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ebdaydreamer · 6 years ago

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Mother of Cats

It’s Mother’s Day in the UK so I thought I’d write a little something. This is my first GoT fic and my first fic in a while so constructive criticism is more than welcome.

Fandom: Game of Thrones (TV)

Pairing: Jonerys, Past Drogo/Dany

Warnings: Mentions of violence and underage sex but hey, this is Game of Thrones

Summary: Although Jon and Dany's histories with mothers are somewhat rocky, they've made their own Mother's Day tradition. A Modern AU.

[AO3]

There was never any reason for either of them to celebrate Mother’s Day: both of their mother’s died in childbirth after all.

As per usual, Jon had been invited for dinner at his Uncle Ned’s but had made up some excuse as he had done every year since he moved out. Whilst the rest of the Stark’s had accepted him as their own, his Aunt Catelyn had always resented her husband treating Jon as an equal son. Jon never brought it up, but Dany could see how the lack of mother figure compared to his adoptive siblings had affected him.

Despite the lack of mothers in their lives, Dany had woken up to a joke card for the past six years from ‘her children’: Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion.

6 years ago

“Are you going to your Uncle’s this Sunday?” Dany inquired from her position on the couch, Viserion curled in her lap.

Jon returned from the kitchen with the Pringles. “No, why would I?”

“Well,” Dany began, stealing the crisps from him, “it is Mother Day.”

Jon hesitated. “I haven’t really done that since Uni.”

“Why not?” Dany asked in between munches. “I thought you guys were close?”

“We are,” Jon sighed, glancing away. His face was becoming broody. After six months of dating, Dany had learnt the signs of a brood. “I mean, I am with my uncle- most of my cousins are like siblings to me-”

“Most?” Dany handed him the Pringles.

“Aye. Sansa and I were always distant.” He took three crisps into his mouth at once, chewing as he stalled. “She idolised her mother, you see. Aunt Catelyn… well, it was clear her priorities lay with her own children above her dead sister-in-law’s orphan.”

Dany’s heart stung. How could a woman - a mother, no less - make a child feel unimportant? How could she not see a child in need of love and then deny it them?

“It’s not a big deal, but I think she would rather spend Mother Day with her own children.”

She shuffled closer to him and lay her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “It’s alright. Saves me a trip to Winterfell.” He turned, a rare smile on his face. “And I can spend the weekend with you instead of those nutters.”

Dany giggled, “Smooth, but I have plans.”

Jon’s brow furrowed, “With who?”

“My children,” Dany replied, lifting Viserion out of her lap to show him.

“Of course,” Jon rolled his eyes playfully. “What is it Missandei calls you? The Mother of Cats.”

“Don’t mock,” Dany glared, pulling Viserion into her arms for a cuddle. “I found them. I raised them. They’re my children - possibly the only ones I’ll ever have.”

Jon's eyes snapped to hers, and Dany instantly realised her mistake. Shit: that morbid joke of hers was supposed to stay between herself and Missandei. She’d only had a few ‘boyfriends’ since Drogo, and they’d never gotten very serious so the issue had never come up before. She wasn’t even sure when a good time to mention something like that was. Yet, she’d never felt anyone the way she’d felt about Jon. She’d never felt this safe with someone before. She’d never felt desired for more than her pretty face. She’d never felt so open with anyone before.

“What do you mean?”

His voice forced her to focus and breathe. Tragic backstories were something she’d never really shared before Jon either - not with a romantic partner anyway. Jon wasn’t the first she’d told about her parents - with her father’s reputation before he died, she’d never really needed to - but he was the first she opened up to her life in foster care and her emotionally abusive older brother.

“Ok.” Miraculously, her voice didn't come out shaky, but it was still a whisper. She placed Viserion on the floor and stuffed a few Pringles in her mouth. “Ok.” She brushed the crumbs off her palms and turned to face him. She sighed heavily, unable to force the tale to her mouth, until she felt Jon’s hand reach for her’s.

“When I was fifteen, living in Essos, Viserys was trying to get in with this gang. Have you heard of the Dothraki?” Jon nodded, running his thumb across the back of her hand. “Well, he set me up with their leader-”

Jon’s eyes widened. “Set you up… romantically?”

