Chapter Summaries

Leon left King's Landing for the Wendwater with royal backing and Kingsguard escorts, then began reforming the neglected district. After facing failed roadwork and resistance from House Wendwater, he wrote to Tyrion for help investigating the family's allies.

• Tywin agreed to provide Leon with craftsmen and funds for the Wendwater, warned him to serve the family, and ordered Tyrion to investigate wildfire production and Qarlton's accounts in King's Landing.
• Ser Barristan Selmy and Ser Oswell Whent escorted Leon to the Wendwater, where he promised the farmers a lower harvest tax, paid labor for local construction, and interest-free winter wheat seed.
• Leon adapted the roadwork to the muddy terrain by proposing woven reed and willow mats beneath the roadbed, then offered extra pay for extended labor.
• Ham Wendwater challenged Leon's authority and demanded the old taxes owed to his family, but Barristan backed the royal decree and Ham withdrew.
• Leon wrote to Tyrion asking him to investigate House Wendwater's supporters and oversee the arrival of pearl-glaze ore, while deciding not to retreat from the risks of his plans.

Leon organized road construction and overcame theft and intimidation while building the villagers’ trust, then oversaw a new dock, warehouses, and agricultural improvements in Wendwater. As suspicious ships searched the coast for something beneath the sea, Leon recognized that a larger contest had begun and prepared for what might come before the autumn harvest.

• Leon organized the farmers into five districts, built a road that withstood spring rain, and used a letter threatening royal intervention to make House Wendwater return stolen timber.
• When strangers threatened the villagers and caused a strike, Leon paid the workers anyway, promised extra coppers, and brought them back to work the following morning.
• Leon and Tyrion discussed King’s Landing, Pudding Face’s intelligence network, and the growing danger around the Mad King; Leon gave Tyrion one hundred gold dragons and told him to focus on Chelsted and Prince Rhaegar.
• Leon designed a new dock and warehouses, secured Aerys’s permission to use remnant timber, and watched the villagers celebrate the project’s progress with him.
• After suspicious ships returned to the river mouth, Leon asked Barristan how someone might search the seabed, suspecting they were looking for the same sunken object he had marked on his chart.

Leon received a royal summons to attend the tourney at Harrenhal, where Aerys II specifically wanted to see his pale violet eyes. As Leon traveled toward Harrenhal, Maester Loomis revealed a possible link between Leon and Tyrion’s eyes and Shiera Seastar, while hidden pursuers followed the convoy through the Kingswood.

• A royal herald delivered Aerys II’s decree ordering Leon to accompany Tywin to the tourney at Harrenhal, along with a personal message from the king about Leon’s purple eyes.
• Leon read Tywin’s orders to travel to Harrenhal and heard Loomis explain that a Seastar descendant had joined a Lannister cadet branch, possibly linking Leon and Tyrion’s unusual eyes to Shiera Seastar.
• Loomis warned Leon that Harrenhal might stir ancient bloodline visions and that he should not answer any voices he heard there.
• Leon left the Wendwater after promising its villagers he would return, and he entrusted the settlement to Loomis with guards remaining behind.
• At a Kingswood farmhouse, Leon sensed trained people following the convoy and told Thea to alert Barristan without revealing that they had been detected.

Leon’s convoy was attacked by the Kingswood Brotherhood, and he fought alongside Jaime before the Kingsguard arrived. After the battle, the Kingsguard discovered the bandits had been sent by Simon Toyne to capture Leon, leaving him under their protection and questioning his unnerving calm after his first kill.

• Leon learned that the Kingswood Brotherhood had grown more active as his convoy entered their territory, and Barristan mentioned that the Kingsguard were nearby.
• The Brotherhood ambushed the convoy at dusk, and Leon used [Eye of Insight] to guide his guards before fighting several attackers himself.
• Gerold Hightower, Arthur Dayne, Jon Darry, and Jaime Lannister arrived and turned the battle against the Brotherhood; Leon and Jaime fought together to defeat the remaining attackers.
• Arthur found a letter ordering the bandits to capture Leon, especially the violet-eyed one, for five thousand gold dragons, and identified Simon Toyne as the one behind the order.
• Gerold placed Leon under the Kingsguard’s direct protection until Harrenhal, while Jaime told Leon that he had vomited after his first kill and warned that feeling nothing could mean he was no longer human.

