Fanfic / The Mountain and the Wolf

The Mountain and the Wolf (fanfiction link/AO3 link) is an ongoing Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire and Warhammer Fantasy crossover that begins when Oberyn Martell is replaced as Tyrion Lannister's defender by a very large man whose armor is covered in skulls.

Things go downhill from there as two of the crapsackiest of worlds collide.

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The Mountain and the Wolf provides examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny: The Wolf never seems to mind when his men get their asses handed to them by the GOT characters. His response to Brienne curbstomping a Norscan wrestler is to laugh and translate the loser's punishment, threatening him when he protests.
• Adaptation Drift: The Wolf's effect on the plot of Game of Thrones increases as time goes by:
  • The early chapters mostly feature the Wolf showing up and killing GOT characters shortly before they would have died in canon (Gregor Clegane, Ramsay Bolton, Petyr Baelish) and then leaving, so he has very little effect on the overall plot. Only after the Battle of Winterfell does he start having a broader effect on the world and other characters (his meddling causes Theon Greyjoy to survive the battle and join him as a Champion of Chaos, Beric is still alive, Varys is abducted before he can be killed, his pulling a Kill and Replace on Euron Greyjoy ensures the Golden Company's War Elephants are in Westeros).
  • While the next few chapters still follow the show's plot, it happens for different reasons: he abducts Jaime, Qyburn and Cersei so their bodies are never found, Daenerys accepts King's Landing surrender so he makes it look as though Cersei used magic to attack Daenerys and make her burn down the city, Daenerys is killed when she catches the Wolf trying to steal the Iron Throne.
  • After the Wolf interrupts an important moment in the show's finale (instead of a council banishing Jon Snow for the murder of Daenerys, Jon is now the Hand of the King), it goes into completely different territory: the Unsullied stay in Westeros to fight the Wolf; Missandei, Varys, Jaime, Qyburn and Cersei are his prisoners; Arya is nearly killed by Khornate cultists, and the mostly-united Seven Kingdoms lay siege to Harrenhal with help from the Unsullied, Dothraki and the Red Priests of R'hllor to drive back the forces of Chaos.
• Adaptational Badass: On the tabletop, the Seafang is used to teleport Wulfrik and a unit of marauders to the game, and it's never explicitly mentioned as being able to fly. Here, it (or rather, whatever ship the prow is attached to) is essentially a fantasy gunship, able to plow through enemies and drop off allies just about anywhere on the battlefield (and keep shooting all the while). The prow itself is animated and can bite other ships to hold them still.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: The Wolf being an omniglot was already the case in the original work (thanks to the Gift of Tongues granted by Chaos), but now he's able to make himself understood in multiple languages simultaneously, such as giving a Rousing Speech in Westerosi, Valyrian and Dothraki, or delivering insults in Nehekharan that Akkarulf hears in Westerosi.
• Afterlife of Service: The Wolf murders three dark elf women at the location of his dead friend Sigvatr's funeral pyre to brighten up his afterlife.
• Allegiance Affirmation: The Wolf makes it fairly clear he's not an obedient servant after Daenerys catches him trying to take the Iron Throne away (the reader knows he's been Running Both Sides for quite a while). Downplayed in that he seems honestly confused that she'd be angry at him for that, because he seems to sincerely believe she's a ruthless butcher in the vein of Warhammer Fantasy's Chaos Lords. Daenerys siccing Drogon on him prevents the situation from being cleared up.
• Always Someone Better: Or bigger, in this case: the Wolf is even bigger than the Mountain.
• Animal Eye Spy: A Wildling seer pilots a raven to guide Tzeentch-worshipping Dothraki through Westeros unnoticed.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Subverted with the Wolf, where the only noticeably wolf-like element about him are his fangs, whenever he smiles.
  • Tzeentch's animal being the raven, one gets used as a guide to the traitor Dothraki to lead them to Harrenhal.
• Animate Dead: The Mountain is decapitated before being brought to Qyburn, who's still able to reanimate him (and grow him a new head somehow).
• Antagonist Title: The fic's title refers to Gregor Clegane (The Mountain) and Wulfrik (The Wolf). However, it's partially subverted as the Mountain dies in the first chapter though the Wolf is more or less the protagonist of the story.
• Anti-Climax:
  • An In-Universe one for the Wolf: Having spent prodigious sums on magical wargear, mercenaries and weapons in preparation for killing the Night King in the name of Chaos, expecting he can reimburse the cost from whatever loot is to be found after the battle, he has nothing to show for his investment when the Night King is accidentally shattered by Arya instead.
  • Another one when it looks like Akkarulf and an Ironborn are going to fight over being made captain of the Silence. Akkarulf yields without a fight (expecting that the position will be vacant soon) but demands reparation for the insult, the other retracts the insult. The Wolf is left clearly pissed off at everyone being so reasonable.
• Ascended Meme: Sigvald the Magnificent is often referred to as "Joffrey all grown up" in the Warhammer fandom, due to their shared traits (narcissistic sadists born of Brother–Sister Incest). When he shows up in the fic, the onlookers (including Cersei) think it's Joffrey returned from the dead.
• Asshole Victim: Several Dark Elf slavers are taken prisoner by the Wolf and sold off to Skaven and Chaos Dwarfs. It's hard to feel bad for them.
• "Ass" in Ambassador: Though he's hidden while he does it, the Wolf interrupts Cersei and Daenerys's final parley with a string of insults that causes Cersei to have a bunch of prisoners executed. He justifies it as letting them die quickly rather than starving to death in a siege, and weakening Cersei by costing her hostages.
• Badass Abnormal: Jaime gets his golden hand enchanted (and likely possessed by a Daemon) into a Morph Weapon, making him a much more dangerous fighter. Still not enough to beat the Wolf though.
• Badass Preacher: One Red Priest manages to drop a Chaos warrior in a single hit of his Flaming Sword.
• Bastardly Speech:
  • Tyrion gets suspicious after finding a helmet last seen on Euron Greyjoy in the Seafang's hold, especially when it was also seen by someone who sabotaged King's Landing's defenses, and fears the Wolf is working with Euron. The Wolf manages to persuade him it was one of Euron's men in a way that Tyrion thinks he thought it up. The reader knows that the Wolf already killed Euron, but the Wolf has his own plans involving the Ruinous Powers, which can't be good for anyone involved.
  • Later the Wolf denigrates his own, entirely successful plan as being too risky for Euron to pull off, in order to convince Tyrion that the attack on Daenerys and the river gate being left open to attack were separate events.
• Battering Ram: The Wolf has a huge one built, naming it after one of his enemies. It turns out to be unneeded, as Daenerys blows the gate open before the ram even reaches the wall.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: While under the influence of his possessed hand, Jaime kills several of the Wolf's men with ease, then demands one that can provide a challenge. He turns around to see the Wolf looking at him and gets his ass kicked.
• Beleaguered Assistant: However Einarr responds to the Wolf's orders is never satisfactory.
• The Berserker: The Norscans naturally count several of these in their ranks.
  • One accidentally saves Beric's life by attacking the wights surrounding him.
  • Jon ends up killing another during the siege of King's Landing when the Norscan starts attacking both citizens and Daenerys's soldiers.
• Berserk Button:
  • The Wolf's main strategy is to keep pushing his opponent's Berserk Button in battle, sometimes without even appearing to consciously do so.
  • The Wolf does not like people thinking he's a mere mercenary or assassin. He does the work of his gods, period.
  • Exploited during a battle against a Tomb King: in order to lure a Necrotect (a Support Party Member keeping his living statues repaired during the battle) away for a battle, the Wolf does as much damage to a mural as he can on the way down, then starts carving graffiti on it.
  • The Wolf mentions a Chaos warrior with highly suspect parentage (having the hair colors of all three men claiming to be his father) who removes the lips of anyone who mentions it.
• Big Damn Heroes: Arya is about to be hacked to death by a Khornate cultist when Nymeria and her huge wolfpack show up to rip his throat out.
• Body Horror:
  • Some of the Wolf's trophy skulls are described as not being quite human, whether through size, excessive teeth, or horns growing out of the eye sockets.
  • The Crow Brothers are very, very wrong, from being able to fight on with horrifying damage to their godawful smell to having bugs for blood.
  • The firewyrm is said to have once been a man until the weight of one mutation too many caused his transformation. Now it's a permanently mutating collection of disparate parts, always in flux.
