Fanfic / So Soars the Young Falcon

Rise and Fall of the Baratheons is an A Song of Ice and Fire fanfiction written by CDA with an apparently minor, but of long-reaching consequences, point of divergence: Denys Arryn, instead of dying at the Battle of the Bells, kills Jon Connington, leading to the destruction of the Royal Army of King's Landing since there was no one to call for a retreat. From there, many changes happen, such as the death of Aerys, Viserys and Aegon, Lyanna Stark's survival and many more events. However, in spite of all of this, the Game of Thrones continues unabated, but with different players in the game, the situation is quite different from the one in the books.Initially starting on Alternate History, the series is composed of the following stories:

• So Soars the Young Falcon (complete)
• A Pack of Wolves (complete)
• When the Stars Fall (incomplete, no update since 2017)
• Tales from the World of the Young Falcon (incomplete)
• Appendices to the Young Falcon (incomplete)

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This story has examples of the following tropes:

• Abel And Cain: Advertised with Stannis and Renly. This actually has effect of making Renly more sexually repressed.
• Adaptation Name Change: Davos Seaworth's youngest son was named Steffon in canon, for his liege lord's late father; because he ends up a bannerman of the North (due to a very different meeting with Stannis, and with Ned), Davos instead names his youngest for Eddard's father, Rickard.
• Adaptational Villainy: Genna Lannister is a good person in the books. Here, she does a Kick the Dog when she has nearly all the children born of the Ironborn raping Western women killed.
  • Rhaegar Targaryen is remembered much less fondly here than in canon, albeit due to Butterfly Effect.
• Age Lift: A number of examples crop up - sometimes because of Continuity Drift (the story was well developed before The World of Ice & Fire was published later that year), sometimes deliberately. For several examples:
  • Jon Snow is older than Robb Stark, which is an (implied) contradiction to canon where he's a bit younger. This is because in this story his mother is Ashara Dayne and he's Ned's son by her.
  • Thanks to butterflies, all of Ned and Cat's children born after Robb are birthed in a different order and have different ages/birthdays as a result (along with an Original Character, a son named Edwyn "Little Ned" Stark). Of these children, only Arya is (roughly) the same as her canon counterpart.
  • Cersei marries a different man, and her children have him for a father; Myrcella and Tommen are close to the same age, but Joffrey is much younger.
  • The two younger Westerlings, Eleyna and Rollam, end up born to their canon siblings here (and are thus considerably younger) because their canonical parents are deceased before their births.
• Anyone Can Die: Whoo, boy. If the books were a slaughterfeast, this story does not hold back. So far, Jon Arryn, nearly all the Lannisters from Tywin's generation, all the Greyjoys save for Theon and Asha, Aegon Targaryen, Gregor Clegane, Amory Lorch, Oberyn Martell have died way before they did (or that have not) in the books, and they are but a few.
• Alpha Bitch: Rhaenys. She's a Spoiled Brat who takes advantage over her mother's grief to manipulate her into sending her Annoying Younger Sibling to Riverrun and holds nothing but contempt for the smallfolk.
• All There in the Manual: The appendices give lot of information on characters and the internal politics of Westeros. On another note, the author often gives insight on the historical influences as well hints into what is going to happen down the line on the comments section of AO3.
• Armor-Piercing Question: "And whose fault was it that you sat out the war?" Jaime Lannister to his father Tywin after the latter is arrested for trying to have Lyanna Stark murdered.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Sansa becomes the youngest Stark children, when she was the second oldest child of Ned and Catelyn.
• Badass Unintentional: Ned Stark.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Oberyn Martell, half in joke, thinks "Gods, let me die before I get too old". His eldest son, Oberyn Sand, kills him in the same chapter.
• Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Discussed Trope & Exploited Trope. When Ned's great uncle Brandon appears he mentions that he'll die when his namesake, Bran Stark is born, and uses what time he has to convert Ned.
• Blood Knight: after Ned introduces Robert to the idea of "he who passes the sentence must swing the sword", Robert becomes a bit too keen in being his own champion whenever there is a trial by combat.
• Book Ends: The first fic starts and ends with a Denys chapter. In-universe Robert's Rebellion begun and ended with a tournment.
• Broken Pedestal: Jaime Lannister muses that his father Tywin will not be remembered for the destruction of Houses Reyne and Tarbeck, or his many years as a Hand, but for the mistakes at the end of his life (his conspiracy to have Lyanna Stark killed and leaving the Westerlands unprotected when the Ironborn attack).
• Burn the Septa: High Septon Bones burns Septas who he deems heretical, or made to make a walk of shame. He also executes herectical Septons and lowborn children.
