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3 details people always get wrong about 'Game of Thrones'

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Courtesy HBO

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Game of Thrones."

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The established universe in HBO's adaptation of "A Song of Ice and Fire" is complicated, to say the least. Between the hundreds of characters, a slew of magical creatures and events, and unfamiliar languages, getting details wrong is practically inevitable for the average viewer. 

In order to clear up some of the larger misconceptions, we've narrowed it down to three major things every fan should know. 

The difference between White Walkers and wights

Hardhome BTS White Walker Jon Snow Game of Thrones Helen Sloan
A White Walker fights Jon Snow in season five's "Hardhome." Helen Sloan/HBO

White Walkers (also known as Others in the books) are inhuman beings with power beyond imagination. They are not dead, but instead a sort of magical humanoid life form. Here's how Martin first described them in the prologue of the series' first book, "A Game of Thrones," from a character named Will's point of view:

Tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk ... The Other slid forward on silent feet ... Will saw its eyes; blue, deeper and bluer than any human's eyes, a blue that burned like ice ... The Other said something in a language that Will did not know; his voice was like the cracking of ice on a winter lake, and the words were mocking.

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So we know several key things. White Walkers look similar to humans, but with flesh made of something like brittle ice and with bright blue eyes. They don't speak a language recognized by a Westerosi man, but they're clearly sentient beings capable of mockery. 

White Walkers also carry swords crafted using their brand of magic — swords that can shatter regular steel and easily slice through men's flesh. "In its hand was a longsword like none that Will had ever seen," Martin wrote. "It was alive with moonlight, translucent, a shard of crystal so thin that it seemed almost to vanish when seen edge-on."

In the show, the White Walkers are led by a character named the Night's King. He is also a White Walker, just a special type.

Nights King rising
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Wights, on the other hand, is a catch-all term for the reanimated corpses of humans. White Walkers have the ability to turn dead and decomposed bodies into wights. Think of the term as a synonym for zombies. Once brought back as a wight, the former humans are intent upon killing under direction from the White Walkers. They can be reanimated immediately after death, as we witnessed in the "Hardhome" episode.

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Karsi wight Hardhome Game of Thrones
HBO

They can also be reanimated when their corpse has rotted down to the bone, as we also saw in "Hardhome."

hardhome child wights Game of Thrones HBO
HBO

So — White Walkers are sentient other-worldly beings capable of magic and turning dead people into zombies, which are known as wights in "Game of Thrones."

Daenerys Targaryen is not immune to fire

Daenerys Targaryen and baby dragon Game of Thrones
HBO

As far back as 1998, author George R.R. Martin has made a point to emphasize that Targaryens, including Daenerys, are not immune to fire. Yes — she survived walking into a gigantic pyre and emerged unscathed. This was a one-time occurrence, according to Martin, and had less to do with her Targaryen surname than it did the effect of blood magic she was invoking. 

Khal Drogo's pyre was more than just a cremation — Daenerys was burning the witch Mirri Maz Duur. This blood sacrifice, along with the magic of her dragon's eggs, created a perfect storm of sorcery that left her unburnt. "Game of Thrones" YouTuber Alt-Shift-X gives a great overview of this, in case you're craving more. 

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When Daenerys said "Fire cannot kill a dragon," she was not speaking literally. Which brings us to ....

Khaleesi is not a name — it's a title. 

Daenerys at Vaes Dothrak season one Game of Thrones
HBO

Daenerys Targaryen has many titles: Queen of the Andals, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons, the Unburnt, etc etc. 

Khaleesi means queen in Dothraki — it is not a unique term or name for Daenerys.

But for most of the first several seasons, the people surrounding Daenerys simply referred to her as "Khaleesi," leading many viewers to believe that was her new name (or her only name). But this was simply the Dothraki's way of calling her "Queen," just as many refer to Cersei Lannister as "Your Grace." 

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So next time you hear a friend refer to Emilia Clarke's character as Khaleesi, gently remind them that it's not technically her name.

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