Martin's Fire and Ice Epic Storm of Swords 1 and 2 part three

I begin my third review of the third season of the Sky Atlantic series Game of Thrones based on the whole of volume one of Storm of Swords, Steel and Snow and part of Volume 2 of Storm of Swords Blood and Gold which are in turn volumes three and four of George R R Martin’s great epic series of books under the banner of Fire and Ice. Having read the two volumes in full I can only in part remember what is the books and not in the TV production so am covering all that I can remember and have time to check.

I begin with King Stannis Baratheon, known as The King in the Narrow Sea and the brother of murdered King Robert Baratheon and who in turn was responsible for the death of another brother who has also claimed the Throne of the Seven Kingdoms because of the accurate intelligence that the young King Joffrey Baratheon was in fact the child of an incestuous relationship between his mother and her twin brother Jamie Lannister. Joffrey apart from being a ruthless, vicious, obnoxious, spoilt boy without any redeeming features had therefore no legitimate claim to the throne over Stannis or his brother and technically nor had my favoured character Daenerys Targaryen apart from being the last legitimate offspring of the former King who was killed by Jamie, hence his nick name as the Kingslayer because he was such an odious man prone to indiscriminate killings.

Knowing that a battle for control was ensuing the Lannisters made every effort to ensure that the known illegitimate children of King Robert were also murdered, only in part because of their potential as magisterial claimants and more so because any study of the appearance of these children would confirm that the two sons and daughter of Queen Cersie, nee Lannister were indeed the offspring of someone other than Robert.

My reason from coming to Stannis after Daenerys and Jon Snow is because of the involvement of magic and the dark arts which surround all three, although in the case of Jon Snow he just encountered the horrors of the Others, the White Walkers and their creation the Wights, the risen dead or undead. It is also fair to say that Daenerys was a comparatively innocent young woman when she survived the funeral pyre built for husband after his death nor was she to know that the fire would hatch the three Dragon eggs given to her as a wedding present and that as they grew and commenced to do dragon things she would be hailed as the Mother of dragon as well as Mother of slaves and other people she liberated from three cities.

King Stannis, former Lord of Dragonstone is perhaps the more culpable of the three having been taken up by Lady Melisandra of Asshal called the Red Woman priestess of R’hllor, the Lord of Light and the God of Flame and Shadow.

The Lady Melisandra, described as a great beauty is a fanatical fundamentalist for her God and self confident in her ability to interpret his will and signs and portents of what is his bidding. She has made what I believe is the mistake of believing that King Stannis is the chosen one although the discerning reader will assume that if anyone is the chosen one, it is Daenerys Targaryen and indeed it is noteworthy that the increase in her magic powers coincided with the birth of the three Dragons.

Melisandra was able to convince Stannis that her should take her Counsel after the woman did not die after one fo his trusted people failed to poison her and she was also able to persuade the King‘s wife ad other members of the Household have all switched from the current religion to hers.

She has then eliminated the rival of Stannis, his younger brother who had created a great army to support his cause. She does this by giving birth to a Shadow killer which had murdered Renly while his female bodyguard the Lady Brienne and Lady Catelyn Stark were present. When forces loyal to Renly defend his Castle Storm End Melisandra she releases another Shadow the kill the leader. However the King is persuaded not to include her when his trusted aide Davos Seaworth known as the Onion Knight sails off to try and capture Kings Landing, the City HQ of King Joffrey, by sea. She argues that the fleet would not have been defeated if she had been allowed to be involved in the battle.

Davos is an illiterate smuggler and pirate with seven sons most of whom sail with him in the Kings Fleet. He has a onion of the sails of his ship hence his nick name after he had run onions and other food stuffs to Stannis during Robert’s rebellion until the forces of Eddard Stark had broken the blockade. Davos was knighted and given lands, choosing Seaworth as the name of his new home He supports the claim of Stannis but does not like or trust the Melisandra and refuses to change from the religion of the Seven Kingdoms. He is sent on missions and is part of the siege of Storm End and is used by Stannis to smuggle Melisandra into the Castle so she can perform the killing of the brother to the horror of Davos.

He counsels against Melisandra coming on the sea assault on Kings landing via Blackwater Bay and four of his son participate on different ships and die. He counsels the Fleet Commander against his tactics in entering the Bay when they discover the opposing Fleet is not there with the consequence they are ingenuously trapped by Tyrion Lannister and then destroyed with the use of wildfire, the liquid which seeps into everything including steel and the burns long and hard. Davos is shipwrecked on an island not more than a large rock which gets almost covered with the tide.

He is fortunately rescued and blaming Melisandra for the disaster plots to kill her although in fairness she could have intervened if allowed to participate. Because she can foresee she prevents his plan and he is arrested and placed in a dungeon. He survives and his rewarded by being made the Kings Hand, he begins to learn to read along with the children of the King.

He also opposes Melisandra when she wants to make sacrifice by burning alive an illegitimate son of King Robert. Davos is again condemned when it is discovered that he has arranged for the boy Edric Storm to escape. I had assumed that the boy had escaped from Kings Landing with Ayra Stark but had then been traded by Melisandra after he had opted to stay working as a blacksmith during what seems to be years that he Ayra and others attempt to reach her relatives in the North. I must re read and sort out later when I talk of young Ayra Stark as one source says that Edric was sent to Stannis for protection as soon as the purge of the illegitimate children of King Robert Baratheon had commenced.

