#The Tyrell's wanted power and intended to gain it through Margaery

[alicentflorent]

I just found out Viserys is only 10 years older than Alicent in the books, they married when she was 19 and he was 29.

Which begs the question: why did they make Alicent a child bride who was forced to marry a man old enough to be her father in the show?

I knew alicent was 18 but didn't realise V was that young, I thought he was mid-late 30s. That age gap isn't too bad by asoiaf standards. He married Aemma when she was 11-13, put her through all of those pregnancies and he was an adult when they married I believe (EDIT: he was 16 when he married Aemma so not yet an adult but still notably older than Aemma) and it was also him that married Helaena to Aegon when they were also just teens so he is still pretty gross.

As for the creative choices on the show, aside from recycling general abuse/grooming/SA storylines that GoT and GRRM himself used, I always thought they merged book Alicent's tragic backstory with the previous king Jaehaerys with her relationship with Viserys

"When her father was named Hand of the King by King Jaehaerys I Targaryen in 101 AC, thirteen year-old Alicent accompanied him to court together with her brothers and mother. In 103 AC, Alicent became the constant companion of King Jaehaerys, whose health was failing.[N 1] She fetched his meals, helped him wash and dress, and read to him. In the end, King Jaehaerys sometimes mistook her for his daughter, Saera Targaryen. Jaehaerys eventually died the same year, while Alicent was reading to him"

This outline makes me think they've definitely merged Alicent/Jaehaerys with Alicent/Viserys. The show definitely adapted this from the book: She was forced to become the companion and carer to the king by her father, She tends to personal care needs of both kings like bathing them, She gets mistaken for the kings daughter near the end in both instances, She's still a victim of grooming via her father who for sure would have married her off to J if he wasn't so old and unwell. Viserys in the show is essentially taking on the role sickly older man with a teenage companion. Book Alicent may be a victim and went through trauma in her teenage years but thankfully was not subjected to marriage, pregnancy and SA at 15. As for her relationship with book Viserys I think by that point she wanted to be queen? she wouldn't have had the power to turn down a proposal from the king or go against her father in any case but she also had goals of her own and I imagine after taking care of a sickly old man for years, probably dealing with rumours that she was perhaps his mistress then she probably thought marrying the new younger king and having some power in her own right, even if it is through marriage and having sons that would inherit the throne then she was okay with that. Girlie put in the work so I can hardly blame her for wanting her son on the throne, and wanting to benefit herself.

Final thoughts: I feel like teen alicent on the show is probably similar to how she was as a teen in the books so it wasn't purely a show invention. Alicent in both stories was groomed, used by her father, made to be the "companion" to the king, was probably pretty isolated because of this companionship. The difference is Alicent grew up and even if her goals were influenced by her fathers manipulation. She HAD goals, wants and desires. Alicent was the one who was scheming behind the scenes, who was head of the green council and willing to be ruthless if she had to be. I'm glad the show added a few more layers to her character and didn't have her be a two dimensional evil stepmother but they went too far in the other direction and in an attempt to make her more likeable she ends up overshadowed by the men in her life who take her power. throughout the show regularly mocked, abused, SA'd and worried about her children safety because Viserys won't protect them. Although this is clearly one reason why she resents rhaenyra and her life, they never used it to fuel alicents own wants and desires and what she's willing to do and who she's willing to step on to get it. Alicent is the queen but rarely do we see her pull rank (she should've with Larys) and she often goes back on her `power moves or doesn't follow through (like actively plotting to get Aegon on the throne) and even apologises for her "behaviour" (the aemond incident) which is not just inconsistent but makes her come across as more hypocritical that she is meant to be. The show took away the little power she had by not allowing her to fully embrace what she wanted for herself and her children.

