Chapter Summaries

Cersei confined Tommen after he challenged her authority to save Margaery, then went to the Great Sept expecting the High Sparrow to help secure Margaery’s condemnation. She discovered that Osney Kettleblack’s tortured confession contradicted her plans, leaving her exposed when he reminded her she had promised to send him to the Wall.

• Cersei told Tommen that she ruled until he came of age and had Red Cloaks take him to his chambers under guard.
• Cersei ordered the gates of King’s Landing closed and the Royal Fleet to watch the docks, then went to the Great Sept despite a crowd calling for Margaery’s release.
• Cersei saw Margaery unconscious in her cell and heard the High Sparrow claim that witnesses and evidence proved Margaery had taken lovers.
• Cersei asked to take Osney Kettleblack back to the Red Keep, but the High Sparrow refused and presented him badly tortured.
• Osney told Cersei that she had promised to send him to the Wall, and Cersei accused the High Sparrow of driving him mad.

Cersei was imprisoned by the Faith, abandoned by her political allies, and sent desperate letters to Gryn and Jaime as she awaited trial. At Riverrun, Brynden Tully prepared for the coming final battle before learning that smugglers had arrived on the Red Fork.

• Cersei tried to flee the Great Sept but was captured by septas and locked in a cell.
• Septa Unella repeatedly demanded Cersei confess, while Cersei endured hunger, cold, and isolation for three days.
• Qyburn told Cersei that Pycelle and Harys Swyft had seized control, Osfryd had lost command of the Gold Cloaks, and Aurane Waters had sailed away with the royal fleet.
• Cersei asked Qyburn to send Gryn a plea for help and Jaime a letter declaring her love for him three times.
• Brynden Tully prepared for the final battle at Riverrun, and his captain reported that smugglers had docked beneath the city gate on the Red Fork.

Gryn Crabb met Brynden Tully by the Red Fork, offered him bread and salt, and confronted him over House Tully’s role in the rebellion sixteen years earlier. Brynden admitted he had come expecting to die at Riverrun, but asked to hear Gryn’s proposal for atonement.

• Gryn Crabb met Brynden Tully beside the Red Fork and had Brienne of Tarth bring bread and salt, establishing Guest Right when Brynden ate.
• Brynden asked Gryn how much wildfire a trout’s head was worth and accused him of contributing to the bloodshed beneath Riverrun.
• Gryn challenged Brynden over House Tully choosing family over honor and rebelling against the Iron Throne sixteen years earlier.
• Gryn declared that he represented those who died during the rebellion and questioned whether House Tully deserved sympathy.
• Brynden said he had come to die at Riverrun, and Gryn offered him a chance to atone for his brother’s sins.
• Brynden asked to hear Gryn’s proposal.

Brynden Tully agreed to atone for House Tully’s rebellion after Gryn threatened the Starks and demanded Riverrun relinquish its lordship over the Riverlands. Brynden swore fealty to Gryn, who declared House Crabb the Riverlands’ liege lords and revealed his plan to marry Daenerys Targaryen; his campaign now turned toward House Lannister.

• Brynden admitted his own failures and offered to follow Gryn’s orders as House Tully’s atonement for its rebellion.
• Gryn said he would spare the Starks’ lives under the law but threatened to send their women to brothels, invade the North, and install a Bolton in their place.
• Gryn demanded that Brynden relinquish House Tully’s title as liege lord of the Riverlands and swear fealty to him.
• Brynden questioned Gryn’s claim to the Iron Throne, and Gryn said he would marry Daenerys Targaryen after restoring peace.
• Brynden swore fealty beneath the witness of the Red Fork and Riverrun, making Gryn’s blade officially turn toward House Lannister.

Gryn’s forces defeated the Lannister army near Riverrun, and Balon Swen killed Daven Lannister after leading him to believe the defeat was caused by a traitor. Gryn then entrusted Brynden Tully with taking Golden Tooth while he planned to go to King’s Landing.

• Gryn told his knights that House Tully had become House Crabb’s vassal and ordered them to fly trout banners during the attack.
• Brynden led the trout-banner cavalry in a surprise assault on the Lannister camp after its stables caught fire, routing Daven’s exhausted army.
• Balon Swen beheaded Daven as he and the surviving Red Cloaks rested, then turned toward the remaining men with his bloodied sword.
• Gryn ordered the capture of Aenys Frey and Genna Lannister and sent five hundred Crabb Soldiers to escort them to the Twins.
• Gryn told Brynden that they would divide their forces, with Brynden attacking Golden Tooth and Gryn going to King’s Landing; Brynden accepted the assignment.

Gryn told Brynden about Stannis’s arrival at the Wall and the White Walkers, then sent him to capture Golden Tooth while protecting its gold mines. Meanwhile, High Septon Zari declared Harrenhal the Faith’s new holy site, and Allard Seaworth cornered the fleeing Aurane Waters aboard the Royal Fleet flagship.

