#also I know many of the asoiaf books were out when death note took place. and had been translated into multiple languages. but I don't know

[misguidedasgardian]

The Winter Sun (21)

21. The dangerous Road

MASTERLIST

Summary: War came at a heavy price

Pairing: Cregan Stark x Fem!Targaryen Reader 

Warnings: Cursing, medieval and asoiaf customs, AGE GAP, Cregan is 12 years OLDER than reader), arranged marriage, death of a character, war and all that comes with it, mentions of pedicide (killing of a baby), threats of non-con, technically adultery, might miss some warnings

+18, MINORS DNI

Wordcount: 3 k

Notes: Like I said, the pace is picking hehe, and it will get dark for a couple of chapters. SO SORRY FOR THIS LOVES

“I bled once”, you whispered to the maester, “but the symptoms hadn't stopped, I thought to be with child”

“after the birth of a child it could be tricky”, he warned with a warm smile, “forgive me my lady but I must check you out” 

It was an uncomfortable afternoon with the maester, but afterwards, you left his tower to search for Sara

The test that he had made you do was going to take time to… “develop”, so you had a couple of days before receiving any news 

Sara, and you, had started a quick net of communication throughout the North, you had contact with White Harbor, with the Lady Mara, and the Lady Bolton from the Dreadfort, all the way up to the Bear Island, even down at Widow’s watch, you exchanged ravens regularly, you even created, with Cregan, the “Dragon watchers”, dragons were faster than ravens, but you had placed outposts with huge beacons of fire that were to be lit as soon as they see or hear them, so as soon as it is lit, the next one will light them also, creating a line of fire to be seen miles away in Winterfell

You were nervous, the people were nervous, you had yet to receive news of Cregan, but if you think about it more carefully, it could be dangerous for him to be writing where they are and where theta e going, letters can be easily intercepted, an the last months you realized people who believe a man should have priority to ascend the Iron Throne over a woman is bigger than you expected.

You could have Aegon royalists within Winterfell without even knowing 

When you found Sara, you gasped

She was a mess, clutching to her own chest, heaving and crying by the window in her room

“Sara!”. you called for her name, running to her, hugging her, “what happened?”

“I don’t know!”, she managed to whine, “I saw something”

“What did you see? What happened? are you alright?”, you were so confused, she was distraught

She weeped in your arms, and you hugged her to comfort her, you directed her to sit on the bed, and you cuddled her. She eventually calmed, but she still shook with the sobs

“I don’t know what happened”, she whispered, “one minute I was here, and another…I was somewhere else”

“What do you mean?”, you asked her softly

“That somehow, I was somewhere else, I was something else”, you believed in magic, you believed in people who could dream about things that were going to happen, everyone in your family knew the tale of Daenys the dreamer and how her visions saved the Targaryens from The Doom. Once you were hiding from the boys with Helaena, and she couldn’t stop whispering about stars in the middle of the day, you didn’t listen and when the boys found you you ran from them, failing to see the edge of a wooden furniture and banging your head against it, you passed for several minutes in which you could see silvery stars under your eyelids 

But this was something else

In the book Cregan had lent you, you had read about wildlings north of the wall that could take the body of animals and use them as their own… but it was only a tale, wasn’t it?

“I was in the skies”, she continued, “I was flying, I was big, I saw Dragonstone”

“Dragonstone?”, you asked

“I think it was, I- I had never seen it”, she explain, still catching her breath, “it was big and dark, seemed like it was built front he rock itself, and… had many dragons sculptures all over”, that was a fair description of the castle of your family

“What else did you see?”, you asked

“I took flight towards the west”, she said shakily, “over the seas until I could see a castle, surrounded by a powerful wall, and a small village, under the protection of another wall”, she said, she was with you, but her eyes were seeing something outside of the room, they were lost in her memories, “the castle was made of gray rock with reddened tiles in their towers”, you paled then, “a banner was hanging from the biggest one, two black wings over a white banner, in front of a checkered black and gray field”

“House Staunton”, you whispered, “a house front he crownlands, loyal to Rhaenyra”

“They were under siege, and I was going to help them, but then…”

“Sara…”, your heart was pounding in your chest

“Two huge beasts, Vhagar, and another golden dragon flew down upon me, jaws open, a breath of fire and I…”, her eyes filled with tears again and she wept in your arms, “I could smell the burnt flesh, and the reek of death!”, she weeped again, and you held her against you

“Shhh, it’s alright”, you whispered, “it is alright”

But it was not

You could feel it 

And you were made certain the very next day

“See that he is bathed gently”, you said to the main maid that took care of RIckon, “Even though he likes the heat, just like a little dragon”you giggled, playing with his feet, “I would bathe him myself but I have a meeting with the master at arms”

“Yes My lady”, she said gently, you liked her, she was sweet and cared for RIckon as he was her own, she took him gently and accommodate him in her arms

“Who is this handsome boy that needs a bath?”, she cooed, “let’s take a bath and let mommy focus on her meeting”, she said as she walked away

You smiled as you saw her leave the rooms, but were called by a pup, Rickon’s pup as he barked at you playfully, moving her triangular tail

“Don’t believe you are free of a bath!”, you chided playfully, and he barked again but ran to hide from you with a whimper. 

You giggled

They were really clever animals Direwolves 

But as you were preparing to leave your rooms to your meeting, there was a knock on the door

“Yes?”, you asked cheerfully, as you were the Lady of Winterfell, and you needed to show yourself strong, but the face the maester had, it immediately told you something was wrong

Very wrong

“I have letter for you, My Lady”, he said, he sounded apologetic

“What is it?”, you whispered

“One if from Dragonstone, but the other… is it from Harrenhal, from Aemond Targaryen”

You palet

you received the two small scrolls, your hand already trembling, you didn’t know which one to open first, you decided, that the one from Dragonstone

It surprised you to see it was from Rhaena, you had never had a personal relationship with her, but still you read the few lines she wrote

And as you did you whimpered, bitter tears falling from your eyes

Rhaenys was dead

Her and Melys had been burnt by Aemond and Aegon in both their dragons

Just like Sara described

Rhaena goes on saying  she wanted you to hear it from her, because she knew how dear you were to her grandmother and vice-versa

“No, no, no please”, you cried, clutching your chest, falling to your knees

“My Lady!”, the maester fell to the floor on his knees beside you, clutching you tightly, “Are alright?” he placed his hand on your forehead 

“No!”, you whined, you let out a scream of pain as you felt your heart was ripped from your chest. Sara showed up, taking the place of the maester by your side, grabbing you tightly 

“I will bring you a special tea, to calm your nerves”, he left the room

“She is gone, Aemond killed her”, you whined, grabbing into Sara, “my aunt is gone”

“I’m so sorry”, she whined, “I should have seen it sooner”

“It’s not your fault”, you whispered, your voice as broken as your spirit. You then looked at the other scroll that had fallen by your skirts, this had to mean something… something else…

You couldn’t resist, you couldn’t

You opened it

What you found there didn’t surprise you, there were threats, a warning, and a demand

You whined at the sight of his poisonous words 

But now… you jumped from the grief, straight to the anger

It was him!

The source of all your pains, all your traumas, it was him, for taking your baby nephew, and now your dear aunt

It was him

And you were the only one who could stop him

Sara looked at you, petrified and scared of what she found in your eyes

“No”, she whispered, when you looked straight ahead, tears were no longer falling from your eyes, all it was there was fire, and bloodthirst, “whatever you think you need to do…”

“I have to”, you answered barely, standing from the floor, your hands made fists

“No! you need to stay here!”, she cried, “please!”

“I am the only one who can stop him, stop this”, she took the scroll from your hand and read it, and she whimpered

“Its a trap!”, she said

But you were already on your feet, grabbing your riding gear, the thickest pants you could find and the upper part to go with it

“Please! think of Cregan! of Rickon!”, she insisted 

“Is for them I’m doing this”, you said, all emotion in your voice disappeared

“Please! they can fight him”, she insisted

“I can get close to him and kill him, I’m the only one who can”

“But at what price?”, she asked

“the debt is high already”, she whispered, “and it will only take me”

“please!”, you turned to look at Sara

“Tell Cregan I’m sorry”, you whined, tears falling down your cheeks again

“You tell him yourself!”, she insisted

“Take care of my son”, you cried, “please love him as your own”

“You will!”, she said, now desperate, “you will love him, and see him grow!”

“I did the best I could for the North, I’m sorry if it wasn't enough”, you cried

“It was! but is not over!”, she grabbed your arms, “please!”

“I’m the only one that can stop him”, you insisted, “I can kill him”, she knew there was no convincing you, she can see it in your eyes

“Please”

“No one else is going to die for me”, your voice again a flat line, “Cregan will be spared, and the crown will belong to Rhaenyra”

“But please let’s wait until we can reach Cregan”

“You know what his answer is going to be”, you said, but you realized Sara was not going to let you leave, so instead, you agreed to wait

Only to sneak out in the middle of the night, after telling the nannies to take RIckon for the night claiming you needed to be alone, they took him without question.

You couldn’t dare to see Rickon for one last time, if you did, you would second guess your decision and you couldn’t

This was more important than yourself

This was about the future of the seven Kingdoms and the future of your family and everyone you loved

This was bigger

Vhaelar was waiting for you outside the Winterfell gates, she roared into the night air but at this point you didn’t care if everyone listened, you will be in the air by the time they think they can do something to stop you

So you climbed on top of your dragon, Aemond’s words burning inside your brain

“I killed Rhaenys at Rook’s Rest, it wasn’t personal, but I know your husband is marching down with his army, you have three days to come to Harrenhal, if you do not, I will burn them alive, and then I will ride North and take you anyways. Spare the Starks, give yourself to me”

You had to answer his call

It was true, you can come to him willingly, you had a dragon, you could hide a blade in your undergarments, and after, you could slay him in his sleep or something, anything, but when he said it was the end of house Stark, it meant your baby as well, pedicide is not something you would put past Aemond. You knew he was capable and able to do it

For Rickon

For Cregan

And for Sara and the North

Yourself was a small price to pay

The night was long but you didn’t plan to stop as Vhaelar flew decisively under you

You believed you had until morning until Winterfell wakes up and sends a raven to Cregan, if you manage to fly over them it will be too late also

In the air, atop your dragon, nothing could stop you

Unless perhaps, another dragon

All night, all the way south, your mind was blank, there was only grief, pain, and rage.

You did not deemed yourself as vengeful person, and yet, you wanted it, desire it, you felt a fire growing within you, that wanted to burn everything in your path

You felt such heat within you you barely felt the still cold air that hit your face in the heights, and before you even knew it, the sun was shining in the horizon.

You felt no hunger, no tiredness, no nothing

Only the rage

It was Midday when you saw the unmistakable burnt towers of Harrenhal

Your dragon growled, like she was in pain, feeling your anger

You led her to descend upon the castle with a velocity that made your stomach drop, but you didn’t care about that, you cared about vengeance

But you were in a close distance, you felt the fire burning within you, one command and you could burn Harrenhal and the Green forces within them, Aemond probably was there, inside 

“Dra-!”

As you were going to give the order, you were interrupted by a low growl. Vhagar appeared from nowhere, pushing your dragon and you in the air

Vhaelar whined as she struggled to keep in the air and you knew then and there, that against the monstrous Vhagar, you could do nothing. Even if your dragons was one of the largest 

The Queen of dragons growled in greeting and you could feel Vhaelar’s nervousness as your own.

Or perhaps you were your own

Some people would say that you are more lamb than dragon, because of your mother’s house

But they were wrong

You were a dragon he awakened 

You landed heavily by the gates, you could see the restlessness of the soldiers in you and your dragon’s presence. You abandoned the want to burn everything, against Vhagar you couldn’t win. you had to be smart about this, she had the upper hand, the surprise factor was ruined 

“WHITE DRAGON!”, they chanted all over the walls, but you didn’t attacked them

Perhaps that is what you should do.

Burn them all

But the retaliation from King’s landing and the Greens could be worse

Aemond appeared by your side, he did not hide his smile, his happiness of seeing you there. 

