Winter has come and is almost gone! The 8 season long run of television’s most watched show is coming to an end on this Sunday (Monday for us). And what a ride it has been.
From Ned stark to the Red Wedding, we have literally seen it all. But it can be a little confusing to remember everything Game of Thrones has thrown at you. And a lot of the storylines have either finished, or become completely irrelevant. Which means you probably have some random useless information about this one scene. Or maybe you haven’t seen Game of Thrones and want to be part of this grand experience. So just to make sure you know everything you need to know, we have compiled a list of all the important things you need to know about Game of Thrones; Also, before I go any further, spoilers ahead; Where the show is set
Let’s start with the most obvious of question, where is this show even set. Game of Thrones is basically set in the Middle Ages, except in this world there’s magic. That means that dragons are real and witches can bring people back from the dead. And zombies. But most of that is gone. There is just the one dragon left. Everyone lives on Westeros in castles and fiefdoms. There are other places, but Westeros is where all the important things are happening. The Iron Throne
You know the name of the show? This is that throne. It’s made of swords, which is nice. Nearly all the characters are trying to be the ruler of Westeros, which is the basic premise of the show. But most of them die, so they don’t matter. Here are the only ones who do: Daenerys, the Mad Queen
They call her the Mother of Dragons because she has a dragon. She had more, but they all died. But one is still a lot of dragons. Daenerys’s father used to rule once, but he went mad and was killed. Daenerys has been trying to take the Iron Throne over the course of the series and has talked a big game about bringing about a fairer and more just era of rule once she does, but it doesn’t seem like things will ever actually go that way. She went on a rampage last episode, burning a ton of innocent townspeople alive after they surrendered to her, and basically proved that she’s just like her father. Jon Snow, the one who knows nothing
Jon is the sulky, curly-haired guy that you have seen in all the memes, or at least his name. He died once, but then came back to life. He’s also a bastard who secretly has royal blood and is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, because his dad is Rhaegar Targaryen, Daenerys’s much older brother. Everyone loves Jon and wants him to be the king but he’s just not that into the idea of it. He fell in love with Daenerys, but then it turned out she was his aunt. That’s not actually a huge deal, since families bang each other pretty often in this show, but it is a big deal that she snapped and killed a bunch of people last episode and is evil now or something. Now, Jon will presumably have to kill her. Tyrion Lannister, everyone’s favorite
Tyrion has consistently been the greatest character on Game of Thrones. But he has pissed off Daenerys one too many times and Daenerys has gotten into this bad habit of killing literally everyone with dragon fire. This doesn’t look like good news to him or his many fans, so just be prepared for some rage on twitter. Sansa and Arya Stark, proving why sisterhood is awesome
Sansa and Arya are Jon’s sisters/cousins and they’re the only smart people left in the show. Sansa went from a spoilt, weak girl to a strong confident leader. Arya, on the other hand, became a shapeshifting assassin. She was the one who killed those zombies. They both mistrusted Daenerys. They both were right. Bran, Professor X
The poor boy has spent most of the shows arch unable to walk, but he becomes this magical creature called the 3 eyed raven and now he can see the future. However, he is massively underused at point, which doesn’t make sense. Like couldn’t he have gone to Daenerys and been like, “I see the future, I know what you going to do, don’t do it.” Will Bran actually do anything in the finale? Will he finally put his superpowers to actual, productive use? These are the kinds of things people who watch Game of Thrones care about. The Valonqar Prophecy
For the last few years, everyone pored over the intricacies of this prophecy but then the last episode came along. The prophecy was about Cersei’s life and how she would died by the hands of her younger brother. She has two; Tyrion and her lover and younger Twin Jaime. She did end up dying IN Jaime’s hands, not by them. But the point is that the show throws random information that doesn’t matter, like they did with this. So be prepared. Congratulations! You can now become an active participant in the cultural zeitgeist. None of this will matter in two weeks when Game of Thrones is off the air and everyone has moved on. Enjoy!