Chapter Summaries

Robb routed Nestor Royce’s Vale army with a feigned retreat while Lynn’s force crossed the Neck, and Lysa mistook Lynn’s staged Frost Giant sighting for proof that he planned to attack the Bloody Gate. Lynn reached the Riverlands with his army and prepared to use both Robb’s force and his own as bait for a secret plan.

• Robb’s Northern army encircled Nestor Royce’s knights and routed the Vale force, inflicting heavy losses before Robb ordered his troops to rest rather than pursue.
• Lynn received 16,802 Experience Points from Robb’s victory and admired his brother-in-law’s unexpected skill in battle.
• Lysa rejected Ramsay’s warning about Lynn’s monsters until a scout reported seeing a giant made of ice, then ordered Nestor to retreat to the Bloody Gate and Walder Frey to attack Robb’s army.
• Lynn’s deliberately exposed Frost Giant led Lysa to believe he was targeting the Bloody Gate, so she concentrated the Vale’s defenses there.
• Lynn’s army crossed the Neck into the Riverlands, where he confirmed that Lysa had taken the bait and revealed that his own force was bait for a further secret plan.

Ramsay Bolton led three thousand Dreadfort soldiers toward Winterfell, hoping to seize the castle while the North’s forces were away. He found Ned Stark and a prepared army waiting instead, and as the battle began, Ramsay charged into the Northmen’s attack.

• Ramsay convinced his soldiers that Winterfell was undefended and promised them land and women if they helped him seize it.
• After two days, Ramsay reached Winterfell and watched its gates open to reveal Stark, Manderly, and Umber soldiers.
• Ned Stark revealed that he had never left Winterfell and that Lynn had impersonated him with a Man-Faced Mask.
• Ned called Ramsay a traitor and offered the Dreadfort soldiers a chance to surrender before ordering his army to attack.
• As the Dreadfort ranks faltered, Ramsay charged alone into the advancing Northmen, determined not to die.

Ned Stark defeated Ramsay Bolton’s army outside Winterfell and promised the surrendered Dreadfort soldiers a chance to face judgment, then had them massacred in a trench. In the Riverlands, Lynn received experience points for the deaths, bringing his total to 26217.2.

• Ramsay Bolton’s forces were routed, and Miranda died defending him from Stark soldiers.
• Ned ordered Ramsay and Miranda taken alive, then offered the surrendered Dreadfort soldiers custody and a future judgment.
• The Stark soldiers disarmed the three thousand prisoners, stripped them, and drove them into a trench.
• Ned ordered archers to kill everyone in the trench, then told his soldiers to fill it in.
• Lynn received system notifications for the Dreadfort casualties, raising his experience total to 26217.2.

After seeing Ned execute the surrendered Dreadfort rebels, Lynn discovered Ramsay’s threats against the women he loved and erupted in fury. He resolved to make Ramsay suffer, then revealed that the Wildlings’ real target was the Eyrie, which he planned to seize with Winter and a small force.

• Lynn used Greensight to witness Ned order the execution of the surrendered Dreadfort soldiers and saw Ramsay captured alive.
• Lynn heard Ramsay threaten the women in his life, and the rage he felt sent freezing power surging through the forest.
• Lynn told Arya, Jon, and Benjen that he had changed his plans for Ramsay and intended to keep him alive for a cruel punishment.
• Lynn gathered Tormund, Ygritte, Mance Rayder, and the Wildling leaders and said their assault on the Bloody Gate would be a diversion.
• Lynn pointed to the Eyrie as the real target and said Winter would carry his group there, with only eleven people needed to take it.

Lynn ordered Mance, Tormund, and Ygritte to pin the Vale’s forces at the Bloody Gate through harassment rather than a costly assault, while he flew with Winter toward the Eyrie. He left Arya, Jon, and Benjen with the wildlings and began a direct approach to the Vale’s seat.

• Lynn explained that the wildlings should avoid head-on fighting and use harassment to keep the Vale’s soldiers occupied at the Bloody Gate.
• Mance agreed to command the force, with Tormund and Ygritte as his deputies, and to minimize casualties while keeping the Vale’s main army pinned.
• Lynn instructed Arya to stay with Jon and the others and follow Mance’s lead before he departed on Winter with ten White Walkers.
• Winter flew over the Mountains of the Moon and reached the Eyrie, where Lynn directed the dragon into a silent dive toward the castle.

Lynn used a mask containing Petyr Baelish’s memories to turn a White Walker into his likeness, then brought Winter to the Eyrie and overwhelmed its defenses. The Vale’s nobles and soldiers surrendered, and Lynn revealed the disguised White Walker as Littlefinger.

