The hotly anticipated seventh series of HBO’s TV drama Game of Thrones airs in the US on Sunday 16 July and in the UK the following day.
The fantasy epic, set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, became an instant hit when Season 1 made its debut back in 2011.
Since then it has gone on to rack up a multitude of prestigious television awards as well as a number of impressive Guinness World Records titles.
Check out our top ten Game of Thrones-related world records to get you ready for The Great War and the battle for the Iron Throne.
1. Most "in demand" TV show
Game of Thrones, which is an adaptation of George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, was the most popular television series in 2016.
According to Parrot Analytics, a data science company that measures world-wide audience demand for TV content, it had an average of 7,191,848 daily Demand Expressions™ globally.
2. Most Emmy Awards for a drama series
At the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, the show also took home an unparalleled 37 Emmy Awards. This is also the Most Emmy Awards for a fictional series.
3. Tallest actor
Neil Fingleton (UK), who stands 232.5 cm (7 ft 7.53 in) tall, appeared in Game of Thrones as Mag the Mighty, the giant in Mance Rayder's army. He featured in the episode "Watchers on the Wall" (2011) riding a woolly mammoth.
Neil sadly passed away in February 2017, due to heart failure.
4. Most pirated TV show
The downside to being the most popular TV show in the world… Download monitoring website TorrentFreak declared Game of Thrones to be the most illegally downloaded TV show for the fifth year running. At its peak, the finale of season 6, which aired on 26 Jun 2016, was being shared across 350,000 torrents simultaneously. In second and third place were AMC’s The Walking Dead and HBO’s Westworld (both USA), respectively.
5. Farthest washing machine throw
On the seventh series of Italy’s Lo Show Dei Record, Thor Björnsson (Lithuania) – who is best known for playing Gregor “The Mountain” in the HBO series – goes head-to-head with 2014 World’s Strongest Man Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuania) in a number of intense record battles.
Watch the video to find out which strongman can throw a washing machine the farthest:
6. Largest recreation of an existing fictional world in Minecraft
George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels also spawned a Minecraft project to re-create its fictional setting, Westeros.
As of February 4, 2015, the WesterosCraft project had mapped out around 311.4 sq mi (806.5 km²) of Westeros – including Riverrun and Winterfell – covering an area of approximately 22,000 x 59,000 blocks. The aim of the project is to use the setting for a role-playing game based on the novels.
7. Largest TV drama simulcast (number of countries)
The second episode of Season 5 was simulcast to 173 different countries and territories, starting at 2 a.m. on Monday 20 April 2015.
8. Most viewers sharing a single torrent file simultaneously
The Season 5 finale also saw the most viewers sharing a single torrent file simultaneously: 258,131. And for around 7,997,000 bona fide viewers in the USA, it was Thrones’ most successful season to date.
9. Highest beer keg toss (male)
“The Mountain” and Zydrunas compete again, this time to see who can chuck a heavy beer keg over a bar.
10. Most VES Awards won by a TV series
As of 2 Feb 2016, HBO’s smash-hit fantasy series had received 16 awards from the Visual Effects Society.
Will Game of Thrones Season 7 break any of these Guinness World Records titles? Stay tuned…