The Kingsroad
Encyclopedia
"The Kingsroad" is the second episode of the HBO medieval fantasy
television series Game of Thrones
, first aired on April 24, 2011. It was written by the show creators David Benioff
and D. B. Weiss
, and directed by Tim Van Patten
.
Nearly all the action of the episode happens during travel: Eddard Stark and his daughters accompany the king's entourage to King's Landing to occupy the post of Hand of the King, Tyrion joins Jon in his travel to the Wall, and the newly wed Daenerys goes with her husband's khalasar to the city of Vaes Dothrak. Meanwhile in Winterfell a grieving Catelyn Stark watches over her unconscious son Bran. From this episode, Vaes Dothrak is added to the Opening, while Pentos is removed.
Viewing figures were unchanged from the premiere, despite the second episode airing on Easter Sunday. Critical reception to the episode was mixed. Filming locations included several notable Northern Ireland locations, and the filming itself was complicated by the difficulty of integrating canine actors into several crucial scenes.
) reveals to Viserys (Harry Lloyd
) that he was exiled for selling poachers to slavers. Viserys assures him that he would not have been punished had he been the king, and demonstrates impatience for his new brother-in-law, Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa
), to lend him his army.
Danaerys (Emilia Clarke
) has difficulty adjusting to the nomadic lifestyle of her adopted people. Her only comfort is three petrified dragon eggs that were among her wedding gifts. She asks one of her handmaidens to teach her how to please her new husband. Her determination leads the Khal to treat her tenderly as his wife and not a slave.
) has fallen into a coma since his fall from the tower. After slapping his nephew for refusing to give his condolences to the Starks, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage
) informs his siblings that despite Bran's fall, the boy will survive, much to the displeasure of the Lannister twins.
It is time for farewells, with the Stark family having to split apart. Ned's two daughters journey with their father to the capital, while Jon Snow (Kit Harington
) joins his uncle Benjen (Joseph Mawle
) at the Wall, along with Tyrion, who wants to see the "edge of the world". Before leaving, Jon gives a sword to his sister Arya (Maisie Williams
) as a present. Lady Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley
) is devastated by her husband's imminent departure and has stood vigil beside her son Bran since his fall. She asks Jon to leave when he comes to say goodbye to Bran and chastises her husband Ned (Sean Bean
) for leaving her and giving in to the demands of King Robert (Mark Addy
). Before they part, Jon asks Ned about his mother, and Ned promises to tell Jon about her the next time they meet.
A fire breaks out at Winterfell, and during the ensuing chaos, a hired assassin tries to kill Bran. Catelyn holds off the attacker long enough for Bran's direwolf to jump in and tear out the assassin's throat. The murder attempt arouses Catelyn's suspicions, and after finding a strand of long blonde hair in the abandoned tower where Bran fell, she concludes that the Lannisters are somehow involved. After confiding with her most trusted advisers, her son Robb (Richard Madden
), Maester Luwin (Donald Sumpter
), Master-at-Arms Ser Rodrik Cassel (Ron Donachie) and the Starks' ward Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), she decides to go to King's Landing in secret with Rodrik as her escort to warn her husband.
In the closing scene, Bran awakens from his coma and opens his eyes.
) are walking along the river, they run into Arya sparring with sticks with a butcher's boy, Mycah. Taunting the boy, Joffrey draws his sword and demands a duel, under pretext of punishing him for accidentally hitting Arya, a member of the nobility. As Joffrey savors the butcher boy's pain and fear, Arya hits Joffrey while her friend flees. Enraged, Joffrey turns on Arya and is about to strike her with his sword when her direwolf Nymeria bites his wrist. Arya seizes his sword and throws it into the river before running away into the forest, where she drives away Nymeria and hides until dark.
