#but also for people like jaime who have the topic of honor come up in their narratives | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ravarui · 1 year

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Ravarui is an independent multi-fandom multi-muse RP blog.

The blog is private/mutuals only and highly selective Personals do not interact, unless you got an RP Sideblog

Written and loved by Akki (she/her - 30y/o - germany)

Icons were made by @alyafae

Short overview of my muses as well as my rules under read more (in case the link doesn't work)

Shanks is currently my most active muse, so be prepared for a lot of One Piece content on this blog

Links:Rules - Muse list - Memes - Wishlist - Headcanons - Mains & Exclusives

Muses on this blog are currently:

Tony Stark from the MCU Red Haired Shanks from One Piece (Manga/HC-based) John Marston from Red Dead Redemption 2 Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones (book based with some show influence)

Request only:

Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones (Book based with some show influence)

Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2

Morzan from Inheritance Cycle (Heavily HC-based)

Disclaimer: This is a multimuse blog for muses of various fandoms. I am up to date to everything regarding all the muses I have on this blog, so this blog is NOT going to be spoiler free.

Recent spoilers, for example in regards to the latest One Piece Chapters, will be tagged however.

This blog will contain mature and triggering content, such as murder, robbery, kidnapping, mentions of slavery etc. Especially when my Red Dead Redemption muses are involved. I will tag triggering content like "murder tw" for example.

1) No Godmodding

If you do it, I’ll contact you and ask you not to do it again and change the part in the reply. If you do it regulary you will be blocked.

2) Portrayal

My Tony Stark is mostly based on the MCU since I have little to no knowledge about the comics. His relationship with Pepper is exclusive with @alyafae version, since we developed our headcanons together over the years and there is no way to seperate them by now.

Everything that happens in Movie Red is irrelevant for my portrayal of Shanks and will be treated as AU. So please do not assume that he raised Uta, unless we discussed it beforehand, because my version does NOT know her.

His backstory is heavily headcanon based and in my version he was NOT found in a treasure chest as a baby by Roger!

Post Time-skip Shanks has a tattoo that looks like this

In the verse where he is married to Makino he wears his wedding ring around a thin chain around his neck, and he keeps the ring hidden under his shirt. No one except his crew and the people of Fuschia know about their marriage. Please do not assume your muse knows about it, unless we talk about it before. I am more than fine with muses finding out about it over the course of threads! It just has to come naturally.

Arthur and John stay mostly true to canon. Arthur is mostly based on the high honor version, because that's how I play him in the game. John is mostly neutral, but leans towards high honor, can however also act more low honor, depending on the situation/muses

3) This blog is 18+ and mun is 28+

I will not write with anyone under 18, since I myself am in my thirties now and it just makes me uncomfortable writing with minors. Preferably people who follow this blog are 21+

4) Shipping:

Shipping is always welcome, no matter what kind of ship. If we're mutuals and you would like to ship our muses in whatever way, don't hesitate in approaching me. Chances are I ship them already as well anyway.

I am multiship in regards to all of my muses. The only exception is my Tony Stark muse when it comes to shipping with Pepper. That is exclusive with @alyafae

I also won't ship Steve and Tony. If you are a Steve Rogers blog and send something shippy in a romantic or smutty way Tony will not react in a positive way and will make fun of him for it.There are only two people who are excluded to this rule.

5) Triggers:

I have personally no triggers and I am willing to RP very dark themes as well. The only topic I will not touch is animal abuse. Otherwise everything is fair game.

If we write dark/triggering themes I require plotting/ooc talks! I do not want to make my RP partner uncomfortable.

Should we write something dark and you notice that you can’t bring yourself to write this theme anymore or feel in any way uncomfortable with the way it’s going: Please tell me immediately so we can talk and drop it if you need it.

You never have to worry when you bring something like this up. The well being of my RP partner when writing highly triggering and dark subjects is my main concern.

6) Activity:

I have a personal life and RPing is a hobby and not my job.

I try my best to do my drafts, but I don’t always have muse for them and some drafts take me longer than others.

Mains/Exclusives get priority most of the time.

So please be patient. You’re welcome to send me a small reminder if I didn’t reply in two weeks. Tumblr loves to eat my notifications and on top of that I have the attention span of a squirrel sometimes and also tend to forget to draft replies.

7) OC’s:

I am OC friendly, but picky when it comes to interacting/following them. If you have no about page I will not follow at all. No arguing. If you have one, I'll read through it and if I can see our muses interacting I'll follow. Otherwise I wont. It's nothing personal.

8) Duplicates:

I adore duplicates! I love exploring all kinds of shenanigans our muses can come up with, if there are two of them.

9) Memes:

This blog is private/mutuals only. It’s a personal preference so I can keep my blog tidy. Memes are open for everyone, even non-mutuals, unless stated otherwise in the tags.

My memes don't have an experiation date and it doesn't matter when I reblogged one. If you want to send something in, feel free to explore my meme tag and send whatever interests you. Spamming memes is also encouraged.

You're always welcome to turn asks into threads! Doesn't matter if we already have a lot of them going or not. It's always encouraged.

10) I wont accept asks like: Do you want to RP with me?

If I am following you it’s a 100% indication that I want to write with you and explore the chemistry between our muses.

If I am not following you and you send me such an ask it will be ignored. If you truly want to write something then come to me with an idea or send me a meme. They are always open unless stated otherwise.

11) This rule applies to ALL blogs that follow me (especially personal blogs)

If you reblog my roleplays when you are NOT involved in them, I will message you and ask you to delete it from your blog. If you don’t do this you will be BLOCKED without a further warning.

12) If I see you posting a lot of callouts and drama I will block you. I am to old to deal with this stuff

13) My IM is reserved for mutuals only. So if you have any question send them into my askbox.

Rules will be updated

#mun talks #DONT REBLOG #pinned post

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hchollym · 3 years

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So you don't think Brandon was the father of Ashara's baby?!

No, I don't. I'm not completely against it, so if it ends up being canon, then so be it, but I personally think Ned was the father.

Let's look at what we know about Ashara's relationship and the baby:

The crannogman saw a maid with laughing purple eyes dance with a white sword, a red snake, and the lord of griffins, and lastly with the quiet wolf . . . but only after the wild wolf spoke to her on behalf of a brother too shy to leave his bench.

We see her dancing with Ned, because Brandon asked for him, but it doesn't make any mention of Ashara dancing with Brandon.

He looked at her uncomfortably. "My aunt Allyria says Lady Ashara and your father fell in love at Harrenhal—"

Allyria Dayne - Ashara's sister - thinks that Ned was the one that Ashara fell for. Edric doesn't say anything about Brandon, which implies that Allyria didn't talk about him, but if Brandon was the father of Ashara's child, then don't you think Allyria would have at least mentioned him? And if she did, then it seems strange that Edric wouldn't at least comment on the fact that Ashara loved Arya's father but was pregnant by Arya's uncle (with a baby that would have been Arya's cousin), if that were actually the case.

"Aye, he told me. Lady Ashara Dayne. It's an old tale, that one. I heard it once at Winterfell, when I was no older than you are now."

The story about Ashara and Ned is one that plenty of people have heard about.

Is it possible that Ned used Ashara as a possible red herring for Jon's mother? Unlikely, given this situation:

That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. "Never ask me about Jon," he said, cold as ice. "He is my blood, and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name, my lady." She had pledged to obey; she told him; and from that day on, the whispering had stopped, and Ashara Dayne's name was never heard in Winterfell again.

That doesn't seem like a man that's encouraging rumors for the sake of throwing people off Jon's trail. Which means the rumors didn't start from him, and chances are, there was at least some truth to them. It seems to be the general consensus, even by Ashara's family, that there were feelings involved on both sides.

So could Brandon have slept with Ashara despite Ned's feelings for her? Yes, but I doubt it. Brandon was reckless and promiscuous, but he was also very family-oriented. I don't think people give him enough credit and recognize his loyalty to his family, but I have a hard time believing that he would betray his brother like that.

It seems to me like we see a lot of evidence for Ashara & Ned (not Ashara & Brandon), yet I usually see three arguments for why people don't believe Ned was the father:

1. Ned wouldn't dishonor someone.

"I doubt there's any truth to it. But if there is, what of it? When Ned met this Dornish lady, his brother Brandon was still alive, and it was him betrothed to Lady Catelyn, so there's no stain on your father's honor. There's nought like a tourney to make the blood run hot, so maybe some words were whispered in a tent of a night, who can say? Words or kisses, maybe more, but where's the harm in that? Spring had come, or so they thought, and neither one of them was pledged."

We also don't know that Ned didn't intend to marry Ashara eventually. Neither one was betrothed yet, so it was a definite possibility. And Edric Dayne implies that Ashara's heartbreak had something to do with her love for Ned, so it's very possible that she was as blindsided (and upset) by Ned's marriage to Catelyn.

2. Ned doesn't think about her in canon.

First of all, Ned has a tendency to push unpleasant thoughts away (we see Sansa do something similar), because it's too difficult for him to deal with. We don't see him think about his father or mother either, but that doesn't mean that he didn't love them.

Plus, there's only two times that someone brings up Ashara to Ned. The first time (with Catelyn), we don't see his own inner thoughts, so we can't say for certain what was going through his mind at the time, but we do know that he gets angry about the rumor.

The second time, this is what the conversation looks like:

"Honor," she spat. "How dare you play the noble lord with me! What do you take me for? You've a bastard of your own, I've seen him. Who was the mother, I wonder? Some Dornish peasant you raped while her holdfast burned? A whore? Or was it the grieving sister, the Lady Ashara? She threw herself into the sea, I'm told. Why was that? For the brother you slew, or the child you stole? Tell me, my honorable Lord Eddard, how are you any different from Robert, or me, or Jaime?"

"For a start," said Ned, "I do not kill children. You would do well to listen, my lady. I shall say this only once. When the king returns from his hunt, I intend to lay the truth before him. You must be gone by then. You and your children, all three, and not to Casterly Rock. If I were you, I should take ship for the Free Cities, or even farther, to the Summer Isles or the Port of Ibben. As far as the winds blow."

We don't see any inner thoughts from Ned at that moment, and it's obvious that he's focused on this very crucial situation happening at the present time, so I don't think his lack of reaction to Ashara's name here means anything.

3. Barristan Selmy only refers to Ashara's lover as "Stark."

But Ashara's daughter had been stillborn, and his fair lady had thrown herself from a tower soon after, mad with grief for the child she had lost, and perhaps for the man who had dishonored her at Harrenhal as well. She died never knowing that Ser Barristan had loved her. How could she? He was a knight of the Kingsguard, sworn to celibacy. No good could have come from telling her his feelings. No good came from silence either. If I had unhorsed Rhaegar and crowned Ashara queen of love and beauty, might she have looked to me instead of Stark?

I don't know; this seems like a weak argument to me. Barristan obviously sees this "Stark" as his rival for Ashara's affections, so I don't think it's all that important that he's thinking about him by his last name, which is less personal and can be attributed to his jealousy.

My last thought is that I don't see any narrative purpose for Brandon being the father of Ashara's baby. I don't like the idea of Young Griff as being their child who is just being passed off as Aegon (for a lot of reasons), so what other good would it be for this detail to be revealed in later books? To be fair, there isn't really any narrative purpose for Ned to be the father either, but there is more evidence so far pointing to him, and I tend to doubt that we are going to see anything new in future books about this. I think this is one of those topics that is just going to be left open-ended.

To summarize, this is all just my opinion (so take it with a grain of salt), but I think Ned was the father of Ashara's baby, and I don't think that diminishes or undermines his love for Catelyn in any way. Ultimately, I don't think this topic will be revisited or confirmed either way in future books, so I guess it's just left up to the readers to decide what we believe 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for the ask!

#ashara dayne #ned stark #brandon stark #ashara x ned #asoiaf #speculation #ask me #anon ask

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dany-is-my-queen · 4 years

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Born To Be Yours | Part II

Sansa Stark x Fem! Baratheon! Reader (Daenerys Targaryen x Fem! Baratheon! Reader eventually)

Season 1-8

Word Count: 1,795

Note: I’m back!!!

Part 1 here Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.7 Pt.8 Pt.9

“You shouldn’t interfere when it’s none of your business.” Joffrey was still angry with you.

“Don’t mess with the ladies and we’ll be in peace.” You calmly said.

“Always so honorable... the hero saving the day.” Your mother mocked.

“Why you say it like that, mother? I would do it over again, you are so heartless and extreme about little matters.” You rolled your eyes.

“You don’t care about your brother's honor. That’s the real reason you defended those pathetic girls.” She spat.

“I do care about him. It’s the other way around. You are a pampered kid. You should start acting more like a man, Joffrey.” And with that you left his room.

“May I come in, princess?” The sweet voice of the oldest Stark daughter rang. You were on just a pair of trousers, definitely not wearing proper clothes to be talking to her.

“Of course, my lady. Just give me a second, please.” You put on a dress. “Let her in.”

“I wanted to apologize for my earlier behavior. You saved my wolf’s life, I’ll be forever thankful, my princess.”

“It was the right thing to do. I would have preferred her to stay by your side, though.”

“She’ll find a new home. I hope she returns to the north, where she belongs.” You gave her a soothing smile. “Does prince Joffrey hates me?” She asked sadly.

“No no, he is just a bit... irritating and gets easily offended. But it’s not personal, my lady. You are promised to him so with time your relationship will evolve.”

“I hope so. I’ll leave you to enjoy your evening, my princess.”

“Lady Sansa, if you need someone to talk to you can always come to me. You and your sister. I pray for your little brother to wake up. She nodded.

“You are very kind.”

~~~~~~

“Did you found a suitable candidate up in the North, niece?” Uncle Renly asked with a droll voice.

“I met a boy... very good looking and a gentleman but he wasn’t my type. He’s the eldest son of Lord Eddard.”

“Sounds quite the man.”

“We didn’t have the chance to get closer so I’ll forget about him.” You might never see him again after all.

“Princess Y/N, what can I do for you?” The tall man greeted.

“I haven’t had the chance to thank you, my lord, for accepting to be the new hand. I know it was a difficult choice to make, leaving your home. My father really needs you. He lacks of loyal friends and I believe you’ll be very helpful around here.”

“Oh, I will do my best not to let Robert down.” He smiled.

“A raven came this morning. I- I forgot to deliver it earlier, my lord hand.” Maester Pycelle said with his usual stutter and left.

“Good news?”

“My Princess! I didn’t expect to see you.” A voice that didn’t please you stated.

“Lord Baelish.” You faked a perfect smile.

“Lord Stark, perhaps you’ll like to share the news with your wife.”

“She’s on Winterfell.”

“Is she?”

“I won’t tell my mother. Lord Baelish knows I can keep a secret. Can I join you?” The relation you had with Petyr was not the best. He informed you of things your parents won’t share with you. Despite that you never liked him nor his personality.

“Better not keep her waiting.” You reached his brothel unnoticed.

“I’ll talk to her when you’re done. I’m not a spy. I can be trusted but I prefer to stay out of your business, Lord Eddard.” And it was true. You had no interest in gossiping.

“Thank you.” They entered. Not before he took Baelish and throttle him suspecting this was a trick.

“Lady Catelyn.” You bowed your head.

“Princess Y/N, what a surprise...” She looked at you with dismay.

“It’s fine. I won’t tell a soul. I am glad to hear that little Bran is finally awake. And also, I wanted to let you know that I’ll keep your daughters safe. Now that you both are here I give you my word. My family is complicated and tends to have a reputation. I will look after Lady Sansa and Lady Arya, as long as I can, I promise.” Since the incident with the direwolves you had this enormous feeling of responsibility, deep down you knew their stay in King’s Landing won’t be as enjoyable as they thought. You hoped you were wrong. Prevention was a good idea.

“I will be in your debt, my princess. Knowing this gives me relief. It’s hard to find good people here in the capital.”

“It certainly is. Say hello to Lord Robb from me.” You wished her good travel home but sensed trouble in her.

~~~~~~

“Y/N! Want to spar? I’m so bored and Myrcella is doing lady stuff.” Tommen asked you, holding his little sword.

“That’s not proper for a princess to do and mother doesn’t approve.” Joffrey hissed.

“But father does. We are not useless like yourself, big brother.” You rumpled your brother’s hair. “Let’s go Tommen.” You found Arya in the courtyard with his dancing teacher. “Mind if we join the class?”

“This is Syrio Forel, he is from Braavos.”

“My Princess, my Prince.” He did a small reverence.

“I want to learn how to be a knight!” Tommen said excitedly. After a long time practicing you got tired. Syrio was surprised when he saw the way you wield the wooden blade.

“Natural talent, Princess Y/N.”

“Thank you. My father was the first person that taught me how to properly do it so I can defend myself when there are no guards around. Ser Jaime also instructed me of some techniques.”

