Fanfic / Song of a Northern Sorcerer

Song of a Northern Sorcerer is a crossover between A Song of Ice and Fire (with some elements of Game of Thrones) and Star Wars: The Old Republic, written on Fanfiction Dot Net by ffdrake.

In this story, the Sith Inquisitor—a blind man named Darth Nox—is forced to crash on a backwards planet, heavily seeped in Darkness and stuck in the Middle Ages. Unable to find a way home, Nox decides to make the best of his circumstances and attaches himself to the nearest available option that will allow him to rebuild his influence and powerbase. Fortunately, this Stark fellow seems rather interesting.

Tropes you can find in the story

• Accomplice by Inaction: Ned points out to the older among Craster's wives that by standing aside and doing nothing while the man raped the younger ones and sacrificed his sons to the White Walkers, that makes them equally responsible for his crimes.
  Ned: Regardless of whether you knew what he was doing to the boys, the fact remains, by your own admission, that you at least suspected that he was killing any boy that was born. Yet you did nothing.
  Ferny: And what could we do, mi'lord?! Craster, he—he was—
  Ned: One man. One man. And I count nineteen of you. Granted, some of you are mere girls, but them aside, there were still more than enough of you to stop this from happening. Yet you did not.
  Another Elder Wife: Ye would 'ave us be kinslayer, kneeler?
  Ned: No. But there are options beyond kinslaying that you could've resorted too. Yet you chose not to. Because of your inactions, your daughters here were forced to endure that man. You had to watch as he would take your sons away as offerings to the white walkers. Their fates are as much on your hands as they are on Craster's.
• Achilles' Heel: Petyr Baelish realizes that while Nox can sense people's hatreds and desires, he can't read minds directly. Thus, by remaining calm and completely emotionless, he can avoid being noticed by the Sorcerer, even while standing right next to him.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Jaime almost loses it when Nox chastises Loras like a child for his stupidity.
• Adaptational Badass: Several characters are revealed to be Force sensitive.
  • All the children of the Stark Family. Ned is as well, but he's now unable to reach his children's level of mastery due to lack of proper training in his youth.
  • This used to be the case for Gerion Lannister, but he used it all to maintain his sanity during his time in Valyria.
  • Shireen unknowingly used the Force to significantly slow down the progression of greyscale over her body. Nox later remarks she is on Arya's level and teaches her how to fight with a lightsaber.
  • Gendry becomes an Ultimate Blacksmith through his ability to use the Force, surpassing even Nox in that regard.
  • Nox notes how remarkably strong baby Barra's Force presence is and concludes that it's the reason why she was born despite her mother taking moon tea.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Along with just being a greater jerk than he usually is, Hoster Tully also seems to be dumber than usual. There isn't a good reason for him being as domineering of his good-son Ned when they meet up after Cat's death to spread her ashes, especially when Ned has by this point become one of the most powerful men in the Seven Kingdoms and would be a steadfast ally to him and the Riverlands as long as he's not antagonized. This behavior doesn't even have the motivation of grief behind it, as Nox notes.
• Adaptational Early Appearance / Age Lift:
  • The Stark children's direwolves are born roughly two years earlier than in canon, with Rickon still being an infant instead of three years old like he was in the books.
  • Likewise, Robert's bastard daughter Barra is born a year or two earlier. Jon Arryn is still the Hand of the King when Nox and Jon find her about a month after she's born during their time in King's Landing following the attempted coup in the North and bring her and her mother to Winterfell.
• Adaptational Intelligence:
  • Balon Greyjoy has a few more steps to his rebellion than in canon. Instead of relying entirely on Robert's rule not being secure enough to unite the realm, he plans several more attacks to slow down the North from intervening, aiming to slow down Robert's most sure allies long enough to complete his masterstroke: holding the rest of the kingdoms off at sea while a strike force sneaks around to Kings Landing to grab some combination of Shireen, Joffrey, or Myrcella to force Robert to let the Ironborn secede. This plan only fails due to Nox realizing that this Balon's plan has missing steps to it because he has a larger plan, and not because of arrogance.
  • Robert eventually realizes on his own that Jon is the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar and that Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen aren't his children, with it being implied that he also knows Jaime is the father.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Hoster Tully might have been a case of Parents as People in the original series, but there was no doubt that he did love all his children. Here, he has no reaction at all to the scattering of Cat's ashes, even in the Force. He also showed little sympathy or kindness later when talking to Ned, who is not only his good-son and one of his closest allies, but also one of the most powerful men in the Seven Kingdoms.
  • Jon Arryn carefully instigated the Greyjoy Rebellion to better solidify Robert's reign. He's also a lot more dismissive and domineering of Lysa than he was implied to be in canon, and his thoughts of women in general aren't ideal, to a point of actively fantasizing of how, if his son were to marry Arya, his son might eventually "tame" her. We naturally get this right before his death.
  • Zigzagged with Robert Baratheon:
    • George R. R. Martin has confirmed that Robert was actually trying to generously reward Stannis and acknowledge him as his heir by giving him Dragonstone, only for it to get misinterpreted as a slight. The fic, though, strongly hints that it really was meant to be an insult.
    • Unlike in the books, Robert ignoring and neglecting his bastard children doesn't seem to have been out of a desire to protect them from Cersei.
    • On the other hand, he seems to deal with his Irrational Hatred of the Targaryens better than he did in canon, agreeing to let Daenerys and her unborn child live as long as they don't pose an imminent threat to Westeros and eventually deciding to let her go when her khalassar disappears into the Red Wastes. Moreover, on his deathbed, he reveals to Ned that he figured out Jon's real parentage and praises his friend for raising Jon so well and hiding him from people who'd wish him harm or try to use him.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: Shireen contracts greyscale when she is six instead of as an infant.
• Adaptational Name Change: Jon's Targaryen name isn't Aegon, but Jaehaerys.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • As bad as Joffrey was in canon, he never seemed to derive sexual pleasure from witnessing people be tortured to death.
  • Tragically, Rhaegar eventually succumbed to the same madness as his father, although in a different kind of way: his obsession about prophecy and precognition in fact lead to him forcing himself onto Lyanna several times over in order to procure an heir whom Elia couldn't deliver due to health-concerned reasons.
• All Women Are Lustful:
  • Ellaria shares her lover Oberyn's taste for carnality, being open to have an orgy with him, Nox, and Nox's wife Nyra.
  • Asha has many lustful thoughts about Nox and would be more than willing to also pleasure Nyra at the same time.
  • Both Arianne and Ygritte are so annoyed by Jon's persistent refusal to bed them that they unite their efforts to seduce him. After that, Ygritte is implicitly accepted as Jon and Arianne's paramour.
• Altar Diplomacy:
  • After the failure to assimilate the Rhoynar into their empire, the Archons of Valyria opted to try this with the Starks, and an accord was eventually struck: the North would remain free and independent, and the Starks would retain their titles of the Kings of Winter in exchange for a Stark bride to be wed to the son of one of the most powerful Archons to promote a new generation of potent magic users in Valyria. However, the Doom occured before this could come to be, and Aegon the Conqueror refused to honor the agreement when King Torrhen reminded him, much to the anger of the Northmen.
  • Jon Arryn's favored strategy to further the unification of the Seven Kingdoms. He's mainly focused on bringing Dorne back to the fold through Arianne Martell's wedding to Jon Snow when he appears in the narrative.
  • A great deal of highborns would like to forge an alliance with the North to share their newfound, growing wealth. To this end, they offer marriage with between one of them and one of the Stark children.
  • Robb Stark and Talisa Maegyr are genuinely attracted to each other, but their relationship is doomed to have political undertones since he's the heir to Winterfell and her father is a Volantene Triarch who's very interested in opening trade roads with the North.
• Amazon Chaser:
  • Daemon Sand doesn't waste time when introduced to Dacey Mormont and immediately charms her. When informed of their daughter's birth, he agrees to marry her and move to Bear Island.
  • Ygritte isn't that bothered by the prospect of sharing Jon with Arianne, merely asking if the Dornish princess is strong and being impressed by her refusal to back down.
  • Elia Martell fell head over heels for Lyanna at Harrenhal after seeing the she-wolf disguise herself as the Knight of the Laughing Tree and flatten three competitors in the tourney. Doran comments on Lyanna being her type when he realizes their true relationship.
  • Khal Drogo looks more eager than dismayed when Daenerys insists on him passing her Engagement Challenge and finds a teacher for her after seeing her practice sword forms. Her more aggressive and dominant persona appeals to him as well after their marriage.
  • During his time in the North, Garlan Tyrell has a brief fling with Karsi. Their relationship never quite gets serious since they both know their responsibilities will keep them apart. Nevertheless, Garlan later admits to his brother Willas that he'd rather marry a warrior woman like Karsi as opposed to a delicate southern lady. When he discovers he has a child with her, he decides to be as involved as he can in their son's upbringing without the public knowing of it.
• An Arm and a Leg: It wouldn't be Star Wars without some dismemberment every now and then;
  • Nox takes Lorch's hands for killing Rhaenys Targaryen as an offering to Dorne to open trade deals with them and also severs one of Victarion Greyjoy's arms.
  • Winter tears off Pycelle's leg.
  • Ygritte severs one of Gerold Dayne's arms with her fire magic after he tries to knife Jon in the back.
• Ancient Astronauts: Nox is not the first Force user from the stars to have influenced Westeros. Bran the Builder was a Jedi who followed the Jee'dai teachings of old who was stranded on the planet ages prior.
• And I Must Scream: For being the one who stabbed Nyra and causing the loss of their child, Nox imprisons Lyn Corbray's soul in a improvised version of a Rakatan mind prison.
• Anti-Magical Faction:
  • The Faith of the Seven is pretty hostile towards the idea of magic, making Nox's interactions with Catelyn Stark quite cold and awkward. As his influence in the North grows, Septas and Septons are explicitly stated to not be welcome there. When Joffrey seizes the throne, his first edict is to declare magic illegal and empowers the newly restored Faith Militant to hunt down and kill all who practice it.
  • The Maesters are flat-out scared when they have to meet the Sorcerer. The Order of the Guiding Hand, an extremist and secretive faction among them, outright attempts to murder Nox at his own wedding and slay the Stark family as a whole to prevent the resurgence of magic.
• Anyone Can Die: Just to remind anyone that this is still Westeros, Catelyn and the infant Rickon, alongside Vayon Poole and Rickard Karstark, are killed at Nox and Nyra's wedding.
• Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: After Nox arrives at Lordsport and violently stops Ser Amory Lorch and his men from raping two women, he challenges them to a Trial by Combat before King Robert and Lords Stannis and Tywin. Ned tells Nox that he promised not to make any trouble, to not use any of his flashier Force powers for fear of unwanted attention being drawn to him in particular and the North in general... and that he approves of him stopping the rape and going after Lorch.
  Ned: So, while I chastise you for doing this, in the same breath, I thank you for those who can no longer speak.
• Asshole Victim: As typical for Martin's works, a number of people are very deserving of their gruesome fates.
  • Amory Lorch and his men for attempting to rape a woman and her daughter. Special mention goes to Lorch, who murdered little Rhaenys Targaryen by stabbing her fifty times. No one mourns him. Not even Tywin.
