#❝ WHATEVER THIS WORLD CAN GIVE TO ME ❞ ▐ jon walker

[ryanrosshq]

GRR [Spongebob voice] I lost something once. It was a Grammy. Lost to Radiohead. #itsanhonorjusttobenominated 

[sailorshadzter]

SOME SOFT ANGST.

cause why not.

The silence is thick, a heaviness she feels draped across her shoulders like the furs she wears.  

They’ve been here before, of course, time and time again; what with the heaving chests and gasping breaths, two people torn between what was right and what they so truly felt. “Sansa...” Her name, so soft on his lips, is the best thing she’s heard in hours. “Please, listen to me...” He’s pleading, something he’s never done before, and so she raises her eyes back up to meet his gaze, knowing without a doubt that this was surely to be her undoing.  

“I don’t want you to go,” she reminds him, stubborn.  

His stoic features crack, a smile curving on those lips that only just a night ago had whispered her name in the darkness of her bed chamber. “I know,” he says, perhaps instead of what he truly wants to say. There’s something about these moments that always leave them saying half-truths. “But I must,” he goes on, taking a step closer to where she stands, the distance between them all but a hairsbreadth. “I promised you I’d protect you and I didn’t just mean from Ramsay Bolton.” It is not a name they’ve spoken aloud since the days of their retaking of Winterfell, but she does not flinch. “Our enemies are everywhere.” He’s said such words to her before and she knows he’s right, knows that there is little else to do but let him go, but it does not mean she will not worry.  

“You’re all I have left...” She’s softer now, the firelight casting her into a hazy golden glow as she turns around, red hair swinging. He’s there a moment later, sliding the cloak from her shoulders, leaning in so he might breathe in the ever-familiar scent of her. “I can’t lose you, too.” He cannot see her face from this angle, but he knows she’s closed her eyes against the welling tears, knows she’s pursed her lips together to keep them from trembling. Jon swallows against his own rising tide of emotions and instead wraps his arms around her, drawing her in.  

She knows she must be strong and there in his arms; she knows she can be. “I’ll come back to you, Sansa, I swear it.” His breath is warm against the nape of her neck but it sends shivers down her spine, makes her heart skip a beat. Jon was a man of his word and so she must believe in him, no matter her fears, no matter what the world says about this dragon queen and the white walkers, too. “Look at me,” he says softly, releasing her only so he might turn her back around, hand beneath her chin, guiding her gaze back to his. “When I return...” Every moment between them comes tumbling back, from that first day she came to Castle Black, to the first night she climbed into his bed some weeks ago. He can picture her in every moment, rosy lips and soft hands, lyrical laughter and noisy tears... He wanted her at her best and loved her at her worst. “When I return, I want to be at your side. Forever.” it didn’t matter what anyone else might think, it didn’t matter what the rules of society might say. They could take his crown, they could take whatever they wanted, but they could not take her from him.  

Jon leans in then and captures her mouth with the softest of kisses, one which says every other word he could not, and when they break apart, he knows she understands him. She always does, she always has. “Come home soon,” she commands like the queen she should have been. Another chuckle, another grin, and he’s nodding as her hand takes hold of his. “I’ll be waiting.” His forehead to hers, he gives her hand a tight squeeze and then he steps back, knowing that he has to go, even if there was a part of him that wished it didn’t have to be this way.  

When he slips from her rooms, he pauses long enough to let the great white wolf slip through the open door, long enough to turn back around and see her hand fall into place against Ghost’s nose. She would be well protected in his absence, that much he knows, and so he lets the door fall closed and disappears down the hall.  

Tomorrow he would leave for Dragonstone and with him he would carry the feel of her lips on his, the warmth of her skin against his own. He would take along the sound of her voice saying his name at dawn and the brilliance of her gaze, eyes so blue they could rival any sky. He would leave Winterfell but truly, they could never be apart, not when she had become a part of him, an imprint upon his heart and soul. 

[lunnybunny12]

Sandor Clegane x Reader (Wildling)

A/n: The reader is a wildling in this story and has never heard of the hound before. 

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of death and no fluff

Word count: 1338

Master List

The East watch had been getting colder and colder as of late. The winds would whistle through windows and the snow would pile against the black, stone walls.

"It's your job to talk him out of stupid fucking ideas like this, Davos," Tormund said.

Jon had just returned from Dragonstone with both the dragon glass and the "stupid fucking idea" of getting a white walker to Kings Landing. It was a ridiculous idea but you understood where Jon was coming from. If he was going to get Cersei's army to fight against the night-king she'd need proof.

"I've been failing at that job of late." Davos joked in return.

The table was quiet and had a few new faces.

One was a young man. It was clear that he had never set foot in the north before, and you knew that the second you saw him walk through the gates. His cloak was pulled right up to his nack and his hands were violently shaking due to the lack of gloves. As far as you knew he was a bastard like Jon, but a southern bastard... one of the water.

The other was an old soul, he had walked the earth for a long time and he had the scars to prove it. He was clad in silver armour that was made to fit, a clock with a thick collar of fur around it and a big fucking sword. A Targaryen guard maybe?

"How many queens are there now?"  Tormund asked.

"Two" Jon answered

"And you need to convince the one with the dragons or the one who fucks her brother?" Tormund asked.

"Both,"

You shuffled in your seat a little bit and sighed. "How many men did you bring?"

The men at the table look quick glances at each other, answering your question quite clearly.

"Not enough," Jon said quietly.

"The big woman?" Tormund asked earning a chuff from you. He always did have a knack for liking women he couldn't have.

When a deep voice emanated from the Targaryen guard, you all turned to listen.

"We were hoping some of your men could help." The man said gently and Tormund hummed in thought.

"You really want to go out there... again?" You asked, looking Jon right in the eye.

When Jon gave you a silent nod that he did indeed need to go past the wall, Tormund leaned over the table to look at the men in front of him.

"You're not the only ones."

"What?" you asked in clear confusion.

"The scouts found them a mile south of the wall," Tormund said, guiding you all down to the cells.

"And you didn't think to tell me of this?"

"You just got back from castle black a day ago and I have people to look after so forgive me for letting some prisoners slip my mind," Tormund answered a bit too quickly for your liking.

You growled in anger and then lingered behind the men as they continued walking.

The cell was colder than you expected it to be. With the little light that managed to come through the window, you saw 3 men. 2 of them were small, huddled together in a corner, clinging to whatever warmth they could, while the 3rd was large, wrapped in a thin layer of fabric and splayed across a bench.

"You're the Hound" Jon breathed. " I saw you once at Winterfell"

The Hound clutched his fabric closer to him as he pulled himself to sit properly on the bench. On closer inspection, he had a scar that took up almost half of his face. His eyes met yours and stayed there for a while with the same mix of annoyance and curiosity yours did.

You had seen bigger men than him, stranger and scarier men... so why were you looking at him?

"They want to go beyond the wall too," Tormund said to Jon before being cut off by another one of the men.

"We don't want to go beyond the wall we have to. Our Lord told us a Great War was-"

"Don't trust him" The bastard of the water (who you found out was called Gendry) growled.

"Don't trust any of them. They're the brotherhood... and the last thing their Lord told them to do was sell me to a red witch to be murdered."

"Thoros... I hardly recognised you" The Targaryen guard said to one of the men, who leaned forward to get a better look.

"Ser Jorah Mormont, they won't give me anything to drink down here. I haven't been feeling like myself."

At hearing the name Mormont, you and your brother snapped your heads to the guard. He was a fucking Mormont?

"You're a Fucking Mormont... like the last lord commander?" Tormund asked.

"He was my father-"

"He hunted us like animals" You seethed.

"Any you returned the favour as I recall" Jorah retorted calmly.

A moment of anger passed the 3 of you before the one-eyed man broke the silence.

"Here we all are... at the edge of the world, at the same moment, heading in the same direction for the same reason."

You turned to the man and looked him dead in the eye.

"Our reasons aren't your reasons"

"It doesn't matter what we think our reasons are, girl. There is a greater purpose at work, and we serve it together whether we know it or not..." By that point, he had stood up and made his way to the front of the cell.

"We may take the steps but the Lord Of Light-"

"For fuck sake shut your hole. Are we coming with you or not?" Said the hound looking at the group.

"Don't you want to know what we're doing?" The Mormont asked.

At the back of the cell, Thoros piped up.

"Is it worth us sitting in a freezing cell, waiting to die?" Thoros smiled.

It was true, regardless of the reason you all had the same goal of stopping the walkers.

"He's right," Jon said,

" We're all on the same side... were all breathing."

And with that, Tormund slapped the keys into Jon's hands and the men went to collect their weapons and clothes for the wall.

-------------------------------------------------

You all exited the wall about half a day ago but it didn't feel that long.

Not all wildlings did well in stone walls and you were one of them. You were a hunter at heart and you always had been. Going out of the camp and getting a rabbit or rogue deer to feed your people, was what you lived for and the walls of castle black made you feel trapped.

"It's rude to stare, dog," you said tying your bootstrap with shaking fingers.

"Piss off. You looked first." The Hound replied, kicking up snow as he walked.

He walked right up to you and got in your face. He was easily a foot taller than you, his hair was frozen to his face and his beard was littered with snowflakes.

"What are you trying to do here?" you asked  

"What?"

"You know, getting close enough to my face that I can smell the last dick you sucked in your breath so YOU piss off" You laughed and pushed past him towards the rest of the group.

The hound grabbed the hood of your fur jacket and swivelled you around to look at him with fire in his eyes.

You just laughed at him and said "Ooo, You southern men, so stoic. Even your women, you'd think that they had their cunts sewn shut,"

He never said a word to you and usually just a glance his way would send people fleeing like children but you were laughing? He had you in his hands and you weren't scared?

You saw the confusion in his eyes as you freed yourself from his grip.

"I've seen bigger, killed stronger and fucked scarier men than you, dog. If you want to scare me you're gonna have to do better than that."

[kiefbowl]

the annoying thing about hotd for me is that it's all about female succession and misogyny and it leaves such a sour taste in my mouth cuz we all know where this family ends up. we all know that their only "real" queen gets put down like a dog. there's no gratification whatsoever. idg the point.

We’ll see if they hint at Dany’s end in the show. I found the prophecy of the Long Night interesting as something they threw in to “connect it to the show” when the show’s Long Night was really just a Long Couple of Hours and then winter was over (seemingly forever?). It didn’t materialize into a big existential threat as it was built up to be because that’s what it is in the books. Makes me think the showrunners are just giving lip service to GoT in bts footage but see this more as it’s own thing and/or more of a prequel to ASOIAF. I can enjoy it bc I didn’t really watch GoT and I know that whatever happens to Dany in the books is more about the effects of the cycle of violence the Blackfyre rebellions has had on this world. Dany may even become the “Mad Queen” in ASOIAF, but less because she’s mad and more because she becomes a symbol against the beloved FAegon, which is my prediction. I don’t think Dany is going to go coo-coo after one chapter, then """turn fascist""", then be murdered by Jon Snow with no consequences. More like Jon is a partial fucked up Snow Zombie, Bran is actually doing some fucked up Tree Boy manipulations, Dany is in a political double bind with FAegon, and The White Walkers become a horrible nightmarish reality, and it will be very satisfying and wild and bittersweet and strange + the people who lose the most will be the common folk and we’ll have to sit with that as readers. This story in HotD fits into all that nicely as prequel material, so I’m giving it a chance for now.

[sonnetthebard]

Casting Starkid in Heathers: Crack Edition

 So you know that one Tumblr post that suggests that if Starkid ever did Heathers they should replace the Heathers with the Josephs? Yeah, we’re casting that production. Changing some of the names around for comedic value/ to genderbend. Let’s do this!

VeROBica  Robert Sawyer: Robert Manion. One of our two resident Starkids who stan Heathers hardcore. Honestly how could I not??? He’s the fan the Starkids took in, so the backstory kinda parallels a bit. He’s got the badass himbo vibes necessary for the role. It just fits. 

Jason Jamie Dean: Mariah Rose Faith. Gotcha! I know I used Jamie’s name but only because it really fit. Anyways, it’s the other hardcore Heathers stan! Can you just imagine the POWER behind Mariah as JD??? Listen, if this isn’t Mariah’s role I don’t know what is. And her and Rob have such good vibes together! Their Seventeen cover? Iconic. And her cover of Meant to be Yours is UNREAL!!! 

Heather Chandler Joseph Richter: Joey Richter. The Josephs get to keep their last names. Why? Because why not! Listen, it was hard to choose between Joey and Walker for who would take on the ICONIC Chandler, and it honestly could have been either. In the end, though, I just think Joey could handle Chandler’s part in Candy Store better, and also I think Walker would make a better Duke than Joey- more detail in the Duke explanation.

Heather Duke Joseph Walker: Joe Walker. Listen, if any one of those three could pull off Duke it is Joe Walker. I have no clue why but I think Duke’s vibes may be a mix of Umbridge (AVPT) and Joey’s Dick (MAMD)??? MAMD also played a large factor in why Joey was Chandler and Walker was Duke. I don’t know if we should be exposing the world to this chaos, but here we are-

Heather McNamara Joseph Moses: Joe Moses. It’s the soft smol Joseph! Listen, I am a HUGE vibes person and I have no clue why but I get all the McNamara vibes from Joe. I know we’ve seen him primarily in very comedic roles but I feel like he would absolutely CRUSH Lifeboat??? Anyways I need it. 

Martha Martin Dunstock: Jon Matteson. Listen, we have all seen what Jon can do with anxious, loveable characters. He breaks our hearts, and we love him for it. Plus the chemistry with Rob is so there! Like, they’ve got the same vibes for that friendship. And can you imagine Kindergarten Boyfriend (Girlfriend in this production)??? U g h

Ram Sweeny: Jaime Lyn Beatty. We’re keeping the name. Anyways, I came up with the duo I wanted for Kurt and Ram before casting them in the specific roles, and then I considered both of those people’s chemistry with Jon. And Spadattimy will ALWAYS be iconic so I went with Jaime. I am so here for Jaime playing a himbo. Jaime can do whatever the fuck she wants.  She is god tier. The woman has range. But this was also mostly to do with her chemistry with Kurt and Martha. 

