Fanfic / What is a promise worth?

What is a promise worth? is A Song of Ice and Fire Fan Fic by Assa_h. It is a series of ficlets chronicling a world where Ned Stark died of illness in the year of 291 AC, years before the start of the series. While it cycles different viewpoints, the primary ones are Catelyn, Jon, and Theon.

Summary:

291 AC
Ned Stark is dead.
And Catelyn made a promise to him.

Tropes:

• Abdicate the Throne: Once the war is over, Tywin intends to have Joffrey say that the war took such a toll on him that he has to give up the throne to Tommen. He never gets the chance, as all three of them are poisoned by Cersei once it becomes clear they're going to lose the war to Daenerys.
• Adapted Out:
  • Jon Connington does not appear nor is he even mentioned. This leaves his reaction to Aegon's death unknown.
  • Asha Greyjoy has yet to appear; she most likely made a run for it after Euron became king as in canon.
• Altar Diplomacy: As usual. To wit:
  • Catelyn starts getting a lot more marriage offers for Robb the closer he gets to marrying age. After some debate, she decides to engage Robb to Meera Reed, as House Reed, while respected, isn't all that powerful and won't upset the Balance of Power in the North.
  • Sansa is originally engaged to Joffrey, as per canon. After the betrothal falls through, Catelyn has her engaged to Harrion Karstark, the heir of the Karhold, to shore up ties there.
  • Stannis is deeply unhappy when Daenerys marries Theon in a Shotgun Wedding, noting that her hand in marriage would've been a powerful bargaining chip that would've allowed her to win over any of the other kingdoms. Later, after learning of Jon's parentage, he notes that she made a better marriage than him, as at least Theon is a son of one of the Great Houses of Westeros whereas Jeyne is a steward's daughter.
  • This is the reasoning behind the major favor House Tyrell asks for in exchange for bending the knee to Daenerys. Margaery is simply too important a bargaining chip to let her remained married to a man that is both A) doomed to lose the war and B) is probably not even going to be a Lord Paramount after it's over. Since Renly's well-known proclivities ensure that she's remained a virgin, they ask Daenerys (through Stannis) to get her marriage annulled so they can marry her off to a more advantageous suitor.
• Altar the Speed: In Chapter 62, Catelyn suggests that Jon marry Jeyne Poole before he leaves to meet Daenerys at the Wall, since things are so uncertain with the queen's arrival.
• An Arm and a Leg: Due to Ser Barristan not being present, Daenerys was stung by the manticore and one of her Dothraki bloodriders cut off her hand to save her.
• Authority in Name Only:
  • Robb Stark is all of eight when his father dies and he becomes the new Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. That means all the actual power is in Catelyn's hands until he's of age.
  • Much like in canon, Joffrey, except even more so because Cersei and him were never able to get solid foothold into the court thanks to Kevan. When his grandfather arrives, all pretense of him being in charge disappears, and he's frequently sent to his room like the errant, spoilt, whining child he is.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Robb and Jon for their younger siblings, something Catelyn encourages.
  • Theon adopts this attitude towards Shireen, growing deeply fond of and protective over her. As does Daenerys, after they meet.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Sansa, Bran, and even Arya's high opinions of knights die after two of the Kingsguard try to kidnap Sansa to use as a hostage.
  • The above situation also kills any and all desire Sansa had to be queen, with Tyrion's frank assessment of Joffrey cementing her choice.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • After the botched kidnapping, Tyrion drops all pretenses of propriety and doesn't hesitate to tell the truth about Joffrey's character to the Starks.
  • Similarly, after forcing Joffrey to write an insincere apology letter to the Starks, Tywin sends a similar letter written by his own hand admitting the entire situation is his fault for not keeping a better on his grandson and those trying to manipulate him.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Zigzagged. While Robb does take on more responsibilities, including greeting guests, after Ned's death, Catelyn does most of the heavylifting until he's old enough to actually perform those duties respectably. Catelyn's last action before setting aside her role as regent is writing to legitimize Jon and sewing a coat-of-arms for him.
