A Clash of Kings

Tyrion and Podrick ride into the battle. When Tyrion observes that the fighting is concentrated on the waterfront, he leads his soldiers to the Mud Gate. As he kills more soldiers, Tyrion finally experiences the high of battle fever that Jaime always told him about.

Tyrion learns that a large group of Baratheon soldiers are disembarking from a bridge of surviving ships that stretch out across the river. Tyrion leads his men onto the quay. As the battle goes on, Tyrion realizes that a ship is about to tear free from the dock. He nearly drowns as the broken ship sinks but is saved by Ser Mandon Moore, who is loyal to Joffrey. As Moore pulls him up, he slashes Tyrion’s face with his sword. Podrick pushes Moore into the water, saving Tyrion’s life.

Cersei insists that the hold be sealed once Joffrey is inside. Lancel protests against withdrawing Joffrey from the battle, reporting that his retreat demoralized the soldiers. Cersei hits Lancel on his wound to incapacitate him.

Sansa tries to reassure the panicked ladies. Dontos, who is present as a court fool, tells Sansa to lock herself in her bedchamber until he comes. In her bedchamber, Sansa is surprised to find Sandor, drunk and covered in blood. He claims to have lost the battle and reveals that he is planning to flee. He has come to hear his “little bird” sing the song she promised. He claims that he can protect her because everyone fears him.

Held at knifepoint, Sansa sings in terror. When Sandor puts down the knife, Sansa holds his cheek. Sandor abruptly exits, leaving behind his stained white cloak. Sansa hides under it.

Hours later, Dontos visits, proclaiming that the battle is won. According to reports, Tywin Lannister and an army of Renly’s former allies arrived and defeated Stannis’s army. He claims that the vanguard was led by Renly’s ghost.

Fearing the dragons, the Qartheen shun Daenerys. Xaro reiterates his offer to wed her, but she refuses. She asks him to give her one ship as a last favor, but Xaro turns it into a trade offer of 10 ships for one of her dragons. Daenerys counters with one dragon for a third of his ships, which upsets Xaro.

Daenerys feels that she has accomplished nothing. She thinks back to the pattern of threes and the vision of her brother, Rhaegar, his wife, Elia, and their son, Aegon. Daenerys feels that it left her with more questions than answers.

At the port, Daenerys and Jorah are seeking passage on a ship when Jorah observes that they are being followed by two men. Daenerys aggressively bargains with the port merchants to throw off their pursuers. One of the merchants turns out to be an assassin, but Daenerys is saved by her pursuers. They introduce themselves as Strong Belwas and Arstan Whitebeard, two men in the service of Daenerys’s old guardian, Magister Illyrio of Pentos. Illyrio has sent three ships to escort Daenerys back to Pentos. Daenerys names the three ships after the great dragons of her house.

Roose Bolton institutes brutal punishments for all the captured Lannister servants. Gendry likes the new rulers of Harrenhal even less than the Lannisters. Inclined to agree, Arya wishes she had left with Jaqen.

In the wake of the Lannister’s victory at Blackwater Bay, Bolton’s knights are afraid that Tywin will try to reclaim Harrenhal. They are especially worried about Robb’s chances of victory now that Winterfell is lost to the Greyjoys. Arya hears the report that Bran and Rickon are dead, which she tries to dismiss as a lie. While Bolton goes hunting for wolves, Arya grieves for her brothers and the loss of her home.

Arya sees a map that shows how close Riverrun is to Harrenhal. When Bolton returns from the hunt, Arya learns that he plans to turn the castle over to the Bloody Mummers and leave her behind.

In the godswood, Arya prays for guidance. She hears Eddard’s voice telling her that “the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives” (898). That night, she asks Gendry for a sword and tells him she plans to escape. She encourages him to come and bring Hot Pie along. She takes Bolton’s map and dagger and acquires three horses from the stable.

Hot Pie and Gendry meet with Arya. One guard stands in the way of their escape. Arya tells him that he will be paid for his service, giving him Jaqen’s coin. She then kills him with the dagger, whispering, “Valar morghulis.”

The royal court gathers in the throne room to celebrate the victory at Blackwater. Tywin is proclaimed Savior of the City and is sworn in as Hand of the King. The Tyrells are honored next. Ser Loras is installed in Joffrey’s Kingsguard, and his father, Mace, is given a seat on the small council. Mace’s other son, Garlan, offers Margaery as a bride to Joffrey.

