All language subtitles for 05 The Great Tourney at Harrenhal

MEERA REED: Years ago,
in the height of summer,

my father told my brother and me a story.

He only told it once,
and he refused to speak of it ever again.

When he was a young man,
in the Year of the False Spring,

a great southern lord held
the largest tourney Westeros had ever seen,

in the largest castle Westeros had ever seen.

Knights and lords from across
the Seven Kingdoms made their way,

drawn by the spectacle,
and the size of the champion's purse.

Even the King was rumored to be attending.

Though none had seen him in years.

Ours is a small house, and my father
had come only to be part of the magnificence,

whose like he'd never see again.

One afternoon, he was walking across
the field, enjoying the warm spring day,

when he was set upon by three squires.

None were older than 15,
yet all were bigger than him.

This was their world as they saw it,
and he had no right to be there.

They snatched away his spear,
and knocked him to the ground,

cursing him for a frog-eater.

Every time he tried to rise,

-they shoved him down,
-(MAN GROANlNG)

and kicked him when
he curled up on the ground.

But then, they heard a shout.

"That's my father's man you're kicking !"

howled the she-wolf.

Lyanna Stark, the young daughter
of Lord Rickard Stark,

Warden of the North,
and my father's liege lord.

Lyanna laid into the squires
with a tourney sword, scattering them all.

My father was bruised and bloodied.

So she took him back to her tent
to clean his cuts and bind them up with linen.

There he met her brothers.

Wild Brandon, who led them.
The quiet Eddard.

And Benjen, who was
the youngest of the four.

That evening
there was to be a feast in Harrenhal,

to mark the opening of the tourney.

And Lyanna insisted that my father attend.

As he was of high birth with as much a right
to a place on the bench as any other man.

She was not easy to refuse, this wolf maid.

So my father borrowed
suitable clothes from Benjen

and went up to the great castle.

Under Harren's great roof, my father ate
and drank with his fellow Northmen.

A black brother beseeched the knights
to join the Night's Watch,

to snickers and smiles.

Prince Rhaegar sang a song so sad
that it brought tears to Lyanna's eyes.

But when Benjen teased her for it
she poured wine over his head.

Lord Baratheon drank down a knight of
skulls and kisses in a wine cup war.

My father remembered
a beautiful woman with purple eyes,

who danced with Ser Barristan Selmy
and several others.

As the end of the evening approached,

Brandon Stark asked her for one more dance
on his shy brother's behalf.

And so, Eddard Stark
shared the last dance of the celebration

with Lady Ashara Dayne.

Abruptly, the hall went quiet.

The Mad King had come after all,

and was now entering the hall
with his Kingsguard.

He hadn't left the Red Keep in years,
and none could believe the state of him.

His long yellow fingernails, tangled beard,
and ropes of unwashed matted hair

made his madness plain to all.

Nor was his behavior that of a sane man.

For in the blink of an eye he could go from
hysterical laughter to weeping to rage.

But when he commanded Ser Jaime Lannister
to kneel before him

and swear the oath of the Kingsguard
before half the lords of the realm,

a cheer burst from the crowd.

For Ser Jaime was much admired
for his courage, gallantry

and skill with a sword.

Amidst all this merriment,

my father spied the three squires
who'd attacked him, attending their knights.

Lyanna saw them, too,
and pointed them out to her brothers.

"l could find you a horse and
some armor that might fit," Benjen offered.

My father thanked him, but gave no answer.

Our people sit a boat more often than a horse,

and our hands are made for oars, not lances.

Much as he wished to have his vengeance,

he feared he would only make
a fool of himself and shame his people.

Eddard had offered my father
a place in his tent that night.

But before my father slept,

he knelt on the lakeshore,
looking across the water to the lsle of Faces

and said a prayer to the Old Gods.

The next day in the tourney, the three knights
whose squires had beaten my father

unseated their opponents
and earned a place among the champions.

But late in the afternoon,
as the shadows grew long,

a mystery knight appeared in the lists.

He was short, and clad in ill-fitting armor
cobbled together from different suits.

On his shield was painted a heart tree
of the Old Gods.

A white weirwood with a laughing red face.

The mystery knight
dipped his lance before the King,

and rode to the end of the lists,
where the five champions had their pavilions.

You can guess the three he challenged.

Whoever the mystery knight was,
the Old Gods gave strength to his arm.

-All three knights fell before him.
-(HORSE WHlNNYlNG)

None were well-loved,

so the common folk cheered
the "Knight of the Laughing Tree,"

-as the new champion was soon called.
-(MEN CHEERlNG)

When his fallen foes sought to ransom
their horses and armor,

the Knight of the Laughing Tree's voice
boomed through his helm, and told them,

"Teach your squires honor.
That shall be ransom enough."

Once the defeated knights
chastised their squires sharply,

their horses and armor were returned.

And so, my father's prayer was answered.

The King was furious.

ln his madness he suspected a traitor
in his midst.

Perhaps even the newly made
Ser Jaime Lannister,

whom he had already
sent back to the Red Keep.

That night, the King asked
Lord Robert Baratheon to take to the lists

and unmask the mystery knight,
declaring him no friend of his.

But the next morning,
when the heralds blew their trumpets

and the King took his seat,

the Knight of the Laughing Tree
had vanished.

All they ever found was his painted shield,
hanging abandoned in a tree.

My father's tale ended here.

He never spoke more of Harrenhal.

Though he must have seen
Prince Rhaegar's victory.

Some whispered that Prince Rhaegar himself
had arranged the entire tourney in secret,

as a way to gather the great lords
and address his father's apparent madness.

Perhaps even remove him
from the lron Throne.

But when l asked my father about this,

he only shrugged sadly.

What Rhaegar intended, none can say.

But all know what he did.