Fortunately Davos has learned to read and understands the communication sent by Raven from Castle Black about the emergence of The Others, so threatened with imprisonment and execution he says he will be needed and in this respect Melisandra agrees. When a raven brings the request for forces to help against the attack from the Wildlings as reported in the writing about Jon Snow, the arrival of the force leads to the defeat of the Wildlings and to saving Jon Snow who in turn is elected the new Commander of the Commander of the Watch.

So the story is told via Davos and King Stannis appears to be man led by his wife and the Priestess with only Davos who can be trusted to look after his interests. Stannis is a man full of resentment because although he supported his brother King Robert and commanded his fleet it was Lord Stark of Winterfell who was rewarded and eventually called to become the Kings Hand after the murder of Stark‘s brother in law who had been investigating legitimacy of the children, as hand Stannis seeking evidence. He becomes depressed and withdrawn following the defeat of the fleet but is encouraged by his wife and Melisandra and continues with the dream of replacing Joffrey as the King and his rescue of the Nights Watch is part of the plan to unite the North against the South.

In part two of this writing I turn my attention to the wife and legitimate children of Lord Stark with Robb officially a sixteen year old made King of the North by his kindred Lords of North to signal their independence of the South. The story is not for the feint hearted,

When Robb was growing up he was close to his father’s ward Theon Greyjoy and a good rivalries relationship with Jon Snow as he had with his younger brothers and sisters, His Direwolf is called Grey Wind

With the imprisonment of his father Robb raised an army and marched south to free him and his sisters but with the execution of his father he became King as well as leading the army of the north, or at least those Lords who had allegiance to his father. In order to meet the two forces of the Lannister’s King Robb sends half his force under Roose Bolton and accompanied by his mother with the rest he negotiates a quick passage through the lands of and an important crossing of Lord Walder Frey another of those with the proclivity to take adolescents as wives and to beget many sons and daughters. The price of passage in this instance is that Robb will marry one the daughters after the war is won.

The purpose of his move is to stop the siege of Riverrun, a three sided castle of he family of Tully, the parental home of the widow of Lord Stark, Catelyn where her father and widowed sister in law live. He is successful defeating the forces led by Jamie Lannister who is captured. Jamie is later removed by Catelyn as the prisoner of Lady Brienne to be returned to Kings landing in exchange for the freedom of her two daughters. This action angers her son and other Lords fighting with him. His defeat his matched by the victory of his brother Tyrion over Roose Bolton who retreats to the fortress of Harrenhal, an extraordinary castle with rooms suitable for giants and with extra thick walls, the kitchens the size of Winterfell’s Great Hall and stabling for a thousand horses. It has five tall towers and two well guarded gates.

In order to consolidates his position Robb sends Catelyn to see Stannis and the Renly to gain their support. She witnesses the supernatural murder of Renly arranged by the Red priestess for Stannis brother, and when she leaves she takes Lady Brienne, Renly’s Guard at the time of his death with her as her protector, and then later users her to take Jamie in exchange for her daughters.

Robb also sends Theon Greyjoy on a mission which also fails but worse still the young man is in effect turned by his father and in an effort impress him take a small force and captures Winterfell and has also murdered the Stark brothers, Bran and Rickon, or so it is believed by everyone at the time.

Robb meets up with Jeyne Westerling as she tends the wounded no matter who and what they are and they fall in love and marry thus breaking his commitment to Lord Frey with the consequence that Frey’s men return to their homeland in anger at what is regarded as an insult. Catelyn is also horrified by the marriage and foresees the implications for their relationship with Lord Frey.

Worse is to come with Catelyn’s action to try and use Jamie Lannister in a swap for daughters with their release a priority following the news that the family home has been over run and laid to ruin with his youngest sons murdered. Her action angers one of the Lords who then murders two young hostage prisoners. In part to re-exert his authority Robb sentences the perpetrator to death and personally executes resulting in that all the man’s followers also return to their homes leaving Robb bereft of forces.

His next plan is to try and regain the family home and with his younger brothers murdered and without news of sister Ayra feared lost, his fears that should he die the family lands would go to his sister Sansa who has been forced to marry Tyrion Lannister. After Joffrey ordered the execution of Lord Eddard declared a traitor marriage to his daughter Sansa was out pf the question and a new marriage is arranged. Sansa agrees to marry a brother of the new Queen to be but this plan is scuppered and she is forced to marry Tyrion. In this situation the lands of Winterfell would go to Tyrion if Robb dies so he makes arrangements for Jon Snow to become legitimate and his official heir freeing him from the vows of the Nights Watch things a king may do. It is interesting that this is unbeknown to Jon when Stannis makes the same kind of offer after the relief of Castle Black with Jon deciding to stay with the Watch where he is elected Commander.

In order to achieve his objective Jon needs to make peace with Lord Walder Frey and persuades one of Catelyn relatives to wed one of Frey‘s daughters which although making a song and dance about it Walder agrees and arranges a wedding feast with Robb, his mother attending the wedding with a just a few men while their main force celebrate in adjacent tents.

