Chapter Summaries

Aemon tried to buy Harrenhal from House Strong as part of his plan to bring the Riverlands castle under royal control. Viserys received conflicting letters from Lyonel and Rhaenyra and realized Aemon was pursuing a major scheme he would oppose.

• Lord Hobert warmly welcomed Aegon and Aemond to Oldtown, praising Aegon while leaving Aemond resentful.
• Rhaenyra showed Helena and Jenny the Prince's Palace and the farmland run for orphans, and Jenny warned her not to alienate the nobles.
• Aemon offered Ser Simon money and new lands if House Strong would transfer Harrenhal, but Simon feared the offer implied doubts about House Strong's loyalty.
• Simon wrote to Lyonel, who assured Viserys of his loyalty and offered to repair Harrenhal; Viserys promised to reject Aemon's demand.
• Viserys read Rhaenyra's letter supporting the purchase and resettlement of House Strong, then suspected Aemon was planning something major.

Aegon and Aemond attended a feast at Highgarden, where Aemond befriended Garlan Tyrell and the festivities turned into a political display by House Hightower. Larys drew Aegon aside and urged him to seek a castle and fief in the Reach, leaving Aegon considering the offer.

• Aegon and Aemond arrived at Highgarden with House Hightower's party and were welcomed by Lord Tyrell and the Reach nobles.
• Garlan Tyrell befriended Aemond, introduced him to Reach nobles, and offered to show him around Highgarden.
• Count Hobert called for a tourney, where Hightower-aligned knights challenged Tyrell-friendly knights and Ser Mond fought with House Hightower's Valyrian steel sword, Vigilance.
• Garlan challenged Ser Mond as the tourney grew more violent, while Aegon watched without noticing the political tension.
• Larys spoke privately with Aegon, warning that Rhaenyra might make King's Landing uncomfortable for him and suggesting he build a castle and claim a fief in the Reach.

A fire at Highgarden killed Lord Tyrell, worsening tensions between House Tyrell and House Hightower, while Count Hobert was later gravely injured in a suspicious riding accident. At Harrenhal, Aemon met Yezi, who asked for his help with a visitor from her tribe and a large companion.

• Aemond chose to stay at Highgarden, but a fire killed Lord Tyrell and destroyed the castle’s upper levels.
• Aemon learned that Garlan suspected House Hightower had caused the fire, but he doubted the accusation and decided not to summon Aegon or Aemond back.
• Garlan apologized after the funeral, while Hobert ordered his household to avoid Highgarden and focus on Aemond’s marriage alliance.
• Hobert’s horse bolted and threw him; Mond blamed the horse’s Highgarden origin, and a maester said Hobert’s spine had been crushed.
• Yezi visited Aemon beneath Harrenhal’s weirwood and asked for help with a member of her tribe and a big fellow.

Aemon welcomed the giant Chestnut into his service after Yezi explained how the Children of the Forest had brought him through the Wall. As conflict gathered between Oldtown and Highgarden, Aemond studied a map of the Reach and wondered how to acquire more farmland.

• Yezi introduced Aemon to Acorn, another Child of the Forest, and the over-seven-meter-tall giant Chestnut at Thousand Faces Isle.
• Yezi explained that Chestnut had been driven out by his tribe, and Aemon agreed to take him in and feed him.
• The Children of the Forest said farewell to Yezi and returned Beyond the Wall, while Chestnut followed Aemon.
• After Earl Hobert Hightower was gravely injured, Mund Hightower and Garlan Tyrell began gathering armies, and Larys persuaded Aegon to stay in Oldtown and support House Hightower.
• At Golden Apple Hall, Aemond borrowed a map from Thaddeus Rowan, learned about the Mander and the Reach's farmland, and considered finding land that was already cultivated.

As the Hightower-Tyrell conflict threatened to erupt, Viserys’s council debated how to respond while Aemond asked to settle in the Reach under a Pioneering Order. The chapter left Oldtown mourning Hobert’s death as Count Mond watched a green funeral fire burn atop the Hightower.

