Westeros

There are two distinct eras in the history of modern television: pre–Game of Thrones and post–Game of Thrones. Not only did Thrones reinvigorate fantasy as a mainstream television genre,
but the scope of its production resulted in an onscreen world that looked, sounded, and felt like a real place. Now, for the first time, the building blocks of that reality are available for public view and will shortly become
available for purchase by private collectors through Heritage Auctions’ HBO© Game of Thrones: The Auction.

At the September 16th press preview at Heritage Auctions’ New York location, Production coordinator Michelle Burns, Prop Master Chris Moore, and Wardrobe Mistress Donna Hughes were present to discuss their body of work before it’s scattered across private collections. All three were Thrones lifers, having been with the show from the unaired pilot to the series finale, a feat which fewer than 50 people can boast. Their work continued with the creation of the HBO Archive and the eventual curation of the auction collection.

“In 2018, HBO approached us to set up the HBO Archive and the first project was Game of Thrones,” said Moore. “We entered an 80,000 square foot warehouse with sealed crates floor to ceiling high, full of bodies, horses, carts, you name it. Armor. We’ve spent the past five years navigating our way through to the end, which you can see on the walls here.”

Those walls, festooned with house banners, shields, prop weapons, and more from all seasons of the show, set the visual history of Game of Thrones production on display in a way the public has never been able to access until now. In one section of hanging banners, Moore pointed out the difference between a House Lannister banner from Season 1, screen printed on a shiny red fabric with a thicker, plastic-looking fringe and a House Stark banner from Season 6, which had a thick tapestry texture, era-appropriate aging, and was visibly created with more authentic techniques.

Lannister and Stark banners from different seasons, created using different techniques.

Over the last weeks, HBO has been releasing a series of videos titled “Inside the Craft”, exploring different aspects of bringing House of the Dragon to life. The latest entry focuses on armor, and particularly the armor of the Gold Cloaks. It features show runner Ryan Condal, armourer Simon Brindle (who worked on Game of Thrones), and costume designer Jany Temime. Some really good, close-up looks at a number of suits of armor, and some glimpses of armor from the tourney in the first episode that were seeing only fleetingly:

The two previous videos were focused on the weapons and Dark Sister, and the costumes and Rhaenyra’s wedding dress.