the_wavesinger | [5k letter] (Reply)

Dear Fandom5k Author,

This is the first time I’m doing an exchange in over a year, and I’m so excited!

If you want to know more about me, you can find me on AO3 The_Wavesinger, and Tumblr the-wavesinger. My previous exchange letters are all in this tag.

Some of my prompts are far longer than others, but this in no way indicates a preference for a particular fandom/character/ship. I’m just lazy and C&P’d most of my prompts from other letters so the length of the prompts is solely dependent on my old letters and nothing else.

Navigation

DNWs

General Likes

A Song of Ice and Fire

Chronicles of Narnia

Doctor Who

Game of Thrones

Non-ASOIAF Westeros Books

The Lord of the Rings

The Shoes of the Fisherman

The SIlmarillion

The West Wing

DNWs:

Horror.
Zombies, vampires, werewolves etc unless specifically requested.
Gore, necrophilia.
Torture of animals. (Humans/humanoids/other sapients being tortured is more than fine!)
Graphic descriptions of nausea/vomiting (i.e. anything beyond “X was feeling nauseated/threw up”).
Reader inserts.
Unrequested depowered/non-powered AUs, unrequested modern AUs.
A/B/O
Crossovers/fusions between fandoms I haven't asked for. (Crossover within any fandom in my letter or previous exchange letters, along with mythology and folklore, are more than fine!)
Age regression, de-ageing, or, unless requested, AUs in which one character is suddenly older than a previously older-than-them character (ageswap?).
Girl!penis. (Trans characters are fine, but not cis women possessing penises.)
For this exchange, PWPs (smut is fine, but I’d prefer no PWPs).
Unrequested relationships as a focus. (Background relationships, canon or non-canon, are fine unless otherwise indicated.)
Unrequested crossgenerational incest (parent/child, aunt/niece etc)
Extreme underage (pre-pubertal children), unrequested smut for underage relationships
Anachronistic discussions of sexuality and other issues.

General Likes:
Tropes, Genres, and (for fic) Story Elements

Angst. Drama. Politics. Tragedy.
I love canon divergence AUs, and For Want Of A Nail and other what-if scenarios.
Soulmates! Not necessarily soulmate AUs (although that'd be more than fine), but soulmates as in 'I knew you the moment I saw you', or 'I felt you in my soul' or any other version of that—the electric connection is something I adore. Soulmate things I love include in every version of every reality, in another life, fated to be separated again and again.
Fake dating and arranged marriage within the canon setting.
Time travel and time loops, especially timefuckery where everything is fucked up!
M/M mpreg! Especially (but not limited to) mpreg as body horror
Similarly, F/F fpreg! (I prefer pregnancies in F/F and M/M to pregnancies in F/M.)
In-world mythology.
Cultural differences and clashes that occur due to cultural differences.
Worldbuilding in general.
Lovers to enemies and enemies to lovers.
Trope subversions.
I have A Thing for sister/sister, and focusing on the sister aspects of the relationship—how they're alike and how they're different, and just how they're sisters.
Competence porn! I also adore people being messes and general failboats, because, uh, contradictions?
I really like characters struggling with the mores and norms of the societies they live in, whether involving some form of societal bigotry or not.
And characters struggling with morality and right and wrong, whether their own internal code of ethics or external expectations.
Generally I love seeing how characters are shaped by the time and place they live in and how it interacts with the core of their identity.

Character and Relationships Dynamics

Hurt, and not necessarily comfort.
Fucked-up families and messy friendships which really, really aren't good for the characters, but they love each other very much anyway
- Characters finding ways to move past the fucked-upness and the relationships end up flourishing
- moving past fucked-up-ness and leaving what they don't want behind
- a constant cycle of messing up.
Found families!
Intense friendships which play a central role in the characters' lives.
For longer works, plotty fics are always welcome!
Stoic and/or emotionally incompetent characters
Characters finding ways to come to terms with themselves, with their pasts, and with their loved ones and/or finding their place in the world.
Characters who and relationships which fall just short of the mark, the almost-most-not-quite. I think the closest word to this would be hamartia in its original sense?
I love characters with flaws and unpleasant qualities!
I like relationships that are fated to end in tragedy.

Stylistic Things for Fic

I like all kinds of fic, so go wild—linear narrative, flashbacks, epistolary; whatever you think of is lovely, the more daring the better. I especially adore faux-historical documents and faux academia.
Relatedly, interactive fiction!
Characters teasing and bantering with each other.
I don’t mind any type of POV (including second person!). In fact, POV switches and outside POVs on relationships would be lovely.

Darker Likes

Dark places and enchantments which entrap people without their knowledge
Getting lost in creepy surroundings
Corruption and decay
Explorations of the darker side of magic (or its equivalent), especially magic that's considered 'good'.
Exploration of the supernatural aspects of the canons.
Nature being eerily alive and dangerous.
Child soldiers, trauma, and really ugly, messy wars.
Characters trapped in vicious cycles.
Characters who think they're 'not good enough' for their partner(s).
Situations where characters are blackmailed/coerced into doing things they don't want to do.
Fucked-up families and friendships and relationships; people codependent to the point of almost-insanity, and far beyond anything healthy.
Looking into messed-up characters' thought processes.
Terrible things being done in the name of good by characters who see themselves as good.
Perversion of the 'good' side of magic to do evil things.
Mindfucks and powerplay.
Torture for the sake of torture, and characters being stoic through torture.
Noncon. I like both works focused on sexy (for fic and art purposes) noncon as well as more seriously-dealt with noncon and noncon aftermath.
Pregnancy due to F/F or M/M noncon.
Badtouch that doesn't lead to noncon, it's just there and creepy. (Especially when coupled with emotional fuckery and mindgames.)
Relationships where one characters is in love, but the other isn't.
Partners doing terrible things to each other.
Characters who hate themselves and lash out at the world and do fucked-up things as a result.
Really, really dark stories which end in the 'everyone dying' sort of tragedy.
AUs where everything goes wrong.
For darkfic especially, I love outsider PoVs—it makes everything 100% more terrible for me.

Navigation

A Song of Ice and Fire – George R. R. Martin

Rhaegar Targaryen

For this fandom, I have a Very Specific interpretation of Rhaegar (basically that he is neither The Worst^TM nor an innocent woobie who did nothing wrong, but instead is a hot prophecy-obsessed mess that I am very very fond of) and all my prompts are kind of centered on that interpretation but if you want to take his characterization in a different direction please do go for it!
If you write me an entire fic of Rhaegar being a hot mess, I would be very down with that tbh.
I see him as someone who tries to be a good person, but the prophecy obsession and melancholy always catch up with him in the end.
One thing I headcanon, if this is something you like, is that he’s really good at being a Perfect Prince^TM and very charming and graceful, but less good at understanding other people and interpersonal relationships.
Rhaegar is Very Very Gay.
- but hasn’t admitted it even to himself
- He has had a crush on Arthur Dayne at some point at the very least
- AU where Rhaegar runs off with Ned instead of Lyanna and still starts a war
- JonCon’s unrequited love isn’t actually unrequited?
- Or an AU where he escapes the end of the Rebellion and decides to fuck off somewhere and settle down with his boyfriend
- Honestly give me Rhaegar/any dude and I’ll be happy!
I’m sure having Aerys as his dad fucked him up in many many ways, especially personally (especially when it comes to family/love), and I would love to see anything exploring his relationship with Aerys as he grew up.
Or Rhaella, who clearly cared about him and loved him a lot—how did she shape his childhood?
His obsession with prophecy! Summerhall clearly shaped his life deeply, with the weight on his shoulders and the loss of so much of his family before he even knows them. How does that translate to his prophecy obsession? Why is he so obsessed with prophecy anyway?
I would love to see AUs where Rhaegar becomes King at any point (Duskendale or after); how does he govern?
And speaking of Duskendale, I would love to see him dealing with Duskendale and its aftermath.
Him and his children—Rhaenys at least was old enough to love him and I do think he loved them too, just maybe not enough. (And maybe, too, him and Viserys and that shaped Viserys later. Or AU where he flees to Essos with Viserys and Dany, or ageswap where Viserys is older?)
Or genderswap! I would be very very interested in reading about f!Rhaegar, and how being a woman would change the trajectory of Rhaegar’s life.
I would be here with bells on for any canon divergence AU focused on Rhaegar, tbh. There’s so much to explore.

