#a version or arya's story?

[kierancaz]

Forgot how FUCKING ANNOYING people are in pretentious fandoms. I googled to see if there’s a censored version of House of The Dragon bc thanks to my current situation I don’t have any privacy and there are kids around but I still want to watch the show and someone was apparently looking for that on Reddit but the only replies they got were a bunch of ppl being like “oh if you can’t handle some boobs this series isn’t for you” and even someone who was like “I’m a girl too and I’m asking genuinely why does it bother you to see some nudity. It’s a natural part of the body.”

Like SHUT THE FUCK UP ALL OF YOU JUST GIVE THIS PERSON AND ME THE ANSWER WE WANT DAMNIT. Some of y’all act like the only thing to these stories is the sex and nudity and shit like I get it some of the scenes are important to the plot but not NEARLY as many of them are important as HBO puts in. I want to watch Game of Thrones and House of The Dragon because I can see even from the outside they have really interesting characters and interesting plots and cool visuals and costumes and scores that are beautiful and cool to listen to and deep world building that is so interesting and amazing actors that are so good at their jobs and sets that are so awesome and really good cgi. Why is it such a big fucking deal when someone doesn’t want to see a dick ??? Or some boobs ??? I feel like it’s more weird that everyone is so fucking chill about seeing those part of people and you SHOULD be a little uncomfortable by it. They’re called private parts for a fucking reason. Sorry my brain isn’t totally rotted and desensitized by porn that I don’t like looking at people completely butt ass naked and fucking their siblings and getting assaulted MY FUCKING BAD I GUESS.

I’m literally just here for the fucking dragons my guy I don’t want to see Deamon Targaryen’s full fucking moon.

[modern-inheritance]

Modern Inheritance: Grip (Title to be figured out later) (Trigger Warning)

(TW: Allusions to and metaphors for SA/Attempted SA, pinning by someone in a position of power, torture, Durza being Durza. The usual besides that.)

Everything hurt.

That wasn’t new. Durza being the one to take her back to her cell was unusual, but it wasn’t new. He kept his hand wrapped firmly around the wild start of her braid, tight against the base of her skull. Half pushing, half pulling her forward as the cracked bones in her left leg forced muscles to give out every other step. 

The fact that he had stopped the torture before she had gone unconscious even once…that was new. And it wasn’t like it hadn’t been ‘productive’ for him. Arya’s throat was raw from screaming, the lingering feeling of red hot iron pushing against bone pulsing through her body. It had been difficult to stay awake, even more difficult to struggle onto her hands and knees and try to stand after he released her restraints.

Always get up. Her rule for surviving this place. Spitting in Durza’s face was a close runner up to that, but it wasn’t always feasible, water being withheld and all.

The cell door crashed shut. Everything flared white and searing when her body hit the ground, shocking her back to a brittle alertness. 

She took a few moments to breathe, bands of muscle and ribs clamoring in protest of the deep inhales and tight exhales, and then forced herself to roll onto her back. The cell floor was always cool. It would take some time for the chill to seep through the tunic, he hadn’t left the snaps open this time, but it would reach the wounds that lined her back eventually. Some modicum of relief.

Arya froze a split second. 

Durza was looming over her. Still inside the cell. 

That was definitely new.

She tried to rise up on her elbows, start clawing her way back to upright. Get up. Always get up.

He pounced. Slammed her back to the floor with an animalistic growl. Her raw wrists were clamped in one of his pale hands, pinned above her head, his other palm pressing hard into her collarbone. His weight settled on her hips, knees tight to her sides, jamming into the bruised flesh.

Arya snarled and thrashed, tried to lift herself against his hold. He pushed back, squeezed tighter, leaned closer. Closer….

His eyes. There was something different about his eyes. 

A cold jolt of lightning struck in Arya’s belly. It made her still, eyes wide, teeth locked and lips tight. 

What was that look? That…that wasn’t there before when he looked at her. He’d always been predatory, always regarded her with a certain calculating gaze that bordered on gleeful, amused, hungry even. Bloodlust dominated it, thrilled at having such a resilient plaything at his disposal.

But this was…this was an altogether different gleam of hunger.

His perch on her hips was suddenly much more alarming. 

She turned her head away, tried to free her wrists as blood slickened his grip. He responded by digging his nails in deep, her bare flesh giving way as easily as if he had pierced her with blades. 

“Now, now.” Arya jerked involuntarily, fingers trying desperately to claw at empty air, anything to loosen his hold. His breath was cold against her exposed neck, suddenly very close. “None of that. Where would you go, little elf? There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” Fuck, she could feel him smiling. 

A harsh growl rattled from deep in her chest when his free hand trailed over her throat. The soft laugh he responded with was far from comforting. His fingertips, nails pricking as they went, drifted from the near-black cut arching up from her jaw, down the soft underside and lingered over her jugular. He seemed to revel in the frantic beat of her thready pulse and leaned closer, inspecting the bright lines of blood that welled up in the wake of his touch. 

A sudden thrash of her pinned hips nearly dislodged him. The desperate twist sliced agony from the base of her skull to the bottom of her heels, a clipped cry tearing from her as fresh burns ripped open, half sealed wounds oozing blood onto the floor. 

Durza released a growl of his own at the sound, desperate and hungry. His hand found a renewed grip on her throat and tore away the prison tunic. 

The elf snapped her teeth back at him, hands finally free, scratching and clawing like a feral animal. The damp air of the cell on her bare chest was a bucket of ice water in her veins, blotting out the pain, the bile rising. 

If she could get him off, then she could fight properly. His fingers around her throat were the only thing controlling her upper body, and with them there he had to fend off both her hands tearing at his face with only one of his own. 

Eyes. Those fucking disgusting eyes. 

Arya surged forward, vision fading at the edges, lunging for his head. She felt her fingers latch on, thumbs driving up and in and

Two of his fingers. Between her ribs. 

Inside. Her ribs. 

Well, if that wasn’t a metaphor….

“Does this hurt, little elf?” His chuckle was low, deep in his throat. He knocked her trembling grasp away with a shake of his head, crimson hair wild and flashing bloody in the moonlight. 

‘Yes!’ If his other hand hadn’t been around her throat she was sure she would have screamed her response, everything in her body spasming as his clawed fingertips grazed something inside her chest. 

She could feel him searching for it again, the disgustingly satisfied noise he made when her eyes shocked wide and a strangled gurgle rose from her mouth when he made contact.

Durza eased his weight back from her neck. Licked his lips when the woman’s eyes rolled back at the influx of air, the reflexive gasp. 

The sensation of her lung pressing against his fingertips, warm, wet. The thrashing as her body tried to get away from the source of pain, pulsing the muscles to contract around him, clamp her ribs tight down on his fingers. Her ragged half screams that ended in growls of frustration, only to be replaced by new, unavoidable agony as her starved blood forced her to take another breath. Begin the cycle again.

Oh, yes. This was what he was drawn to. What he wanted. The feeling of her writhing beneath him. Corded muscle under his hand, the strength she still had, her fighting back with every ounce of it only to find a fresh reserve. Her nails, blunted, half missing from his treatment, digging into his forearm as she dragged up more and more resolve in the face of agony unimaginable. 

The Shade did nothing to hide the delighted shudder that rushed up his spine, eyelids fluttering as he inhaled. No fear. He never smelled fear on her. The sharp scent of anger, of boiling blood, of glass-shard tenacity….

This one…this one would never stop fighting. Such a resilient, resistant plaything. 

He wanted that. He hadn’t felt this in a long time.

And then the logic surged forward, drowning out the rabble and screaming of the spirits to take, take, take. 

