#Can't believe he's the teaching bran damn!

[springs-hurts]

Our 'Egg' Aegon V Targareyn is doing everything he can to change my heart and I've started liking him and also his sons(except jahareys ig) so Aegon VI you better be a Targ cause I kinda like you as well and support targ restoration (no, not really)

[vivacissimx]

Quick thots on Jon as a protector: from the outset, Jon is protective of his siblings because he's an older brother, but he is also protective in ways that he perceives as being useful because it gives him a place to occupy in the world.

Being able to protect those he cares about justifies his existence to himself, when he needs to justify it.

"Tell Robb that I'm going to command the Night's Watch and keep him safe, so he might as well take up needlework with the girls and have Mikken melt down his sword for horseshoes."

-AGOT, Tyrion III

Robb Stark seemed puzzled. "Is this some trap, Lannister? What's Bran to you? Why should you want to help him?"

"Your brother Jon asked it of me. And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things." Tyrion Lannister placed a hand over his heart and grinned.

-AGOT, Bran IV

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.

-ASOS, Jon V

Jon's desire to protect others is rooted in both his own status as bastard and the resulting natural empathy, as well as the belief that there was a place for him in Winterfell despite being a bastard, and it was denied him. There's a place for everyone according to their own skills (and yes, birth) in Jon's ideal world, included a place for himself—and it rankles him that he wasn't treated that way.

So cold, he thought, remembering the warm halls of Winterfell, where the hot waters ran through the walls like blood through a man's body. There was scant warmth to be found in Castle Black; the walls were cold here, and the people colder.

No one had told him the Night's Watch would be like this; no one except Tyrion Lannister. The dwarf had given him the truth on the road north, but by then it had been too late. Jon wondered if his father had known what the Wall would be like. He must have, he thought; that only made it hurt the worse.

-AGOT, Jon III

Jon's initial isolation in the Watch is a post for another day but quickly this protective instinct re-emerges. Jon helps to teach the other recruits swordplay, but sees that Sam's place is elsewhere. His arguments to Aemon focus on Sam's noble learning (reading/writing) but also on his inherent value. He argues for Sam to occupy a position to which he's uniquely well-suited, rather than continue to try and hammer him into a role he can't fulfil.

"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."

-AGOT, Jon V

Which is echoed by a man Jon admires, Donal Noye, later on:

Noye had decreed that every man still spry enough to hold a spear or swing an axe would help defend the barricade, else they could damn well go home and take their chances with the Thenns. [...] Noye had put the women and children to work as well. Those too young to fight would carry water and tend the fires, the Mole's Town midwife would assist Clydas and Maester Aemon with any wounded, and Three-Finger Hobb suddenly had more spit boys, kettle stirrers, and onion choppers than he knew what to do with. Two of the whores had even offered to fight, and had shown enough skill with the crossbow to be given a place on the steps forty feet up.

-ASOS, Jon VII

And then Jon is assigned to the stewards instead of the rangers and he gets pissed. Right. Same grief, why isn't there a place for him where he believes there should be? Is he not good enough? His friends mollify him and Jon feels ashamed of his reaction.

When they get to Craster's Keep, Sam sends Gilly to Jon.

Jon's philosophy fails him there. He can't see a use for Gilly in the paradigm he lives in; this is a fault of the paradigm foremost but it brings Jon into real conflict with himself.

"I have no time for this, I have horses to groom and saddle." Jon walked away as confused as he was angry. Sam's heart was a big as the rest of him, but for all his reading he could be as thick as Grenn at times. It was impossible, and dishonorable besides. So why do I feel so ashamed?

-

"My father once told me that some men are not worth having," Jon finished. "A bannerman who is brutal or unjust dishonors his liege lord as well as himself." "Craster is his own man. He has sworn us no vows. Nor is he subject to our laws. Your heart is noble, Jon, but learn a lesson here. We cannot set the world to rights. That is not our purpose. The Night's Watch has other wars to fight."

-ACOK, Jon III

Jon does understand that there's a use for almost every type of person but the Craster chapter places him somewhere between Benjen Stark and Jeor Mormont, who deal with Craster and realize the Watch's need for him as "a friend" vs. Ned Stark, who wouldn't find Craster a friend worth having. Sam doesn't struggle with the same choice as Jon, because Sam's compassion isn't about justification, it's enough that it should exist:

The first time he'd seen Craster's Keep, Gilly had come begging for help, and Sam had lent her his black cloak to conceal her belly when she went to find Jon Snow. Knights are supposed to defend women and children. Only a few of the black brothers were knights, but even so. . . We all say the words, Sam thought. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. A woman was a woman, even a wildling woman. We should help her. We should.

