Game of Thrones: the season two primer

It is not long before Game of Thrones starts its hotly anticipated second season – on Sunday night in the US, and Monday evening on Sky Atlantic in the UK. Our Game of Thrones series blog will of course be returning for full discussion of the show – but given that it’s been a (very long) year since we last encountered the schemers and dreamers of Westeros, even fans might benefit from a quick refresher course on all the internecine power struggles and devious relationships. And if you’re late to the Game of Thrones party and are only just catching up (what were you doing last year?), think of this as your essential primer. Fantasy – but not as you know it Game of Thrones, both the book and the series, is unlike any other fantasy series – one poster last year memorably described the TV show as “Rome meets The Sopranos with a bit of 70s German porn thrown into the mix”. This is a world in which magic is often discussed but rarely seen. The book’s author George RR Martin is as interested in exploding the common tropes of fantasy – the base-born hero, the exiled princess, the noble knight – as he is in telling an epic tale, and HBO has stayed remarkably faithful to his dark-hearted vision of a world that is almost entirely populated by double-crossing deceivers. The Starks Whether Game of Thrones really has heroes is debatable, given its predilection for examining the price extracted by every righteous deed. But the Stark family – bitterly betrayed last season, and beginning series two scattered and under attack – are the most obviously honourable bunch. The new season starts with Robb, the oldest son and now Lord Stark following his father’s execution, having declared himself King in the North after a series of astute victories. His mother Catelyn is advising him. Meanwhile, Sansa Stark is a prisoner in all but name in the capital of King’s Landing; Arya Stark is travelling north with a brother from the Night’s Watch (the order her half-brother Jon Snow is stationed with); and the two youngest children, Bran and Rickon, are at the family seat in Winterfell. The Lannisters In addition to the hard done-by Starks, the Kingdom of Westeros is also home to the scheming Lannisters, currently in the ascendancy after proving rather more adept at political games than their enemies last season. Strictly speaking the family should not be in any way likeable given that they are headed by the cold-hearted Tywin (played with twinkling malevolence by Charles Dance) and feature among their number the unstable Queen Cersei, who has conducted a long-standing affair with her sardonic twin brother Jaime (currently Robb Stark’s prisoner), and her psychopathic teenage son Joffrey, the newly crowned king. Yet while the Lannisters are undeniably unpleasant people, they also have many of the best lines – with Jaime and younger brother Tyrion (the show-stealing Peter Dinklage) particularly adept in the art of the snarky put-down. The Queen across the Water Daenerys Targaryen – aka the last of the dragons – is the only surviving heir of the original ruling dynasty of Westeros. She spent the first half of season one adjusting after being sold to a horse lord by her weaselly (now deceased) brother Viserys, but has since proven to have an interestingly steely heart when the situation arises. Having recently lost her husband and child as well as her brother, Dany is in a precarious situation and seemingly no closer to achieving her desire of returning to Westeros. However, she also has something that almost every other character desires: at the end of season one she hatched the last three dragons in the world from the smouldering remnants of her husband’s funeral pyre. Other interests We didn’t see a great deal last season of the former king Robert Baratheon’s brothers Renly and Stannis (indeed we didn’t see the latter at all). That’s about to change in season two – with neither man happy about the swift way in which the Lannisters declared Joffrey king after Robert’s sudden and suspicious death. There are also plenty of schemers and malcontents to keep an eye on. In the capital of King’s Landing, Petyr, Lord Littlefinger – played by the enjoyably saturnine Aidan Gillen – is a man with an eye for the main chance and a long-standing crush on the newly widowed Catelyn Stark. Littlefinger can be found conspiring in corners with Varys, the court’s eunuch spymaster, and council member Grand Maester Pycelle, who may not be the doddering fool he pretends to be. In the north the impetuous Theon Greyjoy, former war hostage turned best friend of Robb Stark, is desperate for recognition; while Renly’s young lover Loras Tyrell comes from a large, wealthy and very ambitious family. North of the Wall The late Ned Stark’s illegitimate son Jon (the gloriously moody Kit Harrington) took the black and joined the Night’s Watch – essentially Westeros’s underappreciated and underfunded last line of defence – at the beginning of last season, and found himself living in brutal conditions with a ragtag band of brothers in the frozen wastes at the far end of the country. As if that wasn’t bad enough, beyond the wall the dead are walking and Jon and the rest of the Night’s Watch have set out to uncover the truth … Season two expectations As the trailers tantalisingly promise, “war is coming”, and with it a whole host of new and very complicated power plays. This blog and the weekly series blogs are spoiler-free zones – but I will say that the second book in the series is the most politically intricate so expect some choice backstabbing. Here are the latest trailers in the UK and in the US for anyone who can’t wait and I hope to see you back here when the mayhem begins. • Game of Thrones starts on Sky Atlantic on Monday 2 April at 9pm Season eight Episode 1: Winterfell Episode 2: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 3: The Long Night Episode 4: The Last of the Starks Episode 5: The Bells Episode 6: The Iron Throne Season seven Episode 1: Dragonstone Episode 2: Stormborn Episode 3: The Queen's Justice Episode 4: The Spoils of War Episode 5: Eastwatch Episode 6: Beyond The Wall Episode 7: The Dragon and the Wolf Season six Episode 1: The Red Woman Episode 2: Home Episode 3: Oathbreaker Episode 4: Book of the Stranger Episode 5: The Door Episode 6: Blood of my Blood Episode 7: The Broken Man Episode 8: No One Episode 9: Battle of the Bastards Episode 10: The Winds of Winter Season five Episode 1: The Wars to Come Episode 2: The House of Black and White Episode 3: High Sparrow Episode 4: Sons of the Harpy Episode 5: Kill the Boy Episode 6: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken Episode 7: The Gift Episode 8: Hardhome Episode 9: The Dance of Dragons Episode 10: Mother's Mercy Season four Episode 1: Two Swords Episode 2: The Lion and the Rose Episode 3: Breaker of Chains Episode 4: Oathkeeper Episode 5: First of His Name Episode 6: The Laws of Gods and Men Episode 7: Mockingbird Episode 8: The Mountain and the Viper Episode 9: The Watchers on the Wall Episode 10: The Children Season three Episode 1: Valar Dohaeris Episode 2: Dark Wings, Dark Words Episode 3: Walk of Punishment Episode 4: And Now His Watch Is Ended Episode 5: Kissed by Fire Episode 6: The Climb Episode 7: The Bear and the Maiden Fair Episode 8: Second Sons Episode 9: The Rains of Castamere Episode 10: Mhysa Season two Episode 1: The North Remembers Episode 2: The Night Lands Episode 3: What Is Dead May Never Die Episode 4: Garden of Bones Episode 5: The Ghost of Harrenhal Episode 6: The Old Gods and the New Episode 7: A Man Without Honour Episode 8: The Prince of Winterfell Episode 9: Blackwater Episode 10: Valar Morghulis Season one Episode 1: Winter is Coming Episode 2: The Kingsroad Episode 3: Lord Snow Episode 4: Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things Episode 5: The Wolf and the Lion Episode 6: A Golden Crown Episode 7: You Win or You Die Episode 8: The Pointy End Episode 9: Baelor Episode 10: Fire and Blood