  • Some of Euron's men have apparently been converted to worshipping the Chaos gods and are sporting mutations in consequence.
• Brains Versus Brawn: Discussed. The Wolf mentions that while there are some individuals who combine brains and brawn, for the most part practitioners of magic are very much Squishy Wizards, and so the person Tyrion is looking for (a man masquerading as Euron strong enough to kill several guards singlehandedly then stuff their bodies into a windlass) is not the one who cast the spell that caused Daenerys to attack King's Landing. And the Wolf certainly should know, seeing as he's the one who masterminded both events via a Champion of Chaos and a sorcerer.
• Brother–Sister Incest: The Wolf lets Jaime visit Cersei as a reward for finally beating a Slaaneshi warrior in a duel.
• Brush-Off Walk-Off: The Wolf often turns his back on people to leave, sometimes in the middle of a conversation. The people he does it to wonder if it's a deliberate insult on his part (in which case it's working) or part of the way he acts to pick a fight with anything and anyone.
• Butt-Monkey: Every time Einarr appears, it's to suffer morally. Even when Arya holds a knife to his throat he doesn't fight back.
• Came Back Wrong: Gregor Clegane, Ramsay Bolton, Littlefinger and Euron Greyjoy return as hideously mutated monsters, each having given themselves over to Chaos. Gregor in particular consists of his living and his zombified body fused back-to-back.
• Cloak of Defense: During a battle with Dark Elf raiders, Akkarulf finds that one Elf's dragonskin cloak makes her impervious to sword strikes. So he Shield Bashes her in the chin instead.
• Challenge Seeker:
  • The Wolf broadcasts his intention to return at the head of a vast invasion so the Westerosi will prepare an adequate defense. He's very disappointed that the natives have their own problems to worry about instead of yet another barbarian invasion.
  • His execution of Baelish is motivated in part because he'd offered to sell out the weakpoints of the Seven Kingdoms to the Wolf.
• Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: The Wolf tends to use Bretonnians (Warhammer's Fantasy Counter Part Culture to Arthurian French myths) when looking for an unfavorable comparison. Note that the author is French himself.
• Chekhov's Gun: Arya convinces the Wolf to finish off Baelish with her dagger, and forgets to get it back. Fortunately, he still had it in his belt during his fight with the Night King, and she was able to reclaim it and put it to good use.
• Cherry Tapping: The Wolf fights Euron in single combat without his shield, then puts down his sword to taunt Euron into killing him. He still wins by drop-sitting on Euron's chest.
• Cool Ship:
  • The Seafang is a flying, teleporting longship with an animated dragon's head prow. Unfortunately, it's not fireproof.
  • The Silence gets upgraded to a flying teleporting ship with dragon-killing ballistas mounted on it, able to serve as a mobile siege weapon and troop transport.
• Combat Sadomasochist: One Slaaneshi champion working for the Wolf is Kruissla Iron-Skin, whose skin is pierced with so many tiny iron nails that he's actually naked but looks like he's wearing chainmail. When Jaime finally manages to best him in a swordfight, he knows Kruissla enjoys pain as much as pleasure, so he sentences him to be chained to a wall and given bland food while he heals.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Wolf's Badass Boast at Winterfell is basically a recap of everything he did in his origin story.
  • During the battle of Winterfell, the Wolf binds and crucifies a White Walker to the pole on his back in the same way his tabletop model sports a skeleton.
  • The Wolf nearly lets it slip that he's used the trick of disguising a man in a dead enemy's armor. While he stops to avoid Tyrion realizing it's what happened with "Euron", it also applies to how the Wolf got rid of Sveinbjorn.
• Cowardice Callout: Zig-Zagged by the Wolf. He frequently calls out Westerosi characters for their cowardice, though his definition of cowardice is skewed. For the most part, it's mostly against people who don't fit the Norscan definition of bravery (i.e. willing and even eager to die in melee combat, because it brings the favor of their gods). Against Littlefinger and Ramsay it holds true, he accuses Euron of cowardice for attacking defenseless ships from a distance (but Euron also agrees to a duel with him), and he holds Missandei hostage and threatens to have her raped to death to motivate Grey Worm into staying and fighting him (and is quite happy to see that it works).
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Really, nearly every fight Wulfrik gets into can be described as this. The only exceptions are the Night King and Drogon who both manage to match him.
  • Ramsay was unable to fight back in any real way due to surprise the first time, and due to the Wolf overpowering him the second time.
  • Baelish was given a sword, but proved so ineffective with it the Wolf gave him a second chance only to betray him.
  • A Norscan challenges Brienne of Tarth to a wrestling match. Not only does she floor him instantly, she anticipates his trying to attack her from behind and knocks him down again.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: Jaime accidentally gets in a fight with the Wolf. He doesn't win, but does manage to impress him with a last-second parry and dodge.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • Gregor Clegane had his teeth punched out before the Wolf's thumbs burst through his temples and then eyes.
  • Ramsay Bolton gets utterly humiliated, brutally overpowered and beaten down before being flayed alive and emasculated.
  • Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish is stabbed in the back and has his throat slit by the man he intended to betray during a Hope Spot, and the last thing he sees is Arya smiling at him.
  • Euron Greyjoy is drowned with his genitals hacked off while having to hear the Wolf taunting him all the while.
• Dangerous Interrogative: After the Wolf learns the Iron Fleet won't be attacking King's Landing after all, his bloodthirsty grin stays but becomes far less amenable, and he gives a "What." before demanding an explanation. When the unfortunate messenger confirms it, the Wolf shakes him angrily and tromps off, venting his rage by flattening a soldier's helmet. It's all an act, as the Iron Fleet now obeys his orders and he needed them to keep Daenerys' armies in King's Landing without threatening them.
• Defiant to the End:
  • One Lannister soldier actually insults the Wolf despite being about to die. The Wolf congratulates him for his courage before killing him much faster than the previous one.
  • A Thenn bites off her own tongue and spits it at Tormund rather than talk.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Given that they're war-loving Chaos worshippers from a world far darker and brutal than even the Game of Thrones universe at its worst, there's quite a lot of instances of GOT characters expressing horror and disbelief at the Norscans' sheer brutality and alien ways.
  • A very interesting case is even that the Wildlings consider the Norscans to be barbaric savages, from this very humorous exchange between Wulfrik and Tormund.
  Tormund: Your men try to force themselves on women, and you punch them four times?
  Wulfrik: No, just once. That was for every offense.
  Tormund: What were those?
  Wulfrik: Picking a fight among allies, picking a fight among allies on the eve of battle, picking a fight among allies on the eve of battle over a woman, picking a fight on the eve of battle over a woman and losing.
  • And later turned on the Wolf, who is utterly flabbergasted at some of the Westerosi's actions like Davos continuing to work for the man who'd cut off his fingertips (and by the same token, Stannis cutting off the fingertips of the man who'd brought him food during a siege), or Bran never revealing the name of the man who'd pushed him out a window and crippled him for life.
• Dem Bones: The Wolf brings Ironborn to Nehekhara to test out dragonglass blades against a different kind of undead. Turns out they work just as well.
• Desecrating the Dead: Each of the Wolf's victims is decapitated, disemboweled, and has their heart ripped out except the Night King.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • The Mountain is killed by the Wolf (twice) instead of being poisoned by Oberyn and later thrown off a building by Sandor.
  • Ramsay Bolton is Flayed Alive rather than fed to his dogs.
  • Petyr Baelish is backstabbed and gets his throat cut. Arya is still there to watch him die though.
  • Subverted with the Night King, who the Wolf fights to a standstill but still gets taken out by Arya Stark and her Valyrian knife.
  • Daenerys dies a few days after she did in canon, and by jumping in front of Drogon to protect him from Wulfrik.
• Disney Death: The Wolf plunges from a window of the Red Keep into the bay, taking his last two henchman and the Seafang's prow with him. As the Seafang's prow is what allows it to teleport in the first place, he actually went to the Iron Fleet north of Essos.
• Dramatic Irony: A lot of comments go over another character's head due to their mutual ignorance of the other's universe.
  • Tyrion believes that if Oberyn had fought the Mountain, his life would have turned out very differently. In fact the story has changed very little from the series up to that point, since the Wolf shows up shortly before they were going to die anyway.
  • The Wolf claiming no corpse-emperor can stand against the Chaos Gods (in context, he's talking about the Night King, not...).
  • Arya and Jon independently think they hear a Norscan screaming about corn, since they doesn't know what Khorne is.
