Fanfiction is a huge movement, but this fan took things to the next level. If you were disappointed in the final season of “Game of Thrones” like many others (myself included), grab a snack and sit down. This is worth the read!! However, if you haven’t seen the series, this contains a ton of spoilers, so watch out! Content has been edited for clarity.
Part One
First Things First
“Okay so first, a few ground rules. One, everything about the previous seasons has to remain the same, I can’t make any changes to the previous seasons, everything must stay the same up until season 8, okay, fine that’s a little bit of a lie because there are actually two things I’d change about the season before, that being S7. But these changes are to help S8 a little more. The first change being is that Edmure Tully is mentioned. After Arya reunites with Bran and when Bran mentions Arya leaving after changing her mind about killing Cersei. He can also mention Arya freed Edmure from the Twins off-screen and is gathering his remaining forces with the Frey girls help to retake Riverrun. This is basically to clear up what happened to Edmure post-S6. The second change is that the Night King, with his White Walkers, brings down the wall the same way he destroyed the forcefield at the Three-Eyed Raven cave. And this time he brings down the ENTIRE wall. He can still get Viserion but Viserion has ICE breathe instead of blue fire. Outside of these two changes though everything about the previous seasons remains the same up until S8.
Secondly, I’m making the season 10 episodes long. This one speaks for itself. S7 still has seven episodes but will be regarded as that one time they tried making the seasons shorter and failed miserably. Thirdly, since I don’t know how each characters’ fates will play out in the books, ALL the main character’s beginnings and ends (with the exception of the minor characters and not one, but TWO main characters whose fates I felt should’ve been different) must remain the same. And finally, four, if there is something I didn’t mention, that is because I liked it and there is no reason to change it.
Now that I got that out of the way, let’s begin.
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EPISODE 1: WINTER IS HERE
I am removing the back and forth where Sansa mentions she didn’t account for all of Dany’s armies and dragons to feed because she should’ve known to be prepared for that sort of thing, and it doesn’t play that big of a role in the season’s story.
After Jon tells Arya, Sansa isn’t that smart, Arya instead agrees with Jon but also tells him that she is also just trying to protect her family. Arya says she will find out why Sansa doesn’t like her new queen.
The Dragon flying scene between Jon and Dany is cut down to save on cost and budget for later, in its place are two new scenes. The first one set before the actual flying scene where after the Dothraki informs Dany the dragons are not eating properly, Arya comes up from behind and asks why they are not eating properly. Dany states she doesn’t know and then Arya can tell her about Alysanne and how when she came down North with her dragons they also didn’t eat properly and even hiss and snap when they got near the wall. She could say maybe the North’s climate could be the reason why. The second new scene is after the flying scene where after getting back to Winterfell, Varys informs Dany that Cersei has not kept her word, and she will not be sending soldiers over to help them.
The Scene between Yara and Euron on his ship is moved to before the scene of Cersei being informed of the wall falling, but also it is set below the decks of Euron’s ship. With Yara chained up down there, we get similar dialogue between but here though it is revealed that the personality that Euron has had in the show so far has been an act, a charade to trick Cersei into trusting him. His true personality is much closer to his book counterpart. He gives Yara Shade of the Evening where she gets nightmarish visions that hint to Euron’s true motivation, which in this case will be after he marries Cersei. He’ll kill her and take the Iron Throne for himself, then he will use a magical horn called Dragonbinder which Euron will bring up there. Then he would take Dany and her Dragons for himself. With a Kraken and blood sacrifice in the sea somehow involved.
The Theon rescuing Yara scene is moved to Episode Two.
When Sam reveals Jon’s true parentage the scene will play out the same, except as Jon is leaving in disbelieve we will see Bran and a Hooded figure at the entrance of the Crypts, the Hooded figure will say ‘It’s true boy’ and he’ll reveal himself to be Howland Reed (Played by Mark Hamill)
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EPISODE 2: A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS
I am removing the Sansa and Theon reunion scene because his rescue of Yara hasn’t happened yet, in fact, Theon won’t be in Winterfell at this point. So in its place will be Bran and Howland explaining to Jon that Rhaegar loved Lyanna and she loved him and that his father promised to keep this secret and him safe, Howland promised Ned he’d keep it a secret as well. With further confirmation Jon is now uncertain about who he is, this is when Bran tells him he doesn’t have to choose, he can be both a Targaryen AND a Stark.
