Rec-cember #5
Dec. 16th, 2025 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eddishelenThe theme for this rec-cember post is Catelyn Tully Stark.
I’ve been reading a lot of ASOIAF fic recently, and I was trying to figure out how to organize some recs. Cat is one of my favorite characters, so I decided to rec some Catelyn-centric fics. Not all of them are from her POV, but in all of them she plays a major role and/or it explores some interesting aspect of her character/relationships/journey.
Pre-canon Canon Divergence
All our silence could not excuse by dwellingondreams
https://archiveofourown.org/works/24449383
“Who did you promise?” she asks him, tearful with alarm and terror.
He gives an odd sort of little half smile, then rasps, “Lyanna. I always kept my promises. She would have been so angry with me… otherwise. I had to help her. It was the only way.”
“What was the only way?” Catelyn feels cold sweat dripping down her back, feels slightly feverish herself. “What do you mean, Ned? Did Lyanna ask you to do something?”
“Keep him away… from Robert,” he whispers. “To protect him.”
(Mortally wounded during the Greyjoy Rebellion, a delirious Ned makes a deathbed confession to Catelyn, leaving her to pick up the pieces of both her life and Jon Snow's.)
the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire (series) by SomeEnchantedEve
https://archiveofourown.org/series/121638
After a failed Rebellion, Catelyn and Ned must try and build a family and life together in exile.
and love is not a victory march by SomeEnchantedEve
https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061444/chapters/2128121
After Brandon's death, Hoster Tully chooses to ally his house with the Targaryen cause rather than the rebels. Despite this, Catelyn and Ned find their paths crossing over battle lines.
Canon divergence where Jon is with Robb’s army:
Blood of My Blood by emmaliza
https://archiveofourown.org/works/12216336
“I wish I could believe this is all your fault. All some scheme,” she says. “But I don't.”
Catelyn and Jon (with background Jon/Robb) finding common ground and grieving their lost family
allies in a time of war by liesmyth
https://archiveofourown.org/works/886403/chapters/1708781
That one AU where Jon goes to war with Robb, and finds out he has more in common with Lady Catelyn than they both expected. Featuring brotherly bonding, Stark family moments, and characters not getting killed off.
Catelyn/Jaime:
We Stole Our New Lives Through Blood and Pain by vixleanord
https://archiveofourown.org/works/399800
His father gives Jaime a choice: pick a queen or one will be picked for him. Jaime says the first name which comes to mind, and, just like that, Catelyn Tully becomes his wife.
Family, Duty, Honor by angel_deux
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21111497/chapters/50235896
Jaime Lannister's betrothal to Lysa Tully ends, and so does Catelyn Tully's betrothal to Brandon Stark. Tywin Lannister still wants his alliance, so Jaime and Catelyn are married.
They're both relieved to find that they get along, and their marriage may in time be a successful one, as long as Jaime manages to keep the secret of his affair with his sister.
Round the Riverbend by emmaliza
https://archiveofourown.org/works/15326322
Jaime is lost on the way to his chambers in Riverrun, but finds his hostess offering to show him the way more interesting.
Other:
You’re my river running high by dwellingondreams
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17933501/chapters/42348116
Kermit Tully, known to all but his lord father as Ser Kit, sits besides his flushed, giddy sister, talking and laughing with the other lordlings around him. He sits straight and tall, and his coppery hair gleams in the torchlight. Eddara is struck by his high cheekbones and the smile on his face; he appears genuinely intrigued by everything said to him. More than anything, for an instant, she wants a boy like Kit Tully to look at her like that.
