Fact check: Photo shows 'Game of Thrones' characters, not Turkey and Syria earthquake victims

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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The claim: Photo shows victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

A Feb. 7 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows an image of two people bloodied and partially buried beneath a pile of rubble.

"Picture from earthquake In Turkey," reads the post's caption. "Pray for Turkey and Syria."

A similar Instagram post was liked more than 16,000 times in two days before it was deleted.

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Our rating: False

The image does not depict recent earthquake victims. It shows two well-known characters from the TV show "Game of Thrones," Cersei and Jaime Lannister, who are both found dead beneath a pile of rubble in the show's final episode.

Photo shows characters from the TV series 'Game of Thrones'

The image in the post shows two characters from the HBO series "Game of Thrones," Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Headey, and Jaime Lannister, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

In the second-to-last episode of the show's final season, the two characters briefly reunite before they're killed by falling debris as a castle crumbles around them. The show's final episode also includes a scene in which Tyrion Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage, discovers Cersei and Jaime dead beneath a pile of rubble.

Dog rescued from earthquake rubble in Turkey
Dog rescued from earthquake rubble in Turkey

Fact check: False claim video shows Russian submarine off the coast of Hawaii

The pictures have no connection to the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6, killing more than 40,000 people.

USA TODAY has debunked other claims that falsely link unrelated images and videos to the recent disaster, including a video that showed a 2018 tsunami and a stock image of a dog searching a pile of rubble that has been online since at least 2018.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment.

PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Photo shows 'Game of Thrones' actors, not quake victims