Game of Thrones' hidden Monty Python jokes

Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen from the television series Game of Thrones.

Game Of Thrones is packed with Monty Python references after the writers hid jokes by the cult comedy troupe in the hit TV show's fictional languages.

Words featured in George R.R. Martin's original books were used to construct languages for the various tribes in the show, and creator/writer D. B. Weiss suggested lightening the mood by translating Python gags and inserting them into the script.

The show's writer and linguistics expert David J. Peterson admits the scheme was "so hilarious that I had to do it".

"There's a scene (in season four) where the Meereenese rider is challenging Daenerys' (played by Emilia Clarke) champion," he says.

"He's shouting and Nathalie Emmanuel (her character Missandei) is translating - but she's not translating what he's saying.

"He's actually saying a Low Valyrian translation of the French guy's insults in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That was Dan Weiss' idea and it was so hilarious that I had to do it."

A scene from Monty Python's Holy Grail.

The Monty Python insults are said to include phrases such as "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries," "Go boil your bottoms, son of a silly person!" and "I fart in your general direction!"

- WENN