#jon's also more willing to be distant about things due to his nature

[navree]

also another thing to point out in my “saying sasha would have been a better archivist than jon and would have avoided all the pitfalls that ultimately led to all the bad things and eventually the mass ritual is a stupid take” saga, sasha actually kinda seems to both like and trust elias. and definitely is more willing to express it than jonathan ‘prickly’ sims, so whereas jon was doing his thing in a combination of curiosity, manipulations, and paranoia, sasha would probably be just as curious, just as manipulated by unseen forces (considering that NO ONE saw what was coming), and rather than paranoia, just being more willing to trust in elias’s help than most and follow his guidance, especially if there was never any leitner murder that ultimately made elias reveal himself sooner than he might have liked.

#personal #the magnus archives #mag relisten #i mean it's a fascinating premise to go on for anyone who DOES wanna do any 'archivist sasha' fics #cuz whereas jon and elias clearly have a rapport #(tho elias has a rapport with all his employees that's part of what made his reveal so stunning they all seemed to LIKE him beforehand) #(and he wasn't a bad boss) #jon's also more willing to be distant about things due to his nature #sasha's FINAL scene has her chuckling fondly about a perceived weird quirk of elias's #and i personally believe that elias did enjoy sasha to a certain extent probably the same way he enjoyed all the archive crew #in the early seasons when they still weren't aware and they trusted him and he was being Good Boss #and i maintain that he was deeply unhappy about her murder by the notthem if only because he didn't want something encroaching on his turf #(also we need an explanation as to how he was able to escape the 'wave of worms' that separated him and sasha) #(but that's for another time)

[argsoiaf]

(Spoilers Main) All Men Have a Role to Play: Master of Whisperers Part 1

First of all, I would like to thank Max L, @LuchiBelle, and Will Perpetuo Busch (here is a link to his webpage: https://scriptoriumm.com/). They have helped me modify an old (unreadable) essay into a much better one, gave me valuable input on the topic, help improve the grammar (I am not a native English speaker) and even edit some parts. If you like this go check their (much better) stuff.

Introduction:

The position of Master of Whisperers is one of the strangest on the King’s Small Council, with regard to the amount of time it has existed, The array of westerosi (and essosi) who have held it, and its institutional organization. Unlike other Small Council positions, it wasn’t created by Aegon “The Conqueror” to help him rule the realm and council him, but by his second son Maegor “The Cruel”. It had its unofficial founding when the people of the Red Keep and King’s Landing started to call Tyanna of the Tower the “Mistress of Whisperers'' (which has a double meaning; Mistress being simultaneously the feminine for Master and a synonym for lover, which Tyanna was before getting married to the King). It always maintained a semi-unofficial nature with many de facto holders of the position refusing to take the official title. But despite all these peculiarities, we can still see certain constants in the position.

The Masters of Whisperers, unlike other “Masters”, has no default bureaucracy; all their power comes from the webs of agents they build and is entirely personal. This is also made possible by the lack of supervision from the Hand or the King; having a lot of freedom to conspire against the crown if they want. Being in the Small Council appointed by the King they seem to be legally capable of whatever they want unless it goes against a direct order of the King, or it is treason. In other words, they can do whatever they want to do even if it is illegal with no reprisal from the King, at least until it is known when the King would have plausible deniability (this question was a source of debate in the Learned Hands Podcast in a great episode featuring u/JoeMagician)

The Holders of the Title and their Nature

“The King's Justice must be fearsome, the master of coin must be frugal, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard must be valiant ... and the master of whisperers must be sly and obsequious and without scruple. A courageous informer would be as useless as a cowardly knight.”

-A Game of Throne, Eddard XV

Before starting to talk about the different Masters of Whisperers and considering most of them belong to the backstory of the series, I will leave you a link to another reddit post where I make a summary of all Master of Whisperers. If you already know the gallery of Varys’ predecessors, or simply aren’t interested in the specifics, I will recommend you skip that part.

