Chapter Summaries

The Hound took command of the King's Landing City Watch and began arresting those involved in the alleged rebellion. At the headquarters, Jace Bywater pledged his loyalty, and the Hound learned that Gold Cloaks at the Mud Gate were fighting rebels, leaving him to decide how to respond.

• The Hound ordered the Gold Cloaks to reorganize into squads, seal the city gates, and hunt down the traitors.
• The Hound led fifteen squads on horseback toward the City Watch headquarters and ordered them to kill former commander Janos Slynt.
• Jace "Ironhand" Bywater weighed which side to support as the Hound's force attacked the headquarters.
• Ironhand surrendered to the Hound and offered to serve His Majesty, then agreed to point out the traitors.
• The Hound used magic to check the Gold Cloaks' positions and learned that his men at the Mud Gate were fighting rebels and mercenaries.
• The Hound decided to use Ironhand to deal with the fighting at the Mud Gate.

Hannah presented King Robert's sealed decree accusing Petyr Baelish and Varys of treason and ordering their imprisonment. The City Watch commander refused to let the arrests turn violent, and Renly rose as the hall reached a standoff.

• Janos Slynt brought the full Red Keep City Watch detachment to the Throne Room as Varys and Littlefinger arrived for the meeting.
• Hannah passed the sealed decree around for the assembled court to verify before Grand Maester Pycelle read it aloud.
• Pycelle announced that Robert had declared Petyr Baelish and Varys guilty of treason and ordered them imprisoned under Hannah and Sandor Clegane's supervision.
• Varys pleaded that the decree was mistaken, while Littlefinger appealed to Renly and the guards drew their weapons.
• Janos Slynt ordered the weapons lowered and challenged the decree's legitimacy, and Renly rose to his feet.

Renly and Hannah tried to prevent the arrest of Varys and Petyr from turning into a fight, but the Hound arrived with Gold Cloaks and seized control of the situation. Varys and Petyr were taken into custody without revealing the secret of Joffrey’s birth, while Hannah watched the Steward of the Red Keep leave.

• Renly proposed keeping Varys and Petyr confined to their residences under guard, and Loras Tyrell supported the plan as courtiers protested.
• The Hound entered the Throne Room with Gold Cloaks and challenged City Watch Commander Janos Slynt, who attacked him.
• The Hound subdued Janos, declared him a traitor, and killed him by throwing a dagger through his neck.
• Hannah warned Janos’s Gold Cloaks that they could surrender and keep their posts, and several hundred laid down their spears.
• Hannah told Varys and Petyr to accept supervision while the Hound and Lannister guards escorted them away; neither revealed Joffrey’s parentage.
• After the Small Council meeting ended, the courtiers hurried away and Hannah coldly watched the Steward of the Red Keep stagger off.

Bran used his gift to explore the world through Summer’s senses while the royal party traveled south. At the confluence of the Green Fork and Blue Fork, Summer encountered a terrifying creature lurking beneath the water.

• Bran practiced entering animals and named his Direwolf Summer, following the Crown Prince’s suggestion.
• Bran observed the royal party and their companions through his gift, then sent his consciousness into Summer and slipped out of the inn.
• Summer ran through the woods, enjoying the freedom until hunger drove him toward the river confluence.
• Summer approached the water to catch trout but leaped back when a rotten, bloody scent and a huge shadow drew near.
• Bran recognized the creature’s scent from The Neck and identified it as a Lizard-Lion.

Bran learned that a Lizard-Lion was lurking in the river and raced to warn the guards that Robert and Eddard were in danger. Joffrey controlled the beast and waited at Ruby Ford as the king’s hunting party approached, while Bran’s Hound raced to the scene and saw the Lizard-Lion charging at them.

• Bran returned from Summer’s body, remembered the Lizard-Lion in the river, and watched House Tully messengers deliver urgent letters bearing Direwolf and Trout seals.
• Barristan opened the letters, and Bran glimpsed references to Bloodraven, controlling beasts, and an attack before warning the Kingsguards that Robert and Eddard faced a monster.
• Barristan led over a hundred soldiers into the forest, while Bran followed by taking over a Hound after he failed to enter Summer again.
• Joffrey controlled the Lizard-Lion, brought it ashore near Ruby Ford, and hid in the woods to await Robert.
• Robert and Eddard followed a boar toward the ford as Bran’s Hound raced after them and saw the Lizard-Lion charge at the king and his father.

