Hot take but I just don’t care about House of the Dragon anymore. They missed adaptation and hit fanfic that missed the point of the source material. I understand that they have more wiggle room as all we know about the dance is from the books and not directly from the characters themselves but it gets to a point. And with Akotsk coming out while Hotd is, and that production hitting the nail on its head, makes me extremely disappointed in what we’ve seen from Hotd. The actors are extremely talented and I’m disappointed by the material they’ve been given. I don’t know, i at least think they should have shown the battles as that’s a major part of war in general. The show has turned into The Blacks v the Blacks v Aemond.
I was in a writing mood so I wrote a bit of my idea of Dunk going back in time and fighting ( in which you can find here ) instead of him getting his hand chopped off or something else happening. The snippet takes place after the trial. I can’t promise that it’s good lol, but I like it. If there’s any typos please tell me.
Dunk sits down and trys not to think about the last time he finished up the trial. On the bright side he feels much better.
“Duncan! Dunk!” Raymun runs up to him, Steely Pate not to far behind. “That was- that was insane! Who knew you could fight like that?”
Dunk breaths out. “I didn’t. I don’t know. Something clicked.” He’s lying. He’s lying to his friends. He sighs again. “It’s just how Ser Arlen trained me.”
Raymun laughs, slightly hysterical. “Ser Arlen must have been a beast. I mean, at least in war.”
“Yeah, I guess. Is everyone alright?”
“Yeah kinda. Aerions seven are… injured. But come on Duncan! You were insane out there!”
Steely Pate nods “You put on a good show for my armor.”
“I might have a set made for me.” This is a different voice. Baelors. Egg is trailing not so far behind. Dunk closes his eyes. Baelor is an old scar, a bruise that never healed, a broken nose on a man who lost his first fight. It’s a pain that’s always there, the kind you learn to live with. Egg though… all Duncan can think of is the man who went mad. Green and melting gold flash in his mind before he remembers there’s again (it takes a second to count) 11 people to keep alive and sane to stop that future from coming true.
Dunk opens his eyes once more when he feels Egg hug him. Egg looks up at him and exclaims “I knew it! I saw you and I knew you were the best knight! You beat the kingsguard!” Egg unlatches from Dunk then before stepping back and pretending to hold a sword. “You were like ha! Then ha! Then ha!”
The other adults look at Egg fondly, likely remembering themselves as children. Dunk smiles because it’s been a long time since he’s seen Aegon so calm and free.
Terrible supernatural oc idea I have but like imagine a Siren who got really into pop music in the modern era and so they become a popstar. Like full dive in, glitter and everything. In doing so they leave their old life behind. No more killing, cause they have too many adoring fans. Sam’s one of them, he really like their music. In the actual show they would end up dead, either by the boys killing them or something else but like I’d imagine in fandom they’d end up like Benny, monsters who don’t do the normal monster stuff anymore. I’d like to think the siren I’m thinking of and Benny would be friends lol
Places you should add to your little town/city in your fantasy world!!
Post offices. Wild, I know. But give me the unhinged kind. Pingeons and little postal dragons all over the place. You enter. The most disgusting smell fucking assaults your nostrils. You know what it is. Letter in hand, you go up to the counter. The postal worker is just a slightly bigger pigeon. You shed a tear.
PLAYGROUNDS!! Create the most dangerous kinds of playgrounds, the ones suburban moms would TRIP if they ever saw one. Monkey bars that are way too tall, swings that go full circle... The metal slide stays the same, it's already painful enough.
PARKS!! MAKE IT ALIVE!! Show people going on walks, reading beneath trees. C'mon most of them are already hundred years old (And are going to die after that CR 15 creature wrecks the town) anyways!! Show couples and picnics, show a family enjoying the sunday, give me someone picking flowers for their loved ones.
A bakery! Do you know how much these places are underrated? And do you know how much plot potential they have? Every good story starts with food poisoning or granny's recipe! Give me a place your players/readers are going to treat like home and, for once, it's not a tavern or a guild.
