It's officially been 15 years since Game of Thrones premiered on HBO on Sunday, April 17, 2011, with "Winter Is Coming."
To take a walk down memory lane and celebrate the series premiere of one of the best shows in TV history, I picked the five most important moments of the premiere.
While the Game of Thrones premiere is hardly the best episode of the series, it does everything a great fantasy pilot needs to do. It sets the stage for the entire story. It's the foundation of the whole series. Without these moments, or by messing them up entirely, we're watching an entirely different series. One of the best things "Winter Is Coming" does is stay true to A Game of Thrones of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.
I just rewatched the Game of Thrones premiere to celebrate the occasion. Let's get the list started of the five biggest moments in the Game of Thrones premiere started with our introduction to the White Walkers.
The White Walkers' introduction
I was so tempted to start with the Game of Thrones theme and intro because it's one of the most iconic themes and episode intros of all time. Like, it's Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and The Office for me as my top three episode intros, but we have to start with our introduction to the White Walkers.
Game of Thrones begins with a search party heading North of the Wall from Castle Black. They travel through the forest and come upon a little girl with blue eyes and dead bodies arranged in a strange pattern. It's straight out of a horror movie. Then, the chase is on. The rangers flee, but not long after, they are caught by one of the White Walkers, an undead being with blue eyes, who lops off the head of a ranger and throws it at the feet of another.
Later, we see the same ranger, a deserter of the Night's Watch, caught at Winterfell. Ned Stark (Sean Bean) sentences the ranger to death and takes his head in the name of King Robert Baratheon.
This scene is so important because, at the end of the day, everything that happens in Game of Thrones has an impact on that final battle between the White Walkers and everyone else. These characters just don't know how much danger they are actually in.
It also foreshadows what's to come with Ned at the end of season 1.
Daenerys is gifted her dragons
While most of the premiere takes place in Westeros, mainly in and around Winterfell, we do take a trip across the sea to meet Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), the daughter of the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen. After Dany is forced into a marriage to Khal Drogo(Jason Momoa) by her brother, Viserys (Harry Lloyd), Dany is gifted the three dragon eggs by Magister Illyrio Mopatis. Those eggs become Dany's children, Drogon, Rhaegon, and Viserion.
We all know just how monumental this moment actually is. Those dragons become Dany's ticket out to power, and also her demise, of course. This is the moment that changes everything for Dany. Without the dragons, she would have no hope of reclaiming the Iron Throne.
Robert reveals his trip to Winterfell is to convince Ned to become the Hand of the King
Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, dies in the Game of Thrones premiere, which sets off the course of events that changes the future of Westeros. King Robert (Mark Addy), then, enlists the help of his old friend, Ned, to become Hand of the King.
At first, Ned doesn't want to do it. He wants to stay in Winterfell, protect his family, and just mind his own business. Unable to be even thought of as dishonorable, Ned eventually accepts the offer, which ruins pretty much everything.
Lysa Arryn warns Catelyn and Ned that Jon Arryn was murdered
After learning that Robert wants Ned to return with him to King's Landing as the Hand of the King, Ned is skeptical that he has what it takes to be Robert's Hand, but he also doesn't want to leave Winterfell, as mentioned. That all changes when Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) receives a letter in the night from her sister, Lysa, from the Eyrie.
Lysa claims in the letter that Jon Arryn, her husband, didn't just die. She claims he was murdered by the Lannisters and King Robert is actually in grave danger. This is the push Ned needs to leave Winterfell.
Everything changes because of Lysa's letter. It gives Ned the push to try to protect his friend and king. Had Ned not accepted the offer, he probably wouldn't have been executed for treason following Robert's death. Robb (Richard Madden) wouldn't have declared himself King in the North and led his people to war.
The thing is, Lysa is lying. We learn much later in the series that Jon did not die of natural causes nor was he killed by the Lannisters. Instead, he was murdered by his own wife, Lysa, at Littlefinger's orders. He couldn't have saved Jon, of course, but Ned could have stopped it by resisting the call to become the Hand of the King.
Chaos ensues.
Jaime kicks Bran off the tower at Winterfell
"The things I do for love."
Last but certainly not least, Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) "falling" from the tower after catching Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Cersei (Lena Headey) in the act definitely deserves a spot on this list. We learn so much from this interaction about the Lannisters, obviously, and their brutality. And, it tells you everything you need to know about their future actions.
Jaime and Cersei will do absolutely whatever it takes, even if that means potentially murdering a child.
For those who don't recall, Bran's mother, Catelyn gives him a warning not to climb, but he does it anyway, and he nearly dies because of it. Bran doesn't die after the fall, and it sets him on the path to become the Three-Eyed Raven and beyond.
So, those are the five most important moments of the Game of Thrones premiere! Let us know any other important moments you think we missed in the comments.
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