Brienne E-Book

Andreas Trinsch

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 265

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Brienne of Tarth - highborn and ridiculed by those around her because of her size and harsh appearance, she chose the difficult path of a sword fighter to fulfil her heart's desire to be in the service of a gracious Lord or Lady. Beginning with her victory against Loras Tyrell in the tournament, through the nerve-racking odyssey with Jaime Lannister, to her hasty escape from Riverrun, which was captured by the enemy, this book not only offers an illustrated and commentary review of her perilous journey through the Seven Kingdoms, but it also simultaneously looks behind the facade of an extraordinary woman.

Leseprobe

For all those, who, like me,

have grown fond of Brienne.

A Commentary Review of the ”Lady of Tarth“ Storyline including “Game of Thrones“ Seasons Two through Six

... and much more.

Translated from

German into English

With this book I simply wish to say “thanks“.

“Thanks“ to George R.R. Martin who created this truly unique character of Brienne who casts aside all traditional stereotypes and shows us that being “different“ is what makes people special.

And of course “thanks“ to Gwendoline Christie who not only immortalized herself with this role but who also inspired me to write this book in the first place with her wonderful portrayal of this extraordinary woman.

WHERE TO FIND EVERYTHING

TWO IMPORTANT NOTES IN ADVANCE

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT

PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES

WHAT HAPPENED PREVIOUSLY –

A look back at the events in episodes 1.01 - 2.02

SEASON TWO

2.03 WHAT IS DEAD MAY NEVER DIE

2.04 GARDEN OF BONES

2.05 THE GHOST OF HARRENHAL

2.06 THE OLD GODS AND THE NEW

2.07 A MAN WITHOUT HONOR

2.08 THE PRINCE OF WINTERFELL

2.10 VALAR MORGHULIS

A REVIEW OF SEASON TWO

SEASON THREE

3.02 DARK WINGS, DARK WORDS

3.03 WALK OF PUNISHMENT

3.04 AND NOW HIS WATCH IS ENDED

3.05 KISSED BY FIRE

3.06 THE CLIMB

3.07 THE BEAR AND THE MAIDEN FAIR

3.10 MHYSA

A REVIEW OF SEASON THREE

SEASON FOUR

4.01 TWO SWORDS

4.02 THE LION AND THE ROSE

4.03 BREAKER OF CHAINS

4.04 OATHKEEPER

4.05 FIRST OF HIS NAME

4.07 MOCKINGBIRD

4.10 THE CHILDREN

A REVIEW OF SEASON FOUR

SEASON FIVE

5.01 THE WARS TO COME

5.02 THE HOUSE OF BLACK AND WHITE

5.03 HIGH SPARROW

5.04 SONS OF THE HARPY

5.05 KILL THE BOY

5.07 THE GIFT

5.10 MOTHER’S MERCY

A REVIEW OF SEASON FIVE

SEASON SIX

6.01 THE RED WOMAN

6.02 HOME

6.04 BOOK OF THE STRANGER

6.05 THE DOOR

6.07 THE BROKEN MAN

6.08 NO ONE

A REVIEW OF SEASON SIX

CHARACTER PROFILES – missing or superfluous?

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN IDEA

THE VISUAL COMPROMISE

OF HEROES, GODS AND CHAMPIONED CAUSES

ANGELA WIEDERHUT – Brienne‘s German voice

MY WEB LINK RECOMMENDATIONS

SOURCES

Two Important Notes in Advance:

On the one hand, this book contains Brienne‘s storyline up to and including Season Six. If you have managed to resist all media temptations to keep you up to date on the subject, read no further. As you know...

On the other hand, it is dedicated exclusively to “Show Brienne“ and only refers to events and narratives which are mentioned in the TV adaption up to this point.

This is primarily aimed at the readers of George R.R. Martin‘s novels among you who are a little wary of the series due to numerous plot changes and who may feel that there is a lack of biographical background information on “Book Brienne”.

However, it could cause a great deal of confusion, particularly for non-readers, if events from the books were mixed with events from the TV production. Books should remain books and films should remain films.

