Recaps

After Isilia and Seynella’s dragon fight, Danyla brought the pregnant Rhaenyra to the Holy Flame Tower, where she safely gave birth to Jacaerys. Isilia went to King's Landing to avoid harsher punishment, while Seynella was disciplined, and Danyla remained unable to forgive King Jaehaerys completely.

• Isilia counterattacked Seynella in a dragon fight, frightening Aemma into bleeding and causing Rhaenyra to go into labor.
• Danyla took Rhaenyra to the Holy Flame Tower, where Herb of the Children of the Forest and Maester Tigris treated Aemma and prepared for the birth.
• Otheryon persuaded Isilia to fly to King's Landing, warning that Danyla would punish the dragonriders for fighting without permission.
• Danyla ordered Seynella to copy House Targaryen's rules three hundred times and confined Moondancer to the Dragonpit for three years.
• Danyla helped Rhaenyra deliver her firstborn son safely, and Rhaenyra named him Jacaerys.
• Danyla thanked Rhaenyra for naming the child after King Jaehaerys, though she still could not bring herself to forgive him.

Isilia arrived at the Red Keep with her three Great Dragons and met her Great-Great-Grandfather, King Jaehaerys, who welcomed her warmly. Sunfyre challenged the larger dragons, was badly wounded in the fight, and flew off after realizing he could not defeat all three.

• Isilia settled Tyrarion, Drogosarn, and Caraxesos in the Red Keep's Godswood and greeted King Jaehaerys.
• King Jaehaerys praised Isilia and happily spoke with her about her family and her mother.
• Sunfyre entered the Godswood and challenged the three visiting Great Dragons.
• Caraxesos, Tyrarion, and Drogosarn attacked Sunfyre, and Caraxesos tore flesh from his back.
• Sunfyre gave up and flew away, leaving King Jaehaerys and Isilia relieved.

After Isilia’s arrival and news of Rhaenyra’s son, King Jaehaerys brought a dragon egg to Holy Flame Island. Danyla welcomed him warmly, and their reunion began to heal their estrangement.

• After Sunfyre was beaten by Caraxesos and the other dragons, Isilia understood how dangerous great-dragon battles could be.
• King Jaehaerys learned that Rhaenyra had safely delivered a prince and ordered a green dragon egg for the baby.
• Jaehaerys set off for Holy Flame Island with the egg, while Isilia worried Danyla would punish her for returning so soon.
• Rhaenyra urged Danyla not to let her resentment toward Jaehaerys become a future regret, and Danyla prepared his food herself.
• Danyla welcomed Jaehaerys to Holy Flame Castle with a cloak, and they walked hand in hand as Viserys and Daemon watched their reconciliation.

Danyla punished Isilia for her dragons’ fight, then hosted Jaehaerys and the Targaryen family at Holy Flame Castle. After seeing Aegon and his brothers serving as Dragonkeepers, Jaehaerys recognized Danyla’s power and global ambitions, while she proposed dividing a conquered Dorne into three marquisates to keep its houses in check.

• Danyla assigned Isilia’s dragons to labor at the Mountain Pass Fortress and gave Isilia punishments including copying the house rules one thousand times and extra lessons.
• Danyla invited the pregnant Princess Rhaenys to Holy Flame Castle, where she and Aemma discussed their pregnancies and medicinal tonics.
• Jaehaerys explored the Dragonpit and saw Aegon and his brothers working as Dragonkeepers, prompting him to thank Danyla for protecting House Targaryen.
• Danyla told Jaehaerys that she had little interest in Westeros and had set her sights on the wider world.
• Jaehaerys noted Dorne’s willingness to surrender its royal title, but Danyla proposed splitting it into three marquisates and using rival Dornish houses to prevent future trouble.

As Jaehaerys neared death, he summoned the lords of the Seven Kingdoms and formally abdicated the Iron Throne to Danyla and Daemon as joint rulers. After secretly asking Danyla to sacrifice his body to hatch a dragon, he died, and his funeral produced a red-and-gold hatchling.

