#「ᵐᵉᵗᵃ ᵗᵃᵍ」��ʰᵉ ᶜʳᵒʷ ᶤˢ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵃᵛᵉᶰ'ˢ ᵖᵒᵒʳ ᶜᵒᵘˢᶤᶰ

[killthebxy]

a heap of headcanons: the last hours before the Battle for Winterfell

inspired + complemented by @needlcd & @zcldrizes own posts

first of all, all of these come following my personal take on the events of s08, as i am show!canon divergent. this can be found: HERE.

Jon has had A LOT to do, ever since Tormund, Edd, and Beric arrived with the news. as Warden of the North, it falls on him to supervise the setting up of defenses. just as much, he’s been trying to learn as much as he can about the Unsullied and the Dothraki, as to understand how to better place them in the battlefield. he’s also been keeping close talks with Gendry and the other smiths, and helping with distributing dragonglass weapons to everyone himself, in between everything else already stated. for all this, he doesn’t have much free time up until after the strategy meeting we see in episode 2.

even though he concludes such meeting with “let’s get some rest”, he doesn’t follow his own advice really. he’s very antsy and understandably so, and cannot bring himself to stay still --- so he goes on a final round to make sure everything and everyone are as prepared as they can possibly be. this is when he goes to check in on Sansa and Bran, to also ensure they are well and to try and reassure them a bit --- again, as much as possible in the situation.

after this comes the scene we see in episode 2 between Jon, Sam, and Edd. they reminisce about their times at the Night’s Watch, particularly the night that Mance Rayder stormed the Wall --- note that @tymptir and i headcanon Grenn as very much alive and at Winterfell. Jeor Mormont and Mance himself (ft. @starfrckled) just as much, so Jon spends some time with all of them as well. he also finds Tormund (ft. @talltalkr) in between his moments with Brienne & co, and they talk of how they did not survive Hardhome to let the Night King come kill them in their own home now. particularly, while he says nothing about this, Jon prays to the old gods that Tormund will not be made to see/fight his daughters who have been turned into wights at Hardome.

next, comes the scene at the crypts with Dany. based on my divergent background and on my own plot with @zcldrizes, the source of tension between them at this point is the fact that Dany did not tell Jon that she burned the Tarlys for treason. now... Jon does understand this. he’s a commander himself, he’s executed men (and boys) for similar reasons. so what’s driving him off, at the moment, is 1) how conflicted he is, because he does not wish to hurt her but he also does not wish to hurt Sam, and 2) based on my plot with @tymptir, one day before, Sam revealed to Jon in these same crypts that his mother was Ashara Dayne (ft. also my plot with @ashccra). ever since, Jon has been struggling to come to peace with the fact that Ned never told him of it --- and here comes into play the heightened paranoia he was left with after the mutiny at Castle Black and his revival (if you’d like details on how this affects my portrayal of Jon, you’re welcome to read: this meta). Jon has ever felt the need to prove himself, as per his bastard-born nature and the internalization of this stigma (again, a meta: here), but after his own men betray him this grows A LOT worse --- as in, that was an absolute failure on my end and i deserved what happened. at this point, he’s questioning himself if maybe this is why his father never told him anything --- if Ned was ashamed to have him as a son, if Ned saw him under the same light Cat (for example) did and only tried to hide it out of kindness. then, suddenly... he gets told that Dany also hid such a huge fact from him, and this goes even further downhill. it is important to note: right now, after Sam’s revelation (+ the current very stressful circumstances + his own physical and mental exhaustion, as he’s been barely eating and sleeping during the past couple of days), Jon is NOT in his right mind. he’s exhausted, he’s paranoid, he’s dealing with HUGE guilt for being unable to guarantee his loved ones and his people will live to see another day. this is why he’s been avoiding Dany, and this why, even if they do talk right now at the crypts, he’s still very much distant --- it’s a self-defense coping mechanism. Artie and i, therefore, headcanon that, while they do not really fight, they are unable to properly discuss everything, either --- so they agree that they cannot afford to go into this battle whilst angry at each other, and they agree to take some time apart and to finish this talk later --- both of them fully aware that, likely, there won’t be a “later” for either or both of them.

