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Book 1
Prologue: Below him, the city
- The Prologue ends on a rather nightmarish note, when Maester Eaton realizes that a killer, the same man who poisoned Lord Robert for months without anyone noting, has been watching him all along. The killer strikes a polite conversation with him, which on its own crosses over into Dissonant Serenity territory, before offering him to choose his way of dying. Eaton, knowing there is no chance for him to survive this, has no other choice but to calmly accept and leap into his own death.
Chapter 1: Dark Wings, Dark Words
- It becomes nightmarish in hindsight, but once knowing his secret there are just so many red flags about Wolfius' behaviour that his apparently amusing crazy antics are just flat out terrifying.
- Noelle's introduction to Marak establishes that something is very, very off about her. Like most Red Priests, she is too calm, to serene to be anything but creepy. Though her appearance is human, the way she acts and how Marak instantly noticed the inhuman warmth about her suggest that she is anything but.
- On top of that, there is Marak's vision. Starting straightforwardly, it begins to grow darker as it goes on, showing death, destruction, fiery rain and horrifying slaughters. Even Marak is shocked by what he sees.
- Harren Hoare's court session features his version of justice. A man that was caught stealing bread is humiliated, beaten (by the king himself no less) and given a cruel death, all in front of the fully apathetic noblemen. And this is the most powerful king in Westeros, ruling over the largest and strongest kingdom of them all.
Chapter 2: Broken Vows
- The Burned Man's description of Butterfly is painting the rival crimelord as pretty much the most terrible monster imaginable. While much of his opinion might be subjective, some of it certainly is not and this alone is already enough. Him hinting at the Fate Worse than Death that will await any of his employees that get caught by the Solvers crosses the line even further when you realize a majority of those working for the Burned Man are children.
- Richard's interaction with Wolfius. Seeing the deranged psychopath harrassing an innocent barmaid, Richard rushes to her aid. This harmless, selfless deed gets him a spot on Wolfius' list and it is implied that the killer later arranged for Richard to find him fresh in the act of having killed a random bystander in a remote alleyway, so that he can lure him into a trap. It works, Richard is caught by Clayton's assassins and absolutly helpless, left at their mercy.
- Ellena has a very brief, blink-and-you-miss-it interaction with Brynden Rivers, known as Bloodraven, known as the Three-Eyed Raven when she touches a weirwood tree. Keep in mind, Brynden is not even born yet, he merely watches through space and time by using his weirwood centuries later.
- For someone who has masterfully played the part of an Ambiguously Evil Knight Templar, seeing Harris just snapping and killing Ser Ilhan is a very uncomfortable thing to read about.
Chapter 3: We Write History
- Though slightly subdued by the happy ending, the presence of Samuel and Jaylon aboard the Pale Princess proves that by saving Jaron's life, Ellena has angered forces way beyond anything she could ever hope to achieve. To make things worse, the only one that could help her, Terroma, has left the ship shortly before this, leaving her defenseless against Butterfly's wrath.
- After a chapter of being absent, Noelle reappears in full form. This time, she bewitches a knight of Raylansfair, at least temporarily, convincing him to bring her and Marak to Harris Flowers, for reasons of her own. The creepy atmosphere during her bewitching scene and the otherworldly lightning makes it only worse.
- Harlan Hoare's introduction. Cheerfully, he is shown in his hobby as a semi-professional torturer, having just amputated a prisoner's leg. The mad whispers in the dungeons imply that either he or the much more professional chief torturer Holt Torv have a history of mistreating their captives simply For the Evulz.
- And if you thought that Harlan was bad, the end of Torvin's storyline introduced Harmund, a man so terrifying that even Harlan cowers in front of him, doing whatever he says. It is telling that in a family consisting of Harren and Harlan, Harmund is considered the most evil and dangerous of them all.
- Kersea's storyline gives us a closer look at the assassins. Led by Clayton, the other members are Alysanne and Wolfius. Kersea being the Token Good Teammate is appropriately horrified by their approach to a mission, during which Wolfius goes out of his way to ensure civilian casualties and a painful death for his targets.
