OC Game of Thrones / ASOIAF side blog. Posts include a wide variety of info pertaining to the overall story. There will also be major cannon changes as well as my own version of how the series ends.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rosalind Stark is the eldest daughter of Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn. As the younger twin to Winterfell's heir, Robb, she often finds that a lady's expectations conflict with what she truly wants. Ros spends her days enjoying her freedom in the North. After years of avoiding being sent off as a ward to another Great House, she finds herself the subject of marriage. Amidst various men, only Lord Brynden Blackwood of Raventree Hall ever caught her eyes.
All of this drastically changes when King Robert I decides to acknowledge eight more of his bastards and see that they are provided for at Dragonstone and other castles. Rosalind's life is ripped from its young roots as she instead becomes the favored lady to marry the King's eldest son and heir; Prince Orryn. Members of House Stark ride south on the King's command which eventually leaves Ros as the acting Lady of Winterfell. She soon finds herself spiraling into unexpected company with the Lannisters, Tyrells, Martells, and beyond all the while discovering an ancient power awakening within her.
Thoughts on 'House of the Dragon'? I haven't watched it yet
I haven't watched it either, aside from when HBO put the first episode on YouTube for free back in August (partially because I don't have an HBO Max account). To me, the Dance of the Dragons was always really low hanging fruit in terms of picking which eras of ASOIAF to adapt because it has huge dragon appeal. That's not an automatic bad thing, though after Game of Thrones ended so horribly it seemed that HBO pushed HotD more due to the easy draw of lots of dragons.
There were a couple of things I heard about the show that seemed to be better changes than in the pseudo-history book, such as having Rhaenyra and Alicent be friends / closer in age, Viserys being featured more, etc.
And there is one major change that I absolutely fucking despise which is ruining the ambiguity on if Rhaenyra's children were bastards or not. This was done worst with Rhaenys' not having her canon Baratheon black hair. It doesn't matter to me that the Velyaron's were changed to have dark skin, it's that the Baratheon hair - mind you is such a huge deciding factor for Eddard Stark discovering that Cersei's children are bastards - was thrown aside for more Valyrian white hair. Even Aemma Arryn, who's hair is not confirmed in Fire and Blood, was given the typical platinum blonde treatment. Though it is plausible for Aemma to have blonde hair from her Arryn heritage and silver from the Targaryen side.
I have thought about doing a small (like 10 chapters or less) fanfic of "What if Rhaenyra and Daemon married earlier?" / "What if Viserys allowed Daemon to marry Rhaenyra and didn't force her to marry Laenor" to explore that fun alternate path. It doesn't break the realistic expectations that as the king, Viserys could order an annulment of Daemon's marriage to Rhea Royce for lack of a child and maybe spin it to consolidate the line of succession. It could also potentially lead to both Rhaenyra and Daemon being Queen and King without one being consort.
I’ve decided to update the Prologue chapter eventually, there will be some changes but the biggest is that I want Rosalind to be married to Tywin for longer, and that means more heirs to the Lannister legacy. I’m getting better with using Artbreeder, though it’s still not quite what I would truly like it to be. I have these potential children all planned out for birth dates and appearances but I will not reveal more than the first two’s years to avoid unwanted spoilers.
Tyrus Lannister, the heir to Casterly Rock
Born: 299AC at Casterly Rock
Looks: He possesses the traditional Lannister colors, Tyrus has light golden hair that he wears short with emerald green eyes. He resembles his half-brother Jaime and Uncle Kevan or a softer feature version of his father Tywin. (Eyes reference, duller and a bit darker)
Name: From the Lannister traditions of “Ty” and works as a combination of Ty+win in regards to his sister Winona as the first two children of Tywin from Rosalind. The name Tyrus means “land of the yew tree” from Tyrone and “heir to the throne” from Cyrus. The fictional weirwood trees resemble real-life yew trees to reference Rosalind’s homeland and fulfill Tywin’s dream of a worthy heir to replace Jaime and prevent Tyrion’s claim from coming to fruition after his death.
Winona Lannister
Born: 299AC at Casterly Rock
Looks: She displays the classical appearance of Lannister women with wavy golden hair, though hers is much darker than the common light whitish blonde hair. Winona has jade-green eyes flecked with gold like her father’s. She does not have the true beauty that Cersei, Myrcella, and Joanna possess. Winona is considered to be fairly pretty though not particularly remarkable. (Wavy hair alternate and Eyes reference)
Name: Winona is partially named after her father’s suffix matching Tyrus’ name possessing the prefix of Tywin’s name. Winona originates from the Dakota people and their language wherein Winúŋna means “first-born daughter”. It is closely related to Wynora / Eleanor which is derived from Greek and means “shining light”.
