#JON HApppY

[ladystarks]

Hi! Hope you're having a good day. Can you say why Jon is your favorite character?

…oh boy. Do you have a while? Because I can talk about this for a while.

Jon Snow, particularly book!Jon, is my favorite character in all of ASoIAF. It’s very difficult for me to connect so strongly to characters immediately, which is, unexpectedly, exactly what happened when I opened the first book.

In Bran’s first POV chapter, the first person to speak to him is Jon.

“ ‘Keep the pony well in hand,’ he whispered. ‘And don’t look away. Father will know if you do.’ ” -Bran I, AGOT

The first thing we notice about Jon (through Bran’s eyes, at least) is how conscious he is of the eyes of others. He is quiet, he is solemn, and in Bran’s first chapter a comparison is drawn between the two oldest sons of Ned Stark. Namely, Jon is painted as over all a more cautious, introverted character. And it’s easy to understand why. Ned Stark loves Jon, but he is also scared. There is, after all, a danger surrounding Jon; if he is discovered for what he is, there is no telling what Robert Baratheon will do, how he will react. And although Jon’s paternity is never addressed and we get no real answers from Ned, you get the sense that there is something different in the way Ned thinks about Jon. And yes, at first Jon is all angsty, moody teenager. But what I love about him, what I have always loved, is that he learns. He grows. Yes, other characters change throughout the series, but Jon makes an effort to learn from/about others, and often has to massively shift his world view to accommodate what he now knows to be true, versus the knowledge he grew up with. It takes effort to do this, it takes time and mental energy and months of agonizing over everything he believes in. But he does it.

The quote “You know nothing, Jon Snow” is often taken out of context. “Hehe,” some fans say. “That idiot, Jon Snow. He knows nothing.” But that is not what the words are supposed to mean. When Ygritte tells Jon that he knows nothing, it’s not supposed to be a declaration of his stupidity (although yes, Jon can be dense sometimes, and ignore the dangers around him). It’s telling him that he still has a lot to learn. And you know what? Jon turns around, realizes he actually does not know everything there is to know, and decides that he will learn. He is open to new things, driven and practical; his time as LC of the Night’s Watch is spent rebuilding the Watch, filling the abandoned castles along the Wall and preparing for the war to come. He doesn’t whine that no one will answer his call and help the Night’s Watch. He realizes they’re not getting any help, grits his teeth, and gets to work. He grows from a sullen, privileged boy (and even acknowledges that privilege once it is pointed out to him, despite believing otherwise at first) into a hardened young man with a mission. 

What first caught my attention, though, was in the beginning of book one, where Jon realizes his father will go south with King Robert. Without his father as the buffer between him and Lady Catelyn, Jon knows his stay in Winterfell is tenuous at best. He has never truly belonged, after all, and as a bastard, he knows he cannot expect his father to keep him around forever. So, as a fourteen year old boy, Jon Snow makes a decision he should never have been allowed to make alone.

He decides to leave Winterfell before he is made to leave.

Would Ned have kicked Jon out? I don’t know. Catelyn would have pushed for it, I’m sure. But Ned does not stop Jon from leaving, which led to Jon’s departure from Winterfell in a scene that broke my heart. But this boy decides it is better to leave willingly before he is kicked out. And if that doesn’t show you the insecurity, the pain and the loneliness Jon felt growing up, the outsider in the Stark family, the bastard of Winterfell, then I don’t know what will.

There are so many layers to Jon. He can be violent. He can be rash. He can be emotional, threatening, and downright cold (especially in what I call the Gilly Incident). But I have always been so attached to that boy. The boy in Winterfell that leaves the warmth of a feast to cry outside. The boy who argues for his siblings to keep pet direwolves, knowing that he won’t because he isn’t one of them. The boy who, despite his best efforts, cannot break away from who he is. Which is why I was so upset in ADWD when he tries to smother himself below what he thinks is a good commander. And he ostracizes himself, and he cuts off ties with his friends and decides that the way to “kill the boy, and let the man be born” is to distance himself from the people who love him.

So, yeah. That’s a tiny piece of why I love Jon Snow. I can go on for longer, but I don’t think anyone wants to hear me continue to babble about why I connect with such a lonely character. But I will defend Jon Snow forever, Jon Snow/Happiness is the only ship I really care about.

[xxthewolvenstormxx]

Dangerous Woman 29

Dangerous Woman

Chapter 29

The smells coming from the kitchen were making him insane. He wasn’t allowed to enter the room and was relegated to the living room where he could hear Dany singing to herself, the occasional clang of pots and pans, the sizzling food cooking filled the air. He didn’t know what she was making, but it carried through the air and made his mouth water.

He tried to focus his attention on the guitar in his hands, strumming along the strings as he worked out the cords for the song he was currently working on. He heard a curse come from the other room and he nearly stood to check on her, but the last few times she’d sent out of the room quickly. He waited to hear another or smell something burning, but neither happened so he went back to strumming.

She suddenly appeared around the corner and gave him a smile. “I put your suit in the bathroom down here for you to change,” she declared as she untied the apron around her waist.

“Is the food done?”

“In the oven,” she smiled. “You stay out of the kitchen though. You’ve cooked nearly every meal for me, let me cook this one for you,” she said as he stood and moved toward her, swiping at the flour that clung to her cheek.

“I’ll be on my best behavior.”

Her smile turned wicked as she linked her arms around his waist. “Only during dinner,” she said as she leaned up to kiss him. “I’m going upstairs to change clothes. After you get dressed, would you be my knight and open the bottle of white wine chilling in the fridge?”

He nodded and kissed her. “Anything else?”

She shook her head. “No, that should do it. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.” She moved out of his arms and started toward the stairs.

“You sure I don’t need to stir anything?”

“Jon Snow, don’t you open that oven,” she ordered as she walked up the stairs.

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