Neil deGrasse Tyson Tackles the Science of Game of Thrones

Astrophysicist, author, and science communicator Neil DeGrasse Tyson has in recent years earned himself a label with which he doesn't quite agree: pop-culture nitpicker.

“I got branded as someone who nitpicks,” Tyson said in a 2017 interview with Complex. “I took private offense at that. Here’s why: If you’re watching a Jane Austen period piece, and people come up to an English countryside home in a horse drawn carriage and somebody gets out of the carriage with tie dye bell bottoms, you would cry foul. You would say the costume designer had their head up their ass. You’d be praised for making that observation. But all of a sudden I’m a buzzkill.”

It started in 2013 when Tyson fired out a barrage of fact-checking tweets about the movie Gravity.

Mysteries of #Gravity: Why Bullock, a medical Doctor, is servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013

Tyson has since Tweeted about shoddy science in films such as Alien: Covenant, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, and, surprisingly enough, Baywatch. But most recently, Tyson used his scientific literacy to weigh in on decidedly new territory — the medieval fantasy world of Game of Thrones. 

Here are a few of his tweets, along with a quick look at the science behind them. (Warning: spoilers ahead.)

Bad Physics in #GameOfThrones: Pulling a dragon out of a lake? Chains need to be straight, and not curve over hill and dale. pic.twitter.com/VIJlIuDz3L

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 24, 2017