#And Elias still going on about Jon needing to be stronger… to stop The Extinguished Sun ritual….

[bitter-goodbyes]

OMG JON THE MVP?????

[journalofimprobablethings]

Couldn't stop thinking about this devastating post by @ashes-in-a-jar and well...

--

ARCHIVIST You want me to follow him?

ELIAS (JONAH) No, Jon. You want you to follow him. I simply want you to know that if you do so, you are almost certainly not coming back. To go into the Lonely willingly is as good as death.

[THERE IS NO HESITATION.]

ARCHIVIST How do I do it?

ELIAS (JONAH) Wasn’t too long ago. And I’m sure traces of their passage still remain. Just open your mind. Drink it all in. Know their route, and simply… follow it.

[STATIC BUILDS, SLOWLY AT FIRST, THEN STRONGER AND STRONGER UNTIL IT IS ALL ENCOMPASSING.]

--

Jon opens his mind, reaching for he's not quite sure what--the feeling Peter Lukas carries with him maybe, the scent of salt and a bone-deep chill; or else some trace of Martin, of tea and warmth and safety--and Jon begins to panic as he thinks of Martin being swallowed by the Lonely, all his warmth extinguished by that fog--

But before he can spiral too far down that path, he realizes that he not only can feel the traces of the Lonely that Elias talked of, hovering in the air like the last traces of morning mist, he can also feel--can See--something else.

He hasn't been in close proximity to Elias since before the Unknowing, before he really became the Archivist. He remembers what it felt like before, when he had tried to compel Elias--like trying to pull a stubborn root from the earth, just yanking blindly with no real idea of what was going on underneath.

Now, though, he turns his Sight onto Elias and without even really trying he can See...everything. He's not even sure whether Elias knows how much he can see, how much he suddenly Knows, but he doesn't have room in his mind to worry about that just now, because he's too caught up in realizing what, exactly, he is seeing.

Elias--Jonah--wants to end the world. He has a plan--a plan that he has been working on for nearly two hundred years, a plan he is pretty sure will actually work.

And he has been using Jon to do it.

Everything that has happened in the past two years, every horror, every scar--it's all been to a purpose, just one more step in Jonah's ritual. Every encounter with the Entities he has had since he transferred to the Archives has Marked him, has shaped him into a vessel that Jonah will use to call all the Fears into this world and create a literal hell on Earth.

And the worst part, the part that makes Jon's breath catch in his throat and a sick shame curl in his stomach, is how easy, in the end, he has made it for Jonah to get this far.

He can See--he can feel--Jonah's glib satisfaction at how quickly Jon has racked up Marks in the past two years. At how all he seems to have had to do is give him just enough information to keep him curious, keeping him asking--and Jon has thrown himself into danger all on his own, again and again and again. Michael and Jude Perry and Mike Crew and Jared Hopworth, the Buried coffin and the Unknowing and Ny-Ålesund. Jon's insatiable need to know has done more to advance his plan that he could have ever hoped, and Jonah smugness is so thick it makes the bile rise in Jon's throat.

Even the times when Jon just wanted to help, to save someone for once--going into the coffin to get Daisy, removing the bullet from Melanie's leg--even those choices only ended up adding another Mark to his collection.

It turns out, Jon thinks bitterly, that Elias was right: he has pressed on at every threshold, always chosen to see, to pursue, to know, and now here they are, at the place his choices have led them to.

He is one Mark away from ending the world, and if it happens, it will be all his fault.

And then another realization hits him, a revelation that nearly sends him to his knees right there in the middle of the Panopticon.

One Mark.

Just one.

The Lonely.

The traces he found before are still there, and he Knows exactly how to use them to step out of this reality and into Peter Lukas's domain. The thought of it terrifies him. He is scared that he won't be able to find Martin, that he will lose him in there, that he will lose himself in there and not be able to find the way out. He is, as always, so scared of so many things.

And that's how it works, he Knows. Fear of an Entity, down to his bones.

