FALLEN CROWN | ROBB STARK

I'm Sorry

I'm sorry. I won't be continuing with Fallen Crown.

I started writing this story when the idea came to me of what would have happened if Robb had already been married. There's also the fact that I had wanted to do a story with a Martell OC but none of my other ideas worked. When I joined the ideas, Vitoria began to be fleshed out and this story was born. I based her off of many women who were prominent in European history. They were primarily English women, especially from the time of the Wars of the Roses, but French and Italian women were also my basis for her.

Vitoria's character was born from my admiration of many women throughout history and my wish to see a different OC to the ones I had been reading in Robb/OC stories. Most of the time the OC is a warrior who goes to war with Robb or she meets him and they fall in love during the war. I wanted a character who was wholly different than that.

I've read many stories where Robb's love interest is like Arya and while, being from Dorne, that would be believable, I still wanted her to be different. I wanted her to be a contradiction. Fierce, but soft; unyielding yet gentle. I tried to make her a mix of Arya and Sansa, while still making her realistic with her upbringing. I won't say that I did, because if I'm honest, I think that I failed in that. And I also failed to portray Vitoria as I wanted her to be — a shrewd young woman who'd been jaded by the hand life dealt her.

I had a review saying how they expected more from the story, considering Vitoria is "politically astute" and that they were not impressed. I'm sorry. I do also sometimes look back and wish I had written something else or that I had deleted a part of the story, perhaps. But as much as Vitoria believes herself to be politically savvy or as much as Robb believes this, Vitoria was sixteen when she left Dorne. Hers is a case of believing you are an adult when you are still a child.

The relationship between Vitoria and Robb was always meant to be twisted and complicated. I never got to show how twisted they were; how twisted I imagine them to be, but I do think I managed to show at least a bit of how complicated their relationship was.

I failed in so many ways with how I wanted to portray Vitoria and that is why I will be rewriting the story.

Its name will change. It will now be called Northern Sun. I have a list of ideas written down and some scenes ready, but many things will change concerning their relationship and the story in itself. I do think that I will not post it at least until I've reached the Red Wedding in the books. As of right now, I'm reading A Clash of Kings, so hopefully I will be writing it before the year ends. Most likely, I will take down Fallen Crown once the first chapters have been posted.

I have more ideas for Vitoria. The one I'm most advanced with is here below and I'll probably publish it after finishing one or two arcs of Northern Sun.

Build My Throne: AU. What if Jon Arryn had lived a few years longer? Explores a different Westeros and a different war.

I'm thinking of it, not as a fully-fledged story, but a series of one-shots, all in chronological order and all related.

I don't know if I'll post Build My Throne or Northern Sun first, if I'm honest. I've written for both of them. I'll expand more on some backstory for