Chapter Summaries

At Mud Gate, Suleiman turned a poor boy’s despair into a rallying cry for the Poor Fellows as he prepared to lead his army. On the Goldroad, Tyrion Lannister rallied the Westerlands lords with lavish bounties and ordered an assault on Suleiman’s camps.

• Suleiman comforted a suffering boy at the Mud Gate worksites, and the boy cried out that he hated his miserable life and wanted to die.
• Suleiman embraced the boy and declared that freedom and equality should exist in reality, prompting the Poor Fellows to roar, “The will of the gods!”
• Bryn told Suleiman that the army was ready, and Suleiman mounted his horse and rode out as Evelyn asked whether he felt guilty; he replied that winning men’s hearts was all that mattered.
• Tyrion Lannister dismissed the Westerlands lords’ concerns and ordered Gregor Clegane to take a thousand men to Ambrose Butterwell’s camp while the rest attacked Walter Hean’s camp.
• Tyrion promised rewards for Riverlands soldiers’ and nobles’ heads, including gold and a castle, and the Westerlands troops cheered his name.

Stannis Baratheon learned that Suleiman had marched west and that the Antler Men planned to open King's Landing's gates, so he agreed to pardon them and prepared to cross the Blackwater. Meanwhile, the Vale army decided to storm Hafor Castle, while Brynden Tully held back and House Frey quietly shifted its banners.

• Stannis Baratheon accepted Salador Saan's offer to bring his fleet into the Blackwater Rush.
• A refugee claiming to serve the Antler Men reported that Suleiman had taken his elite troops west and that conspirators at the Mud Gate would open the gates that night.
• Stannis Baratheon agreed to pardon the conspirators and ordered his forces to prepare a ship bridge and cross the river.
• Bronze Yohn Royce and the Vale lords chose to assault Hafor Castle, while Brynden Tully withdrew with the Riverlands troops.
• As the Vale knights celebrated their expected victory, House Frey's banners quietly moved toward the Riverlands forces.

Toman and Wisdom Hallyne prepared a trap at the Mud Gate while Stannis Baratheon’s army attacked across the Blackwater Rush. After the assault faltered amid the use of noble families as human shields and the Poor Fellows’ resistance, fighting inside the city signaled that the Stag Citizens had begun their uprising, and Stannis led a renewed charge.

• Toman confirmed that the Antler Men believed his false defection and would attack the guards and open the Mud Gate, while he ordered his forces to let them proceed into a trap.
• Wisdom Hallyne questioned how Lord Suleiman knew about the hidden wildfire and the Antler Men, but Toman told him to follow orders and praised Suleiman.
• Stannis Baratheon’s soldiers crossed the Blackwater Rush and attacked the city walls, where they discovered noble families tied up as human shields.
• Stannis ordered the assault to continue, and the soldiers began shooting the captives; the Crownlands nobles then blamed Suleiman and charged the walls again.
• The Poor Fellows drove back attackers who climbed the battlements, while Stannis marched toward the city to rally his faltering army.
• Fighting erupted inside the city as the Stag Citizens made their move, and Stannis drew his sword and led the army forward with renewed resolve.

Stannis Baratheon’s army breached the Mud Gate, only for a hidden green-fire explosion to annihilate the attackers and devastate the Blackwater Rush. Toman watched the trap succeed as the survivors and witnesses interpreted the destruction as divine fire, while Aryan Celtigar revealed that he had survived.

• Antler Men and the royal army attacked the Mud Gate, and Stannis Baratheon personally drove his soldiers forward as Poor Fellows resisted inside and outside the gate.
• Toman explained that Suleiman’s plan had been to make Stannis believe he had won through his own strength, then ordered the Poor Fellows to retreat into prepared street defenses.
• The royal army broke through the Mud Gate, raised Stannis’s banner, and surged into King’s Landing while Stannis declared the outcome decided.
• Davos Seaworth learned that the Lyseni fleet had entered the Blackwater Rush and that the rebels had chained off the river mouth, then tried to stop the ships.
• A vast eruption of green fire engulfed the Mud Gate and nearby city, killing Stannis’s forces and turning the chained fleets and river into a burning, boiling disaster.
• Toman celebrated the trap’s success as Poor Fellows survivors charged the stunned royal soldiers, and Aryan Celtigar watched from the Tower of the Hand and muttered that he was alive.

