Chapter Summaries

Eddard Stark met with Roose Bolton at Moat Cailin and rejected Roose’s proposal to pursue the Iron Throne through Robb’s marriage to Myrcella. Meanwhile, Robb and Edmure advanced against the Lannisters, and Gryn Crabb prepared for battle against the Vale as news arrived that the Lords Declarant had hired over six thousand mercenaries.

• Eddard welcomed his bannermen at Moat Cailin, mourned their fallen, and asked a young boy to help protect his children at Winterfell.
• Eddard told Roose that Stannis was Robert’s lawful heir and confirmed that Cersei’s children were not Robert’s, but rejected Roose’s plan to break Robb’s Frey betrothal and seek the Iron Throne.
• Robb captured Ashemark and Lannister gold mines, while Edmure defeated Tywin’s army at the Red Fork and prevented it from reinforcing the Westerlands.
• On the eve of battle, Brienne asked to guard Gryn, and he granted her request and entrusted her with Ice.
• Gryn showed Pell and Amparo a defensible position for five thousand Crabb Longbowmen and prepared his forces to fight the Vale.
• Leyton reported to Gryn that the Lords Declarant had hired three mercenary companies totaling more than six thousand mercenaries.

Gryn Crabb learned that Lyonel Corbray led the Vale forces and suspected their intelligence had leaked, so he tasked Leyton with establishing a dedicated intelligence organization. As the Battle of Gulltown began, Gryn killed Ser Harlan Hunter in a joust and ordered Crabb’s forces to war.

• Gryn learned that Lyonel Corbray commanded nearly ten thousand men and suspected the Vale’s intelligence had reached him too easily.
• Gryn tasked Leyton with establishing an organization to protect intelligence and prevent leaks.
• Gryn inspected the Crabb Longbowmen as they took their positions with stakes and mallets, while Bronze Yohn warned the Vale nobles against underestimating their enemy.
• Gryn met Bronze Yohn before the battle, warned him about the muddy ground, and agreed to joust Ser Harlan Hunter to decide who would sound the war horn.
• Gryn pierced Ser Harlan with his lance, threw his body toward Bronze Yohn, and sounded the Crabb war horn.

Gryn Crabb’s forces used muddy ground, barricades, and disciplined archery to devastate the Vale attacks at Gulltown. Bronze Yohn led a final assault that reached the Crabb stakes, where he ordered his exhausted knights to charge over them.

• Brienne raised the Swamp Marigold Banner, and Gryn Crabb’s longbowmen prepared their stake barricades while Gryn’s earlier plowing left the battlefield soft and muddy.
• Gryn killed a Vale knight before the battle, boosting Crabb morale, while Bronze Yohn returned to the Vale formation and ordered men to retrieve Ser Harlan.
• Ser Symond Templeton and Lord Benedar Belmore led cavalry toward the Crabb line, but mud, arrows, and stakes wrecked their attacks; Lena killed Ser Symond, and Ser Amparo Thorns killed Lord Belmore.
• Bronze Yohn led more than six thousand dismounted Vale knights into another advance through the mud and Crabb arrow volleys, with the Redfort sons and Bronze Yohn’s sons joining him.
• The Vale knights suffered heavy losses but reached the barricade, where Bronze Yohn ordered them to jump over the stakes and attack.

The Vale knights’ attack on Crabb’s defenses collapsed into a rout, while bribed Free Riders helped provoke the charge and Gryn’s warriors slaughtered the fallen. That night, the surviving Vale lords mourned their dead and debated appealing to the Red Keep, as Lord Corbray arrived with news that Lysa Tully had taken her own life.

