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===Background=== Brienne is the daughter and only surviving child of Lord Selwyn Tarth, Lord of Evenfall Hall on the island of Tarth. House Tarth is a bannerman to House Baratheon, the lord paramount of the Stormlands. Brienne's mother died when she was a child, and she had a single older brother, Galladon, who drowned when she was 8, and two younger sisters, both of whom died in infancy. Brienne as a child was under the tutelage of Septa Roelle, who found fault in everything about Brienne and destroyed her self-esteem. She told Brienne that although a man would marry her, as she is heir to her father's land, he could never desire her. Brienne's father tried to find her a suitor to wed. This proved to be difficult, however, due to both Brienne's resistance and her ungainly appearance. Nonetheless, three successive but ultimately unsuccessful betrothals were attempted. The first was when she was 7 and her fiance was 10, but he died of an illness. Next, a betrothal was brokered by the lord of the land-poor house Connington, to his young newly knighted heir Ronnet, but young Ser Ronnet broke the betrothal the first time he met Brienne. Brienne's father's last attempt was to betroth her at 16 to Ser Humfrey Wagstaff, a middle aged friend of his, who was castellan of another house. Humfrey informed Brienne that she was expected to give up her training and become more feminine after their wedding. Brienne rejoined that she would acquiesce, but only if Wagstaff could beat her in combat. Their fight resulted in three broken bones and a broken betrothal. Brienne had begged Tarth's master-at-arms Ser Goodwin to teach her skill at arms. As her skills grew, so did her confidence. He made her get over her inability to inflict pain by slaughtering pigs. At one point in her history, Brienne met Renly Baratheon when he visited her island on a coming of age tour. He treated Brienne with courtesy and respect, and danced with her; as a result, she fell in unrequited love with him. When the War of Five Kings begins, with Stannis and Renly Baratheon both claiming the crown, Tarth remains neutral, but Brienne gets her father's permission to go independently and declare for Renly.

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===Appearance=== Brienne is described as unfeminine in appearance, and is considered unattractive. She is very tall, muscular, flat-chested, and ungainly, with straw-colored hair and broad, coarse features that are covered in freckles. Her teeth are prominent and crooked, her mouth is wide, her lips are swollen, and her nose has been broken more than once. However, her large blue eyes are described as beautiful.

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====In the books==== In the novel ''A Feast for Crows'', Brienne describes herself as "the only child the gods let my father keep. The freakish one, one not fit to be son or daughter." In "Beyond The Wall", a collection of essays, Caroline Spector describes Brienne as a "study in heartbreaking contradictions. She embraces the romantic ideals of her culture, both emotionally and through her actions, but is continually betrayed by the real world simply because she cannot turn herself into the woman the Westerosi legends tell her she should be."

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====In the TV adaptation==== Charlie Harwood of HBOwatch describes Brienne as "loyal, stubborn, headstrong, and judgmental. Despite the repeated insults from knights, who mockingly call her "Brienne the Beauty", she holds a simple idea of knighthood, believing that knights should be chivalrous and always honor their vows." In an interview for ''SFX'' magazine, Gwendoline Christie described Brienne as an outsider who has had to develop "outer strength that often matches or supersedes that of any man in order to be treated with equality. She doesn't want to get married...yet she's internally romantic...she has an overriding sense of honour and what is right, and that's what makes her such a brilliant character to play: that her outer is so stable and masculine, but inside she's so fragile."

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====''A Clash of Kings''==== Brienne joins Renly Baratheon's army when he marches on King's Landing. She wins the Melee at Bitterbridge, held by Renly, and is permitted to join Renly's Rainbow Guard as her prize. When it becomes apparent that Renly will be forced to battle his brother Stannis, Brienne is assigned as his standard bearer. However, before the battle, in which Renly intends his brother's death, Renly is assassinated by a shadow. Brienne is accused of the murder before Catelyn Stark is able to convince those present of her innocence, and Brienne accompanies Catelyn back to Riverrun. Although Brienne wishes to have revenge on Stannis for Renly's death, Catelyn persuades Brienne to serve her instead. Catelyn later goes to visit the captive Jaime Lannister in the dungeons; when Jaime begins to mock Catelyn's husband Ned's infidelity, Catelyn calls for Brienne's sword.

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====''A Storm of Swords''==== Catelyn has Jaime sent to King's Landing to exchange him for her captive daughters Sansa and Arya, escorted by Brienne and Jaime's cousin Ser Cleos Frey. They are attacked by outlaws who kill Cleos, and Jaime tries to escape in the commotion. Brienne restrains Jaime, but they are captured by the mercenary company the Brave Companions, allied to House Bolton. When their leader, Vargo Hoat, cuts off Jaime's hand, Brienne convinces Jaime to live to have revenge on Hoat. In return, Jaime stops the Brave Companions from raping Brienne. The two prisoners are taken to Harrenhal, where Jaime reveals that he killed the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen to stop him from burning King's Landing. Roose Bolton allows Jaime to return to King's Landing but allows Hoat to keep Brienne as his prize. Hoat attempts to rape Brienne, but she bites off his ear, and Hoat throws her into a bear pit before Jaime returns to have her released. Brienne and Jaime arrive in King's Landing to find that King Joffrey Baratheon has been poisoned, Catelyn Stark has been murdered by the Freys, and both Arya and Sansa have fled the city. Renly's lover Ser Loras Tyrell accuses Brienne of Renly's murder, and Jaime has Brienne imprisoned for her own safety. Jaime allows Loras to speak to Brienne, and she convinces him of her innocence. Jaime releases Brienne and gives her a sword forged from Ned Stark's Valyrian steel sword "Ice"; Jaime asks her to name the sword "Oathkeeper". Jaime asks Brienne to find Sansa and fulfill her oath to Catelyn.

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====''A Feast for Crows''==== At Duskendale, Brienne encounters Tyrion Lannister's squire Podrick Payne and allows him to join her. During her journey through the Riverlands she finds Ser Hyle Hunt, whom she knew from Renly's camp, and hires Nimble Dick Crabb as a guide (he is killed when Brienne encounters some of the Brave Companions). Brienne eventually arrives at the inn at the crossroads, where she meets Arya's former traveling companion Gendry, now helping shelter a group of orphans. The inn is attacked by another group of Brave Companions, and Brienne is forced to intervene to protect the children. She is grievously wounded by the outlaw Biter before the Brotherhood Without Banners arrives to kill the Companions. The Brotherhood takes Brienne, Podrick, and Ser Hyle Hunt (who had been following them) captive and presents them to their leader Lady Stoneheart, whom Brienne is horrified to realise is a reanimated Catelyn Stark. Stoneheart accuses Brienne of serving the Lannisters, and forces her to choose between killing Jaime or being hanged. When Brienne refuses to choose, Stoneheart orders her and her group hanged. Seeing Podrick dying, Brienne agrees to kill Jaime in order to spare their lives.

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====''A Dance with Dragons''==== Brienne confronts Jaime at the Lannister camp at Pennytree, and entreats him to come with her and save Sansa from whom she thinks is Sandor "The Hound" Clegane.

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===In the show=== Gwendoline Christie plays the role of Brienne of Tarth in the television series

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====Season 2==== Brienne is first introduced when she defeats Ser Loras Tyrell to win the sword tournament held by Renly Baratheon, who has declared himself King, and is rewarded with a place in his kingsguard. Catelyn Stark arrives at Renly's camp soon afterward, and successfully negotiates an alliance between Robb Stark and Renly, but Renly is promptly killed by a shadow demon with the face of Renly's brother and rival Stannis, who has discovered he is the rightful heir to House Baratheon, but whom Renly intended to kill the next day. Brienne kills two of Renly's kingsguard in self-defense, when they attack her thinking she murdered Renly, and Catelyn counsels her to flee with her back to Robb's camp in the Westerlands. Brienne swears allegiance to Catelyn. At Robb's camp, Catelyn releases the captive Ser Jaime Lannister and tasks Brienne with taking him to King's Landing, forcing Jaime to vow to return Sansa and Arya Stark to Catelyn in exchange.

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====Season 3==== In the Riverlands, Brienne and Jaime are captured by a squad of Bolton's soldiers. Jaime dissuades the soldiers from raping Brienne by claiming that her father will reward them with sapphires for returning Brienne unharmed, but their leader Locke cuts off Jaime's sword hand when he tries to bargain to be untied. Brienne and Jaime are taken to Harrenhal, where Jaime reveals to Brienne that he killed the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen to stop him from burning King's Landing. Roose Bolton has Jaime released but keeps Brienne prisoner for abetting treason. Locke tries to ransom Brienne but is offended by what he perceives to be Selwyn Tarth's paltry ransom (compared to the sapphires Jaime had led him to expect) and instead throws Brienne into a pit with a bear and only a wooden sword with which to defend herself. When Jaime learns that Brienne has been left at Locke's mercy, he returns to Harrenhal, finds Brienne in trouble, and jumps in to save her by coming in between her and the bear. Jaime then forces Locke's men to pull up both Brienne and himself. They then complete their journey to King's Landing.

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====Season 4==== Brienne cannot return Sansa to Catelyn Stark, as Catelyn has been murdered by the Freys, and Jaime argues that Sansa (now married to Tyrion) is safer staying in King's Landing. Brienne speaks with Margaery Tyrell and explains that she did not kill Renly, then attends King Joffrey Baratheon's wedding to Margaery Tyrell. At the wedding, Cersei confronts Brienne and implies that Brienne loves Jaime, and Brienne witnesses Joffrey's death by poisoning. After Tyrion is accused of the murder, his brother Jaime gives Brienne a Valyrian steel sword (which Brienne names "Oathkeeper") and a coat of armor in support of her mission to find Sansa and take her to safety. He also gives her Tyrion's former squire, Podrick Payne, whose life is in danger after he refuses to offer false testimony against Tyrion. On their way through the Riverlands, Briene and Podrick meet Arya Stark's former travelling companion Hot Pie; after learning from him that Arya is alive, they decide to travel to the Vale, as they suspect she is being sheltered by her aunt Lysa Arryn. There, Brienne encounters Arya and her escort, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane. When Arya refuses to go with Brienne, Brienne and the Hound fight, culminating in Brienne's forcing him off a cliff and dealing him an apparently deadly wound, although Arya escapes in the confusion.