What you can expect

Up until now, I have only known this feeling from long-gone days, when my film and action heroes were Lex Barker as “Old Shatterhand”, Raimund Harmstorf as the Courier of the Czar “Michael Strogoff” or the now almost forgotten Peter Marshall in the role of “Orzowei” being mercilessly hunted through the African jungle. It has been a long, long time since then. Almost exactly 40 years. I was just seven years old, an age at which this kind of expression of sympathy for an artist, no matter what genre, was perfectly normal, and which is still the case for children today.

I really did not think that it was still possible, 40 years afterward, that this long-lost childhood feeling would be awakened in me again. Yet, Gwendoline Christie, a woman for a change, managed to do just this in mid-2012, when she appeared on the scene with her sympathetic interpretation of “Brienne of Tarth”.

While this previously mentioned sympathy was only limited to the character at first, I was so fascinated by the way she is embodied by the actress as the story goes on that I eventually wanted to know more about the woman who so magnificently portrays this character that has been subjected to hard tests by fate.

During my research, I found some interesting information concerning how Christie actually came to Game of Thrones, what she did before she became part of this series and what we can expect from her in the near future. I have included everything that seemed important and worth mentioning in the following chapter.

In addition to these background facts, this book primarily offers an entertaining commentary review of Brienne’s adventurous and perilous journey through the Seven Kingdoms, illustrated with numerous original scenes from the series. A journey that started promisingly with her appointment to Renly Baratheon’s Kingsguard but increasingly develops into a tour full of painful experiences over time and pushes her to her limits both mentally and physically.

The main focus here is exclusively on scenes in which Brienne plays an active or passive role or in which she is at least mentioned in one way or another by other characters. Other storylines, which do not overlap or cross over her story, are only taken into account insofar as they are relevant to her further storyline. This generally takes place with highlighted explanatory reviews.

Brienne – A Life for Honor ultimately became a book, whose title, in my opinion, best describes this character. All of her actions are determined by her unwavering loyalty and her firm efforts to always do the morally right thing, to protect her self-respect and ultimately her honor.

Hamburg, February 2017

I wrote this book without the assistance of

a professional proofreader.

So, if you should find any possible errors,

please feel free to keep them.

Phoenix from the Ashes

For me, Game of Thrones, the television adaptation produced by the US television network HBO and based on George R.R. Martin’s series of fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, is the best show currently on television. It is also officially the most successful TV series across all genres in the world with its 38 Emmy awards so far, including two consecutive awards in the “Best Drama Series” category. There are plenty of reasons for this.

The ”Lady of Tarth“

One of these reasons are definitely the characters created by the author. Hardly any other story offers such a wide variety of ambivalent figures like Martin’s thrilling fantasy saga.

Brienne from the island of Tarth, better known as “Brienne of Tarth”, is such a complex character and, in my opinion, also one of the most tragic figures in the entire Game of Thrones universe due to her difficult life circumstances that she has faced since early childhood.

Even when she was still a child, Brienne’s father Selwyn, the Lord of Evenfall Hall, tried to find a befitting husband for his only daughter and heir to the House - without any measurable success.

With a remarkable body size for a growing girl and already towering over most men at a height of over six foot at an early age, as well as her lack of typical feminine charms, Brienne simply did not correspond to what young marriageable Lords envisaged as their Mrs. Right. Constantly rejected and somewhat humiliated by these suitors, she decided against the quiet and carefree but also uneventful life of a lady at court at an early stage, despite her noble lineage.

Firmly determined to fulfil her lifelong dream of being in the service of a Lord, who respects her as she is and treats her well and protecting him by giving her own life if necessary, she repeatedly urged her father to teach her how to wield a sword and ride a horse.

Lessons which ultimately paid off. For despite the fact that she is a woman and therefore being underestimated more often than she would like, Brienne is among the best in her field when handling a sword, and those who enjoy her trust can count themselves lucky. Aside from the fact that she is a capable and, if necessary, merciless warrior, there is hardly a more reliable and more loyal soul than her throughout Westeros. This was a realization that Renly Baratheon also came to early on.

Indeed, in the course of events, Brienne had one or two opportunities to demonstrate her abilities, however, her opponents were often no longer able to testify to her talent afterwards. Or Brienne’s triumph was put down to unfortunate circumstances rather than her ability.