• Bronze Yohn’s exhausted Vale knights failed to break through Crabb’s fences and fled into the muddy ground as arrows struck them.
• Ser Gerold Hunter and Lady Anya could not stop the rear cavalry from charging after bribed Free Riders shouted calls to attack; the Free Riders then slipped away from the ranks.
• Gryn and Littlefinger were revealed to have separately bribed the Free Riders to intensify the battle for their own political aims.
• Vale cavalry horses panicked in the bog, and Crabb warriors under Amparo Thorns marched out to kill the wounded on Gryn’s order.
• Lady Anya, Ser Gerold, and Lord Horton mourned the dead and discussed protesting to King Joffrey, while Lord Horton doubted the Red Keep would heed them.
• Lord Corbray said Petyr had sent him to support the Declaration of Lords Declarant, then revealed that Lysa Tully had taken her own life.

Lord Lyonel revealed that Petyr Baelish had secured a Lannister alliance and Myrcella's betrothal to young Duke Robert, winning the Lords Declarant's support. As the Vale prepared to face Gryn Crabb's forces, Gryn readied a fire-bull attack and sent Leyton toward King's Landing with Bronze Yohn's armor.

• Lord Lyonel told Lady Anya and the other Vale lords that Lysa Tully's death was likely her own choice and that Petyr Baelish had arranged Myrcella's betrothal to young Duke Robert in exchange for the Vale supporting Joffrey and fighting the rebellion.
• Lady Anya and the other lords accepted Baelish as Robert's foster father, while Lord Lyonel revealed he had brought ten thousand soldiers and had supplied the camp with healers, wine, and help for the wounded.
• Gryn Crabb ordered Ser Pell to lead a night attack with two thousand fire bulls and warned him to time the fire wall carefully.
• Gryn told Leyton to take Bronze Yohn's armor to King's Landing through the Iron Gate and deliver it to King Joffrey.
• Lady Anya placed the Vale camp's remaining cavalry and infantry under Lord Lyonel's command, and Lord Horton warned him about the Crackclaw Point archers.

Crabb’s fire-oxen assault shattered the Vale camp, and Lord Gryn’s forces continued taking Vale strongholds as he explained his strategy to Brienne. In King’s Landing, Queen Regent Cersei prepared to use the noblewomen for her son’s protection as Stannis approached.

• Lady Anya and the Vale lords saw fire and felt the ground shake before Crabb’s fire oxen charged into their camp.
• Ser Pell led more than three thousand Crabb Soldiers into the chaos, and the attack killed Lord Leonor and routed the Vale forces.
• Lord Gryn celebrated the victory in Gulltown, then told Brienne that he intended to keep fighting the Vale until he was satisfied.
• Crabb Soldiers took Runestone by disguising themselves as surviving members of the Declaration of Lords Declarant, while House Waxley surrendered Wickenden to Lord Gryn.
• Queen Regent Cersei comforted noblewomen in the Sept, then ordered the Master of Household to invite them to Maegor’s Hold when Stannis’s army reached King’s Landing.

Tyrion convened the Small Council to discuss Lord Gryn’s campaign in the Vale and Tywin’s order concerning his army. Cersei rejected Tywin’s proposed attack on Dragonstone, but the meeting ended with her throwing a wine cup at Pycelle, who had ducked under the table.

• Tyrion joked with the councilors about dueling Stannis before Cersei arrived and asked after Joffrey.
• Tyrion revealed that Joffrey had received enchanted Royce armor and used Gryn’s victories to provoke Cersei.
• Tyrion told the council that Tywin wanted Gryn’s army withdrawn from the Vale and ordered to attack Dragonstone, but Cersei argued that Gryn should return to defend King’s Landing.
• Tyrion reminded Cersei that Tywin might have a deeper reason for his order and silently suggested Myrcella, prompting Cersei to dismiss the Vale’s protests.
• Cersei ordered the Vale folk to submit, then hurled her wine cup at Pycelle, who had hidden beneath the table.

Cersei tried to secure power through Joffrey and Lancel while Daenerys prepared Crackclaw Point for the threat of Stannis’s forces. The chapter ended with Surana giving Daenerys the leather armor entrusted to her by Gryn’s mother before Daenerys led soldiers to Mermaid Harbor.

