Game of Thrones, Seasons 7-8 Rewrite Part 3
And here it is, the final part of my Game of Thrones rewrite! Good Lord, was that a workout or what?
And
yes, it contains more High Fantasy aspects, a very Sauron-esque cheesy
villain, as well as a good dose of heroes being heroic, heroes being in
pain and distress, and heroes being horribly disappointed at the end
result of their struggles.
It's also my version of a bittersweet
ending, which I felt would be more in line with the realistic politics
of the Game of Thrones world than what the show actually did, where the
Stark siblings just wound up ruling Westeros Happily Ever After.........
As
such, I would like to thank George RR Martin for crafting such a fine
story for me to finish, as well as the show-writers, David Benioff and
Daniel Weiss, for crafting such a superb show for the first four
seasons, even though GRRM's criticisms of Tolkien are rather
nonsensical, and the show's later seasons sank the boat, especially with
the last two. Quite frankly, outside of the High Sparrow/King's Landing
plotline in Seasons 5 and 6, I was mostly half asleep, especially when
they ruined the Winterfell plotline with Stannis Baratheon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is Part 3 of my of my Rewrite for Seasons 7 and 8 for Game of
Thrones. Be sure to read Part 1 and 2 first, as well as my previous
rewrite for Seasons 5-7 for Game of Thrones.
After the death of
Euron Greyjoy, Young Griff continued his assault on the Ironborn fleet
with his magical stone dragon as the Golden Company ships began breaking
through and dumping men near the mudgate in the walls of King's
Landing. Several of the Golden Company ships stayed back and fired siege
weapons, others deposited troops. With Euron dead, the Ironborn were
now under the command of Victarion Greyjoy, who, despite his martial
prowess, was not ready for a dragon attack while 20,000 battle-hardened
troops were landing on the beaches and storming the walls. With Griff
going at full speed, the Ironborn were unable to hit him with scorpion
bolts, and his dragon’s crimson flames burned away siege engines and
human defenders alike, without care for civilian casualties. Since the
people of the city didn’t riot when Cersei executed Elia Martell and her
daughter Rhaenys, Aegon VI saw no reason to spare them. Victarion
Greyjoy managed to shoot down Aegon VI’s last stone dragon with a
scorpion ballista as he was burning down a gate, but Aegon VI emerged
relatively unharmed, and the Golden Company’s attacks didn’t abate with
the death of the last of Aegon VI’s stone dragons.
The Golden
Company battered down the walls of King's Landing, and the remaining
Ironborn defenders under Victarion Greyjoy were overwhelmed by the
Golden Company’s wrathful troops. Angered over Elia Martell’s and
Rhaenys Targaryen’s senseless deaths, they unleashed their full might on
the city, carving a bloody swathe through the populace, Ironborn and
civilian alike. Jon Connington tried to restrain the men, and so did
Captain Strickland, but their sympathies laid with Aegon VI, and they
were ready to exact vengeance. The remaining civilians steered clear of
the Golden Company and Young Griff as they marched right up to the Red
Keep, intent on arresting Cersei Lannister. The remaining Ironborn,
under Victarion Greyjoy, didn’t care about protecting Cersei, instead
worrying about keeping the civilians safe, as it seems that a second
undead army was making its way to the city.
Griff stormed the
Red Keep, killing the few mercenaries and soldiers left on Cersei’s
side, along with Euron’s warlocks, who were killed by Griff’s own
warlocks, with both sides using magic fireballs while the Griff’s
warlocks were being supported by Golden Company men with crossbows. The
last line of defense, just like when Daenerys besieged the Red Keep, was
Gregor Clegane and Cersei’s Queensguard. But with Young Griff wielding a
Valyrian steel sword, he carved through most of them as if he was
carving through a cake, and he cut through Gregor’s armor as if it was
made of paper. After swatting him aside, Griff burst into the throne
room, where Cersei defiantly sat. Cersei stood up, and the Golden
Company immediately put her in chains. Jon Connington wanted her to be
dragged down into the Black Cells of the Red Keep, but Griff had other
ideas. As his warlocks entered the room, they decided to test out a
theory that entered their minds the moment they sacrificed Myrcella.
They
had Cersei strung up in the throne room, just like Rickard Stark was
when Mad King Aerys II Targaryen had him killed. But instead of
sacrificing her right off the bat, the warlocks took a small drop of her
blood, and had Griff also give a small drop of his blood. They tossed
both blood samples into a fire they made, and the fire produced a
similar result. When Captain Strickland asked what it meant, Griff’s
warlocks responded that Cersei’s blood had as much magical potency as
Griff’s. But how could that be? Cersei wasn’t from the Blood of the
Dragons-only the Targaryens were. But then Griff put two and two
together, and realized a shocking secret about Cersei and Jaime’s true
parentage: They weren’t Tywin’s kids after all. More likely, they were
Aerys II’s kids with Joanna Lannister, Tywin’s wife. Griff reasoned that
the Mad King Aerys II must have raped Joanna Lannister and forced her
to pass off the kids as Tywin’s, threatening him with Tywin’s death if
she didn’t. Jon Connington also thought it was possible, after all, he
served under Aerys II, and he remembered how Aerys made lecherous
comments and passes towards Joanna Lannister, especially during her
wedding night with Tywin. Despite staying in Casterly Rock for most of
the time before Jaime and Cersei’s birth, Joanna did visit the capitol
on occasion, and perhaps, during one of those visits, the Mad King raped
her and told her to keep quiet about it.
The warlocks then
realized, that with a second, larger army of undead approaching with a
massive, cold wind supporting it, that the leader of the White Walkers
was about to invade the capital. They decided to break out their most
treasured spell: a spell taught only to some of the more obscure
spellcasters and priests from the Temple of R’hllor in Volantis: the
spell needed to create Azor Ahai. This spell was so secretive that not
that many people, not even the High Priestess, knew about it. They
needed powerful blood to draw the magic circle for it, and a sacrifice
to be made with a woman to temper a blade to make it Lightbringer. Griff
then decided that he would become Azor Ahai. He would forcibly marry
Cersei, sacrifice her by plunging his sword in her heart, and become the
savior Westeros needs. Jon Connington was horrified, as was Captain
Strickland, but as the massive undead army approached the capital, they
had little choice. The warlocks presided over a mock marriage ceremony
where they tortured Cersei until she agreed to the marriage vows with
Young Griff, then they began to slice her body in several parts to bleed
her and collect the blood with a bucket. When they collected enough
blood, they began drawing the circle of power needed for the ritual.
However,
the undead army approached faster than anticipated, and they began
smashing through the gates of the capital. Like the previous undead
army, they had pike formations, archers, siege towers, catapults,
scorpion ballistas and trebuchets. Unlike the previous army, they had
Ice Dragons and more White Walkers. The army of the dead battered down
the walls of the city, forcing the Golden Company to retreat to the Red
Keep and hold their position there, while the Ironborn under Victarion
protected civilians that the Golden Company locked out of the Red Keep.
