game of thrones

The fantasy series Game of Thrones gets millions of viewers every single time an episode airs. Plot twists spur online debates and theories predicting what the future holds for their favourite characters. This excitement is expected with other television shows, but there are signs that Game of Thrones fans are different from the rest.

Fans will travel across the world just to get a small taste of Westeros.

The mystical world of Westeros isn’t real, but that doesn’t stop fans from planning vacations to places that remind them of the show. They book flights to locations where the cast and crew filmed their favourite episodes, just so they can set foot in the same stony streets that they witnessed on their TV screens.

Some go to Croatia to winding streets of Dubrovnik, which stands in for the capital King’s Landing. Others fly to Belfast in Northern Ireland to walk through twisted trees of the show’s Kingsroad. The other stunning real-world places Game of Thrones fans can visit are Iceland which is the backdrop for North of the Wall and Spain for its long list of portrayals — the country has acted as a set for Dorne, Casterly Rock and Highgarden.

This can be an unfortunate situation for fans that don’t have the budget to visit extravagant destinations. One solution for people who worship the show but don’t want to break the bank is offered by the website Game of Canada — they have compiled a thoughtful list of locations across the country that perfectly match the settings in the show. If you can’t afford a trip to Europe, go to towering castles of Quebec City or the forests of British Columbia.

People are buying huskies more than ever.

Viewers admire the direwolves of the Stark family so much that they have tried to get ones of their own. The closest equivalent of these enormous fictional canines that they could get were from the husky breed.  

What many didn’t expect from their impulsive purchases is that pet ownership can be very difficult. As an animal rights activist and as the actor who plays Tyrion Lannister on the show, Peter Dinklage spoke out against buying huskies as replacement direwolves — he asked that fans adopt their pets from shelters instead of from breeders and to only do so if they’re serious about the responsibility.  

Sometimes fans lash out at the creators.

Normally the adoration for the TV and book series is a wonderful thing that brings people together, but sometimes their devotion to the show can have a darker side. The most notable case of the obsession going too far is when fans bully George RR Martin for not writing the next installment of the series fast enough — they send the author comments online trying to push him into working on the manuscript.

The viewers obviously can’t get enough of the characters, the creatures and the captivating cities of the show. They’re determined to bring these portions of Westeros into the rea-world and insert just a little more magic into their daily lives.