Steffon Baratheon, true-born son of Robert and Cersei Baratheon, is the odd child out. His black hair and blue eyes mark him out among his siblings. As the Seven Kingdoms spiral into chaos, Steffon is forced to become a leader.
The Young Stag
by Kornerbrandon is a Game of Thrones fanfiction following the journey of Prince Steffon Baratheon from a kind, naive prince into a benevolent, yet tough king. The fanfic mostly follows the canon of Game of Thrones while also adding several elements and characters from A Song of Ice and Fire. It has been generally well-received by fans.
Character page is under construction.
Discontinued as of November 2020.
Beware of Unmarked Spoilers
This Fanfic provides examples of...
- Abled in the Adaptation: While Bran still falls from the tower, he still retains the use of his legs. For a while, at least.
- Aborted Arc: Arya's Roaring Rampage of Revenge and joining the Faceless Men is removed entirely from the story.
- Adapted Out: Inverted. Several characters who never appeared in the show, are given a role in the story, including Edric Storm and Cortnay Penrose.
- Adaptation Deviation: Several characters go through BIG deviations compared to the original plot.
- Arya Stark: Quite possibly one of the biggest deviations of all. While her book and TV counterparts were smuggled out of King's Landing before going on the run, much of Arya's time is spent with Steffon as the two of them become closer and more intimate. When the war for the Iron Throne breaks out, she remains faithfully by Steffon's side and joins in his war efforts.
- Jon Snow: Instead of traveling to the Wall and joining the Night's Watch, Jon instead becomes Steffon's sworn shield.
- Gendry: Instead of meeting Arya on the journey to the Wall, Gendry is a friend of Steffon's who takes the Black near the beginning and serves as the story's perspective at the Wall.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- While Stannis is still The Stoic character we know him as, he's more of a Cool Uncle in Steffon's eyes, shares his beliefs about equality among the common people, and shows a softer, more understanding side around him and Shireen. Not campaigning for the Iron Throne probably helps as well.
- In the series, Arya is an Unscrupulous Hero on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Here, that character arc is all but absent, making her more heroic and nicer as a result.
- Cersei is a very minor case, mostly with regards to her children. See Even Evil Has Loved Ones below.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Many of Cersei's more sympathetic moments are all absent in this story, as the author wanted to drive home the fact that Cersei was completely irredeemable.
- Age Lift: Several of the characters are either older or younger during Season 1 to fit the purposes of the fic.
- Robb, Theon, Jon - 17
- Joffrey - 16
- Steffon and Sansa - 15
- Arya and Myrcella - 14
- Bran and Tommen - 12
- Shireen - 9
- Rickon - 7
- Ascended Extra
- Gendry, who did have several days in the spotlight, now serves as the POV at the wall, giving him a much more prominent role than he had in canon.
- Edric, who was only mentioned and appeared in one book, is give a much bigger role as an O.C. Stand-in.
- Myrcella, who was Put on the Bus in both medias, now serves as Bran’s Love Interest and plays a part in many of his scenes.
- Black Sheep: Steffon. Among all his siblings, he is the only child to have inherited the looks of House Baratheon, indicating him to be the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
- Cain and Abel: Steffon and Joffrey's relationship. Guess who's which...
- Canon Immigrant: Characters from both the books and the game make appearances in the story.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Steffon suffers from this greatly, feeling the need to right every wrong and unable to sit by idly while those around him suffer.
- Classical Anti-Hero: Steffon is a good example of this. For all his wits, intelligence and cunning, Steffon suffers from crippling insecurities and lack of self-esteem.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Gender-Inverted. While Robert is the one who arranged the marriage between Steffon and Arya, Cersei voices her disapproval numerous times, not just because she views Arya a wild Northern girl, but also out of the genuine fear of Arya taking her son away from her.
- Dead Guy Junior: Steffon is named after his paternal grandfather who died before he was born.
- Doomed by Canon: Pretty much any character who died in canon dies here. It's how they die that varies.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As usual, Cersei's only redeeming quality is her love for her children. However, in the books and TV show, it's in a very twisted, narcissistic kind of love, as she seems to love having children become miniature versions of herself instead of being her children as individuals. Here, her love seems to be more genuine, and also extends to Steffon, who is a Baratheon through and through.