• Childhood Friend Romance:
  • Jon is only two years older than Jeyne, and they grew up in Winterfell together practically all their lives.
  • Baelish tries to invoke this with Catelyn. While Catelyn trusts and cares for him (not knowing of his true nature), she still refuses his marriage offer because she can't risk some lord trying to use any other children she has to usurp Winterfell from Robb.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • The inciting event is that Ned Stark dies of fever around 291 A.C.
  • Meryn Trant is mauled by Lady.
  • Arys Oakheart is executed by Robb for trying to kidnap Sansa.
  • Aegon Targaryen (son of Rhaegar) was killed trying to stop Quentyn from stealing the dragons.
  • Jaime is executed by Daenerys' men for his crimes against House Targaryen.
  • Tywin, Tyrion, Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are all poisoned by Cersei while King's Landing is under siege.
  • Varys kills Cersei before she can set the wildfire off.
• Defiant to the End: A rather horrifying example. Rather than surrender King's Landing to Daenerys, Cersei decides to murder every member of her immediate family and then set off the wildfire to deny her enemy a real victory. Luckily, Varys manages to kill her before the last part comes to fruition.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Almost all the canonical antagonists play little to no part in the story because none of the Starks went south (or, in the case of Jon, go to the Wall).
  • Downplayed in the case of Daenerys. While she does become a major character, especially after becoming Theon's love interest, she doesn't appear until over halfway through the story.
• Determinator: Despite his age, Maester Aemon is determined to stay alive until he meets Daenerys.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Tywin is poisoned by Cersei instead of being shot with a crossbow by Tyrion.
• Doomed by Canon:
  • Waymar Royce, Will, and Gared, as the latter is caught and executed for deserting in Chapter 25.
  • Jon Arryn is poisoned, forcing Robert Baratheon to look for a new Hand of the King. This time around, it's Kevan Lannister.
  • Quentyn Martell died the same way as in canon: incinerated trying to steal a dragon.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The rest of House Lannister is so disgusted by Joffrey's attempt to kidnap Sansa that Tyrion no longer bothers to keep up the charade of Joffrey being a good king. At the same time, Tywin outright sends a personal letter of apology written by his own hand, and makes the executive decision to force Joffrey to abdicate after the war is over in favor of the much saner Tommen.
• Everyone Can See It: Jon Snow and Jeyne Poole. Much to their exasperation.
• Everyone Has Standards: Whatever issues Arya has with Sansa and Jeyne, she'd never out Jeyne's growing crush on Jon to him.
• Going Native: This is what happens to Catelyn after Ned dies. In order to cement Robb's claim to Winterfell, she makes sure that all of her children are seen as Northern as possible, and by association, that means she has to be seen as Northern as well. That includes having them pray exclusively in the Godswood (which she often joins them in), making Northern matches for them, and even allowing Arya to take up arms. Eventually, she allows herself to be 'stolen' by Mance Rayder, making her his wife by Wildling tradition — which is about as Northern as you can get in Westeros. By the time that happens, she's assimilated so much into Northern culture that she's more-or-less indistinguishable from any other Northern lady.
• Groin Attack: It's implied that Tywin had Joffrey castrated so neither he nor his possible children could threaten Tommen.
• Handicapped Badass: Daenerys conquered Slavers' Bay with her dragons... minus one hand.
• Heir Club for Men: Discussed after Jon's true parentage gradually begins to spread. Many note that despite questionable legitimacy, Jon would still have some support that Daenerys wouldn't simply because he's a man. Luckily for her, he's completely uninterested in the Iron Throne and the South in general, identifies almost exclusively as a Stark, and is Happily Married to a steward's daughter.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Proving what kind of man he is, Jaime Lannister goes to Daenerys in person to warn her about her father's wildfire caches so she won't use her dragons during her siege on the city and accidentally ignite them. He does this knowing full well she will most likely execute him for his other crimes. The only concession he asks in return is that his execution not be by fire, which Daenerys grants.