“That’s my intent too. Not wearing dresses and attending to councils. I was born for this.” Arya said sure.

“No one will be able to stop you when you are old enough, perhaps not even now.” She grinned.

You could see yourself in this girl, you have a lot in common. She was fearless and didn’t seem to want to marry a lord and live in a castle. You could also see the similarities between Lady Sansa and you. You love to fight and go hunting, use a bow, but you knew how to weave as well, how to properly greet the lords and ladies, and you wished to get married someday. You were a proper daughter, with dignity and manners, your father was always more fond of you, your mother on the other hand... she loved you in her own way, you were the perfect child in everyone’s eyes.

“Lady Sansa, I am happy to know your brother is fine.” You put a hand on her shoulder.

“He won’t be able to walk ever again. But it was a miracle. Thanks for your prayers.” She answered.

“Would you like to visit the Throne Room? Your septa can join us.” She nodded.

“Someday your husband will sit there and you by his side, then you’re going to present your son to the court. All the important people of the Seven Kingdoms will gather here to see the prince.” Septa Mordane stated.

“What if I have a girl?” The Stark inquired.

“If the gods are good you’ll have girls and boys, plenty of them.”

“They all going to be beautiful children. Just like her mother.” You complemented.

“But if I only had girls...”

“The throne will pass to Tommen, my little brother.”

“And everyone will hate me.” She harried said.

“No one could ever hate you, Sansa.” Her septa affirmed.

“Your Septa is right, my lady. I already told you. As your friend, I won’t let anybody speak ill of you. Besides, you are lovely.” You squeezed her hand.

“Thank you, my princess.”

“Sansa, do you remember your lessons? Who built the Iron Throne?”

“Aegon the conqueror.”

“And who built the Red Keep?”

“Maegor the cruel. My grandfather and uncle were murdered here, by orders of the Mad King. Why?”

“You should speak to your father about these matters.”

“You are dismissed.” The old woman left. You walked towards the throne indicating her to follow you.

“Would you like to seat on the throne, my lady? It’s not a comfortable chair but it was forged from the one thousand swords that had been surrendered to Aegon in the War of Conquest by the lords who had offered their fealty, though the actual number of the swords is less than two hundred. These were melted down by the fiery breath of Balerion the Black Dread.” You conclude telling her.

“You seem to like these type of stories, Princess. Your knowledge for the topic is quite vast.” She was surprised yet amused.

“Yes, I enjoy to read and uncle Tyrion told me a lot about this when I was just a little girl. What kind of stories enthralled you, sweet lady?”

“The ones with honorable knights, chivalry and love.” A dreamt sigh left her mouth.

“I like those too. Especially this tale about Ser Florian called Florian the Fool, he was a legendary hero of the Riverlands from the Age of Heroes. He felt in love with a maiden named Jonquil. Singers compared the sudden marriage of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Queen Alysanne Targaryen to their great romance.

“I know that one! Is my favorite tale of all time. But I didn’t know they compared them with the Targaryens of that period. It’s very romantic.” She blushed a little.

“And one of the songs... I think this is how it goes, Six maids there were in a spring-fed pool... oh my gods! I sound terrible.”

“No! You have an adorable voice, princess Y/N.” You grinned.

“You are lying! I found that song a bit creepy. He was watching Jonquil and her sisters bathed. The face of the girl turned just like her hair. I didn’t mean to ruin it.” Both of you laughed.

“It’s alright. I still love it.” The throne room was never your favorite place to be, it was hollow and boring. You imagine all the horrible things that happened here. But now with the presence of such a pretty lass it felt different, not gloomy at all.

The next day it was the tournament in the name of Eddard Stark. Though the man didn’t attend. You sat next to the oldest Baratheon boy. Tommen was inpatient so as your father. Lady Sansa smiled at your brother but he looked away, avoiding her completely.

“Is it so hard to be nice at your lady?”

“Shut up.” You return the smile to her. She was half disappointed it wasn’t Joffrey and half happy you did notice her.

“Start the damn joust before I pissed myself!” And the opponents made their appearance. Ready to begin.

#sansa stark x reader #sansa x reader #game of thrones shot #game of thrones fic #got #baratheon reader #sansa x fem baratheon reader

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smokeybrand · 3 years

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Weak of Heart

I'm a guy who loves a great legacy character. Cassandra Cain, Jaime Reyes, Jessica Cruz, and Helena Wayne, are favorites. Ben Reily, Kate Bishop, Robbie Reyes, and Carol Danvers, are also worth mentioning on the Marvel side of things. Hell, Laura Kinney is top ten all time for me. When you want to extend the mythos and shake up the continuity, bringing in a Legacy character is a great way to do that. If it's done properly. When it's not, you get Riri Williams. I don’t care for Riri Williams. The fact that Ironheart is getting a show chaffs me to no end, man. Now, before you label me ass a self hating black person, i need to be clear; I don’t like Riri because she’s a non-character Mary Sue, not because she’s black or a replacement for Tony Stark. Riri has the dubious honor of being the poster child for lazy, woke, virtue signaling, comics of the early Tens that plagued the industry. Cats, especially at Marvel, were more interested in pushing agenda and forcing diversity rather than writing dope stories. I can;t say that all of those narrative were sh*t because i did enjoy a few. I rather liked the Mockingbird run but i assume i am in the minority on that, considering all of the ridiculous discourse around “Ask me about my feminist agenda.” Admittedly, i didn’t evade the sting of this whole virtue signal renaissance as my darling Carol Danvers became this total b*tch with a dude’s haircut around this time. For me, Ms. Marvel was one of the best things about that Mighty run of the early Aughts but, you know, superheroes can’t be hot anymore because of Patriarchy or some sh*t even though they are, legitimately Olympic level athletes with bodies to match but okay. I’m getting a little off-topic here, my point is that Ironheart is the worst of this super-woke stunt writing and i hate her for it. he most frustrating thing about all of this? It’s worked before.

Kamala Khan is a similar Legacy introduced around the same time as Riri If i remember correctly, she predates Ironheart by a few years and was met with similar resistance from the fandom. Being very much Pakistani and very much Muslim, Kamala got ALL of the xenophobic, racist, and islamaphobic hate. It was very transparent how f*cking dumb that sh*t was but, over time, she’s developed into kind of a bullet proof character. Seriously, she had a great run in her own book and really rounded out as the leader of the Champions. Kamala Khan is one of the most well written, fan friendly, representative charters in comics, and she earned every bit of that shine. I, personally, don’t care for Kamala, i finder her personality grating, but i understand the merit of who she is and why she’s important. More than that, i see how well her implementation and pushes worked for her. Ms. Marvel has seen all sorts of success outside of the books. She’s had a ton of appearances in various cartoons to varying success but got the nod as the POV character for the once lauded, now derided, Avengers game. They did her dirty with that but I've heard that her game play is pretty fun. Kamala is a success story about how you diversify your pantheon organically, successfully, without it coming off as pandering. There is only one character who has had a better rise in the zeitgeist and is arguably the genesis for this brand knew age of representation first in comics, whether that be for better or worse.

Miles Morales is, unquestionably, the reason we have characters like Kamala, America, and Riri. He predates them all and has had the most success as the Spider-Man of 1610 after Pete died. People HATED Miles when he first swung though Brooklyn. It was vitriolic. Incandescent. And i understood why. Spider-Man is Peter Parker. That’s who he is. Miles didn’t even have his own origin story, it was literally the same spider that bit him. A good deal of the hate had to do with Bendis as well. We were knee deep in his whole “Make all the heroes black” situation and it was wearing thin. He had positioned Luke Cage and Spectrum as principal powerhouses of the Marvel Universe and it just wasn’t there for those characters. He didn’t do the work to make those characters compelling, especially Luke Cage. He wrote Cage as a power fantasy for himself, i imagine he wants to be black more than anything, and it was incredibly transparent. Cage went from a D-Lister with roughly Captain America class strength, to a primary Avenger with Hulk class strength, over night. That’s corny. Miles got the same treatment but to a lesser extent. He didn’t get his shine until other people came through and cleaned up the mess Bendis left of the character. A decade on, and Miles has been accepted has the best Spider Jr. out there, earning clout with the best Spider-Flick released to date and a principal role in the best Spider-Game out there. In the books, he’s developed into a solid character, different from Pete in a ton of ways, but familiar in all the ways that count. More than anything their relationship is dope as f*ck. If Kamala was the first, real, success, then Miles was the dry run to get there.

Riri Williams has none of this development. None of it. She was in the Champions book, too, right along with Kamala and Miles, and she still sucks. Hell, Kid Nova, Sam Alexander, also makes an appearance in that book and i forgot he existed until i wrote this sentence, but even he has more of a character than f*cking Ironheart. Sam is f*cking adorable. He’s had a ton of crazy adventures and, for a while, was literally the only Nova around. He was the Kyle Rayner of Marvel and the kid did a great job with that. When Riri Was the only Iron Man, she was indistinguishable from Tony. It was so bad, her AI WAS Tony. That’s how little faith Marvel had in the character after her introduction. Kamala, by this pint, had her own solo and Miles had been Spider-Man in Ultimate comics for, like, four years or some sh*t. Riri couldn’t even be Ironheart without Tony having an intimate role in her “independent” book. Sh*t was whack, son, and that’s my point. Riri Williams, Ironheart, is not a character, she’s a PR move and that sucks because the bones of something really compelling are there to be explored. Riri could have been dope especially if she had the room to grow Kamala and Miles. Riri had every opportunity to be the Marvel version of Ahsoka Tano; A brash, brilliant, reckless apprentice to the seasoned veteran hellbent on training her to reach the potential that only he sees within. Riri could have been written with the most depth, the most growth, of these diverse replacement heroes but none of that happened. Riri is the same f*cking character she was when she was introduced. There’s been o growth, no change, and her armor is ugly as f*ck. It’s a goddamn shame because i adore the idea of Ironheart but that execution leaves a lot to be desired. I hope the writers under Feige do the character justice. I hope they find a way to make Riri compelling, to make her whole because the potential there is staggering. It’s unfortunate that no one at Marvel Comics knows how to properly actualize it.

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renlyisright · 3 years

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Renly Is Right: The Complete Collector’s Edition

A marble statue of Renly Baratheon sitting on the Iron Throne, c. 410. The sculptor received no payment.

This post has links to all of my commentary posts to the last decade’s biggest event show, Game of Thrones, from the second season to the last.

Why not the first? Because I didn’t know then I was going to do this. It was the year 2012. I heard about a cool new fantasy show with sex, violence and a surprise death. I watched the first season and was immediately a big fan, but I had no reason to write anything down back then, so I didn’t (I did make family trees of the big houses to keep track of everybody, but that was it). If those posts existed, they would be very entertaining. I somehow missed in the first episode that Jaime and Cersei were supposed to be siblings, even though the point is hammered down in dialogue several times so people like me could catch it in time for the reveal in the tower. A lore overload, I say to my defense.

When the second season began I started writing short comments on a Star Wars discussion forum after seeing each episode. Just quick messages amidst the other off-topic talk, as I was a frequent member there at that time. Those messages grew throughout the season, I started adding five-minute ugly Paint pictures and ultimately after the second season’s finale I moved here. That explains some things from the first posts, like why the images are so small for Tumblr and why there are so many inside jokes about Star Wars. It doesn’t explain the lack of quality in the pictures or the posts themselves, that’s all on me and not noticing the audience. From the third season on the quality is much better, and there’s more context.

I did this mostly for myself. I felt the deaths of the characters more when I had joked about them for years. It was also a nice way to learn to write more casual English, as I’m not a native speaker.

Looking back, there are some sentences where I’m sure I tried to make a joke, but I have no idea what it was. So do not be baffled if you have no idea either. Sometimes the jokes are simply bad, or I have misunderstood a term from the field of literary criticism or Internet discourse (I have no education in either). For me it’s also a nice cross-section of seven years of writing, and thinking about this behemoth of a TV show.

Without further ado, here’s the finished list of every post made to this blog in chronological order. Every post naturally spoils everything up to that episode, but not anything after it. Some book spoilers are splintered throughout in parts where there are differences that I wanted to highlight. I usually read a book after each season, dividing A Storm of Swords in two and only reading books four and five after season 6.

Predictions for the second season

Season 2

Episode 1: The North Remembers Episode 2: The Night Lands Episode 3: What Is Dead May Never Die Episode 4: Garden of Bones Episode 5: The Ghost of Harrenhal Episode 6: The Old Gods and The New Episode 7: A Man Without Honor Episode 8: The Prince of Winterfell Episode 9: Blackwater Episode 10: Valar Morghulis Predictions Reviewed And An Epilogue

Intermediate posts (no spoilers for Season 3)

Ruminations between seasons Predictions for the third season

Season 3

Episode 1: Get Back to Westeros Episode 2: Dissing Renly Episode 3: Mance Is Right Episode 4: Craster Got 99 Problems Episode 5: When will Shireen’s life begin? Episode 6: Preparations for the Four Weddings And A Funeral Episode 7: Jon Snow Knows Nothing Episode 8: Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Episode 9: Love Is An Open Door Episode 10: Let The Storm Rage On Predictions Reviewed And An Epilogue

Intermediate posts (no spoilers for Season 4)

Hear Me Rofl: Ruminations between seasons part II Predictions for the fourth season

Season 4

Episode 1: The Break of Dorne Episode 2: Ding Dong Episode 3: That Perfect Girl Is Gone Episode 4: Who Done It? Episode 5: The Amazing Adventures of the Chaos Man Episode 6: Keep Your Dragon Off My Yard! Episode 7: If Only There Was Someone Out There Who Loved You Episode 8: Mind Blown Episode 9: Like So Many Flies Episode 10: The Privy Council Predictions Reviewed And An Epilogue

Intermediate posts (no spoilers for Season 5)

Growing Strange: Ruminations between seasons part III Predictions for the fifth season

Season 5

Episode 1: Choose Me or Your Pyre Episode 2: Shireen Is Right Episode 3: The Key to the Lock Episode 4: Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Episode 5: There’s No Place Like Home Episode 6: Olenna Is Back Episode 7: So Is This the Sort of Story That You Like? Episode 8: Realpolitik Episode 9: STAANNIIISS! Episode 10: Springtime for Stannis Predictions Reviewed And An Epilogue

Season 6

Predictions for the sixth season Episode 1: Sleeping In Episode 2: Inside Information Episode 3: A Shaggydog Story Episode 4: Encore Episode 5: Fleeting Reign Episode 6: The Glorious Hour of Mace Tyrell Episode 7: The Walking Dead Episode 8: Assassins Bleed Episode 9: Winterflay Episode 10: Justice for Everyone, Ex-Sept for Some Predictions Reviewed And An Epilogue

Season 7

Predictions for the seventh season Episode 1: Mapping Out the Future Episode 2: Many Meetings, The Council of Daenerys, and The Plan Goes South Episode 3: The Last Flower Before the Winter Episode 4: Dragonfire and Ruin Episode 5: Don’t Worry, We Have a Plan Episode 6: Winter Wonderland Episode 7: Hey, We Won at Scheming, Who Would Have Guessed Predictions Reviewed And An Epilogue

Season 8

Predictions for the eight season Episode 1: A Hearty Welcome, A Hearthy Farewell Episode 2: Fear Is for the Winter Episode 3: The End Episode 4: ...And What Comes After Episode 5: I See Fire Episode 6: Icy Ire Predictions Reviewed And A Retrospective

#game of thrones #renly is right

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wackygoofball · 5 years

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Hi! I just wanted to point out that when Brienne approached Jaime getting his horse ready, she didn’t ask where he was going, what are you doing, why are you leaving me. “You know they are going to burn the city” and then reassured him he is a good man, like they had been talking about it just recently, including his doubts about past deeds. This makes me much more positive that they are a team. He just changed his mind because he could walk away from a fight, 4 both!

Hi anon, good observation right there! :D

Brienne knew something was up, she already felt unsure about telling him about Daenerys et al. kind of fuckin’ things up. Jaime would have stayed in the North and wouldn’t have had to bother with Cersei again if the enterprise had succeeded, or so was likely his hope. Jaime notes that he doesn’t run away from a fight. Brienne believes that fight is to protect Cersei - I think that is the misdirection right there because she does not have all information. Jaime likely didn’t let know about Bronn the Assassin and how he pointed out that killing some “generals” would work for him, too. That means the fight is for Brienne’s safety and he is willing to put his life on the line to ensure that his sister is stopped. Olenna told him that she is a disease and I think Jaime realizes that he has to deal with that and can’t rely on others to do it for him.

