night Watch is obliged not to take sides. While it honors all kings during a rebellion, it rules itself.

Many members of the Night Watch are not there voluntarily; they have been forced by their families or the law. Occasionally the members are third-born without inheritance claim, who join the night watch for traditional reasons; however, the majority are criminals or fugitives. In the seven kingdoms it is customary to give a condemned man an option to decide whether the sentence will be carried out or whether he will join the night watch. Since the night watch service lasts until the end of life and members are never allowed to marry or have children, society gets rid of unpleasant individuals in this way - for these persons, the night watch service is essentially a commuted death sentence. Accordingly, the reputation of the night watch, which is largely made up of criminals, is not particularly positive among the population. However, this is a recent development. In earlier centuries the Night Watch was an elite force that housed numerous second-born sons of the Lords. It is still held in high regard in the north, and some nobles still join it voluntarily. Actually, the previous social status of a member does not count within the night watch, at least according to tradition, but this is not always observed. Nevertheless, the management positions are mostly occupied by aristocrats. Desertion and failure to obey are punishable by death, either the watch himself or the Lord von Winterfell take care of the enforcement.

The traditional clothing of the night watch is completely black, this is their distinguishing feature and the reason for the name "crows". The head of the Night's Watch at the beginning of the series is Lord Commander Jeor Mormont.

The hand of the king

Replica of the Iron Throne

The king's hand is the king's deputy in King's Landing and the first administrator of the empire. What he orders is considered the will of the king. He signs and seals bindingly with the name of the king; whoever offends, threatens or injures him is treated as if he had done this directly to the king. The actual possibilities of influence depend on his personal authority, his household power and the support of the king. The hand also presides over the council should the king not be present. The hand can also speak right and sit on the iron throne when the king orders it or when it is indisposed.

The Council

The council is the gathering of influential courtiers and nobles. It can meet in small and large forms; the size depends on the degree of secrecy. His job is to advise the king and his hand and to assist him in governing. He de facto takes over all government business. The masters of the various tasks sit in the small council.

The master of the coin

This post corresponds to a Chancellor of the Exchequer who oversees the king's financial affairs. In the series action, this mainly means getting new loans for the royal family, which is constantly in need of money. The Master of Mint is also a member of the council and has considerable leverage due to his control over the finances. In the television series, this office initially carries little finger (Petyr Baelish); when Tyrion Lannister is deposed from the office of the king's hand, he serves as master of the coin. After the appointment of the new king (Bran Stark), Ser Bronn vom Schwarzwasser, Lord of Rosengarten, is appointed Master of Mint.

The master of whisperers

The post of Master of Whisperers corresponds to the role of a chief of intelligence and represents one of the most influential positions at court. The role is filled at the beginning of the series by Varys, "the spider", who, although strictly speaking not a lord, is nevertheless predominantly due to his position is addressed with Lord Varys. The master of whisperers oversees a network of spies known as "little birds". In the course of the television series, this position passes from Varys to Qyburn.

Kingsguard

The King's Guard was set up by the Targaryens as the King's personal bodyguard. It includes seven knights who serve in the guard for life, have no wives and are not allowed to father children. In the books, her clothing and armor are completely white, but in the series only the cloaks are white. Traditionally the best fighters were accepted into the Guard, but their reputation deteriorated with the end of the Targaryen dynasty when the young Jaime Lannister killed the mad King Aerys II. Several important Lord Commanders of the Kingsguard are named in the series (including Ser Arthur Dayn, the Sword of the Morning, Ser Barristan Selmy, Ser Jamie Lannister and at the end of the series Brienne of Tarth). A Knight of the King's Guard can only be appointed by the King and must serve the King and his family for a lifetime.

Maester

A maester is a scholar trained in history, the sciences, and medicine. Some maesters have a knowledge of magic. The maesters forge a chain link for each area studied, always from a different metal. This is how the typical chain that all maesters wear comes about. They are trained in the citadel in Altsass (originally "Oldtown"), the oldest and second largest city in Westeros, and then assigned to a location. You are only obliged to this and must serve it under all circumstances - even if the respective seat of power is taken and another lord is installed. Their duties include observing the weather, nursing the sick, advising the respective lord, sending messages and caring for the ravens. The highest-ranking maesters are called arch maesters. The maester serving at the king's court is referred to as the grand maester (in the original "Grand Maester"). Grandmaester Pycelle held this position at the beginning of the television series.

Knight

The Knights of Westeros bear the title "Ser". Any knight can knight another man, but they usually serve as the squire of a respected knight for several years beforehand. The knights are bound by a code of honor, which many do not adhere to. To become a knight, one must also follow the belief of the seven that the Andals brought to Westeros. For this reason there are relatively few knights in the north, even though the noble houses there have armored cavalry.

The guards

The Guardians (in the original Wardens ) have been the king's military leaders in a larger region since the unification of the seven kingdoms. There are a total of four of them, each one assigned to a direction. In fact, these are hereditary titles. At the beginning of the plot, the houses Arryn (east), Tyrell (south), Lannister (west) and Stark (north) act as guardians.

In times of peace it is only an honorary title and so the guards cannot call in troops during these times, as this is only possible in the event of a foreign invasion.

The wildlings

Costumes by Ygritte, Jon Schnee and Tormund Riesentod

Wildlings are called the people who live beyond the wall, but wildlings also exist in the Arryn Green Valley. They reject political authority and only follow one elected leader, the "King Beyond the Wall". This title is not hereditary, so there is only an occasional king who manages to unite the warring tribes. They reject social norms such as traditional gender roles, class differences, or respect for an authority figure. Men and women fight side by side, the warlike women are called Spearwives (in the original " Spearwives") . Since the land beyond the wall is an inhospitable, almost hostile polar sea, many wildlings try to overcome the wall with crampons or similar methods in order to plunder the surrounding land. While the South is sinking into civil war, they are gathering under the leadership of Manke Rayder (originally "Mance Rayder"), a former member of the Night's Watch.

