Chapter Summaries

Robb rejected Edmure’s plea to spare Rickard Karstark, executed him for murder and treason, and announced his wedding to Jeyne Westerling. Tyrion learned of the wedding from Reynald Westerling and prepared to meet Robb the following morning.

• Edmure proposed keeping Rickard Karstark alive as a hostage and relayed Tyrion’s offer of a marriage alliance with Cersei, but Robb and Ser Brynden treated the Lannisters’ offer with suspicion.
• Robb declared that Rickard Karstark would die and that he would marry Jeyne Westerling in ten days, asking Edmure to arrange the wedding.
• Robb executed Rickard Karstark before a crowd at Riverrun, and heavy rain began as the axe fell.
• Tyrion discussed Robb’s judgment with Bronn and said that Lord Tywin would love the young king to death.
• Reynald Westerling told Tyrion that his sister would marry Robb in nine days and summoned the Lannister envoys to meet the king the next morning.

Cersei learned that Tyrion had proposed marrying her to Edmure Tully and confronted Tywin, arguing that she could better serve House Lannister in King's Landing. Tywin insisted that she could contribute most by accepting a suitable marriage to help end the war.

• Osney Kettleblack reported that Tyrion had suggested Cersei marry Edmure Tully, and Cersei angrily went to see Tywin.
• Cersei entered Tywin's study but became deferential under his gaze and tried to persuade him that she was House Lannister's most valuable child in the Red Keep.
• Cersei proposed expanding the Royal Fleet, and Tywin challenged her to explain how the Crown could pay for it.
• Tywin said he had to keep funding Joffrey's war and that ending the conflict quickly was essential to preserving House Lannister and the Iron Throne.
• Cersei accused Tywin of trading her for peace and refused to marry, but Tywin said he would choose a suitable husband for her.

Lord Tywin ordered Cersei to marry for House Lannister and discussed alliances with Kevan, including a proposed match between Cersei and House Tully. Four days later, Lord Gryn read a secret love letter from Cersei at the Eyrie and decided he needed Jaime Lannister.

• Cersei refused Lord Tywin's order to marry, but he insisted she obey and warned her against harming House Lannister.
• Lord Tywin ordered Kevan to interrogate and execute anyone in the Tower of the Hand who leaked information.
• Kevan proposed offering Myrcella to Lord Gryn to secure his loyalty, but Lord Tywin doubted the match would be valuable enough.
• Lord Tywin chose a Tully marriage for Cersei and planned additional marriage pacts to keep House Tyrell allied with the Lannisters.
• Cersei began writing to Gryn Crabb, tore up her first draft, and wrote him a private letter instead.
• Four days later at the Eyrie, Lord Gryn finished reading Cersei's letter and decided he needed Jaime Lannister.

Gryn burned Cersei's letter, weighed her plans for a Lannister-Tully alliance, and made moves to secure his interests in the Riverlands. He arranged to welcome Daenerys at the Gates of the Moon, where her carriage arrived before the gathered crowd.

• Gryn burned Cersei's confession letter and inferred that Tywin planned to arrange a marriage alliance between Cersei and Riverrun.
• Gryn ordered Mason Baker and Dick Crabb to lead the advance on Maidenpool and demand House Mooton's fealty and Eleanor Mooton's marriage to Dick.
• Gryn told Brienne to send the orders to Maester Erlin and to forward any letters from Leyton immediately.
• Baron Griven reported that Daenerys's party would reach the Gates of the Moon the next morning, and Gryn ordered preparations for her welcome.
• Gryn wrote to Cersei that he would march south into the Riverlands and enter King's Landing within a month.
• Gryn and his vassals welcomed Daenerys's carriage as it arrived at the Gates of the Moon before more than a thousand people.

Daenerys arrived at the Gates of the Moon and was welcomed by the Vale’s people before she and Grin spent the day together. The next morning, Gryn rewarded Mutton and Anguy for their service, then heard Ser Barristan’s request to speak privately and insisted that Brienne remain.

• Daenerys arrived at the Gates of the Moon, where Grin welcomed her and she greeted the Vale’s vassals and selected commoners.
• Grin and Daenerys discussed plans for grain prices and warehouses, then went to the study and later spent the day and night together.
• Grin visited Rhaego, Viserion, and Jons, then attended the feast with Daenerys.
• Gryn praised Mutton and Anguy for their work in Essos, offered Mutton a chance to lose his bastard status, and promised to knight Anguy.
• Brienne announced that Ser Barristan wanted an audience, and Gryn told him that Brienne would stay because he trusted her with his security.

Gryn confronted Ser Barristan about putting House Crabb's rule at risk by treating it as separate from the princess's interests, then warned him to respect the princess's wishes and the house's authority. After reaffirming Brienne's place as his guard, Gryn left Bloody Gate with an army three days later.

