Fanfic / The Weirwood Queen

Cover art by ohnoitsmyra

Life is not a song, sweetling, Lord Baelish's voice echoed in her head. Sansa's blood hummed with fury. Then I will make it a song.

An A Song of Ice and Fire fic by RedWolf17 focused on Sansa Stark. Can be read here on Archive of Our Own.

After the events on the Trident, Ned Stark sends four men to take Lady's body back to Winterfell for burial. However, they find a weirwood tree an hour from the king's camp. Increasingly aware of the danger he is in, Ned allows them to bury the direwolf there so that he can keep the men with him to better guard his daughters. With Arya's encouragement, Sansa sneaks out to say goodbye to her loyal direwolf. The results of this farewell are small at first, but as the effects ripple outward, everything changes.

Part I: Wolf Pup covers the events of A Game of Thrones. Consists of Chapters 1-28 with Eddard Stark, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, and Bran Stark as POV characters.

Part II: Red Wolf covers the events of A Clash of Kings. Consists of Chapters 29-58, adding Catelyn Stark and Tyrion Lannister as POV.

Part III: Caged Wolf covers the events of A Storm of Swords. Consists of Chapters 59-97. New POV characters include Jaime Lannister, Jon Snow, Theon Greyjoy, and Gilly.

Part IV: Desert Wolf covers the events of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons and far beyond. Consists of Chapters 98-150. New POV characters include Irri, Cersei Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, a holy sister named Edythe, and Tommen Baratheon.

Part V: Wolf Pack is the currently in progress final volume. Consists of Chapters 151-?. New POV characters include Meria Sand and Bel.

There are currently two side stories:

• "A Fraying Knot", set in the aftermath of the Red Wedding, from the point of view of Cersei "Little Bee" Frey.
• "A Drowning Grief", set during the Reyne/Tarbeck rebellion, from the point of view of Gwendolyn Lydden.

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Work contains examples of:

