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#oh I wish Jon Snow was the one from the books
unmotivatedwrit3r · 5 months
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One in Eleven Million (ch. 6)
damian wayne x reader x jon kent
(A/N): So I think this ends up being ten chapters? I'll try to post more frequently; I've tortured you all long enough haha. Though I'm hoping to get a couple different things out in the next couple of weeks, so you'll get more from me, just not always of this.
As always, masterlist linked here.
warnings: air travel, turbulence
wc: ~1300
~~
Damian turned from where he was watching you continue your project to face Jon. He pulled off his zip up sweater, tugging down the sleeve of his long sleeved shirt to hide the bandages Jon did at the hotel earlier in the morning, before passing it over to Jon. 
“Here.” Damian nudged him. “For the sunglasses.” 
Though he could feel your eyes on the back of his neck, Damian ignored you for now, taking his sunglasses back from Jon’s outstretched hand. In the corner, Jon curled into a ball, head tilted against the wall and face buried in Damian’s sweatshirt. Damian watched him for a moment, chest tight. No matter how many times he’d been through this with Jon, it didn’t get easier seeing him in pain. Jon flicked him a thumbs up and Damian relaxed, turning back to you. Overhead, the safety announcement came to a close. 
“He’s okay?” You asked, eyes fixed on Jon. Your arms, already wrapped around yourself, tightened. Damian nodded, eyes straying back to his left for just a moment before returning to you. 
“He will be, once we get up in the air and away from the chaos of the airport.” He tipped his chin at the project left abandoned in your lap. “How long have you been doing that?” 
“Oh a couple of years maybe? I’m not sure exactly. Do you,” you hesitated. “Do you do some kind of art? And you read Arabic, right? I saw the book you were reading last night.” Damian’s eyes scanned your face. You looked nervous, though genuine, and he found himself not minding the questions. It felt more like curiosity than idle small talk. He hated small talk.
“I do. And speak it.” Your eyes lit up. 
“Cool,” you breathed, smiling. “I’m not great at languages but I would like to be fluent in a few one day. And art?” 
“I draw,” Damian revealed. “And paint.” He fought to keep from mirroring your smile.
“That’s awesome. I write a little bit, but only as a hobby.”  
“Really? About what?” He asked genuinely. 
“Whatever I get motivation for I guess? I wish I had a better answer but I just like it.” 
“Doing things for liking them is an answer.” Damian could almost see you mulling the words around in your head. He took the moment to observe your features up close: beautiful eyes and an unexpectedly striking smile. 
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” 
“I know.” 
Your startled laugh tore the last of his self restraint down. Damian’s face split into a grin.
The two of you spent the next while talking about everything and anything. You shared your reasons for being on the plane at all, your favorite color, your other hobbies. In turn, he showed you pictures of his art, his cat and dog, and gorgeous shots of Gotham at sunrise. He had a lot of pictures of him and a brown man with shaggy dark hair and bright blue eyes. In the recent pictures, Damian began to overtake him in height. “My oldest brother,” Damian offered when you asked. 
“You’re the youngest?” He nodded. 
“Of several. I am one of the tallest, though.” 
“Oh boy,” you laughed. “I bet your older siblings hate that.” 
“They do.” 
And then there were the pictures of Jon. Jon by himself or with Damian’s pets, Jon captured in Damian’s art, and Damian and Jon together. 
“Where was this?” You asked. In the picture, Damian was standing on a pathway covered in a dusting of snow, bundled up and on crutches. Jon, in a blue zip-up and jeans, was making a snow angel on the ground in much deeper snow beside him. 
“A few winters ago. In Gotham.” 
“I remember that snowfall” You thought back to the remnants of a Mr. Freeze plot. Following Batman’s intervention, all that was left was a snowy cold front. “But mostly I stayed inside and caught up on work during the snow day. And watched too much TV.” Damian huffed a laugh. 
On his other side, small snores emanated from the pile of denim and red fabric. Jon didn’t wake when the flight attendant came around with snacks. Damian accepted Jon’s pretzels for him.
“How long have you two known each other?” You asked, some time in. Damian looked over at Jon. The lights in the cabin were dim, and both boys were bathed in shadow. 
“A decade or so, now,” he said. Then, a little quieter. “He’s my best friend.” 
“You’re a good friend Damian.” Your eyes followed his over to Jon. He looked smaller than you’d ever seen him, all 6ft something curled up in an economy airplane seat. “He’s lucky to have you.“And I know I don’t know you guys that well but I can tell he’s a good person. And that you’re lucky to have him too.” 
Damian didn’t argue. 
“I am.” 
Two hours in, Jon stirred, pushing the hood off his head and blinking slowly. 
“Hey,” he mumbled. Your breath caught unwittingly in your throat. Jon’s voice was rough and his hair was mussed from where it had been smushed underneath his hoodie. You curled your fingers into your palms, resisting the urge to push back a curl that had dropped onto his forehead. Jon rubbed the backs of his hands against his eyes, dislodging his glasses. “Did I fall asleep?” 
“Morning,” you managed. Some part of you was surprised you managed to get out any words at all, much less in a tone that wouldn’t pass for a squeal. 
Damian took his sweatshirt back from Jon’s offering hand. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah,” he said, attempting to stretch while crammed in a seat with no legroom. You just watched, chest squeezing pleasantly. Damian was watching similarly. What am I doing? You wondered to yourself. He’s not yours, neither of them are. 
“You needed the sleep,” Damian said beside you. Jon snorted out a laugh. 
“Thanks Dames,” he said dryly. 
“Always.” 
You wrenched your attention away from the boys, turning your phone over in between your hands. It was too late, you knew. You were already attached. But this was a plane, a vehicle to get you from place to place. There was no reason they would be any different, just a passing point in your life. Selfishly, you hoped they might be more. 
A tap on your shoulder from Damian brought you back into the conversation. 
“Huh?” Two sets of concerned eyes were watching you carefully. Your eyes met green then blue for only a moment. “What’s up? I zoned out for a moment, sorry. Tired.” 
Damian looked like he wanted to argue with you. You hoped he wouldn’t; you might have only met him the day before, but you had a feeling he’d figure it out anyway. 
“Do you know how far we are?” Jon asked instead. 
“Oh sure I can check that one sec.” You opened the airline map on your phone. “About an hour and a half away.” The little airplane icon on your phone screen placed the plane somewhere above the Chicago area. “See?” 
“Oh that’s cool!” Jon said to Damian, taking the device from you. “Kinda looks like the thing your dad has for my dad.” There was context you were missing, you assumed. Damian huffed a laugh. 
“It’s a similar technology.” 
“What do your dads do?” You asked them. 
“He’s a journalist,” Jon offered. 
“Businessman.” Damian’s lips quirked up. “Family business.” 
That did not clear it up for you whatsoever. You snapped your mouth shut on any follow-up questions at the jump of turbulence. Your shoulders stiffened instinctively for a moment before you relaxed back into your seat. This wasn’t your first batch of turbulence and it probably wouldn’t be your last. Damian didn’t seem shaken. Jon, though, looked terrified, one hand gripping Damian’s wrist and the other tapping furiously against his thigh. 
“Is this normal? On commercial planes?” 
“Sometimes,” Damian assured. “The pilot warned of turbulence earlier.” 
“They usually come over the loudspeaker when it happens, just to reassure people.” 
Your prediction came true with a crackle of the intercom. 
“Just an average bit of turbulence folks. All numbers are still in the green, so no need to worry. As a precaution, the seatbelt signs are going back on so please stay seated if possible.” 
The pilot’s voice seemed to reassure Jon. You, for one, were tired of hearing it.
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Team Green: Sorry your faves are boring 😊🤷‍♂️ Sure you're supposed to root for the Blacks but the Greens are just more fun. Jace is boring I'm here for my angsty disaster mess 💚
You realise that's bad writing, right? This is a family civil war drama. One side of that family civil war shouldn't be populated with blank slates. If no effort is made into making Rhaenyra and Daemon's children as fleshed out as Alicent's children then that is bad writing.
Some people find the Lannisters more fun than the Starks, but the Starks are still fleshed out characters (and considering in the books Jace is 14/15, Luke is 13, Joffrey, Baela & Rhaena are 12, Aegon the younger is 9 and Viserys is 7 - these kids ages almost map straight onto the Starklings so they were so meant to be our Targlings). It didn't have to be a zero sum "you can only have ONE side that's interesting". The show is poorer for it. Game of Thrones was a disaster in many ways, but at least the different sides of the conflict had equal screen time and attention.
How hard would it have been to flesh out Jace, or at least give him a half-decent haircut? He could have been a mirror to Jon Snow (they technically have the same initials). One is a bastard who does not know he's a targaryen prince, the other is a targaryen prince who discovers he is a bastard. In a world that hates bastards, that insists they are 'wanton and treacherous by nature', there was plenty of potential to explore some complicated emotions, to give weight to how he feels about being a bastard. The whispers that would have followed him, the scrutiny he would have felt, the internalised guilt and shame, his protectiveness over his little brothers and wish to spare them the truth. Maybe after Alicent confronted Aegon over the pig there could have been a shift where Aegon turns his bullying away from Aemond and towards Jace (more in keeping with book canon). Maybe Jace could feel anxious about lessons with Criston Cole due to his open hatred of him. Maybe he could be equal parts devoted to and resentful of his mother over his parentage, maybe he could be driven to perfectionism to prove himself worthy.
The show made Jace more violent in the fight with Aemond than in the book, by changing who started the fight (from Aemond to Rhaena and co.), by narrowing the age gap to make Jace more of a match for Aemond, and by having him draw a knife instead of a wooden toy sword. But they didn't earn that moment. How much more satisfying would it have been if both Aemond and Jace were given equal emotional weight in the build-up to the fight? If the hurt and anxiety at discovering he was a bastard had been building and building until it burst out. The entire reason the show changed the age dynamic between Rhaenyra and Alicent to make them peers and best friends was supposedly to make their conflict more dramatic - why would you then drop that approach with their kids? How does it make the civil war story better if one half of the next generation of characters aren't really characters?
They didn't even have to put much effort into Baela, as GRRM already had her brimming with personality on the page, but they just... ignored that and made her a non-entity. Oh she gets one punch in, and there's a blink and you'll miss it background shot of her trying to hit Aegon (at this point I don't think the actors were even directed to do that I think they just took it upon themselves). Meanwhile Baela in the books is wild and fearless and deliberately provocative and quick to anger and fiercely defensive of her loved ones and wrestles squires in the training yard and has a pet monkey and sneaks out in search of adventure and brings home 'unsuitable' friends. Including a legless beggar, a blacksmith's apprentice whose muscles she admired, a street conjurer, twin prostitutes and an entire troupe of mummers. And she alarms everyone due to being 'overly fond of boys' and gets epic lines like this when it is suggested she marry Lord Rowan:
“I’ve bedded two of his sons. The eldest and thirdborn, I think it was. Not both at once, that would have been improper.”
She could have been an absolutely chaotic presence onscreen. Rhaena meanwhile is a little more like Sansa to Baela's Arya, but would have needed more work to flesh her out onscreen. Her insecurities and wish for a dragon seemed promising at first, but they were dropped as soon as Aemond lost his eye. Because that was ultimately the narrative purpose she served - to provide a new reason for the fight to start that wasn't Aemond hitting and pushing a toddler into a pile of dragon poo. She helps Aemond's image by being the one to start the fight instead of him, and from then on she becomes a voiceless non-entity. We watch Aemond fly away victoriously on Vhagar, we don't see Rhaena tearfully watching the last link to her mother vanish over the horizon.
Considering the prominent role of bastards during the dance (especially the dragonseeds), the uninterest in exploring bastardy in Jace makes little sense. Considering the centrality of gender to the story (and considering a certain event involving key players during the dance), the lack of effort into Baela and Rhaena makes zero sense (the show doesn't even bring up their right to Driftmark in an episode dedicated to discussing the rightful heir to Driftmark).
Considering especially that in fantasy black women are so often consigned to minor Missandei roles, the fact that we were robbed of Baela and Rhaena as main characters particularly stings. Baela in particular was an easy fan favourite in the book, and its a role that black women and girls so rarely get to play. If you had told me before the show that Helaena would be a fan favourite over Baela, I wouldn't have believed it. And don't get me wrong, I like that they fleshed out Helaena in the show, like Rhaena she didn't have much of a presence in the book. But it is so typical that the relative non-entity that they kept white gets to be fleshed out, while the more fleshed out character that they made black becomes a non-entity. And Helaena is skinny now, of course (all love to Phia Saban, but I am mourning plump Helaena).
And don't get me started on Kylo Raemond.
