r/AsoiafFanfiction

Hi everyone !

Here to update about my fanfic advancement, and askip y’all about some things (you would have guessed it, marriage and succession)

So I am currently writing a Northern uplift story, taking place around 700 years before the main story (or 400 before the conquest/300 years before the Doom of Valyria).

The main character is Brandon Stark « the Burner », son of Brandon Stark « the Shipwright » (I know they don’t exactly fit the timeline as « thousand of year » is vague but I placed them here and I think it make sense). The story start in 241 AR (I placed age 0 at the end of the Great Bolton Rebellion defeated by Harlon Stark and his brother Karlon Stark (founder of house Stark of Karhold), at the birth of Brandon.

Anyway avoue the update : it’s taking way slower than I think, but I have dozen of pages to make sure there are no incoherency, and I’m also taking in a lot of time to expend upon the character writing and the world building (and to make a big family tree too).

But to get back on point, my problem of the day is kind of for the « late game ». The MC/SI, Brandon, married Desmera Manderly. They had 3 children that lived to adulthood, Elric, Eden and Melara Stark. The only make child is Elric Stark, who himself ends up having 2 daughter : Eddara and Denya Stark.
In 302 AR, Desmera Stark die at the age of 66. In 280 AR, Elric Stark died from wound in battle.

My questions are thoses :

Does the SI, then age 61, face pressure to remarry given that he have no male son ?

Especially given that he does not want to remarry to destabilize succession, and have already established and put in law that his eldest granddaughter will inherit the Kingdom of the North. This have became accepted through roughly 30 years of « propaganda » and a (small) change of mindset/tradition in nobility.

EDIT : to clarify, the succession IS set and written in a code of law, and it is absolute primogeniture (through a long plot that happens in the story, ain’t spoiling). Eddara should inherit and her son after her. My question would be why would any of the northern lord opposite this ? (As said, the Starks never had a ruling Queen but I don’t see why not except tradition, which can be changed, or any kind of magic, on which we sadly have no indication).

So the complete situation is this (and clearly said and proclaimed like this, oath and all) : Eddara, grand daughter of the SI through his firstborn child and son Elric, is first in line to become King in the North. Then come her son, great-grandson of the SI, second in line (who is a toddler). Then come Denya, second granddaughter of the SI through his son Elric. Then come Eden, his second eldest child and eldest daughter. Then come Eden eldest daughter, then her second son, then her youngest daughter. Then come Melara eldest son, then second son. Then would come any brother/sister of the SI, and their children after them.

My question is : would anyone try to usurp anyone (grab for power probably), if the law is set and written and that most people (in what we could accept the « progressive » faction) accept it and that the SI is careful to not give any power to them.
And if he remarry and have a son, would he feel entitled to have a claim ? (Realistically he could never push it given that he would have little to no influence, but I’m interested in your opinion).

If he does feel pressure to remarry, it would most likely be from the traditionalist faction. Supposing he does remarry, what are your opinions on who he would/should remarry ? A widow/daughter/sister of a lord so that he may build new alliances, or a ruling lady so that he may (maybe) inherit her lands and add to centralization without forcing (too much) the process ?

Anyway I’d be curious to hear about your thoughts, don’t hesitate to ask any question that you wish for; thanks for reading all of this if you are here :)

Have a nice day, see you soon

Assuming Aegon’s dream/prophesy about the Song of Ice and Fire is canon, wouldn’t it make sense to ensure Aenys, Maegor, or any of his other descendants marry into the Starks? Like I kinda find it hard to wrap my head around the idea that kings like Aegon and Jaehaerys knew about it and didn’t think of this.

Edit: Idk why this sounds snarky. I could’ve worded it better, but istg I’m genuinely asking.

Hi all, this is your usual work-in-progress appreciation post for all ASOIAF fanfic enthusiasts out there!

Dear authors and readers — we want to see what you're working on, so please share 🙏

🔍 It’s all about the process:

• Tell us how your fics are going, share some passages.
• Ask questions.
• Ideas that won't let you sleep this week.
• OR whatever else is related. 😉

No matter where you are in your project, your progress is worth celebrating. 💪💡 Let’s inspire each other to keep creating and build a community of encouragement today! ❤️

Hello all!

While WIP Wednesday is for writers, this post is for those who are currently reading ASOIAF/HOTD/GOT fics.

Please share your favourites below!

Make sure to include a link and tell us what the fic(s) are about 📖.

Bonus: Mention if you happened to find the fic here; I am genuinely curious.

