Jon Snow is sitting near the back of the great hall in Winterfell during the welcome feast for King Robert. Earlier, he got a good look at the royal family as they came in. Eddard escorted in Queen Cersei, followed by Catelyn and Robert, thenRickon, Robb and Princess Myrcella, Arya and Prince Tommen, Sansa and Joffrey, Jaime and Tyrion, and, finally,Benjen Stark and Theon Greyjoy. Jon has been drinking for the entire feast, and is now quite drunk. Ghost peeks his head up from under the table looking for food, and Jon gives his direwolf half a chicken to devour. A dog comes up to challenge Ghost for a share, but all it takes is a baring of his fangs to make the dog slink away. Ben Stark comes over to see Ghost. He remarks on how quiet the wolf is, and Jon explains that he never makes a sound, which is how he got his name. Ben admires Jon’s keen skills of observation and remarks that he could use a man like him on the Wall. Jon, drunk, asks to join the Night’s Watch. Ben tells him the Wall is a hard place for a boy, but Jon protests that he is nearly a man and that bastards have to grow up faster than other children. He also talks of Daeron Targaryen, who conquered Dorne at the age of fourteen, but Ben points out that the conquest only lasted a summer and that he had lost ten thousand men conquering the place and another fifty thousand trying to hold it.  Furthermore, he was dead at eighteen.

Jon still wants to join the Watch, knowing there is no place for him at Winterfell in the long run as a bastard. Ben tells him that the members of the Watch are not allowed to marry or father children and that he should know what he is giving up and father a few bastards of his own first. Jon hotly states he will never father a bastard, which draws all eyes to him. Jon runs out of the hall in tears. Outside, he runs into Tyrion perched on the ledge above the door. He has drunk too much wine and come out for air. As Jon watches, he vaults down from the ledge and comes over to see Ghost. Ghost bares his fangs at Tyrion at first, but on Jon’s command lets Tyrion pet him. Tyrion tells Jon that he should make being a bastard his strength so that fact cannot be used against him by his enemies. When Jon asks what he could possibly know about being a bastard, Tyrion replies that all dwarfs are bastards in their fathers’ eyes. His mother died giving birth to him and his father treats him terribly for it. Tyrion goes on to say that all dwarfs are bastards, but that all bastards need not be dwarfs. As he walks back into the hall, the light throws Tyrion’s shadow across the yard, and for an instant, he looks as tall as a king.

Quotes…

He was a dwarf, half his brother’s height, struggling to keep pace on stunted legs.  His head was too large for his body, with a brute’s squashed-in face beneath a swollen shelf of brow.  One green eye and one black one peered out from under a lank fall of hair so blond it seemed white.

“Come back to me after you’ve fathered a few bastards of your own, and we’ll see how you feel.”

Jon trembled. “I will never father a bastard,” he said carefully.  “Never!” He spat it out like venom.

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not.  Make it your strength.  Then it can never be your weakness.  Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”

by Mel

This makes me not like Catelyn very much, making him sit outside because he is a bastard. Poor Jon. But, at least he gets to hang out with his wolf, which the other kids don’t and he probably drinks a whole lot more than his brothers and sisters get to. I like Ben’s character, you can tell he really cares about Jon and wants what is best for him. Jon is totally against having a bastard, which is a good thing! We meet Tyrion, now, the book describes him as grotesquely ugly which in the HBO series, you find him quite loveable. I love him in the books and pretty much picture him as how he looks in the show. Actually, all the characters I picture in the show at this point. In Tyrion’s sweet little way he gives Jon a pep talk, gotta love him!

Book to HBO

Ghost is not present in his scenes. Tyrion does not tumble off a gate.