#Twow spoilers

[sanrixian]

From our TWOW coverage," "Mercy" with Lady Gwyn, .This piece was inspired and modeled after Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith Slaying Holofernes. Painted live on twitch.tv/sanrixian

[laurellerual]

One thing I love about Arya in the book is that her physical appearance (hair) and looks reflects her situation most of the time so I was wondering if you had a favorite Arya outfit in the books ? And why ?

💜💜💜

Funny purple cape! It's just a weird choice... and has lots of pokets with intersting stuff in them

[atopvisenyashill]

The Princess of Dorne: Why Theories Predicated On Arianne Wanting Queenship Above All Are BS

I'm not whacking anyone I'm just saying. Please return to the text.

"Our clothes make us different people. I would sooner be flesh and blood than silks and jewels, and you…you are not your white cloak, ser.”

There is this attitude about Arianne in fandom that drives me nutso. It is the idea that she is somehow nothing but a vain party girl, and that her ultimate ending will be to die in a fiery doom with Aegon because she is a vapid, silly girl who will reach too far in her ambitions. I am here to tell you two things.

That is not at all how Arianne acts in canon. You are falling for the front she puts on and nothing more.

Arianne does not want to be Queen.

I started with the above quote to illustrate my ultimate point - Arianne is not nearly as vain as people make her out to be. Much like many women in this series - Cersei, Sansa, Margaery, and Daenerys - Arianne uses silks and jewels as weapons because that is the world she was born into. This does not make her sillier or more stupid than any of these women; in fact, she shows a remarkable amount of empathy even in her worst moments. She is intelligent, and driven, and yes ambitious but what is seen as a good thing in a white woman like Margaery is seen as a negative in a brown woman like Arianne. I think there's a misunderstanding of her desires, due to her interesting role as a pov that is also an heiress. Let's dig in.

“I will not say that you are wrong.” His voice was hoarse. “Will not? Cannot! Myrcella is more fit for rule …” “A son comes before a daughter.” “Why? What god has made it so? I am my father’s heir. Should I give up my rights to my brothers?”

This conversation between Arys Oakheart and Arianne in the shadow city is the first time Arianne lets us in on what she's thinking. If you notice - she is hyperfocused on the idea of being her father's heir and denied her right to inherit Sunspear and Dorne. And of course that's what she's focused on. Crowning Myrcella is merely a means to an end. What she wants is Sunspear, what she wants is to be Princess of Done - what she wants most of all is her father's respect. If she has an ally as Queen, and forces the realm to accept women in ruling positions, she secures her own role as a ruling princess of Dorne (or so she thinks).

"Would you let your daughter be despoiled of her rights and locked away in prison?"

I believe there's a misunderstanding of her motives because people ascribe to her what other ambitious women want, which is to be Queen. But Arianne is not like these other women. Arianne is supposed to inherit in her own right. Arianne has her own title that she's after, her own ancestral seat to rule from, and that is emotionally much more important to her than any marriage, than any other title. Tyrion doesn't dream of being Hand so much as he dreams of being his father's heir. Stannis' longing centers a lot more around what he feels is a denial of a relationship by Robert when Robert gives Storm's End, their father's seat, to Renly. And look to the other heiress in the series, Dany. Why does Dany want the Iron Throne? Because her father sat it. Because Rhaegar fought and died for it. It's not to say that she would say no to being Queen - it's just that it's not her goal, it's not her ambition, it's not what she's planning to do. The idea of Arianne as queen isn't even introduced to us until her last chapter - before that her focus is on Dorne.

“You do not know my father. I have been disappointing him since I first arrived in this world without a cock. Half a dozen times he has tried to marry me to toothless greybeards, each more contemptible than the last. He never commanded me to wed them, I grant you, but the offers alone prove how little he regards me.” “Even so, you are his heir.” “Am I?” “He left you to rule in Sunspear when he took himself off to his Water Gardens, did he not?” “To rule? No. He left his cousin Ser Manfrey as castellan, old blind Ricasso as seneschal, his bailiffs to collect duties and taxes for his treasurer Alyse Ladybright to count, his shariffs to police the shadow city, his justiciars to sit in judgment, and Maester Myles to deal with any letters not requiring the prince’s own attention. Above them all he placed the Red Viper. My charge was feasts and frolics, and the entertainment of distinguished guests. Oberyn would visit the Water Gardens twice a fortnight. Me, he summoned twice a year. I am not the heir my father wants, he has made that plain. Our laws constrain him, but he would sooner have my brother follow him, I know it.”

Notice - her ire towards Quentyn and Doran is founded in the idea that they mean to set her aside. This isn't a theory she just came upon - she found a very suspicious letter that seemed to imply so-

When I went to blow it out, I found a letter lying incomplete beside it, a letter to my brother Quentyn, off at Yronwood. My father told Quentyn that he must do all that his maester and his master-at-arms required of him, because ‘one day you will sit where I sit and rule all Dorne, and a ruler must be strong of mind and body.’” A tear crept down Arianne’s soft cheek. “My father’s words, written in his own hand. They burned themselves into my memory. I cried myself to sleep that night, and many nights thereafter.”

