Last night, HBO launched their new series, Game of Thrones, based off the novel of the same name written by George R.R. Martin. It manages to pack in a great deal of action and a rather formidable cast of characters into just one hour, with ten more left to go. Rather than the high heroic fantasy of Tolkien, Martin gives us a very low fantasy setting. Yes, there's magic, but it's vanishingly rare. Yes, there are creatures that are arguably supernatural to one degree or another, but they too are not common. The world that the characters inhabit is driven by motives anybody can understand: love, honor, greed, lust, power, hatred. And yet, for all the turmoil that will eventually engulf two continents and countless lives, it all starts so quietly
The continent of Westeros holds The Seven Kingdoms, once ruled by Mad King Aerys Targaryen and now by the man who deposed him, Robert Baratheon (played by Mark Addy). The northernmost border of the Seven Kingdoms is delineated by The Wall, a massive fortification of ice stretching from one coast to the other, manned by a sworn brotherhood known as the Night's Watch. Three members of the Watch make their way through the Wall to perform what should be a normal patrol against wildlings, the people indigenous to the area. One member of the patrol finds a camp of dead and dismembered wildlings and brings his comrades over to show them the find, only to see nothing but fresh snow in the campsite. Moments later, the patrol is attacked by one of the few supernatural beings of the series, an undead creature known as a white walker. Far from the stereotypical zombie, they are swift and merciless, killing two members of the patrol while leaving the third alive to tell the tale.
The survivor deserts the Night's Watch, an act which will earn him a death sentence. Somehow, he makes it far enough south to come into the domain of Winterfell, where he's captured by soldiers of House Stark, the ruling noble family in the area. Word of the deserter reaches Eddard Stark (played by Sean Bean), Lord of The North, as he watches over three of his sons while they work on archery practice. His wife Catelyn (played by Michelle Fairly) is with him when the news is delivered. Duty demands that Eddard, or "Ned" as he's called by friends and family, be the one to pass judgment and carry out the sentence. When Catelyn objects to Ned taking their younger son Bran (played by Isaac Hempstead-Wright) to watch an execution, Ned reminds his wife of the family motto, "Winter is coming." The motto not only provides the episode title, but also the grim mindset of House Stark, a more pessimistic take on "be prepared."
The deserter accepts that he will be executed but insists that he really did encounter a white walker, beings who have theoretically been gone for thousands of years. A single swift stroke of a large greatsword is all that is required to behead the deserter for his crime. When Bran asks his father if the deserter really saw a white walker, Ned is clearly reluctant to believe him. While making their way home, Ned, Bran, Ned's oldest son Robb (played by Richard Madden), Ned's illegitimate son Jon Snow (played by Kit Harrington), and Ned's ward Theon Greyjoy (played by Alfie Allen) come across a strange sight. A stag lies in the middle of the road, disemboweled, one of it's antlers broken off. Just off the road is a direwolf, dead with the missing antler chunk through it's throat, and with a litter of five pups trying to suckle. As Jon points out, the direwolf is the animal which forms House Stark's crest, and five pups is the exact number of Ned's legitimate children. Taking it as a sign, the pups are gathered up to be returned to Winterfell. As they're leaving, Jon finds a sixth pup, an albino, and the runt of the litter. Despite some light mockery by Theon, Jon brings the pup home with him.
Shortly after their return to the castle, Ned gets more news, none of it good. The first piece is the death of Jon Aryn, the King's Hand, and a foster father of sorts to both Ned and Robert. The second piece is that Robert is making his way to Winterfell with his wife and a full entourage. Ned and Catelyn both know what will inevitably happen: Robert will ask Ned to become the King's Hand, the most powerful person in Westeros after the King himself. To do this will mean Ned having to relocate the family to the capitol of King's Landing. It's a big decision, and it's putting the duty owed to family squarely against duty owed to the kingdom, as well as to Ned's best friend.
Robert's arrival is well received by the Stark family. Robert himself is a jovial man, though his jest that Ned has gotten fat reflects more upon him than his friend. Robert's wife, Cersei (played by Lena Headey), is clearly making the best of a bad situation as she greets the Starks. Ned's younger daughter Arya (played by Maisie Williams) quickly identifies Jaime Lannister (played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), but asks her older sister Sansa (played by Sophie Turner) where "The Imp" is. "The Imp" is the rather unflattering nickname given to Tyrion Lannister (played by Peter Dinklage), a dwarf who is Cersei and Jaime's younger brother. Tyrion seems to be enjoying his first visit to Winterfell far more than his sister, as evidenced by the ale he drinks and the prostitute whose company he's enjoying. His brother Jaime makes it clear that Tyrion's presence is practically required at the evening's banquet, and the four fresh prostitutes Jaime ushers in make it clear that business will be attended to after pleasure.
