Gently by the Shore and Gently Down the Stream

Alan Hunter was a prolific writer of police detective fiction with 46 books about Inspector George Gently of Scotland Yard who commenced as a mature officer and who managed to continue working from 1944 to 1999, although I not know if the later novels were set in the past. The BBC commissioned or bought four mini series of self contained dramas after seeing the pilot in 2007. Apart from 2009 when there were four episodes there have been two in the other three years, 11 in total.

Inspector Gently is no Wallander although Martin Shaw as Gently is as good as Kenneth Branagh, an actor who made his national name through the TV series of the Professionals as Raymond Doyle with Lewis Collins as Broadie and Gordon Sinclair as their CI5 boss George Cowley and a long way from Spooks. Doyle was recruited from the ranks of the police and later he was to star in the last three years of the series The Chief (Constable) and a long running battle with the Home Office. From this he graduated to a Judge, Judge John Deed and to more battles this time with Justice Department officials and Politicians who hated his independent mind and tendency to achieve the truth and Justice. So there is logic that he should also perform in the role as a confident, thoughtful successful villain catcher of the novels.

The novels are set in East Anglia and the Broads whereas the TV series was moved to the North East with the recent series set in the city of Durham although the County headquarters has long been located on a site on the outskirts of the city along with County Hall.

In Gently Upside Down the episode appears to be set in the 60-70’s era when young girls first started to wear colourful skirts and a regional TV show featured young people dancing to the latest records. Three young women become part of an audience where the director and his camera has a penchant for attempt find out if the girls are wearing knickers, something for which a national TV series achieved notoriety before attention was directed to Pan’s People. There was a TV rock and pop show in the North East but some two decades later called the Tube which featured a host of regional bands some from the North East who went onto national and some to International fame. In the Gently programme the director/producer takes a liking to one of the three friends and finds her frank and direct approach life in keeping with the changing times and moves her in as hostess forcing the aging professional and Lethario to throw in the towel and move back to London. In the North East The Tube was the starting point for Muriel Gray, Leslie Ash and more significantly Paula Yates other with Jules Holland as with the Tube, the TV show in episode becomes national

Now to the ploy having already mentioned three suspects for the murder of an exceptionally bright sixth former destined to Oxford who had disappeared with a small suitcase and whose body is discovered in shall grave in woodland.

There are six possible suspects for Gently to sort out in total. The producer director of the show in his thirties but with a definite eye for the girls. Then there is the former host also with a reputation for inviting the participating young females for a drink after the show and where there is evidence of an exchange of notes written on a beer glass mat between him and the deceased. He makes no secret of trying it on with the lasses at every opportunity but admits the murdered girl had knocked him back with her clever wit.

The third possibility is another bright girl at the school and friend rival of the dead girl. She is found to have lied about the evening of the disappearance claiming to have gone to the show with the third friend but had not done so. The fourth suspect is the music teacher as again it is shown that his alleged alibi of being at home with his wife and children is not so. However it is eventually established he was having an affair with the young woman offered a career in the TV show and alleged friend of the deceased.

The fifth suspect is the working class miner father of the girl who is shown to have lost his temper and hit the girl in the mouth the night she disappeared. There is the dark suggestion of an illicit relationship although he and his wife argued that they failed to understand or be able to communicate with their amazing daughter who lived in her world, with an ability to quote poetry lines to suit most situations and conversational exchanges. His frustration comes from never having had the opportunity for an education and to express his poetic soul, something which is revealed when his wife insists that he reads out what he wrote when their daughter was born.

This then brings the most likely suspect, the older English teacher of the girl and father of the young woman launched on a TV career. He becomes the chief suspect when it is discovered that over a decade before he had a relationship with a sixth form pupil of ability who now undertakes menial work as a single parent supporting her bright secondary school attending son. It is established that he did have a relationship with the dead girl and was the father of her unborn child and that the girl had packed the case with a view to moving into with the school master who wife had taken her life from mental troubles leaving her husband to bring up their two daughter, an elder daughter by many years who acted as house keeper to the rest of the family.

Yes and she did it. The girl had called at the home knowing the father and younger daughter were out to announce her intentions to the older sister/housekeeper and in effect to say she proposed to become step mother to a woman several years old. The depressed daughter perhaps taking after her mother had snapped and killed the girl unintentionally and then father full of remorse but also minded to protect his career, had attempted to bury the girl and deny any knowledge of what happened.

The format of this episode is similar to one of the early novels, the third in the series, Gently Down the Stream. As in the TV series Gently has an assistant, a sergeant. In the novel Dutt the assistant appears colourless, does a lot of hard work which brings rewards but never is able to put two and two together. In the TV series the assistant is not a likeable character. He messed up his marriage and fails as a bachelor now about Town. He is prepared to cross the line, breaking in to premises without a warrant and roughing up prisoners. He is an unlikely police detective. Another aspect of the book compared to the TV series is that the characters tend to be stock and one dimensional. Moreover I worked out who did it, and who therefore did not by page 65 of the 248.

A business man who can afford a Chauffer Cook, Housemaid and Gardener is identified as the victim of a fire on a one birth boat on the broads at the end of week’s hire. Gently is brought in when the pathologist determines that the man was shot and died before the fire. Gently discovers the man had hired the boat with his personal secretary who had disappeared and that shortly before the holiday the man had drawn several thousand pounds, a fortune at the time in the 1957 and had commenced to liquidate the business. It looked as if the couple were about to run away together although the girl and the chauffer had disappeared.

The disappearance of the chauffer suggested he had killed his employer for the money and because the man wanted to sack him because he was regarded a supporter of his legal wife who had recruited him. The young secretary was considered a possible accomplice having duped her employer.

Another possibility was the man’s son a poet and Oxford University student who did not get on with his father but he is ruled out when it is discovered he was checking on his mother because she was having an affair with the family solicitor. The daughter who is a fan of her father is unwilling to explain her full whereabouts on the evening of the murder The book portrays something of the life on the Broads, those hiring out boats and those making living in other ways.

Eventually the young woman, the secretary, is tracked down, living of her own and she attempts to take her own life and then gives the impression that she is the guilty one. But her personality and her way of life suggest otherwise and moreover there has been another murder of a woman who appears to have found something out. And who has passed on some money, money which it looks belonged to the dead man. Then of course it is worked out.

The business man is not dead and is posing as someone else in disguise. His daughter is an accomplice to the deception because she is an amateur actress. She had been accidentally discovered by the woman and she had to die also. What I do not understand is why the two did not just run off together. Everyone would have been with that.