Her anger at Quentyn is often used as a way to whack her. She's juvenile, she's silly, she's paranoid. But how do you say to a supposedly misogynistic father who is regularly attempting to marry you off to old men below your station that you believe he is trying to usurp you? How do you bring this up? I don't think she's wrong to come to this conclusion, nor do I think she's wrong to lash out at Doran over it. And what's more is that neither does Doran believe she is wrong to lash out at him. He apolgoizes to her.

If she can be set aside so easily, then every woman in Dorne can be set aside just as easily. Arys notes she's trembling when she speaks to him- she really does believe her father means to set her aside, and that is a deep, personal, horrible betrayal. And all of this, all of this fear, is centered around Doran and Dorne and Sunspear. Like Tyrion, like Jon Snow, like Daenerys, like the Dance era Targaryens she mentions in Rhaenyra and Aegon II, she is interested in inheriting the seat of her Father because it represents acceptance by her Father, because it represents her Father's love.

"Anders Yronwood is Criston Cole reborn. He whispers in my brother’s ear that he should rule after my father, that it is not right for men to kneel to women…that Arianne especially is unfit to rule, being the willful wanton that she is.”

She wants Dorne. She wants her father's seat. She wants her father's love. She does not want that spiky chair, nor does she dream of being Queen. She doesn't even dream about being in King's Landing! Sure she tempts Arys with dreams about them being free to be together, but in her chapters, she's not dreaming about being with him, she is dreaming about her inheritance which is....Dorne. She's not subtle about it, she says it plainly!

Do you see the white one, Quentyn? That is Nymeria's star, burning bright, and that milky band behind her, those are ten thousand ships. She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I. You will not rob me of my birthright!

That, and my birthright. I want Sunspear, and my father's seat. I want Dorne.

And back to this idea that Arianne is silly and unserious - again, it's a defense. Just as her romantic notions to Arys are merely a front to convince him to do what she wants, Arianne speaks breezily but throughout her chapters is in fact very serious and anxious. She knows what she's doing is dangerous, and tries to keep everything on track. And while certainly her plan is foolhardy....is it any worse than Doran's plans to send Quentyn on a wild chase after Dany? It's not as if she isn't somewhat prepared - she has her own spies, loyal to her from the orphans of the Greenblood. Nor does she act particularly rashly when she knows she's beaten - it's Arys Oakheart who charges, over the objections of everyone there including Arianne. Again, I'm not saying its a good plan but I am saying it's not all that much worse than half the plots in this series, and she is not stupid or foolish when it comes to actually enacting it.

And she's compassionate. She is sweet to Myrcella from the jump, she calls Arys "my white knight" after he dies, she argues for her friends to be given leniancy. And, of course, again, she says-

Come morning all of this will vanish, the princess told herself, but when morning came, she was still in her cell, Ser Arys was still dead, and Myrcella . . . I never wanted that, never. I meant the girl no harm. All I wanted was for her to be a queen. If we had not been betrayed . . .

was for MYRCELLA to be Queen.

And how do her feelings change when her father finally lets her in on his plans?

Standing was an act of love. Standing was an act of faith. He believes in me. I will not fail him.

My father fears the same. “If not, though… if this truly is Jon Connington, if the boy is Rhaegar’s son…” “Are you hoping that he is, or that he’s not?” “I… it would give great joy to my father if Elia’s son were still alive. He loved his sister well.” “It was you I asked about, not your father.” So it was. “I was seven when Elia died. They say I held her daughter Rhaenys once, when I was too young to remember. Aegon will be a stranger to me, whether true or false.” The princess paused. “We looked for Rhaegar’s sister, not his son.” Her father had confided in Ser Daemon when he chose him as his daughter’s shield; with him at least she could speak freely. “I would sooner it were Quentyn who’d returned.” “Or so you say,” said Daemon Sand. “Good night, princess.” He bowed to her, and left her standing there. What did he mean by that? Arianne watched him walk away. What sort of sister would I be, if I did not want my brother back? It was true, she had resented Quentyn for all those years that she had thought their father meant to name him as his heir in place of her, but that had turned out to be just a misunderstanding. She was the heir to Dorne, she had her father’s word on that. Quentyn would have his dragon queen, Daenerys.

Oh look!!!! Her thoughts are still preoccupied with DORNE and HER FATHER.

Oftentimes, her resentment of Quentyn is used against her, to show she's still silly, to show she's going to do something risky and elope with Aegon VI. And while yes, she is very preoccupied with Quentyn, the entire two chapters are about her wanting to love Quentyn again. Not for his sake, but for her father's. She's spent years believing they are going to usurp her; now she has to reckon with the fat that she was wrong, and she still barely knows who Quentyn is, truly. She is constantly reflecting on him, on her relationship with him, on who he might be. Yes, it is a bit foreboding but I don't believe it's a sure thing that she feels weird about Quentyn because she wants to one up him - she's spent her whole life thinking he would one up her and now she's reeling.

