Despite the inclusion of Sean Bean in the cast and the quantity of flesh exposed during the first episode of Game of Thrones my first reaction to this much heralded new entertainment series on the Sky Atlantic channel was that it was a long way short of proving to be as a good as the Sopranos in the Middle Earth of Tolkien. The setting certainly has elements of Middle Earth but the level of characterization was questionable until I read the opening 100 pages of the original work and reviewed the first episode with a more critical and knowledgeable eye.
I can now report that as consequence of watching the second and third episodes of the TV production and reading the associated text I am greatly more impressed with both and hope that this is communicated in the following notes.
That those with power can be ruthless in their own interests as well as in those of a nation, a community, an organisation or family, remains one of the great lessons of life and leads to an eventual understanding that the behaviour of individuals can be judged from a variety of perspectives leading to a variety of conclusions. Their motivation is important. Does an individual behave in such a way because they are putting self interest or personal ambition, their desires before all other interests? Even where the motives are selfless and honourable, if the outcome is disastrous causing hurt and harm to many, should those responsible be allowed to avoid censure and penalties?
The merit of a good story is that it engages and entertains and the characters are drawn in such a way that they are shown to be layered, complex and meriting our attention.
At the end of the first section of the first book and first TV production episode I had learned that that Eddard, known as Ned Stark, Lord and Warden of the North, was an honourable man putting his sense of duty towards his King before that of family prepared to leave his wife, and three sons with her, and removed the care of his two daughters from their mother into potential great danger from the family of the wife of the King who are believed to have been responsible for the premature death of the man who raised him as his own son. As he prepares to leave with the King and his Court he does not yet know that the Queen was responsible for the near death of his second legitimate son, having pressed her brother and lover to remove the threat to their lives because of what the boy had seen and heard. One suspects that duty to his King and to his murdered care father would have led Lord Stark to be more cautious and take greater care, especially with the welfare of his two daughters.
That the King had become a fat, morally impotent, degenerate, only interested in a life which involved drinking, hunting, eating and a womanising, made Ned’s sense of duty to the institutions of country and its leader more challenging, and also reinforced his initial reluctance to sacrifice personal instincts and interests for the general good.
His wife, who at first pressed him to accept the request in order to find out what had happened to the husband of her sister and if she and her son were as much under threat as the woman believed begs him to stay once her son is found badly injured and in a coma. Her only wish is to be by his side to an extent that her eldest son now appeals to her to think of the welfare of their youngest and help him in the running of the former separate Kingdom on behalf of their father and their people.
It is too easy at this point to condemn the Queen, Cersei Lannister without appreciating her concern that married to man who never loved her, remains in love with the deceased sixteen year of sister of Ned, uninterested in taking responsibility for the day to day running of the state, appointing the right people, managing the finances, ensuring the army is ready to combat any threats, could and would at any time of his choosing find a way to get rid of her with someone younger, especially as he planned to marry off their son to the daughter of his best and loyal friend, he now wanted to de facto take on the responsibilities for running the Kingdom. Do you accept your fate in such a situation or fight? It is also easy to condemn her for having ongoing sex with her twin brother, Ser Jaime, although such a practice has been common among powerful dynasties in human reality and occurs more frequently within the lives of ordinary folk than is usually admitted. It is yet to be revealed although I know in advance that her children are not those of the King but of her twin brother!
Sir Jaime has so far been revealed as a realist and ruthless in protecting interests. However the impression obtained to date is that the attempt to kill Ned’s boy, Bran was more out of loyalty and passion for his sister than considered judgement. He prefers to take a long view about taking outright power, knowing its precariousness, challenges and demands At present I see someone who wants his cake to always be ready to be eaten and enjoyed, in fact someone little different from the King.
As yet the King, Queen, Ned and his wife are unaware, although this changes quickly, that the family from whom they took power has taken a significant step towards launching a military attack to take back their kingdom by Prince Viserys, forcing his adolescent sister Daenerys, into marrying the head of a powerful fighting force, the Dothraki and their leader Viserys appears to have no redeeming features other than the wish to avenge the murder of his father and his elder brother and ending their dynastic rule of centuries. The reader is in no doubt that given the opportunity he would become just as ruthless and self seeking a tyrant as those he wants to replace, and probably more so. His sister‘s plight appeals to us because she is the victim of criminal assaults throughout her childhood, an orphan and homeless and sold off as a child bride to an older man whose language she does not speak. I did hear a joke made about such relationships while listening to one of the cricket audio books about someone who will remain nameless who had married a woman whose language he did not speak and in response to a critical enquiry responded by saying that the best things in life are eating, drinking and making love and the less said during these experiences, the better.