Dany nodded, willing herself not to cry until the end of her story.

“Gods above, Dany. How old was he?”

“Thirty,” Dany managed to gasp. “He was thirty years old and he was my first boyfriend. Let me finish, please,” Dany begged when she saw he was about to express his outrage. “Vis was my legal guardian by then and… well… he threatened more than emotional abuse if I didn’t comply. I looked older than my age, so I flirted and batted my eyes when Vis introduced me to him and he… saw what he liked.” Dany shoved some more crisps in her mouth to give herself a break. “Surprisingly, he was actually quite kind to me - compared to Vis he was a saint. I promise, Jon, he never did anything I didn’t want to. Yes, I know I couldn’t legally give consent; yes, I now know it was statutory rape… but Jon, he was the first person to ever show me respect. He treated me like an actual human being capable of making her own decisions.” Dany inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, trying to ignore all the emotions she could see coming from Jon. “I fell in love with him, and it felt so real back then. Now I can see I did it more for survival than anything else.”

Drogon chose this moment to jump up on the couch between them, desperate for attention as always. With her free hand, she dragged him into her lap and began petting him, knowing she’d need his presence for the rest of the story.

“Then I skipped a period.”

Jon inhaled sharply. “Dany-”

“Please. Just let me…” she glanced down at Drogon, happily purring away before forcing her gaze back to Jon.

“I was fifteen, I was terrified. I barely spent any time in school because of Drogo, but I couldn’t go to the doctors without someone finding out, so I went to the school nurse.” Dany tightened her grip on Jon’s hand. “I was pregnant.”

The tears began to fall now, and Jon brought his free hand up to wipe them away with so much care Dany almost began to cry harder.

“Drogo was ecstatic and this… this was the only time I felt I didn’t have a choice with him.” Dany gave a shaky exhale. “I warmed to the idea, actually. I’d already accepted that I would have no education and my life would be with the Dothraki, so I might as well have something that was mine.” Her eyes darted to the floor where Rhaegal was now rubbing against her leg, sensing her distress. “Vis wasn’t quite as happy.”

She paused, unable to bring herself to finish. Missandei was the only person she’d had to repeat the tale to thus far, and she’d been much less sober then.

“Dany?” Jon’s voice was barely a whisper. “You can stop. You don’t have to carry on.”

“I do.” She redirected her gaze to his. “I want to.” She swallowed. “He threatened me. His standing within the Dothraki was not what he intended. He wanted to be Drogo’s right hand but felt I’d stolen his focus, especially now with the baby. He threatened to slice me open and rip the fetus out of me, so Drogo shot him dead. And I was relieved. My own brother, my only flesh and blood, had just been murdered in front of me and I felt relief.”

“Shh,” Jon soothed her as the tears came heavier and faster. “He’d just threatened your life, Dany. He made your life a living hell. You were free from your tormentor.”

“I know,” she continued, “but it appeared the Dothraki agreed with him about me. Less than a month later, a group of them attacked us with knives… they stabbed Drogo in the chest and left him to bleed out in an alleyway, they-” she choked down a sob, “they stabbed me in my stomach. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital a week later after what was apparently quite a few surgeries.” The hand stroking Drogon shifted towards her abdomen where her scars had mostly healed. When anyone asked, when Jon had asked, she said they were purely surgical scars and steeled herself to not get emotional at the sight of them. “I was told that Drogo was dead and I had lost my baby. I woke up alone.”

“Gods, Dany,” Jon muttered, his free hand now running gently up and down her arm.

“I was in the hospital for a few weeks regaining my strength before I was sent back into the foster system. I had about a month left before my sixteenth birthday and I’d be out on my own anyway.” Dany’s upper lip tugged upwards, “Lucky for me, I knew where Drogo kept his emergency stash and managed to get myself a little flat.” Her smile fell again when she remembered the point of her story. “But I had a checkup at the hospital and they said everything was fine…” Dany trailed off, her head shaking involuntarily, gaze dropping to her lap. “‘Everything is fine, Miss Targaryen, everything is fine except’... Except. Expect there was some damage - from the surgery or the stabbing they’re not sure - but there was some damage to my fallopian tubes and because of that it is likely that I may never be able to conceive a child again.”

