A Storm of Swords
A Storm of Swords ( dt. A Storm of Swords ) is the third volume of the fantasy saga A Song of Ice and Fire of the American author George RR Martin . The novel was first published in the United Kingdom and then in the United Statesin 2000. In Germany the novel was published a. a. divided into the two parts Storm of Swords and The Queen of Dragons , reunited as Game of Thrones 3: Hear me roar .
Action overview
The book series is set in a fictional world in which the length of summer and winter varies unpredictably; a season can last years or decades, whereas spring and autumn are comparatively short. The setting on the continent of Westeros is similar to medieval Europe , especially England. The plot around Daenerys Targaryen is set on the continent of Essos east of Westeros.
A Storm of Swords fits in seamlessly with A Clash of Kings : The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are still shaken by a civil war , which is now entering the decisive phase. The reconnaissance troop sent over the wall by the night watch had to retreat badly battered with newly gained, but terrible knowledge. In Essos, Daenerys Targaryen leaves the city of Qarth behind in order to find support in Slave Bay for her conquest of Westeros.
In the Seven Kingdoms
After his unsuccessful siege of King's Landing, Stannis Baratheon retreats with his decimated force to his well-fortified seat of Drachenstein. With the help of his faithful priestess Melisandre , he uses blood magic to curse the illegitimate kings Joffrey Baratheon , Robb Stark and Balon Graufreud . After a vision of his priestess of the upcoming Long Night and the return of the others , Stannis sets off with his remaining armed forces towards the wall, as he suspects that his divine destiny will be fulfilled there.
A huge storm pulls over Westeros from the east, to which Balon Graufreud falls victim on the Iron Islands. Now that a new king of the Iron Islands has to be determined, the Iron Men end their occupation of the north with the exception of a few key positions.
Jaime Lannister is freed by Catelyn Stark from the Starks' captivity against the wishes of her son, in the hope of freeing her daughters Sansa and Arya from being held hostage in King's Landing. Jaime is accompanied by Brienne von Tarth . However, they are picked up by vassals of the Starks, who cut off Jaime's sword hand and bring both to Harrenhall Fortress. Harrenhall was then ruled by the north by Lord Roose Bolton . Fearing Jaime's father, Tywin Lannister , he has Jaime nursed back to health by the outcast Maester Qyburn and sends them both on to King's Landing. But Jaime returns once more to free Brienne from captivity by Bolton's men and to take them with him to King's Landing.
After the return of her son Robb, Catelyn finds out that he broke his promise to Walder Frey through a love marriage to take one of his daughters in marriage . The Freys forces then leave the ranks of the Starks. After the death of Catelyn's father, Hoster Tully , her brother Edmure becomes Lord of the Riverside. Due to the changed military situation, Robb sees himself forced to break off his war of conquest in the south and to recapture his home in the north. For this undertaking, Edmure should take one of the Freys as his wife instead of Robb, in order to bring their troops back into their own ranks. On the way to the wedding the army is held up by the said storm. Arrived on the twins , Robb apologizes to Walder Frey and the wedding takes place in a big celebration. However, this turns out to be a trap. In contrast to the Starks, the sober troops of the Freys slaughter the drunken army with the support of the traitor Roose Bolton. Robb dies in front of his mother, Catelyn, before her throat is cut and her lifeless body is thrown into the river; the event goes down in history as the so-called red wedding .
Arya Stark is still on the run with her friends. They are seized by the Brotherhood Without Banners - highwaymen trying to maintain law and order in war-ravaged Westeros. During a duel with the bloodhound Sandor Clegane , their leader Beric Dondarrion is fatally wounded, but in the next moment is revived by prayers of the red priest Thoros of Myr . After another escape, Arya is kidnapped by the bloodhound , who wants to exchange her for a reward with her family. Both witness the Red Wedding and flee south. In an inn there is a fight in which the bloodhound wounds himself. The wound becomes severely infected, causing Arya to leave the dying bloodhound behind. In a harbor she finds a ship which, thanks to the coin of Jaqen H'ghar, brings her to Braavos.
Political realities changed in King's Landing after the victory against Stannis Baratheon. Tywin Lannister assumes his position as the hand of the king, Petyr Baelish is sent to Hohenehr to bring the Green Valley back to the kingdom through a wedding with Lysa Arryn . Tywin's son, Tyrion , takes the post of Master of Mint after recovering from battle. The engagement to Sansa Stark is dissolved in favor of the engagement between King Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell . After the Red Wedding , which Walder Frey carried out at Tywin Lannister's behest, Sansa becomes one of the last Starks to be the pawn of intrigue. In order to forestall an engagement to the heir of the Tyrells, Sansa is married to Tyrion in an urgent procedure against the wishes of both partners.
For the upcoming royal wedding, Oberyn Martell travels to King's Landing as representative of Dorne. A blood feud has existed between the Martells and Lannisters since Robert's Rebellion. At his own wedding, King Joffrey eventually dies of poison. While Sansa disappears from the wedding reception without a trace, Tyrion is arrested as the main suspect and brought to justice. Since Tyrion is being put on a show trial, he demands a court battle, as he did at Hohenehr . The opposite side sets up the bloodthirsty Gregor Clegane for the fight. Tyrion receives support from Oberyn Martell, who just loses the fight, but not without fatally poisoning Gregor beforehand.
