Until the dawn of his fifteenth name day, when he had been awakened to find his horse saddled and ready. Three men-at-arms had escorted him into a wood near Horn Hill, where his father was skinning a deer.“You are almost a man grown now, and my heir,” Lord Randyll Tarly had told his eldest son, his long knife laying bare the carcass as he spoke. “You have given me no cause to disown you, but neither will I allow you to inherit the land and title that should be Dickon's. Heartsbane must go to a man strong enough to wield her, and you are not worthy to touch her hilt. So I have decided that you shall this day announce that you wish to take the black. You will forsake all claim to your brother's inheritance and start north before evenfall.

背景介绍:

《权力的游戏》是一部中世纪史诗奇幻题材的电视连续剧。该剧以美国作家乔治·R·R·马丁的奇幻巨作《冰与火之歌》七部曲为基础改编创作，由大卫·贝尼奥夫和丹尼尔·威斯编剧、HBO电视网推出。乔治·雷蒙德·理查德·马丁是欧美奇幻小说大师。马丁的作品主要以人物为关注点，描写细腻丰富，突破了幻想文学界固有的创作模式，多次引领阅读潮流。由于马丁的辉煌成就，他被誉为美国的托尔金和新世纪的海明威。从1989年开始，马丁淡出文学界，转而投身演艺界发展，1996年他才重返文坛而开始奇幻文学的创作，处女作便是《权力的游戏》，即为《冰与火之歌》的首部曲。《权力的游戏》甫出便拿下了British Fantasy Society、 世界奇幻奖和星云奖年度最佳幻想作品提名，在非官方的不记名奇幻作品投票中，《冰与火之歌》俨然已经可以和《魔戒》平起平坐，作者网站的访问量也是和斯蒂芬·金、J.K.罗琳等不相上下，其受欢迎的程度可见一斑。乔治马丁被时代杂志评选为2011年影响世界的一百人之一。