White walkers

The "White Wanderer" ( White Walkers in the books The Others called) are mentioned in ancient tales and are in the "long night" in front of more than 8000 years from the far north over the former kingdoms of the First Men to be attacked. They were able to revive the dead (so-called revenants) who then fought for them and could hardly be killed. After they were finally defeated, the ice wall in the north was built to defend against them. This ice wall was built by Brandon the Builder (in the original: "Brandon the Builder"), who also built Winterfell and founded the house of Stark. In the series action, the “White Wanderers” are nothing more than a myth from a long-gone time until they actually appear. Their leader is the so-called " Night King " (in the original Night King ), he was created by the children during the war between the First Men and the Children of the Forest.

Brotherhood without a banner

The "Brotherhood without Banners" (in the original Brotherhood without Banners ) is a group of "outlaws" who have committed themselves to the preservation and protection of the rights of the common people of Westeros, which is why they did not participate in the conflicts between the houses. Still, their methods are not all noble as they deviate from their own principles for gold. Some of its members, including the priest Thoros of Myr , believe in the Red God. Their leader is Beric Dondarrion . The Brotherhood is bitterly pursued by the Lannisters in seasons two and three. The mountain (Gregor Clegan) beheaded Beric Dondarrion, and this was afterwards resurrected for the first time by Thoros of Myr.

Essos

Essos is the large, dry and hot neighboring continent to the east of Westeros and separated from it by a strait. Many different peoples live in Essos, which is culturally very different from Westeros, including the Dothraki, a warlike equestrian people similar to the Mongols. In the west of the continent are the nine free cities (Lys, Myr, Pentos, Braavos, Lorath, Norvos, Qohor, Volantis and Tyrosh), which, with the exception of Braavos, are former Valyrian colonies. Braavos itself was founded by people who fled the Valyrian expansion. The free cities mainly trade and argue among themselves for influence.

Further to the east of the continent of Essos, the powerful Free State of Valyria, which was the largest and most progressive empire in the known world, existed until around 400 years before the series action began, before it went under as a result of a natural disaster. The Targaryens descend from the Valyrian nobility. Valyria was known for its dragons as well as Valyrian steel, forged with magic, always sharp and never rusting. The used phrase Valar Morghulis and the corresponding reply Valar Dohaeris are high Valyrian for "all people" (in the series version : "all men") "must die" and "all people must serve". This idiom serves as both a greeting and a motto in the series.

East of the ruins of Valyria is the so-called Slave Bay with the important cities of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen, the latter being the most important. These cities were once part of the Ghiscari Empire, which was destroyed by Valyria several thousand years ago. Even further to the east lie the important trading metropolis of Qarth in the red desert and beyond the Bone Mountains in the Shadowlands lies the port city of Asshai, about which little is known.

Religions

In Westeros, the oldest religion is that of the ancient nameless gods. These were first worshiped by the children of the forest. The First Men had fought the children first; as a result, they created the White Walkers, but a compromise eventually came about and the First Men adopted that belief. Faces were carved in weirwood trees, and the old gods were worshiped there. The children of the forest practiced their faith with the help of shamans and so-called "green seers", who were said to have clairvoyant powers.

With the invasion of the Andals, who invaded Westeros from Essos, a new belief came to the continent. It was a single deity, but it has seven facets (father, warrior, blacksmith, virgin, mother, old woman and stranger). The Andals destroyed the weirwood trees in the south (except for the god's eye) and over time effectively wiped out the beliefs of the old gods there. Very few houses in the south are still adherents of the old gods, while the beliefs persisted in the north and beyond the wall. The Andals practice their worship in so-called septa ("septem", Latin for "seven"); Priests are called septons, priestesses septa.

In addition, the "drowned god" is worshiped on the Iron Islands, who is an independent deity. His followers allow themselves to be drowned and resuscitated because they believe they will be stronger afterwards. There is also a ceremony similar to baptism for those who do not want to undertake this, but among iron men this is not considered to be equivalent to the drowned.

The Andal belief has its origins in Essos, but it seems that it is hardly practiced there anymore. Different religions are represented in Essos. Several gods were worshiped in Valyria, but they no longer seem to play a major role after the fall of the Free State. (The dragons of Aegon and his sisters were named after them.) In the free cities, among other things, the "Red God" (R'hllor) is worshiped; it is a dualistic religion (light versus dark). With a view of the “Great Temple of Volantis” and representations in each of the free cities as well as the slave bay, the “Red God” seems to be one of the predominant religions of Essos. With the priestess Melisandre in Stannis Baratheon's service and Thoros von Myr, a member of the brotherhood without a banner, the belief in R'hllor also becomes more important in Westeros in the course of the series. The Lhazareen worship the "Great Shepherd", the Dothraki the "Great Stallion". The free city of Braavos is multi-religious. The “faceless men” resident there worshiped the “many-faced god”, who is a connection between all other gods and the aspect of death.

Iron bench of Braavos

The Iron Bank of Braavos (originally "Iron Bank of Braavos") is a bank based in the Free City of Braavos. It is the most powerful bank and has enormous funds at its disposal, so that even kings and aristocratic houses owe it to debt. The bank's methods of collecting due debts are feared. So there are times when the bank, when not paid, begins to support the enemies of its former debtors.

characters

For the characters, see characters in the song of ice and fire .

production

Conception and development

The producers D. B. Weiss (left) and David Benioff (right)

George RR Martin

Development of the series began in January 2007 after HBO acquired the film rights to the novels A Song of Ice and Fire . David Benioff and DB Weiss wrote the scripts and were executive producers . The series should tell the story of a novel every season. It was originally planned that Benioff and Weiss would co-write each episode of each season with George RR Martin, but it was later announced that Jane Espenson and Bryan Cogman would each write an episode of the first season.

" The Sopranos in Middle-earth " was jokingly suggested by Benioff as the slogan for the TV adaptation , referring to its intrigue-filled content and dark tone in a fantasy series. Although the series clearly belongs to the fantasy genre, the fantastic elements play a rather subordinate role compared to the story and the characters. Accordingly, HBO program director Michael Lombardo noted that telling an interesting and complex story, and less fantasy-typical elements, such as magic or exotic locations, was in the foreground in the series. Benioff and Weiss wrote the first and second draft of the script for the pilot episode together; both were submitted in August 2007 and June 2008. Although HBO liked both designs, a pilot episode wasn't ordered until November 2008, a delay due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America Strike .

