Chapter Summaries

Vito Corleone intervened when Oberyn Martell wounded a Lannister knight at Petyr Baelish’s brothel, then used the incident to establish his composure and ingenuity. After the knight was taken away, Vito declined Oberyn’s sexual invitation and proposed a mutually beneficial business deal, leaving Oberyn interested in hearing him out.

• Oberyn Martell stabbed a Lannister knight after insulting him, while Petyr Baelish tried to prevent the confrontation from escalating.
• Vito Corleone warned Oberyn that the knight would die from blood loss and urged him to avoid the political trouble of killing a Lannister.
• Ellaria Sand persuaded Oberyn to release the dagger, and Vito pulled it free while secretly cutting a tendon in the knight’s thumb.
• Petyr told Captain Geoff to dismiss the injury as an accident during Blade Dance and sent the knight away with the Gold Cloaks.
• Oberyn invited Vito to join him and Ellaria, but Vito declined and proposed a business deal that could benefit them both.

Corleone proposed an entertainment arena and offered to treat Prince Doran Martell’s gout in exchange for Oberyn’s opening performance. Oberyn demanded a Blade Dance instead, and Corleone accepted.

• Corleone described his planned arena, hotel, and casino to Oberyn and asked the prince to perform at its opening.
• Corleone offered to treat Doran’s gout, citing his successful treatment of Jaime Lannister’s infected stump as evidence of his skill.
• Oberyn expressed hatred for the Lannisters and challenged Corleone to a Blade Dance, wagering that Corleone’s right hand would be cut off if he lost.
• Petyr warned Corleone against the duel while emphasizing his ties to Tywin, deepening Oberyn’s hostility.
• Corleone pulled Oberyn’s dagger from the table, flourished it, and accepted the Blade Dance.

Vito Corleone and Oberyn Martell wagered their lives on a game of Blade Dance, with each risking his head. Corleone completed four increasingly fast rounds without looking at his hand and finished with every finger unscathed, leaving Oberyn stunned.

• Oberyn asked Petyr Baelish to referee the Blade Dance wager.
• Corleone raised the stakes, offering his head if he lost, and Oberyn accepted the same risk despite Ellaria's protests.
• Oberyn demonstrated a round of Blade Dance and explained how the game could permanently injure a player's fingers.
• Corleone matched Oberyn's sequence, then continued through three more rounds while explaining how his medical knowledge helped him anticipate the body's reactions to pain.
• Corleone completed the final thrust and showed Oberyn his uninjured hand.

Corleone defeated Oberyn in their knife-speed wager, but spared his life and claimed a favor instead. After leaving the Street of Silk, Corleone went to the Red Keep in response to Tywin’s urgent summons, wondering what awaited him and what he had forgotten.

• Oberyn injured his hand while trying to match Corleone’s speed, then admitted defeat and offered his life under their wager.
• Ellaria tried to protect Oberyn, but he took the dagger from her and accepted the loss; Corleone threw the dagger past Petyr and spared Oberyn, claiming a favor for later.
• After Corleone left, Oberyn embraced Ellaria and silently loosened his grip on the poisoned dagger at his waist.
• Corleone reflected that he wanted Oberyn as a star attraction for his fighting arena, then headed to the Iron Throne hall after Tywin summoned him urgently.
• Corleone bribed the Gold Cloaks captain to announce him, then wondered whether Tywin had heard complaints about his actions and what he had forgotten on the Street of Silk.

Earl Gyles Rosby accused Jaime Lannister of murdering Sven Rosby, and Joffrey eagerly threatened to strip Jaime of his white cloak and send him to the Wall. Tywin restrained Joffrey and heard Ser Addam Marbrand’s defense of Jaime, then revealed that another witness had been found.

• Earl Gyles Rosby demanded justice for Sven Rosby’s death and accused Jaime Lannister of abusing his authority and murder.
• Joffrey fell asleep on the Iron Throne, then woke and declared that he would punish Jaime and send him to the Wall.
• Tywin stopped Joffrey from passing judgment without an investigation and called for Ser Addam Marbrand to report what he knew.
• Ser Addam testified that Sven had taken bribes and tried to arrest a commoner unlawfully, and that Jaime had executed him while enforcing the law.
• Earl Gyles called Ser Addam’s account a lie and accused him of covering for Tywin’s son.
• A Gold Cloaks soldier whispered news to Tywin, who announced that another key witness could provide more direct testimony.

