This guy -
5 Insane Pop Culture Questions Answered by Super Fans
#1. Who’s the One Person Who Knows More About Game of Thrones Than the Author Himself?
George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire series, now more commonly known as Game of Thrones or A Lesson in Never Getting Attached to Fictional Characters,
is one of the most remarkable fantasy series ever told. Naturally, the
books and the HBO show have become prime breeding grounds for exhaustive
works of super fandom, such as this elaborate interactive map of everything that has ever happened in the TV show.
That is the handiwork of one Ser Mountain Goat,
and with Ser Goat’s map, you can track any episode or chapter and find
out where the characters were at the time. Pretty cool, to be sure, but
when it comes to knowledge of the series, all must bow down to Elio
Garcia, who literally knows more about Martin’s world than anyone else
alive, including Martin.
That’s right – while it’s not surprising that Martin’s epic has spawned fan websites (even exhaustive ones like Garcia’s Westeros.org), what’s remarkable is that when George R.R. Martin wants to know some detail about the ASoIaF universe, he fucking asks Garcia.
By virtue of having maintained an exhaustive database of every single
character, location, and event in the series over the last 17 years,
he’s become the man Martin calls when he’s forgotten some element of his own goddamned story:
“[Martin calls] when [he] has an idea and he wants to make sure
that he hasn’t used this character before, or he hasn’t mentioned this
particular detail previously, because he doesn’t want to contradict
himself or trap himself.”
Just think about that for a moment. That’s like God manifesting himself
in front of a marine biologist because he’s forgotten how many legs go
on a squid. And you know who else relies on Garcia’s expertise? The
producers of the HBO series (although their questions probably revolve
around whether a female character’s breasts are described in detail in
the novels, or if they’re free to leave it up to the horny dudes in
casting).