Directed By: Alex Graves / Written By: Bryan Cogman

Original Airdate: April 28, 2013

At Harrenhal, Brienne and Jaime Lannister are delivered to Roose Bolton where Jaime has his wounds treated. In the Riverlands, Sandor Clegane engages in mortal combat but succeeds in gaining his freedom, much to Arya Stark's annoyance. At King's Landing, Cersei begins plotting against House Tyrell and seeks Littlefinger's assistance while Tywin Lannister has become aware of the Tyrells’ plans to have Sansa Stark marry Loras Tyrell. At Riverrun, Robb Stark deals with the murderers of Tywin’s young nephews as tensions rise against Rickard Karstark. North of the Wall, Jon Snow and Ygritte become lovers and across the Narrow Sea, after a sweeping victory in Astapor, Daenerys Targaryen is on the move to the next slave city with her army of Unsullied soldiers.

main cast

slaver’s bay

In Slaver's Bay, Daenerys Targaryen's new army of freed Unsullied, having just sacked Astapor, head north to the next of the three great slaver-cities, Yunkai. On horseback, Ser Jorah Mormont recounts to Ser Barristan Selmy how he was knighted at the end of the Greyjoy Rebellion, in which they both fought. Jorah and Barristan then discuss the late King Robert Baratheon and both agree that he was an unfit ruler. Their discussion then turns towards Daenerys as Jorah insists that Barristan can believe in her. Meanwhile, Daenerys and her new aide Missandei meet with the assembled officers of the Unsullied. Their chosen leader introduces himself as his slave name "Grey Worm". Daenerys issues the command that all Unsullied must choose their own new names as free men, or reclaim the names their parents gave them. The Unsullied commander says that he will continue to be known as "Grey Worm". His original name is accursed, because it was the name he had when he was taken as a slave, but "Grey Worm" is now considered a lucky name he will bear with pride, because it is the name he had when he was set free. Daenerys is deeply touched by his loyalty to her.

beyond the wall

On their way to the Wall, Jon Snow and Ygritte are gathering firewood, when the warg Orell asks him about the defenses of the Night's Watch. Orell has seen through the eyes of his eagle that there are patrols on top of the Wall and he wants to know how frequent they are. Jon says they usually sent out patrols in teams of four but that the frequency of their patrols often changes. Orell says the wildlings know there are nineteen castles along the south side of the Wall, but he wants to know how many are currently manned as Jon informs that only three are currently manned. Apart from Castle Black, there is also Eastwatch-by-the-Sea to the East and the Shadow Tower to the West. Jon is then asked how many men currently garrison Castle Black. Jon is very reluctant to answer, but after being threatened by Orell, he gives an exaggerated number, saying there are one thousand men (this is a lie, as Castle Black only had six hundred men before the great ranging, and the garrison now is closer to three hundred). Tormund Giantsbane tells Jon that he likes him, but if he is lying to them, he will rip his guts out through his throat. Despite this, Jon remains steadfast to the lie. Jon and Ygritte then walk away, but she steals his sword, making him chase her to get it back. Ygritte evenutally leads Jon into a nearby cave, which is heated by natural hot springs that form a waterfall and a pool. Ygritte starts disrobing, asserting that she wants to make sure Jon has truly come over to the wildlings' side and would break his Night's Watch vows by making him break his oath of celibacy with her. Ygritte quickly shucks off all of her clothes and walks up to him naked. Jon is very hesitant to break his vows, and very shy because he's never had sex before. Ygritte questions why he's still dressed, and they eventually start kissing. Jon continues to kiss down her body, as she insists that he has no experience and therefore "You know nothing, Jon Sn--" but stops mid-word as Jon starts performing oral sex on her. Some time after they finish having sex, the pair lie together in a naked embrace. Ygritte asks if "that thing you did with your mouth" is what lords do to their ladies in the south. However, Jon claims that she just seemed to like it when he kissed her there. He then admits that he's never had sex with anyone before and is "a maid," according to Ygritte. Her and Jon then slide into the hot springs pool to take a bath together and they continue passiontately kissing. Ygritte tells him she wishes they could stay in this cave forever instead of having to leave and face the winter, face the wars, and face the monsters outside.

