Balance of thrones: a network study on 'Game of Thrones'

How do social interactions in fictional words? Here we show that network theory can be used to systematically and quantitatively analyse relationships among noble houses and how the web of alliances and conflicts changes over time in the fantasy drama TV series Game of Thrones. Network analysis proved to be a powerful tool in capturing structures and dynamics of the story. Degree distribution and centrality were used to accurately identify important houses in storyline and number of relationship changes positively correlate with viewers’ votes. In addition, structural balance theory was applied to understand stability and unpredictability of the series, which was the first time this theory was applied to novel and TV show,and suggested the story become most unpredictable during "the War of Five Kings".