Tower of the Hand

Tower of the Hand is an unofficial companion to George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series, featuring chapter summaries, character profiles, family trees, and much more about the world of Westeros.

This site is designed for both ASOIAF experts and new readers. If you've read at least the first book in the series (A Game of Thrones), you can follow along with our chapter summaries and view our reference pages without seeing a single detail from later books. Just remember to update your scope once you're caught up, so you can see all the details and participate in the community discussions.

If you have any questions, just let us know. Thanks for visiting Tower of the Hand!

Much like our own past and future tournaments, Suvudu's Cage Match 2010 pits popular fantasy characters against each other. Ser Jaime Lannister-- aka "Kingslayer" and the winner of our Deadliest Warrior battle-- has the honor of representing A Song of Ice and Fire. His opponent is Hermione Granger, aka "Danger Granger" of Harry Potter infamy. George R. R. Martin warned us last week about the "Slaughter at Suvudu" and today offers an analysis of the combatants. Suffice it to say, GRRM fears and Suvudu believes the little witch will prevail. Vote now and prove them wrong. Round 1 features 15 other matches, so be sure to vote on those as well.

Today we open discussion on The Sworn Sword, the second Dunk and Egg tale. Members are encouraged to re-read the story (or read our chapter summary, now with quotes!), rate and comment on it, and take the new Trivia Quiz. We have also added a brand new timeline essay, The Dunk and Egg Timeline. You'll have to temporarily adjust your scope to The Sworn Sword to see the whole timeline.

Discussion of The Mystery Knight begins next Tuesday, which coincidentally, is when the third Dunk and Egg tale hits bookstores. If you intend to buy the book, please consider pre-ordering it from Amazon.com and supporting this site at the same time. Thanks again!

Dearest David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and other Game of Thrones producers: No one asked me-- and probably rightfully so-- but you have been wonderfully and bravely open to fans' suggestions in the past that I hope you don't mind my own unsolicited advice.

HBO has officially given Game of Thrones the green light. The Live Feed broke the news, which has now been confirmed by HBO, via tweet. Here are the details so far:

Congratulations to everyone involved. Congrats to fans, as well. Looks like your optimism and activism has paid off. In light of the news, we follow up our previous poll with this question: How many seasons of Game of Thrones will HBO air?

Press Reactions:

• Maureen Ryan (Chicago Tribune): This is great news; I'm doing a little happy dance myself. If the drama is two-thirds as good as Martin's novels, it'll be very good indeed.
• David Itzkoff (New York Times): If you've been jonesing for an epic fantasy to help fill the gap between Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies and the maybe-someday remake of "Dune," HBO may have just rolled the saving throw you needed.
• Eric Goldman (IGN TV) : I'm as excited as other fans are to see the HBO version of Thrones
• James Poniewozik (TIME): I declare this unambiguously great news, and I shall not be gainsaid!

Cast and Crew Reactions:

• George R. R. Martin: Thanks, everyone. The outpouring of enthusiasm has been amazing. The comments are piling up here faster than Ty can unscreen 'em, my phone is ringing off the hook, and my email is exploding. And of course the story is all over the internet. Quite a day.
• Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran): HOORAY!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!! WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!
• Sophie Turner (Sansa): GAME OF THRONES GONE TO SERIES!!!!! HOORAY MY PRAYERS HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN ASWERED THANK YOU HBO!!!!!

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is giving away three copies of Warriors, a new anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. In addition to The Mystery Knight, GRRM's latest Dunk and Egg tale, Warriors features original stories from over fifteen authors across multiple genres. Warriors will be available in stores March 16.

In January 2007, HBO acquired the rights to A Song of Ice and Fire and announced it was adapting the books into a television series. In November 2008, HBO ordered the pilot episode filmed. In May 2009, Peter Dinklage became the first of many notable names to be cast. In October 2009, the cast, crew, and George R. R. Martin went to Northern Ireland and Morocco to film the pilot. At some point in the next month, HBO will answer the next major question for the adaptation: Will Game of Thrones be picked up for a full series?

Update: GRRM blogs, he has no idea what HBO's decision is or when it will come, but he's emotionally invested in it, despite his own advice.

In anticipation of The Mystery Knight, Tower of the Hand invites you to join us in a re-read of the first two Dunk and Egg tales. Beginning today with The Hedge Knight, members can rate and comment on the book. Be sure to check out the THK's chapter summary, too, which introduces a new section for memorable quotes. Perhaps then you'll be ready for our new THK Trivia Quiz.

Discussion of The Sworn Sword commences next week, so save your thoughts on the second Dunk and Egg tale until then. Incidentally, we ask that you not discuss events from later chapters or later books when you comment on chapters. If you must, please remember to use spoiler tags.

The Mystery Knight is scheduled for a March 16 release, as part of George R. R. Martin's Warriors anthology. If you intend to buy the book, please consider pre-ordering it from Amazon.com and supporting this site at the same time. Thanks!

Last month, we held a contest to guess when A Dance with Dragons will be released. As promised, here are some preliminary notes about the contest entries. The guessed dates ranged from as early as April 21 to as late as December 3 (remember all guesses had to be for the year 2010). The most common date was November 6 and entrants predicting a release in November accounted for 35% of all guesses. September was another frequently guessed month, which partially explains why the statistical median was October 12.

I won't reveal the numbers behind the page and chapter guesses at this time. Should we need to run this contest again next year, I don't want those numbers to bias your guess. Thanks and good luck to everyone that participated!

Fantasy Flight Games opened a brand new event center in Minnesota over the weekend and revealed a surprising new addition to their Game of Thrones line: Battles of Westeros. Not much is known about it, other than it will use BattleLore rules. (via The Hopeless Gamer)

FFG's new center is also holding a "Days of Ice and Fire" event in November, which special guest George R. R. Martin. GRRM will hold a Q&A, sign books, and maybe read a chapter from A Dance with Dragons. We'll report more on this when we know more.

Update: The Hopeless Gamer has lots more details and pictures, plus a special giveaway: