A Storm of Swords ÔÇö Arya XIII

At the crossroads inn Polliver is wearing Needle: the Hound takes his wine, Arya takes her sword back, and leaves Sandor dying under a tree ÔÇö off her list, unlisted.

The chapter retold

At a crossroads inn, Arya Stark finds Polliver ÔÇö one of the men who tormented her at Harrenhal in the previous book ÔÇö wearing Needle, the sword her father gave her that she thought lost for good. Sandor Clegane, weakened and feverish but still capable, occupies the room by taking Polliver's wine while Arya, in a scene the book plays with cold, exact patience, reclaims her sword by killing the man wearing it.

She does not stop there: the Tickler, another of Polliver's company and a man whose name she has recited on her list for chapters, gets the same question he once asked his own victims ÔÇö is there gold in the village ÔÇö before Arya kills him too, calm in a way that is more disturbing than rage would be. She leaves Sandor Clegane dying under a tree afterward, choosing to walk away rather than finish him herself, taking him off her list not through forgiveness but through indifference ÔÇö he is simply no longer worth the effort of hating.

This movement: Gold, Ice, and the Hanged Woman

• Jaime frees his brother; Tyrion detours through the Tower of the Hand: Shae in the bed, Tywin on the privy, a crossbow for both.
• Lysa Arryn flies from the Moon Door screaming about tears and dark words; Littlefinger blames a singer.
• Jon Snow is elected Lord Commander of the Night's Watch on Sam's clever tongue.
• Epilogue at the Twins: the Brotherhood hangs Freys for a hooded woman whose throat gapes ÔÇö Lady Stoneheart remembers.

The fallen ÔÇö spoilers

• Polliver ÔÇö Killed at the crossroads inn wearing a stolen sword too small for him.
• The Tickler ÔÇö Asked, one last time, by a girl with Needle: is there gold in the village?