Best friends, worst enemies: In the HBO series "Game of Thrones", allegiances can change as quickly as an arrow is fired across the battlefield. This interactive chart is an attempt at mapping the intransparent and oftentimes chaotic relationships between 135 men, women, giants, wolves and dragons - for each one of the 59 episodes aired so far. Don't push the episode slider too far to the right to avoid any spoilers of yet unseen episodes!
A chart like this has its limits: The relationships are restricted to ten different types, more complex intrigues like those resulting from conflicting loyalties or treacherous alliances can't be shown with a single line, but need the whole network of relationships to be shown.
- "is parent of", "is child of", "is sibling of": Not just biological relationships, but any kind of family bond - even if it exists just because the true nature of the biological relationship is unknown to the persons involved.
- "is married to": Being married does not constitute to being in love or even allied. But at least on paper those two people are joined in more or less holy matrimony.
- "is in love with": The strongest bond of alliance - but a feeling, that does not have to be mutual, thus opening possibilities for all kinds of betrayal.
- "is allied with": Ranging from deepest loyalty to short-lived alliances just to reach a certain goal. At least there is some degree of more or less reliable trust between people who share this type of relationship. For now.
- "is enemy of": Ranging from almost harmless rivalry to sworn enemies. Whatever it may be, those two people are a danger to each other.
- "was severely injured by": Incurable injuries which will persist until the end of that persons life - like paraplegia or a cut off limb. And in any case a very valid reason for lifelong hatred.
- "killed" and "was killed by": The Starks might swing the sword themselves, if they passed the sentence. But that doesn't hold true for most people living in The Seven Kingdoms. So this type of relationship is not limited to that one person who actually did the deed. And death, as the chart shows, doesn't always have to be permanend in the "Game of Thrones".