• Gryn revealed that Stannis had gone to the Wall and explained how he planned to prevent Stannis from allying with Ned Stark, while Brynden focused on capturing Golden Tooth.
• Brynden proposed disguising his men as fleeing Lannister soldiers to enter Golden Tooth before its defenders could destroy the nearby gold mines.
• Gryn sent military orders to King's Landing and Dick Crabb and Mason Baker's camp, then began governing the Riverlands and resettling refugees.
• High Septon Zari proclaimed Harrenhal the Great Sept of Harren, declared himself High Septon throughout the Seven Kingdoms, and denounced the High Sparrow.
• Allard Seaworth cornered Aurane Waters aboard the flagship Lord Tywin after Aurane fled with seven newly built war galleys.

Margaery Tyrell endured confinement while insisting on facing trial alongside Cersei, and she and Mathis Rowan discussed a new religious challenge from High Septon Zari and Lord Gryn. Mathis arranged to alert the Tyrells and was then told Davos Seaworth had come on Gryn Crabb's behalf.

• Margaery asked Septa Molle about her trial date and learned the High Septon wanted her tried alongside Cersei, who still refused to confess.
• Mathis Rowan entered the sept with Green Cloaks, removed Septa Molle, and offered to negotiate with the High Sparrow, but Margaery chose to face trial with Cersei to protect House Tyrell from blame.
• Mathis gave Margaery a raven proclamation from Archbishop Zari, and she learned that more than ten thousand sparrows were demanding to march on Harrenhal.
• Margaery suspected Lord Gryn supported Zari and asked Mathis to speak privately with the High Sparrow, alert Lord Mace, and inform Lady Olenna.
• Mathis sent a raven to Highgarden and worried that Blackwater Bay had almost no fleet left before his guard announced Davos Seaworth's arrival on behalf of Lord Gryn Crabb.

Davos and Allard captured Aurane Waters, but Davos declined Mathis Rowan’s offer to command the Royal Fleet, reaffirming his loyalty to Lord Gryn. Asha returned to Ten Towers to find allies against Crow’s Eye and learned from Rodrik that Crow’s Eye’s treasures had arrived.

• Allard presented Aurane Waters’s head to Mathis Rowan, who praised Allard and offered Davos command of the Royal Fleet; Davos declined because he served Lord Gryn and was charged with defending Dragonstone.
• Davos reminded Allard that House Seaworth must remain loyal to Lord Gryn and praised his role in stopping Aurane Waters’s escape.
• Asha met Tristifer Botley at Ten Towers, rejected his marriage proposal, and warned him not to touch her presumptuously.
• Asha told Rodrik Harlaw that Duke Gryn Crabb had proposed luring Crow’s Eye off his ship and trapping him on land.
• Rodrik told Asha that Hoso had returned with Crow’s Eye’s treasures.

Asha learned that Dragonbinder had returned with Hotho Harlaw and heard Aeron's plans for her, while Rodrik urged her to deliver the horn to Duke Gryn Crabb as bait. Elsewhere, Mutton recruited Sandor Clegane, and Qyburn warned an imprisoned Cersei that she needed to confess and survive until Gryn arrived.

• Rodrik showed Asha Dragonbinder, explained that sounding it killed a man, and gave her Aeron's final letter.
• Asha burned Aeron's letter, rejected his cautious plans, and agreed to consider Rodrik's proposal to deliver Dragonbinder personally to Duke Gryn Crabb.
• Mutton defeated Sandor Clegane with a Valyrian axe and offered him a paid position as his second-in-command; Sandor demanded a replacement sword.
• Qyburn visited the feverish Cersei and told her Jaime had ignored her letter and continued toward Storm's End.
• Qyburn reported that the Lannister army had been defeated by the Tullys and warned Cersei that the High Sparrow and Pycelle planned to force her confession before Gryn arrived.
• Cersei realized she needed to escape and said she would consider confessing.

Tyrion met Melisandre at Castle Black and learned that Stannis sought king’s blood from Robert’s bastards to awaken dragons against the White Walkers. Stannis then discussed Cersei’s impending trial and the uncertain support of the great houses for his claim to the throne.

• Melisandre teased Tyrion and told him Stannis wanted to see him.
• Melisandre explained that Stannis needed king’s blood from Robert’s bastards to awaken dragons, a plan Eddard Stark opposed.
• Melisandre told Tyrion that Cersei had been imprisoned by the High Septon and would face trial for adultery and treason.
• Stannis told Tyrion that the High Septon intended to judge Cersei for betraying Robert, and Tyrion said the trial could bolster Stannis’s claim.
• Tyrion warned Stannis that the trial’s success depended on whether the Golden Rose and Marigold supported it.

