History Fanfic / NedStarkLives

* GoodParents: Ned Stark. Catelyn also starts to become more like one once she starts warming up to Gendry.

* HappilyMarried: Ned and Cat; Robb and [[spoiler:Roslin; Gendry and Arya]].
** For the last pair, the marriage has not been consummated yet.

* AndIMustScream:
** [[spoiler: Implied to be what happens to all wights, as seen from Theon's point of view.]]
** [[spoiler:Stannis suffers through the same thing. After the Others are defeated, he walks to Duskendale in order to see his family one last time before being killed.]]

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
** Jon's charges from the Night's Watch are: aiding the wildlings, giving them knowledge of the Watch's defenses, helping them climb the wall, murdering another member of the Watch, and sleeping with a woman.
--->'''Lord Steward Marsh:''' How do you answer these charges? \\

** It quickly becomes clear that only Thorne cares Jon slept with a woman, and that's just because he hates him.
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Tywin, Ser Meryn, Joffrey, Ramsay Snow, Vargo Hoat, Armory Loch, Gregor Clegane, Hizdhar zo Loraq, Ser Axell Florent, Melisandre, Euron Greyjoy, Cersei Lannister, Roose Bolton, Petyr Baelish, and Lysa Arryn so far]].

* BastardBastard: Ramsay Snow.

* BigBadWannabe: Cersei as in canon. The other Lannisters recognize this, and try to keep from gaining any real power.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: See ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections below. There is no "white" morality in Westeros.

** The Stark kids being wargs. The kids themselves lean towards the Awesome part, their parents the Cursed part.

* {{Determinator}}: As in canon, Stannis deconstructs this trope. His refusal to compromise what is his puts the entire continent at risk because he can't work with rival factions to stop the Others. He seemed close to possibly calling a truce with [[spoiler: the Lannisters and Tyrells, but the Others attack before he can give an answer]]. He refuses to leave Harrenhal even though the castle can't sustain his forces for much longer, and even he does, he then [[spoiler: plans to execute Gendry]] knowing that the Starks will never forgive him for it. As of Part III, [[spoiler: with Melisandre dead and all four dragons in Westeros under Targaryen control]], Stannis' quest to take the throne is just dividing up people's loyalties at a time they should be working together, bringing him closer and closer to being TheMillstone.
** Also deconstructed with Cersei; her stubbornness is practically lethal. The realm is falling apart, [[spoiler: no one wants Myrcella as queen]], Casterly Rock [[spoiler: has been sacked]], the Lannister forces are nearly spent, [[spoiler: the Tyrells are holding her, Myrcella, and Jaime prisoner]] and Others are destroying armies left and right. Her response? To keep fighting everyone else as if sitting on the Iron Throne still means something.

** Theon's plans are this as as well (He did seize Winterfell, but failed to hold it, and [[spoiler: the raid on Casterly Rock is successful, but he gets captured]]).

* GambitPileUp: [[spoiler: Daenerys planned to betray her husband, take her dragons back, and burn her enemies, but Hizdahr made arrangements of his own. He was planning to killing all her men so she would trapped in Meereen. Then Quentyn Martell showed up to marry her. When she refused, he tried to free her dragons, [[SpannerInTheWorks which gave Hizdahr time to interrogate Missandei and learn Daenerys's plan.]] When Hizdahr had his man attack her, Ser Barristan defeated them and Daenerys took him prisoner. When they got to the fighting pits, the pit fighters, hired by Hizdahr, tried to kill her. The whole thing ended with Daenerys breaking her dragons free and burning Meereen to ashes. Then Euron Greyjoy showed up...]]

* BrokenAesop: From Robb's rebellion, Arya learnt that it is OK to defy a king if his demands are unjust.

* AChildShallLeadThem: In contrast to canon, Robb managed to return the reins of power to his father, and Jon [[spoiler: resigned as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch to escort Bran to Coldhands]].