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[mkstrigidae]

Current WIPs and Fic Concepts

I promised I would do this yesterday, and then I forgot!!! (I was very sleep deprived). Anyways, here are a bunch of the WIP premises that I have in my 'unfinished drafts' folder. Most have at least a few pages written for them, but I love them all! ☺️💕

- A Santa Clarita Diet AU (Jonsa) Takes place in sunny southern California, where a shitty dinner at a mediocre restaurant turns into a huge problem for Jon and Sansa when Sansa's heart stops beating. Although she seems fine, Jon is flabbergasted several days later as he watches his wife- who alphabetizes their pantry and refuses to let anyone wear shoes in the house- rip the throat out of one of the sleazy new partners at their law firm, eating half of him before anyone processes what's going on. Hilarity ensues as Sansa's inhibitions and filter disappear, Arya ropes an extremely confused Gendry into helping figure out what the hell is going on just because he moderates the zombie forum on reddit, and Jon tries to deal with the fact that the woman he loves more than anything is now a humanitarian. He really could use a drink. (This one is actually mostly complete, but i need to refine a few things- i really love it. It's as gory and irreverent as the show, so viewer discretion advised, but it's a BLAST to write).

- A Thor/MCU AU (Jonsa, Steve Rogers/Sansa)- Asgardian prince Aegon is banished to Midgard after one too many arrogant decisions, and is promptly hit by a van containing Dr. Sansa Stark, Dr. Barristan Selmy, and Margaery Tyrell- two astrophysicists studying wormholes and Sansa's best friend and pseudo-intern. Marg yells at him, he yells back, Sansa tases him, and Barristan didn't sign up for the kind of heavy lifting that getting a 200+ pound slab of muscle into the back of a van takes. And then Aegon's younger brother, Jon, shows up, in the middle of an identity crisis because, apparently, he's adopted. He wasn't intending to stay, but he's rather drawn to Dr. Stark and her brilliance, and against her better judgement, she starts to trust him, and maybe even like him. This story is in about three parts so far- the first is based on 'Thor' and the second on 'The Avengers' and are fully Jonsa, and the third started as a family bonding story between the Stark kids and Tony (Ned and Tony are second cousins, and Ned was really supportive of Tony in rehab without expecting anything in return), and accidentally turned into a Steve Rogers/Sansa Stark story, which is a pairing i am HERE for. A lot of this one is written, but it needs some fill in before publishing, although it's one of my favorites that i've written to go back and actually read.

- A Star Wars AU (Jonsa) where Sansa and Arya are Alderaanian princesses who are off planet when Alderaan is destroyed- Sansa as a senator and Arya as a pilot, both working for the rebellion, and jon is a smuggler who does not know how all of these people got on his ship and why two princesses are sassing him. His copilot, Tormund (yes he's a wookie), thinks it is hilarious. I started this one just the other day, and it's already thirty pages long, most of them involving Sansa and Arya sassing people. Dany is a leader in the rebellion, Roose Bolton is the emperor, and Barbrey Dustin is a disgruntled former jedi trying to live in peace on a remote planet until another Stark crashes into her life and harangues her into teaching again.

- A witches/magic AU (Jonsa) where the Starks run an apothecary and spellcasting supplies shop. Jon had been completely in the dark about magic before his mother confessed to being born into a family of witches. He finds himself traveling to her hometown, trying to understand her world more clearly, and what it means for him. On the way, he develops something of a crush on the red-headed shop clerk who brews the best headache potions in town. Featuring lots of magical shenanigans, this is one of my favorites in the folder :)

- A 24 hour diner AU (Jonsa) where Jon is a local mob boss, and Sansa works the late shift at Seaworth's diner to buy textbooks for the PhD she's working on in botany. Sansa's running from memories, and Jon has a soft spot for the red-headed waitress who always remembers how he likes his coffee.

- An East of the Sun, West of the Moon AU!!! (Jonsa) This is one of my fav fairy tales, and of course i couldn't resist Jon as a direwolf striking a deal with the starks!

- A Roomates AU (Jonsa)- Arya, Jon, Tormund, and Sam have been renting the same house together off Winterfell's campus for years- but when Sam moves in with his girlfriend, they need one more person on the lease. Sansa, about to relocate to Winterfell for grad school, finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her and that her housing plans have fallen through, all on the same day. Needless to say, she's a bit upset when she calls Arya to relay the news. There's a simple solution here, if Arya and Tormund can stop teasing Jon about his crush for five minutes. (any excuse to write tormund and arya roasting jon, tbh).

- A Fae AU (Jonsa)- When Sansa, a baker living in the city, washes her face in an enchanted spring on a camping trip, she gains the sight as a result. Suddenly able to see the fae underworld all around her is disorienting and terrifying. Sansa tries to conceal it- afraid of what might happen if the fae around her know that she can see them- but slips up, and catches the attention of Jon Snow- one of the lords of the unseelie court.

