Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Meet Dave Goldblatt, New ‘Game of Thrones’ Character

How do you say Goldblatt in Dothraki?

When author George R.R. Martin, creator of the “Game of Thrones” series which led to the hit HBO show by the same name, announced that he would introduce a new character in one of his books thanks to a $20,000 charity auction prize, the Internet went wild.

Now, we know who the lucky winner is. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Dave Goldblatt. He’s a 30-year-old Jewish Facebook employee, and he’ll almost definitely die a truly gruesome and horrifying death.

“I’m just lucky enough to be in a position to do this,” Goldblatt said of the $20,000 prize. “Obviously, the money is going to charity, so it’s an added bonus. I didn’t immediately seek to help wolf sanctuaries, but the more I read about the charities, I learned it was a worthwhile cause.”

Martin’s project is raising money for Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary and the Food Depot of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with his wife, Parris. There were only two top-level “martyr” prizes available — one male, one female. The other winner has yet to be announced. The two winners will choose their “character’s station in the world (lordling, knight, peasant, whore, lady, maester, septon, anything) and you will certainly meet a grisly death!” the Prizeo website states.

Goldblatt will be a “Valyrian,” known for their almost-indestructible steel and crafstmanship. “You read some piece of fiction and for whatever reason you think one particular character or race is cool – and for whatever reason, I thought the Valyrians were cool,” Goldblatt said. “I’m hoping in future books we get to see more of them.”

Now, for the real question: What will his Westeros name be?

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.