Aredian Lannister
Born: xxxAC at Casterly Rock
Looks: He primarily reflects his Lannister heritage with some traces of the Stark long facial structure. Aredian has golden hair that he wears shoulder length with some light waves in texture. In his beard, eyebrows, and hair undertones there are hints of the Tully auburn color. His eyes are minty grey-green and melancholic. Aredian is considered to be of average appearance with no common trait of attractiveness. (Eyes reference)
Name: Aredian is derived from many different things. In Scandinavian cultures, Ari means eagle, and Ari in Hebrew means lion. In the Badaga language, Ari also means “sun-like”. The combination of an eagle and a lion create the griffin creature which is seen as the king of kings for beasts as the lion is referred to as the king of the jungle and the eagle the king of skies. Aredian is partially remade from Adrian which from Latin correlates to the sea or water to make a general reference to Casterly Rock’s location on the coast of the Sunset Sea.
Pronounced as “Uh - rid - ian”, similar to iridium
Loreon Lannister
Born: xxxAC in King’s Landing
Looks: He has golden hair with pale green eyes flecked with gold, his eyes are shrewd and calculating. Loreon is a spitting image of Tywin in his youth, he resembles his father tremendously leading to comments on Loreon being Tywin’s twin or clone. Loreon wears his hair short and tidy. He sports a light beard that is also neatly trimmed. (Eyes reference)
Name: From the ancestors of House Lannister, Loreon the first King of the Rock.
Clayre Lannister
Born: xxxAC in King’s Landing
Looks: Clayre has auburn hair with bright green eyes. She favors Rosalind the most and is fond of her Tully heritage. Her hair is straight and she generally wears it long and unadorned. There are soft brown undertones to her hair. Clayre is comely in appearance and is often regarded favorably like her Aunt Sansa and Grandmother Catelyn. (Eyes reference)
Name: It is a respelling of Claire which means bright, clear, and famous. From French and Latin origins it can also be described as “fair-colored”. Rosalind named Clayre after her mother.
Rory Lannister
Born: xxxAC in ????
Looks: Rory has golden auburn hair that he wears long and wavy curls. His eyes are wolf-like with a wildfire-green color. His hair could be called golden copper, golden red, or similar descriptions. Rory’s hair is primarily auburn red with natural golden highlights that are subtle in most lights. He generally is clean-shaven and is well regarded as handsome though his eyes are commonly thought to be striking and full of burning hunger. (Long hair reference, younger Rory somewhat, wildfire color reference albeit not glowing)
Name: Rory’s name is Irish and means “red king”, derived from the High King of Ireland in the 1100s who fought against Anglo-Norman invaders. It is similar to Rodrik, Roderick, Rogar, etc.
Cerion Lannister
Born: xxxAC in ????
Looks:
Name: From the ancestors of House Lannister, Cerion a King of the Rock who greatly extended the kingdom’s domain.
Marius Lannister
Born: xxxAC in ????
Looks: Marius has sandy blondish brown hair with pretty sea-green eyes. (hair is lighter than in the picture, blonder highlights, and eye color reference)
Name: Marius is comprised of a few naming elements. One aspect is from “Maria” which means “a drop of the sea” and another is Mars being the Roman god of war leading to a meaning like “sea wars, or warrior of the sea”. From Latin Marino / Marinus there’s a general relation to the ocean or sea.
Rosalind wishes to name girls after Joanna and Jeyne Lannister to honor Tywin’s first wife and mother, but he eventually only agrees on the condition that she can name them as such if she has twin girls
(I had an anon send in a question about my thoughts on Jon being called Aegon and when I went to reply the site crashed and it was no longer in my inbox... rip)
Short version, I think he would have had a name that started with V, my personal favorite is Viserax or Visenya had Jon turned out to be a woman.
First off, I think Jon as Aegon is dumb given that Rhaegar already had Aegon and Rhaenys with Elia Martell and was hardcore obsessed with prophecy. The dragon has three heads and Aegon the Conqueror and his sister-wives in particular. I think he would have given Jon a V name like Visenya if he had been a girl or maybe Viserys but that is already somewhat taken by Rhaegar’s brother. Other VISE or V names could include Viserra, Vaella, Valarr, Valerion, or made from the long list of Valyrian combos. (Here’s a thorough list of prefixes and suffixes)
I don’t think that Rhaegar would be concerned with Lyanna Stark not being married to him and thus Jon being a bastard. Rhaegar could have planned to legitimize Jon at any point after the war had he survived and assumed the throne. Elia’s difficulty in childbirth was not going to prevent Rhaegar from having another child in his dream of recreating the first King Aegon with Queen Rhaenys and Queen Visenya. Jon being a boy skews this and if Lyanna had lived I could see Rhaegar having another child from her in the hopes of attaining his Visenya.