Not now, not yet. Mustn't break such a delightful toy, ravage such a treat, so soon. He should savor it. If he pushed too far, if he took his pleasure now, all at once, gorged himself on it, then it would be gone forever. She would fight far longer than this. More, now that she had seen his intent.

Intent.

Her eyes were somehow still open. Even when he twisted the two fingers buried in her chest cavity, they stayed open. Burning. Boring into him. Unmistakable in her intent. A promise.

If he did this, and she didn’t manage to kill him, then it would be the death of her. She would do her damnedest to take him over into the abyss with her. 

No matter his fate, she would die with a smile on her lips through the screams. 

And he didn’t want that. 

Slowly, with every molecule of his mind and the spirits swirling within it screaming in discontent, Durza slid his fingers from between her ribs. Wordless spells closed the rifts left as they retreated until, with a quiet squelch of blood and crackle of cartilage, he broke the connection between their bodies. All that remained as evidence was a ragged scab. 

His arm twitched. He ripped the scab open. 

The spirits were nothing if not petty in their spite.

Arya coughed hard, the oxygen rush spotting her vision just as the frothy blood splattered the ground. He’d stopped. Why would he stop? If he was going to have his way then get it done with. If anything it could distract him enough for her to get at his eyes again. Rip them out and crush them.

The second she could feel her muscles, she tried to twist out from under him. 

All it earned her was his hand around her throat yet again, the side of his palm digging into the underside of her jaw. His thumb wandering, running over her skin as if stroking to soothe. Possessive.

Rat bastard.

“If I did not think it would kill us both,” The man-shaped monster mused, dragging his claws across her abdomen, over the silvered scar bolting from her hip, as her body flexed and tensed with her jerking movements. “I would have you for myself.” 

He was suddenly at her neck again. Faster than she could suck in a breath his filed teeth sank into her collarbone. It splintered like old wood, snapped to pieces under the force. 

She didn't even have the breath to scream.

And then he was off her. Staring down at the mess he had made, tracing her form with eyes gleaming in the ghostly moonlight that dripped from the barred window. Licking the blood from his thin lips slowly. Savoring it.

If she had anything in her stomach, Arya would have lost it at the sight. 

As it was she struggled to sit up. Her right arm popped and ground against its own weight, sagging limp at her side as she pushed off the floor with her left. She met his gaze with the malice of a fucking god, ignored the carnal smile that curled his lips as she shifted her good leg under and started to rise, still barechested and her body on display. 

She wore the lack of modesty as she would full battle rattle, head high, tenacity in her veins, fight on, fight on.

Get up. Always get up. Doesn’t matter what’s going on, what’s been done, what you have or don’t have. 

Get. Up. Now.

And then Durza’s stupid, shiny boot connected with her right shoulder with a resounding snap. 

The elf howled, slammed back to the ground again in bright flashes of blinding white and the smell of burning. It felt as though a landmine had gone off inside her trapezius, shredded muscle and bone and nerves and she could feel her shoulder blade in pieces pressing up against the back of her ribs and into the flesh above her shoulder. Her right side was on fire, rivaling the irons and the spells and it was all so much.

“I think that’s enough for today, little elf.” Cartilage and bone fragments crackled as Durza shifted his weight, leaned over her to pluck the discarded prisoner tunic from the bloodstained floor. “You have been most…giving, for me today.”

She couldn’t answer, not even with a glare. Her eyes were screwed shut, left hand pawing pathetically at his boot.  

He removed it after a few long moments of contemplation, reveling in the sight of the agony he had caused. A quick check and brief spell healed the tiny tears in her arteries and veins that threatened to rupture, protected them from bone shards until he deigned to heal the ruined arm. The elf lay gasping in air when he finally stepped away.

The cell door closed behind him with a satisfying clang. He waited. He knew she wouldn’t let herself stay there for long. 

It was a handful of minutes. Longer than most times he had left her conscious. But he soon heard the scuffle, the hissed noises of a creature fighting through pain. The stumbling patter of her bare feet as she staggered to the cell door and fell against it. 

Oh, how brave and foolish of her. She curled her left fingers around the bars in the window for support and glared out at him, wheezing through clenched teeth. 

The look was easy enough to decipher. It’s why he had waited, after all. One last humiliation for the day.

Durza let his face split with a languid smile, all bloodstained teeth and ill contained satisfaction. He hooked the bloodied tunic with the tips of his index and pointer fingers, held it up for her to see. “Want this back, do you?”

Her expression didn’t change, all fire in her eyes and stone on her face. A trickle of sweat fell from her temple, the effort of standing even with the door’s support taxing her to the ends of her failing strength. 

The Shade hummed. He stepped back, twisted mirth in his maroon gaze, and held her shirt out to her. Beyond her reach. And she was not quite so foolish as to put her last good arm through the bars.

The smile widened. 

He let the garment fall from the tips of his fingers. It landed on the floor in a sad pile, snaps clicking on the concrete.

Her gaze followed it. Flicked back to him and she narrowed her eyes.

Slowly, painfully, the woman unfurled just her middle finger from where it was clamped around the bars. 

Durza merely tossed back his head and laughed. 

And then his hand was through the window, fingers fisted in her hair. He slammed her face against the bars, her cheek tight to the metal as he leaned in and whispered in her ear. 

“Do not make me revisit my decision, little elf. I could have you whenever I wish.” He bared his teeth as she did. He could feel her shaking in his grip, pain or weakness or some combination of the two. 

It wasn’t fear. She still smelled of cold rage. No fear, no terror. He smiled again, renewed heat stirring in his belly. “A worthy death, taking one of your kind. And such a feisty one at that.”

She snapped her teeth and rumbled a growl pierced by the crackling of trapped air deep inside her chest. Rammed her intact shoulder into the door even harder than he had yanked her forward. It rattled on its hinges, another reserve of strength neither of them expected. 

But the jolt was enough. The woman gave a ragged groan and sank to the ground, curled against the reinforced oak as the waves of agony overwhelmed her mind. Her consciousness faded, disappeared, as she was dragged into the darkness, away from it all.

Durza stood before the door for several moments longer, focusing deep within himself. Quelled the ache and heat and placated the spirits screaming for him to continue, to forget his higher self.  The rabble subdued to a murmur, he turned back to the stairs at the end of the hall.

Another day. He would have his prize.

[hewantshisbrideback]

Personally will never understand the perpetual fancasting of Mackenzie Foy as Arya... She doesn't look like her description and I don't really see her expressions or presentation as matching her — not hate, necessarily, like, if she's Arya to you, go for it, but it's really hard to suspend my disbelief and buy into it even for graphics and gifsets

[lost-tales-ffxiv]

Arya Gastaurknan

[branwinged]

i should've mentioned it in that dragons can plant trees post, but magic in asoiaf is partly being recontextualised through both bran and dany, in bran's case, he's (at least temporarily) inheriting bloodraven's weirwood network which he historically used to run some version of a surveillance state when he was hand. but already bran's involvement with is thematically panning out differently, bran answering theon's anguished prayers to the heart tree in winterfell is saying: this is the new face of the old gods and if they had been cold and unforgiving before, that could change. "gods do not weep, do they?" thinks theon, but we know bran does, "if i cry, will the tree begin to weep?"—now i don't entirely understand where bran's arc is going but also don't think he's meant to fully reject whatever bloodraven and the children are offering to teach him, the way sansa needs to reject littlefinger's overall cynical philosophy but there is benefit to being exposed to the realities of the world, not that it had to happen in such a violent manner. the way arya has picked up valueable skills and knowledge at the house of black and white and eventually rejecting the faceless men does not mean forgetting all that.

similarly, dragons have been historical weapons of war and tools of conquest in the freehold, yes, but already they're, i.e. the last remnant of old valyria is helping dismantle the freehold's imperial and slaveholding legacy. it's a dragon eating its own tail! and what is dany's story if not a cycle of destruction and then after that, rebirth.

