NEW YORK: The cast and creators of “Game of Thrones” walked their last red carpet together on Wednesday, recalling memories of their years working on the international hit television series.
Dozens of actors, many of whom were unknown before the medieval fantasy series began in 2011, flew to New York ahead of the eighth and final season of the show, which arrives on HBO on April 14.
Sophie Turner, who was just 14 when she began her role as Sansa Stark, said she would miss the months of filming outdoors in freezing weather in Northern Ireland.
“Some of the fondest memories I have are of all of us snuggled up in warm coats trying to get warm,” she said.
“That camaraderie that we’ve built from just being so like cold and so wet... they were the most exciting times because it was how we really bonded as a cast.”
Turner said she had kept one of her character’s corsets as a souvenir. Pilou Asbaek (Euron Greyjoy) and Conleth Hill (Varys) said they kept some rings, while Richard Dormer held on to Beric Dondarrion’s trademark eye patch.
“Game of Thrones” has won multiple Emmy awards and is HBO’s biggest hit ever with some 30 million viewers in the United States and an army of devoted fans worldwide.
The series, set among warring families in the fictional kingdom of Westeros, is based on novels by George R.R. Martin in a series called “A Song of Ice and Fire.”
Plot details of the final season have been kept strictly secret although filming started in October 2017.
“This has been a year and a half we’ve been having to hide these. I can remember when I read the script I was like, you know, I wish I didn’t have this information in my head,” said Isaac Hempstead-Wright, who plays the visionary Bran Stark.
Season 7, which was broadcast in 2017, saw the characters head toward a great battle over the Iron Throne while a zombie army of White Walkers, led by the undead Night King, march south and threaten mankind’s destruction.
“I can tell you something. I’m probably the only guy with a happy end,” Asbaek said.
The show has become known for killing off beloved characters, but many of the actors playing them, including Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell) and Sean Bean (Ned Stark) turned up for Wednesday’s red carpet.
“This is the last mile, the last carpet, the last premiere, this is the end,” said Kristofer Hivju, who plays raider Tormund Giantsbane. “I think everything has an end and this is the perfect way to end it.”
Souvenirs and secrets as ‘Game of Thrones’ cast walk last red carpet
Souvenirs and secrets as ‘Game of Thrones’ cast walk last red carpet
- Dozens of actors, many of whom were unknown before the medieval fantasy series began in 2011, flew to New York ahead of the eighth and final season of the show
- Plot details of the final season have been kept strictly secret although filming started in October 2017
In southeast Pakistan, Ramadan brings Hindus and Muslims closer
MITHI: Partab Shivani, a Hindu in Muslim-majority Pakistan, has fasted on and off during Ramadan for years, but this time is different as he practices abstinence for the entire holy month.
Every year, he and his friends in the southeastern city of Mithi arrange iftar, when Muslims break their daily fast, to foster peace and solidarity between the two religions.
“I believe we need to promote interfaith harmony. First, we are humans — religions came later,” Shivani, a 48-year-old social activist, told AFP, adding that he also reads the teachings of the Buddha.
“His message is about peace and ending war. Peace can spread through solidarity and by standing with one another. Distance only widens the gap between people,” he added.
Ninety-six percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people are Muslim. Just two percent are Hindu, most of them living in rural areas of Sindh province where Mithi is located.
In Mithi itself, most of the 60,000 inhabitants are Hindu.
Many of the city’s Hindus also observe Ramadan and iftar has become a social gathering where people from both faiths happily participate.
“This has been a wonderful tradition of ours for a very long time,” said Mir Muhammad Buledi, a 51-year-old Muslim friend who attended Shivani’s iftar gathering.
“It is a beautiful example of harmony between the two communities.”
Like brothers
Discrimination against minorities runs deep in Pakistan.
Following the end of British rule in South Asia in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned into mainly Hindu India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
That triggered widespread religious bloodshed in which hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, freedom of religion or belief is under constant threat, with religiously motivated violence and discrimination increasing yearly.
State authorities, often using religious unrest for political gain, have failed to address the crisis, the independent non-profit says.
But such tensions are absent in Mithi.
“I am a Hindu but I keep all the fasts during this month,” said Sushil Malani, a local politician. “I feel happy standing with my Muslim brothers.
“We celebrate Eid together as well. This tradition in the region is very old.”
Restaurants and tea stalls are closed across Pakistan during Ramadan.
Ramesh Kumar, a 52-year-old Hindu man who sells sweets and savoury items outside a Muslim shrine, keeps his push cart covered and closed until iftar.
“There is no discrimination among us if someone is Muslim or Hindu. I have been seeing this since my childhood that we all live together like brothers,” he said.
Muslim shrine, Hindu caretaker
Locals say Mithi’s peaceful religious coexistence can be traced to its remote location, emerging from the sand dunes of the Tharparkar desert, which borders the modern Indian state of Rajasthan.
Cows — considered sacred in Hinduism — roam freely in Mithi city, as they do in neighboring India.
At two Sufi Muslim shrines in the middle of the city, Hindu families arrange meals, bringing fruit, meals and juices for their Muslim neighbors to break their fasts.
“We respect Muslims,” said Mohan Lal Malhi, a Hindu caretaker of one of the shrines.
Mohan said his parents and elders taught him to respect people regardless of religion or color, and the traditions pass from one generation to the next.
Local residents said both communities consider their social relationships more important than their religious identity.
“You will see a (Sikh) gurdwara, a mosque, and a shrine standing side by side here,” Mohan said. “The atmosphere of this area teaches humanity.”
