Chapter Summaries

Clay tore the magical thread binding Bran to the Heart Tree and was pulled into a historical memory of the throne room, where he encountered Brynden Rivers, the Three-Eyed Crow. Brynden asked Clay to stop interfering with him, the Heart Tree, and Bran.

• Clay pulled on the magic thread beyond the hall until it snapped, causing the magic around Bran to wither away.
• A voice called Clay an agent of a foreign god, and a powerful force dragged him from Winterfell's hall.
• Clay raised a Quen shield and met a one-eyed, withered figure in a throne room containing the Iron Throne and dragon bones.
• Clay realized he was inside a memory of the past and recognized the figure as Brynden Rivers, the Three-Eyed Crow.
• Brynden told Clay that he had brought him there to ask him to stop interfering with the Heart Tree and Bran.

Clay met the Three-Eyed Crow in the throne room and learned why he wanted Bran as his successor and agent against rival gods. The Three-Eyed Crow offered Clay a dragon egg in exchange for leaving Bran alone, but Clay refused to accept all his terms.

• Clay realized the Three-Eyed Crow had guided Bran to discover Jaime and Cersei together, then asked what he wanted with Bran.
• The Three-Eyed Crow offered to put Clay on the Iron Throne if Clay granted the North independence, but Clay doubted his power to do so.
• The Three-Eyed Crow proposed a bargain: Clay would stop interfering with Bran, and in return he could request one favor; Clay asked for a dragon egg and a way to hatch it.
• The Three-Eyed Crow agreed to send the egg to Clay at White Harbor and explained that Bran was the best candidate to succeed him as an agent of his god.
• The Three-Eyed Crow described the threat posed by the Great Other and R'hllor, and Clay said he could not accept all the proposed terms.

Clay struck a bargain with the Three-Eyed Crow, gaining access to the magic of the North’s weirwoods while allowing Bran to remain under its influence. He left Winterfell with Earl Wyman and returned to White Harbor.

• Clay demanded access to the magic in the North’s weirwoods and restated his previous terms to the Three-Eyed Crow.
• The Three-Eyed Crow agreed, warning Clay not to draw too much magic from the weirwoods, and told him he could make contact by touching one.
• Clay returned to Winterfell’s great hall, released Bran, and accepted Duke Stark and his wife’s farewell.
• Earl Wyman praised Clay as they left Winterfell and recalled how his guards had forced the queen’s men to let them pass.
• Clay and Earl Wyman traveled south along the White Knife River and reached White Harbor a week later.

After returning to White Harbor, Clay reunited with his sisters and settled back into House Manderly life. At dinner, Earl Wyman announced that Eddard Stark would go to King's Landing as Hand of the King, while Clay reflected on the small changes he had made in Winterfell.

• Clay rode through White Harbor and returned to the New Castle ahead of Earl Wyman.
• Clay met Wynafryd at the castle entrance and persuaded her to come inside before their grandfather arrived.
• Clay recalled how Wynafryd and Wylla took turns frustrating Earl Wyman with their contrasting temperaments.
• At dinner, Earl Wyman told Clay that Eddard Stark had agreed to serve as Hand of the King and that his daughters would accompany him.
• Clay thought about how he had prevented Bran from falling from the Broken Tower and believed that small changes could eventually alter larger events.

Clay considered how to use his new position as White Harbor’s heir to prepare for political upheaval and build a witcher force. He resolved to seek Earl Wyman’s support the next day, while leaving the dangerous question of accepting a Dragon Egg unresolved.

• Clay surveyed White Harbor at night and recognized the Lazy Eel from his memories.
• Earl Wyman told Clay that Wylis Manderly’s poor health meant Clay needed to begin learning to manage White Harbor as its heir.
• Clay planned to monitor events in King’s Landing, expand his potions, and seek Earl Wyman’s backing to train a squad of witchers.
• Clay considered strengthening his own Signs if he could not assemble a witcher squad, and worried about the dangers and rewards of accepting the Three-Eyed Crow’s Dragon Egg.
• Clay decided to speak with Earl Wyman alone the next day and win his support for developing his witcher abilities.

Clay met the Manderly cadets gathered at White Harbor so he could choose men to train as his personal guards. He learned that Lord Wyman would soon preside over his knighting ceremony, and he began by having the candidates state their names.

• Ser Marlon Manderly brought Clay to the castle courtyard, where Manderly cadets had gathered to meet their lord's heir.
• Ser Marlon told Clay to choose attendants from among the cadets and explained that Lord Wyman would knight him in a few days.
• Clay observed the assembled men and learned that their families hoped selection would improve their fortunes.
• Ser Marlon ordered the cadets into formation, and Clay had them introduce themselves by name.
• Clay stopped Rysda Manderly from listing his family connections and continued down the line without offering the candidates personal encouragement.

Clay tested the Manderly candidates for his personal guard by challenging them to display their swordsmanship, defeating ten men in quick succession. Earl Wyman arrived to see Clay’s skill firsthand, and Clay prepared to explain why he had summoned him.

