Game of Thrones is set in Westeros, a fictional continent unified under King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) who rules from the Iron Throne in the capital city of King’s Landing. Originally seven independent kingdoms, the continent was unified by Aegon Targaryen, who conquered the territories with his dragon army after crossing the Narrow Sea from Valyria in Essos.
The Seven Kingdoms comprise the North, led by Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark (Sean Bean); the Vale of Arryn, governed by Lord Jon Arryn (John Standing); the Iron Islands, ruled by Lord Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide); the Riverlands, held by Lord Hoster Tully (Clive Russell); the Westerlands (commonly called the Rock), ruled by Lord Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance); the Stormlands, led by Lord Renly Baratheon (Gethin Anthony); the Reach, under Lord Mace Tyrell (Roger Ashton-Griffiths); and the Principality of Dorne, ruled by Prince Doran Martell (Alexander Siddig).
Tywin Lannister holds significant influence as the king’s father-in-law through his daughter Cersei (Lena Headey) marriage to King Robert. His other children include the twins Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Cersei, and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf renowned for his brilliance and popularity among viewers. Through Cersei, Tywin’s grandchildren are Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), heir to the throne, Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free), and Tommen Baratheon (Dean-Charles Chapman).
Game of Thrones Season 1 opens with three Night’s Watch members encountering White Walkers beyond the Wall—a massive structure guarded by this specialized force that historically defended against these ice-bodied creatures, but now primarily contains the Wildlings.
When the sole survivor reaches Winterfell with his account, he is executed by Ned (Sean Bean) for desertion. Ned, a principled man and close friend to King Robert (Mark Addy), rules the North alongside his wife Catelyn (Michelle Fairley), their five children Robb (Richard Madden), Sansa (Sophie Turner), Arya (Maisie Williams), Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright), and Rickon (Art Parkinson), his bastard son Jon Snow (Kit Harington), and ward Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen).
Following the death of Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, King Robert travels to Winterfell with his Lannister entourage to offer Ned the position and propose a marriage between Joffrey and Sansa. Meanwhile, Catelyn receives a letter from her sister Lysa (Kate Dickie), Jon Arryn’s widow, claiming the Lannisters poisoned her husband.
Events take a dark turn when young Bran, known for climbing Winterfell’s towers, discovers Queen Cersei in an intimate encounter with her twin brother Jaime. To keep their secret, Jaime pushes Bran from the tower, leaving him comatose. Despite this tragedy, Ned accepts the position of Hand and departs for King’s Landing with his daughters Sansa and Arya.
As Ned begins his role in King’s Landing, Jon Snow decides to join the Night’s Watch Rangers like his uncle Benjen Stark (Joseph Mawle), departing Winterfell after gifting his sister Arya a sword she names Needle. Tyrion Lannister accompanies their journey north. Meanwhile, during Bran’s coma, an assassination attempt is thwarted by his direwolf, leading Catelyn to suspect Lannister involvement and secretly travel to King’s Landing to warn Ned.
In the capital, Ned assumes leadership of the Small Council—comprised of Grand Maester Pycelle, treasurer Littlefinger, spymaster Lord Varys (Conleth Hill), and legal advisor Renly Baratheon—where he discovers the kingdom’s poor management under his predecessor Jon Arryn. Bran awakens with no memory of witnessing Cersei and Jaime’s encounter or his subsequent fall.
When Catelyn arrives in King’s Landing, her old acquaintance Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aidan Gillen) intercepts her and reveals that the assassination weapon belonged to Tyrion Lannister. Though Catelyn shares this information with Ned, they lack sufficient evidence to act against the Lannisters, leaving them in a precarious position.
In Essos, Viserys Targaryen (Harry Lloyd) plots to reclaim the Iron Throne—his perceived birthright—lost during Robert’s Rebellion fifteen years earlier when the “Mad King” Aerys II (David Rintoul) was overthrown. Viserys and his sister Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) are the sole survivors of House Targaryen, having been smuggled to safety in Essos during the rebellion.
Through merchant Illyrio Mopatis (Roger Allam), Viserys arranges his sister’s marriage to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), leader of the fierce, nomadic Dothraki warriors, in exchange for an army to retake Westeros. At the wedding, Daenerys receives three fossilized dragon eggs from Illyrio and gains the protection of Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), a fugitive knight from Westeros and son of the Night’s Watch Lord Commander.
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As Daenerys’s relationship with Drogo flourishes and she becomes pregnant, Viserys grows increasingly unstable over Drogo’s delayed promise of an army. His threats against Daenerys and her unborn child ultimately lead to his death at Drogo’s hands, who executes him by pouring molten gold over his head—a fitting end for the “Beggar King.”
