document_title: National Insurance number

question_text: how many digits is a uk national insurance number

text: National Insurance number

text: Allocation of number[edit]

text: People born and resident in the UK are assigned a Child Reference Number shortly after birth when a claim is made for Child Benefit.[3] At age 15 years 9 months HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) notifies each child of their NI number.[4]

text: In 1993, a one-off mass allocation of NI numbers was made to all children under the age of 16 whose parents were in receipt of Child Benefit.  As a result of this, siblings who met the criteria above were allocated NI numbers sequentially.[5]

text:
Persons from abroad who wish to work in the UK, or those to whom a number was not initially allocated as children, must apply for a number through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).[6]
The prefixes used are typically different from those used in the normal run.[6][not in citation given]

text: Format[edit]

text: The format of the number is two prefix letters, six digits, and one suffix letter.[7] The example used is typically QQ123456C.  Often, the number is printed with spaces to pair off the digits, like this: QQ 12 34 56 C.

text: Neither of the first two letters can be D, F, I, Q, U or V. The second letter also cannot be O. The prefixes BG, GB, NK, KN, TN, NT and ZZ are not allocated.[8] Validation lists of issued two-letter prefixes are published from time to time.[9][10]

text: After the two prefix letters, the six digits are issued sequentially from 00 00 00 to 99 99 99. The last two digits determine the day of the week on which various social security benefits are payable and when unemployed claimants need to attend their Jobcentre to sign on (renew their claims): 00 to 19 for Monday, 20 to 39 for Tuesday, 40 to 59 for Wednesday, 60 to 79 for Thursday and 80 to 99 for Friday.[11][12]

text: The suffix letter is either A, B, C, or D.[7] (although F, M, and P have been used for temporary numbers in the past). The NI number is unique without the suffix letter, so, for example, if AB 12 34 56 C exists, then there will be no other numbers beginning with AB 12 34 56 (although temporary numbers were not necessarily unique, because two people with the same date of birth would have had the same number). In official electronic submissions, the final letter may be represented by a space if not known.[13]

text: Until 1975, the suffixes A, B, C and D at the end of the NI number signified the period of validity of the National Insurance cards originally used to collect National Insurance contributions (NICs). Cards were exchanged every twelve months and because of the very large numbers of cards issued the exchange was staggered. Suffix A cards ran from March of one year until March of the next when they were exchanged for a new one. Stagger B suffix cards ran from June until the following June, stagger C from September until the following September and stagger D from December until the following December. For example, a B stagger card issued in 1955 might have run from the first Monday in June that year until the first Sunday in June the following year. This staggered system operated from 5 July 1948 until 1975, at which time the A stagger cards were extended to run an extra five weeks, until 5 April 1975, in line with the end of the tax year. The B, C and D stagger NI Cards had a shorter period of validity in their final year, and ran from June, September and December respectively in 1974 until 6 April 1975. From 6 April 1975 onwards, a computerised National Insurance Recording System (NIRS) was used to allocate all NICs by tax years.

text: In Great Britain, expired NI cards were sorted into one hundred separate groups corresponding to the final two numbers of the NI number and were posted to the individual insured person's NI account (the RF1) by the corresponding one hundred ledger sections at the Records Branch of the Central Office of the Ministry of Labour and its successors—the Ministry of National Insurance (from 1945), Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance (1953), the Department of Health and Social Security (1968), Department of Social Security (1988), and Department for Work and Pensions (since 2001). These 100 sections dealt not only with the recording of NI contributions but with requests for information about qualifying contributions necessary to pay sickness, unemployment, widows, and other benefits and also with any correspondence arising from those NI accounts and NI cards. Within each of the 100 sections, NI numbers were allocated among 16 splits with one clerk administering each split. To trace unknown NI numbers, a general index contained millions of small RF2 index slips, filed in order of surname and listing the name(s), date of birth, and NI number for every person within the National Insurance scheme.

text: The Northern Ireland National Insurance scheme is funded and administered separately from the scheme in Great Britain but operates identically so that, in practice, the same rules apply throughout the United Kingdom.

text: Temporary numbers[edit]

text: Until April 2001, employers sometimes allocated their employees a temporary insurance number, which followed the format "TN dd mm yy x", where 'TN' stands for temporary number and is static and x is M for male, F for female, or P for pensioner and the numbers in the midsection were the employee's date of birth.[8] In the case of a woman born on 31 December 1958, for example, the temporary NI number would have been TN 31 12 58 F. Temporary NI numbers could not be used to trace back any NI credits or personal details. Since 2001 the National Insurance number must be obtained – the temporary code must not now be used.[14]

text: Another type of temporary NI number is the Revenue-issued "temporary reference" used when HMRC is unable to trace a taxpayer's original NI number. It follows the format 63T12345.

text: Administrative numbers[edit]

text: Reference numbers similar in format to NI numbers are sometimes allocated for tax or benefit purposes with special prefix letters.  Special prefixes used in the past include the letters OO (for Tax Credit claims), CR (for investigations), FY (formerly for Attendance Allowance claims, named after the Fylde social security office where claims were processed), MW (used from 1980 to 1987 for migrant workers), NC (formerly for Stakeholder Pensions, PP (for use by pension schemes as PP999999P), and PY or PZ (both used for tax-only accounts created prior to 2003).[7]

text: Numbercards[edit]

text: From 1984 until 2011, when a person was allocated an NI number they also received a plastic 'numbercard' of similar proportions to a credit card with the number raised on the front. Prior to 1984, a manila notification card was issued instead.  The card is only used as a reminder of the number and the card itself is not needed to start work, and is not considered a valid identity card.  Numbercards were phased out from September 2010, and the issue of numbercards ceased completely in October 2011.  NI numbers are now notified by letter.[15]

text: Crown dependencies[edit]

text: National Insurance numbers issued in the Isle of Man hold the prefix MA.[16] Similarly, those issued in Jersey start with JY, and those issued in Guernsey hold the prefix GY. Only Channel Island NINOs issued prior to 1975 are validated, and recognised for UK use by HMRC.[17]

text: Use for tax purposes[edit]

text: The National Insurance number is used as a reference number in the Pay As You Earn system, and also by the self-employed.  It is also used in applications for Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), to check that an individual has opened only one ISA in a tax year.

text: However, the NI number is not used universally as a tax identification number.  Taxpayers who need to file a tax return are given a different number, a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), which is used as a reference number in the self-assessment tax system.[18]

text: Use for identification[edit]

text: NI numbers are sometimes used for identification purposes in other contexts which have nothing to do with their original National Insurance purpose – such as forming part of evidence of right to work in the UK.[19] The NI card, however, is not proof of identity.


document_title: Mohs scale of mineral hardness

question_text: according to the mohs hardness scale what is the hardness of quartz

root

text: Mohs scale of mineral hardness

text: Usage[edit]

text: Despite its lack of precision, the Mohs scale is highly relevant for field geologists, who use the scale to roughly identify minerals using scratch kits. The Mohs scale hardness of minerals can be commonly found in reference sheets.

tag: p

text: Mohs hardness is useful in milling. It allows assessment of which kind of mill will best reduce a given product whose hardness is known.[6]

text: Minerals[edit]

text: The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is based on the ability of one natural sample of mineral to scratch another mineral visibly. The samples of matter used by Mohs are all different minerals. Minerals are pure substances found in nature. Rocks are made up of one or more minerals.[7][better source needed] As the hardest known naturally occurring substance when the scale was designed, diamonds are at the top of the scale. The hardness of a material is measured against the scale by finding the hardest material that the given material can scratch, or the softest material that can scratch the given material. For example, if some material is scratched by apatite but not by fluorite, its hardness on the Mohs scale would fall between 4 and 5.[8] "Scratching" a material for the purposes of the Mohs scale means creating non-elastic dislocations visible to the naked eye. Frequently, materials that are lower on the Mohs scale can create microscopic, non-elastic dislocations on materials that have a higher Mohs number. While these microscopic dislocations are permanent and sometimes detrimental to the harder material's structural integrity, they are not considered "scratches" for the determination of a Mohs scale number.[9]

text: The Mohs scale is a purely ordinal scale. For example, corundum (9) is twice as hard as topaz (8), but diamond (10) is four times as hard as corundum. The table below shows the comparison with the absolute hardness measured by a sclerometer, with pictorial examples.[10][11]

text:
Mohs hardness
Mineral
Chemical formula
Absolute hardness[12]
Image

1
Talc
Mg3Si4O10(OH)2
1

2
Gypsum
CaSO4·2H2O
3

3
Calcite
CaCO3
9

4
Fluorite
CaF2
21

5
Apatite
Ca5(PO4)3(OH−,Cl−,F−)
48

6
Orthoclase feldspar
KAlSi3O8
72

7
Quartz
SiO2
100

8
Topaz
Al2SiO4(OH−,F−)2
200

9
Corundum
Al2O3
400

10
Diamond
C
1500

tag: table

text: On the Mohs scale, a streak plate (unglazed porcelain) has a hardness of approximately 7.0. Using these ordinary materials of known hardness can be a simple way to approximate the position of a mineral on the scale.[1]

text: Intermediate hardness[edit]

text: The table below incorporates additional substances that may fall between levels:[13]

text:
Hardness
Substance or mineral

0.2–0.3
caesium, rubidium

0.5–0.6
lithium, sodium, potassium

1
talc

1.5
gallium, strontium, indium, tin, barium, thallium, lead, graphite, ice[14]

