Recaps

Jorah Mormont rode to Last Hearth to recruit northern lords, but Greatjon Umber accused him of betraying the captive nobles and attacked him. After escaping the Umber riders, Jorah encountered a band of House Bolton soldiers in the forest.

• Jorah Mormont reached Last Hearth with a hundred cavalrymen and asked Greatjon Umber to help unite Stark loyalists against Roose Bolton.
• Greatjon accused Jorah of betraying the Seven Kingdoms Coalition Army and claiming he would become Warden of the North, then ordered his riders to kill him.
• Jorah’s hundred cavalrymen fled without him, and he realized Liu Qian had sent him into a trap.
• Jorah escaped into a cedar forest and began to lose the Umber riders pursuing him.
• Dozens of riders bearing House Bolton’s flayed-man sigil emerged from the forest near Jorah.

Ramsay Bolton captured Jorah Mormont at the Dreadfort and tortured him after a secret letter warned Ramsay that his trueborn brother Domeric might still be alive. Jorah realized the Easterner had sent him into a trap, while Ramsay left for Winterfell to marry the woman impersonating Arya Stark.

• Bolton hounds and soldiers caught Jorah, and Ramsay welcomed him to the North despite Jorah's offer of important intelligence.
• Ramsay recalled a secret letter claiming Domeric Bolton was alive and warning that capturing Jorah would prevent Domeric from returning.
• At the Dreadfort, Ramsay had Theon Greyjoy, whom he called Reek, beat Jorah and torture him by driving a needle beneath his fingernails.
• Ramsay ordered Theon to dispose of an object from the torture chamber and have Jorah bandaged so he would not die.
• Ramsay left for Winterfell, where he planned to marry Beth Cassel, who was posing as Arya Stark.

Jon Snow and Ygritte escaped through the Haunted Forest and reached Hardhome, where they parted after finding a ruined boat for Jon to take south. As Jon rowed away with Ghost, Others appeared behind Ygritte, led by a striking woman riding a dead direwolf.

• Jon and Ygritte took shelter in a cave, where they learned that the creature pursuing them was an Other and spent the night together.
• Ygritte decided to guide Jon to Hardhome so he could find a boat, while she planned to return to Mance Rayder and the Free Folk.
• Jon, Ygritte, and Ghost reached Hardhome and found a battered boat that Jon repaired enough to launch.
• Jon and Ygritte shared a final embrace, and Jon rowed away from Hardhome with Ghost aboard the boat.
• Others on skeletal horses emerged from the forest behind Ygritte, led by a woman riding an enormous dead direwolf.

Yohn Royce faced pressure from the Lords Declarant and Jaime Lannister’s siege to surrender Mya Stone and Eson Arryn, while Cersei considered Littlefinger’s proposal to betray the Vale’s surrendering lords. The chapter ended as the Iron Bank’s Mr. Naho Dimittis waited to meet Cersei and Kevan.

• Yohn Royce imprisoned Eson Arryn for proclaiming Mya queen and condemned Andar for helping her.
• The Lords Declarant urged Yohn to surrender Mya and Eson to save their houses from Jaime Lannister’s army.
• After a messenger delivered Jaime’s deadline, Yohn ordered Mya handed over before sunset.
• Cersei told Kevan that Littlefinger proposed killing the Lords Declarant’s leaders after they surrendered, but Kevan denounced the plan as dishonorable.
• Ralf Leek announced that Mr. Naho Dimittis of the Iron Bank was waiting outside.

The Iron Bank demanded repayment from the Iron Throne while Stannis's victory and capture of Viserys worsened Kevan's military and financial crises. After Kevan rejected Cersei's proposal to hire Liu Qian's Horsemen and expelled her from the Small Council, Cersei devised a plan to seize the Vale's wealth and presented a solution to the Iron Bank envoy.

• Naho Dimittis demanded that the Iron Throne repay a third of its principal debt and all accrued interest by the next new moon.
• Ser Addam Marbrand reported that Stannis had won the war and captured Viserys, while the spoils from the Vale could not cover even half the Iron Bank's demand.
• Ralf Leek urged the Small Council to recruit troops and hire sellswords, but Kevan rejected Cersei's suggestion to borrow Liu Qian's Horsemen and ordered her to leave.
• Cersei returned to her bedchamber and planned to declare Vale houses traitors, confiscate their wealth, and have Gregor Clegane seize their holdings after Jaime departed.
• Cersei sent a letter and summoned Naho Dimittis, telling him she had a mutually beneficial proposal concerning the debt.

