A Storm of Swords ÔÇö Jon VI
Wounded, Jon reaches Castle Black ahead of the Magnar's Thenns; Donal Noye arms the boys and old men, and the Wall prepares to be defended from the wrong side.
The chapter retold
Wounded from Ygritte's arrow and riding on will alone, Jon Snow reaches Castle Black just ahead of the Magnar's advancing Thenns, delivering the warning the Watch has needed since Chett's mutiny at the Fist of the First Men ÔÇö an army is coming, and it is coming from the one direction Castle Black has never had to seriously defend. Donal Noye, the one-armed former smith who once forged Robert Baratheon's warhammer, takes command of preparing a garrison that consists mostly of boys, old men and cripples, because every able ranger the Watch has left is elsewhere.
The chapter is a portrait of an institution scraping together a defense from whatever it has on hand, without illusions about the odds ÔÇö Noye arms his makeshift company with the plain competence of a man who has always understood that heroism is mostly logistics done under pressure. Jon's warning arrives in time to matter, but barely, and the castle's preparations carry the specific dread of people who know exactly how outmatched they are and are doing the work anyway.
This movement: The Red Wedding
- Edmure weds Roslin Frey under the Twins' roof; the bread and salt are eaten; the music is wrong.
- Crossbows from the gallery, tent canvas cut over the feast outside, Grey Wind penned and shot.
- Robb dies with Roose Bolton's steel in his heart: "Jaime Lannister sends his regards."
- Catelyn opens her own face with her nails, and a Frey opens her throat. The North dies at a wedding.