• Barristan warned Gryn that publicly revealing the princess's identity and marrying her could endanger her, and Gryn challenged him about his loyalties and his view of House Crabb.
• Gryn accused Barristan of undermining House Crabb by prioritizing the princess's restoration over the power protecting her, and warned him not to make decisions for her again.
• After Barristan left, Brienne asked whether he could serve reliably, and Gryn explained that Barristan was valuable as long as he did not threaten House Crabb's right to rule.
• Brienne reaffirmed that she wanted to remain Gryn's guard, and Gryn promised to honor her wishes.
• Three days later, Gryn departed Bloody Gate with one hundred Vale knights, two hundred clan warriors, and nearly a thousand warhorses.

Queen Regent Cersei manipulated Osney Kettleblack into agreeing to kill the High Septon while planning to remove Lancel from King's Landing. At Riverrun, Tyrion Lannister and Edmure Tully remained deadlocked over a marriage alliance and the Lannister-Tyrell army’s withdrawal as Robb Stark’s wedding approached.

• Cersei questioned Osney about Lancel’s confession and learned that Lancel had survived his wounds but was gravely weakened.
• Cersei seduced Osney into promising to kill the High Septon without letting anyone discover her involvement.
• Cersei considered how to drive Lancel from King’s Landing before Jaime returned and hoped her two swords would soon be back.
• Black Walder returned to Riverrun, begged Robb Stark’s forgiveness, and offered jewels from House Frey as a blessing for Robb and Jeyne’s wedding.
• Tyrion told Edmure that the peace talks stalled over whether the Lannister-Tyrell army would withdraw before or after a marriage alliance was settled.
• Edmure mentioned Robb’s wedding feast, but Tyrion’s expression darkened and he sighed.

Robb and Jeyne celebrated their wedding at Riverrun, where Black Walder provoked a confrontation with Greatjon. After Edmure toasted the King and Queen, he suddenly choked and collapsed in Ser Blackfish's arms.

• Tyrion persuaded Edmure to let Jaime rest more comfortably and receive food and wine for the wedding.
• Jeyne confided in Lady Sybell about Robb's grief, and her mother advised patience and promised her a fertility drink.
• Robb and Jeyne exchanged vows at Riverrun's sept and were crowned King and Queen's wedding feast began.
• Greatjon punched Black Walder after he leered at Jeyne, and Edmure ordered the other Walders to keep him under watch.
• Robb and Jeyne thanked Edmure for arranging the wedding, but Edmure began choking after eating and drinking, then collapsed in Ser Blackfish's arms.

Edmure Tully and Queen Jeyne were poisoned during the wedding feast, and Robb vowed revenge as Riverrun descended into chaos. By morning, Maester Vyman identified the poisons, but the killer remained unknown.

• Edmure Tully died during the wedding feast, and Queen Jeyne collapsed and died after spitting blood.
• Roose Bolton and Black Walder sealed the hall and ordered the gathered men to keep order and prevent anyone from leaving.
• Tyrion fled the hall with Bronn and arranged to disguise themselves as Riverrun guards and rescue Jaime.
• Lord Hoster Tully died after naming Brynden Tully as Riverrun's heir.
• Robb told Brynden that The North would answer the deaths with blood, and Maester Vyman reported that Edmure and Jeyne had been given different poisons.

After Edmure and Robb’s wife were poisoned at Riverrun, Robb ordered the search for the culprits and pursued the escaped Jaime Lannister. Meanwhile, Tyrion warned Jaime that Cersei had been unfaithful, leaving Jaime to confront the news.

• Robb questioned Count Roose and Maester Vyman about the poisoning, then placed Ser Brynden in command of Riverrun’s defenses.
• Count Roose and Maester Vyman raised suspicions about Black Walder and the Lannister envoys, and Greatjon reported that Jaime had escaped after his guards were killed.
• Robb ordered Greatjon to prepare a cavalry pursuit, asked Count Roose to watch House Frey, and left Riverrun with his wife’s body beneath a direwolf cloak.
• Tyrion and Jaime rested beside the Red Fork after escaping Riverrun, and Tyrion urged Jaime to abandon Cersei.
• Tyrion told Jaime that Cersei had been sleeping with young knights, including their cousin Lancel.

Tyrion told Jaime that Cersei had been unfaithful, leaving Jaime distraught as their party fled rumors that Tyrion had murdered Edmure Tully and Jeyne Westerling. Five days later, Gryn learned that Edmure and Jeyne were dead and Robb was pursuing the Lannister brothers, and he suspected the killings were part of a plot to inflame Stark-Lannister hatred.