Tropes A-D

• Abusive Parents:
  • Nymeria Sand's mother, a Volantene noblewoman, praises her other daughters' classical Valyrian looks and puts down Nym for her darker coloring. Even Gilly, who had Craster for a father (and his enabler Morag as one of her mothers), is in disbelief at the blatancy of her insult.
  • Witnessing his father's canonical abuse of his brother has given Dickon Tarly an incipient eating disorder from fear of Randyll turning on him if he gains weight.
  • Joanna Lannister used to ignore or withhold affection from her children as punishment.
• Accidental Murder:
  • See Sansa experience her first transformation into a direwolf. See Sansa leap to freedom off the walls of the Red Keep. See Sansa inadvertently fling Joffrey to his death.
  • Cersei accidentally pushes Tommen onto the blades of the Iron Throne during a scuffle.
• Accidental Truth: In chapter 154, Septon Ulf accuses Cersei of using dark magic while Sansa is having an audience. While the scene is shown at first as a Hypocrisy Nod on Sansa's part, we then later learn that Cersei sent a wildfire-laced veil to Myrcella that she ends up using to kill herself and her betrothed Trystane Martell.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • Overall, much more attention is paid to the Faith of the Seven and characters believing and taking comfort in its teachings.
  • Chapter 65 establishes the names of more of Craster's wives and children.
  • Chapter 75 elaborates on the historical downfall of King Humfrey Teague I; in his religious zeal, he broke Sacred Hospitality when he murdered a Blackwood guest.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • It's confirmed that a young Oberyn killed Lord Edgar Yronwood, but Lord Yronwood was a pedophile who sexually abused his "paramour".
  • Stevron Frey's youngest son Walton, along with his children, are included among the Freys who disagreed with the Red Wedding.
  • In "A Drowning Grief", Ellyn Reyne was telling the truth about her pregnancy by Tion Lannister, but had the bad luck to miscarry. It's also emphasized that from the Reynes' and Tarbecks' point of view, no matter how ineffectual Tytos was, Tywin had no actual authority to demand repayment of Casterly Rock's loans, arrest Lord Tarbeck, or charge them with crimes that his father had forgiven.
  • Moqorro doesn't burn people alive as Human Sacrifice, only as capital punishment for treason in his capacity as Daenerys's counselor.
  • In-Universe, the thinly veiled Loras Tyrell Expy in Strongspear the Squire, which gives him an excuse for why he didn't champion the Sansa Expy against the Mountain and has the Olyvar Expy gush over him as the greatest warrior in the realm. Word of God is this was done deliberately to play to the Tyrells, and it apparently works as Mace is too flattered to bring the anti-Lannister elements of the play to Cersei's attention.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed. The way events play out mean that Wyman Manderly doesn't show the lengths he's willing to go to avenge the Red Wedding (though some may consider those lengths Jerkassery in themselves), but he is shown pushing his deeply annoyed granddaughter at Robb when Robb's wife Jeyne is barely dead.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Instead of shunning Sansa once the Lannisters scuttle the prospect of a Tyrell match, Margaery gives her a locket with Eddard Stark's portrait as a wedding gift, even after Sansa declines Olenna's offer of an "escape" to Highgarden.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Downplayed in that the character in question was a Well-Intentioned Extremist Anti-Hero at best in canon, but Bloodraven adds (non-sexual) grooming of a child to his list of crimes in this fic through his manipulative mentorship of Bran.
  • Inverted with Khal Drogo. His awful behavior hasn't changed from canon, but the fleshing-out and toning-down of wider Dothraki society makes him a terrible person even by their standards (for example, twenty is considered the ideal age for a Dothraki woman to marry, and the wife is expected to be older than the husband, while Drogo married and raped a thirteen-year-old Daenerys and is implied to have murdered his khalasar's head priest for objecting).
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Inverted with Tommen's cat Ser Pounce, who is a ginger and white cat about two years older than the black cat of the same name that Margaery gives him in canon.
  • Lollys' bastard child named Tyrion Tanner in canon is instead named Pate Waters, due to the different circumstances of the story.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 143, originally intended to be a side story, is the only one told from Tommen's point of view.
• Affably Evil: Kevan Lannister with more emphasis being placed on the evil than on the affable than in the books. Kevan may be more pleasant to talk to then his brother and does genuinely love his family, but he is still Tywin's right-hand man and has no reservations about any of his actions. His own surviving sons understand why Mordryd killed him.
• Agent Scully: Septon Timoth of the Most Devout argues that the red direwolf is a metaphor for Sansa's human guard and that Barth's writings on dragons are allegorical.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Myrcella is captured by Olyvar and Sansa when they take Dragonstone. When Sansa goes to her, Myrcella gets on her knees and begs for mercy both for herself and Tommen and to marry Trystane. While Sansa assures Myrcella that they have no intention of killing either her or her brother, she firmly makes it clear that while she may sympathize with the two, they cannot under any circumstances be allowed to marry.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: A hazard of only having three children in Robb's party, people sometimes forget they're not supposed to serve Arya and the other children wine unless it has been heavily watered down. This results in a drunk Arya, age 11, challenging the 7-foot Greatjon Umber and 6-foot Dacey Mormont to duels with a wooden sword.
• All There in the Manual: The end notes to Chapter 142 explain Varys's backstory as a lost Targaryen descendant, since Cersei had him killed before he got the chance to exposit.
• Altar Diplomacy: To cement their alliance, Khal Rhogoro's sister Morriqui marries Daenerys's bloodrider Jhogo and Daenerys's lady-in-waiting Jhiqui later marries Rhogoro himself.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • It's unknown whether Brandon or Eddard Stark was the father of Ashara Dayne's son Gawaen.
  • Whether Viserion was always female or if, as Septon Barth believed was possible for dragons, he was born male and changed sexes.
  • Whether Lyn Corbray buying sex with "boys" refers to literal children or young men.
• An Arm and a Leg:
  • When Craster found that one of the Night's Watch slept with one of his wives, he took the man, cut off his limbs, and placed his head on a spike.
  • Summer loses his right front paw after Bloodraven wargs into Meera to pin him to the ground with her spear, mangling it and necessitating an amputation.
• Ancestral Name:
  • Paxter Redwyne's father was named Ryam Redwyne, after the famous knight of the Kingsguard.
  • The second of the Lydden brothers is Joffrey Lydden, the name of the ancestor who married into House Lannister.
  • Young Griff's real birth name is Aegor, for his great-grandfather.
  • Daenerys and Aegor name their adopted son Daeron.
  • Maester Gerold, born a Lannister of Lannisport, is named after Lord Gerold Lannister of Casterly Rock.
  • Other characters who share a name with a historical figure include Cerissa Brax (the mother of Gerold Lannister), Bronze Yohn's daughter Rhea Royce (a ruling Lady of Runestone), and George Graceford (Lord Confessor during the regency of Aegon III).
• And I Must Scream: Theon Greyjoy spends five years locked up within a weirwood's maw, wherein he's subjected to a major examination of conscience. Fortunately for him, his "prison term" within the weirwood is allowed to come to an end.
• And Then What?: Varys and Illyrio's plan to pass off Illyrio and Serra's son as Aegon VI, marry him to Daenerys, and make them joint rulers of Westeros would require that Elia would believe that Young Griff was her son. As Olyvar points out, Elia is sickly, not stupid. She would have noticed if her child disappeared and was replaced by a completely different 18-month-old than the one she had been caring for.
• Anger Born of Worry: Brynden Tully is furious that his nieces Sansa and Arya put themselves at risk to lure out Lyn Corbray and failed to inform their guards of the danger.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: As a way to cope with her grief at losing Jojen as well as attempting to prevent a betrothal to Bran, Meera asks Theon if he would like to have his way with her.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Barristan and Jaime try to scold Brienne for pursuing the "blood bride" serial killers after she hears one of their victims in the process of being murdered.
  Brienne had not needed to raise her voice to shame them. Instead, she had recited the vows of knighthood, slowly, calmly, savoring each word as she looked daggers at Ser Barristan and Ser Jaime. Then, with utmost patience, she had asked them which vow permitted a knight to ignore the screams of the innocent.
• Artifact Name: The village of White Willow lost its eponymous willow tree during the Dance of the Dragons.
• Artistic License – Biology: An In-Universe version is discussed. The Green Grace told Daenerys that the burned olive groves of Meereen would take seven years to begin producing again. As Deziel Dalt informs her, that would only be true for newly grown trees; the recovery time for mature olive trees is much faster.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Rhogoro, the son of Khal Moro mentioned in passing in canon, plays a greater role in the Meereen arc as the new ruler of Yunkai, Daenerys's ally, and an example of "normal" Dothraki society.
  • Willem Lannister, only shown in canon after being brutally murdered, gets more characterization, including a deep piety inherited from his mother that helps seal the fate of his cousins.
• Authority in Name Only: Tommen may be King but he is completely under Cersei's control something she and her supporters don't even bother to hide.
  • Luceon Frey is made High Septon by Cersei. However, he has no real spiritual authority outside Kings Landing due to his well-known corruption plus his open support for the Red Wedding and the real High Septons are Paul the Pious of Harrenhal and Torbert of Oldtown. He loses even that after he is attacked and crippled by a mob of smallfolk.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: How Walton and Perwyn Frey free Edmure, the lords imprisoned after the Red Wedding, and those of their relatives who were opposed to the betrayal.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: This helps kick off the plot. Sansa prays to the old gods for the return of Lady in return for planting weirwoods and restoring them to honor and power. Unfortunately, she doesn't plainly ask for Lady back, just that she not "be the only Stark without protection" which gives them a lot of wiggle room.
• Better to Die than Be Killed:
  • Aeron Greyjoy jumps from the top of a tower into the sea, denying Euron the chance to torture him to death.
  • Bloodraven tries to force Bran to sacrifice Jojen Reed for power and possibly as a catalyst for him to steal Bran's body. As Bran is resisting, Jojen stabs himself first, which doubles as a Heroic Sacrifice to free the Children of the Forest.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The usually sweet, gentle Myrcella nearly brains Jaime with a wine flagon after he admits to fathering her.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Freys are even worse then the Lannisters. The minute Lord Walder dies, they all start to murder each other, even while they are being besieged.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Inverted. When Cersei rails against her erstwhile supporters' "insolence and ingratitude", Dickon Tarly corrects her: they are straight-up committing treason.
• Blatant Lies: Tywin deceives Robb about the Lannisters' recapture of Sansa to avoid releasing her in the aftermath of the Battle of Sweetroot, and the Lannisters subsequently claim that Sansa remains willingly as an envoy.