Nearly all the novels have Gently in the title and I do not know if they feature someone else or the writer could not think of a suitable title to make a play on Gently. In Goodbye China. China is a solitary man, considered to be a tramp, who is found dead. This is not so much a dun it but you prove it and what is there to prove. We are given aspects of the truth as the episode progresses. A large young man of limited abilities living in a residential institution goes to the kitchen one night and there discovers two brothers messing abut looking for something to steal. Recognising the youth as a simpleton they tie him up take him out to a park where there is one of those old wooden roundabouts where the young man is placed and is pushed round and around as fast as possible, something that he hates.

The bullying is seen by an old man who lives in lodgings nearby overlooking what has happened and he cones down to remonstrate. The boy with mental disabilities always has with him a pack of cigarette cards, a full set which he likes to look at in their order one to 50 in rows. These falls out and the youth attempts to gather them together but one of the attackers prevents him and the old man gathers some and attempts to return them. The young man is enraged at what has happened, lashes out and the old man falls, hits his head and dies.

The boy is the only child of a local senior police officer and his wife who they usually look after but placed in the institution for the occasional night or weekend if they are away and unable keep him with them. They are devoted to the young man in other circumstances. The officer is known to Gently from their previous experience together in the Met and they have mutual high regard. The officer finds out what happened. The two attackers have become out of control of their father, a pig farmer, since their mother left home with another. They have gone off the rails since always getting into trouble with the police. But Gently finds there is no record and that the area appears to have far fewer convictions for youth crime than would be expected. The police are operating an illegal and secret corporal punishment system with the approval of parents as an alternative to the young people gaining a record.

The father had allowed the two tearaways to be taken by an assistant to a senior police officer two an approved school where one of the staff allows the boys to be held in no longer used holding cells in the basement and where are kept the instruments of birching from the time when they would be part of the sentencing of the young people. The reason why police have access is because the wife of the assistant is having an affair with the staff member.

Unfortunately the two young men refuse to be broken by the physical punishment and therefore there is continuing risk that they will reveal what happened and therefore the son could face a charge of manslaughter or be removed from their direct care because of his temper and potential danger to others. Worse still one of the young men commits suicide and his body is taken away and held at the local mortuary with a sympathetic coroner treating the case as a the death of unknown individual.

At first the assistant wants to take the blame for the involvement of his superior, He has nothing to live for as his wife is establishing a new life with the staff member the Approved school. However when she sees his willingness to take responsibility and his continuing love for her she is prepared to stand by him although he will lose his job and go to prison for his part in what has been happening. The former colleague pleads to let matters rest because if he goes to prison, his wife will not be able to cope with the son and the boy will become a permanent resident of an institution. The sergeant suggests that they do walk away but Gently arrests his friend. Gently is not the virtuous one authorising the Sergeant to break into the residence of the Pig farmer when he is not there to try and find evidence about the whereabouts of the brothers. He finds some of the cigarette cards which Gently had previously seen in a drawer when inspecting the bedroom but had not appreciated their significance until seeing the son of the former colleague playing with part of the same set of cards.

The episode ends with Gently working out where the old man had lived and spending time in his room. The man had been an informant for Gently in times past and they had become friends in the way that an Inspector can become friendly with an informant. The man was however grateful for the help that Gently had given to starting a new life.

Gently by the Shore is the second of the publish novels in the series. A body is washed up on the beach of a seaside resort and no one comes forward to identify the individual who has been stabbed four times. The reason being that he arrived in the town wearing a beard.

The local police are forced to call in Gently because of publicity about the case although they regard the matter as a routine checking of what has been done and confirmation that without any leads or identification the mystery will remain unsolved. Slowly Gently unravels a case of international intrigue.

To the amazement and denials of the local constabulary Gently uncovers that the town is the headquarters of a secret organisation bent on taking power. The chief is someone who owns the local arcade and alcoholic drinking bar frequented by low life’s and dodgy characters including a blond prostitute from London up for the holiday season with her pimp Peachey. Under threats of death she had lured the man, an American of central European background to a condemned home on the cliff which experts anticipated would fall into the sea at any moment because of coastal erosion. The murderer, a man with a facial scar, had attempted to skip the country after lying low until the publicity and the Inspector and gone away.
He is caught by the British security service who had been investigating the activities of the organisation with the help of Interpol. They were after the top man in the UK but were prepared to settle for the murderer.

Gently persuades them to release the prostitute on the basis that she and the pimp will be at risk from the boss who it is hoped will show his hand which of course he does attempting to use the same knife or kind of knife as used to kill the man on the shore. Of course there are lots of twists and turns involving several characters and a sub plot of counterfeit $100 bills with two local minor villains braking in to try and find the rest of the loot and hen being implicated in the murder by the actual villains who take back the money from where it was hidden and replacing it with the clothing of the naked man on the shore.

Gently triumphs having kept quite at a top level meeting between the local Chief Constable and team and the National security people, until the opportune moment when he reveals that he knows who the leader is and how to catch him. There is a good portrait of a season town in the early fifties.

Martin Shaw is excellent as the Inspector and the writers and directors manage to engage the audience with characters who interest so that we overlook flaws in the plots. I was not engaged in similar manner by the novels although those were the early ones and I shall try and find some of his later works especially any where the TV series has been based to come to a final conclusion.

The Game of Thrones 530-807

I have finished reading the first book of series and watched the final episodes of the first season of the TV series and reflected on the whole that I have experienced. That the TV series raised the ages of some of principal characters to make their involvement possible in the blood shedding and the sex was the right decision as has been the portrayal of these aspects in a frank and open way rather than in a self indulgent voyeurism with which Spartacus is associated. The overall story as yet to be revealed and the inherent themes are all such as make the series a memorable one and the book a worthwhile read. Having purchased the books that have been published to date I well be able to read them if for any reason the work does not continue with further Televisions productions. I am most impressed so far,

I have decided to write this final piece on the work with the notes made after the first episode of the last part of the Game of Thrones pages 531 to 616 which lived up to my anticipation and opened the news that Lord Eddard Stark keeper of the Kings Hand had not been assassinated but was incarcerated in a dungeon. His fate which I know is not a good one is yet to be determined. I will then cover the rest as has now unfolded and revealed to me as it has been to other watchers and readers.

