Chapter Summaries

Lynn defeated the Night's Watch men who challenged him, including Alliser Thorne, and earned Mormont's permission to accompany Lord Stark to King's Landing while remaining in the Watch. Before he could leave, Mormont assigned him a mission to clear Wildlings near the Wall, giving Lynn a chance to gain experience and pursue Longclaw.

• Lynn swiftly defeated a series of Night's Watch challengers in the training yard.
• Lynn defeated Alliser Thorne in a duel and forced him to yield before the assembled men.
• Mormont praised Lynn's swordsmanship and agreed to let him accompany Lord Stark to King's Landing as a Watch member.
• Mormont ordered Lynn to lead men against Wildlings spotted near the Wall, and Lynn requested three days to prepare.

Alliser Thorne incited the recruits to attack Jon Snow, who defeated them but was later cornered and threatened with a dagger. Lynn intervened, and Jon reflected that his father had let him join the Night's Watch knowing how harsh it would be, while Tyrion watched to see what Lynn would do.

• Alliser Thorne taunted Jon Snow and ordered the recruits to attack him.
• Jon used Ser Rodrik's lessons to disarm and beat the recruits, leaving them bruised on the training-yard floor.
• Grenn, Pyp, and two other recruits cornered Jon in a corridor, pinned him down, and Grenn held a dagger to his throat.
• Lynn emerged and ordered Grenn to put the dagger down, warning that he would leave corpses if the recruits refused.
• Grenn withdrew the dagger, and Jon told Lynn that only he and Tyrion had warned him about the Night's Watch.
• Tyrion arrived, realized the recruits had planned their retaliation, and watched Lynn handle the situation.

Lynn helped Jon reconsider his prejudice against his fellow recruits, while news of Bran’s recovery deepened Jon’s homesickness. As Lynn prepared to travel beyond the Wall, Jon asked him to carry a message to Bran, and Lynn briefed his guards on a cautious plan to face the Wildlings.

• Lynn reminded Jon that Grenn and Pyp had suffered hardships and urged Jon to teach them swordsmanship and make friends; Jon reconsidered his attitude toward them.
• Lord Commander Mormont received a raven reporting that Bran Stark could walk with crutches, and Jon’s joy turned to guilt and longing for his family.
• Tyrion toasted Bran with Jon, then gave him a sealed letter containing advice for surviving at the Wall.
• Jon asked Lynn to tell Bran that he thought of him every day and that he should stay strong, and Lynn promised to carry the message.
• Lynn told Torrhen and the guards to avoid reckless charges and use poison, traps, and arrows against the Wildlings in the Haunted Forest.

Lynn led his soldiers into the Haunted Forest, where they killed eight Wildlings and found a frostheart grass rhizome. After eating it, Lynn permanently increased his strength, and he realized other Old Gods’ blessed items could raise his attributes.

• Benjen warned Jon and Lynn about dangers beyond the Wall before their parties set out in different directions.
• Lynn tracked Wildlings through the Haunted Forest and ordered his soldiers to surround them quietly.
• Lynn and his archers killed eight Wildlings in a surprise attack, then searched their belongings.
• A guard found a pouch containing frostheart grass, and Lynn recognized it from Maester Aemon’s description.
• Lynn ate the frostheart grass and endured intense pain as the system permanently raised his Strength from 5 to 6.

After Frostheart Grass greatly increased Lynn’s strength, he led his guards deeper into the Haunted Forest and discovered a large Wildling tribe. He planned to attack it at night, using poisoned arrows and traps to overcome its numerical advantage.

• Lynn tested his newfound strength by punching a deep dent into a pine tree, astonishing Torrhen and the guards.
• Lynn refused to turn back and urged his party to keep hunting deeper in the Haunted Forest.
• A scout reported a Wildling tribe with at least a hundred tents, and Torrhen suggested retreating to seek reinforcements.
• Lynn rallied the guards by calling the Wildlings their prey and led a small group to scout the valley.
• Lynn ordered the archers to prepare stronger poison, a squad to trap the valley’s exit, and everyone to eat and rest before the night attack.