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goodqueenaly · 3 months
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I just finished The Black Rose, a 1945 historical fiction novel (though I’m using the term somewhat loosely) written by Thomas Costain. GRRM has openly described his fondness for Costain (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) - not the least example of which is in his creation of House Costayne, whose sigil references both this novel and another, The Silver Chalice - and I thought it would be fun to read more GRRM inspiration books in the new year (although that’s not a demand for anyone to stop asking me about The Accursed Kings and ASOIAF, of course). As a story set in the 13th century across both England and the Mongol Empire, starring a young aristocratic would-be knight, this novel seemed like much more obvious grounds for comparison to ASOIAF than, say, The Silver Chalice (a Holy Grail origin story set in first-century Judea) or one of Costain’s (ostensibly) nonfiction Plantagenet histories, like The Conquering Family. (You might say I should have started with GRRM’s own Costain favorite, The Moneyman, but I didn’t, oh well.) 
Now, do I think The Black Rose is on the same level as, well, The Accursed Kings in terms of specific influence on ASOIAF? Probably not. While there were definitely elements to this book that I could reasonably believe were in GRRM’s mind while he was writing ASOIAF, these parallels remained largely surface-level, and in some ways indistinguishable from familiar tropes of romanticized medievalism.
For one, the novel’s hero, Walter of Gurnie, is a little bit of a Jon Snow figure. Like Jon, he is an aristocratic bastard openly recognized by his father (ostensible father, in Jon’s case), and perhaps like Jon, his (biological) father and mother had some secret pledge to marry prior to his birth (though unlike Jon, Walter’s father broke that pledge to marry another woman, the daughter of the Norman family that paid his Crusader ransom). The “Saxon” ancestry of Walter, derived from his mother’s family, compared to the “Norman” ancestry of his father, may likewise parallel the First Men ancestry of the Starks, and specifically Lyanna, versus the Valyrian ancestry of the Targaryens who had conquered Westeros in the same fashion as the Norman William the Conqueror. Too, each bastard son physically closely resembles his father (or, again, ostensible father for Jon): Walter shares the blue eyes, blond curling hair, and “Norman” nose of Earl Rauf, much as Jon shared the long face, dark hair, and gray eyes of the Starks. As with Jon, there is no love lost between the bastard son and his father’s wife, with “the Norman woman” (othered by her foreignness, very loosely akin to Catelyn and her southron origins) denouncing Walter as a “Saxon cur” (though the dowager Countess of Lessford is a tyrannical and openly villainous woman, in all other respects totally different from Catelyn). This is about where any real, even if minor, parallels to Jon end, to the extent they existed in the first place, but they’re worth noting as possible ideas for GRRM when the latter was first dreaming up Jon.
Additionally, Walter’s love interest, Maryam, has her share of parallels to Daenerys, though I think this comparison is even more limited than that between Walter and Jon. Maryam enters the story as the beautiful teenage sister (or, rather, ostensible half-sister) of the rich and thoroughly unlikeable Greek merchant Anthemus, who wishes to sell Maryam to Kublai Khan to be part of his harem - a plot point recalling Viserys’ willingness to sell his sister to Khal Drogo, into a position not too dissimilar from what Costain envisions for Kublai Khan’s harem slaves. It is worth noting, in exploring this parallels, that Maryam is revealed to be the biological daughter not of her and Anthemus’ Greek father Alexander, but of an English soldier-turned-slave in Alexander’s household, insofar as this ancestry marks Maryam (in the opinion of herself and the two main protagonists, at least) as “English” rather than foreign (much as Daenerys, though raised almost entirely in Essos, is still Westerosi in her birth and (recent, for the Targaryens) ancestry). Indeed, Maryam and Walter’s pseudo-familial connection - Walter believes that Maryam’s biological father was his own father’s faithful squire, captured during the Crusades - may link them to Jon and Daenerys, themselves related much more directly by their shared Targaryen bloodline. Again, these comparisons are pretty thin - Maryam certainly never comes into power in her own right as Daenerys does, and most of the novel consists of her either being rescued and/or protected and hidden by Walter or her attempting to reunite with him after being separated in China - but there may have been some limited inspiration here. 
There are, moreover, some other minor points of potential inspiration in the novel. Costain’s version of the medieval Oxford University, where Walter begins the novel as a student, might have resonated in GRRM’s mind when the latter was creating the Citadel (especially the divisions of learning among the students - Walter’s program of study focuses on languages, for example, while his comrade and secondary protagonist Tristram Gruffen studies math and science with Roger Bacon), though Costain hardly invented either Oxford University itself or the general idea of a medieval institution of learning. Bacon himself might have figured, or will go on to figure, into GRRM’s development of Archmaester Marwyn - an intelligent but controversial scholar, rumored to dabble in magic, fascinated with the technological innovations and learning of the east - although again, the smart, unorthodox teacher who Doesn’t Play By The Rules TM is not a trope unique to either Costain or GRRM. Overall, I think, this novel belongs to that same class of what I’ll call midcentury medievalism that seems to have had quite the impact on GRRM, without necessarily being foremost in the author’s mind. 
(Also, a friendly word of warning for anyone else who wants to delve into The Black Rose. If you thought ASOIAF occasionally falls into bad old orientalist tropes - and it does, no question - these tropes are magnified to the eleventh degree in The Black Rose. Maryam, for example, is initially introduced by Costain as having “skin of a slightly olive tint”, but consistently thereafter is referred to, and indeed defended as, “white” or “English”, specifically to negatively charged accusations of being “Greek” or “dusky”. The cruelty and barbarism depicted as normal for Mongol warriors make GRRM’s descriptions of the Dothraki appear subtle and nuanced by comparison: Costain spends several paragraphs in one chapter detailing the gruesome Crusade souvenirs carried by Mongolians (including “skin (flayed, presumably, from the hides of Western soldiers) … as saddle-cloths” and “a human skull … which had been converted into a drinking cup”) and the child-murdering game supposedly practiced by Mongolian riders, ending with the conclusion by the main character that “[t]hese Mongols are not human — [sic] not as we understand human nature”.  Even Costain’s attempts to portray one (real-life) Mongol, Bayan of the Hundred Eyes, in a relatively more positive light reflect the author’s general antagonism toward the Mongolians: Bayan is distinguished initially by Walter because his “eyes … lacked the cruel slant at the corners” and were instead “full and large … and warmly brown, glowing with a pleasant intelligence”, while Walter later informs Maryam (convinced that Bayan “must be as cruel as all the other Mongol leaders”) that Bayan “has been criticized for his leniency many times”. What’s more, when Bayan confronts Walter on the seeming hypocrisy of the Christian crusaders, who profess monogamous love while raping women in their campaigns, Walter never actually provides a defense; Walter’s later criticisms of the English feudal structure do not extend to either a repudiation of the sexual crimes associated with Western chivalry or a reconsideration of Mongolian society as anything other than terrifying and brutal.)
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valeskafics · 1 year
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Time After Time (Chapter Nine) - Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon Cross Over x Reader
A/N: I DIDNT INCLUDE ACTUAL CHRISTMAS MORNING NEXT CHAPTER OOPS
Summary: Home for the holidays.
PAIRINGS: Aegon x Reader, Aemond x Reader, Jace x Reader, Theon x Reader, Robb x Reader, Jon x Ygritte, Daenerys x Drogo, Margaery x Tommen
Word Count: 1,865
TW: profanity, innuendo
Tag List (comment if you wish to be added/removed) bold means it did not allow me to tag you: @dreaming-for-an-escape @dearsnow @cecespizza01 @justanotherkpopstanlol @its-halleys-comet @babyblue-chaos @bitchyglitterfox @youngpenguinllama @myspotofcraziness @tinykryptonitewerewolf @ietss @linevondensternen @zephyrinethedruid @bat-revival @fandoms-unite123 @midnightrqin @not-a-glad-gladiator @blakebearsblog @mawofmeraxes @whymyparentscheckmyphone @angstycatthatlikestea @larix999 @jamespotterismydaddy @the-jess-life @onadailybasis @whorefordrew @mynameisbaby9 @unnoticeableparadox @jessica295 @clara02 @ultraviollett @bitchyglitterfox @polireader @b1gb3anz @hwaillight @haven-is-happy @avaleineandafryingpan @hedahobbit98
You guys practiced this. You made them go to the train station with you several times. You’ve gotten them through campus security. You’re a well oiled machine by now.
But Jace tries to go through TSA without taking his shoes off.
That’s strike one.
Aegon tries to take an open beer with him.
That’s strike two.
Luckily, you manage to explain the overworked TSA agent that your friends have never traveled on a plane before. The poor woman is working the day before Christmas Eve at an overfilled King’s Landing airport, the least she deserves is an apology for your friends.
“I’m really sorry again,” you tell her, handing her the passports.
She nods and waves you off.
But the real trouble is about to begin.
The metal detector of course goes off when Aemond goes through. So, they send him through again. And again.
And it hits you, “Um, excuse me! My friend has a steel plate in his head from being shot in Afghanistan.”
It sounds stupid to you even when you say it, but the guard shrugs and does a manual check on Aemond, letting him through.
Aemond nearly collapses with relief when the four of you are reunited, “That was mortifying.”
“They cavity searched Theon for weed once,” you tell him, “That was mortifying.”
“Cavity searched?” Aegon arches an eyebrow.
“Weed?” Jace questions.
You think about how exactly you’re supposed to reply to this but you just shake your head, “Never mind, let’s just head to our gate.”
The four of you sit and wait for your flight, Jace standing at the window watching all the planes take off.
“These are some interesting steel dragons,” he comments, snacking on the Doritos you bought him from the gift shop, “What are they called again?”
“Airplanes,” Aemond replies for you, reading the book you picked up for him.
While this conversation goes on, you’re checking your messages from your other friends in what has been deemed “the ORIGINAL roommate group chat”.
Jon Snow: Bro, Robb’s cousin still breastfeeds
Theon Greyjoy: Bruh what
Robb Stark: I wish he was joking. I really do
Y/N: Y’all can’t be serious rn
Jon Snow: IMAGE ATTACHED
You immediately close your phone and cringe. That was something you could’ve lived without.
Aegon leans over your shoulder and tries to see what you were looking at as he puts down his own phone, “What was that?”
“Traumatic.”
He gives you a look before laughing, “Oh, Y/N, you won’t tell me what you were looking at?”
You give him a look in return, “Aeg, you don’t want to know what I was looking at.”
He shrugs and leans his head on your shoulder as you wait for your flight to be called. Jace continues eating his way through the snacks that were supposed to last for the whole flight. He’s now halfway through them. But he looks so adorable watching the planes that you can’t bear to stop him.
Soon, your flight is called and the four of you get into line to board. You take all their tickets and have them scanned, entering the plane. You sprang for Economy Plus so that Aemond could have extra legroom. You and Aemond sit on one side of the aisle, Jace and Aegon on the other. You choose to give Aemond the window seat, making sure you’re on the side where the window will be beside his good eye. He seems to realize this and takes your hand, kissing it softly.
“Thank you, Y/N.”
This was probably standard procedure for lords and ladies back in his day, but you can’t help but blush bright red, “Y-yeah, no problem.”
You turn and sit straight in your seat, catching your breath for a moment.
“This is incredible,” Jace pokes at the buttons on his personal TV, “Wow! It’s like we are sitting inside Vhagar but with a television and comfortable seat!”
Aegon reclines his seat a little too far and pisses off the woman sitting behind him, “Sorry, sorry.”
When takeoff happens, Aemond’s ears end up hurting, so you give him a piece of gum, which he accepts with thanks. You all stare out the window, the boys of course more amazed than you are. And in four hours, you’re home.
Jace, puppy that he is, is babbling about how amazing the flight was and how it was quicker than a dragon. Aemond smirks.
“I have to say, riding Vhagar was much more fun though.”
You roll your eyes and elbow him, “Well some of us mere peasants aren’t able to ride dragons,” you tease.
He laughs and then, you all see your mom, waiting with flowers.
“Y/N! You’re home,” she cries out, running to scoop you up in a hug.
Aegon, Aemond, and Jace watch the scene happily, enjoying how embarrassed you look but also seeing that you’re genuinely excited to see your mom.
“Hi, Ma,” you mumble, “You remember my friends?”
She turns to them excitedly, “You boys have grown up so much! Oh my gods, look at you! You’re all such handsome young men now!”
She hugs each of them and you smile seeing how the boys visibly light up at the affection.
She looks up at Aemond, “Sweetie, I’m going to need your help changing the batteries in a few things-”
“Okay, Mom,” you laugh, moving out of the arrivals area and towards your mom’s car, “Let’s go.”
The boys pile in once again as they did so many years ago.
“I recall when you took us for ice cream in this car, Mrs. Y/L/N,” Aemond smiles at your mom as he climbs into the back seat, “What a lovely day that was.”
“Oh, sweetie, the three of you made Y/N’s birthday so special, I was glad to do it.”
“We’ve never forgotten the kindness you showed us,” Jace adds, as he gets into the back seat beside Aemond, in the middle, “You really made us feel like we were your own children.”
Aegon stands, shifting his weight from foot to foot before looking at you, “Could I sit in the front seat?”
He looks like an innocent little puppy. And from what he’s told you and Jon, his relationship with his mom wasn’t the best. It seems like he’s just looking for a bit of attention from your mom. And you’re happy to share.
“Of course, Aeg.”
His face lights up like a Christmas tree and he runs and sits in the front seat beside your mom, chatting with her. She seems genuinely happy that one of your friends wanted to sit next to her.
You watch the familiar streets of your hometown pass by as you get closer and closer to your house. You pull into the driveway and are immediately greeted by your dad. You nearly shriek as you jump out of the car.
“Dad!”
“Y/N,” he smiles, opening his arms to embrace you, “Welcome home, kiddo.”
You hug him for a long while before pulling him over to meet your friends.
“Dad, this is Jace, Aemond, and Aegon. My friends.”
Your dad nods and shakes each of the boys hands before shrugging and pulling them each into a hug, “We’re huggers in this family.”
Aemond and Aegon are especially surprised by this show of paternal affection. But they exude visible happiness when they hug him back. Jace looks a bit choked up and hugs your dad back. You assume this is because he lost his own dad when he was so young.
Your parents lead you all inside where there’s hot chocolate waiting for each of you.
Your mom has also gotten personalized stockings for each of the boys after asking you and your friends for advice on what to get them, as well as tons of presents for them under the tree. The three of them run around the house, reminiscing on your birthday all those years ago.
“They’re nice boys,” your dad remarks, “A bit odd, but sweet kids.”
Your mom nods, “Yes, and they all clearly adore Y/N. Alexa! Play my Christmas playlist!”
The boys’ eyes widen when music starts playing throughout the house, and in unison they question, “Who is Alexa?!”
You laugh and explain Alexa is similar somewhat to Siri, but they’re still entirely fascinated. You give your mom the excuse that their families aren’t super tech savvy. She seems a bit used to their eccentricities by now.
Aegon has the most fun with Alexa, while Aemond starts fighting with her (much like he fights with Siri).
That evening, your parents put on “Love Actually” for everyone to watch. And no surprise, Jace is ugly sobbing by the end of it. Aemond finds it quite droll, while Aegon watches in silence, entirely absorbed.
“The guy with the signs is such a creep, I hate Mark,” you comment dryly as your mother throws a piece of popcorn at you.
“I think it’s quite romantic,” Jace insists, holding his face in his hands as he watches like a teenage girl.
Aemond scoffs, “I agree with Y/N. The man is a, what would Jon say? Grade A creep?”
You and Aemond bump fists at this.
After the movie, everyone goes to sleep, except for you and Aegon.
You go and sit by him on the sofa, “Hey, Aeg. You doing okay?”
He nods before turning to look at you, his eyes a bit glassy, “It’s just… Your parents and, of course you, are so wonderful… The three of you love each other so purely. And you’re kind enough to allow us into that… I never,” he pauses, “I never thought I would really feel like I’m part of a family.”
You look at him, your own eyes watering now as you pull him into a tight hug, “Hey. I’ll be your family. I promise.”
He smiles at you and hugs you back tightly, sobbing into your shoulder, “Th-thank you, Y/N.”
“Anytime. Hey,” you pause, grinning at him, “Come outside with me.”
You grab both of yourselves a pair of ice skates and lead him out the door to the frozen lake by your house. He gazes at it in wonder.
“I’m teaching you to ice skate,” you inform him, helping him into his skates after putting on your own.
He grins, “Like they showed in that film about the Elf?”
You nod, taking his hand as you begin moving on the ice. He is absolutely adorable. He’s like Bambi on the ice, his knees knocking together. You’re not a whole lot better, but your experience definitely outdoes his. But he looks like he’s having the time of his life, laughing his ass off every time he nearly falls. You giggle as you skate around him.
“This is incredible…”
“It’s one of my favorite things to do in winter,” you grin at him before turning away and leading him down the ice, “It’s less crowded this late in the evening. It’s pretty, isn’t it? You can see all the lights and everything”
“It’s beautiful.”
You aren’t looking at him at that moment, but when he says “beautiful”, he’s looking at you and only you.
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“The Death of a Bastard” Series (Part 3 of?)
Title: “An Alliance”
Pairing: Jon Snow x Reader/ Reader x Robb Stark
PART ONE PART TWO PART 4 PART 5
Warnings: None
Summary: The reader is the first to find Jon Snow’s lifeless body. She has to flee away from Castle Black and go back to her home, Rivendell. She reminisces, and remembers how she met her “Snow”, and fell in love with him. But she was promised to his half brother, Robb. Mostly based around how they met, and what in between their meeting and his death.
Comment if you want to be apart of the taglist. If at some point you want to be unadded, please let me know :) From here on, it will be going back to the beginning. How they met, why, when, and how she fell in love with them. I DID MENTION LEGOLAS. I’m not good at making up elvish names 😂
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You and Jon had only gotten closer as time went on; the older you got, the more the infatuation turned into something other than love. No one noticed when you two would sneak away to be in the godswood, or somewhere that had a lot of shadows. Arya loved Jon like a brother; she looked up to him. She helped the two of you sneak around, but on the condition that she could come along some of the time.
One cold morning, your handmaiden helped you into a dress that was made by your people. “My lady, seamstress Johanna made you this dress to accommodate this terrible climate change..” she said as she tightened the sewn in corset. The dress went from white to a blush pink, you stared at yourself in the mirror.
“Do you ever hate your breasts, Olive?” You ask as you stared at your cleavage in the mirror. Olive chuckled, “Oh child, I wish mine were how they use to be. Why do you ask?” The fellow elvish lady looked at you from over your shoulder. “It’s all men can stare at. Especially Robb. I don’t want to be adored for my breasts, I want to be adored because of my mind..” you say quietly as your hands rubbed your hips. “I don’t want to be adorned with jewels and promised land. I just want to be adorned by books, and be within nature..” you say as you look out at the sad, cloudy, and cold day. “I want my skin to be kissed by the sun, and all of my children to be able to play within the grass and lilacs trees.” You say but your eyes land on Jon Snow, who was sparring down below with Theon.
More than anything, you wanted to be with Jon Snow. Your handmaiden looked over at you and smiled, “Oh, child. You fell in love with the bastard child didn’t you?” You turn to face her.
“Why does it matter that he is a bastard? He is as much as a Stark as the rest of the children. I’d still be marrying a Stark, father would understand…” you say and Olive gave a sad smile. “My dear, your father hand picked Robb Stark. He came here months before you did, and chose which of the boys you were to marry. Bran was a possibility, but your father did not want to wait for the boy to grow.” She said as she sat down on the bed. “King Legolas, well, Lord Legolas, chose Robb to be your husband. You must marry him, there is no other choice.” She said as she picked up your your circlet crown headpiece.
As she placed it upon your head, she looked you in the eyes, “If I were you, learn to love him. Your father wants this alliance.” Olive whispered and you wiped a tear from your eye. “Why must he put this pressure on me? I would never make my daughter marry someone she doesn’t love.” You say as you fled your chambers, and on your way, you bumped into Arya.
“I apologize m’lady.” You say and Arya smiled. “I told you not to call me that.” She said as she looked both ways down the hall, and she leaned up and whispered in your ear, “Jon would like to see you in the godswood, when it is night.” She said before she darted down the hall. Walking down the stairs that led to where the boys were sparring, all eyes stopped what they were doing just to get a glimpse of you.
Your dress trailed behind you, and you smiled at all of them. “I didn’t know elvish women were so hot.” Theon said and Robb elbowed him in the ribs. “Don’t stop on my account, my lords, and Theon.”
Theon glared at you, “You can call me lord too. If you were with me, I’d let you call me that.” He said with a wink and you shuddered.
“Well, we don’t want to spar around you, m’lady.” Robb said and you picked up a sword that was hung on one of the wooden bannisters. “M’lady, that one is heavy-“
Before he could finish his sentence, you began swinging the sword in a practice manner. Their eyes were widened when your turned back to look at them, “What? Did I cut one of you?” You questioned and then a smile broke out on both Jon’s and Robb’s faces. “We’re not use to women wielding swords.” Robb said and before you could say anything, Lady Catelyn was watching from the balcony.
“Robb may I have a word with you..” she called out and Robb shared a glance at you and Jon. “Yes, mother.” Before he left your side, he pressed a kiss to your cheek, and took the sword from your hands.
Theon followed Robb, and it left you and Jon alone. His father watched you two from a distance, “I hope I did not get you guys in trouble.” You say as you rub your shoulders, and Jon shook his head. “Lady Stark does not think it’s appropriate for a woman to spar or wield a sword.” He said and you shook your head.
“I am really good with a bow. Our people are the best archers in the seven kingdoms.” Jon looked at you and grinned. “Is that so?” He asked and you nodded. “Then I guess we will find out later.” He said as he walked away from you, leaving you alone. That was, until the Lord of Winterfell himself, approached you.
“My lord.” You say as you bowed and when you stood up straight, he gave a nod with his head. “LadyY/N, I hope you are adjusting to Winterfell.” He said and you grinned. “The weather is the only thing I am still adjusting to.” You say and he smiled.
“I can imagine. Going from hot, sunny, weather to this cold place.” He said and then he lifted up the sword you were using just a few moments earlier. “You know your way around a sword?” He asked and you nodded.
“My family believes that everyone should know how to wield either a sword or a bow. Every man, woman, and child knows how to use a bow. Our ancestors were always afraid that man would try to take our land from us.” You say as Ned handed you the sword. “We are not conquerors or thieves of land; we just want peace within the realm. We will only help those who cannot help themselves.” You say as you held the sword out in front of you and ran a finger across the valerian steel blade. “We only let those we trust see our land. There are spells that shield it from those who want to take it, or mean us harm.”
Ned watched your every movement, “Lord Stark, you are a good man.. Therefore, you would be able to find Rivendell. As for Tywin Lannister, he would never see Rivendell.” He listened to every word you spoke intently, “As for Robb, he is to be my husband. He would be able to approach Rivendell even if he didn’t have the best of intentions. That is why we’re careful when it comes to arranged marriages.”
He stood there taking in every word. “I don’t understand m’lady… Why does your father need an alliance with Winterfell when your land is hidden?”
You looked around and then leaned closer to Ned, “He didn’t say we needed an alliance. Remember, we help those who cannot help themselves. Winter is coming, my Lord.” You say as you handed him the sword and walked away without saying another word.
_____________
Author’s Note:
I hope you guys enjoyed it!. From here on, this is showing how they met, and what happened when Y/N came to Winterfell. It will all lead back to Jon’s death. Who knows, maybe I will take it a step further and go to the end of the series. :) Thanks for reading!
TAGLIST: @orbitingdylan @bekky06 @lexxpexx @sarcasm-n-insomnia @hellowhatthehellisgoingonhere
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primruesabcd · 2 years
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Jonsa - Heaven Sings
The first time Jon Snow sees Sansa Stark, he is sure he’s just seen an angel. 
Though but a boy himself, he thinks on how small and delicate she looks in her white dress and how she reminds him of that porcelain doll his mother keeps in a cabinet. 
Sansa’s red hair dances in the wind and Jon’s grey eyes follow the movement, mesmerised. He smiles a little as she picks up a blue flower and places it behind her ear. Then she follows her mother away from the garden and into the kitchen, saying she’s worried about her dress getting ruined and the other siblings snicker. Silly Sansa, says her little sister Arya. Robb and Bran start kicking the ball around and Jon is pulled back to reality by the sleeve, by Arya who wants him to join. 
They are there to play with Jon, Sansa isn’t. Jon wishes she would stay, though. 
But he wouldn’t want to dirty her pretty dress.
-
The first time Jon Snow speaks with Sansa Stark, he tells her her name is pretty.
Partly because he really likes it (her name feels like a song), but mostly because she told him to. It is awkward and he stammers through most of it, but she is still pleased with the compliment and thanks him. 
“Now, the next time a girl tells you her name, make sure to tell her how pretty it is. Like you did, just now.”
He nods and promises he will, but he doubts he’ll mean it. 
-
The first time Jon Snow catches other people notice Sansa Stark, he isn’t happy.
The blond boy comes up to her locker and offers to carry her books and Jon’s heart feels heavy when she agrees to let him. Her beautiful cheeks are a soft pink and it’s because of someone else. 
Not Jon.
