Game of Thrones is a family show, since every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, and Westeros has a whole world of unhappy families. The fourth season, starting Sunday, will reunite us with what's left of these families to reunite, so in anticipation, it's time to catch up with the great Houses. (Pass the Wall only if you do not fear spoilers from the first three seasons.)

The only thing between you and a list of dead characters. Photograph: HBO Photograph: HBO

The Starks of the North

Scattered, bodily. Dismembered, emotionally. Without a family head. The king of the North, Robb Stark, misjudged whether old man Frey might hold it against him for not marrying his daughter, as they had previously agreed. Frey did and Robb died … along with his wife, his mother and a lot of his friends. Sansa Stark married the Lannister least likely to murder her. Aspiring assassin Arya Stark traipses the country with her fellow fugitive, the currish Hound, who finally got fed up with King Joffrey.

Arya's role models have included an assassin, a sociopath and a dancing instructor. Photograph: HBO Photograph: HBO

Bran, the crippled boy with wolves and visions, is going beyond the wall with his verbigerating giant to find a three-eyed raven. His little brother, Rickon, has run off to Castle Black. Finally, Ned Stark's bastard, Jon Snow, rejoined the Night's Watch after a jaunt with the Wildlings left him with the lesson that love hurts.

The Greyjoys of the Iron Islands

Theon Greyjoy, of salt and rock, heir to the son of the sea wind and believer in the drowned god – lickerish, remorseful Theon will not sow. Roose Bolton's bastard son, after capturing and torturing Theon, ensured that the heir couldn't betray their family motto, too.

Theon Greyjoy had a bad year. Photograph: Helen Sloan Photograph: Helen Sloan

Theon's father, who rebels against whomever's closest and waxes bitter at anyone in earshot, disowned his gelded son, but Theon's sister, Yara, has gone to rescue him with 50 of the Islands' "best killers", so nothing could go wrong.

The Lannisters of the Westerlands

It's exhausting to look this good. Dastardly, debonair, dapper, devious, dignified and more than a little degenerate, the Lannister family has hit its stride. Tywin controls the realm, pulling strings and humiliating his grandson, the king, with sangfroid. At Tywin's command, Cersei, having been borked with rumors of incest, will marry Loras to clear her name. Tyrion, whose skill for intrigue grows almost as quickly as his enemies' plots, followed orders instead of instincts and married Sansa Stark, to his girlfriend's dismay.

"Everyone is an idiot." Photograph: Helen Sloan/AP Photograph: Helen Sloan/AP

Jaime has returned to King's Landing minus a hand and with his first friend, Brienne of Tarth, and his newfound decency likely won't gibe well with court.

Not the wedding they hoped for. Photograph: Helen Sloan/AP/HBO Photograph: Helen Sloan/AP

Finally, Joffrey continues to prove he's more of a baby – petulant, amoral and full of snot – than his younger siblings, one of whom has been sent off to marry into House Martell.

The Baratheons of the Stormlands

Counseled by a woman who births shadow monsters and a man known for smuggling onions, Stannis Baratheon, brother of the dead king Robert and the most legitimate heir to the throne, is in a pickle. To claim the crown, should he trust Melisandre, whose mysterious powers and zero scruples about parricide could make him king? Or should he trust his old friend Ser Davos, who is just now learning to read from a mysteriously disfigured child?

Stannis Baratheon, hoping nobody sees him. Photograph: Helen Sloan/AP/HBO Photograph: HELENSLOAN/HBO

Furthermore, does Baratheon do anything about the news that the White Walkers ride undead horses again? Dour Stannis, the most famous waffler south of Hot Pie the baker's boy, faces some big decisions.

Meanwhile, his nephew, Robert's bastard Gendry, has escaped Melisandre's leech frying pan and her literal fire, but landed in a proverbial one, stuck in a rowboat, unable to swim and without any friends.

The Arryns of the Vale

Perhaps having said Arryn of the Eyrie a few too many times, Lady Lysa of the Vale, eager for revenge and lax about public lactation, had seemingly lost her marbles. She'll soon meet her suitor, Petyr Baelish, who had previously lived in happy synechthry with a eunuch spymaster in King's Landing, and who now finds himself charged with wooing his dead beloved's sister and taking command of a haunted castle. How he'll get along with Mord "No gold!" the jailor returns remains to be seen.

The Tyrells of the Reach

Margaery Tyrell has King Joffrey, her betrothed, firmly under her thumb, much to the chagrin of Cersei. Meanwhile, Margaery's grandmother, Olenna, wheels and deals with Tywin Lannister, proving you're only as old as your schemes – unless you're Cersei, in which case Olenna simply thinks you're old. The matriarch brokered a deal arranging for Loras Tyrell to marry Cersei, despite Loras' preference for men and Cersei's for incest.



Margaery Tyrell and Olenna, in their scheming gazebo. Photograph: Macall B Polay/AP Photograph: Macall B. Polay/AP/HBO

But despite the impending nuptials, Margaery and her gran are making enemies, including but not limited to the Baratheon of Storm's End, Cersei, Varys the spymaster and the Starks, who by this point have nothing but enemies.

The Boltons

Roose Bolton, fresh from betraying the Starks at Walder Frey's at the Lannister's request, looks to make a fortune from life as a quisling. His bastard Ramsay has shown his colors (whatever color is for sadism), but Roose – who abstains from alcohol and only offers a smirk at Lady Stark here, a frown with Jaime Lannister there – is still a cypher.

The wandering Targaryen

By now, Daenerys Targaryen has made it clear to anyone who will listen that she has the blood of dragons, as well as three actual dragons. Having recruited a former king's guard, assassins, and an army of freed slaves to go with her adviser Jorah Mormont, Daenerys briefly paused her desert ramblings to free more slaves and indulge her messianic impulses. With a conquered city at her back, she may actually use a ship to sail back to Westeros now.

Daenarys Targaryn, for once not talking about her dragons. Photograph: c.HBO/Everett/REX Photograph: c.HBO/Everett/REX

In King's Landing, Tywin hears of Daenerys' rising power but dismisses it.

The King beyond the Wall

Finally, Mance Rayder, with an army of Wildlings and the name of a terrible glam rock band, is marching south on the Wall. Rayder, who knows of the Walkers' revenant army, has decided to invade the seven kingdoms rather than face the undead. But Jon Snow betrayed Rayder's, and the Night's Watch will be ready for Jon's spurned girlfriend Ygritte and Mance's merry Wildlings.

Catch up on the Guardian's full Game of Thrones coverage here, including recaps of all the episodes so far.