Chapter Summaries

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.

• Dreamfyre and the other dragons absorbed magic from frozen corpses and fell into a deep sleep near Winterfell’s Broken Tower.
• Danyla declined the Starks’ invitation to explore Winterfell and invited Bennard to fly with her to Last Hearth.
• While flying north, Danyla spotted fire magic around Lonely Mountain and learned from Bennard that it was a deserted, volcanic region.
• Danyla, Walda, and Bennard reached Last Hearth before noon aboard Dreamfyre.
• Earl Andrey and his family welcomed Danyla outside the Main Keep, and Andrey praised her eloquently.

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.

• Earl Andrey welcomed Danyla and introduced his family, then kicked Andarley away for insulting Bennard and behaving rudely to their guests.
• Lady Karstark ushered Danyla and her companions into the Main Keep, where House Umber hosted them for lunch.
• Anbilio stared at Walda throughout the meal and announced that he would begin courting her, despite her anger.
• Walda drew her longsword and challenged Anbilio to defeat her before he could court her.
• Danyla lent Walda her Dawn Sword, and Walda and Anbilio squared off in the hall as House Umber cheered them on.

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.

• Andarley took up his heavy sword and fought Walda, blocking her quick attacks while she tested his defenses.
• Walda tricked Andarley into exposing a gap and cut his left arm, prompting him to launch a fierce counterattack.
• Danyla asked Earl Andrey about Big Piel, and Andrey offered him and his children to serve her; Danyla politely declined taking Big Piel and welcomed Andrey's goodwill.
• After nearly an hour of fighting, Walda severed Andarley's heavy sword with Dawnlight and attacked him at close range.
• Walda battered the unarmed Andarley until he was bruised and helpless on the ground, where he surrendered.

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.

• Walda defeated her opponent, and Earl Andrey praised her while Danyla asked about House Umber’s timber trade with Braavos.
• Danyla offered to buy timber and other supplies for Holy Flame Island at above-market prices, and Earl Andrey accepted the deal.
• Danyla carried Earl Andrey, his family, warriors, and Big Piel to Winterfell on Dreamfyre, whose fire and ice-wight energies merged during the flight.
• Danyla flew toward Karhold without Bennard and detoured to a volcano in the Lonely Mountain Range.
• Danyla found exposed copper, iron, and aluminum deposits and had Dreamfyre collect several large gold nuggets before continuing toward Karhold.

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 found exposed gold near Lonely Mountain, then brought House Karstark back to Winterfell, where the other northern houses had gathered.
• Danyla watched Leo, Lina, and the other Lizard-Lion Cubs bring down and eat a ram, while Dreamfyre received the remains and additional roasted livestock.
• Duke Eddard proposed gathering the northern houses at Moat Cailin before traveling to Riverrun, and Danyla agreed.
• Danyla offered to take her dragons to Bear Island to help House Mormont hunt, and Duke Eddard welcomed her offer.
• Earl Andrey secured timber supply agreements for Holy Flame Island from several northern houses, and Danyla promised him a reward.
• Danyla socialized with the northern lords until after midnight, then went to sleep with Walda, Anna Tarly, and several young ladies attending her.

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.

• Myracis woke Danyla by calling to her through their telepathic bond, and she ordered sheep prepared for the hungry dragons.
• Bennard fed a black pig to Leo and the other lizard-lions, who worked together to kill and devour it.
• Danyla had ten sheep roasted for Dreamfyre and the other dragons before leading them from Winterfell toward the Dreadfort.
• Danyla and Walda saw the densely populated Bolton lands and the imposing Dreadfort as they flew over them.
• Danyla spotted swineherds driving more than a hundred pigs outside the castle and flew toward the herd.

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’s dragons roasted and devoured the swineherds’ pigs, and she compensated the swineherds with three gold coins.
• Lord Royce Bolton welcomed Danyla and her party to the Dreadfort and offered food and wine for them and the dragons.
• Danyla gave Roga a cup of House Targaryen’s Dragonfire, which improved his complexion and excited Royce.
• Danyla explained that the wine was difficult to produce and offered Roga one bottle as a personal gift.
• Royce proposed working together to use the Lonely Mountain Range’s volcanic hot springs for production, and Danyla said the plan depended on whether the necessary crops could grow there.

