Chapter Summaries

Jaime tested his swordsmanship against a White Walker, while Brienne questioned whether Lynn’s account of the Kingslayer’s past was true. Jaime revealed that he killed Aerys to prevent wildfire from destroying King’s Landing, leaving Brienne shaken by the truth and her mistaken judgment of him.

• Jaime challenged a White Walker to fight and pushed himself through its relentless attacks, while Brienne and The Hound watched.
• Unable to sleep, Brienne went to Jaime’s room and asked him about Lynn’s claims concerning King’s Landing, Aerys, and wildfire.
• Jaime recounted how Aerys ordered wildfire ignited beneath King’s Landing and threatened Jaime with the destruction of the city and his father’s army.
• Jaime said he killed Aerys to stop the wildfire and explained that Ned Stark and others had not believed his account.
• Brienne was stunned by Jaime’s story and recognized how lonely he had been, while Jaime ended the conversation and turned away.

Brienne told Jaime that a shadow wearing Stannis’s face had killed Renly, leaving her blamed for a crime she did not commit. Their shared experience of being condemned as oathbreakers brought them closer, and Brienne called Jaime a hero for saving five hundred thousand people.

• Brienne stayed with Jaime and told him she had been accused of killing Renly, though a shadow had murdered him.
• Jaime recognized Brienne’s loneliness and invited her to sit with him by the fire.
• Brienne reflected that keeping one oath could sometimes require breaking another, more important oath.
• Jaime said he envied Brienne because her alleged crime was minor compared with his successful killing of a king.
• Brienne told Jaime he was a hero who had saved five hundred thousand people, leaving him speechless and wanting a drink.

Jaime grew closer to Brienne through daily sparring, while Tormund’s unexpected admiration left Brienne unsettled. A letter from Tywin ordered Jaime to kill Robb and break his oath again, leaving Jaime torn between betraying Robb and cutting ties with his family.

• Jaime and Brienne continued sparring together in Winterfell, and Jaime’s swordsmanship grew more precise.
• Tormund returned to Winterfell and openly called Brienne beautiful, startling her into fleeing.
• Jaime found a letter from Tywin beneath his door and read Tywin’s demand that he assassinate Robb.
• Jaime burned the letter and struggled with whether to betray Robb again or sever his ties with the Lannisters.

Jaime learned that Tywin wanted him to kill Lynn and break his oath again, then heard Tyrion and Cersei explain how their father had used the family as tools. After fleeing Cersei's room, Jaime found Brienne in the Training Grounds and challenged her to fight.

• Jaime went to Tyrion after reading Tywin's letter, and Tyrion recalled how Tywin had destroyed his marriage to Tysha and warned Jaime that their father would use him for House Lannister's glory.
• Jaime confronted Cersei, who said she had chosen to become Lynn's woman so she could stop living as Tywin's tool.
• Jaime realized Cersei had chosen her own path while he remained trapped by his sense of duty, then ran from her room.
• Jaime found Brienne practicing in the moonlit Training Grounds, drew his sword, and demanded that she fight him.

Jaime attacked Brienne in the Training Grounds, hoping she would kill him after Tywin ordered him to kill Lynn. Brienne stopped him and kept his secret, leaving Jaime to decide he would choose his own path.

• Jaime attacked Brienne with lethal intent, and she fought to defend herself.
• Jaime deliberately let Brienne's sword cut his shoulder, then kicked her and demanded that she kill him.
• Brienne turned the fight around, knocked Jaime down, and struck him until he admitted Tywin had ordered him to kill Lynn.
• Brienne refused to report Jaime and reminded him that he had reclaimed his honor himself.
• Jaime lay in the snow, then sat up and resolved to make his own choice rather than obey Tywin's letter.

Jaime rejected Tywin’s plan and declared that he still owed Lynn his life and honor. At the Iron Islands kingsmoot, Euron revealed Dragonbinder, whose deadly blast convinced the Ironborn he could control Lynn’s dragons and claim the throne.

