Chapter Summaries

Joffrey visited the Alchemists' Guild with Tyrion and learned how its Iron Torches produced wildfire. He watched preparations for a ritual to summon the Son of Fire and left wondering about the multicolored magical energy behind the Guild's spells.

• As the group descended, Joffrey told Tyrion that those who contributed more would earn a better seat, while criticizing the North's limited support for the crown.
• Hallyne led Joffrey and Tyrion through the Iron Torch Corridor and explained that the Guild could produce two hundred jars of wildfire each day.
• Joffrey recalled watching the Guild's wildfire-making process through magic and noticed that its spell produced multicolored starlight, raising questions about higher-level runes.
• Hallyne brought Joffrey to a gallery overlooking a hall where the Guild's members prepared a ritual for the birth of the Son of Fire.

Hallyne and five Wisemen performed an ancient fire ritual using crystals supplied by King Joffrey, and the Wildfire consumed nine sacrifices as the ritual drew their souls toward its flames. The chapter ended with six invisible souls being pulled into the blazing altar.

• Hallyne inspected the altar, sacrifices, incantation, and Six-Pointed Star Formation made from the king’s crystals.
• Hallyne and the five Wisemen chanted in three languages while Joffrey watched and considered the uncertain powers behind magic.
• The altar’s magic formation ignited, and the assistants hanged three sacrifices as their souls dissipated.
• The Wildfire erupted and consumed all nine sacrifices, while silver starlight gathered the remaining six souls.
• Hallyne joined Joffrey on the High Platform as the six souls were dragged toward the Wildfire.

Hallyne and the alchemists brought an intelligent Fire Spirit into being, but Joffrey realized it was consuming the crystals’ Source Energy and would soon die. Joffrey formed a contract with the spirit, saving it with a crystal, and offered it more as Little Gold clutched its new supply.

• The emerald altar flames transformed into a humanoid golden Fire Spirit, and Hallyne celebrated the alchemists’ achievement.
• Tyrion praised the creation, while Joffrey noticed the Six-Pointed Star Formation’s crystals rapidly losing Source Energy.
• Joffrey called the spirit Little Gold and warned it that it was about to die; Little Gold realized the Magic Power in its crystals was running out.
• Little Gold rushed toward Joffrey, but its Inheritance Mark could not absorb the Magic Power in his body and began consuming the spirit instead.
• Joffrey offered Little Gold a crystal and asked it to make a contract; the contract formed, and Joffrey released Source Energy into the crystal to save it.
• Little Gold shrank to four feet tall and held the crystal as Joffrey offered it a handful more.

Joffrey rewarded Hallyne by offering the Alchemists' Guild a place in the Research Department, where Hallyne would lead an Alchemy Branch. As Joffrey returned to the Red Keep, Elin reported that Archmaester Marwyn had arrived in King's Landing, and Joffrey summoned him.

• Joffrey teased the Fire Spirit, Little Gold, and placed it atop his crown while speaking with Hallyne outside the Alchemists' Guild.
• Joffrey asked Hallyne about the cost of ten thousand jars of Wildfire, and Hallyne said the agreed price was ten thousand Golden Dragons.
• Joffrey asked Hallyne about the Research Department, prompting Hallyne to ask to join it and pledge his loyalty.
• Joffrey offered every member of the Alchemists' Guild a place in the Research Department and proposed that Hallyne lead an Alchemy Branch at Qyburn's rank.
• Joffrey returned to the Red Keep, where Elin reported Archmaester Marwyn's arrival in King's Landing, and Joffrey ordered him summoned.

Archmaester Marwyn arrived in King's Landing, convinced that its strange lights and powers proved magic had never vanished, and waited impatiently to meet King Joffrey. The king summoned Marwyn and his acolytes, and Joffrey discovered that Lareza was a girl.

• Marwyn studied the Dragon Glass lights in Maegor's Holdfast and recalled Qyburn's account of King's Landing's mysterious powers.
• Marwyn chose to leave The Citadel and travel by sea to King's Landing, bringing Lareza and Leo Tyrell as his acolytes.
• After witnessing King's Landing's wonders, Marwyn decided magic had always existed and resolved to reach an agreement with King Joffrey.
• A young girl summoned Marwyn, Lareza, and Leo Tyrell to the king's hall, where they bowed before Joffrey and met Qyburn.
• Joffrey examined Lareza with his mind and discovered that the slender acolyte was a girl, making her shiver.

