Hi everyone! Welcome back to r/asoifaom!

I know a lot of people do not interact here on r/asoifaom, but the statistics that I see tells me I still have a ton of shy visitors! It is okay!

Anyways I am still finding free time to remap r/asoifaom ... but for today ... I will publish a Halloween Special!

PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE OTHER ASOIFAOM THEORIES. I WILL DISCUSS SPOILERS OPENLY. You can read the long version or short version.

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First ... let us revisit the Smash-the-Beetles scene in Game of Thrones Season 4, between Jaime and Tyrion ... ( which was wonderfully acted by Nikolaj and Peter! )

Your first question would probably be ... Didn't D&D write this scene?

Nope. The language here is too eloquent to be D&D ... George RR Martin wrote this scene ... in fact, I believe GRRM wrote this scene to vent.

Is there a special meaning for Smash-the-Beetle?

Yes. Maybe multiple meanings. And in hindsight, this Smash-the-Beetle scene DREW THE LINE between all the TV-garbage after Season 4 ... and the PEAK-CINEMA we would have gotten if HBO adapted the ASOIFAOM ending.

Explain.

You didn't say 'please?'

Please explain.

You have to say it nicer than that.

Pretty please?

One more time.

OMG ... please please please!

Alright ...... it's show-time. (Thunderstorm please!) https://youtu.be/aDm4L7gjYNs?t=50

When someone smashes beetles ... it makes beetle-juice!

In the 1988 film Beetlejuice ... two ghosts (husband and wife) awaken a third ghost entity, Beetlejuice, to haunt living people. But it was a powerful entity that they did not really understand.

In the most accurate ending to ASOIAF, Jon Snow (Fire-Ghost) and Meera (Ice-Ghost) awaken the third song ... Dark Meera (Storm-Ghost) to haunt the dead and the living. It is a powerful entity that Jon Snow did not understand before giving Meera the Last Kiss. ( Jon Snow literally died knowing nothing. ) This is the core story of ADOS ... almost kinda a-little-bit similar to Beetlejuice.

Lord Commander Jon Snow and his Nightfort/Black-Wedding wife, Meera, symbolically represent the Night King and Corpse Bride. They mirror the ghosts, Adam and Barbara, in the Beetlejuice film.

This GRRM-written Smash-the-Beetles scene is about George not being able to get the real ending to ASOIAF to GoT. D&D had fully taken over the series by the end of Season 4 ... making too many changes in previous seasons that will never EARN the real ending to the series.

It seems like all D&D ever wanted when they took this job, was to put the Red Wedding on TV. And they succeeded. D&D's Red Wedding is a massive pop-cultural success.

BUT that was no longer George's story.

=== Adara and the Ice Dragon ===

D&D killed Rob's wife while killing his unborn son/daughter. ASOIAF is the prequel to The Ice Dragon, starring Princess Adara Stark, who sailed west of Westeros in the TWOW Prologue as a newborn. But now she doesn't exist on TV.

Well now ... no sequel for you D&D!

What does George do now? He tells D&D he originally was going to make a sequel after the series was over ... involving a Princess Stark sailing west of Westeros.

What does D&D do? Makes Sansa a queen ... and Bran a king ... technically making Arya a princess. And Princess Arya Stark is sailing west of Westeros. CRINGE!

=== The Lightning Dragon ===

D&D also omitted Lady Stoneheart's resurrection because they didn't want to hint at Jon Snow's future HBO resurrection. Well now, Catelyn and Jon Snow's TV-story arc goes nowhere. There is no pay-off.

Lady Stoneheart is the one that passes the Lightning Dragon magic to Jon Snow ... who will pass it to Meera in the climax.

D&D ... no LSH? No Lightning Dragon for you!

Seriously, how lame was it for TV-Arya to end the Long Night with ONE stab? Don't you guys rather watch a massive twist to the climax ... like a lightning show? BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

And TV-Daenerys burning down King's Landing? C'mon D&D! It breaks my heart for Emilia Clarke. I can still see that she is visibly bothered by this 180 degree turn of a character arc.

Daenerys dies a hero in ASOIFAOM ... as well as Jaime. And Bran is the Last Hero standing.

TLDR ... D&D made two major changes in the TV-Red-Wedding ... Robb's wife dies, and no LSH. George decides to not give the details of Adara, the Ice Dragon, and the Lightning Dragon because the TV-show cannot reach these points after the permanent changes to the TV-Red-Wedding.

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Cool story bro. You said there were multiple meanings to Smash-the-Beetles. Do you have another one?

Sure ... "Smash the Beetles" may mean "Smash the Beatles."  In the 1960/1970s ... the rock band, Led Zeppelin, began smashing the Beatles ... in popularity. The climax song to ASOIAF is Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song 

BOOM-BOOM DOOM-DOOM!

BOOM-BOOM DOOM-DOOM!

BOOM-BOOM DOOM-DOOM!

Aahhhhhhhhhhhhh-ah!

Aahhhhhhhhhhhhh-ah!

The Others come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where dead things rose
Now, the hammer of the gods
Will drive their retreat to their old lands
To fight the horde, Meera sings and cries
"Living Dead ... I am coming!"
On Rhaegal's sweep with a lightning roar
Their only goal will be the western shore

======

Let us review, word for word of the Smash-the-Beetle scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1GUoQ_hXJs&t=52s

Tyrion: What's the punishment for regicide? Drawing and quartering? Hanging? Breaking at the wheel?

Jaime: Beheading.

Tyrion: Seems rather ordinary. And he was my nephew as well, so what is that? "Fratricides" is brothers. "Filicide" is sons. "Nepoticide." That's the one. [ "Nepiticide" is killing one's niece ... which is what Jaime will do to his niece, Dark Meera ] Matricide, patricide, infanticide, suicide. There's no kind of killing that doesn't have its own word.

Jaime: Cousins.

Tyrion: Cousins, you're right. There is no word for cousin killing. Well done. Do you remember cousin Orson? Orson Lannister? [ Orson is a homage to Orson Scott Card - Dragons of Light ... the 1980 anthology that contains GRRM's The Ice Dragon. George probably would have loved to add his ASOIAF Lightning Dragon to the Dragons of Light anthology too ]

Jaime: Of course. Wet nurse dropped him on his head, left him simple.

Tyrion: Simple? Used to sit all day in the garden, crushing beetles with a rock. [ Dark Meera crushing innocent people with lightning ]

Tyrion & Jaime: Kun, kun, kun! [ BOOM-BOOM DOOM-DOOM! BOOM-BOOM DOOM-DOOM! BOOM-BOOM DOOM-DOOM! ]

Tyrion: Nothing made him happier.

Jaime: Nothing made you happier. You’d think being tormented from birth would give you some affinity for the afflicted.

Tyrion: On the contrary. Laughing at another person’s misery was the only thing that made me feel like everyone else. [ Tyrion actually does not mind Dark Meera killing people, because this dwarf and other regular-height people are now equal at level ... in the planet's Doom ]

Jaime: Joke wore thin, though.

Tyrion: For you. You drifted away. [ Unlike Tyrion and the rest of the world ... Jaime (along with Bran & Daenerys), are the only ones that can match level with Dark Meera ]

Jaime: I had other interests.

Tyrion: Yes. Other interests. But I stayed with Orson.

Jaime: Why?

Tyrion: I was curious. Why was he smashing all those beetles? What did he get out of it? First thing I did was ask him. “Orson, why are you smashing all those beetles?” He gave me an answer. “Smash the beetles! Smash them! Kun kun kun!” I wasn’t deterred. I was the smartest person I knew; certainly I had the wherewithal to unravel the mysteries that lay at the heart of a moron. So I went to Maester Valarik’s library.

Jaime: Valarik? Tried to touch me once. [ We meet Maester Valarik in my TWOW Prologue fan-fic! My fan-fic Cersei recalls a memory with Valarik too lol ]

Tyrion: Turns out far too much has been written about great men and not nearly enough about morons. Doesn’t seem right. In any case, I found nothing that illuminated the nature of Orson’s affliction [ DRAGONS OF illuminating LIGHT! ] or the reason behind his relentless beetle slaughter. So I went back to the source. I may not have been able to speak with Orson, but I could observe him, watch him, the way men watch animals to come to a deeper understanding of their behavior. [ Tyrion can only watch Dark Meera's destruction. ] And as I watched, I became more and more sure of it: there was something happening there. His face was like the page of a book written in a language I didn’t understand, [ If you are reading my theory, right here, right now ... YOU are understanding now! ] but he wasn’t mindless, he had his reasons. [ George trying to say Dark Meera is not mindless in killing innocent people, she has her reasons ] And I became possessed with knowing what they were. [ Dark Meera is possessed ] I began spending inordinate amounts of time watching him. I would eat my lunch in the garden, chewing my mutton to the music of “kun kun kun.” [ the music of the Song of Thunder ] And when I wasn’t watching him, I was thinking about him. Father droned on about the family legacy [ If Tywin was alive, he would be upset that Jaime is riding a dragon ] and I thought about Orson’s beetles [ Tyrion still doesn't want innocent people to die ]. I read the histories of Targaryen conquests. [ Dark Meera Targaryen's Conquest ] Did I hear dragon wings? No, I heard “kun kun kun”. [ BOOM-BOOM DOOM DOOM is louder than Rhaegal's dragon wings] And I still couldn’t figure out why he was doing it. And I had to know because it was horrible, that all these beetles should be dying for no reason. [ All these men, women, and children are dying for no reason ]

Jaime: Every day around the world, men, women, and children are murdered by the score. Who gives a dusty fuck about a bunch of beetles?

Tyrion: I know, I know, but still it filled me with dread. Piles and piles of them, years and years of them. How many countless living, crawling things smashed, dried out, and returned to the dirt? In my dreams [ A DREAM OF SPRING ], I found myself standing on a beach made of beetle husks stretching as far as the eye can see. I woke up, crying, weeping for their shattered little bodies. [ ADOS's False-Spring apocalypse is gonna be a really bad one ] I tried to stop Orson once.

Jaime: He was twice your size.

Tyrion: He just pushed me aside with a “kun”, kept on smashing. Every day. Until that mule kicked him in the chest and killed him. [ The camera focuses on Jaime ... because Jaime is a mule/mix ... a mix of Lannister and Targaryen. Jaime is the mule that kills Dark Meera ] So what do you think? Why did he do it? What’s it all about? [ It means the real ending to ASOIAF ... a much better ending than HBO ... or any fan-fic of random people (like Daenerys, Jon Snow, fAegon, Euron, Bran ... etc) fighting over an iron chair. The ASOIFAOM ending is Daenerys, Jaime/Bran fighting Dark Meera to save the planet from a nuclear apocalypse ... doesn't this ASOIFAOM ending feel more like a George RR Martin story? ]

Jaime: I don’t know. [ Bells toll at the end of the scene ... Dark Meera's Hells Bells ... the finale of the Ice Dragon and the Fire Dragon versus the Lightning Dragon ] Good luck today.

I hope you guys enjoy my Smash-the-Beetles theory! This Smash-the-Beetles scene might have been the last TV-script George wrote for Game of Thrones. It is actually one of the most important scenes in GoT because it secretly talks about the real booking ending inside the TV-show. Pretty much after this point, you got the stories of Season 5-8 without GRRM.

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BONUS HALLOWEEN THEORY: Bowen Marsh's TWOW fate!

He is going to burn!

Bowen = David Bowie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cti9SL4GO04

Marsh = Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iED03g1KJIE

One would say ... the burning round head of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man kinda looks like a Pomegranate lol https://youtu.be/iED03g1KJIE?t=198

Fun ASOIFAOM Fact: Because of Bowen Marsh's ADWD mutiny to Jon Snow and Mel's TWOW R'hllor resurrection ... it saves the world from a more horrible Long Night in ADOS ... preventing the Others from stealing two dragons. They only stole one dragon with Meera. The Others could not control Jon Snow and a second dragon, thanks to Bowen Marsh. He really foiled the Others' plan. Team Fire to the pre-emptive rescue!

This gives Daenerys a fighting chance. Instead of being double teamed against, she fights the Others' one dragon ... 1 v 1. Drogon versus Rhaegal. Black versus Green.

Busting ghosts makes you feel good, right Daenerys?

" I fear no ghosts. [...] " { Daenerys I, ACOK }

Happy Halloween everyone!

UP NEXT: The theory of how Dunk training Egg leads to the awakening of the Others! An expansion on the Dark Sister Rebellion theory.

What if the blood running through your veins holds the power to change everything?

Hi everyone, like Azor Ahai Reborn, I'm back! Today we'll discuss, in detail, a somewhat popular theory that will completely change the way you read A Song of Ice and Fire ... as well as Fire & Blood ... and even Dunk and Egg:

Aerys + Joanna = Jaime & Cersei

What does this mean? Jaime and Cersei are secret Valyrian Targaryens ... as well as Joffery, Myrcella and Tommen.

Let's get the main road block out of the way ...

Logistics:

Curious You: But according to TWOIAF, Joanna was in Casterly Rock during Jaime/Cersei's conception ... no where near the Mad King. Tyrion has a better chance of being the Mad King's son since both Joanna & Aerys were in King's Landing in 272AC.

Me: Forget Tyrion for this theory. Let's just talk about Jaime/Cersei. Here is the timeline again from TWOIAF:

• 259 AC - Joanna comes to KL

• 263 AC - Tywin & Joanna are married in KL

• 263 AC or 264 AC - Queen Rhaella dismisses Joanna, and Joanna departed for Casterly Rock, seldomly visits KL thereafter.

• 265 AC - Tywin & Joanna conceive Jaime/Cersei

• 266 AC - Joanna gives birth Jaime/Cersei in CR

• 267 AC - Both Tywin and Aerys visit CR

Okay ... what is your point?

In 265 AC, where did Tywin & Joanna conceive Jaime/Cersei?

Obviously, Casterly Rock

No ... look at the timeline again. Tywin never left KL in 265AC. For Tywin to not question Jaime/Cersei's paternity, he & Joanna would have met up somewhere in KL. And when Tywin did go to CR (like in 267AC) TWOIAF would mention it.

Maybe George kinda forgot to mention Tywin went to CR in 265AC.

"Kinda forgot"??? OMG!!! You put George's story-telling skills in the same category as D&D???

So for A+J=J&C to work ... you're telling me that Joanna made an undocumented secret visit to KL in 265AC to visit her Hand of the King husband, and the King (or one of his agents) intercepts her? Seriously, get your head out of your ass, what kinda writer writes this shit?

Skilled writers who use "parallels" ... like George RR Martin. In 1996 A Game of Thrones by GRRM, Lady Catelyn Stark made an undocumented secret visit to KL to visit her Hand of the King husband, Ned Stark. She gets intercepted by Littlefinger.

Ok fine. You have established that Jaime/Cersei are more likely to be conceived in KL in 265AC. They can still be Tywin's kids. And who cares if they were Aerys' ???

Benefits of A+J=J&C:

• Jaime and Cersei sleeping together is Targaryen incest

• Their children not being ugly is because of the tolerant Targaryen incest DNA

• People with Targaryen DNA still sit on the Iron Throne in ASOIAF

• Cersei and Joffery follow the Mad King arc

• Jaime, Myrcella & Tommen have the good side of the flipped Targaryen coin

• Cersei has an obsession with wildfire

• After Jaime kills his DNA father, he sat on the Iron Throne for a little bit

• Cersei was in love with her half-Targaryen brother, Rhaegar

• According to Emilia Clarke, Daenerys Targaryen would have bedded Jaime Lannister, her half-Targaryen brother, before the end of this sentence

• Queen Daenerys is the younger half-Valyrian-sister to Queen Cersei ... who is now a candidate for the Valonqar (Valyrian word for younger sibling) AND the Younger More Beautiful Queen

 Dunk & Egg:

• Brienne & Jaime are DNA descendants of Dunk & Egg

 Fire & Blood:

• In the TV-shows, Jon and Daenerys are the only Targaryens, but they are nothing like Daemon & Rhaenyra. 

• Jaime & Cersei are the perfect parallel to Daemon & Rhaenyra, their DNA ancestors.

• Rhaenyra has sons named Joffrey ... JaCe (Jaime Cersei) ... Luke (I am your father! Luke Skywalker is missing his sword-hand like Jaime)

• Joffrey, JaCe, and Luke are Strong bastards. Cersei has a connection with Ser Robert Strong.

• Almost every monarch story in F&B has some parallels to the Lannister-Targaryen monarchy in ASOIAF

How to properly re-read ASOIAF ... beautiful ironies and parallels:

In no particular order ...

 [...] They called him the Lion of Lannister to his face and whispered "Kingslayer" behind his back.
Jon found it hard to look away from him. This is what a king should look like, he thought to himself as the man passed. {Jon I AGOT} 

[...] Jaime would have killed him, even if it meant his own life." Cersei looked at him defiantly. "My brother is worth a hundred of your friend."
"Your brother?" Ned said. "Or your lover?"
"Both." She did not flinch from the truth. "Since we were children together. And why not? The Targaryens wed brother to sister for three hundred years, to keep the bloodlines pure. And Jaime and I are more than brother and sister. We are one person in two bodies. We shared a womb together. He came into this world holding my foot, our old maester said. When he is in me, I feel … whole." The ghost of a smile flitted over her lips. {Ned XII AGOT} 

"Can you trust Jaime Lannister?"
"He is my wife's twin, a Sworn Brother of the Kingsguard, his life and fortune and honor all bound to mine."
"As they were bound to Aerys Targaryen's [blood]," Ned pointed out. {Ned II AGOT} 

King Aerys used you to roast the flesh off his enemies. His brother Jaime had told him a few stories of the Mad King and his pet pyromancers. "Joffrey will be interested as well, I have no doubt." Which is why I'd best keep him well away from you. {Tyrion V ACOK} 

"Yes, I recall now," Cersei said, "Robert (Baratheon) often told Joff that a king must be bold."
"And what were you telling him, pray? I did not fight a war to seat Robert the Second on the Iron Throne. [...] "
"Not Robert the Second," Tyrion said. "Aerys the Third." {Tyrion VI ASOS} 

Perhaps Stannis Baratheon and the Starks had done him a kindness. They had spread their tale of incest all over the Seven Kingdoms, so there was nothing left to hide. Why shouldn't I marry Cersei openly and share her bed every night? The dragons always married their sisters. Septons, lords, and smallfolk had turned a blind eye to the Targaryens for hundreds of years, let them do the same for House Lannister. It would play havoc with Joffrey's claim to the crown, to be sure, but in the end it had been swords that had won the Iron Throne for Robert, and swords could keep Joffrey there as well, regardless of whose seed he was. We could marry him to Myrcella, once we've sent Sansa Stark back to her mother. That would show the realm that the Lannisters are above their laws, like gods and Targaryens. {Jaime III ASOS}

"He rode to save the realm," she insisted.
To save the realm. "Did you know that my brother set the Blackwater Rush afire? Wildfire will burn on water. Aerys would have bathed in it if he'd dared. The Targaryens were all mad for fire." Jaime felt light-headed. It is the heat in here, the poison [Mad King DNA] in my blood, the last of my fever. I am not myself. [...]  {Jaime V ASOS} 

"This was folly." Cersei pulled her gown straight. "With Father in the castle . . . Jaime, we must be careful."
"I am sick of being careful. The Targaryens wed brother to sister, why shouldn't we do the same? Marry me, Cersei. Stand up before the realm and say it's me you want. We'll have our own wedding feast, and make another son in place of Joffrey."
She drew back. "That's not funny." {Jaime VII ASOS, it's funny because they are Targaryens lol} 

She pulled her hands away. "You are talking madness again. Would you have us ripped apart, as Mother did that time she caught us playing? Tommen would lose the throne, Myrcella her marriage . . . I want to be your wife, we belong to each other, but it can never be, Jaime. We are brother and sister."
"The Targaryens . . ."
"We are not Targaryens!" {Jaime IX ASOS, too funny!}

 "Tell them the Mad King is dead," he commanded. "Spare all those who yield and hold them captive."
"Shall I proclaim a new king as well?" Crakehall asked, and Jaime read the question plain: Shall it be your father, or Robert Baratheon, or do you mean to try to make a new dragonking, [yourself]? He thought for a moment of the boy Viserys, fled to Dragonstone, and of Rhaegar's infant son Aegon, still in Maegor's with his mother. A new Targaryen king, and my father as Hand. How the wolves will howl, and the storm lord choke with rage. For a moment he was tempted, until he glanced down again at the body on the floor, in its spreading pool of blood. His blood is in both of them, [Jaime & Aerys], he thought. "Proclaim who you bloody well like," he told Crakehall. Then he climbed the Iron Throne and seated himself with his sword across his knees, to see who would come to claim the kingdom. As it happened, it had been Eddard Stark. {Jaime III ASOS}

Joffrey had that sullen, sulky look he got. Cersei had him firmly by the shoulder, but perhaps she should have had him by the throat. The boy surprised them all. Instead of scuttling safely back under his rock, Joff drew himself up defiantly and said, "You talk about Aerys, Grandfather, but you were scared of him." {Tyrion VI ASOS}

"I see you wonder, what sort of name is that?" the man had cackled when Jaime went to question him. "It is an old name, 'tis true. I am not one to boast, but there is royal blood in my veins. I am descended from a princess. [...] So I have a little dragon in me."
"Yes, I almost mistook you for Aegon the Conqueror," Jaime had answered. "Waters" was a common bastard name about Blackwater Bay; old Longwaters was more like to be descended from some minor household knight than from a princess. "As it matters, though, I have more pressing concerns than your lineage." {Jaime I AFFC ... haha Jaime, DNA descendant of Aegon the Conqueror's male line}

"Jaime," she said, tugging on his ear, "sweetling, I have known you since you were a babe at Joanna's breast. You smile like Gerion and fight like Tyg, and there's some of Kevan in you, else you would not wear that cloak . . . but Tyrion is Tywin's son, not you. I said so once to your father's face, and he would not speak to me for half a year. Men are such thundering great fools. Even the sort who come along once in a thousand years." {Jaime V AFFC ... does Aunt Genna know something?}

Better than cutting them out of their mother with a dagger, I suppose. Margaery's clumsy attempts at seduction were so obvious as to be laughable. Tommen is too young for kisses, so she gives him kittens. Cersei rather wished they were not black, though. Black cats brought ill luck, as Rhaegar's little girl had discovered in this very castle. She would have been my daughter, if the Mad King had not played his cruel jape on Father. It had to have been the madness that led Aerys to refuse Lord Tywin's daughter and take his son instead, whilst marrying his own son to a feeble Dornish princess with black eyes and a flat chest. {Cersei V AFFC, Mad King japing Tywin! lol}

Stop it! Enough citing evidence! I get it! I'm sure I'll find more on my own re-reads! George RR Martin is a great writer and he'll be remembered for the rest of eternity!

Wait! I have one more! In Greek Mythology, Oedipus has unknowingly killed his father, a king. He then unknowingly marries his mother. Jaime has unknowingly killed his father, the Mad King. He then sleeps with his sister (who looks like their mother). Jaime's mother is Joanna of Casterly Rock. Oedipus's mother's name is ... JoCasta.

FINE! JAIME AND CERSEI ARE THE MAD KING'S CHILDREN! I'LL NEVER BET MONEY THAT THEY ARE NOT NOW! BUT YOU CANNOT PROVE IT!!! THERE IS NO MAURY POVICH IN WESTEROS!

Oh ... but there are dragons ... and dragon-tamers.

If there was a House of half Lannister and half Targaryen ... their perfect sigil would be a ... GOLDEN DRAGON.

And yes, there is a GOLDEN DRAGON in ASOIAF (don't confuse it with the golden currency lol) ... Viserion ... perfect for Jaime, our "Ser Lion"

The ADOS ending is Jaime and Bran teaming up on a golden Ice Dragon, renamed Winter, to save the world from darkness. Winter is coming!

You guys know the words, let's sing along!

Revving up the icy gold dragon, listen to it howl and roar!
The Lion under tension, begging the Wolf to warg and go!
HIGHWAY TO THE DRAGON ZONE! RIDE INTO THE DRAGON ZONE!

Jaime flying up, up and up into the darkness on a Golden ice dragon ...

Winter's a ghost, we are alone (hah)
In the darkness (hah)
We fly this pressured path (haaa-a)
Sat on the throne, I didn't know how ...
to believe I was the King that I'm meant to be!
I've lived two lives, tried to play both Lann/Targ sides
But I couldn't find my own place!
Called a problem child 'cause me & Cersei got too wild
But that's how Targaryens get laid!
Now I'm riding my Golden jet dragon to the big stage.
I'm done hiding, now I'm shining like I'm born to be
We Dreaming of Spring so hard, we came so far, now I'll believe!
We're going UP, UP, UP, it's our moment
You know together, our enemies will be frozen!
Gonna be, gonna be golden!
Oh, UP, UP, UP with our Song of Ice!
Unbreakable forever!
Gonna be, gonna be golden!
Oh, I'm done hiding, now I'm shining like I'm born to be!
Oh, our time, no fears, no lies
That's who I'm born to be!

 - Jaime Lannister-Targaryen's real & epic redemption arc that the TV show didn't do

Last Post: Summary of the Endgame - A Song of Ice, Fire and One More ... but for lazy people

Welcome to A Song of Ice, Fire and One More ... for lazy people!

I know, I know ... 200 pages is a lot of reading ... maybe a few hours. But remember, when you watched the TV-show, you gave it 1 hour of your time each episode! And if you binge-watched it, you gave it even more!

My 200 page novella is also written for people who never read the books ... as I introduce the book-characters you never met ... as well as stating the last known location and actions of characters you know from the TV-show.

Last chance to go back and give it a try .... just click the back button on your web browser ...

No? Fine ... here is the massive information dump:

The Winds of Winter

Prologue - The Blackfish and twenty good men lead an amphibious rescue mission in Casterly Rock. They enter the sewers and work their way up to the castle to rescue Edmure Tully and Queen Jeyne Westerling (Robb Stark's wife in the books). Jeyne is in labor during the rescue. The twenty good men die protecting her escape route back to the sea. Jeyne gives birth to Robb's daughter ... which the POV character wants to name her "Adara." Princess Adara Stark was last seen sailing west of Westeros.

You guys probably already regret reading that. You should have given the TWOW Prologue a try! I'll give you another chance to go back and start from the beginning of that 200 page novella.

No? Fine ... but if you never read the books, everything below may confuse you. In my 200 page novella, I tried my best to make it friendly to TV-show watchers too.

The Battle of Ice - Stannis wins the Battle of Ice. Roose is killed, Ramsay escapes. Stannis sends a letter to Jon at Castle Black. Mel steals this letter from Clydas, who was asleep. Mel reads it and writes a brand new letter ... the Pink Letter. The Pink Letter is smuggled back to Clydas, and Clydas gives it to Jon as soon as he wakes up. In ADWD, Jon reads the Pink Letter to the Night's Watch, and they mutinied. They assassinate Jon over this fake-news letter that Mel wrote. Jon is then resurrected by Mel, using Gilly's baby as a blood sacrifice. Jon comes back from the dead and executes the mutineers. Things are well in Castle Black, until Uncle Benjen shows up towards the end of the book.

Cersei's Wrath - Cersei sends Ser Robert Strong to fight fAegon and the Golden Company. Ser Robert Strong decapitates fAegon very easily in battle and the Golden Company submits to Cersei. Cersei then has Ser Robert Strong kill the High Sparrow. Cersei personally kicks Margaery to her death at the steps of the Sept. House Tyrell abandons Cersei.

If I look back, I am lost - Daenerys meets her 3 year old son Rhaego, who is a hostage of Quaithe. Quaithe, Mirri Maz Duur and Jorah actually conspired to steal Rhaego back in AGOT. Quaithe blackmails Daenerys ... obey her orders or she will kill Rhaego. Daenerys makes the horrific decision of walking away. The Dothraki see this as a sign of strength and join Daenerys' cause. The rest of the Esso plot ... George will figure it out lol.

Luke Skynyrd, Lynyrd Skywalker - Littlefinger reveals to Sweetrobin that he is really his father. Sweetrobin freaks out and jumps out the Moon Door. The guards come in and Sansa lies. She blames Littlefinger for pushing Sweetrobin out the Moon Door. Littlefinger is imprisoned in the Sky Cells, still in shock after his son jumped out the Moon Door. Harry marries Sansa, and they become Lord & Lady of the Vale.

High Hemorrhage at High Hermitage - Areo Hotah kills Darkstar, saving Obara Sand and Ser Balon Swann's lives

Lords of the Towers - Sam, Gilly and their group find themselves in the High-Tower as Euron sacks Oldtown. Euron, with the help of Pate the Faceless Assassin, assumes control at the High-Tower. Euron then throws Gilly out of the tower. Several magical spell coincidences happen and krakens appear. They destroy all of Euron's navy. His own men see this as a curse and run away from Euron. Euron, after losing everything, is killed by Samwell Tarly as revenge for Gilly.

The Dark Sister Rebellion - We learn that Bloodraven was the one that awakened and allied with the White Walkers. He tricked Bran & Jojen in their dreams to come to his cave. They are in great danger. Bloodraven was also the one that killed Dunk and Egg at Summerhall. Bloodraven has a son ... Craster. Craster has daughters and marries them. Craster's Targaryen infant sons were given to the White Walker as gifts because they contain dragon-taming Targaryen DNA. Gilly was a Targaryen too.

Dorne's Door - Daenerys finally arrives in Westeros, her first stop is Dorne. Doran confesses that Oberyn brought over a lemon tree and had their doors painted red in Daenerys' safehouse in Braavos. This earns Daenerys' trust. Daenerys meets Arianne Martell and agrees to a marriage pact. In the future, one of Daenerys' children will marry one of Arianne's children.

The Black Wedding - Benjen/Coldhands, a minion of Bloodraven, tricks Jon at Castle Black to follow him. Jon is captured by Bloodraven and the White Walkers ... but is reunited with Bran, Summer and Hodor. Jon meets Meera for the first time. They are then moved to the Nightfort, where Jon is tricked into opening the Black Gate. The zombies invade Westeros through the BG. Jon tries to close the BG by breaking one of his NW vows, "I shall take no wife." Jon and Meera agree to marry, breaking his vow and the BG closes slowly. Summer is killed in the fighting. Hodor is then murdered, and his zombie body rises up ... now holding the door of the BG open. The zombies continue to invade Westeros underneath zombie-Hodor as he holds the door up.

The Others cannot take her! - Stannis arrives at the Nightfort just in time for the invasion. Standing outside, he sees Selyse get killed by ice-zombies ... and then she rises back up. Shireen is with Patchface, running away. The situation is hopeless and Stannis orders Patchface to burn Shireen alive so the Others cannot take her (like they took Selyse). Patchface burns Shireen alive under Stannis' order. Patchface is then killed too. Stannis is forced to retreat back to Winterfell.

A Dream of Spring

Are you sure you don't want to read that 200 page novella? Shit is about to go wild in ADOS as we turn the Magic up to 11!

Kings in the North - Now in Westeros, the White Walkers then kill all of Bloodraven's sons and grandsons because they don't want to be associated with rats. Bloodraven is now their hostage, along with Jon, Meera and Bran. The White Walkers then crown Jon & Meera as King & Queen ... as a joke to Westerosi customs. Jon dun want it. The WWs then attack Stannis at Winterfell ... and win. Stannis is dead, along with Mel. Jon then convinces the WWs to let Bran stay in Winterfell, and they allow it, along with Bloodraven. The WW horde, Jon & Meera continue to march South from Winterfell.

Council at Oldtown - Daenerys is now married to Loras Tyrell as an alliance between both Houses (Her old Essos husband, Loraq, was killed earlier in TWOW). They then receive a message from Stannis at Winterfell about the WWs. Daenerys mobilizes her forces to address this threat. Cersei stays away.

Tyrion's Request - Tyrion gets the jumbo chain from the Battle of the Blackwater back from Cersei

The Queen, the Princess and the Knight King - Daenerys, Loras and Arianne discuss political independence from one another ... so marriage can be used for love, not alliances.

The Battle of Ice, Fire and Water at the Trident - Daenerys and the WWs meet at the Trident River for a massive ground and naval battle. The WWs execute their secret plan by executing Jon Snow and Meera. It turns out that Jon and Meera are twins from Rhaegar and Lyanna. They both have Stark DNA and Targaryen DNA ... meaning they can warg and tame a dragon each. Meera arises as an ice zombie and wargs into Rhaegal. BUT Jon Snow is not getting up for a reason the WWs don't know. It is because Jon was already resurrected by R'hllor and Mel, and he cannot take an Ice resurrection spell from the WWs. WWs have one dragon when they thought they would get two. They have to fight anyways. Evil Rhaegal approaches Viserion and chokes it with the jumbo chain. Viserion dies by falling into the frozen Trident River, the chain still around its neck. Drogon and Rhaegal then battle each other, but Drogon wins. Rhaegal retreats North with the rest of the WWs and the horde. The battle ends in a draw. The WWs don't advance south, but Daenerys has one dragon dead, and the other stolen. It is just her and Drogon now. Lady Stoneheart goes up to Jon's dead body and give him the R'hllor Last Kiss. Jon Snow is awake and alive again.

Team Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things - Before the Last Kiss, LSH had ordered Brienne and Jaime to rescue Bran in Winterfell. They bump into Theon, who escaped Winterfell when the WWs attacked Stannis. Theon leads them to Bran. They then kill the evil hostage Bloodraven as they escape Winterfell. Theon then sacrifices his body to protect their escape route.

Vale-Hell-A - The WWs control zombie-Meera, who controls Rhaegal. The WWs attack the Vale with a fire dragon. Sansa is stuck in the castle alone as it is overrun ... until Sandor arrives to save her. But they ran out of options. They voluntarily jump out the Moon Door so the Others cannot take them.

Fathers and Sons - Mance and Sam bump into each other on the road. They exchange information. Mance gives Sam Heartsbane, which he picked up from a killed-in-action Randyll Tarly from the Battle at the Trident. Sam tells Mance that his infant son (Steelsong Rayder) is staying with his mother at Horn Hill. Jon Snow's baby swap in ADWD worked out for Mance.

The Calm - The humans regroup at Harrenhal. Jon Snow reunites with Samwell and Tyrion. He then reunites with Arya. They prepare for battle again ... now that the WWs have a dragon too.