  • Every Ironborn who was killed off during their rebellion.
  • Everyone who participated in the Bolton-Whitehill-Ryswell-Dustin plot against Houses Stark and Nox.
  • Meryn Trant, who in addition to being a corrupt Kingsguard, was also a pedophile and a child beater and wished to vent out those desires on a slave girl who he wanted to purchase for his twisted sexual pleasures.
  • Every member of the Order of the Guiding Hand for all they did throughout the centuries. Archmaesters Ebrose, Ryam, Castos, Agrivance, Benedict, and Sandhu deserve particular mention, in addition to Ebbert Whitehill and Pycelle.
  • Craster, who is a Jerkass Domestic Abuser and incestuous rapist who sacrifices his own newborn sons to the White Walkers. His death at Nox's hands couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
• Awful Truth:
  • How Jon reacts to the knowledge that he was born of Rhaegar Targaryen carrying Lyanna Stark away. Catelyn Stark is more ambivalent on the matter, as she's obviously unhappy about her husband lying to her and letting her hate an innocent child for nothing, but on the other hand, Ned never cheated on her.
  • Daenerys eventually learns—first from Jon and later Mellario—that the Rebellion against her family was caused by her own father and brother's madness and cruelty. On a lesser note, she's also told that, contrary to her brother Viserys's claims of secret toasts being raised for a Targaryen restoration, for the most part, the people of Westeros either hate their family or are indifferent to the prospect of their return.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Naturally, as in canon, Joffrey. Also like in canon, this is one trait of his that Robert reacts to violently. As it also coincides with Robert working to snap himself back to his old "Demon of the Trident" self, Joffrey's continued habit of this, and the brutal killing of Tommen's fawn, makes Robert make it abundantly clear to Joffrey that if Robert hears of another incident, he's off to The Wall.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Oberyn takes no small amount of glee in the fact that Joffrey has done all their work for them in breaking apart Jon Arryn's great alliance by declaring a holy war against the North and the Starks.
• Bait-and-Switch Compassion: When Nox begins Force-choking Janos Slynt to death for incompetence of a near-regicide level, King Robert orders him to stop... so that he can formally strip the idiot of his office before letting Nox proceed with killing him. Slowly.
• The Beard: What Rhaegar Targaryen actually was—Lyanna was a Butch Lesbian and more infatuated with Elia than him. He was fully alright with this as his own sexuality leaned towards chastity and occasionally men.
• Because I Said So: For her Engagement Challenge, Daenerys tasks Khal Drogo and his bloodriders with assassinating Master Rabier, whom she knows buys and tortures slaves, including young children, to death for his clients' amusement. When asked if Rabier had wronged her in any way, rather than answer, she declares that it doesn't matter since she wants Rabier dead and Khal Drogo must succeed if he's to prove himself worthy of her hand.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Overlaps with Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal. Sandor "The Hound" Clegane is convinced to turn against the Lannisters due to Sansa healing his burn scars, killing the red cloaks sent with him to capture Sansa, Osha, Arya, and Nyra and joining them in fleeing.
• Berate and Switch: When Ned first announces his intention to go and investigate the strange happenings beyond the Wall...
  Oberyn: So you intend to march past the Wall into a frozen wasteland where your piss freezes before it can hit the ground. Then through an army of savages that wish you dead to speak with the mean who leads them. Who, to the best of your knowledge, is fully intent on doing anything he can to get his people south of the Wall? [Beat] Sounds fun. I'm in.
• Berserk Button:
  • Robert's loathing for everything Targaryen almost leads him to attack Nox when they are introduced to each other since the Sorcerer has Valyrian looks.
  • After what happened to his mother, Nox cannot abide sexual assault at all. So to anyone who tries to do so....
• Beyond Redemption:
  • After learning about Craster's practice of marrying his own daughters so they can bear him more wives, Oberyn declares that Craster has crossed the line so far that he'd never be able to find his way back.
  • Though he initially had hope that Ned and Nox could whip Joffrey into a decent ruler, Robert finally gives up after Joffrey is discovered to be a regular patron at an illegal underground fighting pit, lamenting that the boy is the Mad King reborn.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Tywin orders Tyrion to go North to learn of their technical innovations so that House Lannister can replicate them. When Tyrion points out that he's being asked to steal them, Tywin counters that it's not stealing that their doing but merely starting their own methods to replicate House Stark's successes. Of course, this has a pragmatic aspect to it as the gold mines of Casterly Rock are running dry and House Lannister needs a new source of wealth to maintain their position as rulers of the Westerlands.
  Tyrion: You're asking me to all but steal the secrets of the sorcerer.
  Tywin: Not steal. House Lannister does not steal. We are merely going to begin our own processes using what the Starks have spent years of effort and coin on to create.
• Blind Weaponmaster: Nox has been blind since he was a preteen, his master burning his eyes with a red-hot poker to prevent a measly slave from having the honor of becoming a Sith. It doesn't slow him down at all when he wields his lightsaber, and that's when he's not using the Force to destroy whole castles.
• Blood Knight: Robert Baratheon as ever. When Ned informs the Small Council that the threat of the White Walkers is not only real, but imminent, Robert is ready to call the banners then and there. Jon Arryn, Stannis, and Renly, though, convince him to wait until there's more proof. Not because they don't believe Ned, especially since Willas Tyrell, Oberyn, and Nox all back him up, but because the lords of Westeros won't appreciate marching all the way up to the Wall for the sake of a supposed myth.
• Body-Count Competition: Greatjon Umber and Tormund Giantsbane start one during the fight against the attacking clans in Chapter 25. Giantsbane has 14 kills while Greatjon has 12 so far. The winner was never revealed.
• Bonding Over Dislikes: Despite the enmity between their families and the fact that Gerion tried to stab Oberyn's daughter Obara when Nox's expedition first encountered him, Gerion Lannister and Oberyn Martell become friends after the former grovels for mercy upon regaining his sanity and then disparages his brother Tywin.
• Bring My Brown Pants:
  • In chapter 18, Ebbert Whitehill pisses himself out of sheer terror after the Order of the Guiding Hand is exposed.
  • In chapter 21, Walder Frey pisses himself when Nox intimidates him.
  • In chapter 26, Craster does the same thing.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Sansa's faith in chivalry is utterly shattered when Ser Lyn Corbray stabs the heavily pregnant Nyra on her wedding day for bearing the Sorcerer's child and refuses to defend Jeyne Poole from being raped by his co-conspirators.
  • Domeric's relationship with his father Roose was always rather strained, but it doesn't truly dawn on him just how gruesome his family legacy is until he's been exiled after his father's execution for treason. In a straighter example, due to not having any trueborn siblings, he had hoped to meet his bastard half-brother, Ramsay Snow, and forge a relationship like Robb and Jon's. Then he learns about Ramsay's habit of hunting young maidens for sport and realizes Ramsay's no better than the rest of the Boltons.
  • Tyrion's relationship with Jaime takes a huge hit when the truth of Tysha and Anna comes out.
  • Any respect Daenerys may have had for her father Aerys and her late brother Rhaegar vanishes after she learns the real reason the Rebellion against her family occurred, which is completely different from what Viserys had been telling her over the years.
• Character Check: Seeing Jon defeat Ser Trant in a Trial by Combat caused Robert to snap out of the worst of his malaise, working to work off his weight gain and also strive to be a better king and father after some self-reflection.
• Character Development: Robert goes from an overweight Lazy Bum of a king to a somewhat competent ruler who shows a skill for playing the game. He eventually comes to love Tommen and Myrcella, despite knowing they are not his, and even grows out of his hatred for the Targaryens sometime before his death, though that could be because he'd been dying from tuberculosis for a while.
• Character Witness: Ned agrees to give a chance to the mysterious, eerie Sorcerer who appeared out of nowhere when preteen Jon introduces him as the man who rescued him from several wildling raiders.
• Child by Rape: Yes. Poor Jon is one. To say he was unhappy about this is an understatement.
  Thinking he was a bastard born from weakness was one thing. Knowing he was born from rape - gods that was infinitely worse!
• The Chosen One:
  • The Red Temple preaches that Azor Ahai will come back and wield the flaming sword Lightbringer against the Great Other to save mankind. As Nox has a red lightsaber, he's considered a serious candidate to be Azor Ahai reborn or a very powerful prophet at the least.
  • Melisandre doesn't believe Nox is Azor Ahai, though, and still thinks it's instead Stannis.
• Comically Small Bribe: In an attempt to secure Dorne's neutrality in the upcoming war with the North, Tywin offers to betroth Arianne to Tommen, along with a seat on the Small Council for Oberyn or Doran and assurances that Gregor Clegane will be made available for a convenient "accident" once the conflict has concluded. Naturally, the Martells are insulted by this notion that they can be bribed to put aside their revenge, with Arianne pointing out that Tommen is nothing compared to Jon and they can secure the other two rewards by joining the war in favor of the Starks.
• The Conspiracy: The Order of the Guiding Hand has been influencing everything, on top of anything Pycelle has done in canon they are also responsible for the death of Olenna's husband Luthor Tyrell, stoking tensions to try and wipe out Nox and his supporters, amplified Doran's gout, had Steffon Baratheon's ship sink and thus cause his and his wife's death by drowning, gave Shireen greyscale, set up Joanna Lannister's death, and intercepted a letter that might had led to the Martells getting to the Tower of Joy first and taking Jon in as their sister's paramour's son.
• Cool Sword: Lightsabers, duh. Each Acolyte who passes their trial gets their own.
  • Jon: White
  • Robb: Blue
  • Sansa: Green
  • Arya: Purple
  • Joy Lannister: Green
  • Shireen: Yellow
  • Gendry: Blue
• The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: To ensure that Highgarden's maester doesn't reveal that she knew about the Order of the Guiding Hand, Olenna Tyrell arranges a tragic "accident"... where the man fell out of his tower onto a convenient rack of spears after swallowing every poison in his stock.
• The Corrupter: Littlefinger decides that, after Cat's death, he wants to unleash as much chaos and destruction as possible in revenge for everyone even remotely involved. To do so, he decides to build on Joffrey's worst impulses, taking advantage of Robert's swing towards more involved parenting to encourage where Robert was enforcing discipline. The results, naturally, lead to a Joffrey who enjoys watching brutal slave death matches and is actively desiring to overthrow his father and take out everyone.
• Crippling Overspecialization: House Lannister is famous for the large gold deposits on its lands, from which virtually all of their wealth is derived. Thus, when their mines start running dry, Tywin struggles to find new sources of income and has to keep everything a secret in the meantime.
• Culture Clash:
  • When visiting the ruins of Valyria, Nox's party stumbles upon the ghost of an Archon. Said Archon saw nothing wrong with bloody conquest aiming to assimilate the vanquished nations for the sake of strengthening Valyrian magic and waves off Jon's claim of being a mere bastard by commenting he's from Stark blood, which is the only thing that matters.
  • Dorne is extremely lax regarding sexuality—Arianne casually comments on her uncle going to the brothel while he teases her about people believing she's already sleeping with Jon, but people in the North cannot help but find this attitude quite cringe-worthy. The future ruling Princess marrying a bastard also isn't considered noteworthy, even if Oberyn points there will be inquiries about Jon's maternal bloodline, and it's mentioned it happened several times in the past.
