Chapter Summaries

Tywin Lannister marched the Westerlands army north to seize Riverrun and join Stannis, while Lynn sent Mance Rayder to intercept him with a vast army of wildlings and wights. Lynn then flew toward Harrenhal on Winter to confront Stannis Baratheon, leaving Daenerys to guard Winterfell.

• After learning that Stannis's allied army had left King's Landing for the Trident, Tywin ordered the Westerlands army to march north and attack Riverrun.
• Lynn told Mance Rayder to intercept Tywin on the River Road with wildlings, giants, mammoth riders, two hundred thousand Wight Archers, and the Frost Giant.
• Mance swore to bury Tywin's army as his combined force of living warriors and wights marched south.
• Lynn entrusted Winterfell to Daenerys, mounted Winter, and flew toward Harrenhal to face Stannis Baratheon.

A Frost Giant massacred Tywin Lannister’s vanguard on the River Road while Mance Rayder and the wildlings joined the attack. Stephen Haytall fled to carry news of Lynn’s power to Lord Tywin, as a vast wight army gathered in a hidden valley nearby.

• Stephen Haytall dismissed his scouts’ warnings about an unexplained icy mountain as the Lannister vanguard marched toward Riverrun.
• A Frost Giant rose from the earth and froze and crushed the Lannister soldiers despite Stephen’s order to attack.
• Stephen ordered a retreat, but the Frost Giant unleashed a rain of ice spikes that shattered the Lannister formation.
• Mance Rayder arrived with wildling warriors and ordered them to pursue the fleeing soldiers while the Frost Giant stopped attacking.
• Stephen fled with his Personal Guards, resolved to report the massacre and Lynn’s power to Lord Tywin.
• Hundreds of thousands of wights gathered silently in a hidden valley north of the River Road.

Mance Rayder’s forces lured Tywin Lannister’s army into dismissing the Frost Giant attack as a trick, then ambushed Amory Lorch’s troops in a narrow valley with Wight archers. The chapter ended with mammoths and giants blocking the escape route as the Lannister army faced annihilation.

• Stephen Haytall escaped the Frost Giant’s attack and reported the slaughter to Tywin Lannister, who dismissed the story as exaggeration and suspected Lynn of using a fear tactic.
• Tywin ordered Amory Lorch to lead fifteen thousand men north along the River Road and meet him beneath Riverrun.
• Three days later, Amory’s army entered a narrow valley, where Wight archers concealed on the cliffs unleashed volleys of arrows.
• Amory tried to lead the surviving heavy cavalry out of the valley, but a second arrow volley struck as the troops fled.
• Mammoths carrying Wildlings and a dozen giants blocked the valley’s mouth, trapping the Lannister army in the ambush.

Amory Lorch’s Lannister force was annihilated in a valley by Wight archers, giants, mammoths, and Wildlings. Mance Rayder then watched the slain soldiers rise as undead loyal to Lynn, and ordered the new army to advance.

• Amory Lorch ordered his surviving heavy cavalry to charge, but a second volley from the Wight archers destroyed the Lannister force’s remaining organization.
• Giants, mammoths, and Wildlings blocked the valley’s exit and attacked the trapped soldiers.
• Amory Lorch charged a giant and was crushed, prompting the surviving Lannister soldiers to flee before being killed.
• Mance Rayder and Tormund surveyed the aftermath, and Mance said the real show had only just begun.
• The dead Lannister soldiers rose again with eerie blue eyes, and Mance ordered the undead army to advance.

Lynn ordered Mance Rayder to lead the newly raised undead army west and capture Casterly Rock while Brynden Tully held Tywin Lannister in place. After learning that Amory Lorch’s force had been destroyed and raised as undead, Tywin realized the target and ordered his army to retreat to defend the Westerlands.

• Mance Rayder reported that the undead army had wiped out fifteen thousand Lannister soldiers, and Lynn ordered him to abandon Riverrun and march on Casterly Rock.
• Lynn revealed that Brynden Tully was keeping Tywin occupied, and Mance led the undead army west.
• A messenger told Tywin that Brynden Tully had cut the supply lines and destroyed the Crakehall troops escorting provisions.
• A scout reported that Amory Lorch’s force had been wiped out and that its dead soldiers had risen and headed west.
• Tywin realized Lynn was targeting Casterly Rock, bloodied the map as he collapsed in shock, and ordered his forces to return to defend it.