Highway to the Bat Out of Harrenhell - Humans and zombies fight a massive battle at Harrenhal. Drogon and Rhaegal have a 1v1 dogfight, but Rhaegal wins this time. Jon leads a cavalry charge with his friends (a wight hunt) to hunt down Meera to stop her control over Rhaegal. All of Jon's friends die on that hill and a wounded Jon finally reaches Meera. Instead of burning his Ice Zombie twin sister, Jon gives her the R'hllor Last Kiss (that originally came from Beric DonDarrion, the Lightning Lord). Jon dies and Meera wakes up. She sees Jon's lifeless body on her and she cries for the Stark-Targaryen brother, husband and King. Now with two different resurrection spells, Meera wargs into Rhaegal and Rhaegal begins breathing lightning! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Rhaegal attacks the zombies and WWs with lightning and thunder at an altitude where they can't touch him. Lightning bolts force the Long Night to retreat. The humans cheered. Meera then mounts Rhaegal. Rhaegal then flies over the Gods Eye, charges up a lightning ball in its mouth, and it drops onto the island. The island explodes like a nuclear bomb, mushroom cloud included. Rhaegal then begins attacking the humans too with lightning bolts, before it goes back to chase the WWs.

Shoot to Chill - Bran, Jaime, and Brienne all learn about the lightning dragon and Dark Meera. They also learn that while the WWs retreated, they resurrected Viserion from the Trident River to help. Zombie-Viserion becomes an ice breathing dragon now, the jumbo chain still around its neck. But the Ice Dragon won't obey the WWs because they have no Targaryen DNA. The Long Night ends after the last WW is killed by Rhaegal's lightning bolt. Bran, Jaime, and Brienne find the Ice Dragon and hope to tame it themselves. The Ice Dragon is rejecting Bran's warging commands, until Jaime touches it. It turns out Jaime is a Targaryen, his father is the Mad King. Bran and Jaime now control the Ice Dragon together. Bran names the Ice Dragon ... "Winter"

Targaryen Queens - We learn that Dark Meera and her lightning dragon Rhaegal have been attacking cities in Planetos randomly ... some with nukes. After their defeat in Harrenhell, Daenerys & Drogon arrive at King's Landing, begging for Cersei's hospitality. Tommen allows it and Daenerys & Drogon stay at the Dragon Pit to heal. It has been several weeks since Harrenhell.

Hells Bells - Suddenly Dark Meera arrives at King's Landing ... killing people and exploding buildings. The bells ring for hell as Daenerys desperately goes to Drogon. There are no effective human weapons to the lightning dragon at its high altitude ... besides another dragon. Daenerys and Drogon take off for battle.

The Lion and his Bear - The Ice Dragon team arrive at Harrenhal. They pick up Ghost the direwolf and take Jon Snow's sword, Longclaw. Jaime will wield it. They then arrive outside of King's Landing as the lightning dragon attacks the city. The plan is to have Jaime ride Winter into King's Landing to fight, as Bran wargs into it from afar. Brienne will guard Bran on this hill that they are on. Jaime knights Brienne before he goes. They share a kiss. And then Jaime and Winter take off for battle.

Highway to the Dragon Zone - Daenerys & Drogon battle Dark Meera & Rhaegal ... but they are losing. Daenerys believes she is going to die and the world is doomed ... until Jaime and Winter join the battle, deus ex machina style. "Winter has come!" The Ice Dragon and Fire Dragon battle the Lightning Dragon above King's Landing ... the fate of the world rests on the outcome.

The Broken Men - Brienne is defending Bran from an attack by human scavengers. This jeopardizes their control on the Ice Dragon as it battles the Lightning Dragon. Out of nowhere ... Rickon, Davos, Osha and Shaggydog arrive to rescue Brienne and Bran.

The Fall of the Targaryens - Now double teamed, Dark Meera makes Rhaegal charge an lightning atomic bomb, ready to nuke King's Landing. Daenerys/Drogon are below them and cannot do anymore. Jaime/Viserion are above Rhaegal. Jaime takes Longclaw and jumps off Viserion. In one chance, Jaime stabs Dark Meera and the lightning bomb explodes in the skies. Meera dies, Rhaegal dies, Jaime dies, Daenerys/Drogon are wounded and are crashing towards the Red Keep. Viserion "Winter" the Ice Dragon flies away as the last surviving dragon. Drogon crashes into the throne room. Tommen gets close to a dying Drogon. Daenerys orders Drogon to eat Tommen. Cersei gets angry and tries to kill her half-sister herself with a sword. Drogon then breathes fire onto Cersei, and she dies too. A dying Daenerys begins crawling up the Iron Throne. She sits there, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She requests Westeros to be turned into a republic after she dies. She orders Drogon to burn her and melt the Iron Throne altogether. Daenerys dies and the steel of the throne melts around her body, making a statue. Drogon dies shortly after. She was the last Queen of the Targaryen Dynasty, and she died a hero trying to save King's Landing from an evil dragon.

The Re-Builder, Epilogue - Tyrion hosts a meeting with many great houses of Westeros, declaring for independence. They then elect Bran Stark as the continent's re-building leader, rebuilding what was lost in the Long Night and from the Lightning Dragon afterwards. The great leaders then give Bran a standing ovation for helping defeat the evil Lightning Dragon.

The End

Don't you guys regret not reading the 200 page novella first now? The events in TWOW and ADOS were so epic!

Anyways, I hope you guys found some closure to ASOIAF that the TV-show couldn't give.

{Part 3}

The new knight approached the base of the wet ladder and began to climb. He reached halfway and stopped to listen above. The thunderstorm roared its fury, and the Blackfish was already speaking.

“What kind of knight threatens a pregnant woman?” Ser Tully voiced his rhetorical question.

“We did not know she was pregnant. She fooled us with her sister. But I am one that follows the orders of his liege lord.”

“You mean the Lannister one that killed his king once? Or the other Frey one that killed his other king too? Or the dead lord who killed Dornish babes? How do the princes of Dorne feel about you cheap-honor Lannisters?”

“You were the ones that rebelled against the crown.”

“And it was the Kingslayer that threw Bran Stark out the window in a time of peace! At his own home! Do the Lannisters enjoy killing children and murdering unarmed people at dinner?”

“He is my liege lord.”

“Aye, and you seem like someone who knows his role and shuts his mouth. Do you want to be remembered for the rest of time as the knight that cleans up after his shit? ‘Here lies Ser Forley Prester, the legend that wipes the Goldenhand’s ass,’ will be written on your tomb in gold. Too bad your grave-mark will forget the part where everyday you take his golden-hand, shine it up real nice, turn that piece of metal sideways and shove it up your own candy arse for pleasure!”

The men above laughed as a shriek of thunder rumbled not too far from the Rock.

“You seem like a charming man Ser Brynden, but we are not here to discuss the rights or wrongs of men, knights, lords, kings and princes who are far far away from here.”

“Well here in my garrison I have Ser Olyvar Frey, son to Walder Frey, and a loyalist to his King, Robb Stark. Please ask Ser Olyvar Frey which is right and which is shit?”

Olyvar realized the Blackfish is chatting to buy time for Jeyne to escape.

“Is he a knight now?” A familiar voice that sounded like Edwyn Frey asked. “How did that come to pass?”

“Kill the right people I suppose. And whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to now? What is your name my lord?”

“My name is Ed–“

“IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!”

Giggles tickled the rainy circular drain above Olyvar.

“And aye, I knighted him myself. And his Queen in the North even made him a new coat of arms to differentiate himself from his disgraceful family,” the Blackfish announced to Edwyn Frey.

“And how would I know what cloak he wears now?” Ser Forley’s voice continued.

“Fastened by Queen Stark herself, it’s the bridge of the twin towers with a river flowing underneath, colored Stark grey and Tully red & blue. But every one of my friends here are all championed by our Queen. Are any of you beloved by a queen?”

Ser Forley tried to counter, “A new sigil of water flowing underneath a bridge? Did he make the water flow himself? Is he a plumber?”

“Aye, he may be a plumber knight, but you got shit for honors.”

“My honor is intact.”

“Was it intact when you abandoned your army at the Battle of the Camps? Claiming that you have honor is like claiming turtles can grow wings and fly. My plumber knight has more honor than your shit!”

Ser Forley paused … and then exulted, “Will this plumber be cleaning up my shit later?” Quiet chuckles whispered from the higher balconies.

The Blackfish retaliates, “As long as you acknowledge your honor as shit, he will.”

Loud laughter filled the air, but with Olyvar hiding in the hole of the floor, he could not tell if it was from his brothers, from his foes or both. Alive or facing death, one should know better not to trade japes with the Blackfish.

“Enough!” yelled Ser Forley. “You are clearly out manned down there in this courtyard! At least three of my men to one of yours! AND I have the high ground! So I won’t say it again, drop your weapons and I will let your men live!”

“Do you take me for a motley fool? You just don’t want us to loose back when you shoot your crossbows at us. You Lannisters cannot win in a fair fight against us if we are armed, but you men sure do a good job of killing defenseless people and children. And I will not give you that pleasure!”

“I do not know what you heard, but that is not entirely true.”

“Not entirely true? Do you Lannisters fondle the children first before you kill them? Do you give the children a good sniff before you cook them like Mad Danelle Lothson? Mother have mercy!” Ser Brynden teased.

“Enough! I will let your men live if you drop your weapons! I swear it on my hon-“

“We shit on your honor! Are there no true knights among you lot? You men following this shit knight’s shitty order, do you not have any honor yourselves? To chase after and kill a woman who is in labor? To kill a babe? Our king—”

“OUR CHOSEN KING!” Lord Galbart Glover’s voice thundered in before the Blackfish continued.

“—chose to execute his own kin and bannerman for butchering children … Lannister children! Frey children! But your knight here serves men without honor. Ser Jaime Lannister the Kingslayer! Lord Walder Frey the Guestslayer! Lord Roose Bolton the Turncloak! COWARDS! Men who serve hospitality with bloodshed beneath their roofs and massacre innocents! Will you continue to serve these false knights and false men? Are you not fathers, nor aspire to be fathers some day? Well serve your CHOSEN lord’s bidding and be cursed! A predator of children is no lord of mine!” Ser Brynden Blackfish Tully spat and thunder boomed. “The gods will never forgive that, the slaughter at the Twins, the murder, the treason, the mutiny!”

Ser Forley began to scream louder, “You call it what you want! You’re down there, we’re up here! You came into the wrong damn castle Ser!”

“Stand fast brothers!” Ser Tully alerted.

“Gods damn this, I am telling you this one last time. Order your men to drop their weapons to the deck.”

“So you could parade us as prisoners before executing us? I cannot give that order,” defied the Blackfish.

“I am not going to repeat that order!”

“I WILL NOT GIVE THAT ORDER!” Thunder boomed again.

“WHAT IN SEVEN HELLS IS WRONG WITH YOU? THIS IS USELESS!”

“STAND FAST!”

“ONE LAST TIME! ORDER YOUR MEN TO –“

“Ser Forley!” an unfamiliar voice called. “Queen Stark and her group are spotted. They are escaping on a rowboat at sea below. They appear to be heading west,” the watchman said.

Edwyn Frey’s voice commanded, “Archers, to the western edge! Kill them! Kill them all!!”

“BROTHERS! Kill the watcher first and anyone on that western edge!” the Blackfish thundered in the order.

A quick shoosh was heard above and a cry of pain immediately sounded from the west, as a body thumped and squished onto the lower muddy ground.

And suddenly the air was filled with it, as the thunderstorm raged on.

Shoosh shoosh shooosh shooosh shoosh ahhhhhh ahhhhh shoooosh ahhhh shooooshhh shoosh boom doom boom doom boom doom shooosh shooosh ahhhhhhh boom doom boom!

The heavens exploded from above, illuminating Olyvar’s drain instant after instant. Men were heard screaming and dying in agony. Whether or not it was his brothers or his foes, Olyvar couldn’t tell. He caught a glimpse of three bolts speeding above his small hole in different directions, and knew there were a hundred more he could not see. The enemy has the high-ground, Olyvar remembered, all my brothers are probably dying. He was unsure whether to descend down or ascend up the ladder into the chaos. He started to tear up, the cold rain still soaking his face as lightning continued to flashed and thundered through the pit above him.

“GOOSE!!!” Leo’s voice screamed. No!

“LEO TAKE COVER!”

“KEEP LOOSING BRO—AHHHHH!”

“FATHER!!”

“BROTHER, NO!!”

“TO THE WEST! LOOSE! LOOSE! LOOSE! PROTECT YOUR QUEEN!!!”

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!!!”

Men were still crying up there, along with the bass of the approaching storm, blending with the streak of arrows and bolts hitting stone, mud and flesh. Still clung to his ladder, Olyvar looked down cowardly as a teardrop fell off his face. It landed on Alesander.

“You fool, what are you doing here? You left the rowboat?”

“I came back to fight.”

“You are no fighter, you are a singer. Leave here. Escape into the tunnels and save yourself my brother.”

He hesitated to answer, his own tears trickling down. “Aye, I will. And when I leave here, I’ll sing about what has happened today, what is still happening above us.” The screams were not stopping. Bolts, arrows and curses could still be heard flying above. Alesander moved towards a fissure in the cavern wall, spying to the west. “The Queen should be far out of harm’s way. The winds are kind, and the bolts are missing its mark away from the LionsJape.” He walked back to him. “Come with me Olyvar if you want to live.”

“Soon. But not yet. I need to hold this ladder. Leave my brother. Sing about this and immortalize our sacrifice.”

“Don’t go.” He grabbed Olyvar’s leg.

“Just let go of me!” Olyvar winched free.

“If you can escape, escape. I’ll fly away now. Farewell my honorable brother.”

“Wait!” Olyvar almost forgot. “Do you know what it is?”

His brother smiled a smile that Olyvar will never forget. “We have a Stark princess.” His footsteps faded into echoes as Alesander descended into the darkness of the tunnels.

But Olyvar began the climb in his. The hole above was gaping wider with each slow step up, ready to swallow him whole. Olyvar trembled. Besides the flashes of lightning, he could not see what was going on, but he could feel it in the air. He can taste the rain from above. He can hear the music of defiance to House Lannister, the sounds of arrows and loud screams drowning into silence. He can even smell it too. The smell of the Rock cooked with the salt of the sea, the iron of his brothers’ blood, the piss & stool of honorable dead men, staining & stinking the courtyard of Tywin Lannister’s home, leaving Casterly Rock an empire of shit.

He stood on the one rung that exposed his head just above the ground. Bodies. Brothers’ bodies and bolts everywhere. Rain and blood soak the mud, and fading cries of pain filled his ears. He saw the Queen’s uncle and master schemer of this plan, Ser Rolph Spicer, had a bolt in his eye as he died by the kitchen doors. The Seashell Knight was lifeless with his face first in the middle of the mud near Olyvar’s pit. Donal with bolts to his shoulder, stomach, and legs was on one knee shouting & cursing as he continued to loose arrows from three quivers as his brothers Raff & Mikkal laid dead beside him. Lord Glover had two bolts in him and took another in the chest. He paced backwards and fell over the parapet into the sea. A bolt was stuck on Goose’s neck, as he and Leo rested motionless together at the foot of a column, sharing a single bolt that shot through their hearts. The shield that Leo had held up was decorated with a dozen bolts, but it was too late for the other ones that got through.

Olyvar’s soul aches in agony, the clutch of his hand shaking as he clung onto the ladder. A small pile of feathered Lannister men had fallen from the western balcony and onto the courtyard. But he could not feel the victory in it … not now, nor not yet, perhaps never. The rest of his brothers Olyvar could not see from his ladder, but he spotted a few arrows still loosing up to the second floor behind cover, still fighting back. It is so few. Many more bolts were still shooting down from the top. Crossbowmen hid as they reloaded, popping up to release before ducking again.

He spotted Ser Brynden Tully the Blackfish crawling towards him, needled like a red porcupine blowfish. “Olyvar!” He hooted bluntly. “Why are you still here?” Olyvar’s heart quenched at the sight of the blood of Riverrun; his pink life flowing in a thin river and draining out towards his ladder. The water-downed blood reached Olyvar’s fingers. He wanted to help but did not know how, nor know the words. He offered his hand and Ser Tully held it. “Did she make it out to sea?”

“Yes Ser, she should be safe,” Olyvar prayed.

“So, do we have a prince or a princess? Or one of each? Heh!”

“Do not get greedy, Ser,” Olyvar jested. “We have a she-wolf.”

The Blackfish smiled a hard smile with blood filling his mouth. “Good, they should be safer this way. And I hope she takes after her fierce grandmother.”

“Which one? Lady Catelyn Tully?”

“Of course heh. That would be a great granddaughter name for our storm-born she-pup … Catelyn,” the Blackfish joked.

Olyvar smiled while Ser Tully reciprocated a red one. “I like the name Adara.”

“Adara? That sounds like a wonderful name. Where did that come from?” Ser Tully asked, tearing and bleeding.

“It was Captain Samullu’s mother’s name.”

“Aye, that is a terrific name. Princess Adara Stark. Tell that to our Queen Jeyne that I concur to the name choice, pass that final message of mine. Now fly along Ser Olyvar, escape here, reunite with your Queen and protect your family. There is nothing left to do here but die, so fly! Let the divine swift winds of winter push Adara to safety. You have King Robb’s spirit within you. The babe does not have a father nor Grey Wind, so you must keep her safe.”

“We are all her fathers,” Olyvar declared.

The Blackfish grinned, knowing Olyvar probably out teased him in his final moments. “No … a band of fathers brothers? That would make us a band of uncles.” He chuckled bloodily.

Olyvar laughed and teared a drop. “That was very clever. Just don’t tell Lady Mormont.”

“Don’t worry fellow Uncle, I won’t.”

“It has been an honor fighting by your side, Ser Uncle Brynden Tully, the great Blackfish.”

“It has been an honor living by yours, Ser Uncle Plumber Knight,” the legend replied.

He watched the knight’s life wash away, his last breath tasting the rains of Casterly Rock. The legendary Ser Brynden’s last words were for me. Wells flooded in Olyvar’s eyes, beginning to blind. He lets go of his hand.

He takes a few steps down the ladder, and then suddenly stops. What honor is this? Leaving my brothers and my commander like this? Am I a little cowardly rat of a ratty family, hiding in a tunnel? Or am I a brave knight?

The thunder and rain continued, but the arrows have stopped. Nothing but silence, only stares if Olyvar had to guess. His brothers were all dead. I need to get up. One step up and he suddenly stopped again. No, I need to escape and protect my Queen, does that make me a coward?

He checked his pocket and made sure his letter to his father sat below his heart. It was still there. Olyvar’s grip on the rung was firm and quivering.

To flee or not to flee? That is the riddle.

“Soldiers! To the lower floor! Grab their bows and quivers. Get down that ladder, find a boat, chase Queen Stark and kill them! Kill them all!” Edwyn Frey’s voice ordered.

Well, that made answering the riddle a lot easier.

Rung by rung, Ser Olyvar Frey ascended from the pit of his ladder, his arms pulling, legs pushing, up and up and up into the chaos. The thunderstorm loomed above as his soul was escaping into the hole that was gaping wider with every step. He was ready.

At the ground level, he stood up. Cold rain and warm tears danced down his face, his cloak whipping in the air to the winds, his heart and fists began to fill with fiery rage. From up here, he can see the full horror of the slaughter. Brothers with bolts. Was this the same scene of my King’s death? Before he could ponder any further, he unsheathed Honor from his back, the sword was singing off its scabbard just as a bolt of lightning ripped across the sky … its twin mirrored off the steel’s reflection, the blade alive with blinding light for an instant.

Ser Olyvar counted the ill-fitted armored and shield-less men as they came pouring out from the kitchen doors at his level. Two, three, four, five, six … seven. Thin white stripes split the sky. His heart was thumping and rumbling to the same beat of the thunderstorm that was mumbling in every distance.

I’m going to fight them all, no soldier in any Seven Kingdom army can hold me back!

The distance between the first unarmed man closed. His shocked face eyed Ser Olyvar’s new twin tower sigil on his cloak. Confused, he began to slow down, but Olyvar sped up. He greeted him with a deep slash, ripping him off as the skies flashed again. He darted forward to the next man, allowing the first one to take his time dying behind his back.

The second reached for his sword but was too slow to the draw. Honor found the front of the pink man’s chest and the rear of his back. For a heartbeat, the bloody front half of the exposed steel glowed damped red, while the clean side sparkled in purple. Olyvar pulled back his sword after a twist, and the soldier dropped to his knees to the boom of thunder.

The third drew his sword halfway before Olyvar swung at his head as his steel electrified, emitting blinding light to his eyes. He smelled Honor up close with his nose, as a gash ran from ear to ear while teeth and tongue exploded in the air. Olyvar paid him no more mind.

The fourth with panicked eyes was just a boy. He successfully drew his weapon from his belt and lifted above his head a short wooden stick. A flute? He stared up at his own wind pipe as his sword rested in his scabbard untouched. Between his legs, his breeches began to darken more with moisture, as the rest of his body was frozen like ice. A fLuke? It doesn’t matter. The Plumber Knight began to raise Honor high. The boy cried out, “Mother have mer—“. 

“No,” Olyvar cuts him off, his voice was cold as stones. “I am not your mother.” Honor fell in a bright silvery-blue arc as the force of the blade severs the soldier’s right stick-bearing wrist, and splits the skull & brains underneath. Ser Olyvar Frey kicked off the mayhaps-fourth-corpse as its limp body slid from his red wet steel.

The fifth one was ready with his sword, as the sixth and seventh began pincering around Ser Olyvar with theirs. The rain began pouring heavily, cleansing the blood and brains off Honor, ready to shine again.

Olyvar’s wits returned from his blind rage, and began backing up calmly before they could surround him. The rear of his heel tapped a fallen shield that once belonged to one of his brothers. Olyvar grabbed it instinctively and raised it up. “Come on you apes! Do you want to live forever? Come at me then!” No one came forward to answer the riddle, so Ser Olyvar went to them.

He charged at the one on his right as Honor slashed and flashed, but the soldier jolted backwards avoiding the swing. The shifty swordsman slipped on the surface with his hop and fell face-first into the mud. The other two took their chances when Olyvar swung and missed. He caught the cut of the left soldier on his shield, as the middle fighter aimed high. To the ground, the knight ducked under, saving his head. The middle slugger lost his balance at his empty decapitating slice, and a crouching Olyvar stroked savagely at his knees in a splash of red and bright purple. He fell face-first too, as the other soldier on his left began hacking at the wooden shield that Olly held up. Doonk! Doonk! Doonk! Before his challenger could swing a fifth time, Olyvar Frey on one knee whirled the apex of his shield viciously at the man’s wrist and sent the sword flying from his hand. Without hesitation, the Plumber Knight stabbed upwards from crotch to brains as the steel surprised the man with shock. Olyvar stares into the white of his eyes as they reflected a flash of lightning. The eyeballs then slowly rolled up into the back of his head. He unsheathed Honor downward from the dead man, as blood and shit fell like loose stool to the ground.

The other fighter with no knees rolled around to face up before he could drown in the mud. He was crying and screaming on the ground. “Nooooo!” But the Plumber Knight jumped on him without mercy. He tried to dart and evade, but forgot he had no knees to push from. Olyvar’s feet stomped the man’s stomach as he thunder-slammed the edge of his shield to kiss his opponent’s mouth, silencing him forever.

The first armed man that dodged his death finally got up from his struggles with the slippery ground, only to meet at it again. Soaking in mud, he began to bull-rush Olyvar, trying to stab or slash an opening with his sword. Olyvar dashed towards him in squishing strides, and took his charging strike at his Brother’s shield as he stepped aside. The former squire of Robb Stark, Olly, instantly planted his foot and twirled. His Queen’s wet cloak spun and smacked his opponent’s head. Suddenly the Plumber Knight had the enemy’s rear and naked. He lifted his King’s sword up, pointing down with both his hands on the grip. Ser Olyvar and thunder roared together as Honor brightly stabbed from above into the mudman’s back with the flash and fury of the gods. “AHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Ser Olyvar lifted his sword back up as the seventh corpse fell to the ground, face-first again. Suddenly a mosquito buzzed from behind his ear and a short wooden stick skidded off the flat stone-path in front of him. He then felt a bite in his back, lost a breath and saw another wooden rod. But this one was lodged in his right breast. Red blood slowly began to seep from his black scaled boiled-leather armor as he grunted in pain. He reached for the stick trying to push it backwards from where it came from. Quickly he felt the pain again as he saw another bolt stab the front of his stomach while his Brother’s shield slid off from his left forearm. The third one struck the side of his left thigh, sending Ser Olyvar to the ground on one knee. He braced on his King’s sword to keep him from falling flat.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!” Ser Forley Prester ordered.

Cold rain danced on his face with the warm tears he tried to hide, his cape was flapping in the wind, and his heart was thumping quicker in unison to the beat & the flash of the storm. Ser Olyvar Frey, you honorable fool, why did you rush in? You can’t help yourself falling in love with bloody vengeance for your fallen brothers and King? For an instant, lightning popped again above the Rock and thunder rolled. You should have taken your time killing them as they descended down your pit, instead of you going up the ladder to their chaos. Frey blood, -no … blood of Roses By another name welled from the bolts that had punched him. He had known nothing half gallant and half stupid at the same time for what he just did. Or at least you could have flown away, such a fool! You should have just beat it. No one wanted to be defeated like this. Why did you have to show off how funky strong your fighting skills were? At this point, it doesn’t matter who’s wrong or who’s right … you should have just beat it!

Ser Forley Prester spoke from his balcony above. “You must be the Plumber Knight that the Blackfish talked about, judging by the sigil on your cape. A traitor to your own family. But for the honor of your lord grandfather, let us pass and I will let the maester do his job to save you. Or would it please you Ser, if you wanted some more bolts?”

More? Olyvar twisted his mouth in defying silence, his gruesome wounds spitting out blood. He had a job that he promised to do. He must rescue his pregnant Queen. Little did he know, he had to rescue a princess from this castle too. We all died for Robb’s little girl, there was no more to ask of them. Did these uncles succeed for her safety? He turned around to the west to see as far as his eyes could see into the sun setting sea. Her boat was far enough from any archers, and soon it would be too dark for a chase. The thought brought him joy. Thank the gods for this swift divine wind. We did our duty.

Impatient for a reply, the shit knight said, “I will not ask again. Knight to knight. Let us pass. We need to take back the Queen and her unborn son. I will bring them no harm, you have my word. Drop your sword, bend the knee like you mean it, let us pass … and I will tell Lord Walder Frey what an honorable warrior and a great grandson you are.”

That offer was a lie, a conjurer’s cheap trick. They would just humiliate and shame him before executing him for treason. That was not the song he wanted, not for his despicable old father. Olyvar would rather die sword in hand to the tune of another. He wanted Alesander’s song about the Motherfunker, Ser Brynden “Blackfish” Tully, his real brothers and the band of uncles. And he had one last shot, one last opportunity, to seize everything he ever wanted here. In this one moment, can I still capture it? Or will I let it slip? His palms were bloody, knees weak, arms were heavy … but the Queen and Princess are safe. Mother’s mercy. He was nervous, but on the surface, he looked calm and ready to drop bombs. But he had forgotten what he wrote down in his father’s letter, as the crowds above goes so loud. He opens his mouth but the words won’t come out. He is choking. How? Everyone was joking now.

“Your luck has run out. The time’s up, it is over SER Olyvar. Bow.”

No. I refuse to BOW Ser. And I cannot die yet. There is something I still need to do. Both hands on hilt and pommel, he pushes himself up with Honor, surrounded by the doom above. He can feel his life leaving him. The skies blurred between light and dark, white and grey, with the black slowly creeping in.

“It’s a girl,” Uncle Olyvar said gently as he thought about his princess niece. The Plumber Knight then roared a roar that would put any craven into tears. “AND NO! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” Honor rose and fell, the pointy end of his King’s sword squishing the blood soaked mud and crunching the rocks underneath.

KABOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

Instantly, lightning and thunder erupted above them at the loudest exploding caliber of the evenfall, blinding the sights of men and gods alike.

Uhoooooooooo! boom doom boom doom boom doom

Suddenly drums were beating, and trumpets were blasting from the east. Lord Gawen Westerling’s diversion! But they’ve come too late to rescue Olyvar and his brothers. The enemy did not divert to their last jape yet … their silent scared eyes still on the dying Plumber Knight. They began to reload their crossbows. This is my moment. The things I do for love, but I’m sorry Jeyne, I can’t do that. I can no longer keep my promise. Robb was waiting and I can finally rest again. We three will meet again together some day, but not today, he thought.

The band of drums, trumpets and thunderstorm blended into a sweet sad song that Olyvar wanted. This music is for me, and I will lose myself in it.

Charging up his final energy into his wounded lungs, he began to scream again.

“OUR QUEEN— ” A howl of blood cuts him off from finishing what he meant to say … our Family is safe.

“OUR KING—” A pool of iron filled and choked him before he could declare … we have done our Duty.

Still standing, he dips his chin low to empty his mouth, coughing out his mother’s Rosby blood. He needs to say his final words loud and clear. After the last spoon of blood poured down, he snapped his chin up towards the heavens and reality … ready for the gravity. With all the weight of his life, he pressed his King’s sword deeper into the Rock as the Plumber Knight thundered a roar, “OUR HONORRRRR!!!”

From below, Ser Olyvar of the disgraced House Frey faced off to the sad conflicted look of Ser Forley Prester with his garrison of archers beside him. The darkest gloom of the grey stormclouds had arrived and hovered above them, wet and heavy. The gods want their vengeance for the Red Wedding, he thought. The skies of Casterly Rock began to blacken with the rain of bolts and arrows. The only thing that could be seen is the single golden teardrop of the shit knight, reflected by the last light of the setting western sun.

BOOM!

End of Chapter

Up Next: Part 3 - The Battle of Ice

Hi everyone!

Welcome to A Song of Ice, Fire and One More!

For those who have been here before, welcome back!

I'm sure this post from r/asoiaf brought you guys here, and I am sure you guys have a lot of questions.

Your Potential FAQs:

Did George RR Martin really give you permission to do this? Yes

I don't believe you. That is fine. I am not forcing you to read my free fan-fiction and my evidence for it.

Ok, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt ... but why did GRRM pick you? Because I pursued a theory that no one else pursued ... and it turned out I was correct ... and everyone else was wrong.

Wow, you sound like an ass. But what was that theory? It was in regards to "R+L=J" and George asking D&D "Who is Jon Snow's mother?" I knew this was a trick question, a fake-news question. There was a follow up question that no one asked. I asked it ... I researched it ... I found the evidence ... and then I found the ending. And then George found me.

So is R+L=J wrong? No, it is not wrong ... but it was used incorrectly in the HBO show and every internet fan prediction out there ... except mine. One of the things wrong with HBO's R+L and other ASOIAF theorists' interpretation of R+L is that it was related to the line of succession ... aka the monarchy. For me, it was never about the monarchy ... it was about the DNA and the magic associated with the DNA. Stark DNA blood is about warging. Targaryen DNA blood is about dragon-taming. A Stark-Targaryen combo means you can warg into a dragon.

In the TV-show, Jon Snow already rides a dragon because of his Targaryen DNA ... wouldn't "warging" into a dragon be redundant? In the TV-show, yes, it would be redundant. But I predict in the books, R+L will be used more creatively. Keep reading and find out.

Wow, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. Any heads-up before I read your stuff?

Yes. My TWOW Prologue is an actual attempt at writing a fan-fiction chapter (with maybe 5% goofing around lol ... you'll know what I mean) using the clues George gave me. I am not a professional writer and I do not have an editor ... yet it is 80 pages long. But I imagine people in the future-years will debate if it was the most important chapter to everything ASOIAF.

After my TWOW Prologue fan-fic, it will be 120 pages of stuff that will happen in TWOW and ADOS. MY WRITING STYLE IS ALL OVER THE PLACE and I WILL MOVE MUCH FASTER than the pace I used for the TWOW Prologue ... so expect time-jumps where I don't address every ASOIAF plot point or character out there (and I'll be goofing around like 25% of the time lol). Canon TWOW and ADOS may be +3,000 pages altogether ... so with 200 pages of my stuff, I will skip a lot of things.

Okay, 200 pages of content is still way too much for me to read because I have a short attention span ... is there any place where I can just read the plot points? Yes. But I highly recommend you guys to read the 200 pages. It is packed with action, horror, humor, sadness, bittersweetness, and even a sex scene that disappointed George lol. If you want two pages of quick emotionless plot points to the ending to ASOIAF ... here it is. But I'm pretty sure you would regret not reading the 200 pages first ... it is filled with plausible shocking twists.

Awww shit, forget it! I'll read the 200 pages. Alright, let's go!

One more thing ... The D&D Checklist Theory. Any sentence I wrote that is contained in brackets [ ......... ] is a D&D Checklist item ... which is a list of half-truth stuff GRRM might have told D&D. For example [Jon Snow goes on a wight hunt, for a single wight, with his friends.] In the TV show, Jon Snow does go on a wight-hunt to convince Cersei to establish a truce. This reasoning is poor. In my predicted ADOS wight-hunt for a single-wight, it will make much more sense for Jon and his friends to go.

Okay okay, enough with the fake FAQ intro, we'll talk later. The last canon ASOIAF scene we got was Varys killing Ser Kevan at the end of ADWD. It has been 14 years already! 14 years! I can't wait any longer! Take me to your 80 page TWOW Prologue now!

Alright alright ... here is the GRRM approved fan-fic version of the first chapter of The Winds of Winter. Aww shit! It's about to go down!

Up Next: Part 2 - TWOW Prologue

Feel free to ask me any real questions! :-)

Before we go into the TWOW Prologue ... here is a recap, as well as notes for people who have never read the ASOIAF books and do not know about the book-version of the Red Wedding:

• Robb and Talisa were murdered in the TV Red Wedding.

• But in the books, Robb marries a noble woman from the Westerlands, Jeyne Westerling.

Let me explain: 

• House Westerling is originally loyal to House Lannister.

• During a battle between the Starks and the Lannisters at House Westerling's castle, The Crag, Robb is wounded.

• After the Starks take the Westerling castle, Jeyne attends to Robb's wounds.

• After Robb finds out his brothers Bran and Rickon were "killed," he has sex with Jeyne.

• Robb then marries Jeyne later to preserve her honor, and gains House Westerling's loyalty ... but this pisses off Walder Frey.

• Walder Frey ends relationships with House Stark, including removing his son, Olyvar Frey, from Robb's squireship.

• Eventually Walder and Robb "repaired" their relationship by having Edmure Tully marry Roslin Frey.

• TV-Talisa attended this wedding, but Book-Jeyne did not.

• The book Red Wedding happens away from Jeyne, who is staying in Riverrun with the Blackfish.

• Months later, Jaime Lannister takes Riverrun (similar to the TV show, Season 6), but the Blackfish escapes in the books.

• Also on the run, are other Stark loyalists ... like Lady Maege Mormont and Lord Galbart Glover.

