Chapter Summaries

Gu Li, disguised as Jaime, questioned Varys about Aegon VI, the Reach, and the Ironborn before killing him after their meeting. Varys revealed that Aegon had the Golden Company and Unsullied, while Euron Greyjoy possessed a sea monster that had reportedly destroyed Oldtown and the Redwyne Fleet.

• Gu Li caught up with Varys outside the city and demanded intelligence in exchange for saving his life.
• Varys said Aegon VI would soon land in Westeros with at least thirty thousand troops, backed by the Golden Company, the Unsullied, and the Iron Bank.
• Varys reported that the Ironborn were advancing on Highgarden and that Euron Greyjoy had a sea monster capable of destroying fleets.
• Gu Li pretended to bid Varys farewell, then killed him with a sword and ordered jailers to bury the body.
• The jailers considered selling Varys's corpse in Flea Bottom to be made into bowls of brown.

Petyr Baelish secretly met Lady Anya Waynwood in Duskendale and proposed that she help overthrow King Luke by joining a coalition ambush against the Northern Alliance. Anya demanded a way to counter the king’s dragons, and Baelish claimed he had one but had not yet explained it.

• Aegon VI landed tens of thousands of troops in the Stormlands, captured several coastal castles, and marched toward Storm’s End.
• Lady Anya Waynwood argued with the Vale lords at Duskendale over whether they should withdraw to the Vale or remain.
• Earl Symond Templeton invited Anya to a feast, where he introduced Petyr Baelish, who had secretly come to Duskendale.
• Baelish asked Anya to become Queen of the Vale and claimed he could deal with King Luke’s three dragons if she helped him.
• Baelish proposed that Vale forces secretly march toward King’s Landing and join the Westerlands Alliance Army to destroy the Northern Alliance, while Euron Greyjoy and Kevan Lannister attacked on other fronts.
• Anya questioned how Baelish could defeat the dragons, and he left that part of his plan unexplained.

Baelish persuaded Anya Waynwood that the Southern Alliance could defeat Aegon VI’s dragons by dividing them across three fronts, while Gu Li prepared King’s Landing for Aegon’s arrival and reunited with Daenerys. Daenerys learned to create magical creatures and prepared to rejoin her army at Rosby.

• Baelish argued that the King in the North would split the Three Dragons across three fronts, and Anya Waynwood agreed to join his plan if the Southern Alliance Army returned to the Reach.
• In King’s Landing, Gu Li ordered the Gold Cloaks to watch the coast for Aegon VI, while Tyrion explained that Dragonstone had been abandoned and could not be garrisoned.
• Daenerys arrived on Drogon, greeted Krysalis, and told Gu Li that Duskendale and Rosby had been taken; she planned to return to Rosby after reporting to him.
• Tyrion warned Gu Li that executing the Sparrows could provoke the million worshippers of the Seven in King’s Landing to riot.
• Gu Li taught Daenerys the secret art of creating magical creatures, and she formed a small flame wolf before preparing to rejoin her army.

Gu Li confronted Tyene Sand after she took Tyrion hostage and learned she was the Maiden of the Seven, seeking help to break free from the gods. She offered intelligence about the Seven and the Father's plans, but Gu Li remained wary of her motives.

• Gu Li and Melisandre protected Vice President Hallyne's magic books when his alchemy experiment exploded, then healed him and an injured Gold Cloak.
• The Gold Cloak told Gu Li that a woman had poisoned several guards and taken Tyrion hostage, so Gu Li went to the Tower of the Hand with Melisandre and Little Deer.
• Gu Li recognized Tyene Sand in the tower, but Melisandre revealed that a strange divine light surrounded her.
• Tyene identified herself as the Maiden of the Seven and asked Gu Li, the owner of the Primal Stone, to help her separate from the Seven.
• Tyene explained that the Seven planned to seize the Primal Stone and revealed that the Father and the Crone had infiltrated King's Landing to turn a million believers against Gu Li.
• Tyene offered a secret letter and the Father's plan as gifts, then said she could help Gu Li; he misunderstood her final offer, prompting her to clarify that she meant assistance against the other gods.

