Chapter Summaries

After learning that Jon Arryn had been murdered, Ned Stark asked Lynn what to do, and Lynn urged him to go to King's Landing. Ned agreed, while Lynn privately planned to use House Stark and the growing conflict to pursue power.

• Maester Luwin delivered Lysa's secret letter revealing that Jon Arryn had been murdered and that the Lannisters were responsible.
• Lynn burned the letter and told Ned he had to go to King's Landing to protect Robert and uncover the killers.
• Ned struggled with the danger but resolved to travel south and avenge Jon Arryn.
• Ned invited Lynn to join him in King's Landing after Lynn's visit to the Wall, and Maester Luwin said House Stark owed Lynn a favor.
• After they left, Lynn decided to keep Littlefinger's role in Jon Arryn's murder secret and let political tensions between House Baratheon and House Lannister grow.

Lynn stayed behind in Winterfell while Robert and Ned went hunting, then watched Bran Stark climb the First Keep as Jaime Lannister and Cersei met secretly inside. Bran reached a high window and saw what was happening within the tower.

• Lynn declined Ned's invitation to join the hunt, citing his wounds, and went to practice near the First Keep.
• Bran set out to climb the First Keep while Lynn watched and waited nearby.
• Jaime Lannister slipped into the tower, followed by Cersei, after they confirmed the courtyard was empty.
• Jaime and Cersei met in a secluded upper room, unaware that Bran was climbing toward the window.
• Bran heard strange sounds, climbed to the windowsill, and saw what was inside.

Lynn saved Bran after Jaime pushed him from the tower, then staged his own injuries to earn the Starks' gratitude. Catelyn thanked Lynn and vowed that House Stark would protect him, while Bran remained unconscious and Jaime and Cersei denied involvement.

• Bran climbed to the tower window and saw Cersei and Jaime together, and Jaime pushed him from the tower.
• Lynn caught Bran's fall, then injured his own back against a wall so the rescue would appear to have hurt him.
• Jaime and Cersei saw that Bran had survived and left the tower, agreeing to claim the fall was an accident.
• Maester Luwin told Lynn that Bran was alive but unconscious, with a broken arm and leg, and that Lynn had suffered a severe impact to his spine.
• Catelyn thanked Lynn for saving Bran, vowed that House Stark would protect him, and offered him money, status, or honor.

After earning Catelyn Stark’s trust, Lynn faced Jaime Lannister’s probing questions about why he had been near the abandoned tower and whether he had killed anyone. Jaime warned Lynn that killing was easy and that the hardest part was making others believe it was justified; after Jaime left, an elegant figure appeared in the doorway.

• Catelyn promised Lynn that Ned would treat him fairly, and Lynn reflected that his service had earned House Stark’s trust and a public debt.
• Jaime Lannister visited Lynn and questioned him about his presence beneath the abandoned tower.
• Lynn said he had gone there for peace and quiet and to practice with his sword, and Jaime scrutinized his answers.
• Jaime picked up Lynn’s sword and asked whether he had killed anyone; Lynn said he had.
• Jaime recalled his first killing and warned that the simplest way to justify killing someone was to make them draw their sword first.
• Jaime left, and an elegant figure appeared in the doorway soon afterward.

Cersei questioned Lynn about Bran’s fall and tried to tempt him with Lannister rewards, but he stuck to his account and declined. After Arya thanked him with a kiss, a horn announced the hunting party’s return.

• Cersei visited Lynn, offered him gold or a position, and questioned him about Bran’s fall.
• Lynn refused Cersei’s offer and repeated that he had been practicing swordsmanship when he heard Bran scream and saw him fall.
• Arya visited Lynn, praised his bravery, and kissed his cheek to thank him before running away.
• A horn sounded outside the castle to announce the hunting party’s return.

Lynn convinced Ned Stark that Bran’s fall was an attempted murder and warned that the culprit would try again, so they set a trap outside Bran’s room. A fire in the Library drew the guards away, and a dagger-wielding intruder entered Bran’s room as Summer confronted him.

