Recaps

Ygritte explored King's Landing with Viserys before joining him, Daenerys, and the others for a dinner Rhaenys had prepared. As Viserys prepared to leave the next day, Rhaenys arranged how she would manage affairs in King's Landing and warned Daenerys to be cautious on the journey south.

• Ygritte sampled wild boar sausage and explored King's Landing's markets and Flea Bottom with Viserys.
• Rhaenys prepared dinner, and Daenerys arrived early, joking that she wanted to test the food for poison.
• Viserys praised Rhaenys's cooking when he arrived for dinner with the others.
• Rhaenys told Viserys she would oversee King's Landing and arrange for urgent messages to reach him on his journey.
• Rhaenys warned Daenerys about Asha Greyjoy and the southern nobles, urging her to consult Viserys before acting.
• Daenerys promised Rhaenys she would remember the advice and avoid making reckless agreements.

Viserys prepared to leave King's Landing for the Reach with Daenerys, while entrusting Rhaenys with overseeing the city. The chapter ended as Viserys and Daenerys mounted their dragons and King Ghidorah spread her wings to depart.

• Viserys asked Rhaenys to watch over King's Landing while he was away, and she promised to keep track of the city's defenses and political movements.
• Rhaenys reminded Viserys and Daenerys to stay alert on the road, especially against the Ironborn.
• Daenerys arrived with provisions packed by Jeyne, and Viserys publicly set out with her for the Reach.
• Viserys promised Daenerys that he would take her beyond the Wall on a later journey.
• Daenerys mounted Acmot while Viserys prepared to ride King Ghidorah, and King Ghidorah spread her wings to take flight.

Viserys and Daenerys flew south from King's Landing on King Ghidorah with three other dragons, while a royal ship carrying guards set out for Highgarden. They passed over Tumbleton and continued toward the Mander River, leaving the ruined town behind.

• King Ghidorah and Daenerys's three dragons rose above the Red Keep and flew over Blackwater Bay toward the Reach.
• Ygritte complained to Arya that Viserys never took her south, then returned to struggling with her southern-style clothes.
• A royal ship carrying fifty elite Valyrian Freehold guards departed Tumbleton to rendezvous with Viserys at Highgarden.
• The narration recounted how the Dance of the Dragons and its two battles devastated Tumbleton, which never recovered its former size.
• Viserys and Daenerys flew over Tumbleton, then continued toward the Mander River as Daenerys rode behind him on King Ghidorah.

Viserys traveled south with Daenerys on King Ghidorah, worrying that her dormant madness might awaken and deciding to investigate Valyrian blood magic. After explaining Bitterbridge’s bloody history, he chose to land in a forest rather than risk approaching hostile House Merryweather, where Daenerys noticed his private smile and asked what amused him.

• Viserys realized Daenerys’s bloodline curse might awaken and resolved to study the blood magic records from the Valyrian Peninsula.
• Daenerys chatted with Viserys during their journey, and he considered the Ironborn, recruitment, and the Reach lords’ ambitions.
• Daenerys spotted Bitterbridge, and Viserys explained how a massacre during the Faith Militant uprising had given it its name.
• Viserys reassured Daenerys about the journey and landed in a forest instead of stopping at Bitterbridge or Longtable Hall.
• Daenerys noticed Viserys smiling at his thoughts and asked him what he found funny.

Viserys and Daenerys flew along the Mander River to Highgarden, where Daenerys marveled at the golden rose fields and Viserys recognized the castle’s defenses and landmarks. They reached the seat of House Tyrell, while Viserys reflected on its history and the Reach’s nobles’ disdain for the Tyrells’ origins.

• Viserys told Daenerys he wanted to judge the southern nobles’ claims for himself when they met.
• Viserys and Daenerys continued along the Mander River on King Ghidorah and passed vast fields of golden roses near Highgarden.
• Daenerys asked whether the flowers belonged to House Tyrell, and Viserys explained that the roses covered the plains around Highgarden.
• Viserys and Daenerys approached Highgarden and saw its three white marble walls, plant maze, towers, and gardens.
• Viserys recalled Highgarden’s history, its Three Singers godswood, and why Reach nobles looked down on House Tyrell.