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

People in the ASOIAF fandom are very obsessed with passive women they can project onto. The obsessions with the characters of show!Alicent, Sansa, Elia, and Helaena are perfect examples of this.

In the show, Alicent is changed from a woman who actively seeks power and heads the scheming of the green faction into a passive victim who watches and reacts to the men around her. And yet, despite this being a much more boring characterization, the show version is vastly more preferred by her stans. They condemn her book character as simply an "evil stepmother trope" while completely ignoring how their fav is just as blank and tropey as they accuse her book counterpart to be. Alicent stans want her to be the show's blank victimized canvas.

Helaena is someone who the show changed very little in the adaptation, because both book and show Helaena have little impact on the plot other than to be victims of their surroundings. Both women are forced to marry Aegon at thirteen and have his children, go through B&C, and are the least active members of the green faction. The show only added elements to make her more tragic: her dreaming and autistic behaviors. Helaena's character makes her the perfect canvas for certain fans to project themselves onto as she simply exists to be victimized and play the dutiful wife/daughter despite her circumstances, just like the show version of her mother.

Elia Martell is a woman who we know very little about. She died thirteen years before the events of ASOIAF and, unlike characters like Rhaegar and Lyanna, she has no pov characters who think about her enough for us to learn anything about her. The only things we know are that she was loved by her family, was in an arranged marriage to Rhaegar, had his two (confirmed) children, and was brutally raped and murdered by Lannister men. She is an unknown character and, again unlike Rhaegar and Lyanna, has no known active role in the events surrounding the Rebellion. Because of these things, she is, again, the perfect blank canvas for people to project on.

Sansa is, despite being a prominent pov character in ASOIAF, a very passive character. She rarely takes action in her circumstances and simply reacts to them while trying to survive. There's nothing wrong with this, she's a young girl who has never had to fight for anything in her life, it's not unexpected or condemnable for her reaction to her circumstances to be this way. However, her passivity is something her stans obsess over. She is praised for being the "perfect lady" and they project their desires to see her rule onto her and how they view her story.

These women have been chosen by these fans because of their passivity and tragedy. They love that the women have suffered in the name of the "duty" they believe is higher than them. Because they love passivity, they hate the women of ASOIAF who are active in their own lives and fight to better their circumstances. Characters like Rhaenyra, Arya, Daenerys, and Lyanna are all massive influences on the world and purposely chose to challenge the patriarchy. Since they did not take their suffering silently, theses certain fans view them as wrong and hate them. They only love the women they can project on and who simply refuse to fight for better lives.

[saltywinteradult]

i cannot put into words how badly i need arya to end up as the northern version of oberyn martell (minus the gruesome death). i want my girl to travel and see as much of the world as she can, to meet as many people as she can, to experience love and loss and adventure and freedom. to return home to winterfell whenever she wants to spend time with her family, and bring lovely gifts and incredible stories from all over the world. please george, for the love of god. my girl has been through enough. let her live.

[jackoshadows]

It's weird how a TV show's fanbase are these days attacking the actual authors of the books or people connected to the source material for daring to criticize the TV adaptation of story/themes/characters they are intimately familiar with.

I mean, when we as an audience can criticize a TV show for doing so and so and not making sense or mutilating characters and their arcs, surely authors who know the source material better than anyone also have a right to do so?

This happened with Brandon Sanderson when he criticized the Wheel of Time adaptation on Amazon Prime and show fanatics then went on to attack him and his writing of the WOT books. And it's now happening with GRRM calling out the HOTD adaptation on HBO.

And a lot of the times the changes in story and character are not even because of budget or time constraints and all that. It's because the showrunners/writers simply thinking they know better than the actual author of the books or that their version is better or that their favorite characters need more screentime and plot while sidelining the main characters of the books. It's their fanfiction which they get networks to finance by using the IP of popular fantasy works out there.

The reason we got only mild criticism from GRRM after GOT ended was because the books were not finished and D&D had no source material to adapt. That is not the case with HOTD and F&B.

Anyways, I don't watch HOTD after the way HBO/D&D massacred the ASoIaF books with GOT and don't intend to. The nihilism of HBO's version of this world - especially after what HBO/D&D did to the character of Daenerys Targaryen - is not for me. The world is already shitty enough for women, I don't need it in my fiction as well.

In fact I hope HBO is angry enough with GRRM that they stop consulting with him for future prequels etc. - which leaves GRRM time for finishing THE WINDS OF EFFING WINTER!! Like come on GRRM. Jon Snow has been lying dead in the snow for 13 years! Dany is still in Essos! Arya is still in Braavos! Bran has had 3 chapters in 19 years! Finish the book. That's all ASoIaF fans want at this point, IMO.

[la-pheacienne]

So let me get this straight.

If I believe that a particular character should be ruler/would be a good ruler/would have been a good ruler/deserves to be ruler/will probably end up being ruler/was unfairly deprived of their rulership, be it dany, or jon, or rhaenyra or rhaegar or arya or bran or stannis the mannis (ew) or my neighbour or your mother or whomever the hell you want them to be, I am classist. And royalist. And conservative. And going against the themes of asoiaf. Because no one can fix westeros, because there are no good rulers/there can be no good rulers/rulership is inherently bad/inherently moraly wrong/ the throne is doomed to be destroyed because it is the root of all evil-

But somehow if you believe that one particular character, coincidentally your fave, will probably be a ruler (queen in the north or in any other position of FEUDAL power- ruling is not just reserved to the iron throne btw), or that she should be a ruler or that she would be a good ruler, you are somehow not classist or royalist or conservative.

Can somebody tell me why that is? What is the justification behind your speculation in the first place? Why will she/why should she be a ruler? Because she deserves it? Because she has been through so much? Because she's strong and powerful and resilient? Okay? So, the only meaningful difference between your take and my take is that I actually (naively!) have faith in the possibility that a character that has been established again and again as a progressive and radical leader could possibly contribute to a meaningful radical collective change in the world while you just consider rulership as a prize, as a reward for individual struggle? And somehow that makes me more conservative? That makes me a classist? Besties, it is literally the other way round.

I don't even hate that character. I am pretty neutral towards her, I would even say that I am sympathetic towards her. And I actually believe she will end up in a position of power (not queen in the north but a position of power nonetheless). Yes, in a position of feudal power, that's what I mean, that's the only real power any character could ever have in a book series that is set in a pseudomedieval world. But you need to be very careful before you start throwing around classism and royalism and conservatism accusations at people for actively engaging with a pseudomedieval fantasy (fantasy!!) book series whose entire foundation is the question "what is a good leader?", "what makes a good leader?", "how does someone become a good leader?", "how could this system become slightly better?", "what are the powers that stop any real progress? how can these powers be defeated?" The answers to these questions in asoiaf are not easy or automatic. But they exist. All of these questions have answers in the text. Concrete, solid answers, whether you like it or not. Believing in the truth of those answers simply means we engage with the themes of the (fictional!) story. It simply makes us fans of the text. It does not make us stupid or naive, and it definitely does not make us conservative.

There is nothing that I despise more in this fandom than the double standard of "oh you are so lame if you actually believe someone could/will be a good ruler, nobody should be king or queen, meanwhile let's talk about my fave's ruling arc" (asoiaf version), or "oh you are so lame if you actually believe a particular character should have been ruler and not the other, that makes you a classist and we're not, all sides are bad because monarchy, meanwhile let's dedicate 99,9% of our posts explaining why one side is wrong. One specific side. Entirely coincidentally, since we do not take sides" (fire and blood version).