• Blood from the Mouth: Tommen coughs up blood after being pushed onto the spikes of the Iron Throne.
• Body Horror:
  • Sansa does a lot of blood sacrifices, leaving her with some pretty gnarly scars.
  • Theon Greyjoy gets imprisoned and eaten by a weirwood tree. He gets better, however.
  • Tyrion Lannister catches on fire during the Battle of the Blackwater, watching as wildfire creeps up his fingers and arm before the arm is cut off.
  • Euron Greyjoy survives getting shot in the face by a manticore venom-laden arrow, the brunt of Oldtown's defenses, and the Horn of Winter shattering in his face. Conducting a blood magic ritual to heal up the damage doesn't heal any scars either.
  • Qyburn is subjected to hanging, gelding, flaying, disemboweling, and having his body split into seven parts for his role in the desolation of King's Landing. Justified, given that he had cheated death prior to his capture.
• Book Ends: The War for the Iron Throne is incited by Jaime pushing Bran out of a window and saying "the things I do for love" after the latter discovers the former engaged in an affair with Cersei, which occurs before the events of the fic. The War for the Throne ends with Jaime quoting the same to Cersei this time as he avenges Tyrion's death.
• Brick Joke: In Chapter 106, after hearing about Jaime's treatment of Sansa, Olyvar resolves to punch him in the face if they ever meet again. They meet again ten chapters later, and he promptly does.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: From Kevan's generic apologetic reaction when Mordryd Lydden reminds him there was a third Lydden sister who died young, he likely doesn't remember, if he ever knew, that the third sister was at Castamere when he helped Tywin massacre the inhabitants.
  Kevan: My apologies, I had forgotten.
  Mordryd: It has been many years. I daresay very few remember Gwendolyn, save those who knew her well.
• Came Back Wrong: Gyles Rosby, Addam Marbrand, and Tommen Baratheon are all revived by Qyburn using necromancy, yet with obvious signs that something is wrong with them such as Marbrand becoming a quiet warrior and Tommen being a sullen boy who has no emotional reaction even to the small council launching a coup and his mother proudly confessing to incest in front of him.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Nobody in authority believes Meryn Trant when he claims he saw Sansa turn into a wolf before Joffrey's death. Sandor Clegane rather prudently denies being present at all, and when Sansa herself confesses it, he's the only one in the room to laugh not because it sounds ridiculous but because he knows it's true.
  • In "A Drowning Grief", before Tywin gains his reputation for ruthless disregard of societal mores, survivors' accounts of his murder of the Tarbeck men are initially considered too outrageous to believe.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Or, rather, a village's worth of them. The people of the hollowed hill that Sansa and Arya come to "rule" over in Book II end up recognizing and applauding them when they both return to the Riverlands in Book V.
• Chekhov's Hobby: Maester Turquin's research into the causes of ulcers, which led to the dispute that got him booted from the Citadel, comes in handy when Jon Snow develops them from overuse of willowbark tea (medieval aspirin).
• Cluster F-Bomb: Olyvar in the aftermath of the eruption of wildfire in King's Landing.
  Olyvar had expected a roach in the pudding. He had planned accordingly, trying to anticipate what might go amiss, whether it be the arrival of a blizzard, plague, or hostile army. He had not planned for the fucking city to catch on fucking fire because his fucking grandfather somehow managed to surpass himself and achieve new heights of villainy.
• Confronting Your Imposter: A variant in that Young Griff doesn't know he's not the real Aegon before Olyvar tells him, and proves by his mother's testimony, that he's the real Aegon.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The isolation of the Eyrie could have been ended earlier, before Lysa's death, were it not for the Burned Men being mistaken for attackers rather than rescuers. Justified in that years of deep-seated discord between the Arryns and the mountain clans meant that it was very difficult for Lysa to see them as allies.
• Creepy Uncle: Black Walder Frey, notorious throughout the Twins for sexually abusing his female relatives.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The Widow of the Waterfront describes how the leaders of a slave rebellion in Lys were slowly killed by a fountain of acid, and the other slaves were forced to participate in their torture by releasing the acid drop by drop. During a stop in Lys on the way back to Westeros, Jaime sees that they're doing so again.
• Crying Wolf: Wallace Massey spends so much time and effort sending complaints to his superiors in the Night's Watch that nobody takes him seriously when he notifies them of the unusually bad situation at his location, with the result that the wights break through the Wall at the Shadow Tower.
• David Versus Goliath: Olyvar Sand and Gregor Clegane. In contrast with canon, the David wins.
• Death by Adaptation: Increasingly many, as the story moves beyond the canon timeline, can be found here.
• Death by Childbirth:
  • "Big" Walder Frey explains to Bran that the maester at the Twins is an expert at delivering live babies, but pays much less attention to delivering live mothers. Elsewhere, Perwyn Frey explains to Catelyn that his mother died with her youngest child because his father kept getting her pregnant with no regard to her health.
    Big Walder: If they live, they live. But it’s easy enough to replace them.
  • Drynelle Umber didn't die during childbirth itself, but it weakened her enough that a subsequent illness killed her.
• Death by Despair: Meera Reed teeters on the edge, so despondent over Jojen's death that she either consciously or unconsciously refuses Leaf's healing magic.
• Decapitation Presentation: Arya saws off Ramsay Snow's head and throws it at his father.
• Decomposite Character: The identity of the valonqar (that is, younger brother) that features in Cersei's prophecy is ultimately split up among at least five different characters. Aegon Targaryen, Mordryd Lydden, Willem and Martyn Lannister, and Jaime Lannister, younger brothers all, all play a role in Cersei's downfall and death. That being said, it is Jaime who strangles her in the end.
• Didn't Think This Through: Trystane and Myrcella are smart enough to physically escape the castle of Dragonstone, but Sansa doubts they considered the risk of being robbed, murdered, and/or enslaved by the captain they hired to take them to Essos.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Some of the canon deaths still happen, just at a different time, or in a different way.
  • Joffrey falls to his death the first time Sansa transforms, rather than being poisoned at his wedding.
  • Arthur Dayne died not at the Tower of Joy, but in the Red Keep trying to protect Elia and the children.
  • Poor Cat is repeatedly shot with a crossbow at the Red Wedding, rather than having her throat slit - after killing not Aegon Frey, but Walder Frey himself.
  • Merrett, Petyr, Jared, and Rhaegar Frey are killed during the Red Wedding rather than in retaliatory killings in the aftermath.
  • Beric Dondarrion doesn't try to raise Catelyn from the dead, but the author has stated that he nonetheless died for good soon after the Red Wedding, likely at the hands of the Freys or their men-at-arms.
  • Tywin is stabbed by Jaime rather than shot with a crossbow by Tyrion.
  • Aegon "Jinglebell" Frey isn't killed at the Red Wedding, but accidentally poisoned in an assassination attempt on Black Walder.
  • Vargo Hoat dies of unknown causes. After the Bloody Mummers fall apart Timeon is brained by Edythe and a group led by Shagwell is hunted down by Brynden Tully.
  • Shella Whent lives long enough to return to Harrenhal, and dies peacefully after leaving it to the use of the Faith.
  • Instead of being assassinated by Varys, Kevan Lannister is poisoned by Mordryd Lydden.
  • Gyles Rosby is "saved" from his Incurable Cough Of Doom by Qyburn, only to die completely during the attack on Tommen's nameday celebration after Cersei decides he's no longer useful.
  • Rather than dying in the bread riot, Aron Santagar dies when he collapses in the throne room after the Dornish contingent at court fails to escape from King's Landing. Before being brought to the throne room, Qyburn had removed both of Aron's eyes, and he is implied to have had other injuries which led to his collapse.
  • Grand Maester Pycelle, rather than being murdered by Varys, is instead attacked by the ravens in his rookery which were influenced by Sansa, causing him to fall down the stairs of his tower.
  • Instead of being murdered by Littlefinger, Lysa Arryn starves to death after becoming trapped in the Eyrie during winter and feeding her son at her own expense.
• Disabled in the Adaptation:
  • Tyta "the Maid" Frey was born without half a leg.
  • Ramsay Snow loses an eye to infection when he's injured by Lady Hornwood defending her son and Maester Luwin, forewarned by Jojen, sabotages his wound dressing. His incapacity prevents the Bolton sack of Winterfell.
  • Horas Redwyne suffers brain damage in the assault on Dragonstone.
  • The High Septon of King's Landing, formerly Luceon Frey, loses an eye, his teeth, and his ability to walk after being beaten by Jack the Smith's angry smallfolk, with at least some of his injuries being exacerbated by Randyll Tarly's indiscriminate attack to "rescue" Tommen.
  • Daemon Sand falls onto a moat spike during the Masked Massacre, which does permanent damage to his leg.
  • Pate, Tommen's whipping boy, has his tongue and fingers removed on Cersei's orders to punish Tommen for meeting with the smallfolk.
  • Dolorous Edd Tollett breaks his arm so severely it has to be amputated.
  • Brienne of Tarth tears a major ligament in her knee during her duel with Lyn Corbray; Sansa manages to magically put it back together, but it remains fragile enough to enforce her retirement from Sansa's guard.
• Disease by Any Other Name: Myrielle Lefford's insistence on everything being in sevens in "A Drowning Grief" appears to be obsessive-compulsive disorder expressed as fanatical piety.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Played for Squick when Ramsay Snow is distracted by ogling an underage Arya Stark, who he intends to kidnap and force into marriage.
  Stupid, he should have been looking at her hands, not her bosom. Then maybe he would have seen the dagger before she drew it across his throat.
• The Dog Bites Back: After escaping from his fallen keep, Roose Bolton demands shelter from a pair of his mistreated smallfolk, who promptly bash his head in and roast his severed tongue on a spit.
• Dreaming of Things to Come:
  • Sansa starts having prophetic dreams after her bargain, along with Dreaming of Times Gone By.
  • Princess Rhaenys had a dream of "a man with a dagger" before her death by stabbing, as her cat Balerion tells Ned.
  • The epilogue to Part III begins with Young Griff's dragon dream.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • In "A Fraying Knot", the septon at the Twins fasts to death in the aftermath of the Red Wedding.
  • The desolate and dire circumstances at the Wall lead many men, both of the Watch and otherwise, to end their lives by flinging themselves off the Wall.
  • Heward the miller hangs himself after coming home to find that Theon's ironborn murdered his family.
• Due to the Dead:
  • Perwyn and Walton Frey sneak out Catelyn's body after the Red Wedding intending to give her a proper burial in the godswood of the Twins, but she is apparently absorbed by the weirwood before they get the chance, and Ryman spreads the canon story that she was thrown in the river.
  • The Children of the Forest give Jojen a burial ceremony for helping free them from Bloodraven's control.
• Dynamic Entry: In chapter 159, Aegon and Viserion crash the parley between the Targaryen and Lannister factions, killing at least one goldcloak and breaking Lord Serrett's arm in the process. Chapter 162 reveals this to all be a Contrived Coincidence caused by Aegon and Viserion arriving at the perfect moment due to the weather changing their travel times.

