Culturess
Fansided

Game of Thrones has influenced a new limited-time menu item at Arby’s

By Cheryl Wassenaar

facebooktwitterreddit

Want to get your Game of Thrones-style feast on at a fast food restaurant? Arby’s has you covered, provided you live in one of nine areas.

Reading Arby’s new press release on BusinessWire is an exercise in seeing just how many Game of Thrones references (some slightly less obvious than others) the company can pack in without explicitly saying that its decision to start selling smoked turkey legs was inspired by Game of Thrones. The nine restaurants chosen will even start offering them on Aug. 27, also known as the day that the season 7 finale of the show will air.

Of course, Arby’s got a little cute with its restaurant selections and descriptions of the restaurants. Before you ask why there are nine instead of seven, allow us to point out that even A Wiki of Ice and Fire states that there are really nine regions in Westeros.

The nine locations are as follows. We’ll explain the references for each.

  • Atlanta, GA: The crownlands, containing King’s Landing (Arby’s notes its headquarters are there).
  • Denver, CO: The Vale, containing the Eyrie (“Treacherous mountains,” anyone?)
  • Pittsburgh, PA: The riverlands, containing Riverrun and The Twins (Arby’s actually uses the word trident, alluding to the river.)
  • Fargo, ND: The north and Winterfell (talking about snowfall).
  • Phoenix, AZ: Dorne, containing Sunspear (desert).
  • Norfolk, VA: The Iron Islands and Pyke (“giant vessels forged from iron”).
  • Seattle, WA: The stormlands and Storm’s End (the “coast of deep blue water” also might be a nod to Brienne of Tarth’s home island, also known as the “Sapphire Isle” because of its waters).
  • Los Angeles, CA: The westerlands and Casterly Rock (“Gold and riches” about sums it up).
  • Omaha, NE: The Reach, where one can find Highgarden (“Fertile farms”).

Someone who crafted this campaign was paying attention, it seems, since it’s not hard to pick out which is which.

Before you get excited that this turkey leg will be any different than the smoked turkey leg available at food festivals and fairgrounds, well … the press release does say that there’s brown sugar involved. Make of that what you will.

Next: Game of Thrones: 5 OMG moments from 'Beyond the Wall'

Also, the tagline is “Turkey is Coming.” That’s definitely the most obvious allusion of them all. We suppose “All Men Must Eat” just didn’t get the point across about it being turkey.

Home/Food