Chapter Summaries

After defeating Khal Drogo, Ian organized the aftermath to limit the danger of disease and returned to a celebration where his allies and conquered peoples proclaimed him emperor. Daenerys stood at his side as the new empire’s supporters swore allegiance to him.

• Ian ordered the dead cremated, the severely wounded separated, and the army withdrawn in stages to reduce the risk of a Blood Plague outbreak.
• Ian entered the command tent as his commanders knelt to honor him, while Daenerys sensed the Ghiscari nobles viewed her as a rival and took Ian’s hand.
• Eres Zo Emde knelt before Ian and addressed him as “Your Majesty,” signaling New Ghis’s submission.
• Femor zo Nackroz, Eseyn zo Marrek, Grazdan Zo Eraz, Prince Hesi, and other representatives urged Ian to rule as emperor over the Ghiscari, Lhazareen, Dothraki, and surrounding regions.
• The gathered leaders and commanders pledged their loyalty to Ian and cried, “Long live the Emperor!”

Ian reviewed his rewards after defeating Jhakqo Khal’s forces, then received a vision of conflict in Volantis that might reveal a future threat to R’hllor’s temple. Daenerys hatched three dragons in the funeral pyre, and the chapter ended with the hatchlings answering Ion’s roar.

• Ian’s ambush scattered Jhakqo Khal’s exhausted Roaring Warriors, who surrendered by dawn, and Ian discovered rewards for personally killing more than a hundred enemies.
• Ian spent his attribute and skill points, then considered conquering Volantis or Qarth to complete his remaining mission requirement.
• Ian saw a vision of soldiers fighting at Volantis’s Red Temple and recorded its details after Daenerys woke him from his trance.
• Ian ordered the collected dead and captured Sorceresses, including Mirri Maz Duur, burned in a pyre where Daenerys entered with three dragon eggs.
• All three eggs hatched into dragons, and the hatchlings cried back at Ion as he roared above them.

Melisandre received a brief vision of a wolf-headed boy falling from the Wall, then learned that Renly had claimed the crown with support from Houses Tyrell and Lannister. Stannis agreed to hold peace talks, while rejecting Melisandre’s offer to end the rebellion through magic.

• Melisandre saw Wildlings chase a wolf-headed boy across the Wall before he fell, but she could not understand the vision.
• Stannis told Melisandre that Renly had crowned himself at Gold Tooth City and demanded Stannis surrender.
• Davos explained that Renly had allied with Mace Tyrell and Tywin Lannister, giving his claim a powerful army.
• Stannis refused to pardon Tywin, but accepted Davos’s proposal to arrange peace talks.
• Melisandre offered a way to end the rebellion without war, and Stannis rejected her magic.

Jaime Lannister struggled with guilt over failing to save Cersei and with his resentment at serving Renly Baratheon. Renly reunited him with Myrcella, and Jaime swore to fight for Renly in return, while Anred learned that Odis had escaped Tywin’s attempt to capture him.

• Jaime watched the Lannister prisoners receive weapons and dwelled on Cersei’s death, his past failures, and his lost chance to avenge her against Robert.
• Randyll Tarly provoked Jaime by calling him Kingslayer, and Renly intervened before their exchange turned into a fight.
• Renly presented Jaime with Myrcella, who tearfully called him Father, and told him that Eddard Stark was expected to return his other children.
• Renly promised Anred Harrenhal for his service and told him that Odis had escaped after agreeing to meet Tywin at Casterly Rock.
• Jaime thanked Renly for reuniting him with Myrcella and swore to fight for him against Stannis.

Jon Snow learned that Ghost had been killed by Joffrey and the Wildling boys at Castle Black. Jon attacked Joffrey in grief, but Kael stopped him and had him locked up while Joffrey ordered Ghost's body skinned and roasted.

• Jon reflected on the Free Folk's need for a home and hoped to ask his father Eddard for peace when the Stark army reached Castle Black.
• Tommen rushed to Jon and told him that something had happened to Ghost, then led him to the small sept.
• Jon found Joffrey and the Wildling boys stoning the wounded Ghost, and he shielded the direwolf before drawing his sword at Joffrey.
• Kael stopped the confrontation, but Jon discovered that Ghost was dead and charged at Joffrey in rage.
• Kael restrained Jon and ordered two Wildlings to lock him up, while Joffrey ordered them to skin Ghost and roast its meat.

Jon Connington and Aegon searched Volantis for passage to Slaver’s Bay and learned that the Ghiscari cities had allied against Daenerys and Khal Drogo. They found a Grafton warship that might carry them there, but Jon wanted to test its crew before revealing their identities.