Chapter 4: Butterfly
- Maya's nightmare, though minor compared to the rest of the chapter's Nightmare Fuel, is terrifying. In her dream, she sees Orson Royce as she imagines him to be, a terrifying monster, half-shrouded by darkness, with blades where his teeth should be.
- Alys being chased through the Riverlands by the deranged Harlan Hoare and his men is always bordering on a horrifying catastrophe. The only reason she even escapes at all, terrified and close to breaking down, is thanks to a kindness from Torvin Breaker and Edward Anturion.
- The titular crimelord makes his first appearance in the story and from the very beginning, it is clear that he deserves his reputation. A foul-mouthed racist with anger issues, who also happens to be one of the most powerful men in the city of Oldtown.
- The death of the fake Butterfly manages to be quite unsettling in its own right. Harpy, so far one of the kinder characters in the story, shows some seriously dark urges, when she finally gets her hands on the wounded and defeated man. After getting permission to kill him, she does so in the most brutal, drawn-out way possible. She is horrifed at herself afterwards.
- The final part of the chapter is just pure Nightmare Fuel, paired with major Paranoia Fuel. As it turns out Maron Mullendore has played everyone, from the characters, to the readers, as he revealed himself to be the crimelord Butterfly, having sent another man to die in his place. He proceeds to show that, as bad as that scapegoat has been, he is a thousand times worse, when he tortures and mutilates Lunett Kawl right in front of her lover, Lucas. After that, he takes him and Leonard prisoner, basically promising them to give them a fate more gruesome than poor Lunett's.
Chapter 5: The Iron Price
- If anything manages to top the moment of Mullendore's reveal, it has to be Lucas' torture in this chapter. First, he is slowly worn down by the Sphynx, Mullendore's masked chief torturer, before the crimlord himself just snaps, mutilating Lucas by cutting off several of his fingers and cutting out one of his eyes before he finally breaks, essentially ending his career as a knight.
- Wolfius' attack on Lyria and Rosalie sees him deliberately terrifying them. Given how creepy he is even when not trying means he really pulls every trick here, appearing more like a supernatural force of nature than just one man. He wounds Rosalie by stabbing her in the gut, leaving her to bleed out and a wounded Lyria too weak to save her daughter.
- Kreep, being Wolfius' son is more than his equal in, uh, kreepiness. Everything, from his Creepy Monotone voice, his lack of emotion and his Nightmare Face is terrifying, even more so than his father and his blind obedience to such a deranged man does not make things any better.
- Though it is not picked up much further in the current chapter, the beast of Raylansfair is first mentioned and one of its dismembered victims is shown. Whatever it is, it has to be monstrous in size and strength and it seems to prey exclusively on humans.
Chapter 6: Masquerade
- After the traumatic events of Chapter 5, we finally get a good view how heavily Lucas has been affected by his ordeal. He has been broken to the point where he sees cruel visions of the Sphynx, who torments him even long after being freed from his dungeons.
- Ellena's perfectly innocent adventure with Himani, where they chase after the harmlessly eccentric beggar Roach quickly turns nightmarish when the Tom and his Alley Cats arrive. Spotting Himani and Ellena, the two children are forced to run. Himani does not make it and the last thing Ellena hears from him are his desperate cries for help.
- Very briefly during their break-in into the lower levels of the archive, Maya spots something that fills her with dread, basically kickstarting her flight from the building: A shadow, a moving shadow in the shape of a long, thin humanoid... something, stalking the halls of the archive.
- After their failed attempt on Harren Hoare's life, the king takes vengeance on the Breaker brothers in his own way. He slices Garthon's cheek open, taking vengeance for the same wound he suffered at his hands. Torvin however... Torvin gets it worse. A gleeful Harren reveals to him that he has captured his pregnant lover and that the abuse she suffered at the hands of his sons caused her to lose the child... before he summons a servant to actually present the stillborn baby to the entire court, utterly breaking Torvin in the process.
