Location: The Dothraki Sea
Characters: Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen, Ser Jorah Mormont, Khal Drogo and the Dothraki horde
Seeing how difficult life already is for her, Ser Jorah Mormont approaches Daenerys and tells her things will get easier, though from the look in her eyes the girl would rather be anywhere else. The Dothraki Sea is not a sea, but a wide grass steppe that stands between them and their homeland, and they are travelling across it to get there. There is no time wasted on stragglers, even the new
khaleesi is expected to keep up. Khal Drogo rides with his men, while Daenerys is left to the care of the exiled knight. Whether they prefer women not to ride with them, whether there has been some trouble between the couple since their wedding night, or whether Daenerys wishes to ride alone is not stated. When they make camp, Mormont suggests to Viserys that he might be more comfortable waiting for them back at Pentos, but the haughty king-in-waiting will have none of it. He asks the knight – more out of amusement than actual interest – what he was exiled for, and Mormont admits he sold some poachers he caught on his land to slavers. Ned Stark was not impressed and banished him.
Location: Winterfell, the kennels
Characters: Tyrion Lannister, Joffrey Baratheon and Sandor Clegane (the Hound)
After waking up from whatever he was doing the previous night and finding himself in the kennels, Tyrion tells Joffrey he must call upon Ned and Catelyn and offer his sincere condolences for their son. Joffrey clearly couldn't give a toss about Bran but repeated slaps from his uncle forcibly change his mind. The Hound, standing nearby, warns Tyrion that the young Prince will not forget this.
L:ocation: Winterfell, the dining hall
Characters: The Lannisters – Jaime, Cersei, Myrcella, Tommen and Tyrion
When he joins his family at table, Tyrion angers a smug Cersei when he reveals that the news is that Bran may not die after all. Jaime asks him if he is thinking of joining the Watch and he scoffs, saying all he wants to do is stand on the Wall. Cersei remarks that should Bran recover he will surely be a cripple, and Jaime, thinking along the same lines, backs her up, saying he'd much rather a good clean death. Considering what will happen to him later, this will end up being quite an interesting comment.
Location: Winterfell, Bran Stark's bedroom
Characters: Bran (unconscious), Lady Stark, Cersei
Cersei visits Catelyn, who is keeping vigil by her son's bed. She rises when the queen walks in but Cersei waves her back to her seat. She tells Catelyn that she lost her own first son, and prays that the gods will restore Bran to health. Of course, she doesn't mean it – that's the last thing she wants – but she manages to make her concern look sincere.
Location: Winterfell, the Keep
Characters: Jon Snow, Jaime Lannister
Jaime teases Snow about his decision to join the Night's Watch. Not quite sure why he does this, other than that Jon is the closest he can come I guess to insulting a Stark without provoking major reaction, but it's pretty heartless the way he jeers the kid, then going on to point out that Jon has never killed or even wounded anyone, the clear implication being that he doesn't know what he's getting into. Jon reveals that the Night's Watch has been in existence for over eight thousand years (so presumably, so has the Wall – can't guard something that isn't there) and hints that there are vows to be taken before he can join. Jaime reminds him that he is taking on a lifetime commitment.
Location: Winterfell, Arya's bedroom
Characters: Arya Stark, Nymeria her direwolf, Jon Snow
Arya is packing to leave, as both she and Sansa are required in King's Landing alongside their father (although this has not been mentioned, whereas it makes it clear in the book). She is not in a good mood, but Jon visits her and presents her with a sword of her own. She names it Needle, and he makes her promise to practice with it every day.
Location: Winterfell, Bran's bedroom
Characters: Bran, Catelyn, Jon Snow, later Ned Stark
Jon goes to say goodbye to Bran, as he is leaving to go to the Wall with his uncle Benjen. The tension crackles in the room; Catelyn's hatred is not masked in her eyes, but Jon makes sure to say goodbye properly to his sibling. Ned walks in as Jon is leaving, and when he has gone the lord of Winterfell talks to his wife, who accuses him of choosing Robert over her, and their son. With Bran in a coma, Ned is still leaving: he has to. Robert will not take no for an answer, and even if he did, the danger (real or imagined) to him remains. Ned owes it to him, both as a vassal and as a friend, to keep his word. Catelyn takes the opportunity to stick the knife in about Jon Snow, but he lets it pass. There's nothing he can say anyway.
Location: Winterfell
Characters: Ned, Jon Snow
Ned is joining Robert at King's Landing, while Jon is going with Benjen to Castle Black. Ned tells Jon that he is proud of what he is doing, and tells him he is a Stark in all but name. Jon asks about his mother and Ned promises he will talk about her when he next sees Jon. The two separate. Ned and the king discuss their youth while they take a break, and Robert hints at the subject of Jon Snow's parentage, but Ned will not speak of the woman he calls Lyla. The talk then turns to Daenerys. A note has come overnight to advise of the wedding, and Robert is not happy. Any remaining Targaryens are a threat to his throne, and he does not intend to suffer threats, no matter how distant they may be. He worries that Viserys may muster enough support here to validate his claim, and turn the people against him. He tells Ned “There are still those who call me Usurper.” Ned points out that Targaryen and the Dothraki hordes are across the Narrow Sea, and they have no ships. Robert is not mollified. He knows trouble is brewing.