Anyways sometime after Tormund, Beric, and Edd will arrive and inform them the Army of the Dead is coming, here maybe they can mention the symbols and Howland can ask what symbols, Jon will tell him that the White Walker’s always left symbols and such and Howland can explain they are meant to be a warning of their arrival, and it is the meant to be where they were created, Beyond the Wall in the Heart of Winter. Bran can also mention here that the Night King was created with Dragonglass.
I am also cutting out the part where Gilly talks to the little girl, not the whole scene just this one part because my version of how they protect the citizens won’t fit with this, in its place will be the Theon rescues Yara scene which goes down the same except it’s a little longer with Theon even burning half of Euron’s fleet.
Now for the battle plans, this needs work. First, when they mention putting the citizens down in the Crypt, I want Tyrion or Bran to mention that there are dead people down there, so instead Jon has any women or children who CAN’T fight put on wagons to be taken to White Harbor instead, their ships will be there to take them to the Vale, with Lord Manderly sending men up there to help deliver them all there, Jon also has his men burn all the bodies in the Crypts to prevent them from rising.
As for the actual battle plans, Well I would have everyone inside the castle. The Northerners, The Crannogmen, the Night’s Watch, most of the Wildlings, some of the Dothraki, and most of the Knights of the Vale. There would be three burning trenches, one 100 M out from the castle, the other in front of new spiked fortifications, and the third close to the castle, like in the actual episode. With Spiked fortifications at the entrance, Catapults and Ballistae’s on the walls, Trebuchets and Catapults behind the spiked fortifications (NOT at the entrance), and Infantry behind the first trench in the form of the Unsullied led by Grey Worm as well as the BWB led by Beric and Sandor, the rest of the Wildlings led by Tormund, and the rest of the Knights of the Vale led Jaime, Brienne, Yohn Royce, and Pod. With the Dothraki led by Qhono and Jorah flanking the undead from the sides and Edmure Tully (whom yes does appear and we get a short reunion between him and the Stark girls) with the men he could bring manning the fortifications in front of the third trench, with Meera, Howland, and Alys Karstark guarding Bran at the Weirwood. Bran also states there are hidden passageways in the Crypts that lead to White Harbor, so the soldiers can retreat through there, then block off a part of the passageway to prevent the dead from coming in.
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EPISODE 3: THE LONG NIGHT
Okay, the first thing I am changing; I am brightening it up a little bit, not too much but enough so that you can at least see what is going on.
I should also probably get this out of the way since the citizens who can’t fight are no longer in the Crypt, Sansa won’t be on the battlements with Arya at the beginning of the episode, maybe Gendry is instead. But also we still focus on Tyrion and co. plus the non-fighting citizens as they are transported to White Harbor, and these moments will be the downtime moments, the parts where we can take a breather, the dialogue can even remain similar to the dialogue the characters had in the Crypts. But if there HAS to be a conflict here, then maybe a few of the carriages get separated because of the storm one of whom is carrying Tyrion and co. and they have to find their way back to the others, or at least their own path to White Harbor.
Now that’s out of the way, the first act of the Episode (Sam in the Quiet to Mel lighting the Trench(es)) will remain mostly the same. The only change would be that Edd does not die right away, Pod, Edmure, and Yohn Royce die. And when Jorah and the Dothraki fight the Night King and the undead from the sides, there are NO survivors, all of the Dothraki die including Qhono, Jorah, and Ghost. Oh and they light the first trench before the undead crash into the Unsullied, but something goes wrong and only half of it is lit.
Lyanna’s death happens around the same time Brienne saves Jaime, meaning she has to choose between saving one of them and she ultimately chooses Jaime.
The Stuff with Bran is obviously different, maybe Bran can confess to Meera before he became the Three-Eyed Raven that he had feelings for her and he still kind of does. After this he goes into Warg mode to do the same as he did in the actual episode but to also bring some (not all) the animals in the North to help fight the undead (including Nymeria and her wolfpack), he also Wargs into Rhaegal to help guide Jon through the storm.
Now we reach the big change, the ending. We finally get Edd’s death which plays out the same as the actual Episode, and Jon makes it to Winterfellas Sam is pinned by Wights, and he has to choose between Bran or his friend, he ultimately heads to the Godswood forcing himself to leave Sam to die, which is where we get his death, Yep, in my version Sam dies. May he Rest In Peace.