Joffrey initially declines, citing his betrothal to Sansa, but Cersei intervenes, calling Sansa the daughter of a traitor. Joffrey agrees to marry Margaery. Sansa takes the development with quiet relief as she feels free from Joffrey’s cruelty. Among the next honors, Lancel is granted lordship, followed by Littlefinger, who is granted the domain of Harrenhal.

That evening, Sansa meets Dontos in the godswood and expresses her joy at being released from her betrothal. Dontos points out that Joffrey and Cersei will never let her go because of her value as a hostage, adding that Joffrey will likely make her his lover. Dontos promises to liberate Sansa on the night of Joffrey’s wedding, which is a month away. He gifts her a hair net containing black amethyst stones from Asshai and tells her it is “vengeance” and the means to get her home.

Theon becomes desperate when he receives no answer to his call for support from Pyke. Maester Luwin suggests that Theon should yield Winterfell. Theon refuses to surrender and assembles his garrison to prepare for the siege. He gives the men the option to flee if they like. Only 17 men remain.

Just before the siege starts, Theon is summoned for a parley with Ser Rodrik. After reminding Theon that Eddard treated him as a son, Rodrik demands Theon relinquish both Winterfell and his life. Theon refuses, and when Ser Rodrik threatens to begin the siege, Theon presents Rodrik’s only daughter, Beth, as a hostage with a noose around her neck. Rodrik offers himself in his daughter’s place. Theon refuses, giving Rodrik until sunset to withdraw.

Theon waits in fear for Rodrik to answer. At sunset, he realizes that whether he hangs Beth or not, he is doomed to lose the siege. Luwin counsels Theon to swear himself to the Night’s Watch to save his life. Just then, Rodrik’s army is broken by the arrival of another army, allied with House Bolton.

A knight brings a wounded Ser Rodrik and his lieutenants to Theon as hostages. The knight reveals himself to be Reek and then explains that he is actually Ramsay Snow, son of Roose Bolton. He switched identities with the real Reek so that Reek could be killed by Rodrik. Ramsay claims all of Theon’s possessions for himself, and when Theon resists, Ramsay incapacitates him. Ramsay’s men conquer Winterfell and spear Maester Luwin.

Tyrion lies in recovery. He has vivid dreams of the men who died following his orders and vaguely remembers Ser Mandon Moore’s attempt to kill him. He is barely conscious around his visitors, which include Tywin, Cersei, Varys, and Littlefinger.

When he sees Podrick, he tries to call for help, but his mouth has been sealed by a bandage. The next time he wakes up, he asks a maester named Ballabar to undo his face bandages. Tyrion has lost most of his nose and some of his lip and has a massive scar. He deduces that Cersei paid Moore to kill him.

Ballabar informs Tyrion that he is recovering in the holdfast because Tywin now resides in the Tower of the King. Tyrion summons Podrick and Bronn, who was knighted after the battle. Podrick admits to killing Moore unintentionally, and Tyrion swears him to silence.

Qhorin sends rangers ahead to inform Jeor of the wildling approach. He starts a fire to warm him and Jon, which Jon takes as a sign that they cannot outrun the wildlings. Qhorin reminds Jon of his oath to the Night’s Watch and then orders him to yield to the wildlings if they are captured and pretend he is an oathbreaker in order to gather intelligence for the Watch.

They stop at a cave to make a last stand against the wildlings. A band of hunters comes upon them, revealing that they have killed one of Qhorin’s rangers. Among the hunters is Ygritte, who identifies Jon as the ranger who spared her life. The hunters’ leader, Rattleshirt, offers to accept Jon as a wildling if he kills Qhorin. Qhorin provokes Jon into a duel, and Jon kills him with Ghost’s help.

The wildlings take in Jon, identifying him as a warg (a skinchanger whose connection is with wolves or dogs, like Bran). They travel to Milkwater, a valley where Mance is preparing to march upon the Wall.

In a dream, Bran learns that Winterfell has been set ablaze. Jojen wakes Bran up because he has been dreaming for three days. Bran asks Osha to bring him up to the surface to confirm what he has seen—they have been hiding in the Winterfell crypts the entire time.

When the group reemerges from the crypts, they find Theon’s men among the corpses, proving that the Boltons set the castle ablaze. Summer leads them to the godswood, where Maester Luwin is dying. Luwin asks Osha to split Bran and Rickon up for the survival of House Stark.

The Reeds agree to go north with Bran and Hodor while Osha takes care of Rickon. Bran takes one last look at Winterfell and decides he and Winterfell are “not dead, but broken” (969).