The TV episode 8 The Pointy End concentrated on the roles of Robb the eldest legitimate child aged only fourteen years in the book but looking early to middle 20’s in the TV production as he calls those who have sworn loyalty to his father to assemble and march with him upon the forces of the Lannisters. Understandably there is concern and questioning of his abilities and leadership qualities and during an assembly at table one draws a knife and Robb’s direwolf charges and removes two of the man’s fingers. Robb comments that it was unfortunately that the dog had misunderstood the gesture as offensive when all the man intended to do with to cut his meat to which the man replied with humour that the meat was tough. This appeared to have quietened the leaders of the men, an assembly of 20000 with those of the senior Lannister alone amounting to over 20000 plus those of Jamie, not stated, those back at the capital and the motley outlaw leaders who have taken the Imp Tyrion prisoner and with whom he has cut a deal. Thus the combined forces of the Lannisters exceed those from the North.

The deal is that the men are provided with the latest weaponry and given the lands outside the castle of Lord Arryn making the wife of the former King’s Hand a prisoner in her isolated and impregnable stronghold. His father greets him with mixed feelings, surprised that he is still alive and disappointed that he was taken prisoner, so easily! Tyrion makes light of the situation but the outlaw leaders makes the point that he remains their prisoner until his father has delivered the promises that have been made by the son.

Back at the Capital the two daughters of Lord Stark go their separate ways. Sansa is delighted that Joffrey is now King and sees herself as Queen, with the Queen mother, questioning the loyalty of the girl to her future husband and regime because of the concern expressed about her father. She is asked to prove her commitment by writing letters to her mother and brothers requesting that they also commit themselves loyally to her future husband and the rule of the Lannisters.

When the Queen’s men comes for Arya she is practising with the swordsman both using wooden practice weapons and therefore no match for the men who have come for her, claiming they are send by her father. While the sword master fights she is able to escape and using all her skills decides to make her way out of the castle through the secret passageway which led her previously to outside the walls of the city. Her first idea was to go to the stables and take a horse but there a stable boy recognised her and tried to take her prisoner to gain favour with the Queen. Armed with the blade given to her by the half brother she kills the boy and finding the exits guarded on the look out for her she finds the courage to take the route which frightened her so much before and make her way to the family home. There is an excellent section when child puts to use all the teachings of the swordsman battling with her natural fears about her own and her family’s future. It is noted that when confronted by the queen Sansa makes no reference to the plight of her sister, something which is of concern to the rest of the family.

On receiving the letter from her eldest daughter Catelyn decides to go immediately the encampment of her son to try and persuade him not to be involved in the forthcoming battles, but she is proud of his determination to do so, Back at their home Bran tries to comfort his four year old younger brother that his parents and older brother will return but the child comments, that everyone including his sisters leaves and do not return, Bran goes to his mother’s favourite place by the water to reflect on the old Gods and there encounters the wilding girl who warns that his bother is marching in the wrong direction and should be moving north where the threat comes from ancient ones as Winter begins to approach.

There is also concern at the wall where Jon and Sam encounter a body whose death suggests a force other than wildings and both are congratulated for their behaviour and begin to feel like true men of the Watch. Jon is called to the attention of the Commander who asks him to pour wine for himself as well as for him and then reveals the news of the death of the King and the imprisonment for treason of his father. He cautions Jon about doing anything precipitous and when the lad gets into a fight with another he is confided to quarters. The young man is aroused by his direwolf and quickly senses that something is amiss and goes to the quarters of the Commander and foils an attempt on the man’s life.

Meanwhile Daenerys having achieved her ambition of getting her husband to take his forces across the water to regain her kingdoms is disturbed as the men start to take the women folk as they move to the coast raiding for slaves and money. She is rebuked by her husband when she questions the need for money as he reminds that it is needed to hire the ships which they need for the sea crossing. She sticks to her ground about the taking of the women saying that if the men want the women they should take the women as wives. This leads to one of his captains threatened by the increasing power of Danny to challenge her husband who kills the man with his bare hands although he is injured in the process. One of the rescued women who Danny has taken under her protection offers to heal the wound with skills learnt from her mother. She is regarded as a Sorceress and is to play a key part in what is to happen. The other captains continue to have questions and doubts about the role of Danny but her husband is impressed seeing this as only an indication that his son to be is filling his wife with courage and the will of a future leader.

Across the water Robb’s leadership continues to be a source fo concern and potential challenge when he decides to free an enemy look out who was trying to assess the number of troops which he has put at over 20000. Robb does not explain his reasons for letting the man return with the information on the size of the enemy and their intentions but we the reader suspect he has a plan, as yet undisclosed. The plan is a clever one. What he does is to sacrifice 2000 of his 20000 men in confronting the forces of the father of Lannister Senior who continues to have contempt for his height challenged son and decides that he and his brigands and wildmen should be at the forefront of the attack on the advances forces of Robb. Tyrion arranges to have a companion for the night before the battle and generally enjoy himself with good food and wine. When the battle is over he is surprised that although injured he is still alive, as is his father and he asks if the battle was won and his father says yes and the process of killing the entire remaining enemy continues. However his father says yes we have beaten the 2000 but the 18000 were elsewhere undertaking a surprise attack on the other brother and his forces.

In order to achieve the surprise victory it is necessary for Robb with his mother and the men to use a gated causeway controlled by a lecherous old war lord who although previously swore loyalty to Lord Eddard is known for his independence of mind and tendency to marry very young girls father several children and then take another wife with eight in total, if I remember correctly. It is Catelyn who takes the responsibility for negotiating a deal which Robb says he accepts and this includes that he will marry one of the warlord’s daughters and that Arya will marry one of the sons. Having negotiated the deal they are able to carry out the surprise attack which is not shown and next we see that Jamie has been captured who they now hope to bargain for the return of Ned and his two daughters.

A good part of this episode Baeolor (9) is devoted to Jon who has a new status on the Watch since saving the life of the Commander who gives him a well made family sword which was to have been passed down to his son who he regards as worthless. The others on the watch all want to see and handle the sword which Jon generously allows them to do so. Jon is called to the top of Wall where one of the elders now blind is chopping away at carcasses to create food for the ravens in their cages. Either on his own initiative or on behalf of the Commander he wants to let Jon Snow know that he understands the dilemma he is in, on one hand to go and help his half brother, half sister and his father and on the sworn loyalty of allegiance to his comrades in the Watch. The man discloses that he faced such a challenge late in life when the reality was that he would have been useless to help and he then also discloses that he is the brother of the Mad King, the Uncle of Daenerys. He is therefore sympathetic to the position of the young man but emphasises that while he will not advise or comment on which choice to make, he will need to decide and that once the decision is made there will be no going back.

