Chapter Summaries

King Joffrey legitimized Mia Stonehouse as Mia Farman and entrusted her with Fair Isle and the Farman family’s inheritance. He then summoned Falia Flowers, leaving her hopeful that the Shield Islands might also receive a new governor.

• The lords and knights watched Crow's Eye suffer his punishment and recognized the king’s overwhelming power.
• Falia reflected that Garlan Tyrell and the Golden Roses had surrendered Highgarden’s defenses, while she had joined the Royal Fleet.
• King Joffrey declared that the Farman family and ravaged Fair Isle needed a new leader, and named Mia Stonehouse as his choice.
• King Joffrey legitimized Mia as Mia Farman, granting her inheritance rights to the Farman lands, titles, and wealth.
• King Joffrey entrusted Fair Isle and the Farman family to Mia Farman and called her to swear fealty as its governor.
• Falia hoped the king had plans for the Shield Islands and approached the dais when he called her forward.

Joffrey used the gathering on the Shield Islands to announce the end of Renly’s rebellion and lay out his plans to conquer Dorne, while preparing to accelerate his expansion across Westeros. The fleet was set to sail the next day, and Falia Flowers was appointed liaison for the Shield Islands.

• Joffrey reflected on the new supernatural threats and resolved to hasten his rise to Great Hero, expand the Magic Web, and bring the Seven Kingdoms under his control.
• Joffrey told Falia Flowers and the gathered islanders that the punishment and mourning were over and announced that Renly and his forty thousand soldiers were being held at Storm’s End.
• Joffrey declared that the Royal Fleet would sail north to help Lord Tywin defeat resistance at Old Oak and Goldengrove.
• Joffrey announced that he would bring divided, independent Dorne under the Iron Throne, prompting the islanders and fleet officers to cheer and volunteer.
• Joffrey ordered the fleet to sail the next day, made each island’s lord its governor, and appointed Falia Flowers liaison for the Shield Islands.

Joffrey received the defeated Mace Tyrell at Storm’s End, where Mace saw the castle’s magical expansion and learned how powerful the king’s forces had become. Convinced Highgarden could not survive by fighting, Mace prepared to submit to Joffrey.

• Joffrey apologized to his captive, Mace Tyrell, for neglecting him while the defeated duke sat tensely before him.
• Mace walked around Storm’s End and discovered its walls, buildings, and roads had been enlarged and transformed overnight.
• Mace saw a Royal Fleet gathered at sea and learned that the captured nobles had received Divine Grace.
• Randyll Tarly told Mace that Joffrey’s army had hundreds of cannons, empowered Royal Guards, and continued training for war.
• Mace decided to separate Highgarden from Renly’s cause and offered Joffrey what he believed was a sincere smile.

Joffrey pressured Mace Tyrell into claiming that Highgarden had created the shadow that killed the rebels, then secured Mace’s support with news of a royal alliance and Margaery’s coming marriage. He appointed Mace Supreme Commander of an invasion of Dorne, backed by forty thousand troops and more than a thousand Templar Knights.

• Joffrey asked Mace to identify the survivors who had forced him to rebel, but Mace refused to accuse anyone.
• Joffrey suggested Highgarden had sent the shadow and threatened to punish any traitors who survived; he revealed the Royal Guard had taken up residence in Highgarden.
• Fearing for his family and Highgarden, Mace admitted that Highgarden was behind the shadow and had been loyal to Joffrey.
• Joffrey told Mace that Margaery would become his queen and welcomed Mace as his father-in-law.
• Joffrey appointed Mace Supreme Commander of the Southern Campaign and announced that forty thousand troops would march on Sunspear in three days, supported by more than a thousand Templar Knights.

Joffrey used the Templar Knights’ numbers to unlock higher Hero advancement knowledge from Siren Kraken, then tested how divine authority worked by granting it Flames and Light. He concluded that gods of the same level could not share an authority, while the siren eagerly anticipated gaining more power.

• Joffrey’s several hundred Templar Knights unlocked two more layers of Hero advancement knowledge, and Siren Kraken transferred them to him.
• Siren Kraken hoped Joffrey would soon gather enough Templar Knights to unlock the knowledge for advancing beyond Great Hero.
• Joffrey reflected on the danger posed by his growing Source Energy reserves and resolved to grow powerful enough to protect his foundation.
• Joffrey asked how many gods wielded Flames, and Siren Kraken answered that there was one before receiving the Flames authority.
• Joffrey asked whether there was likewise one God of Light, and Siren Kraken confirmed it before receiving the Light authority.
• Joffrey concluded that gods of the same level could not coexist with the same authority, a principle supported by the alliance oath’s advancement requirements.