The meaningful difference between these two fandom "factions" is that one is honest and openly engages with the themes of the story in an organic and positive and hopeful way, while the other is just this annoying group of college kids repeating the same, holier-than-thou, pseudo-intellectual takes ad infinitum to appear smarter than anyone else while carefully concealing their obvious bias.

[hello-nichya-here]

i hate that the general public has the ideia that sandor only sees sansa as a "little sister" and has a stronger bond with arya… got did irreparable damage to society

I get far less mad at the "He's closer to Arya" thing when the people saying it are honest about refering solely to show as that's the only version of the story they've consumed. What I cannot stand is the people that only watched the show and then try to use it as evidence to claim Sandor was closer to Arya IN THE BOOKS THEY'VE NEVER EVEN FUCKING READ!

Buddy, in the books he beat, threatened and insulted her every other paragraph. He HAD moments of campassion towards her, and Arya did take notice and retribute it sometimes, but their dynamic is overwhelmingly negative and toxic. They're not friends, he doesn't see her as someone dear to him, and Arya was 110% justified in leaving him to die - something Sandor himself acknowledges.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe has good in him, and that he will BECOME a good person, as that's clearly what's being set up, but for 90% of the story he is an absolute bastard, even when actively trying to be nice to the Stark girls - and he has ALWAYS put way more effort to be gentler towards Sansa than he ever did to anyone else on Earth, Arya very much included.

He talks about her all the time, makes his romantic/sexual interest in her very clear, and cries on his "death" about how he failed to protect her. More importantly, while he DID threaten Sansa when offering to rescue her, he was in the middle of a PTSD episode, and all it took for him to breakdown crying and leave her alone was her singing a song about mercy. He never bonded with Arya on that level or ever got even close to respecting her wish to not be around him like he did with Sansa.

And let's not forget why Sansa sang to him: because Sandor demanded a LOVE SONG about the fool-turned-knight that rescued the pretty girl and then became her lover. He wants to be Sansa's hero and wants her to LOVE him. He almost kissed her during that whole mess, and George R.R. Martin has Sansa misremember the event to include an actual kiss, because Sansa was, in his own words, "correcting" that moment - not by ignoring all the awful parts of it mind you, but by making Fantasy!Sandor act on his obvious attraction to her, because the fact that he didn't was more important in her head than him literally threatening her life.

In case that last bit didn't make obvious: the book was not subtle about Sandor NOT thinking of Sansa as his "little sister", but as the object of his lust/love AND the poor, innocent maiden that is waiting for a true knight to rescue her and safely take her back to her family's castle - and despite her not being reckless enough to run off with such an unstable man, Sansa DOES have feelings for him too. Hell, even the show wasn't always unwilling to go there, as they do have some moments that scream "there's something there"

I REALLY need to make a whole separate post on how GOT completely destroyed Sansa and Arya (plus Sandor) as characters, and how their dynamics with "The Hound" were all wrong since Dumb & Dumber clearly didn't get that they were not supposed to side with Sandor's "everyone is awful, so all awful things are justified" mentality.

[atopvisenyashill]

Worst things GOT did casting wise:

- making Dany too beautiful (+ styling her in a way that she never has a hair out of place, always wears BLUE - which makes her look peaceful and soft and angelic, not making her burn her hair off etc). I just think of that one official art piece that's in the illustrated AGOT book where dany is bald, with the dragons and sparks and frames around her and its so striking instead of the "beautiful angelic blonde women stand empowered with her tits out" scene we got

- casting Iain Glen as Jorah and not like. a random Lannister (like. Come on. He is a burly and ugly man... why are you casting one of the most beautiful men to play him.... this is how we ended up with dany/jorah shippers)

-making Joffrey too unattractive (this is not meant to disparage JG who is a great actor and seems like a really cool dude and i'm not saying he's ugly but I think from his very first scene Joffrey looks very punchable and it would have been so much smarter to make the audience .. relate to Sansa's infatuation with his golden looks. In my head (and in all the official art) Joffrey looks like a male version of cersei/a younger version of Jaime.)

- making Dany, Jon, Robb, Marg, Brienne etc 10+ years older than Sansa and the younger starklings .... It's not "the main characters and arya (who is so cool and can kill people) + the little children" it's ONE AGE group of equally important characters

Like I know people are upset at Ned/Jon etc being too attractive, WHICH I GET, but I feel like those were very vibe based casting decisions and i'm ultimately fine with that (I also think it's easier for the audience to root for someone if they're attractive so like. I guess they had to do it) but these other things resulated in people's perception of the characters being so wildly different from what they're supposed to be. The real reason people get so angry whenever someone says they wish tamzin had stayed is because they don't like the idea of daenerys not being this ethereal beauty (TM is beautiful but not in a conventional way) that they can fully root for without issue.

1. NO YOU ARE SOOOOOO RIGHT ABOUT THEM REFUSING TO LET DANY LOOK UGLY. it’s not to say tamzin isn’t clearly beautiful, but i think she’s beautiful in the same way gwendoline christie is, which is that she’s very striking and she has a strong presence but she’s not exactly what people picture when they say “typical hot lady” (which is Crazy these are all able bodied white women, like the definition of “beauty” is soooooo fuckijg narrow that tamzin merchant is ~atypically beautiful) vs emilia definitely is, and YES like everything from not burning her hair off to emilia being,,,,,fuller in figure than dany as a fourteen year old would be is just very clear that they saw dany different than the way she is On The Page. i mean i know people whack george for saying that she’s like a sexy funny lady or whatever but george never lets go of the fact that she’s incredibly young whereas d&d completely miss that part of her character.

i will say i Get the criticism of tamzin perhaps not picking up on the conlangs easily because one thing you can say for emilia is that she had a decent head for the conlangs, she’s even still partially fluent in dothraki lmaooo. but all the other stuff they said about why they recast dany it’s like. hmmmmmmmmmm.

2. absolutely right about iain especially because he’s similar to idk paddy in that he’s got CHARISMA but unlike viserys, they didn’t intent to portray him as a deeply flawed, antagonistic character they went in portraying him as like an objectively Good Guy dedicated to dany. he’s just so much less creepy and pushy in the show and has several scenes where he shows some moral backbone - that “yet here you stand” “yet here i stand” scene is sooooooo good for example, the fact that he actually apologizes for spying on dany, giving him the greyscale story & not having him fuck a valyrian looking woman in a brothel 💀, etc etc - and you also just lose some of the creepiness here because emilia is clearly a grown if young woman and ian is handsome, so it’s like. welll of Course you want to root for them to be together! and never mind that this is a Massive departure from their book characterizations!! again, they have this idea of jorah in their head that doesn’t match up with what’s on the page even a little.

3. i do get your point re: joffrey and i think this is my problem with aidan as littlefucker too - they’re too obviously villains and it makes ned and sansa look stupid. like, in the books we have that moment where robb almost decks joffrey which does seem to signal something bad but the crown prince being full of himself doesn’t mean he’s going to threaten his betrothed’s sister with a sword then get his ass handed to him by a toddler. in the show we get QUITE a number of scenes where joffrey is shown to be a brat AND as you say, just like aidan, jack has a Certain Look, he looks like a shitty jock who has allegations against him ajsjdj like irl when jack smiles he’s so adorable!! but in the show they REALLY play up his ability to channel a greasy aura ya know aksjd. when the point of asoiaf is often that villains don’t LOOK like villains, but some of our Main Villains clearly resemble typical villains in the show.

