50 Fun Facts About Game of Thrones Season 8

Which Thrones episode holds the show's runtime record?

The Long Night. Season 8 has only six episodes because its makers said they could no longer finish ten in the usual year or so; the last four each run well over an hour, this one a single battle shot over 55 nights.

Season 8's 32 Emmy nominations in 2019 brought a fourth win for which actor?

Peter Dinklage. His last Emmy as Tyrion came out of the biggest haul of nominations any series had ever earned in a single year, and it arrived in spite of open dissatisfaction among fans with how the story ended.

Who sings 'Jenny's Song' by the fire before the battle in season 8?

Podrick Payne. Asked for a song in the hours before the dead arrive, Brienne's squire turns out to have a fine voice; only the first line of the lyric is from the novels, and the show's writers supplied the rest.

Where do Sansa, Tyrion and other non-fighters shelter during season 8's battle of Winterfell?

The crypts. They are picked as the castle's refuge, which holds until the Night King raises the fallen and the long-dead Starks begin breaking out of their tombs among the people hiding there.

Which sellsword army joins Cersei in season 8 without the elephants she wanted?

The Golden Company. Cersei's first reaction to her expensive new army is disappointment that no elephants came with it, and when the fighting starts Drogon bursts through the city gate behind its ranks and it is gone in moments.

In the Thrones finale, whose pitch to be king does Sansa cut short by telling him to sit?

Edmure Tully. Free again after years as a Frey hostage, Catelyn's brother rises at the Dragonpit to put his own name forward, and is promptly, if politely, told by his niece to sit back down.

What is the title of the two-hour documentary about making season 8?

The Last Watch. Jeanie Finlay shot some 950 hours on set and built her film around the people behind the camera, among them the snow department and a long-serving extra, Andrew McClay, whom she called its heart.

Whom does Daenerys have Drogon burn alive for plotting to put Jon Snow on the throne?

Varys. It is Tyrion who informs on his old friend, and the spymaster goes to the dragon without a struggle, saying only that he hopes he is wrong about her.

What did a 2019 petition signed by over a million fans ask HBO to do with season 8?

Remake it. The petition wanted the season redone 'with competent writers'; the fan who started it said it began as him venting after the fourth episode, and called it a message of frustration and disappointment.

Which novelist publicly defended season 8, writing 'All good things...'?

Stephen King. He tweeted that he had loved the final season, 'including Dani going bugshit all over King's Landing', and put the backlash down to people not wanting any ending at all.

Whom does Theon free from Euron's flagship in season 8's premiere?

Yara Greyjoy. She thanks her rescuer with a headbutt for letting her be captured in the first place, then helps him up, and sails to retake the Iron Islands while he turns north to fight for Winterfell.

Which weapon does Qyburn hand Bronn when hiring him to dispose of the Lannister brothers?

The crossbow that killed Tywin. Tyrion shot their father with it; Cersei now sends it north with a sellsword so that both of her brothers can die by the same weapon, if they outlive the war against the dead.

Which child ruler is found dead and pinned to a wall at Last Hearth in season 8?

Ned Umber. The search party finds the boy fixed to the wall inside a spiral of severed limbs, a message from the Night King, and he wakes screaming as a wight until Beric's flaming sword ends it.

Who tells Jon Snow about his true parentage in season 8's premiere?

Samwell Tarly. Bran sends him to do it within minutes of Sam learning that Daenerys burned his father and brother, so the news comes with an edge: the Iron Throne, he tells Jon, is rightly his and not hers.

Which actors from It's Always Sunny and Silicon Valley cameoed as Ironborn in season 8's premiere?

Rob McElhenney and Martin Starr. Both play sailors on Euron's ship who are dead within seconds, McElhenney with an arrow through the eye; the episode's writer, Dave Hill, gave himself a death in the same scene.

Who knights Brienne in 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms'?

Jaime Lannister. When Brienne says tradition is why no woman is a knight, he answers that any knight can make another, has her kneel by the fire, and tells her to rise as a knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Which band performed 'Jenny of Oldstones' over the credits of season 8's second episode?

