S2┬ÀE5 ÔÇö The Ghost of Harrenhal

The hour retold

The shadow does its work in the first minutes: Renly Baratheon, the warÔÇÖs presumptive winner, dies in his own tent in front of Catelyn and Brienne, and a hundred thousand swords go looking for a new king. The rest of the hour is the scramble. The storm lords bend to Stannis; the Tyrells ride for Highgarden with Littlefinger murmuring in their wake; and Brienne, blamed for the murder she watched, swears her sword to Catelyn Stark on the road ÔÇö the beginning of the storyÔÇÖs most stubbornly honored oath. RenlyÔÇÖs death is the seasonÔÇÖs pivot, and nobody swung a sword for it: the showÔÇÖs wars keep being decided by things that do not appear on the muster rolls.

In KingÔÇÖs Landing, Tyrion follows a rumor into the guts of the city and finds the alchemistsÔÇÖ guild sitting on thousands of jars of wildfire ÔÇö the substance with which the Mad King meant to burn the capital ÔÇö and does the responsible thing, which is to confiscate the stockpile for himself. At Harrenhal, Arya, now cupbearer to Tywin Lannister of all people, spends the first of JaqenÔÇÖs three owed deaths on the Tickler, and the torturer is found with his neck broken and no one to blame. And off the Stony Shore, Theon, stung by his crewÔÇÖs contempt, stops thinking like a raider and starts thinking like a Stark ward who knows exactly which castle is barely garrisoned. The plan is clever. That is the tragedy.

What happens

• The shadow kills Renly in his own tent; his hundred thousand scatter to Stannis and Highgarden.
• Brienne, blamed and hunted, swears her sword to Catelyn Stark.
• Tyrion discovers the alchemists' wildfire stockpile ÔÇö and takes it for himself.
• Theon sails to raid the Stony Shore, and thinks bigger: Winterfell is barely garrisoned.
• Jaqen H'ghar owes three deaths; Arya spends the first on the Tickler.

The people of the episode

The fallen ÔÇö spoilers

• Renly Baratheon ÔÇö A king killed by a shadow with his brother's face, in front of his own guard.