Spain plays 'Game of Thrones'

This fall, winter is coming to Spain. If you're not a fan of the Seven Kingdoms, that's a reference to "Game of Thrones," an HBO series that was filmed in part in Seville.

In the series, Dorne is introduced with an insistent drumbeat. Creator George R.R. Martin writes that "Dorne is the southernmost of the seven kingdoms." He places it in the southeastern corner of Westeros, the fictional continent on which the "Game" plays out.

Dorne is set in the real-life city of Seville, in the southwestern corner of Spain. The city's ancient Moorish palace, the Alcazar, is where parts of the series's fifth season were filmed. That's brought about 25 percent more tourists here, helping to boost the city's economy.

"Everything looks really familiar - the architecture and whatnot," said Sam Dawson, a fan from the United States. "I've traveled to a few of the other locations where they filmed, and it's got the exact same vibes."

From fantasy to reality

HBO got unprecedented access to Seville's palace while the show shot there for about a month, transforming it into the Water Gardens where Prince Doran Martell resides - spoiler alert - mourning his brother's death in season four.

Tour guide Pepe Pallares takes people to the real-life water fountains to recreate the scenes. In fact, he has created a whole route through the palace and gardens, pointing out where different parts of the episodes were filmed.

Pallares is not only a tour guide; he is also one of the more than 85,000 locals who applied to be extras on the set. Only 5,000 were finally accepted - and a fraction of those appeared on TV. But Pepe is enjoying his association with this fictional world and loves taking fans, like himself, through the Alcazar.

"So, when we go to the gardens, they say 'Ah, this is the Water Gardens!'" he says while conducting his tour. "Yes, it's like amazing."

Political parallels

Pallares says people are so obsessed that they look for plot parallels with Spanish politics.

"You can see the fight between the different royal houses in 'Game of Thrones,'" Pallares says. In Spain, he adds, "they're fighting to keep their jobs inside City Hall, inside the presidency. It's the same!"

And it's not just Pallares. It seems that Spain in general is obsessed with the parallels between reality and what's happening on "Game of Thrones." At a recent left-wing political rally in Madrid, activists dressed up as rival "Game of Thrones" characters.

When Pablo Iglesias Turrion, the leader of the left-wing Podemos party, met Spain's king back in April, he defied royal protocol and handed him a gift: a DVD box set of "Game of Thrones."

"I told him it is a series he'll definitely like if he wants to understand the political crisis in Spain," Iglesias told reporters at the time.

Iglesias winked at reporters afterward. He actually wants to get rid of Spain's monarchy. And his new slogan is "Winter Is Coming" for those in power. He even edited the new book "Win or Die: Political Lessons from 'Game of Thrones'."

'To free themselves'

Dani Iraberri Perez is a co-author of one of the book's chapters. He compares the people power of Spain's Podemos with the "Game of Thrones" character Khaleesi: the "Mother of Dragons."

"She doesn't just free the slaves; she empowers them to free themselves," Perez says. "And that's what we see with Podemos: a political movement that tries to empower citizens to stand up to their oppressors, the ruling class."

Spain's right-wing is jumping on the "Game of Thrones" bandwagon, too. In the opinion of commentator Ruben Herrero, even if Spanish conservatives are often publicly cast as the Lannisters - the TV show's villains - well, that just shows that they understand the nature of realpolitik better than anyone else.

"From Podemos, they try to say, 'Good, Khaleesi, justice, poor people' - whatever!" Herrero says. "But it is not true. For instance, the Lannisters are realists - classical realists. It's like, 'I don't mind the nature of my partners while in power.'"

Herrero's preferred conservatives might lose that hold on power in Spanish elections this fall. But, this September, "Game of Thrones" will start shooting its sixth season in Spain, and the associations with the series look set to continue, boosting the economy and popularity not just of Seville, but the country as a whole, and giving political commentators a new set of plot lines right through the winter and beyond.