Florence and the Machine. The showrunners had asked Florence Welch to sing 'The Rains of Castamere' back in season 2 and been turned down; she later blamed her 'wild years', and said yes to this one, the show's last.

Which Valyrian steel sword does Sam give Jorah before the battle of Winterfell?

Heartsbane. Sam gives his family's blade to Jorah out of gratitude to Jorah's late father Jeor, the Lord Commander who shaped him.

Who volunteers to guard Bran in the godswood as bait for the Night King?

Theon Greyjoy. The Starks' former ward, who once betrayed them, asks for the post himself, holds the godswood to the last man, and makes his final charge only after Bran tells him he is a good man.

Which film's siege guided the staging of season 8's Winterfell battle?

The Two Towers. Its Helm's Deep siege runs about 40 minutes, and Miguel Sapochnik watched it to work out how an even longer battle, shot over 55 nights, could avoid wearing its audience out.

Which country singer cameoed as a wight in season 8's Winterfell battle?

Chris Stapleton. A huge fan of the show, he had his management ask about any small part and said he would gladly fly anywhere for it; he was filmed in Northern Ireland with his bass player and tour manager.

Who kills the Night King?

Arya Stark. She leaps at him out of the dark of the godswood; caught by the throat, she lets the Valyrian steel dagger fall from her raised hand into the other and drives it in, and his whole army collapses.

Which young northern lady kills a wight giant as it crushes her in season 8?

Lyanna Mormont. Urged by her cousin Jorah to sit the battle out, the girl who rules Bear Island fights in the courtyard instead; snatched up in the giant's fist, she drives dragonglass into its eye as it crushes her.

What does Melisandre enchant to burn at the start of the battle of Winterfell?

The Dothraki's arakhs. Thousands of curved blades blaze up at her prayer and the horde charges into the dark; from the walls the defenders watch the distant flames go out, one after another, in silence.

What happens to Melisandre at dawn after the battle of Winterfell?

She removes her choker and dies. She had told Davos she would be dead before dawn; her work done, she walks out into the snow, drops the jewel that kept her young, and crumbles to dust while he watches.

In 'The Last of the Starks', Daenerys names Gendry lord of which castle?

Storm's End. Daenerys legitimises Robert Baratheon's bastard and hands him his father's family seat in front of the whole feast; minutes later the new lord proposes to Arya, who tells him she is no lady.

Which out-of-place object was spotted on a table in 'The Last of the Starks'?

A disposable coffee cup. Left on the feast table in front of Daenerys, it was digitally erased from the episode within two days, and HBO's official reply was that she had ordered a herbal tea.

Which dragon is killed by Euron's scorpions in 'The Last of the Starks'?

Rhaegal. Euron's ships lie in wait off Dragonstone and bring him down with scorpion bolts before Daenerys can react; asked how it could happen, a showrunner said she had 'kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet'.

To whom does Jon give his direwolf Ghost before marching south?

Tormund. Jon reasons that a direwolf has no place in the south and will be happier beyond the Wall, where his friend is taking the wildlings home.

Which castle does Bronn accept in exchange for sparing Jaime and Tyrion?

Highgarden. Cersei had promised him Riverrun for the killings; holding Tyrion to an old deal to outbid anyone who paid for his death, Bronn asks what double Riverrun might be and leaves with the answer.

Who is executed on Cersei's order on the walls of King's Landing?

Missandei. The Mountain beheads her in front of Daenerys and Grey Worm after her last word, 'Dracarys'; because the set stood high and in plain view of photographers, the actor was added to the wide shots digitally.

To which Free City, his own old refuge, does Tyrion tell Jaime to take Cersei?

Pentos. Tyrion frees his brother at the risk of his own head and has a boat left below the Red Keep, but the way down to it is buried in rubble, and the twins die in each other's arms beneath the castle.

What signal of surrender does Daenerys ignore before burning King's Landing?

The ringing of the city bells. Tyrion had begged her to call off the attack if they rang; they do ring, the Lannister soldiers throw down their swords, and she flies on from the walls to burn the streets anyway.