Of the other characters, I and I suspect readers in general, immediately like Ned’s illegitimate son, Jon Snow, not just because of the similar parental circumstances and its repercussion, as in my case, but because he has appears a young man of honour, integrity and a sense of duty. We learn that from the text that he is only 14 years of age looking more like twelve although in the TV production he appears a mature young man.
I /we also like the eldest son who is willing to immediately step back from the life of young man ands take on the duties of his father as head household and the kingdom, although he too is also a teenager. This is more realistic in the TV production because as with all the children their ages are raised to enable adult actors to play their roles and to overcome the problems resulting from their active sexuality.
We also liked the middle son, Bran, because of his sense of adventure, risk taking and individuality and instinctively knew that when he was pushed off the walls of castle he would survive. We also like the younger sister, Arya, who also shows individuality, rebelliousness and also feminist inclinations.
I suspect that the Queen’s young brother, Tyrion, also has an immediate fan club although some will have very different reasons from others. There are those who will be sympathetic because of his biological deformity, height challenged and deformed. There are those who will admire the fact that despite his natural disability he is a great womaniser and likes his food and drink. Others will also appreciate that he is a well read philosophical analyst and observer of the human condition. His dark side is yet to emerge.
We known little of the boy heir to the throne Joffrey although this is to quickly change as the story progresses, and many will dislike his betrothed, Ned’s eldest daughter, Sansa who is vain, shallow, celebrity seeking, uncharitable and dishonest. They appear well suited.
The second episode of the TV production commences different from the text showing the first days of the arranged marriage of the sister to the legitimate claimant to the heredity throne of the Seven Kingdoms. I am not clear if the race of her husband is naturally nomadic or is just travelling great distance to their permanent base. We see the bride hungry and tired and she is advised that things will get better. Her brother is also travelling with them and is advised that he would be better off accepting the hospitality of a more civilised existence. He responds that he is sticking with the hardships in order to ensure that the bargain is honoured and that Khal Drago will lead the Dothraki men across the water to reclaim his Kingdom. Later there is a brief scene in which the husband takes pleasure in the manner of a beast which she does not enjoy. Later she consults the woman slave given to her to teach the ways of love and she advises to always have the man look her in the eye and later still she persuades her husband to do so thus beginning what appears is likely to be a meaningful and developing relationship. All this comes later in the text after several story developments and in fact forms no part of the text covered in this episode but comes later.
In the TV production the second scene switches to where the Queen’s other brother is reading in a stable before breakfast. The young son and his retainer arrive to say the uncle is missed at breakfast and they are setting off home. The boy is then slapped across the face three times for refusing to go and tell Lord Stark and his wife how sorry he is about the “accident” to their son. Tyrion is warned that the boy will tell his mother and will also remember this treatment. Tyrion comments that he hopes the boy will remember the lesson and that should he forget the retainer should remind him. Tyrion is OK or is he?
Later when he and Jon are on their way to the Wall conducted by Ned’s brother, we learn more about the young brother who explains what while his elder brother uses the sword he uses his mind and the mind needs books just as the sword needs a wetstone to sharpen. The scene is used to explain that his brother was the adviser to the former King for 20 years, who then killed him while his sister married the new King. In the book there is much more description and information from the journey of Tyrion and Jon to the Wall. We learn of Tyrion’s interest in Dragons, including a collection of skulls from a thousand and a century and half ago and which I assume will have some significance later in the overall epic.
Earlier Tyrion arrives at the breakfast table demanding bread, fish, a mug of beer and bacon burnt black and greets his “beloved siblings“. He then reveals, in response to a question, that the boy Bran will live. The Queen chides her young brother for wanting to go on a visit to the Great Wall, but he explains he has no intention of joining the Night Watch but wants to stand on its top and piss off the end of the world. The Queen goes immediately leaves with her children horrified at the language, but is more upset by the news that the witness to her treachery lives. His older brother Sir Jaime, suggests it would be better the boy died than remain deformed to which Tyrion reminds of his own plight and that to live is better than to have no life, and that he hopes the boy will live and tell his tale as a consequence of which his loyalty is questioned.
Jon is preparing to join the Night Watch although he appears to have misgivings about the lifelong nature of the commitment, reinforced when later on the trip to the wall with Tyron they are joined by two rapists whose sentence has been commuted to service in the Watch. The Queen’s twin brother also thanks him for the service he will give reminding that it is a lifetime commitment, He notes Jon is waiting for a new sword. This we learn is a special one for the Ned’s younger daughter, the two having a special relationship and he sensing that she is going into danger without his protection. He also says goodbye to his father seeking information about his mother which Ned promises when they next see each other.