Mance Rayder used the Army of the Dead to besiege Casterly Rock, intending to lure the Westerlands’ lords into a prepared ambush rather than storm the fortress. The defenders’ fear deepened when an arrow failed to move a wight, while Tormund wondered whether Lynn would turn them into the dead as well.

• Fifteen thousand wights in Lannister armor reached Casterly Rock and silently halted outside its walls.
• Ser Damon Lannister ordered the gates closed, forbade the defenders from firing, and sent ravens to warn Tywin that Amory Lorch’s dead army had besieged the fortress.
• Mance Rayder explained to Tormund that the siege was bait meant to draw the Westerlands’ lords to Casterly Rock, where Lynn’s forces could ambush them.
• A frightened young soldier fired an arrow into a wight’s eye socket, but the wight remained standing and the defenders lost hope.
• Tormund asked Mance whether Lynn would turn them into wights if they died.

The Army of the Dead and Mance Rayder’s Wildlings destroyed the Westerlands relief force that came to save Casterly Rock, while Tywin Lannister learned that his allies had been wiped out and his supplies burned. Mance chose to wait before raising the new dead, hoping to lure every remaining Westerlands fighter into his trap.

• Damon Lannister ordered his men to hold their positions as the Army of the Dead continued its silent siege of Casterly Rock.
• Earl Lefford led more than twenty thousand Westerlands soldiers, including five thousand knights, toward Casterly Rock and charged the wights.
• The wights absorbed the knights’ charge and overwhelmed them, while Mance Rayder’s Wildlings, giants, and mammoths attacked from ambush and slaughtered the relief force.
• A giant crushed Earl Lefford, and the surviving defenders at Casterly Rock watched the allied army fall.
• Tywin Lannister received news that the Westerlands army had been destroyed and that Brynden Tully had burned his last granary, then collapsed in anger and despair.
• Tormund asked Mance whether they should raise the newly dead, but Mance said they would wait for more Westerlands fighters to arrive.

The Army of the Dead and Mance Rayder’s Wildlings overran Casterly Rock after starving, desperate defenders opened its gates. A raven carried the news to Tywin Lannister, who was left broken and afraid of Lynn.

• Damon Lannister ordered the wine cellars opened as soldiers inside Casterly Rock began killing themselves and losing hope.
• Tyberth led a drunken mob to open the Lion’s Mouth, and Mance Rayder sounded the horn to begin the attack.
• The wights crushed Tyberth’s men, broke through the gate, and flooded Casterly Rock as the Wildlings, giants, and mammoths joined the assault.
• Damon retreated to the Main Keep, where Mance Rayder confronted him, and Damon chose to take his own life.
• Kevan Lannister gave Tywin a raven’s message announcing Casterly Rock’s fall, and Tywin spat blood and feared Lynn.

Tywin Lannister led his battered army back to Casterly Rock, where Mance Rayder’s overwhelming forces defeated them and captured him. As the Free Folk executed Lannister prisoners, Mance told Tywin that Lynn intended to shatter the old order so a new one could take root.

• Tywin ordered the Westerlands army to retreat toward Casterly Rock, while Brynden Tully harassed them and cost them nearly ten thousand men.
• Tywin charged Mance Rayder’s forces at Casterly Rock, where Kevan died saving him and wildlings captured Tywin.
• Mance ordered the Lannister prisoners to kneel to Lynn or die, and Roland Crakehall refused and was executed.
• Mance told Tywin that true power meant defining the rules and that the old order had to be destroyed before a new one could take root.

Tywin Lannister faced his children in the conquered Casterly Rock, where Cersei and Tyrion confronted him over the lives he had ruined and Jaime urged him to submit to Lynn. Tywin refused, and Mance Rayder delivered Lynn’s judgment: Tywin would be executed at sunrise while Myrcella became the new Warden of the West.

• Cersei mocked Tywin and accused him of treating her as a bargaining piece for House Lannister.
• Tyrion reminded Tywin of what he had done to Tysha and told him that Lynn had found her and provided for her family.
• Jaime begged Tywin to swear allegiance to Lynn, but Tywin refused to kneel and chose death over surrender.
• Mance Rayder had the Wildlings remove Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion, then showed Tywin Lynn’s written judgment and announced his execution at sunrise atop Lion’s Rock.
• Mance told Tywin that Lynn intended to appoint Myrcella as the new Warden of the West.

