Chapter Summaries

The new court divided offices and debated the fate of Jaime Lannister and the former royal family’s prisoners. Robert ended the meeting by demanding that every surviving Targaryen child be killed, while Titus had promised Elia Martell and her daughter protection.

• Robert Baratheon appointed Jon Arryn Hand of the King, Hoster Tully Master of Laws, and Barristan Selmy Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.
• Eddard Stark said he planned to return to the North after finding his sister, while Titus declined a Small Council post for now.
• The council discussed Tywin Lannister’s possible role and Jaime Lannister’s fate, and Robert allowed Titus to deal with his prisoner as he saw fit.
• Jon Arryn asked Titus about Prince Lewyn Martell, Elia Martell, and her daughter, whom Titus held as prisoners and had promised to protect.
• Robert struck the table and demanded that every last Targaryen child be killed.

Robert Baratheon, Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, and Titus Peake debated the fate of the Targaryen survivors and the alliance’s next moves. They spared Rhaenys by separating her from House Targaryen, but left the threat at Dragonstone unresolved and prepared for Titus to face Mace Tyrell’s army besieging Storm’s End.

• Robert demanded that Rhaenys Targaryen be killed, while Eddard opposed harming a child and condemned the murder of Rhaegar’s son.
• Titus proposed changing Rhaenys’s surname to Martell and having her and Elia renounce their claims to the Iron Throne before the people and nobles.
• Robert agreed to spare Rhaenys but insisted that she remain in the Red Keep under close watch, and Titus agreed to hand Elia and her daughter over to Robert and Jon Arryn.
• Jon warned that the allies lacked the warships needed to challenge Rhaella and her son at Dragonstone, so the council considered buying ships or seeking Ironborn help.
• Jon Arryn and another attendee privately considered finding Robert a wife, while Robert turned the council’s attention to the Reach army besieging Storm’s End.
• Robert asked whether Titus was willing to lead the attack against Mace Tyrell, and Titus was ready to take the field.

Titus took command of the southbound campaign and rejected Jon Arryn’s preference for a peaceful settlement, while privately proposing a new queen candidate if Lyanna could not be found. The chapter ended with Varys summoning Titus to meet him.

• Robert envied his brothers as the alliance settled that Titus would command roughly twenty-five thousand men marching south, with Eddard as his deputy until he left to search for Lyanna.
• Jon Arryn urged Titus to prioritize peace, but Titus vowed to lift Storm’s End’s siege and crush the southern rebels into submission.
• Eddard thanked Titus for recovering House Stark’s Valyrian steel sword Ice, and the brothers discussed the greatsword.
• Titus privately asked Jon whether Eddard could find Lyanna, challenged the idea of marrying Robert to Cersei Lannister, and hinted that he had a better queen candidate.
• As Titus left the Red Keep, a child told him that Lord Varys wanted to meet with him.

Lord Titus confronted Varys in the Red Keep over his past attempt to manipulate House Peake and his current request for help returning to the Small Council. Varys apologized and offered anything to settle their quarrel, but Titus challenged whether he had ever truly treated him as a friend.

• Titus refused Varys’s invitation to meet at the Dragonpit and summoned him to the Red Keep instead.
• Varys apologized for his earlier approach and asked Titus to help him regain his former position.
• Titus revealed that he knew about Varys’s Pentoshi Rats and recounted how Varys and Illyrio Mopatis had built their intelligence network.
• Titus accused Varys of underestimating him, seeking cooperation on his own terms, and still keeping him at a distance.
• Titus introduced the kitten named Balerion and rose to confront Varys about why he had never approached him as a friend.

Titus pressured Varys to compensate him for the alleged ambush, and Varys offered gifts while seeking to build a useful friendship. After Varys left, Titus summoned Grand Maester Pycelle for another meeting before departing the Red Keep.

• Titus offered to help Varys regain the Small Council's favor but demanded compensation for the ambush.
• Varys proposed giving Titus Sandoq the Shadow's Valyrian steel arakh, and Titus instead asked for a fossilized dragon egg.
• Varys agreed to have Illyrio Mopatis search for a dragon egg and departed the Red Keep.
• Titus invited Dodge to summon Grand Maester Pycelle and asked Wenda to play with the kitten.

Titus Peake bribed Grand Maester Pycelle and used him to send Lord Tywin a message that Jaime Lannister could be freed through negotiation. At Robert I’s first royal court, Titus publicly accused Gregor Clegane of murdering Rhaegar’s infant son and trying to assault Princess Elia, putting Tywin under pressure.

