A Game of Thrones

Jon and seven of his fellow recruits are promoted to fully-fledged members of the Night’s Watch. Sam is not promoted, and Jon is worried there will be no one to protect him once they are assigned other duties. He knows Thorne hates Sam and the next batch of recruits will bully him with no one to stop them. Jon rides out into the forest with Ghost as he thinks that he could still honorably leave before he takes his oath, but he doesn’t have anywhere to go and returns to Castle Black. Jon suggests to Maester Aemon that he promote Sam to be his assistant, describing the Night’s Watch as needing any variety of men to protect against whatever is beyond the Wall. Sam is a smart boy, Jon says, whose intelligence will allow Maester Aemon to “make use of him instead” (449).

Tyrion and Bronn leave the Eyrie. Bronn suggests that they ride “hard and fast by night” to avoid the dangerous bands of mountain clansmen (450). Tyrion wants to bargain with the clansmen instead and Bronn accepts Tyrion’s idea. While they wait, Tyrion compliments Bronn’s intelligence. He calls Bronn “scum” (452)—a lowborn man selling loyalty to the highest bidder—but regards this as a sensible way to view the world. Tyrion’s relationship with money is complicated. He is part of the wealthiest family in the Seven Kingdoms, but his father hates him. Tyrion shares a memory of Tywin’s cruelty. Once, riding with Jaime, a “dark-haired, slender” (455) crofter’s daughter was chased into the road by two men. Jaime chased the men away, leaving Tyrion with the rescued girl. They slept together, and then he married her in secret and “set her up in a cottage of her own” (456). When his father found out, however, he made Jaime reveal the truth: The entire stunt had been organized by Jaime for Tyrion to have sex for the first time. Tywin made every one of his guards have sex with Tyrion’s wife, who was a hired sex worker, and he paid her a silver piece to do so. Then, he made Tyrion have sex with her and paid her a gold coin because Lannisters are “worth more” (456). Tyrion ends the story with a saying often associated with his family: “A Lannister always pays his debts” (456). The mountain clans arrive, and Tyrion offers them money, arms, and land to see him “safely through these mountains” (458).

King Robert goes hunting, leaving Ned to govern King’s Landing as the reinstated Hand of the King. Ned sits on the Iron Throne, so named because it is “an ironwork monstrosity” (459) built of enemy swords taken during the Targaryens’ conquest of the Seven Kingdoms and melted together. The Iron Throne still contains many sharp edges, a reminder that ruling should not be easy. News is brought to the court about raids taking place in the Riverlands near Riverrun. The descriptions of the raiders suggest that the Mountain and Lannister troops are responsible. Ned and the rest of the council are hesitant to go to war against the Lannisters. However, Ned sentences Gregor Clegane to death, stripping him of all his titles and lands and applying the same sentence to Clegane’s men. Ned is too injured to carry out the sentence himself, so he sends four men and their chosen guardsmen to hunt down the Mountain. Loras Tyrell volunteers, but Ned tells him they are seeking justice, not revenge. After the council, Varys points out that Ser Ilyn, the Lannisters’ executioner, is displeased by the decision. Ned replies that it was best to send men not loyal to Lord Tywin.

Sansa discusses the recent events at the court with Jeyne Poole, her best friend and the daughter of the steward of Winterfell. She and Jeyne are horrified that Ned did not send Loras, as this would have been just like “one of Old Nan’s stories come to life” (469). Later, Sansa dines with Arya and their septa. Arya angrily suggests that Jaime and the Hound should also be executed, but Sansa defends the Hound as “Joffrey’s sworn shield” (472). When an argument breaks out, the septa sends both girls to their rooms. Later, Ned summons the girls to his rooms where he is still studying the tome of family histories. Sansa refuses Arya’s apology, and Ned reveals that he is sending them back to Winterfell, not for fighting but to keep them safe. Sansa is displeased, claiming she is in love with Joffrey and still wants to marry him, though Ned tells her this idea is “a terrible mistake” (475). When Sansa and Arya argue again, Sansa defends Joffrey by claiming that he is nothing like the drunken King Robert. Ned realizes that Sansa has a point—Joffrey does not resemble his father in any way, even physically. Ned tells them he is arranging a ship to take them back but to keep the plans quiet.

Ned now believes that Joffrey is not Robert’s legitimate son, but he does not know what to do. He decides to risk Robert’s anger by telling his old friend what he has learned. At the same time, Ned wants to prevent Robert from harming Cersei and Joffrey in “another dance of blood and vengeance” (480). Before talking to Robert, Ned meets with Queen Cersei in the godswood, where the ancient gods, rather than those of the new Faith of the Seven, can witness their discussion. There, he tells her that he believes that Jaime is the true father of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen. Cersei does “not flinch from the truth” (482) and admits to the incestuous relationship with her brother. She argues that Targaryen siblings married each other for centuries and because Cersei and Jamie are twins, she feels they are really one whole person together. She admits that Bran saw them together, implying she and Jaime tried to kill Bran by throwing him from the window. Cersei is thankful her children are not Robert’s. She purposely ended the one pregnancy she conceived with Robert. When Ned asks her why she hates Robert so much, she tells him that Robert called her by Lyanna’s name on their wedding night. Ned tells her to leave King’s Landing, as Robert will surely try to kill her when he learns the truth. Ned will tell him when he returns from his hunt. Cersei dismisses the suggestion as she does not want Ned’s “pity.” After making a failed offer to ally with him, she mocks Ned for not seizing the Iron Throne for himself when it was “there for the taking” (484) at the end of the rebellion against the Targaryen family. Anyone who plays the game of thrones, she believes, either wins or dies, and “there is no middle ground” (485).

