Good thing they weren't dropped off in the North, South or East, lest the name become confusing.
Hear Me Roar: The Lannisters in the War of the Ring
is a fanfiction written by WillyWalkerStrikesAgain that originally appeared on the alternatehistory.com forums. The premise is that the Westerlands and all its inhabitants (both former and current) are pulled to Middle Earth from near the end of Game of Thrones to the wastelands of Anfalas in Western Gondor in 3017 T.A. What follows is House Lannister adjusting to what is dubbed "The Arrival," affecting and being affected by this new world, for better and for worse.
Hear Me Roar: The Lannisters in the War of the Ring provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: Barg, the Goblin King, exchanging friendly repartee and mutual respect with Forlong when they face off against each other.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: A more heartwarming example. Cersei begging the Fellowship to rescue Tyrion from the Uruk-hai. It's one of the nicest things she's ever done.
- Armor Is Useless: Gregor Clegane learns this the hard way when Boromir stabs through his usually impenetrable heavy plate armor.
- Ascended Extra: Cerenna and Myrielle Lannister from ASOIAF; Forlong the Fat from LOTR. All characterizations are inventions of the authors, since none even spoke in either canon.
- Ser Lyle Crakehall and Shagga of the Stone Crows only had brief appearances in canon. Here, they're Tyrion's True Companions.
- Likewise, Timett of the Burned Men only served to get Tyrion out of Catelyn's custody in canon and vanished from the plot afterwards. Here, he's Tywin's Frontline General after the death of Gregor Clegane.
- Badass and Child Duo: Eomer and Podrick Payne; the Prince of Rohan goes from chagrined that he has a squire forced upon him to admiring the boy for his determination and for saving his life.
- Badass Boast: We get a few good ones here and there.
- The Witch King gets a good one, befitting his threat, when Jaime challenges him.
The Witch King: No man is your equal, but no man can slay me. You are a Knight of Summer, Jaime Lannister, and Winter is Coming.- Also rather amusing, Cerenna Lannister gets a pretty good one to Eomer.
Cerenna: "I do not know how it is in Rohan, Prince Eomer, but in the Westerlands it is the ladies who tame and mount the stallions." - Bash Brothers: Ser Lyle Crakehall and Shagga, son of Dolf. The former even knights the latter himself.
- Bastard Bastard: Joffrey goes without saying. Also, while the Reyne bastard he picks up is most likely a fake, he is a literal bastard (just probably not a Reyne one) and certainly fits the metaphorical side of the term as well.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jaime Lannister, twice. The first when he saves his father from the Lord of the Nazgul, despite it being a hopeless fight, and the second when he leads a host to Casterly Rock to save it from Joffrey and the goblin army.
- Big Little Sister: Myrielle Lannister is taller, more confident, wittier, and more conventionally beautiful than her sister Cerenna, who is ten months older. Subverted later when we see Cerenna is smarter, more insightful, and keeps a cooler head in a crisis.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Tyrion is forcibly given one of the Rings of Power during a diplomatic visit to Minas Morgul, which almost totally subsumes him, due in large part to the Witch King showing Tyrion that Tysha really did love him, and that both his father and brother were in on the gang rape the former subjected her to at the hands of his men, though Jaime was very much unwilling. Fortunately, he gets snapped out of it.
- Break the Haughty: All of the Lannisters get hit by this to a varying degree, though it benefits them in the long run. Tywin catches on to this after his own experience with the Witch-King (who he'd previously assumed was merely a conjurer of cheap tricks) and Tyrion and Jaime's examples, and concludes that Misery Builds Character, so when he sends Cersei on a diplomatic mission, he forces her to travel in severe discomfort to toughen her up. And it works!
- Cannot Kill Their Loved Ones: When the Lannister family ends up in Middle-Earth, and Joffrey ends up betraying his family and bribing a goblin army to restore him to the throne, taking over the Westerlands and taking his much kinder brother Tommen prisoner in the process, his uncle/father Jaime is instructed to kill him and save Tommen. Despite Joffrey's Ax-Crazy tendencies, however, Jaime can't bring himself to kill his son. Tommen, on the other hand, does kill his brother, allowing Jaime to take the blame for his sake.
- Character Development: The Lannisters in general, but Cersei's character development is probably the largest. She goes from a haughty, smug bitch to a more caring woman who outright begs the Fellowship to save Tyrion after he is abducted by the Uruk-Hai.