riverrun

At Riverrun, the young prisoners Martyn and Willem Lannister awake to hear shouting and fighting outside the door to their cell. Lord Rickard Karstark fights his way into the room with some of his own men and has both squires killed. Afterwards, Rickard has the corpses laid out on the floor in front of Robb Stark in the castle’s meeting room. Robb is disgusted, remarking that Karstark needed five men to brutally murder two unarmed squires. Rickard insists that it was a father's vengeance as Robb then points out that these boys had nothing to do with the death of his sons, who were both killed by Jaime Lannister. Brynden Tully then punches Karstark but Robb tells him to leave him alone. Rickard has lost faith in Robb, saying the King in the North will just give him a scolding, though he should probably call him "the King Who Lost the North" after he allowed Winterfell to fall. Robb then orders all of Karstark's men hanged, however, Catelyn Stark and his wife Talisa Maegyr warn him that the Rickard’s men will abandon his cause and return home if he executes their lord, and they are already badly outnumbered. However, Robb ignores their pleas, and he has Karstark brought out to the courtyard to be executed during a driving rainstorm. Rickard points out that the Starks and Karstarks are kin as Robb says that their blood relationship did not stop Rickard from betraying him and won't stop Robb from executing him now. Rickard says it isn't meant to stop Robb: he wants it to haunt Robb until the day he dies. With his last words, Rickard says that Robb will be cursed as a kinslayer and that Robb is no king of his. Obedient to the laws of his father Eddard Stark who said that the man who passes the sentence must swing the sword, Robb pronounces the sentence of death and personally beheads Lord Rickard himself.

Later on, as predicted, House Karstark end up withdrawing their soldiers from Robb’s army and he openly admits to Talisa that she was right. Eyeing the map with his wife, Robb claims that his only remaining option left is to strike where his enemy is weakest. Robb declares that now with the main Lannister army, led by Tywin Lannister, currently positioned all the way to the east in King's Landing, he needs to return to the Westerlands and make an all-or-nothing assault against Casterly Rock. He explains to Talisa that the attack on the ancestral Lannister castle will bring momentum back to his army. However, with the loss of the Karstark forces, they don't currently have enough men to consider the attack. The only way they can gain enough soldiers is if Robb can win back the allegiance of House Frey, whose thousands of soldiers withdrew from Robb's army when he broke his promise to make a marriage-alliance with them by marrying Talisa instead of one of Walder Frey's daughters. Thus, Robb must try to repair his alliance with House Frey.

harrenhal

Upon arriving at Harrenhal, Locke presents the captive Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth to the Northern castellan, Lord Roose Bolton, who is disgruntled that Locke maimed such a valuable hostage. Roose orders accommodation to be provided for the prisoners and calls for Qyburn to attend to Jaime's injuries. Later, Qyburn peels away the tourniquet and finds that the stump of his right hand has become badly infected. Jaime then notices that Qyburn is not a  maester, because he isn't wearing a chain of office. Qyburn acknowledges this, explaining that he was stripped of his chain by the Citadel and thrown out of the Order of Maesters, because as he says, he was conducting experiments which they felt were too bold. Qyburn begins to dig into the stump of Jaime's arm to cut out the gangrenous tissue, and Jaime howls in agony.

Some time later, Brienne is in Harrenhal's bathhouse when Jaime appears in the doorway, barely able to stand. He manages to walk into the same communal bath as Brienne. She angrily points out that there are other baths but Jaime notes that Brienne has the same look on her face that he's seen countless times: people that call him "kingslayer" or "oathbreaker". Jaime then goes on to recall the Mad King Aerys Targaryen’s obsession with wildfire and that after Robert Baratheon’s victory during Robert’s Rebellion he begged Aerys to surrender. Aerys instead ordered Jaime to bring him his father Tywin’s head as after the rebellion the Mad King felt his Hand had failed him. Aerys then instructed his pyromancer to set the city ablaze, burning its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants with wildfire. Jaime makes it plain to Brienne that was his breaking point and asks her what she would do if her precious Renly Baratheon commanded her to kill her own father and then stand by and do nothing as he murdered thousands of innocent people. Jaime then tells a shocked Brienne that he drove his sword into Aerys' back and then slit his throat, concluding that Eddard Stark found him at that point. Jaime angrily rants that Stark didn't want to hear Jaime's side of the story when he'd already judged him guilty and argues what right the wolf dares to judge the lion. The strain of recounting his harrowing tale overcomes Jaime and he begins to faint, nearly falling face-first into the water. Brienne catches him and calls for help for the Kingslayer, at which, as he slips out of consciousness, whimpers "Jaime. My name is Jaime..."