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Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis

Peter Pevensie

I love all the Pevensie siblings, but Peter is my favourite (I love him a lot!).
I would ask specifically for book characterizations of Peter, not movie, especially for Prince Caspian (if you want to follow movie plots more that’s fine as long as the characterization is from the books).
Peter is kind of a cryptic character in the books, I feel, especially in HHB but also in the other books. We see a lot of his relationship with his siblings, but we don’t really get to see much through his eyes, and I would be interested in reading that!
The many wars Peter fought; some of them were self-defense and some of them more dubious morally, but Peter seemed to have been fighting endless wars. How does that affect him? Does all the blood he sheds, his own and others’, affect Narnia itself?
I headcanon Peter, like Rhaegar, as gay, if that’s something you want to play with! Especially if you bring Aslan into it.
Or Peter/Oreius! This is more drawing on movieverse but I feel like there’s an interesting potential for loyalty and brothers-in-arms stuff there. Or I would also love Peter/OMC, in Narnia or England.
Speaking of Aslan, what is Peter’s relationship with Aslan and how does he feel about Aslan?
And what is involved in him being High King anyway? It doesn’t seem clearly defined and doesn’t start out as High King over all other Kings and Queens.
And Narnia and Peter—what is their relationship like, both the people and things of Narnia and the country of Narnia?
(In general I would love anything playing with the relationship between Peter and Aslan and/or Narnia, gen or shippy.)
This next bit involves religion and is 100% completely definitely optional
- The parallels with St. Peter are very interesting and I don’t know quite what to make of them, if that’s something you want to play with (and the parallels are not subtle; I think Peter is the only Pevensie sibling with a name with explicit and obvious religious connotations)
- The whole ‘upon this rock I will build my kingdom’ thing in the Bible—are there parallels with Peter and Aslan?
- How does all of this affect Peter’s ties to Narnia differently from the others’?
- Peter struggling with faith and spirituality after coming back to England, or even in Narnia
- (I am very atheist and will not be offended by any kind of interpretation of the religious elements of the books so go wild!)

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Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood

Fandom-specific DNWs: the way Jack’s immortality worked in Miracle Day, the Timeless Child being the Doctor

This is one of my old fandoms that I was into when I first discovered fandom. Thirteen drew me back into Doctor Who and I ended up marathoning my favourite parts of Doctor Who and Torchwood, and now I’m in love all over again.
General stuff/story elements:
- aliens/alien planets and landscapes
- alien flora and fauna
- the Doctor’s Gallifreyan physiology
- galactic politics in the future
- the characters having time-travelled to a historical era
- time travel and temporal mechanics
- the TARDIS
- outsider POVs (especially the Doctor’s companions)
- the inside of the Hub and all the technologies and thingamabobs Torchwood accumulates
- period-style clothing and/or Jack’s coat
This is Doctor Who, so I’ll always, of course, love timey-wimey stuff and weird and wacky worldbuilding and adventure, as you can see.

group: Jack Harkness/The Doctor, group: Jack Harkness &The Doctor

Jack and Nine, Jack/Ten, Jack and Eleven, Jack and Twelve, Jack and Thirteen, Jack and any future Doctors etc. And Jack and any of the Classic Who Doctors is great too (I’m thinking Jack and Seven, but if you have any other dynamics you want to explore, go for it!). And the other not-quite-Doctors who appear at various points too: Jack and War Doctor, Jack and Ganger!Eleven, Jack and duplicate Ten, Jack and DoctorDonna etc. (And going very very AU is necessary for some of these ships, but that’s great too!)
I love the dynamics between the Doctor and Jack.
- Nine and Jack’s kind-of flirting is adorable, and I love the whole thing with the Doctor making Jack a better man until he’s willing to die—does die—to rescue others. And also, the part in Boom Town where there’s a little bit of friendly clashing as to who makes the plans!
- And I also love the whole strained dynamic and the onesidedness and kind of sadness of Jack being left behind and waiting and waiting for the Doctor and then being told that he’s wrong and impossible—I love the angst of that, but also the fact that Jack chooses not to travel with the Doctor in the end.
- And I love that even though a lot of Jack’s origin and life revolves around the Doctor, the way he lives doesn’t—he’s his own person and has other lives and other loves, and the Doctor is just there. That’s my favourite dynamic for them, actually, the two of them drifting in and out of each other’s lives at specific moments—not actually staying together forever, but always coming back to each other.
Jack’s factness is such an interesting thing!
- I don’t really believe that he’s actually the Face of Boe, or that even if he is, he can actually die, but I’m very interested in how Jack is a fixed point in time and his immortality, and especially the Doctor’s reaction to that.
- And I love that the Doctor is older than Jack, but also, Jack is actually immortal while the Doctor isn’t (*ignores Timeless Child harder*). Anything to do with that, or with the fact that both of them have much longer lifespans than everyone else and will keep losing people.
AI love that the Doctor is kind of a dick, so the Doctor can totally be a dick if you’re writing fic. And Jack being willing to sacrifice other people to save humanity, and the hard, cruel, distant part of him is interesting to me too (also the hard, cruel, distant, very very powerful part of the Doctor).
Is there any possible point at which Twelve and Jack could meet? (I’d love to see Twelve/Jack post-Zygon Inversion/Zygon Invasion for Twelve and post-Children of Earth for Jack.) I’d love to see an outside POV from Clara or Bill on Twelve and Jack’s relationship (or any of the other companions and any of the other Doctors in this scenario, really).
Does the Doctor have to deal with Jack and Missy and/or River meeting each other at some point?
What happens during and after the Year That Never Was? (Maybe something to do with the Doctor still caring for the Master? Or maybe the Doctor and Jack kind of grounding each other, but also Jack turning the Doctor’s offer down? Or a non-Ten Doctor and Jack talking about the Master?)
Is there any point at which Jack met a past Doctor, and a reason why the Doctor didn’t recognize Jack in 1941?
Or does a future Doctor find a past Jack, either before or after Jack met Nine?
Or maybe an AU where Miracle Day didn’t happen—what does Jack do post-Children of Earth?
How does Jack end up finding the Doctor and busting her out of prison anyway?
How does the Doctor’s Time Lord-ness and Jack’s human-ness affect their relationship? Different perceptions of the world, and time? Gallifreyan physiology and genitalia? (And smut and angst both are good for the latter if you’re writing shipfic.)
Also I love that Jack becomes more and more like the Doctor, in some ways, as Torchwood goes on, if that’s something you want to explore.

