Chapter Summaries

Gu Li discovered that the Alchemists' Guild had thousands of jars of wildfire but no way to destroy them, so he recruited its leaders into the Supreme God Faith. He ordered them to gather all the wildfire beneath the Great Sept of Baelor, preparing to destroy it there.

• Gu Li buried the wildfire with sand, then learned from Wisdom Monset that eight thousand jars had gone to Cersei and over two thousand remained in the storehouse.
• Wisdom Meliad explained that the guild had lost the method for destroying wildfire, and Gu Li decided to move every jar out of the city’s inhabited areas.
• Gu Li asked whether the guild’s wisdoms wanted to learn magic, and they agreed to worship the Supreme God and swear allegiance to King Luke.
• Gu Li granted President Hallyne the ability to wield magic, then appointed him vice president and put Melisandre in charge of the Alchemists’ Guild.
• Gu Li ordered the guild members to follow Melisandre and Little Deer, collect all the wildfire hidden around King’s Landing, and pile it beneath the Great Sept of Baelor.

Melisandre took control of the Alchemists' Guild and put its members to work gathering wildfire beneath the Great Sept of Baelor. As Gu Li prepared to seize the Red Keep, Vice President Hallyne discovered a genuine magic book that changed who would accompany Tyrion.

• Melisandre awed the Alchemists' Guild with real fire magic, recruited its members into the Supreme God Faith, and declared that only those who learned magic could be Wise Ones.
• Melisandre and Little Deer led the guild members to gather more than ten thousand jars of wildfire beneath the Great Sept of Baelor, and Gu Li sealed the tunnels with thick ice.
• Gu Li and Tyrion searched the guild library with Vice President Hallyne, while Hallyne refused to let apprentices and assistants examine its secret books.
• Gu Li decided to go with Tyrion to meet Cersei and seize the Red Keep, while Melisandre stayed to guard the wildfire.
• Vice President Hallyne found an ancient magic book, and Gu Li told Tyrion that Melisandre would accompany him to the Red Keep after all.

Gu Li studied the Alchemists’ Guild’s fire-magic tome and began experimenting with creating an animated ice direwolf, but his first attempt burst apart. At Duskendale, Margaery defended the North’s handling of Robert Arryn’s suspicious death while the Vale lords questioned who had brought the dwarf jester to him.

• Tyrion relayed Gu Li’s orders to Melisandre, who left Little Deer to assist Gu Li and returned with Tyrion to Bran’s courtyard.
• Deputy Guildmaster Hallyne explained that the Alchemists’ Guild had once practiced fire magic, and Gu Li studied its tome on creating flame constructs.
• Gu Li used ice to form a small direwolf and inscribed magic arrays that made it sit, attack, and pounce before conflicting arrays caused it to burst apart.
• Randyll Tarly revealed that the Battle of Duskendale had been a conspiracy by Roose Bolton to weaken Stark-loyal northern houses, and Margaery told him to stop discussing it.
• Vale lords learned that Robert Arryn was dead and demanded that Quentyn be executed, but Margaery said he was only a suspect and suggested Cersei had sent the dwarf jester.
• Benedar Belmore questioned Yohn Royce about finding the jester, and Royce said Ser Symond Templeton had located her in a performing troupe at Robert’s request.

After Robert Arryn's death, Margaery tried to keep the Vale lords committed to King Luke's campaign while concealing his whereabouts. Distrust grew between the Vale and the North, and the lords agreed to remain at Duskendale rather than join the siege of King's Landing.

• Earl Jeywood Hunter and the Vale lords demanded to see King Luke, while Margaery claimed he had gone to Rosby.
• Ser Symond Templeton accused House Royce of coveting the Warden of the East position, sparking an argument with Earl Yored Royce.
• Randyll Tarly reported that Countess Anya Waynwood was trying to leave camp, and Margaery sent Daenerys to stop her.
• Margaery promised that King Luke would reward the Vale house that contributed most, but Anya insisted that only the King himself could make that guarantee.
• Margaery said King Luke was secluded for important Magic experiments and urged the Vale lords to capture Duskendale, then remain there during the siege of King's Landing.
• The Vale lords accepted the plan, preserving their forces while avoiding open defiance of King Luke.

Jaime, Tyrion, Sandor, and Melisandre confronted Cersei and tried to convince her to surrender, but she refused. They decided to take Tommen away, only to find his room empty as a group approached.

• Sandor and Melisandre helped Jaime and Tyrion enter Cersei's room, where they silenced and restrained her.
• Jaime urged Cersei to surrender for the children's sake, but she accused him of betrayal and refused.
• Jaime, Tyrion, and Sandor left Cersei asleep and decided to take Tommen away from her.
• The group found Tommen missing from his room, and Melisandre warned that many people were approaching.

