Chapter Summaries

After capturing the Legg stronghold, Suleiman secured Ser Gyles and his family, then discovered vast stores of food, weapons, armor, and valuables. As his army celebrated and received new equipment, Suleiman reviewed the spoils and found a ledger of Kingsroad tolls and merchant contributions.

• Suleiman ordered guards to house Ser Gyles and his family safely under watch.
• Lushen reported that the stronghold held three full granaries and abundant salted meat and fish, so Suleiman ordered a feast without alcohol.
• Suleiman inspected the Legg family armory and ordered the best weapons and armor reserved for veterans, with usable equipment distributed among the rest of his soldiers.
• Suleiman's newly equipped soldiers celebrated outside the inner keep while its hungry garrison watched.
• Suleiman reviewed the captured inventory of weapons, armor, and valuables, then noticed a separate ledger recording Kingsroad tolls and merchant caravan contributions.

After discovering Foulkeep’s lucrative toll records, Suleiman recognized the tower’s strategic value but turned to the siege of Willow Town’s inner keep. Roger Leger refused to surrender even when Suleiman threatened his family, and Lady Wilher rejected his attempt to persuade her to call off her son, leaving Suleiman prepared to let the Legers fight to the end.

• Suleiman studied Foulkeep’s toll records and saw that controlling the tower could give him command over the Kingsroad and the Trident crossing.
• Suleiman called on Roger Leger to surrender Willow Town’s inner keep, but Roger cursed him and threatened to wait for his son Jarell and a relief army.
• Suleiman brought Lady Wilher before the walls, but Roger said he would sacrifice her rather than surrender his family’s castle.
• Suleiman asked Lady Wilher to write to Jarell urging him to surrender Foulkeep, but she argued that dying in battle for his father and family was honorable.
• Suleiman accepted her refusal, drank his ale, and declared, “Then let them bleed dry.”

Suleiman tried to recruit Gyles Legg by offering him the lordship of Willow Town, but Gyles refused to betray his brother and nephew. Suleiman then threatened to frame Gyles for helping him capture the castle, leaving Gyles facing a choice between accepting the offer and being blamed for treason.

• After Lady Wilher left, Suleiman summoned Gyles Legg and offered him the remaining breakfast.
• Suleiman said he could make Gyles lord of Willow Town, and Gyles angrily rejected the proposal as a demand to kill his brother Roger and nephew Jarell.
• Gyles defended his loyalty to House Legg and his oath, while Suleiman listened without reacting.
• Suleiman told Gyles that refusing would lead him to send a lookalike wearing Gyles's armor and House Legg's livery to make the surrounding lords believe Gyles had conspired against Roger.
• Suleiman argued that the lords would find a tale of Gyles betraying his brother more believable than a minor noble capturing Willow Town in three days.

Suleiman broke Gyles Legg’s resistance by threatening the safety and reputation of his family, leaving him poised to become lord of Willow Town. Toman arrived with exhausted troops, and Suleiman received a letter from Old Nicken urging him to reclaim Foulkeep and continue his family line.

• Suleiman pressured Gyles Legg to accept his offer by warning that his family would suffer if he died branded a traitor, and Gyles broke down.
• Suleiman left Gyles and learned that Toman had arrived outside town with troops from Valleydeep Town after a forced night march.
• Toman greeted Suleiman and told him that Lady Lorna missed him and was angry that he had not visited her.
• Toman delivered a sealed letter from Old Nicken, which urged Suleiman to stay safe, marry, have an heir, and reclaim Foulkeep.

Suleiman ordered his forces to retake Foulkeep and destabilize the Leger family’s lands with rumors, fires, and the movement of smallfolk. At Foulkeep, Jarell Leger ordered the tower demolished, but Ser Adam warned that it was their only defensible foothold.

• Suleiman sent Toman’s men to rest in Willow Town before taking over its defenses and the siege of the inner keep.
• Suleiman gave Bryn three hundred men to retake Foulkeep and authorized him to kill nobles encountered in battle.
• Suleiman ordered Hek to spread false rumors, cause chaos, burn property, and guide fleeing smallfolk to his lands while distracting the Leger family’s vassals.
• Jarell Leger arrived at Foulkeep, scorned its tower and village, and ordered his soldiers to tear down the tower.
• Ser Adam warned Jarell that demolishing the tower would leave his men exposed without shelter or defenses.

Jarell Leger ordered House Foulkeep’s tower and village destroyed, then had its ancestral graves desecrated despite his knights’ protests. The excavation uncovered a Valyrian steel sword, leaving Ser Adam stunned as Jarell claimed the weapon.

• Jarell Leger ordered his soldiers to tear down the Little Tower and burn the riverside village.
• Jarell ordered the soldiers to dig up House Foulkeep’s ancestral graves, and he kicked Ser Adam aside when the knights objected.
• The soldiers opened the graves while Jarell watched, until one of them uncovered a sword wrapped in oilcloth and leather.
• Jarell took the sword and admired its dark, rippled blade.
• Ser Adam recognized the weapon as a Valyrian steel sword.

Jarell Leger and Ser Adam uncovered a Valyrian steel sword and an old diary in a tomb belonging to House Foulkeep. The diary revealed Fallow Foulkeep’s account of life in King’s Landing during Queen Rhaenyra’s rule, and Ser Adam continued reading as the surviving pages condemned the nobles’ cruelty.

• Jarell Leger doubted that House Foulkeep could have owned such a weapon, but Ser Adam identified the sword as Valyrian steel.
• Ser Adam searched the opened tomb and found a fragile, leather-bound diary wrapped in rotted oilcloth.
• Jarell mocked the diary’s inscription, which named Fallow Foulkeep an oathbreaker, while Ser Adam opened it and began reading.
• Fallow’s diary described serving young Lord Davos Deddings in King’s Landing while Queen Rhaenyra’s rule grew increasingly oppressive.
• Fallow recorded Denver’s advice that Davos leave for the Riverlands and Davos’s refusal to abandon his father, who was fighting for the queen.
• Fallow condemned the nobles and knights for exploiting the common people while claiming to follow the Seven.

Ser Adam read Fallow Foulkeep’s diary, which recounted how witnessing the suffering of Flea Bottom’s people led Fallow to join the Shepherd and train commoners to fight. The diary ended as Fallow described the spark that ignited the destruction of King’s Landing: Queen Helaena’s death.

• Ser Adam read Fallow’s account of poverty in Flea Bottom and his disillusionment with the nobles and knights of House Foulkeep.
• Fallow heard the Shepherd denounce dragons and nobles, then joined his followers as their guard.
• After Syrax burned a crowd pleading with the queen for mercy, Fallow left his family and began teaching commoners to fight.
• The Shepherd told Fallow to wait for anger to build until the people judged King’s Landing by fire.
• Fallow wrote that Queen Helaena’s death came as the spark, and Ser Adam trembled as he reached the account of the riot.

Jarell Legg found the Valyrian steel sword Lament in a tomb at Foulkeep and claimed it for House Legg, dismissing the inscription that revealed a secret about the true dragon’s blood. As Jarell rode toward Willow Town, an armed force ambushed him and shot him from his horse.

• Ser Adam read a damaged account describing Fallow’s slaying of Syrax with Lament and a cryptic secret about the king, true dragon blood, and a stone dragon.
• Jarell took Lament from the tomb, called Fallow a traitor and thief, and decided the sword would become House Legg’s ancestral blade.
• Ser Adam warned Jarell that keeping Lament could provoke House Royce, so Jarell ordered the party to keep the discovery secret.
• The next morning, the party reported a missing soldier, and Ser Adam suggested that he had deserted.
• Jarell encountered armed crossbowmen and archers on the road to Willow Town, and their volley pierced him and his horse.

Bryn’s crossbowmen and archers stopped the charge of House Legg’s knights, and Bryn helped bring down Sir Adam. After his soldiers routed the remaining infantry, Bryn ordered that no one be left alive.

• Jarell Legg was killed by the first volley, and Sir Adam rallied the knights to charge Bryn’s forces.
• Bryn steadied the panicked crossbowmen and ordered them and the archers to fire together at the charging knights and their horses.
• The volley threw four knights from their horses, and Bryn knocked Sir Adam from his wounded mount.
• Suleiman’s soldiers charged and routed House Legg’s infantry, while Bryn killed the wounded knights who pleaded for mercy.
• Bryn surrounded the surviving House Legg infantry and ordered his soldiers to leave no one alive.

Suleiman rejected an offer to surrender and kept the siege going, then received a Valyrian steel sword and an old book containing a prophecy about awakening a stone dragon with true dragon's blood. Roger Legg waited for reinforcements, unaware that Jarell had already been killed.

