Game of Thrones 1-75

The book begins in the woods just north of The Wall with Ser Royce Weymar and his group patrolling the woods and wondering who had slaughtered all of these people. Will hides in a tree as Royce is killed. The first chapter is from Bran’s perspective. His is the son of Eddard and he is with his bastard brother Jon, his father and his other brother Robb. They come across some live direwolf pups and take them back to Winterfell. The next chapter is from Catelyn’s perspective and she confronts her husband Ned (Eddard), after discovering the murder of Jon Arryn, a fatherlike figure to Ned and the former king. Ned becomes bothered by this and now the Lannisters, the new lords of the kingdom are coming. Viserys tries to make Dany look good in hopes of marrying her off to Khal Drago in exchange for an army. This will break the tradition of “pure-blood” marriages in their family where brother and sister marry each other. Ned’s longtime “brother” is Robert who is now king and asks for Ned’s assistance to become the King’s Hand. Ned initially refuses but realizes he must take it after Catelyn receives a letter from her sister describing the Lannisters’ murder of Jon Arryn. Ned’s bastard son, Jon now talks to his uncle about joining the Night’s Watch but is told he is too young. Catelyn can’t love Jon due to him being from another mother so she is for the idea and Ned reluctantly agrees after knowing the Night’s Watch would help protect Jon. Ned must go south and has to decide which children to take with him. Arya is one of Ned’s daughters and lives in Sansa’s shadow. She hangs with Jon as they watch the princes spar. I feel like I understand the general plot. I do have trouble remembering names of characters. I also am still confused by what exactly happened in the prologue.