If he goes after Martin into the Lonely, there is no way he will leave without a Mark.

And if he does manage to make his way back out, then there will be nothing stopping Jonah from using him to end the world.

Jon's knees tremble and it feels like something is crushing his lungs in a vice as the weight of the choice he now has to make crashes down on him.

It should be an easy decision: the life of one man against the fate of the world. It hurts, more than anything has ever hurt, more than the pain of any of his scars, but he should be able to make this decision--to sacrifice his chance to save Martin, and keep Jonah from completing his ritual.

But as soon as he thinks of it, Jon recoils from the idea on instinct. 

He can't--he can't just leave Martin in there. He can't abandon him, not after everything. He will never forgive himself if he does. Martin is the only good thing he has left in this world, the one person he has left to lose– 

(arrogant of you, to assume he's yours to lose at all, a nasty voice whispers in his mind, but he pushes it back and for once, doesn't let it take hold)  

More importantly--most important of all--Martin deserves a life, a chance to live in the world that Jon is trying so desperately to save. 

How could he live on, knowing he gave up on any chance of helping Martin do the same?

Besides, even if he leaves now, walks away, there is no guarantee Jonah won't find another way to mark him, even with Jon Knowing what he knows. Jonah has two hundred years of experience–and with Martin gone, Jon will be utterly alone.

There is so much in their world to fear–but right now, in this moment, Jon can't think of a thing that scares him more.

In the end, really, it isn't much of a choice at all. Whether or not it's what Jonah wants, he knows what he has to do.

Jon takes one deep steadying breath, and reaches out again for those traces of the Lonely.

--

[THE STATIC ONCE AGAIN RISES.]

ELIAS (JONAH) Very good. Are you scared, Jon?

ARCHIVIST (quietly) Yes.

ELIAS (JONAH) Perfect.

[WITH THAT, THE STATIC OVERTAKES HIM.]

[CLICK]

[squishyapologist]

welcome to “Juno losing his fucking mind” (aka please talk to me about web martin i’m begging)

okay listen okay listen okay

okay so listen i am a Big fan of web!martin for multiple reasons. martin has literally outsmarted every antagonist that he took on even since season one when he hid the fire extinguishers. no one has ever actually outsmarted martin it’s always been them being physically stronger than him. (which now, with jon, that’s not going to be a problem)

i mean come on he pulled one over on not one, but two of the biggest, most manipulative and devious players in the avatar game. played them like a “cheap whistle”, in jonahs own words.

and now, with annabelle cane calling him in 166, he’s lost the thing he’s always relied on to beat whoever comes at him. annabelle cane doesn’t underestimate him. she’s Seen him. his methods. the things he’s managed to pull off. you simply can’t outmanoeuvre annabelle cane, especially when she doesn’t play into the idea that you’re weak. i mean come on, she nearly pulled apart jon’s world just by telling him that she may or may not have been to a beach. and then, to attempt to put that doubt into martins head by asking him if jon really needs him? annabelle cane is planning something. she’s been planning something for a while, and whatever it is. she wants martin for it.

or you can look at the theory that martin has been with the web this whole time. that he’s been using jon (or at the very least, been used by the web) for the entirety of the series.

someone pointed out that martin tends to act like,, well, a spider, when he’s in danger, or when he’s faced with a proble, and i can’t stop thinking about it. martin, trapped in his home by jane prentiss like a spider curled into a web waiting for a predator to pass. or the way that he managed to remain unseen by elias fucking bouchard. fly under the radar until he wanted elias to See him. once again like a spider spending its time in the cracks and crevices of a home to remain hidden until it needs to emerge. and even then, after martin let elias See him, just barely, elias was still surprised in the end. these methods and tendencies have only been growing throughout the series, and the closer he gets to the supernatural. just like how jon’s own avatar powers have progressed.

and Another Thing. martin has been affiliated with the eye since he started working at the institute, and was touched heavily by the lonely, and yet neither one actually took him. he’s aligned with them, sure, but he’s not an avatar of either. what if the reason for the other entities generally backing off martin is that the web already claimed him. because you don’t steal from the web. if the web, or annabelle cane, wants martin. then they’re going to get him. especially after the beholding got jon in the end??? (though, realistically, that was the webs plan) no way is the web letting another one go.

anyways i hope you guys enjoyed this because i am losing my fucking mind over web!martin.