Bold, you assumed, as you were near your dragon, you could burn him, here and now

The temptation was great

“You came”, he greeted, “good girl”

“I came to the call of your insanity”, you growled, he came to you, quick on his feet, you took a step backwards, still he grabbed you by the back of your neck

Vhaelar growled, dangerously, but VHagr was there, right by her side, she grabbed your dragon by the neck, furiously, dangerously

“NO!”, you screamed

Vhaelar whined in agony, and Vhagar released her, it was only a warning, but her black blood flowed profusely from the injury in her neck

“NO!”, you wanted to go to her, but Aemond held on to you tight

“If you don’t want me to finish her off, you will come with me”, he had to drag you towards the castle, as you could hear her whines of agony as her pain as if was your own

He dragged you through the halls, the stench of dead was clinging into you by every forceful step, and you whined under Aemond’s brutal hold

He threw you into a room. It held no windows, no nothing, but it was furnished with the very best he could find in his proximity, you realized. A luxurious big bed, with small tales on each side, many candles all over the room to light it up since it had no windows, and a table with chairs on one corners, tapestries on the floor and hanging from the walls to give it a more comfortable feel to it, but it didn’t hide what it was, it was a prison, only made for you

“A room for a princess”, he said mockingly, closing the door behind him, “you will stay here”

“I did as you asked”, you said, trying to regain control, “I came, I did as you said, promise me you will kill no one else”, you whined, “please”, he only smirked

“I promise I will no seek the death of anyone else”, he pleaded with a hand on his chest and another raised, but all seemed like a mockery, “I only wanted you, it is good that you finally saw this”

“I don’t understand”, you whined, “why me? after everything”

“That is not for you to know, now put on the dress I selected for you”, he said, taking your shoulders and directing you to look upon the bed, where a very revealing dark green dress was waiting for you. “You are to please me, since you are married, since you didn’t want to marry me, you will be nothing else, but my whore”

A single tear fell down your cheek as you contemplated what you willingly let your life turn into. 

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[greenerteacups]

oooh please someday tell us what you think of GOT

oh, no, it's my fatal weakness! it's [checks notes] literally just the bare modicum of temptation! okay you got me.

SO. in order to tell what's wrong with game of thrones you kind of have to have read the books, because the books are the reason the show goes off the rails. i actually blame the showrunners relatively little in proportion to GRRM for how bad the show was (which I'm not gonna rehash here because if you're interested in GOT in any capacity you've already seen that horse flogged to death). people debate when GOT "got bad" in terms of writing, but regardless of when you think it dropped off, everyone agrees the quality declined sharply in season 8, and to a certain extent, season 7. these are the seasons that are more or less entirely spun from whole cloth, because season 7 marks the beginning of what will, if we ever see it, be the Winds of Winter storyline. it's the first part that isn't based on a book by George R.R. Martin. it's said that he gave the showrunners plot outlines, but we don't know how detailed they were, or how much the writers diverged from the blueprint — and honestly, considering the cumulative changes made to the story by that point, some stark divergence would have been required. (there's a reason for this. i'll get there in a sec.)

so far, i'm not saying anything all that original. a lot of people recognized how bad the show got as soon as they ran out of Book to adapt. (I think it's kind of weird that they agreed to make a show about an unfinished series in the first place — did GRRM figure that this was his one shot at a really good HBO adaptation, and forego misgivings about his ability to write two full books in however many years it took to adapt? did he think they would wait for him? did he not care that the series would eventually spoil his magnum opus, which he's spent the last three decades of his life writing? perplexing.) but the more interesting question is why the show got bad once it ran out of Book, because in my mind, that's not a given. a lot of great shows depart from the books they were based on. fanfiction does exactly that, all the time! if you have good writers who understand the characters they're working with, departure means a different story, not a worse one. now, the natural reply would be to say that the writers of GOT just aren't good, or at least aren't good at the things that make for great television, and that's why they needed the books as a structure, but I don't think that's true or fair, either. books and television are very different things. the pacing of a book is totally different from the pacing of a television show, and even an episodic book like ASOIAF is going to need a lot of work before it's remotely watchable as a series. bad writers cannot make great series of television, regardless of how good their source material is. sure, they didn't invent the characters of tyrion lannister and daenerys targaryen, but they sure as hell understood story structure well enough to write a damn compelling season of TV about them!

so but then: what gives? i actually do think it's a problem with the books! the show starts out as very faithful to the early books (namely, A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings) to the point that most plotlines are copied beat-for-beat. the story is constructed a little differently, and it's definitely condensed, but the meat is still there. and not surprisingly, the early books in ASOIAF are very tightly written. for how long they are, you wouldn't expect it, but on every page of those books, the plot is racing. you can practically watch george trying to beat the fucking clock. and he does! useful context here is that he originally thought GOT was going to be a trilogy, and so the scope of most threads in the first book or two would have been much smaller. it also helps that the first three books are in some respects self-contained stories. the first book is a mystery, the second and third are espionage and war dramas — and they're kept tight in order to serve those respective plots.

the trouble begins with A Feast for Crows, and arguably A Storm of Swords, because GRRM starts multiplying plotlines and treating the series as a story, rather than each individual book. he also massively underestimated the number of pages it would take him to get through certain plot beats — an assumption whose foundation is unclear, because from a reader's standpoint, there is a fucke tonne of shit in Feast and Dance that's spurious. I'm not talking about Brienne's Riverlands storyline (which I adore thematically but speaking honestly should have been its own novella, not a part of Feast proper). I'm talking about whole chapters where Tyrion is sitting on his ass in the river, just talking to people. (will I eat crow about this if these pay off in hugely satisfying ways in Winds or Dream? oh, totally. my brothers, i will gorge myself on sweet sweet corvid. i will wear a dunce cap in the square, and gleefully, if these turn out to not have been wastes of time. the fact that i am writing this means i am willing to stake a non-negligible amount of pride on the prediction that that will not happen). I'm talking about scenes where the characters stare at each other and talk idly about things that have already happened while the author describes things we already have seen in excruciating detail. i'm talking about threads that, while forgivable in a different novel, are unforgivable in this one, because you are neglecting your main characters and their story. and don't tell me you think that a day-by-day account tyrion's river cruise is necessary to telling his story, because in the count of monte cristo, the main guy disappears for nine years and comes hurtling back into the story as a vengeful aristocrat! and while time jumps like that don't work for everything, they certainly do work if what you're talking about isn't a major story thread!

now put aside whether or not all these meandering, unconcluded threads are enjoyable to read (as, in fairness, they often are!). think about them as if you're a tv showrunner. these bad boys are your worst nightmare. because while you know the author put them in for a reason, you haven't read the conclusion to the arc, so you don't know what that reason is. and even if the author tells you in broad strokes how things are going to end for any particular character (and this is a big "if," because GRRM's whole style is that he lets plots "develop as he goes," so I'm not actually convinced that he does have endings written out for most major characters), that still doesn't help you get them from point A (meandering storyline) to point B (actual conclusion). oh, and by the way, you have under a year to write this full season of television, while GRRM has been thinking about how to end the books for at least 10. all of this means you have to basically call an audible on whether or not certain arcs are going to pay off, and, if they are, whether they make for good television, and hence are worth writing. and you have to do that for every. single. unfinished. story. in the books.

here's an example: in the books, Quentin Martell goes on a quest to marry Daenerys and gain a dragon. many chapters are spent detailing this quest. spoiler alert: he fails, and he gets charbroiled by dragons. GRRM includes this plot to set up the actions of House Martell in Winds, but the problem is that we don't know what House Martell does in Winds, because (see above) the book DNE. So, although we can reliably bet that the showrunners understand (1) Daenerys is coming to Westeros with her 3 fantasy nukes, and (2) at some point they're gonna have to deal with the invasion of frozombies from Canada, that DOESN'T mean they necessarily know exactly what's going to happen to Dorne, or House Martell. i mean, fuck! we don't even know if Martin knows what's going to happen to Dorne or House Martell, because he's said he's the kind of writer who doesn't set shit out beforehand! so for every "Cersei defaults on millions of dragons in loans from the notorious Bank of Nobody Fucks With Us, assumes this will have no repercussions for her reign or Westerosi politics in general" plotline — which might as well have a big glaring THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT stamp on top of the chapter heading — you have Arianne Martell trying to do a coup/parent trap switcheroo with Myrcella, or Euron the Goffick Antichrist, or Faegon Targaryen and JonCon preparing a Blackfyre restoration, or anything else that might pan out — but might not! And while that uncertainty about what's important to the "overall story" might be a realistic way of depicting human beings in a world ruled by chance and not Destiny, it makes for much better reading than viewing, because Game of Thrones as a fantasy television series was based on the first three books, which are much more traditional "there is a plot and main characters and you can generally tell who they are" kind of book. I see Feast and Dance as a kind of soft reboot for the series in this respect, because they recenter the story around a much larger cast and cast a much broader net in terms of which characters "deserve" narrative attention.

but if you're making a season of television, you can't do that, because you've already set up the basic premise and pacing of your story, and you can't suddenly pivot into a long-form tone poem about the horrors of war. so you have to cut something. but what are you gonna cut? bear in mind that you can't just Forget About Dorne, or the Iron Islands, or the Vale, or the North, or pretty much any region of the story, because it's all interconnected, but to fit in everything from the books would require pacing of the sort that no reasonable audience would ever tolerate. and bear in mind that the later books sprout a lot more of these baby-plots that could go somewhere, but also might end up being secondary or tertiary to the "main story," which, at the end of the day, is about dragons and ice zombies and the rot at the heart of the feudal power system glorified in classical fantasy. that's the story that you as the showrunner absolutely must give them an end to, and that's the story that should be your priority 1.

so you do a hack and slash job, and you mortar over whatever you cut out with storylines that you cook up yourself, but you can't go too far afield, because you still need all the characters more or less in place for the final showdown. so you pinch here and push credulity there, and you do your best to put the characters in more or less the same place they would have been if you kept the original, but on a shorter timeframe. and is it as good as the first seasons? of course not! because the material that you have is not suited to TV like the first seasons are. and not only that, but you are now working with source material that is actively fighting your attempt to constrain a linear and well-paced narrative on it. the text that you're working with changed structure when you weren't looking, and now you have to find some way to shanghai this new sprawling behemoth of a Thing into a television show. oh, and by the way, don't think that the (living) author of the source material will be any help with this, because even though he's got years of experience working in television writing, he doesn't actually know how all of these threads will tie together, which is possibly the reason that the next book has taken over 8 years (now 13 and counting) to write. oh and also, your showrunners are sick of this (in fairness, very difficult) job and they want to go write for star wars instead, so they've refused the extra time the studio offered them for pre-production and pushed through a bunch of first-draft scripts, creating a crunch culture of the type that spawns entirely avoidable mistakes, like, say, some poor set designer leaving a starbucks cup in frame.

anyway, that's what I think went wrong with game of thrones.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

So, I have dialogue in my head of Light (amnesiac Light) and L discussing A Song of Ice and Fire, if anyone wants me to write it up. “A Song of Ice and Fire” is the book series Game of Thrones was based on, if you don’t know.

Edit: Okay, here it is.

L, for once, is laying down on his and Light’s shared bed tiredly, wanting to go to sleep (he’s been up for many hours before this). And is angry that for once, Light is the one staying up--when he always complains about L doing that and keeping him awake, and he’s probably glaring at the phone or kindle Light is using to read or whatever.

L: Light-kun, what are you doing? We had a trying day today. Why not go to bed? And yes, I know. That’s me saying that. Alert the presses.

Light: Just a minute, Ryuzaki. I just got to this really good part in this series I’m reading.

(L drags a hand down his face.) L: And what, pre tell, is this great series, that has someone with such a high sense of justice interested in it? So much so, that they’re willing to stay up, and perhaps wreck their senses tomorrow, so they can’t help in the case about the most prolific serial killer the world has ever seen? ...If it’s “A Song of Ice and Fire”, I’m adding percentages to your Kira total.

This finally gets Light’s attention, and he looks up from the page he was on. Light: Ryuzaki, how many times do I have to tell you I’m not Ki- Wait a minute, why do you seem to have so much disdain for this series? Have you read it?

L: Of course I’ve read it, Light-kun. It’s making quite the name for itself...

(Light only semi-reluctantly puts his kindle away at this point. Because as much as he hates to admit it, this conversation is interesting him now.) Light: So, what’s your problem with it, then? It’s actually about justice--something that seems up your alley--and has a good message about how everyone should band together to stop these ice zombies from killing everyone. So, what-

(At this point, L sobers up a little and maybe feels like a jerk for some of the above. Because, truth be told, he doesn’t hate ASOIAF. He just has some issues with it.) L: Yes, but it’s medieval justice, at that. And too much of this is torture porn. And I just- I, of course, know there were child brides in our world’s history. That, however, does not mean I’m comfortable reading fiction about it, and that I think an author should write about it.