Cersei promised the Iron Bank a large repayment and sent Naho Dimittis to Gulltown to await it. After Jaime collected Eson Arryn and Mya Stone from Runestone, Gregor Clegane launched a surprise attack on the castle, and Yohn Royce rushed to fight the Lannisters.

• Cersei offered Naho Dimittis a future repayment and persuaded him to wait at Gulltown while Meryn Trant accompanied him to recruit sellswords in Braavos.
• Yohn Royce handed Eson Arryn and Mya Stone over to Jaime Lannister, who set off for Duskendale with the prisoners and a hundred cavalrymen.
• Jaime ordered Gregor Clegane to remain behind with the army, while the Mountain secretly followed the departing Vale troops with Lannister forces.
• Gregor Clegane led a night assault on Runestone, battering down its gates as flaming arrows struck the castle.
• Lannister soldiers and Crownlands levies slaughtered the defenders and inhabitants, and Yohn Royce charged out with his guards to confront them.

The Mountain’s forces massacred House Royce at Runestone and sacked Gulltown, killing Earl Gerold Grafton and destroying the city. Naho Dimittis accepted the plundered wealth as repayment for the Iron Throne’s debt, while Waymar Royce escaped and vowed vengeance.

• The Mountain’s soldiers killed Earl Yohn Royce, and the Mountain struck Andar Royce down as Andar tried to save Yasina.
• Waymar Royce witnessed his family’s slaughter, escaped through an abandoned drain, and resolved to seek power in Conqueror's Holdfast to take revenge.
• The Mountain led his army from Runestone to Gulltown, where they broke through the gates and looted, burned, and killed across the city.
• The Mountain’s forces killed Earl Gerold Grafton and overran the Arryns of Gulltown as the city burned.
• Naho Dimittis and Meryn Trant arrived in the smoke-choked harbor, where the Mountain offered the Iron Bank wagonloads of plunder as debt repayment.
• Naho accepted the repayment, and Meryn prepared to accompany him to Braavos to recruit an elite sellsword company.

At Summerhall, Melisandre persuaded Stannis to seek power by awakening dragon egg fossils with king’s blood and fire. Stannis burned Viserys as the first sacrifice, while Tyrion watched in horror.

• Melisandre told Stannis that magic and dragon power were needed to fight the gathering threat of the Cold God, and Stannis ordered soldiers to dig beneath Summerhall’s ruins.
• The soldiers uncovered two dragon egg fossils, and Melisandre claimed each required a king’s life and magic to awaken.
• Stannis ordered Edric Storm brought from Storm’s End for the second fossil and told Davos to remain behind.
• Melisandre poured the Lord of Light’s power into the silver-gray fossil, which faintly glimmered.
• Stannis ordered soldiers to bind Viserys to a pyre and set it alight, and Viserys died screaming as Tyrion watched in terror.

After Volantis attacked Yidi immigrant ships, Liu Qian ordered his forces to prepare for war. Doctor Marwyn revealed how to break the seal on the Black Stone, and Liu Qian began channeling magic into it.

• Hal reported that Volantis had burned three merchant ships carrying Yidi immigrants, and Liu Qian ordered the kingdom to enter its highest state of military readiness.
• Liu Qian told Hal to assemble the fleet in Lys and ordered Rowan to prepare an attack on Volantis.
• Doctor Marwyn explained that he had found the precise magical frequency needed to break the Black Stone's seal after thousands of experiments with Janice and Ghost Grass.
• Liu Qian accepted Marwyn's diagram, approached the Black Stone, and began releasing his magic power according to its pattern.

Liu Qian unsealed the Black Stone, unleashing a blood-red cosmic image and an immense will that nearly overwhelmed him before the system intervened. The stone released a vast surge of magic, changed the sky blood-red, and revealed a huge Red Comet heading toward the western continent.

• Liu Qian used the resonance frequency researched by Doctor Marwyn to break down the Black Stone's seal.
• Blood-red runes formed a miniature universe on the stone, where an enormous eye emerged and attacked Liu Qian's mind with the music of the spheres.
• The system halted the attack, forcing the eye and cosmic image to retreat into the Black Stone.
• The Black Stone released a tremendous force that replenished Liu Qian's magic and caused magical elements to gather throughout the cavern.
• Janice pointed out that the sky had turned dark red and a huge Red Comet was speeding toward the western continent.

The black stone’s unsealing coincided with the Red Comet’s arrival, and a black-and-red dragon hatched in Liu Qian’s cavern by consuming the vitality of its twin egg. Across Westeros, the comet heralded another hatching and stirred Young Griff’s ambitions, while a mysterious figure in the Hidden Sea reacted to its red light.

