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athanza · 1 year

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"Snowfall" - Part II

Fem!reader (from a non-canon, lesser known house) + Aemond Targaryen (romantic) + Rhaenyra Targaryen (platonic) + Damon Targaryen (platonic) + Helaena Targaryen (platonic)

Tags: Family drama, royal politics, romance, platonic fluff, angst, lots of tention (good and bad), protective Aemond, protective Rhaenyra, found family

Warnings: An attempted SA in part III, mentions of parent death during childbirth, parental abuse, canon violence, Aegon being a creep, canon swearing, a little bit of light smut later down the line but nothing too nsfw.

Summary: Elisana's father brings her with him to King's Landing when he's summoned by the Queen to discuss a rebellion in his territories. Her and Prince Aemond begin to fall for each other but family secrets begin to surface and it creates a tense situation between her house and house Targaryen.

Part I | Part III | Part IV

She followed Aemond through back passageways they used as children to evade their parents, corner after corner, covertly weaving through darkness and dim torchlight.

They reached a room that was so dark she could barely see but she did see Aemond open a door she had never known was there.

"We're leaving the castle?" She whispered.

"Are you afraid?" He asked, sounding almost like a challenge.

She smiled a little. "No."

He smirked and let her go through first, closing the door quietly behind them.

They travelled through more dark passageways until, through the final door, she saw the whole of King's Landing, still alive despite the hour.

The warm torch lights that scattered the city glowed brightly beneath the cool moon that shone above and Elisa continued to follow Aemond to their unknown destination. At first the thought he was raking her into town, which made her a little nervous, but when they turned yet another corner she eased a little.

There was a small wooden door on the outside of the castle walls that she realised lead into one of the towers. She followed him through the door and up the spiral staircase until they came to the very top of the tower.

It was a large, flat area that stood overlooking almost a 360° view of the city.

It was then that Aemond took off his cloak to reveal he had two swords, and he threw one to her.

She caught it, it snapping her out of her awe of the view.

Aemond drew his sword, and she hesitated, a little confused.

As she unsheathed it he came at her, three strong strikes in succession, she blocked every one.

"Good." He said. "But it could be better. Again."

They copied the same strikes and she dealt a lot better now that she was prepared.

She unclasped her cloak and it fell to the ground.

"Attack me."

She used the same three strikes against him.

"Bend your knees, you're as stiff as a dead goat. Again!"

She struck him again, this time following his instruction, despite his comments.

They stood, swords together, the moonlight gleaming off of the polished blades.

"Good." He said, that signature smirk on his face. "Now, parry."

He moved to strike, but she diverted his blade away from her and quickly turned to face him.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked him, sword still raised.

He struck her twice more.

"You want to fight?" He said.

She nodded.

"Then I'll help you."

"But why?"

"Because, woman or not, everyone deserves to fight."

A glint of admiration flickered in her eyes as they stood above the city. He truly had grown up.

They copied the same moves at least another four times before moving onto a new set, and then another, and then another, until the sun had begun to rise above the ocean.

She was so tired the next morning that she could barely stay awake while playing with Helaena and her children.

"You look exhausted." Helaena noted.

"I couldn't sleep last night."

"You need to tame the beast."

She had no idea what she was talking about, as with a lot of things Helaena says, but she appreciated the sentiment, too tired to try to make sense of it.

"Are you really ok?" She asked.

Elisa's eyes dropped to the floor and she handed Maelor another wooden block for the little tower he was building.

"My father is...difficult." Elisa sighed. "Hopefully there'll be some miracle and I'll be rid of him."

"You could come and live with us here in the palace?"

"I would greatly like to be able to spend more time with you." She smiled. "But I'm not sure my father would agree to it."

"It's worth the ask."

"I'm not sure I can ask him anything after yesterday. I fear his temper is still too high."

Helaena placed a hand on yours and smiled warmly. "You can stay here as long as you like."

Elisa held her hand. "I don't know what I would do without your friendship, Helaena."

It was slowly approaching sunset when she decided to sit in the gardens for a while. Her head was full of decisions and questions, and she needed some peace.

The sun was warn on her back and it calmed her immensely. This type of sun wasn't common back home and she wanted to make the most of it.

She thought of last night and the training she did. It was draining. She didn't know if she could do that again and be able to remain conscious the next day. She did, however, find herself wishing to spend more time with Prince Aemond.

He was a man of few words if he didn't have anything of worth to say, but he was one of few people she felt comfortable around despite his sometimes cold exterior. After last night, she supposed it was because she knew now that he was on her side, and his willingness to help her train gave her a new admiration for him.

Then her mind began to wander to his gracefulness with the blade and his piercing eye that could reach down to the farthest reaches of her soul if she let him. That eye of a beautiful sea foam green

She shifted where she sat and snapped herself out of it. She couldn't let herself entertain such thoughts.

Suddenly, she heard a bereft groan from behind her. She spun around in her seat and saw Aegon stirring in the bushes, clearly having just woken up from a drunken sleep.

"Aegon, what on earth are you doing here?"

"Oh, Elisa." He winced, shielding his eyes from the sunlight. "I may have had one too many pints."

"My name is Lady Elisana. Go and find your mother before she sends the guards out looking for you."

He propped himself up on one elbow. "You want to be rid of me so soon?"

She rolled her eyes and turned back around.

He stumbled to his feet and brushed the leaves from his tunic. "You could have been with me last night." He jeered, leaning toward her.

"I could also have been puking in my chambers, which would have been vastly more interesting."

"When did you become such a brick?" He replied. "You used to giggle at my advances."

"I grew up and realised that you're vile."

"You wouldn't think so if you sucked my cock."

"I would rather cut off my head than give you any." She scorned.

"My idiot brother annoying you Elisa?" Came Aemond's voice from beside them.

She didn't hear his footsteps at all.

"Oh look, it's the twat." Aegon groaned.

Elisa stood up, intending to leave, her peace clearly disturbed.

"Why don't you loosen up and we can take her together, hm?" Aegon continued. "She seems like the type to enjoy that."

Her face changed immediately at that comment and she back-handed him across the face, hard.

He grabbed her arm, but almost immediately, a blade appeared at Aegon's throat.

With a pause and a smile of contempt, he let go of her and Aemond stepped forward, pushing Aegon back with the tip of his sword.

"Fuck. Off." He said. Slow and raspy, like a snarl.

Aegon glared at his brother and glanced back at Elisa briefly before accepting defeat and sauntering away.

Aemond put away his sword and turned to her. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." She replied, both greatful and annoyed that he intervened. She wanted to do a lot more to Aegon that just slap him. "Your brothers a cunt."

He chuckled, not having heard such words from her before. "Yes he is."

"Next time I'll stab him in the neck and save you the trouble."

"I look forward to it." He smirked.

Elisa chuckled, seeing his expression. "You find me amusing?"

"I find your fire refreshing."

She felt herself blush slightly and brushed some dirt from her skirts in the hopes that he wouldn't notice. "My father would say otherwise."

"Your fathers a cunt."

She laughed. Aemond smiled at the sound, he hadn't heard it in a long time.

"You know, I have fond memories of our childhood, despite you boys being so obnoxious."

"Like the time you filled my boots with mud?"

"You remember that?"

"Mm." He replied.

"The mud was Aegon's idea, I only did it because he didn't have the balls."

Aemond huffed amusedly.

Across the garden, Alicent sat with her daughter as they embroidered and heard Elisa's laugh from a length away. She looked up and was just out of earshot of the conversation, but she saw the way they smiled at each other as they talked and she watched with an expression that could only be described as contentment. She rememebred how he looked at the Lady Elisa at dinner the night before and couldn't help but smile.

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solasan · 2 years

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🏆❌🔮🧸 for olenna!

OC EMOJIS

[ 🏆 ] is your muse multitalented? what are their hobbies, and why did they pick up these hobbies? if they don’t have hobbies, why don’t they?

i think olenna's got quite a few talents; she has a good head for numbers, even if she'd never admit to it (bc concerning herself with finances and accounting is 'unladylike' lmao), and she's definitely a voracious reader, so her talent for wordplay + language is marked. reading is her biggest hobby, since it was a way to both connect with her father after his death and distract herself from the war raging outside of old oak / her grief as a young teenager. after years spent in sewing circles, she becomes a very good weaver, and she actually enjoys it quite a lot; the methodical nature of the movements is very soothing to her. she also has a talent for embroidery, though no real passion; it's more one of those things that she's just expected to be good at, given her high birth, sex, and position as queen.

[ ❌ ] is there something your muse struggles with that they might never overcome? what is it? why do they have so much trouble with it?

answered here.

[ 🔮 ] what is your muse’s relationship with religion and spirituality? were they raised in a certain religion? have they stuck with the same set of spiritual beliefs all their life, or have they changed over time? are they settled in their spirituality now?

hehehehehe tabby u've asked the question ive been excited abt answering for olenna from the BEGINNING god bless u. olenna's relationship with religion is super messed up! she was raised following the faith of the seven; both of her parents were pretty devout, especially danelle, but it was... normal levels ig? the oakhearts visited the sept often, kept tokens of the seven around them, stuff like that.

and then willem, rymund, and theomar are killed by daeron & tessarion; the war reaches new levels of horror; the greens install spies (both overt and covert) in old oak to ensure no new rebellion begins. and olenna turns to the gods for guidance; particularly the mother and the crone. it gets to the point that she starts sleeping in old oak's sept for protection, which is... ironically probably a little stupid when there's a war going on, but nothing bad happens to her. she honestly becomes a little bit fanatical bc of the isolation of her position (old oak is effectively cut off from the outside world at this time, since the crown is keeping a very close eye on them). when the war ends and all of her remaining loved ones have survived, olenna starts dreaming of joining the faith as a septa to 'thank the gods for sparing us all'.

then she becomes queen, so that's not an option. but she continues to be very devout! given that she's less isolated now, she becomes a little less vocally devout (she doesn't go off on long philosophical debates or anything anymore) but she still visits the sept on visenya's hill very often and puts a lot of money into motherhouses and the faith within king's landing. as queen, she encourages a lot of more modest behaviour within the court of king's landing, which was already pretty sober and severe bc of aegon's mislike of tourneys & balls, so she's basically just... the wet blanket on top of the even wetter blanket shjdsjk.

she raises each of her children in the light of the seven; believing that the gods will always protect them if she does that, because that's what she's supposed to do, right? that's what the seven-pointed star says. and then aegon dies and she's lost someone she loves again, and that's painful, and even if she understands that death is natural, she's upset with the gods for taking him when he was still young. and then daeron dies and that's not natural, because no parent should outlive their child. her faith gets a little shaken; she spends long hours in the sept begging and pleading for answers, to no response. and then, when her beliefs are already a little shaky, baelor dies, and the whole faith gets thrown out the window lmao.

she burns her copy of the seven-pointed star; she locks her mother's prayer beads away. she never steps foot in a sept again. she isn't exactly an atheist, because she still believes the gods exist, but much like tywin, she doesn't like them very much. or at all. she feels very personally betrayed by them, bc she dedicated so much of her life to their worship, and she's lost so much. olenna definitely holds onto that anger til the day she dies.

[ 🧸 ] does your muse keep anything sentimental? if so, what do they keep and why?

answered here.

#me taking my religious upbringing and shoving it down olenna's throat: hehe i love u so much darling <3 #THANK U FOR ASKING ME THESE TABBY ILY!!! sorry that i went off a bit sdhjdsjk #answered #thewildmother #ch: olenna oakheart

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aerltarg · 3 years

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Maybe this is a stupid question, buuuuut:

I just can't imagine a world that Rhaegar comes back from the Trident, wins the war and becomes king. No, I'm not a anti Rhaegar, matter of fact I like him very much, I'm just can imagine how would Lya, little Jon, this whole affair, would settle in the capital. The norm that fics (at least those I read) tend to follow is to make Rhaegar:

1. A douche, paranoid and destiny-obessed king.

2. Completely incompetent, aloof monarch, that deep down has a heart of gold, but can't really be understood.

I mean, isn't he supposed to be a scholar since he was a kid? What's are your thoughts about it?

oh, yeah, i can totally understand this! it's is the whole point in canon actually, "the wrong man came back from the trident". you would expect a hero win against his antagonist and have a happy ending w his lady love but it doesn't happen. instead the subversion happens to them with rhaegar being killed by robert who becomes obviously a shitty king and lyanna dying after him. they were never supposed to have happy ending, they were created as tragic and doomed and dead from the beginning for the whole plot to start, jon to have his parentage mystery and dany to take the passed baton as the last dragon, prophesied savoir and the heir who has to carry entire house on her back now.

as for the realistic rhaegar wins aus that's the difficult question. tbh we just don't know enough abt their situation, plans and wishes. you see, e.g. in agot we can be right in ned's head and see his motivations, what he was thinking abt, what he was planning, what he was hoping to do. but if his story was told the way rhaegar's was i bet he would have his own crowd of haters and ~intellectuals~ jumping out every two seconds w their "hot takes" how actually all hints abt what rlly happened (ned being a good man w his own sense of honour, justice and experiences affecting him and the deal w cersei's children) doesn't matter and he was an ambitious prick, planned to grasp the power by being joffrey's regent and make his daughter sansa queen. (you can actually insert there any bullshit and still don't reach the level of stupidity of such "hot takes" this fandom loves so much lmao). also he would be blamed to the hell and beyond for being too stupid and not foreseeing the future and actions of other ppl bc ofc after everything happened it's so easy to say what was so obvious to notice. also they would say that the deaths of his men and horrible fates of his kids are 100% his fault and even straight up say he killed them lmao. i can rant abt it for hours so yeah. this is a situation w too many unknown variables bc it depends too much on actions of too many characters we don't know enough abt. the only thing it's possible to tell for sure is the fact that there couldn't be any perfect solutions since things got too complicated at this point.

such fics as you've mentioned tho are just a part of this dumb fanon where rhaegar is "too prophecy obsessed"/"incapable of love"/shrodinger's rhaegar both smart and stupid at the same time/whatever/all of this combined lmfao. the man was notably intelligent from the early age as you've absolutely rightly mentioned, his guesses abt himself being tptwp have nothing to do w egocentrism as some parts of the fandom would want us all to believe unless he wouldn't be so reasonable abt it and later on, after so many years, wouldn't have changed his mind and thought his son could be tptwp.

and literally fuck all antis that think you shouldn't consider prophecies that hold real power in this fantasy world lol. you know, aegon the conqueror was said to be motivated (or at least partly) to unify westeros by the prophecy and still got the treatment of perfect/maximum close to perfect figure of a leader everyone should look up to from the narrative and grrm. prophecy obsessed much, huh? i don't even talk abt all these parallels between him and rhaegar grrm put there not for bitches to ignore them completely! and i will never get tired of reminding that dismissing prophecies is UNWISE for targaryens of all people. the house whose story is built on the dream of young daenys and her father aenar that listened to her despite common sense (or what local "anti magic"/"anti prophecies" clowns consider to be common sense). targs would be as dead as the rest of dragonlords if not for daenys the dreamer. who else in the world has as many reasons to take prophecies seriously as them?

yet antis out there act as if rhaegar is one dimensional weirdo whose every character trait is abt mf ~prophecy obsession~. like how can they miss one of the main points so badly?? the game of thrones distracts ppl from the real danger beyond the wall, yk, the one rhaegar was aware of and meant to deal with. there wouldn't be such a problem if he became king and had as many years of head start before ice zombies apocalypse as ignorant bobby b did. rhaegar had to die just for westeros to sink in shit and our main heroes to save everyone to make this story more epic LMAO

so yeah, too many ppl portray rhaegar as this one dimensional robotic creature without any knowledge of what feelings are idk even for what reason. it seems these ppl can't read for real bc rhaegar was not only intelligent af as well as dutiful ("it seems i must be a warrior" but "he loved his harp more than his lance") but also. ugh emotional?? my boy had constant emo sessions w brooding at ruins of summerhall, sleeping out there beneath the stars all alone and writing songs that made all women cry. does it sound as someone who "isn't capable of love" lol? folks act as if he was completely heartless from the day he was born (bc he didnt play w other kids ig??) but in reality their emotional range is less than the one of a spoon in comparison to rhaegar's lol. i'm not even gonna address the horrible attitude of demonizing him for his implied depression, vile clowns never listen to themselves when they talk abt targaryens and their "madness".

tldr; these fics are mostly lame af and suck at characterization if they're making rhaegar like that lol. anyway his character isn't abt being a good or a bad king, it's abt being a would-be-king for characters in books and readers in reality to sigh over his tragic aura and pretty aesthetic abt how it could've been. however, grrm clearly doesn't write rhaegar as evil or incapable as some parts of the fandom would want to try to persuade others. realistically speaking in the scenario where he wins there couldn't be any perfect decisions but it's a territory of speculations on thin air and lit nothing more since canon doesn't provide us with enough information to rlly theorize anything instead of building biased headcanons some ppl call "analysis".

but remember what barristan said about rhaegar while practically watching him all his life, from a literal baby to the man grown:

“I know little of Rhaegar. Only the tales Viserys told, and he was a little boy when our brother died. What was he truly like?”