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Robb loses a leg in Part III]].
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Implied to be what happens to all wights, as seen from Theon's point of view.]]

* AnnoyingArrows: Averted. The armies that fight the Others have obsidian-tipped arrows that can be a OneHitKill.
** [[spoiler:Myrcella dies after being hit with an arrow.]]
* AnyoneCanDie: It's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', with the War of the Four Kings raging in the central regions. Come Part II, the second Long Night is upon the continent. What did you expect?
** Also averted somewhat, as fans have noted, in that none of the Starks have died [[spoiler: outside Roslin in childbirth]].

** PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Robb, to [[spoiler: Roslin Frey]], who get along rather well.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Jon's charges from the Night's Watch are: aiding the wildlings, giving them knowledge of the Watch's defenses, helping them climb the wall, murdering another member of the Watch, and sleeping with a woman.
-->'''Lord Steward Marsh:''' How do you answer these charges?
-->'''Jon:''' Not true! Except that last part.

* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: In Ned's dream, Brandon the Builder claimed that the Great Other cannot be killed, but merely imprisoned.
** When Jon meets the Great Other (who is also the Stranger), it tells him that his power depends directly on the evil in land--which is why they had a long summer during good part of Robert's reign.

* AttemptedRape: As to be expected in this series, Polliver tries to rape Shelia. ''Hot Pie'' of all people kills him.

* AwfulTruth: Two of them in Part 2. [[spoiler: Jon Snow considers the revelation of his true parentage to be one while Stannis suffers a mini HeroicBSOD when he realizes he's ''not'' in fact [[TheChosenOne the Prince that was Promised]], despite Melisandre's claims otherwise.]]

* BoisterousBruiser: The Greatjon of course.

* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Jaqen H'ghar appeared briefly early in Ned and Arya's chapters, before returning in the sequel in Tyrion's chapters. And then again in Arya's quest to save Gendry.]]

* CameBackWrong: All the wights, [[spoiler: including Maester Luwin. And Theon.]]
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: Jon Snow is Azor Ahai.]]

* CursedWithAwesome: The Stark kids being wargs. The kids themselves lean towards the Awesome part, their parents the Cursed part.

* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler: Catelyn names her fourth son after Edmure, who died in the Third Battle of the Trident.]]

* DeathByChildbirth: [[spoiler: Roslin dies giving birth to a daughter]].

* ADeathInTheLimelight: [[spoiler: Maester Luwin]].

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Just like in canon, Robb regrets his decision to release Theon back to the Iron Isles, while Cat regrets allowing Tyrion to have a trial by combat while he was at the Vale.

* DoomedByCanon: Subverted. [[spoiler: Jaime almost loses his sword hand, but convinces the maesters to leave it on.]]
** [[spoiler: Played straight with Quentyn Martell, who still gets roasted alive by the dragons (although at least he doesn't take days to die).]]

* DrowningMySorrows: [[spoiler:Robb]] after learning of his wife's death.
** And Tyrion [[spoiler: after Tommen's, then Jaime's, deaths]].

* EnemyMine: Happens many times. [[spoiler:Most famously, the Lannisters ally with the Tyrells, and the Night's Watch (reluctantly) ally with the wildlings to fight the Others.]]
** Tyrion treats with [[spoiler: Stannis and Brynden Tully]] so they can stop fighting and deal with the real problem: [[spoiler: the Others.]]

* EyeScream: How Gregor Clegane kills one of Stannis's men during interrogation [[spoiler: after trying to learn more about his plans to invade King's Landing now that Tywin was killed.]]
** Victarion puts out [[spoiler: Euron's one good]] eye before killing him.

* ForWantOfANail: Ned's stay of execution was due to Varys finding out about Littlefinger's backstab, and drugging Joffrey so that he was unable to pass sentence. As a result, the North is better prepared against the ironborn invasion.

* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Averted.
** [[spoiler:In the duel between Ramsay and Robb, Ramsay takes off his helmet allowing the already mortally injured Robb to stab him in the throat. Arya notes, that had Ramsay not taken his helmet off the blow would have glanced off his helmet.]]
** [[spoiler: During his duel with Gregor]], Sandor exploited the fact that his opponent was not wearing a helmet and went straight for the head. He himself took off ''his'' helmet, but he ensured that his opponent was DeaderThanDead before he stopped.
** Ned [[spoiler:being hit in the head and going into a coma]]. It was very clear from the narration that without his helmet, he would have died.
** {{Lampshaded}} by Jon in part 3. He doesn't like wearing helmets, but takes one with with him before going on a mission.
* HeroicBastard: You cannot get any better than Ser Gendry Waters [[spoiler:now Baratheon, the '''''Dragonslayer''''']].
** Yes, you can. Salute [[spoiler:Jon Stark, the Prince who was Promised, Azor Ahai, Prince of the Realm, Defender of the Wall, Dragonrider, '''''Defeater of the Others''''']].

* ICanStillFight: The Greatjon, all the time.
* [[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Children]]: When Stannis captures the Tyrell siblings, he uses them to make sure their father fights for him. [[spoiler:Mace Tyrell starts to besiege King's Landing for the Lannisters after a Faceless Man frees Loras and Margaery.]]

** Cersei as usual shows this.

* LooseLips: [[spoiler: Theon inadvertently tells Shae of his plans to take Casterly Rock, and she escapes to warn the Lannisters.]]
** [[spoiler: Arya leaked out her marriage to Gendry when he gets arrested at White Harbor.]]

* ManlyTears: Robb and Jon both openly weep when [[spoiler: Ser Rodrik]] dies.

* MythologyGag: In canon, the War of the Five Kings was named as such despite the fact that at any point of the conflict, there were only four kings. Here, only four characters declare themselves kings, and like in canon, at any point of the conflict, there were only ''three'' kings.
** Also, Stannis [[spoiler: continues to be the only king out of the original lot to survive the war.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Jon [[spoiler:taking down the Wall by blowing the Horn of Winter]]. The fact that it was by accident does not help.
** For a certain value of 'hero', [[spoiler:Melisandre awakening the stone dragon only works to give Aegon one, which makes his crowning himself more legitimate.]]
* TheNightThatNeverEnds

** Also spread by the Others.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Sandor to Gregor.

* PairTheSpares: [[spoiler:Robb ends up marrying Val.]]
* PapaWolf: Ned toward all his children, of course, but also to [[spoiler: Gendry, Robert's son and Arya's husband.]].

* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: The Ironborn take Casterly Rock, but lose a thousand men. Theon is also taken hostage.]]
* RageBreakingPoint: [[spoiler:Jaime is struck hard after Myrcella dies and Cersei blames him--which he takes relatively well--but when Cersei tells him she is hoping he will die with some dignity, he is so enraged that he ''kills his sister''.]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Ned and Tyrion, for starters.

* SacredHospitality: This time around, Walder Frey honors it, rather than go through with the [[WhamEpisode Red Wedding.]] It also helps that Ned Stark still has his head and Robb didn't sleep with the medic.
** Uncharacteristically, it was ''Walder'' himself who insisted on revealing Tywin's treachery.

* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: What sets [[spoiler: Roslin]] apart from the rest of her family is that she cares not for Robb Stark's battle prowess and victories in war, but that she wants her husband to be a good man.

* SmugSnake: Ser Axel Florent, Queen Selyse's uncle. He's an arrogant knight and [[TheFundamentalist R'hollor fundamentalist]] who threatens to hang anyone who doesn't kowtow to his will.

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler:After Daario's death, Daenerys realizes that she's pregnant with his child.]]

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: Tywin.]]
* SympatheticPOV: Averted with Petyr Baelish, who remains just as despicable as he is in the books.