Kurt Kate Kelly: Angela Giarratana. I mean, COME ON! Jaime and Angie as Kurt and Ram??? Yes please! You have to remember that Jaime was the one to bring Angie into Starkid, even though on social media Angie appears to be closer to Mariah. So Jaime and Angie are good friends. And the himbo vibes those two could radiate for these roles... it would be nothing short of iconic. Kurt and Ram are kind of the two majorly comedic roles in te show, so it’s only fitting they be filled with two of Starkids most notorious comediennes. And they could pass for a lesbian couple.

Mr. Sweeney/ Others: Corey Dorris. Listen, I don’t have much of an explanation for this. Just vibes. We’re going purely off of vibes here. And also dad energy. 

Mr Kelly/ Others: Jeff Blim. Yeah, again, it’s just vibes. All vibes. And also we’re finding a dad for Angie’s character here. You gotta try to at least match the chaotic vibes Angie gives off. 

Mr. Fleming/ Others: Curt Mega. If this was a regular production of Heathers, I’d say Jaime. But this isn’t Heathers. This is Josephs. There was no reason to genderbend. Just sheer vibes alone brought me to Curt. I don’t know, she radiates the same vibes as Duke Keane, so here we are. Also I love Curt and I wanted him in this cast. There is that. 

Anyways this just lives in my head rent-free so I figured I’d share! Feel free to add to it!

[samnyangie]

It’s from a book called ‘conversation in the wings’ by Roy Harris; it’s a transcript of the interviews he had with actors and this is the section of rsl.

Just a warning it’s quite long.

(Source)

________________________________________

1994: CONVERSATIONS IN THE WINGS

The Author's Intentions Are Good

by Roy Harris

Conversations in the Wings

1994

This interview took place on Friday, May 24, 1991, on the Mainstage at Playwrights Horizons where Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire was playing. Considering that he is the youngest person who talks here about acting (he was 22 at the time of the interview), it is remarkable that Robert Sean Leonard speaks with so much ease and apparent knowledge on a subject that can be as elusive as this one. The clarity he has as he discusses how he works on a role is not unlike the focus he brings to the characters he creates on stage. At the time of this interview, Mr. Leonard had recently finished a run of Romeo and Juliet for the Riverside Shakespeare Company.

Roy Harris: So let's start at the beginning. If you get a script and you read it and say to yourself, "I've got to do this," what makes you feel that?

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, that's hard to say. It depends on if you're reading for a certain character-I mean, if you're not sure who you're going to play yet. I guess I read specifically for the author's intentions of the play.

Roy Harris: Do you ever take a role-maybe it's not so wonderful-to be a part of that writer's particular world?

Robert Sean Leonard: Oh, yes. But if the play is important to you and that moving to you, then a small role becomes important because of what the author's saying. I'll be doing Our Town in London this fall and early winter. George is a very nice, I thought, young juvenile role to do. But then I read the play again, and I was astonished at the simplicity and importance of Wilder's message. Suddenly, George became much more important to me. I realized his place in that world, and it was big. If you look at the play, no one talks to each other. Except for the soda fountain scene. And there they talk. That's why they get married. Seeing this made playing him exciting. The way George has to deal with life and death is amazing.

Roy Harris: When you decided to do, for instance, the Greek pianist Alexandros in When She Danced, what made you make that decision?

Robert Sean Leonard: Joanne Woodward told me I had to do it.

Roy Harris: That's a good reason; she's very smart.

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, that play defined the undefinable qualities and questions about what I do as an actor. And I'd never seen that in a play before. So, I guess it was both things: the play itself and what a wonderful character.

Roy Harris: When you were working on Alexandros, what did you find the most challenging thing about it?

Robert Sean Leonard: Oh, come on, Roy, you remember?

Roy Harris: Well, I have to ask you now as if I weren't there. I'm an impersonal interviewer now.

Robert Sean Leonard: His incredible self-confidence. The guy walks into a room and you look at him. I've never been able to do that. I've seen other people who have that. And, it's not a quality you can play. It's not like an accent. It's a within quality. And you're in awe of it when you see it.

Roy Harris: Well, you have a quality as an actor of self-effacement. Do you think you had to get past that, go beyond it in some way?

Robert Sean Leonard: Oh, yes, but what a time I had working on it. It was a breakthrough for me. Sitting at that piano, standing up and saying, essentially, "I am a prodigy." I would say it in the mirror at home and I couldn't do it. It goes against everything you try to be as a human, as an actor. To never assume you know because then you'll stop growing. That was completely foreign to me.

Roy Harris: Did you feel you were the right choice for the role?

Robert Sean Leonard: Oh, yes.

Roy Harris: Me, too. It has to do with the other quality we talked about: something reserved and thoughtful. If you don't have that, then the sureness of Alexandros will be obnoxious.

Robert Sean Leonard: What was fascinating for me: to have an amazing bravura, and at the same time, as Quixote says, to have the humility to "love pure and chaste from afar." To love purely requires a lot of humility. It goes against the bravura. With Alexandros, I had the humility, but as you know, it took weeks and weeks to get the right assertiveness.

Roy Harris: It was fascinating watching it happen. All right, let's back up a minute. You got that role a couple of weeks, at least, before we started rehearsal. What sort of work did you do, if any, before the first day of rehearsal?

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, the bravura element didn't even occur to me until I started saying the words out loud in rehearsal with the likes of Marcia Jean Kurtz, Elizabeth Ashley and Jonathan Walker all sitting there watching me. Actually, the thing I dove right into was the Greek accent. That sort of gives you a center. It's a tangible task. And you have to accomplish it in a certain amount of time. The accent gives you a guideline. You go to the dialect coach and you sit down and start. "No," he says, "the A is pronounced this way. It's always pronounced this way." It was so refreshing to have a guideline as your beginning point. Otherwise, where do you start?

Roy Harris: Did the actual pronunciation of particular words tell you anything about who the person was?

Robert Sean Leonard: I would say the rhythm of it more than the pronunciation of it. The clipped musical rhythm gave me a sense of his spontaneous movement, his vital energy. There's a snappiness to Alexandros, which I really don't have as a person. Something happens to you when you get to have that snappy, clipped musical speech coming out of your mouth. You change inside.

Roy Harris: Let's say it's Thursday night and tomorrow you're going to work on the scene where you introduce yourself to the translator, Belzer. What sort of ordinary, basic work do you do on the scene?

Robert Sean Leonard: You know, the first time this ever came up was when I was doing Beachhouse with George Grizzard. I was sixteen. I was up there one day doing it, you know, just doing it, and Melvin Bernhard the director said, "What are you doing here? What is this about?" And I had no clue. I was just asking my dad where the letter was. Well, he said, "Do you have any assumptions about it? Who's it from? Is it from your mother? If so, what would that mean to you?" When I went home that night, I wanted to quit the business. I cried. And to this day, it's always an obsession of mine-not getting general and relying on some phony charm. What I want to do is get specific and ask myself the necessary questions: what is his intention here? what's he after? why? So, to answer your question, I read the scene, trying to pick out where they're starting, where they're heading, and how they got there. If something changes, where does it change? However, I usually find out more in rehearsal than at home.

Roy Harris: Sometimes, do you find after a rehearsal or a series of rehearsals on a particular scene that there's more there?

Robert Sean Leonard: Oh, sure. The more you work, the more you find. You can be hitting your head against a wall, as I was with Alexandros, and the director can say, "It's because you're not as confident as he is." Like any trouble you have, once you define it, it's so much easier to deal with. Then you know what you're after.

Roy Harris: Do you try to look and see an intention in every line, or a basic intention in a scene?

Robert Sean Leonard: I'm sure that you should, but I've found that there's a level of subconscious work that goes on. I find that it's much better for me to find out what's there with the person in rehearsal. It doesn't mean I don't I really think about it before though.

Roy Harris: Would you say-I'm asking a loaded question now-that you are more an instinctive actor or one more given to plan?

Robert Sean Leonard: I think I'm more instinctive than planned, but both, I guess.

Roy Harris: From having watched you in two different rehearsal situations, I'd say you seem to have done a lot of work when you came in.

Robert Sean Leonard: I would say that's basically true. But there are all sorts of ways of being prepared. For instance, take Romeo. My God, I spent hours just finding out what all those words mean. And then, with Shakespeare, it's so maddening because one thought can mean many different things. You don't have to choose one. Another form of preparation is just knowing your character so well-the background you've come to through what the playwright made up-that when something comes up, you instinctively know what's wrong or right.

Roy Harris: When you re working on a role, do you ever get a picture of what the character should look like?

Robert Sean Leonard: Yeah, and it's never me!

Roy Harris: Well, it shouldn't be you. You're playing somebody else.

Robert Sean Leonard: But I never get that out of my head. I can think back on every role I've done and picture who should have played it instead of me-what type of person; what he looked like.

Roy Harris: Does it help you to do that?

Robert Sean Leonard: Sometimes. Slowly the picture in your mind becomes you. I can look back now and say, yes, I'm Eugene Jerome. Yes, I'm Romeo. But it took a while for me to get there, to get me in the picture. It was always someone else.

Roy Harris: When you're working on a role, do you ever get a sense of how that character should dress?

Robert Sean Leonard: Actually, not much. I know there are actors who do. I guess it doesn't matter so much. I just had a problem with that on The Speed of Darkness, however. The designer was very intent on including the actors in her plans. I drove her crazy. "I don't know. Why are you asking me? Whatever you put on me, I can justify." She didn't like that. But I guess it would depend on the role. The only battle I lost was she put a letter jacket on me, a varsity letter jacket. It was the only thing I didn't like. Any time I see a varsity jacket on stage, I think, 'Oh, here comes a young actor.' I want to be a person. It's too much a sign to me. But I ended up wearing it. She liked it too much.

Roy Harris: When you're in rehearsal, what are you looking for from other actors?

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, hopefully we'll all be pretty solid in our agreement about what is going on in this play and what our part in it is. Of course, there are technical things: like you don't upstage someone when they're talking. An important thing is knowing when the scene is moving, and knowing when it's time to take a moment for yourself. And that's hard. A lot of actors get up there, and understandably, the play is about them. If you're playing a milkman, the play is about a milkman. But when that becomes your only reality, you lose sight of the intentions of the play. You know, it's so obvious to me when an actor feels he is the most important thing in the play. It's so portentous. Every line means something. It's so boring. Maybe that's why I'm a little afraid of finding intentions in every line. Then it all gets too much meaning.

Roy Harris: Have you ever worked with an actor-you don't have to give a name-whom you had a problem with?

Robert Sean Leonard: Sure. I worked with an actress in a film who had no clue, didn't know the first thing about acting. The camera would go to you, and she'd be off camera reading her next film. She would say her lines not looking at you. That drove me crazy. On stage, I must say I've never worked with anyone where there was a problem. I've worked with people who really snapped with me and then people who were just all right to work with.

Roy Harris: Who is an actor you've really liked working with?

Robert Sean Leonard: Cynthia Nixon - when you work with her, she's so in tune with what's going on. When a scene is playing, it just lifts and rises. She's like a dancer. I love all her work. Something happens when that actress walks on stage. It elevates into another world.

Roy Harris: What are you looking for from the director?

Robert Sean Leonard: An unshakable vision. You know when they have it, because you'll ask questions and immediately there's an answer that makes sense, and it makes sense in relation to everything that's happened so far.

Roy Harris: What if it's a vision you don't agree with?

Robert Sean Leonard: That doesn't matter. I want a vision that's like a force running through everything.

Roy Harris: What happens when there's not a vision?

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, my sister told me once, when she was in third grade, her whole class went into the city. When they came up from the subway, the teacher-for a moment-didn't know where she was. My sister saw that look, and suddenly was terrified. She lost all faith. And that's horrible when it happens with a director, and it can happen in an instant. If they have an unshakable vision, it won't happen.

Roy Harris: Have you ever had a director tell you something and you felt that you just couldn't do it?

Robert Sean Leonard: Couldn't from myself?

Roy Harris: Yes.

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, no, because the minute someone asks something of me, my first reaction is, "God dammit, I can do this. I can do whatever they want." You know, to me the author's intentions are God, and the director the channel for those intentions. The very idea of not being able to do something a director asks, or being averse to it, is upsetting to me.

Roy Harris: Have you ever been in a situation where some or all of the actors didn't trust a director? How do you deal with that?

Robert Sean Leonard: Good question. Well, if a director can't give you an answer for why he wants you to do something a certain way, then you shouldn't trust him. If I initially don't trust a director, I try to find out why I don't. Maybe it's me. But if he can't give you an answer, you can't get bitter. You have to rely solely on yourself, or on yourself and who you're playing with. You do the best you can and hope for a short run.

Roy Harris: What director would you most like to work with?

Robert Sean Leonard: Mark Lamos.

Roy Harris: Why?

Robert Sean Leonard: In everything of his I've seen I always witness such clarity and devotion to the author's intent, even if it's complex, as in Hamlet or The Master Builder.

Roy Harris: For someone your age, you've had a chance to play some very good roles. What's been the most challenging role so far?

Robert Sean Leonard: Romeo. I think I misunderstood him the whole time I was playing it.

Roy Harris: Oh, Bobby, everybody who plays him feels that, don't they?

Robert Sean Leonard: Probably. When I took the role, I thought, I'm going to make him honorable, which I think he is. Most people feel he's a sap. My mistake was making him that way from the beginning.

Roy Harris: What do you mean?

Robert Sean Leonard: A friend of mine said late in the run that that first scene is not about a man who knows love. It's about a kid who thinks he knows what love is. Then he meets Juliet. He said, you should make us puke in the aisles when you tell Benvolio what you think love is. And he's right. From the moment I walked on stage, boy, did I play passion. All through the Rosaline stuff with Benvolio, it was passion. Consequently, when I met Juliet, I just didn't have anywhere to go. It was like starting with a nine and getting to a ten.

