Peter Dinklage (who doesn’t have a twitter account, thank you very much) recently did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit, revealing a few fun Game of Thrones tidbits. And the man who started it all, George R.R. Martin, is talking about how it all started. He’s posted a new excerpt on his site from his guide to Westeros book, included an image of Aegon Targaryan riding atop Balerion, the Black Dread. Click ahead for the full, glorious view.
The illustration is by J.Gonzalez and Martin posted it along with an excerpt from World of Ice and Fire. Here’s a small preview:
The Targaryens were of pure Valyrian blood, dragonlords of ancient lineage. Twelve years before the Doom of Valyria (114 BC), Aenar Targaryen sold his holdings in the Freehold and the Lands of the Long Summer and moved with all his wives, wealth, slaves, dragons, siblings, kin, and children to Dragonstone, a bleak island citadel beneath a smoking mountain in the narrow sea.
At its apex Valyria was the greatest city in the known world, the center of civilization. Within its shining walls, twoscore rival houses vied for power and glory in court and council, rising and falling in an endless, subtle, oft-savage struggle for dominance. The Targaryens were far from the most powerful of the dragonlords, and their rivals saw their flight to Dragonstone as an act of surrender, as cowardice. But Lord Aenar’s maiden daughter Daenys, known forever afterward as Daenys the Dreamer, had foreseen the destruction of Valyria by fire. And when the Doom came twelve years later, the Targaryens were the only dragonlords to survive.
Meanwhile, Dinklage got a few entertaining questions thrown at him during his AMA. Highlights include:
Question: I love your hair! What’s the secret? Do you use and specific product?
Answer: It’s called not owning a brush. Or a comb. That’s my secret. Just don’t buy a comb.
Question: How were you approached for X-Men days of future past?
Answer: I got a phone call from Bryan Singer. My agent wanted to know if it was okay for Bryan to give me a call. I said… um, of course?! The next day he called me and we had a really long conversation about the character. I loved his previous X-Men movies and the comic books were just so super cool.
Question: I’m wondering what life has been like at each filming location. I know you probably don’t get much time off-set to enjoy the surroundings, but how has it been shooting in Croatia/Ireland/wherever else you’ve shot?
Answer: Croatia’s one of the most beautiful places. We’re in Dubrovnik and we work 6 days a week, so we don’t have a lot of time off. But on our days off we just rent a boat and cruise around the islands. We go swimming, snorkeling… it’s just the most relaxed place in the world to be. I’d love to go back there one day on holiday. The best part is that at the end of the work day, since it’s very hot there and we’re in these hot costumes — heavy leather and armor — some of us rip off our clothes and just jump right into the sea. Well, not all of our clothes. You know what I mean. But it’s invigoratingly cold, and always a joy.
Question: What are the top 5 things on your bucket list?
Answer: Really? I’m not that old guys! Hmm, maybe go to Peru as my #1…I heard that’s incredible. I’m taking suggestions for 2 through 5.
Question: Which cast member on Game of Thrones is the funniest off screen? What’s a little known fact about you?
Answer: Conleth Hill! He’s a dear friend and fortunately I have a lot of scenes with him. And Lena, she’s also a dear friend and all we ever do is laugh together. When the three of us get together it’s a lot of fun. – I love hummus? Also, I’m not a cat person but I had a cat for ten years. Because I had a rat in my apartment and I don’t like killing creatures. So I got a cat. I thought my roommate was going to take the cat but he moved out with his girlfriend and left the cat there. So I have this cat.
Question: Hey Peter, what character in film or literature would you play most like to portray?
Answer: Great question. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Atticus Finch. It’s so hard to say something like that, though. I don’t see myself in the role since Gregory Peck did such a good job with it already.
Question: What is the best advice ever given to you?
Answer: Hmm… I know the worst advice ever given to me was “do it right”. As an actor you don’t really know what to do with that bit of direction. The best of advice, I love a quote from Steven Soderbergh. I read some advice he gave in an interview: Perseverance + talent= luck. There’s no such thing as pure luck, you just have to persevere and hopefully you have a modicum of talent. I love that quote, I think it really says it all.
Question: If you could have a superpower, what would you choose and why?
Answer: Flying, of COURSE. Totally flying. It would be so much fun. And terrifying. What about you? Harbor frosting?
If you’re interested, you can wade through the rest here.
(via io9)
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