
Martin’s saga feels like something of a deconstruction of standard fantasy. Ned’s attempt to save the lives of his enemies’ children will cost infinitely more lives in the long term, and will arguably cause even more children to suffer. It’s always the innocents who suffer.” There’s a cruel irony at play here.

That she might save her children.” Varys nods, almost pitying Ned’s honour, “Ah, the children. Asked why he told the Queen that he knew of her secret, instead of going straight to the King, Ned replies, “The madness of mercy.

Indeed, Ned’s attempts to avoid killing a child is arguably what leads to the rapid escalation in the second half of the season. Instead, by the end of the first episode, he has been thrown out of a tall tower and left crippled. In any other fantasy setting, we’d expect his skill to come in handy or some point, for his ability to get into tough places to pay off towards the climax of the series. In the very first episode, we’re introduced to a young member of the Stark household who likes to climb walls and scale builds, despite his mother’s warnings. The butcher’s boy is run down by the king’s guard. People die often, in brutal ways and in petty ways. This isn’t the epic story of good-and-evil, as we’ve been conditioned to expect in a situation like this. There’s precious little romance to be found in Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones does both, with brutal frequency. Those that do very rarely feature the act itself. Very few works of fiction are willing kill of children or animals, for fear of upsetting the viewing audience. Before the first title sequence of the series, Game of Thrones seeks to unsettle and unnerve its audience, to let us know that this isn’t a story that will rigidly adhere to concepts like the immortality of infants.

“They even killed the children!” a member of the Night’s Watch observes, appalled. If you want to get your hands on the series, here's where you can find all seven seasons online.One of the first images in Winter is Coming, the first episode of the show, is of a little girl who has been brutally impaled on a tree branch. There are now more places than ever to catch up, stream and download Game of Thrones online, from whole box sets to individual episodes – though not on Netflix. Where can you watch Game of Thrones online here in the UK without resorting to illegal downloads? No wonder people look to 'other' means of re-watching the show or discovering it for the very first time.