Lynn led a nighttime raid on the Wildling camp, using fire, smoke, and attacks from multiple directions to throw the tribe into chaos. As Torrhen and Harvey’s soldiers struck, Lynn approached the chief’s bearskin tent alone.

• Lynn assembled a hundred Northmen and ordered archers to set fire to the Wildlings’ tents and supplies while Torrhen and Harvey led raids from opposite sides.
• Lynn rejected Torrhen’s offer of protection and slipped alone toward the chief’s bearskin tent.
• The archers’ flaming arrows ignited the camp as Torrhen and Harvey’s groups charged in.
• The awakened Wildlings struggled through the flames and numbing smoke, and the camp descended into chaos.

Lynn's forces plunged the Wildling camp into chaos, and he ambushed Chief Ragnar "Bloodaxe". After a fierce duel, Lynn drove his sword through Ragnar's chest.

• Torrhen's and Harvey's squads raided the Wildling camp to spread panic while Lynn waited outside Ragnar's tent.
• Ragnar rallied some Wildlings and called for them to attack the Crows, but Lynn struck him from behind and wounded his ribs.
• Ragnar counterattacked with his bone axe, forcing Lynn to dodge and deflect his blows.
• Lynn wore Ragnar down with evasive swordplay and targeted his axe-wielding wrist, making Ragnar's arm go numb.
• Lynn seized an opening and thrust his sword through Ragnar's chest.

Lynn killed Ragnar and routed his Wildling tribe with almost no losses, then discovered dragonglass and a mysterious map in Ragnar’s tent. The chapter ended when Torrhen showed Lynn corpses with eerie blue eyes.

• Lynn poisoned and killed Ragnar, causing the Wildlings to lose their fighting spirit and flee.
• Torrhen and Harvey’s forces pursued the Wildlings, defeated them, and reported only five minor injuries and no deaths.
• Lynn spent experience to advance One-Handed Sword to expert and improve Light Sword, then ordered the captured Wildlings questioned and swiftly executed.
• Lynn found dragonglass and a human-skin map marked with a red eye in Ragnar’s tent.
• Torrhen called Lynn to a half-burned tent, where Lynn saw corpses with sapphire-blue eyes.

Lynn recognized the blue-eyed corpses as potential wights and ordered them burned before explaining the threat to his followers. As the party returned to Castle Black, they found a bloody battlefield with no human bodies and drag marks leading into the forest.

• Lynn stopped Torrhen from touching the blue-eyed corpses and ordered the guards to burn them.
• Lynn told his followers the corpses were wights and warned that something had awakened beyond the Wall.
• Lynn ordered a scout to report what they had seen to Lord Commander Mormont and Maester Aemon.
• The party set out for Castle Black the next morning and found a battlefield littered with dead horses, broken weapons, and drag marks leading into the forest.

Lynn returned to Castle Black after finding strange drag marks and urged the Night's Watch to burn two dead rangers whose eyes had turned blue. The chapter ended with the courtyard stunned by his demand to defy their burial traditions.

• Lynn found signs that bodies had been dragged into the forest and ordered his party to return to Castle Black at full speed.
• At Castle Black, Lynn saw Othell and Jaffer Flowers lying dead on sledges, while Jon Snow, Arya, Ghost, and Nymeria reacted warily to them.
• Lord Commander Mormont said the rangers had been found buried in the snow without obvious wounds, with blue eyes, and that Ser Waymar Royce was still missing.
• Lynn stopped the men from taking the bodies inside and demanded that they burn them immediately.

Lynn warned Lord Commander Mormont that Othell and Jaffar might rise as dead creatures because the White Walkers had awakened. Mormont ordered precautions rather than burning the bodies, and Lynn prepared his guards for the night.

