Recaps

Viserys's ships were ambushed by Salladhor Saan's pirates in a dense sea fog, but his forces defeated them and captured Saan. Saan offered compensation, guidance, and service in exchange for his life, leaving Viserys to decide what to do with him.

• Half a month after leaving Braavos, Viserys's ships sailed into a thick fog, where Arthur Dayne spotted a fleet moving to intercept them.
• Salladhor Saan demanded cargo, a ship, and half the crew, but Viserys refused and ordered his men to prepare for battle.
• Saan's pirates attacked and tried to board the ships, while Viserys fought with Blackfyre and Arthur Dayne led the defense.
• Viserys's forces defeated the pirates in less than half an hour, destroying six ships and capturing Salladhor Saan.
• Saan pleaded for mercy and offered compensation, guidance through the waters, and his men’s service.

Viserys spared Salladhor Saan and recruited him to raid ships serving Lannister and Baratheon interests, setting aside half the spoils to build a fleet for Viserys. After stopping in Lys to resupply and gather intelligence, Viserys and his ships sailed on toward Volantis.

• Viserys ordered Salladhor Saan to keep pirating, target Lannister and Baratheon ships, and secretly use half his spoils to build ships for Viserys.
• Salladhor agreed to serve Viserys and instructed his crew to save half their future plunder.
• Viserys's ships sailed to Lys, where he went ashore in disguise with Ser Arthur while Ser Alliser handled supplies and gathered news.
• Viserys noticed Ironborn sailors discussing King Balon, the Old Way, and the Arbor, and learned their sharp-eyed young captain was called Asha.
• Viserys and Ser Arthur found little reliable information about Valyria, while Ser Alliser reported on Westerosi debts, feasts, and political rumors.
• After resupplying in Lys, Viserys's ships departed for Volantis.

Viserys arrived in Volantis and prepared his soldiers to investigate Valyria before their dangerous expedition. At the Temple of the Red God, Kinvara approached him with a prophecy about a three-headed dragon.

• After two weeks at sea, Viserys and his companions reached Volantis and saw its massive walls, harbor, and slave trade.
• Viserys ordered Ser Alliser to send soldiers into the city in separate groups to gather information about Valyria and past expeditions.
• Viserys found that his Skinchanger abilities could reach only Valyria's outskirts before a strange field cut off his connection.
• Viserys and Ser Arthur walked through Volantis, where they saw patrols linked to the rival Tiger and Elephant parties and visited a large temple of R'hllor.
• Kinvara, a young servant of the Lord of Light, approached Viserys and told him she had seen a three-headed dragon in the flames.

Viserys heard Kinvara’s cryptic warning, then received Ser Alliser’s intelligence about past expeditions to Valyria and a brief seasonal passage through the Smoking Sea. He scheduled the journey for a month and a half later and allowed his soldiers time ashore to rest before they set out.

• Kinvara warned Viserys about awakening powers, the dangers of his own fire, and the shadows beneath his feet before returning to the Temple of the Red God.
• Ser Arthur cautioned Viserys against trusting Red God prophecies, but Viserys left the encounter uncertain about Kinvara’s words.
• After three days of gathering information, Ser Alliser reported that a past Volantene expedition to Valyria had nearly been destroyed and returned with only a few survivors and strange artifacts.
• Ser Alliser told Viserys that a brief passage through the Smoking Sea appeared each year and was expected in about a month and a half.
• Ser Alliser described Volantis’s rival factions and their interest in treasure-hunting parties, while Viserys decided the political struggle would not affect his plans unless it blocked their route.
• Viserys set the departure for Valyria in a month and a half and gave the soldiers gold to spend ashore, warning them to remain fit for the journey.

Viserys met Triarch Naharis Maro, who offered help with his planned journey into Valyria in exchange for a share of anything valuable he found. Maro revealed that he had hidden a former expedition member who claimed to have entered Valyria and returned alive, and Viserys asked to see him.

• Viserys accepted Maro's invitation to meet and brought Arthur Dayne, while Ser Alliser waited with twenty men outside the residence.
• Maro explained that he had learned of Viserys's arrival and knew he intended to enter Valyria.
• Maro recounted three failed expeditions to Valyria and offered Viserys ancient documents, expedition reports, and a guide in exchange for a share of knowledge, books, or dragon-related discoveries.
• Maro revealed that the guide was a runaway slave who claimed to have returned from Valyria and was being held in shackles made of Valyrian steel.
• Viserys asked to see the slave, and Maro warned that the man's sanity was unstable.

