Jon is sending Val north to find Tormund Giantsbane and make him an offer. He sees her past the Wall and she promises to return but won’t promise to bring Tormund back with her.

Jon returns to eat. Bowen Marsh, Septon Cellador and Othell Yarwyck want to see him. Jon asks how restoring the Nightfort is going. Yarwyck says it is going slowly so Jon offers him the help of the giant that came back with him from the woods north of the Wall. Yarwyck won’t accept. Then the three ask why there are corpses in the cells. Jon says they need to know their enemy and this is an opportunity.

Marsh, Cellador and Yarwyck complain that Iron Emmett and Dolorous Edd are being sent away and complain more about the people Jon is replacing them with – a wildling, Leathers, as master-at-arms and Satin, a boy-whore. They say these are positions traditionally given to the high born. Jon replies that he needs skills and what a man was before doesn’t matter once they’ve said their words.

Then he says they can talk about Val. They say he shouldn’t be making offers to the wildlings. Jon points out, rather forcefully, that every wildling left to die north of the Wall becomes an ice zombie that will attack them.

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And I thought Jon was just being compassionate, but no, he’s trying to reduce his enemies forces. Clever boy. And he handled the whiners nicely. Bowen Marsh is really beginning to annoy me.

Maybe Jon shouldn’t be sending his friends away though.

Ser Balon Swann has arrived at Sun Spear to deliver Gregor Clegane’s skull to Doran Martell. Arianne is present, as is Ellaria Sand and Oberyn Martell’s three eldest sand snakes. The head is delivered and accepted. There is a toast. Obara storms out. Then there is a feast. Doran asks Balon if he knows what was in Cersei’s letter; she wants Myrcella and Trystane to come to King’s Landing. Doran agrees that the children should all be friends.

Theon is giving ‘Arya’ away. In the chamber where she’s getting ready she keeps talking as though she’s Jeyne Poole. Theon is afraid Ramsay will hurt her if she is not Arya body and soul. He tells her Ramsay is sweet so long as you don’t anger him.

As he walks her to the godswood he realises that him giving her away makes it harder for any of the northern lords to question her. The marriage through the old gods is quick and the party then goes to the ruined castle for the feast. Theon hangs back and when he is alone he thinks he hears his name whispered in the trees.

At the feast he sits next to Lady Dustin of Barrowton. Lord Manderly has provided the food. She points out that Roose doesn’t eat or drink anything Manderly hasn’t also eaten. She thinks Manderly is craven. Theon is not so sure, as his sons were brave enough when they all rode with Robb Stark. A maester brings news that Stannis is marching for Winterfell, the Umbers and Karstarks are also on their way.

Roose takes his war council to another room. Theon is told to escort Arya to Ramsay’s room by Sour Alyn. Once there, Ramsay dismisses all his men except Reek to cut Jeyne’s clothes from her, tells her to get on the bed and spread her legs. He finds she is not aroused so orders Reek to use his tongue on her.

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Poor Jeyne. She’s thirteen and she used to have a crush on Theon.

More mixed messages about whether Theon has been gelded. But now we know why Roose wanted Theon to be involved. He’s lent legitimacy to this marriage.

I thought it was interesting that Roose is having his war council without Ramsay. I wonder if he will get killed in the battle – in the last Theon chapter Roose said Ramsay was no swordsman. Roose has good reasons to kill him.

The refugee camp outside Meereen is enormous and the people in it are sick. It is getting harder and harder to feed them. Daenerys takes the food herself, against the wishes of her advisors, and organises burning the corpses.

Jon wants to take six new recruits to say their words to the old gods, which means going north of the Wall. Bowen Marsh says they can swear in the sept but Jon disagrees. He takes a small force and Ghost and goes. He has manned a tower with women and is going to open several others. Some men think the women’s tower is a brothel. He gives Iron Emmett a command.

Bran is beneath the mountain learning to be a greenseer. They stay for months and Meera says Bran will never leave. Jojen is withdrawn and no one seems to understand why.

Jojen, Meera and Hodor go exploring. It is too hard to take Bran in his basket so he slips inside Hodor, who goes to his safe place while it happens. Bran feels that no one should ever know that he does this. Bran learns to take the skin of a raven and flies over the ice and snow. Summer hunts with his pack.

Eventually, Bran goes into the weirwood trees. He sees through the eyes of the weirwood heart tree in Winterfell’s godswood. He sees his father and memories of Starks going back through the ages.

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That chapter was sad and kind of creepy. Jojen is homesick. Why can’t he and the others go home? Is it too far and too cold, will they not make it? And what will Bran be able to do as the greenseer under the mountain? I’d so hoped Bran’s story would give him the chance to do something heroic; it doesn’t look like that will happen now.

It’s a nice, if disturbing, touch with Bran being unable to stop himself using Hodor, even though he knows it’s abusive and is ashamed of his behaviour.