I turn next to daughter Ayra then to Bran and Rickon and then to Sansa the other children of Ned and Catelyn Stark. The intelligent and independent grit of Ayra has impressed from the start, not prepared to tolerate the behaviour of Joffrey when his father visits and she accompanies her father and her betrothed sister to Kings Landing. She is forced to send off her Direwolf after Joffrey kills the creature belonging to Sansa, but she has a small sword fashioned especially for her by Jon and which she been trained to use. She escapers from Palace before her father is executed which she watches from the crowd. She then escapes from the city and the southern territory accompanying the recruiter for the Nights Watch where another in the party is Gendry trained as a blacksmith who is another born out of wedlock never knowing who is father is/was with his mother to have worked in an ale house. He appears to be protected with someone of rank paying for him to be apprentices and joins the party going north when the purge of King Robert’s illegitimate children begins.

On their travels north Arya has disguised herself as a boy but it is Gendry who works out she is a girl but keeps her secret. When the party is approached by agents of the Queen it is Gendry who is the priority and not Ayra but neither he or Ayra appreciate the reasons. After many adventures on the road together they are captured by the Brotherhood without Banners also known as the knights of Hollow Hill, a disparate group of outlaws protecting the common folk and in common cause against the rule of the Lannisters, originally established by Lord Stark. Gendry finds a home with the outlaws and is created a Knight, Ser Gendry of Hollow Hill, and an active member of the group and his loss of company saddens Ayra. As with Eric Storm with whom I confused there is a sense that both, as potential contenders for the throne will continue to have a role, although the importance of this remains speculation.

In A Clash of Kings Arya and her companion end up at Harrenhal as prisoners and put to work during the time that the castle is the base for the father of Queen Cersie, Jamie and Tyrion Lannister. The Castle then becomes a base for Roose Bolton and his men. Before reaching he Castle she frees three of the men taken as prisoners for training in the Nights watch. One of these, Jaquen H’ghar appears to special powers and grants Ayra three wishes which uses to gain revenge and also to escape. Jaquen giver Ayra a coin so she can find him again when needed.

Having been recognised when found by the Brotherhood without banners, Ayra is confronted by Ser Sandor Clegane also known as the Hound because of his savagery and who the brotherhood had been initially formed by Lord Stark to capture. He is gruesome to look at because of burns to his face in childhood.

Ayra hates him from when as a bodyguard to King Baratheon he kills one of her friends on orders of the Queen because of an alleged incident involving Joffrey. . He was then involved in the killing of her father’s personal guard when at Kings Landing after the murder of King Robert and Joffrey as King under the control of the Queen.

While a savage man and the most feared of fighters he takes to Sansa, unbeknown to Ayra, refusing to beat her as commanded by Joffrey when he becomes head of the Kingsguard, also refusing to become a knight as he has a general dislike of knights and the gentry. During the battle when Kings Landing is attacked by the forces of King Stannis, he disobeys Tyrion and goes on the run until captured by the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood put Sandor on trial for various crimes but none can proved. Ayra brings up the killing of the butchers boy but she cannot produce evidence for a conviction and he eventually engages in a trial by combat to the death with the leader of Brotherhood who he defeats and gains his freedom but his gold is taken from him. He returns to try and get back the money only to find Ayra who has escaped and he takes her prisoner with a view to getting gold by taking her to her mother and brother who he learns/ has learned are on their way to the Castle of Lord Walder Grey. They arrive just as the situation become bloody.

For just as in the first season Lord Stark is decapitated, and in the second Bran and his brother are believed murdered, their bodies burned beyond recognition, Catelyn and Robb have walked into a trap as Ser Walder Grey has done a deal with the Lannisters and drunk at the wedding feast and drugged with the use of Dream wine Robb is killed as is his direwolf with the head of the wolf attached to headless body of the young King. The accompany party are also murdered and Ayra arrives to witness the scene.

The Hound keeps Ayra prisoner hoping to find a relative who will pay a ransom and every night the girl mentions him in her prayers of people she wants to kill. They then encounter another group and fight in which The Hound is badly injured but they get away with the man pleasing with her for a quick death which she refuses. She get to the coast seeking ship to get her to the Wall and her half brother Jon, believing that apart from Sansa whose fate is unbeknown the rest of her family are dead. She lacks the funds and regrets not killing the Hound and taking the coin he kept in his shoe. She offers to work her passage but when producing the coin given by Jaquen H’ghar and repeats the give saying whereupon she is immediately given a cabin and passage.

As I have indicated Bran and Rickon her younger brothers are believed dead, slaughtered on orders of Theon Greyjoy. Bran is also a character high on my approval and wish well list and who I believe is to play an important role in the epic and therefore upset when he appeared to have been killed off during the second book and TV series production.

Bran liked to climb and including the outer walls of his home until being thrown off and crippled by Jaime Lannister when he overheard the Prince together in a compromising position with Queen Cersie. He is saved from an assassination attempt by his Direwolf who develops a very close and protective relationship. He struggles to cope but show a determination which will carry him forward. He commences to have dreams, premonitions of what is to happen with disturbing accuracy,

When Robb becomes King and goes to war Bran , despite being a child is not only the Prince of Winterfell but its head with the guidance and support of a faithful right hand to his father and the friendship of two children of his age Meera and Jojen.