After Joffrey’s Lizard-Lion killed King Robert at Ruby Ford, Eddard and the knights slew the beast and mourned the king. Ser Barristan gave Eddard a box of information, and Eddard reacted with anger when he read a letter naming Bloodraven.

• Joffrey watched the Lizard-Lion devour Robert’s body and realized he had crossed a point of no return.
• Eddard charged the Lizard-Lion, and he, Ser Barristan, Jaime, and the knights killed it on the riverbank.
• The party returned to the Inn at the Crossroads, where Eddard struggled with Robert’s death during the mourning ceremony.
• Ser Barristan gave Eddard a wooden box containing information, and Bran watched as his father read the letter inside.
• Eddard clenched the letter and said, “Bloodraven...”

Bloodraven learned that Joffrey had exposed his spying and plans, leaving him isolated and fearing the southern lords’ anger. Meanwhile, Joffrey’s agents secured control of much of King’s Landing, and Joffrey prepared to reunite with his father the next day.

• Bloodraven searched the weirwoods and discovered that Joffrey had revealed his schemes to the lords of Winterfell and Riverrun and was warning his father of an impending attack.
• Joffrey asked the Children of the Forest’s greenseer to kill Bloodraven, promising divine powers and the throne’s favor in return.
• Bloodraven reflected on the people he had lost and accepted that he was the last Greenseer.
• Hannah reported that the crown had taken control of Varys’s Little Birds, removed hundreds of rebels, and seized businesses belonging to Petyr’s allies.
• Joffrey ordered Varys and Petyr mutilated and told Hannah and The Hound to keep King’s Landing stable until he reunited with his father the next day.

Joffrey arrived at the Inn at the Crossroads and found King Robert dead, then was crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms. He appointed Eddard Stark, Cersei Lannister, and Tywin Lannister to rule as regents until he came of age.

• Masha Heddle watched Joffrey and his companions arrive at the inn, where Robert lay in state.
• Cersei told Joffrey that Bloodraven had murdered Robert, but Joffrey rushed inside to deliver urgent intelligence to his father.
• Joffrey declared that Robert should be taken to the Great Sept of Baelor, while Cersei urged him to accept the crown.
• Cersei crowned Joffrey, and the assembled nobles proclaimed him King Joffrey I.
• Joffrey accepted Barristan's sword and Eddard's badge, then appointed Eddard, Cersei, and Tywin as regents until he came of age.

Joffrey convinced Eddard that Bloodraven and his allies had caused Robert’s death and the rebellion in King’s Landing, then secured Eddard’s support as regent. Determined to seize power before the Others arrived, Joffrey ordered Renly to be allowed to leave the city.

• Joffrey told Eddard that Bloodraven spied through weirwoods and animals and had conspired with Varys and Petyr.
• Joffrey claimed that Sandor had crushed the City Watch’s rebellion in King’s Landing, but Bloodraven had killed Robert before the warning reached them.
• Joffrey urged Eddard to help destroy Bloodraven’s spying eyes, and Eddard accepted his account without proof to oppose him.
• Cersei questioned Joffrey’s decision to make Eddard regent, but Joffrey persuaded her that he needed the North, Riverlands, Vale, and Stormlands to secure the realm.
• Joffrey resolved to pursue power through war and ordered Hannah and the Hound to let Renly leave the city.

After King Robert’s death, Joffrey’s first decree established the regency and new court appointments. Renly tried to flee King’s Landing, but The Hound let him leave while keeping Loras behind, and Melisandre concluded that Renly was not the prophesied prince.

• The city and the Red Keep mourned King Robert as courtiers watched one another for signs of shifting loyalties.
• Hannah announced Joffrey I’s decrees, naming Tyrion Master of Coin, herself Master of the Household, and Sandor Clegane commander of the City Watch, while Tywin, Cersei, and Eddard became regents.
• Renly feared the Lannisters would target him next, placed his hopes in Loras and House Tyrell, and decided to escape that night.
• Renly and his knights rode for the Mud Gate, where The Hound let Renly pass but kept Loras in King’s Landing.
• Melisandre extinguished the flames and declared that Renly was not the prophesied figure she sought.

Joffrey arrived on Dragonstone after Stannis’s death and met the island’s lords, Lady Selyse, and Shireen. As he explored the castle and its Dragon Glass, he made clear he intended to retain control of the island and would appoint someone to oversee it.