* TrialByCombat: Given to Ramsay. The issue of champions is also discussed. Ned muses that if Roose agrees to champion his son, only Ned can face him. See ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight for how that turns out. When Ramsay decides to be his own champion, Ned and Robb both realize only Robb can face him as Robb's position will give him (some) protection against Bolton reprisal.

** And of course, Theon.

** Jon for the Night's Watch again.

* WeNamedTheMonkeyJack: Tommen decides to name his donkey (an ass) Joffrey. Cersei refuses to let it happen, but Tyrion and Bronn both think it's a perfect name.

* XanatosSpeedChess: Varys, who manages to foil Littlefinger's plot to execute Ned Stark after he learns from one of his little birds that he was persuading Joffrey to kill him.

* YoungConqueror: Although Robb eventually bent the knee and never gets to become the King of the North, his exploits in the short war meant that he becomes this in the eyes of his bannermen.

* YouGotSpunk: Although he doesn't say anything, Tywin is amused by Arya's decidedly blunt and unladylike ways. He even considers ''smiling.''

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The Wildlings, as in canon. [[spoiler:In part 3, Jon gains the loyalty of a group through a combination of killing their leader and being TheChosenOne.]]

* WarIsHell: The Riverlands are devastated by war, along with the lands which saw continued warring after the North's peace accord. UpToEleven with the Long Night.

* AdultFear: [[spoiler: When a maester comes to the conclusion that the grey ash falling all over Westeros came from a volcano--the only active volcano in Westeros being Dragonstone--Stannis is horrified at the possibility that his wife and daughter might have been killed. The Starks also realizes that Gendry is almost certainly dead and possibly Arya as well. Fortunately, all four of them turn up alive at Duskendale.]]
** All of [[spoiler: Cersei and Jaime]]'s children are killed one at a time, the final one dying right in front of them as they watch on helplessly.
** For [[spoiler:the Starks, Arya and Gendry having to run from Selyse Baratheon because she wants their heads. There are times when Ned and Cat have no idea where they are, and can only hope they made it somewhere safe]].
** [[spoiler: For Ned, having Robb lose a leg]].

* IncestIsRelative: Daenerys is clearly attracted to Jon, her nephew.

* ArrangedMarriage: Daenerys to Hizdhar zo Loraq [[spoiler: though she plans to leaving him on the wedding day and eventually marry [[IncestIsRelative Aegon]]. She also arranges a betrothal between herself and Euron Greyjoy to receive his ships, but plans to kill him just before they reach Westeros.]]

** [[spoiler:Gendry and the dragon Elianta. This is because Melisandre awakened her with Gendry's blood.]]
*** [[spoiler:Subverted. Melisandre has taken over that body, and is just biding her time until she can take revenge for her murder and kill Aegon.]]

* GambitPileUp: [[spoiler: Daenerys planned to betray her husband, take her dragons back, and burn her enemies, but Hizdahr made arrangements of his own. He was planning to killing all her men so she would trapped in Meereen. Then Quentyn Martell showed up to marry her. When she refused, he tried to free her dragons, [[SpannerInTheWorks which gave Hizdahr time to interrogate Missandei and learn Daenerys' plan.]] When Hizdahr had his man attack her, Ser Barristan defeated them and Daenerys took him prisoner. When they got to the fighting pits, the pit fighters, hired by Hizdahr, tried to kill her. The whole thing ended with Daenerys breaking her dragons free and burning Meereen to ashes. Then Euron Greyjoy showed up...]]

* TakeThat: in his book about the history of the war, Tyrion doesn't pull any punches. He makes a point to tell Daenerys that he derided the story of her stay in Meereen.
* ThereCanOnlyBeOne: how the trouble with the Iron Throne is solved. [[spoiler:The last claimant to the throne alive is Daenerys.]]

