A fanfic where a characters Dead or alive time travel to the future.

Hey everyone, this is a super rambly rough draft of some things I’ve been thinking about that I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts about. I started out writing it as a response to a teenager about to start college, and I don’t have time to edit it now, but it got super long and I figured a subreddit for Game of Thrones fans would be the best place to post this, since it’s such a big part of what I’ve been thinking about.

In Game of Thrones, the Stark family starts out with six children (if you include Jon), and despite the absolute bloodbath of the next several years, four of those six children survive. Do you know why? Yes, they did have some help, but often they weren’t lucky, or sometimes even smart. They had one thing going for them: they were siblings raised well. That bond gave them advantages no other main players in the game had.

I always used to wonder why character building was so essential, because it seems like predictability is the easiest way to manipulate people. I thought it was a mistake for someone like Ned Stark to put such an emphasis on teaching his children to be strong and ethical as rulers despite living in a world absolutely full of deception. If he wanted them to win the Game of Thrones, shouldn’t he have taught them to outsmart and mislead? Cersei and Jaime are siblings but they were raised to win the throne at any cost. The Stark children were raised to survive and lead, without needing a throne to validate their authority.

At the start, during the good times, the Starks bickered and otherwise acted like normal siblings. But when danger struck, the Starks knew how to count on each other regardless of distance or circumstances. It’s why Robb knew Sansa’s letter about their father was a trap: he could see Cersei’s message through his sister’s handwriting because he used everything he knew about Sansa’s character as a cipher to decrypt the handwritten letter. The Starks could collaborate with their siblings towards the same goal across any distance and despite all barriers to communication because they trusted each others’ continuity of character, and they used that cipher as their North Star to avoid falling for lies, manipulation, and deceit. As Robert Baratheon told us, one is a bigger number than five.

The same concept is true across the Game of Thrones saga. After someone’s formative years, their continuity of character is pretty well set. While Ned and Catelyn engrained strong character traits in their children, the same predictability applies for all the characters. Learn someone’s patterns and—extenuating circumstances aside—you can predict their responses to any situation, across all of time and space. You can also use it the other way around: any unexpected responses can be used to gain insight into their current and past circumstances (Theon Greyjoy’s traumatic imprisonment is a great example).

Deductive and inductive reasoning are both very powerful, but the hard part of using them to their fullest potential is not letting your emotions cloud your vision. This is why Sherlock Holmes and Adrian Monk are both so exceptional at solving mysteries: they have other issues that give them a unique ability to clear away the fog of other emotions and just focus on connecting the dots between the facts.

Gain strong enough control over your own mind and emotions, and you can see the entire chess board. Then it’s just a matter of having the drive to stay focused on and dedicated to the end goal, and checkmate: four of the six Starks survived to lead the new world.

That’s not just college, it’s essentially all life is. College is a training ground for that real life Game of Thrones. You’ll hate your 8am classes, you’ll dread your final exams, you’ll struggle to stay awake while reading your thousandth page of a textbook drier than the Sahara Desert—that’s all building up your drive to stay focused on and dedicated to whatever goals you have later on. Those goals could be money, fame, power, family, home, love—whatever it is that you want to achieve, you’ll have built up that muscle of perseverance that’s so crucial to achieve anything good in this life.

The people you meet in college have more potential to become key players in your personal Game of Thrones someday than any other group of people you’re ever likely to meet. College is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to form bonds with people from across diverse backgrounds who are headed towards diverse futures. Classes are really hard to connect with people in, and often you’ll be in a cohort all heading towards similar careers, so prioritize anything outside of classes to build strong connections: clubs, study groups, study abroad trips, roommates, etc.

We all hope for an endless summer full of climbing walls and dancing lessons, but the cards we’ve been dealt are for unprecedented times, and we need to prepare for the worst while praying for the best. You’ll memorize a lot of information in college and forget most of it, but through the experiences you share with the people you meet, you’ll engrave the cipher of their character on your heart, and that’s safer, more reliable, and more versatile than any encryption all our technology has available today.

This is how to see and use the whole chessboard of life, and that’s important, but your own choices need to be more like Tetris as this article describes or, as a dear friend taught me, cribbage. Life’s a multi-dimensional adventure unlike any other, and the possibilities are truly endless. This post is long enough though. The shortcut that’s always safe to default to for navigating the complexities of life is to always keep love as your North Star. Focus on love, and it will be a lighthouse that cuts through all the fog of other emotions and guides you to a safe harbour of stability and security.

I’m going to be quite busy for a bit, but I’m very interested to hear your thoughts on these late-night rambles from an internet stranger. Thank you! ❤️

This had to be one of the best scenes in the serie!

I said nock & hold, you cunts! Does nock mean draw?! No sir! Does fuckin’ hold mean fuckin’ drop! No sir! Y’all plan to die here tonight? No sir! That’s very good to hear! Draw!!!

How did they let Ser Loras use the term "French sleeve" or something along those lines I can't remember the exact item. I had no idea the French had a colony in westeros. What other things have you guys noticed like this if any.

Beckett authenticated.

Why couldnt jamie just bind the king and throw him some where? what was the status of the throne room or wherever they were when jamie killed him? maybe it was explained but if you can kill the king and walk out why couldnt he bind him and leave him until his father breaks through?