Lord Eddard comes to say goodbye to his wife but she no longer wants him to go to the capital reminding that he has choice and to say that he has no choice is what all men do when they have made up their mind to put honour before family wishes and needs. He tells her she will cope when she says she cannot, but she also fears that as before he will return with the child of another woman. Her fears strike home with Ned as shortly after setting off he and the King eat together privately and the king presses him about the identity of Jon’s mother, something which Ned resists. The King is concerned as the news has reached him of the marriage alliance between Daenerys Targaryen and the Dothraki arranged by her brother and the threat this poses. We learn that Khal Drago has not 40000 men to hand but 100000 but Ned is dismissive saying the Dothraki have no ships and if they do manage to cross over he will drive them back to the sea. He is also concerned when the King wants the girl killed, no more than a child. This is the first indication that the King wants to have his own way and that Ned’s task will be far more difficult than he envisaged. It will get worse before the episodes ends.
Previously the Queen visits the sick room where Catelyn keeps watch over her son to “empathise” saying she lost her first born, a boy just like him, implying she will have to let go while offering prayers for his return to consciousness. After the departure of Ned her remaining adviser suggests it is time to sort out the finance and the cost of the Royal visit. She wants to leave this to their steward but is reminded he has gone with Ned. After his departure the man hired by the Queen to kill Bran arrives and the Queen manages to fight him off injuring herself badly. She, the adviser and her eldest son establish that the man must have come with the King’s party. The knife used in the attempted killing is of such quality as to have been given by another. She also investigates the area of the castle from where her son fell and finds evidence of the presence of the Queen. They conclude that the fall was no accident and she determines to ride after her husband, taking a sea route so as join him as soon as he reaches the capital city and warn him of what is now suspected.
We now come to the core event of the second TV episode. Arya, the younger daughter of Ned is practicing sword play with the son of a butcher and this is observed by the King’s son and his betrothed who has been frightened by one of the men used to protect the heir. The Heir now reveals what an obnoxious coward he is by taunting and wounding the Butcher’s boy using a real sword instead of the wooden learning instrument. Arya then humiliates the heir as the direwolf attacks Joffrey biting into his hand to prevent him doing more harm to the butcher’s boy. Sensing she is in danger she runs away and hides until discovered later at night. Meanwhile Joffrey has told his version of events before the King and Queen placing blame on Arya and the butcher’s boy. Ned’s eldest daughter although present throughout the incident denies any knowledge and as a consequence it is the word Joffrey against that of Arya. The consequence of Sansa’s silence is that the butcher’s boy is slaughtered and the King insists that his daughter be punished by the death of her direwolf cub that she has trained well and is much attached. However Arya suspecting such a course has ensured that her pet goes off. The King insists on the punishment which means that Ned is required to kill the remaining direwolf, that belonging to Sansa. She is distraught realising, perhaps for the first time, that her superficial and child’s view of the world is no longer valid in these new circumstances. Ned sensing that what he is doing is wrong, still carries out the command and at the point which the hound is killed Bran wakes from his coma. The second episode ends.
The third episode of the TV production is the most powerful of three and includes major developments in the story line. The hostility between Arya and her sister continues but her father admits that they are both in a dangerous place and that it is important for the family to remain together. He points out that her sister is betrothed and as such she cannot go against what her husband to be says without endangering her own situation. He finds that she practicing with her sword and although she resists in saying who provided the gift he arranges for her to be giving lessons by an expert. He looks on in a mixture of pride and fear, knowing both the necessity of what he is doing and fear of its consequences. Earlier he gives his daughter a present of a doll and she reminds she has not played with dolls since the age of eight.
We follow the continuing journey of Jon, Tyrion and Ned’s brother to the Wall where Jon begins to fully realise the reality of the life he is choosing. There are spectacular views looking down from the top of the wall reached by a primitive manual worked lift system. Of the new recruits Jon is most accomplished fighters and his effort to prove himself arouses the hostility of the other “recruits”, until Tyrion advises him of the backgrounds of the men, one caught stealing food for his sister who had not eaten for three days and accepted the recruitment as an alternative to having an hand chopped off. The advice results in Jon establishing a good relationship with the others as he helps them to learn to sword fight.