Roy Harris: But you seemed to have a good time working on it.

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, I learned from it. You need to see his feeling about Rosaline in order to really appreciate the great feeling he comes to have about Juliet. I didn't look at it intelligently enough. I didn't realize the simplicity of: he doesn't know what he's doing and then he does know what he's doing. It's also our job as Romeo to convince the audience that once he's in love with Juliet-and some people would scream at this-it's worth dying for. With all the mistakes I made, it was a great experience.

Roy Harris: Ten years from now you can do it again and think what that will be like.

Robert Sean Leonard: I'll have a whole new series of questions about it. That's why acting is so phenomenal. You can't ever be good enough.

Roy Harris: Does there come a point for you in rehearsals, or probably in performance somewhere, where you think you got it?

Robert Sean Leonard: No. There are points where I feel I've gotten something. I've never given a perfect performance. I wonder who has?

Roy Harris: Well, if they think they have...

Robert Sean Leonard: I don't want to talk to them.

Roy Harris: Me either. Have you ever been praised by a friend for a performance that you thought was bad, or certainly not adequate?

Robert Sean Leonard: Sure.

Roy Harris: How do you deal with that? How does it affect you?

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, you're praised very often for things that you don't deserve to be praised for. But you learn pretty quickly who does that and who doesn't. So I guess you learn who to listen to. How do you deal with it? I get very indignant. I go home and I say, 'Well, they're wrong.' When I was filming Dead Poets Society, I noticed that Peter Weir (the director)-as soon as he'd say, "Cut"-would look to John Seal (the cinematographer) first. As soon as the play is done, I consider myself a cinematographer; I check with myself. Then I check with the director. A friend may be right in saying something I did was false, but I have to go by what the director is asking for. So, it's complicated when friends say things. Very complicated. It's very sacred between you and the director, and frankly, people need to honor that.

Roy Harris: What's the biggest difference between acting on stage and acting for the camera?

Robert Sean Leonard: In some ways, they're very different and then in some ways they're not so different at all. It's a little like recording music and then playing it live. In one sense, you're part of the whole, but fragmentally. In film, you're offering pieces, and the director makes it whole.

Roy Harris: Do you prefer one over the other?

Robert Sean Leonard: No. I don't know. I think I prefer theatre. Is that three answers?

Roy Harris: You can change your answer later. I'm trying to find out what your feeling is at this moment. In film, you go in on the first day of shooting and you may shoot pages 68-72. In terms of preparation, how do you shoot something that's in the middle of that character's (for want of a better word) journey? What do you do with all that comes before?

Robert Sean Leonard: Homework becomes much more important in film, ironically, because in film, usually your work has much less to do immediately with other actors. It's much more a solitary art. Because you start with page 68, you have to know exactly where that character is and has been before page 68. Hopefully, the director will know, too. And you will discuss it together, as Peter Weir did with me through the shooting of Dead Poets.

Roy Harris: Where do you think the director is more important, or is he: in film or stage?

Robert Sean Leonard: They're more important for different reasons in both areas.

Roy Harris: Have you ever been asked to do something by a film director that you didn't want to do, or thought you shouldn't do?

Robert Sean Leonard: Yeah. Usually it has to do with poor writing. Sometimes the director will want something because of what's in the script, and you have to do it, even if you're not sure it's right.

Roy Harris: Let's say you did a role on stage for six weeks, night after night, and then you go and make a movie of it. A scene you've done many times, you're now going to do and the camera is going to be this close to you. Does it do anything to your way of thinking about it, to know the viewer is now so close?

Robert Sean Leonard: The relationship with the director becomes much more intimate. It would be like having the director on stage with you at all times, saying, "How about this? how about this? or how about this?" They are creating with you at the moment, and they know, and hopefully you do too, the journey of this character. It would be wonderful to do it on stage first because your homework would be done for you. An obvious thing is that when the camera's so close you do bring it down, even though you try to keep it as truthful as you would anywhere. In film, you do a lot more with your eyes, where on stage you use your hands and body language.

Roy Harris: So far, what is your favorite film role?

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, I'd have to say Dead Poets Society is for me in film what Brighton Beach Memoirs was for me on stage. It was kind of my baptism because I suddenly found myself on the set with a powerhouse of a director. It also has to do with the time. I was nineteen. Peter took me in as the leader of this gang. He had me read poetry. Also, I had to play Puck, and he wouldn't tell me which scene we were going to do, so I learned all of Puck. Without a doubt, it was the most glorious film experience. It was college for me. All of the guys, we lived together. We had a whole floor of a hotel, and we became this group of young men. We did everything together. We created together. Ethan Hawke and I used to practice scenes listening to Beethoven's Ninth.

Roy Harris: What is your favorite scene there?

Robert Sean Leonard: Well, for personal reasons, the scene with Ethan on the roof where we throw the desk set off. We came up with that scene. Originally, it was a scene which ended very sadly, with Ethan saying his parents didn't love him. Peter pulled us aside and said, "Okay, we know all this. Let's just have a scene about friendship." And the three of us came up with the scene where we destroy the desk set. That was a real accomplishment for me because improvisation has always scared the hell out of me. I don't like it that much as a working technique. When the director is as strong as Peter is, then improv is wonderful.

Roy Harris: We've talked a little about this, since you and I are such fans of hers, but what was it like to play Joanne Woodward's son in Mr. and Mrs. Bridge?

Robert Sean Leonard: It's funny. They're an amazing team, she and Paul. He's reserved. Though I don't know a thing about him, I like him a great deal. Joanne is-well, you know, there's a love you have for certain celebrities. I think she knew I had this huge feeling, and she takes that feeling and makes you feel comfortable. It's okay to have it. Know what I mean?

Roy Harris: Absolutely.

Robert Sean Leonard: She embraces this feeling you have about her, and it frees you. Therefore, working with her was a dream. She's completely honest in her work.

Roy Harris: What was a favorite scene of yours in that film?

Robert Sean Leonard: I don't know. I was so racked with his age throughout the filming-you know, when he was fifteen, when he was seventeen, when he was nineteen. But I guess it would be the boy scout scene. I was so worried that no one would buy that I was fifteen years old. I was twenty at the time, so they gave me braces to help me get a sense of youth. It helped. Really, though, it was memorable because Joanne was so wonderful in it. She did everything for us. She made us all look good. I remember during filming looking over at Paul when I don't kiss her and begin to sing. And he wasn't Paul, he was Mr. Bridge, my father, and looked at me with such hatred, and it was startlingly clear that he loved his wife more than me. For him, his son wasn't going through something; no, some guy just hurt his wife. The most joyous scenes were coming home from the air corps through the final scene where I take her hand. For me, Douglas is the only one in that house who grows up with a true sense of other things in the world. After all, he's the one who writes the books.

Roy Harris: Well, you do feel he's the least selfish of those children.

Robert Sean Leonard: Yes, well, I think that's evident even when he's behaving like a brat with her. I wanted people to feel: yes, he's doing it, but it's killing him to do it. I remember feeling, 'If this guy can write about these people so brilliantly and so warmly, there's got to be something there, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to get that feeling into the film.' In his air corps training, Douglas met so many different kinds of people that he was able to look at his parents objectively and with love. To me, it's the only moment in the film where anyone reaches out to Mrs. Bridge as a human being, not the mother. Actually, Paul would probably disagree with this. But I guess we each see it from our own point of view in the film.

Roy Harris: One more quick thing before we close. If you could work with any actor, actress, director, and pick your own role; in other words, what's your ideal situation?

Robert Sean Leonard: I think doing The Seagull with Joanne would be an amazing experience. Doing anything with Ian Holm. I've always had a dream of playing Horatio to someone else's Hamlet. Horatio to Gary Oldman's Hamlet would be very good.

[thewakeless]

thank you @throwing-roses-into-the-abyss for tagging me! I was actually on a really good reading streak this year... until it all inevitably fell apart

1- how many books are too many books in a series?

I don’t really read series but in fantasy / scifi I think a lot of it depends on the richness of the world.  The better the world building the larger the series can be without getting trite.

2- what do you think about cliffhangers?

Fun! They push you to keep reading! However if you’re going to end your book on a cliffhanger you absolutely have owe it to your readers to publish it in a timeline manner.  For example A dance of Dragons ends with Jon Snow getting stabbed presumably to death and GGRM has now made readers wait more than 10 years to find out what happens.  Frankly that’s just disrespectful.  

3- hardback or paperback?

Both! Paperbacks are good to carry with you, read in parks, go to coffee houses, but there’s nothing like having a beautiful hard cover copy of your faves for longevity. 

4- least favourite book?

This is a long list.  I am real moody and picky.  But brave new world, as I lay dying and a portrait of an artist as a young man are all up there. 

5- Love Triangle, yes or no?

Nah mate.

6- the most recent book you just couldn’t finish

The House of the Spirits.  It was the first book I try reading in Spanish in like... 10 years... more maybe... and I was advancing so slowly it was frustrating.  I was enjoying the book tho!

7- book you are currently reading

Meridian by Alice Walker.  Really well written, not pleasant. 

8- last book you recommended to someone

I talked to my cousin yesterday and recommended she read, A house at the end of the world and the beautiful things that heaven bares.  Both of which I was very emotionally involved in, and are very well written. 

9- oldest book you read

That would have to be the Iliad and the Odyssey.

10- the most recent book you read ?

Six of Crows

11- favourite author?

Ah! This is a hard category.  There are some authors where I want to read everything they have written, but I’m in no rush. 

Okay so favorite dead authors

Tolstoy.  I’ve read Anna Karenina 4 times and every time I find more beauty and truth in it.  I don’t think anyone describes circumstances or ambiance with the same combination of richness and ease that Tolstoy was.  I always say that reading him makes me feel like a time traveler.  And War and Peace is the greatest story I have ever heard, tbh nothing else comes close to it.  It is a masterpiece and juggernaut.  I have a lot of beef with Tolstoy but he writes the story my heart craves. 

Steinbeck.  This was a bit of a surprise.  I didn’t expect to like him at all.  He has a very simplistic, clean type of writing that appeals to me, and he chooses to politicize his stories in a way that is still very relevant (even though some of them are almost 100 years old now).  I loved of Mice and Men, and Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden but my number 1 recommendation is Tortilla Flat.  It’s a tiny book (I think about 150 pages) and probably one of the most unique and funny things I have ever read.  It’s the story of a group of bums in a poor Valley in California but it’s parallel with King Arthur’s court, just a 10/10 for me.

Okay now living authors:

Anne Marie McDonald.  Fucking underrated Queer Canadian writer.  She meticulously examines the construction of gender, sexuality, and family in a way that gives insight not only to society at large, but to your own life, or my life anyway.  She always nails it.  I think my favorite of her books is still the first I read: The Way the Crow flies.  It’s magnificent.

Mohsin Hamid.  I found him completely by chance in a used book store back home, and I think his books should be mandatory reading.  Each of them is a ruthless critic of a giant subject: immigration, US imperialism, capitalism, told in a way that is romantic, charming, funny, sad and in less than 250 pages. This man is wicked smart, absolute magician. 

12- buying books or borrowing books?

I used to want to own every book I read. There’s something comforting about them, but I live in a tiny apartment and they keep gathering dust so I’ve been using the library a lot lately. 

12- a book you dislike that everyone else seems to love

Again this list could go on for a long time but Six of Crows comes to mind. 

14 - bookmarks or dogears?

Bookmarks! And I am of the belief anything can be a bookmark.  A leaf, an  old receipt, a granola bar wrapper, a rubber band, whatever is closest at hand. 

15- The book you can always reread?

I don’t re-read that much anymore, except in audiobooks.  My most listened is definitely my Jane Austen collection. They’re light and fun and zap me into a world were concerns are minimal, so I always go back to them. 

16- can you read while listening to music?

If it’s instrumental yes.  If it’s anything else no. 

17- one POV or multi POV?

Either, it really depends on the story. 

18- do you read book in one sitting or in multiple days?

Oh yes.  I am really lucky to have a lot of time on my hands to read and there’s something lovely about being that involved in someone else’s life / thoughts / world. 

19- who to tag: @princedxn @ahhhnorealnamesallowed

[winter-soldier-101]

Pure Blood line

This imagine has some missing parts and Viserys got Daenerys pregnant at the age of ten and when all this war goes on the reader is 18 and Daenerys is 28-29

I hope you do enjoy and please do not steal me work.

My name is (Y/N) Targaryen, my mother is Daenerys and my father is Viserys Targaryen, and this is how I came into this world.

"Viserys why did you do this, you can't marry off your sister now that she is with your child what were you thinking?" The man who was helping them asked.

"I was drunk and I wasn't thinking, how will I sell her to Khal Drogo now?" Viserys asked.

                   (Y/N)'S 8th Birthday

"I don't want to be his Queen, I want to go home" Daenerys says to Viserys.

"How do we get home then we need an army and ships to get home" Viserys says.

"What are we going to do about (Y/N)?" Daenerys asks Viserys.

"We will take her,she is your child and soon Khal Drogo will be her father, because I can't stand her crying and whining all day and night" Viserys says pulling Daenerys inside to get her things ready to leave.

"She's still a child Viserys she just wants her father with her sometimes" Daenerys says pulling her arm out of Viserys hand.

"Mommy is that you? What's going on, are we leaving?" (Y/N) ask her mother and her father.

"Are you coming with us to father?"(Y/N) asks Viserys.

Viserys looks down at (Y/N) and slaps her face," don't call me that" he says walking off.

                        The Wedding

(Y/N) sat next to her mother when she was given the dragon eggs as a gift (Y/N) picked one up and held it cole to her and kissed it. She did that to the other two as well.

Khal Drogo was not happy that Daenerys already had a child but he promised that he would love and protect (Y/N) like she was his own child.

"Mother I'm scared I don't want him here with us and I don't want him to hurt you or me anymore." (Y/N) says to Daenerys.