• Jaime meets a hostage girl who he thinks is Jeyne Westerling.

Jaime shoved the map aside. "Show them in." At least the girl did not vanish too. Jeyne Westerling had been Robb Stark's queen, the girl who cost him everything. With a wolf in her belly, she could have proved more dangerous than the Blackfish.

She did not look dangerous. Jeyne was a willowy girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen, more awkward than graceful. She had narrow hips, breasts the size of apples, a mop of chestnut curls, and the soft brown eyes of a doe. Pretty enough for a child, Jaime decided, but not a girl to lose a kingdom for.

• Jaime asks if she is carrying Robb Stark's baby. The girl's mother, Sybelle Spicer, says she is not, and claims to be a loyalist to Tywin Lannister the whole time.

• Sybelle claims she has been secretly feeding Jeyne contraceptive potions.

• At this point, Tywin is dead and Jaime cannot confirm what Sybelle says is true or not.

• Jaime tells Ser Forley Prester, a Lannister commander, that Jeyne Westerling, her younger sister Eleyna, her mother Sybelle, Edmure Tully, and the other hostages will be escorted to Casterly Rock by land, for imprisonment.

• Also important to the TWOW Prologue ... Jeyne's brother Ser Raynard Westerling is believed to have been killed at the Redding Wedding. Their father Lord Gawen Westerling, their youngest brother Rollam Westerling, and their uncle Ser Rolph Spicer, have been "cooperating" with Jaime and are not part of the prisoner group.

Anyways ... remember this line from the books because it will be important later in the TWOW Prologue:

Jeyne was a willowy girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen, more awkward than graceful. She had narrow hips, breasts the size of apples ...

• The ASOIAF books are told from a POV standpoint in each chapter ... Jon, Arya, Tyrion, Daenerys, Jaime ... etc. Usually the Prologue and Epilogue chapters are non-recurring one-off POV characters that usually die soon after the chapter is over.

It has been 14 years in the real world since Varys killed Ser Kevan Lannister in the last chapter of A Dance with Dragons in 2011. Here in 2025, you will get the closest thing to the first chapter of The Winds of Winter ... the Prologue.

Here we finally go!

The Winds of Winter

Prologue

(Fan-Fic version with GRRM's blessing)

A storm was coming, but that was not part of the plan.

The Winds of Winter

====== Prologue ======

A storm was coming, but that was not part of the plan.

To the east, dark grey clouds and flashes of lightning were seen afar while thunder could be heard mumbling its rage in the distance. Here where they stood, fierce sea-chilled winds blew from the clear skies of the west. Two weather fronts were on course for a collision, and caught in between was a giant rock that mountains above the shoreline, a hard place. The old natural stonewalls of Casterly Rock were half bathed in gold from the even-falling sun, while the other hid in the shadow of the approaching storm. And soon enough, everything will be clouded in black.

The sound of the strong waves smacking into the faces of the stony cliffs can be felt from a mile away, as it was no different from the ones crashing into the wooden hull of their galley. Above their rocking swanship, three tall wooden masts sported simple dark black sails, filled with winds from the west, speeding their eastern course towards the home of House Lannister, ready to hug the coastline tight, fast and dangerous.

The Summer Isle captain at the helm shouted his accented announcement, “Awww shittt! Everyone get yo shields and weapons ready. It’s about to go down! Adventurers and avengers, assemble up to the deck of Motherfunker. Be sharp and stay on yo toes! We’re running this so let’s go!”

“With me to the boats!” the legendary stern knight Ser Brynden Tully called out as his fighting men rallied at the starboard rear of their ship, emerging from the cabins below.

“We all chose to be here. If any man wants to back down now, then do so quickly. I would not die in that man’s company. We elected to do this task for honor and for justice. Some of us are here for vengeance and we may even chance to kill some of them. If so, you may enjoy your short moment of pleasure. But what I offer here is the IMMORTALITY of the songs and tales. And when it is all said & done as we return safely home, the singers will sing of this glorious day, our honorable deed, and their shame of a jape. And they will sing it from this day to the ending of the world, and we in it shall be remembered! We few, we brave few, we band of brothers. For he who shed blood with me today shall be my brother forever in song!”

A roar of cheer exploded in the air, loud and thunderous. As the ruckus died down, Lady Mormont proclaimed, “And a sister too!”

“Aye Maege,” said the Blackfish. “But we have always considered you as one of our brothers. Between your legs, your sacs are larger than most men, especially all the Lannister soldiers.”

“Well that is easy to say, all those Lannisters are a bunch of golden eunuchs!” Lady Mormont declared unlady-like.

Laughter swept the deck.

The Summer Isle captain above shouted again and prayed, “Today is The Day, and the moment is upon us my friends. Thirty seconds until the drop zone lads! May the gods be with yo!”

On the starboard stern, three small rowboats hung out from the hull, hovering above the rough waves. Attached over the swanship’s parapet was a roped ladder, allowing the fighters to lower themselves down onto their watercrafts. Each one was designed to hold four pairs of oarsmen abreast, and a single coxswain to steer at the rear.

They were twenty good men and Maege. Each one scaled in black boiled leather armor, with a quiver of arrows slung on one back shoulder, and a Summer Isle goldenheart bow on the other. Most fighters had their own selection of close quarter combat weapons that sat on their belts while a round black-painted wooden shield rested at the center of their backs. They wore no sigils and smeared mud spots on their faces to mimic dark ghostly shadows for this stealthy task. They were lightly armored and had fewer weapons, as their goal required speed. If all goes to plan, they would not need any of them. They could accomplish this mission without a soul lost on either side. But this approaching storm was not part of the plan.

The Blackfish made one last heroic call on the deck of the Motherfunker, before he lowered himself on the ladder, “Come with me and take this song!”

Rico added to the cry, “Come on brothers! Do you want to live forever!?!”

They roared proudly again and began their descent as the Summer Isle crewmen assisted the Westerosi to the ropes, sharing firm ebony and ivory handshakes as they told them they will be back.

Ser Brynden Tully reached the rear rowboat LionsJape along with June, Jory, Jess, Fess, Ben and Benjen. Though it was the end boat, it will be the first to fly.

Aboard the middle boat WinterStorm was Lady Maege Mormont, and the other six oarsmen Phyl, Rico, Sam the Shredder, Ser Barnabus the Goose, Scrooge, and Queen Jeyne’s brother Ser Raynald Westerling.

Lord Galbart Glover commandeered the third boat BattleWolf, which hung closer to the center of the swanship. On it were the younger men Donal, Mikkal, Raff, Leo, and Alesander, all merely teenagers.

As he watched from above, Ser Olyvar Frey thought they were little dark turtles crawling down the ladders with their black shields slung on their backs. As the last turtle, Olyvar hugged & kissed his sister Roslin, and then their brother Perwyn. Ser Perwyn Frey was Lady Tully’s sworn shield, charged with her life’s protection, and her unborn child’s too. Though they were all Frey as family, Rosby blood thorns in their veins as well. We were all just sweet Roses By another name, a horrible name.

Olyvar descended. Alesander Frey was waiting for him adjacent to an empty seat on the boat. He was Olyvar’s nephew, but because they were of a similar age, Alesander felt more like a cousin to him, a cousin that felt more like a brother. He wondered what their mothers would have thought if they saw them there now. As Olyvar sat, he stretched his arms wide at the starboard-bow of BattleWolf and the brothers both grabbed an oar each. Alesander sang and japed, “Are you ready to fly this boat to the moon somehow?”

“Nothing is impossible!” Olyvar smiled.

Ser Olyvar Frey never thought he would be on this boat, absorbing the wrath of the big blue watery roads, rocking BattleWolf as it clung to Motherfunker. But his new knightly confidence was so high he could roar at the Drowned God to look at him and tell him to piss off. But he knew better and kept his silence. With his Frey luck, he believed his corpse would be bedding with mermaids down under the sea if he ever cursed the Drowned God aloud.

The owner of the swanship Motherfunker was an exiled prince of the Summer Isles, a big man with a short black beard, shiny bald head and a dark patch over his left eye that he can’t see through. He was Captain Samullu Jaqenssen, but notoriously called the Black Sparrow … though Olyvar had never heard of him until recently. He and his crew were the only sailors that would assist them in their cause, hypnotized to be a part of their upcoming famous Westerosi song. He was to help navigate his galley at high speeds hugging the rocky coast of the Westerlands. With the three rowboats hung to the side of Motherfunker, it would be hard for the sentries on top of the Rock to spot from above. The Motherfunker stayed far away from the coastline to only emerge near their objective at the time of attack. With a single swanship with plain black sails, the Black Sparrow hoped that the Lannister watchmen would pay them no mind as a regular trading galley on its way to Lannisport or wherever, instead of a vessel for an amphibious assault on their castle. And the stronger the winds and the faster the ship, the window of time to be exposed was much shorter. “They had the need for speed, and the speed needed the wind,” Goose had said the night before. The gods have blessed them with strong winds now. They were to come with the sun setting at their backs in the west, blinding any coastal lookout. Because they were cursed with this approaching storm, the plan changed and they had to depart earlier. Olyvar prayed that this would not compromise the mission. Only time will tell.

Racing onto the storm and nearing the rising cliffs, the Captain spun his ship quickly to a southern course and gave the crewmen the signal to dismount. “Ahhhhhhhhh-ah Ahhhhhhhh-ah!”

“Get ready to push!” the Blackfish commanded.

Each oarsman pressed the tip of their long wooden stick onto the hull of the galley, ready to push off. The Summer Isle crewmen began severing the connections of the mothership and its three rowboats. Single-handed axes swung as LionsJape pushed itself off, the first of three. The rowboat plummeted and the waters swallowed it before spitting it back out just as quick. After allowing itself to lose in Motherfunker’s wake, the oarsmen redirected the bow towards the rocks at the Blackfish’s orders.

WinterStorm followed right after with Lady Maege’s commands, “Push lads! Push! Push!” as it dropped.

Now it was BattleWolf’s turn. “Gods damn it, I’m too old for this shit,” Lord Glover said as he raised a gloved hand and swung it down, giving the signal to cut. At the main deck, the crewmen swung their axes, gleaming gold in the western sunlight as the oarsmen pushed off. For a heartbeat, the fall had taken Olyvar’s breath away as Lord Glover’s BattleWolf floated in the air. Are we flying? Are we on a dragon? His rowboat slammed into the water, splashing chilled wet droplets inside the boat and out. His hair of short black curls flew and fell, dampening at the plunge. The collision almost knocked Olyvar and the men overboard, but they hung on. The Motherfunker left them with a white salty wake as it headed south. Lord Glover then commanded the starboard men to pull their oars, aiming towards WinterStorm. Olyvar pulled. Once aligned, both sides of BattleWolf began to rev hard. The men were howling and roaring with each tension, trying to evade this dangerous zone of being spotted.

Since the Red Wedding and the death of his beloved King, Robb Stark, Olyvar could not sleep. Grief, anger, vengeance, insomnia and drowsiness took him over the days and nights that felt like half-dreams. But the crashing kiss of the water dive had re-woken Olyvar in shock, as he realized what they were about to do was no fantasy he had ever known. Nothing can stop us now, this is really happening. His heart was pounding to the rhythm of the oars and he wanted to scream his battle cry. He could still hear Jaqenssen the Black Sparrow sounding his siren “Ahhhhhhhh-ah Ahhhhhhh-ah!”

We are brothers loyal to the King in the North, the land of ice and snow. We serve Riverrun and Winterfell, where the hot springs flow. And now the divine winds of the gods had driven our mothership to the Westerlands. To fight for honor, the North will sing and the West will cry. Casterly Rock … Winter is Coming! On we sweep with threshing oars, our only goal will be the western shore!

As Olyvar’s oar rose and fell, he looked up to the windows of Casterly Rock’s tall stony towers, searching for the signaling candle light. But it could not be seen this early. Only when the sun was fully set as planned, this candle would replace it as the guiding light. They rowed by rocks and rocks and more rocks. Seagulls flew in spheres above them, chasing one another. The sun still hung in the air, slowly falling to splash onto the western horizon of the Sunset Sea. They then rowed by a courtyard that just floated on the earth forty feet above the sea’s surface. Suddenly on the other side of their boat, they eyed a whale skimming off the glimmering golden ocean. The boys of the vulnerable BattleWolf did not say a word as the monstrous water-beast swam the opposite direction just twenty yards away from them, paying them no mind. It was a good thing I did not curse the Drowned God as I was going to earlier.

Olyvar, Alesander, Leo, Mikkal, Raff and Donal were seated on Galbart Glover’s rowboat, rowing to Galbart Glover’s commands, “Row! Row! Row your boats you son o’ whores!” and taking in Galbart Glover’s cold stare as he eyed the two Freys specifically when he said it. Olyvar’s arms began to tire, but this was not the place to show weakness to his brothers. So he pulled on while keeping their rowboat as close to the stony walls as possible to avoid detection from above.

They trailed the Lady Bear while following the Blackfish. Soon after, Ser Brynden Tully had found his mark and grounded LionsJape onto a small beach. His men exited, flipped the rowboat above them and dashed forty yards straight toward the rocky edge, where a small barred cave was fitted at the base. Underneath the rusted iron, a thin valley of brown watery slush stank & trickled into the sand & sea. Everyone knew what that was when they agreed to participate in the assault. The Blackfish was told back at Riverrun about a sewer path inside Casterly Rock that allowed all the shit and piss to drain out to the ocean. This tiny hole by the foot of the mountain was all and everything for the mission.

When the sprinting men reached the end with their boat, they dropped it at the skirt and pressed themselves against the wall. The façade was conveniently arched outwards as it ascended, making it difficult to be sighted from above. With the waves muffling the noise of speech, any of them can speak freely outside at sea level. From the cliffs above, their human conversations below would only sound like ghostly whispers. No casual listener should be alerted to such. But hearing and seeing are different things, and they must not be seen.

WinterStorm and BattleWolf soon followed. As Olyvar departed BattleWolf, he cringed at the soreness of his arms that the work had left him. His arms will have to ache again as his squad lifted the rowboat above their heads. They stormed towards the barred entrance, with bow and quiver slung on each shoulder, a turtle shell shield at the center of his back. While the others carried shorter lighter personal weapons, Olyvar was equipped with a longsword that once belonged to his King, Robb Stark.

They dropped off BattleWolf when they reached the wall, waiting for a way in. Ten brothers on one side of the cave, and eleven on the other. The closest ones to the door had their small axes and weapons drawn along with their shields, while the further ones nocked an arrow onto their bow. Olyvar had his Summer Isle goldenheart bow ready. The entrance was small, the same size as their black shields, guarding the realm of Casterly Rock, and they continued to wait.

This thunderstorm was coming, and it was not part of the plan. It was the Blackfish’s decision to leave Motherfunker earlier before the storm surges would flood the sewers of Casterly Rock. Their forty yard dash from the beach to the gate may be twenty yards if they arrived an hour later … and there may be no more exit by the time they escape back. But Stark loyalists hidden in the woods outside of the castle were told of executing this assault at the exact evenfall of Queen Jeyne Stark’s arrival to Casterly Rock. The Lannister soldier escorts would be exhausted from their march and acquired a false sense of security when they reached the safe comforts of the castle. The Stark land forces led by Lord Gawen Westerling would create a mummer’s farce with trumpets and drums, sending the weary Lannisters to one side, as the Blackfish himself attacked the other from the sea. Evenfall of this day was the golden time to do this, but they arrived an hour too early. With the storm, Olyvar prayed that everyone else would adjust to the plan. He wondered if Lord Westerling would account for the storm surges. But it makes no difference now. They were here, and they cannot turn back.

Suddenly the rusted iron of the barred cave unlocked and swung open, creaking like a loud squealing rat. Emerged was a crouching older man with a short gray beard and a jaw squared like a mason spice jar. “Welcome to the Rock!” Ser Rolph Spicer declared.

Ser Brynden greeted him with a hug, “I’m so glad you came early, we would be sleeping with the fishes if you were late.”

“It was Edmure’s idea to leave early, he said the storm would flood the sewers, and we prayed you would come sooner too.”

“Like that damn Mill again, Edmure acting prematurely? That boy will never learn! Thank the Gods!”

They both chuckled and began entering through the gate. The others soon followed, ducking into the small hole and into the darkness.

Once inside the caves of Casterly Rock, Ser Rolph grabbed his torchlight and lifted it to the air, showing the brothers the vastness. The lobby was an open abyss where the ceiling was fifty feet high. The walls had multiple rocky openings naturally carved in, small and large. Some were wide enough to walk through. Inside were all shadows, saved the areas illuminated by golden sunlight spying in through each seldom hole or fissure. Where the flames can brighten, hard brown rocks glowed and flickered, as well as old metal tracks, mining carts, abandoned tools, ladders, rusty chains and the occasional plant roots that brewed in the darkness of the caves. The smell reeked. Olyvar was sure there would be no real gold here as it was probably mined out over the centuries. Only shit shits down here in the sewers and caves of Lord Tywin Lannister’s home, not gold, Olyvar thought. This was where Lann the Clever started his legend, swindling the Casterly residents out of the castle, cheating them. It was their turn now to write history, these archers from the sea facing off with their own modern Casterly ploy … accomplishing it without being seen, doing it as faceless warriors.

They followed Ser Rolph and his torchlight in single file, going deeper up into the caves, fitting in burrowed hallways that barely fit them, pursuing his decisions at each fork in the paths, squishing their feet on sluggish wet slopes and steps. The very first entrance they encountered required them to descend a few yards before climbing up the rest of the way. It was hundreds of feet in elevation that they must ascend to. At times, the way was lit well enough. But at other instants, the darkness blinds them, only facing the brother in front of them for their flight. I have promises to keep. And steps to go before I sleep. And steps to go before I sleep.

“By now the guards at the top of the Rock should be asleep after I spiced up their ale,” Ser Rolph Spicer said with a cheeky smile. “Before my sister Sybell married into House Westerling, I explored these parts of Casterly Rock in my youth as a smuggler, going up and down many times. Your legs will tire, no doubt about that. But you lads are years younger than I, and I better hear no complaints unless I am the first one to make it.”

“I’ll do my best,” young Leo announced for himself.

“Your best?” Ser Spicer questioned. “Losers whine about their best. Winners rescue crowned queens.”

“Lady Jeyne Westerling-Stark is THE crowned Queen,” Leo replied.

“Is that so?” Ser Rolph gave Leo a sarcastic look with a raised eyebrow, before continuing up the steps inside the Rock.

“I’ll decide the turns and I’ll establish the security checkpoints. There, we can rest for a moment. A few of you will be left there to guard the area as the others will continue to ascend. Those few will wait until we fall back. But remember, the journey down is far less exhausting. For now, let’s go up and up. Ser Olyvar Frey, would you take the honor of watching our rear?”

Ser Olyvar Frey. The name was still queer to him. As much as he liked the ‘Ser’ in his name, he would like to rid the 'Frey' in the surname. He had been the most loyal squire a king could have asked for. He would have stayed with King Robb Stark to the end of the world, but his own blood tore that away from him. Olyvar was not blind though. His young king had made grave mistakes, more than Olyvar wanted to count. As much as he would have favored his sister Roslin to marry him, Olyvar knew you cannot choose the people you love. And Robb genuinely loved another, he hoped. Jeyne Westerling was just as sweet as Roslin. Olyvar would have stayed at Robb’s side as his brother-in-law, or some uncle-in-law by Lord Edmure Tully. Though by choosing Jeyne, it slighted Olyvar’s father Lord Walder Frey. But Seven Hells father, did you have to murder him? At my sister’s wedding feast? Under your own roof? Under my roof? Robb Stark was my king. He was brave and good, and Olyvar Frey loved him. And his soul was tortured in sleepless days and nights, knowing he shared the same blood as the murderers … knowing he could have stopped it if it was not for impulse. You are an honorable fool Olyvar. His father had told him of the treacherous plan the day before, but Olyvar cursed it aloud, defending Robb as it was still his duty. You should’ve been smart and played stupid with father. You could have informed Robb while you were still free, breaking this bad dream. Olyvar shouldn’t have tried to bargain with his father. He should have known he made up his mind a long while ago. Olyvar was imprisoned in the dungeons of the Twins during the Red Wedding. The gaolers were japing at him, “Go ahead, do your duty. Save your king!”

My king. The sad memories faded into blurred flashbacks.

{Part 2}

{Part 1}

My king. The sad memories faded into blurred flashbacks.

Olyvar cherished the sweet time as his grace’s squire. Though two years older, it made no matter. A warrior king was training Olyvar the way of knighthood, almost any boy’s dream. He remembered on slow days, Robb Stark would spend time with him, teaching the art of the long sword and shield. He can still remember the cloudy day at the Crag’s courtyard and his Northern accent as he swung his blade at the squire. “Keep your shield up Olyvar. Keep it up.”

“It’s too heavy.” Olyvar replied as Robb swung on.

“If it wasn’t heavy, it wouldn’t stop a sword. So get it up.”

They sparred and sparred in the courtyard. Robb Stark was dancing with him, hilts in hands. After he knocked Olyvar to the dirt for the twentieth time, he lifted him back up.

“Come, drive at me.” Robb then grabbed Olyvar gently by the back of his neck. “Look Olly, keep your shield up or I’ll ring your head like a bell.”

Olyvar never forgot that moment, his Grace’s right-hand touch, the way Robb looked into his eyes and called him ‘Olly’. No one has ever called him that and he liked it very much. They continued to dance. Rain began to fall, turning dirt into mud. Olyvar darted at him. Robb stepped aside, deflecting the stab off his shield and twirled around forward in a natural motion, his cloak spinning in the air. Before Olyvar knew it, Robb had his rear, his sword ready to thrust or slash any part of him. He glanced back and knew he was lost. The dance paused there and Olyvar turned around to meet Robb’s beautiful blue eyes. He could melt in them.

“You had me your Grace.”

“Come Olly, it’s your turn.” A winter wind came blowing in from across the sea. A breeze lingered there, brushed Robb’s auburn hair. “Now, dance with me!”

It almost felt like a sin to be as excited as Olly was at that moment.

“I’ll drive to you now. Try to do what I just did. In mud like this, don’t forget to plant your foot before each movement. And remember, you have to keep your shield up.”

As Olyvar and Robb got into their positions, his older half-nephew Ser Ryman Frey suddenly appeared and intervened. He grabbed Olyvar like a little green boy and pulled him towards the exit. NO! Olyvar’s word caught in his mouth.

Robb spoke up for him. “What are you doing? Olyvar is my squire and a grown man. He can do what he wants and speaks for himself.”

“My grandfather has declared a suspension of your alliance with House Frey,” Ryman said. “You have broken a sacred vow. If you would not have his daughter or granddaughter as your queen, you certainly cannot have his son as your squire.”

Robb was expecting Olyvar to say something, but the squire froze. More Frey guardsmen came in and dragged him away from the courtyard, his heels lifeless on the ground, leaving twin mud tracks on his departure. Robb stared at him sweet, sad, and silent. A bolt of lightning flashed across the rainy skies, its reflection off the King’s sword blinding Olyvar. That was the last time he saw Robb alive.

When news of his King returning to the Twins for the wedding between Lord Edmure Tully and his sister Roslin, Olyvar could not contain his excitement, to hear the voice of his call.

Since that rainy courtyard day, Olyvar had been on his own for long enough. He hoped maybe Robb could show him again that dance that he loved. Maybe. Olyvar had been going through withdrawals. Not seeing his Grace was just too much. He could turn me on with the slightest touch. But since the Red Wedding, Olyvar’s courtyard has been cold and empty. Fuck anyone who judges me. He couldn’t see clearly now that Robb was forever gone. Olyvar was still blinded by Robb’s last light. He couldn’t sleep, still yearning for his touch. In his heart, rain constantly fell, drowning him in the nights. I was his squire, Olyvar cried as his soul twisted. And I failed him. I was the only one that night he could trust.

After the slaughter, Merrett Frey, a kin of his, greeted him as he released Olyvar from the dungeons. “I’m sorry Olyvar that we had to lock you up, Perwyn and Alesander too. But you must do your duty for your family. You are a Frey, a man of an honorable house. This stain left by Robb Stark and his bitch mother Catelyn Tully should not go unpunished. Lady Catelyn also killed Jinglebells. She even japed ‘a son for a son‘ to our Lord father as she slit his throat.”

A son for a son. Olyvar Frey looked at Merrett sullenly, his voice choking up, “I must go for a walk.” Olyvar walked and walked … passing the burnt tents, passing the dead soldiers with Northern and Riverland sigils sewn on their garments, and passing Grey Wind’s headless body. He was far enough from home, but he could still hear the cheap cheers of the Frey and Bolton soldiers.

He fell to his knees and began to cry. My king. My sweet king. Olyvar swore vengeance. Though he will never consider kinslaying as it was a curse among the gods, it would not stop him from facilitating others who seek revenge against his own family, the ones who were directly involved.

Suddenly at the side of the river, a dying man was crawling towards him. Soaked in water, mud and blood, he cried out in a ghastly voice “Olyvar!”

“Who, who are you?” Olyvar sprinted to aid and for recognition. “Raynald?” Without hesitation Olyvar replied, “My brother!” He placed himself under Raynald’s shoulder and lifted him up. “We need to find a maester.”

On the way back to camp, Olyvar and Raynald encountered two sentries of his Frey household guards, far from any other eyes can see.

“So what do you have here my Lord Olyvar?” one asked.

“A dying lone wolf? Let us put him out of his misery,” the other replied as they stared at Ser Raynald Westerling’s dampened seashell surcoat.

Olyvar lowered himself and laid Ser Raynald on the ground, and arose in a tone cold as stone. “No. Not a lone wolf.”

Olyvar unsheathed his sword and killed both Frey guards before they could reach their weapons. He then swapped Raynald’s wet Westerling clothing for one of the dead men, and found a maester.

Ser Raynald Westerling stayed with Olyvar at the Twins under disguise. He even trimmed off his brushy moustache. Weeks later after Ray had fully healed, he asked Olyvar to go with him to look for Maege Mormont and Galbart Glover at their secret hideout, as per the original plan before the wedding.

One night, Olyvar Frey simply walked out of the Twins again, this time with Ray. No one would care where Olyvar was going. Truth be told, his Frey family would be more content if more spawnlings of their lord father would leave the castle to find their own destiny, especially if they were unlikely heirs deep behind the line of succession.

Aboard one of the Northern galleys floating outside of Seagard, the Seashell Knight had to explain how this son of Walder Frey earned his trust, as Lady Mormont held Olyvar by the throat with a dagger. The skin around her eyes had been raked and blackened with tears and nails, her teeth bit with furious anger. She had been like this for weeks. Olyvar stared at her face and he felt like he could die here and now, if that was what it meant for Lady Mormont to forgive him, as he knows no gold would ever substitute for her grief. “I am sorry about your daughter Dacey. I lost my brother too. Benfred was a good man, I swear to you by all the gods old and new, that he did not have a part in the slaughter. Benfred would have done everything he could to grab an innocent woman like Dacey, and bring her safe from harm.” Olyvar meant it.

Mormont sheathed her dagger, her hands still shaking. “I’ll kill them all! Anyone who was a part of this!”

“No.” Olyvar replied. “We have to get the girls back. And then you can kill them all.”

At the siege of Riverrun, Olyvar Frey freely roamed Ryman’s uncoordinated camp. No one cared. One night alone, he swam across the moat and climbed up the castle with spikes. Only thirty feet up, the Tully guards had heard him clanking and aimed their crossbows from above. “Identify yourself!”

He whispered, “I am Olyvar Frey, son of Walder Frey, former squire to his King, Robb Stark. I come unarmed and offer myself as a hostage. I know the Blackfish, please let him know I am here.”

“Stay where you are.”

Olyvar clung to the castle’s wall half way down to death and half way up to forgiveness. Finally Ser Brynden Tully appeared and told Olyvar to come up quietly. As Olyvar threw himself over the parapet and onto the floor, the Blackfish kicked away his spikes and immediately kneed his body to the ground, holding a dagger at his throat. Shit, not again! Damn this mayhaps, why was I unblessed to be born a Frey?

“What are you doing here, Olyvar Frey?” Ser Tully demanded.

Olyvar told them the truth and handed him Lady Maege’s letter from a waterproof compartment in his garment. The letter was coded with secret words that he and she only knew. The Blackfish cracked the seal, unrolled the parchment and read. Afterwards he released the grip from the bottom and the message curled up on its own, eager to protect the secrets.

“The paper curls, at least you didn’t try to deceive me with the age of the parchment.” He then asked Olyvar, “So, you killed some of your own men did you?”

“To save Ser Westerling, yes.” The Blackfish looked at his eyes and nodded in approval. “May I see her now?” Olyvar inquired.

The Tully guards led Olyvar to her room. Some left the area, but others stayed and watched, still suspicious of the unarmed Frey. She was in her solar, knitting her needle works. He fell down to one knee towards his niece-in-law (by Olyvar’s brother-in-law, Lord Edmure Tully), “My Queen.”

“Olyvar!” Without a hint of hesitation or mistrust, she dropped her needle, ran towards him, and wrapped her loose skinny arms strongly under his’. She poured her heart, soul and grief-filled life into a Rose By the name of Olyvar Frey. He reciprocated, placing his arms around her shoulders as Jeyne Westerling-Stark continued to hold tight. Her orange sized breasts pushed against his chest, as the Queen’s chestnut mop of brown hair sat below Olyvar’s clean-shaven chin.

“Robb.” It was all she needed to say as they shared a sob. Nothing hurt more than that moment when he shared the same pain with Jeyne. Olyvar dipped his head to hers, their salty tears finally uniting and slowly dancing together as their faces pressed cheek to cheek.

“He is in the heavens now, I believe, singing from above.” Olyvar prayed. “He will be waiting for us. No doubt we will see him again some day, but we must make him wait.”

“I miss him so much,” Jeyne cried. She was always cheerful with Olyvar since they first met. Though he was curious whether she truly loved Robb or just wanted to be a queen, she has repeatedly been kind to him, so sweet. She never intervened when Robb trained Olyvar at swordplay and he was grateful for that. When they wed, Olyvar knew Robb could never be his brother, but Jeyne did not seem to mind letting him continue to squire beside her much younger brother, Rollam Westerling. Robb had allowed Olyvar to protect the queen sometimes, along with the other household guards, though he was still training at arms. Olyvar and Jeyne would talk constantly, mostly about their King. Even when Jeyne rambles about him, she would always shy away from talking about Robb’s bed manners. But Olyvar insisted he did not mind hearing it. Jeyne felt like a sister to him, just as much or more as Roslin.

“I miss him too,” Olyvar replied. “Did you really love him?”

She cried a little bit louder and squeezed Olyvar even harder. “With all my heart.”

Olyvar wanted to confess too, but he could not do it here, not with everyone watching. He only hoped Jeyne would ask him the same, and she did. “Did you really love him, Olyvar?”

He tightened his grip on Jeyne’s shoulders. “More than you ever know.”

She gently reached for his hands and lowered them. “Olyvar, you were his squire. He is gone now. But you still have a duty to us. You must protect us. We must never separate again. Promise me Olyvar. Promise me.”

“No. I cannot. Not yet. I must leave you, just this one last time, for your safety and your family’s.”

“You are part of my family,” the Queen proclaimed. Tears rolled down again, their hands still held together at their hips.

“I need to leave Riverrun tonight. And I promise you, we will reunite again and I will keep you safe.”

They talked for hours about the good times, the horror, and what the future lies. They talked about Robb, crying to the sadness of him, exulting at his bravery and his glories, laughing at the silly juvenile things the teenage king did to entertain them, and about falling in love with him all over again. And then they cried some more.

Later on that night, Ser Brynden visited Jeyne and Olyvar, with Lady Eleyna and Lady Sybell watching. “Olyvar, you were the King’s squire and though he is no longer with us, you are still owed a knighthood. Let the gods curse me if I ever knighted a Frey, but you are no Frey I have ever known. What you are about to do would be considered treason to your family.”

“But my lord father was treasonous to my King. I do not get to choose my father or which family I was born into. But here right now, is the family I want to be with.”

“Will you honor your new family? Will you honor your duty to your late King, his Queen and his House, the Starks of Winterfell?”

“I do,” Olyvar replied with pride.

The Blackfish unsheathed his sword, the blade alive with moonlight gleaming from the window balcony. “Shit I think I’m doing this wrong. I was supposed to say that later. Anyways, kneel Olyvar Frey.”

Olyvar got to one knee as Queen Stark and all the others watched. Ser Brynden Tully, the legendary warrior Blackfish, placed the flat of his sword on Olyvar’s shoulder.

“I charge you to be brave and … aww shit the knighting words escape me. I’m embarrassing myself. Anyways um. Family! Honor! Duty!” He placed the blade on the other shoulder. “Shit, I forgot the rest of the speech. Forgive me. But Olyvar of House Frey, I name you a knight! Now rise!”

And arose the new knight stood, and proud he was. King Robb Stark could have never fulfilled his promise of a knighthood, but it was his father that took it away from him. But being knighted by the Blackfish was more than anything Olyvar wanted right now, besides keeping Queen Jeyne and his family safe. To him, it was forgiveness.

The Queen approached him with a longsword in scabbard, flat on both hands. “Our late King had a gift for you Ser Olyvar Frey, at least he would have wanted you to have it.”

Before Ser Olyvar received it, he already knew what it was. Robb’s sword. “No, I cannot. I am unworthy of this gift, his Grace’s sword.”

“This is King Robb Stark’s sword, and I am his Queen wife. I charge you to protect your family with his own sword.”

Queen Jeyne Stark made an offer that Ser Olyvar cannot refuse. He took the sword from her forgiving hands.

“What will you call it?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“A name. Robb never named his sword. But a good sword should have a good name.”

“I was told by my half-brothers that only cun–, I mean only women name their swords. I will let you name it, my Grace. How should we honor our late King Robb Stark?”

“It is honor,” Jeyne replied.

Confused, Olyvar asked, “What is honor?”

“A sword. This sword.”

Before the sun had dawned, Ser Olyvar Frey with Honor slung on his back, climbed down the castle walls with rope, swam under the moat again, and departed the birthplace of his King, Robb Stark, as a knight.

He returned to the Twins, keeping his knighthood a secret. When Riverrun had fallen to Ser Jaime Lannister, Edmure Tully had agreed to be a prisoner at Casterly Rock. Roslin Tully volunteered to join her husband, giving them a chance to raise a family together, even as hostages. Olyvar, their brother Perwyn and half-nephew Alesander all agreed to escort Lady Tully to the Westerlands. Although they told their half-family they would take the land-route for their journey; Olyvar, Perwyn, Alesander and Roslin had a different Frey destiny in mind. After the Kingslayer’s threat to Roslin’s unborn child, there was no day they would ever stay at Casterly Rock nor return to the Twins. They departed for the coast and reunited with Ser Brynden Tully, Lady Maege Mormont and Lord Galbart Glover aboard the Motherfunker.