• Lynn told Ned that Bran had likely been pushed from the tower and warned that someone might try to kill him again.
• Lynn and Ned decided to set a trap rather than simply surround Bran’s room with guards.
• A fire broke out in the Library, drawing Robb Stark, Jon, and many guards away from Bran’s room.
• Lynn waited in the shadows outside Bran’s room as a dark figure climbed in through the window.
• Summer confronted the intruder, who carried an ornate dagger with a Valyrian steel blade.

Lynn killed the assassin who attacked Bran and saved Catelyn, while Ned discovered the killer carried a dragonbone-hilted Valyrian steel dagger. Ned gave the dagger to Lynn and said he would escort Lynn and Jon to the Wall the next day, while Lynn kept his suspicions about Littlefinger’s plot to himself.

• Catelyn grappled with the assassin as Summer attacked him, and Lynn arrived with Stark guards to kill the man before he could reach Bran.
• Ned found the Valyrian steel dagger with its dragonbone hilt and suspected the Lannisters had supplied it.
• Ned thanked Lynn for saving Catelyn and Bran, then gave him the dagger.
• Lynn recognized the dagger from his memories as Littlefinger’s and understood it could frame the Lannisters, but he said nothing.
• Ned told Lynn he would personally escort him and Jon to the Wall the next day.

Lynn agreed to take Arya with him and Jon to the Wall, with Ned’s permission, before later escorting her south to King’s Landing. Ned entrusted Lynn with a hundred Stark soldiers and promised to seek him a northern lordship if he uncovered the cause of his foster father’s death.

• Jon had Mikken forge a thin sword for Arya before leaving for the Wall.
• Arya asked Lynn to take her to the Wall, and Lynn agreed.
• Arya told Ned she wanted to travel with Lynn and Jon, and Lynn offered to escort her south after his business at the Wall was done.
• Ned entrusted Arya to Lynn, assigned him a hundred Stark soldiers, and promised to ask Robert for a lordship if Lynn investigated his foster father’s death.
• Lynn pledged his loyalty to Ned and privately considered seeking Arya’s hand in marriage.

Lynn advised Ned Stark to survive and conceal his intentions in King's Landing before leading a northern party north with Jon Snow, Arya Stark, Benjen Stark, and Tyrion Lannister. The group camped for the night, where a scout reported a bloodied merchant caravan stuck in a mud pit ahead.

• Lynn warned Ned not to investigate Jon Arryn's death openly and urged him to protect himself and his family; Ned agreed and entrusted Arya and Jon to Lynn.
• Ned departed south with King Robert, while Lynn set out north with Jon, Arya, Benjen Stark, Tyrion Lannister, and a hundred northern cavalrymen.
• On the Kingsroad, Lynn reassured Jon about going to the Wall and told him to arm himself with the truth of his birth.
• Lynn's party made camp beneath a hill, where Arya praised his cooking as she ate roasted venison.
• A scout reported that a merchant caravan five li ahead was stuck in a mud pit and surrounded by blood.

Lynn led his men to rescue a caravan attacked by bandits on Stark lands, then personally executed the captured attackers to gain experience. Afterward, he spent the experience to improve his Light Sword and One-Handed Sword skills.

• Lynn found the wrecked caravan, learned from a wounded merchant that the bandits had taken the captives north, and ordered his men to track them.
• Lynn told Torrhen to cripple the bandits rather than kill them, saying he would execute them himself.
• Lynn and fifty cavalrymen discovered the bandits torturing the captives in a forest camp and charged to rescue them.
• The soldiers subdued every bandit, and Lynn killed them one by one with his Valyrian Steel Dagger while Jon watched.
• Lynn spent all 25 experience points, raising Light Sword to proficient and One-Handed Sword from 18 to 34.

Lynn rescued a group of merchants, began learning archery from Benjen, and continued north with the Stark party. The chapter ended when they met Yoren and his Night’s Watch recruits on the Kingsroad.

