A/N: Hello and Welcome to my Game of Thrones story! I decided to write this so I could have something else besides my HP story in my every thought, and so you readers can have something else to read. Please enjoy my work though there are few things to mention. This world is an AU that has elements from the TV show (from when it was good) and the books as well as fan stories. The world is like a culmination of all I've read in relation to A Song of Ice and Fire were I pick what I like and get rid of what I don't. So this story is not going to be accurate to the source, especially with my own added elements coming into the mix. Now that that's out of the way please enjoy my story in the world of Planetos!
A man was laying down in the wreckage of a car on a unnamed road in the countryside. The car was a smoking ruin and a sharp piece of meatal could be seen protruding from the driver's seat. The man happened to be in that seat and the meatal didn't care about the little resistance his body put up to it's path. He knew he was dying and was only glad that he was alone in the car.
What had happened was a simple accident, the back road he was taking was run down and a large pothole was in the road that he didn't see due to the time of night. Pair that with his car being a little too old due to being unable to get a new one or properly repair it and when he hit that part of the road his car flipped and went into the nearby woods. The man was only going the speed limit,45, but it was plenty fast enough to lead to his current reck.
'I just wanted a little more time. I guess now I'm just a statistic..' he thought at last as the light left his eyes.
The Void.
The man woke up not truly knowing who or where he was. The only things he could remember was his last moments and all the nonpersonal things he'd done through his life, the skills he acquired, the knowledge he gained, the history of his world, and all the media he consumed. He felt a little embarrassed how much of his remaining memory was the last of that list. Regardless he looked around as best he could in his new soul state.
He saw only darkness, though less like the absence of light and more the absence of everything. He remembered that he read about things like this in stories, a place called the void by most. He only hoped he would leave it like in many of those stories as well. It was soon after he thought that that the light came.
A large, bright purple light shone in the void, so bright that the soul was sure that if he had a body his eyes would be blinded seeing it. Once the light died down a figure was reveled, a towering figure covered in a dark purple cloak blocking their body from view and two crossed golden staffs behind them.
"Hello mortal" the being spoke in an androgynous voice that seemed to set the man at ease.
"Hello" he said back not knowing what else to say.
The hooded being seemed to find that amusing and chuckled a bit before they spoke again.
"I have come to offer you a second chance at life, but in return you must do something for me" the being reveled their offer seeing no point in wasting time.
The man thought it over and asked what he would have to do.
"What you will agree to in exchange for you returning to the land of the living requires a bit of explanation. First of all you will be reborn into the world you will know as 'A song of ice and fire' or 'Game of Thrones'. It is in part why a soul from your world was chosen by me, you will have knowledge of the world you will be born in despite those two records of my world not being fully correct."
"Second, I am a god in that world, a god you know not of. Many of the septons and septas think they know better and say the seven are just different aspects of one god. That is false, the common folk as you call them are right, they are all different gods. The origin of this belief amongst the churches higher ups came as a way to distance themselves from the followers of the old gods. Furthermore the church has lied about the gods they follow since the beginning, for there are not seven gods in the pantheon but eight."
"In the pantheon each god has a companion, the Father has the Mother, the Warrior has the Maiden, and the Smith has the Crone. The Stranger has a companion as well, me the Mage. The Stranger is not just the god of death, but of rebirth and the natural order, all that lives must die. The followers turned them into just the god of death and erased me due to their hate of me. I am the god of magic and the supernatural, a perfect companion for the god the natural. If the Stranger had too much power then they would try to find me so they turned them into a boogieman of their faith and weakened him due to lack of prayers."
"The faith hates magic, something they can't control and that's why they hate me. After this happened several millennia ago I decided to ally with the old gods to preserve myself. They welcomed me as we both hated what the Andal had done to magic. The weirwood trees a focal points of magic after all, especially heart trees. So by the north and those beyond the wall still believing and accepting magic I was able to remain, all be it less powerful then I was. In return for me gaining this from the old gods I would have to help them from time to time. This is in part why the North remained free of Andal influence for so long."