The linguist David J. Peterson developed the artificial language Dothraki in eight months with 3250 words and numbers and its own grammatical structure, which the Dothraki people and their leader Khal Drogo speak in the television series. There are greetings like “M'athchomaroon!” (Hello!), Toasts like “Hajas!” (Be strong!) And commands like “Azzohi haz khogare” (put the barrel down) and exclamations like “Vezh fin saja rhaesheseres vo zigereo adoroon shiqethi! ”(The stallion who subjugates the world does not need iron chairs).

Although the budget of Game of Thrones to that of Rome was compared, the project seemed at first to be more expensive than it was ultimately. Even so, the pilot episode cost between $ 5 million and $ 10 million , while the total budget of the first season was estimated at around $ 50 million to $ 60 million. The Northern Irish film subsidy supported the production with tax breaks of 5.2 million US dollars.

After only airing one episode, HBO extended the series for a second season, production of which began on July 25, 2011. On April 10, 2012, HBO ordered a third season.

The third season includes about half of A Storm of Swords , George Martin's third original volume of The Song of Ice and Fire , which is too extensive for a season.

On April 2, 2013, two days after the first episode of the third season aired, HBO ordered a fourth season.

On April 8, 2014, again just two days after the season premiere, the series was extended for seasons five and six. This was preceded by a contract extension for the two showrunners Benioff and Weiss, also up to the sixth season.

In May 2015, it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II did not sit on the Iron Throne while visiting the set, despite repeated requests from actors . "She is not allowed to sit on other thrones, fictitious or otherwise," explained Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow in the series, the behavior.

Casting

Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister)

Although the series is from the US, the cast is predominantly British and Irish . On May 5, 2009, it was announced that Peter Dinklage had signed to play Tyrion Lannister on the series and would be directed by Tom McCarthy . Shortly after changing Unknown's profile Holly Marie Combs in the IMDb that she was recruited as Catelyn Stark, what the producers David Benioff and DB Weiss but denied to specify. In early August it was announced that Catelyn would be portrayed by Jennifer Ehle . On July 19, 2009, a number of casting decisions were made, including Sean Bean for the role of Ned Stark. Other actors cast for the pilot included Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon, Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen, and Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon.

On August 20, 2009 other casts became known, including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys Targaryen, Richard Madden in the role of Robb Stark, Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont, Alfie Allen as Theon Graufreud and Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams as Sansa and Arya Stark. On September 1, 2009 it was announced that Lena Headey would play the role of Cersei Lannister. On September 23, 2009, Martin confirmed that Rory McCann would be cast as Sandor Clegane and on October 14 that Isaac Hempstead-Wright would be cast as Bran Stark, followed by an announcement that Jason Momoa would be playing Khal Drogo. After filming for the pilot episode was completed and ten episodes were ordered for the first season, HBO announced that the role of Catelyn with Michelle Fairley and the role of Daenerys with Emilia Clarke had been re-cast.

On July 19, 2011, the magazine Entertainment Weekly reported that Carice van Houten will be seen in the second season as priestess Melisandre and Stephen Dillane as king brother Stannis Baratheon. It was also announced that Gemma Whelan will play the role of Yara Greyjoy (in the novel Asha Greyjoy) and Nonso Anozie the role of Xaro Xhoan Daxos and that the German actor Tom Wlaschiha will appear as Jaqen H'ghar. Irish actor Michael McElhatton took on the role of Roose Bolton, Lord von Grauenstein.

Filming

The Croatian city of Dubrovnik , filming location for King's Landing from season 2

Filming for the first season of the series began on July 26, 2010, with main locations at Paint Hall Studios in Belfast , Northern Ireland and Mdina , Malta . The pilot episode, which was created in 2009, was filmed in Carncastle , Shane's Castle , Castle Ward , Magheramorne Tollymore Park in Northern Ireland and Doune Castle in Scotland , among others . Filming also took place in Morocco , for example in Marrakech and Ouarzazate .

Filming for the second season began on July 25, 2011. A film set was located on Downhill Beach in County Antrim , Northern Ireland. A significant part of the filming of the second season was carried out in Croatia , the area around Dubrovnik and the city itself were used as filming locations. Dubrovnik replaced Malta as the filming location for King's Landing and the Red Keep . The scenes for the city of Qarth , near the Jade Sea , were filmed on the Croatian island of Lokrum and in the Dubac quarry .

For the third season, Dubrovnik was used as a filming location again. Essaouira in Morocco was added as a new location for the third season , where the rest of the story about Daenerys Targaryen was filmed.

Filming for the fourth season took place in Croatia again. So Dubrovnik once again served as the backdrop for the capital. The Croatian port city of Split was added as a new location for the fourth season.

The fifth season was shot in Seville and in the small town of Osuna in Andalusia .

Most of the forests, villages and landscapes of Midwesternos were filmed in Northern Ireland , while Iceland was used as the location for the northern areas, including the mountains and ice desert north of the Wall .

music

The German-Iranian Ramin Djawadi wrote the soundtrack for the series .

Visual effects

The majority of the visual effects have been created by the Frankfurt company Pixomondo since the second season and by the Stuttgart-based company Mackevision since the fourth season .

The visual effects, especially the background scenery, were mostly implemented in 2½D in order to keep the workload manageable. For example, Winterfell Castle was roughly modeled and textured in 3D. For each setting, 2D views of the castle were rendered with the correct perspective and lighting and added more details by hand. These detailed images were then projected back onto the 3D model and the filming the final scene composed .

Cast and dubbing

→ Main article : List of actors in the TV series Game of Thrones

The German dubbing is produced under the dialogue direction by Jan Odle based on the dialogue books by Odle (seasons 1–7), Tobias Neumann (seasons 6–8), Heiko Feld and Stefan Sidak (season 2) by the dubbing company Film- & Fernseh-Synchron GmbH (FFS) in Munich . In May 2019, the series was awarded the German Synchronous Award in the Best Drama Series category.