Joffrey investigated how to subdue Heroes and advance their Authorities, choosing five paths to develop for the Magic Web. He ordered the Siren to prepare for the campaign in Dorne and Valyria, then returned to Storm's End and received news from Highgarden.

• Joffrey concluded that advancement required gaining control of a Hero's Authority and chose mystical contracts as the easiest means of subjugation.
• Joffrey questioned the Siren about two Great Heroes it had killed and learned they had advanced secretly while fleeing their temples.
• Joffrey chose Mirror Image, information, anti-magic, identification, and scouting as the Authorities to develop.
• Joffrey ordered the Siren to master its new Authority within three days, then join the fleet attacking Dorne before they departed for Valyrian.
• Joffrey returned his consciousness to Storm's End, where Melisandre showed him Highgarden's letter reporting that supplies and northern troops had been dispatched.

Garlan Tyrell prepared to lead the royal fleet’s assault on Old Oak, knowing he might have to enforce the king’s judgment against the Oakhearts. He recalled King Joffrey’s plan to create twelve First Class Governorates, which carved up The Reach and other territories, leaving Highgarden grievously diminished.

• Earl Monford Velaryon and Ser Robar Royce discussed the assault on Old Oak, while Garlan said he would deal with the rebels according to the law if they refused to surrender.
• Garlan saw the Crowned Stag, Golden Tree, Oak Leaf, and golden rose banners flying over Old Oak as soldiers began landing from the fleet.
• Garlan recalled King Joffrey appointing First Class Governors to oversee regions across the realm, including Garlan’s appointment as Governor of Old Oak.
• Garlan remembered that the king’s proposed governorates placed The Arbor, the Dornish Marches, and the Central Province under separate administrators, taking lands from The Reach.
• King Joffrey had invited Loras Tyrell to object to the territorial plan, but Garlan and the others had reacted with disbelief and anger at how much of The Reach it removed.

Garlan watched Highgarden accept King Joffrey’s new borders and choose lands confiscated from traitorous Reach houses, leaving Highgarden both diminished and greatly expanded. As the Royal Guard marched ashore, Robar Royce summoned Garlan to Lord Tywin’s war council to settle the attack plan.

• Garlan studied the map, which shifted much of the Reach into other provinces and marked strategic territories as directly administered by the king.
• King Joffrey offered Highgarden the confiscated lands of traitorous houses, but refused Lady Olenna’s request to reconsider the new boundaries around Bitterbridge, Horn Hill, and the Shield Islands.
• Lady Olenna let Willas choose which lands Highgarden would receive, and Willas selected holdings that expanded Highgarden’s territory while sparing Ser Jon Fossoway of New Barrel Town.
• Garlan saw that Highgarden had gained more land than ever before, despite losing territory and absorbing the infamy of taking its vassals’ holdings.
• Robar Royce told Garlan that Lord Tywin had called a war council at the main camp to settle the attack plan.

Garlan Tyrell arrived at Lord Tywin’s command tent as the newly appointed Governor of Old Oak and learned how the city had become isolated during the siege. Lord Tywin began a meeting to decide Old Oak’s fate, with Garlan now responsible for its affairs under the Westlands’ administration.

• Garlan entered Lord Tywin’s tent, knelt, and presented himself as Governor of Old Oak.
• Garlan surveyed the gathered Westlands nobles and recognized that many had taken part in the deadly night raid on Rising Stone Town.
• Ser Robar Royce sent Garlan a message explaining that Tywin’s army had scouted the region and cut Old Oak off from outside contact.
• The message described how Lady Awen Oakheart had proposed fighting, but Lord Mathis Rowan and the hesitant knights had allowed the standoff to continue.
• After King Joffrey’s fleet arrived with Highgarden’s Golden Rose banners, Lord Tywin issued a letter appointing Garlan Second Class Governor of Old Oak and began the meeting.

Garlan joined Lord Tywin’s war council as the lords debated how to take Old Oak and punish the Rowan and Oakheart families. After Tywin ordered an attack while allowing only those whose surrender was deemed sincere to be spared, Garlan accepted command and decided to proclaim the king’s decree himself.

