ASOIAF Book 1: Game of Thrones: Part 1-Emerging Threats

Book 1 of A Song of Ice and Fire

When I first opened Game of Thrones, it was evident that it was going to be a different kind of fantasy novel, though I wasn’t quite sure what that meant yet. I always prefer character-based story arcs, so right off the bat I figured this series was going to be right up my alley. Whether watching a character evolve or watching a character dig their own grave, reading it through a third person point-of-view was an engaging, and sometimes exhausting, experience. Plus, I love history and the stories and conflicts of the dynastic great houses of Westeros is heavily influenced by the medieval history books of England. Think War of the Roses and the feud between the Yorks and the Lancasters. George R.R. Martin has stated he likes to take real historic events, turn them up to an 11 or more, and let his characters live and/or die in these alternate versions of history. It is absolutely wonderful.

Emerging Threats...

The Others Origins: Thousands of years prior to the events in Game of Thrones, the Others, an inhuman but not dead species with necromancer abilities, once brought a Long Night and Endless Winter to the Seven Kingdoms. This Long Night threatened anything living in the world. Though their motives were unclear, the Others had the ability to reanimate the dead which gave them access to a potentially never ending army. They were eventually defeated in the War for the Dawn by the First Men and Children of the Forest, who put aside their differences in order to face their common threat. The Wall was erected after the War for the Dawn was won. It is said to have mystical properties that prevent the Others from passing through it into the Seven Kingdoms.

In Westeros, children and adults have regarded the Others and the Long Night as the extinct subjects for great scary stories:

"Thousands of years ago, there came a night that lasted a generation. Kings froze to death in their castles, same as the shepherds in their huts; and women smothered their babies rather than see them starve, and wept, and felt the tears freeze on their cheeks... In that darkness the White Walkers came for the first time. They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds. –Old Nan to Bran Stark

To give perspective, the Wall is a 700 foot wall of ice, hundreds of miles long, that separates the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros from the wild north.

For thousands of years the Night's Watch (or Crows because they wear all black)  have defended the Realm from the dangers beyond the Wall which until recently, was staving off Wildling raiders. 

Prologue: Some Wildlings have been causing some problems near the Wall and Ser Waymar Royce is charged with commanding a small ranging to deal with them. A camp of slaughtered Wildlings was discovered by Will, a ranger known for his stealth and hunting skills. When Will brought Gared and Ser Waymar to check out the camp, he was chilled to find the bodies were gone.  Royce scoffs at the fears his fellow Brothers voice regarding the unsettling scene. This predictably leads to Waymar Royce being slain by a pale figure with milk white skin and pale blue eyes (now we know what happened to the campers). Royce rises as a Wight and kills Will. Then Gared flees and deserts his post. In the Seven Kingdoms, deserting the Night's Watch is punishable by death. Following the prologue, Gared is beheaded for being an oathbreaker by Eddard Stark of Winterfell, Warden of the North. Though Ned hears Gared's last words, he doesn't put much credence in the man's testimony of his encounter with the Others.  Ned's 8 year old son, Bran, questions his father  about whether Gared was telling the truth about the return of the Others beyond the Wall and Ned tells him, "A madman sees what he sees."

The problem is, few people in the realm believe the Others still exist, if they ever had. The Wall is considered to be the 'the end of the world' in Westeros and few people worry about what goes on in that bleak, frozen area of the world and beyond.With the rising conflicts and budding wars within the Seven Kingdoms, Lord Commander Mormont's pleas for more men go mostly ignored. 

It still isn't clear why the Others have returned after thousands of years and why they are creating an army of dead thralls, but the big picture is certainly foreboding.  The Night’s Watch has been dwindling in numbers over the years and the new recruits they are getting are hardly the choicest men, rather criminals who, presented with the choice of death or the Night’s Watch, choose to take the black. Few honorable men freely choose the harsh life at the Wall (there are a few exceptions). Overall, the Night’s Watch has become a dumping ground for the worst of the realm. The Night's Watch, which was once a noble order held in high esteem, has lost a lot of  respect in the Realm it is charged to protect.