Afterward, Joffrey lies to the courtly entourage and accuses the boy, Arya and her direwolf of ganging up on him. Unwilling to lose favor with her betrothed by publicly exposing his lie, Sansa claims she doesn't remember anything. Sick of the petty bickering, King Robert chastises his son for allowing himself to be disarmed by a girl and declares that the fathers themselves will punish their respective children, dismissing the audience. However, Robert gives in to his wife Cersei's (Lena Headey
) demands and orders the direwolf killed. Since Nymeria has fled, Sansa's wolf Lady is to be sacrificed. Unable to convince the king otherwise, Eddard takes responsibility for killing Sansa's pet himself. He kills the wolf and encounters Joffrey's bodyguard, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann
), who has ridden down the butcher's boy and brought in his bloody corpse for the prince.
and D. B. Weiss
, based on the original book
by George R. R. Martin
. "The Kingsroad" includes chapters 10, 11, 13 - 18, and part of 24. (Tyrion I, Jon II, Eddard II, Tyrion II, Catelyn III, Sansa I, Eddard III, Bran III, Daenerys III.)
The events in the series are notably faithful to the book. Differences in the screen adaptation include not introducing the council's delegation with Ser Barristan and Lord Renly and the conversation between Robert and Eddard taking place during breakfast instead of on horseback. Some scenes were also created for the series, most notably a conversation between Catelyn and Cersei at Bran's bedside remembering a Queen's dead infant, and a confrontation between Jaime and Jon before Jon leaves for the Wall.
, best known for her role of Louise Summers the British Channel 4
soap opera
Hollyoaks
. Roxanne was chosen among a great number of candidates to play the part of Doreah, a slave serving as Daenerys Targaryen's handmaiden.
Also introduced in this episode is British musician Wilko Johnson
as the executioner Ilyn Payne. The mute headsman of Game of Thrones is Wilko's first acting job.
, during the first days of September 2010.
s due to their resemblance to wolves.
During this episode, the dogs had to interact with the main characters, which proved difficult. Actor Sean Bean reported that for the final scene where he has to sacrifice Lady, the animal was too scared to remain still. They had to keep rehearsing the scene until the dog felt comfortable, making a shot that should have taken a few minutes about three hours long.
The dog that portrayed Lady, Zanni, was adopted after the season wrapped by the family of Sophie Turner
, the actress playing the direwolf's owner, Sansa Stark.
's James Hibberd considered the second episode better than the first one, while TV Squad's Maureen Ryan gave "The Kingsroad" the lowest score from the first six episodes of the series. IGN's Matt Fowler didn't score "The Kingsroad" as high as the pilot episode but maintained that it was still a solid effort that focused on shifting all the main characters out of their comfort zones.
Alan Sepiwall, from HitFix
, has described "The Kingsroad" as a transition episode and therefore "not as likely to excite as the premiere or some of the season's later episodes". Maureen Ryan felt that the show lacked a thematic unity, and while it had some effective moments, in some ways "lacked emotional spark". At Cultural Learnings, Myles McNutt admitted that having to move all pieces into place made the episode resemble a travelogue, but he considered the lack of cohesion to be very purposeful since it helped to emphasize the splitting of the Stark family and the different motivations and destinies that awaited the protagonists.
Medieval fantasy
Medieval fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that encompasses medieval era high fantasy and sometimes simply represents fictitious versions of historic events. This subgenre is common among role-playing games, text-based roleplaying, and high-fantasy literature....
television series Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones (TV series)
Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on author George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, the first of which is called A Game of Thrones, the television series debuted in...
, first aired on April 24, 2011. It was written by the show creators David Benioff
David Benioff
-Early life:Born David Friedman in New York City, he changed his name to David Benioff, his mother's maiden name. He is the youngest of three children....
and D. B. Weiss
D. B. Weiss
Daniel B. Weiss is an American author. His debut novel Lucky Wander Boy was themed around video games and has since been linked with the screen adaptations of various science-fiction and fantasy stories...
, and directed by Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten is an American television director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. As a director, Van Patten has directed episodes of The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire, Rome, The Pacific, Game of Thrones, Ed, and Sex and the City. Van Patten is perhaps best known for portraying...
.
Nearly all the action of the episode happens during travel: Eddard Stark and his daughters accompany the king's entourage to King's Landing to occupy the post of Hand of the King, Tyrion joins Jon in his travel to the Wall, and the newly wed Daenerys goes with her husband's khalasar to the city of Vaes Dothrak. Meanwhile in Winterfell a grieving Catelyn Stark watches over her unconscious son Bran. From this episode, Vaes Dothrak is added to the Opening, while Pentos is removed.