• Clay asked Ser Marlon whether he recommended any of the forty-two candidates, but Ser Marlon left the choice entirely to him.
• Clay told the candidates that he wanted a personal guard willing to charge enemy formations and challenged anyone afraid to draw a sword to leave.
• One candidate stepped forward, and Clay fought ten Manderly men, defeating each of them within three moves without being struck.
• Earl Wyman arrived at the training yard and watched Clay defeat an armored opponent with a swift winding move.
• Clay greeted his grandfather and prepared to explain why he had called him there.

Clay told Earl Wyman that Petyr Baelish had arranged an assassination attempt to provoke conflict between the Starks and Lannisters. He explained how he planned to use the assassin against Petyr, then revealed his magic to prove the man would obey.

• Clay told Earl Wyman that Petyr Baelish had sent an assassin to kill him and frame the Lannisters.
• Clay explained that he had subdued the assassin, learned Petyr's identity, and let the man go rather than trigger the conflict Petyr wanted.
• Clay said he had made the assassin send Petyr a raven claiming Clay was dead, so news of Clay's survival would expose the assassin as a liar.
• Earl Wyman questioned how Clay could be sure the assassin would send the raven, and Clay demonstrated his magic by casting Igni.

Clay persuaded Earl Wyman to support secretly training warriors with magical Signs for House Manderly. Wyman agreed to invest in the plan, and Clay’s effort to create a new force for White Harbor began.

• Clay claimed he had learned Signs from a Valyrian tome and had memorized its contents before destroying it.
• Clay asked Earl Wyman to help him secretly train a force of warriors like himself.
• Clay demonstrated Quen, Yrden, Aard, and Axii by deflecting a sword, slowing Wyman, smashing a weapons rack, and calming a horse.
• Earl Wyman recognized the warriors’ potential for sabotage, assassination, and battlefield disruption and decided House Manderly should form a squad.
• Clay assured Wyman that he had not revealed his abilities to anyone, and Wyman agreed to support the plan.

Clay and Earl Wyman discussed selecting loyal, quick-learning candidates and gathering supplies to create more witchers. Earl Wyman pledged fifty thousand gold dragons to begin funding the effort.

• Clay told Earl Wyman that the candidates should be chosen for their ability to learn, and Earl Wyman agreed to have others screen suitable people from House Manderly's collateral branches.
• Clay listed the ingredients needed for the transformation potion and said he would handle its final synthesis to keep the process secret.
• Clay asked Earl Wyman to arrange painkillers because the transformation was painful.
• Clay considered obtaining dragonbone but decided it was too risky and difficult to retrieve from King's Landing.
• Earl Wyman offered fifty thousand gold dragons to start and promised to provide more as needed.

Clay reviewed his plans to improve his fighting ability and focused on the Witcher system’s potion formulas. After inspecting four potions, he decided that gathering ingredients and building strength would be his priority, while leaving the story with him alone in his room, considering his next steps.

• Clay considered swords, bombs, Signs, and other Witcher tools, then decided to focus on potions.
• Earl Wyman left to mobilize the family’s procurement teams, while Ser Marlon was tasked with vetting the forty-two recruits and rejecting at least half.
• Clay returned to his room, opened the Witcher system, and examined the formulas for Thunderbolt, Swallow, Cat, and Blizzard potions.
• Clay recognized that the potions could greatly improve his combat abilities but that their combined toxicity could overwhelm his current resistance.
• Clay decided to seek the ingredients himself and prioritize building strength as the coming age of chaos approached.

Clay accompanied Maester Theomore to deliver a raven letter from Winterfell to Earl Wyman, and learned that the maester was a Lannister whom his family distrusted. Earl Wyman opened the letter and began reading it aloud, but its contents were not revealed.

• Clay and Maester Theomore climbed the Sea Tower stairs to bring Winterfell's letter to Earl Wyman.
• Clay noticed that the Manderly guards seemed wary of Maester Theomore and that they treated Clay more warmly after the maester left.
• Earl Wyman asked whether Theomore had accompanied Clay, then warned Clay to keep his dealings with the maester to a minimum.
• Earl Wyman revealed that Maester Theomore was a Lannister and said he did not trust him.
• Earl Wyman unfolded the letter from Winterfell and began reading it aloud.

Clay learned from Earl Wyman that House Manderly maintained spies in Winterfell and King's Landing, and that King Robert had appointed Eddard Stark as Hand because he had no viable alternative. Earl Wyman then offered Clay command of the Manderly spy force, the White Sea.

• Clay told Earl Wyman that Robb Stark resembled his father but acted more impulsively.
• Clay explained that Robert chose Eddard as Hand because of their friendship and the alliance among the great houses.
• Earl Wyman said Eddard had been Robert's only choice, since refusing would have pushed the king toward the Lannisters.
• Earl Wyman revealed that House Manderly had spies in Winterfell and King's Landing, and that the Boltons also had a spy force.
• Earl Wyman named the Manderly force the White Sea and asked Clay to become its commander.

Earl Wyman warned Clay that, as House Manderly’s only heir, his actions and choices affected the family and White Harbor’s future. He told Clay to visit the Twins and consider a politically useful marriage, leaving Clay resigned to the duty while privately imagining a more powerful match.