• The Red Comet appeared over Conqueror's Holdfast as Liu Qian wondered whether unsealing the black stone had restored magic and caused its arrival.
• A black-and-red dragon hatchling broke from one of the two matching eggs in Liu Qian’s cavern, while the other egg withered into stone fragments.
• At Summerhall, Stannis’s soldiers uncovered the cracked silver-gray dragon egg, and an infant cry sounded from inside as the Red Comet appeared overhead.
• Young Griff hailed the comet as a divine sign for his conquest, and his soldiers and some Dothraki chanted his name.
• In the Hidden Sea, a yellow-robed figure stirred beneath a black stone, surfaced to see the waters stained red, laughed, and returned to the depths.

Liu Qian witnessed a black-and-red dragon egg hatch after the black stone’s seal was broken, named the hatchling Gloomember, and entrusted it to Chai Yi’s care. With magic power no longer scarce but his bloodline growth stalled, he turned to preparations for a campaign against Volantis.

• Liu Qian’s dragon egg hatched as the black stone released a tide of magic power, while Illyrio’s similar egg crumbled into lifeless fragments.
• Qyburn proposed that blood magic and possibly souls were involved in dragon egg hatching and asked to study the fragments.
• Daenerys and the other ladies gathered around the hatchling, and Liu Qian named it Gloomember.
• Liu Qian considered how increased magic power could support his plans to raise his dragon-blood purity and possibly venture beyond the Wall.
• Chai Yi declined to claim Gloomember as her mount, but accepted responsibility for caring for it, and the hatchling settled into her arms.
• Liu Qian left to prepare a campaign against Volantis because the city had plundered migrants from Yidi.

Liu Qian camped near Volantis with his elite cavalry and dragons, intending to use the campaign to harden his troops and seize the city’s wealth. In Volantis, Malaquo Maegor Ya persuaded the magistrates to authorize a preemptive attack, leaving the city’s forces to assemble for battle.

• Liu Qian brought twenty thousand elite cavalry and the Dragon Spirit Guardians to the borderlands, while Janice and Duskwraith remained at Conqueror's Holdfast.
• Malaquo Maegor Ya accused Nysso Visama and Dofas Pennymen of underestimating Liu Qian’s threat and urged them to approve an attack.
• Malaquo claimed that over a hundred Scorpions could bring down Liu Qian’s dragons, persuading the two Elephant Party magistrates to support his plan.
• Malaquo secured authorization to lead ten thousand Tiger Cloaks and levy thirty thousand from the Slave Army, while Moroqao brought twenty thousand Dothraki Screamers.
• Malaquo headed to muster his forces, confident that victory would strengthen the Tiger Party in the next magistrate election.

Liu Qian’s army faced a coalition of Volantene Tiger Cloaks, slave soldiers, and Dothraki, whose Scorpions wounded Blooddance and threatened Silverfall. Liu Qian revealed his Golden Great Dragon form and shattered the coalition’s forces, leaving Volantis’s defeat certain.

• Malaquo Maegor Ya ordered more than a hundred Scorpions to fire on Blooddance and Silverfall, wounding Blooddance and frightening Jelena.
• Liu Qian ordered Blooddance and Silverfall into the clouds as the coalition celebrated and advanced.
• Liu Qian transformed into a Golden Great Dragon, swept away the Scorpion array with Dragonfire, and attacked the Volantene formations.
• The coalition broke under Liu Qian’s assault, and Rowan led the Three Daughters’ cavalry into the collapsing lines.
• Malaquo Maegor Ya watched his army disintegrate and realized Volantis had been defeated.

After defeating Volantis’s army, Golden Dragon Liu Qian destroyed the Magistrates and broke the city’s resistance. As the city fell, High Priest Benerro sent Moqorro away to find the Prince That Was Promised and prepared the Fiery Hand to defend the Red God Temple.

• Malaquo Maegor Ya warned Nysso Visama and Dofas Pennymen that the army had been destroyed and that the Scorpions could not harm the Golden Great Dragon.
• Golden Dragon Liu Qian broke through the Magistrates’ Palace roof, revealed that he was the Eastern invader transformed, and incinerated the three Magistrates.
• Liu Qian attacked remaining strongholds from the sky, while Volantis’s defenders abandoned their weapons or fled as resistance collapsed.
• High Priest Benerro told Moqorro to find the Prince That Was Promised and guide him against the Long Night.
• Moqorro left through the temple’s secret passage with five loyal Fiery Hand members, while Benerro went to meet the nine hundred and ninety-five warriors guarding the temple.