Lord Eddard arrives separately with his daughters at the capital and is immediately summoned to a Council, but before gaining entry to the meeting room he is confront by the Queen’s twin brother in a manner best described as unfriendly and threatening. The Council appears comprised of four men all with backstories. Ned is shocked that not only is the King not present but they are delegated tasks which this time involving finding funds for a tournament to be held in his honours. He then learns that the state is in debt by several millions in the currency and that she King shows no regard for the position accept to order additional expenditure for his interests. The Council is then shocked when Ned says the tournament will not go ahead and refuses to commence planning. A message arrives for Ned by raven to say that Bran and come out of the coma but cannot remember what happened. The Queen criticises her brother for what he did and the continuing threat to them. She also comforts her son whose wound from the direwolf is in the process of healing leaving scars which she says she should bear with honour. When he admits aspects of the truth of what happened her she points out that when he is King he will and should fashion truth as he wishes. However she counsels against his wish to take control of the North, double taxes and create one army rather than allowing each of the seven Kingdoms to manage their own. She explains the problems likely to arise but in doing so Joffrey realises that she regards the North as enemies. Cersei explain that everyone is a potential enemy other than the family and she seems to be indicating that only she and her son can be trusted. She also counsels him to be nice to his betrothed after he says he hates and does not want to marry her. Later she says he can take as many painted whores or mistresses as he wishes. The girl will provide him with a heir.
Catelyn reaches the city and is surprised and alarmed to be greeted by two member of the city Watch who know who she is and take her to a house used as a brothel when she is met by the Council member who wanted to marry her, times past. Also present is another Council member who explains that his value is information. He wishes to see the knife used on the attack on her and Bran but admits he has no knowledge. The former suitor says that for once he can provide the answer. The knife was his until he lost it during a Tourne event to Tyrion Lannister. In the previous episode when Tyrion’s loyalty was being question by his elder brother he affirms his love of his family. Ned is brought to the location and explains that without proof of what is being said he cannot bring to the attention of the King. Catelyn returns to the North and their parting look suggests that both question whether they will see each other again.
At the Wall, Ned’s brother announces that he is leaving to go out beyond. Tyrion has made friends with the man who brings new recruits and the brother overhears a conversation in which Tyrion appears to be ridiculing the Night Watch. Tyrion explains to the contrary that he is full of admiration for the men but questions the necessity of their function. The brother agrees that the wildings, the people who live in the forest pose no threat although their numbers have been increasing. He fears that the White Walkers have returned as maintained by the member of the Watch beheaded by his brother for desertion. He presses Tyrion to warn the Queen and her husband of the threat and that the force has become inadequate, Reduced to less than 1000 men, a combination of old men and pressed men, amateurs with little or no fighting skills. There is much talk of the coming of Night. In this land seasons lasts for years so that Night can become years of darkness, of recent times lasting on a couple of years but in times past have continued for generations people die from cold, starvation and despair. This story is told Bran by his nurse as he lays in bed, not remembering what happened or frightened to remember and wishing he was dead because his crushed legs means that he will not walk again.
The episode is also interposed with scenes as Daenerys and her brother continue what is obviously a nomadic life. She has become pregnant, is able to communicate with her husband who have now a close loving relationship. She is certain she has a son which pleased him greatly. At one point she orders the column to stop as hey enter an area of tall grass towering above them. She wonders off and is confronted by her brother who is angered that she gave the order to stop without consulting him first. When he handles her roughly a young man appointed for protection seizes the brother wrapping a whip around his throat and choking him, only stopping when ordered to do so by his sister. They continue the journey and the brother is told to walk rather than ride. From the text we learn that for a man to walk rather than ride he is no man at all and that Dany no longer believes her brother will return to the homeland as King. Her pregnancy is confirmed on her fourteenth birthday.
The Winter, the dark is coming, but where from, the Dothraki, the White Walkers of from civil war within the Seven Kingdoms?
The main noteworthy difference between the TV production and the text is that Catelyn arrives in the city by ship rowed by sixty men before the King and her husband return and she mentions the former ward of her father Pyter, known as Littlefinger, who had a crush on her when he was 15 years of age and she 20 and engaged to Ned’s brother before his death, as someone who they should be able to trust. He companion shaves off his whiskers so he will not be recognised as he goes off in search of help after securing accommodation at an Inn outside the Castle walls. When she is woken the next day and ordered to the Castle she knows in advance it is to meet Littlefinger. He brings in the Kings’ spider given a courtesy title of Lord Varys, a eunuch whose function is to provide the monarch with intelligence and he mentions the knife after having overheard her man ask about it to his contact in the city. The rest of this sequence is as before. On arrival there is a description of the city familiar to Catelyn from her childhood and former life there.
The arrival of Eddard is kept closer to the text and I learned that two members of the Council bear the Kings surname; Lord Renly Baratheon master of laws and Lord Stannis Baratheon Master of ships both brothers of the King. Littlefinger has become Lord Baelish. In addition there is the Grand Master Pycelle and Ser Barristan Selmy Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. He is then taken by Littlefinger to meet Catelyn at the out of castle brothel where she brings her husband up todate with events at home and learning about the ownership of the dagger. She in turn has learned of events on the journey and Ned is mortified at the decision to kill the hound finding that it was his son’s creature which saved his life and that of his wife. With the help of Littlefinger he hopes to discover the truth believing that Tyrion would not have acted without the authority of the Queen. He asks his wife to organise defences on land and at sea to cover for all eventualities.
