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Game of Thrones season 7 premiere: The Harry Potter reference you might have missed

Mild season 7 spoilers follow

Jacob Stolworthy
Monday 17 July 2017 09:37 BST
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Game of Thrones: Season 7 Episode 2 preview

Fans of both Game of Thrones and Harry Potter were sent into a frenzy during the season seven premiere of the HBO hit series when the former seemed to reference JK Rowling's wizarding world.

The moment arrived in a scene between characters Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) and Archmaester Ebrose, the man tasked with training him at the Citadel.

During the scene, Tarly expresses his desire to access the “restricted area of the library” in order to acquire the material that'll help him with his Archmaester training but is refused access by Ebrose (Jim Broadbent in his Thrones debut).


Harry Potter fans were quick to jump into action recalling that Hogwarts' library also featured an area known as “the Restricted Section” which contained dangerous books on dark magic (this is the place Harry sneaks into to find information on Horcruxes, the objects through which Lord Voldemort preserves parts of his soul in order to keep himself alive). In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Tom Riddle - the teenage Voldemort - also asks Professor Slughorn for access to "the Restricted Section of the library."

The link? Slughorn is played by none other than Broadbent.

Many fans picked up on the moment and expressed their excitement on social media.


The Game of Thrones season seven premiere, titled 'Dragonstone,' featured an Ed Sheeran cameo which had extra significance for readers of George RR Martin's book series the show is based on.

Meanwhile, one fan collated each character's screen time to officially discover who the show's most important character is.

The premiere will be repeated on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV tonight (17 July) at 9pm.

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