Viserys Targaryen and his companions arrived at Highgarden on four dragons, stunning the city’s guards and people. The guards recognized the new king and stood down as the dragons flew over the city.

• The chapter described how House Hightower and House Rowan challenged House Tyrell’s authority across the Reach.
• Guards on Highgarden’s walls spotted four dragons approaching and watched in fear.
• A young guard asked Lyon whether two people rode the largest dragon, and Lyon identified them as Viserys Targaryen and a princess.
• A dragon roared over the city, and the guard captain ordered his men not to show hostility toward the Targaryens.
• The dragons flew lower over Highgarden as residents, merchants, and children stopped to stare at them.

Four of Viserys's dragons flew over Highgarden, terrifying the city as people speculated about the Targaryens' arrival. Reach heirs and knights gathered to welcome Viserys, uncertain whether his visit would bring turmoil.

• Four dragons passed over Highgarden, and the frightened townspeople fell silent beneath their shadows.
• A sailor told a baker and his assistant about the dragons he had seen in King's Landing and warned that dragonfire could destroy even Highgarden.
• The ground trembled, and a welcoming horn sounded as several hundred Reach heirs and knights rode through the southern gate toward the city center.
• The Reach nobles had gathered at a Tyrell vineyard to feast while anxiously awaiting Viserys, unsure what his arrival would mean for the region.

Margaery, Willas, and Lady Olenna prepared for Viserys’s unexpectedly early arrival at Highgarden as his dragons circled the city. King Ghidorah descended toward the central square with Viserys and Daenerys aboard, leaving House Tyrell to receive the king before its preparations were complete.

• Margaery, Willas, and Lady Olenna realized that Viserys and the dragons had arrived two days ahead of the raven’s estimate.
• Margaery urged the steward and city watch to hurry preparations, while Lady Olenna told her not to panic.
• Willas said he had already arranged for guards to clear the central square for the dragons.
• Margaery remembered seeing a dragon attack Euron "Crow's Eye"'s pirates in Valyria and watched Highgarden’s crowds react in the same awe and fear.
• Lady Olenna spotted Viserys and Daenerys on King Ghidorah as the three-headed dragon descended toward the square.

Margaery resolved to change House Tyrell’s course after seeing Viserys and his dragon, deciding the family had to avoid provoking him. She planned to remove Olenna’s influence and transfer real authority to Willas, though Olenna had never willingly surrendered power.

• Olenna warned Margaery that Viserys would never marry her and urged her to place House Tyrell’s interests first.
• Margaery told Olenna she had acted for Highgarden and House Tyrell, while privately deciding Olenna had no place in the family’s future.
• After seeing Viserys, his dragon, and the crowd’s reaction, Margaery abandoned the strategies she and Olenna had devised to use him.
• Margaery concluded that antagonizing Viserys could bring disaster on House Tyrell and that the family needed to change its leadership.
• Margaery decided that Olenna should relinquish real power to Willas, whom she believed could govern the family wisely and steadily.

Margaery welcomed Viserys and Daenerys at Highgarden while deciding that Olenna’s schemes threatened House Tyrell’s survival. The chapter ended with Margaery greeting the royal party after the dragons landed in the crowded square.

• Three horn blasts announced the return of vassals to Highgarden, and Olenna led Willas and Margaery downstairs to welcome Viserys.
• Margaery resolved to remove anyone who obstructed House Tyrell’s alliance with the new Targaryen dynasty, even Olenna.
• Viserys landed King Ghidorah in Highgarden’s square, where the dragon crushed roses and frightened the surrounding crowd.
• Margaery observed that King Ghidorah and Daenerys’s dragons had grown significantly larger since her last visit.
• Viserys helped Daenerys down from King Ghidorah, and Acmot, Viserion, and Vermax landed on the city walls.
• Margaery curtsied to Viserys and Daenerys and welcomed them to Highgarden.

Viserys and Daenerys arrived at Highgarden, where Margaery introduced them to Willas and Olenna. Willas and Olenna arranged their welcome while confronting the terrifying presence of Viserys’s dragon, and Willas recalled the Field of Fire.