What would a maid that age want with her dull, bookish brother? Young girls dreamed of dashing knights with wicked smiles, not solemn boys who always did their duty. She will want Dorne, though. If she hopes to sit the Iron Throne, she must have Sunspear. If Quentyn was the price for that, this dragon queen would pay it. What if she was at Griffin’s End with Connington, and all this about another Targaryen was just some sort of subtle ruse? Her brother could well be with her. King Quentyn. Will I need to kneel to him? No good would come of wondering about it. Quentyn would be king or he would not. I pray Daenerys treats him him more gently than she did her own brother.

And even through all this turmoil, another point in ARianne's favor is, once again, she is not silly or frivilous. It's a shield! Another thing used against her is her taste in men but never, not once is Arianne played by a pretty face. She does not trust Darkstar, she enlists his help because of his abilities in a fight, but she knows he is angry and violent! She isn't played by him, she is actively attempting to use him!! Just because she acknowledges he is handsome, doesn't mean she's fooled!

Arianne watched him warily. He is highborn enough to make a worthy consort, she thought. Father would question my good sense, but our children would be as beautiful as dragonlords. If there was a handsomer man in Dorne, she did not know him. Ser Gerold Dayne had an aquiline nose, high cheekbones, a strong jaw. He kept his face clean-shaven, but his thick hair fell to his collar like a silver glacier, divided by a streak of midnight black. He has a cruel mouth, though, and a crueler tongue. His eyes seemed black as he sat outlined against the dying sun, sharpening his steel, but she had looked at them from a closer vantage and she knew that they were purple. Dark purple. Dark and angry.

And on that point, she doesn't trust Lysono either!

Lysono Maar spoke the Common Tongue very well. “I have the honor to be the eyes and ears of the Golden Company, princess.” “You look…” She hesitated. “…like a woman?” He laughed. “That I am not.” “…like a Targaryen,” Arianne insisted. His eyes were a pale lilac, his hair a waterfall of white and gold. All the same, something about him made her skin crawl. Was this what Viserys looked like? she found herself wondering. If so perhaps it is a good thing he is dead. Lysono Maar spoke the Common Tongue very well. “I have the honor to be the eyes and ears of the Golden Company, princess.” “You look…” She hesitated. “…like a woman?” He laughed. “That I am not.” “…like a Targaryen,” Arianne insisted. His eyes were a pale lilac, his hair a waterfall of white and gold. All the same, something about him made her skin crawl. Was this what Viserys looked like? she found herself wondering. If so perhaps it is a good thing he is dead.

In fact, Arianne is uncomfortably with her youthful infatuations with bad boys-

"And what did you do, princess?" asked Spotted Sylva. I sat beside the well and pretended that some robber knight had brought me here to have his way with me, she thought, a tall hard man with black eyes and a widow's peak. The memory made her uneasy.

She seduces Arys with the express purpose of using him - she thinks as much in her fight with Doran, when she mentions it took her six months to seduce Arys. She gets playful with Daemon, but a) it does not make her stupid to simply desire to have sex with someone, and we know she uses birth control and b) when he rejects her, she cuts the shit and remains on track.

All of this to say - Arianne thinks through her plots, even if she is not the best at them. Her resentment of Quentyn and her father are not just very well founded in a very rational sort of paranoia, but her own father directly absolves her of any blame because it wasn't Arianne that was in the wrong. She stays on track, she isn't silly, and most of all, she does not want to be Queen. She wants to be Princess of Dorne. She wants to be her father's heir, and she wants Doran to believe her a worthy heir. This is why I believe in the idea that Aegon will elope with Elia and not Arianne - Arianne wants to be a Queenmaker not Queen herself. She will be met with an opportunity to have a queenmaking plot that is a little more put together and that will be her moral test - not whether she will choose to be queen herself.

[jackoshadows]

I think Jon Snow's assassination is confirmation that Jeyne Poole is headed to Braavos.

As Theon points out in the TWoW sample chapter, if mutiny had not happened at the Wall, the charade would be up with Jon Snow noticing that Jeyne is not Arya. And there's no reason for anyone to take Jeyne Poole to Braavos.

Pay it, aye, thought Theon. Pay it with false coin. Jon Snow would see through the imposter surely at once. Lord Stark’s sullen bastard had known Jeyne Poole, and he had always been fond of his little half-sister Arya. - Theon, TWoW

Justin Massey, however, has lost his lands and Stannis is ready to reward him only if he returns. Stannis also declares that Asha Greyjoy is already married and Massey thinks that Stannis is overconfident and will be defeated.

With Jon Snow now dead, I can see Justin Massey having designs on Arya Stark and trying to claim Winterfell that way. And Jeyne would prefer getting far away from the Boltons rather than staying in Westeros/The Wall. Ironically Braavos is where Jon Snow wanted to send the real Arya. And yes, Alysane Mormont may continue accompanying 'Arya Stark' to Braavos.

And because Jon Snow is dead/being resurrected - whatever - Justin Massey is going to travel on from Castle Black (CB) to Eastwatch-By-The-Sea (EBTS) without Jeyne ever meeting Jon.

Jeyne would however know of what happened to the Lord Commander or the 'Black Bastard of the Wall' as he's known on Braavos. And that's information she's most surely sharing with the real Arya Stark when they meet.

