GEELONG’S GoT THE HOTTEST ADDRESS
IN their aptly-named Winterfell Rd home, the Torney family is getting excited as the eighth and final season of medieval fantasy epic Game of
Thrones approaches. Big fans Bryce and Lisa Torney of Charlemont are looking forward to the final instalment, which airs in Australia on Foxtel on Monday.
Mrs Torney said she was getting nervous about the hotly anticipated season finale.
“I’m a big fan and I’ve watched all of the previous seven seasons,” she said.
“We stumbled across this road completely by chance.
“I would like to say it was inspired by the TV series, but it was just a happy coincidence.
“It was definitely a conversation starter when we first moved in.”
Ms Torney said she hoped the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, would eventually be crowned Queen of Westeros.
“I’m hope she wins but I’m not sure,” she said.
“I’ve heard lots of main characters die this season so it could be very bloody.”
As the Torneys do not have Foxtel, they said they would wait to watch the show at a later date.
“I’ll wait until the whole season is done and then I’ll watch it back-to-back in a huge binge,” Ms Torney said.
“That way I don’t have to wait a week for the next episode.”
Winterfell Rd is believed to be the only street in the world named after fictional Winterfell, the seat of the ruler of the North and the ancestral home of House Stark.
And it’s not the only street in the Charlemont Rise land development based on Game of Thrones. There is also Sandor Tce, Catelyn Rd, Stannis St, Greyjoy St, Baelish Drive, Tywin St, Tully St and Meereen St.
In 2017, the developer of Charlemont Rise was forced to change the name of Lannaster Rd after a complaint from a neighbouring estate in the Armstrong Creek growth area.
Project manager Gary Smith said he changed the name to Precinct Rd after the complaint because the planned name made reference to a brother and sister in the series, Cersei and Jaime Lannister, who are romantically involved. Mr Smith had changed the spelling to Lannaster but that failed to quell opposition.
THE final season of Game of Thrones arrives on Monday. It’s been an epic ride so far, with battles, dragons, murder, betrayal, undead armies, threeeyed ravens and plenty of incest keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. Here are the Addy staff’s 10 favourite Game of Thrones moments to date. SPOILERS BELOW. had 16 of his own. So when two of the show’s favourite bastards face off in one of the series’ trademark battle episodes, there are plenty of points to prove. On one side, Ramsay Bolton, arguably the most malicious screen villain since John Jarratt in Wolf Creek; on the other the virtuous and handsome Jon Snow. The battle has innocent bloodshed (zig, Rickon, zig) and heroic deaths (remember Wun-Wun the giant?). But what fans loved most were some of the spectacular Miguel Sapochnik shots including a lone Snow facing a coming barrage of horses, and later drowning in a crushing group of bodies. EVEN For a show that delights in killing off major characters unexpectedly, it seemed too extreme that Jon Snow could die after being stabbed by his Night Watch companions. It was a betrayal to rival Julius Caesar (et tu Ollie?). And sure he was dead, but was he all dead? Or — to borrow a line from The Princess Bride — only mostly dead? After being resurrected by child burning-advocate Melisandre, Jon Snow breathed in, and we all breathed out a little sigh of relief.
THINGS are bleak north of the wall at the best of times. But when Jon Snow and his trusty crew come across an army of white walkers at Hardhome, all hell breaks loose. It’s a battle between the living and the dead with enough frenzied skeletons to make Ray Harryhausen proud. But it is the Night King’s simple double-handed gesture to resurrect all of our fallen good guys as zombie soldiers that truly brings the chills. HAS there been another character in television history viewers have wanted to see die more than this walking antiincest advertisement? OK, maybe Ramsay Bolton, but King Joffrey was arguably the series’ biggest villain while he was alive. From having Ned Stark executed, impaling prostitutes with crossbows and being an all-round psychopath, Joffrey’s death couldn’t come quick enough. And when it happened, it was suitably inglorious. Perfect. BY this time, the show was well ahead of the books. We’ll eventually find out what author George R.R. Martin makes Cersei Lannister do to rid herself of her enemies in the novels, but the show’s TV writers kept it simple: blow them all up. A bit lazy? Perhaps. But it was undeniably spectacular watching the Sept of Baelor go up thanks to a cache of wildfire. And the sight of grief-stricken King Tommen leaping to his splattery end after Queen Margaery’s death in the explosion brought new meaning to the name “King’s Landing”. BOOK readers knew it was coming, but those unaware of George R.R. Martin’s propensity for killing Starks didn’t — and it was fun watching the television latecomers lose their youknow-what over the execution of Ned Stark. It’s a ballsy move killing off a show’s lead character in the first season, but Ned Stark’s death (mostly) started the chain of events that have led to this point.
THE face-off between Gregor Clegane (the Mountain) and Prince Oberyn Martell (the Viper) was one of the show’s goriest moments. We wanted Prince Oberyn to win, and we all screamed, “Stab him in the head!”, when he got the Mountain on the ground. But no, the Viper wanted Gregor to confess to the rape and murder of his sister before finishing him off. Sigh. Prince Oberyn missed his chance, and the Mountain prevailed after pulling off a Rocky Balboa-esque comeback — that is, if Rocky Balboa took off his gloves and crushed Ivan Drago’s skull with his bare hands.
SEASON six was an interesting one for Thrones fans because it was the first to wade into storylines and events not covered yet in the book series. One of the biggest moments of the season came in episode five, when the origin of fan-favourite Hodor’s one-word vocabulary was revealed in an emotionally evastating sequence. Admit it. You cried. IF any Thrones characters hear the Rains of Castamere playing in the background, they should stop what they’re doing and exit the room because someone is going to die — and not of natural causes. It’s Westeros’s version of the Jaws theme. With Robb Stark’s rebellion going so well, viewers relaxed at the sight of Ned’s eldest son and his pregnant wife Talisa attending his uncle Edmure Tully’s wedding. It was love and happiness. Ha! Suckers. Thrones doesn’t do love and happiness. We’ve all learned that the hard way.