In fact, why does Jaime Lannister always come to my mind in this respect?

An extraordinary woman

Brienne’s androgynous appearance in combination with her short, flaxen and shaggy hair, as well as the fact that she normally wears half-armor and a reinforced tunic due to her chosen life path, undoubtedly contribute to the fact that she is excluded and seen as an outsider by large sections of society; and some even have a subliminal suspicion of homosexual inclinations.

Brienne is therefore often the target of ridicule and mockery from both men and women and to describe her as “pretty” would be like describing a butcher as “vegan”. It is not by chance that she has been vilified as “Brienne the Beauty” since childhood. The woman was then largely shaped by these reactions that turned her into an extremely humorless person. Since the incidents in her youth, Brienne particularly treats men with enormous distrust and often takes a snappy, demure or taciturn stance towards them. Since there was hardly anyone who had a kind word or praise for her in the past, apart from Renly Baratheon and her father, she feels rather hard-pressed in these situations and it embarrasses her to reply with thanks.

Her awkwardness in dealing with these situations can be felt in these moments, which are admittedly rare.

Even though the “Maiden of Tarth”, as she is also known, is aware that can never be elevated to the status of a knight as a woman, an honor that she certainly deserves more than many actual “Sers”, Brienne lives very strictly by the knight’s moral code like no other character in the story, and basically applies this standard to everyone, albeit primarily to all those who have already had the fortune of being knighted. With this attitude towards life and the ultimately bitter view that it is not her qualities and skills with a sword blocking this path but simply the fact that she is the wrong gender, she has a deep contempt for anyone who breaks or takes their knightly oath lightly. Oops! There he is again, the good Jaime!

A contradictory character

Brienne’s distinct sense of justice and her fundamentally honest character without falsity are certainly her outstanding characteristics, which are positive across the board, and this, even though there is hardly a character in Game of Thrones who is exclusively good or exclusively evil. In keeping with that, she is, in my opinion, one of the very few exceptions. While at this point it is certainly debatable whether her vengeance, which drove her on since Renly Baratheon’s murder and which she ultimately took with her enforced judgement of his brother Stannis, is a positive or negative trait according to her sworn oath. Or a bit of both.

This also gives me the perfect transition to Brienne’s weaknesses since they should not go unmentioned. In addition to her aforementioned lack of humor, her extreme stubbornness should also be mentioned as well as her moral principles. Yes, you read correctly. It is her almost obstinate belief in true chivalry. Really? Are virtuous actions not actually worthy of praise?

In principle, yes, but Brienne simply wears this moral corset incredibly tight. As already expressed, she follows the knight’s code in such a rigorous and disciplined manner (and her stubbornness also plays a not altogether unimportant role here) that she does not even consider alternative solutions in certain situations, and it seems as if she is going through life with blinkers on. As if she can't tell her left from right. And it is precisely this stubborn clinging on to knightly principles and the associated disregard of all reason that then get her into serious difficulties. Her storyline up to now is full of examples of this.

Sure. I am going on about her weaknesses. But when a story like Game of Thrones releases characters such as Ramsay Bolton, Joffrey Baratheon or Petyr Baelish on the viewer, her weaknesses suddenly pale in comparison. Not to mention the fact that she compromises herself or her own mission with these weaknesses rather than other people, in contrast to the three abovementioned men. Voilà! Now that's what I call an euphemism!

If you think again about what has been written so far, Brienne’s contrast between immense physicality and ruthlessness in battle, on the one hand, and internal vulnerability, on the other, will now be blatantly obvious. Like a turtle in her shell, she seems to only really feel safe in her armor. One could think that she had been there in Winterfell when Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow, two outcasts of society, met in the castle courtyard in the very first episode, and she had taken little Tyrion’s statement (“Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you.”, Episode 1.01Winter is Coming) literally and made it her own.

I found, and still find, this “perfect imperfection”, the combination of an outwardly strong but also internally vulnerable character, who is forced into the role of an outsider because she deviates from the social norm and who must always work hard to earn acceptance (I shall not even mention respect) due to a lack of feminine charisma, truly fascinating. And this ultimately contributed to the fact that Brienne became my favorite character over the course of the story.

Over to you, Ms. Christie!