• Viserys’s Small Council discussed the suspicious deaths and impending war between the Hightowers and Tyrells, then chose to send letters urging restraint while remaining neutral.
• Tyland read Aemond’s letter requesting a Pioneering Order, and Rhaenyra returned with another letter asking Viserys to let Aemond stay in the Reach.
• Viserys rejected Aemond’s request, but Corlys praised his courage, and Rhaenyra recognized that Aemon’s plan was taking shape.
• In Oldtown, Larys told Aegon that Hobert would likely die and suggested his fall had been no accident; Aegon began considering how to act.
• Hobert died, and Count Mond watched a green bonfire blaze atop the Hightower as Oldtown’s bells tolled for him.

Aemon confronted Arya Riverrun after the Children of the Forest accused her of being a witch connected to Harrenhal’s curse. After she revealed her prophetic abilities and foretold the children Aemon would have, he killed her and ordered Dreamfyre to burn her body, leaving Ser Simon convinced Harrenhal was ill-omened.

• The Children of the Forest brought the bound Arya Riverrun before Aemon and accused her of being a forest witch behind Harrenhal’s gloom.
• Arya admitted that Harrenhal’s curse originated with Blackheart Harren and revealed she could make illusion-inducing potions and see fragments of the future in flames.
• Aemon had Arya prophesy over a fire, and she predicted the children of Aemon, Rhaenyra, Laena, and the two women in his room, as well as nine sons for his dragon.
• Arya warned that Laena’s son would bring his mother into the flames, and Aemon strangled Arya before ordering Dreamfyre to burn her corpse.
• Aemon suggested asking Lord Lyonel about moving from Harrenhal, while Ser Simon left determined to persuade his nephew to relocate.

Aemon prepared Giant Chestnut for war and sent him toward the Reach conflict after learning that King's Landing would stay neutral and Aegon would support House Hightower. At the Honeywine River, Garlan Tyrell and a second cavalry force ambushed Mond Hightower’s army from both sides, shattering its formation.

• Aemon comforted Laena after a witch’s predictions upset him, then agreed to let Acorn and Stump remain at Harrenhal to guard the castle and preserve the Children of the Forest.
• Aemon equipped Giant Chestnut with rune-inscribed armor, a tower shield, and a meteor hammer, then told him he would be sent to war the next day.
• Aemon learned that King's Landing would remain neutral while Aegon planned to aid House Hightower, so he decided to send Giant Chestnut to shock the Reach nobles.
• Mond Hightower led five thousand men toward Highgarden without siege equipment, while Count Ulwin Peake questioned the haste of the campaign.
• Garlan Tyrell’s heavily armored cavalry ambushed the Hightower army from the front as another cavalry force blocked its route behind.
• Ulwin Peake ordered his men to flee, while Mond rallied the soldiers who remained; the two cavalry forces struck from both sides and broke the Hightower formation.

Aegon and Sunfyre turned the battle at the Honeywine in House Hightower’s favor, leaving Garlan gravely wounded and Highgarden’s allies struggling to respond. At Harrenhal, Aemon arranged for Ser Simon to oversee the castle’s reconstruction and examined three magical cards.

• Garlan’s cavalry ambushed Mond Hightower’s army, but Aegon arrived on Sunfyre and unleashed dragonfire, disrupting the battle and helping Mond’s forces win.
• Sunfyre’s attack gravely wounded Garlan, while Earl Donald and Earl Thaddeus brought him back to Highgarden and debated how to defend against the advancing Hightowers.
• Mond thanked Aegon for his intervention and formally knighted him with the sword Vigilance before declaring that the army would march on Highgarden.
• At Highgarden, the maesters warned that Garlan might never recover, and Earl Donald and Earl Thaddeus disagreed over how to counter Aegon’s dragon.
• At Harrenhal, Aemon learned that Lyonel had agreed to move House Strong out and appointed Ser Simon to supervise the castle’s reconstruction.
• Aemon summoned his card panel and saw Flame Purification, Incubator, and Lucky Bag, priced at 3200, 800, and 88.