2
hexagonal boron nitride,[15] calcium, selenium, cadmium, sulfur, tellurium, bismuth, gypsum

2–2.5
halite (rock salt)

2.5–3
gold, silver, aluminium, zinc, lanthanum, cerium, Jet (lignite)

3
calcite, copper, arsenic, antimony, thorium, dentin

3.5
platinum

4
fluorite, iron, nickel

4–4.5
steel

5
apatite (tooth enamel), zirconium, palladium, obsidian (volcanic glass)

5.5
beryllium, molybdenum, hafnium, glass, cobalt

6
orthoclase, titanium, manganese, germanium, niobium, rhodium, uranium

6–7
fused quartz, iron pyrite, silicon, ruthenium, iridium, tantalum, opal, peridot, tanzanite, jade

7
osmium, quartz, rhenium, vanadium

7.5–8
emerald, hardened steel, tungsten, spinel

8
topaz, cubic zirconia

8.5
chrysoberyl, chromium, silicon nitride, tantalum carbide

9
corundum, tungsten carbide, titanium nitride

9–9.5
silicon carbide (carborundum), titanium carbide

9.5–10
boron, boron nitride, rhenium diboride (a-axis),[16] stishovite, titanium diboride

10
diamond, carbonado

>11
nanocrystalline diamond (hyperdiamond, ultrahard fullerite), rhenium diboride (c-axis)[16]

text: Comparison with Vickers scale[edit]

text: Comparison between hardness (Mohs) and hardness (Vickers):[17][not specific enough to verify]

text:
Mineral
name
Hardness (Mohs)
Hardness (Vickers)
kg/mm2

Graphite
1–2
VHN10=7–11

Tin
1½
VHN10=7–9

Bismuth
2–2½
VHN100=16–18

Gold
2½
VHN10=30–34

Silver
2½
VHN100=61–65

Chalcocite
2½–3
VHN100=84–87

Copper
2½–3
VHN100=77–99

Galena
2½
VHN100=79–104

Sphalerite
3½–4
VHN100=208–224

Heazlewoodite
4
VHN100=230–254

Carrollite
4½–5½
VHN100=507–586

Goethite
5–5½
VHN100=667

Hematite
5–6
VHN100=1,000–1,100

Chromite
5½
VHN100=1,278–1,456

Anatase
5½–6
VHN100=616–698

Rutile
6–6½
VHN100=894–974

Pyrite
6–6½
VHN100=1,505–1,520

Bowieite
7
VHN100=858–1,288

Euclase
7½
VHN100=1,310

Chromium
8½
VHN100=1,875–2,000


document_title: Game of Thrones

question_text: how many episodes in game of thronse season 7

question_tokens: how many episodes in game of thronse season 7

text: Game of Thrones

text: Background

text: Setting

text: Game of Thrones is roughly based on the storylines of A Song of Ice and Fire,[2][3] set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the continent of Essos. The series chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among the realm's noble families for the Iron Throne, while other families fight for independence from it. It opens with additional threats in the icy North and Essos in the east.[4]

text: Showrunner David Benioff jokingly suggested "The Sopranos in Middle-earth" as Game of Thrones' tagline, referring to its intrigue-filled plot and dark tone in a fantasy setting of magic and dragons.[5] In a 2012 study of deaths per episode, it ranked second out of 40 recent U.S. TV drama series (with an average of 14).[6]

text: Themes

text: The series is generally praised for what is perceived as a sort of medieval realism.[7][8] George R.R. Martin set out to make the story feel more like historical fiction than contemporary fantasy, with less emphasis on magic and sorcery and more on battles, political intrigue, and the characters, believing that magic should be used moderately in the epic fantasy genre.[9][10][11] Martin has stated that "the true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves."[12]

text: A common theme in the fantasy genre is the battle between good and evil, which Martin says does not mirror the real world.[13] Just like people's capacity for good and for evil in real life, Martin explores the questions of redemption and character change.[14] The show allows the audience to view different characters from their perspective, unlike in many other fantasies, and thus the supposed villains can provide their side of the story.[11][15] Benioff said, "George brought a measure of harsh realism to high fantasy. He introduced gray tones into a black-and-white universe."[11]

text: In early seasons, under the influence of the A Song of Ice and Fire books, main characters were regularly killed off, and this was credited with developing tension among viewers.[16] Later seasons, however, critics pointed out that certain characters had developed "plot armor", attributing this to the show's deviating from the books and becoming more of a traditional television series.[16] The series also reflects the substantial death rates in war.[17][18]

text: Inspirations and derivations

text: Although the first season closely follows the events of the first novel, later seasons have made significant changes. According to David Benioff, the show is "about adapting the series as a whole and following the map George laid out for us and hitting the major milestones, but not necessarily each of the stops along the way".[19]

text: Tom Holland of The Guardian believes that the novels and their adaptations base aspects of their settings, characters, and plot on events in European history.[20] Most of Westeros is reminiscent of high medieval Europe, from lands and cultures,[21] to the palace intrigue, feudal system, castles, and knightly tournaments. A principal inspiration for the novels is the English Wars of the Roses[22] (1455–85) between the houses of Lancaster and York, reflected in Martin's houses of Lannister and Stark. The scheming Cersei Lannister evokes Isabella, the "she-wolf of France" (1295–1358);[20] Isabella and her family (particularly as portrayed in Maurice Druon's historical-novel series, The Accursed Kings) were also a main inspiration for Martin.[23]

text: Holland further proposes that other historical antecedents of series elements include Hadrian's Wall (which becomes Martin's Wall), the legend of Atlantis (ancient Valyria), Byzantine Greek fire ("wildfire"), Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age (the Ironborn), the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki), the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and the Italian Renaissance (c. 1400–1500).[20] The series' popularity has been attributed, in part, to Martin's skill at fusing these elements into a seamless, credible version of alternate history.[20] Martin acknowledges, "I take [history] and I file off the serial numbers and I turn it up to 11."[24]

text: Cast and characters

text: Game of Thrones has an ensemble cast estimated to be the largest on television;[25] during its third season, 257 cast names were recorded.[26] In 2014, several actor contracts were renegotiated to include a seventh-season option, with raises which reportedly made them among the highest-paid performers on cable TV.[27] In 2016, it was reported that several actor contracts were again renegotiated, with five of the main cast members having increased their salary to £2 million per episode for the last two seasons, which would make them the highest paid actors on television.[28][29] The main cast is listed below.[30]

text: Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark (Sean Bean) is the head of House Stark, whose members are involved in plot lines throughout most of the series. He and his wife, Catelyn Tully (Michelle Fairley), have five children: Robb (Richard Madden), the eldest, followed by Sansa (Sophie Turner), Arya (Maisie Williams), Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and Rickon (Art Parkinson), the youngest. Ned's illegitimate son Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and his friend, Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), serve in the Night's Watch under Lord Commander Jeor Mormont (James Cosmo). The Wildlings living north of the Wall include young Gilly (Hannah Murray), and warriors Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) and Ygritte (Rose Leslie).[31]

text: Others associated with House Stark include Ned's ward Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), his vassal Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton), and Bolton's bastard son, Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon). Robb falls in love with the healer Talisa Maegyr (Oona Chaplin), and Arya befriends blacksmith's apprentice Gendry (Joe Dempsie) and assassin Jaqen H'ghar (Tom Wlaschiha). The tall warrior Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) serves Catelyn and, later, Sansa.[31]

text: In King's Landing, the capital, Ned's friend King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) shares a loveless marriage with Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) – who has taken her twin brother, the Kingslayer Ser Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), as her lover. She loathes her younger brother, the dwarf Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), who is attended by his mistress Shae (Sibel Kekilli) and the mercenary, or 'sellsword', Bronn (Jerome Flynn). Cersei's father is Lord Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). Cersei also has two young sons: Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) and Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman). Joffrey is guarded by the scar-faced warrior, Sandor "the Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann).[31]

text: The king's Small Council of advisors includes crafty Master of Coin Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aidan Gillen) and eunuch spymaster Lord Varys (Conleth Hill). Robert's brother, Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), is advised by foreign priestess Melisandre (Carice van Houten) and former smuggler Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham). The wealthy Tyrell family is primarily represented at court by Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer). The High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) is the capital's principal religious leader. In the southern principality of Dorne, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) seeks vengeance against the Lannisters.[31]

