Chapter 38: Sorting Out the Character Relationships and Events at the Start of Game of Thrones

We are about to enter the main plot of Game of Thrones. Since there are many characters in the show (and even more in the original books), some readers might not remember them all, so I am posting this single chapter.

I will categorize them by the nine great houses, with other important characters listed afterward.

1. House Targaryen:

Two people on the eastern continent of Essos: the Dragon Queen Daenerys Targaryen, and the Sleeping Dragon (also called the Beggar King) Viserys.

Two people in Westeros: the blind Maester Aemon of the Night's Watch and Jon Snow, who knows nothing.

The Dragon Queen was sold by Illyrio, a magistrate of the Free City of Pentos (this title of magistrate isn't very powerful; Pentos has many magistrates, and he is essentially just a merchant), to be the wife and Khaleesi of Drogo, a leader of a Dothraki tribe.

The Dragon Queen misses the days of her childhood living in the House with the Red Door in Braavos with William Darry, when she and her brother Viserys had servants to wait on them and a stable life.

Later, the siblings became displaced, but Viserys insisted on instilling the ideas of restoring the kingdom and the true dragon in the Dragon Queen.

The Sleeping Dragon Viserys was very good to the Dragon Queen when they were young, letting her climb into his bed and telling her stories of the Seven Kingdoms.

Later, because the rulers of the various city-states no longer cared for the Targaryen family, the two had to wander everywhere. The Sleeping Dragon also became crazy during this time, and finally died in the holy city of the Dothraki after being poured a Golden Crown by Khal Drogo.

The relationship between the siblings is quite moving when read in the original book; I will post a passage from the Dragon Queen's perspective below for everyone to feel:

"For years, he had run from city to city, chased by the Usurper's assassins, begging for help from magistrates, high princes, and merchant princes, even resorting to flattery to trade for food. He must have known how they looked down on him; no wonder he became so irritable, so difficult to approach, and was finally driven mad."

The Sleeping Dragon is also a tragic figure.

Everyone is very familiar with Jon Snow; to put it simply, he is the nephew of Eddard Stark and the second son of Prince Rhaegar (the eldest son was also named Aegon, who is dead; there is an imposter in the books). According to the laws of succession, he is currently the first heir to the Iron Throne.

The Dragon Queen is Snow's aunt, his biological aunt.

The blind Maester Aemon of the Night's Watch is of a much higher generation; he was the third elder brother of Aegon V and was chosen as king at the Great Council of 233, but he insisted on joining the Night's Watch.

Aegon V's nickname was Egg, so netizens call him "Egg-dan"; his son was Jaehaerys II, and his grandson was the Mad King Aerys II (the king overthrown by Robert). Snow is the grandson of his nephew.

2. House Stark:

All are on the continent of Westeros: Eddard, Benjen, Robb, Rickon, Bran, Sansa, Arya, and Catelyn Stark.

I won't talk about Eddard; he is the Duke of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

His wife, Catelyn, is the eldest daughter of Duke Hoster of House Tully, the Riverrun Protector. She has a friendly relationship with Littlefinger Petyr Baelish and is extremely foolish, selfish, and hypocritical.

Eddard has three sons and two daughters: the eldest son Robb, the second son Bran who was pushed off the tower by Jaime, and the third son Rickon (the Great Walnut).

The eldest daughter Sansa (extremely superficial and fickle; the first person she fell in love with in the book was that Night's Watchman from House Royce of the Vale, who is also the younger one among the three Night's Watchmen who appeared in the TV show). She hadn't seen much of the world and was dazzled by the flashy world of King's Landing; she was a naive girl early on and became scheming later.

Eddard had the princess's doll-maker make a doll for his eldest daughter. At first, Sansa didn't care, but later, during the Battle of the Blackwater, when everyone was panicked, Sansa ran back to her quarters and the first thing she found was this doll, which is still quite moving to look at.

I laughed when the scene with the Hound, Sandor Clegane, appeared; he is truly my Hound, so humorous.

The second daughter Arya (my favorite character, who has the Blood of the Wolf) treats everyone equally and loves adventure. It was super satisfying when she wiped out House Frey in the show.

The North remembers!

Robb's motive for sending troops was to make King's Landing release his father and sisters, but Joffrey played it too far, and the North and the Lannisters became mortal enemies.

