Travy1991

Absolutely, I agree with this! The showrunners don't seem to put a lot of thought into the timeline and have kept the childrens' ages ambiguous, likely so they don't get in trouble with the censors. In terms of timeline, the show has many cliffhangers and fast-paced plotlines that seem to take place over a short period of time. But we also need to consider that the characters are travelling across whole continents, which would take months. The direwolves and dragons also grow exponentially every season. The writers overuses the term "fortnight" - "we'll be there in a fortnight", "Tommen can marry Margaery in a fortnight!", "Bring Gregor Clegane before me in a fortnight!" Even though it defies some of the logic, I always treat each season as taking place over the course 9 - 11 months with short gaps between seasons. It explains how all the cast look noticeably older every year, as well as the dragons. And when I talk about the cast looking older, I'm not just talking about the (former) child actors. I'm also talking about Kit Harrington (Jon Snow) and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) who don't look like the late teens they were supposed to be at the start of the show (they didn't even look like 16 - 19 years olds then). When the first season aired, external information said that Robb and Jon were 17 (the show takes place seventeen years after the Rebellion), Sansa was 13, Arya was 11, Bran was 10 and Rickon was 6. Dany's age was kept ambiguous. In the books, she's a year younger than Robb and Jon but there's nothing to say the TV show couldn't make her the same age as them considering they could have all been born within short months of each other, during Robert's Rebellion. Sansa says she's 14 in Season 3 to Tyrion but she could have been lying to emphasise how young she was or close to 15, going in tune with one year per season. Joffrey is stated to be 17 in Season 2. Loras says Tommen is 8 in Season 1 to Renly but Loras may have just been exaggerating. I always thought the actor playing Tommen looked close in age to the actor playing Bran so I would say he's 10 like Bran. The actress that played Myrcella also looked older than Arya. I believe both Myrcella actresses are both younger than Maisie Williams (Arya) but Williams is pretty baby-faced so I can buy Arya as a year younger than Myrcella. Here's how I think the ages are: Robb: S1 (16 - 17); S2 (17 - 18); S3 (18 - 19) Jon: S1 (16 - 17); S2 (17 - 18); S3 (18 - 19); S4 (19 - 20); S5 (20 - 21) Daenerys: S1 (16 - 17); S2 (17 - 18); S3 (18 - 19); S4 (19 - 20); S5 (20 - 21) Sansa: S1 (12 - 13); S2 (13 - 14); S3 (14 - 15); S4 (15 - 16); S5 (16 - 17) Arya: S1 (10 - 11); S2 (11 - 12); S3 (12 - 13); S4 (13 - 14); S5 (14 - 15) Bran: S1 (9 - 10); S2 (10 - 11); S3 (11 - 12); S4 (12 - 13); S5 (13 - 14 offscreen) Rickon: S1 (6 - 7); S2 (7 - 8); S3 (8 - 9); S4 (9 - 10 offscreen); S5 (10 - 11 offscreen) Joffrey: S1 (15 - 16); S2 (16 - 17); S3 (17 - 18); S4 (18 - 19) Myrcella: S1 (11 - 12); S2 (12 - 13); S3 (13 - 14 offscreen); S4 (14 - 15 offscreen); S5 (15 - 16) Tommen: S1 (9 - 10); S2 (10 - 11); S3 (11 - 12 offscreen); S4 (12 - 13); S5 (13 - 14)

Common folk in the Seven Kingdoms have no last names. If you are a bastard and acknowledged by your noble parent(s), then you receive a bastard surname. This indicates you are of noble birth but have no rights to your House lands or inheritance and are hence stigmatised. Robert didn't even know Gendry existed (and if he did, ignored him) so Gendry was left unacknowledged and has no last name (house name or bastard name). As for bastard surnames, there are nine...one for each region of the Seven Kingdoms. Bastard surnames are as follows: The North: Snow The Iron Islands: Pyke The Vale: Stone The Westerlands: Hill The Riverlands: Rivers The Crownlands: Waters The Reach: Flowers The Stormlands: Storm Dorne: Sand

Yes to any of the Unspoiled people out there, never ever read the YouTube comments. Sadly, a large group of the A Song of Ice and Fire fanbase love to spoil the books for the uninitiated and YouTube is one of their favourite places to do so. Those above videos are great though if you want to get caught up. If you do have a Blu-ray player and some spare cash though, please buy them. Just to show your appreciation for all the work the Game of Thrones people put into the show and supplementary material.

Yeah The War of the Roses was a clear inspiration for the story. I must check out The White Queen - I remember it being advertised a couple of months ago. There's some macabre Scottish history in Game of Thrones too. The Red Wedding seems to have been inspired by the Black Dinner. Of course, the show dialed up the events of the Black Dinner to the eleven!