Viserys and Arthur secretly visited Marisius, a scarred survivor of an expedition to Valyria, and heard his account of the singing stones, Stone Men, and a small black dragon. Marisius explained how he escaped and was imprisoned in Volantis, leaving Viserys with evidence that a living dragon might remain in Valyria.

• Naharis led Viserys and Arthur through a hidden passage to meet Marisius, who was shackled in Valyrian steel.
• Viserys calmed Marisius with his Greenseer abilities and asked what he had witnessed in Valyria.
• Marisius described strange fires and glowing singing stones that awakened, seized people, and transformed them into Stone Men.
• Marisius said he escaped into the sea and saw a small black dragon with glowing dark-red markings near a reef.
• Marisius told Viserys that a merchant ship rescued him and that Vaharis later imprisoned him to learn about Valyria.

Viserys prepared an expedition into Valyria, studying old records and outfitting a lead- and asbestos-reinforced ship to withstand its hazards. As political tensions rose in Volantis, the Shadow Hunter was ready at its private dock for departure.

• Viserys ordered Naharis to provide Valyrian records, a reinforced ship, and supplies, and decided to bring Marisius along as a source of memories.
• Naharis delivered ancient documents and expedition reports, which Viserys studied and used to identify the Kiss of Astapor as a possible destination.
• Craftsmen modified the Shadow Hunter with lead sheets and asbestos insulation while Viserys trained and tested his Skinchanger abilities near Valyria.
• Naharis Malo warned Viserys that factions in Volantis might cause trouble and urged him to leave early.
• On the twenty-fifth day, the modified Shadow Hunter waited at its private dock.

Viserys and his company sailed into the Smoking Sea, fought off a massive magical sea creature, and reached the entrance to the Kiss of Astapor. They anchored outside the Bloodweeping River for the night, poised to enter Valyria the next day.

• Viserys accepted Naharis's advice to leave early and sailed east aboard the Shadow Hunter with Arthur Dayne, his warriors, and Marisius.
• After reaching the Smoking Sea, Viserys used greensight to identify calm passages while Captain Balzer waited for a safe current through the fog.
• The Shadow Hunter entered the Smoking Sea and was attacked by a tentacled monster, which Viserys, Arthur, and the crew drove away with blades and fire.
• The attack left eighteen men missing, twenty-three seriously wounded, and the ship damaged as the current carried it onward.
• Viserys's party found the Gate of Sighs and the Bloodweeping River, then anchored outside its mouth until morning.
• Viserys kept watch under the eerie glow of the peninsula's smoke columns as the image of a three-headed dragon returned to his mind.

Viserys discovered that the House of the Undying had been guiding his party through Valyria and wanted the ruins to remain undisturbed. After Ash Crabs and Stone Men attacked the camp, he led the survivors to a castle belonging to House Satheryen.

• The Shadow Hunter passed Stone Men on the Bloodweeping River, but Marisius’s howl drew their attention and forced the ship to flee.
• Viserys questioned Marisius, who revealed the House of the Undying had been guiding the party and wanted Valyria left dead, then collapsed and died.
• Viserys ordered the ship put on alert, and the crew reached the Obsidian Plains and made camp.
• Ash Crabs surrounded the camp, and Stone Men followed them; Viserys’s warriors fought both groups, suffering seven deaths and six injuries.
• When one soldier began turning to stone, Viserys ordered his arm severed, then led the group up a mountain to a shut obsidian castle marked with House Satheryen’s sigil.

Viserys and his surviving company reached an obsidian castle, where ash crabs and stone men stopped at the boundary, but the castle’s shadow creatures emerged and attacked. Viserys ordered the men to use fire, though the seven creatures proved difficult to hit.

• Viserys led fewer than a hundred and thirty soldiers and Naharis’s men into the castle to defend against the approaching ash crabs and stone men.
• The ash crabs and stone men stopped at the platform’s edge, and Viserys sensed a protective energy field around the castle.
• Viserys detected magical presences inside the castle, then ordered his men to retreat when the inner hall doors opened onto a deadly darkness.
• Seven shadow creatures emerged from the hall, and a scholar identified them as assassins created through Blood Magic and shadow magic.
• Viserys, Ser Arthur, and Ser Alliser attacked the shadows, but their weapons did little to stop them from reforming.
• Viserys ordered the soldiers to use fire, which made the shadow creatures hesitate but did not give the men an easy way to strike them.

