The Clash of Kings (SPOLIERS BECAUSE DUH!!!!)
The War for Westeros is only getting more complicated, as the deceased King Robert Baratheon's two brothers each join his illegitimate son Joffrey in claiming the throne for themselves. The younger brother, Renly, is able to amass a huge army of followers thanks to marrying the daughter of the extremely wealthy and powerful House Tyrell of the Reach. Meanwhile, the King's other brother, Stannis, struggles to amass support to his cause as his brother, Joffrey and the Starks are all already entangled in war and seem uninterested in seeing him become King. Stannis is supported by only a few fiercely loyal men and a mysterious sorceress by the name of Melisandre, who promises her King that she has seen him be the Warrior of Light needed to fight away the darkness, while secretly swaying him over to the foreign religion of R'hllor, otherwise known as The Lord of Light.
After sending peace terms to the Lannisters in Court, Robb Stark is approached by his friend and his father's ward/hostage Theon Greyjoy about joining forces with the Greyjoys of the Iron Islands about attacking and taking the Lannister stronghold of Casterly Rock and is sent by Robb as an envoy. Despite his mother Catelyn's objections, Robb sticks to his decision as well as deciding to send his mother south to the Stormlands to negotiate with Renly Baratheon about joining forces to invade King's Landing and win the war. After Catelyn's departure, Robb begins making war plans to invade the Lannister domain.
Tyrion Lannister arrives in King's Landing with his own retinue of sell swords (mercenaries) and his lover Shae to take control of the kingdom away from Joffrey and Cersei on behalf of Lord Tywin Lannister. As he does, he immediately imprisons, exiles and blackmails the most disloyal and treacherous of Cersei's henchmen while preparing the city for a siege should either of Robert's brothers or the Starks choose to invade. While there, Tyrion manages to win the friendship of the Master of Whispers, Lord Varys, as well as the respect of Joffrey's betrothed hostage, Sansa Stark. Despite knowing that her father sent him, Cersei does her best to undermine and sabotage Tyrion's plans to keep the city and his family safe, her hatred of her little brother intensifying when he sends her daughter Myrcella to the safety of Dorne, a neutral kingdom that has no love for the Lannisters. Joffrey proves his vicious cruelty to everyone present by torturing Sansa in court because of the constant defeats her brother Robb keeps handing him, causing both Lord Petyr Baelish (AKA Littlefinger) and Joffrey's own personal protector Sandor Clegane (AKA The Hound) to sympathize with her.
Struggling through the deserts of Essos, Daenerys Targaryen, her newborn dragons and her followers arrive at the mysterious city of Qarth and are taken in by a merchant named Xaro Xhoan Daxos, who informs her of all the chaos in Westeros and encourages her to join forces with him and sail to Westeros and seize power now, though Ser Jorah preaches patience. While Dany contemplates her next move, Xaro betrays her by selling her dragons to the warlocks of the House of the Undying, prompting Dany and Jorah to go on a rescue mission. While there, Daenerys has a vision of her future and sees the Iron Throne in King's Landing as well as briefly reuniting with Drogo and their son. Daenerys is captured by the warlocks, who plan to use Dany and her dragons to restore their own magical powers, but the dragons burn the warlock Pyat Pree and free Dany from her shackles. Soon, Dany sacks Xaro's castle of all it's worth and imprisons him in an empty vault to die.
Upon arriving at the seat of House Greyjoy, Theon is ridiculed by his father and sister for being bought by the Starks and learns of his father's plans to invade the North and seize Stark lands to rebuild the once great Ironborn Empire. Despite his loyalty to Robb, Theon betrays the Starks and joins his family in their plan to pillage and raid the North in the hopes of succeeding his father as King of the Iron Islands. When he learns of his father's relatively menial plans for him, Theon decides to use an attack on a small town as a diversion so he can seize the unprotected Stark fortress of Winterfell and take both Bran and Rickon Stark as hostages. He accomplishes this and does his best to try and be loved by both sides, but cannot prevent the Stark Boys from fleeing with the aid of the Wildling Osha and losing Theon his most valuable hostages. Enraged, Theon burns two farm boys and makes it seem as if he has killed both Bran and Rickon, crippling House Stark.