Whom does Jaime fight and fatally wound on his way into the Red Keep?

Euron Greyjoy. Having escaped his burning fleet, he stabs Jaime more than once before being run through, and dies smiling that he is the man who killed Jaime Lannister, a boast the falling Red Keep leaves not quite true.

How does 'Cleganebowl' end?

Both fall through a wall into the fire. Nothing Sandor tries will stop his undead brother, so the man who has feared flames all his life tackles him off the crumbling tower into the burning city below.

What does Arya find and ride out of the ruins of King's Landing in season 8?

A white horse. The Hound had talked her out of dying for revenge on Cersei; she wakes in the ash among the dead, calms the animal, and rides it out of the city alive.

Which mistake did fans spot in an HBO publicity still of Jaime and Cersei's last embrace?

Jaime's real right hand. The still shows him holding Cersei with the very hand he lost in season 3, his metal one nowhere in sight; the slip stayed out of the episode itself, where only the prosthetic is seen.

Who wrote and directed the series finale, 'The Iron Throne'?

David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The showrunners had each taken a single directing credit before; they kept the last episode, Weiss said, because they knew how every moment should play and would only have hovered over anyone else.

What does Drogon do to the Iron Throne after Daenerys dies?

Melts it. Finding her dead, Drogon turns his fire not on Jon, who is standing beside the body, but on the throne itself, then lifts Daenerys in his claws and flies away to the east.

Who is elected ruler of the Six Kingdoms at the Dragonpit council?

Bran Stark. Tyrion puts him forward as the realm's memory, the keeper of all its stories; the actor says the showrunners told him that making Bran king was one of two things George R. R. Martin had planned for the character.

Which kingdom wins its independence in the Thrones finale?

The North. Sansa tells the council that her people will remain an independent kingdom, as they once were and as they fought to be again, and the new ruler lets them go; she is crowned Queen in the North at Winterfell.

What sentence does Jon receive in the Thrones finale to placate Grey Worm?

Rejoin the Night's Watch for life. Freeing him would enrage Daenerys's soldiers and executing him would enrage the North, so a compromise sends him back to the Wall, from where he leads the wildlings out beyond it.

Grey Worm and the Unsullied end Game of Thrones sailing for which island?

Naath. On the eve of the battle for Winterfell Grey Worm had promised to sail there once the wars were over; when the fighting ends he leads the Unsullied out of Westeros and keeps his word.

At the new Small Council's first meeting, what does Bronn want the crown to rebuild?

The brothels. The sellsword turned councillor balks at paying for new warships, then proposes, to the disapproval of everyone else at the table, that the city's ruined pleasure houses be put back up.

What is the title of the history book Sam produces in the Thrones finale?

A Song of Ice and Fire. The maesters' chronicle of the wars since King Robert's death takes the name of George R. R. Martin's own novels, and Tyrion, keen to see how he comes out of it, is told he is not mentioned at all.

Where does Arya sail at the end of Game of Thrones?

West of Westeros. She tells her family she is not going home: no one knows what lies beyond the point where all the maps stop, and that is exactly why she means to go and look.

The Thrones finale's 13.6 million HBO viewers beat a record held by which drama?

The Sopranos. Its fourth-season premiere had held HBO's record since 2002; the episode that finally beat it was an ending that left the show's own fans sharply divided.

Why did HBO fly Kit Harington and actors whose characters were long gone to the Thrones finale's shoot in Seville?

To act as decoys. Jon Snow is not in the scene shot there, and the Night King, the Waif and Jaqen H'ghar were long gone, so the sight of all four actors arriving in the city was meant to send plot-hunters the wrong way.

What is Jon Snow's birth name, revealed to him in season 8?

Aegon Targaryen. The name gives him a stronger claim to the throne than Daenerys has, so she begs him to keep it secret; he tells his sisters anyway, and within days it has reached her own advisers.

Who is made Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and completes Jaime's entry in the White Book?

Brienne of Tarth. She brings his record up to date, deed by deed, and after a pause adds the last line herself: 'Died protecting his Queen.'