• Lynn placed the Petyr Baelish mask on a White Walker, transferring Petyr’s memories and mannerisms into it.
• A guard spotted Winter approaching the Eyrie, and Ser Maqo Arryn ordered the Dragon-Hunting Ballistas to fire.
• Lynn shielded Winter with Ice Crystal Armor, which shattered the incoming bolts without damage.
• Winter destroyed the Eyrie’s defenses with frost, fire, and lightning, forcing its defenders to surrender.
• Lynn landed in the Moon Door Gardens, questioned Ser Marq Arryn, and revealed the White Walker’s Petyr Baelish face.

Lynn exposed Petyr Baelish’s role in Jon Arryn’s murder and the war, then demanded that the Vale surrender Robert Arryn. When Grady Grafton challenged him to a duel, Lynn proposed a contest whose outcome would decide the Vale’s fate.

• Lynn introduced the masked White Walker as Petyr Baelish, who confessed to arranging Jon Arryn’s murder and fabricating the accusation against the Lannisters.
• Lynn demanded that Ser Marq Arryn hand over Robert Arryn so Ned Stark could raise him at Winterfell, promising to leave the Eyrie unharmed.
• Grady Grafton challenged Lynn to a fair duel, and Vale knights rallied behind the challenge.
• Lynn accepted but proposed that ten of his men face the Vale’s chosen hundred strongest fighters for as long as a candle burned.
• Lynn declared that if his ten men won, the Vale would swear allegiance to him and join his attack on the Riverlands.

Lynn challenged the Vale to send a hundred knights against him and nine black-robed companions, and the nobles accepted, convinced they would win. Outside the Bloody Gate, Tormund persuaded a Frost Giant to tap the fortress, and the giant destroyed it with one punch.

• Lynn proposed a duel against a hundred of the Vale's strongest knights and agreed to stay at the Eyrie for three days before the contest.
• Ser Gretly Grafton accepted Lynn's challenge and promised to gather the Vale's strongest warriors and release Bronze Yohn.
• The Vale nobles celebrated their expected victory, while Ser Marq Arryn worried that Lynn seemed too calm.
• Tormund grew frustrated with the wildlings' nightly harassment of the Bloody Gate and asked the Frost Giant to tap one of its pillars.
• The Frost Giant ignored the defenders' arrows and crushed the Bloody Gate with a single blow, leaving a passage through the mountains.

Tormund’s suggestion led the Frost Giant to destroy the Bloody Gate with one touch, but Mance Rayder ordered the Wildlings to withdraw and continue drawing the Vale’s forces away. Ser Ronald and Ser Nestor struggled to understand why the enemy left without attacking, while Nestor decided to stop his march and learn what Lynn intended.

• The Frost Giant accidentally demolished the Bloody Gate, and Mance Rayder reprimanded Tormund for ruining Lynn’s plan to keep the Vale’s army occupied.
• Mance ordered the Wildlings to retreat into the mountain forests, leaving the stunned Vale garrison unharmed.
• Ser Ronald concluded that Lynn had destroyed the gate as a warning and sent word to Ser Nestor and Ser Brynden Tully.
• A scout told Ser Nestor Royce that the Bloody Gate had been punched down and the Wildlings had left without casualties.
• Nestor halted his cavalry, ordered the army to camp, and resolved to find out what Lynn was planning.

Mance Rayder kept the Wildlings at the ruined Bloody Gate to pin down the Vale army, where growing camaraderie gave him a chance to reveal Lysa’s crimes and explain Lynn’s cause to Ser Ronald. Ronald began questioning his orders just as Nestor Royce’s army arrived, leaving a new confrontation imminent.

• Mance Rayder ordered Tormund to keep harassing the Vale soldiers instead of storming the ruins, and the Wildlings continued their assignment despite the soldiers’ indifference.
• After several days, Tormund traded water and food with the Vale soldiers, and both sides began exchanging goods and talking as ordinary people.
• Mance Rayder approached Ser Ronald and accused Lysa of Jon Arryn’s murder, framing the Lannisters, and sabotaging Lynn’s fight against the White Walkers.
• Ronald and his soldiers reconsidered their role in the conflict after Mance argued that Lynn had spared them and that they were pawns in Lysa’s scheme.
• A scout announced that Nestor Royce’s army had reached the mountain pass, and Ronald wondered whether to obey Lysa or side with Lynn.