Jack Harkness

As you might have gathered from my rambling above, I love Jack a ridiculous amount ♥. Anything you write about him I will adore, whether that’s Doctor Who-based or Torchwood-based, so feel free to go wild!
Jack and the Doctor: I’ve already talked about their relationship and things I love about it above if you want prompts/ideas for that.
One of the fascinating things about Jack for me is that he’s such a part of Earth and its people, especially Torchwood, but still that little bit apart from everyone and everything by virtue of both his immortality and everything about his life before he landed on Earth, and I’d love an exploration of that.
- In particular, how do people around him view him as, and how does he see himself?
- Both pre- and post-Torchwood, do people ever discover his immortality?
- And I’d love to see more exploration of how Jack’s immortality works and what the Vortex did to him.
Torture and deaths, whether of the noble sacrifice or lots of people trying to kill him type, I’d love that too. Jack and the Master—noncon and/or torture or even Jack being Harold Saxon’s lover without knowing who Saxon was? Or Jack being captured by some people and experimented on?
I don’t see Jack as a good person, really. A person who tries to do the right thing no matter what the cost is, maybe (and even then not always, not even after he meets the Doctor), but not a particularly nice or morally upstanding person. He was willing not only to sacrifice his grandson but to sacrifice other children to save the world after all. (That bit in Small Worlds chills me every time, because Jack of all people must have known how much of a non-answer the fairies’ answer to his question is. I mean, she will live forever isn’t exactly she won’t suffer, as Jack can probably tell.) So I’d love to see Jack making the hard choices and having to live with them.
CoE in particular is hard for me because Jack killed his own grandson but at the same time there wasn’t any other choice at that point, really. So I’d love to see the aftermath of that, both for Jack and for other people.
- How does Jack learn to live with himself, if he even does?
- And Jack and Alice and Steven—I’d love to see them pre-CoE.
- I’d also love to see Jack and Alice post-CoE, trying to work things out (my preference for this is that Alice doesn’t instantly forgive him—I don’t mind Alice holding hating Jack for a long time or even forever).
- I’d prefer no CoE fix-its, though.
All the lives Jack has led, all the people he’s loved (friends, lovers, children) and the places he’s been to and the things he’s done—I’d love to see Jack’s past and future lives.
- I’m not a fan of Jack being the Face of Boe unless he somehow doesn’t die (Jack’s factness), but other than that go wild.
- I’d love to see more of Jack’s unnamed wife or any of the Torchwood teams pre-current team or Jack and Estelle either time (what was their romance like the first time, and how did Estelle take Jack’s appearance later?).
- I’d also love to see whatever OCs (past lovers and friends and enemies) you can dream up.
- Or Angelo and Jack? No Miracle Day events, please, but an AU where Jack stays or where they meet again accidentally, maybe?
Jack and any of the Doctor’s companions.
- I’d love to see Jack and Rose and the Doctor on adventures together in particular (Jack/Rose(/Nine) is also great), or Jack meeting Jackie, or Jack meeting a younger Rose.
- I’d also love to see more about Jack and Martha’s relationship—does she ever consult for Torchwood again? Do they save the world together at some point? Or maybe just talk on the phone or go on holiday or meet up for lunch? (Jack/Martha as a more casual or H/C thing?)
- Or Jack knowing Donna before she meets the Doctor, or Jack watching over Donna after the memory wipe, or even helping Donna get her memories back?
- Or the Ponds meeting Jack at any point maybe? (Rory while he’s protecting the Pandorica?)
- Jack and Yasmin spending some time together before she goes back to the Doctor, or Jack helping Ryan and Graham adjust back to earth.
- Jack and River meeting would certainly be amazing, whether that involves Jack/River or gen. (Jack fixes his Vortex Manipulator, maybe? Or River does a favour for the Doctor? Or something archaeology-related?)
Or Jack being pregnant! Jack/the Doctor, Jack/OMC, Jack/John Hart, Jack/the Master, Jack/Ianto, Jack/Owen etc are all good for this—I’d just really love to see him being pregnant. He’s a 51st century man after all.
Or anything about the TARDIS coral on Jack’s desk—where did it come from and what happens to it after the Hub explodes? Does it actually become a TARDIS?
Or anything about Jack’s two missing years (especially if it involved Jack actually doing a terrible thing or making a hard choice), and/or what he did as a Time Agent and his life pre-Doctor?

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Game of Thrones

For GoT especially, I love worldbuilding. There’s such a wide world to explore, so much history and politics and cultural details that just don’t have room to exist on the show.
I prefer the Essos/Dany-centric storyline just because my favorite characters are mostly part of that storyline, but I have other faves too so whatever part of the show you want to focus on is great.
I’d love to see things going in both directions for this show: both happy fix-its and darker AU.
And I’d love to see crossovers with other fantasy canons of the ‘they all exist in one world, just on different continents’ sort.

Daenerys Targaryen

Dany! The Queen of my heart <3. (Tbh if you have Dany burning things down I’ll be happy.)
I would love to see Dany actually being happy. I don’t think the Iron Throne would bring her happiness—what would? What would make her happy (or not)?
Dany inspires so much personal loyalty in the people around her and I’d love to see more of that (I especially find her relationships with Ser Barristan and Grey Worm interesting). I would also love to see her involved in politics and war and ruling, and learning from the people around her.
I love Dany’s relationship with Missandei (see its own dedicated section) but I’m so disappointed we didn’t get to see her having close relationships with more women, whether shippy or gen.
- Dany and Sansa, and the complications of any kind of relationship that could develop between them
- Olenna gave Dany the best advice Dany got the entire season tbh, and I’d love to see more of Olenna advising/scheming with/mentoring Dany
- Is there ever a point where Dany and Arya could have crossed paths in Essos?
- Dany and Yara and that one scene; what would happen to the Iron Islands and their relationship if Dany lived? Abroad those ships on the way to Dragonstone, what do they do?
- Would also love to see genderswap (especially f!Jorah, Lady Joanna the knight who’s exiled and spying for Robert and finds her way to Dany in Essos, or f!Drogo, Khal Droga the greatest warlord the Dothraki have had despite—or because of—her gender)
AU ideas:
- S8 fix-its where either Dany doesn’t go evil or she becomes evil in a way that actually makes sense
- Dany takes her people back to Vaes Tolorro and makes the dead city bloom, or where she finds her way back to the house with the red door (i.e. a bookverse fusion)
- Resurrection AU!
- Dany’s Westeros allies don’t all conveniently get taken out of commission early on
- When Jon tries to kill Dany he fails—does she go even more Darth Dany or does she peace out and fly away into the sunset with Drogon?
- Time travel! S8 Dany travels back in time, early show Dany ends up in S7/8, time loops, reincarnation, I would love to see anything and everything related to time travel.
- Aerys is still killed but Dany ends up staying in Westeros for some reason (one of her brothers takes the throne? She ends up being held hostage?)
- Either Rhaella or Willem Darry live, but they’re still in exile.
- Dany decides to leave Westeros and fuck off back to Essos—what kind of catalyst would this need?