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====Season 5==== After searching fruitlessly for Arya, the dispirited Brienne and Podrick spot Sansa Stark in a tavern in the company of Lord Petyr Baelish, and Brienne offers Sansa her services. Sansa refuses, and Brienne, realizing that she is in danger from Baelish, flees with his guards in pursuit, but undeterred, she follows Sansa to the ancestral Stark stronghold of Winterfell, where she has been wed to Roose's sadistic son Ramsay. Staying in the nearby town, Brienne manages to have a message smuggled into Winterfell instructing Sansa how to signal if she is in need of help. Although the woman who relays this message is tortured, she dies before revealing who sent it. Sansa eventually manages to escape the room where Ramsay has kept her captive, while the Boltons are preparing to battle Stannis' approaching forces. However, Brienne has left to find and kill Stannis (having sworn to avenge his brother Renly's death) before she can see Sansa's signal. Brienne finds Stannis gravely wounded in the aftermath of the battle and, after he confesses to his role in Renly's death, she executes him, telling him she is doing so in the name of the rightful king Renly.

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====Season 6==== Brienne follows a group of Bolton soldiers sent to recapture Sansa, who had fled Winterfell along with Ramsay's slave Theon Greyjoy, and kills the soldiers before offering her services again to Sansa, who accepts. Brienne reveals to Sansa that Arya is still alive, although her whereabouts are unknown. Brienne, Podrick, and Sansa journey on to Castle Black (Theon having returned to the Iron Islands), where Sansa's half-brother Jon Snow, has just resigned as Lord Commander. At Castle Black she encounters Stannis' former advisors Davos Seaworth and Melisandre, and mockingly informs them that she killed Stannis and still blames them for their part in Renly's death. Also, a wilding, Tormund Giantsbane, takes a liking to Brienne, which she finds bothersome. Brienne escorts Sansa to meet with Littlefinger, who reveals that Sansa's great-uncle Brynden "Blackfish" Tully has captured House Tully's home Riverrun from the Freys. When Jon and Sansa leave Castle Black to gather men to overthrow Ramsay Bolton, Sansa sends Brienne to Riverrun to seek the Blackfish's support. Brienne claims Davos can't be trusted due to his former support for Stannis and then abandoning him, even though Davos only left on Stannis' orders. Brienne arrives at Riverrun to find it besieged by the Frey and Lannister armies, led by Jaime. Jaime permits Brienne to enter Riverrun to talk to the Blackfish, who is sympathetic to Sansa's cause but refuses to abandon his home. Soon afterward, the Blackfish's nephew Lord Edmure Tully is coerced into ordering the Tully troops to stand down. As the Lannisters begin pouring into the castle, the Blackfish helps Brienne and Podrick escape. Jaime sees them sailing away, and he and Brienne exchange a mournful farewell.

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====Season 7==== Despite Brienne's failure to secure House Tully's support, the Stark loyalists are successful in ousting House Bolton, albeit only with the intervention of the Knights of the Vale and Littlefinger. Bran and Arya Stark, having heard of the Starks' victory, return to Winterfell. Arya spars with Brienne and takes Brienne aback when she is able to fight Brienne to a draw. Sansa receives a letter inviting her to King's Landing, where Jon intends to present evidence of the White Walkers to Queen Cersei. Refusing to return to King's Landing, Sansa sends Brienne as her representative, despite Brienne's reluctance to leave Sansa unprotected from Littlefinger. In King's Landing she is reunited with the Hound, who survived his injuries, and tells him Arya is safe. When Cersei refuses to aid in fighting the dead, she entreats Jaime to change her mind.

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====Season 8==== Brienne returns to Winterfell after the parley with the Lannisters, and is present to greet Jon and Daenerys Targaryen as they arrive with Daenerys' forces. Jaime arrives at Winterfell soon after, revealing that Cersei has no intention of sending her forces to Winterfell. Daenerys, the daughter of the Mad King, wishes to execute Jaime, but Brienne vouches for him and Sansa overrules Daenerys. Jaime tells Brienne that he has come to fight under her command, and knights her with Podrick, Tormund, Davos, and Tyrion bearing witness. With this, she becomes the first woman in Westeros history to be knighted. Brienne commands the forces of the Vale during the battle against the dead with Jaime and Podrick by her side, and survives the battle. After the battle, Jaime and Brienne become lovers. However, Jaime leaves Winterfell after learning of Cersei's forces attack on Daenerys' fleet, leaving Brienne distraught. Jaime is ultimately killed during Daenerys' destruction of the Red Keep. When Jon kills Daenerys, Brienne travels to King's Landing with the Starks to determine the future of the Seven Kingdoms. Bran Stark is chosen as king, and Brienne is named commander of his Kingsguard, with Podrick also serving after being knighted. Brienne completes Jaime's entry in the White Book, commemorating the Kingsguard.

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==Reception== Functional weapons and armor, like Brienne of Tarth's (left), were manufactured for the series.

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===''A Song of Ice and Fire''=== Brienne has proved to be a popular character with fans of the ''Ice and Fire'' series. Her popularity has led to merchandising, and HBO has released a T-shirt with Brienne's house sigil on it. Brent Hartinger writes in his essay, "A Different Kind of Other: The Role of Freaks and Outcasts in A Song of Ice and Fire", that Brienne is a disappointment, even a freak, to her family and culture. He believes her character is a well-written departure from fantasy novels where the main characters are commonly "the slender, the heterosexual, the average-heighted, the conventionally abled and traditionally gendered." Writing for witandfancy.com, Samantha Mann describes Brienne as an "awesome" character who "sticks to her belief that a knight is an honorable person who always keeps their oaths," even in a story where "good people do bad things (and vice versa)." Arthur McCulloch, writing for chamberfour.com, states that "Brienne, who while unique as a character, is never really developed. Brienne's issues and struggles remain constant. The reader merely follows her on her quest, which is an unsatisfying one at best."

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===Feminist critique=== In her essay "Power and Feminism in Westeros," Caroline Spector describes Brienne as a woman who does not conform and who defies cultural expectations. Her character highlights the perception of women in Westeros in that her fellow warriors assume that her sexuality is "something to be coerced or taken, not something over which she has control... So, too, the consistent rejection Brienne endures for failing to offer the men around her a pleasing countenance." Spector also observes Brienne as a woman who has "taken for herself most of the attributes of male power," and thus provides a "stark lesson how women who dare to take male power for their own are judged and treated not only in Westeros but in all conventionally patriarchal societies."

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===Recognition and awards=== Best Supporting Actress on Television Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

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"'''The Bear and the Maiden Fair'''" is a folk song in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', and it is sung in the television series adaptation ''Game of Thrones''. The lyrics are provided by George R. R. Martin in the original novel; Ramin Djawadi composed the tune's music in 2012, at the request of the series creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and the recording, by The Hold Steady, was arranged by Tad Kubler.

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==History== The US indie rock band The Hold Steady recorded "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" for season 3. Brienne and Jaime's captors (who include musician Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol, in a cameo appearance) sing the song in episode 3 of that season ("Walk of Punishment"), and The Hold Steady's recording is played over the end credits. The recording was released on a seven-inch record on April 20, 2013. In the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels, "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" is a traditional song popular among people of all social classes throughout Westeros. It recounts the story of a bear, "All black and brown / And covered with hair", who traveled to a summer fair, and smelled "on the summer air ... The maid with honey / In her hair!" Although she vowed that she'll "never dance / With a hairy bear", he "lifted her high / Into the air", and "licked the honey / From her hair", until she "sighed and squealed / And kicked the air", eventually agreeing to go off with her "bear so fair".

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==Credits== * The Hold Steady – band, primary artist * Ramin Djawadi – composer, primary artist, producer * George R.R. Martin – lyricist

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"'''The Watchers on the Wall'''" is the ninth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of HBO's fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the 39th overall. The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Neil Marshall. It aired on June 8, 2014. Like season two's "Blackwater" (also directed by Marshall), the episode focuses exclusively on one storyline: the Wildling assault on Castle Black and the Wall, and the Night's Watch defense, led by Ser Alliser Thorne and Jon Snow.

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==Plot== As they keep watch atop the Wall for the coming invasion, Jon and Samwell discuss Jon's relationship with Ygritte during his time with the wildlings. At a nearby camp, the Thenn Warg scouts the Wall using an owl, while Ygritte declares that Jon is hers to kill. In the library of Castle Black, Sam and Maester Aemon discuss Gilly, who arrives at the castle. Their reunion is cut short by horns signaling that Mance Rayder's army has arrived. Jon sees a massive fire burning on the north side of the Wall, and he and his brothers complete preparations for battle. Sam finds Gilly and her baby shelter in the kitchen, and joins the defense after kissing her goodbye. Ygritte reports that the castle's entrance is undermanned, and Styr orders the group to attack. As Thorne readies the archers, another horn informs him the castle is being attacked from both sides. Alliser leaves charge of the Wall to Slynt and heads for the castle to battle the Thenns. Slynt proves an inept commander, and Grenn tricks him into going to the castle, leaving Jon in charge. Several giants and a woolly mammoth attempt to pull up the Wall gate, and Jon sends Grenn with men to defend the passage. At the castle, Thorne is wounded by Tormund and is taken to be treated. Sam and Pyp shoot at the wildlings with crossbows, but Pyp is shot through the neck by Ygritte. Sam ascends the Wall, killing the Thenn Warg, and informs Jon that the courtyard is overrun, and Jon leaves charge of the Wall to Edd. Returning to the south side of Castle Black, Jon leads the remaining Night's Watch, along with his direwolf, Ghost. Jon kills Styr after taking a severe beating, and is confronted by Ygritte. She hesitates as they smile at each other, and Olly shoots her in the back. As Ygritte and Jon reminisce that they should have stayed in the cave together, she dies in his arms. Edd leads a successful defense, and the wildling army appears to withdraw. Tormund, hit by several arrows, is captured on Jon's orders. In the morning, Jon tells Sam that he will go north of the Wall to kill Mance. They find Grenn and his men have died killing a giant, and Jon tells Sam to have their bodies burned. Jon gives Sam his sword, Longclaw, before departing.

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==Production== The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. This episode adapts content from the ''A Storm of Swords'' chapters Jon VII, Jon VIII and Jon IX. "The Watchers on the Wall" marks the return of director Neil Marshall, whose previous episode for the show as director was "Blackwater". Marshall also makes a cameo appearance in the episode as an archer on the Wall.

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=== Ratings === "The Watchers on the Wall" was watched by an estimated 6.95 million people during its first airing. In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 1.748 million viewers, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week. It also received 0.072 million timeshift viewers.

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=== Critical reception === The episode received a score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 33 reviews, the lowest score of the season. The site's consensus reads: "While "The Watchers of the Wall" lacks the emotional punch of previous episodes this season, it succeeds as an action-packed hour with cinema-worthy visuals." James Hibberd of ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote, "the episode was an intense rousing hour of heroism and heartbreak that set a new bar for what this show – and TV – can do." Another positive review came from Terri Schwartz of Zap2it.com, who wrote, "As the most expensive episode of the series, the Battle at Castle Black felt like an equivalent of ''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' Battle of Helm's Deep." David Malitz of ''The Washington Post'' was more negative about the episode, writing, "Aside from the major moment with Jon Snow and Ygritte it was hard to feel too emotionally invested in anything that happened. And as visually exciting as it was to watch everything unfold, the ending was surprisingly unfulfilling."