text: Across the Narrow Sea, siblings Viserys (Harry Lloyd) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) – the exiled children of the last king of the original ruling dynasty, who was overthrown by Robert Baratheon – are running for their lives and trying to win back the throne. Daenerys has been married to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), the leader of the nomadic Dothraki. Her retinue includes exiled knight Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), her aide Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) and the sellsword Daario Naharis (Michiel Huisman).[31]

text: Production

text: Conception and development

text: In January 2006, David Benioff had a phone conversation with George R. R. Martin's literary agent about the books he represented, and became interested in A Song of Ice and Fire as he had been a fan of fantasy fiction when young but had not read the books before. The literary agent then sent the first four books of A Song of Ice and Fire to Benioff.[32] Benioff read a few hundred pages of the first novel, A Game of Thrones, shared his enthusiasm with D. B. Weiss and suggested that they adapt Martin's novels into a television series; Weiss finished the first novel in "maybe 36 hours".[33] They pitched the series to HBO after a five-hour meeting with Martin (a veteran screenwriter) in a restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard. According to Benioff, they won Martin over with their answer to his question, "Who is Jon Snow's mother?"[34]

text:
I had worked in Hollywood myself for about 10 years, from the late '80s to the '90s. I'd been on the staff of The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. All of my first drafts tended to be too big or too expensive. I always hated the process of having to cut. I said, 'I'm sick of this, I'm going to write something that's as big as I want it to be, and it's going to have a cast of characters that go into the thousands, and I'm going to have huge castles, and battles, and dragons.

—George R. R. Martin, author[35]

tag: div

text: Before being approached by Benioff and Weiss, Martin had had other meetings with other scriptwriters, most of them wanting to turn it into a feature film. Martin however deemed it "unfilmable" and impossible to be done as a feature film, stating that the size of one of his novels is as long as The Lord of the Rings, which had been adapted as three feature films.[35] Similarly, Benioff also said that it would be impossible to turn the novels into a feature film as the scale of the novels is too big for a feature film and dozens of characters would have to be discarded. Benioff added, "a fantasy movie of this scope, financed by a major studio, would almost certainly need a PG-13 rating. That means no sex, no blood, no profanity. Fuck that."[11] Martin himself was pleased with the suggestion that they adapt it as an HBO series, saying that he "never imagined it anywhere else".[36] "I knew it couldn't be done as a network television series. It's too adult. The level of sex and violence would never have gone through."[35]

text: The series began development in January 2007.[2] HBO acquired the TV rights to the novels, with Benioff and Weiss as its executive producers, and Martin as a co-executive producer. The intention was for each novel to yield a season's worth of episodes.[2] Initially, Martin would write one episode per season while Benioff and Weiss would write the rest of the episodes.[2][37] Jane Espenson and Bryan Cogman were later added to write one episode apiece the first season.[4]

text: The first and second drafts of the pilot script by Benioff and Weiss were submitted in August 2007[38] and June 2008,[39] respectively. Although HBO liked both drafts,[39][40] a pilot was not ordered until November 2008;[41] the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike may have delayed the process.[40] The pilot episode, "Winter Is Coming", was first shot in 2009; after a poor reception in a private viewing, HBO demanded an extensive re-shoot (about 90 percent of the episode, with cast and directorial changes).[34][42]

text: The pilot reportedly cost HBO $5–10 million to produce,[43] while the first season's budget was estimated at $50–60 million.[44] In the second season, the show received a 15-percent budget increase for the climactic battle in "Blackwater" (which had an $8 million budget).[45][46] Between 2012 and 2015, the average budget per episode increased from $6 million[47] to "at least" $8 million.[48] The sixth-season budget was over $10 million per episode, for a season total of over $100 million and a series record.[49]

text: Casting

text: Nina Gold and Robert Sterne are the series' primary casting directors.[50] Through a process of auditions and readings, the main cast was assembled. The only exceptions were Peter Dinklage and Sean Bean, whom the writers wanted from the start; they were announced as joining the pilot in 2009.[51][52] Other actors signed for the pilot were Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon, Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen and Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon.[52][53] Addy was, according to showrunners Benioff and Weiss, the easiest actor to cast for the show, being that his audition was on point.[54] Catelyn Stark was scheduled to be played by Jennifer Ehle, but the role was recast with Michelle Fairley.[55] Daenerys Targaryen was also recast, with Emilia Clarke replacing Tamzin Merchant.[56][57] The rest of the first season's cast was filled in the second half of 2009.[58]

text: Although many of the first-season cast were set to return, the producers had a large number of new characters to cast for the second season. Due to this, Benioff and Weiss postponed the introduction of several key characters and merged several characters into one or assigned plot functions to different characters.[25]

text: Writing

text: Game of Thrones used seven writers in six seasons. Series creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the showrunners, write most of the episodes each season.[59]

text: A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin wrote one episode in each of the first four seasons. Martin did not write an episode for the later seasons, since he wanted to focus on completing the sixth novel (The Winds of Winter).[60] Jane Espenson co-wrote one first-season episode as a freelance writer.[61]

text: Bryan Cogman, initially a script coordinator for the series,[61] was promoted to producer for the fifth season. Cogman, who wrote at least one episode for the first five seasons, is the only other writer in the writers' room with Benioff and Weiss. Before his promotion, Vanessa Taylor (a writer during the second and third seasons) worked closely with Benioff and Weiss. Dave Hill joined the writing staff for the fifth season after working as an assistant to Benioff and Weiss.[62] Although Martin is not in the writers' room, he reads the script outlines and makes comments.[59]

text: Benioff and Weiss sometimes assign characters to particular writers; for example, Cogman was assigned to Arya Stark for the fourth season. The writers spend several weeks writing a character outline, including what material from the novels to use and the overarching themes. After these individual outlines are complete, they spend another two to three weeks discussing each main character's individual arc and arranging them episode by episode.[59] A detailed outline is created, with each of the writers working on a portion to create a script for each episode. Cogman, who wrote two episodes for the fifth season, took a month and a half to complete both scripts. They are then read by Benioff and Weiss, who make notes, and parts of the script are rewritten. All ten episodes are written before filming begins, since they are filmed out of order with two units in different countries.[59]

text: Benioff and Weiss write each of their episodes together, with one of them writing the first half of the script and the other the second half. After that they begin with passing the drafts back and forth to make notes and rewrite parts of it.[36]

text: Adaptation schedule

text: Benioff and Weiss originally intended to adapt the entire, still-incomplete A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels for television.[citation needed] After Game of Thrones began outpacing the published novels in the sixth season, the series was based on a plot outline of the future novels provided by Martin[63] and original content. In April 2016, the showrunners' plan was to shoot 13 more episodes after the sixth season: seven episodes in the seventh season and six episodes in the eighth.[64] Later that month, the series was renewed for a seventh season with a seven-episode order.[65][66] As of 2017[update], seven seasons have been ordered and filmed, adapting the novels at a rate of about 48 seconds per page for the first three seasons.[67]

text:
Season
Ordered
Filming
First aired
Last aired
Novel(s) adapted
Refs

Season 1
March 2, 2010
Second half of 2010
April 17, 2011
June 19, 2011
A Game of Thrones
[68]

Season 2
April 19, 2011
Second half of 2011
April 1, 2012
June 3, 2012
A Clash of Kings and some early chapters from A Storm of Swords
[69][70]

Season 3
April 10, 2012
July – November 2012
March 31, 2013
June 9, 2013
About the first two-thirds of A Storm of Swords
[71][72][73]

Season 4
April 2, 2013
July – November 2013
April 6, 2014
June 15, 2014
The remaining one-third of A Storm of Swords and some elements from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons
[74][75]

Season 5
April 8, 2014
July – December 2014
April 12, 2015
June 14, 2015
A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons and original content, with some late chapters from A Storm of Swords and elements from The Winds of Winter
[76][77]
[78][79][80]

Season 6
July – December 2015
April 24, 2016
June 26, 2016
Original content and outline from The Winds of Winter, with some late elements from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons
[76][81]
[82][83]