• Titus gave Pycelle a box of gold coins and asked him to pass a conciliatory message to Lord Tywin about Jaime.
• Titus asked Pycelle to share important news from the Red Keep with him, and Pycelle agreed.
• Robert I held his first royal court, where Jon Arryn announced decrees including the order for the Targaryen remnants on Dragonstone to surrender within seven days.
• Titus accused Gregor Clegane before the court of killing Rhaegar’s infant son and attempting to assault Princess Elia, while Lord Tywin listened in anger.

At court, Earl Titus accused Gregor Clegane and the Westerlands army of brutal crimes in King's Landing, forcing Tywin Lannister to concede some responsibility while denying that he had ordered the atrocities. Gregor admitted to his own crimes but refused to name anyone behind them, leaving the nobles’ suspicion fixed on Tywin.

• Earl Titus denounced Gregor Clegane’s attack on Princess Elia and accused the Westerlands army of looting and killing civilians in King's Landing.
• Tywin Lannister denied ordering the crimes, blamed Gregor’s nature and his soldiers’ lack of discipline, and offered compensation for the victims.
• Titus called for justice for the dead infant, Princess Elia, and the people of the capital, then had Gregor brought into the Throne Room in chains.
• Titus asked Gregor who had ordered him to attack Rhaegar’s children and assault Elia, and Gregor claimed he had acted alone.
• Titus argued that Gregor could not have acted without powerful backing, prompting the nobles to turn their suspicion toward Tywin.

Titus condemned Gregor Clegane for his atrocities, accepted Gregor’s demand for trial by combat, and chose to fight him himself. The two faced each other in the Throne Room as the duel began, with Titus calm despite the Mountain’s immense size.

• Titus refused to clear Tywin of suspicion and declared that Gregor’s crimes would be punished, while Tywin distanced himself from Gregor.
• Gregor demanded a trial by combat, and Titus accepted, rebuffing Tywin’s warning and his attempt to intervene.
• Titus declared that he would fight Gregor himself, despite other knights volunteering and his allies’ concern.
• Titus drew Heartsbane and waited as Gregor was released from his chains and took up his enormous sword.
• Gregor threatened Titus as they faced each other in the Throne Room, but Titus remained unafraid.

Titus fought Gregor in the Throne Room, testing the Mountain’s strength before using his speed to outmaneuver and wound him. Gregor entered a furious charge after losing his balance and bleeding, and Titus braced for another clash.

• Gregor opened with a powerful downward strike that cracked the marble floor, but Titus dodged it.
• Titus tested Gregor’s strength by clashing Heartsbane against his heavy sword, then judged his opponent’s movements and weaknesses.
• Titus circled Gregor at high speed and repeatedly struck his armor, cutting his thigh and drawing blood.
• Wounded, dizzy, and furious, Gregor abandoned his careful pursuit and charged straight at Titus.
• Titus met Gregor’s charge with Heartsbane, denting the Mountain’s sword before leaping out of range and joking that the boss had entered phase two.

Titus Peake defeated and executed Gregor Clegane in the Throne Room, then openly provoked Tywin Lannister. The duel ended with House Peake and Casterly Rock established as enemies, just as Titus intended.

• Titus exploited Gregor's wounded leg and drove Heartsbane through his belly, then struck him repeatedly until he fell to his knees.
• Titus pinned Gregor to the floor, forced him to face Tywin, and revealed that he carried a second Valyrian steel sword, Orphan-Maker.
• Titus declared Gregor guilty and beheaded him with Orphan-Maker before the assembled nobles.
• Titus flicked Gregor's blood toward Tywin, making his execution a deliberate warning to the Westerlands.
• Titus considered his feud with Casterly Rock a useful way to establish a powerful enemy for House Peake.

Titus demanded 100,000 gold dragons from Tywin Lannister to free Jaime, using Pycelle as a messenger. Tywin paid, but Jaime chose to remain in the Kingsguard, leaving Tywin without his son or an heir and Titus pleased with his political advantage.

• Titus asked Pycelle to tell Tywin that Jaime's freedom would cost 100,000 gold dragons, and Pycelle eagerly agreed to carry the message.
• Tywin accepted the ransom despite Kevan's anger and ordered him to deliver the gold to Titus.
• Kevan brought the chests of gold to Titus, who confirmed the payment and ordered Jaime brought to him.
• Titus freed Jaime, but Jaime refused to return to the Westerlands and went to swear allegiance to Robert as a Kingsguard.
• Robert and Jon welcomed Jaime back into the Kingsguard, while Tywin realized he had paid the ransom without regaining his son or securing an heir.