• Viserys told Margaery that he and Daenerys had flown to Highgarden on dragons and asked her to introduce the people waiting there.
• Margaery introduced Willas, Olenna, and the other members of House Tyrell, and Willas welcomed Viserys and Daenerys and offered them quarters.
• Willas offered to house the dragons at an estate outside the city, but Viserys said Ghidorah would stay in Highgarden and Daenerys’s three dragons would rest in the flower fields.
• Olenna left the arrangements to Willas and Margaery while watching Ghidorah, whose size and presence unnerved her and Willas.
• Willas recalled the histories describing Aegon the Conqueror’s dragons defeating the armies of House Gardener and House Lannister at the Field of Fire.

Viserys and Daenerys arrived at Highgarden, where Olenna tried to avoid hosting them by citing her age. As Viserys prepared to meet the Reach’s gathered vassals, the knights arrived and paid their respects, shaken by King Ghidorah.

• Viserys teased Olenna by calling her the Queen of Thorns, and Olenna restrained herself before asking Margaery and Willas to host the royal guests.
• Margaery invited Viserys and Daenerys to settle into the castle, but Viserys said they needed to meet others first.
• Dozens of Reach knights arrived, but their horses balked and panicked at the sight of King Ghidorah, forcing the riders to dismount.
• A Hightower knight led the Reach vassals in bowing to Viserys and Daenerys and explained that they had hurried to Highgarden after seeing the dragon.

Edmund Rowan arrived at Highgarden with envoys from several Reach houses to meet Viserys, who received them beside King Ghidorah. Knights from Houses Mullendore, Cuy, and Beesbury debated whether to leave House Hightower’s side and decided to wait for an offer from Viserys or House Tyrell.

• Edmund Rowan apologized that Earl Matus had stayed in Goldengrove to prepare for Viserys’s northern campaign.
• Viserys told the arriving representatives to rise as they studied King Ghidorah with awe and fear.
• Knights from Houses Mullendore and Cuy asked Warren Beesbury whether they should stop following House Hightower.
• Warren urged them to wait for House Tyrell or Viserys to make an offer before choosing sides.
• The chapter revealed that the three houses had served House Hightower but now wanted to leave its influence and draw closer to the Iron Throne.

House Beesbury and two other Reach houses feared that House Hightower was pursuing Dragonlord bloodlines and might try to claim Viserys's Dragons, so they considered siding with House Tyrell and warning Viserys. As Viserys led the gathered nobles to Highgarden's Council Chamber to discuss aid for the North and the Others, the three men resolved to seek Olenna's offer that night.

• House Beesbury and the other two houses discussed rumors that House Hightower was searching for kin with Targaryen blood to claim Viserys's riderless Dragons.
• The three men decided they might pledge themselves to House Tyrell and warn Viserys if they received sufficient benefits.
• A young knight with a golden tree embroidered on his collar warned the three men to fall silent.
• Viserys invited the gathered nobles to join him and Willas in discussing supplies for the North and the Others.
• As the procession passed King Ghidorah, the injured young knights hurried around her tails without looking back.
• The Green-Cloaked Knight urged the others to seek Olenna that night and negotiate benefits before House Rowan could report their conversation to the Hightowers.

Viserys, Daenerys, and their companions entered Highgarden’s Council Chamber, where the welcoming feast concealed the political scrutiny beneath its pleasant atmosphere. Daenerys advised Margaery on how to reassure Viserys that she would stand with him rather than put House Tyrell first, and Margaery promised to show her Highgarden after the council.

• Viserys took his seat in Highgarden’s Council Chamber as Margaery seated Daenerys beside her and Olenna and Willas joined the gathering.
• Viserys watched the lords’ appraising looks while Daenerys enjoyed the food and discussed Highgarden’s beauty and scents with Margaery.
• Margaery comforted Daenerys and explained that she wanted to preserve the flowers and gardens of her home.
• Daenerys warned Margaery that Viserys distrusted appearances and urged her to show that she would stand beside him instead of putting House Tyrell first.
• Margaery thanked Daenerys and promised to take her and Viserys to the rose bathhouse and the golden rose fields after they rested.