Within the Stark family crypt, Robert offers the position of the Hand to Ned. Even after all the time he's had to think about it before Robert's arrival, Ned is clearly reluctant. Robert reminds Ned of all that they have between them: the childhood shared under the tutelage of Jon Aryn, the betrothal of Ned's deceased sister Lyanna to Robert, and the war that they fought together which ultimately put Robert on the Iron Throne of Westeros. It's a long history, and Ned knows it. Adding to the difficulty of the decision is Robert's offer to arrange a marriage between his oldest son Joffrey (played by Jack Gleeson) and Sansa. Ned defers making a decision until later and Robert is happy to let him work it out, confident that his friend will accept the position eventually.
The banquet welcoming Robert and the court to Winterfell is uncomfortable for several of the Starks. Catelyn is bound as hostess to entertain Cersei, whose mask of polite gentility is slowly slipping. When Sansa introduces herself to Cersei, the Queen swings between polite and fictitious praise for Sansa's sewing skills to gracelessly asking whether or not she's menstruating yet. Ned's brother Benjen (played by Joseph Mawle) has come down from the Wall as an emissary of the Night's Watch, hoping to get some time with Robert to discuss shortages of supplies and manpower at the Wall. Jon Snow expresses his desire to join the Night's Watch to his uncle, but Benjen rebuffs him, telling Jon to wait till he's experienced a little more of the world first. Tyrion also has some choice words for Jon, telling him to claim the word "bastard" for his own so that nobody can make it a slur against him. When Jon asks Tyrion what he knows about being a bastard, Tyrion replies quite bluntly, "All dwarves are bastards in the eyes of their fathers."
Far to the east, in the Free City of Pentos, the last two scions of House Targaryen begin their bid to reclaim the Iron Throne from "The Usurper" Robert, though only one of them has any great enthusiasm for the plan. Viserys Targaryen (played by Harry Lloyd) has been wandering the Free Cities looking for an army big enough and strong enough to reclaim the throne from Robert, and he believes that he has finally found it. The price, as far as he's concerned, is a mere trifle. Only his sister, Daenerys (played by Emilia Clarke), getting married off to the leader of the Dothraki Horde, Khal Drogo (played by Jason Momoa). The marriage has been brokered by one of the merchant-princes of Pentos, Illyrio Mopatis, who has given the Targaryens shelter for the last year or so in his home. Daenerys is clearly uncomfortable with the idea of being married off to a man she's never met before, but Viserys makes it clear what's expected of her. "I would let every man in Khal Drogo's horde, all forty thousand of them, fuck you if it means getting my throne back," he tells her.
The wedding ceremony and feast, since it's a little hard to tell where one ends and the other begins, is quite literally an orgy of sex and violence. If slave women aren't being used sexually, it's only because Dothraki warriors are currently fighting each other to death for the momentary privilege. As Illyrio explains to Viserys, "Any Dothraki wedding where less than three people are killed is considered a dull affair." Among the various wedding gifts Daenerys receives are a set of petrified dragon's eggs from Illyrio and some books from an exiled Westeros knight named Jorah Mormont (played by Iain Glen). Daenerys' final wedding gift is the horse that she will ride alongside Drogo, given to her by her new husband. When she asks Mormont how to say thank you in Dothraki, he tells her, "There is no word for 'thank you' in Dothraki." At sunset, on a beach far removed from the party, the marriage is consummated as Daenerys begins to cry.
The morning after the feast at Winterfell, Robert and Ned decide to go boar hunting. While they ride off, Bran decides it's a perfectly good opportunity for some free climbing along the castle walls. Earlier in the episode, Catelyn had chastised Bran for climbing along the walls and tried to extract a promise that he would stop. The temptation this time proves to be Bran's undoing. Despite his mother's warnings about slipping and falling, Bran clearly knows how to climb and hold his grip against any surface the castle can offer. It's only when he climbs to the top of an abandoned tower that he eventually falls through no fault of his own. Within the tower's top chamber, part of it ruined and exposed, Bran finds Cersei and Jaime having sex with each other. Jaime gets hold of Bran, briefly consults with Cersei, then sighs, "The things I do for love," as he pushes Bran off the top of the tower, ending the episode.
For an opening episode, this one packed in a lot of action in what seemed like a very short amount of time. One hour just shot by so quickly, and there was no hint that the episode was wrapping up until that final blackout with Bran falling from the tower. The players have been established and the opening moves in the game of thrones have been made. HBO deserves high praise for bringing the book to life so thoroughly and with a high degree of fidelity. It's going to be hell waiting for the next episode.
Remember, "Winter is coming."
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