Season 7
April 21, 2016
August 2016 – February 2017
July 16, 2017
August 27, 2017
Original content and outline from The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring
[64][65]
[66][82][84]

text: The first two seasons adapted one novel each. For the later seasons, its creators see Game of Thrones as an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire as a whole rather than the individual novels;[85] this enables them to move events across novels, according to screen-adaptation requirements.[86]

text: Filming

text: Principal photography for the first season was scheduled to begin on July 26, 2010,[4] and the primary location was the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[87] Exterior scenes in Northern Ireland were filmed at Sandy Brae in the Mourne Mountains (standing in for Vaes Dothrak), Castle Ward (Winterfell), Saintfield Estates (the Winterfell godswood), Tollymore Forest (outdoor scenes), Cairncastle (the execution site), the Magheramorne quarry (Castle Black) and Shane's Castle (the tourney grounds).[88] Doune Castle in Stirling, Scotland, was also used in the original pilot episode for scenes at Winterfell.[89] The producers initially considered filming the whole series in Scotland, but decided on Northern Ireland because of the availability of studio space.[90]

text: The first season's southern scenes were filmed in Malta, a change in location from the pilot episode's Moroccan sets.[4] The city of Mdina was used for King's Landing. Filming was also done at Fort Manoel (representing the Sept of Baelor), at the Azure Window on the island of Gozo (the Dothraki wedding site) and at San Anton Palace, Fort Ricasoli, Fort St. Angelo and St. Dominic monastery (all used for scenes in the Red Keep).[88]

text: Filming of the second season's southern scenes shifted from Malta to Croatia, where the city of Dubrovnik and nearby locations allowed exterior shots of a walled, coastal medieval city. The Walls of Dubrovnik and Fort Lovrijenac were used for scenes in King's Landing and the Red Keep. The island of Lokrum, the St. Dominic monastery in the coastal town of Trogir, the Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik, and the Dubac quarry (a few kilometers east) were used for scenes set in Qarth. Scenes set north of the Wall, in the Frostfangs and at the Fist of the First Men, were filmed in November 2011 in Iceland: on the Vatnajökull glacier near Smyrlabjörg, the Svínafellsjökull glacier near Skaftafell and the Mýrdalsjökull glacier near Vik on Höfðabrekkuheiði.[88][91]

text: Third-season production returned to Dubrovnik, with the Walls of Dubrovnik, Fort Lovrijenac and nearby locations again used for scenes in King's Landing and the Red Keep. Trsteno Arboretum, a new location, is the garden of the Tyrells in King's Landing. The third season also returned to Morocco (including the city of Essaouira) to film Daenerys' scenes in Essos.[92] Dimmuborgir and the Grjótagjá cave in Iceland were used as well.[91] One scene, with a live bear, was filmed in Los Angeles.[93] The production used three units (Dragon, Wolf and Raven) filming in parallel, six directing teams, 257 cast members and 703 crew members.[26]

text: The fourth season returned to Dubrovnik and included new locations, including Diocletian's Palace in Split, Klis Fortress north of Split, Perun quarry east of Split, the Mosor mountain range, and Baška Voda further south.[94] Thingvellir National Park in Iceland was used for the fight between Brienne and the Hound.[91] Filming took 136 days and ended on November 21, 2013.[95] The fifth season added Seville, Spain, used for scenes of Dorne, as well as Córdoba.[96]

text: The sixth season, which began filming in July 2015, returned to Spain and filmed in Navarra, Guadalajara, Seville, Almeria Girona and Peniscola.[97] Filming also returned to Dubrovnik, Croatia.[98]

text: Filming of the seven episodes of season 7 began on August 31, 2016, at Titanic Studios in Belfast, with other filming in Iceland, Northern Ireland and many locations in Spain.[99] Spain filming locations included Seville, Cáceres, Almodovar del Rio, Santiponce, Zumaia and Bermeo.[100] The series also filmed in Dubrovnik, which is used for location of King's Landing.[101] Filming continued until the end of February 2017 as necessary to ensure winter weather in some of the European locations.[102]

text: Directing

text: Each ten-episode season of Game of Thrones has four to six directors, who usually direct back-to-back episodes. Alan Taylor has directed seven episodes, the most episodes of the series. Alex Graves, David Nutter, Mark Mylod and Jeremy Podeswa have directed six each. Daniel Minahan directed five episodes, and Michelle MacLaren, Alik Sakharov, and Miguel Sapochnik directed four each. Brian Kirk directed three episodes during the first season, and Tim Van Patten directed the series' first two episodes. Neil Marshall directed two episodes, both with large battle scenes: "Blackwater" and "The Watchers on the Wall". Other directors have been Jack Bender, David Petrarca, Daniel Sackheim, Michael Slovis and Matt Shakman.[103] David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have directed two episodes together but only credited one each episode, which was determined after a coin toss.[62][104]

text: Technical aspects

text: Alik Sakharov was the pilot's cinematographer. The series has had a number of cinematographers,[105] and has received seven Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series nominations.[106]

text: Oral Norrey Ottey, Frances Parker, Martin Nicholson, Crispin Green, Tim Porter and Katie Weiland have edited the series for a varying number of episodes. Weiland received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series in 2015.[106]

text: Costumes

text: Michele Clapton was costume designer for Game of Thrones' first five seasons before she was replaced by April Ferry.[107] Clapton will return to the show as costume designer for the seventh season.[108]

text: The costumes used in the show drew inspiration from a number of sources, such as Japanese and Persian armour. Dothraki dress resembles that of the Bedouin (one was made out of fish skins to resemble dragon scales), and the Wildlings wear animal skins like the Inuit.[109] Wildling bone armor is made from molds of actual bones, and is assembled with string and latex resembling catgut.[110] Although the extras who play Wildlings and the Night's Watch often wear hats (normal in a cold climate), members of the principal cast usually do not so viewers can distinguish the main characters. Björk's Alexander McQueen high-neckline dresses inspired Margaery Tyrell's funnel-neck outfit, and prostitutes' dresses are designed for easy removal.[109] All clothing used is aged for two weeks so it appears realistic on high-definition television.[110]

text: About two dozen wigs are used for the actresses. Made of human hair and up to 2 feet (61 cm) in length, they cost up to $7,000 each and are washed and styled like real hair. Applying the wigs is time-consuming; Emilia Clarke, for example, requires about two hours to style her brunette hair with a platinum-blonde wig and braids. Other actors, such as Jack Gleeson and Sophie Turner, receive frequent hair coloring. For characters such as Daenerys (Clarke) and her Dothraki, their hair, wigs and costumes are processed to appear as if they have not been washed for weeks.[109]

text: Makeup

text: For the first three seasons, Paul Engelen was Game of Thrones' main makeup designer and prosthetic makeup artist with Melissa Lackersteen, Conor O'Sullivan and Rob Trenton. At the beginning of the fourth season Engelen's team was replaced by Jane Walker and her crew, composed of Ann McEwan and Barrie and Sarah Gower.[106][111]

text: Visual effects

text: For the series' large number of visual effects, HBO hired British-based BlueBolt and Irish-based Screen Scene for season one. Most of the environment builds were done as 2.5D projections, giving viewers perspective while keeping the programming from being overwhelming.[112] In 2011 the season-one finale, "Fire and Blood", was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects.[106]

text: Because the effects became more complex in subsequent seasons (including CGI creatures, fire, and water), German-based Pixomondo became the lead visual-effects producer; nine of its twelve facilities contributed to the project for season two, with Stuttgart the lead.[113][114] Scenes were also produced by British-based Peanut FX, Canadian-based Spin VFX, and U.S.-based Gradient Effects. "Valar Morghulis" and "Valar Dohaeris" earned Pixomondo Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in 2012 and 2013, respectively.[106]

text: For season four, HBO added German-based Mackevision to the project.[115] The season-four finale, "The Children", won the 2014 Emmy Award for Visual Effects. Additional producers for season four included Canadian-based Rodeo FX, German-based Scanline VFX and U.S.-based BAKED FX. The muscle and wing movements of the adolescent dragons in seasons four and five were based largely on those of a chicken. Pixomondo retained a team of 22 to 30 people which focused on visualizing Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, with the average production time per season of 20 to 22 weeks.[116] For the fifth season, HBO added Canadian-based Image Engine and U.S.-based Crazy Horse Effects to its list of main visual-effects producers.[117][118]

text: Sound

text: Unusual for a television series, the sound team receives a rough cut of a full season and approaches it as a ten-hour feature film. Although seasons one and two had different sound teams, one team has been in charge of sound since then.[119] For the show's blood-and-gore sounds, the team often uses a chamois. For dragon screams, mating tortoises and dolphin, seal, lion and bird sounds have been used.[120]

text: Title sequence

text: The series' title sequence was created by production studio Elastic for HBO. Creative director Angus Wall and his collaborators received the 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Main Title Design for the sequence,[121] which depicts a three-dimensional map of the series' fictional world. The map is projected on the inside of a sphere which is centrally lit by a small sun in an armillary sphere.[122] As the camera moves across the map, focusing on the locations of the episode's events, clockwork mechanisms intertwine and allow buildings and other structures to emerge from the map. Accompanied by the title music, the names of the principal cast and creative staff appear. The sequence concludes after about 90 seconds with the title card and brief opening credits indicating the episode's writer(s) and director. Its composition changes as the story progresses, with new locations replacing those featuring less prominently or not at all.[122][123][124]

