The land of the lowborn.

Published May 21, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey guys,

Carl from Cornwall the UK,
I want to know what the last 8 series would have been like for the average westrosi rather than the highborn lords ladies and queens and kings. Some of my favourite episodes have featured the small folk. Like the band of people that took in the hound or characters like hot pie or the farther and daughter that the hound killed. What would the world have looked like for the lowborn?
Take, say a northerner. He could have been a farm hand or a shepherd. Ned Stark was beheaded and the young wolf called his banners! A draft officer came past his farm. Recruited his brothers, shoved a pike into his hand and was told to march south. His farther missing an arm from king Roberts rebellion stayed to run the farm best he could. The young northerner fought the lannisters in the whispering woods, cheered the young wolfs victory’s and bent the knee when rob stark was declared king. He watched in horror as his fellow northerns were slain at the red wedding. Grabbing his younger brother he fled the massacre, only just escaping with his life. On the run from the Frey’s, lannisters, opportunistic sell swords and bounty hunters. He survived capturing rabbits as he and his brother headed north back to his family farm. Keeping offthe roads they managed to avoid attention, the brotherhood roamed the land and were rumoured to kill those that did not swear fealty to their red god. As the brothers climbed the hill to their farmstead they could see the thatch roof smouldering, the farm burnt, his family put to the sword. Wildings. More and more wildings had been spotted south and his village had not been spared their reaving. As he and his brother buried their parents they looked to the future of rebuilding the family farm. Then the bastard came, he came with his band of wildings. The great lords of the north in their Wisdom bent the knee and named him king. The banners were called and we marched in his war. Side by side with wildings,the same wildings that put his family to the sword. They stood out numbered on the battlefield, facing the other bastard. Ramsay snow. The northerns charged, and the northerns fell. He was knocked down hard and came too as the battle ended. Next to him lay his brother a spear thru his chest. As the king o the north sat in winter fell. The last brother walked back to his farm, his dead brother strapped to a horse to be buried next to his family. He swore never to fight again. Never to pick up sword, never to march.

Then the dead came.

Against all odds he survived. He was pinned under the rubble of a fallen tower that the fire breathing horror burnt Down, he survived the dead. Dazed, scared, but alive he was forced to march south to put some one he did nt care about on some throne he did nt care about. He only cared about his family, about his crops. He just wanted to go home, to go back, back before any of this. Back before even when his dad marched in Roberts rebellion. He wanted to go back to the peace that he thought was his right. But here he stood in front of the might of kings landing. Ready to fight another persons war. He lost everything in that battle. Sitting amongst the ashes he looked at the knife in his hand and pressed it agaisnt his throat. He wanted to know what kind of god would allow this to happen, so much destructive power unleashed on innocent people. He wanted to take that knife and feel the cold sting so he could ask the gods old or new red or black how they could do this. The march back to the north felt like a dream, numb, absent.
He returned to his farm. To his horse, his plow. His hands shake now. He gets tired too much. He leans into his horse, a strong horse. It helps pull him and the plow along. Standing in the farm yard is a man. A man from winter fell. Their marching south again. The dragon queen is dead, killed by the bastard of winterfell, the northern king that knelt. But the queens army have taken the one they once called bastard. And now, the north must, for honour, march south. Again.

Just thought it would be fun to put ourselves into the role of the normal person. We see the small folk, espically the northerns as eager to cheer canon fodder but I believe their story is much more interesting then the series credited.

Carl Rowlinson

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