4. “it’s ONE age group of characters” NO YOU ARE SO RIGHT. like, there’s several years difference from robert to ned to cat to the twins to tyrion but they’re all the same generation of characters. there’s that exact same age difference from brienne to robb, dany, jon to sansa, arya, bran, with theon kind of similar to characters like jorah, who are old enough to remember The Before Times but aren’t quite in either generation. but because they wanted dany, brienne, jon, robb, and margaery to be more of a Typical archetype rather than an exploration of that archetype, they aged everyone up and essentially invented another generation between the “adult” characters and the “kid” characters. not to be super nerdy here but one of my favorite worked shoots in wrestling is one cody rhodes did where he was ranting about the way young wrestlers get put through the grinder and he has this amazing line where he sums it up as “old men talking, young men dying” and it’s not to say there aren’t a lot of old dudes Also dying lmao but you really see this where young leaders are often unprepared for their responsibilities and used as puppets by older men and you just MISS THAT when that whole generation is so grown!

it’s like they looked at those themes of war being terrible and all consuming and brutal no matter how justified you feel you are and went “wow war is brutal 😍” LIKE PLEASE????

[stoplookingup]

Umbrella Academy S4 reaction (spoilers)

I'm a little surprised how negative the reaction to S4 has been. It's flawed and a bit too loose, sure, but I think there's a thematic arc, to do with the painful but redemptive potential of selfless love, that a lot of people didn't recognize, or didn't like, possibly because it's too sentimental, or too tragic, or both.

In particular, I have a really different take on That Relationship. You know the one I mean.

But before I get to that, I just want to address the issue of unexplained plot points, of which there are certainly many.

Short version: Just let it go.

Long version: Comic-book storytelling is all about the impossible premise, the unlikely twist, the overblown threat, the arbitrary race against the clock, the catastrophic non-ending. A big part of TUA's appeal is that it takes that formula to an absurd extreme, unwinding a plot so convoluted and horrifying as to be comedic, then offering a resolution that raises more questions than it answers, and that seems final -- but is it ever? There could always be more. Even now. Because reasons.

But scratch the surface, and it's really all about the over-the-top super(anti)heroes who are surprisingly endearing, nuanced and tragic, whom the audience roots for despite a million reasons not to. Would S4 have benefitted from a few more episodes? No doubt, mostly to give each character their due (Klaus, my Klaus, you deserve more!), and to let the story breathe a bit. The plot probably wouldn't have made any more sense anyway. But c'mon, did it ever, really? So, why a subway? Why a squid? Why a diner? Does it really matter?

On to That Relationship, the much-criticized story of Lila/Five (aka Live -- can I copyright this?). This comically trope-laden ship (forbidden love, montage love, love triangle, enemies-to-lovers, pocket universe, happily-ever-after, etc) fits right into TUA sensibility. Despite being a bit underbaked, it's moving. The actors play it well, and in dropping their characters' armor, you realize how much armor they're usually wearing, how hard they're always working to cover their feelings. Out of all the characters, seeing these two having real emotions is most devastating, especially with each other. It's because this pairing is wildly unlikely that it hits.

Lila and Five have similar histories as traumatized, sensitive souls turned cold, cruel killing machines. They're smarter, more cynical, and stronger-willed than everyone around them. And they are clearly starved of love and desperate for connection. (Everyone on this show pays a price, but I find Five's terrible loneliness the most heartbreaking of all.) So then fate throws them together in a way that makes it inevitable they'll form an attachment, only to then demand of them the ultimate sacrifice. Their surprisingly quiet, life-affirming, Guinevere-and-Lancelot love is redemptive, in contrast with the meddling, selfish, and/or destructive love of others: Reginald and Abigail, Ben and Jennifer, Gene and Jean. Live aren't an unnecessary digression, they're central to the thematic development of the story. Sacrifice saves the world, but without love, there is no sacrifice.

And yes, I absolutely think Lila loves Five to the end. And while I appreciate that some might find the age difference between the actors off-putting, I don't think there was anything inappropriate on a Doylist level, and it all makes perfect sense on a Watsonian level.

Also:

Aidan Gallagher and Ritu Arya are extraordinary;

the use of Baby Shark is genius;

Diego, Luther and Allison have been the least interesting characters from the start, and S4 does nothing to change that;

Viktor needs a sense of humor;

I love that alternate universes are all the rage these days (so many great tropes started with Trek), but tbh Loki does it better;

as visual representations of the space between realities, I love both the Loki automat and the UA subway, but at some point, using recent-past retro design to signal liminal space is going to get old, which, come to think of it, will be deliciously ironic.

[goodqueenaly]

Which pre/post-Conquest events and in-series events do you think would be popular plays/operas in each of the Seven Kingdoms and Essos?

Well, we do get a bit of a sense of what sort of "history plays" have been written and performed in Braavos (though whether these have been popularized elsewhere in Essos is a bit of a mystery). Arya references the mummers of the Ship teaching her speeches from, among other plays, The Conqueror's Two Wives, presumably about Rhaenys and Visenya Targaryen (which I personally think would be a potentially fascinating study on the respective characters of as well as the relationship between the two sisters). Likewise, in "Mercy", Arya-as-Mercy notes that Izembaro borrows a threat from Prince Garin in Phario Forel's Wroth of the Dragonlords, a play about the doomed final resistance of the Rhoynar against the Valyrian Freehold. Of course, the main action in "Mercy" centers around the staging of Forel's newest work, The Bloody Hand, a play which - obviously more than a little loosely - adapts very recent Westerosi history, staged in that chapter for the entertainment of the Baratheon-Lannister court's envoy, Harys Swyft.

Westeros doesn't appear to have exactly the same theatrical tradition Braavos seems to have, but there are certainly both puppet shows and mummer's plays performed across the Seven Kingdoms. While the specific entertainments we've seen have been limited to either mythological (the story of Florian the Fool) or allegorical (the unsubtle tale of the kingdom of beasts reported by Qyburn to Cersei) subject matter, there might nevertheless be any number of opportunities for historical events to, no pun intended, take center stage. There are way, way too many historical events and figures in the roughly eight millennia of Westeros' existence as a collection of political entities (again, to say nothing of Essos), so these ideas are not even scratching the surface, but I thought I would come up with a few.

So, for example, the accusations against Queen Naerys and Prince Aemon (perhaps complete with a Katherine of Aragon-like defense by the queen) might mirror, say, Henry VIII. The collapse of the Gardener kingdom under the weak and ineffective Garth X, followed by a devastating civil war, feels to me like an opportunity for a Reach version of Henry VI (perhaps echoed with the Dance of the Dragons, many centuries later). Even the story of Torgon Greyiron might have its share of light Hamlet parallels, as the story of a royal son quasi-usurped from his royal place by the wicked murderer of his kinsmen while he was away from his homeland (though with Torgon having something of a more fortunate ending than Hamlet himself, naturally). Not, of course, that we need to limit our imaginations only to perfect parallels of Shakespeare plays (to say nothing of any other history playwrights). Benedict Justman, for one, seems like a figure whose life could be used to ask deep questions on, say, the nature of power, the importance of love versus duty, and the importance (or not) of legitimacy. The flight of the Manderlys from the Reach and their welcome by the Starks might likewise be used by some enterprising playwright to explore themes of justice (and injustice), alienation, and self-identity.