• Jaehaerys weakened rapidly, and the healers told Danyla that he had reached the end of his life.
• As he lay dying, Jaehaerys entrusted House Targaryen and the Seven Kingdoms to Danyla and Daemon, while Vermithor keened around Holy Flame Island.
• Danyla’s investments and infrastructure had transformed the North through canals, roads, mines, steel tools, crops, and livestock trading.
• Before the assembled lords, Jaehaerys abdicated the Iron Throne in favor of Danyla and Daemon as joint monarchs.
• After returning to his room, Jaehaerys asked Danyla to sacrifice his body to hatch a dragon and drank a potion that placed him in suspended animation.
• At Jaehaerys’s funeral in the Dragonpit, Vermithor mourned as the king’s body burned, and a red-and-gold hatchling emerged from the ashes.

Danyla and Daemon were crowned joint monarchs, and Danyla founded the Kingdom of Reclea. As celebrations continued, Bennard and Medrick returned from Cisland, where they had secured its borders with Wolf Riders.

• Danyla welcomed Ilyas, a red-and-gold hatchling whose three toes marked his extraordinary bloodline.
• Daemon and Danyla held their coronation at Holy Flame Castle, and Danyla announced the founding of the Kingdom of Reclea.
• The monarchs assigned their children territories and titles, then hosted a week of celebrations and a grand tournament.
• Danyla focused on writing King Jaehaerys's biography until Bethany announced Bennard and Medrick had returned.
• Medrick reported that Cisland was protected by 144 Wolf Riders trained by Bennard to guard against the Free Folk.
• Danyla asked about Dax, and Medrick explained that he had handed over his forces near the Frostfangs and was developing Hardhome.

After learning that Dax had been killed by giants while seeking gifts for her, Danyla rode north with Urrax and Viserys on Vhagar to search for him. Meanwhile, Daemon began rewarding Dornish houses that pledged allegiance by making them marquises and helping them seize rival territories.

• Medrick revealed that Dax had been killed by giants, while Ygr had delivered the giant children and mammoths before returning north to search for the others.
• Danyla prepared to rescue Dax, and Daemon and Viserys joined her despite her objections; she left Daemon instructions for handling the Dornish houses.
• Danyla told Daemon to make the three most cooperative Dornish houses marquises and let them fight among themselves, then departed with Urrax and Viserys on Vhagar.
• Earl Dalt arrived on Holy Flame Island and pledged allegiance, so Daemon made him Marquis of Lemonwood and sent fifty ships to support his campaign against House Martell and House Gargalen.
• House Allyrion also submitted to Daemon, who made Earl Allyrion a marquis and sent a fleet to help him seize territory from House Vance and House Gargalen.

After years of blockade and hardship, Dorne surrendered to Daemon, and Arella Martell traveled to Holy Flame Island for her investiture. There, Aurelion celebrated taming Vermithor while Emily and Alicent planned to introduce Aegon and Aemond to Daemon.

• House Dalt and House Allyrion helped Salt Shore and Vance City surrender, and Rafa occupied the fertile lands north of the Vance River.
• Prince Martell surrendered Dorne to Daemon, then died soon after returning home; his niece Arella inherited the marquessate and paid for her investiture.
• Arella arrived at Holy Flame Harbor and saw Aurelion riding Vermithor alongside Regosern and Sunfyre.
• Aurelion trained Vermithor at the Dragonstone Forge and fed him sheep, though the dragon tired quickly and ate only a dozen or so.
• Aegon asked Alicent whether Daemon would give him a Great Dragon, while Emily advised Alicent to make sure Daemon learned that Aegon and Aemond existed without appearing impatient.

Danyla traveled to Hardhome with several dragons after learning it was under threat, where she found wildlings surrounding the town and enormous ice spiders emerging from the Haunted Forest. She led the dragons against the monsters, but their freezing blood and resistance to dragonfire showed that the danger was far from over.