** Part III, Chapter 20: [[spoiler:Maggy's prophecy becomes a reality as Myrcella dies from an arrow... and Jaime is the ''valonqar'' that kills Cersei.]]
** Part III, Chapter 26: [[spoiler:Jon meets and fights the Great Other, discovers that it is also the Stranger from the Faith of the Seven and the personification of death itself, and kills Sam as the love sacrifice needed to fully awaken the power of Lightbringer.]]

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Jon's charges against the Night's Watch are: aiding the wildlings, giving them knowledge of the Watch's defenses, helping them climb the wall, murdering another member of the Watch, and sleeping with a woman.

* BigBadassBattleSequence: The Third Battle of the Trident was so huge that it had be told from [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent multiple POVs over two chapters]].

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Chapters 6 and 7 of Part III are about the same event told from multiple [=POVs=] as it progresses.

* RealityEnsues: One main reason why Stannis fails to win more lords over to his cause is his religion and Melisandre's not-subtle intention to convert all of Westeros, violently if need be. When there are still followers of the Old Gods after thousands of years of contact with the Faith of the Seven, such a stand is unlikely to win allies.
** Due to the North staying out of the War of the Four Kings, they were better able to deal with the Ironborn's assault on their lands. After this setback, the Ironborn naturally turn to the Westerlands, while the Lannisters are embroiled in said conflict.
** As [[spoiler:Jaime]] is smaller and less stocky than Gregor Clegane, Oberyn's poison kills him sooner.

* NotSoDifferent: Both Arya and Sansa [[spoiler: fell in love with men whom by right could not marry them]].

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8149463/1/ Ned Stark Lives!]]'', its [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8966982/1/Ned-Stark-Lives-Part-2 second]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10518957/1/Ned-Stark-Lives-Part-3 third]] installments explore this what-if scenario as closely as George R.R. Martin could have written it.

[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8149463/1/ Ned Stark Lives!]], its [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8966982/1/Ned-Stark-Lives-Part-2 second]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10518957/1/Ned-Stark-Lives-Part-3 third]] installments explore this what-if scenario as closely as George R.R. Martin could have written it.

At the very end of ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'', the first book in the ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series, Lord Eddard Stark is seized for treason after trying to remove King Joffrey from the Iron Throne. He is then forced to take the black and go to the Night's Watch under threat that his daughters' lives will be spared, and that his son Robb Stark will stop his campaign in the Riverlands and return North. Everything goes according to plan until suddenly, Joffrey decides to chop off Ned Stark's head and start the War of the Five Kings.

* ObviousInHindsight: Varys and Ser Barristan both regard Jon Snow being Rhaegar's son as this when they figure it out to the extent that Varys proclaims himself to be stupid.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. [[spoiler: Tommen dies of an illness while traveling to Highgarden to meet with Margaery Tyrell and escape the Others. Myrcella dies after being hit by an arrow.]]

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Ned Stark was once this, but ever since his encounters with the DeadlyDecadentCourt at King's Landing, he starts to become a better judge of character. He even advises his family to arm themselves with hidden daggers when they get to the Twins for Robb's wedding in case of the possibility that [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder the Freys]] were planning to betray them. [[spoiler: They were, but Walder Frey decided at the last moment not to, when he considered that he'll get a lot more with his grandson as Lord of Winterfell.]]

* OhCrap: Many, many times. Pretty much half the characters have this reaction, at least once.
** SugarWiki/MostTriumphantExample: [[spoiler:Cersei realizing that she has pushed Jaime too far... and then realizing that, since Jaime is younger than her (by dint of a few seconds), he also counts as the ''valonqar''.]]

** MostTriumphantExample: [[spoiler:Cersei realizing that she has pushed Jaime too far... and then realizing that, since Jaime is younger than her (by dint of a few seconds), he also counts as the ''valonqar''.]]

* ReplacementLoveInterest[=/=]ReplacementGoldfish: Val comes to see herself as on to Jon after the death of Ygritte. She's not entirely happy about Jon's awkwardness on the subject.
** [[spoiler:Robb and Val end up becoming this for each other, replacing Jon and Roslin.]]