Suleiman rallied the frightened Riverlords with a plan to exploit the Westerlands army’s divided command and claimed support from wildfire and allied forces. As Tyrion Lannister’s troops attacked Walter Hean’s camp, Tyrion learned why Walter fought so desperately and doubled the battle rewards.

• Ambrose Butterwell told Suleiman that Gregor Clegane had attacked his camp and that he had retreated, while Arwood Halton accused him of abandoning Walter Hean.
• William Mooton urged Suleiman to retreat, but Suleiman argued that Tyrion Lannister’s reward system would fracture the Westerlands army and enable an ambush.
• Suleiman claimed wildfire had been hidden beneath King's Landing and Harford City, announced that the Reach and Dorne would join the war, and rallied the Riverlords to fight.
• The Westerlands army attacked Walter Hean’s fortifications, and Adam Marbrand questioned why Walter refused to surrender despite learning of Ambrose Butterwell’s flight.
• An elderly Westerlands lord explained that Walter Hean blamed himself for the false spring and the fall of House Targaryen, and saw the war as his chance to atone.
• Tyrion Lannister ordered his soldiers to double the rewards and attack Walter Hean’s camp.

Tyrion Lannister struggled to control the Westerlands army as Suleiman’s forces lured its knights into ambushes and disrupted its camp. Pressured by his lords to attack, Tyrion finally marched out to face Suleiman while Gawen Westerling stayed behind to maintain the siege of Walter Hean’s stronghold.

• The Riverlands cavalry lured the Westerlands vanguard into an ambush, where Suleiman’s main force shot down and surrounded the pursuing knights.
• Tyrion Lannister refused Suleiman’s demand to lift the siege, then watched nighttime raids and confusion cause the Westerlands camp to suffer further losses.
• Tyrion ordered the army to remain in camp and strengthen its defenses, but young Westerlands knights broke ranks and were ambushed by Riverlands cavalry.
• At a military council, Tyrion threatened to punish anyone who disobeyed his orders, while Ser Adam Marbrand and other lords urged a frontal attack and Gawen Westerling warned them about Suleiman.
• Tyrion agreed to march against Suleiman, ordering Gawen Westerling to remain behind and continue besieging Walter Hean’s stronghold.

Suleiman lured the Westerlands army into a prepared corridor by exploiting its lords’ impatience and using repeated peace envoys and cavalry feints. The ambush overwhelmed the vanguard, and Ser Adam Marbrand was captured after being knocked from his horse.

• Suleiman ordered the Riverlords to send three more peace envoys, positioned the Poor Fellows and Riverlands forces for an ambush, and instructed Rosso Brune to draw the Westerlands cavalry into the corridor.
• Suleiman revealed to Arwood Halton that Aerys Targaryen had prepared wildfire in King's Landing, though Suleiman had lied about The Reach and Dorne.
• Tyrion Lannister dismissed the Riverlands envoys and advanced, while Adam Marbrand ignored Tyrion’s orders and led the Westerlands cavalry in pursuit of the retreating Riverlands riders.
• The Riverlands cavalry turned on the scattered Westerlands vanguard, then drew it into a trap of hoof-sized pits and an encirclement by Riverlands infantry and ambushers.
• Adam Marbrand fought on despite his wounds, but Riverlands soldiers knocked him from his horse, pinned him down, and struck him on the head with a flail.

Tyrion Lannister’s exhausted Westerlands army faced Suleiman’s Riverlands forces, whose orderly retreat wore down the enemy before a sudden assault broke their right wing. Suleiman then rallied more than a thousand heavy cavalrymen for a decisive charge, declaring that he would lead them to victory.

• Tyrion Lannister learned that Ser Adam Marbrand had been ambushed and led the Westerlands army toward the Riverlands forces.
• Suleiman ordered the Riverlands army to retreat in formation while their lords stayed at the front, gradually exhausting and frustrating the Westerlands soldiers.
• After Tyrion Lannister refused a proposed cavalry attack, the Westerlands formation grew disorganized, and Suleiman ordered the general assault.
• The Riverlands charge struck the Westerlands army; Gregor Clegane and Tyrion Lannister held their lines, but a gap in Stafford Lannister’s right wing let Riverlands soldiers break through and isolate his troops.
• Suleiman joined more than a thousand hidden Riverlands heavy cavalrymen, rallied them with promises of victory and rewards, and declared himself the Sword of the Seven before preparing to charge.