The old man considered a moment. “Able. That above all. Determined, deliberate, dutiful, single-minded.” (ASOS, Daenerys I)

“Prince Rhaegar’s prowess was unquestioned, but he seldom entered the lists. He never loved the song of swords the way that Robert did, or Jaime Lannister. It was something he had to do, a task the world had set him. He did it well, for he did everything well. That was his nature. But he took no joy in it. Men said that he loved his harp much better than his lance.” (ASOS, Daenerys IV)

#thank you for the ask!!!#hope it didnt get too long and rambly afshsjsjs #once started talking its hard to shut up 😂#and im sorry for any possible mistakes #.txt #rhaegar targaryen #targnation #mypost #fandom wank #anti antis #majorton #*answered #asks

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une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir · 3 years

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random thoughts on jon connington’s chapters

The last time I read this was over four years and I had a different take on Aegon, so I was curious to see on what changed with a second read.

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The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

Sansa and Aegon

Alayne II (Sansa II) ~ AFFC

When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright."

The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

"We have gone to great lengths to keep Prince Aegon hidden all these years," Lemore reminded him. "The time will come for him to wash his hair and declare himself, I know, but that time is not now. Not to a camp of sellswords." (...)

"The plan was to reveal Prince Aegon only when we reached Queen Daenerys," Lemore was saying." (...)

The prince wore sword and dagger, black boots polished to a high sheen, a black cloak lined with blood-red silk. With his hair washed and cut and freshly dyed a deep, dark blue, his eyes looked blue as well. At his throat he wore three huge square-cut rubies on a chain of black iron, a gift from Magister Illyrio. Red and black. Dragon colors. That was good. "You look a proper prince," he told the boy. (...)

Sansa and Aegon are supposed to reveal themselves by washing the dye out of their hair and wearing their house colours, in an event that involves a wedding with someone that will facilitate claiming their birthright.

However, Aegon said “fuck that bitch Danerys” and getting married, revealed himself somewhat (to the Golden Company higher-ups only) wearing his house colours and went back to Westeros to reclaim his birthright on his own, unware that his cousin from his mother’s side is coming to him to offer aid in the war.. Aegon washing his hair of the blue dye and doning his armour will only happen wieh he sets foot in Westeros.

Likewise, we can draw a parallel scenario for Sansa and considering the “Sansa is grey girl who flees from a marriage” it all fits, Like Aegon, Sansa syas “fuck that bitch blonde Bobby B Harry and getting married, like Aegon she wears a grey cloak, and like Aegon she’ll be meeting her cousin and eventually claim her birthright.

I somehow doubt Sansa will be getting an army that soon, but in the show she got the Wildlings (via Jon, who can be seen as “sellsword” type of warriors) and the Vale army. In the books, there’s the mountain clans both in the Vale (loyal to Tyrion, whom she’s married to) and the north mountain clans (those that protected Bran because he is Ned’s son and joined Stannis also because of Ned and his daughter).

Another thing of note is Aegon ended up cutting his hair but dyed blue once more, so this may be true for Sansa as well. She may cut it shorter (a parallel to her sister Arya as well) but keep dying it for awhile still. Such, she may reach the Wall and meet Jon as a brunette (a parallel to Jeyne Poole as well as Alys Karstark). ETA: Likewise Aegon only revealing himself by washing his hair and doning his armour when he invades Westeros (his birthright), Sansa may only wash her hair and done her armour when the northern campaign starts.

Regardless, This is a smart choice because...

Cersei IV ~ ADWD

The queen bristled. "I most certainly have not forgotten that little she-wolf." She refused to say the girl's name. "I ought to have shown her to the black cells as the daughter of a traitor, but instead I made her part of mine own household. She shared my hearth and hall, played with my own children. I fed her, dressed her, tried to make her a little less ignorant about the world, and how did she repay me for my kindness? She helped murder my son. When we find the Imp, we will find the Lady Sansa too. She is not dead . . . but before I am done with her, I promise you, she will be singing to the Stranger, begging for his kiss."

The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

"His because they're bought and paid for. Ten thousand armed strangers, plus hangers-on and camp followers. All it takes is one to bring us all to ruin. If Hugor's head was worth a lord's honors, how much will Cersei Lannister pay for the rightful heir to the Iron Throne? You do not know these men, my lord. It has been a dozen years since you last rode with the Golden Company, and your old friend is dead."

Cersei’s attention on Aegon is also a parallel to Cersei’s attention to Sansa, interestingly enough Tyrion is mentioned in both instances. Cersei’s attention on Sansa also come attached with the “singing the Stranger for a kiss”, which is interesting because if “Sansa is the Grey Girl” theory holds to, the guy she’s running to for protection is in fact.... dead or close to (the Stranger is their god and in the show... the episode was aplty named, the Book of the Stranger).

The bells tolled for all of us that day. For Aerys and his queen, for Elia of Dorne and her little daughter, for every true man and honest woman in the Seven Kingdoms. And for my silver prince. (...)

He had grown fond of Lemore, but that did not mean he required her approval. Her task had been to instruct the prince in the doctrines of the Faith, and she had done that. No amount of prayer would put him on the Iron Throne, however. That was Griff's task. He had failed Prince Rhaegar once. He would not fail his son.

Let me live long enough to see the boy sit the Iron Throne, and Varys will pay for that slight and so much more. Then we'll see who's soon forgotten.

I grant that the obsession that Jon Connington has for Rhaegar Targaryen is milder and more honourable, compared to the obsession Littlefinger has for Catelyn Tully, but the fact is this is yet another parallel between Sansa and Aegon. They both have mentors with an unhealthy obsession with one of their parents and hate the other, which they project onto the kids. Last, but not least, both mentors are passing off as parents of the children while they remain disguised under a false indentiy.

However, as Sansa will have to run from Littlefinger’s toxic shadow, I suspect Aegon will do much the same. I have suspicions. Sansa escaped Littlefinger because of Jon, as he took the role of protection. No matter how people see the ship, the fact is Jon is a lot like Ned V2 (at least, that’s how Littlefinger will see it and he hated the man) but the truth is Jon is Ned’s nephew and Sansa’s cousin from his mother’s side.

Likewise, Aegon is about to meet Arianne Martell, who’s the niece of his mother Elia Martell, which makes them cousins from his mother’s side. Elia Martell, whom Jon Connington... hates, often speculated in fact that he was in love with Rhaegar Targaryen himself. The symmetry of all this, not only the mentor’s obsession with the children but also the love / hate hey have for their parents.

Connington’s wish to see Aegon crowned and the giant chip he has on his shoulder for not being recognised. For the former, I have not found any reference to Littlefinger wanting to sit the Iron Throne in the books, but this was basically his goal in the show. To be king with Sansa by his side. For the latter, well that’s the drive of his character, he’s a social climber seeking recognition.

Sansa VII ~ ASOS

I will tell my aunt that I don't want to marry Robert. Not even the High Septon himself could declare a woman married if she refused to say the vows. She wasn't a beggar, no matter what her aunt said. She was thirteen, a woman flowered and wed, the heir to Winterfell.

The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

"Why should I go running to my aunt [implied marriage] as if I were a beggar? My claim is better than her own. Let her come to me … in Westeros."

Eh. Same energy. They are not beggars and they know their birthright, they will not be forced to marry someone they don’t want to to facilitate it.

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TL;DR: I think these concurrence between Sansa and Aegon suggest that Aegon is real, but also glimpse into their characters beyond their toxic mentors and their ascencion to power. It will be interesting to watch their common points in future events, even if by the fact that they’re different genders and that makes PLENTY of difference in ASOIAF.

Jon and Aegon

Jon II ~ ASOS

A few tents were still standing on the far side of the camp, and it was there they found Mance Rayder. Beneath his slashed cloak of black wool and red silk he wore black ringmail and shaggy fur breeches, and on his head was a great bronze-and-iron helm with raven wings at either temple. Jarl was with him, and Harma the Dogshead; Styr as well, and Varamyr Sixskins with his wolves and his shadowcat.

The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

I personally ignored Aegon because I started with the show and didn’t know he was a (living) character until I read the books. I wasn’t even all that convinced he’d be particularly important. So I always looked at Jon’s interactions with Mance (associated with black + red) as "preparation” for Jon’s internactions with Daniella.

Hoewver, that changed when show!Cersei took over some of book!Aegon role: sitting on the Iron Throne, the Golden Company, and loved over Daniella in the last to final episode. It seems to me now that Mance can also (at the very least if not all) be seen as “preparation” for Jon’s interactions Aegon. As said, Mance dresss in a black and red cloak which associates him with Targs, the cloak being “copied” by Aegon. Mance united the notorious “give no fucks about authority) wildlings under one idea (run from the Others), while Aegon united a sellsword compay (sellswords are untrustworthty).

Moreover, it’s my conviction that Jon and Aegon are probably going to war against each other for a time (this is illustrated by what I believe are their respective dragons and a natural consequence if Aegon sits in King’s Landing while the Starks declare Northern Indepdencen), until they sommehow make peace (in case of Mance and Jon it was because of the Others, but for Jon and Aegon it could be their fire counterart, Danerys).

TL;DR: I think these vague connections between Mance and Aegon are rather interesting and may be “preparation” for Jon and Aegon’s intereactons will involve war AND peace. Interestingly, Connington’s next chapter feaures battle.

#aegon vi targaryen

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megashadowdragon · 3 years

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coldhands identity is brave danny flint

Could Coldhands be Brave Danny Flint? It sounds crackpot, and very likely is, but the more I thought about it the more it appealed to me. I've done a quick search, one or two people seem to have floated this before but it's never had much in-depth analysis. This is my first meta, so please be gentle and C&C welcome.

The Gender Agenda To start with, I'll start with the elephant in the room - Danny Flint was a girl, Coldhands is male. Or is he? Gilly, Meera, and Bran all refer to him as male, but they have no idea who he is, so would see Night's Watch clothes and assume. He wears a scarf over his face, and while they can see his eyes and that his face is pale, it took Bran's gang a decent amount of time to work out he was a walking corpse, so I'm not sure I trust them to figure out niceties like gender. Leaf's "They killed him long ago" is more of a problem - she's a colleague, she would probably know. My best defence is that maybe Children of the Forest don't do gender in the same way as humans? This feels like a reach, but we have had another magical species with sexual fluidity leading to trouble with pronouns in the series. Otherwise, Leaf tends to hang out in the cave, Coldhands can't get in, maybe they're just not that close. Finally, the main person to ask - Coldhands his or her self. The only other post I could see on reddit about this theory had someone respond with the quote "Once the heart has ceased to beat, a man's blood runs down into his extremities, where it thickens and congeals. His hands and feet swell up and turn as black as pudding. The rest of him becomes as white as milk", but I'd point out this is in third person and a generalization - "a man", not "me, Coldhands, the man".

Okay, now I've convinced everyone my theory is terrible, let's get into the meat of it.

Hands cold as stone This was what got me into this rabbit hole in the first place - House Flint's sigil is "A grey stone hand upon a white inverted pall on paly black and grey". A stone hand would be pretty cold, right? In point of fact, when we first met Coldhands, the final line of the chapter describes "fingers hard as stone." On top of that, the white and black background seems to fit the Night's Watch blacks, pale face, black hands, white snow, etc.

Who the hell else could it be? This has always been the weird thing about Coldhands for me. Honestly, there's a very good chance this is a non mystery mystery, he's a zombie Night's watch ranger riding an elk, do we really need a secret identity? However, "who is Coldhands?" is one of the most commonly asked questions in the fandom, so let's assume it's getting an answer. We know: a) night's watch member b) killed a long time ago, as reckoned by a 200 year old, c) not Benjen. There are essentially 3 historical periods where we know any specifics about the Night's Watch: 1) the long night/age of heroes, 2) Targaryen era, 3) recent history. If we work through these backwards, we can pretty much rule out the recent era for not meeting the criteria of "killed a long time ago". The Targaryen era didn't have much Night's Watch drama, a few kings sent to the wall at Aegon's conquest, Raymun Redbeard's invasion is wall related but the whole point of that story is that the Night's Watch failed to really get involved... the only strong contender from this period is a mysterious magical Targaryen bastard who went to the wall and went missing... but he's the other mysterious good zombie wandering around up north. The long night has a lot of Night's Watch focus, but it was 10,000 years ago. Allowing for this being in-universe exaggeration, it's still ~2,000 years ago, and if Coldhands were that old, I'm not sure he'd be in elk-riding mutineer-killing form, or at least not look passably human to Bran and co. This rules out specific timeline characters, which leaves more folkloric characters like Danny Flint, who isn't associated to any one point in time. There's a song, and she's treated as a well-known tale, which implies a fairly long time, but overall could be whenever. This works for any of the folkloric Night's Watch characters, but the Rat King is already otherwise occupied with a different cannibalistic pseudo immortality, leaving Mad Axe, who does have the massacring fellow brothers down pat, but doesn't feel thematically right to me. This section really grew in the writing, but TL;DR - assuming Coldhands is someone we've heard of before, no specific historical figures seem to match up chronologically, leaving figures from folk tales and songs, which there are only so many of.

Mutineer Massacre For a character we've all obsessed over so much, it's easy to forget how little we've seen of Coldhands. His role in the story has effectively been "transport Sam and Gilly to the wall, transport Bran and co to Bloodraven, massacre the Night's Watch mutineers". Hold up, one of those things is not like the others. During his quest to get Bran to Bloodraven, to awake the messiah and save the world, Coldhands takes a break and makes a detour to kill the Night's Watch Mutineers from Crasters. This is explicitly noted to be something they slow down for, when time is critical. Admittedly, it secures the party some delicious Long Pork when supplies are low, but even in aDwD it seems like there are other ways to get meat than to hunt humans, besides which he kills not one but five mutineers. He claims it is because the mutineers are following them, but Meera points out they've been circling for days - it seems Coldhands deliberately sought the mutineers out. The brutality of the kills also suggests more than utilitarian pragmatism - there are entrails slung through branches and severed heads! All of this to say, Coldhands is deliberately shown as both a member of the Night's Watch, and willing/going out of his way to punish Night's Watch brothers who break their vows and harm their fellow brothers, something Danny Flint might take personally. Basically, it's a classic exploitation movie with an elk-riding zombie as the wronged woman hunting down wrongdoers. Someone call Tarantino to direct this.

A True Night's Watch One of the big themes GRRM loves is the idea that outsiders to an institution can be the truest embodiment of that institution - Dunk and Brienne are the truest Knights, Davos is the truest lord, the Manderlys are the most loyal northerners. Coldhands already seems to tie into this - the Night's Watch are tireless defenders from the Others and their Wights, so ironically the staunchest ranger is undead as well. It would only emphasise this theme if this ultimate Night's Watch ranger was someone who was barred from entry, had to sneak in, and was murdered by their brothers for not belonging. There also seems to be a thematic tie in that Danny Flint had to essentially infiltrate the Night's Watch and keep her cover in hostile terrain, much like Coldhands in the Others controlled north.

Bonding over being murdered by your brothers Coldhands has so far been very much one of Bran's cast, but it's worth noting characters can switch storylines, and we have someone else in the North who can soon relate to being a back-from-the-dead Night's Watchman fighting the Others - I'm hardly the first to note the Coldhands/Jon parallels, but Coldhands being another character who was murdered by the Night's Watch due to their conservatism and hatred of outsiders would add another layer.

Miscellany A couple of quotes I found while researching for this: “Did Mance ever sing of Brave Danny Flint?” “Not as I recall. Who was he?” (ADWD Jon XII) - Tormund and Jon talking, Tormund mistaking Danny Flint for a man, this feels like one of those throw-away lines GRRM likes to include to make a little double meaning once the truth is out, or just seeding the idea of mistaking Danny Flint for a man. “The ranger wore the black of the Night’s Watch, but what if he was not a man at all?" (ADWD Bran I) - again, I could see GRRM giggling as he typed that if this theory were true.

Conclusion Honestly, there is every chance this is absolute nonsense, and I've just lost it waiting for TWoW. I tend to lean towards Coldhands not having a big identity reveal, he's an undead ranger co-opted by Bloodraven and that's enough. However, if Coldhands is to have an identity reveal, I think Danny Flint deserves consideration: there aren't that many viable candidates, her story is emotionally intense enough and has been referred to often enough that a casual fan could be expected to go "oh!" instead of "...let me google that", and it would fit with existing themes of the story. The angle of Jon parallels even gives an opening for the reveal to be natural and facilitate character and thematic arcs, which is what I look for in a theory.

comment on reddit

Yeah, the Flint (of Flint's Finger) sigil literally being a Cold Hand is what sold me on this when I started looking into it. There's also some other intriguing textual stuff about it...

