50 Must-Read GAME OF THRONES Fan Fiction
Ah, fan fiction. The thing one turns to when the next book in the series is nowhere in sight or the story is over and—for a plethora of reasons—you don’t like how it ended. DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A PLIGHT A CERTAIN FANTASY FANDOM IS CURRENTLY GOING THROUGH? Ahem. My friends, whether you first came to Westeros through the books or through the HBO show, Game of Thrones fan fiction is here for you.
Now, everyone wants something different out of their fanfic, so I’ve tried to include a variety of Game of Thrones fan fiction styles and genres. The majority of the fic summaries are from the authors, and I’ve made a note of whether it’s completed, ongoing (still being updated), or incomplete and dormant, as well as the length and rating of each title.
The night is dark and full of angsty Jon/Dany fic. Enjoy!
Post–A Dance with Dragons Game of Thrones Fan Fiction
The North Remembers by qqueenofhades
In the ashes of war-torn Westeros, the fate of the remnants of House Stark—and that of their lovers, allies, friends, and foes—hangs in the balance. [Completed, 113 chapters, 600,000 words, rated mature]
Snowfall by Ruinous Crow
He bled out on the snowy grounds of the Night’s Watch, not expecting to wake again. But he did wake, and it was not in the forlorn outreaches of the Wall, but back at Winterfell, where King Robert Baratheon was a day’s ride away…Old Nan had always warned against changing fate, but how can Jon refuse a chance to prevent the game of thrones? [Incomplete, 12 chapters, 48,000 words, rated teen]
The Summer Queen by honey_wheeler
A Stark girl ruling Westeros alone was unprecedented enough, even without her unorthodox choice of guard, so Sansa had tread carefully when naming them, choosing her times and her methods with all the canniness she’d learned at the hands of men like Petyr Baelish and women like Cersei Lannister. [Completed, 11 chapters, 15,000 words, rated Teen]
Alternative Season 8 Game of Thrones Fan Fiction
Love on the Brain by ashleyfanfic
This ongoing fic starts at the end of season 7, and is written in the style of the books, with different POV chapters from each character. [Ongoing, currently 100 chapters, 378,000 words, rated explicit]
Home by RollTodd
With the threat of the Dead looming over the realm, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen travel northward to fight for their home, their people, and each other. This story begins after Episode 7 of Season 7 and explores the possibilities for Season 8. It takes place in the world of the show, but contains descriptive and historical elements from the books as well. Told from multiple characters’ perspectives but focusing on Jon and Daenerys. [Ongoing, currently 76 chapters, 360,000 words, rated mature]
How We Heal by justwanderingneverlost
What was intended to be some love-filled Jonerys drabbles, but has turned into a full blown S8 canon adventure complete with romance, dragons, drama, angst, politics, prophecies, and the Battle for the Dawn. Fluff, smut, and all the feels still included. [Completed, 22 chapters, 135,000 words, rated explicit]
Winter Came (With Fire and Blood) by frombluetored
“I couldn’t love him back. Not the way he wanted. Not the way I love you.”
Her heart is as powerful and frantic as Drogon’s wings when he takes flight. She thinks the fear might consume her whole.
“Is that all right?” she asks softly. She nearly trembles.
And for a moment, the world is warm, small, safe. Jon has her in his arms, his body pouring into hers, his lips on her lips, his love a vast fire—and Dany, the Unburnt. She lets him burn her alive, delighting in the heat of his palms, the burn of his beard against her skin.