Government buildings! Give me a town hall that has a kilometric line in front of it. Give me a registry that is as old as this town. Give me police stations! Give me courtrooms! Make one of your players get arrested and now all of the party has to go through burocracy like a bunch of normal people!
(Who am I kidding? You don't need to make them get arrested. They are going to do that for you.)
Touristic attractions! Give me a full-on statue of the country's leader! Give me museums! Give me streets, ruins and whatnot that attract thousands of tourists everyday! Give me an annoying city guide that tries to get the party's attention everytime!
Magazine stands! Magazines don't exist? Newspaper stands! From the Queen's Journal to the most questionable new piece of Fox's Tailtracker, you have it all! Make your players doubt what's actually happening, sprinkle a little fake news... Or is it fake at all?
...Toy stores. OK HEAR ME OUT. Make magic toys; miniature skyships that actually fly, metal toy dragons that expel fire, little wands that make little light spells, wooden creatures that can move and make noises... Make children happy! And your players too because they will waste their money on these stuff.
Instrument store!! Make your bards happy with special instruments or just weird ones! Give me a battle in one of those that is just filled with funny noises and the worst battle soundtrack ever!!
Not exactly a place but... Cleaning carts!!! Show me people cleaning the streets, picking up the trash, cutting trees!! Make the town look clean!! Give me an old man that is really proud of his work!!!
(or ways to make your players feel even worse when the villain destroys the town later on :) )
Aerion is slowly becoming apart of his new roommates friend group. Lyonel has all but accepted him, Rowan likes him well enough, and Dunk (his roommate) is sweet. Tanselle and him share a likeness for theatrics. Raymun still hates him but Aerion is 99% sure Raymun hates everything remotely Targaryen like so Aerion doesn’t take that personally. (Or at least he’s trying to. His juvenile court appointed therapist says that’s a start). For the first time in a long time (really forever but he’s trying not to think about that), he has friends. Sure, sometimes he has to babysit his younger siblings but that’s not so bad, his kinda friend group likes his siblings so it’s good enough. He just wishes his older brother and cousin would stop asking about Dunk. He is actively trying not to think about his uncle asking the same questions. (Aerions brain has blocked out how his father has been looking at Dunk.)
A Robert’s Rebellion show can only work two ways.
One is if it all told from the pov of characters who we already have povs of from the books. In this version we should see nothing from Robert or Rhaegar or Lyanna or Elia and what their thoughts were (although we pretty much know a lot about Robert). It keeps up the mystery and the whole point of the Rebellion, that everyone was kinda a bad guy and made wrong decisions (I love Jaime. He didn’t have to sit on the throne after he killed Aerys, the floor would have worked my guy). I think most people would like this version.
The other version (and I kinda want to write a fic about this idea now) is if it’s told by the smallfolk. People who should have no business in these issues, but get dragged into it any way.
Harrenhall is having a tourney and the local Smith volunteered to take some of the village kids to go see it.
Willow, a maid, overhears Prince Rhaegar complaining about the fact his father has shown up to some of the kingsguard. It’s good gossip for the kitchens, speaking of which she should get there now, she might be late.
Marc helped set up the tourney, it pays well and he gets front row seats because he’s so early. That boy Jaime though seems to young to gaurd the king, he look barely older then Marc’s own nephew. But he knows that rich folk train their kids young for no reason (it’s not like they hunt for their food) so he pays no mind, although the nobles look nervous.
Owen and Alys get home after what seems like a disaster at the tilts today. The Prince named Lyanna Stark the Queen of love and beauty. There was an awkward silence. Alys jokes that if it was she in the Princesses place she would have slapped her husband. Owen assures that there is no one more beautiful to him than her.
El has worked at Riverrun all his life, and he takes pride in that. He and his family is trusted by the nobles that occupy the castle. He’s picking up the lords left overs when he over hears that apparently the Prince kidnapped the Lady Stark. He goes to tell his wife in the kitchens, the cooks should know of war was on the horizon. They’ll sometimes hoard food for them and the servants, god knows that the lords won’t feed them. He shakes his head. El is loyal. His lord won’t starve them.