• Joffrey landed on Dragonstone and received the oaths of its lords, including Monford Velaryon, Guncer Sunglass, Ardrian Celtigar, and Duran Bar Emmon.
• Joffrey offered to take Shireen back to the Red Keep, but Selyse remained wary and Shireen clung to her mother.
• Joffrey asked the lords to show him Dragonstone, admired its Valyrian stonework, and carried the grieving Shireen through the castle despite Selyse’s refusal.
• At the Stone Dragon Tower, Joffrey considered the island’s succession and noticed two magical glows and vast deposits of Dragon Glass beneath the ground.
• Joffrey said he could stay only one day and that the court needed someone to oversee Dragonstone; Davos explained that its Dragon Glass mines had been abandoned.

During a storm on Dragonstone, Joffrey announced plans to divide the Royal Fleet and prepare for Renly’s possible rebellion, then assigned commanders. He told Selyse that Shireen would return with him to King's Landing, where he was confident he could cure her Greyscale.

• Joffrey dismissed concerns about the storm and revealed that Renly was suspected of plotting Robert and Stannis’s murders and had fled King's Landing.
• Joffrey asked the assembled lords to defend the royal succession and ordered Dragonstone’s fleet divided into four squadrons with separate missions.
• Joffrey used a crystal orb to illuminate the Painted Table, and Lord Velaryon, Lord Sunglass, and Davos requested fleet commands.
• Joffrey appointed Lord Velaryon to the First Fleet, Lord Sunglass to the Second Fleet, Davos to the Third Fleet, and Lord Celtigar and Earl Bar Emmon to guard Dragonstone.
• Joffrey told Selyse that Shireen would leave for King's Landing with him the next day and that he was confident he could cure her Greyscale.

Joffrey arrived in King's Landing with Shireen after Robert's burial and presented himself as his father's devoted heir. In the Red Keep, he confronted Varys and Petyr, reviewed the realm's severe financial troubles, and prepared to use the Iron Throne's Runes in a new way.

• Joffrey entered King's Landing with Shireen, where Eddard welcomed him and learned that Joffrey had treated her Greyscale.
• Joffrey rode into the city to music Robert had loved, while the people recognized the start of a new reign.
• The Hound brought Varys and Petyr to Joffrey in wooden boxes after they had been mutilated, and Joffrey demanded their counsel in exchange for restoring their limbs.
• Joffrey questioned Varys about the false Aegon and had Tyrion show him the Red Keep's discovered secret passages.
• Tyrion reported that the royal family owed six and a half million Golden Dragons and faced a severe budget shortfall, while Joffrey counted twenty Runes and decided it was time to sit upon the throne differently.

Joffrey’s court tried Varys and Petyr Baelish, who blamed Bloodraven for their crimes, and sentenced them to stripped-down lives before the throne. Tyrion then raised the Royal Treasury’s debts and proposed collecting overdue taxes from the realm’s lords, while Joffrey’s burning Iron Throne made the threat unmistakable.

• Hannah questioned Varys and Petyr Baelish about Robert’s murder, and they claimed Bloodraven had controlled them.
• Leaf sang that Bloodraven had possessed Gregor, Petyr, Varys, and Renly, prompting Loras to defend Renly.
• Joffrey declared Bloodraven guilty of treason and rebellion, offered a reward for his capture, and stripped Varys and Petyr Baelish of their offices, wealth, rights, and honors.
• Tyrion revealed that the Royal Treasury owed about six and a half million Golden Dragons and proposed collecting overdue taxes from the territories.
• Joffrey ordered every castle to pay its overdue taxes within three years or lose its lands as the Iron Throne glowed red and melted.

Joffrey implanted Divine Grace cores in a hundred youths and noble scions, using healing magic to make the process appear miraculous. The recipients became members of his holy army, while Loras feared what the king’s power meant for Renly and the realm.

• Loras waited with other noble scions and youths in the Red Keep’s sept, worrying that Joffrey’s actions would provoke war and wondering whether he could hatch dragons.
• Joffrey announced that the frost calamity and the end of the Long Night were at hand, then presented the youths in white with Divine Grace.
• Joffrey used a Valyrian Steel dagger to implant Dragon Glass Magic Web cores in each recipient, healing their neck wounds and making the procedure seem miraculous.
• Loras resisted the idea of receiving a core, but Horas Redwyne declined to challenge Joffrey, and Samwell Tarly trembled as Joffrey controlled his body to complete the implantation.
• After the hundred recipients received Divine Grace, Joffrey declared that they could no longer refuse their mission, and Loras saw that he had become a Holy War Army Apprentice Soldier and an Illuminati Apprentice Member.

Renly received House Tyrell’s support and declared himself king, preparing the Stormlands for war against Joffrey. In King’s Landing, Joffrey received news of a white stag and prepared for his coronation and religious transformation of Westeros.