Jon turns away quickly, he doesn’t want Robb to catch him staring. They would be away for college soon and Robb spoke enthusiastically about them getting to meet girls there. 
Other girls. Girls who weren’t Sansa.
“There might even be one who will get you to loosen up, Snow,” says Robb. He jokes but Jon knows Robb means well. He’s a good friend.
It seemed best not to entertain more thoughts about his best friend’s little sister. 
-
The first time Jon Snow gets to hold Sansa Stark, he nearly stops breathing.
It is the winter holidays, the first time coming back to Winterfell since school started and Robb is making the rounds. Each member of the family taking turns greeting him, his mother Catelyn holding him very close and telling him to call more. Jon’s own mother is absent. 
In the back of the livingroom he finds himself joined by Sansa. Unlike Arya, she is not one to tackle Jon playfully in greeting. Instead, her soft arms envelope him gently and she brings with her the scent of lemon and vanilla. Even in his wildest dreams, he’s never come close to picturing what her scent would be like. 
“Hi,” says Sansa as she backs away. 
“Hi,” answers Jon. What now? 
Just as she looks like she is about to speak, the doorbell rings. 
“Oh, hello, Snow.” He walks in, smirk in tow and he is joined by family. All but the father shares his golden hair. “You don’t mind if I steal her away, do you?”
Sansa looks at the floor but this time her cheeks aren’t coated in the blush of a girl in love. They are white in fear.
Jon says nothing but the boy leads her away anyway. 
-
The first time Jon Snow sees Sansa Stark cry, his heart breaks. 
Even crying she is quite the sight, with her red hair lit up by the moonlight and her eyes a deep blue. Against the snow she stands out, which is lucky because it made finding her so much easier. 
He had been the only one to notice she had escaped, the only one to wonder where she ran off to. And so, he is the only one to find her sitting on a bench in the backyard, partly hidden behind some trees. The Starks had a big backyard. 
His footsteps alert her to his approaching and as her blue eyes look up at him, filled to the brim with tears, all he can do is stand there and watch. Because he doesn’t know anything else. He’s never done anything but watch until today. 
He wants to do more though, and so he takes a step. Then another. And another. Until finally, he can kneel down and ask her what happened. 
She hesitates and he can read the thoughts going through her mind. Can she trust him?
But then, she says it. One word to tell him that she does. One word to tell him all he needs to know.
Joffrey.
It is Sansa that throws her arms around him first. Sansa that nuzzles into his neck. He can feel her wet cheeks, the ones that used to be so wonderfully pink, and he makes a vow to her:
“He won’t ever hurt you again.”
-
The first time Jon Snow kisses Sansa Stark, he can’t believe it’s actually happening.
The red hair he’s always watched from afar is tangled up in his hands, he can feel it, and still he needs to clutch her closer, and closer, and even closer yet, because he needs to know this is real. He needs to know that the soft lips that are on him, that open up to him so willingly, are real. Because gods, what could ever persuade him to wake up if they were not? 
“Jon . . .” 
He has to stop himself from falling to his knees. Her words have such power over him and when she speaks his name his first impulse is to kneel and worship her. What a piece of heaven she was for him.
It’s when he spots the red flecks of blood on her face that he realises what he’s done. His knuckles are raw and throbbing, yet he’s felt none of it. 
“Sansa—”
“Yes?” She watches him, sees him, looks at him like he’s always watched her. It’s a new feeling for Jon. 
But . . .
-
The first time Jon Snow fights with Sansa Stark, he is certain she isn’t as delicate as he once thought. 
Her words cut into him like knives, words that remind him of how stubborn and foolish he’s being. How he’s throwing away something good. 
“But I’m not good,” he explains for the umpteenth time. “I’m not good for you.” 
She rolls her eyes. “And I suppose you get to decide that for me? You are good! That’s why you’re doing this! A truly awful person wouldn’t protect me the way you do!”
“A truly good person also wouldn’t do the things I’ve done and hold you with those very hands!”
She takes his hands into her own and they are soft and warm. Like hellfire. She is his heaven and his hell. “These hands only did what I asked you to.” 
Jon swallows. He feels her pull him in, like gravity. 
Her kisses are slow and deliberate. She wants him to think on them. To have time to consider what he would be giving up. 
“What if I told you that there are no such things like knights and fair maidens?” she whispers against his lips. “What if told you that all the songs were lies?” 
“I’d tell you you’re wrong.”
Sansa’s gaze snaps up at him. 
Jon continues, “And if you don’t believe, I’ll help you see. I’ll help you belive in magic again.”
She wavers, but then, “You promise?” 
“Yes. And I keep my promises, remember?” 
Her lips are on him again and heaven sings.
-
The first time Jon Snow kills for Sansa Stark, he feels like a knight. A knight who just saved the princess and defeated the big bad dragon.
They never find Joffrey’s body, but Jon doesn’t expect them to. He did his homework. He made sure there would be nothing to come back and hurt him and Sansa.
He lets them believe the lie that Joffrey Baratheon was a nice, rich, popular guy that went tragically missing. He lets them build him a memorial fountain. He even lets Sansa publicly mourn him.
Behind closed doors and in the cover of dark, however, he refuses to hear Joffrey’s name from her lips. Those words belong to him. Those lips are meant for him. Greedily, Jon’s bruised hands rove over her body, claiming it all for himself.
Finally, when Sansa sighs his name—  Jon’s name—  it sounds like a prayer. And it’s one he’s more than willing to answer. 
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rosheendubh · 6 months
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just as point in fact…no one ever paired Tywin Lannister and dad-bod in the same sentence…
—Just sayin’…a mid-60s/maybe early 70s, lean, mean, ruthless, pragmatic, cunning, disciplined, battle-machine. He walked into that throne room when Cersei was about to kill herself, and her son, with more presence than Filoni’s rendition of Thrawn (no fault to Lars, but he was both not well cast, and not well directed) could to an entire ISD hanger’s worth of Fart-Gas Zombies held together by red duct tape chanting his name…which is also quite out of character, whether from Legends/canon EU books. Thrawn’s characterization with Zahn is many things, but excessive displays of aggrandizing isn’t one of them (cue: the apologetics for “but 10 years in Exile”)…it also doesn’t help that none of the actors look like they’re taking their lines seriously (and with the over-long, melodramatic pauses, long-range 10000 yard stares, and ChatGPT level dialogue, who can blame them?—no honestly, I’ve seen ChatGPT dialogue that sounded exactly like that exchange between Sabine and Ahsoka on the ship, with her training…down to the actual tags/and descriptors), and move through the space around them so stiff and hesitant, you can tell no time was taken to smooth out scenes largely cast on green-screen between the production team, and the actors. Which is why, even the action bits appear awkward, and without much dynamism.
—To each their own, but this portrayal of such a pivotal character is definitely Filoni’s (horridly, but only IMHO) misconstruction. —and as for Ezra and Sabine’s reunion…*wah-wah-wah*—whaaaa??? Anyone recall Sansa and Jon Snow’s embrace after ALL THE ABSOLUTE SHITE they’ve survived over the years? I will still rewatch that moment—ya’ll should too. It’s very cathartic compared to Gazoo-moment everyone was rewarded with, between Ezra (“Hey, Girl, Waz’Up-Word”)-lost-boy-for-a-decade-SpaceAladdin, and Sabine (I’m supposed to be in my late 20s/30?-with the emotional maturity of a teen who just lost cell phone privileges-so flipping annoying-you wish Shin actually had gutted her and decapitated her…omg—how do people think she’s *sooo awesome*—and goes shrill on a Wolf-Horse for…reasons?? Oh, dramatic tension, she’s a very tortured and *fiery* warrior…I’m a woman, and a feminist, but this ain’t how ladies should be written…this is how fanboys think STRONGFEMALECHARACTERS act…take a pass, go watch EmilyBlunt in ‘TheEdgeofTomorrow*…).
—GoTs has A LOT OF ISSUES (mostly with S7/S8 of GoT, and its early Season1 episodes were admittedly…difficult. For a while, I called it LotR with T&A$$…but by that SeasonFinale, as Daenerys stepped out of ashes with 3 lil’Bebe Dragons, and Jorah kneels to her, vowing that line, “Blood of my Blood”—a line that could have fallen in flat-trope-tripe—hell no, hello, Drama Hook. We were on Team Dany…). —Genera differences aside, Team Filoni needs to take some lessons from what the GoTs writers/producers learned as they re-vamped (apparently, an even worse original filming of S1E1 of GoTs, that went back to the drawing board, it was so awful…so urban legend/DenofGeek alleges)—get fresh eyes to look at what you’re doin’ dudes…and maybe someone who’s read the actual source material. But isn’t in love with it—like Gilroy. I still think that’s why ‘Andor’ carried such a different essence—and a much needed sophistication for how science-fiction, and SpaceOpera ought to land. Fuck, go read some DeathStalker too, if you’re looking for bombast with tropes, and a good time. Watch bloody ‘The Expanse’. Someone mentioned, if Filoni required a lesson on how to communicate back-story as a balance between narration, and scene progression, to bring a largely uninformed audience up to speed on a Universe/World building Plot mythos with which most audience isn’t familiar, watch the first 15 minutes of ‘Serenity’. And maybe the entire Season of ‘Arcane’?. —which leads to the ultimate conclusion, Thrawn shouldn’t have been used by Filoni at all in ‘Rebels’. They needed a BigBad, and he ought to have just contrived his own generic Imperial of the Week. Which is what he did. And named it Thrawn. And yes, I know, supposedly he consulted Zahn. I’m more convinced, Zahn is diplomatic, and either felt (as he’d mentioned a few years ago), he was done writing Thrawn’s arc, and so, resigned his BlueManArtLovingAdmiral to the Disney drain of EU archives from which Disney borrows when it can’t be bothered to create its own original characters; or, he’s going to quietly retcon Thrawnius back into Zahn shape—given the rumors of recent months where he seems to have reconsidered revisiting Thrawn/Chiss arcs. Who knows? —My suspicion with ‘Rebels’ (of which, I completely can figure out the story-line, *secret*—it’s not that complicated for anyone who’s read any sort of children’s literature, or young adult books through their youth. Yes, I’ve tried watching episodes—it’s a cartoon made for kids—would’a loved as a kid…probably/maybe? As an adult, I’m wondering what other fodder people read and watch to consider this *quality*). I think what no one admits is, the animated series needed a big name from popular Lore to draw viewers, so there was computer-animated, cartoon-Thrawn…Filoni’s Disney Imperial. —okay, soap box rant done—we all have our OPs. I’m holding out for Andor/S2, but after that, cancelling Disney+. Actually, might even cancel before, and just renew when Andor/S2 comes out…
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A Clash of Kings - 01 ARYA I (pages 27-33)
Arya begins her journey north with Yoren and his Night's Watch 'recruits' while trying to deal with the emotional fallout of her father's murder.
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She wished the Rush would rise up and wash the whole city away, Flea Bottom and the Red Keep and the Great Sept and everything, and everyone too, especially Prince Joffrey and his mother. But she knew it wouldn't, and anyhow Sansa was still in the city and would wash away too. When she remembered that, Arya wished for Winterfell instead.
Awwww. Sisterly forgiveness and affection is not "I'm sorry" and "I forgive you" it's "You aren't included in the intended victims of my plot or on the hit list I gave to God for his divine smiting."
They took five wagons out of King's Landing, laden with supplies for the Wall; hides and bolts of cloth, bars of pig iron, a cage of ravens, books and papers and ink, a bale of sourleaf, jars of oil, and chests of medicine and spices. Teams of plow horses pulled the wagons, and Yoren had bought two coursers and a half-dozen donkeys for the boys.
Again, this is one of my favourite details about GRRM's works, the details. I have read so many books that would have left it at "-laden with supplies for the Wall." IF they'd bothered to mention supply wagons at all. ehehe, spell of summon supply wagon. Can only be used at your destination.
Arya hated them making fun of Needle. "It's castle-forged steel, you stupid," she snapped, turning in the saddle to glare at them, "and you'd better shut your mouth." ... "He probably stole it." "I did not!" she shouted. Jon Snow had given her Needle. Maybe she had to let them call her Lumpyhead, but she wasn't going to let them call Jon a thief. ... Yes, I do, Arya could have said. I killed a boy, a fat boy like you, I stabbed him in the belly and he died, and I'll kill you too if you don't let me alone. Only she did not dare. Yoren didn't know about the stableboy, but she was afraid of what he might do if he found out.
Ah, there's the tricky bit. Arya has always been the kind of girl who speaks her mind, whether it's appropriate or not. She's doing well to keep her tongue and keep to herself, for the most part, despite the boys being Grade A asshats, but she does still have her lines that she can't quite keep from snapping. Like insults to Jon.
