Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of medieval fantasy and I had not read or even heard of the book series until I learnt that HBO was adapting it into a TV series. I was not planning on watching it, but I gave into the hype that was created around the show and watched it over the weekend. After watching the show, I can safely say that I am glad I did. Maybe the show might appeal to fans of the book series or to fans of medieval fantasy immediately, but it took me a few episodes. But it did impress me... a lot. It took a few episodes for me to fully understand the premise of the show which is quite elaborate and richly detailed. There are some really interesting stories to follow here, but it’s in the second half of the season when the shit hits the fan.
There are basically four major stories going on. Ned Stark’s departure from Winterfell to become the hand of the king and the things he does at King’s Landing; John Snow realising his dream of joining the Night’s Watch and discovering the realities of the Watch; the attempt on Bran Stark’s life and it’s repercussions; Daenerys Targaryen being married to the Khal of the Dothraki, Drogo, so that her brother Viserys Targaryen could obtain access to the Dothraki army in order to claim the Iron Throne.
Eddard “Ned” Stark is the Lord of Winterfell when we meet him at the beginning of the series. The King visits Winterfell and asks Ned to be the hand of the king, the monarch’s closest advisor. During the visit, Bran Stark, Ned’s ten year old son, discovers an incestuous relationship between the queen Cersei Lannister and her twin brother Jamie Lannister and this discovery leads Jamie to push Bran off a high window of an abandoned part of Winterfell; Bran survives but loses use of both his legs as well as the memory of the incident. After much deliberation, Stark agrees to become the hand while another attempt is made on Bran’s life, this time foiled by Bran’s wolf. Sansa Stark, Ned’s eldest daughter, is engaged to Prince Joffrey Baratheon, the next in line to become the king and Arya Stark shows penchant in archery and swordplay.
Ned travels to King’s Landing with daughters Sansa and Arya. Jon Show, Ned’s illegitimate son, joins the night guard and discovers it is filled with lowlifes and criminals. Arya gets tutored in swordplay. Catelyn Stark, Ned’s wife, finds out Lannister’s involvement in her son’s assassination attempts and travels to King’s Landing in secret, as she fears the message-carrying ravens could be intercepted. Catelyn later takes Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf, as her prisoner claiming that he was responsible for her son’s assassination attempt. She proceeds to take him to her sister Lysa where Tyrion manages to talk himself out of the charges and walks out.
Daenerys Targaryen is married to Khal Drogo by her brother Viserys in exchange for Drogo and the Dothraki’s support in getting Viserys the Iron Throne. Viserys believes that he has true claim to the throne as he is the only living descendant of the dragons. Daenerys is repulsed by the savage ways of the Dothraki initially, but later falls in love with Khal Drogo. Viserys becomes increasingly impatient and his ambition to claim the iron throne blinds him from reality of the situation and he makes constant demands and threats; he crosses the Khal when he brings a sword to their sacred place of worship and threatens Daenerys after which Khal pours molten gold on his head, killing him. Daenerys is not saddened by this as she believes that the true dragon cannot be killed by fire as she had discovered earlier that she cannot be hurt by fire. King Robert’s men try to kill Daenerys unsuccessfully and Khal Drogo decides to go to war and win the iron throne for their unborn son.
By now, word of Catelyn’s actions has reached King’s Landing. Ned Stark is trying to retrace the steps of his predecessor, days before he died. Ned believes that Jon Arryn was poisoned and Petyr Baelish helps him get to the truth. Ned finds out that Jon visited all the illegitimate children of King Robert and was reading a book “The Lineage and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms”. Soon he observes that all the Baratheons had black hair and all the illegitimate children of Robert had black hair, but all the children he had with Cersei Lannistor had golden hair and discovers that they are in fact the children of Cersei and Jamie Lannister. Ned confronts Cersei and tells her that he knows her secret; he offers her a chance to flee with her children before he informs this to the King.
The King goes on a hunting trip and returns injured and dying. He names Ned as the protector of the realm until Joffrey comes of age; Ned writes it down as “until my rightful heir comes of age”. With the King dead, Joffrey claims the throne as does Ned. In this conflict of interest, who commands more men at the given moment would come to a position of power. Petyr Baelish betrays him and Ned is captured and branded as a traitor. Ned’s capture instigates a war situation as Ned’s eldest son and now the Lord of Winterfell, Robb Stark plans an attack. The war begins and Robb Stark, who has lesser soldiers, outwits Lannisters and captures Jamie Lannister. Meanwhile, Jon Snow is not given the position of Ranger as he wanted, but takes the Night’s Watch oath anyway.
Joffrey promises to Sansa that if Ned confesses to his treason and accepts Joffrey as the rightful King, he will pardon Ned’s life and allow him to live out his days in the Night’s Watch. But when Ned does so, Joffrey goes back on his word and gets Ned killed. Everyone backing the Stark’s side in the war unanimously agree that Robb Stark has to become the new King once the war is over.
After learning about the situation, Jon decides to leave the Night’s Watch where he has not able to contribute the way he had hoped and desires to join his half-brother Robb in the war and avenge his father. Strange events unfold as a dead Ranger returns as a whit and tries to kill Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night’s watch. Jon decides to stay with the Night’s Watch and help them with the situation instead of going back.
Arya escapes with the help of her teacher and is smuggled out of the city by Yoren, a recruiter of the Night’s Watch, guising as a boy. There she meets an armourer’s apprentice, one of the illegitimate sons of King Robert.
Khal Drogo is wounded before he can invade, and the wound festers rendering Drogo unable to ride his horse. Most of the Dothraki army leave as they believe Drogo is no longer able to lead. Daenerys unwittingly sacrifices her unborn son for a spell to save Drogo, but he is left mindless after the spell. Daenerys smothers him to death out of pity. She later places three dragon eggs that was gifted to her, near Drogo’s corpse and walks into his burning pyre. She does not get burnt but instead, the dragon eggs get hatched. The remaining Dothraki who witness this accept her as their leader.
Overall, the season was very engrossing with some great characters and some interesting plot twists. The performances of Sean Bean as Eddard Stark and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister were the highlights. They have set things up very nicely for the next season, the adaptation of the second book in the series, “A Clash of Kings”. I am very interested to see how the war unfolds and how the dragons come into play.