[madaboutasoiaf]

But wait, I thought that Young Griff IS Rhaegars son? What evidence proves otherwise?

Anonymous said: I agree that Young Griff is not the true Aegon. So, who do you think he is? His look is just so rare and specific, if not a Targaryen who could he be? Or am I reading too much into the way he looks? Thanks! Love your blog!

Thanks Anon

I’m going to answer both of these asks together because otherwise I’ll be typing out quite a few things twice. Yes, Young Griff/Aegon is very likely not Rhaegar’s son. I tend to think of it as a certainty these days but that’s me rereading until bits of text stick more than they did when I started reading ASOIAF.

I don’t think Anon is reading too much into the way he looks. I’m certain he is descended from Daemon Blackfyre. 

When Maelys the Monstrous died upon the Stepstones, it was the end of the male line of House Blackfyre.

That specific wording gives a hint in my opinion. The male line is extinguished. There could still be a Blackfyre claimant from the female line. This would account for Aegon’s “Targaryen look”. The Blackfyres descend from Targaryens. Daemon Blackfyre had the silver-gold hair and purple eyes, and in their exile in Essos, his descendants would not necessarily have diluted their valyrian blood. They could have chosen partners who were themselves descended from valyrians, hence Aegon still having Targaryen features so many years after the end of the Blackfyre Rebellion. That’s all speculation mind you, but it’s possible. It’s also why I don’t buy arguments that the dragons will reject Aegon. He’s still a candidate to ride a dragon, adding to his appearance of legitimacy, even though he’s certainly not going to be one of the three heads of the dragon.

Getting back to your actual questions. I’m going to put the rest under a cut because it got long and includes some not very short extracts from the books.

There are these hints in the books:

“…Later [the inn] passed to a crippled knight named Long Jon Heddle, who took up ironworking when he grew too old to fight. He forged a new sign for the yard, a three-headed dragon of black iron that he hung from a wooden post. The beast was so big it had to be made in a dozen pieces, joined with rope and wire. When the wind blew it would clank and clatter, so the inn became known far and wide as the Clanking Dragon.”“Is the dragon sign still there?” asked Podrick.“No,” said Septon Meribald. ���When the smith’s son was an old man, a bastard son of the fourth Aegon rose up in rebellion against his trueborn brother and took for his sigil a black dragon. These lands belonged to Lord Darry then, and his lordship was fiercely loyal to the king. The sight of the black iron dragon made him wroth, so he cut down the post, hacked the sign into pieces, and cast them into the river. One of the dragon’s heads washed up on the Quiet Isle many years later, though by that time it was red with rust.

A black dragon turned red. It’s been interpreted by quite a few people as a hint of a Blackfyre disguised as a Targaryen. Then there is the Golden Company

“Sellswords break their contracts all the time.”“Not the Golden Company. Our word is good as gold has been their boast since the days of Bittersteel. Myr is on the point of war with Lys and Tyrosh. Why break a contract that offered them the prospect of good wages and good plunder?”“Perhaps Lys offered them better wages. Or Tyrosh.”“No,” she said. “I would believe it of any of the other free companies, yes. Most of them would change sides for half a groat. The Golden Company is different. A brotherhood of exiles and the sons of exiles, united by the dream of Bittersteel. It’s home they want, as much as gold. Lord Yronwood knows that as well as I do. His forebears rode with Bittersteel during three of the Blackfyre Rebellions.”

The breaking of their contract is the first red flag, and the “it’s home they want” may be held forth as an argument by Illyrio in ADWD as to why they would side with Daenerys, but he’s lying.

