Tear Jerker / The White Wolf of Westeros

• An undeniable truth is that this fic is born of failure. Ciri failed to stop the White Frost/Night's King. Geralt failed to be patient and trust in his adopted daughter. And from their failure, all they can do now is work to correct their mistakes with the help of the locals.
• Geralt finds disappointment in Robert. That he was patient, and waited to get backing for an expedition to search for Ciri, and it all fell to pieces due to politics and control.
  • It even goes farther when Geralt has to put his foot down and say he will never, under any circumstances, carry out an assassination on a child.
• Geralt reflecting on the fact that with his rash moves, Yennifer must be out of her mind worried about him now.
• Despite trying to help, even Geralt can't protect Lady from an unjust death.
• Despite improvising, Geralt and crew almost pull off the perfect rescue of the Starks from King's Landing. And then in the home stretch, Ned get's killed.
  • Geralt is wracked with guilt because he brought them all so far, but couldn't save a lord who became a true friend.
  • Sansa is overwhelmed with guilt and grief that she's going to lose him.
• Hadrian Rivers has the unfortunate job of presenting a Cassandra Truth to House Blackwood: that dark magic has come to their lands, and he lost his whole party looking for it. A microcosm of what The Watch is about to go through, and just as frustrating for another bastard as well.
• Cirilla calls out Dany over her visions and desires to burn all others for the throne. She sees a litany of the fallen players of the game of thrones, and demands that Dany drop the attitude that no leader should ever have, and that more importantly her friend shouldn't have. That Dany can make her own decisions, so what does SHE want?
  Dany: (crying) I want to be myself! To be my own.
• Catelyn has to watch her whole house fall apart. While the Starks manage to regroup under the kindness and strength of The Witcher, House Tully falls under the sway of the Crones, with Hoster dying, and Edmure becoming succeptible to them. She has to abandon her old home to find help, with no way of knowing what will happen to her uncle and brother.
• Asha Greyjoy valued her independence as a captain, and was sensible enough to know when there were good and bad ideas. Which makes her watching Euron and Balon line them up for destruction a great frustration in having no choice in custom or influence to protect her people from disaster.
• The death of Edmure Tully. The only hope for the line, he's cut out of his Flesh Golem form, bleeding and remorseful for allowing the Crones to take over his mind and body. In the end, he dies, the last of the viable male Tully line, unable to give his last word to Geralt on what to tell Catelyn.
  • On that note, the ancient and venerated castle of Riverrun has to be burned down to ensure the Crone's army can't get out.
• No matter the hope provided by reaching Fairmarket, nothing could truly help Catelyn after hearing that Geralt and his company had to kill her brother. And she just sobs.
  Geralt: I'm sorry Catelyn.
• With Loras as the main POV character for the Tyrells at the Battle of Blackwater Plains, the death of Mace Tyrell is sudden and horrifying. Happening so fast, Mace can barely say his son's name before he Died in Your Arms Tonight.
• The massacre of the Blackwater Plains isn't done claiming named characters. As in the retreat, Gregor intercepts the retreating wannabe king. And in the heat of battle, both Renly and Loras are killed. And while it does mean that Loras won't be forced to live without his lover, he dies second, with his only comfort being that at least he avenged Renly before he died.
  • For that matter, Brienne of Tarth is struck with Survivor's Guilt right away, as the only survivor of the epic clash. Even with the honor of killing Gregor, that won't bring back the king who believed in her, and the comrade she made in battle.