Monty Python infiltrates 'Game of Thrones'
It’s been widely known over the years that film editors would periodically insert several frames of content like a personal photograph or some other subliminal reference into big screen efforts. Invisible to the naked eye, these mostly were considered inside jokes within the industry, or Easter eggs, left for fans with lots and lots of time on their hands to figure out.
The greatness of the Game of Thrones has ramped it up a notch with the ultimate fan tribute. In an episode of Game of Thrones that was broadcast last month, only the most astute viewers would have been able to spot a Monty Python’s Flying Circus quote translated into a fantastical invented language.
In “Breaker of Chains”, which was broadcast in April, the show’s linguist David Peterson created the ultimate in-joke with series creator Dan Weiss, by translating Monty Python quotes into Low Valyrian, a language used by a clan on the show. More specifically, he took the insults hurled by a French soldier in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, such as “Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries.”
Peterson, in an interview on the behind-the-scenes production blog for the series, revealed the ultimate Easter Egg within the episode: “There’s a scene where the Meereenese rider is challenging Daenerys’ champion. He’s shouting and Nathalie Emmanuel [Missandei] is translating, but she’s not translating what he’s saying. He’s actually saying a Low Valyrian translation of the French guy’s insults in ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail.’ It was series creator Dan Weiss’s idea and it was so hilarious that I had to do it.” As series linguist, it fell to Peterson to create over 5000 words for the three languages on the show, Low Valyrian, High Valyrian and Dothraki.
I wonder how you say, “What… is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? in High Valyrian?
In: Odds & Sods