And of course, what entertainments might be popular would likely be dependent on the politics of any given time and/or place. Would, say, plays depicting King Ronard Storm have been popularized during the reign of King Aegon IV or King Daeron II - maybe to denounce Ronard's reign as defined by lasciviousness and resistance to lawful authority (as with Aegon's), but maybe also to depict a bastard as a stronger and more worthy heir than his legitimate half-brother (if, say, the play was written by Blackfyre partisans)? Perhaps in the immediate aftermath of Robert's Rebellion, Riverlands playwrights would have looked for inspiration to the heroic uprising of Edmyn Tully against the wicked tyrant Harren Hoare (though perhaps with less emphasis placed on the king rewarding Edmyn being the first of the recently overthrown Targaryen dynasty). Daeron I's conquest of Dorne might have encouraged pro-conquest playwrights to create works about King Durran the Young, whose similar name, apparently similar youth, and very bloody military campaigns against Dornish armies might have made a natural comparison for these creators (though probably less so the idea that King Durran supposedly "became besotted with his own niece in later life and died at the hands of his brother Erich Kin-Killer").

Personally, I would love to see more fanfic invent plays or similar entertainments from Westerosi history. I, of course, would be remiss not to note my own, albeit very humble attempt at a Westerosi history play, The True History of the Blackfyre Rebellion. (And please no one remind me that I have a second play that I probably have to completely rework and is certainly nowhere close to being done.)

[lovebaela]

THE DRAGON OF THE NORTH

Chapter 2: Winter is Coming

prev l masterlist l next

Pairing: °❆⋆Bran Stark x Targaryen OC .ೃ࿔*:･

CW: fem!oc, mostly fluff, and mentions of murder.��·❅°*˖

Rating: Mature audiences - The mature moments will happen later on. In the beginning, it will mostly just be cute fluff.⋆⁺₊❅.

(a/n) hey guys, I finally finished the masterlist so please check it out! I also recently made a ao3 account and I’ll start posting this series on there as well so stay tuned 🤍

Dividers by @sylasthegrim

UPDATED VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER IS ON WATTPAD

https://www.wattpad.com/1439924205-dragon-of-the-north-b-stark-𝐢𝐢-winter-is-coming

Once the Stark boys came back, Bran said he wanted to show Rhaella something. He took her to the kitchens to show her. To her surprise, there were puppies! “Oh my gosh!” She gushed. “Bran, they are adorable!” He picked one up saying, “This one is mine! I haven’t decided on a name yet. They’re direwolf pups! There’s enough for all of the Stark children, even Jon!”

He handed the little pup to Rhaella. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you one. Maybe, we can share mine!”

The pup licked her cheek. “I’d like that!” She giggled. She turned to Arya. “Did you name yours?”

“Sure did!” She said. “Her name is Nymeria!”

Sansa scoffed. “The name of mine will be Lady. She’s going to be well behaved and good like me.”

Arya rolled her eyes.

Robb lifted up his pup, examining it. “I think I’ll name mine Greywind.”

“That’s so cool,” Bran said, jealous.

Rickon played with his pup. “I’m going to name mine…Shaggydog!” Everyone thought that was an odd name, but didn’t say anything, fearing that they would hurt the boy’s feelings.

The preparations continued for the King’s arrival. During Rhaella’s free time, she liked exploring Winterfell and interacting with the people. Although it took a while for the people to warm up to her, she was eventually called Winterfell’s delight. She was quite similar to Bran. A loving and outgoing child.

In the courtyard, Bran was receiving history lessons from Maester Luwin. Rhaella and Arya were waiting on him to finish, doing each other’s hair. Rhaella liked teaching Arya how to braid. She looked over at Bran, who was already glancing over at her. They both waved at each other until Maester Luwin wacked Bran on the head. “You need to focus,” the Maester said. The girls laughed.

“I think he’s really starting to like you.” Arya said.

“Really?” Rhaella asked.

“Are you kidding? He’s always staring at you. And don’t tell him I told you this, but after the first dinner you had with us, he told me you were very pretty.”

That made Rhaella blush. Does he really like me? Arya could just be teasing. We both agreed to just be friends. I wonder if Robb thinks I’m cute? If only I were older I would’ve been married to him instead.

After Bran was done, he decided to go climbing the castle walls. Rhaella didn’t feel like going with him, so she stayed by Lady Catelyn’s side. Bran’s direwolf pup also followed her around. He was growing at a rapid speed. Lady Stark was quite stressed making sure everything was perfect. Especially since the Lannisters were coming.

“Brandon!” Lady Stark yelled, as they walked outside to the courtyard.

“I see the king!” He shouted. “He’s got thousands of people!”

“Get down here right now!”

Once he gracefully made his way down his mother said, “how many times must I tell you, no more climbing! Promise me!”

Bran looked down at his feet and then answered, “I promise mother.”

“I noticed something, you always look at your feet before you lie…”

Bran chuckled, not denying it.

“Go let Ned know the king is close.”

Bran took Rhaella’s hand and they took off with their direwolf chasing behind them.

The stark family stood in a line as everyone else stood behind them. Jon was to the left of me while Theon Greyjoy was to my right. The gates opened for the King to trot in with his horse. Following him was his king’s guard and a boy on horseback. That must be his son, the prince. The blonde haired boy smiled at Sansa, and she smiled back at him. One knight hopped off of his horse, and took off his helmet. He had to have been the most beautiful man Rhaella’s ever seen. He had long golden blonde hair with emerald green eyes. “Jaime Lannister, the Queen’s twin brother,” Arya said, before Sansa hushed her.

“I heard the prince was a royal prick,” Theon whispered. He, at a young age, was sent to Winterfell by his own father, Balon Greyjoy. He made the terrible mistake of crowning himself king of the iron islands and starting a war. After their loss, Theon was sent away to Winterfell to be Lord Stark’s ward. Theon always viewed himself as a prisoner.

Then, came in the carriage with the Queen inside. She exited out of the carriage, looking slightly annoyed.

“Where’s the imp?” Arya asked Sansa.

“Please, just shut up!” Sansa asked.

We all bowed before the king and Queen as they made their way to Lord Stark. The King said hello to every member of the family. He made eye contact with Rhaella. She stiffened, not knowing what to do. “My king,” she said, curtsying. He gave a simple nod, and went about his way into the crypts with Lord Stark.

“Wasn’t so bad, was it?” Jon said, messing with her hair. She let out a relieved sigh, “no, thank goodness.”

Lady Stark had Rhaella, Arya, and Sansa get ready for the feast together.

“The prince is so handsome…” Sansa said, blushing. “I can’t believe the king wants me to marry him! Can we marry now or do we have to wait?”

Her mother stopped brushing her hair, “gods Sansa, your father hasn’t even made a decision yet!”

She turned to her, “please tell him to say yes! It’s all I could ever want!”

Lady Stark nodded, “we’ll see.”

Arya rolled her eyes, “not everything is about boys.”

Rhaella finally finished making her dress. The dress was a delicate light blue with a beautiful dragon embroidered on the neckline.

“That looks amazing!” Arya said.

“Thanks, learned from the best,” Rhaella replied smiling at Sansa.

“I suck at making my dresses…” Arya said.

“You still look very beautiful,” Lady Stark said. “You all do.”

Rhaella made her way to the Great Hall for the feast. She had to sit with Jon and the stable boys. “I like the dress,” Jon said. “Made it yourself?”

Rhaella nodded with a smile. Jon’s wolf, Ghost, laid his head on Rhaella’s lap.

“I guess Ghost likes it too,” Jon laughed.

“Do you boy?” She asked the white direwolf as it wagged its tail. Ghost was the runt of the litter and albino with red eyes. Jon named him ghost because he barely makes a sound.

Everyone watched as the Stark family entered the great hall one by one after the King and Queen. A few of them walked in with the King’s children. Robb with Princess Marcella, Sansa with Prince Joffrey, and Arya with Prince Tommen. The feast finally began.

