History Fanfic / AWolfAmongstLions

** [[spoiler:Talisa is killed by the Frey and Bolton alliance.]]

* PragmaticVillainy: When Cersei starts bitching about Tywin's decision not to subject the North to the [[KillEmAll Castamere treatment]], Tywin proceeds to lecture her about the difference between the Starks and the Reyne-Tarbeck Rebellion: the Reynes and the Tarbecks were rebellious vassals who'd been spitting on the Lannisters for years, and destroying them was both a good way to [[MakeAnExampleOfThem reestablish Lannister dominance of the Westerlands]] and economically sound because the Lannisters had nothing to lose by getting rid of them; by contrast, the Starks and their vassals only rebelled after a boy with Lannister blood imprisoned--and later killed--their liege lord out of petty sadism, and having them as allies is much more beneficial than trying to simply wipe them out.

* CombatPragmatist: When Joffrey orders Ser Meryn Trant to beat Arya, she bites the Kingsguard's ear and stabs him repeatedly with a fork. [[RealityEnsues The ear injury later becomes infected]], leading to Trant's death.

* RealityEnsues:
** Meryn Trant gets a wound to his ear with a fork courtesy of Arya, but he manages to mostly shrug it off. When the wound gets infected, the initially harmless slash ends up killing him.
** [[spoiler:All of Cersei's actions come to bite her in the ass in a very realistic way. When she turns on the Westerlands, she gets betrayed by some of her staff who let Arya inside because they see how far she's gone. When she puts her trust in Euron Greyjoy, the notoriously sadistic sociopath takes the first opportunity to cause chaos and kill her children. Her attempt at a SadisticChoice game with Jaime goes predictably once Jaime remembers all the horrible things Cersei's done and said to him, and then, on her deathbed, she gets to learn that her son was such a monster that not even his grandfather cared enough to punish his murderer.]]
** [[spoiler:Despite Arya's attempts to face Ramsey Bolton courageously as his prisoner, his habit of torturing and tormenting her at unpredictable times takes its toll on her mind until she is traumatized and fears him.]]

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:When Arya berates Jaime for his attempted murder of Bran, Jaime--though guilt-ridden--points out that, while murdering a child is reprehensible and that Bran most certainly did ''not'' deserve to die, he only did it to protect his family, and that Arya would have no doubt stooped to infanticide to protect ''her'' family. She later thinks about her orchestration of Joffrey's death, but while everyone can agree that Bran was innocent while Joffrey was an utter monster, it doesn't change the fact that Arya did indeed attempt (and succeed in) infanticide to protect her kin.]]

* TheSouthpaw: Arya is left-handed. It becomes a ChekhovsSkill [[spoiler:when she escapes from the Boltons.]]

** Ramsay cuts off two of Arya's fingers while keeping her captive. Too bad for him they were from her [[TheSouthpaw right hand.]]

* IHaveYourWife: [[spoiler: Roose Bolton]] tries to negotiate with [[spoiler: Tywin]] by handing over [[spoiler: Arya]], on the condition that he [[spoiler: goes back South]]. It backfires because [[spoiler:Arya escapes ahs makes it back to the Stark-Lannister camp]].

-->''Tywin Lannister discovers the true identity of his cup bearer at Harrenhal. Now, with another bargaining chip in his possession, he has a chance to turn the war. Arya Stark, despite her best efforts, falls back into the Game of Thrones. To survive in a lion's den, a wolf has no choice but to adapt.''

* YouGotSpunk: Ramsey considers [[spoiler:Arya]] unusually appealing compared to other girls he's put up with, considering the fact that she actively puts up a fight and shoots death glares at him, refuses to plead for mercy, and refuses to scream, and takes his time enjoying himself by tormenting and torturing her and threatening to rape her.

* IHaveYourWife: [[spoiler: Roose Bolton]] tries to negotiate with [[spoiler: Tywin]] by handing over [[spoiler: Arya]], on the condition that he [[spoiler: goes back South]].