A few days ago I asked why the Targaryen brought back the incest with Aelor and Aelora and Aerion and Daenora and I received many interesting comments! (funny ones too) But some of them also left me thinking.

A few of you said that the incest sort of stopped because Daeron didn't have daughters to marry his sons to, but, wouldn't it be the same if he did had them?

Let's say, Baelor is still a guy, but Aerys is a girl, and Rhaegel is a guy, and Maekar is a girl (due to popular demand!), would he had married Baelor to Aerys? Why, if he still needs to calm down the Stormlords? Or, would he still betroth Baelor to Jena and have Aerys marry Rhaegel? Or marry Aerys to a male Penrose?

Maybe have Maekar marry Rhaegel instead? Since we don't really know why he married Alys.

Would Maekar be allowed to marry for love this time too?

What are your head canons?

Out of the fics you have read recently, what year were they first published in?

So what year did the fic start, and if they're relatively older, are they still updating?

I want to run an awards focusing basically all categories on 2025 and 2026, but I want to know if that's feasible or not and I figured this may be some form of indication.

Obviously the term recently is a little subjective, for the sake of this activity that means the start of 2026.

View Poll

This theory suddenly came to me, and I will try to concizely explain it (in advance: I lost two drafts so sorry for spelling errors, I shall edit them, I wanted to put this "on paper"):

1. Connections stemming from (Hebrew) names meanings:

- Brynden is a variant of Brandon, and means (i) Prince, and/or (ii) little raven, and/or sword, and/or fire hill; a Blackwood living in the dark immersed by a net of wood's roots, a Rivers (under item 3. below).

- Bran is Brandon, a Prince (he is in fact currently a King in the North), and a little raven as Bloodraven's student. He plays the role of King David.

- Catelyn, his mother, is s variant of Catherine, which means (i) pure, as Cat was until her death, but (ii) but after her death, she became Lady Stoneheart, which is an interesting choice of words:
Book of Ezekiel 36:26
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”

This is the only place where flesh is mentioned positively in the Bible.

A digression: from a literal perspective she is/was a cat (continuous use of nickname!), a lioness (Lannister attitude!), protecting her cubs. Her story may end as a Corpse Queen with Jaime as Night King on the Wall (Jaime is a variant of James, whose name means he who supplants, and he may very well supplant the position of the Night King).

Jon is short for Jonathan and stands for Gift of God -> may be easily constructed as gift of Old Gods, and as divine gift may point to its divine occurance.

Lyanna stands for light.

Shiera Seastar stands for Song (Shiera). Seastar is the name for Holy Mother Mary whose name stems from Miriam, meaning bitter. GRRM warned of a bitter-sweet ending.

2. Problem required to solve

- Rhaegar and Lyanna's attitude: Rhaegar is a romantic, empathetic, melancholic dreamer, a Lyanna wants to be respected in marriage

- There is no explanaton why they did the opposite on the Tourney and afterwards, demonstrating huge lack of respect to Elia, Robert, Rickard abd Brandon, to Dorne, Stormlands and the North, eventually leading to Rickard and Brandon' deaths and civil war

3. Discussion and Invitation for Discussion

- The biggest sin of a warg, which Bloodraven is, is to warg into people: he did it and will do it again

- Yet Bloodraven must have warged into Lyanna and Rhaegar during the Tourney and the war, effecively stopping either from preventing anything (inconsistent with their personalities!). Because Bloodraven is s sword snd Lyanna is Lifht, their connection may have prompted the Others to move

- Bloodraven's motivation: his body is dying and giving up, but the mind will not, he is egoistic and sure that he alone can rule and protect the Realm, so he is motivated to: 1) become King of the Realm by warging into his own son, and (2) install his heir in the woods' roots. Looking towards the future, he must (3) find the prophetic sword to bring Dawn/Light through Bran or Jon, and he is the one who both allowed and controlled abd stopped the events in Summerhall

- RE Item 1:

-What happened to Lyanna (Light) was reverse Immaculate conception by Bloodraven (see the meaning of Jon's name under Item 1. above), with Bloodraven only using Rhaegar's body as vessel. Jon truly is a miracle child, gift of Old Gods to fight the Others.

- Let us put in comparison Lyanna (Light) and Shiera Seastar. Shiera alone stands for song (A Song of Targaryen Dragon Fire and Stark Water/Ice?), but Seastar is literally Star of the Sea, which is Holy Mother Mary (her name also stands for bitter): Bloodraven chose Lyanna, but Lyanna and Shiera Seastar jointly stand for a bitter song of light and sea (close to series name and Martin's promise of bittersweet ending).