• History Repeats: Stannis compares himself to Torrhen Stark when he surrenders to Daenerys.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Baelish still has Lysa murder Jon Arryn, despite knowing that the North, and thus, the Starks, won't have any reason to involve themselves in the inevitable war since Robert can't make the deceased Ned Hand to the King. It's implied that, in order to solve that problem, Baelish was the one to convince Joffrey to have Sansa kidnapped as a hostage.
  • Sam Tarly is forced to join the Night's Watch by his father Randyll and eventually becomes steward to Maester Aemon as in canon.
  • Joffrey dies by poison as in canon, but from his own mother.
• Jaw Drop: How Selyse reacted to Daenerys revealing Jon's parentage.
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • When Daenerys lands on Dragonstone, Theon immediately surrenders because he knows he doesn't have a chance in hell of killing her dragons. It also allows him to win her favor, which puts him in a better bargaining position to ensure the safety of Shireen and Selyse.
  • Stannis follows his example and bends the knee to preserve his family. As a result, Daenerys makes him her Hand, and Shireen is declared her heir until she has a child, which is a better deal than any of the other houses are going to get.
• Marry for Love: Jon and Jeyne. Stannis notes to Daenerys that this is actually a good thing, because Jon's marriage would bring him no support outside of the North in the unlikely event he presses his claim on the Iron Throne.
• Meaningful Echo: Ned's Last Request to Catelyn mirror the same words his sister Lyanna said to him before her death, with the same intent of asking the recipient to protect and care for Jon.
  Ned: Promise me, Cat. Promise me.
• Not So Above It All: After learning that Jon is Lyanna and Rhaegar's child, Stannis wishes that Robert knew, if only to see how he'd react.
• Off with His Head!: Jaime Lannister is decapitated by Daenerys' men at dawn.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Tywin is so pissed off about Joffrey's botched attempt to kidnap Sansa behind his back that he writes an apology letter, by his own hand, to the Starks, accepting fault for the entire situation, with no attempt whatsoever to try and manipulate it in his favor. He even goes as far as to outright declare Tyrion innocent of the whole mess, which Tyrion bitterly notes is a strong deviation from the usual state of affairs.
  • Stannis admits he's bothered by the fact that there has been no reported activity from the Red Keep and from the Lannisters for some time. The fact that he was willing to admit it at all is enough for Daenerys to be worried as well.
• Parental Substitute: Catelyn gradually becomes this to Jon over the course of the story. When she has him legitimized and creates him his own coat of arms, there's no question who Jon's real mother is anymore. Finding out about Lyanna is a mere formality by that point. She's this to him so much, in fact, that Edmure flat-out calls Jon 'nephew' the first time they meet.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage:
  • Robb and Meera. They befriend each other easily when they first meet, which many note is rare for an Arranged Marriage.
  • Sansa and Harrion Karstark. While Harrion was perfectly fine with marrying Sansa out of duty, watching her rip his uncle Cregan a new one for trying to take "liberties" with Jeyne causes him to fall for her almost instantly.
• Point of Divergence: Ned's death and Catelyn's promise to him causes a lot of ripples. To wit:
  • Perhaps the most noticeable one is that Rickon is never conceived. Thus, when the direwolves are found, the direwolf that would've been Shaggydog is instead given to Jon to raise alongside Ghost and (re)named Storm. It symbolizes how his growing relationship with Catelyn has caused him to be more confident and recognize himself as not just a Stark, but also as one of her children.
  • Jon never joins the Night's Watch, with Catelyn expressly forbidding it. Instead, he becomes her assistant of sorts, helping her in aiding Robb with his lordly duties and spying on the other lords during feasts. This fosters a parent-child bond between them, leading to Catelyn having him legitimized so he can marry Jeyne Poole.