The weird thing about Danny Flint is that she is only mentioned three times in all of ASOIAF. Three! Bran recounts her tale in Bran IV, ASOS; Theon hears Wyman Manderly demand her song in The Prince of Winterfell, ADWD; and Jon discusses her tale with Tormund in Jon XII, ADWD.

This was kind of shocking to me. Danny Flint is a pretty recognizable name to, I’d figure, the majority of attentive readers. I thought she must have been mentioned before the third book, at least, but… nope. Her tale is first introduced to us in Bran IV, ASOS, the Nightfort chapter… Oh, what’s that? Wait, isn’t that… the very same Nightfort chapter where we first hear about Coldhands? (Well, no, actually, he appears at the end of Samwell III before that, but this is the first chapter where he is identified as Coldhands.) Chronologically, Sam meets Coldhands, Bran thinks about Danny Flint, and then Sam introduces Bran to Coldhands, in fairly quick succession.

So it seems GRRM came up with Danny Flint and Coldhands around the exact same time. Interesting. Danny Flint is then not mentioned again until ADWD, when the Coldhands mystery is developed further. Double interesting.

Also, the Bran chapter directly preceding the Nightfort chapter– our first introduction to Danny Flint– is the one where Meera tells him the story of the Knight of the Laughing Tree, another tale of a northern warrior woman dressing as a man and hiding her face in service of some greater goal. Stretch? Maybe.

And why would Coldhands' face be covered at all if there WASN'T some big reveal upcoming? What utility would that have? That scarf clearly seems like a setup for SOMETHING. He doesn't need it for warmth. He's likely hiding a face that would make him recognizable to Bran/Meera/Jojen (and the readers), but died long ago... the only way that reveal could work without a ton of laborious exposition is if he took off the scarf and it was obviously a 'female' face, making it obviously Danny. It also seems likely Coldhands will interact with at least Bran and Meera again, both of whom are somewhat connected to Danny Flint’s story– Bran via his love of stories and legends, and Meera via the breaking of gender roles. So there's thematic levels to it as well.

source www . reddit . com/r/asoiaf/comments/llwm8m/coldhands_identity_spoilers_extended/

#asoiaf #A Song of Ice and Fire #asoiaf theories #asoiaf theory #asoiaf coldhands #danny flint

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aboveallarescuer · 4 years

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Dany telling herself hopeful stories

As I was rereading ASOIAF, I made it my goal to compile all* the book passages demonstrating either certain key attributes of Daenerys Targaryen (e.g. that she's compassionate and empathetic) or aspects of hers that are usually overblown (e.g. that she's violent and ambitious). Doing such a task may seem exaggerated, but I'd argue it's not, for many, many misconceptions about Dany have become widespread in light of the show's final season's events (and even before).

It must be acknowledged that it can be tricky to reference, say, ADWD passages to counter-argument how she was depicted in season eight (which allegedly follows ADOS events). Dany will have had plenty of character development in the span of two books. However, whatever happens to Dany in the next two books, I would argue that there is more than enough material to conclude that her show counterpart was made to fall for flaws that she (for the most part) never had and actions that she (for the most part) would never take.

Another objection to the purpose of these lists is that Game of Thrones is different from A Song of Ice and Fire and should be analyzed on its own, which is a fair point. However, the show is also an adaptation of these books, which begs the questions: why did they change Dany's character? Why did they overfocus on negative traits of hers or depicted them as negative when they weren't supposed to be or gave her negative traits that were never hers to begin with? Another fact that undermines the show=/=books argument is that most people think that the show's ending will be the books', albeit only in broad strokes and in different circumstances. As a result, people's perception of Dany is inevitably influenced by the show, which is a shame.

I hope these lists can be useful for whoever wants to find book passages to defend Dany's character in analysis or even conversations.

*Well, at least all the passages that I could find.

Also, people may interpret certain passages differently and then come up with a different collection of passages, so I'm not arguing that this list is completely objective (nor that there could ever be one).

Also, some passages have been cut short according to whether they were, IMO, relevant to the specific topic of the list they're in, so the context surrounding them may not always be clear (always read the books!). Many of them appear in different lists, sometimes fully cited, sometimes not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm not including quotes that misrepresent Dany here because I couldn't find them on a quick glance and, frankly, I didn't want to find them. But we know that some people like to paint Dany in an overly negative light for taking pride at her ancestors (never mind the numerous double standards) or for not being completely aware of their history. And we know that she should be defended from these accusations. I interpret Dany as someone who, sometimes, needs to tell herself hopeful stories to keep going, especially for having had no family but an abusive brother. Her bias in regarding her relatives and Westeros in an idealized light and her enemies in an overly negative one is part of that pattern (which is contextualized by the universe she lives in, in which familial bonds are the most important ones). And so, I'm listing passages in which we see that pattern come up.

A Dance with Dragons

ADWD Daenerys X

She might have wished for colder, clearer water ... but no, if she were going to pin her hopes on wishes, she would wish for rescue.

She still clung to the hope that someone would come after her. Ser Barristan might come seeking her; he was the first of her Queensguard, sworn to defend her life with his own. And her bloodriders were no strangers to the Dothraki sea, and their lives were bound to her own. Her husband, the noble Hizdahr zo Loraq, might dispatch searchers. And Daario ... Dany pictured him riding toward her through the tall grass, smiling, his golden tooth gleaming with the last light of the setting sun.

Only Daario had been given to the Yunkai’i, a hostage to ensure no harm came to the Yunkish captains. Daario and Hero, Jhogo and Groleo, and three of Hizdahr’s kin. By now, surely, all of her hostages would have been released.

It makes no matter. By now the Yunkai’i will be marching home. That was why she had done all that she had done. For peace.

But none of those things had happened. Bells, Dany thought again. Her bloodriders had found her. “Aggo,” she whispered. “Jhogo. Rakharo.” Might Daario have come with them?

ADWD Daenerys IX

The boar was a huge beast, with tusks as long as a man’s forearm and small eyes that swam with rage. She wondered whether the boar that had killed Robert Baratheon had looked as fierce. A terrible creature and a terrible death. For a heartbeat she felt almost sorry for the Usurper.

ADWD Daenerys VII

“And my father? Was there some woman he loved better than his queen?”

Ser Barristan shifted in the saddle. “Not … not loved. Mayhaps wanted is a better word, but … it was only kitchen gossip, the whispers of washerwomen and stableboys …”

“I want to know. I never knew my father. I want to know everything about him. The good and … the rest.”

“As you command.”

How beautiful, the queen tried to tell herself, but inside her was some foolish little girl who could not help but look about for Daario. If he loved you, he would come and carry you off at swordpoint, as Rhaegar carried off his northern girl, the girl in her insisted, but the queen knew that was folly.

ADWD Daenerys V

The day might come soon when she would have need of every knight. “Will they joust for me? I should like that.” Viserys had told her stories of the tourneys he had witnessed in the Seven Kingdoms, but Dany had never seen a joust herself.

“They are not ready, Your Grace. When they are, they will be pleased to demonstrate their prowess.”

ADWD Daenerys IV

“One day I will want to return to Westeros, to claim the Seven Kingdoms that were my father’s.”

“One day all men must die, but it serves no good to dwell on death. I prefer to take each day as it comes.”

Dany folded her hands together. “Words are wind, even words like love and peace. I put more trust in deeds. In my Seven Kingdoms, knights go on quests to prove themselves worthy of the maiden that they love. They seek for magic swords, for chests of gold, for crowns stolen from a dragon’s hoard.”

“Ninety days and ninety nights without a corpse, and on the ninety-first we wed?”

“Perhaps,” said Dany, with a coy look. “Though young girls have been known to be fickle. I may still want a magic sword.”

“I saw your father and your mother wed as well. Forgive me, but there was no fondness there, and the realm paid dearly for that, my queen.”

“Why did they wed if they did not love each other?”

“Your grandsire commanded it. A woods witch had told him that the prince was promised would be born of their line.”

[...] “What became of her?”

“Summerhall.” The word was fraught with doom.

Dany sighed. “Leave me now. I am very weary.”

“Most queens have no purpose but to warm some king’s bed and pop out sons for him. If that’s the sort of queen you mean to be, best marry Hizdahr.”

Her anger flashed. “Have you forgotten who I am?”

“No. Have you?”

Viserys would have his head off for that insolence. “I am the blood of the dragon. Do not presume to teach me lessons.” When Dany stood, the lion pelt slipped from her shoulders and tumbled to the ground. “Leave me.”

ADWD Daenerys II

Dany shut her eyes and tried to think of home, of Dragonstone and King's Landing and all the other places that Viserys had told her of, in a kinder land than this ...

“Tell me a tale, ser,” Dany said as they climbed. “Some tale of valor with a happy ending.” She felt in need of happy endings. “Tell me how you escaped from the Usurper.”

“Your Grace. There is no valor in running for your life.”

Dany seated herself on a cushion, crossed her legs, and gazed up at him. “Please. It was the Young Usurper who dismissed you from the Kingsguard …”

“[...] I was gathering my things when it came to me that I had brought this on myself by taking Robert’s pardon. He was a good knight but a bad king, for he had no right to the throne he sat. That was when I knew that to redeem myself I must find the true king, and serve him loyally with all the strength that still remained me.”

“My brother Viserys.”

“Stark was a traitor who met a traitor’s end.”

“Your Grace,” said Selmy, “Eddard Stark played a part in your father’s fall, but he bore you no ill will. When the eunuch Varys told us that you were with child, Robert wanted you killed, but Lord Stark spoke against it. Rather than countenance the murder of children, he told Robert to find himself another Hand.”

“Have you forgotten Princess Rhaenys and Prince Aegon?”

“Never. That was Lannister work, Your Grace.”

“Lannister or Stark, what difference? Viserys used to call them the Usurper’s dogs. If a child is set upon by a pack of hounds, does it matter which one tears out his throat? All the dogs are just as guilty. The guilt …” The word caught in her throat.

A Storm of Swords

ASOS Daenerys VI

“Your father is called ‘the Mad King’ in Westeros. Has no one ever told you?”

“Viserys did.” The Mad King. “The Usurper called him that, the Usurper and his dogs.” The Mad King. “It was a lie.”

“Why ask for truth,” Ser Barristan said softly, “if you close your ears to it?” He hesitated, then continued.

[...] The truth is, I wanted to watch you for a time before pledging you my sword. To make certain that you were not ...”

“... my father’s daughter?” If she was not her father’s daughter, who was she?

“... mad,” he finished. “But I see no taint in you.”

“Taint?” Dany bristled.

“Was my father truly mad?” she blurted out. Why do I ask that? “Viserys said this talk of madness was a ploy of the Usurper’s ...”

“Viserys was a child, and the queen sheltered him as much as she could. Your father always had a little madness in him, I now believe. Yet he was charming and generous as well, so his lapses were forgiven. His reign began with such promise ... but as the years passed, the lapses grew more frequent, until ...”

Dany stopped him. “Do I want to hear this now?”

Ser Barristan considered a moment. “Perhaps not. Not now.”

“Not now,” she agreed. “One day. One day you must tell me all. The good and the bad. There is some good to be said of my father, surely?”

“There is, Your Grace. Of him, and those who came before him. Your grandfather Jaehaerys and his brother, their father Aegon, your mother ... and Rhaegar. Him most of all.”

“I wish I could have known him.” Her voice was wistful.

“I wish he could have known you,” the old knight said. “When you are ready, I will tell you all.”

ASOS Daenerys V

“...Your war is in Westeros.”

“I have not forgotten Westeros.” Dany dreamt of it some nights, this fabled land that she had never seen. “If I let Meereen’s old brick walls defeat me so easily, though, how will I ever take the great stone castles of Westeros?”

“Why are you here?” Dany demanded of him. “If Robert sent you to kill me, why did you save my life?” He served the Usurper. He betrayed Rhaegar’s memory, and abandoned Viserys to live and die in exile. Yet if he wanted me dead, he need only have stood aside ...

“...And since the day you wed Khal Drogo, there has been an informer by your side selling your secrets, trading whispers to the Spider for gold and promises.”

He cannot mean ... “You are mistaken.” Dany looked at Jorah Mormont. “Tell him he’s mistaken. There’s no informer. Ser Jorah, tell him. We crossed the Dothraki sea together, and the red waste ...” Her heart fluttered like a bird in a trap. “Tell him, Jorah. Tell him how he got it wrong.”

“The Others take you, Selmy.” Ser Jorah flung his longsword to the carpet. “Khaleesi, it was only at the start, before I came to know you ... before I came to love ...”

“Do not say that word!” She backed away from him. “How could you? What did the Usurper promise you? Gold, was it gold?” The Undying had said she would be betrayed twice more, once for gold and once for love. “Tell me what you were promised?”

“Varys said ... I might go home.” He bowed his head.

I was going to take you home!

ASOS Daenerys IV

“Tell me more of my brother Rhaegar, if you would. I liked the tale you told me on the ship, of how he decided that he must be a warrior.”

“...He never loved the song of swords the way that Robert did, or Jaime Lannister. It was something he had to do, a task the world had set him. He did it well, for he did everything well. That was his nature. But he took no joy in it. Men said that he loved his harp much better than his lance.”

“He won some tourneys, surely,” said Dany, disappointed.

Dany did not want to hear about Rhaegar being unhorsed. “But what tourneys did my brother win?”

“But that was the tourney when he crowned Lyanna Stark as queen of love and beauty!” said Dany. “Princess Elia was there, his wife, and yet my brother gave the crown to the Stark girl, and later stole her away from her betrothed. How could he do that? Did the Dornish woman treat him so ill?”

“But I am not certain it was in Rhaegar to be happy.”

“You make him sound so sour,” Dany protested.

ASOS Daenerys II

“Yet I must have some army,” Dany said. “The boy Joffrey will not give me the Iron Throne for asking politely.”

“When the day comes that you raise your banners, half of Westeros will be with you,” Whitebeard promised. “Your brother Rhaegar is still remembered, with great love.”

“And my father?” Dany said.

The old man hesitated before saying, “King Aerys is also remembered. He gave the realm many years of peace.[”]

“Viserys would have bought as many Unsullied as he had the coin for. But you once said I was like Rhaegar ...”

“I remember, Daenerys.”

“Your Grace,” she corrected. “Prince Rhaegar led free men into battle, not slaves. Whitebeard said he dubbed his squires himself, and made many other knights as well.”

“There was no higher honor than to receive your knighthood from the Prince of Dragonstone.”

“Tell me, then—when he touched a man on the shoulder with his sword, what did he say? ‘Go forth and kill the weak’? Or ‘Go forth and defend them’? At the Trident, those brave men Viserys spoke of who died beneath our dragon banners—did they give their lives because they believed in Rhaegar’s cause, or because they had been bought and paid for?” Dany turned to Mormont, crossed her arms, and waited for an answer.

“My queen,” the big man said slowly, “all you say is true. But Rhaegar lost on the Trident. He lost the battle, he lost the war, he lost the kingdom, and he lost his life. His blood swirled downriver with the rubies from his breastplate, and Robert the Usurper rode over his corpse to steal the Iron Throne. Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died.”

ASOS Daenerys I

“Did you ever meet my royal father?” King Aerys II had died before his daughter was born.

“I had that great honor, Your Grace.” “Did you find him good and gentle?”

Whitebeard did his best to hide his feelings, but they were there, plain on his face. “His Grace was ... often pleasant.”

“Often?” Dany smiled. “But not always?” 

“He could be very harsh to those he thought his enemies.” 

“A wise man never makes an enemy of a king,” said Dany.

“Along with a thousand others at some harvest feast. Next you’ll claim you squired for him.”

“I make no such claim, ser. Myles Mooton was Prince Rhaegar’s squire, and Richard Lonmouth after him. When they won their spurs, he knighted them himself, and they remained his close companions. Young Lord Connington was dear to the prince as well, but his oldest friend was Arthur Dayne.”

“The Sword of the Morning!” said Dany, delighted. “Viserys used to talk about his wondrous white blade. He said Ser Arthur was the only knight in the realm who was our brother’s peer.”

Whitebeard bowed his head. “It is not my place to question the words of Prince Viserys.”

“King,” Dany corrected. “He was a king, though he never reigned. Viserys, the Third of His Name. But what do you mean?” His answer had not been one that she’d expected. “Ser Jorah named Rhaegar the last dragon once. He had to have been a peerless warrior to be called that, surely?”

Dany turned back to the squire. “I know little of Rhaegar. Only the tales Viserys told, and he was a little boy when our brother died. What was he truly like?”

The old man considered a moment. “Able. That above all. Determined, deliberate, dutiful, single-minded. There is a tale told of him ... but doubtless Ser Jorah knows it as well.”

“I would hear it from you.”