The Masters of Whisperers are the smallest number of all of the King's councilors across the years since Aegon’s conquest (even counting unofficial ones), and the Masters of Whisperers also held their title for the shortest overall span of time compared to other positions. Counting only when they use the title it sums up to 47 years, and if you add Rego Draz alongside Bloodraven’s period as Hand it increases to 80 years.

In any case, it is an amazingly small number if we compare it to the 300 years that the Small Council has existed. This is probably because the Lords and Kings of Westeros consider espionage as unhonourable and cowardly, with the title being held most of the time by women, bastards, and foreigners with one great exception being Larys Strong (but due to his disability he is unfit to fulfill the traditional knightley roles of a Westerosi noble). Another reason might be that most Masters of Whisperers were very unpopular, so Kings might want to avoid the bad image having one would have given their predecessors. For example, Jahaerys no doubt wanted to distance himself from the rule of his uncle, while both Aegon V and Jahaerys II tried to avoid the appearance of being controlled by their Master of Whisperers like Aerys I. Most Masters of Whisperers served in moments of war or crisis (Rego Draz, for example, started to act like a spymaster after Elisa Farman stole the dragon eggs) and during reigns of especially paranoid Kings.

All of this shows how Larys Strong and Varys holding the title in relatively peaceful times with lazy Kings was exceptionally rare and unique. One major possible explanation for Varys remaining at his position for so much time is that he finds ways to remain useful. We know he pretended to be Cersei’s friend and he probably gave Jon Arryn useful information. Possibly the early Baratheon regime had not enough people to replace all positions, so they decided to keep him.

In Larys' case I think he was not named by King Viserys I himself, but by his Hand Ser Otto Hightower. Larys had probably started building a web of spies during his father's Handship, and Otto wanted to add him as an ally to his cause. We should also consider that the court was divided among different factions, and a civil war seemed imminent after the King's death. Adding him to the Small Council meant adding a great asset for Otto’s grandson's future struggle for the throne.

So, if the position is so unpopular, dangerous and rare, why have it in the first place? Why not simply use external spymasters that do not sit in the Small Council, as Kevan did with Qyburn and Rhaenyra with Lady Mysaria? But the advantages overshadow the inconvenience: it puts fear in your enemies and prevents plots against you (for example, Doran Martell being so afraid of Varys that he drives his daughter to rebel against him) and it also gives the Westerosi Lords a false sense of security. We can see how Cersei believes when she appoints Qyburn, who gains a lot of Varys’ former contacts, that the spies come with the position. It has been suggested that, like most things Cersei believes, this thought is BS, since Varys' little birds remained loyal to him.

Span of their Influence, Webs and Power

“How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have? the riddle ran. A thousand eyes, and one.”

-The Mystery Knight.

Like I mentioned earlier this position is unique compared to every other one on the council, due to the lack of a formal bureaucracy behind it. It appears that the size of the Master’s webs and the amount of power they are able to accumulate are entirely dependent on their own personal ability.

This contrasts greatly with another position of the Small Council, the Master of Laws. Theoretically, the Master of Laws has such a vast number of responsibilities he should be third in the realm, only to the Hand and the King, but the truth is that most of them are unremarkable nobles with very little influence across the vast history of the continent. Meanwhile, we see how many Masters of Whisperers turn into very important figures in their respective regimes. Tyanna and Qyburn are good examples of those Masters who became the right hands of their monarchs. The same phenomenon also occurs with other members of the Small Council, like Littlefinger, who has a great web of spies. There may be even more cases, but as I mentioned earlier The Master of Whisperers is perceived as dishonourable, and most of them will prefer to keep the extent of their power and influence secret.

Regarding the size of their webs, they seem to remain pretty localized to King’s Landing and the Crownlands during most of recorded history. Tyanna was only able to extinguish the grand scale conspiracy of Aegon the Uncrowned rising against his Uncle King Maegor because she intercepted messages that had been sent to Alyssa Velaryon at the capital. Rego Draz does extend his web mainly into Essos because of the type of mission he is assigned with.