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===Accolades=== Neil Marshall was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for this episode. Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series Tim Kimmel, Jed M. Dodge, Tim Hands, Paula Fairfield, David Klotz, Bradley C. Katona, Brett Voss, Jeffrey Wilhoit, and Dylan T. Wilhoit Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour) Ronan Hill, Richard Dyer, Onnalee Blank, and Mathew Waters Best Sound Editing in Television – Short Form: Music Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program Dan Breckwoldt, Martin Furman, Sophie Marfleet, and Eric Andrusyszyn

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'''''Game of Thrones''''' is an action role-playing video game based on ''A Game of Thrones'', the first of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels by George R. R. Martin, and in part also on the novels' TV adaptation by HBO, ''Game of Thrones''. The game was developed by Cyanide and published by Atlus USA in North America and Focus Home Interactive in Europe and Australia. James Cosmo and Conleth Hill reprise their roles from the HBO series as Lord Commander Jeor Mormont and Lord Varys, respectively. George R. R. Martin has a cameo appearance as Maester Martin in Castlewood. The game also uses other assets from the HBO series, such as the music.

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==Plot summary== The game takes place concurrently with season 1 of Game of Thrones, and switches between two characters, Alester Sarwyck and Mors Westford. Alester, a knight, was the heir to Sarwyck, a lordly house under Lannister, but had fled to Essos 15 years before, being traumatized by an unspecified event at the end of Robert's Rebellion. During that time, he became a priest of R'hllor. He returns to Riverspring, his home, after hearing of his father's death. Mors Westford is one of the best rangers of the Night's Watch, and prior to that, he was one of the best knights serving House Lannister. Near the end of Robert's Rebellion, he refused a direct order to kill Elia Martell and her two infants, thereby putting his family's lives in danger. He sent his wife and daughter into hiding and was persuaded to join the Night's Watch to avoid execution. Mors is also a skinchanger, and has a dog which he can control at will. Alester, at his father's funeral, learns that his younger brother Gawen was recently disinherited, and has gone missing following his father's death. Gawen is suspected of murdering his father with poison. Meanwhile, Alester's half-brother, Valarr Hill, a bastard and a knight of the queen's guard, is engaged to Alester's sister, Elyana, and is set to become Riverspring's next lord, which Alester is determined to stop. As the funeral ends, a riot occurs among starving peasants. Alester takes command of the city guard and uses either force or negotiation to end the riot. Alester then leaves for King's Landing to search for clues about Gawen's disappearance. While there, he is arrested by the City Watch at Valarr's instigation. Varys helps him escape and meet with Queen Cersei, who decides to hire him for secret missions, and to make him compete against Valarr. The two are sent to kill a bastard named Harry Waters, who is protected by Jon Arryn's knights, led by Godric Donnerly. With Godric dead, they learn that Arryn was protecting another woman and sent her to the Wall. Valarr sends his lieutenant Yohn to impersonate Godric and find this woman. Alester then encounters Lord Arwood Harlton, who offers to help find Gawen. They find a genealogical book which proves that the queen's children are illegitimate. Alester searches the sewers for Gawen but finds bandits sent by Janos Slynt. Alester infiltrates the City Watch and finds a Gawen's corpse, and a letter showing that Slynt was hired by Valarr. At this point, Harlton reveals that he is part of a conspiracy to reinstate the Targaryens, as was Alester's father. Alester joins and goes to Harlton's estate, Castlewood. While all this happens, Mors Westford is tasked with hunting down Night's Watch deserters. On one chase, he takes three new recruits to the castle Icemark, but they are attacked by wildlings. Two men die, one man named Poddy deserts, and Mors survives only when rescued by Qhorin Halfhand. Mors pursues and kills Poddy. Returning to Castle Black, Mors receives a letter from Jon Arryn asking him to protect a girl named Jeyne Greystone. Arryn's knights, led by Godric, appear to help Mors locate her. They find her in Mole's Town but Jeyne insists that Godric is an impostor. Mors and others have several fights against the impostors, as well as members of the Night's Watch who were bribed. As Yohn, the false Godric, dies, he reveals he was sent by Valarr. Jeor Mormont is furious and wants to strike back. He makes Mors a recruiter for the Night's Watch to give him a cover to head south, so that Mors can hide Jeyne and to bring Valarr to justice. Weeks later, Mors and Jeyne arrive at a deserted cabin belonging to House Westford, where Jeyne reveals that she is a bastard daughter of Aerys Targaryen, one of King Robert's mistresses, and pregnant with the king's child. Shortly after, Mors discovers his wife and daughter's graves. They are attacked by Valarr's men, but soldiers from Harlton counterattack and take Mors and Jeyne into custody. Harlton reveals that, as a top advisor, he arranged Jeyne's relationship with the king to produce a half-Targaryen, half-Baratheon to be a puppet ruler. Mors is tortured in the dungeon, but one night, he uses his dog to free another prisoner, Gawen. Gawen meets with his brother Alester, who is staying upstairs, and reveals that Harlton murdered their father and faked Gawen's death. Alester liberates Mors, but Gawen is killed. It is revealed that Mors and Alester are old friends, who fought together in Robert's Rebellion. Alester and Mors are forced to flee Castlewood without Jeyne. At Riverspring, they find that Valarr is holding the entire town hostage, but they successfully break in, derailing Valarr's wedding. Mors duels Valarr, but is killed by Valarr's shadow magic. As he dies, Valarr reveals that he was behind the murder of Mors' family. The wedding guests proclaim the duel invalid because of the shadow magic, and try to support Alester, but Valarr reacts by massacring the town. Alester reveals Jeyne's location to Valarr in an attempt to save Elyana, but Valarr kills her regardless. Alester and his supporters organize a resistance while Valarr takes most of his men to Castlewood. Afterwards, Alester pays respects to Mors by performing the ritual of the Last Kiss, which unwittingly brings Mors back to life. As Valarr attacks Castlewood seeking to capture Jeyne, Alester and Mors sneak into the building, but find that Jeyne is in labor. Harlton is killed by Valarr's shadow-magic, while Jeyne allows Valarr to kill her, hoping that he will not realize that she has already given birth. Back in Riverspring, Alester and Mors learn that King Robert has died. A few days later, as Eddard Stark is being executed, they find and kill Valarr, having stolen a Valyrian sword to fight off Valarr's demons. Valarr, with his dying breath, reveals that he and Alester killed Mors' family together, acting on Tywin Lannister's orders. This is why Alester fled to Essos. Alester and Mors duel to the death. One of them survives and is confronted by Varys, who offers to send Jeyne's baby to Essos to be cared for. The game has four possible endings: * Alester survives, sends the baby to Essos, and confronts the queen, whereupon he is dragged away for a quick execution. * Alester survives, gives the baby to the queen, and inherits Riverspring, but is depressed and contemplates suicide. * Mors survives, sends the baby to Essos, and returns to the wall, regularly executing deserters and becoming highly jaded. * Mors survives and deserts the Night's Watch, hoping to raise the baby in Essos himself, as sworn brothers confront him at the Westford cabin.

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===Downloadable content=== In November 2012 Cyanide published the downloadable content (DLC) "Beyond the Wall". It is set 10 years before the plot of ''Game of Thrones''. It was released for PC platforms, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Gorold, Mors, and a Sworn Brother named Weasel are forced to go beyond the Wall, after a Night's Watch builder, Maekar, is abducted by wildlings. Weasel betrays Gorold and Mors to a wildling chief named Bael. Bael forces Mors and Gorold to take part in his pit fights. Mors meets his dog here, who is also forced to fight. After Mors and Gorold make an unpopular decision in the pits, a wildling, presumably angry at losing his wager, breaks into Mors' cage to assassinate him, but Mors' dog kills him. This enables Mors to find Gorold and escape the camp. However, Mors insists that they find Maekar first. Maekar is found to have had his arms and legs removed, and reveals that they were taken to provide meat to feed the pit fighters. He also tells Mors that he revealed the Wall's secrets and weaknesses to the Wildlings. Mors sends Gorold back to get reinforcements, and proceeds to massacre the entire Wildling encampment. When the Sworn Brothers return, one comments that it is "like a slaughterhouse," and Gorold, finding Mors, replies, "Aye... And there's the butcher," giving Mors his nickname.

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==Reception== ''Game of Thrones'' received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. IGN praised the well-crafted plot, but criticized its poor execution through low-quality graphics, sound design, animations and voice acting, as well as a repetitive combat experience. ''The Guardian'' gave the Xbox 360 version three stars out of five and called it "a decent game that has been horrifically let down by one sub-standard element." However, ''The Digital Fix'' gave the same console version a score of five out of ten and said, "By hook or by crook Cyanide managed to win this licence before it hit the big time with HBO, and it's difficult to believe that they would be given the opportunity to create Westeros now that it is so much more well known. A serviceable game with blood spurts and political machinations would have sufficed as a first step, allowing them time to bed in get to know the nuances of third person combat. Instead, apart from the story, there is a general feeling of detachment from the game and its main gameplay elements giving rise to the notion that most who play it will do so only to find out how the tales of Mors and Alester twist and turn on their way to conclusion." ''Digital Spy'' gave the PC version two stars out of five and said that it "takes a while to get going, but perseverance is rewarded with an engaging story full of tough choices and interesting dilemmas. Unfortunately, the plot is let down by poor storytelling, sloppy visuals and mediocre gameplay, despite a relatively deep combat system."

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The first season of the fantasy drama television series ''Game of Thrones'' premiered on HBO on April 17, 2011 in the U.S. and concluded on June 19, 2011. It consists of ten episodes, each of approximately 55 minutes. The series is based on ''A Game of Thrones'', the first novel in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series by George R. R. Martin, adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. HBO had ordered a television pilot in November 2008; filming began the following year. However, it was deemed unsatisfactory and later reshot with some roles recast. In March 2010, HBO ordered the first season, which began filming in July 2010, primarily in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with additional filming in Malta. The story takes place in a fantasy world, primarily upon a continent called Westeros, with one storyline occurring on another continent to the east known as Essos. Like the novel, the season initially focuses on the family of nobleman Eddard "Ned" Stark, who is asked to become the King's Hand (chief advisor) to his king and longtime friend, Robert Baratheon. Ned must find out who killed his predecessor, Jon Arryn, while trying to protect his family from their rivals, the Lannisters. He uncovers the dark secrets about the Lannisters that his predecessor died trying to expose. Meanwhile, in Essos, the exiled Viserys Targaryen, son of the former king, seeks assistance alongside his sister Daenerys in his attempts to gain back his perceived rightful claim to the Iron Throne. ''Game of Thrones'' features a large ensemble cast, including established actors such as Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michelle Fairley, and Iain Glen. Newer actors were cast as the younger generation of characters, such as Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, and Maisie Williams. Critics praised the show's production values and cast; Dinklage's portrayal of Tyrion Lannister received specific accolades, as did Bean and Clarke, as well as Ramin Djawadi for music. The first season won two of the thirteen Emmy Awards for which it was nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Dinklage) and Outstanding Main Title Design. It was also nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. U.S. viewership rose by approximately 33% over the course of the season, from 2.2 million to over 3 million by the finale.