  • Nox doesn't care at all that Jon is illegitimate nor for the negative image that taking him as an apprentice gets him from those in the South, along with being supportive of female autonomy and taking a common-born woman to wife, due to coming from a Sith Empire that, whilst incredibly cruel and harsh, allows for those powerful and talented enough to carve out a place for themselves regardless of birth or gender (Nox himself having risen from a blinded slave boy to one of the most senior and powerful Sith Lords of the regime). Such meritorious views are very out of place in Westeros and Essos due to the extremely strict caste-based system of power that becomes very hostile towards anyone deemed to be trying to rise from their "proper" place.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Lampshaded when Jon Arryn praises Jeorge for doing a much better job as Grand Maester compared to his predecessor (who was found guilty of scheming against the crown and was partly responsible for the deaths of Steffon and Cassana Baratheon).
  Grand Maester Jeorge: Not that I enjoy speaking ill of the dead, Lord Arryn, but that is hardly a compliment.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Dragonlords of Valyria discovered that due to how strong-willed dragons are, binding multiple dragons to a rider will eventually cause the rider to go mad from the dragons' primal instincts, which often results in the rider becoming an Omnicidal Maniac. Thus, they made sure to bind no more than one dragon to a rider. Daenerys learns about this from Jon and takes it to heart, hatching only one dragon for herself while setting aside the other three dragon eggs she has.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Darth Nox espouses The Social Darwinist views, dresses in black and can be horrendously ruthless and cruel when he's fighting. He's also aligned with the heroic Stark family and is working on uplifting Westeros through trade and technology advances in order to fight the White Walkers and prevent the Long Night.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Rickon Stark, who is still alive in the books, is murdered at Nox and Nyra's wedding.
  • Tysha's whereabouts are unknown in the books; she's confirmed to have died of illness in the story.
• Dies Differently In The Adaptation:
  • Catelyn Stark is killed in the Winterfell coup instead of during the Red Wedding at the Twins.
  • Rather than succumbing to illness, Doreah is stabbed in the chest by Pyat Pree when the latter kidnaps Rhaego and Droga.
  • Robert is mortally wounded by an assassin instead of gored by a wild boar.
  • Though they die in similar circumstances to canon, here, Jory Cassel is killed in a Heroic Sacrifice after igniting a mixture of black powder and wildfire to buy Nyra, Osha, Sansa, Jeyne, and Arya time to escape.
• Dirty Coward:
  • Lord Ludd Whitehill tries to offer information about the other conspirators in exchange for clemency. All he really did was make himself a target.
  • Pycelle. Need we say more?
• Disappointed in You: Arya gets this from Ned after she jumps into a fight against the Mountain to save Loras. She considers the look her father gives her to be worse than getting yelled at.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Shamelessly exploited by a lot of Sith woman warriors, who dress as scantily as possible and flash their opponents to gain the high hand. It's the reason why Nox has no patience whatsoever with Jon's teenage hormones and threatens to lock him in a brothel until he masters control.
• Dramatic Irony: After the Small Council learns that Daenerys can apparently use magic, Baelish mentions how dangerous she'd be if the Sorcerer were to find and take her on as an apprentice, unaware that Nox is already doing precisely that through magical glass candles from Valyria.
• Due to the Dead: A funeral procession is held for the people who died during the attempted coup of Winterfell.
• Dumbass No More: Not that he was ever dumb to being with, but after being around Nox for a while, Ned learns how to "play the game," though he doesn't care for it very much.
• Ear Ache: Nox drags Jaime all the way from Flea Bottom to the Red Keep's throne room by the ear after learning about the wildfire caches from him.
• Engagement Challenge: When Daenerys meets Khal Drogo, she establishes she won't let herself being pushed around by asking him to discreetly kill a Pentosi magistrate and bring her the head back as proof of Drogo's worthiness to marry a daughter of Valyria.
• Enraged by Idiocy: Janos Slynt brings a group of pyromancers to the Red Keep's Small Council chambers under guard but fails to search them before doing so even though there is a very real risk that said pyromancers (having assisted in the Mad King's wildfire plot) might intend harm upon the King and his council and might be carrying the means to do so (such as a small jar of said wildfire). Exactly that happens and Nox winds up painfully but non-fatally burned ensuring that the resulting conflagration doesn't kill anyone of importance or burn the place down; small wonder that Nox then elects to Force-choke Slynt to death on the spot for such monumental incompetence.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Multiple times, Nox has been mistaken for being of Valyrian descent due to his Mystical White Hair.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Littlefinger may be a self-serving and scheming individual who is planning to spread as much chaos and destruction as possible, but even he can't stand Joffrey and needs to restrain himself from nearly smacking the smug smile off the boy's face, reminding himself that he needs him for his endgame.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Catelyn very much wants for her daughters to become perfect ladies, but when she learns how Septa Mordane left them fully unprepared to handle Northern politics, she grants Nyra her blessing to teach the girls and merely asks the woman to not physically strike the Septa in retaliation.
  • Following the bloodbath at Nox's wedding, nobody in Westeros calls the Sorcerer and the Starks out on going too far with their revenge against the ones responsible. It helps that the Guiding Hand has caused enough pain and suffering across Westeros and made utter fools out of the most powerful people on the continent for so long that everyone seems to have their own bone to pick with them.
  • While everyone except Cersei is furious with Jaime for leaving the wildfire caches to mature and get more potent, they do recognize it was done out of ignorance and the assumption they'd become less dangerous over time, not more. Thus, his punishment is reduced to reflect that it wasn't done out of malice.
  • Pycelle was greatly disliked at the Citadel due to his servile nature, and nearly everyone there was shocked when he became Grand Maester over others who were more qualified.
  • Everyone who knows of Craster and his habits is completely and utterly repulsed. The Free Folk wants nothing to do with him, and the entourage that goes beyond the Wall is absolutely disgusted and revolted, with some of them even wanting to go and straight up kill the man.
  • Oberyn may be sexually passionate, but he does have a degree of self-control: he doesn't just screw everything that moves, and while the idea of stealing a spearwife or several appeals to him, he won't do so without Ellaria's opinion on the matter.
  • Played with. Gerion believes that for all his ruthlessness, Tywin won't go as far as to commit kinslaying. Tyrion is cynically disbelieving of this.
    Tyrion: Perhaps. But that would be assuming who he even considers to be kin. You know how good he is at working things out so that he is 'justified' in his actions.
  • Like in the books, despite being a Blood Knight through and through, Robert is horrified by Joffrey's tendency to abuse animals for his own amusement. He's later also furious when he learns Joffrey has been frequenting an underground blood pit in the capital, which is what finally makes him realize that Joffrey is simply Beyond Redemption.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: For a relative use of the term given one is a ruthless Westerosi lord and the other a Sith Lord, but Tywin assumes that Nox's treatment of Lorch and the other rapists was entirely to make a point and not just because he just really hates rapists (with a side benefit of making a point).
• Evil Is Petty: True to form, Cersei is this:
  • She orders Jaime to murder an innocent girl (unaware that the girl is her niece through Tyrion) simply for the crime of looking like Myrcella.
    Cersei: If she truly exists, and if she's still alive amongst those slavers, kill her. I won't stand for a peasant girl, a slave whore child at that, being passed off as Myrcella. Her very existence is an insult to us and our family. And a Lannister always repays those who insult them.
  • After hearing a bard praise the Sorcerer's wife as "The Beauty of the North" in a song to Tommen and Myrcella, Cersei demands that he compose a song telling the "truth" about Nyra and have it be heard by the entire city within a sennight, threatening to have the bard's family executed while he's Forced to Watch if he fails.
  • She also insists that Nyra be specifically referred to only as "the Sorcerer's whore" rather than by name or title once Joffrey has seized the throne.
• Evil Laugh: The White Walker gives off one of these; even Nox is put off by it.
• Exact Words:
  • Overlapping with Loophole Abuse, Nox tells Balon Greyjoy that whilst Robert ordered that Balon be brought to him alive, he failed to specify precisely what condition Balon was to be in and uses this as an opportunity to torture the wretched man with Force Lightning.
  • After being mortally wounded by an assassin, Robert reveals to Ned that he knows Cersei's children aren't his but asks Ned to protect Tommen and Myrcella anyway. Ned mentally notes that his friend left out Joffrey, though he fully understands why and agrees without another word.
• Eye Scream: Euron Greyjoy loses his left eye via lightsaber grazing.
• Failed a Spot Check: Joffrey attempts to execute Robb for allegedly killing a Septon, citing as evidence a Northern steel blade that was found at the scene of the crime since only a handful of weapons made from Northern steel even existed at the time. When Robert asks to actually see the blade, though, even Tyrion is able to quickly tell it's in fact made of Valyrian steel, which greatly expands the pool of suspects, much to Joffrey's embarrassment.
• Fake Nationality: In-Universe, Nox tends to be assumed to be from Valyrian descent due to his Mystical White Hair.
• Family Eye Resemblance:
  • How Jaime and later Tyrion identify Anna as Tysha's daughter: she inherited her father's heterochromatic green and black eyes.
  • Hinted with Jon, as Margaery muses she cannot peg his eye color right beyond dark and exotic, implying he shares Rhaegar's indigo gaze.
• Family Extermination: The Order of the Guiding Hand attempts to have the entirety of House Stark exterminated after confirming that all of them are capable of magic, initially only intending to kill off the adults and older children whilst preserving the younger ones to be shown the "correct" path. They only succeed in getting Catelyn and Rickon, however, and aren't able to plan another attempt before the rest of the pack come looking for well-deserved revenge.
• Fantastic Racism: All around. The bulk of the primarily Andal parts of the Seven Kingdoms look down on the North as savage barbarians. The North see the Southerners as pampered, lazy, and dogmatic (though, in fairness, they're not exactly wrong on that front). Many look down on the Dornish for being sex crazed and impulsive, and so on and so on.
• Fed to the Beast: After the Maesters' conspiracy is exposed, revealing, among other things, that they deliberately ensured Joanna Lannister's death in childbirth, Tywin has both of Casterly Rock's maesters carved up and fed bit by bit to caged lions, with the butchers being specifically instructed by Tywin to keep them alive during the process for as long as possible.
• A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: When Daenerys and Viserys approach Mellario for help, she agrees to let them stay with her for a bit and gives them enough coin to last them over a year, if properly managed. Viserys instead immediately spends it on prostitutes and gambling, and it's apparently gone within a month or two.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: As far as the Lannisters are concerned, Gerion is the foolish to Twyin's responsible, though Gerion begins acting like a more responsible parent to his daughter Joy after returning to Westeros from Valyria. In a twist on the usual application of the trope, the foolish sibling is the more sympathetic one. Their roles might soon reverse, however, with Gerion being far more vocally opposed to Joffrey's Exalted March against the North than Tywin is.
• Friend to All Children: When meeting the ill Shireen, Nox begrudgingly admits to himself that he's always had a soft spot for young children.
• From Nobody to Nightmare:
  • The North used to be the poorest among the Seven Kingdoms and considered a backwater land. After Nox made his home in Winterfell and started introducing technological development, it quickly gained in wealth and now stands to become the most prosperous and strong part of Westeros, with power and connections that are starting to rival the Iron Throne. This is deconstructed, however, in that it leads to them making numerous enemies without meaning to, in particular the Free City of Myr, whose income has been badly hit by the North's developing glass trade.
