The "Red Wedding's" mastermind is revealed to be Tywin Lannister, who rewards House Frey with the seat of Riverrun and appoints Roose Bolton Warden of the North. Theon learns his captor is Ramsay Snow, Roose's bastard son, who was also responsible for torching Winterfell, having betrayed and killed the Ironborn who handed Theon over to him. Ramsay sends Theon's severed phallus to Balon, demanding he remove his men from the north; Balon is happy to give up on Theon, but Yara leads a mission to rescue him. Arya and the Hound kill some Frey soldiers they encounter mocking Robb's death. Jaime and Brienne arrive in King's Landing, where Jaime is reunited with Cersei and Joffrey challenges Tywin. Sam and Gilly encounter Bran's party in the Nightfort, and Bran has Sam promise not to tell Jon he is alive; back at Castle Black, Maester Aemon has Sam send ravens to warn the Seven Kingdoms about the White Walkers.
Ygritte pursues Jon and shoots him with three arrows, but cannot bring herself to kill him; he escapes, returning wounded to Castle Black. In Dragonstone, mercy comes from strange quarters: Davos helps Gendry escape to prevent his being sacrificed to the Lord of Light, and persuades Stannis to answer the Night's Watch's letter and aid their war against the Wildlings and White Walkers. In Essos, waiting to see whether she is a conqueror or a liberator, Daenerys is hailed by the freed Yunkai slaves as "Mhysa", mother.