after this, Jon heads for the godswood for a good while. he’s spoken to the statues of Ned and Robb already ( @kingwholost you can be sure there IS a statue of Robb), and now he goes to speak to the old gods. for the most part, though, he does not pray --- not yet. he simply seeks their calm and their peace and their wisdom, and sits under the heart tree honing Longclaw’s blade as Ned so often used to do with Ice, himself. and it does bring him a little bit of comfort.

finally, he heads back to his room and begins donning his Stark armor. and listen. idc what episode 3 will bring, JON -IS- WEARING ARMOR BECAUSE HE IS NOT STUPID. also the stewards @thedolorous & @satincrow are welcome to come help for a bit if they want. eventually, @needlcd comes to join him and he wouldn’t have it any other way --- he’s spending his potential last hours alive with his little sister, his heart, light of his eyes, the person he loves most in this world and quite more than his own life. he doesn’t need more than a look to see how distressed she is and, if nothing else, he’s happy that he can finally be here to keep her safe after all the horrors she’s had to face on her own. there isn’t much talking, as there is not need to be, and he simply lets her snuggle into him as much and for as long as she needs --- he lets her cry if she needs and makes no comment, simply running his fingers through her hair. Jon himself does not cry, not yet, because this moment is for her.

eventually... Arya falls asleep in his arms, Ghost by now also joined into the little cuddle pile, and Jon spends the last hours before the sound of the warhorns with himself. he’s exhausted, but he cannot sleep --- and he does not want to sleep, not when this may be his last chance to have his little sister safe in his arms. he thinks about everything and everyone, at this point. and this is when he prays: gods of my father, protect my people. protect Arya and let her live to see brighter days, she’s been through so much. protect Bran and Sansa. protect Dany and allow her to give justice to her child. protect my good and loyal friends who’ve followed me to the end of the world. i beg you, give me strength and skill to keep them all safe or at least alive. guide my steps and let me save them. and this is when he cries... or as close to crying as Jon Snow ever comes; a few silent, tiny tears rolling down his cheeks, and that he promptly wipes away with the back of his hand. it’s not his first time waiting for the enemy to come, though even wildling hosts pale in comparison to literal Death. at this point, Jon has a very cocky relationship with the possibility of his own dying --- because he has gone through it (twice, as i headcanon that he died in that frozen lake). not as in “i am so tough and death can’t kill me”, no, but in a completely detached sort of toxic mindset --- i have died and they brought me back because they still had a use for me (Melisandre told him this, through different words) --- if i die again and they still need me, they’ll bring me back yet again. but you, Lord Snow, you’ll be fighting their battles forever. he does not feel bitter about it anymore, for the simple reason he has repressed that experience to the point of being numb to it. therefore, right now, Jon is not afraid to die --- his only huge, overwhelming fear is that he will be unable to keep his loved ones alive/ unharmed, especially this skinny little girl currently sleeping in his arms. so, when the time comes, this is why he does not feel any of his fatigue anymore --- a sort of parallel with the wights; our enemy does not tire. Jon himself has become a wight animated by fire, rather than ice. and he will not tire --- not while he has his family and his home and his people to defend, or die in the attempt.

one final note: if there is one thing i do not tolerate in the show, it is the lack of consequences when it comes to Jon’s actions (frozen lake, cough, just to cite the more blatant case). i do NOT write Jon Snow as an overpowered superhero who can recklessly do whatever he wants and does not pay the price for it. i don’t know how the battle will unfold --- for example, if he will be wounded during it --- but i know that, should this be the case and the show does not acknowledge it, i will. in post-battle scenarios, despite what happens, he will suffer physical consequences for his actions --- and, if nothing else, he’s going to crash VERY HARD and go comatose for at least some 24h because his body will have reached the limit of exhaustion.