Joffrey exposed Sarella Sand’s identity and revealed his knowledge of Dorne’s secret pact to marry Arianne Martell to Viserion. He also offered to marry Margaery as his second queen, and Leo Tyrell agreed to serve as a messenger to Highgarden.

• Joffrey used his power to identify assistant maester Lareza as Sarella Sand and questioned whether Dorne intended to support the Iron Throne.
• Joffrey told Sarella that he knew of the secret betrothal between Arianne Martell and Viserion, then mocked the plan and suggested Arianne could marry Renly.
• Joffrey asked Leo Tyrell whether Highgarden had sent him to seek peace, and Leo claimed he had put House Tyrell behind him in favor of knowledge.
• Joffrey announced that he would marry Margaery as his second queen to restore peace, but warned that blood and fire might be needed to end the rebellion.
• Leo accepted his Tyrell identity again and volunteered to serve as Joffrey’s messenger.

Joffrey demonstrated his knowledge of Valyrian Steel’s magical runes and introduced Marwyn to the living Son of Fire. Marwyn accepted Joffrey’s offer to study magic under the king’s command.

• Joffrey asked Marwyn how Valyrian Steel could be damaged, and Marwyn explained that repeated impacts could divide it into pieces with limited self-restoring enchantments.
• Joffrey summoned a tiny golden figure called the Son of Fire and revealed that it was the first piece of Valyrian Steel created by his own hands.
• Joffrey explained that Valyrian Steel contained magical runes with healing and restorative powers, then showed the Son of Fire growing into a human-sized being of flame.
• Joffrey invited Marwyn to join his efforts to study other forms of magic and build a Heaven on Earth.
• Marwyn offered Joffrey his Valyrian Steel Ring and pledged to obey him.

Joffrey founded the King's Landing Academy, replaced Marwyn’s archmaester ring with an academy emblem, and ordered Qyburn to implant divine grace in Marwyn, Sarella Sand, and Leo Tyrell. Marwyn pledged to help draw capable scholars away from The Citadel, and he, Qyburn, and Hallyne were tasked with designing the academy in cleared Flea Bottom.

• Joffrey stripped Marwyn of his Citadel rank, made him an archmaester of the King's Landing Academy, and gave the academy the Eye of Omniscience as its symbol.
• Joffrey gave Qyburn an academy emblem and ordered him to rename the Research Department the Research Institute within the academy.
• Qyburn implanted crystal chips in Marwyn, Sarella Sand, and Leo Tyrell, granting all three divine grace.
• Marwyn advised Joffrey to recruit capable Citadel scholars and let the academy displace The Citadel through research and persuasion rather than force.
• Joffrey projected a map of King's Landing and ordered Marwyn, Qyburn, and Hallyne to design the academy in cleared Flea Bottom.

Daenerys reflected on Viserion’s engagement and wondered what the king would make of the city beyond the Red Keep. Joffrey ordered Tyrion to use Holy Creation Sorcerers to build the King's Landing Academy and rebuild the East Half City, demanding the work be completed by the following sunset.

• Daenerys wondered why Ser Willem Darry had never told them about Viserion’s marriage pact and considered how schemers might have manipulated them.
• Tyrion emerged from the side hall, and Joffrey asked how the Holy War Army troops assigned to the Engineering Bureau had performed.
• Tyrion praised the Holy Creation Sorcerers, who could shape stone and soil into buildings, and asked Joffrey to assign more of them.
• Joffrey ordered Tyrion to use the sorcerers to build the King's Landing Academy and rebuild the East Half City.
• Tyrion reported that dozens of civilian properties, more than one hundred properties belonging to lords, and around three hundred Free Cities properties still resisted the order.
• Joffrey ordered Tyrion to seize the properties by force, treat defiant owners as spies, and finish the work before sunset the next day.

Hot Pie saw how Renly’s rebellion had brought hardship to King’s Landing’s refugees and workers, then left his old bakery to begin work with the Security Bureau. In the Surveillance Hall, he watched unrest across the city before cavalry under the Crowned Stag poured through Bronze Gate.

• Hot Pie visited his old bakery and heard the apprentices complain that Old Baker exploited them as refugees drove down wages and worsened conditions.
• Hot Pie saw that some apprentices resented him, while others hoped he would intervene, and he recognized that the newcomers from the south had taken work for less.
• Old Baker greeted Hot Pie deferentially because of his Ministry of War badge, and Hot Pie reflected that he would join the Security Bureau the next day as one of its top hundred recruits.
• Hot Pie urged his former friends to answer the throne’s recruitment call, then left the bakery for the Security Bureau.
• Hot Pie watched the Investigation Team of the Master of Coin confront commoners and Gold Cloaks inspect refugees at River Gate.
• Hot Pie turned to the main screen when the Surveillance Hall reported activity at Bronze Gate, where cavalry bearing the Crowned Stag’s banners entered the castle.

