! -> This story is available in PDF and EPUB with pretty formatting, and is also posted on a couple more story-hosting websites. You can download / view them here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8DhVA4eIk1XMW1vS3ZWMzR1bDA?usp=sharing

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With Season 7 of Game Of Thrones upon us, do you miss the older times when the problems – and the villains – were a bit more “down to Earth”? Lannisters who seemed like the worst people ever in the first season or two, Ramsay with his penchant for flaying and mind games, and, of course...

Joffrey “Baratheon” and his obsession with crossbows.

I used to write stories here on Gurochan before, under a different name, but it’s been a very long time since I’ve completed anything. This story is an attempt to recreate the events that were mentioned – but not shown on screen – in an episode from Season 3, namely the unfortunate demise of Ros and the hands of Joffrey. I originally wanted to write this right away, way back in 2013 when the episode aired, but life always seemed to be getting in the way. The story survived two major rewrites since its inception and lots of editing, and finally now I consider it finished. Better late than never, eh? :)

It ended up being quite “moody” – it has a long buildup and explores the warping of minds of both the victim and the sadist – but rest assured, it gets as violent as you expect it to be if you remember that scene. It’s mostly written from the victim’s POV, but occasionally switches to the POV of the torturer. It’s almost 16K words long, which translates to about 1-2 hours of reading. It was written without any explicit chapters in mind and is probably best consumed in one sitting for maximum immersion, but it’s split into 8 natural “parts” if you need to put it down for a while.

You don’t need to be familiar with Game Of Thrones to read it, nor do you need to remember Season 3 in detail. There’s a brief memo below, and the story has all the necessary exposition.

I hope you enjoy it! Let’s see if you identify with the sadistic King, or sympathize with his victim.

Disclaimer

“Chaos Is A Ladder” is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.

Game Of Thrones, the characters depicted within, and the imagery used are property of their respective owners. This story is a derivative work written under the principles of fair use.

This work contains scenes of graphic violence, some sexually suggestive content and occasional use of explicit language. Readers who find this uncomfortable or are not allowed by law to be exposed to such content should not proceed. Suggested fiction rating is Mature.

The author strongly disapproves of practicing the depicted violence in real life, or any kind of non-consensual violence for that matter.

Game Of Thrones Season 3 - A Brief Memo

The story is set in Seven Kingdoms, a country occupying most of the vast continent of Westeros. The current King is a young 18 year old boy Joffrey Baratheon, a spoiled child who exhibits unnaturally cruel, unreasonable and at times outright sadistic behavior. He is a child of incest between the wife of the previous King – his legal father – and her brother, thus his claim to the Throne is invalid – which is probably the worst kept secret in all Seven Kingdoms, and something that Joffrey himself heartily denies. Children born out of wedlock – called bastards – do not inherit the lands, titles and wealth of their fathers, and are generally despised by society.

The King has a Small Council at his hand, which provides him with advice on various political and social matters. Among other members of the Small Council, the ones relevant to the story are Varys, a eunuch from faraway lands who has a network of spies in his employ and thus acts as the Crown’s head of intelligence (“master of whisperers”), and Lord Petyr Baelish, a nobleman coming from a small and powerless dynasty (“house”) who has schemed and plotted his way to the top of the food chain. The two have a sort of a rivalry relationship, trying to undermine each other’s plans both for personal gains and for the sake of competition.

Petyr Baelish also owns a brothel in King’s Landing, the capital of Seven Kingdoms, which provides him with additional income and helps him build connections with various noblemen who visit his establishment.

Ros is a red-haired prostitute in her 20s hailing from the northern region of the country, called simply The North. Initially employed by Baelish as a common whore, she proved to possess useful literacy and management skills and was later chosen by Petyr to be his personal assistant. Recently, seeing that Ros has access to many of his documents, Varys recruited her to spy on Petyr for him and offered his protection.