#Lyanna Stark

[nightwatchhboy]

it's hurt so i pretend i never read it

The funniest thing about fandom wank over whether Sansa or Arya is most like Lyanna is that you’re looking past the most obvious candidate aka Robb. Someone who only exists through other people’s memories, a shrine for people to flagellate themselves at, the beautiful dead girl whose absence defines the narrative more than her presence ever could?? That’s literally Robb’s whole point as a character.

[targsource]

Lyanna Stark

by nataa.draws on twitter

[lilymarch]

the woman dies.

[inwinterhell]

As a female athlete myself, I just want to quickly appreciate how George R.R Martin writes his women who fight. It’s never, “she wanted to be a warrior so she worked harder than everyone and eventually she could beat all the boys.” He actually gives his characters strengths and weaknesses—as well as cultural ties to fighting— and he makes these traits enhance the already existing plot lines these characters follow. The mental game is also always just as important, if not more, than the physical game, which I’ve found is true in sports and probably much more true in actual life-threatening situations.

Arya is a small child. She’s nine, she’s skinny; she would probably never excel at being a knight, so instead she learns a different type of fighting. She’ll never overpower anyone, but she can be quick and sneaky and use her left hand which most people don’t know how to fight against. Also, I would argue that Syrio’s teachings about “looking with your eyes�� were far more important to her than the physical part of water dancing. Most of the time she isn’t using her skills to directly fight people, but to run away, to spy on people, to catch food and survive. Syrio is her friend, Needle is Jon Snow’s smile, etc. Arya learning how to use her stature to her advantage is part of a greater connection to her identity and the people who helped her.

Brienne is stronger than most men, but she faces constant misogyny because of that (which is all too realistic). She constantly faces internal battles with her own self-image and harassment wherever she goes. She gets taught to use men’s pride and anger to her advantage:

“Old Ser Goodwin was long in his grave, yet she could hear him whispering in her ear. Men will always underestimate you, he said, and their pride will make them want to vanquish you quickly, lest it be said that a woman tried them sorely. Let them spend their strength in furious attacks, whilst you conserve your own. Wait and watch, girl, wait and watch (AFFC Brienne 7)”

Finally, “no chance, and no choice” is her most memorable line for a reason. It’s not her martial prowess that makes her a great character; it’s her bravery and honor.

Cultural ties are also so important to the reasons many women in the series fight. Asha is Balon’s last remaining child when all her brothers are dead and gone. Of course she knows how to fight and sail. Her tension with Theon is less about her showing off and more about her proving how much she actually knows her people while he doesn’t (of course that isn’t Theon’s fault but that’s a whole other post). The Mormont women learned to fight because they historically had to fight off invaders; the Sand snakes’ skills show their connection to Oberyn, etc.

Anyway I just love how George uses fighting to enhance his characters’ personalities and not define them. None of them are physically or mentally infallible, and none are exempt from misogyny. They just learned to do something that empowers and protects them despite society’s expectations. George’s writing of women is definitely not perfect, but this is something I really appreciate.

[saessenach]

What is honor compared to a woman’s love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms… or the memory of a brother’s smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.

Jon Snow - and family that haunts him, because sometimes ghosts make for the best love stories.

[souryam]

year of false spring

[idonsul]

[sleazyjanet]

rhaegar finding out that lyanna is the knight of the laughing tree commission for @arcane-peony

[asoiafpalestine]

our thirty-seventh art piece is…

a dance between Rhaegar and Lyanna by @effemar, requested by bynghe on twt

If you’d like a prompt of your own drawn out by a random artist on our team, donate 15 CAD or more to Siraj’s campaign and send us the receipt!

[corviids]

lyanna <3

[franzkafkagf]

a lament for suns and wolves

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

The Knight of the Laughing Tree by Joshua Cairós

created for the 10th anniversary of The World of Ice & Fire

[blackbyrenflowers]

Always find it funny when Jon has a sassy/angry moment and people are like "that's the targaryen in him," forgetting that Rhaegar was an emo bookworm who played the harp. If anything, he got it from Lyanna.

[sansacherie]

another reason why I detest the ned-viserys "comparisons" is that ned stark literally lost his almost entire family at the age of nineteen as a result of a predator and his "prophecies".

[souryam]

some random sketches.. lyanna, my son bran and a young jaime

[saessenach]

working on a wee storyboard thing - a certain prince gets knocked off his horse while chasing the Knight of the Laughing Tree and shenanigans ensue