Quiz: Can You Match the ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ Character to Their Surname?

House of the Dragon season three may be over, meaning that we’ll now have to wait years for the on-screen conclusion to air. Of course, the events of the Targaryen civil war that the show portrays are described in George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood if anyone is looking for spoilers. Meanwhile, the show that started it all—Game of Thrones—is based on Martin’s original Westeros-based series A Song of Ice and Fire. 

How well do you know the last names of characters featured in those books? Check your knowledge with this quiz!

How much did you get right? Are you an expert in Westeros lore, or is it time to give the books a reread (or settle in for a rewatch)?

A Game of Thrones Hits the Scene

The first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996. It was Martin’s fourth novel and his first return to fiction after a period of time spent working in television.

 Martin has said that he was inspired by real historical events, including the War of the Roses, the Crusades, and the Hundred Years’ War, to write Game of Thrones. The books drew readers in through their complex worldbuilding, unique characters, and subversion of fantasy tropes.

The series took off, and in 2011, the first episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones aired. It became a sensation and kicked off a wave of fantasy series on television. Characters like Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen soon became household names. 

However, in season five, the show began diverging away from Martin’s books, as it had finished covering the events of the existing novels. The series' ending left many fans feeling extremely disillusioned and dissatisfied with what had happened. 

Spinoffs Galore

2022 marked the premiere of House of the Dragon, the first Game of Thrones spinoff to successfully air. This series is set around 200 years before the events of the original series. 2026 saw the release of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, another Game of Thrones prequel that focused on a knight named Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall and his squire, Aegon “Egg” Targaryen. These books are based on a series of novellas by Martin that begin with The Hedge Knight. 

The Dream of Winds of Winter

Despite the success of the ever-expanding Westerosi onscreen universe, many fans are still waiting for Martin to finish his Song of Ice and Fire series. The most recent book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, was published in 2011, and the final books, The Winds of Winter and The Dream of Spring, have been pending ever since. 

In January 2026, Martin opened up about suffering from depression in a blog post after an “overwhelming” and “stressful” year. The 78-year-old wrote that “getting old is no fun,” and added that he had “amazing times” as well as “difficulties” in the past year. “I suppose that’s just life. Of course, I knew that. If you’ve read my stories, you know that,” he wrote. 

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that same month, Martin said he had written about 1,100 pages of the manuscript and was still devoted to finishing the book. “I do think if I can just get some of these other things off my back, I could finish The Winds of Winter pretty soon…” he said. “It’s been made clear to me that Winds is the priority, but…I don’t know. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for that.”