Garwin and Giant Chestnut joined Earl Donald against Mund Hightower, while Aemond defeated Aegon and set his sights on House Peake’s castle. At Harrenhal, Aemon used Flame Purification to cleanse the castle before returning to King’s Landing, where he called for a Dragon Clan Council to address Aegon’s situation.

• Giant Chestnut devastated Mund Hightower’s light cavalry, and Garwin joined Earl Donald’s forces after claiming he had been sent by the Regent.
• Aemond defeated Aegon and Sunfyre, then spotted House Peake’s castle and flew toward it with Sheep Thief.
• Aemon transferred Harrenhal’s defenses to a thousand Unsullied and used Flame Purification, causing damaged walls and towers to shed ruined stone and expose buried remains.
• Aemon ordered the remains found in Harrenhal gathered and buried, then received Viserys’s letter demanding his return to King’s Landing.
• Aemon returned to King’s Landing with Helena and attended the Small Council meeting, where he requested that the Dragon Clan Council be convened to address Aegon’s matter.

The Dragon Clan Council authorized Aemon to travel to the Reach with Helena to retrieve the missing princes and address the civil unrest. After they reached Bitterbridge, word arrived that an unknown dragon had attacked Duskendale and left it burning.

• Rhaenyra supported Aemon's proposal to convene the Dragon Clan Council, and Viserys allowed it after the council members voted.
• At the council, Aemon volunteered to handle the Reach crisis and chose Helena to accompany him; the council approved their mission.
• Aemon and Helena flew south to Bitterbridge, where Lord Caswell welcomed them.
• That night, Lord Caswell reported that an unknown dragon had attacked Duskendale and that the fire had been burning since noon.
• Aemon suspected Ulwin Peake was involved and decided to investigate the matter the next day.

Mund’s forces failed to stop Highgarden’s army from taking Oldtown, while Larys revealed his role in the chaos and hoped to claim the city. As Thaddeus and Donald imprisoned House Hightower, Garwin resisted them until Prince Aemon arrived on Vermithor.

• Mund learned that most of his vassals would not send troops, then rushed to Oldtown’s walls when Highgarden’s army attacked.
• Larys revealed that he had helped set the conflict in motion for Prince Aemon and hoped House Hightower’s defeat would let him claim Oldtown.
• Giant Chestnut smashed open Oldtown’s gates, Highgarden’s soldiers poured in, and Mund’s own men bundled him into a sack before surrendering.
• Thaddeus took control of Oldtown and imprisoned House Hightower, but Garwin blocked him and Donald from holding the family’s elderly members and children.
• Prince Aemon arrived on Vermithor, frightening Thaddeus and Donald as Garwin announced the Regent’s arrival.

Aemon arrived in Oldtown, executed Mond Hightower, and reshaped the Reach’s loyalties and titles after House Hightower’s rebellion. He granted Thaddeus Rowan the title of Warden of the South and gave Hightower and two former Hightower vassals to Aegon, while leaving the earldom of Oldtown vacant.

• Aemon and Helena arrived in Oldtown on Vermithor and Dreamfyre, and Aemon learned that Garlan Tyrell was gravely injured.
• Aemon ordered Mond Hightower executed and privately agreed with Thaddeus Rowan to make him Warden of the South and reserve him a Small Council seat.
• Aemon toured Oldtown with Helena and Thaddeus, while he decided that Larys and the Small Council’s Hightower-aligned members would be removed.
• Aemon had Mond beheaded, then announced that House Hightower would lose its ancestral seat and that Hightower would be granted to Aegon Targaryen.
• Aemon assigned two former Hightower vassals to House Tyrell and two others to Aegon, leaving House Roxton and House Bulwer under House Hightower and the earldom of Oldtown vacant.

