After the death of Robb, Catelyn, Joffrey, and Tywin, the delicate political balance of Westeros deteriorates further. Though the War of the Five Kings ends, the remnants of its destruction linger throughout the continent. With Stannis Baratheon still a contender, and a new force rising in the Iron Islands, tension begins to build up as the possibility of more battles becomes evident.

Arya

After she escapes the clutches of Sandor Clegane, Arya journeys to the city of Braavos in Essos and arrives at a temple, the House of Black and White. There she meets a kindly man who tries to dissuade her from staying in the strange temple.

With Arya refusing to budge, she becomes a servant of the temple. As a new member, she gets introduced to the religion of the many-faced god. The kindly man begins to teach her the ways of the Faceless Men, an order of assassins who are messengers of death.

Though she stays at the temple and learns the ways of the gift of death, Arya does not let go of one thing, which is also one of the main themes in ‘A Feast for Crows‘; revenge. As the days at the temple go by, she sings a song of the names of people she wants dead. Her training intensifies as she learns the ways of illusion and masked identity. However, the remnants of her old life stick to her personality. 

Arya’s stubbornness and wittiness govern her actions. When she finally tries to let go of everything, she hides Needle and tries to memorize the location so she can retrieve it later.

Coincidentally, Arya runs into a brother of the Night’s Watch, a man close to Jon Snow, Samwell Tarly. Later, she meets another brother of the Watch, Dareon, who decides to break his vows for a much better life. Meeting Dareon infuriates Arya so much that she kills him and his wife; this causes the kindly man at the temple to make her drink warm milk that blinds her.

Brienne

Brienne, the honorable knight of Westeros, continues her journey with a single purpose, to find and take the Stark girls back to Winterfell. As she begins her journey, she realizes that finding a lord’s daughter in a war-torn kingdom is almost impossible.

With the odds stacked against her, Brienne continues her journey to find Sansa and Arya. First, she meets two hedge knights, who recognize her as the knight that killed Renly Baratheon. Having the reputation of murdering the king, she realizes that the task ahead of her will be much more difficult.

On the journey to find Sansa, Brienne meets many friends and foes. She meets Podrick Payne, trying to find his master Tyrion and Hyle Hunt, a knight working under Randyll Tarly. As she journeys through the land, Brienne gets confronted many times. She gets confronted by Shagwell and the Bloody Mummers and later by Biter and his men.

Though she tries to fight through the opposition she faces, Brienne gets injured while fighting Biter and gets taken to meet Thoros. She realizes that Thoros works for Lady Stoneheart, who is Catelyn.

Brienne’s journey in ‘A Feast for Crows’ made her realize that emptiness and bitterness ruled the world. She realized that her existence was conflicted as she did not know who she was.

Cersei

Cersei Lannister, the queen regent, begins a dangerous journey that makes her lose herself. With her mind already broken by the death of Joffrey, she learns that her father, Tywin, is dead, and her brother Tyrion, has escaped from prison.

With Tyrion on the loose and her father dead, Cersei becomes a paranoid self-absolved woman. She becomes scared at the possibility of her evil little brother coming to kill her in the night for what she did to him; this becomes the driving force behind her terrible decisions.

As her paranoia increases, Cersei becomes certain that everyone is out to get her. She becomes suspicious of the Tyrells and even her kin. Realizing that she could not trust the people around her, Cersei puts new people on the small council because she believes they are incapable of going against her. However, her terrible paranoia-backed decision begins weighing on her health and the political balance of King’s Landing.

With pressure from her brother, she lets her son marry Margaery, but immediately after that happens, a new emotion creeps into her mind; jealousy. Cersei becomes an insufferable woman governed by emotions over intellect. She allows the Faith Militant to get formed, tries to frame Margaery, and decides to ignore the Iron Bank. 

Cersei’s actions eventually backfire as she gets arrested by the Faith Militant on charges of fornication.

Jaime

After the death of his father, Jaime’s personality changes. Once a knight, he tries to become a better protector of Tommen, his son. However, he realizes that his sister, Cersei, keeps making irrational decisions. Knowing that he is the only person that can speak some sense into his sister, Jaime arranges for her to meet Mace Tyrell and discuss Tommen’s wedding to Margaery.

Even though his son weds Mace Tyrell’s daughter, Jaime notices that his sister is getting worse in ruling King’s Landing. He confronts her about her political choices, and she decides to get rid of him by sending him to the Riverlands to ensure the region’s stability.

Jaime first meets his cousin, Lancel, who confesses to having a part in Robert’s death and sleeping with Cersei. Lancel decides to make amends for his actions by becoming devoted to the Faith.

Jaime arrives in the Riverlands and begins negotiating with the leaders in the region to ensure that no rebellions start after the death of Robb Stark. He successfully takes over Riverrun. Then, a letter arrives from Cersei begging him to return and save her from the Faith Militant, an organization she indirectly formed. Fed up with his sister’s terrible decision, Jaime casts the letter into the fire.

Samwell

Back at the Wall, Samwell tries to investigate the existence of the Others but finds little information about them. Realizing they need to gain more knowledge, Jon sends him, Gilly, maester Aemon, and Dareon to the Citadel so that Samwell can become a maester and replace maester Aemon.

As their ship sails for Oldtown, Samwell learns about Jon’s plan. He realizes that Gilly’s baby got replaced with Mance’s son to save him from Melisandre.

Before reaching Oldtown, Sam’s ship stops at Braavos, where he stays for a while as maester Aemon’s health rapidly deteriorates. Dareon gives up the Watch and leaves. Soon, maester Aemon gets word of Daenerys having dragons. He then admonishes Sam to learn more about Daenerys.