I can now report that as consequence of watching the second and third episodes of the TV production and reading the associated text I am greatly more impressed with both and hope that this is communicated in the following notes.
That those with power can be ruthless in their own interests as well as in those of a nation, a community, an organisation or family, remains one of the great lessons of life and leads to an eventual understanding that the behaviour of individuals can be judged from a variety of perspectives leading to a variety of conclusions. Their motivation is important. Does an individual behave in such a way because they are putting self interest or personal ambition, their desires before all other interests? Even where the motives are selfless and honourable, if the outcome is disastrous causing hurt and harm to many, should those responsible be allowed to avoid censure and penalties?
The merit of a good story is that it engages and entertains and the characters are drawn in such a way that they are shown to be layered, complex and meriting our attention.
At the end of the first section of the first book and first TV production episode I had learned that that Eddard, known as Ned Stark, Lord and Warden of the North, was an honourable man putting his sense of duty towards his King before that of family prepared to leave his wife, and three sons with her, and removed the care of his two daughters from their mother into potential great danger from the family of the wife of the King who are believed to have been responsible for the premature death of the man who raised him as his own son. As he prepares to leave with the King and his Court he does not yet know that the Queen was responsible for the near death of his second legitimate son, having pressed her brother and lover to remove the threat to their lives because of what the boy had seen and heard. One suspects that duty to his King and to his murdered care father would have led Lord Stark to be more cautious and take greater care, especially with the welfare of his two daughters.
That the King had become a fat, morally impotent, degenerate, only interested in a life which involved drinking, hunting, eating and a womanising, made Ned’s sense of duty to the institutions of country and its leader more challenging, and also reinforced his initial reluctance to sacrifice personal instincts and interests for the general good.
His wife, who at first pressed him to accept the request in order to find out what had happened to the husband of her sister and if she and her son were as much under threat as the woman believed begs him to stay once her son is found badly injured and in a coma. Her only wish is to be by his side to an extent that her eldest son now appeals to her to think of the welfare of their youngest and help him in the running of the former separate Kingdom on behalf of their father and their people.
It is too easy at this point to condemn the Queen, Cersei Lannister without appreciating her concern that married to man who never loved her, remains in love with the deceased sixteen year of sister of Ned, uninterested in taking responsibility for the day to day running of the state, appointing the right people, managing the finances, ensuring the army is ready to combat any threats, could and would at any time of his choosing find a way to get rid of her with someone younger, especially as he planned to marry off their son to the daughter of his best and loyal friend, he now wanted to de facto take on the responsibilities for running the Kingdom. Do you accept your fate in such a situation or fight? It is also easy to condemn her for having ongoing sex with her twin brother, Ser Jaime, although such a practice has been common among powerful dynasties in human reality and occurs more frequently within the lives of ordinary folk than is usually admitted. It is yet to be revealed although I know in advance that her children are not those of the King but of her twin brother!
Sir Jaime has so far been revealed as a realist and ruthless in protecting interests. However the impression obtained to date is that the attempt to kill Ned’s boy, Bran was more out of loyalty and passion for his sister than considered judgement. He prefers to take a long view about taking outright power, knowing its precariousness, challenges and demands At present I see someone who wants his cake to always be ready to be eaten and enjoyed, in fact someone little different from the King.
As yet the King, Queen, Ned and his wife are unaware, although this changes quickly, that the family from whom they took power has taken a significant step towards launching a military attack to take back their kingdom by Prince Viserys, forcing his adolescent sister Daenerys, into marrying the head of a powerful fighting force, the Dothraki and their leader Viserys appears to have no redeeming features other than the wish to avenge the murder of his father and his elder brother and ending their dynastic rule of centuries. The reader is in no doubt that given the opportunity he would become just as ruthless and self seeking a tyrant as those he wants to replace, and probably more so. His sister‘s plight appeals to us because she is the victim of criminal assaults throughout her childhood, an orphan and homeless and sold off as a child bride to an older man whose language she does not speak. I did hear a joke made about such relationships while listening to one of the cricket audio books about someone who will remain nameless who had married a woman whose language he did not speak and in response to a critical enquiry responded by saying that the best things in life are eating, drinking and making love and the less said during these experiences, the better.
Of the other characters, I and I suspect readers in general, immediately like Ned’s illegitimate son, Jon Snow, not just because of the similar parental circumstances and its repercussion, as in my case, but because he has appears a young man of honour, integrity and a sense of duty. We learn that from the text that he is only 14 years of age looking more like twelve although in the TV production he appears a mature young man.
