Chapter Summaries

Stannis used a shadow summoned by his power to kill Jhaqo Khal, then led fifteen thousand fresh Stormlands troops to crush the exhausted armies at Ashford Meadow. The Stormlands captured Viserys and Tyrion and celebrated their victory as their enemies fled or were slaughtered.

• Stannis urged the Stormlands troops forward after a human-shaped shadow raced toward Jhaqo Khal.
• The shadow passed through Jhaqo's chest and killed him, causing the Dothraki khalasar to break and flee.
• Stannis led the fresh Stormlands army into the battlefield, where it routed the fleeing Dothraki and overwhelmed the other exhausted forces.
• Addam Marbrand and Steffon Swyft fled into Shipbreaker Bay, Quentyn ordered the surviving Dornish to retreat, and Jon Fossoway escaped into Cuy Woods.
• Stormlands soldiers captured Viserys and Tyrion, and the victorious troops cheered for Stannis and Baratheon.

Littlefinger learned that a rumor claiming Robert Arryn was his bastard son with Lysa had spread throughout the Vale, threatening his rule. Lysa confirmed that she had deliberately used his semen to conceive Robert, and Littlefinger resolved to suppress the rumor and move against the Lords Declarant.

• Ser Rosso Brune told Littlefinger that a rumor had spread across the Vale claiming Robert Arryn was his son with Lysa.
• Lysa rushed into the council hall, embraced Littlefinger, and told him she believed the rumor was true.
• Lysa admitted that she had saved Littlefinger’s semen after an encounter and used it to become pregnant with Robert.
• Littlefinger urged Lysa to insist that Robert was Jon Arryn’s trueborn heir so their enemies could not use the rumor against them.
• Littlefinger decided to find and silence the rumor’s source while accelerating his efforts against Yohn Royce and the Lords Declarant.

Mya Stone helped Andar Royce escape the Eyrie by hiding him in a supply train, and Michaël Redfort aided their flight. After reaching the woods beyond the Gates of the Moon, Mya and Andar set off toward Runestone.

• Mya Stone visited Andar Royce in his room and offered to help him escape the Eyrie.
• Mya led Andar through the castle to the stables, where Michaël Redfort helped them hide in hay baskets on a supply train.
• Andar endured the dangerous descent while Mya and Michaël kept the escape hidden from the guards.
• After the train entered a forest beyond the Gates of the Moon, Michaël caused a distraction so Mya and Andar could slip away.
• Mya and Andar headed toward Runestone.

Eson Arryn offered House Arryn of Gulltown’s support to the Lords Declarant, accusing Robert Arryn of being Littlefinger and Lysa Tully’s bastard and promising two thousand sellswords. Earl Yohn Royce declined to include those troops in the Eyrie’s siege, then led the alliance army toward the Eyrie as Michaël Redfort, Mya Stone, and Andar Royce arrived at Runestone.

• Eson Arryn asked to join the Lords Declarant and claimed Robert Arryn was not Jon Arryn’s son.
• Eson declared that House Arryn of Gulltown would support the alliance and revealed that he had recruited two thousand sellswords.
• Earl Yohn Royce refused to have Eson’s army join the Eyrie’s encirclement, and Eson agreed to wait near Gulltown.
• Three days later, Earl Yohn led an army of nearly ten thousand from Runestone toward the Eyrie.
• Michaël Redfort, Mya Stone, and Andar Royce arrived at Runestone’s closed side gate.

Andar Royce returned safely to Runestone, and Mya Stone accepted Eson Arryn’s invitation to his estate near Gulltown. There, Eson urged her to claim the Iron Throne and lead the Vale, and Mya agreed to his proposal.

• Andar Royce returned to Runestone and thanked Mya Stone and Michel Redfort for helping him escape.
• Eson Arryn invited Mya to stay at his family’s estate near Gulltown, and she accepted.
• At the estate, Eson told Mya that her royal status gave her a claim to the Iron Throne and urged her to retake the Eyrie from Littlefinger and Lysa.
• Mya struggled with Eson’s proposal but agreed to take the crown and lead the Vale.

Eson Arryn crowned Mya Baratheon queen in the Vale, provoking Lord Yohn Royce and Lord Gerold Grafton. As Grafton's army attacked Arryn Castle, a large Royce cavalry force arrived behind them.

