The Bastard

This chapter mostly serves to introduce the royal family and the rest of the Lannisters, although Jon's exchange with Benjen is significant too. Picking up from the previous chapter, Jon sees Robert the same way Ned does, but doesn't pull his punches in describing him - a fat man, red-faced and sweating. Joffrey's doucheface also makes an appearance, as does Tyrion's white-blond hair and his mention that his father does not really consider him his own - fodder for the Tyrion Targaryen theory, which I think is absurd.

This chapter seemed more clumsily written to me, than did some of the others. I can't exactly say why, but something about the writing style comes off as amateurish. I'd bet that GRRM wrote this one quite early in the process.

Benjen's conversaton with Jon seems odd. First he raises the idea of Jon going to the wall, but then begins discouraging him almost immediately. This may be because he wasn't expecting Jon to be so enthusiastic about it, but in any case, the seed is obviously planted. It's too bad Jon didn't have the chance to talk to Tyrion about the Wall during their conversation at the end of this chapter; maybe Tyrion's take on the sorry state of the Night's Watch might have given Jon second thoughts, if he'd heard it before becoming so emotionally committed to the idea.

Also touched on is the expectation that each younger son of a Great House will inherit a holdfast and serve as his older brother's bannerman, which relates to my complaint about the sparse size of noble families in ASOIAF - what happened to all of the Stark uncles, aunts, cousins, and so on, in the generations before Ned and Benjen's? Few of the other nobles families seem to be any more sizeable. But I've complained about this elsewhere. In a story of this scope, some things have to be abstracted and written unrealistically. In this case, we have problems with distances and the size of Westeros, and with missing nobles throughout the realm. Whatever - at least the political intrigue is developed more deeply, and that's what matters.

Finally - does anyone think it's significant that Ghost distrusts Tyrion initially? Is that an omen, or just a leftover from GRRM's early stages of writing, when he didn't put as much thought into things?

Also, what the hell is up with Tyrion backflipping down off walls?

Night Gathers, and Now My Watch Begins

Our first glimpse into the world of Westeros is North of the Wall. We are introduced to three Nights Watch Rangers, in the process of tracking a group of wildling raiders. The Rangers are led by Ser Waymar Royce, the third son of Lord Yohn Royce of Runestone. Through the eyes of Will, we learn that being sent to the Night's Watch may be used as a means of punishment. Will was arrested for poaching, and Ser Waymar is a third son, unlikely to gain lands or titles.

Much of the chapter is dedicated to showing the way that Ser Waymar, the "lordling" is viewed by his common born brothers in arms. Gared and Will despise Ser Waymar, and chafe at taking orders from him due to his relative lack of service on the wall, age, and attitude. Ser Waymar is overconfident, cocky, and unwilling to listen to Gared, the older and more experienced man. Ser Waymar's confidence, and his refusal to "fail on his first ranging" in the end is what leads to his death and the death of his men. He bravely faces off against a White Walker before being killed and resurrected as a vengeful wight. Indeed, it is Ser Waymar who Benjen Stark is searching for when he goes missing on his ranging.

The chapter serves as a strong introduction. We're headed to a world where the stories you hear "at a woman's teat" in the words of Ser Waymar Royce, are about to come true.

What's more interesting to me, more than anything that happens in this specific chapter, with its three soon to be dead main characters, is how Ser Waymar's failed ranging affects the way Jon Snow is treated when he arrives at the Wall.

As noted frequently in the series, the Night's Watch was once considered a noble calling. Much ink is committed to reinforcing the fact that the Night's Watch has changed from a group of knights and lords dedicated to saving the kingdom to a group of malcontents and rapists living bitter and miserable lives on the Wall. Ser Waymar Royce, as a son of Bronze Yohn Royce, the second most powerful Lord in the Vale, is a big catch for the Night's Watch and a glowing exception. His coming does the Watch great honor, and they are in his father's debt. As a result, they make him a ranger and give him command of a ranging within six months of being on the Wall. Contrast that with the treatment Jon Snow gets when he arrives and you see that what happens here serves as an important lesson for the Watch.

Jon Snow, despite being from a more powerful and prestigious House than Ser Waymar, is trained with the regular recruits when he first arrives. When he asks his uncle Benjen to go ranging, he is immediately shot down. Furthermore, the need for men who can read and write means that Jon is placed with the stewards, not with the rangers, like Ser Waymar, which is directly against his wishes.

Since we see Ser Waymar primarily through the eyes or Gared and Will, we see his arrogance and condescension. We don't get the benefit of seeing Jon through the eyes of Grenn or Rast, so we don't see exactly how he comes off initially. But we do see that he is feared by the recruits and disdained by the long-serving brothers. Going through training "with the boys" helps prepare Jon for the entirety of the life ahead of him, a benefit Ser Waymar didn't have.