"Winter is coming."
Game of Thrones - Easter Eggs & Hidden Details
Easter Eggs
A replica of Gandalf's sword, Glamdring, from the <i>Lord of the Rings</i> film trilogy is one of the many swords forged into the Iron Throne.
This is a nod to the fantasy genre's roots and J.R.R. Tolkien's immense influence on George R.R. Martin's work and the fantasy genre as a whole.
In the unaired pilot and early DVD releases of Season 1, one of the severed heads on a spike at King's Landing was a prop of former U.S. President George W. Bush.
The creators stated it was not a political statement but a matter of using available props. However, it caused controversy, and HBO apologized and digitally removed it from subsequent broadcasts and productions.
During a scene in Season 4, a Meereenese champion shouts insults at Daenerys in Low Valyrian. The insults are direct quotes from the French taunter in <i>Monty Python and the Holy Grail</i>, including "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
This is a humorous inside joke, as the show's creators are fans of the British comedy troupe. Several other Monty Python references can be found throughout the series.
In Season 4, Littlefinger tells Robin Arryn, "People die at their dinner tables, they die in their beds, they die squatting over their chamber pots."
This line directly foreshadowed the three major deaths of that season: Joffrey (at his wedding feast), Shae (in a bed), and Tywin (on a chamber pot).
Ed Sheeran has a cameo as a Lannister soldier in Season 7, singing a song. The character is later mentioned in Season 8 as having had his face burned off during a dragon attack.
The cameo was arranged as a surprise for Maisie Williams, who is a big fan of the singer. The character's grim fate was a meta-joke acknowledging the mixed-to-negative fan reaction to his appearance.