Leon Lannister joined Tywin and Tyrion at the camp by the Gods Eye, where they discussed the royal tournament, political maneuvering, and attacks on the Stark party. After Robert Baratheon arrived and Cersei threatened Leon over his appearance, Leon spotted Lyanna Stark across the camp as trouble gathered around Harrenhal.

• Leon reported to Tywin that he had fought bandits, then outlined how he planned to observe the great houses and cultivate ties with their overlooked members.
• Tyrion told Tywin that wildfire stockpiles threatened King's Landing and that Chelsted had secret accounts in Braavos, while Pudding Face provided account details.
• Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon arrived, and Robert loudly praised Leon's beauty before inviting him to Storm's End to learn the warhammer.
• Jaime reported that Stark's party had suffered three suspicious incidents on the road, and Tywin ordered his sons to investigate and prepare for trouble at Harrenhal.
• Cersei confronted Leon over Robert's remarks and threatened him, but Leon stayed calm and later saw Lyanna Stark watching the Lannister camp.

Leon arrived at Harrenhal and sensed whispers within the castle as the Kingsguard discovered that the Kingswood Brotherhood had infiltrated it to capture him. Jaime pursued the infiltrators, helped capture Simon Toyne, and was knighted by Arthur Dayne, but Toyne’s warning and Leon’s questions left Jaime uncertain whether he had chosen his path himself.

• Leon arrived at Harrenhal with the Lannisters and sensed a lingering presence in its walls.
• The Kingsguard discovered Brotherhood agents posing as servants and learned that Simon Toyne wanted to capture Leon, especially because of his purple eyes.
• Jaime chased Brotherhood members into the woods, fought them, and was rescued by Arthur Dayne, Gerold Hightower, and Jon Darry.
• The Kingsguard and Jaime tracked the Brotherhood to an abandoned fishing village and captured Simon Toyne, after which Arthur knighted Jaime.
• Simon Toyne warned Jaime that he had protected someone who should not have been protected, and Leon later challenged Jaime to question whether he had chosen his path freely.

Jaime was sworn into the Kingsguard at the tourney’s opening, breaking Tywin’s plans and leaving Tyrion as heir. After speaking with Rhaegar about his unusual purple eyes and an ancient legend, Leon returned to Harrenhal knowing that his meeting with the king would begin a new and dangerous chapter.

• Leon and Tyrion joined their family at the tourney grounds, where nobles watched Leon because rumors about his purple eyes had spread.
• Aerys announced that Jaime had been appointed to the Kingsguard, and Jaime swore his oath before the assembled nobles.
• Aerys summoned Leon to continue reading books about dragons, fire, and purple, drawing the crowd’s attention to him.
• Tywin told Leon that Jaime’s oath had ruined his marriage plans and made Tyrion his heir, and admitted that relinquishing his authority as Hand had let Aerys appoint Jaime.
• Leon met Rhaegar at the Lavender Tavern, where Rhaegar spoke of a legend about purple flames and told Leon to prepare for changes after Harrenhal.
• Leon heard Jaime crying in his room, then walked back with Tyrion as he anticipated meeting the king the next day.

At the Tourney at Harrenhal, Leon watched Aerys’s fear of Jaime lead him to send the young Kingsguard back to King’s Landing, crushing Jaime’s hopes of competing. Robert and Brandon fought to a draw, and Lyanna Stark secretly competed as the Knight of the Laughing Tree, drawing Rhaegar’s attention and leaving Leon uneasy about the glances between them.

• Leon saw that Aerys feared Jaime, while the previous night the king had realized he had placed Tywin’s son close behind him after appointing him to the Kingsguard.
• Aerys ordered Jaime to leave Harrenhal for King’s Landing instead of competing, and Jaime departed after sharing a painful look with Tywin and a brief exchange with Leon.
• Tywin stood apart in silence as Leon told Tyrion that their father knew Jaime’s appointment had been meant to humiliate him.
• Brandon Stark and Robert Baratheon jousted through five passes, then fought with sword and warhammer until the match ended in a draw.
• Leon noticed Rhaegar watching Lyanna, who briefly met Leon’s gaze before disappearing into the crowd.
• Lyanna, disguised as the Knight of the Laughing Tree, defeated Ser Walder Frey, and the crowd cheered as Rhaegar watched her.