• Jon and Aegon learned from a shipowner that most ships had left for Slaver’s Bay, where the Ghiscari cities were preparing to fight the Dothraki.
• The shipowner refused to take them because his company had been blacklisted, and he suggested they travel with mercenaries waiting to join the aftermath of the war.
• Jon rejected the mercenary option and explained that Daenerys had little chance against the Dothraki, while Aegon worried about losing his aunt or being overshadowed if she won.
• Aegon spotted a Grafton warship flying burning-tower banners, and he and Jon identified it as a possible passage to Slaver’s Bay.
• Jon cautioned Aegon against revealing their identities to the captain before they knew the crew’s intentions.

Darren and Corlo traveled through Volantis while posing as a diplomatic mission, and Corlo revealed himself as the mission’s true leader and claimed the title of Duke of Ghiscari. Manios admitted that Volantis’s magistrates were debating whether to aid Slaver’s Bay, but Ian revealed that his real aim was to conquer Volantis.

• Darren rode with Manios toward Volantis’s outer city while Corlo, disguised as a guard, asked about the city’s Unsullied and defenses.
• Manios nearly struck Corlo for interrupting, but recognized that Darren was deliberately treating him as an equal and dropped his foolish act.
• Corlo introduced himself as Corlo Zo Ghiscari, Duke of Ghiscari, and Darren confirmed that he was the true leader of the mission.
• Manios admitted that the magistrates had convened a council and assigned him to delay the visitors while they debated whether to help Meereen against Khal Drogo.
• Ian told Manios that Drogo posed no serious threat and privately revealed that he had come to conquer Volantis.

Ian used Volantis’s defeat in the past to persuade Manios that his master could help restore the Valyrian Empire, then wagered that the Ghiscari Alliance would defeat Khal Drogo without Volantene aid. Across the Rhoyne, Aegon rejected Jon Connington’s plan to seek Daenerys and return to Myr, but mercenaries surrounded them and summoned them to their master.

• Ian told Manios how Volantis had lost its war against Tyrosh and explained that Ian Dare was the last living dragonlord.
• Manios guessed that Ian planned to offer Volantis aid in exchange for its support, but Ian said Slaver’s Bay needed no reinforcements and wagered that the Ghiscari Alliance could defeat Khal Drogo alone.
• Ian proposed that Manios support his later terms if Ian won, and Manios accepted the wager before Ian revealed the terms were Volantis’s submission to Dragonlord Ian.
• Jon Connington explained to Aegon that they could not enter Volantis’s Black Wall without an invitation and suggested that Aegon marry Queen Daenerys.
• Aegon refused to go to Slaver’s Bay, declared that they would return to Myr, and was surrounded with Jon by mercenaries who said their master wanted to see them.

Ian used Corlo’s negotiations with Manios Visama to argue that Volantis had declined and could be restored by submitting to his master. Manios agreed to support the proposal if Ian’s master defeated Drogo, and Ian asked him to find two people fleeing through the crowd.

• Ian and Manios debated whether Volantis should submit, with Manios pointing to Aegon’s failed attempt to rule the city and Ian stressing the weakness of modern Volantis.
• Ian described Volantis’s decline and offered submission as a path to renewed power, while Manios questioned whether promises could make that future real.
• Ian said his master would first prove himself by defeating Drogo, and Manios agreed to support him if he won.
• Manios explained that most of Volantis’s rulers would still resist submission, though some Tiger Party radicals might consider it.
• Ian noticed two people fleeing past the elephant carriage and asked Manios to help find them.

Ian explained how he planned to profit from the Volantene ships traveling to Slaver's Bay and use their seizure to reshape Volantis's politics. He left Manios realizing that a Volantene hero who recovered the ships could win the next magister election.

• Ian and Daron arrived at Merchant's House with Manios, where Ian spotted the Windblown recruiting mercenaries for Slaver's Bay.
• Ian explained that the Windblown and other mercenaries could arrive after the battle, since his recruitment order had no deadline and he was preparing for a later campaign against Volantis.
• Ian told Manios that ships coming to Slaver's Bay to plunder would be forced to spend their supplies on costly grain, and might have to trade their ships to buy enough to sail onward.
• Manios objected that taking Volantene ships would anger Volantis, but Ian pointed out that Volantis would not declare war while Magister Dophus Pennimian opposed it.
• Ian suggested that a Volantene hero could recover the ships after Dophus blocked war, and Manios concluded that the hero would be elected magister.

Manios explained how his men lost the blue-haired father and son after the Chihida family’s Tiger Guard intervened, then proposed a plan for Ian to gain influence over Volantis. Ian approved Manios’s ambition and tasked him with investigating the mercenaries and their connections.