Stannis discussed stopping the Faith’s trial of Cersei and sought Tyrion’s counsel on how the realm would respond. He decided he needed someone to speak with Eddard Stark and persuade him to set aside their conflict against the greater threat.

• Tyrion told Stannis that the Tyrells had close dealings with Crabb and that Tywin had noticed their irregularities.
• Stannis condemned the Faith’s trial of Cersei as unlawful and said he would order it stopped and have her imprisoned until his return to King’s Landing.
• Tyrion warned that the Faith might ignore Stannis’s order and support Tommen, whom they needed as king.
• Stannis asked Tyrion whether he should send ravens declaring the trial unlawful, and Tyrion warned that distant lords might not understand his intentions.
• Stannis explained that Eddard Stark still resisted him despite the coming war against the darkness, then decided he needed someone to speak with Ned.

Tyrion accepted Stannis's trust while resisting Melisandre's advances, then discussed his intelligence-gathering with Bronn. Meanwhile, Crabb forces prepared to besiege the Twins, and Gryn ended the chapter brooding in Riverrun as Brienne offered him a drink.

• Melisandre urged Tyrion to serve Stannis's cause and offered him intimate pleasures, but Tyrion left wary of her after recalling Tysha.
• Tyrion met Bronn, learned that the prince calling himself the Kraken repeatedly got drunk and recounted his family's history, and paid Bronn to maintain their cover.
• Bronn told Tyrion that Stannis intended to close Mole's Town's brothel, which was the only place where Night's Watch men could stay overnight.
• Martyn Baker demanded free passage through the Twins for Crabb's refugee-gathering mission, but Lyonel Frey refused, so Martyn prepared to storm the castle.
• After learning that Gryn had arrested Lord Emmon and his wife, Martyn renewed his demand; the Freys still refused passage and sent ravens to King's Landing protesting Crabb's actions.
• Gryn finished writing letters, including one to Leyton in King's Landing, and Brienne found him lost in thought before offering him a drink.

Gryn assigned Brienne to secure support in the Stormlands while he planned troop deployments for his return to King's Landing. In Sunspear, Arianne was summoned by Prince Doran after the assassination of Kevan Lannister, and he began by asking where Obara and Nymeria were.

• Gryn asked Brienne to tell her father that he would appoint the Earl of Tarth Governor of the Stormlands and to receive the friendly lords there on his behalf.
• Gryn ordered Brienne to prepare to leave for the Stormlands, with Anguy taking charge of his guard while she was away.
• Gryn reviewed reports from the Riverlands, decided to leave at least eight thousand troops there, and began planning how to raise more soldiers for King's Landing.
• Arianne recalled her failed marriage prospects and her father's repeated attempts to choose husbands for her while she waited under house arrest in Sunspear.
• A guard captain summoned Arianne to Prince Doran, and she dressed before entering his study.
• Prince Doran asked Arianne where Obara and Nymeria were.

Arianne confronted Prince Doran over her revenge plot and learned why he had kept House Martell’s plans from her; he sent her to King’s Landing as his representative. There, the Small Council debated choosing a Lord Regent while the Faith’s trials remained unresolved.

• Arianne told Prince Doran she had killed Kevan Lannister for House Martell’s honor, and he questioned how a Crownlands acquaintance had manipulated her.
• Arianne revealed that Obara and Nymeria had stayed behind to avenge Oberyn, then argued with Doran over his weakness and her status as heir.
• Prince Doran explained Dorne’s political limits and told Arianne to keep watch over the Sand Snakes before ordering her to leave for King’s Landing the next day.
• Grand Maester Pycelle convened the Small Council after the Lannister defeat at Riverrun and proposed appointing a Lord Regent while Cersei could not govern.
• Harys Swyft recommended Gryn Crabb for regent, while Gyles Rosby backed Mace Tyrell; Pycelle insisted the Faith’s trials must conclude first and assigned Harys to notify the High Septon.

The Small Council debated the High Sparrow’s trials and the Gold Cloaks’ loyalty while Harys Swyft planned to back Duke Gryn as Lord Regent. Jaime Lannister reached Mace Tyrell’s camp near Storm’s End, where Mace challenged him to state whether he came as a Kingsguard or a Lannister.

• Pycelle sent Humfrey Waters to accompany Harys to the Great Sept of Baelor, while Humfrey reflected on how little authority he held over the Gold Cloaks.
• Harys told Cerenna Swyft that Steffon had withdrawn safely and ordered Cerenna to travel to the Riverlands to support Duke Gryn’s bid to become Lord Regent.
• Harys explained that supporting Gryn was necessary for him to remain Hand of the King.
• Jaime Lannister arrived at the Golden Rose camp north of Storm’s End and was escorted to Mace Tyrell’s tent.
• Mace Tyrell asked Jaime whether he sought an audience as a Kingsguard or as a Lannister.

