Recaps

Dennis saw Viserys’s dragons cross the Wall toward the Ironborn and ordered the Night’s Watch to prepare for battle. The scene then shifted to Victarion Greyjoy watching Coldwater Bay from the Iron Victory.

• A Night’s Watchman alerted Dennis to a break in the clouds and the arrival of ten dragons, led by one with three heads.
• Dennis watched the dragons cross the Wall and fly west toward the Ironborn’s hiding places.
• Dennis ordered the Night’s Watch to ready ballistae, oil-soaked bolts, and black oil, and to hold their position against any attacker.
• Victarion Greyjoy stood at the prow of the Iron Victory and looked out over Coldwater Bay.

Victarion prepared the Ironborn fleet to attack the Shadow Tower alongside the Wildlings, believing the Night’s Watch was badly outnumbered. A flight of dragons led by King Ghidorah appeared and destroyed the Iron Victory, leaving Victarion dead and the fleet in chaos.

• A scout told Victarion that the Wildlings were ready to attack the Shadow Tower and that their forces at the Great Canyon would strike at the same time.
• Victarion ordered the Ironborn ships to close formation and prepare to attack the Shadow Tower quickly.
• Victarion and his men saw a flight of dragons led by a three-headed golden dragon descending from the eastern sky.
• Victarion recognized Viserys Targaryen’s dragons and ordered the fleet to scatter toward shore.
• King Ghidorah fired a golden ray that erased the Iron Victory and killed Victarion, while the Ironborn fleet panicked and ships collided.

Viserys and the dragons destroyed the Ironborn fleet in Coldwater Bay, then flew to Shadow Tower after he sent Blackflame and the other dragons to hunt down Ironborn and Free Folk hiding nearby. The dragons landed outside the castle, where the Night’s Watch watched in alarm and Ser Dennis Mallister came out with several officers.

• Blackflame, Meleys, and the other dragons attacked the Ironborn longships, burning or sinking more than thirty ships in fewer than two waves.
• Viserys circled the battlefield on King Ghidorah, confirmed no one had escaped, and ordered Blackflame and the other dragons to search the woods for hiding Ironborn and Free Folk.
• Rhaenys told Viserys she was tired but insisted on staying by his side as they flew toward Shadow Tower.
• Viserys and the dragons landed outside Shadow Tower, frightening the Night’s Watch men who had never seen dragons so close.
• Ser Dennis Mallister emerged from Shadow Tower with several Night’s Watch officers.

Viserys met Dennis Mallister at the Shadow Tower and ordered him to offer the Free Folk a chance to surrender and move south into the Gift. The chapter ended with King Ghidorah’s Golden Ray glowing in her throat as Viserys warned that the Free Folk would be killed if they refused.

• Dennis Mallister and the Shadow Tower officers approached King Ghidorah, shaken by the Dragon’s immense presence.
• Viserys told Dennis that he had sent Blackflame and the other Dragons to deal with the Ironborn.
• Dennis explained that more than ten thousand Free Folk had gathered beyond the gorge, including Giants and mammoths.
• Viserys ordered Dennis to send envoys offering the Free Folk safe passage south if they surrendered, recognized him as king, and accepted the Night’s Watch’s arrangements.
• King Ghidorah raised her middle head and gathered golden light in her throat as Viserys threatened the Free Folk with death if they refused.

After Bott returned from the Free Folk camp wounded and reported that their leader Styr had rejected Viserys's offer, Viserys decided to negotiate in person. He flew King Ghidorah over the Great Canyon and left her circling above the camp, throwing the Free Folk into panic.

• Dennis sent Bott to offer the Free Folk safe passage south if they bent the knee to Viserys.
• Bott returned wounded and said Styr had rejected the offer, challenged the king's authority, and nearly attacked him.
• Viserys told Rhaenys he would meet the Free Folk himself, trusting King Ghidorah to protect him.
• Viserys rode King Ghidorah across the Great Canyon toward the Free Folk camp near Westwatch-by-the-Bridge.
• King Ghidorah's wings overturned tents, extinguished campfires, and sent the Free Folk scrambling in fear.

Viserys Targaryen landed with King Ghidorah in a Free Folk camp and offered its people a choice between surrendering and settling in the Gift or remaining to face the Others and his dragon. King Ghidorah began charging her three-colored attack as the frightened Free Folk considered his ultimatum.

• The Free Folk panicked as King Ghidorah landed in their camp, scattering snow and frightening the survivors.
• Viserys introduced himself as the southern king and told the Free Folk their Ironborn allies were dead and their route south was blocked.
• Viserys offered to lead those who surrendered to Castle Black and settle them in the Gift, while warning that the Others or King Ghidorah would kill anyone who stayed or resisted.
• King Ghidorah roared and began gathering golden, blue, and red light in her throats, illuminating the camp.