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===Main cast=== * Sean Bean as Eddard "Ned" Stark * Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister * Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark * Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister * Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen * Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen * Maisie Williams as Arya Stark * Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark * Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon * Rory McCann as Sandor "The Hound" Clegane * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister * Aidan Gillen as Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish

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===Guest cast=== The recurring actors listed here are those who appeared in season 1. They are listed by the region in which they first appear:

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====At and beyond the Wall==== * Peter Vaughan as Maester Aemon * Brian Fortune as Othell Yarwyck * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly

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====In King's Landing==== * Callum Wharry as Tommen Baratheon * Aimee Richardson as Myrcella Baratheon * Gethin Anthony as Renly Baratheon * Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle * Ian McElhinney as Barristan Selmy * David Michael Scott as Beric Dondarrion * Eugene Simon as Lancel Lannister * Conan Stevens as Gregor Clegane * Dominic Carter as Janos Slynt * Jefferson Hall as Hugh of the Vale * Miltos Yerolemou as Syrio Forel * Eros Vlahos as Lommy Greenhands

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====In the North==== * Art Parkinson as Rickon Stark * Clive Mantle as Greatjon Umber * Steven Blount as Rickard Karstark * Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin * Ron Donachie as Rodrik Cassel

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====In the Riverlands==== * Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister * Ian Gelder as Kevan Lannister

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====In Essos==== * Roger Allam as Illyrio Mopatis * Mia Soteriou as Mirri Maz Duur

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==Production== HBO originally optioned the rights to ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' in 2007, at which time David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were identified as the project's writers and executive producers. The first and second drafts of the pilot script, written by Benioff and Weiss, were submitted in August 2007, and June 2008, respectively. While HBO found both drafts to their liking, a pilot was not ordered until November 2008, with the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike possibly delaying the process. Benioff and Weiss served as main writers and showrunners for the first season. They contributed eight out of ten episodes, including one co-written with Jane Espenson. The two remaining episodes were written by Bryan Cogman and ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' author George R. R. Martin. Tom McCarthy directed the original pilot, but much of this was later re-shot by Tim Van Patten as the pilot was reworked into the first episode of the complete season. Van Patten also directed the second episode. McCarthy is still credited as a consulting producer for the series' first episode. Brian Kirk and Daniel Minahan directed three episodes each, and Alan Taylor directed the final two. Before ''Game of Thrones'' both Benioff and Weiss worked in film, and were unfamiliar with working on a television show. This resulted in several first-season episodes being about 10 minutes too short for HBO, forcing them to write another 100 pages of scripts in two weeks. Due to lack of budget the new scenes were designed to be inexpensive to film, such as two actors conversing in one room. Benioff and Weiss noted that some of their favorite scenes from the first season were the results of the dilemma, including one between Robert and Cersei Baratheon discussing their marriage.

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===Casting=== On May 5, 2009, it was announced that Peter Dinklage had been signed on to star as Tyrion Lannister in the pilot, and that Tom McCarthy was set to direct. On July 19, 2009, a number of further casting decisions were announced, including Sean Bean being given the role of Ned Stark. Other actors signed on for the pilot were Kit Harington in the role of Jon Snow, Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon, Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen, and Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon. At the beginning of August 2009, it was revealed that Catelyn Stark would be portrayed by Jennifer Ehle. On August 20, more casting announcements were made, including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister and Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys Targaryen, as well as Richard Madden in the role of Robb Stark, Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont, Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy, Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark and Maisie Williams as Arya Stark. On September 1 Lena Headey was announced as Cersei Lannister. On September 23, Martin confirmed that Rory McCann had been cast as Sandor Clegane. Isaac Hempstead-Wright was confirmed as Bran Stark on October 14, followed by an announcement of Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo three days later. After the pilot was shot and the series picked up, it was announced that the role of Catelyn had been recast, with Michelle Fairley replacing Ehle. Later, it was also confirmed that Emilia Clarke would replace Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys. The rest of the cast was filled out in the second half of the year, and included Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister, Aidan Gillen as Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish, and Conleth Hill as Varys.

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===Filming=== Doune Castle was used as the set for Winterfell in the pilot. The pilot episode was initially filmed on location in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Morocco by Tom McCarthy between October 24 and November 19, 2009. However, the pilot was deemed unsatisfactory and much of it had to be reshot together with the other episodes of the season in Northern Ireland and Malta. Most scenes were shot in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland border counties. Principal photography was scheduled to begin on July 26, 2010, with the primary studio location being the Paint Hall Studio in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Among various locations for the initial shooting of the pilot in 2009, Doune Castle in central Scotland was used as the location for Winterfell, including scenes at its great hall (the great hall was later recreated in a soundstage in Northern Ireland). Additional filming locations included Cairncastle at Larne, Shane's Castle, and Tollymore Forest Park, all in Northern Ireland. In the 2010 shooting of the series, Castle Ward was used as Winterfell instead of Doune Castle, with Cairncastle for some exterior Winterfell scenes. The set for Castle Black was built at Magheramorne quarry. The show's presence in Northern Ireland and use of Paint Hall created hundreds of jobs for residents, and made the area "a hub for film and television production". The "King's Landing" exterior scenes were shot at various locations in Malta, including the city of Mdina and the island of Gozo. The filming in Malta resulted in controversy when a protected ecosystem was damaged by a subcontractor.

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===Music=== The soundtrack to ''Game of Thrones'' was originally to be composed by Stephen Warbeck. On February 2, 2011, only ten weeks prior to the show's premiere, it was reported that Warbeck had left the project and Ramin Djawadi had been commissioned to write the music instead. The music supervisor of ''Game of Thrones'' Evyen Klean first suggested Djawadi to Benioff and Weiss as the replacement for Warbeck, and although Djawadi was reluctant as he had other commitments at that time, they managed to persuade Djawadi to accept the project. To give the series its own distinctive musical identity, according to Djawadi, the producers asked him not to use musical elements such as flutes or solo vocals that had already been successfully used by other major fantasy productions. He mentioned that a challenge in scoring the series was its reliance on dialogue and its sprawling cast: on several occasions already-scored music had to be omitted so as not to get in the way of dialogue. Djawadi said that he was inspired to write the main title music by an early version of the series's computer-animated title sequence. The title music is reprised as a global theme in the rest of the soundtrack, initially infrequently and as part of the theme of individual characters, then in full towards the end of season 1 during particularly important scenes.

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===Critical response=== Anticipation for the series was described by various media outlets as very high, with a dedicated fan base closely following the show's development. By April 2011, multiple entertainment news outlets had put it at the top of their lists of television events to look forward to in 2011. The majority of reviews for the first season were very positive, with critics noting the high production values, the well-realized world, compelling characters, and giving particular note to the strength of the child actors. Tim Goodman's review for ''The Hollywood Reporter'' stated, "a few minutes into HBO's epic Game of Thrones series, it's clear that the hype was right and the wait was worth it". Mary McNamara from the ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "...a great and thundering series of political and psychological intrigue bristling with vivid characters, cross-hatched with tantalizing plotlines and seasoned with a splash of fantasy". ''New York Post'''s Linda Stasi gave ''Thrones'' 3.5/4 stars stating, "The art direction, acting and incredible sets are as breathtaking as the massive scope of the series". Many critics praised Peter Dinklage for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister, with Ken Tucker from ''Entertainment Weekly'' stating, "...if Dinklage doesn't get an Emmy for his clever, rude Tyrion Lannister, I'll be gobsmacked" and Mary McNamara from the ''Los Angeles Times'' stating, "If the man doesn't win an Emmy, heads should certainly roll.” The first season of ''Game of Thrones'' has a Metacritic average of 80 out of 100 based on 28 critic reviews, categorized as "generally favorable". On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a 90% approval rating from 40 critics with an average rating of 8.37 out of 10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Its intricate storytelling and dark themes may overwhelm some viewers, but ''Game of Thrones'' is a transportive, well-acted, smartly written drama even non-genre fans can appreciate."

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===Ratings=== The first episode attracted 2.2 million viewers its initial airing on April 17 in the U.S., and totaled 5.4 million viewers across multiple Sunday and Monday night airings. It averaged 743,000 and reached a peak 823,000 in UK and Ireland on its April 18 premiere. HBO announced that they would be commissioning a second season on the strength of the reception of the premiere episode. By the final episode of the season, which aired June 20, the ratings had climbed to over 3 million.

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===Accolades=== The first season of ''Game of Thrones'' was nominated for thirteen Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Tim Van Patten for "Winter Is Coming"), and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for "Baelor"). It won two, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage) and Outstanding Main Title Design. Dinklage, who plays Tyrion, was also named best supporting actor by the Golden Globes, the Scream Awards and the Satellite Awards. Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Pilot Drama Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Series Drama Best Supporting Actress, Drama Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Tim Van Patten for "Winter Is Coming" Vince Gerardis, Frank Doelger, Ralph Vicinanza, Mark Huffam, David Benioff, Carolyn Strauss, George R. R. Martin, Guymon Casady and D. B. Weiss Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for "Baelor" 63rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series Outstanding Costumes for a Series Michele Clapton and Rachael Webb-Crozier for "The Pointy End" Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series Kevin Alexander and Candice Banks for "A Golden Crown" Angus Wall, Hameed Shaukat, Kirk Shintani and Robert Feng Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) Paul Engelen and Melissa Lackersteen for "Winter Is Coming" Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special Paul Engelen and Conor O'Sullivan for "A Golden Crown" Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series Robin Quinn, Steve Fanagan, Eoghan McDonnell, Jon Stevenson, Tim Hands, Stefan Henrix, Caoimhe Doyle, Michelle McCormack and Andy Kennedy for "A Golden Crown" Outstanding Special Visual Effects Rafael Morant, Adam McInnes, Graham Hills, Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor, Stuart Brisdon, Damien Macé, Henry Badgett and Angela Barson for "Fire and Blood" Outstanding Stunt Coordination Paul Jennings for "The Wolf and the Lion" International Film Music Critics Association Best Original Score for a Television Series 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Best Television Series – Drama Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Best Television Series – Genre "Head covered in molten gold" from "A Golden Crown" Individual Achievement in Drama Outstanding Achievement in Drama Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon Writers Guild of America Awards David Benioff, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, George R. R. Martin, D. B. Weiss David Benioff, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, George R. R. Martin, D. B. Weiss ADG Excellence in Production Design Award One-Hour Single Camera Television Series Gemma Jackson for "A Golden Crown" Outstanding Female Rising Star in a Drama Series or Special Best Sound Editing – Short Form Dialogue and ADR in Television ''Game of Thrones'' for "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" Best Sound Editing – Short Form Sound Effects and Foley in Television ''Game of Thrones'' for "Winter Is Coming" Costume Designers Guild Awards Outstanding Period/Fantasy Television Series 64th Directors Guild of America Awards Tim Van Patten for "Winter Is Coming" Best Edited One-Hour Series For Non-Commercial Television Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing – Television Series – One Hour Ronan Hill, Mark Taylor for "Baelor" 9th Irish Film & Television Awards Best Director Television Drama Best Supporting Actor – Television Favourite Program – International Drama Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, George R. R. Martin, Tim Van Patten, Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan and Alan Taylor for ''Game of Thrones'' – Season 1 "The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama" David Benioff, Frank Doelger, Mark Huffam, Carolyn Strauss, D. B. Weiss Best Supporting Actor on Television 18th Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by An Ensemble in a Drama Series Amrita Acharia, Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Josef Altin, Sean Bean, Susan Brown, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Ron Donachie, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Elyes Gabel, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Julian Glover, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Conleth Hill, Richard Madden, Jason Momoa, Rory McCann, Ian McElhinney, Luke McEwan, Roxanne McKee, Dar Salim, Mark Stanley, Donald Sumpter, Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series For the complete first season on Blu-ray Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial or Broadcast Program Henry Badgett, Mark Brown, Rafael Morant, James Sutton for "Fire and Blood" Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial or Broadcast Program Markus Kuha, Damien Macé, Dante Harbridge Robinson, Fani Vassiadi for "The Icewall" Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor, Angela Barson, Ed Bruce, Adam McInnes for "Winter Is Coming"

