Time to Play the Game
The Lannisters are at the height of their power. Stannis Baratheon has been broken at the Battle of the Blackwater, the Starks and Tullys have been effectively destroyed and they have brought the Tyrells into the fold, giving them complete domination over the continent of Westeros and all of the Seven Kingdoms. Well, not all of them. The Kingdom of Dorne remains relatively hostile towards the Lannisters, in particular the flamboyant and dangerous Oberyn Martell, who seeks vengeance against the Lannisters for the brutal murder of his sister, Princess Elia Martell (wife of the deceased Rhaegar Targaryen) and her children at the hands of Lannister toady Ser Gregor Clegane. When the Martells are invited to attend Joffrey's wedding to Margaery, Oberyn is the one who accepts the invitation and proceeds to toy with the Lannisters present, save for Tyrion, whom he has some respect for. When Lord Varys warns Tyrion that his father and Cersei know about Shae and plan to have her hanged, Tyrion forces himself to treat her cruelly and force her to leave to save her life.
Back at the Wall, Jon Snow is forced to stand trial before his rival Alliser Thorne and former Lannister toadie Janos Slynt for his actions beyond the wall, including killing the ranger Qhorin Halfhand and laying with a Wildling Girl (Ygritte). Despite admitting to it, Jon's revelation of Mance Rayder's plans to attack the Wall and send his army of over 100,000 united Wildlings South of the Wall manages to spare his life for the moment. Despite his return, Jon does not feel welcome at The Wall, even with Maester Aemon and Samwell sticking by his side.
Arya Stark, still under the watchful eye of the Hound, is being taken to The Vale of Arryn to be sold off to her crazy Aunt Lysa. Despite this, the two have grown marginally close to one another, with Arya coming to respect the gruff and bloodthirsty bodyguard she has and the Hound coming to respect Arya as a growing woman and as a killer, especially when the two join forces to kill some of the Lannister Soldiers enjoying the spoils of their victory over the Starks and Stannis Baratheon.
Now the Wardens of the North following their betrayal of the Starks at the Red Wedding, House Bolton begins to affirm their control over the North without much support from their Lannister allies. Roose Bolton's crazed bastard Ramsay receives his father's ire when he learns what his son had done to their prisoner Theon Greyjoy, but is able to earn a chance at redemption when Theon informs the two that Bran and Rickon Stark are still alive and are likely headed to Castle Black to be with Jon Snow. Roose dispatches his lieutenant to the Wall to track down Bran and potentially kill Jon if needed.
The Wedding of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell goes off without much of a hitch. The young couple is wed in the Sept of Baelor and have a magnificent celebration of their successful union and their victories over their enemies in battle. Such exploits at the wedding include a team of jousting dwarfs (while bearing the appearances of The Five Kings) meant to rouse a response from Tyrion and Sansa, numerous singers and performers and the lovable dramas that make the Lannisters the most engaging family in the story. Despite immense amounts of tension brewing between Cersei and Brienne, Loras and Jaime and Tyrion and the King, the wedding is considered a success. That is, until Joffrey is confirmed to have been poisoned and dies in his mother's arms. Taking advantage of the Lannister and Tyrell factions being distracted, Sansa is whisked away from King's Landing with the support of a drunken knight and Lord Petyr Baelish, who reveals that he was responsible for Joffrey's poisoning, though it is likely Tyrion will take the fall. Littlefinger escorts Sansa to the Eyrie to be with her Aunt Lysa.
Tyrion is accused of the murder and is thrown into a dungeon. As his trial takes place, he finds himself isolated by his family and friends, as his sellsword Bronn is bought off by Cersei and Jaime is struggling as the black sheep of the Lannister Family. Tyrion seems placated by a deal where he would be sentenced to the Wall for this crime (despite his insistence that he was innocent), but it falls through when Cersei brings in Shae as a character witness and she lies about Tyrion's involvement in the King's murder. Fed up with the world hating on him, Tyrion lashes out against Cersei, his father and the Court and demands a Trial By Combat.
At Dragonstone, Stannis and his remaining allies are caught off guard by Joffrey's murder and decide to take advantage of it by ferrying themselves to the Iron Bank of Braavos to obtain a loan to buy a mercenary army to retake Westeros with. Despite failing to convince the Iron Bank to not back down from the Lannisters, Davos manages to secure a loan for Stannis to buy a fleet and raise an army to fight the Boltons and retake The North.
In Essos, Daenerys and her entourage come across the mighty slave city of Meereen. Using her Unsullied and her Dragons to her advantage, she manages to convince the slaves to turn on their masters and take their freedom. When the Slavers are driven off, Daenerys makes herself comfortable in Meereen, deciding to rule there until she had the power to head back to Westeros and fight for her claim to the throne. While in Meereen, Jorah Mormont is outed as a spy for Varys and is exiled by a deeply hurt Dany.