  • Jon tries to get the Wolf to stop executing Lannister prisoners. The Wolf tells him that they need to be killed, but he'll understand if Jon doesn't want to do it since those who pass the sentence rarely swing the sword themselves. Jon is understandably unhappy at the (unintentional) Ironic Echo of Ned Stark.
  • Finally gets played on the Wolf when Tyrion keeps pressing the issue of Euron sabotaging the gates, innocently mentioning his brother might well have run into the saboteur. As this is exactly what happened, the Wolf gets noticeably curt and changes the subject, although Tyrion puts it down to the Wolf not killing anything recently.
  • The Wolf requets the Westerosi find "the jaw of a wolf, broken in two and stolen by a lion", believing it to be a literal bone. The Westeros characters immediately pick up that it refers to the swords made from Ned Stark's broadsword, but don't tell him this in the hopes of using it against him.
• Dragon with an Agenda:
  • The Wolf becomes this to Daenerys when he claims to have threatened Euron into fleeing rather than outright kill him (when the reader knows he actually captured Euron earlier, used an impersonator to act in his name, and ritually murdered him in the Iron Islands).
  • Daenerys still torches King's Landing, but this time it's because of the Wolf's sorcerer casting a spell, she was actually about to enter the city peacefully.
  • The Wolf had something planned involving Daenerys and the Iron Throne, although Drogon puts a stop to that (along with revealing the Wolf's treachery to the heroes).
  • As befitting a Tzeentchian sorcerer, Sven seems to be plotting behind his boss' back, though he claims it's for the Wolf's own good.
• Enigmatic Minion: While the readers know what Wulfrik is doing in Westeros, and he himself doesn't hide the fact that he's there to serve the Chaos Gods, the Game of Thrones characters, due to not knowing what the Chaos Gods are and never really asking in details, don't understand what exactly the Wolf is there for until he's left their employ.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Wolf ends up recruiting Ironborn sailors, Dothraki riders and cannibalistic Wildlings. He's also seen to have champions of all four Chaos gods working for him (a Khornate berserker, Nurglite mercenaries, a Slaaneshi Shapeshifting Seducer and a Tzeentchian seer).
• Ethnic Magician: Sven Swordeater is an old Norscan sorcerer wearing furs and animal bits, but is capable of casting high-level spells like Call to Glory and teleporting at a moment's notice.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Well, "good"... The Wolf is repeatedly baffled by some of the Westerosi's kinder actions, whether it's Davos loyally serving Stannis despite Stannis cutting some of Davos's fingers for smuggling food despite saving his life, Bran forgiving Jaime and refusing to denounce him to his family despite Jaime permanently crippling him, Daenerys sparing (formerly) enemy soldiers rather than executing them or Tyrion asking Wulfrik to spare Bronn despite Bronn having tried to kill Tyrion just seconds ago.
• Evil vs. Evil: The Wolf is unapologetically and card-carryingly a willing servant of a Religion of Evil and a murderer taking great joy in breaking his victims physically and mentally. But, well, said victims are the biggest Hate Sinks in Westeros, In-Universe and out.
• Exact Words:
  • Tyrion hears a scratching noise in the Seafang's hold and is told it was the pig the crew keep aboard for long voyages. The one making the noise was actually Cersei, who was held prisoner alongside said pig.
  • Later the Wolf offhandedly mentions to Tyrion that Cersei might have escaped on a ship, knowing perfectly well she's held prisoner onboard his own longship.
• Extradimensional Emergency Exit: After Wulfrik's plans go horribly wrong ( his ship is incinerated by Drogon and Daenerys is killed) he escapes the Red Keep by jumping out the window with two crewmen and the ship's prow. Tyrion and the others assume he drowned, but in fact he once again went through the Warp to end up at the Iron Fleet's location near Essos, one of his crewmen having been bitten clean in half by the daemons
• Eye Scream:
  • The Mountain and the Wolf's fight ends (almost) exactly the same way as the Mountain and the Viper's... but with the positions reversed.
  • The Hound is stated to have survived his encounter with his brother, though he lost an eye in the process.
• Face Death with Dignity: Most of the Wolf's victims do not go gently at all, especially as he's just delivered a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle (the Mountain (twice) and Littlefinger) or is torturing them to death (Ramsay and Euron). The few exceptions actually earn his respect and a swift death (commending one Lannister soldier for spitting on him, telling him he's a better warrior than the Mountain, and notably not taking his skull as a trophy after decapitating him).
• False Flag Operation:
  • The Wolf arranges for his sorcerer to cast a spell that causes Daenerys to attack the city, but because it was cast from inside the Red Keep, everyone thinks it was Cersei's doing.
  • Tyrion figures out Euron sent a man dressed as him to sabotage the chain defending King's Landing from naval attack. It was actually one of the Wolf's men disguised as a man disguised as Euron.
  • The Dothraki working for the Wolf are able to backstab the Red Priests guarding a stash of warpstone. It backfire when one is killed, allowing the corpse to be identified by a distinctive tattoo and ensuring the same trick can't be used again.
• Fake Danger Gambit: A variation when the Iron Fleet is spotted off Dragonstone while Daenerys is still AWOL: The Wolf is known to be Running Both Sides and participates in the defensive planning, but then the fleet sails away without explanation. As he explains later, he set up the threat of the fleet to ensure Daenerys' armies wouldn't disperse in her absence but stay to defend the city (and had the fleet disobeyed him and actually attacked, he would have joined in without hesitation).
• Faking the Dead: The Wolf willingly gives up his sorcerer to Daenerys for execution due to his role in Varys' disappearance. We later see both the sorcerer and Varys alive and well.
• Feel No Pain:
  • The Mountain starts the fight by downing an entire wineskin's worth of milk of the poppy (the Westeros equivalent of opium), meaning he doesn't even notice inflicted wounds.
  • The Crow Brothers don't even seem to notice their own horrifying wounds, and one of them has a Healing Factor.
  • The zombified Mountain is able to fight with several swords sticking through it, and actually damages the Wolf's armor.
• Firearms Are Cowardly: The Wolf actually refers to Chaos Dwarf cannons as "the weapons of cowards" when an Ironborn asks what that horrible noise was. Most of the Wolf's crew are dedicated melee fighters, since acts of insane courage are the best way of getting the gods' attention and favor.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Subverted: Wulfrik has not forgotten his friend Sigvatr (who was murdered back in the original novel) and visits the site of his funeral pyre before he goes to negotiate with the Chaos Dwarves of Dronangkul, and later sacrifices dark elf slaves to him in the belief that they'll make Sigvatr's afterlife more enjoyable.
• Gargle Blaster: The Wolf's crew have a celebration they call the Doomdrinking, where strong alcohol is mixed with horrible things to create a drink that runs the risk of dissolving the drinker's jaw even after being diluted three times. The secret ingredient is troll bile, which the Wolf also uses to destroy a Living Statue.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Discussed when Tyrion asks a Red Priest why only R'hllor and His disciples are aviable to help fight the Wolf's plans. While the priest explains that it isn't as simple as "the god with more followers is more powerful", it does give a reason why only R'hllor helps: after the blows Cersei dealt to the Sept (blowing up their grand cathedral and most of the clergy with it) the Seven are greatly diminished (and they weren't even prone to displays of magic or miracles in the first place), the Old Gods are old and only worshiped in the North (and even then, by very few people) and so can't do anything, and for all the Ironborn talk of the Drowned God, he's nowhere to be found.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: While "good" is a stretch, Varys, for all his scheming, genuinely had the goal of putting The Good King on the Iron Throne, and is utterly flabbergasted at the fact that not only does the Wolf ridicule the notion, but so does his sorcerer, who's more interested in the schemes than in what the king on the throne ends up being like.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Averted, Clegane and Ramsay's fates get described in excruciating detail.
• Go Through Me: Attempted by Daenerys, to prevent Wulfrik from attacking Drogon. As it involves standing between a currently extremely pissed Wolf and his target, it results in death, doesn't slow him down in the slightest, and only makes said target even angrier.
• Grin of Rage: The Wolf is repeatedly mentioned as showing teeth when he hears bad news, in one case going from happy to angry without losing the grin. As he has wolf-like fangs in his jaw rather than human teeth, it's much more effective.
• Groin Attack:
  • While flaying Ramsay alive, the Wolf rips off his manhood and shoves it in his mouth to stop his screaming.