text: Music

text: The music for the series was composed by Ramin Djawadi. The first season's soundtrack, written in about ten weeks before the show's premiere,[125] was published by Varèse Sarabande in June 2011.[126] Soundtrack albums for subsequent seasons have been released, with tracks by the National, the Hold Steady and Sigur Rós.[127] Djawadi has composed themes for each of the major houses and also for some of the main characters.[128] The themes may evolve over time, as Daenerys Targaryen's theme started small and then became more powerful after each season. Her theme started first with a single instrument, a cello, and Djawadi later incorporated more instruments for it.[128]

text: Language

text: The Westerosi characters of Game of Thrones speak British-accented English, often (but not consistently) with the accent of the English region corresponding to the character's Westerosi region; Eddard Stark (Warden of the North) speaks in actor Sean Bean's native northern accent, and the southern lord Tywin Lannister speaks with a southern accent, while characters from Dorne speak English with a Spanish accent.[129][130] Characters foreign to Westeros often have a non-British accent.[131]

text: Although English is the common language of Westeros, the producers charged linguist David J. Peterson with constructing Dothraki and Valyrian languages based on the few words in the novels;[132] Dothraki and Valyrian dialogue is often subtitled in English. It has been reported that during the series these fictional languages have been heard by more people than the Welsh, Irish, and Scots Gaelic languages combined.[133]

text: Effect on location

text: Game of Thrones is funded by Northern Ireland Screen, a UK government agency financed by Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund.[134] As of April 2013, Northern Ireland Screen gave the show £9.25 million ($14.37 million); according to government estimates, this has benefited the Northern Ireland economy by £65 million ($100.95 million).[135]

text: Tourism Ireland has a Game of Thrones-themed marketing campaign similar to New Zealand's Tolkien-related advertising.[136][137] Invest NI and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board also expect the series to generate tourism revenue.[135] According to Arlene Foster, the series has given Northern Ireland the most non-political publicity in its history.[138] The production of Game of Thrones and other TV series also boosted Northern Ireland's creative industries, contributing to an estimated 12.4-percent growth in arts, entertainment and recreation jobs between 2008 and 2013 (compared with 4.3 percent in the rest of the UK during the same period).[139]

text: Tourism organizations elsewhere reported increases in bookings after their locations appeared in Game of Thrones. In 2012, bookings through LateRooms.com increased by 28 percent in Dubrovnik and 13 percent in Iceland. The following year, bookings doubled in Ouarzazate, Morocco (the location of Daenerys' season-three scenes).[140] Game of Thrones has been attributed as a significant factor in the boom of tourism in Iceland that had a strong impact on its economy. Tourist numbers increased by 30% in 2015, followed by another 40% in 2016,[141] with a final figure of 2.4 million visitors expected for 2016, which is around seven times the population of the country.[142]

text: Availability

text: Broadcast

text: Game of Thrones is broadcast by HBO in the United States and by its local subsidiaries or other pay television services in other countries, at the same time as in the U.S. or weeks (or months) later. The series' broadcast in China on CCTV, begun in 2014, was heavily edited to remove scenes of sex and violence in accordance with a Chinese practice of censoring Western TV series to prevent what the People's Daily calls "negative effects and hidden security dangers". This resulted in viewer complaints about the incoherence of what remained.[143] Broadcasters carrying Game of Thrones include Showcase in Australia; HBO Canada, Super Écran and Showcase in Canada; HBO Latin America in Latin America; SoHo and Prime in New Zealand, and Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[144]

text: Home video

text: The ten episodes of the first season of Game of Thrones were released as a DVD and Blu-ray box set on March 6, 2012. The box set includes extra background and behind-the-scenes material but no deleted scenes, since nearly all the footage shot for the first season was used in the show.[145] The box set sold over 350,000 copies in the first week after release, the largest first-week DVD sales ever for an HBO series, and the series set an HBO-series record for digital-download sales.[146] A collector's-edition box set was released in November 2012, combining the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the first season with the first episode of season two. A paperweight in the shape of a dragon egg is included in the set.[147]

text: DVD-Blu-ray box sets and digital downloads of the second season became available on February 19, 2013.[148] First-day sales broke HBO records, with 241,000 box sets sold and 355,000 episodes downloaded.[149] The third season was made available for purchase as a digital download on the Australian iTunes Store, parallel to the U.S. premiere, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on February 18, 2014.[150][151] The fourth season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 17, 2015,[152] and the fifth season on March 15, 2016.[153] The sixth season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 15, 2016.[154] Beginning in 2016, HBO began issuing Steelbook Blu-ray sets which include both Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and Dolby Atmos audio options.[155]

text: Copyright infringement

text: Game of Thrones has been widely pirated, primarily outside the U.S.[156] According to the file-sharing news website TorrentFreak, Game of Thrones has been the most-pirated TV series each year since 2012.[157][158][159][160][161] Illegal downloads increased to about seven million in the first quarter of 2015, up 45 percent from 2014.[156] An unnamed episode was downloaded about 4,280,000 times through public BitTorrent trackers in 2012, roughly equal to its number of broadcast viewers.[162][163] Piracy rates were particularly high in Australia,[164] and U.S. Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich issued a statement condemning Australian piracy of the series in 2013.[165]

text: Delays in availability apart from HBO and its affiliates[166] before 2015 and the cost of subscriptions to these services have been cited as causes of the series' illegal distribution. According to TorrentFreak, a subscription to a service for Game of Thrones would cost up to $25 per month in the United States, up to £26 per episode in the UK and up to $52 per episode in Australia.[167]

text: For "combating piracy", HBO said in 2013 that it intended to make its content more widely available within a week of the U.S. premiere (including HBO Go).[168] In 2015, the fifth season was simulcast to 170 countries and to HBO Now users.[156] On April 11, the day before the season premiere, screener copies of the first four episodes of the fifth season leaked to a number of file-sharing websites.[169] Within a day of the leak, the files were downloaded over 800,000 times;[170] in one week the illegal downloads reached 32 million, with the season-five premiere alone ("The Wars to Come") pirated 13 million times.[171] The season-five finale ("Mother's Mercy") was the most simultaneously shared file in the history of the BitTorrent filesharing protocol, with over 250,000 simultaneous sharers and over 1.5 million downloads in eight hours.[172] For the sixth season, HBO did not send screeners to the press, so as to prevent the spread of unlicensed copies and possible spoilers.[173]

text: Observers, including series director David Petrarca[174] and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, said that illegal downloads did not hurt the series' prospects; it benefited from "buzz" and social commentary, and the high piracy rate did not significantly translate to lost subscriptions. According to Polygon, HBO's relaxed attitude towards piracy and the sharing of login credentials amounted to a premium-television "free-to-play" model.[175] At a 2015 Oxford Union debate, series co-creator David Benioff said that he was just glad that people watched the show; illegally downloaded copies of the show sometimes interested viewers enough to buy a copy of the show, especially in countries where the show was not televised. Co-creator D. B. Weiss had mixed feelings, saying that the show was expensive to produce and "if it doesn't make the money back, then it ceases to exist". However, he was pleased that so many people "enjoy the show so much they can't wait to get their hands on it."[176] In 2015, Guinness World Records called Game of Thrones the most-pirated television program.[177]

text: IMAX

text: Beginning on January 23, 2015, the last two episodes of season four were shown in 205 IMAX theaters across the United States; Game of Thrones is the first TV series shown in this format.[178] The show earned $686,000 at the box office on its opening day[179] and $1.5 million during its opening weekend;[180] the week-long release grossed $1,896,092.[181]

text: Reception and achievements

text: Game of Thrones was highly anticipated by fans before its premiere,[182][183] and has become a critical and commercial success. According to The Guardian, by 2014 it was "the biggest drama" and "the most talked about show" on television.[7]

text: Cultural influence

text: Although Game of Thrones was dismissed by some critics before it began,[7] its success has been credited with an increase in the popularity of fantasy themes. On the eve of the second season's premiere, a CNN.com blog post by Joel Williams read, "After this weekend, you may be hard pressed to find someone who isn't a fan of some form of epic fantasy" and cited Ian Bogost as saying that the series continues a trend of successful screen adaptations beginning with Peter Jackson's 2001 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and the Harry Potter films establishing fantasy as a mass-market genre; they are "gateway drugs to fantasy fan culture".[184] Its success in the face of its genre was attributed by writers to a longing for escapism in popular culture, frequent female nudity and a skill in balancing lighthearted and serious topics (dragons and politics, for example) which provided it with a prestige enjoyed by conventional, top-tier drama series.[7]

text: The series' popularity increased sales of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels (republished in tie-in editions), which remained at the top of bestseller lists for months. According to The Daily Beast, Game of Thrones was a favorite of sitcom writers and the series has been referred to in other TV series.[185] With other fantasy series, it has been cited for an increase in the purchase (and abandonment) of huskies and other wolf-like dogs.[186]

text: Game of Thrones has added to the popular vocabulary. The first season's scene in which Petyr Baelish explains his motives (or background) while prostitutes had sex in the background gave rise to the word "sexposition" for providing exposition with sex and nudity.[187] "Dothraki", the series' nomadic horsemen, was ranked fourth in a September 2012 Global Language Monitor list of words from television most used on the Internet.[188] In 2012, the media used "Game of Thrones" as a figure of speech or comparison for situations of intense conflict and deceit, such as the 2012 United States Supreme Court decision regarding healthcare reform legislation,[189] the Syrian Civil War[190] and the ousting of Bo Xilai from the Chinese government.[191]

text: "Khaleesi" has increased in popularity as a name for baby girls in the United States. In the novels and the TV series, the word is a title meaning the wife of a Khal (warlord) in the Dothraki language held by Daenerys Targaryen, and not actually a name.[192]

text: Critical response

text:
Season
Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes
Metacritic

1
89% (33 reviews)[193]
80 (28 reviews)[194]