When the castle is attacked by the ward of Lord Stark the brothers hide in the crypt and then escape in two parties with action taken to give the impression that they have died. Theon Greyjoy returns to his father who is not pleased at the disobedience of his instructions, Theon was assisted by the illegitimate son of Roose Bolton but it is Theon who kills and burns two peasant children and presents the remains as those of Bran and Rickon. Ramsay later betrays Theon, captures and tortures him.

Meanwhile Rickon assisted by Osham a freefolk girl who is befriended by the family head for White Harbour while Bran with is carried by Hodor, a large young man with learning difficulties and Meera go north with Jojen who has suggested they find the three eyed crow that Bran sees in his dreams foretelling the future.

With Ramsay Bolton aware fo the trick played by Theon and scouring land for them, the quartet have to move north carefully. Eventually they approach the Wall and encounter some Wildlings so Summer, Bran’s Direwolf attacks them not realising that Jon Snow is part of the group. The attack by the Direwolf enables Jon to escape back to Castle Black without being aware how close the half brothers had come together. Bran and his group hide in one of the deserted Castles of the Wall until they hear noises from below, a secret passage when they meet Samwell Tarly and the accompanying mother and child. Sam wants Bran and his part to go with him to Castle Black which he believes is the safest place, but Bran is on a quest of his own which he continues. We learn nothing more about young Rickon although he is believed to be dead.

Catelyn Stark realised they were part of a trap pleads with Walder Frey not to kill her son and takes his wife hostage threatening to kill her. Walder comments that he can get another wife and Robb is beheaded and then Catelyn has her throat cut and dies. It is not clear if Catelyn dies or become one of undead for although she survives she can not speak and becomes the leader of the Brotherhood determine d to gain revenge for the loss of her husband and children.

I am leaving the fate of her eldest daughter Sansa until my final piece on the third and fourth books and third TV season. I will also cover what has happened to Brienne and her assignment to take Jamie Lannister back to Kings Landing in exchange for her daughters. There is to be another shocking and surprising development not covered yet in the TV series but an early and key aspect of Blood and Gold

　

Fire and Ice an upfate on Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly from a Storm of Swords

A character with whom I was able to quickly identify and with who has survived the first four epic novels of George R R Martin’s Fire and Ice series of books is Jon Snow, the assumed to be the son born to another woman than his wife of Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, a courageous man who had helped to make Robert Baratheon King of Westeros, once seven Kingdoms, a land similar but on a greater scale than the British islands and during a time of European middle ages.

I say assumed because at the time of writing with four books read and three seasons of TV productions completed, I am not sure if the questioning about his father has been raised and certainly he does not know about his mother and with his assumed father behead by the next King Joffrey, the promise of being told appears to have ended. What is known is that Eddard brought the child to be cared for by his wife following the tragic death of his sister Lyanna Stark and once betrothed of Robert Baratheon, who adored her. She was known for being headstrong, spirited, and beautiful; Eddard's daughter Ayra is often compared to Lyanna for their similar personality and appearance The novels present Lyanna as a trigger for Robert's Rebellion fifteen years before the series; however, the characters remember details differently. According to Daenerys Targaryen, my first character of choice to write about their progress. Prince Rhaegar Targaryen crowned Lyanna as his queen of love and beauty at a tournament, passing over his wife of the house of Martell and he "later stole her away from her betrothed, repeatedly raping her and when the family protested, the King Aerys II Targaryen horrifically executed Lyanna's father and brother Brandon, the older brother of Eddard. A civil war named Robert's Rebellion ensued that eventually ended at the Trident where Robert killed Rhaegar who according to Daenerys died for the woman he loved.

Shortly afterwards, Eddard went to rescue Lyanna from the Tower of Joy in Dorne. He found her dying "in a bed of blood" and her last words were "Promise me, Ned. She was buried in the crypt of Winterfell, though the crypt was usually reserved for the Kings and Lords of Winterfell. When King Robert comes to Winterfell to ask Eddard to become his chief adviser and organiser, his Hand, he visits the tomb of his once beloved.

In the books, as was the case in the UK until perhaps the past decade a child born outside of state recognised marriage is branded and treated as different, such individuals tend to feel themselves as an outsider and second class citizens especially as they grow up and away from the security and protection of those that rear them. In this instance although Jon was brought up within the family of three sons, Robb, Brandon(Bran) and Rickon and two daughters Sansa and Ayra aged nine when the story commences and was closest of the children. I can identify with Jon in part because of my own background circumstances and also because he became self reliant quickly and held to the ideals and standards of his assumed father.

When the story begins Jon is aged 14 the same age as Robb with both adolescents already trained warriors. Early in the first book Jon is given one of direwolf pups found on a hunting expedition, choosing the albino of the litter, named Ghost, also an outsider, and the creature becomes a close companion especially when Jon accompanies his uncle Benjen, the youngest and only surviving brother of Lord Eddiard, back to the Nights Watch to become a member.

