The Wolf and the Lion
Encyclopedia
"The Wolf and the Lion" is the fifth episode of the HBO medieval fantasy
television series Game of Thrones
, first aired on May 15, 2011. It was written by the show creators and executive producers David Benioff
and D. B. Weiss
, and directed by Brian Kirk
.
The plot centers in King's Landing and Lord Eddard Stark's investigations regarding the death of the previous Hand. In the city, the Tourney of the Hand comes to an end while the various factions that plot for power come to light. This delicate balance is undone when news arrives that Tyrion Lannister has been arrested by Catelyn Tully. The title of the episode refers to the fact that the Starks, whose sigil is a wolf, may soon be at war with the Lannisters, whose sigil is the lion.
With this episode the season hits its halfway mark and the action picks up considerably. Despite being a topic of discussion at King's Landing, Daenerys and Ser Jorah do not themselves appear in this episode. Jon Snow and all characters on the Wall are also absent, and Robb Stark does not appear in Winterfell scenes. As such, Emilia Clarke, Iain Glen, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden and Kit Harington all have their names omitted from the opening credits but the Eyrie appears on the opening credit map.
) leads her entourage east through the Mountains of the Moon to get to the Vale, with Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage
) as her prisoner. However, they are soon attacked by barbarian tribesmen. During the fight, Tyrion saves Catelyn's life, attacking and killing a barbarian with a shield. Catelyn and her entourage arrive at the Eyrie, ruled by Lord Jon Arryn's widow, Lysa (Kate Dickie
), Catelyn's sister, but when she finally meets her sister after five years, Lysa is mentally unstable and frightened of the Lannisters' power. Catelyn also meets her nephew, Robin Arryn (Lino Facioli
), the heir to the Eyrie - an eight-year-old boy whom Lysa still nurses
. Tyrion is consigned to the Eyrie's dungeon, the "sky cells", which are prison cells with a slanted floor that slopes down to a sheer mountainside drop. Meanwhile Lysa prepares to render judgment on Tyrion as an accomplice for her husband's murder.
) grows more jealous of Tyrion when his favorite prostitute Ros (Esmé Bianco
), taunts him that she prefers Tyrion as he is a better lover and his family is richer compared to Theon due his position in the Stark household. Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) is depressed over his paralysis and the fact that his mother left him while he was in a coma. To cheer him up, Maester Luwin (Donald Sumpter
) decides to teach Bran the Dothraki art of horseback archery.
) convinces King Robert (Mark Addy
) not to join the Tourney, the crowd watches a jousting match between Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Loras Tyrell, "The Knight of Flowers", which the latter wins with a trick (he knew Clegane's horse was a stallion and thus chose a mare that was in heat to ride himself, making Gregor's horse unable to run straight). Gregor doesn't take his loss well and beheads his horse and attempts to kill Loras. Sandor "The Hound" Clegane comes to Loras's rescue and defends him against his brother until Robert orders them to stop. Grateful for rescuing him, Loras calls Sandor a hero where he is cheered by the crowd.
Later, Ned converses with Varys (Conleth Hill
), who reveals Jon Arryn was killed for asking questions and died by a poison called the "Tears of Lys" and suggests that Lord Arryn's former squire, the recently-slain Ser Hugh of the Vale, was the poisoner. Meanwhile, Arya (Maisie Williams
) continues her training by chasing a cat through the Red Keep, and stumbles upon a secret conversation between Varys and Magister Illyrio (Roger Allam
) who are plotting to throw the Seven Kingdoms into chaos to allow the Dothraki to invade. However the sudden news that Daenerys Targaryen is pregnant might force them to alter their plans, since Khal Drogo won't start an invasion until after his son is born. Illyrio suggests killing the new Hand might give them some time but Varys dismisses the notion. Arya tries to warn her father, but is unable to identify the two plotters and fumbles her words. They are interrupted by the arrival of Yoren (Francis Magee), who informs Ned of his wife's abduction of Tyrion.