Liu Qian took control of Volantis, punished the nobles responsible for attacking the migrant fleet, and sent forces to secure the surrounding region. A report of Stone Men near the Sorrows infected his soldiers with Greyscale, prompting him to consider investigating in person.

• Liu Qian demanded that Benerro and the Fiery Hand disarm, but the priests chose to burn themselves alive inside the Red God Temple.
• Liu Qian secured Volantis as Hal's fleet blockaded the harbor and the Volantene Fleet surrendered.
• Liu Qian ordered the execution of nobles involved in the raid on the migrant fleet and had their relatives imprisoned and their property confiscated.
• Liu Qian sent Jelena and Silverfall upriver to take towns, while Hal's fleet cleared pirate strongholds along the Orange Coast.
• Hal reported that Stone Men near the Sorrows had attacked his river flotilla and infected more than a dozen soldiers with Greyscale, leading Liu Qian to consider investigating himself.

Stannis weighed whether to use Melisandre’s shadow magic against Aegon’s invading forces while Davos urged him to stop risking his health. The chapter ended with a Golden Company spy receiving details about Bronzegate’s defenses, Orys’s weakness, and Melisandre’s magic.

• The Stormlands lords debated whether Aegon was truly Rhaegar’s son and reaffirmed their loyalty to Stannis, while examining his hatchling dragon, Orys.
• Stannis told Melisandre that Aegon’s army of Dothraki and Golden Company mercenaries required the Lord of Light’s power, and Melisandre proposed using shadow magic again.
• Davos confronted Stannis and warned that relying on Melisandre’s power endangered his health and undermined his claim to rule.
• Stannis shoved Davos aside but abandoned his trip to Melisandre and went away to think.
• Ser Raymond Connington passed a secret message to a guard, who delivered it to a Golden Company spy with details of troop deployments, noble divisions, Orys’s weakness, and Melisandre’s shadow magic.

After waking on Skagos, Jon learned that the Starks had suffered devastating losses and agreed to lead Liu Qian’s army against the Boltons. Jon landed in the North with twenty thousand soldiers and rode toward House Manderly’s knights to seek Earl Wyman’s support.

• Morio Tumitis told Jon that Eddard had been executed, Robb and Catelyn had been murdered at the Red Wedding, and the Boltons held Winterfell.
• Morio offered Jon command of fifteen thousand Dothraki Screamers and five thousand Slave Soldiers to reclaim Winterfell, and told him Ramsay Bolton planned to marry Arya Stark.
• After recovering on Skagos, Jon sailed south with the army and landed on a secluded beach in the North.
• Jon saw House Manderly’s knights watching the fleet from nearby hills and rode toward them to seek Earl Wyman’s support.

Liu Qian and Jelena flew into the Sorrows to investigate Chroyane and encountered the Shrouded Lord, who commanded the river against them. As magical bone arrows attacked, the Shrouded Lord unleashed a storm that threatened to throw their dragons from the sky.

• Liu Qian told Jelena that the Sorrows were where Prince Garin’s water magic had destroyed more than a hundred Great Dragons.
• Liu Qian and Jelena flew Blooddance and Silverfall over Chroyane’s ruins, where Stone Men gathered and watched them.
• Liu Qian spotted the Shrouded Lord standing atop the Palace of Love ruins as Stone Men archers fired bone arrows at the dragons.
• Liu Qian recognized magical power in the arrows and prepared to attack the archers for their dragon spirits.
• The Shrouded Lord stirred the Rhoyne into violent waterspouts and hurricane winds that battered Blooddance and Silverfall.

Liu Qian sent Jelena and the dragons out of the cursed Sorrows before fighting through the Stone Men and confronting the Shrouded Lord. When he pierced the Shrouded Lord’s chest, the Rhoyne erupted with renewed fury and ancient armored corpses rose from its waters.

• Liu Qian ordered Jelena to escape the Sorrows with Silverfall, then sent Blooddance away and remained behind alone.
• Stone Men swarmed Liu Qian, who cut them down with his Valyrian steel sword and burned many with Dragonfire Breath, gaining Dragon Spirit.
• The Shrouded Lord charged Liu Qian and resisted his Dragonfire with gray-white mist, then fought him with powerful blows.
• Liu Qian dodged the Shrouded Lord’s attacks and struck his chest with his sword, drawing a burst of mist from the wound.
• The Rhoyne grew more violent, and ancient corpses in broken armor rose from the river, their bodies covered in stone.

Liu Qian transformed into a golden dragon and destroyed the undead and Stone Men in the Sorrows, ending Prince Garin’s ancient curse. Afterward, he reunited with Jelena, who embraced and kissed him.

