Chapter Summaries

At Pyke, Robert Baratheon rejected Jon Arryn’s treason judgment against House Lychester and proposed a lenient settlement. Gyles Rosby persuaded him to summon Suleiman Clare Lychester to plead his case in person, leaving Suleiman’s loyalty to be tested by whether he came.

• A servant read Jon Arryn’s letter declaring House Lychester traitors and ordering their lands and property confiscated.
• Robert Baratheon angrily defended House Lychester, while Eddard Stark and other lords argued that the evidence suggested rebellion.
• Robert proposed stripping Lymond Lychester of the Riverlands governorship while letting him keep his lands, and moving Suleiman to the Crownlands with a future Small Council seat.
• Gyles Rosby suggested summoning Suleiman Clare Lychester to Pyke, making his arrival proof of loyalty and his refusal proof of treason.
• Robert Baratheon accepted the proposal and ordered a letter sent demanding that Suleiman come see his king.

After defeating the Westerlands army, Suleiman refused to pursue because he believed Tywin Lannister was still alive and planned to secure allies while preparing for a purge in King's Landing. He ordered his exhausted forces to press on toward the West Riverlands, and they rallied behind him.

• Suleiman told Rosso Brune not to pursue the scattered Westerlanders because Tywin Lannister was not dead, then sent Kole Hewen to Highgarden with an agreement intended to win the Iron Bank's support through Viserys Targaryen.
• Suleiman warned Rosso Brune that the Faith and other factions in King's Landing were unpredictable, then revealed his plan to evacuate three hundred thousand people and spread the Poor Fellows' doctrines across the kingdoms.
• Suleiman ordered his forces to switch to Westerlands equipment and horses and return to the West Riverlands before word of their victory spread.
• Suleiman rallied the exhausted knights and officers, warning that they had to keep advancing or face defeat and the destruction of their houses.
• An older knight led the gathered forces in pledging their obedience to Suleiman, and the others echoed his vow.

Selwyn Tarth’s Stormlands forces attacked Bonifer Hasty and the Poor Fellows, but the believers rallied under Bonifer and routed them. After a monk from the Church of King's Landing warned that Suleiman was approaching and asked for protection, Bonifer decided to enter King's Landing first.

• Stormlands lords decided to intercept Bonifer Hasty and the Poor Fellows rather than confront Suleiman or the unrest in King's Landing.
• Stormlands knights ordered Bonifer to disband his followers, then attacked the Poor Fellows and massacred many of them.
• Bonifer rallied the Holy Hundred and the surviving believers, who fought back and drove the Stormlands army into retreat.
• After the battle, Monk Vickar told Bonifer that some King's Landing septons wanted him to reach the city before Suleiman and help the church resist his power.
• Bonifer agreed to lead his followers into King's Landing first.

As Suleiman's Riverlands army stalled outside Duskendale, its lords threatened to abandon his command, while William Mooton tried to prevent the rebellion from breaking apart. Elsewhere, Suleiman rallied exhausted knights after defeating Tywin Lannister and, finding House Vance's forces scattered, rejected waiting for the West Riverlands to assemble and considered a new plan.

• Walter Hean and Gyles Legg challenged House Lychester's authority, and several lords threatened to march for King's Landing if Suleiman did not appear.
• Patrick Mallister and Dain Deddings said their houses bore no responsibility for the rebellion because they had no soldiers under their command; William Mooton sent Ser Jerry to warn a Lychester officer that the army might split.
• Suleiman ordered captured Westerlands spare horses slaughtered and rallied his exhausted knights by celebrating their victory over Tywin Lannister.
• Suleiman and Rosso Brune observed House Vance of Adam City's scattered force of a little over two thousand men.
• Suleiman rejected Rosso Brune's suggestion to wait for the West Riverlands forces to gather and began considering another way to inflict greater losses.

Suleiman devised a series of deceptive operations against the Riverlands houses, then won his cavalry’s support for violating Guest Right by knighting them and promising to bear their sins. In King's Landing, Petyr Baelish persuaded Lysa Tully to use Tears of Lys to kill Jon Arryn so they could seize power in the Vale and escape the city.