I /we also like the eldest son who is willing to immediately step back from the life of young man ands take on the duties of his father as head household and the kingdom, although he too is also a teenager. This is more realistic in the TV production because as with all the children their ages are raised to enable adult actors to play their roles and to overcome the problems resulting from their active sexuality.
We also liked the middle son, Bran, because of his sense of adventure, risk taking and individuality and instinctively knew that when he was pushed off the walls of castle he would survive. We also like the younger sister, Arya, who also shows individuality, rebelliousness and also feminist inclinations.
I suspect that the Queen’s young brother, Tyrion, also has an immediate fan club although some will have very different reasons from others. There are those who will be sympathetic because of his biological deformity, height challenged and deformed. There are those who will admire the fact that despite his natural disability he is a great womaniser and likes his food and drink. Others will also appreciate that he is a well read philosophical analyst and observer of the human condition. His dark side is yet to emerge.
We known little of the boy heir to the throne Joffrey although this is to quickly change as the story progresses, and many will dislike his betrothed, Ned’s eldest daughter, Sansa who is vain, shallow, celebrity seeking, uncharitable and dishonest. They appear well suited.
The second episode of the TV production commences different from the text showing the first days of the arranged marriage of the sister to the legitimate claimant to the heredity throne of the Seven Kingdoms. I am not clear if the race of her husband is naturally nomadic or is just travelling great distance to their permanent base. We see the bride hungry and tired and she is advised that things will get better. Her brother is also travelling with them and is advised that he would be better off accepting the hospitality of a more civilised existence. He responds that he is sticking with the hardships in order to ensure that the bargain is honoured and that Khal Drago will lead the Dothraki men across the water to reclaim his Kingdom. Later there is a brief scene in which the husband takes pleasure in the manner of a beast which she does not enjoy. Later she consults the woman slave given to her to teach the ways of love and she advises to always have the man look her in the eye and later still she persuades her husband to do so thus beginning what appears is likely to be a meaningful and developing relationship. All this comes later in the text after several story developments and in fact forms no part of the text covered in this episode but comes later.
In the TV production the second scene switches to where the Queen’s other brother is reading in a stable before breakfast. The young son and his retainer arrive to say the uncle is missed at breakfast and they are setting off home. The boy is then slapped across the face three times for refusing to go and tell Lord Stark and his wife how sorry he is about the “accident” to their son. Tyrion is warned that the boy will tell his mother and will also remember this treatment. Tyrion comments that he hopes the boy will remember the lesson and that should he forget the retainer should remind him. Tyrion is OK or is he?
Later when he and Jon are on their way to the Wall conducted by Ned’s brother, we learn more about the young brother who explains what while his elder brother uses the sword he uses his mind and the mind needs books just as the sword needs a wetstone to sharpen. The scene is used to explain that his brother was the adviser to the former King for 20 years, who then killed him while his sister married the new King. In the book there is much more description and information from the journey of Tyrion and Jon to the Wall. We learn of Tyrion’s interest in Dragons, including a collection of skulls from a thousand and a century and half ago and which I assume will have some significance later in the overall epic.
Earlier Tyrion arrives at the breakfast table demanding bread, fish, a mug of beer and bacon burnt black and greets his “beloved siblings“. He then reveals, in response to a question, that the boy Bran will live. The Queen chides her young brother for wanting to go on a visit to the Great Wall, but he explains he has no intention of joining the Night Watch but wants to stand on its top and piss off the end of the world. The Queen goes immediately leaves with her children horrified at the language, but is more upset by the news that the witness to her treachery lives. His older brother Sir Jaime, suggests it would be better the boy died than remain deformed to which Tyrion reminds of his own plight and that to live is better than to have no life, and that he hopes the boy will live and tell his tale as a consequence of which his loyalty is questioned.
Jon is preparing to join the Night Watch although he appears to have misgivings about the lifelong nature of the commitment, reinforced when later on the trip to the wall with Tyron they are joined by two rapists whose sentence has been commuted to service in the Watch. The Queen’s twin brother also thanks him for the service he will give reminding that it is a lifetime commitment, He notes Jon is waiting for a new sword. This we learn is a special one for the Ned’s younger daughter, the two having a special relationship and he sensing that she is going into danger without his protection. He also says goodbye to his father seeking information about his mother which Ned promises when they next see each other.
