Game of Thrones fans have known since the first season that the show will be fantastic. Here are a few interesting tidbits from that season.
HBO’s Game of Thrones has proven to be the apex of fantasy television, as one of the last great monoculture shows. Each season offered stories that had never been seen on television before and did honor to George R.R. Martin’s immense work in his book series.
GoT continues to enthrall viewers a year after its spectacular climax, with many returning for series rewatches. With a program as complex and thick as Game of Thrones, there are bound to be lots of hidden elements for viewers to notice. These can be traced all the way back to the first season.
10. Pilot Hairstyles
Ned Stark and Jon Snow from Game of Thrones One of the most famous Game of Thrones behind-the-scenes facts is that the pilot was planned to be radically different. Different performers, different scenes, and different plot lines. It was one of the most expensive pilot reshoots in television history, but it all worked out in the end.
Even still, the actors who remained in both versions of the pilot had a difficult time. Consider the hairstyles of characters such as Robb, Jon Snow, Ned Stark, and King Robert. From scene to scene, the lengths and styles appear to vary.
9. Westeros Pregnancy
Cersei Lannister has a unique characteristic that eagle-eyed viewers of the program will note in the first season’s early episodes. Lena Headey was pregnant throughout the first few episodes. Headey’s pregnancy was never obvious for the Cersei character thanks to careful wardrobe and camera angles.
Granted, pregnancy has been used in many problematic plots during Game of Thrones’ existence, but it didn’t have to be that way in the first season. After all, in terms of Cersei and Jaime’s relationship, that would have simply added to the confusion.
8. Ser Duncan The Tall
There are numerous subtle references and Easter eggs to the wider literary realm of Westeros during the length of Game of Thrones. In the season one episode “Lord Snow,” Old Nan makes one of these comments.
She makes a reference to Ser Duncan the Tall, a figure who appeared heavily in Martin’s story Tales of Dunk and Egg, which came out before A Game of Thrones. Hidden nuances like this helped to further fill out the fantasy universe and give the show a sense of a larger timeline.
7. The Bath of Daenerys Targaryen
Returning to the pilot for a moment, the opening few moments with Daenerys Targaryen include plenty of foreshadowing for her incredible character arc. Dany is clearly better qualified to reign than Viserys, as any observer can see. However, casual viewers may not realize the full significance of her bath.
She was never troubled by the excessive heat in the first place. Dany enters the bath despite its extreme heat and is completely unconcerned. On first glance, she appears to be oblivious to her current position. It is, however, a clever piece of foreshadowing for how Dany would be able to walk through flames.
6. Foreshadowing Braavos
Season one foreshadows not just Daenerys’ fiery resolve, but also other elements of future seasons. In “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things,” Arya’s upcoming arc with the Faceless Men of Braavos is alluded to when Doreah speaks of one of the men.
She claims to have seen a man who could alter his face as quickly as some people can change their clothes. Fans of the program will recognize this as an obvious reference on a rewatch. But it’s a buried component of world building and soon-to-come character arcs the first time through.
5. The Cell Membrane
Sky Cell Tyrion It remains to be seen if the characters in Game of Thrones have cell walls because if they exist in a different universe, they might not necessarily be human. However, there is one cell wall that is undeniably true: Tyrion Lannister’s cell wall.
When he is in the sky cell in “The Wolf and the Lion,” writing can be seen on the wall that reads, “Gods save me, the blue is calling.” This is a quote featured in the books, as well, and it is an obvious reference to the immense danger that one would find himself in if he was in a sky cell.
4. We Have Arrived
While some house mottos can get easily muddled (do the Lannisters always pay their debts or are they more known for their proclivity to roar?), the motto of House Mormont is as stoic as the people who populate the house.
“Here We Stand” is what the Mormonts stand by and it is also verbiage that is used when Jorah Mormont stands by the dragon eggs. Viserys, in “A Golden Crown,” moves for the eggs, but Jorah blocks his way and remarks, “Here I stand.” He’s undoubtedly a man of honor and a Mormont.
3. Dead Stags
Game of Thrones is heavy on the symbolism and this largely comes through with the animals who represent each house. For House Baratheon, the animal is a stag and numerous dead stags throughout the first season spell out doom for the family.
For example, in the pilot, a stag is seen with a direwolf as the two creatures killed one another, hinting towards bad blood between the Starks and Baratheons. Likewise, in “You Win or You Die,” Tywin Lannister skins and butchers a stag, foreshadowing his decimation of House Baratheon.
2. A Wilhelm Scream
Ned Stark in Baelor What beloved, long-running genre story on screen would be complete without a Wilhelm scream? The team behind Game of Thrones decided to include one in the first season’s most famous and penultimate episode, “Baelor.”
When the skirmish between the Lannisters and the Starks dies down about forty-five minutes into the duration of the episode, the scream can be distinctly heard in the background of the scene. It’s a fun inclusion in a show that is so distinctly distant from common tropes of Hollywood. A true hidden detail, a Wilhelm scream is always welcome once during a film or series.
1. Lord Bush
In the Red Keep in the episode, “Fire and Blood,” there are myriad heads placed onto spikes by the petulant Joffrey. (Spoiler alert for people who have somehow read this far and avoided season one spoilers over the past decade.) One of these heads obviously belongs to Ned Stark. However, one head is reminiscent of another famous leader.
A head on a spike was modeled after former President George W. Bush. Following a predictable backlash, the episode was digitally re-edited and changed for subsequent releases of the season one finale installment.