• Suleiman planned to capture Norbert Vance and Lucas Vance, lure House Vance of Resting City from its castle, and seize Clement Piper and other Riverlands lords through disguises and betrayal.
• Bryn delivered a captured messenger’s letter, revealing that Norbert Vance had invited Kales Vance to join him in pursuing the wardenship of the Trident.
• Ser Joffrey objected that Suleiman’s plan violated Guest Right, but Suleiman knighted his common-born cavalrymen and promised to bear the sins of those who followed his orders.
• Suleiman urged his followers to pursue power and overturn the old hierarchy, and the cavalrymen answered with calls to act.
• Petyr Baelish gave Lysa Tully Tears of Lys and persuaded her to poison Jon Arryn by promising that they would escape openly and rule the Vale together.

Suleiman’s forces seized Norbert Vance’s camp and forced him to pledge House Vance of Wayfarer's Rest to the rebellion. When Lucas Vance marched to join Norbert, Suleiman’s men captured him too and compelled him to agree to raise an army for House Targaryen.

• Norbert Vance welcomed Old Lopin and the supposed Westerlands scouts, unaware they served Suleiman.
• Old Lopin’s men attacked Norbert’s camp, captured him, and took control of the Vance forces at Wayfarer's Rest.
• Suleiman made Norbert agree to support House Targaryen and raise arms against the Usurper.
• Lucas Vance marched with his army to join Norbert, but Bryn seized him as Suleiman’s forces launched an ambush.
• Suleiman threatened Lucas with death until he agreed to raise an army for the rebellion.

Suleiman seized House Vance’s family and secured control of its castles and army while preparing to leave the Riverlands for King’s Landing. When Patrick Morrison proposed killing Vance officers to take command, Suleiman approved and recognized that he had become like Nader Shah.

• Suleiman told Ser Old Lopin and Patrick Morrison that Bryn and Rosso would capture House Vance’s family and that Patrick would command the southwestern Riverlands.
• Ser Jeffrey reported that Suleiman’s men had seized the families of House Piper and House Banefort, while Moller Smallwood had hanged their agents.
• Bryn confirmed the capture of House Vance’s family, and Karyl Vance surrendered command of the army in exchange for their safety.
• Suleiman ordered the Vances to travel to King’s Landing and discussed how to secure their army and castles with his subordinates.
• Patrick Morrison proposed luring and killing House Vance’s trusted officers, and Suleiman approved the plan while reflecting that he had become like Nader Shah.

Jon Arryn surrendered King's Landing to Bonifer Hasty and was killed by the enraged crowd, while Septon Yangsi demanded that Lord Suleiman decide the fate of the remaining nobles. Suleiman ordered preparations for the coming war and revealed his plan to rebuild the Riverlands under a theocracy, with escape to the Free Cities as a fallback.

• Jon Arryn arranged Bonifer Hasty's surrender terms, sent Lysa Tully and Vardis Egen through the tunnels with his testament, and ordered Harold Hutton to attack the East Riverlands if he inherited the Vale.
• The crowd entered the Red Keep, killed Jon Arryn, and was restrained by Bonifer Hasty before Septon Yangsi ordered Lord Suleiman summoned to decide the nobles' fate.
• Patrick Morrison's soldiers slaughtered more than fifty House Vance officers at a banquet, and Sir Old Lopin stopped Patrick from arranging a wider purge by urging him to use House Vance's wealth to secure the army and aid the common people.
• Suleiman ordered Beggar Bana to bring merchants and bureaucrats to King's Landing, directed Bryn to raise an army near Rushmarsh, and issued further military and administrative orders across the Riverlands.
• Suleiman told Beggar Bana that he planned to destroy the Riverlands' old noble order and establish a theocracy, but would flee to the Free Cities with the Church's wealth if his thirty-percent chance of victory failed.

Suleiman rode past Septon Meribald and a group of Riverlands orphans protesting war with a song, declaring himself God's messenger sent to punish evildoers. In Volantis, Benerro sent Melisandre to Westeros to find the prophesied Azor Ahai as a comet heralded the coming Long Night.