  • As Theon was Ned's ward, he's forced to leave Winterfell after his death and sent to Dragonstone to become Stannis' instead, as he is the only other lord Robert knew of that would actually execute Theon if Balon rebelled. As Stannis is a much harsher but more honest captor, Theon matures much faster under him, developing a genuine, brotherly bond with Shireen and eventually swearing off the Ironborn and pledging himself to Stannis instead after the war begins.
  • As Robb is eight when Ned dies, that means Catelyn is his regent until he's of age. This means she's more concerned with consolidating her family's hold over Winterfell and the North, leading her to adopt a more Northern mindset. This includes making sure her children pray in the Godswood only, so they can be seen as Northern as possible.
    • She has Robb betrothed to Meera Reed. As House Reed is an esteemed Northern House that has not much influence or power, it doesn't offend any of the other houses and keeps the balance of power in the region in check.
    • In deep contrast to canon, Catelyn is reluctant to accept Robert's betrothal of Joffrey to Sansa, wanting to keep Sansa close and marry her to a Northern house to further entrench the Starks' hold over the North. She accepts because she can't refuse Robert, but tries to delay the match as long as possible by having Sansa raised in Winterfell first before sending her south.
    • Rather than send Bran south, she plans to send him to White Harbor for fostering instead, allowing him to fulfill his dream of becoming a knight while still keeping him North. She also plans to give him Queenscrown as a potential holdfast.
    • After legitimizing Jon, she installs him as the future Lord of Moat Cailin, allowing further protection from the South and their wars.
  • The biggest is that, with Ned's death, King Robert never visits Winterfell to make him Hand to the King. This leads to none of the Starks going south.
    • Kevan Lannister becomes Hand to the King after Jon Arryn dies. That means, after Robert dies, Cersei and Joffrey don't have nearly as much influence over the court before Tyrion and later Tywin arrive, causing Barristan Selmy to remain in the Kingsguard instead of joining Daenerys. Because Barristan doesn't join Daenerys, Daenerys gets stung by the manticore and loses one of her hands.
    • As the Starks never meet the Royal Family, Lady never dies and Nymeria never has to flee.
    • Since Ned is never executed by Joffrey and the Lannisters don't have Sansa as a hostage, the War of Five Kings becomes the War of Three Kings, with the North largely staying out of the fighting (outside of defending their coasts from the Ironborn) and maintaining a neutral stance. The Riverlands do end up joining the wars, but on the side of the Lannisters instead.
    • Another consequence of Ned never being executed by the Lannisters is that the Northern houses have no reason to be angry at the South and the Iron Throne, so the idea of Northern independence doesn't even come up. So, when the Others become an issue, no fuss is made when Robb offers to bend the knee to Daenerys in exchange for her help fighting them off.
    • While Sansa is still betrothed to Joffrey, she never actually meets him. The betrothal is instead offered to Catelyn by a visiting Littlefinger. The betrothal is broken off, however, when Joffrey tries to have Arys Oakheart and Meryn Trant kidnap her while under guest right, so he can have a Stark hostage to force the North to join the war. The kidnapping fails, with Lady killing Trant. The Lannisters disown the whole mess (with Tywin Lannister personally sending a letter of apology), Oakheart is dismissed from the Kingsguard and executed by the Starks, and Robb sends Tyrion back home with a message, telling Tywin that while he hopes that Tywin wins, he's not going to lift a finger to help Joffrey. Sansa instead ends up being engaged to Harrion Karstark, heir to House Karstark.
    • Since the feast at Winterfell never happened, Mance Rayder had no reason to infiltrate the castle, and this caused him to never meet his canonical wife Dalla. Which in turn leaves him completely unattached when he meets the widowed Catelyn, eventually forming a relationship with her.
