A Tale of Two Dragons is an A Song of Ice and Fire AU fanfic written by Belisarius55
, written on April 17, 2020. The fanfic is set in an AU of the Dance of the Dragons where instead of the four Dragonseeds that were successful in claiming dragons in canon, there are six successful Dragonseeds and the changes to the Dance of the Dragons and its aftermath that transpire as a result. The story can be found here on Archive of Our Own and here on FanFiction.Net.
A Tale of Two Dragons contains examples of:
- Ascended Extra: Features several examples of this:
- In Fire & Blood, the Dragonseeds are minor characters within the Dance. As the protagonists Gaemon and Maegor are dragonseeds themselves, the rest of the dragonseeds get more attention and characterisation, especially Nettles.
- In the books, Maegor is an unnamed son of Silver Denys. In the fic, Maegor is not only a POV character, but one of the protagonists.
- Several minor characters in Canon end up as POV characters:
- Hobert Hightower is a very minor character in the original books, only having relevance as a part of the Caltrops. Here, he is a POV character.
- In Canon, Gyles Yronwood is a footnote during the Storming of the Dragonpit as one of the Seven who rode. In this, he is a POV character with a connection to Maegor, one of the protagonists of the story.
- Veron Greyjoy is a footnote in the Ironborn rebellion after the Dance. Here, he is a POV character
- In the books, Maris serves as a plot point to provoke Aemond into pursuing Lucerys. Though it doesn't happen until near the end of the Dance, she becomes a POV character here.
- The Atoner: Hobert Hightower becomes this after the Dance. He starts by stepping down from the office of Hand of the King, then when new Hand Corlys Velaryon offers him the position of leading an army against the ironborn, Hobert accepts the offer, viewing it as his second chance to bring justice, as well as to make up for his mistakes during the Dance itself.
- Berserk Button: Insulting his deceased family is a good way to piss Maegor off. An unintentional insult like with Nettles in Gaemon II with result in a reprimand. And as for an intentional insult, lets just say Ulf learned the hard way why that is a bad idea.
- The Conspiracy: Larys Strong plans to put Gaemon Palehair (Son of Aegon II) on the throne with the help of Ser Byron and an amnesiac Criston Cole.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- Instead of being devoured by The Cannibal, Silver Denys and his sons (minus Maegor) are instead devoured by Sheepstealer.
- In Canon, Rhaenyra is executed by being burned and devoured by Sunfyre. Here, with the advice from Hobert, Aegon instead has her beheaded.
- Ulf the White in canon is killed by Hobert through the use of poisoned wine. Here, he is crushed by Grey Ghost.
- Hugh is killed by Jon Roxton in canon, whereas here, he dies by being crushed by Vermithor.
- Speaking of Vermithor, instead of dying of his injuries from fighting Seasmoke, he gets his neck snapped by the Cannibal.
- Instead of dying at Tumbleton to Vermithor, Addam Velaryon and Seasmoke are killed by Ser Malentine and Silverwing after the Dance.
- Heroic BSoD: After finding out about the death of his family, Maegor spends several weak as a recluse, mostly watching the sea from the Citadel, and it took Gaemon making him go out for a drink with the rest of the Dragonseeds to break from this.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Jacaerys, Vermax and Stormcloud still die at the Battle of the Gullet.
- Nettles is still forced to (temporarily) flee to exile in the Vale after being sentenced to death by a paranoid Rhenyra following the Betrayal of Ulf and Hugh, as well as news of her affair with Daemon.
- Rhaenyra is still captured and executed by the Greens.
- Aegon the Elder still dies.
- Aegon the Younger still becomes king after the Dance.
- Named by the Adaptation: In the original books, Silver Denys' sons aren't named. In A Tale of Two Dragons, they are named Aegon, Aenys and Maegor.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Presumably, as due to being one of the main characters and taming Grey Ghost, Maegor avoids his likely canonical fate of being devoured by dragon along with the rest of his family.
- Due to not confronting Hugh Hammer, Jon Roxton survives the Second Battle of Tumbleton.
- Because he doesn't drink with Ulf, Hobert also survives the Battle of Tumbleton, as well as the Dance as a whole.
- Gyles Yronwood survives the Riot in King's Landing.
- Because the Storming of the Dragonpits is averted, Dreamfyre, Shrykos, Tyraxes and Morghul survive the Dance.
- In the canon of Fire and Blood, Criston Cole dies at the Butcher's Ball. In A Tale of Two Dragons, he survives the battle but is left as an amnesiac who goes by the name of Hugor.
- As Sunfyre doesn't fight Grey Ghost or Moondancer, Sunfyre survives the Dance. Conversely, Grey Ghost and Moondancer also survive the war as a result.