Rhaella noticed Queen Cersei looking at her. Lady Catelyn gave a little nod, hinting her to come over. Rhaella took a deep breath and made her way over. Once she was before them, she curtsied. “My Queen, my Lady,” Rhaella said.

“Why aren’t you a precious thing?” The Queen asked. “Rhaella, isn’t it? Surely, a beautiful thing like you shouldn’t be hiding in the North, where it’s cold.”

“T-Thank you, my Queen! You look very beautiful yourself.” Rhaella smiled. The Queen had long gorgeous golden blonde hair and emerald green eyes. She truly was a sight to see.

“And your smile, like the sun entered the room and exploded,” the Queen added. “You’re free to go, and would you be a dear and tell Sansa to come over?”

Rhaella didn’t know how to feel about the last compliment, but curtsied again before walking away. Sansa was sitting with her friend Jeyne Poole, giggling and whispering. “Sansa,” Rhaella said. “The Queen wants to speak with you!” Sansa’s eyes lit up with joy, “Really, she wants me?” She quickly got up from her seat and walked over to them. Rhaella sat back down with Jon. “What did she want?” He asked, lifting his eyebrow. “Nothing really,” Rhaella replied. “Nothing bad, thank goodness.”

As everyone ate their food, Rhaella looked up at Arya. She had a mischievous look on her face. What will she do? She scooped a piece of pigeon pie, and aimed it at Sansa. She flicked the pie at her, hitting her cheek.

“Arya!” She shrieked. “She always does this!”

Robb picked Arya up and took her to her bed camber as the whole room laughed.

The musicians started to play their music, inviting everyone to the dance floor. I’d like to dance a little, but who would ask me?

୭ ₊ Bran ˚.

Bran watched as men brought their lady partners to the floor to dance. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder. “You should ask Rhaella to dance,” Robb said. “I think it would make her very happy.”

“She is your betrothed after all,” Theon added, teasing Bran.

Bran’s cheeks went red, “s-stop teasing me! What if she says no?”

“Believe me, she wouldn’t,” Robb said. “Besides, you should never be afraid of rejection.”

Easy for you to say, all the girls love you, even her…

Bran nodded and got up from his seat. He walked over to Rhaella, offering his hand, “Gaomagon jaelā naejot lilagon lēda nyke?”

She smiled and nodded, “Kessa!”

They both made their way to the dance floor, and began to mimic the moves of the pairs. “The dancing lessons really paid off,” she said. Bran agreed, “yeah! We’re doing good!”

The two of them continued to dance. “Bran, I think everyone is watching us!” She whispered. He glanced around the room. She was right, everybody was watching, even the king. “Don’t worry about them, just focus on me,” he told her. Everybody began to cheer for them, including the other Starks.

“That’s my brother!” Robb yelled.

That’s so embarrassing…

Rhaella laughed, making Bran blush.

୭ ₊ Rhaella ˚.

Once the song was over, Rhaella and Bran went back to their seats. Where’s Jon? She hopped off her seat and searched for him. She walked outside to find him training with his sword. “There you are,” Rhaella said. “You missed me and Bran dancing!”

“Don’t worry, I saw you two before I left outside. You both did great.” He said.

“I wish you could have danced with us.” She admitted.

They both heard another song playing from inside. Jon placed down his sword, and offered his hand, “well then, my lady, may I have this dance,” he asked, in a silly voice. Rhaella laughed and accepted. They both danced until the song was over. Rhaella and Bran went to Arya’s bed chamber to read another Targaryen story before going to bed. Arya set up a tent with her blanket so they could lay on their bellies on the floor. “We didn’t finish the dance of the dragons!” Arya said. “We left off on the part where Prince Jacerys went to Winterfell.”

Rhaella began to read from the book, “well it says here that he met Lord Cregan Stark, who also lost his younger brother. Jacerys reminded him so much of his sibling that they formed a brotherhood and they made the—”

“The pact of Ice and Fire.” They heard a voice say. All of a sudden, the blanket was yanked from above making the children scream. “It’s just me,” Lord Stark said. “All of you should be sleeping you know.”

“After this part of the story.” Bran said. “Please?”

Their father chuckled, “alright then, the pact was made between them to show the North’s support for the blacks during the dance. The Prince said once he’d have a daughter, she would marry Cregan’s son.”

“Did it happen?” Rhaella asked.

“No, the Prince died shortly after during a battle.” He answered.

Arya frowned, “so the pact was never fulfilled?”

“I’m afraid not,” he said messing with her hair. “That’s what war does, nothing but destruction and death. I despise it.”

“Imagine what it was like to have a war with that many dragons,” Bran said. “Maybe I don’t want to imagine it.”

Lord Stark agreed, “the poor dragons were the key ‘weapons’ in that war, nearly wiping all of them out.”

“And now they’re all gone.” Rhaella said.

“Perhaps they are,” he said. “Now, time for bed all of you.” Bran and Rhaella left the room and went to their own.

The next day, the girls had embroidery lessons with Princess Marcella. Nearly the whole time Sansa was giggling and whispering to her friends Jayne and Beth.

“What’s so funny?” Arya asked. “Tell me what y’all are giggling about!”

“The prince,” Sansa blushed. “He was very handsome at the feast. He even stared me.”

“I’m sure he also saw you get pigeon pied to the face,” Arya snickered. “Besides, Jon said he’s a spoiled brat.”

Sansa rolled her eyes, “Jon is just jealous that he is a bastard and not a prince!”

Arya and Rhaella gasped.

“Sansa, that’s so mean!” Rhaella said.

“It’s the truth,” Sansa said. “And I will be queen someday.”

Arya grabbed Rhaella’s hand, “let’s go see what Bran is up to!”

They made their way into the courtyard. They found the Stark and Baratheon boys together. Bran and Tommen were heavily padded with wooden swords.

They called for him and waved. “Good luck brother!” Arya yelled.

As the two boys were fighting, everyone could sense the tension between Robb and Prince Joffrey. They were smack talking each other the whole time. Their fight would certainly be interesting.

“I wish we could do that,” Arya sighed. “It would be fun!”

Rhaella agreed, “yeah, but alas, we are girls. Some books I’ve read said that outside of Westeros there are places where women are allowed to do anything men can.”

“I’d like to go there sometime.” She said.

“Same here.”

Tommen fell to the ground as Bran held his wooden sword at him. Wow, Bran would have made a great knight of the kingsguard, Rhaella said to herself. Then I showed up and ruined everything…

When it became dawn, the King and Lord Stark were leaving for a hunt with Robb and Theon following them. Bran and Rhaella watched as they trotted away on horseback. Lord Stark looked at them to wave goodbye. They smiled back and watched as the party left.

“My father will be hand of the king,” Bran said. “He’s leaving to King’s Landing tomorrow. He’s going to take us with him. Mother didn’t want me to go, but father thought that I could calm down the feud between Joffrey and Robb.”

“Did he mention me?” Rhaella asked. As scared as she was of the king, the Starks truly had become a family to her. She didn’t want to lose them.

“I asked father, they are still making a decision.” He said. “I’m sure the king will say yes. You are my betrothed after all.”

Bored, Bran and Rhaella explored Winterfell’s castle. They visited the stables where Hodor, a large and tall man, attended to Bran’s pony. Hodor was truly a mystery. All he ever said was ‘Hodor.’ No one knows why.

“I’ll have to leave him behind,” Bran said as he looked at the pony. Rhaella turned to Bran and noticed water in his eyes. She held his hand, whispering, “hey, it’s going to be okay.”

Bran sniffed, “sorry, I shouldn’t be crying. Boys don’t cry.”