Aemond secured Garwin Hightower’s loyalty and appointed Larys steward of the Hightower as he reshaped the Reach. The chapter ended with Aemond reflecting on Helena’s upbringing and her importance as the Green Party’s only Dragonrider.

• Aemond defended his decision to grant the Hightower to Garwin and rebuked Earl Florent for challenging him.
• Garwin pledged loyalty to Aemond, who accepted his oath and promised to name him Earl of Oldtown once Aegon was found.
• Aemond appointed Larys steward of the Hightower and persuaded him to accept the post.
• Helena accused Aemond of deceiving those around him, and he explained how their desires served his plans.
• Aemond sent Helena to bed and decided she needed proper guidance as the Green Party’s only Dragonrider.

Earl Thaddeus saw the royal family’s growing control as a prelude to conquering Dorne, but the Reach nobles’ objections to Prince Aegon’s new grant faded when Aemon’s dragons appeared. Aemon found Aegon alive in the wilderness and then arrived at burned Duskendale, where he discovered Aemond had seized the castle and was hoping to claim it.

• Earl Thaddeus concluded that the royal family’s expanding power pointed toward a campaign against Dorne and insisted Prince Aegon must remain in the Reach.
• The Reach nobles questioned Prince Aegon’s grant of the Hightower until Aemon’s bronze dragon and Helena’s Dreamfyre circled over Oldtown, prompting them to praise the Regent Prince.
• Aemon found Aegon and injured Sunfyre in a field, and Helena told Aegon that he had been granted the Hightower and two vassal houses.
• Aemon left Aegon to return to Oldtown and rode with Earl Caswell and a hundred cavalrymen to Duskendale.
• Aemon found Duskendale scorched and damaged, then discovered Aemond had forced the castle to surrender and was hoping to persuade their father to grant him the castle.

Aemon gave Aemond control of Duskendale and began a campaign to destroy House Peake, while Viserys considered Aegon's marriage prospects and received an offer from House Tarly. The story left Aemon marching toward White Garden City with Earl Donald's forces and a proposed royal match between Aegon and Samantha Tarly.

• Aemon brought Aemond into Duskendale, where the servants welcomed him as their new lord, but warned him that House Peake still legally owned the castle.
• Viserys praised Daeron's achievements, ordered the Citadel to choose a new Grand Maester, and told Prince Qoren to wait on the proposed match between Alexandra and Aegon.
• Corlys told Viserys that Earl Donald Tarly had offered his daughter Samantha as a bride for Aegon.
• Earl Donald arrived at Duskendale with 2,500 troops and advised Aemon to take White Garden City before besieging Ulwin Peake at Star Shuttle City.
• Aemon placed Earl Donald in command of the campaign and set out for White Garden City with Helena and Aemond, while considering Samantha as a future wife for Aegon.

Aemon’s forces captured Star Shuttle City, and Aemon executed Ulwin Peake after discovering House Peake’s hidden wealth. News of suspected Dornish activity near Prince’s Pass left Aemon alert to a possible new threat.

• Aemon and his party took possession of White Garden City without resistance, and Helena and Aemond sampled its melons.
• At Star Shuttle City, Ulwin Peake prepared defenses and sent a letter to the King seeking forgiveness and offering Prince Aemond a castle.
• Earl Donald led the assault on Star Shuttle City while Helena and Aemond attacked from dragonback, and Dreamfyre and Sheep Thief helped rout the defenders.
• Aemon’s forces captured Ulwin as he tried to escape through a secret passage, and Aemon executed him after learning House Peake’s treasure was in the Tomb Cellar.
• Earl Donald reported disturbances and suspected Dornish scouts near Prince’s Pass, and Aemon said they would investigate.

Aemon returned to Oldtown and Highgarden, where Aegon claimed Hightower, Lady Shirei was revealed to be pregnant, and Aemond fell in love with someone he should not. Back in King's Landing, Viserys granted Aemond Duskendale and welcomed Orwyle, the Citadel's candidate for Grand Maester.