    • Because Joffrey wasn't poisoned and the resulting events that led to Tyrion fleeing Westeros and meeting Jon Connington and Young Griff/Aegon Targaryen don't occur, Aegon went to Slaver's Bay to try and woo Daenerys... at the same time Quentyn tried doing the same. Quentyn tried to steal a dragon and Aegon was killed trying to stop him, with Quentyn getting burned by Rhaegal.
• Precocious Crush: Chapter 78 implies Bran is attracted to Shireen.
• The Reveal: Chapter 82 reveals an explanation as to why there hasn't been any activity heard from the Lannisters: Cersei underwent Sanity Slippage by murdering part of her family and is going to trigger the wildfire.
• Sanity Slippage: Cersei undergoes a terrible one in Chapter 82; she poisons Tywin, Tyrion, Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen, and is going off to trigger the wildfire.
• Second Love: Mance Rayder, for Catelyn Stark.
• Shotgun Wedding: After Daenerys becomes pregnant with Theon's child (much to both their shocks), she immediately marries him so that way her only child and heir won't be a bastard.
• Sick Episode: Chapter 10 revolves around Robb being ill.
• Small Town Boredom: Discussed. Catelyn gives this as her in-universe reason why she rejects Littlefinger's marriage proposal, stating that the North would bore him. The real reason is that she doesn't want the lord she marries to use their children to usurp her children with Ned.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Kevan Lannister survives to surrender the Red Keep to Daenerys.
• Stupid Evil: Joffrey, as usual. The only reason the North didn't involve themselves in the war after the botched kidnapping is a combination of self-preservation in the face of winter, Tyrion and the rest of House Lannister swearing they had nothing to do with it, and outright bribery. Eventually, Tywin gets so sick of him that he decides he's going to force Joffrey to abdicate the throne after the war is over in favor of the much more pliable Tommen.
• Succession Crisis:
  • The main reason Catelyn won't remarry is because she doesn't want to risk one of the other Houses using it as an opportunity to usurp her children with Ned with any she might have with her second husband.
  • There's the canonical one with the Lannicest, which results in Stannis and Renly rebelling and Balon trying to take advantage. This is further complicated by Joffrey's behavior taxing Tywin even more (leading him to plan to have Tommen replace Joffrey after the war is over) than usual, and the war lasting longer because of Stannis relying less on Melisandre and those making more wise moves. And then Daenerys gets involved, complicating things even further. Ultimately, Daenerys is the one to claim the throne, with both Jon and Shireen swearing themselves to her, ensuring there isn't another Dance of Dragons. Stannis bends the knee and becomes Daenerys's Hand, Balon and Euron both die, the Lannisters (with the exception of Kevan) are all killed off by Cersei, who is then killed by Varys, and Renly is sent to the Wall.
  • The Riverlands have a minor one after Edmure's wife dies in childbirth and their child is stillborn. While Edmure is still young enough to take another wife and sire more children, as it currently stands Bran is the current heir to House Tully.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Fighting for years in a war with nothing to show for it and losing his father, wife, and unborn child while he was far away from home embittered Edmure Tully significantly. This factors into Edmure bending the knee to Daenerys in exchange for being allowed to go back home to prepare for winter. As he puts it, he has no family, so duty comes first, and he has a duty to his people, above whatever honor that compels him to fight for the Lannisters. Upon meeting him, Stannis finds he actually likes this Edmure.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite being one of the major contenders of the War of Three Kings, Renly Baratheon stops being relevant somewhere along the way. It's never mentioned if he died or was killed during his rebellion, and the Tyrells negotiate a surrender directly with Daenerys and Stannis, essentially abandoning him. It's implied he's still alive, since there's no mention of Stannis using the Shadow Baby to kill him like in canon, and because Garlan gets permission to get Margaery's marriage annulled later in the story, but other than that, after a certain point he basically disappears. Finally averted as of Chapter 84, where Daenerys sends him to the Wall.