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===Broadcast=== ''Game of Thrones'' premiered on HBO in the United States and Canada on April 17, 2011, and on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom and Ireland on April 18, 2011, with a same-day release on HBO Central Europe. The series premiered in Australia on Showcase on July 17, 2011.

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===Home media=== The first season of ''Game of Thrones'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 6, 2012. The set includes extra background and behind-the-scenes material, but no deleted scenes, because almost all footage shot for the first season was used in the show. HBO released a ''Collector's Edition'' DVD/Blu-ray combo pack of the first season, which includes a resin-carved Dragon Egg Paperweight. The set was released in the United States and Canada on November 20, 2012. The first season was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on June 5, 2018.

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==External links== * ''Game of Thrones'' – The Viewers Guide on HBO.com * Making ''Game of Thrones'' on HBO.com

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"'''The Bells'''" is the fifth and penultimate episode of the eighth season of HBO's fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the 72nd and penultimate episode of the series. It was written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Miguel Sapochnik. It aired on May 12, 2019. "The Bells" features the final battle for control of the Iron Throne, with Daenerys Targaryen's forces commencing their assault on Cersei Lannister's forces at King's Landing. The episode received criticism from critics and audiences alike. Critics praised the episode as visually impressive and commended the acting and direction, but criticized the pacing and logic of the story, as well as its handling of the character arcs of Tyrion, Jaime, Cersei, Grey Worm, Varys, and particularly Daenerys. It received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and was also picked by Lena Headey to support her nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. It eventually was awarded the prizes for Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes and Outstanding Special Visual Effects.

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===At Dragonstone=== Varys writes a letter about Jon Snow's true heritage when a girl informs him that Daenerys Targaryen continues to refuse food. He tells her to "try again at supper". Varys implores Jon to take the Iron Throne, but Jon refuses to betray Daenerys. Tyrion Lannister informs Daenerys of Varys' plot; she executes Varys. When Daenerys says she does not have the people's love in Westeros, Jon assures Daenerys he loves her. However, when he stops her kiss, Daenerys resigns herself to fear. Tyrion implores Daenerys to spare the common folk in King's Landing if the city bells ring, and she nods toward Grey Worm. She informs Tyrion that Jaime Lannister has been captured on his way to King's Landing and warns Tyrion not to fail her again.

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===At King's Landing=== Tyrion arrives at the Unsullied camp and frees Jaime so Jaime can take Cersei Lannister away from King's Landing to Pentos. Jaime makes for the Red Keep. The next day, Arya Stark and Sandor Clegane enter the Red Keep. The battle begins with Daenerys and Drogon burning Euron Greyjoy's Iron Fleet, the Golden Company, and the city's defenses. Grey Worm kills Harry Strickland. When Daenerys' army storms King's Landing, the remaining Lannister forces drop their weapons and the city surrenders. Daenerys refuses to accept the surrender and, atop Drogon, lays waste to the city, while her army, led by Grey Worm, massacre the unarmed Lannister soldiers. Jon unsuccessfully tries to stop his men from attacking, kills one who attempts rape, and eventually, he and Davos Seaworth have the rest fall back as the city burns. Jaime fights Euron, who badly wounds him, but Jamie is able to mortally wound Euron, leaving him to die. Sandor convinces Arya to give up her desire for revenge against Cersei and he and Arya part ways as friends. As Cersei and Qyburn attempt to escape, Sandor arrives and kills the Queensguard in order to fight his brother, Gregor Clegane. Gregor kills Qyburn and Cersei flees. Gregor resists all attacks but when Sandor tackles him through a wall, the brothers fall to their deaths in the fire below. Jaime reunites with Cersei, but find their escape passage is blocked by rubble from the attack. They resign themselves to their fate and embrace as the Keep's cellar ceiling collapses on them, killing them and their unborn child. Arya experiences the chaos in King's Landing and tries to help the smallfolk she encounters but is knocked unconscious when a bell tower falls near her. When she wakes up, she discovers the burned corpses of the smallfolk on the street. She encounters a white horse coated in blood and rides it away.

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=== Writing === The episode was written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.

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=== Filming === The episode was directed by Miguel Sapochnik. This was his final episode of the series. For the filming of the episode, the city of Dubrovnik (the stand-in for King's Landing) was recreated on the backlot of their Belfast set. Filming Varys's death scene ultimately ended up taking seven months as rain kept postponing the shoot. In a promotional photo of the scene in which Jaime and Cersei embrace at the Red Keep, his right hand is visible instead of the metallic prosthetic the character received in season 4. In the actual episode, only the metallic hand is seen. The error in the image garnered attention in light of the previous episode's coffee cup mistake.

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===Casting=== Laura Elphinstone was cast as one of the inhabitants of King's Landing who helped Arya Stark during the dragon attack on the city. The American football quarterback Aaron Rodgers appears in a cameo in this episode.

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=== Ratings === The episode was viewed by 12.48 million viewers on its initial live broadcast on HBO, surpassing "The Dragon and the Wolf" as the most-watched episode of the series. An additional 5.9 million viewers watched on streaming platforms, for a total of 18.4 million viewers.

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====General==== On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the episode has an approval rating of 49% based on 107 reviews, and an average rating of 6.32/10, with the critical consensus stating, "Death, destruction, and the deterioration of Daenerys' sanity make 'The Bells' an episode for the ages; but too much plot in too little time muddles the story and may leave some viewers feeling its conclusions are unearned." It is the second lowest-rated episode on Rotten Tomatoes, behind "The Iron Throne." Lenika Cruz of ''The Atlantic'' wrote that although she found the special effects stunning and the acting spectacular, this was "the worst ''Game of Thrones'' episode ever" because the plot was either too obvious or illogical, with the massacre seeming "an unearned negation of the identity Daenerys had spent years building for herself". Emily VanDerWerff of ''Vox'' found the episode grim and absent of sense, but credited director Miguel Sapochnik for "the gorgeous visuals that extended beyond the battle scenes." VanDerWerff praised the acting of the cast such as Maisie Williams, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, and Emilia Clarke; the latter two made their characters' actions believable even when they were illogical. Alex McLevy of ''The A.V. Club'' wrote that the episode successfully demonstrated that "the chaos of war makes villains and victims of us all", with the "progression from exhilarating hope to tragic denouement being skillfully executed by director Miguel Sapochnik" with better large-scale choreography than in the "The Long Night". Hugh Montgomery of BBC Culture wrote that characters such as Tyrion, Jaime, Daenerys, and Cersei were "definitively sacrificed to the show's scrambled plotting", and that ''Game of Thrones'' was previously "a show that intelligently delineated a senseless world", but that it was now nonsense. VanDerWerff stated that Cersei and Jaime's deaths were not given much thought by the writers and were instead simply something to check off a list. Kelly Lawler of ''USA Today'', saying that the episode lacked substance and was an "absolute disaster", argued that Grey Worm, Daenerys and Varys took actions which were wildly out of character. Alan Sepinwall of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote that the episode's "technical genius" and "the visual clarity only made it easier to see how muddled the show has been, from both a narrative and character standpoint, in this home stretch", with the scorpions turning from accurate to useless, Euron surviving Drogon to have a "pointless fight with Jaime", the setting of Cleganebowl being invulnerable while the castle fell, Jaime easily entering the gated Red Keep, and the appearance of "seemingly hundreds of Dothraki" despite most of them apparently dying in 'The Long Night'. Lawler also said that the writers "threw out their own rule book (suddenly the scorpions don't work and Drogon can burn everything?) to pursue gross spectacle". Several critics criticized the pacing of events; Lawler wrote that the pacing started off rushed, while Spencer Kornhaber of ''The Atlantic'' said that the show was "sprinting through plot check marks". Will Bedingfield of ''Wired'' also felt that the show rushed storylines, seeing the death of Varys as being without the climactic buildup previous seasons had. Sarah Hughes of ''The Guardian'' attributed season eight's pacing problems to season seven having had pacing issues that ensured that the rest of the series would feel "breathless and rushed."

