A Feast for Crows

Brienne, along with Ser Hyle and Podrick, try to find the Hound—and by extension Sansa—in a place to the west of Maidenpool called Saltpans. He was allegedly sighted there committing atrocities. They also meet and continue their journey with a priest known as Meribald. He tells them about the difference between outlaws and “broken men.” The latter are ordinary men forced to go to war who become psychologically and physically traumatized as a result. They abandon their lords and armies and eke out an existence, living “from day to day, from meal to meal, more beast than man” (421).

Sam, Gilly, Maester Aemon, and Dareon stay temporarily in Braavos before they can get a ship to Old Town. Dareon is often away from the inn where they are staying, drinking and womanizing for days on end. Meanwhile Aemon’s mind is “wandering more and more since they arrived” (425), and he is close to death. Sam follows Aemon’s dying wish to go down to the docks and discover all that he can about the rumors of dragons living across the narrow sea. There, he finds Dareon in a brothel and strikes him, before being thrown in the canal by the brothel’s guards. He is saved from drowning by a man from the Summer Isles named Xhondo who overheard his argument with Dareon and claims to have knowledge of dragons.

Cersei sends Jaime away from King’s Landing to assist with the siege of a castle at Riverrun, which is still holding out against the Lannisters. In his place, she makes Osmund Kettleblack, brother of Ser Osney, head of the Kingsguard. While on the march to Riverrun, Jaime attempts to improve his swordsmanship following his loss of the hand he used for sword fighting. He does this by dueling with a knight named Ser Ilyn in the evenings, using his left hand which was previously his shield hand.

Cersei meets with the new High Septon, the head of the main religion in Westeros, the pantheistic “Faith of the Seven.” The High Septon is from humble origins and is head of a group called “the sparrows.” This is an increasingly popular religious and social movement within the Faith of the Seven which emphasizes asceticism and support for the poor. As the High Septon tells Cersei, “the poor need food in their bellies more than we need gold and crystal on our head” (471). For that reason, he sold the crown traditionally worn by High Septons. Cersei manages to strike a deal with the High Septon, whom she refers to as the “high sparrow.” In exchange for the High Septon giving Tommen his blessing and pardoning the large debts owed by the crown to the church, Cersei permits the reestablishment of the “Faith Militant.” This is a military order which swears allegiance to the Faith of the Seven and the High Septon, rather than the monarchy.

With Euron Greyjoy as their new king, the ironborn attack the Shield Islands. These are a set of islands in the southwest of Westeros guarding the naval route to Highgarden, the ancestral home of the Tyrells. The attack is spearheaded by Victarion who successfully boards and captures a Tyrell ship. Despite the success of the enterprise and the capture of the islands, Aeron Greyjoy still encourages rebellion against Euron and tries to enlist Victarion’s help. Meanwhile, Euron sends Victarion east across the narrow sea to a place known as Slaver’s Bay. He is ordered to bring back Daenerys Targaryen, the last remaining member of the old and now deposed ruling family of Westeros, who is exiled there. Euron’s plan is to marry Daenerys so that he can control the dragons she is rumored to possess.

On his way to Riverrun, Jaime stops at the castle of Darry where his cousin Lancel has recently been made lord. He meets him in the sept, the chapel of the castle, where Lancel declares, “I’ve found my faith” (513). Guilt has driven him to become a religious ascetic, and he tells Jaime that he has confessed his sins to the new High Septon. These sins include sleeping with his cousin Queen Cersei and regicide. The latter occurred when he helped Cersei murder her husband Robert Baratheon, who was king before Joffrey. To atone for these sins, Lancel is renouncing his lordship, going to King’s Landing, and becoming a knight for the Faith Militant.

Continuing on their way to Saltpans to find the Hound, Brienne, Meribald, Podrick, and Ser Hyle stop and rest at a monastery located across an area of quicksand. The Elder Brother there reveals that though a Stark girl had been previously sighted with the Hound, it was Arya not Sansa. Furthermore, the man responsible for the murders and pillaging at Saltpans was not the Hound, who is already dead, but someone else wearing his helmet. The monk knows this because he buried the Hound himself before those atrocities occurred. He tells Brienne to give up on her quest to find Sansa, but she insists on carrying on.