The news of Daenerys' pregnancy reaches the Small Council, delivered by Varys' spy, Ser Jorah Mormont. Fearing a possible invasion by the Targaryen/Dothraki alliance, Robert orders that she and her unborn child, along with Viserys, be assassinated. Ned refuses to obey such a dishonorable order and resigns the office of Hand of the King, but is deterred from leaving the capital by Littlefinger's offer to take him to the last person Jon Arryn spoke to before his death. It turns out to be a prostitute named Mhaegan, the mother of a baby daughter who is another of Robert's illegitimate children. Littlefinger reveals Jon Arryn had been searching for Robert's bastards for an unknown reason. When Ned and his guards try to leave, they are ambushed by Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his men, who want answers for Tyrion's arrest. Ned claims responsibility from his wife's actions and states he ordered for Tyrion's arrest which leads to a brutal fight between his and Jaime's men. In the end, all of Ned's guards are killed including his captain Jory Cassel (Jamie Sives
), and Ned is stabbed through the leg by a spear. Jaime knocks out the guard who interrupted the fight and decides to let Ned live but warns that he wants his brother back, then storms away, leaving Ned bleeding in the dirt.
and D. B. Weiss
, based on the book
by George R. R. Martin
. The episode includes chapters 31 to 36 of the book (Eddard VII, Tyrion IV, Arya III, Eddard VIII, Catelyn VI, and Eddard IX).
The adaptation to the screen has continued with the trend of including new scenes to flesh out characters that in the book are only superficially seen through the point of view
characters. These include the dialectical confrontation between Littlefinger and Varys, and the conversation between King Robert and Queen Cersei, and the young lovers Renly and Loras. The show's writers used this opportunity to make explicit Loras and Renly's ongoing assignations, which were only hinted at in the books.
makes his first appearance as Ser Loras Tyrell, the young jouster known as "The Knight of Flowers". The casting was one of the first to be announced, being confirmed by author George R. R. Martin on June 2010 after it had been leaked before the contract was to be signed. The actor had initially been considered for the role of Jon Snow when the pilot was being filmed.
The new location of the Vale and its court is also introduced: Scottish actress Kate Dickie
was cast as the Lady of the Eyrie, Lysa Arryn, also making its first appearance in the episode. Although Dickie does not resemble the physical description of Lysa given in the books, Martin stated that her acting in the auditions was excellent. The role of her son (renamed Robin in the series to avoid confusion with King Robert) went to Lino Facioli
, and the knight of the Vale Ser Vardis Egen was played by Brendan McCormack.
Lingerie model Emily Diamond has a role as a whore who teases Jory Cassel during the visit to the brothel. Diamond was initially hired as a body double to one of the main stars, but the producers liked her so much that decided to give her a role. Also appearing in this episode is the casting team's member Robert Sterne, who reprises his cameo role as one of the members of the City Watch.
.
To film many King's Landing exteriors the production moved to Malta: the dungeons of the Red Keep where Aryas is lost while chasing cats were the dungeons of Fort St Angelo
, in the Maltese town of Vittoriosa, and the fight outside Littlefinger's brothel was staged at the Mesquita Square in Mdina.
For the CGI compositions of the Vale of Arryn, as seen in the establishing shot of the Eyrie and from the sky cells, the visual effects team used images and textures from the Greek rock formations of Meteora
. Initially they had been considering the Zhangjiajie Mountains
in China, but because the landscape base plates were being shot in Ireland, using Meteora resulted a better option.
gave it a 90 out of 100, noting the exceptional work by the cast and an excellent writing. Both Todd VanDerWerff and David Sims, from the A.V. Club
, rated the episode with an A score.
Reviewers agreed that after four episodes presenting the setting and introducing the main characters, the story started to move forward faster and raise the stakes. David Sims considered it "the point at which all of the scheming and conversing and table-setting began to lumber forward and gain some real momentum". James Poniewozik wrote for Time magazine that the episode began to let the swords do the talking", and "while there were some very significant scenes of talk, the dialogue went beyond Westeros History 101 to take the story in some very interesting directions." IGN's Matt Fowler wrote that this was "the best episode of the series so far" even though fan-favorite characters like Jon Snow and Daenerys weren't even featured.
Maureen Ryan believed that one of the reasons the episode worked so well because it left out the storylines with the Night's Watch and the Dothraki and focused in a single location. VanDerWerff agreed, and added that with each episode the writers got bolder in the sense that they added new scenes not included in the book that round up the source material.
Other aspects of the show that were highlighted by the critics were the effectiveness of the action scenes and the visuals (especially the views of the Eyrie and its sky cells, and the look of the dragon skulls).
.