• Butterfly of Doom: Played with. The author acknowledges this trope but claims that if taken to the Logical Extreme it turns the fic into In Name Only filled with O.C. Stand-in cast. This is why the Stark children all born, but in different order.
• Changeling Fantasy: Discussed. Den Snow is genre savvy and amuses Ashara Snow, who he thinks is his sister, by spinning a yarn based on this idea. The ironic point being he's actually telling his own canon story without realizing it.
• The Chessmaster: Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers is able to detect the divergence in the world and uses Mind Control and body snatching to try and limit the changes, and attempt to influence events or characters to grow in a specific manner increasingly becoming more involved as things spiral out of control.
• Chummy Commies: The early Faith of the Seven established an egalitarian society with conspicious wealth distribution. The New Faith seeks to establish this, however the Grey-and-Grey Morality means that they are Good Is Not Nice.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Sandor Clegane, as in canon, is prone to add the F-word to every other sentence.
• Coming-Out Story: Renly's storyline in When the Stars Fall, due to being raised by Stannis. The storyline itself is a result of the author finding Renly's portrayal in the books to be Dated History and wants a better portrayal.
• Death by Irony: Several Westerlands lords die in this way at the hands of the Ironborn, who kill them in ways similar to their sigils.
• Death of a Child: Aegon and Viserys die when they are little, and the Ironborn have no problem in murdering babies during their raiding in the Westerlands.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Most of the highborn have complete disregard for the smallfolk. When witnessing the dozens dead children executed by High Septon Bones, Lord Commander Manly says they're only smallfolk and probably committed petty theft.
• Democracy Is Bad: Played with. After a smallfolk rebellion in Oldtown during Starry Septon Hugh's funeral, the nobles decide to throw them a bone by established an elected town council, with half of the seats being appointed. The problem is that most of the appointees will be quite wealthy and can't be bought off while the religious reformers supports because in their belief in egalitarianism.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: one of the ongoing plot lines in the story is a schism in the Faith of the Seven, between the ones that wish to keep things as they are and the ones that desire to return to the roots, eliminating those rituals that do not explicitly appear in the Book of the Seven and translating the holy book to the Common Tongue spoken by the smallfolk, in a clear parallel to the Reformation.
  • Someone asks for funding for an expedition across an ocean no one has fully explored, believing there is land on the other side, based on very little proof. Are we talking about Christopher Columbus or Sawane?
  • At the end of The Siege of Tyrosh, Robert, Denys and Ned find the broken remains of the Archon and his family who had been slaughtered, all except the Archon's missing daughter Anyaseesha.
• Did Anastasia Survive?: Invoked regarding the Archon of Tyrosh's missing daughter. This becomes an Exploited Trope when Denys decides to make a young girl suffering of Laser-Guided Amnesia the Queen of Tyrosh to prevent an Enemy Civil War and ensure that Tyrosh has a friendly government.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: averted. Oswell Whent spends almost one year imprisoned in a dungeon, forcefully fed and "put out to stud", with about fifty women (and probably more) having sex with him to get pregnant, before Varys has him kill himself.
• The Dreaded: Ned Stark's reputation as the "Bloody Wolf" makes him this to many people in the South, which can be coupled with Hero with Bad Publicity.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Catelyn has a vision of Robb, Jon, Den and Raynald Westerling playing together in the weirwood after praying to the Old Gods.
  • Rhaella has a vision of History Repeats and religious fundamentalists attacking the Maesters' Citadel and Book Burning their library after stabbing the High Septon.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Arthur Dayne, after losing his place in the Kingsguard, his knighthood and Dawn (the Sword of the Morning's Valyrian sword).
• Embarrassing Nickname: Twyin is nicknamed Late Lord Twyin by Ellia after sitting out the rebellion and only joining after a clear winner has risen.
• The End Is Nigh: The followers of the Whytclyffian interpretation of the New Faith believe this, and claim that the day that happens is Durran and Rhaeny's wedding day.
• For Want Of A Nail: Everything changes when Denys Arryn manages to throw water into Jon Connington's eyes, distracting him long enough to let Denys get his sword and kill him. As the Royal Army is left without a commander, no one sounds the retreat when reinforcements come for the rebels, and the army is massacred.
  • Thanks to the rebels' faster victory, Lyanna is found alive by Ned - but her child to Rhaegar is a girl that barely survives a month after being born.
  • Jon Arryn dies in battle, making Denys Arryn the new Lord of the Eyrie.
  • Tywin Lannister loses his chance to take King's Landing since Robert and Ned do it themselves, so it becomes impossible for him to get Cersei married to Robert. Further compounded when he sends Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch to kill Lyanna (an attempt that fails thanks to the Kingsguard, who kill both of them), which leads to his downfall.
