The success of the HBO television adaptation Game of Thrones has made the show's version of the royal seat an icon of the entire media franchise.

[1] He has noted repeatedly that none of the previous media representations of the throne—including books, games and the TV series—closely resemble what he had in mind when writing his novels.

Aegon had established King's Landing as the royal capital, and the Iron Throne itself sits in the Red Keep.

Purportedly made from a thousand swords and knives, the Iron Throne is a massive and asymmetrical tangle of jagged and twisted blades, in which reclining is impossible.

The barbs along the back, the ribbons of twisted steel, the jagged ends of swords and knives all tangled up and melted?

[2]To Martin, the attempt closest to his vision was by French artist Marc Simonetti, for a Mexican edition of A Game of Thrones.

It's a throne made by blacksmiths hammering together half-melted, broken, twisted swords, wrenched from the hands of dead men or yielded up by defeated foes ... a symbol of conquest ... it has the steps I describe, and the height.

[32][33] Though Martin had previously stated that the HBO version of the Iron Throne did not match his idea of how it should appear ideally, in 2013 he called its design "terrific" and claimed to own all of the merchandised replicas.

[2]Of the feasibility of recreating the throne as depicted in The World of Ice & Fire, Martin said in October 2014: Now, you can’t do this in the TV show.

[citation needed] The image of Sean Bean as Ned Stark sitting in the Iron Throne is featured on the covers of the 2011 Season 1 DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets, released in March 2012.

[36] HBO has licensed the likeness of its Iron Throne for merchandising since the show's premiere, including T-shirts and small replicas of varying sizes.

[1][2][3] In June 2012 the network began selling custom made, life size replicas of its Iron Throne for $30,000.

[1][3][37][38][39] HBO even partnered with Brewery Ommegang to produce Iron Throne Blonde Ale, released in March 2013.