Fanfic / Queen of the May

You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear;
To-morrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;
Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest merriest day,
For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

Queen of the May is a 2020 A Song of Ice and Fire fanfic by Becky_Blue_Eyes, with inspiration from Midsommar.

During Robert's Rebellion, Princess Elia Martell and her daughter Rhaenys Targaryen, are not killed but made into hostages in all but name. Elia is forced to marry the abusive Lord Tywin Lannister, and Rhaenys is betrothed to Prince Joffrey Baratheon, who adopts his father's abusive attitude toward her. There is only one way for Rhaenys to gain her freedom and her mother's: the May Day celebration is coming, which includes a dancing contest only maidens can enter. The winner is crowned the May Queen, and can ask for one gift from the king, which he cannot refuse.

It can be read here.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Tywin cares nothing for his daughter Jeyne, and doesn't even bother to raise her himself, leaving her to grow up at Casterly Rock and be looked after by her aunt Genna and uncle Kevan. He won't hesitate to have her hurt or killed if her mother Elia or sister Rhaenys misbehave.
• Affectionate Nickname: Elia calls her daughter Rhaenys "my little sun," in reference to the arms of House Martell which are a sun and a spear.
• All There in the Manual: The author's notes explain where the power of the May Queen derives from, the meanings of the flowers in Rhaenys' crown, and the identities of the previous May Queens that she dances with.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: After Robert’s Rebellion, Elia was forced to marry Tywin and bear him a child to be used as a hostage against her.
• Ascended Extra: Rhaenys gets a lot to do for a character whose only canonical traits were "owned a kitten" and "died as a toddler from being stabbed more than fifty times by Amory Lorch".
• Big Sister Instinct: Although she has never met her little half-sister Jeyne, part of Rhaenys' motivation for wanting to be the May Queen is so she can free her too from being a hostage at Casterly Rock, and they and their mother can return to Dorne and finally be free.
• Bystander Syndrome: A knight's vows include the protection of women and children but Jaime doesn't do anything when his father rapes Elia, or anything about his half-sister Jeyne being used as a hostage, and it's clear he won't intervene if Joffrey decides to exercise his Marital Rape License against Rhaenys. She hates him for it.
• Child by Rape: Jeyne is Tywin and Elia's daughter who was sent to Casterly Rock as soon as she was born. She exists so Tywin has someone's life to threaten if Elia or Rhaenys run away, or Elia has him poisoned.
• Cool Uncle: He's technically her stepbrother but Tyrion is the only one of the Lannisters who is ever kind to Rhaenys, as he understands what it's like to be treated like dirt for something you have no control over. They read together in the library for hours, and Tyrion deliberately pisses off Tywin to draw his ire away from Rhaenys.
• Dead Guy Junior: Tywin's daughter Jeyne is presumably named after his late mother, Jeyne Marbrand.
• Death of a Child: Although Elia and her daughter Rhaenys are Spared by the Adaptation, her son Aegon was still murdered as a baby to prevent any Targaryen supporters from rallying behind him and starting another rebellion.
• Divine Punishment: Even though Rhaenys becomes May Queen and is owed her boon, Robert foolishly and cruelly refuses her request to return to Dorne and calls her a "dragonspawn whore". This proves to be a big mistake when she unleashes her wrath as the May Queen and sets the pavilion on fire.
• Flower Motifs: Rhaenys' flower crown for May Day is made of thistles (with the meaning of endurance, bravery, and pain), petunias (resentment and anger), and orange lilies (hate, pride and disdain).
• Gilded Cage: Living at the Red Keep as "esteemed guests" of the king, Elia and Rhaenys are pretty much in the same position as Sansa was in the books. They live in luxury and have every material thing they could ever want, but are constantly made to suffer at the whims of Robert and the Lannisters, the former because he blames them for what their husband and father Rhaegar did, and the latter because...well, they're assholes.
• Hate Sink: All of Robert's positive traits in the books like his bravery and love of his friends have evaporated into thin air. He's portrayed as a bitter, cruel, spiteful, Ax-Crazy, tantrum-prone Fat Bastard and Sore Loser who makes Elia's and Rhaenys' lives an utter hell for the crime of being the wife and daughter of his Arch-Enemy Rhaegar.
