The Second Lady Lannister
is a A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones fanfic by tm_writes.
Sansa Stark, older and savvier than in canon, proposes marriage between herself and Tywin Lannister, completely changing the course of events in Westeros.
The fanfic contains examples of:
- Adaptational Intelligence: Sansa is much more intelligent and politically savvy than in the books, managing to convince Tywin Lannister to marry her himself instead of wedding her to Tyrion.
- Age Lift: Several characters are aged up compared even to the show, with Sansa being twenty-one in the beginning and Margaery twenty-two.
- Ascended Extra: Willas Tyrell, The Ghost in the novels, appears in person.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: A heartbreaking example. Tommen wants nothing more than to be a squire for Jaime, gets his wish, and is killed in the first battle.
- Beast and Beauty: Margaery ends up falling in love with Tyrion. After a while, he realizes he reciprocates. Sadly, her growing envy of Sansa leads to her coldening towards Tyrion and eventually plotting his betrayal.
- Black-and-White Insanity: Catelyn grows increasingly unstable after the Stark-Lannister alliance, refusing to believe Lannisters are anything but pure evil.
- Dead Guy Junior:
- Robb’s son is named Eddard.
- Tyrion names his daughter Joanna.
- Death by Childbirth: Margaery dies giving birth to her daughter. It’s implied it could be deliberate on her part, since the maester says she refused to push.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of being strangled by Tyrion, Shae gets her throat slit by Boros Blount.
- Doorstopper: The fanfic is more than 600K words long.
- Dying as Yourself: Bran's Three-Eyed Raven personality vanishes during his Heroic Sacrifice, letting him live his last moments and say farewells as himself.
- Forced to Watch: Sansa is forced to watch Meryn Trant and Boros Blount, on Cersei’s orders, rape and kill Shae.
- Good Stepmother: Sansa gets on very well with her stepchildren and step-grandchildren, except for Cersei and Joffrey. She eventually reconciles Tywin and Tyrion.
- Green-Eyed Monster: At first Tywin gets very angry whenever Sansa is friendly with another man, be it Jaime, Willas or the Hound. Sansa makes it very clear that although she enjoys him being so passionate about her, she will not tolerate his jealous outbursts.
- Has a Type: Ladies of War for Jon Snow, as he realizes after falling in love with Dacey Mormont.
- I Choose to Stay: Sansa’s initial plan is to move to Casterly Rock after her marriage, since she would be safer there. However, she gradually comes to the decision to stay in King’s Landing and remain involved in politics.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Sandor loves Sansa but keeps his interactions with her strictly platonic as he sees she is happy with Tywin.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Lysa Arryn is still pushed through the Moon Door by Littlefinger after trying to push her relative out of it due to jealousy. Except that the relative in question is Catelyn rather than Sansa.
- Joffrey is still killed with the blame getting pinned on someone else. Unlike in canon, it's Baelish who is framed for the murder.
- Tyrion is still betrayed by a beautiful woman he loved and almost gets killed. But the woman is Margaery, not Shae.
- Kid Hero: Rickon rushes to protect Sansa from Oberyn Martell with only his training sword. Even Oberyn is very impressed.
- Licked by the Dog: Shaggydog, usually distrustful of anyone who isn’t his master, immediately bonds with the Hound.
- Lookalike Lovers: Catelyn falls in love with Addam Marbrand, and Sansa notes how alike they look, each of them being a copper-haired Statuesque Stunner.
- Loose Lips: Cersei blurts out the secret of her children’s parentage right in front of Tommen.
- Mama Bear: Sansa stops trying to make amends with Cersei once the latter tries to slip her moon tea to kill her unborn child.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Catelyn is heartbroken after realizing she was mistaken in trusting Baelish and caused nothing but grief to her family.
- Offing the Offspring: Tywin kills his grandson Joffrey, after it becomes clear the latter is an Ax-Crazy sadist Beyond Redemption. Later, he also agrees to the plan of Cersei’s murder.
- Patchwork Fic: The plot incorporates elements from both the books (such as the existence of Willas Tyrell or Robb's wife being Jeyne Westerling) and the show (such as Shae being Sansa's handmaiden or Arya having served as Tywin's cupbearer).
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Sansa at first arranges her own marriage to Tywin due to the amazing political advantages in it for both sides, but they fall in love very soon after the betrothal.
- Pet the Dog: For once, Joffrey thinks of his little brother’s good when he agrees for Tommen to be cared for by Tywin and Sansa rather than by Cersei, since Tommen is set to inherit Storm’s End and has to learn a lot to become a capable lord, while Cersei does nothing but spoil him.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Littlefinger is quite angry about Joffrey's tendency to kill or at least maim prostitutes: as it’s Baelish who provides them, it’s very bad for for his business.
- Rule of Three: The Night King is to be defeated with three blades from three houses and three bloodlines. These turn out to be Bran, Jaime and Jon.
- Sanity Slippage: Catelyn Stark fiercely refuses to accept a Lannister alliance, which causes her to gradually become unhinged. She gets somewhat better after she meets Sansa and sees how happy she is, but she still decides to "rescue" Arya, Bran and Rickon from the Lannisters by whisking them away to Riverrun rather than letting them be sent south.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Discussed In-Universe. Sansa is devastated when all her careful efforts to reconcile Tywin and Tyrion end with Tyrion’s death in a battle with the White Walkers.
- Shipper on Deck: Margaery and Olenna are even more eager to ship Sansa with Willas than in canon, even summoning him to King's Landing. However, they bear her no grudge for refusing him.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Robb dies in the battle of the Long Night when his wife Jeyne is pregnant with their second child.
- Spoiled Sweet: Tommen is very pampered thanks to Cersei but is a friendly and affectionate boy. Moreover, he realizes that being pampered won’t do him much good in the long run as he needs to be trained in fighting and politics.
- Take Care of the Kids: Tyrion asks Sansa to care for his daughter, should he die. She promises, and she keeps her word after he is killed.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Margaery and Olenna start of as genuinely friendly, but their resentment of Sansa and the Lannisters grows after Sansa gives birth to Tysan and Jason.
- Universally Beloved Leader: Thanks to Sansa's influence, the Lannisters become universally beloved in King's Landing. Subverted when the refugees from the North flood the capital and unrest begins.