Episode list

→ Main article : Game of Thrones / Episode List

Season	Number of episodes	Reference to literature	First broadcast in the USA		German-language first broadcast
			Season premiere	Season finale	Season premiere	Season finale
1	10	A Game of Thrones	April 17, 2011	June 19, 2011	November 2, 2011	4th January 2012
2	10	A clash of kings	April 1, 2012	June 3, 2012	May 23, 2012	July 26, 2012
3	10	A Storm of Swords	March 31, 2013	June 9, 2013	May 19, 2013	July 21, 2013
4th	10		April 6, 2014	15th June 2014	2nd June 2014	4th August 2014
5	10	A feast for crows	April 12, 2015	June 14, 2015	April 27, 2015	June 29, 2015
		A dance with dragons
6th	10	The Winds of Winter	April 24, 2016	June 26, 2016	April 25, 2016	June 27, 2016
7th	7th		July 16, 2017	27th August 2017	17th July 2017	August 28, 2017
		A dream of spring
8th	6th		April 14, 2019	19th May 2019	April 15, 2019	20th May 2019

Charisma

United States

The first season of HBO aired in the United States from April to June 2011. The ratings , which rose over the course of the first season, were satisfactory for HBO: including reruns, digital video recorders and on-demand, an average of 8.3 million viewers saw the show. The second season, also comprising ten episodes, was broadcast between April 1 and June 3, 2012.

The third season aired March 31 through June 9, 2013 on HBO. With 4.4 million viewers when it was first broadcast, the first episode had the highest ratings in the series to date. The fourth season aired from April 6 to June 15, 2014. The first episode of the fourth season had 6.6 million viewers, the highest audience rating on HBO since the final episode of the series The Sopranos in 2007. Compared to the finale of the third season, the final episode of the fourth season reached 32 percent more viewers overall 7.1 million too.

The fifth season aired on HBO from April 12 through June 14, 2015. The sixth season was broadcast from April 24 to June 26, 2016. The seventh season was broadcast from July 16 to August 27, 2017.

Smart TV

The HBO Now app for Android TV allows subscribers to the paid service to watch Game of Thrones on a variety of supported devices. Google Chromecast , Roku, and Amazon Fire TV are also supported.

On March 9, 2015, Apple announced a partnership with HBO. As a result, there will be the possibility in the USA to subscribe to HBO NOW for a fee from April 2015 and to watch Game of Thrones on Apple TV , iPhone , iPad and iPod Touch .

Germany

In Germany, the series is broadcast on pay TV by TNT Serie and on Sky Deutschland by Sky Atlantic HD (on both channels in two-channel sound), as well as on free TV by RTL II .

Pay TV

The first season of TNT Serie's broadcast began on November 2, 2011 and ended on January 4, 2012. The premiere episode on TNT Serie had a very good audience rating for this station. An average of 90,000 viewers brought a market share of 0.3 percent of the total audience. With 80,000 viewers from the advertising-relevant target group of 14 to 49 year olds, the average market share was 0.6 percent. The average market share achieved by the station at the time of broadcast was 0.1 percent of the total and advertising-relevant audience. Sky Atlantic HD broadcast the second season weekly from May 23 to July 26, 2012, the third season ran from May 19 to July 21, 2013. From June 2, 2014, the fourth season was broadcast there.

From April 27, 2015, the German premiere of the dubbed version of the fifth season on Sky Atlantic HD. The sixth season was broadcast there from April 25, 2016, one day after the US broadcast. The seventh season could be seen from the night of July 16 to 17, 2017, parallel to the HBO broadcast on Sky Atlantic HD.

Free TV

The free TV broadcast of the first season was broadcast by RTL II from March 23rd to 25th, 2012, with three or four episodes being shown during prime time until late at night. On the day of the premiere, the first three episodes achieved an average audience rating of 1.87 million (6.8 percent) among the total audience and 1.16 million (10.8 percent) among the advertising-relevant target group. The four episodes on the second day achieved an average audience rating of 1.72 million (6.7 percent) among the total audience and 1.1 million (10.5 percent) among the advertising-relevant target group. When the last three episodes were broadcast on March 25, 2012, the proportion of the target group relevant for advertising fell to 0.98 million (7.5 percent), but the experiment of a “marathon broadcast” is considered a success. Because of the many violence and sex scenes, eight of the ten episodes have been cut for classification as FSK-12. In the night program of the next day, these episodes were then repeated by RTL II in the original version. The second season was broadcast in the same way from March 8-10, 2013.

RTL II showed the third season from February 28 to March 16, 2014 as a free TV premiere. The fourth season was broadcast on RTL II from January 13 to February 3, 2015. The fifth season was broadcast on RTL II from February 12 to 15, 2016. The sixth season was broadcast on RTL II from March 11, 2017 to April 1, 2017.

International

The series has been sold to over 80 countries on five continents, including Poland , India , China , Pakistan and Argentina .

Spin-off

Initially, the broadcaster HBO had called the first prequel series of Game of Thrones the title The Long Night ("The Long Night") or Bloodmoon . In the spin-off, the prehistory of Game of Thrones , for example the true origin of the White Walkers, should be described. Jane Goldman , who wrote the pilot episode, was supposed to produce the series . The cast should include Naomi Watts and Jamie Campbell Bower . According to unofficial sources, Bloodmoon will no longer be realized as planned. Instead, the spin-off House of the Dragon , which is set to play 300 years before the original series, is to be shot with a total of 10 episodes.

Differences from the book

Although the series generally adheres relatively closely to the book, there are some deviations that are particularly pronounced in the later seasons. Some people have been deleted for dramaturgical reasons or appear later. B. the prostitute Ros or the vassal Locke are completely new characters. Some scenes were also omitted, but others were added.