Tropes E-K

• Entendre Failure: Myranda Royce expresses concern about the nonexistent draft in Olyvar's guest room, to his puzzlement.
  Myranda: You must be so weary from your journey. [patting his arm] I asked if you would like your bed warmed.
  Olyvar: Oh, no, I don't need any hot bricks, thank you, my lady.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • The once-ostentatiously sycophantic Septon Torbert protests to the point of being exiled when the High Septon, a Lannister puppet, forgives the crown's debts to the Faith. He is elected High Septon by the Most Devout of the Starry Sept.
  • Willem and Martyn Lannister decide to side with Mordryd Lydden and betray their cousins Cersei and Jaime precisely because of the numerous crimes the Lannister regime had a hand in. Willem, being of a religious bent, even points out just how the ways in which Tywin's brood violated the tenets of the Seven-Pointed Star.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Both Cersei and Kevan think that Robb like Tywin views his family as only game pieces, so forcing Sansa to marry someone like Sandor Clegane, Ilyn Payne or Morros Slynt would not be a major impediment to a treaty with him. It's clear, however, that Robb deeply loves Sansa as a person and would be enraged if he she were to be forced to marry any of these men. The Lannisters are also ready to believe claims that Oberyn is scheming against Doran.
• Exact Words:
  • Robert told Tommen (and presumably his siblings) that "false knights" murdered Rhaegar's children, implicitly disclaiming any guilt for their deaths, but apparently neglected to mention that Amory Lorch and Gregor Clegane got off scot-free afterward.
  • Cersei instructs Mandon Moore to keep Tyrion just as safe as Tyrion has kept her. Given that Tyrion had just broken her arm... Jaime doesn't understand the implications of the phrase when he hears it from Podrick, who is cut off before being able to put it in context, but when Cersei goes on a rant about the valonqar prophecy and Tyrion's actions before his death, he realizes that she was responsible for it.
  • Daenerys proposes to the Green Grace that to celebrate her wedding to Hizdahr zo Loraq, she will take a survey of the Great Masters' wealth prior to her arrival and "see that each pyramid receives what is owed." What the Great Masters are owed, as far as she's concerned, is their demolishment.
  • When Bran is searching for Robb among the weirwoods, he asks for "a tall king, with blue eyes and broad shoulders and a will of iron" and ends up in the heart tree at Storm's End right before King Stannis sets it on fire.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: Daenerys grandly reveals her husband's true identity to the Dornish delegation. It's not his true identity.
  Daenerys: When the sack of King's Landing began Princess Elia was weak and weary. Fearing what Tywin Lannister might do, Lord Varys stole into the nursery and left a tanner's son in the royal cradle before carrying Prince Aegon away -
  Olyvar: Begging Your Grace's pardon, but no, he didn't.
• Fair-Weather Friend: On Aegon's arrival at Dragonstone, Myrcella's septa drops her like a hot potato and condemns her as an abomination born of incest, after years in Lannister employment ignoring all the evidence of that incest when it was convenient to her.
• Family Theme Naming: Craster's wives usually name their offspring using a name that begins with the same letter as their own. For example Gilly's mother is Grindis.
• Fate Worse than Death: Several examples.
  • When Craster found that one of his wives slept with a Black Brother, he stripped her naked and threw her to the Others while forcing the rest of his wives and daughters to watch. It's… not explained what the Others did with her.
  • The Great Masters are basically put into death camps- they are forced to manually take apart their own pyramids, working as essentially the lowest of their former slaves once did. The older ones die from overwork/heat exhaustion pretty quickly.
  • The Green Grace's punishment when Dany finds out that the supposedly supportive priestess was the Harpy… she's chained to a post to die slowly of exposure, with people being able to stone her, and soldiers forcibly feeding her food and water to prolong her suffering.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: Ser Brynden Tully mistakenly calls Sansa by her mother Catelyn's name in Chapter 162, a slip of the tongue which upsets both of them as Cat has been dead for years at that point, and both her daughter and her uncle still grieve for her.
• Fetishes Are Weird: Qyburn's fixation on his transgressive "research" on the human body and his contempt for the established authorities who condemn such things is illustrated by him having sex workers dress up as the Silent Sisters who traditionally care for the dead bodies he desecrates (and often produces).
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Cersei muses on House Lydden's words being "we wait below", wondering if they should be "we wait outside" instead. Surely enough, Mordryd Lydden catches her and Jaime after they finish lunch, having infiltrated Casterly Rock all along.
• For Want Of A Nail: The changes start off small, but get gradually larger as the story progresses. This results in characters who are alive in canon dying, while some who die manage to survive.
  • Lancel dies because Sansa's absence from King's Landing means nobody has the presence of mind to get him medical attention until it's too late. This means that Kevan's relationship with Cersei is much better than canon, as he never finds out that she took advantage of his son.
  • The survival of Elia and her children via time travel has the most visible ripple effects in the rest of the Martell family. Doran never arranges Arianne's marriage to Viserys when he has his own nephew to back, or sabotages her other marriage prospects, so Arianne never gets the impression that he intends to have Quentyn usurp her. By the "present" time, Arianne is married to an Allyrion and Quentyn is betrothed to Gwyneth Yronwood.
• Foreshadowing: In-Universe. Strongspear the Squire includes a conversation between Strongspear and his aunt, an Expy of Elia Martell who embraces him as her own son. In-universe, Arya thinks it's a bit of a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment. The playwright's patron, Lady Toland, is one of the few who knows that Olyvar really is Elia's son, long thought dead, and Word of God is she had revisions made for political reasons.
• Four-Star Badass: Robb Stark is a brilliant general, and consistently wins despite being heavily outnumbered.
• Fright-Induced Bunkmate: Robb, Arya, and Rickon, all badly traumatized, make a habit of sharing a bed nightly after their return to Winterfell.
• General Failure: Tywin is completely outmaneuvered and defeated by Robb despite outnumbering him by more then two to one.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: After Trystane frees Myrcella and the two make a run for it, Myrcella's handmaiden Rosamund Lannister is interrogated on where they went. Lady Mellario, angry and scared for her son, outright assaults Rosamund, slapping her in the face and giving her a black eye. Sansa quickly takes over however and calmly and reasonably points out to Rosamund that it would be much better for Myrcella to be recaptured than to fall into the hands of Septon Ulf, who views her as an abomination and wants her dead and who is also on Dragonstone.
• Go Mad from the Isolation:
  • Sansa is badly shaken by her time in the black cells awaiting trial.
  • Being imprisoned under the Great Pyramid for months does a number on Viserion's mental health.
• Grave-Marking Scene: Sansa takes advantage of a visit to the Great Sept for Olyvar's knighting to leave roses where her father died. Afterward she learns that other people have begun following her lead.
  There had been flowers for Eddard Stark, nearly two years after his death, but none for Tywin Lannister.
• Hate Sink: Tywin Lannister. It's highlighted just what a cruel, petty, miserable, misogynistic creature he truly is, his absolutely pathetic and humiliating death is met with cheers by the commentators.
• Healing Hands: Or rather, healing song. Sansa picks this up after visiting the Isle of Faces.
• Heavy Sleeper: Hilsa is said to sleep like a rock, but that doesn't stop her from hearing Craster beating Dorsten.
• Heir Club for Men: Roose Bolton states that "[his] line is ended" after the deaths of his sons, completely ignoring the existence of his daughter Bessa.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Catelyn sacrifices herself at the Red Wedding to buy time for Robb and his guard to escape. First by saying she will be a hostage, and then by slitting Walder Frey's throat so his many potential heirs will turn against one another.