Nevertheless, the all-important criterion is undoubtedly the actress herself. Above all, a film character is brought to life by the way that they are embodied by their respective actor (or actress in this case). And I honestly cannot say for certain whether I would have been so enthusiastic about Brienne if she had been played by anyone other than Gwendoline Tracey Philippa Christie (her full name). A woman who is as extraordinary and likable as her series character.

Along with Brienne’s first appearance in the third episode of the second season, What is Dead May Never Die, Christie’s name also appears in the end credits of that episode for the first time. Her name remains in the end credits until the end of season three. This changes at the beginning of season four when her name can be seen in the opening credits of Two Swords, due to her more significant storyline and the associated leap into the extended main cast.

Brienne had become a real fan favorite over the course of the seasons, especially in Great Britain and the United States, and her roller coaster odyssey with Jaime Lannister, beginning at the end of the second season and extending over the entire third season, ranks among the most popular storylines of all time in fan circles.

Even Gwendoline Christie herself is surprised at “how much people have taken this character to their hearts” (source: scoopnest.com).

The fact that the now 38-year-old British stage actress is able to portray this complex character so convincingly is certainly also because the role of Brienne is essentially tailor-made for Christie. Even the actress herself was often teased because of her height during her childhood. However, she no longer wishes to talk about that; she suffered too much back then.

It therefore seems like an ironic twist of fate that Christie, who was born in the English south coast town of Worthing/Sussex and has now been living in London for some time, now owes her sudden and unexpected success as an actress and thus partly her growing popularity to this apparent burden.

In retrospect, her life would have taken a completely different course if a spinal cord injury suffered at the age of twelve due to a growth spurt, and thus a tragic circumstance for her, had not brought her to acting in the first place and forced her to give up her actual career choice. She originally wanted to be a ballet dancer.

It was the combination of expression and discipline that she loved so much about this sport. She eventually decided on a career as an actress and applied to the Drama Centre in London a few years later.

Despite graduating with honors from there in 2005, she was kindly told that she would find it difficult to get suitable role offers in the future due to her size. From then on, she earned her living primarily by performing in Shakespeare plays. In 2007, Christie celebrated her screen debut with the British sci-fi short film The Time Surgeon known only to real insiders. A small role in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus two years later in 2009 was her career highlight at that time, until her big moment finally came in 2011:

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

A motto that could hardly have been more appropriate when she learned that her name was increasingly being mentioned on the internet in connection with a yet-to-be-cast role in Game of Thrones. And she fulfilled the decisive criteria for the role with her size and acting training. She started reading Martin’s books, which she had never heard of before, and she watched the first season of the series. From then on, she did not give up. This was her opportunity to portray “Brienne of Tarth”, a woman who does not correspond to the classic image of women and does not define herself by her femininity; it was her role, and she had to get it. At all costs.

In this respect, she gave the following answer in an interview with “Elle Magazine” some time ago:

“This is the part I always wanted to play but never knew existed. All the things I had wanted to cloak about myself, that I felt a little ashamed and embarrassed about, had been bullied for, these things had a place they could live – in Brienne.”

In order to meet the visual and physical requirements demanded of her by the role, Christie had to make some sacrifices. First of all, she had to lose her long hair. A change of her personality which not only took a lot of effort but which also brought out a lot of tears, as she later admitted. This was followed by several weeks of yoga, horse riding, sword fighting and stage fighting training. She eventually lost several kilograms of weight and gained muscle mass through a change of diet. She pretty much pulled out all the stops to get this role. This is despite the fact that, before becoming involved in Game of Thrones, she was actually “someone who liked to lie on the couch and eat chocolates.” (source: melty.de).