“As you wish,” said Whitebeard. “[...] Until one day Prince Rhaegar found something in his scrolls that changed him. No one knows what it might have been, only that the boy suddenly appeared early one morning in the yard as the knights were donning their steel. He walked up to Ser Willem Darry, the master-at-arms, and said, ‘I will require sword and armor. It seems I must be a warrior.’”

“And he was!” said Dany, delighted.

I am still half a world from Westeros, Dany reminded herself, but every hour brings me closer. She tried to imagine what it would feel like, when she first caught sight of the land she was born to rule. It will be as fair a shore as I have ever seen, I know it. How could it be otherwise?

A Clash of Kings

ACOK Daenerys III

“The Arbor makes the best wine in the world,” Dany declared. Lord Redwyne had fought for her father against the Usurper, she remembered, one of the few to remain true to the last. Will he fight for me as well? There was no way to be certain after so many years.

“If you go west, you risk your life.”

“House Targaryen has friends in the Free Cities,” she reminded him. “Truer friends than Xaro or the Pureborn.”

“Illyrio believes in no cause but Illyrio. Gluttons are greedy men as a rule, and magisters are devious. Illyrio Mopatis is both. What do you truly know of him?”

“I know that he gave me my dragon eggs.”

He snorted. “If he’d known they were like to hatch, he would have sat on them himself.”

That made her smile despite herself. “Oh, I have no doubt of that, ser. I know Illyrio better than you think. I was a child when I left his manse in Pentos to wed my sun-and-stars, but I was neither deaf nor blind. And I am no child now.”

“Sellswords have their uses,” Ser Jorah admitted, “but you will not win your father’s throne with sweepings from the Free Cities. Nothing knits a broken realm together so quick as an invading army on its soil.”

“I am their rightful queen,” Dany protested.

“You are a stranger who means to land on their shores with an army of outlanders who cannot even speak the Common Tongue. The lords of Westeros do not know you, and have every reason to fear and mistrust you. You must win them over before you sail. A few at least.”

ACOK Daenerys II

It felt good to close her eyes and float, knowing she could rest as long as she liked. She wondered whether Aegon’s Red Keep had a pool like this, and fragrant gardens full of lavender and mint. It must, surely. Viserys always said the Seven Kingdoms were more beautiful than any other place in the world.

[...] Viserys had believed that the realm would rise for its rightful king ... but Viserys had been a fool, and fools believe in foolish things.

The Usurper will kill you, sure as sunrise, Mormont had said. Robert had slain her gallant brother Rhaegar, and one of his creatures had crossed the Dothraki sea to poison her and her unborn son. They said Robert Baratheon was strong as a bull and fearless in battle, a man who loved nothing better than war. And with him stood the great lords her brother had named the Usurper’s dogs, cold-eyed Eddard Stark with his frozen heart, and the golden Lannisters, father and son, so rich, so powerful, so treacherous.

“A gift of news. Dragonmother, Stormborn, I tell you true, Robert Baratheon is dead.”

Outside her walls, dusk was settling over Qarth, but a sun had risen in Dany’s heart. “Dead?” she repeated. In her lap, black Drogon hissed, and pale smoke rose before her face like a veil. “You are certain? The Usurper is dead?”

“So it is said in Oldtown, and Dorne, and Lys, and all the other ports where we have called.”

He sent me poisoned wine, yet I live and he is gone. “What was the manner of his death?” On her shoulder, pale Viserion flapped wings the color of cream, stirring the air.

“Torn by a monstrous boar whilst hunting in his kingswood, or so I heard in Oldtown. Others say his queen betrayed him, or his brother, or Lord Stark who was his Hand. Yet all the tales agree in this: King Robert is dead and in his grave.”

Dany had never looked upon the Usurper’s face, yet seldom a day had passed when she had not thought of him. His great shadow had lain across her since the hour of her birth, when she came forth amidst blood and storm into a world where she no longer had a place. And now this ebony stranger had lifted that shadow.

“The boy sits the Iron Throne now,” Ser Jorah said.

“King Joffrey reigns,” Quhuru Mo agreed, “but the Lannisters rule. Robert’s brothers have fled King’s Landing. The talk is, they mean to claim the crown. And the Hand has fallen, Lord Stark who was King Robert’s friend. He has been seized for treason.”

“Ned Stark a traitor?” Ser Jorah snorted. “Not bloody likely. The Long Summer will come again before that one would besmirch his precious honor.”

“What honor could he have?” Dany said. “He was a traitor to his true king, as were these Lannisters.” It pleased her to hear that the Usurper’s dogs were fighting amongst themselves, though she was unsurprised.

A Game of Thrones

AGOT Daenerys IX

She told herself that there were powers stronger than hatred, and spells older and truer than any the maegi had learned in Asshai. The night was black and moonless, but overhead a million stars burned bright. She took that for an omen.

AGOT Daenerys VIII

She was the blood of the dragon, she would not be afraid. Her brother Rhaegar had died for the woman he loved.

AGOT Daenerys VII

Slaves, Dany thought. Khal Drogo would drive them downriver to one of the towns on Slaver’s Bay. She wanted to cry, but she told herself that she must be strong. This is war, this is what it looks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne.

AGOT Daenerys IV

And sometimes she found herself wishing her father had been protected by such men. In the songs, the white knights of the Kingsguard were ever noble, valiant, and true, and yet King Aerys had been murdered by one of them, the handsome boy they now called the Kingslayer, and a second, Ser Barristan the Bold, had gone over to the Usurper. She wondered if all men were as false in the Seven Kingdoms. When her son sat the Iron Throne, she would see that he had bloodriders of his own to protect him against treachery in his Kingsguard.

#daenerys targaryen #dany passages #a dance with dragons #a storm of swords #valyrianscrolls #a game of thrones #a clash of kings

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aegor-bamfsteel · 4 years

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Bamfsteel, I am curious, would you rename Aegor with a non-Targaryen name if you had the chance? Or change name of Daemon Blackfyre? It's a badass name but I dislike Daemon Rogue Prince so I wonder if it was possible for Daena to name her son after Gaemon the Glorious or Addam Loyal?

Would I change Aegor Rivers’ name?: Out of universe, no. My first meta ends with an explanation about how Aegor was not a Targaryen name, but a Targaryen-sounding name that Barba/Lord Bracken chose to curry favor with Aegon IV, the king who later murdered two Brackens out of spite. It’s not a true Targaryen name (as Aegor Rivers was no Targaryen), but was certainly not a Bracken name either (they have First Men names like Otho and Lothar or Andal names like Humfrey and Jonos), essentially alienating young Aegor from both sides of his biological family. He would have to give the name Aegor meaning by making his own history, one that closely tracked but did not completely follow that of House Blackfyre. The name Aegor is indicative of his outcast status and the regrets of the Brackens, so I wouldn’t want to lose its symbolic connotations.

But if I were Barba Bracken, I would give my son a name that reflects my own history and culture (which the other mothers of Aegon IV’s children seemed to do). The name I personally prefer would be Benedict (for the half-Bracken founder of House Justman and ruler of the Riverlands, who was born an illegitimate Rivers); Fire and Blood made me like Raylon (the illegitimate half-brother of Amos Bracken who saved the rest of his family by bending the knee to Prince Daemon Targaryen. It even has some decent, subtle pandering to Targaryens). Depending on what Barba’s father’s first name was (for purposes of the ‘B’ theme, I imagine it was Borros. The noncanon MUSH RPG tree indicates it was Kennold) her son might be given a variation on his grandfather’s name (Boros, Borys, Borcas, Boremund, and Bors if it was Borros; Kennos, Kenned, Kennet, or Kaeth if it was Kennold) since as far as we know, her son was Lord Bracken’s only grandchild.

Answers about Daemon’s name under the cut:

Would I change Daemon’s name? In an out-of universe sense, ‘Daemon’ was the Blackfyre’s name first. Daemon Blackfyre was created sometime in the late 90s given that his first mention in the main series was in 2000′s A Storm of Swords. Daemon Targaryen has not been mentioned in the main series thus far and his first appearance was in 2013′s The Princess and the Queen. It’s obvious GRRM had picked out the name Daemon for Daena’s son long before The Rogue Prince was a twinkle in his mind, no matter what retconning twoiaf tried to do with Daemon being named for Rhaenyra’s husband. Daemon is an ancient Greek word important to Aristotelian philosophy and was not originally meant to signify anything evil as demon does today; daemon means spirit (particularly belonging to that of the gods), or as I loosely interpret it, courage, an exhortation by Daena for her illegitimate son to stay strong despite the troubles ahead. I don’t like Daemon the Rogue Prince either, but his naming does not have the depth and backstory of the original Daemon Blackfyre. Four other Daemons have made the name firmly a Blackfyre one, so at the very least, it’s an important part of the House’s legacy.

Is it possible for Daena to name her son [something else]: Daena didn’t want to get married or claim a father for her child because she wanted to raise him on her own. She could have named her son anything she liked, whether a noble Targaryen lord like Gaemon the Glorious or a loyal and brave illegitimate Velaryon like Addam. Perhaps ‘Addam’s name didn’t suitably reflect her legitimate Targaryen heritage, though, and she didn’t consider it (I could imagine her naming her son Orys, though!) However, Gaemon does sound in-character for her to choose, as might Baelon (for Baela the Burnt) or even Laenor (Rhaenyra’s other husband, the only son of a princess passed over for the throne, another Targaryen-Velaryon, it sounds like a male version of Elaena who is Daena’s beloved sister). However, Daemon has the added bonus of sounding like Daeron (for the brother she loved) without being the same name as Aegon’s legitimate son (which might actually have indicated some undermining of Aegon’s/Daeron’s rule on Daena’s part, if Alicent and Rhaenyra both naming their sons Aegon is any indication).

#ask #asoiaf #aegor rivers #daemon blackfyre #what if #Daena Targaryen #name significance #asoiaf meta

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zcldrizes-a · 4 years

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— 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐬 : “ 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐝. ”

i. Yet that night she dreamt of one. Viserys was hitting her, hurting her. She was naked, clumsy with fear. She ran from him, but her body seemed thick and ungainly. He struck her again. She stumbled and fell. “You woke the dragon,” he screamed as he kicked her. “You woke the dragon, you woke the dragon.” Her thighs were slick with blood. She closed her eyes and whimpered. As if in answer, there was a hideous ripping sound and the crackling of some great fire. When she looked again, Viserys was gone, great columns of flame rose all around, and in the midst of them was the dragon. It turned its great head slowly. When its molten eyes found hers, she woke, shaking and covered with a fine sheen of sweat. She had never been so afraid.

ii. Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet. She could hear it singing to her. She opened her arms to the fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce.

iii. Dany gave the silver over to the slaves for grooming and entered her tent. It was cool and dim beneath the silk. As she let the door flap close behind her, Dany saw a finger of dusty red light reach out to touch her dragon’s eggs across the tent. For an instant a thousand droplets of scarlet flame swam before her eyes. She blinked, and they were gone.

iv. Stone, she told herself. They are only stone, even Illyrio said so, the dragons are all dead. She put her palm against the black egg, fingers spread gently across the curve of the shell. The stone was warm. Almost hot. “The sun,” Dany whispered. “The sun warmed them as they rode.”

v. “Khaleesi, “ Jhiqui said, “what is wrong? Are you sick?” “I was,” she answered, standing over the dragon’s eggs that Illyrio had given her when she wed. She touched one, the largest of the three, running her hand lightly over the shelf. Black-and- scarlet, she thought, like the dragon in my dream. The stone felt strangely warm beneath her fingers… or was she still dreaming? She pulled her hand back nervously.

I think the first thing to note here is that, from very early on, we have it established to us that Daenerys is something unique. Not everyone bonded to dragons dreams of them – though we know that Aemon did ( I see them in my dreams, Sam. I see a red star bleeding in the sky. I still remember red. I see their shadows on the snow, hear the crack of leathern wings, feel their hot breath. My brothers dreamed of dragons too, and their dreams killed them, every one. ) but as the readers, we get no real indication that Viserys did. And given he’s presented to be the actual dragon at first, though we learn quickly that is not the case, I think the message here that we take from this is simple: Daenerys was always fated to be the mother of dragons, and Daenerys was always fated to be the first rider in centuries.

Firstly, I want to quickly clear something up: despite what the show neglected to portray, Daenerys loves all three of her children in equal form, even if in different ways. I won’t link all of the proof of that here – that can happen in another meta if someone really wants it – but I think the thing to note is that even though all three are her children, one of them is necessarily more equal to her in her own state of mind in the sense of him being her mount. She loves her children and wants to protect them, yes: but to protect them, she would need Drogon’s help, realistically. That means in her own mind, she will always view him as an equal, and someone she fights alongside, whilst Viserion and Rhaegal can’t be viewed in the same lense because she isn’t bonded to them in the way dragonlore states ( quickly on dragonlore: I mix my own canon for writing it, as most people know, from a concoction of asoiaf canon, Eragon, HTTYD, etc ). She can attempt to protect them: but Drogon protects her. Drogon is her equal, in that sense. It doesn’t mean she loves him more, it means she loves him differently. I’m happy to extend my thoughts on her actions in locking Viserion and Rhaegal up, but in my own state of mind, and I think established relatively decently in some forms of canon, Daenerys does regret what she had to do. With that in mind, it’s something she would have done to all three if she had a chance, for the sake of the people she was ruling.

Secondly, before I go into specifics about her bond with Drogon, a general note about the dragons bonding: I do prescribe to the very established canon that only those with Valyrian blood have the ability to ride dragons. We know from Martin’s canon that Valyrian Dragonlords used magic to bind the dragons to them – and that can explain the many references to the blood of the dragon, specifically. That’s to suggest that the blood carried on from Valyrian descendants still contains that bond, however diluted through the ages. There are of course some exceptions to this, and those usually come from extenuating circumstances: but with Dany’s dragons, we see in canon that they are resistant to just anyone riding them. Quentyn Martell’s death after trying to mount Viserion – admittedly at the hands of Rhaegal – confirms that they don’t tolerate just anyone, and it’s also important to note that Daenerys was the first dragonrider in a century and a half. The exception I make for my own canon is @killthebxy and his Jon riding Rhaegal, and the explanation for this is simple: after months of bonding, and under the canon where no other Valyrian blooded people exist, and also in a context where Viserion is dead and Drogon has a rider already, it makes sense that Rhaegal would crave a rider so badly that he would bond with another. With that being said, we also know from canon that a dragon once bonded will not allow anyone else to ride them ( unless their rider is also present ). That means no, your muse cannot ride Drogon without Daenerys there. He doesn’t want it, and she wouldn’t allow it, so don’t try it.

…it was said that even Aegon the Conquerer never dared mount Vhagar or Meraxes, nor did his sisters mount Balerion the Black Dread. Dragons live longer than men, some for hundreds of years, so Balerion had other riders after Aegon died… but no rider ever flew two dragons.

Now, I’m going to break this up into a few different sections to write.

- oo1. BOND FORMATION.

The important thing to note here is that I personally think the bond began long before Daenerys actually rode Drogon. We see within canon in her dreaming days that when dreaming of the dragons, Dany always dreams of the black. It’s no coincidence that Drogon was born to bear her House colours, nor is it coincidence that he is often called Balerion ( Khaleesi … there sits Balerion, come again. ) whilst she herself is paralleled to Aegon the Conqueror ( She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats. ) – this sets up in a very visceral manner that this is what Martin’s intention was, to establish this bond very early on. We know that in hatching the dragons, Daenerys had known for an incredibly long time what she was going to do to hatch those dragons, and we can see that in the following few passages, that she references her intent and the pre-emptive nature of what she’s about to do, before it’s DROGON’S egg that she lifts first. ( This is madness, she told herself as she lifted the black-and-scarlet egg from the velvet. It will only crack and burn, and it’s so beautiful, Ser Jorah will call me a fool if I ruin it, and yet, and yet… Cradling the egg with both hands, she carried it to the fire and pushed it down amongst the burning coals. The black scales seemed to glow as they drank the heat. Flames licked against the stone with small red tongues. Dany placed the other two eggs beside the black one in the fire. ) Between the dreams and the following few pieces of evidence, we know her intent was established early on.

i. “You will not hear me scream,” Mirri responded as the oil dripped from her hair and soaked her clothing. “I will,” Dany said, “but it is not your screams I want, only your life. I remember what you told me. Only death can pay for life.” Mirri Maz Duur opened her mouth, but made no reply. As she stepped away, Dany saw that the contempt was gone from the maegi’s flat black eyes; in its place was something that might have been fear. Then there was nothing to be done but watch the sun and look for the first star.

ii. Jhogo spied it first. “There, “ he said in a hushed voice. Dany looked and saw it, low in the east. The first star was a comet, burning red. Bloodred; fire red; the dragon’s tail. She could not have asked for a stronger sign.

iii. She had sensed the truth of it long ago, Dany thought as she took a step closer to the conflagration, but the brazier had not been hot enough.

