#(``) jon . [v] winter has come

[sigilsongs-a]

𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄 ... ALL ALT. TIMELINES + verse tags

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭, 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐮, 𝐈.

Jon was one of the slaves purchased by the sellsword Quenton Qoherys, known as The Raging Quiet of Last Lament. He was slated to be sent to the fighting pits, and had no training at the time. Jon entered the House of Quiet as a slave, but was met with a different reality; as the House itself functioned like combat school, and at least two dozen other men residing there. Jon was offered two choices, first he was to train, become stronger, learn the ways and art of battle, and from then on, he could repay the cost of his buying price through assisting the House, as well as being welcome to purchasing any of the armour and weapons he wished to take with him: he would then walk free, with a skillset to live a life outside of slavery. Jon, and most others elected, selected the second option — though the terms were achievable, easily, to leave, and with the skills he now had Jon could have repaid his price thrice over with a mere weeks of work guarding some traders ship; he had grown close to the fellow slaves-come-warriors. Jon chose to stay on, freed of the bonds of slavery, to be branded with the mark of the Brotherhood; now a freed man in The Quiet Lament, the sellsword company trained and lead by by Quenton.

this verse is applicable to any and all alternative timelines of asoiaf. my quenton qoherys is the referenced quenton in this au verse.

[ai-manre]

Hang on king, a true warrior queen is coming

The strength he admires:

Val stood on the platform as still as if she had been carved of salt. She will not weep nor look away. Jon wondered what Ygritte would have done in her place. The women are the strong ones. - Jon III ADWD

Drogon roared. The sound filled the pit. A furnace wind engulfed her. The dragon's long scaled neck stretched toward her. When his mouth opened, she could see bits of broken bone and charred flesh between his black teeth. His eyes were molten. I am looking into hell, but I dare not look away. She had never been so certain of anything. - Dany IX ADWD

The shared loneliness:

Even with Ygritte sleeping beside him, he felt alone. - Jon V ASOS

She sat up with her hair disheveled and the bedclothes atangle. Her captain slept beside her, yet she was alone. - Dany VII ADWD

Lonely lovely lethal:

All the same, the wildling princess was not beloved of her gaolers. She scorned them all as "kneelers," and had thrice attempted to escape. When one man-at-arms grew careless in her presence she had snatched his dagger from its sheath and stabbed him in the neck. Another inch to the left and he might have died. Lonely and lovely and lethal, Jon Snow reflected, and I might have had her. - Jon III ADWD

Xaro took another bite, chewed, swallowed. "Daenerys, sweet queen, I cannot tell you what pleasure it gives me to bask once more in your presence. A child departed Qarth, as lost as she was lovely. I feared she was sailing to her doom, yet now I find her here enthroned, mistress of an ancient city, surrounded by a mighty host that she raised up out of dreams." - Dany III ADWD

Silver hair:

Beyond, the haunted forest waited, dark and silent. The light of the half-moon turned Val's honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow. She took a deep breath. "The air tastes sweet." - Jon VIII ADWD

Dany's skin was flushed and pink when she climbed from the tub. Jhiqui laid her down to oil her body and scrape the dirt from her pores. Afterward Irri sprinkled her with spiceflower and cinnamon. While Doreah brushed her hair until it shone like spun silver, she thought about the moon, and eggs, and dragons. - Dany III AGOT

Wish for a dragon/wish for a rider:

We should have twenty trebuchets, not two, and they should be mounted on sledges and turntables so we could move them. It was a futile thought. He might as well wish for another thousand men, and maybe a dragon or three. - Jon VIII ASOS

The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters. - Dany VI ASOS

Wishing for a dragon/wishing for someone to love a dragon:

"The Lysene pirate? Some say he has returned to his old haunts, this is so. And Lord Redwyne's war fleet creeps through the Broken Arm as well. On its way home, no doubt. But these men and their ships are well-known to us. No, these other sails … from farther east, perhaps … one hears queer talk of dragons."

Jon: "Would that we had one here. A dragon might warm things up a bit." - Jon IX ADWD

She was the blood of the dragon. She could kill the Sons of the Harpy, and the sons of the sons, and the sons of the sons of the sons. But a dragon could not feed a hungry child nor help a dying woman's pain. And who would ever dare to love a dragon? - Dany II ADWD

Shared prayers

Gods of the wood, grant me the strength to do the same, Jon Snow prayed silently. Give me the wisdom to know what must be done and the courage to do it. - Jon VII ADWD

Gods, she prayed, you took Khal Drogo, who was my sun-and-stars. You took our valiant son before he drew a breath. You have had your blood of me. Help me now, I pray you. Give me the wisdom to see the path ahead and the strength to do what I must to keep my children safe. - Dany V ADWD

Winter rose/flowers instead of violence:

If I could show her Winterfell . . . give her a flower from the glass gardens [...]

Ygritte: "Then I'd push him in a stream or throw a bucket o' water on him. Anyhow, men shouldn't smell sweet like flowers."

Jon: "What's wrong with flowers?" - Jon V ASOS

A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire . . . - Dany IV ADWD

"No heads," Dany insisted. "Once you brought me flowers." - Dany VII ADWD

Ruler of ruins:

He stalked across the yard, into the teeth of that wind. His cloak flapped loudly from his shoulders. Ghost came after. Where am I going? What am I doing? Castle Black was still and silent, its halls and towers dark. My seat, Jon Snow reflected. My hall, my home, my command. A ruin. - Jon VI ADWD

I am queen over a city built on dust and death. - Dany I ADWD

Turned off by their crushes due to violence against innocent:

"North of the Wall it is. Hemlock is a sure cure, but a pillow or a blade will work as well. If I had given birth to that poor child, I would have given her the gift of mercy long ago." This was a Val that Jon had never seen before. "Princess Shireen is the queen's only child." - Jon XI ADWD

Daario: "Better the butcher than the meat. All kings are butchers. Are queens so different?"

Dany: "This queen is." - Dany IV ADWD

Compassion and desire to save an entire people:

"Thousands of enemies. Thousands of wildlings."

Thousands of people, Jon thought. Men, women, children. Anger rose inside him, but when he spoke his voice was quiet and cold. - Jon VIII ADWD

"When Aegon the Dragon stepped ashore in Westeros, the kings of Vale and Rock and Reach did not rush to hand him their crowns. If you mean to sit his Iron Throne, you must win it as he did, with steel and dragonfire. And that will mean blood on your hands before the thing is done."

Blood and fire, thought Dany. The words of House Targaryen. She had known them all her life. "The blood of my enemies I will shed gladly. The blood of innocents is another matter. Eight thousand Unsullied they would offer me. Eight thousand dead babes. Eight thousand strangled dogs." - Dany II ASOS

Warrior princess:

Val looked the part and rode as if she had been born on horseback. A warrior princess, he decided, not some willowy creature who sits up in a tower, brushing her hair and waiting for some knight to rescue her. - Jon XI ADWD

Dany mounted her silver. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest. She felt desperately afraid. Was this what my brother would have done? She wondered if Prince Rhaegar had been this anxious when he saw the Usurper's host formed up across the Trident with all their banners floating on the wind. She stood in her stirrups and raised the harpy's fingers above her head for all the Unsullied to see. "IT IS DONE!" she cried at the top of her lungs. "YOU ARE MINE!" She gave the mare her heels and galloped along the first rank, holding the fingers high. "YOU ARE THE DRAGON'S NOW! YOU'RE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR! IT IS DONE! IT IS DONE!" - Dany III ASOS

No one was calling her Daenerys the Conqueror yet, but perhaps they would. Aegon the Conqueror had won Westeros with three dragons, but she had taken Meereen with sewer rats and a wooden cock, in less than a day. - Dany VI ADWD

A coppersmith had fashioned her a suit of burnished rings to wear to war. She accepted it with fulsome thanks; it was lovely to behold, and all that burnished copper would flash prettily in the sun, though if actual battle threatened, she would sooner be clad in steel. Even a young girl who knew nothing of the ways of war knew that. - Dany I ADWD

Ten years ago I would have sensed what Daenerys meant to do. Ten years ago I would have been quick enough to stop her. Instead he had stood befuddled as she leapt into the pit, shouting her name, then running uselessly after her across the scarlet sands. - The Queensguard ADWD

Wildling/no southron lady:

"And yes, I will take your women too. I have no need of blushing maidens looking to be protected, but I will take as many spearwives as will come." - Jon V ADWD

The carcass was too heavy for him to bear back to his lair, so Drogon consumed his kill there, tearing at the charred flesh as the grasses burned around them, the air thick with drifting smoke and the smell of burnt horsehair. Dany, starved, slid off his back and ate with him, ripping chunks of smoking meat from the dead horse with bare, burned hands. In Meereen I was a queen in silk, nibbling on stuffed dates and honeyed lamb, she remembered. What would my noble husband think if he could see me now? Hizdahr would be horrified, no doubt. But Daario … Daario would laugh, carve off a hunk of horsemeat with his arakh, and squat down to eat beside her. - Dany XI ADWD

Shared pet plays!

