Happy Ending Small Council (crackpot?)

[falcotron]

I actually think we may get a Valyrian style form of government at the end, this will be something Dany learns about in Essos and brings over.

I'm not sure how Valyria's government worked, but presumably it was something vaguely like the late-era Roman Empire, in the same way that Westeros's is vaguely like post-Norman England... in which case it doesn't seem very likely, or a very good idea.

On the other hand, the northern Free Cities seem to have forms of government that are both better, and more applicable to current Westeros. Especially Bravos, which is portrayed like a cross between late medieval Venice and golden age Amsterdam, so Dany could be their William III, like Aegon was their William I. Although Pentos seems a more likely place for Dany to learn ideas and/or pick up adminstrators, and you want her to be Queen, not Arya, right?

[joluoto2]

Mine would be

King: fAegon, and he would be as fake as fake can be

Queen: Myrcella Baratheon, to add to the fakeness, a fake king, a fake queen

Hand of the King: Jaime Lannister, better have a hand of GOLD, if you're to be hand.

Whispers: Varys, the spider in the webb, you can never completely get rid of him

Coin: Illyrio, because for some mysterious reason he sell his whole trade empire and move to Westeros to count copper

Law: Ilyn Payne, because the law is mute, or was it lame? or deaf? or blind? Perhaps ALL the things!

Ships: Aurane Waters, because appointing a known pirate can't go wrong in any way, and why learn from Cersei's mistakes?

Archmaester: Marwin the Mage, because he seems like a trustworthy fella

LC of KG: Jaime Lannister, he already have the job, and he's on the Council because of his GOLDEN hand anyways.

[Davos's left thumb]

Just to clarify a few things:

This is based on a lot of assumptions that could be completely wrong:

-Jon Dany and Tyrion being the 3 heads of the dragon

-IT and small council still remain

-the way George selects his POV characters. If there is a link to an interview or something from him talking about how/why he chooses whose POV to use, please point me in that direction.

Another point I wasn't entirely clear on: when I say "good guys" I'm referring to characters that people root for. Most people probably have at least 1 POV character they root for. These are the characters who you may love or hate, but on some level you feel for them because you've been inside their head. I understand they are all good and bad (morally grey) to different extents.

Also, I understand that there are non POV characters that a lot of people root for as well. I could be wrong but it seems Stannis has the biggest non-POV following.

I wasn't trying to equate ASOIAF with LOTR. I know they are entirely different. The good vs evil battle is far less clear in ASOIAF. I was just using an example (admittedly not the best) of the characters that readers root for winning in the end while still being an exciting and surprising story even if the outcome is predictable. The outcome of ASOIAF is far more unclear and will shock us all regardless of how it ends. Just trying to point out that, as unlikely as it may be, a "happy ending" is possible (obviously, not for everybody).

Another distinction I'd like to make is that in LOTR, a happy ending is expected. In ASOIAF it would be pretty shocking.

Back to my original thoughts:

I basically selected a "dream team" of POV characters that can't all win the throne but could still play a part in ruling based on their strengths.

Jon - the chosen one, royal blood, embodiment of ice and fire whose number one goal and motivation is to protect the realms of men

Dany- empathetic queen/mother

Tyrion - hard to sum up in few words. Idk of the chapter/page counts for all te characters but it seems these 3 get the most attention. Also if Tyrion is a targ, then GoT is entirely Starks and targs (ice and fire) The 3 heads, king queen and hand.

Bran (where all of these thoughts started) would make the best master of whisperers possible

Sam - knowledge

Stannis - justice, a good leader and pragmatic man but not necessarily the best king.

Davos - ships, sea, makes sense

I'm not sold on all of these but the idea of bran being the master spy to eye out threats and giving names to "no one" just seems like it would be neat.

All of these characters getting along is a long shot based on the past. But to win the throne, save, and eventually rule the kingdoms, alliances are gonna have to be made won't necessarily be any of these). The least likely to ally out of the characters I mentioned, in my opinion, are stannis/Davos with Tyrion after te wildfire. Who knows maybe they'll acknowledge he did a good job protecting the crown/capital and could be useful in holding the wall as well. Besides they all have common enemies: the others and the lannisters. Tyrion killed tywin. Id say that gives him some major points with anyone who hates te lannisters.

Thanks everyone for te replies and feel free to keep em coming, whether you want to dismiss these ideas or present your own, I'm happy to hear what you have to say.

[Batbob45]

Queen- Shireen

King-Rickon

Hand-Davos( if he lives), Tyrion( he was not a bad hand but Joffrey didn't listen.)

Whispers- Doran( he has sources)

Coin- Ayra Stark

Law- Bronze Yohn

Ships-Asha Greyjoy

Archmaester: Pylos- he would be better than Pycelle

LC Of Kingsguard-Jaimie(He reform and didn't like that Joffrey told the kingsguard to hurt Sansa )

[falcotron]

Queen- Shireen

King-Rickon

Is this for an epilogue many years later, or are you going to have a regent, or will Rickon rule the kingdom by judging all court cases based on who draws better unicorns?