[killthebxy]

a heap of headcanons, pt. 3:

the aftermath + consequences of the battle for Jon Snow

also known as an extensive list of all the damage Jon took during this battle

whilst on the ground, Jon is relatively safe and guarded behind the castle walls.

once he rides Rhaegal to battle, however, this is when it starts. as i headcanon that Jon is wearing armor, at this point he will shed the bulk of it and keep only the ringmail --- making himself exposed, but he will need freedom of movements to ride a dragon, especially considering he isn’t as experienced as Dany.

building on @zcldrizes‘s own headcanons: riding a dragon at such high altitude, at such high speed, in the middle of a literal winter storm, is brutal on the body. while he is mildly protected by the ringmail, Jon is forced to hold onto Rhaegal’s scales as hard as he can, which ends up tearing the leather of his gloves and leaving gashes on his palms. he is also supporting his entire body weight (+ringmail) on strength of arms alone, which puts extensive strain on these muscles. this is part of the reason why, when we see him back on the ground to fight the wights, he isn’t as graceful with Longclaw in hand as we are used to --- hands slashed open, arm muscles under extreme tension.

still regarding the dragon ride, again with the altitude and pressure and cold, Jon is left with freeze burns/ frostbite on his face. nothing that cannot be healed afterwards, but it will be very noticeable at the end of the battle and it will require time to heal.

still regarding the dragon ride, at one point Viserion attempts to snap at Jon directly and misses only by miracle --- and because it catches Jon’s heavy, thick cloak instead. it ends up being ripped off and, while he is protected for the most part by the ringmail, the grazing of Viserion’s teeth breaks through fabric, metal, and skin and leaves a gash along Jon’s shoulder blades and upper back --- a superficial wound and not exactly dangerous, but it is there no less.

when Rhaegal lands so roughly, Jon is thrown off. he hits the ground harshly and at high speed and rolls off a few meters, and is left quite jolted. from this moment, he gains a few cracked ribs and bruises all over, as well as a few smaller gashes from the ringmail cutting into his flesh. because he hits solid rock ground so violently, he is also left with a mild concussion --- we can see in the scenes after this moment that, more than limping, Jon seems to be a bit uncoordinated in his movements, especially when he chases the Night King (he does not usually run this slow) and then within Winterfell, when he more than once collides with the walls. this is the other reason, again, why this time around he’s more clumsy in his sword fighting. from this fall, he is also left with a deep gash on his right cheek.

overall, Jon is subjected to varying degrees of burns --- during the air fight, during the moment when Dany saves him from the wights right after the Night King flees, and particularly during his confrontation with Viserion at Winterfell’s yard. while that lump of fallen rock protects him from the bulk of the blue flames, it grows extremely hot no less and this has the ringmail burning roughly right against his flesh. by the time the battle is over, Jon’s back and his shoulders and the back of his arms are extensively burnt --- not as badly as his right hand when he fought Othor, but still with first and second degree burns a bit all over. Jon is NOT immune to fire/heat, even in threads where i may write him as Rhaegar’s son.

by the end of the battle, it’s easy to guess that this boy took the beating of his life and is standing up still only because of the rush of adrenaline + sheer stubbornness. realizing what happened, i.e., that someone somehow defeated the Night King, he will immediately rush to the godswood --- from there, he will want to go find Dany and Rhaegal after leaving them behind, and then the rest of his family and friends --- because he won’t allow himself to rest even though he’s stumbling everywhere at this point, until he’s certain of their fate. therefore, he will only finally stop if someone else forces him to or if he collapses out of absolute exhaustion.

after this, because his body reached the limit, Jon will remain unconscious for a week or so --- between 5-7 days. he will be left with a new scar on his right cheek from the fall, one on his back from Viserion’s snap, several small scars on his palms from riding, and faint burn scars a bit all over his back and shoulders.