• Tyrion confronted Jaime about his relationship with Cersei and claimed she had also been with Lancel, leaving Jaime shaken and awake all night.
• Jaime set out with Tyrion's party despite doubting Tyrion's claims and insisting he would ask Cersei himself.
• Lannister guards reported rumors that Tyrion had murdered Edmure Tully and the queen, while Robb Stark was pursuing him; Jaime later fell from his horse.
• Five days later, Gryn heard rumors at an inn that Edmure and Jeyne Westerling had been poisoned at Riverrun.
• Brienne brought Gryn confirmation that Edmure and Jeyne were dead and Robb was hunting Tyrion and Jaime, prompting Gryn to suspect a plot against the Lannisters and Starks.

Gryn spread a bounty through the Riverlands to locate Tyrion and Jaime, then followed reports that brought him closer to their trail. As Jaime lay feverish and wounded, he refused Tyrion’s plea to seek a maester, haunted by the memory of choosing silence over honor.

• Gryn offered rewards to anyone who could locate Tyrion and Jaime, reach them with his whereabouts, or escort them, and promised shelter to Stark-Tully traitors in the Vale.
• Gryn’s party found women hanged beside a burned inn, and Brienne asked to bury them; Gryn ordered his men to help her.
• Anguy reported that witnesses had seen Tyrion’s group pass the Inn at the Kneeling Man two days earlier, allowing Gryn to narrow the search area.
• Tyrion found Jaime feverish and suffering from a festering wound, and urged him to get a maester’s treatment.
• Jaime refused to risk becoming a captive again and remembered how he had once stayed silent as the Starks were killed.

Jaime regained the will to live after Tyrion persuaded him that Cersei might have betrayed him out of helplessness, and Qyburn treated his gangrenous arm. Qyburn revealed that he had been searching for Tyrion because Lord Crabb promised shelter to whoever found him, leaving Tyrion wary of the healer’s motives.

• Tyrion urged Jaime to seek answers from Cersei and convinced him that she might have been forced into betraying him.
• Ser Addam Marbrand arrived at the hut with Qyburn, a former maester, to treat Jaime’s wound.
• Qyburn warned Jaime that the gangrene could require amputation, but Jaime insisted that he remove only the infected flesh.
• Qyburn treated Jaime’s arm without giving him Milk of the Poppy, and Jaime screamed before fainting.
• Tyrion questioned why Qyburn had been at the Inn at the Kneeling Man, and Qyburn said Lord Crabb’s reward and promise of shelter had drawn him to search for Tyrion.

After House Crabb took Maidenpool and several other events reshaped the realm, Tyrion and Jaime’s exhausted party fled Northern cavalry on foot. As the Northerners closed in, the Swamp Marigold Banner appeared from another direction, and Tyrion wept.

• Ser Mason brought more than three thousand Blue Cloaks to Maidenpool, and Count William Mooton surrendered; Dick Crabb became its governor after marrying Eleanor Mooton.
• Osney Kettleblack murdered the High Septon, Balon sent Ironborn north to aid Asha Greyjoy, and Oberyn Nymeros Martell sailed toward King's Landing as Dorne's envoy.
• Tyrion’s party abandoned their exhausted horses and discussed whether Jaime should lure Robb Stark away if Gryn failed to arrive.
• The Northern cavalry caught Tyrion’s party near noon, and their charge killed the Red Cloaks and brought Jaime, Addam, Tyrion, and Podrick to a desperate last stand.
• A second horn sounded from another direction, and Tyrion saw the Swamp Marigold Banner approaching.

Gryn Crabb faced Robb Stark over Jaime and Tyrion Lannister, using a threat and a ruse to make Robb withdraw. Afterward, Tyrion learned how Gryn had staged the false cavalry charge, and the group prepared to leave.

• Gryn and Robb exchanged formal titles before Gryn declared himself Jaime and Tyrion’s friend and warned Robb that fighting could cost him his life.
• Robb said he would fairly try the Lannisters for the murders of his wife and uncle, but Gryn argued that only King Joffrey could judge them and provoked Robb about his crown.
• Ser Ronnel reported that more than a thousand cavalry bearing the Swamp Marigold Banner were approaching, and Robb accused Gryn of using the Lannisters as bait.
• Gryn admitted he had stalled Robb with a wolf-trapping plan, and Robb withdrew after warning Jaime that they would meet again on the battlefield.
• Tyrion discovered branches tied to a horse’s tail and learned that Gryn had used them to simulate a cavalry charge; Bronn joked about his new robe, which Gryn had given him for five coins.
• Tyrion remembered that Qyburn had been left near the Inn at the Kneeling Man, so Bronn was sent to retrieve him.

Gryn tried to steady Jaime after his suspicions about Cersei and Lancel, then planned to take the party to Maidenpool before returning to King's Landing. At Highgarden, Margaery told Lady Olenna that Edmure Tully and Jeyne Westerling had been poisoned at Riverrun, and Olenna ordered her to stop investigating the hidden guest at the wedding.