- But Bran is the figure of (future king) David, Jonathan's best friend, and connected as if they are one soul (see Samuel 1:18), in Martin's version Bloodraven intervened for Bran to save him, and it was sufficient to make him more ready for kingship than Jon.

- Bran (also means beloved) is Cat's only boy that does not look like a Tully. Bran answered Bloodraven's call perhaps while he was in Cat's womb, and is stronger than Jon: Bloodraven now understands that like Abraham, but with tragic end, as Old Gods are blood-thirsty, he will have to sacrifice his son (Jon will never sit on the Throne, not even as a vessel, but his place is among the roots behind the Wall, like his father before him), and use Bran in his scheme to get on the Iron Throne, from which he will rule Westeros and the North/Wall via Jon.

-Jon (Jonathan) and (King) Bran's relationship, explained as one soul in two bodies, is explained in Samuel 1; Samwell is a variant of Samuel, meaning that this is a biblical book Martin was inspired by (remember Sam was sent to get formal education in the Citadel, and may be the one to write about this issue).

- Because David also means uncle, and an uncle is an indication as a relative to someone, so are Ned and Lyanna literally, uncle and aunt to our Jon and Bran, respectively, but also: Bran and Bloodraven stand it that relationship towards Jon because Bloodraven (who is also Bran, or will become Bran) is Lyanna's partner, and hence Jon's father and uncle at the same time (time is not linear).

- King David is also associated with Goliath, which stands, in Chrich canon, as a symbol for formidable enemy: Winter thst is coming.

- But not every winter is associated with WW. Indeed, within my theory they started walking incited by Bloodraven's sin of warging into Rhaegar and Lyanna to be born again, but tragically to be younger and able to combat WWs;

- Little note: Samuel 1 states that Jonathan (our Jon) is a good archer, and we meet the boys practising archery.

- Apart from Book Samuel 1, attention must be given to the story of Jonah (also Jon) who was devoured by a fish (Catelyn's attiitude and fish as Tully sigil?).

-Specific attention must ve given to the fact that names Brynden and Bran also mean sword, perhaps a person is the sword: Bran or Brynden (Black sister?) are symbolically intended to bring Dawn/Light.

- Dragons bring fire, and fire is the first useful human didcivery and invention. Fire symbolically represents light and warmth: 1) a dragon for Bran who "will fly" (who will become king, as it turned out for Bloodraven), for Jon who is Bloodraven's son (who will have to take the place among the roots) and for Dany, a mother disconnected from Bloodraven so much that she will likely die, just like like Aegon, the black dragon, whom Dany's dragons will not accept.

- Due to similarities Lady Stoneheart, while alive, has with cats (Cat), I would not be surprised if her and Jaime took place as Night King and Corpse Queen.

The "Jon Snow Bashing" tags is filled salty Daenerys stans, so its not helpful here.

In case your asking why: 80% Morbid curiousity, 14% Furstration with Jon stans, especially when it comes to crossovers, and 1% my inner Catelyn stan thirsting for blood.

Hello again, it's Tuesday, you know what that means.

This week we are looking for your favourite fix it fics,

In general fix it fics refers to fics that look to fix the main show, usually starting from S5-8, but you could argue we have gone beyond that at this stage in the form of issues with House of the Dragon, or maybe you just have something to show that is completely AU.

If you have any and wish to share, please drop the links to them below, self promo is fine as always.

Context: My current asoiaf fic where Westeros and other continents end up on Marvel/DC/Harry Potter fused Earth.

This is the biggest interaction I have between them atm. Was going to expand the interactions as the continents get modernized slowly over the story, Tony focusing mostly on the North

on Arryn noticed them first, the old man turning slightly before indicating them toward Stark, “Ned, allow me to introduce you to the Stark I mentioned.”

That earned Tony an immediately interested look, Eddard Stark turning to fully face him now, and for a moment the two men simply stared at each other, Tony could see immediately why Davos and so many others thought he was related to the Starks of Winterfell, they weren’t identical, not even close enough to truly matter, but there were similarities in the face structure and the eyes than made the shared name seem less coincidental than before.

Ned Stark studied him closely, gaze lingering briefly on the arc reactor before lifting ot Tony’s face, “So, you are the Stark who flies in metal armor,” he said at last, voice rougher and quieter than Tony expected.