Maester Aemon dies, and Sam sleeps with Gilly in a moment of weakness. He begins feeling guilty for his actions but gets advised by Kojja to continue. Finally, the ship reaches Oldtown and Sam begins learning about dragonglass.

Doran Martell

Prince Doran Martell is the brother of Oberyn Martell. After his brother’s demise in King’s Landing, Obara and her sister, Tyene, meet Prince Doran, asking for vengeance on behalf of their father. Obara asks Doran to let go to war on behalf of his slain brother. Tyene asks to kill Myrcella. He outrightly refuses their requests, knowing that Myrcella’s death will mean war on Dorne.

Nymeria suggests to her uncle that he should crown Myrcella as queen and invite the Lannisters to celebrate before killing them. With all the suggestions from Oberyn’s daughters, Prince Doran locks up all his nieces to keep the peace.

Later, his daughter, Arianne, conspires with Myrcella’s guard, Arys, to crown Myrcella as queen of Westeros. Though the plan almost succeeds, Doran gets word of it and sends his guard to stop it.

Aeron Greyjoy

Also known as the Drowned Prophet, Aeron Greyjoy is the younger brother of Balon Greyjoy. After getting word of his brother’s death, Aeron decides to support his brother Victarion. He calls the kingsmoot to vote for the next ruler.

Knowing fully well that Asha Greyjoy and his brother, Euron, will lay claim to the throne, Aeron heavily backs his brother and garners the support of the people. However, Euron brings in a war horn and claims to have sailed to Old Valyria and gotten it. He states that he bravely sailed to the dreaded Valyria, and that feat makes him the bravest man in the Iron Islands.

Euron successfully sways the crowd in his favor and gets crowned the new king. Realizing that his plan failed, Aeron returns to the sea, where he serves the Drowned God. Euron decides to lead the Iron Islands to attack Westeros. He swears to his people that he will conquer the continent by marrying the mother of dragons, Daenerys. Though his men believe him, Aeron remains skeptical of his brother’s claims.

Sansa (Alayne)

After the death of Lysa Arryn, Petyr becomes the new lord protector of the Vale. Marillion gets imprisoned, and though Petyr assures Sansa that he will not change his statement, she remains scared at the possibility of him speaking the truth.

Lord Nestor Royce arrives at the Vale, and Sansa recants how Marillion killed Lysa. The singer admits to the murder, and Sansa realizes she is free from the tense situation. She then assumes a different identity as Alayne Stone, Petyr’s daughter.

While at the Vale, Alayne begins to learn about politics from Petyr. He teaches her many things about governing and political strategizing. With each passing day, Young Robert, Lysa’s son, gets worse in health.

Later, Alayne learns from Petyr that she is to get married to Harry the Heir, the next in line after young Robert passes away.

Lady Stoneheart

Lady Stoneheart is the revived corpse of Catelyn Stark. After the death of Robb, Catelyn got killed and tossed into a river. She got discovered by Nymeria, Arya’s direwolf, who dragged her from the river.

Later, the Brave Companions find her body, and Lord Beric gives her the kiss of Rhllor, bringing her back to life. Though she gets brought back to life, Lady Stoneheart has a different personality from Catelyn.

She later meets Brienne, who she had tasked in her previous life to take Jaime to King’s Landing in exchange for her daughters. When Brienne tells her that Jaime sent her on her way to find Sansa and Arya, Lady Stoneheart gives her a new order; kill Jaime.

Brienne refuses the order to kill Jaime, and Lady Stoneheart sentences her to death by hanging. As the rope around Brienne’s neck tightens, she screams a word.

Qyburn

Qyburn is a former maester who got kicked out of the order for conducting illegal experimentation on humans. He meets Cersei after her father’s death and quickly becomes her adviser. With Qyburn working for Cersei, he continues experimenting on humans and gets tasked by Cersei to work on Gregor Clegane.

Cersei makes him the new master of whisperers, and her decision gets met with criticism. She tasks him with preparing a skull to get sent to Dorne as promised. After Loras Tyrell leaves for Dragonstone, Qyburn tells Cersei she will need a new champion who is a beast in strength. He orders a new armor, one too big for any man.

When Cersei gets arrested, Qyburn gets removed from the small council. He tells her everything has changed, and Cersei makes him write a letter to Jaime asking for help.

Margaery

Margaery is the daughter of Mace Tyrell and the sister to Loras Tyrell. After the death of her first husband, Renly, her father decided to support the Lannisters in their cause, and she got married to Joffrey. However, Joffrey dies, and she becomes widowed for the second time.

After Joffrey’s death, Tommen takes over as king, and with the relationship between the Tyrells and the Lannisters, a wedding gets arranged between Margaery and Tommen. With her as the new queen, Cersei gets intensely jealous and begins plotting to kill her.

Cersei gets information that Margaery used Moon Tea, a substance used to prevent pregnancies. She then frames her and has her arrested by the soldiers of the Faith Militant. With Margaery in prison, her father begins marching on King’s Landing.

Tommen

Tommen is the youngest child of Cersei. After the death of his brother, he becomes the new king of Westeros. With a loveable outgoing character and a kind heart, Tommen tries to care for the people closest to him.

After getting married to Margaery, Tommen protects her from his mother, who he knows is out to get her. He tries defending his new wife from his mother on many occasions but gets domineered by her. 

Pate

Pate is a novice of the Citadel in Oldtown. His duties included looking after the old Archmaester Walgrave, who sometimes called him Cressen. He loses all hope of becoming a maester, thinking that tending to the old Archmaester was all he would ever do. He starts fantasizing about Rosey, a young girl whose mother places a price of a gold dragon on her maidenhead.

Realizing he will never be able to pay such an amount, Pate helps an alchemist steal an iron object in exchange for gold. He steals it and gives it to the alchemist. However, before he can leave, he falls to the ground and dies.

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