And that's one of the chapters I am most looking forward to. Jeyne and Arya meeting after some two plus years, two kids who knew each other in Winterfell. And their differences now.

And if Justin Massey is able to travel via CB to EBTS that means the situation at the Wall should have stabilized a bit with Stannis' people (The Kingsmen/Queensmen) having some semblance of power or control. The only POV who can give us all this - the situation at the Wall, what is happening with Jon, Justin and Jeyne passing through etc. - is Melisandre. I am expecting a lot of Melisandre POV chapters in TWoW.

[iceywolf24]

THEON TWOW SAMPLE CHAPTER SPOILERS.

I can't be sure but I think it is kind of being set up that Bran will be involved with the battle in the ice.

First his presence is felt in the chapter even outside of the ravens

She has to understand. She is my sister. He never wanted to do any harm to Bran or Rickon. Reek made him kill those boys, not him Reek but the other one. "I am no kinslayer," he insisted. He told her how he bedded down with Ramsay’s bitches, warned her that Winterfell was full of ghosts. "The swords were gone. Four, I think, or five. I don’t recall. The stone kings are angry." He was shaking by then, trembling like an autumn leaf. "The heart tree knew my name. The old gods. Theon, I heard them whisper. There was no wind but the leaves were moving. Theon, they said. My name is Theon." It was good to say the name. The more he said it, the less like he was to forget.

How Theon didn't kill Bran and Rickon, how Bran communicated with Theon using the heart tree.

While the talk about the Stone Kings being angry comes from Theon not knowing that Bran and the others took the swords, it might be teasing Bran's anger at what's been done to Winterfell, it's people especially Theon and Jeyne.

The maester mopped sweat from his brow with his sleeve. "N-not entirely, Your Grace. Most, yes. Some few can be taught to fly between two castles. Such birds are greatly prized. And once in a very great while, we find a raven who can learn the names of three or four or five castles, and fly to each upon command. Birds as clever as that come along only once in a hundred years.

Stannis gestured at the black birds in the cages. "These two are not so clever, I presume."

Wouldn't be so sure of that Stannis, also nice comparison with how there are rare special ravens and how special greenseers are.

King Stannis ignored the jibe. "Boys" was all he said, disgusted. "Boys will not hold Lord Bolton long." "Not long," Theon agreed. "Not long at all." "Not long," cried the raven from its cage.

"The ground?" said Theon. "What ground? Here? This misbegotten tower? This wretched little village? You have no high ground here, no walls to hide beyond, no natural defenses." “Yet.” "Yet," both ravens screamed in unison. Then one quorked, and the other muttered, "Tree, tree, tree."

Interesting how the ravens interrupt when Stannis say boys can't do much and how they have no natural defenses yet. I wonder who's been described as a green boy and has power over nature

"Answer me. If we were to loose these birds, would they return to the Dreadfort?" The king leaned forward. "Or might they fly for Winterfell instead?"

And suddenly there came a wild thumping, as the maester’s ravens hopped and flapped inside their cages, their black feathers flying as they beat against the bars with loud and raucous caws. "The tree," one squawked, "the tree, the tree," whilst the second screamed only, "Theon, Theon, Theon."

Bran is likely trying to communicate with the weirwood. It isn't easy to speak through weirwoods, but Bran can actually say his own words even if it's slow and limited and not just repeat like he has to do with ravens.

He might communicate to Stannis that he wants to use ravens to show paths to catch the Boltons by surprise. Stannis bringing up the ravens knowing the way to castles might be hinting at this.

"Men like to know their god is with them when they go to battle." "Not all your men worship the same god."

"You northmen brought these snows upon us," insisted Corliss Penny. "You and your demon trees."

Plus it's been set up that the old gods belief is strong with the mountain clansmen, if they see Bran helping them with the power of the old gods, it will surely boost their morale while discouraging the Bolton army seeing the old gods working against them.

They might get paranoid that they're being punished by the gods for breaking guest right at the red wedding.

Plus the r'hllor followers seeing the old gods help might shake up their beliefs as well.

Battles had been fought at Winterfell before, but never one without a Stark on one side or the other - Jon VII ADWD

Also this.

[alwaysdaenerys]

I just feel bad for show-only fans of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon sometimes, you know? Because the way that GOT ended, and the way HOTD is going to end, it's...bleak. All of the characters in the Dance of the Dragon saga are doomed; no one we truly love and care about is going to make it through, guys. It's horrible, actually. There is no victor--if that's even what we need anyway--and the status quo remains, crushing everyone beneath it's enormous, never-ending wheel: it's grim-dark and heartbreaking.

ASOIAF was supposed to be GRRM's response to that tragedy. A woman's family is usurped, she will take back what is hers, and achieve what her ancestor could not. But sadly, Game of Thrones is not ASOIAF and if you only watch the shows, you are going to see Rhaenyra go the same way as Daenerys, murdered and once again usurped. George wrote Rhaenyra as a tragic character, there is no doubt, but Daenerys is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE. She is meant change the status quo that tramples the smallfolk/women/cripples/ bastards/and broken things/etc. She is meant to live on and plants trees.