"He will not hurt us anymore, my love Khal Drogo will protect us from him" Daenerys says to (Y/N).

(Y/N) was happy when she found out her mother was going to have another baby, (Y/N) always wanted a baby brother or sister, but sadly she will never know her little brother, before everything went bad her father tried to kill her mother's baby then Khal Drogo kills Viserys, and now the man how (Y/N) wished was her father was now gone her mother had to give life for a life and now her brother and father are gone.

"Why are you going to do this mother" (Y/N) asked.

"I have to. I dreamt that if I put the dragon eggs with his body they will come to life, but I have to walk through the fire and you will join me in the fire my little dragon" Daenerys says to (Y/N) while hugging her.

           The Burning Of Khal Drogo

(Y/N) walked into the fire first and climbed up to her father's body, then her mother soon walked into the fire as well and we waited for the fire to burn out.

(Y/N) woke up with ash all over her body but now a woman and grown she looks just like her mother all three dragons crawled on (Y/N) or so she thought but not three dragons but six, three for her and three for her mother.

(Y/N) named her three dragons Rhaella, Baelor and Rhaego after her baby brother; her mother named her dragons Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal.

(Y/N) was ready to head home with  her mother and their army but they were offered a  gift, the gift was from Sir Jorah Mormont and the gift being Tyrion Lannister and when I first saw him I knew it was him, but why did he want to help us get the Iron Throne back from his family.

                        Going Home

DragonStone looked more like home then any of the other places they've lived, (Y/N) was ready to help her mother in any way her three dragons were all fully grown and ready do protect their mother and other siblings.

"Shall we begin" Daenerys says to (Y/N) and Tyrion.

"Mother what should we do? Do you want to summon Jon Snow?" (Y/N) asks her mother.

"We may need him and his men so yes I'm going to summon Jon Snow" Daenerys says to (Y/N).

DragonStone

(Y/N) landed Baelor in front of Jon Snow and as she makes her way off of him and walked beside Tyrion and the rest of the men and Missandei.

"How is she?" Jon asked Tyrion.

"This is (Y/N) Targaryen Queen Daenerys daughter" Tyrion says to Jon.

"I didn't know she had a daughter" Jon says to Tyrion.

"No one knows she was a secret well kept from everyone" Tyrion says while walking to (Y/N).

" You stand before Daenerys first of her name of House Targaryen,rightful heir of the Iron Throne,The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Protector of the Realm, Lady Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons" Missandei says to Jon Snow.

"This is Jon Snow, He's King in the North" Ser Davos says.

"Thank you for traveling so far my lord, I hope the seas were not too rough" Daenerys says to Jon.

"The winds were kind, your grace"Jon says to Daenerys.

"For give me your grace but Jon Snow is King so he is not a lord" Ser Davos says to Daenerys.

"Have you come here to bend the knee Jon Snow" Daenerys asks Jon.

"I have not come here to bend the knee your grace" Jon says to Daenerys.

"You've come all this way to break faith with House Targaryen," Daenerys says to Jon.

"Break faith your father burnt my grandfather and uncle alive he would ha-" Jon says but does not finish his sentence.

"My father was an evil man, on behalf of House Targaryen I ask your forgiveness for the crimes he committed against your family, and I ask you not to judge a daughter by sins of her father, our two houses were allies for centuries and those were the best centuries the seven kingdoms have ever known, centuries of peace and prosperity with a Targaryen sitting on the Iron Throne, and a Stark serving as warden of the North, I am one of the last living Targaryens Jon Snow honour the pledge your ancestor made to mine, bend the knee and I will name you warden of the North, together we will save this country from those who would destroy it" Daenerys says to Jon Snow.

"You're right, you're not guilty of your father's crimes and I'm not beholden to my ancestors' vows" Jon says to Daenerys.

"Then why are you here" Daenerys asks looking angry at Jon.

"Because I need your help and you need mine" Jon says to Daenerys.

"Did you see six full grown dragons flying over head when you arrived" (Y/N) says to Jon.

"I did" Jon says

"And did you see the Dothraki all of whom have sworn to kill for me and my daughter?" Daenerys says to Jon.

"They're hard to miss" Jon says.

"And still I need your help" Daenerys says.

"Not to defeat Cersei you could storm Kings Landing tomorrow and the city will fall, hell we almost took it and we didn't even have dragons" Ser Davos says.

"Almost" Tyrion says.

"But you haven't stormed Kings Landing, why not? The only reason I can see is that you don't want to kill thousands of innocent people. It's the fastest way to win the war but you won't do it which means at the very least you're better than Cersei" Jon says to Daenerys.

"Still that doesn't explain why I need your help" Daenerys says to Jon.

"Because right now you and I and Cersei and everyone else we're children playing at a game screaming that the rules aren't fair" Jon says.

"You told me you liked this man" Daenerys says to Tyrion.

"I do," Tyrion says to Daenerys.

"In the time since he's met me he's refused to call me queen he's refused to bow and now he's calling me a child" Daenerys says to Tyrion.

"I believe he's calling all of us children figure of speech" Tyrion says to Daenerys.

"Your grace everyone you know will die before winter is over if we don't defeat the enemy to the North" Jon says to Daenerys.

"As far as I can see you are the enemy to the North" Daenerys says to Jon.

"I am not your enemy, the dead are the enemy" Jon says.

"The dead is that another figure of speech?" Daenerys asks Jon.

"The army of the dead is on the march" Jon says.

"The army of the dead" Tyrion repeats Jon.

"You don't know me well my lord but do you think I'm a liar or a madman?" Jon asks Tyrion.

"No I don't you're either of those things" Tyrion says to Jon.

"The army of the dead is real, the white walkers are real the knight king is real. I've seen them, if they get past the wall and we're squabbling amongst ourselves we're finished," Jon says to Daenerys and Tyrion.

"I was born on DragonStone not that I can remember it we fled before Robert's assassins could find us, Robert was your father's best friend, now I wonder if your father knew his best friend sent assassins to murder a baby girl in her crib not that it maters now of course, I spent my life in foreign lands so many men have tried to kill me I don't remember all there names, I have been sold like a broodmare Ive been shamed and betrayed, raped and defiled do you know what keept me standing through all those years in exile faith not in any gods not in myths and legends in myself in Daenerys Targaryen the world hadn't seen a dragon in centuries until my children were born, the Dothraki hadn't crossed the sea any sea they did for me, I was bron to rule the Seven Kingdoms and I will" Daenerys says to Jon.

"You'll be ruling over a graveyard if we don't defeat the knight king" Jon says.

"The war against my sister has already begun. You can't expect us to halt hostilities and join you in fighting whatever it is you saw beyond the Wall" Tyrion says to Jon.

"You don't believe him I understand that it sound like nonsense but if destiny has brought Daenerys Targaryen back to our shores it has also made Jon Snow King in the North, you were the first to bring Dothraki to Westeros, he is the first to make allies of wildlings and North men he was named Lord Commander of the Night's watch he was named King of the North not because of his birthright he has no birthright he's a damn bastard all those hard sons of bitchs chose him as their leader because they believe in him all those things you don't believe in he faced those things he fought those things for the good of his people he risked his life for his people he took a knife to the heart for his people he gave his own li-, if we don't put aside enmities and bond together we will die and then it doesn't matter whose skeleton sits on the Iron Throne" Davos says to Daenerys and Tyrion.

"If it doesn't matter then you might as well bend then kneel swear your allegiance to Queen Daenerys to help her to defeat my sister and together our armys will protect the North" Tyrion says to Jon.

"There's no time for that there's no time for any of this while we stand here debating" Jon says.

"It takes no time to bend the knee pledge your sword to her cause" Tyrion says to Jon.

"And why would I do that I mean no offence your grace but I don't know you as far as I can tell your claim to the throne rests entirely on your father's name and my own father fought to overthrow the Mad King, the lords of the North placed their trust in me to lead them and I will continue to do so as well as I can" Jon says to Daenerys.

"That's fair it's also fair to point out that I'm the rightful Queen of the Seven Kingdoms by declaring yourself King of the northernmost kingdom you are in open rebellion" Daenerys says to Jon.

Varys comes into the room and tells Daenerys some news that may not be so good.

"You must forgive my manners, you'll both be tired after your long journey, we'll have baths drawn for you and supper sent to your room's" Daenerys says to Jon and Davos.

                    The Loot Train Attack

"Mother what's going on?" (Y/N) asked her mother.

"The Lannister army just took HighGarden from us" Daenerys says to (Y/N).

"What are we going to do? Are we going to go after them now?" (Y/N) asks her mother.

"Yes, you and I and the Dothraki are going to attack them" Daenerys says to (Y/N).

(Y/N) looked at her mother and then at Baelor as they rode off to HighGarden.

"Dracarys" both (Y/N) and Daenerys yell.

                   

After the loot train attack

"I know what Cersei has told you that I've come to destroy your cities, burn down your homes murder you and orphan your children that's Cersei Lannister not me, I'm not here to murder, and all I want to destroy is the wheel that has rolled over rich and poor to the benifit of no one but the Cersei Lannisters of the world, I offer you a choice- bend the knee and join me. Together we will leave the world a better place then we found it or refuse and die" Daenerys says to the men that lived.

"Step forward my Lord, you will not kneel?" Daenerys asks the man.

"I already have a Queen" The man says.

"Yes Cersei Lannister is your Queen now but she just became your queen is that right?" (Y/N) asks the man.

Daenerys was angry the man would not bend the knee to her and will not follow her rule is she did let him take the black like Tyrion suggested she should do to him but wouldn't except her ruling if she did.

  "Mother perhaps we should make a lesson out of him for the other men to know that if they do not bend the knee now they wont be bending at all" (Y/N) sas to her mother.

"Tie him up let's go home" Daenerys says to her men.

                 Finding A White Walker

Jon Snow and some of his men have gone North of the Wall to find a White Walker to show what is coming for us if we don't defeat them first.

"Your grace a raven from the Wall" one of the men says to (Y/N) and Daenerys.

"We need your help, the dead have us trapped" (Y/N) reads out to her mother.

"We have to go help them now or they will die" (Y/N) says to her mother and Tyrion.

(Y/N) and her mother walked over to there dragons and began to get on them.

"You both can't leave the two most important people and can't go to the most dangerous place now they knew what would happen if they went that far North" Tyrion says to both Daenerys and (Y/N).

"What would you have us do stay and let them die, if we don't go and let them die the North will not trust us or even fight with us against your sister so we are going now! Valahd" (Y/N) says while telling her dragons to fly.

"Dracarys" (Y/N) and Daenerys both yell out to their dragons.

" Viserion" (Y/N) yells getting the dragon's attention.

(Y/N) jumped off of Baelor and landed on Viserions back and flew him out of the way form the spear that was coming at him, Jon told Daenerys to leave and she did (Y/N) made her way back onto Baelor's back and went back for Jon and she brought him back to the Wall but he was so cold almost frozen.

                        KingsLanding

(Y/N) and Daenerys land in the Dragon Pit and Baelor and Drogon both roar at the men standing there.

"We've been here for some time" Cersei says to both (Y/N) and Daenerys.

"My apologies" (Y/N) says to Cersei.

"We are a group of people who do not like one another as this recent diminstation has shown we have suffered at each others hands, we have lost people we've love at each others hands if all we wanted is more of the same there would be no need for this gathering we are entirely capable of waging war against each other without meeting face to face" Tyrion says to Cersei and the rest of the people at the meeting.

"So instead we should settle our differences and live together in harmony for the rest of our days" Cersei says to Tyrion.

"We all know that will never happen" Tyrion says.

"Then why are we here?" Cersei asks Tyrion.

"This isn't about living in harmony it"s just about living the same thing is coming for all of us the general you can't negotiate with an army that doesn't leave corpses behind on the battlefield Lord Tyrion tells me a million people live in this city they're about to become a million more soldiers in the army of the dead" Jon says to Cersei.

"I imagine for most of them it would be an improvement" Cersei says to Jon.

"This is serious I wouldn't be here if it weren't" Jon says to Cersei.

"I don't think it's serious at all. I think it's another bad joke if my brother Jaime has informed me correctly you're asking for a truce?" Cersei asks Jon.

"Yes that's all" (Y/N) sas to Cersei.

"That's all pull back my armys and stand down while you go on your monster hunt or while you solidify and expand your position hard for me to know which it is with my armies pulled back until you return and march on my capital with four times the men" Cersei says to Daenerys.

"Your capital will be safe until the northern threat is dealt with. You have my word" Daenerys says to Cersei.

"The word of a would be usurper" Cersei says to Daenerys.

"There is no conversation that will erase the last 50 years we have something to show you" Tyrion says to Cersei.

Sandor Clegane walks up the steps with a crate on his back, he makes his way to the middle of the Dragon Pit and sets the crate down and unlocks it but nothing comes out then Sandor knocks the crate over and out come the White Walker screaming it jumps up and runs straight to Cersei and tries to grab her, but Sandor pulls it back the Walker gets up and runs straight at Sandor but Sandor pulls his sword and cuts the Walker in half and it still tries to get him while crawling to him.

"We can destroy them by burning them and we can destroy them with dragonglass if we don't win this fight then that is the fate of every person in the world , there is only one war that matters the Great War and it is here" Jon says to Cersei.

"I didn't believe it until we saw them, we saw them all" (Y/N) says.

"How many?" Jaime asks.

"Hundred thousand at least" Daenerys says.

                        Winterfell

Winterell was so beautiful but it was too cold for (Y/N) and the dragons didn't like it.

Jon introduced us to his family and his sister wasn't too happy to see me or my mother.

"Wintefell is yours, your grace" Sansa says to Daenerys.

"I'm not the queen, the queen is my daughter (Y/N)" Daenerys says to Sansa.

"Mother what are you doing, you're the queen not me" (Y/N) says to Daenerys.

"No I'm going back to Meereen after the Great War is over and when the War with Cersei continues I will be right there with and so will your brothers and your children will be there for you to my little dragon" Daenerys says to (Y/N).

