The everything-you-missed, wanted-to-know-more-about, and can’t-get-enough guide to the Game of Thrones television series—from the first episode to the epic finale. Valar morghulis! Spanning every episode across all eight seasons, INSIDER ’s entertainment correspondent Kim Renfro goes deep into how the show was made, why it became such a phenomenon and explores every detail you want to know. It’s the perfect book to look back at all you may have missed or to jump-start you on a second viewing of the whole series. As an entertainment correspondent, Renfro has covered the show’s premieres, broken down key details in scenes, explored characters’ histories, and interviewed the cast, directors, and crew. In this book, she sheds new light on the themes, storylines, character development, the meaning of the finale, and what you can expect next. Some of the questions answered here include: What was the Night King’s ultimate purpose? How did the show effect George R.R. Martin’s ability to finish the book series? Why were the final seasons shorter? Why did the direwolves get shortchanged? How were the fates of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen foretold from the start? Was that really a bittersweet ending? Winter may have come and gone, but there is still plenty to discover and obsess over in this behind-the-scenes fan guide to the Game of Thrones HBO series. “An enjoyable and thought-provoking overview of a landmark television series.” ― Publishers Weekly “Kim Renfro’s The Unofficial Guide to Game of Thrones is a fantastic companion book for every Game of Thrones- obsessed fan, going into incredible, hitherto-unseen detail on how an ‘unfilmable’ series of books were adapted into the most famous television show of the 2010s. From casting decisions to adaptation choices to costuming and the future of Westeros on the small screen, Kim engages these topics with incredible passion and deep insight that will thrill the most casual fan of the show to the most engaged Thrones fanatic.” -- Jeff Hartline, a.k.a. BryndenBFish, founder of the Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire blog and cohost of the NotACast Podcast Kim Renfro is an entertainment correspondent and Game of Thrones expert for INSIDER. She has also moderated panels for the annual Con of Thrones fan convention and been a guest on many GoT-themed podcasts. She lives in Los Angeles. T he Unofficial Guide to Game of Thrones is her first book. Chapter One: The Great Divide CHAPTER ONE The GREAT DIVIDE On the night of June 2, 2013, a chasm of pain and misery materialized in front of an unsuspecting television audience. Millions of Game of Thrones fans had spent more than two years obsessing over the grim politics of Westeros and falling in love with knights and lords and ladies and outcasts alike. They hadn’t noticed HBO was barreling them toward a cliff’s edge the whole time, like lambs to the slaughter. But the rest of us knew, and sat back, popcorn in hand and camera phones out, to watch the blood spill and the tears flow. “Red Wedding” is such an innocuous phrase. It means nothing. But now it means everything to Game of Thrones fans. Ever since that fated night, this pair of words has taken on a cultural weight almost no other television show in history can lift. Author George R. R. Martin had changed fantasy storytelling long before he turned his story over to David Benioff and D. B. Weiss so they could change television. But on that June night, the entire world was finally fully clued-in on the mastery that is Game of Thrones . The invisible rift that had sat between the book-readers and show-watchers was stitched back together. From then on, we entered a new phase of pop culture. There was everything before the Red Wedding, and then everything after. There was a past when Game of Thrones might have been lost in the shuffle of prestige television’s heyday, and the future where HBO’s big risk on a fantasy series would be remembered as one of the greatest decisions ever made in Hollywood. The novels in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) series were already topping bestseller charts before Game of Thrones came along. But tens of millions more people would not have known the stories of Daenerys Targaryen, the Unburnt and Mother of Dragons, or of Jon Snow, the secret Targaryen prince kept hidden in plain sight, if it weren’t for David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Those fans wouldn’t have shed tears over the execution of Lord Eddard Stark, nor sat, mouths agape, as they realized his son and wife, Robb and Catelyn, were doomed as well. When HBO announced the episode titles for the third Game of Thrones season, Martin’s longtime readers knew at once what was coming. The ninth episode was called “The Rains of Castamere,” the name of the infamously ominous Lannister song. The lyrics of “The Rains of Castamere” tell the story of Lord Tywin crushing a lesser house beneath his heel when they dared challenge the Lannisters of Caste