My Favourite

My absolute favourite books to read are the “Game of Thrones books. The story lines put me in another world in my mind and fires my imagination. The books are far better than the series, although the television series does do justice for the books. Quite a few paragraphs I have read and thought: “they could never put that on the screen,” and then saw the screen version --- and was amazed at how accurate it all is when put side by side with the books!

The original series of books are called “A Song of Ice and Fire” and it author is George R.R. Martin. The first volume within the series is called Game of Thrones / the 2nd is A Clash of Kings / the 3rd is A Strom of Swords / the 4th is A Feast for Crows / the 5th is A Dance with Dragons --- and now we are waiting for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.

The scene is set within the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos. There is a dynastic war going on among several families for the control of Westoros, which includes the supernatural Others in the northernmost of Westeros and Daenerys Targaryen (who is the deposed king’s exiled daughter) --- all of them want “The Iron Throne.” This is the basis for the books.

For me, it is interesting how Martin’s got his inspiration from history = “The Wars of the Roses” (from English history) and the French historical novels “The Accursed Kings” by Maurice Druon. The books have been translated into 47 languages (as of January 2017) and have sold 90 million copies worldwide (as of April 2019).

Who are my favourite characters? It is impossible to say, all of them are unique in their own way. Even the Night’s Watch and The Wall seem to take on personalities of their own. The Wildlings (or Free Folk) beyond the wall live in a whole world of their own. And I just love the three dragons as we see them grow into magnificent beasts and watch Daenerys and Jon Snow ride them.

All through the books, we almost every noble family trying to gain control of the Iron Throne, whilst the Others are a constant threat to taking over the world (never mind the Iron Throne). So many characters enter the stage and very few survive alive until the end of the “Story.”

There are so many noble houses but the main ones are (and some of my favourites:

The House of Lannister

The House of Baratheon

The House of Stark

The House of Greyjoy

The House of Tyrell

The House of Targaryen

The House of Martell

The House of Tully

The House of Bolton

The House of Arryn

The House of Frey

“Half the Targaryens went mad, didn’t they? What’s the saying? Every time a Targaryen is born the gods flip a coin.” A quote from one of the books, the House of Targaryen is an interesting one for me personally. Viserys and Daenerys were the last two Targaryens left, who had to flee into exile in order to survive. Robert Baratheon deposed their father, killing the rest of the family and taking the Iron Throne for himself. The brother and sister finally came to rest within the Free Cities of Essos, where Viserys ‘sold’ his sister to the Great Khal Drogo, for his army. When Daenerys said that she did not want to marry Drogo, Viserys tells his younger sister: “I’d let his whole khalasar f*** you if need be, sweet sister, all forty thousand men and their horses too if that was what it took to get my army.” With this attitude, Viserys did not live long. When the whole khalasar went to their sacred city, Vaes Dothrak, Viserys threatens to kill Drogo and Daenery’s unborn child, so melting his golden belt, Drogo pours the hot, gold liquid over Viserys head and says: “Crown for King!” Viserys dies. Now Daenerys is free of her overpowering brother and becomes the very hardy and strong khalaseer, wife of the mighty Khal, Drogo. Over the course of time, Drogo dies and, following tradition, Daenerys had a funeral pyre built and put the dragon eggs on the pyre with her husband’s body. During the burning, Daenerys walks into the raging fire. The following morning, when the fire had burnt itself out, Daenerys appears alive, with her three baby dragons, which had been ‘born’ during the fire. Daenerys proved to be a true dragon! Instead of carrying on with the story, I’ll let you read the books and watch the series --- both are as exciting as each other.

“I am Daenerys Stormborn of the blood of Old Valyria, and I will take what is mine. With fire and blood, I will take it.”

The House of Stark has so many characters, I just don’t know who to write about! “Winter is Coming” are their words and sooner or later, ‘the Starks are always right.’ There is Lord Eddard (“Ned) and his wife, Catelyn (from House Tully), and their children, Rob, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon, plus the ‘bastard’ Jon Snow. Ned is an honourable man, and his honour gets his head chopped off --- by Joffrey Baratheon (who is now the king of Westeros). Catelyn with Rob are killed at the Red Wedding --- arranged by the Lannisters. Sansa and Arya go through many ‘adventures’ but manage to survive. Bran becomes the three-eyed-raven and Rickon, the youngest, is killed by Ramsey Bolton (who was originally a bastard) in front of Jon Snow (hence, the Battle of the Bastards). Jon Snow had become a ‘man of the Knight’s Watch’ and killed Ramsey Bolton, and with the help of his ‘half-sister’ Sansa, take back Winterfell (their home). We find out later who Jon Snow really is!

“When the snow falls and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.” Eddard Stark.

“A Lannister always pays his debts” is the unofficial motto of the House of Lannister. Some of the characters are Tyrian, Jamie and Cersei (who are brothers and sister). There is also Tywin who is the father and the ‘ruler’ of the House. Cersei married Robert Baratheon and became the queen of Westeros. Jamie was a member of the King’s Guard (until he had his hand chopped off). Tyrian is the dwarf, a tiny person but who is strong enough to survive through all of the books. The House ‘lives’ at Casterly Rock and is one of the Great Houses of the ‘Seven Kingdoms.’ There sigil is a golden lion on a field of crimson. The increasing amount of gold that Robert Baratheon owes to Lord Tywin only increased the power of the House of Lannister. Tywin is killed by his son Tyrian, and Jamie and Cersie die during the final battle.

“I have a soft spot in my heart for cripples, bastards and broken things,” Tyrian Lannister.

There are so many ‘favourite’ scenes from “A Song of Ice and Fire”, that I would be writing a separate book just on this alone!

One such scene was when Daenerys went to ‘exchange’ dragon for the army of the unsullied. Pretending not to speak the language, Daenerys had Missandei (who was originally a slave to Kraznys no Nakloz of Astapor) translate. When the army and dragon are exchanged, Daenerys now speaks the language --- which is her ‘home’ tongue of Valyria. Kraznys demands that the dragon is ‘brought to heel’ but Daenerys tells him, in perfect Valyrian: “a dragon is not a slave!” and promptly commands the dragon to burn Kranys. When I first read this in the books, I thought that it could never be out on the screen. Then I saw the episode --- you have just got to watch it!

Another scene, another favourite, is a quiet but sweet one, which could almost be overlooked. At the wedding of Drogo and Daenerys, Illyrio Mopatis gives the new bride three dragon eggs and says: “that the eggs have turned to stone but are still beautiful.” This, to me, was Illyrio saying that the harsh way of life of the Khalasar would turn this beautiful and soft princess to ‘stone’ but she would still look beautiful!

One of the greatest battles is the Battle of Blackwater. With the exciting storyline and amazing ‘pyro-technics’ (if I’ve spelt that right), this ‘scene’ just stands out as one of the greatest scenes in the whole of the ‘story.’

Look out for more of my personal favourites on “The Game of Thrones”.

(A lot of the information comes from Wikipedia, Fandom, Quotes and the books themselves)