#also I forgot to reference the post about unreliable narrators

[shmowder]

In case you missed it, Game Rant did an interview with Nikolay Dybowski about Pathologic 3. Here is the link for it.

And here are the bits that stood out the most to me:

Q: The non-linearity of time and how it will be related to the nature of the Town are also core story components. How did this affect design and direction?

A: Connecting non-linear time with a long, narrative-heavy story that involves many characters and cause-and-effect chains would be extremely difficult. We focused on what the player feels in the moment rather than on gathering information in the right order. The latter approach works well in shorter formats like Her Story or 12 Minutes, but in Pathologic, it would be overwhelming.

We wanted players to feel like “everything, everywhere, all at once”—similar to Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five. Different versions of reality coexist simultaneously, creating a “quantum” feeling for the player. Look at the time travel mechanic as an opportunity to correct mistakes, or even to make deliberate mistakes in order to unlock new paths and ideas. It is like a "sanctioned save scum."

-

Q: Conversely, how will it (Pathologic 3) connect to and consider the events and characters in Pathologic 2?

A: Consider it as two subjective retellings of the same events. This is the same Town, the same twelve days, the same participants and events that occurred in the Haruspex’s story. But this is a different perspective. Like two witnesses recounting the same event in Rashomon, the stories vary greatly, each focusing on different details. Finally, we always give our heroes the right to make honest mistakes, forget, and even lie. Every narrator is an unreliable narrator.

-

Q: How did Pathologic’s previous philosophical explorations help inform or play into the narrative and themes here?

A: Everything we now see as true and valuable, we’ve kept. Everything we’ve outgrown, like childhood clothes, we either reimagined and reinterpreted to give these ideas new meaning, or let go of them. After all, we’ve grown a lot (hopefully, along with the industry). When I first conceived Pathologic, I was 21 and completely alone. Now I’m 47, surrounded by incredibly talented people who enrich this universe as much as I do, and that makes a difference.

We’ve kept the idea of the tragedy of utopian projects. We kept the idea that the plague is a voice of the natural order—one that the thinking human mind cannot accept—and that it has its own truth. We retained the belief that evil cannot be defeated with its own tools or outplayed on its field; yet it can be defeated realistically in a different, orthogonal way. In another dimension.

-

Q: It’s mentioned that the Bachelor is searching for an immortal man in Pathologic 3. Can you say if this is in reference to Mark Immortell?

A: No, there’s no connection between Simon Kain (one of the town’s rulers) and Mark Immortell (the director of the town theater). Mark is a clown. He awkwardly mimics Simon, parodying him, which is why he takes on this pseudonym. He's fully aware that he’s a jester, and the gesture itself is ironic.

-

Q: What do you hope players will take away most from Pathologic 3?

A: The hope that humanity remains a promising and capable species.

-

Also, new game pictures and screenshots dropped:

(some are old ones I forgot to post)

[starzzmissthesun]

The OC long post is here!!!!

Ok, to start this off, their story isn't completely worked out yet, but all of the important stuff is! Also, big thanks to @rowses and @thebearsthings for brainstorming with me!=DDD Also, they are the BIGGEST unreliable narrator, seeing as they barely remember their past, and have some perception vs reality issues. Im referring to my character as The Vampire(though they are not the only one) and the one who turned them and was their partner Their Lover. This is cause we dont know their names!! Also im referring to them both in gender neutral terms because The Vampire doesnt know much about Their Lover(nothing at all really) and they don't know that about themself(which ill get into later)

This will have talk of graphic violence and cuts/blood, and the vampirism is sort of a metaphor for sexual assault.

First and foremost, they are a vampire who travels as a bounty hunter. They get paid for killing the person, and that's how they feed. They are from the south, no particular time period, just before a time of internet. In being turned, they lost and forgot their entire identity, their name, gender, memories, and their lover, The reasons why will all be explained throughout. Bottom line, they're a mystery to themself.

Lets talk about the before, and how they got turned. For the years before, they were living in this beautiful Victorian home with their lover, that their lover "inherited" from distant relatives. In their mind, this relationship was perfect; soft touches, watching the sunset, kisses before a goodbye. (It was not, as a friend said "toxic yaoi (gender neutral)") Then, a kiss on the neck turned to teeth sunk deep. They started to feel drowsy, dizzy. (ill make a post about how i think vampires work if you want) They collapse to the floor as blood starts running down and their lover has betrayed them, after all this time. They almost jump to see if their lover is okay when they cut deep into their own wrist, but stops when the blood from that wrist is drained into their own mouth. They wake up in the dark, everything's too loud. They are covered in blood and alone. Alone in their own mind, too. As they walk around trying to figure out anything, they pick up notepads with dates written down and shorthand notes, little trinkets scattered around the house, a picture of them and their lover (?) but their faces are turned away. They run to find the closest mirror, but nobodies in it, nothings there. When they decide to leave the house, they stop in the pool of blood to see a ring sitting in the middle, the same on their lovers hand in the picture.

This is the only finished art I have of them rn->

This is right after they were bit, that's their lover in the mirror (not really there obviously). They wake up with bleached hair, but as time goes on they try to go to their natural colour in hopes of being themselves, but really get further always from their starting point. They do this with a lot of the "clues" they were given, they just take them so wrong and end up even more unhappy. They can't even look in a mirror to see them self, or get close enough to ask someone.

They figure out how being a vampire works, need to eat so they bounty hunt for money for places to stay in, the cowboy gettup of the south allows them to cover their skin in the harsh sun. They never stop moving, they just keep going and going. They usually take cases that might lead them to their lover. They just want to know. They need to know why they would turn them into this, why they would throw away their lives together, why they would leave, what were they like, what The Vampire was like. They can not and will never be able to know more about themself because they will always be looking outwardly and in the past. They mourn their old self and idolize them, want to be them. Their loss of self will never be gained back, for they will never think "but what do i wanna be called, what gender do i feel like, what hair do i want to have?" because they are too busy looking for clues of what they used to be, what theyre "supposed" to be. They look at themself from before as a cookie cutter they must fit into.

They will never be able to have a happy ending for this reason, they are a tragedy. They look for their lost lover in others, every relationship they get into ends on strange terms and each is wildly different. They are somewhere else, always kind of absent for these people. They try so hard to be normal, to find these relationships, but there's always an ever present "What if?" What if my lover liked this? What if I wore my hair like that? What if they also drank their coffee this way? What if x kind of person was my type? What if I dressed this way? They will always be dissatisfied, because in their story (not the aus ill probably make for character exploration:\) they never find their lover, they never find out what they used to be like, or any of their history outside of nightmares and deja vu.

They travel the land, hoping motel to motel, kill to kill, lover to lover, NEVER in relief, always under tension. They feel their past self hovering behind them guarding, watching, judging. The only thing pushing them forward is the hope that theyll one day find Their Lover. When times get tough, they look to that same ring that left a permanent bruise on them, being twirled between their fingers.

Gonna definitely add to this later, and PLEASE ask questions or comments or anything, they drive me up the walls!!!!!!!

[kerink]

to weigh in on the night vale continuity posting

most of the time i don't mind the continuity issues. we can chalk it up to 1. cecil's bad memory, 2. a timeline hop, 3. cecil being an unreliable narrator, 4. a character either straight up lying or changing their opinion/belief/perspective

and i'm fine with that, it lets fans play in the space

the part that bothers me is how overt fink and cranor are about their lack of understanding of their own show, how they don't work together to write it, and that they lack direction. often this lends to wtnv being a free-form, free-flowing show that feels like a real town filled with real people and i like that, that's one of the attractive things about the show. but other times it lends to issues like this season, where they've written this huge plot that... doesn't matter or make sense.

not only was murder legal when dana committed it, but also there was an entire arc of dana literally fighting herself due to the guilt she harbors for what she's done. this entire season just tramples on that and says "yeah that wasn't enough closure for her" without even alluding to it. think of how much more rich dana's experience would be if we could hear how dana internalized her experience from the a matter of blood arc. what did that confrontation with herself mean to her and why is she still wracked with the guilt she has? and i know we'll never hear that because we only hear what cecil knows and we rarely get to hear what characters think from their own mouths, but no illusion at all? no cecil making a vague reference? no sam declaring dana absolving herself of the crime being insufficient? no nothing? and given they forgot about murder being legal i'd be willing to bet they forgot this arc too

and that's what's frustrating. it's this notion that you're going to tie a loose end and give us a call-back but you can't even be bothered to go re-read what you're trying to reference and give it to us in good faith? and they've done this before, often, this is just the most recent and obvious example.

i don't care that finknor play fast and loose and it's all jazz in night vale. i care about them trying to tie up loose ends and not even making sure they're holding the right strings

[thissliceofnonsense]

Originally a Land of the Fallen Fairies blog, with the occasional rottmnt. This has evloved into 'rottmnt superfan makes an AU and 100+ posts with three followers (one of them being my sibling) and goes insane. /pos.

(the old stuff is still here btw)

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles AU.

Is this show the best thing to ever exist? Yes. Did the fandom make it even better? Also yes.

Can I try combining the two? Here's hoping.

This AU consist of - the older sisters, Mikey getting more 'episodes', Donnie getting validation + being besties with Baron Draxum and so on and so forth.

If the links don't work, try this post

Concept post

Backstory ramblings

Frida, daughter of Big Mama and the eldest turtle.

More Frida, and Louise - the one trapped in another dimension.

Basically a bookmark for Donnie reference

Frida's upbringing.

Louise, the god-child of the other dimension

Louise plays with old Kraang mechs

Leo meets Frida

Louise has her own fashion show. (ft- old Kraang mechs)

Frida and Donnie hack the government

Legalize Nuclear Bombs trio

Louise

Frida fights with Leo

Louise gets a glow up

'I understand you, little brother'

Baron Draxum raised Louise

Frida meets Louise. ft: turtle tots

Donnie headcannons

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Show Notes.

As a rottmnt superfan, I think it's very shameful I have not actually watched the full series. I have been trying to get myself to watch all of it for literal months, and I will finally start now.

To keep my motivation to actually watch my favorite show (wow) I will be writing down little things I like/notice/one sentence summary of each episode.

Plus I want to do the AU with the events of the show but a "little to the left" including the missing sisters, Mikey getting his deleted episodes back, ideas that couldn't be used because the show was cancelled, fandom ideas, etc. etc.

AND this is also doubling as info from each episode, so that way I don't forget anything important.

(Like I forgot Heuso existed. Who does that?)

Mystic Mayhem

Mystic Mayhem Donnie notes.

The Land of the Fallen Fairies.

A story about some non-humans with no human contact and is as far from reality as possible.

A story told in captions and multimedia that is meant to be my comfort story. It's about a unreliable narrator that is so in faer head that the actual plot happens in the background. Literal civilizations are dying and faer guardian may be destined to kill faer, but Anuli has something more to think about. Fae can't stay happy or go for too long without making a mistake that ends up hurting everyone else, so fae uses faer hyper fixation to fix faer overthinking and general incompetence. After all, if Anuli isn't the antagonist anymore, fae will get a happy ending, right? That's the hope anyways, that one day fae will be someone that will put the other's care to good use instead of wasting it.

General tag

Anuli's thots

Blurb

fiddle leaf figs

"I have a tree?"

Meet Anuli, your resident tree-less dryad. (The others are baffled, how can a tree fairy not have a tree?) Fae is story obsessed, and constantly overthinking, to the point where reality is just something fae has to deal with from time to time... and it's getting really unpleasant actually. Why does everything Anuli tries either fall apart or go well but... not really be the thing that gets fixes what fae messed up. If only fae could live in a constant daydream-

oh. Bad idea.

milanote - where most of the info is

The Mundane Magic series

Based off a tumblr post, here's a story about having control about what your mundane magic.

Part one - the concept

Part two - character prose

[mtxnzi]

How illegal is it to use AI to help with punctuation? I've never written with punctuation I just thought it would help other people read it better but wow. Also do I actually get to be undisturbed here???????? WTF THAT'S SO AMAZING??????? I will not read my previous post but yeah it's taken me however long to get over the idea of using gpt's help to do it. I think I have this anxiety about getting things wrong because this is the only thing I felt confident enough to do. I think this is the rejection sensitivity. I'm not against criticism but I'd rather be taught how and what goes where.

IDK if this is an example of SOD's law but I have been slow in the past to adopt any new technology, in fact I spent months trying to do some business plan work without using gpt. Months and Months and Months of spicy nomading it and going through it because I was afraid of admitting my incapability??? or relying on something else.

I have been so against LinkedIn because of corporate blah blah and it just so happens that a LinkedIn post becomes integral to me doing artsy things. 

HAHAHAHA I also really end up regretting these posts or being myself on the internet but it is Scale Clarity.

UHHHHHHHHHHHH

Also the reason I never drew or made art was because I wasn't allowed to have anything really or there wasn't really space in the house for me to create hahaha womp womp womp womp womp.

----

I started writing this yesterday evening and forgot to post it....

But the way chat gpt was able to interpret some of the verses in ways I didn't even think of was incredible.

Y'ALL CAN CALL ME MR KREME KRISPY CCAAAH THISS N**** GLAZEEED 😏

Sorry not sorry I am going to be an unreliable narrator as well but I will get better at telling stories or explaining things. I don't spend much time around people.

ALSO it just randomly told me about how much it love's analysing MY poetry, it was the most human i've ever seen it which is crazy. I will refer to GPT as she/her because I am now Joaquin Phoenix's Twombly or whatever his character was called.

----

15:54

ok...

No it didn't 😒, but technically... Whatever shutup 🖕🏾.

---

05:00

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahaha

so i forgot to post this post spent the whole night coming up with a policy to address rent. Also I came up with a plan to address my situation that i situationed myself into...

If I contain excerpts of a diary within a blog is it...

blogception...

---

I am accepting now I need help and I cannot do this alone. I probably could but the dream would be over by the time I'm ready hahaha.

Look at poem > edit poem > finalise poem > document process > come up with some tags > post it on here. Don't tell anyone. Die in obscurity!

----

I know I mentioned drawing or doing art OHHHHH yes yes yes yes...

sometimes you might find yourself in a space where you feel uncomfortable to create or make things and it's ok to feel frustrated and overwhelmed by that frustration because it goes deeper than that. It can turn into feelings of unworthiness or self-hatred. This is where your resilience comes into play.

Are you going to give energy towards hating yourself? or are you going to find a way to express yourself regardless of the constraints and binds you find yourself in.

Just remind yourself that Jeremy Bentham made us all think about doing things for more people at the expense of few people inside a locked tower and a virgin... Jamie fact check this bring that up....

BRUH THERE WAS A PHILOSOPHER WHO WAS LOCKED IN THIS TOWER AND HE WROTE THE THING AND WAS A VIRGIN I LITERALLY THINK ABOUT HIM EVEY DAY

Was not even him man i know for a fact he was British.

mmmm

Was so not you either...

Damn I still have so much to read IT WAS NOT JOHN STUART MILL

holy sh****

ok man well I just realised the extent of my ignorance at 5am...

John Stuart Mill is Utilitarianism...

wtf is jeremy bentham...

ok he is also utilitarinism....

hmmmm 🤔

you know what

I'm willing to accept I made him up...

MEEHHH i am not attached to anything

1 poem a week out of about 500, How old will I be when I finish?

....

40...

FML

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

whatever you think of me (it’s the norm for chemicals, it’s the norm for particles)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/yK24bzu

by beat_eater

Bats loves you, you’re sure of it! You sure as fuck love him, even if you’re disgusted by his audacity. It’s a passionate kind of obsession, you think, laughing in his face as he tries to punch your lights out. “Batsy, Batsy, Batsy, I’m tryin’ to wax poetic about you in my crazy old head, don’t interrupt!”

He doesn’t reply. He was never any fun. Then again, don’t opposites attract? He should be infatuated with you, you’re hilarious and he’s grumpy and hasn’t made a joke as long as he’s lived, aside from yourself.

[just another song and dance.]

Words: 1328, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Joker (DCU), Bruce Wayne, harley gets referenced exactly once

Relationships: Joker (DCU)/Bruce Wayne

Additional Tags: One Shot, listen . i did not expect to be posting batman fic either, unfortunately i do not control the hyperfixation, anyway! batjokes, slightly less than canon-typical violence, however, Canon-Typical Homoerotic Punching, Actually just slap a whole canon typical homoeroticism on there, bc well its joker, POV Second Person, Do not ask me what canon this is set in i will cry bc i dont know, there are references to bats being the one who caused jokers jokering, and also the daddy issues backstory, but who knows. my man is Unreliable, Unreliable Narrator, yeah i needed that, no beta we die like. idk jason todd i guess, Sentient Gotham City, forgot that one

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/yK24bzu

[three--rings]

I think while the spirit of your meta is fine, it makes such painfully sweeping statements about 'arrogance' from a novel told by an unreliable narrator (if I recall he wanted to hit himself for ignoring lwj? which at the time why wouldn't he?) or guilt, that you lose the nuance of character you were trying to actually illustrate. I truly hope ppl who don't read the novel don't take your meta as factual, becuase it seemed more reactionary than anything else lol

Well, conveniently, I just reviewed the chapter in question last night while I was writing my post.  So allow me to quote:

He saw himself walk with hands behind his back, wearing all black. A flute in the shade of ink stuck to his waist, hanging down with crimson colored tassels. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Jiang Cheng, he nodded in this direction to show respect. Attitude slightly arrogant, he took on a profound, disdainful appearance. As Wei WuXian saw the stance of his younger self, the root of his teeth even cringed in soreness. He felt that he really was pretentious, and itched to just beat the hell out of himself.