  • When Nyra enters the story, she's nothing but one of the many servants in Winterfell. She gets to marry the Sorcerer and become Winterfell's Steward.
• Gag Penis: If Smalljon's comment is anything to go by, then Nox is having something in manhood, something the latter doesn't mind others commenting on.
  Smalljon: F-F-Fucking hells, sorcerer! Was your father part horse or something?! For gods' sake, leave something for the rest of us to compete against you with!
• Giving Radio to the Romans: So far, Nox has ended Westeros's Medieval Stasis by helping introduce the blast furnace, the printing press, the spring mattress, penicillin, genetically modified crops, the steam engine, and gunpowder, just to name a few. It's also implied that before long, the North will have the train developed.
• God Guise: Accidentally pulled by Nox at more than one occasion.
  • After seeing him throw lightning at Pyke's walls to open a breach, the Ironborn are terrified of him and call him an avatar of the Storm God.
  • As he dresses in black hooded robes, wears a featureless mask, and brings death to everyone pissing him off in very horrifying ways, people in the South name him the Stranger incarnate.
  • The Red Temple seriously entertains the possibility of him being Azor Ahai reborn courtesy of his red lightsaber.
• Godzilla Threshold: Jon Arryn fears the Sorcerer more than anyone else in the Seven Kingdoms, but when he learns the royal children are Cersei's incestuous bastards, he decides to swallow his prejudice and ask for Nox's help in exposing the Queen as guilty of high treason. However, he's poisoned before having the opportunity to act on this.
• Happiness Realized Too Late: During his time in Valyria, the only respite Gerion Lannister had from the constant terrors surrounding him were his memories of his daughter Joy, whom he had left behind to go on his dangerous quest. Thankfully, Nox's expedition finds him and returns him to Westeros, where Gerion makes an effort to be a proper father to Joy.
• Healing Hands: Sansa's main skill in the Force. It's triggered when she saves Nyra's life, and she later fixes Willas Tyrell's ruined leg and heals Sandor Clegane's burnt face.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Jory Cassel and his men stay behind in the Tower of the Hand to face the Kingslayer and dozens of Lannister lackeys in order to buy time for Nyra, Sansa, Arya, Jeyne, and Osha to escape, despite knowing that it will mean certain death for them. Overlaps with Taking You with Me as when Jory is fatally wounded, he triggers a final trap of a mixture of wildfire and gunpowder that blows up the entire tower, which Jaime barely escapes.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: When Nox reveals to Stannis that Shireen is Force sensitive and offers to train her in Winterfell, Stannis declares that while he doesn't doubt the Sorcerer's word, Shireen is still too young to foster. Nox, however, calls Stannis out on his paper-thin excuse, telling him that he knows the real reason Stannis won't let Shireen got to Winterfell just yet is because he loves her and is scared to see her go when he nearly lost her to greyscale.
• His Heart Will Go On: Nox is still pained over his paramour Ashara's demise but manages to find peace with the servant girl Nyra.
• History Repeats:
  • Yet again the heir to House Stark finds himself accused of a crime he didn't commit and sentenced to death by a mad, inbred royal after a farcical trial. Thankfully, this time, it doesn't stick, but it remains a close call and severely harms the already fractious relationship between the North and the Crown.
  • The Lord of House Stark is once again arrested on the orders of an insane, sadistic tyrant and falsely accused of treason before the rest of the house are declared traitors and marked for death in perpetuity.
  • After Joffrey ascends the throne, Jaime finds himself serving a mad king born from Brother–Sister Incest once more and is Forced to Watch as innocent people are burned alive on his king's orders.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Joffrey tries to humiliate Sansa by ordering her to heal the Hound's facial scars in front of the entire court at Harrenhal, thinking she won't be able to do it. She naturally succeeds, which only boosts her reputation, and this later motivates Sandor to abandon the Lannisters and help Sansa and her companions escape King's Landing.
• Honor Before Reason: While fighting a rogue group of Free Folk, Garlan managed to wound Harma and have his swordpoint at her throat. Due to having been raised in the Reach, though, he can't bring himself to kill her because she's a woman and tells her to stay down. This allows Harma the opportunity to knock him down while he's distracted and nearly kill him, and both she and later Karsi call him out on his stupidity, with Garlan himself admitting it was foolish of him.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager:
  • Jon becomes a blushing, stuttering mess after reaching puberty and noticing girls. Nox has No Sympathy whatsoever and threatens to drag him to the brothel and lock him in there until he finally gains control over his base impulses. Naturally when Arianne, then Ygritte, and then both at the same time start acting interested in him, and aggressively so at that, Jon's a mess.
  • Robb isn't much better as he's left gaping every time Talisa is around.
• A House Divided: Being Westeros, this is basically guaranteed to be the case.
  • There's little love between Robert and his two brothers, and it's likely only going to get worse as Stannis holes himself up on Dragonstone after learning the truth about the royal children's parentage, which makes him Robert's rightful heir. In the meantime, Renly prepares to press his own claim to the Iron Throne.
  • House Stark is loyal to Robert, appreciating his desire to improve, even as the potential issue of Jon Stark's parentage looms over Ned and Robb's head, which not helped by Jon hatching Archon. However, on top of their own history with House Lannister, Joffrey attempted to have Robb framed and executed for murdering a Septon at the Tourney at Harrenhal (without a proper trial, no less), meaning that Joffrey is owed none of the loyalty his father engendered, even if he were legitimate. The North has also made many enemies as it has risen to become the technological and political power of the Seven Kingdoms, with their embrace of sorcery inflaming religious tensions as well, and their general distance from and aloofness to the South, combined with their new gains in wealth and power, leaves them dangerously poised to secede altogether from the sovereignty of the Iron Throne.
  • House Lannister seeks to keep their blood on the Iron Throne no matter the cost, and Tywin in particular seeks to keep House Lannister as the dominant house in the Seven Kingdoms, which House Stark threatens. While Joy Lannister is an apprentice of Nox and Tyrion helped them catch up with some of the North's technical innovations, they are still far behind House Stark, something that Tywin is not happy about it. At the same time, Joffrey has created new issues between them and House Stark, House Martell still wants their blood for Elia's death, House Tyrell has designs on the throne, and Lannister unity is threatened by Gerion, Joy, and Tyrion not fully being under Tywin's control. Cersei also has her own agenda in solidifying her personal power and reducing or outright destroying House Stark and Nox, whom she perceives as threats, though she plans to do so in ways that are likely to provoke them into hitting back.
  • House Martell is set to join with House Stark through Jon's marriage to Arianne, setting up an alliance between the two that would not transfer to Robert. Doran and Oberyn are interested in having Jon sit on the Iron Throne, an idea that neither Jon nor Arianne is okay with. Their tensions with the Lannisters remain simmering as ever, and should the North secede, which seems more and more likely, they will swiftly follow, which will leave the realm fatally fractured.
  • House Tyrell is reeling from the Guiding Hand conspiracy and the North's rising power, though they've sought to navigate the latter and mend the former via a successful marriage contract between Willas and Sansa. However, the Tyrells also seek to have a marriage alliance with Margaery and the Iron Throne, and Loras has a close connection with Renly. Tensions in the Tyrells are also rising between Mace and his family, particularly Garlan, which threatens Tyrell unity.
  • House Greyjoy took a far greater beating in their rebellion than in canon, but it has not left them any less revanchist than in canon, and they remain willing to strike the moment they have an opening. However, Asha was converted to Nox's side and has been making her own moves for the last few years.
  • House Tully, whose ruled territory would likely be a battleground in any upcoming conflict, has damaged its ties to House Stark after Cat's death due to Hoster's hostility towards Ned and Edmure's distance, making it uncertain if they can rely on the North's support in the event of conflict in their lands. Hoster's failing health and Edmure's inexperience also makes things risky for them. Meanwhile, the Blackfish is on board with the Starks, further splitting the family.
  • House Arryn has retreated into itself after Jon's death.
  • In King's Landing, Littlefinger is sowing chaos for both his own plans and in revenge for Cat's death, corrupting Joffrey further and faster than in canon. Meanwhile, Varys has his plans with Ilyrio, and Jon Connington is active in Essos, having stepped up his campaign with Aegon via securing an alliance with Myr, which agrees to support him in exchange for ending the Northern glass trade and handing over all Northern glassmakers to be made into slaves, something which is likely to be received badly by the slavery-despising Westeros.
  • Dany, more aware of her family history via Jon and Mellario, has decided to not go back to Westeros but to reform the Valyrian Empire in Essos with Rhaego and Droga, alongside her three unhatched eggs, not directly tied to the upcoming conflict.
  • It finally begins in earnest in Chapter 41 when Joffrey and Cersei seize power by arresting Ned. The former implements reforms that decrees Houses Stark and Nox as traitors, with all members of both houses marked for death, and reforms and charges the Faith Militant with helping the forces of House Lannister conquer the North and exterminate all who worship the Old Gods, which is likely to have massive cross-kingdom repercussions.
• Hypocrite: Joffrey calls Arya a coward for trying to save Loras from Gregor Clegane, only to freeze up in fear when confronted with the prospect of having to actually fight the Mountain. Tommen quickly retorts that Joffrey himself froze in fear the moment Gregor Clegane killed his horse, before Arya even tried intervening.
• I Choose to Stay: After learning the Awful Truth about everything her mad father and brother Rhaegar did that led to the Rebellion, Daenerys decides that instead of trying to reclaim the Iron Throne, she will stay in Essos and work to rebuild the Valyrian Empire, though she has to keep her intentions secret at first since her brother Viserys would never agree.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!:
  • Nox teaches Ned a few skills and gives him a better handle on his wolfsblood, but he's quite firm in affirming that the Lord Stark will always be much weaker than his children for lack of proper training in his youth.
  • Gerion used to be a latent Force sensitive, but being stuck in the hellish ruins of Valyria made him trade this potential for the strongest mental defenses in Westeros in order to survive the place.
  • Marwyn can do small tricks, but he's far too old to properly learn how to wield the Force and laments this fact when informed by Nox.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Jon Arryn discretely provoked the Greyjoy Rebellion as a means of bringing the realm closer together in war. It worked, and it even had less damage than he feared it might, but he isn't unaware of the damage it did to the lives of innocent people in Lannisport. He still feels it was all justified, though.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: After learning that Joffrey has declared a holy war on the North, House Stark, and Nox, Tyrion immediately goes and pours himself a glass of Northern whisky...only for Tywin to grab the glass himself and down it in one, showing how rattled he is beneath the surface.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: As Nox is marrying Nyra, he actually feels his late paramour Ashara approving of the event. Sansa actually sees her ghost, even if she mistakes her for the Maiden blessing the union.
• Ignored Aesop: Kinvara chides Melisandre for being so sure she's figured out what her visions mean, reminding her that R'hllor's visions are never as simple as they seem. Melisandre concedes the point... and remains convinced that her interpretation of her visions is correct and that she thus knows the right path forward.
• Illegal Religion: When Joffrey takes the Iron Throne, his first public decree is to outlaw worship of the Old Gods of the Forest and the Force, with all who refuse this edict to be put to death.
