4.
CLOSE on a pair of ancient, gnarled hands writing a message on a small parchment scroll. The old man (we never see his face) tightly rolls the scroll, binds it with a black ribbon, and ties it with a leather strip to the leg of a BLACK RAVEN.
The old man lifts the raven off his desk; it flaps its dark wings and flies out of the open chamber window.
The raven flies away from Castle Black, a large and ancient fortress dwarfed by what lies behind it: the Wall. Older than history, this is the 800-foot-high barrier of ice and stone that guards the northern edge of the Seven Kingdoms. As the raven gains altitude, the landscape below it TRANSFORMS into a map of Westeros. The Wall is revealed to cross the entire continent, a boundary between the Haunted Forest to the north and the civilized lands to the south. The raven flies south over the map, on which the cities, regions and features of the land are named: Winterfell, the Kingsroad, Moat Cailin, the Riverlands, the Vale of Arryn. Occasionally the bird dips down, and the map resolves back into reality for just long enough to give us a view of some points of interest: Winterfell’s old stone towers, full of cold beauty. The foreboding Eyrie castle high atop the Vale of Arryn, a feat of montane architecture that would have been impossible for medieval engineers. When the raven reaches King’s Landing, the map resolves back into reality as the bird drops down into the dirty sprawl of the capital. The raven flies through the open gates of the Red Keep, a massive compound with red walls the color of blood. The bird flies through an open window into the throne room, to land on the Iron Throne itself-- a throne built from the hammered swords of a thousand defeated enemies.
The raven pecks at its wings, cleaning itself after the long journey, alone in the empty throne room.
END CREDIT SEQUENCE
EXT. HILLTOP - DAY
LORD EDDARD “NED” STARK (40) sits on his motionless horse, his long brown hair stirring in the wind. His closely-trimmed beard is shot with white. He has spent half his life training for war and the other half waging it, and his face conveys both authority and a haunted sadness.
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