3. House Arryn:

This family has the fewest people, and it's simple to talk about.

The death of the former Hand, Jon Arryn, is the reason Robert went north.

Jon Arryn was the foster father of Robert and Eddard. To consolidate the alliance of the four houses—Stark, Tully, Arryn, and Baratheon—old Arryn married Lysa, the second daughter of House Tully.

Thus, he went from being Eddard's foster father to Eddard's brother-in-law.

Each to their own; nothing wrong with that.

Jon Arryn doesn't have many scenes, but he has great charisma. In the book, he would feed his horse apples and carrots even when the horse was tired. The person in the whole show most like him is his foster son, Eddard.

Jon Arryn had a son born in his old age, Robert Arryn (called Robert in the book to commemorate the king; I use Robin here to distinguish him). When the TV show began, Lysa took Robin and slipped back to the Eyrie in the Vale.

The biggest source of conflict at the start of Game of Thrones is Lysa using Poison to kill Jon Arryn under Littlefinger's instruction, then writing a letter to her sister to frame the Lannisters.

At the beginning, House Arryn and the Vale were both under Lysa's control.

The forces of the Vale can be divided into two types: the pro-war faction led by Bronze Yohn (the current Count of House Royce, who is the father of that young Night's Watchman from the opening), which later formed the Defenders of the Vale.

Most of the pro-war nobles had a pretty good relationship with Eddard. If Eddard were alive, this part of the force might not necessarily obey Lysa's command, and Littlefinger viewed Lysa and the Vale as his own backyard; how could he let Eddard influence it?

I will analyze the little tricks Littlefinger played in Eddard's death later.

The pro-peace faction is mainly composed of the emerging merchant class and minor nobles. This faction is also Littlefinger's supporter (or rather, Littlefinger is their spokesperson).

4. House Lannister:

The wealthiest family on the entire continent; it is said that the excrement of their Jiaodu, Duke Tywin, is made of gold.

Tywin has two sons and one daughter: the golden twins Cersei and Jaime, and the imp Tyrion Lannister.

Cersei goes without saying; she is one of the stupidest women in the whole show, and Robert's death is inseparable from her.

She and Jaime gave birth to three children, all of whom were hung on the head of the cuckold king, Robert.

Jaime, the Kingslayer, the man who killed the Mad King.

I previously inferred that based on the Targaryen tradition of sibling marriage and Cersei's crazy personality, it is speculated that the two are descendants of the Mad King.

If true, then Jaime killed his own father with his own hands.

Cersei's biggest secret is the matter of the three children. Theoretically, she should have been the one to kill Jon Arryn (because the secret of the seed being strong was discovered by the former Hand), but Littlefinger stirred things up.

I won't say much about the others like Vane or Lancel.

The imp is one of my favorite characters; he is righteous and resourceful, and the scene where he is put on trial is simply explosive.

The kidnapping of the imp early on was the main reason the two armies of the Westerlands were stationed on the border of the Riverlands and The Mountain was plundering along the Red Fork.

It might be that Martin's early settings were insufficient; the few villages The Mountain burned in the book were all in the lower reaches of the Red Fork, which is near the Gods Eye close to King's Landing.

And The Mountain must have received orders from Tywin in the Westerlands to dare to do so, so he had no reason to cross the Riverlands to the east to burn a few villages first, and then cross the Red Fork again.

Moreover, there is another problem here: where did The Mountain cross the Red Fork?

If he reached the area surrounded by the Tungstone River, the Red Fork, and the Blue Fork (which is where the protagonist is located), then The Mountain might be blocked, because to reach the Lannister sphere of influence, he would have to cross the Tungstone River again, and that area is exactly where the vassal troops of House Tully are concentrated.

If he reached the area surrounded by the south bank of the Tungstone River and the Red Fork (which is the area where Riverrun is located), then he would be walking right into a trap, because the two families in the Riverlands specifically guarding against the Westerlands, House Vance and House Piper, had four thousand troops (the matter of Edmure throwing away these four thousand men happened after The Mountain escaped back to the Westerlands) gathering, specifically blocking the Lannister forces from crossing the river.

Martin might be like Shi Nai'an, both of them unable to get their bearings straight.

