A Storm of Swords ÔÇö Jon VIII

Back from the wildlings, Jon is called turncloak by Janos Slynt and Alliser Thorne; his reward for holding the Wall is an arrest, and worse planned.

The chapter retold

Jon Snow returns to Castle Black from his time among the wildlings expecting, at minimum, to be believed. Instead Ser Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt ÔÇö installed in positions of authority at the Wall in Jon's absence ÔÇö brand him a turncloak, seizing on his time with Mance Rayder's people as proof of treason rather than the intelligence-gathering it actually was, regardless of the warning about an imminent assault that Jon has just delivered at cost to himself.

The chapter is a bitter homecoming: Jon survived climbing the Wall, fell in love, broke his vows, and rode back wounded specifically to warn his brothers of the army bearing down on them, and his reward is arrest and the promise of worse to come. It sharpens the internal politics of the Watch into as real a threat to Jon as anything north of the ice ÔÇö an institution that punishes the very loyalty it claims to demand.

This movement: The Purple Wedding and the Trial

• Joffrey chokes at his own wedding feast, purple as his namesake; Sansa vanishes with a fool and a hairnet lighter by one stone.
• Tyrion stands trial for kingslaying; Shae's testimony cuts deepest; he demands trial by combat.
• Oberyn Martell fights the Mountain for a confession ÔÇö and wins everything but the ending.
• Petyr Baelish sails Sansa to the Vale as his "daughter Alayne"; Lysa marries him inside a week.