If you only watch the shows, all hope is lost. Nothing is solved. Nothing can truly be achieved. Nothing has changed. The wheel continues to turn. My heart aches to think that you will see the parallels and you'll wonder: is this the same exact thing as before? Did we learn anything?

I just hope book fans can get some relief, you know? Because George's ending absolutely cannot leave us without something to look forward to, without something to be proud of. He said bittersweet: not happy, not tragic, not hopeless. What future can the characters of GOT look forward to with an ending like that?

The Dance of the Dragons is the tragic tale, because ASOIAF is the dream of spring.

[ai-manre]

Reread Sansa's sample TWOW chapter today after very long, and I enjoyed it so much! I had totally forgotten how much I like book!Sansa. Especially her Alayne chapters are so good, where she is teasing knights, gossiping with Lady Myranda, and having fun in general.

I see fans often claiming that Sansa is going to be Queen eventually because she has a leadership/ruler arc. This is flat-out wrong. She does not have a ruler arc, in the Vale, Sansa is learning two things:

Being a Lady of the House. She is doing all the household management, organization, image politicking, handling the guests and house members in the appropriate manners etc. She is also playing at being the proper Westerosi maiden, flirting with Harry and other knights, and acting the scared damsel in distress when needed. And what's more, she is good at it and loving it.

Scheming. That's what she is learning from Littlefinger. To be a political schemer, playing the game of thrones and manipulating things behind the scenes. Littlefinger is no leader by himself, he's a player.

In other words, she is following in Catelyn's footsteps of being a lady with political acumen. Fitting the mold of the society but also exceeding it. Only, Sansa has the advantage of a teacher like Littlefinger (I'm only talking about his scheming skill which he is teaching), so eventually she will get to succeed where Catelyn had failed.

This is why I don't see any chance of her being a ruler in her own name, because till now, Sansa's arc has never been about ruling. In the Eyrie, her role and thoughts are myopically focused on the household, the guests they must entertain, coaxing Sweetrobin, the schemes to play, the right image to project, which servants are suited to which task and such. It's never about how winter impact will impact the kingdom how much food is in their granaries, how the smallfolk are faring, how well she thinks the existing governing systems are functioning, how well justice is being done, how to benefit the kingdom as a whole.

This is big picture stuff, elements of ruling a kingdom or an institution, not just a household. These are all elements very strongly present from the beginning in the arcs of the leaders: Dany, Cersei, Jon, Tyrion. The difference is noticeable especially in the case of the main budding leaders of the story: Dany and Jon, where such qualities had existed in them even before actually becoming leaders. For example, Jon spends AGOT gaining a leadership position among the new recruits of the Night's Watch inspiring them, he assesses the existing institution and framework of the Night's Watch and finds it lacking when someone like Sam is not utilized, negotiates with Maester Aemon based on his argument that every tool has its place, gets himself into a position where he's groomed for leadership. Dany spends AGOT learning to command, first by rightly assessing Viserys and ordering him punished, then proactively taking the Lhazareen women under her protection against Drogo's wish, then inspiring the rest of her khalasar and Ser Jorah to become hers, her men. Those traits had to be planted very early for both Dany and Jon to become such competent leaders at their young age. In each book, they encountered leadership challenges, they led people, negotiated deals, showed military prowess, administrative actions, had clear visions of what they wanted to change.

[lloyd-007]

Huh I don’t remember this happening in avatar

[sanrixian]

Euron TWOW sample chapter art, created live with Joe Magician and Egg.

[tonyloom]

Spoilers TWOW

“Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” she sang sadly. A foolish, giddy girl she’d been, but good hearted. She would miss her, and she would miss Daena and the Snapper and the rest, even Izembaro and Bobono. This would make trouble for the Sealord and the envoy with the chicken on his chest, she did not doubt. She would think about that later, though. Just now, there was no time. I had best run. Mercy still had some lines to say, her first lines and her last, and Izembaro would have her pretty little empty head if she were late for her own rape.

A study of Charles-Alexandre Coessin De La Fosse (French, 1829-1910)

[atopvisenyashill]

elia sand, queen of (what’s left of) the seven kingdoms

HEAR ME OUT.

probably the biggest and most important question after you accept “king bran in harrenhal” into your life, is but bran can’t have kids. that’s correct. or well, it’s potentially correct - everyone in universe seems to think he won’t be physically capable of having a child because of his paralysis. BUT. that doesn’t mean he won’t marry nor does that mean that there isn’t a potential benefit to him not being able to have children.

now, there have been several marriages made to bring peace after conflict - dorne is involved in several of thess with the matches of maron & daenerys as well as daeron & myriah. the marriages of robert & cersei and jaehaera and aegon iii were…less successful attempts at this. so even if bran isn’t expected to have kids, it’s possible that a marriage for him would see prudent as a way of brokering peace in some symbolic way. what better candidate than dorne, really, given the similarities between their people and what dorne & the north have lost (in differing colors for formatting reasons)-

"I promise." Promise me, Ned, Lyanna's voice echoed. The prince is a sentimental man, and he still mourns his sister Elia and her sweet babe.

Lyanna had only been sixteen, a child-woman of surpassing loveliness. Ned had loved her with all his heart. "As children Elia and I were inseparable, much like your own brother and sister."