I'm going to answer this above question from another thread, asked by Isazouzi here: http://forums.previously.tv/topic/6191-s04e05-first-of-his-name/page-2. George R.R. Martin used many influences in creating the world of Game of Thrones which can be seen in the show. The Wars of the Roses played a large influence in his work as did medieval society. I'm no expert on the Wars of the Roses but here are some of the ways in which real-world medieval cultures and structures influenced his world. Westeros: The Wall was very much inspired by Hadrian's Wall which separated the north of England from Scotland. The lands beyond The Wall are roughly analogous to Scotland while The North is roughly analogous to the north of England. The Iron Islands with its seafaring, violent people are somewhat similar to Vikings and the Iron Islands share similarities with Scandinavia. Dan and David have stated on DVD commentaries that The Vale was somewhat analogous to Wales with its mountains and valleys. The Reach is somewhat similar to France as they have many vineyards there and the people are that little bit more liberal as evidenced by Olenna Tyrell's relaxed attitude towards Loras' "sword swallowing" tendencies. The Crownlands are roughly analogous to the south of England with King's Landing being a loose interpretation of medieval London or Paris. Dorne has clear Spanish analogies as evidenced by the Dornish on the show being of real-world Latin ethnicity and speaking in Spanish accents. With the rest of the regions of Westeros is a bit of guess work. I think The Westerlands share similarities with the West Country of England with its vast mining resources. The Stormlands seem to share similarities with northern and eastern continental Europe, heavily forested, cooler climate and coastal (I'm thinking Germany and The Baltic States). The Riverlands seem roughly analogous to Ireland because the show is shot in Ireland but also because it was often attacked by outside forces, has many rivers and lands that range from fertile to hilly and because Michelle Fairley seems to maintain a slight bit of her Irish accent too (although accents on the show are pretty inconsistent overall). Essos: Essos' Free Cities seem to be inspired by medieval cities as opposed to countries. Pentos, which we seen in the first episode, was made to have certain Grecian elements, which would suggest it shares similarities to Athens. The Dothraki are loosely based off Mongols. Slaver's Bay seems to share similarities to Persia and North Africa, specifically the pyramids seen in Meereen. Qarth seems roughly inspired by the Middle-East and the sub-continent. I get a Babylonian vibe from Qarth for sure. The actors playing Shae and Jaqen are both from Germany and come from Lorath, a free city, on the show. I'd imagine Lorath must be inspired by some German city. Sothoryos: Sothoryos is a third continent that can be seen briefly south of Essos in the opening credits. The Summer Isles and Naath are two islands/island groups that lie off the coast of Sothoryos. Grey Worm and Xaro Xhoan Daxos are from the Summer Isles and Missandei is from Naath. Sothoryos seems to be inspired by central and southern Africa. Of course, none of these regions are supposed to be strong analogies of any specific country or city. Martin just took some influences of different historical cultures and lands and mixed them together, adding sprinkles of fantasy. The lands beyond The Wall may share similarities to the Picts of Scotland but these lands are large and have arctic temperatures similar to Canada and the people similarities with Inuits. King's Landing may share similarities to medieval London and Paris but it has a much warmer climate. Dorne appears to have some Arabian influences. Meereen shares similarities to the Incans and the Mayans too. Nothing is a direct copy and paste but it's fun to speculate what influenced Martin as well as the writers, costume designers, location scouts, art directors and set designers in creating this fantasy universe roughly inspired by our own historical one.

Sure, I created a brand new thread for any questions you might have about the background history, mythology and geography of Westeros and Essos while still remaining in the dark about future events. You can read my response here: http://forums.previously.tv/topic/6804-history-and-geography-of-game-of-thrones-supplementary-show-spoilers-only/

This thread is predominantly for non book readers who are interested in learning some background information provided by the show/HBO/DVDs/BluRays ONLY. Book readers are welcome to join in but No Book references at all please (even spoiler tagged ones). Game of Thrones is a massively complex show with its own detailed geography, history and genealogy. It is so complex that the show often can't go into great detail about this information and it may leave some viewers confused or wanting to know just a little more. This thread intends to help show-only viewers with various background information that has been provided via HBO and which the show itself may or may not reveal in the future. We are only going to talk about historical events or cultures that have been touched on briefly in the show such as the history of the Seven Kingdoms (examples: Robert's Rebellion, the creation of the Wall, the difference between the Andals and the First Men) or the complicated family tree of House Targaryen (Is Rhaegar Dany's brother/uncle/cousin?) or where everything is in Essos (how far away is Braavos from Qarth etc).

No, Shae is from Lorath, which is one of the Free Cities. Westeros is roughly the same shape as South America but based on medieval European countries, specifically Britain with elements of Ireland, France, Spain and Northern/Eastern Europe. Essos is roughly the same shape as Eurasia. Essos is roughly based off historic Southern European city states, parts of Asia and North Africa. I would really recommend buying the Blu-rays of all three seasons if you can and watching the Histories and Lores videos because they reveal so much about the worlds of Westeros and Essos. If you can't afford them or you're just a cheapskate, you can also watch them on YouTube. Here's a breakdown of Essos as shown from the supplementary maps. The spoiler tag below indicates SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION that the show has provided on the history and geography of Westeros and Essos. It does not spoil future events from the book but it may touch on background information which may or may not be revealed at a later date in the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD-eFSQD7Mw Nope, she just says she's 14.