"Lady Sansa can we talk alone for a moment" (Y/N) asks Sansa.

"What is it you want to talk about your grace" Sansa says.

"I know you do not like me and you may think I want to take your home over and make you a lady but that is not what I want. I want you to be Queen of the North because I know the North will not kneel to another Targaryen but I do want us to help each other if we ever have a Great War like this ever again." (Y/N) says to Sansa.

Sansa is surprised that (Y/N) even offered her this choice and she was not going to say no Sansa knew that the North will not kneel to (Y/N) after the war is over but they won't have to, Sansa will rule the North like her ancestors did long ago. 

"Your giving my sister the North after the war is over?" Jon asks (Y/N).

"Yes I am I've seen the way the other lords and ladys look at her and I know she will make you and the rest of your family proud by being the first queen of the North and we will be allies and we will fight with each other if a war like this ever happens again" (Y/N) says to Jon

"How do you know this is true?" Daenerys asks Jon.

"Samwell read it in a maester wrote about it and he wed them in a secret ceremony and Bran saw it" Jon says to Daenerys.

"If this is true you are the last male heir of house Targaryen and that makes you the rightful heir to the Iron Throne." Daenerys says to Jon.

"I don't want it, I want to be by your side and I will stay there and I will follow you anywhere." Jon says holding Daenerys. 

"We have to tell (Y/N) this and you must tell her now" Daenerys says to Jon.

"Your grace" Jon says to (Y/N).

"Jon, I've told you that you can just call me by my name but what is it you need." (Y/N) says to Jon

"My name, my real name is Aegon Targaryen my mother was Lyanna Stark and my father was Rhaegar Targaryen" Jon says to (Y/N).

"That means your the rightful heir to the Iron Throne and not me" (Y/N) says to Jon.

"I have already told your mother and I do not want the Iron Throne you will be my queen I bent the knee to you and your mother and I will not break that vow" Jon says to

(Y/N).

"You must tell your sisters they have to know I want them to know so they know that they will not hate me or you for keeping this from them" (Y/N) says to Jon.

The bells rang meaning the dead have arrived and we must fight now.

(Y/N) helped burn the dead and she fought her way through them and killed many of the dead that was her family but most of all after it was over (Y/N) went to go look for her mother and found her on the floor holding Ser Jorah's lifeless body (Y/N) fell to her knees and ran to her mother and cried and she knew that she had to say goodbye to a man that raised her and was like her second father.

(Y/N) and the rest of her men go straight to KingsLanding and she is ready to take back the Iron Throne from the family that killed hers.

"Cersei you swear that you would send your men North but you did not do that why?" (Y/N) asks Cersei.

"I did it because I didn't want to lose any of my men so Icould kill you and the world would be better without you in it that's why I didn't send my men North and before you ask I will not bend the knee to you or anyone else." Cersei says to (Y/N)

"I (Y/N) of House Targaryen sentence you to die, if you have anything to say you may say it" (Y/N) says to Cersei.

Cersei stayed quiet and did not say one word to anyone.

"Dracarys" (Y/N) says to Baelor and Baelor sets Cersei"s body on fire.

(Y/N) say up covered in sweat and looked at her dragons it was just a dream they just defeated the Night King and were heading to DragonStone.

           DragonStone/KingsLanding

The Iron Fleet was there waiting for us to return but we knew they would be there and we burned them alive. They tried to kill my brothers and my children.

(Y/N) was not happy about this but as they made there way to KingsLanding Daenerys burned all the scorpions and they made there way to the RedKeep to take back the six kingdoms and as they got up to the RedKeep there stood Cersi's men and they through their swords down and bent the knee.

(Y/N) found out that Cersei and Jamie had run off to a far away place with the help of Tyrion, (Y/N) was hurt that he would do that but she soon understood why he did he cared for them both and did not want to see them dead.

"I know proclaim (Y/N) of House Targaryen first of her name Queen of the andals and the first men protector of the six Kingdoms long may she reign" Tyrion says while putting the crown on (Y/N)'s head.

(Y/N) was now Queen and her mother was in Meereen with Jon and her three brothers while (Y/N) found love with a Dothraki man she knew her mother would love him and she did and now (Y/N) sits on the Throne with her husband by her side and her child will soon sit on the Throne as well.

THE END

.

If you liked the story let me know and as always enjoy~~~A🖤

[theydeservedasoftepilogue]

Performativity and the Power of Collective Belief

Today marks the one-year anniversary that glorious, beautiful, triumphant, deeply human scene in which Jaime Lannister asks his beloved, Brienne of Tarth, to kneel so he can give her the one gift she truly covets – knighthood. A standout scene in what is overall a standout episode, it is inarguably the pinnacle of Game of Throne’s (otherwise abysmal) 8th season and arguably the pinnacle of the series as a whole. Certainly I was never as moved or captivated by anything this show has laid before me.

And I – and my fellow Braime shippers – were not alone. Multiple entertainment outlets wrote extended commentary on this episode, often praising this scene in particular. No real wonder. It is viscerally exhilarating, organic, beautifully acted, one of the few TV moments I could without hesitation describe as perfect.

But why?

On one level it seems obvious. It completes Brienne and Jaime’s unique character arcs – her pursuit of knighthood and his pursuit of redemption – while also overtly affirming the deep love they feel for one another. Granted, Jaime’s arc is a little more complex than Brienne’s, for he has always been a mixed bag of noble and misguided deeds. But regardless of his moral grey, Jaime has always found and heeded his better angels when Brienne was there to light the way. His total surrender of Cersei for the Lady of Tarth felt like the necessary end to his personal journey (the final two episodes notwithstanding).

However, I think this scene goes even deeper than these two characters and their particular arcs (both individual and shared). In addition to being a phenomenal consummation of their storylines, this scene also manages to be a perfect microcosm of what Game of Thrones was always trying to theorize and imagine, namely, how can social systems be made fairer, more just, more humane, more attentive and adaptable to the needs of those who must operate in and through them?

At the risk of stating what should be obvious, Game of Thrones is a story about power, and how power works. What made it better than a great many of its imitators was the far more varied and nuanced ways it took on its examination of power. It looked at how a huge range of social phenomenon overlap and intersect in the production and reproduction of power, including: • Wealth • Social networks • Kinship systems • Gender/sex/sexuality/reproduction • Name and reputation • Violence and militarism • Legal systems • Nationalism and tribalism • Tradition • Land and material resources • Religion/spirituality • Labor • Language • And more

Whatever else might be said of this show and its failings, it deeply understood that power is multi-faceted, diffuse, varied, complex, and tied to a huge range of interlocking socio-cultural systems that supersede all the individuals who operate within them.  

Humans require social systems to function. They allow us to, as anthropologists would say, create shared meaning, make decisions, divide up labor, meet our collective and individual needs, and yes, even give us pleasure. We cannot just do without social systems, nor would we want to.

But social systems also have a tendency to become calcified and perverted, used by some to exploit and abuse others. Social systems often start out as tools but are frequently repurposed as weapons in the hands of those who find ways to use them to unfair advantage, often perpetuating that unfair advantage over time.

When Game of Thrones begins, we are dropped into a world where this is the core conflict at hand. Deeply unjust and dysfunctional manifestations of power have taken hold, leaving those in charge of running the world deeply inferior to the task. An issue that becomes all the more salient as it becomes clear that Westeros, and the world at large, is facing down an existential threat from the White Walkers.

And that’s part of the point. Humans can and do face problems that cannot be solved at the level of individual action. We need systems and structures for survival. After all, winter is coming.

The arcs of characters like Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, and Lord Varys, are about asking – can the systems themselves be made better, made more just, made to truly help more than they harm? Can we have the tool without allowing it to become a weapon? And if so, how?

Game of Thrones has never been a particularly optimistic show, and I would argue this is valid. Humans are good at corrupting power, and it would be disingenuous to suggest otherwise. But I would also argue it does not behoove us to surrender to despair, because the belief that power is inherently unjust helps power stay unjust, the belief that it is unmovable is part of what keeps it unmovable.

Enter our heroes, facing down the Long Night, a seemingly hopeless battle in which there is likely no victory or survival. They sit by a fire, enjoying each other’s company as they contemplate their immanent doom. When Tormund – an outsider to the realms of men – asks why Brienne – an outsider to the realm of manhood – cannot be a knight, she explains, “Women can’t be knights.” The two social systems are in conflict, mutually exclusive. Why? Tradition.

In that moment, Jaime Lannister takes up the power he holds to make other knights, a power the social systems of Westeros have conferred to him by virtue of his wealth and name and kinship and gender and tradition, and he remakes the system with one performative* act. He re-renders the social systems of knighthood and gender by taking up the tools of which the act – the knighting ceremony – is composed and deploying them anew.

Power IS movable. Systems can be remade, and remade for the better.

The act is small, local, confined essentially to the people in the room. But it takes hold and confers nonetheless, partly because the other people in the room (symbolic of society as a whole) uphold and affirm it. They acknowledge it as real, which is what makes it ‘real,’ and therefore powerful – which is the fundamental secret of all social systems. They have the power they have because of collective belief, because we all ACT as if their power is real.

Gender and knighthood, like all social systems, are socially constructed, made by humans and able to be remade by them as we see fit. Part of the way unjust social systems perpetuate themselves is by generating the illusion that they are inevitable, natural, unchangeable, unmovable. When Jaime knights Brienne, the story affirms this fundamental, and fundamentally optimistic, truth about power – it can be remade.

What has always been does not always have to be.

Power can be reborn a female knight in shining armor because no social system is truly unmovable. Most of what is required is for us to acknowledge that the rules governing the systems that govern us are arbitrary, historically contingent, able to be rewritten through the ultimate tool of power we always carry with us – collective belief.

*This refers to the concept of performativity coined by linguist J.L. Austin in his work How to Do Things with Words, and popularized by gender theorist Judith Butler, most primarily in her work Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. This essay is particularly indebted to Bulter’s work, as well as that of Foucault (whose theories of power are unparalled).

[oveliagirlhaditright]

If you were to do a crossover between Kingdom Hearts and Game of Thrones, how would you do it?

I honestly feel like it wouldn’t be that hard?

People might act like sex in needed in Game of Thrones, but it’s really not, imo (the only instance it is, is when characters such as Dany are fighting against rapists). And the books had less of it than the show did.

I also don’t think them cursing is necessary (but if it is, the Japanese version of KH actually curses some).

For me, the thing that really sets Game of Thrones apart is that every character is gray, and that the “good guys” usually don’t win but the bad guys do. Though that isn’t entirely true. Like, A Song of Ice and Fire set itself apart by showing how being a good person actually gets you screwed over in life, and the people who don’t have qualms about doing bad things win over you. But at the same time... if you do bad things and hurt good people, people are going to remember that and it’s going to bite you in the ass in the end. So while the story started with the heroes, the Starks, essentially getting annihilated, the chickens have now come to roost, and the survivors are getting more powerful while people like Cersei are starting to have to lay in the bed that they made. All of that is the important part of this story to me.

And I think you can easily have that in Kingdom Hearts. 

I’m going to treat Game of Thrones like it’s just a one world visit in a KH game, but if you want me to do more than that, I can:)

Sora, Donald, and Goofy--or whoever--would clearly come into the “War of the Dawn” part of the story. I.E: the fight against the Ice Zombies. As the real moral of A Song of Ice and Fire, is that if humans waste time squabbling over stupid things, they’re going to miss the bigger picture and it’ll be too late for them. (And the others/White Walkers are supposed to somewhat be a metaphor for Climate Change.) And of course our heroes help Jon Snow, who is really heading this, fight and defeat them.

But since it’s still Game of Thrones, there’s still probably still political intrigue, mistrust, and betrayals going on. Sora and company probably get fed the Sparks Notes version of everyone’s stories, and try to help lessen tensions between them so that they’ll actually work together and adhere to the moral of this story. Sora uses his super power of connecting to other people that way. 

Though Sora is probably surprised to hear some of the crazy things these characters have lived through, or the crazy things they’ve done to each other. If we want to add some gray to Kingdom Hearts like Game of Thrones is gray (so Sora learns from the worlds he goes to)... maybe hearing how the Starks were screwed over by some people they trusted, makes him wonder if he should be so trusting. Perhaps he remembers how his “friends being his power” was almost his downfall in Chain of Memories. But Sora being Sora, he shakes off this funk. But it’s still a chilling thought.

And then, maybe to honor that both series are somewhat puzzle box ones, maybe Sora somehow gives the Game of Thrones character a clue about who Azor Ahai is, and they help him figure out whatever insane new plot conviction Nomura has worked into his plot.

IDK. LOL

If you want, I can try and think about some character interactions, too. But I will say, that I think comparing Kairi to Sansa, Naminé to Daenerys, Xion to Arya, and Aqua to Brienne has always been pretty apt. Though in some ways, you might say that Kairi is more Dany and Naminé is more Sansa, but meh. I make the Naminé and Dany comparison, because both girls were abused and just going along with things until they both found their power and eventually said “no”. And Kairi with Sansa because, for the most part, Sansa has somehow never lost her kindness throughout everything. She somehow even felt bad when her torturer Joffrey was murdered! And that’s very Princess of Heart Kairi. But I could also see people saying Naminé is more Sansa, because Naminé isn’t snarky like Kairi (though to be honest, Sansa isn’t a perfect flower. Because she at least has a history of bullying her little sister some. But she was a dumb child. Who cares?)--and neither are a fighter--and Kairi is more fiery and  active like Dany. I can see both sides. But Kairi definitely gets the Sansa treatment of being a victim more than Naminé does (probably partly because Naminé didn’t exist for a while). Oy... 

And while it’s just a coincidence, of course, and does not matter in the grand scheme of things (because if I instead thought Kairi was more like Arya, I would say that and not care what character looked like who), I do find it funny that I see Kairi as Sansa, Naminé as Daenerys, Xion as Arya, and Aqua as Brienne, and they all sort of look like those characters. LOL

...I got off-topic there. Sorry.

And thanks for the ask!

Edit: And Sora would love seeing Dany’s dragons.