She refused to look at him. She refused to move. She knew she’d ruined it. It was too much to admit she was this damaged after six months.

She almost jerked away when she felt his hand under her chin, lifting her head up to meet his eyes. Her blood tingled at the sight. He was staring at her with such awe and compassion and love that she wanted to cry all over again. In that moment, she knew there was no denying it: he loved her and she loved him.

She was speaking again, completely unaware of the words coming out of her mouth because they were so unbelievably honest it burned. “A lot for a sixteen-year-old, I know. It was an odd feeling, because I was unsure if I’d ever want kids after… everything. ...But I felt so alone, because I felt like I’d never have a family again. I knew I’d never have any blood relatives again. The once great Targaryen Family died in that alleyway. And I’m alone,” Dany finally sobbed.

Hastily, she was pulled onto Jon’s lap, his hands running soothingly up and down her back, as her’s found its way into his hair to steady herself, whilst another grasped his shoulder.

“You’re not alone,” he breathed into her ear. “You’ve got Missandei, you’ve got Jorah and Barristan. You’ve got hundreds that love you and care for because you set up your shelter and helped them, you showed them that they are loved, and so are you, Dany” He leant back, and she reluctantly followed, resting her forehead on his. “You are loved.” He cupped her face and wiped her tears. “I love you.”

A fresh wave of tears came crashing down at his words. She’d told him. She’d told him and he’d stayed. “I love you too.”

It wasn’t until later that night in bed that Jon asked, “So, why the Mother of Cats?”

Dany chuckled. “I actually found them when I was walking home from that checkup. Three tiny kittens in a box in an alleyway. After taking them to the vet I adopted them, and I supposed I imprinted my maternal instincts onto them.”

“Hm, so you get your nickname from the happy ending to a quite tragic story.”

“Mhmm.”

“And it has absolutely nothing to do with how you coddle them?”

“Absolutely nothing to do with it at all.”

She woke up that Sunday with a card written in his scrawling hand, signed from Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion.

The next year, after they moved in together, Ghost was added to the list.

“Good morning,” she greeted, lured into the kitchen by the smell of bacon.

Her husband glanced over his shoulder, mercifully shirtless as he cooked. “Morning, love.”

She pulled herself onto the stool by the island, enjoying the view of Jon in just his pyjama bottoms. Her card was sat waiting for her. “Thank you, love.”

“Don’t thank me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ah, of course.” She spun in the chair to see the cats lounged on the couch. “Thank you darlings.” She then turned to Ghost laying on his bed. When he met her gaze, the wolf came bounding over, stopping calmly by her side and nuzzling her leg. She smiled, “Thank you too, Ghost.”

She turned back at the sound of a plate being placed on the island and wasted no time in chomping down on her bacon sandwich.

Jon grinned. “Who knows, if all goes well, maybe we can add another child next year.”

Dany returned his grin. They had been trying for over a year now and were due to begin IVF treatment in a few weeks.

“I cancelled the appointment.”

Jon’s face dropped. “You did what? Why? Dany, if you were having doubts you-”

“No, love, come here.” He rounded the island and stood in front of her, shooing a reluctant Ghost away. She took his hands. “I cancelled the appointment because we don’t need it anymore.”

His eyes widened. “Are you… Dany are you saying…?”

Her face split into a smile so wide it was almost painful. “I’m pregnant.”

He lifted her out of her seat and she wrapped herself around him, burrowing her face into his neck. They held each other for a few moments before Jon began to shake, overcome by tears.

She lifted her head to look into his eyes. “We’re having a baby?”

Her face-splitting grin fell to a warm smile as she cupped his face, softly wiping away his tears. “We’re having a baby.”

Jon glanced to the wolf at their feet. “Now your behaviour makes sense,” he said accusingly. “I was beginning to think he started loving you more than me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, he’s always loved me more than you.”

Jon laughed, setting her down on the floor as he did, clasping her hands instead.

He pressed his forehead against hers. “We’re getting the family we always wanted,” she whispered.

“Aye, love. I promised you that you’d never be alone again and I am a man of my word.”

