10 Fascinating Facts About Game of Thrones You Likely Never Heard About

 

1. Some members of the cast have also had roles in the Harry Potter series
A whopping 9 members of this TV series cast have had roles in the Harry Potter series. Actor Ian Whyte portrayed the gigantic character Madame Maxime from Beuxbatons in Harry Potter, as well as appearing severally in the series. In Game of thrones, he takes the role Dongo the giant in seasons 3 & 4 of the series as well as Wun Wun the giant in season 5. Julian Glover also assumes the role of Aragog the monstrous spider in Harry Potter as well as Grand Maester Pycelle in Game of Thrones. Also worth of notice is the character Osha the Wildling in Game of thrones played by Natalia Tena, who also portrays the character Nymphadora Tonks in Harry Potter. The character Caityln Stark in Game of thrones is also the mother of Hermione Granger, the sharp- brained muggle- born in Harry Potter. Other members of the cast that feature in Harry Potter include David Bradley, Ciaran Hinds, Bronson Webb, Edward Tuder- Pole and Ralph Nelson.

2. Game of Thrones Babies
Due to the international acclaim this series attracted, parents have in recent years started naming their children after their favorite Game of Thrones characters. In the United States alone, 1544 baby girls were named Arya in 2014, and this is one of the names that are gaining more popularity each day. Also, 368 kids were named Khaleesi, which is actually a title and not a name in the Dorthaki language, meaning a queen. 60 children were named Tyron and 15 were named Theon but in subsequent years the name’s popularity reduced as Theon showed his true ugly colors in seasons 2 and 3 of the season.

3. Maester Aemon was actually blind
This sagacious long serving member of the Night’s Watch is actually blind in real life. He is the trusted man who prefers keeping a distance from politics and wars that are ripping the seven kingdoms apart, and who, thanks to his age, has lived to acquire a lot of wisdom from different experience. The blind character is portrayed by Peter Vaughn, a 92 year old veteran actor who in real life was partially blind.

4. The original pilot of Game of Thrones never aired
The initial pilot of this TV series was written by Tom McCarthy, who also wrote and directed such dramedies as Win Win and The Cobbler. These are in quite a different league, which explains why it was not so much a success as the popular series show we know today. In fact, it was nearly dropped from the internet until a new writer and director, Tim Van Pattern took from where it was left. He changed many things, like the location of the shooting, recast some of the characters, and rewrote parts of the script. Thanks to him we now have this phenomenal series.

5. Hodor!
The character of the benign giant Hodor is portrayed Kristian Nairn. Even though we expect that Hodor ought to be frustrated because all he ever says in the series is Hodor, he says that Hodor can actually communicate so much. It is loaded with emotion; there is a happy Hodor, an angry Hodor, a bashful Hodor and any number of emotions Hodor.

6. Game of thrones pirates
Game of thrones has suffered quite a number of remarkable monetary losses owing to illegal downloading of certain episodes of the series. The episode” Kill The Boy” in season 5 was downloaded 2.2 million times illegally. Also, the episode “The wars to come” was downloaded a solid 13 million times illegally amounting to a staggering $44 million dollar loss in that one episode. Certainly, pirates are not confined to those in the cast alone.

7. Game of Thrones has been banned in the Turkish Military
Because of the numerous sexually explicit scenes in the series, together with scenes of violence, Game of thrones alongside other television shows was banned in the Turkish military in 2014. Several military officers lost their jobs in 2012 for allowing cadets to watch the show.

8. The purple wedding did happen
Many fans love this wedding of the evil character Joffrey and Magaegry, because we finally get rid of Joffrey who dies as a result of poisoning. The writer of the books says that this is a true account of how Prince Eustace of England died in 1153 as a result of either poisoning choking at a feast.

9. George R R Martin has an insurance of this drama series
The author of the book on which this popular series is based (George R R Martin) has a deal with the main show runners(Weiss and Benioff) on how the series is likely to end, in case he dies before he’s finished writing the two remaining books of the series.

10. Dire wolves did exist
Dire wolves actually once roamed the earth, but are extinct now. Additionally, the actress Sophie Turner who plays the role of Sansa Stark actually has the Dire wolf she pets, an Alsatian dog known as Zunni.