2
96% (33 reviews)[195]
90 (26 reviews)[196]

3
97% (44 reviews)[197]
91 (25 reviews)[198]

4
97% (50 reviews)[199]
94 (29 reviews)[200]

5
95% (52 reviews)[201]
91 (29 reviews)[202]

6
96% (29 reviews)[203]
73 (9 reviews)[204]

7
96% (34 reviews)[205]
77 (12 reviews)[206]

text: Game of Thrones has received critical acclaim, although the series' frequent use of nudity and violence has been criticized. Its seasons have appeared on annual "best of" lists published by The Washington Post (2011), TIME (2011 and 2012) and The Hollywood Reporter (2012).[207][208][209]

text: The performances of the cast have also been praised. Peter Dinklage's "charming, morally ambiguous, and self-aware"[210] Tyrion, who earned him Emmy and Golden Globe awards, was noted. "In many ways, Game of Thrones belongs to Dinklage", wrote Mary McNamara of the L.A. Times before Tyrion became the series' central figure in season two.[211][212] Several critics highlighted performances by actresses[211] and children.[213] Fourteen-year-old Maisie Williams, noted in the first season for her debut as Arya Stark, was singled out for her season-two work with veteran actor Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister).[214]

text: First-season reviewers said the series had high production values, a fully realized world and compelling characters.[215] According to Variety, "There may be no show more profitable to its network than 'Game of Thrones' is to HBO. Fully produced by the pay cabler and already a global phenomenon after only one season, the fantasy skein was a gamble that has paid off handsomely".[216]

text: The second season was also well received by critics. Entertainment Weekly praised its "vivid, vital, and just plain fun" storytelling[217] and, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the show made a "strong case for being one of TV's best series"; its seriousness made it the only drama comparable to Mad Men or Breaking Bad.[218] The New York Times gave the series a mixed review, criticizing its number of characters, their lack of complexity and a meandering plot.[219]

text: The third season was very well received by critics, with Metacritic giving it a score of 91 out of 100 (indicating "universal acclaim").[198] The fourth season was also praised; Metacritic gave it a score of 94 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, again indicating "universal acclaim".[200] The fifth season was also well received by critics and has a score of 91 out of 100 (based on 29 reviews) on Metacritic.[202] The sixth season has been praised by critics. It has a score of 73 out of 100 (based on nine reviews) on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[204] The seventh season has a score of 77 out of 100 (based on twelve reviews) on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[206]

text: The series has a rating of 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.4 out of 10 based on 44 reviews.[197] All episodes had positive reviews of 91 percent or higher on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 97-percent rating (based on 50 reviews) for the season as a whole.[199] On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 95 percent and an average score of 8.6 out of 10 (based on 52 reviews).[201] The season has a rating of 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.4 out of 10 based on 29 reviews.[203] After the first episode aired, the seventh season held a rating of 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.2 out of 10 based on 29 reviews.[205]

text: Sex and violence

text: Despite its otherwise enthusiastic reception by critics, Game of Thrones has been criticized for the amount of female nudity, violence, and sexual violence (especially against women) it depicts, and for the manner in which it depicts these themes. The Atlantic called the series' "tendency to ramp up the sex, violence, and—especially—sexual violence" of the source material "the defining weakness" of the adaptation.[220] George R. R. Martin responded that he feels obliged to be truthful about history and human nature, and that rape and sexual violence are common in war; and that omitting them from the narrative would have rung false and undermined one of his novels' themes, its historical realism.[12] HBO said that they "fully support the vision and artistry of Dan and David’s exceptional work and we feel this work speaks for itself."[12]

text: The amount of sex and nudity in the series, especially in scenes that are incidental to the plot, was the focus of much of the criticism aimed at the series in its first and second seasons. Stephen Dillane, who portrays Stannis Baratheon, likened the series' frequent explicit scenes to "German porn from the 1970s".[221] Charlie Anders wrote in io9 that while the first season was replete with light-hearted "sexposition", the second season appeared to focus on distasteful, exploitative, and dehumanizing sex with little informational content.[222] According to The Washington Post's Anna Holmes, the nude scenes appeared to be aimed mainly at titillating heterosexual men, right down to the Brazilian waxes sported by the women in the series' faux-medieval setting, which made these scenes alienating to other viewers.[223] The Huffington Post's Maureen Ryan likewise noted that Game of Thrones mostly presented women naked, rather than men, and that the excess of "random boobage" undercut any aspirations the series might have to address the oppression of women in a feudal society.[224] Saturday Night Live parodied this aspect of the adaptation in a sketch that portrayed the series as retaining a thirteen-year-old boy as a consultant whose main concern was showing as many breasts as possible.[222][225]

text: In the third season, which saw Theon Greyjoy lengthily tortured and eventually emasculated, the series was also criticized for its use of torture.[226] New York magazine called the scene "torture porn."[227] Madeleine Davies of Jezebel agreed, saying, "it's not uncommon that Game of Thrones gets accused of being torture porn—senseless, objectifying violence combined with senseless, objectifying sexual imagery." According to Davies, although the series' violence tended to serve a narrative purpose, Theon's torture in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" was excessive.[228]

text: A scene in the fourth season's episode "Breaker of Chains", in which Jaime Lannister rapes his sister and lover Cersei, triggered a broad public discussion about the series' depiction of sexual violence against women. According to Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times, the scene caused outrage, in part because of comments by director Alex Graves that the scene became "consensual by the end". Itzkoff also wrote that critics fear that "rape has become so pervasive in the drama that it is almost background noise: a routine and unshocking occurrence".[12] Sonia Saraiya of The A.V. Club wrote that the series' choice to portray this sexual act, and a similar one between Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo in the first season—both described as consensual in the source novels—as a rape appeared to be an act of "exploitation for shock value".[229]

text: In the fifth season's episode "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", Sansa Stark is raped by Ramsay Bolton. Most reviewers, including those from Vanity Fair, Salon, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast, found the scene gratuitous and artistically unnecessary.[220][230][231][232] For example, Joanna Robinson, writing for Vanity Fair, said that the scene "undercuts all the agency that's been growing in Sansa since the end of last season."[233] In contrast, Sara Stewart of The New York Post wondered why viewers were not similarly upset about the many background and minor characters who'd undergone similar or worse treatment.[234] In response to the scene, pop culture website The Mary Sue announced that it would cease coverage of the series because of the repeated use of rape as a plot device,[235] and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill said that she would no longer watch it.[236]

text: As the sixth and seventh seasons saw Daenerys, Sansa and Cersei assume ruling positions, Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post noted that the series could be seen as a "long-arc revenge fantasy about what happens when women who have been brutalized and raped gain power"—namely, that their past leaves them too broken to do anything but commit brutal acts in their own turn, and that their personal liberation does not effect the social change needed to protect others from suffering.[237]

text: Fandom

text: A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones have a broad, active international fan base. In 2012 Vulture.com ranked the series' fans as the most devoted in popular culture, more so than Lady Gaga's, Justin Bieber's, Harry Potter's or Star Wars'.[238] Fans include political leaders such as former U.S. president Barack Obama,[239][240] former British prime minister David Cameron,[241] former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard[242][243] and Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans, who framed European politics in quotes from Martin's novels in a 2013 speech.[244]

text: BBC News said in 2013 that "the passion and the extreme devotion of fans" had created a phenomenon unlike anything related to other popular TV series, manifesting itself in fan fiction,[245] Game of Thrones-themed burlesque routines and parents naming their children after series characters; writers quoted attributed this success to the rich detail, moral ambiguity, sexual explicitness and epic scale of the series and novels.[246] The previous year, "Arya" was the fastest-rising girl's name in the U.S. after it jumped in popularity from 711th to 413th place.[247]