King Ghidorah demonstrated her devastating powers before the Free Folk, and the Giant leader Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg agreed to follow Viserys south. Viserys demanded the Free Folk decide whether to join him, and Styr, the Magnar of the Thenn, stepped forward.

• King Ghidorah used her three charged breaths to divide a mountain into scorched, molten, and frozen regions, extinguishing the Free Folk's remaining resistance.
• Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg arrived as the Giants' representative, lowered his weapon, and agreed through an interpreter to follow Viserys south.
• Viserys reminded the Free Folk that he would not wait much longer for their decision.
• Styr, the Magnar of the Thenn, stepped forward and faced Viserys as the crowd watched.

Styr confronted Viserys, the southern Dragonlord, while recalling how the south had cost him his son and left him scarred. He declared himself the Free Folk’s newly chosen king, and his raider followers gathered tensely behind him.

• Styr remembered how a Night’s Watch crossbowman had killed his son Torik and how Styr had avenged him, earning the scar across his face.
• Styr turned from King Ghidorah to address Viserys, who calmly confirmed that he was the Dragonlord.
• Styr introduced himself as the Free Folk’s newly chosen king and rejected Mance Rayder as a king shaped by the Black Crows and southern manners.
• Styr’s raider followers rose and tightened their grips on their weapons as Styr claimed authority.
• Styr’s followers feared southern laws and settled labor more than the Others, and they preferred raiding to working the land.

Styr rejected Viserys’s authority, insisting that the Free Folk would rather face the dangers beyond the Wall than surrender their freedom to southern rule. Viserys challenged Styr’s belief that he could live without ever bowing to anyone, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Styr privately dismissed Viserys as an unworthy warrior but recognized that King Ghidorah’s power left the Free Folk with little hope of resisting.
• The Free Folk gathered behind Styr, hoping his negotiations would buy them time to retreat safely north.
• Styr told Viserys that he wanted his people to live on their feet rather than kneel to a southern king and become bound to the land.
• Viserys reminded Styr of his long, hard life in the Frostfangs and told him he was wrong to think he never needed to bow his head to anyone.

Viserys warned Styr and the Free Folk that the Others were advancing south and explained how dangerous they were. He said dragonglass, Valyrian steel, and magically enhanced fire could harm them, leaving the camp to reckon with the threat and the Dragons behind him.

• Viserys described how the Others killed Othell and Benjen Stark at Caste's keep before he destroyed them with Valyrian steel.
• An old woman and a survivor of the Hardfoot tribe confirmed that the Others had slaughtered their people and turned the dead into Wights.
• Styr admitted he had heard reports of the Others but insisted he could defend his territory, though his voice showed uncertainty.
• Viserys warned that the Others were moving south and that ordinary Free Folk weapons could not hurt them.
• Viserys identified dragonglass, Valyrian steel, and magically enhanced fire as weapons that could harm the Others, prompting the Free Folk to look toward his three Dragons.

Viserys tried to convince Styr and the Free Folk to flee south before the Others arrived, but Styr attacked him after Viserys exposed his fear. Viserys ordered King Ghidorah to attack, and the dragon killed the fleeing Free Folk with ice and fire.

• Viserys warned Styr and the Free Folk that a vanguard of the Others would reach them within a month and urged them to head south to the Wall.
• Viserys used his power to sense Styr's fear and accused him of hiding it behind talk of living on his feet.
• Styr lunged at Viserys with his axe, but King Ghidorah lowered her heads toward him and threatened him with golden light.
• Viserys ordered King Ghidorah to finish the Free Folk, and her golden sparks pierced Styr's axe and burned his cheek.
• King Ghidorah froze some fleeing wildlings with icy breath and burned others with fire.

Viserys killed Styr and crushed the Free Folk camp’s resistance with King Ghidorah, then accepted the survivors’ allegiance and ordered them to travel south to the Night’s Watch’s Gift. As he flew back toward Shadow Tower, Rhaenys asked whether he had ever intended to burn them all.

• King Ghidorah killed Styr with golden breath and devastated the Free Folk camp, while Viserys demanded that the survivors surrender.
• When a Free Folk man tried to flee, King Ghidorah struck the forest with icy breath, killing at least a hundred more.
• The surviving Free Folk knelt and pledged allegiance, and Viserys ordered them to pack and travel through Castle Black to settle in the Night’s Watch’s Gift.
• Viserys warned the Free Folk that the gates would close to them when the new year began, then flew away on King Ghidorah toward Shadow Tower.
• Rhaenys met Viserys on Meleys and asked whether he had intended to burn all the Free Folk from the start.

Viserys negotiated the Free Folk’s surrender and return to the south, then came back with Rhaenys to the Shadow Tower. He ordered Ser Dennis to guide the Free Folk to Castle Black, leaving the Night’s Watch to prepare for their arrival and their need for food.