(L was talking about the character Daenerys Targaryen with that last line. Light is a Daenerys fan--because of course he would be--and so he scoots the tiniest bit closer to L, for his having hated the torment his favorite character had to go through.) Light: Yeah, Daenerys having to marry Khal Drogo... just no. But don’t you think everyone’s ideals being medieval justice here is the point? Like, maybe they’re going to realize it doesn't work and create a new form of government that’s at least getting closer to democracy?

L offers Light a small smile at his optimism. It’s nice to see in Light. And almost makes L wish Light wasn’t Kira, like he isn’t right now. L: I think you’re giving Martin too much credit, Light-kun. Even though he says differently, it’s clear that he’s a cynic. I feel this series will end just as grimly as it started. He doesn’t have the talent of Shakespeare--or evenTolkien, who he says he’s a friendly critic of--so there will be no catharsis at the end of this saga. Take my word on it.

Light is bothered by this. Because as much as he doesn’t want L to be right, he’s now worried he is. He wants to debate that more, but decides to go with a safer topic. Light: So is there any plot or character you liked from the books enough to defend?

L thinks about if for a moment, chewing on a nail, and comes to one conclusion. L: Well... Jon Snow, I suppose. He’s made his mistakes... but for the most part, he has a good heart and is trying to protect everyone from the aforementioned ice zombies.

(Light laughs at this. Probably because he’s more a Daenerys fan and L is a Jon one. It’s sort of fitting, since those two are perhaps narrative Foils). Light: Jon Snow? You would like him. ...And on the subject of Jon Snow, I’d like to get back to the part I was just at with him. (Light digs out his kindle again.)

L debates being cruel and telling Light that Jon dies at the end of A Dance With Dragons--which Light is currently reading--but decides to be nice for once. L: Fifteen minutes, Light-kun. Or else I’m shutting the lights out, and you can try and read in the dark, if you must.

Light wants to yell at L here. He really does. Because the man often keeps him up way longer than fifteen minutes, with his bright laptop screen and his tap tap tapping at the keyboard. But he decides to just relent and let this moment stay a nice one. Light: Fine. Fifteen minutes. (And he gets back into the scene where Jon decides he needs to go save Arya... And since this is the part Jon Snow dies in, there’s a good chance they might not stick to this “fifteen minute rule”, because Light’s probably going to want to talk to L about it the moment he reads it. LOL)

IDK.

[misseffie]

Is Gendry illiterate?

Short answer: Probably not. 

Long answer: 

I’ve noticed a lot of fanfiction trying to address Gendry’s illiteracy once he becomes a noble. Most fics depict him as being completely illiterate. Some depict him as having some level of literacy, but not enough for his new position. So let’s try to figure it out, shall we?

Part 1: Literacy

We have this assumption that in medieval times no one could read or write unless they were part of the nobility. That is not quite true. Firstly, we have to understand what it meant to be literate by medieval standards: 

“In Medieval times, “Literate” actually meant able to read and write in Latin, which was considered to be the language of learning. Being able to read and write in the vernacular wasn’t considered real learning at all. Most peasants prior to the Black Death (which really shook up society) had little chance to learn - hard labouring work all of the hours of daylight does’t leave a lot of energy for reading or writing.

It’s worth noting, however the panic amongst the ruling classes when translations of The Bible started to appear written in English. This really started in the late 14th Century (about 30 years after the Black Death). The level of panic suggests that the Ruling Classes knew that the numbers of people who could read and write English was far greater than the numbers who could read Latin.”

However, there is no language quite like Latin in Westeros. The closest we come to something similar is High Valyrian. Which noble children seem to have a basic understanding of. We can safely assume that Gendry doesn’t have extensive knowledge of High Valyrian - so he is illiterate in that regard. But I don’t think High Valyrian is as widely used as Latin was in the Middle Ages. It’s also not a language with religious significance. As the Faith of the Seven doesn’t use High Valyrian the way that the Catholic Church used Latin.

So… taking that into account. What I assume that is meant by “literate” in Westeros is being able to read and write in the Common Tongue. 

I will say that even by those parameters I don’t think most of the commoners would have been literate. However, Gendry was not in the same situation as most of the commoners.

Which leads me to... 

Part 2: Socio-economic class in Medieval Times

The level of literacy among the commonfolk has to be examined on a case by case basis.

Literacy among “peasants” varied a lot depending on circumstance. So, for example, it’s not strange that Davos, who was a smuggler prior to meeting Stannis, was illiterate. Or Gilly, who was completely isolated from the world and in terrible conditions.

But Gendry is in a different situation.

As @arsenicandfinelace pointed out in this cool meta:

Gendry was definitely born low-class, as an unrecognised bastard whose mother was a tavern girl (read: one step away from prostitute). But the whole point of apprenticing with Tobho Mott is that that was a major leap forward for him, socially.

As Davos put it in 3x10, “The Street of Steel? You lived in the fancy part of town.” Yes, a tradesman of any kind is leagues below the nobility, and could never ever be worthy of marrying a highborn girl like Arya. But Tobho Mott is a master craftsman, the best armourer in the capital city of a heavily martial country. As far as tradesman go, he’s the best of the best, and charges accordingly.

There’s a reason Varys had to pay out the ass to get Gendry apprenticed there. If he had stayed, completed his apprenticeship, and eventually taken over the workshop, he would have been very wealthy (by commoner standards) and respectable (again, by commomner standards), despite his low birth.

Tobho Mott is a tradesman and a craftsman. He is part of the merchant class. * Merchants are often referred to as a different class from the rest of the population. The merchant class in Medieval Times was closer to the middle class of contemporary times.

“By the 15th century, merchants were the elite class of many towns and their guilds controlled the town government. Guilds were all-powerful and if a merchant was kicked out of one, he would likely not be able to earn a living again.”

Mott would be considered to be part of the merchant class - and not even a common kind of merchant either. He was the best Blacksmith in all of King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. So we can assume that Tobho Mott was a very wealthy and powerful craftsman and merchant.  

“That many 'middle class' people (tradesmen, merchants and the like) could read and write in the late middle ages cannot be disputed.”

I’m not saying that all tradesmen/merchants/craftsmen were literate back then. It was still a smaller percentage than the nobility. Only the richer and more influential of tradesmen would learn Latin. But I think most of them would be literate enough in the vernacular to run a business. Considering Mott’s reputation and his clientele I’m certain that Mott is part of that literate percentage.

In season 2, Arya accidentally reveals to Tywin that she can read. Realizing her mistake she covers up by saying that her father, a ’stonemason', taught her. Of course, I don’t think that completely fooled Tywin but why did Arya say her father was Stonemason. Why did his profession matter at all? Surely it wouldn’t have mattered if he was a fisherman or a farmer... a peasant is a peasant, right?

Wrong.

“The Medieval Stonemason asserts that they were not monks but highly skilled craftsmen who combined the roles of architect, builder, craftsman, designer, and engineer. Many, if not all masons of the Middle Ages learnt their craft through an informal apprentice system”

“Children from merchants and craftsmen were able to study longer and continuous, so they were able to learn Latin at a later age. This way, everyone learned to read and write (some better than others) sufficiently for their trade.”

Stonemasons were the architects of the time and no doubt the top tier was literate.

Many trades (by the 15th C) required reading and writing, so it was taught to apprentices by the masters. We know from apprenticeship agreements that many masters were expected to continue the apprentice's literacy or start it, which makes sense for the wider viability of the trade.

The War of the Roses took place in the late 15th Century. So I’m guessing that that’s the time period that ASOIAF is mostly based on.

Part 3: Level of literacy

I think it’s safe to say that Gendry has some level of literacy. However, his “level” is pretty much up for debate. If he’d finished his apprenticeship it’s likely he’d have a decent level of reading/writing comprehension. However, near the end of his apprenticeship he was kicked out.

I’m not sure how much Gendry could read/write by the time that he was kicked out by Tobho Mott. But he’d already been his apprentice for 10 years (in show canon). More than enough time to get some basic reading/writing/basic math lessons. 

It seems that show!Gendry is more likely to have a higher level of literacy than book!Gendry. In the show, he leaves Tobho Mott at 16, while in the book he is 14. This is just my own impression, but I think his education would be more complete by age 16 than age 14.

Not to mention that book!Gendry is still in the Riverlands and working for outlaws. But in the show we can assume that Gendry has been smithing in King’s Landing for years and it is insinuated that he owns a shop. Meaning he might have reached “Master” status and can take on apprentices of his own. It might seem like Gendry is too young for that. But it’s actually not that strange. 

“Apprentices stayed with their masters for seven to nine years before they were able to claim journeyman status. Journeyman blacksmiths possessed the basic skills necessary to work alongside their master, seek work with other shops, or even open their own businesses.”

Considering that Gendry has been with Mott for 10 years in show!canon, it’s possible that Gendry was a “journeyman” and not an “apprentice” by the time that Ned meets him in season 1. But he might be nearing the end of his apprenticeship in the books.

Guilds also required journeymen to submit work for examination each year in each area of expertise. So, a journeyman who perhaps crafted swords, locks, and keys would need to submit each item to his guild annually for inspection. If the guild approved the craftsmanship of the products, the journeyman could eventually move up to master status.

The process of becoming a master could take from 2 to 5 years. Considering that Gendry is regarded as talented, it’s likely that he achieved this in a shorter period of time. As a journeyman he also needed to work alongside a master for 3 to 4 years before he could obtain master status. Which would still explain why he was so upset at being kicked out by Mott - it’s like someone getting kicked out while they’re trying to obtain a PHD. 

By the time we meet him in season 7 it’s very possible that Gendry is now considered a master of his trade.

He also seems to be making armour and weapons for “Lannisters” which means he has a mostly noble clientele. He probably has plenty of fancy clients asking for custom-made products. With sketches and measurements and all that shit. Which is not surprising since he probably has a de facto reputation simply by merit of being Tobho Mott’s apprentice (lets ignore how dumb it is that no one discovered that Gendry was in King’s Landing since he made no effort to hide who he was or try to hide from the nobility lol).

Conclusion: 

It’s safe to say that Gendry had some access to higher education. He can probably read and write enough for his line of work. It’s likely that his level would still leave much to be desired once he became a noble though. For comparison, imagine if someone left school at age 11 and was then required to write a college-level thesis. So he’d definitely need some “lordly” writing lessons and further education.

Gendry is still wildly uneducated for what he needs to do. So...

This meme is still gold 10/10

* Correction: Though Mott would be considered part of the same socio-economic class as merchants he is primarily a tradesman/craftsman, and would be referred to as such. Since merchants didn’t produce the goods they sold. However they could belong to the same guild, along with artisans and craftsmen. 

[sarkywoman]

Writing Asks

Tagged by @under-the-shady-tree, thanks!

20 questions, writer’s edition, let’s go!!

How many works do you have on AO3? 85

What’s your total AO3 word count? 712708

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Oof, uh... since like, 1999? Um, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Andromeda, Supernatural, Heroes, NCIS, DC, Marvel, The Umbrella Academy, Kingsmen, ASoIaF/Game of Thrones, Borderlands, Community, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Doctor Who/Torchwood, Final Fantasy, Harry Potter, Misfits, I think I’ve forgotten some...

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Noble Blood (Game of Thrones, ASoIaF - GRRM)�� A Song of Bastards and Wards (ASoIaF - GRRM, Game of Thrones)  Young God (Borderlands)  Story and Sorcery (Loki: Agent of Asgard, Marvel)  My Shame is True (The Umbrella Academy (TV))

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? I try to! Comments are so important in the fanfic community and I know how hard it is to think of something to say about a story, even when you’ve loved it to bits, so I don’t want people to feel ignored. Especially because I appreciate comments so, so much! I will say though, I have lapses, often when my mental health isn’t good, where I simply don’t know how to respond to people and then months go by and I feel weird about replying... so sorry if you’ve ever commented on one of my stories and got silence - it was me not you!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? The Aimless One (Misfits (TV 2009)) Straight up the saddest story I’ve written, no question. Normally writing sad stuff doesn’t make me sad but I had to take a break in the middle of this to just try and grapple with the idea I’d had because it tapped into a lot of depressing thoughts I have about life and death in general. The comments were all complimentary but so upset that at first I was like ‘hooray, it had the desired impact’, then after a while I started to think ‘why did I want to hurt people like this?’