Throughout the younger years of the dragon’s development, both book and show canon seems to build the hatchlings to some degree, but it is Drogon we so often get more of a glimpse into. Very often, it is Drogon who is perched on her shoulder ( as he in in the arrival to Qarth ) or on her lap ( as he is when she is informed of Robert Baratheon’s death ). We also know in the House of the Undying that it is Drogon who accompanies her, and who protects her and allows her to escape, in book canon – and in show canon, that it is Drogon who is the first to respond to her command for fire in burning those who leave her in chains. By the time we get to the Sack of Astapor, I think the fact it is Drogon who she offers up as part of her plan speaks volumes: she knows that he will respond to her command, and she knows that he will not hesitate to do so. By this point, it’s very established that of all three dragons, he is the one already utilised the most in her plans, and the one who she clearly gravitates to most centrally.

We then reach the stages of Drogon’s rebellious years. Regardless of whether or not he intended to burn the child – dragons are intelligent, he likely knew what he did – we can either read Drogon’s absence as one of two things. Either he can tell that Daenerys is disappointed in him for what happened, or perhaps horrified with himself; or more likely, he knows that as much as Daenerys is on the cusp of becoming a woman, she is not ready to be his rider yet. I think the show gives us a really beautiful moment here, where she reaches for him, and she is unsure and he flies away before she can touch him; he knows that she isn’t ready for him yet. By default, by this point I believe Drogon knew that she was supposed to ride him – and that is confirmed when he comes to save her at the fighting pits. Now, here’s where I take issue with the books: the only way that I will accept the necessity of Drogon needing to be beaten into command is if he was truly so confused and feral after months away that it took him several moments to recognise her. In my own canon, I do think the show had the better iteration here: he trusted her, and their bond allowed her to mount him, because that was what he was born for.

By the time we get the first flight, it’s not the bond being formed: it’s the final step to formation. When we talk about dragon bonds, I think it means more than a human and pet; dragons are intelligent, and they are magical. For them to bond with a human means something special: Daenerys and Drogon are the literal entity of soulmates, because their souls were born to be connected. He is an ever present feeling at the back of her mind, and likewise, she is with him always, no matter how far apart they are. That goes deeper than any love, any kind of familiar connection; they are part of each other, and this journey up until now was just about finding their way to that point and establishing / building it.

- oo2. EMOTIONS / COMMUNICATION.

Drogon raised his head, blood dripping from his teeth. The hero leapt onto his back and drove the iron spearpoint down at the base of the dragon’s long scaled neck. Dany and Drogon screamed as one.

As an extension of the headcanon that they are soulmates, I think this reads very simple as follows: they understand the emotions that the other is feeling. They feel pain, that the other is feeling. It isn’t as tangible as Drogon getting hurt and Daenerys aching in the same spot – but more that she feels that he is suffering, and there’s an overwhelming desire to help. We get some of that again, from the show, where he is struck in 7.04 and her first instinct upon landing is to remove the spear – and even in the pain addled state of mind that follows for him, the moment she sees Jaime and we see her fear, Drogon responds. We get it again in 7.06, when Viserion is killed; on Dany’s face, we get shock, and though she is mourning clearly in the later parts of the episode, her reaction is reserved. For Drogon, whilst she is silent, he is screaming for his fallen sibling. And yes, that be construed as part of his grief – but likely, it’s because he is feeling for the both of them.And lastly, we get a beautiful moment of this in 8.03, when Dany is crying for Jorah, and Drogon’s response is to curl around her and coo to her. This isn’t a protective stance - the battle has ended, and he’s low, not on alert. He’s close to her, making soft noises, and that body language communicates comfort, not anything else. He feels her grief, and he feels it himself, and so he lays close to her to offer whatever he can.

Communication between them is not quite so blatant as thinking commands to the other, but simply instead, that they can sense what the other wants. Likely, Dany was idly chattering to Drogon before handing him to the Masters at the Sack of Astapor, because she knew he would know what to do without command. And though she talks to the dragons in Valyrian, it’s not a language they were likely born knowing ( and if they did, likely, they knew others to ) – so more than likely, it’s not the words that Drogon responds to, but the intent behind each of them. And the deeper that bond goes, the more we see ( again, more viscerally on the show ) that he responds without question – in executing enemies, or even in the gentleness by which he carries her, lets her down, by the way he bristles when people disrespect her. The communication between them is far more primal and intimate than language; it’s spoken by hearts and minds forged together in the flames.

- oo3. FLIGHT NAVIGATION.

Again, an extension of the above, but when it comes to flight navigations, we have no need here for the way that Daenerys commanded Drogon in the books ( The dragonlords of old Valyria had controlled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. Daenerys made do with a word and a whip. Mounted on the dragon’s back, she oft felt as if she were learning to ride all over again. When she whipped her silver mare on her right flank the mare went left, for a horse’s first instinct is to flee from danger. When she laid the whip across Drogon’s right side he veered right, for a dragon’s first instinct is always to attack. Sometimes it did not seem to matter where she struck him, though; sometimes he went where he would and took her with him. Neither whip nor words could turn Drogon if he did not wish to be turned. The whip annoyed him more than it hurt him, she had come to see; his scales had grown harder than horn. ) – this implies that Drogon needed to be beat into submission, and while he was more stubborn and juvenile then, he was still her intended and her bonded.

So when we talk about flight navigation, my canon is as follows: they work together. Dany knows, mostly, where she wants to go – and Drogon knows how to get them there. For the most, he follows what she wants if it is specifically the reason they’re travelling; but in situations in battles, etc, he will also move without need of command, always to protect his mother. The one (1) time that she falls from him in my canon, it is not his fault, and he never forgives himself for it. Drogon’s flying style is rougher than most other dragons would be – he’s large, he’s animalistic, and he’s never truly understood how fragile she is when it comes to him, because he perceives his mother as so strong. Hence why she cuts her hands from holding on, or bruises so badly from him thrashing around, or her thighs get cut from the way she grips his scales through her clothes. They work together, and for the most part, neither think twice about it.

- oo4. EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS.

It’s as simple as this – if Daenerys doesn’t like someone, Drogon likely hates that someone. In no world does he ever give a moment’s time to someone who she has no connection with; which is why it can be construed that Drogon tolerates people like Doreah, or Jorah, or Jon. Because of the emotional connection between them, this transfers to the way he connects with people she loves: by default, he feels at the least some sort of loyalty, or urge to protect them. Firstly, this is because he knows that she cares for them, and that if anything happened to them, she would be sad. Secondly, because he feels that emotion for them himself as a result of the bond. And thirdly, because he has likely had some further interactions as a result, which formulate his own bond with them independent of his mother’s emotions.

With that being said, there is never, ever a situation where Drogon would chose another person over his mother. It doesn’t matter what she becomes or what she does to anyone else – no singular person, or groups of people are as important as a rider to a dragon. And likewise, even if Daenerys were to have human children, she would never stop viewing the dragons as her own children too, or treating them as such. Those relationships, even to her, come beneath the bond she has with Drogon. And even when it comes to the other dragons, she loves them with all of her heart, but she will never feel the closeness she does with Drogon because he’s not just in her heart, he’s in her mind.

- oo5. IF EITHER DIED.

Lastly, talking about the potential of death for either of them. For dragons, their life span far outlasts their riders – and Daenerys hopes that long after she is gone, he will find someone ( in her own bloodline, or other ) whom he might feel that bond with. With that being said, she isn’t just his rider to him, but also his mother, which means if she died, that grief would transcend what a dragon might normally feel for their rider’s death. Unlike what we see in the series finale, if someone were to cause her death, then regardless of who that person was to Drogon, he would not hold back his revenge from the person who took her from him – this bond is more than a normal dragon and rider, he was born to be with her, birthed by her, raised by her, and lived by her side for all of his life. This would be the first time he wouldn’t feel her with him, and that would cripple him, to know that he would live for centuries with that presence void in his life.

If the situation were flipped, and Drogon was lost to her, I believe Daenerys would feel that grief on a physical level, as well as emotional. Drogon is warmth and strength at the back of her mind and thoughts – she would not feel warm again, without him there. Would never feel as strong, without him there. Would never be able to replicate that emotional bond with another being or entity, without him there. Would constantly be calling for him, constantly searching for him in the skies. That would be a loss that she would never, ever recover from – and I believe in that instance, she would crave the reunion with him in death, though she might not go so far as harming herself. It would transcend her desire to see anyone else in the afterlife – she would be focused exclusively on seeing her child again, and being with him again.

Having a part of one’s soul ripped away would physically hurt, and that is what they would both feel.

#i. meta. » dragons plant no trees. «#long post cw #long post

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mytsitsini · 5 years

Text

“In Defence of Rhaegar Targaryen”

AKA some really annoying claims concerning a certain Targaryen I want to address.

“What Rhaegar did at Harrenhal was dickish, but it’s very important that we don’t know Elia’s reaction, because GRRM will reveal that she was actually OK with it”

Ned Stark himself says that:

Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty's laurel in Lyanna's lap.

‘All smiles died’. All. If Elia Martell, Rhaegar’s own wife, is not included in ‘alll’, Ned would have made sure to mention it - it would be beyond odd for the wife of the prince not to feel insulted. People would speculate. People would question it. Ned himself mentions Elia in this very passage, so why would he not mark her reaction, had it been different to that of everyone else? Because her smile died, like everyone else’s.

And if that’s too vague, then there is this piece from The World of Ice and Fire, depicting Harrenhal:

Created by artist Paolo Puggioni. From his official website:

We’ve always imagined that the perfect image of the tourney at Harrenhal would kind of let you pick out all these figures in the stands, each with their different reactions when ‘the smiles died’. Jon Arryn and Robert and Lord Hunter joking a moment before what was happening dawned on them, Ned watching as Rhaegar was about to stop in front of his sister (who must have been seated quite close), mad Aerys glowering in the distance, Elia stiff-backed and trying to act as if nothing was wrong, Jon Connington probably looking vaguely sad (read: jealous), and so on.

‘Stiff-backed and trying to act as if nothing was wrong’ hardly reads as ‘Elia was OK with Rhaegar crowning Lyanna’.

Not to mention that no woman would ever be OK with her husband publicly humiliating her in favour of another woman, so why does this argument even exist? Elia’s reaction should not be questioned at all.

“It was an arranged marriage, why shouldn’t Rhaegar be allowed to follow his heart?”

It was arranged for Elia as well. She didn’t want this any more than Rhaegar did. She was never but a faithful wife, so it’s only natural to expect that Rhaegar would be the same. Rhaegar isn’t entitled to anything. Rhaegar’s feelind do not matter more than politics. Rhaegar’s needs are not more important than Elia’s, and seeing how Rhaegar’s trouser’s needs sparked a war that costed Elia, Aegon and Rhaenys their lives, Rhaegar’s feelings definitely do not matter more than his family’s lives. Elia died. Aegon died. Rhaenys died. Rhaella died. Viserys had to leave the only home he had even known. Daenerys never had a home.

As a husband, as a father, it was Rhaegar’s responsibility to care for his wife and children, to stay with them, not to abandon them the moment his eyes caught a fourteen-year-old girl.

In her marriage, Elia had to:

marry a man she didn’t love.

abandon her home in Dorne and move to foreign King’s Landing.

live in a place openly hostile to her (”She smells Dornish”).

be sure her body was available to her husband whenever he wished, since the concept of marital rape does not exist.

bear as many heirs as needed, despite her fragile health.

simply accept it if Rhaegar were to take a mistress.

In his marriage, Rhaegar had to:

marry a woman he didn’t love.

So, who exactly got the short end of the stick? Elia. Who does the fandom act like he was the true victim? Rhaegar.

“Elia could not have any more children, so it’s very natural that Rhaegar would leave her for someone who could give him the third head”

Of all stuff I’ve heard, this angers me the most, because it boils down to ‘women’s sole fuction is baby-making, and if they break down, men have the right to replace them as if they’re machines’. Which is misogyny, plain and simple. Treating women as nothing else but means to further men’s causes and ambitions is misogyny. A woman’s worth is not measured by her ability to have children and make her husband happy! A woman is not meant to be exploited like a lifeless object and then put aside when a newer, better oner comes along.

Elia was not a baby-making machine. Elia was a human with feelings and emotions of her own, not a body to be used by Rhaegar and then to be thrown out when no longer useful. Westeros is a misogynistic society, but we, as readers, are meant to question the sexism, not endorse it, as people who use the ‘Elia is barren’ argument do.

Other things that Westerosi men are perfectly fine with include:

Girls having children as early as 13.

Women being legally raped by their husbands.

Low-born people being treated like shit by the highborn.

Women obeying either their husbands or fathers unconditionally.

Bastards being perceived as treacherous and untrustworthy.

Are we meant to agree with Westeros? No, we are not. We are meant to challenge those views. And this includes Elia being nothing more than a body to produce heirs for Rhaegar. Funny how those who bring up Elia’s inability to have children neglect to mention that women are also supposed to obey their fathers, but they rarely give Lyanna grief for disobeying Rickard in regards to marrying Robert Baratheon, and that bastards are vermin, yet adore Jon Snow.

Also, the argument feels really hollow when one remembers that Lyanna was a virgin before she met Rhaegar, which means that if Rhaegar was out there to find a fertile wife, choosing a girl who could as likely be an Alysanne as a second Elia was a poor choice. Lyanna did not have children prior, so how could have Rhaegar been so sure she’d give him the child Elia coudln’t? Considering how Lyanna died in childbirth (while Elia survived two childbirths), Lyanna is not, at the end of the day, in anyway superior to Elia.

This argument is sexist. This argument is ableist. Women, people, are not less worthy because of a body disability. Elia’s fragile health does not make her any less deserving of respect from her own husband.

Also, no, it’s not natural to go after another woman if your wife’s barren? It just does not happen.

Aemma Arryn managed to give King Viserys I Targaryen just one daughter, Rhaenyra, in more than a decade of marriage. Viserys never abandons her for another woman, and only marries Alicent Hightower after she’s dead.

Naerys Targaryen never managed to give King Aegon IV Targaryen another son after Daeron II was born. He never had another wife, not even after she died.

Rhaella Targaryen gave King Aerys II Targaryen just one son, Rhaegar, and it would take seventeen years before she’d give birth to Viserys. Still, Aerys II never tried to marry another woman.

Aerys II and Aegon IV were two infamously bad men and kings who abused their wives and kingdoms. Still, despite their need for an heir, they never persued other women. Both men disliked their sons, unlike Rhaegar, so they had an even greater reason to want another possible heir than he ever did. Bad as they were, they realised that polygamy was not a good solution to anything.

A man who did practise polygamy because of need ot an heir was Maegor I Targaryen. The Cruel. Who killed his wives. And who brought six years of tyranny to Westeros. Maegor is not a character to make parallels with, and yet his example is the closest to Rhaegar’s.

Elia had given Rhaegar an heir and a spare (yes, Rhaenys was the spare. No, Great Council 101′s decision not withstanding, since Aerys I was able to make his niece Aelora his heir ahead of men like Maekar, Daeron and Aerion. Yes, women could inherit the Iron Throne). They also had Viserys, just in case. Rhaegar leaving Elia because of lack of heirs is not a valid reason, and the third head of the dragon is even less of a reason, considering how Rhaegar had already misinterpreted the prophecy already. Abandoning his wife because his new interpretation could be kinda right, maybe, is likewise not a good enough reason.

“Elia let or even encouraged Rhaegar to go after Lyanna”

Most women, in Westeros as well as modern society, would not be OK with their husbands cheating on them, so how is Elia any different?

“She’s Dornish!”

No, not this argument again.

The Dornish practise feudalism like everyone else, and they are not polyamorous.

Why does this stereotype exist again? Ah yes, Oberyn. People take Oberyn’s example and apply it to the whole of Dorne. Even thought as for now, there’s not a single known Dornish character who had a wife and a mistress at the same time. But even if there were, so what? Rhaegar is not Dornish. Rhaegar does not get to use Elia’s culture against her.

Meanwhile, Oberyn was a second son, with an older brother with heirs of his own. Oberyn did not need to get married. Oberyn did not need to father legitimate children. Doran Martell’s been estranged from his wife for years, still does not take a mistress. Quentyn Martell died a virgin. Why aren’t their examples applied to the whole of Dorne?

“Well, Ellaria’s in an open relationship with Oberyn!”

Ellaria’s example cannot be applied to Elia, no more than Oberyn’s can. Ellaria is a bastard, Elia was a noble woman. Ellaria is a second son’s paramour, Elia was the future king’s wife. Ellaria’s children were bastards, and the younger ones too, standing to inherit nothing. Elia’s children were second and third in line of succession.

We definitely know that Oberyn got Ellaria’s consent. Rhaegar did not get Elia’s.