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 May 15, 2011. It was written by the show creators and executive producers 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 Brian Kirk
Brian Kirk
Brian Kirk is an Irish television director who has most recently directed episodes of Game of Thrones, FX's The Riches and Showtime's Brotherhood and The Tudors...
.
The plot centers in King's Landing and Lord Eddard Stark's investigations regarding the death of the previous Hand. In the city, the Tourney of the Hand comes to an end while the various factions that plot for power come to light. This delicate balance is undone when news arrives that Tyrion Lannister has been arrested by Catelyn Tully. The title of the episode refers to the fact that the Starks, whose sigil is a wolf, may soon be at war with the Lannisters, whose sigil is the lion.
With this episode the season hits its halfway mark and the action picks up considerably. Despite being a topic of discussion at King's Landing, Daenerys and Ser Jorah do not themselves appear in this episode. Jon Snow and all characters on the Wall are also absent, and Robb Stark does not appear in Winterfell scenes. As such, Emilia Clarke, Iain Glen, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden and Kit Harington all have their names omitted from the opening credits but the Eyrie appears on the opening credit map.
In the Vale
Lady Catelyn Stark (Michelle FairleyMichelle 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,...
) leads her entourage east through the Mountains of the Moon to get to the Vale, with 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...
) as her prisoner. However, they are soon attacked by barbarian tribesmen. During the fight, Tyrion saves Catelyn's life, attacking and killing a barbarian with a shield. Catelyn and her entourage arrive at the Eyrie, ruled by Lord Jon Arryn's widow, Lysa (Kate Dickie
Kate Dickie
Kate Dickie is a Scottish actress who has appeared in television series, stage plays and films. She is best-known for her portrayal as the security camera operative Jackie in her starring debut Red Road, directed by Andrea Arnold, and for which she was given several awards as best actress, among...
), Catelyn's sister, but when she finally meets her sister after five years, Lysa is mentally unstable and frightened of the Lannisters' power. Catelyn also meets her nephew, Robin Arryn (Lino Facioli
Lino Facioli
Lino Schmidek Facioli is a Brazilian child actor, who lives in London since 2005. He is known for his roles as Naples in Get Him to the Greek , Lino in the Daniel Florencio short film 'Awfully Deep' and...
), the heir to the Eyrie - an eight-year-old boy whom Lysa still nurses
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...
. Tyrion is consigned to the Eyrie's dungeon, the "sky cells", which are prison cells with a slanted floor that slopes down to a sheer mountainside drop. Meanwhile Lysa prepares to render judgment on Tyrion as an accomplice for her husband's murder.
In the North
At Winterfell, Theon (Alfie AllenAlfie Owen-Allen
Alfie Evan Allen is an English actor. Allen recently changed his name to incorporate Owen. All of his acting roles are credited as Alfie Allen.-Personal life:...
) grows more jealous of Tyrion when his favorite prostitute Ros (Esmé Bianco
Esmé Bianco
Esmé Bianco is an English model, actress and burlesque/cabaret performer.- Biography :She was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire and spent her adolescence growing up on Merseyside....
), taunts him that she prefers Tyrion as he is a better lover and his family is richer compared to Theon due his position in the Stark household. Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) is depressed over his paralysis and the fact that his mother left him while he was in a coma. To cheer him up, 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...
) decides to teach Bran the Dothraki art of horseback archery.
At King's Landing
After Eddard Stark (Sean BeanSean 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...
) convinces 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...
) not to join the Tourney, the crowd watches a jousting match between Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Loras Tyrell, "The Knight of Flowers", which the latter wins with a trick (he knew Clegane's horse was a stallion and thus chose a mare that was in heat to ride himself, making Gregor's horse unable to run straight). Gregor doesn't take his loss well and beheads his horse and attempts to kill Loras. Sandor "The Hound" Clegane comes to Loras's rescue and defends him against his brother until Robert orders them to stop. Grateful for rescuing him, Loras calls Sandor a hero where he is cheered by the crowd.
Later, Ned converses with Varys (Conleth Hill
Conleth Hill
Conleth Hill is a Northern Irish film, stage and television actor.Born in Ballycastle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Hill made his Broadway debut in Marie Jones' Stones in His Pockets....
), who reveals Jon Arryn was killed for asking questions and died by a poison called the "Tears of Lys" and suggests that Lord Arryn's former squire, the recently-slain Ser Hugh of the Vale, was the poisoner. Meanwhile, 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...