Viserion is not in the Courtyard of Winterfellin my version, instead, he makes it to where Dany is and Dany is forced to confront the Undead Frost Breathing Viserion, Dany tries to reach out to Viserion and almost does, but the Dragon snaps right back into kill mode and nearly freezes her before Drogon comes in and saves her. The Night King makes it to the Godswood (Alys Karstark is dead by this point). Bran tells Meera her brother would be proud of her, both Meera and Howland charge at the Night King. Howland is knocked up and Meera is killed similar to how Theon was killed in the actual episode. Jon comes into the Godswood and fights the Night King one-on-one as Howland regains consciousness long enough to protect Bran from the other White Walker’s.
Then as Night King is about to kill Jon, Arya jumps down from the Weirwood, and things play out the same but when Arya stabs him, the Dagger just vibrates off him, and as he’s about to strangle Arya to death Dany on Drogon with Rhaegal come in and burn the Godswood giving Jon time to hop on Rhaegal with Howland, Arya, and Bran. Mel raises some Red-Eyed Wights of her own (mostly the animals Bran brought to help) to hold off the Army of the Dead long enough for the remaining soldiers to escape through the Crypts, which will lead them to White Harbor. The episode ends with J And D burning Winterfell to the ground to prevent anymore dead rising, and them flying off watching as Winterfell burns. The final shot will be Mel taking off her amulet as she is engulfed by flames, being burned alive.
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EPISODE IV and V: WHITE HARBOR and A DREAM OF SPRING
This is going way too long now so I am not going to go scene by scene like I originally planned, however, I will set up the beginning of Episode 4, and then afterward I would highlight the important stuff that would need to happen in my version of both Episode 4 and 5.
The episode will open in Winterfell, in the aftermath of the battle. The Night King goes into the Crypts and finds a hidden door with a hidden switch, he pulls the door open and we see both an adult and a child-sized skeleton, the Night King at this moment shows a mix of emotions, Sadness, Anger, Grief, Disgust, Frustration, and finally Vengeance. He exits and jumps on Viserion, flying off to the South. If wondering what he does since he lost most of his Wights in the battle of Winterfell he’s headed south to get more. Mainly from the Westerlands and The Reach (we even see him attack Oldtown and the Citadel). But also heads to Dorne for a new weapon, in the form of DAWN.
We cut back to J and D and co. who have made it to White Harbor to find out while Wyman got a good amount of the Winterfellcitizens (including Sansa and Varys) onto the ships to the Vale. He had almost all of his own citizens and even some of his Soldiers put on the ships, and now there is not enough room for the rest of the Winterfell citizens or the remaining forces back from the battle. Wyman explains he needed to save his people too and that they should’ve taken that too into account. He says he’ll allow them all to take shelter in White Harbor with him and all the people that weren’t able to leave.
Jon agrees and he has everyone take shelter in WH, with the rest they can’t fit in making camp right outside. Now Jon and everyone else try to figure out what to do next. We also learn Daario is in White Harbor, he was the one that sailed Mel to the North. He explains to Dany that Marreen and the Bay of Dragons is a bust. A rebellion rose up and the entire city went into chaos, with the Second Sons dividing into smaller Mercenary companies and the Slavers retaking the Bay, which leaves Dany frustrated.
Howland and Bran tell Jon they need to go to The God’s Eye in the Riverlands, he refuses at first but near the end of the episode they convince him to take them there along with Arya, Gendry, and another character we will get to in a bit.
And now this is the part where I stop going scene by scene and give the Highlights of everything that would need to happen.
For one the Theon and Sansa reunion will be moved to Episode 4, with Theon using the Iron born and Vale ships to get the rest of the forces (I’ll explain the Vale part later), as well as the Winterfell and White Harbor citizens to the Vale, and Also the scene between Jaime, Tyrion, and Bronn will happen, playing out the same way except Tyrion offers Casterly Rock instead of Highgarden.
But also here we would need to begin the foreshadowing for King Bran and Mad queen Dany (both of which I will be doing but a little differently), maybe Howland can mention to Bran some of the reasons why the greatest Kings fell or maybe something more subtle like Bran speaking with Tyrion about the state of Westeros and maybe Tyrion asking who he thinks should rule but Bran never answers. Something like that, just basically we need to establish proper foreshadowing and setup for King Bran as early as possible so it feels more earned.
