Contents
PROLOGUE
Overview
Mortally wounded after the wildling rout, Varamyr Sixskins recalls his violent history and the taboos of skinchanging while starving in an abandoned village. He attempts to seize Thistle’s body, fails, and dies, slipping into his wolf. From the wolves, he witnesses the dead—including Thistle—reanimated, foreshadowing the growing threat beyond the Wall.
Summary
As wolves hunt and devour fleeing refugees, Varamyr Sixskins experiences the kill through his pack while he shivers, wounded and starving, in a snow-buried hut. He recalls Haggon’s teachings on abominations—eating human flesh, mating as a beast, and seizing another human’s body—and his own fall from feared skinchanger-lord to a dying fugitive after the defeat at the Wall.
Varamyr remembers the chaos among the free folk, Thistle sewing his side, and his lost beasts after his eagle burned over the Wall. He reviews his life: taken by Haggon as a child after his dogs were slain; rising to power with wolves, a shadowcat, and a snow bear; serving near Mance Rayder; and abusing his gift to take what he wanted. He recognizes he is facing true death from cold.
When his fire dies and Thistle fails to return, Varamyr stumbles into the snow seeking food, collapses, and resolves to survive by committing the darkest sin: taking Thistle’s body to live on as her. As the cold overcomes him, he dreams of childhood losses and Haggon’s warnings about second life and the fading of memory.
Thistle returns, warning of hundreds approaching. In desperation, Varamyr wargs into her. She violently resists, fighting him from within; her body thrashes and she bites off their tongue, rejecting his possession. Varamyr’s human life ends as his spirit disperses through the wood before finding his wolves.
Reborn in One Eye, he runs with Sly and Stalker to a ridge and looks down on the village as the dead rise. Frost creeps over the weirwood, and blue-eyed corpses stir—among them Thistle, now a wight with blood-icicle claws. The wolves sense these are not prey, underscoring the advancing, unnatural enemy.
Who Appears
- Varamyr SixskinsDying warg recalling his past; attempts to seize Thistle’s body, fails, dies, and takes second life in his wolf.
- ThistleSpearwife who sewed Varamyr’s wound; returns, resists his possession, dies, and rises as a wight.
- HaggonVaramyr’s mentor; appears in memories condemning abominations; his teachings frame Varamyr’s choices.
- One EyeVaramyr’s oldest wolf; receives Varamyr’s second life and leads the pack to witness the wights.
- SlyFemale wolf in Varamyr’s pack; accompanies One Eye, bristles at the sight of the dead.
- StalkerYounger male wolf in the pack; runs with One Eye and Sly as Varamyr’s second life begins.
- Mance RayderKing-Beyond-the-Wall referenced in memories; his defeat precipitates the wildlings’ flight.
- OrellDead skinchanger whose eagle Varamyr once took; his lingering hate influenced Varamyr.
- Jon SnowMentioned as Orell’s killer and a sensed skinchanger; symbol of the gift Varamyr coveted.