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? Probably  Realising All You Ever Wanted, a Hobbs/Dirk fic for the Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency fandom. There’s such minor conflict in that one that the sugary sweet ending isn’t out of place. 

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? Well. I have some fandoms that are sort of crossovers already, things like Marvel where you have comic versions and movie versions and it doesn’t really feel like a crossover to be picking and choosing. Same with a Dirk Gently/Thor fic I did, because Thor cameos in the DG canon, but not this Thor. I think the most ambitious crossover I’ve worked on was a collaborative chatfic with @freshgratednutmeg that we’re never likely to post, where the need for more background characters in an Umbrella Academy A/o fic led to it being crossed over with Marvel and Brooklyn 99. (Leading to such amusements as Diego sparring with Rosa, and Five competing with Shuri in class.)

Have you ever received hate on a fic? Yeah, but it’s never been very well-reasoned so it’s been fairly easy to dismiss. Some people expect everyone to share their own perspective of the characters and it’s weird.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? Not really. I can go there and have done on occasion, but it doesn’t interest me very much. I think I did it more when I was younger because I felt like it was a necessary aspect of grown-up fanfic writing (when I started I was a teenager amongst mostly adults... or other people lying about their age too lol). These days I’m more likely to fade to black or allude to the acts. But I’m not averse to writing it or anything, but it’s never the focus of my story.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Only in the sense that I see them on other sites I didn’t upload to, sometimes in other languages, sometimes not. They normally say my name somewhere on them so they’re not stolen as such, but it’s still uncomfortable to see my work circulated to other sites without my permission.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not with my permission, but yeah. I don’t know how to feel about translations. Obviously I want people of other languages to be able to read my work, but at the same time I’m not fluent enough to be able to check the translator’s work, so I won’t know if they’ve done any better than google. Word choice is pretty important in fiction. A bad translation can totally warp a text.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not for posting or sharing, but me and @freshgratednutmeg cowrite all the time.

What’s your all time favorite ship? All time?! That’s impossible to answer. I’m a multi-shipper for starters, in pretty much every fandom I’ve been in. When I find a ship I love, I love it intensely above all others for the duration of the fixation. Then eventually it gets set aside when I find a new fandom. I’m also indecisive enough to not really have an all-time favourite anything. 

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? A Song of Bastards and Wards (ASoIaF - GRRM, Game of Thrones). I can’t begin to describe the pages of notes I have for this beast. Unless I threw them out, which... scanning my room... is a distinct possibility. Ouch. I’d hoped to parallel the books for a long time with this one, but the amount of work for a project like that is too much when you’re no longer as passionate about the source fandom. I suspect what I might do is scenes with interconnecting notes, just so people get some sense of closure.

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, baybee! Kinda makes me want to be a scriptwriter. People are always telling me that the characters ‘sound like’ them. I think it’s from reading voraciously from when I was young and being quite a social child, that moving speech patterns and quirks into writing is something that comes very naturally to me. Too natural, in fact, because IRL I write how I speak and that’s not always suited to the situation.

What are your writing weaknesses? Most things other than dialogue. Even thought processes are an internal dialogue, so they’re okay, but then like... a fight scene? A sex scene? Just even... what are their hands doing while they’re talking? How are these people physically present? Where are they? Are they inside, outside, is the building on fire? My descriptive skills are lacking, to say the least. It’s something I’m working on.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’m not quite sure what’s meant by this. I’m not fluent in anything other than English so I don���t see that would work well for me. I know a few phrases in German/French/Welsh/Latin/Spanish but nothing useful for conversation. Dropping in words can work, if it’s the same way the speaker would use them amidst their English. Most of the time the characters I’m writing wouldn’t be speaking in another language anyway. We can blame the tag-team of English colonialism and American media for that one I think. I think that sometimes authors utilise a character’s language in a way that just exposes how little the author actually knows of the language and that’s a bit cringe for me.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? Buffy the Vampire Slayer. None of those are online atm because they’re so so bad XD I should post them just so people can see improvement but... I can’t even read them, they’re hilarious. The most gratuitous self-inserts, the most ludicrous arguments, the most out-of-character romantic declarations.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? Hmm, that’s a quandary. I think I’ll differentiate between favourite to write, and favourite end product. Favourite to write was probably  Noble Blood (Game of Thrones, ASoIaF - GRRM) because it was just a romp through my favourite themes. Given it’s one of my most popular stories, I’d say that just proves you should write what you want! I was going to quickly say  Young God (Borderlands) is my favourite fic for quality of the finished product, because I pretty much just sat down one evening and spilled it into a word doc then reread it back and thought ‘huh, did I write that? Awesome’. But I’m happy with a couple of more recent things I’ve done for The Umbrella Academy fandom, notably  The Price of Parenthood, which is very different to what I usually write and is a look at the life of one of the mothers who gave up her child to Reginald. Also The Water Calls, which was the only thing I managed to write for the recent MerMay event. It took me a little while to puzzle out how it all fit together, then once I had it worked out it came together wonderfully and I was very happy with the tone of it. 

Tagging anyone who fancies doing it.

[agentrouka-blog]

ASOIAF - Food symbolism: apples and Jon “You have to choose.”

Inspired by this amazing post by @thoughtsandgrumbles I felt compelled to look at apples a little. 

Apples are a deeply symbolic fruit on a good day, but I’m not going to go too deeply into the general use, because who has time for that? I’m looking at the text itself. This post will be all about apples in Jon’s chapters, once I get the preliminary rambles out of the way.

Warning: LONG. Many quotes.

Just a few things: 

Popularly associated with temptation and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden of eden, the realization of being nekkid, the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise as a result. (That would botanically not have been an apple, though.)

The apple “to the fairest” handed out by Eris, godess of discord, for Paris to choose among the three godesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, ultimately leading to the Trojan War, which GRRM heavily draws from.

Snow White and the poison apple

Sansa is the name of a variety of apple that was developed in the 1970s, an early ripening mix of Gala and Akane.

Just by the general use, we get a theme of choice and destruction. Also Sansa is an apple. But - spoiler alert - that is NOT very central in Jon’s chapters. YET.

Also, some boring numbers, because this is not as easy a fruit as the persimmon to parse for the sheer amount of them:

Apples in general have 155 mentions in all searchable publications, 135 in the novels directly, 22 in Jon chapters. Only 9 of all the novel-mentions concern House Fossoway, 11 in the other literature. 

Top chapter uses: 

AFFC, Prologue - 14: Oldtown, Quill and Tankard inn backyard. Alleras shoots them with bow and arrow while the acolyte nerd squad discusses Dany and her dragon rumors. "Where's Rosey? Our rightful queen deserves another round of cider, wouldn't you say?" The apples are withered and wormy, the cider is fearsomely strong. Pate agonizes over his betrayal and theft for his creepy, obsessive love. His choice is “love”. Then he is killed. Complex.

ADWD, Jon V - 11: Jon passes out food and asks the wildlings at Mole’s Town to choose if they want to fight for the NW or not. Apples and onions, you have to choose. The apples are withered.

ADWD, Davos II - 7: Getting information about Manderly from an apple seller in White Harbor. Bad apple, good information. Theme in WH: who are you truly loyal to? The apple is dry and mealy, “bad”. Apples and onions, again.

ASOS, Bran III - 5, and ASOS, Jon V - 3: (8 combined) Rotten apples carpet the ground near an abandoned Queenscrown inn. They provide the background for Jon’s break with the Wildling Undercover Operation and flight back to the Watch. Theme: the abandonment of the Gift, the decline of the Watch, the Dream of Spring and Jon really doesn’t even really pretend to want a future with Ygritte. He chooses. The apples are rotten. 

POV uses: Jon 22, Arya 18, Prologue AFFC 14, Sansa 13, Davos 8, Jaime 8, Bran 8, Tyrion 8, Brienne 6, Catelyn 6, Dany 5, Eddard 5, Cersei 3, Theon 3, Samwell 2 JonCon 1, Asha 1, Quentyn 1, Arianne 1, Areo Hotah 1, Prologue ADWD: 1.

Jon is not only the single top POV character to feature the apple, he also has two of the top-use chapters that give the apple significance in setting the background. The apple is very closely tied to Jon. 

A short note on the  red apple Fossoways (Cider Hall) and the green apple Fossoways (New Barrel): 

The branches split at the trial of seven at the Tourney at Ashford (of the Ashford Theory), where the red apple fought for the bad guys (Aerion Targaryen) and the green apple for Ser Duncan the Tall.

Both had the red apple of the Fossoways painted on their shields, but the younger man's was soon hacked and chipped to pieces. "Here's an apple that's not ripe yet," the older said as he slammed the other's helm. (…)

"Ser Raymun, if you please." He cantered up, a grim smile lighting his face beneath his plumed helm. "My pardons, ser. I needed to make a small change to my sigil, lest I be mistaken for my dishonorable cousin." He showed them all his shield. The polished golden field remained the same, and the Fossoway apple, but this apple was green instead of red. "I fear I am still not ripe . . . but better green than wormy, eh?" 

(The Hedge Knight)

Again with the split of loyalty, with the following your moral code, with the choices. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So how do apples feature for Jon himself?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apples are connected to Jon’s struggle of loyalty to the Night’s Watch, and with his inner struggle in general. Every time they show up, he is confronted with a choice of who to stay loyal to, what values to follow. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First apple: AGOT, Jon IX. 

Jon’s final chapter in the book. Big Drama!

Jon eats a brown, withered apple when he tries to flee the NW the first time. He is heading South because his father has been killed and he wants to join Robb. He is plagued by self-doubt and fear. Then he takes a break to eat. 

In his saddlebag, he found a biscuit, a piece of cheese, and a small withered brown apple. (...) He kept the apple for last. It had gone a little soft, but the flesh was still tart and juicy. He was down to the core when he heard the sounds: horses, and from the north.

Straight after, he is caught and prodded back in an incredibly moving, nonviolent confrontation by his new Brothers reciting the NW vows. 

"… and all the nights to come," finished Pyp. He reached over for Jon's reins. "So here are your choices. Kill me, or come back with me."

Jon lifted his sword … and lowered it, helpless. "Damn you," he said. "Damn you all." 

In his mind, Jon is determined to try and escape again, but the next day, Mormont lets him know they knew what happened. 

Jon’s throat was dry. “You know?” “Know,” the raven echoed from Mormont’s shoulder. “Know.” The Old Bear snorted. “Do you think they chose me Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch because I’m dumb as a stump, Snow? Aemon told me you’d go. I told him you’d be back. I know my men … and my boys too. Honor set you on the kingsroad … and honor brought you back.” “My friends brought me back,” Jon said. “Did I say it was your honor?” Mormont inspected his plate.

Jon thinks he’ll be executed. Instead, he will be taken along to the great ranging beyond the Wall. 

“So I will have an answer from you, Lord Snow, and I will have it now. Are you a brother of the Night’s Watch … or only a bastard boy who wants to play at war?” Jon Snow straightened himself and took a long deep breath. Forgive me, Father. Robb, Arya, Bran … forgive me, I cannot help you. He has the truth of it. This is my place. “I am … yours, my lord. Your man. I swear it. I will not run again.” The Old Bear snorted. “Good. Now go put on your sword.”

Apple = choice. The choice is the Watch. Because the war against the Others is more important. 

Apple Quality: Brown and whithered. But still tart and juicy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Second apple: ACOK, Jon I

A former green apple (the valiantly knightly Fossoway kind) is to be dispatched from the Wall to garner support from a Baratheon king... 

"Renly is not like to heed a quaking fat boy. I'll send Ser Arnell. He's a deal steadier, and his mother was one of the green-apple Fossoways."

"If it please my lord, what would you have of King Renly?"

The conversation turns toward maester Aemon, his repeated refusal to become king and the incredibly foreshadowy information about the ending of the dragon line. 

It made him feel odd. “My lord, why have you told me this, about Maester Aemon?” “Must I have a reason?” Mormont shifted in his seat, frowning. “Your brother Robb has been crowned King in the North. You and Aemon have that in common. A king for a brother.” “And this too,” said Jon. “A vow.” (…)

Jon drew himself up, taut as a bowstring. “And if it did trouble me, what might I do, bastard as I am?” “What will you do?” Mormont asked. “Bastard as you are?” “Be troubled,” said Jon, “and keep my vows.”