The first one to extend the web to a continental level is Brynden Rivers. He expanded the position using magic and his important status at court to gain information of distant regions. Maybe the scale of the web was overblown by the people fearful of his “eyes”, but this is equally useful because like I mentioned earlier creating this fear already made people less willing to plot against him.

It goes without saying that Bloodraven was the first Master of Whisperers to expand his influence in the regime and turn into the Hand of the King. He did not follow the usual image I mentioned earlier about the Masters of Whisperers. Being born at “the wrong side of the sheets” he is admittedly seen as lesser by the Westerosi Noblemen, similar to Larys Strong. But he is also very capable in some of the fields traditionally held by the nobility and not by the usual Masters of Whisperers, being a great fighter and commander. This combination of different abilities made him a capable Hand for years. His victory in the Second Blackfyre Rebellion before it even properly started is a great example of this.

There is also a lot of overlap between Master of Whisperers and torturers. For example, Tyanna oversaw the torture of Prince Viserys and Alys Harroway and Larys was also the Lord Confessor. He is the only other recorded case of a Master of Whisperers expanding to other positions while remaining officially at the original position, even if it is similar to the original one. He is also the first person to be named officially Master of Whisperers. Rego Draz would not count as occupying another position, because he made the opposite transition, he started as a very successful Master of Coin and only later did he use his contacts in Essos to do some information gathering.

Qyburn might have a similar process to the one Bloodraven had, with the only difference that he will achieve such power by being Cersei’s bootlicker. He has already absorbed many functions related to the Grand Maester and some seemingly opposite ones, like the royal torturer. This contrast between Grand Maester and Master of Whisperers can be seen in the attempt at a rivalry Pycelle wishes to have with Varys, with “The Spider” not even noticing him. The opposing duality of the two positions can be seen in how most Small Council meetings start with the Grand Maester bringing the official information brought by the ravens, while the Master of Whisperers brings the unofficial one brought by his “little birds”. Qyburn is just this phenomenon being brought forward in a more obvious way, with him using a Maester-like robe, but instead of being grey, it is white.

We can see that the influence of the Masters of Whisperers has varied over the years, but we can also notice how it has increased in recent times. With their webs being bigger and bigger and having more important roles at court.

Conclusion

Here ends the first part of this Essay. We have discussed the nature of the position and the span of its influence. There is an inherent contradiction in a position that exists in the center of westerosi nobility, but where outsiders can take control. A position for bastards, cripples, women, and foreigners, in which they can extend their webs of spies and influence to control history. Even though it is the most informal of all of the council members, or maybe because it is, many of the holders of the title have risen in their respective regimes to be highly influential political figures.

In the next part, I will be analyzing the loyalties of the Masters to each of their individual Kings and the Throne, and their overall use of magic. Both relevant topics to the ideas previously discussed.

#asoiaf #game of thrones #Fire and blood

[castaliareed]

Why JonSa?

So a JonSa hater comment and a blog post on love inspired me to overanalyze the Jon x Sansa dynamic. Enjoy! 

This is JonSa fic. The point is that they have feelings for each other. They are confused by these feelings. Finally, they decide they've been through so many horrible things, it's winter, it's cold, and YOLO...

Was the beginning of my response to a commenter on one of my JonSa chapters that felt Jon would not lust after Sansa, his sister.

Fans who ship JonSa often receive these types of comments. Commenters consistently state the impossibility of the ship. Citing that these characters especially Jon would not feel this way about a woman he was raised with whether or not he ever discovers she is really his cousin.  

The default response of JonSa shippers is that they were not close as children. Followed by a list of book examples, show examples, and character analysis of why they have both been foreshadowed and could work together.

There are plenty of examples in the book when seen through a JonSa lens that can be used to support the ship.  From, Jon saying Sansa is "radiant" at the feast for King Robert to Ned telling Sansa that Joffery is "no Aemon the Dragonknight" and that he will find someone "brave, and gentle, and strong" for her. Both of Ned's references fans believe foreshadow Jon. Later, Sansa's character development in the Vale as she poses as the bastard daughter of Littlefinger has clear references to her bastard brother. Jon's first love, Ygritte, is "kissed by fire" or red-haired similar to Sansa, who has auburn hair and sings like Sansa as well. There are more examples throughout the books.