She brought their hands to her abdomen, lightly pressing against her scars.

“Happy Mother’s Day, Daenerys.”

#jonerys #game of thrones #jonerys fic #jonerys fanfic #jonerys modern au #got #got fic #my writing #ellie talks

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trinuviel · 7 years ago

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ALL IS SUBTEXT - A Case for Jon and Sansa (part 5)

This is the fifth installment in my analysis of the romantic subtext in the scenes between Jon and Sansa in seasons 6 and 7 of Game of Thrones (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). I’ve examined the different techniques that the show employs to create this subtext through primarily visual means. This post is is a direct continuation of part 3 and part 4 where I began examining the romantic tropes that inform the scenes between their. Once again I’ve had to break up my analysis because there are so many tropes in play and I am trying to be meticulous in my analysis. So here is yet another very long post.

KNOW YOUR TROPES

The ambiguous romantic subtext in the scenes between Jon and Sansa exists almost entirely on the level of the visual - and that means that we have to pay close attention to non-verbal cues, costume design, image composition and editing.

I have previously mentioned that tropes are excellent tools when it comes to creating subtext because they function as a narrative shorthand. They rely on audience familiarity and genre conventions, which mean that there’s no need to spell things out - and subtext exists at the level of the unspoken.

So without further ado, let’s have a look as some more JonSa scenes where romantic tropes are in play.

Gentle readers, gird your loins - this post is hella long.

Declaration of Protection. This trope occurs when the hero’s motivation is built around protecting another person. This is usually the love interest but it can also pertain to other kinds of relationships (as well as larger entities such as a home or the realm as per Jon’s season 7 arc).

Both seasons 6 and 7 make it clear that Sansa is the hidden reason for many of Jon’s actions. She’s the one that gives him the will to live and fight again. She shakes him out of his depression and disillusionment after he’s been resurrected - and he is determined to protect her at any cost. The night before the Battle of the Bastards, Jon issues a solemn declaration of protection when Sansa states that she’ll never let Ramsay take her alive, hinting that she’ll kill herself if Jon loses the battle.

(GIFs by https://giffferrplanet.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/game-of-thrones-the-night-before-the-battle/)

Sansa’s reaction is heartbreaking. No one has be able to protect her since her father died and her scepticism in the face of Jon’s promise is understandable yet so very sad. However, the thing to notice here is Jon’s sad puppy-dog face when Sansa leaves - now it isn’t just Winterfell that hangs in the balance, Sansa’s very life rests on his shoulders as well.

Battle Couple. This trope pertains to a couple who are partners in combat:

This is the kind of couple where bullets figure prominently in the story of their romance. Where “war buddy” and “significant other” are synonyms. If you harm either one of them, the survivor will kill you as surely as the sun rises. (TVTropes)

Jon and Sansa may not fight side-by-side in the physical sense but Sansa’s presence at the parley with Ramsay (as well as her involvement with raising troops, etc) puts them into the territory of Battle Couple. Furthermore, the visuals repeatedly puts them side-by-side to emphasize them as a team.

The parley with Ramsay offers a number of shots that presents Jon and Sansa as a united front.

In short, they look “beautiful and majestic” together (as the script explicitly states).

Ruling Couple. This trope is generally used in relation to a monarchial setting:

A ruling couple, on the other hand, are equal or near equal partners, and may even be Happily Married. Rather then one ruling and one staying in the palace they jointly rule. The rulers will rely on each other as trusted counselors and they will be The Good King and The High Queen in one. Perhaps they will show this by receiving audiences on two thrones. Perhaps the consort will have a regular seat in the royal council and a vote. Perhaps even the two of them will discuss deep and labyrinthine affairs of state during matrimonial activities.

On many occasions, they will also be a Battle Couple. (TVTropes)

Jon and Sansa may not be a Ruling Couple in the traditional sense (not yet anyway). However, the visuals repeatedly show them sitting side-by-side, looking regal, when they interact with their bannermen.

