The plot of Game of Thrones is set in a fictional land called The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. The story is complex, being told from nine different points of view and taking place in various locations depending on the character.
The story begins fifteen years earlier than the events recalled in the book, with the kidnapping of Lyanna Stark by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, who was already married to Elia Martell. Lyanna was also betrothed to Lord Robert Baratheon who loved her very much. When Lyanna’s father and older brother demanded that she was to be returned safely, they were killed by The Mad King, Aerys. This lead to a civil war in the Seven Kingdoms, a rebellion lead by Roberth and supported by several important noble families in the Seven Kingdoms like House Tully and Arryn.
Other houses, like House Tyrell, remained loyal to the Mad King while some important Houses like House Lannister and Martell chose to remain neutral. Prince Rhaegar is killed in the Battle of the Trident and House Lannister seems to take the Mad King’s side only to betray him, sacking the capital at King's Landing and killing the King before Robert and Eddard Stark arrive there.
During the storming of the capital, Elia Martell and her children are brutally killed by Lannister knights. Lyanna dies shortly after Robert and Ned conquer the city which pushes Robert, the newly crowned King, to send assassins after Daenerys and Viserys, the Mad King’s children that were saved by loyalists.
Robert marries Cersei Lannister to strengthen the alliances between his house and the Lannister House and Eddard marries Catelyne during the war.
The action can be divided geographically to taking place in three areas of the fictional world created by J.R.R Martin; in the Seven Kingdoms, on the Wall, and in the East.
The action that takes place in the Seven Kingdoms starts by presenting Eddard Stark, the head of House Stark and also Warden of the North executing a traitor form the Wall while he is watched by his two sons, Robb and Bran, his bustard son, John, and his ward, Theon Greyjoy.
On the way home, Robb finds a dead direwolf witch gave birth to five pups before it died. Even if some argued that the dead direwolf is a bad omen and that the pups should also be killed, Eddard agrees to let his children keep the pups with the condition that they will take care of them and not the servants.
Because there were five pups and Eddard has five legitimate children, Jon remains without a pup. He finds, however, at some distance from the dead direwof, a sixth albino pup that he take for himself despite Theon telling him that it will probably not survive, and names it Ghost.
When Eddard arrives back in Winterfell, his wife, Catelyn informs him that the king send a letter announcing them that he is on his way to them with his family. King Robert arrives at Winterfell with his wife, Cersei, their three children, Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen. The Queen’s brothers, Jamie and Tyron also accompanies them alongside many retainers and half of his court. The King offers Eddard the position as Head of the King, arguing that he Eddard is the only one he can trust after Jon Arryn, the previous Hand, died suddenly.
At first, Eddard wants to refuse the position, but a letter from Lord Arryn’s wife who is also Catelyne’s sister informing them that her husband was killed by the Lannisters, convinces him to accept the position in order to find who was guilty for Jon Arryn’s assassination and punish them.
A few days before the departure, Bran falls from a tower after he discovers the Queen and her brother in a compromising position in one of the towers in Winterfell. The Queen and her brother are worried about the child waking up but when they leave, Brain remains in a comatose state, with little chances of waking up.
Eddard leaves with his two daughters, Sansa and Arya, while his wife remains at Winterfell with Bran and their youngest son. Jon, Eddard’s bastard son, goes to the Wall in the hope of becoming a Sworn Brother together with Tyron who is curious about the construction.
After Eddard leaves, an attempt is made ad Bran’s life but he is saved by his direwolf. Catelyn suspects that Bran must have seen something and that his fall was not an accident. She decides to go To King’s Landing to tell her husband about it and give him the dagger with which the assassin wanted to murder Bran.
Once Catelyn arrives in King’s Landing, her childhood friend Lord Petyr Baelish, tells her that the dagger was originally his but that he lost it to Tyron Lannister during a bet. After Catelyn meets with her husband, she returns to Winterfell while Eddard remains to try to find who killed Arryn and also why would the Lannisters try to kill his son.
On the way back to Winterfell, Catelyn meets with Tyron in an inn. She takes him captive and goes with him to Eyrie where her sister fled with her son after Jon Arryn was killed. Tyron demands a trial by combat and he is let free after his champion wins.