• Renly dismissed Monford Velaryon’s fleet and learned that Storm’s End owed 1.6 million Golden Dragons in unpaid taxes.
• Renly received Willas Tyrell’s letter pledging the Reach to uphold the Iron Throne’s lawful succession and calling for the truth about Joffrey’s parentage to be clarified.
• Renly ordered the Stormlands’ lords and army to gather, sent the letter to castles across the Seven Kingdoms, and declared that Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella were products of incest, making him the rightful king.
• Hannah told Joffrey that hunters had found a white stag in the Kingswood, and he ordered a reward while discussing replacing his mount.
• Joffrey prepared for his coronation and his plan to remake Westeros as a Magic Empire, then asked where Melisandre was staying.

Melisandre searched the sacred fire for the prophesied prince and saw an omen of the Great Sept of Baelor, then joined the crowd gathering for Joffrey Baratheon’s coronation. As the crowd discussed rumors of Bloodraven, the Children of the Forest, and the coming Long Night, Melisandre wondered who was spreading the talk; the procession stopped at the Central Plaza.

• Melisandre failed to see the prophesied prince in the flames until an image of the Great Sept of Baelor appeared clearly for an instant.
• Melisandre recalled that Stannis was dead and questioned whether Joffrey was the true prince after the sacred fire had stayed silent about him.
• Melisandre joined the crowd traveling toward the Great Sept of Baelor for Joffrey’s coronation on the seventh day of the seventh month.
• The crowd debated Robert’s death, Lord Renly’s departure, Bloodraven, and whether the Children of the Forest and the Long Night were real.
• Melisandre suspected that someone was deliberately spreading talk of the Long Night, and the crowd came to a halt at the Central Plaza.

Melisandre passed through King Joffrey I’s crowded Silver Stag ceremony and witnessed the strange powers of the Dragon Glass spheres. She was granted passage toward the Great Sept of Baelor and watched Joffrey arrive amid the adoration of the crowd.

• Gold Cloak Guards redirected the crowd toward a table where people answered questions and received Silver Stags.
• Melisandre answered the record keeper’s questions, was scanned by a Dragon Glass sphere, and received a Silver Stag.
• Melisandre reached the guarded passage, where the Knight of Flowers scanned her and granted her passage toward the Great Sept of Baelor.
• Joffrey I rode into the Central Plaza on a white horse as the crowd cheered and reached out to him.
• Melisandre saw Joffrey wearing red and black, golden armor, and a dark silver cloak, with a sword that blazed with heat and light.

King Joffrey I’s coronation transformed into a supernatural spectacle as he became a giant of light and proclaimed that the Long Night was coming. Melisandre recognized him as Azor Ahai reborn, the Hero King destined to defeat the darkness.

• Melisandre followed King Joffrey I toward the Great Sept of Baelor but was stopped with other spectators before reaching the coronation plaza.
• A bystander described the coronation rites inside the Great Sept while the crowd waited outside.
• Elin Lantel tried to force his way through the Gold Cloaks, but the doors opened and the High Septon presented the crown.
• King Joffrey I took the crown himself and grew into a giant of light as he advanced seven steps from the Great Sept.
• The giant proclaimed that the Long Night was coming and promised that the Gods’ power would save mankind.
• Melisandre saw the blazing sword, felt its light fill her, and recognized King Joffrey I as the reincarnation of Azor Ahai and the Hero King.

Joffrey welcomed Elin, Jorah Mormont, and Qyburn back to court, rewarded them with new roles and access to his magical screen, and ordered Elin to take over Varys’s responsibilities. The Hound brought Varys in, shocking Daenerys and the others, while Joffrey prepared Elin for the next day’s Small Council meeting.

• Joffrey threatened Viserion for refusing to serve him, but Daenerys pleaded for her brother and Joffrey made Viserion pour the wine.
• Elin described his journey through Tyrosh, credited Qyburn with saving his life, and praised Joffrey for restoring his severed arm.
• Joffrey invited Qyburn to join a new Research Department and asked him to invite Archmaester Marwyn to court.
• Joffrey rewarded Elin and Jorah Mormont, restored Jorah’s honor, appointed him a colonel, and tasked Qyburn with improving the magical screen.
• Joffrey ordered Elin to work with Varys and take over his responsibilities, then the Hound brought Varys in and startled Daenerys, Elin, and the others.
• Joffrey told Elin to attend the next day’s Small Council meeting, while Lord Tywin arrived at the Red Keep after the coronation.