Across the water Danny, now in the latter stages of her pregnancy continues to ride horseback by the side of her husband who falls ill as the wound he received when fighter a usurper begins to fester. When he collapses she insists they stop and make camp. Now another senior member of the Dothraki people steps in with his leadership challenge warning Danny that when her husband dies she will be nothing. Danny holds firm and calls on the woman she rescues and who tended her husband’s wounds to assist once more. The woman says that only the use of ancient beliefs can save the Kharl and she told go continue which involves the slaughtering of the Kharl’s horse with blood splattering on him and Danny. She is told to leave an ensure no one enters the tent and when the latest usurper moves to stop the old woman Danny is pushed to the ground and appears to bring forward the birth prematurely. When the man who has been her escort throughout the period in exile intervenes he is wounded but manages to kill the usurper. Danny enters the tent to seek the help of the old woman.

Back in the capital Lord Eddard in chains is approached by one of the other former advisers to the King, the eunuch who pleads with Ned to do all that he can to bring peace, to call on his son to stop the advance and to do what the Queen bids in order to protect his daughters. In the final scene he is brought before the public to admit his treason and that he and been wrong. Both his daughters look on with Sansa dressed in finery as the future wife of King Joffrey approves what he is doing while Arya dressed as an urchin looks on in horror. He sees her as he speaks to the crowd.

I therefore come the final episode of the first series Fire and Blood where I have also read that a second has been commissioned because of the positive audience response in the various countries where production has now been shown.

The episodes open with the news that following his speech on the orders of the King and his mother, Lord Eddard Stark is beheaded to the acclaim of the crowd. Sansa collapses in the shock of this betrayal which Ayra is protected by the man who provides the Watch at the Wall, the Black Watch, with new recruits. He cuts down her hair and tells her to function as a boy as he takes her North the Wall. There is an incident in which another youngster attempts to take the sword away from her and she threatens to the kill the individual boasting that he would be her second. The incident is stopped by another in the convoy, the blacksmith assistant, one of the previous Kings illegitimate children who had been visited by Ned, Lord Stark when tracing the investigation undertaken by the previous Hand to the King. I am not sure this part is the first book as I do not remember reading,

Sansa wishes to return home and experiences an assault by the King who says that his sister decided that they will marry in time. She is horrified by the betrayal by the King and his mother. She once was thrilled by his touch but now this makes her flesh cringe. He tells her he wants to have child as soon as she is capable. He forces her to see the head of her father and says he will give her another present on her birthday. Her brother Robb's head.

The grim nature of reality has come to her. A thousand leagues to the North the news of the death of his father has decided Jon to leave his post, to join his half brothers to avenge his father. Before he gets far he is overtaken by his three closest friends on the Watch all who took their oaths together. The persuade him to return. The Commander takes the decision to assemble the full force of the Watch to go beyond the wall to investigate what has been happening and to all try and find out what has happened to Lord Eddard’s brother who failed to return from the previous expedition to find out what was happening. The Commander questions Jon’s will and is satisfied with the commitment of the young man to participate in the quest with them. We see the troop leave the security of the Wall to out into the icy wilderness beyond.

Back in the area between the Kings Landing capital and their home the news of the death of Ned has reached his wife and son. She is tempted to kill Jamie and is her son but they hold fire until they have freed Sansa and Ayra after which she sears to her son that they will kill them all. She nevertheless strokes Jamie across the face with a rock and he admits that he did push her sun Bran off castle wall but does not disclose why. The news has reached that the brother of the King is claiming the throne. All Catelyn wants is get her daughters back and for them all to go home in peace. However the other Lords are not prepared to return without retribution for the deaths of relatives and comrades. They proclaim Robb King of the North.

Lord Lannister speaks approvingly of his son Tyrion’s recent conduct and his counsel and his father shares with him his plan which is to use a small force to cause havoc in area while they reassemble and prepare to make united battle against the forces assembled to meet them. In the meantime he announces that Tyrion is to become the new Hand to his nephew and put him and the boy’s mother, his sister, in their places. The only condition is that he does not take his woman, the whore, to court with him. Tyrion tells her of his father plan and his intention to take her with him as his mistress so that she can have an effect on the other women of the court. Tyrion remains the character of the series and the book.

The most dramatic development is however across the water where Daenerys discovers the treachery of the Sorcerer woman who has taken and killed her child after she gave birth claiming that it has been a reptilian monster. While her husband the Dothraki Lord has survived he has become a silent motionless shell of a man who enjoys laying out in the sun. However his captains and menfolk have for the greater part returned to their natural lifestyle abandoning the man who can no longer sit on a horse. The remainder with her are the women she rescued and a few of the older members of the Dothraki plus her personal protector. He is horrified suspecting that she proposes to die with her husband on the funeral pyre. However first she frees everyone to go or stay with her and the she orders the sorceress who betrayed her out of revenge for what her husband did to her people, to be tied to the pyre. The woman says she will not hear her scream. She does. But Danny also enters the burning conflagration and moves into its centre.

When the fires ends and the remaining embers cool, Danny is found alive at the centre fulfilling the prophecy that the descendents of the dragon. It is implied that she had taken the three dragon eggs given to her at the time of her marriage into the fire with her and these have down hatched and cling to her. The Protector and those who accepted her offer to remain with her as free men and women kneel to her in awe and admiration. She was confident she was the true heir to the Dragon Kings and would survive the conflagration.

So we have the breakup of the seven Kingdoms with three Kings and the Dragon Queen across the water, while the long dark Winter is coming with the re emergence of the undead.

The Game of Thrones pages 266-529

I saved watching and reading the next part of the Game of Thrones until this weekend in order to concentrate on my new programme working on my contemporary art project. This was written a week ago with a fourth programme to watch and fifth tomorrow.

The consequence of the gap of four weeks has meant having to remind myself of the story although I have quickly become familiar with the main characters. Rather than attempt to convey the twists and turns of the story over the month I am reporting the overall progress relating to the main characters plus aspects of the story which attracted my attention from the text together with any aspects of the book not included in the TV programmes or remembered when reading the text.

I begin with Jon Snow, the illegitimate son of the Lord of the North Eddard Stark, now the King’s Hand who despite his self exile to become a member of the Black Watch, one suspects he has a major part to play as the story unfolds. He shows great promise in his training but makes himself unpopular by his support for a new recruit Samwell sent by his father because the boy was coward hearted and refused to adopt the ways expected of a warrior. Jon has protected Samwell from the other recruits and the training Master. Both have misgivings about the life, especially the lack of contact with women and the lifelong celibacy membership of the brotherhood required. Jon grows anxious when his father’s brother fails to return and in the last TV episode covered by this writing, his riderless horse returns as he and Sam keep lookout at the top of the wall. Sam is delighted when he is told he will pass the training and become a Steward assisting in the Library and Rookery. When it was Jon turn to learn of his appointment he is shocked to be told he is to become the personal Steward of the Lord High Commander, nothing more than a personal servant and he felt humiliated as was the intention, but also one suspects to be protected for some greater purpose. The young men are seen taken the oath of commitment to the Order outside the Wall being told that they go down on bended knee as boys and rise as men. As they do this his direwolf Ghost returns carrying a severed hand in its mouth. There are several vivid scenes of the ice covered wall, the harshness and bleakness of the environment and the cold which permeates every aspect of their lives, but still nothing like the extent of the cold once the era of the long Winters take over from the Summertime.