Gu Li helped Tyene separate from the Seven by giving her Primal Stone Energy, then waited outside the Tower of the Hand as the struggle lit up the Red Keep. Tyene emerged at dawn and confirmed she had broken away from the Seven, leaving her life dependent on the Supreme God.

• Tyene promised to persuade the Stranger and the House of Black and White to support Gu Li if he gave her Primal Stone Energy, then kissed him and drained much of his magic.
• Tyene used green energy to attack the Seven-Pointed Star on her forehead, while Gu Li ordered Little Deer to carry Tyrion out of the burning study.
• Gu Li healed Little Deer and Tyrion, recovered his mana, and kept watch at the Tower of the Hand as its light blazed through the night.
• Tyrion woke and rode out with Jaime and the Gold Cloaks to muster forces for the coming riot and prepare a city gate for the northern army.
• At dawn, Tyene emerged from the tower, and Gu Li gave her a blanket and had a maid dress her.
• Tyene told Gu Li she had broken away from the Seven and that her survival now depended on what the Supreme God granted her.

Gu Li faced a crowd of over a hundred thousand Sparrows gathered outside the Red Keep and learned that the Crone was leading them while the Father stayed hidden. Tyene offered to seal the Crone, and Gu Li chose to confront the crowd with religious allies rather than send in the army.

• Tyene told Gu Li that the Seven had created a new Maiden and warned him that the faithful of the Seven were gathering outside the Red Keep.
• Gu Li arrived at the walls on Krysalis and saw divine light around the Sparrow leader, whom Tyene identified as the Crone.
• Tyene explained that the Father was absent and that the gods could be destroyed only by eliminating their followers or devouring them; she offered to seal the Crone if Gu Li gave her more energy.
• Melisandre and Tyene warned Gu Li that sending the army against the crowd would worsen the conflict, and Tyene urged him to use followers of the Supreme God Faith instead.
• Gu Li decided to go down with Melisandre and Little Deer to pacify the crowd, assigned Tyene to face the Crone, and ordered Brienne to keep Arya and Bran behind.

Gu Li confronted the Faith of the Seven’s demand for repayment and declared that his dynasty would worship only the Supreme God. When the Crone attacked, Tyene sealed her with the Primal Stone’s power, leaving the Faith’s response unresolved.

• Gu Li summoned an ice giant, while Melisandre and Tyene created fire and water giants to silence the crowd outside the Red Keep.
• A Sparrow demanded that Gu Li repay the Faith of the Seven’s million-gold-dragon loan, but Gu Li rejected responsibility for the Baratheons’ debt and threatened to melt the Iron Throne.
• Tyene revealed herself to the Crone as the Maiden, and Gu Li declared the Supreme God the only god of his dynasty and vowed that no sept would rise again in King’s Landing.
• The Crone lost control and summoned a mud giant, which Gu Li’s three elemental giants subdued as Tyene moved to capture her.
• Tyene used the Primal Stone’s power to seal the Crone in a bubble, severing her connection to the Father and making her fleshly body vanish.

The Father gave the High Sparrow divine lightning and sent him with the Sparrows to confront the King in the North at the Red Keep. Gu Li and Teresa won the wounded commoners’ favor with healing and blessings, then persuaded them to disperse before the Sparrows could use them to storm the castle.

• The Father transferred his consciousness into a female Sparrow, gave the High Sparrow divine power over thunder, and told him to bring the King in the North back to the Seven.
• The High Sparrow rallied tens of thousands of Sparrows and led them toward the Red Keep to purge the Other God.
• Gu Li healed the wounded commoners with Healing Magic, while Tyene told him about Aolixilade and suggested she had once tried to use the Primal Stone to create a divine body within a mortal one.
• Tyene, calling herself Teresa, healed a woman’s missing fingers and facial scars with Water Magic and declared that the Supreme God’s blessings would be reserved for believers.
• Gu Li raised Teresa above the crowd with Ice Magic and urged the commoners to go home, and they gradually left instead of joining the Sparrows’ attack.