Eddard discovers that Jon Arryn found that Cersei’s children are the result of an incestuous relationship and not fathered by King Robert. Instead of taking the Queen into custody, Eddard reveals to her that he found her secret and tells her to run away.
Robert dies a few days later during a hunting trip and Joffrey, Cersei’s oldest son, is proclaimed King instead of Robert’s brother, Stanis. Eddard is bribed into signing a false confession of treason in exchange of his life and the safety of his daughters. Eddard is however beheaded while Sansa watches. Arya manages to escape with the help of her fencing instructor and a Sworn Brother.
A civil war breaks out and Robb Stark gathers and army to support House Tully who was under attack by Lord Tywin Lannister after Catelyn took Tyron as a hostage. While an army led by Jamie besieges Riverrun, Lord Tywin prevents Robb from advancing. Unexpectedly, Robb wins the support of House Frey by agreeing to a dynastic marriage. This allows him to detach his cavalry and cross the Green Fork whilst his infantry carries on to the Trident under Lord Roose Bolton, one of Robb's bannermen. Tywin, joined by the liberated Tyrion (who has won the support of the mountain clans of the Vale) defeats the Stark foot along the Green Fork before learning that Robb has outmaneuvered him. Shortly afterwards Robb's forces surprise and capture Jaime Lannister before smashing the Lannister army at the Whispering Wood north of Riverrun. Tywin falls back on the strong castle of Harrenhal and orders Tyrion to go to King's Landing and counsel King Joffrey I, acting as Hand in his stead.
Robert’s younger brother, Renly Bratheon flees to Highgarden and is declared King by the House Tyrell, becoming the second King in the King’s Landing. Robb becomes the third when he is proclaimed King of the North by his supporters and the House Tully.
Another part of the story takes place in the East, in the free city of Pentos ,where Daenerys Targaryen is married to Khal Drogo. Her brother, Viserys, hopes to gather a dothraki army that will help him get back the Iron Throne taken from his family.
The story presents the weeding customs of the Dothraki people and also the gifts received by Daenerys, which included three petrified dragon eggs given by Magister Illyrio. Daenerys starts a journey alongside her new husband, brother and an exiled knight from Westeros, Ser Jorah Mormont.
Daenerys and Khal Drogo fall in love and Daenerys grows more confident as the time passes which only enrages Viserys. Daenerys gets pregnant and is threaten by her brother who becomes more restless because Drogo keeps postponing attacking the Seven Kingdoms. Khla Drogo kills Viserys and the claim to the throne is taken by Daenerys.
Khal Drogo refuses at first to complete his wife’s wishes, but, after an attempt is made at Daenery’s life he decides that he will conquer Westeros for his son.
Khal Drogo is wounded during a raid and Daenerys convinces him to let a Lhazareen witch treat him. The witch’s treatmentsput Drogo in a comatose state and also made Daenerys loose her unborn child.
Daenerys decides to burn the witch on her husband’s funeral pyre. She also takes the three dragon eggs and enters the fire with them. The fire, instead of killing her, lest her unharmed and hatches the dragon eggs, making Daenerys the mother of the first dragons seen in the world for one hundred years.
Another part of the story takes place on the Wall and in the lands beyond the Wall. The prologue is set in the lands beyond the Wall where three men of the Night’s Watch are sent to investigate the disappearance of some wildlings. Two of the men sent are killed by the Others while the third one manages to escape but is later executed by Eddard Stark.
Jon, Eddard’s bastard son choses to join the Wall after his father accepts the position as Hand of the King. Once he arrives at the Wall, Jon realizes that it is not as glorious as he thought it would be; the vast majority of Sworn Brothers are criminals who chose to go to the wall instead of being killed and the threat imposed by Mance Rayder, the new King-Beyond-the-Wall loomed over their heads permanently. A few weeks after Jon’s arrival, his uncle, Benjen, vanishes during a raid beyond the wall which only let Jon feeling more discouraged.
Jon forms a friendship with Samwell Tarly, an intelligent yet coward boy, and with Maester Aemon but also a tense relationship with the master-at-arms, Alliser Thorne. While Jon is at the Wall, he finds about his father’s assassination and brother’s war, which made him doubt his decision. He chooses however to remain at the Wall, considering the other men at the Wall are his new family.