The shot below is an especially strong visual because it offers a simple yet effective image composition. Jon and Sansa are placed firmly in the centre of the shot, framed by the large hearth that forms a pale background against which and they stand out visually. They are further framed by the black silhouette of the bannermen. This, along with the slow zoom in, serve to highlight them visually in a way that ruling couples often are presented. Once again, Jon and Sansa look beautiful and majestic together.

This shot is not only visually striking but it may very well be narratively significant as a piece of subtle foreshadowing. The kingmaking scene follows the most narratively important reveal in the entire show: the revelation of Jon’s true parentage as the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Immediately after this revelation, Jon is chosen as King in the North based on his status as Ned Stark’s bastard son and he’s thus elected under false pretenses even though he is unaware of his true parentage.

Placing the parentage reveal before the kingmaking is an interesting (and very deliberate) editing choice because it introduces the possibility that Jon’s parentage may become a problem for his kingship in the future. Jon’s true parentage relates to several popular tropes: Really Royalty Reveal, Hidden Back-up Prince, Secret Legacy - or as I like to call it: the Hidden Prince. When a narrative employs this trope, the truth will ALWAYS come out and it is always be of extreme narrative importance. While Jon relinquished his kingship in season 7, his status as a leader in the North may very well be further imperilled when the truth comes out. There’s been written several metas on how a marriage between Jon and Sansa would effectively unite the competing claims to North and unite House Stark firmly under Jon’s leadership, so I won’t go further into this argument here.

Rather, I’d just point out that by placing the parentage reveal right before a scene that invokes a visual iconography of a ruling couple in such a strong image composition, the show simultaneously teases the likelihood of a future conflict as well as its possible solution - in one single image!

When Jon is declared King in the North, despite Sansa having the heriditary claim to Winterfell, he turns to Sansa to gauge her reaction. he wants her to approval before he accepts the kingship - and she smilingly approves without uttering a single word. Yet another instance of them being in accord.

It is a move that is similar to this interaction between King Leonidas of Sparta and his queen Gorgo in 300 (2007) - spouses in accord, there’s no need for words.

Whilst Sansa isn’t Jon’s formal co-ruler, the show continues to seat her next to Jon when he exerts his authority as king. This is especially important since Winterfell’s Great Hall lacks the visual stage-setting of power that characterizes the Red Keep and Dragonstone. Jon’s “throne” is just a regular chair and he is placed on the same level as his subjects - yet he maintains a certain distance by standing behind a separate table at the end of the room, right in front of the visual centre provided by the hearth. The table acts as a physical and visual barrier between him and his bannermen so even though he’s not physically elevated above his vassals, he does inhabit a space that is sectioned off from them (though he quickly moves beyond it). Sansa inhabits this same space, right by his side!

However, Davos also sits next to Jon, at the same side of the table. Here it is important to pay attention to the image composition! As you can see, Davos is seated a bit farther from Jon than Sansa - and this slight separation is visually emphasized by the hearth where the light reflected on the lower mantel creates a visual barrier between Jon and Davos. No such barrier exist between Jon and Sansa - and the slightly skewed perspective also makes them look closer to each other. In short, though three persons are seated side by side, Jon and Sansa are grouped together in a visually distinct manner that evokes the iconography of a Ruling Couple.

Even their costumes support this trope! @jonsalways has penned an amazing costume meta that about Jon and Sansa’s costumes in seasons 6 and 7. She notes that the colours and the overall silhouettes of their costumes match each other, which not only makes them look good together but also serve to underscore them as a team. I’m going to quote her here because she cuts to the heart of the matter in such a succinct manner:

When you look at the items they wear (it) is also wonderful. They both have a cloak, a cape, a dress/shirt, a “metal necklace”, a collar over the necklace and a belt. Every single detail in Jon’s costume has a equivalent on Sansa’s. It’s almost as they wear the female and male version of the same outfit.

When they are side by side, they look beautiful because their costumes match in pieces and their silhouette look just right. It’s comfortable to look at them because they look so similar. It’s almost like you don’t see two characters wearing two different concepts. You see them together as one whole concept. If they could switch their cloaks/capes, the colors would work just fine. And they are the only Starks whose costumes do that. Michele Clapton does it for a reason.

The elements mentioned in the quotes work on the level of the visual sub-conscious, i.e. we simply notice that they look aesthetically pleasing together but it is seldom something that the general audience give much thought to.

