A Clash of Kings ÔÇö Catelyn IV

In Renly's tent at dawn a shadow with Stannis's face slides through the king's gorget; Brienne is blamed, and Catelyn flees with her.

The chapter retold

In RenlyÔÇÖs tent at dawn, something slides through the kingÔÇÖs gorget that no blade should have been able to reach ÔÇö a shadow wearing StannisÔÇÖs face, there and gone in an instant, and Renly Baratheon dies before anyone in the tent can raise an alarm. Brienne, closest to the body and holding a sword, is immediately and wrongly blamed for the murder she witnessed and could not prevent.

Catelyn, present in the tent, is the only other witness who saw what actually happened, and she flees with Brienne rather than let the disgraced knight hang for a magic she has no way to prove. The scene is the bookÔÇÖs starkest demonstration that MelisandreÔÇÖs power is not theater ÔÇö RenlyÔÇÖs death by shadow-assassination reshuffles the entire war overnight, dissolving the largest host in Westeros and scattering its lords in every direction, most of them toward Tywin Lannister or Stannis by default. Renly Baratheon, King of Summer, dies with the war barely begun and his crown never once tested in a real battle.

This movement: The Kraken in the Godswood

• Theon takes Winterfell with thirty men while its strength bleeds south; Ser Rodrik's rescue is betrayed by Reek.
• Bran and Rickon vanish; two miller's boys hang tarred above the gate in their place.
• A bread riot nearly eats the court; the High Septon is torn apart in the streets.
• In Qarth, the warlocks invite Dany to the House of the Undying; she walks out through fire with Drogon screaming.

The fallen ÔÇö spoilers

• Renly Baratheon ÔÇö Killed in his tent by a shadow wearing his brother's face.