hollow hill

At Hollow Hill, the headquarters to the Brotherhood Without Banners in the Riverlands, Sandor Clegane and Beric Dondarrion prepare for their fight as Thoros of Myr prays to the Lord of Light to judge Sandor for his crimes if he is guilty or give strength to his sword if he is innocent. Before the fight begins, Beric calls upon the Lord of Light to ignite his sword with flame. Due to the Sandor's fear of fire, Beric initially has an advantage against the Hound. Beric even manages to set Sandor's wooden shield on fire, which is strapped so tightly to Sandor's arm that he cannot remove it and is nearly burned himself. Eventually, however, Sandor's raw physical strength and anger overpowers Beric, and with a single downward swipe deep into his shoulder, killing him. As Beric falls to the ground, Thoros quickly rushes to his side, and begins praying. Sandor falls to the ground to try extinguishing his shield. Arya Stark then grabs a dagger and attempts to kill the Hound while he is down, but she is stopped by Gendry. As she curses him, Sandor taunts Arya over how the god prefers him over her dead friend, however they are both interrupted by Beric, who has been revived by the Lord of Light's power. Having won the trial, and proven his innocence in the eyes of god, Sandor is allowed to leave and is hooded so he won't know the way back to their hideout, then led away to be released some distance away.

Following the fight, Gendry informs Arya that he has decided to stay at Hollow Hill and work as a smith for the Brotherhood. Arya states that their plan was to find her brother Robb, however, Gendry points out that he has no attachments to her brother, whom he’d be serving. Gendry explains that while he’d be serving in the Brotherhood as well, they chose Beric as their leader, and they're more like a family, something Gendry has never had. Arya sadly chokes out that she could be his family. In response, Gendry politely but firmly points out that the class differences between them mean that if he goes back with her, they'd never be family. Afterwards, at the campfire, Thoros says that they plan to bring her to Riverrun to reunite her with her family, and in exchange for a reward from Robb to fund their cause. Arya then asks why Beric would want to let Sandor go when he nearly killed him, but Beric insists that he did actually kill him. Beric opens his shirt to reveal several grievous scars on his torso: they explain that Beric has actually died and then been brought back to life six times now. Arya earnestly asks Thoros if he could bring back to life a man without a head. Beric consoles her that her father Eddard was a good man, but he wouldn't wish his resurrected life on him. Beric explains that being brought back from the dead carries a heavy toll, as pieces of his memory chip away each time. Arya still says she would wish Beric's life on her father, because at least Beric is still alive.

dragonstone

Meanwhile, at Dragonstone, King Stannis Baratheon takes the time to visit his wife, Queen  Selyse Baratheon, for the first time since returning from battle. Stannis and Selyse do not have a loving relationship, but she reveres and is in awe of him as her king. Due to his extreme belief in duty, Stannis is shaken by the fact that he broke his marriage vows to Selyse when he had sex with Melisandre in order to create the shadow creature that killed his brother Renly. He begins to confess to Selyse that he has shamed her, but she interrupts him and informs that Melisandre already told her everything - and that no act done in service of the Lord of Light can be a sin. A fanatical believer, Selyse confesses that she wept for joy at the news because Melisandre gave him a "son" (of sorts), which she herself has never been able to. Selyse walks over to a corner of her chamber where she keeps her stillborn corpses preserved in glass jars. While weeping, she laments that she has given Stannis nothing, but with pity he declares that this is not true. Selyse understands that he is referring to their daughter and only child, Princess Shireen Baratheon, whom Selyse views as nothing more than a distraction to their cause.

