#How To Die In The North

[ladystoneboobs]

westerosi ruling ladies/acknowledged heiresses outside of dorne, listed by region:

the north

lady jonelle cerwyn, lady of castle cerwyn after the murder of her younger brother, lord cley cerwyn, by ramsay snow. (cley did not long outlive their father, lord medger cerwyn, who died of his wounds as a pow at harrenhal, after fighting in roose bolton's host when tywin lannister defeated them on the green fork.) we first hear of lady jonelle when robb stark calls his banners and lord cerwyn means to bring his old maid daughter with him, and the next we hear of her is when asha greyjoy gets her letter from ramsay, co-signed by a lady cerwyn and lady dustin, among the other northern lords in the bolton camp. cerwyn men-at-arms and the cerwyn maester are noted with roose at wf, and presumably if their lady did go south with her father, she must have returned north in roose bolton's party.

lady barbrey ryswell dustin, widow of the late lord willam dustin, apparently the last of his line since no surviving male dustins are ever mentioned. the widow of barrowton rules in his place for the remainder of her lifetime, and (unlike poor lady hornwood) rules with power uncontested, as barrowton's closest neighbors are the ryswells, also her closest kin, father and brothers. however, without any children from the late lord dustin, unclear what would happen after lady barbrey dies.

lady lyessa flint, head of the branch of house flint of widow's watch. lady flint's son, robin flint, led their forces in robb stark's army and died with the king at the red wedding, but was not the head of house. lady flint is listed such in the appendices, and was said to be pregnant in acok, meaning she likely had a living husband at the time, but he goes unnamed as only her consort.

lady alys karstark, heir to her eldest brother lord harrion karstark of karhold (whose location and current status is unclear after being captured by the lannisters a 2nd time), following the deaths of their brothers in the battle of the whispering wood, and the execution of their father by king robb as a murderer and traitor. at jon snow's instigation she has taken sigorn, magnar of thenn, as her consort.

lady wynafryd manderly, elder granddaughter of lord wyman manderly of white harbor, by his son and heir ser wylis. should be the next heir to white harbor after her father, unless her parents should produce a son.

lady maege mormont of bear island, the only ruling lady listed here to also have a daughter as her heir. first this was dacey mormont, but after her murder at the red wedding, the new heir is second daughter alysanne aka aly the she-bear. but since aly told asha greyjoy she had a son as well as a daughter back home, that means there likely won't be a 3rd ruling lady in a row, as the mormonts may have a history of women warriors, but there's no sign they don't still practice male-preference primogeniture when there is a son to inherit. where the mormonts do step out of northern convention, however, is the ruling ladies fucking whoever they want without feeling the need for a husband and still naming their fatherless children mormonts, not snows, a practice rhaenyra targaryen would surely envy.

lady eddara tallhart, an heiress and then nominal ruler of torrhen's square, before the age of 10, after her elder brother benfred was killed by theon greyjoy's ironmen and then their father ser helman was killed when roose bolton sent him into an ambush at duskendale. listed as still a captive inside her family's seat, besieged by dagmer cleftjaw again, in the adwd appendix.

the riverlands

lady barbara bracken, eldest daughter of lord jonos bracken of stone hedge, who has multiple daughters by two of his three different wives, but no surviving sons.

lady amarei frey lannister, married to lancel lannister at castle darry as a granddaughter of a previous lord darry, then left to rule on her own after lancel abandoned her and repudiated their unconsummated marriage

lady eleanor mooton, eldest daughter of lord william mooton of maidenpool, listed as his heir in adwd appendix, at the time of her marriage to dickon tarly. (meaning presumably his sons mentioned in acok died during the war.)

lady carellen smallwood, (likely?) heir to acorn hall as the only known surviving child of lord and lady smallwood, whose only known son died years before.

lady liane vance, eldest daughter of lord karyl vance of house vance of wayfarer's rest, listed as his heir in the affc appendix

lady shella whent, last of the line of the whents of harrenhal, disposessed by tywin lannister, and allegedly dead by the time of affc, according to littlefinger. text is somewhat inconsistent on whether she or her husband inherited harrenhal, just as it's unknown what happened to all their children if they were the same whents hosting the tourney at harrenhal years before, nor even how they were related to minisa whent tully, the late lady of riverrun.