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 explained that her high-yield crops could improve harvests in the North and proposed experimenting in the lands around Long Lake and Moat Cailin.
• Royce Bolton recognized that Danyla wanted Lonely Mountain and Moat Cailin and promised House Bolton would help her obtain them.
• Danyla transported House Bolton’s members and vassals to Winterfell, where Royce privately discussed the land proposal with Duke Eddard without reaching a decision by nightfall.
• Rogar Bolton joined Danyla and the others at the Kennel to feed the Lizard-Lion Cub, while Andarley offered Walda a sable kit.
• Danyla sensed magical energy in the sable and told Walda she could use it to practice her warg abilities.

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.

• Walda bought the sable from Andarley for two Gold Dragons, and Andarley thanked her for caring about him.
• Danyla left after breakfast with Walda and the dragons, bound for Bear Island.
• Myracis sensed wild beasts in the Wolfswood and found a herd of unusually large deer.
• Danyla stopped Myracis from burning the deer and ordered the dragons to capture one stag and two does alive.
• Danyla and Walda arrived above Bear Island and saw its barren land, modest castle, and statue of a woman holding a child and battle axe.

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 released five wild deer near Mormo Keep and asked Lady Mormo to care for them until a ship could collect them.
• Lady Mormo initially refused Danyla's two hundred Gold Dragons, but accepted after Danyla explained she hoped to buy furs and establish a shipping route between Oldtown and Bear Island.
• Danyla offered to help House Mormont hunt for two days so Earl Mormo could attend the Valyria Art House viewing in King's Landing.
• Danyla flew with Walda, Maggie, and Meya toward the Frozen Shore, where Maggie and Meya experienced dragonback flight for the first time.
• Maggie explained that the Mormonts hunted seals and walruses after breeding season, and the group found a large herd of walruses on the floating ice.

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 directed the dragons to target the strongest male walruses and avoid using dragonfire so their hides would remain intact.
• Myracis, Dreamfyre, and the younger dragons attacked the herd, killing twenty adult males while Grey Ghost was injured and several calves were trampled.
• Maggie celebrated the huge catch on Dreamfyre’s back, but Dreamfyre frightened her with a glare.
• Danyla had the dragons carry back the first batch and left Myracis behind to guard the remaining walruses.
• Danyla found Earl Mormo while he was fishing and asked him to use his longships to transport the catch.

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.

• Earl Mormo sent Bear Island's longships toward the walruses after hearing of Danyla's haul, while Grey Ghost ate the fish they discarded.
• Danyla directed Dreamfyre, Grey Ghost, Little Balerion, and the others to hunt giant sharks, then delivered their kills to Earl Mormo and his men.
• Danyla explored farther north, sensing the Wall's magical energy and finding a peninsula rich with wildlife, where she spared the breeding females and their young.
• Danyla followed an urge toward the Lands of Always Winter and found crimson monster trees beside a waterfall in the Frostfangs.
• Myracis roared as the trees moved, and a massive sea dragon rose 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 ordered the dragons to attack the sea dragon, and he countered their fire with icy frost and a wave of mist.
• The sea dragon caught Vhagar with his tail and dragged her from the sky, while Myracis, Little Balerion, and Grey Ghost attacked to help her.
• Myracis set the strange tree growing on the sea dragon’s head on fire, and Dreamfyre seized him by the neck and tore at his scales and flesh.
• Danyla urged Dreamfyre toward a nearby cliff as the sea dragon raised a hundred-meter wave and gathered dark clouds.
• Dreamfyre slammed the sea dragon into the cliff, but he wrapped his body around her while Myracis, Grey Ghost, and Little Balerion scorched him with dragonfire.

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.

• Dreamfyre fought the Sea Dragon while Myracis and Little Balerion attacked his head with dragonfire, and his tail struck Little Balerion’s wing.
• Dreamfyre seized the Sea Dragon and poured dragonfire down his throat, then Danyla killed him by stabbing his eye with the Dawn Sword.
• Danyla had Dreamfyre, Myracis, and the other dragons devour the Sea Dragon while she collected his valuable parts and loaded his scales and hide.
• Myracis swallowed the Sea Dragon’s magically charged heart, and Danyla realized the growth on his head was a weirwood.
• Danyla transplanted the weirwood with the Sea Dragon’s head and bones near the waterfall, then cut the dragons’ wings and chanted the Blood Sacrifice Spells.

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.

