Love’s tall order

Fans’ hearts on the line in GoT finale

THEY are the larger-than-life Game of Thrones couple fans want to see get together — not least because their warrior babies could save the world.

In real life, Gwendoline Christie, who plays the warrior woman Brienne of Tarth (left), and Kristofer Hivju, who plays Tormund Giantsbane (right), a member of the Free Folk and trusted ally of Jon Snow, are just as impressive.

They are both imposingly tall — Christie stands at 1.91m and Hivju 1.83m — and have laughs that could frighten a lion, or a Hound.

Co-star Rory McCann (The Hound) calls Christie “glorious” and says she is the biggest giggler he has met.

Hivju is also smitten: “She is a lot of fun, we had many laughs. She is a walking party, a wonderful actress and great human being.”

They are in a London hotel room, ahead of the launch of the final season of the epic HBO drama series, to stream exclusively in Australia on Foxtel.

Christie says she still can’t process the love there is for Brienne.

“The impact of the character has been truly extraordinary because I didn’t expect people to embrace her,” she says.

“She didn’t follow conventions of how females had previously been portrayed in mainstream television, so I assumed there wouldn’t be a lot of energy for that character.

“But ( GoT author) George R.R. Martin created a phenomenal character which seems to have transcended any specific audience — she resonates with a wide range of people because she is an outsider that does all she can to achieve an overriding moral sense of good.

“She fails regularly, but it doesn’t stop her from trying again. That’s what’s so captivating.”

Christie, 40, who lives in London with her partner, fashion designer Giles Deacon, says she cried for two hours when she took off Brienne’s armour for the last time.

“There was horseriding, fighting, sword fighting, and then I would have my gym sessions and come back and just sleep and I was so un adulteratedly happy because I felt like I was being given this incredible challenge,” she says.

“As a woman, it was terrifying and exciting to have to take away my vanity, to cut my hair, to gain muscle, to walk in another way, to accept my androgyny, my natural strength — the very things that I felt society had dictated to me were not relevant or appropriate.”

Hivju, who lives in his native Norway with his wife and two children, says his role was similarly demanding.

He had to use his real-life climbing skills to scale the Wall in season three — much to the distress of the production team.

“They built it in polystyrene and on every take I destroyed the wall. I smashed it. So that was an adventure,” he says.

Much has been made of whether Tormund survives — we left him for dead at the end of season seven — so surely his presence at today’s interview means he survives?

“The last thing we saw of Tormund was he was falling down a huge wall so what the outcome of season eight is I won’t talk about,” Hivju, 40, says.

Both actors hope to find another character they love as much. But neither is saying whether love conquers all in season eight.