Adapting ASOIAF For the Screen...

[Excalibur1027]

You guys have a pretty good discussion going on here. I too am somewhat torn on how the first episode/prologue should be handled. Well, I myself don't find my idea perfect by any means, but regardless, here's how I think the prologue should play out (sorry if it's a bit lengthy):

The prologue opens up with Eddard and co. at the Tower of Joy in a ferociously stormy rain (not sure if this is how it is in the book, but it’s how I’ve always imagined it.) We see a close up of Eddard’s group, ready and determined to confront the kingsgaurd. Next we see the Sword of the Morning and his companions, guarding the entrance to the tower. For a few seconds the parties just stare at eachother as thunder echoes across the sky.

Ned: (matter-of-factly) I looked for you on the Trident.

We see quick snippets of the sky view from the trident and the surrounding lands, followed up by some fighting and then the scene switches back to the tower.

Ser Gerold: We were not there.

Ser Oswell: Woe to the Usurper if we had been.

Next, we see some snippets of Robert fighting. After a while, the recklessness in which he’s regarding his opponents and the pure hatred and zeal in his eyes makes it clear to the viewer that he’s trying, desperately, to make his way towards someone we can’t see yet. Before this person comes into view (we get a vague sight of Rhaegar’s armor/chest) the scene switches back again.

Ned: When King’s Landing fell, Ser Jaime slew your mad king with a golden sword and I wondered where you were.

We see a few clips of Aerys, looking quite the madman.

Ser Gerold: (angrily) Far away. Or Aerys would still sit the Iron Throne, and our false brother would burn in seven hells.

We see our first look at the Iron throne and then a close up of Jaime in his white cloak, golden sword in hand.

Ned: I came down on Storm’s End to lift the siege, and the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne dipped their banners, and all their knights bent the knee to pledge us fealty. (perplexed) I was certain you would be among them.

We see a glimpse of Storms End and some soldiers bending the knee, while others flee with the remaining Targ loyalists.

Ser Arthur Dayne: (determined) Our knees do not bend easily.

Ned: Ser Willem Darry is fled to Dragonstone with your queen Daenerys and prince Viserys. I thought you might have sailed with them.

Next we see a beautiful young girl, fear and tears in her eyes, being pulled by the hand of Viserys and their escort. They’re ambushed by the rebels and some fighting ensues. However, before we see the outcome, we’re brought back by Ser Oswell.

Ser Oswell: Ser Willem is a good man and true, but not of the kingsgaurd.

Ser Gerold: The Kingsgaurd does not flee.

Ser Arthur Dayne: Then or now.

The kingsgaurd done their helmets and draw their swords.

Ser Gerold: We swore a vow.

Martryn Cassel, Howland Reed, and the rest of Eddard’s men draw their own blades and begin to close in around the three knights in white. The Sword of the Morning and Eddard stare at eachother.

Ser Arthur Dayne: And now it begins.

Ned: (sadly) No, now it ends.

Just as they are about to fight, we get a bunch of images thrown at us: soldiers fighting on the Trident, the duel between Robert and Rhaegar, Jaime drawing his sword (to Aerys surprise) and killing the mad king, the Starks/Lanisters entering and pillaging King’s Landing, Jaime sitting on the Iron Throne with a smile on his face, Robert and Cersei getting married, Dany and Viserys heading out to sea on a ship, and then, just as Eddard and Dayne are about to cross swords, a woman’s voice screams “Eddard,†and we’re brought to the present. Ned is atop a horse and traveling with his sons to execute a deserter, his eyes closed in remembrance.

IMO, this is enough history to let the new viewers know that there was a war, the rebels won, this Aerys guy was crazy and his own sworn sword killed him, Robert clearly hates the guy he was fighting, the true queen and prince escaped to sea, and something significant happened at the ToJ.

Now, from here on out, the scene plays out just like the book, except right before Garret is executed, and Eddard is proclaiming the man’s death sentence, the boys start to question why he ran away and why he looks so distant. Then, as Eddard is still speaking, we get a close up of Garret’s blank face, and we see the events of the prologue. Except now, after “Wraithmar†chokes and kills Wil, we see him and the other wraiths draw their attention to Garret, who they now notice is hiding in the shadows, terrified by what he’s witnessed. He starts to flee, and the wraiths give chase. Garret is very close to his horse (did they have horses? I forgot) and he’s just about to saddle up when we see that Wraithmar is right on his tail, raising his blade and ready to swing. However, as he’s bringing it down, the scene changes back to the present and the blade changes to Ice, decapitating Garret.

