Game of Thrones, Seasons 7-8 Rewrite Part 1

 

With the fans' disappointment over Seasons 7 and 8, and my own desire to finish my Game of Thrones rewrite, I've decided to throw my hat into the ring and show how I would have done certain events, such as the end of Season 7 and the first half of Season 8 for Game of Thrones. 

Yes, this is more in the style of JRR Tolkien rather than George RR Martin.

Yes, it's more high-fantasy concepts instead of just simple politics.

Yes, it gets cheesy with the Dany/Jon romance.

But you know what? Sometimes, it's warranted. Sometimes, heroes have to enjoy some honeymoon times before the serious fighting starts, and sometimes, battles have to be structured so that they're both epic and they make sense. 

So here it is, my version of Game of Thrones, for the second half of the Seventh Season, and the first half of the Eighth Season. 

The finale is coming soon.

RIDE FOR RUIN, AND THE WORLD'S ENDING!

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After watching the latter half of Game of Thrones’ Season 7 and most of Season 8, I feel confident enough to post my own ideas on how the series should have wrapped up. Like many fans who were sucked in by the first four seasons, I was somewhat perturbed by the mistakes I saw in the later seasons, (5-7) but I still thought the show was still above most of the stuff on TV nowadays. But now that the show seems to be barreling down to its conclusion at breakneck speed, I’ve decided to show everyone how I would have concluded the show, as well as wrap up my rewrite for Seasons 5-7 of Game of Thrones.

Continuing off from my previous story………

After crushing Jaime Lannister’s army, Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow stayed at Highgarden. The two allied monarchs review their battle plans for their continuing war against Cersei Lannister, with Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, Randyll Tarly, Barristan Selmy, Jorah Mormont, Davos Seaworth, and Yohn Royce, all gathered together. Missandei, Varys, Olenna Tyrell, and Tyrion Lannister stood at the background, while Bronn, who has since joined the Targaryen host after their victory against Jaime, presents a map of King’s Landing, explaining the troop strength and defenses around King’s Landing, including the scorpion ballistas, catapults, trebuchets, and other defenses Cersei has set up.

Since Tyrion’s plan to invade the capital with Westerosi has failed, Daenerys has replaced him and appointed a new Hand of the Queen, Randyll Tarly. Randyll notes the weakness of Cersei’s forces now that both Casterly Rock (which was seized by the Unsullied) and Jaime’s army have fallen, and proceeds to suggest that the army move slowly, but surely towards King’s Landing. Ser Davos, being well-trained at naval incursions by Stannis Baratheon, reasoned that since Stannis’ attempt to invade the city years ago with ships failed, Daenerys and Jon’s armies should use a purely land-based approach, to which Randyll agreed. Tarly suggests that the army can blockade the city and starve out the populace until they force Cersei Lannister to capitulate, the same way King Renly did during the War of the Five Kings. That blockade starved the city and led to a riot that almost killed King Joffrey Baratheon. With luck, if they blockade the capital, another riot can start and end with Cersei’s death. King Jon, on the other hand, doesn’t want to starve out the populace, as he fears that the people might resort to eating each other to avoid starvation and it would paint a bad picture of the Alliance against Cersei. Randyll wants to end the war as quick as possible, while Jon wants to be conscientious and wage a just war avoiding dirty tactics. Just as the two began to argue, Littlefinger rose up and spoke.

Littlefinger reminded the two monarchs that since Euron Greyjoy’s Ironborn fleet defeated the Targaryen fleet, Cersei still has superiority at sea, and can ferry anything from food to mercenaries to the capital. One of Petyr’s spies has informed him that Cersei discovered new gold mines at Casterly Rock several months prior to the landing of the Targaryens, and Cersei has had some of the gold transferred to the capital. She could easily use the gold to buy food, pay off mercenaries, or worse yet, pay the crown’s debt to the Iron Bank, which would secure the bank’s support for her. He recommends that they send in scouts to reconnoiter the capital and keep tabs on Cersei’s activities. He also suggested to Olenna Tyrell that House Redwyne’s fleet, which belongs to House Tyrell, should be sent off to fight Euron’s fleet, to make sure that Cersei doesn’t use the fleet to escape or get new mercenaries to King’s Landing. Olenna had been holding back the fleet in reserve, but she realized that right now was a good time to use them, so she agreed.

Bronn continued with his description of the defenses around King’s Landing, and he confirms that half the Lannister army holds the city-a host of tens of thousands, fresh recruits mixed in with veterans from the Lannisters’ past wars against Robb Stark and Stannis Baratheon. They have gathered food and supplies that can last for at least two years, now that a portion of their army was scattered to the wind by Daenerys’ most recent attack. He also mentioned that he once spied Cersei talking with a representative from the Iron Bank of Braavos about how she wants to bring in the Golden Company-which would strengthen her forces. Since Euron’s fleet is large enough to ferry the Golden Company to Westeros, Cersei could be reinforcing her armies as they speak, and Jorah Mormont reminded everyone that not only is the Golden Company experienced at fighting, but they also had elephants, which Euron’s fleet would have no trouble transporting.

Randyll Tarly then suggested that they begin construction of large siege engines, which Jon agreed with. Bronn notes that with all the scorpion ballistas dotting the capital, Cersei’s forces can damage Daenerys’ dragons, making a full-on aerial attack a foolhardy mission. The scorpions can injure the dragons, kill them, or worse, if Daenerys gets shot out of the sky by a scorpion ballista, she could get crushed in the fall, or get captured and tortured by Cersei. Jon reasoned that dragonfire might also set the houses of the citizens on fire, which can lead to the deaths of innocents. Instead of an aerial attack, Randyll wanted a classical siege battle, considering that the alliance has superior numbers. Battering down the walls of the city and forcing the Lannister army to come out and fight would be a superior tactic. If the Lannister army doesn’t come out, the siege engines will destroy them along with the walls, but if they do come out, the Tyrell heavy cavalry and Dothraki mounted archers can deal with them rather easily. After which, they can send in heavy infantry, such as the Unsullied and the Vale Knights, who can charge in and storm the city, taking it for the Targaryens and the Starks.

Back at King’s Landing, Euron Greyjoy prepares a plan to stop Daenerys and her dragons. He shows to Cersei a massive horn that he supposedly recovered from the ruins of Valyria, meant for ensnaring dragons. Cersei is amused, but since she has no proof of the horn’s validity, she doesn’t put much confidence in it. Instead, she puts Jaime in command of the defenses and informs him that, thanks to their recent lovemaking sessions, she got herself pregnant. Jaime swears to fight for their unborn child, and Cersei responds that she has full faith in him. All the while, Qyburn is at work preparing a larger version of the scorpion ballista, one that can fully pierce dragonhide. Cersei also tells Gregor Clegane, the Mountain, to prepare for a sallying against the Targaryen forces. She also began preparations for her forces to use the volatile substance known as wildfire, to be fired from catapults against the enemy.