  • Akkarulf does the same to Euron as payback for what he went through as Theon.
• Guest-Star Party Member: The Wolf recruits Harald Hammerstorm (one of the iconic but little-used Warhammer characters) during an expedition to fight a Tomb King. His payment is being dropped off near the Crater of the Waking Dead, a Forever War between two permanently-reanimating Tomb King armies in exchange for his help in capturing a Nehekharan noble.
• Hammy Villain, Serious Hero: The Wolf is a huge, loud, obnoxiously friendly Champion of Chaos whose every other sentence is a Fisticuff-Provoking Comment. By contrast, everyone on the heroic side barely tolerates his presence while he's allied with them and are usually in Tranquil Fury after he shows his true colors. Tyrion in particular dreads him because the Wolf gets it in his head that Tyrion is the worthiest man he's met in Westeros due to his feats of killing a man with a shield or freeing a pair of dragons, never referring to him as anything but Shield-slayer and inviting him to join his crew.
• Head Crushing:
  • The story starts during "Game of Thrones S4E8: "The Mountain and the Viper"", when Wulfrik the Wanderer (going by the name of the Wolf) replaces Oberyn as Gregor Clegane's opponent. He doesn't quite crush Clegane's skull as he needs it as a trophy, instead he rams his thumbs through the bone, bursting Clegane's eyes from behind.
  • During the battle against Euron's men, one of the Wolf's berserkers starts beating his victim's head against the wooden railing, even after the Ironborn's skull is shattered. The Wolf has to break the berserker's arm to snap him out of it.
• Height Insult: The Wolf tends to belittle people for their height (especially if they were taller than average but still smaller than him), referring to the Mountain as "Molehill" and claiming Smalljon was well-named. Oddly, he doesn't make height jokes when talking to Tyrion, who he seems to have genuine respect for.
• Hope Spot:
  • Appropriately enough for a sacrifice to Tzeentch, Baelish gets one when his offers to sell out Westeros to the Wolf appear to have worked. Just when he thinks he's gotten away with it, the Wolf backstabs him and slits his throat.
  • Cersei has a very brief one when she thinks Euron's come to save her. It isn't Euron but one of the Wolf's men.
  • Daenerys is in command of the city who've accepted her as their queen, Cersei's gone, Euron's run off, everything is going for the best... time for Daenerys to catch the Wolf in the act of stealing the Iron Throne!
• Horrifying the Horror: Melisandre has a very bad reaction to the Wolf's presence. She urges Arya not to let him take the Night King's skull and is accidentally obeyed, although she doesn't explain why it was necessary.
• Horny Vikings: The Norscans (including Wulfrik) and the Ironborn perfectly embody this trope from their penchant for raiding and killing to taking women as their captives, which explains why the Iron Fleet loyal to Euron so willingly turns to Chaos worship.
• I Banged Your Mom: Used by the Wolf as an insult against Clegane and Euron. Despite it being patently false, it enrages both of them into attacking badly.
• Idealist vs. Pragmatist:
  • The Wolf repeatedly comes into conflict with his own side several times due to his pushing for ever-less restrained action, most notably over how the siege of King's Landing should be handled. He seems convinced that Daenerys has a goal and personality typical of a Chaos warlord, and seems genuinely confused that she wouldn't try to act like one. His sheer size and strength keep the confrontations from becoming physical, and while he's never truly convinced by Tyrion or Daenerys, he only takes out his frustration at being contradicted on inanimate objects.
  • He makes it no secret that he wants an out-and-out battle and even advises Daenerys to ignore the bells if she hears them, and arranges a False Flag Operation that causes her to torch the city when they surrender peacefully.
  • When Jon Snow and Grey Worm are arguing over the fate of the Lannister prisoners (Jon wants them imprisoned until Daenerys decides their fate, Grey Worm wants to kill them), the Wolf shows up and starts murdering the Lannisters in so needlessly gruesome a fashion that even Grey Worm prefers to spare the Lannisters than be seen to agree with the Wolf.
  • The Wolf and Tyrion have an argument that degenerates into a screaming match over what Daenerys will do once she returns (having snapped out of her Unstoppable Rage and flown away): turn her sights on conquering the world (the Wolf's opinion) or break the wheel (Tyrion). It ends when the Wolf realizes he's about to let slip that he caused Daenerys to attack and leaves without a word. Tyrion is eventually proven right, for a little while.
  • The Wolf asks Daenerys for permission to butcher the Lannisters in her name so she can start her reign of terror properly. An increasingly angry Daenerys turns him down, then his offer to beat them into a military force worthy of her, and keeps insisting that she's inviting assassination and intrigue by showing herself to be merciful.
  • However, when Jon orders the Wolf to sail after Arya, who's taken a ship to assassinate Euron. The Wolf is the one who calmly explains that it's a fool's errand to send a single ship after her (something Davos already told Jon). The fact that he knows the Iron Fleet isn't actually sailing to King's Landing as per his orders might have something to do with it.
  • The Wolf is utterly taken aback at what he sees as Intolerable Tolerance in Westeros society (it never seems to occur to him that some are motivated precisely because he advocates an immoral course of action), such as Bran never naming Jaime as the man who broke his legs, Davos Seaworth willingly following the man who chopped his fingers off, Daenerys pardoning the Lannisters, Tyrion letting Bronn go after a failed attempt on his life.
• If I Can't Have You…: Tyrion thinks this is why Euron arranged for the River Gate to be undefended during the siege, just because Cersei wouldn't marry him. It was one of the Wolf's men dressed as Euron.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty:
  • Subverted: The Wolf takes Cersei prisoner and makes a number of rape threats, but doesn't actually throw her to his men. He later does have men sent to her cell, but says they aren't to rape her, expecting her to be willing enough.
  Wulfrik: I impressed on them all the fate they would encounter by forcing themselves on her. She'll take them willingly or she'll not take them at all, but in a few days she'll be requesting more, you'll see. She's hardly the type to deny herself any form of enjoyment.
  • Similarly, he keeps Missandei behind locked doors but she seems to have been left unharmed.
• I Have Your Wife: Inverted: The Wolf informs Grey Worm that Missandei is still alive but surrounded by randy Norscans, and if he wants her back he'll... make war on the Wolf (even threatening to have her killed and raped if Grey Worm doesn't comply).
• I Let You Win: The first open battle between the Wolf's forces and Westeros is a victory for the latter, despite heavy losses. The common soldiers rejoice, but the main characters know he's up to something.
• Injured Self-Drag: One of the Wolf's men is found having managed to drag himself against a wall despite his wounds, trying to unsheathe a dagger. Grey Worm kills him so he dies without a weapon in hand, which is a big deal for Norscans.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • The Wolf tells Theon to grow a pair, not knowing why that comment might cut Theon deeper than most.
  • Similarly, he tells Jon that those who order people's executions are rarely the executioners themselves. Jon's father took that principle to heart.
  • And brings up fire when discussing how best to defend King's Landing from the Iron Fleet, not knowing/caring that Davos doesn't like to be reminded of his son being burned to death during one such invasion.
  • Finally turned on the Wolf when Tyrion mentions Alcohol-Induced Idiocy, a subject that happens to be the Wolf's Trauma Button.
  • The Wolf enters a cellar used as a crypt and says it reeks in there, as Akkarulf (aka Theon, aka Reek) is accompanying him.
• Invincible Villain: In combat, the Wolf is utterly unbeatable. However...
  • Once Daenerys is established as the queen of the Seven Kingdoms and there's nothing left for him to kill in her name, things no longer seem to go his way, and as useful as his advice may be for capturing cities and repelling invasions, his requests to kill people are outright denied several times by other characters. He even rants about this to Jaime Lannister.
  • Finally subverted once Daenerys sics Drogon on the Wolf: neither dies (though the Wolf is left half-cooked), but the Wolf accidentally strikes Daenerys down during the fight, causing Drogon to leave with her body.
  • Tyrion hopefully brings up the possibility of using magic to kill the Wolf. The Red Priest he's talking to tells him it's not possible, as that would result in the killer becoming the servant of the Chaos Gods, and better to fight a warrior than a Reality Warper.
• Internal Reveal:
  • The Wolf casually mentions that he killed Ramsay to Jon.
  • Tyrion and co. figure out that the Wolf was behind Daenerys attacking King's Landing, not Cersei, and that the Iron Fleet answers to him. And thanks to a Golden Company survivor, they know he can teleport as well.