Renly Baratheon arrived at Bronze Gate with his cavalry, where his gathered forces anticipated an easy march on King's Landing. In the Security Bureau, Hot Pie received his first live beacon and discovered that the Divine Grace Light Screen had begun a new mission.

• Ten thousand infantrymen outside Bronze Gate cheered as Renly Baratheon rode in with five thousand cavalry.
• Ralph Buckler welcomed Renly, while Ser Sebastian Errol and Bryce Caron reported on troops and asked about the cavalry at Massey's Hook.
• Renly told the lords to wait for news from the north, rest at Bronze Gate, and seek amusement in the Red Keep afterward.
• After the Surveillance Hall projection ended, Hot Pie received a live beacon and used it to search for Bronze Gate.
• The Divine Grace Light Screen displayed the mission title "Holy Land Radiance: Act Two—Divine Grace Vast and Mighty" as evening fell.

At a meeting in the light-screen Throne Room, Joffrey instructed his ministers to report on their departments under the new task, “Divine Grace Vast and Mighty.” Tyrion outlined the realm’s administrative progress and financial strain, while Elin reported on security and troop movements, ending with news that Renly had entered Bronze Gate.

• Joffrey announced that the ministers would determine arrangements for the next stage of “Divine Grace Vast and Mighty” and asked them to summarize their departments’ performance and difficulties.
• Tyrion reported that the Royal Treasury held over one and a half million Golden Dragons, described the Statistics and Engineering Bureaus’ progress, and said he believed borrowing again from Casterly Rock would help with finances.
• Elin reported that the Security Bureau had expanded, uncovered spies and rebels, and kept the Stormlands and The Reach under surveillance.
• Elin described the armies gathering across The Reach and the Westlands, including Tywin’s forty thousand troops at Casterly Rock and Kevan’s twenty thousand men marching toward King’s Landing.
• Elin announced that the False King Renly had entered Bronze Gate.

Jaime Lannister reflected on the war preparations, his strained family loyalties, and the Divine Grace Light Screens that were giving Joffrey control over King's Landing. As the city prepared to face the Southern Alliance Army, he heard that the flagship Divine Grace was ready for its launch ceremony.

• The Hound and Jaime reported that the Royal Guard and Ministry of War had tens of thousands of soldiers ready for battle, while Jaime resented that many of his trained troops served under The Hound.
• Jaime recalled that Cersei had rejected him because Joffrey knew the truth about them, and he resolved to focus on duty and honor.
• Jaime considered Tywin's demand that he leave the Kingsguard and inherit Casterly Rock, but he worried about Cersei, Tyrion, and Joffrey's response.
• Jaime reflected that Joffrey's growing distribution of Divine Grace Light Screens could let the king rule the Seven Kingdoms without relying on the lords.
• Hannah reported that supplies were stable, the Holy War Army's equipment had passed testing, and the flagship Divine Grace would launch on Sunday.

Joffrey declared his plan to transform King's Landing into a holy city and ordered East Half City rebuilt as its first step. He assigned sites across the city for government offices, military camps, and other institutions, leaving Tyrion responsible for planning and construction.

• Joffrey said King's Landing would become a holy city and called for its people to join the undertaking.
• Joffrey announced that East Half City would be reconstructed to house at least a million people and begin taking shape before the year ended.
• Joffrey used a detailed model of King's Landing to assign sites for the Royal Guard, the Statistics Bureau, the Investigation Team, and the Engineering Bureau.
• Joffrey assigned the Gold Cloaks' former camps to the Ministry of War and designated new headquarters for the Ministry of Security, Ministry of Education, and Logistics Bureau.
• Joffrey ordered preparations for the Ministry of the Gospel, the Kingsguard, the academy, the Research Institute, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of the Navy.
• Joffrey made Tyrion responsible for selecting sites, planning, and overseeing construction, and Tyrion agreed.

Renly convened a war council at Bronze Gate as reports of Joffrey’s Holy War Army and its apparent miracles unsettled his lords and threatened the army’s resolve. He ordered the forces at Massey’s Hook to withdraw and the army to march west toward Bitterbridge.