- This suggested to happen to pretty much all the people of the Westerlands, under Middle-Earth's subtle influence, with one uncomfortably noting to a Middle Earth resident that they've only really seen the best of them, and Cerenna Lannister bluntly telling Eomer that Lords Westerling and Banefort, who've been his back-up on his campaigns in the Westerlands, aren't good men - decent enough by Westerosi standards, but not that great. Under Eomer's influence, however, and out of a desire to follow his example, they've become better.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: One of the Nazgul subjects Euron to a magical hallucination in which he feels like he's being flayed alive when he fails to kill Boromir out on the seas.
- Cool Sword: Bright-Roar, as befits a Valyrian steel blade - Middle Earth residents are deeply impressed, and Gimli expresses a desire to examine it closely.
- The Corrupter: The One Ring, as usual. In this case, Sandor replaces Boromir as the Fellowship member who covets the ring, because he thinks he can use it to repair his facial scars and bring his beloved sister back from the dead. Thankfully, he seems to have realized the truth in the latest chapter. Let's hope it stays that way.
- The lesser rings have a similar effect.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Trial By Combat between Eomer and Lancel Lannister goes about how you'd expect.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tyrion, as per usual, and Bronn.
- Myrielle Lannister is no slouch either.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance:
- No character from Middle Earth approves of Tywin's past methods upon learning of them, with none of the fear and begrudging respect for them he got in Westeros. A few even go so far as to compare the Sack of King's Landing and the murder of Elia Martell and her children to orc work; Denethor - no saint himself - is disgusted and enraged when he learns that Tywin had Tyrion's first wife gang-raped by his guards while having Jaime convince Tyrion (who was Forced to Watch) that she was just a whore.
- Despite being perfectly intelligent, Eowyn is so naive to the idea of court intrigue that she doesn't even know what the word "subterfuge" means. That said, under Tyrion's tutelage, she learns quickly.
- Eomer is likewise untutored in intrigue, but as Tywin internally notes, he's no fool, and he learns to navigate Westerlands politics very quickly - even if he hates doing so.
- Boromir grumbles inwardly and externally about the Westerosi obsession with marriage alliances, wondering why they couldn't just fight side by side as friends, like sensible folk.
- Almost perversely, Forlong explains to a very surprised Jaime that pretty much no one he's met in Middle-Earth is particularly surprised or bothered by Jaime killing Aerys, on the grounds that Aerys was plainly insane and that an insane King deserves no loyalty. In fact, it's actually considered a genuinely heroic act by Jaime.
- Dirty Coward: Both Septon Ezekiel and Lancel. When Eomer demands a trial by combat, the two scheme to subtly poison him in order to allow Lancel to win. The ploy fails and when Lancel sees this, he tries to weasel his way out of the match. Needless to say, it doesn't work and he gets a sound drubbing from Eomer.
- The Dreaded: The Nazgul, as you might expect; even Tywin is afraid of them, and for good reason.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Mordor is such a horrible and frightening place that even GREGOR CLEGANE finds it off-putting.
- Eviler than Thou: One of the Nazgul gives Euron a harsh lesson that, while the Greyjoy scion might be a ruthless pirate, he is a literal avatar of evil.
- Tywin, comes face to face with the Witch King, who shows him what true evil incarnate looks like. Earlier before, he was planning on striking a blow against Sauron for his affront against House Lannister in his typical manner. He gets told quite plainly that he could kill as many people as he wanted and Sauron wouldn't care; in fact, he'd probably just laugh at Tywin for trying.
- Foreshadowing: Tyrion plays cyvasse with Herumor, the Umbarian envoy sent to open relations with the Westerlands, and easily wins. Herumor grumbles that "a small man with a clever plan" can't possibly become the undoing of Sauron the Great.
- The Good King: What Aragorn is set to be, and what Forlong demands that Jaime become as atonement for his various sins, particularly relating to his children by Cersei, 'Turambar's sin'. Jaime becomes Crown Prince instead, which is close enough.
- Good Shepherd: Septon Archer, later becoming the High Septon.
- Happily Arranged Marriage: Prince Eomer and Cerenna Lannister.
- Hidden Depths:
- Eomer is more than just a hot-blooded warrior, with Tywin's inner monologue noting that while he's untutored in political arts, he's not a fool - something approximating high praise, from Tywin.
- Forlong seems at first to be primarily a comic relief support character. However, he's also an exceptionally capable fighter beneath his Big Fun exterior, and after the retaking of Casterly Rock and the death of Joffrey, urges him to take the crown of the Westerlands as a method of atonement, because Tommen cannot be allowed to take the throne without risking divine wrath or generalised misfortune - though he accepts Jaime declaring Tywin as King of the Westerlands and himself as Crown Prince, muttering "close enough". Afterwards, he muses that Gondor has greater warriors and commanders, so perhaps he was meant to go with Jaime, either by Denethor or by some higher power, to provide something else that Jaime would need - a friend.