Leon learned from Oberyn Martell that he and Tyrion were descendants of Shiera Seastar, whose bloodline had awakened in both brothers. After Varys revealed that he had tested Leon and warned him that Volantis was hunting the purple-eyed bloodline, Leon was left to consider the danger surrounding them.

• Leon confronted Oberyn Martell, who invited him to meet alone at Harrenhal's old stables while Tyrion promised to follow secretly.
• Oberyn showed Leon a portrait of Shiera Seastar and explained that Malaquo Maegyr sought her descendants and had arranged the ambush on Leon.
• Oberyn told Leon that both he and Tyrion inherited Shiera's bloodline through Joanna Lannister, and Leon confirmed Tyrion's black eye showed purple in the light.
• Leon asked Tyrion what he would do if they were more than Lannisters, and Tyrion insisted that they would always be Lannisters.
• Varys visited Leon, revealed that his agents had tested Leon on the road, and warned him to hide Tyrion's purple-tinged eye from Volantis.

Leon watched Rhaegar Targaryen defeat every jousting opponent and crown Lyanna Stark Queen of Love and Beauty, shocking the assembled houses and fueling anger among Robert Baratheon, Brandon Stark, and others. At the banquet, Tywin warned Leon about the cost of power, while the blue roses and Harrenhal’s whispers foreshadowed bloodshed.

• Lyanna Stark disappeared as the Knight of the Laughing Tree, and King Aerys’s search failed while Leon recognized her in the Stark stands.
• Rhaegar Targaryen defeated Yohn Royce, Jon Darry, Barristan Ser Selmy, Brandon Stark, the Kingsguard knights, and Arthur Dayne to win the joust.
• Rhaegar presented the crown of blue winter roses to Lyanna Stark instead of Elia Martell, provoking shock and fury among the watching nobles.
• At the banquet, Tywin told Leon that power brought loss, and Leon reflected on the hatred Rhaegar had invited with his choice.
• Leon left for Harrenhal in the darkness as its ancient whispers called the season a False Spring.

After the tourney, Leon took Tyrion to the Wendwater and prepared for the turmoil surrounding Lyanna’s disappearance and the search for the Dragon Egg. When a suspicious ship approached, Leon chose to confront the visitors rather than wait, and sent for help from Tywin and Varys.

• Leon watched the great houses depart Harrenhal, then stood up to Cersei when she accused him of drawing attention away from her.
• Leon persuaded Tywin to let Tyrion accompany him to the Wendwater, where they discussed the coming conflict and Leon’s plan to investigate the Dragon Egg.
• Maester Loomis told Leon that ships flying Volantis’s flag had asked about him and his purple eyes before heading toward the Stepstones.
• Leon offered Tyrion thirty percent of the Wendwater’s tax revenue to gather intelligence on Volantis, and Tyrion sent three letters to his informants.
• A blue-flagged ship approached the Wendwater, so Leon ordered Thea to prepare the villagers and told Tyrion and Sandor to meet the visitors with him.
• Leon wrote to Tywin and Varys for support, then declared that he would stand as the approaching ship drew near.

Leon received House Maegyr’s offer to support him if he confirmed his descent from Shiera Seastar, then sailed to Massey's Hook and recovered a fossilized Dragon Egg. He returned to the Wendwater and kept the discovery secret, leaving only Tyrion, Thea, and possibly Loomis aware of it.

• A Volantene envoy offered Leon wealth, armies, and a domain in exchange for confirming his descent from Shiera Seastar, and Leon read Malaquo Maegyr’s letter about his bloodline.
• As war loomed after the Mad King killed Rickard and Brandon Stark, Leon and Tyrion discussed the rebels’ plans and the importance of the Riverlands.
• Pudding Face reported that fishermen knew of a shipwreck near Massey's Hook, and Leon sailed there with Thea and the crew while Tyrion stayed behind.
• Leon followed a faint call among the reefs, found a patterned stone egg, and saw visions that linked its awakening to blood and fire.
• Leon paid the fishermen to keep quiet, returned to the Wendwater, and showed Tyrion the fossilized Dragon Egg.
• Leon decided to hide the egg and limit knowledge of it to himself, Tyrion, Thea, and possibly Loomis.