Furthermore, the show was also stupid to do this knowing that fake Aegon/Young Griff is a thing in the books and one more current-gen Targ being called Aegon is unnecessarily confusing. If the show had named Jon something else closely related like Aemon that would have been slightly better even though it only has meaning in retrospect given Jon’s relationship with Maester Aemon. Better yet, name him Aemond as the younger brother to the next King Aegon to resemble the Dance of the Dragons.
I do like the common trope of Jon having a name starting with J, unfortunately, it’s a limited J list in the canon name histories. Jaehaerys is neat and I am fine with that being Jon’s name. Especially if Rhaegar planned to have more children from Lyanna then Visenya could be next. Jon not being his preferred and ideal daughter could potentially lead Rhaegar to cast him aside to keep going for a girl. In this scenario where Lyanna lives and Rhaegar has more children after his first three then I could see Jon having any Valyrian name that wasn’t already in use by another family member.
Back in Winterfell, Rosalind adjusts to Lord Stark’s departure combined with Robb and Jon heading north to Queenscrown. Just when all seems to be well, a fire breaks out in the night.
After leaving Winterfell and traveling south along the kingsroad the royal procession moves at a glacial pace, much to the great annoyance of Prince Orryn. He is summoned before King Robert and the new Hand of the King to discuss important matters of state regarding the exiled Targaryens and the vacancies left by the late Jon Arryn.
with the kings in the north, like how the targaryens were prince of dragonstone / prince of summerhal, would the starks have something like that?
There's no official canon subtitle for the heirs of Winterfell in the current generation, nor has GRRM said there were any way back when.
I like the concept and the restoration of Moat Cailin could lead to the first heir being Prince/Princess of Moat Cailin, and another could be Prince/Princess of the Dreadfort - the Boltons definitely going to be depossed.
I am considering House Baratheon's doing something similar, Crown Prince Orryn will soon become engaged to Lady Margaery Tyrell. In Orryn need to prove himself and assert his capabilities, and seeing how the North has begun to restore their ruined castles and keeps, Orryn would order the repair work for Harrenhal.
King and Queen in King's Landing
Prince of Harrenhal
Prince of Storm's End
Prince of Highgarden
King Robert’s stay at Winterfell comes to a close as members of House Stark set off to embark to King’s Landing- Sansa and Joffrey enter a betrothal, Bran is going to squire for Ser Barristan, and Arya will eventually begin dancing lessons.
The next chapter is a different point of view to facilitate the time skip for Rosalind
Unfortunately, the show’s depiction isn’t super clear and lacks a variety of camera angles. I went searching for some more ASOIAF artwork and the one on the official cards and other similar things seems rather plain. Luckily, I found some from people who built it in Minecraft
Sorry for the delay, I’ve been frustrated with how long it’s taking to get to Rosalind meeting Tywin. There are still some things I want to have to happen at Winterfell before she sets out south. This does fall to my own shortcomings in actually writing the damn thing... Anyways, thank you all for your continued engagement and patience.
Upon realizing that Maester Aemon’s actor, Peter Vaughan, is the same person who plays Giles Corey in The Crucible (1996) I decided to rewatch it and the early scene between John Proctor and Abby Williams talking about their affair gave me big Jaime Lannister vibes with this quote
John Proctor: Abby, I may think of you softly, from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again.
Different in-universe context for the hand between John/Abby and Jaime/Cersei - I doubt there’s any intentional parallel but it’s fun to think about.
Absolutely - I do plan for them to be endgame in my fanfic
One of their children will become the next heir of House Tarth and I believe that Jaime and Brienne would divide their time between Casterly Rock and Evenfall Hall. I like the concept of their children being named after legendary knights, shades of blue, or family history.
Daughter Names
Merida = one who has achieved a high honor
Jay = bright shade of blue
Cyrule = the cerulean shade of blue + Cleo nickname
Marian = drop of the sea + Marienne / Marlais
Cerelle = time of spring / Lannister traditions
Tyshara = after Lannister traditions
Joanna = after Jaime’s mother
Son Names
Arthur = after Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning
Jay = bright shade of blue
Marius = of the sea
Cyruleon = the cerulean shade of blue + Cyrus nickname
Loreon = after Lannister traditions
Selwyn = after Brienne’s father
Galladon = after Brienne’s brother / legendary knight
My Fanfic
The ones I am leaning towards selecting are:
Merida Tarth, a girl with blue-green eyes and light blonde hair (the next heir of Evenfall Hall)
Jay Lannister, a girl with blue eyes and golden blonde hair
Marius Lannister, a boy with sea-green eyes and dark blond hair
Cyruleon Tarth, a boy with bright blue eyes and white-blond hair (named for Evenfall to help further the House Tarth naming line)
If there had been no WotFK, who do you think the Stark children would have married?