The wife of Lord Eddard Stark, Catelyn, having visited her husband (to advise of the attempt on the life of her middle son and together with her husband learned that although the knife belonged to the former young man who sought her hand, known as Littlefinger he claimed to have handed it to the Imp, Tyrion, the height challenged likeable wayward, truth telling brother of the Queen), goes to visit her sister to seek further information on the death of the her sister’s husband. While on the journey they take overnight lodgings at a simple inn where she recognises several knights on their way to the tournament being held in the capital of the Seven Kingdoms in honour of the appointment of her husband as the Kings principal adviser, The King’s Hand. She calls in their assistance to apprehend the Imp, Tyrion, when he arrives from his visit to the Wall, and unknowingly to Catelyn, his visit to her home Winterfell where he devised a frame which enabled her son to ride a horse again and regain his will to live. An action unlikely if he had indeed been behind the attempted killing.

On their way to the extraordinary castle of the House of Arryn, along what is known as the High Road they are attacked by Brigands and Tyrion is released to aid in the fight for survival. He remains a prisoner thereafter although seeds of doubt at his guilt following his professed innocence begin to nag at Catelyn. The Castle is considered impregnable because it is approach through a guarded valley and then can only be reached part way or mule followed by either foot or winched baskets by which the supplies reach the fort. A disturbing sight greets Catelyn because her younger sister has aged to the extent she now looks older and she is still suckling her son who is already of an age to walk and talk. She wants Tyrion put immediately to death because he is of the House of Lannister but Catelyn agrees to his right to trial.

He is kept in a dungeon with a difference as there is large open to the elements side from floor to ceiling, beyond which there is a sheer drop to the bottom of the mountain. The guard is a dullard and a bully, depriving him of food but who he persuades on promise of gold to take message to Catelyn on basis he wishes to confess. He confesses his past wickedness but says he is not guilty of the crime accused. This leads to trial by combat where he is represented by someone who wins and he is released with ne companion offering to go with him along the notorious High road where it is anticipated he will not survive the murdering bandits.

In the capital Eddard has failed to prevent the holding of a tournament although his attention is directed at the activities of the former King’s hand who was visiting the illegitimate children of the King, one is working as a Blacksmith’s assistant and the other a teenage girl with a baby working at a brothel who remains in love with King waiting for him to return to her. He also finds he was exploring a large dusting book on the history of the King’s family. He lowly works out that all the illegitimate children have dark hair but his son Joffrey and the other children have fair hair like his wife and other members of her family. He finally works out that her children and the heir Joffrey to whom his daughter is betrothed is not the rightful heir. Before confronting the King and Queen with his findings he is wounded by one of the men of the Queen’s brother who goes to take him hostage on learning that Tyrion has been taken prisoner by Catelyn. When he recover he makes arrangements to return home with his daughters after having a row with the king over the decision to send an assassin to kill Daenerys who has become pregnant by the Dothraki Chief, Khal Drogo.

Sansa his daughter has re-established a relationship with her betrothed after the incident with the Direwolf and Arya and the butchers boy learning sword play. However she is disappointed when after the jousting and feasting she is left in the company of an ugly and wild man to escort her back to the Castle rather than Joffrey himself. Nevertheless she is distraught by the plan of her father knowing this will deprive her of becoming Queen. The reality of life is yet to dawn on this young woman no more an adolescent girl.

I noted the description of the meal at the feast comprising a suckling pig, pigeon pie and turnips soaked in butter with a honey comb afterwards. The coincidence is that only recently I mentioned to someone at the Marriott Leisure who had been on holiday in Majorca that I had twice eaten a suckling pig at a restaurant in the city centre during my only visit to the island and the only occasion that I have eaten this meal, Pigeons which are regarded as vermin has long since been a English food as they honeycomb for those that like honey.

Arya meanwhile has been enjoying swordplay lessons from a tutor selected by her father. He has been teaching her poise by standing on one leg blindfolded on the edge of stairs and also speed by learning how to catch cats. When undertaking the latter dressed in old clothes as boy she finds herself in under castle workings and in hiding overhears two men plotting to kill her father. She then finds herself outside the Castle and has difficulties returning only to find her father displeased by her disappearance and unwilling to hear what she has overheard in detail.

When attacked by the Queen’s brother, Littlefinger had left Ned and his men ostensibly to get the city watch to prevent the very deaths which occur. Either then or subsequently he warns Ned not to trust him. At the tourney the King proposes to enter an event in which men fight together until one is left standing. There is much breaking of limbs and some bloodshedding and the King is more than determined once his wife forbids him. This is seen as a cunning ploy her part as the King always does the opposite and therefore he could easily be killed in the mêlée and his death put down as an accident. He then decides to go hunting and is badly injured by a boar and dies having become too drunk to tackle the beast on his own, having commanded the others to stand by. He sees Lord Stark in private and gets him to write a Will on dictation in which he makes Ned Lord Protector of the realm and to govern until Joffrey is of age. Eddard writes this as rightful heir thus cleverly providing to bypass Joffrey once is position is recognised.

He has already confronted the Queen with his findings about the illegitimacy of Joffrey and the other, something which far from denying she justifies saying that the family have kept the line pure this way for 300 years and that she and her brother being twins shared the same womb and have been together since they were children. She says that nevertheless she did love the King but was shattered when on their wedding night he approached her drunk and called out the name of Ned’s dead sister instead of hers. She had ended a pregnancy caused by the King and for many years had learned how to satisfy him without permitting vaginal penetration. There is a scene where they talk together and she asks if he ever lover her and he admits his was always locked with the death of Stark’s sister.

The Queen chides Lord Stark for having failed to take the crown himself when he had the opportunity all those years ago and that in the Game of Thrones you win or die. Littlefinger also attempts to make a deal with Ned pleading with him to accept Joffrey as the King but working together they will take power. When Ned is summoned to the throne room to pledge obedience to the King who wishes his coronation to take place within two weeks, he reveals the last Will of the King which the Queen mother tares to pieces. Lord Stark as the authorised Protector of the Realm orders the arrest of the Queen and her children but it is Littlefinger who takes a knife to the throat of Ned saying that he warned him no to trust him.