* TheChessmaster: Tywin, just like in canon. Several characters, like Jaime and Tyrion, get irritated at how he always wins. He manages to convince Robb Stark to agree to peace and bend the knee to Joffrey using his sisters' lives, and the necessity of putting down the reborn Greyjoy Rebellion, uses the resultant circumstances of [[spoiler:Joffrey's death]] to [[spoiler:exile Tyrion, force Jaime to leave the Kingsguard and marry Arya,]] and [[spoiler:arranges his own death in a way such that it will guarantee Jaime and Arya can continue ruling the Westerlands.]] [[spoiler:Cersei invades the Westerlands with Euron Greyjoy, gets [[TooDumbToLive herself, Tommen, Myrcella]] and Robb's wife Talisa killed, just so she could beat Tywin at his own game for once.]]
** [[spoiler:Arya also manages to become this, creating an ambush plan for the Battle for the North that reduces the number of casualties from that a head-on assault against the rebels would cause.]][[spoiler: She also manages to create a plan to remove Daenerys from the throne should she go mad like her father that Tywin approves of.]]

* LivingLieDetector: Tywin, especially with regards to Arya.

[[caption-width-right:350:TheChessmaster of Westeros learning to play chess[[note]]Or "cyvasse", as it's called in-universe[[/note]] from a teenage girl.[[note]]Image provided by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucife56/pseuds/lucife56 lucife56]]. Used with permission.[[/note]]]]

* [[spoiler:AscendtoAHigherPlaneofExistence]]:[[spoiler: Bran's final fate, as his body dies, but the Children of the Forest ensure that his soul lives on in the weirwood on the Isle of Faces.]]

** This is also how [[spoiler: Littlefinger]] is found out. Arya, Tyrion and Tywin know that he uses war to his advantage, and so use it against him. See EngineeredPublicConfession.

** Arya happens to frequently make good use of this trope, managing to [[spoiler:maim the assassin that tries to kill Tommen before he is killed off by Tommen's bodyguard, kill all of the ones that try to kill Tywin, and trick Littlefinger into giving a confession.]] [[spoiler:The Boltons, however, do not fall for this trope, and make sure to clear her room of anything she can use as a weapon, with Ramsey even testing how she fares unarmed in a fight.]] [[spoiler:Even so, she still manages to escape from a Bolton-occupied Winterfell, killing the guards escorting her to her wedding to Ramsey and later plotting a battle that relies on Roose Bolton assuming Robb as a foolish emotionally-moved boy of a lord.]]

* BigBrotherInstinct: Upon hearing of [[spoiler:Arya's engagement to Jaime]] at different times, Robb and Jon try to fight it, with Robb angrily confronting Tywin about it and Jon [[spoiler:accusing Jaime of setting it up, possibly even when she was young as 13.]]

* BigBrotherInstinct: Upon hearing of [[spoiler:Arya's engagement to Jaime]] at different times, Robb and Jon try to fight it, with Robb angrily confronting Tywin about it and Jon [[accusing Jaime of setting it up, possibly even when she was young as 13.]]

* TheChessmaster: Tywin, just like in canon. Several characters, like Jaime and Tyrion, get irritated at how he always wins. He manages to convince Robb Stark to agree to peace and bend the knee to Joffrey using his sisters' lives, and the necessity of putting down the reborn Greyjoy Rebellion, uses the resultant circumstances of [[spoiler:Joffrey's death]] to [[spoiler:exile Tyrion, force Jaime to leave the Kingsguard and marry Arya,]] and [[spoiler:arranges his own death in a way such that it will guarantee Jaime and Arya can continue ruling the Westerlands.]] [[spoiler:Cersei invades the Westerlands with Euron Greyjoy, gets [[TooDumbToLive herself, Tommen, Myrcella]] and Robb's wife Talisa killed, just so she could beat Tywin at his own game for once.]] [[spoiler:Even the circumstances of his own death end up being because of a situation that he willingly creates, and he manages to remain in control of the entire situation from the moment he's arrested until he dies.]]

* [[spoiler:AscendtoAHigherPlaneofExistence]]:[spoiler: Bran's final fate, as his body dies, but the Children of the Forest ensure that his soul lives on in the weirwood on the Isle of Faces.]]