The Nights Watch is a brotherhood of men sworn to protect the seven Kingdoms from the Wildings and other more mythological creatures -the White Walkers, not seen for thousands of years who inhabit the land North of the Wall, a wall of sold ice before rock on top of which are a number of forts and castle, nineteen in total, with three manned with any size of force and from which expeditions occasionally set out to find what is happening among the hostile peoples in such inhospitable lands akin to a mountainous Artic. Benjen goes on one pf these expeditions and never returns believed killed, leaving Jon on his own. The biggest fort manned with 600 men when the epic tale begins is Castle Black.

The Watch has continued for thousands of years said to number eight millennium. The officers of the Nights Watch are often the sons of the great houses in the seven Kingdoms but the force is supplemented by thieves and cut throats forced under threat of the alternative to take the oath of allegiance and of celibacy. This is because few in the various Kingdoms except those in the North regard the Wildings as a serious threat and therefore did not see the need for maintaining a strong Nights Watch force.

It is through the involvement of on that we learn something of the structure of the Watch with the Rangers, such as Uncle Benjen, men who patrol the Haunted Forest and who are the specialist fighters. The Builders are those who maintain the forts and the wall while stewards keep the place running everything from the provision of clothing, the heating to farming, storage and cooking the meals and looking after the weapons.

All the functions are coordinated and led by the Lord Commander who is elected by all the membership with anyone able to stand although tradition has tended to appoint a Ranger. However after Jon has saved the life of the Commander is appointed the man’s personal; steward there is talk that he is being favovoured and grommed for leadership. However when he gains news of the murder of his father he decides to leave and go to their side but is brought back by his friends for his declared AWL.

When the Commander becomes concerned about the loss of men on expeditions and reports that the wildings are gathering and moving south he organises a major expedition which he leads and Jon joins and is then sent with a small scouting party and when they encounter the wildings he is ordered by the party leader to appear to betray the Watch and join them to find out what they are up to and is forced to kill the man when he is captured so there is no one to vindicate his position.

At one point he takes a young female wilding lookout captive and who is called kissed by fire because of her red hair, and is also referred as spearhead another name for warrior. Because he had captured Ygritte she is regarded by other wildings as his wife and eventually on their travel south the two have sex and become emotionally attached, although she repeatedly chides him with the expression “you know nothing Jon Snow” and this applies to all aspects of life but not his sexual performance during which he naturally behaves in ways which impress her despite beginning to recount her catalogue of past experience. He learns that the wildings are planing to invade the Seven Kingdoms to escape from the Others- the White walkers who have risen and is then forced to help an advance party make their way up the wall. He has to leave Ghost who he urges to return to Castle Rock and give the alarm.

When the opportunity arises he break free and it is Ygritte who fires arrows and wounds him, but he suspects that her aim was not as true as she was capable. He survives and returns to Castle Black when he plays a leading role in organising its defence, against he superior force of the Wildings leader Mance Rayder’s overwhelming superior numbers and during one lull he discovers that Ygritte has been killed but no by one of his arrows.

When Jon first joins the Watch he befriends Samwell - Sam the first child of Lord Randyll Tarly and his wife Melessa Florent. Lord Randyll, who was regarded as one of the finest military commanders in the Seven Kingdoms and who is disappointed when the son becomes a large boy and shows no enthusiasm or ability as a warrior. Sam is kind hearted and caring and every effort to toughen him fails. When at the fourth attempt another son is born who meets father’s expectations, Sam is ordered to renounce the family name and join the Nights Watch.

Dam is mocked and bullied (with the approval of the Master at arms) for his size, timid nature and hopelessness bearing arms. It is Jon who intervenes and subsequently persuades the leadership that Sam should become a Steward with responsibility for looking after the Ravens, effective carrier pigeons used throughout the Kingdom as a postal service and also the library. In gratitude Sam is one fo those who persuades Jon to remain with the Watch when Lord Stark, his father is executed.

In the second volume Sam goes with Jon in the great expedition North of the Wall where they visit a former Member of the Watch (Craster) for information about Benjen Stark and other developments, Craster has build himself a home (Craster’s Keep) and a following, and nineteen wives, many his daughters and where it is rightly believed he kills off his sons seeing them as a threat. One the wives is Gilly who is pregnant.

It is in the third and fourth books that Sam comes to the fore in ways which are natural to him and also surprising. The TV production changes the time sequence and the second season concludes as Sam is separated from his colleagues and experiences the coming of the Others and with the Commander a small group survive using a raven to warn Castle Black what is happening. When a friend who helped Sam survive the trek back is attacked and killed Sam reacts instinctively and kills the creature using a dragonglass dagger (a volcanic rook substance) found by Jon’s Direwolf and the Wight walker dies instantly, revealing a way to kill them and earning Sam the title of Sam the Slayer. He and another manage to get back to Craster’s Keep where there is mutiny and the Commander and Craster are killed in the fighting. Samwell takes up with Gilly and her newborn child and attempts to make it back to Castle Black.

On their way Sam is again force to fight, this time Wights, not to be confused with the white walkers- the Others as the Wights are the undead created by the Others and Sam then encounters the younger half brother of Jon, Bran Stark and his accompanying band the subject of a writing later and who continue on a separate way and Sam mentions that he knows Jon and his Direwolf but is uncertain if both have survived the battles.

