“The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long.”—Children’s song
Your work is not to win the wheel.
Your work is not to fix the wheel.
Your work is to exit the wheel.
The Buddha always pointing the way off the wheel.
Path of Honor
Ned Stark
Intuitively I knew not to go. My wife begged me not to go. When I said I had no choice, she was furious, because, of course, I did have a choice. But I took great pride in always doing the honorable thing, even when it was hard. So instead of listening to my intuition, I went to King’s Landing and became the Hand of the King.
I followed the path of honor because I believed that when we are honorable, life will work out. I was naïve and thought others were honorable like me. It was a true blind spot. The most damaging of my honorable acts was warning Cersei to flee before I told Robert the truth about his children’s real father. My naiveté killed both Robert and me, and led to a great war of brothers and sons fighting to take the throne.
I was honorable, dedicated, loyal and it did not work out.
Path of Seeing
Melisandre
I thought my seeing was perfect. How could it possibly be wrong? I didn’t have the human desires that occlude seeing—the desires for power, love, and success. My only desire was to do the Lord of Light’s work. So I was utterly blindsided when I realized I’d been wrong, when I realized my visions were not pure. I had always interpreted them through the filter of my belief in the Lord of Light and the prophecy of the one true ruler, and thus, polluted them.
But it wasn’t my imperfect seeings that were problematic—it was my righteousness. I was absolutely certain that what I saw was correct. While I didn’t have human ego to occlude my seeing, I did have tremendous spiritual ego. I believed my magic, which was so far beyond what others possess, meant I was special and the one the Lord chose to bring about the enthronement. And, there was no one there to prove me wrong or challenge me. Most people were in absolute awe of my magic and truly scared of me. Ser Davos was the only one who questioned me, but I didn’t respect his judgment—he was an unbeliever. So I was ruthless in carrying out the mission. I was certain it was what the Lord wanted. It was only in our utter defeat that my righteousness cracked. Before that, it never even occurred to me that I could be wrong.
I was a great sorcerer, but seeing is tricky, all outcomes are transient, and spiritual ego is as much a trap as human ego. It was a great relief to finally let it all go—my specialness, my powers, my mission—and after hundreds of years of striving and trying to hold it all together, disappear into dust. Next time I hope to bring some humility with me.
Path of Greed (Self-interest variant)
Littlefinger
We always knew how this was going to end. Even though I was surprised that Sansa and Arya were the ones who truly figured out my game, in that way humans can delude themselves, I both thought I could always outwit everyone, and always knew my treachery would get me killed.
Tremendous energy was expended to climb the ladder. A lot of progress was made. Next time I’ll do better.
Path of Greed (Tribal variant)
Cersei Lannister
No matter what was tried, and all was tried, my children were all murdered. Even Tommen, who ended his own life, was murdered—murdered by me when he understood what I’d done. Every victory I tasted was transient, and the harder I clung, the more things began to crumble, until it was all destroyed.
I wanted power. I wanted to protect my family. But it was all in vain. It didn’t work out.
Path of Experiences
Arya Stark
I never wanted to be a Lady. Sword fights, intrigue, revenge, journeys, and adventure are what pull at my heart. There are so many things I want to see and do. While the game of thrones has never enticed me, being an explorer does.
This desire for experiences will take me many places, and I’ll continue to incarnate while this place intrigues me. My time here is not done.
Path of Entitlement
Daenerys Targaryen
I am powerful. I am beautiful. Men fall in love with me—deeply. They pledge their fealty to me. I can stand in burning flames and walk away unscathed. I, alone, have dragons. I am the one, the one who can do it. It is my destiny, it is my right. And though I’ve been repeatedly warned to be merciful, I can’t hear it because I know I’m right. I know I’m the true queen.
Well, that’s what I thought. My lack of humility and mercy are my downfall. I never take the throne. It was all for naught.
Path of Duty
Jon Snow
People have many ideas about why I was brought back to life—to help defeat the Night King, to kill Dany and keep the tyranny that was building inside her in check, to set things back to right. I don’t know about any of that. All I know is I’m tired, and relieved to go north of the wall with the wildlings and lead a simple life. I’m tired of this game. I’ve always done my duty in the game, but I never wanted to be in it.
I know the only way to win the game, is to leave the game.
Enlightenment Fan Fiction 