Fanfic / The Starks Endure

The whirlwind of strife of wars past and present requires Jon and Sansa to wed (and consummate) in order to secure their new kingdom. With dragons to the South and Others to the North, they are surrounded by foes, and can only do what they can to keep things together. Which is all they want, right?

The Starks Endure is a Game of Thrones AU that follows Jon and Sansa after they marry under the mistaken belief that they're committing incest, unaware they are not brother and sister, but cousins. They learn the truth very quickly, but that doesn't mean their problems just go away. Especially when Danaerys Targaryen shows up, expecting everyone to kow tow to her every whim.

This Fanfic provides examples of:

• Badass Family: The Starks, including Dany, once they accept her as one of them.
• Chocolate Baby: What ultimately forces Jon and his family to come clean about his parentage. Sansa gives birth to twin daughters. While Alysanne, the eldest, is the striking image of Sansa, Serena, the younger, has the white hair and purple eyes of the Targaryen line. After that, keeping Jon's parentage a secret simply isn't an option.
• A God I Am Not: Daenerys eventually gets fed up with Tyrion's borderline worship of her.
• Happily Married: Again, Jon and Sansa when they learn the truth about Jon's parentage. Indeed, Daenerys points out that their marriage becomes much more pleasant if they are cousins not siblings.
• It's All My Fault: Bran blames himself for Rickon's death, for sending him to the Umbers rather than keeping him close.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Neither Jon or Sansa knew they were cousins before they married, although Bran knew. Jon is decidedly not happy when he learns Bran was sitting on the information, when telling them would have spared them the misery of thinking they committed incest.
• No Pregger Sex: Averted, when Sansa becomes pregnant with twins Jon desires her just as much, if not more. They have wild passionate sex just before Sansa goes into labor.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jon gives an epic one to Randyll Tarly on his friend Sam's behalf. Bonus points for writing it in a letter that Daenerys commands him to read. Transcribed below for your pleasure.
  To Randyll of the House Tarly, Lord of Horn Hill from His Grace Jon the White Wolf of the House Stark, First of His Name, King of the Three Realms of the North, the Trident, and the Vale of Arryn, Lord Consort of Winterfell and the Dreadfort, Commander of Moat Cailin, Warden of the North and Protector of the Realm, greeting:
  Perhaps this message shall come as a surprise. It may never have occurred to you that you may be among those I hate most in this world (at least, among those who still live). A lot of people have killed those closest to me. Some even killed me themselves. So hopefully you have an idea of my distaste for you if I count you among their rank. Or not.
  I’ve felt this way for years, on behalf of your estranged son, Sam. You may be shocked to hear that I count the son you terrorized and exiled as one of my closest friends and confidantes. It probably baffles you, I’m guessing. We’re both military men, skilled in arms and tactics. I suspect we’re both in the habit of repressing our emotions. Despite the length and effort I’ve put into this letter, you may be surprised to hear that I myself am not normally a wordsmith. I prefer a blade to a quill or books, it’s true. Sam arrived to The Wall fat, scared, and hopeless with a weapon.

  And perhaps the finest man I’ve known.

  Samwell may have been cast out by you, but I want you to know that now, he is among the most valued men to the King of half of Westeros. Scared he may be, but he’s the bravest man I know. Not just because he’s killed a White Walker, because he saved a woman and child from a terrible fate, because he faced an army of wildlings, but because he was so terrified while doing those things.

  He was terrified to tell me about you, about what you did to him, about the Hell you made his life until he left. Do you have any idea what it says about what you are when the best thing you ever did for your son was send him to a frozen, criminal-infested outpost for the rest of his life? That he found more love, strength, and belief there than in your home?

  Yes, he found strength and courage in miserable conditions, but that is no credit to you, My Lord. I’m sure you can’t really conceptualize that it’s actually because Sam found sympathy and support rather than mere cruelty there. Or that actual fighters found value in him.

  See, I suspect the only idea you’ve really ever had is brutality. You’re lucky enough to have gotten by on that alone. Unfortunately, the world we live in tends to reward that, which is easily the worst thing about it. But it saves no one.