We also must do the same for Mad Queen Dany. Maybe we could show more of Dany’s stress and frustrations over losing most of her army to the Undead and on top of that dealing with the Northerners STILL not trusting her after everything she has done, and on top of that finding out her lover is her nephew and someone more legitimate then she is. We could even have a similar scene between her and Jon that we had in the actual Episode 4 (but obviously with better dialogue). The peak of this could be when her remaining Dothraki decides she is Khaleesi no more, cutting off her braids and hair (making her looks more like her book counterpart) and riding off into the North without her (with these Dothraki NEVER seen again). Which combined with everything else could be what officially begins her slow descent into madness instead of just “Oh my Nephew Won’t Bone me”.
Furthermore, Episode 4 needs to be the downer episode, whereas Episode 5 (the final Episode in the White Walker conflict) needs to be the more upbeat and victorious Episode, In Ep 4 the heroes are at their lowest point, Dany has officially begun her slow (and I mean SLOW) decent too madness, with her relationship with Jon stained by his lineage and even considers rekindling with Daario. Jon does not know what to do, Gilly is mourning Sam and angry with Jon for leaving him to die. Arya is having panic attacks and nightmares now that she realizes she fears death. The Northerners and Unsullied and Wildlings keep getting into fights with one another, with Jon having to intervene, Howland Grieving over Meera, etc. Meanwhile at the Vale Sansa tries to convince Robin and the other political members of the Vale to send extra ships to get the others, but they don’t want to as they fear the Dragon Queen and in Robin’s case just because.
Now there would be some bright lights in this episode, such as Tormund comedically trying to cheer up both Gilly and Little Sam; Arya and Gendry’s romance (maybe they even chase each other with Davos or Sandor catching them); and Brienne and Jaime hooking up like the actual Ep 4, but for the most part this would be the dark point. Oh, and also Jon can ask Howland what his mother was like and his reply speaks for itself. Oh and maybe Jon meets a Wildling girl and begins forming a friendship with her, this can be the show version of Val.
I would also use this opportunity to check back up on Cersei. We learn that the son of Lord Blackmont has taken Sunspear and has become the new Prince of Dorne, with House Blackmont (the new rulers of Dorne) swearing allegiance to Queen Cersei and House Lannister. This pleases Cersei who has started to become a little more mad and paranoid, more than usual actually. We see glimpses of this with her burning innocent people in front of the Smallfolk and painting the victims as bad to win her people over and show her torturing Septa Unella even more. We also learn that Qyburn has been trying to make Wights of his own from the hand he got last season but has not been very successful. and Euron ‘vows’ to Cersei that they will defeat their enemies even with half his fleet gone, and he sails off with the Golden Company to take Storm’s end for her.
By the end of Episode 4 though, Sansa convinces Robin and the other political members of the Vale to send more ships via the skills she learned from Little Finger. These ships combined with Theon’s ships are enough to get everyone else to the Vale with Theon staying in the North to go with Bran to the God’s Eye and Wyman Manderly staying to go down with WH; J and D make up- for now. Howland and/or Sandor convince Arya to face her to not let her fears get to her, Gilly forgives Jon, and Bran still does not know who the Night King is or how he was created. But he and Howland discover that in order to defeat the Night King they must first destroy his place of origin, The Heart/Altar of Winter.
Episode 4 would end with J and D taking Bran, Howland, Arya, Jaime, Brienne, and Theon (who left to White Harbor to help ship off everyone) to the God’s Eye and then afterward they plan on going to the Heart of Winter taking Tormund, Val, Gendry, and a few Redshirts with them. The final shot would be Night King attacking Starfall and retrieving DAWN, then with his new army from Westerlands and the Reach flies off to the God’s Eye.