It has been 17 years on the series since the Targaryens fell. In the book it is at the very beginning of A Game of Thrones 14 years after the fall and 15 years after the beginning of the civil war. This is to take into account the increased age of the characters in the series, which has been increased by a few years. Martin stated that the young age of the fictional characters was due to the lower life expectancy and earlier maturity in the Middle Ages, which he came across during his extensive research. According to the producers, the adjustment was made for various reasons. The aim was to enable the depiction of drastic acts of violence and sex scenes, some of which were relevant to the action, without the involvement of child actors, adult actors' working hours are more flexible, the actors more experienced and the life experience of the young characters in the book is appropriately embodied by older characters.

The second season follows the plot in A Clash of Kings , but also with numerous and now clearer deviations as well as missing or new scenes (such as the one with Tywin Lannister and Arya Stark in Harrenhal). In the third season, the first half of A Storm of Swords is filmed, also with several changes and modifications.

Benioff and Weiss, the producers of the series, emphasized that from the 2nd season onwards, no pure book-series adaptation is planned, but rather the entire material of A Song of Ice and Fire will be adapted, with parts from other books in the respective one Season can flow in. Accordingly, major changes have been made to the book, especially since the fifth season, so that many stories only roughly or not at all follow the plot from the books. Various characters relevant in the books (such as Lady Steinherz or Junge Greif) do not appear in the series.

See also: Seasons 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8

reception

criticism

Game of Thrones is the biggest success for HBO since the mafia series The Sopranos due to the steadily increasing number of viewers and the lucrative marketing ; In June 2014, HBO announced that the series was now the most successful in the station's history. Game of Thrones has developed into a series popular with audiences, especially in the Anglo-American region, which has been positively received by critics. The last season and especially the finale were received much more negatively by the audience than the previous seasons.

Several news outlets have described the series as the most anticipated television series of 2011. The previous reviews have been mostly positive. At Metacritic, the first season of the series has a metascore of 80/100, based on 28 reviews, the second season a metascore of 90/100, based on 26 reviews, the third season a metascore of 91/100, based on 25 reviews, the 4th season a metascore of 94/100, based on 29 reviews, the 5th season a metascore of 91/100, based on 29 reviews, the 6th season a metascore of 73/100, based on 9 reviews , Season 7 a Metascore of 77/100 based on 12 reviews; and Season 8 a Metascore of 74/100 based on 12 reviews. In the Internet Movie Database , the series has a rating of 9.4 / 10 based on over 1,554,000 votes.

“Edgy, violent, moving, agreeably complex, darkly funny, fast-paced, nudity-embracing and possessed of an army of compelling characters, HBO's Game of Thrones is an A + entertainment and the season's best new series. I wager it may even end "Mad Men's" long reign as Emmy's best drama. "

“Top-class, brutal, moving, pleasantly complex, darkly funny, fast-paced, welcoming nudity and with a whole host of captivating characters, HBO's Game of Thrones is the best entertainment and the best new series of the season. I bet she could end the long reign of Mad Men as Best Drama Series with the Emmys . "

- Ain't It Cool News

“Thrones is unsentimental and often brutal. It's also shaping up to be the most immersive grownup adventure TV has produced since Lost ”

“Thrones is unsentimental and often brutal. It is also becoming the most addicting adult adventure series television has produced since Lost . "

- James Poniewozik : TIME

“… A great and thundering series of political and psychological intrigue bristling with vivid characters, cross-hatched with tantalizing plotlines and seasoned with a splash of fantasy. Game of Thrones quickly finds that rare alchemy of action, motivation and explanation, proving, once again, that the epic mythology remains the Holy Grail of almost any medium. "

“... a great and colossal series about political and psychological intrigues that is bursting with lively characters, paired with exciting storylines and spiced with a pinch of fantasy. Game of Thrones quickly finds that rare mix of action, motivation, and explanation, which proves once again that epic mythology remains the Holy Grail of almost any narrative medium. "

- Mary McNamara : Los Angeles Times

“And indeed, Game of Thrones impresses with its medieval character, just like the Mafia series, which was at least successful in America, once did. The screenwriters David Benioff and DB Weiss have succeeded so well in translating the dense interweaving of the very present, cross-generational political struggle for power, medieval gravity and a spacious, magical and relentless nature from Martin's novels into television that a handful of cute wolf pups became by far the most uninteresting creatures in this universe are."

- Nina Rehfeld : Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“After a little more than five seasons of anti-empathy treatment, there is hardly anything left in me that is capable of being moved. What the heck, I'm cleansed of pity, this vice that was an abomination to the ancient Greeks and the Enlightenment. Torture in Egypt, Mexico and Guantánamo? Okay, noted. I don't itch, at least I just caught myself peeling off the skin of someone on the St. Andrew's cross and cutting off the penis. "

- Peter Weissenburger : taz

Awards and nominations

American Film Institute Award

• AFI TV Award 2011
• AFI TV Award 2012
• AFI TV Award 2013

Emmy Awards

• 2011 (13 nominations, 2 awards)

• Emmy - Outstanding Main Title Design
• Emmy - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - Peter Dinklage

• 2012 (12 nominations, 6 awards)

• Emmy - Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Costumes for a Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)
• Emmy - Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (1 hour)
• Emmy - Outstanding Special Visual Effects

• 2013 (17 nominations, 2 awards)

• Emmy - Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)
• Emmy - Outstanding Special Visual Effects

• 2014 (20 nominations, 4 awards)

• Emmy - Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Fantasy Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Costumes For A Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Special And Visual Effects

• 2015 (24 nominations, 12 awards)

• Emmy - Outstanding Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Make-up for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)
• Emmy - Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More)
• Emmy - Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour)
• Emmy - Outstanding Special Visual Effects
• Emmy - Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series, or Movie

• 2016 (23 nominations, 12 awards)

• Emmy - Outstanding Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or a Special
• Emmy - Outstanding Make-up for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)
• Emmy - Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More)
• Emmy - Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour)
• Emmy - Outstanding Special Visual Effects
• Emmy - Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series, or Movie

• 2018 (22 nominations, 9 awards)
  • Emmy - Outstanding Drama Series
  • Emmy - Outstanding Music Composition for a Series
  • Emmy - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - Peter Dinklage
  • Emmy - Outstanding Special Visual Effects
  • Emmy - Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More)
  • Emmy - Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or a Special
  • Emmy - Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour)
  • Emmy - Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series, or Movie
  • Emmy - Outstanding Fantasy / Sci-Fi Costumes
• 2019 (32 nominations, 12 awards)