Jaime went to kill Tywin before the Lannister patriarch could be publicly humiliated, but Tywin revealed that Tyrion was Aerys's bastard and confessed his regrets. Tyrion forgave Tywin, then took Jaime's sword and prepared to execute his father as a threat to Lynn's new order.

• Jaime entered Tywin's study intending to kill him, and Tywin revealed that Tyrion was the Mad King Aerys's bastard.
• Tywin admitted that he had mistreated Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion, and asked Jaime to give him a dignified death.
• Tyrion emerged from the shadows, told Tywin he forgave him, and sent Jaime away.
• Tyrion explained that Tywin had to die because he embodied the old order and could inspire the Westerlands to resist Lynn's new one.
• Tywin accepted Tyrion's judgment, and Tyrion raised his sword to collect the last debt of the old era.

Tyrion killed Tywin and forced the Westerlands’ nobles to swear allegiance to Lynn and Myrcella, while Lynn confronted Stannis near Harrenhal over the Lord of Light and Melisandre. Just as their armies were about to clash, Davos arrived with an urgent interruption.

• Tyrion killed Tywin, then announced that Myrcella would become Warden of the West with Tyrion governing beside her under Lynn’s authority.
• Tyrion forced the gathered nobles to kneel and swear allegiance, then had Tormund kill Earl Farman when he refused.
• Lynn arrived at Harrenhal and learned from Bronze Yohn that Stannis’s army numbered more than sixty thousand and followed the Lord of Light.
• Lynn and Stannis met between their armies, where Stannis demanded Lynn’s surrender and a knight demonstrated a flaming sword.
• Lynn revealed that he had captured Melisandre and denounced Stannis as a false prophesied prince and servant of the Long Night.
• As Stannis’s knights drew their flaming swords, Davos Seaworth rode between the armies and called out to Stannis.

Davos Seaworth tried to broker peace between Lynn and Stannis, but both rejected his proposal. As Stannis prepared to execute Davos, Lynn offered him a place in his service and revealed that Davos’s family had already been brought to Harrenhal, leaving Davos to decide whether to join him.

• Davos proposed that the North become independent while swearing fealty to Stannis, but Stannis and Lynn both refused.
• Lynn argued that the Iron Islands, Westerlands, Riverlands, and Vale also deserved independence, provoking Stannis by questioning what would remain of his kingdom.
• Stannis denounced Davos as a traitor, drew a flaming sword, and ordered him to submit to judgment, so Davos began walking toward him.
• Lynn stopped Davos, praised his honesty and concern for ordinary people, and urged him not to die for Stannis.
• Lynn invited Davos to serve him and promised to respect his counsel, appoint him to office, and grant him lands and possibly castles in the Stormlands.
• Lynn quietly told Davos that his family had been brought from Dragonstone to Harrenhal, where they were waiting for him.

Davos abandoned Stannis and stood with Lynn as Stannis ordered Loras Tyrell and the Reach knights to attack Winter. Winter devastated the Tyrell forces with black dragonfire, and Loras surrendered to Lynn to stop the slaughter.

• Davos walked away from Stannis and joined Lynn, prompting Stannis to order his soldiers to kill him.
• Stannis forced Loras Tyrell to lead the Reach knights in a charge against Winter, threatening House Tyrell if they refused.
• Lynn snapped his fingers, and Winter's roar panicked the horses and broke the knights' charge.
• Winter burned a huge portion of the Reach forces with black dragonfire, then attacked the scattered survivors again.
• Loras threw down his sword, begged Lynn to spare his men, and surrendered House Tyrell and Highgarden.
• Winter returned to Harrenhal as Lynn remarked that Loras should have surrendered sooner.

Stannis Baratheon executed Loras Tyrell after Loras urged him to surrender to Lynn, driving the Reach’s forces to turn against Stannis. The Reach army charged Stannis’s troops, leaving him stunned as the battle erupted between former allies.

• Loras Tyrell pleaded with Stannis Baratheon to spare lives and surrender, but Stannis accused him of treason.
• The Red Priestess urged Stannis to burn Loras, and Stannis killed him with Lightbringer.
• Davos Seaworth realized Stannis had made an enemy of the Reach, whose soldiers erupted in grief and fury.
• The Reach’s forces turned their banners toward Stannis and charged his army to avenge Loras.
• Stannis cried out that his soldiers had betrayed him as the two armies collided.

