Characters / An Empire of Ice and Fire

Westeros

House Targaryen-Stark

King Jon Targaryen-Stark

Jon Targaryen-Stark, First of His Name

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• The Emperor: As part of Samwell's solution to create a more palatable political order for the realm, Jon is given the title of Emperor as a way to gain a different kind of Hegemony while retaining the final say of power.
• A Father to His Men: He treats his men very well and they revere him for it.
• I Have Many Names: He has been named as Jon Snow, Jon Stark, Jon Targaryen, and his birth name of Jaehaerys Targaryen.
• In Spite of a Nail: Jon is still killed by the Night's Watch mutineers, and then magically resurrected. Though the way it's done here also hatches three dragon eggs for him.
• Kissing Cousins: Fell for his Aunt before they knew their true relation. Although, given their family history, they get over it relatively quickly.
• Papa Wolf: He's fiercely protective of not just his son and daughter with Daenerys, but also of their dragons.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Jon's list of titles is: Jon Imperator of House Stark-Targaryen, first of his name. Emperor of the Targaryen Empire. King in the North, Riverlands, and Vale. Lord of Westeros and Defender of the Valyrian People. Father of Dragons and Prince who was Promised. The Unburnt, the Resurrected. The White Wolf, the Dragonwolf. Friend of the Free Folk and Joint Protector of the Pax Targaryana.

Queen Daenerys Targaryen

Daenerys Targaryen, First of Her Name

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• Adaptational Badass: In the books and show, Dany wasn't much of a physical fighter. Here, she takes up some sword-fighting lessons so she can better protect herself.
• Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Invoked. She catches the eye of the Night's King, who develops a Villainous Crush on her due to her resembling his wife from before he was forcibly changed by the Children of the Forest.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Wields a Valyrian Steel katana named Saracen. A justified example here, as its lighter weight and curved structure is much easier for a woman of Daenerys' petite height and build to handle.
• Mama Bear: Harm a hair on her children's heads and she will end you.
• A Mother to Her Men: Like her husband, she treats her soldiers very well and she is much loved by them.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Daenerys' list of titles is: Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen-Stark, first of her name. Empress of the Targaryen Empire, Queen of the Andals, the Roynar, and First Men. Lady of Westeros and Queen in the North. Queen of New Valyria. Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea. Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains, the Princess Who Was Promised. The Unburnt, Valyria Reborn. Joint Protector of the Pax Targaryana and Ruler of All She Surveys.

Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen

Rhaegar Targaryen

Jon and Daenerys’ son and twin of Arya.

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• Dead Guy Junior: Named for his grandfather/uncle Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.
• Dragon Rider: Rides the dragon Sansenya.
• Kid Hero: Riding a dragon to the North against the White Walkers in order to save his parents at the tender age of nine? Definitely counts.

Princess Arya Targaryen

Arya Targaryen

Jon and Daenerys’ daughter and twin of Rhaegar.

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• Dragon Rider: Rides the dragon Eddaron.
• Kid Hero: Riding a dragon to the North with her twin brother against the White Walkers and then killing the dragon Vhalthrax while still a child? Definitely counts.
• Generation Xerox: Much like her grandmother Lyanna and her namesake, Arya Targaryen is a little spitfire.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: She's named after her father's cousin/adopted sister Arya Stark.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Kind and precocious, but shuts down Lord Glover after he refuses to properly address her father and her uncle Robb Stark.

The North

House Stark

Eddard Stark

• Brutal Honesty: His first step to reforming Daenerys? Telling the whole brutal truth about her father The Mad King.
• Doomed by Canon: Despite initially managing to get the drop on Joffrey with Stannis' help, he is Out-Gambitted by Littlefinger, who summons the Mountain to King's Landing. Stannis is killed while Ned is captured and executed the same way as in canon; it just took a little longer.
• Red Baron: Illyrio's guests hail him as the "Wolf of the Trident".
• So Proud of You: During Jon's first death, he meets with Ned on the other side, where Ned tells Jon how proud he is of not just his nephew, but all his children.
• The Starscream: As part of his looking out for Jon and reevaluating his priorities after stepping out of the north, Ned starts putting pieces into place to undermine Robert and eventually lead to the return of the Targaryen Dynasty.

Catelyn Stark née Tully

Eddard's wife and the mother of his children.