Apple = choice. The choice is the Watch. The bigger picture is more important.

Apple Quality: green and unripe. (But honorable.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Third apple: ACOK, Jon VII

Jon and the Qhorin Halfhand crew are on the losing side of a game of cat and mouse with the warg-powered wildlings. Squire Dalbridge is about to sacrifice his life by going to shoot the Wildlings that are stalking them. 

The squire bowed his head. "Leave me as many arrows as you can spare, brothers." He stroked his longbow. "And see my garron has an apple when you're home. He's earned it, poor beastie."

He's staying to die, Jon realized.  

And that’s almost right at the end of the chapter. This is the only apple chapter where Jon is NOT immediately confronted with a moral dilemma of loyalty or the making of choices. And Dalbridge’s self-sacrifice, his off-page death, all of that means it’s a more long-term projection of the dilemma. 

The next, final chapter, Jon and Qhorin Halfhand are captured and he is compelled to kill Qhorin to prove himself a turncloak to the Wildlings, in order to start his Undercover Operation. 

The flames were burning low by then, the warmth fading. “The fire will soon go out,” Qhorin said, “but if the Wall should ever fall, all the fires will go out.” There was nothing Jon could say to that. He nodded. “We may escape them yet,” the ranger said. “Or not.” “I’m not afraid to die.” It was only half a lie. “It may not be so easy as that, Jon.” He did not understand. “What do you mean?” 

(…)

Rattleshirt’s bone armor clattered loudly as he laughed. “Then kill the Halfhand, bastard.” “As if he could,” said Qhorin. “Turn, Snow, and die.” And then Qhorin’s sword was coming at him and somehow Longclaw leapt upward to block. The force of impact almost knocked the bastard blade from Jon’s hand, and sent him staggering backward. You must not balk, whatever is asked of you. 

(…)

He knew, he thought numbly. He knew what they would ask of me. He thought of Samwell Tarly then, of Grenn and Dolorous Edd, of Pyp and Toad back at Castle Black. Had he lost them all, as he had lost Bran and Rickon and Robb? Who was he now? What was he?

“Get him up.” Rough hands dragged him to his feet. Jon did not resist. “Do you have a name?” Ygritte answered for him. “His name is Jon Snow. He is Eddard Stark’s blood, of Winterfell.”

(ACOK, Jon VIII)

Ouch. From this point on, Jon will have to make his own choices, no longer guided by other people’s rules, other people’s honor. The choices will be harder, lonelier. They will be contradictory, they will involve even more tangible loss. They will involve dishonor. The reward is as distant as home. Sacrifice. Death.

But one day, the poor beastie will get an apple, he will have earned it. 

Apple = choice. The choice is the Watch. The bigger picture.

Apple quality: unknown. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fourth apple: ASOS, Jon I

As inconspicuously as above, the apple features in a memory of home, featuring not-yet-deserter Mance Rayder at Winterfell, meeting Robb and Jon up to shennanigans:

“I remember,” said Jon with a startled laugh. A young black brother on the wallwalk, yes … “You swore not to tell.”

"And kept my vow. That one, at least."

"We dumped the snow on Fat Tom. He was Father's slowest guardsman." Tom had chased them around the yard afterward, until all three were red as autumn apples. "But you said you saw me twice. When was the other time?"

"When King Robert came to Winterfell to make your father Hand," the King-beyond-the-Wall said lightly. (ASOS, Jon I)

A neat connection between desertion, vow-keeping and the events that led Jon to take his own path to the Wall. Before Meeting Mance, Ygritte has been praising the values of being “free” like the good Little Wildling Propagandist that she is. But Jon isn’t biting yet.

The following conversation gives the backstory of Mance Rayder’s desertion from the Wall. It was over a cloak, mended by a Wildling woman who tended to him while he was injured.

“And she sewed up the rents in my cloak as well, with some scarlet silk from Asshai that her grandmother had pulled from the wreck of a cog washed up on the Frozen Shore. It was the greatest treasure she had, and her gift to me.” He swept the cloak back over his shoulders. “But at the Shadow Tower, I was given a new wool cloak from stores, black and black, and trimmed with black, to go with my black breeches and black boots, my black doublet and black mail. The new cloak had no frays nor rips nor tears … and most of all, no red. The men of the Night’s Watch dressed in black, Ser Denys Mallister reminded me sternly, as if I had forgotten. My old cloak was fit for burning now, he said. “I left the next morning … for a place where a kiss was not a crime, and a man could wear any cloak he chose.” He closed the clasp and sat back down again. “And you, Jon Snow?”

Jon uses Mance’s story of visiting Winterfell to spin his own lie:

“And did you see where I was seated, Mance?” He leaned forward. “Did you see where they put the bastard?” Mance Rayder looked at Jon’s face for a long moment. “I think we had best find you a new cloak,” the king said, holding out his hand. 

What will the bastard do? Be troubled and keep his vows. So far, so true. But he did kill Qhorin Halfhand, he is pretending to be a deserter. Lines are a lot more blurry than they used to be.

Apple = choice. The choice is… the Night’s Watch. Shifting more and more toward simply the bigger picture. 

Apple quality: red autumn apple. 

Red silk patches. Conflicting values. Women. There is uncertainty on the horizon. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fifth apple. ASOS Jon V.  BIG apple chapter.

His final confrontation as an Undercover Wildling.

This confrontation takes place at the abandoned tower and village of Queenscrown, which gets a closer description in the accompanying Bran chapter: 

No one had lived in the village for long years, Bran could see. All the houses were falling down. Even the inn. It had never been much of an inn, to look at it, but now all that remained was a stone chimney and two cracked walls, set amongst a dozen apple trees. One was growing up through the common room, where a layer of wet brown leaves and rotting apples carpeted the floor. The air was thick with the smell of them, a cloying cidery scent that was almost overwhelming. Meera stabbed a few apples with her frog spear, trying to find some still good enough to eat, but they were all too brown and wormy. 

(ASOS, Bran III)

The abandonment of Brandon’s Gift is a subject of conflict between Jon and Ygritte. A carpet of rotting apples. It opens the very next Jon chapter, as they are on the way to Queenscrown. Ygritte mocks the farmers who left the Gift as fools. Jon doesn’t take the bait yet. He briefly indulges in a fantasy of introducing Ygritte to Winterfell before being overcome with guilt and shame again. Ygritte is super great at reading his mood: 

“Might be after we could come back here, and live in that tower,” she said. “Would you want that, Jon Snow? After?”

He doesn’t think about it, doesn’t answer for a while, it rather reminds him of Ned’s Dream of Spring, the plan to resettle the Gift. The Starks and the Watch. 

If winter had come and gone more quickly and spring had followed in its turn, I might have been chosen to hold one of these towers in my father’s name. Lord Eddard was dead, however, his brother Benjen lost; the shield they dreamt together would never be forged. “This land belongs to the Watch,” Jon said. Her nostrils flared. “No one lives here.”

Jon isn’t even tempted. Like, no, Jon, Bambi, you did not love this person, no matter what your telling yourself later. He doesn’t even really contemplate it. 

Instead of bonding them closer together, Ygritte’s invitation to make long-term plans has the opposite effect. It fans the flames of what divides them. They argue about raiding and rape. Ygritte spouts nonsense.

“You know nothing, Jon Snow. Daughters are taken, not wives. You’re the ones who steal. You took the whole world, and built the Wall t’ keep the free folk out.”

Ygritte, no, that is not why the Wall was built. You think they built a gargantuan magic ice structure to keep out Styr, Magnar of Thenn, or what? Really? Jon is also sceptical of this version of history:

“Did we?” Sometimes Jon forgot how wild she was, and then she would remind him. “How did that happen?”

"The gods made the earth for all men t' share. Only when the kings come with their crowns and steel swords, they claimed it was all theirs. My trees, they said, you can't eat them apples. My stream, you can't fish here. My wood, you're not t' hunt. My earth, my water, my castle, my daughter, keep your hands away or I'll chop 'em off, but maybe if you kneel t' me I'll let you have a sniff. You call us thieves, but at least a thief has t' be brave and clever and quick. A kneeler only has t' kneel." 

Ygritte is basically a bland political extremist. I could sympathize with her criticism of feudal culture if it didn’t come hand in hand with her passionate defense of violent theft and rape culture. Like, you paragon of intelligence, not everyone resides at the fair top of the food chain like you do in your peak fitness status within your warrior culture. But of course, rape is fun! Just bring a knife!

"Harma and the Bag of Bones don't come raiding for fish and apples. They steal swords and axes. Spices, silks, and furs. They grab every coin and ring and jeweled cup they can find, casks of wine in summer and casks of beef in winter, and they take women in any season and carry them off beyond the Wall."

Apples in a breath with women. People should not be “stolen”. But Ygritte thinks men who successfully abduct and rape women are sexy. She’s like Dany that way. There are some cultural divides that cannot be pretended away, and their entire conversation circles around it. Jon is plagued by terrible guilt, he tries to warn Ygritte that their plan is doomed, she (rightfully) suspects his loyalty to the Wildlings and Jon believes himself in love but he never wavers in his actual allegiance to the NW.

She grinned at that, showing Jon the crooked teeth that he had somehow come to love. Wildling to the bone, he thought again, with a sick sad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He flexed the fingers of his sword hand, and wondered what Ygritte would do if she knew his heart. Would she betray him if he sat her down and told her that he was still Ned Stark’s son and a man of the Night’s Watch? He hoped not, but he dare not take that risk.

GRRM is going out of his way to undermine the supposed romance by constantly referring to the conflict between them and the apples-of-choice are just all over. 

Anyway, Jon is thoroughly eaten by guilt over having to betray these human beings who are a vicious and brutal threat to the place and people he loves and swore to protect. His true identity is hinted at:

Jon wondered where Ghost was now. Had he gone to Castle Black, or was he was running with some wolfpack in the woods? He had no sense of the direwolf, not even in his dreams. It made him feel as if part of himself had been cut off. Even with Ygritte sleeping beside him, he felt alone. He did not want to die alone.

Ghost. Not Ygritte. Not the wildlings. Not the Watch, even. Ghost. Wolf.  

They arrive at the Queenscrown inn and an old man is captured.

Jon walked away. A rotten apple squished beneath his heel. Styr will kill him. The Magnar had said as much at Greyguard; any kneelers they met were to be put to death at once, to make certain they could not raise the alarm. Ride with them, eat with them, fight with them. Did that mean he must stand mute and helpless while they slit an old man's throat?  

The apples are rotten. Jon spends one last moment with Ygritte contemplating Queenscrown and then the “kill the old man” business starts. He struggles but ultimately refuses. Bran’s wolf Summer disrupts the tension with a bloody attack and Jon doesn’t hesitate to Escape. Like when they met, Jon didn’t slit Ygritte’s throat, but she slit the old man’s. He will not shoot arrows at her, but she did at him. Love. 

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. The throb of pain in his thigh muscle made him wince as he put his heels into the old man’s horse. I am going home, he told himself. But if that was true, why did he feel so hollow?

Apple = choice. The choice is… NOT Ygritte. NOT the Wildlings. Time and again. But it also isn’t the Watch. Not as it had been before. Jon followed his instincts, his inner values, but it had a cost, it is hard. Jon is lost.

Apple Quality: rotten. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sixth apple: ASOS, Jon VII  

The Battle at Castle Black They await the attack, Jon and Satin share a meal. And they get a nod to Renly’s peach quote:

"Eat," Jon told him. "There's no knowing when you'll have another chance." He took two buns himself. The nuts were pine nuts, and besides the raisins there were bits of dried apple.  (ASOS, Jon VII)

Compare to Renly, which also took place before a nightly sneak attack. 

"A man should never refuse to taste a peach," Renly said as he tossed the stone away. "He may never get the chance again. Life is short, Stannis. Remember what the Starks say. Winter is coming." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. (ACOK, Catelyn III)

Peaches have an air of incest and hedonism about them, nostalgia and summer, Baratheons and Arya and Asha. The apple is different. It’s about choice, about conflicted loyalty and personal values, about identity and the bigger picture. (And again and again, they connect to women.)