• Jaime wrote to Tywin that he owed Lynn his life and honor and had not yet paid his debt.
• Tywin read Jaime’s letter, flew into a fury, and silently resolved to respond to his son’s betrayal.
• At the kingsmoot, Asha, Aeron, and Victarion made their bids for the Iron Islands throne while Theon watched from the crowd.
• Euron arrived with Dragonbinder and claimed its power could make dragons submit.
• Euron forced a Qarth warlock to blow Dragonbinder, and the horn killed him as its runes glowed.
• Euron raised Dragonbinder before the horrified Ironborn and claimed he could control Lynn’s dragon.

Euron manipulated Theon by exploiting his doubts about belonging among the Starks and promised him dominion over the North. Theon chose the Greyjoys, swore to destroy Winterfell and kill the Starks, and joined Euron’s campaign.

• Euron returned before the Ironborn, claimed he would be their new god, and singled out Theon as his nephew.
• Euron reminded Theon that he had been a hostage and urged him to reject the Starks, promising him the North as a prince.
• Theon recalled Ned Stark’s kindness and equal treatment, but ultimately decided he belonged to the Ironborn.
• Theon knelt before Euron and vowed to burn Winterfell, kill Ned and Robb, and reclaim what was his.
• Asha watched Theon’s oath with unease as the Ironborn celebrated and Euron raised Dragonbinder.

Euron Greyjoy manipulated Theon and Asha into sailing to Winterfell on a supposed mission to assassinate Lynn and Ned Stark, while secretly planning to attack Bear Island for King Stannis. The siblings departed Pyke, unaware Euron expected them to die in the North.

• After claiming the Seastone Chair, Euron praised Theon and ordered him and Asha to return to Winterfell under the guise of renewing their loyalty, then kill Lynn and the Starks at a feast.
• Theon eagerly accepted Euron’s plan, and Asha agreed after Euron pressured her with the promise of glory and the threat of appearing a coward.
• Three days later, Theon and Asha sailed from Pyke with five ships and a hundred warriors, bound for the North.
• Euron told Victarion that he expected Theon and Asha to die, removing Balon’s heirs and provoking Lynn in the process.
• Euron ordered Victarion to gather the Iron Fleet and attack Bear Island, intending to offer the island and House Mormont’s women to King Stannis.

The Citadel’s Conclave debated the red comet, dragons, and reports from Winterfell before deciding to test whether magic had returned by lighting a glass candle. The candle showed them a man beneath Winterfell’s weirwood tree, who noticed them and struck the maesters with a deadly psychic attack.

• Grand Maester Ibrose read Maester Archibald’s letter describing a child’s recovery after surgery in Winterfell and declaring that the Citadel had been wrong.
• Maester Walin urged the Conclave to seek proof of magic’s return by lighting a glass candle, and Ibrose agreed.
• Ibrose struck a spark against the glass candle, which ignited with a cold, swirling flame.
• The flame revealed the army of the dead, Winterfell’s weirwood tree, and a man who turned toward the maesters watching him.
• The man’s psychic assault sent the Conclave into agony, and his voice complained that they had interrupted his thinking.

Lynn forced the Citadel’s maesters to swear fealty by promising them knowledge, then set out from Winterfell on Winter to pursue the Red Comet. He left the castle flying toward the comet, whose passage was awakening magic across the world.

• Grand Maester Ibrose and Maester Walin begged Lynn to stop his psychic assault through the Glass Candle.
• Lynn ordered the Citadel’s conclave to come to Winterfell within a month, bring their chains, and swear fealty in the Godswood, offering forbidden knowledge in return.
• Ibrose and the other maesters agreed, and the Glass Candle’s flame went out.
• Lynn sensed the Red Comet awakening ancient magic and decided to approach it.
• Lynn summoned Winter, climbed onto the Three-Headed Great Dragon, and flew from Winterfell toward the comet.

Lynn and Winter crossed the dangerous Sunset Sea, fighting a massive sea monster before reaching a mist-shrouded land. Lynn found signs of recent human activity as he cautiously explored its strange forest.