The wrong conclusion he draws is that he believes he has to do it all on his own, a very Jaime thing to do. Because that’s how it’s been for him for such a long time. He had to make the decision of killing the Mad King all on his own, he had to kill him on all on his own, he had to bear the consequences of that all on his own. Whenever Cersei fucked things up, he had to control her worst impulses. Whenever Tyrion was up to some shit, Jaime had to bear the consequences. Jaime always had to act like the adult in the room, trying to control each and every one of his family members. He’s always played mediator, the problem is that none of them ever wanted to be mediated. Jaime has always been incredibly alone when it came to shouldering responsibility. He charged Drogon all by himself because he is a proponent of rather having it two guys take out in the field than seeing hundreds and thousands of people suffer for it (if he can bypass it by any means - already showcased again by him giving up Casterly Rock, only leaving minimal forces behind, which is the ultimate reversal of the Blackfish who was willing to let his people die for his stronghold staying in the family). Even before that, when he was captured by Robb back in the day, I think he was entirely genuine when he proposed that they should fight it out amongst each other instead of having others handle the fighting. Jaime’s always been the guy to handle things on his own.

And I think therein lies the ultimate reversal - because this time, someone will save him, too. Cersei would never come to his rescue, and Tyrion, despite his efforts, has failed him time and time again. Brienne, though? She is capable, she is able, and Gods may forbid, but that woman won’t her stupid future-husband off the hook that easily. As you say, they are a team, and that makes the crucial difference.

*cough* honorable man and a just woman *cough* *cough* *cough*

Also, the line of burning the city… never forget how much that is tied to Jaime without being tied to Cersei as a person. His finest act is on the line here, because both Daenerys and Cersei threaten to undo it through the actions they are willing to undertake (fighting fire with fire). Varys pointed out how there are people at their mercy now (and we yet have to see who will be capable of mercy, Cersei certainly is not and Daenerys… she’s been kind of on edge lately, shall I say? But that’s definitely not the topic I mean to discuss). I don’t expect Jaime to just sit by and let that happen once he realized that this would not go as smoothly as he would have hoped. He knows he has to face responsibility for the part he’s played in Cersei’s uprising the same way he still feels responsible for those innocent people trapped in King’s Landing the same way he feels responsible for the woman he learned to love: Ser Brienne of Tarth.

Jaime is a character driven by love and protection. You can’t beat that out of him, it’s been what drove him throughout the seasons, not being a hateful man. He’s made shitty decisions “for love” and I think the ultimate reversal lies in him finally doing the right thing “for love” because it will be for the love *to the right woman*. Maester Aemon once said that love is the death of duty. I think Jaime is primed to prove to us that love is only the death of duty if that love is ill-founded. Love and compassion can uphold duty. Loving the right person can make fulfilling your duty inherent to that love. Jaime loving Brienne does not defy duty to his House/the people of King’s Landing/the realm, it may well be the catalyst for him to finally fulfill those duties, to live up to responsibilites he’s left neglected by making himself small. He is not meant for a small life, a throwaway death. That guy is primed for more. Bran wants him to live for a reason, and it has yet to be revealed.

So yeah, we may be in for more heartbreak upcoming episode. Following the BATB trajectory, we are now at the stage where Belle goes back to her family and Beast “dies” only to be reborn. That means we may have the cliffhanger fakeout death of either Brienne or Jaime, but I still think they are far from done.

The quest of an honorable man and a just woman fulfilling duty by loving one another is not yet over.

Thanks for coming to my wacky TED talk yet again.

#got spoilers #jaime x brienne #jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #game of thrones #wacky rambles #anon #thanks anon

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nationallark · 5 years

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Blood From the Stone, an adaptation of Onision’s Stones to Abbigale, Chapter One [EDIT: now complete] 3k words

(AN: hi friends! I decided to go ahead and align chapter one of my rework with chapter one of STA, so here it is for you guys! from now on, I’ll be posting the full chapters on Tumblr and I’ll put links to my Wattpad and Ao3 in my About page!!)

I hope you enjoy :)

The moment I opened my eyes, I was blinded by my freshly wallpapered room. Several days into my latest drastic redecoration, even the cast iron bed frame was now painted white. Light peeking through a narrow opening in the curtains bounced off the walls, making me clamp my eyes shut. Clearly, changing my room back to wall-to-wall white was another in a long line of self-inflicted psychological tortures.

My family could tell that the black had depressed me. I found comfort in the darkness, but neither extreme was without fault. I didn’t mind waffling between light and dark bedrooms, as I had ample spray paint and plenty of time to kill, but for a moment the intense light show pouring through the bay window felt like it was burning clear through to my brain.

Mom, having switched to the overnight shift by mid June, didn’t wake me up like she used to. Then again, neither did my alarm clock. I rolled away from the window and squinted into its plastic face only to see a cheaply backlit 8:17 AM staring back at me.

Great, I was going to be late again.

Not taking the time to grab my usual handful of cereal, I scribbled an excuse note and pulled a sweater over my sleep shirt before hopping on my scooter and pointing it in the direction of the school. As soon as the cold wind began to sting my cheeks, I realized that I in my haste had forgotten a scarf. Oh well.

I narrowly missed crashing into a giggly Lauren and Raymond who, hand in hand, were heading away from the school and towards the old church, no doubt to smoke or make out or any number of activities Lakewood students tended to use the place for.

Mr. Hanson, my heavyset history teacher, gave me a withering look as I ducked into his room with only fifteen minutes left in first period.

“James, talk to me after class,” he said mildly from his perch in the back of the room. I dropped my note on his desk on my way over to one of the few empty seats, electing to try and absorb some of the day’s lesson from the ongoing group activity rather than sit outside and count ceiling tiles.

It didn’t take long, however, for my mind to wander from British colonialism to the fascinating small scale history being made around me. I watched as Calvin, one of the honor students who was gunning for valedictorian, explained the reasoning behind his answers while Jaime nodded along and Miranda half paid attention to him while also monitoring Mr. Hanson to know when it was safe to chew her gum. It was too early in the school year for anyone to be too stressed out over grades, so there was only a sense of resigned monotony among the students.

That is, until the bell rang.

Over the ensuing bustle, Mr. Hanson glanced up from his work and looked at me expectantly, but I could only smile and shrug as I allowed myself to be pushed into the hallway with everyone else. Sorry, Mr. Hanson; I had a more important class to get to.

My second period was all the way across campus, relegated to one of the ancient trailers that also held the ESL students, sign language class, and music appreciation. Sculpture I, being one of the easier options for making the required fine arts credit, was naturally full of slackers and people who, like me, weren’t talented enough in music or theater to take anything else.

My cross-campus trek was interrupted by dozens of students circled around what I could only assume to be a fight. Unfortunately, the fight just happened to be in the center of the hallway that was my only path to art class. I hunched my shoulders and slipped through the growing crowd, breaking into a jog as the minute bell rang. I normally wouldn’t bother with getting to class on time, but I made an exception for sculpture; sculpture was the class I had with Abbi.

Ever since I’d seen Abbi in second period on the first day of senior year, she was all I could think about. Every day she would sit at the left side of a shared desk, drop her bag on the left side of her chair, and, resting her elbows on the tabletop, pick at the fake wood grain desk cover with her pencil.

As I ascended the creaking steps into the trailer, there were more seats open than I expected, probably because their usual occupants were still observing the fight I’d managed to squeeze past. There Abbi was, however, in the same getup as usual: her dark, wavy hair bunching on top of the desk as she bent over it, her deep purple eyeshadow and tinted brows still visible through the fringe. She had on the army jacket I’d never seen her without, even during messier art projects that showed in the cuffs of its sleeves. Even in the harsh light of the trailer’s fluorescent bulbs, she looked fantastic.

I tried not to make it too obvious that I was rushing to sit next to her, so I forced myself to slow down and take a casual approach to the desk. Step. Wave to Mrs. Stanley. Step. Check out the newest student-made hangings above her seat. Three steps. Gently drop my bag onto the desk.

Finally, I pulled the metal desk chair out and plopped into it with a grin ready for Abbi to turn and look at me...which happened to be at the exact same moment my thighs registered how ungodly cold the A/C had made the chair. I hissed in shock and stood up to save myself from mild frostbite, pushing the chair away from me and tipping it backwards and onto the floor with a metallic crash. Having looked up from her handiwork in time to see everything go down, Abbi glanced mildly at the chair, then at me, and went back to work without even laughing at me. Freaking smooth, James.

I picked up the chair amid the laughter of the other sculpture students and the quiet concern of Mrs. Stanley and sat down once again, this time being careful to pull the stretchy fabric of my shorts down long enough to cover the metal seat. I aimed my smile back at Abbi, who, this time, didn’t look up.

I barely had time to be disappointed before the stragglers arrived clearly invigorated by the hallway fight, whooping and hollering before Mrs. Stanley told them to quiet down or she’d mark them as tardy. Once again I looked at Abbi, whose attention was held steadfast by the desk cover. Well, at least it wasn’t just me that couldn’t get her attention. At this, I felt a wave of relief.

The relief was cut short, however, when one of the stragglers named Jason joined us at the shared desk, taking the seat directly across from Abbi. His arrival and unceremonious dumping of his bag on the desktop earned him a brief look and a practiced readjustment of Abbi’s position so that he wouldn’t accidentally bump into her, and once again the relief flooded my system.

Now that everyone was in their seats, Mrs. Stanley, looking for all the world like a walking retirement party, officially began class by going over the previous day’s finished assignment, which itself was the culmination of our unit on color and texture. I myself had modeled my project after my then-black room with soft black silk and smooth painted wood and was given an A for my trouble.

The main topic of discussion, however, wasn’t our grades. It was the introductory project for the next unit: symbolism and storytelling. Mrs. Stanley began to hand out the rubrics for the project while she gave us the bad news: we were going to be working with partners.

No, no, no. Not okay, because with my luck, I’d be paired with bonehead Jason or asshole Alex who’d just gotten back from a stint in alternative school for exposing himself in the cafeteria last year. I struggled to pay attention as she continued to outline the project.

“To simplify things,” she said, still handing out papers, “you’re going to be paired with the person across from you.”

That rule meant I was paired with….oh, God. While I wasn’t looking, Alex had apparently drifted into class and sat in the one remaining seat, which just so happened to be next to Jason and across from me. This wasn’t happening.

I’d been there in the cafeteria last year when Alex exposed himself. I’d even seen it. I can’t say I was particularly impressed, but I guess I didn’t have very much data with which to compare. Regardless, I was uninterested in being stuck with this kid for God knows how long while trying to work with whatever drivel he’d come up with and pass of as ideas.

My musing was interrupted by a voice that said “Can I be paired with James?”

Hearing the rare appearance of Abbi’s somber voice made me smile despite myself, and I took a moment to apprecia--wait. That was my name that had come out of her mouth. She’d asked to be paired with me. I couldn’t blame her, really, as her other option was Jason, who was barely a notch above Alex in terms of competence.

Despite her annoyance at Abbi’s resistance of her rules, Mrs. Stanley appeared to take pity on the both of us and rearranged our partnerships to put Abbi and I together and sic Jason and Alex upon each other. Looking only a little hurt, Jason huffed and looked Alex up and down before shrugging and choosing not to make a stink about the arrangement.

As Mrs. Stanley continued, I tried to remind myself that Abbi was only working with me to avoid the more offensive option that was Jason. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a little giddy at the thought that Abbi would be talking directly to me and nobody else in second period for the next several days.

“For this project, you will each take something you own, and together, you will create something that brings new meaning to your possessions. In case you can’t tell, this is a project that’s going to render the items you bring useless for the future, so I wouldn’t suggest bringing a favorite shirt or expensive electronic. Today, you’ll work on deciding what you’ll bring and sketching out the final product.”

My mind was racing with ideas about what I could bring when I stopped to consider what Abbi might have to offer. What would she consider useful but okay to part with? Surely she had a spare makeup brush or two, with all the work she clearly put into doing her face day after day.

“What are you going to bring?”

I wished she’d say my name again. I’d always thought my name was so boring, but coming from Abbi, it was beautiful. Shit, gotta answer before I look like a weirdo.

“Uh, I don’t know…” Great.

“You could bring something to go in my hamster cage,” said Abbi.

“Did he die or something?” I winced, mentally berating myself. Great, just great. Bring up her dead hamster. That’ll make her have the hots for you.

“Never had one. Dad got the cage and forgot the hamster.”

“How do you forget a hamster? Was he high?” Abbi shrugged and looked away, and I took the opportunity to feel like a complete ass, first for bringing up her nonexistent dead hamster and then for asking about her maybe-stoned father. I wondered, briefly, how the species ever managed to repopulate if there were men like me walking around and completely turning women off.

Instead of shutting my mouth, I decided to try one more time to lift her spirits.

“Maybe I could, uh, bring that weird thing my mom keeps in her bedside table?”

Abbi snorted and, for a fleeting moment, gave me the most perfectly little crooked smile I’d ever seen on those plum-painted lips. And, by God, I was the one who put it there. I let slip an eye-crinklingly wide smile before composing myself into what I hoped was a sly grin. Abbi got ahold of herself too and opened her mouth, hopefully not to be too grossed out with me.

“Tell me you didn’t actually touch your mom’s--”

“Of course not!” I interrupted her. I didn’t know if I could stand to hear that combination of words aimed at me and not die from the resulting embarrassment. I laced my fingers together and stared down at my desk, willing my reddening cheeks to calm down.

Soon, the bell rang and dismissed us to third period, and I quickly stood up, grabbing my things and getting ready to run away from the social situation my big mouth had put me in. I was in such a hurry, in fact, that I almost missed Abbi calling my name from our desk.

I stopped short of the door and sidestepped the other students rushing back to the main school building. Having successfully grabbed my attention, Abbi reached into the scrap paper box and pulled out a white and gold speckled scrap of tissue paper.

“Here,” she said, scribbling something down on it. “gotta run; gym class.”

I felt for her; to get to the stadium for girls’ gym, she was going to have to cross the whole campus and wait for the crosswalk. But more importantly, she gave me a note! I scrambled to open it as I walked to class and discovered she’d written down a phone number. Her phone number? My eyes snapped upwards to the hallway, but Abbi was long gone.

For the rest of the school day, I was floating on air. Abbi had never once given me a second look, but now that we’d spoken some she wanted me to have her phone number! Did she want me to call her? I decided to play it safe and wait until I was home to do anything. I moved my phone case and gently pushed the note inside for safekeeping.

The final bell couldn’t have come soon enough. I picked up my scooter and ran to the bus in hopes of getting home as soon as possible, and Davis waved me over from a seat near the back. I joined him.

“Blow me off again this morning? I’m starting to get lonely,” Davis said with a theatrical sigh. I gave him my best eye roll in return while artfully cramming my scooter in one of the overhead storage areas. I sat down next to Davis and held my backpack in my lap.

“Alarm didn’t go off,” I said, gazing out the window at all the people milling around in the bus circle. Why wouldn’t they get out of the way? Didn’t they know I had something important to do?

“Whatcha’ looking at?” said Davis.

“Oh, nothing. Just wish these assholes would mo--”

And suddenly through the throng of students and teachers I saw Abbi perched on the hood of an old Sedan in the parking lot, looking bored out of her mind and utterly, utterly perfect. Without looking away I grabbed Davis’ sleeve and pulled him towards the window.

“See that girl? That’s Abbi.” I said.

Davis squinted at the parking lot. “The emo chick with the crappy car? That’s your dream girl?”

I smacked him on the shoulder and spoke, still unable to look away.

“She’s amazing. She’s artistic and good at carving, she always does her eyebrows perfectly, and she matches her makeup to the paint stains on her jacket cuffs.”

“Uh, okay. Why not wash the jacket?”

I was getting ready to reply when an unwelcome figure entered my field of vision. Seth, one of the assholes in my history class who liked to talk back to Mr. Hanson, walked up to Abbi and hugged her while she sat on the hood. And sure enough, those paint speckled cuffs wrapped around his waist and hugged right back.

I sat back in my seat and tried not to look as devastated I felt. Of course she had a boyfriend. How could a girl like that not have a boyfriend already? Besides, I didn’t have any right to be upset. Before today, I’d barely said ten words to her altogether. I opened my phone case and pulled out Abbi’s note. Why had she given me this, then?

When my stop came I rode my scooter the rest of the way home and dumped my backpack on the floor before flopping onto my bed. So, Abbi wasn’t trying to get me to ask her out. And she wasn’t asking me out, either. So...what gives? I sent her a text, trying my best to seem casual. Abbi? It’s James.

She replied a few minutes later, Cool. Was wondering when you’d text. So, what are you bringing? And don’t say your mom’s vibrator.

Oh, so that’s why she gave me her number. Of course. We hadn’t started on the sketch for our project, and we hadn’t even figured out what we were bringing. Scanning the room, I came up with the first thing I saw and texted her back. A stuffed animal?