Tywin Lannister sent Kevan to secretly approach the Targaryens on Dragonstone, hoping to secure House Lannister an alternative to Robert I’s rule. Meanwhile, Titus Peake prepared the Stormlands forces for a march south against the Reach, entrusting the army’s right wing to Gulian Swann.

• Tywin decided House Lannister needed a way out and proposed quietly contacting Rhaella and Viserys on Dragonstone.
• Tywin gave Kevan a sealed letter and ordered him to send a trusted messenger to learn Dragonstone’s strength and willingness to exchange information.
• Kevan agreed to carry out Tywin’s plan, despite fearing that he would become the scapegoat if it was exposed.
• Titus prepared to march south and met with Gulian Swann to coordinate the Stormlands forces.
• Titus assigned the forces of Stonehelm, Blackhaven, Harvest Hall, and Nightsong to the army’s right wing and ordered them to scout for Reach forces near Goldengrove or Tumbleton.

Titus met with Roose Bolton and Symond Templeton to coordinate the southern army, then led the expedition out of King's Landing to cheers from the people. As Robert I envied his chance to fight, Titus joked that he would trade places and let Robert take the field against the Reach.

• Titus assigned Roose Bolton and Rickard Karstark to guard the northern army's left flank, and Roose requested extra medicinal supplies for the southern climate.
• Titus met Symond Templeton, whose praise and cooperative attitude confirmed the Vale Knights would serve as the southern army's vanguard.
• Titus noticed that Varys had not appeared at the Red Keep and wondered whether he would wait until the army marched south.
• Two days later, Titus rode at the head of the assembled army as crowds in King's Landing cheered him for bringing Gregor Clegane to justice.
• Robert I told Titus he wished he could lead the army himself, and Titus joked that Robert could take the Iron Throne while he fought the Reach.

Titus joked with Robert about taking a queen while leading the army south from King’s Landing, beginning the southern campaign of 283 Conquest. At the mouth of the Mander River, King Quellon and a hundred Ironborn longships slipped past the Shield Islands to raid the Reach.

• Titus asked Robert whether he wanted a queen, then rode to the front and ordered the army to move south.
• Robert said Lyanna alone was enough for him, while Titus privately hoped Jon would resolve the situation with Lyanna.
• The army marched south along the Kingsroad as the people of King’s Landing watched it depart.
• King Quellon led a fleet of a hundred longships through the mist, skirting the Shield Islands toward the Mander River.
• Quellon brought his three eldest sons along to show them the world as the Ironborn prepared to plunder the Reach.

The Ironborn fleet led by King Quellon sailed into a trap set by the Shield Islands, whose ships attacked from both ends of the fog-shrouded Mander. After the Shield Islands sank the decoy King Quellon and celebrated his death, Quellon emerged aboard the hidden Iron Victory and ordered a counterattack.

• The chapter described the Iron Islands, the Drowned God, and the Ironborn tradition of reaving before Aegon's Conquest and its later prohibition.
• King Quellon's fleet sailed through fog toward the Mander River to raid the Reach.
• The Shield Islands lit beacon fires and launched a surprise attack from the river and from behind the Ironborn fleet.
• Earl Mavard Chester ordered the Shield Islands fleet to concentrate on the King Quellon, which eventually broke apart and sank.
• The Shield Islands celebrated Quellon's supposed death, but Quellon appeared aboard the hidden Iron Victory and ordered his fleet to charge.

Quellon Greyjoy led the Ironborn fleet through a feigned retreat and counterattack that shattered the Shield Islands’ defenses at the Mander River. With the river open and Highgarden exposed, the Ironborn sailed north into the Reach.

• Quellon led the Iron Victory and the Ironborn vanguard in a fierce counterattack that scattered the Shield Islands fleet inside the river.
• Quellon ordered his fleet to press up the Mander while a concealed Ironborn reserve moved to encircle the Shield Islands ships pursuing outside the river mouth.
• The Ironborn reserve struck the pursuing fleet from behind as Quellon’s vanguard turned back, trapping the Shield Islanders between the two forces.
• The Ironborn destroyed and plundered the scattered Shield Islands ships, then joined forces and continued north toward Highgarden.
• Quellon watched his sons lead the clearing of the battlefield as Balon hauled survivors from the water and displayed captured Shield Islands banners aboard the King Vickon.