- A nuclear winter wasteland AU (Jonsa)- (?? I don't even know how to describe this premise, haha) where the Starks are living and running the Free Winterfell settlement in Siberia after a worldwide nuclear meltdown. Before the fallout, Sansa was one of the world's preeminent researchers in plant genetics and pathology, and works at the settlement to create newer, disease and radiation resistant crops to distribute for free to other settlements, aiming to break up the monopoly that Lannister Corp has on the market. Jon is a scavenger, searching throughout Siberia for his sister Rhae who disappeared several years previously. When he runs across Arya Starkovna, helping her fight off another band of radiation ravaged scavengers is just instinct- he doesn't think twice about it. In thanks, she brings him to the Winterfell settlement, where her brother Robb offers Jon sanctuary and resources, in exchange for serving as a bodyguard for Sansa when she travels to other settlements. Sansa is not particularly thrilled by this arrangement, but given that multiple parties seem to want her dead, she doesn't have much of a choice but to accept his company.

- A reincarnation AU (Jonsa)- of sorts. Robb is an archaeologist who finds a strange set of runes at a site up north, and immediately calls in Jon Snow- a historian and expert in said ancient language, as well as an old university friend of Robb's. When he arrives though, Robb shows him their most valuable finds- two mysterious ice blocks, with what appear to be perfectly preserved bodies from over a thousand years ago. No one could ever have imagined that either of them were still alive, but when the ice melts, revealing two very alive girls, the entire crew is instantly buried in NDAs, and given an assignment from the Westerosi government to figure out what the hell was going on. Sansa and Arya wake up, extremely confused about the world they live in, trying to adapt and mourning all that they've lost, even as the people around them wear familiar faces.

- Soulmates AU (Jonsa)- (Yes, another one, I love this dumb trope) Trauma surgeon and medical resident Sansa Stark is having a very bad day, and ends up meeting her soulmate during what she thinks is a mugging gone wrong. Fortunately, he’s not the one mugging her, just an intervening bystander, but she ends up slightly shot nonetheless. Sansa’s fretting about bleeding on the upholstery in his car, but Jon is a bit more worried about her injuries than the blood stains. He’s a bit confused when she threatens him if he takes her to a specific hospital, nearly has a nervous breakdown when she insists on doing her own triage, and is very charmed when she insists on ice cream after taking pain meds at the hospital. On Sansa’s part, she’s a little less concerned about being shot, and a bit more concerned about whatever weird first impression she’s making to her soulmate while high as a kite on pain pills. (this one just needs some tweaking to be postable- I'm not sure if it's going to be a oneshot or a series, but i love what I have already)

- A Demon/Archivist AU (Jonsa)- where Sansa works in the university's historical archives in Oldtown, and is learning to restore old texts with her fellow student and friend, Alleras (Trans Sarella is an amazing concept). When Joffrey Baratheon shows up with a pile of old books from his family's library to donate, Sansa is eager to get away from his sleaze, and accidentally takes one of the books home with her in her rush to leave. Unbeknownst to her, it's more than it appears, and when she leaves it open overnight, she accidentally summons forth Jon- an ancient, powerful, and extremely annoyed demon who is under a curse, and now hers to command. As Jon and Sansa try to get used to this new normal, the Lannisters (unaware that Joffrey had donated the tome) try desperately to find the book and it's owner, wanting Jon's power for themselves, and putting Sansa in considerable danger unless she can figure out how to break Jon's curse. Fortunately, she's a pretty good researcher, even if Jon is initially a bit of a grump. (This is based on a total wish-fulfillment mary-sue type premise for something I wrote when I was thirteen, and I revisited it and wanted to see what it would look like if i took it very seriously, and i am really enjoying it so far. It's a love letter to the terrible, heartfelt writing i was doing in middle school that created the foundations for my writing today, and so much fun).