• The Atoner: Seeks to make amends for her poor treatment of Jon after learning his parentage.
• Cool Old Lady: The eldest member of house Stark by the end of the first story, and after a hard look in the mirror, a much kinder and more patient woman.
• Doting Grandparent: Takes up this role to Jon and Dany's twins, whom she loves and cares for greatly despite sharing no blood with them, to the point she risks her life protecting them from an assassin. She's just as devoted to her biological grandchildren once they're born.
• Odd Friendship: With smatterings of the Odd Couple with Jorah.
• Outliving One's Offspring: She is still alive in the sequel while her son Bran was killed in the Final Battle at the end of the first installment.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Survives the Red Wedding and is delivered to Littlefinger.

Lord Robb Stark

• Character Development: Having escaped his canon death, Robb grows far more sober and sharper, eventually becoming the lord and warrior he easily could've been if given more time.
• Four-Star Badass: As the war with Joffrey grows, Robb is functionally commander of one wing of the Targaryen army and a truly brave leader.
• Heartbroken Badass: After Talisa is killed during the Red Wedding.
• Outliving One's Offspring: As with the show, he outlives his unborn child with Talisa when she is killed during the Red Wedding.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Escapes the Red Wedding and flees northward towards the Wall.

Lady Margaery Stark née Tyrell

Margaery Stark, née Tyrell

Daughter of Mace Tyrell, the last child of the Tyrell line. While initially a bargaining piece in the War of Four Kings, she eventually starts growing into a stronger role in the war for the dawn and has a great change of destiny.

• Incompatible Orientation: With Renly. This is Played for Drama as she is unable to get pregnant which undermines the Tyrells' alliance with Renly.
• Last of Her Kind: Due to Butterfly of Doom, Mace and Loras die much earlier than canon while the Tyrell armies are smashed by the Lannisters. After the fall of Highgarden, she is the last living Tyrell alongside her grandmother Olenna.
• Second Love: For Robb Stark.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She's called the "Rose of Highgarden" due to her great beauty, but she's not afraid to get her hands dirty either, helping out in the evacuation of Hardhome and interacting with refugees.

Sansa Stark

• Badass Boast: At one point, when falsely accusing Arya, Sansa makes the claim that without her political maneuvering, Jon and Dany could never have assembled the army that united the seven kingdoms.
• Hates Being Touched: No thanks to Ramsay gleefully invoking Marital Rape License on her while being held by the Boltons. When Podrick pushes her out of the way of a runaway cart, she clams up and has a near breakdown at the sudden intrusion on her personal space. In fact, it takes a good while for her to open up to and be intimate with Podrick even as she genuinely falls in love with him.
• Number Two: Is named Hand of the Emperor by Jon, essentially making her one of the three most powerful people in the new order under Jon and Dany.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: After being utterly disappointed with Joffrey and treated as a plaything by Ramsay, Sansa ultimately finds happiness with the kind and caring Podrick.
• Surpassed the Teacher: Sansa picked up on how to manipulate people and play cutthroat politics from Littlefinger. After making him believe she's on his side, Sansa ultimately pulls a fast one on him before thanking him for teaching her all his tricks.
• Will Not Be a Victim: After time with both Joffrey and Ramsay, Sansa swore to herself that she'd never fall into that kind of situation again. Whether through a meager defense of herself, or even suicide if it came down to it.

Arya Stark

Arya Baratheon (née Stark) is the youngest daughter of House Stark. Thanks to the small changes in fate, she ends up traveling Planetos with Gendry Waters for years, eventually reuniting with her family, and becoming someone far more than she was in other sources.

• Cool Aunt: To Jon and Daenerys' children, Rhaegar and Arya.
• Identical Grandson: "Distant descendant" rather, but the Night King notes that Arya bears a strong resemblance to Serena Stark, the first major female ancestor of the present-day Starks.
• Insistent Terminology: She is Not-Lady Baratheon. She hated the ladylike ways of her mom in the past, so growing up really turned her off from the older terms.
• The Spymaster: She succeeds Varys as the Master of Whispers.

Bran Stark

• Death by Adaptation: Dies of injuries sustained in the Long Night.
• Healing Hands: Thanks to his acquired spiritual powers from Qarth, he's able to help with certain mental issues.
• Not So Stoic: Bran is normally very much a withdrawn and serious man thanks to his injuries and taking on the burden of knowledge. But, with a little coaxing, he does have strong flashes of pride, joy, grief and compassion.
• Seers: Thanks to the Raven, he can now see the past and present in great clarity, though he admits as he only sees trends, he can't exactly tell the future the way Red Priests claim to.