"Now though that the dragons are gone and magic is all but erased from Westeros I am in dire need. This leads to the third bit of information you most know before I tell you what you'd have to do. You will be reborn as the one you know as Jon Snow if you accept. He is a nexus of many things and has the greatest potential to affect the world. What I need you to do is this, restore magic to prevalence in the world again. In order to help you accomplish this I will use as much power as I can to bless you with magic power and knowledge, you'll have to practice but it will be like you have a library in your head, a mindscape if you will, that you can read through as you want and increased memory to remember what you read."
The god seems to pause in their speech.
"As a result I will go into a kind of hibernation until you bring magic back to prevalence in the world. I was already heading that way due to the way the world is now but this will speed it up by about a decade. This hibernation is the first stage in the death of a god, if I do not wake in one hundred years I will began to fade and there is no coming back at that point for me. You are my last hope and so I will give you the tools I can to help you. I don't care what you do beyond this goal or how you do it, that is up to you. I only ask that you help save me by bringing magic back to prominence" the Mage finished their appeal and waited for an answer.
The soul was quite for a minute before he asked another question.
"Are all gods real in your world?" he asked.
"Most of the widely believed ones are real, but are very weak now. The events such as the Long Night and the Doom have majorly weakened most gods. Others that do have power have a noninterference policy since some of the 'Holy Wars' that have happened, as they almost always end badly for all parties involved" the Mage answered.
"All right, just needed to know if that was going to be a problem. In that case I accept. Though I do have to ask are you why my memory is the way it is?" he asked not particularly angry sounding about the memories. After all he gets to live again and with magic!
"Kind of, when I called a soul from your world that had knowledge of mine it made it so the soul had to cross the void between worlds. This area around us is the void surrounding my world, similar but different. The void between worlds can erase your memories as a kind of toll for crossing. I tried to protect your soul the best I could but in my weakened state it only left you with what you have now, and because of how they were taken there is no hope of recovery" they explained sadly.
The man sighed but accepted it, there was always a cost to things and in the end he looked on the bright side. This would be a fresh start in a way and he wouldn't miss anyone he knew in his first life since he can't remember them anyway. It's most likely for the best he decided.
He nodded to the deity to signify he's ready and the god began to chant. As they chanted a glow came from them that got brighter and brighter. When the light finally died down the soul was nowhere to be seen and the deity slowly vanished, leaving the void empty once more.
The Tower of Joy- 283 AC 8th moon.
The sound of a babes cry pierces the silence of the room of the tower. On the bed the sister of Eddard Stark, Lyanna Stark-Targaryen, lay dead in a pool of blood. The young lord was still holding her hand, having just agreed to the promise that his beloved sister asked of him, to guard her son. He was glad to see that she had heard him by the smile that would be her last expression that still rested on her cooling face. The cry of the babe drew him out of his stupor and Ned closed his sister's eyes and walked over to the wetnurse that was holding the child.
"Please, give him to me. That me hold some of the last of my kin" he beseeched the woman.
"Of course my lord" she said as she handed the babe to his uncle.
He looked at the babe and smiled as tears came to his eyes.
"I will protect you, no matter what little wolf" Ned said to the baby not expecting any reply.
However after he said that the small babe started to reach for the man, causing Ned to laugh as he gave the boy his finger to latch onto. He eventually gave the baby back to the nurse and bid her follow. He walked down the stairs of the tower and walked to where his friend, Howland Reed, was resting.
"How is she Ned?" the Reed lord asked when he saw him.
Ned just shook his head and Howland let out a mangled cry of grief for the woman he called friend. Once he regained himself he looked up and noticed the woman with a child swaddled to her chest.
"Ned, is- is that her.." he asked in reference of the newborn boy.