Jon commands part of the fight, it’s grim. He recognizes some of the wildlings as they pepper them with arrows but cannot shoot at who he thinks is Ygritte. Wildlings die, his brothers die. The battle is brutal, Jon’s POV is distant. Satin remains by his side all throughout, grounding him. Jon remembers advice from Theon, from Ned. They eventually beat the wildling attackers with a horrifying fire trap on the stairs, they win. Immediately after, Jon goes looking for Ygritte, Satin still by his side.

The ice crystals had settled over her face, and in the moonlight it looked as though she wore a glittering silver mask. The arrow was black, Jon saw, but it was fletched with white duck feathers. Not mine, he told himself, not one of mine. But he felt as if it were.

We get a Dany-Val nod… 

The light of the half-moon turned Val's honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow. She took a deep breath. "The air tastes sweet."

"My tongue is too numb to tell. All I can taste is cold." (ADWD, Jon VIII)

...and a lovely double-layered “not mine, not one of mine”. Not his arrows, but he feels guilty. She is not his pack, but he feels guilty.

She just smiled at that. “D’you remember that cave? We should have stayed in that cave. I told you so.” “We’ll go back to the cave,” he said. “You’re not going to die, Ygritte. You’re not.” “Oh.” Ygritte cupped his cheek with her hand. “You know nothing, Jon Snow,” she sighed, dying.

Jon struggles to let go of the fantasy. He is loyal to the cause of the Watch, if not the letter of the vows, but he knows now that his souls want more. He indulges Ygritte’s fantasy of returning because it’s the only thing he has, the only thing he can offer. 

Apple = choice. The choice is… the Watch. But painfully. Numbly. No passion. Duty. 

Apple quality: dried. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seventh apple: ASOS, Jon X 

Tormund’s daughter Munda.

After vicious attacking Janos Slynt for insulting Ned Stark during a hiostile interrogation in the previous chapter, Jon is sent to kill Mance Rayder under the pretense of parley to prove his loyalty. He is resigned and shame-filled, contemplating his future, where he will be remembered in honorless infamy.  Much bitterness, plenty of woe. His reception by Tormund is surprisingly jovial. They drink mead to honor their fallen Donal Noye and Ygritte, with surprisingly little bitterness. It helps Jon return some of his cheer.

"You bloody crows." Tormund's tone was gruff, yet strangely gentle. "That Longspear stole me daughter. Munda, me little autumn apple. Took her right out o' my tent with all four o' her brothers about.” Toregg slept through it, the great lout, and Torwynd … well, Torwynd the Tame, that says all that needs saying, don’t it? The young ones gave the lad a fight, though.”

“And Munda?” asked Jon. “She’s my own blood,” said Tormund proudly. “She broke his lip for him and bit one ear half off, and I hear he’s got so many scratches on his back he can’t wear a cloak. She likes him well enough, though. And why not? He don’t fight with no spear, you know. Never has. So where do you think he got that name? Har!”  Jon had to laugh. Even now, even here.

Autumn apple. Stolen women. Cloak. 

Stealing women was a hot topic with Ygritte and Jon is immediately concerned, but is reassured. The tenor of the conversation is conciliatory, while he is revealed to be loyal to the Watch, there is mutual respect. In Jon’s thoughts, Ygritte becomes a mentor voice, drifting away from the romantic woe of before. 

Easy for you to say, he thought back. You died brave in battle, storming the castle of a foe. I’m going to die a turncloak and a killer. Nor would his death be quick, unless it came on the end of Mance’s sword.

Similarly to Dany later, Jon is arguing with dead beloved abusers in his head, like she will do in ADWD with Viserys. Ygritte is less obviously horrific, but the “voices in my head” aspect and the sheer idealising that both of them engage in feels disconcerting. Never the less, we see Jon’s current identity status on Facebook is “turncloak”. Not Night’s Watch.

The rest of Mance’s “court” is less welcoming, but Mance draws him in for a private conference. The Horn of Winter is revealed, the mutual cause of the Wildlings and the Night’s Watch is identified.

“If I sound the Horn of Winter, the Wall will fall. Or so the songs would have me believe. There are those among my people who want nothing more …” “But once the Wall is fallen,” Dalla said, “what will stop the Others?”

(Dalla has the brains that Ygritte lacked. Why can SHE not be Jon’s mentor?) 

Mance offers to hand over the Horn of Joramun if they let the Wildlings pass through the Wall, or he will destroy the Wall in three days. Jon hesitates because he fears they will ransack the place, but he also has no negotiating credit with Thorne and Slynt. He contemplates just smashing the Horn, when suddenly Stannis attacks. The Wildlings are smashed, a helpless Jon enters the tent with Val to attend Dalla.

He is just... disillusioned.

Apple = choice. The choice is… the bigger picture. The Watch is headed by irrational scum, the Wildlings are no less dangerous to the North than they were before and Jon has no hope of saving his ruined reputation either way. He was about to murder Mance, then about to smash his bargaining chip, yet he has no ill will toward them. Only a depressed, numb resignation to preventing the worst of all outcomes. 

Apple Quality: autumn apple.

Again with the autumn apple. There are only 3 “autumn apples” in the books, all in ASOS. Jon I (above with Mance), Samwell II, and Jon X here. 

In Jon I it connected Mance’s disloyalty to the Watch to the red-and-black cloak given to him by a woman. Also Bael the Bard, deception and stealing. Jon consults his inner values, and chooses pragmatism. His break with “blind” honor will leave him flailing a bit.

In Jon X it specifically refers to a young woman being stolen. Jon consults his inner values, he chooses the bigger picture, but he’s frayed and his choice is interrupted. Stannis will offer him Winterfell. Ghost will remind him of who he is. Ultimately, he will become Lord Commander and his struggle with loyalty will cease for a long time.

What’s Sam’s autumn apple about?  They are listed with many foodstuffs that the angry NW brother’s at Craster’s after the fight at the Fist of the First Men expect to receive. Mormont just remembered the true purpose of the Watch. Gilly has just given birth to her son. Sam offers to take the boy, Craster gets mad. they bury a dead brother and the mood is mutinous.

“Apples,” said Garth of Greenaway. “Barrels and barrels of crisp autumn apples. There are apple trees out there, I saw ’em.”

A confrontation breaks out and they kill Craster and stab Mormont. Sam’s friends flee, the others raid and rape, Sam cradles a dying Mormont. Some wives approach and order Sam to take Gilly to safety. 

Gilly was crying. “Me and the babe. Please. I’ll be your wife, like I was Craster’s. Please, ser crow. He’s a boy, just like Nella said he’d be. If you don’t take him, they will.” “They?” said Sam, and the raven cocked its black head and echoed, “They. They. They.” “The boy’s brothers,” said the old woman on the left. “Craster’s sons. The white cold’s rising out there, crow. I can feel it in my bones. These poor old bones don’t lie. They’ll be here soon, the sons.”

The massive abundance of apples suggests a link to the abundance of women, to the connection to inner values over formal loyalty, to the “stealing” of Gilly to save her. To the massive bigger picture. With Jon it translates to his trademark quick-thinking pragmatism, with Sam it translates to compassion and identifying valuable information. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8th and final apple: ADWD, Jon V  - The Grand Appling.

ADWD Jon V is another big apple chapter:  you have to choose!

Much time has passed since the last apples were mentioned. Jon is Lord Commander and has sent away Sam, Gilly and maester Aemon. The Wildlings are south of the Wall. Food is a constant worry. Bowen Marsh is upset with Jon, Jon is super-diplomatic. Not. It’s time to bring provisions to the Wildlings at Mole’s Town. A Mirror to Dany in ADWD, Daenerys VI, bringing food to the Astapori refugees. The Wildlings are grumpy. Jon struggles to balance the culture clash between free folk, Stannis’ men and Wildlings.

Pig ignorance, Jon thought. The free folk were no different than the men of the Night’s Watch; some were clean, some dirty, but most were clean at times and dirty at other times.

Jon is much removed from his earlier woeful struggles or idealism. A weary pragmatism guides his every action. Grey.

Apples ensue:

"You can have an onion or an apple," Jon heard Hairy Hal tell one woman, "but not both. You got to pick."

The woman did not seem to understand. "I need two of each. One o' each for me, t'others for my boy. He's sick, but an apple will set him right." 

Hal shook his head. "He has to come get his own apple. Or his onion. Not both. Same as you. Now, is it an apple or an onion? Be quick about it, now, there's more behind you."

"An apple," she said, and he gave her one, an old dried thing, small and withered.

"Move along, woman," shouted a man three places back. "It's cold out here."

The woman paid the shout no mind. "Another apple," she said to Hairy Hal. "For my son. Please. This one is so little."

Hal looked to Jon. Jon shook his head. They would be out of apples soon enough. If they started giving two to everyone who wanted two, the latecomers would get none.

"Out of the way," a girl behind the woman said. Then she shoved her in the back. The woman staggered, lost her apple, and fell. The other foodstuffs in her arms went flying. Beans scattered, a turnip rolled into a mud puddle, a sack of flour split and spilled its precious contents in the snow. 

Apples are once again almost aggressively connected to choices. Apples or onions. Not both. You have to pick. 

Barring another meta, I can’t really say what the onion is supposed to represent. Some things that echoe Jon’s apple themes:

His sons were good fighters and better sailors, but they did not know how to talk to lords. They were lowborn, even as I was, but they do not like to recall that. When they look at our banner, all they see is a tall black ship flying on the wind. They close their eyes to the onion.  (ACOK, Davos I)

Denial. 

Dany nibbled at an onion and reflected ruefully on the faithlessness of men. (ACOK, Daenerys III)

Faithlessness.

The feast was a meager enough thing, a succession of fish stews, black bread, and spiceless goat. The tastiest thing Theon found to eat was an onion pie. Ale and wine continued to flow well after the last of the courses had been cleared away. (ACOK, Theon II)

Theon about to be ordered to attack Winterfell. Betrayal.

The last time it was life I brought to Storm's End, shaped to look like onions. This time it is death, in the shape of Melisandre of Asshai. (ACOK, Davos II)

Life and death brought by the same person.

Melisandre’s manichean world view vs. Davos’ more encompassing one:

"What if I am? It seems to me that most men are grey."

"If half of an onion is black with rot, it is a rotten onion. A man is good, or he is evil."  (ACOK, Davos II)

Bless you Sam. 

Hungry as he was, Sam knew he would retch if he so much as tried a bite. How could they eat the poor faithful garrons who had carried them so far? When Craster's wives brought onions, he seized one eagerly. One side was black with rot, but he cut that part off with his dagger and ate the good half raw. (ASOS, Samwell II)

Considering apples represent the choice you make to serve an ethical bigger picture (not necessarily loyalty to an order), onions seem to show a contrasting duality of bad and good, a refusal to position oneself honestly, dirty compromises, the darkness in human beings. 

Davos’ entire arc circles around being a very decent human being who none the less supports a whole lot of questionable crap. Our resident kraken Theon is torn inside unable to choose between Greyjoy and Stark identity and becomes monstrous. 

Melisandre downright denies the existence of grey. The presence of bad cancels out all good.  Samwell, on the other hand, embraces the good while disregarding the bad. 

Ygritte smelled of onion. Dany eats wild onion on her dragon grassland chapter,  Jorah eats onion. Brienne has onion soup on her way to Lady Stoneheart. Jon offers the Wildlings onion soup after they burn their god’s for Melisandre in echange for safety. Dark compromises. 

So the choice between apples and onions is the choice to MAKE a choice. Stop hedging your bets or practicing denial, position yourself, one way or the other. 

The woman who refuses to choose, loses her apple, loses the fruit that will set her sick son right, loses her cance at following her inner moral compass and doing the right thing. 

There is a tussle, Jon tries to rally them with a speech. They are in a Mutiny at Craster’s Keep kind of mood.

“You want more food?” asked Jon. “The food’s for fighters. Help us hold the Wall, and you’ll eat as well as any crow.” Or as poorly, when the food runs short. (…)

“Fight for you?” This voice was thickly accented. Sigorn, the young Magnar of Thenn, spoke the Common Tongue haltingly at best. “Not fight for you. Kill you better. Kill all you.” The raven flapped its wings. “Kill, kill.” Sigorn’s father, the old Magnar, had been crushed beneath the falling stair during his attack on Castle Black. I would feel the same if someone asked me to make common cause with the Lannisters, Jon told himself. “Your father tried to kill us all,” he reminded Sigorn. “The Magnar was a brave man, yet he failed. And if he had succeeded … who would hold the Wall?”