5. House Tyrell

The Knight of Flowers, Loras, appears early on, nicknamed the Knight of Flowers; his sister Margaery is nicknamed the Little Rose.

The Knight of Flowers is arguably one of the three young handsome men of the entire series (the other two being Lancel Lannister and the sleeping dragon Viserys); he is a weak man overflowing with a sense of justice, and upon hearing that The Mountain was pillaging along the Red Fork, he was eager to go.

Eddard was foolish at this moment; if he had let the Knight of Flowers participate in the pursuit of The Mountain, the Westerlands would have automatically become enemies with House Tyrell, and then what would have become of the War of the Five Kings?

The political ambition of House Tyrell was to marry the Little Rose, Margaery Tyrell, to a king; first, Renly plotted for the Little Rose to marry Robert, and then Renly himself went to Margaery.

Later, Margaery married Joffrey, Tommen, and others.

In short, it didn't matter who was the county magistrate, Margaery just had to be the magistrate's wife.

This is related to the fact that House Tyrell does not have a long history; like House Frey, they always want to attach themselves to a top-tier noble family to elevate their own influence.

6. House Tully

Hoster, Edmure, the she-wolf Catelyn Stark, and the eagle mother Lysa.

Two foolish daughters, one good-natured son, and yet they have a good uncle who is just and kind like the Blackfish; I really don't know how Hoster raised his children.

The conflict between House Tully and the Riverlands against the Lannisters began when the she-wolf kidnapped Tyrion Lannister.

The Riverlands belonged to those who were sabotaged by pig-like teammates.

Of course, the Sanhe archery god Edmure himself can also be considered a pig-like teammate.

Although Tywin did not like this dwarf son, he still sent troops for the sake of family honor. Actually, I feel that the house words of House Tully, "Family, Duty, Honor," are more suitable for Taiwen Laoye.

7. House Baratheon

The family currently claiming the Iron Throne.

The great stag Robert died while hunting; the father-son relationship between him and Qiao Fo Li Da Di is worth talking about.

Two people with absolutely no blood relation, yet they stubbornly regarded each other as their own biological son and father; it really makes one feel both amused and sigh.

After Robert died, the War of the Five Kings basically ended, and Qiao Fo Li Da Di was still feeling proud of Robert's military achievements.

Moreover, he had also heard about the affair between his uncle and his biological father, but he chose not to believe it; if he truly knew the truth, what kind of damage would it cause to the Great Emperor?

The second stag, Stannis, is the most famous man in the Seven Kingdoms for being cold and ungrateful.

There is a very funny segment:

This man, known throughout the Seven Kingdoms for being cold and ungrateful, shouted: "I am not a cold and ungrateful man."

Political ambition: To expose the scandalous affair between Cersei and Jaime, and to inherit the Iron Throne according to the laws of succession.

The Onion Knight under his command is also very interesting, constantly spouting witty remarks, and is just and kind.

The third stag, Renly.

After Robert died, his ambition expanded extremely, and he proclaimed himself king on his own; with the support of House Tyrell of the Reach and the Stormlands, he was the most powerful party before he died (he was killed by the Shadow of Stannis, not Stannis's child).

8. Dorne

Nothing much to say; there are basically no characters appearing in the early stages, and Prince Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper, is still "surfing" (people by the sea are just sophisticated; they don't even need to row when they go out, they rely entirely on surfing).

9. Iron Islands

The two sons of King Balon died at the hands of House Stark, and the third son, Theon Greyjoy, was raised by the Starks as a hostage.

After House Stark released Theon, King Balon decided to send troops to retaliate against The North.

Theon is also one of the most miserable people in the Game of Thrones world; he experienced the best treatment as a hostage and also suffered the worst treatment as a hostage.

Of course, Theon is also the character I consider to be the most successfully portrayed in the series; he is one of the few in the TV show whose characterization did not collapse.

10. The Small Council.

The eunuch Varys, the master of intelligence; do not be confused by the TV series, Varys has always been biased toward House Targaryen.

Judging from the fact that his manhood could drive Black Magic, he must be of House Targaryen blood, and he himself knows this, which is why he planned from the beginning to throw Westeros into chaos.

From the conversation Arya heard between him and Illyrio, he and this Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Zongdu of Pentos had been plotting to use the power of Khal Drogo and the Golden Company to launch a counterattack on Westeros.