Daenerys Targaryen/Missandei

Dany/Missandei is so much catnip to my id.
The loyalty Missandei has to Dany! And the devotion Dany gives her in return! Missandei being one of the few people who Dany listens to!
I love Dany quite literally burning the world down for Missandei, because Missandei asked her to. (Tbh while most of Season 8 wasn’t my favourite and I would have preferred that neither of them died, Dany burning down King’s Landing in part because of what happened to Missandei only makes me ship them harder.)
I would love to see a stolen moment at any point in canon. Anything with loyalty kink and/or playing with Missandei’s loyalty to Dany would be amazing. I’d love to see more about them getting to know each other and how their relationship grows and changes over time.
Or AUs! An AU where Missandei didn’t die—would Dany still have gone full-on evil? Or would Missandei not dying changed her actions? Or would she have still turned evil, but in a different way? Or maybe an AU branching out earlier, and Dany not going to Westeros. Or dub/noncon with evil Dany or early days.
There must be points/times where Dany’s ambition and goals clash with what Missandei wants, and I’d love to see something about that.
Missandei travels back in time from season 8 to the early show era—how does that change things!
Dany relies on and trusts Missandei so much, and Missandei is loyal to her—were there points where that trust and loyalty were tested?
Them dealing with politics and alliances but coming to each other at the end of the day.
Dany burns down the world for Missandei (or vice versa) but it happens differently than in canon.

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Non-ASOIAF Westeros Books – George R.R. Martin

Daena Targaryen

Daena! I love Daena so much, and I was disappointed when she kind of…dropped out of the narrative, and any digging into her character/backstory would be much appreciated
Daena in the Maidenvault: how does she cope, or not? How do her almost-escapes happen?
What is her relationship with her sisters like? Do their experiences in the Maidenvault bring them together or make them dislike each other’s company?
Daena’s passion for the outdoors and her love of archery; I would love to see more of that, how she trained with the bow.
What would have happened if Daeron hadn’t died? Would she have lead a more fulfilling life, or would she still have been unhappy because of the world she lives in?
What if Daemon had been born a girl? How would Daena’s life after Baelor died have been different if her bastard by Aegon was a girl instead of a boy?
On a related but different note, I would love to see Daena lives AUs in general:
- One of the things I’m pretty sure wouldn’t have happened is Daemon marrying so young, so how does that change things?
- How does the Blackfyre Rebellion change in particular? Does Daena encourage/support her son? (And if so how does support from a legitimate Targaryen who was once a Queen and in consideration to be ruler change things?) Or if she doesn’t support Daemon, how does lack of support from his own mother change things?
- Also v. cool with AUs where Daena just fucks off and the Blackfyre stuff happens anyway, but she gets to live her life.
- After Viserys II takes the throne Daena kind of fades into the background in canon. What happens to her? How does the rest of her life go, and did she ever find a way to make peace with being denied the place she thought was hers?
- Daena would…probably not have been a great queen tbh, but she was denied even a chance to learn how to rule and not given a fair chance to press her claim against Viserys, which to me is the tragedy of her story, if that’s the kind of thing you want to explore.

Nymeria of Nym Sar

Nymeria’s story is one of the few full tales we get of Westeros before the Targaryen conquest, and for that reason alone I’d find it fascinating, but Nymeria herself is such an interesting character too.
Her voyage to Westeros, with all its perils and darknesses
- The image of ten thousand ships setting out in a desperate flight is so evocative, and playing around that would be great
- I love the glimpses of darkness and horror, the destruction the Valyrian Freehold wrecked on the lands of the Rohyne, the curse Gavin called down, so many ships lost at see, Sothyros and the mystery of Yeen, Naath and its illness, all the terrible luck dogging them—expanding upon any of that would be great.
- The sheer willpower and strength it must have taken to keep going and keep her people going on that voyage must have been astounding.
Nymeria’s childhood in Nym Sar on the branches of the Rohyne, and growing up into a war she wasn’t ready for—any exploration of that would be great. (I’m very interested in all the worldbuilding and lore for Nymeria fic!)
After she landed in Westeros how did her own people feel about her? The orphans of the Greenblood, at least, didn’t much like her never look back philosophy all that much, apparently. What was the culture the exiles of the Rohyne built in Dorne?
Her legacy as a warrior-queen not coming from her personal martial ability but from her ability to lead and strategize—I would love to see more of Nymeria as a general and as a ruler.
Nymeria and her children; what was her relationship with them like, especially with her eldest daughter who was her heir and her son who wasn’t?
Nymeria’s conquest of Dorne is very different from the dragonlords’ senseless destruction in the manner of her arrival and in how she allied with some of the people of Dorne, but I do find it interesting that she fled from a conquering force only to (inadvertently or not) become a conqueror herself, and would love an exploration of that.

Rhaenyra Targaryen

Rhaenyra! The Seven Kingdoms’ only queen in her own right (well, if Winds of Winter ever comes out maybe she won’t be, but until then…)
I like that she wasn’t exactly a good person. Aegon II was definitely a bad person too even though the supposed maesters writing the chronicles glossed over that, but I like that she’s done cruel terrible things to fulfill her ambitions and isn’t a nice person generally.
(That being said, at the start of the Dance, it was the Greens who fired the opening shots and who drew first blood, and she seemed a lot more politically savvy at the start when she was crowned on Dragonstone but was gathering her allies—what changed later? Why did things start going downhill, and why did she start making terrible decisions?)
What is Rhaenys’ relationship with Rhaenyra like? Rhaenyra married her son and she fought for Rhaenyra, so there was clearly regard between them, but when everyone thought Rhaenyra was going to inherit without too much fuss did she have complicated feelings towards Rhaenyra?
Aemon doesn’t die, and Rhaenys becomes queen. Rhaenyra would be ‘only’ a daughter of the cousin of the king then—how does that change things for her? Is she still ambitious, and does she still want to be queen? Does Daemon still try to groom her? What is her position in court and her relationship with Rhaenys in this AU?
The men in Rhaenyra’s life all seem to be massive dicks with the possible exception of Laenor and Corlys. How does that shape how she sees the world? Would things have changed if Daemon had been kept away from her somehow? And why does Criston Cole dislike her that much anyway?
Rhaenyra marries Helaena to pacify Alicent/strengthen her claim—whether that works and whether Helaena is willing is up to you.
What would have happened if Viserys never married Alicent, either married someone else or remained unmarried? Being her father’s only child, would that have forestalled a civil war, or were there too many people meddling and it was always going to come to war?
Is there any way Alicent would have warmed to Rhaenyra? If her children had all been girls, or if she hadn’t had children, would things have been different? If Viserys had made more effort to get them to reconcile would it have worked?
In general if Viserys had made more of an effort to fortify Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne would that have helped Rhaenyra in the long run?
I would love to see the politics and the battles of the Dance, Rhaenyra governing (well or badly) and the toll the Dance took on all of them—Rhaenyra lost her children in the war, after all, and that must have affected her.

Viserys II Targaryen

Viserys II is one of the most interesting of the male characters in the ASOIAF histories to me ~~most of the other dudes aren’t very interesting to me tbh~~ and I would love anything about him.
My DNW for sex with pre-pubertal children doesn’t apply to Viserys as long as the sex is noncon or dubcon.
He’s one of the rare men to be forced into a child marriage that GRRM wrote about, and I’d be interested in an exploration of that.
- He was twelve at the oldest and probably younger when he married a grown woman older than him and then was trapped in that marriage because of the hostage situation—how does he feel about it?
- I do feel like he at least grew to care for Larra somewhat, but he was seventeen when she left so I’m not sure how much of that is genuine regard and how much of it is imprinting and how much their marriage shaped his youth. Any exploration of that would be amazing.
- I would actually really like Larra’s POV on their marriage—she doesn’t seem to have been happy in court at all; how much of that has to do with Westeros and how much of it has to do with her husband and how young he is?She probably got more of a choice in the marriage than he did, for sure, but also probably was pressured into it at least somewhat, which makes her circumstances uncomfortable. Why did she choose to leave when she did?
- And the entire concept of sex/sexuality—he was thirteen when Aegon was born, which means he was twelve when Aegon was conceived. This would definitely have been rape, but would he have thought of it as such? How did it shape his worldviews
His relationship with his children:
- He does…not have appeared to be the best parent given the way he made/let Aegon and Naerys get married and then let Aegon do what he did to her.
- But he was also really young when Aegon was born, and how does a thirteen year old even handle being a parent? I would love an exploration of that!.
- (Also it’s interesting IMO that his younger kids are less terrible by a lot.)
His brother’s dependence on him, when Viserys is the younger one and already been through these harrowing and traumatizing experiences (they both have, but in different ways)—how does that shape him? Does he ever resent Aegon?
(I didn’t talk so much about his legacy as a short-lived king and his work as Hand from the shadows but I would also definitely be interested in the political aspects, especially his relationship with his nieces.)