  • Since all male claimants to the throne (Aerys, Viserys and Aegon) are dead, Robert becomes King on his own right.
  • With Aerys dying sooner, he never has the chance to get Rhaella pregnant with Daenerys.
  • The different circumstances at the Vale lead to Domeric Bolton staying for longer in there, so he never seeks Ramsay Bolton and does not die. This also ensures his mother survives long enough to give birth to a girl.
  • Cersei does not become queen, thus adverting Maggy's prophecy.
  • All the children of Ned and Catelyn are born, but in different order: Robb, the oldest and already concieved by the beginning, Rickon, Arya, Bran and Sansa.
• Gender Flip: Along with a number of children who are never born unlike in canon (or ones original to the story, born of unions which never happened in canon), some characters are explicitly stated to be canon characters born the opposite gender:
  • Oberyn Martell and Ellaria Sand's first child is born male, and is instead named for his uncle Lewyn rather than his sister Elia (the latter surviving far longer here).
  • Wylis Manderly's second child is a boy, named Wylbert instead of Wylla.
  • Davos Seaworth's fourth and sixth sons from canon are instead born daughters, and are respectively named Marya (instead of Maric) and Eddara (instead of Stannis).
• Good Shepherd: Starry Father Hugh, who always tries to do his best to help the Silent Sisters.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: The conflict between the Old Faith and the New Faith. On one hand, the New Faith is egalitarian but also misogynist and xenophobic, and willing to use violence to achieve their goals. The Old Faith is controlled by Sinister Minister and its a Saintly Church In Name Only.
• Handicapped Badass: Elia Martell, who ends up in a wheelchair after someone tries to kill her, is quite badass in her own right - even if it is of the political type.
• Heroic BSoD: Many characters suffer this during the series.
• History Repeats: Rhaella has a vision of Baelor crowning Princess Lyarra as the Queen of Love and Beauty.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Obi Sand kills his father, Oberyn Martell, using Oberyn's poisoned spear.
• Honor Before Reason: When news of Eddard's victory against Tarly's troops reach him, Mace Tyrell breaks the Storm's End siege, and leaves behind a cart with provisions for the besieged. Stannis considers it the last insult towards him and has it burned. The realistic outcome occurs when this simply leads to most everyone in his household deserting Storm's End.
• Humans Are Flawed: A persistent theme of the story. Espoused by Ned Stark at one point to Robert Baratheon.
• I Have No Son!: Tywin Lannister towards Jaime when the latter will not act as the former's champion in a trial by combat, since Jaime would have to fight King Robert.
• In Spite of a Nail: Robert kills Rhaegar in the exact same way he did in the books, charging him enraged and smashing him up with his warhammer, so hard that the rubies in Rhaegar's armor fly everywhere.
  • Willas Tyrell is accidentally crippled by Oberyn Martell when the latter unseats him from his horse and his foot gets caught in the stirrup.
• Irony: When Lyanna reflects on the reasons why she ran away with Rhaegar, one of the reasons she mentions is not wanting to be kept in a tower, forced to bear Robert's children, and considers it ironic that her actions have led to her being kept in a tower, forced to bear Rhaegar's child.
  • Young Renly Baratheon dislikes young Loras Tyrell.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Robert Baratheon, big time (emphasis on both compared to canon). Same with Sandor Clegane, Asha Greyjoy, Oberyn Martell, and a number of others.
• Kill It with Fire: Aerys has his son Viserys and his grandson Aegon drink wildfire with him, expecting this to "wake the dragon" in them. Instead, the three of them die with Jaime as witness.
• Last Stand: The Ironborn ships try to do this, but they can do little to hold back the fury of the mainlanders.
• May–December Romance: One of 20 or so years between Hoster Tully and Elia Martell.
• Meaningful Rename: minor one, with Robert changing the names of all the positions in the Small Council to fit with the change of dynasty.
• Mook Horror Show/Pay Evil unto Evil/Black-and-Gray Morality: Robert Baratheon & Ned Stark towards the Ironborn after the Ironborn viciously tortured, killed, or raped a large portion of the Westerlands due to a more successful invasion.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Lyanna goes through this phase when she learns her father and eldest brother died as a consequence of her rash actions - and then even more when she realizes what Ned did to get her back (namely, the Battle of the Woods, where 10,000 Dornishmen died in one night).
  • Catelyn, when she almost lets Jon die just as she is giving birth. She suffers a long term Heroic BSoD that requires Lyanna to act quite forcefully.
• Mythology Gag: Jon Snow is born to Ashara Dayne, one of the candidates for that position according to the books.
  • Once more, Varys claims to have saved Aegon shortly before he died. However, this time the circumstances are far more suspicious, and Elia is still alive, which leads people to (correctly) suspect that Varys is trying to play with them.