- Mullendore toying with Harpy at the end of the masquerade has been absolutely devastating for her and is quite chilling come to think of it. It shows that this man, one of the most vile men in Oldtown and her sworn enemy, knows exactly who she is and feels confident enough to even hint at his own identity, showing perverse glee as he notices her figuring it out.
- The massacre in Tanner's Alley, the chapter finale, is nightmarish for a completely different reason. After six chapters of playing it relatively safe in terms of deaths, this marks the turning point, in which the story proves that truly Anyone Can Die. Over the course of one long, brutal part, half a dozen named characters are killed.
- The very end of the chapter. Though Mullendore is critically wounded, the Burned Man and his organization are destroyed. This time, there is no one to help, as nothing can be undone. After years of careful planning, Mullendore has actually won.
Chapter 7: Valar Morghulis
- Otis Shiff. Just, everything about Otis Shiff. The man, appearing like a typical grumpy, yet kind-hearted farmer, turns out to be one of the worst characters in the entire story. Being a Serial Killer, he targets exclusively children, to take vengeance on parents who mocked him after the death of his daughters. Clearly broken over the tragedies in his life, there is nothing that holds him back from giving in to the worst urges in his mind. As such, he lures children into his hut, before torturing them horribly over the course of weeks. And he almost manages to do the same to Ellena.
- As wholeheartedly deserved as it is, the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Otis suffers at the hands of Marak is terrifying for the same reason Harpy's murder of Butterfly is. Seeing Marak, usually a jovial guy, show so much utter fury is a stark and scary contrast to his usual behaviour. Then you remember he has to face Terroma and Raenna later in the chapter...
- After several chapters of build-up, the identity of the beast is finally revealed: It is a monstrously huge direwolf, the largest of its kind, wild, utterly ferocious, yet of such a great intelligence that it actually manages to lure Richard and his companions into a trap, using one of their own as bait. It is so superior to them that it outright toys with them!
- Continuing her discoveries from the last chapter, Maya has another run-in with the thing in the archives. This time, it has left the lower levels, stalking through the upper halls, chasing after her as she frantically searches for an exit. Her panicked attempts at escaping, while the thing is looking for her are quite probably the most scary moments in the entire story.
- Noelle has always been a character strongly rooted in magic. Then, she unleashes her full power for a moment against Raenna and her companions and you realize, she has been holding back all this time. Summoning flames out of thin air, conjuring heat, she becomes almost unstoppable, taking down most of the group on her own.
- The final part of the chapter holds two moments as well. First of all, the Ironborn arrive in Raylansfair, ready to slaughter its people without mercy. Perhaps even worse is that their arrival gives Wolfius a chance to escape from his planned execution, in a situation where only few guardsmen are able to chase after him.
Chapter 8: What Is Dead May Never Die
- The entire chapter holds the record for being the most bloody and devastating chapter of the entire story and this says something. Just about every reader has lost at least one character they liked deeply, as one by one, characters that have been developed for years get cut down unceremoniously.
- Among the leaders of the raid is a certain Clint Volmark, known as Cleaver Clint. His participation in the raid narrows down to plundering the city and trying to burn it to the ground. The brutality he shows is almost numbing and displays just how far the Ironborn are willing to go and it is implied that this is nothing out of the ordinary for them and the culture they grew up in.
- Edward Anturion explains the thing in the archive from Maya's parts. It is not a real entity, but a powerful spell, an illusion that becomes reality due to people believing in it, taking the form of what they fear the most. He demonstrates this by deliberately sending one of his raiders to death, basically sacrificing his own men to get something of great value from this archive. The scene were Alys' own illusion, taking the form of her father, is chasing her and Carvin through the archive as they try to flee is not making things any better.
- Wolfius, from start to finish. After finally tracking down Lyria, he nonchalantly orders the death of Urid, before getting into a fight with Lyria. Surprisingly, she wins by cracking his skull open, nearly killing him in the process. In this moment, he pulls his trump car: The beast of Raylansfair. Revealing himself to be an extremely powerful warg with a god complex, Wolfius explains his next step. He is going to kill Lyria, eating her while warged into his direwolf, right in front of Rosalie. He does this while forcing the girl to watch, threatening to blind her if she does look away. And then, he goes on to warg into his wolf once more, as we get to see Lyria's final moments from her own Point-of-View.
