The Pointy End

"The Pointy End" is the eighth episode of the first season of Game of Thrones. It is the eighth episode of the series overall. It first aired on June 5, 2011. It was written by executive producer George R.R. Martin and directed by Daniel Minahan.

Plot

Synopsis

In the aftermath of Nedʼs capture, Syrio and Arya face off against Lannister guards, while Cersei manipulates Sansa to her own ends. Robb rallies his fatherʼs northern allies against Tywin Lannister and heads south to war. Tyrion forms an uneasy alliance with the hill tribes and reunites with his father. Jon lashes out at Ser Alliser Thorne and battles a mysterious attacker from beyond the Wall. Dany is forced to reconcile her desire to conquer Westeros with Drogoʼs savagery after the Dothraki raid a peaceful village.

Recap

In King's Landing, Sansa Stark and Septa Mordane hear sounds of fighting. When they are confronted by Lannister guardsmen led by Sandor Clegane, Septa Mordane tells Sansa to leave whilst she confronts them. However, Sandor later finds and takes Sansa into custody.

Syrio's last stand — Syrio Forel confronts Ser Meryn Trant and Lannister guards.

More Lannister guardsmen, this time led by Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard, interrupt a lesson between Syrio Forel and Arya. Arya refuses to go with them, and when they try to force the issue Syrio disarms and disables all of the lightly-armored guardsmen with his practice sword. He tells Arya to run as he faces down Trant, noting that for himself, "The First Sword of Braavos does not run." Arya finds her real sword, Needle, and escapes from the Red Keep via the stables. When a stable boy tries to grab her, Arya turns around brandishing Needle and accidentally runs him through and kills him.

Varys visits Eddard Stark in his cell in the dungeons. He is incredulous that Eddard trusted Littlefinger over him, and even more so that he warned Cersei what he was going to do. Eddard says he wanted to extend mercy to Cersei's children, whom Robert would have killed if he'd known the truth. Varys bluntly tells Eddard that his mercy is what killed King Robert, to Eddard's shame. Varys then tells him that Catelyn also no longer holds Tyrion as her prisoner, meaning that the Starks have nothing to barter with for Eddard's life. When Eddard suggests they should just kill him, Varys says "Not today, my lord.". As he departs, Eddard asks Varys who he truly serves: Varys, in a rare display of honesty, replies "The realm, my lord. Someone must".

Winterfell ravens — Dozens of ravens leaving Winterfell, summoning the banners of the North to war.

Cersei and Grand Maester Pycelle talk to Sansa and convince her to pen a letter to her brother Robb, asking him to bend the knee peacefully to Joffrey. Eddard's fate may depend on what his son and the other Northernlords do, so Sansa agrees to write the letter.

At Castle Black, news arrives of Eddard's arrest and imprisonment. Jon Snow is unable to do anything about it, to his frustration. Alliser Thorne taunts Jon, who threatens him with a knife and is confined to quarters for his trouble. Meanwhile, the bodies of several men from Benjen Stark's patrol have been found, but there is no sign of Benjen himself. Samwell Tarly notes that the bodies do not smell like they've been dead for weeks. Later, at night, one of the bodies reanimates as a wight and tries to attack the Lord Commander; unable to harm the undead monster with his sword, Jon finally destroys it by throwing an oil lamp that sets the wight on fire.

Sansa's letter reaches Winterfell and a disbelieving Robb. Maester Luwin notes the letter is the work of the Queen. Robb refuses to consider the request and sends out ravens, summoning the lords bannermen of the North and their armies to assemble at Winterfell.

At the Eyrie, Catelyn is furious when Lysa refuses to consider summoning the knights of the Vale to war. Despite setting in motion this chain of events with her letter to her sister, Lysa does not believe that war is in the Vale's best interests.

Kevan and Tywin Lannister greet Tyrion and his companions.

Tyrion and Bronn have reached the western edge of the Vale and are surrounded by members of the hill tribes, led by a fearsome warrior named Shagga. Tyrion does some fast-talking and convinces the hill tribes that House Lannister is an enemy of the Vale and its rulers. He proposes an alliance which will allow the tribes to enact vengeance against the Vale and get them properly armed and armored for war. They eagerly agree, and escort Tyrion and Bronn westwards towards where the Lannister armies are gathering.

The Dothraki raid a village in Lhazar, a peaceful country to the south-east of Vaes Dothrak. Daenerys is disturbed to see the Dothraki killing the villagers and raping their women, and orders it stopped. The Dothraki grow angry at not being able to take the spoils of victory, but Khal Drogo stops the complaints by killing Mago, one of the offended warriors who challenges him. Drogo takes a small wound in the process. Though Drogo dismisses it as a scratch, Daenerys insists it be treated and allows one of the women she rescued, a healer called Mirri Maz Duur to treat the wound, despite the distaste of Drogo's bloodriders, who derisively call the woman maegi (a witch).