• Manios’s guard captain reported that his men had surrounded a tavern but found no trace of the two blue-haired foreigners before the Tiger Guard drove them away.
• Manios told Ian that the tavern belonged to the Chihida family and explained his family ties to Aelius Chihida and his resentment toward his elder brothers.
• Manios proposed using detained Visama ships to trigger a crisis between his brothers, then backing Palachiro Valeros as the hero who recovered the ships so Ian could secure two Magister votes.
• Ian approved Manios’s plan but first ordered him to identify the mercenaries, their backers, and their ties to the Chihida family and other powers.
• Ian also asked Manios to obtain the Great Council’s meeting records if it considered whether to support Slaver’s Bay.

After Stannis captured Harrenhal, he sentenced Kevan Lannister to be burned for refusing to swear loyalty, worsening tensions with his nobles. Melisandre showed Davos a baffling vision of an ancient battle and a cry of “long live the Emperor,” while Stannis rewarded Lorran with Harrenhal and knighted Davos as Earl of Rainwood.

• Lyanna arrived at Harrenhal and agreed to sail north to rescue Marvin, who was fleeing toward Salt Spear Beach after his defeat by Eddard Stark.
• Stannis confronted Kevan Lannister, who rejected his claim to kingship, and sentenced him to be burned at dawn after Kevan refused to kneel.
• Davos warned Melisandre that burning Kevan would alienate Stannis’s nobles, but the Queen’s Men blocked him when he reached for his sword.
• Melisandre showed Davos a vision of a crimson wasteland, dragons, and a banquet where people cried “long live the Emperor,” leaving her unsure what the revelation meant.
• Stannis granted Harrenhal to Lorran and then knighted Davos, naming him Earl of Rainwood and promising him another castle after the rebellion was defeated.

Manios Visama explained how the Bloody Flower Merchant Guild and its Bloody Hand mercenaries gained power by fighting the Rhoyne River Pirates, then revealed that his second brother had joined their venture and profited from it. He left Ian considering whether the guild had truly eliminated the pirates or united them under one ruler.

• Manios told Ian that his second brother’s dealings with the Rhoyne River Pirates were tied to the Bloody Flower Merchant Guild, which had once incited a rebellion in Yunkai.
• Manios recounted how Dosis Chiheda partnered with the Bloody Flower and its Bloody Hand mercenaries, helping them defeat a pirate gang and capture Uho the Unwashed.
• Manios explained that the pirates operated beyond Chayona, where deadly mist and unpredictable winds made it difficult for Volantis to maintain a naval force.
• Manios said his second brother supplied the Bloody Flower with four ships and five hundred elite Slave Warriors after his wife persuaded him to meet the guild’s president, Georlis.
• Manios described how his brother imposed river checkpoints and hefty tariffs after trade resumed, while insisting that the guild must have either eliminated the pirate factions or united them.

Ian learned that Oros had taken control of Chayona and united the middle Rhoyne pirates into a powerful consortium, while the Bloody Flower Merchant Guild had likely taken Clinton and Bronn north. He held off on acting in Volantis until after the war, then considered whether the ship that left port had carried his friends or served as a decoy.

• Manios Visama told Ian that Oros had become the Stone Men's leader in Chayona and helped unite the Rhoyne pirates with money from Manios's second brother.
• Manios explained that he had learned the details by threatening a confidant of his second brother, and said the courts could try his brother before he became triarch.
• Manios reported that a Chiheda family merchant ship had left Volantis for the north, likely carrying Clinton and Bronn with the Bloody Flower Merchant Guild.
• Ian promised not to pursue them until the right time and said he would act in Volantis after his master defeated Khal Drogo.
• Manios told Ian that the Great Council had unanimously rejected sending troops to Slaver's Bay, and Ian asked him to obtain the senators' speech records.
• After Manios left, Ian reasoned that the ship might be a decoy and that Jon Connington and the others could still be in Volantis.

Davos watched Stannis’s growing reliance on fear and fire magic strain his allies before Stannis met Renly for peace talks. As the brothers argued over their claims to the throne, an unknown knight shot Stannis with a Valyrian Steel bolt, and he fell from his horse.

• After Kevan Lannister was burned, Lorran captured nobles trying to flee Stannis’s camp, and they were sentenced to burn.
• Davos noticed more nobles joining Renly’s faction and recalled rumors that Daenerys had appeared in Slaver’s Bay with dragons.
• Stannis and Renly met with their supporters, and Renly mocked Stannis’s banner and reputation as “Mad King II.”
• Stannis demanded that Renly kneel and swear fealty, while Renly taunted him and refused.
• As Stannis drew his sword, an unknown knight behind Renly fired a Valyrian Steel bolt through Stannis’s neck, knocking him from his horse.

Stannis was killed during the peace talks, and Renly declared himself king while demanding the nobles surrender. Melisandre’s magic and Lorran’s hidden cavalry struck Renly’s forces, leaving the Queen’s Men fighting to recover Stannis’s body and defeat the traitors.

