ASOIAF ideas.

Sansa feeds Joffrey a powerful love potion.

The classic peggy sue: when Robb Stark dies at the Red Wedding he wakes up to find himself back in his body the morning news reached the North of Ned Stark's arrest.

Minimal crossovers: you shift one item from a fandom of your choice to a location of your choice in the ASOIAF world.

1. Before he goes south, Ned Stark finds a Shardblade and a full set of Shardplate in the crypts beneath Winterfell. (Stormlight Archive)

2. Jon Snow finds a lightsaber when ranging north of the wall. (Star Wars)

3. Arya finds an invisibility cloak. (Harry Potter)

Other crossovers:

Mirar winds up in Westeros (Age of the Five)

Aragorn ends up in Westeros 30 years before GoT.

 

And...?

He's not a rightful king of Westeros. And at no point of his life did he try to rule over some realm that did not belong to him by right. Why would he?

What's more, all he has going for himself is the longevity and a decent skill with wilderness, command, bow and blade. I'm somewhat unsure his command over Sindarin language would benefit him at all.

Of course, it would depends on where and how he'd appears in Westeros, but it would probably either be a story on him trying to find a place for himself.

Would he at least know at least some of languages? What age Aragorn are we talking about? (Or, as well, from which Age?)


All the other proposed tiny bunnies are quite butterfly-capable, and this one requires more expansion to actually see the plot changes resulting from the tiny change. I'm intrigued enough to wish to hear something more.

 

There are many directions you could take it.

His distaste for evil would be his motivation, not the will to power. His natural leadership, wisdom and regal poise would be what would bring him into a position where he could affect events, combined with fighting skills that would earn him respect and longevity that allows him the time to gain position.

I think you underestimate his skills somewhat. He would be among the finest fighters in Westeros. He's skilled in healing. He's a learned person -- even if his knowledge of history isn't applicable, the ways of thinking would be. He can hunt and survive in the wilderness. He has superhuman stamina. And he's a natural leader.

Whether you pull off a "LotR common tongue = Westerosi" equivalence doesn't matter. The whole point of him arriving 30 years before the events of GoT is to give him several decades to learn the languages, geography and history and to carve out a place for himself in the world before the events of GoT take place.

As for "what Aragorn", I was thinking one before the events of LotR but old enough to have valuable experience of leadership and war. Probably immediately after his victory over Umbar in 2980 as Thorongil.

 

Would this be when he went South for Robert's Rebellion or as Hand of the King? If it was for Robert's Rebellion then Ned the Tower of Joy would be especially interesting given the Shardplate's numerous enhancements. However, if it was when he went South as Hand of the King the fight against Jaime would probably lead to Jaime's death which could have interesting consequences. Even better would be if Ned wore the Shardplate and had the Shardblade before he got arrested and he had to fight his way out of the Throne Room in order to protect his kids.

 

Throw Aragorn beyond the wall and have him civilize the wildlings.

 

There's one issue. The only Tolkienesque evil is on the other side of the wall, and I could see him becoming something of a hero, hoping to fight the evils of the north, but I do not thing he would classify anyone as truly evil.

Unjust, yes, greedy and even mad, but not evil. Even with the Mad King, I do not see Aragorn going out of his way to dispose of him, especially when there's a more reasonable heir on the line on the throne.

It would probably boil down on the friends he'd make, and not on the general crusade of goodness.


It's probably because I see Aragorn as a human first, and a great leader second. And here, with no clear cut evilness of orks, with only the dark hearts of other men to face him, I don't see the Strider on the front lines of the 'good guys' - solely because there's no such thing as a truly good side in Westeros.


I don't think he'd have much going for him in 30 years. At best, he'd be something of a legend, a Ranger who walks the land and helps people against bandits and some such. Maybe not, but it heavily depends on how and who he meets and befriends.



On the other hand, now I appreciate the potential here. Depending on the interpretation on what Aragorn would choose to do, and what information he'd have available, it could go in a myriad of ways.

 

I dunno, he never seemed to have a problem with cutting down Haradrim, though they were men. I think people often focus on the nobility of the Numenorean kings and forget that they're effectively feudal lords.

There are a few routes you could take to raise Aragorn up to some position of influence. He could become the captain of the guard of King's Landing. Another possibility could be circumstance (i.e. the need for money to eat) forcing him across the Narrow Sea where he would join a company of sell-swords, only to rise up to lead that company. Or he could become a member of the Kingsguard. Or the captain of the guard to some other great lord.

 

I think we're not disagreeing, but we're at least focusing on different things.

Aragorn can surely fight and kill men, and he would be a good kingsguard/sellsword/brother of nightswatch/an upstart knight, etc.

But why would he do so?

My point is about the lack of motivation, no, that's wrong - a lack of determination for any thing he could desire in Westeros.

Aragorn's only push for important position would be his righteousness, and that doesn't necessary come into play where all sides are equaly human and equally evil. I'm not saying he couldn't get involved, just that he wouldn't have a reason to.

