15 great articles from the Winter Is Coming archives

This month we’re celebrating 15 years since the founding of FanSided, the entertainment network of which WinterIsComing is proudly a part. It’s been a wild decade and a half filled with articles beyond counting, TV shows like Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and so much more. To mark the occasion, we’re looking back at 15 of our favorite articles from the WinterIsComing archive. We’re all Samwell Tarly today, raiding the stacks and nerding out over all the excellent writing that has come before.

This month will be all about the number 15…starting now!

1. Matching 50 Game of Thrones characters with each of the 50 states

Have you ever wondered which character from Game of Thrones best corresponds to each of the 50 United States, or even the state you live in? Wonder no more! This list was compiled right around the time the show ended, so it pulls characters from across the whole breadth of the series. Who would be eating cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, or out scouring the mountains in Alaska? Who best represents your home state? We went through them all one by one and answered these important questions.

And if you happen to live in Europe, there’s also a similar list for…

2. Matching 50 Game of Thrones characters with 50 European countries

3. 26 shows similar to Game of Thrones to watch next

At the end of the day, most of us first came onto WinterIsComing because of Game of Thrones. It was a cultural phenomenon like few before it, and changed the television landscape for the better. (Even with its season 8 snafus.)

But where does one turn for entertainment once the White Walkers have been vanquished and Daenerys Targaryen’s short reign has ended? This list compiles 26 shows to fill that Iron Throne-shaped hole in your heart, from space operas like The Expanse to pirate dramas like Black Sails, all of these share some DNA with Thrones.

4. Daenerys Targaryen did nothing wrong in Game of Thrones season 8

Speaking of Dany, one of the main points of Game of Thrones season 8 that sent fans into an uproar was when the Mother of Dragons and Breaker of Chains turned her dragon’s wrath on the innocent people of King’s Landing. Daenerys Targaryen torched the city, killing thousands and laying the groundwork for the show’s devastating finale.

Dany was a hero we rooted for for years, and many think she was treated pretty unfairly in the show’s final season by the writers and other characters in the series. This article argues their points.

5. Why cutting Lady Stoneheart from Game of Thrones was the right call

Over eight seasons, there were many times where Game of Thrones deviated from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. By far one of the most controversial was the decision to cut out Lady Stoneheart, aka undead Catelyn Stark. For many readers, Lady Stoneheart was a great addition to the books that should have been kept in the show. But many is not all. This article argues that the show made the right call in losing her, given what she’s done (and hasn’t done) in the books up to this point.

6. Monsters of Ice and Fire

Like any great fantasy series, Game of Thrones has no shortage of mythical monsters. The Monsters of Ice and Fire series spans five articles that examine some of the series’ most infamous creatures, ranging from the Dead to Robert Strong to Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons. Each piece is a deep analysis of a specific monster’s role on the show, the historical roots that inspired them, and why these types of monsters still remain in the public consciousness.

7. All 73 episodes of Game of Thrones, ranked worst to best

From the Battle of the Bastards to Ned Stark’s execution to the Red Wedding, Game of Thrones featured some of the most memorable moments ever on television. It also had some that left us groaning about the airspeed velocity of scorpion bolts or why sneaking into Dornish palaces in the middle of the day was a fool’s errand. This list takes them all into account, and ranks them.

Which episode was the worst of them all? Which sits the Iron Throne? The answers lie here.

8. How to “fix” Game of Thrones season 8

Daenerys’ heel turn wasn’t the only reason that the fans nearly rioted after Game of Thrones season 8. In this article, WinterIsComing editor Dan Selcke goes through some of the final season’s issues and puts forth a pretty convincing argument for how to tweak the show so it ends in a less infuriating fashion.

9. 5 moments from Fire & Blood we can’t wait to see in House of the Dragon

This August, HBO is kicking off its first Game of Thrones successor show: the prequel series House of the Dragon. This new show is set some 200 years before Thrones, and will cover a period of brutal civil war between conflicting branches of the Targaryen family called the Dance of the Dragons. You may remember Shireen Baratheon describing the event to Davos Seaworth in Game of Thrones season 5, shortly before her parents burned her alive.

Like Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon is based on a book by George R.R. Martin; this time, the fake history novel Fire & Blood. And as with any good page-to-screen adaptation, we’re getting excited about what memorable scenes from the book may be making the leap to live action. This list compiles five of the best.