This time, her response was almost instantaneous. What if I bring one of mine and we do like a zombie animal?

I couldn’t help sighing dreamily at her idea. I did tell Davis she was artistic, after all. Sounds cool! :)

Sweet.

As much as I wanted to keep talking to Abbi, I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I set my phone down and picked a stuffed animal I was willing to part with--a brown bear with a red ribbon--and put it in my backpack for tomorrow before hopping in the shower. I lowered myself to the floor of the tub and distantly felt the warm water hitting my chest.

#onision #anti o #stones to abbigale #blood from the stone #bfts #anti onion boy

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janiedean · 6 years

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Hi Lavinia! Can I ask for your opinion about Jaime and his relationship with his stump? I mean, everyone knows he hates it, but is there a possibility that Brienne can change his mind? I belive he hates it most of all because his sister hated it, but it can be changed even a little if he finds someone that does not care. Plus: do you think Brienne can "love" his stump and act tenderly towards it? Like kisses and caresses? I know it's weird but I'd love to care for it to make him feel better!

a) first: man it’s not weird I mean guys I’m gonna tag it so I’m not gonna get into the specific but let’s just say that there are reasons why frankenstein was one of my five formative books and let’s leave it there

b) second: well I put it in every damned fic I do where they have sex so the short reply is yes, but the long reply would be...

c) now, why is it yes and going into your specifics:

he hates it but more than cersei I think the issue is that to him it’s basically a perpetual reminder in his face that a) he lost his right hand (which was what made him the best swordsman around) which in turn means that b) he’s lost one of the things that (in his conception at least) defined him ie ‘if I don’t have that what am I worth’ (which he thinks more than once in that asos chapter when he wants to let himself die) and most of all:

"The lack of my hand is troubling me." The mornings were the hardest. In his dreams Jaime was a whole man, and each dawn he would lie half-awake and feel his fingers move. It was a nightmare, some part of him would whisper, refusing to believe even now, only a nightmare. But then he would open his eyes.

“The wench would have told him he had to eat before he slept, to keep his strength up, but he was more tired than hungry. He closed his eyes, and hoped to dream of Cersei. The fever dreams were all so vivid . . . Naked and alone he stood, surrounded by enemies, with stone walls all around him pressing close. The Rock, he knew. He could feel the immense weight of it above his head. He was home. He was home and whole. He held his right hand up and flexed his fingers to feel the strength in them. It felt as good as sex. As good as swordplay. Four fingers and a thumb. He had dreamed that he was maimed, but it wasn't so. Relief made him dizzy. My hand, my good hand. Nothing could hurt him so long as he was whole.”

now, counting that the whole spiel cersei (and him) have going is that they’re not whole without each other, the point is: he’s not feeling whole without the right hand because it’s what makes him good at sword fighting which in turn gives him worth. now, if you look at the whole procession of thoughts in the dream above, you have the following (which is necessary to get into your question): he feels alone and surrounded by enemies and he had dreamed he was maimed (which is what happened irl) which in turn equates his lack of a hand with inability to protect himself/the others around him/makes him feel vulnerable. BUT, he has the right hand in the dream, and right hand = swords = swordplay = sex, like the four things are all put on the same level (mind it: who is the last person he fought before losing it? right, brienne) and having it back puts him back in a supposedly favorable position because nothing can hurt him as long as he’s whole (ie: he has the hand and cersei) and he supposedly can do the job himself;

too bad that he doesn’t have it anymore;

so like to him the fact that he doesn’t have the hand is a reminder that, again, he can’t do his job, and if he can’t do his job he isn’t whole, and if he isn’t whole he can’t fight (which is basically half of what he loves, the other half being cersei + tyrion + what other relatives he has that he does but it’s not many) and he can’t have cersei either and he can be hurt;

now, I once ranted about the romantic connotations of jaime’s weirwood dream vs brienne’s dreams in affc and I’m linking to it so I don’t have to go again over that, but another thing that’s fundamental about the weirdwood dream is that after it tells us what he fears most ie a) being hurt, b) the people he loves leaving him behind, c) his guilt over his supposed responsibilities in elia’s death and her children’s (which technically is not on him but nvm, d) cersei leaving him behind and after all of that happens... ah, right, BRIENNE shows up, asks him for a sword to protect him after he frees her from her chains and she gets it and she does it until hers is the only bright light in the entire cave, and after that dream he goes back for her and saves her life in the bear pit doing one of the two 100% truly heroic deeds that have happened until now (the other being theon saving jeyne hahaha). which he does... without having the hand;

now, back to the beginning: cersei hates it because a) it’s not aesthetically pleasing, b) he sets jaime apart from her because NOT MIRRORS ANYMORE, c) it cuts down his *usefulness* by a lot since he can’t fight as well as before, d) she cares about the fact that if he’s her male counterpart then she can be with herself just male, she doesn’t care about him or his needs or anything else of the kind, which anyway ties with the fact that by losing the hand he also loses something that was intimately tied to his old life (in the bath he tells brienne he lost the hand he killed aerys with/pushed bran down the tower with/made love to cersei with), so.... by losing it he also has to narratively lose cersei and put himself on the track he wanted to be on when he was fifteen and believed in being arthur dayne if you catch my drift, and the thing is that he can do that without it as well - and we saw it when he saved brienne WITHOUT IT;

as far as brienne is concerned though, the entire thing with losing the hand is actually tied to her in a positive light. meaning: while cersei hasn’t wanted anything to do with it (the stump/his lack of hand) and has been disgusted openly/called him a useless cripple because of it when she’s supposed to love him no matter what, brienne has actually helped him live through that loss even when she was supposed to hate him. like, a lot of people brush over what brienne does for him just after he loses it (or think she could never love him because she did that, lmao as if) but guys let’s be real here, post-hand loss he was pretty much 100% helpless there and she spent the rest of the road trip a) giving him pep talks when he felt like giving up, b) materially cleaning him up, c) telling him that losing the hand didn’t mean his life was over, never mind that after that they have the harrenhaal bath where without going into the whole cleansing symbolism of having him unload why he killed aerys for the first time in his life to her while taking a bath during which they’re both naked and... when he about faints she catches him and she’s gentler than cersei (and later cersei is Really Not Gentle with him at any point ops) and again, she never gives two fucks about his lack of hand or not.

also I realized this meta is overall 3k+ and the next part is choke-full of quotes so I’m gonna cut, more under the cut. sorry I FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THIS SPECIFIC TOPIC.

moreover, never mind that after he saves her backside and she comes to see him when he gives her oathkeeper she’s all like ‘OH THE WHITE CLOAK BECOMES YOU’ (one day I’ll break apart that scene line by line is2g), what happens in her first affc chapter?

Brienne remembered her fight with Jaime Lannister in the woods. It had been all that she could do to keep his blade at bay. He was weak from his imprisonment, and chained at the wrists. No knight in the Seven Kingdoms could have stood against him at his full strength, with no chains to hamper him. Jaime had done many wicked things, but the man could fight! His maiming had been monstrously cruel. It was one thing to slay a lion, another to hack his paw off and leave him broken and bewildered.Suddenly the common room was too loud to endure a moment longer. She muttered her good-nights and took herself up to bed.

now, compare that to these gems from cersei’s affc chapters:

Her own twin interrupted her musings. "Would Your Grace honor her white knight with a dance?"She gave him a withering look. "And have you fumbling at me with that stump? No. I will let you fill my wine cup for me, though. If you think you can manage it without spilling.""A cripple like me? Not likely." He moved away and made another circuit of the hall. She had to fill her own cup.

"And our valiant Lord Commander?""Ser Jaime is at his armorer's being fitted for a hand. I know we were all tired of that ugly stump. And I daresay he would find these proceedings as tiresome as Tommen." Aurane Waters chuckled at that. Good, Cersei thought, the more they laugh, the less he is a threat. Let them laugh. "Do we have wine?"

Jaime hugged her, his good hand pressing against the small of her back. He smelled of ash, but the morning sun was in his hair, giving it a golden glow. She wanted to draw his face to hers for a kiss. Later, she told herself, later he will come to me, for comfort. "We are his heirs, Jaime," she whispered. "It will be up to us to finish his work. You must take Father's place as Hand. You see that now, surely. Tommen will need you . . ."He pushed away from her and raised his arm, forcing his stump into her face. "A Hand without a hand? A bad jape, sister. Don't ask me to rule."

there was more tho I picked the first three, but if you compare them, cersei basically either mocks him or thinks the stump is ugly and doesn’t want it forced into her face (reminding her he’s-not-her-exact-mirror anymore), brienne’s only horrified that they did it to him in the first place and she considers it cruel, but she doesn’t give two fucks about his hand being ugly nor considers him lesser. actually:

"I will find the girl and keep her safe," Brienne had promised Ser Jaime, back at King's Landing. "For her lady mother's sake. And for yours." Noble words, but words were easy. Deeds were hard.

When she was small, her nurse had filled her ears with tales of valor, regaling her with the noble exploits of Ser Galladon of Morne, Florian the Fool, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and other champions. Each man bore a famous sword, and surely Oathkeeper belonged in their company, even if she herself did not. "You'll be defending Ned Stark's daughter with Ned Stark's own steel," Jaime had promised.

I know. It was on that very road that Ser Cleos Frey had died, and she and Ser Jaime had been taken by the Bloody Mummers. Jaime tried to kill me, she remembered, though he was gaunt and weak, and his wrists were chained. It had been a close thing, even so, but that was before Zollo hacked his hand off. Zollo and Rorge and Shagwell would have raped her half a hundred times if Ser Jaime had not told them she was worth her weight in sapphires.

She had learned the truth of that once she went into the world. Even Jaime Lannister had come at her that way, in the woods by Maidenpool. If the gods were good, the Mad Mouse would make the same mistake. He may be a seasoned knight, she thought, but he is no Jaime Lannister. She slid her sword out of its scabbard.

(that EVEN is already telling because it puts jaime above other men she ran into EXCEPT that even he underestimated her)

Perhaps she had made a mistake in abandoning Ser Creighton and Ser Illifer. They had seemed like honest men. Would that Jaime had come with me, she thought . . . but he was a knight of the Kingsguard, his rightful place was with his king. Besides, it was Renly that she wanted. I swore I would protect him, and I failed. Then I swore I would avenge him, and I failed at that as well. I ran off with Lady Catelyn instead, and failed her too. The wind had shifted, and the rain was running down her face.

I could slink back to King's Landing, confess my failure to Ser Jaime, give him back his sword, and find a ship to carry me home to Tarth, as the Elder Brother urged. The thought was a bitter one, yet there was part of her that yearned for Evenfall and her father, and another part that wondered if Jaime would comfort her should she weep upon his shoulder. That was what men wanted, wasn't it? Soft helpless women that they needed to protect?

now, I could rant at you for ten minutes about how in all of those quotes a) she looks up to him, b) never thinks of him as crippled or ugly or useless, c) at most has pity for him because he lost that hand, BUT a thing not many people bring up is that...

He was better than Pyg, but he had only a short throwing spear, and she had a Valyrian steel blade. Oathkeeper was alive in her hands. She had never been so quick. The blade became a grey blur. He wounded her in the shoulder as she came at him, but she slashed off his ear and half his cheek, hacked the head off his spear, and put a foot of rippled steel into his belly through the links of the chain mail byrnie he was wearing. Timeon was still trying to fight as she pulled her blade from him, its fullers running red with blood. He clawed at his belt and came up with a dagger, so Brienne cut his hand off. That one was for Jaime. "Mother have mercy," the Dornishman gasped, the blood bubbling from his mouth and spurting from his wrist. "Finish it. Send me back to Dorne, you bloody bitch."She did.

brienne literally kills one of the people in the brave companions after cutting his hand off saying *it’s for jaime* and after then she kills another (shagwell) after making him dig the graves for the others, AND:

"I have no spade.”"You have two hands." One more than you left Jaime."Why bother? Leave them for the crows."

that’s what she says before she stabs him to death and getting really worked up about it:

She knocked aside his arm and punched the steel into his bowels. "Laugh," she snarled at him. He moaned instead. "Laugh," she repeated, grabbing his throat with one hand and stabbing at his belly with the other. "Laugh!" She kept saying it, over and over, until her hand was red up to the wrist and the stink of the fool's dying was like to choke her. But Shagwell never laughed. The sobs that Brienne heard were all her own. When she realized that, she threw down her knife and shuddered.

like, tldr: we all focus (rightly) on jaime punching ronnet connington for disrespecting her (WITH THE FAKE HAND) but I don’t think as much on the fact that brienne killed two of the brave companions while thinking specifically of how they hurt him/maimed him and thinking that she’s doing it *for him*.

as in: to avenge the fact that he lost the hand because they took it from him.

now, this entire rant with probably too many quotes was to say that brienne cannot give a single fuck about whether jaime has the hand or not beyond thinking it was unfair and unjust to take it from him and leave him without rather than just kill him and she actually avenged it on what brave companions she ran into (which she couldn’t do when they were captured) and she’s into him to the point where (as stated above) she dreams about him all the time INCLUDING him putting a cloak on her and would rather die than bring stoneheart his head, and........ after all of this we really would assume that if they did the deed she wouldn’t not only not ignore that he has a maimed wrist but that she wouldn’t make sweet love to it? especially when according to her he’s omgamazinglybeautiful and she thinks she’s the ugly one that no one’s ever going to want? like, she doesn’t even think about the stump when she thinks about wanting to weep on the guy’s shoulder/when she wants him to come with her/when she thinks he looked like half a god/when she wants him to put a cloak on her or come back for her. she’ll take him exactly the way he is, stump or not, and since she’s seen worse than that - like fuck’s sake she spent time tied to him with the rotting hand in between them - I’m 100% sure that she would totally not shy away from loving all of him including the maimed wrist;

(mind that if you go back to what I was saying in the beginning ie that loss of the hand = loss of sense of security = loss of feeling safe but brienne is associated with a) keeping him safe, b) keeping him alive at both basic and not-so-basic-level, c) the rebirth imagery, d) literally caring for him regardless of her personal feelings......... if they actually become lovers the whole thing plays out because he doesn’t need the hand if he has her who is also framed as the knight to his damsel 98% of the time including in his head/when he dreams about her appearing and keeping him safe with oathkeeper just after he *frees* her ie lets her be the knight she’s meant to be, like literally the one time it doesn’t happen is the bear pit and she’s stuck with him through pretty much everything and has seen the best and worst of him and still didn’t leave [and he doesn’t know but she’s willing to get hanged for him], I mean can we get more obvious here?)

now, can she change his mind? well, if they have idk two years of uninterrupted marital bliss in which they have all the good kind of sex in the world and in which she does it first thing in the morning most likely yes, I mean, the moment he realizes he’s not his sword hand and that he has worth beyond it and that he doesn’t need it to be the person he always wanted to be (and he’s trying for that matter) then he’ll care a lot less about it/won’t hate it as much and if she shows him that she can’t care less it certainly will help, if one of them (or both) dies two months after they get together that might cause a problem X°D but in the best possible outcome (the first one ofc which is a prelude to THEY GROW OLD TOGETHER ON TARTH OR WHEREVER) sure thing he would get over it. tbh I think he should get over it within the end of the saga because that would be basically capping his arc if he lived while having become the person he always wanted to be without giving two fucks about the lack of hand or not but anyway that’s mvho;

tldr: yes he would change his mind. indeed. X°D

#jaime x brienne #jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #janie writes meta #janie rants #anti-lannincest #anti-cersei lannister #disability cw #amputation cw #GOOD GOD I'M SORRY THIS IS LONG AF I HATE MYSELF BUT I HOPE IT'S EXHAUSTIVE Uu #Anonymous #ask post

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thelawyerthatwaspromised · 6 years

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Re-Thinking Tyrion (long post, again)

In my recent post (here) about Jon Snow incrementally taking control over Dany in Season 7, I had some passing thoughts about Tyrion and I have another post about Tyrion specifically from a few months ago (here).

Tyrion is probably the one character whose Season 7 arc confused the general audience the most. I don’t think his was the most complex character arc - I think that will emphatically go to Jon upon seeing events unfold in Season 8 - but I do think Tyrion’s arc works really well in conjunction with Jon’s and if we see Jon acting as I believe he did, then it makes Tyrion’s own story fall into place with a consistent narrative.

In a short statement: Tyrion misjudged Jon and fears that his status as Dany’s most trusted adviser is slipping away but he feels a profound discomfort with the direction Dany (as a person) is going and fears what she may become.

Tyrion started his service with Dany with a healthy amount of skepticism.

[continued under the cut]

This much closer to the Tyrion we expect. One who doubts almost everyone in power. The one who tells the story of the half-wit cousin crushing beetles and Tyrion’s sad realization that he’ll never understand exactly why some people hurt those who are weaker than they are; just that it is a fact of life and it’s one that he finds uncomfortable.

