The Iron Throne

About

The Iron Throne is the royal seat of the King of the Seven Kingdoms in the fictional universes of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and the HBO drama series adaptation Game of Thrones. Due to its symbolic significance in both versions of the series, the throne has been often parodied by the fans and incorporated into crossover fan art featuring characters from other fictional universes.

Origin

On January 14th, 2011, HBO’s official YouTube channel^[3] released a preview trailer for Game of Thrones in which nearly every central character is shown sitting on the Iron Throne, along with their secret ambitions narrated in voiceover. In the months leading up to the series premiere on April 17th, 2011, the Iron Throne became heavily employed in promotional posters, trailers and other marketing stunts.

The first known fanmade parody of the Iron Throne appeared in a webcomic by brokecomics^[5] on July 8th, 2011. Cleverly titled "Throne of Games, the comic featured Ned Stark dressed as a video gamer sitting on a throne made of various controllers.

In Canon

In George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, the Iron Throne is described as the royal seat upon which the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, or the King's Hand in his absence, sits. The throne, which is said to be made from 1,000 swords welded into the form of a chair with dragon’s fire,^[2] also serves as a coveted symbol of power for those seeking the throne, similar to the depiction of the One Ring in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Spread

On December 4th, 2011, The Simpsons^[1] included a scene parodying the Iron Throne in the episode titled "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution," in which at least five identical looking thrones are briefly depicted in the background.

On June 1st, 2012, DeviantArt^[4] user WirdouDesigns uploaded a picture titled "The Iron Throne" which featured an iron sitting on the Iron Throne. As of April 2014, the art has gained over 4,000 views.

On March 3rd, 2014, Parks and Recreation uploaded a deleted scene from the previous week's episode "Anniversaries" which shows Ben, a known diehard fan of Game of Thrones, turning manic with excitement after being presented with a replica of the throne by his wife Leslie. As of April 2014, the video has over 85,000 views.

On March 10th, Grumpy Cat's official Twitter account^[6] tweeted a picture of her sitting in the Iron Throne at the SXSW festival. The picture received over 1,500 retweets and over 1,400 favorites as of April 2014.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References