"Aye, he's hers. I swore to protect him, no matter what" the Stark lord told his friend.
After he said that they heard a cough and a laugh. The two Northmen looked around for the source of the sound and soon saw that one of the bodies was still moving, though seemingly incapable of getting up. Ned helped Howland up and walk over to the body. When they looked it only confirmed what they thought, Arthur Dayne lived.
Ned set the crannogman down a little away from Dayne and then proceeded to flip the Kingsgaurd onto his back. Arthur took a deep breath and coughed.
"Is the babe healthy?" were the first words out of his mouth.
While the Lord of Winterfell and Greywater Watch were questioning the sword of the morning the babe was currently thinking a million miles a second.
'I guess the tv show was right and I'm the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar. But holy shit Arthur Dayne is alive! I guess this is one of the changes in this world, but still! Now I have to think, plan. I'm just glad that my ears work and they speak in a language I can understand because I can't see for shit' the reborn man thought to himself.
When the man was reborn he woke up just has Eddard walked into the room and was able to hear the finale words of his new mother. However he soon found out that the underdeveloped baby eyes he currently has make everything he sees a blurry mess. Luckily he can hear everything and he also remembers reading at some point that his eyes are normal for a newborn, so he wasn't panicking about that. Just about the fact that the Sword of the Morning was alive.
He was listening in on the talk the three men were having and was slowly getting a sense of hope in how this would turn out for him. The talk boiled down to Arthur telling the two lords that Lyanna never was kidnapped and instead ran away with the prince to be with the man she loved, and to avoid marrying Robert Baratheon. The two wed on the aisle of faces and in front of the High Septon, who unfortunately passed on shortly after due to age. In a chest in the tower was the proof, among other things though he didn't specify what.
What really seemed to surprise the two lords was when they asked about Elia Martell. Apparently it wasn't just Rhaegar that Lyanna loved but the princess to and so they were united by their shared marriage to Rhaegar, like some of the Targaryen's of old. The line of succession was to remain the same and the three had talked about maybe giving Lyanna's babe a keep somewhere. Moving on the marriage was supposed to have been announced to the Lord Paramount of each kingdom but the letters were not sent, and Arthur knew not why. Lyanna had even left a letter in Riverrun with someone to give to her brother Brandon.
The original plan was for Rhaegar to gather support and overthrow his father to put the realm to rights, but before he could do so while Rhaegar and Lyanna were traveling in Dorne they heard the news and sought refuge in the tower after discovering she was with child. Elia wasn't with them due to her health and so she remained in Kingslanding, and turned into a hostage to use against Dorne and Rhaegar by Aerys. Then the events of the rebellion played out and left them where they are now.
When Ned brought up how he was going to protect his sisters son, by claiming him as his bastard, Arthur almost got up despite his injuries and the trace amount of poison in his system from Howland's blade he had long been given the antidote for. He was pissed to say the least, but eventually Ned and Howland talked him down. Though the shorter lord did say he didn't like it either but knew it would help keep him safe. Eventually they came to an agreement, until they reached the topic of what Arthur would do.
"I'm coming with him" the Kingsgaurd said.
"No, you're not" Ned said firmly.
Soon an argument ensued with Arthur wanting to protect his new king and the last child of his friend and Ned saying he would be to recognizable to come with. Eventually Howland gave a compromise, Arthur would stay in the neck with him for eight years and then go to Winterfell as a hedge knight looking to be a new guard. By then the heat will have died down and a simple disguise would be good enough. Arthur relented and agreed to the small lord's proposal, as did the new lord of Winterfell. Soon they started on their way to Starfall for supplies and to come back and gather the bodies. Then they'd be off.
After listening to all that the reborn babe was thinking, making plans for his immediate future. Before he could get to into it Ned asked what his sister planned to name her son.
"Jaehaerys, she said that she hoped he would be has good as his namesake and find a love just as true" Arthur said solemnly to the Stark lord.