The one that I am MOST excited about though:

- A Pacific Rim AU!!!! (Ned/Cat, Gendrya, Braime, Sansa/Jon Umber)-Twins Sansa and Robb Stark have always been completely in tune with each other, and when your parents are Jaeger pilots and your mother invented the neural handshake, what option is there but the Jaeger academy? Sansa studies to be an engineer, but ends up copiloting the Jaeger 'Winter Wolf' with her twin brother, after they lose Ned Stark to cancer. When Robb is ripped out of the conn-pod and killed by a kaiju while he's still connected to Sansa, she barely manages to kill the creature before stumbling back to shore, traumatized, grieving, and swearing that she'll never pilot again.

Unfortunately, the Kaiju don't stop just because Sansa does, and when the end of the world is imminent, Marshall Catelyn Stark orders both her daughter and former pilot Jaime Lannister (who lost his twin and copilot, Cersei, several years previously) back to Hong Kong for one final stand. Forced to face both her demons and an irate Arya, furious that Sansa had abandoned the rest of them after Robb's death, Sansa and Arya have to figure out how to pilot Winter Wolf together before the apocalypse comes for them all.

Featuring Marshall Catelyn Stark (commander of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, inventor of the neural handshake, former Jaeger pilot, and BAMF), Sansa x Jon Umber (Yes i know it's a rare pair but i've always kind of loved the idea of them, even though we know so little about him), Kaiju parts dealer and smuggler Petyr Baelish, bickering kaiju biologist Dany and theoretical mathematician Jon Snow, LOCCENT officer Theon, lots of snark, lots of angst and heartfelt conversations, and a weird friendship between snarky-grieving-asshole Jaime Lannister and kind-quiet-grieving Sansa Stark, who are the only two people in the world who know what it's like to lose a copilot and a twin in the drift.

Thanks for reading guys!! There are more, but some of them I just don't know how to explain quite yet, haha. I'd love to hear what you guys think about these!

[yenslilac]

Why Sansa Hated Daenerys

Many reasons have been brought up before, but I thought I would beat the dead horse a bit more :)

Sansa hated Dany in Season 8, for reasons that aren't truly explained in the show, and it has been left to fans to try make head or tail of it. These range from Author Inserts to plain old Jealousy. In my opinion Sansa was not written to hate Daenerys for any one specific reason, more just to sow the seeds of discord within the story. However, I still that Sansa did hate Dany for a specific reason, even if the writers did not intend that way (because lets face it, they didn't intend anything), through the story already set out, common sense, and Sansa' s character established on the show. Make sense? Not too confusing? Good. Let's get into it.

Lady Sansa, Queen-to-be

Sansa was the eldest daughter of House Stark, one of the Great Houses of Westeros. She would have known from a young ish age that she would be married to another heir from a Great House in the South, where she wanted to be. She was most like her mother in the fact that she had an affinity for the South, rather than her home the North. She adopts a 'posh' Southern accent. I'm going to say that even though her siblings also have southern accents, probably because child actors are often just not capable of Yorkshire accents, and I feel Sansa would have done that anyway.

It was probably discussed, or accepted before the events of Season One, that Sansa would marry Joffrey. Sansa is infatuated with him and makes her best efforts to have him like her back. So it's easy to understand that for most of her life, Sansa would have expected to marry the best nobility or royalty.

This slightly changes with the realisation that Joffrey is, well, Joffrey. But Sansa is then quickly moved in the direction of Loras Tyrell. The Tyrells are a rich, Great House and Margaery, the future Queen, would be her sister in law. Sansa would not be losing much. A few more problems are thrown into the mix, but they don't properly shake Sansa from her social standing or access to riches.

She is married to Tyrion, who does not abuse her and respects her (I'd like to reiterate this is show only) and as the uncle to the King, yes she is not free of Cersei and Joffrey but Tyrion does his best to shield her from them. Again he is rich as a Lannister and she receives an invitation to Highgarden. She is still a Lady, with some stigma, but she attends royal banquets and her wedding looks like it was expensive.

In the Vale it starts to go downhill, but even though she is outwardly not a Stark, she is still treated as a sort of nobility. She is also informally promised to Robin, which would make her Lady of the Vale, another Great House. Of course she is emotionally and physically abused by her aunt, who is then killed, and this is when it all spirals. I won't talk about Season 5, that is an obvious terrible part of her arc and she had nothing good in it.