An explosion destroyed the Great Sept of Baelor and set off further blasts across King's Landing, disrupting the Gold Cloaks and allowing Tyrion and his companions to escape. Gu Li learned that the tunnels were damaged and decided to move on the Red Keep, leading Arya, Bran, Brienne, and Little Deer to reunite with Tyrion's group.

• Tyrion, Jaime, Sandor, and Melisandre avoided the Gold Cloaks as a massive green explosion shook King's Landing, and they slipped away during the confusion.
• The Gold Cloaks discovered that King Tommen was missing after the patrol reached his room.
• Gu Li ordered Vice President Hallyne to guard the Alchemists' Guild and investigate the tunnels while he went to examine the blast site.
• Gu Li returned to Bran's residence and urged the group to seize the Red Keep, explaining that the damaged tunnels left them with no way to retreat.
• Arya backed Gu Li's plan, and Little Deer reported that she had relayed his orders to Hallyne.
• Gu Li sensed Sandor inside the Red Keep and led the group to meet Tyrion and the others.

Gu Li led Arya, Bran, and Brienne into the Red Keep with an army of ice wolves and defeated the Gold Cloaks there. After meeting Tyrion and the others, he learned that Tommen had disappeared and ordered Melisandre and Little Deer to track him down while he searched for Cersei.

• Gu Li led his companions to the sea cliff, created an ice staircase, and sent hundreds of ice wolves into the Red Keep.
• Gu Li and Arya fought the Gold Cloaks while the ice wolves hunted them through the castle, and Tyrion’s group emerged from the tunnels.
• Gu Li met Tyrion and the others near the Maidenvault and learned that the tunnel entrances and junctions had been deliberately destroyed.
• Tyrion reported that Tommen had disappeared, and Gu Li suspected Varys had taken him.
• Gu Li sent Melisandre and Little Deer to track Tommen and set out with Jaime to find Cersei, using the ice wolves to search the Red Keep.

The Vale Alliance captured Duskendale, while Gary and his allies entered the Red Keep and overwhelmed Cersei’s defenders with ice wolves. They discovered Robert Strong was the headless Gregor Clegane, and Sandor burned his brother after killing him.

• Earl Ralf Leek surrendered Duskendale after the dragons shattered his confidence, and Margaery and Daenerys led the Northern Alliance and Tarly cavalry toward Rosby.
• Gary entered the Throne Room and ordered his ice wolves to kill Cersei’s Gold Cloaks, then the wolves killed Ser Boros Blount when he insulted Jaime.
• Cersei ordered Robert Strong to attack Gary, but the ice wolves formed into a colossal wolf that pinned him down.
• Gary removed Robert Strong’s helmet and discovered that he was the headless, reanimated Gregor Clegane.
• Sandor cut off Gregor’s arms and stabbed him through the heart, then set his body alight at Gary’s command.

Gu Li took control of the Red Keep, spared Cersei from execution but crippled and confined her, and restored Jaime’s hands under strict conditions. As the Gold Cloaks attacked the keep and the Sparrows took up order in the city, an enormous white figure flew over King’s Landing.

• Qyburn abandoned Cersei, and Gu Li’s party fought past the remaining Kingsguard to reach her.
• Jaime pleaded for Cersei’s life, while Tyrion argued that keeping her alive would help secure Jaime’s loyalty.
• Bran cut off both of Cersei’s feet and urged Tyrion and Jaime to repay House Stark by serving King Luke.
• Gu Li ordered Cersei confined to the Maidenvault for life, healed Jaime’s hands, and made Jaime responsible for guarding her.
• The Gold Cloaks gathered outside the Red Keep and battered its gate, while the Sparrows began maintaining order in King’s Landing.
• An enormous white figure flew over King’s Landing.

Gary and Arya went to face the Gold Cloaks attacking the Red Keep while Tyrion urged Jaime to prove his loyalty and keep his distance from Cersei. Cersei secretly ordered Qyburn to admit the attackers, but Sandor discovered Qyburn’s ambush in the courtyard.

• Gary split the Direwolf into Ice Wolves to defend the Red Keep and went downstairs with Arya to confront the Gold Cloaks.
• Tyrion warned Jaime that Gary was testing his loyalty and urged him to persuade the Gold Cloaks to surrender, so Jaime went down to help.
• Cersei told Qyburn not to act until they found Tommen, then ordered him to open the Red Keep gates and let the Gold Cloaks in.
• Tyrion sent Sandor with Qyburn to fetch medicine for Cersei, while suspecting Qyburn might be plotting against them.
• Qyburn led Sandor into the courtyard, where dozens of Plate Armor Knights emerged from a hedge maze and shielded him from Sandor’s attack.

Gu Li used Krysalis, an enormous white dragon, to break the Gold Cloaks’ resistance and secure their surrender. After Jaime reported that someone had opened the gates and escaped, Gu Li returned to the Red Keep, where Cersei was bleeding and Qyburn and Sandor were still missing.