) continues her training by chasing a cat through the Red Keep, and stumbles upon a secret conversation between Varys and Magister Illyrio (Roger Allam
Roger Allam
Roger Allam is an English actor, known primarily for his stage career, although he has performed in film and television. He played Inspector Javert in the original London production of the stage musical Les Misérables....
) who are plotting to throw the Seven Kingdoms into chaos to allow the Dothraki to invade. However the sudden news that Daenerys Targaryen is pregnant might force them to alter their plans, since Khal Drogo won't start an invasion until after his son is born. Illyrio suggests killing the new Hand might give them some time but Varys dismisses the notion. Arya tries to warn her father, but is unable to identify the two plotters and fumbles her words. They are interrupted by the arrival of Yoren (Francis Magee), who informs Ned of his wife's abduction of Tyrion.
The news of Daenerys' pregnancy reaches the Small Council, delivered by Varys' spy, Ser Jorah Mormont. Fearing a possible invasion by the Targaryen/Dothraki alliance, Robert orders that she and her unborn child, along with Viserys, be assassinated. Ned refuses to obey such a dishonorable order and resigns the office of Hand of the King, but is deterred from leaving the capital by Littlefinger's offer to take him to the last person Jon Arryn spoke to before his death. It turns out to be a prostitute named Mhaegan, the mother of a baby daughter who is another of Robert's illegitimate children. Littlefinger reveals Jon Arryn had been searching for Robert's bastards for an unknown reason. When Ned and his guards try to leave, they are ambushed by Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his men, who want answers for Tyrion's arrest. Ned claims responsibility from his wife's actions and states he ordered for Tyrion's arrest which leads to a brutal fight between his and Jaime's men. In the end, all of Ned's guards are killed including his captain Jory Cassel (Jamie Sives
Jamie Sives
-Filmography:-External links:...
), and Ned is stabbed through the leg by a spear. Jaime knocks out the guard who interrupted the fight and decides to let Ned live but warns that he wants his brother back, then storms away, leaving Ned bleeding in the dirt.
Writing
"The Wolf and the Lion" 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 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 episode includes chapters 31 to 36 of the book (Eddard VII, Tyrion IV, Arya III, Eddard VIII, Catelyn VI, and Eddard IX).
The adaptation to the screen has continued with the trend of including new scenes to flesh out characters that in the book are only superficially seen through the point of view
Point of view (literature)
The narrative mode is the set of methods the author of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical story uses to convey the plot to the audience. Narration, the process of presenting the narrative, occurs because of the narrative mode...
characters. These include the dialectical confrontation between Littlefinger and Varys, and the conversation between King Robert and Queen Cersei, and the young lovers Renly and Loras. The show's writers used this opportunity to make explicit Loras and Renly's ongoing assignations, which were only hinted at in the books.
Casting
Finn JonesFinn Jones
Finn Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as Loras Tyrell, The Knight of Flowers, in the HBO series Game of Thrones.-Career:Jones trained at The Arts Educational Schools on a three-year acting course....
makes his first appearance as Ser Loras Tyrell, the young jouster known as "The Knight of Flowers". The casting was one of the first to be announced, being confirmed by author George R. R. Martin on June 2010 after it had been leaked before the contract was to be signed. The actor had initially been considered for the role of Jon Snow when the pilot was being filmed.
The new location of the Vale and its court is also introduced: Scottish actress Kate Dickie
Kate Dickie
Kate Dickie is a Scottish actress who has appeared in television series, stage plays and films. She is best-known for her portrayal as the security camera operative Jackie in her starring debut Red Road, directed by Andrea Arnold, and for which she was given several awards as best actress, among...
was cast as the Lady of the Eyrie, Lysa Arryn, also making its first appearance in the episode. Although Dickie does not resemble the physical description of Lysa given in the books, Martin stated that her acting in the auditions was excellent. The role of her son (renamed Robin in the series to avoid confusion with King Robert) went to Lino Facioli
Lino Facioli
Lino Schmidek Facioli is a Brazilian child actor, who lives in London since 2005. He is known for his roles as Naples in Get Him to the Greek , Lino in the Daniel Florencio short film 'Awfully Deep' and...
, and the knight of the Vale Ser Vardis Egen was played by Brendan McCormack.
