Top 35 Trivia Items from "Game of Thrones"

Iwan Rheon was the primary runner-up to play Jon Snow, but was later cast as Ramsay Bolton.

Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark, says that fans often ask her to recite the list of names Arya always recites before sleeping - the names of the persons in the series who have injured Arya or her family and who Arya intends to kill - and to insert the fan's name into the list.

No character appears in every episode, and only three characters have appeared in every episode of a given season: Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) and Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon) appeared in every episode of the first season, and Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) appeared in every episode of the second and fifth seasons.

Natural brunette, Emilia Clarke has stated that she has never dyed her hair for the show. Daenerys Targaryen's impressive blond locks are achieved via an elaborate wig and makeup system that takes considerable time to get into place.

Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon) received a letter from author George R.R. Martin after the show aired, stating "Congratulations on your marvelous performance, everyone hates you!"

The first season premiered on Sean Bean's birthday (April 17th).

Maester Aemon of the Night's Watch is revealed to be blind in the novels. He is played by Peter Vaughan, who is legally partially blind himself.

Cersei Lannister and Tyrion Lannister loathe each other. In real life, Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage are very close friends and live together during filming.

Sri Lankan Cricket legend Mahela Jayawardene named his first daughter "Sansa Arya Jayawardene", after the two daughters of House Stark.

A replica of Gandalf's sword, Glamdring, from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Hobbit trilogy, is forged inside the Iron Throne.

The character Joffrey Baratheon is modeled after the Roman emperor Caligula who was reputed to be extremely cruel and sadistic during his four-year reign.

This is the first TV series in history to be screened in IMAX theaters.

Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) was doused in so much fake blood during one scene that she got stuck to a toilet seat during a break.

In June 2014 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited the sets at Paint Hall Studios in Belfast as part of a three day visit to Northern Ireland. They met members of the cast and crew and were presented with a miniature version of the Iron Throne. Elizabeth was offered the chance to sit on the Iron Throne but declined. Maisie Williams later remarked on the visit, "I did not get the impression she is a fan" as the Queen was unaware of her role on the series. In a monarch, it a general rule that a person who is of royalty, at the very least, king and queen, do not sit on a throne that is not theirs.

George R.R. Martin was inspired to write the novel series "A Song of Ice and Fire" after years of writing for restrictive television budgets, and deliberately wrote the series to be nearly unfilmable. After the success of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Martin was approached to license the novels into a series of films, one project was proposed using only Daenerys Targaryen's story line, and another project proposed only including the conflict between the Starks and Lannisters.

The showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss said the production of the show is a massive undertaking. The production lasts the entire year and they shoot the show like a 10-hour movie. Season 5 alone was shot in 5 countries, on 151 sets, for 240 days, having 166 cast members, over 1,000 crew members and over 5,000 extras.

Author George R.R. Martin did not write an episode for the fifth or sixth seasons because he was busy focusing on finishing the sixth book of the series, "The Winds of Winter".

Daenerys Targaryen's dragons are named Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion. Each one is named after someone she has lost in her life: Drogon, the largest dragon with black/red scales, is named after her husband Khal Drogo; Rhaegal, who has green/bronze scales, is named after Daenerys' brother Rhaegar Targaryen, who was killed by Robert Baratheon during Robert's Rebellion; Viserion, the cream/gold scaled dragon, is named after Daenerys' abusive brother Viserys Targaryen. She claimed that she named her dragon this because "Viserys was cruel and weak and frightened, yet he was my brother still. My dragon will do what he could not."

With winning a total of 12 Emmys in 2015, the show took home more Emmys in a single year than any other show, surpassing "The West Wing (1999)" (9).

As of 2014, it is the most watched HBO TV-Series of all time, with an average viewership of 16.1 million (Season 4), slightly ahead of a record which was previously held by "The Sopranos (1999)".

In the year 2012, over 160 baby girls in the U.S. were legally named "Khaleesi", after the character in the show, although it is not the character's name (Daenerys Targaryen) but a title.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who plays the 13-year-old character Jojen Reed, was 22 when cast in the role.

Merited the dubious distinction of the most pirated TV show of 2014 for the third consecutive year, ahead of "The Walking Dead (2010)" and "The Big Bang Theory (2007)".

Charles Dance dressed an actual stag carcass on-camera for Tywin Lannister's first scene. Dance was shown the procedure the previous day by a butcher.

Northern Ireland tourist board do a sight seeing tour to a lot of the filming locations.

The series takes its name from the first novel in the book series - "A Game of Thrones" - which is actually known as "A Song of Ice and Fire". George R.R. Martin's story credit acknowledges the entire series under this title, rather than the title of individual volumes.

Natalie Dormer claims that she only reads the script to the extent that is absolutely necessary for her role, so she can enjoy watching the completed episodes on TV when they air without spoiling them.

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson was the third actor to take on the role of Gregor 'The Mountain' Clegane (aka "The Mountain"), a role previously played by Conan Stevens in the first season, and Ian Whyte in the second season. Whyte had a brief appearence in the third season premiere, though as a different character - Wun Wun.

Producer David Benioff wanted the theme song to be the Lannister song "The Rains of Castamere". Co-producer D.B. Weiss convinced him not to do it.

Author George R.R. Martin was asked if he had a resolution or ending to the seemingly endless conflict. He jokingly replied that the next book would just be a description of a cloud of dust or snow being driven by the wind across a vast graveyard full of tombstones.

The official words of House Lannister "Hear Me Roar!" are seldom mentioned. Their unofficial motto "A Lannister always pays his debts" is often used, mostly in negative context, meaning that Lannisters always repay unkindness with unkindness.

Each season shoots annually from July to December. Two units, the 'Wolf' and the 'Dragon', shoot concurrently in various countries.

Charles Dance finds Lord Tywin Lannister's appalling treatment of his son awful. He remarks that it's hard for him to mistreat a nice man like Peter Dinklage.

The "Game of Thrones (2011)" title sequence introduces every episode and changes depending on the locations visited in that particular episode. One anomaly is that of Castle Black, which despite never being shown throughout Season 2 is still featured in the title sequences. As of Season 5, no locations north of The Wall have been featured.