Everything from here on out happens pretty normally: Theon kicks the head, Jon and Robb talk about fear/bravery, and then Bran asks his father “if a man can still be brave if he’s afraid.â€

Another close up of Eddard. We see rose petals blowing across the sky and Eddard, close to tears, kneeling beside a blood stained bed. The screen fades to white and we hear the words “Promise me, Ned.†After a few seconds, we hear Bran call out “Father?†and we’re once again brought back to the present. Eddard composes himself, and answers “that is the only time a man can be brave.â€

The scene with the wolves plays out the same, but after Jon says his great line, and the group departs toward Winterfell, the camera pans back and focuses on the distant north, hinting that something (the Others obviously) terrible is at work.

Finally, they get back. Ned talks about Ice/honor, Cat displays love, Cat tells Ned about Jon in the crypts, the king arrives and we recognize Robert, the woman he was wedding, and the guy who killed the other king. Robert and Ned talk about the rebellion, the Trident, Rhaegar, and Lyanna. All this talk reminds the viewer of the things they saw in Eddard’s flashback and they have a better (still not complete, but enough that they won’t be lost) understanding of the history of Westeros and how Robert became king. Also they can still show flashbacks of the rebellion since not that much was given away. Only the basic details. Robert offers the Hand position to Eddard and the prologue ends with Eddard alone in the crypts, (whispering "Winter is coming" to himself or something) and us wondering what his answer will be and what will happen next.

IMO, here are the good/bad things about my idea.

Good things about this approach:

- We get a much appreciated view into Westeros history, the characters, and where the story currently is.

- The prologue is kept intact, and we get an idea that there’s a distant, but impending danger not of this world.

- We see Dany (kinda), so her first appearance doesn’t seem so strange and out of place because we already have somewhat of an idea that she’s important.

- Like the book, it sets the viewers up to think that Eddard is the main (used loosely) character.

- Instead of an Old Nan/story telling narrative, or a flashback with no narrative at all, the event at the ToJ serves as a narrative for summarizing the rebellion.

Bad things about this approach:

- We see the complete events at the ToJ, meaning that it would be tedious to see it again when Ned dreams. However, maybe we could simply witness more of the fight instead.

- Bran’s 1st POV sort of becomes more leaned towards Eddard and Garret. But I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal. The talk about honor/bravery/knights is still there between Bran and Ned.

- Relies a little to heavily on flashbacks.

Whew! Well there’s my opinion on the prologue. Comments?

[Ghlade]

That is really, really good Excalibur. If we went with your approach of that prologue, though, I would recommend scrapping Garret and the Others altogether -- as important as that scene is, the groundwork for the Others can be laid later.

[Maester Yobjascz]

There's a lot about your approach that I like... I'll have to ponder it some more.

The one thing that leapt out at me, though, is your inclusion of Daenerys as the queen that was spirited away to the Dragonstone... This was, according to the books, Queen Rhaenys, who was only pregnant with Daenerys at the time. This is a rather nit-picky detail, as it could easily be changed for the purposes of the series... just make Daenerys born earlier, and have her as a young princess, only a year or two old, carried away from King's Landing.

The only problem such an act might create, aside from aging Dany a few years, is that she's Daenerys Stormborn. She was born amid salt and smoke on Dragonstone, during one of the most powerful storms in living memory. The required modification takes this out. And this helps tie Dany in with the various prophecies about the prince who was promised. I suppose we could change those prophecies to match though...

That aside, I like the approach... and will comment on it a bit more later.

[Thomas Hetz]

Excalibur, that's frikkin awesome. I think we can easily get around the Daenerys point by saying "Ser Willem Darry is fled to Dragonstone with the queen and prince Viserys. I thought you might have sailed with them." Then just show a scene of the queen in a boat, nine months pregnant, with a young Viserys by her side, glancing back at a burning city. We all know she left several weeks before the Sack, but it's far more impressive to see King's Landing burning. I think this can solve our problems of Daenerys being Stormborn.

[Tysha]

Whew! Well there’s my opinion on the prologue. Comments?

Just one - how can we get you writing the scripts?! That is freakin' awesome!

[Excalibur1027]

Oops. Ha, the Dany thing was my mistake. For some reason, I was thinking that Dany was already born at the time. Oh well, I'm tired

Although, besides the Stormborn issue Yobjascz already brought up, making Dany 1-3 years older would help solve the Dany - Drogo issue. She'd end up being a little older than Robb and Jon, but at least things between her and Drogo wonldn't be as awkward.

