Trials and Tricks
is an A Song of Ice and Fire Continuation Fic written by WendyNerd, intended as a sequel to the events of the first five novels in the series and taking place after predicted events for the upcoming sixth and seventh novels, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.
After the War of the Dawn, in which Queen Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, revealed as Jon Targaryen, son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, defeated the Night's King, the two settle in King's Landing to try and establish their new regime as Queen and Prince of the empire Daenerys has established, consisting of the Seven Realms of Westeros, her khalasar, and the three cities of Slaver's Bay: Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. While Daenerys sits upon the Iron Throne, the country, fresh from years of civil war, winter, famine, and political upheaval, is far from secure. Sansa Stark, formerly Queen in the North and now Lady of Winterfell and Warden of the North, is dragged to court on trumped-up charges of treason, murder, and fraud by a group of lords from the Vale, jealous and furious over the actions taken by Lord Petyr Baelish.
The fic ends up extending beyond this plot point to a door-stopper length, focusing on the lives and political careers of Daenerys, Jon, Sansa, and other characters in the series as they try to establish and maintain the peace and security of Westeros following the years of war, winter, and mass political upheaval the country has been engulfed in, as well as a romance between Jon and Sansa, the development of the relationships between several major characters, and the main characters healing from their various traumas and mental issues. The open warfare may appear to be over, but the level of behind the scenes scheming, unstable political tensions, and fallout from the events of the series provide the heroes with a host of severe and deadly challenges including poison plots, religious upheaval, attempted coup d'etats, heavy abuse, and potential warfare. The fiction also has a large amount of sexual content and romance, with a fair amount of heart-warming moments.
The characters of Sansa Stark, Jon Snow, and Daenerys Targaryen take the leads, but the story also includes plenty of focus on the characters of Margaery Tyrell, Samwell Tarly, Gilly, Asha Greyjoy, Victarion Greyjoy, Barristan Selmy, Arianne Martell, The Sand Snakes, Val, and Arya Stark.
The fic also has a sequel, The Lost Lion.
Trials and Tricks includes examples of:
- Action Girl: Many, many of the badass women from the series show up in this fic.
- Downplayed with Arianne Martell. We don't see her wielding weapons, necessarily, preferring to let the Sand Snakes do a lot of the direct fighting, but she takes decisive action during a key arc in the story. Jon Snow notes her "extremely toned muscles rippling beneath her skin" and a sense of danger and power from her. She contributed in a military capacity during the civil wars.
- Arya Stark is officially a trained assassin, having left the House of Black and White, and is an extremely deadly combatant. She secretly serves as an undercover bodyguard for her sister during the first chunk of the story and ends up covertly and very effectively investigating a conspiracy against her sister. Then she goes on to brutally murder one of the people who tried to kill Sansa, and doesn't hesitate to torture those who threaten her family. Not only is she an expert fencer who can spar with the likes of Brienne of Tarth, but she's fairly knowledgeable of poisons and can throw knives with perfect accuracy. Arya has a tendency towards berserk rages, especially towards anyone who threatens her family.
- Asha Greyjoy, just as with her book counterpart. In Tricks, she had taken back the Iron Islands partly with forces provided by Stannis Baratheon, and took down her mad Uncle Euron Greyjoy by giving him an axe to the head. Now she wears his old mantle as a war trophy. She later takes on her Uncle Victarion in single combat, giving him a deadly wound with her axe after literally busting up a field of stone columns with it.
- Brienne of Tarth is now a Queensguard and known as one of the best fighters at court. Jon considers beating her at sparring matches a great challenge and a triumph. Numerous members of even the Queensguard struggle against her in the field, with Barristan and the Unsullied Dead Dirt being the only matches for her among the order. Jon is one of the rare examples of people who can match her with a blade. Jon feels incredibly proud of Arya for managing to last more than a few minutes against Brienne in the yard.