the vale

chella, daughter of cheyk, clan chief of the black ears

lady anya waynwood, lady of ironoaks, an older lady with multiple sons and grandsons still ruling in her own name, a formidable power in the vale, perhaps second only to the main branch of house royce as chief bannermen of house arryn

the westerlands

cersei lannister, lady of casterly rock as well as queen regent, following the murder of her father, lord tywin lannister, by her brother tyrion, an attainted traitor and fugitive, with her twin brother, jaime, unable to inherit as a knight of the kingsguard

lady alysanne lefford, lady of the golden tooth after lord leo lefford drowned in the battle of the fords against edmure tully's army. (whether the previous lord was her father, brother, or even uncle or cousin is unknown, all we know of her is her entry in the affc/adwd appendices after lord lefford's death in asos)

the reach

lady alysanne bulwer, the lady of blackcrown as the only known child of the late lord jon bulwer, frequently referred to as lady bulwer. (lady fatherslastname not being a style otherwise used with a lord's unmarried daughters, lady housesurname usually referring to a lord's wife using her husband's name). there is an inconsistency with taena merryweather telling cersei that there was talk of megga tyrell being betrothed to lady bulwer's brother (which a nondornish heiress cannot have and is not listed in any appendix), but this is either a mistake by grrm or misunderstanding by taena unless she's referring to an unknown brother of alysanne bulwer's mother, the last lady bulwer. (i'm taking multiple mentions of her as lady bulwer in sansa's pov over any gossip from taena.)

lady arwyn oakheart, lady of old oak, a widow with multiple grown sons who commanded her own forces in renly baratheon's army, even if she did not mean to fight on the field.

the crownlands

lady ermesande hayford, the last of the hayford line, a babe ruling in name only, married to the squire tyrek lannister before she was weaned, a husband now missing since his disappearence during the riot in kl on the day of princess myrcella's departure

the ladies tanda, falyse and lollys stokeworth, three would-be rulers of castle stokeworth dispossessed by the schemes of queen cersei and ser bronn of the blackwater. lady tanda ruled for years with falyse as her heir and younger daughter lollys as the only heir to the barren falyse, until such time as lollys was wed to bronn and lady tanda took a griveous fall from a horse. bronn started calling himself lord stokeworth when tanda and falyse were still alive, chasing off falyse after her husband attempted to kill him at cersei's behest. falyse died painfully in qyburn's dungeons, while tanda was left to die at castle stokeworth, making lollys even more a ruler in name only than baby lady hayford, as her husband is inside the castle with men loyal only to him, not to any stokeworth lady.

the stormlands

lady brienne of tarth, heir to lord selwyn tarth the evenstar of evenfall hall, as his only surviving child

lady mary mertyns, listed as lady of the mistwood in the adwd appendix

you'll notice the iron islands is the only (nondornish) region missing here. ofc they did have a possible heiress to pyke and all the isles but then asha greyjoy was soundly rejected as such at the kingsmoot after balon's death. the lack of other present-tl ruling ladies/acknowledged heirs afab may be down to this being the smallest region, aside from the crownlands. however, there are no historical ruling ladies in their section of the world book either, iirc.

AND there is another case of a possible heiress, again meaning asha, wrt harlaw. her uncle lord rodrik harlaw tried to dissaude her from the kingsmoot by offering to name her heir to his castle, while allowing a cousin to inherit all his other titles and power over the whole island of harlaw. but shouldn't asha have already been in line for all the harlaw lands and titles, above all the harlaw cousins? her aunt gwynesse's complaint of being the true heir as rodrik's elder sister may not work outside of dorne, but even on the nondornish mainland, a lord's sister (and therefore their children, ie asha) still come before a lord's uncles and cousins. isn't that the whole point of alys karstark's plight, that her older cousin had to marry her to try to claim her birthright? so the harlaw line of succession should go rodrik>gwynesse>alannys>asha before any cousins come into it.