Stannis's army overwhelmed the Reach forces with the Red Priestess's holy fire, leaving Stannis convinced that the Lord of Light had affirmed his claim. When Stannis challenged Lynn at Harrenhal, Lynn ordered Winter to unleash a devastating beam upon Stannis's army.

• The Red Priestess empowered Stannis's soldiers, whose flame-wreathed weapons and armor broke the Reach charge and drove its soldiers into a rout.
• Lynn watched the slaughter and recognized that the Red Comet had made the Lord of Light's magic far stronger than before.
• Stannis celebrated his victory, raised Lightbringer toward Harrenhal, and called on Lynn to face him next.
• Lynn told Davos that Stannis had gone mad, then commanded Winter to show him true divine might.
• Winter gathered three colors of light in its heads and fired a massive beam at Stannis's army, dimming Lightbringer's flames.

Lynn annihilated Stannis’s Holy Fire Knights but stopped short of killing Stannis after a Flame Prophecy showed him sacrificing Shireen to awaken stone dragons on Dragonstone. He let Stannis flee, intending to see what the king would do and believing he could claim the dragons himself.

• Winter’s blast vaporized Stannis’s Holy Fire Knights, leaving a vast crater and Stannis alive but shattered.
• Lynn prepared to kill Stannis, but the Flame Prophecy showed Stannis burning Shireen at an altar to awaken stone dragons on Dragonstone.
• Lynn lowered his ice spear and let Stannis’s knights and the Red Priestess lead him in a retreat toward Dragonstone.
• Davos asked why Lynn had spared Stannis, and Lynn said he wanted to see how far the king would descend into madness.
• Lynn decided the awakened stone dragons could become his, since he possessed Euron Greyjoy’s treasure and could use it to control them.

After Lynn defeated Stannis and killed Loras Tyrell, Margaery and the Tyrells came to Harrenhal, where Lynn offered to resurrect Loras in exchange for the Reach’s allegiance and Margaery’s appointment as its Protector. Olenna accepted his terms, leaving House Tyrell’s independence and power in Lynn’s hands.

• Lynn ordered Loras Tyrell’s body preserved in ice after defeating Stannis and winning the Reach’s allegiance.
• Margaery received news of Loras’s death at Winterfell, fainted, and then insisted on traveling to Harrenhal.
• Olenna Redwyne arrived at Harrenhal with Mace Tyrell and Reach vassals to reclaim Loras’s body, and Lynn said he could bring Loras back to life.
• Lynn demanded that House Tyrell swear allegiance to him and the North, with Margaery as Protector of the Reach and Mace given a lesser position.
• Olenna accepted Lynn’s terms in exchange for the possibility of Loras’s resurrection.

Lynn resurrected Loras Tyrell, securing House Tyrell’s loyalty and naming Margaery Lady of Highgarden. A scout then reported that the Unsullied Legion had reached Blackwater Bay, where its ranks assembled as they awaited orders.

• Lynn used Flame Resurrection to heal Loras Tyrell and restore his heartbeat, and Loras awoke alive.
• Olenna Redwyne and Mace Tyrell swore House Tyrell and the Reach’s vassals to Lynn, while Loras pledged himself as Lynn’s sword.
• Lynn appointed Margaery Tyrell Lady of Highgarden and Protector of the Reach, and the Reach’s nobles accepted her authority.
• A scout reported that the Unsullied Legion had reached Blackwater Bay and that King's Landing was in chaos.
• The Unsullied disembarked from their longships and formed ranks on the tidal flats.

Grey Worm led the Unsullied in capturing King's Landing for Lynn, defeating its defenders and distributing food to civilians. As the people welcomed Lynn's rule, Grey Worm learned that the last Baratheon defenders in the Red Keep still refused to surrender.

• Grey Worm ordered more than ten thousand Unsullied to advance on King's Landing.
• The Unsullied broke through the Mud Gate and routed the defenders, taking strategic positions while avoiding harm to civilians.
• A messenger announced that King's Landing was under Lynn's rule and that residents could receive three days of food by showing proof of identity.
• The Unsullied distributed bread and smoked meat as grateful civilians cheered for Lynn, the King in the North.
• A messenger told Grey Worm that the remaining Baratheon defenders in the Red Keep refused to surrender, and Grey Worm ordered them killed.