This reveals a “humanism” to Tyrion. One that accepts that, in practice, that “might is right” will often be how the world functions, but it’s not necessarily something he has no power to do something about.

He’s also come to really trust Varys. He may not always have a clear picture of the machinations that Varys wants to pursue, but he understands the why of Varys and really that’s probably enough for him.

I think the most important operative word for Tyrion’s character is “why”. He is always trying to figure out why certain characters do the things they do. Once he identifies that, he formulates his schemes and plots. (which are the same thing but anyway...)

But Tyrion’s own “why” is a bit jumbled - I think this is true in Tyrion’s own mind. He was in denial for quite some time that he enjoyed the game. And scheming. And outwitting people. He liked power. I do think a part of him wants to use his power as a big “F*** you!” to everyone who ever wronged him while also using it to keep half-wits from squashing metaphorical beetles.

As someone that’s always been shoved to the backseat - Tyrion naturally fears irrelevancy. Jaime has his sword..and Tyrion has his mind. Tyrion very much wants to be the person guiding Dany’s strategies, which is one of the reasons he felt so unhappy after he was removed as Hand. He didn’t feel important. He couldn’t strut around anymore and do or say whatever he wished.

Tyrion and Varys were also shown to have some very interesting foreshadowing in Season 2 that I referenced above:

So with that cursory understanding of Tyrion, I think I’m ready to examine his Season 7 arc with perhaps a bit more clarity than my first attempt.

The Setup

Tyrion eagerly vouches for Jon in Ep 2 when Mel arrives to ask that Dany summon Jon so she can learn of the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead.

He immediately states that he doesn’t really know the things happening beyond the Wall or whether they are true - but he does believe that Jon is a very good potential ally and one that would seemingly have no reason to to be trouble as Jon would assuredly want to kill Cersei even more than Dany does.

So right off the bat, Tyrion’s made two judgments about Jon: 1) he’s very very trustworthy; and 2) he would consider defeating Cersei by any means necessary a top priority.

We know Jon has lied before - but that he generally tries to be a good man. Honestly, Tyrion made his own bed by deceiving Jon in the first place but AT THE VERY LEAST, he vastly misjudged Jon’s primary goals. It’s not Cersei.

Jon’s priorties were clearly defined before he left Winterfell. Defend the North.

How can he be defending the North by going to Dragonstone?

Specifically to acquire Dany as an ally.

This is Jon’s stated purpose in leaving to go North

The White Lie and the Terrible First Impression

The way Tyrion actually gets Jon to go to Dragonstone is born out of deception. He intentionally fails to include Dany’s demand that Jon arrive to bend the knee. I think he envisions Jon having an “awww shucks” attitude when he gets there and ultimately not really having any trouble bending the knee to Dany.

And their first 5 seconds on Dragonstone go about as Tyrion had planned.

Except the curtain is quickly pulled back that Jon just walking into a different situation than Tyrion led him to believe.

So Jon already might feel a bit of apprehension about the mission as a whole - and Tyrion in particular.

Also worth noting that Tyrion started this by making a joke with Jon about being a bastard. Great, that was Jon’s most sensitive topic when last they met. So Tyrion feels at ease that Jon is basically the same person he knew before and he decides to break the ice with Jon about a topic they will be able to connect with.

I want to point this out specifically. Jon’s already had an uneasy moment on the beach when Missandei told him the Dothraki would be taking their weapons. Tyrion’s attempt at small talk to smooth any residual discomfort showed him that the topic of Sansa is completely off limits for Tyrion. Interesting.

Throne Room (Terrible First Impression Cont.)

Jon reveals he has no intentions on bending the knee and what happens between Dany and Cersei is nothing but petty squabbling to him. Tyrion is legitimately confused.

So Tyrion presses the issue. He tells Jon that if he just bends the knee to Dany, they can defeat Cersei and then deal with whatever is happening up North. Jon says there’s no time for any of this. It’s stupid, it’s pointless, he doesn’t care about Dany v. Cersei.

Tyrion pleads with Jon again. If there’s no time to argue, then just bend the knee, because it takes hardly any time at all, and they can hurry up and do what needs to be done.

To which Jon gives his most defiant response.

You uses “Your Grace” derisively. He makes Tyrion consider that maybe Jon has been shown absolutely no reason to flock to Dany. Revenge worked to pull in Olenna, Ellaria, and Yara. Conquest and glory worked for the Dothraki. Unquestioning loyalty worked for the Unsullied. None of these factors play to Jon. He doesn’t care about revenge with Cersei...certainly not more than facing the AotD. He doesn’t care about conquest or glory. He doesn’t have any reason to have blind faith in Dany. Tyrion’s main pitch (“help us defeat my sister”) is not at all why Jon is there. Tyrion didn’t understand Jon already.

The “How Can I Fix This?” Phase

Tyrion goes up to Jon on the cliffs to talk to him about what happened in the first meeting. He does feel bad at this point, I believe. He sees Jon as a do-gooder who just doesn’t realize how much good Dany can do.

Tyrion believes that all Jon needs is some indication that Dany isn’t like her father, and then Jon will understand she can be trustworthy enough to cede control to and then everything can get moving forward again.

Tyrion believes Jon only needs evidence that Dany is a good person - but he’s still operating under the assumption that the war with Cersei is more important and that Jon will come around.

He advises Jon to go ask around about who Daenerys Stormborn is and why people follow her. Meanwhile he tells Jon he will ask Dany to grant him the privileged honor of mining the Khaleesi’s precious dragonglass on the island. My assumption here is that he intended for this to simply show Jon that Dany is good and worthy. Instead, he made Jon realize that he needs to observe how others deal with Dany in order to figure out how to move her in his direction.

Meanwhil, Tyrion is operating under a false belief that talking to people about how amazing Dany is combined with Jon getting the dragonglass will be enough to get him to budge.

Buuuuuut as we know - Jon’s goal is to convince Dany to come North and fight with the North. Tyrion has unwittingly opened the door for Jon to make a good impression on Dany and helping Jon realize the best strategy to achieve his ultimate goal.

Dragonstone Beach - Tyrion Realizing Jon’s Ascension

Dany absolutely goes off on Tyrion when she accuses him of working against her to keep the Lannisters safe.

And Tyrion is clearly upset that she is berating him like this in front of everyone and personally challenging him. She lashes out at the idea that Tyrion wouldn’t want to hurt his family.

Which Jon notices - and this look says to me “is this normal for her???”

Jon gives good counsel. He essentially confirms what Tyrion would have wanted. “If you use them to melt castles and burn cities, you’re not different. You’re just more of the same.”

But it’s a public demonstration of Jon’s growing prominence and Dany’s shift from listening to Tyrion to listening to Jon. The fact this happens in front of everyone is meant for us to see the reactions of Dany’s circle.

Tyrion Seeing His Failures

Tyrion laments the Tarly execution. He and Varys are extremely troubled by what’s happened. Except Tyrion has no more answers. He doesn’t know how to get through to Dany. Think about it...Dany just publicly asked for Jon’s opinion (another ruling figure who is not an ally of hers and who has known her all of 12 seconds) over Tyrion’s, the person she chose to personally serve as her closest adviser.

If Tyrion had a good belief in Jon at this point, wouldn’t it have made sense for him to tell Varys that she’s taken quite a liking to the King in the North. Perhaps proposing a marriage alliance. Or just “hey, let’s get Jon in here and we can gameplan this stuff.” Nothing. We get Tyrion at a loss about the situation. He’s becoming irrelevant.

Also really really interesting was when Varys reveals he has a sealed scroll meant for Jon. And instead of referring to Jon by name, Tyrion passively calls him “the King in the North”. Doesn’t necessarily mean much - but I get the feeling that Tyrion does not feel a close connection with Jon at this point.

The Wight Hunt Plan

Is it not a little strange that Tyrion thought up what might be the worst plan in the show’s history? Ok the writing is probably to blame for a lot of this. But Tyrion sees Jon as a Mr. Hero who is brave and dumb but increasingly exerting influence over Dany. Why not imagine a mission that’s extremely dangerous and also puts some space between Jon and Dany?

Everyone in the room sees how super sad Dany is thinking about Jon leaving.

Tyrion communicates non-verbally to Dany that she should let Jon go. Why would he do this? Because the mission needs Jon? Or because he would be alright with the idea of Jon going? Tyrion’s advice has ALWAYS been for leaders to avoid putting themselves in dangerous positions because it’s generally stupid and often leads to their deaths. Yet he’s more than alright with Jon’s departure and in fact hatched the plan that achieved his departure.

It’s a potential win-win-win for Tyrion. He gets Jon separated so Tyrion can re-assert his prominence. If they succeed, they might be able to get that ceasefire that Dany’s been begging for. Bonus is that...I’m sorry...Jon might actually die and that wouldn’t be horrible for Tyrion.

Then Tyrion is mostly silent during the actual goodbye. He very noticeably observes Dany and her making her feelings to Jon very obvious.

He also...in my opinion...took notice of Jon’s non-romantic response.

What interests me even more is that when Jorah leaves for the Wight Hunt, Tyrion tosses him the coin Jorah used to sell himself into slavery in order to win back Dany’s affections in Season 5. Like...this is kind of heavy stuff. That coin was Jorah’s ticket to getting back into Dany’s life. Tyrion follows that up saying “our queen needs you now more than ever” but essentially he says this in secret to Jorah. I’m convinced he thinks Jorah is his best hope for keeping Jon from digging so deeply into Dany’s conscious thoughts that Jon would be the only one calling the shots.

Has anyone found it strange yet that Tyrion didn’t bother saying goodbye to Jon here? I think it’s strange unless it’s a visual clue that Tyrion does not trust Jon now. He underestimated him from the beginning and now Tyrion is seeing the waning of his own influence over Dany.

The Fireside Chat

Unprompted, Dany laments the fact that all of the men she’s ever been involved with behave as stupid heroes and they die.

Tyrion knows where this could be going...and he uses the opportunity to say that Jon Snow is in love with Dany.

Does Tyrion really think this? Maybe. But I’ve already shown his reaction to the goodbye scene. He told Jorah specifically about Dany needing him “more than ever”. We’ve seen Tyrion’s influence waning. He’s also engineered the plan that put Jon in harm’s way and separated him from Dany...but he’s finding that Jon is still not far from Dany’s thoughts.

So...in my opinion...Tyrion tries to undermine Jon by claiming that he is acting a Fool in Love in a way that others have tried to cast doubts with Dany regarding the true intentions of other rivals.

We’ve seen this before. Xaro, in proposing marriage to Dany, also attempted to undermine Jorah by “revealing” to Dany that Jorah is in love with her.

If you’ll remember...Jorah’s reputation was hurt in Dany’s eyes and she became much more skeptical of Jorah.

Ygritte is another character who has allowed the knowledge of another character’s love cloud what that character was saying. It’s damaging to their credibility.

The fact Orell was very much in love with Ygritte caused Ygritte to disregard Orell’s extremely on-point assessment that Jon wasn’t really working in her favor.

I strongly believe this is the sort of angle Tyrion was playing with. She needs to think Jon is motivated by love and desire because he thinks it will undermine Jon’s credibility and make Dany realize that she needs to act more clear-headed.

Except it has the opposite effect. Dany steadfastly refuses to stand down against Tyrion’s advice when Jon asks for her aid North of the Wall. She’s only become more aware of her feelings and found herself consciously choosing to do the stupid, brave thing that she just lamented her other fellas for doing.

The kicker: Tyrion’s desperate plea for Dany NOT to go try to save Jon and company. He both sent them on this mission and told Dany not to save them. In Tyrion’s eyes, Jon is disposable, Jorah is disposable, but Dany is not. Especially when it comes to his goals of unseating Cersei and remaining relevant. He believes that Dany is his only shot at significance.

Tyrion’s Angry Realization

The Dragonpit was not a good moment for Tyrion. Tyrion has seen his influence waning - but he clearly is still motivated by the same objective: he wants Dany on the Throne. He wants to unseat Cersei. He wants to be Dany’s Hand.

And then...

This idiot Northerner he thought he knew swoops in and completely derails Tyrion’s dreams. Then the idiot survives the Wight Hunt - while Dany also loses a dragon in saving him (which demonstrates that he already has too much influence). Then this idiot demonstrates to Tyrion that he’s putting their whole campaign in jeopardy because Tyrion had a ceasefire set up on a platter for Dany and Jon and co. and Jon torpedoed that by not even knowing how to lie.

He didn’t even tell his own advisers!

If this stupid idiot wouldn’t have displaced him as Dany’s main source of guidance, he would have told this stupid dumb idiot how to navigate this situation and how they could have avoided this big blow up with Cersei and gotten the ceasefire.

And then Tyrion Gets Really Really Unlucky...

Because he falls for a scheme that we, as the audience, already know is a deliberate betrayal.

But not before expressing to his sister that he has no handle on Dany and that he had absolutely no idea that Jon was going to pull what he pulled at the Dragonpit.

This is absolutely a professional embarrassment for Tyrion. To be so out of touch with the person that he’s trying to assure Cersei he can keep from nuking the capital?

As villainous as Cersei is; Tyrion has just demonstrated himself to be a failure as Dany’s Hand. And Dany has dragons. Realistically, how is Cersei supposed to have faith in Tyrion’s word that he can keep her from destroying King’s Landing after Tyrion tells her that she’s already threatened it? Cersei now knows Tyrion had no idea that Jon had bent the knee and basically admitted that he would have told Jon to lie about it in front of her.

So Tyrion secures a false ceasefire with Cersei. One that we already know is going to blow up in a huge conflict. We also know Tyrion is on the outs with Dany. And we know that he blames Jon for a lot of it.

“We Sail Together”

Tyrion is completely silent during the “sail together” scene. You know who does speak? Jorah. The guy who was told by Tyrion that Dany would need more than ever. I think it’s entirely possible that Tyrion and Jorah have had Jon Snow conversations off screen. About his growing influence and how it puts everything Dany has worked for at risk. She’s already lost a dragon because of him.

So Jorah is the one to speak up at the strategy meeting. And Dany publicly sides with Jon. Jorah gives his wonderfully skeptical look towards Jon which we’re led to believe is romantic jealousy but the likelihood is that Jorah sees Jon the same way Tyrion does - a man who wields a ton of power over Dany.

The Boat Look

And this is the crescendo of the season for Tyrion. Resigned to the fact that he’s utterly failed in stopping Mr. Honorable-Stupid-Northern-Fool Jon from completely usurping his position and causing Dany to completely change course from his personal quest to punish and unseat Cersei and what Tyrion believes is his last chance at relevance in Westerosi high society. Tyrion’s hail mary of calling on Jorah even failed.

Dany is at Jon’s mercy. And there’s nothing Tyrion can do about it at this point.

Is there hope for Tyrion?

Honestly, I’m not sure at this point. I think there’s a very good chance that Tyrion and Jorah will warn Dany repeatedly not to think that everything is at it appears with Jon. The bonus is that no one will see R+L=J coming. One of Tyrion’s worst fears is seeing Dany become her father (just as his #1 personal worst fear is becoming like Tywin).

There’s two ways Tyrion can go: I think he’s destined either to realize that Jon was playing a really savvy political game and that, begrudgingly, Jon demonstrated the wits and wisdom necessary to win the game while keeping a good heart and a main concern for protecting the people. Alternatively, Tyrion could become so angry and enraged that he acts out against Jon and tries to “expose” him as a liar and will ultimate suffer a bad fate because of it. I tend to favor the first option. I think Tyrion’s arc will coincide quite a bit with Varys’ arc and I don’t think Varys is going to take an action that isn’t good for the people.

I think Varys will see that Jon is much more skilled at the Game than anyone ever anticipated and he has the right family name. I envision Varys and Tyrion attempting to broker some type of uneasy peace between the Starks and Lannisters upon a realization that Jon has the legitimacy, the good heart, and, as it turns out, a lot more skill in politics than they really knew.

Varys seems destined for death by fire (after the threat from Dany in Ep 1 last season and the very first gif I included in this post from season 2) while I believe Tyrion’s survival is far more in question. Either way, I see a supremely interesting conclusion for Tyrion either way and of all the predictions about Tyrion for the finale season, I find this one sensible, logical, and satisfying to his character.

#tyrion lannister #political jon #political jon theory #political jon meta #jonsa #jon x sansa #anti targaryen #anti targaryen restoration #anti daenerys #anti j0nerys

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entireoranges-creativity · 5 years

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Carriers Of Light

Title: Carriers Of Light Fandom: Game Of Thrones Ship: Braime Note: Jaime never left the North; or if he did he returned (really it's not important lol) Disclaimer: I don't own, don't sue

“What about you?” Queen Sansa asks with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Pardon me your Grace?” Brienne has a suspicion of what was being brought into question; this topic had occurred several times the last few months; though never directly from Sansa.