- Daenerys Targaryen eventually conquered and stabilized the three cities in Slaver's Bay, which are officially part of her empire. She took down the Night's King and the army of the White Walkers for good on the back of Drogon and won the War of the Dawn with Jon's help. By the beginning of the series, she has managed to gain full control over all three of her dragons, taming them and commanding them with absolute authority, and is able to teach Jon how to ride. An active and enthusiastic dragon-rider, she's proficient in wielding a Dothraki arakh, not afraid to just casually threaten powerful people with death by dragonfire and eagerly stares down a small fleet of Ironborn without blinking. Pretty much everyone, including badasses like Jon Snow, Sansa, Barristan Selmy, Asha Greyjoy, Victarion Greyjoy, Tormund Giantsbane, and Arya Stark are fiercely intimidated by her. Even Stannis Baratheon ended up accepting her as the rightful ruler of Westeros and Azor Ahai reborn and fought by her side during the War of the Dawn. Everyone, from the rulers of Qarth, to the Dothraki have learned not to interfere with her rule. A word from her can often silence a room. She has dragons, and is not afraid to use them. Just in general, she is not a person you want to fuck with.
- Lyra Mormont is a bit character, but like the rest of the Mormont women, is cast as a strong, fierce combatant and competent leader. According to Jon, she provided rather invaluable service at the Wall during the War of the Dawn. She ends up serving as an important mentor to Arya Stark.
- As in the books, Mya Stone is a fearless and excellent navigator and animal trainer. She eventually helps Arya Stark train Nymeria note
- Nymeria Sand wields knives with deadly accuracy, and we get to see her in action.
- Played with in regards to Sansa Stark, a very, very reluctant example who only fights when forced, and then does whatever she can to forget and ignore it as much as possible. She fought openly in the wars, leading an army to take back the Riverlands and the North from the Freys and the Boltons, a war she won. She did fight on the front lines, wearing white clothes that would end up being soaked in the blood of the combatants, which earned her the moniker of "The Red Wolf". She learned to throw knives accurately and apparently saved Patrek Lannister's life with a well-placed throw. And she brutally killed both Petyr Baelish (bashing his skull in) as he raped her, and Wallace Coldwater (hot poker through the eye socket) after he murdered her son, Eddie. However, in Sansa's own words, she was "an awful fighter" who would cry the entire time when she fought, often has trouble holding it together when confronted with violence, and is very eager and happy to abandon any and all martial pursuits once they are no longer required of her. It's noted that the only weapon she became proficient in was throwing knives due to their low weight, and her skill with that deteriorates thanks to a lack of practice once she is no longer required to go to battle. Her tendency to cry during battle is noted by a number of characters, as is her eagerness to assume a more traditionally feminine, ladylike lifestyle once the war is over. And she hates discussing the war, admitting that her triumphs in war had far more to do with the experienced and qualified war commanders she had fighting for her, such as Bronze Yohn Royce, Harrold Hardyng, and Brynden Tully, and the soldiers who protected her and fought well on the battlefield. Wholly admits that her role in the war hard far more to do with image and being a leader and figurehead than any actual martial skill on her part, showing the people fighting for her that she was willing to fight along with them. The second the opportunity presents itself, Sansa happily goes back to spending her days having meetings, sewing, playing music, and pursuing other feminine activities, and is uncomfortable whenever any of her military activities even come up, preferring to leave such matters to Jon, Daenerys, Barristan, Brienne, Arya, and other, more qualified fighters.
- Val, a badass wildling who fought during the War of the Dawn in addition to her moments of badass in the book series. She serves as the "Magna" or Lady, of the Dreadfort, travels from there to King's Landing on her own through the winter weather, and Tormund Giantsbane is afraid of her. Val eagerly "steals" Arianne and spends lots of time honing her combat skills.