- Knight In Shining Armour: Jaime goes from merely looking the part to actually acting something close to it, with tales of his duel with the Witch-King at Osgiliath (which, while ultimately a losing fight, was epic) quickly spreading far and wide. Maglor, a witness to the fight and a survivor of the First Age, wistfully remarks that it reminded him of better days. After that and his campaign in the Westerlands, his fame spreads even further, with Forlong remarking that his men are all but ready to force a crown onto Jaime's head.
- Knight in Sour Armour: Sandor, who's given an impetus to fight by seeing the peace and tranquillity of the Shire and essentially adopting it and the Hobbits as his Morality Pet.
- Lady of War: Eowyn and Galadriel.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Jaime reveals this secret to Joffrey during the latter's assault on Casterly Rock. Joffrey is so shocked that he lets his guard down, allowing his hostage - Tommen - to escape and later kill him.
- Mad Scientist: Unsurprisingly, Qyburn thrives in Saruman's employ.
- Morality Pet: The Shire as a whole serves as Sandor's, with one of the hobbits speculating via the metaphor of getting muddy and dirty and, since everyone around is much the same way, not really noticing until you enter a clean inn, that it inspired him to try and be a better man.
- Misery Builds Character: Tywin begins to think so after his encounter with the Nazgul breaks him of a lot of his previous beliefs, with the examples of Tyrion (after his experience with one of the rings, he becomes Eowyn's political mentor, right hand man and something close to Hand of the King in Rohan) and Jaime (who bucks up his act and starts acting more like the Knight In Shining Armour he should be - albeit a pragmatic one). He invokes this with Cersei, sending her on a diplomatic mission to the elves that is (at best) going to be very difficult and involve a hard life on the road, which combined with a Break the Haughty experience with Galadriel, proves him right and improves her dramatically.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: An Uruk with a torch in one hand and a sword in the other is almost able to kill Sandor because of the latter's fear of fire but the Balrog puts so much fear in him that his subsequent rampage was instrumental in seeing the Fellowship over the narrow bridge.
- Offing the Offspring: Subverted. Tywin orders Jaime to kill Joffrey when he learns that the boy has amassed a goblin army to reconquer the Westerlands, but at the moment of truth, Jaime can't do it. Tommen can - and does. However, Jaime takes the blame for Tommen's sake.
- Pet the Dog: Late in the war, Tywin finally acknowledges Tyrion's worth as both a Lannister and his son.
- Cersei begging on her hands and knees for the Fellowship to save Tyrion after he is mistaken for a Hobbit and abducted by the Uruk-Hai.
- Pride Before a Fall: Tywin's thought as he leads a host to Osgiliath to meet the forces of Mordor in battle:
- "And they will see what fate awaits any who will trouble the Lion."
- Redemption Equals Death: Invoked with Lancel.
- Sensei for Scoundrels: Tyrion takes up this role to Eowyn, at Gandalf's suggestion. It works out remarkably well, though it doesn't save Theodred.
- Screw Destiny: When in Lothlorien, Galadriel manages to comfort Cersei, by telling her that Gift of Men frees her to choose her own fate, no matter what Maggy, or the Witch-King says.
- Sinister Minister: Septon Ezekiel.
- Smug Snake: Grima is a skilled schemer by Rohan's standards. However, he's no match for Tyrion, a veteran of the game of thrones.
- Title Drop: Aside from the use of the Lannister House Words from time to time, Denethor mentions that Westerosi history is something of 'a clash of kings' or 'a feast for crows'.
- Took a Level in Badass: Joffrey, of all people, who manages to sway the goblins to his side, and gain an army capable of conquering the Westerlands. He's still absolutely vile, and not an especially competent commander, but it's still moderately impressive.
- Warrior Prince: Theodred, Eomer, and more or less, Boromir and Faramir.
- Jaime becomes this after Joffrey's death, largely at Forlong's demand - not only can Tommen not take the throne without severe consequences (as in, divine ones), Jaime doesn't want it, so it shall be his penance for his crimes. So he gently sets the traumatised Tommen aside with the plan being to give him Castamere, and cuts ties with Westeros once and for all, re-establishing the old Kingdom of the Westerlands, with Tywin as King and himself as Crown Prince and heir apparent. Tywin is reluctantly impressed.
- Worthy Opponent: Barg, the Goblin-King, considers Forlong to be this, and vice versa, with the two being free with Combat Compliments.
