[The Eyrie — Locations]
Catelyn takes Tyrion, who protests his innocence, to the Eyrie . A sellsword from the inn, Bronn , accompanies them, noting Tyrion's wealth and a promise he will handsomely reward any man who helps him. They are attacked by the hill tribes and Tyrion barely manages to defend himself.
Tyrion warns Catelyn that her sister, Lysa , has become irrational with grief and will try to kill him. She is skeptical, but Tyrion is proven correct: Lysa accuses him conspiring in her Jon Arryn 's death. Tyrion is thrown into one of the Eyrie's "sky-cells", dungeons which open onto a ravine on one side.
Only Tyrion's older brother, Jaime maintained a good relationship; with Tyrion, admiring him for both his intellect and inability to let his diminished stature drag him down and he has frequently attempted to come to Tyrion's defense; when his other family members treat him maliciously; making Jaime the only member of his immediate family; who Tyrion loves. Tyrion harbors a mutual admiration for Jaime, even naming him as his champion when he demanded a trial by combat while being held prisoner at the Eyrie. But this cozy relationship had ended; when Tyrion had killed their father, although they have reconciled; since then. The last time they were together, Tyrion tearfully thanked his brother for being the only Lannister to treat him like a brother, not a monster and that; Jaime had helped Tyrion survived his childhood.
Some time later, Jaime and Bronn are training, and it seems that Jaime has improved his sword skills with his left hand as he begins to overpower Bronn. Bronn then takes off Jaime's golden hand and slaps him with it and he falls to the ground, with Bronn lecturing Jaime as to the value of being willing to fight dirty. Jaime asks Bronn his opinion on the murder; Bronn says that Tyrion is innocent, and is shocked when he realizes that Jaime hasn't yet gone to see Tyrion, since Tyrion's original choice for his trial by combat at the Eyrie was Jaime. After hearing this, he visits Tyrion. Convincing Jaime that he didn't kill Joffrey, Tyrion notes that not even an irrefutable confession by the real perpetrator would satisfy Cersei. She is out for Tyrion's blood, and he says that the trial is even worse because at least one judge has always wanted him dead. Jaime tells Tyrion that Cersei offers a knighthood to whomever captures Sansa. Tyrion insists that Sansa had nothing to do with the murder, despite having the best motive.
The Hound has now decided to take Arya to Lysa Arryn , her aunt, in the Eyrie , where he can sell her. Arya is displeased with this arrangement and wishes for a horse so that she can stay a distance away from the Hound during the rest of their journey. The Hound argues that he doesn't want her out of his sight and giving her a horse would provide her with the chance to escape.
Arya and the Hound stop to water their horses. Arya thinks that they are lost and asks him what he plans to do after he takes her to the Eyrie. He says he might join the Second Sons . A farmer and his daughter appear and ask them what they are doing on his lands. Arya makes up a story about the Hound being a soldier for House Tully , which luckily gets them access to his home and food. The next morning, Arya wakes up to a scream. The Hound has beaten the farmer and taken his silver. Arya is furious, telling him he is the "worst shit in the seven kingdoms." He ignores the insult and tells her that the farmer and his daughter will not survive this upcoming winter anyway.
As Arya and Sandor make their way to the Eyrie, Arya laments that she doesn't feel any satisfaction over Joffrey's death (which they learned of from Rorge), expressing disappointment in the fact that she was neither able to be present during his murder or be the one to kill him. Once they reach the Bloody Gate , Ser Donnel Waynwood informs them that Lysa Arryn had passed away just three days prior, prompting Arya to burst into a fit of laughter over their continuing bad luck as Sandor stands dumbfounded over his attempts to collect a ransom being foiled yet again.
At this point, the Hound, who had continued to follow the Brotherhood, captures her, planning to get her to the Twins so he can collect her ransom from Robb. When they reach the Twins, the wedding is already over and the feast has commenced. Before they can get very far, the Freys and Boltons begin attacking the loyal Northerners. Arya attempts to get into the castle anyway in the hopes of rescuing Catelyn, but the Hound knocks her out and carries her off. When she wakes, Arya insists on going back for her mother, but the Hound refuses. When Arya wargs into Nymeria again while she sleeps, she finds Catelyn's body in the river and pulls her out. This allows her to accept that her mother is dead and Arya goes into a depression. The Hound plans to take her to the Eyrie to sell her to Lysa Arryn , but he is warned against due to how dangerous it would be to travel through the Vale unprotected.
Sansa and Petyr are walking towards the Bloody Gate and Petyr educates Sansa on the Eyrie and its defenses. Sansa uses the disguise as Petyr's niece so no one knows who she is. When they enter the main hall, Sansa greets her aunt Lysa as Alayne, but Lysa interrupts her saying that she already knows who she is. However, Sansa cannot call Lysa 'Aunt' in front of anyone apart from Lysa, Petyr, and Sansa's cousin Robin , Lysa's son. Despite this, a joyful Robin offers Sansa a tour of the rest of the Eyrie.
In a sample chapter of The Winds of Winter , Robert tells Alayne she should marry him. Sansa, who does not have the heart to tell Robert her negative opinion of him, tells him gently but firmly it is out of the question: as the Lord of the Eyrie and Defender of the Vale, he must wed a highborn lady and father a son - not a bastard, otherwise his bannermen will claim that Littlefinger made him do that, and put her and "her father" to death. In the chapter, preparations are being made for a tourney, as suggested by Sansa to Littlefinger as a means of orchestrating a meeting between Sansa and Harrold Hardyng. Sansa finds Harold attractive, but immediately reminds herself the bitter lesson she learned long ago - not to judge people by their physical appearance; she recalls that Joffrey was comely but a monster, but Tyrion was unattractive but kind to her. Harrold initially speaks to her rudely, calling her "Littlefinger's bastard", nearly moving her to tears; later he apologizes. Sansa treats him courteously but coldly, as Littlefinger instructed her - to charm Harrold but not to look too eager. To test his honesty, Sansa asks him about his bastard daughters, and he answers openly. Harrold asks to wear her favor in the tourney, but she refuses, claiming it is promised to another.
