Editing A Game of Thrones (section)

==Plot summary==

{{Main|Chapters#A Game of Thrones{{!}}Chapter Summaries}}

''A Game of Thrones'' follows three principal storylines as they develop in tandem with one another. The most storylines begin in the year {{Date|298}} (After Conquest), whilst the prologue takes place in {{Date|297}}. The story continues for many months, until {{Date|299}}.

===In the Seven Kingdoms===

[[Eddard Stark]], Lord of [[Winterfell]] and [[Warden of the North]], performs the execution of [[Gared|a man]] of the [[Night's Watch]] who has betrayed his vows and fled from the [[Wall]]. His sons [[Robb Stark|Robb]] and [[Bran Stark|Bran]], his bastard son [[Jon Snow]], and his ward [[Theon Greyjoy]] all attend. After the beheading, Robb finds a dead [[direwolf]] (the sigil of [[House Stark]]), killed by the antlers of a stag (the sigil of [[House Baratheon]]), which had given birth to five pups before it died. Robb and his brothers ask to keep them and Eddard consents, on the condition that the children themselves take care of them, rather than leaving the matter to the servants of House Stark. There are five pups, one for each of Eddard's trueborn children: Robb names his [[Grey Wind]] and Bran names his [[Summer]], whilst Eddard's daughters [[Sansa Stark|Sansa]] and [[Arya Stark|Arya]] name theirs [[Lady (direwolf)|Lady]] and [[Nymeria (direwolf)|Nymeria]] respectively. Eddard's youngest, three-year-old [[Rickon Stark|Rickon]], names his [[Shaggydog]]. Unexpectedly, Jon finds a sixth pup lying separately nearby: an [[w:albino|albino]] runt with white fur and red eyes. Jon claims this one, [[Ghost]], for himself.

King [[Robert I Baratheon]] arrives at Winterfell with his court and many retainers, including his wife, Queen [[Cersei Lannister|Cersei]] of [[House Lannister]], and his children: [[Joffrey Baratheon|Joffrey]], [[Myrcella Baratheon|Myrcella]] and [[Tommen Baratheon|Tommen]]. The queen's twin brother, Ser [[Jaime Lannister]] of the [[Kingsguard]], and their younger brother [[Tyrion Lannister|Tyrion]], the Imp (so named for his [[dwarf]]ism), also accompany the group. Robert asks Eddard to become the new [[Hand of the King]] after the death of the previous office holder, Lord [[Jon Arryn]]. Eddard agrees and travels south with his daughters Sansa and Arya, leaving Catelyn, Robb, Bran (now in a coma after a grievous fall from a window) and Rickon at home. Jon Snow elects to travel north to the [[Wall]] to join the [[Night's Watch]] and is joined by Tyrion, who is eager to see the fabled construction for himself.

Catelyn Stark learns from her sister [[Lysa Arryn]] (widow of the late Lord Jon Arryn) that the Lannisters had Jon Arryn murdered. After Eddard leaves for the south, [[catspaw|an attempt]] is made on Bran's life, thwarted only by the direwolf Summer. Catelyn realizes that Bran must have seen something and been pushed from the window deliberately, and that the would-be murderers are trying to cover their tracks. She travels by sea to [[King's Landing]] and learns from her childhood friend [[Petyr Baelish|Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish]] that the dagger used in the assassination attempt was last seen in the hands of Tyrion Lannister. Traveling north again, Catelyn and her retainers encounter Tyrion by chance in [[inn at the crossroads|an inn]] (as he returns south from the Wall) and take him captive to the [[Eyrie]], where Lady Lysa places him on trial. Unfortunately, Tyrion chooses [[trial by combat]] and his champion, a [[sellsword]] named [[Bronn]], wins freedom for him.

In the capital of [[King's Landing]], Eddard investigates Jon's death and learns that Jon Arryn and King Robert's brother, Lord [[Stannis Baratheon]], had discovered that Robert's three children are actually the products of an incestuous liaison between Queen Cersei and her twin brother, Jaime. Spurning the advice of Robert's youngest brother, [[Renly Baratheon|Renly]], to take Cersei into custody, Eddard instead offers mercy, telling Cersei to flee. King Robert dies of a mishap whilst hunting in the [[kingswood]] and Cersei's eldest son Joffrey is proclaimed king before Eddard can pass the crown to Stannis, Robert's true heir. When Eddard moves against Cersei, he is betrayed by Littlefinger. Eddard reluctantly agrees to sign a false confession of treason in return for Sansa and Arya's lives and the chance to go into exile on the Wall. Instead, Joffrey has Eddard brutally executed. Whilst Sansa is retained in custody, Arya manages to escape with the help of her fencing instructor, [[Syrio Forel]], and [[Yoren]], a [[wandering crow|recruiting agent]] for the [[Night's Watch]].