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The Lord of the Rings – J. R. R. Tolkien

There aren't enough fics based on the Myths Transformed version of Middle-earth, and if that's something you'd like to explore, I'd love that, especially a more scientifically accurate (and sometimes, to my mind, a more tragic-and-dark-but-beautiful) vision of Middle-earth. (Other versions would also be wonderful, of course! This is just a specific thing I don't see much of.)
I love the fact that Tolkien's canon is a patchwork of different stories and mythologies, both in the Doylist and Watsonian sense, and fic exploring that would be wonderful.
Linked with the points above, I'm interested in lived vs. written stories, and Those Pesky Historians, and how unseen forces affect history.
Nature that comes alive.
The mortals and Elves/free will and destiny debate and the role of the Valar would be a wonderful thing to read about—I'd love exploration of any of the philosophical questions of Tolkien's world, really, but especially this, as detailed in the Athrabeth and writings about the role of the Valar.
All things Darkness and Light, really—I'm very fascinated by how these polar opposites work in Tolkien's world (and you can go back right to the beginning, to the Music, if you like), and how Arda is both grim and uplifting at the same time.
I love the way magic and power operate in Tolkien's world—the work he's done to make it believable is wonderful. Writing a green sun, indeed! Anything you can write about this would be welcome and much-adored.
I especially love the Noldor and Númenor, although every Age of Middle-earth holds my heart.
For interspecies relationships, I'd love to see an emphasis on otherness and trying to understand each other.

Aragorn

Aragorn! I’ve grown very fond of him on recent LotR re-reads, so I would love to see what you’ve come up with.
I love him because yes, he becomes king and he’s Isildur’s Heir and all that, but he’s not the central hero of the story, and also he’s not king because of magic or whatever, he worked for over half a century for it and put his claim to kingship second to defeating Sauron.
The world needs more Aragorn mpreg! Look, he’s the Heir of Isildur and Super Speshul^TM, he can get pregnant, okay?
For ships, for aforesaid mpreg or otherwise, I find his relationships with Boromir (and Denethor and Faramir in the glimpses we see) really interesting, because I love complicated loyalty and politics. In the same vein, Halbarad. Or Théoden. Or any other man, really. Including Elrond if that’s your thing. (I also ship Aragorn/Éowyn; more about that in the Éowyn section.)
Speaking of Elrond! I love his relationship with Elrond so much:
- Elrond pretty much raising him as his foster-son (and Elrond clearly viewing him as his son!), and even when their relationship was strained they very obviously cared for each other, and I love that
- I’d love to see anything about their relationship; Elrond growing to love him as a child, Aragorn learning healing from him, Aragorn’s mortality (and his descent from Elros), Aragorn returning home to Rivendell after his journeys etc
- One thing I find really curious is that Aragorn is
Aragorn spent 20 years of his life thinking of himself as Elrond’s foster-son and not knowing who he truly is, and then he’s suddenly Chieftain of the Dúnedain. What do the other Dúnedain think of him when he’s first introduced to them? In what ways does he have to change/adjust/learn? How does his role as Chieftain intersect with all of this? I’d love to see more about the culture and traditions of Arnor.
How does he come to terms with/understand his heritage? Does he struggle with it at all or not?
I really want to know more about his life pre-LotR, his travels and his time as Chieftain of the Dúnedain. He’s led such an interesting life, there’s so much potential there, and the entire concept of the Dúnedain and Isildur’s Heirs--protecting ordinary people against dark things while hidden in the shadows, fighting without thanks, being hunted with malice by an enemy far more powerful and with far more resources than you--is so fascinating. The Dúnedain of the North seem to be hardy and powerful and before the last of a dying people but still valiant and noble and I want to see more of them. And in general so much of Aragorn’s backstory is tantalizing, with so many bits and pieces. For example, how did he end up going through Moria?
His story kind of struck me as incredibly sad, because he’s ushering Gondor into a new Age but at the same time he’s one of the last of a dying people. Idk.
He walks around the wilds hunting servants of Sauron without a functional sword which is…impressive, but makes me curious; what other weapons/powers does he have? (He does have some kind of psychic power which he used on the Mouth of Sauron. Unless I guess his glare is just that scary.)
I really love his and Frodo’s and his and Gandalf’s relationships, and any and all fic (or canon divergence AUs, which I have found surprisingly sparse).
Genderswap! So much would change and so much wouldn’t for f!Aragorn and I’d be very interested in seeing Aragorn genderswapped. How would that change the whole Isildur’s Heir thing? The male line would have died out with Arathorn, after all. Does f!Aragorn still go around Ranger-ing?

Éowyn

I imprinted on Éowyn when I first read LotR and I haven’t stopped loving her since.
Éowyn/Aragorn! I find their back and forth quite fascinating, and while Éowyn hero-worshipping him wasn’t going to go anywhere, is there a set of circumstances under which they could enter into a relationship between equals? What would have to change in their circumstances when this was happening?
Alternately, I would find Éowyn with a genderswapped version of Aragorn or Faramir fascinating. Both of them would understand her better, probably, and especially with f!Aragorn it would change the dynamic of their entire meeting. What would Éowyn make of this woman captain from the North?
Both Théoden and Éomer die in battle, either both of them on the Pelennor or Éomer later at the Black Gate, and Éowyn suddenly becomes Queen of Rohan.
The stories and songs she must have grown up with that had her dreaming of/longing for being a warrior.
Éowyn had enough training in the arts of war to hold her own—how did that happen? Was she given lessons as the King’s niece? Did she join her brother and cousin in their lessons? Did she learn in secret, alone or helped by someone else?
I would love to see AU-ish fic where Éowyn heals and learns to cope with everything she’s been through and faced, but she’s still a shieldmaiden, just not one who fights out of desperation anymore.
Éowyn’s relationship with Rohan and her people, and how that intersects with her duty, what she takes on as her duty and what she’s ‘supposed’ to do.
How did her life change after her mother’s death, and then again (though it was only for a short time) after her cousin’s?
Éowyn and Éomer were quite close based on canon—what was their relationship like when they were children, and as they grew up and both of them acquired their own separate duties as the King’s relatives?
If Éowyn was older than Éomer, what would change in their relationship? What wouldn’t?
Éowyn meeting Arwen post-canon, and the two of them finding allies and companions in each other.
How does Éowyn’s reputation change in Gondor and in Rohan after she kills the Witch-King? How do people react to her? How does she change, afterwards?

