Recaps

After lifting the siege of Storm's End and defeating the Southern Lands Army, Titus celebrated his victory, rewarded Davos Seaworth, and negotiated with Reach nobles. The next day, Paxter Redwyne arrived to meet Titus privately, leaving their discussion to come.

• Titus personally knighted Davos Seaworth before the assembled nobles at Storm's End.
• Titus hosted a victory banquet, where Alester reported that Earl Meadows had agreed to cooperate and Earl Oakheart had refused to yield.
• Alester praised Titus as the greatest general in the Seven Kingdoms, and Stannis joined the table to toast him.
• Paxter Redwyne arrived aboard the Queen of the Arbor and requested an audience with Titus.
• Titus received Paxter privately in an unused study at Storm's End.

Paxter Redwyne swore the Arbor and Redwyne Fleet to the Iron Throne, warned Titus against destabilizing the Reach, and secured assurances that Mace Tyrell would live. As Dornish survivors began raiding and slaughtering civilians in the Dornish Marches, Jon Arryn considered appointing a new warden to defend against Dorne.

• Paxter Redwyne offered the Arbor and Redwyne Fleet’s allegiance and urged Titus to preserve House Tyrell’s place in the Reach.
• Titus agreed to spare Mace Tyrell and suggested that Paxter return the Redwyne Fleet to defend the Reach’s coast.
• Titus considered the political dangers of crushing House Tyrell and planned to consult Maester Cressen about the storms around Dragonstone.
• The remnants of the Dornish army raided settlements in the Dornish Marches, burned villages, and killed civilians.
• Jon Arryn received news of the atrocities and considered a new warden to defend against Dorne.

Robert I chose Titus Peake to become Warden of the Dornish Marches, despite Jon Arryn’s concerns that the appointment could provoke another war with Dorne. After Maester Cressen delivered the news, Titus realized his command over the marcher forces had grown substantially.

• Robert I argued that Titus Peake was the only suitable choice for Warden of the Dornish Marches, while Jon Arryn worried that Titus would renew the fighting with Dorne.
• Jon Arryn considered the Iron Throne’s limited authority, revenue, and military strength without dragons as he weighed the risks of war and the growing power of House Peake.
• Jon Arryn followed Robert I’s wishes and formally appointed Titus Peake Warden of the Dornish Marches.
• The appointment gave Titus authority over wartime forces across the Reach and Stormlands borderlands, superseding the Tyrells’ and Carons’ competing claims.
• After Maester Cressen brought him the news, Titus recognized that the martial houses of both regions were now under his command.

Titus convened the Dornish Marches’ lords to address raids by defeated Dornish troops and ordered them to return home to restore their lands and defenses. He planned to counterattack across the mountains after the Dornish withdrew, though he left the campaign’s details undecided.

• Bryce Caron demanded an immediate raid on the Dornish, while Gulian Swann and Simon Dondarrion urged caution because the marches were vulnerable and the mountains favored the enemy.
• Titus confirmed that northern lords and Vale knights would soon leave, and noted that his allies were waiting for ransoms and their shares of the spoils.
• Titus ordered the march lords to assess damage, gather displaced people, and strengthen their defenses rather than pursue the Dornish into the mountains.
• Bryce questioned whether Titus would let the raiders leave with their plunder, and Titus replied that his forces could cross the Prince’s Pass to attack Dorne.
• Titus kept his campaign plans to himself and intended to use the unrest to unite the lords and prepare a larger force for war.

Marshal Titus sent Wenda Storm and a force of two thousand to secure Whitegrove, prevent the White brothers from interfering, and occupy Horn Hill if possible. Meanwhile, the defeated Dornish army fractured as its remaining leaders argued over retaliation, and the chapter left Dagos Manwoody and Franklyn Forrester preparing to retreat while the new Warden of the Marches remained a threat.

• Titus assigned Wenda Storm, Ser Dirk of Whitegrove, and Lorance Roxton's men to secure Whitegrove and kill the White brothers if necessary, with orders to seize Horn Hill if they had strength left.
• Dagos Manwoody urged the surviving Dornish leaders to raid the Marches and avenge their defeat, and Franklyn Forrester supported him.
• The Earl of Blackmont refused to continue fighting and withdrew with his troops to return to Dorne.
• After Blackmont's departure, Franklyn concluded the army could not keep fighting, and Dagos agreed to retreat rather than risk destruction.
• Dagos and Franklyn prepared to withdraw, though the new Warden of the Marches was expected to oppose their retreat.