  • The fact that the Wolf has been using Harrenhal as his base of operations is confirmed shortly after the main characters deduce it, and later confirmed again by Jaime.
• I Shall Taunt You: The Wolf pours an incessant stream of insults at his victim as he fights, even managing to kite a White Walker into single combat.
• Karmic Butt-Monkey:
  • The captain of a Dark Elf slave ship is repeatedly insulted by the Wolf, then tied to the mast of his ship as it goes through the Warp, then gets sandwiched between two undead corpses before finally being sold as a slave to Chaos Dwarfs. Dark Elves are among the most sadistic of Warhammer's factions, so it's hard to feel sorry for him.
  • The Wolf's henchman Einarr is constantly told he's doing something wrong by the Wolf. However, apart from soliciting Melisandre as a prostitute, he's not actively shown being evil apart from being part of a group of Always Chaotic Evil fantasy Vikings who are shown gleefully committing war crimes.
• Karmic Death: While he didn't exactly set out to make them die according to their sins, the Wolf does kill some of his victims in an enjoyably karmic way:
  • The Mountain gets his skull crushed in the way he'd killed Elia Martell.
  • Ramsay gets Flayed Alive (with a blunt knife).
  • Littlefinger is backstabbed after being promised his life (this one the Wolf was aware of, seeing it as only natural that someone marked for death by Tzeentch should be betrayed) with the dagger he's used on Ned Stark.
  • Euron is drowned in the Iron Islands after having his crew willingly join the Wolf.
• Karmic Injury: The Wolf repeatedly (but unintentionally) inflicts Karmic Injuries on his enemies. Justified since he's sacrificing them to the Chaos gods (of rage, hedonism, betrayal, and decay respectively) and tries to make the victim's death match the intended god:
  • The Mountain has his skull burst as he did to Elia Martell.
  • Ramsay Bolton is flayed alive as his House is famous for, and emasculated as he did to Theon.
  • Petyr Baelish is (literally and figuratively) backstabbed after being told he'd be spared.
  • Euron Greyjoy is silenced not by ripping his tongue out as he did to his crew but by being held underwater until he drowns.
  • The (zombified) Mountain gets an eye stabbed, just as it had gouged out one of Sandor's eyes.
• Kill It with Fire: The Wolf brings a Firewyrm (a flame-spewing, Tzeentch-specific type of Chaos Spawn) against the Night King's hordes.
• Living Statue: The Nehekharans field necropolis knights (skeletons riding giant stone snakes) and necrosphinxes that continuously heal damage and breathe fire. The Wolf takes care of the continuously-healing part by taunting the necrotect away from the battle.
• Lying by Omission: When trying to reassure Tyrion as to his sister's fate (since Cersei's body is nowhere to be found in the ruins of King's Landing), the Wolf tells him it's certain Cersei is aboard a ship (implying she's halfway to Essos by then). He should know, he abducted Cersei the day of the attack and she's currently held prisoner onboard the Wolf's ship.
• Mad Scientist:
  • The false Euron introduces Sven to Harry Strickland as this, claiming he was kicked out of his Wildling tribe for his "experiments" like the gigantic humanoid shape wrapped in sailcloth.
  • The Wolf spares Qyburn on seeing what he's capable of (and because the Mountain is a much worthier target) on the condition that Qyburn revive someone or something for him.
• Macho Masochism: It's not enough that the Norscans start out bigger and stronger than everyone else, no, they have to keep shoving it in the Westerosi's faces.
  • The Wolf organizes a grand feast the day before Daenerys leaves to start the siege of King's Landing that leaves only him and Tyrion able to hold their drink. This marks the beginning of the Wolf's overbearing friendship towards Tyrion, while his hungover crewmen have to suffer his waking them up with an abominably cheerful harangue.
  • Kruissla Iron-Skin is a Slaaneshi champion so named because of the innumerable iron nails he's forced through his skin (including the soles of his feet and his groin), one for each kill he's made. Although the Wolf says they weren't all against Worthy Opponents and included defenseless nuns.
  • The Doomdrinking, which consists of drinking a bone-dissolving concoction and surviving, which several Iron Islanders take part in.
• Masochist's Meal: The Norscans have a ceremony called the Doomdrinking where every man drinks of a Gargle Blaster, one ingredient of which is troll bile (according to the Wolf, beastman blood, horse semen or a dead sheep are possible depening on the tribe). Akkarulf sees one man whose jaws were dissolved by the stuff and understands why it's treated as a test of courage.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • Beric and Arya are happily reuniting with Sandor, who casually mentions that he saw the Wolf decapitate the revived Mountain. As they know he's taking the skulls for a sinister purpose, they rush out to find Tyrion, Jon and Grey Worm, and later warn the Red Priests, who have a similar reaction.
  • After Beric collects a large amount of warpstone on cultists, the Red Priests are horrified to discover the Westerosi already have some idea of what it is, and even more so when they learn the Wolf has a sorcerer who's used to fueling his spells with it.
• Manly Facial Hair: After Bran is elected, Tyrion is mentioned as being clean-shaven. On seeing him, the Wolf looks horrified and outright tells him to grow a beard again, making reference to the other type of hairy dwarf.
• Map Stabbing: While looking for the Wolf's hiding place on a map of Westeros based on several deductions (it has to be near water, likely well-fortified, isolated yet not too far from King's Landing or Dragonstone), Arya suddenly stabs Harrenhal. She's later proven to be right.
• Mistaken for Related: The Wolf believes Jon Snow and Ramsay Snow are brothers, being unaware of the Westeros convention of giving bastard children a generic last name (similarly not knowing why the recently-legitimized Ramsay went by Bolton). He praises Jon for being a much better fighter than Ramsay, but because he's also currently murdering unarmed Lannister prisoners the mistake goes uncorrected.
• Mr. Exposition: A Red Priest enlightens the Westeros cast on what the Wolf is trying to do and why he needs the skulls of a murderer, a torturer, a traitor, a necromancer and a "destructor" to do it.
• More Insulting than Intended: The Wolf appears genuinely unaware that he's constantly pushing people's Berserk Button / Trauma Button when talking to them (even people he's theoretically allied with) as a side effect of his curse to always seek out a fight.
  • He calls Ramsay by the wrong last name (Snow instead of Bolton, not knowing that Snow is a generic last name for bastards in the North), and compromises by asking if his mother slept with both Snow and Bolton at the same time to conceive Ramsay. Ramsay, being a recently legitimized bastard, is so pissed his arrows keep missing.
  • The Wolf's repeated belittling of Littlefingers' Non-Action Guy status triggers Baelish's memories of losing the fight that sent him down his Manipulative Bastard path, resulting in Baelish attacking the Wolf in blind fury... and when it wears off, he realizes he only made himself look stupid (as evidenced by Arya laughing herself sick).
  • The Wolf irritatedly tells Theon to grow a pair when told to guard a sorcerer, unaware that that comment might hit a little closer to home for Theon.
  • In a variation where the insulted party is absent, the Wolf disparages Jon's brother as a worthless fighter, having declared Jon a superior swordsman. Jon is confused until he realizes the Wolf thinks Ramsay is Jon's brother.
  • The Wolf threatens to have Missandei gang-raped to death if Grey Worm still sails for Naath instead of staying to fight him. Tyrion, who was Forced to Watch the love of his life be gang-raped (on his father's orders) can almost see it happening.
• Morph Weapon: Jaime's golden hand gets improved by a Chaos Dwarf smith, letting it not only move like a real hand and give him a sense of touch again, it's also able to change into different shapes (blade, spikes, tentacle...) at will.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
  • The Silence's crew (whose tongues were ripped out by Euron) have no issue with the Wolf taking over as captain after beating Euron in single combat.
  • Invoked by the Wolf to justify his constant insults towards his sorcerer: since Sven will inevitably betray him, he may as well do something to deserve it.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Giants are known for their love of meat, so Wulfrik is thrown for a loop when Tormund informs him that Wun Wun is a vegetarian.
• Named After the Injury: Sven Swordeater (confirmed to be named after the Everworld one) is an Ethnic Magician with hideous scars on both cheeks that ripple disturbingly when he grins (and he likely does it on purpose). He claims he got the scars during a fight that led to a Traumatic Superpower Awakening.
• Near-Villain Victory: The Wolf is (accidentally) prevented from taking the Night King's skull by Arya stabbing and disintegrating him.
