Game of Loans: Why Daenerys needs an eye-watering £174m to ship her army to Westeros

She has a growing number of allies, not to mention three fast-growing adolescent dragons on her side, but Daenerys Targaryen has a few obstacles in her way as she makes her move to Westeros in Game of Thrones.

The fair-haired vixen, played by Emilia Clarke, faces some issues on the forthcoming journey since The Mad King is dead and a mad queen now rules at the heart of King's Landing – Cersei Lannister. Fireworks are expected when the Targaryen and Lannister forces come to blows.

But another teeny weeny problem Daenerys may encounter on her journey is the small concept of money. Research by 1<sup>st Move explored the size of her army and broke some costs down for the voyage, using information from fan data, and the result wasn't exactly realistic. Good job it's a fantasy series...

They based their findings on a few factors, including: Dothraki army size, Unsullied army size, Dothraki weapons required, Unsullied weapons required, horses needed, Royal Council costs (Daenerys and her advisors) and food required for troops and horses.

Results of the research concluded that Daenerys would have to cough up an eye-watering £174,539,250 to get her army from Essos to Westeros.

The global removals company found that the Mother of Dragons would need 998 ships to transport her astronomical armada. Viewers of the hit HBO series were left on a cliff-hanger at the end of series six when Daenerys' fleet finally set off on their trip, but maybe she was buying time until the next season to acquire some serious cash from somewhere...

Breakdown of the costs:

Upon making the gruelling journey across the Narrow Seas from Mereen to Westeros, in a bid to claim the Iron Throne, Daenerys will find that food is the costliest item on her expenses list. Provisions of 800,000 kg of hay would be needed on a daily basis just to keep the horses fed. Neigh-impossible.

She would also need to provide 1,025,750kg of grub – spread across 142 provision ships – to keep her troops fed. The combined cost of food equals £150,785,250, making up the bulk of the overall valuation.

Daenerys may even cancel the trip when she hears this: it would cost her £8,492,500 to ship her soldiers, who are made up of highly trained eunuch warriors. (Dothraki: £7.9 million, and Unsullied:£592,000, equating to £79 per troop.)

The arms required for her men would set her back £5,029,500 and add twelve ships to her fleet.

Jim Limerick, Owner at 1<sup>st Move, said: "She'd probably have to make a visit to the Iron Bank for a loan to secure the funds for this voyage.

"On the plus side, the odds are weighted highly in her favour to stake her claim to the Iron Throne. With her huge army (and not forgetting her three dragons) you'd have to be either very brave or very stupid to get in the way of her and the crown of all the seven kingdoms of Westeros.

"It will be fascinating to see how it all pans out, and discover the answer to the question everyone asking – who will claim the Iron Throne and rule over the seven kingdoms?"

Game of Thrones Season 7 airs in the US on 16 July. Sky Atlantic and NOW TV will simulcast every episode weekly at 2am from 17 July. This will be followed by a repeat at 9pm the same day.