The High Sparrow led tens of thousands of Sparrows in an assault on the Red Keep, forcing Gu Li, Teresa, Melisandre, Krysalis, and three dragons into a desperate defense. As the Sparrows battered the gate, Daenerys arrived with Jaime, Gold Cloaks, mammoths, and armored giants to reinforce them.

• The High Sparrow’s followers charged the Red Keep, and Gu Li, Melisandre, and Teresa used their elemental powers to fight them and evacuate civilians.
• A believer wielding the Father’s thunder destroyed Gu Li’s Ice Giant and brought down his replacement, while Gu Li charged through the Sparrows toward the High Sparrow.
• Krysalis called three dragons to help Gu Li, but lightning struck them down, so she protected them with fire as they fought from the ground.
• Sparrows circled around the defenders and battered the Red Keep’s gate with a ram until cracks appeared.
• Jaime led more than a thousand Gold Cloaks as Daenerys arrived on a mammoth with giants in Valyrian steel armor and charged the Sparrows.
• Gu Li used blood on the ground to create red Ice Soldiers beside him.

Randyll Tarly learned that the Reach lords would return to defend their lands from Euron Greyjoy, but he kept his oath to Luke Stark and rode toward King's Landing with two thousand cavalry. Gu Li defeated the High Sparrow and scattered the Sparrows, while Baelish prepared to bring the Vale Alliance into the conflict.

• Randyll Tarly learned that the Ironborn had taken Blackcrown and Honeyholt and that the Reach lords planned to return home rather than support the King in the North.
• Randyll Tarly ordered Dickon Tarly to take two thousand cavalry to Horn Hill to protect his mother, then rode toward King's Landing with the remaining two thousand.
• Baelish told Lady Anya Waynwood that the Vale Alliance was its own reinforcement and led the Vale lords out of the Kingswood toward the Roseroad.
• Gu Li attacked the High Sparrow, whose lightning-powered body shattered and exploded, and the Sparrows fled after their leader died.
• Gu Li ordered the northern army to search King's Landing and drive out the Sparrows, then healed the dragons' wings with magic.

Gu Li and his dragons rushed to the fallen Old Gate, where Tyrion had been captured and the Northern Alliance was ambushed by the Westerlands and Vale armies. After rescuing Tyrion and crushing the enemy forces with dragonfire, Gu Li ordered the remaining attackers burned.

• Gu Li healed Krysalis, then learned that all seven gates of King's Landing had fallen and Tyrion had been captured at the Old Gate.
• Gu Li left Jaime, Melisandre, and Little Deer to defend the Red Keep, then flew north with Teresa, Daenerys, and the dragons.
• Qyburn dropped Tyrion from the battlements, but Gu Li rescued him with ice arrows and water as the dragons attacked the Westerlands soldiers on the walls.
• Margaery's Northern Alliance was trapped between twenty thousand hidden Westerlands troops and ten thousand Vale soldiers who betrayed them.
• Krysalis and the Three Dragons devastated the enemy armies with dragonfire, while Baelish fled and Lady Anya Waynwood blamed him for their defeat.
• The Giants Cavalry broke through the Old Gate, and Gu Li ordered his forces to burn every remaining enemy alive.

After a costly victory over the Vale and Westerlands armies, Gu Li rewarded the Northern Lords and ordered the Vale to pay for its betrayal. As the northern nobles prepared to return home and rebuild their forces, Lyanna Mormont offered to stay and help him.

• Four Dragons and sixteen Giants Cavalry turned the battle outside King's Landing into a rout, leaving thirty thousand enemy soldiers dead and fewer than a hundred survivors to spread the news.
• Gu Li ordered Barristan to lead the surviving Northern Alliance troops into the city and sent Gold Cloaks to clear the battlefield.
• At the feast, the Northern Lords announced they would return north, and Gu Li promised each house one million Gold Dragons and ordered them to take fifty thousand commoners home.
• After Countess Barbrey Ryswell protested the Vale's ambush, Gu Li ordered the Vale lords at Duskendale to come to King's Landing and vowed to seize their titles, wealth, and lands.
• Gu Li urged the Northern Lords to rebuild their armies and defend the North against the White Walkers, then Lyanna Mormont offered to stay in King's Landing and help him.