Otherwise, if he isn't pulled into some events by circumstance, I'd fully expect for him to default to the Strider persona (as I mentioned before). A ranger, safekeeping the lands from brigands and other dangers.



Consider this. Aragorn arives at a random place in the seven kingdoms. He doesn't meet any major characters or appear on site for major events.
What are his goals, then?
1. Survive. Easy - he's an experienced ranger, he could outlive anyone in the wildness.
2. Learn of his surroundings. Easy. He could lean languages, find some locals, figure out the situation within the seven kingdoms.

And?

The Mad King might be mad, but the realm isn't shattered over it yet, and even as Aragorn coule see the injustice and weirdness of certain lords over the others, there is no need for him to interfere. No immediate cause for him to take up.

Why would he try to gain any position of power or honor? He'd be fine with what he had on his back. He would be invisible in the books, not taking sides beteen the conflict.

At least that's how I imagine it.


In conclusion, while there's heaps of options, the one that comes the most naturally won't drive the things by itself.




If I had to write Aragorn in SOIAF, I'd have him spend a couple of years getting familiar with the world and doing ranger stuff, and then I'd have him meet Aria at some point of her silly galloping all over the riverlands.

And, like a good ranger, he would attempt to take her home, taking some of the Hound's role in the books, yet going about it in his own way.

 

If you want to write a crossover with GoT you could go with the misunderstanding route. When the Elves leave Middle Earth on their ships (or really, any sizable force like the orc horde in Warcraft 3), instead of reaching their destination they suddenly land in King's Landing just before Rhaegar kidnaps Lyanna. With an obvious invasion force right next to the capital, Aeris calls his banners and makes the first strike. Circumstances stop Robert's rebellion from happening as all Westeros joins to fight this new force. Or you could make them appear right after the rebellion started or during the war of the fight kings. Or you could make a mega crossover from several series, with bonus points if the species involved just happen to hate each other (like elves and orcs)

 

Got this one in my head earlier tonight. It's dexter writing his memoirs of his amazing lab, except his brilliance was caused from being stuck in a 21 year time loop (ages 2-21). It disregards the TV movie. But it goes into explaining him going through the five stages of grief from his predictament. I'm thinking I could do it as a condensed one shot or a 5-10 chapter piece.

 

Dexter, of Dexter's laboratory?

 

Yes, that would be the one.

 

Well, if you want to put Aragon into ASOIAF, then have him build some connections with somebody. Let him fall in love or be essentially adopted into a house. Let family be his motivation.

 

Nah. Make it friendship. A New Fellowship.... One based in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, where many of the Lord Paramounts and their greater lords fought?

 

Hmm...possible. At least it would be a chance for him to earn some glory and establish himself.

 

Incredible idea.

 

Just marathon-watched SAO (First Arc is much better than second one) and got an idea:

Begins with re-socialization of the SAO survivors - impact on being in the real world after living pretty much in a combat zone for years - and then they are lured into ALO. Due to various reasons (no idea which ones), they go. As soon as they arrive, ALO locks down, along with all the players in it, both SAO survivors and ALO players. The world overwrites itself. Suddenly, Aincrad appears around them. They're all on floor 1, all on level 1. There's no logout button and it's a death game again (perhaps the new hardware of the ALO players is just as deadly as the old nervgear, though it should have been safe). They're in the nightmare again.

After that there'd be: clashes between SAO survivors and ALO players, psychological effects of being in Aincrad again/for the first time, new surprising dangers bleeding through from ALO, death, some kind of Big Bad, etc.


Thoughts?

 

I cut out the boring stuff, but you could do a really cool story with what you said.

 

What I want to see is a SAO story that goes all the way to the end. Kyaba doesn't cop-out and forces everyone to go to floor 100, cause he's a sociopath like that. More people die (boss fights/suicides/PK), but they eventually win. Then they have to reintigrate into a society they haven't been apart of, that probably has more than a few people angry at them for not dieing, not failing. Ignore Alfheim entirely, just focus on shit that matters (because if someone survived Aincard, why the fuck would they ever put a NervGear on again?).

 

If I had the time for it. Unfortunately, I do not.

So, if someone wants to adopt this plot bunny: be my guest! I've been looking for good SAO stories and haven't really found them yet.

There might be various reasons why they'd put a NervGear on again. Some for the thrill, others perhaps because they were lured in by promises ("come to Alfheim and you'll get the chance to resurrect your loved ones") or perhaps just lured in (get a free game in the mail or something). Perhaps their psychologist think it's a good idea to face the virtual world in a "safe" environment to overcome their fears.

I think a clash between ALO players and SAO survivors could be quite interesting. The former ones would have much to deal with: no magic, only swords; death game; WTF should we listen to the SAO players - I'm much more awesome already; it's only a game, etc.
The latter would have their own problems: newbies; same nightmare again; goodbye therapy; again on floor 1 and now no GM to kill to get out sooner; WTF, these monsters weren't here in SAO, they came over from ALO!, etc.