10 best moments from the Game of Thrones series premiere

The death of Jon Arryn

Don’t worry, Jaime Lannister tells his twin sister/lover Queen Cersei as they look over Jon Arryn’s body lying in state, if the late lord of the Eyrie told anyone about their secret, the two Lannisters would already be dead.

The death of Jon Arryn, Hand of the King to Robert Baratheon, is the precipitating event of Game of Thrones. It’s what gets Ned to move his family down to King’s Landing. It’s also a mystery. When Jaime and Cersei have their talk, we don’t yet know why or how Jon Arryn died. But we do learn that his wife, Lysa Tully, wrote a letter to her sister Catelyn Stark, Ned’s wife, accusing the Lannisters of murdering him.

While Jon’s death may have seen inconsequential upon first viewing, later it’s shown as the spark that ignites eight seasons of civil and familial conflict and the game of thrones. Later, we learn that Jon had been investigating the parentage of Cersei’s children, who are clearly not fathered by King Robert Baratheon but rather Cersei’s brother Jaime.