- All Men Are Perverts: Played with. As in the books, Westeros is a rigidly patriarchal society, and rape is almost accepted as a part of life that all women must fear. A number of the main characters, including Sansa and Daenerys, have been raped or suffered sexual abuse. Sansa in particular was continually subjected to rape and sexual abuse, often pimped out by Petyr Baelish as part of his twisted mind games designed to convince her that her only worth was as a sexual object. Learning to trust again is a major theme in Sansa’s arc, particularly in regards to her relationship with Jon. However, she is still highly distrustful of most men even in the sequel. The trope is at one pointed subverted when Jon suffers sexual assault in the form of an unwanted kiss (while unconscious) and being partly stripped by Leona Tyrell.
- Altar Diplomacy: A common theme in the story. While Jon and Sansa’s match is based on love, there is a harsh political aspect to it, which is a major theme in the story. Jon also suggests this to Asha Greyjoy as a way of cementing her power in the Iron Islands.
- Amazon Chaser: When Sansa demonstrates her knife throwing skills, Jon gets so aroused he kicks the equally awestruck Arya out of the room so he and Sansa can have sex.
- Animal Motifs: Like in the series, the sigils of the various Houses are often cited, and come into play in a literal manner, such as with Daenerys’s dragons and the direwolves of House Stark.
- Animal Eye Spy: In one of the sweeter moments of the story, while away at Pyke, Jon wargs into Ghost (whom he'd left behind on Dragonstone with a pregnant Sansa) to look in on his wife and see her.
- Ascended Extra: Many characters who didn't have POV characters in canon are given central roles and POV chapters, such as Margaery Tyrell and Carallen Smallwood.
- The character of Anais, at first simply appearing to be a maid, is revealed to actually be Arya Stark in disguise.
- Nani, at first a Dothraki maid that Daenerys assigns to Sansa, turns out to in fact be a celebrated healer and midwife who provides much-needed medical care and counsel to Sansa.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Daenerys’s control of the Seven Kingdoms is asserted through winning the War of the Dawn. Sansa’s control of the North comes from beating the Boltons. Asha Greyjoy finally cements the her hold on the Iron Islands when her people witness her beating Victarion in a one on one fight.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Played with.
- Jon's excitement over Sansa's possible pregnancy turns to horror when it is revealed that she is actually being poisoned..
- The birth scene, for an admittedly long-awaited birth, is far from pretty or magical. The more gruesome and uncomfortable aspects of pregnancy are not shied away from either.
- Pregnancy is not portrayed as a magical time, despite the child being eagerly awaited.
- While the ending has shades of this, the characters still clearly suffer from a lot of the demons of their past.
- Back from the Dead: A few examples, both literal and figurative.
- Jon Snow, reborn by Melisandre's magic as Jon Targaryen
- Arya Stark, sort of. She was assumed dead for the first several chapters, though it is never confirmed. As it turns out she's been disguising herself and hiding her identity for years, most recently masquerading as the maid Anais in order to watch over Sansa.
- Numerous characters who are dead don't exactly come back. However, during one portion of the story, Sansa has hallucinations of several dead characters including Ned Stark, Lady Stoneheart, Robb Stark, Petyr Baelish, and her son, Eddie.
- Badass Boast: Jon, to the High Sparrow:“High Sparrow, you are aware that I’ve faced the Others, yes?”“Yes.”Jon snorted. “Well, they were far more intimidating than you, your seven gods, and your seven hells. I can also be more intimidating than all of those things. Would you like me to prove it?”
- Battle Trophy:
- Asha wears the golden kraken cloak of her vanquished Uncle Euron, who claimed that as a woman, she wasn’t strong enough to carry the weight of The Iron Islands
- In a figurative sense, Sansa takes one from Roslin Frey, reclaiming her mother’s pearl clips from her after Roslin was found guilty. Sansa was also given a bunch of Roslin’s possessions.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: To less than stellar results. Jon has guards, who rarely do their jobs well and lead to him simply handling the situation himself.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Sansa has moments of this towards both Jon and Robb. She comes to resent how Robb didn’t trade for her. She later finds out about a moment of weakness in Jon’s past that causes her to have an outburst.