At Highgarden, Viserys confronted the Reach's lords for holding back troops meant for the Wall because of Ironborn raids. He challenged their fear of the Ironborn and pointed out that they doubted the greater threat of the dead beyond the Wall.

• Daenerys teased Margaery about needing Viserys's approval, and Margaery said she would persuade him without putting Daenerys in an awkward position.
• Viserys drew the hall's attention and said he had come because Ironborn remnants still roamed the Sunset Sea.
• Viserys accused the Reach's nobles of keeping troops at home instead of sending them north to face the Others.
• A Reach lord claimed that Ironborn raids had harmed coastal lands and that withdrawing garrisons would leave the Reach vulnerable.
• Viserys calmly acknowledged the lord's explanation, then said the lords feared the Ironborn but doubted the dead beyond the Wall.

Viserys ordered the Reach's houses to send their prepared soldiers to the Wall and declared that Highgarden would oversee the levies. He left Willas and Olenna facing the resentment this burden would bring, while making clear that he would first destroy the Ironborn hiding among the reefs.

• Viserys warned the Reach's representatives that the Others would not be deterred by their coastal defenses and demanded they stop using the Ironborn as an excuse to withhold soldiers.
• Viserys said he would wipe out the remaining Ironborn nests at sea, then ordered every Reach house to send its prepared soldiers to the Wall or face the end of its history.
• Viserys appointed House Tyrell to oversee the Reach's levies, citing the region's comparatively limited losses in the previous war.
• Willas realized Viserys had left House Tyrell responsible for enforcing unpopular levies, making its vassals likely to blame the family for their losses.

Viserys pressured House Tyrell to carry out the Iron Throne’s demands, warning that the Reach would resent Highgarden for enforcing them. He left the council to rest with Daenerys, while Margaery led them to a rose-filled courtyard and a steaming pool.

• Willas considered the danger of House Tyrell becoming dependent on House Targaryen and alienated from the Reach’s other houses.
• Olenna watched Viserys calmly as the council fell silent over his demands.
• Viserys told Margaery to let the council consider his words and warned the lords still mustering that they would be too late to defend the North once snows reached the Reach.
• Viserys left the council with Daenerys and Margaery, reminding the lords that they were expected to defend the North for the Iron Throne.
• Margaery led Viserys and Daenerys through Highgarden to a courtyard with rosebushes and a steaming pool covered in rose petals.

Viserys and Daenerys bathed with Margaery in Highgarden, where Margaery told him about House Tyrell’s discussions over shipping and the Ironborn. She admitted that visiting nobles had tried to learn about Viserys through her and that she had shared a little information.

• Daenerys entered the rose-scented pool, and Margaery helped Viserys undress and washed him before joining them in the bath.
• Margaery sent the maids away and told them to bring clean clothes for Viserys and Daenerys.
• Viserys asked Margaery what had happened in Highgarden since her return, and she described Olenna summoning Tyrell bannermen to discuss sea shipping.
• Margaery said some houses wanted to use Viserys’s visit to settle old scores with the Ironborn, but Viserys dismissed the remnants as no threat and said others were using them as an excuse.
• Margaery told Viserys that noble representatives had approached her for information about him, and she admitted that she had shared a little.

Margaery explained how she navigated House Tyrell’s interests and the council, while Daenerys left the bathhouse to rest and Viserys and Margaery arranged to postpone dinner. In the Council Chamber, Ser Edmure Rowan accepted Viserys’s terms and promised to report them to Goldengrove.

• Margaery told Viserys she had discreetly shared harmless details about his preferences with those seeking to approach him.
• Margaery explained to Daenerys why she had stayed quiet in the Council Chamber and in front of Olenna, and described Olenna’s plan to use Viserys to control the Reach’s unruly vassals.
• Daenerys left the bathhouse early to sleep, and Margaery offered to move the planned banquet to the next day.
• Viserys told Margaery to handle her arrangements while he soaked longer and then rested with Daenerys.
• After the council dispersed, Ser Edmure Rowan promised to report Viserys’s requirements to Goldengrove and prepare its troops and provisions.