Jon believes in the greyness of men, but he also believes in choices. You don’t have to be perfect to do the right thing. But you have to do the right thing. Or a thing, anyway. You have to choose.

There is more commotion. Jon decides to make it simpler.

"Hal, what was it that you told this woman?"

Hal looked confused. "About the food, you mean? An apple or an onion? That's all I said. They got to pick."

"You have to pick," Jon Snow repeated. "All of you. No one is asking you to take our vows, and I do not care what gods you worship. My own gods are the old gods, the gods of the North, but you can keep the red god, or the Seven, or any other god who hears your prayers. It's spears we need. Bows. Eyes along the Wall. (…)

He recruits, actively. 

“The choice is yours,” Jon Snow told them. “Those who want to help us hold the Wall, return to Castle Black with me and I’ll see you armed and fed. The rest of you, get your turnips and your onions and crawl back inside your holes.”

Apples yay, onions nay. Dany killed the slavers of Astapor, and left alive only children under the age of 12. Jon recruit ages 12 and up for the Watch, girls and boys. Dany killed 163 random slavers. Jon recruits 63 Wildlings.

By the time the last withered apple had been handed out, the wagons were crowded with wildlings, and they were sixty-three stronger than when the column had set out from Castle Black that morning. 

The apples win out. No more mention of onions in this chapter. 

The chapter ends on a grey note, uncertain but hopeful. 

Marsh was unconvinced. “You’ve added sixty-three more mouths, my lord … but how many are fighters, and whose side will they fight on? If it’s the Others at the gates, most like they’ll stand with us, I grant you … but if it’s Tormund Giantsbane or the Weeping Man come calling with ten thousand howling killers, what then?” “Then we’ll know. So let us hope it never comes to that.”

Hilariously, it is not the treachery of the apple-choosing wildlings Jon will have to worry about. 

The abundance of onions and apples in this chapter sets up the struggle Jon faces in later ADWD chapters. The bigger picture v. Arya. Apples are done, for now, the onions stalk him. He tries to strikes a balance. He hesitates, he sends Mance, he struggles. In the end, the Pink Letter sends him over the edge.

Apples v. onions.  Jon has chosen. 

Apples = choice. The choices is… NOT the Watch. Arya. The North. The bigger picture. House Stark. 

Apple Quality: withered. Like the very first apple. 

Jon stood tall. He told himself that he would die well; that much he could do, at the least. “I know the penalty for desertion, my lord. I’m not afraid to die.” “Die!” the raven cried. “Nor live, I hope,” Mormont said, cutting his ham with a dagger and feeding a bite to the bird. (AGOT, Jon IX)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In conclusion:

Apples signal the necessity for Jon make a moral choice according to his own personal values. 

Jon always has his eyes on the bigger picture. 

His choices becomes increasingly divorced from the concept of loyalty to the Watch.

There is a pronounced conflict between apple and onion, between moral choice and refusal to choose. Jon tries to walk the line between the letter of his vows and his values. He ends up choosing his values. It goes badly. 

The quality of the apples has a relationship with the ease of choosing. 

whithered apples are fairly clean choices, 

rotten apples are traumatic choices, 

autumn apples relate to choices influenced by the wisdom of women, the stealing of women. 

There is a future apple promised to “the beastie” as a reward. 

If we want to draw a connection to the show, Jon will clearly face another apples v. onions conflict and the need to choose will feature heavily. It will go badly. But there is the promise of home and reward.

[zcldrizes-a]

— 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐬 : “ 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐝. ”

i. Yet that night she dreamt of one. Viserys was hitting her, hurting her. She was naked, clumsy with fear. She ran from him, but her body seemed thick and ungainly. He struck her again. She stumbled and fell. “You woke the dragon,” he screamed as he kicked her. “You woke the dragon, you woke the dragon.” Her thighs were slick with blood. She closed her eyes and whimpered. As if in answer, there was a hideous ripping sound and the crackling of some great fire. When she looked again, Viserys was gone, great columns of flame rose all around, and in the midst of them was the dragon. It turned its great head slowly. When its molten eyes found hers, she woke, shaking and covered with a fine sheen of sweat. She had never been so afraid.

ii. Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet. She could hear it singing to her. She opened her arms to the fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce.

iii. Dany gave the silver over to the slaves for grooming and entered her tent. It was cool and dim beneath the silk. As she let the door flap close behind her, Dany saw a finger of dusty red light reach out to touch her dragon’s eggs across the tent. For an instant a thousand droplets of scarlet flame swam before her eyes. She blinked, and they were gone.

iv. Stone, she told herself. They are only stone, even Illyrio said so, the dragons are all dead. She put her palm against the black egg, fingers spread gently across the curve of the shell. The stone was warm. Almost hot. “The sun,” Dany whispered. “The sun warmed them as they rode.”

v. “Khaleesi, “ Jhiqui said, “what is wrong? Are you sick?” “I was,” she answered, standing over the dragon’s eggs that Illyrio had given her when she wed. She touched one, the largest of the three, running her hand lightly over the shelf. Black-and- scarlet, she thought, like the dragon in my dream. The stone felt strangely warm beneath her fingers… or was she still dreaming? She pulled her hand back nervously.

I think the first thing to note here is that, from very early on, we have it established to us that Daenerys is something unique. Not everyone bonded to dragons dreams of them – though we know that Aemon did ( I see them in my dreams, Sam. I see a red star bleeding in the sky. I still remember red. I see their shadows on the snow, hear the crack of leathern wings, feel their hot breath. My brothers dreamed of dragons too, and their dreams killed them, every one. ) but as the readers, we get no real indication that Viserys did. And given he’s presented to be the actual dragon at first, though we learn quickly that is not the case, I think the message here that we take from this is simple: Daenerys was always fated to be the mother of dragons, and Daenerys was always fated to be the first rider in centuries.

Firstly, I want to quickly clear something up: despite what the show neglected to portray, Daenerys loves all three of her children in equal form, even if in different ways. I won’t link all of the proof of that here – that can happen in another meta if someone really wants it – but I think the thing to note is that even though all three are her children, one of them is necessarily more equal to her in her own state of mind in the sense of him being her mount. She loves her children and wants to protect them, yes: but to protect them, she would need Drogon’s help, realistically. That means in her own mind, she will always view him as an equal, and someone she fights alongside, whilst Viserion and Rhaegal can’t be viewed in the same lense because she isn’t bonded to them in the way dragonlore states ( quickly on dragonlore: I mix my own canon for writing it, as most people know, from a concoction of asoiaf canon, Eragon, HTTYD, etc ). She can attempt to protect them: but Drogon protects her. Drogon is her equal, in that sense. It doesn’t mean she loves him more, it means she loves him differently. I’m happy to extend my thoughts on her actions in locking Viserion and Rhaegal up, but in my own state of mind, and I think established relatively decently in some forms of canon, Daenerys does regret what she had to do. With that in mind, it’s something she would have done to all three if she had a chance, for the sake of the people she was ruling.

Secondly, before I go into specifics about her bond with Drogon, a general note about the dragons bonding: I do prescribe to the very established canon that only those with Valyrian blood have the ability to ride dragons. We know from Martin’s canon that Valyrian Dragonlords used magic to bind the dragons to them – and that can explain the many references to the blood of the dragon, specifically. That’s to suggest that the blood carried on from Valyrian descendants still contains that bond, however diluted through the ages. There are of course some exceptions to this, and those usually come from extenuating circumstances: but with Dany’s dragons, we see in canon that they are resistant to just anyone riding them. Quentyn Martell’s death after trying to mount Viserion – admittedly at the hands of Rhaegal – confirms that they don’t tolerate just anyone, and it’s also important to note that Daenerys was the first dragonrider in a century and a half. The exception I make for my own canon is @killthebxy and his Jon riding Rhaegal, and the explanation for this is simple: after months of bonding, and under the canon where no other Valyrian blooded people exist, and also in a context where Viserion is dead and Drogon has a rider already, it makes sense that Rhaegal would crave a rider so badly that he would bond with another. With that being said, we also know from canon that a dragon once bonded will not allow anyone else to ride them ( unless their rider is also present ). That means no, your muse cannot ride Drogon without Daenerys there. He doesn’t want it, and she wouldn’t allow it, so don’t try it.

…it was said that even Aegon the Conquerer never dared mount Vhagar or Meraxes, nor did his sisters mount Balerion the Black Dread. Dragons live longer than men, some for hundreds of years, so Balerion had other riders after Aegon died… but no rider ever flew two dragons.

Now, I’m going to break this up into a few different sections to write.

- oo1. BOND FORMATION.

The important thing to note here is that I personally think the bond began long before Daenerys actually rode Drogon. We see within canon in her dreaming days that when dreaming of the dragons, Dany always dreams of the black. It’s no coincidence that Drogon was born to bear her House colours, nor is it coincidence that he is often called Balerion ( Khaleesi … there sits Balerion, come again. ) whilst she herself is paralleled to Aegon the Conqueror ( She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats. ) – this sets up in a very visceral manner that this is what Martin’s intention was, to establish this bond very early on. We know that in hatching the dragons, Daenerys had known for an incredibly long time what she was going to do to hatch those dragons, and we can see that in the following few passages, that she references her intent and the pre-emptive nature of what she’s about to do, before it’s DROGON’S egg that she lifts first. ( This is madness, she told herself as she lifted the black-and-scarlet egg from the velvet. It will only crack and burn, and it’s so beautiful, Ser Jorah will call me a fool if I ruin it, and yet, and yet… Cradling the egg with both hands, she carried it to the fire and pushed it down amongst the burning coals. The black scales seemed to glow as they drank the heat. Flames licked against the stone with small red tongues. Dany placed the other two eggs beside the black one in the fire. ) Between the dreams and the following few pieces of evidence, we know her intent was established early on.

i. “You will not hear me scream,” Mirri responded as the oil dripped from her hair and soaked her clothing. “I will,” Dany said, “but it is not your screams I want, only your life. I remember what you told me. Only death can pay for life.” Mirri Maz Duur opened her mouth, but made no reply. As she stepped away, Dany saw that the contempt was gone from the maegi’s flat black eyes; in its place was something that might have been fear. Then there was nothing to be done but watch the sun and look for the first star.

ii. Jhogo spied it first. “There, “ he said in a hushed voice. Dany looked and saw it, low in the east. The first star was a comet, burning red. Bloodred; fire red; the dragon’s tail. She could not have asked for a stronger sign.

iii. She had sensed the truth of it long ago, Dany thought as she took a step closer to the conflagration, but the brazier had not been hot enough.

Throughout the younger years of the dragon’s development, both book and show canon seems to build the hatchlings to some degree, but it is Drogon we so often get more of a glimpse into. Very often, it is Drogon who is perched on her shoulder ( as he in in the arrival to Qarth ) or on her lap ( as he is when she is informed of Robert Baratheon’s death ). We also know in the House of the Undying that it is Drogon who accompanies her, and who protects her and allows her to escape, in book canon – and in show canon, that it is Drogon who is the first to respond to her command for fire in burning those who leave her in chains. By the time we get to the Sack of Astapor, I think the fact it is Drogon who she offers up as part of her plan speaks volumes: she knows that he will respond to her command, and she knows that he will not hesitate to do so. By this point, it’s very established that of all three dragons, he is the one already utilised the most in her plans, and the one who she clearly gravitates to most centrally.

We then reach the stages of Drogon’s rebellious years. Regardless of whether or not he intended to burn the child – dragons are intelligent, he likely knew what he did – we can either read Drogon’s absence as one of two things. Either he can tell that Daenerys is disappointed in him for what happened, or perhaps horrified with himself; or more likely, he knows that as much as Daenerys is on the cusp of becoming a woman, she is not ready to be his rider yet. I think the show gives us a really beautiful moment here, where she reaches for him, and she is unsure and he flies away before she can touch him; he knows that she isn’t ready for him yet. By default, by this point I believe Drogon knew that she was supposed to ride him – and that is confirmed when he comes to save her at the fighting pits. Now, here’s where I take issue with the books: the only way that I will accept the necessity of Drogon needing to be beaten into command is if he was truly so confused and feral after months away that it took him several moments to recognise her. In my own canon, I do think the show had the better iteration here: he trusted her, and their bond allowed her to mount him, because that was what he was born for.