• Lynn rode Winter west across the Sunset Sea toward the Red Comet.
• A giant sea monster attacked Winter, but Lynn and the dragon froze and destroyed it.
• Lynn and Winter flew through storms and encountered more sea monsters over the following five days.
• They reached a silent, mist-covered land, where Winter landed on black sand.
• Lynn explored the forest and found broken ferns, animal bones, and a firepit with warm ashes.

Lynn discovered a primitive tribe but found no useful information there, then continued west with Winter in search of the fallen Red Comet. At the center of a vast impact basin, he found a massive sphere of magical energy and glimpsed a blurred silhouette inside it.

• Lynn entered a hidden settlement, where the chief's weak mind magic failed to affect him.
• Winter's Dragon Roar terrified the natives, and Lynn left without harming them to continue searching for the comet.
• Lynn and Winter flew west for two days across the vast continent as the comet's magical energy grew stronger.
• On the third day, they reached a huge scorched basin and found a sphere of gold-and-red light at its center.
• Lynn resisted the sphere's magic as it stirred the power within him, then focused his mental power on a blurred silhouette inside.

Lynn discovered that the Red Comet was a Crystal Dragon Egg and waited for its dangerous energy to fade before claiming it. With the egg secured in Winter’s mouth, he surveyed the primitive New World and then set off to return to Westeros.

• Lynn recognized the Red Comet as a dragon egg and waited seven days while its energy storm weakened.
• Lynn watched jungle tribespeople worship the fading sphere from a distance and flee when they saw him and Winter.
• Lynn retrieved the enormous Crystal Dragon Egg after its light and surrounding energy vanished.
• Lynn placed the egg in Winter’s mouth and flew over the New World, observing its jungles, tribes, and exposed gold deposits.
• Lynn decided to return to Westeros, and Winter flew east with him.

Lynn returned to Winterfell with a mysterious dragon egg and discovered it could amplify magic through Arya, inspiring him to plan a network of magical allies. Meanwhile, the Faceless Men intercepted Theon and Asha’s Ironborn ships as they sailed to attack Winterfell, and one summoned a blue flame.

• Lynn returned to Winterfell, reunited with Ned and the others, and tried to awaken the dragon egg using Joffrey’s blood, but it had no effect.
• Lynn discovered that Arya resonated with the egg and helped her produce a tiny flame by channeling magic through it.
• Lynn realized he could reclaim magic refined by the egg from Arya and began planning to train others as magical reservoirs.
• Theon Greyjoy and Asha led five Ironborn longships toward land to attack Winterfell, but a dense fog engulfed them.
• Three Faceless Men appeared aboard the flagship, warned the Ironborn that they had chosen the wrong man to serve, and conjured a ghostly blue flame.

Lynn discovered that Euron planned to raid Bear Island while its defenses were depleted, then welcomed maesters from the Citadel and shared practical knowledge with them. The maesters pledged to establish a free academy in Dragon's Landing Castle and offered Lynn a Glass Candle, which he recognized as bearing traces of his psychic assault.

• Lynn used Greensight to discover that Euron had sent the Iron Fleet toward Bear Island, where Maege Mormont's departure had left Lyanna and the island poorly defended.
• A guard told Lynn that maesters from Oldtown had arrived at Winterfell.
• Grand Maester Ibrose and Maester Walin led the maesters in kneeling before Lynn and pledging the Citadel's service to him.
• Lynn showed the maesters practical truths about metallurgy, medicine, farming, sanitation, geometry, and leverage, then ordered them to establish a free academy in Dragon's Landing Castle.
• Ibrose pledged to found a new Citadel, and Walin presented Lynn with a Glass Candle.
• Lynn took the candle and sensed traces of his own psychic assault upon it.

Lynn ignited the Glass Candle and discovered he could see across Westeros and enter people’s dreams. He entered Arya’s dream, helped her defeat Syrio’s projection, and realized he could use dreams to teach others and advance his plans.