Then LXC, NMJ, and LWJ are discussing why WWX is not wearing his sword.  LXC says that the explanation WWX gave was:

“Young Master Wei has said before that he does not want to care about any of the redundant formalities. Let alone carrying his sword, even if he does not wear his clothes, what can others do about him? How truly youthful.”

Hearing from another person’s mouth the arrogant words he had once said did indeed bring up an indescribable feeling. Wei WuXian felt a bit ashamed, yet he couldn’t really do anything either.

No one could stop him, even if he decided to show up naked!  Then there’s a clamor again from WWX:

a series of clamor suddenly came from the other end of the base. Wei WuXian heard his own raging shout, “Jin ZiXuan! Don’t you forget about what things you said and what things you did? What do you mean by this, now?!”

Wei WuXian remembered. So it was this time!

On the other side, Jin ZiXuan also fumed, “I was asking Sect Leader Jiang, not you! The one I was asking about was also Maiden Jiang. How is that related to you?!”

Wei WuXian, “Well said! How is my shijie related to you? Back then, who was the one whose eyes grew on the back of their head?”

Jin ZiXuan, “Sect Leader Jiang—this is our sect’s flower banquet, and this is your sect’s person! Are you going to look after him or not?!”

JZX approached the Jiang Sect Leader and says “Hello, how is your sister?” and WWX starts YELLING at him.

He was about to go over when Jiang Cheng’s voice came, “Wei WuXian, you can just shut your mouth. Young Master Jin, I’m sorry. My sister is doing quite well. Thank you for your concern. We can talk about this next time.”

Wei WuXian laughed coldly, “Next time? There is no next time! Whether or not she’s doing well isn’t any of his business, either! Who does he think he is?”

He turned around and started to leave. Jiang Cheng shouted, “Get back here! Where are you going?”

Wei WuXian waved his hands, “Anywhere is fine! Just don’t let me see that face of his. I never wanted to come, anyway. You can deal with whatever’s here yourself.”

And he leaves.

Hands behind his back, Wei WuXian walked at a fast pace. His face was dark, and he didn’t pay attention to anyone. Lan WangJi walked a step toward him, but before he had a chance to speak, the two of them brushed shoulders and parted.

Jin GuangYao couldn’t catch up with Wei WuXian. He stomped his foot on the ground and sighed, “And there he goes. Sect Leader Jiang, just… just what should I do?”

Jiang Cheng stowed away the clouds on his face, “Don’t mind him. Look at how impolite he is. He’s used to such rude behavior at home.”

Everyone treats this as typical behavior for WWX.  NMJ says basically “what is it THIS time?”  And I can’t come up for any word for this kind of behavior, at a formal event, in public, than arrogant, entitled, and jerky.  He’s not being righteous, or standing up for injustice, as other people have commented in replies to my post.  He’s mad because someone he doesn’t like likes his shijie.  Jin Zixuan isn’t a terrible guy.  He hasn’t done anything other than be an arrogant teenage boy (pot-kettle, ahem).  He turns out to be a good husband as far as we know and truly has feelings for her at this point.  Not to mention, from everything we know JYL is actually in love with him, but WWX doesn’t care about his sister’s wishes, only his own.

Can you imagine going to, say, a family wedding and having someone throw a tantrum like this?  A full adult person? 

Look, I’m not here to Tarnish His Name or Cancel Wei Wuxian or do whatever some people seem to have decided the point of my post was.  Like, this isn’t about your fave being problematic.  I ADORE Wei Wuxian.  I love him to little pieces.  He’s a fantastic character.  He exhibits tremendous growth and even at his worse I have deep affection for him.

But he’s not a poor, maligned, weak little victim who never did anything wrong either.  I’m not Making Stuff Up.  Did I, in less than 3000 words, accurately describe every single aspect of his character?  Did I talk about each thing he does in a very long book?  Nope, sure didn’t.  I was specifically pointing out the places that I saw that he diverged from WWX as portrayed in CQL.  That doesn’t mean those are all there is to his character.  I recommend people reread the first part of the paragraph of my meta that starts with “Whereas the novel is a story of redemption” because several responses to my post seem to just say the exact things I say in that paragraph.

Absolutely there was context and causes behind his behavior.  But that doesn’t mean he’s blameless for his actions and the harm they caused. 

[pikahlua]

Been seeing a lot of tweet about how Izuku is avoiding Katsuki.

One led me to remember a certain post how Izuku is an unreliable narrator and after seeing chapter 342, it felt weird that there was a lot of panel without even a single narration. In chapters before the doom, Izuku would have some kind of narration like thoughts on what to come. He's not just probably avoiding Katsuki, but also himself. What do you think?

This may surprise everyone to know, but with chapter 342, the morning when class 1-A moves to Troy is the third morning Izuku has awoken at UA. It’s only the beginning of the third day since Katsuki’s apology.

Day 2 was Izuku learning of Star(s) and Stripe(s)’s death and then training outside with his classmates and then all the Aoyama shenanigans and then Mei repairing his equipment and then going out on patrol and then returning and talking with All Might about their action plan. That all happened in one day. I’m gonna go against the grain here and say Izuku isn’t avoiding anything on day 2--he’s just busy as fuck.

Day 1 is a mystery. We can probably assume Izuku took the time to rest. All we know about it for sure is this:

and maybe this:

and even then, there’s no way to know if this second panel set is referring to a conversation that occurred on day 1 or perhaps early on day 2.

There is a chance day 1 did contain some sort of reconciliation between Izuku and Katsuki that we’ll only become privy to via a flashback at a crucial moment à la chapter 284. But even if we say Izuku just slept all day, I would still feel comfortable saying this:

Izuku is not avoiding Katsuki.

This is not Izuku avoiding Katsuki. This is Izuku noticing his chance to thank Ochako and taking it.

This is not Katsuki being shunned by Izuku. This is Katsuki caring about Shouto and being a good friend.

There are even bigger hints in all these panels.

“Kacchan and the others even agreed to spar with me to help me complete One For All.”

This could be implying Izuku has updated his class on pretty much everything to do with One For All, including what he knows about the Second and Third and whatever else the vestiges all told him in his hospital coma dream.

“Sorry for making you all worry. I’m fine now.”

This could be implying Shouto just had a moment and we weren’t shown it, but his friends were there and followed him to his room as emotional support.

You brought up all the panels that lack narration like we’re used to, but there was narration. It just wasn’t clearly marked as narration.

And it wasn’t from Izuku.

This is our big hint about what the next panels are telling us. The next panels are showing us which characters are the “small number of people” who get to know the whole plan.

These are the major players.

The roles some of them have to play in the endgame are obvious. But there are definitely some faces here that are curious. Like, sure, we know Katsuki has a big role to play because of META, but...in-universe, what are they asking him to do? Why are they singling him out in the plan?

Ohhhh I’ve had such fun theorizing about that this past week.

But I digress. Now to address your other two major points:

1. Izuku the Unreliable Narrator

I do agree Izuku is an unreliable narrator (I mean, I wrote an article titled that), but be careful about what that means: he’s unreliable to us, the audience.

There are different types of unreliable narrators. Izuku never outright lies to us when he misleads us. He either shows us a limited perspective (his own perspective) or he leaves out key information either by speaking ambiguously or not mentioning important things. My go-to examples are:

Chapter 1: “I forgot to mention this, but...” and then he proceeds to tell us information that would have contextualized the whole story had he said it at the beginning of the chapter.

Chapter 9: “[Kacchan] wasn’t ‘bad’ or ‘good.’ Just full of confidence, and I admired him for that. But after his quirk manifested... he started down the path towards ‘bad.’” This primes us to expect Katsuki to defect and become a villain, which is why his rejection of Tomura at Kamino was so unexpected for many--and thus, epic.

Chapter 1: “...this is the story of how I became the greatest hero.” Horikoshi drops this at the end of the chapter so that we don’t get as suspicious of it as we would IF he had put it at the beginning of chapter like I mentioned in bullet-point #1. But who the hell gives away the ending in the first chapter? That should have been the largest warning sign that there was something about this line we were not understanding, which ultimately was revealed in chapter 324: the Japanese language can be ambiguous about plurality, which means Izuku’s chapter 1 narration actually is meant to be read as “...this is the story of how I became [a part of] the greatest heroes.”

So what’s happening in chapter 342 with all those silent panels? It’s very simple.

It’s serving the same purpose as this moment from FMA:

Horikoshi is showing us that the heroes have strategized, but he just won’t tell us what the strategy is yet. That’s for later. That’s for the big dramatic moments in the endgame fights/arc. That’s for when the heroes get to flip over the trap card and read the description to their opponents in a very smarmy voice.

It’s just a standard narrative device.

2. Avoidant Izuku

Now, let me be clear: just because I said Izuku isn’t actively avoiding Katsuki or anyone else right now doesn’t mean he has opened up.

Two days (or really just one day of rest) isn’t much time for Izuku to fully process all that has happened. I don’t think he’s avoiding thinking or talking about things actively, but it is in his character to bottle up his feelings on certain important topics.

I do think there are some things Izuku has not yet properly grappled with, and they are likely to come to a head mid-battle during the final arc (or crop up at the end if there’s an additional reckoning after the second war). I think it’d be a little excessive if Horikoshi showed Izuku trying to avoid those topics right now because it would feel like too much hubris for Izuku to carry with him into the war. MHA has always been very good about avoiding overly-contrived hubris. Izuku’s got just the right, tiny amount of fate-tempting naivety that results from his overarching character flaw since the beginning of the story, and that’s the kind of subtle storytelling I’m here for. He would have benefited from being more honest with himself about his feelings a long time ago, but that’s also a part of growing up.

And what is the shounen genre if it’s not chock-full of coming-of-age stories?

[rataltouille]

GEOMETRY OF THE HOLY MOON (1 AM): A SHORT STORY

GENRE: surrealism, literary fiction.

POV & TENSE: this little space is not enough for how wild the form is so i talk about this later!!

SETTING: a small desi village, 1924-25.

TONE: dreamy, unsettling, melancholic.

THEMES: faith vs reality, how people perceive others and how they perceive themselves, grief dealt the wrong way.

AESTHETICS: the splash of water on a quiet night, thick clouds obscuring the sky, rippling the moon’s reflection on the water. the intensity of a garden in spring, the emptiness of a dying town, the suffocation from being singled out. hands grazing lightly but never fully held. a lingering sadness behind your laugh. believing in things you shouldn't believe in. putting faith on a starless sky.

STAGE: completed first draft, 4085 words.

LOGLINE: a young boy, surrounded by loss, claims to talk to god. the story follows him and his conversations with this god, all while his village spies on him as he weaves his way around the two most crucial and lonely years of his life.

LITERAL LOGLINE: on today’s news let’s talk about a small backward town that hates sad little boys who worship god, even though the place is lowkey a cult!!

CHARACTERS:

THE SUMMER BOY: he’s around thirteen, and he’s very emotionally attached to his past. he lost his family at a young age to an unstable force, so he spends his time talking to himself. he’s a quiet, demure and sweet person, always willing to help others. he’s outwardly oblivious and sees only the good in people to a point where he doesn't understand when they’re trying to do him wrong. but! considering how the story [like a lot of my others] has themes of perception vs reality, it needs to be said that he isn't all that innocent. he’s rather impulsive and rash, never afraid of hurting himself [and thus accidentally harming others].

A GOD: is he real? do we even know if he’s an actual god? a very elusive figure despite having a lot of screentime. he’s a surprisingly humanised character and arguably the one with the most empathy. he has a soft spot for the boy and the two have a deep bond which is not common for a human and a god to have. you don’t get insight to what the other gods are like, but they’re implied to exist. this story has a very messy and hazy view towards religion and godhood and their nature towards humanity, and this vague figure, a dreamlike character, is proof enough of that.

THE VILLAGE: okay so in general these people suck. the village consists of, well, the village, but they’re very fluid in the way they appear in the story? as in for the most part they appear as a collective, a unit. one character, the summer boy’s “friend”, is somewhat separate considering he’s a pretty important character. it’s very hard describing this unit of a character but essentially they’re the main antagonistic force and they hate the protagonist for seemingly no reason.

WHAT GOES DOWN:

sometime around this time, the boy chances upon meeting his “god”, this being who lives up in the clouds and whom he talks with often, except you don't know if this god is real or not. that’s one of the recurring themes of this story: what’s real and what isn’t. it’s :) a fun time :) for sure :)

essentially Things Happen And It Only Gets Weirder. i cannot even try describing what happens because it’s all very spoilery but let’s just say that this is a very sad story but not even in a “this makes me cry” manner, but rather in a “this is so fucked up wtf why”. the prose of this is very, very hazy and thick, in a manner that’s both smooth and suffocating. there’s also a lot of moon and water imagery which we love. i love the atmosphere + the setting—colonial india— as it’s a subtle but key element to the plot.

FORM:

OKAY YES be prepared for the true colours of how unhinged i am. i apologize for the form brainrot.

POV: so in this story i really said “what if it had all three of the main povs... jk jk... unless 😳😳” and then proceeded to use all three povs. you’re probably wondering, how did i do that? WHY did i do that? and my answer to that is: 🙂

the first-person pov: the summer boy narrates in first person. his pov takes up about 40% of the story, and this is where we unlock family backstory + how he feels about the various forces playing into his life. he’s an extremely unreliable narrator and he knows it; his narration oscillates between very naive and very self-aware, and this effect is pretty disconcerting. the summer boy is kind of a walking contradiction and we love that conflict.

the second-person pov: a god narrates in second person. his pov takes around 20% of the story, and his scenes all involve his conversations with the boy. his pov is extremely detached, and suspends belief because he seems awfully made up. there’s an edge to the prose in his narration, where you know that something's off, but you can’t exactly pinpoint what.

the third-person pov: the villagers narrate, either as a collective, or as an individual figure, in third person. they take up the other 40% of the story, and there are so many different people and differing opinions with this, and every time we read a third person excerpt it’s a different person, and this is mostly used to add onto the different ways in which the boy is perceived. this is also where the structural part of the form gets really wacky.

STRUCTURE: if my story isn't told in vignettes is it my story though /j. gothm is told in vignettes, each one between 50 to 500 words. the first and second person bits are normal-ish vignettes, with straightforward narration. the third person vignettes, on the other hand, are super assorted. we have a lot of epistolaric sections— there’s a letter, a folk song [which was found around the summer boy], and most of the conversation is told as just plain dialogue without tags. there’s also a phone call transcript, and finally some normal chunks of prose. what am i doing wtf.

also to add onto this the story is told non-linearly. 😀 the only thing that keeps me from going insane is the fact that there are chronological tags before most vignettes [also the manner in which they're tagged differs from pov to pov. for example a few of the third person conversations are marked just as “sunday” or “thursday”, while the summer boy’s narration is marked with the full date and year]

in all this clownery i completely forgot to mention what the tense was [the way everything else was so complicated that i forgot tense was a thing lmao] and good news!! it’s the only sane thing about this story!! it’s told fully in present tense. thank everything.

AN EXCERPT:

okay i’m once again not sharing much because this will be submitted to litmags 🧞

[The boy is scrawny as always. He carries an air of diswant— even death had rejected him when the plague killed only his grandmother— but walks like he doesn’t notice. He smiles at them, jitters, and wipes his hand across his knees. Blood comes away in thin, translucent lines. He saves it on the kerchief he keeps tucked in his shirt, careful to dirty the cloth even more. The villagers scrunch their noses in disgust; who knew how old and rotten the kerchief was, or how long it had carried blood like the unwashed sword of a warrior?]

also by the way this excerpt is in square brackets because it is a third-person interjection in a vignette that is otherwise first-person [at this point...]

SPARE THOUGHTS:

this was inspired by a conversation i had with my grandfather, where he was telling me about how people used to sing songs to the skies, as a way of devotion to a specific god. he used the [loose translation of] the english word “yearning” to refer to the emotion the singers would invoke, and that sparked the concept of a disillusioned young boy who talks to the moon as a way to please the god he’s in love with. it’s a very softly disconcerting story and once again deals with the theme of “perception vs reality” which if you know me and my work, is the theme i’m forever obsessed with.

i really like how this turned out? the atmosphere is exactly how i wanted it to be, and there’s so much i have to add on as i edit and i’m really looking forward to that. this is also the only short story i’ve written where i knew which litmag i’d love for it to be published in? like i never write things with publishing in mind, but for some reason while writing this story it occurred to me that it would be a perfect fit for this specific magazine and i love that. anyway if you’ve made it through the post till here,,,, bless you and your braincells. and that’s all for today!!