Jon squatted to let the direwolf close his jaws around his wrist, tugging his hand back and forth. It was a game they played. But when he glanced up, he saw Ygritte watching with eyes as wide and white as hen's eggs. - Jon VI ACOK

Drogon looped his neck around to nip at her hand. His teeth were very sharp, but he never broke her skin when they played like this. Dany laughed, and rolled him back and forth until he roared, his tail lashing like a whip. It is longer than it was, she saw, and tomorrow it will be longer still. - Dany IV ASOS

Add more please!

[agentrouka-blog]

Accidentally stumbled into a Sansa anti (well they call themselves an Arya stan but they apparently think those things go hand in hand)blog and am now baffled and a little disgusted at the amount of vitriol these people have for..a little girl, honestly they had reblogged a post about how Arya being believed to be a hostage to Ramsay galvanised so many people in the North, etc and the difference between that and Sansa being the Lannisters hostage/Tyrions bride, and like..so this little girls life being worthless to these men (whether that's true or not) is somehow validation for you? Honestly it's a little disturbing (there's also a pattern of most of them hating Alicent as well which seems..meaningful)

Ah, yes, the fantasy that they have that the North uniquely loves Arya and somehow instinctively rejects Sansa, and that this would be a good thing rather than screaming misogyny. 😊

There's exactly one group in the North agitating for Ned Stark's daughter herself (the one within reach of them, mind) and that's the mountain clans, for two reason:

Distant family loyalty, alongside Stark loyalty. (A Liddle also aids Bran in the mountains.)

A culture that encourages them to seek death, not survival, at this particular time where Stannis comes knocking.

His father's mother's mother had been a Flint of the mountains. Old Nan once said that it was her blood in him that made Bran such a fool for climbing before his fall.  (ASOS, Bran ll)

It was a tale that any northmen knew well. "My father's grandmother was a Flint of the mountains, on his mother's side," Jon told her. "The First Flints, they call themselves. They say the other Flints are the blood of younger sons, who had to leave the mountains to find food and land and wives. It has always been a harsh life up there. When the snows fall and food grows scarce, their young must travel to the winter town or take service at one castle or the other. The old men gather up what strength remains in them and announce that they are going hunting. Some are found come spring. More are never seen again." (ADWD, Jon X)

"Winter is almost upon us, boy. And winter is death. I would sooner my men die fighting for the Ned's little girl than alone and hungry in the snow, weeping tears that freeze upon their cheeks. No one sings songs of men who die like that. As for me, I am old. This will be my last winter. Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die. I want to feel it spatter across my face when my axe bites deep into a Bolton skull. I want to lick it off my lips and die with the taste of it on my tongue." (ADWD, The King's Prize)

Let's not overtly romanticize the North. Manderly's money is on Rickon the son. There's a sizable faction actually supporting the Boltons (Dustin/Ryswell and Karstark). No one lifts a single finger for "Arya" until Jon gives Stannis the advice to gather support in the mountains with his army, and those are the ones with comparatively little to do but die and "bathe in Bolton blood".

The main aspect here is opportunity v. cost.

But more to the point, just as you point out, if it was Sansa that Jeyne was pretending to be, it would be the same. It's not the girls (within their actual reach) they specifically care for, it's Ned and House Stark.

The specific (small) subset of Sansa Anti/Arya stan that pushes these takes is, indeed, less interested in Arya, the actual books and the political dynamics therein, than they are in a distorted Cinderella fantasy where Arya is uniquely chosen and loved over Sansa. The rejection of Sansa is as central to that fantasy as the elevation of Arya, because the Mean Girl needs to be vanquished and punished in order to destroy the very notion in the world that Their Projection Surface was ever not The Prettiest And Bestest, deprived of the admiration she rightfully deserved by the cruel machinations of a middleschool bully.

You know, that's the complex philosophical, political and literary themes and interpersonal dynamics that GRRM is known for. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[jackoshadows]

Earlier I had mentioned how ‘Arya’s’ marriage to Ramsay Bolton is the thread that connects all the plots in the North in ADwD and I could not help notice how it’s mentioned or is the driving force for what is happening in four different locations or about 70% of the North plot.

Reek I (Theon I) - We are first introduced to this wedding in the North in this chapter when Ramsay tells Reek that he is to be wed to Arya Stark and needs Reek to stick around in better conditions.

Davos III: Davos is brought before the Manderlys with the Freys and Lannister/Bolton spies in attendance. Lady Wylla Manderly sticks up for Lady Arya Stark by telling everyone what an absolutely rotten fellow Ramsay Bolton is.

Reek II (Theon II): Reek meets ‘Arya’ and understands what is happening. This is Jeyne Poole, not Arya Stark.

The Wayward Bride (Asha I): The Boltons send off the wedding invites. Over at Deepwood Motte, Asha Greyjoy gets one written in the blood of dead Ironborn. This is also where she learns that her brother Theon is alive.

Jon VI: An interesting parallel with Asha and Theon here when Jon also gets a wedding invite at the Wall and learns that his little sister Arya Stark is alive and to be married to Ramsay Bolton. A lot of soul searching and angst happens before he decides he can’t help.

Davos IV: Manderly reveals all and the North Remembers. Manderly and Robett Glover proclaim Ramsay evil by birth and blood and tell Davos they need Ned’s son, Rickon, to prevent the Boltons from claiming Winterfell through Ned’s daughter Arya. They promise to support Stannis if Davos gets them Rickon Stark and Shaggydog.

Melisandre I: The red priestess convinces the Lord Commander to send Mance and the spearwives to rescue Arya based on her visions of Arya fleeing her marriage and heading to the Wall.

Reek III (Theon III): The Boltons get news that Stannis has left the Wall, won Deepwood and is marching on them. They strategize and decide to wait at Winterfell because Roose is confident that the Northmen with Stannis will reach Winterfell come what may to save Arya Stark.

Jon VII: Jon prays for Arya and gets a letter from Stannis with a recap of all that’s happened, promising to do his best to save Arya and find a better match for her (Presumably after killing Ramsay). Jon makes plans to send Arya to Braavos

The Prince of Winterfell (Theon IV): The Wedding of ‘Arya Stark’, given in marriage by Theon Greyjoy to Ramsay Bolton. There’s a feast, lots of interesting dynamics and political games played between various houses. Roose is vary of Manderly and Abel the Bard is there with his ‘Die Hard’ mission to get a Stark maiden secretly out of Winterfell.

Jon VIII: Jon and Val discuss Mel’s visions in her fires. Jon hopes that her visions of Arya are true and that Arya gets to the Wall safely.

The Turncloak (Theon V): Lady Barbrey and Theon Turncloak discuss the intricacies of the alliances between the different houses and the impact of Lady Arya’s tears in galvanizing the North to unite against the Boltons.

The King’s Prize (Asha II): Asha is introduced to the bad-ass mountain clans marching with Stannis Baratheon, who make it clear that they are going to save Lady Arya Stark come what may, no matter that Winter has clearly come to the North. The Boltons were right about them.

Jon IX: Jon’s hopes are dashed when Mel’s visions of a girl in grey fleeing a marriage on a dying horse turns out to be Alys Karstark and not Arya Stark.

A Ghost in Winterfell (Theon VI): Stannis reaches Winterfell! Theon ponders on the uncertain loyalties of the lords who are only there at Winterfell because of Arya Stark. Mance’s Spearwives approach Theon.

Jon X: Jon compares Alys’ bravery to Arya and gives her in marriage to Sigorn, Magnar of Thenns, in a wedding that is clearly meant to contrast the darkness of ‘Arya’s marriage to Ramsay in Winterfell.  Melisandre warns Jon of ‘daggers in the dark’, a warning that Jon refutes because she was wrong about Alys being Arya.

Theon VII: The escape. The Spearwives approach Jeyne and tell her that they are taking her to her half-brother at the Wall, Lord Crow. Even as the Spearwives are trapped and possibly caught, Jeyne Poole and Theon Greyjoy jump the walls to freedom.

Jon XI: Jon walks the Wall, worried and concerned for Arya. He misses her and hopes that Mance succeeds in his mission and gets her home to him.

The Sacrifice (Asha III): While the king’s men and queen’s men complain about the march to Winterfell, the loss of life and lack of food and doubt if they can make it, the Northern army and mountain clans are adamant about taking Winterfell and saving Arya. Asha is then finally united with Theon (and Jeyne).

Jon XIII: The Pink Letter. Ramsay demands his bride back, along with Reek and Stannis’ family. Jon decides to go attack the Warden of the North with an army of Wildlings. This leads to mutiny, assassination and his death.