[Maester Yobjascz]

No problem... as pointed out, it's easily resolved. Make it Queen Rhaenys, and make her noticeably pregnant... it'll get the point across. I'd make the fear pretty evident in Prince Viserys' eyes too... it'll set his character up nicely for future chapters.

Beyond that, it's a great job. I wouldn't worry about ruining the ToJ sequence. You've used it to tell the story of the Rebellion... *not* the story of Lyanna. That's important, whether intentional or not. You don't include any images of Lyanna in her bed of blood... and there's no reference as to *why* Eddard or the Kingsguard are there, at least not in your initial introduction. So there's no give-away. The cry of 'Eddard' hints at a possibility, but not one that any audience unfamiliar with the books would latch onto as Eddard's sister. That said, I might cut the flashback to Lyanna in your intro up there and save that for a later time.

And later on, when the ToJ comes up in the books, the focus is different... it's on *why* Eddard was there, and his regrets knowing that he might die... so the focus there is on Lyanna as the possible mother to Jon. Thus, at that point, we could excerpt parts of your scene here to let the audience know that this is at the ToJ... and then introduce the rest of the sequence, with Eddard and the dying Lyanna.

Turning it into an Eddard chapter works well here... and there's really no reason not to. The main things that Bran introduces in the chapter is history and historical figures... legendary knights (Arthur Dayne), myths about wildlings and the Others, and so on... this could be still be retained though... Bran could ask his father if Garrett was like the wildlings in Old Nan's stories... "did he drink blood from someone's skull?" or something along those lines... and perhaps once back at the castle, Old Nan might be telling Bran another story.

[Tyrion the Tall]

great work, excalibur! just got back home from a pub, and being a little drunk, i almost saw the first episode as shot by your script! i dunno if it's the beer or your writing was just that good, but i surely would like to see some mre of your adaptation! encore! encore!

[Excalibur1027]

I wouldn't worry about ruining the ToJ sequence. You've used it to tell the story of the Rebellion... *not* the story of Lyanna. That's important, whether intentional or not. You don't include any images of Lyanna in her bed of blood... and there's no reference as to *why* Eddard or the Kingsgaurd are there, at least not in your initial introduction. So there's no give-away.

Yep, that was the plan. After reading the ToJ event again, I was surprised how well the conversation between Ned and Dayne conveyed the events of the rebellion. So why not use it as a summary? Originally, I thought including an image of Lyanna herself actually lying on the blood stained bed should be included in the flurry of images near the end. However, I thought actually showing her anywhere would lead too close to the L+R=J theory (And lets face it people, as far as we know, it still is a theory, no matter how sound it seems. For all we know, Martin could be pulling the biggest red herring in history )

The cry of 'Eddard' hints at a possibility, but not one that any audience unfamiliar with the books would latch onto as Eddard's sister. That said, I might cut the flashback to Lyanna in your intro up there and save that for a later time.

And later on, when the ToJ comes up in the books, the focus is different... it's on *why* Eddard was there, and his regrets knowing that he might die... so the focus there is on Lyanna as the possible mother to Jon. Thus, at that point, we could excerpt parts of your scene here to let the audience know that this is at the ToJ... and then introduce the rest of the sequence, with Eddard and the dying Lyanna.

Interesting. I really like that idea. The main reason I included the flashback to Lyanna was to connect his "it is the only time a man can be brave" to his own sacrifice, taking Jon in as his bastard and the shame that comes with it. But I think your idea of including it latter, during Ned's dream sequence, would be better.

Well, thanks so much for the positive feedback everyone! Maybe I'll write more possible approaches tomorrow, but I've got class (and work) in the morning. Actually, I should probably already be sleeping .

[Ghlade]

Actually, one of the nice things about starting the series with the Tower of Joy is that, if in fact R+L=J, the first scene of the show subtley foreshadows what may be the central mystery of the series.

[All-for-Joffrey]

I like the Dany idea but be careful how Ned refers to her. He calls her "Queen Daenerys and Prince Viserys." While true in the future, this implies Ned has some sort of prophetic knowledge. I'd change it to Princess Daenery sand King Viserys" for factual accuracy.

[Maester Yobjascz]

Or, rather, to 'your Queen Rhaenys and young Prince Viserys'... and show the heavily pregnant Queen and fearful young prince on a tossing boat approaching Dragonstone. (or being escorted onto a boat with King's Landing burning in the background).

