The Wall: 300 miles long, 700 feet high, and over 8,000 years old. Made from solid ice, The Wall was built by Bran the Builder. As legend would have it, he employed the strength of giants and the magical spells of the Children of the Forest to construct the colossal fortification. The Wall serves to protect the Seven Kingdoms from wildling raiding parties and the armies of the Others (White Walkers). It’s important.
It would be unrealistic to expect the production to ACTUALLY build a 700-foot wall (it’s mostly done with special effects), but there’s still a small part of me that’s disappointed.
As you can imagine, building a set to stand in for the Wall is no small task. Most of the scenes shot at Castle Black and The Wall are filmed at the abandoned Magheramorne quarry in Northern Ireland, and according to the Belfast Telegraph, the sets used could soon be a permanent fixture—the authorities figure it’ll attract tourists once Game of Thrones is finished.
Sammy Wilson, a member of parliament in the Democratic Unionist Party, had this to say:
"It is a magnificent site and it would be a massive tourist attraction. The number of buses and people who stop to try and get views of it."
He’s not wrong. If HBO agreed to leave the set standing once filming is finally finished, the site would be a hue draw for fans of the show. Actually, that goes for several sites in Northern Ireland, a popular area among the Game of Thrones production staff. With at least two seasons left to film, Northern Ireland has already been actively capitalizing on that fact with Thrones-themed publicity stunts.
Hopefully, HBO will agree to leave the set standing. If that happens, perhaps Northern Ireland could eventually surpass New Zealand to become the most-visited movie-inspired site on the planet.
H/T Eonline.com
Next: Introducing the newest GoT App “Game of Thrones: Get Into The Books”