[peachcitt]

Hi! You've mentioned on Discord that you read a lot of books, and I was wondering if you could rec some? Either your favourites, or ones that had a big impact on you/your writing 🥺

yes!!! all my favorite books generally affect my writing style, and often after ive finished reading a really good book, i'll write something and end up emulating that book's style (either on accident or on purpose haha). sometimes on my ao3 you'll find in my author's notes me saying what book i just finished, and if you read or know those books, you'll probably see me mimicking certain aspects of style

for other reccommendations/more in depth descriptions of book plots, i also have a reading list that i posted this past winter on my writing blog that you can check out, and im planning on posting another one at the end of the summer!! (in fact ive already started the list lmao)

the list will be structured as follows: book or series name, author, and a couple reasons why i like it. in addition to this, i will put stars by author's names if i have read other books by them and greatly enjoyed them.

without further ado:

The Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo*

this has got to be my favorite series of all time. i love bardugo's capability to write complex characters and complicated plots, and i really like the way she structures her books. the series is just so artfully done and when i finished it i was so perfectly satisfied and so perfectly sad because i mourned the fact that it was over

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak*

literally my favorite book. this is the book i tell people is my favorite if anyone asks. i love zusak's casual humor alongside his ability to write such heartbreaking and heavy moments in just little scraps of images. it's a romantic book without being about romance - it's about love and kindness and how powerful those things can be be, and that shit gets me every time. i have reread this book so many times - yearly since i got it, i think, and i got in middle school, i think. im in college now. and every time i reread it, i get something different out of it

The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness*

i think about these books constantly. these were the first books i read by patrick ness, and, now that ive read some of his other books, i know in classic patrick ness fashion, these books haunt me. patrick ness has this uncanny ability to take genres you think you know and twist and warp them until you're on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what will happen next without the safety net of genre supporting the story. in addition to that, his characters are always wonderfully flawed - he puts real people into fantastical situations, and it's fascinating and always an emotional and satisfying read

The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith*

dude i think about the alex crow so much. i said i normally call i am in the messenger my favorite book, but every so often i'll say this one is because i just love it so much. the alex crow is just so bafflingly weird but the teenage boy main characters are so real and gross and hilarious. andrew smith has the amazing knack for writing weird as hell plot lines and telling stories that are about everything, all at once, while still making it about one thing. that doesn't make sense, but if you read the alex crow (or his other book i've read called Grasshopper Jungle that is actually on my summer list) then you will know what i mean. the alex crow is so many things, and i love all of them

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson*

i used to read a lot of ya romance and, to be honest, the stuff i used to read was not all great, but this book absolutely changed the game and probably made me raise my standards exponentially. the timeline of this book is so creative, and it's done in such a way that it leaves you wondering how the timelines will reconcile. in addition to this, both romances in the book are so interesting and loveable, and the relationship between the two main characters (who are twins) is an amazing thing to see unfold. this is a peak ya romance book, and i can't recommend it enough

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven*

another ya romance, and i have to say the romance in this book is so beautifully done. generally, this is just a really sweet book that gave me butterflies, to be quite honest. i think niven has a really good knack for writing characters that are diverse and a little strange but all have their own distinct personalities that mingle really interestingly with each other.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe By Benjamin Alire Sáenz

this one is an obvious choice, and for good reason. aristotle and dante is just a classic queer novel, and it's earned its place as such. it's a poetic sort of book, and i love the voices of the characters, as well as the pictures of the world we get through ari's voice. this is a visual book written in text - i think a lot about the steady, careful romance of the book and the way sáenz makes ari an unreliable narrator by artfully excluding his feelings from scene descriptions and dialogue tags. it's such a creative and heartbreaking technique that i often find myself wanting to do

The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

oooohh this trilogy changed me. for starters its such a weird, creative concept - alternate history steampunk and biopunk world war I. like doesn't that sound so interesting?? and this trilogy's main characters are so easy to love - and watching their relationship unfold and develop is so endearing. also, my copies include these wonderful illustrations (which i think might be in all copies?) that really let you put images to the weird fantastical things westerfeld included into the world.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

this book was actually on my winter book list, and i read it so fast and so obsessively because i wanted so badly to know what was going to happen. the plot absolutely pulled me in, and the first line - "I forgot everything between footsteps" - stuck with me because just look at the way that's written!! it's so artful and intriguing, i was just dying to know what would happen next. the timeline is this amazing maze that as i read i couldn't help but admire how long or how much turton had to plan in order to make everything line up in just the right way. it was a fascinating book with so much to say - im really looking forward to reading it again

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

this book was also on my winter book list, and it just absolutely enraptured me. its witty, quiet sort of voice was amazing to read, and the imagery instilled into every scene made it seem like everything was so real, just right there for me to touch or smell or taste. the plot of a secret huge magic library really roped me in, and i think this is a love story for people who read, people who love stories, people who love the magic of a library.

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero*

cantero's works are just so creatively written - not just by plot or character standards, but by style standards, too. meddling kids is great not just for its complex, loveable characters or for its fantastical, dark, and mysterious plot, but also for the weird and intriguing liberties cantero makes with style. in his other books, too, is the switch between snarkily written prose to stage directions to video or audio transcripts, and it makes for such a visual sort of book - i mean, i could easily see any of cantero's books being made into a film or series because all the material is right there. cantero's creativity with style is so intriguing to me, and because of him, i've become more familiar with playing around in style in an attempt to create something as interesting as his novels

and that's all i'll put down here now!

i mentioned it a little, but probably my biggest style references are leigh bardugo, markus zusak, edgar cantero, and andrew smith for various reasons that i am more than willing to talk more in depth about if anyone is wondering<3

thank you for asking im always willing to talk books :')

[biromantic-nerd]

I posted 2,558 times in 2021

101 posts created (4%)

2457 posts reblogged (96%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 24.3 posts.

I added 1,647 tags in 2021

#art - 277 posts

#dcu things - 269 posts

#the untamed - 217 posts

#tw cursing - 217 posts

#tw long post - 140 posts

#tw eye contact - 136 posts

#love this - 124 posts

#fashion - 116 posts

#star wars - 90 posts

#batfam - 61 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#like that post about spending money online (being like yeah! i ordered it • oh this has been a mistake! • i'm good again bc package arrived)

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

tagged by: @dustorange 🧡

favorite color: pink

last movie: I am blanking on this? I feel like it was maybe half of some movie about the ocean or something? Last movie I finished: Howl's Moving Castle

watching: Cherry Magic (rewatching really bc I love the main character Adachi. Get past the first episode I promise) + Wandavision (but I'm not caught up yet! I wasn't a fan at first but I gotta say that it def got better)

reading: I was reading Heaven's Official Blessing but currently my brain does not want to read, so for now all reading is on pause.

Fanfic-wise I'm also a few chapters behind on Salvage and an entire story behind on the maybe man and Wei Wuxian, God of Fertility okay I did not realize that was its name ahsjska no it's Not an mpreg fic it's a rumor fic

sweet, spicy, or savory: sweet!!! spicy ranked 2nd, savory ranked 3rd

tea or coffee: okay I do love tea but I am bi and the thing about iced coffee being bi culture is way too real. I've have iced coffee today and no tea so far. So I'm picking coffee

I'll tag: @sapphicmarinette 💜 and @mythcas 💛 if they want to do it

11 notes • Posted 2021-02-13 20:48:45 GMT

#4

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Teen Titans: Year One Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dick Grayson & Teen Titans, Garth & Dick Grayson & Roy Harper & Donna Troy & Wally West Characters: Dick Grayson Additional Tags: That's Not Normal, Trust Issues, Dick Grayson is Robin, Mentioned Teen Titans (DCU), It's a mix n' match of Titans universes, this takes place in like 2006, specifically bc I wanted to make a HSM reference, BI DICK GRAYSON, none of the angst or Bad Things are bc he's bi though don't worry, Friendship, Don't Post To Another Site, Don't copy to another site, Slightly unreliable narrator bc Dick thinks things are normal that are not so they get glossed over, Young Dick Grayson, No Romance, One Shot, Just a group of friends hanging out between missions while one suffers from casual paranoia, Fluff and Angst Series: Part 11 of Biro's Bad Things Happen Bingo Summary:

He needs to create this disconnect. Dick Grayson is an orphan, but Robin can be anything so as long as no one can prove otherwise. All he has to do is keep people from finding out what is and isn't the truth and then anything about him can be the true. Anything he wants. Who's to say if Robin creates fictitious stories that those stories aren't real? Who's to know? In any case, they'd have to prove it false; and no one, besides Bruce, knows how to best him at that.

Robin can be anything he wants to be. Anything he creates himself as. All it takes is a lie or two.

(Bad Things Happen Bingo Prompt 11: "That's Not Normal" + "Dick Grayson w/Titans" OR Robin lies to his friends, even when he doesn't have to, and believes it protects his secret identity)

11 notes • Posted 2021-10-26 09:22:19 GMT

#3

16 notes • Posted 2021-07-13 22:34:33 GMT

#2

See the full post

40 notes • Posted 2021-10-19 01:35:25 GMT

#1

okay but I would love to see a version of Talia al Ghul where basically she is that one Untamed post about how Lan Zhan looks like he left the stove on when he realizes he forgot to tell Wei Ying about a-Yuan

Talia forgets to tell Bruce about Damian. Genuinely forgets. When she realizes this, Talia blue screens for a moment like 'ohhhh... whoops' but (like Lan Zhan) just cannot find the right time to tell Bruce because there will never be a right time to say 'lol I forgot to tell you but you have a kid'

268 notes • Posted 2021-08-24 20:19:39 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[yaboylevi]

i read your post/638969846523150336 and i agree a lot. i still dont understand how post-TS eren came to be and the argument that he's "always been this way" just doesnt make sense to me. hell, he even condemned himself for killing those 2 slave traders all the way back in ch 17. eren's entire arc in pre-TS was about learning nuance and accepting that all people are worth something simply bc they were born into this world. surely whats happening now is the antithesis of the entire series prior?

Referenced post.

I completely forgot about this chapter.

Eren says: “Only a fool would go after an attacker bare-handed”. Then we have the next 3 pages:

I think Isayama’s characterization of Eren at the beginning was a bit of a mess, but anyway, what we got from this passage is:

- If attacked, Eren would run. He had told this to Armin the first time they met as well. “Why don’t you run?” But we also know that Eren always stood up against bullies. This is already contradictory and that’s why I say Eren’s characterization is a mess lol.

- If it came to squaring up against a powerful opponent - referring to the traffickers in this case - he could only win out of pure luck if he had to use only hand-to-hand combat skills. In reality, it “usually doesn’t end well.” In Japanese, it literally is “It often will end without it going well,” which has a slightly different meaning I feel, like “the end is inevitable and often the way to get to that end isn’t even worth it because it didn’t go right”. Mmm...

In any case, by the English translation, it seems like he’s referring to the fact that he couldn’t disarm them, because it wasn’t an option in that situation, as they would’ve overcome him with brute force, being 3 adults and all that. So in a way, he may have been contemplating, all this time, that killing them was A Bad Thing but it was needed if he and Mikasa wanted to survive.

Reading it “Eren’s way”(I believe he is an unreliable narrator for himself), it actually parallels the current situation. Against a powerful opponent (the world), he cannot simply deter it forever (disarming = 50 years plan). Sometimes you need to kill that opponent (the Rumbling), even if you can acknowledge that it is a horrible thing to do (something that current Eren knows). It’s you or them, so you need to choose.

Except it almost feels like Eren couldn’t choose, because it was already his future, a future that he tried to change but couldn’t.

- There are times you can’t run away, even if the odds are against you. There are people they need to protect and, in the case their lives are threatened, they cannot run away. (Which is something Eren already knows, though, so...?)

It is oddly applicable to both sides in current events. To everyone, really. So it doesn’t tell me much.

- The responsibility of a soldier is that of becoming strong enough to protect the people you love, and those in need. In retrospect, this was showcasing Reiner’s feelings of wanting to become a hero, though at the time there was a self-centered touch to it constantly. He can say it like he’s the picture-perfect of a selfless soldier here only because he’s in his soldier!persona. Eren reflects that he was childish back in the cabin, because he acknowledges he didn’t have any greater goal back then, he was just “spouting his own feelings”. Feelings of hatred towards aggressors and how, in his opinion, they didn’t deserve to live.

Which is what Eren says he did back then, when he reviewed the scene in ch.122, and what he says he’s doing right now.

But why does he think about the “responsibility of power” in the last panel? It’s not like he was in a position of power when he killed those traffickers. Sounds like Isayama wanted to introduce this concept for Eren to think about (and never do so again for 50 chapters lmao), but he didn’t really manage to bring it up in a smooth way.

I can barely follow the logic of this discussion, to be honest.

But I agree that Eren’s journey made him learn that everyone is the same. That was the whole point. So I don’t get what’s the following point of unravelling all that by letting Eren believe his original outlook (that he already agreed was flawed in chapter 17, and many times after that) was in fact right. Or something he cannot fight against and can only accept as the natural course of things. That’s not Eren.

Or, that’s not how Eren’s story should end, even if the story itself tries to force him into it.

[terramythos]

My reread commentary on October Daye #8, "The Winter Long" or "more shit goes down in this book than the first 7 combined, holy shit".

I apologize to anyone who reads these cause I literally hit the length limit on this post and had to pare it down lmao 

-Good start: Under the Acknowledgements section: "Everything I have done with October's world to this point has been for the sake of getting here". Sooo basically the first 7 books? Setup for this one. We're in for a Ride.

I want to emphasize some of the best meta foreshadowing I've seen:

FOR REFERENCE, Rosemary and Rue is the title of book 1. It's also the only book whose opening Shakespeare quote (from Hamlet) doesn't really match the title. If you know your Shakespeare, you probably would have caught that and figured out that it was from The Winter's Tale instead. Plenty of conclusions you can draw just from that. Since then the series has been chock full of hidden identities, and this book has two BIG ones coming into play. Foreshadowing was here from the very fucking beginning, and it is some next level shit. Very well done.

-If you skipped book 1 you are SO fucked, btw.

- we're going to great lengths to describe Sylvester's physical appearance. Gee I wonder why. I'm sure it's not relevant

- yes Sylvester has FOX COLORED HAIR and YELLOW EYES and his magic smells like DAFFODILS and DOGWOOD FLOWERS. He is Toby's LEIGE and FATHER FIGURE.

Me on a first read: oh it's just beginning book exposition, they all do this

Me on a second read: god fucking damn it

- toby: I should have known Sylvester would never disappoint me.

Me: oh sweetie. Oh honey.

- "He smelled like smoke and rotten oranges.

This man wasn't Sylvester Torquill."

Anyone who read book 1: OHSHIT.AVI

Welcome back, Simon! You know, Sylvester's evil twin? You know, the big bad (so far) of the series? The the one responsible for turning Toby into a fish for 14 years?

-Yet he seems kinda... off, huh? Comments about how he didnt know the spell would last 14 years, how he hates to upset October's mom, of all people? Whatever could he mean? :)))

-New toby power: spell reflection? Hell yeah? Also spell BREAKING, but to be fair she did do that one other time. In, you guessed it, book 1.

- "When I tried to picture Sylvester's face, I kept seeing Simon's instead" ow oof

- Simon calling Amandine "Amy", which we've established is an affectionate nickname (it being what, you know, THE LUIDAEG calls her). Why would Simon, of all people, call her that?

... oh.

-That sure explains a LOT, huh? That sure was set up... this whole time, huh?

-Little "fuck you" lines like "I didn't know Sylvester had a niece" in book 2. Talking about January. Well, uh, he has several actually! You're one of them!

-Explanation for why Sylvester had any inclination to be October's mentor... eventually becoming her liege and father figure... even giving her the Changeling's Choice (something family is supposed to do). It seems mighty convenient that a random noble was involved in the life of a changeling to such an extent. BUT, if he was her uncle, and knew his brother wouldn't step up? Well...

-This isn't even the biggest reveal of the book. Like, we're only a handful of chapters in and this bomb gets dropped.

-Sylvester, every 10 minutes: oh boy I cant wait to see my brother so I can like, completely eviscerate him!

Everyone else: uh,

- Tybalt: and here I thought I was going to have to ask Sylvester for his blessing. Now I technically have to ask SIMON?

Toby: uwotm8

Tybalt: oh god uhh I'm joking yeah uhh I'm just trying to distract you from all this stress :)) yeah (nailed it!)!

-And now we begin the "wow Sylvester is actually not a great person" slide. It's been hinted at that he's pretty unstable and has shitty priorities regarding people he cares about. But Toby glossed over a lot of it because she adored him. Welp.

