Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic - ASOIAF/GOT

Chapter 1 - Living as a Bastard.

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This story is a fanfic with no intention of interacting with the original content or for profit. Except for some OCs, all characters and the universe belong to George R. R. Martin. Just a way to satisfy my creativity.

Jon Snow POV
North, Winterfell, 289 AC (After Conquest).
Slowly opening the lids of my eyes, I yawned and rubbed my hands on my face. I turned my head toward the open window and still saw no sign of dawn, so I thought to myself, 'it would be just another day in my life as a bastard.'

"My life..." just thinking about it, I couldn't deny the feeling of a hole within me. An eight-day-old boy by name, leading a cruel lifestyle to the point of reflecting his own existence in this way. My name is Jon Snow, and I live my life as the bastard of Winterfell, or at least I try, since the world is cruel to bastards. In Winterfell, if people ignored me like air, I would have a much better life, but that's not the reality. I have a loving but absent father due to his work as the Warden of the North, the region with the largest expanse that can match the size of most kingdoms combined. On the other hand, the North is the poorest and least populous kingdom, due to its extreme environment. Farming is very challenging, and life has always been harsh, with cold, hunger, not to mention beasts, plagues, and bandits.

In winter, it's much worse, as it can last for years, and its cruelty is tens of times worse than summer in the North. My father doesn't have the luxury to spend as much time as he would like with me and my siblings, as he has to keep this kingdom running and maintain balance as much as possible. I grew up in Winterfell alongside my brother Robb; we were inseparable before, even with his mother doing everything to keep us apart, and even though I envied him for being a true Stark, I still loved him and did my best to help him. However, the reality of being a bastard speaks louder. After our father went to the Greyjoy Rebellion war two years ago and brought a Greyjoy boy, Theon Greyjoy, as his prisoner, Robb quickly bonded with the boy and distanced himself from me, as Greyjoy wasted no time insulting my bastard status. At first, he no longer wanted my company, which at the time made me cry whole nights, leading me to seek help and affection from an imaginary mother I didn't even know existed.

I could go to father to cry, but that would only make Lady Catelyn hate me more and make my life even more of a hell, as she always does when I do something she doesn't like. But with all this happening, soon my heart began to harden, as I lost one of the few pillars that would make me want to live a life in Winterfell, which was until then, my brother Robb, and his change of attitude didn't help me much. A while after he distanced himself, he began treating me like someone beneath him, openly calling me a bastard and how my presence was an insult to him and his mother, just like the Greyjoy that motivated him to act this way. I had my proud skills with the blade, and in the last two years, I had to contain them, as I couldn't afford to have more retaliation against me.

I've always been better than Robb with the sword, but if I were to defeat him in public, I'd have a week of hell behind me. Lady Catelyn would do everything to sow chaos upon me during that week in revenge, just because I showed any talent superior to her eldest son, which I personally found petty. So, I ended up letting Robb win; this always resulted in Lady Catelyn's comments that a bastard will never beat a legitimate son. Of course, this didn't happen when Father was around, and Robb followed his example, saying he's always superior to my skills as a swordsman, something I learned to ignore over time.

My sister Sansa didn't help much with this life a few years ago either. We were very close as children, used to play, Robb, Sansa, and I. Robb played the role of the villain, and I played the knight who would save Sansa, who was the princess in the tower. However, this didn't continue a few years later. After learning about my bastard status and desperately wanting her mother's approval, she began to distance herself and insult me. Soon, she avoided me everywhere and didn't even look at me anymore. Her only words regarding me were how I was a stain on the family and how I shouldn't even come near her, let alone talk to her. When Lady Catelyn witnessed such situations, I always saw her smiling.