Cersei orders Euron’s fleet to patrol the waters around King’s Landing and make sure that there will be an escape route through the sea just in case the city falls. Euron agrees, but behind closed doors, he also plots against Cersei. Instead, he now has his eyes on Daenerys, and after hearing of how her dragons burned the Lannister army from Jaime himself, Euron begins to plot to save his own skin. Cersei promised to marry him after the war, but one of his spies learned that Cersei spoke with Jaime about their unborn child, which indicated to Euron that Cersei was never going to marry him in the first place. If he delivers Cersei to Daenerys Targaryen as a wedding gift, he might become King of the Seven Kingdoms with Daenerys as his bride. He didn’t know at the time that Daenerys was beginning to get the hots for another king………

In the night after their war council, Jon and Daenerys began spending time with each other in the gardens of Highgarden. In fact, when the nobles began dancing, Dany and Jon danced together amidst beautiful gardens and flowers under a starry night sky, with the two sharing a passionate kiss that shocked the highborn crowd. Afterwards, they talked with each other concerning their past experiences. The two found that they had a lot in common-from a brother who once was ahead of them in the line for inheritance, to their difficulty in finding a place to call home, to their encounters with the arcane. The two began to form a bond, especially when Daenerys began to notice how Jon is a natural leader, since he has the North, the Vale, the Riverlands, the Stormlands, and even the Free Folk cheering for him. He has the allegiance of the North and the Riverlands due to being King in the North and Robb Stark’s half-brother. He has the Knights of the Vale as his allies thanks to Sansa and Littlefinger. He gained the support of the Stormlands due to Shireen Baratheon vouching for him as king. And even the wildlings now bow down to this Stark king from the North-a feat not achieved by any of the Kings of Winter or of Westeros in all of recorded history.

Daenerys began seeing in Jon all the positives that her former lovers and male companions had: he was as loyal as Jorah Mormont and Grey Worm, he was as good at fighting as Barristan Selmy, he was as charismatic and handsome as Daario Naharis, and his ability to lead rivaled that of Khal Drogo. Daenerys wondered, perhaps, if she had found the lover she was looking for all this time. Granted, her vassals would be humiliated if she, the last of the Targaryen line, wed a bastard, but in the end, her feelings came before her rank and title-she felt drawn to Jon Snow’s strength, courage, and charisma, and the fact that he wasn’t afraid to stand up to powerful lords like Randyll Tarly if he didn’t agree with what was proposed. But she also realized what marrying Jon would entail-even if she legitimized him, he was a Stark, not a Targaryen, so the Targaryen name would fade away and the Stark dynasty would rise in its place. The dragon line will die out, and be consumed by the wolf.

Daenerys continued to vacillate between proposing to Jon and rejecting him as a lover, and it tore her apart. In desperation, she turned to Jorah Mormont, Missandei, and Barristan Selmy, three loyal advisors who have been with her back in Essos. She asked them whether or not she should legitimize and marry Jon Snow. On the one hand, marrying him means gaining four out of the seven kingdoms without shedding a drop of blood. It would secure their northern border and gain the unquestioned allegiance of a whole host of peoples, from the North, the Riverlands, the Free Folk, the Stormlands, and the Vale. But it would also embarrass her in front of the southern lords, most of whom would scoff at her marrying some bastard from the north. She had already noticed southern lords like Randyll Tarly becoming irritable at being contradicted by this northern bastard king, and she also noted that if she does legitimize and marry Jon, the Targaryen name would fade away and be replaced by the Starks.

Missandei, Jorah, and Barristan all shared the same opinion: Jon Snow is a good man, and marrying him is for the best. He is loyal, brave, quick-thinking, and has a large pool of popular support. Sure, the southern lords would get embarrassed, but what other alternatives are there for them? Cersei Lannister? She blew up the Great Sept of Baelor, killing the Tyrells, her own uncle, and the supreme religious authority of the land, giving her massive infamy outside of House Lannister. Cersei’s affair with her twin brother Jaime is a public stain on her honor. Cersei is also courting another king from a distant part of the land, Euron Greyjoy, a glorified pirate with a crown, a crew full of mutes, and a fleet with a thousand ships. If Cersei is willing to throw her family honor away and marry a pirate to gain naval supremacy, then Daenerys wedding Jon Snow and raising him to full Stark status to gain the North should not be out of the question.

Ser Jorah also noticed something about Jon Snow: on his belt, the Valyrian steel sword Longclaw hung. Longclaw was the sword of Jorah’s father, Jeor Mormont, which Jorah gave back to his father after failing him and being exiled from the realm. The fact that Longclaw was hanging from Jon’s belt meant that Jeor Mormont saw Jon as an honorable man, and given his record in the Night’s Watch as being an honorable fighter, it would be highly unlikely that Jon killed Jeor to take the sword. Jeor Mormont’s trust in Jon is what convinced Jorah to vouch for him. Ser Barristan, who fought for Daenerys alongside Randyll Tarly and Jon Snow against Jaime Lannister’s forces, saw Jon fighting on the field and vouched for him based on his great fighting skills and the fact that he seems to be as tempered and honest as Ned Stark was. And Missandei admired Jon for speaking his mind and trying to conduct war in the most just and noble manner, even in front of mighty lords like Randyll Tarly, who once defeated the likes of Robert Baratheon in battle. She also didn’t understand the concept of bastardry, which is why she didn’t mind the idea of Jon marrying Daenerys. With all three of her most trusted advisors pushing for it, Daenerys agreed with them and resolved to propose to Jon Snow once they take the Red Keep from Cersei.

A month passes as both armies mass for a clash, and the battle for Westeros begins. Jaime Lannister leads the defense, but without Bronn to guide him, Jaime feels insecure in his ability to lead. Euron’s ships are installing the newly-upgraded scorpion ballistas onto their ships, and the Lannister forces begin to prepare for a siege. On the horizon, they spot large trebuchets, siege towers, battering rams, even scorpion ballistas, yet nary a dragon in sight. They prepared their city first and foremost to stop a dragon attack, and yet, despite the appearance of Tyrell soldiers, Vale Knights, Unsullied, Dothraki, and even some Dornish troops that joined the Targaryen forces as they marched from Highgarden, there were no dragons flying around, not even for scouting purposes. Perhaps Daenerys had learned from her previous battle that her dragons were not as invincible as she thought.

Jaime took a certain comfort that he would not face a dragon today, but when he looked at the center of the invading army, he got nervous: the banner at the center was that of House Tarly, meaning that Randyll Tarly was at the center of the enemy army. Jaime alerted Euron Greyjoy of this development, and told him to prepare to evacuate the Red Keep just in case he couldn’t hold the walls. Greyjoy instead told him about how some Ironborn scout ships have spotted the Redwyne fleet slowly making its way near the Greyjoys’ position, staying far enough outside scorpion range, but it would only be a matter of time before they begin to fire trebuchets. What he didn’t notice, however, was that Euron had been making back-channel communications with Randyll Tarly, offering to help take the city from the Lannisters in exchange for amnesty and an audience with Daenerys Targaryen. Jaime noticed that the Greyjoy forces were preparing something, although for what, he did not know. Perhaps Cersei confided in Euron her plans to evacuate the city. With Randyll Tarly bearing down on them with a massive host, Jaime thought that was appropriate.

