A Caged Songbird
is a A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones fanfic where Sansa was married to Joffrey.
Tropes that appear in this fanfic:
- Adaptational Villainy: Joffrey takes his cruelty a notch higher, repeatedly invoking his Marital Rape License on Sansa. Later, he forgoes having his Kingsguard hit Sansa for him and does it himself, cutting her face with his ring, almost causing her to miscarry, and threatening to kill her before having his soldiers rape her in front of the royal court. He also destroyed the Red Keep's godswood because she had gone there to be away from him.
- Arranged Marriage:
- Joffrey and Sansa.
- Tommen and Margaery.
- Aegon and Daenerys.
- Jon and Sansa.
- Jon Connington spends part of the story trying to get Jon to set Sansa aside for Margaery Tyrell.
- Awful Wedded Life: Sansa's marriage to Joffrey is a living hell, with him raping her every night as she frequently contemplates suicide.
- Best Friends-in-Law: Sansa gets along with Tyrion far better than she does with her husband. In fact, Tyrion is Sansa's only true friend in King's Landing.
- Bottle Episode: The entire story takes place in King's Landing and other plotlines go unmentioned.
- Catharsis Factor: An In-Universe example with Sansa smiling in vindictive satisfaction while watching Cersei scream in rage upon being informed of Joffrey's death.
- Children Are Innocent: Joanna, especially early on. She even loves her father! Justified in that she's a very young child.
- Child by Rape: Joanna Baratheon, the daughter of Sansa and Joffrey, is this since her conception is the result of her father invoking Marital Rape License.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Joffrey. Sansa slashes his throat to the point that she decapitates him.
- The Cutie: Joanna, Sansa's adorable little girl.
- Dead Guy Junior: Joffrey names his daughter Joanna, for his grandmother.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tyrion Lannister. Even spending time in the dungeons has not dulled his wit."I went without wine for months-miracles do happen."
- Driven to Suicide: Ashara Dayne's canon suicide by leaping from her tower into the sea is dwelled upon a fair amount. Sansa meanwhile never quite gets there, but contemplates it fairly often while in King's Landing.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Loved ones might be a bit of a stretch, but the bottom line is that Joffrey treats Joanna decently.
- Face Death with Dignity: Tywin does not scream when he is torched by dragon fire.
- Generation Xerox:
- Sansa notes that Joanna is very similar to Arya personality-wise, which is likely why she and Jon are so quick to grow close.
- Sansa also notes she and her mother Catelyn went through similar circumstances in their respective marriage stories.
- Howl of Sorrow: Cersei lets one loose when Daenerys reveals Joffrey's death.
- How We Got Here: Chapter 1 has Sansa looking for Joanna as Daenerys' forces converge on the Red Keep before the story launches into Sansa's marriage to Joffrey.Daenerys: Queen Sansa. Where is your husband?
- Jerkass: Jon Connington is anything but nice to Sansa, simply for being a Stark.
- Karma Houdini: Littlefinger. Despite starting the entire war, he's rewarded for supporting the new regime with a seat on the Small Council and the titles he accumulated before leaving for the Vale are left intact.
- Karmic Death: Joffrey is killed by Sansa, while trying to rape her as he always did throughout their marriage, with Widow's Wail, a sword forged from the Stark family sword Ice, which her father had been executed with.
- Kill It with Fire: Tywin, Cersei and Jaime are executed by Drogon.
- The Kingslayer: Sansa is personally responsible for Joffrey's death the night Daenerys storms King's Landing. Cersei even calls Sansa "Kingslayer" during her own trial.Oberyn: I should not think a Lannister would care to call another a Kingslayer.
- Kissing Cousins: Sansa marries Jon, who turns out to be her aunt Lyanna's son with Rhaegar Targaryen, per Daenerys' orders. While cousin marriages are fairly common in Westeros, the fact that Jon was raised as Sansa's half-brother makes it difficult for both of them to process initially.
- Last of His Kind: Tyrion is the only remaining Lannister after Chapter 18 due to the deaths of Cersei, Tywin and Jaime.
- Marital Rape License: Sansa is repeatedly raped by Joffrey, beginning on their wedding night. Sansa's 14 at the most, Joffrey's 17 or 18. According to Sansa, Joffrey raped her for 11 hours that night.
- Marriage Before Romance: Jon and Sansa.
- Nasal Trauma: Sansa shows Rickon she's not their mother by having him feel her nose, which was broken during her marriage to Joffrey.
- Nom de Mom: Since Joffrey is a false king, Joanna is technically a bastard. She's later legitimized as a Stark.
- Now Or Never Sex: Although they're already married, Jon and Sansa's lovemaking before Jon rides off to war has this vibe.
- Number Two: Oberyn Martell is Daenerys' Hand.
- Pet the Dog:
- Joffrey seems to be nicer to his daughter Joanna, because he sees her as a validation that he is truly a Baratheon.
- Oberyn Martell appears to be the only one of the conquerors who empathizes with Sansa's situation.
- Posthumous Character:
- Ashara Dayne is mentioned numerous times, mainly whenever Sansa contemplates suicide.
- Ned Stark appears as a ghost several times, similar to a Force spirit.
- The Rival: Jon Connington to Sansa in the Small Council.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Presumably after getting stabbed, Jon left the Wall and journeyed to Essos, where he joined up with Daenerys.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Tywin and Joffrey make it past Jon's stabbing.
- Oberyn Martell lives several years past his canonical death.
- Myrcella and Tommen are still alive after Daenerys arrives in Westeros.
- Sansa sends Shae to White Harbor before Daenerys' forces reach King's Landing.
- Rickon and Osha live out the war on Skagos.
- Strong Family Resemblance:
- Joanna Baratheon, Sansa and Joffrey's daughter, has dark brown hair and blue eyes. Joffrey thinks it's the Baratheon looks, but Sansa and Jaime know that the blue is that of the Tullys, while the hair is from the Stark side.
- When Rickon is found and he and Sansa meet again, he thinks she's their mother Catelyn, who Sansa has started to resemble as she's grown older.
- You Remind Me of X: Oberyn admits that Sansa reminds him of Elia in some ways and by extension, Sansa's daughter Joanna reminds him of Elia's daughter Rhaenys. However, it's not so much because they share the same personality traits as much as it's the tragic circumstances they both suffered through. Thus, he's especially sympathetic to Sansa's plight and goes out of his way to protect her.