That was his curse. Robert would swear undying love and forget them before evenfall, but Ned Stark kept his vows. He thought of the promises he'd made Lyanna as she lay dying, and the price he'd paid to keep them. "If you die before you say her name, ser, I will hunt you through all seven hells," he promised.

Archmaester Brude, who was born and raised in the shadow city that huddles beneath the crumbling walls of Sunspear, once famously observed that Dorne has more in common with the distant North than either does with the realms that lie between them.

"Robert, I ask you, what did we rise against Aerys Targaryen for, if not to put an end to the murder of children?" "Four lives will suffice for me. Lord Tywin's golden twins, as payment for Elia's children. The old lion, for Elia herself. And last of all the little king, for my father." "The boy has never wronged us."

but why justify elia sand specifically though? well-

Robb bristled at that. "The Westerlings are better blood than the Freys. They're an ancient line, descended from the First Men. The Kings of the Rock sometimes wed Westerlings before the Conquest, and there was another Jeyne Westerling who was queen to King Maegor three hundred years ago."

Arianne read the letter thrice, then rolled it up and tucked it back into her sleeve. A dragon has returned to Westeros, but not the dragon my father was expecting...Fire and blood was what Jon Connington (if indeed it was him) was offering as well. Or was it? "He comes with sellswords, but no dragons," Prince Doran had told her, the night the raven came… “Elia's son... I would weep for joy if some part of my sister had survived, but what proof do we have that this is Aegon?"

wild Elia Sand, a maid of ten-and-four.

Five yards from the gates Elia Sand came flying from the cloud of dust behind them to rush past both of them on her black filly. “Are you half horse, child?" Valena asked, laughing, in the yard. "Princess, did you bring a stable girl?" “I'm Elia," the girl announced. "Lady Lance."

Not even Lord Rickard's daughter could outrace him, and that one was half a horse herself.

When his fallen foes sought to ransom horse and armor, the Knight of the Laughing Tree spoke in a booming voice through his helm, saying, 'Teach your squires honor, that shall be ransom enough.' Once the defeated knights chastised their squires sharply, their horses and armor were returned. And so the little crannogman's prayer was answered.

"Rise. Tell me, who is Lyanna Mormont?" "One of Lady Maege's daughters, Sire. The youngest. She was named for my lord father's sister."

so two joust loving, sassy 14 year old girls are rolling up to A Targaryen Prince who is about to be TESTED by all his Promised Princeliness. Elia Sand, named after Elia, Rhaegar’s wife, and Lyanna, who has a living namesake in Lyanna Mormont. robb justifies his marriage to jeyne by saying kings have married westerlings before…and if elia and aegon elope like some other Unruly 14 Year Old/Targaryen Prince, he has the power to legitimize her, and this excuse could be used again.

As everyone decides what should be done about Bran’s marriage, Elia Sand is pressed forward - she’s around his age (only four years older), she has been legitimized (is perhaps even going by Elia Martell), she is, like jeyne westerling, a crownless little queen without a princely son or a living kingly husband. And as people start to grumble about her baseborn heritage, Arianne will point out that no one is expecting Bran to have children, and it’s merely symbolic - a way of giving Dorne a say in rebuilding Westeros, and if attempting to reunite what’s left of the kingdoms.

[vivid-ink]

It hits different when you realise that Neteyam wanted to go home...

...That his last words would probably have been "Dad, I'm sorry."

...That he did, in fact, get to go home... to the forest; to his childhood where he was carefree, and felt his father was proud of him...

It still hurts so bad that we lost him. But he is in his happy place now. 🥺Perhaps there is peace in that for us.

RIP Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk'itan - Mighty warrior and the best big brother ever. 😭

[whxre-bxby]

"Eywa's Will"

Recom Lyle Wainfleet x Recom f. Y/N

Masterlist

Summary: Ever since Y/N and Lyle woke up as recombinants, they felt drawn to one another. Neither of them could explain the feeling until the day they both almost lost each other. It seemed as though Eywa was willing to even save those who once threatened her.

(1K special request from @bluritch)

WARNINGS: (no smut) Angst, fluff, death, blood, near-death experience, forming of tsaheylu

Word Count: 2253

I thought I was on the verge of death once again. My body was soaked in the cold salty water of the ocean that was slowly engulfing the SeaDragon. 

The loud noises of screams and shouts have calmed down now. The sun set behind the eclipse and the sky was dark, clouded with the smoke of damaged machines. 

I felt alone, clutching onto the soaked vest attached to my body. My body was exhausted and in pain, all I could do was close my eyes and come back to my senses. My lungs hurt and my chest felt heavy after I almost drowned in the water. My mind was a blur, I was incapable of doing much else than staying still. Blood was oozing out of my body, staining my clothes around my ribcage. I don’t remember how I got injured or what caused it. Everything went too fast. All I know is that there used to be more of us, and now it seemed as though I really was alone. 

Where Jake went I don’t know, but to be completely honest, I don’t care. If he were in front of me or in sight I would wave it off and let him be, in hopes of him letting me live. But my chances of survival seemed pretty low. I was cold, hurt, and weak. Every part of me was bruised, all my muscles felt strained and my bones ached. So I lay back, letting my dizzy head drop down against the cold and wettened metal of the sinking ship. Hopefully, I die before it submerges me in the water again. 

