Cersei Lannister memorably referenced the presence of elephants in Game of Thrones causing many viewers to wonder why the character was so enamored by the magnificent beasts. Lena Headey’s elephant line in the HBO show’s eighth and final season ended up receiving the meme treatment but readers of George R.R. Martin‘s book series were aware of the mammals’ involvement in the series. Here’s why elephants were never featured on the epic fantasy series.
Elephants were first referenced in Game of Thrones season 7 when Cersei discussed the strength of the Golden Company and their use of the mammal for war purposes. She hired the sellsword company to bolster her forces in King’s Landing and had her heart set on the arrival of elephants. Cersei had a knack for getting what she wanted in life but that wasn’t the case with the elephants.
When Euron Greyjoy introduced the Golden Company’s captain Harry Strickland to Cersei in season 8, the sellsword announced that 20,000 men and 2,000 horses were now in her command. The queen instantly questioned the absence proclaiming she “wanted those elephants” in which Harry explained that the mammals were not suited for the long overseas journey from Essos. This greatly disappointed Cersei and made for an unintentionally funny moment in a predominantly grim episode. The narrative’s explanation into the lack of elephants may have been justified but there was most likely a more understandable reason.
Game Of Thrones Probably Didn’t Have The CGI Budget For Elephants
Game of Thrones relied heavily on CGI and special effects on a large portion of the show’s eight seasons. With the presence of White Walkers, hordes of wights, dragons, and direwolves, the budget drained fast. This was the explanation into the show’s disappearance of Ghost for much of the final two seasons much to the dismay of viewers. Since the final season featured multiple major battles with a slew of moving parts, special effects and CGI were a necessity. Because of this, the team didn’t have much room to work with when it came to creating on-screen war elephants. Using real-life elephants wouldn’t have been an option when it came to the Golden Company’s efforts in fending off Daenerys’ forces so the only option was to disappoint Cersei for leaving the mammals in Essos.
Despite keeping them out of the show, the reference to elephants was a nice nod to fans of Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. In the books, the Golden Company did attempt to bring elephants to Westeros but almost half of their fleet didn’t make the journey. An excerpt from The Winds of Winter has indeed confirmed that a few of the elephants survive the trip and will make their way to Westeros. It will be interesting to see how they come into play in the forthcoming novel and how Cersei will react to seeing the large mammals since the character never got the chance in Game of Thrones.
