Let's Read - A Game of Thrones - Proglogue

A Game of Thrones - The Prologue

Ser Waymar VS the Other

Summary
3 men of the Night’s Watch are in the haunted forest, sent on a mission to track Wildling raiders. First man is Gared, an old man but a 40 year veteran of the Night’s Watch. Second is Will, a younger man and a 4 year veteran of the Watch and there’s Ser Waymar Royce, an 18 year old n00b who’s been in the Watch for just 6 months. But he’s the son of a Lord and a knight, which means he’s of  a higher status than Gared and Will. They are forced to take orders from him because he‘s the commander.

However, the mission has changed. According to Will who scouted ahead, the Wildlings they were tracking are dead but they didn’t look like they died naturally - there was no blood on their corpses. Ser Waymar asks Will to lead them to the corpses to investigate.

When they get there, they discover the bodies that Will described… are gone! Gared is instructed to guard the horses. Ser Waymar and Will get to the camp when they notice a strange presence. Ser Waymar stands his ground and braces for an attack. Will climbs a tree. The Others arrive - white animated corpses with ice blue eyes. Ser Waymar tries to fight off the Others and is slain by one of them. The Others mysteriously leave after killing him. Will climbs down the tree to pick up Ser Waymar’s broken sword when Ser Waymar’s corpse rises as an undead Other and attacks him.

Chapter Analysis

Themes and Topics
- Death
- Gloom and Doom
- The Supernatural
- The great class divide - Lords vs commoners, veterans vs. n00bs
- Pride goes before fall
- Bravery vs. cowardice
- Survival

We are introduced to the world of A Song of Ice and Fire from the point of view of 3 men: Gared, Ser Waymar Royce and Will. Right from the get go, we can tell  they’re in a dangerous, harsh environment. They are in the woods to do something but night is descending fast and bad things happen when it gets dark. Death is already mentioned on the first page!

The first few lines of character dialogue peak our interest - Gared says the 3 of them they ‘should start back, the wildlings are dead’  What are wildlings? It’s not explained yet. Then Ser Waymar asks Gared ‘Do the dead frighten you?’ while Gared says something about dead staying dead, Ser Waymar continues “Are they dead?” Ser Waymar’s questions are egging us on to explore the situation at hand: Something fishy is going on and we have to read on to uncover the mystery. 

As we read on, we also learn more about who these guys are and how they relate to each other.

Gared, portrayed by Dermot Keaney

Will, portrayed by Bronson Webb

Ser Waymar Royce, portrayed by Rob Ostlere

Gared is an old man of 50 plus, he’s a 40 year veteran in the Night’s Watch, been there since he was a boy and he does not like taking orders from Ser Waymar, but Gared is suppressing his displeasure. Just from reading Ser Waymar’s dialogue, we can tell he’s an arrogant, cocky punk. When he asks Will to prove that the Wildlings are dead and Will gives an ambiguous answer saying “My mother told me that dead men sing no songs”, Ser Waymar runs him down “My wet nurse said the same thing, never believe anything you hear at a woman’s tit.”. He also goads the veterans often like a small boy daring another “Are you unmanned by the dark, Gared?”. Geez, that’s annoying.

Will also doesn’t get along with Ser waymar. He’s a 4 year veteran of the Night's Watch and he has seen some pretty nasty stuff (“The first time he had been sent beyond, all the old stories had come rushing back, and his bowels had turned to water) but even then, tonight in the forest, something really bad was going to happen and he didn’t like it ‘Something was different tonight. There was an edge to this darkness that made his hackles rise’ Will chose to be in the Night's Watch because of a crime he committed in the past (he was caught poaching someone's buck and had to choose losing a hand or joining the Watch. He joined the Watch)

As we continue to read, the omens are all saying: something really bad is going to happen “Nine days they had been riding, north and northwest, and then north again, farther and farther from the Wall… Each day had been worse than the day that came before it. Today was the worst of all. A cold wind was blowing out of the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things.” Boy that sounds really dreadful.

