If it wasn't because I got too many pans on the stove, and because I’ve already written too many “fav guy turns into a creature, to explore man’s conflict with his bestial sides” fics, you bet your ass I would be writing a werewolf!Dunk AU
Like, look at this man, and his steadfast and devoted nature, sociability, kind temper, yet capacity for great violence when it matters. Whose job / swore and oath literally to protect the innocent and all that. Look at him and tell me he wouldn't be a great werewolf?
Or, well, not precisely werewolf. I want a werehound. More specifically, I want this man to turn into a great hulking Pyrenean Mastiff.
Are people gonna be disappointed when they learn he’s not a wolf, but just some “common mutt”? Bet your ass they are, right up until they actually see him. Someone will probably clock what breed he is, and that only heightens the absurdity because that’s a guardian dog. Those guys are bred to fight wolves and make bears think twice.
Not to mention, what do you mean he’s big as a dire wolf?!!?!
Just like his human shape, he's unnaturally big even for his breed. And he’s not even fully grown. He’s gonna think his weird proportions are because he’s a werecreature man, but no. He’s just young, so he’s all legs and big paws. Give him a couple of years and a proper diet, and he’s gonna be the size of a large polar bear.
The burial of Ser Arlan is gonna be done by hand, half transformed into paws as he tries not to break down and start whimpering.
He’s still gonna meet Egg like in canon. But Egg will be wondering about Dunk’s weird mannerisms, but not think much of it until one brisk night, when he ends up suddenly waking up overheating because he’s basically buried under a bear.
Lyonel is gonna clock him as something non human almost immediately. That’s half the reason he tries to stomp on his feet. And in Dunk’s befuddlement of the situation, he accidentally flashes him with eyes that reflect weirdly under the low light, and teeth that should not belong in a human mouth. Lyonel is delighted. Here is something interesting. Something rare that should not be calling itself a hedge knight and dressed like a farmer. (He’s still not gonna join him at Storms End but now there’s another component to why not.)
Baelor and Maekar do not clock it when he appeals for them to vouch for him, despite the fact that they really should. Were creatures used to be a lot more commonly employed by the crown, but for some reason or another, they fell out of favour, the population got diminished, or some other reasons for them to now be rare.
Ashford still goes down. He still ends up in a trial of seven, but this time the thing that stumbles up after collapsing into the mud is not a man, but a very pissed off werehound.
Suffice to say, the Ashford tourney goes very quiet and then very much not. The stand goes wild. The following fight is short. What is a sword against a creature with chainmail over a loose hide and a solid, double layered coat, who can move twice as fast as you, even when encumbered by the remains of armour made for a man?
And as soon as he gets his teeth properly in you?
Aerion’s sword shoulder will never be the same.
There you are, a prince in the dirt under the weight of a common mutt. Its teeth are in your face, it’s slobbering over you. You look at this creature who punctured your vambrace with its fucking teeth like it was nothing, and who’s about to clamp its jaws over your throat. A MUTT bested a dragon. The rage and embarrassment will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Dunk will transform back enough to grab Aerion by the throat, hand still tipped with fur and claws, through a throat made for growling, and between teeth made for rendering flesh, the demand for him to rescind his accusation still rings clear across the field.
I keep thinking about Maekar’s offer at the end of the last episode, and it would be a very good point to insert the question of “Is Dunk put to better use as a guard dog than a knight?”
Maekar looks at this hedge knight and thinks that he might have the potential to be an excellent one, but what he needs is someone to guard his son and keep him within sight and sate his need for companionship, and his son has gotten very attached to this man. So he offers him what he assumes he wants, training of the finest order and a place among one of the great houses, but with the agenda that Dunk will spend the rest of the time in hound shape to protect his charge(s?) Aka. Egg and what is left of his sibling horde.
And Dunk will look at this offer with bittersweedness because three days ago this would be the dream, but after everything else? He very much has gotten enough of royals for a lifetime. I don’t know how forward Maekar was with the guard dog aspect of it, but either he just straight up brings it up, or Dunk will look at the offer, read the fine print, and give a very similar answer to canon.
Leaning into his were side would secure him a spot under a house. A dog with the mind of a man is a useful beast. Especially one as powerful as Dunk, but does he want to be reduced to a beast as a living?
Lyonel's offer is in a similar ballpark. He at least also wants him for the man aspect, and true, from Lyonel’s perspective, he does like Dunk for all the same reasons as canon, but if you have low self-esteem, and you heard his spiel, you would probably also think that he’s looking for a distraction, and he might discard you as soon as he loses interest. Dunk doesn’t see himself as special beyond the were thing, and what if that is the only thing Lyonel is interested in? For once, Dunk thinks about himself and says no.
Dunk is also not a fan of the way you can almost hear the glee in the way Lyonel speaks of rebellion. He’s itching for a war, and Dunk wants no part in it. The guy scavenged battlefields for God's sake. He pulled teeth for gold. Dunk knows the face of war after the “glory” has been “earned” and all the important people have gone home to feast.
No. Dunk wanted to be a knight to serve the innocent, and being a dog won't do that.
More notes on the Dunk the Pyrenean Mastiff werehound!
(First post can be found here)
Egg is gonna be horribly endeared from the start because that boy definitely always wanted a dog. Maekar’s compromise was the cat, and Egg loved that creature, but a small part of him wish that it had been something bigger. Something that could have fought back when Aerion threw it down the well.
But now he has a dog that also happens to turn into his favorite person! This might be a beast of pure muscle and very large teeth, but his coat is soft when you bury your hand in it, and warm on cold nights. And he got big jowls and slobbers everywhere when he relaxes. Not to mention the oversized floppy ears, a tail that curls at the end, and kind blue eyes.
Dunk might also complain and insist that he is not that kind of dog (Or a puppy), but he will get distracted if Egg throws a stick, and he will play tug of war as both man or beast, even if it’s not really a fair fight.
There is a short period where Egg has yet to hit his growth spurt, but Dunk has shot up like a weed, so Egg can ride him like a horse. Dunk might grumble about it, but the tail doesn't lie.
Maekar will complain about the safety of his boy, but when you got a knight broad as a barn door that also moonlights as a dog the size of a pony, who is willing to bite a man's face off if push comes to shove? Then the boy must be safen enough.
Sometimes the easiest way to be out and about is as a boy and his dog, even if he is a VERY large dog. Sometimes it is also just a necessity. A lone boy only needs one bed at an inn, and who’s gonna charge him for another one for the dog? It’s also just safer when they have to sleep in a stable. They have also on more than one occasion scored a free meal that way.
When the persona of Duncan the Tall gains more notoriety, it also makes them less vulnerable to being spotted. Even if the “He turns into a great white hound!” part becomes more well known.
When Egg becomes king, and the role of master and acolyte gets switched around, things get complicated. The dual role of dog and man becomes muddled. Is he of better use when he can sit beside Egg as the intimidating beast or loom behind him as the knight?
Duncan will never be able to shake the accusation that he is the king's attack dog, because that is what he is, isn't it? Nobody can dispute his battle proves, and who he fight in the name of, but maybe not everyone wants to have thier comander be a fucking mutt. Does he have the sound mind of a man, or does his beastly instinct rule him? His whole life will be spent walking the tight rope of one or the other. And maybe there is a part of him that likes the quiet when it’s just him and the task he has been given.
The life of the beast is easier, but at the end of the day, he’s not a beast. Now is he?