Daven Lannister stopped Stafford Lannister from fleeing and helped the isolated Westerlands right wing hold its ground, while Tyrion Lannister struggled to decide how to use his reserves. After false reports of an attack on the Westerlands camp prompted Harys Swyft to send the reserves toward Gregor Clegane, Suleiman arrived with a thousand heavy cavalry to strike Stafford’s flank.

• Daven Lannister stopped Stafford Lannister from fleeing, rallied the right wing, and persuaded his father to hold a defensive circle.
• Arwood Halton assessed the fighting and ordered troops to check Gregor Clegane’s advance, while Rosso Brune set a fire and arranged for a disguised knight to spread false news about the camp.
• Tyrion Lannister kept his reserves in place as he weighed whether to reinforce Stafford Lannister or Gregor Clegane.
• A disguised knight told Tyrion Lannister that Riverlands cavalry and House Haigh were attacking the Westerlands camp, and the sight of smoke intensified the panic among the reserves.
• Tyrion Lannister gave confused orders, but Harys Swyft led the reserves toward Gregor Clegane’s battlefield without waiting for a clear command.
• Suleiman charged from the eastern forest with a thousand heavy cavalry and struck toward Stafford Lannister’s surrounded right wing.

Suleiman led the Riverlands army in a crushing encirclement that routed the Westerlands forces, captured Tyrion Lannister, and brought the battle to the brink of a massacre. A messenger carrying Suleiman’s order stopped the slaughter and the surviving Westerlands soldiers surrendered, while Arwood Halton suspected Suleiman wanted Westeros to remain divided.

• Suleiman broke the Westerlands’ right flank, cut down its golden lion banner, and wheeled Riverlands troops into the exposed rear of the center.
• As Westerlands lords fled and the center collapsed, Suleiman led a small cavalry force against Tyrion Lannister and shot him in the shoulder; Riverlands soldiers captured Tyrion alive.
• Gregor Clegane abandoned the failing left flank, and Riverlands forces trapped the Westerlands army against the river and began slaughtering its soldiers.
• Arwood Halton ordered his men to kill the surrounded Westerlands troops, but a messenger blew the surrender horn on Suleiman’s orders.
• The Riverlands soldiers stopped attacking and called for the Westerlands to surrender; the survivors dropped their weapons and armor and wept.

As the Westerlands army collapsed, Gawen Westerling surrendered his remaining troops while Suleiman demanded that captured Westerland lords submit properly. Tyrion Lannister refused to kneel and provoked his captors, but Suleiman declared that he would spare him and set him free.

• Gawen Westerling waited for the fleeing Westerlands nobles to get farther away, then ordered his soldiers to surrender to Walter Hean.
• Suleiman rejected the captured Westerland lords’ friendly greetings, ordered them disarmed, and refused to accept their offer to bend the knee on their own terms.
• A messenger reported that Gawen Westerling had surrendered his remaining troops to Walter Hean.
• Arwood Halton demanded that Tyrion Lannister kiss the ground and submit to House Targaryen, but Tyrion refused and mocked his captors.
• Walter Hean kicked Tyrion and nearly attacked him again, but Suleiman intervened and asked Tyrion what he would have done if he had captured him.
• After Tyrion described humiliating and killing him, Suleiman said his punishment would be harsher and declared that he would spare Tyrion and set him free.

After defeating the Westerlands, Suleiman rallied the Riverlands army with a vision of unity and a shared nation, then proclaimed that the Heavenly Mandate shone bright. At Bitterbridge, news of the royal army’s destruction at King’s Landing and the Westerlands’ defeat shattered The Reach’s confidence, and Randyll Tarly called Suleiman the Seven Kingdoms’ number one.

• Suleiman climbed a mound of corpses and urged the Riverlands soldiers to defeat their final obstacle so they could go home and earn rewards.
• Suleiman declared that the people of the Riverlands shared a nation, recalled their history of conquest, and inspired the army to unite around that identity.
• Suleiman snapped the captured Lannister banner and led the soldiers in chanting, “The Heavenly Mandate shines bright.”
• At a lavish feast in Bitterbridge, Mace Tyrell and The Reach lords mocked Suleiman and expected their rivals to exhaust each other before they took King's Landing.
• A knight reported that wildfire destroyed the royal army at King's Landing and a chained pirate fleet burned the Royal Fleet, wiping out the Baratheon joint army.
• Another knight reported the Westerlands army had been crushed, and Randyll Tarly concluded that even an army of a hundred thousand could not harm Suleiman and called him the Seven Kingdoms’ number one.