“A child. When will you and Ser Jaime be bringing a new life into our world?” The fact she was able to say Jaime without biting back a snarl or anything far worse impressed Brienne.

“Oh I’m not sure...” In truth Brienne was.

“Despite my personal misgivings about him and yes I realize some are undeserved and perhaps with time I shall learn to forgive him fully; but regardless of all that I can tell you care about him deeply. He to you as well.”

“Thank you.” She looks down embarrassed filling her skin redding her cheeks.

“After all those lost on all sides it’s a beautiful thing all these babies and pregnancies.’ Sansa pauses and rubs her swelling belly. ‘You should really consider it.”

“Yes. Perhaps.”

That evening Brienne sat across from Jaime in their shared quarters. He reading and lost within the words. Without meaning to she sighs. He snaps up eyebrows raised.

“Everything ok?”

“It’s fine. Sorry to disturb you.”

“You do realize your a horrible liar my love. Now speak.”

“I think it is time we dissolve this relationship.”

“What in the Seven Hells are you talking about?!” Brienne is battling tears as Jaime stares at her his face emoting both anger and confusion.

“You deserve better.”

“I deserve better?!’ He repeats snapping the words. Brienne nods not trusting herself to say more. ‘Woman I don’t deserve better because I already have the best woman in all the kingdoms and beyond. And it’s not about what I deserve or don’t deserve because we both know I’m truly not worthy of the love you give me; yet you do and I’m humbled every moment. If anything it you who does not deserve my love.” Jaime leans forward taking a strong hold of her hand squeezing.

“I can’t give you what you want.” Her words are soft, barely audible.

“I want you. And I have you.”

“Jaime you should have children, heirs and carriers of your name. You should be able to love and nurture a child in ways I know the Gods intended for you.’ Brienne stops talking to surrender to the tears and sobs racking her, Jaime’s hand never moving. ‘And I, I, I won’t give that do you.”

“Brienne please calm down. I hate to see you like this.”

“I wish I could be the one to give you a hundred children.”

“I certainly do not wish for a hundred children!” He attempts to laugh hoping for her to follow suit; her cries only became deeper.

“You deserve....a strong, courageous, and...a beautiful child.” Jaime removes his hand and leans back to his chair in the proper position and stares at her.

“Is that what this foolishness is about?”

“Foolishness? What is foolishness is me not realizing this sooner!” Jaime’s befuddlement raises as her crying stops and is replaced with rage.

“Oh Sevens help me.” He mumbles.

“I mean it’s pretty obvious you do not desire to have children with me. And I’m not a fool! You believe any child we sire will be a hideous monster and sully your legacy!” She leaps to her feet towering over him. Jaime knows perfectly well the him of the past, the him before she entered his heart and soul would have agreed and made a knife like wound with an insult of her appearance. Him now? Would not ever consider that. It wounded him to think she believed he was still capable of such thoughts.

“Our children will be strong and courageous. But also beautiful and that beauty will come from you!” He is on his feet too, he goes for her hips, she jerks away.

“You don’t need to be condescending!”

“I’m not!”

“Why does this even matter?” He immediately regrets his words.

“You have no idea. No idea! What it feels like! You and are fucking perfect hair, stunning eyes, chiseled chin...people just look at you and they threw stuff at you! Me? Well long as I can remember I have been teased verbally and physically for my appearance. I act as if it never bothered me but Hells Jaime it did and it does. I don’t think I can reasonably subject a child to that. Even with your looks mixed in. It won’t be enough to undo this ugliness.” She begins to cry again, Jaime this time successfully is able to make contact and pulls her into him.

“I wish I knew what to say. Besides I’m sorry for being apart of those jabs. But you are stronger then this. I know that you know that Brienne.” She shrugs.

“It’s not just my appearance.’ She takes a breath before pulling back from his embrace. ‘You don’t have to lie or keep stringing me along. We should dissolve this.” That damn word again!

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have children with you because I’ll lose my fucking mind with the stubbornness they’ll surely gain from you! For the final time what are you talking about?! When have I ever given any indication I was unhappy with you? With us?!”

“You think I’m stupid. Don’t say a word! You think I don’t overhear conversations and talk. This place isn’t as large as you tend to believe it is nor are you as soft spoken as I’m imagine you think you are. I have heard you speaking about the mere idea of having children a few days back. With Stefan I do believe it was? When asked by him if you were having any I saw you make a face and shrugged. And then when he made a quip of yeah looking at your woman I don’t blame you. What did you do? You laughed.” Jaime clenches his eyes tight, pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a few calming breaths.

“You didn’t hear all the conversation.”

“I heard and saw enough Jaime.”

“So you saw me slap him and swore to him if he ever even thought anything like that again let alone said it I would skewer him upon my sword?”

“No.” Comes softly.

“Exactly. And I wasn’t making a face because I did not want children; I was making one because I’m tired of discussing the matter with strangers! Ever since the decree was lifted and this allowance of all children I have been questioned relentlessly over it! I should have been discussing it with you it would appear.”

"Fine. Tell me now, how do you feel about it?"

"I do want children. I'd be lying if I didn't relieve to you I'm scared though."

"The same as my fears?"

"What? Gods no! Brienne you need to let that go!' She mutters, he know it's best not to call her out over it. 'I have experienced the pain of losing children, all three of mine. And though I was not their father in the traditional sense I did love them. The death of a child no matter the circumstance is the worse anguish you could ever imagine. My name or things done in my name has made many enemies for generations long. I'm scared I won't be able to protect any child we have from a father or mother seeking revenge for those sins. My heart is almost scarred from that pain; but you my dear? I could not bear to see you endure anything like it." Before he knows it Brienne has her arms draped around his neck, kisses his forehead.

"Please forgive me, I never considered that. And it's honorable you wish to protect me. But what you speak of is out of our control. Of course we all take all precautions to keep them safe, at the end of the day we just need faith in the Seven.' Jaime wiggles from her hold, places his lone hand on his hip. Smirking. 'What?"

"I thought you didn't want children with me. I thought you wanted to end our relationship to allow me from the freedom to fuck some North whore..."

"Jaime!"

"Of course you worded it far nicer. The sentiment was still there though. And now you're willing and ready?" Brienne exhales deeply.

"I'm scared too Jaime. Of those fears I mentioned; you really can not stand there and say or think I'm overreacting when you did not yourself experience the taunts. And yes I agree this world even with the peace this year is a tentative and dangerous place. There is still beauty and light. I want to help create more light." It is now Brienne surprised by Jaime kissing her hard, desperate, but as always gently.

"So I can't hook up with a Nor..."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

"Sorry my love. But I no longer wish to date you." Brienne jerks back, eyes wide.

"But I thoug...' She seizes talking and breathing all together as Jaime lowers himself to one knee and stares up at her; with a look that melts her every time.

"I don't have a ring on me, I promise one day soon I'll get you all the jewels and gold I can lay my hands on..."

"I don't care about that."

"I know. Now shush I'm trying to propose here!"

"Of course, go right ahead,"

'Well you sort of ruined the moment!' He stands back up laughing softly, she echos it back.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Gods yes Jaime! Yes, I will marry you."

"Oh! Really?!' Her laugh now he is sure all the Kingdoms could hear. 'I mean don't get me wrong but you were the one started this conversation by telling me you wanted to break up. You can understand my confusion."

"Your lucky I love you."

"And why is that?"

"Because if I didn't you'd surely be dead right now."

"Oh I'm positive you would have killed me a thousand times before now. And this why I know our child or children will be the fiercest creatures ever. If they are even a fraction like either of us that's a force no one will dare tussle with!"

"I can only hope. Um do you think we should...um?" Brienne finds herself growing embarrassed.

"Do I think we should try to make a baby? Hells yeah!'

"It may not happen right away. Or at all."

"It will. Because the Gods will know that we are worthy to be the carriers of more light." Brienne's lips fall onto his one more and gently guides her to their bed.

+++The End+++

#tv show: game of thrones #character: sansa stark #ship: braime

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patriotsnet · 3 years

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Why Did Republicans Vote Against The First Responders Bill

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/why-did-republicans-vote-against-the-first-responders-bill/

Why Did Republicans Vote Against The First Responders Bill

Biden Pushed For Bipartisanship What Happened

Why Did the Republican Congress Argue AGAINST the COVID Stimulus Bill?

Biden ran on wanting bipartisanship efforts on Capitol Hill, and being a;negotiator during his 36 years in the Senate.;

More:Amid calls for unity, President Biden and Republicans don’t agree what that looks like

Bipartisan efforts were made in the beginning of negotiations, with a;group of 10 Republicans meeting with Biden at the White House in early February to propose a counteroffer: a;$618 billion package.

But, those talks and communication have;since fizzled, according to Romney, who was;one of the senators who met with Biden. He told reporters;there has been very little effort on the part of the White House to find common ground with Republicans.

More:How much money will your state get if Biden’s COVID-19 relief bill passes?

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., who was also in the group of 10 Republicans, said;talks between the White House and her colleagues stalled.”

Biden said he hoped;”Republicans in Congress listen to their constituents,”;citing the popularity of the bill in some polls.;

Romney told reporters Thursday if some Republican amendments;got into the bill, some of his colleagues may support it.;

“But my guess is it’s not likely that many of our amendments will get any Democrat support so I think it’s very unlikely that any Republicans will support the final bill,” he said.

McConnell and other Republicans have also criticized Democrats for using;a special process called reconciliation to push forward;the legislation;without much input from the GOP.;

Gop Claims Afghan Refugees Are Arriving Unvetted That’s Not True

Thirty-five House Republican broke ranks Wednesday evening to support legislation that would establish an independent commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

Liz Cheney of Wyoming

Tom Rice of South Carolina

Dan Newhouse of Washington

Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington

Peter Meijer of Michigan

John Katko of New York

David Valadao of California

Tom Reed of New York

Don Bacon of Nebraska

Andrew Garbarino of New York

Tony Gonzales of Texas

Dusty Johnson of South Dakota

David Joyce of Ohio

Chris Smith of New Jersey

Van Taylor of Texas

Chris Jacobs of New York

David McKinley of West Virginia

Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska

Why 21 House Republicans Balked At Medals For Capitol Police

There was a brief political consensus in the immediate aftermath of the insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The left, right, and center could all agree on a simple truth: participating in a riotous assault against the nation’s seat of government, in the hopes of derailing our electoral system, is a serious attack against our democracy.

As we’ve discussed, however, that consensus broke down soon after. As winter turned to spring, many House Republicans decided to rewrite recent history, recasting the villains as heroes, and the police as heavy-handed abusers who interfered with “peaceful patriots” engaged in a lawful protest. There was fresh evidence of this yesterday: TPM reported, “During a House Oversight committee hearing Tuesday, several Republicans spent their speaking time expressing concern for a specific group of people involved in the January 6 attack: the insurrectionists themselves.”

Soon after the hearing, the House took up a measure to honor the law-enforcement officials who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6. The resolution passed, but not unanimously.

To be sure, a 406-to-21 vote is lopsided, but under normal circumstances, we’d expect zero members of Congress to vote against a measure honoring Capitol Police who kept them safe during an attack on their own institution. Yesterday, however, 21 lawmakers — each of them conservative Republicans — voted “no,” despite knowing that the resolution would pass anyway.

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House Republicans Voted Against Giving Medals To Officers Who Responded To Jan 6 Riot

The House passed a bill Tuesday to award the Congressional Gold Medal to all law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, with 21 Republicans opposing the bill.

Why it matters via the Washington Post:“he vote underscored the still-lingering tensions in Congress amid efforts by some GOP lawmakers to whitewash the events of that day.”

Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets.

The measure passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 406-21.

Details: The four medals awarded under the bill one of the highest civilian honors would be displayed in the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police headquarters, Smithsonian Institution and the Capitol building.

The bill names the three law enforcement officers who died following the attack, and singles out U.S. Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, who lured a mob away from members of Congress.

The resolution recognizes their actions as an example of “the patriotism and the commitment of Capitol Police officers, and those of other law enforcement agencies, to risk their lives in service of our country.”

The Republicans who voted against:

Rep. Thomas Massie

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Rep. Andy Harris

The Long Fight To Funding

Congress passed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in 2010, over opposition from some Republicans who balked at its original $7 billion price tag. The act was reauthorized in 2015 for 90 years. But a portion of the law the Victim Compensation Fund was only funded for five years, through the end of 2020.; The fund aimed to provide necessary financial support for the thousands who suffered serious medical issues, including a spate of cancer diagnoses, after the 2001 attacks.;

The House voted 402 to 12 to permanently reauthorize the fund through 2092 earlier in July, with the Congressional Budget Office estimating $10.2 billion in costs over the next ten years. However, Sen. Rand Paul prevented the Senate from voting to approve the bill by unanimous consent last week because of its high cost. Fellow Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah also placed a procedural hold on the legislation, further preventing it from passing in the Senate.;

Under Senate rules, any one senator can propose that a bill be considered for unanimous consent, but one senator can also block it. The bill was then brought to the floor for debate and a full vote this week.

Comedian and 9/11 first responder advocate Jon Stewart blasted Paul;over the issue, telling Fox News the move was “absolutely outrageous.”;

In a last-minute pitch before Tuesday’s vote, Paul offered an amendment he said would help offset the bill’s spending costs.;

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/11 Responders Bill Defeated By Senate Gop Filibuster

the CNN Wire StaffSTORY HIGHLIGHTS

Motion for cloture falls three votes short of ending GOP filibuster

Republicans oppose the $7.4 billion cost; supporters hope to revive the measure

Bill would provide medical benefits, compensation for 9/11 first responders

NYC Mayor Bloomberg calls it an “example of partisan politics trumping patriotism”

Washington — Senate Democrats failed Thursday to win a procedural vote to open debate on a bill that would provide medical benefits and compensation for emergency workers who were first on the scene of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The motion for cloture, or to begin debate, needed 60 votes to pass due to a Republican filibuster, but fell short at 57-42 in favor.

While supporters said they would try to bring the bill up again, either on its own or as part of other legislation to be considered, the vote Thursday jeopardized the measure’s chances for approval in the final weeks of the current congressional session.

The House previously passed the bill on a mostly partisan 268-160 vote.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacted to Thursday’s result by calling it “a tragic example of partisan politics trumping patriotism.”

RELATED TOPICS

Michael Bloomberg

“I urge Senate Republicans to reconsider their wrong-headed political strategy and allow the bill to come to the floor for a vote,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

Zadroga Act Opponents Including Paul Ryan Observe September 11 Anniversary

WASHINGTON — The nation’s leading Republicans marked the 11th anniversary of 9/11 with the words “never forget” on their lips — most of those using the occasion to promote legislation — but nearly all of them opposed the bill passed two years ago to help the first responders who suffered health problems in the wake of the attacks.

Prominent among them was vice presidential nominee, Rep. Paul Ryan , who voted twice against the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, and opposed the final passage of the bill.

“Eleven years ago today, from Capitol Hill, I could see the smoke rising from the fires burning in the Pentagon. Like all Americans, I will never forget the moment that our homeland came under attack,” Ryan said in a statement. “For me, this is a day to remember those who perished on that day of terror, including the first responders.”

A spokesman for Ryan, Brendan Buck, insisted that Ryan supports 9/11 responders and pointed to the congressman’s votes soon after the attacks in favor of aid for those suffering. He explained Ryan’s Dec. 2010 comments on the House floor in opposition to the Zadroga bill by noting that Ryan said he didn’t like the bill because he thought it was flawed, was “rushed” onto the floor by Democrats, and created a new mandatory spending program.

“Gov. Romney supports government assistance to the victims of terrorism,” Saul said.

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Texas Elections Bill Was Near Party

Friday’s vote;saw only one representative;cross;party lines; Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, who voted against SB 1.;

All 40 Democrats who were present Friday voted against the bill, with several saying efforts should focus on improving;voter access with such initiatives as online or election day voter registration.

Instead, Republicans squandered an opportunity by focusing on restrictions that will have a disproportionate impact on voters of color, said Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie,;one of nine Democrats to speak against SB 1 to close Friday’s debate.

The bill, Turner said, was inspired by the “big lie” that President Donald Trump was denied a second term because of widespread election fraud, a conspiracy theory unleashing a toxic and dangerous threat to democracy.

“He and other Republicans whipped their base into a frenzy with crazy conspiracies about election fraud,” Turner said.

“This bill was never about election security or voter integrity.;It was always about using the big lie to justify restricting access to the ballot box,” he said.

More:From polls to ballots, here’s what a new Texas voting bill would mean for you

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, a Black woman who recalled having to pay a poll tax to vote when she was young, said SB 1 was a continuation of an attack on the right to vote for nonwhite citizens.

