7 Epic Game of Thrones Castles and How Much They’d Cost You to Buy in Real Life

THERED KEEP, KINGS LANDING Current Proprietor: House Baratheon Coctan Value: £1,000,000,000 DEPOSIT SUMMARY £250,000,000 Capital City location LOAN Area to execute traitors £750,000,000 Last occupant poisoned MONTHLY REPAYMENT Iron Throne included as part of package £3,215,547 How We Worked it Out Size: According to one source', King's Landing is approximately 650,000 sq ft. Location: George RR Martin says Westeros is "like a giant British Isles?- so we compared each castle's location to a city in the UK. King's Landing was the equivalent of London, making the Red Keep comparable to Buckingham Palace. Properties in the Buckingham Palace area cost around £1,647 per sq ft³ - meaning the Red Keep would be valued at just over £1 billion. WINTERFELL, THE NORTH Current Proprietor: Roose Bolton Value: £200,000,000 DEPOSIT SUMMARY £50,000,000 A bit of a 'fixer-upper' – was recently burned down LDAN Built over natural hot springs £150,000,000 Great place to bring up a family MONTHLY REPAYMENT £643,109 How We Worked it Out Size: One fan-made scale drawing of Winterfell shows the castle to be approximately 968,000 sq ft. Location: We considered the location of Winterfell, as well as the broad Yorkshire accents displayed by the cast of the show, and determined Winterfell was comparable with Leeds, UK. Properties in the Leeds area cost around £225 per sq ft. - meaning you'd have to pay £217 million to live like a Stark. However, due to the current state of the castle, we estimate the price would be reduced to £200 million. HARRENHAL, RIVERLANDS Current Proprietor: Petyr Baelish Value: £500,000,000 DEPOSIT SUMMARY £125,000,000 Largest castle in Westeros LOAN Requires some investment – several towers have been melted by dragon fire £375,000,000 MONTHLY REPAYMENT • Overlooks Gods Eye Lake £1,607,774 Rumoured to be haunted by thousands of lost souls How We Worked it Out Size: We consulted the WesterosCraft map and worked out that Harrenhal is approximately three times bigger than Winterfell (so 2.9 million sq ft.). Location: Since we believe Winterfell to be in Yorkshire, and King's Landing to be London – we came to the conclusion that Harrenhal is the geographic equivalent of Birmingham. Properties in the Birmingham area cost around £233 per sq ft.? So, you'd need £677 million to live in this draughty castle. However, the three largest towers of Harrenhal are not currently safe for occupation. Due to the necessary restoration costs, we've reduced the value to around £500 million. GREAT PYRAMID, MEEREEN Current Proprietor: Daenarys Targaryan Value: £6,500,000,000 DEPOSIT SUMMARY £1,625,000,000 City-centre location LOAN Queen's apartment includes perfumed pools £4,875,000,000 Marble staircase MONTHLY REPAYMENT Includes huge bronze harpy on apex £20,901,060 How We Worked it Out Size: The Great Pyramid of Meereen (800 ft.tall)* is approximately twice the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza (481 ft. tall)'. Location: We naturally compared the Great Pyramid to the real world pyramids of Egypt. According to Live Science", it would cost $5 billion to build the Great Pyramid of Giza today. So the Great Pyramid of Meereen would cost you a modest $10 billion (£6.5 billion). THE EYRIE, THE VALE Current Proprietor: Petyr Baelish Value: £13,000,000 DEPOSIT SUMMARY £3,250,000 Secluded location in the mountains LOAN Keep prisoners in the Sky Cells. £9,750,000 .or throw them out of the Moon Door MONTHLY REPAYMENT Impenetrable Fortress £41,802 How We Worked it Out Size: One sourcel1 states that George RR Martin based the Eyrie on Neuschwanstein Castle, which is around 65,000 sq ft. in size. Location: Due to the mountainous and remote location, we've placed the Eyrie in deep Wales. Properties in the Wales area cost around £183 per sq ft'". So, on a good day, you'd get the keys to The Eyrie for £11.9 million. However, we decided to add 10% due to this castle providing the best view in Westeros. So total value = £13 million. CASTLE BLACK, THE WALL Current Proprietor: The Night's Watch Value: £11,800,000 DEPOSIT SUMMARY £2,950,000 'Interesting' Neighbours LOAN Located alongside a 300 mile ice wall £8,850,000 The best of 19 castles based MONTHLY REPAYMENT along The Wall £37,943 8,000 Years Old How We Worked it Out Size: Using the WesterosCraft map3, we concluded that Castle Black was slightly bigger than the Eyrie, so settled on 70,000 sq ft. Location: Due to the obvious similarities between The Wall and Hadrian's Wall in the UK, we chose Carlisle for the location of Castle Black. Properties in the Carlisle area cost around £169 per sq ft4. This means Castle Black would be valued at £11.8 million (you may as well pay the extra couple of million and live in the Eyrie!). THE TWINS Current Proprietor: Walder Frey Value: £134,000,000 DEPOSIT SUMMARY £33,500,000 Key strategic position for military campaigns LOAN You can set a toll for those £100,500,000 who wish to cross the Trident MONTHLY REPAYMENT Two castles included - one on either side of the river £430,883 Not suitable for weddings How We Worked it Out Size: After consulting the WesterosCraft map5, we concluded that the Twins is approximately 1/5 bigger than the Red Keep – making it 780,000 sq ft. Location: Given its position in relation to Winterfell (Leeds) and Harrenhal (Birmingham), we consider The Twins to be comparable to Stoke-on-Trent. Properties in the Stoke-on-Trent area cost around £173 per sq ft.16 This means The Twins would be valued at £134 million. *Assumes a 25% deposit and a 25 year repayment term at a rate of 2.1% Figures are just for fun. We would be delighted to help you find a mortgage to buy your dream home, be it a castle or a 3 bedroom semi. For real figures you can use our helpful calculators (www.lcplc.co.uk/calculators) or see our best buys (www.lcplc.co.uk/best-buys). YOUR HOME OR PROPERTY MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE. Sources: 1. http://www.dorkly.com/post/61519/infographic-how-much-would-it-cost-to-buy-the-red-keep 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVsNLmYojlw 3. http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2014/may/13/square-foot-property-price-london-map 4. http://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/a/ac/Winterfell_map.png 5. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/market/west-yorkshire/leeds/ http://mc.westeroscraft.com/?worldname=WesterosNew&mapname=flat&zoom=4&x=1762&y=64&z=9245 7. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/market/birmingham/ 8. http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Great_Pyramid 9. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/234470/Pyramids-of-Giza 10. http://www.livescience.com/18589-cost-build-great-pyramid-today.html 11. http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/Frankfurt_Bookfair_October_17_23 12. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/market/wales/ 13. http://mcwesteroscraft.com/?worldname=Westeros&mapname=flat&zoom=7&x=3266&y=64&z=-16121 14. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/market/carlisle/?category=residential&q=Carlisle%2C%20Cumbria&search_source=nav 15. http://mc.westeroscraft.com/?worldname=WesterosNew&mapname=flat&zoom=5&x=1975&y=64&z=2955 16. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/market/stoke-on-trent/ L&C London & Country Mortgages