Meanwhile across the water Daenerys has been securing her position as the wife of the Dothraki leader having made their way to the holy city normally in by old women, their slaves and visiting merchant. Her brother has become increasingly frustrated by the lack of action to regain his father’s kingdom and at the way he is treated, especially by his sister. Having struck her at one point he was made to travel on foot and then given the option of continuing to travel on foot or in a cart along with the old, the pregnant and the sick he opts for the cart not knowing that this is a humiliations and opens him to ridicule. He becomes even more upset when Danny achieves great standing and gives proof she will have son by eating raw the heart of a chosen beast. He comments that never has anyone expressed love and appreciation in the way the people demonstrated for her on that occasion.

When he continues to complain adn threaten her because of the lack of respect and failure to regain the crown, Khal Drogo melts gold from him and then pours the molten liquid over his head thus killing him with a gold crown.

When a shipment arrives and a wine merchant offers her a special wine, her escort becomes suspicious and requests the man takes the first glass himself and when he refuses and runs off it is realised this is an attempt to kill her and the unborn child. This puts Khal Drogo into a great rage and he vows to build ships and cross the water with his men and place her on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms.

There was one other development which heralds the way the adventure series is likely to progress. The son of Lord Stark (thrown off the castle home by the Queen’s twin brother when he discovered them together) goes riding with the help of the special saddle created by Tyrion. At one point he becomes detached from the hunting party and finds himself taken prisoner by runaways for the Night Watch and others, including a young woman. He is rescued by his brother and friend and the girl is taken prisoner. She reveals she is a wildling from beyond the great ice wall but has tried to flee as far south as she could because of the impeding arrival of Winter and even more significantly the awakening of the fearful creatures who have not been seen for over a thousand years, but who it is claimed have just been sleeping. The bloodshedding has only begun.

The Game of Thrones 2- pages 109- 265

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.

The game of thones 1 l pages 1-108

It has arrived, all 800 pages plus another 40 plus of information appendices, George R R Martin’s A Game of Thrones, paperback edition. There will be time to discover the past and present of George Martin R R and my approach will be to read only the parts that have been used to each television episodes and then report the relationship between the two. I will begin with the positive that the first episodes and the opening chapters of the book are as one in all respects except for the most minor

Scene one of the TV production commenced with three members of the Night Watch guards exiting the long dark tunnel from the great wall which separates the 7 Kingdoms from the haunted Forest The size of the rock wall covered in iced snow is impressive, more impressive than the Great Wall of China in terms of its impact and dwarfing the Roman Wall when it was constructed or the latter day attempts to keep people out and sometimes people in, The Berlin Wall or that now between Israel and Palestine. Howver there is no immediate description in the Prologue and which jumps us past the TV to when one of the Watch takes his officer and another guard to where he had seen the bodies of the wildlings- the creatures that live in the forest but which have now vanished. The book explains that the wildlings were cruel men, slavers, slayers and thieves who consorted with giants, ghouls, stole children, drank blood from horns whose women folk lay with the Others and bore half human children. Thus we deduce that the Others are not humans.

From this point the storyline is identical in that the officer does not believe what he has been told or heed the warning and he and the other man perish in some instant and violent way. We also learn from the book that the men have travelled 8 to 9 days away from the Wall. In the book and in the TV we are left uncertain whether any of the men have survived. We have established that there is some dark force the other side of the Wall, deep into the Forest,
In The TV series we first see that one of the men survived and is captured by a part searching for the missing guard. This is followed by a part of men riding out to a place when the same man is beheaded for returning from his mission. Sean Bean in charge of the situation and clearly the Lord/chief or King, discounts the man’s stories of demon killers saying that it is several thousand years since such creatures were in he land and that regardless of the circumstances the law is law, and the man must die and he having issued the sentence has a duty to carry it out. It had insisted that his middle son Bran is present and one the older men with the boy warns that he must not avert his eyes for surely his father will know.

In the Book’s opening chapter it is not established that the executed man, a Night Watch guard deserter is the same as the terrified member of the trio in the Prologue, although this is confirmed in the front page of the Wiki within a Wiki containing over 3000 articles on the published series of books todate. The books does announce on page 14 that the execution is being carried out by Lord Eddard Stark, subsequently known to his family as Ned, of Winterfell and Warden of the North on behalf of Robert of the House of Baratheon, the First of his name, King of Andals, and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms of the Realm. There is talk of the Others-The Others appear as tall, gaunt humanoids with chalk white skin and eyes of blue so deep it burns like fire. They wear reflective armour that shifts in colour with every step, and wield thin crystal swords that seem to give off a bluish hue. They ride corpses of dead animals. They are unknown in the land for some 8000 years. If they have returned then the Kingdom is indeed under great threat.

The banner of the House of Stark contains the silhouette of a grey direwolf, a creature several sizes larger than ordinary wolves. It is one of these then discovered in the forest with part of Antler embedded in the throat and with five cubs recently born searching for food at its mother’s teats. The five are taken for each of the five children of Lord Stark with those present promising feed and train and take full responsibility. A sixth is then discovered, an albino, who is cared for by Starks illegitimate son, Jon who was given the name of Snow, as are all those without a father given name. The fate being without a father’s name I share

The third scene commences with the laying in state of the Warden of the East, Chief Adviser to the King, a man who raised the King and Lord Stark having no children of his own and who regard him as their father. The wife of the King observes the ceremonial and is joined by her brother who warns her to be careful. She says her brother should have been, should be the Adviser and Warden but he rejects this, but is scornful of her husband putting lechery and hunting before the interests of the kingdom. In the book, the third chapter, headed Catelyn, the wife of Lord Stark is featured and who we learn was born in the south where the Godswood was full flowers, birdsong and was bright and airy whereas here, as she approaches her husband, she feels the place is unwelcoming to her, a primal place untouched for 10000 years. She has gone because the scene opens with a black bird arriving at the Castle, bringing a message, we now learn from the King, to confirm the death of the adviser and that the King has set forth with court to visit his former comrade in arms. It is nine year since they have met and journey will take at least a month. In the TV episode there is brief reference to the likely purpose of the visit with great discussion in the book and concern about managing to feed and entertain the Court.

It is at this point that the TV series and raised the ages of the children of Catelyn and Ned from those in the book to enable adult actors to perform as children. The couple were only married 15 years before and on the same day the man who Ned regarded as his second father had married Catelyn’s sister. The eldest child, Jon the illegitimate is talked of in the book as a boy as is the eldest son. Sansa who plays a major part as the betrothed of the son of the Queen is only 11 in the book but presented as older in TV series and Bran who is only even is presented as a couple of years older. The youngest son is three but is presented as five year old. The eldest boy Robb is only fourteen and presented as a young adult.