The battle began, and Randyll Tarly used the full might of his army to pound away at the city gates: catapults and trebuchets fired nonstop at the walls, while archers rained arrows down on the defenders. Jaime’s men were breaking under the constant battering, and some of his officers began suggesting that they sally forth with heavy cavalry to take out the siege weapons. Jaime refused, stating that the enemy army’s size would make a sally from the city a suicide mission. Even when Gregor Clegane showed up and volunteered for such a charge with a few silent nods to the officers, Jaime prohibited it and instead directed the Lannister forces to return fire with their own trebuchets, archers, and scorpions, as well as catapults loaded with wildfire jars. However, Tarly’s forces were more experienced and accurate, and managed to knock away many of Jaime’s scorpions with their own scorpions, while fiery projectiles managed to hit the wildfire catapults, setting them ablaze. The walls continued to weaken as Jaime’s forces began to retreat from the constant pounding from the trebuchets and archers of the Targaryen host. What Jaime didn’t spot, however, was Bronn and Varys, leading some Unsullied and Vale knights through a secret passage while Randyll’s men were battering the walls. Worse yet, Euron’s Ironborn were helping them, opening doors underneath the city walls to let the Targaryen forces in. Once inside, they killed the Goldcloak city guards and began to open the city gates as Jaime’s forces were beginning to withdraw to the Red Keep. The Targaryen army stormed the city, and Jaime’s forces were forced to defend the city from the Red Keep’s walls.

But the worst was yet to come for Jaime. Now that many of their air defenses were knocked out by the invaders, the dragons began appearing from the sky. The dragons kept their distance, but at the same time, frightened the populace, scaring them enough to get them to hide inside their houses, making sure that the Targaryen forces weren’t impeded by civilians. Cersei and Jaime prepared for the fight of their lives, but just as they were ready to fight to the death, several scorpion shots fired-from Euron’s ships. And they fired not at the dragons, but at the Red Keep’s own defenses, knocking away the last of the scorpion ballistas that they had installed. Euron’s Ironborn within the Red Keep’s walls began slaughtering Lannisters and letting Targaryens come in. Randyll’s ploy with Euron worked-and the Targaryens overran the last of the Lannister defenders, who surrendered to avoid being killed. Jaime and Cersei were left with Gregor Clegane and a few Kingsguard against an entire army, and Ser Barristan Selmy knocked down the doors on the Red Keep, accompanied by Vale knights and Unsullied. He bade Jaime and Cersei to surrender, but Cersei would not have any of it, and sent Gregor to fight Barristan. However, the fight was cut short when Euron arrived, hitting Jaime with a crossbow bolt to the side, wounding him, and holding Cersei Lannister hostage. Euron told Gregor to drop his sword or else he’d slit the throats of Tywin Lannister’s twin children. Whatever part of Gregor that remained human after his revival by Qyburn remained loyal to House Lannister and to Tywin, and so, the mighty Gregor Clegane dropped his sword and the battle was over.

Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen arrived at the throne room, just to see the last part of the drama unfold. Randyll revealed to Daenerys and Jon that Euron contacted them just before the battle started, and Euron now brought Cersei before Daenerys, bound and in chains. Cersei spits at Euron, and looks Daenerys in the eye. She bade Daenerys to end it all now. Nothing matters to her anymore, now that she lost. Daenerys can crucify her, feed her to the dragons, have her burned alive, have Jon chop off her head in the same spot Ned Stark lost his head, Cersei would rather die than surrender. Daenerys drew her blade, Queen Visenya’s Dark Sister, which was found years ago by Illyrio Mopatis along with Aegon I’s Blackfyre, but instead of going to Cersei, she went over to Jaime Lannister, and promised Cersei that if she did not submit, Jaime would get the “Ned Stark treatment,” or worse. Cersei cursed Daenerys, and started to yell about how she’s just as bad as her father, the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen, since she delighted threatening people in front of their loved ones. She cursed Daenerys for what she was about to do, then finally, she surrendered, on the condition that Jaime be spared. Daenerys agreed to her terms, saying that she will spare them both since “there was still a human heart beating in that monster.” The war was now over.

Daenerys then went a step further to prove herself as a good and merciful ruler, and with her sword in hand, she dubbed Jaime as the new lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West. When Jaime asks why Daenerys would forgive him for killing her father, Daenerys notes that her father was insane, and that Jaime was within his rights as a servant of the realm to rid it of a mad king. Tywin carries with him the crime of killing Prince Rhaegar's children, but Tyrion already killed him years ago. Daenerys then stepped forward and sat on the Iron Throne-the throne built by her ancestors. Finally, after all she had suffered through, she now achieved her main goal. But now, she had two kings to contend with. One of whom she wanted to marry, and another who wanted to marry her. Euron Greyjoy steps forward, claiming that Cersei was his “wedding gift” to Daenerys, and he hoped that his action would gain him the right to marry Daenerys and become the next king on the Iron Throne. Randyll Tarly objected, on the count that he promised Euron an audience with Daenerys, not a marriage proposal. Randyll noted that not even Jon Snow was that bold, and Jon owned more than half the country at that point.

Daenerys instead made a concession to Euron: thanks to his actions in helping to bring Cersei Lannister to justice, he would be given a seat in the realm’s government as Master of Ships, and his rule over the Iron Islands would be unimpeded by the Iron Throne. So long as Euron understands that the throne is the supreme power on the land of Westeros, and once Yara Greyjoy is released back to royal custody, Euron can have power given to him by the crown. However, Daenerys rejects any marriage proposals because she doesn’t fully trust him, since he joined Cersei after Yara, who was Euron’s rival for monarch of the Iron Islands, joined the Targaryens. Euron did some heavy damage against the Targaryen fleet, and he only changed his tune after Jaime’s army was defeated by the Targaryen forces. Euron, realizing that his ground forces were paltry compared to the Targaryens, and realizing that the Redwyne fleet right near his own fleet can cause some serious damage if he didn’t comply, had no choice but to accept. He was allowed to keep his title of “King of the Iron Islands,” but in Westeros, he was merely a lord. He was given the rank of Master of Ships, but now he had to answer to Randyll Tarly and Daenerys Targaryen, both of whom would not be easy to fool. Cersei, as she was being escorted out by Gregor Clegane and some few remaining Lannister troops, laughed at Euron’s failure to become king of the Seven Kingdoms, saying that disappointment is the fate of all traitors, and mocking Euron with the title of “Lord Euron” instead of king. The rest of Jon and Daenerys’ lords began to file in as the battle ended and the alliance now has the throne in its grasp.