I'm halfway through season 5, I just watched ser barristan die. I feel like I'm slowly losing interest. I keep seeing disappointing things in the writing, either because they're there or bc the show's reputation is making me constantly look for them. However, I'm very invested in many storylines (especially Arya's and Tyrion's). Is it worth pushing through to see the characters arches I care about come to a conclusion?

Most of all, I think the worst sin a TV show can do is to be boring. Are the last four seasons, despite everything, at least entertaining to watch?

I read online that she saw visions of Dragonstone, and mistook the prince as Stannis because that’s where he was. Yet, the prophecy says, “from my blood comes the prince who was promised,” and we know that the prophecy was originated from Aegon the Conqueror. In Season 7, Melisandre recites this prophecy to Daenerys on Dragonstone. Did time distort the prophecy so that she didn’t hear the “from my blood,” part? How could she know that part and not question whose line specifically it was? How is it that all of the Red Women in Essos also knew this prophecy - the prince who was promised whose song would be that of ice and fire - and that same prophecy was passed down on a dagger through the Targaryen line, and yet no one pieced together that it had to have been a Targaryen?

Best king since Joffrey.

I love how Season 2’s focus is primarily on Tyrion and characters aren’t shoved into every episode for the sake of filler. It spends its time on what really matters and some characters are just in the background or take an episode or two off until they’re relevant for the story. I don’t know how I didn’t notice this but Jaime is literally in the first episode of Season 2 and doesn’t appear again until episode 7. And even then from there he’s only in episode 8 and 10 afterwards. I love Jaime but they knew HIS season isn’t until Season 3 so he’s put on the back burner. Same with Dany. She’s used way more sparingly and when we do see her, it’s not for long. Jon isn’t too prevalent after episode 2 and spends his time AMAZINGLY with Ygritte in episode 6 onwards. The only thing I’m iffy on is that there wasn’t enough Robb and the Bran fake-out death was pretty lame even though it’s necessary. And then Arya’s scenes with Tywin oh my gosh! Now I’m just gushing about Season 2. Probably the overall best paced season overall after Season 1. My least favorite of the first four seasons but still so outstanding and extremely well done and spends its time perfectly.

This may be an oft-asked question. But how did he manage to end up there in the first place, given that he was a world-class assassin? Further, once he got there, why wasn’t he able to escape immediately? Also, why didn’t he simply disappear when at Harrenhal? Was it only for Arya? Finally, why was he in any of these places in the first place?

In season 2 episode 1 Tyrion says to Shae that “You can’t trust anyone in Kings Landing. They’re all liars. Good liars, Bad liars, one or two great liars”

who is he referring to as the “great” liars?

Jeez, that line and the reaction from Jorah really hammers home just how much respect everyone had for Barristan Selmy. He never needed to even flex a muscle and everyone knew just how dangerous he could be.

Hi! Just finished watching this for the first time. Really enjoyed the show overall (the last couple seasons were...something lol).

Curious what other's favorite/engaging/intriguing storylines and/characters along with your least favorite.

For me, the most intriguing was probably Robb and his march on King's Landing with the tough choices he made along the way or probably Theon and everything he suffered through.

The least intriguing by a country mile was Danerys and all her scenes until she started making her way to Westeros.

Obviously characters that never crossed paths (like Stannis/Daenerys, or Robb/Margaery) don’t count because there would be too many to list.

The most obvious one that I think most fans know about is Bronn and Cersei due to their actors’ history. I don’t believe Tywin and Sansa ever spoke to each other, despite both being in Kings Landing between 2x10 and 4x2. I also don’t think the Hound ever spoke directly with Jaime or Cersei (I could be wrong about this one, I’m just going off memory)

Are there any others you can think of?

Jorah is probably my favourite character in the show in large due to the great performance of Iain Glen and just how loyal he is to Daenerys.Back in spring i started listening to the audiobooks ( on the fourth book currently ) and despite the warnings I read I was still not prepared for just how creepy book Jorah is.I mean jeesh.

• He was raised by an abusive father and a narcissistic, alcoholic mother.

• As a little boy, he yearned for his father’s approval who was too busy drinking and boning anyone not his wife.

• He saved the lives of kittens from a difficult pregnancy and got assaulted for it.

• He traveled a tedious journey to some shthole castle in the north to advance political ties.

• He tried to help a crippled boy out of his misery.

• Victim of domestic violence.

• Victim of a wolf attack (he graciously allowed that specific wolf to live regardless) while protecting his lady.

• Provided the Stark family with an extra pelt of wolf fur for the harsh cold winters.

• After his father’s death, he advocated for a smooth transition of power.

• He showed mercy to the usurper Ned Stark.

• Defended his late father’s honor by silencing a disrespectful singer.

• Provided a generous retirement plan to one of the most legendary members of the Kingsguard, as he should.

• He saved a fool from drowning.

• He orchestrated creative solutions to combat overpopulation in King’s Landing.

• He defended his city from Stannis the usurper and even gave him a smile despite his treason.

• Defeated the northern scum and ended the civil war.

• Rewarded the loyal Boltons with better housing.

• Provided employment to a marginalized group (dwarfs).

• Assassinated at his own wedding by his evil uncle.

• Had the decency to remain a virgin before consummating his marriage, in respect to his faith.

Just started ep1 after finishing the show. It's funny now knowing what I know. Anything to look out for on my second time through?