A missed opportunity
Game of Thrones (GoT) may be synonymous with Northern Ireland, but before our westerly neighbours landed the map-marking opportunity Scotland was favourite to host the series.
While Stirlingshire's Doune Castle did double as the show's iconic Winterfell fortress in the pilot episode, production quickly moved across the water, driven by financial incentives and a better filming infrastructure, such as Belfast's eight-acre Titanic Studios.
The show is believed to be worth between £35-40 million annually to Northern Ireland - a windfall Scotland only just missed out on.
The missed opportunity spurred activity at a political level.
Iain Smith, Glasgow-born chair of the British Film Commission, last month told Holyrood's Economy Committee that Scotland was, twenty years ago, the centre of British film production outside of London - "Now it is probably fourth or fifth."
"The makers of Game of Thrones wanted to come to Scotland. They knew that Scotland was bigger and had lots of locations, but what stopped them was that there was no adequate shooting space for them," he said.
Scottish inspiration
Scotland may have missed out on the show's productions rights, but its grisly history has inspired some of the blockbuster's most jaw-dropping moments.
Two events in particular - the infamous Massacre of Glencoe and the Black Dinner of 1440 - struck such a chord with GoT author George R. R. Martin that they inspired him to pen one of the series' most dramatic plot points, the so-called Red Wedding.
The incident saw fan favourite Robb Stark (portrayed by Scots actor Richard Madden), his mother, and his pregnant wife meet a gruesome end at the hands of their nuptial celebration hosts - the Freys.
Host betrayal is at the heart of one of Scottish history's most chilling episodes, the Glencoe Massacre of 169 when the Campbells murdered the MacDonald guests.
The Black Dinner of 1440 - a lesser known incident - was equally macabre. In an act of supposed amity, ten-year-old King James II invited his enemy the Earl of Douglas to a feast at Edinburgh Castle. An innocuous opening gave way to an evening of treachery - upon presentation of a black bull's head (symbolic of death) the Douglases were dragged outside and decapitated.
Homage to Hadrian
'The Wall' - a colossal 300-mile-long fortification securing the northern border of the Westeros' Seven Kingdoms - was inspired by Hadrian's Wall, the Roman structure erected in defence against untamed Caledonia.
Scottish actors
Over the course of the show's four aired series, some ten Scottish actors have portrayed characters both major and minor. Testament to the its truly bloody narrative, just two are still around to feature in the forthcoming instalment.
Iain Glen portrays Jorah Mormont, an exiled knight. Daniel Portman is Podrick Payne, a squire in the service of Tyrion Lannister. His father Ron Donachie also featured in GoT, portraying Ser Rodrik Cassel in first two series.
Other Scottish actors who have featured on the show include: Aberdonian Rose Leslie in the role of wildling Ygritte, Richard Madden as Lord of Winterfell Robb Stark, and James Cosmo who portrayed Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
Glasgow-born Rory McCann held a leading role as Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane - the taciturn yet brutal warrior left for dead after battling Brienne at the close of series four. Despite fan speculation that he may reappear, an HBO spokesperson has confirmed McCann will not feature in the forthcoming instalment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article