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: Nyra is targeted at her own wedding precisely because she's pregnant with the Sorcerer's child: the Order of the Guiding Hand wishes to erase magic from Westeros, and that includes snuffing out anyone who may develop it. Nyra survives through Sansa's intervention but has a stillbirth.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Viserys still dies the exact same way as in canon.
  • Jory Cassel is still killed at King's Landing following a skirmish with Lannister men led by Jaime Lannister.
• Internal Reveal:
  • The Lannisters finally learn how Nox's powers work from Gerion after he's rescued by Nox's Valyrian expedition crew and returns to Casterly Rock.
  • Shortly before Nox and Nyra's wedding, Ned tells Catelyn, Robb, and Jon that Jon's real parents were Lyanna and Rhaegar.
  • Nox reveals the truth of his origins to Ned, Jon, and Robb following their return to Winterfell after exposing the various crimes of the Order of the Guiding Hand. Nyra is present as well.
• In-Universe Factoid Failure: Exploited by Littlefinger. He manipulates Joffrey into thinking that everyone fears the prince will overshadow them one day with his greatness by telling him about how the same supposedly happened to King Aenys I, which led to his untimely death. Joffrey falls for this as his lack of a proper education means he's completely unaware that Aenys is actually remembered as a weak, indecisive king.
• Irony:
  • After hearing about his bastard half-brother Ramsay Snow's depraved habits, Domeric Bolton grimly muses that Ramsay's more of a Bolton than he ever was.
  • Ned Stark just won't stop complaining about the Game of Thrones and how he doesn't want to be involved, but it's pointed out several times that he's not a bad player at all once he puts his mind to it. Oberyn Martell actually comments on the Quiet Wolf outwitting the Queen of Thorns, the Old Lion, and the Prince of Dorne when he had barely reached manhood, all for the sake of his late sister and infant nephew.
• It Runs in the Family: Force potential has a genetic component, meaning a Force sensitive individual has higher odds of producing a Force sensitive offspring. Nox is extremely impressed by Ned and Catelyn producing five children with good potential, Stannis's daughter Shireen and two of Robert's bastards are accepted to Winterfell as acolytes, and Tywin suggests for Gerion to take his daughter Joy to be tested since Gerion has a hint of sensitivity. This gets deconstructed, however, by the fact that it means those who want to get rid of magic will target the entire family to make sure.
• Jabba Table Manners: Walder Frey. Need we say more?
  And while the young woman wasn't touching the food and drink before her, the old man was digging into his meal with perhaps the worst set of table manners Nox had ever experienced in his life. And that included his mealtimes in the slave pens.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Gerion doesn't like how his brother Tywin casually talks about marrying Gerion's daughter Joy off like she's just a chess piece. Nor is he happy that he can't argue otherwise when Tywin reminds him that Joy had a duty to House Lannister, especially after her legitimization, and later that most girls her age and status are already betrothed, if not married and bedded.
  • Littlefinger points out that a potential sea battle against Viserys and the Dothraki would be costly in terms of both ships and coin. He then proposes a simpler solution: since they know whom the Targaryens are with now and it isn't easy to hide a huge army, they can simply hire an assassin to kill off Daenerys, who is the keystone to Viserys army, before a war can begin. With Daenerys dead, everything falls apart around Viserys, and they can kill him at their leisure. Moreover, Nox is known to collect potential apprentices, and Daenerys has reportedly shown signs of possessing magic; if they let her live, Nox might insist on training her, turning her into an even bigger threat than she already is. Even Robert, who prefers to stand and face his enemies in the field of battle, admits that Littlefinger is right. Stannis and Grand Maester Jeorge are the sole dissenters, and the latter only because he thinks that assassinating Viserys directly is a safer bet that will accomplish the same goal.
  • Mace Tyrell reacts badly to the news that Karsi has given birth to Garlan's bastard son and demands that it be kept under wraps. However, he isn't wrong that House Tyrell's reputation would be severely damaged should it become public knowledge and that it could hurt their chances of arranging a politically advantageous betrothal for Garlan. Garlan is frustrated that they can't come up with a good rebuttal despite their unhappiness with the situation.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • Gerion underwent one during his time in Valyria, regretting how he had basically abandoned his daughter Joy, just to go on a dangerous quest for a sword. He swears that he'll do right by her if he ever sees her again and keeps that promise when Nox's expedition returns him to Westeros, immediately asking Robert to legitimize Joy and getting defensive over his brother Tywin's attempts to marry her off without considering her feelings.
  • Downplayed, but after returning from the North, Willas can't help but feel that the way his family lives is wasteful and needlessly extravagant.
• Karmic Death: Gerold Dayne is stripped of his knighthood and sentenced to death by hanging, which is typically reserved for smallfolk who break the law. By being executed in such a manner, Gerold is no noble, just a simple commoner who broke the law.
• Karmic Overkill: In-universe example. Septa Mordane had made few friends in Winterfell, but her brutal rape and murder during the attack at Nox's wedding was seen by everyone as far too brutal a fate.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After Daenerys disappears into the Red Wastes with her khalassar and newborn son, Robert Baratheon reluctantly decides to give up on assassinating her, admitting it's not worth the effort when they have bigger problems to deal with in Westeros.
• Last of His Kind: Following the execution of the Winterfell coup's conspirators, Domeric is the only trueborn Bolton left, and he's soon exiled to Essos; his bastard half-brother Ramsay Snow is revealed to be alive, though.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Very narrowly averted. Loras Tyrell attempts to do this during a slavery ring bust and would've gotten himself killed were it not for Davos intervening.
• Life Saving Misfortune: Domeric's exile to Essos due to his father's involvement in the Winterfell coup is likely this, considering he was poisoned by Ramsay Snow in canon.
• Like a Son to Me: Robert eventually figures out that Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen aren't his children, and it's implied he even suspects Jaime is their father. Nevertheless, by then, he's grown to love Myrcella and Tommen as if they were his own, though not Joffrey, for obvious reasons.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • Benjen uses this against the surviving members of the coup as he's about to kill them on their way to the Wall, pointing out that, while they took the Black, they aren't Black Brothers yet.
  • Slavery is illegal in Pentos due to orders from Braavos, but the Magisters get around this by arranging for their servants to be heavily indebted to them. When Daenerys sees how much Doreah owes Illyrio, who bought her from a pleasure house in Lys, she notes that not even a noble or wealthy merchant would be able to pay it off.
• The Lost Lenore: Cat's death hits Ned and Littlefinger hard, though while Ned focuses mostly on the tragedy and his loneliness after her death is avenged, Littlefinger just gains a greater desire to make everyone else suffer.
• Love Makes You Evil:
  • Jon Connington's infatuation with the late Rhaegar makes him willing to overlook, albeit reluctantly, the false Aegon agreeing to sell Northern glassmakers into slavery in exchange for Myr's support in retaking Westeros. Also overlaps with Love Makes You Dumb since he acknowledges that dabbling in slavery will make it very hard for "Aegon" to secure support in the staunchly anti-slavery Westeros but brushes it aside as long as it means Rhaegar is avenged.
  • The thought of reuniting with Cersei is what finally drives Jaime to burn down a Sept with an entire village trapped inside. Then again, he was surrounded by armed religious fanatics who likely would've killed him on the pretext of being disloyal to the crown if he had refused to do as he was told.
    Jaime: The things I do for love.
• Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Lyanna Stark wasn't interested in sewing or poetry, as she wanted to train in the yard with her brothers, hunt boar and deer in the woods, and ride her horse all day long. She fell hard for Elia Martell, who was a Princess Classic and very well-learned in the arts of love and seduction.
• Mercy Kill:
  • Nox is forced to do this to a member of his crew for the Valyrian expedition who drank water from a poisoned stream and immediately began violently vomiting and spurting blood out of all his orifices.
  • Upon seeing Anna, who he doesn't yet know is his niece, Jaime believes that given the awful life she's given, killing her would be a mercy. Subverted when he ultimately doesn't go through with it.
• Misplaced Retribution:
  • Subverted regarding Houses Martell and Stark. Despite the latter's prominent role in the rebellion that led to the death of the beloved Princess Elia and her children, House Martell and Dorne as a whole largely do not blame House Stark or the North for it since they had pretty justified reasons to rebel, were utterly furious and disgusted over what happened to Elia and her children, and very nearly revolted against Robert in outrage for his refusal to punish those responsible.
  • Domeric gets exiled to Essos after the failed coup against the Starks, even though he didn't know anything about it. Downplayed, as Ned acknowledges that Domeric isn't to blame for his father's role in the coup and is mostly doing this to prevent House Bolton from ever rising up against the Starks in the future.
  • Played straight by Baelish after Cat's death during the coup at Nox and Nyra's wedding. Even after learning the Order of the Guiding Hand had instigated various northern nobles and Lyn Corbray into doing it, he still blames the Starks, Nox, the Tullys, the Baratheons, the Arryns, the Lannisters, and the Tyrells, just to name a few (though that last one is more justified than most would think).
• Missing Steps Plan: Tywin's attempts to organize something of a response when Joffrey ascends the throne and declares a holy war against the Old Gods and in particular the North is a more thought-out version of this: his plan is to join the crusading army, lead them North quickly before Nox returns from Beyond the Wall, defeat the North, and hopefully have Tyrion find Nyra and the Stark girls for use as hostages. Unfortunately, there are several glaring holes in said plan, namely how he intends to subdue the Riverlands, how to get past a rebuilt Moat Cailin (which held off any Andal attempts to conquer the North for thousands of years), how to subdue the very large North after entering it, and how to prevent Nox from returning to the North (he does write a letter to the Night's Watch demanding they bar Nox's path, but he literally has no way of enforcing such a demand since the Night's Watch is both at the very tail end of the North and not bound to obey House Lannister anyway). With all that said, he does have some notions of cutting his losses, such as saying that House Lannister will withdraw their support if Tyrion is harmed while serving as acting Hand, essentially giving Tyrion authorization to forcefully remove Joffrey if this stupidity was his idea and not the result of another's influence, and having Myrcella learn about the North, presumably to offer her as a bride in a bid to make peace. It's also worth noting this was something he came up with in about three days, despite having had no clue something so catastrophic would happen.
• Mock Millionaire: The Lannisters aren't poor by any means, but they've encountered increasing difficulty in finding new veins of gold on their lands, something Tywin has gone out of his way to hide from the public since House Lannister's reputation rests largely on its seemingly endless supply of gold.
• Money Dumb: Viserys blows through money that could've lasted him and his sister a year or more in just a couple months, mostly on pleasurable company and gambling.
• Motor Mouth: Renly is this. Lampshaded by Jon.
  Jon: His lips never stopped moving from the moment they passed through the gate to when they tied off their horses at the stables. Hells, the man even kept talking while his father, Lord Hightower and Lord Nox led the lot of them into the Red Keep itself.
• Must Make Amends: Gerion adopts this mindset towards his daughter Joy, whom he had left behind to go on his quest in Valyria. After returning home, he quickly gets her legitimized and begins spending more time with her. He also frequently calls his brother Tywin out for treating Joy more like property to be sold off for the glory of House Lannister instead of her own person.