Then Season 6 happened and even people who most likely have never heard the word "ship" in their lives were asking if Sansa and Jon would have a romantic future. Text and shows can be interpreted many different ways. Until the story is finished, it is all just speculation and up for debate amongst fans. No matter how many times you re-watch the clip of Jon telling Sansa he likes the "wolf bit" after giving her the full body once over it still is just speculation. Brothers check their hot sisters out all the time. (me giving side-eye..) At least in Game of Thrones, they do.

What is discussed less in the justifications for JonSa is the emotional journey they are on. In a few posts it has been mentioned that a relationship between Sansa who looks like her mother Catelyn and Jon who looks like their father* would go a long way to healing their childhood wounds.

In my response to the commenter, I also stated: "I hope I can show how that (JonSa) is possible for both of their characters based on the facts that they haven't seen each other for years, they have both grown significantly due to trauma, and that their core personalities have always been very similar in nature (inward, romantic, compassionate, etc..). I personally believe that they were both kept distant as children by the adults in their lives and because well they were actually quite alike underneath the surface gender differences placed on them by a patriarchal culture."

Their emotional journey becomes multifold, a need to heal old wounds, a need for the familiar, and a need to overcome gender constraints. Jon was treated horribly by the only mother-figure he ever knew, Catelyn, who saw him as a reminder of the honorable Ned Stark's one failing. He was also a threat to her sons and her political power via her sons. Conversely, Jon was close to his "father". Spoke with him often and wanted to be like him. It was the one thing he wanted to be and could not be due to his status as a bastard.

Sansa looks like her mother and wanted to be a proper lady. This meant seeking her mother's approval. It could be said that Sansa is less like her mother than she wanted to be liked by her mother. Being the second child and a daughter in a patriarchial culture this was a natural response. Sansa at heart is very much her father's daughter. Inward, observant, compassionate, overly concerned with appearances. Sansa wants to be seen as a lady as much as Ned wants to be seen as honorable. Another failing she shares with her father is a highly questionable relationship with the truth. Sansa lies more often but Ned lies bigger.

Part of Jon's journey as depicted on the show is Sansa telling him he is a Stark to her. She is the only person who could give this to him in a manner he would accept.  Part of his healing is feeling he is fully accepted as a Stark. The ultimate irony is that he is also a Targaryen. His mother being a Stark not his father. Bringing us to the gender expectations of their world.  

They are in the process of overcoming these expectations. Jon believes that Winterfell is his sister's by right. He, aside from her mother, is her only family member that does this. Her full-brother Rob was more than willing to disinherit her. Jon accepts a woman's right to rule even over his own. Given his acceptance of her as a Stark, despite her past marriages, and as rightful Lady of Winterfell.  We are left to hope that Sansa will return the favor and still accept him as a Stark once his parentage is revealed. This will be the key to their relationship together. JonSa shippers hope that it draws them closer especially romantically. Others worry it could push them apart. They must overcome what their world tells them about the primacy of male succession. They must believe you can inherit from the female line or inherit as female. Making them both legitimate. 

To fully understand why JonSa is an exciting possibility for their emotional journey, we must think bigger, outside the world of Westeros. We must think about the nature of love itself. A recent article on The Brainpickings blog discussing Alain de Botton's writings on love captures the idea.

"We are constrained in our love choices by what we learned of love as children. Adult love is in central ways a search for rediscovery of emotions first known in childhood. In order to prove exciting and attractive, the partner we pick must re-evoke many of the feelings we once had around parental figures, and these feelings, though they may include tenderness and satisfaction, are also likely to feature a more troubling range of emotions." - Alain de Botton

Jon and Sansa can find the familiar in each other. Sansa as a representation of both Catelyn in her looks and Ned in her character can be this type of love for Jon. For Sansa, Jon is said to look like her dead father. His nature is also very Stark-like. He follows the old gods which for her represent her northern roots. The familiar can go even farther beyond the positives and reveal their failings.