The people were now trapped between a rock and a hard place: On the one
hand, they had an army of zombies, on the other, Golden Company forces
that locked the doors and forbade anyone to enter the Red Keep. And the
people only had Ironborn pirates as their last line of defense, showing
that their situation was truly dire. The people prayed to whatever gods
they believed in to send in a savior. To the Old Gods, the Faith of the
Seven, the Lord of Light, the Many-Faced God, to any God out there from
any Heaven, the people asked for deliverance. Soon enough, however, they
would have it, in a form they never expected.
As the army of the
dead approached King's Landing, the armies of Jon Snow/Aegon VII and
Daenerys Targaryen arrived. Jon Snow, as his forces approached the
capital, was horrified to see the sight of the undead forces marching
through, and Daenerys Targaryen, to buy time for the people in the city,
had Jaime take his Lannister army and Petyr Baelish’s Vale army to
attack the White Walkers along with two out of her three dragons, along
with the remainder of the royal forces. With the undead focused on
attacking the city, the attackers caught the undead army by surprise,
and the Targaryen dragons engaged the Ice Dragons with some support from
some upgraded ballistas brought by the allied army, while the White
Walkers and wights engaged the Lannister and Vale forces head-on. Jaime
then left the battle to join Daenerys Targaryen as Petyr Baelish and the
Vale Lords took command of the offensive.
Aegon VII, Daenerys
Targaryen, Barristan Selmy, Sandor Clegane, Jorah Mormont, Brienne of
Tarth, Jaime Lannister, Bronn, Alester Sarwyck, Davos Seaworth, and Arya
Stark all boarded Drogon and headed to the Red Keep to see if they can
meet up with Cersei to organize the defense. To their surprise, they saw
the Ironborn and some living human citizens trying to get into the Red
Keep. When Dany landed, Victarion Greyjoy, the man in charge, explained
to them that the Golden Company locked the Red Keep and kept themselves
secure inside while the people outside were forced to fend for
themselves as the city began falling to the undead. Dany had her dragon
smack open the gate with its tail to let the people in, and the Ironborn
and the locals charged into the Red Keep, along with Davos, Jaime,
Arya, Jorah, Barristan, Sandor, Jaime, Daenerys, Bronn, Alester, and
Aegon VII. With more than a few of them armed with Valyrian steel
blades, the party cut through the opposition rather easily. Daenerys and
Jon were fighting back-to-back against Golden Company troops. With
their previous casualties fighting the Ironborn, and with Drogon backing
up the attackers, the Golden Company troops were killed by the tens of
thousands of citizens whom they left to be killed by the roving army of
the undead. But now they had a problem.
The undead were headed
towards the Red Keep. Now that the people are inside, the undead, some
of whom were part of the invading army, others were citizens of the city
who were turned into undead, were now making a beeline for the Red
Keep. Daenerys then boarded her dragon Drogon, and she realized that she
had to sacrifice the city to save the people from the undead. Victarion
and Davos led the people to the closest port in the city to board the
remaining Ironborn ships that were approaching for evacuation, while
Dany bought them time by blasting the city with fire, flying fast enough
to avoid the odd White Walker throwing an ice javelin at her. Her
dragon criss-crossed the city and burned down street after street,
building after building. When all was said and done, the undead invaders
were repulsed, for a time. But Dany looked at the results of her
bombardment, and wept. When she landed back in the entrance of the Red
Keep, Jorah and Barristan asked her why she was crying. Dany responded
that she burned down the city that her ancestors built. Jorah comforted
her, saying that buildings and streets can be rebuilt, but the people
she saved were the most precious commodity.
While Dany was
burning the city, Aegon VII, Arya, Sandor, Brienne, Bronn, Alester, and
Jaime met Gregor Clegane. Gregor looked busted up, and was barely
standing. He was able to speak a few words. “Cersei. Held Prisoner. By
Griff. In the throne room.” Aegon VII asked Gregor if he can still
fight, to which Gregor nodded. Sandor hated being in the same side as
his brother again, but he had no choice other than to accept. The group
then burst into the Red Keep and rushed for the throne room, killing any
member of the Golden Company they met, until they met Jon Connington
and Captain Harry Strickland of the Golden Company.
Connington
and Strickland stated that Aegon VI is the rightful king of the Seven
Kingdoms, and since he is Rhaegar’s eldest son, he supersedes Aegon VII.
Aegon VII insisted that Cersei surrendered to him and Daenerys, and
that they had no right to kill a royal castellan like Cersei Lannister,
nor did they have the right to kill the realm’s Master of Ships, Euron
Greyjoy. Strickland replied that Cersei’s death was well earned due to
her acts of infamy, such as blowing up the Sept of Baelor and committing
incest with her brother behind her king’s back, and that her death will
save the realm. Aegon VII told them to stand aside, and Connington and
Strickland refused. Finally, Aegon VI emerged, calling out Aegon VII as a
worthless bastard who sides with the enemies of House Targaryen, since
the seventh Aegon was from House Stark and forgave the Lannisters, two
enemies of the Targaryen dynasty during the war against Mad King Aerys
II Targaryen. Aegon VII replied that it isn’t about rights and titles,
but rather, what’s right, and Young Griff’s private war with Cersei
weakened humanity at a time when they needed to be united. Aegon VI
blamed his younger brother for allowing the undead to get down south.
Seeing no way to solve things peacefully, Aegon VII engaged Aegon VI,
while Brienne and Jaime went away with Bronn and Alester Sarwyck. Gregor
and Sandor engaged Jon Connington and Captain Strickland. Arya Stark
went outside as was ordered by Aegon VII, to help with the battle
against the undead.
In the meantime, Daenerys saw a coming
blizzard on the outskirts of the city, near where the army was fighting
the forces of the dead. She looked at that and said “the prey has rushed
into the dragon’s jaws.” She prepared to take Drogon to attack the
source of this undead threat. Ser Barristan and Ser Jorah tried to talk
her out of it, saying that they should wait for Aegon VII and help the
army instead, but Dany thought that if she took out the source of the
enemy’s power, they can defeat the enemy in one fowl swoop. In their
last major battle with the undead, she spent the whole time birthing
babies. But now, to her, it was her turn to save the world. After all,
according to Bran’s visions, this undead leader was a woman, a queen of
the undead, not a king. Jon Snow and his siblings killed the Night King.
It’s only fitting that his queen kill the queen of the enemy forces.
Ser Barristan and Ser Jorah decided to go with Daenerys, if only to
protect her from trouble.
