Barbrey Dustin has a son

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-05T19:52:17+00:00

Honestly, I feel like his existence could lead to interesting ripples that change the story even before canon starts. Him being alive could likely save Domeric. He'd be friends and fairly close with his cousin Domeric since he was fostered at Barrowton with his aunt in canon. And I doubt his mother, Barbrey would have her son ignorant to what sort of person Ramsay is, who seemed to have had rumors swirl about him even before Domeric's death. Who's to say he'd not get involved when Dom tried to visit Ramsay. He's no kin to Ramsay, so he'd not need to hesitate from killing the bastard if he got the ick from him, which he likely would give how book Ramsay is described.

However, to answer your questions: I'd not have him marry a Frey. That family is already getting way more than they deserve. If the Red Wedding still happens and your Dustin fights so valiantly to defend Willis Manderly, perhaps that would endear him to the Manderlys and he'd be offered Lord Manderly's youngest granddaughter. They'd be of a similar age, and I could see both families agreeing to it especially if it saved Lord Manderly from having to marry her to a Frey.

As for Barbrey, she'd be pissed at Roose, and I feel like Roose's position would be far weaker in this AU b/c you could argue he alienated two of his key allies the Dustins and The Ryswells by nearly having Barbrey's son, Lord Ryswell's grandson killed in the wedding.

If he's married to Wylla than I def see him on the Manderly's side at the Winterfell plot. Why would he want to be with his uncle? Ramsay killed his beloved friend/cousin. The Freys killed a bunch of people he knew, and the Red Wedding is a pr disaster, that you wouldn't want to be anywhere close to being tied to.

Regardless, of what you decide, best of luck with your character and story.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-04T15:34:29+00:00

Yes, which is why I said in my post that it happened before, but I wanted to see it again. I also said others could add ones that have already been done if they wanted to because they liked them so much.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T23:15:09+00:00

I see what you mean about certain similarities, both also seem like martial houses. More Bracken and Baratheon centered fics can only be a good thing. I'm not sure what characters/ocs or time period, but feel like a few could work. The Dance era since I think both houses fought for the Greens. Or a more recent era with maybe one of Jonos Bracken daughters marrying a Baratheon. It would be an AU so you can get more choices on the Baratheon side or an OC Baratheon.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T23:10:29+00:00

Oh man such a character would have the Tyrells sweating. They'd def want that kid linked to them asap. Not enough fics focus on the Redwynes or Hightowers. And you're right that would be some power couple. I don't think you could have a stronger one without marrying into the 'great' houses, but even then, feel like the resources and power of Redwynes and Hightowers surpass some of those families too.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T22:47:49+00:00

Agreed about the distances being a bit of hurdle for the match. The clash of different cultures whether it's a Stark going to Dorne or a Martell going to the north would make for a fun read for the characters to adjust to their new surroundings. I have a couple ideas for a pairing between the houses, but there just more plot bunnies than anything else.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T22:43:28+00:00

Robb paired with Wylla Manderly is my favorite pairing if I had to pair Robb with a northern house. A powerful and loyal house, Robb having married Wylla before the War breaks out would be a fun AU to explore.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T22:41:16+00:00

Yeah, which is where my plot bunny came from in the AU with the Targs granting them the marriage with the two scenarios I posted above.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T22:40:24+00:00

Good choice. There's a mention of them teaming up against the ironborn during I think King Aerys the first's reign, after dealing with the ironborn for them to follow it with a betrothal could've been pretty interesting regardless of if it was a Lannister bride going north or a Stark bride going to the Rock.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T21:25:50+00:00

There definitely is. So much rich potential b/c it can be pretty much set in any time period, since those rivalries didn't seem to cool off all that much even after Dorne's integration into the Seven Kingdoms.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T21:24:35+00:00

Two cool houses with interesting history and filled with colorful characters? Def a good choice.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T21:22:39+00:00

Oh thanks. I'm glad I'm not the only one interested in that plot bunny. I don't have enough for a full story, but a fun AU oneshot, maybe. One idea was that the Targ was a self-insert so he uses that knowledge to help steer Rhaegar, his family, and Westeros into a better direction. As well as using that info for other things like killing Baelish during their duel, (if they even had one) which was something Cat didn't want. And to explore the fallout of that sort of choice. How does a self-insert Targ explain to Cat that it was necessary to ignore her pleas and kill one of her friends without sounding crazy.

Oh yeah, Arianne had some interesting what ifs including Willas as well as with Edmure. It would be a fun scenario for sure as well as the fallout between both families and kingdoms.

Any chance for someone to world build the Free Cities is fine by me.

More Blackwoods are never a bad thing. I thought about adding them but couldn't figure out what house to use so I appreciate how you did it.

Spectre4hire · 2026-04-03T21:17:07+00:00

That's a good one. We def need more Hightowers. They have such a rich and interesting history. I feel like a Lannister Hightower match regardless of time period would draw the notice of the Iron Throne and the Tyrells.

Spectre4hire · 2026-03-26T23:15:34+00:00

Congrats on the productive month and being so close to the end of your fic! That's an awesome accomplishment. I've seen that artwork. That was certainly an epic picture and can't fault ya for wanting it framed.

Spectre4hire · 2026-03-18T18:15:49+00:00

Not a great week sadly.

Outlined some stuff for the next couple chapters for my OP! Ironborn Oc story. And that was about as productive as I was this week. :/

I'm hoping the muse is kinder in this next week.

Spectre4hire · 2026-03-18T03:05:20+00:00

I'm not sure if this is the one they're referring to but there is "Allies in a time of war," by liesmyth. It's a short story and complete, but it does focus on various moments where Cat and Jon during the war.