Wenda Storm led House Peake’s forces in taking Whitegrove and confronted Arthur White, who had once insulted her. After killing Arthur, she learned that his brother Trumbow had escaped with House White’s wealth and trusted Griffith to catch him.

• Arthur White panicked as House Peake’s forces overwhelmed Whitegrove and cursed his brother Trumbow for abandoning him.
• Wenda Storm entered the White Palace and ordered Rosso Brune to deal with the drillmaster while she handled Arthur.
• Wenda disarmed Arthur, bound him, and taunted him with a story about how she lost her eye before killing him with a dagger across his throat.
• Rosso Brune reported that Trumbow had escaped through a secret passage with House White’s valuables, and Wenda said Griffith would find him.
• Ser Dirk and Ser Lorance’s forces secured Whitegrove, returning the castle to House Peake of Starpike.

Wenda caught Trumbow White aboard his riverboat and threatened him while the Earl’s forces fought his mercenaries on the dock. Trumbow offered to trade the hidden Whitegrove fortune for his life, leaving Wenda to decide whether to accept his bribe.

• Wenda killed Trumbow’s two hired swordsmen and cornered him aboard a boat before it could leave Shipwright’s River.
• Wenda told Trumbow how she had injured her own eye to comfort her older sister, who later fled from her.
• Trumbow recognized Wenda as Captain White Eagle and tried to flatter her while stalling for time.
• Trumbow argued that the Black Earl needed the Whitegrove fortune and claimed only he knew where its assets were hidden.
• Trumbow spilled out four hundred Gold Dragons and offered to reveal the fortune’s location if Wenda let him go.

Wenda killed Trumbow White and recovered Whitegrove’s wealth, completing the destruction of House White. Titus then learned that Eddard Stark had found Lyanna dead at the Tower of Joy and was traveling to Starfall with her son, while the battle had killed most of his companions and the three Kingsguard.

• Wenda rejected Trumbow White’s bribe, revealed she knew where he had sent Whitegrove’s wealth, and killed him as he tried to flee.
• Wenda collected the gold, and the three White brothers’ deaths left House White destroyed in the Reach.
• Titus received news that Eddard Stark had found Lyanna dead and planned to conceal her son’s Targaryen parentage by claiming Wylla was the child’s mother.
• Eddard traveled toward Starfall with Dawn and a party of northern companions, intending to return Arthur Dayne’s sword and establish the child’s cover story.
• Eddard’s party fought the Tower of Joy’s defenders; only Howland Reed and William Dustin survived among the six noble companions, while the three Kingsguard were killed.

After learning of Lyanna and Arthur Dayne’s deaths, Titus wrote Ashara a passionate letter to comfort her and reaffirm his promise to marry her. He then considered Starfall’s geography and the cultural differences between western Dorne and the rest of Dorne, while eyeing Starfall’s harbor and anticipating trouble with Blackmont.

• Titus read Blackhaven’s report that Lyanna and Arthur Dayne had died, and reflected on Eddard’s grief and the deaths of the White Knights.
• Titus wrote Ashara a romantic letter offering comfort, recalling their past together, and renewing his vow to win her a crown of love and beauty and marry her.
• Titus considered asking Ashara about renting Starfall’s harbor, but noted that he might first have to deal with Blackmont.
• Titus reviewed Starfall’s location and the differences among the Dornish peoples, concluding that the Daynes and Blamonts of western Dorne resembled Andal knights and the Reach more than other Dornish houses.

Ashara Dayne regained resolve after reading Titus's letter and decided to govern Starfall, comfort her sister, and pursue a future with him. Meanwhile, King Quellon's Ironborn plundered Highgarden's outskirts but withdrew when Reach reinforcements arrived and Quellon's illness worsened.

• Ashara remembered her courtship with Titus and grieved the deaths of her brothers while reading his comforting letter.
• Ashara resolved to lead House Dayne, support Titus, comfort Aliyria Dayne, and await Eddard Stark and Dawn before writing back to Titus.
• King Quellon's Ironborn broke through Highgarden's harbor defenses and plundered the outer settlements, while their fire damaged the garden maze.
• Fo Timo Crane arrived with ten thousand Reach reinforcements, and Quellon's stomach ailment hindered his command.
• King Quellon sent his sons to lead a final raid, then withdrew the Iron Fleet down the Mander and out to sea with its plunder.

After Highgarden and the other captured nobles paid their ransoms, Titus Peake released them and the Southern Expeditionary Army disbanded. On his way back to Starpike, Titus considered strengthening his ties with the Cuys and securing the return of the exiled Merryweathers.

