Game of Thrones Episode 1: Winter is Coming

Beyond the Wall, three Night’s Watch men on a ranging mission discover a wildling camp where the bodies have been gruesomely mutilated and arranged in an eerie pattern. The youngest scout goes ahead alone, sees a dead wildling girl pinned to a tree, and then the men are attacked by a pale, supernatural creature with glowing blue eyes; one is killed quickly, another is chased down and killed by animated corpses, and the scout who survives flees in terror.

That survivor is later found south of the Wall by Stark men and brought before Lord Eddard Stark at Winterfell, where he is judged a deserter from the Night’s Watch and sentenced to death. Eddard personally carries out the execution in front of his sons, his daughters, and his bannerman, then explains that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.

Afterward, the Stark party rides home and comes upon a dead stag killed by a direwolf, along with a litter of five living wolf pups. Eddard’s children each receive a pup, and Jon Snow, Eddard’s bastard son, is the one who points out that the direwolf is the Stark sigil and that there is one pup for each child.

At Winterfell, Catelyn Stark receives word that Jon Arryn has died, and the news is treated as important and troubling. Soon after, King Robert Baratheon arrives at Winterfell with Queen Cersei Lannister, their children, and the rest of the royal party, while Robert asks Eddard to become the new Hand of the King after Jon Arryn’s death.

During the royal visit, the viewer also meets several members of the larger court party, including Cersei’s twin brother Jaime and the dwarf Tyrion Lannister. Jon Snow and Tyrion have a memorable conversation, and Tyrion later leaves with the party after the feast.

Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen lives under the control of her older brother Viserys, who is desperate to regain the Iron Throne. Viserys arranges Daenerys’s marriage to Khal Drogo, a powerful Dothraki warlord, in exchange for the army he hopes will help him take Westeros back. Daenerys is initially frightened and uncertain, but she is married in a Dothraki ceremony and receives dragon eggs as a wedding gift.

Near the end of the episode, Bran Stark climbs a tower and accidentally sees Cersei and Jaime together in a sexual embrace. Jaime notices Bran, then pushes him out of the window to keep the secret from being revealed, leaving the episode on a shocking and violent cliffhanger.