• Viserys told Rhaenys that killing the Free Folk would accomplish nothing and avoided her observation that he had changed.
• The Night’s Watch cheered as Viserys and Rhaenys returned by dragon to the Wall.
• Ser Dennis ordered the Shadow Tower to prepare for the Free Folk’s arrival and send a raven to Lord Commander Mormont, while the steward warned that the Night’s Watch lacked food.
• Viserys told Ser Dennis that the Free Folk had agreed to obey the Iron Throne’s laws, stop attacking the Wall, and settle in the south.
• Viserys ordered Ser Dennis to send a reliable party to guide the Free Folk to Castle Black and to arrest any who caused trouble or incited rebellion.

At the Shadow Tower, Viserys instructed Ser Dennis to turn the escorted Free Folk over to Mance Rayder if he was away, then decided to stay for the night so Rhaenys and the dragons could rest. In their room, Rhaenys joined Viserys as he sat lost in thought, and they shared a tender moment.

• Viserys told Ser Dennis to give Mance Rayder the troublesome Free Folk and a full account of their group if Viserys was not at Castle Black.
• Ser Dennis accepted the order despite his distrust of Mance Rayder.
• Viserys and Rhaenys entered the Shadow Tower, where the Night's Watch prepared a room for them.
• Viserys chose to stay overnight so Rhaenys could rest and the dragons could feed.
• Rhaenys approached Viserys by the hearth, asked what he was thinking, and shared an intimate moment with him.

Viserys and Rhaenys shared an intimate night at the Wall, where Rhaenys reminded him of his promise to marry her. Viserys promised to marry her when they returned, and they began undressing by the hearth.

• Viserys pulled Rhaenys into his arms and kissed her.
• Viserys carried Rhaenys to the bed and teased her about being tired after flying all day.
• Rhaenys admitted she was jealous of the other women in Viserys's life and said she wanted him.
• Rhaenys asked when Viserys would marry her, and he promised to do so as soon as they returned.
• Viserys and Rhaenys kissed and began undressing, but Rhaenys struggled with his armor.

Viserys and Rhaenys spent the night together in a stone house, then woke the next morning with Rhaenys asking to go again. Viserys had briefly reflected on the Wall, the Citadel, and the Others before falling asleep.

• Viserys and Rhaenys undressed and became intimate beside the fire.
• Viserys assured Rhaenys that magic showed no one was nearby, and she relaxed and responded to him.
• Rhaenys fell asleep from exhaustion, and Viserys held her while thinking about the Wall, the Citadel, and the Others.
• Viserys and Rhaenys fell asleep together, with King Ghidorah waiting outside.
• Rhaenys woke Viserys the next morning and casually asked him to go again.

Viserys and Rhaenys spent the morning together at the Shadow Tower before preparing to travel. Meanwhile, the Night’s Watch escorted nearly ten thousand Free Folk south toward Castle Black, and the chapter ended with Viserys and Rhaenys ready to depart as King Ghidorah circled overhead.

• Ser Dennis sent about thirty Night's Watch Rangers to escort the Free Folk from their camp toward Castle Black.
• The Free Folk packed their belongings and began the journey south under the Rangers' watch, led by their tribal leaders.
• Rhaenys asked Viserys if they would always remain together, and he promised she would be his queen and stay by his side.
• Viserys left their quarters and told Rhaenys to get dressed for their day's travel.
• Rhaenys relit the hearth, then joined Viserys beneath the gate, where King Ghidorah circled overhead.

Viserys and Rhaenys flew from the Shadow Tower toward Castle Black, where Viserys planned to meet Maester Aemon and take Ygritte south. As they arrived, the Night's Watch recognized the dragons as friendly and Castle Black came into view.

• Viserys took Rhaenys's hand, and they mounted King Ghidorah and Meleys before flying east with the other dragons.
• Viserys reflected on the Wildlings gathered in the Gift and his plans to visit Maester Aemon and bring Ygritte south.
• Viserys and Rhaenys flew over the Wall as sunset lit its ice, and Rhaenys pointed out Castle Black ahead.
• Viserys used his bond with King Ghidorah to signal the dragon, which roared above Castle Black.
• Night's Watch sentries sounded the alarm and sent down a signal identifying the arriving dragons as friendly.
• Viserys saw Castle Black's sprawling buildings and its low ring of rough logs and earth.

Viserys arrived at Castle Black with ten dragons, and the Free Folk and Night's Watch gathered to watch them descend. Jeor Mormont and the castle's commanders welcomed the silver-haired king as the Free Folk resettlement continued.