Vito Corleone testified before Joffrey and the Small Council about Captain Sven Rosby, then used a precedent concerning Ser Duncan the Tall to argue that Jaime Lannister had acted within the Kingsguard’s emergency authority. Tywin declared Jaime’s actions justified, but Gyles Rosby rejected the ruling and invoked Jon Arryn, leaving the hall tense as Corleone judged him doomed.

• Tywin summoned Corleone to testify about Sven Rosby’s conduct and Jaime Lannister’s killing of him.
• Corleone described Sven’s alleged bribery and abuses, then admitted he had not witnessed Jaime kill him.
• Corleone cited Ser Duncan the Tall’s precedent to argue that the Kingsguard could intervene when wrongdoing damaged the Iron Throne’s authority.
• Grand Maester Pycelle confirmed the precedent and supported Corleone’s legal argument, while Joffrey and the council listened.
• Tywin ruled that Jaime’s actions had upheld the Iron Throne, but Gyles objected and invoked Jon Arryn, prompting a tense reaction from the hall.

Tywin summoned Vito Corleone after the council and tested his understanding of how order had been established in Flea Bottom. He tasked the Black Hand Mafia with silencing Gyles Rosby, and Corleone pledged to have it done before sunrise.

• Tywin ended the council by dismissing Joffrey and telling Corleone to meet him in the Tower of the Hand.
• Tywin questioned Corleone about his governance of Flea Bottom, and Corleone explained that feeding people, offering safety, and enforcing clear rules had brought order.
• Tywin praised Corleone's potential as a ruler and argued that force was needed to keep people obedient.
• Tywin reminded Corleone of his proposal to provide 'Hands in the Dark' and challenged him to prove the Black Hand Mafia's worth.
• Corleone promised that the Black Hand Mafia would kill Gyles Rosby before the next sunrise.

Corleone asked Tywin to honor his promise to secure Ser Balman Byrch a City Watch position, and Tywin agreed in exchange for news he expected the next morning. Meanwhile, Earl Gyles considered challenging Tywin, but Corleone abducted him and confronted him in his cellar.

• Corleone asked Tywin to arrange a respectable City Watch position for Ser Balman Byrch, explaining that keeping his promise would prove his reliability.
• Tywin agreed to prepare an appointment letter for Balman, conditional on receiving the news he wanted the following morning.
• Tywin reflected on his children's failures and opened a drawer containing a crimson badge marked with the Flayed Man.
• After visiting a sept and donating a thousand Gold Dragons, Gyles returned to his bedchamber and considered seeking allies against Tywin.
• Corleone drugged and abducted Gyles, then confronted him while he was bound and gagged in his own cellar.

Corleone abducted Earl Gyles Rosby and tried to force him to copy a will giving Rosby to Countess Tanda and donating fourteen thousand Gold Dragons to a new poor relief foundation. After Gyles refused and threatened him, Corleone began preparing to torture him, asking, “What is 1000 minus 3?”

• Corleone explained how he had silenced Gyles and presented him with a will to copy.
• Gyles read that he was to leave Rosby to Countess Tanda and donate half the family treasury to the Black Hand Poor Relief Foundation.
• Corleone removed the linen from Gyles's mouth and let him shout, knowing the soundproof cellar would keep anyone from hearing him.
• Gyles tried to bargain and threaten Corleone, but Corleone questioned his sudden religious devotion and said they were all in hell.
• Corleone took out pliers, threatened to teach Gyles about painful nerve points, and asked him what 1000 minus 3 was.

After secretly killing Earl Gyles, Corleone learned that a septon in Flea Bottom was distributing drugged, poisonous medicine alongside food to recruit the hungry into worshipping the Seven. He ordered food supplies for ten thousand people and announced free soup kitchens and clinics, declaring war on the Seven.

• Corleone returned to the House of Order after killing Earl Gyles, washed, and rested before Yego arrived and explained he had searched for him.
• A black cat followed Corleone from the Red Keep and accepted food from him; Corleone called him Balerion.
• Rorge reported that a septon in Fishmonger's Square gave food to the poor in exchange for prayers and distributed a strange medicinal brew that made people feel euphoric.
• Corleone examined residue from the brew and identified amygdalin and lead, concluding that the supposed medicine was poison.
• Corleone ordered Rorge to buy enough food to feed ten thousand people for over a month and demanded the first shipment arrive before sunset.
• Corleone announced free food and medical care in Flea Bottom with no prayers or scripture required, and declared war on the Seven.