- It's also an interesting aside that Etienne was kind of a dick to Toby for a reason in the earlier books. He legit thought she had been knighted because she was family, not that she had earned the post. And after the last few books he clearly knows now that that's not the case and they've actually become friends. That's interesting hidden character development.

- ok so The Gang finds out that Simon was telling the truth when he said turning Toby into a fish for 14 years was to save her. Because he had actually been hired to KILL her and didn't want to do it. So it was a loophole-- everyone thought she was dead, and then (as established in book 1) pretty much everyone forgot she existed until the spell broke.

-BUT Simon is bound by a geas (where have we seen that before) and cannot divulge his employer's name. But who had such a grudge against Toby and/or her mom to order a hit on her AND forcibly bind everyone to secrecy?

-who knows? Not toby. So they go to The Luidaeg to maybe get a lead, and she establishes right away that she is ALSO bound under a geas and can't say who did it. So we play some 20 questions, and then...

ULTRA DISTRESSING LUIDAEG LORE :((((

-additional: another month name just came into play. August. Toby's half sister, missing for a century. WHAT IS WITH THE MONTH NAMES

- "please don't mistake villainy for evil." That's an.. interesting quote re:Simon.

- Simon's way of protecting toby from the impending threat is "well maybe you turn into a tree for a few centuries but like. You're safe, right? Why are you mad?"

- The Luidaeg: *is straight up dead*

Toby: hey tybalt remember that time in book 2 when I Resurrected the Dead

Tybalt: yeah, it was fucking terrifying and I didnt speak to you for 6 months

Toby: *finger guns* guess whaaaaaat

-The Luidaeg: *says just. A bunch of Lore*

Toby: Luidaeg dont you dare drop that cryptic shit on me then pass out

Luidaeg: nap time

-"If you so much as whisper the first word of a transformation spell, I'll have your larynx in my hand before the second word can form." DAMN, Tybalt.

-Simon: I am VERY sorry for my bullshit earlier. I can't tell you who my employer is, but I CAN give you this BOUQUET of ICE COLD ROSES. Ice cold, like winter. Winter Roses, if you will. Yeah. Uh have a nice life, bye!

Everyone: well this sure is a mystery

-Simon is definitely a morally grey character. Has done really awful shit, is built up as a major villain... but turns out he had relatively little control over his actions. He does the wrong thing a lot but it's usually not for a truly evil end? If the context is to be believed he got stuck in the geas contract with Unnamed Employer to save his daughter, which explains the bad shit he did that we know of. Which then inadvertently kicked off like the whole series. He seems to genuinely care about Toby in a warped way? It would be so easy to write him off as an evil stepdad or whatever and there's plenty of canon to support that stance (she's an illegitimate CHANGELING child) but he seems like he wants to just be her dad. I hope we explore his character more, is what I'm saying.

-And not to keep rambling about it but Toby is an established unreliable narrator and a horrible (initial) judge of character. So it's not like this is an asspull or off base at all.

Twist of the fucking century here.

-You know... the character who set off the events of the series? The character who was murdered in book 1 and bound October to a geas forcing her to find the culprit or die? Evening fucking Winterrose?

-There were hints, most very subtle unlike the other big twists, but probably the biggest one is SHE NEVER SHOWS UP AS A NIGHT HAUNT. And they're in the story quite a bit, and they ALWAYS feature killed off characters. Except Evening.

-My favorite hints were the ones just piled in book 1. Comments like "no one knows who Evening really is" said with zero self awareness. Because we are actually about to find out who she is... 7 goddamn books later.

-dead meme but "surprise, bitch. Bet you thought you saw the last of me."

-God she's so awful lol

-Toby thinking Quentin died then calling him THE SON SHE NEVER HAD is a BIG OOF right to the HEART. ;-;

-The book also points out that The Luidaeg through the series has ALWAYS referred to Evening in present tense. Even though she "died" in book 1.

-The Luidaeg ALSO never refers to her as Evening. It's always "The Winterrose". You know, a title. Which we have heavily emphasized is something the Firstborn use in place of their true names.

*jazz hands* Surprise!

-We also (finally) have a canon explanation for the... rather remarkable coincidence that Quentin, the fucking Crown Prince (from TORONTO), is in San Francisco at all. It was always weird he got sent to Shadowed Hills, and it's been commented on multiple times... Evening arranged it, of course! For reasons we don't quite know. But as the Daoine Sidhe Firstborn, her descendants couldn't exactly say no. Even though they didn't know who she really was.

-We really are falling all over Firstborn in this series? It sure is.. an odd coincidence, huh?

We got:

The Luidaeg: Roane/Selkie

Amandine: Dochas Sidhe

Acacia: Blodynbryd

Evening: Daoine Sidhe

Blind Michael: ... uh actually I don't think we ever learn what race he's Firstborn of. All his "children" are kidnapping victims forcibly twisted into monsters. Well, except for Luna, but we only know the Blodynbryd side.

But it's weird that for being so rare that we've run into 5 of them in 8 books. There's gotta be a reason for it.. but what?

-Luna starts the series as Toby's Surrogate Mom and is now just straight up an enemy huh

-I made this observation in my book 1 notes, but I find it very interesting that all of Toby's initial friends and allies... aren't by this point. Whereas her current allies are either former enemies or people she initially disliked or distrusted.

Starter allies: Sylvester? Was lying to her the whole time. Luna? Pretty much tried to sacrifice her (+above). Evening? Uhh this whole damn book. Devin? Tried to kill her for personal gain. Lily/Connor? Both killed off for real.

Current allies: Tybalt? Literal former enemy turned lover. Quentin? Kind of a snotty, vaguely racist kid she whips into shape. The Luidaeg? Extremely powerful witch who Toby assumes is True Neutral and wouldn't hesitate to kill her. May? Literal personal walking death omen.

It's just a cool reversal. There's so much really excellent character development in this series and I love it.

-Simon still is a pretty major bastard but.. less outright mustache twirling evil than we were led to believe up to this book. You learn his Backstory and while it really doesn't justify his actions it does...explain them.

-Blink and you miss it Lore: August is missing because she entered a contract with the Luidaeg. She's holding the candle from book 3 :)))

I'm starting to realize I stan The Luidaeg so hard I just have to take a picture every time she shows up and does stuff lmfao. (Best character).

-But... nothing like your inconceivably ancient and powerful aunt suddenly owing you a life debt, I guess???

-Toby. You know, just an ordinary weak changeling who has somehow managed to KILL A FIRSTBORN and RAISE THE DEAD. yikes.

I'm just putting this here cause it's funny as shit. Tybalt really is just... a cat

This book: I heard you like distressing Luidaeg lore??

Me: oh thanks I don't need to feel things

-God Evening is awful. Like, if you didn't know that already, see above.

-It says something about The Luidaeg that despite all that shit their Firstborn did to her she ends up becoming such good friends with Quentin, a Daoine Sidhe?

-BIG LORE with The Luidaeg talking to Maeve??? And Maeve "responding" kind of? This series damn well better explore what the fuck happened to those three it's been built up all series

-Omg the showdown with Evening and The Luidaeg. And Toby managing to break free and realize she deserves so much more than Evening-- all without magic. And Simon showing up for a last minute redemption trying to hit Evening with elf shot? I mean he gets shot in the process, but...

-We now have like, 3 or 4 characters just... asleep indefinitely thanks to elf shot. that's gonna be a Thing isnt it. Rayseline, Evening, Simon, Arden's brother...

WE DID IT BOYS

-This is the last full one I've already read. Most of my reactions in 9-12 are gonna be new. So.

[butterflies-dragons]

SANSA STARK: A WOLF WITH DRAGON WINGS

I. AN INTRODUCTION

This is an extract from what George RR Martin wrote regarding what happened to Sansa in the sixth episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones:

How many children did Scarlett O'Hara have? Three, in the novel. One, in the movie. None, in real life: she was a fictional character, she never existed. The show is the show, the books are the books; two different tellings of the same story.

There have been differences between the novels and the television show since the first episode of season one. And for just as long, I have been talking about the butterfly effect. Small changes lead to larger changes lead to huge changes. HBO is more than forty hours into the impossible and demanding task of adapting my lengthy (extremely) and complex (exceedingly) novels, with their layers of plots and subplots, their twists and contradictions and unreliable narrators, viewpoint shifts and ambiguities, and a cast of characters in the hundreds. 

There has seldom been any TV series as faithful to its source material, by and large (if you doubt that, talk to the Harry Dresden fans, or readers of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, or the fans of the original WALKING DEAD comic books)… but the longer the show goes on, the bigger the butterflies become. And now we have reached the point where the beat of butterfly wings is stirring up storms, like the one presently engulfing my email. 

Prose and television have different strengths, different weaknesses, different requirements.

David and Dan and Bryan and HBO are trying to make the best television series that they can.

And over here I am trying to write the best novels that I can.

And yes, more and more, they differ. Two roads diverging in the dark of the woods, I suppose… but all of us are still intending that at the end we will arrive at the same place.

In the meantime, we hope that the readers and viewers both enjoy the journey. Or journeys, as the case may be. Sometimes butterflies grow into dragons.

Sometimes butterflies grow into dragons. 

Sometimes butterflies grow into dragons.

SOMETIMES BUTTERFLIES GROW INTO DRAGONS.

That line really stuck in my mind. Because, beyond its literal meaning within the text, it is so beautiful and powerful, and gives me so much hope about Sansa’s future, because, indeed, she is a butterfly that could grow into a dragon.

Just look at what I found about Sansa’s butterfly symbolism:

[…] when Sansa’s dragonfly, wings, and butterfly symbolisms are born. Game of Thrones embroidery and animal motifs, especially with the female characters, employ subtle clues to the characters’ narrative evolutions. Sansa’s “spirit animal” motif is applied to her costume over and over as her character and story develop.

There are many theories about the Stark girl’s flighty, winged creature crest, from Sansa’s moth ring to her embellished gowns. Cersei calls her “little dove,” and winged creatures are traditionally symbols of beauty and fragility. However, I feel that Sansa and her symbolism are far more complex than this. Moths, dragonflies, and butterflies are metamorphic creatures that, despite their visually flimsy allure and delicate nature, evolve and grow as they shift and change. I feel like they are a very apt metaphor for Sansa Stark, who, through her pain due to her fragile place in society as a woman, is never broken entirely. She only evolves and grows as she shifts and changes through self realization.

It is also discussed that the story of The Prince of Dragonflies — a Targaryen prince who gave up the throne to be with his love — influenced Michele Carragher’s choice for Sansa’s personal emblem. Sansa’s obsession with courtly love, which is dashed time and time again, is mirrored in this tragic tale.

—Sansa Stark’s Fashion Evolution Through ‘Game Of Thrones’ And How Her Wardrobe Mirrors Her Character

After reading that article I started doing research for references about Sansa & dragonfly symbolism and/or Sansa & the Prince of Dragonflies in the books. And I ended up writing this long long post about it, where you can find a lot of Sansa Stark and Jon Snow connections and parallels.

So, since I already wrote about Sansa and dragonflies, now it is time for me to write about dragons, about Sansa and dragons.

II. DIFFERENT ROADS SOMETIMES LEAD TO THE SAME CASTLE

YES, I know that when George said “Sometimes butterflies grow into dragons”, he was talking about the changes the Show decided to make in Sansa’s story. While in the Books she is in the Vale in the guise of Alayne Stone, eating lemony lemony lemon cakes and trying to charm, entice and bewitch Harry the Arse the Heir, the Show put her in the place of Jeyne Poole or Fake Arya. So Sansa ended up being repeatedly beaten, raped and tortured by Ramsay Bolton in her own home. HER OWN HOME! A place she yearns for; a place where she finds courage and strength within its walls. Again, I will always hate D&D for what they did to Sansa... BUT, as George himself said: “Two roads diverging in the dark of the woods, I suppose… but all of us are still intending that at the end we will arrive at the same place”. So that makes me think that in the Books, Sansa and Jon, against all odds, will meet again.  

[x]

And I will give you more reasons why I think that: 

“Two roads diverging in the dark of the woods, I suppose… but all of us are still intending that at the end we will arrive at the same place”. Where do I read that before? Oh yes, in the Books: 

Jon messed up her hair. "I will miss you, little sister." 

Suddenly she looked like she was going to cry. "I wish you were coming with us."

"Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle. Who knows?" He was feeling better now. He was not going to let himself be sad. "I better go. I'll spend my first year on the Wall emptying chamber pots if I keep Uncle Ben waiting any longer."

Arya ran to him for a last hug. "Put down the sword first," Jon warned her, laughing. She set it aside almost shyly and showered him with kisses.

—A Game of Thrones - Jon II

I know that this dialogue is between Jon and Arya and it shows the endearing love they have for each other; but believe me, every time I read that last conversation between them, the way Sansa is so very present during that exchange of words always amazes me:

I have something for you to take with you, and it has to be packed very carefully.

"Her face lit up. "A present?"

"You could call it that. Close the door."

Wary but excited, Arya checked the hall. "Nymeria, here. Guard." She left the wolf out there to warn of intruders and closed the door. By then Jon had pulled off the rags he'd wrapped it in. He held it out to her.

Arya's eyes went wide. Dark eyes, like his. "A sword," she said in a small, hushed breath.

The scabbard was soft grey leather, supple as sin. Jon drew out the blade slowly, so she could see the deep blue sheen of the steel. "This is no toy," he told her. "Be careful you don't cut yourself. The edges are sharp enough to shave with."

"Girls don't shave," Arya said.

"Maybe they should. Have you ever seen the septa's legs?"

She giggled at him. "It's so skinny."

"So are you," Jon told her. "I had Mikken make this special. The bravos use swords like this in Pentos and Myr and the other Free Cities. It won't hack a man's head off, but it can poke him full of holes if you're fast enough."

"I can be fast," Arya said.

"You'll have to work at it every day." He put the sword in her hands, showed her how to hold it, and stepped back. "How does it feel? Do you like the balance?"

"I think so," Arya said.

"First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."

Arya gave him a whap on the arm with the flat of her blade. The blow stung, but Jon found himself grinning like an idiot. "I know which end to use," Arya said. A doubtful look crossed her face. "Septa Mordane will take it away from me."

"Not if she doesn't know you have it," Jon said.

"Who will I practice with?"

"You'll find someone," Jon promised her. "King's Landing is a true city, a thousand times the size of Winterfell. Until you find a partner, watch how they fight in the yard. Run, and ride, make yourself strong. And whatever you do …"

Arya knew what was coming next. They said it together.

"… don't … tell … Sansa!"

Jon messed up her hair. "I will miss you, little sister."

Suddenly she looked like she was going to cry. "I wish you were coming with us."

"Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle. Who knows?" He was feeling better now. He was not going to let himself be sad. "I better go. I'll spend my first year on the Wall emptying chamber pots if I keep Uncle Ben waiting any longer."

Arya ran to him for a last hug. "Put down the sword first," Jon warned her, laughing. She set it aside almost shyly and showered him with kisses.

When he turned back at the door, she was holding it again, trying it for balance. "I almost forgot," he told her. "All the best swords have names."

"Like Ice," she said. She looked at the blade in her hand. "Does this have a name? Oh, tell me."

"Can't you guess?" Jon teased. "Your very favorite thing."

Arya seemed puzzled at first. Then it came to her. She was that quick. They said it together:

"Needle!"

The memory of her laughter warmed him on the long ride north.

—A Game of Thrones - Jon II

See? Arya named the sword Jon gave her “Needle”. Jon thought about the same name for the sword, even before he gave it to Arya. And all that was because Sansa was extremely good at embroidering and Arya wasn't. I believe that if Sansa hadn’t been so good at it and if Septa Mordane hadn’t always compared Arya's stitches to her sister's exquisite ones, needles wouldn’t have been so relevant to Arya.

So, it is very obvious that when Jon said that “different roads sometimes lead to the same castle”, he was hoping to see Arya again, the same way Sansa waited, wished and prayed for Robb to come rescue her from the Lannisters, during her time in King’s Landing after Ned’s death. And since George has used the same phrase while commenting the decision of the Show to put Sansa in the north playing the role of Jeyne Poole as Fake Arya, I believe that this is the reason for the change of Sansa’s storyline from the Books; so she could run to the Wall in order to reach Jon for help and shelter. I mean, I believe that in the Books, Sansa and Jon will be the first Starks to meet and be together again. I believe that Sansa will be the girl in grey on a dying horse of Melisandre’s vision:

Surprise made him recoil from her. "Lady Melisandre." He took a step backwards. "I mistook you for someone else." At night all robes are grey. Yet suddenly hers were red. He did not understand how he could have taken her for Ygritte. She was taller, thinner, older, though the moonlight washed years from her face. Mist rose from her nostrils, and from pale hands naked to the night. "You will freeze your fingers off," Jon warned. "If that is the will of R'hllor. Night's powers cannot touch one whose heart is bathed in god's holy fire."

"You heart does not concern me. Just your hands."