The red keep is Marie’s home. Aerys is yelling at his son. The red keep is Marie’s home. Three other servants have died to Aerys’s hand this week, but at least Tywin isn’t here to double that number. The red keep is Marie’s home. The prince is leaving again, with the soldiers. The red keep is Marie’s home. The cooks have been feeding the children in the walls, the ones who only showed once that Spider was around. The red keep is Marie’s home, the red keep is Marie’s home, the red keep is Marie’s home.
Corin has been a whore for years. Soldiers come in a lot. Like so many times. But none as many as Robert Baratheon. She feels bad for the man’s future wife, and that maybe he shouldn’t be having sex when he’s talking about going to war with the crown for her. She also thinks he pays good coin. Very good coin.
The little princes laugh reminds Sam of his sons. The Queen reminds him of his wife when she was pregnant. He hopes everything will go well for them. They seem sweet. Nothing against the prince and his family. In fact the princesses are quite nice. The prince just gives him the goose bumps.
When she had devoted herself to the stranger, this silent sister had known she would see and take care of death. She was a little excited, if for the stories and nothing else. Cleaning the bones of Lord Stark and his son is… something else. They died to wrong. Everyone knows it. Except the king. She known she’s not supposed to care, and she doesn’t really. But it certainly says something about the King and his power that no one killed him that day. She hopes she won’t have to clean any more wolf bones.
The same smith who took the kids to Harrenhall is now hidden them in the cellar once the soldiers come.
The onion man is a smuggler. Penny and Wick grab each other’s hands. They were now the heads of the maids and cooks alike. Their predecessors starved. They were old, it made sense. The onion man is giving them food. Smuggled it. They both hope he won’t get much retaliation from the young lord. Hes fed them as much as the nobles, so the respect and trust him. But food is food. More than gold to starving folks. Penny tries not to think about her grandpas story’s of smallfolk in the Dragon war eating rats. Wick tries not to think of the story’s of smallfolk eating the dragons after the storming of the pit. He pushes away the thought that stag and flowers would taste wonderful right now.
Sylvi has served the princess for years. She is kind, and so is her daughter. The little princeling is sweet as well. She hates kings landing. She hates the prince, she hates the king. She hates because she must. The Princess is dornish. So is Sylvi. Support is all they have here.
Wylla holds the babe close to her. The girls so young. The knights down stairs are fighting and the girl is slipping away. She stands there. She may have loyalties to her fellow dornish woman, the Princess, but a child’s a child. She’ll help. Damn these nobles. Damn these knights. Damn this war.
Leon has been alive for years. Not Gaius years but the literal castle years. He knows magic. He knows dragons. He knows liars. He knows crazy people . He knows that Merlin has magic. He knows that Kilgharrah lived under the castle for years. He knows that Gaius and Lancelot have lied for Merlin. And he knows, for a fact, that everyone he values in any way has to be crazy. How has no one with a brain noticed that Merlin has magic? How? How has no one noticed the Leon himself is immortal? He regularly “survives” the most stupid things. God he’s tired. He needs to sleep for another 50 years again. Best nap he’s ever had.
“Umm, Leon?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you want stew?” Merlin holds out a bowl filled with decent soup (it’s not the best he’s had, but he’s had great food. Because he’s immortal. Which should be obvious to the men who are SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING THE KING-)
“Leon!” Lancelot calls.
“Hmm?” Leon looks up once more.
“Damn, how bad was that fall?” Gwaine jokes.
“Bad.” Leon answers, finally taking the bowl of stew from Merlin.
“You want me to check your head?”
Leon looks to the most powerful sorcerer ever to exist. He’s heard the stories about him, the ones about Merlin’s “Emrys” too. “It’s fine Merlin. Sleep and your stew will do me well.” The man, not an hour ago, had used magic to blast some bandits off the cliff. He had accidentally took Leon with them. Leon’s stupid excuse of “I held on to a branch” should not have worked. It did.