Daenerys then arose, and gave to Jon Snow a black box. When Jon opened it, he found that it contained a valyrian steel ring with a ruby at the center-a ruby in the shape of the direwolf on the Stark banner. Daenerys then proposed to Jon to be her lord and husband, and for him to sit on the Iron Throne as King. Daenerys’ court was shocked, but Dany knelt before Jon as she held his hands and the box. When Jon tried to deflect and say that he wasn’t worthy, Daenerys responded that he was worthier of sitting on the throne than she is. Daenerys noted how she was some foreign conqueror with some noble support who still had to rely on foreign armies like the Dothraki, Unsullied, and dragons. Jon Snow has four out of the Seven Kingdoms looking to him as king, with no foreign mercenaries or dragons at his side. Even the wildling free-folk who once lived beyond the wall now saw him as their king. Daenerys told Jon that he was the most worthy man in her life to become her lord and husband-a man whom she would follow to the ends of the earth. Jon turned to Yohn Royce and Littlefinger, both of whom prodded him to accept. However, some of Daenerys’ court begged her not to continue with this path. Foremost of them was Randyll Tarly, who begged Daenerys to find a better husband than a bastard. Daenerys spat back, saying that this bastard was a better man than many trueborn nobles that she had ever met in her life. Ser Barristan and Ser Jorah rose to defend Dany’s decision, but as they argued, however, just on cue, someone arrived on the scene to solve the problem.

Randyll Tarly’s disgraced son and Jon’s old friend, Samwell Tarly, showed up, followed by a Northern lord named Howland Reed. Samwell was trying to find Jon after he found out a secret about Jon’s parentage from some old, forgotten books in the citadel. Randyll was angered by his son’s appearance, as well as his son’s theft of the prized Tarly sword Heartsbane, but the warm welcome Jon extended to his old friend made it impossible to punish him, especially when even Daenerys was warming up to Samwell after Jorah told her that Samwell cured him of his greyscale. Samwell came across some documents that proved that Rhaegar Targaryen wed a second wife in secret, and that wife was Lyanna Stark. The documents also prove that Lyanna gave birth to a son named Aegon Targaryen. Ned Stark was the last person to see her alive, and yet he came home with a son that he claimed to be his bastard. Samwell put two and two together: Jon was no bastard, and was in fact, Prince Rhaegar’s son. Lord Reed confirmed the story, saying that he was there when Ned met Lyanna Stark and Lyanna gave birth to Jon. Jon is the legitimate ruler of Westeros, the man who should sit on the Iron Throne. The news sent Daenerys’ entire court into shock. Randyll bristled at the news, but Daenerys didn’t-she looked at Jon, and smiled. Now, she had every right to marry him-because not only is he King in the North, but also the rightful ruler of Westeros itself. Daenerys congratulated Jon on the news, and offered to marry him and become his queen. When Jon tried to deflect it by saying that Daenerys is now his aunt, she simply kissed him, and the two warmly embraced each other.

Daenerys had her servants take out a present for Jon-a sword. Blackfyre. Aegon I’s sword. Daenerys told Jon that it only seemed proper than the seventh Aegon should wield the sword made for the first (Daenerys considered Prince Rhaegar’s son by Elia Martell, another Prince Aegon, to be Aegon VI, and it was clear from the documents that Jon Snow was born after Aegon VI was born). At first, Jon was reeling from the news as well, but even his own Vale knights were cheering on the name: “Aegon! Aegon!” Everyone was chanting it. The Dothraki, the Unsullied, the Tyrells, the Dornish, all were chanting it. Even Jaime looked at it with a sense of minor approval, respectfully nodding at Jon. Aegon VII then sat upon the Iron Throne of Westeros. Kinvara then had Jon marry Daenerys, which then reunited the country into one realm.

For several months, the two spent their time in King’s Landing. As the city was being rebuilt by funds furnished from House Tyrell, the commoners grew to accept their new king, thanks mostly to how the Alliance managed to take the city with little collateral damage AND the Tyrells paying for the city’s repairs. Jaime’s cooperation with them helped ease matters. Aegon VII making generous concessions to Lannister bannermen made it easy for their former enemies to be integrated into the realm’s governance. He even asked Jaime to become a part of the new Small Council, as an impartial advisor who can offer his opinion on certain matters. Littlefinger resumed his post as Master of Coin, Randyll Tarly continued to be Hand of the King, Tyrion Lannister became the Master of Laws, Euron Greyjoy remained the Master of Ships, Ser Barristan Selmy once again became the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and Varys resumed his post as Master of Whispers. Aegon VII and Daenerys I ruled jointly as king and queen, and they both consulted each other on royal decisions before addressing the Small Council.

As for the lords of the realm, the North remained faithful to Jon even after finding out the truth about his heritage. Back in Winterfell, Catelyn Stark was horrified to learn that she had hated Ned Stark for all the wrong reasons now, although Sansa Stark and a few northern lords were a bit perturbed at the fact that their king now reigned from down south. Still, due to the fact that Jon left Sansa a lot of leeway to govern the North in his name, Sansa was eventually sated. The Riverlands under Edmure Tully were also loyal, as was Robin Arryn’s Vale, Shireen Baratheon’s Stormlands (at this point, she has settled in Storm’s End with Davos and Gendry) Prince Doran Martell’s Dorne, Olenna Tyrell’s Reach, and Jaime Lannister’s Westerlands.

Jaime had Cersei confined to Casterly Rock to avoid any trouble between her and Daenerys. Apparently, her pregnancy was a phantom pregnancy and was not a real one, so Jaime had Ser Gregor escort her back to Casterly Rock and keep her there for her safety. However, Daenerys was surprisingly okay with the idea of Cersei returning to the capital. Daenerys even offered to officiate the marriage between Jaime and Cersei, since the Valyrians had wed sister to brother countless times, and she sympathized with his love for Cersei since it’s something natural for Valyrians, especially since now, Daenerys has spent many moons sleeping with her nephew. Jaime was sorely tempted to accept. Bronn, however, talked him out of it, stating that more inbred Lannister babies would just cause more problems like Joffrey. They can’t be sure that the babes would all turn out to be like Tommen and Myrcella.

For several months, the country ran well and was on the verge of recovering from the chaos left behind by the recent Targaryen-Lannister war and the War of the Five Kings. Aegon VII and Daenerys I enjoyed love on moonlit nights and by day, worked with government officials honestly to keep order in the realm and repair the damage done by the previous wars. Some hilarious goofs happen, like Sam getting Gilly pregnant, Bronn being assigned to keep watch over Jaime to the latter’s consternation, and Ser Davos catching Aegon VII having Dany chained to the bed while making love. However, a single letter from the North spelled the end of that almost year-long honeymoon period.

It was a letter from Bran Stark, the new Lord of Winterfell, now that Jon is away being Aegon VII. Bran used his powers as the Three-Eyed Raven to warg into some ravens and scout out the area beyond the Wall. They spotted an undead army before the Night King dispersed the flock of ravens. Apparently, the Night King has some of his own beasts that complement his army of undead wildlings. Aside from polar bears, mammoths, giant spider mounts, and giants, now ice dragons have been spotted flying around near Eastwatch by the Sea.