After the rebellion began, Leon led a group south from the Wendwater but was intercepted by Robert Baratheon’s army near Summerhall. Leon used his Eye of Insight to guide Robert through victories over Cafferen, Grandison, and Fell, then learned Robert planned to return to Storm’s End before heading west to confront the Reach.

• Leon burned news that Robert had raised his banners and Ned Stark had marched south, then decided to take willing followers from the Wendwater toward Highgarden.
• A week later, scouts intercepted Leon’s party near Grassy Vale and escorted Leon and Tyrion to Robert’s camp at Summerhall.
• Leon read a captured knight’s thoughts and advised Robert to strike Cafferen first, allowing Robert’s army to defeat Cafferen and then secure Grandison’s surrender.
• Leon revealed Fell’s route, and Robert defeated Fell in battle and captured his son, Silveraxe.
• Robert celebrated his victories with the former enemy lords, while Tyrion warned Leon not to let Robert treat him as a replaceable tool.
• Robert announced that he would return to Storm’s End with his new allies, leave Stannis and Renly there, and then march west toward Ashford to face the Reach.

Leon and Tyrion warned Robert that Randyll Tarly’s disciplined Reach vanguard would be dangerous, but Robert’s army was routed at Ashford before the Tyrell main force arrived. Robert retreated after Tyrion and Leon confronted him, and the battered survivors reached Stoney Sept as another battle approached.

• Robert ordered Leon to stay with his army, and Leon and Tyrion joined the march toward Ashford.
• Leon and Tyrion warned Robert that Randyll Tarly was an experienced commander, so Robert agreed to advance steadily and finish the battle quickly.
• Randyll Tarly’s forces encircled and divided Robert’s army, killing Earl Cafferen as the fighting turned against the Stormlands.
• Leon and Tyrion urged Robert to retreat when the Tyrell main force arrived, and Robert ordered the withdrawal after Thea was wounded and Tyrion reminded him of the men depending on him.
• Robert’s battered army escaped to an unnamed river, where Leon learned Thea would survive and Robert admitted he had nearly gotten his men killed.
• Three days later, the survivors reached Stoney Sept as Jon Connington’s royalist army approached and the forces of Eddard Stark and Hoster Tully drew near.

After Robert was wounded, Leon and his companions took refuge in Stoney Sept’s Peach inn while Robert recovered. When Connington’s army surrounded the town and discovered Robert’s hiding place, Stark and Tully forces attacked, and Leon and Robert rushed into the battle.

• Routed loyalists attacked Robert’s army on the road to Stoney Sept, and Robert was wounded before Leon led the group into town.
• Leon brought Robert to the Peach, where Bella treated his wound and the group stayed while he recovered.
• Robert secretly visited the inn’s workers as he healed, while Leon watched the townsfolk and learned Connington’s scouts had found Stoney Sept.
• Connington’s army surrounded the town, but its residents helped hide Robert, Leon, and Tyrion during the search.
• Bella told Leon that Robert had been found at the Peach, where Robert prepared to fight his way out with Leon.
• Church bells rang as Stark and Tully forces fought their way into Stoney Sept, and Robert and Leon charged into the street.

Leon and Robert fought their way through Stoney Sept, where Robert defeated Jon Connington’s forces but let Connington escape. After Aerys exiled Connington and began plotting to burn King’s Landing with wildfire, the rebel army marched north toward Riverrun and the Trident.

• As bells rang across Stoney Sept, Leon fought beside Robert and helped him kill Myles Mooton, while Denys Arryn fell defending the old sept.
• Robert fought Jon Connington, who ordered his guards to cover his retreat rather than burn the town; the battle ended at dusk with Connington’s army withdrawing.
• Aerys learned of the defeat, decided Robert’s rebellion was a bid for the Iron Throne, and ordered Rossart and the Alchemists' Guild to prepare wildfire to destroy King’s Landing.
• Three days later, Robert learned Aerys had stripped Connington of his lands and titles and exiled him; Bella told Leon that Connington’s soldiers had paid the townspeople for the rooms they occupied.
• Robert ordered compensation for every household, and five days later Leon, Tyrion, and the rebel army left Stoney Sept and rode north toward Riverrun and the Trident.

Leon and the rebel leaders prepared to face Rhaegar’s army at the Trident, while news revealed that Tywin planned to seize King’s Landing during the battle. On the eve of the fight, Leon and Tyrion faced the prospect of dying tomorrow and turned their attention to surviving the coming battle.