• Nerves of Steel: Sansa isn't cowed for a second by the Wolf's Boisterous Bruiser ways.
• Never My Fault:
  • Downplayed. The Wolf doesn't deny that Daenerys is dead by his hand, but clearly feels it's her fault for trying to take a hit meant for a dragon.
  • He also goads Cersei into shrieking that every negative event in her life was Tyrion's fault... but for some reason, appears quite satisfied with the result.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • While unaware of his influencing things one way or another, the Wolf's interference allowed several characters to survive their canon deaths, such as Missandei, Wun Wun, Theon Greyjoy and Beric Dondarrion.
  • His dispatching a Crow Brother to the Winterfell crypts allowed the civilians inside to escape, as the wights were concentrated on killing it instead of them.
  • Showing up when Jon and Grey Worm were arguing about the fate of the Lannister soldiers and starting to slaughter them himself caused them to both decide to spare the soldiers, and once Daenerys returns, his heavy-handed insistence that she have them publicly tortured to death makes her decide to spare them as well.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: While Gregor Clegane was at least able to put up a fight, Ramsay Bolton only managed to shoot the Wolf once (and non-fatally at that) before getting brutally slaughtered in retaliation.
• Not an Act: When in Westeros, the Wolf is a loud, brutal, oafish Boisterous Bruiser. When with his own crew, he's... not all that different, although somewhat scarier towards his own men if they fail him.
• Nothing Is Scarier:
  • The Wolf brings the Silence to a subterranean lake and tells the crew to wait inside the ship while he conducts business with the denizens and not go outside lest they be ambushed and slaughtered. Whatever's outside makes a few efforts to break in but isn't seen. It's revealed in the next chapter to have been Skaven, which the Wolf brought in to help Qyburn with his reanimation project.
  • The Wolf wants Qyburn to reanimate something for him, which is not shown to the audience.
• Odd Friendship: The Wolf gets along quite well with Tyrion of all people (it's not exactly mutual on Tyrion's part). Even though his insensitive comments get on Tyrion's nerves most of the time and he's shown to have sinister motives, he never cracks a dwarf joke. Tyrion, on the other hand, endures the Wolf's obnoxious brand of friendship, even if he does consider the Wolf useful.
• Omniglot: The Wolf is able to converse with giants, dragons, and direwolves as easily as he can in Westerosi and High Valyrian, thanks to his Gift of Tongues. He's even able to make himself understood by people speaking different languages at the same time.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: The Wolf sneeringly dismisses Westerosi giants as plant-eating midgets compared to those of his world (despite only coming up to Wun Wun's waist).
• Outside-Context Problem:
  • Westeros is simply unprepared for the kind of magic the Warp provides, or for the level of martial skill/willingness to get killed against insane odds that Chaos-hardened Norscans display.
  • The Wolf brags that warpfire will easily burn through the Night King, laughing at the comparison to mere dragonfire. He's wrong.
• Orphaned Punchline: The Wolf is heard telling Tyrion the last part of a saucy joke involving a man without enough seats for the guests at his wedding, who die when the bride comes in. It's a Scandinavian tale where the man uses his Gag Penis as a bench for the dozen guests, who get catapulted towards the ceiling and break their necks when he gets a Raging Stiffie on seeing his bride.
• Passed-Over Promotion: Gorion (an Ironborn captain who led the expedition to the Isle of Faces) thought the Wolf would make him master of the Silence, but chose Akkarulf instead. He protests, but Akkarulf yields to him, to everyone's surprise (and the Wolf's disappointment, who wanted a Klingon Promotion).
• Personalized Pledge: The Wolf swears "by the skull of Torgald" (a rival Chaos champion whose skull he keeps on the pommel of his sword) that Missandei will remain unharmed for A Year and a Day, after which he'll throw her to his men if Grey Worm doesn't do what he wants.
• Pet the Dog:
  • The Wolf allows Arya to witness his battle with Baelish, and even concedes to using her dagger after she reveals just how badly he screwed her family and the entire continent over.
  • The Wolf agrees to serve as Tyrion's bodyguard in case Bronn shows up. When Tyrion tells him to stay in hiding while negotiating with Cersei, the Wolf appears impressed with Tyrion's courage. Later on, he does tell Cersei that he actually likes him, and much prefers him to the Tyrion from his world.
• Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Subverted: The Wolf asks Daenerys to spare the lives of some Dothraki horsemen who'd run from the battle of Winterfell (they killed a Fyrewyrm, but she dismisses it as a bad excuse) so they can die in battle. Once she returns and they're still alive, he's the one to bring up their scheduled deaths and tries to turn her around when she decides to spare them just to spite him.
• Precision F-Strike: There's no shortage of f-bombs, but the Wolf uses more refined vocabulary to insult his foes (he still uses the word as a verb though). Until Drogon torches the Seafang.
  YOU STUPID FUCKING LIZARD DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT COST ME!?
• Pretender Diss: As he explains to him during their fight, the Chaos Gods consider Euron Wulfrik's equivalent in the ASoIaF world, a badass barbarian pirate who has explored and fought things few people of his world even believe exists. That being said, he also considers Euron inferior in every aspect (particularly the "badass" one).
• Product Delivery Ordeal: The Wolf's longship can go through the Warp to bring him anywhere he wants, at the price of having to fight off demons the entire way.
  • First seen when Euron Greyjoy actually Theon in magical disguise claims to have a way to bring the Golden Company's War Elephants to Westeros fast enough to make a difference in the upcoming siege of King's Landing, bringing Harry Strickland along to organize the trip. While it certainly does work, the experience is a harrowing one, involving going through a realm of horrible demons twice. It's all part of the Wolf's plan to make the confrontation between Cersei and Daenerys as huge and bloody as possible, although he's disappointed in that regard.
  • Repeatedly occurs onscreen and offscreen, allowing the Wolf to deliver (among other things) Wilding tribes south of the Wall, dragonstone to Chaos Dwarves, gift his besiegers with huge amounts of meat to remind them he can't be starved out, and show the Dothraki khal that his homeland is vulnerable to the Wolf.
• Prophecy Armor: The Wolf is furious that there are no Houses from the Reach facing him, as he says (according to his seer's claims) the siege won't end until the full Seven Kingdoms (technically nine) are there to fight for their continued existence. As he's on the inside of the siege with little opportunity for the Rape, Pillage, and Burn that Chaos specializes in, he makes it clear that he won't stand for this.
• The Quisling: Baelish was entirely ready to sell out the entire world to the Wolf and his gods in exchange for saving his own skin (and getting Sansa in the bargain). Fittingly enough, the Wolf lets him think he has a chance of escaping before stabbing him in the back then slitting his throat.
• Rage Quit: The Wolf and Tyrion get into an argument/shouting match regarding Daenerys being a kind and loving queen (Tyrion) or a brutal dictator (the Wolf). Surprisingly, the Wolf realizes he's about to say something stupid (possibly letting slip his role in Daenerys torching the city) and leaves without a word.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The Ironborn go to the Isle of Faces (guided through the mists by Chaos magic) in order to cut down the sacred trees there as well as their priests.
• Reforged into a Minion: Theon Greyjoy is turned into an Exalted Hero of Chaos during the Battle of Winterfell and is not found amongst the dead afterward. He rejoined Wulfrik's ranks under the name Akkarulf.
• Resurrected Murderer: The Wolf's victims are resurrected as hideously deformed Champions of Chaos by their respective Chaos Gods, including sadistic nobles and war criminals Ramsay Bolton and Gregor Clegane. However, the Wolf has just as much contempt for them as he did when they were alive, and quickly slaps down any attempt at rebellion from them. Ramsay in particular is threatened with total sensory deprivation (the worst punishment possible for a Slaaneshi Sense Freak), and is given a logistics job instead of fighting (which results in him being handed over to Sigvald for punishment when he screws that up).
• Rigged Spectacle Fight:
  • The Wolf's every duel against his targets would already be a Curb-Stomp Battle (he's described as being even bigger than the Mountain), but he also has a Chaos-given ability to insult his enemies into attacking in blind fury (including a Non-Action Guy like Petyr Baelish). Even those threatening him with arrows see their shots go wild just as they're loosed.
  • While fighting Euron, he arranges for both crews to be present and watch, the Silence's crew making no move to support their captain. For extra humiliation, the Wolf has his crew chant his name then asks Euron's (tongueless) crew to do the same.