[musical-chick-13]

Melisandre too please

OKAY STRAP IN MY FRIEND BECAUSE I WANT TO SCREAM ABOUT GOT WOMEN TODAY

• Did they live up to their potential? / In what ways was their potential unachieved?

I’m going to stick to the show because, again finished when the books aren’t. So, I really love Melisandre with my whole heart. You know, you have this mysterious woman who easily manipulates a powerful man, but it’s not just a standard femme-fatale I love power kind of thing. She grew up enslaved (at least in book canon, I can’t remember if this was ever mentioned in the show), and she’s in, essentially, a codependent relationship with her religious faith. It’s not for some sort of fake demureness or quest for purity, it’s because she thinks it’s genuinely the only thing she can do to save the world. She’s not a corrupt pastor, she’s an extremist who truly thinks she’s doing the right thing. But she’s not quite a competely-brainwashed, naive young victim, either. Obviously being sold into slavery and trained in the priesthood since forever ago influences her beliefs. But she reflects deeply on the nature of morality and owns up readily to the fact that sometimes she engages in acts of violence in the name of what she believes. It’s not an accident, people’s lives simply come at the expense of her service to R’hllor and faith in the coming of Azor Azai. She balances a very fine line between two extremes of the religious zealot morality spectrum, and I think she does it very well. The one thing I will say is that the show couldn’t seem to make up its mind on whether or not she was a fraud or whether she actually had Special Magic Powers. And not in kind of a “We won’t show you all the details of what happened, judge for yourself if she’s legit” way. They had her whole conversation with Selyse about using potions for desired fire effects, but she gives birth to shadow assassin babies and then literally brought someone back from the dead. If you’re going to make it ambiguous, keep it ambiguous. If not, make a decision and commit to it. Being completely shrouded in mystery; being a complete, unapologetic fraud; and being a supernatural entity entrusted with magic who sometimes misuses it “For The Greater Good” are all much more interesting than flip-flopping back and forth on characterization because you’re afraid to commit to a concept. Also, for some reason, in season 7 her main objective was to bring Jon and Dany together? Why? They should have explained how she got to that point and why she thought it was necessary. Also her death, but I talk about that in the last point.

• How they negatively and positively affected the story.

Positive: She brought Stannis into the story, leading to a discussion about whether or not the concept of justice is born from conformity to rules or a desire to put more good into the world. We are introduced to another religion in Westeros that helps enrich the worldbuilding and leads to a moral compass that is centered so differently from the other characters that it provides a fresh way of interpreting the story’s events and keeps us engaged. We are introduced to Davos aka Onion Dad through her and I love that guy.

Negative: She brought Stannis and Davos into the story, to the point where show Shireen died FOR NO REASON  which COMPLETELY RUINED STANNIS’S CHARACTER IN THE PROCESS. Stannis wasn’t supposed to be The Irredeemable Bad Guy, he was supposed to be another link in the chain that encompassed all of the different ways of looking at morality. Instead, they used his multifaceted, complex relationship with Melisandre to flatten out his characterization, make him the resident Pathetic Game Player We Are Supposed to Laugh At, and ultimately left off all degree of nuance by making him burn a child alive for shock value. I’ll never forgive the show for that. (Also, what with Brienne’s smiting of Stannis, Davos being the All-Around Good Guy and the fact that Mel’s death was so...anticlimactic...we’re also apparently supposed to see Stannis as the one primarily responsible for Renly’s death? Just? Ignoring Mel’s (and Davos’s) part in that? Sounds fake and narratively inconsistent, but okay.)

• What my favorite arc for them is.

-I think, probably after Stannis’s death (how said death came about notwithstanding, see above), when she realizes that she was...wrong? About her faith? She thought she knew how the world was supposed to work, like she had finally figured it out and unlocked some big secret, and then it just wasn’t true at all. And (kind of similar to what I said about Cersei) she has to rebuild herself. She and Davos have reversed their ways of thinking, where Davos believes-maybe not in R’hllor or any god(s), but in the existence of inexplicable and superhuman things-and now he has to convince her. And only then does she (and the audience) learn of her true power. (Which, as I mentioned above, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this. Her being a charlatan strikes me as a character choice I would want more in a story I was writing, but I’m not writing these books/episodes, lmao.) Her priorities become more skewed toward “Fighting the White Walkers and making sure whoever Azor Azai is has a world left to save,” which WE LOVE ORGANIC SHIFTS IN PERSONAL MOTIVATION WE REALLY DO Y’ALL

• What I think of their ending.

-Ugh. I don’t think I’ve ever actually talked about this, but her just going, “Well, my goal is done, bye” and then going out into the snow and just laying down to die is...how do I put it...utter bullshit. There was never any true payoff in her ongoing conflict with Davos, no resolution to her (weird, creepy) relationship with Jon or how he felt about her doing awful things but still being the person who brought him back to life, she didn’t even get a moment of dying in service of a cause she believed in (like, for example, Theon, whose ending I also hated but for much more personal reasons that have less to do with narrative structure and more to do with my feelings). She legit just said, “I’m out” and instantaneously died. Also...she, Davos, and Jon have been through a LOT. The fact that there was barely any mention of her or what her death meant save for that one conversation Davos had with Tyrion??? for some reason???? seems like a waste. If someone has been with you through multiple traumatic experiences, it doesn’t matter if you hate them, you’ll have some sort of feelings after they die. Davos never got retribution for Shireen, doesn’t that bother him?? How does Jon feel knowing he owes his life to the killer of an innocent child? How does Davos feel seeing yet another person die right in front of him, but intentionally this time?? *sigh* Emotional through-lines are a thing, people!

• When I wish they had died. / If I think they should’ve died.

-Ultimately, my biggest beef is that there was...nothing I saw in the show that suggested this was how she wanted her story to end. If you’re going to make a character feel hopeless upon resolving a specific problem or tie their entire reason for existing to one conflict, you have to have them talk about it or personally reflect on it? You can’t just stick that on as an afterthought to justify...whatever it was D&D were trying to justify. Melisandre has always had such a complicated relationship with Westerosi morality, and she NEVER got to see any direct consequence of that (and by consequence I don’t even mean, like...punishment or something, I literally just mean a result that happened because of it). She, again, legit just walked in the snow by herself and insta-died. It 100% felt like they just didn’t know what to do with this character so they just scribbled something in so they wouldn’t have to spend any time on her later because they didn’t care about her. (Which, obviously, they’re wrong. I love her and she’s so interesting this is a fact. Shame on you, D&D.) I do think, for her, it makes sense based on her religious ties to kind of...have a last-minute swerve toward penance. Not guilt or redemption, per se, but a way to honor the world she’s trying to save by way of choosing to die through a selfless act. Whether that be sacrificing herself as a distraction for the White Walkers or putting herself in the line of fire (ice?) for Jon because she thinks he'll help heal the world or (my personal favorite) fighting off a White Walker to protect Davos because she has finally come to sort-of understand his nuanced take on morality and that although he has some bad/dark parts, he is genuinely a good man and deserves to make it out alive. Let him have the life that Shireen didn’t get to have. Davos would be SO CONFLICTED because She Did a Good Selfless Thing For Someone Who Wanted To Kill Her But She’s An Awful Person What Do I Think About Good And Evil Now and the introspection would be delicious.

[ryanrosshq]

GRR 15 years. 03. 21. 08. 

For RP purposes. Do not interact outside of City Of Dreams RPG.

[xxcorndogxx]

Sandor Clegane x Reader||Chapter Twenty Four

(Danny Trejo is your dad) I watch as Sandor kicks over the box. The white walker rushing out. It runs for the first person it sees. Queen Cersi. Sadly Sandor grabs the chain yanking the walker back. Away from Cersi. When he does the walker turns to face him. As it runs to him he draws his sword. Chopping it in half as it attacks. The white's upper half keeps crawling to him. It reaches out for him and he hacks its handoff. I walk back to stand by Lord Varys. Qyburn picks up the hand. It still moves. Jon takes the hand from him. Ser Davos approaches and lights a torch.

"We can destroy them by burning them," Jon announces as he lights the hand. After a moment he drops it.  "And we can destroy them with dragon glass." He holds out his blade. "If we don't win this fight, then that is the fate of every person in the world." Jon stabs the walker. "There is only one war." He approaches the queen. "That matters, the Great War and it is here."

"I didn't believe them until I saw them. I saw them all"

"How many?" Jamie asks.

Sandor stands behind Brienne and I stand next to him. His arm around my waist.

"Hundred thousand at least." Daenerys answers.

Euron Greyjoy walks over and examines the walker.

"Can they swim?" He asks.

"No." Jon answers.

"Good, I'm taking the Iron Fleet back to the Iron Islands."

"What are you talking about?" Cresi asks.

"I've been around the world, I've seen everything you couldn't imagine and this, this is the only thing I've ever seen that terrifies me." He proclaims. He walks to Daenerys. "I'm going back to my island, you should go back to yours. When winters over we'll be the only ones left alive."

He's got a point.

"He's right to be afraid, and a coward to run. If those things come for us, there will be no kingdoms to rule. Everything we suffered it would have been for nothing. Everything we lost will have been for nothing. The crown accepts your truce. Until the dead are defeated they are the true enemy." Cersi proclaims. "In return, the King in the North would extend this truce. He will remain in the North where he belongs. He will not take up arms against the Lannisters. He will not choose sides."

"Just the King in the North? Not me?" Daenerys asks.

"I would never ask it of you. You would never agree to it. And if you did, I would trust you even less than I do now. I only ask it of Ned Stark's son. I know Ned Stark's son will be true to his word."

We all look at Jon.

"I am true to my word." He starts. "Or I try to be. This is why I cannot give you what you ask. I cannot serve two queens. And I have already pledged myself to Queen Daenerys of House Targaryen."

"Then there is nothing left to discuss." She stands. "The dead will come north first. Enjoy dealing with them. We will deal with whatever's left of you."

We watch as she leaves. After talking Tyrion goes to speak with his sister.

"How are you feeling, little dove?" Sandor asks turning to me.

"Alright."

"You aren't dizzy, you don't need to pee?" I shake my head.

"I just went. I am tired though."

I move to sit in a chair and he stops me. He sits and pulls me on his lap. I rest against him. After a bit, Tyrion returns and the Queen does as well. We stand as they approach.

"My army's will not stand down. I will not pull them back to the capital. I will march them north to fight alongside you in the Great War. The darkness is coming for us all. We will face it together and when the Great War is over, perhaps you'll remember I chose to help. With no promises or assurances from any of you. I expect not. Call our banners. All of them."

I walk through the garden once more. I haven't been here in ages. I see a bunch of those flowers that Sandor would get for me. I pick one and place it behind my ear. I move to leave the garden and Cersi is there.

"My dear, Y/n."

She doesn't smile.

"Your grace."

I bow slightly.

"Look at you." She examines me. "All grow up. Married, pregnant. I wonder how your father will take the news."

She smiles.

"He doesn't know? You didn't tell him?"

"No. I wanted to wait until you were here so you could talk. I'm sure he won't be too delighted to know that his daughter married The Hound and is with his child."

I shift uncomfortably.

"Your grace, if you may. I have to piss." I confess.

"I know how that is. Can't hold it in for long with that bundle of life in you."

She nods me to leave. I rush up the stairs with a hand on my stomach. I turn a corner and almost fall. I ran right into Sandor, luckily he was quick to grab me before I could fall.

"Little dove?"

He looks concerned.

"I have to piss," I explain.

I hold onto his arm as we walk. He keeps me steady. My father turns the corner. His eyes meet mine and he smiles. It wavers as his eyes scroll down to the hand Sandor has resting on my somewhat large stomach. I have to be at least 6 months at this point. For a moment no one move.

"Father," I speak in a calm voice.

I feel Sandor stiffen. He knows my father hates him.

"You." My Father glares at Sandor. "You-." He points his finger at Sandor. He occasionally moves closer. "-took my daughter away. Kidnapped her from her room and you had the nerve to put a child in her." He shouts.

I really have to pee.

"I didn't kidnap the girl. She came with me of her own free will."

"Bullshit. My daughter knows how much I hate you-."

"Exactly. How much you hate me. Not her."

"Well, she doesn't love you."

"I do love him!" I shout. "Father, he's my husband. I love him with all my heart. With all my soul I am his and he is mine."

"You didn't. You did not marry this man."

His face red with anger.

"She did," Sandor grumbles.

"Why?"

I really have to pee. I hold my legs as tightly together as I can. While they scream and argue I cling tighter to Sandor's arm.

"Sandor," I mumble.

The tingling downstairs is very strong almost painful. I don't know how much longer I can hold it.

"Sandor!" I call louder tugging on him.

"What!?" He shouts turning to me.

I am taken aback. He's never yelled at me. He is quick to place his hand on my face.

"I'm sorry, little dove. You caught me in the heat of the moment."

"I have to pee. I can't hold it." I pout.

We start to leave but father stops us.

"You're not going anywhere with her." He's firm. "She will stay here with me. I'll have you killed or sent away and when that child comes from her I'll kill it myself."

"She will go with me. I married her. She's not yours anymore." He defends.

"She's my daughter!"

"Sandor," I mumble.

"She's my wife!"

I feel a little leak out.

"She won't be your wife after I kill you." He threatens.

"I'd like to see you try old man."

And just like that, there it goes. Everyone's silent as the piss hits the floor. Drops rolling down my legs. Tears slipping from my eyes out of embarrassment. Sandor looks down at me.

"Little dove." He coos. "I'm so sorry, I forgot." He apologizes.

"I told you I couldn't hold it long." My father's eyes meeting mine.

"Your daughter has now pissed herself because you wanted to argue. I was helping her to the bathroom." He explains.

"Y/n." My father reaches to me.

"Enough. You've done enough. I'm a grown woman. I can make my own choices. You need to live with that." I shout. "Now if you'll excuse, I've soiled myself."

I walk off. Sandor follows. Back in our room, Sandor helps me wash myself. He brings me a new dress from my wardrobe.