The former commander of the Golden Company was of the Blackfyre family, a bastard branch of House Targaryen; after House Targaryen lost power, the Golden Company actually leaned toward House Targaryen.

He did not participate in the death of Jon Arryn, but he certainly knew about it.

Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, the Master of Coin.

He has a characteristic: there is never a word of truth in his mouth.

I mentioned earlier the huge influence Eddard had on The Vale, and if Eddard were alive, the framework of the alliance between House Stark, House Tully, House Arryn, and House Baratheon would remain.

The North plus the Riverlands, plus half of The Vale, plus Dragonstone, plus the Iron Islands, and then some lords from the Stormlands—no matter what, they could take on the Lannisters.

As for House Tyrell, their strength was sufficient, but their influence was lacking; they always just picked a side and never took the lead.

If Eddard were still around, Renly would likely have waited and watched before daring to decide whether to proclaim himself king.

By then, the majority of the four-house alliance would be attacking the Westerlands, and it would be far from the chaos of the War of the Five Kings.

How could Littlefinger allow this huge change to happen? Therefore, even if Qiao Fo Li Da Di did not kill Eddard, Eddard would definitely have died on the way back to The North.

Coincidentally, if Qiao Fo Li Da Di had not killed Eddard, then according to Cersei's plan, Eddard would have donned the black and gone to serve in the Night's Watch.

And among this group of the Night's Watch, there happened to be a top-tier assassin, the Faceless Man Jaqen H'ghar.

Thinking back to earlier, Littlefinger tried his best at the Small Council to obstruct Robert from using a Faceless Man to assassinate Daenerys; there is a trick to this.

As for Littlefinger saying there wasn't enough money, that is complete nonsense; in fifteen years, spending six million Gold Dragons plus the savings left by the Mad King Aerys II to hire a Faceless Man—could it cost more than that?

You must know that if Daenerys's child were born, it would truly threaten the rule of the Baratheon Dynasty.

Therefore, I judge that Jaqen H'ghar was Littlefinger's backup plan, used to kill Eddard.

Not to mention there was some personal grudge involved; Catelyn was Littlefinger's first love.

Grand Maester Pycelle.

Without a doubt, he is a man of House Lannister; it was he who advised the Mad King to open the gates of King's Landing and let the Lannister army enter the city.

11. Final review of the death of Jon Arryn

The poison was undoubtedly administered by Lysa, the wife of the former Hand of the King.

Littlefinger gave the order, and Lysa executed it.

I estimate that the Lion family and the Dragon family members like Varys were all well aware of this process, but no one said it out loud.

However, what is very strange is the death of Hugh, an Attendant of the Arryn family.

The one who poisoned him was Lysa; Hugh had absolutely no suspicion, yet he was still lanced to death by The Mountain at the Tourney.

This is definitely not a coincidence.

The greatest possibility is that Hugh found out about Lysa's poisoning and was bought off by Littlefinger to keep his mouth shut.

But given Littlefinger's intelligence, it is impossible for him to have only played this one move.

If the Lion family and House Stark do not go to war, then Westeros cannot fall into chaos.

Therefore, Hugh was the key to accusing the Lion family of poisoning Jon Arryn.

And the Lion family members vaguely knew of this move by Littlefinger, so they directly killed Hugh to ensure there was no proof.

Of course, Cersei does not have that level of intelligence, but the old man Pycelle might.

The three major players in the game of power in King's Landing: the Lion family, Littlefinger, and the Dragon family's Varys, with Littlefinger being the most active.

The rest, the Stag family, the Arryn family, House Stark, and the Tyrell family, are just objects being played with in King's Landing.

The series of events in the early stage were basically all facilitated by Littlefinger.

Although Littlefinger was well-prepared, he is not even half as clever as Qiao Fo Li Da Di.

He directly had Eddard beheaded, which resulted in Jaqen H'ghar's backup plan not being used.

This also makes the appearance of Jaqen H'ghar in the Black Brother's group look inexplicable.

The above relies entirely on the memories in my brain; if there is anything incorrect, please point it out in time.

PS: Considering how many words I have typed, could you give me a recommendation vote or a monthly ticket to show your support?

Kneeling in gratitude!

(End of this chapter)