“Ok, if you’re sure.”
“Leon,” the king starts “you should at least have Merlin look at you, I get he’s not the best option, but you seem…” Arthur trails off
“Far away.” Elyan supplies.
Leon looks around, and everyone seems to agree with that notion. Leon blinks. Oh. So these knights are only stupid when it comes to magic, not their friends. It’s nice. If it didn’t lead to deaths (usually his).
Leon shrugs and then downs the stew in one go. It’s not too hot, and if he choked he’d just come back. He’s glad Merlin doesn’t use magic to make his food, even if it out of necessity, so he won’t get caught with magic. Magic food tastes gross. Something is always wrong and while he’s not picky, he does have a refined palette.
He gets up off the log he’s sitting on, and ignores his subordinates and his kings worried and grossed out looks at him.
“Night.” Leon sighs and gos to his bed roll. Oh well. At least his friends are kind, if not smart. Uther was neither, and look where they had ended up.
As he settles he hears the round table gossip over what could be wrong with him. He knows tomorrow brings his friends taking it “easy” on him and Merlin trying to secretly do a check up on him as they go back to the castle.
A part of him feels fuzzy. He’s as old as a castle. And he almost feels just as taken care of. It’s nice. He might get what Bruta was talking about now.
Hogwarts legacy takes place in the 1890s , specifically 1890 its self.
Red dead redemption two takes place in 1899 with the epilogue taking place in 1907ish and rdr1 starting in 1911.
Mc could have met Arthur (and John too, but Arthur’s version is more funny to me). What fits more in a side mission than a British person who can see things no one else can? I don’t know man
I completely get and love fics where Dunk get time traveled back to Ashford and does everything he can to stop Baelor from like even entering the trial of seven but I want a Dunk that goes back in time and just is like “I am one of the best knights in the realm and now I’m younger and more spry. i can do this better.” Cause like he can! So everything goes as normal and he even does his speech (he’s trying not to smirk at him self) and Baelor joins his side and then the trial starts and Dunk just dominates. Like hes great. And everyone is lowkey shocked (and for some horny) and Egg has never been prouder (cause to him he just found the most perfect knight to ever knight)(he did, it just took awhile). And every one lives happily ever after.
When I say I hate the Targaryens never ever am I talking about my dear children Daenerys Stormborn or Aemon the nightswatchmen or Aerea rider of Balerion. The others can die, but not those three. Those three are cool.
I love and need more fanfics where Egg is plotting the demise or exploitation of any one who wants to date Dunk. Lyonel must offer Storms End to them, his Uncle will not shame the best knight in the realm, and Daeron can’t drink anymore. His father must let them have adventures, and Aerion could die in a ditch for all Egg cares. I’m just imagining this-
Dunks love interest: um
Egg slowly turning around, petting a cat (is that cat glaring at the suitor? yes, yes it is.): so what have you brought as a tribute for me and Ser Duncan the Tall??
The only people who can kinda get around this are his father (sometimes, it really depends on the mood Egg is in and the mood Maekar is in) and Raymun, who has technically offered free cider for life and doesn’t need to do any thing else. Any woman who like Dunk as well are watched with a close eye but usually they are fine.
God i am in love with omega dunk. It just works. I also think any dynamic is silly to me.
-Dunk thinks he’s not good enough for his love interest
-Dunk thinking he’s not a good omega
-Omegas can’t be knights so Dunks hiding his identity, bonus points if Egg figures it out and actively helps him hide.
-Omegas are seen as delicate in upper class society but not in smallfolk society cause you need all the help you can get and just cause someone is an omega doesn’t mean they can’t lend a hand. This leads to many shenanigans as Dunk won’t stop doing things.
-Egg forcing anyone who wants to court dunk to get through him first. Any member of his family is not happy about this