Viewing figures were unchanged from the premiere, despite the second episode airing on Easter Sunday. Critical reception to the episode was mixed. Filming locations included several notable Northern Ireland locations, and the filming itself was complicated by the difficulty of integrating canine actors into several crucial scenes.
Across the Narrow Sea
On their way to Vaes Dothrak with all the khalasar, Jorah Mormont (Iain GlenIain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
) reveals to Viserys (Harry Lloyd
Harry Lloyd
Harry Lloyd is an English actor. He played Will Scarlet in the first two seasons of the BBC drama Robin Hood which began in 2006...
) that he was exiled for selling poachers to slavers. Viserys assures him that he would not have been punished had he been the king, and demonstrates impatience for his new brother-in-law, Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa
Jason Momoa
Jason Momoa is an American actor and model.He is known for his role as Ronon Dex on military science fiction television series Stargate: Atlantis . Most recently, he became recognized for his role as the title character in the sword and sorcery film Conan the Barbarian...
), to lend him his army.
Danaerys (Emilia Clarke
Emilia Clarke
Emilia Clarke is an English actress best known for the role of Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO medieval-fantasy series Game of Thrones.-Biography:...
) has difficulty adjusting to the nomadic lifestyle of her adopted people. Her only comfort is three petrified dragon eggs that were among her wedding gifts. She asks one of her handmaidens to teach her how to please her new husband. Her determination leads the Khal to treat her tenderly as his wife and not a slave.
In the North
Bran (Isaac Hempstead-WrightIsaac Hempstead-Wright
Isaac Hempstead-Wright is an English child actor. He is known for his role as Bran Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones.- Filmography :- External links :...
) has fallen into a coma since his fall from the tower. After slapping his nephew for refusing to give his condolences to the Starks, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage
Peter Dinklage
Peter Dinklage is an American film, television and theater actor. Since his breakout role in the 2003 film The Station Agent, he has acted in Elf, Underdog, Find Me Guilty, the 2007 film Death at a Funeral and its 2010 remake, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian...
) informs his siblings that despite Bran's fall, the boy will survive, much to the displeasure of the Lannister twins.
It is time for farewells, with the Stark family having to split apart. Ned's two daughters journey with their father to the capital, while Jon Snow (Kit Harington
Kit Harington
Christopher "Kit" Harington is an English film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:Harington attended Southfield Primary School between 1992 and 1998. Harington then went on to attend the Chantry High School, in Martley between 1998 and 2003...
) joins his uncle Benjen (Joseph Mawle
Joseph Mawle
-Biography:Mawle graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2002 in the same year he appeared in the Irish Hurling TV adverts for Guinness. He began work in the theatre prior to training at Bristol mainly for Box Clever Theatre Company and in his own production of 'Solo Hamlet'He landed his...
) at the Wall, along with Tyrion, who wants to see the "edge of the world". Before leaving, Jon gives a sword to his sister Arya (Maisie Williams
Maisie Williams
Maisie Williams is a British child actress.Her first and so far only role is that of Arya Stark, a tomboyish young girl from a noble family, in the 2011 HBO fantasy TV series Game of Thrones. Williams received acclaim for her performance in the supporting role, with Zap2it calling her...
) as a present. Lady Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley
Michelle Fairley
Michelle Fairley is an Northern Irish actress of film, stage and television.-Life and career:Born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland to well known publicans Teresa and Brian Fairley, she grew up in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland she appeared in a range of British television shows including The Bill,...
) is devastated by her husband's imminent departure and has stood vigil beside her son Bran since his fall. She asks Jon to leave when he comes to say goodbye to Bran and chastises her husband Ned (Sean Bean
Sean Bean
Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...
) for leaving her and giving in to the demands of King Robert (Mark Addy
Mark Addy
Mark Addy Johnson is an English actor, best known for his roles as Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the UK sitcom The Thin Blue Line, Dave in the British film The Full Monty, father Bill Miller in the U.S...
). Before they part, Jon asks Ned about his mother, and Ned promises to tell Jon about her the next time they meet.