However, there are obvious symbolic elements to their costumes that we are most definitely are meant to notice; elements that also work as statements about their characters and their narrative journeys. In the case of Jon and Sansa, the symbolic element is the Stark direwolf, the heraldic sigil of their House - and this element tells the story of two characters travelling towards the same destination in season 6 and on parallel lines in season 7.

In season 6, we see Sansa visually reclaim her identity as a Stark through an act of (literal) self-fashioning: she makes a beautiful dress where the bodice acts as the canvas for the presentation of the Stark direwolf, made with materials that probably are supposed to evoke the natural landscape of the North - such a irregularly cut squares of mother-of-pearl (that made me remember the wonderful mussel shell necklace that Karsi wore in season 5).

Sansa’s homemade dress is a profound act of self-reclamation. She emblazons her chest with the ancestral symbol of her family - almost as an answer to the way the Lannisters put their heraldic stamp on her neck in season 3:

Throughout the season she’s repeatedly insulted as being no Stark - Lord Glover tells her House Stark is dead and Lady Mormont snidely calls her both a Lannister and a Bolton. Sansa answers that she will always be a Stark - and it is written on her body for all to see.

Jon is also wearing a single direwolf on his costume to match Sansa. However, his symbol is much more discrete in form and placement - probably both for reasons practical and symbolic. Sansa is the trueborn Stark after all. Jon’s cloak is a gift from Sansa, she made it herself - and the show actually takes the time to show us this:

We don’t see Sansa make the dress that is so important to her identity - but we get to witness her make a garment for Jon that is invested with a profound emotional, symbolic and political value. When Sansa gifts Jon with a cloak stamped with the Stark direwolf she wordlessly acknowledges and claims him as a Stark for all the world to see - the very thing that always has been Jon’s greatest wish! It is really very beautiful - she’s the one that makes a matching pair out of them (since she probably also made her own Stark fur).

Politically, Jon’s new cloak is also significant - not just because of the Stark sigil but also because it is just like the one Eddard Stark wore! The patriarch whom the North once were sworn to, for whom they went to war! It is a politically savy move because Sansa Stark understands that clothing isn’t just about covering your body, it is also a language.

(the two edits below are by @baelerion)

Season 7 builds on this symbolic aspect of Jon and Sansa’s costumes. Now they both wear a pair of direwolves facing each other. Notice how they wear the Stark sigil on the same part of their bodies in both seasons - on the chest and then at the neck! Once again they match.

The double direwolves are interesting because, unlike season 6, their stories have moved beyond becoming Starks (again). Now their narrative journey is about their partnership and that is signalled by the double direwolves. They have to learn to act in tandem. While they have their differences and instances of miscommunication, season 7 is about them acting as a ruling team, as King in the North and Lady of Winterfell - two titles that originally belonged to just one person. Once again they are being posited as two halves of a whole - the ruling pair of the North, which is formalized when Jon names Sansa his regent before he travels south.

Interestingly enough, Jon and Sansa’s double direwolves have their echoes in two earlier costumes. When Bran acted as Robb’s regent in season 2, he wore a gorget just like Jon’s - and when Robb attended the Red Wedding as KitN he wore a pair of direwolf clasps just like Sansa’s! Now the costumes are reversed, the gorget for the KitN and the clasps for his regent. An interesting detail that very likely is significant, considering Michele Clapton’s symbolic and narrative approach to the costumes of GoT.

Even down to the smallest detail, the costume design presents Jon and Sansa to the audience looking like a ruling couple; a couple that are on parallel narrative journeys. It is also worth noting that it is only Jon and Sansa who wear the Stark sigil in season 7! Neither Arya nor Bran appear to wear the Stark direwolf even after they’ve returned home to Winterfell. Perhaps that is because it is Jon and Sansa who are the leaders of House Stark and the North.