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

And this is why GRRM considered Jeyne Poole essential to the story he was telling in the books. Without it, everything changes and story is now different on the TV show compared to the books or two different canons as GRRM puts it.

It’s incredible how Arya Stark is not even in Westeros and yet the entire plot in the North location in ADwD pivots around her marriage to Ramsay Bolton, in terms of House Stark politics in the North.

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Jon and Ygritte: a clash of ideologies (Jon V, Asos)

Jon V, Asos is an interesting chapter. It offers us two completely different world views between two lovers (Jon & Ygritte). And begs the question: is love enough when two people have opposing life philosophies? In our young lovers case, it's not.

I want to say here that just because a romance between Jon and Ygritte was doomed to eventually fail due to their different perspectives that doesn't mean that every relationship between free folk and westerosi people is equally doomed. A case in point is Sam and Gilly. Because, not every single free folk person shares the same beliefs with Ygritte, to group all of them under the same opinion would be racist. Similarly, not every westerosi person has the same views and feelings towards Free folk that Jon has, people who share Bower Marsh harsher views also exist.

Back to Jon and Ygritte, the chapter opens with them wandering in the Gift. They see an abandoned tower and Ygritte suggests that maybe once the raid has ended they could settle down there.

Jon once also dreamed that he could settle on a tower like that, but unlike Ygritte, he wasn't interested in settling outside the feudal society; he wanted to be part of it.

If winter had come and gone more quickly and spring had followed in its turn, I might have been chosen to hold one of these towers in my father's name.

Jon and Ygritte have a disagreement over the people who abandoned their homes in the gift. Ygritte considers them cowards because they didn't stay to fight for their land. Jon is more sympathetic towards them, believing that people should be allowed to exist without having to worry over their safety. According to him, living in an organised society offers such protection.

But according to Ygritte, you have to pay with your own freedom if you want to live in a society. And that's not a sacrifice she's willing to make. On his end, Jon isn't willing to sacrifice the society he grew up with, in order to live in the lawless world the free folk envision. And that's what makes them incompatible.

I know one thing. I know that you are a wilding to the bone. It was easy to forget sometimes, when they were laughing or kissing. But then one of them would say something, or do something, and he would suddenly be reminded of the wall between their worlds.

[selkiewife]

Tyrion's Seasons of Love

I’ve been wondering if Tyrion’s arc in the novels can be seen as following the progression of the song that Tysha used to sing to him, The Seasons of My Love.

I loved a maid as fair as summer with sunlight in her hair I loved a maid as red as autumn with sunset in her hair I loved a maid as white as winter with moonglow in her hair

The song begins in the summer and summer is also where we first meet Tyrion. In the summer section of the novels, Tyrion is facing the outcome of his spring dreams being crushed- his past naïveté and hopefulness is examined under the harsh light of day. Because of Tywin's brutal abuse, Tyrion believes that the only way he can have love or friendship is through purchasing it with gold, as he does with Shae and Bronn. He also no longer dreams of dragons, as he tells Jon on the way to the wall. Yet it is still summer, and he is still somewhat optimistic in spite of himself. There is warmth in his relationship with Bronn and he falls in love with Shae in spite of himself. He also believes he is coming into his own as Hand of the King, using his unique talents to accomplish great things for his family.

Then the sun sets dramatically and Tyrion finds himself in a dark place. He is abandoned after the battle of the Blackwater and all his contributions to save the city are forgotten or attributed to others. He loses his nose and his position as Hand of the King. He survives an assassination attempt by Cersei, is forced to marry Sansa Stark, and finally is put on trial for a murder he did not commit. During the trial, Shae betrays and humiliates him (though she didn't really have a choice) and his father was ready to either execute him or exile him to the wall. Though his brother Jaime helps him escape, he also reveals the truth about Tysha.

After all he has recently been through coupled with a lifetime of abuse and trauma and Jaime's revelation, Tyrion murders both Tywin and Shae. Later, after escaping, he buys a sexual slave in Volantis called the Sunset Girl. She is called the Sunset Girl because she is believed to be from “The Sunset Kingdom,” (Westeros) though as it turns out she does not speak the common tongue. She also could be called the “Sunset Girl” because of her curly red hair. The Sunset Girl is very aptly named because she is a symbolic culmination of the sunset portion of Tyrion's arc. Tyrion knows that she is a sex slave and cannot refuse him, but he buys her anyway. It is deeply, deeply disturbing. He has tragically become "the monster" everyone thought he was. He is a rapist. He is a murderer. He is a villain. The end.

Except if Tyrion’s arc is following the song, it is not the end. It is only autumn. It is only sunset. It is only half way through the song.

Winter is still coming for Tyrion and for all the characters. And, there is still the possibility of "a dream of spring" for Tyrion. GRRM doesn't write easy characters and he doesn't write easy wins. He complicates the catharsis of Tyrion killing his lifelong abuser, Tywin, with the murder of Shae and the rape of the Sunset Girl. It is through these acts that the Tyrion we knew, who once defended and protected sex workers and who refused to rape Sansa (as his father instructed him to do) symbolically dies. As he says himself:

There are worse ways to die than drowning. And if truth be told, he had perished long ago, back in King’s Landing. It was only his revenant who remained, the small vengeful ghost who throttled Shae and put a crossbow bolt through the great Lord Tywin’s bowels. No man would mourn the thing that he’d become. (ADWD, Tyrion V)

But, the dead are rising in these novels. Tyrion is rising out of his own long night already the way he cares for and protects Penny, which is reminiscent of Theon Greyjoy's protection of Jeyne Poole. There’s evidence that he will also join forces with Daenerys and her crusade to end slavery. He will see the dragons that he use to dream about as a boy. The spring verse of The Seasons of My Love has not been revealed in the novels. Can this be seen as hopeful? Unlike a straight tragedy, Tyrion's future is not yet written. Just like Jaime's page in the white book: He could write whatever he chose, henceforth. (ASOS, Jaime IX.)

Tyrion's arc mirroring The Seasons of My Love song makes sense, because in spite of the tragedy of his life and the bitterness of his story, he may yet claw his way toward a hopeful ending. After all:

He had been born in the dead of winter, a terrible cruel one that the maesters said had lasted near three years, but Tyrion's earliest memories were of spring. (AGOT, Tyrion III)

The spring verse is likely the first verse of the song. Yet, it's reveal will be the last, ending the books with a beginning.

[jedimaesteryoda]

The fight on the Trident between Robert and Rhaegar has images of Indo-European myth, eg Perun v. Veles of Slavic myth. Perun god of storms, fertility and war, kills Veles with his war hammer, a dragon god of music, magic, and the underworld, driving him into the watery realm after the latter steals Perun’s wife.

Veles’ body would release rain (Rhaegar’s released rubies) as the battle itself represented the changing of the seasons.

Spring: 

Rhaegar is representative of spring the season of hopes, new beginnings and transformation. The Crown Prince was highly intelligent, skilled at arms enough to be knighted at 17, physically attractive and with a skill at playing harp and composing songs as a bonus. He was a young king in waiting of purported promise carrying the hopes of many for the future after his mad father’s inevitable passing.

It was a Year of False Spring with many hopes: Rickard's matches for just kids, Jaime's induction into the Kingsguard, Lyanna's relationship with Rhaegar and Littlefinger's dream for Cat's hand ending disastrously. Rhaegar died a seedling, in that he died before he got to be crowned, a dream never realized. His actions marked a new beginning for the realm with House Baratheon’s transformation as the royal house, and conceiving Jon, a potential new beginning for House Targaryen. 

Summer:

Robert presides over a long summer during his reign of epicurean plenty. He himself is a king of summer being a fertile, jolly fat man fathering many children; a hedonist gone to seed who enjoys feasting, drinking, philandering, tourneys, hunts and other forms of leisure. He ultimately dies while doing one of those leisure activities: hunting. His death marks the death of the peaceful, prosperous summer to be replaced by a time of war and famine under the rule of House Lannister.

Autumn:

Joffrey is a king of autumn, a season represented by plenty alongside death. He is a violent young man quick and gleeful to have people executed as he sits the Iron Throne victorious. His bloody reign is marked by death with people dying from the War of Five Kings, and the fruits of the victors are enjoyed before winter comes and they are taken away. The Lannisters, Freys and Boltons enjoy their rewards before their demise symbolized by Joffrey being poisoned at his extravagant wedding to the Tyrells which seemingly secured his reign. House Lannister’s rule is coming to an end now that winter has come.

Winter:

Jon is a king of winter, a brooding young man who has endured much hardship and loss and commands at the Wall where the Long Night comes. Death surrounded his birth with his mother dying from the complications of his birth, the death of the Kingsguard and Ned’s friends at his birthplace and born at the end of Robert’s Rebellion. 

As Ned said:

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.”