Rickon Stark

• Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike in canon, Jon manages to save him from Ramsay.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the 10 years between the end of the War for the Dawn and the Tournament at Summerhall, Rickon spent time training with Lyanna Mormont, and has become quite the fighter in the process.

King's Landing

Small Council

The ruling Oddly Small Organization that enacts the king's vision over the realm.

• The Purge: Due to Litlefinger's manipulation, the Small Council is purged of "disloyal" members.

Littlefinger

Lord Petyr Baelish

Littlefinger

The resident Manipulative Bastard who drives most of the plot.

• Adaptation Expansion: His plot to drive the Stark sisters apart is much more involved than in the show. Here, he sends the Waif to attempt an assassination on Daenerys and her children. Arya kills the Waif, but the Waif's body is not found (because she fell down a pit) and since Arya is known to be a Faceless Man, suspicion immediately falls on her.
• The Chessmaster: Proven when it is revealed that he manipulated the Mad King to execute Rickard and Brandon Stark.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of having his throat slit by Arya, he's mauled to death by Ghost.
• The Man Behind the Man: He is this to Joffrey. And was also directly responsible for Robert's Rebellion via manipulating the Mad King.
• Villains Want Mercy: Just like in canon, when Sansa and Arya turn the tables on him, expose the true depths of his treachery to the rest of the noble houses, and sentence him to death, he immediately gets on his hands and knees and desperately and pathetically pleads for his life.

Varys

The Master of Whispers himself.

• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of getting executed via dragonfire, here, he's stabbed to death by a Faceless Man hired by Littlefinger.

House Baratheon

Joffrey Baratheon

The king on the Iron Throne for the majority of the story.

• The Caligula: Joffrey is even more psychopathically cruel than in canon (which really says something). Among other things, he sentences thousands to be enslaved to build a pyramid in his honor, and has his sister Myrcella burned alive in a Human Sacrifice ceremony to curse his enemies.
• Death by Irony: He meets his end by getting burned and eaten alive by Edderon, a dragon named after the man he executed.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Since Olenna is in no position to poison him and Littlefinger has no reason to double-cross him, he isn't killed via poison here.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: Zigzagged. While Cersei still does love him because he's her son, she is extremely deeply terrified by his increasing cruelty and delusions of grandeur.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: He was already a massive Royal Brat and The Sociopath, but as he falls deeper into his madness and viciousness, Joffrey begins losing his trademark Lannister good looks, being described as gaunt with heavy bags under his eyes.
• A God Am I: He declares himself the God-King of Westeros, believing himself above the laws of humans.
• God-Emperor: Declares himself as one due to Melisandre and Littlefinger's manipulations, along with the High Sparrow's enabling.
• Horrifying the Horror: As he sinks deeper into madness, he even terrifies his own mother Cersei.
• I Want My Mommy!: He cries out for his mother, uncle/father, grandfather, and other aides during his Villainous Breakdown.
• Sanity Slippage: He becomes delusional and Drunk with Power after ascending to the throne, believing himself to be a god among men.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: His rule is more efficient and brutal than canon.
• Villainous Breakdown: As everything is (figuratively and literally) crashing down around him, Joffrey is reduced to a sobbing mess, pathetically crying out for his mother and screaming like a little girl when he finds Arya is alive and ready to cross his name off her list and the other Imperials have him surrounded.

Myrcella Baratheon

Joffrey's younger sister.

• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of being poisoned with Drugged Lipstick by Ellaria Sand, Myrcella is burned to death in a dark magic ritual by Joffrey and his counsel.
• Human Sacrifice: She ends up becoming one as she is believed to have Targaryen blood in her. It doesn't work.
• Kill the Cutie: She's a genuinely sweet, lovely, and kind Princess Classic who is murdered by her own brother as a human sacrifice.

Tommen Lannister (formerly Baratheon)

Joffrey's younger brother.

• Hero with Bad Publicity: He is not well-liked among the populace as a result of his brother's actions, though he is more than willing to do the work necessary to redeem his family's name and image.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Thanks to Joffrey not getting poisoned, Tommen is not put into the position that led to him being Driven to Suicide in canon, so at the end of the story, he's the only one of Jaime and Cersei's children to survive.
• White Sheep: Daenerys acknowledges that Tommen is a good kid and offers to name him heir to Casterly Rock after Jaime's trial.

