The ice and the fire
Hunting down Game of Thrones on location in Northern Ireland
In 2019 it was estimated that £251 million had been brought to Northern Ireland's economy since production began in 2010, with Tourism Northern Ireland suggesting that 350,000 visitors come to the country every year specifically for Game of Thrones.
So where is House of The Dragon filmed, you ask? Many of the recurring indoor stage sets were filmed right here in Paint Hall studios in Belfast.
Thronies, as they call themselves, have already discovered the city of Belfast and greater parts of Northern Ireland as the perfect place to come see actual film locations of the hit television series Game of Thrones. But now a wider range of viewers (and readers) are following in the footsteps of the mythological characters as familiarity soars.
Based on the fantasy book A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin it follows various families and all their intrigue – which includes plenty of sex, violence, and of course these Northern Irish moody landscapes. The story line, dark at the most of times, romances perfectly with the hostile landscape on the east coast of the country and that is what fans are coming to see for themselves.
This is where I start my own adventure. A BMW picks me up at Culloden Estate & Spa and a die-hard thronie greets me with excitement – “Hi I’m Philip McComb from McComb Tours, I hope you’re ready to geek out.” I almost expected him to be in a Game of Thrones costume, but perhaps he resisted. Or it was laundry day. We set sail to the Titanic Quarter of this little city where the first signs of the show make themselves visible.
Although off limits to anyone who doesn’t work on set, a giant converted old shipping shed was converted into film studios and rises next to the famed recreated shiny Titanic hull. We drive past, and again, to perhaps catch a peek of what’s happening on the inside, but on this rainy Belfast day everyone seems to be in doors – if it wasn’t for some of the weapons (“is that a giant axe?”) and equipment hanging outside you’d never know what lurks inside.
Chosen for its varied landscape, four seasons in a day, and tax incentives Northern Ireland wasn’t the first choice for the shooting – it was Scotland, but luckily they wanted too much money and so HBO made their choice. Confirmed for seven seasons this part of the British Isles had a few good years of being part of the global phenomenon that is the Game of Thrones show. The stars of the shows are reportedly often seen walking around town – a sneaky indication of what’s about the happen in the show. Locals indulge in this guessing game McComb says, “Especially for a show notorious for killing off even their main characters.”
“We need to get away from our little city for you to really start to feel like you’re on the show”, says McComb. Winding our way along the coast, the dark cliffs and sandy beaches contrast with green fields around. The sky, blackening as we drive, seems to like the Game of Thrones narrative and plays along. Finally a number of miles from the city, further along this wind-bashed freeway arrives a small little town, Ballygalley. Here the Ballygally castle (say that word a few times fast, just to entertain me), which isn’t really a castle, but more of a tower with all kinds of ghostly mysteries, is where Gaelic and Celtic fables and legends are divulged by locals and the new thronies are all ears.
Throwing your gaze up the escarpment behind the tower and beyond Cairncastle (again not a castle) are mountains - Sort of Spoiler Alert - where Ned Stark executed Will, the deserter from the Night's Watch at Knock Dhu. The hills are dotted with sheep and goats smiling, and according to McComb, moved during shooting season. Evidently all of Northern Ireland is getting involved in all this Hollywood stuff.
“People come as they are intrigued to see if they can see behind the scenes, extra features or of course secrets no one else can find”, says McComb. And that’s exactly how this slow cruise around the country feels. The magical landscapes, recognizable if you watch the show and just plain beautiful if you don’t, are in fact so otherworldly that it’s impossible to think that someone took this long to shoot a fantasy series here.
And so the drive continues. Hills and valleys in greens and gold with dramatic clouds moving swiftly next to the car gives off a calmness that somehow works perfectly with the unveiling of the show’s various scenes. Next up is a rocky beach, Cushendun, where the now favourited cave is worthy enough for the priestess Melisandre (Carice van Houten’s character) to give birth to a shadow assassin. McComb explains how they shot the scenes, the angles and views and how the priestess had to be naked in what seemed to me a freezing and drafty watery grave – I mean cave.
The show has a little something for everyone – a powerful woman in red giving birth, an intriguing assassin, scenery with gnarled rocks, and little pebbled coves.
And this is what makes the show so popular; it’s cross over audiences. Kids in the U.S. watch online, and older Japanese fans watch it 2 inches from their television screens, yet all come together through this show as they find characters they can relate to. It has also spurred an entire industry – from Belfast banquets where you can reenact any of the gluttonous feasts, to Steensons jewelers in Ballygalley who make up iconic pieces for the show, which are now also available for purchase.
Not far from the caves is Ballintoy Harbour, (forming part of what the show calls the Iron Islands) and this is where Theon Greyjoy had his homecoming and baptism and also where the pirate Salladhor Sann met Davos and pledged his loyalty and support to Stannis Baratheon. If those were too many names for you to remember I must admit I am feeling the same about the show and its very many details. But even when you forget who’s who exactly (as a semi-fan) the beauty of where we are makes the adventure worth the effort.
The day’s most memorable moment, call it a highlight if you will, is the Dark Hedges. Not that they are dark or hedges, but so they are called. It’s Season 2 that brought to these Serpentine beech trees to life on screen as Arya Stark (a royal girl pretending to be a boy played by Maisie Williams) flees her enemies in a cart. Possibly Northern Ireland’s most visited site to date, here the mystique of days of yore lurk. Celts, Gaelics, and even Vikings roamed these lands and at some point surely beheaded some people as the legends of the Middle Ages say.
The trees, only found here in the whole world, seem to know the secrets, but they won’t even whisper a thing. A crow flies through the gnarly trees and watches the onlookers closely. What I did notice through out the day, and in fact they are ubiquitous on the TV show, are these very jumpy crows. They perch around every location and somehow when they make their voices loud enough you hear them everywhere – desperate to seep out secrets I am sure.
The day ends, as I think it often does in the heart of Northern Ireland, with whiskys all around. The village Bushmills, with namesake distillery (think Peaky Blinders for this one), is possibly where whisky was invented and attracts avid drinkers just outside of the town of Carnlough. This little town comes not only with a world class whisky hole nearby but also has all kinds of deep intrigue - so much so that Winston Churchill was second citizen here although he was upstaged by the First Citizen, Paddy the homing pigeon. A castle nearby, slightly run down, Dunluce castle (a real one this time) is yet to be used on the show and if you ask a thronie they’ll guarantee that it’s the next season’s delight.
Glasses a raised, swords are crossed (some thronies who brought their own for the adventure) and the mystery of Game of Thrones leaves the screen and comes into the real world just for a day. Ok back to the dragons…
I love traveling vicariously thru you!