As a leader, Jon embodies this thinking, joining people together including former foes and healing rifts between parties like Karstarks with the Starks, wildlings with the Night’s Watch and Northmen, and later House Targaryen with House Stark, culminating in joining all the realm together against the Long Night. 

[docpiplup]

Jon was tired. I need sleep. He had been up half the night poring over maps, writing letters, and making plans with Maester Aemon. Even after stumbling into his narrow bed, rest had not come easily. He knew what he would face today, and found himself tossing restlessly as he brooded on Maester Aemon's final words.

"Allow me to give my lord one last piece of counsel", the old man had said, "the same counsel that I once gave my brother when we parted for the last time. He was three-and-thirty when the Great Council chose him to mount the Iron Throne. A man grown with sons of his own, yet in some ways still a boy. Egg had an innocence to him, a sweetness we all loved. Kill the boy within you, I told him the day I took ship for the Wall. It takes a man to rule. An Aegon, not an Egg. Kill the boy and let the man be born."

The old man felt Jon's face. "You are half the age that Egg was, and your own burden is a crueler one, I fear. You will have little joy of your command, but I think you have the strength in you to do the things that must be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us.  Kill the boy and let the man be born."

Jon II, A Dance with Dragons

It could be very interesting if a Great Northern Council is held at Winterfell for deciding who will be the next Lord of Winterfell/King in the North after the downfall of the Boltons.

Like, maybe this Northern Great Council parallels the Great Council for deciding the heir to the Iron Throne among Maekar I's children and/or their descendants, and in this case the Northern Great Council will choose the heir to the Noth among Ned's children.

We know that the Great Council offered the crown to Aemon and he rejected it and Egg was crowned instead. In my opinion, I think this Northern Great Council could offer the crown to Jon, since he is the eldest and most prepared sibling, and he will accept it because if duty.

I feel like there is a strong connection between Jon and Aemon & Aegon V, Jon accepting the crown due duty I feel like it reflects in some kind of sense the "Kill the boy and let the man be born" Aemon said to Egg and Jon, both the last time they were going to see Aemon and time before/when they became kings, Aemon went to the Wall to join the NW and Egg became Aegon the Unlikely, and Aemon left the Wall and died during the trip to Oldtown, and some time after that Jon could be crowned King in the North.

We could also take notes at Aegon V's nickname " the Unlikely", because he was the fourth son of a fourth son, and Jon becoming Lord of Winterfell/King in the North being a bastard isn't something expected for Westerosi society due to generally being classist and having prejudices towards bastards.

And I don't suscribe to what some people say about that Jon can't inherit and become king because he's a bastard, it's well-known that one of the main inspirations for Westeros is Medieval Europe, especially medieval English history, and there some other bastards that became kings, like William I the Conqueror (1028-1087), illegitimate son of Duke Robert I of Normandy and Herleva of Falaise, although I would say his Asoiaf equivalents are Aegon I the Conqueror and his bastard brother Orys Baratheon, plus there were others like Ramiro I of Aragon (1006-1063), Henry II of Castile (1334-1379), John I of Portugal (1357-1433) and Ferdinand I of Naples (1423-1494).

Plus if Robb's Will is brought to the discussion, Jon has been legitimised by Robb and could be another reason to be considered a good candidate by the Council.

[popeheyward]

Big Ol' Fic/Writers Rec

disclaimer before we start: mind the tags of any fic you read or consider reading!! and please be respectful of all these authors <3

disclaimer part 2: im going to tag the different fandoms i've mentioned but will try to be specific so im not filling every secondary tag on tumblr! love you, also long post ahead uwu

tospreadthewingsofthesoul most of what i've read of theirs is DCU related but all their works are super good uwu ^^

intermundia star wars writer w/ such fun and engaging fics!! love love love them <3

himboskywalker also a SW writer for the most part <33 i want to read all their fics for the first time again!!

sanerontheinside SW part 3.......you know the drill............amazing fics + smut

sarahbeniel mostly marvel w/ a smattering of witcher. absolutely all of their works are incredible, though Meet Me At Sunset specifically has a soft-spot in my heart!!!

dordean someone im v lucky to have spoken with!! super sweet, super talented, i want to be them when i grow up, etc so on and so forth ^^ main fandom ive read from them is the witcher, but as is the case w/ all of these writers, any of their fics/fandoms are bound to be stunning <33

elizzablue their asoiaf works are primarily what i've read. winter came (with fire and blood) is one of the most stunningly beautiful fics i've ever come across. personally not a big fan of jonerys (bc im not the biggest fan of jon. im sorry + please don't hate me jon fans + if you love him you're so valid and im smooching you) but elizza makes it work. if you want a realistic yet still mostly happy ending for all GOT characters (especially daenerys) this fic is for you!! they have other works in other fandoms if asoiaf isn't for you, so you could always check those out too if you're interested!

lady_ragnell lovely lovely writer, whose fics I've read are primarily in the vikings tv show fandom <3 1000000/10 <33

underragingwaves (captain killy) also a vikings tv enjoyer, though writes for different characters than ragnell! has some x reader + OC works that are chefs kiss c:

ReganX also an asoiaf writer. forewarned specifically is an absolute perfect fic that i could read over and over <33

adlyb writes mostly for the vampire diaries/the originals universe. long fics that i want to physically injest!!

BlueKiwi another asoiaf writer whose fics are just brilliantly captivating! i am barking like a rabid dog btw c:

IMPoSTRSYNDRM writes for the twilight fandom!! some of the most incredibly detailed fics. so incredible in fact, i had to google how to spell "incredibly" because i was salivating over their writing!

Beckala the fics i've currently read myself are all from marvel but they have other fandoms they've written for if marvel isn't your style! they have such a good balance of humor + seriousness in their dialogue. it's just a joy to read <33

[iceywolf24]

Just remembering Varys speech on Aegon and Kingship in the ADWD Epilogue.

"He reads and writes and speaks several tongues" - Varys

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one."

"The children of the forest, Old Nan would have called the singers, but those who sing the song of earth was their own name for themselves, in the True Tongue that no human man could speak. The ravens could speak it, though"

- Bran, III ADWD

"He has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them". - Varys

"The singers of the forest had no books. No ink, no parchment, no written language. Instead they had the trees, and the weirwoods above all. When they died, they went into the wood, into leaf and limb and root, and the trees remembered. All their songs and spells, their histories and prayers, everything they knew about this world. Maesters will tell you that the weirwoods are sacred to the old gods. The singers believe they are the old gods. When singers die they become part of that godhood. "- Bran III ADWD

"He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands... He can fish and cook and bind up a wound " - Varys

"I was just remembering," he said. "Jory brought us here once, to fish for trout. You and me and Jon. Do you remember?" - Bran V AGOT

"Jojen sent Hodor out for wood and built them a small fire while Bran and Meera were cleaning the fish and frogs. They used Meera's helm for a cooking pot, chopping up the catch into little cubes and tossing in some water and some wild onions Hodor had found to make a froggy stew" - Bran I, ASOS

"Meera had drawn the broken arrow from his leg and rubbed the wound with the juice of some plants she found growing around the base of the tower" - Bran IV, ASOS

"He knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid" - Varys

"The last of the food that they had brought from the south was ten days gone. Since then hunger walked beside them day and night. Even Summer could find no game in these woods. They lived on crushed acorns and raw fish" - Bran I, ADWD

"The Umbers and the Karstarks and the Manderlys may all be dead as well, he realized. As he would be, if he was caught by the ironmen or the Bastard of Bolton" - Bran II ASOS

He saw the bones of a thousand other dreamers impaled upon their points. He was desperately afraid. "Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?" he heard his own voice saying, small and far away. And his father's voice replied to him. "That is the only time a man can be brave." - Bran III AGOT

Bran was also hunted by wights in Bran II ADWD.

"Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them." - Varys

"Bran gazed up at the rough stone ceiling above his head. Robb would tell him not to play the boy, he knew. He could almost hear him, and their lord father as well. Winter is coming, and you are almost a man grown, Bran. You have a duty." - Bran II ACOK

A good lord protects his people, he reminded himself. "I’ve yielded Winterfell to Theon." - Bran VI ACOK

The way Varys was describing Bran when he talking about how Aegon was raised to be a good King.

EDIT: added some parts .

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

JON SNOW FORTNIGHT EVENT 2023

Day 10 - Echoes of the Past

For today’s prompt, I want to look back at Westoros’ history in order to parse out some interesting parallels Jon shares with two little known kings of the Trident: Benedict Justman and Tristifer IV Mudd.

Benedict Justman (born Benedict Rivers) was King of the Trident and founder of the now extinct House Justman. He was born to a union between a Blackwood and a Bracken, two historically antagonistic powerhouses in the Riverlands. Though he grew up despised, he became a noted warrior and rose to power through his martial prowess. Very little else is known of his reign or character, but there’s still enough to glean meaningful parallels with our favorite bastard, Jon Snow.