- Jon feels this way towards both Eddard and Robb, seeing how they failed their families.
- The Most Devout and the Sparrows end up feeling this towards The High Sparrow.
- Brother–Sister Incest:
- Played with. The main pairing in the story is Jon and Sansa. They were raised as half-siblings, but embrace their status as cousins with ease, having never been particularly close as children. It is established that Jon and Sansa don't exactly relate to one another as siblings even before they begin their romance. Jon reacts with disgust at the idea of having a romantic relationship with Arya, whom he was far closer to, and clearly sees the relationships he has with Sansa and Arya as entirely different. Arya feels some initial squick over it, but eventually learns to reconcile her feelings.
- One of Sansa's more horrific hallucinations involves her older brother, Robb, taunting and sexually assaulting her as a manifestation of her fears that she was secretly unloved by her family and seen as nothing more than a sexual object and a pretty face.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Petyr Baelish sadistically and continuously abused Sansa, raping her, exploiting her, beating her, exposing her to dangerous situations (including forcing her to brave cold weather in skimpy outfits when pregnant, nearly causing her to miscarry), and playing sick, twisted headgames with her.
- Corrupt Church: The High Sparrow is an abusive monster who ended up betraying the populist aims of the movement that put him in power, and tried to enact several conspiracies in order to regain some political power.
- Culture Clash: It’s implied that this is one of Daenerys’s main difficulties as Queen of Westeros, as well as one of the problems that has plagued Westeros for generations. Jon in particular worries about this when it comes to exposing Tormund Giantsbane to the court. Finding a way to help move past this issue is a major theme.
- Death of a Child: Both Rickon Stark and Robert Arryn were killed prior to the events of the story. A major driving event in the story is also the brutal murder of Sansa's three-year-old son, Eddie Stark Arryn, which Sansa witnessed. She is required to present his skeleton as evidence at her trial, and has frequent, tear-jerking memories of her son.
- Dead Guy Junior
- Sansa names her first child after Eddard Stark, nicknaming him "Eddie"
- When pregnant with their first child, Jon and Sansa discuss the names Robb, for Robb Stark, and Aemon, for Maester Aemon, if they have a boy. In the sequel, it is revealed that they have two sons with those names..
- Demoted to Dragon: Subverted. Sansa goes from being a queen in her own right to being a lady, and a princess, though she does this willingly and happily. And ironically in terms of her power: as a queen, she was a chronically abused, miserable prisoner of her sadistic and exploitive puppet-master, Petyr Baelish, and was essentially miserable the entire time. Her decision to give up her crown partially serves as her motivation to get rid of Baelish. Later, it is as a courtier to Daenerys that Sansa becomes one of the most powerful political figures in Westeros, serving as a top advisor to the Targaryen Empire, being able to manipulate other Great Houses, direct the court of the Iron Throne, and form alliances and connections that help consolidate the power in Westeros.
- Divided We Fall: A pretty common theme. One of the main goals of the characters is consolidating the power in Westeros and unifying the various Great Houses in order to create a more stable government and a more lasting peace.
- Door Stopper: It’s longer than several of the books in the series.
- Domestic Abuse: A source of guilt and angst for Barristan, over the abuse Queen Rhaella suffered at the hands of King Aerys. When Jon comes to him seeking advice on how to settle a fight with Sansa, Barristan uncomfortably reflects that the common advice to Jon would be to beat his wife. He does not voice this observation.
- Easily Forgiven: Sansa decides to bury the hatchet with the Tyrells despite Margaery dropping her like a hot potato after her marriage to Tyrion, and the family framing her for regicide. She essentially does this to take advantage of what they have to offer her politically, though she goes on to form a genuine friendship with Margaery.