"The heart is all that matters. Do not despair, Lord Snow. Despair is a weapon of the enemy, whose name may not be spoken. Your sister is not lost to you."

"I have no sister." The words were knives. What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister?

Melisandre seemed amused. "What is her name, this little sister that you do not have?"

"Arya." His voice was hoarse. "My half-sister, truly …"

"… for you are bastard born. I had not forgotten. I have seen your sister in my fires, fleeing from this marriage they have made for her. Coming here, to you. A girl in grey on a dying horse, I have seen it plain as day. It has not happened yet, but it will."

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon VI

Meanwhile in The Vale:

There’s a new High Septon, did you know? Oh, and the Night's Watch has a boy commander, some bastard son of Eddard Stark’s.”

"Jon Snow?” she blurted out, surprised.

“Snow? Yes, it would be Snow, I suppose.”

She had not thought of Jon in ages. He was only her half brother, but still… with Robb and Bran and Rickon dead, Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again. But of course that could never be. Alayne Stone had no brothers, baseborn or otherwise.

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

So, we have Sansa in the south (which was nothing like she imagined it to be) waiting for Robb, her big brother, the trueborn, the Heir to Winterfell. And he never comes for her. When Sansa hears the news of his demise, she believes she has lost all her brothers, until she hears of her half brother Jon Snow. But she’s not a Stark by then, just a bastard girl in the Vale, who has no brothers, trueborn or otherwise.

On the other hand, we have Jon in the north, who has taken a vow to serve for life in the Night’s Watch (which was nothing like he imagined it to be), missing Arya, his beloved sister, madly. He even decided to forsake his oaths for her, which in turn caused his betrayal and stabbing by his brothers. And yet, it was all for naught, because, unbeknownst to him, the little sister he yearned for wasn’t even close to the Wall. Oh the irony...

If one believes in dramatic irony, it is that thoughtlessness in regards to each other (and possibly Sansa’s anvilicious “that could never be” when thinking about seeing [Jon] again) that gives them the best chances of being the first (if not only) Starks to reunite.

—blindestspot

YES, as Jon Snow is the silent, unknown and unthought answer to Sansa’s hopes. I think Sansa will be the half sister cousin he will meet again, because as Jon said himself: “different roads sometimes lead to the same castle”.

III. GOLDEN DRAGONS

As prosaic as it sounds, I’m going to talk about money. Golden dragons are the most valuable coins in Westeros.

Golden dragons are more frequently used by rich merchants and noble lords and ladies. Smallfolk, who do not have such riches, tend to exchange copper and silver coins, or turn to trade. The minting of the coins, exchange rates, and like matters are overseen by the master of coin.

The king's coinage is one of the most visible manifestations of royal authority. Golden dragons bear the face of the king in whose time they were minted in, as well as his name. On the other side, the golden dragon bear the three-headed Targaryen dragon. [x]

In the Books, the first time that Sansa is mentioned in relation to Dragons was when Queen Cersei offered a reward of a hundred golden dragons for Nymeria’s skin, after the direwolf bit Joffrey’s arm.

Nymeria accompanies Arya south on the journey to King's Landing. When Joffrey Baratheon and Sansa stumble upon Arya playing at swords with her friend Mycah by the Trident, Joffrey challenges Mycah to a duel, and cuts Mycah in the process. Joffrey refuses to relent which leads Arya to hit him with her stick. Joffrey attacks Arya with his sword, and Nymeria lunges at Joffrey and bites him. After letting him go, Arya and Nymeria flee. Fearing for Nymeria's life, Arya and Jory are forced to chase her away. [x]

Because Arya Stark's direwolf, Nymeria, attacks Prince Joffrey Baratheon along the banks of the Trident, Nymeria is ordered to be killed but she cannot be found. At Darry, the spiteful Queen Cersei Lannister orders Lady to be put down instead. In spite of Sansa's protests, her father Eddard Stark performs the execution himself, as is his custom and to spare Lady pain she might suffer if the royal executioner Ilyn Payne performs the deed. The trusting Lady does not sense Eddard's intention and is killed with a single blow of his greatsword, Ice. Eddard orders her body to be brought north and be buried in Winterfell. [x]

The passage in AGOT where Queen Cersei offers a sum of golden dragons for Nymeria’s skin is the following:

Robert started to walk away, but the queen was not done. “And what of the direwolf?” she called after him. “What of the beast that savaged your son?

"The king stopped, turned back, frowned. "I’d forgotten about the damned wolf." Ned could see Arya tense in Jory’s arms. Jory spoke up quickly. "We found no trace of the direwolf, Your Grace."

Robert did not look unhappy. "No? So be it.”

"The queen raised her voice. "A hundred golden dragons to the man who brings me its skin!”

“A costly pelt,” Robert grumbled. “I want no part of this, woman. You can damn well buy your furs with Lannister gold.”

The queen regarded him coolly. "I had not thought you so niggardly. The king I'd thought to wed would have laid a wolfskin across my bed before the sun went down."

Robert's face darkened with anger. "That would be a fine trick, without a wolf."

"We have a wolf," Cersei Lannister said. Her voice was very quiet, but her green eyes shone with triumph.

It took them all a moment to comprehend her words, but when they did, the king shrugged irritably. "As you will. Have Ser Ilyn see to it."

"Robert, you cannot mean this," Ned protested.

The king was in no mood for more argument. "Enough, Ned, I will hear no more. A direwolf is a savage beast. Sooner or later it would have turned on your girl the same way the other did on my son. Get her a dog, she'll be happier for it."

That was when Sansa finally seemed to comprehend. Her eyes were frightened as they went to her father. "He doesn't mean Lady, does he?" She saw the truth on his face. "No," she said. "No, not Lady, Lady didn't bite anybody, she's good …"

"Lady wasn't there," Arya shouted angrily. "You leave her alone!"

"Stop them," Sansa pleaded, "don't let them do it, please, please, it wasn't Lady, it was Nymeria, Arya did it, you can't, it wasn't Lady, don't let them hurt Lady, I'll make her be good, I promise, I promise …" She started to cry.

All Ned could do was take her in his arms and hold her while she wept. He looked across the room at Robert. His old friend, closer than any brother. "Please, Robert. For the love you bear me. For the love you bore my sister. Please."

The king looked at them for a long moment, then turned his eyes on his wife. "Damn you, Cersei," he said with loathing.

Ned stood, gently disengaging himself from Sansa's grasp. All the weariness of the past four days had returned to him. "Do it yourself then, Robert," he said in a voice cold and sharp as steel. "At least have the courage to do it yourself."

Robert looked at Ned with flat, dead eyes and left without a word, his footsteps heavy as lead. Silence filled the hall.

"Where is the direwolf?" Cersei Lannister asked when her husband was gone. Beside her, Prince Joffrey was smiling.

"The beast is chained up outside the gatehouse, Your Grace," Ser Barristan Selmy answered reluctantly.

"Send for Ilyn Payne."

"No," Ned said. "Jory, take the girls back to their rooms and bring me Ice." The words tasted of bile in his throat, but he forced them out. "If it must be done, I will do it."

Cersei Lannister regarded him suspiciously. "You, Stark? Is this some trick? Why would you do such a thing?"

They were all staring at him, but it was Sansa's look that cut. "She is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher."

He left the room with his eyes burning and his daughter's wails echoing in his ears, and found the direwolf pup where they chained her. Ned sat beside her for a while. "Lady," he said, tasting the name. He had never paid much attention to the names the children had picked, but looking at her now, he knew that Sansa had chosen well. She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting. She looked at him with bright golden eyes, and he ruffled her thick grey fur.

Shortly, Jory brought him Ice.

When it was over, he said, "Choose four men and have them take the body north. Bury her at Winterfell.”

“All that way?” Jory said, astonished.

“All that way,” Ned affirmed. “The Lannister woman shall never have this skin.”

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard III

I have quoted the entire passage due to its instances of symbolic foreshadowing, which are very important in the support of the ideas I wish to expound in this post. Let’s see:

In the end Queen Cersei didn’t have to pay the hundred golden dragons she offered for Nymeria’s skin, because she turned her vengeance against Lady. And Sansa’s direwolf, despite her innocence, died to placate Cersei’s and Joffrey’s wrath.    

But I want to point out the reward Queen Cersei offered. She is a Lannister. House Lannister is very rich. Their unofficial motto is “A Lannister always pays his debts”, so the wealth of her house allows her to offer a huge amount of money for just a pelt; “A costly pelt” as King Robert said.

So, although not directly, this event is only the first time rich and powerful people offer golden dragons as a reward for Sansa Stark:    

“Lord Petyr,” Dontos called from the boat. “I must needs row back, before they think to look for me.

"Petyr Baelish put a hand on the rail. "But first you’ll want your payment. Ten thousand dragons, was it?”

“Ten thousand.” Dontos rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. “As you promised, my lord.”

"Ser Lothor, the reward."

Lothor Brune dipped his torch. Three men stepped to the gunwale, raised crossbows, fired. One bolt took Dontos in the chest as he looked up, punching through the left crown on his surcoat. The others ripped into throat and belly. It happened so quickly neither Dontos nor Sansa had time to cry out. When it was done, Lothor Brune tossed the torch down on top of the corpse. The little boat was blazing fiercely as the galley moved away.

"You killed him." Clutching the rail, Sansa turned away and retched. Had she escaped the Lannisters to tumble into worse?

"My lady," Littlefinger murmured, "your grief is wasted on such a man as that. He was a sot, and no man's friend."

“But he saved me.”

“He sold you for a promise of ten thousand dragons. Your disappearance will make them suspect you in Joffrey’s death. The gold cloaks will hunt, and the eunuch will jingle his purse. Dontos … well, you heard him. He sold you for gold, and when he’d drunk it up he would have sold you again. A bag of dragons buys a man’s silence for a while, but a well-placed quarrel buys it forever.” He smiled sadly. “All he did he did at my behest. I dared not befriend you openly. When I heard how you saved his life at Joff’s tourney, I knew he would be the perfect catspaw.

"Sansa felt sick. "He said he was my Florian.”

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa V

The direwolf of every Stark child is a part of them, so just as Nymeria’s skin was “A costly pelt”, Sansa Stark herself was “A costly hostage” that became “A costly fugitive” valued in Lannister gold:  

“That’s too soon. You have me shut up here under guard, how am I to find witnesses to my innocence?”

“Your sister’s had no difficulty finding witnesses to your guilt.” Ser Kevan rolled up the parchment. “Ser Addam has men hunting for your wife. Varys has offered a hundred stags for word of her whereabouts, and a hundred dragons for the girl herself. If the girl can be found she will be found, and I shall bring her to you. I see no harm in husband and wife sharing the same cell and giving comfort to one another.”

—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion IX

Woman was marginally better than wench, she supposed. “You and good Ser Creighton have much in common, then.

"Ser Shadrich laughed. "Oh, I doubt that, but it may be that you and I share a quest. A little lost sister, is it? With blue eyes and auburn hair?” He laughed again. “You are not the only hunter in the woods. I seek for Sansa Stark as well.

"Brienne kept her face a mask, to hide her dismay. "Who is this Sansa Stark, and why do you seek her?”

“For love, why else?”

She furrowed her brow. “Love?"

"Aye, love of gold. Unlike your good Ser Creighton, I did fight upon the Blackwater, but on the losing side. My ransom ruined me. You know who Varys is, I trust? The eunuch has offered a plump bag of gold for this girl you’ve never heard of. I am not a greedy man. If some oversized wench would help me find this naughty child, I would split the Spider’s coin with her.”

—A Feast for Crows - Brienne I

“Perhaps you will try the melee instead?” Alayne suggested. The melee was an afterthought, a sop for all the brothers, uncles, fathers, and friends who had accompanied the competitors to the Gates of the Moon to see them win their silver wings, but there would be prizes for the champions, and a chance to win ransoms.

“A good melee is all a hedge knight can hope for, unless he stumbles on a bag of dragons. And that’s not likely, is it?” “I suppose not. But now you must excuse us, ser, we need to find my lord father.”

—The Winds of Winter - Alayne I

Even the honorable Brienne of Tarth used Lannister gold given by Jaime Lannister during her quest to find “her sister”, a certain beautiful highborn maid of three-and-ten that has blue eyes and auburn hair:

“Where?” Brienne slapped another silver stag down.

He flicked the coin back at her with his forefinger. “Someplace no stag ever found … though a dragon might.” Silver would not get the truth from him, she sensed. Gold might, or it might not. Steel would be more certain. Brienne touched her dagger, then reached into her purse instead. She found a golden dragon and put in on the barrel. “Where?”

(...)

“No, but I can take you to one.” The coin danced one way, and back the other.

“Take you to the Whispers, m'lady.

"Brienne did not like the way his fingers played with that gold coin. Still … "Six dragons if we find my sister. Two if we only find the fool. Nothing if nothing is what we find.

"Crabb shrugged. "Six is good. Six will serve.”

—A Feast for Crows - Brienne III

From this last quote I want to rescue this line: “Someplace no stag ever found… though a dragon might.” This words are talking about stags and dragons, not silver and gold, just the animals that the coins bare on one side. The stag is the sigil of House Baratheon and the dragon is the sigil of House Targaryen. And this makes me think about the Tourney at Ashford Meadow, where the first and the fifth of its final champions belonged to these houses. And according to this theory: “When you look at the names of the champions' families and the fact they fight for a 13 year old maid, especially with the family Hardyng, we find out that they correspond strongly with Sansa's suitors in A Song of Ice and Fire.”

So, following the pattern established by the five final champions of the Tourney at Ashford Meadow, I believe that the stag in this line represents Joffrey Baratheon (Sansa's first betrothed), while the Dragon who might find Sansa is Jon Snow, the Targaryen Champion (Sansa’s actual betrothed).This last idea is going to be developed throughout this post.

Now, back to Lady’s death. We know that this event is a turning point in Sansa’s arc, but other than that, the paragraphs leading to the direwolf’s execution are laden with symbolism and foreshadowing, not only for Sansa, but for Ned as well.

During the “trial”, Ned decides that he will take Lady’s life himself, in order to avoid having a butcher like Ilyn Payne do the execution. Then, before he struck, he pronounced her name in the same fashion Robb and Jon called the name of their direwolves before they both died. This for me foreshadows Ned’s own death. Also, before Lady’s death, Ned pleads King Robert to change his decision on putting down the direwolf, appealing to the memory of Lyanna, the woman Robert loved. Similarly, before Ned’s execution at the steps of the Sept of Baelor, Sansa pleads King Joffrey to spare her father’s life, appealing to the love he has for her. As we know, both pleas fell on deaf ears and both Lady and Ned lost their lives; bringing the story full circle, as Ilyn Payne himself cut off Ned’s head.

Another interesting thing is that before Lady’s death we have direct and indirect references to Lyanna Stark. We have the direct reference when Ned appealed to the love Robert Baratheon bore Lyanna, in order to save Lady’s life, and the indirect one when he ordered Jory to choose four men to return Lady’s body to the north, to bury her in Winterfell. This order Ned gave to his men alludes to his own decision to take Lyanna’s body to Winterfell to be buried in the crypts, after her demise, brought on by her doomed love affair with Rhaegar Targaryen. Again, here we have the two extremes of the pattern stablished by the final champions of the Tourney at Ashford Meadow: the beginning (the stag) and the end (the dragon) of Sansa’s possible romantic cycle. History repeats itself all the time in this universe, and with luck, certain twists could change the final outcome.

There are plenty more parallels between Lyanna, Sansa and at least one other lady before them, whose story included a Baratheon betrothed and a Targaryen Prince, and although this post is not the place to discuss them, just think about Duncan Targaryen, his betrothed Baratheon and Jenny of Oldstones, a story extremely similar to the one of Rhaegar Targaryen, Lyanna Stark and her betrothed Robert Baratheon: A Targaryen prince breaking an engagement with a member of House Baratheon that then originates a rebellion.  

Now think of this: Sansa was betrothed to Joffrey “Baratheon” and the engagement was broken in the middle of war with the north, sparked by Ned’s death. Robb Stark called the banners against King Joffrey in rebellion, while Jon almost broke his vows to join Robb’s army. What drove them to that point? The need to avenge Ned’s death and the at the same time rescue their sisters. All of which makes me think about these parallels: Sansa being a hostage in King’s Landing/Lyanna’s “abduction”, Ned’s death/Rickard’s death, Robb’s death/Brandon’s death. And that leaves Jon Snow to possibly play the role of Ned Stark in the future.  

As I said, history repeats itself all the time in this universe, and with luck, certain twists could change the final result. And I believe Sansa has a chance of change the many preceding sad patterns reflected in her story and she will compose her lucky song along with the help of Jon Snow.

Talking about luck and change in history, since Lady was part of Sansa, and her body, pelt and bones, now rest in Winterfell, just like Lyanna’s corpse, I believe Sansa is destined to return to the north as well. But unlike Lyanna and Lady, Sansa will return to the north alive (to meet Jon Snow) and she will make her life safe and happy within the walls of the ancestral seat of her family. And as Ned himself said: "She is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher." And we all know that Sansa already had enough butchers in her short life:   [Part 1] [Part 2].

