Talla Tarly

Samwell Tarly
A Song of Ice and Fire character Game of Thrones character
John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
First appearance	Novel: A Game of Thrones (1996) Television: "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" (2011)
Created by	George R. R. Martin
Portrayed by	John Bradley (Game of Thrones)
Information
Aliases	Sam Ser Piggy Lady Piggy Lord of Ham Sam the Slayer
Gender	Male
Family	House Tarly
Significant other(s)	Gilly (lover)
Relatives	Randyll Tarly (father) Melessa Florent (mother) Dickon Tarly (brother) Talla Tarly (sister) Shireen Baratheon (cousin) Edric Storm (cousin) Selyse Florent (maternal aunt) Alester Florent (maternal grandfather)
Kingdom	The Reach

Samwell Tarly, called Sam, is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones.

Introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones, Sam is the eldest son of Randyll Tarly, from the fictional kingdom of Westeros. He subsequently appeared in Martin's A Clash of Kings before being a POV character in the later novels.

Sam is portrayed by John Bradley-West in the HBO television adaptation.

Samwell Tarly, called Sam, is the elder son of Lord Randyll Tarly of Horn Hill. Ten chapters throughout A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows are told from his point of view. In spite of his self-professed cowardice, Sam is highly intelligent, resourceful, and loyal. Randyll, renowned as one of Westeros' finest military commanders, tried to groom Sam as a worthy heir when he was young, but Sam's complete lack of martial abilities and his interest in scholarly pursuits ultimately forced Randyll to raise Sam's younger brother Dickon to take Sam's place instead. Randyll refused to let Sam join the Citadel to become a maester, but instead forced him to join the Night's Watch, implying that he would have Sam killed and his death staged as a hunting accident if he refused. Sam agreed to join the Night's Watch.

Samwell Tarly is a background character in the first two novels of the series, and his actions and thoughts are interpreted by others point of view characters, like Jon Snow. He then becomes a point of view character in the novels, as of third novel, A Storm of Swords. George R. R. Martin has said that the character Samwell Tarly is the closest to himself of all the character he has written. Asked why, Martin said in a 2014 interview cause he's "the fat kid who likes to read books and doesn't like to go up a lot of stairs."