Shieldmaiden(s) of Rohan

(Brief character note: I'm using 'shieldmaiden' very loosely, here, and 'Rohan' even more loosely, but. You can interpret LotR as saying that women of Rohan have fought alongside men on several occasions. There's kind of a reference to the people of Gondor seeing women of Rohan being warriors, or at least both men and women being called 'valiant', and the Appendices talk about fair and valiant' women alongside 'lords and warriors' in songs the Rohirrim had about the North and about their people before Eorl (this is where 'Rohan' being a very loose descriptor comes in). Also, HoME mentions that, in the time of Brego, women of Rohan did ride out. Also, the fact that Éowyn uses the word 'shieldmaiden' multiple times, as do other people, implies the existence in itself of women who must have been 'shieldmaiden' for the mere fact that the concept must exist for the word to exist.)

So, tell me more about these shieldmaidens of Rohan.
- Did they only ride out in desperate times, or were there some women who took up being a warrior as a lifetime's pursuit?
- If they only rode out in desperate times, what were those desperate times like? What horrors necessitated women riding out?
- Or, if there were some women who were warriors their entire life, what was their lifestyle like?Were they lone warriors, or did they march with an army or a group of others? Did they take orders from the King of the Mark, or were they perhaps under the Queen's purview?
- Or were they outlaws who nevertheless wandered the borders of the Mark and protected its people?
It sounds like female warriors were most common before Eorl rode out from the North and in the early days of Rohan, and I'd love to know more about these time periods—whatever worldbuilding you choose to do would be very, very interesting to me.
And, how exactly does one become one of these warriors? Is there formal training or an apprenticeship, or do you have to learn yourself? I imagine that it must have been a lot more difficult for women than for men—something on that, maybe?
What stories and songs were there about these shieldmaidens?
Did girls like Éowyn dream of becoming shieldmaidens?
I imagine that any full-time shieldmaidens probably wouldn't have been married in the traditional sense, but did any of them have sweethearts, men or women, back home?
- Did they long for their lovers when they were riding out?
- Or shieldmaidens finding comfort in each other (or in their fellow male warriors) on the field, maybe?
- Or maybe a shieldmaiden falling for one of her enemies, and being forced to fight said enemy because her duty must be placed above love?
- Or warriors who are also lovers fighting side-by-side?

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The Shoes of the Fisherman – Morris West

General stuff for this fandom:

I adore the theological discussions in the book, and I love that the characters' faith is tested throughout the book, and I love that Kiril especially struggles with his faith, and any exploration of that would be great. And I love that even when they're steadfast in their beliefs they encounter difficulties convincing others of their beliefs.
I love the loyalty kink and the tests of loyalty and all the powerplays throughout the book, and anything to do with loyalty and power dynamics would be great, honestly.
I also love the politics and questions of trust and faith, and anything you do with that would also be great.
I find the Vatican setting very interesting as well.
I'd also love a look at Vatican politics/world politics (and the fact that although it's a work of fiction West absolutely lets what exactly he thinks of world politics of that time shine through is great and I very much approve and love it)
I also found the details of Vatican culture and the traditions of Catholicism very well-researched and portrayed, so if you want to go along those lines, that'd also be great.
In particular, the politics are very idealistic because the characters are very idealistic, but they're also very nuanced, and I love that! But I also love the manipulations and go-betweens and cloak-and-daggerness of it all. And I also love the theme of reconciling Catholicism with the modern world (and, in Jean Télémond's case, with science), and how that's not always successful, but also sometimes works.

Kiril/Jean Télémond:

I love the loyalty and the trust there, and I love the power dynamics, but most of all I love that they both respect each other, and I love the fact that there's so much caught up in the relationship between them. Jean's death was inevitable, but the impotency of their parting and 'even with loving, a man must die alone' utterly broke me. And I love, love, love that final scene with Jean when Kiril has to give him the news of the review board, and then the scene afterwards with Calitri, 'I love him in the spirit and in the flesh'.
What would happen if Kiril met Jean before he became the Pope?
Or, I'd love to see a gapfiller, a moment between them before the news of the review board.
Or perhaps Kiril grieving for Jean.
Or, what would happen if Jean was a younger man, closer in age to Kiril?

Kiril and Kamenev:

I love the complex dynamic between them, and I love Kiril's trust in his former torturer, and I love that the trust between them was created in the first place, and I love Kamanev's grudging respect that is said to have become not-so-grudging. There are so many hints at a story there, and I want to know more. I want to see their shared history, and I want to know what went on between them.
I'd love to see Kamanev's torture of Kiril, or perhaps the point at which he began to identify with/respect Kiril, and the same happened to Kiril.
Or I'd love to see more of the correspondence between them.
Or maybe even Kamenev meeting Kiril at some point in the future.

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The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth – J. R. R. Tolkien

There aren't enough fics based on the Myths Transformed version of Middle-earth, and if that's something you'd like to explore, I'd love that, especially a more scientifically accurate (and sometimes, to my mind, a more tragic-and-dark-but-beautiful) vision of Middle-earth. (Other versions would also be wonderful, of course! This is just a specific thing I don't see much of.)
I love the fact that Tolkien's canon is a patchwork of different stories and mythologies, both in the Doylist and Watsonian sense, and fic exploring that would be wonderful.
Linked with the points above, I'm interested in lived vs. written stories, and Those Pesky Historians, and how unseen forces affect history.
Nature that comes alive.
The mortals and Elves/free will and destiny debate and the role of the Valar would be a wonderful thing to read about—I'd love exploration of any of the philosophical questions of Tolkien's world, really, but especially this, as detailed in the Athrabeth and writings about the role of the Valar.
All things Darkness and Light, really—I'm very fascinated by how these polar opposites work in Tolkien's world (and you can go back right to the beginning, to the Music, if you like), and how Arda is both grim and uplifting at the same time.
I love the way magic and power operate in Tolkien's world—the work he's done to make it believable is wonderful. Writing a green sun, indeed! Anything you can write about this would be welcome and much-adored.
I especially love the Noldor and Númenor, although every Age of Middle-earth holds my heart.
For interspecies relationships, I'd love to see an emphasis on otherness and trying to understand each other.

group: Fëanor/Maedhros

This is a ship I hadn’t really thought about before, but I saw it in the tagset and it definitely caught my eye.
Fëanor’s obsession with his creations—how does that translate to his relationship with his eldest son? Does Fëanor see him as one of the things he’s ‘made’, or do his children and his craft hold different places in his heart?
Maedhros is never said to be a particularly skilled craftsman if I remember correctly—does he try and not get very far, or does he have separate interests and not even try to follow his father’s footsteps? What does Fëanor think about this—is he proud/disappointed/relieved? How does it affect their relationship?
Also Curufin’s father-name and the fact that Fëanor chose to bestow it on Curufin and how like Fëanor Curufin is—maybe something to do with that?
Non-con, where Maedhros doesn’t want to but does it for whatever reason (to please Fëanor/protect his brothers from something/so as not to tarnish the family name/because he can’t escape/because he thinks no-one will believe him/because he loves his father and doesn’t want to get him in trouble/because he thinks he should like Fëanor’s attention even though he doesn’t—whatever reason you want).
(Or extremely dubious consent and/or fucked up mindgames involving either of them.)
In the Halls of Mandos after their deaths, both of them dealing with the legacy of what they’ve done for the Silmarils.
Or an AU where Fëanor doesn’t die when they arrive in Middle-earth? (Does Maedhros still get captured? How does Fëanor deal with that?)
Canonverse or AU, the aftermath of Losgar and Maedhros’ refusal to obey his father. Why was this a bridge too far when kinslaying wasn’t, and how does that affect their relationship?
My main big thing for this relationship is that I would love to see a messy, complicated relationship between the two of them. However you choose to approach that would be great.
(Just wanted to re-iterate for this ship; I would prefer no explicit sex involving pre-pubertal children.)