• Alliser Thorne and other Night's Watch men protested Lynn's suggestion to burn Othell and Jaffar's bodies.
• Lynn told Lord Commander Mormont that White Walkers could raise the dead and that the bodies' ice-blue eyes matched those he had seen at a Wildling settlement.
• Ghost and Nymeria growled at the bodies, while Maester Aemon urged Mormont to bind them and act cautiously.
• Mormont ordered Othell taken to his room and Jaffar brought to Maester Aemon, and he doubled patrols and told everyone to keep their weapons close.
• Lynn warned Jon and Arya to stay with their direwolves, then went to prepare his hundred guards.

Lynn prepared his Northmen for the possibility that the two corpses would rise as wights, assigning guards to protect Maester Aemon and Lord Commander Mormont. He concealed Ned's Valyrian steel dagger and took up a hidden position near Mormont's tower, waiting for the corpses to move.

• Lynn told his guards that the bodies were dangerous and might rise during the night.
• Lynn ordered Torrhen to guard Maester Aemon and Harvey to guard Lord Commander Mormont.
• Lynn warned the guards that fire was the only way to kill the creatures and told them to prepare oil and torches.
• Lynn took Ned's Valyrian steel dagger and checked that Torrhen's men were waiting outside Maester Aemon's quarters.
• Lynn climbed onto a windowsill near Mormont's tower, saw Harvey's men waiting by the stairs, and settled in to watch.

Lynn waited at Castle Black for the dead to rise, hoping to save Jeor Mormont and earn Longclaw. As the corpses began to stir, Jon Snow joined Lynn’s preparations, and Mormont heard a bone-cracking sound in the dark.

• Lynn explained to himself that saving Mormont would help him inherit Longclaw, and waited outside the Lord Commander’s room.
• Jon Snow arrived with Ghost, and Lynn told him to join Harvey’s squad and protect himself and Arya.
• Maester Aemon listened as strange cracking sounds came from the corpse in his room while Torrhen and thirty Northern soldiers guarded the infirmary.
• Jeor Mormont examined Othell’s corpse, dismissed Lynn’s warnings, and went to bed.
• A faint crack sounded in the darkness, and Mormont’s eyes snapped open.

Othell rose as a wight and attacked Mormont, but Lynn, Jon Snow, and Ghost burst in before it could kill him. As Jon prepared to use fire, Lynn drew a Valyrian steel dagger and faced the wight.

• Mormont heard a noise from Othell’s body and watched the corpse rise after its bindings broke.
• The wight attacked Mormont and strangled him while the fallen lamp set papers alight.
• Lynn, Jon Snow, and Ghost rushed into the room, and Ghost bit the wight’s arm, forcing it to release Mormont.
• Lynn ordered Jon to burn the wight, then drew his Valyrian steel dagger as the creature turned toward him.

Lynn killed the wight with the Valyrian Steel Dagger, saving Jeor Mormont and proving that the dead creatures could be slain. As the Night's Watch men arrived, Lynn looked toward Maester Aemon's room, where another threat awaited.

• Lynn stabbed the wight through the skull with the Valyrian Steel Dagger, extinguishing the blue flames in its eyes.
• The system awarded Lynn 10 experience for killing the wight.
• Jon Snow and Jeor Mormont reacted with shock and gratitude after witnessing Lynn defeat the wight.
• Lynn retrieved and cleaned the dagger as the Night's Watch men rushed into the room.
• Alliser Thorne and the other men found the damaged room, the shaken Lord Commander, Jon Snow, and Othell's corpse.
• Lynn looked toward Maester Aemon's room, where another surprise awaited.

Alliser Thorne accused Lynn of staging Othell’s attack, but Jeor Mormont confirmed that Othell had risen from the dead and tried to kill him. When another corpse attacked Maester Aemon, the Night’s Watch saw that Lynn’s warnings about the returned monsters were true.