Viserys and Arthur defeated the shadows in Obsidian Castle, then searched its halls and uncovered House Satheryen’s magical relics and Valyrian weapons. As Viserys considered where to go next, a dragon roared overhead.

• Viserys and Arthur used mental attacks and Dawn together to destroy the shadows, though fewer than a hundred survivors remained.
• The next morning, Viserys led thirty warriors into Obsidian Castle and found murals depicting blood and shadow rituals.
• Viserys discovered a Valyrian steel sword bearing House Satheryen’s sigil and named it Bloodshadow.
• Viserys found scrolls recording blood and shadow magic, along with a lit glass candle.
• Ser Alliser and the others found Valyrian weapons in the armory, and Viserys distributed them among the knights and soldiers.
• As Viserys gazed across the peninsula, a dragon roared from the sky.

After spotting a living dragon, Viserys led his fighting force deeper into Valyria to follow its course, leaving the wounded and weak at the castle. The party crossed a lava lake and a deadly swamp at heavy cost, and the dragon’s destination remained ahead.

• Viserys saw a living dragon flying toward the peninsula’s heart and ordered his people to prepare to follow it.
• Viserys left thirty-seven wounded or weak people, including Balzer, at the castle and led eighty-three fighters onward with Hallyne.
• The party reached the Boiling Oil Lake, where fire lizards attacked and killed two warriors before the survivors drove them off.
• The party entered a swamp filled with bloodworms and spotted toads, and Jory was dragged into the mire and devoured.
• Viserys’s survivors reached solid ground after losing ten more people in the swamp.

Viserys and the surviving party reached a volcanic crater, where a black dragon circled above them and an ancient consciousness overwhelmed them. King Ghidorah emerged from the magma, addressed Viserys in a strange mental space, and remarked that his soul seemed foreign to the world yet entwined with its bloodlines.

• After five days of travel, Viserys and seventy survivors reached a vast volcanic basin and saw a huge black dragon circling the crater.
• The black dragon landed on a ledge as Viserys prepared to reach it with his mind.
• An ancient consciousness surged from the volcano and knocked out the entire party except Viserys.
• A three-headed dragon rose from the magma, and Viserys recognized it as King Ghidorah from his memories of Earth.
• King Ghidorah drew Viserys's consciousness into a realm of light and stars and told him that his soul was unusual and bound to the world's bloodlines.

King Ghidorah told Viserys how she fled a cosmic war and how her energy shaped the rise of R'hllor and the Night Lion. Viserys learned that the Night Lion survived the War for the Dawn by helping the Children of the Forest create the first Other.

• King Ghidorah explained that the Void Star Eater defeated her species, forcing her to flee to this world, where she healed in a long slumber.
• King Ghidorah recounted how the Maiden of Light drew on her energy, became R'hllor, and spread the faith of the Red God.
• King Ghidorah said the Night Lion caused the Long Night, destroying the Great Empire of the Dawn, and that Azor Ahai defeated him with Lightbringer after sacrificing Nissa Nissa.
• King Ghidorah revealed that the wounded Night Lion fled to Westeros and allied with the Children of the Forest, who helped transform captive First Men into the first Others.
• Viserys listened in shock as he learned this history differed from what he remembered from his previous life.

King Ghidorah revealed the origins of Valyria’s Doom and asked Viserys to help her be reborn in a Primordial Egg. After Viserys agreed, she hatched into a three-headed dragon, leaving him with a powerful new companion.

• King Ghidorah explained that the Valyrians created dragons through blood magic and that their pursuit of godhood drew the Maiden of Light’s attention.
• The Maiden of Light lured Valyrian dragonlords into disturbing King Ghidorah, whose battle and uncontrolled power caused the Doom and the corruption of the Smoking Sea.
• King Ghidorah told Viserys that she would enter nirvana and asked him to hatch her Primordial Egg before the gods discovered her plan.
• Viserys agreed to help, sent Ser Arthur and the soldiers back to the Satheryen family’s castle, and stayed behind to gather magic for the egg.
• After one week, the Primordial Egg cracked and King Ghidorah emerged as a dark golden, three-headed dragon.

