A Game of Thrones ÔÇö Sansa V

Joffrey's first court: Barristan Selmy is stripped of his cloak, Janos Slynt is raised, and Sansa is promised mercy for her father ÔÇö if he confesses.

The chapter retold

Joffrey's first acts as king reorder the small council along lines that favor loyalty over competence: Ser Barristan Selmy, the most honored knight of his generation and Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, is unceremoniously stripped of his white cloak for the crime of being old, while Janos Slynt, who sold out the City Watch to Littlefinger and the Lannisters at the crucial moment, is elevated to a lordship as his reward. Sansa, brought before this reshaped court, is promised that her father's life will be spared ÔÇö if he confesses to his treason before the realm and names Joffrey the rightful king.

The scene is Joffrey's cruelty scaling up from a prince's private meanness into a king's public policy, rewarding betrayal and discarding honor as a matter of state rather than personal pettiness. Sansa's hope that a confession will actually save her father is the last gasp of her belief that Joffrey operates on any kind of honest bargain ÔÇö a hope the book is visibly, carefully setting up to be crushed rather than fulfilled.

This movement: The Wolf Calls the Banners

• The Stark household is slaughtered; Arya escapes through the Red Keep's cellars with Needle; Sansa pleads for her father's life.
• Robb calls the banners; the Greatjon learns about direwolves and fingers; the host marches for the Neck.
• Catelyn wins the Twins' bridge from Walder Frey at the price of marriage promises.
• Beyond the Wall, dead men rise in Castle Black itself; Jon's torch and Ghost save the Old Bear.