Catelyn arrives at Renly's camp and is greeted warmly by the King. While there, she meets Renly's wife Lady Margaery Tyrell as well as Renly's fiercely loyal protector, Brienne of Tarth. After spending time as Renly's guest, Catelyn is present when both Baratheon brothers parley with one another in the hopes of ending their rivalry for the throne. But both believe they are better suited to be King and thus all hope for peace between the two ends. After sealing an alliance between the Starks and Baratheon/Tyrells on behalf of Robb, Catelyn witnesses a shadowy assassin slay Renly as he prepared for war and flees his camp with a devastated Brienne at her side. With Renly dead, Stannis manages to win the support of a good portion of his followers, though House Tyrell and the Reach forces Renly commanded refuse to submit to him and begin to flirt with the Lannisters. With an army and fleet at his back, Stannis sets his sights on King's Landing. Brienne vows to serve Catelyn, whom she has grown to care for and respect. Upon returning to Robb's camp, she learns of both Theon's betrayal and that Robb has become smitten with a medic from Essos named Talisa. Fearful for the safety of Sansa and Arya, Catelyn frees the captive Jaime Lannister and makes him vow to send her daughters home in exchange for his freedom. After he and Brienne vanish into the night, Robb has his mother confined to her tent and sends men to recapture Jaime as well as allowing his adviser Roose Bolton to write to his bastard son to raise an army to retake Winterfell.
Having escaped King's Landing with a brother of the Night's Watch, Arya is forced to disguise herself as a boy to avoid being harassed by other recruits while she is to be taken to Winterfell for safety. While on the road, she befriends King Robert's bastard son Gendry, who easily sees through her ruse. But a Lannister army attacks their caravan and kills the Night's Watch brother that was protecting her and captures the two, leading them to the "haunted" castle of Harrenhal. Tywin Lannister, who is currently in charge of Harrenhal, also sees through Arya's ruse and names her as his cupbearer (though he doesn't know who she actually was). While a prisoner and servant of the Lannisters, Arya encounters a mysterious warrior called Jaqen H'ghar, who demonstrates the power of people called "The Faceless Men" by helping her by assassinating Lannister thugs who were torturing her friends, though Arya fails to have him kill Tywin when she had the chance as Tywin leaves for war not very long afterwards. She uses Jaqen to help her, Gendry and another boy named Hot Pie to escape Harrenhal and is given a coin as well as a phrase in Valyrian: Valar Morghulis
Far beyond The Wall on their Great Ranging, Jon Snow, Samwell Tarly and their fellow brothers of The Night's Watch are investigating the disappearance of countless rangers and the rumors of an amassing army of wildlings that would invade Westeros from the North. Jon ultimately separates from his fellow brothers and takes part in a ranging with a famous ranger named Qhorin Halfhand and the two manage to subdue and capture a Wildling woman named Ygritte, whom Jon is smitten with. Unable to kill her, Jon releases her and tells her to run, which backfires when Ygritte returns with several more Wildlings and capture the two. In order to understand the Wildlings plans, Qhorin convinces Jon to pretend to betray the Night's Watch and serve as a spy among their ranks. In a staged duel, Jon kills Qhorin and is taken under the protection of Ygritte and brought to the camp of Wildlings, which numbers well over any numbers the Night's Watch could hope to have.
Meanwhile, Samwell and the other Night's Watch brothers uncover a burial that contains numerous weapons made of Obsidian (Dragon Glass they call it), that was hidden for some unknown purpose. But the group is soon scattered when they are beset by the White Walkers and an army of undead under their command, which presses on southward to wreak havoc on the rest of Westeros.
With his armies in tact and a fleet at his back, Stannis Baratheon lays siege to King's Landing, outnumbering the army in the city 5:1. But thanks to some quick thinking by Tyrion Lannister, half of Stannis's attacking forces are obliterated by exploding cannisters of "Wildfyre" set loose in the bay. In a gruesome and ugly battle, King Joffrey's reign is secured by a surprise attack courtesy of House Tyrell, who has recently allied with the Lannisters and decimated what remained of Stannis's army. Stannis retreats back to his fortress of Dragonstone. In honor of their newfound alliance, Joffrey sets aside his betrothal to Sansa and agrees to marry Margaery. Tyrion, despite his clever strategies being what delayed the invaders in time for his father and the Tyrells to arrive, receives no credit for his role in the battle and is stripped of all power upon his father's return to the capital.
Theon continues to lose support among his own men and the captives he keeps at Winterfell and is nearly driven to madness when Roose Bolton's bastard son arrives at the gates of the castle with a small army and constantly blows a warhorn to harass him. As Theon prepares to ride out in a suicide mission to fight the invaders, his men betray him and take him to the Boltons as a token of surrender. But the Boltons, having learned of Stannis's defeat, kill the Ironborn and burn Winterfell, framing the Greyjoys in the process. Though the castle is in ruins, Bran and Rickon did in fact survive and decide to ride for the Night's Watch to be under Jon's protection. After learning of Winterfell's fall, Robb finds comfort in Talisa and the two ultimately marry in secret, ultimately losing Robb the support of House Frey and effectively leaving him and his army pinned between enemies on all sides.
Continued in Part 3...
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