• Lynn killed the bandits, declined the merchant’s purse, and ordered Torrhen to compensate the survivors with the stolen goods.
• Arya praised Lynn for rescuing the merchants, while Tyrion questioned why Lynn had carried out the executions himself.
• Lynn asked Benjen to teach him archery and learned the beginner skill through practice.
• Lynn’s party encountered Yoren and about thirty Night’s Watch recruits on the Kingsroad.
• Benjen explained to Yoren that Ned Stark had assigned Lynn and a hundred northern soldiers to escort Arya north.

Yoren's recruits joined Lynn's column, and Tyrion forced Jon to confront the criminal reality of the Night's Watch rather than his idealized vision of it. Tyrion explained how reading sharpened his mind, then asked Jon to tell his story.

• Arya asked Lynn whether becoming a lord would let him marry her, and told him Jon had encouraged her to support him.
• Jon watched the recruits and was disturbed by their appearance and behavior; Tyrion identified several as criminals, including a thief, a murderer, and a rapist.
• Tyrion described the Wall as a place for the Seven Kingdoms' refuse, shattering Jon's romantic image of the Night's Watch.
• Tyrion explained that he read to sharpen his mind and fulfill his responsibilities as a Lannister, then asked Jon about his story.
• Jon told Tyrion to beg if he wanted to hear it.

Tyrion questioned Lynn about why he joined the Night's Watch, and Lynn claimed the Old Gods had guided him there. Benjen confirmed Lynn had been neither a criminal nor a fugitive, leaving Tyrion more intrigued as he continued probing for Lynn's true motive.

• Tyrion asked Lynn why he had chosen to take the black, and Lynn said he had committed no crime and had been guided by the Old Gods.
• Tyrion mocked Lynn's explanation, and Arya defended him before Lynn gently calmed her.
• Benjen told Tyrion that Lynn had no brands or wanted notices and had willingly crossed the Neck to join the Night's Watch.
• Tyrion acknowledged that Lynn's choice was strange and pressed him about whether he sought honor, power, or a woman.
• Tyrion speculated that an unattainable noblewoman or scandalous affair had driven Lynn to the Wall, upsetting Arya.

Lynn confronted Tyrion with the story of Tysha, revealing intimate details of the humiliation Tyrion had tried to bury and claiming the truth he saw might not have been what it seemed. Tyrion demanded to know what else Lynn knew.

• Lynn told Tyrion the story of a young Lannister who rescued and married a wheelwright's daughter named Tysha.
• Lynn revealed that Tywin had arranged the meeting and marriage as a deception, then forced Tyrion to watch the guards assault Tysha.
• Lynn named Tysha, and Tyrion erupted in pain and rage, demanding to know how Lynn knew the secret.
• Lynn asked whether Tyrion now believed he had received guidance from the Old Gods and told him to stop judging him.
• Lynn apologized for exposing the story, then suggested that what Tyrion had seen might not have been the truth.
• Tyrion demanded to know what Lynn meant and what else he knew.

Lynn refused to tell Tyrion the full truth about Tysha, leaving him devastated and planting resentment against House Lannister. The party continued north, and after five days of travel, they reached the Wall.

• Tyrion begged Lynn to reveal what he knew about Tysha, but Lynn refused and hinted that he wanted something Tyrion could not yet give him.
• Jon and Arya watched Tyrion collapse in despair, while Benjen told Jon that Lynn had once been an ordinary young man.
• The next morning, Tyrion stopped drinking and talking, and Lynn told Arya that he had been reborn.
• Lynn practiced archery under Benjen's guidance and quickly gained experience.
• After five more days of travel, the party saw the Wall on the horizon.

Lynn arrived at Castle Black with Benjen Stark, Arya, Tyrion, and a hundred northern cavalrymen, where the Night's Watch treated him as a deserter. Lord Commander Jeor Mormont let Lynn remain a sworn brother while accompanying Ned Stark to King's Landing, but required him to win over the other men of the Night's Watch.