[Zulofritter]

I share everyone's enthusiasm, but these ideas for a new prologue would damage the series.

So far, everything in the novels has been from a specific point of view. It's highly unlikely that Martin would want to immediately break this tradition. Plenty of filmmakers stick to this tradition, in fact. For example, Robert Zemeckis won't film establishing shots (unless this represents the point of view of a character). There are stylistic problems as well, but I think this thread has covered most of them.

Now, HBO has made last minute changes before to avoid audience confusion. I understand they overruled the creators of The Wire in the first episode, sticking in an unneeded flashback. This wasn't a good idea. I'd say that The Wire and ASOIAF are of similar complexity; in both cases not knowing everything that was happening forced me to pay attention. I like to be in the dark. To put it another way, if AGOT started with a few pages where a faceless narrator explained how Robert came to power, I would have yawned and skipped ahead.

One more problem, though it's not a problem with all the prologues. When you go outside a limited point of view, the audience expects that what's on the screen will be accurate. If you show Robert fighting Rhaegar hand-to-hand, that means it actually happened. A great aspect of the books is that you were never sure what the history was, and what was altered by faulty memories and lies. If you show it, that mystery is taken away. When telling a story, it's important to know what not to show.

[Michael Jon Snow]

Very nice Excalibur, I like it.

[Loras]

I think the easiest way to introduce the PoV system would be to give each character an 'episode' of the season. I'd name the episodes after the characters, for example:

Episode 1.01: The Warden Of The North - Eddard.

further more I would have the character that the episode is based on narrating the beginning and the end of the episode (a la 'Desperate Housewives').

For the first episode and the teaser for it I would suggest that we follow the story of Robert Baratheon and his journey from the Vale Of Arryn to The Trident. We would only see The Eeryie and The Trident though. This would serve a few major purposes:

1.) It gives us a context to how Robert became king.

2.) It gives context to Daenerys and the fall of House Targaryen.

3.) It gives us a basis to Eddard and Robert's relationship.

4.) We are introduced to Jon Arryn.

During this flashback we would hear Eddard discussing justice (which just so happens to be a major theme of the first novel). And then we cut to the beheading of Jared... however we get a few short snippets of the prologue - like really short almost flashes - just enough to get the viewer interested... then he gets killed.

The theme of justice would be mirrored at the other end of the episode when Jaime pushes Bran from the window.

The other thing is that I believe the Mystery of Who Killed Jon Arryn, is integral to the plot of book 1... it would need to be answered at the conclusion to season 1 - maybe with Lisa doting on her son in the Eryie...

[Regina]

Excalibur1027--Your idea is impressive, to say the least! I could see it all so clearly as I read your post, I feel like I've actually seen this episode.

As others have said, I would prefer to see a heavily pregnant queen, rather than a young Dany, but other than that, I really love what you wrote. I had not realized the TOJ sequence could be used to fill in so much backstory so efficiciently!

[Maester Yobjascz]

A few responses...

Zulofritter - I don't think that the opening sequence that Excalibur1027 described gives away too much. You're right that mystery is important, and that giving away too much too early can lessen the impact... flirtation with the audience is key. But the described opening doesn't give a history lesson... It doesn't give a narration of why it was started nor, really, how it ended. What it shows are some brief glimpses into the past, to provide a little bit of background.

Consider this: in the opening chapters of AGoT, the information of the above prologue is given to the reader, in various bits and pieces of internal thought. GRRM gave the reader this information for a reason, and it makes sense that the audience should have it as well. What Excalibur managed to do was find a way to give the audience what it needed, with little that it didn't... and do it in a way that is both entertaining and true to the books.

Now, though I don't agree with Zulofritter's argument, he does raise some important points... that of the PoV's. I think that we should keep the PoV structure, partly because it works for the books (and I believe it would work well on-screen as well), and partly because it's something that makes the series unique and distinctive.

Moreover, as Zulofritter noted, sticking to a PoV structure allows us to have unreliable narrators. With an objective perspective, we expect truth and reality. And much of what GRRM gives us is *significantly* less than that. So unless we're going to re-write the books, we've got to keep unreliable narrators. Besides, it's one of the things that makes the books great. To have unreliable narrators, we *need* to keep a non-objective viewpoint, and the best way to do this (especially since it also keeps in line with the books) is to maintain a PoV.

Now, at the other end of the spectrum is a PoV per episode... we're looking, at most, at 22 episodes, and there are 70-80 chapters per book, and combining chapters by PoV would wreck timelines and continuity. So we can't go to the other extreme and hold to the PoV as strictly as possible...