• Suleiman's cavalry encountered Septon Meribald and several dozen Riverlands orphans singing against war in the road.
• Meribald seized Suleiman's whip, but Suleiman stopped a soldier from striking the priest and said millions might die without changing his purpose.
• Suleiman rode on past Meribald and the orphans, calling himself God's messenger sent to punish a generation of evildoers.
• Melisandre saw a comet streak westward toward Westeros and met with High Priest Benerro in Volantis.
• Benerro told Melisandre that Azor Ahai had returned and ordered her to go to Westeros, find him, and help him face the coming Long Night.

After learning that Suleiman had routed the Westerlands army, Olenna Redwyne ordered Highgarden to prepare for the conflict while predicting that Suleiman would eventually fail. In the Riverlands camp, angry Riverlords confronted the figure in Suleiman’s armor, discovered that he was present, and William Mooton tried to contain the crisis after Gyles Leger refused to bow.

• A servant told Olenna Redwyne and Willas Tyrell that the Riverlanders had routed the Westerlands army and that Tywin Lannister’s fate was unknown.
• Willas Tyrell listed six reasons he believed Suleiman would lose, including the Riverlords’ rivalries, their soldiers’ pursuit of wealth, and the threat of famine in King's Landing.
• Olenna ordered equipment sent to the Poor Fellows, Suleiman’s envoy guards released, the envoy kept imprisoned, and ten thousand soldiers sent to the border.
• Walter Hean and other Riverlords confronted Suleiman’s personal guards in the rain and demanded to know when the army would attack King's Landing.
• Gyles Leger accused the silent figure in black-lion armor of being an impostor, but Suleiman removed his helmet and revealed himself.
• William Mooton accused Gyles Leger of insulting Suleiman and undermining the army, then ordered the guards to drag him out.

Suleiman revealed his victories over the Westerlands and Riverlands forces, then ordered a defensive strategy while forcing the nobles to commit to the war. He planned to turn fifteen thousand Poor Fellows into a faith-driven army, leaving his commanders shocked by his intentions.

• Suleiman displayed captured banners and announced his defeat of the Westerlands and the two Vances, then ordered Rosso Brune to raid the southern Crownlands and Stormlands.
• Suleiman assigned House Whent and House Butterwell to build linked fortifications, but Alwood Halton warned that the lords might abandon their posts.
• Suleiman told the nobles that defeat would mean death and the destruction of their clans, prompting them to vow they would fight to the bitter end.
• Toman reported that the army had five thousand spare warhorses and abundant plunder, while Bryn described the Poor Fellows as a disorganized crowd of over thirty thousand religious fanatics.
• Suleiman ordered Bryn to select fifteen thousand adult Poor Fellows, explaining that he meant to make them a faith-driven army willing to slaughter without hesitation.

Oberyn Martell led the Poor Fellows in a brutal attack on Blackhaven, while Suleiman won the Crownlands’ commoners’ support by granting city charters and announcing sweeping laws and tax relief. Blackhaven burned as Oberyn prepared to continue his campaign north, and Suleiman sent monks across the Crownlands to spread his decrees.

• Oberyn Martell incited the Poor Fellows to attack Blackhaven, claiming the Seven Gods had ordered them to take back House Dondarrion’s gifts.
• Oberyn defeated and killed Beric Dondarrion, then ordered Lady Dondarrion and her children stripped of their possessions and Blackhaven burned.
• Obara Sand reported that Riverlanders were infiltrating the Stormlands but pursuing a restrained campaign, and Oberyn vowed to show them how the Dornish collected debts.
• William Mooton warned Suleiman that his treatment of the Crownlands lords could split the army and recounted how Denys Darklyn had won the people’s loyalty by fighting for their rights.
• Suleiman approved Duskendale’s city charter, remitted its taxes, and ordered the same charter and tax relief extended throughout the Crownlands.
• Suleiman announced five laws and sent monks and friars to spread them, prompting Duskendale’s townsfolk and other Crownlands commoners to welcome the messengers with celebration.

