War of the Five Kings

Jon Arryn, King Robert's Hand, dies suddenly and without any clear cause. His widow, Lysa Tully, suspects murder and flees to the Eyrie; from there she writes to her sister Catelyn accusing the Lannisters. Around the same time, Stannis Baratheon leaves the capital without explanation.

Robert travels to Winterfell to ask Eddard Stark to become his new Hand. During the visit, Bran Stark catches Queen Cersei with her brother Jaime and is thrown from a tower to keep it quiet; he survives, and Catelyn rides south to warn her husband.

In King's Landing, Petyr Baelish misleads Catelyn about the assassin's dagger, and on her way home she seizes Tyrion Lannister. Eddard, investigating Jon Arryn's death, learns that Cersei's children are not Robert's. He tells the queen and gives her time to flee; before she can use it, Robert dies of wounds from a hunt, but not before naming Eddard regent.

Cersei ignores that and has Eddard arrested for treason. His son Robb raises the northern armies to free him, but the boy-king Joffrey has Eddard beheaded after forcing a false confession from him, on the steps of Baelor's sept. Any peaceful way out dies with him.

With his father a prisoner in the south, Robb Stark marches at the head of the northern armies, backed by House Tully and the Freys, who demand he marry one of their daughters in return. After early victories, Jon Umber suggests crowning him King in the North.

Jaime Lannister crushes the northmen at the Golden Tooth and defeats Edmure Tully outside Riverrun, laying siege to the castle. A relief party sent earlier by Eddard is ambushed at the Mummer's Ford by Tywin Lannister; its survivors, with no king left to serve, become the Brotherhood Without Banners.

Tywin then occupies much of the Riverlands with little resistance. Roose Bolton's night attack across the Green Fork turns out to be only a diversion: Robb has already crossed the river with his cavalry and falls on Jaime's camp at the Whispering Wood, capturing him. Riverrun is relieved.

Stannis Baratheon proclaims himself king as Robert's elder brother, backed by Eddard's claim that Cersei's children are not legitimate. With the priestess Melisandre, he converts Dragonstone to the faith of R'hllor and forges his sword from the flames of the Seven's statues.

In Highgarden, the Tyrells crown Renly Baratheon instead and marry him to Margaery. When Stannis besieges Storm's End, Renly arrives with a far larger army; neither brother will yield to the other, and talks collapse.

That night, while arming for battle, Renly is killed by a shadow. Brienne of Tarth, who had been at his side, flees accused of the murder. Nearly all of Renly's bannermen swear to Stannis, except a group that withdraws to Bitterbridge.

The castellan Cortnay Penrose refuses to yield Storm's End, protecting Robert's bastard son Edric Storm. Davos Seaworth rows Melisandre beneath the castle through a tunnel, and the shadow she summons there kills Penrose; the castle surrenders the next day.

Robb sends Theon Greyjoy, raised as a ward at Winterfell, to ask his father Balon for help in exchange for the Iron Islands' independence. Balon chooses instead to attack the North directly, claiming it by right of conquest.

Asha Greyjoy takes Deepwood Motte from the sea, and Victarion Greyjoy overwhelms Moat Cailin's defenses, built to face south rather than the sea. Theon, ordered only to raid the Stony Shore, decides on something bolder of his own.

A feint against Torrhen's Square draws Ser Rodrik Cassel away from Winterfell, and Theon takes the castle with just twenty men, proclaiming himself its prince. The northerners never accept him, and when his hostages escape, he kills a miller's two sons in their place to make it look like the Stark boys are dead.

Rodrik marches to retake the castle, but Ramsay Snow arrives pretending to help him; the trick works, Rodrik is killed, and Ramsay's men then turn on the ironborn. Winterfell burns.

With the Lannisters retreating, Robb's bannermen begin reclaiming the Riverlands: Tytos Blackwood retakes Raventree Hall and Jonos Bracken recovers Stone Hedge at the cost of his heir's life. Gregor Clegane answers by putting Darry to the sword.

Stafford Lannister raises a new army to replace the one lost at Riverrun, but Brynden Tully and Robb catch it by surprise at Oxcross; Rickard Karstark kills Stafford, and the northmen go on to take Ashemark almost unopposed.

Tywin marches back east to stop the losses, and Edmure Tully meets him at the fords of the Trident; the hardest fighting is at Stone Mill, where Gregor Clegane's men are driven back.

Roose Bolton then takes Harrenhal, handed over by the mercenaries guarding it when they betray their own commander. At Bitterbridge, Petyr Baelish wins the Tyrells over to the Iron Throne, and Tywin marches south to join them.

Tyrion, acting as Hand, tries to win over the Vale by offering Myrcella Baratheon's betrothal to Robert Arryn, but Lysa Tully never answers. Dorne proves easier: he promises Myrcella to Trystane Martell and sends the princess south.

Tyrion stockpiles wildfire to defend the city and has a great chain built across the mouth of the Blackwater. When Stannis's fleet, led by Imry Florent, sails up the river, the royal ships loaded with wildfire are set ablaze and the chain seals the trap.

Stannis lands twenty thousand men and comes close to taking the city, until Tywin Lannister's army arrives from Bitterbridge and attacks his rear. Garlan Tyrell rides in wearing Renly's armor, and the confusion breaks Stannis's lines; he retreats to Dragonstone.

The boy king Tommen Baratheon sits the Iron Throne, though real power lies with the Tyrells through Margaery. Stannis sets about rebuilding the Night's Watch's abandoned castles at the Wall. Euron Greyjoy holds the North from Moat Cailin and raids the western coast.

The war leaves fields burned and granaries empty; the Riverlands suffer worst, though the North and the Stormlands are hit too. Only the Vale and Dorne keep their harvests intact as winter finally arrives, in 300 AC.

Aegon Targaryen and Jon Connington cross the narrow sea with the Golden Company and land in the Stormlands, taking Griffin's Roost with an eye on Storm's End. In the capital, Varys kills Grand Maester Pycelle and, crossbow in hand, the regent Kevan Lannister too, hoping to break the Lannister-Tyrell alliance.