A Storm of Swords

A Storm of Swords (2000) is an epic high fantasy novel by American author George R. R. Martin. It is the third installment in the seven-book A Song of Ice and Fire series, following the events in A Clash of Kings (1998). In 2001, the novel won several major genre writing honors, including the Locus Award. In 2011, Martin’s book series was adapted to television as Game of Thrones by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The show starred Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Kit Harington as Jon Snow, and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. The third and fourth seasons of the show correspond to the events of A Storm of Swords.

A Storm of Swords covers the end of the large-scale conflict known as the War of the Five Kings. After a decisive victory against Stannis Baratheon at the Battle of Blackwater Bay, the ruling House Lannister must deal with the last major threat to their reign, House Stark. When King-in-the-North Robb Stark unexpectedly breaks an alliance with his vassal, Lord Walder Frey, an opportunity arises to topple the Starks once and for all. The Lannisters must find a way to balance this opportunity against internal turmoil and the emergence of new players—House Tyrell and House Martell—who seek to upset the Lannisters’ tenuous grasp on power. Martin uses this story to explore honor in a dishonorable world, the pursuit of destiny, and the impact of effective leadership.

This study guide refers to the special boxed edition of the novel, published by Bantam in 2015.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, slavery, illness, death, suicidal ideation, gender discrimination, religious discrimination, sexual violence, rape, ableism, child death, pregnancy termination, animal death, sexual content, cursing, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

Language Note: Throughout the novel, Martin uses the pejorative term “bastard” to refer to a child born out of wedlock. Within the context of the setting’s hereditary lineage framework, this term has social implications for characters identified as such. This guide uses the term “born out of wedlock” instead. Additionally, the term “little person” is used in place of “dwarf.”

Plot Summary

The novel is spread across two fantasy continents: Westeros and Essos. The plot largely covers the end of a large-scale conflict known as the War of the Five Kings, though it also describes peripheral events of equal importance, including the Battle for the Wall and the Targaryen campaign in Slaver’s Bay. Martin uses multiple perspective characters to follow these events.

The novel begins after the Battle of Blackwater Bay, which saw Tywin Lannister forge an alliance with House Tyrell to win a decisive victory over Stannis Baratheon, the brother of the newly-dead king of Westeros. While Stannis’s men, including Davos Seaworth, struggle to regroup on the island of Dragonstone, the Lannisters prepare for King Joffrey Baratheon’s royal wedding to Margaery Tyrell. Tywin’s youngest son, Tyrion, is deposed from his office as Hand of the King so that Tywin can preserve his own grasp on royal power. A significant part of Tywin’s political strategy involves arranging new marriages for his children. Tyrion is forced to marry Sansa Stark to give the Lannisters a claim to the northern region of Winterfell, stealing it away from the Tyrells. Cersei, the widowed Queen Mother, is now considered for one of the Tyrell heirs but is also matched with Prince Oberyn Martell, who comes to King’s Landing to represent the region of Dorne at Joffrey’s wedding. Tywin intends to bequeath the Lannister domain of Casterly Rock to his eldest son, Jaime, though Jaime remains absent from King’s Landing after being captured by King-in-the-North Robb Stark.

Unbeknownst to the Lannisters, Catelyn Stark, Robb’s mother, frees Jaime in a bid to negotiate an exchange of hostages for Catelyn’s two daughters, Sansa and Arya. Jaime travels to King’s Landing under the protection of Brienne of Tarth, a female knight sworn to Catelyn’s service. During their journey, Jaime reflects on the loss of his honor as a knight, which causes him to antagonize the steadfast Brienne. They are eventually captured by a mercenary company called the Brave Companions, who cut off Jaime’s sword hand to punish him for his arrogance. Jaime and Brienne are then turned over to Roose Bolton, a vassal of Robb, who decides to return Jaime to King’s Landing. Realizing Brienne’s impact on his life, Jaime chooses to rescue Brienne from the Brave Companions, allowing her to complete her mission to return him to his family.

In the far north, Jon Snow, Ned Stark’s son who was born out of wedlock, has infiltrated the wildlings—a group outside the control of the Five Kings—gained the trust of King Beyond the Wall Mance Rayder, and fallen in love with a wildling woman named Ygritte. Jon considers turning away from his life in the Night’s Watch to live among the wildlings, but decides to honor his oath when the wildlings push him to the edge of his moral code. Concurrently, Jon’s friend and ally, Samwell Tarly, narrowly escapes an ambush of undead warriors called the Others. In the ensuing chaos, a mutiny leads to the death of Night’s Watch Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. Sam and a wildling named Gilly escape from the Others before crossing paths with the oracular Bran Stark, who wants to cross the Wall to seek the three-eyed crow, a being who can help Bran hone his supernatural abilities. Jon returns to the Wall in time to lead a defense against the wildlings.

Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen—another pretender to the throne of Westeros—is convinced by her protector, Ser Jorah Mormont, to travel to the city of Astapor and purchase an army of enslaved soldiers called the Unsullied. Out of sympathy for the enslaved people, Daenerys uses her dragons to overthrow the social order of Astapor. This turns into a campaign to liberate the enslaved peoples in Astapor’s sister cities, Yunkai and Meereen.

Catelyn is shocked when she discovers that Robb has married Jeyne Westerling, breaking his oath to vassal Walder Frey. Robb is desperate to mend the fractured alliance with the Freys because of the easy access Walder’s lands grant him to the North and the strategically important Riverlands. Walder proposes to marry one of his other daughters to Catelyn’s brother, Ser Edmure Tully. The Tullys and Starks accept this proposal and travel to Walder’s domain, the Twins, to celebrate the wedding. When King of the Iron Islands Balon Greyjoy suddenly dies, Robb resolves to retake the North from Balon’s family.

Elsewhere in the Riverlands, Arya Stark falls into the company of an outlaw band called the Brotherhood Without Banners. They plan to ransom Arya to Catelyn, hoping it will help them in their campaign to aid the smallfolk against the ravages of war. Arya is disillusioned when the Brotherhood’s justice system acquits the brutal Ser Sandor Clegane, a vassal of the Lannisters who killed a friend of Arya’s. Sandor kidnaps Arya to claim Catelyn’s ransom for himself. They are near the Twins when Edmure’s wedding takes place. To the Starks’ surprise, the wedding is actually a ruse for Walder to take revenge against Robb for his breaking his vow. Walder’s men slaughter the Tullys and Starks during the celebration, an event that comes to be known as the Red Wedding. A key actor in this ruse is Roose Bolton, who is revealed to have defected to House Lannister. Sandor prevents Arya from entering the Twins to save her life.

With the Starks defeated and the Greyjoys and Baratheons in disarray, the Lannisters emerge as the victors of the war. They celebrate during Joffrey’s wedding to Margaery. However, the celebration is interrupted by Joffrey’s assassination, which is quickly blamed on Tyrion, Cersei’s brother and Joffrey’s uncle. Tywin oversees a trial to determine Tyrion’s innocence, though Cersei manipulates it to guarantee a guilty verdict. Motivated by the opportunity to take revenge against Cersei’s champion, Ser Gregor Clegane, for killing his sister, Oberyn Martell offers to champion Tyrion in trial by combat. The vicious Gregor exploits Oberyn’s thirst for revenge and kills him. Tyrion is sentenced to death, but is liberated by Jaime, who, upon returning to King’s Landing, decides he wants to restore his honor as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Tyrion subsequently kills his father Tywin.

Back at the Wall, the wildlings’ siege is broken by Stannis Baratheon, who comes after Davos convinces him to focus his efforts on the threat of the Others. Stannis offers to legitimize Jon as a Stark to consolidate power over the North, but Jon chooses to remain true to his vows. Thanks to Sam’s campaigning, Jon is elected Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.

Meanwhile in Slaver’s Bay, Daenerys’s new protector turns out to be Ser Barristan Selmy, a Westerosi knight who was formerly loyal to Daenerys’s father. Barristan exposes Jorah as a spy for the Lannisters, which leads Daenerys to exile Jorah. When she learns that slavery has been reinstated in Astapor, Daenerys decides to drive institutional reforms and improve it as a moral society.

In King’s Landing, Jaime sends Brienne on a quest to find Sansa, who has disappeared in the wake of Joffrey’s assassination. Unbeknownst to them, Sansa has been whisked away by former royal councilor Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, who is revealed to have orchestrated Joffrey’s death with the Tyrells. Sansa is brought to the Vale to live with her aunt, Lysa. Littlefinger marries Lysa and immediately kills her to secure her domain.

At the end of the novel, Catelyn Stark rises from the dead and is found by the Brotherhood Without Banners. They systematically assassinate the Freys who participated in the Red Wedding as revenge for their betrayal of Robb.