An unexpected arrival north of the Wall changes circumstances: Jon's meeting with Mance Rayder abruptly ends when Stannis and his army overrun the Wildling camp, taking Mance prisoner. Bran learns more of his destiny, finding the weirwood tree from his visions; wights attack the group and kill Jojen, but a Child of the Forest saves the others and takes them to the Three-Eyed Raven, revealed to be an old man encased within tree roots inside a secure cave. In the Vale, Brienne and Podrick encounter Arya and the Hound; a misunderstanding leads to a duel that ends with Brienne pushing the Hound off a cliff. Grievously wounded, he begs Arya to kill him, but she takes his money and leaves him for dead, then boards a ship headed to Braavos to find Jaqen H'ghar.
In King's Landing, Cersei orders Qyburn to save the life of the Mountain, who was poisoned by Oberyn's blade. Seeing the truth of his situation, Tyrion is released from prison by Jaime, but before escaping the city he finds Shae in Tywin's bed and fatally strangles her, then confronts and kills Tywin on the privy with a crossbow before being smuggled aboard a ship by Varys. In Meereen, Daenerys is forced to face harsh realities when a citizen brings her his daughter's charred remains, burned by dragon fire; realizing her dragons are too dangerous to remain free, she chains Rhaegal and Viserion in the catacombs, but Drogon cannot be found.