About This Quiz
George R. R. Martin made a very big and richly detailed world when he created the "Game of Thrones" universe and HBO breathed life into it in a way we could all see and almost feel a part of. And, in fact, we can actually go to a lot of those places in real life, too if you're the adventurous type. That's amazing! But before you go running off to visit everyplace from Belfast to Malta to Dubrovnik, you need to prove your geographical mettle when it comes to some of the most significant Westerosi landmarks from the show. That's right, we're not even crossing the Narrow Sea to Essos to give you the easy ones like Braavos and Qarth, not this time. This is just the Seven Kingdoms and the little stragglers attached to them. From the Land of Always Winter all the way down to Sunspear in Dorne, along the Kingsroad or the River Road, the Wolfswood to the Kingswood.
If you spent so much time in Westeros you feel like you could be a travel agent there, then this is the quiz for you. Pack up your House sigil and your favorite direwolf and give it your best shot.
Ancestral home of House Stark, Winterfell was the stronghold of the North. Because so much of the action takes place at Winterfell over every season of the show, filming locations were not stable. Winterfell was made up of a castle in Scotland, a couple of castles in Ireland, and soundstages in Belfast.
The Wall was said to be 300 miles long, 700 feet tall, and 8000 years old. All it took was one dragon and about 5 minutes of work to render the entire thing useless so that was a bit of a letdown, all things being equal.
Castle Black wasn't technically a real place like many other castles in the show. It was actually built by the production team in an old quarry north of Belfast in Ireland. The inside shots were all soundstage stuff, also in Belfast.
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Casterly Rock was filmed at a place called Trujillo Castle in part of Spain called Extremadura. That part of the world is known for a lot of really delicious foods like citrus, cheese and cured ham. No word on whether or not the Lannisters enjoyed any of that.
For the poorest part of town, a lot goes on in Flea Bottom. This is where Davos Seaworth says he's from and it's also where Gendry gets hidden away. Many of the scenes that are filmed here were shot in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
A lot of action takes place in King's Landing and a lot of locations were used to film it. In season one, it was partially filmed in Malta, but much of what we might recognize as King's Landing was the historic city of Dubrovnik in Croatia.
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Kingswood is the forest near King's Landing in which King Robert gets gored by a boar. It's supposed to cover the Kingsroad all the way from King's Landing to Storm's End and meet up with the Roseroad somewhere as well.
Craster's Keep is a weird place beyond the Wall where the Wildling Craster lives with his daughter/wives. He sacrifices all of his male children to the White Walkers and the Night King turns them into his kind in a creepy, deep forest ritual.
Thanks to so many adults in the Mormont line dying off, for a good portion of the series Lyanna Mormont, a 10-year-old girl, is the head of House Mormont on Bear island. On the upside, she's the toughest 10-year-old girl ever.
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Obviously the dragon-riding Targaryens call Dragonstone home. That just makes sense. Of course, once everyone thought the Targaryens were gone it was House Baratheon that took Dragonstone over, with Stannis living there for a time.
The Citadel is located in Oldtown and it's where you go to become a Maester. This is where Samwell Tarly spends some time training before heading back to the Wall. It's also where he cures Jorah Mormont of a previously incurable disease.
In an effort to save Brienne of Tarth, Lannister tells some of Bolton's men that she was from the Sapphire Islands and she was worth a lot in ransom if they didn't hurt her. After they're free, Brienne points out that there are no sapphires on Tarth, it's named for the color of the water.
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Despite no one having much faith in him succeeding on the field of battle, Tyrion Lannister threw down at the Battle of Blackwater Bay and used the nefarious weapon known as wildfire to set the bay on fire and take out much of Stannis's forces.
A good portion of the traveling in Westeros takes place on the Kingsroad because it'll take you all the way from Castle Black to King's Landing and then down south to Storm's End. It doesn't actually go to Winterfell, but it gets close.
Storm's End is where you'll end up if you follow the Kingsroad all the way to the end of the line. At the end of the show, Gendry is the Lord of Storm's End and the heir of all things Baratheon. Though we hear about it on the show no one ever actually goes there.
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The Sept of Baelor had been a significant landmark in King's Landing as the main place of worship for citizens. That mostly ended when Cersei Lannister had the tunnels underneath it loaded with wildfire so she could explode it and everyone in it. Ouch.