Christie, who was not only invited to the casting for the role of “Brienne” but also to have it given to her, ultimately proved to be a very fortunate choice, not just for the two key Game of Thrones producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Michael Slovis, the director of the first two episodes of season five of the series (The Wars to Come and The House of Black and White), also raved about collaborating with Christie and her co-star Daniel Portman, who plays her companion “Podrick Payne”:

“They are the nicest, sweetest, most fun-loving, talented, open, creative… I could go on for half an hour with this, and they are just the most wonderful people to work with. Look at Gwendoline. I could sit and watch her read the New York City phone book for three hours and I wouldn't be bored. She's so beautiful and so committed and so in the moment of being that character.” (source: esquire.com)

What’s more, this view is shared by Kristofer Hivju who plays the Wildling leader Tormund Giantsbane. Some time ago, the Norwegian told the “Hollywood Reporter” that filming the scenes with Gwendoline Christie for the fourth and fifth episodes of season six (Book of the Stranger and The Door) was a very special highlight for him:

“I love working with her. She's a fantastic actress. She's so much fun. She's filled with life. (...).”

First minor successes and mega blockbusters

Without any exaggeration, Christie definitely succeeded in making her acting breakthrough with “Brienne” and her name will probably always be linked to this character in the same way as Sean Connery is to “James Bond” or Daniel Radcliffe is to “Harry Potter”. However, she was also active in film and television aside from this global phenomenon, even if only in rather smaller productions that were not nearly as successful as the HBO hit Game of Thrones.

For example, she played “Lexi” as part of the main cast in the first two seasons (out of three) of the rather unknown British sci-fi TV series Wizards vs. Aliens (2012/13), which was co-produced by the BBC, and where the extra-terrestrial “Nekross” feast on the magic of all the wizards on earth. Don’t worry, it is as bizarre as it sounds. The German television audience has been deprived of this show so far, perhaps because it was just too whacky.

Furthermore, in addition to the aforementioned The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, she worked with director Terry Gilliam again. However, she only got a mini role in The Zero Theorem in 2013. And when I say “mini”, I really mean mini, as her face can only be seen for a few seconds in a street commercial.

Speaking of 2013, she eventually came to the attention of the major Hollywood studios this year, and thus she then played parts in two globally successful blockbusters at the end of 2015: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 and Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. However, both projects were based on completely different and admittedly fortunate circumstances. While Christie owes her not particularly spectacular role as “Commander Lyme” in the fourth and final part of the Hunger Games trilogy to the originally cast actress, Lily Rabe, who dropped out because of scheduling difficulties, she was active and worked hard to promote herself for the Star Wars role. Once she learned that Disney Studios intended to shoot a new Star Wars film, she really wanted to be in it “like a dog with a bone” (source: faz.net). She was successful as we now know since she eventually got the role of chrome armor-wearing “Captain Phasma”, though it was not the original plan to get to this point. Director J.J. Abrams, in consultation with his screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, only decided to cast the originally male character of the Captain as a woman shortly before shooting.

As Captain Phasma, the commander of the “First Order's” force of stormtroopers, Christie is not only the first female antagonist in the Star Wars universe but she also proves that, in addition to playing the virtuous “Brienne”, she can also feel at home on the “Dark Side of the Force”. SPOILER ALERT! Unfortunately for her, her (sadly fairly modest) screen presence ends in a trash compactor and the Starkiller Base of the First Order is also destroyed shortly thereafter. However, her return as “Phasma” in the forthcoming Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (cinema release: December 2017) is already certain. Supposedly, there should be much more to see of the “Captain” than was the case in Episode Seven. I think this is excellent news.

Perhaps we will then be able to see her face at some point that did not happen in The Force Awakens. But whether she is wearing a helmet or not, her silver and chrome armor probably already has cult status.

Unfortunately, last year in 2016, Gwendoline Christie only appeared once on the big screen at the start of September in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, the film adaptation of the eponymous 1990s British cult comedy series. She plays herself in several short cameo appearances.

This film had an unbelievably star-studded cast and it was just as unrestrained, sharp and overtly socially critical as could be expected from this format.

Absolutely loopy!

A remarkable development

Since the beginning of her film career in The Time Surgeon, it is particularly striking that Gwendoline Christie has been predominantly cast in productions in the sci-fi or fantasy genre. I do not believe that this is pure coincidence. Special films sometimes simply require extraordinary actors who stand out from the crowd.

And so she does, just because of her size alone. In this respect, her involvement in the second season of the TV crime series Top of the Lake, which should find its way to our television screens later this year, offers a successful counter project. I am already fascinated by the idea of seeing her in a modern police uniform for a change, rather than medieval or futuristic armor. However, the name of her role had not been defined by the time this book was published.