“We have 90 days to act,” he said. “The clock is ticking.”

Utah Sen Mike Lee Votes Against 9/11 First Responders Bill After Losing Bid To Limit Spending

Why Ted Cruz Voted Against 9/11 Relief Funds | MSNBC

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Washington The Senate passed a measure Tuesday extending for decades the fund for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks after defeating an amendment by Sen. Mike Lee that would have limited the payout to about $20 billion over the life of the program.

The bill, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate 97-2 and was previously approved by the House, now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

Lee, a Utah Republican, had held up the bill while attempting to curtail the expansion to only what is needed in the next decade. His amendment, shot down by a 32-66 vote, would have given $10.18 billion to the fund in the next 10 years and another $10 billion after that.

After his amendment failed, Lee voted against the final bill. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, supported the overall measure.

Lee walked off the floor shortly after it was clear his amendment didnt have the 60 votes it needed to pass.

His office declined to comment on the vote and pointed to a statement from last week when the senator said that the victims fund has had an excellent record avoiding waste and abuse and has always been funded for a time-certain extension.

These two things are not coincidental, he said in that statement. They go together.

The Senate also rejected an amendment by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have cut other programs to pay for extending the 9/11 fund. Paul cast the only other no vote.

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Republicans Vote Against Awarding Medals To Police Who Defended Capitol

The House passed legislation on Tuesday to award Congressional Gold Medals; one of the highest civilian honors; to police officers who defended the Capitol during the violent Jan. 6 insurrection.

Lawmakers handily passed the legislation. Members of both parties supported it, 406-21, with all of the votes in opposition coming from conservative Republicans.

The four medals awarded under the bill would be displayed at the Capitol Police headquarters, at the D.C. Metropolitan Police headquarters, at the Smithsonian Institution and in a “prominent location” in the Capitol.

The medal displayed in the Capitol would be accompanied with a plaque listing all of the law enforcement agencies that helped protect the building on Jan. 6 from the mob of former President TrumpJoe BidenSpotlight turns to GOP’s McCarthy in Jan. 6 probeBiden visits union hall to mark Labor DayBiden approves disaster funds for NJ, NY after Ida floodingMOREs election victory.

The resolution names three police officers; Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood of the Capitol Police and;Jeffrey Smith of the Metropolitan Police; who died in the days after they were on duty at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The measure states that their actions “exemplify the patriotism and the commitment of Capitol Police officers, and those of other law enforcement agencies, to risk their lives in service of our country.”

‘we’ll See You At The Polls’

But the bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, said SB 1 was the product of more than 35 hours of House debate between the regular session that ended in May and two special sessions.

“We all strive for improvement, and I believe that’s what we’re looking at with this legislation, is improving the Election Code of Texas,” Murr said, his voice scratchy from almost 13 hours of debate Thursday over SB 1.

Moments before the House took its final vote on SB 1, Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, engaged Murr in a back-and-forth discussion on the House floor.

“Do you think there’s fraud in Texas elections?” Dutton asked.

“Generally speaking, I;think there is always a likelihood of fraud,” Murr replied. “We have;seen past examples of fraud.”

Dutton ended with an acknowledgement that the fight over SB 1 was almost over, but he said a larger fight is looming: “We’re going to;go;vote, and so we’ll see you at the polls.”

Once the House names its five members to the conference committee, they will negotiate a final version of SB 1 that will need to be approved;by both chambers.

The bill’s author, Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, said Friday that;he will determine the next step after;studying House changes.

Also Check: How Many Republicans Are Against Trump

DOJ wades in against Texas abortion ban

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that the Justice Department would protect women seeking an abortion in Texas as the agency explores ways to challenge one of the most restrictive laws in the nation. In a statement, Garland said the department would protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services pursuant to our criminal and civil enforcement of the law known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

The announcement from the Justice Department comes days after the conservative-majority Supreme Court declined to block the Texas law that bans abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The law also allows anyone to file a lawsuit against any other person who has aided someone in obtaining an abortion, with the potential for a $10,000 payoff.

The Internet responds

Pro-choice users on TikTok and;Reddit;have launched a guerrilla effort to thwart Texass extreme new abortion law, flooding an online tip website that encourages people to report violators of the law with false reports, Shrek memes and porn.

The law makes it illegal to help women in;Texas;access abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. To help enforce it, anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life established the digital tipline where people can send anonymous information about potential violations.

A Legislative Win But At What Cost

As the bill now heads to the president’s desk for final signature, advocates and living survivors can’t help but think the battle was won but at the expense of hundreds of their brothers in arms.

In the process of the reauthorization, over 200 firefighters and first responders died as a result of cancers and other medical ailments related to the 2001 terror attacks.;

The daughter of William Gormley, a former New York City firefighter who died after his own battle with cancer in 2017, told CBS that her family had filed a claim for benefits from the victims fund immediately after her father’s death and was assured that the money would be there.

“They went back on their promise but they had to. It was better for everyone to get a little money than no one at all,” Bridget Gormley said.

Gormley says the fund was unfortunately a “victim of its own success” after the fund quickly ran out of money because of a rise in cancer-related illnesses in the 9/11 community.;

“This is not going to be a cause for celebration,” Gormley noted importantly. “We unfortunately have to learn some lessons form our failures in this situation. It’ll be a milestone but it’ll serve as a testament to the first responders who fought.”

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dany-is-my-queen · 4 years

Text

Born To Be Yours | Part VII

Sansa Stark x Fem! Baratheon! Reader (Daenerys Targaryen x Fem! Baratheon! Reader eventually)

Season 1-8

Word Count: 1,496

Note: If you’re enjoying the story leave a comment, it means so much! <3

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.8 Pt.9

It was a lovely day. And you chose to spend it with your best friend. At least you can keep each other company without anyone disturbing you.

“Let’s have a walk in the gardens.” You invited Sansa after knocking her door. She opened it revealing her divine hair done in a southerner style.

“Why such a beautiful princess would want to waste her time with someone like me? I mean... of course I’ll go-“ she bit her lip and flushed. You giggled.

“Not a waste at all.” She shyly smiled.

“This flower... is gorgeous!” It doesn’t compare to your beauty. “I’ve never seen one like it. They don’t grow in the North.”

“Yes, they are rare yet special. They are called The Middlemist Red. Actually, there’s only two of these left in the world, as far as I know. The other one is on Highgarden.” You commented gazing at her.

“You also have vast knowledge in botany.”

“I am familiar with the topic. I have friends who live there. They taught me.”

“Ser Loras?”

“Indeed. He is one of my best. Now he’s with my uncle Renly, they have always been closer, I can’t blame him. His sister is married to him.”

“Do you want to marry a handsome lord?”

“Sure. Just not now. Or anytime soon. First I want to travel. Meet people. Have adventures. So when I’m old and grey I have a lot of memories.”

“Arya wanted that too. Robb and you would have made a good match.” Sansa’s stomach twisted at her own words. She didn’t know why.

“He was a gentleman. I respect him and I understand his position. He wants justice. I know the last thing you desire in the world is to marry my brother.”

“I was so stupid... a stupid girl with a stupid dream of marrying a handsome prince.

He turned out to be my worst nightmare.”

“Hey hey, you are not stupid. Every girl would dream that. The circumstances didn’t play in your favor. But daylight will always come. It’s not your fault. Nothing’s gonna hold you down for long.” You sympathetically reassured.

“Thank you, Y/N. You are so good with words.” You resumed your steps and continued talking about the flowers.

“I want to introduce you to someone. Dear Y/N. This is Shae.” Tyrion said. The young woman clumsy bowed.

“It’s a pleasure, Princess Y/N. Your uncle always speaks about you.” Her accent sounded foreign.

“Nice to meet you, Shae.”

“I was planning to make her your new handmaid but since you don’t really need handmaidens I’ll be giving her to your beloved friend Sansa Stark.”

“I’m sure she’ll be pleased with your service, my lady.” Shae left. “Are you in love with her?” You playfully inquired once you were alone.

“Shae is special.” He looked quite smitten to her, the way he looked at her gave him away.

“If she makes you happy then I’m happy for you, uncle.”

“I intend to keep her safe. If your mother, my father, or someone finds out it’ll be a mess. Just Varys knows and now you.”

“I won’t breathe a word.” You crossed your heart. And you would never betray his confidence, he was the one to comfort you when your mother and Joffrey were unkind.

What a consideration of Cersei to host a dinner for your two younger siblings, the northern girl and you. You tried to keep a good face so your mother wouldn’t be scolding you for her own falseness. You seated next to Sansa. Myrcella and Tommen in front of you and Cersei at the top of the table. The room was awkward and quiet.

“When will Joffrey and Sansa be married?” Myrcella suddenly asked.

“Soon, darling, when the war is over.” Cersei answered.

“Mother says I’ll have a new gown for the ceremony and another for the feast. But yours will be ivory since you are the bride.” She joyfully announced but the tall girl didn’t reply back.

“The Princess just spoke to you.” The lioness peered at Myr and then at Sansa.

“Pardon, your grace. I’m sure your dress will be beautiful, Myrcella. I’m counting the days until the fight is done and I can pledge my love to the King in the sight of the gods.” She staged a very pitiful smile.

“Is Joffrey going to kill Sansa’s brother?” Now the little prince asked.

“He might.” Sansa took a big sip of her cup, hiding her fear and pain. “Would you like that?” He frowned.

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Even if he does, Sansa will do her duty. Won’t you, little dove?” You bit your tongue. Seeing her like that broke your heart. She was on the brink of tears.

“We can’t be certain of anything. The food was delicious.” Changing the topic was the first thing that came to your mind.

“It’s a pretty ring, where did you get it, little dove?” Cersei glare landed suspiciously at her finger. She opened her mouth but didn’t utter a single word. You put your hand on Sansa’s to calm her anxiety.

“I gave it to her so she can remember her home, mother.”

“The home of traitors.” She bitterly laughed.

“I lost my appetite. Excuse us.” You gestured Sansa to stand up and left the place. “May I escort you to your chambers, my lady?” She nodded lowering her head.

“Your brother and your sister are just as friendly as you, Y/N.”

“They like you. I apologize for my mother’s behavior. Have a lovely night.” You bid her goodnight, she gave you a quick hug and then you couldn’t help but kissed swiftly her cheek, the torches were burning low so you didn’t quite see her reaction. You hoped you didn’t make her feel uncomfortable.

The following day you chatted with uncle Tyrion. He told you some news you weren’t expecting.

“Your sister must go. She will be promised to Prince Trystane of Dorne. I tell you before you learn from your mother.”

“She won’t like that. She’s so young, uncle... I don’t know.” It was true, giving her to strangers and people who despise your family didn’t sound like a good idea.

“She’ll be safer there if the city falls when one of the self-proclaimed Kings come.” He had a point.

“You are right.” Still, you feared for Myrcella.

You walked to the throne room just to find the King humiliating the Stark girl and shouting things at her with all the lords and ladies contemplating the scene. She was on her knees, with her garments all ripped out.

“If we want Robb Stark to hear us we’re going to have to speak louder!” Ser Meryn was ready to strike her.

“Stop it! What do you think you’re doing?” You furiously yelled.

“Are you crazy? What kind of knight beats a helpless girl?” Tyrion intervened.

“The kind who serves his king, Imp.” Meryn responded.

“Careful now. We don’t want to get blood all over your pretty white cloak.” Bronn added looking at him, a hand on his sword.

“Here, my lady.” You took off your cape. Luckily you were wearing one today. “What did I told you about treating her like this? She did nothing wrong. Have you no regard for her honor, brother? She is going to be your queen!”

“I’m punishing her.” He complained.

“For what crimes? She did not fight her brother’s battle, you half-wit.” The youngest Lannister repressed him.

“You can’t talk to me like that. The king does as he likes!” Joffrey whined.

“The Mad King did as he liked. Has your uncle Jaime ever told you what happened to him?”

“No one threatens his grace on the presence of the kingsguard.” The awful knight spoke.

“I’m not. I’m just educating my nephew. Bronn, next time Ser Meryn speaks, kill him. That was a threat. See the difference?”

“Come.” You helped Sansa got up.

“Tell us the truth. Do you want an end to this engagement?” The throne room followed you with their glances.

“I am loyal to King Joffrey. My one true love.” You shook your head to the short man. Sansa walked out just as if nothing had happened. You knew too well she had to keep pretending, the wrong people might hear if she said what she really wanted to say.

Late at night you found yourself staring at the ceiling of your room. You were thinking about Sansa, oh how hard you were falling for that smile and those blue eyes... she was perfect, but of course she’ll never feel the same way, considering the possibility was silly. She deserved to be loved, you could love her, would she let you do it? No, you were also a girl. Being around her was enough, protecting her and keeping the promise you made to Lady Catelyn. Your little sister is going off to some strange land, gods, life is getting harder...

#game of thrones fic #game of thrones imagine #got #sansa stark imagine #sansa stark x reader #sansa stark #sansa x reader #sansa x fem baratheon reader #house baratheon

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lucids · 6 years

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11 Years Old Naomi Wadler Says 'Remember the Black Female Victims of Gun Violence'.

[Hundreds of Black Females have been killed by gun violence and few recognize their deaths.]

The story behind 11-year-old Naomi Wadler and her March for Our Lives speech.

The youngest speaker at the March for Our Lives rally Saturday made one of the biggest splashes with an eloquent speech urging the nation not to forget black women, who are disproportionately represented among the victims of gun violence.

Naomi Wadler, an Alexandria fifth-grader, became a hashtag, a meme shared around the world, praised by celebrities who included actress Lupita Nyong’o and comedian Eddie Griffin. The 11-year-old was heralded as future presidential material.

But Wadler hasn’t seen any of that: She’s not on social media.

“I have been accustomed to not Google myself, so I haven’t seen everything,” Wadler said Sunday in a phone interview during her spring break beach trip. “My speech might not have caused a giant impact on society, but I do hope all the black girls and women realize there’s a growing value for them.”

That was the focus of her 3-minute, 30-second speech, which was repeatedly interrupted by roars of applause.

‘Never again!’ Students demand action on guns in nation’s capital.

“I am here to acknowledge and represent the African American girls whose stories don’t make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don’t lead on the evening news,” Wadler said. “I represent the African American women who are victims of gun violence, who are simply statistics instead of vibrant, beautiful girls full of potential.”

“For far too long, these names, these black girls and women, have been just numbers,” Wadler later said. “I’m here to say ‘Never again’ for those girls, too.”

Many of the young people who spoke Saturday had personal experiences surviving shootings or losing loved ones to gun violence.

The path that took Wadler, who likes to sing, run and play tennis, to a worldwide stage started when the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., inspired her to activism.

Her mother, Julie Wadler, sat her down to talk about the shooting and shared a personal connection: A friend from high school, Fred Guttenberg, lost his daughter Jaime in the Parkland shooting.

Naomi Wadler was thinking about what she could do when she saw reports of high school and middle school students planning walkouts on the one-month anniversary of the Feb. 14 shooting. She and classmate Carter Anderson, a friend since kindergarten thought: Why not elementary school students, too?

So, they organized a walkout at Alexandria’s George Mason Elementary School.

Like thousands of other students who helped organize walkouts, they wanted the disruption to last 17 minutes in honor of the 17 Parkland victims. But they decided to add an extra minute in memory of Courtlin Arrington, a 17-year old black girl who was shot to death at her Alabama high school March 7. That shooting, three weeks after Parkland, received far less national media attention.

Arrington, a high school senior, had been accepted to college and planned to become a nurse.

A study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last summer found that black women were more than twice as likely to be killed, and the most likely of any racial group to be shot to death.

“It’s subconsciously embedded into peoples’ minds that somebody with a darker complexion is worth less and their life isn’t as valuable as a white girl or man’s,” Wadler said.

Wadler also spoke at a gun violence forum hosted by her congressman, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.).

Her walkout garnered some media attention that made the rounds on social media. March for Our Lives organizers also noticed.

While Wadler wanted to attend the D.C. march, her family suggested they go to a sister march instead so that they could proceed with their spring break vacation as planned.

Those plans changed Thursday when a march organizer called Julie Wadler and asked if her daughter would speak. Naomi agreed without hesitation.

George Clooney, one of the celebrities who bankrolled the march, called Thursday, too, and mentioned he watched her interview with NowThis.

“He said he loved how I spoke so eloquently and the message I was trying to get across, and I was kind of like, ‘Yes. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay,” said Wadler, who hasn’t seen any of Clooney’s movies but has watched him give interviews.

At first, she worried that talking about black women would be off topic. But then she found out other students from all over would speak from their experiences, and she felt comfortable telling her story as a black girl disappointed by how stories about gun violence involving people who look like her don’t incite the same outrage and sympathy. Or garner the same media attention.

