A Golden Crown

Cersei accuses Ned of kidnapping Tyrion, and Robert tells Ned he cannot rule if the Lannisters and Starks are at war, appointing Ned regent while Robert leaves on a hunting trip.

Arya continues her sword lessons with Syrio Forel, while Sansa accepts an apology and a necklace from Joffrey, unaware he has been forced by his mother.

In Robert's absence, Ned learns that The Mountain was seen attacking villages in the Riverlands. Realizing this is revenge for Tyrion's arrest, Ned orders Lord Beric Dondarrion to arrest the Mountain and summons his overlord Tywin Lannister to answer for Gregor's actions. Fearing war with the Lannisters, Ned orders Arya and Sansa return to Winterfell for their safety. Sansa declares her desire to have golden-haired babies with Joffrey, which leads Ned to revisit Arryn's research: Joffrey does not share the dark hair of Robert and his ancestors and bastards; Ned realizes that Joffrey is not truly Robert's son.

Tyrion convinces Lysa to convene a court, where he mockingly confesses to various misdeeds but not the attempt on Bran's life or Arryn's murder. Tyrion demands a trial by combat, and the sellsword Bronn volunteers to fight for him. Bronn "dishonorably" defeats Lysa's champion, and Tyrion goes free with Bronn as his escort, to Lysa and Catelyn's dismay.

Bran awakens from a recurring dream of a three-eyed raven, and tests his new saddle in the forest. He is rescued from wildlings by Robb and Theon, who take the only survivor, Osha, captive.

Daenerys is left unscathed after taking one of her dragon eggs from the fire. She undergoes a ritual with the Dosh Khaleen, eating a stallion's raw heart and proclaiming her unborn son will be the Khal to unite the entire world as one khalasar, and names him Rhaego, for Drogo and her brother Rhaegar, killed by Robert. Viserys, angry at his sister's growing popularity among the Dothraki, tries to steal Daenerys' dragon eggs to fund a new army, but is confronted and stopped by Jorah.

A drunken Viserys threatens his sister at swordpoint, and Drogo agrees to give him the "golden crown" he desires; as his bloodriders restrain Viserys, Drogo pours molten gold on his head. Watching her brother burn to death while he begs for her to not let them kill him, Daenerys coldly remarks, "He was no dragon. Fire cannot kill a dragon".

The teleplay for "A Golden Crown" was written by Jane Espenson, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss from a story by Benioff and Weiss, based on A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.^[2] The finished teleplay would be Espenson's only credited writing contribution to the series.

The episode includes the book's chapters 38–41, 44-45 and 47 (Bran V, Tyrion V, Eddard X, Catelyn VII, Eddard XI, Sansa III, and Daenerys V). Chapter 42 (Jon V), dealing with Jon convincing Maester Aemon to allow Samwell to join the Watch as a steward, was removed from the series (although some of Ser Alliser's dialogue from the chapter was used),^[3] and chapter 43 (Tyrion VI) was moved to episode 8.

The episode introduces the recurring character of the wildling Osha. The writer of the original books, George R. R. Martin, admitted that this casting was different from his vision of the character. As he explains, he was surprised to see that actress Natalia Tena was being considered for the role since Osha had been conceived as a hard-bitten older woman and the actress was "too young and too hot".^[4] However, when he saw the audition tapes he was convinced with the new approach: "she was sensational, and I said, 'It's gotta be her.'"^[4][5]

The scene in which Daenerys has to eat a horse's heart was filmed in The Paint Hall studio in Belfast. There, the production built the Dothraki temple in which the scene is set – a large semicircular structure of wood and woven reeds, inspired by Marsh Arab constructions.^[6] The heart actress Emilia Clarke ate was, according to Weiss, "basically a giant, three-pound gummi bear covered in fake sugar blood – which has the added attraction of drawing real flies". Through repeated takes, Clarke had to eat much of the fake heart, which she said tasted like bleach and was made tough and gristly by the addition of valves made from "something like dried pasta".^[7] Clarke did not have to act in the shots at the end of the scene in which Daenerys almost throws up the last bit of heart, as she was already close to vomiting at that point.^[6]

The book of lineages that helps Ned realize the truth about Joffrey's father was prepared by Bryan Cogman, who in addition to writing episode four ("Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things") also served as the show's "lore master" and authored the background content concerning the history of Westeros that is to be included in the first season's DVD and Blu-ray release. Cogman wrote two pages' worth of text detailing the lineage of four noble houses. The text concerning House Umber was shown in episode four, and the Baratheon text appears in episode six. Cogman also wrote text for the houses of Targaryen and Royce, but the corresponding scenes were removed from the final script for "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" but the Targaryen page was shown in "A Golden Crown". Cogman said that he drew on the novels and the fan-created website Wiki of Ice and Fire for reference, and invented what could not be sourced, including even some Internet fan message board names as in-jokes.^[8]