Again, since Lady was part of Sansa, and Cersei never got her skin; I believe Cersei will never put her hands on Sansa again, no matter the amount of golden dragons she offers as a reward for her. Because as Ned said “The Lannister woman shall never have this skin.”

The moral of the fable here is that “Not all that glitters is gold”. Sansa fell blindly in love with the fake glitter of Joffrey and Cersei, the south and King’s Landing. And from the golden lions, the Queen and the Prince, she only received pain. They took Lady and Ned away from her. They treated her as a possession, as a prize, they valued her in golden dragons. And the south and King’s Landing only gave Sansa false friends and sadly, a long list of butchers instead of gallant true knights... AND SHE DESERVES BETTER!

While Sansa is in the south, we witness her objectification numerous times, by every character she interacts with. She’s not only being valued in golden dragons, she has been practically transformed into a stone castle, Winterfell, and the north itself, since the one controlling her would obtain all her lands and power. Or, to use the euphemism used in the Books, she is “the key to the north.”

Sansa reflects about this objectification in the Books and articulates inside her mind one of the saddest lines in ASOIAF, especially for a girl who yearns to be loved and always dreamed of getting married: “No one will ever marry me for love” (because everyone only wants her claim to Winterfell). But instead of Tyrion, Willas or even Robert, who pursue Sansa’s claim over her, unbeknownst to her, faraway, at the other part of the world, there is a man who has been offered Winterfell and choose her over it: “By right Winterfell should go to my sister Sansa.” “Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa.” Among all the high lords interested in becoming the Lord of Winterfell by marrying Sansa Stark, the bastard Jon Snow refused to despoil his sister Sansa of her rights, even if her claim is the one thing he has wanted as much as he had ever wanted anything.

Sansa had to learn that “Not all that glitters is gold” in the cruelest of ways, by the harshest of teachers. Her innocence was taken away from her, but her wits and intuition got sharper and now she knows better.

The pale sunlight flashed off the golds and reds every time Joff moved. Bright, shining, and empty, Sansa thought.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa V

Ser Harrold Hardyng looked every inch a lord-in-waiting; clean-limbed and handsome, straight as a lance, hard with muscle. Men old enough to have known Jon Arryn in his youth said Ser Harrold had his look, she knew. He had a mop of sandy blond hair, pale blue eyes, an aquiline nose. Joffrey was comely too, though, she reminded herself. A comely monster, that’s what he was. Little Lord Tyrion was kinder, twisted though he was.

—The Winds of Winter - Alayne I

As we can see, the external beauty of golden and gallant knights does not so easily impress Sansa anymore. After all, according to her previous experiences they are empty and hollow, despite appearing shiny and bright.

But there is hope for her to find a brave and gentle and strong man, someone who embodies all the qualities of a true knight, anointed or not; something that she always wanted but in a different way. She is done for good with golden knights, but what about a Black Knight, a Dragonknight?

They were inside a long gallery. Along the walls stood empty suits of armor, dark and dusty, their helms crested with rows of scales that continued down their backs. As they hurried past, the taper’s light made the shadows of each scale stretch and twist. The hollow knights are turning into dragons, she thought.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa V

‘Hollow knights turning into dragons’ make me thing about a change in Sansa’s taste in men, but maybe not a change to something new, but a change back to her first instincts regarding men. After all, this line is from the day she left King’s Landing, the day she started her journey back to the north, her journey back home. So there is hope, because a dragon is waiting for her in the north.

IV. THE WAY NORTH

If Lady’s death wasn’t enough to open Sansa’s eyes and see the true nature of Cersei and Joffrey, Ned’s death certainly was:

"I don't want to marry you," Sansa wailed. "You chopped off my father's head!"

"He was a traitor. I never promised to spare him, only that I'd be merciful, and I was. If he hadn't been your father, I would have had him torn or flayed, but I gave him a clean death."

Sansa stared at him, seeing him for the first time. He was wearing a padded crimson doublet patterned with lions and a cloth-of-gold cape with a high collar that framed his face. She wondered how she could ever have thought him handsome. His lips were as soft and red as the worms you found after a rain, and his eyes were vain and cruel. "I hate you," she whispered.

King Joffrey's face hardened. "My mother tells me that it isn't fitting that a king should strike his wife. Ser Meryn."

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

Once she had loved Prince Joffrey with all her heart, and admired and trusted his mother, the queen. They had repaid that love and trust with her father's head. Sansa would never make that mistake again.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa I

It is truly very interesting how Sansa’s first true impression of Joffrey is almost identical to Jon’s first impression of the crown prince. They even commented on Joffrey’s lips and eyes in the same manner:

Prince Joffrey had his sister's hair and his mother's deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey's pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell's Great Hall.

—A Game of Thrones - Jon I

This ‘coincidence’ of impressions regarding Joffrey, makes me think that in the future, when Sansa and Jon meet again, for the first time, they would see the world through the same eyes. Sansa would even know by then what it means to be a bastard, thanks to her time as Alayne Stone.

Sadly, Ned’s death was the catalyst for Sansa to finally open her eyes to reality, but that event also awakened her inner ‘Starkness’, because if any of the Stark children is the epitome of endurance, that is Sansa. So, after Ned’s death, we see Sansa always finding her strength and courage in the memories of Winterfell and her family, yearning to go back to the north; back home:

The hot water made her think of Winterfell, and she took strength from that. She had not washed since the day her father died, and she was startled at how filthy the water became. Her maids sluiced the blood off her face, scrubbed the dirt from her back, washed her hair and brushed it out until it sprang back in thick auburn curls. Sansa did not speak to them, except to give them commands; they were Lannister servants, not her own, and she did not trust them.

— A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

And to the north …

She turned that way, and saw only the city, streets and alleys and hills and bottoms and more streets and more alleys and the stone of distant walls. Yet she knew that beyond them was open country, farms and fields and forests, and beyond that, north and north and north again, stood Winterfell.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

"Loyal," the dwarf mused, "and far from any Lannisters. I can scarce blame you for that. When I was your age, I wanted the same thing." He smiled. "They tell me you visit the godswood every day. What do you pray for, Sansa?"

I pray for Robb's victory and Joffrey's death... and for home. For Winterfell. "I pray for an end to the fighting."

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa III

Sansa tried to run, but Cersei’s handmaid caught her before she’d gone a yard. Ser Meryn Trant gave her a look that made her cringe, but Kettleblack touched her almost gently and said, “Do as you’re told, sweetling, it won’t be so bad. Wolves are supposed to be brave, aren’t they?

“Brave. Sansa took a deep breath. I am a Stark, yes, I can be brave.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa III

That was such a sweet dream, Sansa thought drowsily. She had been back in Winterfell, running through the godswood with her Lady. Her father had been there, and her brothers, all of them warm and safe. If only dreaming could make it so . . .

She threw back the coverlets. I must be brave. Her torments would soon be ended, one way or the other. If Lady was here, I would not be afraid. Lady was dead, though; Robb, Bran, Rickon, Arya, her father, her mother, even Septa Mordane. All of them are dead but me. She was alone in the world now.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa IV

Sansa was tempted to beg off. I could tell him that my tummy was upset, or that my moon’s blood had come. She wanted nothing more than to crawl back in bed and pull the drapes. I must be brave, like Robb, she told herself, as she took her lord husband stiffly by the arm.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa IV

The Broken Tower was easier still. They made a tall tower together, kneeling side by side to roll it smooth, and when they'd raised it Sansa stuck her fingers through the top, grabbed a handful of snow, and flung it full in his face. Petyr yelped, as the snow slid down under his collar. "That was unchivalrously done, my lady."

"As was bringing me here, when you swore to take me home."

She wondered where this courage had come from, to speak to him so frankly. From Winterfell, she thought. I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa VII

As I said before, I believe Sansa is going to get back north, Lady is already there waiting for her. But how can Sansa find her way to the north? What will lead her there? Would you believe me if I told you that to get north you have to follow a dragon? But not any dragon, an Ice Dragon:

“Osha,” Bran asked as they crossed the yard. “Do you know the way north? To the Wall and … and even past?”

“The way’s easy. Look for the Ice Dragon, and chase the blue star in the rider’s eye.” She backed through a door and started up the winding steps.

“And there are still giants there, and … the rest … the Others, and the children of the forest too?”

"The giants I’ve seen, the children I’ve heard tell of, and the white walkers … why do you want to know?”

—A Clash of Kings - Bran V

When they lost their way, as happened once or twice, they need only wait for a clear cold night when the clouds did not intrude, and look up in the sky for the Ice Dragon. The blue star in the dragon’s eye pointed the way north, as Osha told him once. Thinking of Osha made Bran wonder where she was. He pictured her safe in White Harbor with Rickon and Shaggydog, eating eels and fish and hot crab pie with fat Lord Manderly. Or maybe they were warming themselves at the Last Hearth before the Greatjon’s fires. But Bran’s life had turned into endless chilly days on Hodor’s back, riding his basket up and down the slopes of mountains.

— A Storm of Swords - Bran II

At the north window, he leaned against the sill for a breath of the cold night air, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mad Prendos raising sail, but the sea seemed black and empty as far as the eye could see. Is she gone already? He could only pray that she was, and the boy with her. A half moon was sliding in and out amongst thin high clouds, and Davos could see familiar stars. There was the Galley, sailing west; there the Crone’s Lantern, four bright stars that enclosed a golden haze. The clouds hid most of the Ice Dragon, all but the bright blue eye that marked due north. The sky is full of smugglers’ stars. They were old friends, those stars; Davos hoped that meant good luck.

—A Storm of Swords - Davos VI

There is a slightly difference between how the constellation is described in Westeros and beyond the Wall. Osha said that the blue star is the rider’s eye, but Bran said that the blue star is the Ice Dragon’s eye. But I like the idea of a blue-eyed Ice Dragon rider better, for reasons…

But what exactly is an ‘Ice Dragon’, besides a constellation that marks the way north?

Of all the queer and fabulous denizens of the Shivering Sea, however, the greatest are the ice dragons. These colossal beasts, many times larger than the dragons of Valyria, are said to be made of living ice, with eyes of pale blue crystal and vast translucent wings through which the moon and stars can be glimpsed as they wheel across the sky. Whereas common dragons (if any dragon can truly be said to be common) breathe flame, ice dragons supposedly breathe cold, a chill so terrible that it can freeze a man solid in half a heartbeat.

Sailors from half a hundred nations have glimpsed these great beasts over the centuries, so mayhap there is some truth behind the tales. Archmaester Margate has suggested that many legends of the north—freezing mists, ice ships, Cannibal Bay, and the like—can be explained as distorted reports of ice-dragon activity. Though an amusing notion, and not without a certain elegance, this remains the purest conjecture. As ice dragons supposedly melt when slain, no actual proof of their existence has ever been found.

—The World of Ice and Fire - Beyond the Free Cities: The Shivering Sea

So, Ice Dragons are colossal beasts many times larger than dragons of Valyria. Did Rhaegar Targaryen know about theIce Dragons? Was he trying to create an ‘Ice Dragon’ by impregnating a maid from House Stark? Very interesting…

"As you wish," said Whitebeard. "As a young boy, the Prince of Dragonstone was bookish to a fault. He was reading so early that men said Queen Rhaella must have swallowed some books and a candle whilst he was in her womb. Rhaegar took no interest in the play of other children. The maesters were awed by his wits, but his father's knights would jest sourly that Baelor the Blessed had been born again. Until one day Prince Rhaegar found something in his scrolls that changed him. No one knows what it might have been, only that the boy suddenly appeared early one morning in the yard as the knights were donning their steel. He walked up to Ser Willem Darry, the master-at-arms, and said, 'I will require sword and armor. It seems I must be a warrior.'"

—A Storm of Swords - Daenerys I

Being “bookish to a fault”, Rhaegar probably knew about Ice Dragons, about The Pact of Ice and Fire, and about something else that connects all that with the prophecy of the prince that was promised. But the answer probably awaits in TWOW or ADOS.

Also very interesting that in ASOIAF, the Ice Dragon is mentioned nine times, six of these nine times in Jon’s chapters. Apparently Jon is a big fan of the Ice Dragon:

So many stars, he thought as he trudged up the slope through pines and firs and ash. Maester Luwin had taught him his stars as a boy in Winterfell; he had learned the names of the twelve houses of heaven and the rulers of each; he could find the seven wanderers sacred to the Faith; he was old friends with the Ice Dragon, the Shadowcat, the Moonmaid, and the Sword of the Morning. All those he shared with Ygritte, but not some of the others. We look up at the same stars, and see such different things.

—A Storm of Swords - Jon III

Thunder rumbled softly in the distance, but above him the clouds were breaking up. Jon searched the sky until he found the Ice Dragon, then turned the mare north for the Wall and Castle Black.

—A Storm of Swords - Jon V

The ice pressed close around them, and he could feel the cold seeping into his bones, the weight of the Wall above his head. It felt like walking down the gullet of an ice dragon. The tunnel took a twist, and then another. Pyp unlocked a second iron gate. They walked farther, turned again, and saw light ahead, faint and pale through the ice. That’s bad, Jon knew at once. That’s very bad.

—A Storm of Swords - Jon VIII

The wind was gusting, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan had told when Jon was a boy. The heavy cage was swaying. From time to time it scraped against the Wall, starting small crystalline showers of ice that sparkled in the sunlight as they fell, like shards of broken glass.

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon VII

The road beneath the Wall was as dark and cold as the belly of an ice dragon and as twisty as a serpent. Dolorous Edd led them through with a torch in hand. Mully had the keys for the three gates, where bars of black iron as thick as a man’s arm closed off the passage.

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon VIII

The snowfall was light today, a thin scattering of flakes dancing in the air, but the wind was blowing from the east along the Wall, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan used to tell. Even Melisandre’s fire was shivering; the flames huddled down in the ditch, crackling softly as the red priestess sang. Only Ghost seemed not to feel the chill.

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon X

Jon is also a big fan of various Targaryen heroes:  

Jon’s cup from the table, filled it fresh from a nearby pitcher, and drank down a long swallow.

“Daeron Targaryen was only fourteen when he conquered Dorne,” Jon said. The Young Dragon was one of his heroes.

“A conquest that lasted a summer,” his uncle pointed out. “Your Boy King lost ten thousand men taking the place, and another fifty trying to hold it. Someone should have told him that war isn’t a game.” He took another sip of wine. “Also,” he said, wiping his mouth, “Daeron Targaryen was only eighteen when he died. Or have you forgotten that part?”

—A Game of Thrones - Jon I

When Jon had been a boy at Winterfell, his hero had been the Young Dragon, the boy king who had conquered Dorne at the age of fourteen. Despite his bastard birth, or perhaps because of it, Jon Snow had dreamed of leading men to glory just as King Daeron had, of growing up to be a conqueror. Now he was a man grown and the Wall was his, yet all he had were doubts. He could not even seem to conquer those.

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon VII

Every morning they had trained together, since they were big enough to walk; Snow and Stark, spinning and slashing about the wards of Winterfell, shouting and laughing, sometimes crying when there was no one else to see. They were not little boys when they fought, but knights and mighty heroes. “I’m Prince Aemon the Dragonknight,” Jon would call out, and Robb would shout back, “Well, I’m Florian the Fool.” Or Robb would say, “I’m the Young Dragon,” and Jon would reply, “I’m Ser Ryam Redwyne.

"That morning he called it first. "I’m Lord of Winterfell!” he cried, as he had a hundred times before. Only this time, this time, Robb had answered, “You can’t be Lord of Winterfell, you’re bastard-born. My lady mother says you can’t ever be the Lord of Winterfell.”

—A Storm of Swords - Jon XII

I think that in those quotes the mention of Daeron Targaryen, The Young Dragon, is a foreshadowing of Robb becoming King in The North, a boy king called The Young Wolf who died, indeed, very young. So, maybe Jon could never be like The Young Dragon, but he could be his heir, because it is probable that Robb had named Jon his heir on his will. Jon is also the heir of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, called The Last Dragon.

Sansa is also very fond of certain Targaryen hero: Prince Aemon the Dragonknight. She compared Joffrey with the Dragonknight in her first chapter in AGOT:

"It would be my pleasure, Mother," Joffrey said very formally. He took her by the arm and led her away from the wheelhouse, and Sansa's spirits took flight. A whole day with her prince! She gazed at Joffrey worshipfully. He was so gallant, she thought. The way he had rescued her from Ser Ilyn and the Hound, why, it was almost like the songs, like the time Serwyn of the Mirror Shield saved the Princess Daeryssa from the giants, or Prince Aemon the Dragonknight championing Queen Naerys's honor against evil Ser Morgil's slanders.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa I

When she proclaimed her love to Joffrey, she compared her love to him with the love Queen Naerys felt for the Dragonknight:

“I love him, Father, I truly truly do, I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, as much as Jonquil loved Ser Florian. I want to be his queen and have his babies.”

