I like the new chapter. You did an excellent job of what should’ve been a filler chapter between him leaving King’s Landing and arriving at Casterly Rock interesting.

Your portrayal of Tywin makes me feel much more sympathetic towards the character. Yes, he’s still a merciless bastard but you portray him in a way that I find more forgiving than canon does. I guess because we’re looking at him from the viewpoint of his family and soldiers – people who understand and appreciate his crueller qualities.

The Ballad of the Black Prince – I can’t help but feel that that will come back to bite Harry in the arse when Tywin hears it. I look forward to seeing a confrontation between the two of them, either over Aeryn or something else.

Should I have been reminded of Dumbledore by Barristan during his conversation with Harry about the Battle of the Bells?

 

Well, they are both wise old dudes. What reminded you of Dumbledore?

 

We hated Tywin in the books because we mostly saw him through Tyrion's eyes, and we all know how he loves Tyrion. But, spoilers ahead, what nailed was the Red Wedding and he and Shae, mostly Shae. That showed him as a hypocritical son of a bitch. In the series he is much more likable, his interactions with Arya were incredible, and his actor is awesome.

Spoilers ahead, Jon wasn't killed by the Lannisters, Littlefinger killed him, well, told Craziest Bitch in the World Lysa Arryn to do it. And I think it was Littlefinger that told him about Jaime/Cersei.

And thank god you are making them TV Show age, really, a 16/7 years old ultra psycho is shit, but an 12 year old one? That's a new level. And Jon and Robb doing all that at 14 ?
Also, Tyrion in the books couldn't be more than 20-22, possibly younger, that's too young.

Harry/Danny would be really cool, Harry/Arya would be awesome too. I dislike Danny, but they could be great together. I don't remember any other girls of the right age, Harry/Arianne Martel would be even more epic, specially since she is an older very savvy seductress. In mu opinion, that would be the best. Any chance Aeryn becoming his mistress?

 

You should use spoiler tags for spoilers, I've been told.

Spoiler

They aren't hard to use.

And it was Stannis who told Jon that Cersei's children might not be Robert's. Most likely Littlefinger planned to use the information to better his position (blackmail). You could also entertain the idea that he and Varys were working together to poison Jon. Littlefinger to control the information, and Varys to keep the realm from imploding too soon. Because Robert definitely would've had Cersei and Jaime killed, not to mention the kids, and Tywin would've definitely done something about it.

What does your gut tell you?

 

Should we really worry about spoiler tags for discussing a fic which is going to be full of them? Spoilers about Varys, the Spider, are in this post if you don't know his motives yet.

And how did everyone know who Aeryn was? He could admit to himself, he'd done a terrible job covering his tracks - had stopped bothering, after a while - but not only did they know of Aeryn, but they knew of her mother as well.
--Ch5

That got me wondering. How did they all know?

Stannis' eyes, always narrowed in suspicion or distaste, found Harry's, but only for a second. Most people couldn't stand to look him in his eyes; especially those with secrets. He could see them sometimes, their secrets, and they could feel the weight of his gaze, judging the things they would rather hide away in the shadows of their mind.
--Ch1

he still didn't know if Varys was a fat, manly woman, or a fat, womanly man, and the Spider never looked him in the eyes.
--Ch1

This is the only time which Varys is mentioned in the story so far, but I lay good odds on him being the one who exposed Harry's friendship with the Nameless.

Varys has an agenda to see the Baratheon's eventually brought low and the Targaryen's placed back on the throne, so he's no friend of the royal family. Varys also has an intimate knowledge of the hidden passages within Red Keep [which Harry used to meet the Nameless], and his child-spies use them to great effect.

That gives Varys Means and Opportunity, but for motive, Varys has a long standing hatred for all things magical since his cock was forcibly cut off as part of a blood magic ritual. Given Varys' constant refusal to meet a child Harry's eyes, he likely knows there's something unnatural or magical about him. There aren't many people who could get half of the tongues in Red Keep wagging over a detailed secret [like a prince playing with four child thieves who'd tried to rob him; one the daughter of a specific whore] and be taken seriously.

 

I'm not sure what it was exactly. Maybe Selmy talking about doing the right/moral thing even though it isn't the easy thing? Or perhaps it was because they're both old philosophical badasses who are living legends and sort-of mentors to Harry?

 

Everyone doesn't know about:

Spoiler

Tywin and Shae. Besides, I like spoiler tags. They're so tempting.

And I wasn't going to bring it up. Maybe not in the fic, either

And you've pretty much hit the nail on the head, too, about Varys.

 

Possibility that Aeryn is a Targ bastard?

Got an "ae" in her name, and a "y". Seems almost guaranteed.

 

It's also possible she's going to grow up, take on Sun as a last name, and join the Peacekeepers before a series of events puts her on a living ship full of escaped prisoners, as well as one psychotic Earthman. Shenanigans, leather and vomit ensue.

Because that's what I think everytime I see her name.

 

I didn't think there were any Targaryen's of the right age still alive in Westeros or Essos at the time Aeryn must've been conceived, but... It's currently 293AL, Aeryn is twelve, so was born 280 or 281AL. Robert was crowned in 279AL, so there's possibly a window there for a Targaryen to have conceived her.

