What can we learn about Game of Thrones by following social media trends? A lot of fun stuff, apparently. The Brandwatch Blog tracked every time Game of Thrones was mentioned on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram during its seventh season. They collected 6.9 million mentions, and noticed several interesting trends:
1. Women out-tweeted men. Women were more inclined to live-tweet episodes than men. Brandwatch wonders at this, noting that the fantasy genre usually skews male. We’re not sure about that assumption when it comes to Game of Thrones, given all the female characters with prominent roles this season, what with Sansa, Cersei and Daenerys ruling the roost from one end of Westeros to the other.
That said, the subject matter of the the tweets didn’t vary much between gender. Two of the most popular characters for both men and women were the Night King and Arya, although the males tweeted more about the icy guy while the women favored the pint-sized assassin.
2. “Beyond the Wall” garnered the most social media mentions
You might expect the season finale to have triggered the heaviest discussion on social media, but it didn’t. The biggest hitter was the penultimate episode, “Beyond the Wall.” Brandwatch finds this surprising, considering episode 6 leaked prior to its airing on HBO. Their theory is that people had more time to live tweet during the official airing because they’d already seen it. Plus, the episode had some big story moments.
We’d suggest that the last point is the main reason “Beyond the Wall” was such a hot-button episode. Between Sansa’s discovery of Arya’s faces, Jon Snow’s expedition beyond the Wall, and the Night King killing (and resurrected) Viserion, there was a lot to talk about. (And for some, to complain about.)
3. The most-discussed character was Daenerys Targaryen
This isn’t a big shocker, since the Daenerys storyline was one of the most dominant in season 7. Kit Harington even stated that this season was focused on Daenerys.
Who else was heavily mentioned? Jon Snow came in second, followed by Arya, Sansa and the Night King. Somewhere, Cersei is fuming. And also drunk.
4. Drogon is the most popular dragon on Game of Thrones
Again, this one isn’t a surprise. Drogon has been Daenerys’ favorite from the very beginning, and he’s had way more screen time than Viserion and Rhaegal. Drogon had better watch out, though — blue-eyed wight-Viserion commanded a lot of fan attention this year. Bring on the sibling rivalry.
5. The three most-discussed moments in Season 7 are in the first and final episodes
By Brandwatch’s count, here are the three buzziest moments from the season: Number 3: At the end of “The Dragon and the Wolf,” Viserion melts a section of the Wall and the White Walker army marches south. 4,000 mentions. (“The Dragon and the Wolf”)
Number 2: Arya Stark poisons every Frey in sight in the brilliant cold open of “Dragonstone,” the season premiere. 4,200 mentions.
Number 1: After being dragged out of the lake by the Night King in “Beyond the Wall,” Viserion is resurrected as a wight-dragon: 6,080 mentions.
There you have it. If we’re measuring popularity by social media mentions, then Daenerys and her dragons Drogon and Viserion top the list (sorry, Rhaegal). Jon Snow, Sansa, Arya and the Night King occupy the second tier. As for the Lannisters: better luck in season.
I probably have more sympathy for Theon than most Game of Thrones fans, but seriously, how did he survive that beatdown at Dragonstone? His conversation with Jon, which marked his transformation from victim to attempted hero, was satisfying, but his first step toward that heroism — a fight with Harrag over whether the Ironborn survivors would go rescue Yara — looked like a fatal misstep. Then Theon got his moment of eunuch glory, and with one headbutt and some punches, he takes out a guy who’s twice his size. And that show of machismo suddenly wins back his people. Why didn’t Theon try to learn where Yara was while he was in King’s Landing, where she was last seen? Why didn’t he enlist the help of Brienne, Jon, and Jorah, some of the best fighters on the show? Who even cares about the Greyjoys at this point? Yara and Theon are not about to stop the White Walkers, so why the focus on them? Maybe because they have a fleet, and zombies can’t swim? I really hope that’s the reason this storyline is being stretched out.
We’ve already discussed the possibility that Jon and Dany will have a child together.
And it seems that theory’s spread pretty far around the internet, because it’s hard to open a Reddit thread these days without seeing someone worrying about the consequences of J + D = b(oat) b(aby). So let’s assume it’s not just a possibility but a certainty. For the sake of argument. Here’s a collection of some of the more serious concerns around this (not-so) shocking future twist, a twist that’ll almost certainly happen in the lead up to an ending George RR Martin has described as “bitterswee
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