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====Daenerys's arc==== Critics generally considered Daenerys Targaryen's (Emilia Clarke) villainous turn in this episode unearned. Daenerys's turn from hero to villain was especially criticized, with many reviewers and fans feeling that, because she was built up as a morally good protagonist for seven seasons, it made no narrative sense, or that it was not executed properly within the provided timescale. Mike Hogan of ''Vanity Fair'' said that although the show had been clear that Daenerys has a temper, "we have seen her balance that violence with mercy, kindness, and above all shrewdness." Zack Beauchamp of ''Vox'' argued that Daenerys's previous cruelties were somewhat logical because she killed people who "committed crimes deserving of punishment" and Samwell Tarly's father and brother because they "refused to submit to her rule," but that there was no reason to go after harmless civilians. He said although the show had been "building toward Daenerys becoming the Mad Queen" and this route could have worked, "its execution was sloppy and rushed" and "it felt as if Daenerys had become a monster simply because the show needed her to become a monster, not because it was paying off a thoughtfully developed character turn." ''Slate'''s Sam Adams said "the show spent far more time making Dany a hero" than building her up as the Mad Queen. ''The Atlantic'' staff opined, "''Game of Thrones'' could have easily demonstrated the nasty reality of Daenerys's fight for Westeros without putting the choice to massacre innocents directly on her shoulders. Instead, 'The Bells' ended up painting one of the most pivotal plot points in the final season as an emotional lashing-out from a tired, lonely, paranoid young woman." Kathryn VanArendonk of ''Vulture'' also criticized the episode for "ultimately hinging on a trope as painfully stale as 'and then the scary powerful woman goes crazy'." Eliana Dockterman of ''Time'' criticized the analyses of Daenerys's advisors as also playing "into the terrible trope of the crazed, power-hungry woman" and Tyrion's advice as having kept Daenerys from taking the Iron Throne much earlier and without as much bloodshed. She said she understood the idea of power corrupting "a heroic figure like Daenerys" and Daenerys falling prey to a messiah complex, but that the show needed to evolve her to that point like it evolved other characters to their points. Alan Sepinwall of ''Rolling Stone'' stated that Daenerys's descent into madness is the kind of development that requires "at least another half of a regular-length GoT season to feel earned." Myles McNutt of ''The A.V. Club'' said that Daenerys's final arc comes down to two aspects – story development and character development. He said Daenerys burning down King's Landing is a logical and effective way of ending the story on a thematic level, adding that how "it reshapes the rest of the episode is a striking reframing of the violence that has defined the show." Character-wise, he felt that the choice was "undeniably trickier" because one might be led to believe that Daenerys's choice was purely reflexive when it was instead due to "a collection of life experiences that left her believing that ruling with fear was the only path ahead of her." He said "the writers failed to create the necessary structure for the villainous turn" and they could have better highlighted Daenerys's destiny as a villain by referencing things such as her prophecy in Qarth. ''Variety'''s Daniel D'Addario also argued that it made sense that Daenerys would burn the city because her "tactics have always been more deeply rooted in dominance than in empathy." Arguing that the change in Daenerys's arc has likely been planned by George R. R. Martin from the beginning, Vox's Andrew Prokop stated, "If ''Game of Thrones'' ended with a triumphant Daenerys Targaryen heroically taking the Iron Throne, it wouldn't be ''Game of Thrones''. This is the show of Ned Stark's death. This is the show of the Red Wedding. This is the ending it was headed toward all along." Screen Rant's Alexandra August felt that "ultimately it comes down to your interpretation of Dany's arc and how much that interpretation was diluted by pacing, execution and cultural context, if at all." She pondered different ways the show could have pulled off the arc better, such as Daenerys only choosing to kill Cersei, but concluded that there would eventually be someone else to push her over the edge regardless. Also stating that "there are many ways to interpret" Daenerys's decision to burn the city, Megan Garber of ''The Atlantic'' said that maybe it was the Targaryen madness having settled in, or her ruthlessness taking over, or a "crazy edit" by the writers, or a decision "that some innocents must die in the present so that many more can live peacefully in the future," or maybe that Daenerys "having recently lost her second dragon and the apparent loyalty of those left in her orbit, she simply made a blunt calculation about power and what will be required to attain it." Garber said that "ambiguity is a powerful tool in storytelling," but that "it is also a difficult one to wield well," and that "Dany is a savior, and Dany is a monster, and it is impossible to know where one ends and the other begins." To Garber, this uncertainty made Daenerys's actions all the more horrific because logic will not always win and "justice won't always save the day." Showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss attributed Daenerys's decision to burn the city to having lost almost all of her friends and advisors, no longer trusting Jon Snow, and wanting to reclaim the home that her family built. Benioff said that Jon also being unable to return her affections because they are related played a factor. Weiss stated, "I think that when she says, 'Let it be fear,' she's resigning herself to the fact that she may have to get things done in a way that isn't pleasant." Benioff said that the ruthless side to Daenerys had always been there and that "if Cersei hadn't betrayed her, if Cersei hadn't executed Missandei, if Jon hadn't told her the truth ... if all of these things had happened in any different way, then I don't think we'd be seeing this side of Daenerys Targaryen." Emilia Clarke said, "Every single thing that's led her to this point, and there she is, alone." VanArendonk expressed disappointment that Weiss and Benioff explained Daenerys's actions as due to her emotions, instead of some "twisted, empathetic logic". Emma Baty of ''Cosmopolitan'' also criticized the showrunners' response, stating, "Totally, totally. A woman is definitely prone to ending thousands of innocent lives just because her dad did the same, even though in the entire series, she's been insistent on not becoming that person. That checks out!"

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===Audience response=== ''People'' magazine's Aurelie Corinthios said, "Despite the major plot developments, viewers were left wanting more from a series that has spent the last eight seasons meticulously building up complex characters." She added that "others defended the episode, arguing that while the action was definitely 'rushed,' the main elements still made sense. Plus, didn't we always know we wouldn't get a happy ending?" Lauren Hill of ''Chicago Tribune'' relayed that the episode "had fans very divided. Some are upset by the character arcs of certain fan favorites while others saw this coming for quite some time." Reviewers made note of the negative fan reactions, especially to Daenerys's arc. Estelle Tang of ''Elle'' stated that many "commented how unbelievable it was for Dany to turn into a violent vengeance-seeker this far into the show's run." ''Esquire'''s Gabrielle Bruney said viewers felt that the writers threw out her character development. ''The Hollywood Reporter'' staff stated that "many ''Game of Thrones'' viewers see Daenerys' acts as nothing short of a character assassination, laying blame for the treatment of the Dragon Queen, Cersei and the series' other powerful women at the feet of creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss." Mehera Bonner of ''Cosmopolitan'' wrote that "fans are absolutely devastated" by the episode and that they bemoaned "how the show has been completely ruined by sloppy writing and terrible decisions." She said, "While you could argue that we should have seen a lot of this coming, many fans were... I don't know... just hoping for better? Better than Daenerys becoming a Mad Queen just because it's in her family history and better than Jaime reverting to his season 1 personality just because it’s the easy way out." A petition to HBO for a remake of the eighth season of ''Game of Thrones'' "that makes sense" was started on Change.org after the fourth episode "The Last of the Starks" aired, but went viral after the fifth episode "The Bells" aired. The petition described showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss as "woefully incompetent writers". As of May 18, 2019 (i.e., the evening before the series finale), it has amassed over 1 million signatures. The petition was labelled as "ridiculous" by actor Isaac Hempstead Wright (who plays Bran Stark), and "rude" by actor Jacob Anderson (who plays Grey Worm). Sophie Turner (who plays Sansa) said that "there's always been crazy twists and turns" on ''Game of Thrones'' and "so Daenerys becoming something of the Mad Queen — it shouldn't be such a negative thing for fans. It's a shock for sure, but I think it's just because it hasn't gone their way." She argued, "All of these petitions and things like that — I think it's disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season."

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=== Awards and nominations === Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes Michele Clapton, Emma O'Loughlin, and Kate O'Farrell Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) Deborah Riley, Paul Ghirardani, and Rob Cameron Outstanding Special Visual Effects Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Adam Chazen, Sam Conway, Mohsen Mousavi, Martin Hill, Ted Rae, Patrick Tiberius Gehlen, and Thomas Schelesny

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The '''Valyrian languages''' are a fictional language family in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, and in their television adaptation ''Game of Thrones''. In the novels, High Valyrian and its descendant languages are often mentioned but not developed beyond a few words. For the TV series, linguist David J. Peterson created the High Valyrian language, as well as the derivative languages Astapori and Meereenese Valyrian, based on the fragments given in the novels. Valyrian and Dothraki have been described as "the most convincing fictional tongues since Elvish".

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==High Valyrian== In the world of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', High Valyrian occupies a cultural niche similar to that of Latin in medieval Europe. The novels describe it as no longer being used as a language of everyday communication, but rather as a language of learning and education among the nobility of Essos and Westeros, with much literature and song composed in Valyrian.

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===Creation=== David J. Peterson, creator of the spoken Valyrian languages for ''Game of Thrones'' To create the Dothraki and Valyrian languages to be spoken in ''Game of Thrones'', HBO selected the linguist David J. Peterson through a competition among conlangers. The producers gave Peterson a largely free hand in developing the languages, as, according to Peterson, George R. R. Martin himself was not very interested in the linguistic aspect of his works. The already published novels include only a few words of High Valyrian, including ''valar morghulis'' ("all men must die"), ''valar dohaeris'' ("all men must serve") and ''dracarys'' ("dragonfire"). For the forthcoming novel ''The Winds of Winter'', Peterson has supplied Martin with additional Valyrian translations. Peterson commented that he considered Martin's choice of ''dracarys'' unfortunate because of its (presumably intended) similarity to the Latin word for dragon, ''''. Because the Latin language does not exist in the fictional world of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', Peterson chose to treat the similarity as coincidental and made ''dracarys'' an independent lexeme; his High Valyrian term for dragon is ''zaldrīzes''. The phrases ''valar morghulis'' and ''valar dohaeris'', on the other hand, became the foundation of the language's conjugation system. Another word, ''trēsy'', meaning "son", was coined in honour of Peterson's 3000th Twitter follower. Peterson did not create a High Valyrian writing system at the time, but he commented that he "was thinking something more like Egyptian's system of hieroglyphs—not in style, necessarily, but in their functionality. Egyptians had an alphabet, of sorts, a couple of phonetically-based systems, and a logography all layered on top of one another." In the third season's episode "The Bear and the Maiden Fair", Talisa is seen writing a Valyrian letter in the Latin alphabet, because according to Peterson, "it didn't seem worthwhile to create an entire writing system for what ultimately is kind of a throwaway shot". At the start of June 2013, there were 667 High Valyrian words.

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===Phonology=== :a. and are not native to High Valyrian but are present in some loanwords, such as the Dothraki ''arakh''. Vowels with a macron over them (ī, ȳ, ū, ē, ō and ā) are long, held for twice as long as short vowels. Some words are distinguished simply by their vowel length in High Valyrian. The rounded vowels and may not be pronounced in modern High Valyrian, as a non-native or prestige language and did not survive into the descendant languages. As a result, while Daenerys Targaryen's first name may generally be pronounced by characters in ''Game of Thrones'', in High Valyrian it would have been closer to , with a diphthong in the first syllable and a rounded vowel in the last. The long vowels have also been lost in some derived languages; in season 3 of ''Game of Thrones'', we hear Astapori Valyrian, from which all long vowels have been lost. Syllable stress is penultimate unless the penultimate syllable is light and the antepenultimate syllable is heavy, in which case stress is on the antepenultimate. As a highly inflected language, word order is flexible (a feature lost in derived languages), but sentences with relative clauses are head-final.