• Hates Their Parent: Rhaenys hates her deceased father Rhaegar for running away with Lyanna for the sake of a prophecy, dying, and leaving herself and her mother to pay for his sins.
  Spite hisses in her heart. If she could, she would turn back time and push him down the stairs before he could leave to start a war. Then maybe Aegon would still be alive.
• I Have Your Wife: Little Jeyne is a hostage at Casterly Rock to force her mother Elia and older half-sister Rhaenys to be good princesses and not run away or think of getting revenge for the death of Aegon.
• Irrational Hatred: Robert despises Elia and Rhaenys for being the wife and daughter of the man who ran away with his betrothed, and feels they're as guilty as he is—especially ridiculous considering Rhaenys was a toddler at the time it happened. When Rhaenys becomes May Queen and asks to return to Dorne with her mother and sister, Robert refuses just so he can keep giving them the punishment he feels they deserve...which ends badly for him.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: For Robert, it's not enough that he won the throne and the wife of his arch-enemy Rhaegar had to see her baby son be murdered, oh no. Elia is forced to marry Tywin, be raped and abused by him, separated from their only daughter (who was conceived by rape), and allow herself to be used as a scapegoat and punch-bag by the Lannisters, knowing her daughters will pay if she retaliates in kind. Even when Rhaenys wins the title of May Queen and asks to return to Dorne with her mother and sister, where Robert will never have to see them again, he refuses because doing so would be letting them "escape justice". It's the last mistake he ever makes, incurring the wrath of the May Queen by refusing her boon.
• Kill It with Fire: When Robert refuses her request as the May Queen to return to Dorne, Rhaenys awakens her power and burns down the pavilion with the Baratheons and Lannisters in it.
• Literary Allusion Title: The title references the poem “The May Queen” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, with verses interspersed throughout the narrative.
• Mama Bear: The only reason Robert hasn't killed Rhaenys with his bare hands is because he knows her mother Elia would poison him if he did.
• Never My Fault: Tywin and Cersei are furious when Tyrion decides to leave Westeros permanently and travel through the Free Cities, and blame Elia for it. Somehow it doesn't occur to them that he might not enjoy living with a family who treats him like crap ever since he was born.
• Practically Different Generations: Jeyne's elder half-siblings Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion are already grown adults at the time of her birth.
• The Promised Land: Rhaenys wants to leave King's Landing and go with her mother and sister to their home region of Dorne, meet her mother's family who she has never been allowed to see, and never have to be abused by Robert or the Lannisters ever again.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After a lifetime of abuse that she's had to shut up and bear with a smile, Robert refusing her request to return to Dorne and calling her a dragonspawn whore—after she has won the title of May Queen and the freedom she deserves—makes Rhaenys snap, and she unleashes a raging storm of fire with her newfound power, killing him and a lot of other people.
• Sadist Teacher: Although unseen, Rhaenys' septa will find any excuse she can to complain to Robert about her behavior, which leads to her being abused more.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After years of being abused by his family for being a dwarf, Tyrion leaves Westeros to start a new life as a traveler and sheds the Lannister name altogether. His family blames Elia for it.
• Shed the Family Name: Tyrion leaves to start a new life as a traveler in Essos and ditches the Lannister name, signing his farewell letter as Tyrion of the Free Cities.
• The Scapegoat: Elia is blamed for things she had nothing to do with like her brother Doran campaigning for independence and Tyrion running away to start a new life as a traveler of the Free Cities, due to either Fantastic Racism against the Dornish or Robert's loathing of her for being Rhaegar's wife.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In canon, Elia was raped and murdered by Gregor Clegane while Rhaenys was stabbed to death as a toddler by Amory Lorch. Here, they're both alive.
• Til Murder Do Us Part: Rhaenys is aware that Joffrey will "accidentally" kill her after they have gotten married and she has borne him a child, or whenever he gets bored of her.
• Virgin in a White Dress: All the maidens participating in the May Day dancing contest wear white linen dresses embroidered with flowers.
• Would Hurt a Child: Robert says outright to Rhaenys that he would have smashed her to death as a toddler with his warhammer if her mother and Jon Arryn hadn't stopped him.