• Danyla visited Skane Island and learned that Chief Lecia had taken elite Scythian fighters to reinforce Hardhome.
• Danyla and Viserys arrived over Hardhome and saw thousands of wildlings surrounding its small garrison.
• Dozens of enormous ice spiders charged from the Haunted Forest as black clouds and a freezing wind swept over the area.
• Danyla ordered Urrax, Hogdera, Hogras, Hognara, and the other dragons to attack the ice spiders while she strengthened them with Valyrian spells.
• Hogdera crushed an ice spider but suffered frostbite from its blood, and Hognara broke the ice while Vhagar killed several spiders and was chilled from within after biting one.

Danyla and the Great Dragons fought a horde of Ice Spiders and three Frost Dragons in the Haunted Forest. They defeated the spiders and wounded one Frost Dragon, but the giant Ice Dragon unleashed a freezing blast as the battle continued.

• Danyla directed Urrax and Hogras to attack a giant Ice Spider while Vhagar and Hognara fought the smaller spiders.
• A blizzard brought three Ice Dragons, and Vhagar engaged the giant one while Danyla led Urrax and Hogras against the two smaller dragons.
• Hognara killed the Ice Spider leader despite being wounded by its venom, while Vhagar and the other dragons fought the Ice Dragons.
• Hogras tore off one Ice Dragon's wing, and the dragons killed the Ice Spider leader and drove off most of the spiders.
• Hognara, Hogras, and the others regrouped against the remaining smaller Ice Dragon and badly wounded it.
• The giant Ice Dragon roared and rapidly froze everything around it.

Danyla and her dragons fought the Frost Dragon in a blizzard, suffering injuries as they struggled to withstand its deadly cold and immense strength. Hogdera landed on the Frost Dragon’s back and used his gravity-controlling ability to weigh it down, leaving the battle unresolved.

• A magical blizzard engulfed Hardhome, and Danyla led her dragons into the clouds to confront the Frost Dragon.
• Danyla’s dragons attacked the Frost Dragon, but its icy breath and blades overwhelmed them until Vhagar ambushed it and bit its neck.
• The Frost Dragon’s wild counterattack froze spectators below and killed at least a thousand Wildlings in the Haunted Forest.
• Vhagar forced the Frost Dragon to the ground, but it threw her off and encased her in ice with its breath.
• Hognara melted the ice around Vhagar while Hogras and Hogdera attacked the Frost Dragon, and Hogdera used his gravity ability to make it immensely heavy.

Danyla killed the Frost Dragon with an enchanted bolt, but a Child of the Forest poisoned her with an arrow as the battle ended. When the North’s maesters failed to save her, a Greenseer arrived and used glowing moss on her wound, causing Danyla to convulse.

• Danyla shot the Frost Dragon through the eye, and its falling body burst into deadly ice crystals that killed hundreds of Wildlings.
• Hognara swallowed the blue flames left in the crater and became encased in an ice lotus as the blizzard stopped.
• A Child of the Forest shot Danyla with a poisoned arrow, and she lost consciousness after seeing small figures flee among the pines.
• Viserys summoned maesters to treat Danyla, but Maester Luwin found that their remedies could not counter the unknown poison.
• A Greenseer arrived at Dax Castle, pressed glowing Moontear Moss to Danyla’s wound, and made her convulse as Viserys drew his sword.

While recovering from her poisoning, Danyla dreamed of the ancient origins of White Walkers and Great Dragons, visions of hidden conspiracies, and a future war against black shadows. She awoke as the Singers Beneath the Ice emerged ahead of time, carrying a warning to find a voice that was neither ice nor fire.