“If truth be told, I did not think Daenerys would survive for long amongst the horselords.““That did not stop you selling her to Khal Drogo…”“Dothraki neither buy nor sell. Say rather that her brother Viserys gave her to Drogo to win the khal’s friendship. A vain young man, and greedy.”

He never expected Dany to live so his plan was never truly for the Golden Company to aid her. He says the Golden Company is siding with her now, but Illyrio and Varys are quite alike in that they mix lies with truth so that the truth makes it seem that the lie isn’t a lie at all.

“The Golden Company marches toward Volantis as we speak, there to await the coming of our queen out of the east.”Beneath the gold, the bitter steel. “I had heard the Golden Company was under contract withone of the Free Cities.”“Myr.” Illyrio smirked. “Contracts can be broken.”“There is more coin in cheese than I knew,” said Tyrion. “How did you accomplish that?”The magister waggled his fat fingers. “Some contracts are writ in ink, and some in blood. I say no more.”

The writ in blood does not mean Targaryen blood. The vow Bittersteel made, the whole purpose of the Golden Company, is to seat a Blackfyre on the Iron Throne.  Yes the Golden Company is awaiting Dany but not because of Dany herself, not because they want to serve her, they want her to lend legitimacy to the cause.

The captain-general looked as if someone had slapped his face. “Has the sun curdled your brains, Flowers? We need the girl. We need the marriage. If Daenerys accepts our princeling and takes him for her consort, the Seven Kingdoms will do the same. Without her, the lords will only mock his claim and brand him a fraud and a pretender.

It was always about Aegon, because Aegon is the person the Golden Company owes allegiance to, he is the descendant they can put on the throne to fulfil Bittersteel’s plans.

Daemon Blackfyre had perished on the Redgrass Field, however, and his rebellion with him. Those followers of the Black Dragon who survived the battle yet refused to bend the knee fled across the narrow sea, among them Daemon’s younger sons, Bittersteel, and hundreds of landless lords and knights who soon found themselves forced to sell their swords to eat. Some joined the Ragged Standard, some the Second Sons or Maiden’s Men. Bittersteel saw the strength of House Blackfyre scattering to the four winds, so he formed the Golden Company to bind the exiles together.

All the skulls were grinning, even Bittersteel’s on the tall pike inthe center. What does he have to grin about? He died defeated and alone, a broken man in an alien land. On his deathbed, Ser Aegor Rivers had famously commanded his men to boil the flesh from his skull, dip it in gold, and carry it before them when they crossed the sea to retake Westeros. Hissuccessors had followed his example.

Fighting for Aegon Targaryen is the equivalent of bending the knee to the Targaryens the Golden Company fought for decades. It amounts to a capitulation, and says that their struggle in exile for more than 100 years ends supporting those they wished to remove.

Aside from the Blackfyre and Golden Company hints, there is also Tyrion’s description of Young Griff

He was a lithe and well-made youth, with a lanky build and a shock of darkblue hair. The dwarf put his age at fifteen, sixteen, or near enough to make no matter.

Young Griff stumbled up onto deck yawning.“Good morrow, all.” The lad was shorter than Duck, but his lanky build suggested that he had not yet come into his full growth.

Aegon Targaryen would be older than Jon Snow. Unless Tyrion’s estimation is wrong (possible), the boy is younger than Rhaegar’s son would be. The story of his survival is also odd. Are we to believe Elia Martell, a Dornish woman, valued her son’s survival over her daughter’s? Westerosi patriarchal standards might value the male heir over the female, but I don’t see Elia agreeing to a baby swap for one child and not the other. I could go on but I think I’ve covered the stronger evidence already.

Anyway, wrapping this up because I did not mean to ramble on so much. I firmly believe that Aegon is a Blackfyre descendant who has been raised to believe he is Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar and Elia. He is an unwitting pawn in the final Blackfyre plot and this time I expect they’ll succeed, and their invasion will put their claimant on the Iron Throne, fulfilling Bittersteel’s dream when he created the Golden Company.