Actually this whole idea of children of this age being fighters/knights/leaders is pretty unrealistic and not at all typical for the medieval period. Sure there were some rare exceptions but by and large people didn't send children into wars nor were they commanded by children (or would have tolerated it for that matter). Indeed it is many ways only the modern invention of the firearm that made child-soldiers even remotely militarily viable and before that the most likely role a young teenager would have had on the battlefield is being the assistant to an actual warrior and not being one him/herself.

 

I found a lot of canon parallels to be forced to be honest.

 

Sort of agreed. I like he thematic parallels of choosing between love and duty that Jon struggles with, but I do agree that the whole Robert plotline was meh.

 

Nice story. Good find.

 

Its a good fic read it before. Its Baelor the Blessed tho. Breakspear was Eggs brother.

 

You mean Baelor Breakspear was Aegon V’s uncle, rather. Egg’s brothers were Maester Aemon and Aerion Brightflame.

 

Are there any fics that focus on the north that aren't all about how the Starks are just so Good and Noble and Just and Pure? Is there any where the Starks are actually kind of ruthless and competent? I'm not very well-read in the ASoIaF fandom and yet I'm already tired of noble Stark wank stories.

I like the setting of the North, and I feel like it has a lot of potential you could tap with Old Gods and ancient magic and being inherently closer to the White Walker threats, but the characters the authors choose to populate their fics that focus on the North are just so dull.

 

Why are these things always shoved together? One doesn’t necessitate the other.

 

I like it. A bit confused as to Rhaegar's motivations, to be honest, but its original if nothing else.

 

I'll third this recommendation. Cersei is still very much Cersei, arrogant and insecure. The writing is quite engaging.
It's a bit creepy that Rhaegar is potentially developing feelings for her due to young age (11), but fuck it. Targaryens get a free pass when it comes to questionable relationship decisions.

 

Has there ever been a fanfic which expanded more upon the Valyrian faith or sorcery? I know about that one terrible SI story from over on AH who gets to become immortal somehow, but that's pretty much it.

 

There's one on AH where Valyria returns to modern Westeros. It explores a bit more the warfare and politics of it, but there's some mention of sorcery a couple of times.

 

What's the fic in question and what's it like?

 

The worst part is there are the nuggets of what could be good stuff in there, like the whole "Well, now there's a Targaryen with a dragon. Does Westeros belong to them, according to the laws of the freehold?" Instead we get "lul Valyrian legionaries OP pls nerf"

 

Here are a few things I'm still reading:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18023759/chapters/42586643
A chance meeting in Braavos leads to Young Griff setting his sights on the opposite end of Westeros. When two would-be kings answer the Watch's call, each with his own claim and prophecy, the Seven Kingdoms face a very different future.

It's interesting so far... very unique in its premise and it's characters are decently built.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4424084/chapters/10051658
Jon Snow wakes up in Winterfell, two years in the past. He struggles with his knowledge of the upcoming wars, the mystery of his mother's forgotten letters, and the prophecy of the Prince That Was Promised. How much time does he have until the Others invade Westeros?

Old-ass fic still updating though not as good today as it used to be.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172262/chapters/2387606
“No one remembers it now, but there is an old name given to children who kill their mothers in childbirth. They called you ‘Stranger’s children.’ For when you were born your mothers ceased to be, and you became children of death.

A Robert’s Rebellion AU where Rhaegar lives and Aerys dies, but also a bit of an alternate version of ASoIaF.”

Robert dies but everything is not good. In fact, it's quite awful. Outside of Rhaegar's awful personality, the secondary characters and pairings are quite good. 3/5 due to shitty characterization fo Rhaegar.

 

There was one Jon Snow quest that went really weird and had to be booted to the seedier parts of QQ for the usual reasons that things end up on QQ.

Oh damn. I thought that was a dead one.