Lord Eddard comes to say goodbye to his wife but she no longer wants him to go to the capital reminding that he has choice and to say that he has no choice is what all men do when they have made up their mind to put honour before family wishes and needs. He tells her she will cope when she says she cannot, but she also fears that as before he will return with the child of another woman. Her fears strike home with Ned as shortly after setting off he and the King eat together privately and the king presses him about the identity of Jon’s mother, something which Ned resists. The King is concerned as the news has reached him of the marriage alliance between Daenerys Targaryen and the Dothraki arranged by her brother and the threat this poses. We learn that Khal Drago has not 40000 men to hand but 100000 but Ned is dismissive saying the Dothraki have no ships and if they do manage to cross over he will drive them back to the sea. He is also concerned when the King wants the girl killed, no more than a child. This is the first indication that the King wants to have his own way and that Ned’s task will be far more difficult than he envisaged. It will get worse before the episodes ends.
Previously the Queen visits the sick room where Catelyn keeps watch over her son to “empathise” saying she lost her first born, a boy just like him, implying she will have to let go while offering prayers for his return to consciousness. After the departure of Ned her remaining adviser suggests it is time to sort out the finance and the cost of the Royal visit. She wants to leave this to their steward but is reminded he has gone with Ned. After his departure the man hired by the Queen to kill Bran arrives and the Queen manages to fight him off injuring herself badly. She, the adviser and her eldest son establish that the man must have come with the King’s party. The knife used in the attempted killing is of such quality as to have been given by another. She also investigates the area of the castle from where her son fell and finds evidence of the presence of the Queen. They conclude that the fall was no accident and she determines to ride after her husband, taking a sea route so as join him as soon as he reaches the capital city and warn him of what is now suspected.
We now come to the core event of the second TV episode. Arya, the younger daughter of Ned is practicing sword play with the son of a butcher and this is observed by the King’s son and his betrothed who has been frightened by one of the men used to protect the heir. The Heir now reveals what an obnoxious coward he is by taunting and wounding the Butcher’s boy using a real sword instead of the wooden learning instrument. Arya then humiliates the heir as the direwolf attacks Joffrey biting into his hand to prevent him doing more harm to the butcher’s boy. Sensing she is in danger she runs away and hides until discovered later at night. Meanwhile Joffrey has told his version of events before the King and Queen placing blame on Arya and the butcher’s boy. Ned’s eldest daughter although present throughout the incident denies any knowledge and as a consequence it is the word Joffrey against that of Arya. The consequence of Sansa’s silence is that the butcher’s boy is slaughtered and the King insists that his daughter be punished by the death of her direwolf cub that she has trained well and is much attached. However Arya suspecting such a course has ensured that her pet goes off. The King insists on the punishment which means that Ned is required to kill the remaining direwolf, that belonging to Sansa. She is distraught realising, perhaps for the first time, that her superficial and child’s view of the world is no longer valid in these new circumstances. Ned sensing that what he is doing is wrong, still carries out the command and at the point which the hound is killed Bran wakes from his coma. The second episode ends.
The third episode of the TV production is the most powerful of three and includes major developments in the story line. The hostility between Arya and her sister continues but her father admits that they are both in a dangerous place and that it is important for the family to remain together. He points out that her sister is betrothed and as such she cannot go against what her husband to be says without endangering her own situation. He finds that she practicing with her sword and although she resists in saying who provided the gift he arranges for her to be giving lessons by an expert. He looks on in a mixture of pride and fear, knowing both the necessity of what he is doing and fear of its consequences. Earlier he gives his daughter a present of a doll and she reminds she has not played with dolls since the age of eight.
We follow the continuing journey of Jon, Tyrion and Ned’s brother to the Wall where Jon begins to fully realise the reality of the life he is choosing. There are spectacular views looking down from the top of the wall reached by a primitive manual worked lift system. Of the new recruits Jon is most accomplished fighters and his effort to prove himself arouses the hostility of the other “recruits”, until Tyrion advises him of the backgrounds of the men, one caught stealing food for his sister who had not eaten for three days and accepted the recruitment as an alternative to having an hand chopped off. The advice results in Jon establishing a good relationship with the others as he helps them to learn to sword fight.
Lord Eddard arrives separately with his daughters at the capital and is immediately summoned to a Council, but before gaining entry to the meeting room he is confront by the Queen’s twin brother in a manner best described as unfriendly and threatening. The Council appears comprised of four men all with backstories. Ned is shocked that not only is the King not present but they are delegated tasks which this time involving finding funds for a tournament to be held in his honours. He then learns that the state is in debt by several millions in the currency and that she King shows no regard for the position accept to order additional expenditure for his interests. The Council is then shocked when Ned says the tournament will not go ahead and refuses to commence planning. A message arrives for Ned by raven to say that Bran and come out of the coma but cannot remember what happened. The Queen criticises her brother for what he did and the continuing threat to them. She also comforts her son whose wound from the direwolf is in the process of healing leaving scars which she says she should bear with honour. When he admits aspects of the truth of what happened her she points out that when he is King he will and should fashion truth as he wishes. However she counsels against his wish to take control of the North, double taxes and create one army rather than allowing each of the seven Kingdoms to manage their own. She explains the problems likely to arise but in doing so Joffrey realises that she regards the North as enemies. Cersei explain that everyone is a potential enemy other than the family and she seems to be indicating that only she and her son can be trusted. She also counsels him to be nice to his betrothed after he says he hates and does not want to marry her. Later she says he can take as many painted whores or mistresses as he wishes. The girl will provide him with a heir.
