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.

背景介紹:

《權(quán)力的游戲》是一部中世紀(jì)史詩奇幻題材的電視連續(xù)劇。該劇以美國作家喬治·R·R·馬丁的奇幻巨作《冰與火之歌》七部曲為基礎(chǔ)改編創(chuàng)作，由大衛(wèi)·貝尼奧夫和丹尼爾·威斯編劇、HBO電視網(wǎng)推出。喬治·雷蒙德·理查德·馬丁是歐美奇幻小說大師。馬丁的作品主要以人物為關(guān)注點，描寫細(xì)膩豐富，突破了幻想文學(xué)界固有的創(chuàng)作模式，多次引領(lǐng)閱讀潮流。由于馬丁的輝煌成就，他被譽為美國的托爾金和新世紀(jì)的海明威。從1989年開始，馬丁淡出文學(xué)界，轉(zhuǎn)而投身演藝界發(fā)展，1996年他才重返文壇而開始奇幻文學(xué)的創(chuàng)作，處女作便是《權(quán)力的游戲》，即為《冰與火之歌》的首部曲。《權(quán)力的游戲》甫出便拿下了British Fantasy Society、 世界奇幻獎和星云獎年度最佳幻想作品提名，在非官方的不記名奇幻作品投票中，《冰與火之歌》儼然已經(jīng)可以和《魔戒》平起平坐，作者網(wǎng)站的訪問量也是和斯蒂芬·金、J.K.羅琳等不相上下，其受歡迎的程度可見一斑。喬治馬丁被時代雜志評選為2011年影響世界的一百人之一。