After learning that a Frost Giant had destroyed the Bloody Gate, the Vale nobles prepared to settle their conflict with Lynn through a duel. One White Walker routed their finest knights, and Lynn revealed that the fight had only begun as he and eight more armed themselves with ice weapons.

• A raven reported that a Frost Giant had erased the Bloody Gate and that the Wildling army had moved on, prompting the Vale nobles to recognize Lynn’s power and accept the duel as their chance to preserve their honor.
• Ser Grady ordered the Vale’s best warriors assembled and Bronze Yohn Royce released from the dungeon to lead them.
• Lynn lit a candle, sat aside, and sent one Black-Cloaked Man to fight the hundred knights.
• The Black-Cloaked Man summoned an Ice Sword and swiftly defeated the knights, killing several before Lynn ordered him to spare the rest; he then broke weapons and injured the survivors, including Bronze Yohn.
• Lynn declared that this counted as only one opponent, revealed eight more Black-Cloaked Men with Frost Longswords, and summoned Ice Armor and two ice Greatswords for himself.

Lynn defeated the Vale’s nobles in a one-sided duel and secured their loyalty, persuading them to send Robert Arryn to Winterfell as Ned Stark’s student. He then ordered the Vale’s troops to join Robb’s campaign in the Riverlands and summoned Lysa Arryn back to the Eyrie.

• Lynn revealed his Frost Greatswords and overwhelmed the Vale’s fighters, prompting Bronze Yohn to admit defeat.
• Lynn reminded the Vale’s nobles that Ned Stark had been Jon Arryn’s foster son and said Robert would go to Winterfell as a student, not a hostage.
• Ser Marq Arryn accepted Lynn’s rule, and the Vale pledged its loyalty.
• Lynn ordered the Vale to recall its troops and join Robb in striking the Riverlands from north and south.
• Lynn ordered the passes opened to allies from Beyond the Wall and sent word for Lysa Arryn to return to the Eyrie.

Lynn secured the Vale’s allegiance after Bronze Yohn denounced Lysa Arryn and the Vale’s forces agreed to cooperate with Mance Rayder. At Riverrun, Lysa received Lynn’s message about her son and fled toward Walder Frey, believing Lynn had set a trap for her.

• Bronze Yohn declared Lysa unworthy to protect the Vale and pledged House Royce’s allegiance to Lynn, prompting other Vale nobles to follow.
• Lynn ordered Bronze Yohn to tell Ser Nestor Royce that the Vale’s war was over and to coordinate defenses and Riverlands operations with Mance Rayder.
• At the ruins of the Bloody Gate, Mance explained to Nestor that Lynn did not seek war, and Bronze Yohn arrived to confirm the Eyrie had sworn allegiance to Lynn.
• Bronze Yohn delivered Lynn’s orders for Nestor and Mance to jointly organize the Vale’s eastern defenses and coordinate with the northern army.
• At Riverrun, Lysa read Lynn’s message that her son missed her, feared Lynn had captured him, and ordered her guards to take her to Walder Frey.

Lynn agreed to bring Robert Arryn to Castle Black, but secretly prepared a White Walker disguised as the boy to deceive the Three-Eyed Raven. In Riverrun, Edmure Tully endured his wedding to Roslin Frey, knowing the Vale’s surrender had made the Freys’ bargain pointless.

• The Three-Eyed Raven visited Lynn at the Eyrie and asked him to bring Robert Arryn to Castle Black so he could take the boy’s body.
• Lynn pretended to agree, then used greensight and a Man-Faced Mask to transform a White Walker into a perfect copy of Robert Arryn.
• Lynn prepared to use the disguised White Walker as a trap for the Three-Eyed Raven.
• At Riverrun, Edmure Tully married Roslin Frey while resenting Walder Frey and the loss of House Tully’s independence.
• Edmure learned the Vale had surrendered to Lynn, rendering the Freys’ military bargain futile, but he continued the wedding.

Ned Stark and Catelyn Tully arrived at Riverrun during Edmure’s wedding feast and confronted Lysa Arryn over her plans and the coming armies. After Edmure invoked guest right, Lysa appeared to agree to postpone the dispute while she and Walder Frey secretly prepared to betray their guests.

• Ned Stark and Catelyn Tully entered the wedding feast with eight Northern guards, and Lysa Arryn welcomed their arrival as a chance to trap them.
• A Frey knight tried to stop the pair, but one of Ned’s guards broke the knight’s wrist.
• Edmure Tully offered Ned and Catelyn bread and salt, establishing guest right before they spoke with Lysa.
• Catelyn demanded that Lysa surrender, while Ned told her to beg Lynn’s forgiveness or face the consequences.
• Lysa decided to kill Ned and Catelyn despite guest right, then pretended to set their dispute aside as Walder Frey ordered the musicians to play “The Rains of Castamere.”