Duke Willas confronted House Hightower’s objections to the Reach’s troop levy and insisted that every house submit its soldiers and provisions to Highgarden within ten days. House Rowan backed Willas, leaving the Hightower representative isolated as the Reach’s houses maneuvered over the order.

• Duke Willas pointed out that House Hightower had not agreed to the king’s order to send troops north.
• The Hightower knight and a representative from Blackcrown argued that Oldtown and the coast needed troops to guard against Ironborn attacks while soldiers marched away.
• Willas rejected their objections, accused Hightower of delaying the levy, and ordered every house to send its troop and provision lists to Highgarden within ten days.
• Ser Edmure offered House Rowan’s idle soldiers to guard Oldtown’s harbor if Hightower could not spare its own men.
• Willas turned to another subject, leaving the Hightower knight unable to press his objections.

The Reach’s houses weighed their allegiance as Olenna warned that Viserys’s threat from the dead might be real, and House Hightower pledged its fleet to his campaign. Willas ended the meeting and asked the representatives to remain in Highgarden for Viserys’s banquet the next day.

• Edmure concluded that House Rowan had declared its position and planned to advise his Earl when he returned home.
• Olenna warned the Reach’s representatives that old records in the Citadel described the dead beyond the Wall and that Viserys might not be bluffing.
• The Hightower representative promised that House Hightower’s fleet would sail within three days to help Viserys destroy the Ironborn remnants and then head north to the Wall.
• Olenna challenged House Hightower to provide a genuine fleet, and the representative insisted that his house would obey the Iron Throne’s orders.
• Willas ended the meeting and invited the representatives to stay in Highgarden and attend Viserys’s banquet the following day.

The Green-Cloaked Knight and his companions planned to warn Margaery that House Hightower was secretly gathering people with Valyrian Dragonlord blood and had support from the Citadel and the Faith. Margaery and Viserys discussed the Reach’s uncertain loyalties and planned to use the next evening’s banquet and an inspection of the Hightower fleet to test them.

• The Green-Cloaked Knight told his companions not to trust House Hightower’s promises and proposed bringing its secret efforts to Margaery’s attention.
• Margaery moved the banquet welcoming Viserys to the following evening and checked on the sleeping Daenerys.
• Margaery returned to the Rose Bathhouse and told Viserys that the Reach’s houses might be hiding their true intentions.
• Viserys instructed Margaery to seat the houses where they could watch one another at the banquet.
• Viserys said Highgarden would inspect the Hightower fleet and warned that he would question House Tyrell’s loyalty if it proved insincere.

Margaery and Viserys discussed the Reach lords’ uncertainty and the authority Viserys had entrusted to House Tyrell, while Daenerys slept nearby. Margaery then asked to take Dany to see Highgarden’s golden rose fields the next day.

• Viserys carried Margaery to the railing, where they discussed how the Reach lords would respond to his decision and offer their allegiance at the feast.
• Margaery told Viserys that the lords feared choosing the wrong side and would seek his approval, while Viserys expected them to reveal their positions before him.
• Viserys and Margaery returned to their room and found Daenerys still asleep.
• Margaery said she supported binding House Tyrell closely to House Targaryen, and Viserys praised her clear understanding of the Reach.
• Margaery asked Viserys to let her take Dany outside the city to see the golden roses and walk along the Mander River.

Margaery discussed the Ironborn threat and House Tyrell’s future with Viserys, then woke to find she had missed her planned meeting with Olenna. After Viserys left to meet with the Council, Margaery prepared to take Daenerys to see the golden roses outside the city.

• Margaery told Viserys that veteran captains from the Reach could help locate the Ironborn hiding among the islands, and Viserys said his dragons would destroy them once found.
• Margaery worried that Olenna might endanger House Tyrell while trying to preserve her own influence, and Viserys assured her that Highgarden’s standing would remain unchanged as long as she did not oppose him.
• Margaery woke in Viserys’s arms and realized she had slept through her planned visit to Olenna’s room.
• After Viserys left for the Council Chamber to discuss the Ironborn, Margaery woke Daenerys and reminded her of their plan to see the golden roses.
• Margaery gave Daenerys a pale dress embroidered with dragons and roses and helped her put it on, explaining that Viserys had left without waking her.