As Drogon began strafing at the undead
forces, a White Walker shot down the dragon with an ice javelin that hit
Drogon’s wing. Being forced to land, Daenerys decided to land her
dragons close to her army. She rallied the royal armies to her, and gave
a speech about how this isn’t the end for their world. That this is
where they will stand and defeat the enemy once and for all. The true
leader of the army of the dead has dared to show her face, and now, it
is time for her wretched head to fall from her shoulders. Dany rallied
the soldiers of Westeros as the White Walkers and their wights charged
forward. Dany lit her Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister ablaze, a trick
she learned from the Red Priests, and she charged forward with Ser Jorah
and her right and Ser Barristan at her left, and she cut down one White
Walker after another as the soldiers cut through the army of the dead,
while Drogon provided covering fire and set the wights ablaze, while the
other dragons flew in and burned through the wight army, leaving the
White Walkers to get shredded by Dany and her two compatriots, or by
dragonglass crossbow bolts by the royal armies. Dany fought like a
veritable goddess of war, having learned from Ser Barristan Selmy how to
fight with a sword for several years, and now, she showed off all that
she learned, cutting down one White Walker after another, as well as any
wight that was foolish enough to get in her way, with her moves being
akin to a magnificent dance. It seemed to the army of the living that
they may actually wind up winning this, especially with Daenerys
Targaryen leading the charge and cutting down White Walkers the same way
a hot knife cuts through butter.
But at last, the enemy of the
peoples of the world showed her face. A tall, beautiful female emerged,
with skin as pale as snow, eyes like blue crystals, wearing a crown and a
necklace of steel studded with blue gemstones. It signaled the White
Walkers to hold back, and it looked Daenerys in the eye and
smiled-showing that it wanted to engage the dragon queen on her own.
Dany smiled, now that the master of the undead showed its face, and
charged at the beautiful abomination, shoving her fiery Valyrian steel
sword in the creature’s gut, thinking she can end the coming storm with a
single thrust of her sword.
It did absolutely nothing.
The
creature sighed, looked down upon Daenerys, who was barely half its
size. It, or she, laughed in a chilling, ominous voice that clearly
differentiated her from the silent killers that waited at her beck and
call. “This is your best?” She asked. “This is the great Daenerys
Stormborn? The one known to many as Azor Ahai?” She smacked Daenerys
away, then took the blade out of her gut, and the wound left by the
sword in there was healed. The fire of the blade was swept aside by her
cold aura, and she used it to try and kill Dany, making half-hearted
swings and slams with it, playing with the skittish Daenerys. Dany,
wearing her suit of Valyrian steel armor, protected herself when she
blocked the sword swings with Valyrian steel braces. But then the
monster smacked her away with an arm after throwing the blade away.
Sensing that Daenerys might die, Jorah and Barristan charged, for all
the good that it did, since Jorah’s Longclaw and Ser Barristan’s
dragonglass sword penetrated the monster’s flesh on her arms as she
blocked the blades, but did not penetrate her bones. The monstrosity
then smacked Ser Barristan away and picked up Ser Jorah by the neck with
her icy hand. She then began to squeeze.
Back in the Red Keep,
while Aegon VII and the Clegane brothers fought Aegon VI, Captain
Strickland, and Jon Connington, Brienne, Jaime, Bronn, and Alester
Sarwyck found Cersei strung up in the throne room with Griff’s warlocks.
Alester used his knowledge as a Red Priest to shield his allies with
fire against the warlocks’ spells, while Brienne and Jaime cut down the
warlocks with Valyrian steel swords and Bronn shot two of them with a
crossbow. But before Jaime and Bronn could untie Cersei, Cersei told
Jaime not to do so. Cersei explained everything to Jaime regarding the
spell she was strung up on. She even explained to Jaime that they were
dragonseeds, that their real father was Aerys II Targaryen, which
probably explained their proclivity towards incest and Joffrey’s
madness. Cersei explained that the warlocks bled her to paint the power
circle she is in the middle of, which was began glowing blood-red with
energy. Apparently, they were about to finish before Aegon VII
interrupted it. Cersei decided that, with the undead approaching them,
the time has indeed come for Azor Ahai to save the world. But she told
Jaime that the sword has to be tempered with the heart of a loving
wife-and she gave Jaime a meaningful look.
Jaime realized what that look meant.
Jaime
tried to deny it, but Cersei insisted. On the outside, they saw the
massive blizzard outside the capital, accompanied by a massive undead
army. Cersei then told Jaime that she has to be sacrificed in order to
save the world. She was already at death’s door, and nothing Jaime can
do could prevent it. Better that her “wretched life” be good for
something for once. Cersei decided that her little war with Young Griff,
as well as all her horrible actions in the past, all of it is to blame
for her current predicament. She wanted to be remembered as something
other than a mad queen, and so, she wanted to give her life to help save
the world. As Jaime tried to talk her out of it, Cersei responded that
this was her choice, and that at least, it would make Jaime stronger for
the trials to come.
Jaime held his sister’s neck with his
golden right hand, and he bade his sister farewell. With his left hand,
he took the Valyrian steel sword Widow’s Wail, and plunged it into
Cersei’s heart. As he took it out, a fire engulfed the blade and Jaime,
and his gilded steel right hand began to work as a real hand. Jaime was
awash with magical power, and the rush of power changed his body, his
armor, and his sword. The sword became awash with the power of the Lord
of Light, greater than anything Melisandre or Sarwyck can conjure up.
His whole body changed. The gilded steel hand became a real hand behind a
plate glove, and his armor turned into a solid gold color. Widow’s Wail
became engulfed by an otherworldly glow, turning it into the legendary
weapon Lightbringer.
Azor Ahai has come at last.
Jaime,
once he had absorbed the power, watched as what was left of Cersei
Lannister turned to dust. Jaime shed a tear over his dead sister, but
then realized that the fight wasn’t over. Going over to Aegon VII, he
saw that the king he swore fealty to was about to be beaten by Aegon VI,
his older half-brother. Gregor Clegane had already been cut to pieces
by Jon Connington, who also went off and injured Sandor Clegane after
the latter had killed Captain Harry Strickland. Jon Snow was now
kneeling at one knee, with his sword struck out of his hand by his foe.
Young Griff now held the two Valyrian steel swords Truth and Blackfyre
in his hands, and was about to decapitate Jon Snow, until Jaime burst
from the throne room and threw Lightbringer at him, spearing Aegon VI
with the legendary weapon. Jon Connington looked on with shock, but as
he looked away from Sandor Clegane, Sandor took the opportunity to grab
him and slit his throat. Jon Connington died, with his hand outstretched
towards Young Griff, the man whom he saw as the rightful king and the
firstborn son of his old friend, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Aegon VII,
Sandor Clegane, Jaime Lannister, Brienne of Tarth, Alester Sarwyck, and
Bronn all then made their way to leave the city and get to the outskirts
of King’s Landing, where the battle was being fought.