Heir to the North

So fast forward to end of Season Six. With Littlefinger's army, the BotB is won and Jon is made King. I do not think Sansa was very happy about this - I think she was half expecting to be praised or credited with saving the battle by getting Littlefinger to bring his army. But Jon is crowned King instead. No matter, Sansa is still a Princess AND here's the the golden nugget - Sansa is heir to the North. Jon is unmarried and has no children, making Sansa his heir. Sansa, no doubt, figured out that she had a very good chance of inheriting the North.

Why? Well, the North was not out of the woods yet. Their armies were depleted and they were facing an enemy on two fronts. The Army of the Dead in the North, and the Lannisters in the South. Jon had proved himself to lead by example. That's a nice way of saying he plunges headlong into battle alongside his men. Looking at this, even if Sansa was the loveliest person in the world, she still would have thought "There's a very high chance that he would die in either battle." It's fair to say that Jon's (second) death was quite likely, especially against the Army of the Dead.

So Sansa's claim to Winterfell was pretty good even with the arrival of Arya, who as a younger sister didn't have a claim over her, and any and all incriminating evidence against Sansa was probably destroyed in Season Seven.

Here Comes the Bride Queen

And everything is thrown on its head in Season Eight. Jon has pledged the North to Queen Daenerys Stormborn. And everything that fell into place for Sansa has tumbled down.

Sansa probably remembers the conversation her and Littlefinger had back in Season Seven

Jon is young and unmarried. Daenerys is young and unmarried. Together they would be difficult to defeat.

Uh oh. Sansa sees Jon is in love with Dany, and probably hopes to marry her. And Daenerys? Sansa sees an eligible bride for Jon, who, to her knowledge, is capable of bearing heirs. Not too mention that the Kingdom of the North doesn't exist anymore. So in a short time Sansa finds herself without a kingdom to inherit, and probably a life spent a Lady of Winterfell far away in the North. "But Sansa began to love the North!" Some of you may cry. Well.... I think Sansa appreciated the North after coming back. But I think she also wanted power. With the North independent, the power would be in Winterfell. She would be at the center of the North's power. If the North stayed part of the Seven Kingdoms, the power would be in King's Landing. Far, far away from Sansa. She would be stuck in an isolated land away from everyone she knows.

Dany is threat to Sansa, NOT BECAUSE she is taking away Jon, but because she is taking any power Sansa had been given by others. Sansa is eager to betray Jon's trust because if he becomes rightful King, she can wiggle her way into a high position or convince him to make the North independent. Daenerys was not likely to do those things, as Sansa had already undermined her many times. No smart ruler would grant extra power to a tricky ally. So Sansa manoeuvres her 'downfall'. It was actually a bit of a dumb move - Sansa had no way of knowing how loyal Tyrion was to Dany, and she didn't know how Jon would react to her betraying him and spreading secrets. In a normal situation it probably would have blown up in her face.

To Conclude

Sansa hated and betrayed Daenerys because of her hunger for power and control. She was probably jealous of Jon for the praise he gained from the Northern Lords, and betrayed his trust to get a pretty crown, but did so very clumsily and obviously that she didn't deserve and Queenship or a reputation as a smart character.

[silver-wedding]

Dany and Sansa - An unexpected bond.

I have written just a bit about Sansa in the past, but I would like to go more in depth with how I think she will react to Jon and Dany’s relationship. I mentioned how Sansa might be suspicious of Daenerys’ intentions due to the environment she was trapped in, learning to distrust everyone while Littlefinger attempted to manipulate her.

Sansa may soon learn that Dany is unlike any lady of noble birth she has ever met, and eventually understand that Daenerys only gained her strength after enduring a massive amount of trauma. A trauma that Sansa herself is unfortunately all too familiar with, as external forces attempted to use the Targaryen and Stark names for personal gain.

Currently, the Stark and Targaryen alliance holds all of the cards. Cersei’s armies are broken, forced into the Crownlands and would still be massively outnumbered with the Golden Company’s arrival. Before all of this the Lannisters and Tyrells were once the biggest players of the game, with Margaery and Cersei becoming enemies almost immediately.

Sansa and Daenerys are not Margaery and Cersei, which should be self-evident. One major difference here is that Margaery was not in love with either Joffrey or Tommen, which Cersei was keenly aware of. Daenerys is in love with Jon, and Sansa is already aware of the idea that they might want marry thanks to her conversation with Littlefinger. The real conflict may come when Jon’s heritage is revealed, but I believe that will be resolved between Jon and Daenerys themselves.