At first, Aegon VII and Daenerys I weren’t so concerned-after all, during their time on the throne, they sent siege weapons and wildfire catapults to the wall to be used against the White Walkers, and they also sent Winterfell a large shipment of dragonglass from Dragonstone. They also sent more men to the wall, some of whom were former soldiers from Jaime Lannister’s defeated army, others were volunteers paid to help defend the wall. However, it seems that the Others are working on a plan to get across the wall by sidestepping it entirely. According to Bran’s visions, the ice dragons are working to slowly create a bridge of ice using their ice breath, to freeze the waters east of the wall to create solid land that the undead can walk through. Bran’s letter also spoke of something blocking his vision-something that looked like a lady in white, but the vision was unclear. Daenerys I and Aegon VII, meanwhile, were more worried about the undead armies.

Along with Bran’s letter came a large box. A “sample” described by Bran’s letter to be presented to the maesters and lords as proof of what they’re about to face. The large box contained a single White Walker and several undead wights, all chained with heavy steel, with the White Walker chained with valyrian steel. They fell into a trap set by the Wildlings and the Night’s Watch under the direction of Brynden “Blackfish” Tully. Maesters from the Citadel in Oldtown arrived to examine the samples, and so did the ex-Maester Qyburn who used to serve at Cersei’s court. Many lords and ladies staying at the capital now had indisputable proof of the existence of the White Walkers and their undead soldiers, and they wrote to their relatives all across the kingdom. The southern lords were sent reeling in shock, although for the North, this was to be expected. The people of the southern kingdoms had long cast aside the notions of White Walkers and their undead peons as fairy tales. Now they had undeniable proof of the existence of these monsters. Aegon VII and Daenerys I sent calls throughout the realm to assemble armies and head for the north to deal with this threat. They left the Dothraki down south because the Dothraki weren’t used to cold weather, although Dany made sure to pick several new Khals who were loyal to make sure they don’t go nuts and start plundering the countryside.

Lords from across the realm mustered their troops, from Dorne, the Reach, the Stormlands, and the Westerlands, assembling their armies and joining the Unsullied and the Crownlands forces as they headed North to join the Northern, Riverlands, and Vale forces already stationed there. Having anticipated an invasion, Bran Stark ordered the construction of several forts connected by walls between the Wall and Winterfell, to slow down the advance of the undead and to allow Winterfell some time to prepare a larger defense. However, the North did not have the manpower to hold off such an invasion, even with support from what was left of Mance Rayder’s Wildling army. Hence why Jon and Daenerys were speeding their way to the North will all the armies of the southern nations at their disposal. Randyll Tarly was leading the army as Hand of the King and Master of War, but several other lords followed with their own armies to go up north. However, there was a complication with Daenerys: She was several months pregnant. Thanks to their lovemaking, Jon and Dany have sired an heir, and it seems that the child would indeed be coming soon.

Noticing that the majority of Daenerys Targaryen’s forces were going up north, Cersei Lannister plotted with the Master of Ships and King of the Ironborn, Euron Greyjoy, to get the capital back under their control. While the two still had lingering animosity between them, especially with Cersei distrusting Euron for betraying her, Cersei saw that, with most of the royal armies heading up north, the South is mainly occupied by a skeleton force along with some Dothraki. Cersei schemed with Euron just as Jaime was mobilizing the Lannister forces to go up north to join Aegon VII and Daenerys I. As the Lannister forces mobilized to go up north, a small force from Euron’s fleet snuck into Casterly Rock and “liberated” Cersei, with help from Gregor Clegane, whose true loyalties laid with her and Qyburn. Cersei then had her servants transport her gold to Euron’s fleet so that Euron can hire the Golden Company with the newfound gold from Casterly Rock.

As Jaime was commanding the rearguard of Daenerys’ forces, he realized what his sister was up to, but by then it was too late. Cersei had also used some of the gold to bribe several Dothraki bloodriders to challenge their khals, and as they took control of Daenerys’ Khalasar, they began tearing it apart with their petty infighting just as the royal army went past Riverrun and Moat Cailin. The Dothraki fought one another, then Euron’s fleet arrived and dumped the Golden Company onto Westeros, giving Cersei 20,000 troops, several thousand armored cavalry, along with several hundred heavily-armored war elephants. With most of the Dothraki forces distracted by infighting, Euron’s forces worked with the Golden Company to seize the throne from the small number of Targaryen loyalists left down south and wiped out the Dothraki, who have been distracted by infighting to notice the Golden Company’s armored elephants. By the time they mustered their forces to attack, it was already too late: the Golden Company defeated them in battle after battle, until finally, what’s left of the Dothraki surrendered to Cersei and were integrated into her forces to avoid complete annihilation.

Jaime Lannister, wanting to redeem his honor, took no part in his sister’s schemes. His army was joined by Bronn, who was watching over him on Daenerys’ behalf, and Alester Sarwyck, the lord of Riverspring who was a Red Priest, who was formerly a knight in service to Jaime’s father, Lord Tywin Lannister. Jaime stopped his army from marching towards Riverrun and marched back down south to confront Cersei and the Golden Company. Cersei sent Jaime a letter, asking her brother to stay down south with her while the Targaryen army fought the undead to the north. Jaime refused, and the two forces fought near Duskendale, where Jaime’s Lannister army dealt the Golden Company its first real defeat in recent years, with his forces using upgraded scorpion ballistas to injure the armored elephants of the Golden Company, and his heavy cavalry decimating the detachment of the Golden Company that engaged him while Bronn snuck behind enemy lines, assassinating their commander and burning their supplies. Sarwyck even used his Red Priest magic to help Bronn set fire to the Golden Company supplies.

Jaime Lannister, Bronn, and Alester Sarwyck met with Euron Greyjoy and Cersei Lannister in Duskendale to negotiate for a ceasefire and an end to hostilities between the Lannister twins, and Cersei once again offered Jaime the chance to join her side and remain at the south. However, Jaime, wanting to redeem his honor and the Lannister name after Joffrey and Cersei dragged it through the mud, refused, steadfastly staying loyal to his new queen Daenerys and King Aegon VII. Cersei responded by saying that if Jaime wanted to stay loyal to Daenerys, he ought to go North and sleep with her instead. Cersei holding hands with Euron during the meeting showed Cersei’s intentions clearly: she was going forward with marrying Euron Greyjoy, who now had a reason to hate Daenerys and work with Cersei, now that they have both the Iron Fleet and the Golden Company. Cersei stormed out of the meeting, while Euron asked Jaime whether or not her sister liked it "gentle, or rough?” and proposed that he would give Cersei “a finger in the bum!” Jaime exploded in anger and was held back by Bronn and Sarwyck, as they too left Duskendale.