• House Tyrell and other captive nobles paid their ransoms, and Titus released them, including Mace Tyrell.
• The Southern Expeditionary Army split up after dividing its gains, and Titus departed Storm's End for Starpike.
• Alyn Cuy, whose house had escaped the war without losses, decided to deepen House Cuy's friendship with Titus.
• Titus considered how to persuade Hand Jon to let House Merryweather return from Essos to Longtable.

Titus received Wenda’s report that House Peake had retaken Horn Hill and arranged new castellans for its expanded territories. The chapter ended with Titus’s lands surpassing the Tyrells’ in area and his rise as the Lord of Six Castles.

• Titus met with Ser David Robinson, Maester Greg, and Gawen Tarth, then asked Greg to present a confidential letter from Horn Hill.
• Wenda reported that she had taken Horn Hill, sent Melissa Tarly to Brightwater Keep, and appointed Lorance Roxton to administer the region and serve as acting castellan.
• Wenda told Alyn Hunter that he would become castellan of Dunstonbury rather than Horn Hill, honoring Titus’s promise while keeping Horn Hill under an outsider’s control.
• Titus considered how Lorance could purge Horn Hill’s entrenched local administrators and make room for knights he had raised during the Usurper’s War.
• House Peake’s territories expanded to six castles, surpassing the lands House Tyrell then directly controlled and making Titus one of the South’s most powerful lords.

Titus expanded the Pikemen Corps and assigned commanders to garrison Whitegrove and Dunstonbury while preparing for future conflict with Dorne. Captain Wenda’s return brought a dragon egg and a Valyrian steel arakh from Varys, leaving Titus to consider their origins and the sword’s identity.

• Titus and Duncan Wick planned to double the Pikemen Corps to two thousand men, with new regiments stationed at Whitegrove and Dunstonbury.
• Titus selected Finley to command the Whitegrove regiment and Bowen to lead the Dunstonbury regiment alongside the Hunter Brothers.
• Titus sent Hyle Hunter to Dunstonbury and planned to keep five hundred elite hunters for a later purpose while returning the rest to Horn Hill.
• Titus reviewed his plans for developing his lands and began seeking advice about Dragonstone and a future war against Dorne.
• Captain Wenda returned from Horn Hill as a gift from Varys arrived: a dragon egg from Pentos and an oversized Valyrian steel arakh.
• Titus examined the gifts and wondered whether the arakh was the curved sword associated with Shadow or the Ragged Prince’s Screamer Warrior.

Titus learned that Varys and Magister Illyrio Mopatis had sent him Strong Belwas, a scarred former Meereenese pit fighter, along with a Valyrian steel arakh. He considered making Belwas Wenda’s replacement platoon leader and a member of a Valyrian Steel Guard, and the chapter left Belwas ready to serve under his new master.

• Titus examined the Valyrian steel arakh and told Wenda that it had been sent with a swordsman as a gift from Varys and Magister Illyrio Mopatis.
• Titus introduced Wenda to Strong Belwas, whom he described as a bald eunuch and undefeated former pit fighter from Meereen.
• Titus explained that Belwas’s scars came from letting defeated opponents cut him once, and that his appetite had led his former owners to sell him onward.
• Wenda considered keeping Belwas, and Titus suggested he could serve as her platoon leader if Rosso Brune was transferred.
• Belwas accepted Titus as his new master, and Titus planned to remove his iron collar and let him try the arakh as part of a Valyrian Steel Guard.

Titus walked with Eddard Stark through Starpike, where Eddard mourned Arthur Dayne and Lyanna and questioned the purpose of his journey south. Titus reminded him that together they had avenged the North and ended the Targaryen dynasty.

• Titus tried to comfort the grieving Eddard with news of the northern army and the money set aside for Winterfell.
• Eddard saw the stone likeness being carved for Titus and told him he deserved the honor.
• Eddard confessed that he had admired Arthur Dayne but killed him while he was wounded and kneeling.
• Eddard told Titus that Lyanna had died of a fever and said she had wanted to return home.
• Eddard said his journey south had cost him everything he wanted to protect, and Titus reminded him that they had avenged the North and ended the dynasty together.

Titus comforted Eddard Stark and later Robert Baratheon accepted Elia Martell as his queen after Lyanna’s death. On their wedding night, Elia told Robert that she could no longer bear children, and he reacted with shock and anger.