I felt like I was slowly drifting asleep. My eyelids felt heavy and I couldn’t remember the past few minutes. Suddenly, my ears twitched when I heard a loud crash somewhere behind me. However, I didn’t move. It was probably the ship falling apart and my body hurt too much to get up and check. 

“Shit!” I heard a distant curse. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and my ears twitched again while I wondered whether I actually heard that or whether I was starting to imagine things. Suddenly, there were fast yet irregular footsteps approaching me. 

‘What the fuck?’ I thought, hoping it wouldn’t be Jake or any other Na’vi. 

“Y/N?!” the voice called and finally my eyes shot open. I recognised the voice. It called my name again and I turned my head, slowly propping myself up on my elbows. 

“Ow- fuck.” I groaned, biting my tongue in pain at the small movements. 

Suddenly, a large blue body fell to its knees beside me and a pair of hands gripped my shoulders. 

“Are you okay? You hurt? Can you hear me?” It called, pulling me up so that I was sitting upright while the hands examined me and checked for injuries. I hiss in pain, immediately clutching my side and it stops moving me around. 

I finally look up and feel a sense of comfort. 

“Lyle?” I gasp. Relief floods me when I realise I’m not alone anymore.

“Fuck,” he sighs, running a hand over his face in disbelief. “I thought you were dead.”

I don’t reply. I thought I was going to die, so I don’t know how to respond. 

“Show me.” he says, gently pulling up my shirt to see my wound while I raise my arm. His ears pin back when he sees how bad it is. 

“Are you hurt?” I ask, but he waves me off in a decline. My eyes scan his body and I can see he isn’t doing much better. He was able to limp to me on his last strength. Cuts and bruises litter his skin and there’s a gory slash along his shoulder. 

“You can’t stay here.” he mumbled, but it seems like he said it to himself. 

“How did you find me?” I ask him. Before laying down, I knew very well that no one was near because I called out for them and there was no reply. The deck was empty apart from the few dead bodies. Lyle must have literally been searching for me to find me here. I wasn’t exactly out in the open. 

He stared at me for a few moments, as if he were unsure of what to say. 

“I don’t know,” he said and his voice was slightly softer now. He had a hand placed on my back and it gave me all the comfort and support I needed. 

“I just… followed it.” 

His words were almost whispered but I caught them just in time. 

“Followed what?” I ask again. 

He takes a few moments to reply. His slightly saddened eyes are gazing into mine. 

“The feeling.” 

My strained ears of pain rise briskly as I replay his words in my head. 

There was something between us but I never knew what it was. It wasn’t something that worried me, but I noticed it.

Ever since we woke up as recombinants, I felt drawn to Lyle. I found a lot of comfort in him and I used to think it was just because he was a superior. Lyle was our Corporal and had just recently been promoted to a better rank. But we were never friends before. We were friendly, but not close. 

Whenever I felt drawn to him, I would sometimes stare. But often, he wouldn’t just stare back, I would catch him staring me down too. 

Of course, I thought that he might just find me attractive. He didn’t look too bad himself. However, the longer we felt this way, I discovered that it was deeper. Whenever we were in the same room, I realised that I could feel Lyle. Quite literally feel him. When this happened I would look over at him to find him already looking at me, which made me think there is a small chance he might feel it too.  Even at night, when we weren’t around each other, my queue would tingle and suddenly I felt him again. It would scare me and I would flinch in bed, turning on the light to make sure no one was in the room with me, but I was always alone. 

Not once did I confront him about it. We had a mission to complete here. This was our job and also quite literally our life purpose now. There was no time to focus on things that could be shrugged off and deemed as Avatar malfunctions. 

…

Lyle did in fact feel the same thing Y/N did. Yet he too needed to focus on the mission. He had to be setting an example for the other recoms so he definitely couldn’t let himself be fazed by foreign feelings. Neither of them understood what they were feeling but they seemed to be connected like one would be through tsaheylu, just without the bond. 

When the SeaDragon was sinking, Lyle felt weak. But suddenly, that feeling returned and he no longer just felt the pain in his shoulder but he felt it near his ribcage. When he checked for an injury, it wasn’t there. 

Then for a reason Lyle wouldn’t be able to explain, he got up and pushed back his own pain. You came to his mind and he was met with the worry of you being hurt or even dead. Without any hesitation, Lyle started to search the ship for you, ignoring the fact that Jake or Neytiri could come to kill him at any moment. He just had to find you and make sure you were alright. 

“The feeling…” Lyle said, again.

“You.” 

My lips parted and I gasped silently. “You felt it too?” 

He nodded and I could sense uncertainty. We knew our Avatars would be drawn to Pandora and with the new body came new feelings that we as humans could never understand. 

“Lyle, I-” I say, leaning forward to him before hissing in pain. His hands once again support my weak body and he holds me against him, letting me lean on him. 

“Shit.” he curses under his breath again. The blood was now flowing down my stomach and had already covered my arm red. It was colouring the small puddles of water around us red too. 