Quellon Greyjoy’s fleet defeated the Shield Islands after he followed Titus Peake’s warning and avoided their ambush. He chose to raid Highgarden’s harbor and surrounding settlements rather than storm its walls, while planning to use firebombs to provoke the Tyrells into fighting; the Iron Fleet then advanced toward its target as another army entered the Kingswood.

• Balon reported that the Ironborn had captured twenty-eight enemy ships, while Euron and Victarion joined him aboard the Iron Victory.
• Quellon explained that Titus Peake’s letter had warned him of the Shield Islands’ ambush, and Euron and Balon questioned why the Black Earl had helped them.
• Quellon recalled Titus’s advice and map of Highgarden, then decided the Ironborn should avoid storming its three walls and plunder the harbor district and nearby settlements instead.
• Quellon ordered Balon to keep the fleet’s incendiaries safe and planned to burn Highgarden’s gardens to provoke House Tyrell into opening its gates.
• After resting, the Iron Fleet pursued the fleeing Shield Islanders past Dunstonbury toward Highgarden, while an army advancing from the east entered the Kingswood.

Titus led the Southern Expeditionary Army through the Kingswood and into the Stormlands, where local forces swelled it to more than thirty thousand men. As Mace Tyrell remained trapped outside Storm’s End, Olenna learned that the Shield Islands’ defenses had fallen and an ironborn fleet was sailing up the Mander toward Highgarden.

• Titus and Wenda rode with the twenty-five-thousand-strong army through the Kingswood as Eddard Stark prepared to leave with a light escort.
• After entering the Stormlands, Titus welcomed Hugh Grandison and other northern Stormlands lords, bringing the army’s strength close to thirty thousand.
• Titus placed the newly arrived Stormlands forces under Hugh Grandison, and Fellwood’s soldiers joined under Silveraxe Fell as the army passed north of Storm’s End.
• Mace Tyrell remained unable to advance against Titus’s growing army or surrender without feeling he would lose face.
• Garth Tyrell told Olenna that the Shield Islands’ armed fleet had been destroyed and that the Iron Fleet led by Qhored Greyjoy was sailing up the Mander toward Highgarden.

Olenna organized Highgarden’s defenses against Quellon’s Iron Fleet after learning that the Redwyne Fleet could not return in time. Meanwhile, Paxter Redwyne prayed aboard the Queen of the Arbor near Storm’s End and urged Mace to surrender.

• Olenna rejected abandoning Highgarden’s harbor district and ordered merchant ships, stones, and Tyrell pleasure boats assembled into a barrier, with smiths making fire-oil bombs.
• Olenna sent Right Hand to deploy archers behind the ship wall and evacuate settlement residents into Highgarden, then ordered the knights to strengthen the walls, towers, and gates.
• Olenna learned that the Redwyne Fleet was away supporting Mace’s siege of Storm’s End and ordered Ser Fo Timo Crane to bring his ten thousand men back from east of Goldengrove.
• Davos and Oswin’s fleet reached Shipbreaker Bay, where their contacts among pirates and Ironborn were expected to help lift the siege of Storm’s End.
• Paxter Redwyne prayed aboard the Queen of the Arbor and sighed that Mace should surrender.

Paxter Redwyne worried that the yearlong siege of Storm’s End was damaging House Redwyne’s wine trade, while Salladhor Saan sailed toward the Redwyne blockade on a mission from Davos Seaworth. Salladhor’s family history led into the story of the Band of Nine and the War of the Ninepenny Kings.

• Paxter Redwyne prayed for Mace Tyrell to surrender Storm’s End and lamented the business lost by keeping the Redwyne Fleet at the siege.
• Salladhor Saan led the Valyrian and the Peacock toward the Redwyne blockade, reassuring his nervous first mate that they were there to put on a show, not attack head-on.
• Salladhor recalled that Davos Seaworth had assigned him a task and hoped their Ironborn allies would prove useful.
• Salladhor’s account traced the Band of Nine’s rise through Essos and its invasion preparations, which prompted Jaehaerys II to send an army to the Stepstones.
• Maelys Blackfyre killed Mund Baratheon, but Barristan Selmy slew Maelys in battle, ending the final male Blackfyre threat.
• The surviving members of the Band of Nine gradually lost their territories, while Acoqua Adrys held Tyrosh for six years before his queen poisoned him.