-ASOS, Samwell II

It isn't that Jon loses this trait that's meaningful to his characterization because it has qualifications to it. He still showcases a knack for protecting the outcast by finding them a place to thrive. Jon goes on to:

have an entire arc with the free folk where his views of them are deeply changed

be the only Black Brother to treat with Mance directly and take it seriously, because he alone understands Mance's value as a leader among a sovereign people

bring the free folk through the Wall and put them in positions that consider their unique skills/customs

bring on Satin as his valued personal steward despite the NW leadership objecting

use Val as a messenger to Tormund, use Tormund to treat with the free folk

send Dareon to sing and bring new recruits to the Wall (disastrous but it seemed like a good choice at the time!)

arranges Alys and Sigorn's marriage, with both serves to bolster Alys' claim to Karhold & brings into the fold the Thenns, who until that time had refused Jon's attempts to have them cooperate with the Watch's efforts

encourages the NW leadership to utilize the labor of the free folk to integrate the two factions

send ships to save the wildlings at Hardhome but makes a contingency plan with the free folk to travel over land when it becomes clear that the NW isn't willing to help the stranded refugees

Granted the "use" of these people essentially boils down to "save them or see them become Others/avoid seeing them burned alive." Even with Gilly and Sam, Jon might hate himself every second of those final conversations but in his mind, these two people who have been called useless again and again are now the only ones able to do tasks that are completely necessary to survival. Only Sam can become the maester the Watch needs. Only Gilly can save Dalla's son. It's not a direct resolution to the Gilly situation but it also is a callback.

"If you don't take him, they will."

"They?" said Sam, and the raven cocked its black head and echoed, "They. They. They."

"The boy's brothers," said the old woman on the left. "Craster's sons. The white cold's rising out there, crow. I can feel it in my bones. These poor old bones don't lie. They'll be here soon, the sons."

-ASOS, Samwell II

And to justify this growth in attitude, Jon uses Sam's own logic. He goes from we came here to fight wildlings, not save them in ACOK to what are these wildlings, if not men? in ADWD. Jon is naturally a protector, naturally empathetic, but he also needed to outgrow the need to be like that in order to give himself a reason to exist. It's no longer about proving himself by finding a niche within the social order; instead, ADWD!Jon Snow gives himself permission to actively disturb the peace.

[cityandking]

need, spring & mic drop for bran and vesper!

thanks dear! // more oc asks

need: has your OC ever experienced desperation? how has it affected them? what do they do when something they need is out of their reach?

BRAN — she had a few rough years right after leaving home (major culture shift to go from firstborn daughter of a wealthy, favored mercantile family to absolutely no one) but I think the couple years between her mother's death and when she decided to run away were the worst. like everything that drove her to leave her home and her family behind was so much worse than anything else that came after, because no matter what, after she was free. to think she hasn't set foot in rivia in nine years. she's brutally single-minded when she needs something done, and has been ever since she was a girl. if anything, the past nine years have only made that more obvious.

VESPER — right when her magic manifested and all her expectations for her world and her future came crashing down around her ears, that was some pure awful desperation (and kit promising to keep her secret, trying to help her keep it hidden for a full year, there was something desperate there too, but kinder—at least she wasn't doing it alone). those few months on the run during the war too, and the earliest days of the inquisition, with everyone looking at her and terrified of what they'd do if she failed, that really sucked. really drove home that failure wasn't an option, and she proceeds to work herself into the ground for the next 2-4 years. go girl give us everything! no, everything. everything. (retirement is honestly a fucking blessing at the end of all that.) she's the sort of person who will wear herself down before asking anything of someone else, so if anything is out of her reach it's on her to get it, no matter the cost (she gets better at asking for help, eventually).

spring: what does your OC miss most? will they ever be reunited? how would they feel about that?

BRAN — the LUCKRUNNER BITCH WHERE IS IT. she misses her ship, her crew. she's gonna do whatever the fuck she has to in order to get it back!! I think, if she ever did get the luckrunner back (and her crew, don't forget her crew, who she can't believe for a minute would have mutinied and left her stranded), the only point of concern would be a worry about the party. after all, she did promise kestrel she'd keep them safe, and curse kestrel to the nine hells and back but branwen doesn't lightly break her promises. so she'd be conflicted about sailing off into the sunset or sticking with the small, stalwart group of revolutionaries who wormed their way into her heart.

VESPER — sometimes, in spite of herself, she misses the quiet of the circle—the long hours studying and the satisfaction of discovery, teaching, her students. her small, private room, an indulgence within the circle. watching the summer storms roll in off the waking sea. more than that, she misses the old family house, and the horses, and the hounds. she misses a time when everything was less maker-damned complicated. but you can never go back, and she can't unmake anything that happened, and there's no going back, only going onwards. (she misses kit. she was so so happy to see him again. the greatest kindness he ever gave her was refusing to let her go, but the second-greatest was that old childhood home and the horses and the hounds. all that time apart and he still understands her better than anyone else.)

mic drop: what accomplishment is your OC proudest of? do they brag about it, or are they more quiet?

BRAN — she's incandescently proud of her ship and her captaincy and her crew. she's proud of the name she's making for herself and will most certainly not shut up about it. she's going to be a story one way or another and if she has to tell it herself she damn well will.

VESPER — she's proud of others' accomplishments more than her own, but the inquisition is something she'll grudgingly accept her share of credit for. not for its military or its politics or its spycraft, but because its made change, good change and true change, and helped people, and that's all she could ask for at the outset. getting her to admit it—admit any pride—is like pulling teeth.