• Titus reassured Eddard that Arthur and Lyanna’s deaths were not his fault and urged him to return to Catelyn and his duties in the North.
• At a feast, Titus introduced Eddard to Strong Belwas, and Eddard drank himself thoroughly drunk before preparing to leave for the North.
• After Lyanna’s death, Jon Arryn proposed Elia Martell as Robert’s queen, and Robert agreed to the marriage.
• Robert and Elia married in a hurried ceremony in King’s Landing.
• On their wedding night, Elia told Robert that a maester had diagnosed her as unable to bear children, and Robert accused her of lying.

Elia told Robert that she could no longer bear children and proposed a future divorce so she could protect Rhaenys Martell; Robert agreed to discuss ending the marriage once the realm was stable. Meanwhile, Titus received a letter from Captain Raynald Weywater as he studied signs of an approaching storm.

• Elia told Robert that her frail health had left her unable to bear more children and asked to live in seclusion with Rhaenys Martell after a future divorce.
• Robert agreed that he and Elia could discuss dissolving their marriage in two or three years, once the realm was stable.
• Elia silently wept after Robert turned away, while the chapter noted that their marriage had helped sow a succession crisis in House Baratheon.
• Jon requested the release of captive Prince Lewyn, but Titus refused because he wanted to keep Lewyn as leverage for a possible invasion of the south.
• Titus compared the Stormlands maesters’ reports and concluded that a major storm was approaching Westeros, though its scale and landfall remained uncertain.
• Wenda delivered Titus a letter from Captain Raynald Weywater, who had returned to the Royal Fleet and gained a substantial promotion.

Titus Peake sent Raynald Weywater urgent instructions to investigate Queen Rhaella’s due date as a storm approached, while Raynald’s growing awe of Titus’s uncanny white falcon left him wondering whether it was more than an ordinary bird.

• Lucerys Velaryon welcomed Raynald’s support on Dragonstone and promoted him as a naval hero to strengthen his position among the island’s fleet.
• Titus Peake considered the risks of his Dragonstone plans and sent Raynald a message urging him to learn Queen Rhaella’s due date from the castle maester.
• The white falcon reached Raynald aboard the moving Raging Sea, astonishing him with its speed and ability to find his ship.
• Raynald read Titus’s praise and instructions, then resolved to prioritize learning when Queen Rhaella would give birth.
• Raynald studied the resting falcon and decided to test whether it understood human speech.

Renafor complained to a white falcon about his prolonged undercover mission, only for the bird to direct him to write to the Earl. Several days later, a violent storm struck Dragonstone as Rhaella Targaryen went into labor, while her young son insisted that Ser Willem call him king.

• Renafor asked the white falcon to persuade the Earl to let him leave his mission, and the falcon pointed him toward the parchment on his desk.
• Dark clouds gathered over Dragonstone as Rhaella Targaryen began going into labor and ordered her maid to fetch the Maester.
• The storm battered Dragonstone's fleet, wrecking ships and sweeping sailors into the sea as Rhaella's labor grew more difficult.
• The young silver-haired prince watched anxiously outside the birthing chamber and told Ser Willem Darry to call him king.
• Ser Willem comforted the prince, while Earl Lucerys anxiously watched the storm from the window.

A devastating storm destroyed the Dragonstone Fleet as Queen Dowager Rhaella died giving birth to Daenerys Targaryen. Two separate fleets survived and sailed in opposite directions, each believing it was the only one left.

• A violent storm wrecked Dragonstone’s warships and battered the island, while Dragonmont Tower remained sheltered at its center.
• Rhaella died after delivering a healthy baby girl, and Viserys III named his sister Daenerys Targaryen.
• Ser Raynald Weywater led a squadron out of Dragonstone before the storm and escaped with more than a thousand people aboard.
• Another Dragonstone Fleet squadron secretly following Raynald’s ships survived by chance, without learning that his fleet had also escaped.
• Raynald sailed south toward Tarth to report the upheaval, while the other surviving squadron turned north toward Dragonstone.

After Stannis Baratheon failed to capture Viserys Targaryen, Robert stripped him of the right to inherit Storm's End and granted it to Renly, while giving Stannis Dragonstone. As Titus Peake reflected on the changed political landscape, Tywin Lannister returned to the Westerlands, leaving Cersei's marriage prospects uncertain and Titus himself on Tywin's mind.