• Tyrion told Cersei that the war might soon be over, and Cersei left the throne room after warning him to survive.
• Joffrey planned to confront Robert Arryn and insisted that he would personally defeat Stannis, while Cersei encouraged him and later drew Lancel into her confidence.
• Daenerys disciplined her baby dragons by threatening to halve their roast meat and learned that ships bearing Stannis’s Flaming Heart Banner had appeared near Mermaid Harbor.
• Daenerys ordered a feast for the outsiders in Mermaid Harbor and rallied Crabb’s warriors to defend Crackclaw Point if Stannis invaded.
• Surana brought Daenerys the leather armor entrusted to her by Gryn’s mother as Daenerys prepared to lead soldiers to Mermaid Harbor.

Daenerys thanked Lady Surana for her advice about the Crabb weapon, then listened as Lady Surana began telling its story. At Bitterbridge, Mace and Margaery discussed Gryn’s victory in the Vale and the political difficulties Margaery might face as queen, leaving Mace to seek Olenna’s counsel.

• Daenerys thanked Lady Surana for her kindness and asked to hear the weapon’s story.
• Mace studied Gryn’s victory in the Vale and envied his military success, then considered fighting at Storm’s End.
• Margaery asked Mace about Stannis’s approach to King’s Landing, and he assured her Stannis would lose.
• Margaery and Mace discussed whether Gryn could become an ally when she was queen and how Cersei’s hostility might complicate matters.
• Mace recognized that they needed Lady Olenna’s wisdom.

Mace Tyrell planned to return to Highgarden while leaving Garlan in command, and promised his son a campaign after the fighting at King's Landing. Gryn Crabb captured Ironoaks after defeating the Waynwood family's cavalry, then accepted its surrender in King Joffrey's name.

• Mace agreed to take Margaery back to Highgarden and leave Garlan with the army near King's Landing.
• Garlan asked Mace to let him lead troops, and Mace promised him a campaign after the battle for King's Landing ended.
• After Gryn's catapult delivered a dress into Ironoaks, Lady Anya's sons led a cavalry charge against the Crabb forces.
• Crabb spearmen and archers broke the charge, and Brienne killed Donnel and Wallace Waynwood after they broke through the encirclement.
• Harrold Hardyng led Lady Anya's relatives out of Ironoaks and surrendered the castle to Gryn, who promised them safety in Joffrey's name.

Gryn Crabb considered how to rule the Vale after his forces captured the Gates of the Moon, while Petyr Baelish faced the loss of his political allies and prepared to leave the Eyrie. Petyr told Catelyn Tully that Eddard Stark had returned safely to Winterfell, then confronted her with the possibility that she too had played a role in Lysa's death.

• Gryn Crabb discussed the Vale's fertile lands and warned Lena that his conquest could create future hatred and revenge.
• Petyr Baelish lamented the defeat of the Vale forces and the loss of his allies, then decided to speak with the commander of King Joffrey's army.
• Petyr told Catelyn Tully that Eddard Stark had returned safely to Winterfell with Sansa and Arya, and asked her to protect Little Robert if he did not return.
• Catelyn confronted Petyr with a dagger and demanded to know where Little Robert was; Petyr said the boy was with Maester Colemon in his bedchamber.
• Petyr accused Catelyn of having intended to stab him and suggested that, without his intervention, she might have killed Lysa herself.

Petyr explained to Catelyn why he had helped Lysa poison Jon Arryn, then offered to confess so Little Robert might be safe. At the Gates of the Moon, Gryn Crabb planned to trap Vale reinforcements and demanded the maester's loyalty.

• Petyr told Catelyn that Lysa poisoned Jon Arryn because she feared losing Little Robert, and that he had arranged the poison and directed Eddard toward the truth.
• Petyr said he would confess to poisoning Jon Arryn to protect Little Robert and urged Catelyn to let Gryn Crabb overlook her presence; he embraced her and left, but Catelyn called him back.
• Gryn studied Roland Arryn I's map and ordered his soldiers to hold the Gates of the Moon rather than assault the Eyrie.
• Gryn planned to use the besieged Eyrie as bait, ambushing and defeating Vale forces that came to reinforce it.
• After the war council, Gryn asked the Gates of the Moon's maester to serve him and learned that the rookery held 102 ravens.

