A Clash of Kings

Originally published in 1998, A Clash of Kings is an epic high fantasy novel by American author George R. R. Martin. It is the second in a series of seven novels under the title A Song of Ice and Fire, which began in 1991 with A Game of Thrones. For his series, Martin drew inspiration from medieval historical conflicts, most prominently the War of the Roses and the Hundred Years’ War. In 2011, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss adapted Martin’s series to television for HBO under the title Game of Thrones, starring Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, and Emilia Clarke. The second season of the show, which aired in 2012, covers the events of A Clash of Kings.

Following the deaths of King Robert Baratheon and his advisor, Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, in A Game of Thrones, the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are plunged into war. Five kings jockey for power among the noble houses of the continent, including both of Robert’s surviving brothers, Stannis and Renly, as well as Eddard’s eldest son, Robb. Martin’s novel follows the power players across each plane of this conflict, from royal advisor Tyrion Lannister to Robb’s mother, Catelyn Stark. Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen, the only surviving daughter of the deposed King Aerys, struggles to bring her three newborn dragons to Westeros. In the novel, Martin explores themes including The Qualities of Good Leadership, The Illusion of Power, and Hope Amid the Ravages of War.

This study guide refers to the special boxed edition of the novel published by Bantam in 2015.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, gender discrimination, religious discrimination, mental illness, sexual violence, rape, ableism, child abuse, child death, animal death, sexual content, cursing, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and death by suicide.

Language Note: Throughout the novel, Martin uses the following pejorative terms: “bastard” to refer to a child born outside of marriage, “dwarf” to refer to a little person, and “broken” to describe a character with paraplegia. Within the context of the novel’s hereditary lineage framework, “bastard” has social implications for characters who are identified as such; this guide uses the term “born outside of marriage” instead, using “bastard” only in quotes directly from the novel. Additionally, the guide uses the term “little person” in place of “dwarf” and “paraplegic” in place of “broken.”

Plot Summary

The novel takes place across two continents of a fantasy world—Westeros and Essos. The narrative covers the breakout of a large-scale conflict known as the War of the Five Kings. Martin uses multiple point-of-view characters to follow the events of this conflict and ground them in personal stakes. For clarity, this summary will cover the narrative arcs that center around the War of the Five Kings before discussing plotlines that occur along the periphery of the war.

The novel begins with Stannis Baratheon, brother to the late King Robert Baratheon (who was killed in the first book of the series, A Game of Thrones), lamenting the lack of support behind his claim on the throne. Many of the noble houses of southern and central Westeros have instead declared their support for Stannis’s younger brother, Renly. Desperate to strengthen his position, Stannis embraces his wife Selyse’s new devotion to a foreign god called the Lord of Light. This elevates his trust in the counsel of a red priestess of the Lord of Light named Melisandre. Appalled, Stannis’s elder counselor, Maester Cressen, attempts to poison Melisandre, but she turns his plan against him and kills him with his own poison.

In the capital city of King’s Landing, the late Eddard Stark’s eldest daughter, Sansa, remains betrothed to King Joffrey Baratheon, who frequently abuses her. Joffrey’s claim to the throne is threatened when Stannis exposes him and his siblings as the products of the incestuous relationship between Queen Regent Cersei Lannister and her twin brother, Ser Jaime. This threat is exacerbated by the breakout of widespread riots protesting food shortages. Desperate to escape, Sansa relies on the aid of a sympathetic knight named Ser Dontos Hollard, whose promise to liberate her is repeatedly delayed.

Cersei and Jaime’s brother, the little person Tyrion, arrives in King’s Landing to remedy the city’s mismanagement as Hand of the King, the king’s closest advisor. As Queen Regent, Cersei has control of the court, but Tyrion navigates the politics, replacing advisors and knights loyal to Cersei with men aligned to his agenda of smoothing over Joffrey’s dangerous start to his rule. Anticipating that Stannis plans to attack the city by siege, Tyrion occupies himself with bolstering the defensive capabilities of King’s Landing.

In the Riverlands, Eddard’s wife, Catelyn Stark, counsels her eldest son, Robb, who has been crowned King in the North. Despite a decisive victory leading to Ser Jaime’s capture, Robb cannot hope to defeat Joffrey’s grandfather, Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock and Joffrey’s ally, unless he allies himself with one of the other three kings.

Theon Greyjoy, Robb’s ward and the youngest son of King Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, volunteers to court his family’s support while Catelyn goes to broker an alliance with Renly Baratheon, Lord of Storm’s End and the late King Robert’s brother. Catelyn arrives just in time to witness a parley between Renly and Stannis. Their tense standoff leads to the promise of battle, which is frustrated when Renly is suddenly assassinated by a shadow shaped like Stannis. Catelyn escapes back to Riverrun with Brienne of Tarth, a female knight in Renly’s service, where they are forced to wait as Catelyn’s family members conduct skirmishes against Tywin Lannister.