At Castle Black, Jon Snow distinguishes himself among the Night’s Watch recruits—mostly criminals—as a skilled swordsman and befriends the intelligent but timid Samwell Tarly (John Bradley). Initially disappointed at being appointed personal steward to Lord Commander Jeor Mormont (James Cosmo) instead of a ranger like his uncle Benjen, Jon comes to realize this role is preparing him for future leadership.
During his return journey from The Wall, Tyrion stops at Winterfell to give Bran a design for a special saddle to accommodate his paralysis. However, his goodwill is overshadowed when Catelyn Stark encounters and arrests him at an inn, accusing him of attempting to kill Bran and murder Jon Arryn. At his trial in the Eyrie, Tyrion’s champion, the sellsword Bronn (Jerome Flynn), wins his freedom through combat, and the two form an alliance as they head to King’s Landing.
In the capital, the Stark sisters pursue divergent paths: Sansa dreams of becoming queen as Joffrey’s future bride, while Arya focuses on learning swordsmanship under Braavosi master Syrio Forel Miltos Yerolemou, arranged by her father Ned who recognizes her independent spirit. Copy
Ned’s investigation into Jon Arryn’s death leads to another dead end when his key witness, Arryn’s former guard, dies in a tournament against Gregor Clegane a.k.a The Mountain (Hafthor Bjornsson) after receiving a suspicious knighthood and gold payment. Meanwhile, news of the Targaryen siblings gathering Dothraki support prompts King Robert to order Daenerys’s assassination—a decision Ned opposes so strongly he threatens to resign as Hand.
The situation deteriorates when Jaime Lannister, retaliating for Tyrion’s arrest, ambushes Ned and kills his men. Though Robert mediates this conflict and convinces Ned to remain as Hand during his hunting expedition, tensions continue to mount. While serving as acting ruler, Ned orders The Mountain’s execution for raiding villages and summons Tywin Lannister to answer for these crimes.
As the rift between Houses Stark and Lannister deepens, Ned plans to send his daughters back to Winterfell’s safety. His decisions as temporary ruler, particularly his actions against The Mountain and the Lannisters, further inflame the already volatile political situation in King’s Landing.
Upon discovering that Cersei and Jaime’s relationship produced Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen—meaning Robert has no legitimate heirs—Ned attempts to inform the king. However, Robert is mortally wounded by a boar during his hunt. On his deathbed, Robert names Ned regent until Joffrey comes of age, but Ned craftily writes “my rightful heir” in the will instead of Joffrey’s name. Cersei rejects the will’s validity, and Littlefinger’s betrayal leads to Ned’s imprisonment for alleged treason.
Despite following Varys’s advice to publicly acknowledge Joffrey as legitimate king to protect his daughters, Ned is executed on Joffrey’s orders. In the aftermath, Arya escapes King’s Landing with help from Yoren (Francis Magee) of the Night’s Watch, while Sansa remains Cersei’s captive as a political hostage.
The execution ignites a cascade of rebellion: Robb Stark leads the North’s secession and wages war against Tywin Lannister’s forces, while Robert’s brothers Stannis and Renly each claim the throne after learning of Joffrey’s true parentage. As Tywin commands the war effort against Robb, he appoints Tyrion as Hand of the King, setting the stage for a conflict that mirrors Robert’s earlier rebellion.
At Castle Black, the Night’s Watch confronts the threat of White Walkers during an attack on their fortress, while Benjen Stark’s disappearance during a northern patrol prompts a mission beyond the Wall. In Essos, Jorah Mormont, initially serving as Daenerys Targaryen’s guard to earn a pardon from King Robert for spying, ultimately chooses loyalty to her over forgiveness from Westeros, even preventing an assassination attempt against her.
Enraged by the attempt on his wife’s life, Khal Drogo vows to conquer the Iron Throne for Daenerys and their unborn child. During their campaign to fund the invasion, Daenerys intervenes in the Dothraki’s brutal village raids by claiming the women as slaves, including a healer named Mirri Maz Duur (Mia Soteriou). When Drogo is wounded in a duel with the rebellious Mago (Ivailo Dimitrov), Mirri seizes her chance for revenge by using a deceptive remedy that leaves him catatonic and causes Daenerys to lose her unborn child.
Learning of Mirri’s deliberate vengeance for the Dothraki’s atrocities, a grief-stricken Daenerys euthanizes Drogo and arranges a funeral pyre. She places his body, her three dragon eggs, and the bound Mirri on the pyre before walking into the flames herself. At dawn, Daenerys emerges unharmed with three newly hatched dragons, concluding the first season of Game of Thrones with her transformation into the Mother of Dragons.