Gryn Crabb pressed Maester Erlin to help him secure the Vale and negotiated with Petyr Baelish for the Bloody Gate. When Catelyn Stark accused Petyr of murdering Lysa, Gryn had him seized, and Catelyn cut his throat.

• Gryn spared Maester Erlin after he swore fealty, then questioned him about the Vale's lords and what might persuade them to support House Arryn.
• Gryn proposed using promises of marriage, titles, land, and gold to draw the Vale's vassals into action, and entrusted Erlin with recording the Vale's new history.
• Petyr Baelish and Catelyn Stark arrived at the Gates of the Moon as envoys from the Eyrie, and Gryn demanded the Bloody Gate as a condition for peace talks.
• Petyr gave Gryn a letter from Robert Arryn authorizing the Bloody Gate's surrender, and Gryn sent Lena to deliver it.
• Catelyn revealed herself to Gryn as Sansa's mother, and Gryn affirmed House Crabb's bond with House Stark.
• Catelyn accused Petyr of murdering Lysa Tully, and after Gryn's guards seized him, she slashed his throat with Ned's dagger.

After Petyr's death, Gryn Crabb comforted Lady Catelyn, drugged her with sour wine, and sent her away from the Eyrie. Meanwhile, Stannis's fleet attacked King's Landing, where Lannister defenses battered the invasion and wildfire appeared among the ships.

• Gryn Crabb told Lady Catelyn that Theon Greyjoy had betrayed The North, then served her sour wine that left her unconscious.
• At dawn, Lady Catelyn traveled away from the Bloody Gate in a carriage escorted by Swamp Marigold Banners.
• Stannis ordered his army to build rafts while awaiting Ser Imry's fleet, and Davos Seaworth warned him that Melisandre might take credit for his victories.
• Ser Imry led Stannis's fleet into the Blackwater Rush, where Tyrion's Lannister forces attacked the ships with flaming pitch jars, arrows, stones, and cavalry.
• As Stannis's ships suffered heavy losses, wildfire struck the water near Ser Imry's fleet and the soldiers cried out in terror.

As Stannis's fleet threatened King's Landing, Joffrey rode to the battlefront while Cersei gathered the noblewomen and Myrcella in Maegor's Hold. Cersei warned Myrcella that she would destroy the castle with wildfire rather than let Stannis take it, but vowed she would not surrender easily.

• Joffrey ordered a captive girl to kiss Lion's Tooth, then rode toward Mud Gate with Sandor Clegane and his followers.
• At Mud Gate, Joffrey questioned the sellswords and rode off to find Tyrion on the city wall.
• Osfryd Kettleblack escorted Geoffrey of Crackclaw Point into Maegor's Hold, where Cersei ordered him to watch the assembled noblewomen.
• Cersei told Myrcella that the women would be in danger if King's Landing fell and revealed that her pyromancer would destroy Maegor's Hold with wildfire.
• Myrcella said she would rather die than be captured, and Cersei kissed her forehead and promised not to surrender easily.

During the Battle of the Blackwater, Tyrion trapped Stannis’s fleet and used wildfire to devastate it, then helped rally the defenders as the battle turned against Stannis. After the Lannister-Tyrell victory, Tywin ordered Tyrion to leave for Riverrun as an envoy to secure Jaime’s release.

• Cersei ordered captured deserters executed, refused refuge to civilians, and later sent Joffrey back to the Red Keep despite Tyrion’s orders.
• Tyrion raised the chain across the Blackwater Rush, trapping Stannis’s fleet as wildfire engulfed ships and soldiers, though some of Stannis’s forces reached the southern bank.
• Tyrion armed himself for battle and sent Joffrey back under Ser Osmund’s protection, while Ser Jacelyn Bywater went to fight Stannis’s forces in his place.
• Lancel Lannister wore Renly’s armor and led Crowned Stag-bannered cavalry against Stannis’s troops, while the Lannister-Tyrell army and Tywin’s cavalry struck and forced Stannis to retreat.
• Ser Addam Marbrand told Tyrion that Tywin had appointed him envoy to Riverrun and ordered him to depart immediately.

