A Storm of Swords ÔÇö Arya V
In the hollow hill the brotherhood tries the Hound before Beric Dondarrion: trial by combat against a flaming sword ÔÇö Sandor walks free, and a dead man is kissed back to life for the sixth time.
The chapter retold
The Brotherhood Without Banners puts Sandor Clegane on trial inside their hollow-hill hideout, presided over by Beric Dondarrion with the gravity of men who genuinely believe their makeshift justice matters. Accused of murders committed under Gregor's banner and his own reputation as the Hound, Sandor demands trial by combat rather than accept a verdict from outlaws ÔÇö and gets it, against Beric himself, whose sword burns with a fire the flaming blade's owner treats as unremarkable.
Sandor wins, walks free of the charge, and in doing so witnesses something that unsettles even him: Thoros of Myr kneels over Beric's body afterward and kisses him back from death for the sixth time, a resurrection performed so often it has become almost routine to the men who travel with him. The chapter cements the Lightning Lord's motif of stubborn, diminishing returns from death ÔÇö each revival costs Beric a little more of himself ÔÇö while giving Arya, watching, one more reason to distrust and half-admire the man holding court over her own uncertain fate.
This movement: The Bear, the Wall, the Bath
- In Harrenhal's bathhouse Jaime tells Brienne the truth of the Mad King and faints in her arms; later he turns back for her and jumps into a bear pit.
- Jon climbs the Wall with the free folk and breaks from them at Queenscrown, arrows in his leg.
- Dany takes Yunkai by night; the Second Sons change sides for a captain named Daario.
- Sam kills his second impossible thing rumor-wise; the Watch's remnants choose a fat man's courage at Craster's.