The Reach debated whether to fight for the Baratheons or switch allegiance as Randyll Tarly warned that Suleiman had likely used Wildfire and Jon Arryn’s corpse to trap the Vale army. After his victories inspired fervent worship among the Riverlands soldiers, Suleiman released Tyrion Lannister and provoked him with news about Tysha, leaving Tyrion to seek the truth.

• Randyll Tarly warned Mace Tyrell and the Reach lords that Suleiman could have lured the Vale army into attacking Harford City by displaying Jon Arryn’s corpse, then devastated them with Wildfire.
• Randyll Tarly explained that The Reach could still fight by attacking King's Landing or committing to a prolonged war, but both choices carried grave risks and would require full commitment.
• Riverlands soldiers heard that the royal army and the Vale forces had been ravaged by Wildfire, then hailed Suleiman as an agent of the gods.
• Suleiman released Tyrion Lannister without ransom, and Tyrion asked whether Suleiman had killed his missing uncle; Suleiman denied it and threatened that many Lannisters would die by his hand.
• Suleiman told Tyrion that he had met Tysha and said she was heading for the Free Cities, prompting Tyrion to deny caring before asking what she had said.
• Suleiman refused to explain Tysha’s story and told Tyrion to go find his answer.

Tam and the Riverlands defenders refused to surrender Harford City, provoking Yohn Royce into a furious assault after Tam used Jon Arryn's skull as a drinking bowl. The defenders held the walls through a day of slaughter, but Brynden Tully feared Suleiman's soldiers could defeat them.

• Yohn Royce's envoy delivered an ultimatum to Harford City, and the defenders answered by firing the envoy's head back to the Vale army.
• Tam and three Riverlands officers vowed to repay Suleiman by living and dying with the city.
• Tam revealed that his drinking bowl was Jon Arryn's skull, enraging Yohn Royce and the Vale army.
• Yohn Royce ordered an assault, and Tam led the defenders as the Vale soldiers attacked Harford City's walls.
• Tam kept the Black Lion banner raised after an arrow pierced his right arm, inspiring the defenders to continue fighting.
• Brynden Tully watched the defenders resist and warned that Suleiman's soldiers might leave his forces unable to survive.

Yohn Royce’s Vale army captured Harford City after its Riverlands defenders fought to the death, but Tam and the survivors held the inner keep. A buried green explosion then annihilated the city and the surrounding Vale forces, leaving the battlefield stunned before Suleiman’s destructive power.

• Yohn Royce ordered the Vale army to attack Harford City at dawn after Brynden Tully explained why the Riverlands commoners fought so fiercely for Suleiman.
• The Vale army breached the outer city, and two captured Riverlands officers leaped from the walls rather than surrender.
• Tam withdrew his surviving soldiers into the inner keep and vowed to hold until death, while Yohn Royce ordered the Vale army to storm the defenses.
• A deep tremor shook Harford City, and Tam recognized that his mission was complete as he prayed for Suleiman and the Riverlands.
• A colossal pillar of green flame erupted beneath Harford City, destroying the city and killing the surrounding Vale soldiers as survivors watched in terror.

After Harford City was destroyed by Wildfire, Brynden Tully struggled to keep the terrified Vale and Riverlands forces together as news arrived that Stannis Baratheon had lost at King's Landing. Suleiman arrived with his victorious army, the Vale nobles fled, and his troops began pursuing the shattered coalition.

• Harford City and the Vale nobles and soldiers inside were consumed by Wildfire, driving the surviving army into panic.
• Brynden Tully struck Morton Waynwood and ordered him to restore order, while Morton mourned the noble houses lost in the city.
• A messenger reported that Stannis Baratheon had been defeated at King's Landing and the Lannister army of The Westerlands had been annihilated.
• Suleiman arrived with the Riverlands army, and Morton Waynwood and the other Vale nobles fled after learning House Frey was withdrawing.
• Loran Vick seized the Arryn Eagle Banner and presented it to Suleiman, who praised him and ordered the assault.
• The Riverlands army charged the fleeing coalition, while William Mooton and Arwood Halton reflected on Suleiman's rise.

