Dragons, 700-foot-high ice walls, people changing faces, coming back to life, and transforming into icy zombies–all while expecting the arrival of real winter. But how many people lived on the four continents of the Game of Thrones world?
First, a disclaimer. Renowned demographer Lyman Stone once pointed out, “In most cases, the obvious demographic and economic illiteracy of an author is totally forgivable because they’re not making any claims to realism...”
For example, the battles in Star Wars are remarkably small considering the vastness of the galaxy. But who cares? It’s fantasy (or, in this case, science fiction, to sidestep any debates).
However, once you start pondering these questions, it becomes hard to stop.
How big are the Seven Kingdoms? This question seems straightforward at first glance. Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has published maps, discussed distances and travel times, and even made comparisons to specific real-world locations.
However, the information doesn’t quite align. While Martin has likened Westeros to South America in terms of size, fans have calculated that its actual size is more akin to that of Europe.
In his work on the demographics of Westeros, Stone references an area of about 5.7 million square miles. According to the most optimistic estimates, this is slightly larger than Europe but considerably smaller than South America.
This is only the beginning. The size of the land is fixed, and relatively objective information is available. However, Martin’s data are less reliable when evaluating the size of the armies.
Stone explains that Martin’s recurring figures lack historical credibility. By aggregating the army descriptions found in Westeros, the estimated total is between 200,000 and 650,000 soldiers. Given what historians know about medieval armies, this estimate is hard to sustain.
Inconsistencies persist in estimating the sizes of cities. Here, Stone treats the books’ estimates as if they were excerpts from ancient chronicles. Although data may not be very accurate, they’re adjusted for the most glaring discrepancies.
So, what’s the population of the cities? According to Stone, the five main cities of Westeros–King’s Landing, Oldtown, Lannisport, Gulltown, and White Harbor–are home to about 670,000 people. This estimate is noticeably lower than others, but it provides a more conservative basis for our understanding.
Additionally, Stone’s estimate suggests that the urban population in the Seven Kingdoms is between 1 and 1.5 million.
Can we estimate the total population based on this figure? Yes, but some additional assumptions are needed. In medieval Europe, the urban population typically ranged from 15% in regions like Italy and Byzantium to around 3% in Western Europe. This leads to an estimate of 11 million to 42 million people.
However, this estimation is all too inconsistent. It lacks internal coherence in terms of demographics, economics, and sociology. Stone says Martin’s world is “shoddily constructed from a demographically realistic perspective,” unlike J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings universe. “There is no rational way to square even the most basic available data,” he adds.
Stone explains, “There is too much dynastic stability, too little cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity, the basic size of the world seems to change to fit the immediate exigencies of the plot, the cities and armies are implausibly large in many cases.”
Image | Warner Bros. Discovery
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