A Game of Thrones

“The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.”

Ned’s interpretation of honor imbues him with a sense of responsibility. If he is to be trusted with the authority to sentence a man to death, he believes the only honorable option is to swing the sword himself. Ned’s perspective rivals that of other nobles who believe that their authority is beyond reproach; Ned’s adage here suggests power is a responsibility and that actions and values must be in total alignment.

“All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known.”

Daenerys has spent her entire life in exile. For quite some time she and her brother lived in a pleasant location with the knight who smuggled them out of Westeros, but when he died, they were cast out onto the streets to fend for themselves. Daenerys’s desires for comfort and safety emphasize her youth and foreshadow how she will come of age in the novel, partly through her forced loss of innocence.

“When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king.”

Jon sees how Tyrion still carries himself with dignity despite being a social outcast, and this gives Jon hope and inspiration for his own future. Tyrion outlines how he has much in common with a “bastard” like Jon, and he advises Jon to remember that not all those born with advantages are necessarily good people because of it.