  • Davos volunteers to be burned in the hope that it will spare Shireen.
  • The cook at the Eyrie, aware of their dire supply situation, jumps out the Moon Door to leave more food for the children.
• History Repeats:
  • At one tournament Arya, who is said to resemble her aunt Lyanna, is crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty twice, much to her annoyance. On the second occasion the winner even bypasses his wife to crown her. Ironically, as the king's sister, she's considered the relatively inoffensive choice.
  • Olyvar wins over the Vale by flying to the seemingly-unreachable Eyrie and taking its young lord on a dragonback ride, just as his ancestor Visenya did.
  • The new Lord Buckler, grieving over his father's death in battle against Olyvar, refuses to surrender even in the face of a dragon and, like Argella Durrandon, is immediately overpowered by his subordinates. Olyvar accidentally reenacts Aegon the Conqueror wiping out the Hoares when his use of dragonfire against the defiant Lord Wylde kills the rest of Wylde's family as well.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Lannisters at one point essentially controlled the Iron Throne were the wealthiest House in Westeros and aimed to rule the continent. By chapter 166 the Lannisters have lost both the War of the 5 kings and the War for the Iron Throne, Willem and Genna are the only surviving Lannisters from the main line (and the latter is in exile), They have lost their seat of Casterly Rock to Lyddens, they have no allies, all their claimants to the Iron Throne are dead, and they are hated throughout Westeros.
• Hypocritical Humor: When Lady Olenna subjects Willas's betrothed Rhaenys Targaryen/Meria Sand to racialized Slut-Shaming for her premarital relations with him, Rhaenys sweetly points out that Olenna's son Mace was remarkably large and healthy for being born only seven months after she married.
• I Gave My Word: Oberyn doesn't volunteer to champion Sansa because his sister Elia, knowing his vengeful tendencies, made him promise not to fight the Mountain before he went to King’s Landing.
• I'm Cold... So Cold...: The last words of Elder Sister Aemma Sweetdarry after being stabbed in the gut while fighting off a rape attempt are "I'm so cold."
• Improbable Infant Survival: The author has assured readers that if nobody else, Buttons the cat (who is based on one of her own cats) has Plot Armor.
• I Need a Freaking Drink:
  • Damina, one of the people of the Hollow Hill who moved to Harrenhal, gets absolutely plastered after seeing Viserion land on the Isle of Faces.
  • Grand Maester Gerold decides to get smashed after getting harangued by Cersei in the wake of the Targaryen push towards King's Landing. This makes him the Sole Survivor of her small council as everyone else was killed in the destruction of the Red Keep.
• In Spite of a Nail: Some events proceed as in canon, despite the changes.
  • The lords of the North have the Lannister incest confirmed by Sansa and Bran's testimony, but the other players in the War of the Five Kings act much the same in the opening stages partly because, as Catelyn realizes to her consternation, they never got around to publicizing their knowledge.
  • Jaime still loses his hand, this time to an infected wound he takes from Edmure Tully during his escape from Riverrun.
  • Lampshaded after Sansa travels through time to save Elia's life; when she returns, she's disappointed to note that Bolton still holds Harrenhal. She isn't sure she made any difference until later.
  • Despite Sansa succeeding in saving Elia, and Elia's survival being public knowledge, Varys and Illyrio proceed with the original plan to pass off Young Griff as Aegon, disregarding that she is alive to contradict them.
  • The Red Wedding still happens, and Smalljon Umber, Ser Wendel Manderly and Catelyn Stark still die in it. Fortunately, see Spared by the Adaptation.
• Insanity Immunity: The Lannisters and the High Septon claim that Sansa has gone mad, which is why the birds helped her champion in her trial by combat, certainly not because her accusations were true. The smallfolk don't buy it.
• Insult to Rocks: Sansa takes offense when someone calls Cersei a whore, citing all the times sex workers have helped her, her sister, and their friends.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Chapter 159 finally reveals to Cersei that Olyvar Sand and Aegon Targaryen are one and the same. In addition, it's Zombie!Tommen who recognizes him first, of all people.
  • Chapter 165 finally confirms to everyone in-universe that Sansa is pregnant after several chapters of Foreshadowing.
  • Chapter 167 has Bran reveal to Theon that his uncles Victarion and Aeron are dead, having seen their demise through his greensight.
• I Reject Your Reality: Jon Connington absolutely refuses to accept that Olyvar is actually Rhaegar and Elia's son, despite Elia herself saying so, because that would mean that for the last 13 years Varys and Illyrio have been playing him for a fool and that the boy he raised was never his beloved Rhaegar's son... and on top of that, Rhaegar's real son disdains and denounces his father.
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Varys and Illyrio's plot. In the original timeline, it would have made more sense since Elia and her children were dead. However, in the new timeline, Elia is known to have survived the sack of King’s Landing and could easily tell the Dornish that there was never a baby swap even if she hadn't sent her children to Braavos six months before Varys claimed to have made the exchange.
• Kangaroo Court: There's an unusual example where the defendant is guilty of the crime and the court (most of whom don't believe she did it) are trying to prove her innocent due to their own agenda. That is, Sansa killed Joffrey and the Lannisters put forward evidence that she's too weak and gentle to have done it. This is because they hope to marry her to a member of their family and want to quash the ridiculous rumours about her actions. Sansa proceeds to confess to turning into a red direwolf, (accidentally) flinging Joffrey to his death (true), then accuses Tywin Lannister of various crimes (also true), and finally demands a trial by combat to prove that the gods approved of her actions, and, like Jaime, she should not be punished for slaying a king.
• Keystone Army: The moment Cat kills Walder Frey at the Red Wedding, the Freys start turning on each other, which gives Robb and some of his supporters an opportunity to escape.
• Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil:
  • At one point Sansa asks Sandor Clegane why he's never actually tried to kill his hated brother even when he had a golden opportunity to do so with full legal backing when Gregor attacked Loras at the Tourney of the Hand. It's implied that despite his revenge fantasies, he still believes this on some level. And even when her original plan for a champion against Gregor falls through, the author states that she declines Sandor's silent offer to step forward because she doesn't want to make him a kinslayer, even at the risk of her own life.
  • Tywin Lannister's abusive parenting leads to his children being at each other's throats, starting with Cersei successfully plotting Tyrion's death at the Battle of the Blackwater. Then Jaime kills Tywin due to the latter finding out about his incestuous relationship with Cersei. Then Cersei and Jaime kill off each other after their attempts to escape Casterly Rock are in vain.
• Knight Templar: Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers, already a Well-Intentioned Extremist, initially sought to help the Children of the Forest to stop the Others but came to believe that his way was the only way, no matter the cost - to the point where he's magically bound the Children, is stealing the life energy of the Stark siblings, isolating and dehumanizing one of them in preparation to steal his body, and is prepared to cut off and "sacrifice" the North after unilaterally deciding that it's impossible to stop Euron from bringing down the Wall.
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • The garrison at Dragonstone promptly chooses to surrender to Aegon when they see his dragon and army rather than fight them to the death.
  • Similarly, Tommen's Small Council chooses to surrender to Aegon after the parley, realizing how Cersei had weakened their position to the point of futility. Unfortunately for them, Cersei escapes with Jaime's assistance.