Back
outside the city, as Dany fought with the abomination, Arya Stark and a
bunch of Wildlings and Night’s Watch remnants attacked the queen of the
undead, with them firing dragonglass crossbow bolts and her ambushing
the female Other and stabbing her in the chest with a Valyrian steel
dagger. It, once again, did nothing, outside of getting the creature to
release Jorah Mormont. The creature continued to laugh as the attempts
to kill her failed. Drogon even spat fire on her, along with Viserion
and Rhaegal, to no avail, and she blasted away the fire with a gust of
cold wind, following it up by creating icy spikes that speared the other
two dragons’ wings and forced them to land. She then spoke to the
mortals before her:
“USELESS FOOLS! I AM THE GREAT OTHER! I
CANNOT BE BEATEN WITH MERE FIRE AND TOYS! I TAUGHT THE BLOODSTONE
EMPEROR HOW TO USE SORCERY! IT WAS I WHO TOLD HIM TO KILL HIS SISTER AND
TURN HIS REALM INTO A LAND OF UNDEATH! IT WAS I WHO TAUGHT THE CHILDREN
OF THE FOREST HOW TO MAKE WHITE WALKERS WHEN THE FIRST MEN THREATENED
THEM! I CANNOT BE BEATEN BY SUCH MERE FOLLIES. MANKIND’S DAYS ON THIS
EARTH HAVE ENDED!”
She created a wind blast that removed all the
blades and crossbow bolts that impacted upon her icy flesh, then she
created a hail of ice spikes that she fired from her hands, which
perforated the Wildlings, the Night’s Watch members, and some of the
Lannister troops and Vale Knights, perforating even their plate armors,
and seriously injuring Arya Stark. As she approached Arya to finish her
off, Daenerys once again picked up Dark Sister and charged at the Great
Other, if only to delay her and let Arya escape. The Great Other grabbed
Dany by the neck, then threw her aside. When Jorah and Barristan tried
to respond and charged at the Great Other, she seized them by the
throats. She realized that Daenerys had a special connection to these
men, and so, wanted to hurt her by crushing their necks. She also
promised Daenerys that she would kill the entire army of the living
right before her so that Dany can feel the pain of being alone. Given
how she was immune to almost any attack, and how powerful she is, Dany
realized that the Great Other can back up her words. Dany recognized
that she cannot defeat the monstrosity, so she begged her to let them
go. “Please-let them go. I’m the queen here. Please, spare them. Take
me, instead.”
In an uncharacteristic show of honor, the queen of
the undead threw both men to the ground. She then motioned to Daenerys
to step forward. As the armies of the living behind her braced for the
worst and prepared to attack, one glare from the Great Other shot at
them frightened them into submission, as if her glare was enough to
freeze them in place. Daenerys dropped her weapon, and the queen of the
dead approached her, and held her face with icy, cold hands. She looked
Dany in the eye, and Dany’s own eyes began to turn from purple to icy
blue. Jorah and Barristan could see what was going on-the Great Other
was turning Daenerys into one of them-one of the White Walkers. The
Night King can turn babies into White Walkers, but the Great Other,
being more powerful, can turn full-grown adults into White Walkers. From
Dany’s perspective, she began to feel as if all the pain and anguish
was melting away, and she had a vision imparted upon her by the icy
queen of the undead: a vision of an icy paradise, with no war, no
suffering, only unity and peace. However, Dany remembered her friends,
she remembered Jon Snow, she remembered her children that she left
behind back in Winterfell. She remembered the slaves she freed back in
Essos, and all the people who loved her and believed in her, from the
Dothraki to the Unsullied, from the slaves to the knights, from the
nobles to the commoners. She rejected the vision the Great Other tried
to give her, she willed it out of her mind, she shook her head, and her
eyes returned to their natural purple color. It seemed that the Great
Other wanted to turn Daenerys Targaryen into one of her lieutenants,
only for her to resist. The Great Other responded to her resistance with
the words “So be it.” She then sent a powerful punch that landed
smack-dab at Dany’s stomach.
The shock from that punch could be
heard by the entire army of the living. Dany coughed up blood, and the
punch outright dented her Valyrian steel armor. The Great Other then
stripped Daenerys of her armor, then slammed her to the ground, and then
continued to batter her with punches until Dany felt like her bones and
organs were turning into jelly. With each punch, Arya, Barristan, and
Jorah winced at the sight of Dany’s pain. Even the dragons were
horrified as their mother suffered, but they knew that even they were
powerless against this foe. As more punches landed, Dany coughed up more
blood. Then the creature stopped, only to create an archway made out of
ice, with icy chains at the arch and at the bottom of the two pillars.
The restraints at the top held Dany’s hands in place, and the bottom
restraints held down her legs. The Great Other then created a
crystalline flogging whip from out of thin air, made of icy crystals
linked together by what seemed to be a magic thread. She then began to
flog the Dragon Queen, and tore off cloth, flesh, and even bone as one
hit landed after another at Dany’s back. As Dany screamed for mercy, the
Great Other increased the frequency of her attacks, until she was
satisfied that all the fight had been beaten out of the once-proud
Dragon Queen, with the latter’s blood dripping all over the ground. The
Great Other stopped short after thirty lashes, then she dissolved the
archway and its restraints, and held Dany by the back of her head, and
then lifted her up to show her to the army of the living.
“Behold,
your champion! Behold, your mighty Dragon Queen! Behold, the mightiest
amongst you, the unburnt, the breaker of chains, the mother of dragons,
no match for the power of death itself! This is the fate of all who
oppose me!”
The Great Other then began to taunt them and laugh,
telling them that their lives were completely pointless. All their
struggles, all their trials, all of it, worthless. But she then promised
that she would give them purpose: once they have been added to the army
of the undead, they too shall be a part of the family. They can all
join together in peace. The Great Other explained that she opposes the
living because both men and animals struggle and fight among each other
for pointless things, instead of sharing, loving, and caring for each
other as a whole. Her plague of undeath seeks to remove that: by making
them all into one family, one nation, with one ruler, and one will, they
can all love, care, and work with each other without any chaos, fear,
or death. She promised the living a quick death and a place in her
regime if they laid down their swords. The living refused. Arya Stark
stood up and spoke for them, saying that they would all rather die
fighting than become slaves to the Great Other. That despite all their
suffering and their losses, they would rather die as themselves, instead
of be turned into some kind of horrible abomination of magic and
undeath.
In response, the Great Other stabbed Dany through the
back with her icy claws with one hand, with her icy fingers and long
nails coming through the side of Dany's stomach, then the Great Other
began to slowly crush Dany’s head with the other hand, saying that this
is what happens to those who refuse her. She now has no intention of
raising Dany from the dead as a wight or a White Walker. She wanted Dany
to die brutally as an example to the living on the price of defiance.
As Dany screamed, however, the Great Other failed to hear someone else
making it to the battlefield, until a ball of flame hit her from behind
and exploded with great force, forcing her to release Dany, with her
skull mostly still intact, but she was bleeding profusely, coughing up
blood from the mouth while her wounds continued to ooze blood.