While the Night's Watch prepares for the oncoming attack from Mance Rayder's army, Jon leads a small contingent of Brothers North of the Wall to destroy the mutineers at Craster's Keep to prevent Mance or The White Walkers from finding them and adding them to their numbers. Roose Bolton's lieutenant, Locke, joins in on this in the hopes of either finding Bran and Rickon beyond the Wall or killing Jon Snow to end the Stark opposition to the Boltons. When they arrive at the Keep, Locke encounters Bran and attempts to take him hostage, but Bran takes control over his simple giant friend Hodor and has him break Locke's neck. Bran and his friends continue North despite the Stark cripple's insistence on seeing his brother again. Jon overpowers the mutineers and takes his team back to Castle Black to brace themselves for the Wildling Army marching on the Wall.
Upon arriving at The Eyrie, Sansa is swept up in the politics of The Vale of Arryn, where her neurotic Aunt Lysa accuses her of loving Littlefinger and trying to take him away from her, before flipping back into a kindhearted aunt and telling her she would marry her sickly cousin Robin to unite the Arryns and Starks. To further his own goals, Littlefinger murders Lysa to take control of the Vale and is unexpectedly saved by Sansa when she lies on his behalf when Littlefinger is put on trial for Lysa's murder when she confirms his story that Lysa committed suicide. Sansa and Littlefinger form an uneasy alliance as Sansa begins to realize that Littlefinger was behind the entire war between the Starks and Lannisters.
Tyrion finds himself running dangerously low on people willing to fight for him, especially when he learns that his sister has recruited The Hound's older brother, Ser Gregor Clegane, to be the Champion for the Crown. To his surprise, Prince Oberyn Martell stands up for Tyrion and volunteers to fight Ser Gregor in his Trial By Combat. The nimble Dornish fighter proves to be quite a match for The Mountain, but is ultimately defeated by his own desire for revenge against the Lannisters and has his face crushed despite violently poisoning and impaling Ser Gregor. Because of his failed Trial by Combat, Tyrion is sentenced to death.
Brienne of Tarth is dispatched by Jaime to find Sansa and keep her safe to uphold his vow to Catelyn Stark to keep her daughters safe. She is accompanied (reluctantly on her part) by Tyrion's squire Podrick and the duo begins to search for Sansa, but unexpectedly come across Arya and The Hound after getting a tip from Arya's friend Hot Pie. Brienne tries to convince Arya to come with her, but the Hound suspects her of being a Lannister and fights to protect Arya. The young Stark uses the opportunity to escape both of her alleged protectors, but not before she took the rest of the Hound's money and made her way to a ship that could take her to Braavos where she could find her old friend Jaqen H'ghar and the Faceless Men.
Jon Snow is ultimately tasked with defending The Wall from the mighty Wildling Army attack on Castle Black. Despite the mistrust of his officers and the severe lack of manpower, Jon is able to fend off the attackers for the night, but not before he loses his friends Pyp and Grenn and his lover Ygritte when she takes an arrow to the heart. Determined to end this conflict, Jon heads North of the Wall to assassinate Mance on the false pretense of a negotiation, but is foiled by the unexpected arrival of Stannis Baratheon at The Wall. Stannis's army easily routs the Wildlings and Mance is taken as a prisoner, while Stannis and Jon meet for the first time and realize they can be potential allies to one another in their quests against the Boltons and White Walkers.
Daenerys finds ruling in Meereen to be much harder than she initially believed, as she tries to enforce her abolishment of slavery on a kingdom that's entire economy existed because of Slave Trading. To further compound her issues, she begins to lose control of her dragons, who begin to attack people and burn crops and lands without prejudice, prompting Dany to lock Rhaegal and Viserion inside the Great Pyramid of Meereen, as she fails to find her lead Dragon named Drogon, who flies off on his own.
After the funeral of Joffrey, the Tyrells plan to wed Margaery to the next in line to be King, Tommen and Margaery begins her simple seduction of the young King, who falls in love with his lovely new betrothed. It is also revealed that Lady Olenna Tyrell, fearful of how Joffrey would treat her granddaughter, orchestrated the assassination of Joffrey at his wedding with the help of Littlefinger to oust Joffrey and install his more malleable brother on the throne. It is also confirmed to Cersei at this point that the Lannister family is essentially broke and need the Tyrells to help pay their tremendous debts to The Iron Bank, much to her dismay.
Before his scheduled execution, Tyrion is rescued from certain death by Jaime and Varys, who plan to whisk him off to Essos for his own safety. While on his way to freedom, however, Tyrion is tempted to rub his escape in his father's face and takes secret tunnels to the Hand of the King's Chambers. As he arrives, he finds Shae has become his father's new lover and strangles her to death in a jealous rage, before taking Joffrey's crossbow and shooting his father to death with it while he was in the Privy, before escaping to Essos with Varys.
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