Meanwhile, Jaime has returned to King's Landing after Joffrey's death. The expelled Maester Qyburn who traveled with him takes on the dying body of Gregor Cleganes in order to bring it back to life using methods banned by the Citadel. Jaime believes in his brother's innocence. After the court battle , he forces Varys to free Tyrion by using the secret passages in the castle. Tyrion takes a detour through the secret passages to find his father Tywin. Once there, he finds his own concubine Shae in his father's bed , who stabbed him in the back during the trial and kills her - as does his father Tywin, whom he shoots with a crossbow in an argument. Then he manages to escape from King's Landing with the help of Varys.
As it turns out, not only did Petyr Baelish have Sansa Stark brought to safety during Joffrey's wedding, but he also planned and carried out the poisoning with the Tyrell matriarch, Olenna Tyrell . Petyr brings Sansa to Hohenehr and, as planned, marries Lysa Arryn, whom Petyr has adored since childhood. Petyr successfully creates jealousy in Lysa through the presence of Sansa, so that Lysa threatens to push Sansa to her death. During the dispute it also becomes clear that Lysa, on behalf of Petyr, has successfully sown distrust between the Starks and Lannisters (see A Game of Thrones). Petyr pretends to calm Lysa down just to kill herself.
In the epilogue, one of Walder Frey's sons travels to the Brotherhood Without a Banner to buy a kidnapped family member. However, like the hostage, he is killed by the Brotherhood, which is led by a resurrected Catelyn Stark, who now appears as Lady Steinherz .
At the wall
In the prologue, the Night's Watch expedition is attacked by an undead army of the Others and forced to retreat to the wall. On the run, Samwell "Sam" Tarly succeeds in killing one of the others with a dragon glass dagger. A mutiny breaks out within the Night's Watch in which Lord Commander Jeor Mormont is killed. Only a small part of the night watch managed to retreat to the wall. Samwell is separated from the rest of the Night's Watch and meets the group around Bran Stark . Bran can meanwhile control animals as well as the mentally handicapped Hodor by mind control like a warg . With Sam's help, the group travels north while Sam returns to the wall.
Jon Schnee manages to successfully infiltrate the wildlings. While Manke Rayder sends the main army of the Wildlings in the direction of the Black Fortress, Jon and Ygritte become part of a raiding party that is crossing the wall to attack the Black Fortress from the south. Jon falls in love with Ygritte, but in the end remains loyal to the night watch and flees south of the wall to warn the night watch. After the first day of the Battle of the Wall, in which Ygritte dies, the situation of the Night's Watch is hopeless, but Stannis Baratheon's army arrives in time from the north to put the outnumbered but undisciplined wildlings to flight. Manke Rayder is captured.
In the East
After the events in Qarth, Daenerys Targaryen and her small entourage are on a ship heading for Pentos. It is decided, however, to head to Slave Bay instead to hire an army for their endeavor. Arrived in the slave city of Astapor, Daenerys is appalled by the cruelty that the slaves have to endure here. Through a ruse, she manages to gain control of an army of the Immaculate - strictly disciplined, war-trained soldier slaves, with whose help she has all the slave owners in the city killed. Then she offers all slaves to follow her as free people. With her new army she moves on towards Yunkai, where after a short battle she not only frees all bed slaves, but also joins the local mercenary troops of her army.
In front of the largest slave city, Meereen, there is a scandal among Daenerys' advisors: The old warrior Arstan , who happened in Qarth, turns out to be barristan Selmy , who in turn exposes Jorah Mormont as a spy for Varys. After the successful siege of Meereen, Daenerys pardons Barristan, but banishes Jorah from her service. Since the cities freed by her fall back into slavery after their troops have withdrawn, Daenerys realizes the naivety of her simple attempts at liberation and decides to stay in Meereen for the time being in order to learn how to rule an empire sensibly.
characters
Narrative perspectives
- Prologue: Chett , a brother of the Night Watch
- Jaime Lannister , even regicide called
- Jon Snow , Eddard Stark's bastard and a brother of the Night's Watch
- Catelyn Stark , the widow of Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark
- Tyrion Lannister , also called the Gnome, the son of Tywin Lannister and the brother of Jaime and Cersei
- Sansa Stark , eldest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark
- Arya Stark , youngest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark
- Bran Stark , son of Eddard and Catelyn Stark, heir to Winterfell and the North
- Samwell Tarly , fearful son of Lord Randyll Tarly and disinherited by membership in the Night Watch
- Davos Seewert , a former smuggler who is now a knight in the service of King Stannis Baratheon
- Daenerys Targaryen , exiled queen of the House of Targaryen
- Epilogue: Merrett Frey , one of Lord Walder's numerous sons from the Frey family
Awards and nominations
- Hugo Award - Best Novel (nominated) - (2001)
- Locus Award - Best Novel (Fantasy) (won) - (2001)
- Nebula Award - Best Novel (nominated) - (2001)
- Geffen Award - Best Fantasy Book (won) - (2002)
- Ignotus Award - Best novel (abroad) (won) - (2006)
Web links
- A Strom Of Swords An annotated overview