• Eson Arryn arranged a hurried coronation for Mya Baratheon and sent ravens throughout Westeros announcing her claim to the throne.
• Lord Yohn Royce learned of the coronation, turned the Lords Declarant's army around, and marched toward Gulltown.
• Lord Gerold Grafton declared the coronation an insult and ordered his soldiers to surround Arryn Castle and arrest Eson and Mya.
• Gerold led three thousand soldiers against the castle, where Eson's two thousand sellswords fought back as Mya trembled inside.
• As the sellswords' defenses began to crumble, a large cavalry force bearing House Royce's banner charged toward Grafton's army from behind.

Andar Royce’s surprise attack broke the Grafton army, but Eson Arryn’s reckless pursuit turned Gulltown into a bloodbath and ended with Gerold Grafton captured. As Littlefinger urged Cersei to intervene, Jaime secured permission to lead Lannister troops into the Vale, leaving the conflict poised to widen.

• Andar Royce’s cavalry rescued the besieged forces and routed Gerold Grafton’s army, while Eson Arryn led a pursuit into Gulltown despite Andar’s warning.
• Eson’s fighters stormed Gulltown, fought through its streets, and captured the wounded Gerold Grafton after killing his guards.
• Littlefinger urged Lysa Tully to blame the Lords Declarant, then sent Cersei a plea for royal troops to suppress the rebellion.
• Cersei proposed hiring Dothraki mercenaries, but Kevan Lannister condemned the plan and warned that the Vale’s turmoil could not be met with foreign troops.
• Jaime volunteered to take five thousand Lannister soldiers to the Vale and recruit additional men in the Crownlands, and Kevan approved his plan.

The Faceless Men discussed a paid request to deliver the Many-Faced God’s gift to an eastern conqueror, and Starving Man volunteered for the mission. In Pentos, Illyrio and Jon Connington walked through the magister’s garden, troubled by an unstated concern.

• The Kindly Man condemned the girl who had given death without permission, while the Waif said she had killed a Night’s Watch man bound for Oldtown.
• Fat Man revealed that the girl’s iron coin came from the Night’s Watch man and that a Westerosi notable had received a gift three days earlier.
• The Kindly Man said a Pentoshi magister had paid for a gift to an eastern conqueror and had provided two items, bringing the temple’s total to three.
• The Waif warned that the chosen recipient had to receive the gift, and Starving Man volunteered to carry it out.
• Pretty Man warned Starving Man about the conqueror’s undying legion and dragons, while Starving Man said he would first study the defenses.
• Illyrio and Jon Connington walked through the magister’s garden in Pentos, both looking anxious and troubled.

Jon Connington challenged Illyrio over delaying Young Griff’s invasion, arguing that the turmoil in Westeros made immediate action essential. Illyrio defended his plan to secure Daenerys and her dragons first, but Connington threatened to sail with the Golden Company, and Illyrio warned that the invasion could doom Young Griff.

• Jon Connington urged Illyrio to stop delaying the landing, citing Viserys’s invasion and unrest among the Golden Company.
• Illyrio argued that Varys’s death left Young Griff’s identity vulnerable and proposed proving it through the Great Dragons after Young Griff married Daenerys.
• Jon Connington questioned why Young Griff could not land, join Viserys, and seek a marriage alliance later.
• Jon Connington cited Balon Greyjoy’s death and the Vale’s new queen as signs that Westeros was changing too quickly to wait, and threatened to sail with the Golden Company the next day.
• Illyrio protested that the Golden Company’s ten thousand men could not defeat the Lannisters and Stannis, and that Connington would lead Young Griff to his death.

Jon Connington pushed Illyrio to seek Dothraki troops for Young Griff, and Illyrio sent an envoy to Liu Qian with gold, jewels, and a Dragon Egg Fossil. Liu Qian accepted the offer and agreed to lend fifty thousand Dothraki Screamers, while wondering whether the egg could explain why his own similar Dragon Egg had not hatched.

• Jon Connington confronted Illyrio and urged him to offer Liu Qian a Dragon Egg in exchange for Dothraki troops.
• Illyrio sent an envoy to Liu Qian with chests of gold, jewels, and a black-and-red Dragon Egg Fossil.
• Liu Qian recognized the fossil as one of the Dragon Eggs associated with Daenerys and questioned where the other two were.
• Liu Qian accepted the tribute and agreed to lend Illyrio fifty thousand Dothraki Screamers for Young Griff's cause.
• Liu Qian dismissed the envoy and examined the Dragon Egg, wondering whether it could help explain why his own similar egg had not hatched.

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.