Since most of the Golden Company were still holed up in the capital, with a superior defensive position, Jaime did not have the numbers to besiege them, especially with Euron’s fleet backing them up by bringing in other mercenary companies from Essos using Cersei’s gold to pay for them. Instead, Jaime decided to go up north and fight alongside the Starks and Targaryens with his army, and work to minimize the casualties for the royal army at the North. Then once the undead are defeated, Jaime reasoned that the Targaryen army and dragons can easily retake the capital from Cersei. As Jaime’s forces left King’s Landing, Cersei and Euron were pronounced as the new king and queen of the Seven Kingdoms by Qyburn. However, the leader of the Golden Company, Young Griff, had his own agenda in mind that he kept from his new employers. Even as Cersei and Euron greeted Griff with warm embraces and promises to have him be given a high post in the new government, the young leader of the Golden Company plotted against his employers behind closed doors with his compatriots, Captain Harry Strickland and Lord Jon Connington, telling them that their employers were nothing more but glorified thieves, and their time to take the throne will soon come.

As the Targaryen army crossed Moat Cailin and got to Winterfell, Aegon VII, also known as Jon Snow, was reunited with his maternal family once more. Catelyn apologized for all the years that she snubbed Jon, while Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon Stark reunited with him. Daenerys Targaryen was also greeted warmly by the lords of the North, in part due to her making one of them her king, literally bending the knee to him, and sharing power with him. The fact that she was clearly pregnant with Jon’s child was another boon to them-the next Targaryen will be part-Stark. She also made sure to retain their loyalty by promising not to interfere with the Starks’ rule of the North, and promised that the new regime will respect the North’s traditions and needs. Her efforts to distance herself from her father bore fruit, and the Northerners were okay with her marrying their king, though some quietly grumbled that she stole their king from them and had him rule from the south for months. The large royal army brought food from the Reach to sustain itself, which is why it moved with a slower pace through the country. Slow enough, that despite fighting the Golden Company on their way to the North, Jaime Lannister’s army managed to catch up and get to Winterfell within weeks after the arrival of the royal army there. Daenerys I and Aegon VII were infuriated to learn of Cersei’s schemes from Jaime, but Bran Stark, using his visions and powers as the Three-Eyed Raven, assured them that Jaime is loyal to Daenerys and he even fought his own sister briefly on Aegon and Daenerys’ behalf. Jaime joined the many forces of the Targaryen army, alongside others such as Randyll Tarly’s forces and even Theon Greyjoy and Yara Greyjoy’s small Ironborn party, in fighting off the undead.

Catelyn Stark notices that Jaime did uphold his end of her bargain to free him, since he sent Brienne to save Sansa. However, she still mistrusted House Lannister due to Bran’s crippling, what happened with Ned Stark, and the Red Wedding. While Jaime and Tyrion tried to deflect responsibility for it and blamed Tywin Lannister for the Red Wedding, Catelyn still demanded justice and for House Lannister to pay for their crimes against the Starks. Brienne of Tarth, however, spoke on behalf of Jaime, saying that him waging a small war against his own treacherous sister proves that he has turned a new leaf. Aegon VII also told Catelyn of how cooperative Jaime was for the past few months. Jaime offered his sincerest apologies for his dishonorable actions, and stated that he will do anything to redeem his family’s honor. Bran Stark, being the Lord of Winterfell, then ordered Jaime to occupy the forts he had constructed. Since he was in Northern territory, Jaime decided to obey, bowing down to Lord Stark’s authority to make up for his crime of pushing Bran out of a window.

Daenerys, Jon, and Randyll took an elite contingent of the royal army made up of Northern, Vale, and Tarly forces, and they made their way to the Wall to see if they can do anything to stall the enemy. There they met with the Blackfish, who was placed in charge of the Wall several months ago by Bran Stark. With him leading the remaining Night’s Watch and Wildling forces, he’s had time to assess the plans of the undead, and he passed on to Jon the intel he gained about the movements of the undead: Bran’s visions were accurate, and the undead are indeed trying to cross by making an ice bridge east of the Wall. The Blackfish was being helped by Benjen Stark, who was scouting beyond the wall for the Blackfish and was passing along intel from his reports. Daenerys and Aegon thought that with their dragons, they can burn the ice bridge down, which would deny the White Walkers their chance to walk past the wall. Working with Randyll Tarly, they came up with a plan. The plan called for two of the dragons to burn down the ice bridge to prevent the undead from crossing, while one dragon will stay at the wall with the army to fend off the undead forces once the undead realize that their alternate path around the Wall has been sabotaged.

The undead then began to march against the wall, forcing the royalists to focus the majority of their forces near the wall. Daenerys took Drogon with her to defend the wall, while Jon took Rhaegal and Viserion and rode east to try and burn down the ice bridge. The Night King stationed most of his army right in front of the wall to distract Daenerys Targaryen and her forces, while Jon taking Rhaegal and Viserion east got him ambushed and attacked by the Ice Dragons trying to create an ice bridge. However, Jon was successful in fending off the Ice Dragons, forcing them to retreat, and the ice bridge was destroyed. Daenerys, meanwhile, had to hold off the army of the dead’s repeated assaults against the wall, with Blackfish commanding the defenders, flinging wildfire projectiles and dragonglass bolts at the undead giants, the wights, and the Ice Dragons. Since she was pregnant, she could not ride Drogon into battle, instead, she commanded Drogon to incinerate the enemy from the top of the wall.

Daenerys at first was able to stem the tide against the undead by sending out her dragon and lighting the enemy forces with dragonfire, but when her dragon Drogon was shot down and injured by the Night King hurling an ice javelin, she was forced to have him retreat back behind the wall through a gate. However, as Drogon had to retreat on foot, the ice dragons then began smashing the wall with their mass. The wall began to crack and fracture, helped on along by undead giants operating large, gargantuan catapults. The whole plot with the ice bridge was a distraction: by getting two out of three of the Targaryen Dragons out of the picture, they were able to mount a successful attack and fly in several White Walkers to get past the wall and open the gates. Dany, the Blackfish, and Jon had to retreat post-haste with their forces, as the Wall fell and the undead poured through. Jon arrived with Rhaegal and Viserion near the end of the battle to provide a last-minute distraction, destroying the large siege engines of the undead army, but even they had to retreat as several Ice Dragons and White Walkers started taking potshots at the dragons. The lords of the northern castles retreated along with their people, following Jon and the Blackfish as they moved back to Winterfell.

Now the battle was up to Jaime Lannister’s forces. Jaime was accompanied by Bronn, Alester Sarwyck, and Tyrion Lannister. As the royal army retreated behind the lines of the newly-constructed forts, Jaime and his forces had to face the undead host. Their mission was clear: to stall the enemy as much as possible to allow the forces at Winterfell to set up the best defense possible against the undead, and kill as many wights as possible while minimizing casualties. The Lannister forces were split up between the forts, and their only objective was to hold out against the enemy. Day after day, week after week, the Lannister forces were on the front lines, holding out against the undead forces, no matter the cost. They used siege weapons like catapults and trebuchets flinging wildfire projectiles behind walls, and flaming dragonglass bolts fired from scorpion ballistas to shoot down ice dragons, giants, mammoths, and any large targets. They used crossbowmen with dragonglass crossbow bolts to kill the odd White Walker that gets spotted.