In Winterfell, Robb holds a feast for several of his newly-arrived bannermen, but Greatjon Umber gets surly when Robb refuses to let him lead the vanguard. When he threatens to withdraw from the host and goes to draw a weapon, Robb sets Grey Wind on him, who bites off two of his fingers. Robb points out that it is death to draw steel on your liege lord, but suggests that the Greatjon was only going to cut Robb's meat. The Greatjon roars with laughter and accepts Robb's commands. Robb says farewell to Bran and Rickon, the latter of whom is convinced they won't see him again.

Drogoscene — Khal Drogo disciplines Mago.

Bran prays by the heart tree when he is approached by Osha who tells him the Old gods are listening to him and that the Wildlings also worship the Old gods. She laments that the South has lost touch with the past; the southern Wierwoods were cut down years ago and the Southerners have no idea what's awakening in the north. They are interrupted by Hodor who has lost his clothes and Osha remarks that he might have giant blood in him before Bran sends him away. Curious, Bran asks her if giants live beyond the wall. She affirms they do, as well has many other beings, though not all of them are friendly.

At the Wall, the two wight bodies have been thoroughly burned. Sam says he read in a book that the dead are animated by the touch of the White Walkers and only fire can destroy such creatures. He hopes the Wall is big enough to hold them back when the Walkers come in force.

Catelyn and Ser Rodrik Cassel intercept Robb's army in the Neck as it presses southwards. Catelyn tells Robb he has no choice but to go to war, but he cannot lose, for the sake of Ned, Sansa and Arya.

Tyrion, Bronn, Shagga and a bunch of the hill tribes arrive at the Lannister encampment, to find Lord Tywin Lannister and his brother Ser Kevan, planning to engage the Stark army, which is moving south from the Neck. Tywin accepts Shagga's aid, but Shagga will only fight if Tyrion fights alongside them, a prospect which Tywin welcomes. Tyrion seems less enamored.

Gat108 1370 — Daenerys notes Drogo's injury.

At Robb's camp, Robb and his lords are debating on the route of their march, and on whether to march directly against Tywin's army or against Jaime's army besieging Riverrun. To get to Jaime, they need to cross the Green Fork of the River Trident, and the only crossing is at the Twins, held by the notoriously prickly and easily-offended Lord Walder Frey. A Lannister scout is captured and Robb sends him back to warn Lord Tywin that twenty thousand Northern soldiers are marching against him.

At King's Landing, King Joffrey holds court. Janos Slynt, commander of the City Watch, is to be made Lord of Harrenhal as a reward for his loyal service. Cersei then dismisses Ser Barristan Selmy as head of the Kingsguard, noting that the time has come for an honorable retirement. Selmy is confused, pointing out that Kingsguard serve for life, but Joffrey angrily says that Selmy is too old, and couldn't protect his father. Selmy's disgrace is only compounded when he learns his post as Lord Commander is to be given to Jaime Lannister, much to his disgust. Furious, Selmy takes off his armor, throws his sword at Joffrey's feet and storms out, stating that he could still kill all five of the other Kingsguard present with ease.

Sansa begs Joffrey for her father's life, claiming that the medicine he was taking for his injured leg was responsible for his treasonous talk. Joffrey says that her soft words have moved him and he will spare Eddard, if he bends the knee to him and acknowledges him as king. Sansa says he will.

Notes

This episode covers approximately Chapters 43, 51-54, 56-59 and 62 (Tyrion 6-7, Arya 4, Sansa 4-5, Jon 7, Bran 6, Catelyn 8, Eddard 15 and Daenerys 7) of the first novel.
The episode title is taken from a fan-favorite piece of dialogue from the books and the first episode of the series, when Jon Snow gave Needle to Arya and told her to remember to "stick them with the pointy end," which she also tells Ned.
This is the first episode written by George R.R. Martin, the author of the Song of Ice and Fire novels. This was the first screenplay Martin had written in almost a decade and a half.
During the scene in which Robb holds a feast for his bannermen at the Great Hall of Winterfell, the banners and sigils of Houses Hornwood (moose on yellow), Bolton (flayed man), Umber (silver chains on red), and Karstark (white sunburst on black) are clearly seen. On the wall behind the bench in which Bran sits two other banners can be seen, one that appears to be the sigil of the Manderlys (white merman on blue green) and that another that might be either the Tallhart (a pine tree) or the Mormont sigil (also bearing a pine tree but the camera angle bear doesn't allow the ber to be seen).
When the Greatjon is rising to his feet after being mutilated by Grey Wind, a man bearing the sigil of House Cerwyn (a battle axe) on his cloak is also present.