Tropes L-R

• Laser-Guided Karma: Tyrion, who planned the wildfire on the Blackwater, loses his arm and then his life to it.
• Laxative Prank: Tyene Sand sometimes slips laxatives to people who belittle her sister Obara, and their brother Olyvar suspects their father of exercising his frustrations in King's Landing by doing the same to Tywin (a possible nod to the fan theory that Oberyn poisoned Tywin with Widow's Blood).
• Lighter and Softer: For one thing, there is much less sexual violence than the original.
• The Load: Robb Stark is so annoyed by dealing with the Vale that when Olyvar's envoy proposes to allow the Riverlands and Vale to decide which king they'll have, he says they can have the Vale. Olyvar makes good on this offer in Chapter 162, peacefully winning over the Vale by rescuing Robert Arryn from the snowed-in Eyrie.
• Locked Away in a Monastery: This is the fate intended for Myrcella after Aegon's takeover. After her attempted escape ends in her death, her erstwhile septa is made to join the Silent Sisters as punishment for leaving her unsupervised (and implicitly for callously abandoning Myrcella to try to save herself), and Myrcella's handmaidens are made to choose between the Faith and forced marriages as punishment for helping the attempt.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Chapter 117 follows Edythe, a sister of the Faith of the Seven, and the other minor characters she interacts with. It gives a close-up perspective of how the wars of the high lords affect the smallfolk. There's also a lot of Dramatic Irony, such as the story of Cersei summoning a boar-shaped demon to assassinate Robert (instead of the literal boar in reality).
• Mama Bear:
  • Beony Beesbury in "A Fraying Knot" threatens Black Walder with a knife when he menaces her teenage daughters.
    Little Bee (narrating): Mother's mouth always grew tight when Black Walder visited, especially when he asked to speak to her. He tried to speak to the twins once too, but when he tried sending Lady Beony away she pulled out her eating knife and told him he should speak to her again. Serra and Sarra had nightmares for a week after that strange visit.
  • The ghost of Lyanna Stark enters her son Jon's dream to protect him from the Others' psychological warfare.
• Meaningful Echo: One of the sisters at Harrenhal comments regarding the Lannisters' repressive policies that "The Seven grow wroth when lords dine upon swan and smallfolk dine upon sawdust." Later, Cersei notices that her devout cousin Willem "kept muttering to himself about swans and sawdust."
• Meaningful Name: One of the orphans Daenerys takes in is called Neida, pronounced like "Dany" with the syllables reversed. Neida being devoured by Drogon is the final event that causes Daenerys to realize how she herself was victimized by Drogon's namesake.
• Meaningful Rename:
  • Robb decides to rename the members of House Frey who did not participate in the Red Wedding as members of House Truefaith.
  • Rhaenys Targaryen was named after Aegon the Conqueror's queen; when disguised as one of her uncle's bastards she was renamed Meria for Princess Meria Martell, who defied Queen Rhaenys's ultimatum. After she's informed of her past, she leans into it hard, adopting the yellow toad as her seal.
  • When Ser Roote marries Raymund Frey's widow, he changes the names of her three youngest children from Cersei, Jaime, and Tywin to Cicely, Jack, and Thyme.
  • The city of Meereen is renamed Mele Nernar, or "the city of red doors", due to Daenerys launching a public works project to paint them after she accepts it as her home.
  • Daenerys and Aegor adopt an orphan who insists on being named only by his eventual parents. The name they give him is Daeron. This alludes to Daeron I, the Young Dragon, the kind of ruler both once aspired to be, but in context more so to the peacemaking Daeron II, symbolizing Daenerys's turn from conquest to creation as well as reconciliation between the Targaryen and Blackfyre branches of the family.
  • After Olyvar takes the throne, he legitimizes his foster mother Ellaria Sand per her dead father's wish, making her Ellaria Uller.
• Memento MacGuffin:
  • During the rescue mission to the Eyrie, Timett wears a necklace that combines the Waynwood and Arryn sigils, corresponding to the parentage of the long-lost Alyssa Waynwood.
  • Tormund wears a silver baby bracelet as a pendant, which a furious Mors Umber recognizes as a childhood keepsake of his abducted daughter.
• Mercy Kill: "A Drowning Grief" ends with Gwendolyn poisoning her elderly aunt and the Reyne children with sweetsleep before the floodwaters reach them.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Due to all the time they've spent together unraveling Littlefinger's financial crime and siphoning the results to Dorne, it's widely believed around the court that Prince Oberyn is sleeping with Aron Santagar's wife.
• Mood Whiplash: Chapter 147 for the most part is a sweet one, where Sansa saves Olyvar from going overboard and the two finally consummate their relationship... then it ends with a nightmarish segment of Bran (or Brynden Rivers aka Bloodraven) haunting her.
• Morality Pet: Deconstructed with Sansa and Sandor Clegane. She shows him compassion and encourages him to be a better person, and he's affected enough to offer to serve her once she returns to Westeros, but he still frightens her (with good reason) and she doesn't want to be around him once she doesn't have to be.
• Moral Myopia: An old villager in the Westerlands praises Tywin for putting an end to the rampant lawlessness and violent crime of Tytos's rule, and also for giving his sons the opportunity to loot King's Landing.
• Mundane Utility: Downplayed. The weather at the Battle of Bitter Winds keeps Viserion from flying and using her dragonfire against Tarly's forces directly, but the ambient heat of her flame softens the frozen ground, leading to Tarly's cavalry charge floundering in the mud.
• Murder Ballad: Sansa composes The Honest Hand, a song which describes the deaths of her father and King Robert, to honor her father and clear his name. It quickly becomes popular among those who resent Lannister rule. It is seen in full in Chapter 52. The author’s version of the song can be heard here and a fan later uploaded their own rendition of it.
• Mutual Kill: Cersei brains Jaime with a rock just as he crushes her windpipe in the sewers below Casterly Rock. It's made even more meaningful by the fact that they're twins; they came into the world together and exited the world together.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Chapter 150 features Theon getting subjected to a five-year-long variant of this, where he's forced to confront the crimes he's been guilty of such as oathbreaking and kinslaying. While it's not quite enough to shock him into a real Heel–Face Turn, it's still enough to set him on a path of redemption, and the very last line of the chapter indicates he'll get a chance to do so.
  • Among the reasons for Tommen's horror when he receives Myrcella's final letter is the realization that the Dornish nobles he ordered executed were right when they told him he was born of incest.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The fic began with reverse-engineering the circumstances that would allow Sansa to survive after following through on her canon impulse to push Joffrey off the traitor's walk.
  • Tyrion mentally quips that Renly's progress is so slow his sigil should be a tortoise. Renly's mother was from House Estermont, whose sigil is a turtle.
  • During Stannis and Renly's confrontation in Catelyn's viewpoint chapter.
    [Original] "I am not without mercy," thundered he who was notoriously without mercy.
    [The Weirwood Queen] "I am not without mercy," said the man who chopped off the fingers of the smuggler who saved his life.
  • The canon scene where Sansa compliments Barristan on his achievements and deduces Renly's identity is echoed when she praises Mace and Oberyn as they preside over her trial, then tears into Tywin and enumerates the reasons he is a faithless oathbreaker before naming him as such.
  • Ramsay Snow mistakes Jeyne Poole for Arya when he tries to kidnap her.
  • Rodrik Cassel snarks that Rickon is so feral they should send him to Skagos (his last known destination in canon) as an envoy.
  • Daenerys once tried to defend herself against her brother Viserys blaming her for being born too late to marry Rhaegar by retorting that it was his fault because he wasn't born a girl. When she named Viserion, she stated that the dragon would do what Viserys could not. In Daenerys VI, Viserion lays eggs after mating with Drogon.
  • In a flashback, Jaime remembers Cersei's drawing of her on dragonback with Rhaegar that she claimed was of Jaehaerys and Alysanne.
  • Jon's ecstatic reaction when he learns after years of uncertainty that Bran is still alive recalls his reaction in canon when he learned that Bran had awakened from his coma, including spinning around an unsuspecting bystander.
  • Part V, Arya I mentions an assassination attempt on Queen Margaery by a merchant offering poisoned wine, similar to the canon attempt on Daenerys.
  • Tywin doesn't die on the privy this time, but Mordryd Lydden throws his bones into one.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • One of the survivors of the Mountain's raid of Sherrer is named Merissa, and she becomes an Ascended Extra after being taken in by Sansa.
  • Another Ascended Extra is Bel, a singer Ned canonically glimpses at Littlefinger's brothel.
  • Nymeria Sand's mother is Nyessara Vhassar, and Sarella Sand's is Chatana Qhoru.
  • Gilly's son has the milk name of Kit, and the formal name of Samrik.
  • The "pious dwarf" is named Paul.
  • Barristan's squire known as "the Red Lamb" is named Avram.
  • The Widow of the Waterfront is named Dysaria.
  • Greatjon Umber's wife is Marna Wull and his children besides Smalljon are named Hoarfrost, Rime, Fern, and Cornel.
  • Yohn Royce's wife was Ysilla Redfort, implying their daughter was named after her.
  • The captain's daughter Theon seduced is named Alla.
  • The miller and his wife from the Acorn Water are Heward and Robyn, and their sons are Hallis and Tym.
  • Mors "Crowfood" Umber's daughter was named Drynelle. Her and Tormund's son Dryn is presumably a Dead Guy Junior.
  • Jon Arryn's niece (and Harrold Hardyng's maternal aunt) who was abducted by the Burned Men is Alyssa Waynwood.
  • Dick Crabb's sister who went to King's Landing is Nettles Crabb.
  • The mother of Barra, the youngest of Robert’s bastards, was named Wynafrei.
• Nasty Party:
  • Daenerys's wedding to Hizdahr zo Loraq is a trap to seize the Harpy and purge the high nobility of Meereen. For this, her detractors call her the "blood bride."
  • Cersei arranges a False Flag Operation to kill Mace and Margaery at the masquerade ball celebrating Tommen's nameday and blame it on the North, which becomes known as the Masked Massacre.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming:
  • Arya and Sansa name an orphaned infant Nan, after Old Nan.
  • Invoked when Jon Connington suggests naming Young Griff and Daenerys's child Rhaegar for a boy, and Rhaella or Rhaenys for a girl. Daenerys startles him by suggesting they name a girl Jonelle, after him.
