

Not that serving as Hand is a job anyone should want - as Jaime puts it: "Their days are too long, and their lives are too short."Ī message arrives at Winterfell saying that John Arryn is dead and King Robert is paying a visit. Cersei worries that Arryn may have shared some unmentionable secret before his death, but Jaime is not concerned and notes that King Robert will find a replacement for Arryn soon enough. In the throne room at King's Landing, Ser Jaime Lannister and his twin sister Queen Cersei Baratheon look on as the Silent Sisters perform death rights over the body of John Arryn, the Hand of the King. As they walk away, Jon spies an albino runt cast to the side and takes it for himself. The wolf birthed a litter of pups before her death, and Jon Snow, bastard son to Ned, convinces his father that it's an omen: The direwolf is the sigil of House Stark, and Ned's five true-born children are meant to have the pups.

On their return to Winterfell, the party comes across a dead direwolf - a monstrous creature rarely seen south of the Wall.

The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." When Bran asks his father if the deserter really saw the White Walkers, Ned assures him that they've been gone for thousands of years. Afterward, he tells his the boy: "Our way is the old way. Ned draws his family's ancient blade, called Ice, and metes out the punishment as his sons - even young Bran - look on. On a hillside outside the castle walls, the ranger Will stands before Ned, understanding that his sentence is death but swearing that he saw White Walkers. They've captured a deserter from Night's Watch." Lord Ned Stark knows immediately what he must do, and orders his boys to saddle their horses. Their mirth is cut short, however, by news from Ser Rodrick Cassel, the house's Master at Arms: "The guards rode in from the hills. His tomboy sister, Arya Stark, abandons her training in needlework to fire a shot over Bran's shoulder with her own bow, skewering the target's center and sending the Starks into laughter. In the courtyard of Winterfell, young Bran Stark struggles with archery practice as his family looks on. Will races through the trees and comes face to face with Gared - moments before a shadowy creature with glowing blue eyes severs his friend's head and tosses it at Will's feet. As Will searches the area, the forest fills with Royce's screams and the gallop of the group's bolting horses.

He carries the news back to his comrades, Gared and Ser Waymar Royce, but before they can investigate further, the bodies disappear. Will, a slight ranger, verifies this information when he finds the dismembered corpses of the group's men, women and children scattered in a frozen glade. Three men of the Night's Watch ride out beyond the Wall after receiving reports that lawless tribes of wildings have been sighted near the border.