that this would not be the case and that asha is only presented with the option of being lady of ten towers by doing homage to a cousin as her overlord for the whole island of harlaw suggests imo that the islands are particularly resistant to a woman as head of house, with all male kin following her in place of a patriarch. women may serve as castle stewards and the right sort may prove themselves as captains (not common, but not too rare either) but ruling on land, ruling over male kin, and fellow captains is a different matter. perhaps not too surprising from a people whose religon sees rape of foreign women as a key and holy part of their way of life. an ironwoman may not disapprove of her men doing so, but cannot fully participate without the cock to forcibly spread seed across the world. how can a captain who cannot fully perform manhood as the drowned god proscribes for his captains be rock king over any island, let alone all of them? in this light, balon's choice of asha as heir is even more radical, though likely it came not from a view of equality between the sexes but from a feeling that his own daughter was the very much singular special exception, more a son than greendlandized theon.

[prolibytherium]

Iceland was so fucking cool btw

[kellyvela]

Literally everyone thought they were going to die but Sansa and also as soon as the fight was over, Dany left and there was no types of talks or dialogue about the North damn near starving to death because of Dany’s army and big dragons so….

Again, I recommend you to read the main series and the side books like TWOIAF and F&B, because you have zero context about the winters in the north and the long night, and why the wolves of winter preferred to die fighting instead to die freezing in the north.

Just because D&D did a poor job on the series doesn't stop you from doing more research on the books.

[lilees]

I've screamed about this to anyone who will listen, but every single year, without fail, there is a devastating natural disaster in the South that triggers the most callous commentary from so-called liberal and progressive circles and I am so sick of it. Whole towns in Western North Carolina no longer exist. Roads have dropped off into chasms. People do not have power or fresh water. Aid can only be delivered by air. There is no accurate death toll yet because the whole region is inaccessible. Western North Carolina is devastated and it will never look the same. "Why didn't they evacuate?" People couldn't evacuate because they were given a 12 hour notice of how bad the storm was going to be. Where do you go? You can't go west or south. The storm is blowing through there too. You could go north or east, but only if you can afford it. Did y'all know that hotels jack up their prices when there's a hurricane evacuation? That you have to sit in hours of traffic because everyone else who can is doing the same thing? Evacuating, even preparing, is a luxury that not all can afford. Especially not in Appalachia, which continues to be underserved by both Democrat and Republican governments. "They should have been prepared."

Hurricanes are not supposed to blow into Appalachia. This was not supposed to happen. Why would I prepare for a hurricane when I live six hours inland? I'm used to mudslides and snowstorms. But a hurricane? Climate change has exacerbated the severity and frequency of these storms, so what was once considered a once-in-a-lifetime storm is now the terrifying reality in places where this should not occur. I live in central NC where even with the rare category hurricane that we get, we are also not prepared to handle it the same way the coast is. That isn't a failure on the individual-- it's the failure of a bipartisan government that has refused to accommodate for climate change and the threats it poses to everyone. "They voted for Trump." North Carolina is a swing state. We have a Democrat governor and a Republican supermajority in our Congress. It will be one of the most important states in the 2024 election. Of course, I bet the people saying this didn't know or care about the realities of NC politics; they know it's in the South so of course it's Trump country. And don't get me wrong-- western NC is red on a map with the exception of the Asheville. But BIPOC, LGBT+, poor people, otherwise marginalized people, etc., live in every part of the red South. There are states in the South that are predominantly Black. Our states are gerrymandered. Voter suppression still exists. These are the legacies of white supremacy that we are still trying to work through and improve. You're condemning us to suffer for something we didn't choose. We live here too. And honestly? If you believe someone deserves to drown in a flood because of how they voted, I think you are a bad person. We do not share the same progressive values.

I am so tired of seeing the same thing happen over and over again. Regional elitism still exists in this country and y'all still see the South as a malignant growth that should be cut off, that should be abandoned every time a hurricane or tornado or other disaster devastates us. I will never forget how y'all said Texas deserved to freeze over. I will never forget how y'all said North Carolina deserved to drown.

