Chapter Summaries

Lynn refused to pay Kraznys mo Nakloz’s demand of six hundred thousand Gold Dragons and sent Jorah Mormont to gather intelligence on Astapor. After learning Kraznys wanted Winter, Lynn proposed offering the dragon for all the Unsullied and set out to see how the slavers would respond.

• Lynn realized Kraznys was using the enormous price to test him and ordered Jorah to map Astapor’s defenses and gather information within a day.
• Lynn rejected Viserys’s plan to seize the Unsullied by force, warning that open destruction would unite the Free Cities against them.
• Daenerys found Lynn on the terrace, and he promised to free the Unsullied because he had come to break chains.
• Jorah returned with a map and reported that Astapor had eight thousand trained Unsullied, five thousand boys in training, and only six hundred poorly equipped guards.
• Jorah revealed that Kraznys wanted Winter, and Lynn asked whether offering the dragon could buy all the Unsullied.
• Lynn decided to make the offer and left with the others to see who would lose patience first.

Lynn’s party learned from Missandei that the Good Masters planned to kill them after taking the dragon, and Lynn responded by sending Jorah to give gold and a message of dignity to Astapor’s slaves. Daenerys watched Lynn’s actions and began to doubt that Viserys was fit to rule.

• Missandei warned Lynn that Kraznys’s bargain was a sham and the Good Masters intended to kill his party after receiving the dragon.
• Lynn stopped Viserys from attacking Missandei, and Daenerys gave her the obsidian pendant so Mira could help her if she was in danger.
• Lynn sent Jorah to distribute his gold among the slaves and tell them their lives were worth more than the Good Masters’ pyramids.
• Slaves came forward in silence to accept the coins and knelt in response to Lynn’s message.
• Back at the residence, Viserys raged at Lynn for giving away the gold, while Daenerys began to see him as unfit to be king.

Lynn agreed to trade Winter for all of Astapor’s Unsullied, then used High Valyrian to free them and win their allegiance. With Kraznys defeated and Winter appearing over the city, Lynn demanded to discuss the rest of the price.

• Jorah Mormont brought Lynn, Viserys, and Daenerys to Kraznys mo Nakloz, who offered the Unsullied in exchange for a dragon.
• Lynn agreed to the bargain, took Grey Worm’s spear instead of the Master’s Whip, and commanded the Unsullied in High Valyrian.
• Lynn promised the Unsullied freedom, and Grey Worm and thousands of soldiers knelt to pledge themselves to him.
• Kraznys ordered the Unsullied to kill Lynn, but they ignored him, and Lynn took the Golden Whip.
• Winter appeared over Astapor, and Lynn told Kraznys they would discuss the other half of the price.

Lynn used Winter to destroy Astapor’s city guards and ordered the Unsullied to fight for their freedom, igniting a citywide revolt against the Good Masters. As slaves tore down the Bronze Harpy, Lynn left Viserys under guard and prepared to control the aftermath of Astapor’s fall.

• Kraznys summoned six hundred city guards, but Winter killed them while Lynn ordered the eight thousand Unsullied to take up their spears and fight for freedom.
• Grey Worm led the Unsullied in killing the Good Masters, while Lynn sent Jorah and a thousand soldiers to free Astapor’s slaves.
• Lynn refused Pree’s offer of wealth after learning the merchant had chained and mutilated fifty children, and an Unsullied killed Pree.
• Lynn slapped Viserys for protesting Pree’s death, and Daenerys affirmed her loyalty to Lynn as her affection for Viserys ended.
• Lynn made Kraznys blame Viserys for inciting the revolt, ordered Viserys held under guard, and kept Kraznys close as Astapor’s freed people pulled down the Bronze Harpy.

After Astapor’s liberation, Lynn restored order and began commissioning protective armor for the Unsullied, then secured funding from Sansa before confronting the increasingly unstable Viserys. The chapter ended with Viserys realizing Lynn intended to use him as a sacrifice and begging for his life.

• The people of Astapor celebrated Lynn and Daenerys after the Harpy statue fell, while Lynn declared that the freed commoners would fight for them.
• Grey Worm and Jorah Mormont organized the Unsullied to clear the streets and distribute porridge to the starving people.
• Lynn showed Astapor’s blacksmiths his designs for reinforced Gothic plate armor and promised five Gold Dragons for each suit that met his standards.
• Lynn contacted Sansa through mental power and asked her to arrange fifty thousand Gold Dragons through the Iron Bank for delivery to Illyrio’s mansion in Pentos.
• Lynn confronted Viserys in his wrecked room, broke his wrist, and revealed that he had kept him only for his usefulness and intended to use his blood to awaken something more valuable.