What we can do, is follow the PoV structure of the books, but move scenes around as needed to maintain a more fluid experience.

The Prologue uses this approach, and people's responses so far suggest that it's effective. The first episode shows the first five chapters of AGoT. Chapter 4 (Daenerys I) is skipped... it breaks the continuity of the story being told. To maintain the continuity, the Prologue *and* a scene from Eddard XV are inserted into Bran I. Bran I is told from Eddard's PoV, in a departure from the books, and the scene from Eddard XV (ToJ) maintains the Eddard PoV. The Prologue shifts the PoV, and Excalibur suggests some cues to help establish the shift. Once in the Prologue, the PoV continues until it reverts back to Eddard to continue the scene.

By keeping the PoV's, we keep the unreliable narrator option open. We also maintain GRRM's approach. But by moving things around, being willing to shift PoV's as necessary, we can improve the fluidity for TV.

That said, a couple more comments on Excal's draft:

Opening with the ToJ in a storm is a bit cliche and melodramatic... I'd go with a brisk autumn morning, myself. Autumn colors suggest a bit of sadness and the end of an era, which the ToJ is (and chronologically, we know that a mild winter did pass between the Rebellion and AGoT, so there was an autumn there somewhere...).

I've already commented on the Queen Daenerys/Queen Rhaenys thing... and this seems to be resolved.

In the shift to the Prologue, we seem to be going with Gared's PoV, which is different from the books, which use Wil's. There are a couple of difficulties this present... Once again, not insurmountable, but they need to be resolved one way or another. First, Wil's perspective gives us a view of the duel, as he's hidden in the trees above. Any view of Gared's would be, at most, obscured by trees and brush... so, similar to the dock finale scenes in 'The Usual Suspects'. Not much of a problem. Second, timing... Wil dies *after* the Others have killed Waymar and left. If we're in Gared's PoV, then we see Waymar duel the Others... watch the Others leave, and then... what? I suppose Gared watches Wil climb down, and sees Wightmar stand... Gared stops, frozen in place, and watches Wil die, before turning and running for the horses.

The other possibility would be to shift to Wil's perspective instead of Gared's. The scene unfolds as normal, but when Waymar is slain, Wil sees Gared run for the horses... the Others hear him, and rush after, leaving the clearing where Waymar's body is. Wil uses the opportunity to climb down, and is killed by Wightmar. I don't know if this approach is better... just an alternative.

Finally, Excalibur did a great job, but he slyly smoothed over some of the other issues in the opening episode... namely, how to handle the Catelyn chapter. Do we take a PoV shift to Catelyn after Bran I (now Eddard I)? Most of her chapter is historical information... do we try to get that across, or just skip it? Perhaps a scene of Winterfell, with Old Nan telling Bran a tale of famous knights (to include some of the information from Bran I), from Catelyn's perspective, before she walks off to the Wolfswood?

As a final comment, I generally don't like voice-over narrators... it usually has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. However, it can be done well... and I think the PoV structure can help it work. Some characters, like Catelyn, are *constantly* in their own heads, thinking more than they say. Their chapters would be little more than a few significant looks, and a few comments. Catelyn might be one of the few chapters where a 'Desperate Housewives' style narration might work... it would illuminate a *lot* about Catelyn, and provide a different feel to her PoV's...

[Excalibur1027]

Finally, Excalibur did a great job, but he slyly smoothed over some of the other issues in the opening episode... namely, how to handle the Catelyn chapter. Do we take a PoV shift to Catelyn after Bran I (now Eddard I)? Most of her chapter is historical information... do we try to get that across, or just skip it? Perhaps a scene of Winterfell, with Old Nan telling Bran a tale of famous knights (to include some of the information from Bran I), from Catelyn's perspective, before she walks off to the Wolfswood?

Here’s how I think it could work. After they find the wolves, and the screen pans back to show the mountains (like I suggested earlier) the screen fades out, it’s some hours latter, and we get our first view of Winterfel in all it’s majesty from the outside.

(Speaking of fading out, that could be the simple answer to the POV problem. If the POV is changing, there’s a fadeout to the next scene, and the first thing we’ll generally see is the new character. Not to confuse it with a normal scene change, which should only take a matter of seconds. I’m talking about a longer, drawn out fade out (think commercial break.) IMO, the audience, even if they haven’t read the books, should be smart enough to realize that there’s been some sort of shift. It keeps the spirit of the POVs, it’s subtle, and it’s not "in your face†like the character card idea. Maybe each character could have their own little theme tune that goes along with the fade in, but that might be going a little too far. Anyways, back to Cat I.)