• Qyburn left two creations to confront Sandor and headed for the Red Keep’s gates with more than fifty armored knights, while Gu Li and Arya reached the battlements with Jaime.
• Krysalis arrived unexpectedly, frightened the Gold Cloaks, and burned more than three hundred of them to ash with white dragonfire empowered by Gu Li’s mana.
• Seven hundred ice wolves surrounded the remaining Gold Cloaks, and Gu Li and Arya descended on Krysalis as Gu Li demanded their surrender.
• Jaime persuaded the Gold Cloaks to kneel and swear allegiance, and Gu Li ordered them to maintain order in King’s Landing without entering the Red Keep.
• Jaime told Gu Li that someone had opened the gates, so Gu Li ordered the gates sealed and flew toward the Throne Room with Arya and Krysalis.
• Gu Li found Cersei still bleeding in the Throne Room while Tyrion worried that Qyburn and Sandor had not returned.

Melisandre pursued a carriage carrying a blond boy and a stout woman back toward King's Landing while the northern army captured Rosby. In the Red Keep, Gu Li secured Cersei and Tyrion brought the castle's servants back to work as Luke Stark's household took control.

• Melisandre and Little Deer caught a carriage on the Goldroad, and Melisandre forced its driver to return to King's Landing with the woman and boy inside.
• The northern army captured Rosby after Earl Gyles Rosby died and his foster son ordered the garrison to surrender.
• The Seven agreed to send the Father, Maiden, and Crone to King's Landing to rally their faithful, while the Mother, Warrior, and Smith gathered followers in southern Westeros.
• Gu Li stopped Cersei's bleeding, ordered Sandor to confine her in the Maidenvault, and learned that Qyburn had escaped.
• Tyrion brought hundreds of servants out of the Red Keep's dungeons and cellars and ordered them to prepare rooms and breakfast for King Luke Stark.
• A white dragon destroyed the Red Keep's small sept, then settled in the godswood and fell asleep.

After taking the Iron Throne, Gu Li discussed Qyburn’s escape and the missing Westerlands troops with his council, then put Tyrion in charge of keeping order in King’s Landing. He shared breakfast with his allies and went to sleep in the stripped-down King’s Bedchamber, while Jaime was tasked with questioning Cersei about the troops’ whereabouts.

• Tyrion arranged breakfast after Gu Li ordered the Red Keep’s cooks to prepare a meal and asked for a thick cushion for the Iron Throne.
• Tyrion suggested Qyburn might be heading north to the twenty thousand missing Westerlands Alliance Army troops, while Jaime warned that Qyburn’s undying soldiers could be dangerous; Gu Li dismissed the mass-production threat and focused on the missing army.
• Jaime argued that the troops could not easily reach the North or hide in the Kingswood, and Tyrion suggested they might be a feint or ambush force sent south.
• Bran suggested Jaime question Cersei, and Gu Li ordered Jaime to visit her and find out where the twenty thousand troops had gone.
• Gu Li put Tyrion in command of the Gold Cloaks, then ate breakfast with his allies and sent a meal to Sandor in the Maidenvault.
• Gu Li returned to the altered King’s Bedchamber, formed an ice wolf to stand beside his bed, and fell asleep.

Arianne and Tyene entered King's Landing to seek an audience with Cersei, but a clash with Gold Cloaks and the Sparrows left them surrounded and then escorted toward the Red Keep. The Gold Cloak officer hoped their arrival would help him win the vacant City Watch commander's post.

• Melisandre's party was stopped outside King's Landing until Little Deer flew to the Red Keep and alerted Tyrion.
• Arianne and Tyene tried to pay a Gold Cloak patrol to deliver them to Cersei, but the guards attacked and Tyene poisoned all six.
• Arianne and Tyene tried to flee, but Tyene poisoned several Sparrows who surrounded them, while more Sparrows gathered without fear of death.
• A force of Gold Cloaks arrived and the Sparrows dispersed; Arianne identified herself and Tyene as envoys from Dorne seeking Cersei.
• A Gold Cloak officer escorted Arianne and Tyene toward the Red Keep, hoping to present them to the king and improve his chances of becoming Commander of the City Watch.

Cersei demanded to see Tommen while Tyrion and Jaime searched the Maidenvault and discovered Mace Tyrell imprisoned there. Melisandre and Little Deer returned with Tommen and a fat woman, leaving Gu Li wondering where he had seen her before.

• Cersei accused Jaime of abandoning Tommen and urged him to rescue the boy and kill King Luke, while Jaime assured her that Melisandre was searching for Tommen.
• Tyrion and Jaime heard Mace Tyrell calling for help, released him, and told him that Margaery was alive and on her way to King's Landing.
• Melisandre told Gu Li that she and Little Deer had found Tommen and brought back a fat woman with him.
• Little Deer returned to her green-skinned form and fell asleep against Gu Li, who sent a maid to fetch the Hand of the King.
• Gu Li recognized the fat woman as familiar but could not remember where he had seen her.

