Game of Thrones is back on TV, so here is some information on the accents used in the show. 🙂

Accents in Game of Thrones

The theory is that the Westerosi characters of Game of Thrones speak British English, with the accent of the region in England whose geographic location corresponds to that of the character’s home region in Westeros.

A Brief Tour of the Varying Accents of the British Isles from a Dialect Coach

For example, Eddard Stark, as Warden of the North, speaks in actor Sean Bean’s native Northern English, while the southern lord Tywin Lannister is heard speaking with a southern accent. “The show does place a lot of emphasis on a north/south divide and seeing the northern House Stark going up against the distinctly southern House Lannister provides a great contrast and helps the viewers know which side everyone is on.” From Fan site.

However, the four members of the Stark family are are all heard speaking with different accents. Read more.

Why do all the Baratheons have different accents? King Robert Baratheon’s northern accent, courtesy of York native Mark Addy, is among the best deployments of accent-as-characterization in the series: King Robert and Lord Eddard are boyhood friends who fought side by side in Robert’s Rebellion; their similar accents reflect their shared past, communicate their rapport, and warn of the distance between the two men and the posh, RP southern-accented Lannisters. Read more

“Whatever! The show has dragons, who cares if the accents don’t match?”