Even if we remove Dornish culture from the argument, why would Elia ever be OK with Rhaegar taking a second wife? OK with Rhaegar fathering legitimate heirs on another woman? Elia is married to House Targaryen. When it comes to the Targaryen, younger half siblings have always caused trouble for their older half siblings.

Aenys I and Maegor I: Maegor gives Aenys a lot of grief by taking a second wife (which angers the Faith), and after Aenys dies, kills two of Aenys’s sons and seizes the throne.

Rhaenyra and Aegon II: Although Viserys I made it crystal clear that Rhaenyra was to succeed him, Aegon II took the crown anyway and fought a war against his sister.

Daeron II and Daemon Blackfyre: Daeron II was seventeen years older than Daemon. He was trueborn, Daemon a bastard. Still, this resulted in a war.

Every single case of half siblings has seen the younger one usurping/trying to usurp the older one. Every single one. Why would Elia think this would be different? Why would Elia trust Lyanna not to push her own son’s rights? What if the case of Daeron II and Daemon is repeated? If Aegon grows up to be bookish and non-martial, and Lyanna’s son is the Warrior reborn, people will undoubtedly whisper that the younger son is much more fit to inherit a crown than Elia’s Aegon. What then? Lyanna will have the North to support her son’s rights, as well as everyone who prefers a martial king (read: around half of Westerosi people). And the Riverlands, since her brother will be married to a Tully of Riverrun. And the Vale of Arryn, since her other brother has been fostered by the Arryns. And maybe the Stormlands, since that same brother’s best friend is the Lord of Storm’s End. And maybe even the Reach, since the Tyrells are traditionally anti-Dornish. The Westerlands and the Iron Islands cannot be counted upon to help Elia’s cause, either. That only leaves Dorne, the least populated region.

Why would Elia ever risk her son’s rights like that? For a reason that isn’t basically “Rhaegar and Lyanna need to be happy and not be bothered over feelings of guilt”? We see Catelyn treating Jon as a threat, because technically he is, to her children’s inheritance rights. We see Cersei igniting a war in order to keep her own bloodline on the Throne. Why would Elia be any different?

So, no. Rhaegar was not morally allowed to leave Elia because he didn’t love her or because she couldn’t have any more children, nor was Elia fine with him taking a fourteen-year-old girl to wife. This argument needs to die. Rhaegar fucked up when it came to Elia, and this is not character hate, or even narrative-twisting to fit my own biases. This is Rhaegar’s character.

“Polygamy is a Targaryen thing, and accepted besides”

There are only three cases of Targaryen polygamy known to us; only one occured after they became kings; Maegor I.

The other one is Aegon I, and no, is not meant to be a parallel. “Aegon I married Visenya out of duty, Rhaenys out of desire” is not the same as “Rhaegar married Elia out of duty, Lyanna out of desire”. Aegon would have to marry Visenya first, then abandon her after three years to elope with Rhaenys, for this to be a proper parallel, which isn’t what happened. Not to mention that the younger son ended up usurping the throne from the older son’s line, which Elia would see as a red flag, not comfort.

The second one is Maegor; couldn’t sire heirs at all, had six wives, killed two or three of them, was a tyrrant, was hated by pretty much everyone. If one’s best example is Maegor, then their cause might not be worthy after all.

From Fire & Blood:

Saera: Why should I have just one husband? The Conqueror had two wives, and Maegor had six or eight.

Jaehaerys I: You would compare yourself to Maegor? Is that who you aspire to be?

Yeah, Maegor’s not a good example.

Also, both Aegon and Maegor had dragons.

Maegor the Cruel has multiple wives, from lines outside his own, so there was and is precedent. However, the extent to which the Targaryen kings could defy convention, the Faith, and the opinions of the other lords decreased markedly after they no longer had dragons. If you have a dragon, you can have as many wives as you want, and people are less likely to object. - So Spake Martin

Rhaegar had none.

#rhaegar targaryen #elia martell #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #house targaryen #house martell #lyanna stark #house stark #asoiaf meta

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she-wolf-of-highgarden · 5 years

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All the times Arya mentions dragons

“This time the monsters did not frighten her. They seemed almost old friends. Arya held the candle over her head. With each step she took, the shadows moved against the walls, as if they were turning to watch her pass. "Dragons," she whispered. She slid Needle out from under her cloak. The slender blade seemed very small and the dragons very big, yet somehow Arya felt better with steel in her hand.” - Arya IV, AGoT

“Arya was remembering the stories Old Nan used to tell of Harrenhal. Evil King Harren had walled himself up inside, so Aegon unleashed his dragons and turned the castle into a pyre. Nan said that fiery spirits still haunted the blackened towers. Sometimes men went to sleep safe in their beds and were found dead in the morning, all burnt up. Arya didn't really believe that, and anyhow it had all happened a long time ago. Hot Pie was being silly; it wouldn't be ghosts at Harrenhal, it would be knights. Arya could reveal herself to Lady Whent, and the knights would escort her home and keep her safe. That was what knights did; they kept you safe, especially women. Maybe Lady Whent would even help the crying girl.” - Arya IV, ACoK

“It would be better once they got to Harrenhal, the captives told each other, but Arya was not so certain. She remembered Old Nan's stories of the castle built on fear. Harren the Black had mixed human blood in the mortar, Nan used to say, dropping her voice so the children would need to lean close to hear, but Aegon's dragons had roasted Harren and all his sons within their great walls of stone. Arya chewed her lip as she walked along on feet grown hard with callus. It would not be much longer, she told herself; those towers could not be more than a few miles off.” - Arya IV, ACoK

“As Arya crossed the yard to the bathhouse, she spied a raven circling down toward the rookery, and wondered where it had come from and what message it carried. Might be it's from Robb, come to say it wasn't true about Bran and Rickon. She chewed on her lip, hoping. If I had wings I could fly back to Winterfell and see for myself. And if it was true, I'd just fly away, fly up past the moon and the shining stars, and see all the things in Old Nan's stories, dragons and sea monsters and the Titan of Braavos, and maybe I wouldn't ever fly back unless I wanted to.” - Arya X, ACoK

“The Moonsingers led us to this place of refuge, where the dragons of Valyria could not find us," Denyo said. "Theirs is the greatest temple. We esteem the Father of Waters as well, but his house is built anew whenever he takes his bride. The rest of the gods dwell together on an isle in the center of the city. That is where you will find the . . . the Many-Faced God.” - Arya I, AFfC

“Firewyrms. Some say they are akin to dragons, for wyrms breathe fire too. Instead of soaring through the sky, they bore through stone and soil. If the old tales can be believed, there were wyrms amongst the Fourteen Flames even before the dragons came. The young ones are no larger than that skinny arm of yours, but they can grow to monstrous size and have no love for men." - Arya II, AFfC

“Learn three new things before you come back to us," the kindly man had commanded Cat, when he sent her forth into the city. She always did. Sometimes it was no more than three new words of the Braavosi tongue. Sometimes she brought back sailor's tales, of strange and wondrous happenings from the wide wet world beyond the isles of Braavos, wars and rains of toads and dragons hatching. Sometimes she learned three new japes or three new riddles, or tricks of this trade or the other. And every so often, she would learn some secret.” - Cat of the Canals

“The Black Pearl," she told them. Merry claimed the Black Pearl was the most famous courtesan of all. "She's descended from the dragons, that one," the woman had told Cat. "The first Black Pearl was a pirate queen. A Westerosi prince took her for a lover and got a daughter on her, who grew up to be a courtesan. Her own daughter followed her, and her daughter after her, until you get to this one. What did she say to you, Cat?" - Cat of the Canals

“The corpses were laid out in the vault. The blind girl went to work in the dark, stripping the dead of boots and clothes and other possessions, emptying their purses and counting out their coins. Telling one coin from another by touch alone was one of the first things the waif had taught her, after they took away her eyes. The Braavosi coins were old friends; she need only brush her fingertips across their faces to recognize them. Coins from other lands and cities were harder, especially those from far away. Volantene honors were most common, little coins no bigger than a penny with a crown on one side and a skull on the other. Lysene coins were oval and showed a naked woman. Other coins had ships stamped onto them, or elephants, or goats. The Westerosi coins showed a king's head on the front and a dragon on the back.” - The Blind Girl

“The kindly man was waiting for her at the House of Black and White, seated on the edge of the temple pool. The ugly girl sat next to him and put a coin on the lip of the pool between them. It was gold, with a dragon on one face and a king on the other.” - The Ugly Little Girl

“The first Black Pearl was black as a pot of ink," said Daena. "She was a pirate queen, fathered by a Sealord's son on a princess from the Summer Isles. A dragon king from Westeros took her for his lover." - Mercy, TWoW

"I would like to see a dragon," Mercy said wistfully. "Why does the envoy have a chicken on his chest?" - Mercy, TWoW

#Arya Stark #valyrianscrolls #A Song of Ice and Fire #asoiaf #quote dump

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thousandeyesand-one · 6 years

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Cersei Lannister with the wits & cunning of Tywin Lannister..

Recently I read an anti's perspective of this scene where cersei is very cunning with her fear mongering. Apparently cersei wasn't lying in this scene about daenerys, she wasn't inaccurate about who the Mad King's Daughter is & every last bit of info she dropped on her. So here's a breakdown of this scene & the amount of "truths & lies" it contains.

This statement coming from cersei is really something considering she has steered the War of the Five Kings which has destroyed the realm, wiped out several noble families & caused innocent lives the count of which is still unknown.

Open Rebellion which happened because of how cersei ended the future of a great house who were actually the crown's greatest ally. Olenna was playing a last move against cersei for justice for her family that is the only reason she allied with daenerys.

•House Tyrell aren't Targaryen Loyalists really! during the rebellion they sided with the Targaryens as long as they were the winning side as soon as Rhaegar died & Lannister's sacked KL they lifted the seige on Storm's end, similarly in the War of the Five Kings they sided with the Crown right after renly died. So, a family who has stayed Loyal to nobody but themselves in the past will have an easy case built against them by cersei. Their past isn't very convincing on their loyalties for Tyrell's bannermen to stay loyal to their Lord Paramount in a state where they side with a foreign army against the crown. Cersei isn't lying here but definitely hand picking selective facts to back her case up.

•Mindless unsullied soldiers or more correctly Loyal unsullied soldiers. When daenerys gave them their freedom back & the right to choose whether they fight for her or not & they chose to fight for her they stopped being mindless. When Kraznys Mo Nakloz shows daenerys the ranks of unsullied more than half of them were of dothraki stock, some from lys & Qarth. They seem to have no allegiance to anyone but their commander unlike the golden company consisting of sell swords from around the world & a number of exiled westerosi men whose only allegiance is to gold not any commander. They aren't mindless atleast not the unsullied with daenerys. But yeah I guess Unsullied in general have that reputation of being mechanical to consequences of war. Again cersei isn't lying here but these are hand picked facts she needed to back her case.

"Unsullied are brave soldiers ... But not warriors. Not knights"

-Ser Barristan Selmy

While the unsullied are helpless to their own nature to the way that they were created to be as soldiers not warriors or knights. Yet there are those like Ser Gregor Clegane, who was knighted for his sadistic brutality on Princess Elia & her children. Also known for being pretty brainless with his brutality of innocent & women, children & in burning of villages. Rmember the way Lannister men tortured people in harrenhal without question?! If the unsullied are mindless then so is the Lannister army, the Northern army & every other army who fights & follows their commander's orders as in that's what armies do. As of now in the show mountain is just as brainless as any foot soldier in the army of the dead. There is nothing that the Dothraki does that the Lannister men haven't done in a time of war. Dothraki way is the barbaric way, that's the only way they know unlike the Lannisters. So again, cersei hand picked the facts to back her case.

Also I love how they cut to Jaime when cersei says the following..

•Ned Stark's service & loyalty was also rewarded in a particular fashion of unfair brutality by cersei for the sake of her children. Olenna is doing the same in fact her motivations are the same that of cersei's. Cersei was protecting her family Olenna is avenging hers.

•Mad King is cersei's strongest champion in this discussion, she strengthened her own position by using mad king to exploit daenerys & her reputation before she builds one in the eyes of westerosi lords. Cersei knows as much about Aerys & Daenerys as much as the next person in that room. But Ser Barristan Selmy not only served Aerys but also had seen Rhaella, Rhaegar & Daenerys. Other than varys he might be the only person who saw the Last of House Targaryen pretty closely. He thought Daenerys was like Rhaegar who was widely believed to be nothing like the Mad King.

"Prince Viserys was only a boy, it would have been years before he was fit to rule, and ... forgive me, my queen, but you asked for truth ... even as a child, your brother Viserys oft seemed to be his father's son, in ways that Rhaegar never did."

-Ser Barristan Selmy ASOS (Daenerys IV)

"I think you are Rhaegar Targaryen's sister," Ser Jorah said with a rueful half smile.

"Aye," said Arstan Whitebeard, "and a Queen as well."

-ASOS (Daenerys IV)

While Jorah & Whitebeard knew daenerys that well to make that comparison of her to Rhaegar. Tyrion on the other hand knows both cersei & Daenerys well enough. He chose to serve daenerys over his own sister & did her bidding one on one to cersei. Neither does he want daenerys to launch a dynasty nor does he wants to see cersei win. He wants to build a new world with daenerys with the help of the power she holds because according to him, her mind & heart are ultimately in the right place when it comes to the overall picture!

"Cersei is as gentle as King Maegor, as selfless as Aegon the Unworthy, as wise as Mad Aerys. She never forgets a slight, real or imagined. She takes caution for cowardice and dissent for defiance. And she is greedy. Greedy for power, for honor, for love."

-Tyrion Lannister ADWD

Tyrion never refers daenerys in anyway ever as unworthy, mad or cruel, ever! Neither in the books nor on the show. All he says is "Daenerys is not her father" Cersei is wrong with her comparison of mad king & daenerys.

•I agree daenerys has made mistakes in the past, done things that when given a second thought to, come of as cruel. But to remember the fact that she was brought up on the road in exile with an abusive Half-mad brother, whose decent into madness she saw & lived with. Both Jon & Daenerys are Targaryens, both very similar people at the core of their personalities; Innocent & introvert, pure & kind the only reason why Jon is such a flawless beloved character is because he was raised by Ned Stark unlike daenerys who was raised by Viserys & his own twisted perspective of the world & people. Yes She crucified 163 masters of meereen, most of whom had a hand behind the crucifixion of little children at every mile on a post for 163 miles. All those children were brutally tortured so daenerys learns a so called lesson masters wanted to teach her. Maybe not all those masters were behind the said brutality but daenerys is a women in a hurry to establish power in meereen not to enjoy the fruits of power but for the betterment of the mereenese, the slaves & the children. Regardless of the consequences her intentions were never evil.

•About feeding the masters to her dragons. This doesn't happen in the books neither does Ser Barristan dies. So purely from a Show viewer perspective cersei humiliated Ser Barristan Selmy out of his servitude in the Kingsguard, the sworn brotherhood like the Night's Watch whose oath frees one upon their death.

A little history on Selmy; he was sworn into the brotherhood of Kingsguard during the reign of Jaehaerys II who was weak but a fine king Selmy was happy to serve him yet he died quickly after which Aerys II ascended to the throne who wasn't mad initially but soon acquired the said madness & Selmy grew to respect his oath over the king he serves. He fought for Rhaegar at the trident because he believed he would be a better king than his father unfortunately he died too. Leaving Selmy in a clutch of his oath & honor, upon being pardoned by Robert Baratheon he decided to serve him because he was a great knight but even he turned out to be a Bad King. Let's not even talk about Joffery! After being free of the oath that bound him to the Crown he went looking for someone he would follow & serve out of sheer will. Ser Barristan Selmy made daenerys feel closer to her family than Viserys ever could in all the time that she was with him. On the show Selmy dies fighting the harpies in a betrayal, for daenerys this was her losing her family all over again. Arya fed Frey's sons to Walder Frey only on the show by far, sansa fed ramsay to his hounds again only on the show by far & Daenerys fed the men whose betrayal costed her Selmy after finding about jorah's betrayal.

In all honesty she only fed one man to her dragons with an intention to terrify the others into divulging the truth. Yet again cersei hand picked the facts to back her case up.

sure.

A Solution? More like an attempt & a failed one at that!

Cersei is outright lying here, playing with incomplete selective truths. Neither did she depict the past accurately nor the future. Hypocrisy is written all over this scene, This is fear mongering 101.

#daenerys targaryen #game of thrones #jonerys #pro daenerys #daenerys defense squad #anti mad queen daenerys

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alltheshadesoftruth-blog1 · 6 years

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Lannisters, Sex, and Power

“Everything is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” ~ Oscar Wilde

Perhaps I’ve shown my hand a little too soon — perhaps I should have left you hanging. But sex is a key means by which Lannisters in A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) cement and legitimise power.