The most meaningful parallel between them is the theme of balance. Benedict was born of a union between two houses that have historically warred against each other. And if theories are correct Jon, as the son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, is born of a union between ice and fire - two states that are traditionally opposed to one another. Not only that, but recent history has these two houses fighting on opposite sides of a civil war.

Both Jon and Benedict represent the coming together of two opposing sides, and it’s even more poignant that both are (presumably on Jon’s part) born bastards. Just as a Benedict grew up a despised boy, Jon has grown up with the stain of bastardy all his life and earned the ire of his lord father’s wife. But bastardy does not hinder either man from greatness or kingship. Benedict founded his own house and came to be known as one of the wisest and most successful kings in the Riverlands. And there is extensive foreshadowing for Jon’s rise to kingship.

While there’s little about King Benedict in the main series, there’s another great King of the Trident who has been implicitly linked to Jon in the text, King Tristifer IV Mudd.

We first hear of King Tristifer in ASOS, coincidentally when Robb and Catelyn argue about the legitimization of Jon Snow. This fateful conversation is held right at Tristifer’s tomb.

Yet in the center of what once would have been the castle's yard, a great carved sepulcher still rested, half hidden in waist-high brown grass amongst a stand of ash. The lid of the sepulcher had been carved into a likeness of the man whose bones lay beneath, but the rain and the wind had done their work. The king had worn a beard, they could see, but otherwise his face was smooth and featurless, with only vague suggestions of a mouth, a nose, eyes, and the crown about the temples. His hands folded over the shaft of a stone warhammer that lay upon his chest. Once the warhammer would have been carved with runes that told its name and history, but all that the centuries had worn away. The stone itself was cracked and crumbling at the corners, discolored here and there by spreading white splotches of lichen, while wild roses crept up over the king's feet almost to his chest.

[...]

She had not forgotten; she had not wanted to look at it, yet there it was. "A Snow is not a Stark."

[...]

Grey Wind leapt up atop King Tristifer's crypt, his teeth bared.

- Catelyn V, ASOS

There are several interesting metaphors within this short snippet that relate to Jon’s story. The first is that there is a story of a forgotten (or lost) king half-hidden in a stone tomb. This is quite the parallel to Jon’s mother, Lyanna Stark, whose tomb in the Winterfell crypts has been implied to hold secrets of a promise - a promise related to Jon’s birth.

He was walking through the crypts beneath Winterfell, as he had walked a thousand times before. The Kings of Winter watched him pass with eyes of ice, and the direwolves at their feet turned their great stone heads and snarled. Last of all, he came to the tomb where his father slept, with Brandon and Lyanna beside him. “Promise me, Ned,” Lyanna’s statue whispered. She wore a garland of pale blue roses, and her eyes wept blood.

- Eddard XIII, AGOT

There are other visual metaphors. There is brown grass spread amongst ash which could point to Jon whose Stark coloring hides his Targaryen heritage. Not only that, but the mention of wild roses calls to mind the imagery of blue winter roses, which have been used to symbolize Jon in the story.

A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness…

- Daenerys IV, ACOK

Another interesting parallel is that this tomb is placed in Oldstones. Another important figure from Oldstones is Jenny of Oldstones, whose love affair with Prince Duncan Targaryen mirrors that between Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, Jon’s parents.

But perhaps my favorite parallel between Jon and Tristifer comes from their names. Snow and Mudd both evoke elements of nature, especially of some substance mixed with water. And the element of water is present with all three men, as Benedict Justman was named “Rivers” before his ascension to kingship.

Given the nature of GRRM’s writing, no one parallel is purely incidental. It seems that these two kings could serve as indicators of who Jon is and who he is meant to be. Based on the tales of these two kings, there is the possibility that Jon will come to be known as one of the wisest and longest reigning kings in Westeros. As we know, both Benedict and Tristifer are associated with Justice: Benedict is known as “Benedict the Just” and Tristifer earned the epithet “Hammer of Justice”. And if Bran’s words are anything to go by,

“You did well,” Jon told him solemnly. Jon was fourteen, an old hand at justice.

- Bran I, AGOT

[ai-manre]

Let me elaborate.

As of now, we still don't know how the succession goes when bastards are legitimized. Cat warns Robb that "If you make Jon legitimate, there is no way to turn him bastard again". This can imply that Jon will be considered as just another Stark once legitimized. Which makes him the eldest son, the best claim. Now, even if this isn't the case, and I'm sure there will be a lot of different parties with different interests here (LF is pushing Sansa's claim, Manderly is pushing Rickon's, Arya is the one all of North is currently rallying for, Bran will have the actual best claim once revealed alive). We come to the second point:

THE LONE WOLF DIES, THE PACK SURVIVES. Ned's exact words were "When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths. " See that? The point is to be a pack and share their strengths. It's similar to the argument Jon makes about the Night's Watch to Maester Aemon:

He told me that a maester's collar is made of chain to remind him that he is sworn to serve," Jon said, remembering. "I asked why each link was a different metal. A silver chain would look much finer with his grey robes, I said. Maester Luwin laughed. A maester forges his chain with study, he told me. The different metals are each a different kind of learning, gold for the study of money and accounts, silver for healing, iron for warcraft. And he said there were other meanings as well. The collar is supposed to remind a maester of the realm he serves, isn't that so? Lords are gold and knights steel, but two links can't make a chain. You also need silver and iron and lead, tin and copper and bronze and all the rest, and those are farmers and smiths and merchants and the like. A chain needs all sorts of metals, and a land needs all sorts of people. - Jon V, AGOT

Jon argues that an institution like the Night's Watch needs all sort of people to thrive and so does a kingdom, and so does a House. When the cold winds rise, everyone must unite and work together. A good pack is one where each tool has its place, where everyone is in the positions best suited for them. Jon is the one with the ruler experience and leadership arc, and a heavy amount of King foreshadowing, and who is already performing the King's duty of protecting people (as Gilly and Alys are so good to highlight to us). He (and Dany) have been given long leadership trainings arcs for a reason, because he has to be the leader for the War for the Dawn. His siblings are smart enough to recognize that.

Besides, them all accepting him as a Stark, as their leader, is so important both to them and to Jon:

Robb: Jon is the only brother that remains to me. Should I die without issue, I want him to succeed me as King in the North. I had hoped you would support my choice. - Catelyn V, ASOS

Sansa: She had not thought of Jon in ages. He was only her half brother, but still . . . with Robb and Bran and Rickon dead, Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again. But of course that could never be. Alayne Stone had no brothers, baseborn or otherwise. - Alayne II, AFFC

Bran: The old knight put a hand on Bran's arm. "A kindly thought, my prince, but I am only a knight, and besides too old. I might hold her lands for a few years, but as soon as I died Lady Hornwood would find herself back in the same mire, and Beth's prospects might be perilous as well." "Then let Lord Hornwood's bastard be the heir," Bran said, thinking of his half brother Jon. - Bran II, ACOK

Rickon: It had been the night of the welcoming feast, when King Robert had brought his court to Winterfell. Summer still reigned then. His parents had shared the dais with Robert and his queen, with her brothers beside her. Uncle Benjen had been there too, all in black. Bran and his brothers and sisters sat with the king's children, Joffrey and Tommen and Princess Myrcella, who'd spent the whole meal gazing at Robb with adoring eyes. Arya made faces across the table when no one was looking; Sansa listened raptly while the king's high harper sang songs of chivalry, and Rickon kept asking why Jon wasn't with them. "Because he's a bastard," Bran finally had to whisper to him. - Bran III, ACOK

I'm not even bothering to include quotes for Arya. It's Arya! She loves Jon more than anything and- okay who am I kidding, I want to include this quote for her as well:

"Besides, if a girl can't fight, why should she have a coat of arms?"

Jon shrugged. "Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms. I did not make the rules, little sister.".[...]

He gave her a half smile. "Bastards are not allowed to damage young princes," he said. "Any bruises they take in the practice yard must come from trueborn swords." "Oh." Arya felt abashed. She should have realized. For the second time today, Arya reflected that life was not fair. - Arya I, AGOT

Jon gave Arya a sword, Arya will give Jon a coat of arms, and they will make things more fair in the world.

Whenever the topic of the future Stark succession comes up, most of the takes are always "Jon loves his siblings too much to usurp their birthrights" and never "his siblings love Jon enough to recognize he's the one most suited to lead" huh.

[queenaryastark]

Arya Stark is her Father's Daughter

Arya doesn't just share the Stark look with Ned. They also share values, insecurities, and abilities. When Ned was teaching Robb and Jon leadership skills, Arya was picking those up as well and we see her implement them throughout her chapters. That's not to say she and her mother don't have similarities. They do. Being similar to her father is not the same as having nothing in common with her mother. She can have similarities with both. But I'll start with one she only shares with Ned.