Daenerys is brought before the Dothraki matriarchs and, as part of a ritual, must eat a stallion’s heart raw. They herald her unborn son as “the stallion who mounts the world” (488), and Daenerys announces that his name will be Rhaego. Jorah warns her that he caught Viserys attempting to steal the dragon eggs to sell them for gold to buy his army. Daenerys was unaware that the eggs were so valuable and says that he doesn’t need to steal them because he is her king, and she will give them to him. During a feast, a drunken Viserys storms into the gathering, angry that they have started without him. When he tries to sit near Khal Drogo, he is directed instead to a seat way in the back in the dark with the old and infirm. The Dothraki laugh at him. Jorah tries to mitigate the situation but ends up knocking Viserys to the ground. Viserys pulls out his sword, which is forbidden inside Vaes Dothrak. He points his sword at Daenerys, poking her pregnant belly, and demands the Dothraki army that he was promised as a condition of marrying his sister to Drogo. Daenerys and Jorah plead with Viserys not to shed any blood, which is also outlawed, but Viserys says that he can still draw blood here even if the Dothraki cannot. Drogo stands. He promises to give Viserys the crown he desires then orders his men to restrain Viserys while Drogo melts his solid gold belt in a brazier. Drogo tips the brazier of molten gold over Viserys’s head, giving him the crown he promised and killing him without spilling any blood. Calmly, Daenerys reflects that a true dragon would not be killed by fire.

Ned is awoken and summoned to see Robert. The king has been fatally wounded by a boar during his hunt and blames himself for drinking “too much wine” (499). As Robert lies dying, he dismisses everyone from the room except Ned. Robert uses his last moments to dictate a new will: He names Ned as regent until Joffrey is old enough to be king. Secretly, Ned changes this line to read “my heir” (501) instead of explicitly naming Joffrey. Ned cannot reveal what he has learned about Joffrey‘s true parentage to his dying friend. Robert asks Ned to call off the bounty on Daenerys’s head. Ned leaves the room and talks with Barristan. Varys appears, asking who gave Robert the wine that made him so drunk. It was the squire who accompanied Robert on the hunt: Lancel Lannister, Cersei‘s cousin. On his way back to his chambers, Ned encounters Renly, who asks to speak alone. He tells Ned that Cersei is dangerous, and he recommends that they secure Joffrey and his siblings as Ned’s wards before Cersei has a chance to consolidate her position. Ned does not want to do anything before Robert is dead, however. Back in his chambers, Ned completes the arrangements for his daughters’ return to Winterfell, and he commissions one of his men to deliver a letter to Stannis Baratheon on the way. He summons Littlefinger, and they discuss the true parentage of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen. Littlefinger already knows. Speculating about what comes next, Littlefinger warns Ned not to name Stannis Baratheon—Robert‘s stern older brother—as the new king. Doing so will lead to war, as Stannis has few friends among the nobility, and Stannis will not be secure on the throne until Cersei and her children are killed, which will raise the powerful Lannisters against the new king. Littlefinger suggests that Ned take the throne, take Joffrey under his wing and marry him to Sansa, and marry Tommen to Arya and Myrcella to Robb. Ned insists that Stannis should be king, however, as the laws and his sense of honor demand, and because the Lannisters killed his men and nearly killed his son. Ned wants Littlefinger to help him retain the loyalty of the Kingsguard. Littlefinger names the price it will cost and agrees to help Ned “for the sake of the love I bear for Catelyn” (510).

Sam excitedly tells Jon that he is “to be made a brother” of the Watch alongside the other recruits (511) and will be a steward to Maester Aemon in the library. As a skilled fighter, Jon expects to be named a ranger so he can follow in his Uncle Benjen’s footsteps. Much to his surprise and outrage, he is named steward to Commander Mormont, who has requested him personally. When he sees Thorne‘s “thin smile” (514), Jon suspects Thorne has intervened out of spite. Sam calms Jon by pointing out that the appointment means that Mormont wants to prepare Jon as his eventual successor. The recruits travel north of the Wall to give their vows in front of the old gods in “the haunted forest” (517). They swear their loyalty to the Night‘s Watch for as long as they live. After they finish their vows, Ghost appears carrying a severed human hand. 

Maester Pycelle comes to Ned‘s solar to announce that King Robert has died from his wounds. Ned calls a meeting of the small council. Not every member is present. Renly left King‘s Landing and headed south with Ser Loras and at least 50 men. Barristan Selmy reads the dictated will naming Ned as Protector of the Realm until Robert‘s heir is ready. Before Ned receives the council’s confirmation, the meeting is interrupted by a messenger. Joffrey has proclaimed himself the king and he demands his small council to attend him in the throne room. At court, Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne and demands the council hold a coronation within two weeks. He expects the council to pledge fealty to him immediately. When Ned offers up Robert‘s final will, Cersei rips it to pieces and tells him to pledge his fealty to Joffrey, resign his position as Hand, and they will let him go back to Winterfell unharmed. When Ned proclaims that Joffrey is not the true heir and that the throne belongs to Stannis Baratheon Cersei accuses him of treason and commands he be taken into custody. Ned tries to order the City Watch, which Littlefinger told him he bribed to keep them on Ned’s side, to take Cersei into custody. However, Littlefinger has betrayed Ned. Joffrey orders them all killed, and the City Watch and the Kingsguard kill Ned‘s men. Littlefinger appears behind Ned and holds a dagger to his throat, saying he told Ned “not to trust [him]” (524).