Tywin and Joanna

For Tywin and Joanna, this is particularly interesting. Their marriage was not so much a dynastic match (although it had a pertinent symbolic value in ensuring that the world knew that the Lannisters stood together now, and these two young, powerful nobles were its future) as a love match. While it may be tempting to characterise Joanna as someone who is gentle (another example of the “fix-it” ship, where one heals and softens the other — whilst it’s true that Tywin hardened after Joanna died, that does not mean that either of them were gentle before then, except with each other), Tywin does not respect gentleness, does not respect conventional “womanly” attributes. And, again, that is not to say that Joanna did not follow her duty as a lady to the letter (ruling Casterly Rock in her husband’s stead, providing him with counsel when appropriate, bearing perfect golden twins, a willingness to bear him more children) — simply that she should be treated as a person in her own right, and not subjugated to Tywin’s narrative and thematic needs.

Joanna, as I picture her, is very similar to Tywin in her ambition (I think she was going to be married to Lord Lefford before the match with Tywin was proposed? That may be fanfic though — in any case, as a Lannister from a lesser branch, finally making it to the Rock is a dream come true) and in her means. And then, are we really to assume that a woman who has Tywin’s ambition, pride, and commitment to the idea that the end justifies the means would consent to be the King’s mistress? The stories of the mistresses of Aegon IV would have been well-known — not only for their bastard-born children, but for the way in which they were cast aside when the King had had his fill. The idea of being the King’s mistress may have seemed like it had power (and, if your bastard grew ambitious enough, it did, although this is a negatively-coded power), but not as much as one could have as 1) Lady Paramount of the Westerlands, a position matched in prestige only by the Lady Paramount of the North and the Queen Consort, and 2) as a trusted Lady Paramount whose lord was away ruling the kingdom. For all intents and purposes at this time, Joanna would have been ruling Lady Paramount of the Westerlands, far more important than an ordinary wife.

Sex would have been, then, a way for both of them to cement their legacy. Partly because, well, Lannisters are canonically sexually desirable — in the books, Cersei is described as the most beautiful woman in the world, for all her sneers, and Jaime as her twin fares no worse. Even Tywin, aged 58 at the time of his death, is described as broad-shouldered and trim, and was described by Stannis as having been everything that the realm would expect of a King. But also for the potential power that an heir would bring them both, materially and symbolically. Materially, of course, it meant that the succession was secure, and that both Tywin and Joanna had done their marital duties (although whether they truly felt like duties is debatable). But there was a great deal of symbolic importance to this as well. In providing House Lannister with both a healthy son and a healthy daughter, Joanna not only highlighted the ideal of fertility/virility always connected to House Lannister; but also the dynastic potential — in Westeros, loathsome as it is to our modern sensibilities, a daughter is a useful carrot to be dangled in front of unruly lords (if any remained after the Reyne-Tarbeck Rebellion), and a son, especially if warded with one’s vassals, as Jaime was at Crakehall, would be a nod to tradition, to legacy, and to present prosperity. Just like now, Westerosi economic and political arenas hate uncertainty.

Tywin and Joanna’s marriage was, then, both mutually beneficial and beneficial to House Lannister in terms of present and future prestige and standing in the noble community of Westeros. And it would, therefore, be seen as the benchmark against which all other Lannister marriages were measured.

Kevan and Dorna

As one would expect, we have less canon information about Kevan and Dorna’s marriage, as they are tertiary characters at best, but their marriage represents an important union in Westerlander politics. After the War of the Ninepenny Kings, Tywin demanded hostages from any debtor who could not afford their repayments: to ensure that they would remain true and that they would remember that House Lannister would no longer tolerate insolence or refusal to conform to the responsibilities of a vassal. Indeed, Harys Swyft is said to have said, on learning of Tywin’s demands, “The lion has awoken.”

Dorna Swyft was one such hostage — we can only imagine how she would have felt, mostly because GRRM doesn’t tell us — and it was in this situation that she became betrothed to Kevan.

Kevan is obviously cut from a different cloth to Tywin — one not unlike their father, Tytos. More willing to follow than to lead, gentler (though not necessarily kinder) and more willing to appease than to demand. Whether he and Dorna grew fond of one another or whether it was simply an arrangement by Tywin to ensure that Lord Swyft stayed loyal, Kevan would have obeyed without question, no matter his personal feelings. We can glean two things from this:

1) Kevan and Dorna’s marriage is a sign of the power of House Lannister. Not dissimilar to the threat faced by women in places plagued by Dothraki warriors, the fact that House Lannister can both take the daughter of a vassal and then marry her to one of its menfolk is a clear sign of dynastic power: liege lords asserting their dominance in the feudal system. No matter how happy in marriage they may have become by the time the books begin (and let’s not forget, we only have Kevan’s reflection on that), their marriage would have continued to be a sign of Lannister dominance. But we can see something else in this example.

2) Kevan and Dorna’s marriage is a sign of Tywin Lannister’s power over the lives of others. In linking himself so closely with the fortunes of House Lannister, its dominance heightens his own. Part of it is because of the differences of character between Kevan and Tywin (Kevan would be more likely to obey anyway, regardless of who it was); however it is largely down to Tywin’s own forceful and uncompromising nature that this match was made, and it is another sign of Tywin’s dominance in every area of Lannister life. Again, however happy in marriage Kevan and Dorna may have become by the time of the books, one of the most important decisions in a feudal society was made by Tywin and they have been living by it ever since.

Genna and Emmon

Genna was betrothed to Emmon Frey at the age of 7 and wed to him as soon as she had flowered, and she has been making him pay for it ever since. We know from the text that Emmon has been overpowered by Genna and that she has never let him forget that she is his social better and that he is not worthy of her. Genna and Emmon’s marriage is another example of how potentially disastrous Tytos’ “reign” was. If marriages can be seen as yardsticks for the power of a house in a feudal society, then marrying your only daughter, your key “carrot”, to the second son of a minor and ill-respected house from another Kingdom instead of to one of your principal bannermen (such as the Reynes, which would have avoided so much bloodshed) was a major blow to House Lannister’s credibility and a major blow to Genna’s own reputation: even with Jaime’s assertion that she is “all Lannister”, and even if Emmon were to die and she could remarry, her reputation would be tarnished by the dishonour of a marriage below her station.

That said, I think Genna would have remained faithful to Emmon — the consequences of being found guilty of infidelity would have been far worse than being simply married to him, and there are other ways she can avenge herself on him. By allowing the rumour to persist, she is slowly eroding his reputation, while the fact that he is so intimidated by her means that there is little damage to her own reputation, as he does not challenge her. In doing this, she reminds him that he is not worthy by both Westerosi standards and by her own, as he cannot please her (he has never been satisfactory, and he never will be, and in such a cutthroat environment as House Frey, where we have literal child murderers running wild, looking like you can’t even control your wife is not an option).

Another point to note in this, although it’s not so much linked to sex and marriage as it is to Westerosi gender and feudal expectations: the fact that Genna is described as laughing and joking with household knights etc. mirrors strongly with Ned Stark’s much-praised style of operating, whereby he invites a member of his household to sit at the high table to talk about their business. One could argue that, in this sense, Genna is not only showing that Emmon is not satisfactory, but that even she, a woman, can be a better lord.

Tygett and Darlessa

If we only have a little bit of information about Kevan and Dorna’s marriage, we have less about Tygett and Darlessa, as at least Tygett is dead before the series begins. However, what information we do have suggests that they were not as fortunate as Kevan and Dorna in their match. Lord Marbrand, aside from being Tywin and Tygett’s uncle, is one of the most important bannermen in the Westerlands, as shown by the continued importance of Addam Marbrand in Jaime’s life — their sons are cultivated as friends and allies to the heir, their daughters seen as worthy wives. So on paper, a match between Darlessa and Tygett is only natural.

Despite the apparently beneficial nature of the match, they only had one son. Looking at the age of Tyrek (apparently about 13 at the time of Myrcella’s departure for Dorne), there are two options left to us:

1) Tygett and Darlessa married relatively late for a Westerosi noble couple. (Westeros is early compared to our own medieval average marriage ages). This in turn means that either Tywin specifically reserved Tygett for a Marbrand bride, waiting until Darlessa came of age (and Tywin’s draconian control over his life can only have grated with Tygett); or that Tygett tried to “pull a Blackfish” for as long as possible but, significantly, failed. Which could compound the seeds of resentment already present since their youth and Tywin’s conduct in the Reyne-Tarbeck Rebellion.

2) Tyrek was born very late in their marriage. This could either have been a calculated example of resistance on Tygett’s part (Tywin may have forced him to marry, but he wouldn’t be able to force him to have sex with his wife any more times than was necessary); or another example, in the Westerosi mindset, of why Tygett just didn’t quite match up to Tywin. Either way, we can see clear signs of how the relationship between Tywin and Tygett fully disintegrated (having already been partway there following Tygett’s horror at Castamere, which doesn’t seem to have been shared by any of his siblings).

Tywin creates such an unliveable goal that it would have been very difficult to live up to. This would, of course, cause further conflict, as Tygett is expected to conform to the Westerosi ideals of masculinity, and all that entails — having to occupy a dominant position in literally every aspect of his life, having to essentially roleplay as Tywin, would have been just as personally damaging as every other part of Tywin’s influence.

Tygett and Darlessa’s marriage can, therefore, tell us a lot about the more coercive nature of marital culture in Westeros. This was a marriage which had power exerted upon it from outside since the beginning, and this did not stop until Tygett’s death from a pox (interesting in itself — it’s not specified what kind, but if it were a venereal disease, Darlessa is not recorded as having had this or having died from it herself; which could suggest that he took it upon himself to relieve his unhappiness in a way designed to remind Tywin of their father…but then that failed too, and led to his death).

Gerion (featuring Joy and the Sailor’s Wife)

Gerion’s an interesting case — despite the fact that he doesn’t ostensibly fit into half of this piece’s remit, Gerion’s attitude to marriage, from what we can glean from the text, is very telling about his character and his relationship with Tywin.

For a start, Tywin is likely the only ‘Lord of the Rock’ that Gerion has ever really known — of course, Tytos was still alive when Gerion was born (indeed, Gerion’s wetnurse became his new mistress after Jeyne Marbrand died — but Gerion himself says: “My lord father would have made a splendid innkeep, but old Toad would have been a better lord”), but the main authority figure in Gerion’s life was…Tywin. This, and the age gap between the brothers, highlights some key aspects to Gerion’s relationship with authority and what this means for his attitude to sex.

1) Gerion’s the youngest of five siblings, the fourth son of Tytos Lannister. He is unlikely to ever have a keep and is therefore not that much of a dynastic catch, despite having the last name “Lannister”. So Gerion is really the only one of the five siblings who can enjoy being a Lannister, with no responsibilities or expectations. He doesn’t even have to attempt to make a name for himself from under Tywin’s shadow, he can kick back and relax. Which, in turn, means that he has a much more relaxed attitude to sex, since he has no form of dynastic responsibility

2) Joy is a key example both of the friction between Tywin and Gerion and of Gerion’s attitude to the world. We never hear of Briony except for the fact that she gave birth to Gerion’s bastard (was she provided for? Perhaps, but certainly not at the Rock, after Tytos’ own mistress — Gerion poked the sleeping dragon, he never stabbed it with a pitchfork) and she and Joy were separated. This last was probably at Tywin’s behest (‘fine, have a bastard, but she will be a Lannister bride with all the responsibilities that that entails’) but Gerion certainly, then, showed no signs of taking responsibility for her. He may not have power in any conventional sense, but he still takes his rights as a Lannister and as a man in Westerosi society.

3) The Sailor’s Wife is also interesting in terms of Gerion and his view of sex. It’s not really clear from the text why the Sailor’s Wife has to marry her clients: but it is quite telling from Gerion’s perspective. For him, because he has no dynastic responsibilities, marriage is a means to an end, and he probably didn’t even think of what would happen after he left and went on to Valyria. He drifts in a way that skips over the line from naivety into thoughtlessness.

4) Every canon piece of information we have about Gerion seems to directly clash with what we know about Tywin: Tywin, proudly connected to Casterly Rock vs Gerion, who seems to have spent as little time in the Rock as he could as soon as he was able to travel; Tywin, who desperately hid any sign that he had extra-marital sex vs Gerion who has two known bastards both bearing his look and one named for the emotion he feels his brother lacks the most; Tywin, desperately committed to legacy vs Gerion, who vanished without a trace. So we can suggest that there is something slightly Freudian, perhaps, in the way that Gerion rebels against everything that Tywin stands for: symbolic patricide.

#asoiaf meta #a song of ice and fire meta #house lannister #tywin lannister #joanna lannister #gerion lannister #kevan lannister #joy hill #dorna swyft #genna lannister #tygett lannister #formerly: kingofthelannisterpride

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oursisthefvry · 7 years

Text

five letters sansa didn’t send and one she did

The North is different without you. Colder. The people are getting more restless by the day, I fear the worst is coming soon.

Littlefinger has something up his sleeve. I don’t know what but I know that it’s not good. He’ll try to sway me with his pretty words but know that I will never break the trust that you have given me.

I saw you before you left for the South. You came out of the crypt, Littlefinger behind you. Did you hurt him Jon? If you did I fear that he’ll try and make your downfall quicker and more painful. Please Jon, don’t do anything irrational, I know your temper can get the best of you sometimes.

Stay safe.

I miss you.

ii.

Arya is home. I missed her.

She’s different than before, though I guess everyone is. She’s scarred and seen things that I wished and prayed she would have never seen. Her eyes though seem to be void of emotion are swimming in rage and sadness.

Arya’s stronger, I’m very proud. Though I fear for her and dare I say it, a piece of me is afraid of her too. I can’t bare to think of what she’s done to survive, I do know it’s not pretty though. Maybe she and I are more similar than I thought.

Littlefinger is curious about her. If I know him correctly a plan is taking place in his mind. I need to put a stop to it. I need my family here. I need you here.

iii.

You betrayed the North. Your family. Me. I don’t know if you understand how much I went though to make sure we get our home back Jon, our home. How much I bled, how much I cried and screamed for it. It was so easy to give though, wasn’t it? Gift something that I bled for easily.

I trusted you. You were the only person I trusted, Jon. The person that I put my hands to, showed my scars and told my unfortunate stories, yet I bet that was never on your mind when you bent the knee and gave her the North, did you? Tell me, is the Dragon Queen so beautiful that you forgot your loyalty to the North and your family.

Do not think that the North will forgive this easily Jon. You may be able to sway them to join you into the battle, but after that the war for the North’s independence will rage. Whose side will you be on?

The North remembers, do not ever forget that.

iv.

It’s hard not to watch you watch her, it’s hard not to notice the lingering looks you share. It’s hard not to notice my heart hurting every time you do so. Tell me brother, why are my feelings like this? Am I no better than Cersei Lannister? Am I truly fashioning my life after the woman who caused our family’s demise?

It aches, Jon. It shouldn’t though, shouldn’t it? If my feelings truly are sisterly for you.

Even when I deem to hate you I cannot. Hating you should be so easy after what you’ve done...so why is it so hard?

Aegon Targaryen. Are the Targaryens so crazy that they’ll name two sons from the same family the same name? That’s not your name. Not to me, Arya, Bran, Sam or Tormund, not to those who know you, the real you. Your name is Jon Snow, you belong to House Stark, you have Stark blood running in you.

I told you once that I considered you a Stark and I will always mean that.

Rhaegar Targaryen may have placed his seed into Aunt Lyanna but it was Father that raised you, that taught you to be the person you are today.

The Northern Lords will not be pleased but I will be there for you, so will the rest of your family -the rest of your pack.

You will always be Jon to me.

I thought we would never see Spring. I thought I would never hear the laughter of the children again, or the flowers in bloom. See genuine smiles upon the faces of people.

It’s there now though. It’s because of you that happened. No matter how much you try and say that everyone did it, it was you that led them to defeat the Army of the Undead. Who told everyone, who feared for everyone’s safety in Westeros.

I’m proud of you Jon and I know that Father would have been too.

There are talks of you going South with the Dragon Queen.

Don’t go.

Arya and Bran needs you. I need you here, with me in the North trying to rebuild what’s ours. The pack needs to stay together, to survive.

It’s up to you though in the end, my words are nothing, the choice is yours. I know that you have Targaryen blood in your veins but I beg you to not forget us.

If you go South and decide to rule, do not forget the North, your family, me. As we will never forget you.

I lov

-Sansa

Jon held the piece of parchment in his hand, he stood up once again pacing her solar for what seemed like the tenth time. He looked down at the bed and saw the other parchments littered with Sansa’s handwriting. It wasn’t his fault that he found them, truly. It was laying on her desk, half-covered with a book, but he still saw his name and curiosity peaked in him.

The door finally opened and he saw the woman that he was looking for. She still hasn’t noticed him and he was torn between berating her for not seeing there was an intruder in the room, and looking at her.