- The very end is one, especially for Lucas. Once more, he is confronted with Maron Mullendore, but this time, he has to realize that he has teamed up with his brother, Petyr, the same man that has pushed him out of Darkdell in the first place. The two men that have caused Lucas the greatest harm have now teamed up for their own, nefarious goals. And as the heroes that saved Raylansfair, they are in a very good position to actually succeed.
Chapter 9: Valar Dohaeris
- Just like in Chapter 6, Lucas' visions are back. This time, they take the form of people he failed, as spectres of Lunett, Dairon, Samantha and even Harris torment him mercilessly, figments of his own, broken mind, as he becomes almost mad with guilt over the mistakes he made.
- After gaining possession of the object Edward Anturion wanted to steal from the archive, Willfred quickly finds himself enthralled by it. Becoming oddly fond, secretive and defensive over it, it becomes clear that whatever Edward has tried to steal, it has a mind of its own and is trying to force Willfred to bring it away from the archive and Raylansfair.
- As much as she has been a bad person, Sherryl's death is horrible and actually pitiable. Over the course of just a few hours, she is disfigured gruesomely and abandoned by the only man she ever loved, in the most callous way possible. Now a broken mess, the once prideful woman is Driven to Suicide.
Epilogue: The King's Landing
- Though it has been a highly anticipated and heroic moment, the arrival of Aegon Targaryen does hold some horror too. After being introduced to the different kingdoms for an entire book, Aegon's Conquest now threatens quite a number of sympathetic characters and given the power he wields, it is unlikely every single one of them will make it through the Conquest unharmed.
- Balerion, the Black Dread only appearing in the final moments of the epilogue, lives up to his name in the way he is described. There is something truly unnerving about his description, especially his sheer size.
Interlude
Interlude: Seven Letters
- Mern Gardener's Interlude, though showing that the king does not trust Petyr Vyrwel and Maron Mullendore one bit, also shows that he has one severe problem regardless. One of his closest advisors is revealed to be none other than Devrin Oakheart, the third member of the conspiracy and a man he is shown to trust wholeheartedly.
- Naturally, Harren Hoare's Interlude holds one moment that is quite scary. It is not shown in the story proper, but the fate of Clarisse Pyke, Torvin's lover, is finally revealed. After using her to get Torvin to where he wanted him to be, Harren quickly ordered her death. That being said, he left it to Harmund to do the deed and his son did things... his way instead. Harren finds her by chance a month later. The sight of her in whatever condition Harmund left her in is shocking even to him, so he finds himself forced to give her a Mercy Kill.
Book 2
Prologue: The Black Dread
- If the title wasn't enough indicator, it is a grim reminder of the terror and destruction a full grown dragon can inflict upon an army, as Balerion himself is unleashed upon the Mooton-Darklyn alliance, killing several hundred men on his own without even being slowed down.
- Lord Grenn Mooton's point of view on the carnage and his final moments are nightmarish from beginning to end. Particular mention deserves his description of Balerion, whom he notes to be almost as large as the city of Maidenpool, one of the largest in the Riverlands.
- And coincidentally, this chapter was posted only a few days before The Spoils of War aired, giving a pretty graphic idea of what Daenaerys' ancestor did 300 years before.
Chapter 1: Fires Far
- After seeing what one dragon can do in the prologue, we are treated to a bit of Fridge Horror when Ellena sees all three of them for the first time, a sight as magnificent as it is terrifying. So far, only Balerion has been unleashed, but the sight of all three of them hints at just how powerful the Targaryen's truly are in the war to come.
- The Sandstorm is very unsettling in their tactics, an effect Word of God deliberately tried to achieve by giving them tactics similar to that of terrorists, in a setting that is absolutely inexperienced to this type of warfare. Their delusional, indoctrinated mindset is also quite shocking.