Insecurities

Arya and her father are both incredibly insecure as a second daughter/son who were overshadowed by their older siblings of the same gender. Interestingly, this is a parallel with Arya that GRRM also gives to Alysanne Targaryen, who he changed in F&B, making her more like Arya. But back to the Starks. Arya was bullied by her older sister and taught that she was inferior to her by the adults around them. Ned's insecurities come from being in the younger brother position for both Brandon and Robert, yet unexpectedly rising to Brandon’s place after his death. Even a decade and a half later, he still feels like he's not enough for the role he has to fill. Similarly, when Ned tells Arya that she will marry a king, she says that's Sansa. We're not in her head in that moment and there's definitely a lot going on on emotional and sociological levels (as well as logically given the current political circumstances), but part of that response is due to her insecurities. Despite factually holding the status of "lady", Arya insists that her mother and sister are ladies, while she is not. This is partly due to her insecurities in "failing" at being who her mother is telling her a lady must be.

Ned's:

"Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant for Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was born to be a King’s Hand and a father to queens. I never asked for this cup to pass to me.” -- Catelyn II, AGOT

has the same feel as:

“You,” Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, “will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon.”

Arya screwed up her face. “No,” she said, “that’s Sansa.” -- Eddard V, AGOT

Both of them either have been or are being set up by the narrative to fill roles they were told were meant for another. Regardless of their shared insecurities over their older siblings, Ned and Arya actually fill the societal aspects of their roles well, even to the point where the North is specifically rising for Arya and willing to fight in winter for Ned's little girl.

Speaking of which...

The Common Touch

An important aspect of ruling is making people want to follow you. That involves gaining their love and respect. Those who are best at this are said to have "the common touch". This is something Ned teaches Arya and that she implements naturally through her friendly and extroverted nature:

Back at Winterfell, they had eaten in the Great Hall almost half the time. Her father used to say that a lord needed to eat with his men, if he hoped to keep them. “Know the men who follow you,” she heard him tell Robb once, “and let them know you. Don’t ask your men to die for a stranger.” At Winterfell, he always had an extra seat set at his own table, and every day a different man would be asked to join him. One night it would be Vayon Poole, and the talk would be coppers and bread stores and servants. The next time it would be Mikken, and her father would listen to him go on about armor and swords and how hot a forge should be and the best way to temper steel. Another day it might be Hullen with his endless horse talk, or Septon Chayle from the library, or Jory, or Ser Rodrik, or even Old Nan with her stories.

Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father’s table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-and-maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. Fat Tom used to call her “Arya Underfoot,” because he said that was where she always was. – Arya II, AGOT

Catelyn has this ability to engage with the commons to a degree as well. She knows the names of everyone at Winterfell and at Riverrun, even correcting a person who was currently living at Riverrun. She gives the oarsmen who bring her to King's Landing coin with her own hand to make sure their employer doesn't cheat them. She's always polite to servants. As a result, people regard her with respect.

It's worth noting that Arya shares this ability with Margaery and Alysanne, two belived queen consorts.

Leaders Who Do Their Job

Like Ned (and Cat), Arya believes in capital punishment. From her father, she gained the belief that the person who passes the sentence must perform the execution as well:

The Starks were at war with the Lannisters and she was a Stark, so she should kill as many Lannisters as she could, that was what you did in wars. But she didn’t think she should trust Jaqen. I should kill them myself. Whenever her father had condemned a man to death, he did the deed himself with Ice, his greatsword. “If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look him in the face and hear his last words,” she’d heard him tell Robb and Jon once. -- Arya VII, ACOK

So, the part of Arya’s story that others vilify her for and think makes her too far gone? You know, executing criminals? That comes from Ned and is actually an aspect of her character that proves she is going to be in a position of leadership in the end. She is already administering justice and dealing with complex choices on what justice actually is. This aspect of taking on hard choices and actions isn't exclusive to execution. Arya also takes up additional risks and duties while leading her pack through a war zone. She uses her privileged education to read maps, gather information including reading letters, and doing extra tasks like doubling back to obscure the tracks they're leaving. And yes, she also executes criminals.

Like Ned, Arya is being set up as a leader who actually does something as opposed to the leaders who distance themselves from the less pleasant parts of their job.

So, yes, Arya is like Ned in many ways that are fundamental to her character. This isn't controversial. It's just canon.

[snowsandstones]

just finished watching the finale and it’s actually quite clear that jon is choosing sansa over all else, because he loves her.

the repetition of him going protective wolf mode over and over to the point that it became a meme?

it establishes this as fundamental to his character. he’s fulfilling his promise, whether she thinks he can or not:

(and vice versa)

and add the book prophecy to this equation and it makes it even clearer:

The voices were growing louder, she realized, and it seemed her heart was slowing, and even her breath. . . . three treasons will you know . . . once for blood and once for gold and once for love . . . -ACOK, D IV

she’s right: the first was Mirri, done for blood (to avenge her people).

The warlocks whispered of three treasons . . . once for blood and once for gold and once for love. The first traitor was surely Mirri Maz Duur, who had murdered Khal Drogo and their unborn son to avenge her people. Could Pyat Pree and Xaro Xhoan Daxos be the second and the third? She did not think so. What Pyat did was not for gold, and Xaro had never truly loved her. -ACOK, D V

the second has to be done for gold.

"I have loved you." And there it was. Three treasons will you know. Once for blood and once for gold and once for love. -ASOS, D VI

but Jorah doesn’t betray her for love. it’s for gold, despite his “love”.

she knows this deep down, because it confuses her. she mulls over it constantly, tries to forestall it, tries to make sense of it. (certainly not something we’ve seen with another queen determined to prevent a prophecy and inadvertently causing it). the prophecy looms large in her thoughts (and our foreshadowing) throughout ADWD:

"What if Daario has betrayed me and gone over to my enemies?" Three treasons will you know.

"The blood of the dragon." But my dragons are roaring in the darkness. "I remember the Undying. Child of three, they called me. Three mounts they promised me, three fires, and three treasons. One for blood and one for gold and one for …"

When Reznak and Skahaz appeared, she found herself looking at them askance, mindful of the three treasons. Beware the perfumed seneschal. She sniffed suspiciously at Reznak mo Reznak. I could command the Shavepate to arrest him and put him to the question. Would that forestall the prophecy? Or would some other betrayer take his place? Prophecies are treacherous, she reminded herself,

Three treasons will you know. Once for gold and once for blood and once for love. Was Plumm the third treason, or the second? And what did that make Ser Jorah, her gruff old bear? Would she never have a friend that she could trust? What good are prophecies if you cannot make sense of them?

Dany had once eaten a stallion's heart to give strength to her unborn son … but that had not saved Rhaego when the maegi murdered him in her womb. Three treasons shall you know. She was the first, Jorah was the second, Brown Ben Plumm the third. Was she done with betrayals?

and it finally unfolds with Jon committing the ultimate treason: betraying and murdering his queen. not out of love. for love. for Sansa.

and speaking of prophecies from the house of the undying…she sees many things, the war of the five kings, the red wedding, etc.

and she sees the very end of our story:

A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness.

and in the same book, GRRM tells us what it means:

"And she never sung you the song o' the winter rose?"

“He was King-beyond-the-Wall a long time back. All the free folk know his songs […] “All I ask is a flower,' Bael answered, 'the fairest flower that blooms in the gardens o' Winterfell.'" “Now as it happened the winter roses had only then come into bloom, and no flower is so rare nor precious. So the Stark sent to his glass gardens and commanded that the most beautiful o' the winter roses be plucked for the singer's payment. And so it was done. But when morning come, the singer had vanished . . . and so had Lord Brandon's maiden daughter. Her bed they found empty, but for the pale blue rose that Bael had left on the pillow where her head had lain." "Lord Brandon had no other children. At his behest, the black crows flew forth from their castles in the hundreds, but nowhere could they find any sign o' Bael or this maid. For most a year they searched, till the lord lost heart and took to his bed, and it seemed as though the line o' Starks was at its end. But one night as he lay waiting to die, Lord Brandon heard a child's cry. He followed the sound and found his daughter back in her bedchamber, asleep with a babe at her breast." “The maid loved Bael so dearly she bore him a son, the song says […] and that the boy grew to be the next Lord Stark. […] “It never happened," Jon said. She shrugged. "Might be it did, might be it didn't. It is a good song, though.

The second to last episode title? “The last of the Starks”. And the final moments of the finale? The Queen in the North lined up with the implied eventual King Beyond the Wall.

