Game of Thrones boasts one of the highest body counts on TV, knocking off even major characters in some very gruesome ways. Perhaps even more surprising is who still survives as we head into the final season. A new paper in the journal Injury Epidemiology offers some insights into the best strategies to ensure survival in the brutal world of Westeros.
(Some spoilers for first seven seasons below.)
This isn’t the first time Game of Thrones has inspired a scientific paper. One 2016 study examined the Greyscale skin disease, while a 2017 study explored fight or flight responses of various characters on the show. And there was a lively discussion among chemists over what real poison was most similar to “The Strangler” used at the infamous Purple Wedding in season 4.