Arya slid her practice sword from her belt. "You can have this one," she told Hot Pie, not wanting to fight. "That's just some stick." He rode nearer and tried to reach over for Needle's Hilt. Arya made the stick whistle as she laid the wood across his donkey's hindquarters. The animal hawed and bucked, dumping Hot Pie on the ground.
Yes! Good attempt at de-escalating, solid negotiation attempt, and an excellent improvisation when it failed. Good, quick thinking and action!
Holy- that escalated very quickly, and violently! Hot Pie really should have just stayed down. Pride be damned.
Oh! Yoren with the stick. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I know this is the kind of world that still thinks that's an appropriate punishment, and he can't show Arya much of any favour or risk her cover, but damn. And yes, okay, she just brutally, and literally, beat the shit out of Hot Pie, but damn.
Calm as still water, she told herself, the way Syrio Forel had taught her. "Some." He spat. "The pie boy's hurting worse. It wasn't him as killed your father, girl, nor that thieving Lommy neither. Hitting them won't bring him back." "I know," Arya muttered sullenly. "Here's something you don't know. It wasn't supposed to happen like it did. I was set to leave, wagons bought and loaded, and a man comes with a boy for me, and a purse of coin, and a message, never mind who it's from. Lord Eddard's to take the black, he says to me, wait, he'll be going with you. Why d'you think I was there? Only something went queer." "Joffrey," Arya breathed. "Someone should kill him!" "Someone will, but it won't be me, nor you neither."
Still mad at Yoren for flogging her thighs, but he knows what's up. Decent talk down... mind you given this series, that actually a pretty high compliment.
Also happy to see Syrio mentioned. Too many series forget the dead mentor as soon as the body is off screen, and dredge it up when they need a quick 'hey remember your angsty backstory' moment. I like that what she's remembering is basically a meditation and calming technique. The show freaking robbed us. It was all swish-swish-stab, and none of the quieter things.
It did give us the 'what do we say to the god of death' meme, but that's just a variant on "Today is a Good Day To Die" "Yeah, but tomorrow's an even better one"/"A good day for you to die."
When Arya squinted the right way she could see a sword too, only it wasn't a new sword, it was Ice, her father's greatsword, all ripply Valyrian steel, and the red was Lord Eddard's blood on the blade after Ser Ilyn the King's Justice had cut off his head. Yoren had made her look away when it happened, yet it seemed to her that the comet looked like Ice must have, after.
Valyrian steel = 🥛
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game of thrones :)
Oh my dear fellow octogoblin stan who made me ship them, thankssss!!!!
The first character I first fell in love with: Tyrion, my favorite Lannister from the show <3 Love him
The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Sansa <3 She is stronger than a lot of people think and her chapters in the books are more interesting than I initially thought
The character everyone else loves that I don't: I think Daenerys? I don't dislike her, but I don't like her neither.. I'm just?? Indifferent to her??
The character I love that everyone else hates: Tywin :3 I mean I know he is a villain and in real life I would hate him but he is one of the best written characters in the show, plus is so fucking HOT (thanks to Charles Dance u.u)
The character I used to love but don't any longer: Jon Snow, I liked him but then he becomes useless??
The character I would totally smooch: Show!Podrick, he is cute <3
The character I'd want to be like: my perfect baby Ser Brienne, oh God, I wish
The character I'd slap: lol imagine answering this with a different character than Joffrey, couldn't be me
A pairing that I love: JAIME AND BRIENNE FOR EVER AND EVER THE BEST SHIP
A pairing that I despise: I'm going with my biggest NOTP ever aka Jaime and Cersei but actually any incest ship could be here
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Let me give you the Game of Thrones we all wanted. Not just me and you, but D&D too. They wanted the unexpected and the thrill, we wanted the characters. These are not mutually exclusive.
Arya Stark kills the Night King, but not alone.
Jon makes it to his last little brother just in time to see a battered and bloody Theon cut down defending him. The Night King is injured, but not defeated. He has no interest in meeting Jon head on, so he sends the wights to do so while he advances on Bran.
Rhaegal, wounded but loyal, appears to burn the wights who would have stopped him. Jon has no time to be in awe of the dragonfire which saves his life, only time to charge straight at the Night King and fight. This is why he left his black brothers to die, after all, for Ned Stark's last son. He could not save Robb, could not fight beside him, but he will give his life for Bran if need be.
Yet the Night King cares nothing for honor. Wights gone, he summons his generals. Two White Walkers rush to his defense, preparing to kill Jon, but they do not make it across the courtyard before it is filled with wolves. The largest of them, a she-wolf as large as a pony, leads her pack in the charge. Nymeria cannot kill the White Walker, but she and her pack rip them limb from limb, the screams like nothing Jon has ever heard.
Cruel and careful, the Night King uses his distraction to knock him off his feet. As the killing blow comes down, Jon sees something behind the Night King. Silent as any shadowcat, Arya has snuck into the godswood, into the battle. She drags her blade across the White Walkers throat, and he turns into a rush of blood and a shattering of ice shards.
All of his wights fall with him, but there are other White Walkers yet remaining. Somewhere beyond the walls of Winterfell, Rhaegal and Drogon obey their mother, and turn their wights into nothing more than ash. Relieved of the great burden of the living dead, the men rally to kill the remaining White Walkers. Grey Worm kills one and Sandor another, while Brienne claims two. Under the watchful eyes of the ravens, none escape.
The Starks do not notice this. Jon hugs Arya tight, there in their father's godswood covered with the fallen dead, and cries for the first time since he woke from darkness. Arya, who might have been No One except that she could not forget Jon Snow's smile, pulls him back to Bran and holds him tight.
This is how the dawn is won.
Afterward, the Starks rally their men to march North. Cersei awaits them, enthroned in Kings Landing, and she has hurt them too much to forget. Sansa, afraid and angry, whispers in Tyrion's ear before he goes. She has known no benevolent monarchs and no merciful women once they have their power. Lysa, Margaery, Cersei, all of them turned against her. So she gives up the secret she has sworn to keep, for the offer of a crown on her brother's head. Arya and Jon head south with the army, but Sansa has sworn never to leave the North again.
As they march south, Daenerys frees Riverrun, naming Edmure and his new daughter her rightful rulers, and meet with the remaining 30,000 men from the Vale. Anya Waynewood remembers Queen Visenya's visit to the Eyrie; she does not need a reminder of why the Vale kings knelt to the Targaryens. When they reach Kings Landing, the Reach awaits them, some 10,000 men rallied from the shadow of Highgarden and Horn Hill.
Plans are formed and ravens sent, but when the armies are gathered the queen remains on Dragonstone. In her place are Jon and Rhaegal, landing before the city and calling the forces to attention. Sansa was not wrong. Tyrion and Varys would sooner a man sit the throne than a woman, birth and expulsion aside, and so would most of the realm. Their greatest challenge had been convincing Jon, reborn without purpose, conqueror of the White Walkers, King in the North, Jon, that he deserved his father's throne.
Tyrion presents an impassioned plea, including a warning of the threat the coldness between his sisters and the queen carried. Sam, crippled yet alive, gives him papers supporting his claim and his late father's writings, which name his son Aegon as the Prince Who Was Promised. Varys, the Mad King's most trusted advisor, is quick to support these claims. After all, why would a Stark bastard be brought back for nothing? He had won the Dawn. He had defeated the Army of the Dead. Now his throne awaited.
Aegon. What better name for a king?
So it is that Jon names himself Aegon VI Targaryen, recognizing Lyanna Stark as his mother, and takes Kings Landing in a bloody battle. When it is done, there is a new Sack of Kings Landing, the city half afire and the Red Keep in ruins, but there is a new king.
Ned Stark had tried to save Cersei's children, but she has no more of them. Jon condemns her for usurping the throne, destroying the sept, and the murder of his father. Rather than executing her, he sends her to the dungeons she had fostered to die as Unella and Tyene and Falyse Stokeworth had.`
Then he turns his gaze to the rest of the realm, demanding obedience. Both Targaryen and Stark had suffered too long under lesser houses. Under Tyrion's guidance, he uses Ellaria as leverage against Dorne and names Bronn the Lord of Highgarden. When the Reach rumbles with the Florent's threat of rebellion he burns Brightwater Keep to ash with her lord inside, and gives the land to Melessa Tarly for her son's service.
A king needs a queen, and Daenerys had been rejected by his advisors. Alys Waynwood and Jynna Mallister are called to the capitol to see the king, although Jon refuses to entertain any of Tyrion's cousins. Both of them are rejected, and Jon insists a Northern girl be summoned, one who worships the Old Gods. The Faith doesn't like that, but aren't in a position to protest yet.
Cersei's screams can be heard from the dungeons, and Tyrion can't bring himself to go down and see her. The sister that he had fought so hard to help would blame him for this fate, he knows. He bars Jaime from the capitol, shipping him back to Winterfell and his lady knight with a hundred men as guards.
House Yronwood, now wed to Oberyn's last daughter, have no interest in rejoining the realm. Jon threatens to kill Ellaria and send them her head, but what does Yronwood care about a bastard who had murdered Doran Martell, when compared to a man usurping the name and throne belonging to Elia's son? She is not Sarella's mother, and Jon will not wed their princess.
When Yara Greyjoy declares her independence behind their own, Jon prepares Rhaegal for a war. They fought against Robb and weakened him, what does Jon care for their houses or Daenerys' promises? The Iron Islands will belong to the Iron Throne or they will be dust and ash.
Daenerys isn't dead.
Varys poisoned her, but she is a Targaryen and they have always resisted poison and illness better than most. For many days she is too weak to get out of bed. When at last she can stand, Grey Worm admits to her that Rhaegal is gone and Jon Snow rules in Kings Landing. He sits on her throne, but she cannot fight against her son.
For some time she is forced to stay on Dragonstone to recover. It is during this time that a ship full of Dothraki arrives. It is largely young men eager to join her men, but two women are on the ship as well. Ornela, the khaleesi who had helped her in Vaes Dothraki, and Jhiqui, Irri's sister. Her bloodriders, Aggo and Kovarro, who had joined her after Drogo's dead, had called for them.
Together they support her while she recovers from near death. They bring her food and wash her hair, they find food testers and sleep next to her at night. Once she had led her people across the Red Waste and fought for their freedom, but now they are her strength. One night, Dany sits with Grey Worm and tells him he is free to go if he wishes to. Her stoic war commander had refused, promising to see her home first.
But where was her home?
The darkness that has encompassed her life is finally broken by the arrival of a Volantene galley arriving in her harbor. Jon is not brave enough to war against her, knowing that Rhaegal would lose a fight against his brother, but Volantis was not afraid. They had sided with Yunkai against her, sending ships and men to their aid.
It is not the soldiers of the Old Blood that have come to Dragonstone. It is an old woman. Her spine is bent and her white hair so thin Dany can see her scalp. Her face is covered in scars, but her eyes are bright and black. She has come not for Daenerys Targaryen, but for the Breaker of Chains, the woman those in the Bay of Dragons still call Mhysa.
She calls herself Vogarro's whore, but the slaves in Volantis call her the Widow of the Waterfront. Nothing she has can help Dany. Instead, she brings a plea from the slaves of Volantis. She says that they are waiting. She begs her to come soon. Slaver's Bay may be no more, but the Free Cities still thrive. Children are bought and sold every day.
And so Daenerys rises from Dragonstone and leaves the Iron Throne behind. If she is not to be a queen, then let her be a conqueror, a rescuer. Grey Worm and his men rally to her side.
Her fleet is reduced, but so are her men. She takes them all, refusing to leave any of her people where the Westerosi might find them, and she summons Drogon from his nest in the hills. With him comes Rhaegal, her son responding to her call despite his rider. When they sail east, two dragons go with her.
Volantis, as Slaver's Bay before her, falls to fire and blood. Daenerys frees the city and gives rule over to her people, the freedmen who fought for their own freedom when the dragons came to their aid.
Months later, a ship with the last Lannister sails into Volantis' bay.
Daenerys is not there. She has gone north, to Pentos, to an old friend and to strangers. The Unsullied who remain in the city are no friends to the Sunset Kingdoms, and least of all Tyrion Lannister.
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aerltarg · 2 years
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Jon Snow Month 2022
Day 2: Book moments or quotes
“Lord Janos,” Jon said, “I will give you one last chance. Put down that spoon and get to the stables. I have had your horse saddled and bridled. It is a long, hard road to Greyguard.”
“Then you had best be on your way, boy.” Slynt laughed, dribbling porridge down his chest. “Greyguard’s a good place for the likes of you, I’m thinking. Well away from decent godly folk. The mark of the beast is on you, bastard.”
“You are refusing to obey my order?”