[killthebxy]

a heap of headcanons, pt. 2:

the defenses of Winterfell + strategy for the battle

          let it be known that i am writing these for a simple reason: i am greatly unsatisfied with how the battle was planned for episode 3. my portrayal is always book-based, even in show-only plots and threads, and book!Jon is a brilliant strategist --- he and Robb learned it all from Ned and, while it is true that Jon lacks real war experience when compared to Robb, it is no less true that this boy: 1) helped defend Castle Black from Styr’s attack, even if it meant risking to be the one to kill Ygritte, 2) was charged with the defense of the Wall, at age 16, by Donal Noye who believed him fully capable of such, 3) was named acting commander by maester Aemon, the sagest of men, and 4) held the Wall against Mance Rayder, 100,000 wildlings, mammoths, giants --- not because he had the numbers, but because of his exceptionally intelligent planning of their defenses. add to this the fact that Jaime Lannister, lord commander of the Kingsguard, a man able to battle Ned Stark eye on eye, is at Winterfell, and definitely there is no way i will ever accept how badly this battle was planned. i am no battle specialist myself, but i will try my best to make sense out of this. and also: i headcanon that these strategies were placed together by Jon and Jaime, with Tyrion’s supervision together with Jorah, Grey Worm, Dany’s bloodriders, Sandor, Beric, Tormund, Davos, Theon, and Brienne (i.e., characters with training and experience in battle strategy) --- and then shared, discussed, debated, and fixed as necessary together with everyone else in the castle. no one was left out, no matter their role.

first and foremost, while i do not personally agree with the suicidal plan of “let’s lure in the Night King and use Bran as bait”, i will accept it because otherwise i would have to change literally the entire episode and everyone’s own muses’ actions and this is obviously not my intention. the strategy is what will differ.

the Unsullied are the main line of defense and their purpose is to shield the castle --- if a single wight enters the castle, everything is lost. the Dothraki riders, on the other hand, are purely offensive and they need a vast field to perform their attacks. HOWEVER. whilst they are still the van, they are not pitched head-on towards the wights nor are they tossed carelessly like meat to be slaughtered. they will be placed on the sides of the field, so to speak, so that they can charge into the wights as the wights come forth. so, let’s envision it like this: there is Winterfell, right in front Winterfell the Unsullied legions are placed as a shield. the wights will charge right into this shield, as they are vicious and rely on ruthlessness only, therefore they attack in a block. this will allow, therefore, for the Dothraki to charge into them from the sides, supporting the shield this way and minimizing their deaths as much as possible.

regarding the dragons: this will build on my plotting with @zcldrizes and @perzyr. i write Jon as having no Targaryen blood (except for very few threads plotted otherwise), and he is able to ride Rhaegal only because of a bond they have built ever since Jon arrived at Dragonstone --- Rhaegal chooses Jon for his rider not because of blood, but because of the person Jon is. still, Jon is a much less experienced rider than Dany, and his initial plan is not to go fight in the air. for the initial part of the battle, Jon stays on the ground and supervises and commands from atop Winterfell’s walls, together with Arya and Sansa and Davos. Ghost is with him, because Jon knows his direwolf won’t make a difference in this sort of battlefield --- there is 99% chance Ghost will be butchered, and he will be much more useful within the castle walls, to help shielding from the inside out.

regarding the dragons, pt.2: again based on my plotting with Artie and Daisy --- while Jon stays on the ground for now, Dany flies off with Drogon and Rhaegal. considering everything i state above, too --- they begin burning the waves of wights, again as a way to keep casualties to a minimum, which allows the Dothraki riders to only charge in when it is safe --- and then retreat again, rinse and repeat. eventually, Dany spots the Others by the edge of the wolfswood and steers Drogon that way to go fight. Rhaegal stays behind and continues supporting the forces on the ground because 1) he refuses to fight Viserion (this is @perzyr‘s beautiful headcanon, with a lot more detail and depth to it than i am exploring here), and 2) he refuses to abandon Jon. after some moments of airborne fighting, Dany realizes she will be unable to bring down Viserion on her own and this is when she returns for Jon --- in this moment, Jon and Rhaegal together decide to go fight as well, and this is when everything else happens like we see unfolding in the episode.