[thelustybraavosimaid]

Needleheart Winter 2022 - Wargs, Wolves, and Connections

The kennelmaster once told her that an animal takes after its master. (Sansa I, AGoT)

--

He had known what Snow was the moment he saw that great white direwolf stalking silent at his side. One skinchanger can always sense another. Mance should have let me take the direwolf. There would be a second life worthy of a king. (Prologue, ADwD)

--

Arya had named her after the warrior queen of the Rhoyne, who had led her people across the narrow sea. That had been a great scandal too. (Arya I, AGoT)

--

"Some will tell you that they are demons. They say the pack is led by a monstrous she-wolf, a stalking shadow grim and grey and huge. They will tell you that she has been known to bring aurochs down all by herself, that no trap nor snare can hold her, that she fears neither steel nor fire, slays any wolf that tries to mount her, and devours no other flesh but man." (Brienne V, AFfC)

--

He was watching the action, so absorbed that he seemed unaware of her approach until his white wolf moved to meet them. Nymeria stalked closer on wary feet. Ghost, already larger than his litter mates, smelled her, gave her ear a careful nip, and settled back down.

...

He messed up her hair again and walked away from her, Ghost moving silently beside him. Nymeria started to follow too, then stopped and came back when she saw that Arya was not coming. (Arya I, AGoT)

--

Arya was in her room, packing a polished ironwood chest that was bigger than she was. Nymeria was helping. Arya would only have to point, and the wolf would bound across the room, snatch up some wisp of silk in her jaws, and fetch it back. But when she smelled Ghost, she sat down on her haunches and yelped at them. (Jon II, AGoT)

He sat on his haunches and lifted his head to the darkening sky, and his cry echoed through the forest, a long lonely mournful sound. As it died away, he pricked up his ears, listening for an answer, but the only sound was the sigh of blowing snow. (Jon VII, ACoK)

--

And then, far far off, beyond the godswood and the haunted towers and the immense stone walls of Harrenhal, from somewhere out in the world, came the long lonely howl of a wolf. (Arya X, ACoK)

In another place, his little sister lifted her head to sing to the moon, and a hundred small grey cousins broke off their hunt to sing with her. The hills were warmer where they were, and full of food. Many a night his sister's pack gorged on the flesh of sheep and cows and horses, the prey of men, and sometimes even on the flesh of man himself. (Jon I, ADwD)

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ASOS: Jon V (Chapter 41)

Halfway!

Brandon's Gift had been farmed for thousands of years, but as the Watch dwindled there were fewer hands to plow the fields, tend the bees, and plant the orchards, so the wild had reclaimed many a field and hall. In the New Gift there had been villages and holdfasts whose taxes, rendered in goods and labor, helped feed and clothe the black brothers. But those were largely gone as well.

Weird, there's a tremendous amount of attention being paid to fifty leagues of barren land in back-to-back Bran and Jon chapters.

I can't imagine it's going anywhere.

+.+.+

If I could show her Winterfell . . . give her a flower from the glass gardens, feast her in the Great Hall, and show her the stone kings on their thrones. We could bathe in the hot pools, and love beneath the heart tree while the old gods watched over us.

Boy, who are you talking about, because it sure as fuck isn't Ygritte.

+.+.+

The dream was sweet . . . but Winterfell would never be his to show. It belonged to his brother, the King in the North. He was a Snow, not a Stark.

Well.

+.+.+

"Might be after we could come back here, and live in that tower," she said. "Would you want that, Jon Snow? After?"

After. The word was a spear thrust. After the war. After the conquest. After the wildlings break the Wall . . .

[...]

"This land belongs to the Watch," Jon said.

God I love when he ignores her questions.

+.+.+

His lord father had once talked about raising new lords and settling them in the abandoned holdfasts as a shield against wildlings. The plan would have required the Watch to yield back a large part of the Gift, but his uncle Benjen believed the Lord Commander could be won around, so long as the new lordlings paid taxes to Castle Black rather than Winterfell. "It is a dream for spring, though," Lord Eddard had said. "Even the promise of land will not lure men north with a winter coming on."

If winter had come and gone more quickly and spring had followed in its turn, I might have been chosen to hold one of these towers in my father's name. Lord Eddard was dead, however, his brother Benjen lost; the shield they dreamt together would never be forged. "This land belongs to the Watch," Jon said.

Does it still count as foreshadowing when it's this easy?

Did you know George announced the title change of the final book (A Time for Wolves -> A Dream of Spring) in March 2006? Did you know A Storm of Swords was released in August 2000?

And did you know the above wasn't intended to be as blatantly obvious as it is now?

I call that accidental Gifts.

+.+.+

"You know nothing, Jon Snow. Daughters are taken, not wives. You're the ones who steal. You took the whole world, and built the Wall t' keep the free folk out."

I'm no history buff, but I believe that was done for the Others, Ygritte.

+.+.+

"The gods made the earth for all men t' share. Only when the kings come with their crowns and steel swords, they claimed it was all theirs. My trees, they said, you can't eat them apples. My stream, you can't fish here. My wood, you're not t' hunt. My earth, my water, my castle, my daughter, keep your hands away or I'll chop 'em off, but maybe if you kneel t' me I'll let you have a sniff. You call us thieves, but at least a thief has t' be brave and clever and quick. A kneeler only has t' kneel."

She's circling around a good point, but the problem is her answer to that is murder, theft, rape, and lawlessness.

+.+.+

"Harma and the Bag of Bones don't come raiding for fish and apples. They steal swords and axes. Spices, silks, and furs. They grab every coin and ring and jeweled cup they can find, casks of wine in summer and casks of beef in winter, and they take women in any season and carry them off beyond the Wall."

"And what if they do? I'd sooner be stolen by a strong man than be given t' some weakling by my father."

"You say that, but how can you know? What if you were stolen by someone you hated?"

Given to some weakling by her father? Stolen by someone you hated?

You don't have to listen carefully to hear Sansa's storyline blaring in the background of this conversation.

+.+.+

"Maybe he never washes, so he smells as rank as a bear."

"Then I'd push him in a stream or throw a bucket o' water on him. Anyhow, men shouldn't smell sweet like flowers."

"What's wrong with flowers?"

"Nothing, for a bee. For bed I want one o' these." Ygritte made to grab the front of his breeches.

Jon caught her wrist. "What if the man who stole you drank too much?" he insisted. "What if he was brutal or cruel?" He tightened his grip to make a point. "What if he was stronger than you, and liked to beat you bloody?"

Quick, someone find us a honey bee!

What's so amusing about this exchange is the fandom's ability to completely ignore it, and constantly reference Jon's imaginary contempt for women who can't defend themselves.

+.+.+

I know one thing. I know that you are wildling to the bone. It was easy to forget that sometimes, when they were laughing together, or kissing. But then one of them would say something, or do something, and he would suddenly be reminded of the wall between their worlds.

I like her until she opens her mouth.

+.+.+

"A man can own a woman or a man can own a knife," Ygritte told him, "but no man can own both. Every little girl learns that from her mother." 

What does that even mean?

+.+.+

Wildlings fought like heroes or demons, depending on who you talked to, but it came down to the same thing in the end. They fight with reckless courage, every man out for glory. "I don't doubt that you're all very brave, but when it comes to battle, discipline beats valor every time. In the end Mance will fail as all the Kings-beyond-the-Wall have failed before him. And when he does, you'll die. All of you."

It's difficult to not think of the Dothraki every time this point is made.

+.+.+

Ygritte had looked so angry he thought she was about to strike him. "All of us," she said. "You too. You're no crow now, Jon Snow. I swore you weren't, so you better not be." She pushed him back against the trunk of a tree and kissed him, full on the lips right there in the midst of the ragged column. Jon heard Grigg the Goat urging her on. Someone else laughed. He kissed her back despite all that. When they finally broke apart, Ygritte was flushed. "You're mine," she whispered. "Mine, as I'm yours. And if we die, we die. All men must die, Jon Snow. But first we'll live."

"Yes." His voice was thick. "First we'll live."

Remember the 'still a better love story than Twilight' meme? This wouldn't make the cut.

+.+.+

She grinned at that, showing Jon the crooked teeth that he had somehow come to love. Wildling to the bone, he thought again, with a sick sad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He flexed the fingers of his sword hand, and wondered what Ygritte would do if she knew his heart. 

Oop.

+.+.+

Would she betray him if he sat her down and told her that he was still Ned Stark's son and a man of the Night's Watch? He hoped not, but he dare not take that risk. 

Trust he knows the answer to that question.

+.+.+

Once I shed a brother's blood I am lost. I cross the Wall for good then, and there is no crossing back.

That potentially has two separate meanings.

+.+.+

And he feared for Ygritte as well. He could not take her, but if he left her, would the Magnar make her answer for his treachery? Two hearts that beat as one . . .

The most heartbreaking thing about Jon's entrapment is that he's genuinely concerned he's going to get her killed, while she doesn't give a shit about his safety at all.

+.+.+

They shared the same sleeping skins every night, and he went to sleep with her head against his chest and her red hair tickling his chin. The smell of her had become a part of him. Her crooked teeth, the feel of her breast when he cupped it in his hand, the taste of her mouth . . . they were his joy and his despair. Many a night he lay with Ygritte warm beside him, wondering if his lord father had felt this confused about his mother, whoever she had been. Ygritte set the trap and Mance Rayder pushed me into it.