“You can stick your order up your bastard’s arse,” said Slynt, his jowls quivering.
Alliser Thorne smiled a thin smile, his black eyes fixed on Jon. At another table, Godry the Giantslayer began to laugh.
“As you will.” Jon nodded to Iron Emmett. “Please take Lord Janos to the Wall—”
—and confine him to an ice cell, he might have said. A day or ten cramped up inside the ice would leave him shivering and feverish and begging for release, Jon did not doubt. And the moment he is out, he and Thorne will begin to plot again.
—and tie him to his horse, he might have said. If Slynt did not wish to go to Greyguard as its commander, he could go as its cook. It will only be a matter of time until he deserts, then. And how many others will he take with him?
“—and hang him,” Jon finished.
Janos Slynt’s face went as white as milk. The spoon slipped from his fingers. Edd and Emmett crossed the room, their footsteps ringing on the stone floor. Bowen Marsh’s mouth opened and closed though no words came out. Ser Alliser Thorne reached for his sword hilt. Go on, Jon thought. Longclaw was slung across his back. Show your steel. Give me cause to do the same.
Half the men in the hall were on their feet. Southron knights and men-at-arms, loyal to King Stannis or the red woman or both, and Sworn Brothers of the Night’s Watch. Some had chosen Jon to be their lord commander. Others had cast their stones for Bowen Marsh, Ser Denys Mallister, Cotter Pyke … and some for Janos Slynt. Hundreds of them, as I recall. Jon wondered how many of those men were in the cellar right now. For a moment the world balanced on a sword’s edge.
Alliser Thorne took his hand from his sword and stepped aside to let Edd Tollett pass.
Dolorous Edd took hold of Slynt by one arm, Iron Emmett by the other. Together they hauled him from the bench. “No,” Lord Janos protested, flecks of porridge spraying from his lips. “No, unhand me. He’s just a boy, a bastard. His father was a traitor. The mark of the beast is on him, that wolf of his … Let go of me! [...]” He was still protesting as they half-marched, half-dragged him up the steps.
Jon followed them outside. Behind him, the cellar emptied. At the cage, Slynt wrenched loose for a moment and tried to make a fight of it, but Iron Emmett caught him by the throat and slammed him back against the iron bars until he desisted. By then all of Castle Black had come outside to watch. [...]
“If the boy thinks that he can frighten me, he is mistaken,” they heard Lord Janos said. “He would not dare to hang me. Janos Slynt has friends, important friends, you’ll see …” The wind whipped away the rest of his words.
This is wrong, Jon thought. “Stop.”
Emmett turned back, frowning. “My lord?”
“I will not hang him,” said Jon. “Bring him here.”
“Oh, Seven save us,” he heard Bowen Marsh cry out.
The smile that Lord Janos Slynt smiled then had all the sweetness of rancid butter. Until Jon said, “Edd, fetch me a block,” and unsheathed Longclaw.
By the time a suitable chopping block was found, Lord Janos had retreated into the winch cage, but Iron Emmett went in after him and dragged him out. “No,” Slynt cried, as Emmett half-shoved and halfpulled him across the yard. “Unhand me … you cannot … when Tywin Lannister hears of this, you will all rue—”
Emmett kicked his legs out from under him. Dolorous Edd planted a foot on his back to keep him on his knees as Emmett shoved the block beneath his head. “This will go easier if you stay still,” Jon Snow promised him. “Move to avoid the cut, and you will still die, but your dying will be uglier. Stretch out your neck, my lord.” The pale morning sunlight ran up and down his blade as Jon clasped the hilt of the bastard sword with both hands and raised it high. “If you have any last words, now is the time to speak them,” he said, expecting one last curse.
Janos Slynt twisted his neck around to stare up at him. “Please, my lord. Mercy. I’ll … I’ll go, I will, I …”
No, thought Jon. You closed that door. Longclaw descended.
In this amazing scene from Jon II, ADWD, I really appreciate not only Jon's ability to be ruthless in ruling if need be, but also the fact that he can stay so calm and focused, keep his dignity and composure despite the multiple insults, mockingly thrown right at his face, accompanied by his other foes laughing at him, and the brilliant way he handled the whole situation, showing not only his self-control and maturity but also his intelligence.
Jon made it clear why Janos Slynt was executed - because he, a sworn brother, disobeyed his Lord Commander, not because of some personal quarrels with Jon abusing his power and playing with human lives for the sake of “winning” petty fights with others, as a boy Slynt and others thought him to be would do. Jon proved he is a man, not a child that can be told off by these grown men, and that neither he nor his commands should be underestimated because of his age.
Jon willingly chose the harshest option because it was the most effective one. By one (1) action he defeated more than just one foe, as we can clearly see from the quote above.
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weirwoodking · 3 years
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I have a small headcanon that Sansa has already skinchanged into a bird without her knowledge once before. This passage about Marillion in the sky cells in particular:
“When she closed her eyes she could see him in his sky cell, huddled in a corner away from the cold black sky, crouched beneath a fur with his woodharp cradled against his chest.”
What do you think?
Oh, absolutely. I do think that she’s experienced her powers in some way, she just hasn’t thought about them.
George does leave these little subtle hints in the text that point to the Stark kids abilities, the earliest being in chapter one:
Halfway across the bridge, Jon pulled up suddenly.
“What is it, Jon?” their lord father asked.
“Can’t you hear it?”
Bran could hear the wind in the trees, the clatter of their hooves on the ironwood planks, the whimpering of his hungry pup, but Jon was listening to something else.
“There,” Jon said. He swung his horse around and galloped back across the bridge. They watched him dismount where the direwolf lay dead in the snow, watched him kneel. A moment later he was riding back to them, smiling.
“He must have crawled away from the others,” Jon said. (Bran I, AGOT)
While on horseback, and halfway across the bridge, already far away from where a mute direwolf puppy was, Jon was able to “hear” him. Obviously, he didn’t hear Ghost, he sensed him. Already, he was bonded with Ghost, even though this was about a year and half before Jon had his first “true” wolf dream. And furthermore, it takes a while before he’s able to clearly remember these dreams:
The wolf dreams had been growing stronger, and he found himself remembering them even when awake. (Jon I, ADWD)
So, yes, I definitely think that Sansa could already be having skinchanging dreams with a bird/birds. She just might not remember it. Also, she doesn’t have to have been having direct dreams, but moments of using the bird’s senses. Not fully in the animal, just sharing it’s space for a moment.
Unlike the sh*w, where skinchanging is an on/off switch (you’re either inside the animal or not inside the animal), skinchanging in the books is more nuanced. Jon is able to brush his hand up against Ghost and tap into the wolf’s senses, without fully warging him. He can even taste blood in his mouth after Ghost kills, and he can feel the wolf’s hunger. The most notable instance of this “one mind in two bodies simultaneously” thing is with Arya and the Braavos street cat:
That night she dreamed she was a wolf again, but it was different from the other dreams. In this dream she had no pack. She prowled alone, bounding over rooftops and padding silently beside the banks of a canal, stalking shadows through the fog. (Cat of the Canals, AFFC)
The tavern was near empty, and she was able to claim a quiet corner not far from the fire. No sooner had she settled there and crossed her legs than something brushed up against her thigh. "You again?" said the blind girl. She scratched his head behind one ear, and the cat jumped up into her lap and began to purr. Braavos was full of cats, and no place more than Pynto's. The old pirate believed they brought good luck and kept his tavern free of vermin. "You know me, don't you?" she whispered. Cats were not fooled by a mummer's moles. They remembered Cat of the Canals.
[...]
The Lyseni took the table nearest to the fire and spoke quietly over cups of black tar rum, keeping their voices low so no one could overhear. But she was no one and she heard most every word. And for a time it seemed that she could see them too, through the slitted yellow eyes of the tomcat purring in her lap. One was old and one was young and one had lost an ear, but all three had the white-blond hair and smooth fair skin of Lys, where the blood of the old Freehold still ran strong. (The Blind Girl, ADWD)
"It is good to know. This is two. Is there a third?"
"Yes. I know that you're the one who has been hitting me." Her stick flashed out, and cracked against his fingers, sending his own stick clattering to the floor.
The priest winced and snatched his hand back. "And how could a blind girl know that?"
I saw you. "I gave you three. I don't need to give you four." Maybe on the morrow she would tell him about the cat that had followed her home last night from Pynto's, the cat that was hiding in the rafters, looking down on them. Or maybe not. If he could have secrets, so could she. (The Blind Girl, ADWD)
While Arya is not fully outside of her body and in the body of the cat, she’s able to use the cat’s eyes as her own. And she isn’t even aware that she’s doing it, it’s just occurring naturally. I do believe that the same cat she dreams as in AFFC is the tomcat that she sees through in ADWD.
So, yes, I do believe that Sansa could be looking through the eyes of a bird. She’s just not aware of it.
It does seem like the Stark kids are much more powerful than the average skinchangers/wargs, immediately bonding to the wolves without realizing it, and already connecting with other animals. Arya is able to warg Nymeria from an entirely separate continent, which probably isn’t standard behavior, especially not for someone who doesn’t even know what they’re doing and has no training. Even Varamyr, a man who has mastered the control of five animals, recognizes Jon’s power:
The gift was strong in Snow, but the youth was untaught, still fighting his nature when he should have gloried in it. (Prologue, ADWD)
So, the Starks seem to be pretty powerful. And that includes Sansa, as GRRM has confirmed that she is still a skinchanger, meaning that he’s definitely going to have a bond with an animal at some point. It would make sense for him to have already been leaving little hints about it.
A very important component to Sansa’s character, which could be affecting her skinchanging powers, is her memory. The way that Sansa’s mind has coped with her trauma is by suppressing and rewriting certain distressing, scarring, and confusing memories. This is something that all the Stark kids do, in different levels. For example, Bran believes that Rickon intentionally suppresses the memory of Ned being dead:
"Tell Robb I want him to come home," said Rickon. "He can bring his wolf home too, and Mother and Father." Though he knew Lord Eddard was dead, sometimes Rickon forgot... willfully, Bran suspected. (Bran V, ACOK)
Bran himself does this as well:
The dream he'd had... the dream Summer had had... No, I mustn't think about that dream. He had not even told the Reeds, though Meera at least seemed to sense that something was wrong. If he never talked of it maybe he could forget he ever dreamed it, and then it wouldn't have happened and Robb and Grey Wind would still be... (Bran IV, ASOS)
Sansa does this the most out of her siblings, it’s her primary coping mechanism. One example is how remembers (or tries not to remember) Jeyne Poole:
Sansa did not know what had happened to Jeyne, who had disappeared from her rooms afterward, never to be mentioned again. She tried not to think of them too often, yet sometimes the memories came unbidden, and then it was hard to hold back the tears. (Sansa II, ACOK)
She tries to not to think of her, because it’s too traumatic for her to do so.
Another example is how she’s trying to process the situations she’s in at the Eyrie.
I am not your daughter, she thought. I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. She did not say it, though. If not for Petyr Baelish it would have been Sansa who went spinning through a cold blue sky to stony death six hundred feet below, instead of Lysa Arryn. He is so bold. Sansa wished she had his courage. She wanted to crawl back into bed and hide beneath her blanket, to sleep and sleep. She had not slept a whole night through since Lysa Arryn's death. (Sansa I, AFFC)
He is serving me lies as well, Sansa realized. They were comforting lies, though, and she thought them kindly meant. A lie is not so bad if it is kindly meant. If only she believed them...
The things her aunt had said just before she fell still troubled Sansa greatly. "Ravings," Petyr called them. "My wife was mad, you saw that for yourself." And so she had. All I did was build a snow castle, and she meant to push me out the Moon Door. Petyr saved me. He loved my mother well, and...
And her? How could she doubt it? He had saved her.
He saved Alayne, his daughter, a voice within her whispered. But she was Sansa too... and sometimes it seemed to her that the Lord Protector was two people as well. He was Petyr, her protector, warm and funny and gentle... but he was also Littlefinger, the lord she'd known at King's Landing, smiling slyly and stroking his beard as he whispered in Queen Cersei's ear. And Littlefinger was no friend of hers. When Joff had her beaten, the Imp defended her, not Littlefinger. When the mob sought to rape her, the Hound carried her to safety, not Littlefinger. When the Lannisters wed her to Tyrion against her will, Ser Garlan the Gallant gave her comfort, not Littlefinger. Littlefinger never lifted so much as his little finger for her.