He pressed his palm against my ribcage, applying agonisingly painful pressure to reduce my blood loss. I whine, digging my fingers into his arm and clenching my eyes closed. 

Lyle frantically looked around but all the medkits you had were on the already sunken part of the ship. He was afraid that if he would go to fetch them, he would return to you already dead. 

“Just hold on, someone’ll come get us.” he said, pressing against me harder when he realises the blood was still leaving my body. 

I look up at him and I can tell he doesn’t even believe his own words. No one would come all the way out here for a few Avatars they can make again. 

“Lyle, they don’t care about us…” I whisper, staring down at my artificial body. 

“Just don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” he says, trying his best to sound reassuring but I know he’s lying to make me feel better. His voice was breaking and his hands trembled, making me hold on to him tighter. 

We sat in silence for what felt like a long time to me but must have only been a few minutes. Lyle wrapped his large arms around me and finally, I felt safe again. 

My eyelids were growing heavy again but I couldn’t peacefully close them because I was too cold before. Now I was cold too, but it didn’t seem like I was going to sleep. I felt like I wasn’t going to open them ever again.

Lyle must have noticed my sudden stillness. Perhaps my breaths were not as heavy anymore or he couldn’t feel my thudding heartbeat any longer. Either way, he panicked and gently nudged me so that I would open my eyes again. 

“Y/N? Come on, stay with me here.” he said, hooking his hands under my arms and pulling me further against his chest. I tried to keep them open, but they kept closing and suddenly I seemed to lose all strength in my limbs. My hands slowly slipped down from Lyle’s arms which really scared him. 

He was moving around and doing something while tapping my cheek and lightly shaking me to keep me awake. But I couldn’t anymore. I felt myself fading away and Lyle’s voice and his movements and touch no longer influenced me at all. 

Lyle had been fighting the feeling of connection with you this entire time. He had been fighting that, his new body, its longing for Pandora, and he had been fighting Eywa’s will. 

Suddenly, many emotions flooded him and they mixed with the worry he had of losing you. 

Maybe, finally acknowledging the connection between you two would save you.

Lyle had heard Eywa and this time, he listened to her. 

I had lost my senses even if I wasn’t consciously aware of this. Everything had faded and turned dark and my body no longer reacted to touch or the cold. 

Just when it seemed that all hope was lost, I saw a white light. My eyes were closed but I saw it, inside. I felt it. Within seconds, my senses returned and I could feel my body again. But this time, I also felt Lyle’s. 

My eyes shoot open and I gasp for air. Lyle is hovering above me, cradling my body while his eyes are fixated on my face. He looks relieved. 

“Holy shit, it worked.” he whispered as he helped me once again sit up. I guess I must have laid down before. 

“What happened?” I ask, quite literally not remembering much. I look around us and notice odd-looking things floating around us. A few of them landed on my body, but they didn't seem threatening. I think Grace once said that they were the seedlings of sacred trees. Pure spirits connected to Eywa.

“The connection. It saved you.” he whispered, and I glanced down into his palm to see he connected our queues. There was a white light in the area where our cords formed the bond and I noticed how both our pupils lightly dilated. 

“You formed tsaheylu?” I ask, being able to sit up myself now without feeling much pain. The bleeding surprisingly stopped. 

“I didn’t know it worked.” he chuckled, amazed by the power of the bond. I didn’t know either. 

I stared down at our braids, enjoying the close feeling I had to him. Lyle brought his hand up and placed it on my cheek. My eyes met his soft gaze and he gave me a faint smile. 

“How do you feel?” he asked me. My eyes nervously flicker between the two of his. 

“Better.” I breathe out, letting out a gentle chuckle while I still processed what happened. 

“You?”

“A lot fuckin’ better.” he replied, grinning happily. 

I smile and nod, looking down at the ground. 

“Come on,” Lyle said, helping me to my feet after getting up himself. “Let’s get outta here.” 

The specks of luminescent light on our skin seemed to glow brighter when we were connected. Maybe there was more to this place than met the eye. 

If you would have asked a Na’vi about what was happening to them, they wouldn’t know either because that type of connection was extremely rare. They would just say, that it is Eywa’s will for it to be that way. Eywa knows best, so she must have her reasons to connect them. Even if they are not a part of the life cycle of Pandora. Perhaps, one day they will be…

Tag List: @numarusworld @number1gal @drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed @jatwow @ikranwings

[krittec]

i feel like if you didn’t forgive Alma in your playthrough, she shouldn’t be allowed back into camp or have lines in the dlc like we’re all bestie besties again bc what she did is unforgivable. why does she think she still has a place here after what she did and then going on to defend it??

if this entire dlc is her redemption i’m gonna be so pissed off

[swordmaid]

video on twitter with the da people and they dont know who zevran is...it's so fucking over omfg

[tsukikonikushimi]

I have revived my very old and very unused twitter acc @/tsukikolizzie (x) and so if you have twitter and want notifications of when I post here (regarding Avatar, Arcane, Spiderverse, etc.), feel free to follow me there. It's still a wip so it's pretty messy for now!

Boys of Progress page later today!