When it stops—when he pulls back—it’s sharper than ice. [Completed, 12 chapters, 220,000 words, rated teen]
What if…Alternative Universe (AU) Game of Thrones Fan Fiction
Kingdoms at War by deathwalker
What if Ned Stark wasn’t executed at the Great Sept of Baelor? Instead, what if he had been removed from Kingslanding before Joffrey could give the order for his head? What impact would this have had on the Game of Thrones? [A long-running fic that started back in 2015, is currently at 79 chapters, over 680,000 words, and still being updated! Rating: Explicit]
I Fear No Fate (For You Are My Fate, My Sweet) by vixleonard
Myrcella Baratheon always knew she would be married to a man for a political alliance. What she did not know was that she was going to be left in the North at 8 years old to one day become the wife of Robb Stark and just how much it would change her life. [Completed, 7 chapters, 70,000 words, rated mature]
A Knight’s Watch by DolorousEdditor
Jon Snow is forbidden to take the black by his father. Instead, he sent to squire for a famous knight, beginning a long arduous journey that causes him to cross paths with characters he never would have. Along the way, he learns truths long-hidden and discovers love in the most unlikely of places. [Completed, 42 chapters, 680,000 words, rated mature]
A Wolf Amongst Lions by Kallypso
Tywin Lannister discovers the true identity of his cup bearer at Harrenhal. Now, with another bargaining chip in his possession, he has a chance to turn the war. Arya Stark, despite her best efforts, falls back into the Game of Thrones. To survive in a lion’s den, a wolf has no choice but to adapt. Game of Thrones AU, diverging story from season 2 onward. [Completed, 108 chapters, 172,000 words, rated teen]
And, The Giant Awoke by RemoWilliams
What if Tyrion actually did fight The Mountain by himself? [Incomplete, 28 chapters, 120,000 words, rated for general audiences]
Ned Stark Lives! by cbstevp
An alternate version of George R.R. Martin’s ‘Game of Thrones’, based on the books, asking what would happen if Ned Stark had lived. The story picks up soon after Ned Stark’s arrest and Sansa pleading for his life. Arya is still on the loose, Tyrion has escaped from the Vale, and Stannis and Renly Baratheon are making plans to take the Iron Throne. Robb Stark is moving to the Riverlands and Tywin Lannister and his son Jaime are planning to meet his army. Yoren is in King’s Landing, recruiting for the Night’s Watch. [Completed trilogy, each book/part over 400,000 words, no rating labeled]
Winter Roses: Summer by fairytalelovr
After Ned takes Jon from the Tower of Joy, he stops by King’s Landing to see Robert crowned. There, they discover the former Queen had died in childbed. But while Prince Viserys escaped Dragonstone, the baby Daenerys was not born soon enough and was brought to the capital to face justice for her family’s crimes. This story is about Robert allowing Daenerys to live in Winterfell, betrothed to Jon to sully her line, rather than disgrace himself by murdering a baby. [Completed, 49 chapters, 120,000 words, rated mature]
Modern AU Game of Thrones Fan Fiction
Game of Stacks by CommaSplice
When the Aegon Targaryen Memorial Library at Crownlands University loses its most recent library director in a tragic accident, President Robert Baratheon turns to his friend and colleague Eddard Stark to turn the library around. [Completed, 40 chapters, 149,000 words, rated mature]
All Summer We Just Hurried by Chash
Arya’s finally gotten to work with the knights at Robert Baratheon’s summer faire, but it turns out she’d rather spend time with the blacksmith. [One shot, 8,000 words, rated for general audiences, Ayra/Gendry and Sansa/Margaery pairings]
The Love Club by heart_nouveau, notsmokingcamellights
A Love, Actually AU. That’s it. Do you really need to know more? [Completed, 9 chapters, 100,000 words, rated teen]
House Proud by laiqualaurelote
“Winter is coming,” said Jon Snow. “We need to think about fixing the heating. Oh, and the bill for the Internet’s here. It’s your turn, I got last month’s.”
“Christ, you don’t have to go on,” said Tyrion. “A Lannister always pays his debts.”
In which Jon and Tyrion share a flat in a crumbling London townhouse and a posh cat lady moves in upstairs. [Ongoing, full of jokes, currently 8,800 words, rated teen]
Thumbprint Scar by FrostbitePanda
For so long, she had only dreamed about getting away, never of what that place might be. It wasn’t until it had started to become a reality, to solidify under her hands, that she started to paint details into the visions of her sanctuary in earnest. (Modern AU. Dany finds some semblance of a home in the tiny town of Winterfell, Montana.) [Ongoing, currently 13 chapters, 101,000 words, rated explicit]
Genderbent Game of Thrones Fan Fiction
A Length of Rope by Shayna_Nak
Some people, like Daenerys Targaryen or Joffrey Baratheon, are born to rule, whether to prosperity or to ruin. Robyn Stark was never meant to be Queen, but she can make do with what she has. [Completed, 33,000 words, rated teen]
i loved a maid as spry as spring (with sunrise in her hair) by thegirl
“Hello,” she says to the little baby, her second child, her first girl, who clenches her tiny fists with her tiny fingernails, her eyes stormy and wisps of hair dark. She had been thinking of Lyanna for a daughter, but it didn’t fit. Neither did any other pretty, limp name. This daughter of the north was made of sterner stuff.
“Eddara,” she said, after a moment “as strong as a mountain, my lovely one.” [Set before the books/TV show, completed, 17,000 words, rated mature]
Pairings/Shipping-Focused Game of Thrones Fan Fiction
Look, with a giant cast of characters, it’s impossible to even begin to touch on all the pairings and ships within Game of Thrones. I’ve included a handful of fics from a few of the most popular ships (because goodness knows you could probably do a list of 50 Jon/Dany easily), and a few more obscure ships, because that’s what fanfic is all about.
