Inside HBO's Game of Thrones

I swear it, my queen." "And I swear this... if you ever betray me, I'll burn you alive." "I would expect nothing less from the Mother of Dragons.

The Eyrie. They say it’s impregnable.”—Tyrion Lannister “Give me ten good men and some climbing spikes—I’ll impregnate the bitch.”—Bronn

Theon …did you hate us the whole time?”—Bran Stark Heir to Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, Theon grew up as Ned Stark’s ward and hostage, forced to live at Winterfell after his father’s rebellion was crushed by Ned Stark many years before. Believing he can trust him, Robb Stark sends Theon back to his family to enlist their aid in the war. But Theon’s father has a different plan—the Greyjoys will go to war against the North. Torn between his own blood and the family that raised him, Theon chooses blood and betrays the Starks, eventually attacking Winterfell.

We do not sow. We are Ironborn. We’re not subjects. We’re not slaves. We do not plow the field or toil in the mine. We take what is ours.”—Balon Greyjoy First settling on the Iron Islands in the days of the First Men, the proud denizens of this rocky archipelago refer to themselves as “Ironborn.” Isolated from the peoples and cultures of the mainland, the Ironborn ruled as kings for centuries, worshipping their own unique deity, the Drowned God, and cultivating a lifestyle that celebrates pillaging. Their infamous fleet of longships was unmatched and feared throughout the world, and at the height of their power, the Ironborn controlled most of the western coast and the entirety of what are now the Riverlands.

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: It’s funny when you get this huge reaction to Ned’s death. Ned was always marked for death, so the kids could come into their own. As long as Daddy is around, the kids are going to live in Daddy’s shadow, but once you remove him, then you have a lot more tension. But I didn’t want to remove him too soon, so I kept him around a long time so you get really invested in him. So when he’s lost, it’s a tremendous blow.

PETER DINKLAGE (Tyrion Lannister): The Lannisters are all very good at what they do, but it seems that all the cards were dealt to the wrong people. Cersei wants the power but is a woman in a male-dominated world. Jaime is the golden child who wants to avoid all things politic. Tyrion is the brilliant politician who isn’t taken seriously. Cersei and Tyrion have a lot in common, which is why their relationship is so damaged. They see each other very clearly for who they really are. Being born into such wealth and privilege has afforded them all great opportunities—Tyrion, as he has said, “may have been left in the woods to die” if born under different circumstances—but it has clearly affected them at the family dinner table.

When House Reyne of Castamere, a sworn vassal of the Lannisters, dared to rise up against Tytos, it was his eldest son, Tywin, who crushed the rebellion. Tywin led his troops in a merciless assault of Castamere and eradicated House Reyne. His victory was immortalized in the ballad “The Rains of Castamere,” which has become an anthem of House Lannister.

I’m a northman. I belong here with you, not down south in that rat’s nest they call a capital.”—Ned Stark

The leading house of the North, House Stark traces its descent from the First Men in the Age of Heroes. The Family’s founder, Brandon the Builder, was among those who established the Night’s Watch in the aftermath of the Long Night, According to legend, Brandon enlisted the aid of giants and the powerful magic of the Children of the Forest to raise the Wall. He went on to build the ancestral seat of Winterfell and was crowned the first king in the North.

I just want to stand on top of the Wall and piss off the edge of the world.” { Tyrion Lannister }

Night gathers, and now my watch begins.  It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children.  I shall wear no crowns and win no glory.  I shall live and die at my post.  I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls.  I am the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.”—The Night’s Watch oath

Oh, my sweet summer child, what do you know about fear? Fear is for the winter, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep. Fear is for the Long Night … when the White Walkers move through the woods.”—Old Nan

DAVID BENIOFF: You don’t enter into any adaptation process lightly. In the case of Game of Thrones, we’ve dedicated six years of our lives to the show. We did it for a simple reason that will be familiar to George’s readers: We fell in love with the books. We fell in love with the world he created, with the sprawl of Westeros and Essos. We fell in love with the characters, hundreds of them, the good as well as the bad, with the Starks and the Lannisters and the Targaryens and the Greyjoys. We fell in love with the brutality of the narrative: No one is ever safe. Good does not triumph over evil. Awful people have sympathetic traits and lovable people have loathsome traits.

You’re mad,” I told them. “It’s too big. It’s too complicated. It’s too expensive.

There is no more hazardous task in Hollywood than trying to make a popular or critically acclaimed book into a television series or feature film. Hollywood Boulevard is lined with the skulls and bleached bones of all those who have tried and failed … and for every known failure, there are a hundred you have never heard of, because the adaptations were abandoned somewhere along the way, often after years of development and dozens of scripts.