Gu Li rewarded House Mormont by granting it a hereditary place in the Kingsguard after Lyanna chose to serve him instead of accepting Gold Dragons. He then told the Northern Lords about plans to replace the Faith of the Seven and the Citadel, establish magic and dragonrider forces, and eventually create a Rifle Corps.

• Lyanna explained that her sister Alysanne was Bear Island's heir and declared that she wanted to join Gu Li's Kingsguard rather than take a million Gold Dragons.
• Gu Li accepted Lyanna's Valyrian steel dagger and decreed that every king of House Stark must appoint a member of House Mormont to the Kingsguard.
• Gu Li dismissed the servants and told the Northern Lords that the Supreme God Faith Church would replace the Faith of the Seven and the Alchemists' Guild would replace the Citadel.
• Gu Li demonstrated his magic and said that believers might receive blessings, join the Royal Magic Corps, and qualify to become dragonriders.
• The Northern Lords eagerly planned to prepare their children for magic and the future Dragonrider Corps, while Gu Li noted that he also intended to establish a Rifle Corps with firearm blueprints.

Gu Li punished the Vale Lords for their houses’ rebellion while granting House Royce the Eyrie and the Warden of the East title. As kingdoms shifted into rival camps, Tysha departed Pentos for Westeros, Aegon VI took the Stormlands, and Margaery left King's Landing for Highgarden with Lord Mace.

• Gu Li questioned the Vale Lords, appointed Yohn Royce to inherit the Eyrie and become Warden of the East, and ordered the Vale to surrender grain and gold while removing its seat on the Small Council.
• Tysha converted Pentos’s Red God temple into a Supreme God church, appointed a trusted aide as Magister, and sailed for Westeros with Davos, goods, and Dragon Cavalry.
• Aegon VI captured Storm's End, secured the submission of most Stormlands Lords, and proclaimed himself king.
• The Westerlands declared independence under Tommen Baratheon, while the Reach remained at war with the Ironborn and Dorne stayed neutral.
• Margaery discovered Lord Mace’s efforts to undermine Daenerys and took him with her to Highgarden after Gu Li told him to bring her brothers-in-law.

Euron’s fleet and giant squid overwhelmed Highgarden’s defenders, and Asha rescued Willas after his flagship was destroyed. As Willas insisted on returning to Highgarden, a white dragon arrived with Margaery and Teresa, who focused on the squid.

• Asha and Willas discussed retreating as Euron’s fleet prepared to bring its giant squid up the Mander River toward Highgarden.
• When Euron’s fleet attacked, its cannons and the squid devastated Highgarden’s ships, and the squid tore Willas’s flagship apart.
• Asha rescued Willas from the river and urged him to flee with her, but he insisted he needed to destroy Highgarden’s wealth and grain.
• Asha slapped Willas and agreed to return to Highgarden with him before a white dragon descended over the river.
• Margaery entrusted her brother to Teresa, who identified the squid as a heretic and said she wanted to eat it.

Teresa devoured the Drowned God's sea monster while Krysalis destroyed the Ironborn fleet, and Margaery returned to Highgarden with the victors. At the celebration, Sansa learned Rickon had died through blood magic, and Margaery discovered that Garlan had mysteriously disappeared.

• Teresa trapped the giant squid in water, recognized it as an Avatar of the Drowned God, and swallowed it as the Ironborn watched in terror.
• Krysalis burned the Ironborn Longships after cannon fire wounded her, while an unknown figure secretly escaped the flagship into the Mander River.
• Margaery, Teresa, and Krysalis returned to Highgarden, where Willas welcomed them and hosted a victory banquet.
• Asha and Margaery grew closer, while Sansa told Margaery that Euron Greyjoy had taken her blood and learned that Rickon had died from Shadowbinding Magic.
• Margaery learned from Loras that Garlan had vanished after leaving Highgarden alone, apparently radiating a strange light, and said King Luke should be informed.