Jaime/Brienne
i could never define (all that you are to me) by sameboots
The Army of the Dead is upon them. One last night of peace at Winterfell before the entire world as they know it comes crumbling down. Jaime has some things to take care of, namely, one Brienne of Tarth and what remains unspoken between them. [One shot, 5,000 words, rated explicit]
Rom-Com by CommaSplice
Jaime Lannister and Brienne Tarth are under pressure from their respective fathers to marry and settle down. Serendipitously, each happens upon the perfect solution: invent a fake significant other. But neither Tywin Lannister nor Selwyn Tarth is willing to let the matter rest there. [AU, one shot, 7,000 words, rated teen]
Strings Attached by JeanJacquesFrancois
A modern AU, set in the UK, featuring Renly/Loras. [Completed, 20 chapters, 96,000 words, rated teen]
Dany/Robb
Frozen Fire by rainonmonday
Eddard Stark offered her a deal. Safe return to the Seven Kingdoms, but in exchange she would need to marry his son, to keep her under watch instead of killing her like Robert wanted. She accepted because she believed she could work on her plans from within. She could turn the Young Wolf in her ally. But she wasn’t expecting Robb Stark not to be like the men she knew. [Completed, 51 chapters, 133,000 words, rated teen]
Lyanna/Rheagor
Hell is Empty by ashotofjac
Still unmarried and unbetrothed, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen is urged to find a bride at the tourney at Harrenhal. With King Aerys growing more unhinged as each day passes, the Dragon Prince must secure his line in order to overthrow the Mad King.
Lyanna Stark is chosen to wed the prince, much to her displeasure, and must leave the North to play princess with the dragons. But she quickly learns that the fire burns deadly in the royal family, and winter has no place in King’s Landing.
Hell, she finds, is empty and all the devils are at Court. [Completed, 75 chapters, 198,000 words, rated mature]
Oberyn/Sansa
there is nothing lost (but may be found, if sought) by branwyn
One night shortly after his arrival in King’s Landing, Oberyn is approached in the gardens by a stranger, hooded and cloaked. When she asks him to help her die, he takes her back to Dorne instead. Taking her to safety is easy enough; keeping her safe is a different matter. [Completed, 11 chapters, 69,000 words, rated explicit]
For Fear Tonight Is All by Silberias
Tyrion knew, as he gazed up at the dark skinned Martell man, that this was perhaps his only chance to spirit Sansa out of King’s Landing and away from his father’s greedy fingers. Tywin Lannister would have married the girl himself if he felt he could have gotten away with it, and so Tyrion knew his own marriage was no protection to Ned Stark’s daughter whatsoever.
“Invite her, demand her, steal her—whatever you choose, Prince Oberyn, choose it soon. Else my lady wife shall break into more pieces than the stars.” [Incomplete, 99 chapters, 239,000 words, rated mature]
Gendry/Arya
No Featherbed for Me by vixleonard
Arya Stark wanted to be a knight; she wanted to find glory and adventure with Needle in her hand. But that is not an appropriate life for a highborn lady, and that was all Arya of House Stark was allowed to be. [Completed, 154,000 words, rated mature]
Pain & Passion by Abztract Isight
Following Ayra/Gendry from around book 2/season 2 onwards. [Completed, 75 chapters, 125,000 words, rated teen]
Sansa/Margaery
Keep the Bouquets, Throw Away the Grooms by Netgirl_y2k
The Lannisters meant it as an insult when they arranged the marriage of Sansa Stark to Margaery Tyrell.
But is it truly an insult if nobody is insulted? [Part 1 of a 3 part series, completed, 2,800 words, rated teen]
Jon/Dany
To Be Alone With You by bendthekneejon
A portrayal of a modern and healthy relationship, accompanied by reflections and musings about love. The story sets off when Jon and Dany are at the beginning of their twenties, in university, and follows them as they grow up together. They face the challenges of a modern-day life without any supernatural powers, dragons, nor positions of power, yet with a dash of their canon characteristics. [Completed, 45 chapters, 195,000 words, rated mature]
Help Captive by FieryPen37
Upon landing in Westeros, Daenerys makes a pact with the King in the North, with interesting results.