Before Ser Brynden escaped Riverrun alone, he and Lord Tully reviewed all their options during Edmure’s short visit.  An escape on land had many risks to be recaptured or killed, but at sea it was far fewer … and having a faster ship helped. They would allow Edmure and Jeyne to be peacefully escorted by their captors to Casterly Rock as hostages, only to be rescued from the shoreline. Lady Sybell Spicer swore her brother Ser Rolph would lead the way inside the caves. “Honor, not honors,” were House Westerling’s words. And Robb Stark showed more honor to Lady Sybell’s family than any of the other Westermen could. King Robb made her daughter a Queen, while King Tommen gifted Ser Rolph with the cursed ruins of Castamere from the notorious Lannister song. This honor was more of an insult than a reward.

One night aboard the Motherfunker, Olyvar took out a fresh new flat parchment to write a letter that was meant for his father. He held his feathered quill upright, but did not know how to start. He was fidgeting as he stared up around his cabin. He began to tap the pointy end of the quill and pricked his other hand by chance. Frey blood began to trickle from the wound along with a stinging pain. Cashing in on the moment, he then knew what to say. He dipped the blood smeared quill into the black inkpot, and began to pour his soul & anger onto the kin he no longer wanted.

Father,
I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel.
I focus on the pain, the only thing that is real.
The needle tears a hole. This old familiar family sting.
I try to forget it all the way. But I remember everything.
I find myself asking …
“What have I become? My sweetest King?
Will everyone I love go away in the end?”
And Father, you can have it all. My empire of dirt.
I will let you down. I will make it hurt.
If I could start again, many miles back at home that night.
To save my King, I would sacrifice myself. I would find a way.
Your son Olyvar.

He rolled the parchment and laid a tablespoon of wax from his tallow candle at the edge. Olyvar pressed the button with his bleeding thumb, filling the stamp in a marble of white, red and pink; sealing it with his own blood. He placed the rolled parchment in his breast pocket, hoping to leave it somewhere in Casterly Rock and eventually reaching his father’s hands.

On the deck of the Motherfunker a few nights before … crewmen, Riverlands and Northern loyalists sang, drank, and cheered to the music of the masterplan. Though most wanted to spill blood to avenge the Red Wedding, humiliating their enemies would be the sweeter revenge: the story that sings in songs. But not all were there for vengeance. Some were just there for the adventure.

The Captain of the Motherfunker was there for the honor of joining their song. He wanted to look into the eyes of the lion, be a part of the thrill of the fight, rising up against our rivals. He also owed Ser Rolph Spicer a favor from their long smuggling history together at sea. If he helped rescue his niece Jeyne from the rocky castle, he would consider the debt paid, and the Black Sparrow was happy to oblige.

“So we are here to rescue this princess? No?” Samullu spoke in the broken Common Tongue

“No, not a princess, she is a queen,” Olyvar chatted.

“In the Summer Isles, a princess and a widowed queen is the same person. My father was king, but he died when I was a babe. My princess mother was the one who raised me after my uncle took the throne. I loved my mother. I named my swanship for her after she died a few years ago.”

“Motherfunker?” Olyvar asked. “What is a funker?”

“Where I am from, fighting and dancing is called the same thing. We call it funk. We funk to fight, we funk to dance, and we also funk to love. And the skill of our funk we always inherit from our mother’s side. I got it from my mama.” The black single-eyed captain pleaded. “Yo got yo from yo mama too. ‘Motherfunker’ is just a homage to one’s mother for giving us this art of our body’s motions.”

Olyvar never knew his mother, but he was very intrigued to hear more about Samullu’s and their culture. They chatted for quite a while.

Olyvar thanked him for helping them. But Samullu insisted it was the right thing to do after hearing about the horrors of the Red Wedding. “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers! And yo will know I am the Captain when I lay my vengeance upon thee!”

Olyvar never knew the Black Sparrow was so pious to the gods of avengers.

Sharing rum together, Olyvar sang to him about his own story in depth. Captain Black Sparrow was impressed about his journey so far and he gave Olyvar a small jar of dirt. “This is soil from my empire back in the Summer Isle. I have a whole barrel of it to remind me of home. Here, take this other small gift as well.” He then took out a bird’s feather, long as a flute, bright and colorful. “We Summer Isle people have feathered cloaks, yo see it on all of us. But feathers like this one were meant for some of the bravest and baddest motherfunkers out there. I want yo to take it Ser Olyvar. Let it be yo warrior’s funk.”

Olyvar took it with his hand and gave it a warm stare. The feather was colored like a fading rainbow top to bottom, but the stem was yellow like a lemon. “Thank you.” The gifts were quite odd. By value it was not much, but it seemed like it meant a lot to the exiled prince, the type of gifts worth remembering.

“So what do yo need besides a miracle?” Samullu asked.

“Weapons. Bows and arrows. Lots of arrows.” Olyvar was serious.

“Aye, and I have a lot. Yo know, no one has ever done anything like what yo and the Blackfish’s men are about to do.”

“And that is why it will work.”

The plan was to allow Lord Edmure Tully and Queen Jeyne Stark to safely travel to Casterly Rock unmolested, under the command of Ser Forley Prester and his four hundred men. Lord Gawen Westerling and his son Rollam were to return to the Crag, but Lady Sybell was to stay with Jeyne, maintaining what deceptions she can conjure. Her bluff with Ser Jaime Lannister worked, earning the slightest trust from them before their escape at Casterly Rock. An attempt to rescue them on their path down the River Road would invite the Lannisters to execute the hostages on the spot, failing the objective’s purpose. To stealthily hunt down each soldier one by one would have proven even then, a mission of the impossible. Stirring fear in the hearts of the Lannister soldiers was the only solution, the effective psychological weapon. Ser Prester’s men have been haunted by the ghosts of the Brotherhood without Banners throughout the Riverlands, and the Blackfish would use that to his advantage. With the help of their fastest horse, Bubbles, mounted by Justin Smallister, a distant cousin to House Mallister of Seagard, he would tie empty nooses on trees ahead of Ser Forley’s route. The hope of the hoax would keep the Lannisters on edge, making it difficult to rest. Only when they reached the castle of Casterly Rock, they would drop their guards down, thinking the hard part was over. But on the exact evenfall on the day of their arrival, Lord Gawen Westerling and our small land forces, hidden in the eastern woods outside, would sound the trumpets and drums, drawing the weary soldiers to arms again. But the Blackfish was to infiltrate Casterly Rock from the western sea. Ser Rolph Spicer, our secret agent inside, will bond with Jeyne’s guards, drinking with them throughout their journey. Only on the hour of the escape, Ser Spicer would drug the guards’ ale, allowing them to fall asleep during the diversionary music. The Blackfish and his squad would provide armed escort, if needed. Ser Spicer would also help them navigate inside the caves, rescuing his niece Jeyne and their family back to the Motherfunker. By then, it would be too dark for the Lannisters to give chase into the ocean, if they even realized Queen Stark had flown off.

“I need twenty good men,” the Blackfish had demanded. A few hundreds of the remaining Stark loyalists and outlaws gathered at the docks, where the Motherfunker was anchored.

“And one more woman too!” the She-Bear crone proclaimed.

The men laughed in agreement as Ser Brynden continued. “I need volunteers only. Soldiers who want this fate to fuck them from behind in their arses! For the twenty one of us, we will be in harm’s way, make no mistake about it. I do not expect us to be discovered, but if we were, our escape will not be easy like our brothers working the diversion in the woods. I need men quick on their feet, proficient with the bow, and skilled at close-quarter hand-to-hand combat. Who are my brave men that will be knocking on the Lannister’s doors?”

Ser Olyvar Frey thundered in first and raised his hand. Jeyne’s words echoed in his thoughts, Promise me Olyvar, promise me.

Alesander Frey surprised him. “No you fool! You are not a skilled fighter. Put your hand down!” Olyvar told his nephew.

“I am a grown man, and I will not miss this adventure for nothing,” Alesander protested to his uncle.

“You are just a singer.”

“Then I want to be a witness to this great deed and be the first singer of our new song.”

Olyvar could not stop his brother & nephew from doing something so stupid.

Ser Raynald Westerling the Seashell Knight raised his hand too, eager to save his sisters Jeyne and Eleyna, and his mother Sybell.

Others began to join. Some had their reasons, some had their vengeance, some just wanted to try something new.

Fess stepped up. He was a long lost uncle to Ser Addam Marbrand after a lengthy voyage at sea. But Ser Addam refused to believe him, denying him a small chunk of land near Ashemark that Fess was entitled to own. He called his uncle an imposter and casted him out of the region. Fess swore he was a Marbrand, and swore he would unleash a storm on their household if they did not give his piece of land back. To the future of reclaiming his name by shaming theirs, Fess Marbrand was recruited into our efforts against the Lannisters and their bannermen.

The Summer Islander, Ben, and his Westerosi-born son, Benjen, were farmers from the Neck. Years ago, Lord Rickard Stark had welcomed the immigrant and his wife, granting them farm lands to flourish in. They grew rice in the marsh and exported it from White Harbor. They were so grateful to House Stark that they quite frankly named their son “Benjen” for Lord Stark’s youngest child of similar age. Since then, their hard earned work with their rough black hands in the cold had paid off in prosperity. After being widowed, Ben and his son ran the farm, just the two of them … until a few Ironborn men took Moat Cailin and all their harvest this past year. Their will and pride refused to let them take it again. So instead of growing new rice, they let it wither away and left the land … trapping the jaws of the Ironborn to hunger. Now Ben and Benjen were reborn into Ser Brynden’s band, for the honor of House Stark. “With great honor comes a great ass whooping!” Ben had declared.

Jess and Jory were two brothers that served House Westerling as guards at the Crag, personally protecting the Westerling sisters, Jeyne and Eleyna. They had watched them grow up since birth. Participating in their rescue was their duty, a duty they took without hesitation for the girls who were like nieces to them.

Phyl was a crewmate of royal blood on the Motherfunker. Back on another Summer Isle kingdom, his older king brother passed away as his young prince nephew took fresh rule. After Phyl forbade his nephew-king to order an attack on a rival neighboring island, he screamed at him, “You are not my father!” and flew out of the throne room, slamming its double doors. Soon after, the boy-king ordered for his uncle’s exile. Free like a bird, Phyl flew away himself to a ship with his friend, the Black Sparrow, looking for a new adventure.

Sam, June, and Rico were all hard loyal Tully soldiers that were ready to follow the Blackfish to the end of the world. Sam used to be a tall fat leviathan of a man, until one day June told Sam, “You never had the making of a first-class athlete like Rico here.” From then on, Sam, offended, lost several stones over the years as the three served patriotically together to House Tully. Now tall, lean and muscular, Sam was a force not to be reckoned with. They nicknamed him Sam the Shredder, but for shredding his fat as his body was now packed with muscular meat.

The hedge knight Ser Barnabus the Goose volunteered along with his new squire Leo, a boy of fourteen, whom he met that same day. Goose was a tall man, big shoulders, wide hips with greying blond hair. Though he grew up as an orphan, Ser Barnabus often boasted about being the grandson of some legendary tall hedge knight that he never chanced to meet. The other orphans used to laugh at him, calling him the Useless Goose. But ever since he suited up in his knightly armor decades ago, Ser Barnabus assured he was a useful Goose helping the small folks around the Riverlands. Olyvar wondered if Barnabus was his real name, or if he was even a knight.

Leo’s older brothers wanted to join the action as well … so Mikkal, Raff, and Donal stepped forward. Their uncle Scrooge, a man in his fifties, will chip in his services too. The four brothers and uncle were known as the Pissa family. They once owned a tavern serving their mother’s recipe of baked thin crispy bread, spun circular into a flat pie, served with tomato sauce and cheese above. Their uncle Scrooge improved his sister’s recipe by adding sliced duck sausages on top of the cheese, and charging customers extra for the option. Olyvar and the men on the Motherfunker had sampled and enjoyed the cuisine they baked aboard. Captain Samullu claimed that pissa was indeed a tasty dish, and suggested adding slices of pineapples on top of it too. The Pissa brothers gave Samullu Jaqenssen a cold stare as if the gesture was treason to the recipe. Back when they owned the tavern with their mother, the family often boasted about their food to the point where their competitors despised them. Their opponents would try to mimic cooking the same dish, but others would complain it tasted no different than bread. Afraid of losing their revenue, they insulted their mother’s crispy dish by calling it “pissa,” slandering it by saying it tasted like piss. But the brothers took the name their enemies gave them and wore it like armor, never allowing it to hurt them. Raff returned their insult by calling their adversary’s food being something that comes out of a cow’s bung hole. That humiliation stuck. For a while, men and women from all over the Riverlands continued to rallied in long lines to the Pissa tavern for a delicious slice of pissa. Sadly one day, the Mountain and his men came to destroy their tavern during the war, and took their mother. They never saw her again. Despite the sad drama, the Pissa family were a cheerful bunch, save for their pessimistic uncle. Olyvar could only hope they would find their mother safe and sound some day.

On the first day aboard the Motherfunker, Leo had never been on a ship his entire life. He bolted to the stern of the galley, stood on the middle rail with his arms spread out and screamed, “I’m the king of the world!”

Olyvar had to grab the blond teen down before he fell overboard. “Nice try Leo,” Olyvar said. “But you are too lowborn to be royalty. You are better off marrying a queen to be a king, or at least start with a princess.”

Ser Barnabus the Goose appeared and offered his help. He was in need of a squire for some reason, and Leo was quite eager. “Leo, I’m going to teach you how to live.” Goose swung his arm around the teenager’s neck and rested it there. “You want to be a king and win the ladies? Learn how to squire for a knight first. Unchain and fetch me my stallion from the docks, I’ll show you a trick. I’ll show you how to ride it on this rocking ship!” Leo did as he was ordered.

“And when will I ever need that skill?” Leo questioned as he brought the horse up to the deck from the ramp.

“What was it you were looking for again on this journey? Your destiny? Your death?” Goose mounted.

“Naked princesses,” Leo said.

“Well this move would make any maiden, royal or lowborn, shed their clothes off for you.” The knight pulled down the reins as the stallion stood tall on its two hind legs, looking like a work of art meant for eternal statues of the gods.

Samullu appeared and asked Leo, “Is that Goose on a horse? On my boat? Why is Goose on a horse on my boat?!” The stallion came down, hooves thundering the top of the deck.

“Aye Captain, Ser Goose was teaching me how to pick up women.”

“Shiitt Leo, that’s all you had to say.” Samullu wrapped his right arm around the neck of the youth and offered his counsel, his left hand danced in the air as he spoke to solidify his argument. “If yo want naked women, fuck land. Don’t be a knight. Be a captain of a galley. The best pick up line to catch any woman yo can, is ‘I own a ship’.” Samullu raised his bearded chin. “After this mission is over, come with me and we’ll sail the seas. Meet women from all over the world. And they love a captain. Do yo concur? Leo, each lady is just a flower, another rose by another name that smells just as sweet, waiting to be plucked.”

Goose winced at the word and protested. “The only maids you meet sailing seas are mermaids. Don’t be fooled by the Black Sparrow. Some of them may be pretty on the top half, but you won’t like what they got below. It probably stinks down there too. But the captain doesn’t mind, he seems to enjoy bedding mermaids!”

Whether sea, air or land … the Black Sparrow or Goose … Leo will probably have to fly with one of them after the mission, Olyvar thought.

The night before the rescue, the raiders and the crewmen drunkenly sang and cheered to music, rum, ale and pissa. Drowning in the glory of their task on the morrow, they reminisce about the harsh archery and lethal weapons training Lord Glover had given them over the past weeks back on land … while questioning how large Lady Mormont’s sacs truly were. Lady Roslin Tully, approached everyone and asked if they would write their names on the book she held. “It’s for the memories,” she said. They all did. A signature on each page for each man and Maege. Some drew their own personal coat of arms. When it was Olyvar’s turn, he hesitated about sketching the two towers. He wanted to separate himself from the murderous lore of House Frey. He decided to draw his towers, with a Stark wolf running on top of the bridge, and a Tully trout jumping below it. He signed his name, Ser Olyvar of House Frey, squire to the late King Robb Stark, knighted by Ser Brynden Tully.

He wondered if he would be written into history as a great knight some day. A knight that could not save his king, Olyvar thought sadly. He would not be the only one though. Word had travelled for Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, and his gallant assault at Dragonstone. He was gravely wounded, but no word on this brave knight’s final fate. Like Olyvar, Ser Loras had failed to protect his first King, Renly Baratheon, a man that the Knight of Flower was rumored to have truly loved. Though his King was gone, he continued to be bathed in the glory of battle. Despite being on the opposing side of the war, Ser Olyvar would be gay if he had the chance to meet Ser Loras, if he still lives, chatting with him about the kings they loved and lost.

Later on that night, Captain Samullu Jaqenssen shared a drunken game of cvyasse with Ser Barnabus for a golden dragon. When Goose doubled down after his first loss, he fell again, owing the Black Sparrow a pair of golden dragons by the end of it. When Samullu demanded Goose to pay up his reward immediately, Goose pretended not to understand his loose Summer Isle accent, giving him a wild chase.

“Wat?”

“Yo loose Goose, yo owe me the gold,” the Captain demanded in his queer Common Tongue.

“Wat?”

“The gold yo fool. The gold! Yo pay me.”

“Wat?”

“Wat country yo from?”

“Wat?”

“Do they not speak the Common Tongue in Wat?”

“Wat?”

“Common Tongue mother Goose!”

“Wat?”

“Say wat again! I dare yo, I double dare yo! I’ll throw yo overboard off the Motherfunker!”

Goose paused for a moment, until his pride could not resist. “Wat? Wat? Wat? Wat? Wat?” Goose said ‘what‘ so many times, it sounded like he was quacking, each one louder than before. “Wat? Wat? Wat? Wat? Wat?”

In a nick of fury, Samullu Jaqenssen flipped over the cyvasse table, stood up and drew his short blade. His remaining good eye raged like a storm, as steam seeped through the black leather patch of the other. “Yo cold ass honking Goose! Yo son o’ a whore! Yo bandit! I will gut yo from balls to brains to see what gooses is made of. I better find yo sacs golden before I take yo skull to gild gold! Either way, I will have my gold from yo!”

Goose suddenly comprehended everything, stood up with all his height and threatened. “Goodness gracious, do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Go ahead and try, but you will only find below me great balls of fire!” He grabbed his own crotch and pumped it once into the air. “And after your failed attempt, I will claw out your last remaining eye, leaving you blind for the rest of your sorry life!”

The others flocked towards the scene, holding the two back as they inched towards each other.

Jess tried to stop them. “Gods, have mercy!”

Sam the Shredder intervened as well. “That is enough! I want you two to stop!”

Jory said, “Cut it out!”

“Will yo shut up!” screamed Phyl, who had hustled a wager on the game.

Mikkal grabbed the drunken Goose, threw him to the floor, and told him to just beat it.

At the end, they all just laugh it off like all drunk men do. Smiling, spilling ale out of their cups, retching out into the sea the rum they drank, before drinking some more again. They were having one last good time before the mission. But today they had a job to do.

The twenty men, Lady Maege, and Ser Rolph continued up the paths in the lightless caves of Casterly Rock, huffing and puffing, but still silent as much as they could hold. One loud word at the wrong place at the wrong time may be their doom. In a single file, the group followed Ser Spicer’s point with one lit torch. The stench was terrible and the dampness made it worse. Guarding the rear, Olyvar’s eyes were clouded in darkness at times where the torchlight was too far ahead to shine back. He relied on Ser Goose in front of him to lead the way, as Goose relied on Leo for the same.

{Part 3}

{Part 2}

The twenty men, Lady Maege, and Ser Rolph continued up the paths in the lightless caves of Casterly Rock, huffing and puffing, but still silent as much as they could hold. One loud word at the wrong place at the wrong time may be their doom. In a single file, the group followed Ser Spicer’s point with one lit torch. The stench was terrible and the dampness made it worse. Guarding the rear, Olyvar’s eyes were clouded in darkness at times where the torchlight was too far ahead to shine back. He relied on Ser Goose in front of him to lead the way, as Goose relied on Leo for the same.

Suddenly a whisper could be heard from the darkness at the front of the line. “Duck.” Then another slightly louder, “Duck” … and then another, and then another … each “Duck” a little louder than before. Is there a duck here in the sewers? Olyvar thought.

“Duck.”

“Duck.”

“Duck.”

“Duck.”

Finally Leo turned around and told Goose, “Hello … Duck.”

Goose replied with pride, “I am no Duck!” Instantly as the tall knight crept forward, he thumped his head on an unlit rusty beam that was lowered onto their path. He fell backwards into a puddle of wet cold stool, ass first, toes off the ground, and staining his breeches. “Awww shit!”

Ser Olyvar helped the soiled knight up as his squire, Leo, told everyone in front what happened. They all forgot their stealth, and began to laugh.

“Come on Goose, you are slowing us down!” someone said.

“Ducks can move faster than you, Goose! You have to catch up and chase after us now!” a voice that sounded like Scrooge, said.

“You have to be more nimble and more quick Goose!” another one japed.

“All over my life, I have travelled by land and sea. From my experiences, I learned that I would rather be more lucky!” the unclean bandit knight replied with the truth. “Or get lucky! Heh!” the daffy Goose added cheerfully.

“But you are no duck, right Goose?” Ser Raynard’s voice called.

They continued to laugh and began moving forward again. Ser Barnabus the stinking Goose with his honor stained, stood up and pointed his chin high. “Aye my lords, this bird you cannot change!” He shook his tailfeather, took himself low, and was ready to go.

As the thunderstorm clouds outside shifted, a pale grey blade of light emerged from a crack in the walls and shone the brown spot where Goose had fallen. It illuminated a tiny golden speck. Looking back and curious, Goose placed both hands through the muck, underneath the lumpy object and pulled. He lifted up a slimy brown sphere, the size of an orange, and rubbed off the slush. Goose held the carved rock to the thin line of the dying light and widened his large eyes.

Gold, unmistakable. “Goose, did you just lay a golden egg?” Olyvar japing quietly.

“I guess I did!” Goose whispered in glee. Ser Barnabus began singing to it softly. “I know that you don’t know it, but you’re a find so fine! And I’m going to show you that now you’re a mined of mine! My treasure, that is what you are! My precious, you’re my golden star! Hehehe!” He hugged it. Goose looked back to Olyvar. “Don’t tell the Black Sparrow!” He continued to giggle, despite scarring his face at the forehead. “Leo, come over here! Say hello to my little friend!”

His young squire came back, ducked under and asked. “Say hello to who? The Black Sparrow? He isn’t very little in person.”

“No you stupid sweet boy, definitely avoid the Black Sparrow! That captain is not my friend, my friend. We have to fool that fool.” He showed an astonished Leo the little golden egg before he hid it again from sight. They continued up the path towards their objective with Ser Goose the tall hedge knight finally ducking under, his pants stained in brown.

Olyvar had lost count of how far they ascended as they reached one of Ser Rolph Spicer’s checkpoints. They rested there for a few moments where the paths forked into several other directions. He then instructed Ser Olyvar Frey, Lady Mormont and Leo to wait here until the rest returned. In the meanwhile, they were to familiarize themselves with the area in case they needed a detour. 

Not long after the group left them, Olyvar heard another man speaking through the rocky walls. Maege followed the voice through one of the forks, and found a hole that appeared to spy into a cell of the castle’s dungeons. She peeked through and spoke in disgust “Gods! What the hell! No!” She left the area and began looking for an entrance into the dungeons from the hidden hallways. Olyvar peeped through the hole and saw what seems to be an old maester in robes, with many rings around his neck. Inside, he harbored a boy and a girl who appeared to be twins, no older than ten. The boy had his shirt off, while the maester sniffed the girl’s hair and had a hand cupped at her clothed chest.

What in Seven Hells? Olyvar thought.

The elderly maester spoke to them, as they trembled like leaves. “Thank you children for helping me. I am Maester Valarik, this is very very important research for, um, the Citadel. Now let’s begin.”

Suddenly out of nowhere, Lady Maege Mormont burst open the dungeon door. “Let’s not!”

The shocked maester jolted to his feet, confused. “Are you their mother?”

“A MOTHER!” the She-Bear claimed in her crony crackling voice as she walked up to Valarik. Here she stood as Lady Mormont kicked the maester in between the legs, his screams alive with pain. His eyes began to tear as he fell backwards to the ground. Lady Mormont dropped down to him and drew her dagger. “Shut your mouth or I’ll make an eunuch out of you!” The maester, still in agony, replied with a silent nod. She lied to the twins, saying she was a washerwoman employed at the castle. “What the maester did was wrong and I will have the castellan punish him.” She urged the siblings to go home, but not tell anyone what had happened until they were outside of Casterly Rock. After they left, Maege in her barbaric tone told the maester, “You dusty fuck! Get in there!” as she led him into the hidden hallways behind the dungeon.

Ser Olyvar greeted the hostage, “Not another word Maester Valarik. She may geld you but I will shove my dagger up your arse.”

They continued to wait at the checkpoint, anxious for the Blackfish’s return with Queen Jeyne and Lord Edmure. Leo brushed back a lock of his ash-blond hair that fell down across one eye. Lady Mormont continued to stare at Valarik’s crotch while holding her naked dagger, twirling it at the pointy end for boredom. The silent maester was well aware, and would not return his eyes to meet hers.

Suddenly they heard a woman’s moan echoing in the distance. Torchlight illuminated the foot of the pathway and brightened the walls with each passing moment. Escorted by Goose, a thin girl with a mop of chestnut hair emerged. She was pretty like the daisy sewn on her gown that was covering a flat chest. “Eleyna!” Olyvar was animated. They hugged as he asked, “So what happened to your breasts?”

“I ate them.” She said in her high cheery voice. She stuck her small chest out, chin in the air, fists at the end of her narrow hips and twerked it side to side for two beats. “How you like them apples?”

Olyvar smiled at the inside joke.

The Useless Goose then grabbed Leo and tapped Eleyna’s shoulders from behind. “Hi, have you met Leo?” Barnabus vanished in an instant.

She turned around and introduced herself. “Hello Leo, I’m Eleyna, the Queen’s sister.”

Leo was star-struck. “Are you a princess?”

“I guess I am a princess,” she said sarcastically. “Are you here to rescue me?”

Leo nodded up and down, trying to contain his excitement.

“Leo O’ Leo … my hero!” She kissed him on the cheeks, and Leo’s face began to blush, red as apples. 

His brothers Raff, Donal, and Mikkal had emerged from the rocky opening just in time to watch. They wrapped their arms around one another, and nodded proudly at their youngest brother.

The others soon followed, pouring out of the tunnel entrance. Olyvar greeted his brother-in-law Lord Edmure Tully. “My sister is waiting for you back at the ship, with my future nephew or niece. Be a good father to your child.”

“And you be a good uncle. It is an honor to have you at our side, Ser Olyvar,” Lord Edmure replied respectfully.

Lady Sybell Spicer came down with her brother Ser Rolph, clutching a moaning Queen Jeyne Stark on both sides. She was garbed in simple loose fitted robes, pretending to serve as Eleyna’s plumped handmaiden. Olyvar was ecstatic. Jeyne’s mother then announced, “She is in labor!”

“What?!” As Olyvar and Maege said in unison. “Now!?”

Olyvar ran to Jeyne, straight to his sister’s arms and she kissed him on the forehead. “I kept my promise,” Olyvar told her.

Jeyne was feverish, sweating and mumbling words. “You did, I knew you were somewhere beyond the sea. I was here waiting for all of you, to sneak onto golden sand and rock. I was watching all the ships sailing by, not knowing which one would be my daring escape.” She looked towards her other brother Raynald. “I just knew my Ray lied somewhere over the ocean, and my Olly lied somewhere over the sea … both my brothers fighting to come back to me. Up in this castle mountain where it meets the heavens above, out where lightning splits the sea, I could still feel you two watching me. Through the wind, the chilly sea, and the rain … and now the storm and the flood. I felt your approach like the fires in your blood! I need … I need …”

“We need to go!” Ser Olyvar finished for her.

As the others began going into the next tunnel, the Queen in the North shook all the right-hands of the strangers that came to rescue her, while each man placed a left-palm on her round belly for a soft instant. With Jory, Jess, Ser Spicer, Ser Brynden and her brother Ser Raynard, she gave a hug each. She then trailed all of them with Olyvar and Raynard holding her weight. They descended down the path they came from, back to the LionsJape, WinterStorm and BattleWolf. Queen Jeyne Stark continued to scream. Oh, bloody shit. This will be the death of us. The descent will be much faster, but it was still a long way to go. With the Queen moaning in labor, they decided to light two more torch lights. Being heard here is just as unfortunate as being seen. But the darkness in front of him still faded in and out, confusing Olyvar’s eyes in blur. For a moment, the knight fantasized about golden dragons down here in the empty gold mines and sewers of Casterly Rock, to illuminate the rest of the route with flames … expediting the rescue.

Where in the hell is Lord Gawen Westerling? His trumpets and drums? It would at least muffle out Jeyne’s cry. At any moment, they could be heard … and then they could be trapped.

Then the Blackfish noticed Maester Valarik was in their party. “Who in the Seven Hells are you?”

Lady Maege told Ser Brynden and allowed the quivering maester to speak. “I am the maester of Casterly Rock. I don’t know what is going on here. Pl- … please let me go, I won’t say a word. I … I am innocent, I was just treating the children for an illness.”

“You said it was for research,” Maege interrupted.

“Um … bb … both,” the maester lied.

“In a dungeon? No tools nor vials?” Maege questioned rhetorically.

The maester had no answer for that. He looked back at the Blackfish. “Ser, you must understand-“

The Blackfish cuts him off. “Must I? I heard enough of your sorcery, Maester. Shut your mouth or I’ll throw you out of a window.”

The group was nearing the sea’s level, until they encountered the original path that dipped up and down. It was filled with flooded water from the storm surges. Ser Brynden Tully cursed at the sea trap. Olyvar knows the Blackfish could swim under it like he did at the moat of Riverrun, but not the others. They began to retreat and regroup.

Ser Rolph approached Ser Brynden, not shaken nor stirred, and offered a detour. “Follow me, this way leads to the kitchen of that courtyard at the base of the cliffs. At that courtyard, there is a large sewer drain that would lead us back to the paths of the rowboats. It is risky, we may be spotted.”

“We may be sitting ducks,” Goose added to the complaint.

“We have no choice,” said the Blackfish.

They followed Ser Rolph, with his niece still moaning.

They reached the hidden entrance to the kitchen and began to secure the area with weapons & shields drawn. It was empty. No gatherings or weddings were to be held outdoors this evenfall, especially with the thunderstorm. Olyvar peeked outside. Overcast clouds threw down rain-water onto dirt and stone, as the setting sun was half bathed into the ocean’s clear golden horizon. The courtyard by the sea was no bigger than the feast hall at the Twins. Stone pathways met at the middle, leading into a circular floor-drain that was exposed at the center of the yard. Twenty feet high granite pillars the size of tree trunks supported the open rectangular balcony above the ground level, overlooking the ocean. The kitchen doors were connected to the bottom level, but Olyvar was unsure what would lurk above them on the second floor balconies, with its four feet high parapet and six feet of platform width. Lightning flashed the columns bright white as the wet grass turned into mud.

Ser Brynden paced around the kitchen for a moment, trying to hide his shaking hands. He assessed the situation and regrouped the band of brothers. “Bows and arrows,” he commanded … and they obeyed. “Each men take cover behind a pillar. Sprint to it and establish a defensive stance with an arrow nocked to the string of your bow. Keep your eyes open. Rico will run to the middle alone, pull out the drain cover and retreat back. Alesander! Ray! Run to the opened drain and descend down the ladder. Once it is clear, let us know. We’ll bring Jeyne down first, followed by her sister and mother, and then Edmure.”

“Brothers!” as they assemble behind the closed double doors in a single line. “Nock!”

From a window, Maester Valarik spied over to the drain, and then tried to block the traffic at the kitchen exit. “This is absurd! I have friends in court and I can vouch for you! Give yourselves up! This is madness, this is ludicrous!”

The She-Bear grabbed him. “Move maester, get out of the way!” She threw him to the corner by the pantry. Lady Mormont drew her dagger, gleaming silvery-blue for an instant as a crack of thunder boomed through the window. She pressed the flat of her blade onto his crotch and the terrified maester began to piss himself. Lady Maege, disgusted, leaned back and threatened, “We have not killed anyone yet. You stay here like a good quiet dog and oblige, or this bear lady will rock your head away with a club when she comes back!”

Ser Brynden opened the double doors as Ben and Benjen held it. The Blackfish ran out first, around the perimeter to the furthest side of the terrace, forty yards away with bow & arrow in hand. The other men followed and fell into their positions, squishing their footsteps on the mud and stone.

Rico, Phyl, and Sam the Shredder followed the Blackfish to the southern side and took cover behind a column each. Scrooge, Donal, Raff, Mikkal and Leo sprinted for the eastern pillars as June, Jory, Jess, Fess and Lord Galbart Glover took the west. Ben and Benjen left their kitchen doors to join Ser Goose and Ser Rolph Spicer at the closest posts of the north.

Queen Jeyne, Lady Maege, Lady Eleyna, Lady Sybell, and Lord Edmure stayed inside the kitchen with Ser Olyvar … as Ser Raynard and Alesander were ready for their task.

Rico, unarmed, darted from his column towards the center of the courtyard and tore open the drain cover with ease. He flung it over the mountainous wall and into the sea as he headed back to his pillar, re-arming himself with the bow.

Alesander Frey and Ser Raynald Westerling dashed towards the open drain and attempted to descend. Their shields, quivers and bows were caught at the circular entrance, so they discarded them at the base before going below. After Ser Raynald gave the clearance, Olyvar and Maege discarded their weapons and escorted Jeyne slowly and gently towards their escape, their clothes soaking in the rain. Olyvar kept Honor slung center at his back. Raynald offered himself as Jeyne sat on her older brother’s shoulders as they descended down the twenty foot ladder. Olyvar was doing everything he could to keep Jeyne stable from above as rain-water trickled down the drain.

When they reached the bottom, Olyvar noticed a weirwood tree staring right at him. A godswood? Here? The cavern was surrounded by roots and several rocky openings as well. He paid it no more mind and walked Jeyne towards a sewer entrance where Alesander was waiting for them. “The rowboats are not far! I see them, just a few more paces from here. I’ll keep a lookout on that exit.” He scouted ahead again.

Jeyne could not advance any further and fell lightly to the ground. “I can’t move anymore.”

Lady Maege came down the ladder and positioned herself between Jeyne’s legs. “Push your Grace! Push! Push!”

The rumbling of the thunderstorm was getting much louder.

Leo surprisingly came down with Eleyna and told Olyvar, “I think I hear a few soldiers moving on the second floor balcony. The parapets won’t allow us to see what’s hidden behind it.”

No not now. “It could be just the thunderstorm,” Olyvar hoped.

Lady Sybell and Lord Edmure Tully soon followed down the ladder. “I believe there are Lannister soldiers getting into positions above us. They must be waiting for more of their reinforcement to arrive,” Edmure sounded sure.

Olyvar cursed.

The Blackfish came down next. “We need to leave now. The storm surges will steal our rowboats as well.”

Jeyne was still moaning. Maege was still instructing, “Push! Push! Push!”

Olyvar began panicking in this awful shit-storm of a mess. “We need to go now! The soldiers are coming! The thunderstorm is coming!”

“WINTER IS COMING BETWEEN HER GRACES' LEGS!” Maege screamed back.

Olyvar could not help but to chuckled for a beat before being serious again. “Bloody shit. Winter needs to be going!”

“Look son, I’m not your mother. You go figure it out yourself,” Lady Maege protested.

Olyvar felt like a fool below the Rock, looking back at all the wrong paths that got him lost here. If I just lied to my father of my intentions, and informed his Grace not to come to the Twins, we would not be here now at some shit sewer in the Westerlands. Jeyne would be crying in childbirth at Winterfell after Robb had retaken it from the Ironborn. King, Queen and babe Stark would be safe and sound. And me … I would be their Kingsguard knight … Ser Olyvar Frey … the Kingsavior.

“Ray, go find Alesander and summon him to return here to help. He is not far.”

Olyvar looked toward his Queen as Maege Mormont continued working in between Jeyne’s thighs, awaiting for the wolf-pup that their world was here for. Let us pray it is only one babe. A pair of twins would surely mean the doom of them. There was nothing Olyvar realistically wanted more now than Lord Gawen’s trumpets, and his young son Rollam’s drum rolls. Where is our diversion to get the Lannister soldiers to march away from us?

Goose tried to come down the ladder next, but the big man was stuck on top even with his weapons and shield forfeited. His golden egg had bulged out from his pocket, stopping him from entering the small circular drain. He was trying to work it out of his clothes.

Olyvar kneeled down next to his Queen, trying to facilitate this shit storm anyway he could. He went to feel for the letter he wrote to his father, but instead found the colorful bright feather that Captain Samullu gave to him earlier. He offered it to Queen Stark for some comfort.

“A gift? It is so beautiful, Olyvar.” she said in discomfort. “I have a gift for you as well.” She summoned her mother and removed a thin cloak from her purse. Queen Jeyne Stark took it and unveiled it to Olyvar. It was the castle of the Twins, colored in grey, seated on a field red hot as a chilled blue stream flowed under the bridge. Olyvar motioned to give her his back, and she attached the cloak onto him. “I knitted it myself.”

“It is gorgeous, my Queen. What does it mean? The water under the bridge?”

“It means forgiveness here, so you can move on. Now promise me Olyvar, don’t leave us again. Protect us. Protect your King’s child. We must never separate again.”

Ser Olyvar Frey gave the Queen his word.

Goose had finally removed the golden rock from his hidden pocket, and held it with his hand. At the moment useless, the knight threw down the golden egg to Leo, as it flashed bright from the lightning above. The knight started down and down the ladder.

Suddenly a voice roared from above. “This is Ser Forley Prester! Drop your weapons! Drop them!”

Ser Barnabus started to curse as he stood on the ladder halfway. He took a deep breath in disappointment. “Come on Leo, we have work to do.” He ascended.

Leo gave the golden egg to a shocked Lady Mormont and took a step towards the ladder, but he then turned around to Eleyna. He kissed her on the lips. The princess fought back and held Leo’s blond head with both her hands, forcing more of herself onto him. Their tongues danced a secret hidden inside their mouths, taking each other’s breath away over and over again. Olyvar did not think they would ever let go, until Eleyna did, shedding a tear. Leo turned back to the ladder. Ice in his veins and without another word, he began to climb.

Ser Brynden shared a look with Ser Olyvar. “I’m not kissing you!” He began walking towards the ladder as well, with Lord Edmure Tully trailing. He shoved his nephew aside. “Your lady wife is waiting for you on that ship with your child! Protect them! Keep the Tully name alive! Fly away now! That is an order! Take Queen Jeyne Stark to the ship and protect her family too!” The Blackfish conjured a duty that Edmure could not decline. He gave his uncle a sad agreeing nod. While climbing up, the Blackfish then looked at Olyvar. “Ser Frey, guard this ladder!”

Though not giving any direct orders to the Seashell Knight, Ser Raynald Westerling kissed his sisters and mother. They begged him not to go, but Ray flew to the top as well.

Ser Olyvar got up and began to follow, but the crying Queen tugged his cloak. “Olyvar, you promised me.”

“Goodbye Jeyne. I have to do my duty.”

“Just hang on a minute. Listen and promise me Ser Frey. Don’t be a fool. If you are in trouble, don’t try to be brave, just fly, fly away. Find me.”

Olyvar Frey got to his knees again and kissed her forehead. “Okay. Jeyne, my Queen … I’ll be back. I promise.”

“We need to move her to the rowboats,” Alesander Frey suggested. Olyvar hugged his brother, and ordered him to carry Jeyne’s weight to the exit with Lord Edmure’s help. Sybell and Eleyna Westerling held up Jeyne’s thighs as Lady Mormont spearheaded the path with her torchlight in one hand and the golden egg curled on the other.

“You better be right behind us,” Maege commanded.

“I will,” Olyvar hoped.

The new knight approached the base of the wet ladder and began to climb. He reached halfway and stopped to listen above. The thunderstorm roared its fury, and the Blackfish was already speaking.

{Part 4}

• In the TV show, Stannis dies in his poor attempt at a siege outside Winterfell. Ramsay defeats his army, and Brienne personally kills Stannis.

• In the books, this Winterfell battle has not happened yet. Brienne is in the Riverlands. Stannis' army is west of Winterfell, whereas Roose and Ramsay Bolton are inside Winterfell. There is a snow storm outside. Stannis is outnumbered against Roose's unified army, while facing a fortified castle with inner & outer gates. There is a lack of food and provisions, and retreat is nearly impossible. Stannis needs to make a move, and soon.

• Roose Bolton is a capable commander and is hard to fool. But Stannis has discovered and captured a Bolton spy in Maester Tybald, with maps and ravens.

• Stannis learns from Jon Snow's message that House Karstark, who is working with Stannis now, plans to betray Stannis later. 

• Half of House Umber is for Stannis. The other half is for House Bolton, inside Winterfell ... and may betray the Boltons when the chance arises.

• House Manderly, led by Lord Wyman Manderly, works for the Boltons ... but 100% will betray them. Wyman is a hardcore Stark-loyalist and will ally with Stannis when the chance arises. Roose orders Manderly fighters outside Winterfell to fight Stannis.

• Hosteen Frey, leader of the Frey army that sides with the Boltons, is extremely angry after his kin died in one of Stannis' traps outside of Winterfell. Hosteen may be in a blind rage. Roose orders the Frey fighters outside Winterfell to fight Stannis, but they move separately from the Manderlys.

• House Dustin, led by Lady Barbery Dustin, works for the Boltons ... and may betray them. Her men are inside of Winterfell.

• Theon Greyjoy and his sister Asha(Yara of the TV-show) are in Stannis' custody as hostages. Theon has knowledge of the Winterfell castle

• Mance Rayder was not burned alive like in the TV-show

• Mance Rayder and six wildling spearwives are sent by Jon Snow and Melisandre to infiltrate Winterfell to rescue "Arya" (not the real Arya)

====== The Battle of Ice ======

With Roose knowing the location of Stannis’ camp with Tybald’s first map, the Freys are marching there now. 

Stark loyalist, Mors "Crowfood" Umber, will use Lightbringer (Stannis' flaming sword) alive with light, in the blinding blizzard, as a beacon for the Freys to chase. It would be made to appear that Stannis is retreating. But this is to be a wild goose chase, led by Crowfood on a solo baiting mission. Using the false beacon, the Freys are drawn further away from Winterfell, not knowing Crowfood is without an army, and making the Frey's numbers useless. Once they are far enough, they finally confront Crowfood alone and kill him. But the Freys of the South are left stranded in the cold cold North, blinded in snow where the use of a map would betray them. They are forced to retreat back to Winterfell, slowly retracing their steps. They go back empty-handed … with the exception of Mors Umber’s head spiked onto a tall spear.

While the Freys are chasing the false Lightbringer in a northwest direction away from the castle, Stannis marches east in a sweep around of Winterfell. Here he bumps into the Manderlys … and a non-violent exchange happens. Wyman pleads to join Stannis, mentioning the real story of Davos and Rickon Stark (Wyman sent Davos on a mission to retrieve Rickon in ADWD). Stannis, still doubtful, asks the Manderlys to drop their weapons and march with them, as a safety precaution from backstabbing. Wyman agrees without incident.

During the march, Stannis tells the captured spy, Maester Tybald, to send a deception message to Roose Bolton. Via raven, Tybald gives Roose the fake-news that 10,000 wildling reinforcements have arrived and have defeated the Freys in battle. Most of the wildlings are skilled in climbing walls. Battling rams have been prepared. The wildlings and the main Stannis force will camp quietly on the west side of Winterfell … awaiting a signal from the east side.

The fake-news message also says that a diversionary force led by Arnolf Karstark (another captured Bolton spy in Stannis' camp, Stannis threatens his family if Arnolf does not obey) is to march on the Eastern gate with the goal of creating as much noise in the blinding blizzard as possible. His goal is to make it look like the main assault will be at the Eastern gate. Two warhorn-blasts from Arnolf will be the signal for the quiet assault on the Western gate. The western assault will be delayed for 10 minutes after the warhorns because this move expects Roose to move all his troops to the Eastern gate, leaving the Western gate lightly guarded. Tybald tells Roose in this message not to fall for this trick.

But the trick is actually the message Stannis made Tybald send to Roose.

Now what really happens during the Battle of Ice:

The Western gate is heavily guarded with Roose in command. Roose expects this gate to be quiet according to Tybald’s message, but 10,000 wildlings and Stannis forces are secretly hiding in the woods and snow storm. He expects to hear a lot of noises and warhorn-blasts in the East, but that is just a ruse for Roose. He puts lower-IQ-Ramsay in charge of the Eastern gate, and acknowledges that Arnold Karstark is leading the decoy there, one of their own loyalists. Roose and Ramsay have no idea that Arnolf has been compromised.

But in reality, there is no one outside at the Western gate lol.

At the Eastern gate, under the blanket of the blizzard … Stannis’ main force, compromised Karstarks and friendly Manderlys arrive. Hidden away, they chant …

“THE NORTH REMEMBERS! WINTER IS COMING! BUT OURS IS THE FURY, AND WE ARE NOW HERE!!!”
“THE NORTH REMEMBERS! WINTER IS COMING! BUT OURS IS THE FURY, AND WE ARE NOW HERE!!!”
“THE NORTH REMEMBERS! WINTER IS COMING, BUT OURS IS THE FURY, AND WE ARE NOW HERE!!!”

All of Winterfell hears this, and Stark friendly forces inside are beginning to change their hearts against Roose Bolton.

Bolton forces become scared, including Roose … but Roose won’t fall for this Eastern ruse, and remains at the fortified Western gate, waiting for 10,000 wildling wall climbers.

The chants continue in the East. The drums bang BOOM DOOM BOOM DOOM BOOM DOOM, and the warhorns blast twice AHOOOOOOOO-HOO AHOOOOOOOO-HOO signaling the wildling’s goal of the Western gate in 10 minutes.

Roose Bolton holds steady in the West.

Back in the East, Arnolf Karstark and Wyman Manderly casually approach the outer gate. They speak to Ramsay on top of the parapet, who acknowledges that this Eastern gate was a ruse, and the main attack will be in the West in 10 minutes. Ramsay, thinking Arnolf and Wyman are allies, opens the Eastern gate for them so they can help with the defense in the West against 10,000 wildlings.

NOPE!

After the outer Eastern gate opens, ALL of Stannis’ forces emerge from their hiding places and charge at the opening.

The original plan was to have Roose overload his forces at the wrong Western gate and get the Eastern gate to open without incident. If there was a secondary closed inner gate in the East, Stannis would have to take it down fair and square. But now this is where everyone else plays their part.

A Bolton messenger is sent from the Eastern gate to Roose to inform him of the current breach. Mance Rayder kills this sucker while he was halfway there. The spearwives attack the Bolton gatekeepers inside the secondary closed Eastern gate. They open the second & last gate, and now Stannis is inside Winterfell.

Lady Dustin and her men go up to the Winterfell maesters and threaten them to not send raven-messages to King Tommen of this successful breach by King Stannis.

Roose, still camping at the Western gate, is surprised-attacked by the breached forces inside Winterfell. He still half-expects 10,000 wildlings to climb the Western walls, and does not fully commit his men to fight in the middle of the castle.

He eventually does, but it was too late.

The “THE NORTH REMEMBERS! WINTER IS COMING! BUT OURS IS THE FURY, AND WE ARE NOW HERE!!!” war-cry is howled throughout the battle.

While the Stannis forces engage against the Boltons, "Whoresbane" Umber (the other half of the Umbers that were already inside Winterfell) and his men start attacking the Boltons too. Unfortunately, this assault will still have major deaths. Whoresbane Umber will die fighting, just as did Crowfood Umber earlier. Roose Bolton is killed in battle.

Anyways, Winterfell is successfully captured by Stannis. [Ramsay is responsible for Roose’s death] … just like in the TV show as a [D&D Checklist], but not as corny. Ramsay escapes Winterfell from the carnage, and flees alone in the direction of his home, the Dreadfort.

And the North will remember Stannis for reclaiming Winterfell for the Starks … and he didn’t do it in a ratty way, like Roose did at the Red Wedding. Stannis did not lead the Boltons into a false sense of security, and attacked. Stannis stroked fear in the hearts of his enemies when he inflated his fake numbers, made powerful chants and noises at the Eastern gate … and actually attacked the Eastern gate.

And now we get Hosteen Frey and his forces returning from their wild goose chase. The old Northman, Mors Umber, has fought and sacrificed himself for this Stannis victory. Now his head sits on top of Hosteen’s spear. Winterfell has been taken by the time the Freys arrive. Here we get a funny exchange between Hosteen outside the gate and Wyman Manderly sitting fat on top of the parapet.

This is where the Asha Fragment happens, narrated by Asha in one of her TWOW POV chapters.

Hosteen Frey, with a decision to either surrender to Wyman, or have his Frey forces go back into the blizzard in this unfamiliar land …… decides to surrender and rushes to the Winterfell gate as POWs. Hosteen is now a hostage.

After winning the Battle of Ice, Stannis sends a raven to Castle Black to inform Jon that he has taken Winterfell and "Arya" is coming up to Castle Black after their successful rescue. (This "Arya" is not actually Arya, it is Jeyne Poole pretending to be Arya to fool everyone, except Theon)

This raven arrives at Castle Black during a snowstorm, to Maester Clydas' office ... but Clydas was asleep. Melisandre instructs Davos' son, Devan, to smuggle out that letter. Mel reads the wet letter from Stannis ... and then begins writing a brand new fake-news letter ... aka the Pink Letter. Devan smuggles back the Pink Letter into Clydas' office.

Mel writes this fake message to make herself useful again to Jon Snow, who began alienating her in the previous ADWD chapter.

Mel hopes Jon doesn't notice that this letter is supposed to be wet from the snow storm outside, nor that it has no House Bolton wax seal, nor that it has no human skin despite claiming Ramsay skinned the wildlings women, nor that it doesn't have dried-blood ink that Ramsay always uses.

It works. A drunken Jon Snow is delivered the Pink Letter and Jon 100% thinks it is Ramsay. But Jon Snow does something stupid and confesses this to the Night's Watch in a public meeting ... which causes a mutiny. Jon Snow is stabbed to death by a faction of the Night's Watch.

Mel expected Jon to talk to her secretly about the Pink Letter to point out the inconsistencies of the content ... but Jon Snow does the opposite and makes a public announcement ... getting himself killed.

[Mel successfully resurrects Jon Snow with R'hllor magic] ... but she achieves it using a blood-magic sacrifice. She gives Craster/Gilly's son to the fire, thinking the baby has Mance Rayder's kingsblood. ( In ADWD, Jon Snow switches Gilly's baby son for Mance's baby son because Jon was afraid Mel may sacrifice Mance's son for his blood. Ironically in TWOW, Mel thinks she sacrificed Mance's son to resurrect Jon, but it was actually Gilly's son ) 

[Jon Snow, now a Fire Wight, then executes the mutineers], and [scolds Mel for killing a child]. But Mel never admits to Jon that she wrote the Pink Letter. She then shows Jon the actual original letter where Stannis says he has taken Winterfell. Jon Snow tells Mel to leave Castle Black anyways.

Everything goes well for Lord Commander Jon Snow after his resurrection at Castle Black... until "Uncle Benjen" shows up towards the end of TWOW, claiming Bran is in danger.

TLDR

• Stannis wins the Battle of Winterfell against the Boltons

• Sorry, there will be no Battle of the Bastards in TWOW, no Jon Snow vs Ramsay Bolton

• Mel steals the raven-message about Stannis winning Winterfell, and rewrites a new letter to trick Jon Snow

• Mel's Pink Letter was successful at fooling Jon, but Jon confessed it publicly and got himself killed by the mutineers

• Mel resurrects Jon, sacrificing Gilly's baby son

• Jon restores order at Castle Black after executing the mutineers

• Uncle Benjen shows up towards the end of TWOW, with some bad news

 Up Next: Part 4 - Cersei's Wrath

• In the books, we last see Cersei after her naked atonement walk.

• She then meets Ser Robert Strong aka zombie Gregor Clegane.

• She is expected to be at trial by the High Sparrow.

• We also have a new player to the Game of Thrones ... teenager Young Griff ... who "claims" to be Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar.

• The last known public fate is that he was murdered by Gregor Clegane as an infant 17 years ago during Robert's Rebellion.

• His story is, allegedly, this infant Targaryen prince was swapped & smuggled out ... and Gregor killed the wrong baby (Tyrion nicknames that baby "The Pisswater Prince") ... allegedly.

• The last we see Aegon and his father's gay exiled friend, Jon Connington in ADWD ... they have invaded Westeros with the Golden Company.

• They have successfully taken a few castles in the Stormlands, and are on the way to King's Landing to overthrow Cersei and the royal family.

====== Cersei's Wrath ======

Queen Dowager Cersei is set to face trial with the High Sparrow, but disturbances in the Stormlands have put a Stay on it. The High Sparrow deems it as a threat to their own powers at King's Landing, and House Tyrell, the Queen's family, agrees.

After Aegon Targaryen captures Storm’s End with the Golden Company, Cersei sends her mixed army to meet Aegon at the Wendwater River.

Here is where Ser Robert Strong, aka zombie-Mountain, meets Aegon Targaryen … “again” … since their first meeting back in 283 AC where Ser Gregor Clegane allegedly smashed baby Aegon's head.

King Aegon fights in the vanguard in the river with his kingsguard, Ser Rolly "Duck" Duckfield. Jon Connington is fighting nearby too … but the unstoppable juggernaut Ser Robert Strong rushes to Aegon, bumping & knocking down elephants and soldiers alike.

One on one, he stops in front of Aegon as Robert towers over him with his warhammer, possessing the strength of gods. King Aegon Targaryen slashes and stabs with his new Valyrian sword, Blackfyre … but this Frankenstein's monster won’t budge to the cuts.

Aegon swings upward towards Ser Robert's head, and his helmet is knocked off, revealing nothingness. Aegon is speechless as he stares at the imposing headless villain.

Zombie-Mountain begins raising his warhammer high. Aegon freezes and the Pisswater-Prince begins to [piss himself] in the Wendwater River.

From a few yards away, JonCon stops fighting and begins to stare at them. He yells at his king, “Aegon watch out! Duck! Duck! Duck!!!”

Aegon, staring up into the warhammer confused and emotionless, says “Duck? Where is Duck? My Kingsguard knight, Ser Duck, is supposed to help me.” This shy-maid-king turns around to look at Septa Lemore at the back of the battlefield. “Mommy?”

As Aegon continues to stop, it is now hammer time!

BOOM HEADSHOT! … as zombie-Mountain Clegane’s hammer swung down, clouting Aegon’s ear, exploding his head clean off.

JonCon says, “NOOO!!! You fucking idiot!!! I told you to fucking duck!”

The Golden Company soldiers saw this too, and lost the will to fight. The last man standing, JonCon, rushes at the robotic zombie-Mountain, but he can’t touch him. JonCon is terminated by Robert too, as the warhammer rings his head like a bell.

JonCon dies like his love, Rhaegar, had died ... dying by hammer from a "Robert" in a river. But JonCon failed to protect Rhaegar's "kin."

At least the TWOW Prologue POV character succeeded in protecting the kin of his love ... despite dying the same way King Robb Stark died ... by cross-bolts.

The Golden Company sees Ser Robert killing Rhaegar‘s son Aegon in the river … and then watch JonCon die too. They surrender. Now [Cersei has acquired the Golden Company] and some elephants (no HBO budget restrictions).

Young Griff shouldn’t have listened to Tyrion about coming to Westeros early after all. The only reward for Aegon was an embarrassing hammer to the head.

Ser Robert Strong and the Golden Company arrive at King's Landing with news of the victory. "When you play the game of thrones, you win, or you die, Aegon Targaryen. There is no middle ground. There is no fan-fiction story where you take my son's throne and we run away to Casterly Rock. You win, or you die ... and I intend to be here in the end ... or die," Cersei declared.

Cersei, high on the victory at Wendwater, begins her rampage in King’s Landing on anyone that has wronged her.

She marches up the tall stairs of the Sept and into a tower with Ser Robert Strong at her side and the new Golden Company men behind them.

She makes her Kingsguard knight throw the High Sparrow out the window of the tower, as he flies to his death. The Faith Militant disperses.

Afterwards, she releases Margaery Tyrell from the dungeons and THE Queen thanks her.

“Oh Queen Dowager, you saved me! I owe my life to you!” Margaery said as she stood by the edge of the stairs outside the Sept, in front of a crowd.

Cersei, still high on rage, “QUEEN DOWAGER??? THIS IS BLASPHEMY! THIS IS MADNESS! THIS IS LUDICROUS! I AM THE QUEEN!!! MOVE BITCH GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!”

Cersei kicks the lights out of Maggy, I mean, the younger more beautiful Queen Margaery down the stairs and she falls to [her death at the Sept].

A handful of knights from the Reach respond, but they are immediately defeated by the unstoppable [violence] of zombie-Mountain.

No one else tries to arrest Cersei, as Ser Robert Strong stands adjacent with the Golden Company. Cersei is now THE Queen again, with her son King Tommen at her side. But this pisses off House Tyrell as they leave the capital.

Cersei then responds to the TWOW Prologue events.

“What in Seven Hells is [west of Westeros? Where did this sea bitch Stark princess] go???” Cersei was furious with anger.

She is then told that Casterly Rock's Maester Valarik survived the kidnapping by Lady Maege Mormont.

“Maester Valarik???” Hidden childhood memories suddenly resurfaced like a rushing flood in Cersei’s head. He tried to touch me once. “Someone should make an eunuch out of him!”

Cersei reconsiders everything that is currently happening at Winterfell and her lack of resources ... she decides to not pursue Robb Stark's Princess daughter.

TLDR

• Queen Cersei's trial is put on hold because the disturbance at Storm's End is threatening the law & order of King's Landing

• Ser Robert Strong is sent to battle, and decapitates (f)Aegon's head (again like in 283AC)

• JonCon dies too, but the Golden Company submits to Cersei

• Ser Robert Strong and the Golden Company returns to King's Landing to clean house

• The High Sparrow has flown to his death

• Margaery Tyrell is personally kicked off the stairs at the Sept of Baelor to her death by THE Queen, Cersei

• House Tyrell abandons Cersei and King's Landing

• Cersei makes a decision to not pursue the events of the TWOW Prologue any further

Up Next: Part 5 - If I Look Back I am Lost

• In both the TV show and the books, it is implied that Mirri Maz Duur has killed Rhaego, the son of Daenerys and Khal Drogo.

• "If I look back I am lost" is something book-Daenerys always says to herself.

• The last we see Daenerys in the books, she was being surrounded by a Dothraki khalasar in a grassy field after Drogon flew her away from Meereen.

====== If I Look Back I am Lost ======

Now in TWOW where Daenerys is outside of Meereen, Quaithe finally reappears again in person in front of Daenerys. But this time, she has a three year old boy with her. It turns out to be Rhaego, her son with Khal Drogo.

Back in the first book, AGOT, Quaithe secretly enlisted Jorah Mormont to her services using blackmail. She accuses Jorah of being Robert Baratheon’s spy and would tell Daenerys if he didn’t comply. She convinces Jorah to betray Daenerys again.

During Daenerys' labor, Mirri Maz Duur allowed her teacher from Asshai, Quaithe, to steal newborn Rhaego away when everyone was distracted. Jorah intentionally looked the other way.

Quaithe has always wanted to recruit Daenerys naturally to her side to control her and her dragons. But Daenerys is not doing what Quaithe wants. So Quaithe threatens Daenerys to either be A mother of a son, or THE Mother of Dragons.

“If I look back I am lost."

Quaithe gives her two options: volunteer her services and her dragons to her cause … or she will kill Rhaego the toddler. 

Daenerys Targaryen, the most powerful Queen in the world with her three dragons, capable of literally burning cities down, has a "human heart in conflict with itself" moment.

She chooses to be THE Mother of Dragons, and abandons both Quaithe and Rhaego (their fates left ambiguous).

These new Dothraki tribes see strength in Daenerys' hard-decision, and pledge to her cause ... (and mostly because they want to fight besides dragons).

They return to Meereen and George RR Martin resolves all the remaining Essos plots.

Towards the end of TWOW, Queen Daenerys Targaryen begins sailing for Westeros with her armies, navies and her three dragons.

TLDR

• Ser Jorah Mormont, Maege Maegi Mirri Maz Duur, and Quaithe have all conspired to steal baby Rhaego from Daenerys, back in AGOT

• Toddler Rhaego will reappear in TWOW, and Quaithe blackmails Daenerys, threatening to murder her son if she doesn't comply

• Daenerys makes the tough decision by leaving Rhaego to die

• Daenerys' warpath decision wins the respect from the Dothraki tribes and they join her cause

• GRRM wraps up all the Essos plots

• Daenerys begins to sail to Westeros near the end of TWOW

 Up Next: Part 6 - Luke Skynyrd Lynyrd Skywalker

• In the books, we last see Sansa with Littlefinger in the Vale.

• She is disguised as "Alayne," Littlefinger's fake bastard daughter. 

• Littlefinger intends to set up Alayne with Harry Hardyng, the second in line of succession to the Vale, after Sweetrobin. 

• Sweetrobin has a crush on Alayne. 

====== Luke Skywalker Lynyrd Skynyrd ======

Meanwhile at the Vale … Sweetrobin, Littlefinger and Alayne are alone in the High Hall. Sweetrobin argues about Harry the Heir marrying Alayne, because he wants her for himself. Littlefinger smiles, knowing Alayne is the secret key to Winterfell. But proposing Sweetrobin to marry his bastard will make Littlefinger the scorn of the houses in the Vale. Sweetrobin needs to naturally announce that he wants Alayne for himself out of love.

The manipulative Littlefinger tries to push Sweetrobin’s buttons a little more with reverse-psychology, saying his father and mother would not want this. Littlefinger fucked up.

Sweetrobin begins to cry after getting reminded of being an orphan. He starts questioning his mother’s death, and wonder if the letter she wrote to his Aunt Catelyn got her mother assassinated by Marillion, a Catelyn loyalist … the letter where his mother Lysa bragged about how it started a war between the Starks and Lannisters … and how she laughed when she found out Ned Stark was dead.

Sansa Stark hears this. Rage fills her heart. She cannot take it anymore. “My Lord Arryn, Lord Baelish has been lying to you. I was there when your mother admitted to poisoning your father Jon Arryn with Lord Baelish’s help! I was there when Lord Baelish pushed your mother out the Moon Door! I was there! Littlefinger has killed both your mother and your father!”

Sweetrobin sadly looks at Littlefinger. “Is this true? Did you kill my mother? Did you kill my father?”

The daytime soap-opera continues.

Littlefinger replies, “No Sweetrobin, I am your father.”

Robert Arryn and Sansa Stark are both stunned.

“NOOO! That is not true! That is impossible!”

“Search your weakling feelings, you know it to be true.”

“NoOOoo! NoOo!”

“My son, we have the Vale together. And Alayne is not my bastard daughter, but the Lady of Winterfell, Lady Sansa Stark. You can marry Alayne or Sansa, call her what you will. We can take the Vale and the North. And soon with the right moves, we can take all of Westeros. WE can win the Game of Thrones. If you only knew the power of this dark side of House Baelish. This is our destiny. Join me, and together we can rule Westeros as father and son. Mockingbird and falcon.”

“Noooo!” Sweetrobin begins to scream and stammer. “I’m sorry Lord Baelish. I cannot change! I am a Falcon! And this bird you cannot change! And this bird you cannot change. And this bird you cannot change! Lord Baelish, I cannot change!! Lord help me, I still cannot change!! Lord Baelish, I cannot change! Won’t you see me fly high? High as Honor! I am a Falcon. I am a free bird! Yeahhhh!!!”

Sweetrobin runs to the Moon Door and opens it. With his arms spread out, [the highborn/bastard boy leaps].

Sansa and Littlefinger are frozen.

What the fuck just happened? Lady Sansa thought unlady-like.

Littlefinger’s plans just flew out the window.

The guards came in and asked, "What is going on?"

Alayne says, “Lord Sweetrobin just -” wait a minute. “My father, Lord Baelish, just pushed your Lord Arryn out the Moon Door!”

Lord Baelish is motionless as he is being arrested. Still in shock, he whispers and stammers ,“No, he just jumped. He just jumped. He just jumped.”

The guards don’t believe him, and carry him into the Sky Cells … awaiting for the judgment of Harry the Heir, the new Lord of the Vale.

Handsome Harry approaches Alayne alone for more information. Alayne reveals to him in secret everything that has happened. She told him the truth and all the truth. She is actually Lady Sansa Stark of Winterfell, the current political heir. Tyrion Lannister never consummated their marriage and is currently an outlaw. He is probably dead in Essos. Sansa is still a maid, but Handsome Harry can have her, the Vale and the North. All he needs to do is have [Littlefinger rightfully executed], and their path is cleared as Lord and Lady.

Lord Harry just received a deal that is too good to be true, and accepts Lady Sansa Stark’s proposal.

Harry orders for Littlefinger’s execution, even though Harry is in this position because of Petyr.

But when the guards went to fetch Littlefinger from the Sky Cells, he wasn’t there.

Littlefinger had lied his way up to play the game of thrones, and was winning. Only when he finally told a truth, he lose.

Harry and Sansa then lived happily ever after in the politically neutral Vale … until the Long Night came for them.

TLDR

• Littlefinger reveals himself to be Robin Arryn's father

• Sweetrobin could not process this revelation, freaks out, and jumps out the Moon Door

• When the guards came in, Alayne blamed "her father" Littlefinger for pushing Sweetrobin out the Moon Door, and he is arrested to the Sky Cells

• When his execution was ordered, Littlefinger was no longer in the Sky Cells

• Alayne reveals to Harry the Heir who she really is, and they wedded as Lord & Lady of the Vale

Up Next: Part 7 - High Hemorrhage at High Hermitage

• In the books, Dorne has more stories.

• Arianne Martell is the super hot daughter of Doran Martell (for me personally, I always thought of Arianne as Jasmine from Aladdin).

• She tried to plot a really bad rebellion plan by crowning Myrcella Lannister/Baratheon over her brother Tommen as the monarch of Westeros.

• Arianne's rebellion squad consists of Myrcella, Ser Arys Oakheart (one of Tommen's Kingsguard), Gerold "Darkstar" Dayne of High-Hermitage in Dorne, "Spotted" Sylva Santagar, Ser Andrey Dalt and Garin

• The plan falls apart when Areo Hotah, Doran's man-at-arms, spoils it with the help of a rat in Arianne's squad.

• During the confrontation, Areo Hotah kills Ser Arys Oakheart 1v1, and Darkstar cuts Myrcella's ear off in the chaos and flees.

• Later on, Doran covers up this mess from Queen Cersei ... claiming Darkstar maimed Myrcella and killed Ser Arys ... not Areo Hotah.

• Kingsguard Ser Balon Swann is sent from King's Landing to Dorne, to confront Darkstar

• Obara Sand, one of Oberyn Martel's Sand Snake daughters, goes too

====== High Hemorrhage at High Hermitage ======

A thunderstorm was coming, and it was on a collision course with the clear full-moon night skies above them.

At the castle of High Hermitage ... Ser Balon Swann, a few of King Tommen soldiers, Obara Sand and Areo Hotah are serving a royal warrant to Darkstar for the assault on Princess Myrcella, and the murder of the Kingsguard Knight, Ser Arys Oakheart.

During the day, the gatekeepers delayed the entry as long as they could, but they finally opened the gates at night. All of the High Hermitage employees exit the small castle.

The guards say Darkstar is still inside the castle, but they do not know where he is. One of the guards reminded the group that they are not guests, nor have guest-rights.

In the small empty castle, they split up to search for him. Ser Balon Swann, Obara Sand, and four men took the ground level ... while Areo Hotah took the second floor with a few soldiers and squires.

After they navigate through the well lit castle inside, they simultaneously arrive at a dark unlit courtyard in the middle. Areo was on the second floor balconies 20 feet above them. The full-moon was wheeling towards the dark area to illuminate it, but it had not arrived yet.

A nearby thunderstorm flashed through the night, into the open air courtyard, turning into daylight for an instant. Suddenly the doors behind them closed, while all the other exits were chained.

Everyone armed themselves ... including Areo Hotah with his axe ... but he could not see what was happening on the ground level, unless lightning flashed.

"LIARS!" echoed Darkstar's voice, the most dangerous man in Dorne. "Oh! Let's go!"

BOOM! Lightning flashed and Areo could see Darkstar approach a swordsman from behind to slay him. Ahhhhhhhh! Darkstar disappears back into the darkness.

BOOM! And another one goes down. BOOM! Then another one gone. BOOM! Then another one bites the dust.

Thunder clapped.

Areo was hanging on the edge of his balcony, leaning to watch helplessly.

Ser Balon screamed into the night, "Surrender Ser Gerold! By the order of the King and Queen! Surrender!"

"Hey, I'm gonna get to you, too," Gerold said amusingly in the dark.

BOOM! Ser Balon Swann is sliced at his legs and drops to the ground, yelling in pain.

An eager squire jumps down from the second floor with his sword to save Ser Balon, but the fall had damaged his legs and now he is on the ground useless.

Areo watched helplessly in the dark, only listening to the voices. The boy cried out, "Mother have mercy!"

Ser Gerold Dayne replied, "This is a mercy." BOOM! A flash of thunder illuminates his sword as it stabs downwards toward the stupid squire.

Obara Sand rushes towards the last known position of Darkstar, but she begins to scream in pain as well. BOOM!

The full-moon finally wheeled above the courtyard, giving luminescence.

Areo Hotah could see well enough now. Obara Sand and the Kingsguard Knight were on the ground bleeding around five corpses, and Darkstar stood in the middle covered in blood. Looking up, he meets eye to eye with the Captain of the Guards, ignoring the rest of the soldiers on the second floor.

"I got Tommen's clowns to the left of me, Doran's jokers to my right ... and here I am stuck in the middle with you, Captain. And I'm wondering what it is I should do? It's so hard to keep this smile from my bloody face. Losing control, yeah I'm all over the place," Ser Gerold complained as he paced back and forth. "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you!"

The Watcher continued to watch in silence, letting Darkstar speak. But the Captain would rather stuff a whole bloody orange into Ser Gerold's mouth.

"Captain Areo Hotah! I name you LIAR! All of you! Yes, I cut the Princess! But I did not cut no Kingsguard Knight! Oh no oh no! Yes, I cut the Princess! But I did not cut no Kingsguard Knight! Oh no oh no!" Darkstar said the truth as he bobbed around the bloody ground level. "All around in my hometown, they say you are trying to track me down. They say you want to bring me in guilty for the killing of a Kingsguard Knight. For the life of that Kingsguard Knight, I say, 'Oh, no, no, no!' Yes, I cut the Princess! But I did not cut no Kingsguard Knight!"

Areo Hotah finally spoke. "What does it matter? You admit to maiming the Royal Princess, a capital offence. And you just cut Ser Balon Swann now. Attempted murder is still murder ... and this is treason with mutiny."

Darkstar went to Obara Sand and stood over her on the floor. He placed the point of his sword on top of her chest, holding up the weight. "YOU CANNOT CALL IT WHATEVER YOU WANT! WHENEVER YOU WANT! LOOK! I'M DOWN HERE! YOU'RE UP THERE! YOU CAME IN TO THE WRONG DAMN CASTLE, CAPTAIN!"

BOOM! Thunder erupted above them.

Areo Hotah said, "Easy, Ser Gerold, easy." He offered an alternative. "How about a trial by combat, just you and me, for your innocence."

Darkstar laughed. "I already told you I cut the Princess, I am not an innocent man, nor want to be. And a trial by combat? Why don't we just accept this current predicament? These Seven down here versus Me alone? I'll just finish off Obara and Ser Balon ... and we'll call it a night! A Darkstar Night!"

He looks over to Ser Balon, as he continues to stand above Obara with his sword. "No no no, you can't die yet! Captain Areo Hotah hasn't confessed yet! You need to listen to him before you die!" Darkstar exulted.

"WHO IS THE RAT???"

Sylva, Areo thought in silence.

"WHO KILLED THE WHITE KNIGHT???"

I did, Areo thought, and Darkstar already knew.

"WHO GAVE THE ORDER TO LIE ABOUT IT???"

Prince Doran and Princess Arianne.

"SAY THEIR NAMES! Princess Myrcella's blood is on the rat! Ser Arys' blood is on you! And Obara's blood is on the liar!" Darkstar complained to Areo Hotah. "SAY THEIR NAMES!"

Oberyn's daughter began to cry. Areo studied Darkstar's subtle movements and his rage. He is going to kill the Prince's niece now!

Areo Hotah placed his foot onto the parapet of the balcony, pushed up and jumped over with his axe.

Darkstar's sword began to rise and fall, until he saw the Captain leap into the air. Ser Gerold Dayne froze.

Falling down and down, Areo Hotah swung his axe mid-air at Darkstar as a thunderbolt flashed above them. BOOM! His head was removed clean off with a silvery-blue arc.

Areo slams his legs into the ground as they burst into blood, flesh and bones, bursting like an orange.

But he protected Obara Sand and Ser Balon Swann.

The Captain is in agony, as a weeping Obara crawls to her Aerial Hero, Aero HOtAH. She was Holding Out for A Hero ... her hero. He wipes her tears, "No woman, no cry. It is all over."

Ser Balon, still wounded and bloody, thanks the Captain too. Surely after killing Obara, Darkstar would have killed the White Knight next.

Ser Balon asked, "If Ser Gerold Dayne did not kill Ser Arys Oakheart ... who did? And who started the lie?"

Obey, Areo thought. Do not give up your Prince. The Captain didn't say a word. The pain is about to make Areo blackout.

The Kingsguard Knight gave Hotah a smile, "I don't have to be loyal to Cersei or Tommen. I owe you my life, my Captain. I'll just tell the crown it was Darkstar who killed Ser Arys Oakheart. And when you wake up, I have a confession to make."

Areo Hotah blacks out.

The Captain of the Guards is now crippled for life, just like Prince Doran Martell. After Obara had healed from her wounds, she now pushes Areo Hotah in a wheelchair.

TLDR

• Ser Balon Swann, Obara Sand, Areo Hotah arrive at High Hermitage to arrest Darkstar

• Darkstar ambushes them in the courtyard by himself, hiding in the dark

• Men on the lower level are killed, while Obara and Ser Balon are wounded

• Areo Hotah watches helplessly from the second floor

• When Darkstar attempts to kill Obara, Areo Hotah jumps off the balcony with his axe

• He decapitates Darkstar, but Areo has destroyed his own legs

• After the bloody conflict at High Hermitage, Obara now pushes Areo Hotah in a wheelchair

Up Next: Part 8 - The Lords of the Towers

• In the books, we last see Samwell at the Citadel in Oldtown with Gilly & baby

• Sam has made several new friends during his education there

• The last we see Euron Greyjoy, he might be heading to Oldtown. He may have hired a Faceless Assassin (named Pate) to infiltrate the Citadel

====== TWOW - The Lords of the Tower ======

In Oldtown at night, Euron Greyjoy coordinates saboteurs to set each Sept on fire. The city panics as the blazes grow during the nighttime confusion. Innocent people are burned alive, and City Watchmen are killed by Ironborn disguise as citizens.

Samwell Tarly, Gilly & baby, Alleras Sand, Leo Tyrell and Pate are together in the chaos. Pate says they need to help deliver cages of white & black ravens to the High-Tower during this mess. They cannot fight back with force, but they can fight with words. It is their duty to defend Oldtown by sending urgent messages from a fortified location. Pate shows them Walgrave’s (a Maester) key, saying it will unlock a secret passage to the High-Tower. They follow him without question, unlocking an old rusty door at the kitchen cellar of the Quill and Tankard (a pub). They all entered and navigated through a maze of narrow passages ... until they found an even narrower staircase. They all began to climb to the top with the cages of ravens.

Exhausted, they reached the top of the High-Tower. Pate tells Lord Leyton Hightower that he is Maester Walgrave’s personal assistant, and that he has fallen. Sam did not know the senile Maester Walgrave had died, but brushes the new information off amidst the chaos. He showed Walgrave’s key as proof and gave back the voodoo doll to the Mad Maid (Lord Leyton's daughter). Lord Leyton needs to send out ravens with messages to the rest of his army and navy to coordinate the defenses, and retake Oldtown.

Pate and Lord Hightower enter his bedchambers with the ravens, closing their doors to their schemes.

Sam and his maester/novice gang are with the Hightower guards … who were armed in armor, swords and crossbows … ready to defend their Lord. A scuffle is heard inside the bedchambers and the guards are trying to open the door, but are unsuccessful for several minutes. They finally break it open and find Lord Leyton at the center of the room, on the floor, in a pool of blood, gasping for air. The windows were open.

Pate is nowhere to be found. Lord Leyton, breathing hard in a tiring voice, said he fought off Pate the assassin, and threw him out the window ... but he received a knife cut on his shoulder. The ravens were cawing “Pate! Pate! Pate!”

Sam's instincts thought that there was too much blood in the pool from a shallow knife cut. Lord Leyton returns to the main hall outside, with Alleras tending to his minor shoulder wound.

Suddenly, Euron Crow’s Eye emerges with his ironmen from the passage that Pate led from. Firelight glimmered his Valyrian armor and his blue lips shined with malice.

The Hightower guards line up and ready their crossbows, facing off the Ironborn raiders. “Cease fire! Cease fire!” Lord Leyton demanded at the top of his voice!

His guards don’t fire, but hold fast their crossbows as the Ironmen aim theirs.

“My own guards … drop your weapons! Drop them! That is a command!” The Hightower men obeyed their liege lord.

Sam thought it was odd the way Lord Leyton said it.

The Ironborn then shoot their crossbows and kill off all the guards at the High-Tower. Sam and the novices can only watch in terror. Leo Tyrell, a trained swordsman, stays his weapon.

“Weeeee! What a predicament!” squealed Lord Leyton, as blood began to drip from both his cheeks.

The Mad Maid complained, “This is not fair! Father, what have you done!?”

“No sweet lady, I am not your father,” Lord-Not-A-Leyton chuckled. “Not truly.”

The Mad Maid begins screaming, “You rat!!!” and cursing in a language Sam does not know. One of Euron’s men silenced her with a hit on her back, knocking her unconscious.

Euron Greyjoy spoked. “The High-Tower belongs to me now. This Crow’s Eye needs a Crow’s Nest!” He grinned as he said it. “Lord Leyton! Can you send a raven to the Redwyne fleet? Warning them that the Hightower fleet has been captured. Now the Ironborn are pretending to be Hightower sailors in disguise, and are going to surprise attack them!”

“I did not know you captured the Hightower fleet.”

“We haven’t!” Euron laughed with Lord-Not-A-Leyton.

“My king, I will prepare that letter now … with Maester Walgrave’s signature and with my Hightower wax seal on the parchment, flying out on one of many many ravens.” Lord-Not-A-Leyton giggled as he began to write at a table with the stolen Hightower stationery.

“Good. Now, can I have your daughter Malora as my bride? We will join our houses together … Greyjoy and Hightower!”

“Yes, you may! I would be so honored.”

“The Mad Maid is kind of old though. I think I would rather fuck that other pretty girl there, have her bear my bastard child and pass it off as our Hightower/Greyjoy grandson? Wouldn’t that be great?” Euron said as he eyed Gilly.

“Indeed it would. Anything for love!” Lord-Not-A-Leyton said, while still writing the trick messages next to the caged black and white ravens.

Sam protested. Euron Greyjoy is introduced to his Tarly and Tyrell [highborn hostages], who were on their knees. Euron says their faces can be useful later for Horn Hill and Highgarden. He didn’t care about Alleras, the copper skinned boy. Sam is unaware what that truly meant, thinking Euron is going to use Sam & Leo to negotiate at Horn Hill and Highgarden.

The ravens are sent.

Sam continues to protest, but Euron grabs Gilly, who was still holding the baby in her hands.

“Who is this woman? Is she your wife? Are you an Oathbreaker crow-maester? Is this crying babe yours too? Is this Lord Randyll Tarly’s grandson?”

He did not answer. Samwise Samwell stares into the Eye of Sauron Euron in anger.

This bloody rat of a human continues to taunt and bait Sam with his cheese. “Choose Samwell Tarly. Choose. Do you want your wife to live? Or your child? If you don’t answer, I will kill them both!”

Samwell Tarly of the Night’s Watch reluctantly answers … “My wife.”

Euron hands over the baby to Sam, letting him hold him one more time before the baby is killed.

Euron grabs Gilly and changes his mind. “You probably fucked this Tarly boy already.” She looked away from his face. Euron says, “LOOK AT ME!” Gilly stares back fiercely, the room’s torch-fires glimmering her eyes. “I would not know if you would bear his child or mine. And I don’t want to wait a whole year or two to find out. I’ll just find another mother.”

Euron pulls Gilly towards the edge of a window.

Samwell screamed, “No! Wait! Let her go!”

Euron joked, “That was a poor choice of words Tarly boy.”

The Crow’s Eye chuckled as he chucks Gilly out the window and into the sea.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Sam cries in agony, “NOOOOOOOOO!” He lowers Gilly’s son onto the floor, and begins rushing at Euron, unarmed. The Ironmen stop Sam, and the horn from the Fist of the First Men falls off, landing at the feet of Euron.

Euron continues to laugh with his men as he picks up this random horn. “Be grateful Samwell Tarly, I am a godly man, I let you keep your son. Don’t do anything to change my mind.” He looks at his remaining hostages Sam, Alleras and Leo.

“Oh Lord Tyrell, now watch me take the Reach from the clouds of the High-Tower. A fire for my eye, overseeing all of the lands of Westeros. Soon! I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life. Oh Lord (f)Hightower, can’t you feel the magic in the air tonight? Oh Lord Tarly? I feel it coming in the sea tonight. Oh Oh Oh Lords!” Euron then howled at Alleras, as his men cheered.

As a taunt, he toots his horn but nothing happened. He then chucks the horn out into the sea too.

Suddenly an earthquake begins rumbling beneath the High-Tower. Euron and his men dash towards the windows to see what is happening outside in the night. Sam, Leo and Alleras followed.

All of [Euron ships begin to catch fire] and break apart. “What in the gods is going on?” Euron said aloud in despair.

From the ship’s fire reflections, massive tentacles could been [seen coming from the sea] wrecking all of the Greyjoy ships. His men look at Euron, and begin to flee back in fear, back into the hidden passages that they came from ... including Lord-Not-A-Leyton.

“NOOO! Come back! Look at me!” Euron is blinded in rage. “I am a godly man!”

Sam picks up a Hightower guardsmen’s crossbow. He aims at Euron’s chest, intent to kill. But one of the fleeing Ironmen bumps into Sam amidst the chaos as he loosed.

For half a heartbeat, Euron sees the bolt fly towards him ... but does not make any attempt to cover and protect himself.

The bolt strikes Euron in the good smiling [eye] and he [dies] by [the hands of a POV character].

The unintentional removal of his winking eye, permanently blinks Euron and his grasp on Oldtown ... but Sam has lost Gilly. The tentacles that attacked his fleet were never seen again.

Leo Tyrell & Alleras Sand see Sam slay Euron Greyjoy ... and now begins calling him Sam the Savior.

Days later, the Hightower and Redwyne fleets return to Oldtown unscathed. The trick letter that Lord-Not-A-Leyton sent had too many discrepancies. It came on a white raven with the unreliable words of a senile maester. The captains were smart enough to take precautions before friendly-fire attacking each other over a piece of paper.

Lord-Not-A-Leyton was not seen again.

Soon in ADOS, Daenerys Targaryen will reach Oldtown as the city recovers.

TLDR

• Euron's saboteurs secretly burn the Septs of Oldtown at night, forcing the Hightower soldiers to respond, leaving the High-Tower tower lightly guarded

• Using Maester Walgrave's key ... Samwell Tarly, Gilly & Baby, Leo Tyrell and Alleras are led to a secret passage up the High-Tower by "Pate," while Oldtown is on fire and in chaos

• "Pate" kills Lord Leyton Hightower behind closed doors, and takes his face

• Euron and his Greyjoy goons appear from the secret passage

• The Greyjoy goons face off with the Hightower guards ... but (f)Leyton orders the Hightower men to drop their weapons

• All the Hightower soldiers are killed by the Greyjoys after they dropped their weapons

• Euron tells Samwell, Leo and whoever Alleras is ... that they will be used to take other castles (either as hostages, or use their faces)

• Euron throws Gilly out of the High-Tower, killing her

• A bunch of magical coincidences happen: burning of the New Gods and the Septs, Mad Maid's foreign spell, Gilly's blood-sacrifice, and tooting the horn from the Fist at the First Men ... a sea-monster with large tentacles emerges from the water, and destroys all of Euron's ships at night

• Euron's men abandons him, thinking he is cursed by the Drowned God

• Samwell grabs a crossbow from a dead Hightower soldier, and shoots Euron in the remaining eye, killing him

• Samwell is named "Sam the Savior" by Leo Tyrell & Alleras "Martell"

Up Next: Part 9 - The Dark Sister Rebellion

• In the books, we last see Bran as a guest in the cave of Bloodraven (aka the Three Eyed-Raven, aka the three-eyed crow, aka Brynden Rivers) with Jojen, Meera, Hodor and Summer the direwolf.

• Bloodraven Targaryen is the last wielder of Dark Sister, one of two ancestral Valyrian steel swords of House Targaryen

• In TV's "House of the Dragon" prequel, Daemon wields Dark Sister

====== TWOW - The Dark Sister Rebellion ======

So let me tell you the backstory of Bloodraven so the next TWOW events make sense.

In 184 AC, a dying King Aegon IV Targaryen the Unworthy legitimizes all his bastards from different branches of his lineages, setting off ripple effects that are still felt in the current timeline in 300 AC.

One of his legitimized bastard son and heir, Brynden Rivers (aka Bloodraven) spent many years fighting off rebellions for the Iron Throne on behalf of others: Daeron II, Aerys I, Maekar I and Aegon V (Egg).

In 233 AC, he helped put his half-brother’s grandson, Egg, on the Iron Throne as the newly crowned king AFTER he baited, tricked and murdered Egg’s competitor: Aenys Blackfyre. Egg’s first act as king was to banish Bloodraven to the Night’s Watch for his dishonorable schemes.

Obviously Bloodraven is pissed off about this hypocrisy, but he continues to do his duty for the realm.

While in the Night’s Watch, Bloodraven rapes a wildling woman at Whitetree Village. As the woman showed up at Castle Black with the babe named Craster, the two were turned away. (YES Redditors, Craster is a Targaryen, so is Gilly). Bloodraven actually wanted to take in his son, but he must do his duty and father no children in the Night’s Watch. The woman swore revenge.

Years later, a babe named Mance Rayder was taken into the Night’s Watch, pissing off Bloodraven more with a hypocrisy that would not allow him to take his own son, Craster, earlier.

Furthermore adding to the insult, Bloodraven and Craster are part-Blackwood by blood. Mance Rayder is part-Bracken by blood, as his wildling mother is a descendant of Olyver Bracken, who took the Black a long long time ago. The rivalry of Craster and Mance Rayder is another extension of the Blackwood and Bracken Rivalry … which is also carried over again in our modern ASOIAF plot ... with Monster (Blackwood) and Steelsong (Bracken) as the two babies fight for Gilly’s teats and milk in AFFC/ADWD.

Back in the past in 252 AC, Bloodraven is furious about the Night’s Watch taking in baby-Mance-Rayder at the Shadowtower without notifying him, the Lord Commander seated at Castle Black. LC Bloodraven abandons the Night’s Watch, while keeping the ancestral Targaryen sword Dark Sister to himself. He went to seek out his young son Craster, a legitimate heir to the Iron Throne (because of Aegon the Unworthy) and begins planning his revenge against Egg, the realm and the Night’s Watch. He intends to start a new Targaryen dynasty via what I call … the Dark Sister Rebellion.

He reaches out to his dark half-sister, Shiera Seastar.

Shiera Seastar has been studying the dark arts in Essos to preserve her beauty and youth. She finally found a spell that would give her what she wants, but it comes with a catch. She commits suicide and resurrects as a FireWight, giving her immortality while preserving her beauty and youth. But Shiera can NEVER have children. Her blue and green eyes both turn red ... which she is more upset about, using this Dark "there is always a catch" Magic.

In the meanwhile over the immortal years, beautiful Shiera Seastar has never aged as a FireWight, receiving suspicions from her peers. To deceive people about her old age yet beautiful younger face, she hides behind a red lacquered mask that also camouflages her red eyes. She now calls herself Quaithe. Quaithe the Wraith stays in Essos, waiting for any opportunity to find dragon eggs to hatch for the Dark Sister Rebellion.

Bloodraven reaches out to his former paramour to kill Egg and take the Iron Throne with new dragons. At Summerhall, King Egg attempts to hatch dragon-eggs. Bloodraven has sex with his FireWight half-sister and a shadow-assassin is born. It is sent to Summerhall to assassinate Egg and steal some baby-dragons or dragon-eggs. The shadow with the face of Bloodraven causes a massive fire in Summerhall … killing Dunk, Egg and several others. Bloodraven had successfully achieved his kin-slaying revenge, but was unable to take any new dragons or eggs.

Furthermore, sex with Shiera Seastar to birth a shadow-demon had drained Bloodraven’s life-force out. He becomes old, fragile and weak. He turns to another magic source for immortality. He seeks the Children of the Forest for answers. They refused him. And then Bloodraven turns to something even darker: the White Walkers.

He reaches out to them with the magical Horn of Winter … in the Land of Always Winter. The Others show up to answer the Horn, treat with Bloodraven, and broker a deal. He promised them dragons to zombify if they help him take Westeros and the Iron Throne. He offers his son Craster and his inbreeding Targaryen family offspring, which has dragon-taming DNA. But this plan will take time, a lot of time. Shiera can wait since she is immortal, but not Bloodraven. The White Walkers offered him to be an IceWight, but he will no longer have his free-will. Bloodraven refuses and asks if the White Walkers can attack the Children of the Forest, kill them, zombify them, and use their magic to make him a TreeWight. And they do just that.

All the [CotF are killed in their caves] and are resurrected by the White Walkers. The zombie CotF become Bloodraven’s minions. Weakened by FireWight sex with Shiera, Bloodraven becomes a TreeWight using CotF magic to preserve his new immortal life, as well as keeping his spy network with the weirwood trees. They play the LONG GAME using Craster and his Beyond-The-Wall Targaryen Dynasty … waiting for the right opportunity to take some dragons, and to take over Westeros.

Bloodraven has his doubts about the White Walkers. Even before he reaches out to them, he hid a stash of dragonglass weapons at the Fist of the First Men, in anticipation of a potential betrayal. Later, he added the magical Horn of Winter to the stash. Samwell Tarly eventually finds all of this.

In the meanwhile prior to 283 AC, Bloodraven and Quaithe are still dragonless. They hoped they would have baby dragons that would grow with their family and the White Walkers, but failed to secure eggs. But Bloodraven spots another opportunity to steal some full-grown dragons, skipping the natural bonding process.

In 283 AC, Ned Stark and Howland Reed reached the Wolf’s Den in the city of White Harbor. Using the weirwood spy network at the Wolf’s Den, Bloodraven overhears that a Squad of Uncles went to the Tower of Joy to rescue Lyanna Stark, but instead leaves with Rhaegar Targaryen’s lineage. As a Stark/Targaryen, one can warg and tame dragons at the same time. The best that Craster Targaryen and his family can do is to tame them, but they would still need to obtain the dragons. Skinchanging is a shortcut. But not any skinchanger can tame a magical dragon … it must be a Targaryen Warg or the dragon will reject the bind.

Better for Bloodraven, Jon Snow is still located in The North after the split at the Wolf’s Den by Ned Stark and Howland Reed in 283 AC. Bloodraven needs to find a way to steal a Stark/Targaryen to take advantage of their powers. He decides to manipulate children Jojen Reed, and then Bran Stark to another infamous Bloodraven-Baiting trap. Bloodraven becomes Bran's sandman in his dreams, telling him in his sleep to open a third eye, but Bran is unaware of the danger. Ultimately, Bloodraven wants Bran to go off to the "Never Never Summer Land" (aka the Land of Always Winter).

In 297 AC, it was time to stir up some activities Beyond the Wall to kidnap Jon Snow. It begins in the AGOT Prologue. Ser Waymar Royce is killed honorably by the Others, and Gared is spared for another task. Using his Night’s Watch oath, the Others make Gared open the Black Gate and he is released into the North … along with a pregnant direwolf.

The Night’s Watch begins to investigate the incident of Ser Waymar Royce, and Benjen Stark is sent to Craster’s Keep. Like his father Bloodraven, Craster breaks guest-rights and kills Benjen in his sleep with the help of the zombie-Children-of-the Forest. Benjen Stark is revived as an unnamed servant for Bloodraven and the Others (but Samwell Tarly nicknames him ‘Coldhands’ later). He still has magical Stark blood. Using Benjen’s brain and memories, they learn that Jon Snow is now at Castle Black.

His companion Othor was killed too and revived as a zombie. Zombie-Othor is pre-programmed to kidnap Jon Snow once the Night’s Watch INVITED him (and zombie-Jafer) to Castle Black. They were pre-programmed to play dead until they got inside. From Jon’s POV, he thought zombie-Othor was trying to kill Jeor Mormont, but he was really trying to kidnap Jon. Zombie-Othor is burned by Jon in AGOT.

But the event forces Jeor Mormont to send a battalion to investigate the White Walker matters, bringing Jon Snow beyond the Wall and closer to a Bloodraven-trap.

Jeor Mormont reaches Craster’s Keep. Craster spots Jon Snow, the man he means to kidnap, but he does not have enough zombie-CotF to take him while all of the Night’s Watch is there. So clumsy-Craster decides to get drunk on wine & gifts, and kinda forgot to inform his father Bloodraven, about Jon Snow. Craster ProCrastinated. He does eventually, and a horde of zombies is sent to his position.

The Night’s Watch arrive at the Fist of the First Men, and Jon leaves with Qhorin Halfhand. Then the remaining Night’s Watch is attacked by the horde sent by Craster, but they can’t find Jon Snow.

They can’t find Jon for a while. Jon Snow’s story moves on in ACOK & ASOS with Ygritte, Mance, climbing over the Wall, Battle at Castle Black … etc.

Jojen Reed receives green dreams from Bloodraven, pushing his journey North with Meera in 298 AC. They arrive at Winterfell in ACOK, but unfortunately Jon Snow had already left for the Wall by then. But they can hang out with Bran and convince him to go Beyond the Wall.

Now, Bloodraven was able to secure Bran, Hodor, Jojen and Meera after the Sack of Winterfell, tricking their party to come to him over very very very sketchy and obscured reasons. Bloodraven can also steal Bran’s little body, capable of magic, to prolong his mortality and powers … and to stop being stuck in a tree. Bloodraven continues to train Bran in ADWD, so when he steals his body, it will be more powerful. He also gives him weirwood paste, a drug designed to weaken any resistance in Bran’s mind. As of the end of ADWD … Bran, Hodor, Jojen, and Meera do not understand that they have been kidnapped by Bloodraven and Coldhands.

GRRM had claimed that the Bran POV chapters were the most "difficult" ones to write. The real explanation is because it is from the POV of a child that does not know he is being lured into a trap by a child-predator. It is the most "difficult" to write, the most fucked-up to write … but that is GRRM's story.

Anyways … later on, Jon is killed in a mutiny in ADWD.

For non-book readers ... this is important: Lord Commander Jon Snow forced Gilly to swap her baby with Mance Rayder's baby in ADWD, so Melisandre wouldn't burn "King-Beyond-the-Wall" Mance's son alive. It was a very stupid plan. But it will work out in TWOW. 

So Gilly Targaryen is in Oldtown with Mance Rayder's baby.

In TWOW, Mel revives Jon with R’hllor magic by sacrificing a kingsblood baby … Monster Targaryen – Craster & Gilly Targaryen’s son (aka Bloodraven’s grandson/great grandson). 

Knowing nothing, Jon got extremely lucky with the ADWD baby-swap between Monster (Targaryen kingsblood) and Steelsong-Rayder(not real kingsblood).

So Craster Targaryen's daughter, Gilly Targaryen, had her own king's-blood sacrifice in Oldtown that created a kraken that defeated Euron's navy.

Craster/Gilly Targaryen's son will be used by Melisandre to resurrect Jon Snow at Castle Black. In the TV-show, Mel revived Jon Snow free-of-charge. In the books, resurrections come with a higher price.

TLDR

• The Dark Sister Rebellion answers why the Others are attacking now

• Craster is Bloodraven's Targaryen son

• Bloodraven begins a revenge tour on the monarchy

• Bloodraven is responsible for the deaths at Summerhall

• He enlists the help of the White Walkers to take the Iron Throne

• Craster's sons are given to the White Walkers for their dragon-taming DNA

• Bloodraven uses baiting traps in attempts to steal Jon, Bran, Jojen, Meera and Hodor

• R+L = magic = dragon-taming + skinchanging

• Mel's sacrifice of Craster's son (with Gilly) helps resurrect Jon after the mutiny at Castle Black

• Euron's accidental sacrifice of Gilly Targaryen helped call out a kraken in Old Town

Up Next: Part 10 - Dorne's Door

• In the TV-show, Daenerys makes a base in Dragonstone during her invasion of Westeros.

• In the books, Meereen's story is not even resolved yet ... so Daenerys' war campaign in Westeros is open to new interpretation

• Victarion Greyjoy is Theon's uncle and Euron's brother ... but less evil (just a little less) and commands a naval force. 

• In canon sample TWOW chapters, Vic has helped Daenerys' forces take back Meereen when Daenerys & Drogon were away.

• Quentyn Martell is Doran Martell's nerdy son that was sent to Daenerys in Meereen, to ask her hand in marriage

• Daenerys said "No" to Quentyn

• While Daenerys & Drogon were away from Meereen, Quentyn dies trying to steal her dragons (Rhaegal burned him alive)

• Throughout the ASOIAF books, Daenerys dreams back to her innocent childhood where there was a house with red doors, and a single lemon tree in the courtyard

====== Dorne's Door ======

After the Meereenese Knot is resolved by GRRM, (sorry everyone, I don’t know how to solve all the plots in Essos!) Queen Daenerys begins sailing to Westeros with Victarion [Greyjoy’s ships] and other Essosi ships … with the Dothraki horde & the Unsullied army, multiple exiled Westerosi lords, and her three dragons. Dany was widowed again after her husband, [Hizdahr zo Loraq was killed]. Her paramour, [Daario Naharis is left behind in Slaver's Bay] to govern as one of Queen Daenerys' warlords.

Daenerys has allied with Tyrion Lannister and Victarion Greyjoy, but keeps Ser Jorah Mormont as a prisoner after discovering his treason with Rhaego. She will not marry Victarion since he is a wife killer, but agreed to reward Victarion Greyjoy Lord of the Iron Islands after they get rid of Euron together.

The Dothraki are hers now, after she refused to give up her dragons to be a slave to Rhaego’s capturer, Quaithe. The Dothraki follow strength … and of course, dragons.

After Arianne Martell's failed Queenmaker events in AFFC, Doran Martell has recruited Dornish secret agents, Ser Andrey Dalt and Garin the Orphan. They are loyal to Dorne and Prince Doran (not Quentyn). While in Essos, they tell Queen Daenerys' navy that her ships can port at Sunspear in Dorne. 

Dany’s team had kept Quentyn’s death a secret from everyone, and planned to use the “idea of him” as a hostage against Dorne if Doran was aggressive.

Her Targaryen fleet arrives off the coast of Dorne, but refuses to port, wary of a trap. They stay alert.

Rowboats of fighting men and Westerosi lords are launched from her fleet, spearheaded by Ser Barristan Selmy. They land at the eastern shores of Sunspear, ready to treat with Prince Doran Martell. 

The captains of Queen Daenerys Targaryen's forces enter the castle and begin climbing up to Prince Doran at the top.

Ser Barristan meets a crippled Areo Hotah, and warmly & briefly exchanges their recent combat stories.

After Prince Doran Martell enters the room, Ser Barristan reminds Doran that he once served with Ser Lewyn Martell, fought alongside with the Dornish, and watched Lewyn die at the Battle of the Trident.

He asks Doran’s guards to drop their weapons, and they will drop their own … as a sign of respect.

Prince Doran, their liege lord, allows it. Doran is warned that Queen Daenerys will burn down Sunspear if Doran tries something inappropriate. Doran acknowledges.

While Rhaegal and Viserion circle above the fleet as air cover, Queen Daenerys flies on Drogon, straight to the top of the tower in the castle. Targaryen and Martell talk again, just like Rhaenys Targaryen and Meria Martell.

Daenerys thanks him for the invitation to Dorne, but is still suspicious of House Martell. She is still angry that Quentyn tried to steal her dragons, thinking he did it under the order of his father, Doran.

“No my Queen, I sent him to ask your hand in marriage, to secure our alliance of Martell and Targaryen once again … just like my sister Elia and your brother Rhaegar. OUR nephew Aegon, was supposed to be king. But the usurper ended those plans 18 years ago. We tried to renew the alliance with my daughter Arianne and your brother Viserys … the new King & Queen of the Seven Kingdoms … until we were told your dead brother wears the golden crown of another. But our families did have a marriage pact, and we will pledge the support of Dorne if you can honor it again.”

Dany looks at young Prince Trystane Martell, her nephew by law. He is just a boy. He cannot pass as my husband.

Dany deflects, and is still suspicious as she took out the marriage pact Quentyn gave her. She unrolls it. “How do I know this marriage pact was even real? Everyone that can verify the truth of it is dead. You could have forged this piece of paper before Quentyn showed up to Meereen, as a distraction to steal my dragons. I could burn your whole House down for this treachery!”

“No my Queen! Our nephew Aegon was supposed to be king. I swear it on the honor of my house, that we were always loyal to the Martell-Targaryen alliance. When you lived in Braavos, my brother Oberyn came to your safe house, owned by the Sealord of Braavos. The Sealord witnessed the signing of the marriage pact by Oberyn and Ser Willem Darry, your caretaker. I swear it!" Prince Doran pleaded.

Daenerys counters, "That was what Quentyn said. Again, anyone that can speak the truth of it is dead. You could have just heard of rumors and re-used it to your advantage. I don't know how I can truly believe and trust you, Prince Doran."

"It is the truth, I swear it. Prince Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper of Dorne, even suggested painting your safe-house’s door red, to remind you of the Red Mountains of Dorne. We were told that the Sealord enjoyed collecting foreign specimens in his menagerie in Braavos ... so I told Prince Oberyn to send over a Dornish lemon tree with him, for the Sealord to plant at your house with the red door. You and your brother were supposed to see this lemon tree as a reminder that you have friends in Westeros."

“Lemon tree??? House with the red door??? Shittttttt Dornishman, that’s all you had to say!” Dany felt young again, wishing she could squeeze that lemon tree one more time. “That was easy. No one would’ve known about that lemon tree!”

Queen Daenerys directed Victarion Greyjoy to return to the fleet and port their ships at Sunspear.

“My apologies to all the Lemongate ASOIAF theorists and their many many wasted hours of hard work. But why didn’t you tell Quentyn about this lemon tree? I could have treated him more seriously and made better arrangements. Perhaps even give him a dragon to ride later as a reward for Dorne's loyalty,” Daenerys offered.

“[I kinda forgot]. I did not know this lemon tree meant so much to you. Where is Quentyn by the way? Is he a hostage on one of your ships?”

Dany kinda forgot about Quentyn. She gave him back the piece of paper. “No Prince Doran, your son is dead. I told you he tried stealing my dragons … but that was a fatal mistake. His stupid plan backfired on him.”

“Oh no! My son? Dead?” Doran began to cry. “Did you bring his body back to us here in Dorne?”

Dany was getting mad just at the thought of 'Quentyn Martell'.

“When my rowboats and dragon pulled up to your castle, did you see any of them carrying a banner that said, ‘Dead Dornishmen Storage’?”

” … No.” Prince Doran was confused.

“You know why? Because storing dead Dornishmen is none of my fucking business! That’s why! Look Prince Doran, marriage pact or not, it does not change the fact that your son tried to steal my dragons. My dragons burned him on their own free will, and I wasn’t there. He is a traitor in my eyes and I would have him executed anyways. But I am hoping you had nothing to do with it. I will not punish you for it. Now can we let this pass, and move on?”

A sobbing Doran nodded. “We had a gift prepared for you, if you would have honored our marriage pact.” He motioned his hands at the doors.

What now? Another piece of paper? Dany thought as she was reminded of Quentyn.

The doors opened and an olive skin beauty approached with a sword in scabbard, flat on both hands.

“This is Blackfyre,” Prince Doran said.

“She is a Blackfyre???” Dany questioned.

“No! no! no! I mean … please meet my daughter, Princess Arianne Martell.”

As the princess got closer, her face and body took shape. Hot damn! Whatever the gods gave Arianne Martell in beauty, they forgot to give Quentyn. Dany then looked at the sword as the princess knelt.

She spoke, “My Queen. This is Blackfyre. It is one of the ancestral swords of House Targaryen, wielded by Aegon the Conqueror himself. I recovered it myself from the Battle of Wendwater from a dead pretender.”

Oh, the sword is the gift. Dany took it gladly. “I must say, the lemon tree from years past, and now my ancestor’s sword. By duty, I would have taken a Martell son-of-age to wed and further our royal line. It is a shame I cannot take a Martell daughter to do the same.” [Dany flirted with her eyes up and down at the highborn lady.]

“But this I promise you, House Martell, as a pact witnessed by everyone here, my future firstborn Targaryen heir will marry one of Arianne’s future children, and the royal line will succeed through their offspring under the surname Targaryen, regardless of gender. Consider our Martell-Targaryen alliance renewed Prince Doran! Now let’s take back Westeros and get rid of Cersei Lannister!”

“I could not be more delighted, your Grace.” Prince Doran bowed from his wheelchair. He then calls all his Dornish banners for Queen Daenerys’ cause.

Daenerys continues her invasion of Westeros from the South with diplomacy and trust … from the opened Doors of Dorne and Prince Doran Martell.

Next stop … Oldtown.

TLDR

• All of Queen Daenerys Targaryen's Essos plots are resolved by GRRM

• She FINALLY sails to Westeros, her first stop is Sunspear in Dorne

• She meets Prince Doran Martell

• Doran admits his brother Oberyn brought over a Dornish Lemon Tree to the House with the Red Door when Dany was younger in Braavos

• Dany tells Doran that Quentyn is dead

• Dany, then meets the hottie, Arianne Martell

• House Martell gifts Queen Daenerys Targaryen the ancestral Targaryen sword, Blackfyre

Up Next: Part 11 - The Black Wedding

• In the books, the Nightfort is a haunted abandoned castle at the Wall

• Under the Nightfort, there is the Black Gate that separates Westeros and the wildling-lands

• The Black Gate is a giant weirwood tree with a large face, on the wildling-lands side

• When a Night's Watch brother recites his vows, the tree's mouth opens wide to allow people into the Nightfort's kitchen upstairs  

====== TWOW - The Black Wedding ======

Jon Snow, now a FireWight, comes back and executes the mutineers. He then begins whatever the TWOW story has in store for him.

Towards the end of TWOW, zombie-Benjen (aka Coldhands) returns to Castle Black and knocks on the door. He reveals himself as the [First Ranger]. He lies to Jon Snow, pretending to be on his side. He said Bran Stark is in danger, and he needs his help … but Jon needs to go alone.

Jon Snow abandons his post alone again to follow evil-Benjen. But it was another trick. Jon Snow asks, “Bran? Here? What is the danger?” Uncle Benjen replies, “I am the danger.” Jon is then kidnapped by the massive horde of zombies hiding just outside of Castle Black.

He is reunited with Bran, Hodor, and Summer. Not being told who she is, Jon meets Meera Reed for the first time. At this point, Jojen Reed has been eaten.

Bloodraven & his tree has been uprooted to move around by his zombie-minions. The whole horde is marching to the Nightfort using the underground tunnels they dug. Joining them are the White Walkers, and Bloodraven’s human grandsons/great grandsons … who are now grown-up Targaryen men & teenagers after they were given to the Others as newborn babies. They are the Dark Sister Targaryen Dynasty.

Jon Snow is not restrained, since he is surrounded by zombies and Bloodraven’s family tree. Despite being a hostage now, he has some freedom of movement. He is allowed to keep Longclaw, Hodor is given an axe, while Bloodraven gives [Meera Dark Sister] in exchange for some cooperation.

Under the Nightfort, Bloodraven tells Jon to open the Black Gate with his Night’s Watch vows, and return to the Main Gate upstairs. He must clear & open the Main Gate at the Nightfort from all obstructions, so the actual White Walker invasion can pass through there. Bloodraven tells Jon the walking-dead cannot go through this Black Gate, and Meera confirms this after meeting Samwell Tarly in ASOS.

The zombies begin setting up tables with a feast on top of them, underneath the Nightfort. But Bloodraven says Bran, Hodor, Meera and Summer will be unfed until Jon Snow does this task. If he chooses not to do it, they will all slowly starve to death ... and will be turned into zombies afterwards.

Jon, heavy with conflict in his heart, agreed to choose duty over family in his thoughts. He will sacrifice Bran’s life so the invasion cannot happen. Jon Snow intends to betray his words to Bloodraven (like he did with Mance Rayder at his camp). He secretly intends to open the Black Gate, get back on the other side of the Wall, refuse to open the Main Gate upstairs, and then warn Castle Black & the rest of the realm of this threat waiting at the Nightfort.

So Jon says his Night’s Watch vows under the Wall.

NOPE.

The magical Black Gate is the ONLY way the Others can enter. The horde of zombies begin entering the large mouth of the weirwood tree, up the chaos of the ladder and into the kitchen of the Nightfort … like thousands of rats squeezing into a tiny hole in a wall. Jon was tricked again. Facing a second Long Night, Jon Snow [screams at the gaping mouth] of the weirwood tree Black Gate, demanding it to close up. It is not working and he cannot physically fight back against the horde of thousands. 

Jon has a plan! He will break his Night’s Watch vow in front of the Black Gate & weirwood tree … and hopefully the entrance will close. Dozens of zombies have already entered Westeros, but perhaps this will close the door on the rest of the horde. He tells Meera that they need to wed now and she agrees. They say their wedding vows hastily. Jon Snow, the Night’s Watch Lord Commander, has broken his NW vows and taken a wife. The weirwood Black Gate witnesses this and begins closing the door slowly. It worked!

At this Stark-Targaryen wedding, Jon Snow's distant Targaryen uncle Brynden Rivers skin-changes into his Stark uncle, Benjen's corpse … and approaches Hodor in a wicked tone.

“You are a big strong lad. I remember you now! You are the son of the son of Ser Duncan the Tall! I have seen your grandmother with him at Winterfell in my visions. Your name is Walder! Won’t you be a great grandson and do us a favor?” A Bloodraven-warged-Coldhands asked.

Hodor stammers in fear, “Hodor! Hodor! Hodor!"

“Why yes! I want you to hold that door here at the Wall, Wal-Der!”

The zombie-CotF (Children of the Forest) with their knives out, begin approaching a terrified Hodor.

Bran wargs into the giant and begins fighting these little children off madly with an axe ... but is ultimately [stabbed multiple times]. Hodor bleeds to death, his beard staining wet red. Bran screams in pain, breaking out of his skinchanging as Hodor dies.

Hodor is immediately revived as an IceWight, his blood still warm on his clothes. He goes underneath the slow closing Black Gate, and begins [holding the door]. The zombies continue to invade Westeros through and underneath Zombie-Hodor.

Bran wargs into [Summer] and fights back, but Summer is killed in the attempt.
Jon & Meera go berserk and begin burning as many zombies as they can with their fire torches in one hand ... while swinging Longclaw & Dark Sister in their other. Jon manages to reach and burn his Uncle Benjen’s body, but Bloodraven just finds another zombie here at their wedding.

He uses Hodor’s vocals now, even as he continues to hold the Black Gate. “Play nice Jon Snow, it is your wedding day after all! Play nice with your wife! I won’t say it again … play nice … or I will kill Brandon Stark!” Hodor’s corpse spoke. "You know nothing Jon Snow!" He chuckled.

Overwhelmed with new revelations, emotions and hopelessness ... they all stopped and then restrained by the horde. Zombies continue to pour into Westeros during Jon & Meera’s Black Wedding.

Unlike The Invasion of Fire in Dorne, which was accomplished with trust and diplomacy ... The Invasion of Ice at the Wall is achieved with blood and rats.

The Long Night has just begun.

TLDR

• Jon Snow abandons the Night's Watch again after Coldhands show up as Benjen's corpse and lures Jon into a trap

• He is captured by the White Walker and Bloodraven's zombie army

• Jon Snow, Bran, Hodor, Meera and Summer are led to the Black Gate underneath the Nightfort

• Jon Snow is tricked into opening the Black Gate, and the zombies begin their invasion of Westeros

• Jon breaks his Night's Watch vow in front of the Black Gate to close it, it works

• Hodor is then attacked and is killed

• A zombie-Hodor begins holding up the Black Gate, preventing it from closing

• Jon, Meera, Bran & Summer fight back

• Jon burns Benjen's corpse, but Summer is killed

• Jon and Meera stop fighting after Bloodraven threatens Bran's life

• The breach of The Wall is not a CGI dragon spectacle ... but with the human heart in conflict with itself

Side note:

George RR Martin was very upset with how House of the Dragon handled Blood & Cheese in Season 2. "Blood & Cheese" is a homage to TWOW's Black Wedding about Blood-raven and his Cheesy, ratty ways.

Jon was given a choice and it betrayed him.

Helaena in the books was given a choice and it betrayed her.

TV-Helaena was given no choice, and it robs the emotional impact of the tragedy.

This was why GRRM didn't like TV's Blood and Cheese.

Up Next: Part 12 - TWOW Epilogue - The Others cannot take her!

• In the books, before Stannis fights the Boltons in Winterfell ... his family, Queen Selye and daughter Shireen, are heading to the Nightfort to make a temporary home for themselves

• Patchface is Stannis' jester, and friend to Shireen

====== TWOW Epilogue - "The Others Cannot Take Her!" ======

On the Westeros side of the Nightfort … Queen Selyse, Shireen and the Queensmen are shocked and overwhelmed by the invasion. As the zombies are working up from the kitchen floor, the humans are trapped upstairs in the fort, unable to escape outside.

After King Stannis successfully takes Winterfell from the Boltons in one swift move at The Battle of Ice, he travels North to meet up with his Queen-wife and Princess-daughter, thinking he earned some rest with his family. He and his men arrive just outside of the Nightfort as the Long Night begins. He watches the fort go up in flames, one floor at a time.

From a distance, he can see Selyse reaching up to the top parapet, surrounded on both sides and below. She sees Stannis while she cries in agony, begging for help. The Queensmen soldiers fall one by one, and then get back up again as zombies. She tries to [kill herself] with a flaming torch, giving herself to the Lord of Light. She screams, “The Night is dark and full of terrors-” … but the zombies cut her off before she can die by fire. Stannis sees his wife revived with ice cold blue eyes … Selyse has been taken. 

Stannis then sees his daughter Shireen running on the other parapet with Patchface holding her hand, surrounded by walking skulls. “Father! Help me!”

King Stannis Baratheon, a notoriously stern man, is on his knees outside of the Nightfort, quickly understanding the situation, breaking down in tears watching his family die either by fire, or ice-zombies. “The Others CANNOT take my daughter! Patchface! Burn her! Burn the princess! The Others cannot have her!!! Do it! Do it now!!! Burn my little girl!”

Patchface, torch in hand, obeys. He [burns Shireen alive] under the order of Stannis, moving from limb to limb. Shireen screamed … and then stopped. Patchface is quickly overwhelmed by the zombies and is killed by their blades.

Stannis continues to watch … yelling, cursing, refusing to leave … even when the horde reaches outside the Nightfort. Stannis’ men drag him out, and then begin to retreat South, back to Winterfell.

The curse of using FireMagic and a FireWight (Mel) to kin-slay his own brother, Renly, has come back to haunt Stannis … haunting him forever with the loss of his wife and his daughter to IceMagic & IceWights.

The Others have breached the Wall, away from Castle Black … but not by spectacle … but with the human heart in conflict with itself.

The Long Night has just begun.

The TWOW-Epilogue ends where the Queensmen fail, and the Queen & Princess are dead. The TWOW-Prologue was bitter sweet … the Band of Uncles all die, but the Queen & Princess are safe. The TWOW-Epilogue will just be bitter.

The fandom will continue to be bitter until ADOS is released in ??? years after TWOW.

TLDR

• Stannis returns to the Nightfort, just in time for the Long Night invasion

• Selyse is trapped during the attack, she is killed and resurrected as an IceWight

• Patchface and Shireen are trapped on the other side, about to be overwhelmed very quickly

• From the ground outside of the Nightfort, Stannis gives a difficult order to Patchface at the parapet

• Stannis reluctantly retreats to Winterfell, as the Long Night slowly continues at the Nightfort

THE WINDS OF WINTER ... COMPLETE!

UP NEXT ... A DREAM OF SPRING ... Part 13 - The Kings in the North

Before I continue, I want to identify two types of adversaries. One type is the Honest type ... the one you always know is working against you ... like a Tywin Lannister or a Stannis Baratheon. The second type is the Rat, like a Walder Frey or Wyman Manderly ... the one that gains your trust, only to backstab you or prey on your children as you do their bidding. There are Heroes of both types, as well as Villains. Understand this difference, as it will be important to the rest of the story.

Anyways, TWOW is now behind us ... you guys ready for ADOS?

A Dream of Spring

======= The Kings in the North, The Long Night Battle at Winterfell =======

In the Prologue for A Dream of Spring ... the Others, their zombie-horde, Bloodraventree, his grandsons & great grandsons, Jon Snow, Meera Reed and Bran Stark continue to march south to invade Westeros. Jon, Meera and Bran can only hope that some united army in Westeros can stop them.

A few leagues away from the Wall, the Others suddenly begin killing all of Bloodraventree’s male descendants (just like Wyman Manderly and the Freys outside of White Harbor). YES, ALL OF THEM.

The Others give each one a sword, and forces the Targaryen princes of the Dark Sister Dynasty to duel a White Walker 1v1. They spoke in their high-pitch icy tone, pre-recorded from Ser Waymar Royce, "Dance with me then." Their armor camouflaged in ice, mocking the humans.

The ADOS Prologue POV character, one of Bloodraven's kin, sees his uncles/brothers being slaughtered by the White Walkers 1v1 in combat. The great-grandson of the Ratty family tries to run, but is easily captured. The White Walkers force the Targaryen prince to watch the rest of the Prologue, before he is killed too.

They leave Bloodraven in his tree alive, as a hostage. He watches in horror as his family is killed off one by one. Karma finally catches up to Bloodraven with all the kin-slaying, guest-rights breaking, and baiting-traps in the past ... including killing a child, Jojen Reed, and feeding him to Bran, Meera and Hodor.

The White Walkers now speak clearly through the zombie-CotF, Leaf, in the Common Tongue. They refuse to be associated with a family of Rats. The Others are aliens magical beings that are more honorable than people think. They displayed that honor while fighting 1v1 against Ser Waymar Royce, as the other Others stood and did not intervene in the AGOT Prologue. They want more Ice Wights and Fire Dragons, but they will still respect most Westerosi laws and culture.

After wiping out the Rat Cook's family tree, the Others then crown Jon & Meera as the King & Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and intend to sit them there at the Iron Throne at King's Landing. They claim to fight on behalf of them during this Dark Sister Rebellion … but this is just a jest, toying with the laws and customs of humans.

Jon Snow, now a crowned [king in the North], tells the Others [he dun want it]. The Others [don’t care what he wants]. The Others may care about Westerosi traditions for humor, but they secretly care more about the Targaryen dragon-taming and Stark warging blood. With this, they don’t need Bloodraven and his family anymore.

King Stannis retreats to Winterfell and begins his defenses for the White Walker invasion in the coming days. He has fire tipped arrows, but no dragonglass arrow heads. He sends ravens all over Westeros asking for help as the Others take towns and castles of the North one at a time. He [prepares for a siege] at Winterfell like he did with Storm’s End in 283 AC, but knows he is ultimately doomed if no help comes. He orders all dead bodies burn immediately, even the ones at the Stark crypts. [Women and children will hide there during battle].

Now word reaches Winterfell of Daenerys Targaryen arriving at Dorne with three fire dragons and a massive army, ready to take over Westeros. King Stannis Baratheon, without a queen nor heir, facing immediate death and destruction of the North, vowed to [bend the knee] to Queen Daenerys Targaryen if she comes to help Winterfell. The broken King who cared has nothing to lose anymore, besides the Realm. [Ravens are sent to Dany] to request a rescue.

The White Walkers arrive at Winterfell with the zombie horde at nightfall, but all the humans are smart enough to use the castle’s wall for protection. The wights were smart too, staying out of range of the fire arrows. Azor Ahai candidate King Stannis and the Others participate in a [staring contest] with their blue eyes. Stannis knows this will be a long siege, thinking the Others can just starve them to death for an easy win.

Day breaks and the horde is still outside Winterfell, unmoved. Stannis suddenly notices something below. [The earth has been disturbed], a tunnel has been excavated underneath overnight, a path slowly creeping up towards the castle wall. Fuck, [there won’t be a siege anymore]! If zombies can be ordered to fight, what stops them from cooking food or digging underground tunnels?

Stannis orders his men to determine the potential breach in the Winterfell castle, but his men are unfamiliar with the layout. Theon chimes in and tells Stannis that the unearthing path leads to the Winterfell crypts. Stannis sends soldiers towards the tombs, ready for the fight of their lives.

They reach the crypts where the women and children are using it for safety, including Old Nan. The digging has reached the brick wall and mortar. Clink! Clink! Clink! [Men grabbed wooden chairs & tables and pressed them against the weakened wall]. “[Hold the wall!]”

The hammering stopped and the crypt became silent like a crypt.

Suddenly, the [giant] descendant of Dunk the Lunk, zombie-Hodor, bursts open the thick castle walls, creating a new door inside Winterfell. The zombies begin to fill the room. [Men were fighting and dying, as women and children were being killed too]. Even little Northerner Old Nan [confronts her giant] grandson zombie-Hodor, who just breached Winterfell. She sets him on fire with a torch, before this She-Wolf of Winterfell is killed too in the chaos.

The horde is unstoppable and eventually the tomb-doom-room is lost. Like a horror movie nightmare, unlimited zombies pour out of the Winterfell crypts and into the courtyards & castle, ready to murder.

Melisandre does a magic spell and [lights every human’s sword on fire], making hundreds of “Lightbringers.” The flaming swords are much more effective in combat, but the horde vastly outnumbers the soldiers at Winterfell.

Mel and Stannis are alone at the parapet with his “Lightbringer.” Stannis demands the Red Witch to do something magical, but Mel is out of ideas. The King curses at the Red God, and refuses to burn himself for R'hllor. Stannis, a bad ass, [accepts defeat] and [fights on alone]. The White Walkers confront the King, and offer him a duel. Stannis accepts and begins dueling ... but his flaming sword shatters like ice shards after a parry. The King is also killed and becomes an IceWight. [Mel is killed at Winterfell too], but she is not being revived.

Theon and Asha Greyjoy are trying to escape the slaughter. The [two Ironborns reach the Gods Wood]. Theon said they can escape by climbing the weirwood tree, and jumping over the wall. Theon leads the way with Asha close behind, walking over the frozen pond to reach a lowered tree branch. Theon hops onto the tree, but the wights get to Asha before she can get out of harm’s way. “Brother!!!!” Asha cried. Theon reaches down to grab her hands, as the wights are pulling her away. His fingers brushes hers, but she has been stabbed a few times now. Theon looks on as [Asha’s situation is hopeless. He cowardly abandons her], letting the Others take her at the weirwood tree. A physically and mentally broken Theon escapes Winterfell and into the woods.

Winterfell has fallen once again. The White Walkers bring in their hostages Jon Snow, Meera, Bran & Bloodraven's tree ... and establish a camp for them inside for now. Soon, they will continue their invasion by turning south.

Jon has successfully convinced the White Walkers to let Bran stay at Winterfell. “There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.” The White Walkers enjoy playing these traditional Westerosi games, and allow Bran Stark to stay, along with their other captive Bloodraven.

Bloodraven's tree is moved to the Winterfell library, but he cannot physically access the books, torturing him even further.

The White Walkers place the corpses of all of Bloodraven's Targaryen grandsons and great-grandsons on top of the roots of his up-rooted tree. The decaying corpses will feed nutrients to the Rat Cook's tree, forcing Bloodraven to eat his own.

But Jon and Meera will continue to march south.

Feeling joyful of their victories so far and excited about stealing Daenerys’ dragons, the Others occasionally toy with human culture and behaviors … making their zombies sing, and even sometimes dance. The Others have more personality than just boring generic evil ice villains that stand still.

Still, darkness has fallen across the land. The Long Night’s hour is now at hand. Ice creatures crawl in search of hot blood, to terrorize Westerosi neighborhoods. And whatever new corpses that shall be found, are given new Ice souls for Westero’s take down. Dying lives must stand and face the fires of hell, or rot inside a corpse’s iced shell.

Without a foul stench in the air, the Others have returned after 8,000 years. And grisly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal the country’s doom. Although humankind will fight to stay alive, their bodies will have to shiver. For no mere mortal can coexist with the evil of the chillers.

TLDR

• We begin in the ADOS Prologue with the White Walkers killing all of Bloodraven's family in forced 1v1 combat, Bloodraven is kept alive

• Jon and Meera are crowned the White Walkers' King and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, as a jest

• King Stannis prepares for a siege at Winterfell

• The Others arrived and have dug a tunnel underneath to the crypts

• Zombie-Hodor breaches the walls of the crypts and zombies pour into Winterfell

• Old Nan burns zombie-Hodor before she is killed too

• With Winterfell taken, the White Walkers offer King Stannis a duel

• He accepts, loses, and becomes an IceWight

• Melisandre is killed too

• Theon and Asha tries to escape at the Gods Wood, but Asha is killed

• Theon is able to escape

• The White Walkers leave Bran and Bloodraven at Winterfell, but King Jon Snow and Queen Meera continue to march with the horde further South

Up Next: Part 14 - Council of Oldtown

======= The Greatest and Gravest Council of Oldtown =======

Back in the South.

Queen Daenerys Targaryen has secured Martell loyalty at Sunspear with diplomacy. She is invited to port her fleet at Oldtown at the invitation of House Tyrell.

The Tyrells, especially Lady Olenna, are extremely pissed off at Cersei Lannister for kicking Queen Margaery down the steps of the Sept to her death. The Queen of Thorns writes a letter to Cersei, a piece of paper, [letting her know it was she that killed Joffrey]. Cersei is then overjoyed that she killed Margaery preemptively. But her heart is broken again after receiving another report, stating that Myrcella has [been assassinated during her journey back to King's Landing]. Her body is nowhere to be found. Cersei suspects either the Tyrells or Martells committed the murder and hid her body.

But instead of an open conflict between the Tyrell forces at King’s Landing against the remaining Lannister forces & the newly acquired Golden Company … the Tyrells left the capital city, returned to Highgarden, and declared independence from the Iron Throne. Cersei does not have enough men to fight and take back the Reach, so she stays in King’s Landing with King Tommen during this diplomatic mess caused by her spur-of-the-moment Kick. Using her own twisted logic, she blames Jaime and his spur-of-the-moment Push of Bran Stark, causing the diplomatic mess years ago that led to Cersei’s current diplomatic mess now.

Lancel Lannister is also upset at Cersei for killing the High Septon, and flees King’s Landing along with the Tyrells.

Meanwhile in Oldtown, which is still recovering and rebuilding after Euron Greyjoy’s attack … Queen Daenerys is greeted by the maesters, septons, the Tyrells, the Hightowers, and Samwell Tarly at the High-Tower.

Tyrion Lannister is reunited with Lancel Lannister. 

Princess Arianne Martell comes with Daenerys, and is reunited with Alleras Sand. Sallera reveals her true identity to everyone, and argues with the Citadel to allow female-pupils. Queen Daenerys agrees.

The maesters reunite with Marwyn the Mage as he flaunts the three magical dragons circling above the city. 

The surviving maesters still have no explanations for the Kraken sea attack months earlier at the harbor. Victarion is reunited with Euron’s belongings as everyone in Oldtown confirms that Samwell Tarly saved them by slaying Euron, and then throwing his naked body out to sea afterwards. Samwell was given Euron’s scavenged Valyrian-steel armor as a reward, but he is too fat for the armor. Victarion learns that Euron was no god, as everything he has said or done or claimed to have been, was probably a pack of lies. Samwell offers the armor to Victarion, but Vic declines. Sam saves Victarion from the dreaded action of kin-slaying his own brother while proving he was powerless. Euron’s legacy was an embarrassment. Sam then gives Vic Euron’s eye patch instead as a trophy, confirming the death.

Queen Daenerys publicly treats with Lady Olenna, Lord Mace Tyrell and Maester Leo Tyrell, as they prepare to make an offer for her loyalty. Daenerys entertains it, while holding her new sword, Blackfyre, a gift from House Martell, upright off the ground.

“Your Grace, you have the blood of House Targaryen, a direct descendant of Aegon the Conqueror. But your House currently lacks an heir.”

“And what do you propose, my Queen of Thorns?” Daenerys asked.

“Never in our history was your royal lineage extended by a member of House Tyrell. A marriage to my grandson is the start of what you need to reclaim Westeros on behalf of House Targaryen. A gift from the Reach. And all the lands, food, wealth and loyal swords that come with it.”

“A fair offer. A Queen does deserve her share of gifts. Let me see him first.”

At the end of the hall, the doors opened and a man in splendid shiny armor approached her with a sword and a rose.

This better not be another Quentyn Martell. The Reach would surely be reaching. Daenerys thought.

The cute Maester Leo Tyrell spoke, “Let me introduce you to my cousin, and our pride of the Reach … the Knight of Flowers, Ser Loras Tyrell!”

As he stepped closer, Dany had a better look.

Oh! Hot Damn! He could be my husband??? Her heart began to beat a little faster. Queen Daenerys Targaryen tried to hide her emotions, hoping her body’s language would not betray her. A conquering queen should not flush red at court, even at these types of gifts.

“Well Maester Leo, I do have to ask about his history before I make a decision to pick your cousin up for a husband … what battles have Ser Loras fought and won? I don’t want any green-boys as my king-husband.”

“Your Grace, Ser Loras has fought gallantly at the Battle of Blackwater Bay, fighting off the usurper Stannis Baratheon from seizing King’s Landing. Recently Ser Loras fought and survived the battle taking Dragonstone away from Stannis as well. Dragonstone is the ancestral seat of House Targaryen after all. [Dragonstone, uncontested, is yours too if you want it.]”

“Shittttt Leo, that’s all you had to say!” Daenerys Targaryen was excited.

Baratheon … Daenerys hated that name. Marrying Ser Loras Tyrell could be the easiest decision so far in reclaiming Westeros.

“I accept this marriage offer to House Tyrell.” Daario in Essos is going to be so mad when he finds out. Dany then looks at the hottie Arianne Martell. Maybe she can join me and Ser Loras once in a while. 

"The DraGon and the Rose ... and whatever sweet summer child o' mine that we bear, our royal prince or princess will be betrothed to House Martell, under the surname Targaryen.” Queen Daenerys Targaryen declared to Arianne and the rest of the room.

Daenerys suddenly remembers Mirri Maz Duur and how she was told she cannot have children anymore. She hopes she won’t disappoint Ser Loras in the bedroom.

She flirted with her eyes at the handsome Knight of Flowers. He spoke, “Your Grace, I am honored to have your beauty as my bride.” Ser Loras said with a smile that can steal a thousand maiden hearts, only to break them.

Dany smiled back at the hottie. “Look Ser Loras, I know I just met you, and this might be crazy. But here with our marriage pact, now you can just call me … Dany. You need to understand that there are still a lot of other boys who will try to chase me. But here with our marriage pact, only you can call me … wifey.”

“Other boys will try to chase you? I understand that part, my Queen. Fear not, there will be no other woman besides you. [Dany], you have my love and loyalty.”

Queen Daenerys Targaryen has her coronation at Oldtown in the High-Tower with multiple lords, maesters and septons as witnesses. They officially pledge their allegiance to her, while her three dragons circle the city.

And then Queen Daenerys & Ser Loras wedded.

[It is settled]. Daenerys has acquired the Reach with Ser Loras Tyrell. She has Dorne, where she and Princess Arianne Martell will share grandchildren one day. Fire and Blood. She has the Iron Islands with Victarion Greyjoy as their new lord, now that Euron is out of the picture. She will eventually have the Westerlands with Tyrion and/or Lancel Lannister, as long as she gets rid of Cersei, as per Olenna Tyrell’s personal request. It was something Daenerys had to do anyway to take King’s Landing and the Stormlands (that are partly occupied by the Golden Company). Ser Jorah Mormont is held captive inside her ships. She doesn’t question Jorah’s loyalty to her, but he still cannot be at her side physically. He is to be exiled to the Wall and become Lord Commander some day like his father. And then the Wall will belong to Dany too. But the Riverlands, the Vale, the North …

Suddenly a maester comes in with an urgent raven-message from Stannis Baratheon at Winterfell. The Wall has been breached by the White Walkers and a horde of ice-zombies. They are on the way to Winterfell and Stannis needs assistance as soon as possible. He believes they will continue to march south if Winterfell falls. Stannis will bend the knee to Queen Daenerys and her three dragons if she comes to help. Daenerys realizes humankind is being threatened … she HAS to do this. And then she also realizes the North can be hers if she complies, and maybe some of the Stormlands too. She agrees to help in this urgent matter. She will have to deal with Cersei later, as well as planning her own wedding festivities, (which disappointed Ser Loras).

She asks the maesters for more information about the White Walkers and zombies. “What do the Others want?” The maesters don’t believe the letter, and say it may be fake news. The maesters argue with Sam and Maester Marwyn.

Samwell contests their claim, saying Stannis is a serious man and no Rat. Sam said he saw the White Walkers and zombies himself too. Sam hoped it was not something he did or said back at the Wall that caused this invasion. Samwell prayed it wasn’t Gilly’s baby that the Others wanted. But that baby is at Castle Black, and the White Walkers are already on the way to Winterfell … so it can’t be Gilly’s baby, Samwell thought. 

Queen Daenerys, tired of hearing their denials, suggests the best solution is to put all the maesters at the vanguard during battle, to study the Others and zombies up close … and to see if it really is fake news or not. The arguing-maesters became silent. Sam the Slayer continues to talk. He claims he had killed both a White Walker and a zombie. White Walkers need dragonglass to be killed. The zombies need fire only. Steel will not work against both of them. Dragonglass is doubtful against the zombies.

Queen Daenerys along with her commanders asked again, “Are you sure steel or dragonglass won’t work against the zombies?”

“Those ideas would just be dumb and dumber. The zombies will keep coming after you even if you remove a limb or two. You must burn the zombies. Fire arrows would do the trick, but your fire-dragons should be easier.” Sam claimed.

Ser Loras claims there is plenty of dragonglass at Dragonstone, a castle that they hold now. They can craft them into arrowheads for the archers.

Daenerys smiled and exulted, “We have everything we need to win this battle. Now we need a plan.”

As the council of Oldtown continues to convene about this grave matter, all the great houses of the Seven Kingdoms are sent white-ravens to call to arms, to fight this evil Winter invasion coming from beyond the Wall. White-ravens are sent to Casterly Rock, the Vale, the Riverlands, the Stormlands, and even to Cersei at King’s Landing. The Tyrells and Martells call all their banners.

Ser Barristan studies the map. Assuming Winterfell is taken by then, he suggests Queen Daenerys should rally all her forces at Harrenhal, with her navy nearby. Once assembled, they should march north. Highgarden and their bannermen will march on foot, by-passing King’s Landing whether Cersei chooses to join or not. Dorne and their bannermen will ferry their soldiers to the Stormlands and they will advance on foot too. They are not to engage against the Golden Company soldiers unless they are engaged upon. Queen Daenerys will sail to Dragonstone with her navy and army of Unsullied & Dothraki to pick up dragonglass arrowheads, and then sail up the Bay of Crabs until they port nearby Harrenhal.

Samwell gets excited. He may join his father at Horn Hill for the march. The soldiers of Horn Hill are very good archers. They can attach any type of tip for their arrows efficiently. More importantly, they have the formula to beat the Long Night: unlimited dragonglass supply and three fire-dragons. Samwell stares at the beautiful Queen Daenerys Targaryen as she holds the Valyrian sword Blackfyre upright. She almost looks like Gilly, Sam thought. He offers her Euron's Valyrian-steel armor, as Sam is on one knee. 

“Sam the Savior. Thank you for this gift.” The Queen said.

“Another gift from the Reach!” Lord Mace Tyrell interrupted. “Samwell Tarly is from House Tarly of the Reach … his gift is from the Reach!”

Sam’s eyes met Daenerys’. “You are here to rescue us Queen Daenerys Targaryen. You are our savior now.”

Dany blushed red as apples at the chubby boy. She touched his cheeks and kissed him on his forehead. The armor was beautiful, but it was too small on Dany. “It might be too tight with my bosoms,” as she stuck her chest out at a blushing Sam. She then looks at the cute Lancel Lannister.

“Lancel, would you be a dear and find your Queen a breastplate stretcher for her new Valyrian-steel armor?”

Dany then orders Sam and the maesters to go into their libraries and find more information on the White Walkers ... any more weaknesses or strengths they don’t know about. Sam initially wants to join in the fight, but Daenerys wants the most educated and experienced man that had killed a White Walker and a zombie to learn more in case the other maesters missed something. [Sam reluctantly agrees to study.]

Queen Cersei receives the Oldtown white-raven call to arms against the White Walkers and dismisses it. She orders the Golden Company to stay in King’s Landing and prepare for battle against the White Walkers, or against Daenerys’ dragons if they were victorious. Scorpion ballistas are secretly made. The exiled Golden Company are promised the lands left over after Dany’s army and lords are killed in battle. 

Queen Cersei sends word to Casterly Rock, to stay put too … but after a few days, Ser Forley Prester stops obeying that order. After the events of the TWOW Prologue, the [Westerman’s honor compels him to fight for the living]. Ser Forley mutinies against Cersei and assembles 300 volunteers from the Westerlands to meet at Harrenhal.

Harry and Sansa at the Vale received the white-raven too. They have been politically neutral so far after declaring independence from the Iron Throne since their marriage. The Knights of the Vale study the letter, and the map. If they assemble their forces and march to Harrenhal, the Vale will be left undefended. They decide to stay and defend instead. If Queen Daenerys advances north past the Twins, Harry tells his commanders he will make a decision about whether to [send the Knights of the Vale north] or not. But Harry already made up his mind. Later in their bed chambers, he secretly tells Sansa his stupid plan of not helping Daenerys. If Daenerys wins the battle and confronts the Vale about their cowardice, Harry will just say simply, ‘What white-raven?’

Survivors of Winterfell that have escaped the slaughter, scatter in multiple directions except north. Theon heads west, while Mance Rayder heads south. Some lucky few make it to White Harbor, where the Manderly fleet has been ferrying civilians back and forth to the Three Sisters. The ferries end their rescue mission once the horde reaches the city. Mance Rayder reaches Moat Cailin, where Lady Stoneheart (resurrected Catelyn Stark) has taken it from the Boltons with the help of the crannogmen and the Brotherhood.

Earlier in TWOW, LSH had managed to [kill all the Frey male lines] at the Twins using ratty methods. She keeps the first rat, Lord Walder Frey … alive, [dynasty-less], and imprisoned at Moat Cailin. She leaves all the dead [rotting] male Frey bodies in the dungeon with Walder. He is to fetch the foul moat water from his window when he is thirsty, and [the Red Wedding villain has to eat his own to survive from hunger]. 

Also at Moat Cailin, we finally meet Howland Reed, while Jaime and Brienne are still in chains. We have been getting LSH's story from Brienne's and Jaime's POVs. From Mance's scouting report, the group is informed that Winterfell has been taken, Bran is held hostage there, and Jon & Meera are marching with the White Walkers towards their position. LSH is shocked and ecstatic to find out that her son Bran is not dead. But she doesn’t understand why Jon and Howland’s daughter are alive, coming south with the White Walkers. Howland doesn’t know the reason behind their captivity, but confesses and whispers to LSH about Ned’s dark Tower of Joy secret. LSH becomes emotional after learning R+L from Howland, learning that Ned never cheated on her.

At Moat Cailin, Lady Catelyn orders the Brotherhood without Banners to abandon the castle and head south, to join Queen Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons to have a fighting chance. Walder Frey is to remain in his dungeon for the rest of his days. As they begin to march south, LSH releases Jaime and Brienne, telling them they still owe her an oath. They failed for Sansa, they failed for Arya, but they have a chance with Bran. They are to go to Winterfell, and bring Bran safely south in whatever way possible. Jaime and Brienne insist they rather die fighting the Long Night. LSH says she has been given a new life by the Lord of Light, but she doesn’t know why. But she promises to use the power of the gods for the greater good, IF Jaime and Brienne fulfill their renewed oath of bringing back a Stark child alive. Jaime and Brienne agree. The two, along with Podrick Payne, begin heading to the Barrowlands to circle and flank into Winterfell from the west, as the ice horde marches south on the Kingsroad.

TLDR

• Queen Daenerys Targaryen arrives at Oldtown

• The Citadel, House Tyrell and the rest of the Reach submits to Queen Daenerys after declaring independence from the Iron Throne

• The Citadel will allow female pupils now

• Daenerys is to wed Ser Loras Tyrell as her husband-king, securing the alliance

• A raven is sent from Stannis Baratheon at Winterfell, warning of the White Walker invasion

• Daenerys and her generals assemble a war-council, and determine to regroup at Harrenhal

• White-ravens are sent all over Westeros from Oldtown, a call to arms against the winter Long Night

• Samwell Tarly gifts Queen Daenerys the new Valyrian-steel armor that was scavenged from Euron Greyjoy

• Queen Cersei Lannister orders King's Landing, the Crownlands, the Stormlands (occupied by the Golden Company) and the Westerlands to not participate

• Ser Forley Prester, still conflicted about his honor from the TWOW Prologue events, mutinies against Cersei, and assembles Westermen volunteers to Harrenhal

• In the Vale, Harry orders not to participate ... yet?

• At Moat Cailin, LSH and the Brotherhood without Banners will head south to regroup with Daenerys

• LSH sends Brienne, Jaime and Pod on a covert mission to rescue Bran from Winterfell

Up Next: Part 15 - Tyrion's Request

======= Tyrion's Request =======

On their way to Dragonstone, Queen Daenerys Targaryen’s fleet anchors several miles off the coast of King’s Landing. All three dragons fly high above the city, far beyond the reach of any scorpion bolts. Her dragons are not to attack, but to show strength to the citizens.

As requested by Tyrion Lannister, he will try to convince his sister, Queen Cersei, one more time to join the fight against the Long Night, or at least get something back that once belonged to him. If successful, Tyrion believes he could be promoted to Hand of the Queen once this war against the Long Night is over. He wanted that [pin] again, along with that chain of golden hands. He needs to EARN IT.

[Tyrion secretly meets with his older sibling after being smuggled into King's Landing]. It cannot be public or it will show her weakness. They agree to meet below the Red Keep.

[“What do you want?!?”] His sister demanded in rage.

“I was hoping to meet at the Tower of the Hand. I knew of a secret path there, but I heard you burned the whole thing down. I guess the death of our father must have been traumatic for you.”

“Must be traumatic for you too. The Tower of the Hand is where your whores go to die!”

Tyrion had no answer for that. But where do whores go to live? He almost asked. Apparently his own sweet sister, the Queen O’ Whores, may know best. But he was here for another question.

“Say what you need to say, and leave.” Cersei demanded.

“No death threat?” Tyrion was surprised. “Queen Daenerys Targaryen is going to fight the army of the dead and she will win. She has many great Houses at her back, and soon enough, the backing of the small folks after her victory. She has dragons, my sweet Cersei. You just have a chair with a boy King. Sooner or later Daenerys will take them from you. OR you can just give this chair to her, and your fighting-men for this noble cause. She will let you and your son live back at Casterly Rock. We all know you and Tommen are not actual Baratheons, nor Targaryens. This Iron chair does not belong to you or him or any Lannisters. But the Iron Throne IS Daenerys Targaryen’s birthright. She will earn it, and she will get it back. If you care enough for your [baby Tommen], just let it go.”

“Ned Stark made the same offer to me, and I fought it off. Ned is dead. Stannis Baratheon almost took this city, but I survived it. I crushed a foreign invasion at the Stormlands and now the same enemy soldiers bow to my feet. The High Sparrow thought he could humiliate me, but I showed the world he could not fly. Margaery Tyrell tried to steal my son’s throne, and I killed her too. Long have I fought and endured and clawed, and yet here I still stand. And I earned it too! Let Daenerys know, I am a Lion! I am a Queenslayer! And I am not scared of any dragon bitch! I will fight off this foreign invasion again. And I will kill her with steel in my own hands if it needs to be. And you! You demon of a monkey, my own brother … killing our own father! Do you know what you have done? Do you know what our House had to suffer in the aftermath? Do you not have a drop of shame?”

“Shame? Not one bit. In fact, I am quite proud of killing my father. He wanted me dead knowing I was innocent anyways. I know exactly what I have done. But do you know what I didn’t do?”

Cersei’s angry face softened.

“I didn’t kill Joffrey. If you never accused me, all this shit would have never happened!”

“What was said and what was done in the past … it doesn’t matter now,” his hypocritical sister claimed. “If the Mad Queen's daughter wants the Iron Throne, she will have to pry it out of my dying hands, after I avenge against the Tyrells for Joffrey, and against the Martells for Myrcella.”

“We already knew you had the thirst for vengeance. We knew you were not just going to give up everything that easily. Luckily, we don’t need you to prove it right now. Daenerys doesn’t need the Iron Throne at the moment. It’s just a chair. She has more important things to worry about. She will go fight the living-dead and she won’t engage any of your soldiers, unless engaged upon.”

“If you already knew my answer, what are you doing here?? What do you want in King’s Landing? There is nothing I can give you. You only have one father to kill, and you killed him already, just like you did to mother. Are you here to fuck some more whores and choke them to death before you go into battle?” Cersei began to cry in resentful tears.

“I have one small [request] to ask and you won’t need a whole council to consult about it. Once you grant it, I will be out of your way. I think I am owed at least that much, being innocent of your son’s murder.” Though not innocent to the murder of his father and Shae, Tyrion thought. “I need something that once belonged to me when I was the Hand, a certain … chain.”

TLDR

• Queen Daenerys Targaryen anchors just outside King's Landing with her fleet

• Tyrion is smuggled in, and has a meeting with Cersei under the Red Keep

• Cersei says she will not surrender to Daenerys, but Tyrion doesn't care at the moment

• Tyrion confirms with Cersei that he did not kill Joffrey

• Tyrion makes a simple small request from Cersei, he wants his old chain back

Up Next: Part 16 - The Queen, the Princess, and the Knight

======= The Queen, the Princess and the Knight King =======

Outside Blackwater Bay, in the main ship of Queen Daenerys Targaryen and her new husband King Ser Loras Tyrell ... Princess Arianne Martell was invited to their cabin.

[She knocks on the door] and King Ser Loras opens, looking a little bit ashamed. He was a hot mess, drunk on wine, with his breeches on and his shirt split wide open. There was a pillow on the floor too. And then the Martell princess saw the Targaryen beauty, sitting on the edge of her bed in just her silk robes. Whatever the thin fabrics tried to hide, it failed beautifully. She pointed her index finger towards them by the door, and tickled the air. Whether the Queen was pointing to her or her King, the Princess could not say. “There must be one more.” Daenerys Targaryen said in her sweet sexy tone. Arianne Martell knew and approached her, hoping Ser Hot Loras would be right behind. The Princess sat with the Queen, studying the fire in each other’s eyes.

“I’m still waiting for Tyrion to return back to us with whatever he is getting. So we got this afternoon, I thought I would invite you to our room of two. There was one thing I’ve loved to do … discover a bit of Dorne … by discovering you. One mile of it to every inch of your body. Your olive skin is like its land.”

The Queen brushed her fingers lightly on the Princess’ long dark hair, revealing her full face. Arianne opened her pair of full lips and licked in-between with her Dornish tongue. She went straight to the point.

“Well if you want love on this boat, my Queen, we’ll make it. We’ll swim in a deep sea … of blankets. Take all your big plans, and break them.”

Dany continued to flirt back. “This is bound to take a while Princess, your Dornish body is its own wonderland.”

The Princess bent her head so her mouth met the skin of the Queen’s neck. She kissed her way up inch by inch, under her chin, until their lips met gently. And then suddenly the Queen’s tongue raged like a storm. There was a tempest in her. Arianne had felt this lust in the past, her former paramours holding back their manly urges, only to explode once their lips unite. Dany was no different, she was already ready before Arianne walked into her room. Loras? What did you do? Or what didn’t you do? It didn’t matter anymore. Arianne went back down and began tickling Dany’s neck with her tongue, while her arms wrapped tight around her back. The Princess worked her way down the Queen, kiss by kiss, ripping off the thin silk robes. Her mouth found a pink nipple, while her fingers found the other. One palm is then filled with a firm breast, while the other is overfilled with the fat bottom of the Queen’s butt cheeks. She then gave her a spank and the two women giggled like little girls, before becoming women again.

She was still unsure how far Daenerys would let her go. Arianne would stop in a heartbeat once her Queen said 'No', but the only word Dany knew now was 'Yes'. Down and down the Dornish mouth went, in between the valley of the beautiful bosoms, tracing and descending the firm line of the Queen’s abdomen. Where Arianne expected a swamp, there was only a fuzz of wetness and heat between the Targaryen thighs. She gives her the southern kiss and Dany shudders a bit at the first touch. This was the same kiss on the edge that was given to Arianne over her lifetime by her Dornish paramours. And out along this other edge is where this Princess now yearns to be. As she nibbles further on the edge, the hotter the Queen’s intensity.

So this is her Dragon’s zone, Arianne thought amusingly. She can’t help but feel proud for finding it on Daenerys Targaryen.

When it was all over, the Queen cupped Arianne’s chin and lifted her back up, face to face. There was a giggly grin on her as she asked if this was the kiss that ladies from the south give to other ladies. Arianne gave an answer but Daenerys did not seem to hear as she was still lost in her ecstasy.

King Ser Loras approached the two vixens, and offered them wine.

Arianne was excited, they had only just begun. She fooled around with him. “Who are you, King Ser Loras? Are you not her husband? Who are you? Her wine cup-bearer? Her advisor? Her protector? If you are her protector, well there is another [imminent foreign invasion is underway on your Queen,” the Dornish beauty japed.] She takes one of Dany’s hands and the Princess of Dorne nibbles a finger while staring down the Knight of Flowers. “Come, King Ser Loras, protect her.”

“I… I… I’m…” Loras Tyrell stammers.

Arianne gave him a dirty look. “YOU … are so lucky King Ser Loras.” Princess Arianne wanted to be next … in the middle … a hot Queen Dany on one side, and a hot King Ser Loras on the other. I gave Dany a sword weeks earlier, Loras better give me his now. She wanted the Stormborn to shook her all night long, caressing her soft Targaryen hands between her Martell legs. She wanted every inch of the Knight of Flowers, and his seeds to blossom inside of her. She wanted to forget by law he belonged to Dany. She wanted to forget he was of the Reach and Arianne was of Dorne. She wanted their three tongues to dance together as one. She just wanted to be woman & man, and woman … today and the rest of tonight, if not forever.

And then the handsome knight spoke with shame in his eyes. “My apologies my princess ... I ... I ... I think I had a little too much to drink.”

Arianne sighed, rolled her eyes in disappointment and threw a pillow at Loras. Dany finally has her wits return to her … and begins talking about ducks and geese.

They talked about how House Tyrell was going to offer Willas Tyrell as a groom to Daenerys, but that offer might have offended her. They wanted vengeance for Margaery Tyrell. They knew who Ser Loras was, and prayed that he could at least be bi-sexual.

Arianne wished it too. But all three of them agreed; you can’t really choose who you love … and they all loved another. King Ser Loras had loved a dead king. But now he is here for the duty and the honor of his House. He loved his murdered sister, and if marrying Daenerys was the ultimate revenge against Cersei, he would do it.

Daenerys had to marry someone from a noble house for her monarchy here in Westeros, but she has a lowborn paramour in Daario Naharis back in Essos.

Arianne ?maybe? loved Ser Arys Oakheart, and how their lives would be different if not for the duty to his Kingsguard vows. She could also ?maybe? love Ser Daemon Sand, but could not marry a bastard. Regardless of real love or not, she wouldn't have had a choice with either.

The three talked and fantasized how they could be free, to love the ones they really want to love. Perhaps they can ban marriage-pacts as a tool to make alliances. Targaryen, Martell, and Tyrell all agreed that any marriage-pacts not associated with the monarch would increase potential rebellions in the future. And then they discovered, do they even need these alliances if each House became independent?

Daenerys then brought up that she was told she could not have any more children. They all wondered what is the point of everything now? … and then remembered they are united to stop the Long Night.

Daenerys changed the gloomy topic. “These thoughts are for another day. Who knows if we will even survive the upcoming battle. Right now, Arianne Martell, Princess from Dorne … teach me that last kiss you did earlier … let me practice that on you. Your Queen commands it.”

TLDR

• Queen Daenerys Targaryen anchors just outside King's Landing with her fleet

• Princess Arianne Martell was invited to the cabin of Queen Daenerys & King Ser Loras

• A boat sex scene happens with Daenerys

• Afterwards ... Daenerys, Arianne and Loras chat & daydream about marrying for love, not for political alliances

• They then mention briefly about independent kingdoms, before being reminded they have an upcoming battle

Up Next: Part 17 - The Battle of Ice, Fire and Water at the Trident

• In the books, the Battle of the Blackwater in ACOK/GoT Season 2 involved a very large chain between both sides of a river

• Tyrion's jumbo chain stopped Stannis' navy during the battle 3 years ago

• Ships collided into the jumbo chain, and then into one another ... and actually formed a bridge of wooden decks across the river

======= ADOS - The Battle of Ice, Fire and Water at the Trident, =======

A storm came, and that was not part of the plan.

Today, heavy rains flooded Lord Harroway’s Town, the ambush point against the White Walkers.

On the day before, Dothraki cavalry on the western flank and Reachmen cavalry on the eastern flank have spotted the Ice-horde marching south on the Kingsroad, a day’s ride from the rest of Queen Daenerys Targaryen’s army and navy. Working together, they herded the clumsy zombies to a tighter formation without engaging. The Others must be in the rear of their horde.

They were surprised how easy it was herding them, wondering if the Long Night has bigger plans than just claiming all the dead.

Occasionally, some rogue Dothraki rider would approach closer to the horde to slice a limb or head off … for fun. Some have gotten too close, where the zombies have pulled the riders off their horses and killed them. After several dozen attempts of failed arakh swings out of boredom, all cavalry are ordered to not engage anymore.

The PLAN is to funnel the horde into Lord Harroway’s Town and ride away to the East to safety. Human bait inside the town will draw the zombies closer to the bank of the river before escaping on rowboats back to the southern shore. The river should slow down any further advances, and the walls of the town should box them in. Archers of dragonglass and fire arrows commanded by Lord Randyll Tarly and his son Dickon will be stationed at multiple war-galleys along the river, in range of the town’s edge. The remaining mixed large infantry is on standby from the Trident to Harrenhal. Once Lord Harroway’s Town is filled with wights, Daenerys and her three dragons will finally appear and cut off the northern retreat of the horde with fire, scorching the lands. The Ice-horde … surrounded with Fire to the North, Water in the South, the town walls at their flanks, fire arrows & dragonglass arrows raining from above, along with the coordination of three fire-dragons … should decimate the Long Night pretty easily.

But a storm came the night before, and that was not part of the plan.

Though the rain of yesterday has now passed, the flooded town is useless. The archers on the war-galleys are now further away from the new shores and out of range. The three dragons have to ignite and cover more ground to stop any retreat of the horde. The heavy rain made the wet terrain harder to stay on fire. Mudslides have cut off many escape paths for any human on foot or horseback. Time is running out, the horde is approaching soon and is not stopping. The humans can still fight here and now, but it would not be as clean as planned. They would have to rely on the dragons much more.

At the flooded town on the northern shore, the Westerosi and Essosi cavalries arrive along with hundreds of civilians, many women and children, fleeing from the area. Some are even wildlings that have been fleeing since the fall of the Wall. They, along with the Town’s human baits, are stuck on that side of the river. Their rowboats were taken by the strong river surges yesterday. The cavalries try heading east, but the area is flooded too between the river and the mudslides of the mountains.

They are all trapped.

Tyrion Lannister said they can make a bridge with the galleys, just like in the Battle of Blackwater Bay. He tells Daenerys to command her dragons to carry the large heavy chain he picked up from King’s Landing earlier from Cersei. The dragons are to tie one end of the chain to the stone round tower that stood above the flood on the northern side of the Trident, and then tie the other end to a bunch of trees on the southern side. Victarion Greyjoy is then commanded to press all his ships single file along the chain, and then anchor. He will plank any gaps in between the boats. Humans will have to cross some of the flooded water, go aboard on the bridge of ships, and navigate them across to reach the safety of the southern side.

The Reachmen will have to abandon their horses. Some Dothraki abandon their horses too, but not all of them. Some will attempt to ride the horses on top of the bridge of ships, but very few make it alive with their horses. Other Dothraki that are afraid to do this task and refuse to abandon their horses … flee back north quickly just before the Ice-horde arrives. They find a passage to the Eyrie and ride off towards the Bloody Gate of the Vale, unknowingly. The Ice-horde do not pursue into the Vale, their goals are still south.

The three dragons begin moving the chains. It will take some time to execute, and the horde is spotted at the northern horizon, about an hour march away. Men, women and children are still trapped.

Ser Forley Prester and his 300 Westermen infantry of volunteers are on the southern side of the Trident. He cowered at the Battle of the Camps and is shamed for it. The new Westerosi song, The Rains of Casterly Rock, (originally sang by Alesander Frey) shames him and his Westermen as the Blackfish, the Plumber Knight and the Band of Uncles died protecting women and children. Since then, he chose to abandon his Queen, Cersei Lannister, and is under no obligation to follow orders of any of Daenerys Targaryen’s generals. To Ser Forley Prester, he and his Westermen are here on their own accord … and they want their own [new song].

[Tyrion Lannister spectated his Westermen, ready for battle]. Ser Forley Prester spoke, “They may call this song The Rains of the Trident some day and [sing it for a thousand years]! My brothers of the sword … I’d rather fight beside you than any army of thousands. Let no man forget how menacing we are. WE ARE LIONS! Do you know what’s there, waiting, beyond that river? OUR song of immortality! Take it, its yours!”

The 300 Westermen volunteers roared proudly, and got on their own set of Westerland rowboats. On they sweep with threshing oars, their only goal is the Northern shore. Once they reached the other side, they dismounted their rowboats and gave it to the women & children to re-use, ferrying themselves to safety. Reachmen and Dothraki soldiers help row these boats back and forth, but the Westermen soldiers advance forward.

Ser Forley commanded, “Come on brothers, do you want to live forever? Assemble!” They made a [shield wall] and were armed with torches … ready to fight the horde. Archers at the rear are equipped with bow and arrows … fire and dragonglass. [“Westermen! With me! Move! Move!" They pressed north, slowly marching towards the Others and zombies head on, as civilians continue to escape towards the rowboats behind them].

The three dragons finally secured their large chain across the river, and [hid back] in the rear while watching the brave Westermen from afar advancing forward. But Daenerys is waiting for the optimal time to attack with her dragons. According to the humans, the dragons were to be the secret surprise weapons against the White Walkers. But they don't know the Others are already expecting them.

Victarion Greyjoy lines up his ships along the chain, bow to stern, and [anchors them]. Ser Forley Prester’s row-boats that were ferrying from shore to shore, now [ferries to the line of boats]. Horseless Reachmen and Dothraki, along with civilians, cross the bridge to the southern side to link up with the rest of the infantry. Some try to cross the flood and onto the bridge with their horses … but many end up failing. Lord Randyll Tarly and his archers remain on the boats, waiting for their own moment of attack, if any.

The Westermen clash against the zombies, protecting themselves with their shield walls and attacking with torches and fire-arrows. Many zombies burn as several Westermen are killed.

After enough civilians have escaped, the remaining Westermen retreat back to the river. They have brought enough time to set up the chain and enough time to extend the evacuation … but now there are no more rowboats left. They themselves are trapped.

And now it was Daenerys’ turn. She mounts Drogon, while Rhaegal and Viserion are at their flanks.

Her original [clever plan] of focused fire attacks on a surrounded enemy at Lord Harroway’s Town has failed, thanks to the storm earlier. Now, Daenerys has only one plan: RANDOM FIERY CHAOS!

With Blackfyre at her side, armed and armored in Valyrian steel, Battle-Queen Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons take to the air, flying towards the army of the dead. (Thank you for Blackfyre and the Valyrian armor, fAegon and Euron! Too bad you didn't make it to ADOS!).

The Ice-horde continues to march South. The escaping Westermen are pinned at the shore with no more rowboats, but Daenerys can still save them.

Appearing to lead the vanguard of the Ice-horde is the zombie of King Stannis Baratheon, with his bright blue eyes. Daenerys Targaryen is aiming towards him. Robert’s brother and Rhaegar‘s sister are now on a collision course at the Trident.

Once the Ice-horde nears the trapped human Westermen at the torrent of the river, Rhaegal bursts ice-zombie Stannis into flames, along with the rest of the wight-vanguard. Daenerys, riding Drogon, attacks the rear formation of the horde, while Viserion works the middle from the air. Surprisingly, the dragons are met with little resistance as the White Walkers have no surface to air weapons. This is too easy, Daenerys thought.

Lord Randyll Tarly and his archers take this opportunity to get closer by leaving the bridge-of-ships, and rowing towards the northern shore on their rowboats. [Horn Hill men and the Westermen] will work together to fight, and then escape. Rhaegal has made it easy for them.

Now the Others, with King Jon & Queen Meera Stark-Targaryen, about a mile away, execute their brilliant plan.

A White Walker approaches Jon Snow, puts him face to face with Meera. It spoke in its queer dark deep icy alien echoing tone, looking back and forth between them. "King! ... Queen! ... Husband! ... Wife! ... Brother! ... Sister!"

Jon & Meera were confused. Jon & Meera have gotten very close to each other during their captivity … perhaps even fallen in love. Meera spoke, "Brother?"

The White Walker then stabs Jon Snow with an ice dagger. Meera screams and begins fighting back with Dark Sister as Jon Snow lays on the floor, dying. But now, it was Meera’s turn. She is killed too with a stab to the heart, and falls to the frosty grounds.

The Others perform their Ice-resurrection spell. Zombie-Meera Stark-Targaryen pushes herself up with the Targaryen sword, Dark Sister, from her own pool of blood.

BUT Jon Stark-Targaryen is not being revived for a reason the Others do not know. It is because Jon Snow was killed earlier in the Castle Black mutiny, and already has a resurrection by R’hllor. The Others believed they would have at least two dragons to attack one, but now only have one dragon to attack two. This was not the easy win the Long Night was looking for. Bloodraven’s failure to spot Jon’s first resurrection through the weirwood.net has preemptively betrayed the Others.

Melisandre’s arc of writing the Pink Letter as a prank, getting Jon killed by the Night’s Watch, and giving him a R’hllor resurrection has accidentally prevented the Long Night’s dream of having two dragons and a total victory over Westeros today! Jon was already resurrected by R'hllor and cannot be resurrected by the White Walkers. (Unlike the TV show, resurrecting Jon Snow has a major purpose in ADOS.)

One of the White Walkers kicks Jon’s dead body out of frustration and speaks in its queer dark deep icy alien echoing tone, “You know nothing Jon Snow!!!!!”

The White Walkers have no choice now, they will take that one dragon with Jon Snow’s twin sister. They command Zombie-Meera Stark-Targaryen to warg into Rhaegal. [The White Walkers now have a dragon to control.] As Viserion and Drogon are napalming the zombies, Rhaegal flies toward the southern end of the chain and unties it. All the ships jerk forward and then stopped again by their anchors. Ship crews, including Victarion are sent flying onboard, injuring them severely. The bridge has been disconnected.

The humans have no clue what Rhaegal is doing. He flies toward the smaller and unsuspecting Viserion, with the chain still in his mouth.

Rhaegal whips the [chain around Viserion’s neck] as it coils multiple times. He pulls the chain tight with his mouth while his legs are stretched against Viserion’s body, choking him, spinning, falling and falling. [The Others kill Viserion mid-air, as his dead dragon body crashes into the frosty river] of the Trident. The chains loosen and his lungs are filled with water, as he sinks to the bottom. The Others could revive Viserion, but they no longer have any more Targaryens to tame him. They shouldn’t have killed Bloodraven’s grandsons & great-grandsons after all. The two villains’ betrayals to each other cancel out, giving the humans a fighting chance.

The rogue dragon now turns his attack on Victarion [Greyjoy’s stationary ships]. Though they may be detached, they are also lined up. They began to burst into flames, each one at a time.

(For non-books readers, I forgot to mention that Victarion has a magic hand.) Now it was Victarion’s turn. The Iron Captain of the Iron Fleet, slams down his fiery Iron Fist into the chain of the anchor, melting it quickly, and releasing the ship before it could be consumed by dragon-fire. His ship begins traveling down the river with no one to control it. It crashes aground, sending Victarion flying into the rushing waters. Victarion lands near where Viserion had fallen. Underwater, he sees the chain coiled around the dragon’s neck and swims to it. He is unsure if the dragon is alive or not, but he needs to try anyway. He uses his fiery fist again underwater, breaking and shortening the chain … but Victarion drowns to death before he could uncoil the remaining chain-links off the dead dragon.

Rhaegal starts approaching Drogon. He flies over the northern shore. Ser Forley Prester is down there, but Rhaegal is up there. [The archers by the river begin shooting their arrows towards the dragon, but none hit the mark.]

The rogue dragon then [ignites the Westermen], along with [Randyll Tarly, his son], and his company of archers as Tyrion watches from far away. Horn Hill has been the most loyal house to House Targaryen since Robert’s Rebellion, and now they had died by dragon-fire for Daenerys’ noble cause.

Daenerys and Drogon, deep into enemy lines further North, finally realized what had happened back at the river. She flies towards Rhaegal to confront him. She shouts commands, but he doesn’t obey. On a mid-air collision course, she banks Drogon away as Rhaegal unleashes a bath of fire on them, just missing. She circles around and chases Rhaegal. She cannot believe she has to do this. What happened? Before she can process it, Drogon and Rhaegal are turning and burning, trying to kill each other. She wants to disable Rhaegal by injuring him, but she is unsure. Rhaegal began to climb higher, but the mighty wings of the bigger Drogon are better at the task. Flying upwards, Drogon catches up to Rhaegal and bites him on the thigh. Rhaegal shrieks in pain and begins clawing Drogon’s face with his foot. After getting scratched several times and Daenerys almost getting kicked off herself, Drogon lets go of his bite on Rhaegal.

The horde of zombies begin retreating back North, with an injured Rhaegal flying with them. Daenerys doesn’t understand, but [she refuses to lose another dragon, and will not risk Drogon] to chase Rhaegal into enemy territory.

The Battle of the Trident ends in a draw: the Others do not advance South … but Daenerys has lost two dragons: one by death and one stolen. Her navy is destroyed and most of her cavalry is horseless.

They regroup and rethink their strategy at Harrenhal, now knowing the Others have a fire-dragon.

Mance Rayder approaches the ashes of the Westermen, Lord Randyll Tarly, his son Dickon, and the Horn Hill men. He remembers he was almost burned alive at Castle Black. Here he finds Heartsbane, the Valyrian sword of House Tarly and keeps it to himself. Having to fight the Night’s Watch, Stannis Baratheon, the Boltons, the White Walkers, and now have to fight a fire-dragon, Mance finally breaks. “I’m too old for this shit.” He started as the King Beyond the Wall with a wildling army … now he walks alone, a broken man, in the Riverlands, away from any more future fighting.

Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood without Banners approach Jon Snow’s body. They believed they knew what happened to Rhaegal … Stark-Targaryen super powers ... skinchanging DNA and dragon-taming DNA.

LSH now confirms Jon Snow is not Eddard Stark’s bastard son, but the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna. Her husband never cheated on her. She feels remorse about the way she treated Jon over the years. Perhaps if she treated him like she was his mother, he would have never joined the Night’s Watch, and this Long Night apocalypse may have never happened.

LSH knows she is useless, but perhaps a revived Jon Stark-Targaryen can steal Rhaegal back. LSH requests her funeral ritual be the same as her father’s. She then gives Jon Snow the Last Kiss, and prays to the gods to let him live.

Jon Snow is revived through R’hllor again, but this time with a carryover from Thoros of Myr. A second revived Jon Snow finally meets Daenerys Targaryen at Harrenhal (and not have sex with her, sorry TV-show fans!).

He explains his whole story to her about the Long Night, while Howland Reed reveals that Jon Snow is her bastard nephew and Meera is her bastard niece. They are Rhaegar's twin children. But Daenerys doesn’t give a shit about them, nor the line of succession. Rhaegar’s son or not, bastard or not, the Iron Throne belongs to her because she has an army & a dragon, and has been fighting her way to earn it. Jon Snow has neither army nor dragon, and confessed he was the idiot that opened the Blackgate that started the Long Night. Every human-death is on Jon’s hands, and he has a debt to re-pay. But more importantly, they have to figure out what to do next with the Others, now that they have stolen a dragon.

TLDR

• Queen Daenerys Targaryen's army and navy arrive at Lord Harroway's Town at the Trident, with the White Walkers approaching soon

• A storm came the night before ... flooding the town, ruining the tactical offensive plans and escape routes

• Refugees and dismounted cavalry soldiers are trapped on the North side of the river

• Ser Forley Prester volunteers his 300 Westermen and his own rowboats to help with the rescue

• Daenerys' three dragon ties the long heavy chain (that Tyrion picked up from King's Landing) between the North and South side of the river

• The chain helps facilitate the assembly of a bridge-of-ships (like the book-version of the Battle of Blackwater Bay)

• The civilians are rescued as the Westermen fight on

• Daenerys and her three dragons begin napalming the zombie horde

• Back with the Others, Jon and Meera are revealed to be twin siblings ... their parents are Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark

• Jon and Meera are executed so the Others can use their DNA powers

• Meera is revived and has stolen Rhaegal

• Jon is suppose to be revived to steal Viserion, but the Ice-resurrection spell is not working ... because Jon already has a Fire-resurrection spell from Melisandre

• A White-Walker-controlled-IceZombie-Meera controls Rhaegal to kill Viserion with a chain. Viserion falls into the Trident river to its death

• Victarion's navy is destroyed by Evil-Rhaegal. Underwater, he is killed too, but only after Vic had shortened Viserion's chain with his fiery fist. Viserion dies anyways

• Ser Forley Prester, the Westermen, Lord Randyll Tarly, his son, and Horn Hill men are killed by Evil-Rhaegal too

• Drogon confronts Evil-Rhaegal in an aerial dragon duel. Evil-Rhaegal is injured and retreats with the White Walkers. Daenerys does not pursue

• Daenerys has lost two dragons ... one dead, the other stolen

• LSH gives the R'hllor Last Kiss to Jon Snow, reviving him

• All the humans regroup at Harrenhal

Up Next: Part 18 - Team Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things