- Expy:
Word of God states that Steffon draws inspiration from Rick Grimes, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, and Julius Caesar. His appearance is also modeled after Asa Butterfield. - Generation Xerox:
- It has been noted by some readers that Steffon shares several similarities with Aegon V Targaryen, his great-great-grandfather.
- Arya is drawn more similar to her aunt Lyanna, being a Rebellious Princess and engaged to a Baratheon. Unlike, Lyanna, however, Arya comes to love Steffon.
- Heroic Bastard: Jon, Edric and Gendry are all bastards, but are unambiguously heroic characters.
- Heroic Sacrifice: While Ned doesn't get beheaded as a traitor like he did in the TV series, he still dies only in a more heroic fashion by shielding Steffon from a crossbow bolt.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Steffon and Edric, even though they are actually half-brothers.
- Idiot Ball: Theon, in addition to faking Bran and Rickon's death also fakes Myrcella's as well. This is an incredibly stupid decision as Myrcella is Steffon and Joffrey's sister, thus ensuring that no matter who wins between them the victor will want the Greyjoys and Theon in particular dead.
- Inspired by…: Many of the battles, story arcs and other elements draw inspiration from actual war stories from different parts of history.
- A Match Made in Stockholm: During Steffon's war with Renly, Edric manages to capture Mira Forrester who was serving as a handmaiden for Renly's Queen Margaery Tyrell. She is later moved to Storm's End and is currently being held hostage there. Despite this the two grow close to one another and as of chapter 48 wish to marry after Steffon legitimizes Edric. It helps that Mira's family is loyal to the Starks Steffon's biggest supporters so she is in no real danger and is being kept in a Luxury Prison Suite with full freedom of the castle and even being able to send letters to her family.
- Moment Killer: Jon Snow acts as this to Steffon and Arya so often, you could consider it a Running Gag.
- Nice Guy: Steffon is probably one of the nicest characters in the entire story. But don't let that fool you. He's hardly someone you want as your enemy.
- Original Character: Steffon Baratheon, giving Game of Thrones another What If? dynamic of King Robert and Cersei having a trueborn son.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Cersei. She has voiced her disapproval of Steffon and Arya's marriage since the beginning and does everything she can to split them apart. Unfortunately for her, Robert and Ned approve of the arrangement and actively encourage it. Following Robert's death and Joffrey's raise to the Iron Throne, Cersei once again attempts to break Steffon's betrothal to Arya and join his family at King's Landing. Steffon, however, refuses, remaining with Arya and making his own claim to the Iron Throne.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: At first, Arya and Steffon are a bit apprehensive towards the idea of their betrothal, Arya especially, but eventually learn to love each other. It should be noted that Steffon and Arya are one of the few cases of a happy political union.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Bran and Myrcella.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Steffon's attempt to rescue Ned, since Ned dies in a Heroic Sacrifice protecting Steffon from a crossbow bolt.
- Shout-Out:
- A pretty inconspicuous one to the J. R. R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings novels as well as The Hobbit.
- They even make a Leaning on the Fourth Wall reference to George R.R Martin's series. Steffon even critiques it, saying "the next part is 'coming soon'. Every. Single. Time."
- Spared by the Adaptation: Several characters who were killed off fairly early, are spared and given a bigger role in later parts of the story.
- Syrio Forel survives past Season 1 and join's Steffon's war efforts for the Iron Throne.
- Cortnay Penrose, who only appeared in one chapter in the books, defects from Renly's side and swears loyalty to Steffon as the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
- Switching P.O.V.: As usual for Game of Thrones, the story's Point of View occasionally swaps between characters and their story arcs.
- Taking the Bullet: How Ned meets his end; saving Steffon from a crossbow bolt.
- Teen Genius: Steffon. Despite being only 15 at the start of the story, he displays an incredible amount of knowledge with regards to warfare which is lampshaded by some of his followers.
- Tsundere: Arya most definitely qualifies as one. While she can be very feisty and forceful at times, she can also be very sweet and vulnerable to her friends and family members.
