Of Ice and Dragons

Story By: Ace Warbringer

Reviewed, Rewritten and Edited by MASTER T-REX

Author's words:

Hey all!

So I figured id drop this on you guys (and gals!)! Here I write, the how's and whys "Of Ice and Dragons".

When I first started this project, all I wanted to do was write was a simple little story that took off from the normal pair-ups, one that I could enjoy writing about. You have your Jelsa fans, and Elsannas (*squick* not my bag of toys). For whether Dovahkiin is female or male, the pair ups go out to lunch.

Or dinner if there is a late night setting. Whatever your first date option is preferred. (Big smile here.)

I only thought "Eh, ten thousand words to start, give or take."

Uh-huh, yeah, sure Ace. And I've got a bridge in Manhattan to sell you. (MASTER T-REX: That's funny because I live in NYC.)

I have seriously underestimated my story, and at the time of writing this now, the story is 80k words and climbing. I seriously do not see anything less than reaching 100k plus by the end of it. Maybe 125k plus. (That's right, were getting close to the end people.)

So One of 'My Problems' was one of how does power effect the relationships and pairings that are put into action? And to tell you the honest truth, when I first saw this, I figured that the only character I knew of which could come even close to matching Elsa was the Dovahkiin. Or maybe Jack Frost, whom I'm not as familiar with as the rest of you. After all this time and I've never seen the movie. I'll get to it one of these days.

With the Jelsa's, you have a big issue of immortality. And some people put that front and center.

For the Dovahkiin/Dragonborn, you have the issue of how do you work around such a character? Their power, what their skills are, what their personality is like?

The character of the Dovahkiin is pretty open ended, so that allows a lot of development to be put in. And that also brings up one of my pet peeves that I see a lot. Many decide that he's done everything in the game. And I mean EVERTHING! All the guilds, full main story, EVEN BOTH OF THE CIVIL WAR QUESTS! (HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?)

*Ahem*, deep breaths Ace, deep breaths.

This makes the character too 'Broad' in my honest opinion. Limits are a big part of who we are. Hence why the Dovahkiin in 'Of Ice and Dragons' is only a simple warrior who can use the Thu'um. Granted beside those facts, he's a badass, but that comes with the territory of being the Dragonborn. Plus my little refinements on how the true dragon name affects you.

And Elsa brings her own brand of problems to the table. A shut-in natural sorceress, with the implied ability to freeze the world? The thing that gets me is why that didn't it happen sooner (Oh yeah, then the movie would have had other issues with Kristanna, namely age implications. A smart move by Disney in my opinion.) and her limits are in her emotions, plus I've sort of taken away her ability to create life, (too much in my opinion) and instead have her naturally summon ice Atronach's, (golems from the elder scrolls), which is something I haven't really gone into detail about yet, at the time of writing this. (I maybe/might not, one thing I do like is to leave crap for interpretation, sometime the readers imagination is better than any sentence of description.)

(MASTER T-REX: In all honesty, that's true for everyone, including me. BUT, it would be cool to see Elsa summon ice dragons in my opinion.)

So I started writing, figure a quick intro to the Dovahkiin (my choice was basically in protest to the thousands of Jelsas out there, plus the fact I don't know Jack Frost well.), whom I wanted to be a tragic character, and to be paired with Elsa, who is also a tragic character, so that everything becomes canon to the story.

Then the bastard Dovahkiin (not really!) stole the show. I had so much fun writing him that I just had to keep going with him. And that's how I got into writing more of Skyrim's story. (My original big idea was for him to be almost immediately tossed into the time-stream / between dimensions by Alduin. But I would have had lots of trouble explaining his abilities) and how he sort of became the star of the show.

Now one of the big things I ran into is that I have not really written anything like this before, save for some English assignments in high school. And boy does it show. Re-reading this beast with Master T-rex looking over my shoulder and helpfully pointing out my many mistakes has shown that I did not know what the frap I was doing.

So everybody here got the first draft, which has never really had a storyline. For that I apologize. But I figured eventually I would get a beta, and do the rewrite after the story was finished. Simple right?

I got featured on TV-Tropes. By recommendation of Mister Cuddlesworth. (MASTER T-REX: It sounds awesome, but I couldn't stop laughing at 'Mister Cuddlesworth' XD)

My reaction since I saw this on my way to work was one of pull the truck over and do a "holy shit!" moment. I'm a big fan of the site, and while not a member, I do pay attention to it for ideas and issues. This sort of honor blew me away. I never expected it.

At this point I said to myself in one long and drawn out process that I needed to get a Beta. And with a bit of hunting and a couple of suggestions, MASTER T-REX stepped up to the plate.

(MASTER T-REX: *bows*)

In my opinion it's a slam dunk. The guy has taken this story to a new level, but there are parts where I don't agree with everything, but we are meeting at a middle ground as to how the story should be fixed and how it should progress correctly. I have some specific ideas for this that I don't want to let go of. (MASTER T-REX: I completely respect that.)

However, I do think he has done an absolutely fantastic job. So give and take. And a heartfelt thank you to him.

So now we get this, my story. Rewritten and edited, parsed, folded, spindled, and mutilated in more ways than one. And hopefully, one of the better reads that can live up to people's expectations on this site.

So read on fellow fans of the story. And give a review. Or a PM. And be sure to follow and/or favorite.

Ace Warbringer