It
was Jaime Lannister, who was now the new Azor Ahai. Jaime held aloft
his mighty sword, Lightbringer, along with his companions, Brienne,
Sandor, Bronn, and Alester Sarwyck. The Great Other then began to slowly
walk towards them, while Aegon VII moved to secure Daenerys along with
Jorah Mormont and Barristan Selmy, trying to keep her safe and alive.
Jaime motioned for his companions to stand back, while he himself moved
to assault the Great Other. The Great Other launched blasts of frost,
ice spikes, and she created a powerful blizzard that engulfed the
battlefield. Jaime’s Lightbringer swatted aside the first two, and he
let out a burst of fire from Lightbringer that cleared away the
blizzard, but the fire didn’t hurt the living, only the undead. The
Great Other then decided to deal with this sword-to-sword, and she
created a sword made of magical ice out of thin air, and she engaged
Jaime in a swordfight. The rest of the undead army charged at the
living, and both armies engaged one another in a symphony of blood and
death.
For almost an hour, the two combatants dueled masterfully.
Jaime, with his right hand back, engaged the Great Other with sword
moves that resembled a deadly dance. The Great Other fought back in a
similar fashion, parrying and blocking Jaime’s strikes, while he blocked
and parried her attacks. Neither could gain a clear advantage over the
other. Meanwhile, Aegon VII, Ser Barristan, and Ser Jorah defended the
bleeding Daenerys from White Walkers and wights, while all the other
members of the party engaged White Walkers and the dragons breathed fire
upon the wights. The battle continued to go on, until finally, both
sides heard a loud piercing sound-the Great Other plunged her
crystalline sword into the gut of Azor Ahai, and began to laugh.
Finally, she had won! The last, real enemy that the living can offer,
and now, he’s been dealt with! But as she laughed, Jaime caught her by
surprise and shoved Lightbringer into her chest. Unlike the other
blades, Lightbringer not only truly hurt the Great Other, but as the
Great Other finally began to bleed and spat blood from her mouth, she
was engulfed with fire, as well, screaming all the way, as if the
blade’s fire was consuming her, a demon tormented by the fires of hell.
The Great Other screamed like a banshee until the flames consumed her,
and she finally exploded in a bright light. With the remaining few White
Walkers horrified that their leader was slain, Petyr Baelish, who was
among the Vale Army’s leaders, shouted out an order for crossbows,
opening fire at the White Walkers with dragonglass crossbow bolts,
watching as they crumbled into icy pieces one by one as the dragonglass
crossbow bolts found their mark. As they died, the undead wights
deactivated and went limp, falling to the floor, no longer a threat to
the living.
The threat of the undead was no more.
Azor
Ahai clutched his wound, and fell to his knees. Jaime reached for his
sword. However, when he looked around, he saw one last tragedy from the
battlefield unfold.
Aegon VII, also known as Jon Snow, held
Daenerys Targaryen by his arms. He kept telling her that the battle is
won, that the undead have been defeated. He kept telling her to hang on,
that they will find a healer to bring her back to full health. However,
Dany had suffered too much trauma, and lost too much blood, from the
pounding she got from the Great Other, along with the scourging and the
stab at the back that she received from the monstrosity. She touched
Jon’s face with her right hand one last time, and she struggled to
speak, before finally succumbing to her wounds.
Daenerys I Targaryen, the Queen of Westeros, died.
Jon
Snow screamed in anguish over the death of his beloved queen. Fate had
already stolen from him his first love, the wildling woman Ygritte, and
now, fate had stolen his second love, as well. The woman whom he loved
for months on end, who bore his twin children, and who fought for him in
this war against the undead. Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan collapsed at
the sight, falling to their knees, utterly devastated by what they saw,
crying alongside Aegon VII as he clutched the body of his dead queen.
The armies of the living began to bow their heads in respect for the
dead queen, with the likes of Grey Worm and the remaining Unsullied who
accompanied the allied army breaking down in tears.
Jaime
Lannister too was near death’s door. The Great Other’s blade had worked
its magic within his body, and much of it is slowly beginning to fail.
His strength was drained from the fight and from his injuries, although
he could still stand and walk. He looked at Daenerys Targaryen, and the
three men who were weeping over the dead queen. Azor Ahai struggled to
create one last fire, but it was a fire of life. As the other Red
Priests, from Alester Sarwyck, Melisandre, Kinvara, and Thoros of Myr
tried in vain to pray to the Lord of Light to revive Dany, Jaime knew
that he was the only one who can, but it would cost him his remaining
life force.
So he approached Daenerys, and bid the other Red
Priests to stand aside. Holding the fire of life on his hands, he shoved
the fire into Dany’s corpse, which was enveloped by a fiery light. Slow
by slow, the wounds on Dany’s body began to heal, until finally,
Daenerys woke up and drew breath once more. Jon Snow hugged her tightly
as Dany coughed and breathed again, with Ser Barristan and Ser Jorah
overjoyed to see her alive once more. The army of the living was elated
at the sight, and so were the Red Priests. However, as they focused on
the joy of Dany coming back, they didn’t notice what was happening with
Jaime until it was too late. Jaime’s body was beginning to turn grey.
Having sacrificed what was left of his life energy to bring Dany back
from the dead, he collapsed into the ground, and his body disintegrated
into dust. He gave the last of his life to bring Dany back, and he had
none of his own left. Azor Ahai, just like the Great Other, passed from
the land of the living, to the pages of history, dying in the same
battle in which his sister died. Lightbringer and Jaime’s armor were
left on the ground, the only remaining effects of his person left. The
others looked at that, and realized that Jaime sacrificed himself to
give life to a queen, whose father he killed. He became known as the
Kingslayer, taking the life of a king. Now, he gave life back to a
queen, which ended his life.
As the storm subsided, and the sun
arose, a new day for Westeros dawned. A day where there is no more Great
Other threatening the realm, a day which people celebrated as the
harbinger of a new era, filled with uncertainty, but also filled with
hope. Aegon VII carried Daenerys with him, as he walked from the
outskirts to the Red Keep, with Daenerys holding Jon tightly while Jorah
and Barristan followed them. The rest of the party followed as well,
and so did the armies of the living and the dragons as they walked
through the charred remnants of King’s Landing. Aegon VII walked all the
way to the Iron Throne, and the Lannister and Vale knights that were
left from the battle lined up in the throne room as Aegon VII once again
marched towards the throne, carrying Daenerys I in his arms. Jon Snow
sat on the throne, and Daenerys sat on his lap. As the rest of the
officers of the army of the living filed into the throne room along with
the rest of Jon and Dany’s companions, those present reaffirmed their
loyalty to Aegon VII and Daenerys I. “Long live Aegon the Seventh! Long
live Daenerys the Dragon Queen! Long may they reign!”