• My Greatest Failure: Olenna considers her act of trying to use the Order of the Guiding Hand for her own purposes rather than exposing them the moment she discovered their existence as this, especially in light of their failed attempt to assassinate Nox and House Stark as doing so means that House Tyrell risks attracting the wrath of those the Order had wronged (of which there are MANY) for keeping it a secret.
• My Master, Right or Wrong:
  • When Domeric is being questioned following the coup against the Starks that his father took part in, he insists that he was completely in the dark about it. Ned then asks if he would've informed the Starks and Nox if he had known; Domeric's cryptic reply essentially says he wouldn't have.
  • Kevan is as usual in complete thrall to Tywin's will. Whilst Tyrion and Gerion are both opposed to House Lannister moving against the North, House Stark, and Nox owing to various factors, chief amongst them how freaking powerful and dangerous they are if crossed, Kevan blindly supports Tywin's extremely flawed plan of waging war against them without reservation.
• Mystical White Hair: Alim Nox has silver hair, something Westeros tends to associate with Valyria and their potent yet dangerous blood sorcery.
• Mythology Gag:
  • A wedding involving the Stark family turns into a tragedy courtesy of betrayal and refusal to respect Sacred Hospitality, with Catelyn Stark and one of her sons being among the casualties.
  • When Jon is confused why he needs to apologize to Arianne after their First Kiss when he didn't offend her, his master Nox replies:
    Nox: You know nothing, Jon Stark.
  • Daemon makes this comment when told there would be no beaches if he were to live at Bear Island:
    Daemon: Sand is overrated, my lady. It gets everywhere if you're not careful and you have to spend days cleaning it out.
  • Ygritte once more stares at a windmill.
  • A Sith Lord begins Force-choking a high-ranking official to death for idiocy, only for a higher-ranking person to step in and order him to stop. Unlike the canon example, however, said higher-ranking person only intercedes so that he can formally strip said high-ranking and soon-to-be-dead idiot of his titles before ordering the Sith Lord to finish the job. Nox even says "As you wish" before obliging.
  • Oberyn once again introduces himself in a fight to an opponent who grunts, "Some dead man," in response and immediately comes down on him. Unlike canon, Oberyn wins this fight by successfully killing his opponent via poison.
  • It's revealed that the Dragonlords of Valyria discovered that any rider bonded to more than one dragon will eventually go insane, often by trying to destroy everything in their path, which is likely a reference to Daenerys's Sanity Slippage in the final season of the show.
• Never My Fault: Hearing Myrcella praise Nyra's beauty causes Cersei to be reminded of Maggy's prophecy that someone younger and more beautiful than her will cause her downfall. She then impulsively strikes her daughter across the face, and while she's privately horrified by what she'd done, she convinces herself that Nox somehow made her do it through his powers.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Order of the Guiding Hand learned that Shireen can apparently use magic thanks to Maester Cressen, who didn't know about the order's existence, writing to the Citadel about it. The order then tries to kill her by infecting her with greyscale, though Nox and Talisa thankfully cure her of it.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Besides a few deaths, the conspiracy to exterminate the Starks and the Sorcerer's family only made them stronger. Lampshaded by Leyton Hightower.
    Leyton: I doubt those fools could've imagined a larger failure on their part. They not only failed to end the line of the wolves and the Sorcerer. And in the end, they only made the Starks and the Sorcerer seem that much more impressive.
  • Joffrey publicly demands Sansa to heal the Hound's scars, expecting her to fail and humiliate herself. She instead succeeds, naturally, which not only fixes the Hound's face, but also ends up helping the Stark girls and their companions escape King's Landing when the Hound decides to defect to their side.
• Nice to the Waiter: Subverted by the false Aegon, who very nearly walks right over a slave in his path without even noticing her and has no qualms over agreeing to hand over the North's glassmakers—who would be counted amongst his future subjects—to Myr to be made slaves.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: When Joffrey mocks Arya for being a coward when she froze up upon intervening to save Loras from Gregor Clegane, Tommen stands up to his Big Brother Bully for the first time, going so far as to punch Joffrey in the face. Unfortunately, this just leads to Joffrey drawing out his sword, though the Hound thankfully diffuses the situation before Joffrey manages to hurt anyone with it and Tommen declares that he doesn't regret what he did, regardless.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Hearing that the North has succeeded in recreating Valyrian steel makes Stannis's jaw drop. Renly also briefly loses his arrogant demeanor when he learns of the discovery.
  • Robert finds it increasingly odd that Stannis, who constantly talks about the importance of duty, would hole himself up on Dragonstone and ignore all summons from King's Landing. He eventually sends Shireen to investigate.
• Odd Friendship:
  • Robert initially distrusts Nox due to the latter's Valyrian-like appearance but soon grows to like the Sorcerer, who even inspires him to be a better ruler.
  • Despite the enmity between the Lannisters and Martells and Oberyn initially wanting to kill Gerion Lannister for trying to stab the former's daughter Obara when the Valyrian expedition encountered Gerion, the two men eventually become good friends. It probably helped that after regaining his sanity and learning about what he almost did, Gerion's first act was to grovel for forgiveness and insult his brother Tywin.
  • Like in canon, there's Oberyn's friendship with Willas, whose family hates the former for accidentally maiming Willas in a joust. He later also befriends Willas's brother Garlan after they venture beyond the Wall to deal with a group of rogue Free Folk and later fight a White Walker together.
• One-Man Industrial Revolution: Downplayed. Nox struggles to bridge the gap between the medieval Westeros and the galaxy-spanning level tech he grew with. He can give pointers and advice, but he must rely on natives making their own inventions.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. Both Ned and Nox formerly were in love with a woman named Ashara, and Nyra actually considers naming a daughter thus.
• Only Sane Man: Tyrion and Gerion are the only ones on the Lannister side who not only recognize what a spectacularly bad idea declaring war on the North, House Stark, and Nox is but openly point this out.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Robert was outraged when he learned that Balon Greyjoy intended to kidnap Joffrey and Myrcella, as well as Robert's infant niece Shireen, and use them as hostages to negotiate the Iron Islands' independence, though it's implied Robert was otherwise a neglectful parent. Played straighter after Robert Took a Level in Kindness and starts spending more time with Myrcella and Tommen, though this just worsens his relationship with Joffrey.
  • Naturally, Stannis is this to his daughter Shireen.
  • Gerion Lannister becomes this to his bastard daughter Joy following his return home from his voyage to Valyria, mostly to make up for not taking proper responsibility for her sooner. When his brother Tywin casually instructs Joy to catch the attention of certain male individuals for the sake of securing alliances, Gerion does not take his daughter being treated like livestock well.
  • Oberyn is this towards his daughters, largely because the thought of any harm coming to them reminds him of his failure to protect his sister Elia and niece Rhaenys.
• Parental Favoritism: Cersei, naturally, favors her eldest, Joffrey, far more than she does her other two children, to the point where Myrcella is afraid of their mother taking Joffrey's side over her and Tommen's. This gets inverted with Robert when he finally starts to be a more involved parent, forming a close relationship with Tommen and Myrcella while Joffrey becomes The Un-Favorite in his eyes.
• Patchwork Fic: The story is mostly based on the books, hence the appearances of Willas, Garlan, Arianne, Jon Connington, and other characters who were Adapted Out of the show. On the other hand, the fic also includes many of the show's Canon Foreigners, such as Karsi, Ros, and Kinvara.
• Powerful and Helpless: Despite how strong they are in the Force, neither Robb nor Jon is able to save Catelyn from death after she is stabbed in the heart.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Grand Maester Jeorge talks Robert out of assassinating the pregnant Daenerys on the grounds that it would be too difficult to carry out successfully with how closely guarded she'll be and isn't worth the risk: Dothraki typically wouldn't go anywhere near seawater, let alone sail across them, but they might if they feel the Iron Throne is a threat to their leader's wife and unborn child. Instead, Jeorge suggests Viserys as a more convenient target since his death will effectively nullify the agreement Khal Drogo made to invade Westeros and help Viserys take back the Iron Throne in exchange for Daenerys's hand in marriage.
• Promoted to Love Interest:
  • Lyanna Stark and Elia Martell.
  • Arianne never even met Jon Snow or Ygritte in the books. Here, she becomes betrothed to Jon, with Ygritte as their paramour.
  • Garlan and Karsi. It's worth noting that the former was Adapted Out of the show, in which the latter was a Canon Foreigner.
• Psychic Link: Jon develops this with Daenerys through the will of the Force. This is a dyad in the Force, a very rare form of a Force bond. As explained by Nox, a Force dyad bond between a pair makes them a singular presence and one in the Force, which also increases the power of the pair drastically. It is stated that the bond of a dyad is as strong as life itself and links their minds across space and time, allowing the two to always speak with one another, no matter the distance. Such a occurrence is very rare and its full abilities have never been explored. But it has been theorized that the connection between the bonded pair may been potent enough to pass physical items through the aether of the Force. Why Jon and Dany have been bonded by the will of the Force has yet to be explained.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil:
  • After being Forced to Watch his mother gang-raped by his master's household, Nox cannot abide sexual assault at all.
  • Rhaegar very much did this to Lyanna, who could either submit willingly or have his Kingsguard hold her down so he could impregnate her and then end House Stark for good. She chose the former.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: During his trial, Robb sees apparitions of Torrhen Stark, Theon Stark, and Bran the Builder, all of whom call him a pathetic disgrace to their line. Robb fires back that the three of them all did unimaginable things to protect the North and that he will do so as well, though his way. He also adds that while he may be Andal through his mother, he is also a Stark and will accept all the responsibilities that come with it, regardless of any nervousness he may have.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Downplayed for Mace Tyrell when he learns that Karsi has given birth to Garlan's bastard son. Though his negative reaction seems harsh, it's pretty much expected considering how most of Westeros outside of Dorne views bastards. Moreover, once he learns that Karsi isn't a Gold Digger and has no intention of bringing her and Garlan's son down south, he allows Garlan to go visit his son, provided that he's discreet about it so the public doesn't find out.
• Redeeming Replacement: Grand Maester Jeorge is this to Pycelle, quickly showing that he is competent, loyal to the crown, and open minded about Nox's creations.
• Rejecting the Inheritance:
  • After learning he's Rhaegar Targaryen's last surviving child and a potential claimant to the Iron Throne, Jon is utterly horror-struck and wants to stay far, far away from King's Landing and everyone hinting he ought to take the crown. However, Joffrey ascending the throne and declaring a holy war against the North may force Jon to press his claim, if only to protect Westeros from Joffrey's madness.
  • Dany eventually decides to forge her own path in Essos rather than try to reclaim the Iron Throne, particularly after learning about her father's various crimes that led to the Rebellion in the first place.
• Rescue Romance: As the Free Folk and the Westerosi Lords' expedition is fighting the more violent and unruly wildlings, Jon saves Ygritte's life by killing the man about to cut her in halves. She decides it's as good as stealing her, to Jon's utter dismay.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons:
  • Many people believe Nox's homeland to be beyond even Yi Ti and Asshai due to how advanced it sounds... which is technically correct, considering he's from another planet.