  • Subverted after Daenerys returns to King's Landing and the Iron Fleet is sighted at the entrance to Blackwater Bay: The Wolf participates in planning the defense when the reader knows the fleet now follows his orders, but then it sails away without fighting. Once reunited with them, he tells the Ironborn captains that if they'd disobeyed him and attacked the city, he would have attacked them without hesitation (and what with the wall defenses, Daenerys' fleet, and Drogon, they would have stood no chance anyway).
• Rousing Speech:
  • The Wolf gives one to Daenerys' army on the day of the siege, calling on them to avenge the fallen and kill Cersei, ending with a variation on a well-known warcry.
  BLOOD! FOR THE DRAGONQUEEN!
  
  SKULLS! FOR THE IRON THRONE!
  • He gives the same one when Daenerys returns and sits on the throne, adding "Let! Her enemies! BURRRRRNNNNNN!!" for good measure.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • Each of the Wolf's targets corresponds with an aspect of the Chaos Gods: Clegane for Khorne (War), Ramsay for Slaanesh (Sadism), Baelish for Tzeentch (Treachery), the Night King for Nurgle (Decay), Euron for Chaos Undivided (Nihilism), and at first Qyburn, but instead goes for Clegane (again) for Nurgle (Decay).
  • Meanwhile, several of the people he saved correspond to the same: Varys and Tzeentch, Qyburn and Nurgle, Sandor and Khorne, and both Jaime and Cersei for Slaanesh.
• Running Both Sides: The Wolf is repeatedly shown to be aiding both Daenerys and Cersei's side.
  • He reduces the loss of part of Daenerys' fleet by killing Euron, but also ensures the Golden Company's elephants make it to Westeros.
  • Later he abducts Jaime, Cersei and Qyburn for his own ends and causes Daenerys to attack King's Landing, but also has his own men executed if they attacked Daenerys' forces.
  • He aids in preparing King's Landing to resist an attack by Euron's fleet. However, the Iron Fleet threatens Dragonstone but comes no closer to King's Landing, which turns out to have been on his orders.
  • He's finally stopped when Daenerys catches him removing the Iron Throne, although he seems surprised she'd be opposed to it.
  • As befitting of a sorcerer of Tzeentch, Sven Swordeater seems to be doing the same as well, both helping the Wolf but also not quite casting the exact spell Wulfrik wanted on Daenerys, and hiding his conversations with Varys.
• Running Gag: The Wolf yelling the same untranslated sentence at one of his crewmen named Einarr appears Once an Episode.
• Sane Boss, Psycho Henchmen: After the Wolf's victims are brought back as hideously mutated champions of the Chaos gods (a Combat Sadomasochist, a mindless berserker, etc.), he makes his contempt for them clear, beating down any attempts at rebellion and assigning them to humiliating roles instead of letting them fight (watching the supplies of wine for Ramsay, being apprenticed to Sven for Littlefinger).
• Screaming Birth: Cersei gives birth to a daughter amid lots of screaming. Actually predicted by the Wolf, who tells her to grab onto Jaime's real hand while it happens, resulting in Jaime screaming his head off as well.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sort of: the Smalljon leads the remaining Bolton troops to battle instead of fleeing once his overlord Ramsay is busy being savaged by the Wolf.
• Sea Serpents: The Wolf unleashes a merwyrm on the Iron Fleet, halting their Curb-Stomp Battle at Dragonstone.
• Shapeshifting Heals Wounds: Theon Greyjoy gets hit by a spell that turns him into a Chosen Champion of Chaos, restoring his lost genitals.
• Shout-Out:
  • Sven Swordeater shares a name with a background character in Everworld and has the same kind of scars, although he's a sorcerer rather than a warrior.
  • The Bretonnian Drunken Song mentioned by the Wolf is taken from Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk ("Troll farceur et elfe farci"), about a troll who meets an elf and stuffs him with apples to eat him.
  • The Wolf implies Fenrir Greyback was one of his targets.
  • The Wolf and crew fight a Tomb Prince named Ptenisnet, a Punny Name taken from Asterix the Legionary.
  • The Gargle Blaster the Norscans drink is said to be made from "Apples. Well, mainly apples" and ingredients sometimes involves a dead sheep, both of which are lifted straight from Discworld's description of its own Gargle Blaster, scumble.
  • The Thenn working for the Wolf are clearly meant to be Dawn of War's Chaos Cultists, using the same lines and being mentioned as having high-pitched voices.
    • Similarly, the Khornate cultists use Berserker lines from the same game.
  • The Wolf sends a long-winded letter of insults to the Dothraki's new khal reminescent of the fabled Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.
  • One of the Chaos mutants is obviously this Plague Marine-inspired thing from The Weekly Roll.
  • The Wolf was apparently present for The Trojan War.
• Significant Name Shift: The Wolf has no more respect for Tyrion than anyone in Westeros when they meet, referring to him as half-man or halfling. Later, apparently impressed at Tyrion's willingness to negotiate with his sister unarmed, the Wolf invites Tyrion to a Drinking Contest where he's the only one still standing at the end, and drunkenly answers the Wolf's questions, admitting he once beat a man to death with a shield and personally unchained two dragons. From then on the Wolf refers to him as Shield-slayer, even to other characters, as a term of genuine respect.
• Simple Solution Won't Work:
  • When the Iron Fleet threatens King's Landing in Daenerys' absence, several people think to reuse Tyrion's trick and set Blackwater Bay on fire to destroy the fleet in one go. It won't work, as Cersei used up most of it to destroy the High Sparrow. It isn't even needed in the end, the Wolf having ordered the fleet to head north without attacking.
  • After the Red Priests arrive to deal with the imminent Chaos invasion, Tyrion Lannister expects that they can just use their magic to kill the Wolf. A Red Priest tells him that it won't be possible: using magic to kill him means that the Wolf's curse (to seek out and kill giant monsters and great warriors or be tortured for eternity) will transfer to the killer, putting them in thrall to the Ruinous Powers. So while the Wolf is a terrifying Hero Killer, at least he's not a Reality Warper, so they'll have to fight him through mundane means... which is exactly what the Wolf asked of them.
• Sinister Nudity: One Chaos warrior named Kruissla Iron-skin is always naked, his name comes from the fact that his skin is so thoroughly pierced with tiny iron barbs in the shape of Slaanesh's symbol (including his nether regions) that from a distance he seems to be wearing armor. According to the Wolf there's one for every kill he made (not necessarily against a Worthy Opponent either).
• Sophisticated as Hell: Zig-Zagged. Wulfrik uses very crude insults when taunting his opponents and enjoys vulgar humor, but he only drops an f-bomb once (see Precision F-Strike above).
• Smart People Play Chess: The Wolf's sorcerer plays a chess-like game with the imprisoned Varys. When asked why, he says that few of the Wolf's men have the intelligence for it, and those that do aren't smart enough to give him a challenge, preferring to Rage Quit instead.
• Spanner in the Works: Sandor Clegane recovers from his coma in time to let the cast know he has all five skulls he needed, while Harry Strickland is able to let them know about his ability to teleport, having witnessed it himself.
• Spell My Name with a "The": The Wolf gives his real name (Wulfrik) several times, but is consistently referred to as the Wolf by the narration and the other characters.
• Staredown Faceoff: The Wolf does this often to people he's talking to, both because the only character taller than him is Wun Wun but also because it lets the person he's talking to see that he has wolf fangs in place of human teeth, adding to the intimidation factor.
• The Stations of the Canon: Due to the Wolf showing up shortly before canon characters would have died anyway, there's very little overall change in the plot compared to the series. Things start changing after the battle of Winterfell, with the survival of Wun Wun, Theon, and Beric.
  • As of the 5th chapter, Euron is replaced by one of his crewmen, allowing the Golden Company to have elephants in Westeros.
  • After the death of Daenerys followed by the Wolf falling into Blackwater Bay, Bran is elected king, Sasha is Queen in the North, Grey Worm intends to leave for Naath. The major difference is that Jon is Bran's Hand, since he didn't kill Daenerys. And then the Wolf shows up again and declares war with the Seven Kingdoms.
• Stepping Out to React: When the Wolf learns there will be no battle with the Iron Fleet, he storms out of the tent, there's a screeching noise, and the hapless guard comes in with the twisted remains of his helmet. It's an act, as the Iron Fleet now obeys him and he made it clear that they were to stay away.