Tony grinned faintly, “That’d be me,” he said, gesturing to his son, “And this is my son, Alexander.”

Alexander gave a short nod but didn’t speak, Ned’s eyes shifting to the helmet covering the boy’s face before Alexander let out a quiet sigh and deactivated it, the helmet retracting across his jaw and scalp before disappearing into the collar of the armor entirely, several of the Westerosi jumping nearby, Ned Stark did too, but not because of the armor, he was staring at Alexander’s mismatched eyes, one brown like Tony’s, the other blue like Pepper’s, and for the first time since he had entered the throne room, genuine surprise crossed the Lord of Winterfell’s face.

Ned’s attention drifted back to Tony after a moment. “I heard there were other Starks in this new world your people claim our lands appeared in. Are you the Lord of this world’s House Stark?

Tony snorted softly, “Not exactly.”

That seemed to confuse the Northern Lord slightly, so Tony explained “I don’t rule over large areas of land or live in a castle; I own a company.”

Ned Stark frowned slightly. “A company?”

“A merchant business,” Alexander said flatly.

Tony pointed at him, “You’re really going to undersell me to the Lords and Ladies of this place?”

The corner of Jon Arryn’s mouth twitched slightly while Ned Stark continued studying Tony and Alexander carefully. “So you are a merchant lord?”

“One of the richest and smartest men on the planet, no matter what Bruce Wayne would tell you. My company deals in engineering, technology, weapons manufacturing long ago though we’ve since stopped and focused on clean energy now, interplanetary infrastructure, artificial intelligence, those kinds of things.”

Ned Stark understood perhaps three words that Tony just said, and it was clear on his face for everyone to see, though Jon Arryn and the nearby guards and lords didn’t seem to follow much either.

“I have a large house too, several smaller houses, a tower, and a moon facility also.”

Is this something that would even happen? How would they meet?

I have an idea for a story that would hinge on this union, but if there's no realistic way to explain it, I'd rather know before I spend a lot of time hammering other elements out. Please be kind with me -- I have never written a fic for this fandom that required me to know this aspect of Westerosi culture. I've read the books, but it was quite a while ago so I'm not fresh on examples of this sort of pairing.

If it helps, the era would be during the reign of Baelor I or Viserys II Targaryen (161-172 AC).

Why did Aelor and Aelora marry? Why did Aerion and Daenora marry? I'm not counting Aerys and Aelinor because we don't how close they actually are, so. Was it because Daeron II was gone? I mean, he sent Aemon to the Citadel because there were "too many dragons" already, and I feel that if Daeron had not died, he would not have allowed Aelor/Aelora and Aerion/Daenora. What do you think? Or am I missing something?

I’ve been thinking about something about Elbert Arryn, Jon Arryn’s nephew and heir. He was one of Brandon Stark’s companions along with Ethan Glover, Kyle Royce, and Jeffory Mallister. We all know Brandon and Rickard Stark were murdered by Aerys, and Brandon’s companions were also killed—with Ethan being the lone survivor. We’re also told that the fathers of all of Brandon’s companions were summoned to answer for their sons’ “crimes” and were executed as well by Aerys.

But Elbert’s situation is different because his father, Jon Arryn’s younger brother, Ronnel Arryn had already died years earlier due to a burst belly. That makes me think that Jon Arryn who was Elbert’s Uncle, and Head of House Arryn, in the absence of Elbert’s father wouldn’t Jon Arryn have been summoned for Elbert, by Aerys to answer for him?

My thought is that Rickard may have coordinated with Jon Arryn, saying I’ll negotiate, and secure the release of both our heirs, since nobody expected Aerys would simply execute them all without trial. But after Brandon and Rickard were murdered, Aerys summoned Jon Arryn to King’s Landing with the heads of Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon, as a show of loyalty.

Here’s what I find interesting: Aerys genuinely seemed to expect Jon Arryn to obey, from what it seems in the books—Jon could have handed both of them over but chose not to. But would Aerys really expect that Jon would come, after killing Jon’s heir and nephew, Elbert Arryn? I think both Elbert, and Ethan survived because the people summoned to answer for them didn’t come. He probably expected their Dad, or Uncle to appear. I mean the Royal Court couldn’t have expected Jon Arryn, to come if his nephew had already been killed right?

So basically my question is: Is it possible Jon Arryn knowingly sacrificed Elbert by refusing Aerys’ command and choosing Ned and Robert instead? Or do you think Elbert was already dead before the demand for Ned and Robert was ever made?

