Death of Tywin Lannister

The break from the black cells was no last-minute scramble: Jaime turned his back on the Kingsguard's demands and, together with the master of whisperers, cleared a path for his younger brother to leave King's Landing alive. But the condemned man didn't take the quickest road to freedom — he climbed instead toward the Tower of the Hand, chasing an answer he'd been owed for half his life.

There, in his father's chambers, he found Lord Tywin. He asked where Tysha had ended up, the girl he'd once married in secret; the answer — that she'd been sent back "to the place where whores come from" — lit a fury that left no room for mercy, and Tyrion ended his father's life on the spot.

The smell that filled the room was enough, on its own, to bury an old joke that had followed his father across Westeros — that the man shat gold. It never had been true, and Tyrion confirmed it with his own eyes before walking out of the Tower of the Hand for the last time.

News of the body forced a state funeral together in a hurry. Whoever had covered up what happened in the dead Hand's chambers was ordered, on pain of losing their tongue, never to breathe a word about the woman who had shared his final hours.

For seven days Tywin's remains lay in state at the Great Sept of Baelor before setting out on the long road west. The body gave off such a stench that many who came to pay their respects kept their distance, afraid of falling ill.

The procession, escorted by much of the western army, carried him to Casterly Rock for burial, the seat he had ruled for decades. Grand Maester Pycelle sent him off with words that spread through the court, recalling that he had served six different kings and had never known one greater: "Lord Tywin wore no crown, but he was what a king should always be."