text: In 2013 about 58 percent of series viewers were male and 42 percent female, and the average male viewer was 41 years old.[248][249] According to SBS Broadcasting Group marketing director Helen Kellie, Game of Thrones has a high fan-engagement rate; 5.5 percent of the series' 2.9 million Facebook fans talked online about the series in 2012, compared to 1.8 percent of the more than ten million fans of True Blood (HBO's other fantasy series).[250] Vulture.com cited Westeros.org and WinterIsComing.net (news and discussion forums), ToweroftheHand.com (which organizes communal readings of the novels) and Podcastoficeandfire.com as fan sites dedicated to the TV and novel series;[238] and podcasts cover Game of Thrones.[251]

text: Awards and accolades

text: Game of Thrones has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 38 Primetime Emmy Awards,[106] 5 Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Peabody Award.[252] It holds the Emmy-award record for a scripted television series, ahead of Frasier (which received 37).[253] In 2013 the Writers Guild of America listed Game of Thrones as the 40th "best written" series in television history.[254] In 2015 The Hollywood Reporter placed it at number four on their "best TV shows ever" list,[255] while in 2016 the show was placed seventh on Empire's "The 50 best TV shows ever".[256] The same year Rolling Stone named it the twelfth "greatest TV Show of all time".[257]

text: The 2011 first season received 13 nominations (including Outstanding Drama Series), and won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (given to Peter Dinklage for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister) and Outstanding Main Title Design. Other nominations included Outstanding Directing ("Winter Is Coming") and Outstanding Writing ("Baelor").[106] Dinklage was also named Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globe, Satellite and Scream Awards.[258][259][260]

text: In 2012, the second season received six Creative Arts Emmy Awards from 11 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Dinklage).[106]

text: The 2013 third season received 16 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Dinklage), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Emilia Clarke), Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Diana Rigg) and Outstanding Writing ("The Rains of Castamere"), winning two Creative Arts Emmys.[106]

text: In 2014 the fourth season received four Creative Arts Emmys from 19 nominations, which included Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Dinklage), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Lena Headey), Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Rigg), Outstanding Directing ("The Watchers on the Wall") and Outstanding Writing ("The Children").[106]

text: The 2015 fifth season won the most Primetime Emmy Awards for a series in a year (12 awards from 24 nominations), including Outstanding Drama Series; other wins included Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Dinklage), Outstanding Directing ("Mother's Mercy") and Outstanding Writing ("Mother's Mercy"), and eight were Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[261]

text: In 2016, the sixth season received the most nominations for the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards (23). It won for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Directing ("Battle of the Bastards"), Outstanding Writing ("Battle of the Bastards"), and nine Creative Arts Emmys. Nominations included Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Dinklage and Kit Harington), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Clarke, Headey and Maisie Williams), Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Max von Sydow) and Outstanding Directing ("The Door").[262]

text: Viewer numbers

text: The first season averaged 2.5 million viewers for its first Sunday-night screenings and a gross audience (including repeats and on-demand viewings) of 9.3 million viewers per episode.[263] For its second season, the series had an average gross audience of 11.6 million viewers.[264] The third season was seen by 14.2 million viewers, making Game of Thrones the second-most-viewed HBO series (after The Sopranos).[265][266] For the fourth season, HBO said that its average gross audience of 18.4 million viewers (later adjusted to 18.6 million) had passed The Sopranos for the record.[267][268] By the sixth season the average per-episode gross viewing figure had increased to over 25 million, with nearly 40 percent of viewers watching on HBO digital platforms.[269] In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that Game of Thrones was "much more popular in cities than in the countryside, probably the only show involving zombies that is".[270] In season seven, the viewers numbers averaged at over 30 millions per episode across all platforms.[271]

text: The series set records on pay-television channels in the United Kingdom (with a 2016 average audience of more than five million on all platforms)[272] and Australia (with a cumulative average audience of 1.2 million).[273]

text: The following graph indicates first-airing viewer numbers in the US:

text:
Season
Ep. 1
Ep. 2
Ep. 3
Ep. 4
Ep. 5
Ep. 6
Ep. 7
Ep. 8
Ep. 9
Ep. 10
Average

1
2.22
2.20
2.44
2.45
2.58
2.44
2.40
2.72
2.66
3.04
2.52[274]

2
3.86
3.76
3.77
3.65
3.90
3.88
3.69
3.86
3.38
4.20
3.80[274]

3
4.37
4.27
4.72
4.87
5.35
5.50
4.84
5.13
5.22
5.39
4.97[275]

4
6.64
6.31
6.59
6.95
7.16
6.40
7.20
7.17
6.95
7.09
6.84[276]

5
8.00
6.81
6.71
6.82
6.56
6.24
5.40
7.01
7.14
8.11
6.88[277]

6
7.94
7.29
7.28
7.82
7.89
6.71
7.80
7.60
7.66
8.89
7.69[278]

7
10.11
9.27
9.25
10.17
10.72
10.24
12.07
N/A
10.26[279]

text: Other media and products

text: Video games

text: The series has inspired four video games based on the TV series and novels. The strategy game Game of Thrones Ascent ties into the HBO series, making characters and settings available to players as they appear on television.[282]

text: Merchandise and exhibition

text: HBO has licensed a variety of merchandise based on Game of Thrones, including games, replica weapons and armor, jewelry, bobblehead dolls by Funko, beer by Ommegang and apparel.[283] High-end merchandise includes a $10,500 Ulysse Nardin wristwatch[284] and a $30,000 resin replica of the Iron Throne.[285] In 2013 and 2014, a traveling exhibition of costumes, props, armor and weapons from the series visited major cities in Europe and the Americas.[286]

text: Accompanying material

text: Thronecast: The Official Guide to Game of Thrones, a series of podcasts presented by Geoff Lloyd and produced by Koink, has been released on the Sky Atlantic website and the UK iTunes store during the series' run; a new podcast, with analysis and cast interviews, is released after each episode.[287] In 2014 and 2015 HBO commissioned Catch the Throne, two rap albums about the series.[288][289]

text: A companion book, Inside HBO's Game of Thrones (ISBN 978-1-4521-1010-3) by series writer Bryan Cogman, was published on September 27, 2012. The 192-page book, illustrated with concept art and behind-the-scenes photographs, covers the creation of the series' first two seasons and its principal characters and families.[290]

text: After the Thrones is a live aftershow in which hosts Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan discuss episodes of the series. It airs on HBO Now the Monday after each sixth-season episode.[291] The Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience, a 28-city orchestral tour which will perform the series' soundtrack with composer Ramin Djawadi, is scheduled to begin February 15, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri.[292]

text: Successor series

text: After years of speculation about possible successor shows, in May 2017 HBO commissioned five screenwriters – Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland, Carly Wray and a fifth writer yet to be announced – to develop individual Game of Thrones successor series. All of the writers are to be working individually with George R. R. Martin.[293] Martin said that all the concepts under discussion are prequels, and some may be set outside Westeros. He also ruled out Robert's Rebellion (the overthrow of Daenerys's father by Robert Baratheon) as a possible idea.[294] D. B. Weiss and David Benioff said that they would not be involved with any of the projects, and want to enjoy the successor series as fans.[1] Martin is co-writing two of the four announced scripts.[295] In September 2017, it was announced that Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman would be developing a fifth prequel series.[296]

text: Histories and Lore

text: Each season's individual Blu-ray and DVD set contains several short animated sequences narrated by the show's cast as their characters as they detail various different events in the history of Westeros.[297] For the seventh season release, it will include the animated prequel series Game of Thrones: Conquest & Rebellion, which is illustrated in a different animation style than previous videos. The series focuses on Aegon Targaryen's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.[298]


document_title: Blood In Blood Out

question_text: who played magic in blood in blood out

question_tokens: who played magic in blood in blood out

text: Blood In Blood Out

text: Plot[edit]

text: Miklo is a man of Mexican and White American ethnicity who grew up in El Pico Aliso barrio in east Los Angeles. Upon moving back home from Las Vegas, Nevada, Miklo goes to stay with his two cousins Paco and Cruz. Miklo tells Cruz that he wants to join their gang Vatos Locos. While Paco is initially skeptical, Miklo later proves himself when he performs an attack on a rival gang, Tres Puntos. Afterwards he is made a member of Vatos Locos.

text: However, the Tres Puntos gang soon takes revenge by brutally attacking Cruz who is a budding artist, and damages his back for life. When Vatos Locos learn of the attack, they perform a well-planned counterattack. However, things go wrong when Miklo ends up getting shot by their rival gang's leader, "Spider". Miklo is able to shoot and kill Spider, but has to be rushed to the hospital by Paco while being chased by police. Paco crashes into another car at the El Pino tree and they are both arrested.

text: From here, the trio's paths diverges: Miklo is sent to San Quentin State Prison for murder, Paco volunteers for military service in the United States Marine Corps as an alternative choice to prison, and Cruz continues his passion for art. He also becomes a heroin addict due to the recurring back pain. His addiction leads to him being disowned by his family after his 12-year-old brother, Juanito, dies from injecting heroin into his veins thinking it's Cruz's heroin supply. Paco becomes an L.A.P.D. narcotics detective after leaving the Marine Corps.

