A Knight's Watch
is a A Song of Ice and Fire fanfic by DolorousEdditor where, rather than allowing Jon Snow to go North to join the Night's Watch, Ned Stark instead arranges for him to go south and train to be a knight.
Tropes that appear in this fanfic:
- Actionized Adaptation: As the focus is on Jon, there is a lot more emphasis on action and less on intrigue compared to the original books and show.
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Despite the added emphasis on action, as noted above, there are numerous moments of quiet and character building for the protagonists, most involving Jon. These include:
- Sansa comforting Jon in the godswood after they learn about his parents.
- Jon telling Rickon about his father, and assuring him that they shouldn't forget about him, no matter how much it hurts to remember.
- Jon reading Willem's letter, while going through his belongings after the latter dies.
- Anger Born of Worry: Sansa is often irate with Jon on account of his Chronic Hero Syndrome.
- Bait-and-Switch: Done frequently. A segment's wording will imply something happening with certain characters, only to reveal it was someone else nearby.
- Greatjon and Jorelle Mormont get married in the godswood of Winterfell, but the wording initially implies it was Jon and Sansa.
- Melissandre has Gilly killed and glamors herself as her, but the wording initially implies it was Val.
- Been There, Shaped History: Jon Snow spends the earlier chapters as this. He goes all over the south, participating in various major events of the War of Five Kings; he accompanies Tyrion to the wall and then to the crossroads, squires to a member of Renly's Rainbow Guard, fights in the battle of Blackwater, joins the brotherhood without banners. It only diverges after the Red Wedding when Jon ends up in the Vale.
- Canon Foreigner:
- Ser Willem Royce, a cousin of Lord Yohn who ends up becoming Jon's best friend.
- Coll and Aldred, noble vassals of the Boltons.
- Cool Sword:
- Robar's sword, which becomes the object of Jon's promise.
- As usual, Longclaw, which ends up in the possession of Howland Reed.
- As in canon, Lady Fornlorn, another Valyrian steel blade belonging to Ser Lynn Corbray. It tranformes into Lightbringer after Corbray's execution/Jon's funeral.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Sansa is 14/13 when she becomes queen, and Rickon is 5 when he is named king.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Jon can't help but go on whatever dangerous mission that House Stark or the North requires at the time, even as more and more capable retainers join their cause.
- Covered in Scars: Jon has two healed slashes on his abdomen, lash scars from being flogged by the Freys, and of course, healed burns on his hand.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ser Willem is of near-Tyrion Lannister levels of snark.
- Exact Words: Bloodraven tells Bran that Jon is fated to die if he goes to the Wall. Bran does everything he can think of to protect his cousin, including possessing a giant to fight the Others with him. He thinks that he's changed Jon's fate, only for Bloodraven to remind him that he said Jon would die if he went to the Wall, not at the Wall. Sure enough, Jon is murdered on his way back to Winterfell, though it doesn't stick.
- Face–Monster Turn: Stannis is turned into an Other after Davos' and Shireen's deaths drive him over the edge and the Others promise him that he can get them back.
- Freak Out: Jon's reaction to learning the truth of his parentage, complete with a Howl of Sorrow.
- Handicapped Badass: Aldred, one of the vassals of House Bolton, is still a capable warrior even after losing a hand.
- How Dare You Die on Me!: Stannis, to Shireen as she finally succumbs to greyscale.
- Inspite Of A Nail: Despite Jon being away from the wall and changing events after he gets to the Vale, certain events still occur.
- Jon still gets his hand burnt, though not the same way.
- Despite Jon not being in the watch, they still hold against the wildings until Stannis arrives, and Jeor Mormont gives him the same advice of enlisting the mountain clans.
- Jon still ends up beheading Janos Sylnt, this time for desertion of the Night's Watch.
- Lord Commander Mormont is still betrayed and killed by his men in a mutiny, though his death mirrors Jon's from the books.
- Subverted later, when it seems that after everything Jon will have to take the black to break the stalemate in the Lord Commander's choosing. Instead, Howland Reed joins.
- I Gave My Word: Jon braves all sorts of dangers, nearly dying twice, just to keep his promise to return Robar's sword to his family.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Ser Willem becomes Jon's closest friend despite being at least fiteen years older than he is.
- Knighting: Jon Snow is knighted by no less than Bronze Yohn Royce, who even modifies his vow to suit a follower of the old gods.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Jon becomes a textbook example.
- Like a Son to Me: Implied in Willem's relationship to Jon, like the time he tells him that he can't bring himself to burn Jon even if he's turned into a wight because he couldn't stand to see his son, also named Jon, die in a fire again.
- Made of Iron: Jon suffers all sorts of injuries over the course of the story, but never lets them slow him down for long. Even dying isn't enough to stop Jon Snow.
- Monster Clown: Patchface, even more than in canon, since he's the one who made the Grey fever spread faster by contaminating the drinking water, and kills several of Stannis's men, including Davos, to drive Stannis closer and closer to the edge. It's implied that there is no real Patchface, and the fool is just a mouthpiece for the Others.
- Older Sidekick: Ser Willem to Ser Jon, as he had been old enough to fight in the battle of the trident and remember Rhaegar.
- Parental Substitute: Rickon asks both Sansa and Jon to be this to him. However, both of them are too young to know how to parent a child with as many emotional problems as him, not to mention the unhealthiness of dealing with grief over losing his parents that way. In the end, they manage to convince him not to forget his parents, and that they would always love him as his older siblings.
- Pet the Dog: Lady Catelyn, who had long resented Jon and had earlier rebuked him at the crossroads, offers to let Jon join her and Brienne as they beat a retreat from Storm's End after Renly's death.
- Praetorian Guard: The Stark sisters create the Sworn Guard, the North's version of a Kinsguard. Brienne of Tarth is the first to be named.
- The Promise: Jon swears to return Robar's sword to his home. His success marks the divergence from events of the books.
- Redeeming Replacement: After House Bolton is destroyed, Jon is awarded their lands and castle.
- Rescue Romance: Jon saves Sansa from wildling raiders, and she returns the favor by saving him from Littlefinger.
- She's All Grown Up: Upon reuniting with Sansa, Jon takes note of how Sansa has grown from a little girl to a young woman.
- Unscrupulous Hero:
- Bran the Builder, who enslaved hundreds of giants in order to build the Wall and Winterfell.
- Also Bloodraven, who has an extreme The Needs of the Many mentality, saying he would kill thousands of innocents if it prevents ten times that number from falling to the Others.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Bloodraven and Bran have a vision of Jon dying if he goes to the Wall. Bran is terrified of this outcome and tries everything to protect him, from appearing in Winterfell's godswood to warn him away, to possessing Wun Wun in order to fight with Jon against the Others. Despite this, Jon still dies on his way back from the Wall, betrayed by Stannis and his men, just like Bloodraven had warned Bran.