  Sam wrote to me, by the by, and told me that Gilly let her wildling heritage slip. He told me of your reaction as well. I’m sure your reaction to Tormund Giantsbane will be more restrained. After all, neither Tormund or myself are scholarly types who are terrified of you or impoverished young mothers without a home.

  I want you to understand that whatever you may believe, you have nothing to be proud of in the pile of corpses you’ve produced. There are many great killers. Men everywhere, for eons, have been trained to accomplish the same things. The only ones who did anything special were the ones who applied these skills to try and make the world a better place, to improve and save lives.

  You haven’t done that. Sam has, though. Even if he did bring a “filthy wildling” into your home in the process. I find it amusing that you consider the wildlings such a threat.

  You see, if I were to weigh the numbers, it would be forces you’ve aligned with that have proven a greater threat to the people of Westeros than the Free Folk. Congratulations, Lord Tarly, you know how to kill. So can everyone else above the age of three. You’re neither singular, nor qualified, nor worthy to say a word against those of us who have managed more than just cruelty. The best thing you ever produced was the very son you rejected, and I’m just glad his gifts are not being wasted by you any longer.”

  Sam was in many ways rich, fertile soil. But fool that you are, all you saw was dirt. Brilliant, braver than anyone I’ve ever met, kind, resourceful, dutiful, inventive, intuitive. I was robbed of one of my best men and greatest assets when he left for the Citadel.

  I’d much rather have him at these talks than you. Somehow I suspect you won’t prove to be of much use. But Sam would. He knows how to play politics, you see, and he knows our enemies, and he’s read so very much about so many useful things. I really don’t understand what you’re useful for.

  Sincerely,

  Jon Stark, King of the Three Realms

  Post-Script: Suspicions confirmed! Thank you for going out of your way to prove me right. My Lord, you’re a person who may know how to effectively produce corpses, but you’ve given no indication of worth beyond that. Throughout this whole talk, you contributed the least of anyone, I dare say, in this castle. The scullery maids have contributed more than you have. Despite your military record, the only thing I’d ever trust you to accomplish would be making my own people hate me. In my lifetime, I’ve never met anyone so proud of their own aggressive ignorance. I have no use for you. I have generals of equal and/or greater skill than you, and they manage their accomplishments without having a pig’s turd where their hearts should be. I pity Queen Daenerys that she must suffer you as a vassal. I’m sure she (and, if I have to guess, your family and subjects) is very much looking forward to your death.
  • Daenerys gives a positively blistering one in Chapter 20 to both Tyrion and Varys, pointing out to both that, despite their intelligence, their own biases and belief that they were smarter than everyone else has done more harm than good, with her laying out all of their failures, explaining why she no longer trusts them to give her good advice or make sound decisions in her stead. If they want to keep their positions after the current crisis with the White Walkers is done with, they are going to have to earn it back.
• Seduction-Proof Marriage: Two different women try to seduce Jon away from Sansa. Both times get a No-Sell.
  Jon:(To Sansa) I'm a eunuch to any woman but you, darling.
• Surprise Incest: Inverted. Jon and Sansa marry thinking they are brother and sister, but in fact are cousins.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Daenerys' council are made up of sycophants and yes men, too awed by the Mother of Dragons to tell her what they think she doesn't want to hear. She takes a liking to the Starks thanks to their tendency to tell her hard truths.
• Truer to the Text:
  • Despite taking place in the show canon(albeit diverging after season 6), Jon behaves much more like his book counterpart.
  • Arianne, who was Adapted Out of the show, makes an appearance late in the story.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Note the list of titles Jon presents at the start of his above letter to Randyll.
• We Are Not Going Through That Again: Sansa refuses, point blank, to go to King's Landing at Dany's suggestion. Considering what she went through there before escaping, she's more than justified.
• Yes-Man: Tyrion has devolved into one of these, utterly convinced that Dany can do no wrong, and refusing to tell her when she's about to make a mistake.
• You Are Not Alone: Jon to Dany.