- Explicit Content: The story is about 30% smut, and gleefully so. After several chapters without a sex scene, there is compensation in the form of chapters with thousands of words devoted to a marathon sex session. The violence is similarly explicit.
- Field Promotion: Sansa goes from a prisoner and suspected criminal to being one of the top royal advisors and insiders.
- Fingore: Sansa, during a stress-induced breakdown, ends up breaking her fingers by pounding her hands against stone. Only the intervention of Ghost keeps her from doing permanent damage.
- Flower Motif: Winter roses are a pretty significant romantic symbol for Jon and Sansa.
- Happily Married: Jon and Sansa. Their marriage involves a ton of struggle, but from outside sources. They are extremely devoted to one another and rely on each other for support.
- Harmful to Minors: One of the major themes of the story as well. Nearly all the main characters were saddled with awful traumas and immense responsibility at a young age. Daenerys was married off, became a khaleesi, and had to lead a revolution and win a war during her teenage years. Jon joined the Watch, led an army, and literally died. Sansa was subjected to abuse, imprisonment, rape, open warfare, and saw her only child murdered in front her by the age of nineteen.
- Heir Club for Men: Westeros, aside from Dorne, is rigidly patriarchal. Jon purposely seeks out to change this regarding the Iron Throne, pushing for egalitarian gender laws so that if his first child is a daughter, she will be his heir.
- Heir-In-Law: Subverted. The Northern Lords are not too fond of yet another lord trying to take over for House Stark. Upon marrying Sansa, Jon is specified as "Lord Consort" of Winterfell. He doesn't exactly mind.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Daenerys, in order to gain full control of her dragons and win the War of the Dawn, performed blood magic that renders her infertile once and for all.
- History Repeats: A few examples.
- The Northern Lords are not too happy when Sansa takes ill from poison while in Jon's custody, noting the problems that occurred last time a Targaryen Prince held a daughter of House Stark
- There is a certain parallel between the original Targaryen Trio of Aegon I, Visenya, and Rhaenys and the main trio of the story, with Daenerys taking the 'Aegon' role as the figurehead and conqueror, Jon taking the "Visenya" role as the military ace and law-enforcer, and Sansa taking the "Rhaenys" role as the political and diplomatic mastermind.
- Cersei in the books cuckolded her husband and through a combination of power-lust, narcissism, paranoia, ruthless scheming, rage, and adultery caused a succession crisis and engulfed the Seven Kingdoms in war. Roslin Frey cuckolded her husband and through a combination of power-lust, narcissism, paranoia, ruthless scheming, rage, and adultery nearly caused a succession crisis and engulfed the Seven Kingdoms in war.
- Humiliation Conga:
- Sansa, who is systematically abused and slut-shamed for years on end. Even after finding her Prince Charming, a happy marriage, and a semblance of peace for herself, she is still pretty routinely humiliated.
- Edmure Tully. Publicly cuckolded, scorned by his family, and exposed for his extravagance.
- Idiot Ball:
- Daenerys, in allowing Sansa's trial despite the obviousness of how trumped up the charges are. It doesn't come up until the sequel, and in Tricks is framed as a wise decision. The next story goes out of its way to explain how it could have been a catastrophically stupid one.
- The High Sparrow, in continuing to try and target Sansa for cruelty and humiliation, and thinking he could convert Jon, despite the continuous warnings he'd gotten from both Daenerys and Jon not to do it.
- Impractically Fancy Outfit: Subverted. Sansa's wedding dress has a ridiculously long train and absurdly voluminous sleeves. Her jewelry is immensely elaborate. However, a few tricks including a detachable train and sleeves, and carefully secure clasps allow her a way around this.
- Ironic Nickname:
- Sansa has a few. There is "The Red Wolf", given to her for her triumphs as a fierce warrior. She's the first to admit that she's not much of a fighter, hated every minute of battle, cried the entire time, and shudders at violence. "Baelish's Bitch" was another. She ended up killing him.
