How does Before They Are Hanged end?
Every storyline closes in failure or costly victory. On the island of Shabulyan, the quest collapses when the stone spirit hands Ferro a plain rock instead of the Seed, which Kanedias hid somewhere else entirely. In the North, the Union holds the line at Dunbrec, but Threetrees and Cathil are buried afterward and the surviving Named Men choose Dogman as their new chief. Glokta escapes the fall of Dagoska and returns to Adua, where Sult rewards him because the city's long resistance served his politics better than saving it ever would have.
Do Bayaz and his companions find the Seed in Before They Are Hanged?
No. Logen summons the stone spirit of Shabulyan, which hands Ferro the thing it has guarded, but Bayaz sees at once that it is an ordinary rock; Kanedias deceived his brothers and stored the true weapon elsewhere. The whole crossing of the Old Empire proves to have been for nothing, Bayaz erupts in fury, and Ferro loses the revenge she was promised. On the voyage back, she and Logen silently accept that they will part.
Who dies in Before They Are Hanged?
Crown Prince Ladisla dies when West shoves him off a cliff after catching him attempting to rape Cathil. At Dunbrec, Shanka kill Cathil and the Feared strikes down Threetrees before withdrawing into the mist. In Adua, Crown Prince Raynault is murdered, apparently by an Eater, and the innocent Gurkish envoy Tulkis is publicly disemboweled for the crime after Glokta forces a confession from him.
How does the Union win the battle at Dunbrec?
Caul Shivers and forty Carls defect from Bethod beforehand, and their knowledge gives the Union its first real tactical edge. Burr's plan pulls Bethod into the valley against Kroy, with Poulder attacking out of the woods on the ridge, while West keeps the cavalry in reserve. When Burr collapses from illness mid-battle, West secretly gives orders under the marshal's name, and his decisions hold off a rout until Burr can reappear and sustain the deception. The line holds, but the victory is measured in graves.
What happens to Glokta after Dagoska falls?
Sult orders him to abandon the city and leave Vissbruck behind to fight to the last man, so Glokta slips away by boat at night with Vitari, Frost, and Severard, after advising Vissbruck to choose suicide over capture and telling Kahdia to negotiate terms for his people. Back in Adua he expects ruin and instead finds Sult delighted, because the drawn-out siege weakened Sult's political enemies and saving Dagoska was never the goal. Glokta is made co-Superior of Adua, where Mauthis's warning over the Raynault affair teaches him that Valint & Balk answers to something that frightens even its own agents.
How does Before They Are Hanged set up Last Argument of Kings?
The trilogy concludes in Last Argument of Kings, and this book leaves every thread primed. The Seed still exists somewhere, since Kanedias hid it away from his brothers, and the Union is left without an heir after Raynault's murder, though rumors point to a vanished woman who may have carried a royal bastard. Glokta quietly keeps hunting the real killer despite Mauthis's warning, and Dogman is left leading the surviving Northmen, with Bethod's alliance with the Shanka and the Feared unbroken.