• Ser Arthur shot Stannis as Stannis and Renly met, and Ser Barristan confirmed that Stannis was dead.
• Renly claimed the Iron Throne, but Ser Barristan argued that Princess Shireen was Stannis’s lawful heir.
• Count Elton Ismont and Count Matus Rowan declared for Renly, but Melisandre’s fire magic killed Renly and more than twenty nobles, knights, and squires.
• Lorran ordered the Queen’s Men to recover Stannis’s body and attack Renly’s disorganized forces as his hidden cavalry arrived.
• Lorran revealed that he had allowed the attack on Stannis to provoke Melisandre and had planned to use the resulting battle to seize power.

After Renly and Stannis died, Jaime Lannister led the Westerlands knights into the battle and broke the Queen's Men despite Lorran's expectations. Jaime defeated Barristan, and Lorran fled with the devastated Melisandre, hoping Stannis could somehow return to life.

• Loras and Brienne continued fighting after Renly's death, but Jaime Lannister and the Westerlands knights joined the battle and turned the tide against the Queen's Men.
• Jaime challenged Barristan, while the Mountain killed Count Jenos Bracken, Ser Justin Massey, Ser Dalton, and Ser Yohn Royce.
• Loras killed Ser Martyn Lant and Brienne killed Ser Mandon Moore as the Reach knights counterattacked and Lorran grew alarmed.
• Jaime disarmed Barristan by severing his right forearm and spared him after Barristan refused to surrender.
• The Queen's Men fled after Barristan fell, and Lorran urged Melisandre to escape with Stannis's corpse while hoping his lord could revive Stannis.

Xaro Xhoan Daxos met Slaver's Bay's provisional ruling council alongside foreign envoys and merchants, where he clashed with Iron Bank representative Hominas over the region's future and Astapor's growing influence. Hominas described Astapor's new crafts and an ancient prophecy that promised the return of the last Ghiscari emperor when the sacred fire was rekindled.

• Xaro Xhoan Daxos waited in Meereen for an audience after hearing that Ian Dary's forces had defeated part of Khal Drogo's khalasar.
• Xaro entered the Great Pyramid and found himself seated among a crowd of foreign envoys, merchants, and adventurers awaiting the ruling council.
• Xaro accused Hominas of supporting Ghis despite the Iron Bank's supposed opposition to slavery, and Hominas replied that business and principles were separate.
• Hominas showed Xaro fine bone china and claimed Astapor was seeking to mass-produce it, along with exceptional armor and weapons linked to fire.
• Hominas said the Green Grace had found an ancient account of Grazdan LXVI and a prophecy that the Ghiscari emperor would return when they rekindled the sacred fire.

Xaro Xhoan Daxos learned that Ian Dare had begun preparing Slaver's Bay for his rule months before his victory, while Hominas revealed how a deal with Cilia led him to stake the Iron Bank's Slaver's Bay resources on Astapor. The chapter ended with Hominas describing Cilia's plans for new production industries.

• Xaro connected the recently discovered Ghiscari prophecy to Ian Dare's takeover of Meereen and suspected it was meant to prepare Slaver's Bay for his rule and conversion to the Red God.
• Hominas told Xaro that he had lent Cilia five hundred thousand Glimmer Coins and his merchant guilds' ships to support Ian Dare's cause.
• Hominas explained that Cilia first sold him a porcelain set, then brought him a shipload of high-quality Astapor-made porcelain.
• Hominas said he had bought the shipload below Slaver's Bay market rates and sent it to Braavos, where it was worth a year's interest income for the Iron Bank's local branch.
• Hominas told Xaro that Cilia planned to establish Astapor production facilities for ceramics, metallurgy, forging, and textiles, and had shown him their workshops.

Hominas explained to Xaro why he had financed Cilia and Ian Dary’s preparations for war, including accepting Astapor’s technical documents as collateral. He revealed that New Ghis general Eres Zo Emde had urged him to lend Dary every coin he possessed, and the story ended with plans to turn attention to Qarth and Braavos.

• Hominas told Xaro that Cilia had invested his first loan in furnaces, workshops, and military expenses, then secured a second loan by mortgaging Astapor’s technical documents.
• Hominas warned Xaro that stealing the documents would invite Ian Dary’s pursuit, while keeping his promise would protect both parties’ interests.
• Xaro recounted Eres Zo Emde’s victory over Qarth’s army and the later peace agreement after Qarth’s navy disrupted New Ghis’s supply line.
• Hominas revealed that Eres had advised him to lend every coin he possessed to Ian Dary, promising he would become richer than the Iron Bank.
• The narrator noted that, with Volantis progressing smoothly, Qarth and Braavos were next on the agenda.