10. All the dragons in House of the Dragon, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel

Given that House of the Dragon is about a Targaryen civil war, it should come as no surprise that there are a lot more dragons in this story than on Game of Thrones. House Targaryen has around 15 of the majestic creatures under their command during this particular period of Westerosi history. With so many dragons flying about, it can be hard to keep track of them all.

Which is why we here at WinterIsComing viewed it as our solemn duty to round up all of these fire-breathing beasts in one place. So if you can’t tell Sunfyre from Meraxes or Sheepstealer, we’ve got you covered.

11. Is The Last Kingdom historically accurate?

While WinterIsComing got its start as a Game of Thrones fan site, nowadays we also write about other shows, movies, and books as well. The Last Kingdom is a historical drama on Netflix that covers the wars between various English kingdoms and Danish raiders during the 9th and 10th centuries. Based on The Saxon Stories books by Bernard Cornwell, The Last Kingdom mixes original characters with real-life figures and events.

But how historically accurate is the show? This article breaks that down. So if you’ve ever wondered if Uhtred was a real person, if shield walls were really used on the battlefield, or whether King Alfred really was as sickly as he’s depicted in the show, you can find all those answers here.

12. Could a real-life version of Westworld be in our future?

HBO’s science fiction drama Westworld is the story of a Western-themed amusement park that goes off the rails when its enslaved android denizens gain sentience and realize how they are being brutalized by the park’s affluent guests. The show has pushed lots of boundaries since it debuted back in 2016, and is due to return for its fourth season this summer.

But given real-world advances in robotics, some of the ideas put forth in the series might not be as far off as you’d think. This in-depth analysis examines the state of robotics and artificial intelligence to try and answer the question: could we ever actually see a real version of Westworld?

13. Why The Wheel of Time succeeds as an adaptation (and The Witcher fails)

Among the many shows which have cropped up to fill the fantasy void left by Game of Thrones are Amazon’s The Wheel of Time and Netflix’s The Witcher. Both shows are based on book series with large fanbases and expansive storytelling. And while both of them have become successes for their respective platforms, there’s an argument to be made that one of them is paying better homage to the themes of its source material than the other.

We make that argument here, replete with painstaking examples of the successes and failures contained therein.

14. How much from Game of Thrones season 8 will be in The Winds of Winter?

We’ve been waiting over a decade for the sixth book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter. The television show passed into Winds territory around season 6, with the resurrection of Jon Snow, Cersei’s coup to take over King’s Landing, and Daenerys’ triumph in Slaver’s Bay and subsequent voyage to Westeros. Everything beyond that point, such as Bran’s ascension to the throne of the Six Kingdoms and the Long Night battle at Winterfell, was uncharted waters.

Indeed, season 8 of Game of Thrones had some of the most controversial moments in television history. How many of these events will actually be covered in The Winds of Winter? What was fabricated for the show, and what came from George R.R. Martin himself? Here we dissect everything we know about The Winds of Winter to try and figure that out.

15. The 50 most important deaths on Game of Thrones

If there’s one thing that really set Game of Thrones apart from many other series, especially early in its run, it was the shocking deaths of many of its main characters. George R.R. Martin’s novels established early on that no one was safe with the execution of Ned Stark, who had been painted as the series’ primary protagonist up until his head was unceremoniously lopped off at the Sept of Baelor.

Ned’s end was far from the only stand-out death in the series. The Red Wedding, Jon’s assassination, Joffrey’s poisoning, Khal Drogo’s tragic demise…There are far too many deaths to list here…which is why we have a whole other list analyzing the 50 most important deaths throughout the entire series. We’re not saying the death scenes were the only iconic moments of Game of Thrones, but they certainly made an impact. What better way to look back on the show’s run than by remembering all those we lost along the way?

These are just a curated selection of some of our favorite articles to appear on WinterIsComing over the past decade and change, but the archives are full to bursting. We hope that you’ve enjoyed the stories you’ve read here over the years, and find many more to love in the days ahead.

With House of the Dragon on the horizon, the good times (and the heads) are set to roll in Westeros yet again. It’s an honor to man the ramparts, and though our watch began long ago, we continue to serve you and the realm. Thank you for coming along on this ride with all of us here at WinterIsComing.

Here’s to the next 15 years!

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