Jaime’s approach worked for a time, but eventually, the Lannister armies were beginning to tire out. Some of the officers began considering desertion, others resented the fact that Tywin’s son was now fighting for their old enemies instead of staying with Cersei down south. Others feared that Bran Stark and the Targaryen monarchs are sentencing them to death by making them the vanguard of the defenses. Jaime, however, would have none of it. When one of his own family members, Damon Lannister, tried to stage a coup so they can leave, Jaime had Bronn and Alester Sarwyck capture the traitor. Damon voiced his displeasure towards Jaime, stating that the Starks killed his half-brother Stafford Lannister during the War of the Five Kings, and the Starks are now using them as meatshields against the undead. Damon told Jaime that his father would be ashamed of him, calling him a traitor to House Lannister for helping the Starks and Targaryens, houses that were their enemies for the past few years.

Damon’s attempted coup caused a disturbance in the Lannister lines that allowed the undead to penetrate the first line of forts. Jaime responded to this by having Damon Lannister beheaded by Bronn, down to the point where Jaime even allowed Bronn to use King Joffrey’s sword, Widow’s Wail, to decapitate Damon. Tyrion Lannister protested, stating that Damon was still a Lannister-he was part of the family, and executing him was kinslaying, and that this was just as bad as when Robb Stark decapitated Rickard Karstark. Jaime answered that in war, military law trumps family relations, and that he needed to show that any defiance to his will would be met with force. Jaime proved himself to be as intractable and uncompromising as his father Tywin, and after Damon’s head rolled off his shoulders, the Lannister host fell back in line, as they retreated to the second line of forts to hold back the enemy.

Just as with their defense of the first line of forts, the Lannister forces held out for a time, against ice dragons, undead giants and mammoths, hordes of wights, and the occasional White Walker mounted on a giant spider. But the Lannister forces were already still recovering from the loss of the first line of forts, and were barely able to defend the second line for a few weeks. Soon they received a letter from Bran Stark, instructing them to retreat to the Dreadfort and hold up there, and to join them at Winterfell once the Lannister forces have recuperated. Jaime, with his soldiers exhausted from fighting the undead for more than two months, had no choice but to obey and retreat, holding up in the Dreadfort with their siege weapons and soldiers, while the undead army ignored them and made a straight beeline for Winterfell.

The forces at Winterfell have had more than enough time to set up defenses: scorpion ballistas, wildfire catapults and trebuchets, several lines of fire trenches, as well as whole rows of pikemen with dragonglass pikes, as well as archers and crossbowmen with dragonglass arrows ready to be lit on fire. With most of the royal army at Winterfell, and Bran Stark using himself as bait for the Night King, the battle was on. Except, there was one problem: Daenerys Targaryen’s pregnancy was about to come to full term. She was barely able to command her dragons when she was pregnant, but now that the babies were about to come out, Aegon VII forbade her from entering the battlefield, instead having her take shelter in Lady Catelyn Stark’s room, where Catelyn helped Daenerys carry her pregnancy to full term, with her experience on the matter being solid due to her being a mother of five. Jorah Mormont and Barristan Selmy also stayed with Dany to protect her as she gave birth. In Daenerys’ stead, Jon himself would ride Drogon and command the other dragons, while Randyll Tarly commanded the forces against the undead. Samwell gave Heartsbane back to his father, so that he can better fight, but Randyll now saw Sam in a new light, especially when it was confirmed that he did kill a White Walker. After having seen the undead in action, he realized that it took real courage for Sam to stand up to these things and kill one of their “officers,” realizing that Sam was now just as much a man as his younger brother Dickon Tarly, who Randyll saw as his ideal heir.

A few hours before the battle, Melisandre arrived at Winterfell. Having left the North after Stannis Baratheon’s death, Melisandre arrived with a contingent of soldiers from the Temple of R'hllor from Volantis. She began using her magic to resurrect the Stark corpses at the crypts, allowing them to come back to life as themselves-some of them even recognized Sansa as a Stark and asked about the current state of the Stark dynasty. When told that the Starks were subject to the authority of the Targaryens, the Stark undead began to blame one amongst them, Torrhen Stark, for kneeling to the Targaryens. However, upon learning that the new Aegon that they serve is part Stark, and the Targaryen queen that he married is pregnant thanks to this part-Stark king, Torrhen barked back, saying that his kneeling to the Dragon King Aegon I has now borne fruit with the Starks being related to the royal Targaryen family. The Stark undead promised to defend their kin against the White Walkers and their onslaught, which made it safe for the women and children to hide in the crypts, where Sansa and several other court ladies like Missandei and Olenna Tyrell were hiding.

Several hours later, the battle started. A clear full moon offered clear lighting on the battlefield, as the horde of the undead, their ice dragons, their mammoths and giants, and the White Walkers themselves came into view. An Ice Dragon, larger than the others that they have previously fought, came into view-with the Night King riding at its back. The massive creature let out an ear-shattering noise, and the undead forces charged at Winterfell with full speed. The royal forces defending Winterfell stood behind the battlements, while several other armies were stationed in encampments to the side of Winterfell behind the fire trenches. They began firing a torrent of fire arrows, wildfire projectiles, and scorpion bolts set ablaze. With the fire trenches, the undead soldiers were unable to penetrate the lines of the defending forces, but a dozen Ice Dragons flew into the battle. Aegon VII responded by launching his own dragons, with him flying on Drogon while Rhaegal and Viserion provided covering fire. Aided by scorpion ballistas aimed at the ice dragons, Jon kept them afar for a while, until undead giants riding on mammoths strode in, and used giant bows and arrows to knock out the siege engines of the defenders. Outside of the trebuchets, scorpion ballistas, and catapults behind Winterfell’s walls, most of the siege weapons mounted on the battlements of Winterfell or to its sides were destroyed. The Ice Dragons then changed their strategy-one half of them continued to engage the Targaryen dragons, while the other half began freezing the ice trenches cold.

The undead forces then began to charge in earnest, only for the second fire trench to be lit by Melisandre. Randyll Tarly had several spare scorpion ballistas taken out to fire at the Ice Dragons, while the lords encamped at the sides of Winterfell did the same, aiming at the undead mammoths and giants with flaming dragonglass scorpion bolts, taking them out of the equation. On the aerial battle front, Jon and his dragons managed to wipe out several Ice Dragons, which then allowed them to focus some firepower onto the army of the dead. This then forced the Night King to engage them with his larger Ice Dragon, along with more Ice Dragons serving as his wingmen-forcing Aegon VII to break off his attack and focus on the Night King.

To further complicate matters, just as the Ice Dragon threat was being dealt with, several undead giants came upon the fire trenches and used themselves as bridges-smothering the fire and giving the undead armies a way to cross. Melisandre lit trench after trench, to no avail-the undead seemed to have a steady supply of giants to use as living bridges. The undead then began bringing up more giants and wights, and began smashing themselves against Winterfell’s walls. The lords and armies to the sides of Winterfell had to fight off against the undead forces with pike formations backed up by fire archers, but no matter how many they slew, more seemed to come in and take their place. Even as Melisandre lit the pikes of the defenders, they had little reprieve as wave after wave of undead forces slammed into their lines. As for Winterfell’s walls, more undead mammoths and giants charged forward, eager to break through the walls and gates of Winterfell to massacre the royal garrison within.