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====Nouns==== There are four grammatical numbers in High Valyrian—singular, plural, paucal and collective. For example, ''vala'' "man" (nom. sing.); ''vali'' "men" (nom. pl.); ''valun'' "some men" (nom. pau.); ''valar'' "all men" (nom. coll.). The collective can itself be modified by number as a new noun declension, for example ''azantys'' "knight, soldier" (nom. sing.) → ''azantyr'' "army" (nom. coll.); ''azantyr'' "army" (nom. sing.) → ''azantyri'' "armies" (nom. pl.). Nouns have eight cases—nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative, instrumental, comitative and vocative, though the instrumental and comitative are not distinguished in all declensions, nor are the genitive, dative and locative always distinguished in the plural. Both prepositions and postpositions are used to form other cases; for example, the ablative is formed with the preposition ''hen'' + the locative (e.g. ''hen lentot'', "from a house") while the superessive is formed with the postposition ''bē'' following the genitive (e.g. ''lento bē'', "on top of a house"). There are four grammatical genders, which do not align with biological sex. The Valyrian names for the genders are: : ''hūrenkon qogror''—"lunar class", : ''vēzenkon qogror''—"solar class", : ''tegōñor qogror''—"terrestrial class", : ''embōñor qogror''—"aquatic class". Animate and individuatable nouns are generally in the lunar or solar classes, while other nouns are generally classified as terrestrial or aquatic. The names of the classes derive from the nouns themselves, which are prototypical members of each gender. Peterson describes Valyrian gender as being inherent but more predictable from phonology than gender in French, with some of the derivational properties of the noun classes of Bantu languages. As a result of the phonological predictability, many words for humans (which tend to end ''-a'' or ''-ys'') are lunar or solar; many foods and plants (often ending ''-on'') are terrestrial. According to Peterson, "what defines declension classes in High Valyrian" can be divined by paying "close attention to the singular and plural numbers" and noting "where cases are conflated and where they aren't". In the following tables, adjacent case conflations are merged into the same table cell; other cases that share a form with another are underlined. First declension(Lunar: ''vala'', "man") Second declension(Solar: ''loktys'', "sailor")

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====Verbs==== Nouns have four grammatical numbers, but verb conjugations have only been described in the singular and the plural; paucals trigger plural agreement and collectives trigger singular agreement. There are two paradigms of verbs, those with a stem ending with a consonant and those with a stem ending with a vowel; the tables below show examples of three tenses in the active voice. It is possible to tell which paradigm is in use from the first person plural indicative—consonant stems will always end in ''-i'', whereas vowels stems will end in ''-ī''. Verbs with stems ending in a vowel follow a pattern where that stem-terminal vowel might change—''-a'' and ''-i'' do not change, ''-e'' becomes ''-i'', but ''-o'' and ''-u'' both become ''-v''. Verb stems may never end in a long vowel or a diphthong. There is a subjunctive mood that is not only used in subordinate clauses, but also in all negative statements. Consonantal verbs(''manaeragon'', "to raise" or "to lift") Vowel verbs (stem ending -a)(''limagon'', "to cry") Vowel verbs (stem ending -e)(''sōvegon'', "to fly")

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====Adjectives==== Adjectives have three declension classes. Like verbs, adjectives only have two number forms—a singular, which is also used for the collective, and a plural, also used for paucal numbers. Adjectives may be both prepositive (e.g. "the ''white'' shoe") or post-positive (e.g. "the body ''politic''"); when prepositive some further rules apply. Several forms of elision and consonant assimilation occur with prepositive adjectives: * With inflections of two syllables (such as ''kast'''oti''''' in several class plurals), the second syllable is often lost to elision; word-final ''-t'' is also lost before consonants—compare ''ader'''ot''' ābrot'' ("to the quick woman") with ''ader'''o''' Dovaogēdot'' ("to the quick Unsullied"). * When such elision causes a word-final ''-z'' (such as with the class ''kasta'' becoming ''kastyzy'' (nom.) and ''kastyzys'' (voc.) in the lunar plurals, below), the final ''-z'' is devoiced to ''-s'' when it precedes a voiceless consonant—compare ''kast'''ys''' hobresse'' ("blue goats") with ''kast'''yz''' dāryssy'' ("blue kings"), both forms from ''kastyzy'', the lunar nominative plural. * If the syllable in question is vowel–consonant–vowel, then only the final vowel is elided—compare ''ānogro ēl'''ȳro''''' ("of the first blood") to ''ēl'''ȳr''' ānogro'' ("of the first blood"). * Whereas instrumental forms are generally listed as containing ''-s-'' or ''-ss-'' and comitative forms generally contain ''-m-'' or ''-mm-'', some nouns use only the ''s''-forms in both cases and some nouns use the ''m''-forms for both. When this occurs, the consonant in question experiences consonant harmony, causing the use of what might otherwise be a comitative form for an instrumental and vice versa, where the forms appear to be instrumental ("by means of the ... men", "by means of the ... rains"), despite being comitative ("accompanying the ... man", "accompanying the ... rains"). * Finally, word-final ''-m'' is decreasingly common in High Valyrian. Contracted inflections that end in ''-m'' will often assimilate to ''-n'' unless the next word begins with a vowel or a labial consonant.

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=====Class I adjectives===== Class adjectives decline differently for each of the four noun classes. The exemplar is ''kasta'', meaning "blue and green". As before, in the following tables, adjacent case conflations are merged into the same table cell; other cases that share a form with another are underlined. Class adjectives(''kasta'', "blue and green") :a. See note about consonant harmony assimilation above.

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=====Class II and III adjectives===== Adjective classes and both conflate rather more forms, failing to distinguish between solar and lunar nouns and failing to distinguish between terrestrial and aquatic nouns. Class also has some subclasses, that have not yet been detailed. The exemplars used here are the class adjective ''adere'' ("sleek, smooth, slippery, fast, quick") and the class adjective ''ēlie'' ("first"). Class adjectives also experience vowel changes when subject to the elision described above. When a lunar or solar form is elided to a syllable containing ''-ȳ-'' (such forms are highlighted in the table below), this ''-ȳ-'' mutates to ''-io-''; this does not occur with terrestrial or aquatic forms. Compare: : ''valosa ēl'''ȳse'''''—"with the first man" (''vala'' is a lunar noun of the first declension) : ''ēl'''ios''' valosa''—"with the first man" : ''daomȳssi ēl'''ȳssi'''''—"with the first rains" : ''ēl'''ȳs''' daomȳssi''—"with the first rains" Class adjectives(''adere'', "sleek, smooth, slippery, fast, quick") Class adjectives(''ēlie'', "first") :a. See note about consonant harmony assimilation above. :b. See note about vowel changes in elision above.

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=== Duolingo course === On a course in High Valyrian for English speakers began to be constructed in the Duolingo Language Incubator. David J. Peterson is one of the contributors to the course. The beta version was released on July 12, 2017. In April of 2019, the course was updated in anticipation of Game of Thrones' eighth and final season. As a part of this update, Peterson created audio for the course's lessons and exercises.

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==Derivative languages== In the world of the novel and TV series, the Nine Free Cities of Essos speak variants of High Valyrian, described by the character Tyrion in ''A Dance with Dragons'' as "not so much a dialect as nine dialects on the way to becoming separate tongues". The cities of Slaver's Bay speak related languages, descended from High Valyrian with the substrate of the local Ghiscari languages. Peterson noted that with regard to the vocabulary of the derived languages, "If it’s got a j in an odd place, it’s probably Ghiscari in origin." Peterson described the relationship between High Valyrian and the Free Cities languages as being similar to that between classical Latin and the Romance languages, or more accurately between Classical Arabic and the modern varieties of Arabic, in that High Valyrian is intelligible, with some difficulty, to a speaker of a local Essoan language.

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===Astapori Valyrian=== The first derivative Valyrian language to be featured in the series was Astapori Valyrian, a variety from the city of Astapor in Slaver's Bay. It appeared in the third-season premiere episode "Valar Dohaeris". Peterson created the Astapori dialogue by first writing the text in High Valyrian, then applying a series of regular grammar and sound changes to simulate the changes in natural languages over a long period of time. For example, Astapori Valyrian has lost all long vowels (designated with a macron) and most diphthongs. Between vowels, b, d, g have become v, ð, ɣ; subsequently, p, t, k have become b, d, g in the same environment. As a result, an "Unsullied" is rendered as ''Dovaogēdy'' in High Valyrian, but as ''Dovoghedhy'' in Astapori. Similarly, Astapori Valyrian has lost the case system of High Valyrian, so the word order is more reliably subject–verb–object (SVO) and the four genders of High Valyrian have been reduced to two, with three definite articles: ''ji'' (animate singular, derived from High Valyrian ''ziry'' "him/her (accusative)"), ''vi'' (inanimate singular, derived from High Valyrian ''ūī'' "it (accusative)"), and ''po'' (plural, derived from High Valyrian ''pōnte'' "them (accusative)"). There is also an indefinite article, ''me'' , derived from High Valyrian ''mēre'' ("one"). Word stress is less predictable than in High Valyrian, but commands are stressed word-finally (for example: ''ivetrá'').

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=== Meereenese Valyrian === Meereenese Valyrian appears in Seasons 4 and 6 of ''Game of Thrones''. Like Astapori Valyrian, it lacked long vowels as well as the sound /y/. However, its phonology departs considerably more from High Valyrian; for example, "Unsullied" is ''Thowoá'' θo.woˈa, whereas in High Valyrian it is ''Dovaogēdy'' do.vao.ˈɡeː.dy and in Astapori Valyrian it is ''Dovoghedhy'' do.vo.ˈɣe.ði.

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==External links== * www.dothraki.com—A site managed by David J. Peterson, where he blogs about the languages he's constructed for ''Game of Thrones'' * Tongues of Ice and Fire wiki—fan wiki collating information about the constructed languages in ''Game of Thrones'' ** Learning High Valyrian on the Tongues of Ice and Fire wiki ** Learning Astapori Valyrian on the Tongues of Ice and Fire wiki * Tongues of Ice and Fire forums, including Valyrian-specific discussion threads (for beginners and about language updates).

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"'''Kissed by Fire'''" is the fifth episode of the third season of HBO's fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the 25th episode of the series. Directed by Alex Graves and written by Bryan Cogman, it aired on April 28, 2013. The title of the episode refers to the red-haired Wildlings, like Ygritte, who are said to be "kissed by fire". Fire is also a key element in other storylines, with Sandor Clegane's fear of fire being shown, as well as the Mad King's obsession with Wildfire, as told by Jaime Lannister. The episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Make-up for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) at the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

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===At Dragonstone=== Stannis is surprised when his wife, Queen Selyse, encourages his infidelity as service to the Lord of Light. His daughter, Princess Shireen, visits Davos in the dungeons with a book; he admits he is illiterate, and she begins teaching him to read.