Loras told Margaery that Willas planned to move House Tyrell’s wealth and grain to King’s Landing, since Highgarden could not withstand Euron Greyjoy’s growing influence. In King’s Landing, Arianne confronted Luke Stark about her missing maid Tyene Sand, and Luke offered her a letter from Prince Doran.

• Loras explained that Willas wanted to transfer Highgarden’s gold and grain to King’s Landing, and Margaery agreed to discuss the plan with their brother.
• Krysalis devoured the kitchens’ roast pigs and fish, then gave the head cook a dragon scale as payment.
• Gu Li struggled to find food for King’s Landing’s remaining residents while Lyanna stood guard in his study.
• Arianne told Luke Stark that Tyene Sand had gone missing and accused him of threatening her maid.
• Luke said Tyene had embraced faith in the Supreme God and offered Arianne Prince Doran’s reply to her letter.

Gu Li rejected Princess Arianne’s marriage terms and held her hostage, demanding that Prince Doran exchange Myrcella Baratheon for her freedom. Meanwhile, King's Landing’s rebuilding continued as the Alchemists' Guild rose to prominence and Bran established a new intelligence network.

• Arianne told Gu Li that Dorne would support him only if he married her as queen, and she argued that Prince Aegon had a stronger claim and greater popular support.
• Gu Li declared that he would not marry Arianne and ordered the Gold Cloaks to hold her in the Maidenvault as a hostage.
• Gu Li demanded that Prince Doran exchange Myrcella Baratheon for Arianne’s freedom, while Arianne insisted her father would refuse.
• Tyrion oversaw the reconstruction of King's Landing and the Supreme God's cathedral as Gu Li used the Red Keep’s food stores to relieve famine.
• Melisandre and Little Deer began running the Alchemists' Guild, which drew attention in King's Landing and interest from northern nobles.
• Bran took office as Master of Whisperers, recruited Varys’s Little Birds, renamed them Little Wolf Pups, and offered them terms for leaving or continuing to serve.

Jaime and Cersei publicly confessed that the Baratheon children were Jaime’s, and Gary stripped the children of their royal status while arranging Jaime’s future. Meanwhile, Randyll Tarly tracked Littlefinger through the Westerlands with help from his servant, and the chapter ended as the servant led him toward the cave where Baelish was hiding.

• Jaime Lannister and Cersei Lannister announced that the three Baratheon children were born of their incestuous relationship, and Gary declared that the children would take the Lannister name and lose their royal status.
• Gary announced that Jaime would renounce his noble status, join the Faith Militant, and marry Brienne in three months, then told Tyrion that he planned to enter a month-long magical experiment.
• Gary appointed Daenerys Targaryen to exercise the king’s authority while Luke Stark was absent.
• Randyll Tarly pursued Littlefinger through the Westerlands after learning of Gary’s bounty, while Baelish’s servant secretly revealed his whereabouts for the reward.
• Randyll Tarly met the servant in the woods, gave him the promised Gold Dragons to inspect, and followed him toward Baelish’s cave.

Randyll Tarly captured Petyr Baelish, who revealed that Euron Greyjoy had a cannon capable of piercing Valyrian steel, but Randyll chose to seek leverage with King Luke instead. As Gary remained secluded, Tyrion managed the realm’s affairs and received Tysha from Pentos, who asked to meet the king.

• Randyll Tarly found Petyr Baelish in a cave, bound him, and learned that Euron Greyjoy had a powerful cannon made with the Citadel’s help.
• Randyll Tarly rejected Baelish’s offer to help fight dragons and brought him to King’s Landing, where Tyrion imprisoned him.
• Tyrion welcomed shipments of money and provisions from the Vale and hosted its nobles while Gary remained secluded.
• Randyll Tarly arrived in King’s Landing and learned Gary would not receive him for another half month.
• Tyrion set aside Margaery’s request for guidance about Highgarden until Gary awoke.
• Davos brought Tysha from Pentos to meet Tyrion, and she asked to be introduced to Gary.