In fact, after the first season, which I found rather slow and sometimes lacking tension, I had no intention of watching a second season if there was one. However, I have changed my mind in the meantime. It is quite interesting how Ms. Christie can achieve all this…

It was undoubtedly very unfortunate and a crucial episode in her life to have to give up the sport she loved but every now and then one door closes and another, significantly greater door opens. And I hope, no, I am sure, that we will see much more of her in the future.

But it is not only in her various film roles where she cuts a fine figure. Even when she is off camera at so-called panels or public appearances such as film premieres, she is a very welcome guest due to her cheerful nature and her almost infectious blithesomeness which she spreads everywhere in sharp contrast to the rather grumpy “Brienne”.

Alison “Boom” Baumgartner put this very eloquently in her article on sciencefiction.com where she described an interview from March 2015 with Christie at the Denver ComicCon as “a delight” and then gave a piece of advice for all Game of Thrones fans:

“(...) so for all of you Game of Thrones fans, if you have a chance to catch one of her panels at another con, be sure to get in line early! It will be worth it!”

The organizers of the Star Wars Celebration in London in mid-July last year went one step further when they showed great trust in inviting Christie not as a guest but as the moderator of the panel discussion on the new Star Wars spin-off Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

A trust that Christie more than repaid according to one Twitter user (“Having @lovegwendoline [Gwendoline Christie’s Twitter Account] host the Rogue One panel was one of the best planning decisions in @SW_Celebration (…).”).

As if she had never done anything else before, she commemorated the 80 victims of the recent attack in Nice/France in a moving speech at the beginning of the panel and let her tears flow freely when the audience spontaneously began singing “La Marseillaise”.

A truly magnificent and emotional appearance!

Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to see Gwendoline Christie live anywhere. When you do not live in the United Kingdom or the USA, the chances of seeing her in person are limited since most of these conventions or film premieres take place there.

But I will never lose hope...

A brief outlook on Season Seven

First let us move casually to the seventh and thus penultimate season of Game of Thrones, as confirmed by HBO which has sadly been reduced to seven episodes.

Even though many fans of the series (myself included) find it hard to imagine that filming will soon be wrapped, whether we like it or not, we must come to terms with the fact that even a ground-breaking format such as GoT is finite after all.

Like probably every fan of the series, I am of course eager to find out what happens this year. And it should now come as no surprise that I am particularly itching to learn what is next for Brienne and Podrick. The last thing we saw of the two was their escape by boat from Riverrun which is now occupied by the Lannisters and Freys.

I know that you should not have a favorite in a format such as Game of Thrones since it is well known that this series does not hold back when it comes to unexpectedly snatching our favorites away from us. Eddard Stark’s honesty, a virtue that would probably have been the decisive reason to allow the character to live until the end of any other series, ultimately became his fatal downfall. This negative example alone is reason enough to suspect that Brienne undoubtedly belongs to the group of people who run the serious risk of being killed off in every episode. She is ultimately one of the few remaining honorable characters who puts the welfare of other people above her own without seeking glory or financial reward, who raises the audiences’ hope for a victory of good over evil, and who thus represents a silver lining on the horizon of the rather gloomy Game of Thrones universe. And this awareness ultimately leads to my dilemma: on the one hand, I look forward to every minute of her screen presence but on the other, I am aware that every scene could lead to her death. To be honest, I cannot imagine that the series creators would let a character like Brienne simply die off screen in passing. Yet, should the time come and if she does not live until the end of the story, then I hope that she dies for a greater cause, for good, and that she sacrifices herself so that someone else can live. That would be in her spirit, truly knightly and, above all, the farewell Brienne deserves. But fortunately, this is just pure speculation and it would be a pity, in my opinion, if this was to happen. In that case, I would then have to seriously consider who to cheer on in the last remaining episodes. Or, to put it in the (slightly modified) words of German humorist Loriot who died in 2011:

“Game of Thrones” without “Brienne” is possible, but pointless.

What happened previously...

A look back at the events in episodes 1.01 – 2.02

After King Robert Baratheon’s early and unexpected death, an unrelenting dispute over his successor broke out between several contenders, also known as the “War of the Five Kings”.