• Lynn, Arya, Jon, and Tyrion saw the Wall as the procession approached Castle Black.
• Alliser Thorne confronted Lynn as a deserter, and the northern cavalrymen reached for their swords until Benjen ordered Thorne to stand down.
• Benjen told Jeor Mormont that Lynn had saved the Stark children and explained the events leading to Ned Stark's request to release him from the Night's Watch.
• Mormont refused to release Lynn from his vows, insisting that the Night's Watch rules could not be set aside for Ned Stark.
• Mormont allowed Lynn to accompany Ned to King's Landing while remaining a sworn brother, but told him to convince the other men of the Night's Watch.

Lynn challenged the Night’s Watch men to settle their grudge with one-on-one duels and defeated ten challengers, earning respect and deepening his swordsmanship. As night fell at Castle Black, Lynn expected Alliser Thorne to seek revenge and saw his Light Sword skill improve through the fights.

• Lynn challenged Alliser Thorne and the Night’s Watch men to fight him one-on-one, and a burly man stepped forward with a greatsword.
• Lynn dodged the man’s attack, disarmed him with his longsword, and knocked him unconscious with the sword’s pommel.
• Lynn defeated ten challengers in the courtyard, while Maester Aemon stopped Thorne’s men from attacking him ruthlessly by reminding them that Lord Commander Mormont was watching.
• Torrhen cleaned Lynn’s nicked sword and offered to guard his room as Lynn tended his wounds and anticipated Thorne’s revenge.
• Lynn checked the system panel and saw that his Light Sword skill had advanced to Proficient, 64/100.

After Arya learned that Lynn was fighting to return to Winterfell and marry her, she promised to wait for him. When Stark guards killed an assassin targeting Lynn, he discovered that his soldiers’ kills also earned him experience points, opening a new path to grow stronger.

• Arya scolded Lynn for pushing himself through the tourney injuries, and he told her he wanted to return to Winterfell honorably and marry her.
• Arya tearfully embraced Lynn and promised to wait for him, then fled after noticing his guards had witnessed the moment.
• An assassin entered Lynn’s room at night, but two Stark guards killed him before he could strike.
• Lynn received two experience points for the assassin’s death and realized that kills by his loyal soldiers counted toward his experience.

After recovering from an assassination attempt, Lynn sent Torrhen and ten dependable men to hunt wildlings, while testing strength training that raised his strength progress. Torrhen returned with news that his squad had killed twelve wildlings, earning Lynn experience and prompting him to plan another operation.

• Lynn learned the dead assassin was Bill, an ordinary Night's Watch member, and refused Torrhen's offer to confront Alliser Thorne without evidence.
• Lynn ordered Torrhen to take ten dependable men and patrol the Wall's outskirts for wildlings, warning him to prioritize the soldiers' safety.
• Three days later, Lynn used iron pots as makeshift weights to train, and his strength progress increased; Jon Snow began copying his exercises while Arya watched.
• On the seventh day, Torrhen returned and reported that his squad had killed twelve wildlings with only two minor injuries among Lynn's men.
• Lynn gained 15 experience from the kills and told Torrhen to rest the men before their next operation in three days.

Lynn learned herbalism from Maester Aemon, including how to prepare paralytic poison, and gave the poison to Torrhen to coat the guards’ weapons before their next expedition. After spending experience to improve several skills, Lynn challenged the Night’s Watch members to fight him.

• Lynn asked Maester Aemon to teach him herbalism, and Aemon explained that herbs and poisons could both help or harm people.
• Lynn learned to strengthen nightshade with bitterroot and received a finished weapon poison, along with other herbal supplies.
• Lynn gave Torrhen the poison and ordered him to treat the guards’ weapons before they left after sunrise.
• Lynn used 131 experience to raise Light Sword, One-Handed Sword, and Unarmed Combat to expert level and Herbalism to proficient level, while also improving Archery.
• Lynn challenged the Night’s Watch members to attack him one after another so he could test his improved strength.