on the other hand, this when the odds start becoming very tilted against everyone fighting on the ground. with the dragons gone off to fight Viserion, the armies do not have that protection anymore --- and they are greatly outnumbered by the wights. this is when the retreat begins.

unlike what we see in the episode, the walls are very well prepared to deal with wights trying to climb up --- this is literally what Jon had to face when defending the Wall, and he’ll put all this knowledge and experience to good use. atop the walls, there are boulders and scorpions and barrels filled with stone and ice and more barrels of oil and torches. everyone there is armed with longbow or crossbow, and fire arrows.

in the meanwhile, however, something else happens that definitely ruins all these preparations --- the moment when the Night King, after being knocked off Viserion and now face to face with Jon, rises all the dead soldiers. because this means there is now wights within the castle walls, no matter what.

regarding the crypts: i had a thought of headcanoning that, rather than the crypts, Jon would have everyone gathered at the great keep --- because he is not stupid, and he knows the crypts are an accident waiting to happen, as soon as the Night King brings up his arms. however i ultimately chose not to because 1) again, it is not my intention to change half the episode for everyone, and 2) in theory, the crypts ARE the safest place. not when the dead rise, yes, but at this point the entire castle is overrun and it will make little difference where you are. no place is safe anymore --- when the crypts fall, every other place is already gone before.

one final note regarding Ghost: as i said, he is NOT sent off to fight, as in my personal opinion this makes little sense. he stands by Jon for as long as Jon is on the ground. once Jon leaves with Rhaegal, he instructs Ghost to retreat to the crypts and guard everyone there --- exactly because he knows there is a real risk matters will go downhill. for this battle, Jon had a layer of armor made for Ghost, that covers his torso. around his neck, he wears a collar with spikes made of dragonglass, to both help him defend and attack against the wights. if anyone who writes the Staklings wants to join me in on this, i am more than glad to headcanon that Shaggy, Summer, and Nymeria (and Frost, ft. @clevrest) are also wearing similar armor.

          tl;dr: if you look at the outcome, it is pretty much the same as what happens in the episode. a similar number of persons died. HOWEVER. they died because the odds were severely against them and because it was impossible to have done much more --- not because anyone in Winterfell was too stupid to properly plan this battle.

[killthebxy]

does Jon feels the need to protect Shireen?

          nonnie, that is the understatement of the century. though they don’t have much interaction in book!canon (and in show!canon i believe they have exactly….. zero?), i have no doubt Jon looks at this child and 1) it breaks his heart, because no child should ever look so sad, and 2) it infuriates him slightly because Selyse mostly treats her like a block of ice, and 3) it makes him sad because it is so nostalgic and looking at her is the same as recalling he will never see his little siblings again, and 4) for all of these he wants to keep her safe and warm and make sure she knows she’s loved and that she is so much more than just the rightful heir to some ugly chair made of a thousand melted swords. 

          though, at the same time, he would never approach her first nor so informally because, again, she is the heir and not only he is a bastard himself, but the Night’s Watch takes no part in the politics of the realm — and also he kind of pissed off her father by refusing to take Winterfell for him, and also sweet-talked him into letting him have the free folk to the point where Stannis Baratheon, of all people, tells him that he haggles like a crone with a codfish. and let me just conclude by mentioning that brief scene where Val is terrified of Shireen because, to her people, greyscale is absolutely dreadful, and Jon (who even canonically has a little crush on Val) has a moment of being like wth is wrong with you this is a little girl you’re talking about if you don’t wanna snuggle her i will???? — so, yes, he is very much protective of Shireen even if openly he may not always show it.

ft. @scldsouls & @thekingstrueheir