Indis

I'm always interested in fic which explores Indis' role amongst the Noldor and the Vanyar.
Indis reaching out to her children and Fëanor's children, and maybe dark-ish family fic intertwined with politics? Or how Indis reacts to the fact that Finwë and Fëanor have 'a double bond of love' and her children will always be second-best to their father?
Also Indis and Fingon doing things (family fluff, politics, whatever rocks your boat), because I imagine them to be very fond of each other (and maybe Maedhros joins them occasionally, but also very guiltily, because she's his step-grandmother and his sort-of-husband's grandmother, but his father hates her?).
What sort of relationship do Indis and Fingolfin have?
- Is it strained, or are they close?
- I'd love to see them at a difficult moment—when things are getting tense in Tirion, perhaps, or just after swords being drawn in the Court or after Fëanor's sentence has been pronounced, or even after the Darkening.
- (Please no completely uncaring, indifferent versions of either Indis or Fingolfin!)
Or maybe an AU where Indis doesn't stay in Valinor?
Or Indis and Míriel, maybe, gen or shippy?
- I'd love to see them meeting after Míriel is released from the Halls—what do they make of each other?
- Do they bond with each other, or do they end up disliking each other?
- Or it'd be interesting if Indis knew Míriel before her death, somehow. )
- (And I'm not averse to Míriel/Finwë/Indis, either!)
Indis and Nerdanel in the house of Indis after Fëanor's Exile, or later, after the Darkening and the Doom, helping each other to cope? Loyalty kink with Indis as Queen of the Noldor, H/C, politics, I’d love to see at all!
I am fascinated by the Noldor who remained in Aman after Fëanor and Fingolfin left. How did they attempt to bridge ties with the other Elves (especially the Teleri)? What were Indis' and Nerdanel's reactions to the Kinslaying? What were other people's reactions to the fact that their relations (and especially children) are Kinslayers? Or, what sort of role did they play in the reorganization of Tirion and in all the work that must have been necessary post-Darkening?

Tar-Ancalimë

Tar-Ancalimë is one of those characters we actually got more than one line about from Tolkien and who was decently fleshed out, and yet I wish we'd gotten more because I love her very much and she's such a great character.
I love how headstrong and decided she is, and how she's shaped by both her parents' stubbornness into the person she is in canon, and how she can be extremely myopic at times and uncompromising to the point of ridiculousness. (Also, I love how it's strongly implied that she totally went all-out bling in canon just to spite Erendis, because that is my type of person).
Maybe something about her childhood? Her parents were at odds with each other very much, and Aldarion was away for a long time, and Erendis was kind of distant, so maybe something about that?
There must have been happy moments too, playing with her peers or a joyful moment with her parents?
Or maybe a moment with her grandparents, since Almarian doted on Ancalimë and Meneldur probably would have, too, so that would probably be a happy memory?
I'm also very interested in Tar-Ancalimë's relationship with her granddaughters, since it's implied that she's the reason they gave up the throne.
- Did she regret not really caring about Tar-Anárion, and go too far in the other direction?
- Is she just extremely protective to the point of being unhealthily controlling for different reasons? Or maybe she sees them as her heirs, and is very possessive because of that?
- Or if you want to go really dark, Tar-Ancalimë marrying both of them off to husband she knows won't let them become queen? Or the last three applied to Tar-Anárion, perhaps, or Tar-Anárion being extremely controlling of his daughters because of his less-than-ideal childhood?
- Or even darker, Tar-Ancalimë/her granddaughters noncon, and the granddaughters escaping Tar-Ancalimë because of that?
Tar-Ancalimë/Hallacar is also such a glorious mess, because it has all the trappings of a love story, but it kind of goes up in flames because they're really, really not suited to each other. Something about that, maybe?>Or maybe Tar-Ancalimë/Nessanië? (Nessanië was Hallacar's sister.) Maybe the two of them falling for each other, or a quiet moment at Emerië or in the palace? Or Tar-Ancalimë manipulating Nessanië to hurt Hallacar?
Or something about her handmaidens? Aside from the whole marriage debacle, how loyal were they to her? Were there rituals to go with being one of Ancalimë's handmaidens (and are there chastity belts involved)? Did one of them fall for her, or vice versa?

didn't

Or maybe Ancalimë navigating Númenorean politics, and discharging her duites as queen? Maybe something about the Council, or her advisors, or maybe something from the point of view of a noblewoman or one of her handmaidens?
There's just so much to explore with Ancalimë's life, and I'll love whatever you choose to write/draw about her!

Tar-Míriel

I'd love to see Tar-Míriel aiding and abetting the Faithful despite her husband.
Alternately, I'd also love a gloriously unrepentant Ar-Zimraphel ruling alongside Ar-Pharazôn.
I would also love for Tar-Míriel to have a slice of happiness before—or after—everything goes wrong.
Or maybe Uinen took Tar-Míriel in after she 'drowned'? I'd love to see Tar-Míriel in Uinen's realm! Or maybe Tar-Míriel finding comfort in Uinen during Ar-Pharazôn's rule?
There's also a version of Tar-Míriel's story where she aided Ar-Pharazôn willingly, because she loved him and because she agreed with him. I'd also be very, very interested in seeing anything about that.
- Maybe Tar-Míriel making sacrifices to Melkor or playing nice with Sauron?
- Or maybe her riding off to conquer Middle-earth with her husband in an AU?
- (And maybe Elendil tries to convince her to aid the Faithful, but fails?)
- Or double agent Tar-Míriel!
Elendil's wife/Tar-Míriel: Tar-Míriel aiding and abetting the Faithful! Meeting up with Elendil all the time is risky, but an old friend of the Queen's visiting and the two of them wanting privacy to talk together won't garner much attention...
I would love to see Tar-Miriel femslash!
- Maybe Tar-Míriel finding comfort in one of her handmaidens (or one of the palace staff)? Is the handmaiden of the Faithful (perhaps planted there by Elendil to help Tar-Míriel pass messages out of the palace?), is she a spy for Pharazôn who manipulates Míriel (and maybe perhaps eventually falls for her—or not, there's lots of room for fucked-up-ness either way, or enemies-to-lovers or fluff and comfort in dark times), or is she indifferent to the current political situation?
- Or maybe a noble, either one of the Faithful (either in Exile, or someone who's secretly Faithful), or loyal to Pharazôn? Maybe even a sister or cousin of Elendil we don’t know about. (Or genderswapped F!Elendil)
Politics!
- All the dark, desperate politics, please, with cloak-and-dagger manoeuvring and secret messages and desperate plotting and questionable deals, and all the dirty parts of politics upped to the amp, bribery and palm-greasing and nepotism and violence and just making the people who don't agree with you just disappear.
- Or maybe something about Tar-Míriel's childhood, and Palantír? Míriel probably knew, growing up, that she was going to be Queen, so something about that? Or maybe something about her mother, who Palantír 'married late', maybe?