House Lannister

Cersei Lannister

The queen consort of King Robert and mother of Joffrey Baratheon.

• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of being crushed by stones from the Red Keep, Cersei is shot with a crossbow by Jaime.
• Even Evil Has Standards: She may not be a shining pillar of goodness, but she's utterly horrified by the depths of depravity and cruelty her son Joffrey sinks to after becoming king.
• Face Death with Dignity: Unlike in the show, Cersei merely remarks that she was wrong about the valonqar prophecy, and then tells Jaime to kill her.
• My Beloved Smother: To say she coddles and spoils Joffrey rotten would be an understatement. She even fusses over him falling over while doing his sword fighting lessons and yelling at the teachers for being "too hard" on her boy.

Jaime Lannister

The brother of Cersei Lannister and secretly the father of Joffrey Baratheon, best known for murdering the previous king Aerys Targaryen.

• Heel–Face Turn: After being torn between his loyalty to his family and doing the right thing, Jaime ultimately turns against Cersei and Joffrey after Myrcella's death.
• I Have No Son!: He effectively disowns Joffrey and admits he should have done to him what he did to Aerys.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Played straight with Joffrey and Myrcella.

Tywin Lannister

Patriarch of the Lannister family, Hand of the King to Joffrey, and one of the most powerful individuals in Westeros.

• An Arm and a Leg: Tywin loses his leg at the Battle of Highgarden while fighting Jon.
• Face Death with Dignity: Simply tells Jon to execute him quickly in Chapter 80.
• Four-Star Badass: Of everyone in the Baratheon-Lannister faction, Tywin puts up the heaviest fight against the Targaryens.
• Heartbroken Badass: He truly loved his late wife Joanna and even inwardly admits that all his accomplishments and the power he gained for the Lannister family can't fill in the void of her absence.
• Not So Stoic: In Chapter 54, when he gets what appears to be a vision in the flames of his fireplace, he screams in terror and loudly declares that he's totally not afraid.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Tywin ends up outliving his daughter and two of his grandchildren.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The Targaryens are able to defeat Joffrey's forces at Riverrun because Tywin was busy with Dorne. Once Tywin focuses on them, he nearly takes them out and severely dents their forces.

Wanderers, Maesters and Priests

Kinvara

A Red Priestess originating from Essos. She has a chance meeting with Jon Snow early on, and makes several key appearances throughout the story.

• Adaptational Early Appearance: Kinvara appears roughly around the time of Jon Arryn's death, rather than much later in the series proper. Though only for a moment.
• Seers: Kinvara identifies Jon very early on as The Promised Prince, though this does take years to pass.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Her appearances are limited, but in each one, she hands off or does something important.
  • First, she gives Jon Daenerys's sword (no small thing since it was a sacred Katana of Valyrian steel).
  • Next, she becomes the leader of the resistance at King's Landing, where she then passes off a secret talisman to give Arya the means to enter the palace without being recognized.
  • In her last appearance, Aemon approaches her for help to save Jon after he's killed by the Night's King, which she thankfully knows that old ritual to help with.

Melisandre

The Red Priestess from the original series, she originally pledged her advice to Stannis, but with his early death at the dawn of war, she instead takes on a different path.

• Adaptational Heroism: Melisandre still has her problems, such as giving a pledge to Joffrey early in the wars and killing Renly. However, with Stannis gone, she leads Margaery and Olenna to Jon to save their lives, gladly performs the resurrection spell, and serves with humble care for the duration of the war.
  • Also, since Stannis dies early, she never burns Shireen.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: From working with Stannis to working with Joffrey, to working to save the Tyrells, to becoming a spiritual guru for House Targaryen. Her work takes her to many places, though she eventually lands on Face.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Gives her life to protect the Empress, and in the process destroys a large amount of the wights.
• I Did What I Had to Do: As a follower of the Lord of Light, Melisandre has no ironclad loyalty to a house per se. And her killing of Renly is questionable, though her reasoning has some logic.
• Taking You with Me: In the final war for the Dawn, she dies fighting the White Walkers in an explosion of fire she casts.