• Liu Qian unleashed dragonfire on the Valyria Legion’s undead, then used Wildfire to burn the ruins, Stone Men, and the riverbed where the corpses emerged.
• After hours of burning, the Rhoyne settled, the undead stopped appearing, and the curse and mist over the Sorrows began to fade.
• Liu Qian learned that the Shrouded Lord had yielded 5,000 Dragon Spirit and the other dead had yielded over eighty thousand, raising his Bloodline Purity from 22% to 31%.
• Liu Qian left the ruins and found Blooddance and Jelena waiting outside the Sorrows.
• Jelena rushed into Liu Qian’s arms and kissed him, while Blooddance and Silverfall watched before turning toward the sunset.

Golden Company spies infiltrated Bronzegate and opened its western side gate to Aegon’s forces. The defenders discovered the breach as countless figures surged toward the city.

• Stannis heard that Storm’s End was running low on supplies and faced heavy losses against Aegon’s Dothraki, while his dragon Orys was still too small to help.
• Rorik and Galvin guarded Bronzegate’s western side gate during the night watch.
• Marko, Togg, and Leo, Golden Company spies placed inside Bronzegate by Rolly Duckfield, began their plan to open the gate.
• Marko and Togg silently killed the guards, lifted the gate bar, and signaled the advance party outside.
• Rorik heard the gates creaking open, and Galvin saw dark figures pushing inside as countless attackers advanced from beyond the city.

Stannis’s attempt to create a Shadow Assassin was interrupted when the Dothraki captured Bronzegate, and he fled after losing Orys and the dragon egg. In Dorne, Doran sent Arianne to investigate whether Aegon Targaryen was genuine.

• Stannis went to Melisandre to create a Shadow Assassin, but Dothraki forces attacked Bronzegate after traitors opened the gate.
• Davos urged Stannis to evacuate, while Golden Company agents tried to steal Orys and the dragon egg.
• Orys escaped by flying away after breathing dragonfire on an agent, and the surviving agent fled with the reddish-brown Dragon Egg Fossil.
• Stannis learned that Orys had escaped and the egg had been stolen, then fled Bronzegate with Stormlands nobles as the Dothraki closed in.
• Doran asked Arianne and Quentyn what they thought of Aegon Targaryen VI, who had landed with fifty thousand Dothraki and the Golden Company.
• Doran ordered Arianne to meet Aegon and determine whether he was a true dragon, while Quentyn was told to remain in Dorne.

Young Griff's forces captured Bronzegate, and he ordered them to return to Storm's End while claiming the dragon egg and seeking the silver dragon. In White Harbor, Jon Snow secured Wyman Manderly's support for a march on Winterfell, but Bartimus's doubts about Jon and Liu Qian led him to write a letter.

• Young Griff's forces captured Bronzegate in a surprise attack, taking Tyrion Lannister and several Stormlands nobles prisoner.
• Rolly Duckfield presented Young Griff with a dragon egg seized from Stannis, and Jon Connington suggested sacrificing Edric Storm to hatch it.
• Young Griff ordered a search for the silver dragon and sent his army back toward Storm's End, while Tyrion was taken to a cell.
• Jon Snow asked Wyman Manderly for support against the Boltons, and Bartimus accused him of bringing a foreign army into the North and questioned whether he was truly a Stark.
• Wyman Manderly agreed to support Jon's cause, and Bartimus later wrote a letter after struggling with his suspicions.

Waymar Royce sought Liu Qian’s help against the Lannister atrocities in the Vale, pledged his loyalty, and learned Liu Qian planned to marry seven women before invading the Seven Kingdoms. Meanwhile, starvation drove Storm’s End’s garrison to open a gate to Young Griff’s forces, and the castle fell.

• Waymar Royce begged Liu Qian to avenge the massacres at Runestone and Gulltown and received ten thousand former Volantis slave soldiers and ten thousand Dothraki cavalry.
• Waymar pledged his absolute loyalty to Liu Qian, who accepted his allegiance and asked him to stay for a wedding in ten days.
• Liu Qian told Waymar he planned to marry Jelena Baelor Lys, Janice Baelor Lys, Daenerys Targaryen, Chai Yi, Ynys Yronwood, Myrcella Baratheon, and Sansa Stark before landing in the Seven Kingdoms.
• As hunger and despair consumed Storm’s End, several guards decided to surrender the castle to Young Griff’s forces.
• The guards killed their comrade at the side gate and opened it before dawn, allowing Golden Company soldiers to enter and capture Storm’s End.