Arc 8Chapters 176–200
No recap yet.
No recap yet.
Danyla reassured House Stark about House Hightower’s presence in New the Gift, then discussed Dragon Porcelain and its trade with the North. She raised the possibility of building a porcelain town near Moat Cailin, leaving Benjen considering what the proposal might mean for the region.
Danyla tested House Stark’s interest in her offers while the Starks debated her motives and welcomed her as a guest. After Bennard asked her to teach him to tame a Lizard-Lion, she took him to the Training Yard and began testing her influence over the beasts.
Danyla trained the lizard-lion cubs, then visited Winterfell’s Godswood with Bennard and was drawn into a vision of the land’s past by the ancient weirwood. She awoke at night with crypts and frozen corpses on her mind, and Lady Lysa led her to the Godswood’s hot springs to bathe.
Danyla sensed that the weirwood had awakened a power in Walda and guided her to the Stark family Crypt. With Walda and Myracis, she opened a stone coffin and removed a perfectly preserved corpse.
Danyla, Walda, and Myracis discovered that many of House Stark’s preserved ancestors had become ice wights, then burned and fed them to the dragons. By dawn, Danyla had disposed of more than a hundred corpses and fulfilled the message from Winterfell’s weirwood.
Danyla flew from Winterfell to Last Hearth with Walda and Bennard to bring Earl Umber and his family to Winterfell and seek House Umber’s support before House Hightower settled in the North. She arrived to find Earl Andrey waiting outside the keep, where he welcomed her with an unexpectedly poetic compliment.
Danyla visited Last Hearth, where House Umber welcomed her and Anbilio became infatuated with Walda. After Walda challenged him to a duel, Danyla lent her the Dawn Sword, and the pair prepared to fight in the hall.
Walda fought Andarley in a sword duel at House Umber, eventually overpowering him after a prolonged battle. Meanwhile, Danyla spoke with Earl Andrey about Big Piel and his children, opening the way to closer ties between their houses.
After Walda won a bout at Last Hearth, Danyla arranged for House Umber to sell timber and other supplies directly to Holy Flame Island in exchange for better prices and valuable goods. She transported Earl Andrey’s family to Winterfell, then flew toward Karhold, stopping to discover rich mineral deposits and gold near a volcano.
Danyla arrived in Winterfell with House Karstark and met the northern lords who had gathered there. After discussing the journey south and securing timber supplies, she agreed to help House Mormont hunt on Bear Island and ended the night exhausted from entertaining her guests.
Danyla fed her dragons before flying to the Dreadfort, intending to consume House Bolton’s livestock and weaken its resources. After spotting a herd of pigs outside the castle, she headed down toward them.
Danyla visited Lord Royce Bolton at the Dreadfort, where she gave his frail son Roga House Targaryen’s Dragonfire wine. Royce proposed using the volcanic hot springs in the Lonely Mountain Range to expand its production, and Danyla said the plan could work if the land and growing conditions proved suitable.
Danyla offered House Bolton a chance to help develop Lonely Mountain and Moat Cailin with high-yield crops, and Royce Bolton pledged his support. The land deal remained unresolved after Royce spoke with Duke Eddard, while Danyla noticed magical energy in Andarley’s sable kit and suggested Walda use it to practice warging.
Danyla helped Walda strengthen her weak warg gift with a magical sable, then flew with her and the dragons toward Bear Island. After Myracis found a herd of deer with magical traces, Danyla ordered the dragons to capture three alive before continuing to House Mormont’s poor, remote home.
Danyla arrived at Bear Island, arranged for House Mormont to care for five deer, and offered support for a new trade route between Oldtown and the island. She took Maggie, Meya, and Walda dragonback to the Frozen Shore to help House Mormont hunt, where they spotted a herd of enormous walruses.
Danyla and her dragons hunted a herd of more than a hundred walruses on the Frozen Shore, killing twenty adult males while the rest escaped. With more meat than the dragons could carry, Danyla left Myracis to guard the catch and arranged for Earl Mormo’s fleet to transport it.
Danyla hunted giant sea creatures with her dragons in the Bay of Ice and explored north toward the Frostfangs. Near a waterfall, she discovered moving crimson trees and a sea dragon rising from the water.
Danyla and her dragons battled a massive sea dragon that attacked them near the coast. Dreamfyre drove the wounded sea dragon into a cliff, but he coiled around her and the fight continued.
Danyla and her dragons defeated the Sea Dragon, harvested his body and magical energy, and transplanted the weirwood that had grown on his head. The chapter ended with Danyla cutting the dragons’ wings and chanting the Blood Sacrifice Spells over the weirwood.
Danyla’s blood sacrifice transformed the weirwood, awakening its roots and drawing magical and bitterly cold energy into the tree, the dragons, and Danyla. Her consciousness then traveled through the weirwoods across Westeros and beyond the Wall, where she sensed an ancient, exalted power before being pulled farther north.
Danyla flew beyond the Wall in a vision, surveying the Wildlings, Thenns, and giants before reaching a hidden realm filled with wights and White Walkers. She discovered failed Greenseers impaled before a gigantic weirwood, then faced an attack after the White Walkers surrounded her.
Danyla was saved in the Lands of Always Winter when a powerful Flame Dragon emerged from her purple flame birthmark, devoured the Three-Eyed Crow, and attacked the White Walkers and the Heart of Winter. After Danyla was forced back through the Colored Light Curtain and fell into a deep sleep, the North began searching for her disappearance.
After Danyla vanished in the North, Jaehaerys and her family searched through a worsening blizzard until the long night began, forcing them to turn their attention to the kingdom-wide crisis. Viserys, Daemon, and Holy Flame prepared for the coming famine, while Danyla remained missing.
As the Long Night and winter worsened, Holy Flame Island's growing population strained its food reserves, while Oldtown's Rouge expanded the excavation of the Hightower's blackstone labyrinth and uncovered ancient remains and vast treasure vaults. With crime rising, Daemon, Samwell, and Rouge sent criminals to the developing Dreamfyre Island, which had become a productive settlement.
As the Long Night and winter settled over Westeros, King Jaehaerys gathered grain and taxes while the great houses remained sheltered by their stores. The chapter ended with Viserys and Aemma remarking that the weather was strangely mild despite the constant snow, as they waited for Danyla’s return and their child’s birth.