Some time later, Shireen is alone in her room when Stannis enters. A cheerful and intelligent but sickly young girl who is badly disfigured by greyscale, which she caught as an infant. Normally considered a death sentence, Stannis refused to give up on her and called in every healer he could find to try to cure her from greyscale, and through the combination of their efforts they managed to succeed, though the left side of her face was left permanently scarred. Shireen is let-down by Stannis’ loss in the capital, then asks if  Davos Seaworth has returned from battle with him, as she considers Davos her friend. Growing tense over their falling out, Stannis briefly explains that Davos is a traitor and is rotting in the dungeon. Later that evening, Shireen sneaks down to the dungeons of Dragonstone and finds Davos’ cell. He asserts that she shouldn't be there, while she then queries if it is true that he is a traitor to which he confirms his betrayal. Shireen was worried that he must get bored down in his cell, so she brought him a book to read, about Aegon the Conquer  and his dragons. When Davos reluctantly explains that it's wasted on him, because he doesn't know how to read, Shireen offers to teach him how to read. Davos chides her that they can't, but she asks what's the worst the guards could do to them if they find out, lock them in cells? They have a quiet laugh, and Shireen starts to read to Davos.

king’s landing

In King's Landing, Cersei Lannister encounters Petyr Baelish in a courtyard, and tells him she fears that the Tyrells do not have the Lannisters' best interests at heart, but her father Tywin won't listen. Therefore, she asks that Littlefinger use his spies to try to find out what they're up to, because he has a good working relationship with them after brokering the Lannister-Tyrell alliance. He agrees, but Cersei warns him that this had better produce more results than when she previously asked him to find Arya Stark, but the girl could not be found. Meanwhile, the new Master of Coin, Tyrion Lannister, is engaged in a meeting with Lady Olenna Tyrell, as the upcoming royal wedding is shaping up to be an extravagant and expensive affair. While Tyrion is concerned with the cost of the event, Olenna is bored to discuss financial matters, however, she quickly lists off specific details of the soldiers and supplies the Tyrells have been providing to the crown in order to aid them during the war effort. This quickly demonstrates to Tyrion that he doesn't need to lecture Olenna about wartime expenses. She insists that the royal wedding must go on as planned, as it will do much to improve the city's morale and keep the people happy, otherwise they will start blaming the Lannisters for the war again. Tyrion cannot outmaneuver Olenna, but in the end she decides on her own that she won't have it said House Tyrell isn't doing its part to help, so she agrees to pay for half the cost of the festivities, for which Tyrion is grateful.

Some time later, Sansa Stark and Margaery Tyrell watch her brother Loras  Tyrell spar in the gardens with his new squire Olyvar, whom seems to be vying for his affection. Sansa is skeptical that King Joffrey will let her go but Margaery is confident he will do it to please her, once she is his wife. After the match, Ser Loras sleeps with his squire Olyvar in his chambers. As they finish, Loras mentions that he is engaged to be married... a fact that Olyvar passes on to his real master, Littlefinger, so he can pass the information on to Cersei. Afterwards, Littlefinger meets with Sansa, offering her a place on his ship that will travel to the Vale of Arryn. Sansa practices lying for a change, and tells him that they should wait until after Joffrey's wedding, primarily because she fears for his safety if the plan fails. A master manipulator, Littlefinger is clearly suspicious of her motives, but doesn't press the matter for the moment.

Tyrion then heads to the small council chamber to report success to his father Tywin, only to find Cersei present as well, much to his annoyance. Tywin explains that the Tyrells are plotting to wed Sansa to Ser Loras and states that he will not allow them to steal "the key to the North" out from under him. Tyrion questions how Sansa is the key to the North as Tywin explains that King Robb’s days are numbered and Theon Greyjoy murdered Robb's younger brothers at Winterfell, which makes Sansa the heir to the North. Tywin then insists that he has no intention of letting the Tyrells get the upper-hand on this arrangement. He also notes that the Tyrells won't go through with their plan until after Joffrey's wedding, which means they need to act first, by finding Sansa another husband. When Tyrion realizes his father is implying that he will marry Sansa, Tyrion protests but Tywin asserts that, as heiress to the North, Sansa is a far better reward for Tyrion’s efforts at the Battle of the Blackwater than he could ever expect. Cersei gloats over the matter, but her smug attitude quickly evaporates when her father commands that she will wed Ser Loras instead of Sansa. Cersei flatly refuses, but Tywin is insistent: the marriages of Cersei and Tyrion will place the North and the Reach firmly in the Lannisters' control. He adds that her marriage to Ser Loras will also put an end to what Tywin calls "the disgusting rumors" being spread about her and Jaime’s incestuous relationship, as well as the parentage of Cersei’s children. Tywin refuses to listen to either of his children’s protests and storms out in disgust, raging that the pair have disgraced the Lannister name for far too long.

*Episode descriptions from GOT Wiki