You sense Ned Stark is a good man, and immediately he makes a wrong decision when he beheads the ranger. You know you’re not in good-versus-evil territory from minute ten of the series.

David Benioff: Ned is a good man who’s got very rigid ways. This is the way things are done, and your personal preferences have nothing to do with it. This guy violated the law, the punishment for violating the law is beheading, and there’s no gray area for him. He’s a man who thinks everything is very black and white entering into a very gray world, and how does he adapt to that? And in Ned’s case, he doesn’t, really. He isn’t able to.

Dan Weiss: One of the things about George’s books that stood out to us so much when we read them is, not just in fantasy, but in most genres, especially mainstream versions of most genres, honor and decency are the armor you wear to get through any difficult situation and come through the other side of it. But in his world, as often as not, it’s a liability, when you’re playing against people who aren’t weighed down by honor.

And it extends through the whole Stark family. It’s a family trait.

Dan Weiss: You would think they would have figured it out somewhere along the line.

It leads to the Red Wedding, because they’re playing by old rules that are fading out.

David Benioff: It’s interesting to see, as the story develops, how the children start to adapt to it. A few of them do start to figure it out. You especially see, in season four, how they do figure it out...