• Ser Stafford Lannister and Ser Daven Lannister called for a forceful response to the Rowan and Oakheart families’ resistance.
• Harys Swyft and Roland Crakehall warned that the army’s conduct could damage the king’s reputation among people who had long respected their local lords.
• Earl Brax’s sons reported hostility and casualties in the surrounding lands, while Garlan questioned whether their claims were truthful.
• Lord Tywin rejected peace terms, ordered an attack on Old Oak, and said rebels who sincerely surrendered could be spared.
• The council assigned the Royal Guard 10th Regiment to lead the advance, with Garlan commanding the battle and governing Old Oak.
• Garlan accepted the command and ordered the army to move at once, saying he would proclaim the king’s decree himself.

Old Oak’s defenders watched Garlan Tyrell arrive with King Joffrey’s forces and announce that Renly’s rebellion had been defeated and their remaining allies were falling. Garlan demanded unconditional surrender, then ordered an attack that blasted open the city gates and sent the Royal Guard into Old Oak.

• Old Oak’s soldiers, demoralized by the Six-Pointed Stars’ invulnerability and the unanswered peace delegations, waited as Garlan Tyrell approached with the Royal Guard and Tywin’s advancing army.
• Garlan announced that Storm’s End had been retaken, Renly and other rebel leaders were dead or surrendered, and Jon Fossoway’s forces had also been defeated.
• Garlan warned Earl Matus Rowan that Goldengrove would soon fall and declared that Old Oak had nowhere left to retreat.
• Garlan rejected the previous peace terms, demanded unconditional surrender, and threatened to destroy the houses and exterminate the clans of anyone who resisted.
• Garlan ordered the attack, the city gates were blasted apart, and the Royal Guard and tens of thousands of troops entered Old Oak.

Grey Rat led his squad to capture Aven Oakheart in the Great Keep, uncovering that her rebellion stemmed from her son Arys Oakheart's death in King's Landing. He then allowed his men to begin a brutal abuse of Aven and her second son as part of the mission.

• After the Royal Guard entered Old Oak, Grey Rat led his squad toward the Great Keep to reach their assigned target before rival squads.
• Grey Rat and his men fought through the Great Keep's guards, using Holy Shield Power and a flame-covered sword to break their resistance.
• Grey Rat confronted Aven Oakheart and provoked her into revealing that she had resisted the king because Arys Oakheart had died in King's Landing.
• Grey Rat's men dragged in Aven's naked second son and began stripping Aven, while Grey Rat silently approved.

Garlan Tyrell confronted the deaths of Lady Aven Oakheart and her second son, then yielded to Tywin’s decision to conceal the circumstances. He stripped the Oakheart Family of its titles and possessions and prepared to judge the accused at a training yard turned courtroom and execution ground.

• Garlan Tyrell inspected the scene where Lady Aven Oakheart and a naked man identified as her second son had died, and the Royal Guard squad leader described finding them.
• Damon Marbrand urged Garlan to announce the truth, but Tywin’s cold stare made Garlan agree to handle the deaths quietly.
• Stafford Lannister and Harys Swyft spread insinuations about Lady Aven’s relationships with her other sons, until Tywin ordered the matter to end.
• Garlan stripped the Oakheart Family of its titles, offices, rights, and possessions, and ordered the accused to await judgment, especially Lord Mathis Rowan.
• Garlan asked when Tywin would march against the remaining rebels, and Robar Royce said the army would wait until the trial ended and thirty thousand surrendered soldiers received the king’s gift.
• Garlan walked with Tywin toward the training yard, which had been turned into a courtroom and execution ground.

Garlan Tyrell presided over the trial of the defeated Oakhearts, Lord Mathis Rowan, and their supporters, sentencing them to exile, imprisonment, fines, or death. He personally beheaded the Oakhearts and Lord Rowan, whose final words wished Highgarden prosperity.

• Garlan Tyrell, Tywin Lannister, and Robar Royce began the trial at Old Oak after a septon prayed for justice.
• Harris Crane was condemned for abandoning Lady Aven Oakheart and was sentenced by Garlan to take the black at the Wall.
• Garlan sentenced Denys Oakheart to beheading for treachery, provoking war, robbery, and defying the king.
• The court tried Torgon Oakheart and the other prisoners, assigning punishments that included exile, death, fines, and imprisonment.
• Garlan beheaded the Oakhearts and Lord Mathis Rowan after the trial, and Rowan offered Highgarden a final blessing.

A wounded messenger from Goldengrove tried to reach Lord Matus at Old Oak after Willas Tyrell’s army besieged the city, but Lannister forces intercepted him and news reached him that Old Oak had fallen. He died beneath an apple tree as a blood-red comet crossed the sky.