"Thank you."

I smile. He kisses my forehead. He helps me pull the fabric over my body. He lifts me up and carries me to bed.

[justallamaimaginingthings]

I Don’t Want Anymore [Bran Stark x Reader]

Request: "heyy💛 can I request a bran x reader one shot in which the reader is in Love with him and he loves her too but is convinced they can‘t be together so the reader tries convincing him they can. Idk just some Bran fluff/Angst his Tag is so empty :( thank you!!!" by anonymous

A/n: This is my first time writing Bran so plz bare with me. Also, exams are killing me, this is the thrid time I’m having a headache in less than a week so there are probably going to be some tiny mistakes. really hope you like it though and don’t hesitate to leave a comment ❤

Words: 1000ish  ||   GoT Masterlist

I don't want anymore.

That's what Bran had told Tyrion when the Lannister had suggested he took lordship over Winterfell, but there is an exception for every rule. In Bran's case that exception was you. Ever since he met you and your siblings all those years ago, the Stark had grown more than fond of your company. You had been there for him through everything and had even saved his life when Walkers threatened to kill all of you and somewhere along the way Bran had ended up falling in love with you.

However, after becoming the three eyed raved he knew life as a human was over and that meant the chance of being with you had fled. And even though he was supposed to be completely detached from desire, his thoughts wondered back to you more often than he would ever admit. No matter how much he tried to ignore those feelings, they only came back stronger every time he saw you. Even then, planning the strategy for the upcoming war with a stern expression in your face and pure determination glancing in your eyes, Bran believed you were the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

"You need to stay in the crypts, where you will be safe" Jon's voice interrupted his thoughts

"We need to lure him into the open before his army destroys us all" he explained calmly, knowing very well the immensity of the risk he was putting himself into, as well as it being the only chance they had against the Night King.

"You can't be seriously suggesting for us to use you as bait" you exclaimed loudly, shock and worry cursing through your veins. It was bad enough that most of you were probably going to die in the war, you couldn't handle Bran being one of them. He was the memory of the world, which made his survival essential. Wanting to be honest, however, you’d admit there was another reason you couldn't bear the thought of Bran being out there, a much more personal one.

For a while now, the Stark boy had been plaguing your thoughts day and night and you deny the fact that your heart almost skipped a beat every time he was nearby. Attempting and failing to ignore what that meant, you had finally accepted the truth. Your feelings towards Bran had changed from those of friendship and likeness to the one of love.

"It needs to be done" Bran replied, keeping his calm like he always did those days. Looking around, your eyes pleaded for anyone to come up with a better idea, anything that could prevent that crazy plan, but nothing came.

"Very well" you said putting an incredible amount of effort into holding back your emotions before making your way out of the room. As the door closed behind you, you leaned back against the wall and let out a deep sight, trying not to let the tears fall. You didn't know how much time passed until the door opened again to reveal Bran.

"You are afraid" he noted, voice lacking any form of emotion

"How can I not be? This is suicide, Bran" you exclaimed turning to look at him

"I will not die, I have been shown the future" he said seeming unphased by your outburst

"The rest of us have not. I cannot stand by and watch you practically surrender to the enemy just because a vision showed you everything" you insisted somewhat sarcastically causing the ghost of a smile to appear on his face, the only sign of emotion you had detected on him in a long time.

"He didn't show me everything. There are still things I don't understand" he said

"Like what?" you shot back

"You have believed in my visions and repeatedly risked your life so that I could become what I am, why doubt me now?" for the first time you could see a hint of genuine curiosity in his eyes, mixed with something else you couldn’t quite place.

"Because I love you, gods damn it" you raised your voice, finally allowing your thoughts to be openly expressed. It was something you had been keeping in for far too long and letting go felt liberating.

"So did he" Bran replied bringing you back to reality with his cold tone "Bran Stark, I mean. He loved you with all his heart, but he is not here anymore" His voice remained calm as ever, but you noticed the look on his eyes had shifted into one of hope and affection.

"Yes, he is. Bran, this is you" you exclaimed, kneeling down so that the two of you were on the same level and taking his hand in yours.

"Y/n, this cannot happen" he sighted feeling his own heart break just as the words left his lips "I am the three eyed raven"

"So what?" you asked, too preoccupied by the fact that he had admitted to return your feelings to let anything ruin that.

"I am not supposed to want anymore. I can't give you a home or a title" he explained and a traced of sadness could be clearly traced in his voice. That had been what he wanted all along and now that it was finally possible he had to deny. He may love you, but he could not condemn you to his way of life.

"I don't want any of this, I want you" you insisted "I know you claim to live in the past, but it's time you looked around and saw the present"

He knew he shouldn't, but the way your hand seemed to fit perfectly into his combined with the almost pleading look in your eyes were all it took to change his mind. Cupping your face in his hand, he pulled you closed until your faces were inches apart. Looking for any sign of doubt, he found none so he placed his lips on your in a soft slow kiss. It was short lived and hesitant, but it was all you needed to feel your heart swell with warmth.

And maybe you were getting into something more complicated than you could fathom, but whatever it was, you were willing to go through it if it meant having Bran by your side.

[22drunkb]

Some thoughts about Bran Stark

Okay, so--not to butt in and trample around, as someone who never read the books and stopped watching the show sometime around season 3--but the thing is, I feel like the ending has finally allowed me to understand exactly what it was that turned me off Game of Thrones, which I never quite did put my finger on till now, and I want to at least write it out once. (Ironically, this has made me like the story better, though not its execution.) To attempt a spoiler-free summary: I’m going to be thinking about the thematic structure of the story and why that should make certain things make sense, and how they came to not make sense anyway.

The thing is, thematically and structurally, Bran ending up king makes absolute and perfect sense. It’s just that they didn’t write the story in line with the structure they were given. The problem with the show is--and always has been--that the writers don’t actually understand what “subverting fantasy tropes” means or could look like, and they don’t care about it in any meaningful way. What they care about is doing big, bloodthirsty, quasi-historical fiction with a lot of nudity. (See: the Civil War show they wanted to do.) And Bran’s whole situation only makes sense (or would have made sense, if executed properly) in the context of high fantasy.

Keeping in mind that complicating high fantasy tropes was an important part of what Martin reportedly set out to do, each of the Stark kids (the story’s backbone) had a clear thematic purpose. Each of them a) was a take on a trope, b) had a clear character trajectory that would allow that take on the trope to be developed while functioning as a working character arc, and c) through that trope-inflected arc, could allow the audience a window into specific part of the society (i.e., they supported the worldbuilding), which in turn allowed the further development of these takes on the tropes by giving them specific, appropriate settings and side characters to bounce off of. This is to say that GRRM did a good job setting himself up to do “trope subversion” in a way that would comment on the things he wanted to comment on, function as part of a larger world and story, and help support a plot that would be in harmony with all of the above. This is one very solid approach to character design. To be clear, despite this paragraph being about characters, I’m talking about themes--it has nothing to do with their personalities or whatever. This is about what ideas come together in the concept of each character and therefore how each character’s story develops the ideas.

A good reason to approach character design in this way is if you have set out to subvert, complicate, comment on, or otherwise mess with genre tropes. To do so, the characters have to themselves be tropes, or at least be designed in close relation to tropes, in order to derange them. So like, just to take the simplest two examples:

Robb: The Prince. Firstborn, shining favorite, destined to inherit. Set up (normally) to avenge his father, restore order to his kingdom, and go home. Bungles it entirely by seeking true love; meanwhile, in the course of his story we learn about the regional politics of the North, the politics of alliances by marriage and kinship, etc. Narratively, his failure allows the entire political and military situation to get infinitely more clusterfucked. All of those pieces fit together well thematically.

What is being subverted here is the prince’s marital destiny. We have loads of fairy and fantasy stories about prince and prince-types for whom pursuing true love just happens to be convenient (they can marry whoever they want), or whose pursuits of love are rescued by fate (his true love turns out to be his promised princess all along! She’s secretly a magical being of some sort, and that trumps betrothal agreements! The one he was originally supposed to marry died or decided to marry someone else! etc). This is totally kosher in traditional high fantasy (or in the folklore that the genre draws on) because it’s an expression of the harmony of the story-world; the characters go through their trials and adventures and end with a resolution in the form of marriage that announces that all is as it should be. What it looks like GRRM set out to do is ask what happens when people still follow those rules and the rules aren’t in harmony with the world they live in.

In particular, the entire thing points square at the fact that princes are political animals. It seems to me that Robb’s story was meant to say, well, actually, sometimes people with power just have to marry people they don’t love as a condition of being powerful (which comes up constantly throughout the whole show). After Ned and Catlyn, basically every “true love” couple is dysfunctional, incestuous (Cersei and Jaime, Daenerys and John), and/or gets narratively stomped on, as far as I’m aware. (Did Sam and Gilly make it? If so, I think that’s allowed because they’re commoners.) Ironically, Ned and Catlyn set Robb up to fuck up by modeling one of these convenient political-and-true-love marriages. He thought he was supposed to be allowed to have it all. He was wrong. The end. Next. But the show seemed to expect me to feel that the outcome was unjust and tragique for Their Love, when all that was unjust and tragique about it was that Robb was idiot enough to bring the consequences of his actions on his entire group of followers. That is the point. That his status has to constrain his behavior, and when it doesn’t it has consequences for others. The status itself is what’s being problematized.

Jon: The Secret Heir. Second-oldest, bastard-born, treated with contempt. In relation to the family, literally a supplementary person. Set up (normally) to be rediscovered as the true heir to the throne and end up as king (moving from the margins to the center; getting the acceptance he couldn’t have as a bastard). The twist is the “true” dynasty he represents is composed of inbred lunatics, and his potential access to the throne goes not only via that bloodline but via repeating their tradition of incest. Dovetailing nicely with that, he was set up from the start as less wanting access to the kinship system than wanting to be free of it, so instead of becoming king by virtue of being a Targaryen, he stops the reinstatement of the Targaryen line altogether. Meanwhile, for most of his story, as a “supplementary person” he gives the audience a view into a lot of corners of Westeros that are concerned with what is excluded from Westeros: the Night’s Watch, the Wildlings, and indeed the White Walkers.

Again, all of that lines up together well. It’s part of the larger derailment of the blood-as-destiny notion of a “true” king, heir, ruling dynasty, etc. (I think the main reason GRRM goes so hard on the incest, not to mention having not one but THREE bastard characters, is in service of this; it also means Jon’s character arc of wanting out of the bloodline system fits into the thematic structure. See? Everything ties together neatly.) But I mean. We all know the character was not executed well.

And so on. I could do the same for Sansa and all the rest of them. (Sansa and Arya are probably the two most successful executions of what their character designs set them up to do; it’s not a coincidence those are the characters whose stories people seem to be happiest with.) But the thing is, a lot of these tropes, while certainly common in high fantasy, are also found in lots of other genres. Chosen Ones and Unexpectedly Eligible Chosen Ones and Princesses and Warrior Maidens (whether in literal forms or not) show up all over the place. The fact that these aren’t strictly fantasy archetypes perhaps means they were less prone to being mishandled. Bran, though. Bran belongs firmly and only in high fantasy. He is, literally, supposed to be a magic priest-king. A take on the Fisher King, even (I’ll explain about that later). And his story was weighted toward the end because of what it seems like Martin was trying to do more broadly, meaning it was much more on the showrunners to do it right.

High fantasy is always trying in some way to engage with ~the numinous~, which is to say the sort of never-explainable mystery and magic of the world. Magic in high fantasy is usually closely tied to deep time, the land, nature, or the metaphysical. Ancient beings, lost secrets, nature spirits, hidden realms, that sort of thing. It’s part of the genre’s inheritance from the mythology and folklore it’s all based on, which had a much more enchanted, vitalist view of the world than we generally do now. (In a way, that’s the purpose for high fantasy’s existence as a modern genre--keeping some access to that.) What Martin set the whole story up to do was question the tropes that often go along with the genre by making the setting one in which almost everybody has forgotten about all the magic and mystical knowledge that is in their history. Westeros is an extreme, historicized take on the Shire, basically. (”English pastoralism you say? I’ll see you and raise you the English Civil War” -- George R.R. Martin, presumably.) They have no notion of what’s really out there and what’s really possible in the world, and have quite comfortably isolated themselves in a situation where they need not remember. As a result, the social institutions that were developed long ago in relation to the ancient magics and knowledges become, instead, just social norms that can be manipulated, distorted, and played out in a much more historical-fiction kind of fashion, which gives Martin lots of room to point out that, say, ironclad patriarchal bloodlines cause problems. (That is, if you take away any magical justification, by virtue of connection to the land or the spirit realm or what have you, for the right to rule, then you stop having to have your One True Kings also be good people. It allows him to pull apart the different pieces of that trope and suggest that their being connected in the first place is questionable. Which it is! He’s right and he should say it!)

But the magic has to come back at some point, or else it’s really not high fantasy. And it seems like what he wanted to do was have all these elements from outside Westeros--the White Walkers, that god whose name I’ve forgotten, and Daenerys with her dragons--converge on it such that the characters would have to go back to their deep history and call those things back up in order to deal with the real world they live in (instead of the wealthy political bubble of all the scheming) and thus get to a point where they could actually change their system for the better. You can think of it as a very elaborate deus ex machina in a way, except the deus ex machina isn’t Daenerys showing up with dragons to fight the White Walkers or Arya having trained (again, outside Westeros, for the record) just the right way for killing the Night King. It’s all of these external forces forcing the characters in Westeros to get their fucking shit together. Otherwise there’s really no resolution to the war, in a high fantasy version of the story. It’s just historical fiction with some weird bells and whistles. Without a need to go back and figure out whatever the First Men were up to, there’s no incentive to go back to the numinous. That he intended for sure that some version of a return of the numinous end up being a big part of the climax is reinforced for me by the fact that the Starks--again, the backbone of the whole story--are set up as being unusually in touch with this mystic/magical heritage (the old gods, the crypt, the godswood) and unusually faithful to the traditional ways. They were introduced that way for a reason.

