Season 2 of Game of Thrones started last night with the episode "The North Remembers." Full disclosure: I never read the books, but Mr. Y has read all of them way before they become the pop culture hits that they are now.
Poor Daenerys is struggling across the Red Waste desert with her new dragons and her people, whose numbers are dwindling.
At King's Landing, Joffrey is still a twit, and Tyrion was sent by the head of the Lannister clan and the father of Tyrion, Cersei, and Jaime, Tywin Lannister, to be Joffrey's Hand of the King. That did not make Cersei or Joffrey very happy, but yay for more Tyrion. He's easily the best character in the whole series. Sansa Stark is in a dangerous situation with Joffrey, but is slowly learning her way around. Joffrey is spending his time redecorating the throne room, watching people kill each other for his birthday, and killing King Robert's illegitimate children. Good times.
I'd probably rather be Arya than Sansa right now, even though Arya's situation is also pretty dire. She escaped King's Landing and is masquerading as a boy while heading north with a group of people, including a young blacksmith Gendry, another one of King Robert's illegitimate children. Love Maisie Williams, though.
Jon Snow is up north with the rest of the Night's Watch, and met a creepy Wilding (more below).
Robb Stark and Catelyn Stark have Jaime Lannister as their prisoner, and are demanding quite a bit from Cersei and Joffrey in exchange for Jaime: the bodies of Ned and Ned's men returned, Arya and Sansa returned, and Joffrey and Cersei must release the North. There is no way Cersei and Joffrey would agree to the terms, even in exchange for Jaime. In an effort to create a bigger army, Robb also sent Catelyn to enlist Renly Baratheon (younger brother of Robert and Stannis) and his troops, and sent Stark's ward Theon Greyjoy back to his father to rally him to the cause. And just for kdipity: http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20470532_20583479,00.html#21139620
Bran is in charge of Winterfell with the rest of the Stark family scattered, and can't use his legs. He is being carried around by Hodor in a backpack. When they saw a comet, Bran's Wilding nanny Osha helpfully explained that a red comet means dragons.
There are a few new characters introduced in the first episode:
- Craster - played by Robert Pugh. He's the creepy Wilding who are housing Jon Snow and the rest of the Night's Watch. He has 19 daughters who are also his wives. Craster hates Jon Snow, who couldn't hide his disgust at Craster's living situation.
- Stannis Baratheon - Robert Baratheon's brother and the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. Ned Stark told him last season that all of Cersei's kids are products of incent and not Robert's kids. Stannis is extremely dour and follows the rules to the letter. He's played by Stephen Dillane.
- Melisandre - a witch who advises Stannis and eggs him on to war. Mr. Y thinks Carice van Houten doesn't look exotic enough to play Melisandre, who's described in the book as being someone from the East.
- Davos Seaworth - former smuggler and one of Stannis's supporters and nicknamed the Onion Knight. He is played by Liam Cunningham. Why the Onion Knight?
SPOILER ALERT
When Robert Baratheon was leading the rebellion against House Targaryen, Stannis and his troops were stuck defending Storm's End, the main seat of House Baratheon. The opposing troops laid siege on Storm's End, and situations were getting desperate. About a year into the siege, Davos smuggled in onions and other foods into Storm's End, enabling the people to hold on long enough for Ned Stark to come and break the siege. Stannis was grateful and knighted Davos. However, because Stannis is a strict rule-follower, he also cut the first Davos's first joint from each finger of his left hand as punishment for his crimes. Davos kept the bones of his joints in a pouch around his neck because he believed they were lucky, having bought a future for his family.
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