• Earl Wyman scolded Clay for acting without considering House Manderly’s interests and ordered him to consult the family in the future.
• Clay admitted he had not understood the responsibilities of being House Manderly’s heir and promised to seek the family’s counsel.
• Earl Wyman told Clay that House Frey had invited him to the Twins for Lord Walder Frey’s child’s Name Day and had considered marrying him to a Frey girl.
• Earl Wyman advised Clay to attend the invitation out of respect for the Twins’ strategic importance, but not to pursue a Frey marriage.
• Clay accepted that he had little choice in the matter and privately thought about Daenerys Targaryen and Margaery Tyrell as possible future matches.

Clay reviewed White Harbor’s intelligence on House Frey and learned that he would take command of the White Sea Guard before traveling to the Twins in five days. He left with the trip planned, still unsure whether the Three-Eyed Crow would send Hodor with the Dragon Egg while he was away.

• The old man gave Clay a booklet on House Frey and told him to meet the former White Sea Guard commander before leaving for the Twins.
• Clay read about Walder Frey, his family, and three possible marriage candidates, including two named Walda Frey.
• The old man explained the White Sea Guard’s reach and rejected Clay’s suggestion that it recruit locals.
• The old man set Clay’s departure for the Twins in five days and promised to provide a cover story.
• Clay wondered whether his trip would interfere with the Three-Eyed Crow’s promised delivery of the Dragon Egg by Hodor.

Clay was summoned back to New Castle to meet the twenty Manderly cadets who had passed the selection for his personal guard. He ordered them to train with the White Harbor Guard and learn to write, beginning his search for capable men to become the first witchers.

• Ser Marlon told Clay that Lord Wyman had selected the candidates and wanted him back at New Castle.
• Clay returned to the training yard and inspected the twenty remaining Manderly cadets.
• Clay questioned the cadets about their role and told them he valued independent judgment as much as loyalty.
• Clay assigned the cadets to the White Harbor Guard and ordered them to learn to write a letter within a month, warning that he would dismiss those who failed or cheated.

Clay recruited twenty Manderly cadet-branch men for the White Harbor Guard and earned their respect by listening to their experiences and ideas. After dinner, Wynafryd asked him to refuse any marriage proposal from House Frey when he went to the Twins.

• Clay listened to the twenty cadet-branch men describe their backgrounds and discussed their ideas about past battles.
• Clay ended the conversation, and the White Harbor Guard escorted him away as a captain took the new recruits to eat.
• At dinner, Earl Wyman asked Clay whether the recruits met his requirements, while Wendel offered to find veterans for Clay's personal guard.
• Earl Wyman told Wendel to focus on the army's equipment and said he would handle Clay's guard.
• Wynafryd took Clay into the garden and asked him to reject any Frey who proposed marriage to her.

Clay reassured Wynafryd that he would reject a Frey betrothal and realized Earl Wyman had delayed her marriage to protect House Manderly’s succession. The next day, Clay met Ser Bartimus, the former commander of the White Sea Guard, and Wyman sent them off together to show Clay the bloodied realities behind White Harbor.

• Clay promised Wynafryd he would refuse any Frey match, and she explained that Wyman had never discussed her betrothal before Clay returned.
• Clay reasoned that Wyman had kept Wynafryd unbetrothed to prevent another house from gaining control of White Harbor if disaster struck the Manderlys.
• Wyman summoned Clay to his study, where Clay met the one-eyed, lame Ser Bartimus, former commander of the White Sea Guard.
• Wyman named Clay as his heir and Bartimus’s successor, then ordered Bartimus to take Clay to see his territory and the blood behind White Harbor.

Clay visited the Wolf's Den, House Manderly's prison and White Sea Guard headquarters, where Ser Bartimus introduced him to the Guard's network and handed over command. Clay became the new commander and prepared to take charge of its five regional stewards.

• Clay rode with Ser Bartimus into the Wolf's Den and learned that it served as White Harbor's prison and the White Sea Guard's headquarters.
• Ser Bartimus stopped Clay from touring the prison until their handover was complete.
• Clay saw the Guard's raven-message room and learned that it compiled reports from thirty-four locations across several regions.
• Ser Bartimus introduced Clay to the five chief stewards responsible for those regions.
• Ser Bartimus gave Clay the command ring and announced that Clay Manderly was the new commander of the White Sea Guard.

Clay put on a ring that identified him as the White Sea Guard’s new superior, then heard reports from the five regional overseers about their intelligence networks. He ordered a report on House Frey ahead of his upcoming visit, while the roundup revealed the guard’s difficulties gathering intelligence in several regions.

• Ser Bartimus left the meeting room after ordering the overseers to report their work and news to Clay.
• Snow reported the White Sea Guard’s spy network in the North and promised to compile intelligence from the king’s stay at Winterfell.
• Rivers reported that Lord Hoster Tully was near death and that a House Frey offspring had fled the Twins before being captured and hanged.
• Clay asked Rivers for a summary of House Frey’s major events over the past five years, to be delivered within a day.
• Hill reported that the White Sea Guard struggled to infiltrate the Westerlands and the Vale, while its agents faced heavy losses in King's Landing.