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===In the Riverlands=== In trial by combat, the Hound is frightened by Beric's flaming sword, but overcomes his pyrophobia and kills Beric. Gendry stops Arya from killing the Hound, and the three are astounded to find Beric resurrected by Thoros, who frees the Hound. Gendry tells Arya he intends to stay with the Brotherhood as a smith. Arya talks with Thoros about taking her to Riverrun.

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===At Riverrun=== Captives Martyn and Willem Lannister are slain by Lord Karstark and his men. Despite Talisa, Catelyn, and Edmure entreating Robb to hold Karstark prisoner, he personally executes Karstark. The Karstark forces abandon the Northern army, and Robb tells Talisa his new plan to attack Casterly Rock, the Lannister ancestral home, and forge an alliance with Lord Frey, whose daughter he was to marry.

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===At Harrenhal=== Locke delivers Jaime and Brienne to Lord Roose Bolton, who frees Brienne and sends Jaime to Qyburn, a former maester who treats Jaime's amputation. At the baths, Jaime tells Brienne of Robert's Rebellion, and the "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen's plot to burn King's Landing with caches of wildfire. Jaime reveals that he slew the Mad King to save the city, its people, and his own father.

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===Beyond the Wall=== Jon lies to Orell and Tormund that a thousand men are guarding the Wall. Ygritte steals Jon's sword and he chases her into a cave, where she convinces him to break his Night's Watch vows and make love with her.

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===In Slaver's Bay=== On the march, Jorah probes Barristan's motives for joining Daenerys, but he appears unaware Jorah was originally a spy for Varys under King Robert. Daenerys’ Unsullied officers select Grey Worm as their leader.

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===In King's Landing=== Cersei asks for Baelish's assistance in ridding King's Landing of the Tyrells. Loras’ squire and lover Olyvar reports to Baelish the Tyrells' plan to marry off Sansa. Baelish meets with Sansa to discuss their journey to the Vale, but she decides to stay in King's Landing. Tywin tells Tyrion and Cersei his plan to ruin the Tyrell's plot by wedding Tyrion to Sansa and Cersei to Loras, refusing their objections.

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===Writing=== Series veteran Bryan Cogman wrote the episode, his third episode of the series. "Kissed by Fire" is the third episode in the series written by the co-producer and executive story editor Bryan Cogman, after the first season's "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" and the second's "What Is Dead May Never Die". Cogman is the member of the writing team entrusted with keeping the show's bible and mapping the story arcs with those of the original books for each season. The sections of George R. R. Martin's novel ''A Storm of Swords'' adapted in the episode include parts from chapters 20, 21, 27, 32, 35, 38 and 40 (Tyrion III, Catelyn III, Jon III, Jaime IV, Arya VI, Jaime V, and Arya VII). The scenes with Stannis' wife and daughter were written to present the characters, whose introduction had been delayed in the show since the beginning of season 2. The idea of Queen Selyse conserving the fetuses of her stillborn sons in glass, absent in the original novels, was a notion that Cogman came up with while writing the episode. Cogman enjoyed that the episode he was assigned to write included several fan-favorite scenes, and involved a lot of material with the child actors: "The kids are always my favorite characters to write... Maybe it’s because I’m so fond of the actors who play them, and I’ve watched them grow up for the past four years." He wrote all the Arya scenes before starting with the other storylines. Initially the episode did not include any scene with Daenerys, but early in pre-production some scenes originally written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for the next episode were moved into the script. The confrontation between Jon Snow and Orell was written and included by Benioff and Weiss later during production.

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===Casting=== The episode introduces Stannis's family with actresses Tara Fitzgerald and Kerry Ingram as queen Selyse Baratheon and princess Shireen Baratheon, respectively. Selyse had briefly appeared in the first season 2 episode during the burning of the gods at the Dragonstone beach, played by an uncredited extra. Jacob Anderson also debuts playing Grey Worm, the commander of the Unsullied.

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===Filming locations=== Most of the episode was shot in the sets built in The Paint Hall studios in Belfast. Also in Northern Ireland, the Pollnagollum cave in Belmore Forest was used to film parts of the hideout of the Brotherhood, and the gardens of Gosford Castle served as the Riverrun exteriors where Lord Karstark was beheaded. The scenes with Daenerys were filmed in Morocco, and the ones with Jon in Iceland. The Wildlings camp was built by the shores of lake Mývatn, with its distinctive vertical lava formations clearly seen. The nearby grotto where Jon and Ygritte have sex is cave Grjótagjá; however, the cave was used mainly for establishing shot of Jon Snow and Ygritte in the cave, and most of this scene was filmed in the studio. The thermal water pool of the cave is actually used for bathing and is a popular tourist attraction. Finally, two Croatian exteriors appear in the episode: the conversation between Cersei and Littlefinger takes place at the inner terrace of Fort Lovrijenac, and Littlefinger's later visit to Sansa was filmed at the Trsteno Arboretum.

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===Ratings=== "Kissed by Fire" set a new ratings record for the series, with 5.35 million viewers for its first airing and a 2.8 share of adults aged 18 to 49. In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 0.959 million viewers on Sky Atlantic, being the channel's second highest-rated broadcast that week.

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===Critical reception=== "Kissed by Fire" received positive critical reviews after airing, with particular praise going to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for his performance. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes surveyed 21 reviews of the episode and judged 100% of them to be positive with an average score of 8.8 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Despite lacking the big action reveals of the previous episode, 'Kissed by Fire' is anchored by a devastatingly intimate scene between Brienne and Jaime, and plenty of Lannister intrigue." IGN's Matt Fowler gave "Kissed by Fire" a 9.5/10, his highest rating of the season, writing "No dragons this week, but Game of Thrones still gave us some of its best material ever." Reviewing for ''The A.V. Club'', David Sims gave the episode an "A-", commenting on how despite the lack of shocking moments like those of the last episode, the show delivers quality in its slower, dialogue-driven scenes. Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+". Sean T. Collins of the ''Rolling Stone'' magazine also gave an overwhelmingly positive review, calling it a "nearly flawless" episode, praising especially Maisie Williams' acting in the scenes with Arya and the Brotherhood.

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===Accolades=== Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) Paul Engelen and Melissa Lackersteen Hollywood Post Alliance Awards Outstanding Color Grading – Television American Society of Cinematographers One-Hour Episodic Television Series

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"'''The Children'''" is the fourth season finale of HBO's fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the 40th overall. The tenth and final episode of the fourth season, the episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Alex Graves. "The Children" received overwhelming acclaim from critics, with praise directed at the deaths of Shae and Tywin Lannister, Bran reaching the Heart Tree and the fight scene between Brienne and Sandor "The Hound" Clegane. This episode marks the final appearances of Sibel Kekilli (Shae), Rose Leslie (Ygritte) and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Jojen Reed). It also marks the final appearance of Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane) until the sixth-season episode "The Broken Man".

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===In Meereen=== Daenerys receives a citizen who wants to be sold back into slavery because he feels his life as a slave was better than as a freedman. Next citizen brings charred bones of his daughter, who was killed by Drogon. Drogon has not returned and Daenerys chains her two other dragons Rhaegal and Viserion as a precaution.

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===Beyond the Wall=== Jon meets Rayder and tells him that he wants to discuss an end to their conflict. A massive cavalry charge led by Stannis and Davos overruns the wildling encampment. Mance surrenders and Stannis takes him captive, on Jon's suggestion. Bran's group reach the large Heart Tree. Jojen is killed by a group of wights, but Hodor, Meera and Bran are saved by a Child of the Forest, who leads them to meet an old man, who tells Bran that while he will never be able to walk again, he will be able to fly.

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===In King's Landing=== Gregor lies dying from Oberyn's poisoned spear, but Qyburn says that he can save him and Cersei ousts Pycelle from his laboratory and gives Clegane's care over to Qyburn, who tells the procedure may change him, but will not weaken him. Cersei tells Tywin that, if forced to marry Loras, she will admit her incest with Jaime and that her children are the issue of such. In the dungeons, Tyrion awaits his execution, but Jaime helps him escape. Tyrion, before escaping, sneaks into the Tower of the Hand and kills Shae and Tywin. Tyrion then escapes on a ship bound for Essos with help from Varys, who boards with him.

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===In the Vale=== Brienne and Podrick find Sandor and Arya. Brienne recognizes Arya and tells her about her oath to Catelyn. Sandor is unconvinced of her loyalties and after a brutal fight, Brienne knocks Sandor off a cliff and unsuccessfully searches for Arya. After they leave, Arya leaves Sandor to die and boards a ship to Braavos. She shows a captain the coin Jaqen gave her.

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===Writing=== The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, This episode contains content from two of George Martin's novels, ''A Storm of Swords'', chapters Jon X, part of Jon XI, Jaime IX, Tyrion XI, and Arya XIII, and ''A Dance with Dragons'', chapters Daenerys I, Daenerys II, and Bran II.

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===Filming=== "The Children" was directed by Alex Graves. The Thingvellir National Park in Iceland was used as the location for the fight between Brienne and The Hound.

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===Ratings=== "The Children" was watched by 7.09 million Americans during its premiere hour, a 32% increase from the previous season finale. In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 1.850 million viewers, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week. It also received 0.085 million timeshift viewers.

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===Critical reception=== The episode received universal acclaim. All 35 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were positive, with an average score of 9.5 out of 10. The site's consensus reading, "Capping off the best season of ''Game of Thrones'' to date, "The Children" provides enough satisfying plot developments for a finale, while its twists and turns leave you wanting more." IGN writer Matt Fowler called it a "strong seasonal send-off with tons of violent twists, and turns." Sean T. Collins of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote, "Sometimes ''Game of Thrones'' is a widescreen epic fantasy, other times it's a small-scale study of violent lives. At its best – and "The Children" is certainly this show at its wide and wild best – ''Game of Thrones'' is all of these things, simultaneously." TVLine named Rory McCann and Gwendoline Christie the "Performers of the Week" for their physical acting in their fight sequence, and wrote that it "was one of the finest examples of the form in recent TV history – absolutely too epic to ignore."

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===Omission of Lady Stoneheart=== After the episode premiered, some fans of the novel series voiced their displeasure over the omission of Lady Stoneheart, a character from the end of ''A Storm of Swords''. This was in part fueled by a photo posted to Instagram two months earlier by actress Lena Headey that many fans assumed was a confirmation of the character's inclusion in the finale. A day later, director Alex Graves stated that the character was never planned to appear in the fourth season, and that he did not know whether she would appear in the fifth. In an interview with ''Entertainment Weekly'', actress Michelle Fairley stated that the character may not ever be included in the TV series, though she did not give a definite confirmation either way.

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