Music & Arts

Swedish ‘Game of Thrones’ Connections

Some of our favorite characters on the show are played by Scandinavia actors (hello, Kristofer Hivju), but we wanted to explore the HBO epic a little more to find out what Swedish connections we could make to the show. Here’s what we found.

A new kind of night watch

To promote the show’s final season, HBO hid Iron Thrones around the world, creating one of the most epic scavenger hunts ever, which it dubbed as “The Quest.” Josefin Vallenå recognized the Northern Lights and took a clue that referenced Tre Kronor to put the pieces together. She drove through the night and found her spot on the throne, which was nestled at a ski resort in Björkliden, Sweden. NPR has the details.

Get Gendry to make us an Allen wrench

We’re not entirely sure that the producers of talk shows realize that Game of Thrones isn’t Swedish given the amount of segments built around IKEA and GOT. First Ellen back in 2014 called an IKEA customer service representative to quiz him on IKEA furniture names, Swedish curse words and Game of Throne character names. Then leading up to season eight, Jimmy Fallon quizzed his audience on Game of Thrones characters, trying to trip them up with IKEA product names.

And on top of all of that, it made the rounds back in 2017 that Jon Snow’s iconic fur cloak was made from IKEA rugs. There’s even an article teaching you how to do the same (this was also mentioned to us on our tour of IKEA’s latest store opening).

Swedes get Emmy nominations

Max Von Sydow, who played the Three Eyed Raven, received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Even though Sydow is the only Swede in the series, Scandinavia is well represented among the cast.

Staking claim on a killer (web) domain

Westeros.org was launched by a Swedish couple, which claims the site is “the oldest, largest community and news source for GRRM’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ fantasy series and HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones.’” Radio Sweden has the scoop on the couple.