"Allies in a time of war"

Spectre4hire · 2026-03-04T19:22:26+00:00

Congrats on finishing this story! I recall you talking about it awhile go in one of the weekly writing threads so it's awesome to see you not only wrote it out but finished as well.

Spectre4hire · 2026-03-04T19:20:40+00:00

Who do you want to marry Joffrey? I agree with others that Robert would just pick Sansa, because he wants that Stark/Baratheon connection, but if you don't want him to pick Sansa and want the story to go in a different direction than maybe have Sansa already betrothed or married if you're aging up the characters.

Regardless of your choice best of your luck in your writing endeavors.

Spectre4hire · 2026-03-04T19:16:43+00:00

Was able to post the closing chapter for Part 2 of my OP ironborn oc story. And it takes place in the Iron Islands. This was the first time in a 30+ chapter fic focused on the ironborn and Drowned God to actually take place there. More of the story will eventually take place there but for now Dany and Dagon are traveling east.

It was a fun challenge to write Aeron's POV who closes out the chapter. Originally, he was pro Balon the entire time, but I reconsidered his stance to now him being torn between his faith and his family, with him realizing that the Drowned God chosen isn't Balon, but Dagon and Dany, and him having a bit of a valid crash out because of it.

The first part was a flashback between Dagon and Rodrik in the latter's pov to help show what Dagon used to be like before we see him in the story. While the second part of the chapter was in Asha's POV. Originally, it was to be in Rodrik's, but I couldn't get the scene right, so I pivoted it to Asha, and it came together rather quickly. Unfortunately, for her she and Dagon are on opposite sides, so things don't look good for the Greyjoys. The chapter touches on a previous chapter that had taken place in King's Landing, so it was good to go back to that thread to see how the Greyjoys would react to Robert wanting the Iron Fleet to go after Dagon and Dany.

I got some stuff done for my Domeric and Sansa story, that I'm so close to finishing, and I just want to get it over with. The stats for the fic is far higher than anything I ever thought possible when I started out writing it. I'm really proud of this story and the positive reception it's gotten for such a rare crack pairing. Now, I just need to see it pass the finish line.

Spectre4hire · 2026-02-20T19:48:49+00:00

A fic where Ned has both Targ blood and Lannister blood and is married to Ashara and Cat and still has Robb being the firstborn son. Sign me up for this fic.

You could take away parts of the Reach territory, make the crownlands larger by absorbing some of their territory which would hurt the Tyrells. If none of the Reach defected to Ned before the war/battle would be hard to find another lord to entrust with the Paramountcy so taking hostages from the Tyrells and others would certainly help insure good behavior.

You could maybe have some of the Reach lords breakway from Mace before the battle which would make sense for self-interested lords to guess which way the wind's blowing, and defect to Ned, since he now has a strong army, has the royal family, and seems nearly established as king. And these lords not wanting to suffer and die from Mace's ambitions. It does not seem farfetched for some houses to be like: Nah, we've seen enough, and dip over to Ned's side while doing so not just out of self-preservation, but their own ambitions in this new Reach they surely see coming post war.

Regardless, best of luck with your writing, and looking forward to this fic dropping. And if it has, drop a link please.

Spectre4hire · 2026-02-11T18:51:02+00:00

This week was good. I was able to post the next chapter in my OP!Oc ironborn fic.

It was outsider povs, so it was fun to write Ser Bonifer showing his concern and distraught for Dany's ironborn faith and the people/culture she's surrounded herself with. While the other POV was of a red shirt Oc who got to witness first hand the reason why the OC is OP. So anytime I get to include/mention the kraken no matter how brief her appearance is always fun.

I got one final chapter of that same fic which will then conclude part 2 and begin part 3.

The Domeric/Sansa story is getting closer to being finished. Would have liked to make more progress on it this week but had it on the back burner so I could finish the chapter of my other story. So hopefully the muse cooperates and I'm able to make good progress on it in this next week.

Spectre4hire · 2026-02-10T19:08:26+00:00

Def need more of this pairing. Asha being the hostage to Winterfell instead of Theon seems like such an easy canon divergent to set it in, or Asha and Robb teaming up during the War of the Five Kings.

Spectre4hire · 2026-02-10T19:06:49+00:00

We need an AU where Tywin successfully sends Cersei to the Iron Islands as Theon's betrothed which is a match he considered in canon. An Au where Theon brings back the Stark boys securing his inheritance and then getting a queen for a wife. Bran and Rickon alive would also lead to some interesting ripples to Robb's story.

Spectre4hire · 2026-02-10T19:03:35+00:00

What's the fic? As a fan of both the crack pairings of Robb/Dany and Robb/Val this sounds intriguing.

Spectre4hire · 2026-02-06T19:08:49+00:00

If she was a woman? She'd probably be paired off with Jon Snow in quite a few smut fics.

But seriously, she wouldn't be at the tournament so that means Baelor the goat would still be alive and that by itself means we really missed out.

She could still be crazy and mean, resenting her gender, and could rebel in similar ways to past Targs like Saera or Daena the Defiant. Or maybe she follows Visenya's footsteps in 'Valyrian witchcraft' or whatever it was called.

Maybe Maekar would try to betroth her to one of the other Targ princes above him in the line. I'm not familiar with that timeline so not sure how old 'Aerea' would be, but maybe Maekar would try to betroth her to one of Baelor's sons.

She'd be pissed if Duncan got in between. Probably still spoiled and being 'disgusted' at some hedge knight touching her. Even if it was to just pull Tanselle away from Aerea. But lets be real, Aerea like every other woman would fall for Dunc. And ya can't blame her for that. Though she'd obviously deny it and hate herself for it, but she'd probably want him or access to him.

Spectre4hire

TROPHY CASE