I think Sansa said she was 14 in "Second Sons" when Tyrion asked her for her age. That could still mean she was turning 15 later that year. I doubt the show is following my timeline but it makes sense that each season takes place over the course of the year. I wonder do the showrunners spend much time focusing on timelines? There were a couple of criticisms about how Littlefinger "teleported" around the Westeros in Season 2...from King's Landing to Storm's End to the Stark camp to Harrenhal and then back to King's Landing again.

In my mind, a year passes with every season of the television show. In the first season; Sansa was confirmed as being aged 13, Bran aged 10 and Arya is about 11. Now that we're in the fourth season; I see Sansa as 16, Arya as 14 and Bran at about 13. If that's the case, Sophie Turner was only about a year older than her character when filming the fourth season. I've actually been working out a show timeline. It's not terribly precise and I'm not attempting to be hugely accurate or anything but I'm up to Episode 4 of Season 1 and I can see about 8 months passing in just the first four episodes! In my mind, travelling distance on foot/horseback from The Wall to Winterfell is about a month. From Winterfell to King's Landing, about two months (the halfway location between these two destinations would be the Crossroads Inn). The way I've worked out is something like this: The show starts in 300AL in my mind. I know the books begin in 298AL and we're only up to 300AL now with the fifth one but I think 300AL (the beginning of a new century) is a good starting point for the show. Below I've included my idea of a breakdown. I've put in our months in place of whatever George's system is (George has stated that Westeros has a 12 month cycle like our own but they probably aren't named the same way, i.e. January to December but that's what I'm using here). January 300AL: Gared, Will and Waymar travel north of The Wall. They encounter the White Walkers and somehow Will survives. February 300AL: It takes Will about a month to get from the Haunted Forest to Winterfell on foot. Ned executes him, returns to Winterfell and hears of Jon Arryn's death. Catelyn tells him the king is coming to Winterfell. April 300AL: Robert and the Lannisters arrive in Winterfell, having begun their journey from King's Landing in February 300AL. I know Cersei states in this episode that they've been riding for over a month but I'd place it around two because...have you seen a map of the Seven Kingdoms? There's a huge distance between Winterfell and King's Landing particularly if you consider the leisurely pace that the Queen and her children were riding at. During "April", Bran would have discovered the twincest, been pushed out the window and Ned would have taken the Hand of the King job. He sets out for King's Landing with Sansa and Arya while Jon, Benjen and Tyrion head for The Wall. At the end of the month, Bran is almost assassinated and Catelyn makes the decision to go to King's Landing with Ser Rodrik Cassel. Meanwhile across the Narrow Sea, Dany is introduced to Drogo and they get married. May 300AL: Jon arrives at Castle Black and doesn't fit in so well. In Essos, Dany is also having a hard time until Doreah shows her how to assert herself in the bedroom and then Stockholm Syndrome kicks in (or at least Dany makes the best of a bad situation). Meanwhile, the king's party stop at the Crossroads Inn. Joffrey acts like a little bitch, Arya is awesome, Mycah gets run down by The Hound and poor Lady gets butchered on orders from Cersei. :( Bran wakes up from his coma. June 300AL: Ned arrives in King's Landing and joins the Small Council. Catelyn arrives in King's Landing and Littlefinger plants the seeds to start a war. Catelyn then heads back to Winterfell after saying goodbye to Ned (for the last time *sniff*) Arya meets and learns how to "dance" from Syrio Forel. Tyrion and Yoren leave The Wall. Dany discovers that she is pregnant at the very end of this month. July 300AL: The tourney for Ned's appointment as Hand of the King begins. Ned starts snooping around and finds Gendry. Tyrion arrives in Winterfell and gives Bran a saddle. Dany stands up to Viserys and gives him a good whack in the face. Sam arrives at Castle Black. August 300AL: Catelyn has arrived at the Crossroads Inn (she and Rodrick probably did so leisurely which is why it took two months). They bump into Tyrion who has arrived at the Crossroads Inn. Catelyn calls on her father's bannermen to seize Tyrion. *headdesk* And as you can see, it's not out of the question that a season of the show can take place over a whole year as that's just four episodes. Events should speed up considerably with the next six episodes. The one season over a year can certainly explain how the kids keep growing (Sophie and Maisie are probably at that age where they're done growing but Isaac will probably still continue to shoot up and mature) and it also explains the huge growth spurt the dragons took from the Season 3 finale to the Season 4 premiere. Really, I don't think the showrunners (or maybe even Martin) have put a huge amount of effort into making an accurate timeline. They're just doing what can service the plot best.