I LOVE THESE QUESTIONS!
So aside from two of my favorite pairings that did and did not quite come to fruition in the show (Bran x Meera, Arya x Gendry) I believe that most of the Stark children would have married Northerners and maybe one or two in the Riverlands and Vale. The honor of having a Stark enter their families is such a highly coveted value in the North and I firmly stand that Ned would seek to bestow every care on his bannerman without forcing his children into disagreeable arrangements or otherwise before they are ready.
Robb Stark
Myrcella Baratheon
Wynafryd Manderly
Dacey Mormont
Eddara Tallhart
Alys Karstark
As the heir of Winterfell and firstborn son of the Hand of the King, Robb would have every single young lady's eye. I would expect Robb to marry a Northerner, unless it was altered where King Robert wanted Myrcella married to honor Ned’s friendship and support over the many decades. This would then alleviate Sansa from Joffrey’s torment and Myrcella had developed a little crush on Robb during her time at Winterfell in AGOT. There are also unnamed daughters in House Umber that could be plausible for Robb’s consideration. Karstark and Tallhart seem on the sightly less likely side since Rickard Karstark had tried for several years to get Robb / Ned interested in his daughter but it never landed. Alys does end up being married to another northern lord.
Dacey and Robb become friends during the WOT5K, she is a bit older than him and might be too unladylike for Catelyn's approval. Dacey and Wynafryd are both the heirs to Bear Island and White Harbor, but since the two of them have younger sisters I can believe that their heiress title could be passed to a younger sister. Or one of the younger sons from Robb would become the heir to House Mormont or House Manderley. This isn't as much of an heiress big deal as Arianna Martell not marrying Willas Tyrell creating a double heir situation when Highgarden and Sunspear are much more comparable big game prizes for inheritance. Due to Wynafyrd's higher house standing and power I could see her being the forerunner for Robb to marry within the North.
While considering Robb and Margaery, it does not have as advantageous values for the Tyrells since Winterfell is so far removed geographically and politically, it seems on the more unlikely side that this pairing would happen.
Sansa Stark
Joffrey Baratheon
Trystane Martell
Willas Tyrell (maybe Loras)
Edric Dayne
Jon Snow/Targaryen
Once free from being betrothed to Joffrey or not if Robert/Ned don't die early (or if Robb is with Myrcella), I could reasonably see Sansa having the whole of Westeros open for the opportunity from within King's Landing. I would expect her to marry outside of the North, Riverlands, and maybe even the Vale to consider one of the southernmost kingdoms. This would be one of the most to gain in political standing if it was from the Reach or Westernlands. As the firstborn daughter to the Hand of the King, Sansa would have the utmost attention and consideration for just about any great house's heir. I do see Dorne not being a forerunner though that could change if Prince Trystane Martell arrived In KL. The Baratheons outside of KL seem also not likely if she weren't involved with Joffrey. Eventually if Jon is a Targaryen and claims the throne I could see Sansa and Jon marrying to keep the North in the realm. If Sansa became a close companion to Margaery as Queen, she could easily be introduced to any lord within the Reach or in the stony mountains of Dorne nearby, which could open up House Dayne (special care for the Lady Ashara and Ned rumors) and I think that Sansa and Edric could be interesting.
Arya Stark
Beren Tallhart
Gawen Glover
Unnamed Umber Son
Gendry Waters
Maybe one of the younger Ryswells (Rickard or Roose) pending their unknown ages, I doubt Catelyn and Ned would approve of a large age gap. If Jojen Reed was not unfortunately doomed I could see Arya and him as a possible engagement. After Sansa, I find Arya to be the hardest Stark child to predict/guess a preplanned marriage for when not taking Gendry into factor.
Bran Stark
Meera Reed
Beth Cassel
Ysilla Royce
If he doesn't fall from the tower then I could see Bran going to the Vale since he has aspirations of being a knight and he could be fostered by Yohn Royce and become betrothed to his daughter Ysilla, before Mychel Redfort marries her in AFFC, or another unnamed Yohn Royce daughter. After some time in King's Landing if Robert were not to die early I could see him and Ned agreeing to send Bran and Tommen together to the Vale.
Rickon Stark
Lyanna Mormont
Wylla Manderly
I like the idea of Lyanna Mormont or Wylla Manderly to match Rickon's wild personality if Lyanna has more of her show presence rather than her minimal book appearances. With Wylla's green hair and Shaggydog's green eyes that could be potentially cute. If Robb married Dacey Mormont or Wynafyrd Manderley then I would see Rickon marrying into the other house.