So where does Bran come in. The thing is that Bran is literally named after the mythic founding king of Westeros, Bran the Builder. The other thing is that both of those Brans are clearly named after Bran the Blessed, a literal mythic god-king from Welsh mythology whose name means crow (but who for various reasons also often gets associated with ravens, which in turn are commonly associated with transcendent knowledge, magic, etc; it’s a long story). So you have a younger member of the story’s key Stark family, already closer to the sources of magic and mystery than most. You name him after the founder of Westeros who lived in a time of magic, traffic with other beings, and great building works and other inherited accomplishments for which the associated knowledge has since been lost, etc. You have him gain mystical abilities to transfer his consciousness to other bodies, or through time (absolutely typical Mystic Powers). You have him even take on a special priestly status passed down from the era of magic by leaving Westeros to hang out with other kinds of magical beings, which means he is now explicitly named both Bran and Raven.

OBVIOUSLY this kid is supposed to be king. He’s going to restore the realm to a situation in which the ruler, the realm, its various life forces and nature spirits, and the metaphysical are all connected to one another and, in a sense, present in the same body (which is the kind of genuine mythological shit high fantasy is always drawing on). But the writers then just sat around and did nothing with him for years on end until whoops hey he’s king now. Of course no one thinks it makes any sense!! It’s fucking malpractice!!!!

If you go to the GOT Wiki and just read Bran’s page, everything makes sense and lines up well in terms of a list of events. (Although it’s really notable how short the entry from s8 is, and how everything it lists is things that happen to Bran, pretty much.) There is a progression that makes sense. But from what I understand--this was certainly the situation when I stopped watching--nothing was ever done to suggest that any of this mattered. The Three-Eyed Raven, the forest spirits, the magics and so on--it was treated at most as a backstory machine. It had no connection to or effect on the rest of the story, so far as I can tell. The fact that none of this played into the battle with the White Walkers at all is flatly insane. The thing I most remember people saying about Bran after that episode wasn’t even “Why didn’t he use X or Y that he learned in the forest?” but “Why was he there?” which just goes to show how completely and utterly bungled this entire piece of the narrative was. Like, if your high fantasy story is making its audience ask “Why would the story put the one character with the greatest knowledge of ancient magics and powers at the scene of a battle against an all-but-forgotten ancient threat,” then I’m sorry, it has gone fully off the rails, and not just in its most recent season. That’s not subversion, it’s just fully dropping the ball.

You know what would make sense as a lead-in to Bran becoming king? Oh, his performing some spectacular feat of insight, magic, strategy, or all three at the battle that no one else could have pulled off because no one else had his background or powers. Even after years of screwing this part of the story over, that could at least have bothered to make a case for why any of it mattered to the rest of the story. It would not have been very subversive, but when you’ve fucked up this royally you don’t get to be precious about your radikal innovative approach, Davids. I can’t believe Peter Dinklage had to sit there and make a bullshit speech about storytelling, when a decently-handled story would have made it seem natural and self-evident by then (you can still have surprises along the way!) that Bran should be king.

Anyway, in closing: part of the reason I checked out when I did was that I felt like they weren’t doing the things I thought they should do as the story developed. Genuinely, one key part of that was that they seemed to be doing absolutely nothing with Bran, which was baffling to me because it seemed obvious to me he was set up to be an incredibly important character. At the time, I thought they were going somewhere close to this with Bran but just taking way too long at it for some reason. What’s now clear is that the showrunners didn’t understand what they should have been doing with him. (Everybody who was taken aback by this outcome is not a fool for not seeing this. They were, quite reasonably, following the narrative cues they were given along the way, all of which said “Bran doesn’t matter.” It’s maybe clearer to me because I stopped watching.) And what that now makes clear, in my opinion, is that they never really understood what Martin was trying to do by “subverting fantasy tropes”; that in fact they didn’t really understand the genre, let alone what subverting it entailed. Which is exactly what bothered me about it even years after I stopped watching, but couldn’t put my finger on--until, ironically, they proved me right about Bran.

[mobius-prime]

209. Sonic the Hedgehog #141

Return to Angel Island (Part 4): Ultimate Hero

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Jon Gray Colors: Jason Jensen

So things are… bad. Hunter is back and has a shiny new weapon to boot, which appears to vaporize anyone in his path. Sonic gives Knuckles a ride back to the echidna refugee camp at high speed, with Knuckles still doubting his ability to even be able to help without his Chaos powers, while the refugees flee Hunter's attacks. Remington tries to insist that he wants to remain behind to protect the Master Emerald at all costs, but Archimedes tries to dissuade him, instead trying to convince everyone to fall back to the emerald's chamber to defend it more directly. Finitevus isn't interested in Archimedes' pleas, but they're interrupted by the approach of Hunter.

No, Remington! I was honestly so upset by this, as Remington is one of my favorite recurring characters of the comic. Finitevus doesn't look too concerned, though… Archimedes meets Lara-Le, Wynmacher, and Saffron in the Master Emerald's chamber, informing them of the fate of the two outside, and they get ready to defend the emerald with their lives - but just as Hunter breaches the door, Sonic and Knuckles show up to help with the defense. Hunter throws some kind of fast-moving mechanical ball towards Sonic to keep him occupied and out of the way, and Knuckles charges in only to be once more overcome with agony from his proximity to the Master Emerald. Outside in the main cavern, the other heroes return from Dingo City only to be horrified at the devastation they see in the camp. Lien-Da becomes enraged, blaming Locke for "foisting the emerald" upon the Dark Legion, but Julie-Su has finally had enough and gets in her half-sister's face, yelling that she willingly chose to accept the emerald because she wanted the power it would bring her. You go, Julie-Su!

And right there we have the true reason behind all her hatred and vitriol. Of course these things always come down to daddy issues. Still, it's the first time we've ever really seen any true emotion from Lien-Da, apart from her usual scheming and power grabs, and it adds a depth to her character that she's been lacking thus far. Back in the Hidden Palace, Lara-Le rushes to Knuckles' side as he slumps to the ground, and Hunter approaches gleefully, raising his weapon for a death blow. However, a sudden pink light engulfs Knuckles, who rises into the air and begins to crackle with energy. He's overjoyed, announcing himself to the room not as Knuckles, but as… Super Knuckles! That's right, his Chaos powers have returned, and he's ready to stop Hunter's rampage, grabbing him and bursting through the roof of the palace.

Oh yeah - Knuckles straight up kills Hunter. It's one of the very few times we actually see one of the heroes of this comic intentionally end someone's life - but I think in this case, considering what kind of person he is and what he's done, killing Hunter is entirely justified for the greater good. As he descends back down to earth, the surviving echidnas all begin chanting "Avatar!" while the remaining dingoes retreat in a blind panic. Lien-Da is furious to see her hold over the refugees slipping, but Knuckles and his friends are clearly excited to see his Chaos powers return, with Archimedes revealing that he was certain that all Knuckles needed to reawaken them was to remain in close proximity to the Master Emerald long enough for it to power him back up. However, I'm actually not so on board with him regaining his powers. I really liked the dynamic of Knuckles losing the very thing that made him so special, and having to start from basics once again, learning how to fight without a superpowered edge. We've seen several different stories where Sonic lost his own super speed, but always got it back in the end - how interesting would it be to see a story where the hero never recovered their powers? And Knuckles, given his backstory, is the perfect candidate for such a plot - he never asked for his abilities, and they clearly brought him great pain and trauma as they developed. This would be an amazing direction to take his character arc, with Knuckles torn between the life he's always known, and the chance to start anew. After all, while he developed his latent Chaos powers without having a say in the matter, and despite the pain they often brought him, he did become accustomed to the effect they had on his life in a way, learning to control them to some degree and finding out more and more about why he had them. But the circumstances of his birth also ensured that he wouldn't have any real say in his own destiny, and this was always clearly troubling to him. Removing his powers for good would have put him in a fascinating position where on the one hand he would obviously be upset at losing such a great source of power, one which he's been told is his birthright, but on the other the loss of this power would leave him much freer to decide his own path from here, rejecting the path others have set out for him and discovering who "Knuckles" could be without others trying to define who he was for him. I don't know, I just think there's a huge missed opportunity here to explore more in depth who Knuckles could ultimately end up being without his Chaos powers being his most defining feature.

But alas, Knuckles has his powers back once more, and he's fulfilled the prophecy of the Ancient Walkers to boot. Eggman contacts the heroes via hologram once more, claiming that now that he knows where the Master Emerald is hidden he'll be there straightaway to steal it, but Sonic merely crushes the communicator and Locke enlists the help of the Legion once more to move the Master Emerald someplace else. Knuckles asks after Remington, but Archimedes sadly informs him that he and Finitevus were both casualties of Hunter's rampage. Lien-Da curtly tells Knuckles there's no time to mourn friends right now… and then quietly, when no one can hear her, adds "…or family." Wait, what? So, this is something that has actually been hinted at here and there for a while now, but so vaguely that one might not pick up on the hints unless they were already in the know. Remington's father is actually Kragok, which would make Lien-Da his aunt! This was never outright confirmed in any canon material until the Sonic Comic Encyclopedia many years from now, but I figured I'd go ahead and explain it right here, since, well, Remington ain't around these parts anymore. But yeah, that's why Lien-Da has always acted slightly weird around Remington. Anyway, Knuckles begins to say goodbye to his father, but Locke sharply asks him what he's intending now, seeming very upset at the idea of Knuckles leaving.

I love this. It's about freaking time we finally saw some serious conflict between Knuckles and Locke. For too long Knuckles has always dutifully followed whatever his father told him to do, but now, with a year away from the island under his belt to give him some real perspective, for the first time he's standing up for what he believes in instead of just doing whatever the Brotherhood wants, and Locke is clearly feeling threatened by this display of independence. To be fair, I can see Locke's point, as the island is clearly still quite devastated by Eggman's occupation and they could use someone like Knuckles to help them clean up, but still, I do think Knuckles has the right idea, as taking down Eggman for good seems like a better idea than just cleaning up after him - pulling up the weed by the roots, you know? Knuckles does seem quite sad as his father stalks away and vanishes through a warp ring, but he merely says his goodbyes to his mother and Wynmacher before joining Sonic and the others to head back to Knothole. For now, the day is saved, and everything seems fine and dandy - but what's this? It seems something quite disturbing is happening in Eggman's main base…

This. Is. Horrific. Say hello to the Egg Grapes, everybody, because this isn't the last time we'll be seeing them! We can see that apparently, these things have three functions: "Energy Drain," "Mind Eraser," and "Toxic Infusion," none of which are explained but all of which sound terrifying. We also get to look at some of the poor unfortunate souls trapped inside the pods. A few are just background characters from previous issues, but others are far more heartwrenching. We can see the three other surviving fire ants, minus Archimedes, meaning Archimedes is likely the last of the council now. We can also see, of course, Remington in front there, which again just makes me sad as I love Remington. However, perhaps the worst one is hidden in the back: Simon. As in, Simon, Julie-Su's adoptive father. Floren-Ca is also in there somewhere, just not shown on panel, which means that without even being aware of it, Julie-Su has now become a true orphan. It's incredibly tragic, as she'd just begun to get to know her own family after being separated from them for so long, but the island was invaded shortly afterward, and a year later, they're just… gone, being tortured to death inside one of Eggman's awful experimental devices without Julie-Su ever getting a chance to say goodbye. This is, I think, the moment where I realized just how truly terrifying comic Eggman is. Anime Eggman is hardly a threat at all, very much the type of villain who's more invested in their fights with their heroic nemesis than in actually taking over the world. And Eggman from the games, while he is genuine about his plans for world domination, has never actually committed mass murder, at least that we've seen. Sure, he's used small innocent animals as living batteries, but never actually mass tortured half the populace of an entire island just for the hell of it. This is where the comic begins to get truly dark, as we realize just what a terrifying megalomaniac we're facing here. No more silly jokes, no more half-assed villainy - Eggman is a monster, and the Freedom Fighters have to take him down for good lest he destroy the entire world.

Mobius 25 Years Later: Scenario

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

Oh, but, y'know, we could also just jump forward into a boring future where everything is fine apart from reality beginning to tear itself apart. Granted, this issue's story actually has more real plot than the rest of the entries put together, though also granted, that isn't much. We're finally going to address that whole "collapse of spacetime" thing, as Knuckles leads Sonic to Rotor and Cobar's hidden laboratory to discuss the issue. Cobar is shocked that Knuckles knew the location of his lab, and Knuckles casually mentions that he likes keeping tabs on Lien-Da's favorite scientist wait excuse me what?! So all this time, Cobar has been in Lien-Da's employ, and we just never heard about it until now? Why are you so mistrustful of Lien-Da and yet totally trust the word of her favorite scientist when it comes to all this world-ending stuff? Ugh, I feel like I've spent far too much time and energy pointing out the many, many plot holes of this arc, so we're just going to move on like everything is fine. Rotor and Cobar explain the whole shebang to Sonic, while we get a short and useless scene of Julie-Su and Sally being unable to sleep and reiterating once again their worries for their husbands, and when we flip back to Sonic he's shocked to hear that he's the cause behind the acceleration of entropy on Mobius!

He tries to argue that it might have been the Dark Legion or someone else who had done a lot of zone-hopping in the past, but the two scientists insist that their experiments show that it was his fault. I really don't see how arguing over fault is going to help, especially when Sonic had literally no idea that actions he took when he was fifteen were going to someday contribute to the end of the world twenty-five years after the fact, but eh, again, we never claimed this story made any sense. Knuckles and Sonic leave, with Knuckles telling Rotor and Cobar to find a solution and fast, and as soon as they're gone a panel slides open in the wall to reveal who else but Lien-Da, who has listened in on the whole thing and is very curious about why exactly Cobar has been hiding all of this from her. Hmm, suspicious! Do you think we're finally about to get an answer about what treacherous deeds Lien-Da has been planning this whole time? Ah, c'mon, this is a Penders story, of course not!