• Gryn teased Jaime about pretending to sleep, then Jaime asked whether Cersei had been unfaithful with Lancel and whether Gryn had slept with her.
• Gryn suggested Jaime could blame the chaos surrounding Stannis's attack for Cersei's conduct, then left him furious by hinting that he might pursue the Queen Regent himself.
• Gryn told Tyrion they would travel to Maidenpool while Jaime recovered, and explained that Dick Crabb was to govern there and marry Lord William Mooton's heir.
• Tyrion worried about Cersei's anger and asked Gryn for help; Gryn suggested Jaime's rescue and a marriage alliance might ease her fury.
• Margaery found Lady Olenna praying at the Sept, and Olenna mourned Loras's departure to serve Renly before Margaery blamed the decision on Lord Mace.
• Margaery confirmed that Edmure Tully and Jeyne Westerling had died from different poisons at the Riverrun wedding and that another person had been hidden there; Lady Olenna ordered her to end the investigation.

Lady Olenna reassured Margaery that her family would support her as Queen and explained why she had chosen Edmure Tully over a Lannister marriage. Seven days later in Maidenpool, Tyrion and Gryn discussed Jaime’s recovery and Qyburn’s examination of the spring water before Gryn insisted their stay would be brief.

• Lady Olenna told Margaery that Willas, Garlan, and the rest of House Golden Rose would carry their duties so she could focus on being Queen.
• Lady Olenna explained that she had chosen Edmure Tully and left the Stark-Lannister conflict to weaken the Lannisters and strengthen House Golden Rose.
• In Maidenpool, Tyrion teased Bronn about his loyalty and paid him before Bronn hurried off to meet his new love.
• Gryn let Jaime examine Lady Forlorn and checked his healing arm while Tyrion arrived and joked about Jaime’s bath.
• Qyburn examined Maidenpool’s spring water and said he would need time to test whether it helped wounds heal.
• Tyrion asked Gryn to extend their stay in Maidenpool, but Gryn said they would leave within a week.

Gryn advised Dick Crabb on House Crabb’s position in Maidenpool and arranged marriage candidates for Julia, while Vale captives were brought south to King’s Landing. There, Tywin rebuffed Joffrey’s attempts to assert authority and allowed him to receive the captives only in the Red Keep.

• Jaime reassured Tyrion that he would watch Cersei, and Tyrion recalled that Tywin had agreed to send Myrcella to Dorne before Cersei blocked the plan.
• Gryn warned Dick to use gentle methods in Maidenpool and said the Riverlands’ disorder offered House Crabb an opportunity to claim Tully lands.
• Gryn gave Dick a list of three unmarried Vale heirs for Julia to consider as a husband, urging him and Julia to embrace their identities as Crabbs.
• Five days later, the Crabb Fleet brought Vale captives to Maidenpool, and two days after that Gryn left for King’s Landing with them.
• Tywin told Joffrey he could observe the Small Council but would have to go to the Tower of the Hand, and he dismissed Joffrey’s complaints.
• Tywin warned Joffrey not to humiliate the Vale captives and permitted him to receive them in the Red Keep, then advised him to appear more mature.

Tywin and Kevan discussed the threat posed by Edmure Tully’s poisoning and prepared for war with Robb Stark, while Tywin warned Cersei to stop causing trouble. After Kevan left her in tears, Cersei received a letter saying Jaime had recovered and was on his way to the Red Keep.

• Tywin told Kevan that Joffrey’s flaws threatened House Lannister and learned Cersei had tried to celebrate Edmure Tully’s death.
• Kevan reported that Robb Stark blamed the Lannisters and that Mace Tyrell appeared genuinely angered by the poisoning.
• Tywin decided to seek troops from House Tyrell and ordered Kevan to warn Cersei that he would send her to Highgarden if she caused more trouble.
• Kevan confronted Cersei with Tywin’s warning, and she nodded before breaking down in anger and tears after he left.
• Osney brought Cersei a letter from Maidenpool saying Jaime had recovered and was traveling to the Red Keep, lifting her spirits.

Cersei used wine, flirtation, and a dance to reaffirm her claim to her noble birth, then invited Joffrey to dine with her, but he rejected her invitation. Meanwhile, Gryn left Duskendale after meeting Tyrion and hinted that he was seeking a terrifying beauty.

• Cersei drank with Osney, mocked a song about a noblewoman who eloped, and asked whether he would run away with her.
• Osney pledged to take Cersei wherever she wished and protect her, and she danced with him before abruptly ending their celebration.
• Cersei said that her family was part of her, then asked Osney to invite Joffrey to dine with her.
• Joffrey refused the invitation, insisted that he had grown up, and threatened Osney with his crossbow.
• Gryn left Duskendale with his guards and encountered Tyrion, Bronn, and the young squire on the road.
• Tyrion joked that Gryn was seeking a fisherman's beauty, and Gryn replied that he was looking for a terrifying beauty.