• Leon attended the weddings of Jon Arryn and Lysa Tully and Eddard Stark and Catelyn Tully, then learned Robert had declared his claim to the Iron Throne through his Targaryen grandmother.
• Leon advised the rebel leaders to wait rather than cross the Trident, predicting Rhaegar would wait for Lewyn Martell’s Dornish troops and revealing he had sent people to spread rumors in King’s Landing.
• Leon learned Varys was giving the Mad King lists of supposed traitors, including people the king might want to kill, and saw how dangerous the situation in King’s Landing had become.
• After the Dornish arrived, Leon persuaded Robert to wait two days before attacking, and he and Tyrion shared a drink and promised to settle Tyrion’s debt to Zhong’er if he died.
• Leon and Tyrion received Tywin’s letter announcing that he would lead the Westerlands army to take King’s Landing and urging Leon to make Robert remember Cersei as a possible queen.
• Leon burned Tywin’s letter, reflected on his coming confrontation with Rhaegar, and returned to camp with Tyrion before the battle.

Leon’s plan helped the rebels defeat Rhaegar’s army at the Green Fork, where Robert killed Rhaegar and spared the wounded Barristan Selmy. As night fell, Leon and Tyrion went downstream to search for Rhaegar’s body, because Leon believed Rhaegar had more to say.

• Leon advised Robert to draw Rhaegar’s forces into a frontal fight while ambushing both flanks, and Robert agreed to follow his plan.
• Lyn Corbray rallied the rebels against Lewyn Martell’s Dornish cavalry, killed Lewyn, and secured the left flank.
• Leon sent word that the hidden cavalry had crossed the river, and their attack on Rhaegar’s right flank broke the royalist formation.
• Robert fought and killed Rhaegar in the river, after which the royalist soldiers surrendered and soldiers from both sides searched for the shattered rubies.
• Leon stopped the rebels from killing Barristan Selmy, and Robert ordered that Barristan be treated.
• Leon told Tyrion he wanted to find Rhaegar’s body, and Tyrion agreed to search downstream with him.

Leon found the dying Rhaegar Targaryen, who revealed the location of a hidden dragon egg and asked Leon to save his children in King's Landing; Rhaegar died after Leon promised. Leon and Tyrion agreed to head south with the army to try to save Rhaenys and Aegon, while the Tower of Joy and its egg remained a future destination.

• Leon found Rhaegar in the reeds and learned that a map marked the Tower of Joy, where Rhaegar had hidden the last dragon egg; Rhaegar also said three other eggs were in Braavos.
• Rhaegar asked Leon to save Rhaenys and Aegon in King's Landing, and Leon agreed before Rhaegar died.
• Tyrion reasoned that Lyanna, the Kingsguard, and Rhaegar's child were at the Tower of Joy, but Leon decided they had to go to King's Landing first.
• Leon brought Rhaegar's body to Robert, who ordered it burned and called Leon a good lad.
• Leon and Tyrion agreed to travel with the army to King's Landing and try to save Rhaegar's children.

Leon rescued Rhaenys from King's Landing while Varys took Aegon east, then reached the Tower of Joy and gave Lyanna Rhaegar's final message. After Lyanna died giving birth to Jon, Leon vowed to protect him and went to persuade the Kingsguard to leave before Eddard Stark arrived.

• Pudding Face warned Leon that Tywin's army was nearing King's Landing and that the mad king had stockpiled wildfire, so Leon left Robert's camp and entered the city through the sewers.
• Leon and his companions found Rhaenys and Aegon in Maegor's Holdfast, but agreed with Varys to take Rhaenys while Varys secretly carried Aegon to Braavos.
• Leon reunited with Maester Loomis at the Wendwater, then sailed with Rhaenys and his companions to Dorne and crossed the Red Mountains toward the Tower of Joy.
• Arthur Dayne, Gerold Hightower, and Oswell Whent welcomed Leon at the Tower, where he delivered Rhaegar's map and final words to the dying Lyanna.
• Lyanna named her newborn son Jon and asked Leon to protect him from Robert; she died after Leon promised, while Arthur vowed to guard the child.
• Thea retrieved Rhaegar's hidden Dragon Egg, and Leon spotted Eddard Stark's approaching party and went to persuade the Kingsguard to leave with him.