Also, you listed the Queen first. Are they co-regnants, or Shireen as Queen Regnant and Rickon just a consort? Or, most interestingly Shireen as Queen Consort but also Regent over Rickon until he comes of age? (Imagine growing up, married to an older woman since you were a little kid, and she's been running your life the whole time...)

Coin- Ayra Stark

I think I'll avoid directly handling any coins in Westeros. :)

Archmaester: Pylos- he would be better than Pycelle

Balerion the cat would be better than Pycelle. Not a bad choice, but you could come up with a better argument than this.

Anyway, overall, mostly good people, and a nice way to get most of the disputing factions' hands in the till, so they have less to fight over, but you're going to have to watch the Tyrells.

[The Mother of The Others]

I'd like a happy ending castle. maybe at StormsEnd with Gendry and Hot Pie and the gang together laughing at Arya's lack of grace as she tries to navigate the stairs in her new dress and then she trips and rips off the lower portion of it that's preventing her from walking so she can walk over to the table to lovingly faux-choke one of her crew with the swath of torn fabric. Something like that as a sign-off.

[SkaggCannibal]

Master of Laws: Stannis (He is the definition of justice. Will acknowledge that Jon and Dany's claim is stronger than his. He had the strongest claim in the war of the 5 kings, but Jon and Dany's claim can be traced back throughout the history of the 7 kingdoms. Robert was a usurper. Stannis acknowledges that Jon and Dany will make good rulers and one of them is the true Azor Ahai)

You ask to be gentle, then you say this. How is the claim of a bastard any stronger than the one of Stannis? He's still Rhaegar's bastard if not Ned. And Daenerys, daughter of the Mad King. There has never been allowed a female Targaryen on the IT, her claim is not that strong. And Stannis' claim can be traced back throughout the history of the 7 kingdoms just as much as Dany's or Jon's, he's as much a decendant of Aegon as they are (slightly less incestious). Robert was an usurper like Aegon the Conqueror was. And Jon and Dany last try at ruling have left the places they ruled in the worst condition they have ever been in. I'd say Stannis will never acknowledge they would make better rulers, because they wouldn't.

But the rest of your post was a nice read. I'm not gonna list my crackpot Small Council because I seriously have no idea. But I would like to have Shireen as Queen in the end, helped by Davos as Hand and Regent and maybe Rickon as king-consort.

[Batbob45]

Loras would be in the kingsguard- he hate Stannis but he has no reason to hate Renly's niece

Shireen and Rickon would be co rulers

[Davos's left thumb]

You ask to be gentle, then you say this. How is the claim of a bastard any stronger than the one of Stannis? He's still Rhaegar's bastard if not Ned. And Daenerys, daughter of the Mad King. There has never been allowed a female Targaryen on the IT, her claim is not that strong. And Stannis' claim can be traced back throughout the history of the 7 kingdoms just as much as Dany's or Jon's, he's as much a decendant of Aegon as they are (slightly less incestious). Robert was an usurper like Aegon the Conqueror was. And Jon and Dany last try at ruling have left the places they ruled in the worst condition they have ever been in. I'd say Stannis will never acknowledge they would make better rulers, because they wouldn't.

But the rest of your post was a nice read. I'm not gonna list my crackpot Small Council because I seriously have no idea. But I would like to have Shireen as Queen in the end, helped by Davos as Hand and Regent and maybe Rickon as king-consort.

Yes they all have traces of Targ blood. Jon and Dany's is more incestuous (and more direct). As far as them being good rulers, Dany is fucking up. No argument there. However, this is all tying into another assumption I've made that Jon and Dany will save Westeros from the others. Making people respect them and kneel to them acknowledging that saving the world should give you a better claim to the throne than who your father is. I do think Stannis and Mel will help in the fight tho, as they will have to team up to defeat the "greater evil" which could result in them all getting along and ruling together in the end. Dany aside, I think Stannis definitely respects Jon. One specific example I can think of is after Jon decapitates Janos, he looks to Stannis who just gives him a nod as if to say "nice work" or "I approve." I don't think it's Jon's fault that the Wall is in the worst condition it's ever been. I think Dany still has the potential to redeem herself. And an important thing here is these "attempts" at ruling, although they are failures, could be valuable learning experiences.

I like Stannis. I want him to live in the end and be part of the "justice league" but I don't think the general public wants him as their king. I don't have direct quotes but I know its mentioned that people are unlikely to "love" Stannis as their king. I tried to keep the "winners" to the "main" POV characters but just kinda plugged Stannis in for fun. Personally, I'd rather see Dany die but I just think she will somehow find a way to redeem herself.