The complex linguistic universe of “Game of Thrones”
Dothraki and Valyrian are the most convincing fictional tongues since Elvish
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/images/2017/08/articles/main/20170805_bkd001.jpg)
WINNING 38 Emmy awards is a good measure of success. “Game of Thrones” garnered that many for its portrayal of a world of sex, violence and politics. Westeros and Essos seem so real that some viewers could imagine moving there. Part of that detail has been the creation of the richest linguistic universe since J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Game of tongues”
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