The Red Keep is home to the King and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms (or six, depending on your timeline) in King's Landing. It got pretty messed up by Drogon when Dany attacked the city, but it did manage to remain standing, so presumably, King Bran lives there.
Hardhome is the place where one of the most epic battles in all of "Game of Thrones" takes place. Jon Snow and the Wildings take on the Night King and the result is way too many zombies. Word is it took them 5 whole weeks to film that scene and the budget was in the millions.
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Sunspear was the capital of Dorne and the home of House Martell. In real life, it was filmed at a place called Royal Alcázar of Seville in Spain. The place has some breathtaking orchards and gardens that are well worth a visit if you ever get a chance.
The Dreadfort doesn't get a lot of screen time but the parts we see were filmed at a place called Myra Castle in Ireland. By the time the show is over, the Dreadfort is sort of forgotten and with both Boltons dead we're not sure who is left to run the place if anyone.
Located somewhere beyond the Wall, the cave of the three-eyed raven is where Bran learns more about his creepy sight powers and also where we finally learn what the deal is with Hodor. Nothing particularly good happens here.
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Riverrun is where House Tully calls home, which is where Catelyn Stark originally came from. Thanks to some shady doings with the Freys the Tullys end up losing control of the place, however. For a short time, Jaime Lannister was in control of Riverrun.
Home of the nefarious Frey family, the Twins are a pair of castles on either side of the River Trident. By the time the series is over, it's rather unclear who runs the Twins since Arya seems to have killed off all the male members of the House.
Home of the Greyjoys, Pyke is both their castle and the island on which it sits. If you liked the grey, watery countryside you can visit it in real life over in Ireland at Ballintoy Harbour. Most of Pyke was a soundstage on the inside and the castle was a digital creation so it wouldn't look too similar if you went there today.
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Few towns are located so far north but Mole's Town is one of them. It's mostly famous for its brothel which brothers of the Night's Watch are forbidden to visit and yet all of them still do it. Gilly hid out here for a while, but Wildlings sacked it later.
Eastwatch-by-the-Sea is one of the castles overseen by the Night's Watch. It's the closest to the sea, and it was the spot that the White Walkers chose to break through the wall. A little undead dragon fire completely destroyed the place.
The Eyrie was located in the Vale and is home to House Arryn and its super weird family. Though much of the castle itself was CG, the location where they put the stronghold was actually filmed in a place called Meteora, Greece.
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White Harbor is a little ways south of Winterfell and the primary trade port in the North. Anytime anyone has to take a boat to or from the North in "Game of Thrones" they're going through White Harbor. A lot of people mention it, and it's the largest city in the North, but not a ton of show action occurs there.
If you go to Iceland you can find a glacier with the name Snæfellsjökull. That was used as a filming location for the Fist of the First Men, and also the Frostfangs in season 2 of "Game of Thrones." The weather in these locations was brutal and temperatures got down to around 12 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Frostfangs are the mountains that separate the North from the Land of Always Winter. Somewhere beyond these mountains is where the White Walkers come from but we never really get to learn much about it because no one ever goes there.
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House Tyrell called Highgarden home. For the exterior shots, filming was done at a Spanish castle called Castillo de Almodóvar del Rio. This castle was also used for some parts of Casterly Rock as well. The castle itself is Moorish and it's open to the public if you ever want to visit.
House Tarly's seat is at Horn Hill and was the original home of Samwell Tarly until his father, who was a bit of a jerk, sent him to join the Night's Watch so he wouldn't be an embarrassment to the family anymore. It worked out for Sam but not so much for the rest of the family.
The Kingsroad meets the River Road at the biggest junction for travelers in Westeros and the Crossroads Inn is there. This is where Robert Baratheon stops on his way back from Winterfell, and where Hot Pie parts company with Arya but then later helps out Brienne of Tarth.
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Moat Cailin is on Stark lands and was built by the First Men. It's pretty ramshackle these days and no one actually uses it, but it does pop up a few times over the course of the series as people stop by on their way to somewhere else.
Osha turns up in the Wolfswood in season one. The other Wildlings she's with aren't as lucky as her as they are killed when Osha is taken prisoner by the Starks, and then later ends up caring for the two youngest boys, at least for a little while.