#calling nettles and Sara unwashed

[thevelaryons]

I’ve always found it interesting that of the lowborn/bastard women in the DotD, Marilda is the only one who doesn’t get slandered and insulted in the Westerosi history books.

Speaking specifically about the women who were rumored to have had affairs with noblemen, the women (Sara Snow/Alys Rivers/Nettles) in particular get derogatory descriptions for various reasons. The men they are linked to all either die or are unable to do anything about the rumors (Sara: her rumored lover Jace dies and her brother Cregan is far away in the North when those rumors become a thing in the South years later/Alys: her rumored lover Aemond dies and her son is obviously too young to do anything about the insults people are saying about his mother/Nettles: her rumored lover Daemon dies). Regardless of whether any of the rumors were true or not, it's still the women in the relationships who were described in a negative manner. Even men like Aemond or Daemon don't get as slandered, despite their more controversial actions.

Sara may or may not have existed (the fact that her existence alone is doubted speaks for itself) but in the history books she is described as an "unwashed" bastard. Even the fact she was a virgin at the time of her affair with Jace is called into question. Alys gets descriptors like "slattern" and "cow". She is reviled as a seductress and witch who would sacrifice her own children. Nettles gets insulted as well, both by characters around her and the maesters/septons recording the histories. Beyond the classism, there is also a racial angle to the insults with her skin colour always being at the forefront when she gets called "dirty" and "creature". It’s unfortunate but Westerosi society is unfair to women, especially those of a lower social class, and so they do often have to rely on the men in their lives, whether that’s a male lover/husband, their father, brother(s) or son(s) as a source of protection. Characters like Sara/Alys/Nettles don't get that protection.

Then you get to Marilda's descriptions in the book, and it's completely clean. Not a single insult is uttered against her despite her supposed involvement with two different Velaryon men. Whether her affair was with Corlys or Laenor, it occurred at the time when they were married men. Laenor is dead by the time when he's claimed to be the father of Marilda's sons. But Corlys is alive and well. Not to mention, he's a very well respected figure in Westerosi society. That being said, I can’t see Corlys doing any major PR control here since he does not have the means to do so.

Alyn, however, could ensure his mother did not get negative remarks. He's the one said to have fostered close ties to the Citadel and a positive relationship with the Faith. On more than one occasion, he was anointed by the High Septon himself, which is something that's typically reserved for the King or his Kingsguard. So I think Alyn might’ve used that influence to his favor.

While Alyn does seem like the type who doesn’t care much about what others think of him, he clearly respects his mother so I doubt he would want her to have a bad reputation. Even concerning the rumors of Alyn's potential affairs, the maesters are somewhat dismissive about them and call the rumors "unreliable". They don't give much credence to what third parties are saying on such matters. As for Alyn's mother, she is spoken of with nothing but respect and even flattery at times.

History is truly written by the victors.

#valyrianscrolls #asoiaf #marilda of hull #alyn velaryon #corlys velaryon #laenor velaryon #sara snow #alys rivers #nettles #alyn & marilda #meta #alyn going from being a mama's boy to a girldad was a very excellent writing decision by grrm

[bohemian-nights]

Thoughts on Sara Snow?

I’m mostly going to be focusing on Sara Snow in the context of the show because there is too much in the books about her(all we know is she’s the bastard sister of Cregan Stark) to do any real in-depth analysis of her character.

Let me start by stating that I do believe she’s real, I don’t hate her, and I believe she does serve a purpose(more on this later), but in show context, I understand why some fans don’t want her included.

(By some fans I mean Black women cause those are the only fans I see that have a legitimate concern with her inclusion).

This show(and GOT cause I haven’t forgotten what you guys did to Missandei either🙃) has an abysmal track record when it comes to Blackish women. They are all treated like disposable props for white characters(which is a common trope in media)and aren't allowed to be full characters.

So the optics of having Baela being “left” for a white girl* coming off the heels of what happened to Laena just looks bad.

*I think Sara should be played by a mixed actress, which would take care of the image problem, but it’s pretty clear that if she’s being included she’s probably going to be played by a white girl.

That being said, there are ways in which they can include Sara without it being disrespectful or making it seem like Baela has been slighted in some way.

We have to keep in mind that Jace dies pretty soon into the Dance, he’s weak asf(sorry to any Jace fans but your fave is lame in HOTD), and he and Baela never marry let alone have children. He’s her stepbrother/cousin, but he’s just a blip in her life. He is not her endgame.

That role belongs to the lord in training of f*ckboy’s Alyn Velaryon. He is the one who she married and had children with. He’s her destiny, not Jace.

If they focus on these guys' relationship and have Alyn actively chasing after Baela and Baela is more receptive to him we can avoid her being the jilted would-be girlfriend who doesn’t measure up. Remember Baela and Jace do not know each other well. Unlike in the books, they weren’t raised together and they’ve only presumably met a handful of times since Baela was raised on Driftmark with Granny.

I doubt she’s that attached to Jace so it would be easy enough showing her getting swept up in Alyn(he’s Corlys 2.0 he should be very charming) to the point where she doesn’t really care wherever Jace goes or whoever he is with.

Back to Sara Snow. I know a lot of fans like to say she’s irrelevant, but there are very few truly irrelevant characters(cough Corwyn Cornbread cough Lasagna Radish), during the Dance and Sara isn’t one of them. She has a purpose and that purpose is to be to Jace what Nettles and Alys are to Daemon and Aemond.

Yes, Jace is a bastard, but he’s still a (half) Targaryen bastard. He’s a prince. There is a certain level of respect he is given when even the maesters see him. We see this respect come into play when it comes to Sara Snow.

Like with Nettles and Alys, Jace is thought to be too good for Sara. The maesters(and Mushroom) hurl a bunch of sexist, xenophobic, and classist language her way, calling her half-wild, an unwashed northern bastard, a wolf girl, and a creature.

The maesters do not believe she exists, but they then say that if she did she wasn’t used as anything more than a roll in the hay. A chance for the Prince of Dragonstone to sow his wild oats before he went back to his high-born Valyrian betrothed Baela.

I feel like the point of the Dance is to show the folly in the pride, prejudice, and greed of House Targaryen as well as the other noble houses in general. Sara shows this.

Finally, I’d like to note that most of the outrage regarding Sara Snow being included is being made by the same people who ship Jace with Cregan(cause I guess two men sleeping together doesn’t count as cheating 🙃) or Nettles😒

I’ve already explained why this is, but it’s being done by Dumbnyra stans to “keep” Nettles away from Daemon.

This is less about racism or Baela being shafted and more about just not wanting Sara included.

Honestly, even if Baela was white like her book!counterpart I could still see people arguing against Sara’s inclusion citing that you are trying to take away from gay representation(even though there is nothing to indicate Jace is gay) or an interracial romance(lol again they don’t want Dettles to happen and will use whatever at their disposal to “stop” it).

Sara Snow would be a great inclusion to the show, but time will tell if she’ll be included at all🤷🏽‍♀️

#sara snow #bnask #sara x jace #jace velaryon #bnasks