Lady Carlen Massey accepted Ser Justin Massey's plan to defend Stonedance, but resentment among the soldiers erupted into a revolt that ended with Justin and the city's nobles slaughtered. At House Gort, Rosso Brune heard a knight of House Staedmon beg the Riverlanders to rescue his besieged castle from the Dornish Poor Fellows.

• A fleeing noble described the Riverlands army's brutal sieges, and Lady Carlen Massey put Ser Justin Massey in charge of Stonedance's defenses while preparing ships and horses for escape.
• After Pate was killed by young nobles, Justin dismissed the soldiers' anger, and Garth persuaded them to murder the nobles and seize their wealth.
• Justin confronted the mutinous soldiers, killed two men, and was killed in the ensuing fight; the soldiers then plundered and burned Stonedance, killing its nobles and Justin's family.
• A knight of House Staedmon told Rosso Brune that Septon Oren and the Dornish Poor Fellows were slaughtering Stormlands families in their campaign of 'Cleansing the kingdom.'
• The knight begged Rosso Brune to lift the siege of his family's castle, offering surrender, captivity, and its property in return.

Rosso Brune refused to send help to House Staedmon after Awode Halton argued that the Stormlands’ destruction would benefit the Riverlands, though he offered protection if Lady Staedmon could escape. At Brownfort, Suleiman forced Adrian Celtigar to accept appointment as Viserys’s Hand of the King after Adrian stalled by eating until he choked and vomited.

• Awode Halton rejected Rosso Brune’s proposal to relieve House Staedmon, arguing that weakening the Stormlands would benefit the Riverlands and their landless nobles.
• Rosso Brune ordered the Staedmon knight removed but promised to protect Lady Staedmon’s family if she could escape to his camp.
• Adrian Celtigar ignored Suleiman and William Mooton while eating plate after plate of roast beef at Brownfort.
• William Mooton announced that Suleiman wanted Adrian to serve as Viserys’s Hand, but Adrian kept demanding more food.
• Adrian choked and vomited after eating too much, and Suleiman declared him Hand of the King.

Alwood Halton persuaded Rosso Brune to keep the spoils taken by the army, while Suleiman learned of the theft and chose to secure Rosso’s loyalty by promising him House Brune’s seat. The chapter ended with Suleiman ordering that Rosso be made the new lord of Brownhollow.

• Alwood Halton and two Riverlands lords demanded that Rosso Brune divide the army’s captured spoils among themselves, the soldiers, and Suleiman.
• Alwood Halton urged Rosso Brune to build his own power and wagered that Suleiman would reward him rather than punish him.
• A Junker knight reported Rosso Brune’s actions to Suleiman, and Bryn asked permission to arrest Rosso.
• Suleiman first told Bryn to write Rosso a reassuring letter, then decided to send word himself instead.
• Suleiman declared that he would petition Viserys Targaryen to let Rosso usurp House Brune and become the new lord of Brownhollow.

Valion Roote reported that religious factions had divided King's Landing into territories and that its exhausted people wanted Suleiman to restore order, but Suleiman refused to march yet. He summoned the alchemist Hallyne and ordered him to locate all of the wildfire hidden around the city, leaving Hallyne to ask what Suleiman planned to do with it.

• Valion Roote reported the chaos in King's Landing, including rival religious territories, five self-proclaimed kings, and the commoners' growing hope that Suleiman would restore order.
• William Mooton urged Suleiman to march on King's Landing, but Suleiman refused and dismissed the lords.
• Valion Roote told Suleiman that Hallyne had survived the mob's attack on the Alchemists' Guild and brought the old alchemist before him.
• Suleiman named several places where King Aerys had hidden wildfire and ordered Hallyne to find every jar when his forces entered King's Landing.
• Hallyne asked Suleiman what he wanted the wildfire for.