"It seems we are fated either to seek out the fault of a parent in a partner or to mimic the fault of the parent with a partner. Either way, the fault of the parent remains central to our love choices. Without it, we may simply not be able to feel passionate and tender with someone. We might imagine we would only be attracted to admirable traits — to perfection, to very positive things about another — yet just below the conscious radar, it is the failings that lure us in." - Alain de Botton

Jon for his part is more than willing to see Sansa as the proper lady, the Princess, she wants to be. In fact, he wants to see her that way. While Show!Sansa resists somewhat by attending the parley and claiming that no one can protect her. Jon has the ability to both respect her growing political nature and wholeheartedly believe in the lady-like facade she presents to the world. In the books his last thoughts of her are of her singing and brushing her direwolf, Lady.  

However, one must ask could it be her failings that lure him in. Show!Jon tells her they need to trust each other after she apologizes for not telling him about the knights of the Vale. Instead of being furious with her, he seems to accept her apology kissing her on the forehead before gazing into her eyes and lips. Subconsciously, could he be reminded of Ned here? Ned the father he misses and admires. And who unbeknownst to Jon lied to him every day of his life supposedly to protect him. While, it's unclear why Sansa lied, fear the Vale would not arrive in time, fear Littlefinger would betray her, or as a battle strategy. The lie saved the day, saved Jon, much as her father believed he was doing.

In Jon, Sansa can find both a hero and at times a bit of a literal bastard. Someone who wants to protect her wants to fight for her. Who, at the same time, can be a bit of jerk when arguing with her. Is this a dynamic she saw in her parents that happened off-screen and off-book? Catelyn Tully certainy showed her less than kind sides to Jon. 

As Show!Jon and Show!Sansa work together to restore their home. Here is hoping that Book!Jon and Book!Sansa will reunite at Winterfell, too.  In the World of ASOIAF and GoT, their collaboration is and will be central to their character growth. They could further their emotional journies through an intense sibling relationship that never ventures into the romantic realm. While much to the consternation of JonSa shippers, myself included, the romantic relationship may or may not be necessary for these characters.  Because in Westeros, the family relationships, the sibling relationships, are primary.** We are presented again and again with sibling relationships that push and pull characters even when those siblings are not directly interacting. In our modern world it hard for us to relate to this. Today, primacy is placed on romantic partnerships. However, in a medieval world where one often had very little choice in their marriage partner, giving the sibling bond priority makes perfect sense.

Further, it is the emotional journey, not the romantic one that is central to each character in ASOIAF or GoT. Seen in this light on the show at least, JonSa has already begun. Sexual intimacy while possible was not necessary to secure their bond because it is an emotional bond, not a romantic one. It is easy to imagine them being affectionate with each other while at Castle Black or while traveling the North beyond what was depicted on camera. In this world, even sibling cuddling could have been seen as not out of the ordinary. Affection, flirting, and arguing the hallmarks of modern romantic relationships, become very much a part of Jon and Sansa's medieval emotional relationship.  

At the core of it, ASOIAF and Game of Thrones are telling us a story about family. They are telling us a story about ourselves via complicated and flawed characters. So, to answer again the commenter's complaint that Jon would not lust after his sister. Of course, he could. In fact, they already do lust after each other emotionally. This is Game of Thrones, in this world attraction emotional or physical is not reserved for appropriate romantic partners as it is in the modern world. Dynamic emotional relationships that push characters along on their journies is very much the purview of brothers and sisters.

*Yes, R+L = J and Ned is really Jon's uncle but neither character on the show or in the books is aware of this.

**This could be the subject of another meta entirely.

#jonsa meta #jonsa #whyjonsa #jon x sansa #jon snow #sansa stark #meta #asoiaf meta #alain de botton #game of thrones meta