I like Yobjascz’s idea of having her walk in on Old Nan telling a story. We see that Bran, Rickon, Arya, and Sansa (maybe) are all sitting there with their wolf pups, listening with interest (maybe Arya and Rickon are squabbling a bit, but they’re pretty drawn in for the most part.) When Old Nan finishes, she notices Cat standing there and she mentions that she’s looking for Ned. Old Nan mentions the Wolfswood, Cat says something along the lines of “I should have known†and she heads off.

However, on the way there, she comes across Robb and Jon dueling in the courtyard/battle yard/whatever it’s called. They are alone, aside for the wolf pups. Maybe Rodrick or Jory is standing off to the side, but they’re alone for the most part. We see that though they’re intent on the battle, they’re mostly playing around, and we get the feeling that there’s a kinship between them. Switch back to Cat, looking pretty indifferent. She’s just about to leave, when Jon lands a pretty hard blow on Robb. Robb goes down, they both laugh it off, but then we see Cat frowning. “What’s that all about?†The viewer might be thinking. Jon, still smiling, looks over and notices Cat. His smile disappears, and he quickly averts his eyes, like he never saw her. Cat keeps on walking after giving him one last look.

Latter, when she notices Ned in the Wolfswood. The scene plays out pretty much the same, much is revealed to us about the wierwoods and the heart trees, and maybe instead of thinking about Ice, Eddard kind of comments about it to himself (“this sword has been in the Stark family for generationsâ€â€¦etc. like was suggested a few pages back.) She breaks the news about Jon, we see Eddard is clearly saddened, and maybe something about Robert and the rebellion is mentioned (to be honest, I really don’t remember everything they talk about here, and I don’t have my book with me, so I’ll just edit this part latter.)

We hear that Robert is coming, and they talk about the possibility of Eddard offering him the position as Hand. I know that we don’t find out that Eddard was expecting this until the next chapter, but I think having Cat and Ned discuss the posibility of the title of Hand out in the open will prepare the viewers and give them a general idea on what the duty entails and that it's a pretty big deal. Then we don’t have to have Robert and Ned pointlessly drop hints about what it is latter, and we'll avoid the following:

Robert: I want you to be my Hand, you’ll be my second in command, your duties will include-â€

Ned: “Robert, I know what the Hand is.â€

Besides, finding out what the Hand is, and that Robert wants Ned to be Hand aren’t the real mysteries/shockers of the end of the episode. The real mystery, and what the viewers will be thinking, is if Ned will accept the offer or not.

[Zulofritter]

Well, the strength of Excalibur's scene (EDIT: The first one, lol) is that it gets you inside Eddard's head, but we would be getting there quickly with the execution and crypt scenes, both probably in the first episode. The crypt might also be a better place for this flashback. I also noticed several scenes where Eddard remembers scenes that he wouldn't have been present for. This is fine, it could be his views of what took place. However, this is followed closely by Gared's scene. By confusing this scene with Eddard's thoughts, we would be implying that Eddard knows why Gared left, and doesn't care. Not good for audience sympathy.

Anyways, if each book becomes 12 episodes, how would you divide the books? If Bran's fall ends the first episode, how would you end the rest of them?

[Thomas Hetz]

Damn Excalibur, better and better! We need you writing the scripts!

And concerning episode endings that Zulofritter mentioned I would like to see:

Endings:

Season Premiere: Bran's Fall

#2: The assassination attempt on Bran

#3: Lady dies, Cat meets Littlefinger. I think we can shift the chapters slightly out of order so it ends with Bran waking up.

#4: Eddard's investigations, Tyrion's capture, the Tourney of the Hand, end with Eddard asking why Arryn died and Varys saying "b/c he was asking questions".

#5: Cat reaches the Vale; Eddard and co. are jumped by Jaime Lannister returning from the brothel.

#6: Bronn defeats Ser Vardis.

#7: Ned spills the beans to Cersei, and she says her famous line.

#8: Eddard is arrested.

#9: Drogo swears to invade Westeros after the wine seller assassin.

#10: ZOMG! Maester Aemon is Aemon TARGARYEN! Green Fork. Whispering Wood.

#11: Tyrion is ordered to King's Landing. End with Eddard's beheading, or with Winterfell getting the news.

#12: DRAGONS!