Aeryn's story that her sire is from House Velaryon of Driftmark makes sense though. That house has lots of ties to the Targaryen's and shares their silver hair and purple eyes. Amaerys is from Lys. While she has blue eyes and an indeterminate hair colour, the Lysene are well known for having the old Valyrian traits of purple eyes and white gold or silver hair.

So, it's likely that Aeryn is of Lysene and Velaryon parentage, both who have Valyrian traits. But... Targaryen can't be ruled out completely.

 

I didn't have a problem with it. Considering the number of characters and houses in the series, it's pretty much inevitable that you're going to have to use the index like the books have, or in this case the chapters, and it's only going to get worse.

 

Varys motives sound pretty solid, I forgot about the whole hate magic thing, but it also creates an inconsistence, since the main powerhouse behind Danny, are the dragons. But, from the evils, the lesser?

I think it would be better if you used Tywin from the TV series, he is better as an role model. And his involvement with S, well, it is an major Character Defining moment, hard to believe you would simply pass it over.

My guts tell me that Aeryn will only be, if Harry is majorly changed by Westeros, something that is almost certain and if she get "over" (as over you can get when you were raped as a child, meaning she doesn't let it destroy her), and become a strong woman, othe almost certain. But the main thing would be if he start trusting her, really trusting her. If so, it will create a mutual dependency bond, that I believe would lead to bed, specially since I think Aeryn feelings wouldn't change. Or would turn it something like with Jon/Yigritte. Both ways are possible. Also there is the wife thing, who she is will play a major role too if she becomes or not.

About the doing the right or easy thing, burning the town woukd be both. The right because it would end the war and spare lives, or the easy thing, because it would be an horrible thing, against all morals and you would be doing the easy thing to destroy the rebellion, not the right.

So the right or easy thing can go both ways is almost all of the decisions, it all depends how the decision maker know as right or wrong. Is he a believer that one or a thousand are just numbers, unimportant Nd the goal is what matters? Does he believe that sometimes, the price is too high, and he refuses to sacrifice his own morals for it? Even if he is dooming himself ? Philosophy, specially personals ones are amazing, strange and utterly complicated.

The way I see, both Tywin and Harry are Übersmench, each with their own moral code, Harry's is fuzzy and still in the forming (or reforming) stagemso still volatile, but it is there and it's strong. Tywin's is long formed and pretty much unchangeable. It will be interesting to see the encounter of this wills, and how it will change Harry. Will he adopt Tywin's views? Will he adopt the complete oposite?

About the having to coming back to the other chapters, and reread to remember characters I don't think is a problem, I had to do it all the time with published novels, many not nearly as good as this story, and rereading is always good, many times you read something you overlooked or misunderstood. Now two questions, one for the author and one in general, will Arianne have a role in the story? And is Harry 200 years old, where it says ?

And also, Black Prince, most awesome moniker ever. ever! The black lion is awesome too, but Black Primce is another level of badass.

 

It was all very strange, he mused. He had almost two hundred years of memories in his head, memories of a strange place, where people used owls as messengers instead of ravens, fought with magic instead of swords and drank beer of butter instead of wine of grapes. He'd thought them just dreams, very detailed and realistic, but his gut said otherwise. He'd known for sure when he'd done magic for the first time, and he hadn't looked back since. Oddly enough, despite all the years he could remember, and all the things he dreamed of, he still felt like a kid. He was smarter than his peers, more mature, less inclined to tantrums...but he still enjoyed a good game of tag, he loved to play in dirt and train at swords, and he hated sitting still for any length of time. He didn't feel like an old man, but his memories told him he should have been an old man. It was weird.
--Ch1

 

Ever since Aeryn has been introduced I have been gettin a feeling, Which has been portrayed in this picture.




Am I wrong?

 

Thanks @yak. If it was GRRM I would bet she would die, but I don't so, but it is a strong possibility she will be killed to star a new dark phase to Harry. Hard to say.

 

"He catches wind of it every time he spreads his arse to shit"

I lost it at that

 

@Tasoli

That's a very transparent mechanism for a writer to get shock&awe. It's also very cheap, since we can see it coming a mile away.

If she does die, I would expect it to be under suitably built-up circumstances and with an actual purpose behind it. You just don't kill her off for shock value, or to fulfill some ideal that 'fairy tale romance doesn't happen'. If her death fits the stroy, great, but I'd be sorely disappointed if she died just for the sake of dying and hardening Harry. That kind of author manipulation isn't something I like.

 

I now am not going to be able to not read all of her lines in Claudia Black's voice. I'm not sure whether or not to be mad at you.

 

You are saying that but I get the feeling something bad was going to happen to her the moment she was introduced and look at that her friends died, she is raped and I wasn't even a bit suprised. In fact I found that part the weakest part of the story. I almost dropped it. I mean don't get me wrong story is 4/5 in my eyes but if Aeryn's rape had been done with some twist I haven't guessed 3 chapters away or something I would give it 5/5.

In short, Yes I agree it was cheap and transparent way to get shock and awe and that is my point.

On the other hand nobody else seems to catch that so maybe author did something right. I dunno.

I don't get it. Author already done the manipulation as you called why are you talking about it like it shouldn't be done? It is already there in the story. She doesn't have to die to make and example of her and she didn't die but her friend did. Which seems nobody cares about.

 

This is Westeros. Everybody knew what was going to happen. Doesn't make it any less of an important point in Harry's life.