• Alliser Thorne drew his sword and accused Lynn of trying to murder Jeor Mormont, but Mormont ordered him and the other men to sheathe their weapons.
• Mormont told the Night’s Watch that Othell had come back to life and that Lynn and Jon Snow had saved him.
• Thorne blamed Lynn for using witchcraft, but Lynn challenged his accusation and Mormont threatened Thorne for slandering him.
• A scream from Maester Aemon’s room sent Mormont and the Night’s Watch rushing across the castle.
• They found Jaffer Flowers’s reanimated corpse burning while Torrhen and his soldiers protected Aemon.
• Seeing the wight and Lynn’s calm response, Thorne realized Lynn’s warnings about the monsters beyond the Wall were true.

After the Night's Watch burned Jaffer Flowers, Jeor Mormont admitted Lynn had been right and thanked him for saving Castle Black. The men accepted Lynn as a leader against the undead, while an emergency meeting was called to prepare for the coming Long Night.

• The Night's Watch praised Lynn's preparations after fire destroyed Jaffer Flowers, and Alliser Thorne was left unable to defend his earlier doubts.
• Jeor Mormont thanked Lynn for saving his life and Castle Black, acknowledged that he had been wrong to ignore Lynn's warning, and ordered an emergency meeting after daybreak.
• Jon Snow thanked Lynn, accepted that the White Walkers and undead were real, and apologized for his father's treatment of him.
• Lynn reflected that Jon could help him at Castle Black while he pursued other ambitions, then turned to his hundred Northern soldiers.
• Torrhen called Lynn a messenger of the Old Gods, and Lynn welcomed the prestige this belief gave him among his loyal men.

After Wights attacked Castle Black, Lynn urged the Night’s Watch to prepare to fight the White Walkers by exploiting their weaknesses and searching beyond the Wall for allies and Old Gods’ gifts. He revealed a skin map marking a possible source of powerful plants and secured his guards first use of any they found.

• Jeor Mormont told the officers that Othell and Jaffer Flowers had become Wights, and Bowen Marsh reported that fewer than a thousand Night’s Watchmen could fight.
• Alliser Thorne doubted the southern lords would believe reports of White Walkers, but Lynn argued that the Watch could fight them with fire, dragonglass, and Valyrian steel.
• Lynn called for ranger squads to search beyond the Wall for the White Walkers, useful resources, Old Gods’ gifts, and possible Wildling allies, though Mormont postponed the alliance idea.
• Lynn offered to lead a search for blessed medicinal plants on the condition that his men use them first, and Mormont accepted.
• Lynn showed the officers a map taken from a Wildlings Chieftain’s tent and said its marked location might be where frostheart grass grew.

Mormont appointed Lynn to lead an expeditionary force to find the place marked on the map and ordered the Night's Watch to prepare for the White Walkers. He decided that Longclaw, the ancestral sword Jorah had left behind, should belong to Lynn.

• Mormont ordered Bowen to reinforce Castle Black and alert Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and the Shadow Tower, while Thorne was told to double recruit training.
• Mormont appointed Lynn commander of the first expeditionary force, assigning him his hundred North guards and fifty rangers to search for the map's marked location.
• After the meeting, Mormont considered the danger posed by the White Walkers and the need to break with old rules.
• Mormont opened the chest holding Longclaw and recalled how his son Jorah had fled into exile after selling slaves.
• Mormont decided Longclaw should go to Lynn and carried the chest out of the council chamber.

Lynn studied the mysterious map and considered the dangers of the expedition beyond the Wall before Jeor Mormont visited him with a wooden box containing Longclaw. Mormont recounted his painful history with Jorah and praised Lynn, leaving the sword’s fate poised for a decision.

• Lynn examined the blood-red eye symbol on the human-skin map and prepared for the dangerous expedition beyond the Wall.
• Lynn inspected his Valyrian Steel Dagger and thought about obtaining a longer weapon, knowing Longclaw was in Mormont’s possession.
• Jeor Mormont arrived carrying a wooden box and admitted that his decisions had nearly gotten him killed and exposed the Night’s Watch to danger.
• Mormont told Lynn about Bear Island, Jorah’s betrayal, and how Longclaw had been left behind and locked away.
• Mormont praised Lynn for saving his life and showing the Night’s Watch a way forward, then declared that Longclaw should no longer gather dust.