• Willas Tyrell’s army seized Goldengrove’s negotiators and surrounded the city, so Lady Bethany Redwyne sent a messenger west to seek Lord Matus’s aid.
• Lannister cavalry chased the messenger, who escaped into the woods but became lost.
• In a town, the messenger learned that Old Oak had fallen, Renly had been defeated, and Lannister soldiers controlled the area.
• Crossbow bolts wounded the messenger and his horse, forcing him to travel on foot with the plea for aid still undelivered.
• The dying messenger watched a blood-red comet cross the sky before a butterfly landed on his bloodstained palm.

Lord Tywin ordered the Lannister army to march on Harrenhal and ravage the Riverlands, then sent Tyrion to King's Landing to take charge of the court. Tyrion realized his father had chosen him because Jaime might be lost and was told he could not bring Shae.

• The chapter opened with an author’s note apologizing for missed chapters due to illness.
• Lord Tywin studied the Lannister army’s position and ordered the forces to march for Harrenhal while Gregor Clegane, Vargo Hoat, and Amory Lorch burned and plundered the Riverlands.
• Lord Tywin told Tyrion to control his mountain clansmen and announced that Tyrion would go to King's Landing to rein in Joffrey and the royal councilors.
• Tyrion understood that Lord Tywin had chosen him because he believed Jaime was as good as dead, but he stayed silent.
• Lord Tywin ordered Tyrion not to bring Shae to court, and Tyrion later told Shae he wished he could take her with him.

Sansa attended Joffrey’s first court after his coronation and heard the king summon numerous lords to swear fealty. The court also appointed Tywin Lannister as Hand and Cersei Lannister to the council.

• Sansa entered the sparsely attended court and found the nobles avoiding her.
• Joffrey arrived with Cersei and ordered Grand Maester Pycelle to read his decree.
• Pycelle summoned lords across the realm, including Catelyn Stark and her children, to swear fealty or be declared traitors.
• Pycelle announced that Tywin Lannister would replace Eddard Stark as Hand of the King.
• Pycelle announced that Cersei Lannister would take Stannis Baratheon’s seat on the council.

At the royal court, Sansa witnessed Janos Slynt’s elevation and the dismissal of Ser Barristan Selmy as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Barristan rejected the offered lands, cast off his white cloak, and left after denouncing Joffrey’s Kingsguard and warning that Lord Stannis might take the throne.

• Pycelle announced that Janos Slynt had been made a noble, granted Harrenhal, and appointed a chief minister, and Slynt entered the hall.
• Cersei told Ser Barristan Selmy that he was relieved of his post, and Joffrey accused him of being too old to protect the king.
• Ser Barristan defended his lifelong service and condemned Ser Jaime Lannister, whom Cersei named as his successor.
• Varys offered Ser Barristan lands near Lannisport, but Barristan rejected the offer and cast down his white cloak and armor.
• Littlefinger mocked Ser Barristan as the court laughed, and Barristan drew his sword, denounced the Kingsguard, and threw the sword beneath the Iron Throne.

Daenerys suffered a fever and vivid nightmares in which she became a dragon and saw Rhaegar’s face beneath black armor. She woke confused and desperate to reach the Dragon Eggs, then was made to sleep; when she woke again, she learned she had been sick for a long time.

• Daenerys dreamed of a red door, her lost loved ones, and a winged shadow warning her not to awaken Sleeping Dragon's Wrath.
• Daenerys woke feverish and begged Jhiqui for help, then crawled toward the Dragon Eggs.
• Ser Jorah Mormont carried Daenerys back to bed, and Mirri Maz Duur gave her a bitter drink that put her to sleep.
• Daenerys woke later and asked Irri how long she had been sick, and Irri told her it had been a long time.

Daenerys woke from her fever to learn that her son Rhaego had died and confronted Mirri Maz Duur about the price paid to save Khal Drogo. She insisted on seeing Drogo and discovered that his khalasar had dwindled from forty thousand to about a hundred people.

• Daenerys learned from Jhiqui that Rhaego had died and remembered a vision of a man consumed by flames.
• Daenerys found the Dragon Eggs warm and asked Ser Jorah and Mirri Maz Duur how her son had died.
• Mirri Maz Duur described Rhaego as a malformed, dead creature, while Daenerys suspected Ser Jorah had carried her into the shadows that killed him.
• Daenerys blamed the deaths of Rhaego and several warriors on the price of saving Drogo, then demanded to see him.
• Ser Jorah supported Daenerys outside, where she saw the ruined camp and learned from Jhogo that Drogo's Khalasar was gone.