Sam eventually gets Gill and her child to the comparative safety of Castle Black, I say comparative safety because he finds that there has been a dramatic development with the defeat of the wildings and their leader.

Jon, despite his brave return to warn the Watch and organising the defence of the castle is accused of treachery having been reported as joining the enemy by other returning Watch officers. When his fate is in the balance the Watch is saved by the arrival of the army of King Stannis Baratheon, the brother of former King Robert and whose story will be the subject of my next writing. Stannis makes John an offer which I will leave at the moment as it spoils other aspects of the story to unfold and which also proves the impossibility of trying to write separate accounts of the story of the main characters without revealing key aspects of their individual storylines.

While Jon considers the offer, Stannis has been exerting pressure on the Watch to elect a new Commander. Anyone can put up and all the Watch vote and the voting continues until someone has the required majority which means that unless candidates pull out he voting can continue for months.

This is where Sam has a crucial role to play having explained that he has protected Gilly, that the child is not his and that he has broken his oath of celibacy, he has gained in standing because of now being Sam the Slayer, He is used as a broker by Stannis between the two main contenders pretending that if they do not drop out and chose a new compromise candidate Stannis will appoint the other to the position. As a consequence of this Jon finds himself elected the new Commander of the Watch. His Direwolf also finds his way home.

The TV series ended with Jon shot by Ygritte making his way back. I chose Jon for my second writing because while the various characters have been fighting each other south of the Wall trying to gain control of all the lands of the seven former kingdom, they face a greater danger which threatens them all, a threat greater than that posed by Daenerys, her three dragons and the army of the unsullied and freed slaves across the water, where as I said in the first piece she had decided to consolidate her position and manage the welfare of the citizens of the three cities she has taken on her travels westward. I have also focussed on Jon because in other development steps had been taken to legitimise him, as had Stannis which Jon had turned down to become head the Nights Watch with the responsibility of protecting all the Kingdoms from the forces the other side of Wall. Perhaps he will survive where others have not.

Despite the oath of celibacy broken under orders because of his role spying on the Wilding enemy, one also suspects that he will marry and who knows could that be Daenerys who I also believe will survive and have an increasingly major role in the future of the seven Kingdoms, but as I shall report nothing can be foretold without reading the books nor is anyone safe.

Goerge Martin's Fire and Ice volumes three and four A Storm of Swords

The third season has ended of transforming the epic George R R Martin’s Fire and Ice, into the televised production of A Game of Thrones. This covers all of the first book of A Storm of Swords Steel and Snow and part coverage of A Storm of Swords Blood and Gold volumes three and four in the series. The television series has become mega in terms of world wide popularity including in countries such as Russia and China, winning awards including public vote BAFTA and is doing wonders for the economy in Northern Ireland where the 2014 season is being produced. I recently reported that a young woman who I had not met before engaged me in conversation while waiting for different trains at Newcastle station on the strength of my reading a George Martin volume of the series.

There is no doubt that in terms of television series A Game of Thrones ticks all my boxes and those of many others because of its spectacle, great acting and storylines. It is great escapism with moments of shock and disappointment because of the turn of events as characters who have engaged and who one wants to do well are murdered, the equivalent of Harry Potter or two of the main characters in Lord of the Rings meeting an unpleasant end at the conclusion of the first book of 4, 7, or how many more volumes Martin intends to write of his fantasy set in a middle ages Europe in terms of any historical, geographical and climatic clues. The books are also a splendid read full of vivid and detailed descriptions although creating an unease which the TV series does not. This is because in terms of all the killing, violence and forced marriages many of the key characters are adolescent children.

Because there is no evidence that Martin intends readers and viewers to read too much into his work, it remains divorced from the involvement of children in the current horrors say going in Syria when out of revenge a school age teenager is known to have beheaded an enemy, filmed and broadcast. With this note of caution for anyone turning to the books because of the TV series I will move on to explaining how I propose to summarise my experience of reading the 1182 pages plus the appendixes of the two volumes on which the third season is based and because I cannot remember all that happened only in the TV coverage I am not going to attempt to remember where the cut off points occurred in relation to the individual storylines rather than how the whole developed and in this first writing I will attempt some kind of overview as well as concentrating on my favourite of a number of favourite characters the gorgeous mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen the Queen Across the Water. She is the last survivor of the House of Targaryen already a widow at the age of fourteen years.

She now resides in a land which has the appearance of the Mediterranean middle east and is attempting to amass an army to cross the water to claim control of the seven Kingdoms of Westeros, a mythical land painstakingly created and which has three distinct areas. The south where the climate is warmer and the North which continue until a great wall of iced covered rocks upon which are fortresses manned by the Nightwatch who like the Kings Guard in the South and men of other Kingdoms are required to make an oath of allegiance to die defending and performing their role celibate so that nothing can deflect them from their duty.

For the first book called A Game of Thrones, and to some extent the second in the series, A Clash of Kings, the land north of the wall remains unknown although parties of the Nightwatch go to explore and check on the state of things.