After Suleiman’s army crushed the West Riverlands and Vale coalition, he pardoned the surrendered soldiers and won several hundred knights to his service. Brynden Tully’s flight ended at the Trident, where he took his own life rather than surrender, and his body was brought to Riverrun.

• Suleiman’s army routed the West Riverlands and Vale forces, while Bryn pursued Brynden Tully and Rosso Brune hunted the fleeing Vale nobles.
• Suleiman freed several hundred captured West Riverlands knights, pardoned surrendered soldiers, and received the knights’ oaths of loyalty.
• Brynden Tully and his dwindling party fled through the woods and villages, where a former servant of Riverrun revealed that Tully soldiers had killed her son.
• Clement Piper met Brynden Tully by the river, explained that he would seek Suleiman’s forgiveness, and offered Brynden a route to The Westerlands, but Brynden chose to return to Riverrun for Edmure.
• Morrison’s army and Suleiman’s pursuers trapped Brynden Tully at the Trident; he sent his two knights to surrender and gave Bryn a letter for Suleiman.
• Brynden Tully killed himself beside the Trident, and his headless body was brought to Riverrun, where Edmure Tully saw it.

Suleiman honored Brynden Tully’s request to spare Edmure Tully if he surrendered, but Patrick Morrison’s disguised men used the refugees Edmure had sheltered to seize Riverrun and kill him before the letter arrived. Suleiman ordered Edmure buried with his father and uncle as the Riverlands passed to new masters.

• Suleiman confirmed Brynden Tully’s death, read his letter urging Edmure to surrender, and promised to spare Edmure if he opened Riverrun’s gates and bent the knee.
• Grieving Brynden’s death, Edmure refused to expel refugees from Riverrun despite his knight’s warning that the city’s food supplies were limited.
• Patrick Morrison sent Will and disguised men into Riverrun among the refugees, where they started fires, seized weapons, opened the gates, and let Morrison’s army capture the city.
• Edmure awoke to the attack, blamed himself for letting the refugees in, and was captured and hanged by the rebels.
• Suleiman’s messenger arrived with Brynden’s letter and found Edmure dead; Patrick Morrison admitted to the execution, and Suleiman ordered Edmure buried with his father and uncle according to Tully water-burial rites.

Suleiman summoned the Reach and Dorne to a summit, set his terms for Robert Baratheon, and ordered Patrick Morrison to pacify the West Riverlands. Meanwhile, fleeing Vale knights were hunted through the Riverlands until Moton Waynwood and Horton Redfort confronted the wreckage of their defeat.

• Suleiman invited House Tyrell and House Martell to a summit in King's Landing and challenged Robert Baratheon to meet him in battle after yielding Seaguard for his landing.
• Suleiman appointed Patrick Morrison to govern and command the West Riverlands, ordered House Smallwood exterminated, and sent six thousand Poor Fellows to Riverrun.
• Suleiman ordered Brynden Tully and Edmure Tully's heads displayed throughout the West Riverlands before their bodies received a proper burial.
• A thousand fleeing Vale knights abandoned fallen companions and discarded their armor as Riverlands pursuers and armed commoners attacked them along the road.
• Moton Waynwood and Horton Redfort reached a village Moton had once ordered massacred, and Horton mourned the fallen Arryn banner as he described Suleiman's rise.

Morton Waynwood’s fleeing Vale cavalry was ambushed and nearly annihilated by Riverlands militia, and the survivors were taken prisoner and humiliated. When Morton tried to persuade Rosso Brune to free them through promises of noble rewards, Rosso rejected his birth family and vowed to build his own house and one day destroy the Vale houses.

• Morton Waynwood led the fleeing Vale cavalry into a forest clearing blocked by felled trees, where Riverlands militia attacked with wooden javelins and rocks.
• The militia surrounded the disorganized cavalry and slaughtered them despite their pleas to surrender, until Riverlands knights charged in and separated the survivors from the attackers.
• Fewer than a hundred Vale knights survived and became Suleiman’s prisoners, enduring a humiliating march south as Riverlands commoners mocked them and threw bread into the mud.
• Morton Waynwood approached Rosso Brune and offered gold, castles, and marriages in exchange for releasing the prisoners, but Rosso said House Brune had rejected him.
• Rosso Brune struck Morton with a riding crop, declared he would found his own house, and vowed to invade the Vale and destroy its noble houses.