How the biggest ‘Game of Thrones’ event was born: “It’s the most watched series, the wasted potential is excruciating”

Last weekend the biggest European event in the Game of Thrones universe took place: “Cáceres, the city of dragons”, a meeting that brought together more than 8,000 fans of the George RR Martin saga in Cáceres, which is King’s Landing, capital of the Seven Kingdoms, in “The Dragon’s House”.

“Something big enough was born from an idea”Dani Abades, better known as Maglor on YouTube, told us, responsible for organizing this event together with Javi Marcos, creator of the blog Losietereinos.com. These content creators were thrilled to celebrate a great gathering in the beautiful city that was the setting for “La Casa del Dragone”, with an eventful weekend starting on Friday with the flag raising at the town hall and ending on Sunday evening with an intimate concert dedicated to the soundtrack of the series.

??? @Frikidoctor Y @DaniAbades with the Minister of Culture @NuriaFloresRed and the mayor of Caceres @Lsalaya They have been tasked with hoisting the Targaryen flags

? A weekend dedicated to the universe of #Game of Thrones#CaceresCityOfDragons @Ayto_Caceres pic.twitter.com/vbvHrSTTZx

? Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sport (@JuntaEx_Cultura) 21 October 2022

This event was attended by several content creators from the “Game of Thrones” universe, who met on Saturday at the San Francisco Cultural Complex to hold up to five panel discussions. International experts, such as Elio García, creator of Westeros.org and collaborator of Martin, and national guests, who met in the last debate held on Saturday. Called “The Council of Dragons”, this table brought together several Spanish-speaking youtubers: the person most responsible for this event, Dani Abades, together with his partner Jose Señarís (Frikidoctor), Antonio Osuna (Evil Smile), Berta Golán, Beatriz Peñas and Santiago Gutiérrez from the podcast La Canción Continúa, Jag Durán, and one of the most anticipated and acclaimed by the public: the undisputed Queen of Cáceres, Guadalupe Fiñana, the grandmother of dragons, praised by all present. “There is a great affection in the community towards her: for her age, for her way of being, because she is very charismatic and for her way of telling the series” explains the organizer. The capacity of the center was 600 and the place was practically full. Dani says he is very surprised by the good reception that the event has had on a general level, including this speech: “I didn’t expect these figures, I expected less. There are people who have come from the United States or Latin America. Plus all the activities have reached capacity.”

In Cáceres, the city of dragons, visitors were able to enjoy various activities over the three days of the weekend, as well as discussion tables. The most notable were the dramatized routes, a tour of all the points of the city where the series was filmed with the presence of actors playing the main characters, the escape room in search of the dragon egg, or the imposing medieval tournament organized by the Steel Fencing School, where they offered some fencing lessons and subsequently held several jousting among the members of the school, which recreated the battles of “The Throne of Swords”. All these activities were born from the same people and their common collaboration, without seeking or receiving economic benefits, with the maximum help and investment from the Municipality. “We didn’t want to charge anything, this was a party for the people”Abbots pointed out.

The reception of this event was great, with many fans who walked the streets of Cáceres and completely immersed themselves in the atmosphere with the incredible costumes of the series, such as those we could see at the cosplay contest on Sunday, or the themed dinner he had held on Saturday night. Dani is enormously proud of what they have achieved and says they want to do it again in the future: “I know there is a will and also on the part of the City Council, if the people of Cáceres want it. People shouted at us (youtuber) over the weekend. We hope to repeat with the same idea and improve what we can , because it is the first time we do it “.

Dani Abades also pointed out that there hadn’t been any other events of this kind in Spain or Europe because HBO hadn’t organized them, which seemed to him they were totally wasting the success of the series. He also commented that HBO, which is the one who has the rights in his hands, refused to attend and totally ignored it, so things like doing a photocall or bringing a Game of Thrones were impossible for them, but they hope that. this happen. change pending next time: “They were aware that the event existed and I hope the figures make us think”.

Just before going out to speak #CasaDelDrago in #CaceresCityOfDragons with @DaniAbades, @Evil__Smile, @homeSpammer, @jagduran, @Velarion Y @ BeatrizPB0. For the first time, all together on a stage, and then came the #DragoNonna!. Thank you very much pic.twitter.com/eqo9ijYBzc

? Jose Señarís Romay (@Frikidoctor) 23 October 2022

Even so, with the help of HBO or without it, the Cáceres event was a real triumph, as confirmed by all the guests, attendees and members of the City Council itself. Abades insists that more events of this type are needed: “We are talking about the most watched series in history and the wasted potential is frightening.” The youtuber commented that it is necessary for HBO to take action and start participating in projects of this type since “These initiatives are an extraordinary showcase for the cities in which they take place”. Fans and community members of George RR Martin Universe hope and hope that Cáceres will reopen its doors by organizing another event of this kind for the second season of “The House of the Dragon”, which will once again choose this city as the Landing of the re in fiction.

Does “Game of Thrones” have any competition?

Dani Abades is an expert on George RR Martin’s novels and his channel is dedicated to telling the stories that unfold in the world of Westeros. As a reader of “Fire and Blood”, he says he loves it as an adaptation: I was hoping we would enjoy the series, but I didn’t know it would be received so well, knowing the ending of ‘Game of Thrones’ was very controversial, I didn’t think it would go so well. of the first season is very good, and my videos prove it, which have more and more visits “. Could “House of the Dragon” beat “Game of Thrones”? The youtuber thinks he could not do without it, because this series will not have the brutal twists we saw in the first, but ensures that the journey could be more satisfying: “The good thing is this is closed by the writer, if they continue to be guided by the books, I think this series can have a better ending, for sure.”

If “House of the Dragon” failed to surpass its predecessor, then could another fantasy adaptation surpass Martin’s stories? Dani Abades says he can think of some novels and writers that could give us great adaptations: “My bet right now is Brandon Sanderson, I don’t know if to overcome, but at least to entertain us.” There has already been speculation about the television adaptation of a novel by the American writer, but we still have to wait for future confirmation, always with the same question: can a series ever surpass the acclaimed ‘Game of Thrones’?