A Game of Thrones, Prologue
Summary
A raiding party of Night’s Watch brothers is chasing a group of wildlings through the forest beyond the Wall. Their scout comes back to the encampment with report: the wildlings are dead. Leader of the raiding party, Ser Waymar Royce is not convinced and decides that he wants to see the “dead” himself. When they reach wildlings camp they find it empty, all the bodies gone. It becomes extremely cold and brothers face the Others. Ser Waymar tries to put up a fight, but he is killed and then raised as a wraith. As wraith he kills one of the brothers who were under his command.
Quotes
A shadow emerged from dark of the wood. It stood in front of Royce. Tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk. Its armor seemed to change color as it moved; here it was white as new-fallen snow, there black as shadow, everywhere dappled with the deep grey-green of the trees.
The Other slid forward on silent feet. In its hand was a longsword like none that Will had ever seen. No human metal had gone into the forging of that blade. It was alive with moonlight, translucent, a shard of crystal so thin that it seemed almost to vanish when seen edge-on. There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.
Commentary
The first chapter is always setting tone to the entire series, it sets the theme, the main plot of the books. In Song of Ice and Fire the message could not have been more clear: the Others have awakened and are coming back to claim the realm of men. The winter is coming, those words will be repeated throughout the book not letting you forget that even though kings clash and storm of swords is laying ruin to the Seven Kingdoms, the greatest enemy is in the North.
The prologue introduces both the greatest threat in the book, the Others and the defenders of humanity, the Night’s Watch. Reader learns just enough about the world to know what’s going on, which I find really important in the books beginnig. Reader is not overwhelmed with the amount of names, places and nuances that can be caught only after reading the series for the fifth time. Martin focuses instead on the simple, easy to digest and get drawn into events. Mystery of disappearing bodies, brilliant sword-fight and the horror of dead rising again to serve as wraith.
This chapter assured me that if anything, the book is going to have amazing fights and battles, which is enough to at least give it a try.