• The Greenseer said Danyla was no longer in mortal danger, and Viserys passed out after relaxing at her bedside.
• Danyla dreamed that the Children of the Forest created the first White Walker and that the first Great Dragon was made through blood and fire.
• Danyla witnessed secret acts surrounding Brandon the Builder, visions involving Rhaenys, Eddard, Bran, and Jon, and a warning that time was a ring and prophecy an echo of memory.
• Danyla saw Bran Stark transformed into a prison and visions of chained figures, blue crystals beneath the Wall, and a Dragon Egg covered in frost and flame.
• Danyla awoke with dragon-shaped branches of ice and fire growing from a weirwood seed in her palm, and told the Greenseer that unseen players controlled the chessboard.
• Transparent humanoids emerged from the ice pit as the Greenseer named them the Singers Beneath the Ice, while Danyla heard a warning to find the voice that was neither ice nor fire.

After awakening from a half-year coma, Danyla gave birth prematurely and learned that Vhagar, Viserys, and both her parents had died. Reunited with her grieving family, she noticed that her infant brother Baelon did not react to movement before his eyes.

• The Great Dragons roared above Hardhome as Danyla woke and realized she was in labor; Bethany summoned Herb and the healers.
• After a day and a half of difficult labor, Danyla delivered a premature daughter, Ishys, and Lecia told her that Vhagar had died after fighting Frost Dragons.
• Bethany explained that Viserys had succumbed to illness after traveling to find Maesters for Danyla, and Danyla fainted upon hearing the news.
• Danyla woke again to find Rhaenyra, her sisters, Daemon, and her children gathered around her; Rhaenyra told her that their parents had died and introduced their baby brother, Baelon.
• Danyla and her family wept together, and after eating rice porridge, Danyla tested Baelon's vision with a Butterfly Hairpin and saw that he did not react.

Danyla oversaw Hardhome’s growth as Free Folk gathered there after the dragon war and ordered a recruitment campaign to move settlers to Dorne and the Kingdom of Reclea. She also arranged Dragon Eggs for the newborn Baelon and Ishys and for Rhaenyra’s son, while preparing to reduce the human population Beyond the Wall.

• Rhaenyra and Danyla discussed Baelon’s health and their parents’ deaths, then placed Dragon Eggs in the cradles of Baelon and Ishys.
• Danyla recovered, and Daemon took Baelon and Ishys to inspect the Wall while Rhaenyra remained in Hardhome with Danyla.
• Danyla agreed to give Jacaerys a green Dragon Egg, and Lecia reported that more Wildling tribes had arrived to join the settlement around Hardhome.
• Danyla used the weirwoods to watch the region as Lecia and the others exiled hostile Free Folk and Hardhome’s population grew beyond one hundred thousand.
• Danyla instructed Lecia to offer families five Gold Dragons and six months of supplies if they settled in Dorne or the Kingdom of Reclea, intending to move people away from Beyond the Wall.

Daemon met with Kasso Blackber at Castle Black and defended Danyla’s support for the Night’s Watch and her treatment of the Free Folk. Meanwhile, Danyla flew Beyond the Wall on Hognara and continued managing the remains and magical energy of the Frost Dragons.

• Kasso Blackber thanked Daemon for Holy Flame Island’s food, supplies, livestock, seeds, and recruits, which had improved the Night’s Watch and restored cultivation in the New Gift.
• Kasso praised Danyla’s rule, and Daemon reflected on how difficult it had been to manage her affairs before entrusting much of the work to her officials and the Small Council.
• Kasso warned Daemon that the Wildlings exiled to Essos might eventually threaten the Seven Kingdoms, but Daemon argued that the Night’s Watch and Free Folk should focus on the White Walkers and other northern dangers.
• Danyla rode the recovered Hognara Beyond the Wall as the dragon’s ice-aspected energy continued to grow stronger after she fed her the Frost Dragon’s primal ice flame.
• Danyla preserved three magical ice crystals in Oldtown and used Frost Dragon corpses to grow weirwoods in Hellholt and Reclea City, increasing rainfall in both regions.

After learning Daemon had fathered two sons with the Hightower sisters and given them dragon eggs, Danyla annulled their marriage and seized Pentos. She left Alicent and Emily alive and sent them to the Summer Isles, while Aegon and Aemond remained imprisoned with their dragons.