text: Miklo finds trouble adapting to prison life. The prison is run by three prison gangs, all of whom are based on their racial backgrounds. The Black Guerrilla Army (B.G.A.) is led by "Bonafide", the Aryan Vanguard is led by "Red Ryder", and La Onda is led by Montana Segura. La Onda's members do not initially accept Miklo and one of them, Popeye, tries to rape Miklo at knife-point, but is stopped by Montana. After meeting Montana, he is told the only way into La Onda is killing an enemy inmate, in Miklo's case a white inmate named Big Al who runs the gambling in San Quentin. After gaining Big Al's trust, Miklo stabs him to death during a sexual encounter in the prison kitchen. Miklo is initiated into La Onda, is later promoted to its Ruling Council, and is granted parole after serving nine years in prison.

text: On the outside, Miklo is disgusted by his menial job on which his supervisor is extorting money from him, so he joins in an armed robbery. The heist goes poorly and Miklo is intercepted by Paco, now a decorated cop. Miklo tries to run away, but Paco shoots him in the leg, which later has to be amputated. Miklo is sent back to prison where he notices the cocaine addictions of several inmates. Onda Council Member Carlos has entered the cocaine trade and is competing with the B.G.A. for customers. The Aryan Vanguard want to partner with Carlos in the cocaine business by becoming his new supplier. In return, Carlos moves on the B.G.A. and take them out of the cocaine business. Montana, however, is fiercely against allowing La Onda to enter the drug trade, saying that drugs will destroy La Onda and that the Aryan Vanguard want to start a war between the Black and Chicano inmates. The other Council members agree with Montana and vote against it. This causes Carlos to leave La Onda to work with the Aryan Vanguard, causing other members to follow him. Carlos murders a B.G.A. soldier named "Pockets" who is running the B.G.A.'s cocaine operation. He also contacts his brother, Smokey, outside of prison to bomb a B.G.A. hangout where they move their drugs. After all of this happens, Carlos' usefulness has come to an end and the Aryan Vanguard drops their protection of him. The B.G.A. then takes the opportunity to murder Carlos. Despite his death, Miklo agrees with Carlos's outlook after being convinced by Carlos's old drug supplier.

text: With hostility high between the Black and Hispanic inmates, Montana and Bonafide meet in the prison yard. Montana convinces Bonafide to agree to a truce if Montana reaches out to La Onda leaders in the Folsom and Chino prisons to end the violence. The warden grants Montana special permission to visit the Chino and Folsom prisons and Miklo is left in charge during his absence. Montana is granted a special request, and he gets to stay overnight at Delano penitentiary where he can see his daughter. On the morning of the visit, Montana is stabbed to death outside his cell by a member of the B.G.A.. Believing that the Aryan Vanguard sent forged orders to the hitman, Paco arranges a peace conference between La Onda and the B.G.A. However, Miklo, La Onda's new leader, manipulates the peace talks in order to build an alliance with the B.G.A. and they agree to kill the Aryan Vanguard leaders.

text: Later, enforcers for La Onda and the B.G.A. sweep through the walls of San Quentin, killing the leaders of the Aryan Vanguard. After the killings are done, however, Miklo's men promptly exterminate the B.G.A. leaders as well. Paco is enraged that his own cousin has played him for a fool and angrily confronts Miklo in the prison visiting room. Paco leaves his cousin in disgust, disowning him forever.

text: The members of La Onda hold a final gathering after the warden vows to split the council up transporting some members to their home states. Miklo plans on using this to expand La Onda to other states in the South West. Later, Miklo and his cellmate "Magic" destroy the mold which they used to send the forged orders to the B.G.A. hit man to kill Montana. Magic says "We both loved him, but we did what we had to do for La Onda." Back in East Los Angeles, Paco visits one of Cruz's murals after the family re-accepts him to see a portrait of his former life. In a pep talk with Cruz, Paco realizes that by ordering Miklo to go after Spider, Paco is responsible for all of the things that have happened to Miklo. This causes Paco to feel guilty for his actions and ultimately forgive Miklo.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Damian Chapa as Miklo Velka
Jesse Borrego as Cruz Candelaria
Benjamin Bratt as Paco Aguilar
Enrique Castillo as Montana Segura
Delroy Lindo as Bonafide
Victor Rivers as Magic
Geoffrey Rivas as Carlos
Tom Towles as Red Ryder
Carlos Carrasco as Popeye
Theodore Wilson as Wallace
Raymond Cruz as Chuey
Valente Rodriguez as Frankie
Lanny Flaherty as Big Al
Billy Bob Thornton as Lightning
Danny Trejo as Geronimo
Victor Mohica as Mano
Luis Contreras as Realthing
Paulo Tocha as Apache
Ving Rhames as Ivan
Richard Masur (uncredited) as Prison librarian
Thomas F. Wilson as Rollie McCann
Lupe Ontiveros as Carmen
Ashley Judd as Paco's Girlfriend ("deleted scene")
Peter Mark Vasquez as Chivo
Mark Rich as Miklo's Stunt Double

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The three prison gangs in the film are fictional creations of screenwriter Jimmy Santiago Baca and director Taylor Hackford. However, they were all loosely based on actual prison gangs, with the Aryan Vanguard, Black Guerrilla Army and La Onda representing the Aryan Brotherhood, Black Guerrilla Family, and the Mexican Mafia, respectively.

text: Actor Theodore Wilson died shortly after filming his scenes in the film.

text: Artist Adan Hernandez was hired to create the paintings the character of Cruz Candelaria was supposed to have painted. All of the paintings that were used in the film were created by him. The mural in the reservoir seen in the film's climax has unfortunately been painted over. Hernandez made a cameo appearance in the film as the drug dealer Gilbert in the art gallery scene.

text: The film was shot in and around Los Angeles and East Los Angeles and inside the walls of San Quentin State Prison. The main character Miklo is sent to San Quentin, where much of the film's plot takes place. Several of the then-inmates appear in the film as extras. In addition, several of the prison staff members also appear as others and some facilitated the production of the film by serving as technical advisors. Many members of the staff were given small lines in the film, with the warden giving an extended cameo in a part that is somewhat integral to the plot. In addition, actor Danny Trejo, who appears in the film as Geronimo, had served time in San Quentin before deciding to become an actor.

text: In addition to prison inmates and staff and artist Hernandez, screenwriter and barrio poet Jimmy Santiago Baca cameos as a prison inmate and member of the La Onda council.

text: The film was initially entitled Blood in Blood Out but was retitled Bound by Honor before the film's release. Blood in blood out refers to the initiation ritual of having to kill someone to enter a gang and, on the reverse end, not being able to leave the gang unless killed. This is a common initiation in many gangs, including prison gangs, and is also the motto of La Onda in the film. Hollywood Pictures insisted on the name change as the studio felt that it would incite violence in East Los Angeles. In addition, executives at Hollywood Pictures, a subsidiary of Disney, were cautious about the potential effect the film would have following the 1992 LA Riots and the attribution given to Boyz N the Hood as a partial cause/inspiration of the riots. Director Taylor Hackford has stated that he was very unhappy with this decision as the film's message was the exact opposite of the one that the studio feared would be transmitted.

text: Reception[edit]

text: The film received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews.[2] On IMDb it holds an 8/10. The TV Guide review stated "similarity to Edward James Olmos' American Me, in which a tormented drug dealer travels the same route through prison society as Miklo. The principal difference between the two films is that Bound By Honor is by far the glossier effort, relentlessly picturesque in the seamlessly anesthetized manner of mainstream Hollywood films."[3] Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum for the Chicago Reader wrote that this "ugly three-hour snoozefest is apparently supposed to do for East Los Angeles Chicanos what the Godfather movies did for New York mafiosi…"[4] Roger Ebert wrote "The East Los Angeles milieu and some of the characters seem familiar, because some of the same ground was covered by American Me... Bound by Honor covers similar material in a less passionate and finally less meaningful way."[5] Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars out of 4. A critic from Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman gave Bound By Honor a B-, falling on the high end of the movie spectrum. He states "Bound By Honor comes fully alive when it moves behind bars. There's an exploitative thrill built into the genre…"[6] This film critic was definitely more interested in the second half of the movie once Miklo was in jail running La Onda. Vincent Canby from the New York Times wrote "The film is big and long, passionate and flat. It's full of heroic and tragic incident, but skimpy about the details of quotidian lives."[7] Giving a very detailed review on the plot of the story he later exalts some of the characters in the movie one in particular, Enrique Castillo. Although Vincent Canby does not give an official rating for the film, he concludes "Though it's not the epic it means to be, it is not a failure."[8]