AGOT: Eddard I

A Game of Thrones

EDDARD I

Characters:

Eddard

Robert

Jaime

Sandor Clegane "The Hound"

Tyrion Lannister "The Imp"

Cersei

Prince Joffery Baratheon

Catelyn

Important Characters:

Balon Greyjoy

Lyanna Stark

Brandon Stark

Lord Rickard Stark

Howland Reed

Tywin Lannister

Lord Robert Arryn


Notes:

Storm's End – one of the strongest castles in the Seven Kindoms, main seat of the Baratheon’s and ancestral seat of the Storm Kings

King Robert arrives

Ned has not seen Robert since Balon Greyjoy's rebellion

This is when Ned took Balon's son Theon as a hostage

Robert has not aged well

Greyjoy Rebellion – uprising against the Iron Throne led by Balon Greyjoy, 289 AL, Balon tried to break away and restore the Iron Islands to the “Old Way”

Robert immediately wants to go to the crypts and pay his respect

Ned loved him for that

Robert was a man who knew how to take his pleasures, the same could not be said of Ned

Ned's brother Brandon was strangled by order of Mad King Aerys

His father was made to watch him die

Brandon was to marry Catelyn

Robert was supposed to marry Lyanna

Lyanna's Death/Promise (room smelled of blood and roses) 283 AL

Robert vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to Lyanna - and he did

Jon Arryn sickened very quickly

Robert says Lysa is not handling Jon's death well - she took her son to the Eyrie

Robert wanted the boy to foster with Tywin Lannister

Sitting a throne is a thousand times harder than winning one

Robert wants to name Ned Hand of the King

Hand of the King - king's chief advisor and executor of his command in the Seven Kingdoms.

Warden of the North (Stark), South (Martell), East (Arryn) and West (Lannister)

Robert suggests they join their houses - Prince Joffery and Sansa will be betrothed

Ned is worried about going south

Compare different versions of Rhaegar in this chapter and last

I really like this chapter. Ned is one off my favorite characters and Robert is not too far behind. The setting is cool and everything they talk about interests me. As a first time reader I was having a lot of trouble keeping everyone straight at this point, but every character we meet or hear about at this point has significance. It is easy to appreciate on a re-read.

Next up, Jon Snow.