Daenerys or Dany of the House of Tragaryen is of the old family of Dragon Kings, formerly of one of the seven Kingdoms within the Kingdom and who ruled for some three centuries until the death of Mad King Aeries by the House of Lannister. Now aged thirteen years she was born after the dethronement and death of her father and where her mother who was also the King’s sister died in giving birth. The only other surviving claimant to throne is her older brother Viserys because the eldest brother and original heir was slain by King Robert. His wife and son and daughter, next in line, were also slain. Dany is said to be a late physical developer although the implication of what is written in the book and intimated in the TV series is that she is sexually experienced, although it is not clear if this has been with her brother. As we learn shortly incest appears to be common among several of the family competing to be King and Queens. Since the loss of their Kingdom brother and sister have been guests in the Free cities in the region of parent’s former country. Now, the latest, is only a short channel crossing away and her brother with the help of his host has organised his sister should become the wife of a local warlord with 40000 warriors at his command. The brother inspects his sister closely, more directly in the TV series than the books and tells her she must be perfect for the visitor, marry and please him, warning that he would whore her to all the man’s men if this was the way to gain the return of his Kingdom. The visitor, Khal Drago is so rich that his slaves wear gold collars, and he is a man of his own mind as well his word. Whereas in the TV episode Viserys appears set on the marriage without any hesitancy over the choice of husband for his sister, in the books he asks if Khal likes women as young as his sister, given the tribes reputation for boys, horses and sheep and their liking for only taking partners in the fashion of beasts. Dany is unhappy at the prospect and begs to be allowed to go back to their present home. The brother angered says she will return to their and his homeland with men of Drago and the day will be mentioned by historians as the start of his reign.

The fourth chapter and major TV scene sees the arrival of the King and his retinue of 100 men, perhaps a dozen to a score in the TV production. In this the boy Bran demonstrates his ability to scale the walls, battlements and rooftops of the citadel, something which is only referred in the book later on. The chapter ends with Ned noting the change in the King from when they set out to defeat the mad King after he had called on their guardian to kill them. The king has gained at least eight stone and looks worse for wear. The king asks to visit the crypt to pay his respects to the great love of his life the sixteen year old sister of Ned who had died from fever after unmentionable treatment from Dany‘s elder brother in the war. The king comments that he thought they would never arrive as it had taken so long, forgetting the vast emptiness of the North Kingdom, as large as the other six together. Ned apologised for the late summer snows adding that the winters are hard and Kind urges him to come south because of the delights of the summer. These include that the girls who wear little to nothing in the heat, abandoning all modesty. The King is dismayed that his love lies in such a dark and cold place, but Ned explains this was her dying wish to him.

It is at this point that we learn in the book that their surrogate father’s wife had gone to her family home taking the sickly six year old son with her, despite the King being his protector and making an alternative arrangement. Ned offers to take the boy as ward as a compromise but the King is insistent on his plan adding that the Queen Cersei of Lannister is furious. It is then the King announces his wish for Ned to return South with him and become his right hand man, defending the Kingdom and for his eldest daughter to become engaged to his son. Ned knows he must yield to the King’s bidding but a great foreboding fills him.


A character who it appears will continue to feature is the illegitimate son of Lord Stark, Jon who was allowed to join in the family feast for their visitors but at the back with squires of Knights with his father at the top table with the King and Queen, just below which sat his half brothers and sisters and those of the Royal family. It is at this point in the book we are introduced to the Queen’s other brother, often referred to as the Imp, an ugly dwarf given to licentiousness. In the TV production we meet him being entertained by an almost naked woman at a brothel and his brother enters the room to remind him of the evening requirements, bringing three other semi naked women so that his brother could satisfy himself fully before having to meet their hosts and his family. This is all additional to the text.

As he drinks more and considers his position he is joined by his uncle, the brother of Lord Stark who evidently has a high regard for the young man. He is also impressed when Jon comments that his father is not enjoying the event and that earlier the Queen had been angry when her husband had insisted in going with Lord Stark to the family crypt. Uncle Ben comments that the could no with such an observant young man on the Great Wall Team although in the TV production it is John that initiates the idea of joining the Night Watch and his uncles who strongly dissuades because their conditions and role means they cannot enjoy family life. He advises Jon to wait until he has experience with women before volunteering for the life at the Wall. Jon is insistent that he ready, capable and willing. In the book the emphasis is on his youth but the boy draws attention that one of heroes of the House of Targaryen conquered one of the states of the Kingdom when he was 14. The uncle draws attention that the conflict took the summer had the loves 10000 men to take the land and another 50000 deaths to hold it. War should never be viewed as a game; He then draws attention to the nature of the commitment that would be required. He also makes thee point that he would never father a bastard or risk doing so and with the rest of table falling silent in attention he made his excuses and left. The conversation take place just between the two in the TV production. On leaving he is met by the Imp, Tyrion Lannister who refers to him as the bastard, not out of malice but from sympathy, He expresses interest in the direwolf and the Wall. Jon says that he did not even know who is mother was, something which I also shared until going to preparatory school and not knowing anything of my father until my fifty ninth year was ending. The chapter concludes with Tyrion arguing that that while all dwarfs may be bastards, bastards need not be dwarfs. Now there’s food for thought!

It is Catelyn who is given the distinction of first having a second chapter in the book titled with her name, and we learn that while the land is frozen and bleak the castle is warm because it was built over hot springs and that her bed changers are one of the hottest places in the building. This reminded her if her former home while her husband could not bear the heat while the Starks were made for the cold thus signalling that for her husband to go south and she to remain in the north would be a challenge for both of them, in addition to the loss of each other and the separation from their children however this was to be insisted on by their king.
It is here we learn that the her youngest child, Rickon is three years old and that she hopes their love making will have led to the creation of another child. While Ned wants to stay in the North it is his wife who counsels that he must obey the king or put his family in peril as well as himself. She thinks of the symbolism of finding the dead direwolf with an antler in its throat. She is also pleased that her daughter would one day be Queen while in the TV production it is the daughter who pleads with her father to accept the offers from the King. In the book Ned points out to his wife that their eldest daughter is only 11 years of age