A fire breaks out at Winterfell, and during the ensuing chaos, a hired assassin tries to kill Bran. Catelyn holds off the attacker long enough for Bran's direwolf to jump in and tear out the assassin's throat. The murder attempt arouses Catelyn's suspicions, and after finding a strand of long blonde hair in the abandoned tower where Bran fell, she concludes that the Lannisters are somehow involved. After confiding with her most trusted advisers, her son Robb (Richard Madden
Richard Madden
Richard Madden is a Scottish stage, film, and television actor, known for his work in theatre and for his roles in both film and television.- Background :...
), Maester Luwin (Donald Sumpter
Donald Sumpter
Donald Sumpter is a British actor. He has appeared in film and television since the mid 1960s.-Life and work:One of his early television appearances was the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Wheel in Space with Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. He appeared in Doctor Who again in the 1972 serial The Sea...
), Master-at-Arms Ser Rodrik Cassel (Ron Donachie) and the Starks' ward Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), she decides to go to King's Landing in secret with Rodrik as her escort to warn her husband.
In the closing scene, Bran awakens from his coma and opens his eyes.
At the Inn at the Crossroads
On their way to King's Landing, the king's entourage has stopped to rest at an Inn. While the recently-promised Prince Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) and Sansa Stark (Sophie TurnerSophie Turner (actress)
Sophie Turner is a British child actress.For her first role in front of the camera, Turner currently stars as Sansa Stark, the eldest daughter of House Stark in the 2011 HBO fantasy TV series Game of Thrones. The natural blonde actress dyes her hair red for the role, which she says lets her avoid...
) are walking along the river, they run into Arya sparring with sticks with a butcher's boy, Mycah. Taunting the boy, Joffrey draws his sword and demands a duel, under pretext of punishing him for accidentally hitting Arya, a member of the nobility. As Joffrey savors the butcher boy's pain and fear, Arya hits Joffrey while her friend flees. Enraged, Joffrey turns on Arya and is about to strike her with his sword when her direwolf Nymeria bites his wrist. Arya seizes his sword and throws it into the river before running away into the forest, where she drives away Nymeria and hides until dark.
Afterward, Joffrey lies to the courtly entourage and accuses the boy, Arya and her direwolf of ganging up on him. Unwilling to lose favor with her betrothed by publicly exposing his lie, Sansa claims she doesn't remember anything. Sick of the petty bickering, King Robert chastises his son for allowing himself to be disarmed by a girl and declares that the fathers themselves will punish their respective children, dismissing the audience. However, Robert gives in to his wife Cersei's (Lena Headey
Lena Headey
Lena Headey is an English actress. Headey's performance in a one-off show when she was 17 caught the attention of a casting agent, who took a photo and asked her to audition and eventually she got a supporting role alongside Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke in the 1992 British drama film Waterland and...
) demands and orders the direwolf killed. Since Nymeria has fled, Sansa's wolf Lady is to be sacrificed. Unable to convince the king otherwise, Eddard takes responsibility for killing Sansa's pet himself. He kills the wolf and encounters Joffrey's bodyguard, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann
Rory McCann
Rory McCann is a Scottish film and television actor.-Career:McCann's first acting work came in an advert for Scott's Porage Oats dressed in a vest and kilt. He was next seen in the 2002 television comedy-drama The Book Group playing a disabled personal trainer, for which he won a Scottish BAFTA...
), who has ridden down the butcher's boy and brought in his bloody corpse for the prince.
Writing
The second episode was written by the show creators and executive producers David BenioffDavid Benioff
-Early life:Born David Friedman in New York City, he changed his name to David Benioff, his mother's maiden name. He is the youngest of three children....
and D. B. Weiss
D. B. Weiss
Daniel B. Weiss is an American author. His debut novel Lucky Wander Boy was themed around video games and has since been linked with the screen adaptations of various science-fiction and fantasy stories...
, based on the original book
A Game of Thrones
A Game of Thrones is the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on 6 August 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award, and was nominated for both the 1998 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award...
by George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin
George Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...
. "The Kingsroad" includes chapters 10, 11, 13 - 18, and part of 24. (Tyrion I, Jon II, Eddard II, Tyrion II, Catelyn III, Sansa I, Eddard III, Bran III, Daenerys III.)