As you know, Brynden Tully refused to marry Bethany Redwyne and remained single, but what if he had married?

Let's suppose he still earned his nickname, the Blackfish, but since he still disliked marriage, he only fathered one child. The other day I made a post discussing the possibility of a daughter, but today I want to discuss broader possibilities.

If the OC were male, but were in Arbor during WOTFK, how do you think he would react when the Reach allied with the Lannisters? Remember that, being half-Redwyne, he's a cousin of the twins, and they were hostages in King's Landing. More importantly, how would the Lannisters react to a Tully who didn't participate in the war?

I'd also like to discuss in general the possibility of having more Tullys in the story, such as Edmure's younger brother who died as a baby. Although in that case I think it would be more interesting if it were another girl; Hoster could betroth her to Willas (as I proposed with the Blackfish's daughter), and they could be married at the start of AGOT.

In that case, do you think Robb Stark would recognize Renly as king if his aunt is Willas's wife?

Context: Doing this for my current DC/Marvel/HP fic where Westeros and the other continents are placed on Earth by the Old Gods and the Seven.

I was going to have a good part of Oberyn's arc is him going around and seeing the locations on Earth.

As of right now I just had Robert, Jon Arryn and the Lord Paramounts meet representatives of Earth Govements and several Super Heroes in the Red Keep minus the Greyjoys as the Iron Islanders tried to attack several coast cities and got destroyed, and will be dealt with shortly.

Hello! I'm planning a fanfic set in the Game of Thrones period that's about the servants at the Red Keep. They have their own plotlines, alongside the events of seasons 1 and 2 as observed from their own pov.

I've been combing the source material, to see if the servant roles and titles are the same as an English medieval castle, or if there are some variations to be aware of. I realised today that although there are ample references to handmaids and squires, I've not noticed any mention of male attendants.. Gentlemen/Grooms of the Privy Chamber, Esquires of the Body, Valets, or whatever else one chooses to call them.

I would think male members of the royal household and the Hand of the King would have personal manservants, with a Chamberlain-type figure to oversee them. Does anyone know if those roles were ever represented anywhere in canon, and what they were called?

If not, I suppose I'll just run with the medieval English model.

Sorry to bring you such a minor question. Hopefully other writers can relate to obsessing over details!

Hi!

I'm looking for a fic that plays during the events of HotD. I read it on Ao3 but I can't seem to find it again (tried a few different filters and waded through quite a few fics), so I thought maybe someone here knows it/can make the link magically appear 😉

Place where I read: Ao3

Time: maybe 6 months ago

Content that I remember: it plays after the Stepstones war has ended and Daemon hasn't returned to King's Landing yet. I think Viserys/Rhaenyra get a letter that he is injured and not well at some remote castle/island or something similar. Viserys has a moment of brotherly affection/remorse or whatever and tasks Rhaenyra to fly there and take care of him. Which she does. And it maybe have been building towards a Daemyra relationship at aome point or at least putting down the grou work for that?

Meanwhile, I think Viserys was grappling with his brother almost dying and some guilt. (Love a remorseful Viserys)

I also know it was a WIP, definitely not finished.

If anyone has an idea, I'd really appreciate that!

This has to be one of the best crossover ever. It explores and mixes two franchises that should be mixed more often (I'm genuenely surprised most crossovers are with Harry Potter)

It's an amazing read. And I have just realized something about it.

It's about Christian redemption. Why the Lannisters? They even mention it directly "There is a man called Stannis Baratheon, a fierce commander from what we know, why the Lannisters and not someone else?"

Because, in a very Tolkien way, here they have a chance to redempt even their blackest sins. "When they were kids they wanted to become kinghts of legend. Then they grew up and forogot that... but when they see you, they believe again"

What I'm trying to say (I'm at work and english not my native language) is that I think this fics success because it reconciles the "cynism" present in many asoiaf characters and give it a shot of redemption, in a way the good hearted Tolkien would be proud of.

The infamous Lannister have the chance to be heroes of song, will they acchieve it?

SB: here

FF: here

help! so in my fic, stannis the mannis decides not to wed selyse florent instead raising Renly ( meaning they have a minuscule better relationship which immediately sours because Renly decides to wed into the Tyrells ) but he does decide to wed much later to a much lesser reach lord’s daughter. Is that possible or I’m thinking way too improbable ? ( i did consider that perhaps a way of connection is through axell florent and the lesser reach lord’s current wife who is also a florent but axell may or may not been employed on account of his niece selyse so im not sure )