• Lynn studied the Glass Candle, recognized its potential for instant communication and dream manipulation, and ignited it with magic.
• Through the candle, Lynn saw places across Westeros and observed Arya sleeping in Winterfell.
• Lynn entered Arya’s dream, where she was repeatedly defeated by a projection of Syrio Forel, then woke her and offered to help her win.
• Lynn returned Arya to the dream, transformed the wasteland and gave her a Valyrian steel longsword, then coached her through the fight.
• Arya landed a blow on Syrio’s projection and won, while Lynn realized he could use dreams to teach and train others.

Lynn used the Glass Candle to enter Cersei’s dream, where she wished to be treated like his other women, then acted on that wish after she woke. He later used the candle to find Maege Mormont planning an attack on a Lannister supply depot.

• Lynn lit the Glass Candle and entered Cersei’s dream in the Great Sept of Baelor, where the Seven offered her a wish.
• Cersei wished for Lynn to treat her as he treated his other women, and the dream shattered.
• After Cersei woke, Lynn entered her room and treated her with the attention she had wished for.
• Lynn realized that influencing people through dreams offered new possibilities, then lit the Glass Candle again to contact Maege Mormont.
• Maege Mormont gathered with northern commanders and announced they would burn a House Lannister supply depot the next day.

Lynn used a Glass Candle to warn Robb Stark and Maege Mormont that Euron Crow’s Eye’s fleet was sailing for Bear Island, then empowered the women at Winterfell to command wights. He set out alone on Storm to confront the Ironborn, leaving Ned to guard Winterfell and watch for Theon.

• Lynn sent a warning through the Glass Candle that Euron Crow’s Eye’s Iron Fleet was heading for Bear Island, and ordered Robb Stark and Maege Mormont to abandon their raids and return north.
• Robb mustered the army while Maege rode out in fury to protect her daughter Lyanna and Bear Island.
• Lynn used the Dragon Egg to grant Margaery, Sansa, Cersei, Myrcella, Ygritte, Melisandre, and Brienne the ability to command wights, which they tested on two Wight Warriors.
• Lynn told Ned Stark he was leaving for Bear Island and warned him not to trust Theon if he returned.
• Lynn left Winterfell alone on Storm, choosing not to risk bringing his dragon into a battle where Euron might use Dragonbinder.

Bear Island prepared to face an overwhelming Ironborn fleet after its defenders learned Lady Maege had taken the best fighters away. Lyanna rallied the islanders to stand their ground until Lynn arrived, and he appeared alone just as the enemy ships reached the island.

• A fisherman warned House Mormont that more than a hundred Ironborn longships were approaching Bear Island while fewer than a hundred defenders remained.
• Lyanna Mormont rallied the frightened islanders by reminding them of Lynn’s support and urging them to defend their home for the North.
• The people fortified the stronghold and prepared weapons, supplies, and bandages as Lyanna watched the Ironborn fleet approach.
• Lyanna wondered whether Lynn would come as the Ironborn ships drew near Bear Island.
• Lynn arrived alone on horseback from the forest path, and Lyanna cried with relief.

Lynn arrived at Bear Island and froze the sea, trapping Victarion Greyjoy’s fleet and letting Robb Stark and Maege Mormont lead the Northern forces against the Ironborn. As the battle raged, Lynn watched from the cliff and snapped his fingers at Victarion.

• Lynn reached Bear Island, reassured Lyanna Mormont, and watched Victarion Greyjoy’s fleet approach.
• Lynn froze the sea around Bear Island, trapping more than a hundred Ironborn longships in the ice.
• Robb Stark and Maege Mormont arrived with the Northern army and charged across the ice to attack the trapped fleet.
• The Northern forces overwhelmed the Ironborn on the slippery ice, while Maege led an assault toward Victarion’s flagship.
• Victarion rallied an elite shield wall and fought back, then recognized Lynn as the man who had frozen the sea.
• Lynn raised his hand toward Victarion and snapped his fingers.