Corleone and Yego joined Flea Bottom’s poor as they gathered to hear the High Sparrow preach, and Corleone explained why he wanted to expose the false hope behind the man’s charity. The High Sparrow began stirring the crowd with scripture, while Corleone watched from the edge of the square, disgusted.

• Corleone and Yego disguised themselves as paupers and followed Little Tomi and hundreds of hungry, sick people to Fishmonger's Square.
• Corleone told Yego that the High Sparrow’s poisoned food and medicine, presented as divine grace, exploited suffering, and said he intended to destroy the man’s faith as well as kill him.
• They observed the gathered crowd, including armed Faith Protectors and worshippers who had passed the High Sparrow’s tests and received his supposed divine grace.
• The High Sparrow emerged from a sept, bowed toward the sun, and opened the Seven-Pointed Star on a makeshift platform.
• The High Sparrow quoted scripture and urged the crowd to proclaim their hunger and grief, then declared that the Seven had seen their suffering.
• The crowd wept, knelt, and grew hysterical as Corleone watched with disgust.

Corleone watched the High Sparrow use staged healings, prayer, and rationed food and medicine to stir the poor into religious fervor. When a desperate prostitute begged him to save her sick daughter, the High Sparrow blamed her work for the child’s illness and demanded she publicly confess her sins, leaving her grasping at hope.

• The High Sparrow presented Joseph and Martha as examples of people supposedly healed through devotion, while Corleone suspected their stories and symptoms were manipulated.
• The High Sparrow led the crowd in fervent prayers and distributed bread and medicinal broth according to how earnestly people had participated.
• A woman carrying her feverish daughter asked the High Sparrow to save the child, but he identified the woman as a prostitute and blamed her for the girl’s illness.
• The crowd joined the deputy in condemning the woman, who clutched her daughter and wept as Corleone recognized signs of severe respiratory infection.
• The High Sparrow offered the woman hope of recovery if she repented, then ordered her to confess all her sins before the crowd.

Vito Corleone interrupted the High Sparrow’s public humiliation of a woman and her sick child, denounced the medicine as addictive poison, and announced free food and medical care from the Black Hand Mafia. When the Faith Protectors attacked, Corleone and Yego killed them, but the High Sparrow escaped, and Yego tore out the deputy’s heart.

• The High Sparrow forced a woman to strip, confess her prostitution, and endure the crowd spitting on and beating her before she could receive medicine for her child.
• Corleone arrived, covered the woman with his robe, diagnosed her child with a respiratory infection, and condemned the High Sparrow’s ritual and medicine.
• Corleone identified himself as Vito Corleone and announced a free soup kitchen and clinic run by the House of Order and the Black Hand Mafia.
• The High Sparrow ordered the Faith Protectors to attack, and Corleone and Yego killed the attackers while the High Sparrow escaped into an alley.
• Yego killed the deputy by tearing out his heart, then asked Corleone why he looked surprised, saying Corleone had told him to kill them and remove their hearts.

Corleone brought a woman and her child to the House of Order after confronting the High Sparrow's followers, while Brienne came looking for work and discovered Corleone's hospital. After explaining how the septons had harmed the children in his care, Corleone invited Brienne to help him use the rumors against their source.

• Corleone dispersed the crowd after executing the deputy and told the frightened woman he would save her child; Yego followed him toward Flea Bottom.
• The High Sparrow watched Corleone from an alley, while Brienne lamented Sansa's refusal to leave King's Landing and went to find Corleone on Jaime's advice.
• Brienne heard increasingly wild rumors about Corleone in Flea Bottom and entered the House of Order, where she mistook his surgery on Little Tomi for cruelty.
• Corleone showed Brienne the sick children he was treating and explained that the High Sparrow had used poisoned medicine on children who could have been saved.
• Brienne offered to help, and Corleone proposed letting the rumor-spreaders return to their allies so they could catch them all in one net.

The High Sparrow led 120 Faith Protectors into the Great Sept of Baelor, hoping to seize power during a supposed High Septon election. Corleone’s trap crushed the uprising, leaving the High Sparrow surrounded by Lannister forces.