At Riverrun, Lysa Arryn agreed to surrender only if the gathered Starks, Tullys, and Freys drank wine together as a pledge of reconciliation. After they drank, Walder Frey revealed the toast was a trap and ordered his soldiers to draw their swords.

• Walder Frey requested "The Rains of Castamere," prompting Brynden Tully to accuse him and Lysa Arryn of conspiring against the Riverlands and the North.
• House Tully’s vassals denounced Lysa and rejected making an enemy of the North, while Walder realized his plan to control the Riverlands had collapsed.
• Ned Stark urged Lysa to surrender, explaining that Lynn had taken the Eyrie and that Robert Arryn and the Vale’s nobles were beyond her control.
• Lysa claimed she would surrender if everyone present drank wine together, and Ned, Catelyn, Edmure, Brynden, and House Tully’s vassals accepted the toast.
• Walder Frey announced that the guests would be shown out, and Frey soldiers drew their swords as the Tullys realized the wine toast had been a deadly deception.

Lynn revealed that he had impersonated Ned Stark to foil Lysa Arryn and Walder Frey's poisoned ambush at the High Hall. With the Tullys receiving antidotes and the Frey soldiers trapped in fear, Lynn confronted Walder Frey and prepared to kill him.

• Walder Frey ordered his soldiers to kill the poisoned Tullys after Lysa revealed her betrayal.
• Lynn, disguised as Ned Stark, applauded and revealed that he and his companions were unaffected by the poison.
• Lynn removed his Ned Stark disguise and exposed himself as Lynn, while Catelyn and the eight Northern Guards revealed themselves as impostors.
• A White Walker killed a Frey soldier who tried to flee, and the White Walkers distributed antidotes to the poisoned Tullys.
• Lynn told Brynden that Jaqen had provided the poison and its antidote, then confronted Walder Frey and declared that he would send guests on their final journey.

Lynn exposed Lysa Arryn as the killer of Jon Arryn and her father, Duke Hoster Tully, and stopped Edmure Tully from killing her. He executed Walder Frey and promised a harsh reckoning for House Frey.

• The Tully vassals recovered from the poisoning and condemned Walder Frey and Lysa Arryn for violating guest right.
• Lynn revealed that Lysa had smothered Duke Hoster Tully and used threats against House Tully to force Edmure's submission.
• Edmure charged at Lysa, but Lynn stopped him and said she would face judgment before the Tullys decided her fate.
• Lynn killed Walder Frey with an ice dagger and ordered his head displayed on the walls of Riverrun.
• Lynn threatened the descendants of House Frey with further punishment.

Lynn beheaded Walder Frey and his White Walkers massacred the Freys at Riverrun, while a black-cloaked man rescued Lysa through a secret passage. Lysa believed the rescuer was Petyr Baelish, and Lynn let them escape, intending for Lysa to die by someone else’s hand.

• Lynn killed Walder Frey, and Black Walder rallied the Frey soldiers to attack him.
• Lynn’s nine White Walkers slaughtered the Frey soldiers, leaving Lysa to flee behind a pillar.
• A mysterious black-cloaked man distracted a White Walker, rescued Lysa, and led her through a secret passage out of Riverrun.
• The rescuer revealed himself as Petyr Baelish, and Lysa embraced him, convinced he had survived and protected her.
• Lynn declined to pursue Lysa and told Brynden the Blackfish that he would bring her out of hiding, while planning for her to die at another person’s hands.

After fleeing Riverrun’s massacre, Lysa reunited with Petyr, who claimed the gods had returned him from the dead and granted him power. He promised they would rescue Robert from the Eyrie and flee to Essos, while Lysa fell asleep trusting him and Petyr regarded her with cold indifference.

• Lysa escaped Riverrun with Petyr and followed him to a secluded cave.
• Petyr told Lysa that Lynn had faked his death and claimed the Seven had revived him and granted him fighting skills.
• Lysa believed Petyr’s story and embraced him, convinced their love had divine protection.
• Petyr said Robert was safe at the Eyrie and promised to use hidden passages to rescue him.
• Petyr promised that the three of them would leave Westeros for Essos and live together, and Lysa fell asleep in his arms.
• Once Lysa was asleep, Petyr’s tender expression vanished as he looked at her without pity.