• Emmy - Outstanding Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Fantasy / Sci-Fi Costumes
• Emmy - Outstanding Makeup For A Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)
• Emmy - Outstanding Main Title Design
• Emmy - Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)
• Emmy - Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series
• Emmy - Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)
• Emmy - Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)
• Emmy - Outstanding Special Visual Effects
• Emmy - Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series - Peter Dinklage
• Emmy - Outstanding Stunt Coordination For A Drama Series, Limited Series Or Movie

Golden Globe Awards 2012 (2 nominations)

• Golden Globe - Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries, or Movie made for TV - Peter Dinklage

Jupiter film award

• Jupiter 2014 - Best TV series internationally

Peabody Award

• Peabody Award 2012

Portal Award

• Portal Award 2011 - Best Actor / Television
• Portal Award 2011 - Best Episode / Television
• Portal Award 2011 - Best Series / Television

Scream Awards (8 nominations)

• Scream Award 2011 - Best Supporting Actor - Peter Dinklage
• Scream Award 2011 - Best TV Show
• Scream Award 2011 - Best Newcomer (Breakout Performance) - Emilia Clarke

Screen Actors Guild Award

• 2012 - Best stunt ensemble
• 2013 - Best stunt ensemble
• 2014 - Best stunt ensemble
• 2015 - Best stunt company in a television series

Television Critics Association Award

• TCA Award 2011 - Outstanding New Program
• TCA Award 2012 - Program of the Year
• TCA Award 2013 - Outstanding Achievement in Drama

VES Awards

Game of Thrones and the VFX Artists involved have won the VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photo-Realistic Series 5 times in a row :

• 2012 - Valar Morghulis (episode 2x10)
• 2013 - Valar Dohaeris (episode 3x01)
• 2014 - The Children (Episode 4x10)
• 2015 - The Dance of Dragons (episode 5x09)
• 2016 - The Battle of the Bastards (episode 6x09)

DVD and Blu-ray releases

On March 6, 2012, the first season of Game of Thrones was released on DVD (5 discs) and Blu-ray in the Anglo-American region. The specials include making-of, character profiles, an introduction to the history of Westeros and other background material. At around 350,000 units in the first week, sales were the highest in HBO's history. One day after or one day before the US release, the first season was released in the UK and Australia on DVD and Blu-ray.

Germany:

• Season 1: March 30, 2012
• Season 2: April 5, 2013
• Season 3: March 28, 2014
• Season 4: March 26, 2015
• Season 5: March 17, 2016
• Season 6: November 17, 2016
• Season 7: December 14, 2017
• Season 8: December 3, 2019

All seasons were released on DVD and Blu-ray. The age rating is 16 years.

literature

• Elke Brüns: Game of Thrones. 100 pages. Reclam, Ditzingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-15-020556-3 .
• Bryan Cogman: Behind the Scenes. Game of Thrones. Panini, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8332-2542-0 .
• Game of Thrones. In memory. Panini, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8332-3167-4 . ( Necrology of the first four seasons with photos, quotes and background information)
• Martin Howden: Game of Thrones from A to Z. The unofficial fan book for the series. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86265-225-9 . (with episode guide season 1 and season 2)
• Carolyne Larrington: Winter is Coming. The medieval world of Game of Thrones. Theiss, Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 3-8062-3350-0 .
• Markus May, Michael Baumann, Robert Baumgartner, Tobias Eder (eds.): The world of "Game of Thrones". Cultural perspectives on George RR Martin's “A Song of Ice and Fire”. transcript, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8376-3700-7 .
• George RR Martin : Fire & Blood. 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones. Bantam Books, New York 2018, ISBN 978-1-5247-9628-0 .
• George RR Martin, Elio Garcia, Linda Antonsson: Westeros - The world of ice and fire. Game of Thrones. Penhaligon, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-7645-3136-2 (overview of the centuries before the beginning of the series in the form of a fictional chronicle and with pictures).
• Helen Sloan: Game of Thrones - the photographs , Dorling Kindersley Verlag, Munich, 2019, ISBN 978-3-8310-3877-0 .

Web links

Commons : Game of Thrones  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Game of Thrones at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Game of Thrones at Fernsehserien.de
• Game of Thrones in the online movie database
• Official website on HBO.com
• Game of Thrones on TNT-Serie.de
• Game of Thrones on Serienjunkies.de
• Game of Thrones Wiki
• Comparison of cut versions on schnittberichte.com
• Hans Schmid: Knowledge is power . In: Telepolis . May 1, 2012
• Game of Thrones Tapestry , Ulster Museum, Belfast