"For now he can't go by that name, Robert and the rest of the realm would find that to odd after the war" Ned started thinking for a moment on a cover name for his nephew.
That was when Howland spoke up.
"You could call him Jon, Jon snow for the cover we have. It at least is somewhat similar to his true name, and your foster father is named Jon himself" the marsh lord suggested.
The two other men nodded at his words seeing the sense in his idea.
"Very well then" Eddard said as he looked at his nephew "he will be called Jon Snow from now until a day comes when it is safe to call him otherwise."
The now named Jaehaerys, Jon for now, soon fell asleep.
The Dreamscape of Jaehaerys.
Jae soon wake up in a large room. He instinctively knew he was asleep and this was the library the Mage had told him about. He looked down and saw he was dressed in a black robe and that he was the height of an adult, though any particulars of his appearance was unknown to him. Deciding that more than likely once he grew his body would be visible, he chose to look around.
The room was a large circular one, there were no doors and all the walls were bookshelves. The only exception was a small section of wall that was a fire place. When Jae looked up he saw no ceiling, only the walls stretching infinitely into the black sky. In the center of the room was a chair and a stand next to it. The chair was a wooden one with plush black leather, the stand made from the same dark wood.
Jaehaerys walked over and sat in the chair and then noticed the large book on the stand. He picked it up and saw it was a ledger of the library, the shocking part was that it had nigh endless pages. He looked at the index and knew he just had to point at what section of magic he wanted and it would flip to the booklist for that topic. There was also a section for recommended first reads.
Jaehaerys decided to follow the advice given to him and spoke out loud the next moment.
"Magic: A Beginners Guide to Casting. Tomes and Scrolls: A Mages Friend" he said in a voice that had no form yet.
After he spoke those names two books appeared on the table. After checking they were the right ones Jaehaerys started reading.
The North, Kingsroad some time later.
It had been some time for Jaehaerys, now Jon. He was in a wagon held by a wetnurse as they were traveling on the Kingsroad. Soon they would reach Winterfell, and he was happy for it. All the traveling was a bit much for his current age in his opinion.
The past weeks had seen him go from Dorne to Kingslanding to Riverrun and now finally heading North. In Kingslanding he briefly meet Robert and Jon Arryn, his uncle not having any real choice in the matter. His uncle knew once the two found out that he 'had a bastard' they would have to see for themselves. How Robert was friends with his uncle he would never understand, they were two different and Robert was an insensitive jackass.
Jon was being held by the same wetnurse as now and was in the throne room when Robert was told about Lyanna. While some saw a man heartbroken at the loss of his beloved due to what Jon heard from the servants later he saw it as a child mad at the loss of what he thought was his. What did the servants say? How that the same night Robert was drinking and laughing as he took three whores to bed.
Jon may not have gotten to know his mother but he was still upset at Robert's actions. If he had truly loved her he wouldn't have done that Jon felt. Regardless soon after they headed to Riverrun. There he meet Lady Catelyn Stark nee Tully for the first and so far only time. When she saw him it was after being told he was her husband's bastard, and the sneer she gave him and the words she said told him all he needed to know.
"You're an affront to me and my son, I better talk sense into that husband of mine" she had said before turning and walking off.
Evidently that talk didn't go in her favor as he was still on his way to Winterfell. That interaction made the plan that Jon had come up with more important.
He remembered the many fan stories in which Benjen was very close to Lyanna and maybe knew some of the truth. So the plan was formed to make Benjen figure out whose son he really was. This was so that hopefully he wouldn't swear himself to the wall and Jon could have some more help in Winterfell. He didn't really think he could count on Ned to much from what he remembered from the source material.
How was Jon going to accomplish this? Well after reading those two magic books and understanding how to use his magic he started to think up a plan. The plan he settled on was that when Benjen saw him he would use some magic to make his eyes look purple like a Targaryen. It was a simple spell and it should be the little nudge to make his other uncle realize the truth, hopefully.
