No Featherbed For Me

No Featherbed For Me by vixleonard is a Game of Thrones fic. It is a "what if" AU focused on Arya Stark where Gendry is Cersei's son and the legitimate heir to the throne instead of a bastard. Although the relationship between Arya and Gendry is a major focus of the fic, they aren't endgame and the fic can be categorized as angst even though it's not tagged as such.
The fic is much recced by fans of Arya, and by many fans of the Arya Stark/Gendry Waters pairing. However, it also often comes with warnings because of how emotional it makes it's readers, with fans sometimes including crying reactions gifs in their recs. As of August 2021, the story has over 203,000 hits, 4300 kudos, 790 comments and 1290 bookmarks on Archive of Our Own.No Featherbed For Me on AO3. Accessed 24 August 2021.
==The Story==
Based upon the idea that Gendry is Cersei's first child, who is mentioned to have died as an infant in the show, No Featherbed For Me is something of a fandom classic in the GoT fandom. In the author's notes, vixleonard says:
 
It is probably the most prominent example of the Prince Gendry trope, which positions Gendry as the heir to the Iron Throne rather than one of Robert Baratheon's many bastards. Most of these fics feature Gendry as a prince in order to get Arya and Gendry together without the problems presented in canon that keep them apart. In that respect, No Featherbed For Me is something of a departure from the regular parameters of the trope. While the fic is often marketed as "the best" Arya/Gendry ficTweet by @delosrusso. Posted 25 Jul 2019. Accessed 19 Oct 2021. by fans and they *are* tagged as the primary pairing, Arya and Gendry are not endgame in the fic. This is one of the factors in why people get so emotional about it, because the plot creates extreme angst about the fact that Arya and Gendry can't be together due to Gendry marrying Sansa. The fic is more accurately described as an Arya-centric fic focused on her making her way through the slightly changed plot of GoT. The summary for the fic on AO3 is:
and much of the fic focuses on how much Arya doesn't want to marry either Edric Dayne or Aegon VI Targaryen, both of whom she eventually ends up marrying. The story mixes book and show canon, as Arya's pairing to Edric and Aegon are primarily based upon book canon rather than show canon and the fic was started in the hiatus between the first and second seasons. It continued to update for the next two years, finishing just as the fourth season began airing.
==Reactions and Reviews==
===Negative Reviews===
==Fanworks Inspired By The Story==
* gif set by ofquarterquells, featuring a quote from the fic
* gif set by crestas, also featuring a quote from the fic
* art by wolfandbull
==Example Art Gallery==
File:No Featherbed for Me by butterfloofies.png|No Featherbed for Me by butterfloofies (2012), illustrating Arya with two of her children from the story 
File:No Featherbed for Me by jaimesstump.jpg|Art of the various characters in the story by jaimesstump (2012)
File:No Featherbed for Me moodboard.jpg|Aesthetic edit featuring Arya manips by crestas (2013)
File:No Featherbed for Me graphic.jpg|Graphic by kingbranstark (2013), featuring a quote from the fic
==Further Reading==
*50 Must-Read GAME OF THRONES Fan Fiction by Christine Hoxmeier for bookriot.com, No Featherbed For Me is listed first in the Gendry/Arya section
* by Ellie Bate, buzzfeed.com, No Featherbed For Me is the only fic listed in the Game of Thrones section
* by Heather Waters, shiprecced.com, No Featherbed For Me is listed in fanfiction section at the end of the article
==References==
 
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