[1][2][3] Introduced in A Game of Thrones (1996), Samwell is the elder son of Lord Randyll Tarly of Horn Hill and his wife Lady Melessa Florent.

A self-professed coward with a love for books and songs, Samwell was forced by his father to abandon his birthright and join the Night's Watch so that his younger brother could become heir to Horn Hill.

Jon Snow originally comments that Sam is the fattest boy he has ever seen, and estimates him to weigh twenty stone (130 kg; 280 lb).

A gentle young man, Samwell is fond of music and songs, and prefers books over weapons, and is afraid of blood and violence, which earned his father's intense contempt.

On Samwell's fifteenth birthday, Randyll forces him to join the Night's Watch and renounce his birthright of heir to Horn Hill, threatening death if he was to refuse.

After arriving at Castle Black, Samwell was bullied for being overweight and unskilled in combat, and was often called "Ser Piggy" and "Lord of Ham".

While lacking his friends' fighting abilities and having self-professed cowardice, Samwell is highly intelligent, observant, resourceful and loyal, and eventually becomes Jon Snow's most trusted sidekick.

In the fourth book, Sam is sent by Jon to the Citadel at Oldtown and becomes accepted as a novice trainee supervised by Archmaester Marvyn and acolyte Alleras.

Samwell Tarly is a background character in the first two novels of the series, and his actions and thoughts are interpreted through the eyes of Jon Snow.

[10] Upon arriving at the Wall, Sam is soon bullied by Ser Alliser Thorne and the fellow recruits for his weight, shyness and clumsiness in training.

Sam is the first person to notice something strange about the corpse of rangers Othor and Jafer Flowers (who are actually wights sent to assassinate Lord Commander Jeor Mormont).

Later, at camp at the Fist of the First Men, Sam and Jon's direwolf Ghost discover a cache of dragonglass daggers buried underground.

The Night's Watch's camp at the Fist of the First Men comes under attack and is overrun by an army of wights sent by the Others, with Sam one of the survivors who manage to break out.

Having crossed the Wall safely, Sam and Gilly then encounter a group of Night's Watchmen led by Denys Mallister and Bowen Marsh and join them on the march to Castle Black.

Mallister and Cotter Pyke are the leading candidates, but Janos Slynt, who Sam believes will be a corrupt and disastrous leader, is gaining popularity.

When Stannis, frustrated by the Night's Watch's messy politics, threatens to dictate a Lord Commander himself if the Watch cannot decide on a leader within the next few days, Sam decides to approach Mallister and Pyke (who despise each other) independently, claiming that Stannis plans to name the other as Lord Commander, and suggesting that they both support Jon as a compromise candidate instead.

Thanks to Sam's machinations, both Mallister and Pyke offer their endorsements and Jon is elected the 998th Lord Commander with an overwhelming majority vote.

Aemon hears of his great-grandniece Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons, and comes to believe that she fulfills the prophecy of a "prince that was promised", asking them to inform the Citadel.

Sam is quickly identified as being soft and weak by Castle Black's master-at-arms Ser Alliser Thorne, and suffers in sword-training until Jon Snow convinces the other new recruits to go easy on him.

Sam decides to send Gilly to Mole's Town to work as a maid in the brothel, as he fears for her safety at Castle Black.

When the Night's Watch convenes to choose their new Lord Commander, Sam speaks up to nominate Jon, who is ultimately elected.

After Jon returns from Hardhome, Sam entreats him to send him to the Citadel in Oldtown in order to train as a Maester, while also taking Gilly and her baby to safety.

In reading the books, he discovers the location of a large deposit of dragonglass in a map of Dragonstone and sends word to Jon, now King in the North, of its existence.

Bran uses his greenseeing abilities to witness the wedding, and discovers that Jon is the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, heir to the Iron Throne.

As the preparations are being made for battle against the approaching army of White Walkers, Sam presents the Valyrian Steel sword of House Tarly, Heartsbane, to Jorah.

Following Tyrion Lannister's arrest and Jon's imprisonment, Sam journeys south to participate in the council to determine the future of the Seven Kingdoms.

Sam suggests holding an election where all the people of Westeros are permitted to vote for the next ruler, but the idea is mocked and dismissed.