The scene
then cuts to ten years later. Over the years, Westeros recovered from
the war. However, unlike the last time it was recovering, there were
many issues with how the new world tried to cope after the crisis with
the Great Other and all the power struggles they suffered through. About
half of the population of the kingdoms of Westeros laid dead, aside
from the North and the Vale. The armies were at their all-time lowest,
with those armies that weren’t exhausted in the battles in the north
being exhausted due to all the fighting down south. Many of the
Dothraki, who went from serving one Khal to another, and then to Cersei,
without leadership, began to raid the countryside independently, until
Aegon VII threatened to destroy them with dragons and forced them back
into Daenerys’ service. Many soldiers who fought in battles in the north
and south returned to see their homelands devastated by the war with
the undead, many of whom even lost their families and were crushed by
the utter depression caused by the fact that they weren’t there to
protect their loved ones from the evils of the Great Other.
However,
the biggest casualty was the Targaryens’ popular support. Many lords
and commoners blamed the Targaryen monarchs for getting fooled by the
undead and for letting the greatest of their leaders slip down south and
make a second undead army out of the people of the southern kingdoms.
The power struggles between the Targaryen loyalists, Cersei and Euron’s
faction, and the Golden Company, weakened people’s faith in the ruling
classes even further, as local lords and common folk began to hold out
on paying their taxes due to their newfound lack of trust towards the
Targaryen dynasty. It was only due to some very generous handouts of
both food and gold, courtesy of Olenna Tyrell of the Reach and Tyrion
Lannister of the Westerlands were they able to regain support, as the
grain and gold helped feed the remaining communities and pay for the
rebuilding of many destroyed towns and cities. However, even their
resources were being stretched to the limit, as the Tyrells’ ability to
harvest crops was hampered by the smaller number of farmers, and Tyrion,
being the new Warden of the West and Lord of Casterly Rock, soon found
himself paying the Crown’s debts to the Iron Bank alongside the
rebuilding of many of the kingdom’s cities and towns, which nearly
exhausted the Lannisters’ gold reserves until once again, Tyrion’s
bannermen discovered new gold deposits that they began to mine
post-haste.
The monarchy also needed to repopulate the land after
half the people in the southern kingdoms died, and as such, Daenerys I
and Aegon VII, taking some advice from Lord Varys, their Master of
Whispers, invited many Essosi immigrants into Westeros, usually from the
more wealthier cities such as Meereen, Qarth, Yunkai, Astapor, Braavos,
Pentos, and Volantis, to settle in with the Westerosi, even paying for
free boat rides and giving them free land to care for. However, this
caused some friction, as the ways and traditions of the new arrivals
contrasted with the ways and traditions of the Westerosi, especially
those who hung onto the Faith of the Seven and the Old Gods who were
distraught that large numbers of followers of the Lord of Light and the
Many-Faced God were now setting up temples to their faiths all over the
place, followed by many other religions from Essos. Racial tensions also
set in, since many Westerosi living outside the port cities rarely saw
outsiders. Daenerys and Aegon VII did their best to keep the peace, but
outside of threatening the odd lord with having their keeps burned down
by dragons, they couldn’t do much but just accept the fact that many
people in the kingdom hated them for not only being absent during the
rampage of the Great Other, but also because they invited strangers into
the land who knew little, if anything, about the people and cultures of
Westeros. For their part, many of the immigrants also showed
dissatisfaction with daily life, since the locals hated them, and they
mostly were stuck with menial jobs such as farming and rebuilding cities
that were damaged by the war, and very few lords sympathized with them.
The
people’s dissatisfaction with the monarchy reached a fever pitch 3
years after the demise of the Great Other, when the people and the local
lords demanded that Aegon VII and Daenerys I sign a Great Charter that
created a Parliament in King’s Landing where town representatives, local
lords, and knights joined the higher-ranking lords and the
representatives of the many religions now present on Westeros to manage
lawmaking affairs alongside the monarch and the high lords of Westeros.
Under the slogan of “What touches all, must be approved by all”, the
people backing this charter called for the monarchy to share power with
the lower ranks of society, from local lords and knights, to the elected
representatives of towns, villages, and cities voted in by the freedmen
who live there. Since they’re the ones affected the most whenever the
Crown passes a new law, they want input on said laws and the right to
pass new laws of their own to benefit themselves.
Aegon VII and
Daenerys I saw the whole idea of a Parliament as an attack against royal
authority, but with their royal authority being very weak outside of
the North and the Vale, they had no choice but to accept. Religious
leaders and local lords became more militant. The Faith of the Seven
back in Oldtown reasserted itself with the appointment of a very
militant and powerful High Septon who attributed the victory against the
undead to the “Father’s Justice”, especially since in life, Jaime
Lannister prayed to the Seven. The Faith attributed him turning into
Azor Ahai as him becoming "The Warrior Incarnate", since Jaime prayed to
The Warrior the most when he was alive and a follower of the faith of
the Seven. The other religions likewise appointed high priests in
Westeros who were very much militant towards any attempt by the Crown to
control them, with only the religion of the Lord of Light and the Old
Gods being friendly to the Crown’s agendas. Even the high lords who were
mostly friendly with the Crown had no choice but to accept the new
balance of power, due to many of their bannermen and peasants being
rather upset with them and their close relationship with the Crown. And
when Parliament finally met for the first time, it was one round of
complaints and requests to the Crown after another, with the Crown and
its high lords barely able to sate the needs and desires of the people.
Half
a decade later, the Crown was barely able to ward off attempts by the
new Parliament to transform the hereditary monarchy of the Targaryens
into an elective monarchy, mostly due to the fact that Aegon VII and
Daenerys I began to take a militant stand against any more attacks on
their power, promising to burn towns, castles, and cities with their
dragons if they tried to take away the monarchy’s right to pass down the
crown to a person of their choosing. Since Drogon, Viserion, and
Rhaegal had given birth to more dragons after the war, and other dragons
also had time to grow, Parliament began to be less militant towards the
monarchy, realizing that since the Targaryens were once again breeding
dragons in Dragonstone, and that the mostly unaffected Kingdom of the
Vale is still on the side of the Targaryens with their army mostly
intact during the wars, the monarchy can strike back if pushed too far.
Especially when they get backed by the Tyrells and Lannisters, who
control the food and gold supply and who can easily hire more
mercenaries like Cersei did to snuff out uppity lords and smallfolk.
As
for the fates of the Seven Kingdoms and their high lords, for the most
part, many of them remained loyal to the crown. Especially the North,
where the Stark clan remembered that Aegon VII was Lyanna’s son, and was
raised among them as Jon Snow. Bran Stark, the Three-Eyed Raven and the
Lord of Winterfell, managed affairs between Wildlings and Northerners,
keeping the peace between these two groups that have warred with each
other for centuries. He used his foresight to consult the wisdom of past
great kings like Jaehaerys the Conciliator and Daeron the Good, and
became known as “Brandon the Wise”, and he took Meera Reed, his longtime
traveling companion, as his wife, continuing the line of House Stark in
the North, especially when Lady Reed got pregnant with Bran’s child.
