The superfan is a brilliant specimen. For eons we’ve worshipped at the altars of sports stars, pop stars, actors, fictional characters, collectibles, art, cars, and just about anything else we can relate to, share with others or simply connect with in some way.
Also known as a ‘fanatic’ (but, let’s face it, ‘fan’ is much more sexy), these superfans have travelled the globe to support their chosen love – and we’ve tracked down some of the most die-hard and dedicated.
Each week we’ll bring you the story of one keen punter who has dedicated their life and time (and money, so.much.money) to supporting someone or something – simply because it brings them immeasurable joy. And that’s what life’s about, right?
Welcome to Metro.co.uk’s super fun weekly series, I’m Your Biggest Fan.
This week we meet Elio García and Linda Antonsson who founded one of the biggest Game Of Thrones fansites, Westeros.org before the HBO series was even a thing.
Their love goes so far back in the franchise, they even have creator of GOT George RR Martin contact them for fact checking and ask for advice on various upcoming storylines. Oh, they’ve also co-written a book with the author.
What a position of power!
After first discovering the world in 1997 following the paperback release of A Game Of Thrones, the writing, world and characters drew the pair in.
So, Elio, what is it about the story that hooked you and Linda?
For both of us, it comes down to a combination of the characters, the setting, and George’s approach to depicting them. The way he captured a sense of a kind of medieval landscape – knights in shining armour who could commit atrocities or play cutthroat politics, the colourful pageantry overlying brutal warfare – and filled them with characters who felt complicated and flawed while at the same time blending in fantastical elements such as a giant wall of ice, direwolves, and dragons was extraordinary to us both.
You’ve spoken with George RR many a time. When did you first make contact with the GOT creator?
In 1998, having fallen in love with the novel, we mailed George to ask permission to make an on-line, text-based roleplaying game based on his world.
Our very first iteration of Westeros.org, hosted on a free site host as we hadn’t registered a domain of our own yet, was basically set up as a resource for our prospective players.
George was finishing up the second novel, A Clash Of Kings, and eventually got back to us with his permission… and with his being quite intrigued by the heraldry we had created for the site, graphical representations of the shields of the various families.
In fact, he sent us his extensive notes on noble houses and their arms, many of which would appear over the course of the rest of the series.
What was it like working with him – would you consider him an idol of sorts?
We admire George immensely, and his support and generosity has been quite life-changing. His trust in us as two fans to work with him on The World Of Ice And Fire was something that I think very few authors would have been willing to do.
‘Idol’ is, I think, a word that has never crossed our mind in relation to him, however. We see him as a friend.
Are you involved in any way with the HBO series?
Not really. We have answered a few questions over the years to help pin down details from the novels when they wanted them, which we were only too happy to do.
Have you met any of the cast? Are they what you envisage from knowing the books so intricately?
I’ve met most of the actors, between a set visit during season one filming, various press junkets, and a few other events.
Most of the actors aren’t really our mental image for the characters, although we will say that when we read the novels now it’s very hard not to think of Varys as sounding just like Conleth Hill or Viserys sounding like Harry Lloyd.
How many members do you have on Westeros.org?
Our community forum now has over 130,000 members, which is amazing to us. Before the TV show started, it was about 17,000!
What has the website evolved into these days from its first aim?
The site has definitely grown in scope from its earliest beginnings as a website for a small game. We still have a section for Blood Of Dragons, the game (which is still running!), but we now have a section for Game Of Thrones where we post news and reviews, and we have the Citadel which is our repository of information about the lore and setting that we’ve compiled.
The forum is of course a huge part of the website now, and that’s something we added in 2005, but probably the biggest growth we’ve had is in the Wiki Of Ice And Fire, our community-edited wiki dedicated to the novels.
When the show is airing, we can see what new characters or events have been introduced because we can see in real-time when certain pages suddenly get a flood of visitors.
Honestly, do you know what might happen in the final series, or in the books?
Nope! We are blissfully ignorant of George’s final plan. We have our own theories and speculation, but those are just our educated guesses.
Game Of Thrones fans are dedicated – but you are on a whole other level; do you believe you may be the most dedicated fans?
There’s been a tremendous growth in the readership and viewership thanks to the TV show, and I’m sure there’s many people who spend as much time thinking about the books or show as much as we have thought about these things.
That said, I suppose there’s probably no fans who have had such a relationship – both as fans and as professionals – with the novels for over 20 years, as we have. It’s become an integral part of the routine of our lives.
What else do you do as part of the GOT world?
For a few years, before they moved to a live format, we appeared on Sky Atlantic’s Thronecast as resident experts; that was good fun. We’ve appeared on panels at conventions (in fact, we’ve been invited to an academic conference in Seville, Spain this May), we’ve done any number of newspaper, radio, and TV interviews, and so on.
Linda personally has also worked in various capacities on subtitling the TV series into Swedish for several seasons. And of course we co-wrote The World Of Ice And Fire with George, and have for a number of years helped him and his editors in going through his manuscripts before publication to try and weed out continuity errors.
What do you think you might do once all books are released?
We’ve never really thought about it other than being sure that we’ll continue to run Westeros.org. George himself has said that he has a lot of stories left to write, including plans for more Dunk & Egg novellas set about a hundred years prior to the novels, notions for a couple of spinoff novels, the second volume of Fire And Blood, and who knows what more he might come up with.
And that’s not to mention HBO and its plans for successor shows to Game Of Thrones. We’ll have plenty of work to keep us busy for a while.
I’m Your Biggest Fan is a weekly series that deep dives into the world of fandoms, via the people who worship the hardest. Check back in next Thursday to check out the latest aficionado.
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