At a council in Brownfort, Suleiman dismissed Adrian Celtigar’s objections to the Riverlands army’s atrocities and refused to stop its looting, then made Adrian sign a proclamation condemning Robert Baratheon and blaming Jon Arryn. When House Staunton’s knights confessed to killing their lord and surrendering Crow’s Nest, Suleiman chose to reward them, leaving Adrian furious and the knights newly emboldened.

• A soldier reported that Ser Rosso Brune’s army had slaughtered and robbed the people of Stonedance, and Suleiman suggested the killings could be investigated after the war.
• Adrian Celtigar urged Suleiman to free Crownlands prisoners, return their property, and stop looting, but Suleiman refused and argued that popular support mattered more than taxing the people.
• Suleiman explained that he had made Adrian Hand of the King because House Celtigar was ancient and loyal, then ordered him to sign a proclamation denouncing Robert Baratheon and accusing Jon Arryn of ruining the kingdom.
• Twelve knights of House Staunton confessed to killing Lord Staunton and his family and surrendering Crow’s Nest, prompting Adrian to demand their execution or imprisonment at the Wall.
• Suleiman praised the knights, proposed dividing House Staunton’s lands among them and granting lands and knighthoods to their soldiers, arguing that rewarding the surrender would encourage others to open their cities.

Suleiman rewarded traitors and promised lands and titles to anyone who helped overthrow the Usurper’s supporters, alarming Adrian Celtigar with his plan to unleash widespread chaos. He revealed that his ultimate desire was Daenerys Targaryen.

• Adrian Celtigar argued that the knights who murdered House Staunton’s lord should be punished, but Suleiman awarded them the house’s lands and sent them away.
• Salladhor Saan offered his services to House Targaryen, and Suleiman appointed him commander of the Royal Fleet with unlimited Gold Dragons to build it.
• Suleiman promised the Stormlands’ castles and lands to more than forty second sons and bastards from the Riverlands.
• Suleiman issued perpetual bounties on the four usurping families and offered rebels’ lands and titles to anyone who killed or captured them, regardless of birth or station.
• Suleiman ordered Salladhor Saan to recruit sellsword companies to invade Westeros, while Adrian Celtigar warned that the plan would destroy the realm’s order.
• Suleiman told Adrian Celtigar that he was willing to pay any price to win the war and revealed that he wanted Daenerys Targaryen.

Suleiman ordered the Riverlands lords to evacuate their families while leaving food and weapons in their castles for armed local militias to resist the Usurper’s forces. He bound the nobles to the war with promises of future lands, while privately preparing to flee across the Narrow Sea with Daenerys Targaryen if his strategy failed.

• Suleiman ordered the Riverlands lords to bring their families to the Crownlands and leave their grain, provisions, and weapons behind in their castles.
• Suleiman instructed the lords to gather commoners and refugees inside the castles, arm them, and organize local militias to defend their families and lands.
• Suleiman rebuked the lords for hoarding supplies and promised lands to their second and hidden bastard sons if they helped win the war.
• Suleiman explained that armed villages and castles across the Riverlands and Crownlands would slow the Usurper’s army and keep it bogged down.
• William Mooton corrected Suleiman that they were the royal army fighting the Usurper, and Suleiman accepted the distinction.
• Suleiman privately considered escaping across the Narrow Sea with his followers and Daenerys Targaryen if his forces could not withstand the royal army.

In Pentos, Varys, Illyrio Mopatis, and Jon Connington feared that Suleiman’s bounty and call for slaves to seize their masters’ property would destabilize Westeros and undermine the Golden Company’s restoration plans. Jon Connington then went to the Golden Company’s camp and ordered them to prepare to return home.

• Jon Connington confronted Varys and Illyrio Mopatis over Suleiman’s actions, warning that they could destroy the existing order and disrupt the Golden Company’s plans.
• Varys concluded that they had to end Suleiman’s performance ahead of schedule.
• Ser Benede Berrien and Marq Mandrake told Harry Strickland that Suleiman had posted a bounty in Duskendale and urged the Golden Company to seize land in Westeros.
• Jon Connington arrived at the Golden Company’s camp with the blue-haired boy and ordered the captains to pack their things and sharpen their swords because they were going home.