Daenerys arranged for a physician to treat Viserys, but refused to plead with Lynn for him and told him to surrender his claim to the throne. After Viserys attacked her, an Unsullied stopped him, and Daenerys left with her last affection for her brother gone.

• Daenerys asked Jorah Mormont to find a physician for Viserys, and Lynn allowed it.
• Daenerys brought an old physician to Viserys and told her brother she would not plead with Lynn, urging him to give up the throne.
• Viserys insulted Daenerys and lunged at her with a knife from the physician’s box.
• An Unsullied kicked Viserys down, broke his other hand, and pinned him to the floor.
• Daenerys ordered the Unsullied to keep watch over Viserys and left, no longer regarding him as family.

Daenerys and Lynn rebuilt Astapor as a free city, giving its freed people aid and work. Envoys from Meereen and Yunkai threatened a blockade, but Lynn drove them off with Winter and remained confident Astapor would endure.

• Daenerys saw freed people receiving food and smiths forging armor, while Missandei reported that Astapor had 273,400 free residents.
• Jorah told Daenerys that ships bearing the sigils of Meereen and Yunkai had arrived in the bay.
• Grazdan mo Eraz and Mago ko Zhak accused Lynn of undermining Slaver's Bay and threatened to blockade Astapor.
• Daenerys condemned the envoys' slaveholding, and Lynn declared Astapor a Free City that would trade only with equals and oppose slavery.
• Lynn summoned Winter, frightening the envoys into fleeing, then reassured Daenerys that Astapor's production would defeat the blockade.

As Meereen and Yunkai’s blockade threatened Astapor’s food supply and the city’s morale, Lynn revealed a way to produce valuable white sugar from local sugarcane. He ordered production expanded and sent Jorah to recruit Illyrio’s ships, leaving Astapor poised to trade with Westeros and break the blockade.

• Jorah Mormont and Missandei warned Lynn that Astapor’s grain would last only a month and that rumors were weakening the city’s resolve.
• Lynn showed Daenerys and Jorah how sugarcane could be pressed and boiled into raw sugar, then refined into pure white sugar using damp clay.
• Lynn explained that Westerosi nobles would pay heavily for the sugar and could trade ships full of grain and steel for it.
• Lynn ordered the Unsullied to expand sugarcane cultivation and white sugar production.
• Lynn gave Jorah sugar samples and ordered him to tell Illyrio about a lucrative deal and hire all of his ships.

Illyrio accepted Lynn’s sugar trade and sent his fleets to buy supplies for Astapor. Lynn executed Viserys to hatch a black dragon, named Nightshade, and left Daenerys with the newborn dragon as he prepared to return to Westeros.

• Illyrio agreed to grant Lynn exclusive trading rights to white sugar and ordered his merchant fleets to buy grain, iron ore, and cloth for Astapor.
• After learning Viserys had been captured, Lynn comforted Daenerys and told her that Viserys would die for his crimes.
• At the Plaza of Punishment, Lynn killed Viserys and poured his royal blood over a black Dragon Egg.
• Lynn commanded Winter to breathe fire on the egg, and a black dragon hatchling emerged and bonded with him.
• Lynn named the hatchling Nightshade, ordered Grey Worm to preserve Viserys’s head for his return to Westeros, and offered Daenerys the dragon’s companionship.

Lynn left Astapor in Daenerys’s hands and returned to Westeros, where he secretly entered King’s Landing. He reunited with Arya Stark in the market and took her back with him to talk and check her swordsmanship.

• Jorah Mormont warned Lynn that returning to Westeros with his growing power could make him a target, but Lynn said he planned to use Astapor’s white sugar to win allies.
• Lynn entrusted Astapor and Daenerys’s safety to Grey Worm and the Unsullied, then left for Westeros.
• After half a month of flight, Lynn landed Winter on an island outside Blackwater Bay and entered King’s Landing disguised as a traveler.
• Lynn found Arya Stark looking at lace in a market and surprised her by speaking from behind.
• Arya recognized Lynn, threw herself into his arms, cried, and scolded him for staying away.
• Lynn teased Arya about her dress and led her away, saying they would talk and he would see whether her sword had gone rusty.