The events in the series are notably faithful to the book. Differences in the screen adaptation include not introducing the council's delegation with Ser Barristan and Lord Renly and the conversation between Robert and Eddard taking place during breakfast instead of on horseback. Some scenes were also created for the series, most notably a conversation between Catelyn and Cersei at Bran's bedside remembering a Queen's dead infant, and a confrontation between Jaime and Jon before Jon leaves for the Wall.
Casting
This episode marks the first appearance of regular guest star Roxanne McKeeRoxanne McKee
-Biography:After completing a BA degree in 2001 in Social Policy & Political Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, McKee rose to fame by winning Hollyoaks On The Pull, a Channel 4 initiative to discover new talent for the popular British soap Hollyoaks...
, best known for her role of Louise Summers the British Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
. Roxanne was chosen among a great number of candidates to play the part of Doreah, a slave serving as Daenerys Targaryen's handmaiden.
Also introduced in this episode is British musician Wilko Johnson
Wilko Johnson
Wilko Johnson is an English guitarist and songwriter, particularly associated with the UK rhythm and blues band Dr. Feelgood in the 1970s.-Career:...
as the executioner Ilyn Payne. The mute headsman of Game of Thrones is Wilko's first acting job.
Filming locations
The principal shooting for the episode was done at The Paint Hall studio. The scenes at the Inn at the Crossroads were filmed on location at the Redhall Estate, in BallycarryBallycarry
Ballycarry is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is midway between Larne and Carrickfergus, overlooking Islandmagee. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 981.-Archaeology:...
, during the first days of September 2010.
Direwolves
"The Kingsroad" has a significant number of scenes that include direwolves. To stand in for the extinct species, the production team considered using real wolves, but the UK safety laws and close work with child actors made this impractical. Instead, they choose to use Northern Inuit DogNorthern Inuit Dog
The Northern Inuit Dog is a breed originating in the late 1980s, in an attempt to create a domestic dog breed more closely resembling the wolf.-Appearance:...
s due to their resemblance to wolves.
During this episode, the dogs had to interact with the main characters, which proved difficult. Actor Sean Bean reported that for the final scene where he has to sacrifice Lady, the animal was too scared to remain still. They had to keep rehearsing the scene until the dog felt comfortable, making a shot that should have taken a few minutes about three hours long.
The dog that portrayed Lady, Zanni, was adopted after the season wrapped by the family of Sophie Turner
Sophie Turner (actress)
Sophie Turner is a British child actress.For her first role in front of the camera, Turner currently stars as Sansa Stark, the eldest daughter of House Stark in the 2011 HBO fantasy TV series Game of Thrones. The natural blonde actress dyes her hair red for the role, which she says lets her avoid...
, the actress playing the direwolf's owner, Sansa Stark.
Ratings
The second episode of Game of Thrones attracted the same viewing figures as the premiere, with 2.2 million viewers. The second repeat obtained 0.7 million, which was also similar to last week's figures. These ratings have been considered positive, especially considering that it was aired on an Easter Sunday.Critical response
The reaction of the critics was mostly positive, although comparisons with the series premiere are not in agreement. Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
's James Hibberd considered the second episode better than the first one, while TV Squad's Maureen Ryan gave "The Kingsroad" the lowest score from the first six episodes of the series. IGN's Matt Fowler didn't score "The Kingsroad" as high as the pilot episode but maintained that it was still a solid effort that focused on shifting all the main characters out of their comfort zones.
Alan Sepiwall, from HitFix
HitFix
HitFix, or the HitFix.com is an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information and providing reviews and critiques of film, music and television...
, has described "The Kingsroad" as a transition episode and therefore "not as likely to excite as the premiere or some of the season's later episodes". Maureen Ryan felt that the show lacked a thematic unity, and while it had some effective moments, in some ways "lacked emotional spark". At Cultural Learnings, Myles McNutt admitted that having to move all pieces into place made the episode resemble a travelogue, but he considered the lack of cohesion to be very purposeful since it helped to emphasize the splitting of the Stark family and the different motivations and destinies that awaited the protagonists.