Skip to footer

'Game of Thrones': A catch-up guide for newbies to the TV show

Never seen an episode but hoping to catch up? Here's what you need to know to start watching 'Game of Thrones' now.

9. Theon Greyjoy

  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

The Greyjoy family, which rules the Iron Islands, rebelled against Robert Baratheon, but the rebellion failed. As punishment, Theon, the only surviving son, was sent to live with the Starks as a prisoner. However, the family treated him well and he was brought up as almost another son.

At Theon's suggestion, Robb Stark sends him to Theon's family in the Iron Islands to ask his father to become an ally to Robb Stark. His father, Balon, refuses and tells him that he's planning to attack the North while the Starks are busy with their own war. Theon wants to impress his family above all else and agrees to fight with them against the Starks, but is insulted when he is given only a single ship to command. He tries to think of something to do to impress his family and decides to attack and take over Winterfell, the Starks' home. He does so and takes the two remaining Stark children, Bran and Rickon, captive, but the two manage to escape. Forces from Robb Stark come and surround Winterfell and Theon is sure to be defeated, so his men betray him, knock him unconscious and are last seen preparing to bring him as a captive to the Northern forces.

9 of 9
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.