Lynn returned to King's Landing with Arya and reunited with Ned, who warned him that King Robert and the lords feared his power and would not accept his marriage to Arya unless he survived the king's scrutiny. Lynn presented Viserys's head as a gift and hinted that his new business would win over the realm, just as Robert summoned him to the Iron Throne Room.

• Lynn brought Arya to the Tower of the Hand and reunited with a weary Ned.
• Ned angrily explained that he had defended Lynn against the Small Council and warned that Robert feared Lynn and wanted him gone.
• Ned told Lynn he would not give Arya to him unless Lynn safely survived his audience with Robert, upsetting Arya.
• Lynn revealed Viserys's head as a gift for the king and hinted that he had brought a valuable business venture to the Seven Kingdoms.
• Janos Slynt announced that Robert's herald had summoned Lynn to the Iron Throne Room at once.

Lynn faced Robert Baratheon in the throne room, where he presented Viserys’s head and a wight as gifts. The wight’s attack threw the court into chaos, leaving the king and council confronted with the threat beyond the Wall.

• Arya begged Lynn not to answer the royal summons, then vowed to flee with him if he did not return or Ned forbade their marriage.
• Ned warned Lynn not to provoke Robert as they crossed the Red Keep, where Cersei and Jaime confronted them and Cersei reacted uneasily to Lynn’s taunts.
• Lynn presented Viserys’s head to Robert, who praised the gift before insisting Lynn remained guilty of ruling beyond the Wall.
• Lynn declared that the true enemy came from the North and revealed a wight in an iron cage.
• The wight broke an arm through the bars, and a Lannister guard severed it without stopping the creature, sending the throne room into chaos.

Lynn proved that wights were real and persuaded Robert that the wildlings could help defend the realm from the White Walkers. Robert granted Lynn the Gift as a hereditary earldom and released him from his Night’s Watch vows, but Littlefinger then revealed Lynn’s power in Essos, leaving Robert demanding to know where his dragon was.

• Lynn burned the wight and its severed hand, then explained that White Walkers raised the dead and could be killed only by fire or dragonglass.
• Lynn gave Robert four reasons to admit the wildlings: it would keep them from joining the dead, bring eighty thousand fighters, strengthen the North, and prevent a far larger army of wights.
• Robert accepted Lynn’s warning, praised him, granted him the Gift as a hereditary fief and earldom under Ned, and released him from his Night’s Watch vows.
• Lynn accepted Robert’s grant and thought of his promise to Arya and his hopes of marrying her.
• Littlefinger reported that Lynn had liberated Astapor, commanded eight thousand Unsullied, traveled with Jorah and Daenerys, and hatched a dragon.
• Robert’s mood turned wary, and he asked Lynn where his dragon was.

Lynn admitted that he had a dragon and the Unsullied, then convinced Robert that they could help defeat the White Walkers and that white sugar could finance the war. Robert accepted Lynn’s offer, arranged for him to marry Myrcella before his Stark betrothed, and Lynn ended by accusing Petyr Baelish of knowing the cause of Jon Arryn’s death.

• Lynn admitted to Robert that he had a dragon and eight thousand Unsullied, and argued that both were needed to fight the dead.
• Lynn defended Jorah and Daenerys, explaining that Daenerys could help control the dragon and should remain alive.
• Lynn presented white sugar to Robert and made Petyr Baelish taste it, then offered to supply the royal household at cost.
• Robert agreed to take the dragon for King's Landing, praised Lynn, and accused Petyr of falsely portraying him as a threat.
• Robert announced that Lynn would marry Myrcella before his Stark betrothed, while Arya overheard the decision outside the hall.
• Lynn confronted Petyr about Jon Arryn's death and demanded an explanation.

Lynn accused Petyr Baelish of poisoning Jon Arryn and orchestrating schemes to turn the great houses against one another. Robert granted Petyr’s demand for trial by combat, but Petyr had no apparent champion willing to defend him.

• Lynn accused Petyr of using Jon Arryn’s murder and several attacks to provoke conflict among the great houses, while Petyr privately recognized that some accusations were true and others were not.
• Robert drew his sword and tried to kill Petyr, but Ned and Renly restrained him.
• Petyr demanded trial by combat, and Robert agreed, ordering him to choose a champion.
• Petyr searched the hall for a champion, but Renly, Jaime, and the nobles who had once accepted his favors turned away from him.