• Olivier urged Suleiman to accept the inner keep's surrender, but Suleiman insisted the war was not over.
• Bryn reported that Jarell Legg had died in an ambush, and Suleiman silently accepted responsibility for the killing.
• Bryn explained that Jarell had destroyed Foulkeep and desecrated Suleiman's ancestors' graves, giving Olivier a reason for the attack.
• Bryn presented Suleiman with a Valyrian steel sword and an old book about his ancestor, in which Suleiman found a prophecy mentioning a stone dragon and true dragon's blood.
• Roger Legg watched from the inner keep's battlements, hoping Jarell would arrive with reinforcements to attack Suleiman from both sides.

As House Legg’s lands descended into looting and disorder, Suleiman captured Willow Town and offered shelter and new farmland to the refugees. He organized them to harvest House Legg’s crops and livestock before leading them to his lands, where they would begin again.

• Suleiman ordered Olivier to send everything movable from Willow Town to Lion's Den as House Legg’s lands fell into chaos.
• Hek and his men burned and looted villages while House Legg’s vassals exploited the disorder and House Deddings reclaimed contested lands.
• At the Green Fork, Suleiman executed looters, fed and sheltered the refugees, and invited them to settle on his lands with tax relief and supplies.
• Suleiman ordered the refugees to harvest House Legg’s ripe crops and gather abandoned livestock under his soldiers’ protection.
• Lushen directed the refugees to pack their harvest and animals for transport to Suleiman’s lands, where they would receive new homes.

Brynden Tully and Robin Leger rode toward Willow Town and heard refugees describe how Suleiman’s soldiers had both displaced them and protected them from looters. They entered House Legg’s devastated lands, where Robin blamed Suleiman for the destruction.

• Brynden Tully rode with Robin Leger and a Tully force toward Willow Town after Suleiman’s rapid victory disrupted the war.
• Brynden stopped to question refugees fleeing Lord Leger’s lands, and an old farmer explained that Suleiman offered land, food, water, and an escort.
• The farmer and an old woman said Suleiman’s soldiers had protected refugees and punished the brigands who preyed on them, despite having started the war.
• Brynden listened to the refugees, then ordered the riders onward toward Willow Town.
• The riders entered House Legg’s lands and found burned villages, barren fields, and corpses as Robin accused Suleiman of destroying everything.

Brynden Tully and Robin Leger encountered Suleiman Foulkeep’s soldiers burning a village and executing men accused of robbing and killing refugees. After witnessing the soldiers decapitate the condemned and dispose of their bodies, Brynden asked Dell to take Riverrun’s envoys to see Suleiman.

• Robin Leger condemned the devastation across his family’s lands as he rode with Brynden Tully toward rising smoke.
• Brynden and Robin found Dell’s soldiers sentencing men accused of stealing from refugees and murdering a farmer.
• Dell ordered the condemned men hanged under Lord Suleiman’s law, and his soldiers cut off their heads afterward.
• Robin charged forward to stop what he called brutality and desecration, while Brynden identified himself and Robin as envoys from Riverrun.
• Dell agreed to take the envoys to Suleiman after the soldiers finished disposing of the bodies, and Brynden asked to see the Black Lion.

Suleiman’s siege of a House Legg castle continued while Olivier reported the spoils and refugees taken from Willow Town. Suleiman rewarded the newcomers and promised the soldiers a share of the castle’s wealth, deliberately encouraging their appetite for war as he prepared for future conflicts.

• Olivier reported that the raid on Willow Town had yielded wealth, weapons, armor, food, livestock, farming tools, and more than two thousand people willing to follow Suleiman.
• Suleiman ordered the newcomers settled in existing villages and distributed grain, tools, and livestock among them, despite Olivier’s advice to make them pay.
• Suleiman promised the soldiers the castle’s wealth if they breached it, on the condition that they did not harm the people inside.
• Olivier warned Suleiman that rewarding soldiers with spoils would make them abandon farming and hunger for war.
• Suleiman ignored Olivier’s warning because he wanted his soldiers to fight for their own prosperity and be ready for the wars to come.

Suleiman captured and stripped a series of knightly castles in House Legg's territory by offering their defenders safety in exchange for surrender and their wealth. As his soldiers eagerly gathered the spoils, Olivier worried about the greed and violence the campaign was fostering.

