Game of Thrones is one of the TV shows that is hard, if not impossible, to ignore. The sheer magnitude of the fictional world, the characters and the plot lines are enough to make anyone forget that real world exists. It is immersive, seductive and addictive, and there is no escaping it. To satisfy your appetite for this rich world of fantasy further we’ve listed down some interesting facts about Game of Thrones gathered from IMDB and various other sources. (Might contain spoilers!)

1 Both Rose Leslie and Kit Harington are descendants of King Charles II. 

Among all the cast of Game of Thrones, only Rose Leslie, who plays a wildling and not part of the knee-bending civilization, lived and grew up in an actual castle. She is also a descendant of Clan Fraser through her mother and belongs to Clan Leslie.

Harington is eight times the great grandson of King Charles II and his father is a baronet.(1, 2)

2 Hafþór Björnsson (the Mountain) was a baseball player weighing 230 pounds in 2008. Now he is 396 pounds and champion of many Strongest Man contests.

He took a break from basketball after having knee injuries and instead took on weight lifting. He can pull airplanes and 15 tons weighing trucks, runs with cars on his shoulders and even has a 1,000-year-old Viking record.(source)

3 Harry Lloyd who played Viserys Targaryen is Charles Dickens’ great great great grandson. 

4 Iwan Rheon based his character Ramsay Bolton on Heath Ledger’s Joker, Dennis the Menace and Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. 

The thing common among the three is that they are all unbearable in some way or another. The relevance can perhaps be easily found with Heath Ledger’s Joker. The delight Ramsay finds in torturing people for sport and the lack of empathy for others suffering are reminiscent of Joker in some form. The difference probably is that Joker is more nihilistic while Ramsay is sadistic.(source)

5 Tommen Baratheon is the seventh king to die in the show. A king per season has been killed since the beginning of the show, except in season 6 it was two.

The first king to die was Robert Baratheon who died after a hunting accident in season 1. The second was Renly Baratheon who died after a shadow sent by Melisandre stabs him in season 2. The third king Robb Stark dies at the Red Wedding in season 3. The fourth to die was Jeoffrey Baratheon at his own wedding from poison in season 4. The fifth king was Stannis Baratheon executed by Brienne of Tarth for killing Renly Baratheon in season 5. The sixth king was Balon Greyjoy thrown off a bridge by his younger brother Euron in season 6.(1, 2)

6 One of the swords in the Iron Throne is a replica of Glamdring, Gandalf’s sword from Lord of the Rings movies.