Catelyn reaches the city and is surprised and alarmed to be greeted by two member of the city Watch who know who she is and take her to a house used as a brothel when she is met by the Council member who wanted to marry her, times past. Also present is another Council member who explains that his value is information. He wishes to see the knife used on the attack on her and Bran but admits he has no knowledge. The former suitor says that for once he can provide the answer. The knife was his until he lost it during a Tourne event to Tyrion Lannister. In the previous episode when Tyrion’s loyalty was being question by his elder brother he affirms his love of his family. Ned is brought to the location and explains that without proof of what is being said he cannot bring to the attention of the King. Catelyn returns to the North and their parting look suggests that both question whether they will see each other again.
At the Wall, Ned’s brother announces that he is leaving to go out beyond. Tyrion has made friends with the man who brings new recruits and the brother overhears a conversation in which Tyrion appears to be ridiculing the Night Watch. Tyrion explains to the contrary that he is full of admiration for the men but questions the necessity of their function. The brother agrees that the wildings, the people who live in the forest pose no threat although their numbers have been increasing. He fears that the White Walkers have returned as maintained by the member of the Watch beheaded by his brother for desertion. He presses Tyrion to warn the Queen and her husband of the threat and that the force has become inadequate, Reduced to less than 1000 men, a combination of old men and pressed men, amateurs with little or no fighting skills. There is much talk of the coming of Night. In this land seasons lasts for years so that Night can become years of darkness, of recent times lasting on a couple of years but in times past have continued for generations people die from cold, starvation and despair. This story is told Bran by his nurse as he lays in bed, not remembering what happened or frightened to remember and wishing he was dead because his crushed legs means that he will not walk again.
The episode is also interposed with scenes as Daenerys and her brother continue what is obviously a nomadic life. She has become pregnant, is able to communicate with her husband who have now a close loving relationship. She is certain she has a son which pleased him greatly. At one point she orders the column to stop as hey enter an area of tall grass towering above them. She wonders off and is confronted by her brother who is angered that she gave the order to stop without consulting him first. When he handles her roughly a young man appointed for protection seizes the brother wrapping a whip around his throat and choking him, only stopping when ordered to do so by his sister. They continue the journey and the brother is told to walk rather than ride. From the text we learn that for a man to walk rather than ride he is no man at all and that Dany no longer believes her brother will return to the homeland as King. Her pregnancy is confirmed on her fourteenth birthday.
The Winter, the dark is coming, but where from, the Dothraki, the White Walkers of from civil war within the Seven Kingdoms?
The main noteworthy difference between the TV production and the text is that Catelyn arrives in the city by ship rowed by sixty men before the King and her husband return and she mentions the former ward of her father Pyter, known as Littlefinger, who had a crush on her when he was 15 years of age and she 20 and engaged to Ned’s brother before his death, as someone who they should be able to trust. He companion shaves off his whiskers so he will not be recognised as he goes off in search of help after securing accommodation at an Inn outside the Castle walls. When she is woken the next day and ordered to the Castle she knows in advance it is to meet Littlefinger. He brings in the Kings’ spider given a courtesy title of Lord Varys, a eunuch whose function is to provide the monarch with intelligence and he mentions the knife after having overheard her man ask about it to his contact in the city. The rest of this sequence is as before. On arrival there is a description of the city familiar to Catelyn from her childhood and former life there.
The arrival of Eddard is kept closer to the text and I learned that two members of the Council bear the Kings surname; Lord Renly Baratheon master of laws and Lord Stannis Baratheon Master of ships both brothers of the King. Littlefinger has become Lord Baelish. In addition there is the Grand Master Pycelle and Ser Barristan Selmy Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. He is then taken by Littlefinger to meet Catelyn at the out of castle brothel where she brings her husband up todate with events at home and learning about the ownership of the dagger. She in turn has learned of events on the journey and Ned is mortified at the decision to kill the hound finding that it was his son’s creature which saved his life and that of his wife. With the help of Littlefinger he hopes to discover the truth believing that Tyrion would not have acted without the authority of the Queen. He asks his wife to organise defences on land and at sea to cover for all eventualities.
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