"First of His Name" is the fifth episode of the
fourth season of
HBO's
medieval fantasy
Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthu ...
television series ''
Game of Thrones''. The 35th episode overall, it was written by series co-creators
David Benioff
David Friedman (; born September 25, 1970), known professionally as David Benioff (), is an American writer, director and producer. Along with his collaborator D. B. Weiss, he is best known as co-creator and showrunner of '' Game of Thrones'' (2 ...
and
D. B. Weiss
Daniel Brett Weiss (; born April 23, 1971) is an American television writer, director, and producer. Along with his collaborator David Benioff, he is best-known as co-creator of ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), the HBO adaptation of George R. ...
,
and directed by
Michelle MacLaren
Michelle Maxwell MacLaren is a Canadian television director and producer. She has directed episodes of ''The X-Files'', ''Better Call Saul'', ''Breaking Bad'', '' The Walking Dead'', ''Game of Thrones'', and ''Westworld''.
MacLaren won two back- ...
.
It aired on May 4, 2014.
In the episode,
Tommen Baratheon
Tommen Baratheon is a fictional character in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation ''Game of Thrones''. Introduced in 1996's ''A Game of Thrones'', Tommen Ba ...
is crowned as the new king of the Seven Kingdoms;
Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish and
Sansa Stark
Sansa Stark, later Alayne Stone, is a fictional character in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. Introduced in '' A Game of Thrones'' (1996), Sansa is the eldest daughter and secon ...
arrive at the Eyrie and are welcomed by Lysa Arryn;
Daenerys Targaryen
Daenerys Targaryen ( ) is a fictional character in the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' by American author George R. R. Martin. She is a prominent Narrative mode#Third-person view, point of view character, and is one of ...
decides to stay in Meereen; and
Jon Snow leads an attack on the Night's Watch mutineers at Craster's Keep. The title of the episode refers to a phrase used during Tommen Baratheon's coronation, as "King Tommen of the House Baratheon, First of His Name". The episode received critical acclaim and set a new viewership record, where it was seen by 7.16 million viewers during its initial airing in the United States.
Plot
In King's Landing
Tommen is crowned as king, the first of his name and Cersei decides that he will soon marry Margaery. Tywin tells Cersei that the gold mines in the Westerlands ran dry years ago and that they are deeply indebted to the Iron Bank, but the union of the houses of Lannister and Tyrell will help rectify this problem. Cersei asks Oberyn to send a ship back to Sunspear as a gift for Myrcella.
In the Vale
Petyr and Sansa arrive in the Vale. At the Bloody Gate, Petyr tells the guards that Sansa is his niece Elaine. Lysa reveals that she poisoned her husband at Petyr's instigation before the two are hurriedly married. She also suspects that Petyr was intimate with Sansa, and says that when Tyrion dies she will marry Robin.
In Meereen
Daario tells Daenerys that his forces have confiscated the 93-ship Meereenese navy. Jorah tells her that Joffrey perished and that both Astapor and Yunkai have reverted to slavery. Daenerys tells Jorah that instead of sailing west, she intends to stay and rule her new people herself.
On the Kingsroad
As Brienne and Podrick ride north, she is surprised by his lack of outdoor skills.
In the Riverlands
Arya reveals to the Hound that Syrio was killed by Meryn.
Beyond the Wall
Jon's group attacks Craster's Keep. Locke covertly tries to kidnap Bran, but Bran enters Hodor's mind and kills Locke. Freed, Bran contemplates reuniting with Jon, but Jojen tells him that Jon will prevent their journey. After killing Karl and being reunited with Ghost, Jon burns the keep, at the suggestion of Craster's daughter-wives.
Production
Writing
![D](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/D._B._Weiss_and_David_Benioff.jpg)
"First of His Name" was written by executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, based upon the source material, Martin's ''
A Storm of Swords
''A Storm of Swords'' is the third of seven planned novels in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 8, 2000, in the United Kingdom, with a United States edition fol ...
''. Chapters adapted from ''A Storm of Swords'' to the episode were chapters 68 and 71 (Sansa VI and Daenerys VI).
It also covers part of the fourth novel, ''A Feast for Crows'': namely chapter 14 (Brienne III).
Casting
Kate Dickie
Kate Dickie (born 1971) is a Scottish actress who has appeared in television series, stage plays and films. She is known for her television roles as Lex in the BBC series '' Tinsel Town'' (2000–2001) and Lysa Arryn in the HBO series '' Game ...
(Lysa Arryn) and
Lino Facioli
Lino Schmidek Machado Facioli (born 29 July 2000) is a Brazilian-British actor. He is best known for portraying Lord Robin Arryn in '' Game of Thrones'' and Naples in ''Get Him to the Greek''.
Biography
Facioli was born in Ribeirão Preto, S ...
(Robin Arryn) make return appearances after an absence of several years (since the first season).
Reception
Ratings
"First of His Name" established a new series high in ratings, with 7.16 million people watching it during its first airing.
In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 1.643 million viewers, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week. It also received 0.082 million timeshift viewers.
Critical reception
The episode received universal acclaim from critics.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported that 100% of the episode's 40 reviews on the site were positive with an average score of 8.25 out of 10. Its consensus reads: "Only slow by ''Game of Thrones'' standards, "First of His Name" demonstrates how carefully constructed this show has been since season one."
Matt Fowler of ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' gave the episode a 9/10 writing that the episode "gave us a much-needed look back at some past events on the series." He highlighted the revelation that Littlefinger's actions "put the story of the entire series into motion."
Erik Adams of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave the episode an A and praised the writers for their focus on the female characters.
References
External links
* at
HBO.com
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...
*
{{Game of Thrones episodes, 4
2014 American television episodes
Game of Thrones (season 4) episodes
Television episodes directed by Michelle MacLaren
Television episodes written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss