A Clash of Kings
Categories: [ Books/Song of Ice and Fire ]
Multiple parallel story trails:
- Renly and Stannis Baratheon both want to be king. Stannis is the eldest, but the people prefer Renly. Stannis has changed religion, now following the God of Light, whose priestess seems to be a sorceress; she manages to get Renly killed by a shadow. Most of Renly's followers join Stannis's ranks. They march to attak King's Landing.
- Tyrion is asked to replace his father as Hand of the King. Cersei doesn't like it and does her best to make his life difficult. Tyrion tries to organize the defense of King's landing, waiting for the attack by Stannis Baratheon. Joffrey's little brother and sister are sent away to safety. Stannis loses the battle thanks the help of Tywin Lannister who arrives just in time. Tyrion is severly wounded during the battle by a knight probably following Cersei's orders.
- Sansa saves a drunken knight from death by suggesting to make him a fool. He swears to help her escape King's Landing. When Joffrey breaks their betrothal to wed the widow of Renly Baratheon, the knight suggest they would escape the next month, during the wedding.
- Theon Greyjoy, son of the king of the Iron islands, returns to his place after ten years as “hostage” of the Starks (who treated him well). He wants his revenge, especially since his father doesn't trust him anymore. When sent by his father to attack coastal cities (while his sister gets a much more interesting assigment), he decides to sail to Winterfell, the castle of the Starks, and take it. When Bran and Rickon escape and Theon is unable to recover them, he fakes their deaths. Later, the people he hoped would help him take control of the region betray him, kill him and burn Winterfell.
- Arya: taken by a recruiter for the Wall who recognizes her as Ned Stark's daughter, she is travelling north with other recruits (and prisoners). During the journey they are almost all killed by soldiers who clean the country of opposants to the Lannisters. Only a handful escape, including Arya, some of them die of their wounds, and they end up at Harrenhal as servants. After learning that her brothers Bran and Rickon have been killed, she decides to escape with two of her companions.
- Danerys is looking for ships to go back to the mainland and take back her kingdom. Everybody she meets is interesing in her dragons, but not really in giving her ships. Eventually she meets two envoys of an accointance of her who sems willing to give her ships.
- Jon Snow and many other Black Brothers are ranging beyond the wall, to find out what happened to the rangers who disappeard, and also to understand where all the wildling villagers are gone. They discover that a renegade Brother, Mance Rayden plans to break the wall and invade the Seven Kingdoms. Snow and his companion are taken by a group of wildlings; Jon's superior orders him to pretend to want to defect in order to become a mole among the wildlings.