Commentary

Creator/episode writer George R.R. Martin provides a commentary for the episode on the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Season 1.

Martin relates that in his first scriptwriting job, working on the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone, he was not allowed to adapt any of his own short stories for the screen, as the producers thought the original authors were too close to the material. This was not the case on Game of Thrones, where he is penning one script per season.
Martin considers Syrio Forel's hair or lack of it to be trivial and unimportant compared to the quality of the actor's performance.
The fight sequence between Syrio and the Lannister guardsmen had to be changed slightly. In the book the Lannister guardsmen did not have fronted helmets or metal armour, so Syrio was actually able to break bones and even kill some of them by striking at the right bones or the eyes. For the TV series the design of the Lannister armour meant that things had to be changed so the guards were less severely wounded.
Arya's flight from the Red Keep was originally more elaborate, showing her going past the dragon skulls from the fifth episode and escaping out that way. This was cut for time.
The scene where Arya kills the stableboy was scripted closer to the episode, with the stableboy asking Arya to take out the sword and promptly dying. Martin is unsure why this was used.
Ned's cell below the Red Keep is the same set as the crypts under Winterfell.
In the books Varys's skills at mummery and disguise are far more elaborate. In the TV series he is kept more recognisable.
The "Not today," lines and beats were inserted into the script by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Sam had additional observations about the wight corpses in the script but these were removed, presumably for time.
Mormont's raven is a controversial character amongst the fans according to Martin, and some were happy with its removal from the series.
Martin notes that the books give a better feel that a large amount of time passes to allow the messenger raven to get from King's Landing to Winterfell. This had to be compressed for the TV show to keep the story moving.
Originally, the script showed several of the Northern banner lords receiving a raven and preparing to march to Winterfell. This sequence was cut for reasons of expense. Martin notes this is par for the course for him, as he was always criticised in Hollywood for writing scripts that were too long and too expensive.
According to Martin, Dinklage was the one and only choice for the role of Tyrion. There were no other actors auditioned.
Martin is not too concerned about Ghost growling or barking, noting that whilst that works in the book, on-screen it looked a bit odd, so he was given some sound.
Martin notes that it was Jason Momoa's idea to put in a fight scene to show Drogo's physical prowess, which is only ever talked about otherwise. The scene itself was extended with new material from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to show the fight between Drogo and Mago.
Martin comments on the danger of the 'butterfly effect' in adapting the series, noting that in the book Mago is not killed and in fact will reappear later on, whilst Mago in the TV series is dead and done for.
Martin also notes that the Winterfell feast scene had a lot more speaking lords and characters in the book, but had to be trimmed down for the TV show for reasons of cost and clarity.
The hunt for the child actors was the hardest part of casting. Martin notes that a lot of child actors veer towards either reciting lines blandly whilst just looking cute, or going way over the top instead. Finding young actors capable of hitting the right balance was tricky, but they managed it in the end.
Martin feels that Osha was the character who was changed the most from the books to the TV series, as Natalia Tena is much younger than the character in the novel. However, Martin felt her performance was impressive enough to justify the change.
Martin has been asked many times if Samwell Tarly is based on Sam Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings. Martin acknowleges there may be some slight influence.
Martin is pleased that the TV series retains the strategy and tactics from the books, which would have been easy to lose for time.
In the script, the mountain tribes, Tyrion and Bronn arrived at the Lannister camp on horseback. However, Martin thinks they exhausted the 'horse budget' for the season by this point and couldn't have them in the scene.
Martin notes that Charles Dance was another actor they really wanted in the series.
Bronn's line about his father was changed during filming. Martin notes the new line is funnier.
Martin is very impressed by the way Dance moves the wine cup away from Dinklage during the scene, but it wasn't in his original script. He's unsure where it came from.

Memorable quotes

Syrio Forel: "I am Syrio Forel, and you will be speaking to me with more respect."

Syrio: "The First Sword of Braavos does not run."

Syrio: "What do we say, to the God of death?"
Arya Stark: "Not today."
Syrio: "Go."

Varys: "When you look at me, do you see a hero?"

Robb Stark: "Joffrey puts my father in chains, now he wants his arse kissed?"

Osha: "I tried telling your brother, he's marching the wrong way. All these swords, they should be going north, boy, north, not south. The cold winds are rising."

Robb: "Tell Lord Tywin, winter is coming for him. Twenty thousand northerners marching south to find out if he really does shit gold."

Ser Barristan Selmy: "I am a knight. I shall die a knight."