  • The Tyrells are among the many people Littlefinger blames for Cat's death, even though, as far as he knows, they weren't involved in the coup the Order of the Guiding Hand arranged that resulted in her assassination. However, Olenna, the matriarch of House Tyrell, found out about the Order of the Guiding Hand years ago and kept quiet about it so she could use the organization to her own advantage, meaning the Tyrells are partly responsible for the Order managing to get as far as they did.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • After the massacre at Nox's wedding, Ned Stark, Nox, and the entire North embark on one of these against the ones responsible. By the end of it, three Northern houses are effectively extinct, a fourth is exiled on pain of death, and the Order of the Maesters has been gutted.
  • One of the reasons why King Torrhen Stark agreed to submit to the Targaryens is because he had a Force vision of this being inflicted on the North if they chose to fight: they managed to kill one of the dragons and its rider during the battle, but the remaining two went on to burn every single castle between the Neck and the Wall in response.
• Royal Brat: Joffrey, of course. During the tourney at Harrenhal, he commits so many insults and faux pas against numerous people of influence that, if it were not for his royal status, he'd have been knifed in the back or on the way to the Wall before the second day.
• Royalty Superpower: Downplayed, as Westerosi nobility is quite interested in the possibility of having a sorcerer for their heir, with Jon Arryn predicting it might lead to a magic-wielding ruling caste a few generations down the line. So far, the Starks, Baratheons, and Lannisters have shown the potential.
• Running Gag: Nox threatens to lock Jon in a brothel to help him get over his aversion to the opposite gender.
• Sadist: Joffrey, naturally, but even worse than canon when Baelish observes that after witnessing the horrific torture of prisoners by Ramsay, Joffrey is heavily aroused by it.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • The stillbirth of Aegon started Rhaegar down this path in a different way from his father, as Arthur Dayne admits to a letter left for Jon, who laments he didn't fully grasp how bad Rhaegar was getting until it was far, far too late.
  • The Dragonlords of Valyria found out that any rider bound to more than one dragon will eventually undergo this, often becoming an Omnicidal Maniac by the end. Daenerys learns about this and avoids it by only hatching a single dragon for herself.
• Secretly Dying: By the time of the grand tourney at 300 years after Aegon's Conquest, Robert has contracted Tuberculosis and probably only has five years at most to live, with what medical advancements that Nox has managed to bring maybe giving him an extra few years at most. This is kept secret as Robert knows the moment his illness is known, the mess that is King's Landing will get insurmountably worse.
• Secret-Keeper: Those who know of Jon's true parentage during the course of the story include Ned, Benjen, Howland Reed, Lord Dayne, Cat, Jon, Rob, Nox, Oberyn, Doran, Arianne, Ygritte, Maester Aemon, and Dany.
  • Nox agrees to keep Mance Rayder's secret as King-Beyond-The-Wall from everyone else until the proper time as Mance is more useful to him alive than dead.
• Secret Secret-Keeper:
  • Nox immediately feels Jon is Ned's nephew rather than his son through the Force. He keeps quiet because his situation is very complicated already, and it might be best put to use later. This is only turned to a Secret-Keeper proper after Jon, shorty after being told by Ned, figures out that Nox knew.
  • Doran and Oberyn deduce Jon's true parentage after finding and translating a letter in code from Elia that had been intercepted by the Guiding Hand. This awareness later becomes known.
• Secret Test of Character: Daenerys puts Jorah through one, asking if he found honor and satisfaction in serving her father. When Jorah answers yes, Dany, who knows of her family's history in the Rebellion, isn't very impressed and warns Jorah that she won't tolerate false platitudes and flattery from him again.
• Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Robert keeps mourning Lyanna as his one true love and the woman who would have made him truly happy, but he exchanged barely a few sentences with her, indulged in whoring in spite of his betrothal, and is unaware that Lyanna was a Butch Lesbian and wouldn't have returned his feelings even if he had been the nicest guy to live. Somewhat subverted when he reveals on his deathbed that he saw the signs of her relationship with Elia Martell early on and apparently chose to ignore them.
• Shame If Something Happened: Nox demonstrates his aptitude for the game to Doran Martell by mentioning how he knows why Oberyn was actually in Essos—namely, secretly meeting with the exiled Targaryens, which would guarantee a violent reprisal against Dorne from the Baratheon dynasty should said information become known. As long as Dorne takes no action against Nox or those he cares about, said information will remain secret.
• Shared Unusual Trait: As Jaime prepares himself to kill a young girl looking like Myrcella on Cersei's orders, he notes she has heterochromia—one black eye and one green, just like his brother Tyrion. It startles him into questioning her and realizing she's his niece.
• Shipper with an Agenda: Tywin intends to strengthen House Lannister's ties to the Starks through marriage so that he may benefit from the North's newfound wealth and breed magic into his family. He thus schemes to send his bastard niece Joy to Winterfell and has her learn about Northern Houses and traditions, hoping that she'll attract Jon Snow's eye. After Jon becomes betrothed to Arianne and Robb marries Talisa, Tywin settles for Gendry, Robert's bastard son who can also use the Force and will likely soon be legitimized for recreating Valyrian steel; he even hopes that Joy loses her virtue to Gendry so that they can force a betrothal. He also has his nephew Tyrek learn about Northern traditions and orders Joy to tell Tyrek everything she knows about Arya Stark so that he may catch her interest. Tyrion, however, doesn't hesitate to point out that these plans have low odds of bearing fruit since the Starks do not think highly of the Lannisters due to Tywin's actions during Robert's Rebellion, and their allies through Nox are likely to be of the same mindset.
• Shout-Out:
  • Chapter 16 has the funeral song being sung by everyone 'The Dawn Will Come' from Dragon Age: Inquisition.
  • Chapter 31 has Val of the Free Folk take the surname Norfolk, which comes from The Difference One Man Can Make.
  • Chapter 42 contains a pretty clear cut one to The Patriot with Ramsay Snow playing the part of Tavington as he and Jaime Lannister burn an entire village alive after herding the people into their Sept.
• Simple-Minded Wisdom: As Nox's influence grows, Jon Arryn advises Robert to be more wary of the Sorcerer and not give him so much leeway in case he decides to make a play for the Iron Throne. Robert just laughs the idea off, pointing out that if Nox really wanted the throne, they'd have no chance of stopping him, so they're better off trying to befriend him and rightfully rewarding his many accomplishments rather than doing anything that may drive him towards their enemies. Downplayed in that Robert is actually much more intelligent than many who know him think.
• Skewed Priorities: Despite him and his sister being on the run from assassins (at least as far as he knows), Viserys decides to gamble with the money Mellario gives them or spend it on pleasurable company, thus squandering money that should've lasted them a year or more in just a couple of months.
• Smarter Than You Look: Robert Baratheon may come off as just a Lazy Bum and Dumb Muscle of a king, but he's actually a fairly competent ruler and savvy politician when he really tries. He counsels Ned from his deathbed on how to secure enough alliances to prevent Tywin Lannister from seizing power and reveals he's already figured out the parentages of his "trueborn" children and Jon Snow.
• Spanner in the Works: Varys and Illyrio scheme to make Daenerys a widow so they can spirit her away from the Dothraki and introduce her to the fake Aegon, whom they intend to have retake Westeros with his "aunt" by his side. Daenerys wasn't aware of any of this when she instead ventured into the Red Waste with her khalassar and began furthering her plans to rebuild the Valyrian Empire in Essos.
• Spared By Adaptation:
  • Gerion Lannister is widely believed to be dead in the books. He's found barely alive during Nox's Valyrian expedition and brought safely back to Westeros.
  • Being intentionally left out of the loop of the Bolton-Whitehill-Ryswell-Dustin plot against Houses Stark and Nox by his father, Domeric Bolton, Roose's son, is exiled to Essos rather than executed, avoiding his canon fate of being killed by Ramsay.
  • Rhaego is born alive instead of a deformed stillbirth.
• Spotting the Thread: Soon after arriving at Winterfell, Nox learns that the Lannisters' wealth comes from the gold in their lands, which have been mined since before the Lannisters even came into power. He deduces that since their supply of gold is naturally finite, their mines have to be close to running dry, if they haven't already. Sure enough, Tywin is later revealed to be struggling to find new gold veins and trying to find new sources of wealth for his family.
• Starting a New Life: After being sentenced to exile in Essos for his father's role in the Winterfell coup, Domeric Bolton tries to keep this mindset, realizing he can finally be free from the Bolton legacy that always disturbed him; he ends up doing quite well for himself.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: The Dornish and Free Folk share similar views on sexual freedom despite being on literal opposite ends of Westeros.
• Succession Crisis: As is natural in a story set in Westeros, one is brewing in the Seven Kingdoms and will likely be the source of the massive conflict Nox has sensed for a long time that appears to be inevitable and beyond his reach to stop. It's essentially the canon clash for the thrones, though several twists to the major parties involved from canon are set to create additional complications.
  • House Baratheon's succession to the Iron Throne is the center of it, naturally, starting from Robert's failing health and growing dissatisfaction with Joffrey. While he enlists Ned and Nox to try to help bring Joffrey up to snuff, he's doing it out of a sense of obligation that he should at least try and is starting to seriously consider skipping Joffrey over for his younger brother Tommen. This is of course not even acknowledging the fact that Joffrey and Tommen aren't his children in the first place, a fact that Stannis has deduced and Nox is becoming suspicious of. This also leaves the house far weaker than it appears to be, with only Stannis having a true heir in his only child, Shireen, who is automatically disqualified under the patriarchal rules of the realm and also likely to invite hostility due to being a budding Force-user. This is likely to serve as the catalyst for the war to come.
  • The aforementioned Stannis retreats to Dragonstone at Jon Arryn's suggestion to avoid their knowledge of this being snuffed out, where Melisandre has arrived and is trying to influence things. While Stannis himself is resistant to her subtle magics, others around him are not, and Shireen, now an apprentice of Nox, is sent to investigate what is going on at Dragonstone. Meanwhile, Renly Baratheon has started to make his own moves, having caught Joffrey at the fighting pits and is unusually interested in bringing his nephew to justice.
• Super Breeding Program:
  • Valyria kept their grasp on magic strong through the infusion of fresh, potent bloodlines to their Empire, seeking to conquer the Rhoynar because of their elemental sorcery. As they declined, they sought to renew their power by marrying a dragonlord to a daughter of the Stark ruling line—when Nox's party visits Valyria, the ghostly Archon he meets asks for confirmation that the bloodlines have been united and only moves on after getting reassured that Jon indeed is the product of their program.
  • Tywin craves magic being bred into the Lannister bloodline and makes plans for one of the Stark children to marry a Lannister scion. When informed of his niece Joy being Force sensitive, she becomes his favored candidate as the mother to bear potential sorcerers.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: A telltale mark of someone drawing on the Dark side. As Nox teaches the Starks how to wield the Force, people start talking about "wolf eyes."
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ned reveals that this was the case between the North and Robert during the Rebellion. Whilst the Northern lords respected Robert's fighting prowess, they were displeased by his hypocrisy in indulging whores despite proclaiming love for Lyanna Stark and were outright disgusted by his joy in the murders of Elia Martell and her children, so much so that Ned claims a second war was barely avoided over it.
• Tempting Fate: After Jon's parentage is revealed, Catelyn tells Ned that she needs time to process everything. Ned understands and tells her to take all the time she needs and he'll be waiting. Guess what happens next?