Littlefinger and Sansa, now pretending to be his niece Alayne, pass the Bloody Gate and make their ascent to the Eyrie , where they meet Lysa Arryn and her son, Lord Robin . After Sansa is acquainted with the two of them and is told that no one can know about her presence, Robin takes her to her chambers. Baelish is left alone with Lysa, who kisses him and tells him she wants to marry him immediately.
Later on, Baelish and Robin stand in the High Hall, preparing to depart for their tour of the Vale. Robin expresses his uncertainty about leaving the Eyrie, echoing his mother's words that the outside world is a dangerous place where he could die. Petyr calms his fears by stating that people die from everyday causes, and that instead of worrying about his inevitable death to spend time focusing on his life, which lays before him. At that moment, a raven-haired Sansa appears at the top of the stairs in a feathered black dress with a plunging neckline. Petyr stares at her intently, clearly intrigued and pleased by her recent transformation, and she returns his smile knowingly.
Seeing how things are going, Petyr steps closer to the table, telling Sansa that he has known her since she was a girl and all he did was to protect her; Sansa sarcastically replies "Protected me? By selling me to the Boltons?." He then asks Sansa if they can speak alone and asks if he can or deserves to defend himself, before he tries to order Yohn Royce as Lord Protector to escort him back to the Eyrie, but Royce scornfully refuses. With no one to turn to for aid, Petyr falls to his knees and begs for his life, claiming that he had loved Catelyn since he was a boy, but Sansa replies he still betrayed her.
Unlike in the show, Littlefinger and Lysa are married at the Fingers, because Lysa insists that they do that without delay. Littlefinger does not like the idea and tries to persuade Lysa to hold the wedding in public, at the Eyrie and in presence of Lysa's whole court (in order to make the Vale lords acknowledge his new position), but Lysa is too stubborn.
Yohn Royce and five of the most powerful lords of the Vale come to the Eyrie, demanding that Littlefinger leave the Vale and give them custody over Robert. Littlefinger manipulates them into giving him a trial period of one year on his wardship over Robert. Later, he explains to Sansa that in one year, five of those lords either will die or be bribed by him. Lord Royce is the only serious obstacle, but so long as he stands alone - he is not so much a threat.
Catelyn publicly announces that they are traveling north to Winterfell, but instead takes Tyrion east into the Vale of Arryn . In the hills, they are attacked by warriors of the hill tribes , and Catelyn agrees to let Tyrion go unbound to defend himself. Tyrion saves Catelyn's life, but wins no more of her trust. Tyrion warns Catelyn that her sister Lysa has become mentally unbalanced following her husband's death. His warning rings true when on reaching the Eyrie, to which they are escorted to by Ser Vardis Egen , captain of the guard of the Eyrie, Catelyn is unsettled to see how her much her sister Lysa has changed. Lysa and her hysterical son, Lord Robin Arryn , order Tyrion thrown into a sky cell, a prison with a wall that opens onto a sheer drop.
At the Eyrie, Lysa regales Sansa with her childhood memories about Catelyn. However, she grows angry when Sansa almost mentions Littlefinger's love-triangle with Catelyn, something which has irked Lysa for years. She later becomes insanely jealous after witnessing Littlefinger (who is now married to her) kiss Sansa and threatens to throw her niece out the Moon Door but Littlefinger interrupts. Assuming a softer tone, Littlefinger manages to subdue Lysa before revealing to her horror that the only woman he ever really loved was Catelyn and pushing her out the Moon Door to her death.
Catelyn deeply loves her family, but this sometimes results in her acting rashly, selfishly and irresponsibly, with a total disregard to the applications, especially to the lives of innocent people who may get harmed as a result of her deeds. Catelyn seizes Tyrion, since she believes he is guilty of attempting to murder her son Bran. However, she fails to verify Littlefinger's false accusation (that the dagger belonged to Tyrion), and refuses to listen to Tyrion's logical statements. She is so outraged and determined to exact justice for the attempt on her son's life that she pays little heed that the Lannisters would retaliate and innocent people (among them Masha Heddle , who was indeed killed at Tywin's order, and was not the only one) may be harmed. The book makes a point that Catelyn did not care even slightly about six of her escorts, who were killed by the tribe hills on the way to the Eyrie - " sometimes she felt as though her heart had turned to stone. " That sentence is perhaps a foreshadowing of her resurrection as Lady Stoneheart.
As Brienne and Podrick prepare to leave the inn, Podrick reminds Brienne that telling people of their quest could be dangerous, but Brienne's honesty is swiftly rewarded when Hot Pie approaches and gives them some bread baked in the shape of a wolf. He adds that while he knows nothing of Sansa, he has seen her sister Arya , who was in the company of a man who matches the description of the Hound . Podrick, having memorized the complex family trees of the Great Houses, suggests that they head to the Eyrie , home of Lysa Arryn , Arya's aunt and the Hound's last chance for a ransom, which seems to impress Brienne, who questions why Arya would go the Eyrie.
While still traveling to the Eyrie, Arya asks Sandor what he will do once he ransoms her to Lysa Arryn. Sandor states that he might leave Westeros and fight as a sellsword in the Free Cities, possibly with the Second Sons. At the mention of the Free Cities, Arya states she would like to see Braavos one day, but Sandor doubts she knows anyone there.