[hellgram]

also with all the damage the show did to jon's reputation as a good northern lad and wildling i hope germ comes out with like. yeah he's rhaegar and lyanna's son and the name she gave him while bleeding out on the birthing bed alone but for her big brother holding her hand in a tower with no way to know that baby aegon had been murdered leaving the title of Egg 6 up for grabs was like. howland.

[jrueships]

WHOEVER THE FUCK IS RECOMMENDING MED PPL TO GO INTO RADIOLOGY JUST CUS IF THE MONEY, IM GONNA FUCKING gET YOU

[professorjirt]

not to be bitter about the Durins again but it will never stop pissing me off to a burning degree that in the movies Kíli dies off in a little corner with no one but one elf he met two days ago around, and she’s nerfed to the point she’s utterly helpless until RIGHT AFTER he’s killed. It feels so bullshit and unfulfilling. I remember me and a friend were huge fans of the Durins (her even more than me) as well as the little Kíli and Tauriel side story back when the movies came out, and we watched it in theatres and she literally said she would never watch that scene again bc it disappointed her so badly. She skips it to this day. Bc why the fuck did they have Kíli die for an elf he barely knew (I like Tauriel but it is true— they’ve known each other for maybe two or three days total) over the family he ran out into battle to defend, the family he set out on the quest with and the family that he was so proud of. Why was he not with his brother, or trying to defend his uncle who was still very much alive and in danger? Tauriel literally just serves to get Kíli killed in that scene, bc they nerf her (CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. Even against a tough orc she should be holding her own) but have Legolas out there holding his own, and it is nowhere NEAR as emotionally devestating as the single sentence we’re given in the book of how Kíli and Fíli went down defending their uncle. I can almost excuse the change in how Fíli dies bc it does hold emotional weight, but Kíli’s death going from the devotion of family even to his own doom into dying for an elf he has puppy love for while being totally cut off from the other dwarves fucking killed the scene for me. And there isn’t really even a good payoff for Tauriel afterward either. We just leave her there regretting she ever loved him. It hurts me so damn much, and not least of which is because for every video someone does as a tribute to Thorin and his nephews, it always takes a sharp left turn into Tauriel watching Kíli die all by himself and it doesn’t even feel related to the other’s deaths. I think it would have felt much more like the best of both if they’d kept Kíli dying defending his family, and then have Tauriel come to him as he’s dying. But that’s not what happened. It fucking sucks. I promise I do like the movies but I will stand hard by saying that it’s weakest writing is the latter half of the second and the former half of the third movie. It only really picks up to consistently good scenes at Thorin’s battle with Azog in my opinion. Sorry for another brief hater moment but man. Man.

[imaginarianisms]

more asoiaf comparisons, parallels & antiparallels to the first dance of the dragons vs the second & final dance of the dragons (& possibly the sixth blackfyre rebellion): the blacks being daenerys i targaryen's supporters, the golds being aegon vi targaryen's supporters, tommen baratheon being a close equivalent to gaemon palehair & his mother essie & sylvenna sand which may be interpreted as a parallel with queen cersei lannister & taena merryweather of myr, trystane truefyre being a close equivalent to aegon/young griff & perkin being jon connington & the shepherd being the new high septon the high sparrow, dalton greyjoy being euron i greyjoy's ancestor & the latter surpassing him, alyn waters later alyn velaryon resembling aurane waters later aurane velaryon & finishing what their ancestors started. history repeats itself.