“Everyone cries, Bran,” she reminded him. “There’s no shame in that.” She knew he wouldn’t believe her, but it wouldn’t hurt to try comforting a friend.

“I don’t know if I’m ready to leave,” he admitted. “This is my home. My real home.”

There was that word again, ‘home.’

Where’s my home?

The stable boys noticed the Stark boy crying and began to snicker. “What a baby!” One of them laughed. “Shut up!” Rhaella shouted. “That ‘baby’ is more important than any of you will ever be!” She grabbed Bran’s hand and they both took off.

The two children grew bored again, thinking of what to do next.

Bran gave her a mischievous smirk, “you wanna go climbing?”

“Bran, your mother said no!” She reminded him. “And I don’t feel like climbing right now…I’ll just watch.”

His direwolf pup began to chew on his shoe. “Come on you!” He told the pup. They found an abandoned tower in the distance. Bran pointed at it, “I’m going to climb that one!” Once they got there, Bran started climbing. Never once had he ever fell from climbing. Never.

Once Bran made it to the window, he looked confused. Before Rhaella could ask if something was wrong, she saw Bran get dragged in by a hand. Without thinking, she began to climb herself up the tower. She was halfway there until Bran was pushed from the window. She swiftly grabbed his hand, “hang on.” She held on as much as she could. “We’re going to fall!” He shouted. Her fingers began to slip from the wall. “We’re going to be okay—” she started to say until her fingers completely slipped off the wall. They both held onto each other as their bodies hit the ground. Everything went black.

“Ser Ilyn, bring me his head!”

Confused, Rhaella woke up in a crowd of people. They were all shouting at someone. She turned to where they were all facing and gasped. It was Sansa, the Queen, and Joffrey with his kingsguard. Except, Joffrey wore the crown of the king. Is this Kingslanding? “No!” Sansa yelled. “Please don’t do this!” Lord Stark was being executed! Rhaella wanted to shout, but she couldn’t. No! The knight drew out his sword, and lifted it up. Rhaella turned away, covering her eyes, before seeing his head get sliced off. What is going on?

“Dany, please!” A voice begged in fear.

Viserys?

She removed her hands to investigate, only to be in a completely different spot. She was inside a tent with many men and women. She knew it wasn’t Westeros due to the majority of people having darker skin with unfamiliar accents. There Viserys was, on his knees as two other men restrained him from moving. “A crown of a king,” The tall man said. He held a pot of melted gold over Viserys’ head and poured it over him. He screamed in agony until he could no longer say anything. His head slammed to the ground. He was dead!

“He was no dragon.”

Rhaella turned back to see Dany. She showed no emotion whatsoever after what just happened.

“Fire cannot kill a dragon,” she said, staring at his lifeless body.

There was a loud screech from the sky, startling Rhaella. Once she looked up, she couldn’t believe what was there before her. It was a dragon! The scales of the creature was a beautiful deep shade of blue, with a lighter shade going down its neck and under its wings. The dragon opened its mouth, letting out blue flames at her.

Rhaella let out a small groan. Her vision, at first, was blurry. All she could hear was a gasp.

“Gods be good!” A familiar voice exclaimed.

“My…lady?” Rhaella asked.

“Yes, sweet girl. It’s me.” She said.

Rhaella tried to stand, but she was weak.

“No, you need your rest.” She said. Rhaella could tell Lady Stark was relieved, but not completely. Bran was still sleeping in a bed next to hers.

“How long has it been?” Rhaella asked.

“A couple of days.” She answered. “You were in a coma.”

Rhaella’s stomach let out a vicious growl. She didn’t realize how hungry she was.

“You poor thing, all we could give the both you was honey and water while you were sleeping,” Lady Stark explained. “I’ll have someone bring food from the kitchen.”

“I tried to not let go,” Rhaella explained. “I was holding onto his hand while gripping the wall with my other hand.”

“Do you remember anything else before that?” She asked.

“Well, all I remember was him falling from the tower. He could have been pushed, but I didn’t see…”

That made Lady Stark want to ask more questions, but Rhaella didn’t have a lot of answers. They all left. Lord Stark, Sansa, Arya, and Jon. Rhaella didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye. That made her sad. She wanted to cry, but refused to let any tears fall.

“Whoever did this to you will pay,” Lady Stark said coldly. “I promise you that.”

Taglist: @lover-of-books-and-tea

[bookhousestark]

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in Arya Week! The prompts we used for this week, as well as our previous Arya Stark Month in 2022 are now turned into a special CANON ARYA CHALLENGE! It means that everyone will be free to post their own book Arya edits, artworks, metas, etc. in a form of a meme/challenge without any restrictions: you can post them anytime you want as much as you want. One prompt can be used multiple times and there is no special order. Please, make sure to use the #CANONARYA tag so we can find and reblog your works!

You can find the updated version of the prompts under the cut:

Quotes by Arya.

Quotes about Arya.

Moments.

Books.

Chapters.

Arcs.

Personality traits.

Women in Arya’s life. 

Dresses and costumes. 

Endgame speculation. 

Platonic relationships.

Romantic relationships.

Needle.

Duty vs needs.

Jon Snow.

Disrupting gender norms.

Disrupting class norms.

Prophecies.

Magic - warging, skinchanging, the old gods.

The heart in conflict with itself.

Skills, intelligence and learning.

Valiant Ned’s Precious Little Girl.

Vengeance, Mercy and Justice.

Brotherhood without Banners.

Arya as a leader.

Political arc.

Nature motifs.

Outcast and belonging.

Nymeria and her pack. 

Valar Dohaeris.

Valar Morghulis.

The North.

Braavos.

The Key Five.

Soft/ cute/ humorous moments.

Heartbreaking moments.

Protecting the weak.

Bravest moments. 

Most anticipated meetings or relationships with other characters. 

Familial relationships. 

Feminist moments. 

Strengths and flaws. 

Lyanna Stark.

Mentors and advisors.

Feminity and girlhood. 

Antagonists. 

Allies.

Identity. 

Ambitions.

Parallels and foils: to other characters from ASoIaF.

Parallels and foils: to other Starks.

Parallels and foils: history.

Parallels and foils: mythology.

Parallels and foils: fiction.

Songs and stories.

Men in Arya’s life. 

The Winds of Winter.

A Dream of Spring.

[wodania]

🐅 for Sansa!

(lesbian with comphet aha)

Uuhhhhhh there’s also a lot for this one I adore the starklings. these ones might be controversial I know Arya and Sansa are heavily debated character on Tumblr but as a lover of both I’m gonna go for it.

Sansa is very much a people pleaser which is a symptom of her growing up in a society where women are expected to be perfect wives and mothers. She’s a child whose been forced to play the role of an adult bride at the end of the day, and I feel like a lot of people are very harsh on her without realizing that she is literally a child. I do think she’s quite similar to the quieter, more diplomatic Ned, while Arya takes after the independent, strong-willed Catelyn, but that doesn’t mean that Sansa doesn’t try to appeal to her mother. Her calling Jon her bastard brother is her doing just that. Her and Arya are a reversed version of me and my little sister (me being more like Arya and my sister being more like Sansa) so I very much have many MANY feelings about these characters and I can’t put them all down but hopefully this makes sense 😭😭😭 basically I think a lot of Sansa’s behaviour is a defense mechanism and symptom of being brought up in an unhealthy society and that she’s a child who deserves sympathy in her story. She’s smart and she’s a people pleaser and she’s scared and she’s a little girl who is being preyed upon by almost every man in her life from her betrotheds attack dog to her mothers childhood companion!!! She is a child!!!!