Petyr secured Gregor Clegane as his champion by offering him riches and a lordship, while Lynn initially volunteered to fight the Mountain himself. After Petyr invoked trial-by-combat tradition and Robert accepted his argument, Lynn chose a new champion, leaving the hall stunned by his selection of Sandor Clegane.

• Petyr offered Gregor increasing wealth and the lordship of the Fingers, and Cersei reluctantly allowed Gregor to fight for him.
• Lynn rejected the offer to have another knight champion him and drew Longclaw, declaring that he would face Gregor himself.
• Petyr argued that tradition barred Lynn from acting as both accuser and champion, and Ned supported his interpretation.
• Lynn agreed to follow tradition and choose a champion, prompting Petyr to believe the Mountain would win.
• Lynn named Sandor Clegane as his champion.

Lynn chose Sandor Clegane to fight Gregor Clegane in the trial by combat, offering Sandor the chance to avenge his childhood torture. Sandor accepted, and Robert decreed the duel would take place in seven days; Lynn left the Throne Room with Arya Stark.

• Joffrey eagerly offered the Hound as Lynn’s champion, while Petyr Baelish mocked Lynn’s choice and Ned Stark worried Sandor would lose.
• Sandor approached Lynn and asked why Lynn had chosen him.
• Lynn told Sandor he wanted to help him avenge his childhood nightmare by killing Gregor before the gods and the people.
• Sandor drew his greatsword and declared that he would fight for Lord Lynn.
• Robert decreed that Petyr Baelish’s guilt would be judged by combat in seven days in King's Landing.
• Lynn left the Throne Room and found Arya Stark waiting at the doorway, then invited her to go eat.

Arya confronted Lynn about his betrothal to Myrcella, and Lynn promised to marry Arya in the North after securing his political position. At the Eyrie, Lysa panicked over Petyr’s coming trial by combat, while Cersei secretly visited Lynn and learned he knew the truth about her children’s parentage.

• Arya asked Lynn whether he would marry Myrcella, and Lynn explained the political value of the alliance and promised to marry Arya at Winterfell.
• Lynn considered Petyr a failed pawn as Lysa read that Petyr would face Lynn in a trial by combat and ordered the Vale’s forces summoned.
• Cersei visited Lynn in disguise and demanded to know how he would treat Myrcella.
• Lynn warned Cersei to keep her family in line and threatened to reveal the true parentage of the royal children.
• Cersei asked Lynn whether he would win the duel, and he asked whether she wanted him to win.

Cersei offered Lynn an alliance backed by Lannister trade and wealth, then revealed that Robert was being poisoned and asked Lynn to support Joffrey’s claim to the throne. Lynn concealed his true intentions and left Cersei believing she might still win him over.

• Cersei undressed to persuade Lynn to become her ally, and Lynn asserted control before she disclosed Casterly Rock’s offer of trade with the Gift.
• Cersei dressed and warned Lynn that Ned Stark would become a burden, then revealed that Robert was being slowly poisoned.
• Cersei said Robert’s death would spark a succession war between Joffrey, Stannis, and Renly, and asked Lynn to leave the Starks and defend her son with his army and dragons.
• Cersei promised Lynn wealth, Myrcella, and the favor of a king if he helped place Joffrey on the throne.
• Lynn questioned what he would gain and privately decided he would not support Joffrey, expecting Cersei to offer more as his power grew.

After Cersei left without securing Lynn’s agreement, Olenna and Margaery Tyrell negotiated with him over sugar and supplies for the North. Lynn rejected their proposed sugar deal but offered a partnership to produce canned food, and Olenna accepted as Margaery remained with him to discuss the details.

• Cersei left Lynn after offering Lannister wealth, Robert’s life, and a future heir in exchange for a place in his plans.
• Olenna and Margaery visited Lynn to seek exclusive rights to distribute his white sugar in Westeros, offering grain, trade routes, and military support.
• Lynn explained that Illyrio Mopatis held the Essos sugar trade and that Robert and the Wildlings also had claims on the business, rejecting Tyrell’s demand for seventy percent of its profits.
• Lynn presented a method for preserving food in sealed cans and proposed that House Tyrell fund production and share profits equally with him.
• Olenna accepted the canned-food partnership and left Margaery to discuss its details with Lynn.