(Edda Stark meets Kit Tully at Harrenhal, and for an instant, life is like the sweet, sad songs her sister loves.) Rule 63 Ned/Cat
The She-Wolves of Highgarden by lareinenoire
https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097348
AU. The Tyrells succeed in stealing Sansa Stark from King's Landing. This is focused on Sansa, but her relationship with Catelyn (and both Catelyn and Sansa with Arya) gets some nice focus
I’ve been reading a lot of ASOIAF fic recently, and I was trying to figure out how to organize some recs. Cat is one of my favorite characters, so I decided to rec some Catelyn-centric fics. Not all of them are from her POV, but in all of them she plays a major role and/or it explores some interesting aspect of her character/relationships/journey.
Pre-canon Canon Divergence
All our silence could not excuse by dwellingondreams
https://archiveofourown.org/works/24449383
“Who did you promise?” she asks him, tearful with alarm and terror.
He gives an odd sort of little half smile, then rasps, “Lyanna. I always kept my promises. She would have been so angry with me… otherwise. I had to help her. It was the only way.”
“What was the only way?” Catelyn feels cold sweat dripping down her back, feels slightly feverish herself. “What do you mean, Ned? Did Lyanna ask you to do something?”
“Keep him away… from Robert,” he whispers. “To protect him.”
(Mortally wounded during the Greyjoy Rebellion, a delirious Ned makes a deathbed confession to Catelyn, leaving her to pick up the pieces of both her life and Jon Snow's.)
the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire (series) by SomeEnchantedEve
https://archiveofourown.org/series/121638
After a failed Rebellion, Catelyn and Ned must try and build a family and life together in exile.
and love is not a victory march by SomeEnchantedEve
https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061444/chapters/2128121
After Brandon's death, Hoster Tully chooses to ally his house with the Targaryen cause rather than the rebels. Despite this, Catelyn and Ned find their paths crossing over battle lines.
Canon divergence where Jon is with Robb’s army:
Blood of My Blood by emmaliza
https://archiveofourown.org/works/12216336
“I wish I could believe this is all your fault. All some scheme,” she says. “But I don't.”
Catelyn and Jon (with background Jon/Robb) finding common ground and grieving their lost family
allies in a time of war by liesmyth
https://archiveofourown.org/works/886403/chapters/1708781
That one AU where Jon goes to war with Robb, and finds out he has more in common with Lady Catelyn than they both expected. Featuring brotherly bonding, Stark family moments, and characters not getting killed off.
Catelyn/Jaime:
We Stole Our New Lives Through Blood and Pain by vixleanord
https://archiveofourown.org/works/399800
His father gives Jaime a choice: pick a queen or one will be picked for him. Jaime says the first name which comes to mind, and, just like that, Catelyn Tully becomes his wife.
Family, Duty, Honor by angel_deux
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21111497/chapters/50235896
Jaime Lannister's betrothal to Lysa Tully ends, and so does Catelyn Tully's betrothal to Brandon Stark. Tywin Lannister still wants his alliance, so Jaime and Catelyn are married.
They're both relieved to find that they get along, and their marriage may in time be a successful one, as long as Jaime manages to keep the secret of his affair with his sister.
Round the Riverbend by emmaliza
https://archiveofourown.org/works/15326322
Jaime is lost on the way to his chambers in Riverrun, but finds his hostess offering to show him the way more interesting.
Other:
You’re my river running high by dwellingondreams
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17933501/chapters/42348116
Kermit Tully, known to all but his lord father as Ser Kit, sits besides his flushed, giddy sister, talking and laughing with the other lordlings around him. He sits straight and tall, and his coppery hair gleams in the torchlight. Eddara is struck by his high cheekbones and the smile on his face; he appears genuinely intrigued by everything said to him. More than anything, for an instant, she wants a boy like Kit Tully to look at her like that.
(Edda Stark meets Kit Tully at Harrenhal, and for an instant, life is like the sweet, sad songs her sister loves.) Rule 63 Ned/Cat
The She-Wolves of Highgarden by lareinenoire
https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097348
AU. The Tyrells succeed in stealing Sansa Stark from King's Landing. This is focused on Sansa, but her relationship with Catelyn (and both Catelyn and Sansa with Arya) gets some nice focus