Jaime Lannister tried to persuade Mace Tyrell to support House Lannister and march on King’s Landing, while the Reach lords questioned his motives and trustworthiness. Mace agreed to speak with Jaime privately, and the chapter ended with Gryn waking in camp to hear that a woman had been caught by the night watch again.

• Mace Tyrell rebuked Jaime over Margaery’s imprisonment and the collapse of Tyrell-Lannister friendship.
• Jaime offered Lannister support for Mace becoming Hand and promised Margaery would remain betrothed to the king.
• Tyrell bannermen challenged Jaime’s promises, and Mace said he would allow Margaery a trial before the Faith.
• Jaime urged Mace to use his army to save King’s Landing and argued that the threat at Riverrun was contained.
• Mace cited Gryn’s letter urging him to trust Jaime’s honor, then asked the others to leave so he and Jaime could speak privately.
• At Crabb’s camp, Gryn woke and asked Anguy whether a woman had been caught by the night watch again.

Gryn accepted Dragonbinder from Asha Greyjoy and arranged for her to travel north to rescue Theon Greyjoy. In the Faith’s custody, Cersei pretended to repent so she could learn about Tommen and Margaery, and was led to the High Septon.

• Gryn met Asha under guard, and she offered him Dragonbinder in exchange for his favor.
• Gryn accepted the horn and told Asha to go to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, then take her people to Mole's Town to quietly rescue her brother.
• Cersei told Septa Unella that she had seen the Crone and wanted to confess her sins to the High Septon.
• After a restful night and a dream of her family and Gryn, Cersei asked to bathe before confessing, but the septas refused.
• As the septas escorted Cersei to the High Septon, she asked about Tommen and Margaery, learned that Margaery was in Lord Mathis Rowan’s custody, and was silenced when she asked to await judgment outside.

Cersei confessed to adultery before the High Sparrow and tried to portray her affairs as sacrifices made to protect her children and the realm. The High Sparrow then confronted her with Osney Kettleblack’s accusations that she had ordered the former High Septon’s murder and fabricated Margaery Tyrell’s crimes.

• Cersei knelt before the High Sparrow and learned that Septa Unella would record her testimony.
• Cersei admitted sleeping with Lancel Lannister, Osney Kettleblack, and Osmund Kettleblack, claiming she had done so out of fear and to protect her children.
• Cersei pleaded for forgiveness and argued that her affairs had helped protect Tommen and the realm.
• The High Sparrow said her adultery after Robert’s death was not betrayal, then revealed Osney’s accusation that Cersei had ordered the former High Septon’s murder.
• The High Sparrow said Osney had also accused Cersei of ordering him to fabricate Margaery Tyrell’s crimes, and Cersei denied both accusations.

Cersei denied the charges against her before the High Sparrow and secured permission to receive visitors while awaiting a trial. After learning that Gryn was marching toward King's Landing with a huge army, she urged her allies to free her; meanwhile, Gryn learned that the Warrior's Sons planned to attack Zari's Great Sept of Harren.

• Cersei denied murdering Robert and insisted that Stannis had fabricated the claim that her children were bastards, then promised to oppose Zari's rival Great Sept.
• The High Sparrow agreed to let Cersei receive visitors but refused to let her see Tommen before she cleared herself of her sins.
• Qyburn told Cersei that Gryn was bringing one hundred thousand men toward King's Landing, and she ordered him to persuade Pycelle, Harys, and Gyles to help free her.
• Gryn met with High Septon Zari, who warned him that the Warrior's Sons planned to attack the Great Sept of Harren with several hundred knights.

Gryn managed the Faith’s support, studied Dragonbinder’s runes, and issued military orders after receiving reports of victories at the Twins and Golden Tooth. As his forces prepared to enter King’s Landing covertly, Cersei learned that Pycelle, Harys, and Gyles had rejected her proposal.

• Gryn secured High Septon Zari’s support and left Crabb and the holy warriors under Zari’s command.
• Thoros deciphered Dragonbinder’s runes, explaining that its blower would die unless they were Unburnt and that the dragons obeyed the horn’s possessor.
• Gryn received reports that Wildfire had helped breach Luan River City and that Brynden Tully had captured Golden Tooth without reprisals, then appointed Ser Martyn Baker temporary governor of the Twins and sent a letter to Daenerys.
• Gryn led fewer than ten thousand Crabb Soldiers south while Ser Mutton and Sandor planned to move two thousand troops into King’s Landing each day through a secret passage beneath Aegon’s High Hill.
• Qyburn told Cersei that Pycelle, Harys, and Gyles had rejected her proposal because they would not turn the Great Sept into a slaughterhouse.