We will not see a bitter rivalry between two women within an alliance that ends in one killing the other. This already happened when Cersei murdered her way to the Iron Throne.

Instead, I think we’ll see two find a bond during a time in which everyone they know and love will be in more danger than ever before.

Mistrust

Sansa will distrust Daenerys at first, due to her many experiences with nobles that would say anything to get ahead. She may initially believe that Dany manipulated Jon into bending the knee, simply because Sansa does not know what happened during the Wight Hunt. Sansa was also one of the first to refer to Dany as the “Mad King’s daughter”, and told Jon it was foolish to accept the meeting in Dragonstone. Communication has always been a problem between Jon and Sansa since their reunion, and a discussion that brings the truth into light will be necessary to secure the alliance.

This does not mean that Sansa will coldly dismiss Daenerys and pretend to courteous the entire season. She had a ton of respect for Margaery because of her ability to garner love from almost anyone. She also had a similar respect for Cersei, because of her talent for producing fear. So what will happen when she meets the queen that is capable of both love and fear? The woman who found who love with Sansa’s brother that once ran towards death during the Battle of the Bastards?

I believe Sansa will develop an admiration towards Dany, although it will be a gradual build as they have both gathered emotional armor after suffering through so much. It may even take watching Daenerys defending Winterfell from atop Drogon for real trust to be established, as Ned once said “we find our true friends on the battlefield”. Above all else, Sansa now values her family and home more than anything. She would do anything to protect the Starks, and if that means being Dany’s ally she may do everything she can to ensure success against their shared enemies.

Jon Snow

Despite their many arguments and constantly contradicting one another even in front of the northern lords, Jon and Sansa care about one another’s well being just as any brother and sister should. The main reason why Sansa did not want Jon to leave Winterfell was because of the potential danger in leaving behind all of the military strength they had managed to gather. These soldiers would be of no use to Jon outside of the north as they continued to build their defenses. When Jon returns as Warden of the North with the powerful ally he intended to bring, Sansa will have mixed feelings.

On one hand, Jon proved everyone wrong yet again, and knew what they would need to face the Night King. On the other hand, he gave up his crown and relinquished the idea of independence. There might come a time when the northern lords realize that independence won’t defeat the Army of the Dead, but that this will not happen immediately. Jon and Dany will have the shared task of bridging their armies together for the sake of survival. The proud knights of the Vale will have to ride the Dothraki Bloodriders, and northern troops will have to stand with the Unsullied. The dragons will cause a massive amount of fear despite being there to combat the dead.

The complexity of being Aegon Targaryen will complicate matters even more during a time in which will be filled with more casualties than they could ever be prepared for. The most important theme of this entire story is that division will cause the destruction of everything they know and love. Jon realized this a long time ago, as he tried to bring the Freefolk in allies of the Night’s Watch despite their shared animosity. He died for this cause, which this tells me that he’ll do everything he can to fully unite the Starks and Targaryens. He will be hurt, confused, and shaken by the revelation, but he’ll carry on knowing he has something to protect.

Friendship

Daenerys will be more concerned with what Jon’s family thinks of her than whatever colorful commentary that the northerner lords come up with. This will be a completely different experience for her, and she will want to make a good impression with his siblings. Dany always wanted to find a real home, and Winterfell might be exactly what she she is looking for.

This could be one of Dany’s vulnerabilities that I think will be explored in Season 8, and why I believe her relationship with Sansa will not be confrontational. Sansa might see Dany as feeling like a stranger in a strange place, almost like her initial time in King’s Landing. Accept this time Sansa will be in a position to genuinely help Dany feel welcome despite the circumstances.

In the very first episode of the series, Cersei almost mockingly asked Sansa to weave a dress for her. Sansa meekly agreed to do so, but this never happened. Now imagine Sansa doing this for Daenerys instead, the queen who has come to Winterfell with all of her armies to save the north. With so much at stake, I have a hard time seeing Dany and Sansa being petty towards one another.

They will both have greater reasons to direct all of their frustrations and anger towards the Night King and Cersei.