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Map of Martin's world
2. ↑ More the size (though not the shape, obviosuly) of South America, I'd say. In: The Citadel: So Spake Martin. westeros.org, February 1999, accessed January 6, 2012 . 
3. ↑ George RR Martin, Elio Garcia, Linda Antonsson: The World of Ice & Fire: the Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones. Bantam, New York 2014. Review of older history at Westeros.org (based on the statements in the books).
4. ↑ For the history of the early Targaryen dynasty, see George RR Martin : Fire & Blood. 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones. New York 2018.
5. ↑ Season 1, Episode 1: Viserys talks about waiting 17 years to take the throne.
6. ↑ Overview of recent history at Westeros.org (based on the statements in the books).
7. ↑ George RR Martin: Season Three. In: Not A Blog. April 11, 2012, accessed April 1, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Season 5, Episode 6. This is one of the strongest deviations from the books so far, where a supporting character (Jeyne Poole) is presented as Arya Stark and Ramsay marries.
9. ↑ Belief in the Seven in the Wiki of Ice and Fire
10. ↑ Believe in the Seven on the Game of Thrones Wiki
11. ↑ ^{a b} Development Update: Wednesday, January 17th, The Futon Critic , January 17th, 2007, accessed on November 28th, 2010 . 
12. ↑ ^{a b c} Michael Fleming: HBO turns Fire into fantasy series . Variety . January 16, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
13. ↑ ^{a b c} George RR Martin: From HBO . Live journal . July 16, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
14. ↑ Boris Kachka: Dungeon Master: David Benioff . New York Magazine . May 18, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
15. ^ ^{A b} Lynette Rice: A Network Gets Its Bite Back . Entertainment Weekly . January 8, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
16. ↑ Laura Hudson: Talking with George RR Martin Part 2 . Publishers Weekly . August 14, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
17. ↑ ^{a b} George RR Martin: Ice & Fire on HBO . Live journal . June 23, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Gregory Kirschling: By George! . Entertainment Weekly . November 27, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
19. ↑ Cynthia Littleton: Fantasy sits on Thrones . Variety . November 11, 2008. Archived from the original on April 20, 2011. Retrieved on November 28, 2010.
20. ↑ James Hibberd: HBO orders fantasy pilot Thrones . The Hollywood Reporter . November 11, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
21. ↑ "Game of Thrones": The language creator in: Stuttgarter Zeitung of January 23, 2012.
22. ↑ Athhilezzar? Watch Your Fantasy World Language in: The New York Times, December 11, 2011.
23. ^ Lesley Goldberg: 'Game Of Thrones' by The Numbers . The Hollywood Reporter . April 14, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
24. ↑ Game of Thrones: Cinema for TV . TNT series . Retrieved May 31, 2011.
25. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: No royal quotas, still season 2 . Serial junkies . April 19, 2011. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
26. ↑ HBO renews 'Game of Thrones' for second season! . EW . April 19, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
27. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: Production for season 2 begins at the end of July . Serial junkies . June 19, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
28. ↑ 'Game Of Thrones' Season 3: HBO Renews Drama . Huffington Post . April 10, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
29. ↑ Maureen Ryan: 'Game of Thrones' Third Season: How Many Episodes Will There Be? . Huffington Post . April 11, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
30. ↑ James Hibberd: Game of Thrones' renewed for season 4 , EW.com (April 2, 2013)
31. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: HBO ordered seasons 5 and 6 . In: Serienjunkies.de . April 8, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
32. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: Benioff and Weiss extend for seasons 5 and 6 . In: Serienjunkies.de . March 22, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
33. ↑ Queen didn't want to be on the Game of Thrones throne. In: ORF.at. May 1, 2015, accessed May 2, 2015 . 
34. ↑ Nellie Andreeva: Two will play HBO's 'Game'. The Hollywood Reporter, May 6, 2009, archived from the original on May 9, 2009 ; accessed on December 12, 2011 (English): "Director McCarthy, actor Dinklage in for pilot" 
35. ^ David and Dan Confirm What We Already Know . Winter Is Coming Blog . Retrieved November 28, 2010.
36. ^ Nellie Andreeva: Trio of actresses cast in TV projects . Hollywood Reporter . August 3, 2009. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
37. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: HBO orders the film adaptation of the novel "A Game of Thrones" . Serial junkies . March 2, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
38. ↑ Maureen Ryan: George RR Martin talks 'Game of Thrones' as the HBO show's 'Daenerys' departs . Chigaco Tribune . April 29, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
39. ↑ James Hibberd: 'Game of Thrones' casts sorceress Melisandre and Stannis Baratheon - EXCLUSIVE . Entertainment Weekly . July 19, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
40. ↑ Explore Games of Thrones locations in Northern Ireland . Travel EXCLUSIV magazine website, accessed January 13, 2015.
41. ↑ Season two filming begins today! . Winter-Is-Coming.net . July 25, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
42. ↑ Set photos: boats, castles and the Seven . Winter-Is-Coming.net . July 29, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
43. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: A look behind the scenes of Dubrovnik . Serienjunkies.de . January 18, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
44. ↑ Game Of Thrones Season 2: In Production - Croatia . HBO YouTube channel Game of Thrones . Retrieved May 12, 2012.
45. ↑ Hanna Huge: Game of Thrones: Shooting moved to Dubrovnik . Serienjunkies.de . August 23, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
46. ↑ ^{a b} Josh Roberts: Where HBO's hit 'Game of Thrones' was filmed . In: SmarterTravel.com . January 4, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
47. ^ Ours is the Fury: First set photos from Croatia . September 27, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
48. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: News about the production of season 3 . Serienjunkies.de . June 28, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
49. ↑ Hear Me Roar: Day 41: Shooting in Croatia starts tomorrow . August 27, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
50. ↑ Hear Me Roar: Day 41: Shooting in Croatia starts tomorrow . August 27, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
51. ↑ Ours is the Fury: Filming dates and new location in Croatia confirmed . June 17, 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
52. ↑ Game of Thrones creates jobs for Andalusia . July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
53. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: A look behind the scenes of season 4 in Iceland. In: serienjunkies.de/. February 21, 2014, accessed May 19, 2016 . 
54. ↑ Interview with Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor, one of the special effects producers. June 22, 2011, accessed April 15, 2019 . 