Tyrion was forced to leave King's Landing under Tywin's orders while the city celebrated Tywin as its savior. Catelyn awoke in a carriage bound for Winterfell, where Mya Stone explained that Lord Crabb had arranged her transfer and revealed she had once served Nestor Royce.

• Tyrion learned that Ser Jacelyn Bywater had died and that Bronn and Podrick were no longer with him.
• Tyrion insisted that Ser Addam help him mount his horse, then left to obey Tywin's orders.
• The people of King's Landing cheered Tywin as he rode into the city in elaborate armor.
• Catelyn awoke in a carriage bound for Winterfell and learned that Lord Crabb's guards were escorting her.
• Mya Stone told Catelyn that her wine had contained a sleeping draught and that she had formerly served Lord Nestor Royce.

Mya told Lady Catelyn about her lost beloved and her memories of her father, then delivered Lord Crabb’s instructions that Catelyn must travel to Winterfell. At the Gates of the Moon, Gryn Crabb rewarded Gerwin Hersy for revealing House Arryn’s wealth and learned that the Vale’s people still hoped for Arryn rule.

• Mya told Lady Catelyn that Michel Redfort had died in battle and recalled the giant man she believed was her father.
• Mya gave Catelyn Lord Crabb’s letter for Lord Eddard and explained that Crabb had ordered her to escort Catelyn to Winterfell.
• Catelyn asked to travel to Riverrun, but Mya relayed Crabb’s warning that the guards’ families could be punished if they disobeyed his orders.
• Gerwin Hersy arrived with Ryon Hersy and Miranda Hersy, then showed Gryn a record of House Arryn’s wealth and a list of its holdings.
• Gryn made Gerwin Baron of Ironoaks in return for his loyalty and information.
• Gerwin told Gryn that Vale residents still hoped for House Arryn to rule, and Gryn asked whether they would continue longing for it even if House Crabb took power.

Gryn secured House Hersy's support in taking the Eyrie, while Robb Stark captured the Crag and woke under Jeyne Westerling's care. The chapter ended with Robb meeting Jeyne as he began recovering from his wound.

• Gryn rejected Gerwin Hersy's proposal to foster Robert Arryn and said King Joffrey would judge Robert's suspected parentage.
• Ryon Hersy accidentally revealed that Ser Vardis Egen had arranged to help House Hersy take the Eyrie, and Gryn promised Egen a post among the Gold Cloaks.
• Gryn ordered Gerwin to use Harrold Hardyng to prove his loyalty, promising honor for House Hersy if he succeeded.
• Ryon led fifty-two elite Blue Cloaks to the Eyrie, and with Ser Vardis's help they captured Robert Arryn.
• Robb Stark took the Crag after joining the assault, was wounded by an arrow, and remained unconscious for two days.
• Robb woke and met Jeyne Westerling, who had been caring for his wound.

While recovering at the Crag, Robb Stark fell in love with Jeyne Westerling and announced her as his future queen, provoking Black Walder Frey and exposing the threat to his marriage pact. Ser Brynden Tully warned Robb that Tywin Lannister would soon target him after defeating Stannis, leaving Robb to weigh his next move and the consequences for Jeyne’s family.

• Jeyne Westerling nursed Robb through a fever, and the two became lovers while he was still wounded.
• Robb introduced Jeyne as his fiancée and future queen, and Black Walder Frey demanded that he honor his pact with House Frey.
• Black Walder drew his warhammer and threatened Jeyne, but Robb stood down after she asked him to spare Black Walder.
• Robb’s bannermen rallied behind him, and Ser Brynden Tully arrived and welcomed Jeyne into the family.
• Brynden told Robb that Stannis had been crushed by the Lannister-Tyrell army and warned that Tywin would soon attack him in the Westerlands.
• Robb explained that he had married Jeyne to preserve his honor and protect her from losing everything if her father returned to the Lannisters.