Original subtitles

"What the King dreams for Hand of the King builds."

...or so say the kings, the hands an the lords who wish to be hands.

The lowborn put it differently...

..."the King eats and the Hand takes the shit."

The fact is most kings hate ruling.

We shouldn't blame them, their only qualification is blood.

So naturally they're wary of a seat made of blades...

...far better to find other men to rule in their stead.

But how should a king select his hand? Family?

One king chose his brother, Prince Maegor...

...a warrior who was proud and arrogant.

Maegor agreed to marry the High Septon's niece...

...to unite the Faith and the Crown, but then secretly wed a second wife...

...a Valyrian ceremony artfully combining bigamy and heresy.

And when word of it got out the King was forced to exile Maegor...

...and choose a Septon as his new hand.

But the damage had been done.

The King had trusted him family...

...and his brother had set off a rebellion that would claim his rule...

...and his life.

Strenght?

As little more than a boy...

...Sir Criston Cole, replaced the legendary Sir Ryam Redwyne on the Kingsguard...

...and soon rose to Lord Commander.

But knights only know one way to settle disputes.

When Prince Aegon's father died...

...Sir Criston, slit the throat of an advisor who objected Aegon's ascension...

...over his aunt the anointed heir.

His actions so pleased the new king, Aegon Second of His Name...

...that he appointed Sir Criston as his hand in the ensuing civil war...

...called The Dance of Dragons.

Neither Sir Criston, nor the King...

...nor even the Targaryen dragons would survive it.

Perhaps it's no surprise that the wisest king in the history of Westeros...

...made the wisest choice for his hand.

The son of a lowly blacksmith...

...Septon Barth had few options for advancement in the world.

And even fewer after his family gave him to the Faith as a child.

But as royal record-keeper, Barth impressed the King so much...

...that the King defying all his highborn advisors...

...made Septon Barth his hand.

40 years of prosperity ensued.

So much did Barth accomplished...

...that many lords and commoners credited him with sorcery.

No other explanation could they accept for a man without blood or skill at arms...

...because what Barth had was rarer than both...

...a sharp mind.

Years later, the realm had no sharper minds than Lord Tywin Lannister...

...hands to King Aerys Targaryen...

...or as history remembers him, The Mad King.

He saw assassins and plots in every shadow...

...heard whispers in silence and burned men alive.

But his greatest madness by far was driving away Lord Tywin.

The Mad King then cycled through every mistake of his ancestors...

...soldiers, toadying lords...

...but at the end even an alchemist...

...perhaps to save the crown's growing expenses on wildfire.

Unfortunately it didn't save his crown or his dynasty.

The new King Robert, chose his foster father...

...Lord Jon Arryn as his hand.

The wisest decision Robert ever made.

Not that it had many rivals.

Too bad it proved so fatal.

Lord Arryn was a man of honor from an ancient and proud family...

...but honor is no shield against the corruption of the Capital.

As Lord Arryn's successor, Ned Stark, learned as well.

Perhaps The Hand of the King is a flawed idea.

Westeros needs a ruler who can rule...

...who builds what he dreams himself.

A king who can't govern his kingdom is no king...

...and a hand who shits what another man eats, is an ass.