A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 1

Now that we have the introduction out of the way, we can commence the reread in earnest.  This post will cover the prologue and first chapter of A Game of Thrones.  Remember, this is a reread, so I'm going to assume anyone reading this has already read through A Feast for Crows.  This means that there will likely be spoilers, and I may make comments about what will happen in future chapters or books if it seems pertinent.  S'aright?  S'aright.


PROLOGUE

Summary

Gared, Ser Waymar Royce, and Will are out beyond the Wall searching for a band of wildlings.  Will scouted out the wildling camp, and insists that they were all dead, but Royce wants to see for himself.  Gared argues that Will knows his stuff, and that they should head back.  Royce makes light of Gared's suggestions.

Gared had spent forty years in the Night's Watch, man and boy, and he was not accustomed to being made light of.  Yet it was more than that.  Under the wounded pride, Will could sense something else in the older man.  You could taste it; a nervous tension that came perilous close to fear. 

The trio had been chasing the wildlings for nine days, and the further they got from the Wall the colder it became, and an unexplainable sense of dread increased.

Will had been a hunter before he joined the Night's Watch.  Well, a poacher in truth.  Mallister freeriders had caught him red-handed in the Mallisters' own woods, skinning one of the Mallisters' own bucks, and it had been a choice of putting on the black or losing a hand.  No one could move through the woods as silent as Will, and it had not taken the black brothers long to discover his talent.

Will has been a member of the Night's Watch for four years.  Royce, however...

Ser Waymar Royce was the youngest son of an ancient house with too many heirs.  He was a handsome youth of eighteen, grey-eyed and graceful and slender as a knife . . . .  Ser Waymar had been a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch for less than half a year . . . . 

Gared is convinced the wildlings must have frozen to death.  As he himself lost both ears and a finger to frostbite, he felt uniquely qualified to make these statements.  Royce remained unconvinced and ordered Will to take him to the dead men.

Once Will and Royce reach the camp it is exactly as Will had explained it -- except all the bodies were missing.  Ser Waymar orders Will to climb a nearby tree to look for any campfire or other sign of the wildlings.  Will notices the wildlings' weapons were still in the deserted camp, and then got the feeling they were no longer alone...

The Others made no sound.

A shadow emerged from the dark of the wood.  It stood in front of Royce.  Tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk.  Its armor seemed to change color as it moved; here it was white as new fallen snow, there black as shadow, everywhere dappled with the deep grey-green of the trees.  The patterns ran like moonlight on water with every step it took.

Ser Waymar advanced to meet the Other, only to be faced with five more that came out of the woods.  Royce battled the original Other, but his sword shattered, and the Other struck.  All six Others then surrounded Royce and butchered his body before returning to the woods.  Will climbed down the tree to inspect Royce's body.  Royce's cold, lifeless body then stood up, and Will felt its hands on his throat.

My Thoughts

Well that's a hell of a way to start a book!  A lot of names and places are thrown out, with no real explanation of what they are.  Martin is great at this kind of world building, where we hear things like "The Wall" or "Night's Watch," but can only figure out what they are through the context.

First the Watch.  We see from Will's brief back story that he was a criminal, and was faced with the choice of taking the black, or losing a hand.  We also see that Ser Royce is a noble, but has too many older brothers.  So we see right away the odd dichotomy of the Watch.  It accepts criminals, who join as an alternative to punishment.  But it is also a respectable option for a wealthy family with a good name.

We also learn a lot about the world.  Martin makes a point to inform us that Gared has the most experience (40 years of ranging with the Night's Watch), and that Will is the most talented and capable.  However it is the inexperienced, much younger, knight from the noble family that is put in charge.  So a definite hierarchy is in place, where who your parents are is much more important than any actual ability.

And then, the Others.  See, this prologue tricks you.  It seems like you are reading a very well written fantasy novel (which, of course, you are), but it seems much more typical.  The Others are creepy, but after a prologue where some warriors in a special brotherhood - of which all its members wear black - are killed by fantastical creatures with swords made out of ice, and are then reanimated as zombies.  Well, suffice to say that while this sets up the otherworldiness of the land North of the Wall, it does very little to prepare you for the events of the rest of the novel.  But, importantly, we now have this weird fantastical shit in the back of our mind as we encounter the "civilized" land South of the Wall.

BRAN

Summary

Bran was finally old enough to go with his father and brothers to witness the king's justice.  He rode with a group of 20 men to see a man beheaded.

It was the ninth year of summer, and the seventh of Bran's life.  

Robb, Bran's eldest brother, thought the criminal a wildling, "his sword sworn to Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall."  The man was actually old, had lost both ears to frostbite, and was dressed all in black.

Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell pronounced his judgment, desertion, and his ward - Theon Greyjoy - brought forth his sword, "Ice."

It was as wide across as a man's hand, and taller even than Robb.  The blade was Valyrian steel, spell-forged and dark as smoke.  Nothing held an edge like Valyrian steel.

As Lord Stark prepared to behead the deserter, Bran's bastard brother Jon Snow told Bran to steady his pony, and not to look away.  Their father would know.  Bran did not look away, and saw the killing stroke.  Theon Greyjoy, a "youth of nineteen" laughed and kicked the fallen head.

On the journey back to Winterfell, Robb and Jon discussed the manner of the man's death.  Robb thought the man died bravely, while Jon looked into the man's eyes and saw only fear.  Robb and Jon then raced ahead.

Lord Stark approached Bran, who asks his father whether the man was afraid, or brave.  Lord Stark then asked Bran what he thought.

Bran thought about it.  "Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?"   

"That is the only time a man can be brave," his father told him. 

Lord Stark then explained that it was important that he, personally, dealt the killing blow.   Bran points out that King Robert uses an executioner.

"He does," his father admitted.  "As did the Targaryen kings before him.  Yet our way is the older way.  The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.  If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words.  And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die."

Jon then reappeared, yelling that he and Robb had found something.  As the rest of the party caught up with them, they discovered the body of a direwolf - a wolf that was larger than Bran's pony.  And a creature that had not been seen South of the Wall in over 200 years.  They also discover that there are five puppies, that the dirwolf must have given birth before (or just after) she died.

Lord Stark was curious as to how the direwolf died.

His father knelt and groped under the beast's head with his hand.  He gave a yank and held it up for all to see.  A foot of shattered antler, tines snapped off, all wet with blood.

 The men thought it best to kill the direwolf pups (Theon Greyjoy was especially eager), but Robb and Bran insisted they should keep them.  They appealed to Lord Stark, who seemed ready to sign the death warrants of the newborn pups.  Then Jon Snow spoke up, pointing out that there were five pups, three male and two female - just like Lord Stark had five trueborn children, three sons and two daughters.  Lord Stark pointed out that this leaves Jon with no pup.

"The direwolf graces the banners of House Stark," Jon pointed out.  "I am no Stark, Father."

The children were allowed to keep the pups, pending they took care of them personally and didn't leave it to a servant to care for the creatures.  As they traveled the rest of the way to Winterfell Jon heard a sound that no one else did.  He rushed back and discovered an albino direwolf - with its red eyes open - which must have strayed (or been driven off) from the rest of the pack.  Jon Snow did have a direwolf after all.

My Thoughts

And the story starts in earnest.  Well, first things first; So long, Gared!  We hardly knew ya!

We are now introduced to the Starks, the de facto heroes of the story.  We also meet Theon Greyjoy, who is a complete jackass right from the start.  Kicking a man's head right after it's cut from his body?  Really?

We also see our first mention of Mance Rayder, and I can't believe his name was dropped in the very first chapter.  We won't be seeing him for awhile, and I definitely didn't remember him being mentioned this early.

Now to the Starks themselves.  We meet Bran, who is quickly established as an optimistic young boy of seven, who reveres his father and wants to be like his older brothers.  We see, from his conversation with his father that he is a bright boy and can think for himself.  Oh, and we also discover that summer has lasted for NINE FRICKIN YEARS?  As I am in New York, and it has felt that this winter has lasted approximately nine years, I am jealous.

We also get to meet Robb and Jon.  I didn't mention it in the summary above, but we learn they are both 14.  Again, I did not remember them being quite that young, but it's a different time then and Robb Stark at 14 probably has a few more responsibilities than I did at 14.  But we see that Robb and Jon are both generally good guys, although Robb is more of a jock and Jon is more cerebral.  As we know that Gared had been a Night's Watch member for 40 years, and just had the wits scared out of him, he was not being particularly brave at his execution.  He was scared out of his mind, as Jon saw.

We also discovered the ominous antler in the wolf's throat.  This will become more important later, but with a quick flip to the appendix you can see that the House Sigil of King Robert Baratheon is a stag, and as mentioned above the Stark Sigil is a direwolf.

And the direwolves!  Well, all the Stark children, and their bastard brother, have direwolves now!  Not really much to say about that at this point, but one chapter in and the bond between Stark and direwolf has begun.

There's not much else to say at this point, I'm just still in awe of Martin's world building capabilities.  So many names are dropped in this chapter, and hints about the larger world, without explicit explanations.  Your brain can't help but to try to fill in the gaps.