I’m going to return to the issue of image composition in relation to the Ruling Couple trope. When season 6 aired, HBO released this wonderful and very memorable photo. (I’ve reversed it for visual variety)

This beautiful image doesn’t actually match what we see on out TV screens! This is a still photograph, taken by a separate photographer (a unit still photographer). Not only do we not see this exact pose in the episode in question but it is also clear that this image has been through a graphics editor since the bluish tint from the episode has been removed in favour of a stronger visual contrast with the background so Jon and Sansa’s figures capture the eye immediately.

Still photographs like this are created specifically for publicity and marketing. This image became very popular with the media outlets that cover the show - not surprisingly since it is one of the most visually arresting images among the promotional material released to the press. This image became a very popular header picture in several reviews, think pieces and post-season articles, such as this one in TIME where a possible Jonsa marriage is discussed.

I hesitate to name this photo “iconic” because I think it is too early to use that designation. It is, however, an extremely striking image with the clear-cut profiles, the matching costumes and the sharp silhouettes against the light background - there’s no visual “clutter” to distract the eye from the regal couple. Jon and Sansa really stand out against the background and everything from the direction of their gazes to their matching colours and silhouettes tie them together visually as a couple. They look like a king and queen in this image and since it was a popular choice with the media outlets, it is an image that has repeatedly been presented to the people who follow the coverage of the show online. That kind of image repetition can also work to plant the idea of Jon and Sansa as a couple on the subconscious level.

This image is pretty much the incarnation of the line from the script about Jon and Sansa looking “beautiful and majestic”. They look like a King and Queen, there’s no need for crowns here.

No other couple has looked as regal as these two in the entire show!

In contrast, one of the most popular stills of Jon and Dany from season 7 is markedly different. @jonsalways has noted how Jon and Dany’s costumes never truly match, neither in colour nor in silhouette. That also is very apparent in this image. What is even more interesting is the fact that this composition doesn’t convey harmony and togetherness like the regal image above, which makes sense since Jon and Dany isn’t one the same page in this season. Not only do they have conflicting interests and goals, the one is also intent on subjugating the other. In short, they don’t look like a romantic couple.

In terms of body language Jon and Dany are completely out of sync and there’s a distinct lack of communication between them. Whilst Dany is gazing at Jon, her body turned towards him, Jon’s attention is elsewhere. He faces away from her and doesn’t even seem to acknowledge her presence. When compared with the JonSa image above, the background almost feels visually “cluttered”, which also means that it is much less attention-grabbing than the first image. When it comes to drawing visual attention to something, less is generally more.

As said, the regal image of Jon and Sansa doesn’t appear in the show itself. The closest the show matches the promotional image is this double profile shot:

This shot is of particular interest in relation to the Ruling Couple trope because the image composition adhere to a common iconographic schema for portraits of royal couples.

Fx in this coin minted for the 70th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

Or this design for a stamp featuring Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. These are but a few example from a vast number of offical royal portraits.

Throughout seasons 6 and 7, the show presents the audience with a large number of visuals that depict Jon and Sansa in a manner that is associated with ruling couples.

Interestingly enough, the Stark-centric cover of Entertainment Weekly in 2017 positively screams Northern Royal Family! This is of course a group portrait of a group of siblings (even though Jon is actually their cousin). However, not only is Sansa placed next to Jon (instead of fx between Bran and Arya), the combination of a standing male and a seated female evokes a time-honoured compositional template for official royal portraits. I’ve included a couple of examples for comparison.

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden.

King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark.

Then there’s this lovely portrait of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.

This is a slightly different variation on the pose but it is also a popular one in royal portraiture. Notice how we also have a very similar image of Jon and Sansa in the last episode of season 6?

It is unclear whether the cinematographer consciously chose to model these shots of Jon and Sansa on popular visual conventions for royal portraiture. It is entirely possible that these similarities are coincidental to a certain degree. By that I mean that when we see a lot of pictures, certain types of composition becomes so familiar to us that we don’t register them consciously. However, I do think that the similarities between the image composition in the shots where Jon and Sansa are placed side-by-side are the result of some conscious choices, especially since directors and cinematographers often turn to art for inspiration (like Dan Sackheim took inspiration from Caravaggio’s art for Jon’s resurrection scene).

To be continued...

(GIFs and edits not mine)

#jon x sansa #jonsa #meta #all is subtext #romantic tropes #costume design #actuallyjonsa

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