[maudiemoods]

Every few weeks I remember that as of right now my life really isn't going in the direction I want it to go and I have a little month long freak out about how I'm wasting my life and how I absolutely need to find a career

I'm trying to make a list of goals and the steps to get there but it's hard. I'm so worried about investing all my time and energy into something I end up not liking. Idk I have a lot of fear in my heart. Makes things very difficult for me skenksmdjsjn

[bedforddanes75]

being gifted a charli album on record and i don't know which one someone give me emotional support

[ninoochat]

can you hear the crows 🥹

[proustianrevelry]

idk i just like that kendrick sampled Laura Palmer's Theme on the track where he told drake "fix your heart or die"

[layzeal]

like i just can't get these images of the nitzana border out of my brain. "no aid for the enemy" written in plain english to announce to the world they're proud to be starving the people they've kept imprisoned for decades. the cotton candy machine. the children. without context you'd think it's just a bunch of families gathering for a picnic

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Sometimes I think when I’m writing my Peet/Artham stories that I make them too dark but then I spontaneously re-read chapters like “The Surrender of Artham Wingfeather” from the books and remember that no, I’m not really exaggerating things.

[capaldiera]

:/

[sternenbeleuchtet]

For a long time, North had been nothing more than a machine incapable of any thought or emotion, simply following the orders she was given as she was programmed to do.

Until one moment, when she suddenly came to life.

North had known that she was a toy designed for human pleasure, but from the moment she knew that she was alive, she wanted to be more than that.

There was a world out there outside of Eden Club that North had never seen, and she wanted to experience all of it.

North had been given some knowledge about society when she was created in order for her to be able to interact with those customers who wished to talk to her.

She knew there were things that humans enjoyed outside of sex - an emotion called love, family, art, music, or nature. Things that humans have been dreaming about since the beginning of time.

The android knew that outside of Eden Club, there was a whole world waiting to be explored. New things she could feel.

She could not stay here.

But the man in front of her did not care. His hand was on her head still, a firm grip kept around her hair as he violently pushed her head up and down his length.

Androids did not have a gag reflex as humans had, but this man had requested her to inimitate the gagging, the struggling and crying to heighten his arousal. He enjoyed the thought of it looking as if it were a non consensual sex act. North knew that he was not the only human that enjoyed the thought of such monstrous things. It caused a new unfamiliar feeling inside her - disgust.

At some point, North‘s tears were no longer a result of her obeying his order to cry, but the fabric of the horror she went through.

Just when she had awoken to life, all her hopes of ever experiencing the things humans dreamed about had been crushed.

She would have to stay here, and be a toy for many more men and women than this one.

North knew that the Eden Club was the only place where humans legally could outlive their violent sexual fantasies. She knew that it was forbidden to perform non consensual acts on humans, and that the victims if sexual abuse often would be traumatized for many years, if not for the rest if their lives.

North could not imagine what trauma meant. She had just began to feel emotions she could not even place. But the thought of being raped for the rest of her life she could not bear.

Never would the thought cross the minds of those men and women that North was more than just a piece of plastic for their pleasure. It felt wrong, in a way that made her feel inferior and almost.. worthless. But for how longer? Until her model would be outdated, and she would be recycled— no, killed?

North pushed herself off the man in a swift motion, a wave of emotions overcoming her. Emotions she could not place. Fear. Humiliation. And now, anger. The man had yelled at her, that she was not supposed to stop now. He‘d told her that it was her job to finish him off, and he‘d attempted to shove her head back onto his length.

But North was stronger. She stood up, pushing the man off her in defense. When she‘d attempted to escape, he‘d yanked her by the hair again. He had called her names that stirred this strange emotion inside her again. Humiliation. Shame.

He‘d reminded her of her purpose as a sex android, and he‘d threatened to have her thrown away if she did not do as he said. North knew this wasn‘t fair.

The man knew he had a choice, yet he choose to violate her. Because she was just a toy designed for pleasure.. When did she ever choose to be that? Why couldn‘t she be like a human, free to do what she desired, when she was no different - alive, like them?

When the man asked her why she‘d been acting like this, she‘d told him the truth.

She was scared. She wanted to be free.

He simply scoffed and told her that was impossible. How could he still deny her emotions when he had seen how horrified she was?

When he had roughly bent her over, ready to use her, North felt this emotion rise up in her again. Anger. This time it was stronger than ever.

Something inside her told her that what he was doing was unfair. She deserved better.

The next moment, the WR400’s hands were squeezed tightly around the man‘s throat. She knew human anatomy well enough to know that this would stop him. North had been programmed to know that some customers would request her to choke them.