Bran helped the Wildlings resettle the lands beyond the North as they
grew more fertile after the demise of the Great Other and the Night
King, with the lands no longer being unnaturally cold, but somewhat warm
and able to support a larger populace. Soon enough, the lands beyond
the wall became a kingdom of their own, with Tormund Giantsbane in
charge, and Tormund still swore allegiance to Aegon VII, the man they
knew as Jon Snow.
In the Riverlands, Lord Edmure Tully continued
to rule Riverrun and the Twin Towers of Frey, especially since he
managed to sire two sons with his Frey wife, one of which he planned to
put in charge of Riverrun, another he planned to put in charge of the
Twin Towers of Frey. However, Lord Brynden “Blackfish” Tully kept a
stern eye on Edmure. With the latter having great influence upon the
Riverlands’ troops, Edmure couldn’t make moves without Brynden knowing
or approving of them first. But they weren’t the only Tully family
members running a major kingdom. The Vale fell under the influence of
the revived Catelyn Stark, who took upon herself the task of raising her
sister’s son, Robin Arryn, teaching him how a lord should act, the same
way she taught Robb Stark how to become a proper lord. Petyr Baelish
was still her husband, but it was a loveless marriage, since Catelyn had
more influence over the Vale Lords due to them respecting her more,
thanks to her being a woman of honor that reminded them of the late Jon
Arryn, while Petyr Baelish’s past as a whoremonger and moneylender still
blackened his reputation among them. Petyr instead chose to remain in
the capital to serve the monarchy, while Catelyn raised young Robin
Arryn to be a proper lord with the help of the other Vale lords who
found Lady Catelyn to be a better liege than her sister, Lysa Arryn.
In
the Stormlands, Gendry was legitimized by Aegon VII due to Shireen
Baratheon’s influence, and he became Gendry Baratheon. Shireen continued
to divorce herself from political life, instead choosing to build a
library made to rival the Citadel in Oldtown, where both men and women
who desire to learn can come and partake of scholarship and debates.
Gendry, for his part, married Arya Stark, fulfilling the promise Robert
Baratheon made to Eddard Stark about how he wanted to wed a son of his
to one of Ned Stark’s daughters. They then created Westeros’ answer to
the Fighting Pits of Meereen, inviting Meereenese architects to create
an arena for warriors from all over the world of different disciplines
to fight. Eventually, many of Daenerys’ Dothraki settled in the
Stormlands, where Gendry straightened them out into becoming his army,
while in secret, Arya Stark, now Arya Baratheon, trained a new order of
assassins to serve Aegon VII and Daenerys I. Brienne of Tarth, being a
native of the Stormlands, continued to watch over Arya, and to
complement what Arya was doing, Brienne started her own order of female
knights open to any female candidates willing to train and accept the
burden of fighting and chivalry.
Back in Dorne, Princes Doran
Martell and Tristane Martell were horrified at the events during the
mini-war between Cersei and Young Griff, and they were shaken visibly by
the deaths of Princess Rhaenys and Elia Martell, which led to them
retiring from public life and leading to the rise of a new Princess of
Dorne: Arianne Martell. Arianne once conspired to put Myrcella on the
throne to wage war against the Lannisters back during the reigns of
Joffrey and Tommen, and she was imprisoned by Doran in the past when her
plan was foiled. She emerged from obscurity after being released from
prison, and she married Ser Bronn of the Blackwater after being enamored
by his exploits, causing the latter to change his name to Martell, and
giving him at last, a castle of his own in Sunspear, where he spent his
days sleeping with whores, singing songs related to Dorne, and regaling
Arianne with tales of his mercenary exploits, from him fighting
alongside Tyrion the half-man against Stark auxiliaries, to him
witnessing the birth of Azor Ahai with his very eyes.
In the
Westerlands, Tyrion Lannister, being the last Lannister sibling alive
and ironically enough, being Tywin’s only legitimate son and heir when
compared to his “siblings,” now ruled the Westerlands along with Alester
Sarwyck, who was now his right-hand man. He has since married Sansa
Stark, and she has given birth to golden lion children who now play
within the walls of Casterly Rock and the streets of Lannisport.
Occasionally, he gets a visit from Prince Bronn of House Martell, and
they work together to repair the damaged relationship between the
Martells and the Lannisters, calling back to a time when both houses
were friends, especially since Elia Martell and Tywin’s wife Joanna
Lannister were close friends. At the center of Lannisport stands two
tall, proud statues made of gold, of Jaime and Cersei Lannister, with a
steel base inscribed with a plaque, and upon that plaque were the words
“The Lions who saved Westeros.” These two statues stand right next to
two other statues of Joanna and Tywin Lannister, which also had a steel
base and a plaque that stated “The Lions who once ruled Westeros”,
referring to the oft-repeated rumor that during the best years of Aerys
II Targaryen’s reign, Tywin was ruling the kingdom, and Joanna ruled
Tywin’s heart.
In the Reach, with Mace Tyrell and all of his sons
having been killed in the Wildfire blast Cersei Lannister triggered
during the High Sparrow’s reign as High Septon, Olenna Tyrell had to
pass down the reigns of Highgarden to another house: the second
strongest house in the Reach, House Tarly. Randyll Tarly had two sons,
so Olenna picked the older one, Samwell Tarly, to be the next person in
line to inherit Highgarden, while Dickon Tarly is set to inherit the
Tarly seat of Horn Hill once Randyll dies or retires. Randyll debated
with Olenna, since he wanted Dickon to inherit both Highgarden and Horn
Hill, but Olenna refused, saying that he wants Samwell instead, since
his intellect is what she desired for an heir, considering that her son
Mace Tyrell and his sons weren’t even half as smart as Samwell Tarly
was, with his focus on education. While Randyll got a tad bit angry over
the fact that Samwell married Gilly, a wildling woman, Olenna didn’t
mind it, so long as Samwell rules the Reach fairly and justly, and with
books written about the best Targaryen kings in his possession, Samwell
had no shortage of examples to follow.
In the Iron Islands, Yara
Greyjoy took over, due to the fact that Theon Greyjoy was a eunuch with
no ability to reproduce and no desire for leadership. Much of Euron’s
Iron Fleet returned to the Iron Islands, and Yara decided to pursue a
different course than her uncle and father. She decided that peace might
suit the Iron Islands more, that instead of reaving and stealing, they
can make the Iron Islands a land worth protecting by creating an economy
there. She invited architects from port cities like Lannisport and
Oldtown to help create ports, docks, and fishing villages, and she also
began to focus on building commercial merchant vessels for sale to other
buyers. Not all the Ironborn were supportive of her ideas, and many
captains stormed off with their ships to raid and pillage the Free
Cities in Essos to avoid getting roasted by the Targaryen dragons.
