MountainThatRides

Doubtless you're correct, and either way, the chapter from which the series was conceived is more important as a whole than any one specific scene.

Excellent summary, thanks a lot for taking the time to put this together. Lots of interesting tidbits in there that are probably new to most people, even to the more avid readers. I noticed one small error, though, and I only point it out to be helpful, not to nitpick. In several interviews and podcasts, Mr. Martin has related the story that the series was inspired by a scene in which children come across the body of a wolf in the snow, with a broken antler tine in its throat. That's from The SF Site: A Conversation with George R. R. Martin, though I've certainly heard him tell the story that way in other interviews as well.

Direct quote titles would be a treat for fans of the novels, but at this point who knows which quotes will appear word for word in the series (I'm hopeful that it will be a fair share, considering how well Martin's writing lends itself to the teleplay format). As previously mentioned in this thread, episodic titles in Babylon 5, Deadwood and Rome were a mix; mostly abstract in nature, but with plenty of thematic connections, and here and there a title that directly references a quote or an event in the series. The Sopranos and the X-Files also have great episode titles, and they run in the same tradition. I'd love to see them go this route, and the less obvious the better. Obviously no one wants to see Ned's last episode entitled 'Heads Will Roll' or Jaime's run in with the Mummers called 'Handled'. They could also do some references, like "Weekend at Craster's", "Ned's Dead, Baby", "All Along the Night Watchtower", "Mr. Rayder, Tear Down This Wall!", etc. On a serious note, I'd like to see titles like (and keep in mind some of these refer to events in the other books): "The Edge of the World", "Mummer's Dance", "The Last of the Giants", "The Wall is Weeping", "Dark Wings, Dark Words", "A Perilous Seat", "The Late Lord Frey", "The Dornishman's Wife", "Wildfire", "The Stallion Who Mounts the World", "Hands of Gold", "A Burning Dog", "Melisandre", "The House of Black and White", "The Stranger", that sort of thing. Another route would be something like, say, taking house words for episode titles; i.e., there would be "Winter is Coming", "Ours is the Fury", "As High as Honor", "We Do Not Sow", "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", "Hear Us Roar", etc. As far as quote-related titles go, I'm holding out for "Then I Smashed Her Fucking Head In, Like This", but I don't see it happening.

The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros may refer, at least in influence, to the heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England; these were the seven kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex and Wessex. These kingdoms were autonomous states that warred amongst themselves until the Norman conquest of William the Conqueror. Northumbria - the North, also holds some relevancy in the Stark/York reference. The other kingdoms may be geographically similar but it's hard to tell on that basis alone; one could imagine Wessex as Dorne, Sussex as the Reach, Kent as the Stormlands, Essex as the Riverlands, East Anglia as the Vale, and Mercia as the West. These kingdoms were set up by the invading Anglo-Saxons (Andals) who merged with/replaced the native Britons (First Men). The land north of Hadrian's wall (the Wall) remains untainted by Anglo-Saxon influence and is inhabited by the Scots and Picts (Wildlings). The Norman invasion (Targaryen conquest) unified these kingdoms into a single state under William (Aegon) the Conqueror. Down the line, the Lancastrians (Lannisters) do battle with the Yorkists (Starks), descendants of Mercia and Northumbria, in the medieval Wars of the Roses.