I mention the climate, something which is of great concern in my every day life as days of warm sunshine have become something of a rarity and in this fantasy land the seasons last not within a year but for years and sometimes for generations and are also associated with times of darkness in events and spirit as well as of light and joy. The first books occur during summer but with the threat winter about to descended upon them all.

Although it is a land of seven Kingdoms and great Houses of extended families with their castles, Knights called Ser, squires, servants and citizens much akin to what we understand as the middle ages in western Europe, two of the Houses joined forces and controlled the seven separate Kingdoms through one King, the King of the Iron Throne Robert Baratheon who was succeeded by the boy considered to be the legal heir until the information became generally available to those of the great Houses and as gossip among the hoy purloy that Joffrey, a boy of thirteen years when he became King, his sister Princess Mycella and young brother Prince Tommen were in fact the incestuous children of the twin brother of the Queen.

The Queen Cersie was of the great House of Lannister and it was she who organised the death of her husband to place her son on the throne and where she hoped to rule, for as a woman a Queen could not rule even if she and the support of the little or great council of state. She had effectively used her sex to control her twin brother Jamie and continuously plotted to outwit and side line the brains of the family, her brother Tyrion, the height challenge man we would say, but for the purposes of the writing books and TV, a dwarf, whose mother had died at his birth thus alienating from his father the most ruthless, coldly cunning of the House, the Lord Tywin and the man with the money, military power and connections to sustain the Kingship by his family members.

The twin brother, Jamie, is known as the Kingslayer because he was the person who killed the former King, King Aerys II of Targaryen, the father of Daenerys, while King Robert killed her eldest brother with her sister also murdered along with another son. Daenerys escaped with her brother who is also now dead. The Targaryens once ruled the Kingdoms with the help of Dragons, now believed extinct throughout Westeros, except for their skulls kept at the HQ of the Kingdoms at the palace castle at Kings Landing and an ancient belief that one day someone would come who would bring back the dragons out of stone. It also should be mentioned that that the Targaryens are reported to have accepted incest as a way of life and indeed the Daenerys and her elder brother are said to have played in the way of Caligula and his sister.

Joffrey who can be described as a ruthless spoilt child prone to tantrums with disastrous consequences, is challenged by three men who proclaimed themselves Kings. The first two are the brothers of the King or more accurately I should say were as the King in the Highgarden, Renly Baratheon, the younger of the brothers has been murdered at the behest of the older brother Stannis. My memory of Renly is of an essentially good and honourable man while his brother is under the influence of the Red Priestess ( she has red eyes) Lady Melisandra of Asshai of a religion with a God of Fire and with supernatural powers with shape shifting, who conjured a shadow through a conception by the King, which killed the brother while in the presence of the mother of the King of the North and also by a trusted female warrior. More of the warrior lady later.

King Stannis Baratheon has a calculating wife, Selsie of the House of Florent and they have children including a daughter who is disfigured and kept away from company. Stannis has a seafaring former pirate made up as his right hand man called Ser Davos Seaworth commonly referred to as the Onion Knight who tries to Counsel the King against precipitous action but is repeatedly out manoeuvred by the Red Priestess at every turn who claims that Stannis is the man who according to prophecy will arouse the now stone dragons back into life.

The role of the right hand man is called The Hand and is the first Minister chief adviser, organiser and fixer to the King. The right hand man for murdered King Robert had been the brother in law of the father of the King of North. When the Hand of King Robert was murdered, he visited the Lord of Winterfell in the North, Eddard Stark, whose wife Catelyn of the House of Tully was the sister in law of the former Hand.

King Robert commands Eddard who had fought with him to gain control of the seven Kingdoms to become his Hand and Eddard goes South with his two daughters, both children, Princess Sansa a maid then of twelve years who had become betrothed to Joffrey and with young sister Ayra, a tomboy then aged ten years.

After Sansa was betrothed and Ayra, escaped but in the crowd witness the beheading of Eddard at the command of King Joffrey Robb Stark when only a boy of fifteen years is encouraged by his mother and with the support of other nobles in the North to declare themselves independent of Joffrey and with Robb as the crowned King of the North. Robb has a younger brother Brandon, who becomes a cripple when thrown from climbing the outside wall of the castle and unintentionally over hearing Queen Cersie with her twin brother. In certain conditions Bran has the power to see the future. He has a young brother Rickon then only four and the children also have an elder half brother Jon, called Snow the name given to illegitimate children. John Snow is brought up as a member of the Household and to the discomfort of Catelyn and little is known about the boy’s mother with whom Eddard had a relationship before his marriage.

Jon Snow goes to the Wall as a Knightwatch guard at the suggestion of his father’s brother who has now disappeared on a exploration and checking visit north of the Wall where here are reports of disturbing movements and events and where there is lives Wildings or free people as well as in the past dark almost invincible creatures of the undead.

Early in the first volume Eddard finds a dire wolf, a large, intelligent and loyal form of wolf, creature now extinct for 10000 years mainly in the Americas. One of the creatures was killed at the demand of Joffrey, that belonging to Sansa while that belonging to Arya was sent away to save him ad his present fate is unknown while a third, that belonging to Robb is to feature strongly as that of Jon to lesser extent in the latest two volumes.