After King Ghidorah’s Nirvana, Viserys absorbed the lingering energy and strengthened his body, magic, and perception. He returned to Satheryen’s Obsidian Castle with King Ghidorah and was hailed as the king of the true dragons.

• Three days earlier, King Ghidorah guided Viserys as he absorbed the energy left by its Nirvana, enhancing his physical abilities, magic, and mental perception.
• Viserys sensed Night Lion awakening in the north and learned to control Blackflame through a direct mental connection.
• Viserys absorbed the last of the energy and learned that the Valyrian Peninsula’s magical contamination would eventually fade, allowing it to be inhabited again.
• Viserys rode Blackflame back to Satheryen’s Obsidian Castle with King Ghidorah and announced that the dragon had acknowledged him.
• Ser Arthur, Ser Alliser, the surviving soldiers, and the remaining Naharis family knelt before Viserys.

Viserys secured the allegiance of Naharis’s people and led an expedition through Valyria, recovering weapons, books, and other treasures. He announced plans to rebuild the Valyrian Freehold, predicting that the Smoking Sea would settle and the peninsula would become habitable again.

• Marion and the other Naharis representatives swore allegiance to Viserys after witnessing Valyria’s wonders and King Ghidorah.
• Viserys consulted Marion’s map and ordered an expedition to explore Valyria’s ruins, relying on Blackflame to scout and protect the parties.
• The explorers recovered Valyrian steel weapons and armor, magical gems, and books containing Valyrian knowledge and the method for forging Valyrian steel.
• At a ruined castle, Viserys found Bright-Roar beside the remains of Tommen Lannister II and claimed the greatsword for House Targaryen.
• Viserys told the assembled followers that the Smoking Sea would settle within three years and the peninsula could be habitable within five, then announced that he would rebuild the Valyrian Freehold.

Viserys laid out a cautious plan to build the New Valyrian Empire, assigning his followers to secure supplies and establish Satheryn Castle while keeping their ambitions secret. Ser Alliser sailed for Astapor, and Viserys departed on Blackflame for Braavos, leaving Ser Arthur in command.

• Viserys ordered Ser Alliser to take thirty warriors aboard the Shadow Hunter to Astapor for supplies, while keeping Valyria's restoration secret and avoiding contact with Volantis.
• Viserys assigned Ser Arthur to lead the work at Satheryn Castle and Scholar Marion to organize the recovered books and documents, then planned to return to Braavos on Blackflame.
• Over the next few days, Ser Arthur and Ser Alliser prepared their men and ship as Viserys trained with Blackflame and fitted the Dragon with a saddle.
• Viserys entrusted Satheryn Castle to King Ghidorah, and Ser Alliser and his warriors sailed southwest at dawn.
• Viserys flew north on Blackflame toward Braavos, keeping to high altitudes and resting during the nights.

Viserys returned to Braavos and secretly told Ser Willem Darry about Valyria and his plan to rebuild the New Valyrian Empire. He left Ser Willem to prepare a covert first migration, reunited with Ashara, Daenerys, and Rhaenys, and began laying the groundwork for their departure.

• Viserys slipped into the Targaryen stronghold at Ragpicker's Wharf and told Ser Willem Darry about Valyria, the dragons, and his plan to rebuild the New Valyrian Empire.
• Viserys ordered Ser Willem Darry to keep the Braavosi operation running as a cover and secretly prepare five ships and five hundred loyal people to sail for Valyria in one month.
• Ser Willem Darry secretly summoned Daenerys, Rhaenys, Lady Ashara, and Ser Jon Darry, and Ser Jon Darry renewed his pledge to protect the princesses.
• Viserys reunited with Ashara, told her she would share their new beginning, and they spent the night together.
• The next day, Viserys surprised Daenerys and Rhaenys in the garden, and both girls embraced him with joy.

Viserys and Ser William prepared to relocate five hundred loyal followers to Valyria while hiding their plans behind ordinary trade and rumors of declining support. Viserys and Ashara grew closer, but Daenerys interrupted them before their intimacy could go further.

• Ser William arranged five merchant ships and discreet supply purchases for the relocation, while Viserys set a deadline of one month for the first group to leave.
• Viserys planned to make the compound appear demoralized so the Iron Bank would believe the Targaryens were losing supporters.
• Daenerys and Rhaenys continued their lessons and play while Viserys and Ashara's relationship became more intimate.
• Viserys promised Ashara a safe home and a tower overlooking the sea in Valyria, then kissed her in his study.
• Daenerys arrived hoping to sing Viserys a song, so he sent her and Rhaenys to the garden and returned to an embarrassed Ashara.