  • In the backstory, Bittersteel had a daughter (Serra's mother and Young Griff's grandmother) named Barbra, reminiscent of his mother, Barba Bracken.
  • Edmure and Roslin's sons, Hoster and Perwyn Tully.
  • Perwyn and Wynafryd's children, Wyman and Bethany Truefaith.
  • Olyvar Rosby and Lollys Stokeworth's firstborn child is named Robyn Rosby, after Robb Stark. Doubles as Added Alliterative Appeal.
  • Played for Laughs by Mors Manwoody and his wife Desmera (née Redwyne). Desmera names her daughters Paxta (paying homage to her father Paxter) and Dagos (after Mors' father). Mors' brother Dickon (himself a bearer of an unfortunate name) is not amused.
• Never My Fault: Cersei says she would never have trusted a Stormlander like Meryn Trant with protecting Joffrey. Tyrion has to fight down the impulse to remind her that she suggested Trant be appointed to the Kingsguard.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Walder Frey plans to leave Jeyne Westerling alive long enough to rape her, and his instructions to this effect keep the crossbowmen at the Red Wedding from turning Robb into a Human Pincushion when she gets in the way.
  • Jaime allows Lyn Corbray to believe that the Lannisters were behind Littlefinger's death, which helps lead to a vengeful Lysa calling the Vale's banners for Robb.
• Nice to the Waiter:
  • Tommen is a friendly child who gives his whole purse to a beggar when he can't get it open and will tip a silver stag (the equivalent of about $380) for cleaning cat hair.
  • In general, what's considered a pittance by wealthier people can be a life-changing amount for poorer ones, as shown when Edythe remembers her and her father's awed reaction when a passing knight tipped her a stag for giving him directions.
• Noble Wolf: The direwolves are this for the remaining Starks. The symbolism is used for a morale coup when Arya sends Nymeria's pack to bow to Robb.
  • Sansa in her direwolf form is this to the smallfolk in the Riverlands, doing things like retrieving lost children.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: In-Universe, The Romance of Strongspear the Squire and the Weirwood Maid is a thinly-veiled retelling of events leading to Sansa and Olyvar's wedding, i.e. the Tyrell rose sigil is replaced with a lily.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Rosamund Lannister helps Myrcella escape from their chambers so that she can run off with her love Trystane. The action ends up getting them both killed. Rosamund and the other Lannister handmaiden are punished by being given the option of either marrying a loyalist knight of Olyvar and Sansa's choosing or joining the Faith. They choose the the latter.
• Non-Indicative Name: Because the high positions in motherhouses are generally filled according to class, Edythe is charged with accompanying an "Elder Sister" who's young enough to be her daughter.
• No Party Like a Donner Party:
  • By the time the besieged Dreadfort falls, the lord's family and some selected men-at-arms have cannibalized all the servants inside.
  • As a last resort, the remaining people trapped in the Eyrie consume Lysa Arryn's body.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Tommen makes Oberyn feel uncomfortable about the Martell plan to bring down his family and take him off the throne just by being his kindhearted self.
  Tommen: We should pray for poor Robin's health, and for him to cast off his evil councillors. It isn't his fault that his mother and his lords are traitors; he doesn't have good and honorable advisers like I do.
  Oberyn: Your Grace is kind to say so. [drains a cup of wine]
• Odd Couple: Sansa and Olyvar appear to be this. As Sansa is a princess and a member of an ancient and powerful house, she massively outranks a bastard son of Oberyn Martell. Both Robb and Lady Yronwood express outrage that such a high ranking girl was made to marry a bastard. Subverted, however, in that Olyvar is secretly Aegon Targaryen and from a Targaryen loyalists’ perspective the rightful King of Westeros.
• The Old Gods: As in canon, the North worships the old gods. They have a prominent role in the story.
• One-Steve Limit:
  • There's both a Septon Timoth (one of the Most Devout at Harrenhal) and a Septon Tim (who goes to the Wall and testifies to the Harrenhal faction about the wights). Lampshaded when Bran Stark gets them mixed up at a point where Timoth is at the Wall and Tim is back in Harrenhal.
  • There's both an Olyvar Frey later of Houses Truefaith and Rosby and an Olyvar Sand who turns out to be Aegon VI Targaryen under an assumed name.
  • There's a Sister Edythe, a smallfolk lay sister from the Riverlands, and Lady Edythe Cerwyn, the Named by the Adaptation wife of Medger Cerwyn.
• Out with a Bang: Raynard, the High Septon of King's Landing, dies of a heart attack while bedding a prostitute.
• Parental Incest: It's implied that Joss's father raped him and afterward claimed it was an accident and he mistook him for his mother. Joss then "accidentally" kicked his ladder out from under him.
• Perilous Old Fool: Barristan Selmy becomes one, blissfully unaware that his age is catching up to him and his squires are letting him win their spars until Jaime Lannister trounces him literally one-handed.
• Please Shoot the Messenger: Varys has to do some fast talking after walking in on Jaime post-patricide. He and Illyrio ship Jaime to Meereen, ostensibly to serve Young Griff, carrying a letter in High Valyrian that remands the Kingslayer to the justice of House Targaryen.
• Please Wake Up: In "A Drowning Grief", Roger Reyne's young daughters cling to his cold body, insisting they have to be there when he wakes.
• Plot Parallel: The two daughters of Hoster Tully die in order to give their sons a chance to live. Catelyn sacrifices herself, drawing the Freys' attention in order to give Robb a chance to escape the Red Wedding, while Lysa sacrifices herself by letting her flesh be fed to her son Robert to alleviate his hunger. They succeed in both cases.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • Only Jaime and Brienne know about Aerys's wildfire caches, and neither of them know enough about the properties of wildfire to realize the continuing danger until it's too late for a good chunk of King's Landing.
  • Wallace Massey's request for aid at the Shadow Tower fall on deaf ears in part because he made a reference to the Justmans and the Hoares, which would be common knowledge with Riverlanders and Valemen, but not so much the Northern-raised Jon.
• Pragmatic Villainy: According to the author, if Ramsay had successfully kidnapped Arya, his father Roose wouldn't have let him forcibly marry and rape her, since he wanted to use Arya as leverage to escape the Umber siege of the Dreadfort.
• Precision F-Strike: A double-whammy after Arya reads Sansa's letter from Sunspear.
  Arya: What the fuck.
  Rickon: Fuck? Fuck!
  Robb: Arya, language!
  [Robb reads the letter]
  Robb: What the FUCK?
• Prophecy Twist: Khal Drogo went without armor because the dosh khaleen prophesied he would not be killed by man or blade. Instead a wound became infected and he entered a vegetative state before being smothered by his wife.
• Prophetic Names: Drogon is Drogo's Dead Guy Junior, and Irri claims he has his spirit. She means that Drogon has his rapacious and destructive nature, and Daenerys finally acknowledges that he's out of control and gives him a sweetsleep overdose to keep him from harming any more innocents.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Sandor Clegane leaves court to take over the family lands after his brother's death, where the author admits to forgetting about him for a while. He later writes to Sansa after she is proclaimed Aegon's queen to offer his services, but she declines them.
  • After Tyrion's death at the Blackwater, Bronn spends the next several years guarding Olyvar Frey at Rosby.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: Chapter 167 ends on a somber, but not hopeless note. The combined forces of the Night's Watch and the North are forced to flee the Wall after the Others breach it at the Shadow Tower, and both Castle Black and Eastwatch are deemed untenable. However, Bran has reunited with his brothers, Meera has gained some of her will to live back, and Olyvar, while frustratingly late, arrives with Viserion in tow at the end.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • In Chapter 81, Sansa calls out Tywin Lannister for his actions, before naming him murderer and craven in the middle of her own trial and in front of a large crowd.
  • In Chapter 166, Willem Lannister denounces his cousins Jaime and Cersei for trampling on their vows as a wife and as a knight.
• Reassigned to Antarctica:
  • Maester Turquin is sent to the Night's Watch as Aemon's replacement after he clashes with the well-connected Maester Gormon.
  • This is the intended effect when Cersei has dissenting members of the Most Devout banished to Oldtown from King's Landing. It turns out that the original center of the Faith is not a very effective exile location, and a fantastic place for launching a schism.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • The father of Doran, Elia, and Oberyn Martell was from House Manwoody.
  • Daenerys's cupbearer Jezhene is a member of House Loraq and a cousin of Hizdahr.
  • It's confirmed that Illyrio's late wife Serra was the granddaughter of Aegor Bittersteel and Calla Blackfyre, and Young Griff is Serra and Illyrio's son.
  • The mother of Roger, Reynard, and Ellyn Reyne was a Lydden (aunt of the present lord), and many other houses of the Westerlands (including those of Roger and Reynard's wives, Brax and Lefford) had relatives who were killed at Castamere.
  • The mothers of Jeyne Farman and Addam Marbrand are also mentioned to be Lewys Lydden's sisters.
  • Ryman Frey's wife (the mother of Edwyn, Black Walder, and Petyr) was a Bracken who eventually fled her marriage by entering the Faith.
  • Yohn Royce's wife was Horton Redfort's sister, making Ysilla Royce and Mychel Redfort first cousins. This is the basis the High Septon Paul uses to annul their marriage.
  • Septon Torbert was born into House Beesbury.
  • Tormund Giantsbane was the one who kidnapped Mors Umber's daughter, and she was the mother of his older sons.
  • The younger of the miller's children was biologically Theon's son, making him a kinslayer.
  • Olenna Tyrell's guards Arryk and Erryk are Redwyne bastards.
  • Varys is revealed to be a Targaryen in this story, being the grandson of Aerion Brightflame through his son Maegor; his birth name is Vaerys. This also explains his gelding in canon — the wizard who did the deed wanted someone with king's blood, and Varys has the proper ancestry here.
  • Marei, one of the workers at Chataya's brothel, is the unacknowledged daughter of Tywin Lannister.
  • Timett son of Timett, of the Burned Men, is strongly implied to be the son of the missing Alyssa Waynwood.
• Relationship Upgrade: An odd example given that the couple in question has been married for five years, but Sansa and Olyvar finally consummate their relationship in Chapter 147 after she rescues him from going overboard.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Aenys and Symond Frey kill Lothar and Black Walder and surrender the besieged Twins in an attempt to save themselves, but are executed for kinslaying.