• Stannis Baratheon reached Dragonstone after the storm and discovered that Viserys Targaryen and his companions had already escaped east.
• Robert I punished Stannis by making Renly heir to Storm's End and Lord of the Stormlands, while granting Stannis the title and fief of Dragonstone.
• Titus Peake objected to leaving the Stormlands under Renly and reflected on Viserys, Petyr Baelish, and Cersei Lannister as figures whose futures had changed.
• Tywin Lannister returned to the Westerlands after his unsuccessful stay in King's Landing, and Cersei's expected marriage to Robert was no longer possible.
• The lords speculated about Cersei's next marriage, while Tywin's first thought was Titus Peake.

Raynald Weywater brought the former Royal Fleet to Tarth, where Davos Seaworth offered the crews better pay and security if they swore allegiance to Earl Titus. Titus planned to base the expanded Starpike Fleet on rented land across from Starfall, leaving Wenda Storm to acknowledge the harbor’s strategic advantages while concealing her irritation.

• Raynald Weywater arrived at Tarth with ten warships and more than a thousand crewmen, where Davos Seaworth and Oswin Pyke met him.
• Davos promised that the fleet’s crews would receive a twenty percent pay increase and that their families would be settled near Starpike if they followed Raynald in swearing allegiance to Earl Titus.
• Davos told Raynald that he would retain command of the ten warships, and Raynald welcomed the offer and asked where the fleet would be stationed.
• Titus told Wenda Storm that he had agreed with the countess of Starfall to rent land across from her island for a temporary naval harbor and base.
• Wenda noted that Starfall’s position at the mouth of the Torrentine made it an exceptionally advantageous place for the fleet to berth.

Titus discussed Starpike’s naval plans with Wenda, including using Starfall’s temporary port while preparing to build a sea entrance of his own. The next day, he summoned four trusted knights to announce a reorganization of House Peake’s forces into a new legion.

• Titus told Wenda that Starfall’s harbor would support the fleet while he completed preliminary work for a sea entrance of his own.
• Titus outlined plans to use Tarth as a safe anchorage, Starfall as a temporary naval port, and armed merchant ships on the lower Mander River to support the Hunter Brothers.
• Wenda pressed Titus to reveal where he planned to build the sea entrance, but their discussion turned intimate before he answered.
• The next day, Titus gathered Ser David Robinson, Duncan, Rosso Brune, and Aegon Leveille in his study.
• Titus announced that he planned to reorganize House Peake’s forces and establish a new legion with distinct divisions of responsibility.

Titus established four corps for House Peake’s New Legion and appointed Ser Robinson, Ser Duncan, Rosso Brune, and Ser Aegon Leywell to command them. He outlined their duties and began organizing training, garrisons, reconnaissance, military discipline, and cavalry for the house’s forces.

• Titus presented four gold-inlaid iron tokens and appointed Ser Robinson commander of the Training Corps, Ser Duncan commander of the Garrison Corps, Rosso commander of the Survey Corps, and Ser Aegon commander of the Military Police and Cavalry Corps.
• Ser Robinson accepted responsibility for training recruits and peasant soldiers, with two hundred instructors assigned to establish at least six training stations across Starpike’s lands.
• Titus kept the existing four regiments under Ser Duncan’s Garrison Corps and explained that they would serve as House Peake’s dependable elite infantry in wartime.
• Titus assigned Rosso’s Survey Corps reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, tracking enemy movements, striking targets, and guiding the legion’s operations.
• Titus explained that Ser Aegon’s corps would enforce military discipline and provide House Peake with a permanently established cavalry force for mobile warfare.
• Titus’s account of Rosso’s background revealed that his family’s knowledge of mountain warfare and woodland concealment had helped make him the choice to lead the Survey Corps.

Titus completed the appointments for House Peake’s new Legion, organizing its training, garrison, survey, and military police forces while planning a cavalry corps. The commanders pledged loyalty, and Aegon Leywell realized that Wenda’s personal guard would oversee even the Military Police Corps.

• Titus assigned Rosso Brune to lead five hundred hunters in the Survey Corps on dangerous missions in the Red Mountains.
• Titus planned a Cavalry Corps built around one hundred young knights and their squires, with Aegon Leywell commanding the Military Police Corps.
• Titus promoted Billy, a battle-hardened centurion nicknamed “Quickdraw,” to captain of the Main Keep’s guards.
• Rosso thanked Wenda for her past support as she congratulated the newly appointed corps commanders.
• Aegon recognized that Wenda’s personal guard would enforce discipline over the Military Police Corps and resolved to carry out his duties impartially.
• The four corps commanders pledged loyalty and devotion to Titus.