Except to get me out. He did that for me. I thought it was Ser Dontos, my poor old drunken Florian, but it was Petyr all the while. Littlefinger was only a mask he had to wear. Only sometimes Sansa found it hard to tell where the man ended and the mask began. Littlefinger and Lord Petyr looked so very much alike. She would have fled them both, perhaps, but there was nowhere for her to go. Winterfell was burned and desolate, Bran and Rickon dead and cold. Robb had been betrayed and murdered at the Twins, along with their lady mother. Tyrion had been put to death for killing Joffrey, and if she ever returned to King's Landing the queen would have her head as well. The aunt she'd hoped would keep her safe had tried to murder her instead. Her uncle Edmure was a captive of the Freys, while her great-uncle the Blackfish was under siege at Riverrun. I have no place but here, Sansa thought miserably, and no true friend but Petyr. (Sansa I, AFFC)
Sansa knows deep down (not even that deep, just down) that Petyr is untrustworthy. She knows he’s fed her lies, but she wants to believe them. She wants to be able to trust him. She wants to feel like she can be safe with him. She wants to be safe. It bothers me a lot whenever people say Sansa is “stupid” for trusting Petyr, or “uncaring” for not thinking often of Jeyne. She isn’t stupid or uncaring, she’s a traumatized thirteen year old whose brain is trying to cope with what she’s gone through and what she’s currently going through.
So, she has built a wall. And behind that wall are the memories of Lysa’s death, the truth about Jon Arryn’s murder, and Jeyne Poole. I think it would make sense if skinchanging, something that involves the mind, is also something that she’s subconsciously repressing. I talked about this sometime a while ago, but I believe that a big moment for Sansa in TWOW is going to be her confronting her memories. And most significantly, confronting Baelish about what happened to Jeyne Poole and exposing the truth of Jon Arryn and Lysa’s deaths. Thus, defeating Littlefinger, the mockingbird.
It would make sense if this coincided with her skinchanging abilities truly awakening. As her mind opens, her powers become stronger. I’m pretty deadset on Sansa’s bird being a falcon, not just for the House Arryn connection and because she’s gone hawking with a falcon before, but also because of the symbolism. Falcons symbolize “vision, freedom, and victory. Hence, it also connotes salvation to those who are in bondage whether moral, emotional, or spiritual”. I think that Sansa bonding with a falcon and “flying free” would be perfect for the conclusion of her caged bird arc.
Sorry, this got really long, it just kind of turned into all my thoughts about how skinchanger-Sansa might come to be in TWOW. I think it’s going to be an important part of her story, as you don’t just give four of your POV characters the ability to control animals with their minds and not have that matter. (And, it’s already an important part of Jon, Arya, and Bran’s stories, so it most likely will be for Sansa, too.)
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cappymightwrite · 2 years
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Tyrion is Grrm's favourite character and also the one he wishes he was . Why wouldn't he let his fave end up with the romantic princess ?
(post being referenced)
Right, so let's take a look at that claim shall we?
GRRM: Well, Tyrion is my favourite, there's no doubt about that. You know, he's the easiest to write, at least for the first three books he was the easiest to write. He got harder to write with book five in particular because he's in a very dark place right there. But he's witty, and he's intelligent, and Tyrion is almost what I wish I could be, because I'm not a witty as Tyrion... Oh I am as witty as Tyrion, because I invent all the witty things Tyrion says! The problem is of course that Tyrion tosses off these witty lines, you know, with ease in the moment of conversation. And I of course, in real life, think of witty things to say a week after the conversation has ended. Oh goddammit that's what I should have said! That would've been really funny, and cutting, and things like that. Yeah, so I don't think of these things as fast. [1.52–2.41]
So, yes, I agree that Tyrion is certainly GRRM's favourite character, as the above illustrates. But where I think there's some disagreement between us in that second part to your statement, that Tyrion is "the one he wishes he was." Because let's be real for a second, by the end of ADWD, Tyrion is a murderer, molester and a rapist... he's done some terrible things and is poised to get much darker still. Indeed, it's interesting that the darker Tyrion gets, the harder GRRM admits it is to write him... almost as though he is moving further and further away from the Tyrion he may have wished to emulate, into something quite the opposite, someone instead to condemn, no matter how "fun" he is to write. Villains tend to be pretty fun to write and read, they can even be your favourite character, as Tyrion is for GRRM... but that doesn't mean they shouldn't get their comeuppance.
Amazon.com: Do you have a favorite character?
GRRM: I've got to admit I kind of like Tyrion Lannister. He's the villain of course, but hey, there's nothing like a good villain. [source]
But anyway, from the first interview answer, it seems clear to me that Tyrion's quick-fire wit is what George "wishes" he had, and that's about the end of it, because Jesus H. Christ... think about what he'd be aligning himself to if he went any further than that. And regardless, in that same interview GRRM goes on to mention other characters he feels he is similar to, and in a way, that's more enlightening than a character he may somewhat wish to be:
[...] but Sam, yeah, there's a lot me in Sam too. [2.41–2.46]
This comment about Sam has been made elsewhere, notably preceding another character George would want/wish to be:
The character I’m probably most like in real life is Samwell Tarly. Good old Sam. And the character I’d want to be? Well who wouldn’t want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love. Theon [Greyjoy] is the one I’d fear becoming. Theon wants to be Jon Snow, but he can’t do it. He keeps making the wrong decisions. He keeps giving into his own selfish, worst impulses. [source]
So, I think there is a distinct difference in stating characteristics of a character you might wish to possess, as opposed to stating that the entirety of a character is someone who you would wish to be. GRRM would like to be as fast with his quips as Tyrion, and in terms of Jon, he'd like to be a young romantic hero rather than the older man, getting on in years, that he now is perhaps. Plus maybe there's something about Jon's bravery and courage that George admires but doesn't necessarily see in himself? I don't know. What's interesting to me is that he mentions Theon as a sort of cautionary tale, commenting on how "he keeps giving into his own selfish, worst impulses", an observation that could be equally applied to Tyrion circa ADWD... At the end of the day, these are complex characters and I think GRRM knows which traits in them are admirable, even desirable, and which are in fact deplorable... and those two things can even coexist within the same character, e.g. in Tyrion.
But moving along a bit in that interview, very interestingly GRRM has this to say about other characters that bear similarities to himself:
All of the viewpoint characters I have to put something of myself into it to make them come alive, even the ones that are, you know, very unlike me on the surface like, you know, eleven year old girls. You know, I've obviously never been an eleven year old girl. I have known an occasional eleven year old girl, especially when I was an eleven year old boy. Although, when I was an eleven year old boy I was too scared to talk to eleven year old girls. So, I was more like Sam in that regard. [3.01–3.31]
Again, we have this reiteration about his similiarities to Sam, but we also have this repetition, and therefore emphasis placed on an "eleven year old girl." And who is that I wonder?
This offer did surprise him. "Sansa is only eleven." – AGOT, Eddard I
For more on the ways in which GRRM and Sansa Stark overlap check out this great piece of meta by @butterflies-dragons:
GRRM has projected his love for medieval tourneys, heraldry, pageantry, knights and chivalry on Sansa Stark
But to answer the second part of your ask — "Why wouldn't he let his fave end up with the romantic princess?" — let's continue on with that interview, shall we?
Interviewer: It's interesting because Elio [M. García Jr.], who George mentioned earlier, and you know, created Westeros.org, I met him in London and we were talking about how we both thought that Tyrion was your favourite [...] and we were musing about... is that a good thing for Tyrion? Because you put this guy through hell and back again! So, does it benefit Tyrion that he is your "favourite"?
GRRM: No, probably not. It doesn't help him at all. And really, in A Dance with Dragons, he goes through the most hellish stuff yet [...] so you try not to play favourites, I suppose. But I put all the characters through horrible things! [3.31–4.13]
This very much brings to mind the idea of "kill your darlings" for me. So, leaving out how much on a thematic and character level I strongly disagree with the idea of Tyrion ending up with Sansa (because that would be a whole other post)... I think it's important to consider that GRRM is an experienced writer, and as he says above, he puts "all the characters through horrible things" regardless of who his favourites are, and likewise we can apply that to who he "rewards" as well. Tyrion may be his favourite, but does that mean he deserves "the romantic princess"? From a moral standpoint, does a murderer, molester (of that same girl!), and a rapist deserve "the romantic princess"? No, of course not. But if you give that ending to him anyway because he's your "favourite" what does that do to your story? What does that suggest about your narrative values, the values of the story? How does that affect the narrative ethos?
Stephen King had this to say on the art of writing in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft:
Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.
It may break GRRM's heart to potentially kill off, or at the very least punish or avoid rewarding, his favourite character, but a good writer would do that regardless of their fondness, because it is what serves the narrative best. It is what serves the narrative ethos, or message, best... because I don't think the message of ASOIAF is that those who inflict suffering on others, without self-reflection, without conscience or compunction, should come out on top in the end. And the way things are headed with Tyrion... redemption, or a seeking of penance, does not look on the cards for him, not by a long shot.
Thanks for the ask.
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butterflies-dragons · 2 years
Text
Chopping off heads is a love language
Nothing says true love like decapitation
Frog-faced Lord Slynt sat at the end of the council table wearing a black velvet doublet and a shiny cloth-of-gold cape, nodding with approval every time the king pronounced a sentence. Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head.
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI
* * *
“You are refusing to obey my order?” “You can stick your order up your bastard’s arse,” said Slynt, his jowls quivering. […] “As you will.” Jon nodded to Iron Emmett. “Please take Lord Janos to the Wall—” […] “—and hang him,” Jon finished. […] This is wrong, Jon thought. “Stop.” […] “I will not hang him,” said Jon. “Bring him here.” “Oh, Seven save us,” he heard Bowen Marsh cry out. The smile that Lord Janos Slynt smiled then had all the sweetness of rancid butter. Until Jon said, “Edd, fetch me a block,” and unsheathed Longclaw. […] The pale morning sunlight ran up and down his blade as Jon clasped the hilt of the bastard sword with both hands and raised it high. “If you have any last words, now is the time to speak them,” he said, expecting one last curse. Janos Slynt twisted his neck around to stare up at him. “Please, my lord. Mercy. I’ll … I’ll go, I will, I …” No, thought Jon. You closed that door. Longclaw descended. “Can I have his boots?” asked Owen the Oaf, as Janos Slynt’s head went rolling across the muddy ground. “They’re almost new, those boots. Lined with fur.”
—A Dance with Dragons - Jon II
As you can see from the two famous quotes above, Sansa wished for a hero to cut off Janos Slynt’s ugly head as punishment for his participation in Ned’s death, and four books later Jon Snow beheaded Janos Slynt using his sword Longclaw, honoring the Stark way, to avenge Ned’s death.
You might think that only shippers would think that beheadings are romantic, but did you know that, in universe, “heroes chopping off heads” actually has romantic connotations?
Because, believe it or not, inside the A Song of Ice and Fire Universe, chopping off heads is a love language. Let’s see:
One of the Mountain’s men had tried to rape the girl at Harrenhal, and had seemed honestly perplexed when Jaime commanded Ilyn Payne to take his head off. “I had her before, a hunnerd times,” he kept saying as they forced him to his knees. “A hunnerd times, m'lord. We all had her.” When Ser Ilyn presented Pia with his head, she had smiled through her ruined teeth.
[…] “Ser Harwyn says those tales are lies.” Lady Amerei wound a braid around her finger. “He has promised me Lord Beric’s head. He’s very gallant.” She was blushing beneath her tears.
Jaime thought back on the head he’d given to Pia. He could almost hear his little brother chuckle. Whatever became of giving women flowers? Tyrion might have asked.
—A Feast for Crows - Jaime IV
Credits to this clever anon.
But these two examples from Jaime’s A Feast for Crows fourth chapter aren’t the only ones. The most romantics examples are brought to us by the flamboyant Tyroshi, Daario Naharis:
“Khaleesi,” he cried, “I bring gifts and glad tidings. The Stormcrows are yours.” A golden tooth gleamed in his mouth when he smiled. “And so is Daario Naharis!”
Dany was dubious. If this Tyroshi had come to spy, this declaration might be no more than a desperate plot to save his head. “What do Prendahl na Ghezn and Sallor say of this?”
“Little.” Daario upended the sack, and the heads of Sallor the Bald and Prendahl na Ghezn spilled out upon her carpets. “My gifts to the dragon queen.”
[…] “Why?”
“Because you are so beautiful.”
[…] “Draw your sword and swear it to my service.”
In a blink, Daario’s arakh was free of its sheath. His submission was as outrageous as the rest of him, a great swoop that brought his face down to her toes. “My sword is yours. My life is yours. My love is yours. My blood, my body, my songs, you own them all. I live and die at your command, fair queen.”
—A Storm of Swords - Daenerys IV
* * *
The Tyroshi sellsword was not a good man, no one needed to tell her that. Under the smiles and the jests he was dangerous, even cruel. Sallor and Prendahl had woken one morning as his partners; that very night he’d given her their heads.