Theon reaches Pyke, the seat of his family’s kingdom, and discovers that his family looks down on him for growing up alongside the Starks. (At a young age, Theon was taken as a hostage/ward by Eddard Stark after his father attempted to rebel against the King in the North and failed). Although Theon is the eldest son, his younger sister, Asha, is preferred by their father, Balon Greyjoy, leaving Theon insecure about the line of succession. When Balon declares his intent to strike the northlands as King of the Iron Islands, he assigns Asha to take a castle affiliated with the Starks. Eager to prove himself his sister’s equal, Theon decides to conquer the Stark castle of Winterfell, where Robb’s younger brother, Bran, sits as lord in Robb’s absence.

Bran, who became paraplegic after Ser Jaime pushed him out a window in A Game of Thrones, is now discovering that he is a warg, which enables him to enter the body of his direwolf, Summer, in his dreams. During Theon’s attack on Winterfell, Bran is hidden in the Winterfell crypts along with his youngest brother, Rickon, his guests, Jojen and Meera Reed, and their servants, Hodor and Osha. When Theon believes that the Stark boys have escaped his attack, he kills two common children, pretending that they are the Starks in order to maintain his hold over the castle.

The Stark master-at-arms, Ser Rodrik Cassel, threatens to reclaim Winterfell from Theon. Fearing for his life, Theon enlists the help of a prisoner named Reek to hire mercenaries to defend the castle. Reek uses his freedom to capture Rodrik and betray Theon, razing Winterfell to the ground. He reveals that he is actually Ramsay Snow, born outside of marriage to Stark bannerman Roose Bolton. (In Westeros, the last name Snow is given to all children born outside of marriage.)

The false report that Bran and Rickon have been killed reaches Catelyn’s ears, provoking her to threaten Jaime, who is still being held in the dungeons at Riverrun, where she is staying. Meanwhile, Renly’s death forces many of his former bannermen to swear themselves to Stannis, giving him the military strength to conduct a naval assault on King’s Landing. One of Stannis’s most trusted knights, Ser Davos Seaworth, grows disillusioned with Stannis when he realizes that Stannis and Melisandre used dark magic to assassinate Renly. He nevertheless joins the assault on King’s Landing by sailing with Stannis’s fleet into Blackwater Bay.

Tyrion uses a massive chain and an incendiary substance known as wildfire to defend the city from Stannis’s fleet, then leads the City Guard to meet Stannis’s remaining soldiers on the waterfront. The Lannisters have nearly lost the battle when reinforcements arrive, led by Tywin Lannister. One of Cersei’s knights tries to assassinate Tyrion, but he is stopped by Tyrion’s squire, Podrick Payne. Tyrion is left scarred in the process.

In the aftermath of the battle, Tywin assumes his new role as Hand of the King, replacing Tyrion. Renly’s former allies, the Tyrells, who rule over the Reach, declare their loyalty to Joffrey. In return, Joffrey’s betrothal to Sansa is broken off to make way for his marriage to Margaery Tyrell, who was married to Renly before his death.

Three storylines take place outside the main action of the war. The first concerns Arya Stark, the youngest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark, who escapes King’s Landing by disguising herself as a boy. With the help of a sympathetic ranger named Yoren, she travels north with other men, including Gendry, a young smith born outside of marriage to King Robert, and Jaqen H’ghar, an enigmatic prisoner. Their caravan is captured and brought to the Lannister stronghold of Harrenhal, where they are forced to serve Tywin’s army. Arya saves Jaqen’s life, a favor he returns with the promise of three deaths. Arya orders the deaths of a minor knight and a prison understeward, but she uses the third death to convince Jaqen to free prisoners loyal to the Starks. Jaqen leaves Harrenhal, inviting Arya to follow him to Braavos; however, Arya eventually escapes from Harrenhal with Gendry and another boy named Hot Pie.

In another storyline, Night’s Watch ranger Jon Snow (believed by all to be born outside of marriage to Eddard Stark) proceeds beyond the Wall (a massive fortification built to protect the Seven Kingdoms from the dangers of the North) to investigate the disappearance of his uncle, Benjen Stark. Jon is unnerved by the discovery of several abandoned wildling villages beyond The Wall, as well as by the brutality of the rangers’ wildling ally, Craster. Jon volunteers for a reconnaissance mission led by veteran ranger Qhorin Halfhand. They hope to spy on the growing wildling army led by King-beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder. When the wildlings give chase, Qhorin tasks Jon with infiltrating them. A sympathetic wildling named Ygritte vouches for Jon, and Qhorin provokes Jon into killing Qhorin to strengthen his standing with the wildlings.

In the third storyline, beyond the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen, the last living heir to the deposed King Aerys (who formerly ruled Westeros), follows a red comet to the city of Qarth, where she believes she is destined to mass the army that will help her reconquer Westeros. Daenerys quickly discovers that the Qarth nobility are only interested in her because they covet her three newborn dragons. When she overcomes a merchant prince named Xaro Xhoan Daxos and a warlock named Pyat Pree, Daenerys is exiled, leaving her to seek passage out of the city. She is saved from assassination by two men, Strong Belwas and Arstan Whitebeard, who offer her three ships loaned by her former guardian, Illyrio Mopatis. The group proceeds to Pentos to reunite Daenerys with Illyrio.

The novel ends with Bran and his allies reemerging from the ruins of Winterfell, splitting up to protect Bran and Rickon from the forces that threaten them.