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  ===In the North===
  The Starks of Winterfell are introduced: Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark, his wife Lady Catelyn, their children – heir Robb, elder daughter Sansa, younger daughter Arya, ten-year-old son Bran, youngest son, Rickon, and Ned's bastard son Jon Snow and ward Theon Greyjoy.
  Ned takes his sons to witness Will's execution for desertion. Ignoring Will's warning of the White Walkers, Ned beheads him, insisting Walkers are long extinct. The Starks find a dead stag, sigil of House Baratheon, and a dead direwolf, sigil of the Starks, whose pups are taken in by the children.
  News arrives of the death of Lord Arryn, Eddard's friend and Catelyn's brother-in-law. Winterfell receives the royal court, including King Robert, his wife Queen Cersei, their children – heir Prince Joffrey, Princess Myrcella, and Prince Tommen – as well as Jaime, a member of the Kingsguard, and his and Cersei's younger brother Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf known as "The Imp". Robert pays respects to Lyanna Stark, his late fiancée and Ned's sister, appoints Ned the new Hand of the King, and suggests Sansa be betrothed to Joffrey. Catelyn receives a message from her sister Lysa, Arryn's widow, who suspects her husband was murdered by the Lannisters. Ned reluctantly accepts the position of Hand of the King.
  Bran climbs an abandoned tower and stumbles upon Cersei and Jaime having sex. To keep the incestuous relationship a secret, Jaime shoves Bran out of the window.