Saturday Stories
July 28, 2018
It all began when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen took Ned's sister, Lady Lyanna Stark – the woman whom Robert loved. Their brother, Lord Brandon Stark, rose in protest – and was killed by the King himself along with their father Rickard Stark.
Ned and Robert went up against the mighty forces of the Targaryens. They grew up together as wards of Lord Jon Arryn of the Vale, and they were like brothers, and Jon Arryn was like a father to them. Arryn had chosen to go to war than hand over the boys to The Mad King.
But Lyanna died – and Robert killed Rhaegar.
Aerys was killed by Jamie Lannister, a young knight in the Kingsguard, who stabbed in him the back. Jamie is famous for his swordsmanship, but hence became known as "The Kingslayer."
The House Lannister is the wealthiest in all the Seven Kingdoms. Robert had to marry Lady Cersei, the twin sister of Jamie and the only daughter of the formidable Lord Twyin Lannister of Casterly Rock, to consolidate his power. Cersei would present him with three children: Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen.
One day, Jon Arryn, who was Hand of The King, the Royal advisor and the second most powerful man in the realm, died. His death came in an instant and was shrouded in mystery.
One of the main story threads of "Game of Thrones," the first in George R.R. Martin's spectacular and magnificent nine-novel epic "A Song of Fire and Ice" (which inspired the HBO saga "Game of Thrones") begins when Robert went to Ned's home in Winterfell to ask him to be the new Hand of The King.
"You have not changed at all," Robert tells him.
But in the TV series, he says: "You've grown fat!" and they laughed.
My second favorite GoT character is Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf, who arrived in Winterfell with the King's entourage. But in the TV series, he had taken a detour to a whorehouse. Ned's youngest daughter, Arya (who would later meet my first favorite GoT character, Jaqen) asked: "Where's the Imp?"
Robert also wanted to wed his fourteen-year old son and heir Joffrey to Ned's thirteen-year old daughter Sansa. Ned was hesitant, but the girl was already in love with the golden-haired crown prince.
Ned didn't want to be Hand. He hated politics, and he thinks of King's Landing, the capital and seat of the throne, is a snakepit. But he also knew there was no man that the King trusted more.
Yet if he refuse, Robert would have no choice but to name Tywin Lannister, who was the Hand of The King for twenty years as Aerys spiralled down into insanity. There is bad blood between the Starks and the Lannisters. Ned sees Twyin as a viper.
Such was Ned's dilemma when his wife Lady Catelyn got a secret message from her sister, Lysa, the widow of Jon Arryn. Lysa and her young son Robin had taken refuge at the Eyrie, the impregnable mountain castle of the House of Arryn.
The King's Hand did not succumb to fever, warned Lysa. Jon Arryn was murdered – and there is a plot against the King's life.
Game of Thrones
Photo courtesy of EuroPosters.eu
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