A civil war, later dubbed the [[War of the Five Kings]], erupts. Robb Stark leads an army of northmen into the [[riverlands]] to support Lord [[Hoster Tully]], whose forces had come [[War_of_the_Five_Kings#War in the Riverlands|under attack]] by Lord [[Tywin Lannister]] after Catelyn took Tyrion prisoner. [[Riverrun]], the Tully stronghold, is besieged by an army under Jaime Lannister, whilst Lord Tywin holds a large army south of the [[Trident]] to prevent Robb's advance. Unexpectedly, Robb wins the support of [[House Frey]] by agreeing to a dynastic marriage. This allows him to detach his cavalry and cross the [[Green Fork]] whilst his infantry carries on to the Trident under Lord [[Roose Bolton]], one of Robb's bannermen. Tywin, joined by the liberated Tyrion (who has won the support of the [[Vale mountain clans|mountain clans]] of [[Vale of Arryn|the Vale]]) defeats the Stark foot [[battle on the Green Fork|along the Green Fork]] before learning that Robb has outmaneuvered him. Shortly afterwards Robb's forces surprise and capture Jaime Lannister before smashing the Lannister army at the [[Battle in the Whispering Wood|Whispering Wood]] north of Riverrun. Tywin falls back on the strong castle of [[Harrenhal]] and orders Tyrion to go to King's Landing and counsel King Joffrey I, acting as Hand in his stead.

Lord Renly Baratheon flees south from King's Landing to [[Highgarden]], stronghold of the powerful [[House Tyrell]], and there is declared king by acclamation, becoming the second of the war's five kings.  Robb Stark becomes the third, when he is proclaimed the [[King in the North]] by the Stark and Tully bannermen present at Riverrun.

===On the Wall===

In the lands [[beyond the Wall]], three men of the [[Night's Watch]] stumble across the massacred bodies of [[free folk|wildlings]]. Ser [[Waymar Royce]] is confronted by several creatures of ice, the fabled '[[Others]]' of legend. He fights one, but is killed. The second man, [[Will]], investigates Waymar's corpse only for it to come to life and strangle him. The third, [[Gared]], is so terrified of what he sees that he flees south to the Wall and then beyond.  He is the deserter executed by [[Eddard Stark]] in the first chapter of the book.

[[Jon Snow]] chooses to join the Night's Watch when his father departs for [[King's Landing]] and travels north with his uncle [[Benjen Stark]], the [[First Ranger]] of the Watch. At the Wall Jon finds that the Watch is beset with problems. A new [[King-Beyond-the-Wall]] has arisen in the [[Beyond the Wall|far northern lands]] to rally the wildlings to his banner. This man, [[Mance Rayder]], was once a brother of the Watch before fleeing to join the wildlings. Jon also learns that the Watch is grievously under strength, mustering barely a thousand men to cover the three hundred miles of the Wall, and its manpower is now made up of murderers and criminals who chose the Wall over execution or imprisonment. Some time after Jon's arrival, Benjen vanishes whilst on a ranging beyond the Wall.

Jon and many of the other younger men are remorselessly bullied by the master-at-arms, [[Alliser Thorne]], but Jon concocts a plan for them to stand up to him. Jon wins the friendship of [[Samwell Tarly]], a craven but intelligent boy from the [[Reach]], and also that of Maester [[Aemon Targaryen (son of Maekar I)|Aemon]]. Jon is startled to learn that Aemon is a member of [[House Targaryen]], the grand-uncle of the now-deposed Mad King [[Aerys II Targaryen]], and the oldest man alive in Westeros.

The [[Lord Commander of the Night's Watch]], [[Jeor Mormont]], is attacked by a corpse which suddenly comes back to life. Jon burns the [[wight]], saving Mormont's life. Shaken, Mormont resolves to lead the Watch beyond the Wall in strength to test Mance Rayder's strength. Although news of his father's death and brother's war causes Jon to doubt his calling, he decides his place is with the Watch.

===In the East===

In the Free City of [[Pentos]], Magister [[Illyrio Mopatis]] and the exiled Prince [[Viserys Targaryen]] conspire to marry Viserys's thirteen-year-old sister [[Daenerys Targaryen|Daenerys]] to Khal [[Drogo]] of the [[Dothraki]]. Drogo commands a horde of forty thousand mounted warriors whom Viserys plans to use to reclaim his homeland from the usurper [[Robert I Baratheon]]. Among the wedding gifts are three petrified [[dragon egg]]s from Illyrio. Unexpectedly, Daenerys and Drogo find love as they journey east into the vast grasslands of the [[Dothraki sea]], and Daenerys becomes pregnant with a son, to be named [[Rhaego]] after her dead brother. Ser [[Jorah Mormont]], son of Lord Commander Mormont and a [[knight]] exiled from [[Westeros]] for dealing in slaves, joins Viserys's entourage as an adviser on the current state of the [[Seven Kingdoms]].

Viserys becomes angry about how long he must wait before Drogo decides to invade Westeros and, in a drunken rage, insults Drogo grievously. Drogo decides to crown him on the spot — with molten gold. Daenerys picks up her brother's quest to reclaim the [[Iron Throne]], but Drogo is just as obstinate with the moon of his life as he was with the [[Viserys Targaryen|Beggar King]]. The tables turn when a Westerosi assassin, in the pay of King Robert, nearly kills her and their unborn child; a furious Drogo agrees to invade Westeros. However, during a raid on the peaceful [[Lhazareen]] to fund their invasion, Drogo takes a wound fighting a [[Ogo|rival khal]]. Daenerys loses both Drogo and her unborn son to the machinations of a [[Mirri Maz Duur|Lhazareen witch]], and has the witch burned in Drogo's funeral pyre. Daenerys had previously felt the eggs and found them warm to her touch, but not to others'. Before she had placed them in a small fire and thought that the flames made something in the eggs alive. While the witch was being burned she placed the eggs in the blazing fire. Incredibly, the eggs hatch, and Daenerys Targaryen, the Stormborn, becomes mother to the first three [[dragon]]s seen in the world for one hundred and sixty years.