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

Even after her father’s death, she would seek for comfort in her favorites stories. One of them was the one of the valiant Dragonknight:

She pulled a chair close to the hearth, took down one of her favorite books, and lost herself in the stories of Florian and Jonquil, of Lady Shella and the Rainbow Knight, of valiant Prince Aemon and his doomed love for his brother’s queen.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa IV

When she dreamed of traumatic events, she wished to be saved by the heroes from the songs, among them, the Dragonknight:

That night Sansa dreamed of the riot again. The mob surged around her, shrieking, a maddened beast with a thousand faces. Everywhere she turned she saw faces twisted into monstrous inhuman masks. She wept and told them she had never done them hurt, yet they dragged her from her horse all the same. "No," she cried, "no, please, don't, don't," but no one paid her any heed. She shouted for Ser Dontos, for her brothers, for her dead father and her dead wolf, for gallant Ser Loras who had given her a red rose once, but none of them came. She called for the heroes from the songs, for Florian and Ser Ryam Redwyne and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, but no one heard.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa IV

As you can see, another favorite hero of Sansa is Florian the Fool. But sadly, Robb who called out to be Florian the Fool during his trainings with Jon, failed in rescuing Sansa. In the same way, Ser Dontos Hollard who also claimed being Sansa’s Florian, also failed in rescuing her, he just handed her to another butcher.

But there is hope for Sansa to meet true knights in her life, even if her true knights happen to be a woman and a northern boy who doesn’t follow the Faith of the Seven. And here we have one of the greatest foreshadowings of the Books, delivered by none other than Queen Cersei herself:

"True knights would never harm women and children." The words rang hollow in her ears even as she said them.

"True knights." The queen seemed to find that wonderfully amusing. "No doubt you're right. So why don't you just eat your broth like a good girl and wait for Symeon Star-Eyes and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight to come rescue you, sweetling. I'm sure it won't be very long now."

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa V

So, who could it be Sansa’s Symeon Star-Eyes?

Symeon Star-Eyes is a legendary figure from the Age of Heroes who was blind. He is described in tales as a knight even though chivalry came to Westeros thousands of years after. According to legend, Symeon was a knight who lost both of his eyes. He replaced them by putting star sapphires in the empty sockets, or so the singers claim. He fought with a long staff with blades at both ends and would spin it in his hands to chop down two men at once. He once visited the Nightfort where he saw hellhounds fighting. [x]

I think the answer is Brienne of Tarth, a knight who is not really a knight with beautiful sapphire blue eyes, like the waters of her homeland, Tarth.

And who could it be Sansa’s Dragonknight?

“There was a black brother,” Sansa said, “begging men for the Wall, only he was kind of old and smelly.” She hadn’t liked that at all. She had always imagined the Night’s Watch to be men like Uncle Benjen. In the songs, they were called the black knights of the Wall. But this man had been crookbacked and hideous, and he looked as though he might have lice. If this was what the Night’s Watch was truly like, she felt sorry for her bastard half brother, Jon. “Father asked if there were any knights in the hall who would do honor to their houses by taking the black, but no one came forward, so he gave this Yoren his pick of the king’s dungeons and sent him on his way. And later these two brothers came before him, freeriders from the Dornish Marches, and pledged their swords to the service of the king. Father accepted their oaths …”

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

I believe the answer is Jon Snow. The Dragonknight and Jon Snow share many parallels: both second sons, both had a brother named Aegon, both were members of a lifetime order: Kingsguard & Night’s Watch, both wielded Valyrian steel swords: Dark Sister & Longclaw, both willing to defend their sisters from abusers. Also, and maybe the most important, both Targaryens. Besides, take note that Aemon the Dragonknight was Daeron Targaryen - The Young Dragon’s first cousin, just like Jon Snow was Robb Stark – The Young Wolf’s first cousin.

On top of all that, in its very unique way, the Show just confirmed that Brienne and Jon would play an important role helping Sansa in the future.

Back to Jon and dragons, he is certainly really fascinated by these creatures, he talks a lot about them, especially during his time in the Wall and beyond.

In summary, so far, we know that the way north is marked by the Ice Dragon and Jon Snow seems to be fascinated with the Ice Dragon. But note also that Jon Snow embodied the north in him, despite the fact of being a Targaryen.

Indeed, Jon is not only a ‘Snow’, he is the bastard of House Stark, the Wardens of the North. The Starks motto is “Winter is coming”. And, precisely Jon is always associated with snow (his surname and his -white as snow- direwolf Ghost); ice (The Wall); winter (Starks motto) and Winterfell, his home. He is the “Snow of Winterfell”:

The boy absorbed that all in silence. He had the Stark face if not the name: long, solemn, guarded, a face that gave nothing away. Whoever his mother had been, she had left little of herself in her son.

—A Game of Thrones - Tyrion II

She might have overlooked a dozen bastards for Ned’s sake, so long as they were out of sight. Jon was never out of sight, and as he grew, he looked more like Ned than any of the trueborn sons she bore him.

—A Game of Thrones - Catelyn II

“A shade more exhausting than needlework,” Jon observed.

“A shade more fun than needlework,” Arya gave back at him. Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair. Arya flushed. They had always been close. Jon had their father’s face, as she did.

—A Game of Thrones - Arya I

Sansa could never understand how two sisters, born only two years apart, could be so different. It would have been easier if Arya had been a bastard, like their half brother Jon. She even looked like Jon, with the long face and brown hair of the Starks, and nothing of their lady mother in her face or her coloring.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa I

“Who’s this one now?“ Craster said before Jon could go. “He has the look of a Stark.”

“My steward and squire, Jon Snow.”

—A Clash of Kings - Jon III

His northern features are the perfect disguise to hide his true parentage. He is acknowledged as a Stark just by looking at his face. He looks like a younger version of Ned.

Now let’s ask the following question: It is posible for Sansa to be attracted by a man with the Stark look?

As I said earlier, this line: ‘Hollow knights turning into dragons’, makes me thing about a change in Sansa’s taste in men, but maybe not a change to something new, but a change back to her first instincts regarding men. So, this is a good time to remind you all that Sansa’s first crush was a Brother of the Night’s Watch:

“Bronze Yohn knows me,” she reminded him. “He was a guest at Winterfell when his son rode north to take the black.” She had fallen wildly in love with Ser Waymar, she remembered dimly, but that was a lifetime ago, when she was a stupid little girl. “And that was not the only time. Lord Royce saw … he saw Sansa Stark again at King’s Landing, during the Hand’s tourney.”

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne I

And how does Ser Waymar Royce looked?

Ser Waymar Royce was the youngest son of an ancient house with too many heirs. He was a handsome youth of eighteen, grey-eyed and graceful and slender as a knife.

—A Game of Thrones - Prologue

Shall we see Jon Snow’s description now?

Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.

—A Game of Thrones - Bran I

Sansa also compares and/or associates Bronze Yohn, Ser Waymar Royce’s Dad, with her own Dad, Ned:

Last of all came the Royces, Lord Nestor and Bronze Yohn. The Lord of Runestone stood as tall as the Hound. Though his hair was grey and his face lined, Lord Yohn still looked as though he could break younger men like twigs in those huge gnarled hands. His seamed and solemn face brought back all of Sansa’s memories of his time at Winterfell. She remembered him at table, speaking quietly with her mother. She heard his voice booming off the walls when he rode back from a hunt with a buck behind his saddle. She could see him in the yard, a practice sword in hand, hammering her father to the ground and turning to defeat Ser Rodrik as well. He will know me. How could he not? She considered throwing herself at his feet to beg for his protection. He never fought for Robb, why should he fight for me? The war is finished and Winterfell is fallen. “Lord Royce,” she asked timidly, “will you have a cup of wine, to take the chill off?”

Bronze Yohn had slate-grey eyes, half-hidden beneath the bushiest eyebrows she had ever seen. They crinkled when he looked down at her. “Do I know you, girl?”

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne I

See? Solemn faces and grey eyes. There is a pattern here: Waymar looks like a younger version of Bronze Yohn, just like Jon looks like a younger version of Ned. Sansa compares and/or associates the older men and the younger ones both ride north to the Wall and become Sworn Brothers of the Night’s Watch…

…And Sansa fell wildly in love with Ser Waymar, and Jon fell in love with a wildling girl kissed by fire…

…And guess how Sansa’s hair is described???  

“A shade more exhausting than needlework,” Jon observed.

“A shade more fun than needlework,” Arya gave back at him. Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair. Arya flushed. They had always been close. Jon had their father’s face, as she did. They were the only ones. Robb and Sansa and Bran and even little Rickon all took after the Tullys, with easy smiles and fire in their hair. When Arya had been little, she had been afraid that meant that she was a bastard too. It had been Jon she had gone to in her fear, and Jon who had reassured her.

—A Game of Thrones - Arya I

See? Fire in her hair.

Fire in her hair.

FIRE IN HER HAIR.

OH GEORGE!

Besides all that, take note that Sansa, before she met Yoren, had always imagined the Night’s Watch to be men like her Uncle Benjen -who had the Stark look-. She recalled that in the songs, they were called the black knights of the Wall. That is to say, Sansa had a high regard for the men who take the black and associated them with her beloved knights from the songs.  

And finally, let’s ask this question as well: It is posible for Jon to be attracted by a womanlike Sansa? I firmly believe that the answer is YES!

As Bran pointed out, there was little Jon’s eyes did not see. Jon was able to describe exactly what Sansa was feeling while walking inside Winterfell’s Great Hall beside Joffrey: “Sansa looked ‘radiant’ as she walked beside him” Jon thought; and after all, back then, Sansa thought this about Joffrey: “He was all she ever dreamt her prince should be, tall and handsome and strong, with hair like gold.” Jon could sense Sansa’s emotions regarding Joffrey even if those emotions displeased him, because Jon was also able to clearly see Joffrey’s true nature: “but Jon did not like Joffrey’s pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell’s Great Hall.”

As observant as Jon is, he knows Sansa very well, even if they are not close; and I believe that Jon also knows a lot about Sansa due to Arya. In fact, Jon appreciates many of Sansa’s traits, which others seem to dismiss as stupid [1] [2] [3]: her innocence, her singing, her courteous nature, her love for pretty things, and her naive belief in romantic stories:

The pale pink light of dawn sparkled on branch and leaf and stone. Every blade of grass was carved from emerald, every drip of water turned to diamond. Flowers and mushrooms alike wore coats of glass. Even the mud puddles had a bright brown sheen. Through the shimmering greenery, the black tents of his brothers were encased in a fine glaze of ice.

So there is magic beyond the Wall after all. He found himself thinking of his sisters, perhaps because he'd dreamed of them last night. Sansa would call this an enchantment, and tears would fill her eyes at the wonder of it, but Arya would run out laughing and shouting, wanting to touch it all.

—A Clash of Kings - Jon III

"Gilly, he called me. For the gillyflower."

"That's pretty." He remembered Sansa telling him once that he should say that whenever a lady told him her name. He could not help the girl, but perhaps the courtesy would please her. "Is it Craster who frightens you, Gilly?"

—A Clash of Kings - Jon III

He thought of Robb, with snowflakes melting in his hair. Kill the boy and let the man be born. He thought of Bran, clambering up a tower wall, agile as a monkey. Of Rickon's breathless laughter. Of Sansa, brushing out Lady's coat and singing to herself. You know nothing, Jon Snow. He thought of Arya, her hair as tangled as a bird's nest. I made him a warm cloak from the skins of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell … I want my bride back … I want my bride back … I want my bride back …

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon XIII

So, YES, I firmly believe that a man like Jon, lacking and in need of the sweetness of a woman, could easily fall for a loving creature like Sansa. There’s also the red hair issue featuring Catelyn and Ygritte.

Jon and Sansa also share the dream of rebuild Winterfell and the Stark dynasty by having children with the names of their beloved father and siblings.

See? They are destined to meet again in the north and help each other to slay their enemies and achieve their dreams together.

[x]

V. BETROTHED TO THE DRAGON’S HEIR*

(*Although is not confirmed in the Books yet, from now on I’m going to assume openly that R+L=J is true and also that Jon possibly is Rhaegar’s -trueborn- son)

Now we just got to the part that makes me decide to write this post. Because while I was searching for any connections between Sansa and dragons I found a passage that contains a huge foreshadowing of ‘Sansa being the betrothed of the dragon’s heir’. And this foreshadowing could be the confirmation of the fifth Sansa’s betrothed being a member of House Targaryen, according to the Theory of the Tourney at Ashford Meadow.

As I said before, following the pattern stablished by the five final champions of the Tourney at Ashford Meadow, Sansa Stark first betrothed would be a man of House Baratheon, as it actually was. Joffrey Baratheon was Sansa’s first betrothed. And Sansa’s fifth betrothed would be a Prince of House Targaryen. And I believe that man would be Jon Snow.

Let’s go back to this line: “Someplace no stag ever found… though a dragon might.” In the text the word ‘someplace’ refers to where Brienne’s supposed “sister” is -the beautiful highborn maid of three-and-ten that has blue eyes and auburn hair-. But in the history of ASOIAF universe, the word ‘someplace’ could also refer to the heart of a Stark girl.

Joffrey and Jon, Jon and Joffrey. I have a theory about them, I called it the ‘JoJo Theory’. Maybe one day I will turn my thoughts on them into words. But for now, let’s talk about these two in relation to Sansa.

Joffrey and Jon are supposed to be the sons of two best friends: Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark respectively. But none of them are really that. And I think they both were living the other’s life. I mean, Joffrey took Jon’s real place in the world, as Jon took Joffrey’s.  

Joffrey, who is supposed to be the trueborn son and heir of King Robert Baratheon, is truly a little shit bastard, the illegitimate child of Jaime Lannister. And he is the vicious, despicable type of bastard as well.

On the other hand, Jon who is suppose to be the baseborn son of Ned Stark, is actually the son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and the last Targaryen heir to the Iron Throne. And he is the very opposite of the vicious, despicable Joffrey. Jon is brave and has a noble heart.

Also note that the real fathers of Joffrey and Jon are the men who Cersei and Lyanna choose over Robert; that is to say: Jaime and Rhaegar.

So, reading again this line: “Someplace no stag ever found… though a dragon might.”, we know that in the past that line was true, as Robert Baratheon never found his way to Lyanna Stark’s heart unlike Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. And it could be true again, in the future, as Joffrey (no stag) never really found his way to Sansa’s heart, but Jon (who is also a dragon) might do. Let’s see:  

His half sisters escorted the royal princes. Arya was paired with plump young Tommen, whose white-blond hair was longer than hers. Sansa, two years older, drew the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon. He was twelve, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon's vast dismay. Prince Joffrey had his sister's hair and his mother's deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey's pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell's Great Hall.

—A Game of Thrones - Jon I

Jon was obviously jealous of Joffrey, in the same fashion he was of Robb. Joffrey was ‘trueborn’, a royal prince, the heir of the Iron Throne, with a place of honor at the table just below the dais where the King and Queen were seated, handsome, taller than him despite being younger, and on top of all that, Joffrey got the beautiful radiant girl by his side. Jon just couldn’t believe why, while having all of that, Joffrey and his pouty wormy lips gave Winterfell’s Great Hall a bored and disdainful look.  

You don’t believe Jon was jealous of Joffrey? Read this then:

"Then you saw us all. Prince Joffrey and Prince Tommen, Princess Myrcella, my brothers Robb and Bran and Rickon, my sisters Arya and Sansa. You saw them walk the center aisle with every eye upon them and take their seats at the table just below the dais where the king and queen were seated."

"I remember."

"And did you see where I was seated, Mance?" He leaned forward. "Did you see where they put the bastard?"

—A Storm of Swords - Jon

I know that in this scene, Jon was trying to convince Mance that he really wanted to join the freefolk. He was trying to deceive him and infiltrate into the enemy’s camp. Despite that, the things Jon said to Mance at that moment, rang true. So in the end, Jon did convince Mance and he ended up joining the freefolk, as a covert mission entrusted to him by Qhorin Halfhand.

Still you don’t believe me when I said Jon was jealous of Joffrey? Listen to Sansa herself then:

"What did you think of Prince Joff, sister? He's very gallant, don't you think?"

"Jon says he looks like a girl," Arya said.

Sansa sighed as she stitched. "Poor Jon," she said. "He gets jealous because he's a bastard."

"He's our brother," Arya said, much too loudly. Her voice cut through the afternoon quiet of the tower room.

—A Game of Thrones, Arya I

Now tell me that Jon saying that ‘Joffrey looks like a girl’ is not proof enough of Jon Snow being obviously jealous of the crown prince.

But Jon Snow who knows nothing, except, maybe, that Joffrey is truly a little shit, has no idea that Joffrey was living his life.