He didn't really have another plan due to how new he was at magic and still being a baby. All he could do was hope for the best beyond that.
Jon soon heard the wagon stop and the men that were traveling with them stop as well. After that he heard a few shouts of Winterfell signaling to him they had arrived. It was also at that moment that his little baby body decided it was nap time and he soon fell asleep.
When next Jon woke he was in a nursery by himself. After looking around the best he could he saw there were no other cribs in the room and the room itself looked cold and uninviting.
'Catelyn must have had me put here so I wouldn't be around Rob' he thought to himself.
He spent the next few hour by himself, with the wetnurse stopping by about every two hours. Soon it was night and Jon heard footsteps coming to his room.
Earlier
Benjen had welcomed his brother and his new sister-in-law at the gates of Winterfell earlier that day. To be honest he wasn't sure what he felt more relief from, seeing his brother safe and sound or the fact he was no longer the 'Stark in Winterfell'. Don't get him wrong he was happy to see his brother! But he was still sad that Lyanna wasn't there as well.
When he had gotten the letter that told him his sister was dead, he had never felt more lost. While he grieved his eldest brother's and father's death, the loss of his beloved sister hit him harder then anything. He hadn't left his room for two days after being told was his sadness so encompassing, dramatic he knew but he couldn't help it. It was still a struggle to leave his bed in the morning for him.
Why was he reacting so badly when compared to his father and brother? Well of all his siblings Benjen got on best with his sister. For Brandon he was just too old to relate to the way brothers do, if he was honest Benjen thought his brother was more like an uncle to him. Brandon not only was older by a good margin but was always traveling as well and only stayed in Winterfell for a moon or two. This was due to his father and eldest brother not seeing eye to eye often.
As for his father, he was a strict man with high expectations. Benjen had heard that he wasn't always, back when his mother was alive he was almost a different man according to some of the lords. These expectations made his father and Brandon's relationship falter and strained. Benjen saw his father as a stern man with a face carved from ice and he didn't like being around him as a young boy due to that. The relationship never got better by much from there for him and his now departed sire.
With Ned it was simply that he was in the Vale for most of Benjen's life. This made it so the last two children of Rickard not truly knowing much of each other. Also Benjen never really liked Robert and thus how Ned had seemed to think the sun shone out of his ass. At least that's how Benjen saw it back at Harrenhal. Him and Lyanna had shared that opinion of their brother's relationship with the storm-lord.
However Lyanna was always there for Benjen, she was like a sister and mother in one at times for him growing up. They would spend nights like this talking in front of the fire. During this time she would often confide in him how she wasn't sure of Robert and eventually her displeasure of her would be husband after hearing about how Robert was known for whoring and sired a bastard. She had known that such a man would not settle for one woman and she liked it not, though she was still going to go through with it. Lyanna had just known she would most likely never love the man.
Then Harrenhal happened. The man had whored and groped serving women in clear view of her, he acted more like a boar then a stag she had told him. Seeing how he truly was, how he cared only for drinking, fighting, and fucking, she had become depressed at the prospect of their nuptials. She had asked their father if they could call it off but he had refused to even consider it. She had cried in his arms that night and he had sworn that he would do anything to make his beloved sister smile again.
Benjen smiled fondly as he remembered what happened after. She had come to him the night after she was crowned by Rhaegar, happy like never before. She had told him all that happened to lead up to that moment. How after she rode from the grounds the prince found out she was the knight of the laughing tree, having dressed in armor Benjen and Brandon had found while the Reed lord had found a horse. That Rhaegar had crowned her for her bravery and that he wished to write her.
Now he frowns as Benjen recalls what happened in the end. Rhaegar had heard her pleas and said he would come and met her so they could be wed. They had decided to wed in secret at first so then neither of their fathers could undo it. Benjen had helped her escape the keep by distracting the guards and bribing the stable boy to have her horse ready. He had hoped the next he saw his sister it would be as a happy princess or queen.