As the battle raged outside, Daenerys was giving birth to Aegon VII’s children. Catelyn reminded Daenerys to take deep breaths before every push, while Jorah Mormont (who once again had his family sword Longclaw after Jon took the sword Blackfyre from Daenerys) and Barristan Selmy guarded the doors. Daenerys’ pained screams could be heard across the halls. Littlefinger was there with Catelyn Stark, unusually dressed in Vale Knight armor to protect his dear Cat along with some hand-picked Vale Knights, accompanied by the Blackfish, who was also there to protect his niece. Similarly, Sansa was in the crypts with the women and children, accompanied by the undead Starks who served as their bodyguards along with some northern troops. As the situation grew more desperate outside, the occupants inside began to fear for their lives. Arya Stark and Brienne of Tarth reassured the defenders, along with the Brotherhood without Banners, comprised of the Hound, Sandor Clegane, the Red Priest Thoros of Myr, and Beric Dondarrion. However, the battle outside began to turn for the worst.

Back outside the gates, the undead giants used massive logs as battering rams against the gates, while wave after wave of wights slammed into Dornish, Tyrell, Unsullied, Northern, Stormlands, Riverlands, and Vale forces on the sides of Winterfell, preventing them from stopping the siege. Undead mammoths began trying to ram the walls, while undead giants with bows took potshots at Randyll Tarly’s remaining siege weapons. No matter how many they slew, the White Walkers seemed to have an endless supply of expendable troops, and no matter what strategy the defenders used, the attackers seemed to be able to adapt to them. With Aegon VII distracted by his fight with the Night King, and with the forces on the ground losing to the invaders, their decimation seemed to be on hand. As the soldiers of R’hllor joined with the defenders with fiery weapons, the final stage of the battle seemed to be upon them, as undead wights began entering the castle proper when the undead giants tore down the gates.

Sensing that the tide has turned, Aegon VII broke off his battle with the Night King, and began engaging the undead on the ground again, buying some time for the defenders by roasting a good portion of the undead army with three dragons. When the Ice Dragons pursued Aegon, Randyll had his remaining scorpion ballistas aim and fire at the Ice Dragons, killing many of them. This then allowed Jon to pursue the Night King while ordering the other dragons to assist in the battle below, giving the defenders some hope for victory when the attacking undead on the sides of the castle were incinerated by the dragons. However, this was the impetus for the White Walkers to enter the battle at last. Riding atop giant spider steeds, they charged the Winterfell gates, their bodies seemingly immune to dragonfire and other manners of fiery attacks as Viserion and Rhaegal opened fire on them. While their spider steeds burned down, they managed to get in a few good shots at the dragons with icy javelins, forcing the dragons to land in the Godswood where Bran Stark was stationed alongside Theon Greyjoy’s Ironborn. The White Walkers burst into the keep, as the battle continued to rage around them.

The White Walkers began killing the R’hllor soldiers and the Northmen and Vale Knights guarding the inside of the castle, as well as the Tarly soldiers guarding Randyll. Randyll managed to kill a White Walker with a dragonglass crossbow bolt, but was injured by a White Walker hurling an icy javelin at his torso. His son Dickon Tarly had to drag him out of the battle. Meanwhile, the Stark undead were fighting off hordes upon hordes of wights that entered the keep, along with Jorah Mormont and Barristan Selmy, who were unable to hide the fact that Daenerys Targaryen is within the keep due to her painful screams of childbirth. Brynden Tully managed to kill a few wights, and so did Petyr Baelish, to the latter’s amusement, since he hadn’t fought in a long time. The Brotherhood without Banners worked with Brienne of Tarth and Arya Stark in defending the women and children in the crypts, alongside the Stark undead, but even their numbers began to thin, as the White Walkers entered into the crypt and began killing the Stark zombies one by one. They were only stopped by Arya, Brienne, and what's left of the Night's Watch, with the latter using crossbows that fired dragonglass bolts, and the former two using Valyrian steel blades.

However, due to the large amount of casualties on both sides, the White Walkers were able to raise more undead soldiers from the dead defenders. Viserion and Rhaegal began burning them while within the keep, but even they were hard pressed as wights overwhelmed them and they were unable to fly due to their wounds. Theon and Yara Greyjoy’s Ironborn also defended Bran and the inside of the keep, but they began running short of arrows and had to rely on dragonglass melee weapons to keep the enemy away. With the undead army being too focused on conquering Winterfell, they didn’t notice a secondary force approaching them from behind.

It was Jaime Lannister and his Lannister army, along with Bronn, Alester Sarwyck, and Tyrion Lannister. Alester mumbled a prayer to R’hllor, and lit ablaze the Lannister forces’ swords with the power of the Lord of Light. Jaime then had his army charge the undead from behind, with the undead host already suffering heavy casualties from the defenders and the two dragons defending Winterfell from within. Jaime’s cavalry also had archers with dragonglass arrows and crossbowmen with dragonglass crossbows, which killed some of the White Walkers standing behind the lines of the battle. Jaime himself killed a White Walker with his Valyrian Steel sword, while Bronn used dragonglass daggers and a dragonglass sword to take out a couple of White Walkers. With the undead unaware of the Lannister cavalry until it was too late, Jaime’s charge crushed the Night King’s forces, and by the end, with dozens of White Walkers dying and the undead forces being deactivated due to their deaths, what’s left of the White Walkers and their undead force began retreating for the woods to regroup. The Night King even had to retreat as Jon’s Drogon gained the upper hand in their dogfight, burning down the Night King’s massive Ice Dragon. The Night King fell from the skies and  had to catch a ride on foot with another White Walker’s spider steed.

As the undead forces began to retreat, the forces of the living began to cheer. Here, at last, was proof that darkness could not overcome the light. Despite the heavy casualties on the side of the living, the dead were sent running with their tails between their legs. Drogon let out a mighty roar, along with Viserion and Rhaegal, and the Lannister forces joined the living in their celebration. Even though the Night King and several of his White Walkers still live, the Battle for Winterfell was over. The forces of the living have won this day.

And as Jon returned to the Winterfell keep, he saw Daenerys, clutching two healthy babies. She was, in fact, carrying twins, and she gave birth to a baby boy and a baby girl. The boy was named Eddard Targaryen, named after Aegon VII's foster father, Lord Eddard Stark. The girl was named Lyanna Targaryen, named after Aegon VII's mother, Lyanna Stark. Since this was Stark territory, Daenerys chose Stark names. Ser Barristan, Ser Jorah, and Catelyn Stark congratulated Aegon VII, the former Jon Snow. Now, he was a father. Daenerys and Jon hugged tightly, and celebrated the birth of a new beginning for the Starks and Targaryens. Evening came, and morning followed. As the sun's rays began to shine, a new day was dawning for the world.