The Kings Who Cared is an A Song of Ice and Fire Fan Fiction by Some Random Weird Guy
, the premise being basically what if two kings left behind the game of thrones to face the threat of the Others far north, instead of one.
On his way to King’s Landing with the reanimated hand of a wight to show proof of the existence of the Others and request aid from the Iron Throne, Ser Allister Thorne of the Night’s Watch has his ship waylaid by a storm and is forced to make an impromptu stop at Braavos. And it’s in the Free City that the man of the Night’s Watch and the moving hand are witnessed by a certain Rolly Duckfield, who brings back the news to his group: the companions of Aegon VI Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and the Hidden Backup Prince, heir to the Iron Throne. Said prince also has a dragon dream about the Wall, convincing him to derail their plans of waiting to have their ally the Golden Company at their back and coming to Westeros early and help the Night’s Watch.
Meanwhile, following their crushing defeat at the Battle of the Blackwater, the forces of Stannis Baratheon on Dragonstone are exhausted morally and physically, unsure of what the future holds for them. But Princess Shireen Baratheon does not realize much of this, as she is preoccupied with dreams she has had of late. Dreams of dragons…
It can be read on FanFiction.Net here or on Archive of Our Own here. A more extensive story discussion thread can be found on SpaceBattles.com here.
The Kings Who Cared contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: The faith of R'hllor is portrayed more sympathetically, although the fic doesn't gloss over their Activist-Fundamentalist Antics. The reason seems to be because the author is tired of reading the R'hllorites being portrayed as The Fundamentalist who Burn the Heretic and Always Chaotic Evil.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Because of different circumstances, unlike canon, here Janos Slynt wins the election and becomes the new Lord Commander.
- Black Knight: Aegon's armor is black, tough not as dark as the ones worn by the Night's Watch. It's the closest thing to a heraldry of House Targaryen that he's allowed to war.
- The Blacksmith: Duck is trained as a blacksmith and continues to smith for the Golden Company.
- Delirious Misidentification: In her last moments, Ygritte briefly confuses Aegon for Jon Snow, which might hint at their blood relation.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Aegon dreams of a dragon landing on the Wall and of a bitter cold followed by a cracking laughter, with the Wall falling apart. It's pointed out that many Targaryens had similar prophetic abilities called dragon dreams.
- Egg MacGuffin: Shireen gets dreams of dragon eggs, and later finds one in the ruins of Dragonstone's sept, which she keeps secret from everyone besides her friends Edric Storm and Devan Seaworth.
- Embarrassing Nickname: The opening lines discuss how Rolly never wanted to be called Duck, he would've preferred something like Wolf instead.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Subverted. Duck and Haldon wear helms while in armor.
- Like a Son to Me: A source of tension in Aegon's relationship with Jon Connington is that the man raised him as if he truly were his son, and deep down the Really Royalty Reveal causes him Angst because not only he felt like he was lied to his whole life, but he also now has to try and not think of Griff as his father.
- Manly Gay: Not only does Jon Connington lack any stereotypical traits, he's also a revered war veteran and active mercenary.
- Mercy Kill: Aegon gives one to Ygritte and it haunts him ever since.
- Named Weapons: Aegon names his sword "Brightfyre", mostly to avoid the Association Fallacy with his House's Ancestral Weapon Blackfyre, which is mostly associated with the Blackfyre Rebellions.
- Offered the Crown: Just like in canon, Stannis offers to legitimize Jon Snow as Jon Stark, Lord of Winterfell, in order to gain the North's support. Unlike canon however, Jon accepts.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Within minutes of meeting him, Stannis figures out that the sellsword "Griff" is actually Jon Connington.
- Plagued by Nightmares: Aegon begins to get bad dreams after the first time he kills during the Battle of Castle Black, with his victim, the wildling Ygritte, haunting his nights.
- The Proud Elite: Jon Connington sneers and has severe distrust of all commmonborn, a typical trait amongst Westerosi highborn.
- Princely Young Man: Aegon is the portrait of all princely virtues: wise, polite, educated, honourable, and a skilled swordsman.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Aegon gets them in the form of dragon dreams, which warns him of the threat at the Wall before Duck even tells them. Shireen also starts to get them, though it is unknown if it's a result of her distant Targaryen ancestry.
- Retired Outlaw: Septa Lemore, who joined the Kingswood Brotherhood under the name Wenda the White Fawn. Her real name is Gwendolin Cafferen, a noblewoman who was made to join the Faith but fled.
- Secret Identity: Most members of Aegon's group maintain one: Jon Connington is Griff, a sellsword; Aegon is Young Griff, his son; and Septa Lemore is the new identity of Wenda the White Fawn, itself the criminal identity taken by noble girl Gwendolin Cafferen.
- Switching P.O.V.: Just like with the books, the fanfic uses the same setup. So far, the narrators have been Jon Connington, Aegon Targaryen, Ser Rolly Duckfield "Duck", Stannis Baratheon, Shireen Baratheon, Jon Snow, Samwell Tarly, Selyse Baratheon, Haldon Halfmaester, and Ser Richard Horpe.
- What If?: The Point of Divergence is Rolly Duckfield encountering Alliser Thorne with the severed wight hand in Braavos, persuading Aegon that the north needs his aid.