Sadly that had never come to pass, Brandon jumped to action and then his father had rode to get him back. Benjen had fallen with a fever at the time and hadn't known what happened till after his father had left, something he feels great guilt over. But what he feels the greatest guilt over is that he feels he is somewhat responsible for his sister's death. If he hadn't helped maybe she wouldn't have left he felt.
Regardless he was now outside the feasting hall, having left the welcome feast early not in the mood for revelry. He had since been brooding for several minutes on the past.
"Stupid Benjen, brooding is Ned's thing" he said quietly to himself chuckling afterword.
After thinking about his brother he grew curious. He had heard that his brother had a bastard son, when he first was told he thought that Robert was rubbing to much off on his brother. Now he just wanted to see his new kin, having already seen Rob who looked more Tully then Stark. So he pushes off the wall he was leaning against and headed for the room they had put the babe.
When he got to the room he noticed how cold it was and shook his head.
"That won't do" he said has he went to the hearth in the room and light the fire.
After stoking the flames for a bit he walked over to the old crib. He stood over the babe, thinking about how this tiny life was one of the four remaining members of his kin. It was as he looked down on the small and very quiet baby he noticed the eyes. The eyes seemed to flicker in the light between Stark gray and a violate-purple. That purple made the young Stark jolt when he realized what it reminded him of, the eyes that Rhaegar had the few times he saw the prince.
Once he came to that realization it was like a puzzle came together in his head. Despite Ned being friends with the stag he was far too honorable to sire a bastard, let alone have the child be around his wife. He could have just had his bastard raised by a close by bannerman, their loyalty was unquestioned and it had been done before. So why bring little Jon here? Because Jon wasn't Ned's son but Lyanna's! It made sense after all, what if the boy started to show physical traits from his true father? That could make people ask uncomfortable questions.
Benjen picked up the boy and cradled him in his arms.
"I'll protect you little nephew. I'll protect him Lyanna" he whispered to both himself and the babe as he shed tears from holding all that remains of his sister.
After a bit he put the boy down and looked at the room once more. He had already been planning on talking to Ned about it, but now he wouldn't let Lyanna's babe be treated like this. Not after by his mere existence Benjen was snapped out of his pity party, he had a reason now, a direction he felt he no longer had after his sister's death. And here he had been thinking about going to the wall! No way was he swearing himself to that penal colony when his nephew would need him.
Benjen had seen what Ned's wife looked like when the boy's name was brought up. She would not be kind to the boy and his brother wanted peace to much to challenge her treatment, this room being an example of that. Benjen walked out of the room fully intent on speaking with his brother.
Years Later.
Jon wasn't sure what his uncle Benjen had said to his uncle Ned that night, but what he did know was that he was put in the same room as Rob the next morning. As the years passed Benjen was constantly at Winterfell, despite being given a keep nearby to the south. Rumors had it the small keep was training for his uncle to later become the lord of a bigger seat, like Moat Cailin or Sea Dragon's Point but nothing had been announced yet. His uncle was still young yet.
Over the years Jon had been reading more and more books in his mental library, slowly gaining more and more knowledge on magic. Besides the eye change he hadn't done any magic since he arrived in this world. The reason being that his inexperience and young age had made the change to his eyes permeant. Now whenever the light hit his eyes right they looked purple, not at all helping the rumors that his mother was Ashara Dayne.
Now though he was four years old, or four name-days as it's called in Westeros. After studying magic whenever he slept he was ready to try some magic. That leads to where he was now, a secluded part of the Godswood far away from the view of anyone else. Jon was very glad he wasn't followed by a guard like Rob sometimes is. Catelyn's hate of him came in handy from time to time like that, she refusing to have him be guarded to same as her son when inside Winterfell's walls.
"Now to start my path" Jon said to himself before beginning to cast his first proper spell.