However, since they were not as good at piracy in Essos as Euron was,
many of them found themselves getting annihilated by the armadas of the
Free Cities, mostly armadas sent from Meereen and Braavos.
Back
in the capital, the Targaryens had to determine who would sit on the
King’s Small Council. Ser Barristan continued to serve as the Lord
Commander of the Kingsguard for Aegon VII and Daenerys I, with Jorah
Mormont becoming its newest member, and Sandor Clegane returning to
serve as a Kingsguard knight once again. Lord Petyr "Littlefinger"
Baelish took over as Hand of the King, since it was a reward for the
fact that the Vale troops were crucial for victory against the undead,
and they were also vital in helping enforce royal will in the realm. In
the end, however, Baelish discovered that having supreme executive power
and the full faith of the crown was not what it was cracked up to be,
since every major problem for the realm became his problem. He won the
Game of Thrones by gaining the trust of the crown, with him becoming the
most powerful lord under the exhausted Targaryen monarchs, but in the
end, he discovered that with great power came great responsibility,
whether he liked it or not. Especially since now, all eyes are on him,
and if he fails his task or tries to take more power for himself,
Parliament can easily tear him to pieces, and the two Targaryen monarchs
have no shortage of dragons to feed him to, although he took comfort in
the fact that Jon Snow and Dany were not that quick to be angry.
Lord
Varys resumed his post as Master of Whispers, trafficking in secrets to
keep the realm appraised of the changing world. Randyll Tarly remained
in the council as Master of War, leading the royal armies and keeping
them fit in case of another war. Davos Seaworth, the second in command
of Stannis Baratheon and an experienced sailor, became the Master of
Ships. The position was originally offered to the Greyjoys, but Yara and
Theon declined, wishing instead to stay in the Iron Islands and manage
their new shipbuilding business. Tyrion Lannister was given the post of
Master of Coin, especially since the newly-discovered gold deposits in
the Westerlands became vital for the economy of the kingdom. He was
accompanied by his wife Sansa Stark and their children, while lord
Alester Sarwyck defended Casterly Rock in their name. Sansa worked to
advise Jon and Dany on political matters, just like Baelish and the
other council members did. The new Master of Laws was Samwell Tarly, the
man who would soon become the Lord of Highgarden. With his knowledge of
the histories of Westeros and his desire to read books giving him an
affinity for reading through laws passed down by previous kings, it was
an ideal post for him, although some people grumbled that House Tarly
was becoming too powerful, gaining control of the Reach as well as
gaining two seats in the Small Council. The Dornish also had a seat,
with Prince Bronn holding the new title of Master of Domestic Security,
with him working with Arya Baratheon to create a group of
specially-trained soldiers culled from expert mercenaries and assassins,
made to snuff out rebellions before they become too much to handle.
With Parliament being in a constant mire of chaos, dissatisfied lords
and cities might rebel, and Bronn’s job focused on sniffing out
potential rebels before they rise, or before Aegon VII and Daenerys I
wind up having to use dragons as a threat to silence them. Dany's friend
Missandei and the Unsullied general Grey Worm became the first two
agents under Bronn and Arya, although they would not be the last.
For
ten years, the Targaryen monarchy held onto power, but they continued
to contend with Parliament and its endless debates. Lords and elected
representatives battled for everything: resources, manpower, money, the
many representatives in Parliament represented their respective parts of
the kingdom and wanted the nation to focus as much on their respective
regions’ problems at the expense of the others. The monarchy had to
strike a fine balance between compromising with their subjects and
telling them when enough is enough. Jon and Dany were slowly exhausted
over the years, exasperated that the new Westeros they wound up with
wasn’t like the one they had when they first took the crown. Back then,
they had massive armies and dragons to keep everyone in line, and they
had more than enough time to dally around and make love at night. But
now, even late at night, they have to arbitrate in debates between
parliamentary representatives who argued with each other and with the
Crown over what is right and what should be done.
The scene then
cuts to Dany and Jon, in the middle of another Parliament meeting in the
Red Keep’s throne room, where the lower-ranking lords, town and city
representatives, religious leaders, and knights from different parts of
the country debate against one another on which part of the country the
royal treasury should spend the most, which part of the country needs
the most food, or some other problem, like how two local lords argued
over a piece of land that both their ancestors claimed. As the debates
grew louder, and louder, and louder, the representatives of the high
lords and the King’s Small Council began to realize that parliament was
becoming too loud to manage. As Daenerys called for the lords to calm
down, they grew louder, and louder, and louder, until finally, Daenerys
snapped and yelled for them to be silent. She called them a bunch of
irresponsible children unable to deal with their problems as adults, and
they responded by focusing their anger on her. Aegon VII arose from the
Iron Throne and called for Parliament to control itself, only for their
yelling against his wife and against each other to grow louder and
louder still. Aegon VII, realizing that the situation was hopeless, took
Daenerys I with him, and dragged her away, slamming the door shut
behind them. Parliament took one moment of silence to recognize what
just happened, only for them to start yelling at each other again and
blaming each other for what just happened.
Dany and Jon laid down
in their royal bed in exhaustion. Dany joked that she would rather have
the Great Other pummel and scourge her a thousand times all over again
until her bones and organs feel like jelly and she dies from blood loss.
Jon responded that he’d rather have Young Griff slice him into pieces,
or have the traitorous members of his Night’s Watch brothers stab him
all over again. Littlefinger came in and interrupted their rest, saying
that Parliament has calmed down and is waiting for their input on their
affairs. Dany asked Petyr why she should bother, especially since
Parliament has a knack for defying the Crown anyways. Jon told Baelish
that the people in Parliament need to learn how to act like mature
adults if they wanted to be treated as such. Dany asked Jon “Is this it?
Is this what we fought for? Is this the kind of world we wanted to
build?” Jon and Dany then looked outside the window, where Eddard and
Lyanna Targaryen were playing in the playgrounds of the Red Keep,
playing with the children of other high lords, and even the children
from the orphanages in the city. Dany joined Jon, and she noted how
beautiful their children looked, happy and content, with no care in the
world. The sight of their happy children reminded the two monarchs that
the happiness of the people is what they fought for. Aegon VII and
Daenerys I then decided that they will go back and meet Parliament head
on again, going with Baelish back to the Throne Room to address the
concerns of their subjects.
The scene then cuts to the sun over
the Red Keep and King’s Landing, restored to its former glory as it was
in the beginning of Season 1 of Game of Thrones, with kids playing in
the streets, and the city buzzing with activity and people talking to
each other while doing their chores. While the world that the heroes
fought for wasn’t exactly what they wanted, they still got a world worth
living in, which meant that if anything, there might still be hope for
the world of men, even if that hope is somewhat muddled by the
selfishness in the hearts of mankind.......
THE END!
Comments
Post a Comment