• Hot Pie secured a viewpoint behind Renly and watched more than a hundred security officers gather to observe the war council.
• Renly listened as his lords argued over whether Joffrey’s forces were weak or possessed frightening supernatural powers.
• Bryce Caron dismissed the Holy War Army as a trick and predicted victory at Massey’s Hook, while Casper Wylde and other lords worried over reports of flames and miraculous healing.
• Renly ordered the forces at Massey’s Hook to fall back and commanded the army to march west toward Bitterbridge by way of Felwood and Greenvalley.
• Hot Pie planned to worship at the Great Sept of Baelor the next day and thank the Gods for his good fortune.

The Divine Grace was unveiled to an awestruck crowd, who learned how its Holy Creation Sorcerers had shaped its wooden dockyard and steel hull. At the launch ceremony, Joffrey and Sansa performed the traditional rites, and golden wine ran down the figurehead like blood.

• Crowds at King's Landing Port repeated accounts of the Divine Grace's miraculous construction from wood and steel.
• Tyrion presented Joffrey with a bottle of Golden Wine and reflected on the Holy Creation Sorcerers in Hannah's Logistics Bureau.
• Joffrey invited Sansa to bless the Divine Grace, and they went together to its figurehead.
• Joffrey touched the figurehead seven times and offered seven prayers.
• Sansa smashed the bottle against the figurehead, sending golden wine down it like blood.

Joffrey watched Divine Grace launch successfully and prepared the Royal Fleet to sail for Storm’s End. He had delayed the planned decisive battle because Renly’s altered route made the original interception too risky.

• Divine Grace slid into the Blackwater River, floated steadily, and turned toward the river mouth as the crowd celebrated.
• Joffrey considered Renly’s decision to march south through Felwood and Greenvalley and agreed with Tyrion that the army should avoid the original interception plan.
• The Hound reported that the Sorcerers had inspected Divine Grace and that the Royal Guard’s weapons and two months of supplies were aboard.
• Joffrey ordered the fleet to sail at full speed to Storm’s End and clear the coast.
• Divine Grace sounded its whistle as the Royal Fleet left King’s Landing Port and sailed out to sea.

Joffrey led a massive fleet toward Storm's End, including the new ironclad Divine Grace, while Qyburn tested and improved its magical systems. Before accepting Melisandre's offer to serve him, Joffrey ordered Beric Dondarrion and Red Priest Thoros to rendezvous with the fleet at Stone Dance City.

• A fleet of three hundred warships sailed north from King's Landing, astonishing residents along Blackwater Bay.
• Joffrey considered the power of the Divine Grace and assessed its speed, magic-energy consumption, and potential improvements with Qyburn.
• Qyburn repeatedly modified the Divine Grace's machinery and hull systems, gradually reducing its magic-energy consumption.
• Melisandre arrived and said the Lord of Light had commanded her to serve Joffrey.
• Joffrey ordered Beric Dondarrion and Red Priest Thoros to reach Stone Dance City before sunset the next day and meet the fleet.

Red Priest Thoros reflected on his past and tried to persuade the captive Ser Roland Storm to abandon Renly and accept King Joffrey as the chosen servant of the Lord of Light. Roland refused, and Beric Dondarrion’s group prepared to clear out the remaining enemies the next day.

• Thoros, Beric Dondarrion, and Edric Dayne urged the bound Roland Storm to stop resisting, but Roland stayed silent and defiant.
• Thoros recalled how he had failed to convert Aerys II, then enjoyed life at court before King Robert’s death led him to join Melisandre’s Ministry of the Gospel.
• Thoros told Roland that the Seven Gods were manifestations of Allah and urged him to spare himself and his men by abandoning Renly.
• Beric ordered the group to rest before clearing out the remaining enemies, and Edric asked to lead the vanguard with a gentler approach.
• Roland’s eyes flickered as he heard Edric’s request.

After a devastating night raid destroyed their camp, Nabert Grandison and the surviving cavalry fled south along Massey's Hook, desperate for fresh water and unsure whether the monsters still pursued them. Nabert recalled the attack that routed them, while the exhausted survivors remained stranded on the coast.

• Nabert Grandison and the surviving cavalry camped on the coast, relying on shellfish and rainwater while worrying about thirst, illness, and the monsters pursuing them.
• Nabert remembered that House Grandison's forces had been raiding settlements across Massey's Hook under the command of four leaders, including Bruce Buckler, Hart Fell, and Roland Storm.
• A night raid overwhelmed the cavalry camp with strange flames that engulfed people, horses, weapons, and buildings.
• Nabert saw a silver-cloaked man with a golden Six-Pointed Star throw a round ball that exploded, spraying flesh and spreading pale mist before the man turned toward him.