Complete Guide to Westeros

The Complete Guide to Westeros is a series of 24 special featurettes that appear in the Game of Thrones Season 1 Blu Ray box set. The actual cast, in-character, narrate the major events of the 12,000 year long history of Westeros. They have a combined running length of 60 minutes and functionally constitute a full-length "bonus episode" of sorts.

The goal is that viewers new to the TV series that are not familiar with author George R.R. Martin's book are given within the space of an hour a thorough crash-course on all of the vital things one needs to know about the backstory of the world of Westeros.

Similar to the theme of the books and TV series that events rarely have black and white "good guys" and "bad guys", each of the characters from different factions in the series gives their own perspective on historical events. For example, Robert Baratheon is filled with righteous fury when he describes the Sack of King's Landing, while Viserys Targaryen stresses what a betrayal it was and how the Targaryen children were butchered. The House Stark characters are horrified by the bloodshed in the Sack of King's Landing, while Tywin Lannister considers it to have been a necessary evil.

There are two groups of featurettes. Five "Great Houses" featurettes are in full-color, and explain the specific history of the major factions in Season 1: House Stark, House Lannister, House Baratheon, House Arryn, and House Targaryen. These featurettes are presented in such a way that the characters themselves are supposed to be narrating them in-universe, while the characters are viewing artwork which stylistically represents these histories. For example, the "House Lannister" featurette consists of the camera panning across a series of stained-glass images in a castle, as Tywin Lannister (supposedly off-screen) explains to his "guest" the specific events in the history of House Lannister that they represent.

The remaining 19 featurettes are part of a series called "History and Lore". They consist of black and white sketches of historical events, still narrated by the characters, but presented with more straightforward images (instead of stylistically interpreted histories represented in stained glass or illuminated manuscripts).

Voice Cast

 * Charles Dance as Lord Tywin Lannister
 * Michelle Fairley as Lady Catelyn Stark
 * Richard Madden as Robb Stark
 * Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark
 * Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin
 * James Cosmo as Lord Commander Jeor Mormont
 * Mark Addy as King Robert Baratheon
 * Harry Lloyd as Prince Viserys Targaryen