• The High Sparrow’s followers reported that people were abandoning them for the food, medicine, and aid provided by Vito Corleone’s House of Order, so he ordered them to spread rumors against Corleone.
• The High Sparrow learned that the High Septon had suffered a stroke and planned to lead 120 Faith Protectors in seizing the Sept during a supposed election.
• The Faith Protectors entered the Sept and surrounded the seven archseptons and twelve senior septons, and the High Sparrow demanded that they elect him High Septon.
• Crossbow bolts struck the Faith Protectors, and the disguised septons revealed their Lannister armor as Gold Cloaks and soldiers poured into the Sept.
• Corleone entered after the Faith Protectors were defeated and told the High Sparrow, whom he called Marlos, that his place in the game of thrones was to polish Corleone’s shoes.

Corleone defeated the High Sparrow by exposing his origins and revealing how he had built influence through favors, justice, and practical help. The High Sparrow was left broken and captured, while Corleone warned that his trial was only beginning.

• The High Sparrow recalled how envy and hardship had shaped him into a barefoot preacher who used staged miracles and suffering to gain power.
• The High Sparrow accused Corleone of deceiving Ser Calay, but Corleone revealed that he had secured justice for Calay’s son and that Calay had killed the offending septon.
• Corleone explained that his favors had won the loyalty of the City Watch, the Lannisters, and members of the Faith, leaving the High Sparrow without allies.
• Corleone accused the High Sparrow of pursuing power rather than serving the Seven and condemned him as a cobbler who had used hallucinogens to manipulate people.
• The High Sparrow collapsed in defeat as Corleone announced that his trial would continue and that the exposed troublemakers in Flea Bottom had helped Corleone clear them out.

Ser Balman Byrch helped Corleone eliminate gangs and conspirators who had targeted the House of Order, while Corleone ordered the porridge kitchens to keep serving Flea Bottom. As dawn approached, captured Faith Protectors began naming more accomplices, and Corleone’s violent campaign to establish order continued.

• Balman gathered Flea Bottom gang leaders, denounced Vito Corleone, and invited them to join a plot against him.
• Balman stabbed Cleftjaw Togge and shot another gang boss, revealing that the gathering was a trap for Corleone’s forces.
• Rorge and his men entered the tavern, and similar killings took place at seven other locations across Flea Bottom and nearby districts.
• Yego reported that eighteen people had been killed, while Rorge told Corleone that Lady Brienne had taken action and disliked it.
• Corleone ordered Rorge to keep the porridge kitchens running and said people would trust those who kept their promises.
• Four captured Faith Protectors confessed in the City Watch dungeons, and their names led to more arrests and killings.

The High Sparrow was sentenced to the Seven-Day Holy Judgment, but died during the fourth day's punishment. Several days later, Jaime visited Corleone at the House of Order and revealed that Robb Stark was dead.

• The High Septon announced seven punishments for Marlos, and Marlos welcomed them as a divine trial before the first punishment began.
• Corleone told Yego that Marlos would not survive the punishments, and the High Sparrow died on the fourth day before his body was thrown into the sea.
• At the House of Order, Corleone enjoyed breakfast while Brienne trained young men and the refuge's work continued toward completion.
• Jaime visited Corleone and said Cersei wanted to see him.
• Jaime told Corleone that Robb Stark was dead.

On the way to the Red Keep, Corleone discussed the Red Wedding and Jaime’s efforts to train with his left hand, earning Jaime’s trust and confidence. Cersei then asked Corleone to find a way to end her betrothal to Ser Loras Tyrell.

• Jaime told Corleone that Robb Stark and Catelyn had been killed at the Red Wedding and condemned the violation of guest right.
• Jaime said Tywin had known about the plot, and Corleone recognized the kind of justification Tywin had given him.
• Jaime explained that Bronn was training him to fight with his left hand, and Corleone encouraged him to focus on practical skills.
• Jaime confided in Corleone about the troubles in King's Landing and warned him that Cersei was under pressure.
• Cersei met Corleone in Maegor's Holdfast and asked him to ruin her betrothal to Ser Loras Tyrell.

Cersei asked Vito Corleone to stop her arranged marriage to Loras Tyrell, and he claimed he had several ways to ruin it. He refused to name his price until she offered more, leaving their bargain poised to begin.

• Cersei pressed Corleone to help her escape the marriage Tywin arranged with Loras Tyrell.
• Corleone said he could ruin the marriage in several ways but asked why he should risk angering Tywin and House Tyrell.
• Cersei offered Corleone gold, a title, land, and power in exchange for his help.
• Corleone claimed loyalty to Tywin, making Cersei believe he would refuse her.
• Corleone grinned and told Cersei she would have to pay extra.