Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones refers both to the central metaphor of George R. R. Martin's saga A Song of Ice and Fire and to the acclaimed HBO television adaptation of those novels. The phrase describes the deadly contest among the great houses of Westeros for the Iron Throne and the rule of the Seven Kingdoms.

The Phrase

"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground." So Queen Cersei Lannister tells Eddard Stark in A Game of Thrones, the first novel of the series. The game of thrones is the web of plots, alliances, betrayals, marriages, and murders by which the lords and ladies of Westeros vie for power. It is a contest with the highest stakes, in which a single misstep can cost a player and their whole family their lives.

The Novel

A Game of Thrones (1996) is the first book of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. It introduces the Starks of Winterfell, the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, the exiled Targaryens across the Narrow Sea, and the gathering threats of both civil war and the supernatural Others beyond the Wall. It established the series' hallmark of unflinching realism, moral complexity, and a willingness to kill major characters.

The Television Series

Game of Thrones is also the title of the HBO television series (2011 to 2019) adapting the novels, developed by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. A global cultural phenomenon, the show brought the world of Westeros to an enormous audience and won numerous awards over its eight seasons, while diverging from and ultimately outpacing Martin's still-unfinished source novels.

Book canon note: this wiki gives priority to the novels and Fire & Blood / The World of Ice and Fire; the show is treated as a separate adaptation.