• Lushen organized an assault, but the first castle surrendered and its goods and civilians' possessions were inventoried and divided among Suleiman's soldiers.
• Olivier watched the soldiers celebrate their shares and worried they would no longer return to peaceful farming.
• Suleiman explained that sharing the captured wealth would keep his soldiers from slaughtering civilians and preserve his reputation as a protector of the Riverlands.
• Suleiman used Ser Gessit's surrender letter to make Gessit's castle surrender without a fight, then had his soldiers strip it bare.
• Suleiman's column repeated the tactic at more than a dozen castles, while Olivier watched uneasily as the spoils piled up.

After capturing a castle, Suleiman rewarded his soldiers and offered the commoners compensation, safe passage, or a new life on his lands. Olivier warned that the spoils would make the army dangerously warlike, but Suleiman prioritized victory and hinted that another war might come.

• Suleiman ordered Olivier to distribute the castle’s loot among the soldiers, whose cheers confirmed their loyalty to him.
• Suleiman sent the families of captured knights to Willow Town and offered the commoners land or compensation and safe passage; most chose to stay and farm for him.
• As night fell, Suleiman anticipated an envoy from Riverrun and opposition from House Legg’s vassals.
• Olivier warned Suleiman that rewarding the soldiers with plunder was creating an Ironborn-like Old Way that could threaten peace.
• Suleiman argued that he needed a loyal army to win first and asked Olivier how he knew there would not be another war.

Suleiman met Brynden Tully, the Blackfish, in Willow Town to answer Riverrun’s accusations that his war against House Legg had disrupted the Riverlands. He defended his actions and confronted Robin Leger over House Legg’s crimes, leaving Robin unable to answer.

• Messengers from Willow Town watched Suleiman’s soldiers celebrate their spoils and regretted not having joined his campaign.
• Suleiman ordered Lushen to watch House Legg’s remaining bannermen and withdraw rather than engage if they moved troops.
• Suleiman and Olivier met Brynden Tully, who challenged Suleiman to answer for breaking the king’s peace.
• Suleiman said he would stand trial at Riverrun if Roger Leger went with him, and blamed Roger for refusing peace and choosing war.
• Olivier told Brynden that Roger had rejected negotiations and insulted his wife, while Robin Leger accused Suleiman of launching a sneak attack.
• Suleiman cited his public war proclamation and House Legg’s raids and desecration of his ancestral home, then demanded Robin answer him.

Suleiman defended his war against House Legg before Brynden Tully, arguing that House Legg had started the conflict by occupying his ancestral keep. After presenting evidence and surrendering the Valyrian steel sword Lament and an ancestor’s diary to Riverrun, he agreed to accept its judgment, leaving the war’s resolution in Brynden’s hands.

• Suleiman challenged Brynden Tully to consider who had struck first, insisting House Legg had attacked his ancestral keep and desecrated his family’s tomb.
• Brynden acknowledged that House Legg had violated the laws of noble warfare, and Suleiman presented documents showing Roger Leger had ordered the occupation of Foulkeep.
• Suleiman said he would accept trial and offered Riverrun the sword Lament, which Brynden identified as House Royce’s Valyrian steel sword.
• Suleiman gave Brynden an ancestor’s diary describing the sword’s origins and his family’s history, seeking honor and recognition for his house.
• Brynden said Suleiman had proved his righteousness but insisted the war must end, and Suleiman agreed to accept Riverrun’s judgment.

Suleiman negotiated with Brynden Tully and Robin Legg, agreeing to Riverrun's involvement while demanding the return of his lands, ransom for his prisoners, and permission to rebuild Foulkeep. That night, he displayed Jarell Legg's body beneath the inner keep, and Roger Legg recognized his dead son and broke down in grief.

• Suleiman demanded the return of his lands, a ransom for his prisoners, and permission to rebuild Foulkeep, while offering to negotiate with Roger Legg under Riverrun's protection.
• Brynden Tully said he would enter the inner keep the next day to hear Roger's explanation and negotiate terms, and Suleiman accepted Riverrun's ruling.
• Suleiman ordered soldiers to display Jarell Legg's corpse beneath the inner keep and shout that the young heir was dead and his body was being returned.
• Roger Legg heard the shouts, went to look through an arrow slit, recognized Jarell's body, and cried out in grief while cursing Suleiman.