• Aegon showed Aemond his new three-headed golden dragon sigil and declared himself king of Hightower, then Aemon took the group to Oldtown.
• Lady Rowan visited Hightower with Samantha Tarly to consider a match with Aegon, and Aemon later took the siblings to Highgarden.
• The Reach nobles welcomed Aemon at Highgarden, where Lyman revealed that Lady Shirei was pregnant and Aemond appeared reluctant to leave her.
• Aemon told Thaddeus to watch Prince's Pass and keep carriages ready to enter King's Landing, while Helena said Aemond loved someone he should not.
• Viserys granted Duskendale to Aemond after receiving letters about the Reach rebellion and Ulwin Peake's offer, while Aegon was granted Hightower.
• Tyland introduced Orwyle, the Citadel's recommended new Grand Maester, to Viserys and the Small Council.

Viserys reacted to Aemon’s destruction of House Peake, accepted a Dornish envoy, and promised Aemond a castle while Alicent defended Aemon. After Aemon and the other young dragonriders returned to King’s Landing, Corlys warned Rhaenys that Dorne was preparing for conflict and suspected Aemon planned to act against it.

• Grand Maester Orwyle replaced Mellos, and the Small Council learned that Aemon had exterminated House Peake after capturing Star Shuttle City.
• Viserys ordered Aemon to return, then agreed to receive an envoy and a niece sent by Prince Qoren of Dorne to discuss a marriage alliance.
• Alicent tended Viserys’s wounds, defended Aemon’s ruthless actions, and heard that Viserys planned to grant Aemond the Peake family’s castle.
• Aemon returned to King’s Landing with Aegon and his two siblings, and the city celebrated their dragons while Viserys sent a welcoming party.
• Corlys told Rhaenys that Sunspear was secretly trading iron with Volantis and sending Qyle Martell to Braavos, and he suspected Aemon intended to move against Dorne.

Aemon returned to King's Landing after the rebellion, while Viserys began reshaping the Small Council to give Thaddeus Rowan a seat. The chapter ended with Aemond turning his attention to Otto as the council prepared to decide Thaddeus’s place.

• Orwyle presented Viserys with a stronger herbal ointment, and Otto returned to the Small Council despite his injuries.
• Aemon entered the council chamber with Aegon, Helena, and Aemond, and Viserys appointed Helena to serve wine and take over her sister’s duties.
• Aemond grew concerned about Dornish ambitions and considered arranging surveillance of the Dornish Marches after the Sea Snake approached him.
• Aemond proposed giving Thaddeus Rowan a Small Council seat, and Corlys suggested adjusting the council by removing Lyman from his post as Master of Coin.
• Viserys agreed that Lyman would keep the treasury keys but replaced him as Master of Coin with Tyland.
• Corlys asked what position Thaddeus would receive, and Aemond fixed his gaze on Otto.

The Small Council appointed Thaddeus Master of Laws and kept Otto as an advisor, then approved marriage plans for Aegon and a delayed betrothal between Aemond and Alexandra Martell. Aemon and Rhaenyra discussed Daemon’s campaign in Qohor, where Daemon prepared to attack the city-state.

• Viserys removed Otto as Master of Laws, appointed Thaddeus to the post, and made Otto and Lyman Small Council Advisors.
• Thaddeus proposed that Aegon marry Samantha Tarly, and Viserys agreed to arrange the betrothal.
• Viserys, Corlys, Otto, and Aemond debated Aemond’s proposed match with Alexandra Martell before agreeing to a betrothal delayed until she reached adulthood.
• Aemon and Corlys privately recognized their shared interest in opposing Dorne, while Aemon asked Rhaenyra about Daemon’s whereabouts.
• Rhaenyra said Daemon was in Qohor, and Aemon explained the city-state’s ties to Valyria and the Orion Family.
• Li Sangzhuo Rogare reported that Qohor had 3,700 defenders, including 2,800 Unsullied, as Daemon watched the fortified city from his camp.