Wadler was born in Ethiopia and attends a school where nearly six in 10 students are white, a third are Hispanic and 6 percent are black. Her mom is white, and her dad, a recreational hunter, is black.

“We are a family that watches the news. She wants to know why on the news they identify black people as black, and not white people as white,” Julie Wadler said. “She wants to know why Trayvon Martin was shot. She wants to know why Philando Castile was shot. Her father is black, and she wants to know, does she have to worry about him being stopped and killed?

“She’s an aware kid,” she said. “To listen to the past two years of our world and inside the Beltway, conversations about race are dinner table conversation for us.”

On Saturday, a driver picked up Wadler and her mother to take them to the rally, and she sang “Rise Up,” by Andra Day, during the ride.

Backstage, she met Clooney, as well as director Steven Spielberg and rapper/activist Common. She was more excited to meet the Parkland student activists whom she admired, including Emma González and Jaclyn Corin, who now have her email.

Wadler also bonded with Yolanda Renee King, Martin Luther King’s 9-year-old grand-daughter who took the stage to pump the crowd up. When it was Wadler’s time to speak, nerves were setting in.

“I tend to be a pretty catastrophic thinker when it comes to these things,” Wadler said. “I think, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die, am I going to die?’ I need lifesaving serum.”

She needn’t have worried.

Her presentation went smoothly and drew widespread praise for directly tackling how race plays into society’s reactions to gun violence.

Beyond the substance of Wadler’s remarks, many were impressed by the eloquence and poise of an elementary school student speaking on the national stage.

“Wow wow Naomi Wadler. She is ELEVEN YEARS OLD. And smarter than us all,” tweeted Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti.

After the speech, Wadler gave her mother a big hug and joined her friends Carter, Matt and Lily to watch the rally from the audience. When she got home, she found a note left on the door by a friend telling her she’d done a great job. Teachers emailed her mother with praise.

On Sunday, her mother casually mentioned on the drive to the beach that “Black Panther” star and Oscar winner Nyong’o had given her a shout-out on Instagram. “She screamed so loud that I thought I lost my hearing for a month,” Julie Wadler said.

Source:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/the-story-behind-11-year-old-naomi-wadler-and-her-march-for-our-lives-speech/2018/03/25/3a6dccdc-3058-11e8-8abc-22a366b72f2d_story.html?utm_term=.38225b6a5b99

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joannalannister · 7 years

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Have you written anything on Jaime's decision at the end of AFFC? Because it's so associated with "Jaime breaking free of toxic Lannister (especially Cersei)" and I just didn't get that vibe from it?

Hi! I don’t think I’ve ever written anything about it because this topic is the wankiest of wank bait, but yeah, like you, I’ve personally never felt that Jaime was “breaking free” of the toxicity of House Lannister from his chapters in AFFC/ADWD.

(I don’t know who or what you’re quoting in this ask, and I mean no offense to whoever is saying that. This is just my opinion on Jaime’s FeastDance chapters and obviously some people interpret it differently and that’s cool. I’m really not looking for wank here.)

So when you say “Jaime’s decision at the end of AFFC” I’m assuming you mean this one?

“No, my lord. The bird was from King’s Landing. I took the liberty … I did not know …” He held the letter out.

Jaime read it in the window seat, bathed in the light of that cold white morning. Qyburn’s words were terse and to the point, Cersei’s fevered and fervent. Come at once, she said. Help me. Save me. I need you now as I have never needed you before. I love you. I love you. I love you. Come at once.

Vyman was hovering by the door, waiting, and Jaime sensed that Peck was watching too. “Does my lord wish to answer?” the maester asked, after a long silence.

A snowflake landed on the letter. As it melted, the ink began to blur. Jaime rolled the parchment up again, as tight as one hand would allow, and handed it to Peck. “No,” he said. “Put this in the fire.”

To me, this passage reflects how Jaime really doesn’t have the answers, at least right now: “He found himself wondering what his father would do to feed the realm, before he remembered that Tywin Lannister was dead.”

Cersei makes herself plain: “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

But how does Jaime feel about Cersei? Does he hate her? (And speaking of feelings, what does Jaime feel toward his father, who told him that love was useless? And what of Tyrion, the brother he loved? And what of Br*enne, a true knight from the stories come to life?) Can Jaime even help Cersei? Does he love her? (“The question is, who are you?”) (”Would you sooner have a father or a chair, lad? Jaime wished he knew the answer.”) Can he save her? Does he love her? Does he need her? Does he love her?

Jaime’s a whole mess of conflicted emotions right now, and he wishes things could be like they were:

There was a time, not long ago, when he might have been out making snowballs with the best of them, to fling at Tyrion when he waddled by, or slip down the back of Cersei’s gown. You need two hands to make a decent snowball, though.

But Jaime has only “One hand, clasped tight around the sword hilt. Only one” and really, literally, Jaime has no answers at the moment. So he delays, he demurs. “Put this in the fire.” He is not ready to answer Cersei yet.

“The sooner we are done with Riverrun, the sooner I’ll be back at Cersei’s side.” What Jaime would do then he did not know.

Consider:

“There is sitting and there is sitting, […] Each one [Tywin/Robb] waits for the other to move”

and:

Cersei gave him a lingering look. “You know,” she said, “for a moment you [Jaime] sounded quite like Father.”

I think you also have to consider the context of this decision. The maester reads his mail, and Jaime’s squire who admires and adores him “was watching too” so how could Jaime respond, even if he did have answers? ”Would you sooner have a father or a chair, lad? Jaime wished he knew the answer.” // “The question is, who are you?” // “We are not Targaryens!”

Also, everyone believes that Jaime is still a fearsome swordsman. I don’t think Cersei (or most people, for that matter) realizes that Jaime can’t be her champion. If Jaime were to champion her, Cersei would lose her trial (bad), and Jaime’s secret would be revealed (also bad). Jaime’s relying on his reputation. (And Genna said Jaime wasn’t Tywin’s true heir. Heh.)

How can Jaime explain that he cannot help Cersei, cannot save her, and in a letter, no less? A letter read/written by Vyman, who served Edmure Tully, and Hoster before him? A letter that could easily be intercepted? No, he could not give Cersei an explanation in his letter. He could only give her a refusal, and that would infuriate her. (Does he love her? Does he love her? Does he love her?)

He says these things in ADWD:

Past time this was ended, thought Jaime Lannister. With Riverrun now safely in Lannister hands, Raventree was the remnant of the Young Wolf’s short-lived kingdom. Once it yielded, his work along the Trident would be done, and he would be free to return to King’s Landing. To the king, he told himself, but another part of him whispered, to Cersei.

He would have to face her, he supposed. Assuming the High Septon had not put her to death by the time he got back to the city. “Come at once,” she had written, in the letter he’d had Peck burn at Riverrun. “Help me. Save me. I need you now as I have never needed you before. I love you. I love you. I love you. Come at once.” Her need was real enough, Jaime did not doubt. As for the rest … she’s been fucking Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack and Moon Boy for all I know … Even if he had gone back, he could not hope to save her. She was guilty of every treason laid against her, and he was short a sword hand.

(^^This “She was guilty of every treason…” sort of makes me worried, as if Jaime is perhaps deflecting all the blame for his own treasons onto Cersei, like it doesn’t take two to tango….)

Anyways … I personally wouldn’t describe this as Jaime ~breaking free~ of the Lannister regime when a part of him is looking forward to returning to Cersei.

But I think there’s another part of Jaime that doesn’t want to return to Cersei, which is why he so readily jaunts off with Br*enne to chase his dreams of true knighthood.

That’s the thing about Jaime imo. He’s a man divided. Torn between Lannister crimson and Kingsguard white, between his (older) sister and his baby brother, between Cersei and Br*enne, between one vow and another, between his loyalty to the Lannister regime and his aspirations of true knighthood.

“So many vows … they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It’s too much. No matter what you do, you’re forsaking one vow or the other.“

Jaime’s the middle child, Beauty and Beast both. We first meet him wearing black, but he’s renowned for his kingsguard white, but allegedly “it was that white cloak that soiled” Jaime and reduced him to this grey liminality. He vacillates back and forth, an ever swinging pendulum. One moment he is angered that Gregor would smash Pia’s teeth in, another moment fantasizing that he “smashed his sister’s teeth to splinters with his golden hand, just as Gregor Clegane had done to poor Pia.”

I know I’ve talked about this before, but it’s like Jaime is trying to ride two horses in the Riverlands, and he can’t ride two horses. He’s trying to hold on to everything, Cersei and Tyrion, honor and glory, all that, but now he has only one hand, and he can’t hold on to two things at once any more. “Yet soon or late in every man’s life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose.”

But Jaime hasn’t come to that choosing yet. “Throw this in the fire.”

In ADWD we see the pendulum swing toward Br*enne, but what will happen in TWOW? How will Jaime feel when he learns his true knight has lied to him, and that even true knights can be grey? I imagine Jaime will feel betrayed. I suspect a second litany of betrayal for Br*enne, analogous to the one for Cersei: “… she’s been fucking Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack and Moon Boy for all I know …"

“False as fool’s gold.”

After escaping Stoneheart, Jaime will go to King’s Landing at last:

Once he found the Blackfish, he would be free to return to King’s Landing, where he belonged. My place is with my king. With my son.

But I think Jaime arrives to find Tommen dead, and Cersei fled with Myrcella to her last stronghold, Casterly Rock, since KL is about to be destroyed, entirely. And Jaime will have failed yet another king.

Nothing in AFFC/ADWD suggests to me that Jaime’s abandoned the Lannister regime, despite how angry he is at Cersei. He still supports Tommen, and I will bet money that Jaime follows Cersei to CR after the wildfire explosion at the end of TWOW and that he eventually recognizes Myrcella as his queen in the beginning of ADOS.

And I don’t know what’s going to push Jaime over the edge, but I will bet money that Jaime will valonqar Cersei at Casterly Rock in ADOS. I think this is Jaime’s choosing, and I think he will actively choose Lannister toxicity. Strangling your sister/lover sounds like a pretty toxic thing to me, no? idk I could be wrong, who knows.

But I don’t see Jaime actively working to bring down the Lannister regime. idk what happens with Jaime after Cersei’s death, all bets are off once she dies, but at least right now, there’s nothing to me that suggests that Jaime recognizes that Tommen has no right to the Throne, that the Lannisters have no right to sieze Riverrun, no right to hunt the Blackfish, or that the entire government is corrupt, things which I think would be necessary for Jaime to distance himself from the evils of House Lannister?

(I think it’s Tyrion who is beginning to understand that the Lannister regime is wrong, he was the only one calling out Lannister bullshit even when he was in the middle of said bullshit. Tyrion hasn’t yet escaped from Tywin’s dark, toxic shadow, but I think it’s Tyrion who does that, not Jaime.)

TLDR - nope, im like you, i dont get that vibe either. Maybe I’m wrong tho *shrug emoji*

#lannister thoughts #hey friends its been a while #//#becauseforoncethisisme #///#////#jaime meta #jaime lannister #replies #jaime x cersei

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occupyvenus · 6 years

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Let’s talk about THE INTERVIEW

Before anyone starts to freak out, look at this section of the “interview” with grrm coming right after the jonsa “debunk” and tell me if this is something Grrm would ever say: (translated from spanish to english using google translate, so some of the pronouns are off and the grammar is a bit wacky):

-I am interesting that I named Arya, who has been developing a psychopathic character throughout the saga. Do you have salvation? I know that his wife adores her, although it would also seem crazy to me that his crimes were justified when revenge dominates his life.

-Arya is a girl who has sought to survive at all costs. It is not Sansa, who has assumed the role that would correspond to any noblewoman of the time. Arya has a difficult character to handle. He could have let himself be killed or given to the Lannisters to be used as one more piece of the game of thrones; but decided to act as they would have done with her to get here. Salvation would have everyone if they reflected a few seconds; but few decide to change course once they make a decision. It has been shown that revenge is not the best way to do justice, it always ends up paying.

Did “grrm” just really turn to an unsolicited, snarky Sansa side-bashing when asked about Arya? Answering a question about Arya developing “pychopathic traits” and revenge by pointing out how she’s not like Sansa because she “sought to survive at all costs, didn’t assume the role of ordinary noblewomen and didn’t let herself become a piece to be used by the Lannister, because she decided to ACT, MAN!” Fuck the sympathetic characterization I created for Sansa. Arya rules. Sansa sucks. Also he doesn’t even go into Arya’s characterization and her supposed “psychopathic character”, I’m pretty sure he would have some interesting things to add to this interpretation. “George” solely uses this question to throw some shade at Sansa. Also, someone brings up the topic of being preoccupied with revenge and “george” doesn’t bring up Lady Stoneheart? A character he talks about whenever possible, because he’s so pissed about her not being included in the show? Seriously, Arya is the example of revenge not being the best way to do justice? This honestly feels like a bit of a mix of show and book canon, post-frey pies.

This rhetoric resembles that of the usual sansa-hating, anti-jonsa community so strikingly and is so unlike the way grmm usually speaks.

Here’s something George said in an actual interview about sexual violence, women in asoiaf and how their characters are perceived by female readers:

I’m very proud of the creation of Arya and Catelyn and Sansa and Brienne and Daenerys and Cersei and all of them. It’s one of the things that gives me the most satisfaction, that they’ve been so well-received as characters, especially by women readers who are often not served.

This might be a bit nitpicky and nuances could have easily been lost in the double translation, but this statement:

-Question made by Lemi Noe (A Group Does Not Have a Name): It is the first series in which I see that many women are considered heroines: Arya, Brienne, Daenerys ..., what do you think when you see how many real women feel identified? with them in a world like the Game of Thrones?

-I'm proud of it. For me women are people and should have their place in the world, like any man. When I write about my female characters in such a macho era and I get them to rise above the possibilities that environment would never have given them, I cry inside. A current woman is still facing those problems in society and for me it is an honor to cause that effect in many people.

does not really resemble George’s usual views on feminism and/or writing strong female characters in a highly patriarchal world. This emphasize on women “rising above the possibilities given to them” (BECAUSE THEY DECIDED TO ACT!!!) fits more into reddits “sansa is weak and useless” take on feminism. This statement just strikes me as very odd and not something grrm would say.

AND THEN THERE’S THIS GEM:

Question formulated by Víctor Alfonso (LA MURALLA): How satisfied are you with the direction of the seventh season of the series, since the story in this one covers unknown territory in the books?

I'm very happy with the work of the producers. It is a story that will differ from mine in many ways and I have no complaints; they handle one version, I the other.

A statement that completely contradicts the epic shade he threw at D&D when stating that he doesn’t watch season 7 because “he doesn’t have the time”, while fangirling over the last kingdom.

Here are a few more things from the interview that at least seem ... rather odd to me:

So, is not Jon the hero of this story? Daenerys would not deserve a reward after living in exile since childhood?

I do not like labels. All my characters have suffered, each in his own way. For something I write from their points of view, so that we can all understand why they do what they do and how they feel in front of the enemy. For the Lannister, the Starks are the bad guys. It would not be fair to dismiss them as villains or their rivals as heroes. Is Jon a hero? You can, but so is Jaime Lannister, Sam Tarly or Stannis Baratheon. Each of them has been a coward once, but also brave. If you ask me if Jon is the hero of this story, I answer that he is not; all are important as long as they remain alive among my pages and they will have the same opportunity to prove their worth. Regarding Daenerys, I do not think that deserving, in this saga, is synonymous to obtain. In real life, because you are a good person, you do not get everything you want. I try to make my story as realistic as possible and some may see their struggle rewarded, but not all.

So “George” starts by pointing out that everyone can be a hero a villain, depending on your side and position, but when it comes to Dany he simply implies that she might not obtain the throne, despite deserving it for being a good person, because life is unfair? Doesn’t feel like george’s usual, well thought out answers. Compare this to his statement about sheer force in the form of dragons might not be enough to secure Dany’s victory, there’s more to ruling than brute force and military strength. Awfully different tones, wouldn’t you agree?

Then there’s of course the passage about “shipping”, which basically consists of the jonsa-debunk arguments you can read all over the internet. I’m not even going to repeat them, since we all heard them about a million times before. The creator of the series brings forward the same contradicting arguments as your everyday redditor? He has nothing more to add? Sounds fake, but okay.

I’ll admit that some parts of this interview are pretty convincing (probably because those parts mostly paraphrase stuff he has said before), but together with the suspicious circumstances of this “interview's” release, the general spoiler-y and conclusive tone of some statements and a couple of things that simply don’t fit into grrm’s usual rhetoric, I’m pretty sure it’s fake. The lengths people will go to for a few days of internet fame.

#jonsa #fake interview

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