The talk is disturbed by a visit from Ned’s counsellor trusted family friend who says that box has arrived in his observatory that must has come with someone from the King’s party containing and which in addition to containing lens which bemused Ned but which his wife understood was important because a lens enabled us to see more than we could through natural eyes. The adviser then produced a message hidden in the false bottom of the box which was marked for attention of Catelyn. She froze in fear letting her nakedness show which Ned mentions but she reminds that the adviser helped deliver her children. The message is from her sister who says the King’s adviser, her husband was murdered by the Queen. Ned does not believe the news saying that these are words from a woman over come with grief. She tells him that now there is no choice, He must go South and establish what has happened. Ned is alarmed. His father had accepted the summons from the King to fo south and had not returned. The Adviser says that the times are different. Ned accepts but says his wife must stay to govern in his place until their eldest is old enough to take over. Robb is then only 14 years. She must help her son to learn to rule. He must be ready when the time cones. He tells the adviser to help his wife and son The youngest will stay with her but he would take the daughters and Bran with him to the court of the King. In the TV production it is he adviser who takes the lead in saying that Ned must accept the offer of the king and it is wife who expresses the caution. There is no reference to what should be the fate of their children. Nor is their specific reference to the role of the Queen, only that the Lannister’s were responsible and that the life of the King is in danger. It will be two weeks before he is ready to depart.

The nest chapter of the book is headed Arya, Lord Stark’s youngest daughter their tom boy with hands like a blacksmith according to the needlework teacher who congratulates the elder sister, Sansa saying her work is exquisite. In the TV production Sansa is congratulated by the Queen on her dress and when the girl confirms that she made it herself the Queen asks the girl to make one for her.

There is a brief visual reference to this situation much earlier in the TV production. In the TV production Arya is shown turning up at the reception to greet the King wearing a battle helmet to hide her hair and Bran is shown struggling to hit any part of the target with his bow and arrows while she hits the bull’s eye from a greater distance. In the chapter the seamstress is congratulating the daughter of the King whose work is as unsatisfactory as that of Arya. The eldest sister was talk of the Prince Jeffrey with whom she had sat at the feast while Arya had to sit with his fat younger brother. Arya us then brought t tears by the seamstress and leaves the room noting that while her sister is beautiful and possess all the arts she has not head for figures and hopes she will have a good steward to manage her affairs if she is to marry the Prince.

She goes off to watch the boys at their fight training and is chided by Jon for not being at her stitches. They exchange words over the fact that although girls are not allowed to fight they are entitled to a coat of arms while bastards can fight but have no coat. Joffrey is told to fight another round with Robb but protests that it is a game for children and when reminded that he is a child he retorts that he is a Prince and is bore with using play sword. There is an argument over the use of swords with blunted blades and the adult use sword. Both boys want to use the full sword but are refused because of their ages and the risks. A rivalry between the two boys is therefore marked Arya finds that on returning into the Castle her mother and the seamstress are waiting for her. These aspects of this chapter are not included in the first episode of the TV production.

We now come to the catalyst chapter in the book from what the rest of the story develops. Head Bran it describes his love of climbing. The relationship which has developed between himself and the direwolf cub and the use of creature to indicate danger something which is referenced in the TV production before his assent to the roof by climbing the outside walls. As in the TV production he hears a man and woman talking in a windowless room high up in the castle where we see that it is the Queen and her brother making love. In the book they are talking although the twin brother has only one thing on his mind.

In the book Bran cannot se who is talking and it is the talk which startles and frightens him because the woman is expressing concern at the decision of the King to demand Lord Stark be his adviser. The woman says her brother should the Adviser as the appoint of Stark is a major threat to them because the King will listen to him. The brother is not interested and says the king is only interested in whore and hunting animals accusing him also of perhaps wanting to hunt whore and of bestiality. He also dismisses concern over the role the dead man’s widow could play, not knowing, or does Bran that Lord stark and his wife are already warned of the couple’s treachery, but not of their sexual relationship. It is here that the Queen reveals one cause for her anxiety. She comments that her husband still hankers for the dead sixteen year old sister of Stark and that his penchant for young girls means that he could soon want to set her aside for someone much younger. It is at this point in the book that the twin brother and sister couple observed by Bran who is then seen by the Queen. It is his sight of them together that cause the Queen to demand action be taken against the boy in the TV production while more appropriately it is overhearing their talk which requires action in the book. I will make the obvious point that given the King‘s predilection and the general couplings within families of the royals in this fictional world, the King would not be surprised by this aspect. The threat to his life is another matter.

I have not read the next chapter which is headed Tyrion in case it is covered in the second TV episode and move to that headed Daenerys to discoverer if I learn more than portrayed in the first episode of the TV production. The chapter begins with the wedding of Dany to the Drago who had summoned all forty thousands men and their women to attend the event. Only a handful are shown in the TV production although their liking for taking women whenever and wherever is visually portrayed as is some violent deaths during the celebrations where the comments is made that a minimum of three deaths is needed to indicate the festivities are going well.

The chapter is primarily concerned with revealing the extent of Viserys’s ambitions, his discontent as having to play second fiddle at the wedding, sitting below the bride and groom and his anger and frustration on learning that his brother in law will not march on the Seven Kingdoms to reclaim his throne immediately the festivities are over. He will have to wait until the Drago is ready. The chapter also reveals the violence previously experience from her brother and her hope that through marriage she would escape this. The wedding day proves to be an orgy from dawn to dusk with the men and women naturally bare chested, drinking and eating, fighting and coupling. Dany had felt never as much alone and with all this going around her. She was given three handmaidens by her brother, chosen with the help of their host who no doubt also paid for them, one to teacher her riding, the other the language of her husband and the third the art of love making! She was also given a history and songs of her the Seven Kingdoms. He host gave her gave her large box cloths, the finest from the Free cities and three large beautiful eggs, dragon eggs which had been turned to stone through the ages. We also learn that while the gifts were expensive they are a trifle to the number of horses and slaves he received from arranging the marriage. The relatives of her husband provided three great weapons which as instructed she refused so they might be given to her husband. She was also given a vast array of jewels and gowns including one made from the skins of a thousand mice,

The her husband produced his present which took her breath away, a grey white horse which took her breath away with her beauty. She was bid to get on the animal and ride only a little way if she wished but on mounting she felt free and unafraid, perhaps for the first time in her life and at one point jumps a fire returning she asks that her husband be told he had given her the wind and this bring a smile for the first time to his lips and there is then a description of how their relationship developed and tenderness in which her husband approached her and that she gives her herself willingly to him, indicating to us that although enforced the relationship could prove a good one, adding to the frustration and anger of her brother and his ambitious aims. There is little indication of this in the TV production although having read the book first perhaps the episode will have been viewed differently with less emphasis on the crudeness of the orgy. The book does tell us there were 12 deaths during the day, more than the required three thus also a good omen.