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain: For most of the story, the Big Bad is the Wolf, a Laughably Evil Large Ham who is genuinely friendly with some of the Westeros characters (even if they find his friendship obnoxious and overbearing) and whose dislikes tend to overlap with the audience's (most of those he kills are Game of Thrones villains). Then Sigvald the Magnificent comes along and takes charge of the Chaos forces, who is portrayed as a whiny Psychopathic Manchild with no real ability to lead but able to cut down any challenge to his authority.
• A Thicket of Spears: The Westerosi forces are unpleasantly surprised to find the Chaos invaders don't (just) rely on great big mobs to attack, as there are enough spears to prevent a straight-up cavalry charge. However, once the formations break apart they're able to charge, inflicting considerably more damage (although they still take heavy losses, as the Norscans' size, Scary Impractical Armor and Chaos mutations give them huge advantages in one-on-one fights).
• Third-Party Deal Breaker: Daenerys and Cersei are holding a final parley, although neither expects much of it. The Wolf starts yelling insults at Cersei from hiding, infuriating her to the point where she has hostages brought from the cells and executes them. The Wolf justifies his behavior by saying that the hostages were better off dead now than by starvation or Cersei using them as bargaining chips during the siege. In fact his actual goal is to get Daenerys to attack the city rather than resolve the war through diplomacy, and when the city opens its gates to her he has her hit with a spell to tip the scales on the side of violence.
• To the Pain: In a variation, and since the now partly daemonic Ramsay Bolton is a servant of Slaanesh, Wulfrik decides to describe to them in great details the things he'll do to make sure that they cannot feel anything pleasurable or painful in any way whatsoever for as long as possible if they ever oppose him.
• Trauma Button: Tyrion accidentally presses it when he mentions Alcohol-Induced Idiocy to the Wolf, who instantly crumples the drinking horn he was holding. They don't go into more detail, but seeing as making a Blasphemous Boast while drunk is what caused Wulfrik to become the Wanderer in the first place...
• Traumatic Haircut: After the Wolf's Dothraki fail to kill Goro (because Littlefinger had conspired to have them kill their leader, he cuts off their braids himself and delivers them to the khal, who orders them dumped in the sea.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: The Wolf is not one to be outdone by Daenerys' list of titles.
  "You stand in the presence of Danaerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, rightful Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains!"
  "And I am Wulfrik the World-Walker, the Wanderer, the High Executioner of Chaos, the Inescapable, the Eternal Challenger, the Strong Wolf, champion of the Sarl and bane of champions, slayer of giants, dragons, beastmen, lamassu, yhetees and trolls, master and captain of the Seafang, killer of Torgald king of the Aeslings, bringer of true death to the Tomb-Lord Khareops, boiler of the witch Baba Yar, breaker of the revenant jarl Unfir, burner of the Hashut-worshiper Khorakk, impaler of the Forsaken wretch Fraener, butcher of the traitor Zarnath, murderer of the weakling backstabber Sveinbjorn of the Aeslings, ruin-bringer to Viglundr of the Sarl, ravager of Dronangkul, of Wisborg, of Ormskaro, and a thousand other cities besides!"
  From his tone it was clear each of these was a great accomplishment, a heroic feat that would ring throughout the ages and spoken of with admiration and awe, inciting dreams of martial glory and fame in listeners of all ages and conditions. It was a shame no one had ever heard of them.
• Unknown Rival:
  • The Wolf is rather put out to find that his warning to the Westerosi at large has been ignored and that they haven't started preparing for a Chaos invasion.
  • Conversely, the Wolf seems to have difficulty remembering some of the people he deals with, only vaguely remembering he'd seen Tyrion once after they meet again at Winterfell.
• The Unsmile:
  • The Wolf doesn't have human teeth but the fangs of a wolf in his jaw.
  • Sven Swordeater is so named because (according to him) he got a sword thrust through both cheeks. The resulting scars move disturbingly when he smiles (and several characters suspect he does this on purpose).
• Villainous Breakdown: The Wolf induces these in his victims by way of constantly belittling and insulting them. Except the Night King, who never answers him.
• Villain Killer: For the first few chapters, the Wolf goes around killing the worst villains that Westeros has to offer (the Mountain, Ramsay Bolton, Littlefinger, Euron Greyjoy...), not out of any sense of justice but because the Chaos gods ordered him to. Then he's caught trying to steal the Iron Throne and reappears later demanding that the entirety of the Seven Kingdoms gather their armies to fight him.
• Villain Protagonist: The fanfic is about the Norscan Chaos warrior Wulfrik and his travels throughout the continent of Westeros. While he's certainly no good guy, the people he frequently kills tend to be much worse than him.
• Villain Respect:
  • The Wolf looks Arya over as a legitimate, if minor, threat rather than dismissing her out of hand for being a girl.
  • Tyrion (having hired the Wolf as a bodyguard) tries to send him away so the Mountain won't see him. The Wolf appears impressed Tyrion would talk to his sister without his protection, and on learning he'd killed a man with a shield, starts calling him Shield-slayer. After his treachery is revealed, he tells one of his men that Tyrion was smart enough to nearly figure out that "Euron" and the spell cast on Daenerys weren't unrelated.
  • Jon kills a Chosen of Khorne in single combat. The Wolf grants him the berserker's weapon, armor, and head, to Jon's chagrin.
  • Seeing Sandor fight his reanimated brother does seem to impress him, as he orders Qyburn to save the Hound's life.
  • A pair of Ironborn try to take out a Necropolis Knight (a skeleton riding a giant stone snake statue). One dies in the attempt, and while the Ironborn takes out the rider, the snake is killed by a Chaos warrior. Later the surviving Ironborn is given his brother's weapon and the skeleton's.
• Volleying Insults: Euron manages to compete with the Wolf in this regard for a short while, though it doesn't save him.
• Warrior vs. Sorcerer: The Wolf makes his contempt for magic clear, claims only to use it to suit his needs, and is repeatedly shown disrespecting the sorcerer in his employ. It is also hinted that the sorcerer actually is planning to betray him.
• Was Once a Man: Sven Swordeater cheerfully explains that the firewyrm currently wreaking havoc through the army of wights was once a man blessed with too many mutations (and sort-of implies he was responsible for the man's transformation).
• Worthy Opponent: As befitting of Wulfrik, he is searching for one, and is severely disappointed that he hasn't found any.
• Why Won't You Die?:
  • The Crow Brothers are inhumanly resilient Nurglite mercenaries used by the Wolf to Hold the Line, who keep fighting even when half their guts are hanging out of a wound in their stomachs.
  • Taken from the show verbatism, Sandor expresses his frustration at how resilient his reanimated brother is by screaming "FUCKING DIE" as he repeatedly stabs him to little effect.
• You No Take Candle:
  • Sven speaks Westerosi much more haltingly than the Wolf, although he manages to make himself understood.
  • The Skaven are later seen talking to Akkarulf with their usual repetitive Verbal Tic.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: The Wolf has a tendency to congratulate people in obnoxiously overbearing ways or congratulate them on things they take no pride in. To all appearances he's unaware of the effect he has on people.
  • The Wolf strongly recommends that Daenerys show no mercy to the city, even telling her to ignore the bells if she hears them so the ground troops can fight. His relentlessly jovial attitude when discussing mass slaughter leads Daenerys to resolve to do the opposite. And she would have, if the Wolf hadn't arranged for her repressed desire for violence to surface.
  • After Jon kills a Norscan berserker, the Wolf brings him the man's armor, axe, and head as they're his by right of victory, and says it's not a bad start for a collection.
  • When Jon and Grey Worm are about to come to blows over what to do with the Lannister prisoners, the Wolf solves the problem by slowly killing the prisoners one by one in so gratuitously bloody a fashion that Grey Worm calls off the execution just to avoid associating with him.
  • The Wolf shows up to the final strategy meeting, glad to see everyone's in a good mood that the Iron Fleet has run off, asking if they should rename the Blackwater as Redwater or even Bloodwater once they're through slaughtering the Ironborn.
• Your Magic's No Good Here: Subverted. While Chaos magic is shown to function perfectly well on Westeros, dragonglass weapons are just as effective on the Tomb King's armies as they are against the Night King's (that is to say, it destroys them on the first impact).
• Worf Effect: You know Gregor Clegane? The eight-foot tall psycho-knight built like a great big brick shithouse who decapitates horses with a single blow, single most dangerous thing in Westeros in single combat short of the Night King himself? Wulfrik butchers him like a pig in the first goddamned chapter.

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