Tropes S-Z

• Samus Is a Girl: Viserion is revealed to be a she-dragon after laying a clutch of eggs.
• Schmuck Bait: A giant weirwood with a hollow "mouth" full of bones is not where you want to take a nap, as Theon Greyjoy discovers to his misfortune.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Lady Shella Whent, in the line of Brutal Honesty.
  Shella Whent: The last time I was in King's Landing even the lackwits knew Septon Raynard was more oft found in the brothels than the Sept of Baelor, and Raynard was too stupid to read his copy of the Seven-Pointed Star unless he had a whore to read it to him!
  Humphrey: Lady Shella.
  Shella Whent: What? The man's a whore-monger!
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!:
  • After the Red Wedding fails to kill Robb, both Mariya Darry (widow of Merrett Frey) and Carolei Waynwood (widow of Geremy Frey) realize what is coming and separately flee the Twins with their children just before the Bracken and Blackwood armies arrive.
  • Loras and Margaery Tyrell are tipped off about Cersei's assassination attempt and flee King's Landing by ship. The ship is captained by Aurane Waters, who Cersei has also been trying to dispose of.
  • Genna Lannister and her family escape for the Free Cities shortly after Aegon's forces arrive in Westeros.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: The first time Sansa transforms, her dress is left in shreds. The first thing she asks Nymeria for (when they meet up in the next volume) is clothes.
• Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!: The bread riot in King's Landing is sparked when Cersei panics and orders a beggar killed after Tommen's pony spooks.
• Shotgun Wedding: Between Daryn Hornwood and Rhialta Vance after they're caught together.
• Shout-Out:
  • Per the author's notes, The Honest Hand is written to the tune of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot.
  • The Battle of Sweetroot is based on the Battle of Cannae, starring Robb Stark as Hannibal Barca.
  • Melisandre is a more explicit Rasputin figure, winning Stannis's support by curing his daughter Shireen's illness.
  • One of the singers employed by the Tyrells is the redheaded Rickard of Ashby.
    My lady and I are no strangers to love—
  • Cersei's Villainous Breakdown in Chapter 156 after learning about the result of the Battle of Bitter Winds is modeled upon Adolf Hitler's breakdown in the film Downfall (and the Hitler Rants it inspired).
  • Jaime's guards in Chapter 159 are named after Robin Hood and His Merry Men.
• Shown Their Work: Author's notes frequently reference real-life parallels to battles, events, or details like embroidery styles or medical procedures. This includes realistic travel times.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Antagonist-on-antagonist, when Cersei realizes (some of) the extent of Varys's deceptions and cuts off his impending Motive Rant before ordering him killed.
  Cersei: Oh, I beg your pardon; I forgot that I don't care.
• Sibling Murder:
  • Cersei sends Mandon Moore to kill Tyrion at the Battle of the Blackwater, and succeeds in doing so afterward while he's recovering from his injuries.
  • Immediately after (as in, within the minute after) their patriarch's death, the Freys descend into fratricide.
  • Ramsay Snow kills his infant half-brother soon before his own death.
  • Jaime kills Cersei after realizing her involvement in Tyrion's death, but not before she kills him as well.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Proper, pious Alerie Hightower, grieving for the death of her father and sister and the destruction of her hometown at Euron Greyjoy's hands, opines that the ironborn should be wiped out as she wipes her tears with a hanky.
  Rhaenys blinked at Lady Alerie, completely poleaxed. Bugger the Warrior with his own bloody spear. Was Lady Alerie always so bloodthirsty, or only on special occasions?
• Skewed Priorities: In the aftermath of Tywin's death Robb has gained the allegiance of the Vale, giving him tens of thousands of fresh troops, has the Lannisters by the throat, and is making demands for his sister's return, and yet Cersei's priority at a small council meeting is to try and force Sansa into a marriage, an act that would not benefit the Lannisters in the slightest and would in fact only enrage Robb.
• Sole Survivor:
  • It's mentioned that Roger Reyne's eldest daughter Teora wasn't present for Tywin's massacre of her family because she married Sorrel Roote, a minor lord of the Riverlands, but she died of winter fever along with her children years before the beginning of the story.
  • Talla Tarly is the only survivor of the wildfire explosion in the Red Keep, apparently protected by the weirwood tree that Sansa planted in the godswood years before - after, so she believes, being led there by Tommen's ghost.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Robb calls for each of his bannermen to leave a son behind in the North, leading to the survival of Eddard Karstark as well as Daryn Hornwood and, indirectly, his mother Donella.
  • Maester Luwin and Rodrik Cassel survive the retaking of Winterfell.
  • Robb survives the Red Wedding, though badly wounded in the escape. As of the end of Part III he's survived, thanks to Jeyne Westerling's treatment. Grey Wind and Dacey Mormont survive as well.
  • Oberyn does not volunteer to serve as the champion against Gregor Clegane in Sansa's trial by combat.
  • Elia Martell and her children are saved by Sansa warning her of the Sack of King's Landing via weirwood.
  • Willem Lannister is traded in a prisoner exchange before Jaime escapes (and the circumstances are such that Lord Karstark didn't try to murder hostages in the aftermath). He becomes the Sole Survivor of Kevan's children.
  • Because Jaime escapes earlier than canon, Cleos and Tion Frey aren't caught up in the ramifications of Catelyn's attempted hostage exchange and survive to flee to Essos with the other Lannister Freys.
  • "Little" Walder Frey is never in the circumstances that lead to his murder in canon.
  • Lyman Darry isn't killed by Gregor Clegane.
  • Shae isn't caught up in the killing of Tywin, and leaves King's Landing with her stash in the aftermath.
  • Paul the "pious dwarf" survives to become a leader among the sparrows, and a claimant for the office of High Septon.
  • Dalla survives childbirth and passes the Wall using an alias.
  • Jacelyn Bywater survives the Battle of the Blackwater and continues as commander of the goldcloaks even after King's Landing surrenders to Aegon.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Myrcella Baratheon and Trystane Martell are in love with each other and set for a Perfectly Arranged Marriage, yet their relationship is complicated by the fact that the rest of Trystane's family is plotting against Myrcella's. When the Martells show their hand and Myrcella is captured, Olyvar intends to send her to the Faith over Trystane's objections; even Myrcella's desperate offer to live as Trystane's disgraced and childless mistress is rejected because it would decrease Trystane's value as a political match. They come up with a plan to escape Dragonstone and start a new life in Essos, but when they're caught in the attempt, Myrcella ends up using the golden veil her mother gave her as a "protective spell", inadvertently killing her and Trystane.
• Strange Minds Think Alike:
  • Sansa and Tommen independently name a Cute Kitten Buttons.
  • Both Pyp and Olyvar Frey make cracks about Stannis brooding enough to hatch a flock of chickens.
• Suddenly Suitable Suitor: Willas Tyrell and Meria Sand were very close, but never expected anything to come of it because of the vast difference in rank. The difference isn't so vast when it turns out that Meria is a Targaryen princess.
• Take That!:
  • Unlike canon, there are no glass windows in the palace at Sunspear because, as Deziel points out to Sansa's embarrassment, glass traps heat.
  • To the way Young Griff's story glosses over the fate of the nameless tanner's son who is supposed to have died in baby Aegon's place. While Elia did exchange her children with ones of lower rank - a maid's daughter and Ashara's bastard son - she loved Jonquil and Gawaen as her own and is still haunted by her failure to save them.
  • The idea that Rhaegar, Elia, and Lyanna agreed to a polygamous relationship is derided in Bel I.
    Ynys: And if you let her get started, she'll go on about how Prince Rhaegar was the noblest prince to ever live, and him and Princess Elia meant to wed Lyanna together, and be just like Aegon the Conqueror and his wives. Only without the incest bit.
• That Man Is Dead: Implied regarding Aerion and Daenora Targaryen's grandson, who Varys claimed became a mummer and then "bled to death in an alley in Myr".
• Together in Death: Cersei and Jaime's bodies are found together within the depths of Casterly Rock, and revealed to be buried together in what was their father Tywin's crypt.
• Too Dumb to Live: Daario Naharis is caught after persuading Missandei to finance a secret trip to her homeland with him. He then gloats to Daenerys's face that he was lying about the destination and meant to take his company to get work putting down the slave revolt in Tyrosh, while keeping the girl he tricked as a Sex Slave. This gets him a burning.
• Too Much for Man to Handle: Bloodraven can't contain his stolen power and metaphysically explodes.
• Trial by Combat: Sansa's trial for the murder of Joffrey ends after she demands one of these. Gregor Clegane is appointed to represent the crown, Olyvar Sand volunteers to be Sansa's champion. He manages to win with a little avian intervention.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: After the Red Wedding, five-year-old Rickon plots to kill Big and Little Walder with his direwolf and is only stopped by Wylla Manderly. A few years later, angry with Robb over Arya's impending departure in preparation for her marriage, he's willing to have Shaggydog "tear Grey Wind to shreds" to stop him from making her go. Then he does indeed have Shaggydog bloodily shred a would-be assassin (a poisoner who could have readily been dealt with less gruesomely), and takes glee in the act.
• Undying Loyalty: Rosamund Lannister shows an immense amount of loyalty to Myrcella. After Dragonstone falls and they are both captured, Rosamund helps Myrcella escape with Trystane while she stays behind. What's more, when Rosamund is interrogated, she refuses to talk to Lady Mellario at all despite being physically assaulted, and when she talks to Queen Sansa, she still gives false information mixed in with true. Keep in mind that Rosamund is just a random cousin, a Lannister of Lannisport who is of no real use to the Targaryens. By helping the Targaryens' most valuable prisoner escape while staying behind, she risked being tortured and/or executed. Luckily for her, Rosamund is instead given the option of a forced marriage or the Faith.
• Unfortunate Names: Dickon Manwoody is deeply aggrieved that his sister-in-law's "Near and Dear" Baby Naming resulted in two girls named Paxta... and Dagos. Dickon himself, of course, has firsthand experience.
• Unhand Them, Villain!: When Tommen encounters an angry mob carrying a beaten-up High Septon of King's Landing.
  "Put him down," Tommen bellowed, the cold air making his lungs burn.
  To his dismay, they obeyed by letting go of His High Holiness.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Sansa and Olyvar Sand spend much of their time in Essos dancing around their mutually burgeoning attraction towards each other. Note that the two have been married even before this.
• Unwanted Rescue: Robett Glover, thinking Sansa was forced into marriage and being held against her will, sneaks into her bedroom at night to spirit her away and holds a sword on Olyvar until an exasperated Sansa turns into a direwolf and tackles him.
• Unwanted Spouse: Mychel Redfort and Ysilla Royce, mutually. They run off to get it annulled by the High Septon at Harrenhal, and promptly remarry to Mya Stone and Wallace Waynwood.
• We Have Reserves: Randyll Tarly tramples his own footsoldiers in his attempt to lead a charge against Viserion.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Tommen names one of his kittens Ser Jaime before Tyrion persuades him to change it to Ser Whiskers.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 28 has Sansa's first direwolf transformation followed shortly by Joffrey's death.
• Wham Line: One to end Chapter 169, which also serves as a big Internal Reveal.
  "It has everything to do with your mother," Howland said, "because your mother was Lyanna."
• Wham Shot: The Wall cracking at the end of Chapter 149, which had been foreshadowed by the events of the previous chapter.
• What You Are in the Dark: Oberyn surprises himself by instinctively stopping the innocent Tommen from falling from his horse in a chaotic scene when it would've taken no effort to leave him to a likely death and further secure the Lannisters' downfall.
• You Have Failed Me: Meryn Trant is executed for failing to protect Joffrey.
• You Kill It, You Bought It:
  • Ser Loras Tyrell's defeat of Lord Randyll Tarly allows him to claim House Tarly's ancestral Valyrian steel greatsword Heartsbane.
  • Brienne's defeat of Ser Lyn Corbray also allows her to claim House Corbray's Valyrian steel sword Lady Forlorn. She has to be talked into accepting it, however.