Behind the Game of Thrones Opening Sequence

Maybe many people didn't consider to pay attention on opening sequences but I always find it interesting and a big part of the show. So as I watched Game of Thrones I can't help but notice the interesting opening sequence full of meaning, tid bits of information and how well done it is so here is some that you may or may not even know about the opening sequence of the HBO hit Game of Thrones

First, notice the appearance of the cast of Game of Thrones are shown together with the sign of their respective houses. Sean Bean who plays Ned Stark of Winterfell has a direwolf sigil beside his name which represents the sigil of the House Stark, We saw Mark Addy who plays King Robert Barratheon with a sigil of a stag and followed by Nikolai Coster-Waldau with a lion sign beside his name representing the lion sigil of House Lannister in which he plays Jamie Lannister. Although during the first few episodes of the series the opening sequence has its errors like Emilia Clarke with a lion sign beside her name instead of a dragon which is the sigil of the house Targaryen and Sophie Turner who plays Sansa Stark has a dragon sign instead of a direwolf but ultimately fix as the season progressed. Here's the continuation of the list with their corresponding sigil beside their names.

• Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister (Lion)
• Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark (Direwolf)
• Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister (Lion)
• Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont (Bear)
• Aidan Gillen as Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Hummingbird)
• Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen (Dragon)
• Kit Harington as Jon Snow (Direwolf)
• Maisie Williams as Arya Stark (Direwolf)
• Richard Madden as Robb Stark (Direwolf)
• Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy (Kraken)
• Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark (Direwolf)
• Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon (Lion)
• Rory McCann as Sandor "The Hound" Clegane (3 dogs)

If you also notice the sun has its rotating rings where there's a part of the ring where in all the animals are having a battle with the dragons which represents the fall of Targaryen. The next ring shows the animals bow down to the stag which we can clearly interpret that as a symbol of all the houses (represented by their animal sigils) bowed to King Robert Barratheon (stag)

Also, the Game of Thrones opening is a map of its world and changes most of the time. There's 4 map variations in the first season with the map basically explores the different kingdoms, you'll see the King's Landing where almost all of the scenes takes place then Winterfell, where the House Stark is located and followed by The Wall, where Jon Snow decided to be a part of together with his Uncle Benjen. In the first episode, Pentos is a part of the opening sequence after The Wall is shown. This is because on the first episode the Targaryen siblings are in Pentos. The second episode have a different opening sequence that instead of Pentos being shown after The Wall it is replaced by Vaes Dothrak because in this episode and upcoming episodes of season 1 the Targaryen siblings are with Khal Drogo and the Dothraki nomads. The 3rd variation of the map happened on the 5th episode; The Wolf and the Lion in which the Eyrie appears on the map, mainly because Lady Catelyn Stark are in Eyrie with her sister and now prisoner Tyrion Lannister. The last map variation of season 1 appears on the ninth episode; Baelor in which Eyrie was replaced by The Twins, where The Stark army arrives at a bridge controlled by Lord Walder Frey.

And in case you got lost with all the things I said, the opening sequences showed different maps: King's Landing, Eyrie (Ep 5), The Twins (Ep 9), Winterfell, The Wall, Pentos (Ep 1) and Vaes Dothrak.

The places seen in the map has a sigil on top representing the family's crest with the King's Landing we can see a large Stag sigil on top and a direwolf on the Winterfell part of the opening sequence. And if you notice the Winterfell part has its tree growing which symbolizes the old gods in which most of the North believes rather than most part of Westeros which already believes in the new gods

The representation of the cities is also very well detailed on the opening sequence, King's Landing has a very developed feel to it with a red and gold colors which we can clearly say that this is their capital while Winterfell has a lot of rusty feel with bronze accent colors and Vaes Dothrak showing just tents which because the Dothraki's way of living and civilization.

With this interesting opening sequence I really can't wait for the 2nd season and what new variations it will show us. Of course they will treat us to a new map location as the 2nd season progresses and move to different locations. So these are the few things I noticed on the Game of Thrones opening sequence if you happen to know more please please please share it to us, I love to know more about it.