Gu Li learned that the disguised Varys had helped Tommen escape to the Westerlands and warned that the Reach and Dorne could also threaten his rule. Gu Li intended to kill Varys, but Tyrion offered him a chance to survive by revealing what he knew about Aegon VI.

• Melisandre took the exhausted Little Deer to rest while Gu Li questioned a blond boy he believed to be Tommen.
• Jaime identified the boy as an impostor, and Tyrion ordered the Gold Cloaks to discover who he was.
• Tyrion recognized the disguised fat woman as Varys, who revealed that Tommen had gone to the Westerlands to meet Ser Kevan Lannister.
• Gu Li accused Varys of escalating the war, and Varys warned him that the Reach would soon change hands and Dorne could also oppose him.
• Gu Li threatened to kill Varys, but Tyrion suggested that Varys could earn mercy by telling Gu Li everything about Aegon VI.

Gu Li questioned Arianne Martell and Tyene Sand after they arrived in King's Landing seeking Cersei, and learned they had first tried to meet him at the northern army's camp. Arianne revealed that Dorne wanted a marriage alliance with the North.

• Tyrion escorted Varys to the dungeons while Gu Li stayed in the Study to receive the Dornish envoys.
• Brys Hagy brought Arianne Martell and Tyene Sand to Gu Li and warned that they carried poison.
• Arianne recognized Gu Li as Luke Stark and introduced herself as House Martell's heir, with Tyene as Prince Oberyn's bastard daughter.
• Arianne said she and Tyene had first visited the northern army's camp, where Margaery Tyrell had welcomed them but refused to let them meet Gu Li.
• Arianne told Gu Li that Dorne had come to form a marriage alliance with the North.

Gu Li rejected House Martell’s proposed marriage alliances and used an ice soldier to pressure Arianne into considering loyalty to House Stark. Arianne and Tyene left to stay at the Martell estate while they investigated his claims and awaited Doran’s decision, and Gu Li chose to judge Dorne’s sincerity before deciding whether to marry Arianne or fight them.

• Arianne proposed Quentyn Martell and Arya Stark as a marriage match, but Gu Li refused to marry off Arya and ruled out Arianne marrying Bran because of their age gap.
• Gu Li conjured an ice soldier that attacked a wall and reformed after breaking apart, then claimed he could create ten thousand of them.
• Gu Li demanded genuine loyalty from Dorne and revealed that he had four dragons; Arianne asked for time to verify his claims and obtain her father’s approval.
• Arianne and Tyene declined rooms in the Red Keep and left for the Martell estate with Brys Hagy’s guards assigned to protect them.
• Jaime suggested Gu Li marry Arianne to secure Dorne as an ally, but Gu Li decided to wait and see how sincere Dorne was.

Brys Hagy warned Gu Li that the Sparrows were growing in King's Landing, and Jaime helped secure him a chance to become the new City Watch commander. Meanwhile, two riders sought the High Sparrow, whose apparent divine power killed one of them and prompted him to choose a body for the Crone.

• Brys Hagy reported the Sparrows' growing influence to Gu Li, who ordered the Gold Cloaks to find their leader.
• Jaime accompanied Brys Hagy's mission and urged Gu Li to appoint a new Commander of the City Watch.
• Gu Li gave Jaime a blank appointment letter to discuss with Tyrion, and Jaime offered to take Brys Hagy's eldest son as his squire.
• Three riders from Stokeworth entered King's Landing; one rode toward the Red Keep while the other two sought the High Sparrow among the Sparrows.
• The lead rider grabbed the High Sparrow's wrist and died convulsing, while the High Sparrow glowed and told the Crone to choose a body.

Arianne and Tyene tried to evade the Gold Cloaks and send a secret letter to Dorne, but Tyene was possessed and turned toward the Red Keep. Gu Li tried to extract intelligence from Varys by drawing him into a dream, where he watched Varys leave a mass grave and feared the deception would fail.

• Arianne argued with Tyene that Dorne could not oppose Luke Stark's dragons alone and refused to approach House Greyjoy before it occupied the Reach.
• Arianne wrote a secret letter for Dorne, then drew the Gold Cloaks away while Tyene headed for the harbor.
• A horseman seized Tyene and told her to offer herself; after he died from her poison, Tyene became vacant and decided to give the letter to the King in the North.
• Gu Li refused to free Varys in exchange for intelligence, knocked him unconscious, and dragged him into a dream.
• Varys woke in a mass grave and left it, while the invisible Gu Li worried that he could not convincingly create Varys's unseen accomplices in the dream.