There are around 500 characters associated with the great and lesser Houses and their courts although fortunately the storylines do concentrate on the fortunes and misfortunes of specific characters and the first two volumes amounting to 1500 pages have been reported on in some length previously in terms of the first two TV series..

In terms of the quality of actors employed and the acting in general, the range of sets and locations, the numbers includes and use of the latest visual technology the Game of Thrones is without equal. However as already highlighted there is a fundamental and important difference between the books and the TV series which has to be reminded and this in the age of the principle characters Daenerys, Joffrey, Sansa, Ayra, Robb, Brandon, and the others to come is that they are children who become directly involved in the killing or being killed, as principal game players, married off and with the girls at constant threat of sexual assault. The TV series therefore has the characters looking and described as older thus conforming to the law and mores of the day.

I begin my first update with my favourite character The Queen across the Water.. It should be remember that this adorable young woman was effectively sold by her brother in marriage to the war lord of the nomadic Dothraki tribe of warrior huntsmen in exchange for using his forces to help regain his position as King of the seven Kingdoms of the land across the waters, Westeros. The two “pretenders” aided by a knight guardian adviser Ser Jorah, who secretly coverts the girl, have been beholden to the rulers of lands presented as Mediterranean North African always sunshine, with deserts and walled cities. The flaw in the deal between the brother, the adviser and the Dothraki war lord is that his men have a fear of the sea and therefore he and they are unenthusiastic about immediately setting off to invade Westeros. Presented first as a Genghis Khan type of figure her husband proved to be a kind and considerate man who dies despite her turning to dark arts in an attempt to save him after her brother is killed with her blessing because of his inadequacy and treachery. His death is the first to reveal that many of the characters we come fo admire and hope to do well is to be eliminated, thus making predicted outcomes a challenge..

Daenerys undergoes a transformation after being in the great flames of the funeral pyre of her husbands body and appears to become immortal and to grow in wisdom and military guile.

Throughout the epic todate there is reference to the age of Dragons where on the mainland only their skeletons remain, but on her wedding day she is presented with the last known three dragon eggs by her adviser and through the ordeal by fire they are hatched and begin to grow. And during this series are able to breathe their fire and destroy but it will be several years before they can be ridden and directed to create havoc in battles.

Having acquired three ships from her exploits in the in the second season she sets said for a kingdom of slave masters who have created a great army of warriors who have been turned into eunuchs and then trained as fighters. Pretending not to understand the language of the slave masters she puts up with his insults appearing to accept the strongly edited translations and much to the horror of Ser Jorah appearing to offer one of her dragons in exchange of all the able bodied trained warriors over ten thousand in number. What she does not disclose until the deal is agreed is that dragons select those they will serve and the dragon taken as part of the deal immediately turns on the Slave master leader and kills him with fire and as the deal has been agreed Daenerys now has control and command of the army. However she makes the point that in new deal world no one can be a slave and therefore they are given the option of going off as free men or serving as her army and to a man they chose her, the Mother of Dragons as she become known and all the other slaves and their families are freed and decide to join in the quest so that now she has the responsibility for an ever increase population in their tens of thousands.

This is the first of three cities and their people that Daenerys confronts with her growing forces during the two volumes of A Storm of Swords.

She has to use all her skills in outwitting men on reaching the second walled city and she enlists the attention of a young warrior who beheads his two confederates including the leader who tells her to submit or he will take her and then pass onto his men for their use and pleasure. By the time she reaches the third city she is having to overcome her emotions and desire for an adult relationship. She considers using both Ser Jorah and the young warrior with lustful eyes but contents with a female servant.

She is also saved from an individual personal attack by a knight who has sought her out and who once protected her father but was forced to accept duty with the man who has killed her father and other family members before she had escaped with her brother.

When Ser Jorah points out who the new arrival is her first reaction she is horrified but decides, subject to a test, to keep him at her side. He retaliates against Ser Jorah by revealing that throughout the exile of Daenerys and her brother the Court at kings Landing had been receiving reports of their whereabouts, some hundred reports if of more and that the source fo these was Ser Jorah Mormont formerly Lord of Bear Island exiled for slaving. This he admits saying he had been promised being able to return to Westeros one day, but as a consequence of these reports the attempted assassinations on her were made.

In order to minimise the loss fo life and because the growing population of followers as well as army of the Unsullied need food and water, she decides that Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan Selmy, formerly of the Kings Guard to King Robert should attempt to enter the city through the sewers and open the gates to allow her forces to take the city with the minimum of bloodshed. This is successful and with now responsibility off a third city to have responsibility she makes an important decision. First she effectively pardons Ser Barristan and decides to keep him with her but she cannot forgive Ser Jorah and banishes him from her side.

The decision she takes arising from finding that having given people their freedom many have wanted to become slaves again to the households of the wealthy where they will lead a better life than fending for themselves She decides to put on hold her ambition to take an army across the water to reclaim her father‘s crown and concentrate on managing her growing realm to ensure the people are well provided for. While the dragons Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal are growing, can fly freely and breathe fire it will be three years before they can ridden and until then their use is therefore restricted. It has occurred to me that the prophecy quoted by the Red Priestess applies to Daenerys and not to King Stannis and that perhaps she does know this!