Women of the Faithful

So, the group of people involved in this request is very, very broad; I'll love whoever you choose to write/draw about, whether that's an OFC or a character we know exists!
I'm pretty sure Númenorean politics around the time of the Fall of the Númenor can go to very dark places if you want, but it can also be a finding hope amidst the darkness thing.
All the dark, desperate politics, please, with cloak-and-dagger manoeuvring and secret messages and desperate plotting and questionable deals, and all the dirty parts of politics upped to the amp, bribery and palm-greasing and nepotism and violence and just making the people who don't agree with you just disappear.
I'm sure that the Faithful (and/or Míriel) must have done some not-so-savoury things in the service of a good cause, not only Pharazôn—maybe something about that?
Or maybe all the people the staunchest of the Faithful thought were their allies suddenly aren't any more?
Or Pharazôn suddenly cracks down on minor corruptions of politicians, but only among the Faithful?
Or maybe something more hopeful, the Faithful finding ways to survive and to help each other, and even people who didn't have strong political convictions before helping the Faithful?

There are several named Faithful women we don’t hear much about; Lindórië and Inzilbêth especially are so interesting to me, because they’re barely names on a page and yet their existence shaped so much of what later happened. I'd also love to know more about Elendil's wife and/or Isildur's wife. We know they must have existed, obviously, but beyond that there's absolutely nothing on them, so whatever you write/draw about them would be wonderful!

Or I'd love to see a noblewoman somehow aiding and abetting the Faithful, maybe even someone who's not of Andúnië but from a different part of Númenor. Maybe she uses her influence in court to take the heat off the publicly known Faithful? Maybe she smuggles messages to and from court once the Faithful have been banned from the city?

And I'd also love to see ordinary women of the Faithful (and maybe something about Fíriel from The Lost Road?), who kept to their faith of and knowledge of the Valar and Eru despite the massive repercussions they must have faced. What were their lives like?

And those of the Faithful who managed to escape with Elendil must have faced a complete uprooting of their life.

Maybe something about building a new home?
Or maybe that desperate race away from Númenor, leaving everything they know behind?
Or the first steps they take in Middle-earth?
Or maybe grieving the people they had to leave behind, because I don't think that every one of the Faithful got out of Númenor safely.
Or I'd love to see any of the rituals the Faithful must have kept up in secret, or the stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. Anythingthe Faithful do that mark them as Faithful, whether that be prayer to Eru or telling stories, or reading forbidden books, would be interesting. It'd also be interesting to see what the stories the Faithful have about the First Age and earlier look like—are they basically accurate, or are there massive gaps? How does their faith in the Valar work in life, how is it practised?

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The West Wing

Fandom-specific DNWs: Josh/Donna as even a passing mention other than allusions past UST (please no present, acknowledged UST or any kind of relationship, past or present)
For this fandom especially I love loyalty and devotion. The relationships I've requested all involve characters who are extremely loyal to each other, and canon has a ridiculous amount of loyalty kink, and I'd love any kind of loyalty.
Canon-typical politics and drama is great. I love the politics and how it's done in the show, and however you want to play with that would be amazing! I especially love how competent the characters are at their jobs even if they're not as competent in their personal lives.
Fic/art of the future is also great! I'd also love to see pre-canon stuff.
For this show especially, I'd love to see canon divergence AUs.

Josh Lyman/Jed Bartlet

This is one of the relationships which, in the show, are still very important but not as prominent as some others, and certainly, from what I can see this is often very much unexplored in fandom, and I’d love to see more of it.
Josh is so intensely loyal to Jed (even when he isn’t completely Jed’s guy the way he becomes Santos’ and I’d love to see more of that if you want to go in that direction) and I would love to see that loyalty explored, whether in a romantic or non-sexual way.
It’s part of the job description to take a bullet for the President—what bullets has Josh taken, other than the obvious one, and what is he willing to do?
I’d love to see more of the paternalistic part of their relationship, as with Leo and Josh, if you want to.
I don’t mind it taking on a sexual dimension, either, if you’re going to go in the relationship direction, or perhaps the romantic relationship being separate from the father/son feelings but still there.
Josh and Jed’s relationship is not always smooth despite Jed’s affection for Josh and Josh’s loyalty—anything about that would also be appreciated, especially maybe Jed’s blunt honesty with Josh.
During the transition from the Bartlet administration to the Santos administration, are there in particular skeletons that Josh helps put away? Does Josh keep any secrets from Santos during and after the transition for Bartlet, whether they be of personal nature or related to work?
Post-canon, does Josh ever call Jed and ask for advice, or just talk to him?
Or maybe something set ten years or twenty years later, where are they? Do they still keep in touch, or is it an unexpected reunion?
Or maybe a moment from Jed getting to know Josh and gaining his loyalty on the campaign trail of Bartlet for America? Or once they come to the White House, all the joys and pitfalls of their jobs? Or Josh calling/meeting Jed while he’s campaigning for Santos, and all the feelings involved?

Josh Lyman/Leo McGarry

Pre-canon fic, maybe, a moment from Leo’s and Josh’s past? I get the impression from the flashback to Hoynes’ campaign that Leo and Josh hadn’t seen each other in some time, if that’s something you want to play with, but I’d also love the two of them being close pre-canon. (Did Josh know Mallory well pre-canon?)
I love Josh’s unwavering loyalty to Leo, how he’s really Leo McGarry’s man in every sense of what that means, and I’d love to see more of that loyalty—how did it come about, and how does it play out in everyday life both during the Bartlet for America campaign and in the White House?
Leo’s kind of paternalistic thing with Josh, but also how he trusts Josh absolutely and it’s Josh who (other than the President) knows most about Leo’s alcoholism and drug problems, and how Josh is willing to take a bullet for Leo but Leo doesn’t want him to—I’d love to see more of that too, the father/son relationship in particular.
That dynamic bleeding into a sexual/romantic relationship and all the fucked upness thereof is good!
Or I’d love to see any kind of scene where the two of them are doing some political manoeuvring together, either involving the others or just the two of them.
An AU where Leo lives would be interesting, maybe?
I’d also love to see Josh grieving Leo and dealing with being in the White House and being Santos’ Chief of Staff without Leo to lean on.

Josh Lyman/Matt Santos

As I said, loyalty and devotion are a big thing for me for this show, and the near-instantaneous loyalty Josh gives Matt, the strength and scope of that loyalty (how much must you trust a person that you want to literally entrust them with a country and with the world?), the fact that Matt is Josh’s guy in a way that Bartlet isn’t as much as Josh respects and admires and loves Bartlet, hits me in just the right place. I’d just love to get something that captures the feeling of their relationship.
I love the intensity of their relationship, how Matt becomes Josh’s guy so so quickly and he puts so much hope and faith in him (the whole thing about not having to know the education plan to know it’d be good, and it being different with a candidate he’s built up from scratch) but is still cautious and a foil to Matt’s idealism. And on Matt’s part, getting to know Josh and learning about him and the faith he puts in Matt, until by the end Josh is the one who can talk him down and the person he goes to for honest advice and to express his doubts.
I love that there’s a note of conflict in their relationship and it never really goes away, but there’s also so much overwhelming trust and loyalty.
I’d love to see quiet stolen moments on the campaign trail, Josh and Matt conferring on something or talking over a decision or strategy or just having a conversation.
Or an alone in the crowd moment like they have so many times, where the two of them are in the middle of some bustling thing but it feels like it’s just them there.
Or Matt getting to know Josh and learning about Josh and learning to trust him.
Or a truly stolen moment, stolen kisses or Josh helping Matt relax.
I’d also love to see anything in the Santos administration with President Santos and his Chief of Staff, working together in some kind of political manoeuvring or in the Sit Room.
Or Josh having to talk Matt down from doing something, or a moment where they doubt each other.
Or anything about being in a relationship while doing their respective jobs.
Or maybe an AU where they met earlier than in canon?

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