Location: The Kingsroad
Characters: Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Benjen Stark and other prospective members of the Night's Watch
As they make camp for the night, Jon asks Tyrion why he reads so much, and the dwarf tells him he needs to feed his mind, which is his greatest, perhaps only weapon. Jon remarks that Jaime Lannister killed the old king, and Tyrion does not deny it. He says life is full of little ironies, and reading between the lines, is it just possible that Jaime killed the Mad King in order that Robert would gain the throne and take Cersei as his wife? Was the death of his prospective bride, Lyanna Stark, arranged by the Lannisters in order to place one of their House in a position of power from which she could one day reach the throne though her heir? Stranger things....
Location: Winterfell, Bran's bedroom
Characters: Bran, Catelyn, Maester Luwin and later Robb
The Maester advises Lady Stark that with much of the castle staff gone with Ned to King's Landing, there are new appointments that have to be made, but she snaps that she is not interested. Her only concern is for her son. Robb enters and sends Luwin away, tackling his mother about the inordinate amount of time she has been spending here. She has not had any proper sleep, nor eaten much. In the midst of his arguing with her he walks to the window, looks out and sees ... fire! He rushes off, and while he is gone a stranger appears in the room, knife in hand. “You're not supposed to be here” he tells Catelyn, and goes to kill Bran. She grabs him, tearing her hands on his knife, but she is no match for the big man, who shrugs her off and approaches Bran. Suddenly, out of nowhere Bran's direwolf appears and takes the intruder down, ripping out his throat.
Location: The Dothraki Sea
Characters: Daenerys
A much more serene and in control Daenerys asks her handmaidens if there are any dragons left in the world, while her eyes fix upon the dragon's eggs. They tell her all the dragons were killed long ago. She asks one of her maids, Doreah, who is also a foreigner here, to teach her how to please Drogo.
Location: Winterfell, the godwood
Characters: Catelyn, Robb Stark, Theon Greyjoy, Maester Luwin, Ser Roderick Cassell
Lady Stark calls Robb and Theon as well as Master-at-Arms Roderick Cassell, and Maester Luwin to tell them that she suspects that Bran's fall was no accident. She has recovered a blonde hair from the spot where he fell, and there is only one blonde woman she can think of who might have had a reason to be there. It's flimsy, certainly circumstantial evidence, nothing she could act on, or accuse Cersei of, but it has planted the seed of doubt in her mind. She believes now that her son was pushed from the wall in an attempt to kill him because of something he saw, though she admits she has no idea what that might have been. She does expect that the Lannisters will be behind it, and realises she has to warn her husband. Not trusting such news to a raven, she knows she must carry the message herself, and will set out tomorrow for King's Landing.
Location: The Dothraki Sea
Characters: Daenerys, Doreah and later Khal Drogo
Daenerys asks Doreah to show he how to be a better wife to Drogo, and the young slave advises her to refuse to have sex from behind, as is Drogo's custom, but to ensure she faces him, looks into his eyes. She says the eyes can be the sexiest part of a woman, and when Drogo comes to Daenerys that night, she does just this. Though he resists at first, not understanding, thinking she wishes not to have sex with him at all, she is able to speak enough Dothraki now to tell him she wants to look at him, and they make love in what is for Drogo a whole new way. Sex is now less like rape or possession and more like consensual and loving.
Location: An Inn on the road to King's Landing
Characters: Sansa Stark, the Hound, Ser Ilyn Payne, Joffrey Baratheon
After Sansa accidentally bumps into the royal executioner, Joffrey takes her for a walk and they come across Arya and her friend using sticks to play at swordfighting. Amused, Joffrey tries to force her friend, Mycah, the butcher's boy, to fight him, but of course he won't: it would be an uneven fight on all fronts. When he then starts cutting the boy, Arya hits him with her stick, and he, enraged, pushes her to the ground, standing over her with his sword, screaming abuse at her. Suddenly her direwolf launches herself at Joffrey, goring his hand and knocking him to the ground. Through all of this, Sansa stands screeching at Arya “You're ruining everything!” as if it were his sister's fault that her “golden prince” is a sadistic, arrogant little c
unt. It's worth watching as Joffrey lies on the ground and Arya stands over him with his sword which she has picked up that he whines for his life. Only a tough man when the odds are in his favour, then.
Arya in fact takes his sword and throws it into the lake, then runs off while Sansa goes to get help for the prince. Knowing that her direwolf will be killed if caught, Arya makes the animal run off, and then afraid to go home, remains in the woods, until a search party comes looking for her as night falls. Ned, leading the party, is told she has been found, but has been taken before the king.