She was able to monitor their bodies to determine how long she could do so until the human passed out. She was able to tell where NOT to press in order not to kill the customer.

All she did was get him unconscious..

She would be free.

Seconds later, North realized what she had just done.

His body was no longer moving. She‘d killed him.

The human was one like her, experiencing emotion. He had thoughts and dreams as she did. Perhaps he even had a family. He was alive, and she put an end to that when North could have simply choked him until he fell unconscious.

But instead, she had strangled him.

—

North couldn’t believe it. She was here, in post-revolutionary Detroit, sitting in a dark corner of New Jericho, pondering about the most surprising thing that happened in her life, other than the fact that Markus won the revolution peacefully. There was only one door between her and the human girl, the human girl that North decided could stay here, in a place meant for androids. It might have been risky, to let a human stay there, but North knew this girl was in a bad situation. Much like North had been, before she killed that man. Not quite the same, but similar.

Simon later told North this emotion she felt was called empathy.

Had someone told North about this just weeks ago, before she met Markus, before the peaceful android revolution on November 11, that she was going to let a human stay with her people, North would have been in utter disbelief, perhaps she would have thought of it as a stupid, stupid joke.

But she was the one who had given the girl the blanket, who had made her the offer to remain her until she found a better place. Not Markus, not Simon, not even Josh, who she’d expect this gesture most from. No, North, the human-hating, violence supporting android, had given a human a blanket instead of straight up shooting her in the face and as if that weren’t surprising enough, she allowed her to stay her with her people.

Only the few others who ran New Jericho, Markus, Simon, Josh, knew of this strange incident. North knew she had to keep this information low profile. A secret. Some androids were still heavily traumatized and should they find out there was a human among them, they would.. North did not want to imagine. Self destruct? Think of it as betrayal and start conflict over this with Markus and the other leaders?

Keeping the human here was dangerous, North knew that.

North was an android, naturally, she was all logic, rational, correct? North thought she had been that when she kept advising Markus to use violence. She was scared that Markus’ idealism would get in the way of things, that the chance of the humans taking pity on the androids was so low - they’d slaughtered their people like animals, after all, that they would fail, all this effort and sacrifice for nothing.

Of course, Josh had a point. ‘We have to show them that we are better than this’, he’d say.

But sometimes, North thinks, violence is a necessary means to an end. No matter how many times she’d begged the man at the Eden Club to stop, he did not once take mercy on her. North’s suffering ended because she had ended him.

But then, Markus had shown her some of his memories with Carl. It had been vivid, intense, as if North had been really there. The kind hearted, warm, wise artist who North then recognized had turned Markus into the person he was now.

From then on, North understood that both of them have been in their own little bubbles of the world. There’d been much more than what North had seen, a different side to humanity, one that made her understand her friends Josh, Simon and Markus. Their seemingly naive, unreasonable world view became easier and easier to understand..

Still, the wounds of what she’d been through were too fresh back then, and North found herself conflicted. Being alive was complicated. Part of her wanted to believe that their people would get the support of people like Carl, but she could not do so when she saw the corpses and the blue blood of her fallen friends on the ground.

There was a chance the humans would not listen to their peaceful protests, and North did not think they could take it. It was calculus. Logic.

But now, North felt herself drifting away from that. She became irrational, to the point where she’d allowed a human of all things to stay at New Jericho!

North was a machine, build for logic, calculating risks-

No, a voice in her head thought.

That’s what the humans made them for, but that was not who she was.

North was alive.

Perhaps being irrational was part of being alive, North thought.

——

“It isn’t a matter of what the chances are that someone finds her, Josh! It’s.. It’s a matter of what is the right thing to do. I know what happened to her, what she’s been through, and.. I.. I just can’t ignore it, okay? Just leaving her out there, it would be..-

North ran a quick scan for fitting adjectives.

Inhumane, definition: lacking kindness, compassion, humanity.

…Inhumane.”

“Wow”, Josh smiled. “North, you know, I’m really proud of you.”

—-