You can pretty much tell that Game of Thrones season seven is just around the corner. Twitter feeds are full of speculating viewers, online news sites are coming up with all sorts of theories and HBO have released several epic trailers. Yes, it’s time to venture once again into a bloody and fantastical world – a world that some fans know like the back of their hands. However, we dare say that even the most dedicated fan girl or boy would know little to none of these outstanding facts:
1 Sansa Stark actually adopted her direwolf in real life
There’s a pretty horrible series of events in the second episode of the show which a) probably infuriated many animal lovers out there and b) confirmed that Cersei Lannister is a nasty piece of work. Sansa Stark’s direwolf Lady is killed at the hands of Ned Stark himself. Sophie Turner who plays Sansa in the show actually decided to adopt the dog – giving a tragic series of events a happy real life ending.
2 The on screen death toll is pretty insane
Saying there’s a lot of death in Game of Thrones is kind of like saying there’s nuts in a Snickers bar. So here’s a short quiz: how many deaths have been shown? No less than 150,966 (!) and judging by the season seven trailers – that number looks set to skyrocket even further.
3 The Iron Throne is much, much bigger in the books
It goes without saying that the Game of Thrones TV show is based on the novels by George R.R Martin. And like most book to movie/TV adaptations, there’s always bound to be some discrepancies. One of our favourites is the size of the Iron Throne – in the books it is absolutely massive – composed from 1000 half melted swords. The Iron Throne in the show is said to only be made from 200 swords. Littlefinger even makes a quip that the 1000 swords in the throne is a mere myth.
4 The Mountain eats over 10,000 calories a day
Imposing on the screen – Hafthor Julius Bjornsson plays everyone’s favourite destroyer of men. But did you also know that the Mountain is a force to be reckoned with at the dinner table? To maintain his monstrous figure, the Icelandic actor consumers three dozen eggs, a kilo of beef and over a kilo of potatoes – every single day. In fact, his total daily calorie count is a staggering 11,489!
5 There’s a rap album
Game of Thrones may not seem like the ideal show to base a rap album around – but HBO sure did try. “Catch the Throne” was released for free on SoundCloud in 2014. And to commemorate season five of the show – they released another rap album. Some of the contributors include mega names like Method Man, Big Boi and even Snoop Dogg.