And then we finally learn about Ser Waymar Royce. Guess what? He’s the youngest son of a Lord, he’s 18, “graceful and slender as a knife”. He’s a kid! And he’s described looking more elegant than a man! And later we find out he’s only been at the Night’s Watch for ‘less than half a year’. This guy shouts N00b. Oh, and he wears a fancy sable cloak. Show-off. But despite all that, Gared and Will have to listen to this guy. Oh, and he’s a knight. A KNIGHT.

We later learn about the dead Wildlings, as described by Will. They were found at a nearby camp,  lying against a rock, very still, their weapons were beside them but there was no blood on the corpses. Will describes they were clearly not sleeping as they had a far away look in their eyes.

Gared thinks the Wildlings may have died from the cold and than goes on to describe that he nearly died from cold: “First you go weak and drowsy, and everything starts to fade, and then it’s like sinking into a sea of warm milk. Peaceful like” and then we are revealed the proof: Gared has stumps for ears, and has lost various bits of him to frostbite “2 ears, 3 toes, and the little finger off my left hand”.

After talking to Will, Ser Waymar deduces that the Wildlings couldn’t have died of cold because the weather wasn’t cold enough “we’ve had a few light frosts this past week, and a quick flurry of snow now and then, but surely no cold fierce enough to kill eight grown men. Men clad in fur and leather…” Ok so Ser Waymar isn’t as n00b as he is but has a pretty good sense of deduction.

So Ser Waymar decides to go see the ‘dead’ Wildlings himself with Gared and Will but his cockiness and pride gets the better of him. Will suggests he bring a knife instead of a sword. Ser Waymar dismisses him. Gared suggests to bring fire because he knows fire keeps some enemies away. Ser Waymar doesn’t listen. I mean, we already know something bad is going to happen and Ser Waymar is just being a dick and NOT LISTENING.

The funny thing about Gared and Will is despite their n00b commander, they do as he says, they don’t revolt and even though they clearly know Ser Waymar is making wrong decisions, they still let him. They’re probably too afraid to disobey him because they know he’s a knight and they’ve been programmed by society to obey him. Without question. 

We then enter into Will’s point of view. Will and Ser Waymar get to the camp (Gared is asked to stay with the horses) and.. the bodies that Will described are gone! Will is getting freaked out but Ser Waymar doesn’t, he instructs Will to climb a tree and look for the Wildlings from a higher vantage point. We also learn why Ser Waymar is such a dick: It’s his first ranging mission and if he can’t find the Wildlings, his ass will be on the line. We smell the fear from Will’s perspective “Fear filled his gut like a meal he could not digest. He whispered a prayer to the nameless gods of the wood, and slipped his dirk free of its sheath…”

Then the Other strikes. We don’t know what they look like but ‘Pale shapes gliding through the wood.’ Will is too freaked out to yell to Ser Waymar about what he’s seen.

An Other is finally revealed in front of Ser Waymar. It is described as ‘Tall, gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk’ It is clearly not human, a supernatural creature and we know that this fight is going to end badly. Ser Waymar on the other hand still stands his ground, he still has the balls to taunt the creature ‘Dance with me then’ he says. And then later.. More Others emerged from the shadows. Ser Waymar fights valiantly but is eventually killed by it. And all this while, Will says nothing but watch up a tree as Ser Waymar dies in front of him.

So despite everything with Ser Waymar being a dick and all, he still died bravely, holding his ground against the Other while Will on the other hand was a big wuss and watched his n00b boy commander get killed. Will later gets his just desserts with Ser Waymar reanimating and obviously killing him.


Chapter Impressions

It’s a pretty good set up for the world of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’. It’s a cold, bleak, gritty, harsh, real and dangerous world. This is not your regular epic fantasy that’s all cheery and full of dwarves, elves, fairies and the like. The supernatural elements are out to kill people and they’re a lot stronger than regular humans. There are clearly defined class issues between the Lords and the commoners and the commoners listen to the Lords without question and trust them as leaders even though they are sometimes unfit to lead. (in this case, Ser Waymar, a young knight of 18 who’s super inexperienced compared to Gared and Will, is made leader)

But regardless of social class, age and otherwise, the Supernatural doesn’t choose who to kill and death can come for anyone. And if that doesn’t kill you, the harsh weather would probably kill you.