- Jon likes it when Sansa calls him "Jon Snow", even if his name is now officially "Jon Targaryen." He finds it gratifying to think that a bastard could end up in bed with a lady like her. It later takes on a bitter ring to it temporarily after Sansa calls him a bastard during a fight.
- Kissing Cousins: Jon and Sansa. Normally not such a big deal, given that cousin marriage are the norm in Westeros. Made a little more complicated by the fact that they were raised as half-siblings.
- Mama Bear:
- Sansa kills two people who threaten her son.
- Daenerys is intensely protective of her own as well.
- Marital Rape License:
- Sansa has a number of hangups about this, with it sometimes affecting how she relates to Jon. She doesn't view her relations with Harry as rape despite clearly not having fond memories of it, likely due to this trope. She also views Tyrion with Rose-tinted glasses thanks to this. Though that changes in the sequel
- It's implied that this may have characterized Edmure and Roslin's marriage, as Roslin mentions being petrified and crying during the wedding, and Edmure not noticing.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "The Red Wolf" "The Iron Kracken" "The Titan of Tarth" "The Mother of Dragons" "The Silver Prince."
- Nice Guy: Quite a few.
- As in the books, Jon Snow is extremely protective of the downtrodden, dutiful, a strong believer in justice, brave, and kind. He is the extremely supportive right-hand man to Daenerys, a devoted friend to Sam, a passionate and gentle lover to Sansa, a strong leader and mentor to his men, a progressive thinker, and a doting brother to Arya.. His kindness, decency, patience and overwhelming love towards Sansa helps her heal from her years of abuse. He goes out of his way to provide for former members of the Watch and for disadvantaged people such as Lynette Rivers, Asha Greyjoy's sons, and Nathen Cerwyn. He constantly questions oppressive social attitudes and pushes for progress, and is empathetic and supportive of those around him, almost always putting the needs of others before himself.
- Believing Arya to be dead, Gendry concentrates on protecting Sansa in order to honor Arya's memory.
- Barristan Selmy is a stern but understanding and patient mentor figure to Jon and Daenerys.
- Brynden Tully is similar to Barristan, but for Sansa and Edmure.
- Samwell Tarly, the ever the devoted friend to Jon.
- Patrek Mallister, the Tyrell brothers, Davos Seaworth, Tormund Giantsbane, Satin Flowers, Edric Dayne, among others.
- No Kill like Overkill: Victarion Greyjoy is given a mortal wound by Asha, before being burnt to cinders by Jon and Rhaegal.
- Rape by Proxy: A common tactic of Petyr Baelish's, often forcing or tricking Sansa into situations where she felt compelled to sleep with various men to gain political support and keep her son safe.
- Royal Inbreeding: The Targaryens, something Sansa worries about. Though the Starks have some history with that as well. Of course, the latest union responsible for providing the future of the royal family is Jon and Sansa, Jon being a Stark-Targaryen, and Sansa being a Stark herself.
- Slut-Shaming:
- Stafford Pryor to Sansa, upon learning that she is Jon's mistress: “Lady Stark, I’ve read many accounts by Targaryens detailing their experiences riding dragons. But tell me, what it is like to have a dragon ride you? Do you plan on giving your favors to Drogon and Viserion as well? You’re a lady known for your generosity, after all, and I’m sure their mother could spare the coin.”
- The High Sparrow attempts to break Sansa down by blaming her for her own rape.
- Teen Pregnancy: Sansa had her first child at fifteen.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: Sansa excels at it and helps Daenerys learn. One of Sansa's major ways of networking is holding sewing circles, and she makes a great deal of clothing for Jon, Daenerys, Arianne, and Arya
- Took a Level in Badass: Several characters.
- A major part of Jon's arc is him accepting and growing into the role of a dragon rider.
- Arya has become a full-fledged assassin and killer
- Sansa learned to become decent with a blade and rode into battle
- Daenerys's control of her dragons becomes absolute
