Matching 50 Game of Thrones characters with 50 European countries

Albania: Barristan Selmy

No slight meant to Albania, but did you know that, at the moment, more Albanian citizens live outside the country than in it? While only three million Albanians actually live within its borders, some estimates indicate that a whopping seven to ten million Albanians live elsewhere.

Barristan Selmy can understand that way of life. Although he spent most of his life in Westeros, when Joffrey dismissed him from his post in the Kingsguard he got the heck out of dodge and joined forces with Daenerys Targaryen in faraway Astapor. He spent the rest of his life abroad serving her cause.

But living in a foreign place isn’t the only thing Selmy has in common with Albania. For one thing, military bunkers are a major tourist attraction in this country. Barristan is a warrior himself; were he in our world,  he’d likely enjoy paying those bunkers a visit.

Albania has famously undergone a lot of change in the past few decades; a painter and politician there, Edi Rama, is credited for majorly revitalizing the capital, Tirana. Selmy definitely understands change; he uprooted his whole life when Joffrey dismissed him. He then had to reevaluate what was most important to him and how to accomplish his goals. When the Sons of the Harpy killed him on the streets of Meereen he was a very different man than the person who left King’s Landing not too long before.