—A Storm of Swords - Daenerys V
* * *
Strong Belwas seized Ser Jorah by the arm and dragged him out. When Dany glanced back, the knight was walking as if drunk, stumbling and slow.
[…] “You need not even say the word, my radiance. Only give the tiniest nod, and your Daario shall fetch you back his ugly head.”
—A Storm of Swords - Daenerys VI
* * *
On the road to Yunkai, when Daario tossed the heads of Sallor the Bald and Prendahl na Ghezn at her feet, her children made a feast of them.
—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys II
* * *
“Kill them all and take their treasures, I say. Whisper the command, and your Daario will make you a pile of their heads taller than this pyramid.” “If I knew who they were—”
—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys IV
* * *
Other nights she tossed in her bed, imagining that he’d betrayed her, as he had once betrayed his fellow captains in the Stormcrows. He brought me their heads.
—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys V
* * *
“Marry me, and we can have all the nights forever.”
If I could, I would. Khal Drogo had been her sun-and-stars, but he had been dead so long that Daenerys had almost forgotten how it felt to love and be loved. Daario had helped her to remember. I was dead and he brought me back to life. I was asleep and he woke me. My brave captain. Even so, of late he grew too bold. On the day that he returned from his latest sortie, he had tossed the head of a Yunkish lord at her feet and kissed her in the hall for all the world to see, until Barristan Selmy pulled the two of them apart. Ser Grandfather had been so wroth that Dany feared blood might be shed. “We cannot wed, my love. You know why.”
—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys VII
Credits to this clever anon. And to this one and to @chispas-and-broken-bindings for this compilation.
See? Nothing says true love like decapitation (credits to themiddleliddle for the tag).
Jon Snow doesn’t know he’s made a maiden’s wish come true, Sansa doesn’t know that Jon has became the hero she wished for. And their mutual ignorance of each other’s actions and wishes is what makes the execution of Janos Slynt truly romantic.
And something tells me that Sansa’s reaction when she find’s out that Jon Snow chopped off Janos’s ugly head won’t be different from Pia’s smile or Lady Amerei’s blushing or Dany’s bold passion and public exhibition of affection.
Only in the World of Ice and Fire you can build romance with beheadings and stuff [wink to @riahchan].
More about Jon/Sansa and Janos Slynt here:
Jon Snow: The silent, unknown and unthought answer to Sansa’s hopes
Jon Snow: The silent, unknown and unthought answer to Sansa’s hopes 2.0
Sansa: There are no heroes / Jon: Hold my beer
GRRM and Janos Slynt’s execution
Jon, Sansa and courtesies
Janos Memes
* * *
Excerpt from this post: Sansa Stark & Beheadings
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jackoshadows · 2 years
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Are there any literary comparisons you would make to ASOIAF or ASOIAF characters?
Under the cut.
I don't want to deny that I write in fantasy, I think I obviously do. There's magic and there's dragons and swords, and all the traditional trappings of fantasy here. But I've also written in other genres in the past, a lot of science fiction, horror, and books that are strange hybrids of all of these things.
I've always agreed with William Faulkner—he said that the human heart in conflict with itself is the only thing worth writing about. I've always taken that as my guiding principle, and the rest is just set dressing. I mean, you can have a dragon, you can have a science fiction story set on a distant planet with aliens and starships, you can have a western about a gunslinger, or a mystery novel about a private eye, or even literary fiction—and ultimately you're still writing about the human heart in conflict with itself. So that's the way I try to approach this thing. And while I may work within a genre, I've never liked to be bound by them. I have a lot of fun in frustrating genre expectations, using a bit of this or a bit of that, and doing something that hasn't been done before. - GRRM
“Dwelling where I am now, deep in the heart of Westeros, I find myself surrounded by my characters, the children of my mind and heart and soul. They are real to me, as I write them, and I struggle to make them real to my readers as well. All of them are flawed, from the best to the worst. They do heroic things, they do selfish things. Some are strong and some are weak, some smart and some stupid. The smartest may do stupid things. The bravest may have moments when their courage fails. Great harms may be done from the noblest motives, great good from motives vile and venal. Life is like that, and art should reflect that, if it is to remain true. Ours is a world of contradiction and unintended consequences. Boromir is my favorite member of the Fellowship. The tragic hero. Shakespeare’s Brutus speaks to me as well (more so than the real one); the noblest Roman of them all, whose nobility — and gullibility — lead him to commit a vile crime. Captain Ahab, Wolf Larsen, Gatsby, Falstaff and Hotspur and Prince Hal (those plays are full of flawed characters, each with his own failings), Ebeneezer Scrooge and Sydney Carton, Gully Foyle, Roger’s Sam, Dr. Doom and Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Moreau, Morbius of Altair IV, Huckleberry Finn, Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain (but not Sir Galahad, so perfect, so empty) and Guinevere and Arthur and even Mordred, that little shit.. oh, the list is long. And when my reading turns to history, biography, memoirs, my response is much the same.” - GRRM
Tommy’s me . . . but no more than all the others. Robb is me in "Song for Lya," as Dirk is me in Dying of the Light . . . though Arkin Ruark and Jaan Antony in that one are both me as well. Abner Marsh is me, as his proud sidewheeler Fevre Dream is the excursion boat to Far Rockaway, only the passengers drink blood instead of Kool-Aid. Sandy Blair is J-school me, Peter Norten is chess club me, Kenny Dorchester is me trying to lose weight. Holt in "The Stone City," he’s the kid lying in the grass, staring up at distant stars. Trager is me on a dark night of the soul, bleeding poison from three wounds named Josie, Laurel, Rita. Jon Snow has me in him, and Sam Tarly. The women too, Lyanna and Shaara, and the girls, Arya and Adara . . . Daenerys Stormborn, searching for that house with the red door. And Tyrion Lannister? Oh, yes. The Imp is me in spades, the horny little bastard - GRRM
Tyrion is the character I’ve always had the easiest time writing. Maybe that’s the character I wish I could be, in a sense, despite all of his drawbacks. But of course I’m obviously not Tyrion. Tyrion has a wonderful wit to him, and he throws off witticisms every moment that take me weeks to come up with. I have to rewrite them four times, before I get the line just right. In real life, I’m always the guy thinking, “Ah! That’s what I should have said!” But I only think of it three weeks later. - GRRM
The character I’m probably most like in real life is Samwell Tarly. Good old Sam. And the character I’d want to be? Well who wouldn’t want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love. Theon [Greyjoy] is the one I’d fear becoming. Theon wants to be Jon Snow, but he can’t do it. He keeps making the wrong decisions. He keeps giving into to his own selfish, worst impulses. - GRRM
Ultimately I think GRRM explores a lot of common literary themes in his books - Good Vs Evil, Morality, Selfish Love Vs The greater good, War and it's effects, Heroes being the Villains of the other side, Coming of age etc. He borrows from a lot of early fantasy, science fiction and super hero comics and then puts his own twist on the story. Fevre Dream for example deals with vampires and yet tackles some of the same themes, like moral ambiguity, as ASoIaF.
As a political epic I can compare it to having some of the themes of the Mahabharata (Though the Mahabharata is on a grander, more vast and complex scale) in terms of dysfunctional families, betrayal, war, good and evil, love and duty and all that. I can compare Jon and Theon's identity issues with the character of Karna in the Mahabharata. Arya has been compared to Odysseus with the themes of longing for home and homecoming and I can certainly see that. I can see similarities to other works of fantasy/science fiction in the world building and plot - Wheel of Time, Dune, LOTR and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.
In the quotes above, GRRM mentions the tragic heroes and flawed characters he loves - no doubt there are versions of all of them in the books.
To make a literary comparison for ex, Tyrion, in my opinion, comes closest to Sydney Carton. GRRM has notably compared Tyrion to Richard III and if you look at quite a few of GRRM's books, the main character is similar to Tyrion in terms of appearance, wit and attitude. It's clear that GRRM just loves writing for Tyrion, that he loves everything about this character archetype and that this type of character has a lot of GRRM himself in them.
And no doubt GRRM loves using imagery, metaphors or symbolism in certain instances. However, a lot of the time it doesn't go deeper than that in my opinion. Daenerys being served honeyed locusts is not GRRM making some biblical commentary. Rather it's a way to highlight the exotic nature of the place.
To take the topic of Medusa for ex. The imagery is certainly there with Sansa's hairnet, the medusa imagery in the prophecy with the purple serpents etc. However, I personally think there is nothing more to this than that. I doubt GRRM is borrowing from Medusa for the themes in Sansa's story.
I tend to embrace the Medusa symbolism of feminist rage. Medusa is Cersei being punished by the Walk of Shame for having sex with men after Robert's death. It's the Madonna-Whore complex propaganda against Daenerys.
They say her lust cannot be sated, that she mates with men, women, eunuchs, even dogs and children, and woe betide the lover who fails to satisfy her. She gives her body to men to take their souls in thrall.
It's embracing the monster, seeing the monster as a protector, empowered with justified rage towards those who oppress women. That's not Sansa for me. That's Daenerys and Arya.
And I honestly don't think GRRM is writing any of that or digging any deeper with these themes. At the end of the day, we can enjoy the story for what it is without the need for literary comparisons.
I find the Winterfell plot in ADwD to be really interesting. There's elements of horror and trauma - everything that happens to Jeyne Poole and Theon. There's political intrigue with the Boltons, Freys Manderly, Barbrey and other houses. There's mystery - who is the hooded guy Theon meets. There's a thriller - Die Hard in Winterfell- with disguised Mance and Spearwives secretly running around killing Bolton men in a mission to rescue fArya. There's the setting - Snow and cold and winds and magic. There's several themes in there with an entertaining story told on it's own with any need for deeper literary analysis.
So yeah, I decided to put in GRRM's quotes in there so you can get an idea of the literary comparisons the author himself is possibly using in these books.
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Do you think Book!Jon is gonna be Book!Lyanna's son? (I feel like it's gonna case despite me wishing his dad is someone else than you know who, but I want to know what you think.)
Oh, he’s undoubtedly Lyanna and Rhaegar’s son. That’s as good as fact right now, and not just bc the show confirmed it. GRRM threw too many hints and subtleties within the text for Jon to be anyone else other than Lyanna’s son.
But there were others with faces he had never known in life, faces he had seen only in stone. The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna.
~Theon V, a Clash of Kings
As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death.
~ Eddard X, a Game of Thrones
Ned Stark thought of pale blue roses, and for a moment he wanted to weep.
~Eddard XII, a Game of Thrones
Blue roses are continuously associated with Lyanna. And guess who else is?
A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness…
~ Daenerys IV, a Clash of Kings
Because who else is currently at a wall made of ice so intimately connected with blue winter roses? No one other than Jon Snow.
Now his paternity, as much as we may wish it to be anyone else, it’s Rhaegar. Whether it’s entirely a consensual inception is to be disputed. I find Rhaegar to be too obsessed with delusions of grandeur to make most, if not all of his actions, to be genuine. In my opinion, there was shady manipulations on Rhaegar’s behalf involved, which makes Lyanna a victim of Rhaegar’s motives. She was his means to an end, romantically inclined perhaps, but a means nonetheless.
In the text, Rhaegar’s desperate need of a third head to his dragons and the fact that three of the Kingsguard were keeping Lyanna prisoner guarded could have been placed there by none other than someone of the royal house, and we know for sure it ain’t Aerys who gave that command.
Why would the Kingsguard, who can’t be ordered by anyone else other than royalty, hold guard to a woman otherwise unconnected to them?
And last but not least, it is of symbolic importance that Jon is Lyanna and Rhaegar’s son. I don’t particularly think that Jon alone fulfills this ancient prophecy in the books; his story lies too much in parallel with Daenerys for that. Personally, I believe that they are both the song of ice and fire. They are both the prince/princess that was promised. Dany fulfills her part as Azor Ahai, Jon as the Last Hero. They are each other’s other half, if you will. A ying to a yang. A summer to a winter. A sun to a moon. Ice to fire. A balance, as all things should be. And the fact that they are both descendants of Aerys that was foretold to bring forth tPtwP
Ser Barristan went on. “I saw your father and your mother wed as well. Forgive me, but there was no fondness there, and the realm paid dearly for that, my queen.”
“Why did they wed if they did not love each other?”
“Your grandsire commanded it. A woods witch had told him that the prince who was promised would be born of their line.”
~ Daenerys IV, a Dance with Dragons
And this all couldn’t be possible if Jon wasn’t Rhaegar and Lyanna’s son. Every other hint of Jon possibly being Ashara’s child by Brandon, or Ned’s natural child by some fisherman’s daughter by the Sisters, or even Ned and Ashara’s/Wylla kid are no more than red herrings.
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