This would be our setup for Episode 5, as it begins with J and D dropping Bran and co. off at the God’s Eye as they leave to the Heart/Altar of Winter. There they run into the Children of the Forest there and Bran connects to the Weirwood’s there. But we don’t learn what he does until much later in the season. Howland and Jaime can have an exchange here where Howland can maybe tell Jaime at the end that he is a good man. Shortly after Bran finishes doing what he does we can then have our exchange between Bran and Theon where he tells Theon that everything he did lead him here, Theon then states he wishes there was another way to defeat the Undead. Bran then begins to think, and then goes back into the Weirwood. He goes back to the Tower of Joy to try and convince Howland not to kill Arthur Dayne and that he must live so that the evil won’t get DAWN, but Howland mistakes it for the wind and kills Arthur anyway, with Ned giving the finishing blow. Then Bran goes further back and tries to warn the Mad King of the coming threat, but it goes horribly wrong and the Mad king goes…well…Mad. He gets out of the Weirwood with his Nose bleeding.
Meanwhile, Jand D and co. make it to the Heart/Altar of Winter, they first destroy the Altar (the place where Craster’s babies were turned into White Walker’s). Gendry smashes it with his hammer which destroys the magic within it, allowing Rhaegal to melt whatever is left of it. Then they move to the Heart of Winter (where the Night King was first created), they begin burning but it will take a while due to the magic and the tree being solidly frozen. J And D and co. wait while the dragons do their thing, however, they get attacked by Wights, White Walkers, and the White Walker versions of Craster’s children. They have to hold them off, and this is where we get the death of Tormund Giantsbane.
Meanwhile while Arya reunites with Nymeria and whatever is left of her pack. Bran goes back again this time trying to warn Bran the Builder of what happens. While he is successful and even inspires him to build the wall, it’s still not enough. so he goes back even further to the God’s Eye in the previous Long Night to find out how he was stopped the first time. The Night King notices and he returns to the present this time with his Nose, Ears, and Eyes bleeding. The Night King with his new army arrives and Arya, along with Jaime, Brienne, Nymeria + her remaining Wolfpack, and the children hold them off, but back in the Center of the Eye some of the children have turned on them, stating that humanity is not worth saving and the world Is better off with the NK. Howland, Theon, and the Pro-Life children fight off the Pro-Night King children. The Night King eventually gets into the God’s Eye with Jaime and Brienne pinned by Viserion and Howland turned into a White Walker by the NK, Bran tells Theon he is a good man and he goes back into the Weirwood.
This time going further into the past and Warging into a First Man to go warn the Children of the White Walker’s before they even create them. They don’t listen to him and they tie and gauge him to a tree. Bran then tries to leave the body but he is unable to, he has gone too far into the past. As Leaf Plunges the Dragonglass into the man, he starts to merge with the Man’s mind, and the two become one as he finally begins to understand.
It’s revealed that Aegon wasn’t the first Valyrian to set foot on Westeros. Long ago a Valyrian Prince and his Dragon got lost and ended up in the North where he fell in love with a First Men Chief’s Daughter. The Chief found out and killed both his Daughter and the Prince’s Dragon, With the Prince fleeing further North and the Chief keeping their child as his own. The child grew up and was considered an outcast, however, found and fell in love with a woman who was half-Human, Half-Child of the Forest with Silver Hair (his half-sister that his father had with a Child of the Forest). The others found out and imprisoned his wife and child, banishing him further North (with Winterfellbeing built above the prison). This is why he wants to blanket the world in a forever darkness, as revenge for taking everything he loved away from him, but there’s more. He also wants to kill Bran and all the Three-Eyed Raven as revenge for causing him to become what he is and to prevent Bran from returning to his body.
Night King walks up to Theon, and Theon stands his ground but is no match and falls to the Night King. Night King and Bran (now with blue White Walker eyes) stare at one another. As Jaime and Brienne scream at the Night King to give Arya time to get to the God’s Eye, and as the Night King pulls out DAWN and is about to kill Bran, the dragons finally destroy the Heart of Winter. All the Wights including Viserion collapse, and the Night King feels mortal. Then Arya jumps out from behind and the Night King stops her. But either it’s too late and Arya has already stabbed him in the chest with Catspaw. Or Arya is unable to do it and Theon stabs Night King from behind with Dragonglass and then falls to his death.
Either way, the Night King explodes into a million pieces of ICE as well as his Kingsguard. Bran returns to his body with his eyes turned back to normal. All the White Walker’s turn back to human form, and the Red God magic extinguishes (but more on why that last one happens later). The episode ends with the now turned human White Walker’s looking on into a hopeful sunrise, finally free to live their own lives.”
To Be Continued
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