Viserys reassured Daenerys that he had not been beating Ashara and realized he needed to spend more time with his family. As the relocation to Valyria approached, he prepared the fleet and planned to have Blackflame follow it.

• Daenerys secretly returned after hearing Ashara and Viserys together, mistook their sounds for a beating, and later tearfully asked Viserys to stop hurting Ashara.
• Viserys explained to Daenerys that he and Ashara had been expressing affection, then told Ashara about the misunderstanding, which embarrassed her.
• Viserys helped Rhaenys study the Dance of the Dragons and promised they would trust one another as family while building a new country in Valyria.
• On the eve of the relocation, Viserys ordered Ser Jon Darry to command the first group aboard the ships and said he would escort them on dragonback.
• Viserys said good night to Ashara, Rhaenys, and Daenerys, then stayed awake to connect with Blackflame so the dragon could follow the fleet.

Viserys’s fleet left Braavos carrying Daenerys, Rhaenys, and three chests of Dragon Eggs, but Salladhor Saan’s pirates intercepted it in the Narrow Sea. Viserys revealed himself and ordered Salladhor aboard, where the frightened pirate claimed he had been following Viserys’s orders and presented two newly built ships.

• Ser Jon led the fleet out of Braavos after bribing an official to let the ships pass.
• A week into the voyage, Ser Jon spotted Salladhor Saan’s pirate ships pursuing the fleet.
• Viserys emerged and addressed Salladhor, whose confidence gave way to fear when he recognized him.
• Viserys ordered Salladhor’s men to leave and summoned Salladhor aboard for a conversation.
• Salladhor denied intending to attack Viserys and pointed out the newly built Flying Fish and Wave Surge, which he said he had prepared for him.

Viserys established a settlement around Satheryn Castle and spent three years building New Valyria while the Smoking Sea receded. With the barrier gone, he called his council together to discuss the future and announce the return of the Targaryens.

• Viserys warned Salladhor to remember his place, permitted him to continue raiding, and arranged to use the Flying Fish and the Surge to procure supplies.
• Viserys's fleet reached the Kiss of Astapor, where Ser Arthur Dayne welcomed them to Satheryn Castle and the settlers began building.
• Viserys convened New Valyria's first formal meeting and ordered his people to clear an ancient Valyrian road and expand their settlement using Dragonfire Stone-Shaping.
• Over the next three years, Viserys's people built a town and outposts, while patrols and Blackflame drove off foreign expeditions as the Smoking Sea receded.
• Viserys entered the council hall and declared that the Smoking Sea had dispersed, calling on his council to discuss what came next.

Viserys persuaded his council to target Slaver’s Bay for its resources, Unsullied, and enslaved population, then traveled to Astapor to arrange a purchase. He offered Valyrian treasures to the Good Masters and demanded every Unsullied, including trainees.

• Viserys argued that House Targaryen had to strike first and explained why Slaver’s Bay should be its first target.
• Viserys settled on buying Astapor’s Unsullied, while Ser Jon and Ser Willem stayed in Valyria to oversee preparations and Ser Arthur and Ser Alliser accompanied him.
• Five days later, Viserys’s party arrived discreetly in Astapor and arranged a meeting with its Good Masters.
• Viserys revealed his identity and presented a ruby and Valyrian steel breastplate as a deposit for the purchase.
• Viserys told Grazdan he wanted every Unsullied in Astapor, including trainees who had not earned their helmets.

Viserys secretly stole the Harpy Scepter from Grazdan’s son before the exchange of Astapor’s Unsullied. At the plaza, he revealed the scepter to the assembled Good Masters and Unsullied, and Grazdan ordered them to kill him.

• The Good Masters agreed to sell Viserys ten thousand trained Unsullied and three thousand reserves in exchange for Valyrian treasures.
• Viserys used stray cats to locate Grazdan’s son and steal the Harpy Scepter from his room.
• Viserys and his companions met Grazdan and the Good Masters at the training plaza to complete the exchange.
• After the Good Masters inspected the treasures, Viserys revealed that he held the Harpy Scepter, drawing the Unsullied’s attention.
• Grazdan called Viserys a thief and ordered the guards and Unsullied to kill him.