• Danyla annulled her marriage to Daemon and stripped him of authority over the territories under Holy Flame Island’s control.
• Aegon and Aemond showed Alicent and Emily their newly hatched dragons, Blazefire and Balerion.
• Danyla flew to Pentos with her dragons and the Holy Flame Fleet, and her forces captured the city.
• The nobles of Pentos stripped and paraded Alicent and Emily while imprisoning Aegon and Aemond in iron cages with their dragons.
• Danyla rebuked the nobles for humiliating the Hightower sisters, ordered the sisters sent to the Summer Isles, and kept the boys imprisoned.

Danyla founded the Principality of Andalos, assigning its territory to her youngest daughter Ishys while searching the Velvet Mountains for traces of great dragons. She found no dragon eggs, and Daemon arrived in a towering rage.

• Danyla ordered the captured Alys, Emily, Aegon, and Aemond taken away, while the caged Blazefire thrashed against his bars.
• Danyla claimed Pentos and Angus, united them as the Principality of Andalos, and bestowed the territory upon Ishys.
• Danyla built Dragonstone Avenue and sent an army to establish a base on the Upper Rhoyne, where she planned a capital for the Principality of Angus.
• While surveying the Velvet Mountains, Danyla found signs that great dragons had lived there and searched for their possible eggs.
• After more than half a month of searching without finding anything, Danyla was confronted by an enraged Daemon.

Danyla and Daemon ended their relationship after clashing over his actions and the fate of two dragon eggs, and their split reignited ambitions among rival powers. Danyla focused on developing her territories, building roads and reviving cities across Essos.

• Daemon confronted Danyla over her decision to give away two dragon eggs, and they traded accusations about their love and priorities.
• Danyla told Daemon they should part, and when he charged at her on Quicksilver, Hognara blasted the dragon with icy breath; Daemon then flew away.
• While Danyla was absent, Daemon took Blazefire and Balerion from Pentos, claiming them because his sons had hatched them, but Danyla dismissed his claim.
• News of Danyla and Daemon's rift spread across both continents, and rival powers began reconsidering their ambitions.
• Danyla invested Pentos's seized wealth in infrastructure and arranged ten years of dividends for its registered residents, drawing immigrants to the city.
• Danyla expanded Dragonstone Avenue and developed Andas City, Ghoyan Drohe, and Ny Sar into settlements, trading hubs, and defended centers of commerce.

Danyla learned from Priest Marco that Prince Garin’s ancient curse was raised against Valyria and awakened when she brought great dragons to the Rhoyne. As the river’s magic surged, Hognara drew strength from it, and Danyla’s eyes began to turn blue.

• Danyla examined dragonfire-scarred pillars in Ny Sar as Marco warned her that their magic had become a curse.
• Marco showed Danyla a vision of Valyria’s destruction of the Rhoynar and Prince Garin sacrificing himself to curse the twelve pillars.
• Marco explained that the curse caused floods and greyscale outbreaks against those who tried to claim the Rhoyne, and that Danyla’s dragons had awakened it.
• Danyla recalled reports of discolored rivers, dead fish, rising greyscale cases, and ghostly figures along the Rhoyne.
• The pillars glowed blue as the river’s magic gathered around Hognara, strengthening her iceflame source, while Danyla’s eyes turned deep blue.

Danyla performed a blood ritual beside the Rhoyne, bonding a weirwood, Hognara, and the river’s magic to calm the river and restore Ny Sar. The ritual awakened the Old Man of the River, whom the Rhoynar descendants recognized and worshipped.

• Danyla explored the Rhoyne on Hognara and learned that the river’s growing power had brought disasters and disease to its basin.
• Marco warned Danyla about poisonous purple river weeds as she entered the Rhoyne at Ny Sar.
• Danyla placed a weirwood sapling in a giant turtle’s shell and combined her blood, Hognara’s blood, and the Rhoynar priests’ blood in a ritual.
• Danyla sang a chant that caused the Rhoyne to stop briefly and filled the weirwood with magical energy.
• The weirwood grew rapidly, the river weeds vanished, and the waters cleared as Ny Sar emerged from the mist.
• A massive green-haired turtle rose from the river, and the Rhoynar descendants identified him as the Old Man of the River and prayed to him.