Once again, the teenage boy tells us that he loves her tits and taste.

Her kind heart? Her pure soul? Her charming personality? Her gentle nature? Her warm demeanor? Anything to say about that, Jon?

+.+.+

Every day he spent among the wildlings made what he had to do that much harder. He was going to have to find some way to betray these men, and when he did they would die. He did not want their friendship, any more than he wanted Ygritte's love. 

You almost start to wonder if you're reading a different book than everyone else.

+.+.+

He didn't want to know about Del's girl or Bodger's mother, the place by the sea that Henk the Helm came from, how Grigg yearned to visit the green men on the Isle of Faces

Same. Someone better take me.

+.+.+

Jon wondered where Ghost was now. Had he gone to Castle Black, or was he was running with some wolfpack in the woods? He had no sense of the direwolf, not even in his dreams. It made him feel as if part of himself had been cut off. Even with Ygritte sleeping beside him, he felt alone. He did not want to die alone.

No really, you could fill a country with the amount of people who believe this is the book's central love story. Pathetic.

He doesn't feel Ghost because the Wall is between them, correct?

+.+.+

Two of the Thenns had thrown the man to the ground and were going through his things. Another held his horse, while three more looted his saddlebags.

Jon walked away. A rotten apple squished beneath his heel.

You better plant some new apple orchards in honour of that old man.

+.+.+

"I know this place," he told her when she sat beside him. "That tower . . . look at the top of it the next time the lightning flashes, and tell me what you see."

[...]

The holdfast did have a grim haunted look, standing there black against the storm on its rocky island with the rain lashing at the lake all around it. "We could go out and take a look," he suggested. "I doubt we could get much wetter than we are."

"Swimming? In the storm?" She laughed at the notion. "Is this a trick t' get the clothes off me, Jon Snow?"

"Do I need a trick for that now?" he teased. "Or is that you can't swim a stroke?" Jon was a strong swimmer himself, having learned the art as a boy in Winterfell's great moat.

Ygritte punched his arm. "You know nothing, Jon Snow. I'm half a fish, I'll have you know."

+.+.+

"Yellow," she said. "Is that what you meant? Some o' them standing stones on top were yellow."

"We call them merlons. They were painted gold a long time ago. This is Queenscrown."

Across the lake, the tower was black again, a dim shape dimly seen. "A queen lived there?" asked Ygritte.

"A queen stayed there for a night."

Isn't that funny, because two kings are doing the same right now.

+.+.+

The king had matters to discuss with his Warden of the North, and Alysanne grew bored, so she mounted her dragon Silverwing and flew north to see the Wall.

Don't forget to tell her about that dragon refusing to cross the Wall, Jon. That's the funniest part of the story.

+.+.+

"I have never seen a dragon."

Well.

+.+.+

"Good Queen Alysanne, they called her later. One of the castles on the Wall was named for her as well. Queensgate. Before her visit they called it Snowgate."

Would Kingsgate have been a little too revealing?

+.+.+

"If she was so good, she should have torn that Wall down."

No, he thought. The Wall protects the realm. From the Others . . . and from you and your kind as well, sweetling. 

He's sassy!

A good monarch would have torn down the Wall...

+.+.+

"I had another friend who dreamed of dragons. A dwarf. He told me—"

"JON SNOW!" One of the Thenns loomed above them, frowning.

"So they say," Tyrion replied. "Sad, isn't it? When I was your age, I used to dream of having a dragon of my own."

"You did?" the boy said suspiciously. Perhaps he thought Tyrion was making fun of him.

"Oh, yes. Even a stunted, twisted, ugly little boy can look down over the world when he's seated on a dragon's back." Tyrion pushed the bearskin aside and climbed to his feet. "I used to start fires in the bowels of Casterly Rock and stare at the flames for hours, pretending they were dragonfire. Sometimes I'd imagine my father burning. At other times, my sister." Jon Snow was staring at him, a look equal parts horror and fascination. Tyrion guffawed. "Don't look at me that way, bastard. I know your secret. You've dreamt the same kind of dreams." - Tyrion II, AGOT

Where exactly was Jon going with that story?

"I had another friend who dreamed of dragons. A dwarf. He told me he liked to daydream about his sister and father burning alive." ???

Awkwardly remind me they're friends one more time, George.

+.+.+

"He must die," Styr the Magnar said. "Do it, crow."

The old man said no word. He only looked at Jon, standing amongst the wildlings. Amidst the rain and smoke, lit only by the fire, he could not have seen that Jon was all in black, but for his sheepskin cloak. Or could he?

Sheepskin cloaks can't disguise a wolf's true colours.

+.+.+

Fire is life up here, he told them, but it can be death as well. That was high in the Frostfangs, though, in the lawless wild beyond the Wall. This was the Gift, protected by the Night's Watch and the power of Winterfell. A man should have been free to build a fire here, without dying for it.

Lol.

+.+.+

He is an old man, Jon told himself. Fifty, maybe even sixty. He lived a longer life than most. The Thenns will kill him anyway, nothing I can say or do will save him. Longclaw seemed heavier than lead in his hand, too heavy to lift. The man kept staring at him, with eyes as big and black as wells. I will fall into those eyes and drown. 

My unpopular Jonsa opinion is that I'm not a big fan of this foreshadowing because of the context.

Longclaw seemed heavier than lead in his hand, too heavy to lift.

+.+.+

What matter if it is my hand that slays him? One cut would do it, quick and clean. 

[...]

He turned his back on the man. "No."

Always answering his own questions.

+.+.+

"I'm no crow wife!" Ygritte snatched her knife from its sheath. Three quick strides, and she yanked the old man's head back by the hair and opened his throat from ear to ear. Even in death, the man did not cry out. "You know nothing, Jon Snow!" she shouted at him, and flung the bloody blade at his feet.

Count your days, Lucky.

+.+.+

Then the lightning turned the night to day, and he saw the wolf standing on Del's chest, blood running black from his jaws. Grey. He's grey.

Darkness descended with the thunderclap. The Thenns were jabbing with their spears as the wolf darted between them. The old man's mare reared, maddened by the smell of slaughter, and lashed out with her hooves. Longclaw was still in his hand. All at once Jon Snow knew he would never get a better chance.

He cut down the first man as he turned toward the wolf, shoved past a second, slashed at a third. Through the madness he heard someone call his name, but whether it was Ygritte or the Magnar he could not say. The Thenn fighting to control the horse never saw him. Longclaw was feather-light. 

Longclaw seemed heavier than lead in his hand, too heavy to lift.

+.+.+

Lightning crashed down from the sky, a searing blue-white bolt that touched the top of the tower in the lake. They could smell the fury of it, and when the thunder came it seemed to shake the night.

[...]

Lightning shivered through the black dome of sky, and thunder rolled across the plains. The shouts dwindled and died behind him.

Who invited Daenerys?

+.+.+

There was a deep throbbing ache in his right thigh. When he looked down, he was surprised to see an arrow jutting out the back of it. When did that happen?

[...]

After a while, he realized that if he did not make himself move he was like to bleed to death. Jon crawled to the shallow stream where the mare was drinking, washed his thigh in the cold water, and bound it tight with a strip of cloth torn from his cloak. He washed the arrow too, turning it in his hands. Was the fletching grey, or white? Ygritte fletched her arrows with pale grey goose feathers. Did she loose a shaft at me as I fled? Jon could not blame her for that. He wondered if she'd been aiming for him or the horse. If the mare had gone down, he would have been doomed. "A lucky thing my leg got in the way," he muttered.

Ygritte dying from an arrow after shooting Jon with one? Perfection.

+.+.+

He tried to think back on the madness at the inn, but all he could remember was the beast, gaunt and grey and terrible. It was too large to be a common wolf. A direwolf, then. It had to be. He had never seen an animal move so fast. Like a grey wind . . . Could Robb have returned to the north?

I know he's badly injured, but is this seriously his best guess?

+.+.+

Thunder rumbled softly in the distance, but above him the clouds were breaking up. Jon searched the sky until he found the Ice Dragon, then turned the mare north for the Wall and Castle Black. The throb of pain in his thigh muscle made him wince as he put his heels into the old man's horse. I am going home, he told himself. But if that was true, why did he feel so hollow?

He rode till dawn, while the stars stared down like eyes.

Maybe because it's not your home?

Anyway, speaking of thunder, betrayal, and defection, you won't believe who's next.

Final thoughts:

Did you know Ygritte says "You know nothing, Jon Snow" NINETEEN times in this story? I don't care if I sound elitist, this girl needs to read a book and learn some new words, I can't deal.

Ygritte Death Countdown

8 down, 2 to go. I smell blood! :D

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