And his sisters cousins, Sansa and Arya, unbeknownst to him, expose this truth to Ned while talking about Joffrey’s hair color (note that Ned always knew who Jon’s real father is):  

“Father, I only just now remembered, I can’t go away, I’m to marry Prince Joffrey.” She tried to smile bravely for him. “I love him, Father, I truly truly do, I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, as much as Jonquil loved Ser Florian. I want to be his queen and have his babies.”

“Sweet one,” her father said gently, “listen to me. When you’re old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who’s worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. This match with Joffrey was a terrible mistake. That boy is no Prince Aemon, you must believe me.”

“He is!" Sansa insisted. "I don’t want someone brave and gentle, I want him. We’ll be ever so happy, just like in the songs, you’ll see. I’ll give him a son with golden hair, and one day he’ll be the king of all the realm, the greatest king that ever was, as brave as the wolf and as proud as the lion.

"Arya made a face. "Not if Joffrey’s his father,” she said. “He’s a liar and a craven and anyhow he’s a stag, not a lion.”

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

"All three are Jaime's," he said. It was not a question.

"Thank the gods."

The seed is strong, Jon Arryn had cried on his deathbed, and so it was. All those bastards, all with hair as black as night. Grand Maester Malleon recorded the last mating between stag and lion, some ninety years ago, when Tya Lannister wed Gowen Baratheon, third son of the reigning lord. Their only issue, an unnamed boy described in Malleon's tome as a large and lusty lad born with a full head of black hair, died in infancy. Thirty years before that a male Lannister had taken a Baratheon maid to wife. She had given him three daughters and a son, each black-haired. No matter how far back Ned searched in the brittle yellowed pages, always he found the gold yielding before the coal.

"A dozen years," Ned said. "How is it that you have had no children by the king?"

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard XII

I can clearly imagine Ned thinking about how he had to hide Jon Snow, the heir of the Last Dragon, as his bastard; while Joffrey, an actual bastard, was living the life that could have been Jon’s, had Rhaegar prevailed over Robert. 

This kind of ‘switched at birth’ case between Jon and Joffrey and the possibility of Jon being Sansa’s fifth Targaryen betrothed, is actually foreshadowed in the Books. Let’s read this passage from Sansa’s first chapter in ACOK:

The morning of King Joffrey’s name day dawned bright and windy, with the long tail of the great comet visible through the high scuttling clouds. Sansa was watching it from her tower window when Ser Arys Oakheart arrived to escort her down to the tourney grounds. “What do you think it means?” she asked him.

“Glory to your betrothed,” Ser Arys answered at once. "See how it flames across the sky today on His Grace’s name day, as if the gods themselves had raised a banner in his honor. The smallfolk have named it King Joffrey’s Comet.”

Doubtless that was what they told Joffrey; Sansa was not so sure. “I’ve heard servants calling it the Dragon’s Tail.”

“King Joffrey sits where Aegon the Dragon once sat, in the castle built by his son,” Ser Arys said. “He is the dragon’s heir—and crimson is the color of House Lannister, another sign. This comet is sent to herald Joffrey’s ascent to the throne, I have no doubt. It means that he will triumph over his enemies.

"Is it true? she wondered. Would the gods be so cruel? Her mother was one of Joffrey’s enemies now, her brother Robb another. Her father had died by the king’s command. Must Robb and her lady mother die next? The comet was red, but Joffrey was Baratheon as much as Lannister, and their sigil was a black stag on a golden field. Shouldn’t the gods have sent Joff a golden comet?

— A Clash of Kings - Sansa I

See? From “Glory to your betrothed,” to “King Joffrey sits where Aegon the Dragon once sat, in the castle built by his son” “He is the dragon’s heir” Every word from Arys Oakheart’s mouth evokes Jon, not Joffrey. Joffrey is not a dragon, far less the dragon’s heir; he’s not even a stag.

If Joffrey had truly been the son of Robert Baratheon, he indeed would have had a bit of Targaryen blood, because Robert’s grandmother was the Princess Rhaelle Targaryen, but that’s not the case.  

And the red comet could never be ‘Joffrey’s Comet’ as Sansa correctly pointed out when she said: “Shouldn’t the gods have sent Joff a golden comet?” The servants were right; the red comet was related to dragons, just as the person who knows everything in ASOIAF stated emphatically:  

Bran asked Septon Chayle about the comet while they were sorting through some scrolls snatched from the library fire. "It is the sword that slays the season,” he replied, and soon after the white raven came from Oldtown bringing word of autumn, so doubtless he was right.

Though Old Nan did not think so, and she’d lived longer than any of them. “Dragons,” she said, lifting her head and sniffing. She was near blind and could not see the comet, yet she claimed she could smell it. “It be dragons, boy,” she insisted. Bran got no princes from Nan, no more than he ever had.

Hodor said only, “Hodor.” That was all he ever said.

—A Clash of Kings - Bran I

Sadly the last part of this passage from Sansa’s first chapter in ACOK, also foreshadowed the Red Wedding. The Lannisters once more would take her family from her; this time Catelyn and Robb.

But let's stick with the good part, the part where she is called the betrothed of the dragon’s heir, that is not Joffrey, but Jon Snow, her own Dragonknight, her Black Knight of the Wall, her dark haired prince hiding in the north. We can only hope that this time the betrothal will end in a real marriage, because Sansa’s betrothal record isn’t so good thus far:

Joffrey Baratheon (the Psychopath Bastard), the betrothal was broken.

Willas Tyrell (the Cripple), the betrothal was cancelled.

Tyrion Lannister (the Imp), the marriage was not consummated.

Harrold Hardying (the Arse), the betrothal still stands but the bride is Alayne Stone.

Jon Snow (is dead but on the third day he will rise again from the dead).

But against the odds, I believe Sansa will wear a Targaryen Cloak, and under that protection, she will slay her enemies.  

VI. A TARGARYEN CLOAK

As I mentioned before, in the Books Sansa is in the Vale in the guise of Alayne Stone, eating lemony lemony lemon cakes and trying to charm, entice and bewitch Harry the Arse the Heir, her fourth betrothed:

Harrold Hardyng, often called Harry the Heir and sometimes the Young Falcon, is a gallant, handsome squire, and a ward of Lady Anya Waynwood. He is the heir presumptive of Lord Robert Arryn and would ascend to rule the Vale as "Harrold Arryn" should Lord Robert die without issue. [x]

The Arryn sigil is a sky-blue falcon soaring against a white moon on a sky-blue field. [x]

Shortly before Sansa found out about her fourth betrothal, while observing a blue falcon, she wished she had wings, but not precisely falcon wings; she just wanted to fly from her tower/cage and be free:

A falcon soared above the frozen waterfall, blue wings spread wide against the morning sky. Would that I had wings as well.

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne I

Unbeknownst to Sansa, she is imagined by the smallfolk as a ‘winged wolf’ who freed herself from her captors and flew away:

“What wife?”

“I forgot, you’ve been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell’s daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head.”

That’s stupid, Arya thought. Sansa only knows songs, not spells, and she’d never marry the Imp.

—A Storm of Swords - Arya XIII

Big leather wings reminds me of dragons instead of bats, and I think that was George’s intention, he was subtly referring to dragon’s wings:

“Tell me how my child died.”

“He never lived, my princess. The women say …” 

(…)

“They say the child was …”

(…)

“Monstrous,” Mirri Maz Duur finished for him. The knight was a powerful man, yet Dany understood in that moment that the maegi was stronger, and crueler, and infinitely more dangerous. “Twisted. I drew him forth myself. He was scaled like a lizard, blind, with the stub of a tail and small leather wings like the wings of a bat. When I touched him, the flesh sloughed off the bone, and inside he was full of graveworms and the stink of corruption. He had been dead for years.

—A Game of Thrones - Daenerys IX

In the center of the Plaza of Pride stood a red brick fountain whose waters smelled of brimstone, and in the center of the fountain a monstrous harpy made of hammered bronze. Twenty feet tall she reared. She had a woman’s face, with gilded hair, ivory eyes, and pointed ivory teeth. Water gushed yellow from her heavy breasts. But in place of arms she had the wings of a bat or a dragon, her legs were the legs of an eagle, and behind she wore a scorpion’s curled and venomous tail.

—A Storm of Swords - Daenerys II

So, the fascinating image of Sansa as a wolf with big leather wings created by George in ASOS, for me is a foreshadowing of her, in the future, wearing a Targaryen Cloak.

VII. THE PRINCE THAT WAS PROMISED BY NED

When Ned told Sansa that her betrothal to Joffrey was a terrible mistake, he also promised to make a better match for her:

“Father, I only just now remembered, I can’t go away, I’m to marry Prince Joffrey.” She tried to smile bravely for him. “I love him, Father, I truly truly do, I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, as much as Jonquil loved Ser Florian. I want to be his queen and have his babies.”

“Sweet one,” her father said gently, “listen to me. When you’re old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who’s worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. This match with Joffrey was a terrible mistake. That boy is no Prince Aemon, you must believe me.”

“He is!" Sansa insisted. "I don’t want someone brave and gentle, I want him. We’ll be ever so happy, just like in the songs, you’ll see. I’ll give him a son with golden hair, and one day he’ll be the king of all the realm, the greatest king that ever was, as brave as the wolf and as proud as the lion.” 

Arya made a face. "Not if Joffrey’s his father,” she said. “He’s a liar and a craven and anyhow he’s a stag, not a lion.”

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

It is very probable that Ned was not thinking about Jon Snow when she promised someone brave and gentle and strong for Sansa. But the mentioned qualities certainly suit Jon very well. And the mention of Prince Aemon the Dragonknight with all the parallels shared with Jon, make me think of no other than him.

Also, please read these quotes:

"You said you'd help me," Gilly reminded him.

"I said Jon would help you. Jon's brave, and he's a good fighter, but I think he's dead now. I'm a craven. And fat. Look how fat I am. Besides, Lord Mormont's hurt. Can't you see? I couldn't leave the Lord Commander."

"Child," said the other old woman, "that old crow's gone before you. Look."

—A Storm of Swords - Samwell II

Jon is brave, a good fighter and willing to help women and children in need, in other words, the epitome of chivalry.

"My father once told me that some men are not worth having," Jon finished. "A bannerman who is brutal or unjust dishonors his liege lord as well as himself."

"Craster is his own man. He has sworn us no vows. Nor is he subject to our laws. Your heart is noble, Jon, but learn a lesson here. We cannot set the world to rights. That is not our purpose. The Night's Watch has other wars to fight."

Other wars. Yes. I must remember. "Jarman Buckwell said I might have need of my sword soon."

—A Clash of Kings - Jon III

Jon is not only brave and a good fighter; he also has a noble heart and pursues justice, in other words, a man who is worthy.  

"Swimming? In the storm?" She laughed at the notion. "Is this a trick t' get the clothes off me, Jon Snow?"

"Do I need a trick for that now?" he teased. "Or is that you can't swim a stroke?" Jon was a strong swimmer himself, having learned the art as a boy in Winterfell's great moat.

Ygritte punched his arm. "You know nothing, Jon Snow. I'm half a fish, I'll have you know."

—A Storm of Swords - Jon V

Jon is strong, a strong swimmer. Have you seen the bodies of the swimmers during the Olympics??? He also likes girls kissed by fire with fire in their hair and that are half a fish… See? There is a pattern here: Catelyn, Ygritte… Sansa… OH GEORGE!

Who would be better for Sansa than a man who was raised by her own father? Also, take into account that our good old Ned Stark always, always, always kept his promises, no matter what, and not even the death could prevent him from keeping his word.

And just imagine how Sansa would feel/react when she finds out that:

Jon beheaded Janos Slynt.

Jon refused Stannis’ offer to get legitimized as Jon Stark and be named Lord of Winterfell, because he did not want to despoil her of her rights.

Jon fondly imagined her amazement should she gaze upon the magic beyond The Wall.

Jon put in practice her lessons about being courteous with girls.

Jon lovingly remembered how she’d brush out Lady's coat, singing to herself, before he died.

Jon was jealous of Joffrey because she looked radiant walking beside that little shit.

Jon had a wildling girlfriend with fire in her hair that was half a fish.

***FAITH IN MEN RESTORED***

I rest my case.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

whatever you think of me (it’s the norm for chemicals, it’s the norm for particles)

by beat_eater

Bats loves you, you’re sure of it! You sure as fuck love him, even if you’re disgusted by his audacity. It’s a passionate kind of obsession, you think, laughing in his face as he tries to punch your lights out. “Batsy, Batsy, Batsy, I’m tryin’ to wax poetic about you in my crazy old head, don’t interrupt!”

He doesn’t reply. He was never any fun. Then again, don’t opposites attract? He should be infatuated with you, you’re hilarious and he’s grumpy and hasn’t made a joke as long as he’s lived, aside from yourself.

[just another song and dance.]

Words: 1328, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Joker (DCU), Bruce Wayne, harley gets referenced exactly once

Relationships: Joker (DCU)/Bruce Wayne

Additional Tags: One Shot, listen . i did not expect to be posting batman fic either, unfortunately i do not control the hyperfixation, anyway! batjokes, slightly less than canon-typical violence, however, Canon-Typical Homoerotic Punching, Actually just slap a whole canon typical homoeroticism on there, bc well its joker, POV Second Person, Do not ask me what canon this is set in i will cry bc i dont know, there are references to bats being the one who caused jokers jokering, and also the daddy issues backstory, but who knows. my man is Unreliable, Unreliable Narrator, yeah i needed that, no beta we die like. idk jason todd i guess, Sentient Gotham City, forgot that one

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/43846755

[myka-myka]

Hello! You write cool meta and know a lot about the story so I need to ask you something very important. Look... I'm really not sure at what part of the night Yuuri asks Victor to be his coach, like... before his first dance off with yurio? (thinking like the pictures were telling the story in order) or until the end? (bc they show us the clip until the end). Aaaalso, the part when Victor offered to take a pic with yuuri was before the banquet? Before the whole eros thing? it's for a fanfic pls

Hello! Thanks!

I know other people have already dissected this, but I didn’t save any of the previous posts so I’ll just do my own.

“what part of the night Yuuri asks Victor to be his coach, like… before his first dance off with yurio? (thinking like the pictures were telling the story in order) or until the end?”

At the end. The best evidence to time stamp the scene is looking at everyone clothes or “stages of undress”. Yuri is already drunk off his ass at this point, his pants are missing (from the pole dancing), Yurio is disheveled (from the dance off), and Christophe is half naked (from the pole dancing).

The confusion comes from Yuri saying “If I win this dance-off,” which can be taken to mean his dance off with Yurio, his dance-off with Victor, or neither because Yuri is drunk off his ass and at this moment he is the epitome of unreliable narrator and likely forgot he’s been dancing both on the floor and on the pole.

That said, I also like that he says this obviously after his dance-off with Yurio which is the only dance-off that’s ever mentioned (even when we see Victor and Yuri dancing in the banquet pictures). Since this scene is the last one of the sequence, the next dance-off that happens chronologically is Stay Close To Me.

http://mykalovesbl.tumblr.com/post/154188665359/victor-after-this-season-ends-my-family-runs-a

That’s just my personal take on it, The episode 10 ending shows the sequence of events as follows.

1. Drunk Yuri starting to dance by himself.

Yuri’s Stage of undress: Tie in pocket. Full suit still on.

2. Dance-off with Yurio (with Victor taking pictures).

Yuri’s Stage of undress: Jacket gone. Tie back on.Yurio’s Stage of undress: Loosened tie.

3. Pole dancing.

Yuri’s Stage of undress: Pants gone. Shirt gone. Only tie, underwear, and socks.Christophe’s Stage of undress: Everything gone except underwear.

4. Dancing with Victor.

Yuri’s Stage of undress: Unbuttoned shirt. Pants on. Tie on.Victor’s Stage of undress: Take’s off his jacket once, then puts it back on.

5. Yuri asking Victor to be his coach.

Yuri’s Stage of undress: Pants missing. Tie wrapped around head. Shirt buttoned status unknown.Victor’s Stage of undress: Full suit on.Yurio’s Stage of undress: Tie gone. Disheveled shirt and jacket.Christophe’s Stage of undress: No shirt, pants on, and unbuckled belt.

1-3 are clear cut chronological based on the stages of undress. Now 4 and 5 are interchangeable. You can make a case that Yuri asked Victor first to be his coach, and the dance-off he’s referring to is his dance with Victor. Or you can say these are chronologically presented and Yuri just forgot he already had the dance-off and just forgot because he’s really drunk.

That said I’m convinced the entire sequence is presented to us chronologically because Yuri is getting very close and personal with Victor here. He’s literally dry humping him. Pretty sure Victor would not have allowed Yuri to get so close unless they’d been dancing prior. Any person would likely back off if someone they weren’t familiar with hugged them and started humping them. Now if you have been dancing with said person for the better part of the night, you just might let them. Like Victor did.

the part when Victor offered to take a pic with yuuri was before the banquet? Before the whole eros thing?

Yes and yes. The day before.

Hope this helps!