• That Old-Time Prescription: While looking through Nox's laboratory, Ned sees moldy food laid out on a table as well as soaking in heated water in a glass container. Nox later explains that he was making a drug to fight infections, namely the antibiotic penicillin.
• Thicker Than Water: The Stark mantra of the pack sticking together no matter what crops up numerous times. Most notably, Benjen, who officially renounced his titles as a Stark when he joined the Night's Watch, kills off the remaining conspirators by kicking their prison wagon into a gorge. He might not be a Stark in name anymore, but he still carries the blood of the wolf, and it does not forgive.
• This Is Gonna Suck:
  • How Ned reacts when he learns that members of House Tyrell, House Lannister, and House Martell (all of whom have longstanding grudges against the other two) will be arriving shortly at Winterfell, and around the same time to boot.
  • Tyrion's very succinct summary of the situation after hearing that Joffrey has seized the throne and declared a holy war against the North, House Stark, and Nox. With both Stark daughters and Nox's wife missing, having successfully escaped King's Landing, their only current hostage is Ned. Gerion seconds this whole-heartedly.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Due to his knowledge about the importance of genetic diversity in preventing disorders, Nox quickly develops this view of House Targaryen after learning about their practice of keeping their blood "pure" through Royal Inbreeding, taking the madness that runs in the Targaryen family and the end of their dynasty at the hands of the hands of the Mad King Aerys and Prince Rhaegar as proof. A spirit of the former leader of the Archons of the Valyrian Empire later echoes this sentiment upon learning about the Targaryens' conquest of Westeros and eventual downfall, noting how Valyria always made sure to infuse fresh bloodlines into their empire to strengthen their magical abilities, a lesson the Targaryens never learned.
  • After the failed coup in Winterfell, a Vale knight thought it was a good idea to taunt Nox over his wife and stillborn son in the hopes of getting a quick death. It does him less than good.
  • Janos Slynt brings a few alchemists who are secretly loyal to the dead Aerys II before Robert without restraining them or checking to see if they are armed first. After one of them turns out to be the latter and nearly assassinates Robert with wildfire, Nox decides that Slynt is literally this trope and starts to Force Choke him. Robert stops him just long enough to formally strip Slynt of his position for his stupidity, then tells Nox to kill Slynt slowly.
  • Walder Frey, dear Lord... He gets the brilliant idea to try and betroth his daughters to Robb and Jon, which is soundly rejected. Then he attempts to do the same to Ned, whose wife hasn't even passed for a year. Ned is enraged but keeps his cool. Then he has the audacity to insult Nyra and her and Nox's stillborn son in front of Nox. Nox naturally doesn't take it well. The only reason that he survives at all is because Nox would rather not deal with the fallout of killing him.
  • During a fight against rogue Free Folk, Garlan is nearly killed by Harma due to his decision to spare her life because she's a woman, even though she had been fighting against him fiercely just moments ago. Only Karsi's timely intervention saves him, and both she and Harma call Garlan out on what a stupid move that was.
• Took a Level in Badass: Nox's various accomplishments and adventures inspire Robert to be a more competent king. The reveal that the White Walkers are returning further motivate him to get back into shape for the upcoming war.
• The Tooth Hurts: Oberyn gets one of the treacherous Sunspear Maesters to talk by, among other things, prying his teeth out one by one with pliers.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Dany's is tea from Yi Ti.
• Tragic Keepsake: Tysha refused to spend the money given to her when she was raped by Lannister guards and then Tyrion before being sent on her way, even while living in near squalor with her daughter, instead keeping all the coins in a bag hidden under a floorboard.
• Tragic Stillbirth:
  • Elia Martell actually lost her second pregnancy and was left barren by the ordeal. She passed a commoner's child off as her own because Aerys would have had her killed for failing to produce an heir to the throne, no matter the circumstances, which in turn would have led to House Martell and Dorne rising up against him in outrage.
  • Nyra is attacked at her own wedding to prevent her giving birth to the Sorcerer's spawn. While Sansa managed to save her life, she and Nox lose their unborn son.
• Training from Hell: What Nox puts his acolytes through. He explicitly warns them it will be harsh and brutal and that he suffered much, much worse for the sake of becoming a Sith. What he puts his actual apprentices through is actually worse.
• Tranquil Fury: Despite Stannis's calm face, Jon senses this upon the former learning that the Order of the Guiding Hand apparently caused his parents' deaths at sea and tried to kill his daughter by infecting her with greyscale.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening:
  • A preteen Nox was Forced to Watch his mother being raped and murdered by their master, driving him to Force-choke the guard who shot her. For daring to have the potential to become a Sith when he was a mere slave, he was blinded by said master, whom he reduced to bloody smears on the walls. Then he was taken away by the city guards for Training from Hell.
  • After having her pretty dreams about gallant knights mercilessly shattered by Ser Lyn Corbray stabbing the heavily pregnant Nyra and casually letting his men sexually assault Jeyne Poole, Sansa Force-shouts him into submission and manages to heal Nyra's wound.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: Gendry's talent in the Force is to forge truly outstanding weapons, and he actually manages to recreate Valyrian steel.
• Undisclosed Funds: Doreah is deeply in debt to Illyrio Mopatis and thus his slave in all but name. After Dany receives the scroll detailing how much Doreah owes, she notes that not even a filthy rich merchant or noble would be able to pay it off.
• Unishment: Discussed. It's why Jaime can't be simply dismissed from the Kingsguard following the revelation that he knew about the wildfire caches stashed throughout in King's Landing. It would simply give Tywin the means to reinstate Jaime as heir to Casterly Rock.
  Varys: A dismissal from the Kingsguard would allow Lord Tywin to reinstate Ser Jaime as his heir to Casterly Rock. Such a move could be seen my many as a reward, not a punishment.
• Unknown Rival:
  • Cersei in her paranoia believes everything the Sorcerer achieved in the North is part of his goal to topple the Lannister family. Nox barely cares about the Westerlands as he's more focused on preparing the North to handle the upcoming Long Night. He is aware, though, that Cersei hates him and wants him gone but considers her little more than a nuisance, which is fortunate for Cersei since those who Nox deems actual threats to him tend not to live very long.
  • Cersei also eventually becomes convinced that Nyra intends to supplant her as queen and is the younger and more beautiful individual Maggy's prophecy said would cause Cersei's downfall. In truth, Nyra has no such intentions.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: It's currently unknown in the books whether Young Griff really is Rhaegar and Elia's son like he claims. His counterpart in the fic isn't, though, as the real Aegon was actually stillborn; Rhaegar and Elia passed the son of a common girl off as theirs to protect Elia from being executed by Aerys.
• Unreliable Narrator: Littlefinger is a variation of this when he tells Joffrey the story of King Aenys Targaryen and great of a King he was, so much that his own father, Aegon the Conqueror, and Visenya Targaryen feared him. This of course, is just a ploy by Littlefinger to corrupt Joffrey even further, as anyone who knows the real story knows that this was hardly the case, but Joffrey is too stupid to realize this.
• Unwanted False Faith: Nox gets mistaken for no less than three different deities or their avatar because of his skill in wielding the Force. He's rather nonplussed by the fact, especially when the customers and workers at one Essossi brothel start bowing to him and call him R'hllor's chosen.
• Villain Has a Point: During the trial of Winterfell, Roger and Rickard Ryswell angrily respond to Ned's charge of "Crimes against the North" by declaring that he was softened by his fostering in the South and was never a full Northernman and that he built the Sept in the heart of Winterfell, the seat of the Old Gods (something that is considered very offensive to true believers of the Old Gods), simply because he didn't want to upset his Southern wife. They're also correct in that Catelyn never did accept the ways of the North and consistently pressured other Northern ladies to abandon millennia of tradition and bring Septas up North to "properly" raise their daughters in the ways of the South. At least a small amount of people actually agree with this, though this in no way justifies their crimes.
• Villain Respect: Downplayed. Lady Dustin delivers something almost akin to such to Ned just before her execution.
• Wham Line: Varys tells Robert of a man with seemingly divine abilities and who has started gathering quite a following.
  Robert: And who is this man?
  Varys: He has given up his name. But before he started wandering, he was a Septon from somewhere in the Crownlands. Though I haven't been able to track down his origins exactly. He has also started to garner quite the following. Those that follow him refer to him as the "High Sparrow," the messenger of the Seven.
  • Robert somberly talking with Jon about times past, which alarms him. Then Robert starts coughing violently, after which his handkerchief is covered in blood.
  Robert: Sickness of the lungs. My death. Not the death of a warrior…but the death of an old sickly man.
• What Were You Thinking?:
  • Karsi's response to Garlan deciding to spare Harma when he had her on the ground, which nearly got him killed.
  • Ned reacts this way to Arya for nearly getting into a fight with Gregor Clegane in her attempt to save Loras, pointing out how reckless that was, even if she had noble intentions.
  • Myrcella scolds Tommen for his stupidity in punching Joffrey, who drew his sword on Tommen in response, nearly attacked him with it, and will likely complain to their mother about it.
• World's Strongest Man: Robert Baratheon bluntly acknowledges Lord Alim Nox as such when Jon Arryn wonders why the King tolerates the man. Since nobody in Westeros or Essos can hope to take on the Sorcerer and live to tell the tale, it's better to leave him to his own devices and pray for the bloodbath to be kept at a minimum when he wants something.
• Worthy Opponent: Jory proves able to match the Kingslayer blow for blow thanks to the intense training regimen developed by Nox for the Northern soldiers. Jaime is actually ecstatic to finally encounter someone who actually makes him work for his victory and is thus very pissed off when several of his men intervene and fatally wound Jory.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • The Order of the Guiding Hand and the Northern Lords they used as catspaws feel no qualms over the murder of Nox's unborn son and Ned Stark's brood—do remember that Robb is the eldest and was barely thirteen years old while Rickon was only an infant. The Order also attempted to kill the preteen Shireen by infecting her with greyscale when she showed the ability to wield the Force.
  • Cersei commands her twin to find a slave girl and murder her for the sin of looking like Myrcella. Jaime almost goes through with it but doesn't upon finding out that the girl is his niece.
  • Magister Rabier of Pentos charges his clients for the right to torture slaves to death. The younger the slave, the higher the price.
  • During the Exalted March, High Inquisitor Ramsay Rivers (Ramsay Snow's pseudonym) has an entire village, including the children, herded and locked in their Sept before ordering that it be burned. Someone tries to make a hole in the wall so that a child can escape, only for one of the soldiers to kill the child and use its skull to plug up the hole.
• You Can't Go Home Again:
  • Nox crash-landed on Westeros, a garden world lacking the technology to fix his ship and allow him to be reunited with the wider galaxy. He made his peace with the fact that he's stuck and decided to devote his lifetime to uplift Westeros as much as possible.
  • Domeric Bolton is exiled to Essos on pain of death for his father's involvement in the Winterfell coup.
  • Daenerys believes this about her and Viserys after hearing Mellario explain what really happened during Robert's Rebellion.
• You Didn't Ask: Said almost in verbatim by Nox to Ned's silent question about the bard (Mance Rayder)'s true identity.
• You're Not My Father: After finding out the truth about his birth, Jon does not have a kind thought to spare about Rhaegar and does not consider him his father. He instead firmly considers Ned Stark as his true father.

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