It seemed like the last time they were alone and he could really speak to her was before he went South. After that, she disappeared whenever he was near and his heart clenched whenever he didn’t see her comforting presence.

“Jon.” Sansa turned around and was surprised at Jon standing in the middle of her solar, a small parchment in his hand.

“I received your letter,” he mumbled.

Sansa nodded, “I can see that.” She moved forward towards her window.

“There was never a choice to make.” He needed to put that out there. How could she ever think that he would choose anything over the North, his pack, her?

She gave him a brief glance, “You never know. People change and so do their opinions.”

“The North is a part of me,” Jon walked up to where Sansa was. He stood next to her, and looked out the window. “I would never leave the North unless I have to.” I would never leave you unless I have to. How much he wanted to utter those words but he knew that he couldn’t right now. Sansa looked at him and he knew right then that she somehow heard the unspoken words.

“If there’s one thing I know in this world for certain, is that I would never choose anything over our family. Nothing in this world can do that. Not for a crown, not even legitimizing me. Do you understand that?” He gently turned her so Sansa could look at him. “Sansa.”

She nodded, “I do.”

Jon took a deep breath, it was now or never. “I need you to understand another thing as well.” She tilted her head a fraction imploring him to go on. “There is no woman that could ever compare to you. There is no woman that I would choose over you. There is no other love I would choose than yours.”

He looked at her and surely he saw her walls crumbling down. He finally saw the eyes that he loved, the eyes that held the warmth and love whenever he looked into them. Gone was his Queen of Ice, here now was his Sansa.

“I never thought,” Sansa started. For once she was at lost for words and for once Jon seems that he has the perfect words.

“I know, my love,” he removed the space between, now holding her as close as he can. As the King and Queen of the North looked out onto the now melting snow of Winterfell, they can briefly see four large Direwolves. The largest looked straight on at Jon and Sansa.

She quickly turned to Jon, a familiar tug in her heart. “Jon, it’s them.”

Jon looked at the Direwolves, the alpha nodded once and then howled. The rest followed, “Aye, it is.” He knew who they were and it was no consequence that he and Sansa should see them after they’ve talked. “It seems like Father’s gave us his blessing.”

#jonsa #jon snow #sansa stark #jonsa fanfic #jonsa ff #jon x sansa #please don't @ hate me #if you don't like this #like honestly this is for my own benefit #this is for my jonsa heart #also if this seems like it's familiar it's from my ao3

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ktwrites · 7 years

Text

Stallion of Stone

Fandom: Jonerys/ Game of Thrones

Genre: Fluffy Angst

Rating: Nothing above T

Find it on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

“Hurry, Mama! Hurry!”

“Slow down, Aemon,” Daenerys called to her eldest child as he dashed down the corridor, past the statues of the Targaryens of old. “Your sister and I can’t move as fast as you can.”

The queen watched as the prince stopped and turned around, his silver-blonde hair bouncing as he did so. His hair may have been given to him by his mother, but his grey eyes and patient smile he inherited from his father. Aemon had burst into the nursery with all of the exuberance of a four-year-old boy, his anxious Septa in town, and begged his mother to follow him.

“Where are we going?” she asked, setting two-year-old Rhaenys on her feet and pushing herself from the chair, a feat not easily accomplished as she was now in the seventh month of another pregnancy.

“To see the new statue!”

“The new statue?”

“Yes! Come on, Mama!” Aemon had said and practically tripped over his own feet as he ran out the door.

“What do you think, Rhae? Shall we follow your silly brother?”

“Yes!” the little girl exclaimed, her raven curls bobbing up and down and her violet eyes alight with excitement.

Aemon was quick, but not out of sight as Dany and Rhaenys struggled to keep up with him as they made their way through the Red Keep. Slowly but surely, the castle was returning to its former glory, the restoration going on its fourth year. The first year after the Great War ended, the Red Keep had been virtually uninhabitable after the major damage it sustained at the hands of Cersei Lannister. Dany and Jon had spent most of their days at Dragonstone, setting up a makeshift capital in order to deal with matters of state and traveled to King’s Landing when necessary. Once Maegor’s Holdfast had been completed, the Queen and King set up their permanent residence there and Rhaenys was the first of their children to be born there, her older brother being born at Winterfell at the end of the Long Night.

Dany watched as her son rounded a corner and made his way down a corridor lined with statues of their ancestors, for better and for worse. Dany and Jon had discussed removing statues of rulers like Maegor the Cruel, Aegon IV, and the Mad King, but decided to keep them, hoping the cold stone facade would prove to be a history lesson for their children and future Targaryens to come. Aemon, in particular, was coming to an age where he loved stories and would listen to tales of Starks and Targaryens alike. It was not unusual for Dany to find him either in the library with Maester Samwell or here in this very corridor with his Septa.

When she finally caught up with Aemon, he was standing in front of what was indeed a new statue that took Dany’s breath away. Standing tall at the end of the long line of Targaryens was a magnificent stallion, hewn from solid rock. The plaque at the base read “Rhaego Targaryen: The Stallion Who Mounts the World.”

“Mama, what does it say?” Aemon asked and his mother read the inscription aloud to him, her eyes swimming with tears.

“Who was Rhaego?”

For reasons unknown to her, Dany found herself unable to speak. She had talked at length with Jon about her time with the Dothraki. Her struggles, her triumphs, her mistakes, her losses. She laid them all bare before him and wept when she told him of the son she had never even held in her arms. He would have seen his eighth namesday by now.

“He was-,” Dany said, her voice cracking with emotion and unable to continue.

“He was your older brother,” a voice from behind her replied and she turned to find her husband walking up to join her and the children.

“Papa!” Rhaenys exclaimed and pulled free of Dany’s hand to run to her father who had been away for just over a week on progress in the North. Jon lifted his daughter into his arms and ruffled a hand over his son’s fair hair.

“I have an older brother?”

“You did. He died when he was just a baby,” Jon explained carefully. “Even younger than your sister. But your Mama’s Dothraki people called him the Stallion Who Mounts the World.”

Aemon looked from his father back to the statue, studying it closely.

“I wish I knew him,” the boy said thoughtfully.

“I wish so, too,” Dany said, finding her voice once more. “I’ve dreamt of him and he’s always very much like you.”

“When I grow up, I want to have my statue next to his. Can I?”

“You can,” Jon nodded, setting Rhaenys down. “Your Septa is waiting for you in the nursery with gifts from Aunt Sansa. Be a good brother and take your sister there. And don’t run.”

As Aemon took his sister’s small hand in his and led her back down the corridor towards the nursery, Dany took a step towards her husband and slid her arms around her husband’s waist.

“When did you get back?” she asked, reaching up to kiss him. “When did you do this?”

“To answer your first question, just now,” Jon replied, dipping his head for another kiss. “To answer your second question, the sculptors have been working on this for quite some time.”

“Jon, you have no idea what this means to me.”

“Yes, I do. He’s your son, Dany. He’s a Targaryen, too.”

“Thank you,” she whispered holding him close.

“You’re welcome,” he replied. One of his hands slid down to smooth over the curve of her belly. “Sansa also sent a new blanket for this little one, too and sends her love as well.”

“I wish I could have gone with you. It’s been too long since I’ve been North to see either of your sisters.”

“We’ve been busy trying to rebuild a country and you know Sansa enjoys coming down to the capital.”

“Will she come for the birth?”

“Not sure,” Jon said, twisting a lock of her hair between his fingers. “Let’s retire for the afternoon. I missed my wife.”

“As tempting as that is, there is a council meeting soon. Won’t you join me?”

“That’s not exactly what I had in mind, but of course I will.”

“Thank you again, Jon. It’s not always easy for me to look back on that time or to think of him, but I can’t forget. It’s a part of me. There’s a way to look back, to remember that what happened and who I was then made me who I am today.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied, kissing the side of her head. “How long do you think it will be before Aemon tries to climb up onto it?”

“Less than a day,” Dany snorted, with a playful roll of her eyes. “He’s probably running from his Septa now.”

“The dragon who mounts a stallion,” Jon mused. “What would the Dothraki call that?”

“Gaezosi.”

“And what exactly does that mean?”

“Brothers.”

Note: In this fic I made Rhaego about eight years old. This is based on a timeline I found that said only three years had passed from the events at the beginning of A Game of Thrones (297 AC) and when Dany becomes Queen of Meereen (300 AC). It's not always easy to tell how much time passes in each of the books so I did my best to guess for the remaining books we have.

#Jonerys #Jonerys fic #jonerys fanfic #Jon x Dany

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ladyjonquilinthenorth · 7 years

Text

The Lady of the Rivers

If you’ve spent more than three days in the Jonsa fandom (or GoT fandom at large), you’ve probably picked up by now that GRRM has based his tale heavily on myth (I AM SHOOKETH, @ladyandtheghost), much on history, and specifically on the events surrounding the Wars of the Roses, a series of wars in 15th century England fought between two major houses, Lancaster and York, as they wrestled for control of the crown.

Much and more has been written on the subject, all of it just a quick Google away, so I don’t feel the need to elaborate any further for the moment. However, there is one aspect of this comparison that I would like to focus on, and how it specifically relates to Jonsa, so stick around, because things could get interesting!

Around the time that I fell down the ASOIAF/GoT rabbit hole, I chanced upon a great show called The White Queen which was airing on STARZ.

(please don’t ask why the poster is all in black. That’s something I’d like to know as well.)

The one-season, ten-episode show is based on a book of the same name by Philippa Gregory. She, in turn, based her writings on the historical events surrounding Elizabeth Woodville, the woman who would eventually go on to marry Edward IV of York, thereby becoming Queen of England, and matriarch of a line of rulers that would eventually end with Elizabeth I.

Many have declaimed on the inaccuracy and incorrect portrayal of the books and show mentioned above, and for the most part, I tend to agree. But for the purposes of this meta, the information I intend to use, while referred to in Gregory’s work, has been confirmed by Wikipedia (I know!) and other sources of equivalent credence.

Besides the titular White Queen, there was another important character present in the book/show and history, namely, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Countess Rivers, wife first to John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford (d. 1435), then to Sir Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and mother to Elizabeth (and 13 other children, who, for the purposes of this meta shall remain nameless).

During her short marriage to John of Lancaster, brother to Henry V, she was firmly allied with House Lancaster. However, following the Lancastrian defeat at the Battle of Towton, she and her second husband, Richard Woodville, sided with the House of York.

Now, all this would be very interesting if we were looking for more information on the Wars of the Roses, which I don’t know about you, but I’m writing a Jonsa-esque meta here, so let’s move on.

Jacquetta of Luxembourg wasn’t just any old lady. She was the the eldest daughter of Peter I of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Conversano and Brienne, and his wife Margaret of Baux. Incidentally, her uncle, John II of Luxmebourg was head of the military campaign that captured Joan of Arc.

But here’s the deal: Don’t ask where, or why, or how it’s even possible, but the Luxembourgs claimed descent from from a legendary water deity known as Melusine, or Melusina.

“The fairy Melusina, also, who married Guy de Lusignan, Count of Poitou, under condition that he should never attempt to intrude upon her privacy, was of this latter class. She bore the count many children, and erected for him a magnificent castle by her magical art. Their harmony was uninterrupted until the prying husband broke the conditions of their union, by concealing himself to behold his wife make use of her enchanted bath. Hardly had Melusina discovered the indiscreet intruder, than, transforming herself into a dragon, she departed with a loud yell of lamentation, and was never again visible to mortal eyes; although, even in the days of Brantome, she was supposed to be the protectress of her descendants, and was heard wailing as she sailed upon the blast round the turrets of the castle of Lusignan the night before it was demolished.”

-The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border

Now, WHY does this look so familiar???

Oh.....right.....

Anyway, this Jacquetta-Melusine connection is quite heavily expanded upon in the book and show, portraying various spells and schemes woven by the Woodville women for their own ends, as well as that of the kingdom. In fact, during Edward IV’s captivity, Jacquetta was actually accused and later exonerated for witchcraft on the basis of ‘an image of lead made like a man of arms of the length of a man’s finger broken in the middle and made fast with a wire, saying that it was made by [Jacquetta] to use with witchcraft and sorcery’. It’s worth to note that Jacquetta, and later Elizabeth (a suspected sorceress herself) made no mention of Melusine. Their magic was of an entirely different sort. However, the connection is still present.

So, if by now, all the bells are ringing in your head and you know where this is going, congratulations! If not, let me break it down.

The Woodville-Yorks claim descent from Melusine, the water goddess. Sir Richard Woodville holds the title, 1st Earl Rivers. Who is a descendant of that house and granddaughter to the above-mentioned Jacquetta of Luxembourg? Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII.

Which family represents the water/river connection in our story? DING DING DING!

“Let the kings of winter have their cold crypt under the earth. The Tullys drew their strength from the river, and it was to the river they returned when their lives had run their course”

- A Storm of Swords, Catelyn IV

Who is the scheming, politically savvy matriarch descended from that house? Catelyn Tully-Stark. And who is the daughter of said house whom we constantly parallel to Elizabeth of York? Sansa Stark, (all fingers and toes crossed) future wife to Jon (Snow, Stark, Targaryen, take your pick), rightful heir to the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

credit to @sardoniyx for this work of art!

Where is the Tully connection to magic, you ask? Do not fear, for there is one, and here it is:

Thank you to @marydri for pointing this one out to me and explaining it :)

“He found himself remembering tales he had first heard as a child at Casterly Rock, of mad Lady Lothston who bathed in tubs of blood and presided over feasts of human flesh within these very walls.”

A Feast for Crows, Jaime III

Who is this mad Lady Lothston and what does she have to do with the Tullys of Riverrun?

Danelle Lothston, also known as Mad Danelle, was Lady of Harrenhal and head of House Lothston. She was also a witch. She is described as having “long red hair and wore tight-fitting black armor.A story told to misbehaving children said that on moonless nights bats would fly from Harrenhal and take the bad children back to Mad Danelle.”

We know from Catelyn that a castle usually passes to descendants or close relatives of the previous lords.

"No," Catelyn agreed. "You must name another heir, until such time as Jeyne gives you a son." She considered a moment. "Your father's father had no siblings, but his father had a sister who married a younger son of Lord Raymar Royce, of the junior branch. They had three daughters, all of whom wed Vale lordlings. A Waynwood and a Corbray, for certain. The youngest . . . it might have been a Templeton, but . . ."

A Storm of Swords, Catelyn V

The lords of Harrenhal after the Lothstons were the Whents, a descendant of whom was Minisa Whent, mother to Catelyn and Lysa Tully. Since the Whents inherited Harrenhal, it’s fair to assume that there was much intermarriage between them and House Lothston for such an exchange to happen. So, while it nowhere clearly states whether Danelle married or ever had children, it is possible that her blood mingled with that of the Whents, and thereby the Tullys (and the Starks), contributing a slight trace of magic into the bloodline.

Two mutually unrelated things worthy of note:

It’s a possibility that Danelle Lothston was a descendant of the Blood of the Dragon. Aegon IV the Unworthy had many mistresses, the first of whom was Lady Falena Stokeworth. When she and Aegon were discovered abed together by his brother, Viserys, Falena was sent away and married off to Lucas Lothston. Aegon was said to have visited them in Harrenhal for a number of years thereafter. Many years later, Lady Falena returned to court, this time with her fourteen year-old daughter, Jeyne Lothston. There were many rumors that Jeyne was not the daughter of Lucas, but, in fact, the bastard of Aegon IV Targaryen. Despite these, Aegon proceeded to have his way with mother and daughter, both (these Targaryens!). Danelle must have been a great-granddaughter of Jeyne, thereby inheriting the Blood of the Dragon (which didn’t help her case, let me tell you).

The shield Brienne carries, given to her by Jaime, depicts the black bat divided on a field of silver and gold of House Lothston. So, how epic is it that this is the shield used to protect the possible descendants of that house, Catelyn and Sansa?

TL;DR: Elizabeth of York is a possible descendant of Melusina, a water-goddess of legend. Sansa Stark is a descendant of the Tullys, a house iconically linked with water. Both were/will be married off to heirs to the kingdom in an attempt to ally their disgraced houses with the crown. Jonsa is endgame!

So, I hope you all enjoyed this meta. I feel like one has to write Jonsa meta every so often to earn one’s keep in this fandom, so consider this my rent for the month.

Once again, thank you to @marydri for helping me to flesh this out. Thank you, also, to @kitten1618x whose meta (linked above. Read the comments there, ALL THE COMMENTS) contains anything and everything you’d ever want to know about the Jonsa/WotR connection, and to @sweetsummersansa as well, for this post, helpful for anyone who’d like to read up on the EoY/Sansa parallels.

Thanks for reading, and lemme know what you think!

#jonsa #jon x sansa #meta #game of thrones #a song of ice and fire #wars of the roses #elizabeth of york #sansa stark #catelyn tully

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