55. ↑ Game of Thrones. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous file , accessed on April 3, 2013 . 
56. ↑ Awarding of the German Dubbing Prize 2019. German dubbing index, May 27, 2019, accessed on May 27, 2019 . 
57. ^ Robert Seidman: Updated: Ned Who? 'Game of Thrones' Soars To Ratings Highs in Season Finale . TV by the Numbers . June 21, 2011. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
58. ↑ James Hibberd: 'Game of Thrones' final ratings hit series high . Entertainment Weekly . June 21, 2011. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
59. ↑ Adam Arndt: Game of Thrones: Start date for second season known . Serial junkies . January 13, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2012.
60. ↑ James Hibberd: 'Game Of Thrones' season 3 premiere ratings break records , EW.com (April 1, 2013)
61. ↑ Sara Bible: HBO Confirms Premiere Dates for 'Game of Thrones', 'Veep', 'Vice' & 'Silicon Valley' . In: TVbytheNumbers.com . January 9, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
62. ↑ Amanda Kondolojy: 'Game Of Thrones' Season Four Premiere Sets New Series Record . In: TV by the Numbers . April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
63. ↑ Amanda Kondolojy: 'Game of Thrones' Season Finale Draws 7.1 Million Viewers, Up 32% From Last Year's Finale . In: TV by the Numbers . April 7, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
64. ↑ Sara Bible: 'Game of Thrones' Season 5, 'Silicon Valley' Season 2 & 'Veep' Season 4 to premiere Sunday, April 12 on HBO . In: TVbytheNumbers.com . January 8, 2015. Accessed January 9, 2015.
65. ↑ Excitement among "Game of Thrones" fans: Big surprise on posters for the new season . In: 1 Live . November 24, 2015. Archived from the original on November 24, 2015. Retrieved on November 24, 2015.
66. ↑ Arthur Awanesjan: "Game of Thrones": The start date of the 7th season is fixed . In: Filmfutter.com . March 9, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
67. ↑ HBO NOW premieres in April. Press release on Apple.com from March 9, 2015.
68. ↑ HBO Now on Apple TV. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
69. ^ Scott Roxborough: Sky Deutschland Brings Original Language HBO to Germany . In: Hollywood Reporter . March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
70. ↑ The new Sky Atlantic channel. In: Sky.de. April 4, 2012, archived from the original on April 6, 2012 ; accessed on March 31, 2012 . 
71. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: RTL II has secured the free TV rights . In: Serienjunkies.de . January 19, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
72. ^ Jan Schlüter: Quota check: "Game of Thrones" . Oddsmeter.de . January 7, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2012.
73. ↑ Mario Giglio: Game of Thrones: German premiere also in April on Sky . In: Serienjunkies.de . January 10, 2014. Accessed March 1, 2014.
74. ↑ Sky.de
75. ↑ Lenka Hladikova: Game of Thrones: German premiere in April on Sky Atlantic HD . In: Serienjunkies.de . March 17, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
76. ↑ Kurt Sagatz: Start date for the 7th season of "Game of Thrones": The winter that is a summer. In: Der Tagesspiegel . Verlag Der Tagesspiegel GmbH, March 10, 2017, accessed on March 10, 2017 . 
77. ↑ Manuel Weis: RTL II shows “Game of Thrones” in the marathon . Oddsmeter.de . February 9, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
78. ↑ Manuel Nunez Sanchez: Primetime check: Friday, March 23, 2012 . In : quotemeter.de . March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
79. ↑ "Game of Thrones" loses only minimally onquotemeter.de from March 25, 2012.
80. ↑ “Game of Thrones” weekend a success on Oddsmeter.de on March 26, 2012.
81. ↑ Game of Thrones - from 12, RTL II . In: Schnittberichte.com . March 24, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
82. ↑ Game Of Thrones - A Song of Ice and Fire . In: rtl2.de . RTL II . Retrieved January 24, 2013.
83. ↑ Bernd Michael Krannich: Game of Thrones: RTL II prefers the start of the third season . In: Serienjunkies.de . February 6, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
84. ↑ Game Of Thrones - Season 6 Broadcast Dates . In: rtl2.de . RTL II . Retrieved August 10, 2017.
85. ^ Game of Thrones International Air Dates . Westeros.org . March 6, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
86. ↑ Game of Thrones - The Long Night. Retrieved February 16, 2019 . 
87. ↑ Game of Thrones prequel starring Naomi Watts 'canceled by HBO'. Retrieved October 30, 2019 . 
88. ↑ HBO announces "Game of Thrones" prequel. Retrieved October 30, 2019 . 
89. ↑ Figure list for the 3rd season
90. ↑ Maria Sciullo Pittsburgh: 'Game of Thrones' ages up for HBO. In: post-gazette.com. April 17, 2011, accessed May 19, 2016 . 
91. ↑ 'Game of Thrones' Creators Discuss Book Departures, Unleash New Photos, Clips (video). In: hollywoodreporter.com. March 23, 2012, accessed May 19, 2016 . 
92. ↑ Viewership at Winteriscoming.net
93. ^ New York Daily News
94. ↑ usatoday.com ; theguardian.com
95. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 8. In: IMDb. Retrieved June 22, 2019 . 
96. ↑ Ken Tucker: 10 TV Events to Look Forward to in 2011 . Entertainment Weekly . January 1, 2011. Accessed March 22, 2011 .; James Poniewozik: Vacation Robo-Post: TV to Look Forward to in 2011 . TIME . December 30, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
97. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 1 . Metacritic . Retrieved May 31, 2016.
98. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 2 . Metacritic . Retrieved May 31, 2016.
99. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 3 . Metacritic . Retrieved May 31, 2016.
100. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 4 . Metacritic . Retrieved May 31, 2016.
101. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 5 . Metacritic . Retrieved May 31, 2016.
102. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 6 . Metacritic . Retrieved May 18, 2019.
103. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 7 . Metacritic . Retrieved May 18, 2019.
104. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 8. In: Metacritic. Retrieved June 22, 2019 . 
105. ↑ User ratings "Game of Thrones" . IMDb.com . Retrieved June 22, 2019.
106. ↑ Hercules Says HBO's GAME OF THRONES Rules All Television! . Ain't It Cool News . Retrieved May 17, 2011.
107. ↑ James Poniewozik: Epic Win! HBO's Bloody, Bold Game of Thrones . Time Magazine . April 25, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
108. ^ Mary McNamara: Television review: 'Game of Thrones' . LA Times . April 15, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
109. ↑ The Sopranos are meant .
110. ↑ Nina Rehfeld: The king determines what the truth is . FAZ. November 1, 2011. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
111. ↑ Peter Weissenburger: Finally dead inside. Game of Thrones is a horse cure against empathy . taz. May 7, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
112. ↑ Game Of Thrones - AWARDS & NOMINATIONS. In: Television Academy. Retrieved September 19, 2016 . 
113. ↑ 'Game of Thrones,' 'Homeland,' Colbert win Peabodys . In: Newsday.com . Retrieved April 4, 2012.
114. ↑ Michael Hinman, 'Game Of Thrones,' 'Fringe' Split 2011 Portal Awards . Airlock Alpha. August 19, 2011. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
115. ↑ Lisa Richwine: Exclusive: "Game of Thrones" rules HBO's DVD sales . Reuters.com . March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2012.