Or, in which Robb lives as King in the North and Jon is given to Daenerys as a hostage of war. [Completed, 42 chapters, 160,000 words, rated explicit]
Jon/Margaery
A Bloom in Winter by AnneLilian, MaryEvH
King Joffrey Baratheon has been poisoned at his own wedding. Westeros is in turmoil as the War of the Five Kingdoms rages on. Fearing that her granddaughter will be framed for her husband’s murder, Lady Olenna sends her far north, to Bear Island. But Margaery encounters unexpected opposition and is forced to make her way to the Wall in order to survive. But that cold place has its own dangers. [Ongoing, currently 16 chapters, 38,000 words, rated teen]
Female Focused Fics and Character Studies
Whore by redcandle17
A brief look at Alayaya’s life as a whore in King’s Landing. Author’s note: This isn’t a “happy hooker” fic but neither is it solely filled with angst and abuse. I tried to write a positive-yet-realistic take on what it might have been like being a woman of color working as a prostitute in medieval not!Europe. [1,400 words, rated teen]
Strange Language by Brigdh
A fic that gives Missandei a bit more of a backstory. [3,000 words, rated for general audiences]
Her Greatest Trial by The_Plaid_Slytherin
For Sansa, life without Arya would be bliss. Wouldn’t it? [1,100 words, rated for general audiences]
Sunshadow by Gehayi
How Melisandre went from an impoverished child of the North to a slave to a red priestess. [17,000 words, rated teen]
Blame Me, I Will Wear It by lilith_morgana
A closer look at Shae. [1,800 words, rated teen]
King’s Blood by just a little rain
Lady Melisandre thought she knew how the story would play out, she thought she knew the mind of her god and the minds of men, but there was one thing she did not know…how much a father could love his daughter. [1,800 words, rated teen]
Malevolent and without form by SecondStarOnTheLeft
A King’s bastard is a dangerous thing—Elia is a Martell with enough Targaryen blood to know that for an absolute truth. [2,100 words, rated teen]
The Death of Kings by La Reine Noire (lareinenoire)
It is a story from a song—a fair maid stolen in the dead of night, and her brothers and her betrothed riding to her rescue. They will tear a kingdom apart, pull a king from his throne, and crown another in his place, all in the name of the fair, stolen maid.
It is a tale that comforts men and reassures them. Even though the knight is too late to save his lady, he gains a kingdom and a queen even fairer than the maid he lost. But the truth is not so simple. A war is not one story; it is thousands speaking at once. We do not know what the maid thought, or the prince’s wife, herself a princess by birth. And other ladies too, whose parts in this tale are further obscured, as often happens when histories are written by men.
This is their story. This was their war. [Completed, 25 chapters, 155,000 words, rated mature]
Game of Thrones Fan Fiction with Time Travel
If You Try to Break Me, You Will Bleed by Dialux
It had been a slash across her chest from a White Walker’s sword that finally ended her life. Sansa landed in a puddle of her own blood, and she’d died quickly, quietly.
And then she’d awoken with a gasp, trembling, in a bed that had burned under Theon’s betrayal. [Completed, 6 chapters, 96,000 words, rated teen, Jon/Sansa pairing]
People to Kill by bloomsburry
Arya Stark is the favored servant of the Many-Faced God. So after Arya died, she is given another chance to live again. But as long as she is able to kill the people in her new list, then she will be able to live in the past, during the time of King Aery’s the Mad King. [Completed, 8 chapters, 10,000 words, rated teen]
To Go Forward by togo
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? [Ongoing, currently 30 chapters, 133,000 words, rated teen]
Lady Sansa of House Lannister by K_R_Closson, tasalmalin
When Sansa and Theon flee Winterfell, they encounter someone who can give Sansa a chance to start over. Sansa has to determine what she can change and what she has to accept to get a future she wants. [Completed work in 3 parts, 122,000 words, rated mature]
Blood and Waters by Karlandra
After losing everything, Arya Stark gets a chance to go back to her 11-year-old self and try and change things. But how much difference can an 11-year-old girl really make? And will she make things better or worse? Arya/Gendry centric. [Completed, 23 chapters, 125,000 words, rated teen]
Game of Thrones Crossover Fan Fiction
A Song of Jedi and Sith by MissFit
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Civil War has erupted across the Galaxy. Under the rule of Cersei Lannister and her enforcer Night King, citizens of Westeros are forced to endure her brutal regime. Under the direction of General Stannis Baratheon, a small group of rebels band together to stop her and take back their homes and their lives. [Ongoing, currently 50 chapters, 348,000 words, rated mature]
State of Grace by molmcmahon
Harry has been in Westeros for a little over six months when he arrives at Castle Darry one evening and sees the ghost of a dire wolf. [Ongoing, currently 14 chapters, 34,000 words, rated explicit]
Hear Me Roar: House Lannister and the Westerlands in the War of the Ring by Willywalkerstrikesagain
A magical event transports the kingdom of the Westerlands to Middle Earth just before the War of the Ring, will the Lannisters find what good is in their hearts or will they be corrupted into the service of Sauron and doom the world of men? [Incomplete, 122 chapters, 333,000 words, rated teen]
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