• The Free Folk and Night's Watch watched the dragons circle above Castle Black, awed by their arrival.
• The Targaryen banner flew above the Night's Watch banner, declaring the change in authority.
• Bowen Marsh, Othell Yarwyck, and other commanders climbed onto the wall and bowed to Viserys.
• Jeor Mormont came out with Black Brothers and looked over the Free Folk waiting to be registered.

Viserys arrived at Castle Black with a horde of dragons and told Jeor Mormont that he had resolved the crises at the Shadow Tower. He reported that Victarion Greyjoy and the Ironborn ships were destroyed and that roughly ten thousand Free Folk were on their way south.

• King Ghidorah, Meleys, and other dragons landed at Castle Black as Jeor Mormont and the gathered men watched in alarm.
• Jeor Mormont welcomed Viserys, who told him he had already dealt with the crisis at the Shadow Tower.
• Viserys said dragonfire had destroyed the Ironborn longships and killed Victarion Greyjoy.
• Viserys reported that roughly ten thousand Free Folk were being escorted to Castle Black by Shadow Tower Rangers.
• Jeor Mormont and Bowen Marsh struggled to believe how quickly Viserys had resolved the threats.
• Viserys explained that the Free Folk's Thenn leader had hated the Night's Watch and that he had killed him.

Viserys reminded the Night’s Watch that the Others were approaching and that he had a duty to protect the Wall. After ordering the Watch to keep people away from his resting dragons, he went with Rhaenys to visit Maester Aemon about a private House Targaryen matter.

• Mormont thanked Viserys for saving the Night’s Watch and the Wall from devastating losses.
• Viserys warned Mormont and the Black Brothers that the Others were gathering and said the Wall had to be defended for all the living.
• Viserys asked about Maester Aemon and decided to visit him himself in the Maester’s Tower.
• Viserys told Mormont that his dragons would rest and feed in the forests of the Gift, warning people to stay away from them.
• Mormont ordered Bowen Marsh to alert the Night’s Watch and Free Folk settlements, while Viserys and Rhaenys headed for the Maester’s Tower.

Viserys and Rhaenys crossed Castle Black to visit Maester Aemon, while Rhaenys worried about Meleys enduring the northern cold. They reunited with Aemon, who welcomed them by the fire.

• Rhaenys comforted Meleys, who was hungry and cold, and told her she would later go south with the other dragons.
• Viserys assured Rhaenys they would leave the North after settling the Free Folk and learning the Others' next move.
• Viserys and Rhaenys crossed Castle Black and entered the Maester's Tower.
• Maester Aemon recognized Viserys and sensed Targaryen blood, then welcomed him and Rhaenys and asked Sam to bring them chairs.

Samwell Tarly began serving Maester Aemon at Castle Black after his father sent him to the Wall, where he met Viserys and Rhaenys. Viserys said he had come both to resolve the Wall’s troubles and to bring Rhaenys to visit Aemon.

• Randyll Tarly sent Samwell to the Wall to remove him from the line of succession and clear the way for Dickon.
• Samwell endured Night's Watch training and was assigned to assist Maester Aemon with the Rookery and herb room.
• Samwell welcomed Viserys and Rhaenys, nervously serving them hot wine as Rhaenys asked about his background.
• Aemon asked Viserys about the troubles at the Shadow Tower, the Ironborn, and the Free Folk.
• Viserys told Aemon that he had come to settle the turmoil at the Wall and to bring Rhaenys to visit him.

Viserys visited Maester Aemon at Castle Black and offered to take him south, but Aemon chose to remain with the Night's Watch. After leaving the tower, Viserys and Rhaenys found the brothers and Free Folk watching the dragons, and Meleys flew off to hunt.

• Viserys asked Maester Aemon to come south with him, but Aemon refused because his oath and duty were at the Wall.
• Viserys promised to make the southern nobles send men north and said he would visit Aemon again.
• Sam listened to Viserys and Aemon's conversation, and his fear gave way to awe.
• The Night's Watch and Free Folk watched King Ghidorah and Meleys in Castle Black's courtyard, and Meleys accepted roast mutton from them.
• Meleys greeted Rhaenys when Viserys returned, then took off to hunt after the torches and onlookers were scattered by her wings.

Viserys brought Rhaenys to rest in Castle Black, then discovered Ygritte waiting in a shadowed corridor. He questioned why she had stayed instead of joining the Free Folk at Queenscrown.

• Viserys led Rhaenys to a warm room in the King's Tower and settled down with her.
• Viserys sensed someone approaching and recognized the presence as Ygritte.
• Viserys found Ygritte waiting in the corridor, dressed in a Night's Watch-style coat and carrying a shortsword.
• Ygritte told Viserys that her presence had nothing to do with him and that she had not gone back beyond the Wall.
• Viserys asked why Ygritte had not joined Mance Rayder's people at Queenscrown.