Location: The Inn
Characters: Robert Baratheon, Arya Stark, Ned Stark, Cersei Lannister, Joffrey Baratheon
On arriving at the makeshift court Ned beseeches Robert to let the matter drop. He's inclined to, but of course Cersei will not: her poor boy has been injured, and someone must pay. Joffrey claims that Mycah and Arya set upon him without provocation, and that Arya sicced her direwolf on him. She knows this is a lie, but when Sansa is brought forward to corroborate her sister's story, she folds completely, unwilling to drop the prince in it. Things turn against her though, as with Arya's direwolf having run off, Cersei sweetly suggests “There is another wolf.” Sansa can't believe it. Maybe she should have supported her sister then, and told the truth.
Location: The Inn again
Characters: Ned, The Hound, Lady the direwolf
As he goes to perform his onerous duty, the death of Sansa's direwolf decreed by the Queen and supported by the King, Ned passes the Hound on his way into the courtyard, the body of Mycah the butcher's boy slung over his horse. Ned has been unwilling to let Cersei have her way and have the direwolf butchered by Ilyn Payne, declaring that he will do it if it must be done. While the girls sleep and cry over what has happened, Ned, his heart heavy and anger in his eyes for the casual cruelty of the Queen and her son, pets the direwolf before carrying out his duty.
Location: Winterfell
Character: Bran Stark
As Lady dies, Bran wakes up from his coma, as if he has heard the animal's plaintive last cry.
Quotes
Jaime: “Tell me you're not thinking of taking the Black?”
Tyrion: “And go celibate? The whores would go begging from Dorne to Casterly Rock! No, I just want to stand on top of the Wall and piss off the edge of the world!”
Jaime, to Jon Snow: “Strange thing the first time you cut a man: you realise we're all just sacks of meat, blood, some bone to keep it all standing.”
Jon Snow, to Arya: “First lesson: stick them with the pointy end.”
Ned to Jon: “The Starks have manned the Wall for thousands of years. And you are a Stark. You may not have my name, but you have my blood.”
Robert: “There's a war coming, Ned. I don't know when, I don't know who we'll be fighting, but it's coming.”
Tyrion: “My brother has his sword and I have my mind, and a mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone.”
Sansa: “Why won't he (Payne) talk to me?”
The Hound: “He hasn't been very talkative these last twenty years. Not since the Mad King had his tongue ripped out with hot pincers.”
Ned: “The wolf is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher.”
Ned (seeing Micah's corpse slung over the Hound's horse): “The butcher's boy. You rode him down.”
The Hound: “He ran. Not very fast.”
Family
Cersei Lannister
We see a somewhat softer side – and the side we will see more often, the harder, ruthless one – in two linked scenes here at the start. When she hears that Bran is expected to recover Cersei's face falls, and her eyes go hard, worrying what the boy will tell his parents when he awakes. Then, when she visits him, she speaks to Catelyn about the loss of her own first child with the king, and betrays a tender, almost matronly side, just for a short moment. She's back to her cold, cruel and callous self though later, when, Joffrey having been mauled by Arya's direwolf, she demands satisfaction by having the other wolf put to death. The smile on her face speaks not of joy at having the animal killed, but at being able to wound both Sansa and Arya so deeply. She truly is the superbitch of this series.
Tyrion Lannister
How ironic that the shortest man in Westeros should turn out to be, in terms of morality and decency, taller than his nephew, who easily towers over him (as does just about everyone, bar children). After he has displayed, in the previous episode, his dislike for procedure and etiquette, playing to his own rules and seeming, basically, something of a drunken fool, it is Tyrion who tells Joffrey to go offer his condolences to the Starks. He may not like them, but the dwarf knows where his duty, and that of his House, lies. In this he proves himself so much more of a man than Joffrey, who scoffs at the idea.
We learn here that Tyrion's father was the Hand of the King for twenty years, and that Jaime killed the man he served, hence his name. We find that among his other distractions Tyrion likes to read. A lot. He has a keen mind, and one hungry for new experiences, knowledge and stimulation.
Daenerys Targaryen
There's an interesting but short scene here, if you blink you might miss it. I think I did, first time around. Daenerys and Drogo are in the warlord's tent, doing what you might expect would occur in a warlord's tent between him and his bride, and the girl is distraught, not quite crying but not far from it: this is one big man! Then she catches sight of the three dragon eggs, surrounded by candles, and a strange look passes over her face. It settles. It becomes harder, firmer, more resolute. You can see the acceptance of her situation settling on her features, almost as if she's told herself
This is your life now, stop whining like a child and get used to it. In that one, brief moment, I believe Daenerys Targaryen has ceased being a girl and has become a woman, and more: a true
khaleesi.
NSFW
The scenes where Doreah shows Daenerys how to pleasure a man properly have seriously smoking and obviously lesbian overtones; Daenerys looks uncomfortable at one point, and it seems pretty clear that Doreah is trying to seduce her.