The chapter describes Rhoynar beliefs about the Crab King and the Old Man of the River, tracing their rivalry, cooperation during the Long Night, and the Old Man’s rise to rule. It ends by explaining how their legends reflected Rhoynar ideas about water, changing power, and wise governance.

• The Rhoynar preserved their religion through local rituals and oral legends, including stories of the Crab King and the Old Man of the River.
• The Crab King ruled the underwater inhabitants until the Old Man of the River defeated him and took his place.
• During the Long Night, an unnamed hero persuaded Mother Rhoyne’s children and consorts, including both gods, to sing together and restore the Rhoyne.
• The Old Man of the River’s victory came to represent wisdom and sustainable water management, while the Crab King remained part of the Rhoynar pantheon.
• After the Rhoynar migrated to Dorne, their descendants adapted both gods’ images to their new environment.

Danyla bonded with the giant turtles, lifted the Rhoyne’s curse, and was acclaimed queen of the Rhoynar. She led the people south to Chayorn, where the turtles began uncovering Prince Garin’s golden cage and other lost treasures before a violent undercurrent surged from the depths.

• Danyla bonded with the green-haired turtle, and more giant turtles surfaced as the people hailed her as queen of the Rhoyne.
• Danyla saw visions of Rhoynar history and bloodlines, including Nymeria and Lysandro, while the weirwood fused with the turtle and she spat out a blue crystal.
• Priest Marco read an ancient Rhoynar proverb in the clear water, and Rhoynar descendants swore their families would serve Danyla.
• Danyla led the giant turtles and people south along the Rhoyne, salvaging treasures and reaching the whirlpool near Chayorn.
• The turtles uncovered Prince Garin’s golden cage and numerous treasures and remains, but a powerful undercurrent suddenly surged up and knocked them askew.

Danyla used the Water Goddess and a Weirwood sapling to contain the Greyscale mist on the Rhoyne, then recovered a fossilized Dragon Egg from a sunken cage. The Rhoynar celebrated her as their queen, and she ended the salvage expedition until more Weirwood saplings could be grown.

• As the Rhoyne released Greyscale mist, Danyla warned everyone to retreat and used her blood and the Water Goddess to make a Weirwood absorb the disease.
• Danyla treated infected people with the Weirwood’s roots, and the mist dispersed as the Giant Turtles brought the golden cage ashore.
• Danyla opened the cage and found a fossilized blue-violet Dragon Egg; Marco recalled that Rhoynar princes had once tried to hatch dragons.
• Marco explained the Rhoynar’s lost dragon-breeding efforts, and Danyla said the egg might witness the Rhoynar’s rise again.
• The Rhoynar hailed Danyla as their queen, and she ended the expedition because the Weirwood saplings had run out.

Danyla’s wealth and infrastructure had transformed her territories, but the cost of developing them forced her to pause further expansion along the Rhoyne. As Rhoynar factions returned and eyed the Golden Fields, she planned to focus her next efforts on completing the route to Ny Sar and opening the fertile region for development.

• Danyla’s education, resettlement, and infrastructure programs had made her territories prosperous, while Flea Bottom was demolished and replaced with affordable housing and modern water and sewage systems.
• Danyla spent the proceeds from selling Rhoynar treasures on developing Ny Sar, while her greater treasure reserves remained untouched in Holy Flame Island’s vaults.
• After Danyla claimed the Rhoyne, more than a dozen factions claiming descent from Rhoynar princes gathered near Chayorn.
• Danyla halted further salvage and expansion because she lacked the manpower and funds, and the curse still prevented other factions from occupying much of the Rhoyne basin.
• Danyla prepared to develop the Golden Fields after Dragonstone Avenue connected Myr Fortress and Ny Sar, while factions claiming descent from the Prince of Dorne also eyed the region.