  • An expedition sent to cross the Sunset Sea finds a town on the other side that uses a direwolf running in a yellow sun as a symbol, bringing to mind Brandon the Shipwright's travel of thousands of years before.
  • Renly claims he would never usurp's his nephew and nieces right to inherit Storm's End, and in the books he seeks to usurp Stannis of the Iron Throne.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Ned Stark becomes known as the "Bloody Wolf" after the Battle of the Bells, as he led the rebel reinforcements that destroyed the Royal Army of King's Landing. Similarly, Robert gets nicknamed the "Demon of the Woods" - much like canon Robert was the Demon of the Trident.
• O.C. Stand-in: The author seeks to advert this mostly but it crops up. In example, Robb Goldstagg is a stand-in for Gendry though their personalities are completely different.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. There are many Neds, Roberts, and Denyses. Most notably broken in the Jocelyn Stark Royce side story chapter where she refers to three "Ned"s who are related to her in various degrees (her brother, her great-nephew, and her grandson).
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Lorra Waynwood, Denys' eldest goodsister from his marriage to Annalyse Waynwood, constantly insults him and Lysa Tully, and accuses him of too many things. That she is the heir to the Eyrie (until Lysa gives birth to Denys' heir) is only more fuel for her obnoxiousness. Fortunately, the other Waynwood sisters are much gentle than Lorra.
• Parental Substitute: Ned Stark for Raynald and Jeyne Westerling among others, and Arthur Dayne for Sandor Clegane
• The Plague: New deseases start spreading to Westeros from the new lands discovered in the Sunset Sea, such as the Black Pox.
• Pyromaniac: Preserved from canon with Aerys Targaryen.
• Rage Breaking Point: Robert's is reached when they see what the Ironborn have been doing in the Westerlands. Ned, Denys and others feel pretty much the same way.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Selyse Florent, who has become a Silent Sister, becomes raped almost daily by Starry Father Luceon shortly after he replaces Starry Father Hugh.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The attack on the Iron Islands.
• Sadistic Choice: Oswell Whent, after being imprisoned for a year and forced to get women pregnant, is told by Varys he can either commit suicide or continue with his current situation, and that's after learning that the first woman that raped him will go to Harrenhal to pass herself off as his wife, and the child born of rape as his son.
• Self-Made Orphan: Obi Sand murders his mother (the woman mentioned in Sadistic Choice) and then his father, Oberyn Martell, because the former abandoned him and the latter never tried to find him.
  • Word of God says that Balon Greyjoy and his brothers murdered their father Quellon after he decided not to involve himself in Robert's Rebellion.
• Shotgun Wedding: After the Ironborn attacks the Westerlands are in need of lords thus Lord Regent Stafford Lannister organizes this type of weddings between the surviving Houses and knights to repopulate the Westerlands nobility.
• Shout-Out: To Pocahontas II. When the Starg Prince and Princess of Evenos, the new land discovered to the west, visit King's Landing some of their guards make marks on sticks with obsidian knives.
• Shown Their Work: CDA really does a good job with the family trees and house sigils.
• Sinister Minister: Starry Father Luceon. The fact that he is a Frey does not exactly help matters. Not to mention his almost daily rape of Selyse Florent.
• Storming the Castle: Robert lays siege to Tyrosh due to the Free City giving aid to Euron Greyjoy.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Asha Greyjoy disguises herself as a boy to fight against the smallfolk rebellion in the Westerlands.
  • Dacey Mormont disguises herself as Evan Paw to fight the pirates led by Euron Greyjoy, in revenge for what he did in Bear Island.
• Tangled Family Tree: Prince Durran and Princess Rhaenys are third cousins in addition to being betrothed. Many other families also qualify.
• Terror Hero: Ned "The Bloody Wolf" Stark. So much, that he becomes a sort of monster to scare the kids with in the South.
• Too Dumb to Live: Aerys the Mad really lived up to his nickname when he swallowed wildfire and had Viserys and Aegon do the same, expecting this to "wake the dragon" in them. Instead, it killed the three of them and caused enough chaos to allow the rebels to take King's Landing without a fight.
• Trial by Ordeal: After killing High Septon Bones Rhaella requests this, which consists her walking up Aegon's Hill barefoot, all her hair shaved off, on hot coals and wait seven days to see if it's healing and thus that she's innocent in the eyes of the Seven. Her feet heal.
• Whole-Plot Reference/The Bard on Board: Deconstructed with Helena Vikary and her relationship with Sandor Clegane.
  • Reconstructed when the Bed Trick is explained via a blindfold.
• Would Hurt a Child: High Septon Bones has dozens of smallfolk children executed and their bodies left to rot in the streets of King's Landing.