• As Danyla chanted, the weirwood absorbed Myracis’s and the other dragons’ blood, regrew its charred branches, and spread its roots around the Sea Dragon’s remains.
• The weirwood drew in magical energy, causing Myracis, Little Balerion, and the other young dragons to fall asleep while Dreamfyre stayed awake to guard them.
• Magical energy brought snow and falling temperatures to the Bay of Ice, while the weirwood and dragons absorbed the cold and Danyla’s flame rune protected her as frost formed on her eyebrows.
• Danyla’s consciousness followed the weirwood roots beneath the earth, then rose into the sky and used the weirwoods to see across Westeros, including Winterfell, northern wildlife, and unicorns on Skagos.
• Danyla flew beyond the Wall, sensed an ancient power there, and was suddenly propelled farther north beyond her control.

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 surveyed the Haunted Forest and the lands beyond the Wall, observing the Wildlings, the Thenns, and the dwindling giants.
• Danyla flew north through a curtain of colored light and found vast hordes of wights waiting beyond it.
• Danyla saw a colossal black weirwood with an ice-blue heart and thousands of impaled people, whom she recognized as failed Greenseers.
• More than a hundred White Walkers appeared around the weirwood, led by three riders on enormous frost dragons.
• Danyla tried to cast Valyrian fire magic but managed only to form a ring of flame around herself.
• The White Walkers launched dozens of ice spikes at Danyla while her movements were restricted, leaving her unable to dodge.

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.

• Danyla broke free of the mysterious force, but the Three-Eyed Crow knocked her from the sky as ice spikes closed in.
• Danyla summoned the Flame Dragon from her birthmark, and it swallowed the Three-Eyed Crow and destroyed many Wights and White Walkers.
• The Flame Dragon transformed the three Frost Dragons into small fire dragons and absorbed the magical energy of its enemies.
• The Flame Dragon tore two chunks from the Heart of Winter before its repulsive force hurled Danyla and the dragons through the Colored Light Curtain.
• The Flame Dragon returned to Danyla's birthmark, and Danyla fell into a deep sleep.
• Earl Mormo informed Winterfell that Danyla was missing, and Duke Eddard and Marquis Bolton sent searchers to the Bay of Ice and requested help from the Night's Watch.

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.

• Jaehaerys, Viserys, Daemon, Rhaenys, and Rhaenyra flew north to search for Danyla, but the blizzard forced Jaehaerys, Rhaenys, and Rhaenyra back to Bear Island while Viserys and Daemon continued toward the Wall.
• Viserys and Daemon spent the night at the Shadow Tower after losing their way, then searched for Danyla until Jaehaerys ordered them back to King's Landing.
• The blizzard spread across Westeros, and from the tenth day onward the sun never rose, marking the arrival of the long night.
• Jaehaerys returned to King's Landing and appointed Viserys Hand of the King, Daemon commander of the city garrison, and Earl Redwyne Master of Ships, tasking Redwyne with buying grain in Essos.
• Daemon formed the Gold Cloaks and drove refugees out of Flea Bottom, while they camped outside the city rather than leave the area.
• Samwell, Medrick, Anne, and the others halted Holy Flame's brewing, stored its grain, and sent Cameron to buy grain and livestock in the Summer Isles and Essos.

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.

• Samwell and the others settled tens of thousands of new subjects in manors across Holy Flame Island, pushing its population beyond one hundred thousand as refugees continued to arrive.
• When winter halted grain shipments, Holy Flame Island reduced meal provisions to stretch its dwindling food reserves.
• Rouge organized Oldtown's residents and refugees to excavate the blackstone labyrinth beneath the Hightower, uncovering ancient weapons, strange remains, and enormous treasure vaults.
• As serious crimes increased, Daemon, Samwell, and Rouge sent criminals to Dreamfyre Island in the Stepstones.
• Dreamfyre Island's town, docks, salt ponds, reservoirs, orchards, and fields developed, turning the barren island into 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.

• Dreamfyre Island’s laborers worked under Dax and his brothers, while rising trade and hardship brought brothels and crime to the island.
• Corlys Velaryon complained that King Jaehaerys had chosen Viserys as heir and given the office of Master of Ships to House Redwyne, but Rhaenys urged him to focus on surviving the crisis.
• King Jaehaerys sent fleets to Essos for grain and dispatched Viserys and Daemon on their dragons to collect grain and the Long Night tax from the Reach and Stormlands.
• After nearly three months, Jaehaerys wondered why Danyla had not returned and noted that the snow had not brought much colder temperatures.
• Viserys and Aemma walked in Aegon’s Garden with Herb and Maester Tigris, discussed Danyla’s absence and Aemma’s approaching birth, and found that the snowy weather did not feel very cold.