Lingerie model Emily Diamond has a role as a whore who teases Jory Cassel during the visit to the brothel. Diamond was initially hired as a body double to one of the main stars, but the producers liked her so much that decided to give her a role. Also appearing in this episode is the casting team's member Robert Sterne, who reprises his cameo role as one of the members of the City Watch.
Filming locations
The interiors for the episode were filmed at The Paint Hall studio. The conclusion of the Tourney of the Hand that had begun in the previous episode continued to be filmed in Shane's CastleShane's Castle
Shane's Castle is a ruined castle near Randalstown in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The castle is on the north-east shores of Lough Neagh. Built in 1345 by a member of the O'Neill dynasty, it was originally called Eden-duff-carrick...
.
To film many King's Landing exteriors the production moved to Malta: the dungeons of the Red Keep where Aryas is lost while chasing cats were the dungeons of Fort St Angelo
Fort St Angelo
Fort St Angelo is a large fortification in Birgu, Malta, right at the centre of Grand Harbour.-History:Medieval TimesThe date of its original construction is unknown. However, there are claims of prehistoric or classical buildings near the site, due to some large ashlar blocks and an Egyptian pink...
, in the Maltese town of Vittoriosa, and the fight outside Littlefinger's brothel was staged at the Mesquita Square in Mdina.
For the CGI compositions of the Vale of Arryn, as seen in the establishing shot of the Eyrie and from the sky cells, the visual effects team used images and textures from the Greek rock formations of Meteora
Meteora
The Metéora is one of the largest and most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos. The six monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains, in...
. Initially they had been considering the Zhangjiajie Mountains
Wulingyuan
Wulingyuan is a scenic and historic interest area in Hunan Province, China, noted for its approximately 3,100 tall quartzite sandstone pillars, some of which are over in height and are a type of karst formation. The site is in the Zhangjiajie City and lies about from Changsha, the capital of...
in China, but because the landscape base plates were being shot in Ireland, using Meteora resulted a better option.
Choreography
As the action takes off, the episode shows more fight scenes, and "The Wolf and the Lion" has a large number that had to be choreographed. Fight co-ordinator Buster Reeves designed all the moves and then taught the cast how to make them and give a sense of real aggression. Reeves commented on the ambush of the Hill men as one of the most difficult as he had to show many people fighting on screen at the same time making every one look original and exciting, and also noting how intimidating it could be for the actors to have 20 stuntmen running through them with axes and swords.Ratings
The episode's ratings in its premiere airing raised to 2.58 million viewers, continuing the increasing trend of the last weeks. Combined with its encore, the show was up to 3.3 million viewers for the night.Critical response
"The Wolf and the Lion" was met with highly positive reception by the critics of the show, and many regarded it as the best one yet. Maureen Ryan of AOL TVAOL TV
AOL TV was the name of both a thin client which uses a television for display , and the online service that supports it, both of which were launched in June 2000 to compete with WebTV....
gave it a 90 out of 100, noting the exceptional work by the cast and an excellent writing. Both Todd VanDerWerff and David Sims, from the A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
, rated the episode with an A score.
Reviewers agreed that after four episodes presenting the setting and introducing the main characters, the story started to move forward faster and raise the stakes. David Sims considered it "the point at which all of the scheming and conversing and table-setting began to lumber forward and gain some real momentum". James Poniewozik wrote for Time magazine that the episode began to let the swords do the talking", and "while there were some very significant scenes of talk, the dialogue went beyond Westeros History 101 to take the story in some very interesting directions." IGN's Matt Fowler wrote that this was "the best episode of the series so far" even though fan-favorite characters like Jon Snow and Daenerys weren't even featured.
Maureen Ryan believed that one of the reasons the episode worked so well because it left out the storylines with the Night's Watch and the Dothraki and focused in a single location. VanDerWerff agreed, and added that with each episode the writers got bolder in the sense that they added new scenes not included in the book that round up the source material.
Other aspects of the show that were highlighted by the critics were the effectiveness of the action scenes and the visuals (especially the views of the Eyrie and its sky cells, and the look of the dragon skulls).
Dedication
The episode is dedicated "to the memory of Caroline Lois Benoist", a 26-year-old animal trainer who had been working on the production for six months, mainly training the dogs that doubled as the series' direwolves. She fell ill at her home on 18 December 2010, a few days after filming had finished, and died on 29 December from swine fluSwine flu
Swine influenza, also called pig influenza, swine flu, hog flu and pig flu, is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus or S-OIV is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs...
.