Davos Seaworth

• Dying Wish: Was sworn to work with Melisandre after Stannis' death.
• Irony: Considering how antagonistic their relationship is in canon, here Davos and Melisandre are far more respectful with each other, in part because Davos gets to see some of her magic in action.
• Outliving One's Offspring: One of his sons, Matthos, never returns after leaving for King's Landing with Stannis. Two of his other sons are killed in the Battle of the Dawn.
• Parental Substitute: Same as in canon, he's become a substitute father figure to Shireen and has taken her in as her full-time caretaker after her parents' deaths.
• Rags to Riches: From a Humble Smuggler to Quartermaster of the Empire. Quite a jump for such a normal man.
• Shipper on Deck: He's very supportive of Dany and Jon's relationship, unable to contain his glee and happiness at seeing a young couple so deeply in love with each other.

Aemon Targaryen

An old man, the last of a certain generation before the Game of Thrones went crazy. Though far past his prime, he has a few more steps still to take before his story ends.

• Cool Uncle: Is viewed as such by Jon, Dany, and their children.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of dying of old age-related causes, he sacrifices himself to save Jon here.
• Heroic Suicide: Of a sort. He dies in a blood ritual to save his last remaining family.
• Living Relic: Last of a generation, older even than Olenna.

Vassals of the Targaryen Empire

Tyene Martell (formerly Sand)

• Adaptational Heroism: While she was much more antagonistic in the series, she's much more helpful to the heroes in this story.
• Ascended Extra: While a supporting character in the books and show, Tyene becomes the main Dornish POV character.
• Official Couple: With Bronn following a whole bunch of sexual tension.
• Spicy Latina: A Fantasy Counterpart Culture version, but since Dorne is an analog to Spain, she fits the spirit.

Bronn

• Everyone Has Standards: He's an unscrupulous mercenary who just wants his payment, but he's driven to turn against the Lannisters after being disgusted with Joffrey's sheer depravity and the ways everyone enables the tyrannical boy king's madness for their own purposes.
• Official Couple: With Tyene, to the point he's worried sick out of his mind when she's chosen to fight against the Mountain in Tywin's trial by combat.

Yara Greyjoy

• Damsel in Distress: Gets captured by Euron for a short period before she's ultimately rescued. And even then, she's a Damsel out of Distress, untying herself and quickly getting into the fight alongside Theon and Jon.
• Last of Her Kind: With Theon and Euron's deaths in Chapter 56, this makes her last of the Greyjoys.

Theon Greyjoy

• Dies Differently in Adaptation: He meets his demise by getting stabbed in the gut by Euron while saving Jon's life in Chapter 56.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Discussed. Catelyn states that while there's no excusing what Theon did, he suffered more than he deserved at Ramsay's hands.
• Last Request: He tells Yara to unite and watch over their people under the Targaryen Empire and Jon to win the war for Westeros.

Olenna Tyrell

• Brutal Honesty: She's extremely blunt during meetings and discussions, often telling people to cut to the chase on explaining certain matters.
• Cool Old Lady: She's not called the "Queen of Thorns" for nothing, being sharp and well-versed in political power plays and manipulations.
• Maternally Challenged: While she loved her son, Olenna admits she doesn't understand how Catelyn was able to have five children without going crazy.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Outlives her son and grandson.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: The very epitome of this trope.

Tyrion Lannister

• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • His response to finding out Jon is actually the trueborn son of Rhaegar and Lyanna and not Ned's bastard son? To keel over laughing at how the one seeming dishonor on Ned's character was actually the most honorable deed he'd done.
  • He has this again in Chapter 65 after hearing Jon pulled a Batman Gambit on Tywin to trick him into a trap. Tyrion clearly relishes the thought of the look on his father's face once he realizes it.
• Heroic BSoD: After the painful defeats in Casterly Rock and Riverrun, he becomes despondent for a while and drowns himself in more wine than usual.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Chapter 18, after seeing how Joffrey's general cruelty as king exceeded even his biggest fears, Tyrion takes Shae and escapes King's Landing with Varys and Catelyn to go to Essos and ally themselves with Daenerys.

Supernatural Beings

The Night's King

• Big Bad: It's made repeatedly clear that as horrible as Viserys, Ramsay, Joffrey, Tywin, and the Slave Masters in Essos are, they're small potatoes compared to the king of the undead.
• Driven to Madness: He Was Once a Man before being used as a tool by the Children of the Forest and magically bound in a limbo state where he isn't truly living or dead. He lost his mind as a result.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Or distant ancestor, rather. It turns out that his original human form was none other than Marden Stark, the father of Bran the Builder and subsequently the first major male ancestor of the present-day Starks.
• Villainous Crush: Develops one on Daenerys due to her resembling his wife from his original human life.