When Game of Thrones launched back in 2011, the number of people on social media was way smaller than it is today. During that time, it was hard for viewers to find out what the rest of the world feels about a certain character or a particular scene. But because social media has gained more popularity since the debut of the HBO series, fans from all over the world can now see millions of comments and reactions from their fellow viewers in real-time. And given that Game of Thrones is a true global phenomenon, lots of fans still talk about it on social media even if it’s on hiatus.
Though the exact topics of those social media conversations are unclear, international social media analytics firm Talkwalker has recently released a set of social wave data that revealed the most talked-about Game of Thrones characters on social media from March 12th to April 12th of this year.
On top of the ranking is Jon Snow (Kit Harington) with 80,432 mentions, followed by Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) on the second spot with 37,362 mentions. Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) holds the third spot with 34,885 mentions, followed by her sister Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) with 27,192 mentions, and then Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) with 21,041 mentions.
Immediately behind Tyrion are his twin siblings Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) with 14,343 and 13,358 mentions, respectively. Master of Whisperers Varys (Conleth Hill) ranks eighth with 10,198 mentions, followed by Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) with 9,102 mentions, and The Red Witch Melisandre (Carice van Houten) with 7,962 mentions.
Interestingly, a number of characters who have already died in the show still made it to the Top 20 list. These are Ygritte (Rose Leslie), Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), and Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa). See their rankings and their corresponding number of mentions in the table below:
In addition to the list of the most mentioned Game of Thrones characters on social media, Talkwalker also released the Top 10 hashtags on social media in the last 30 days. And surprisingly, 6 out of 10 hashtags are Game of Thrones-related.
These are #GameofThrones, #ForTheThrone, #GoT, #GoTPremiereNYC, GOTS8, and #ACanHasNoName, which is a limited-run, special edition MTN DEW can inspired by Arya and her training with the Faceless Men of Braavos. When warm, the cans appear brandless. Once chilled, they reveal Arya’s iconic kill list, a tribute to those killed and a glance at her remaining targets for the final season.
The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.