By the time we get the first flight, it’s not the bond being formed: it’s the final step to formation. When we talk about dragon bonds, I think it means more than a human and pet; dragons are intelligent, and they are magical. For them to bond with a human means something special: Daenerys and Drogon are the literal entity of soulmates, because their souls were born to be connected. He is an ever present feeling at the back of her mind, and likewise, she is with him always, no matter how far apart they are. That goes deeper than any love, any kind of familiar connection; they are part of each other, and this journey up until now was just about finding their way to that point and establishing / building it.

- oo2. EMOTIONS / COMMUNICATION.

Drogon raised his head, blood dripping from his teeth. The hero leapt onto his back and drove the iron spearpoint down at the base of the dragon’s long scaled neck. Dany and Drogon screamed as one.

As an extension of the headcanon that they are soulmates, I think this reads very simple as follows: they understand the emotions that the other is feeling. They feel pain, that the other is feeling. It isn’t as tangible as Drogon getting hurt and Daenerys aching in the same spot – but more that she feels that he is suffering, and there’s an overwhelming desire to help. We get some of that again, from the show, where he is struck in 7.04 and her first instinct upon landing is to remove the spear – and even in the pain addled state of mind that follows for him, the moment she sees Jaime and we see her fear, Drogon responds. We get it again in 7.06, when Viserion is killed; on Dany’s face, we get shock, and though she is mourning clearly in the later parts of the episode, her reaction is reserved. For Drogon, whilst she is silent, he is screaming for his fallen sibling. And yes, that be construed as part of his grief – but likely, it’s because he is feeling for the both of them.And lastly, we get a beautiful moment of this in 8.03, when Dany is crying for Jorah, and Drogon’s response is to curl around her and coo to her. This isn’t a protective stance - the battle has ended, and he’s low, not on alert. He’s close to her, making soft noises, and that body language communicates comfort, not anything else. He feels her grief, and he feels it himself, and so he lays close to her to offer whatever he can.

Communication between them is not quite so blatant as thinking commands to the other, but simply instead, that they can sense what the other wants. Likely, Dany was idly chattering to Drogon before handing him to the Masters at the Sack of Astapor, because she knew he would know what to do without command. And though she talks to the dragons in Valyrian, it’s not a language they were likely born knowing ( and if they did, likely, they knew others to ) – so more than likely, it’s not the words that Drogon responds to, but the intent behind each of them. And the deeper that bond goes, the more we see ( again, more viscerally on the show ) that he responds without question – in executing enemies, or even in the gentleness by which he carries her, lets her down, by the way he bristles when people disrespect her. The communication between them is far more primal and intimate than language; it’s spoken by hearts and minds forged together in the flames.

- oo3. FLIGHT NAVIGATION.

Again, an extension of the above, but when it comes to flight navigations, we have no need here for the way that Daenerys commanded Drogon in the books ( The dragonlords of old Valyria had controlled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. Daenerys made do with a word and a whip. Mounted on the dragon’s back, she oft felt as if she were learning to ride all over again. When she whipped her silver mare on her right flank the mare went left, for a horse’s first instinct is to flee from danger. When she laid the whip across Drogon’s right side he veered right, for a dragon’s first instinct is always to attack. Sometimes it did not seem to matter where she struck him, though; sometimes he went where he would and took her with him. Neither whip nor words could turn Drogon if he did not wish to be turned. The whip annoyed him more than it hurt him, she had come to see; his scales had grown harder than horn. ) – this implies that Drogon needed to be beat into submission, and while he was more stubborn and juvenile then, he was still her intended and her bonded.

So when we talk about flight navigation, my canon is as follows: they work together. Dany knows, mostly, where she wants to go – and Drogon knows how to get them there. For the most, he follows what she wants if it is specifically the reason they’re travelling; but in situations in battles, etc, he will also move without need of command, always to protect his mother. The one (1) time that she falls from him in my canon, it is not his fault, and he never forgives himself for it. Drogon’s flying style is rougher than most other dragons would be – he’s large, he’s animalistic, and he’s never truly understood how fragile she is when it comes to him, because he perceives his mother as so strong. Hence why she cuts her hands from holding on, or bruises so badly from him thrashing around, or her thighs get cut from the way she grips his scales through her clothes. They work together, and for the most part, neither think twice about it.

- oo4. EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS.

It’s as simple as this – if Daenerys doesn’t like someone, Drogon likely hates that someone. In no world does he ever give a moment’s time to someone who she has no connection with; which is why it can be construed that Drogon tolerates people like Doreah, or Jorah, or Jon. Because of the emotional connection between them, this transfers to the way he connects with people she loves: by default, he feels at the least some sort of loyalty, or urge to protect them. Firstly, this is because he knows that she cares for them, and that if anything happened to them, she would be sad. Secondly, because he feels that emotion for them himself as a result of the bond. And thirdly, because he has likely had some further interactions as a result, which formulate his own bond with them independent of his mother’s emotions.

With that being said, there is never, ever a situation where Drogon would chose another person over his mother. It doesn’t matter what she becomes or what she does to anyone else – no singular person, or groups of people are as important as a rider to a dragon. And likewise, even if Daenerys were to have human children, she would never stop viewing the dragons as her own children too, or treating them as such. Those relationships, even to her, come beneath the bond she has with Drogon. And even when it comes to the other dragons, she loves them with all of her heart, but she will never feel the closeness she does with Drogon because he’s not just in her heart, he’s in her mind.

- oo5. IF EITHER DIED.

Lastly, talking about the potential of death for either of them. For dragons, their life span far outlasts their riders – and Daenerys hopes that long after she is gone, he will find someone ( in her own bloodline, or other ) whom he might feel that bond with. With that being said, she isn’t just his rider to him, but also his mother, which means if she died, that grief would transcend what a dragon might normally feel for their rider’s death. Unlike what we see in the series finale, if someone were to cause her death, then regardless of who that person was to Drogon, he would not hold back his revenge from the person who took her from him – this bond is more than a normal dragon and rider, he was born to be with her, birthed by her, raised by her, and lived by her side for all of his life. This would be the first time he wouldn’t feel her with him, and that would cripple him, to know that he would live for centuries with that presence void in his life.

If the situation were flipped, and Drogon was lost to her, I believe Daenerys would feel that grief on a physical level, as well as emotional. Drogon is warmth and strength at the back of her mind and thoughts – she would not feel warm again, without him there. Would never feel as strong, without him there. Would never be able to replicate that emotional bond with another being or entity, without him there. Would constantly be calling for him, constantly searching for him in the skies. That would be a loss that she would never, ever recover from – and I believe in that instance, she would crave the reunion with him in death, though she might not go so far as harming herself. It would transcend her desire to see anyone else in the afterlife – she would be focused exclusively on seeing her child again, and being with him again.

Having a part of one’s soul ripped away would physically hurt, and that is what they would both feel.

[empressaryastark]

old meta. 2014? for all 3 people obsessed with in series book Braavos like me.

city in progress

Braavos Post-ADWD

“Braavos was a city made for secrets, a city of fogs and masks and whispers”.

           When it comes to the ASoIaF universe, I find that most fans tend to focus most of their attention on the politics and plotlines that occur specifically in Westeros. Given that Westeros is where the series begins and will likely end, I think that inclination is natural. However, I also think it is imperceptive to ignore the future of Essos and its impact on the series after the contienent became the backdrop for many PoVs after ASoS. The view that Essos politics doesn’t matter and won’t affect the Westerosi plots is not only false, but it will limit readers that wish to make predictions for the outcome of the series. So, in an effort to raise more discussion on my favorite ASoIaF city and Essos by extension, this post is my attempt to explore the possibilities for the city in The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring while also putting my thoughts and totally definitely **slightly** cracky theories about the city into words.

While Braavos did not make a proper debut in the series until Arya arrived in AFFC, the free city has had a presence since AGoT. From Daenerys’ sentimental musings on the lost home of her childhood in her first chapter to Syrio Forel’s account of how he became the first sword of Braavos, the city has lingered in the background of the series, waiting to emerge as a power. Of course, the city always existed as a powerful state in the general ASoIaF universe, but it did not have much visible influence within the politics of Westeros until AFFC and ADWD. There are only a few cities in A Song of Ice and Fire that are given so much life, so much detail, and so much character and world significance within the series. King’s Landing, Meereen, and Braavos are those three. Like Meereen and King’s Landing, Braavos will surely have strong impacts on the rest of the series based on what happens post-ADWD and specifically in TWoW.

The Iron Bank, the Faceless Men, Braavosi Politics, Dragons, and Westeros

                              Braavos is, in many ways, the city that connects Essos and Westeros. Placed along the northern western portion of Essos, Braavos is the closest free city to Westeros. As a result, Braavos does a good deal of trade with Westeros and they possess more political clout with the continent than most other cities in Essos. Commerce between the Iron Throne and the Iron Bank has a long history that goes back to the days of Targaryen rule. Yet, this long relationship has not made the Iron Bank any more forgiving of the Iron Throne’s debt problems since, as the Braavosi say, the Iron Bank will have its due. Cersei refuses to pay up on the crowns debts and rudely sends off the Iron Bank envoy sent to her in AFFC. These decisions are what led to the schism in relations between the Iron Bank and Lannister-Baratheon crown. However, the clash was long coming since even Tyrion turned the bank away when they first came hounding after their money in ACoK. The continued respect and refusal to make payments were catastrophically bad decisions made by those in power in King’s Landing. In contrast to this behavior, The World of Ice and Fire states that Iron Bank envoys are traditionally treated with great respect as almost equals by even kings. Thus, the War of the Five Kings, the legacy of Robert’s massive debts, and Lannister greed and pride ultimately forced the Braavosi banking institution to become an unlikely ally for Stannis Baratheon and the Night’s Watch. The soured relations between the Iron Bank and the Iron Throne is unexpected turn of luck for Stannis Baratheon. Stannis’ hard up kingdom and quest for the Iron Throne suddenly gets bank rolled by the wealthiest, most ruthless group of loan sharks in the world. Of course this contract literally written in Stannis’ blood is a gamble, but it’s one that may work in his favor. As Jon Snow notes, “When princes failed to repay the Iron Bank, new princes sprang up from nowhere and took their thrones.” By all accounts, the Iron Bank is not only the wealthiest bank in that universe, but it is also the most powerful. With the loss of this powerful ally, the Lannisters have severely weakened their already tenuous hold on the Iron Throne. This choice by the Iron Bank is a calculated strike against the Lannisters, as is their decision to call in every loan in Westeros. More ominously, the Iron Bank is rumored to send assassins, presumably the Faceless Men, after their debtors according to TWoIaF. Of course, that does not necessarily mean that the Iron Bank will employ assassins to kill Tommen or Cersei. So far as the readers know, they have only decided to go with backing Stannis’ claim by funding his war efforts in addition to setting up an economic conflict as the result of their loan ban. Certainly, the loan ban has been effective in the wake of Aegon Targaryen’s arrival. The Iron Throne on the orders of Kevan and Cersei, in fear of the rebellions that may be incited by raising taxes, send Harys Swyft to the city as an envoy to mend relations with the bank and bring money back to the city. Though the outcome of this decision has yet to come, I think “Mercy” hints at future conflict between the Iron Throne’s representative and the Iron Bank. The question that remains is where the Iron Bank will place their bets if Stannis Baratheon is dead as he is reported to be by the end of ADWD. Now, I personally don’t have a definitive opinion on whether Stannis is or isn’t dead. But for the sake of theorizing on the Iron Bank and their political maneuvers in Westeros, I will assume that he is dead or soon to be dead. In those cases, I imagine the bank will take up the causes of Daenerys Targaryen or Aegon Targaryen.

                              However, the Iron Bank is not the only powerful, secretive institution of Braavos. The Faceless Men, rumored partners in crime with the Iron Bank, seem to be an essential part of Braavosi culture. Indeed, the House of Black and White exists openly in Braavos, and all the Braavosi who have been met with “valar morghulis” usually respond immediately with “valar dohaeris.” In Braavos, the slave past of Old Valyria remain a vivid part of the city’s cultural conscious. This cultural inheritance informs their respect and fear of the Faceless Men (FM), an order with their origins in the slave mines of Old Valyria. Even though the order of the FM is a mystery to most of the world outside of Braavos according to The World of Ice and Fire, readers have received portions of their origins and practices from Arya’s PoV. But given Arya’s status as a guest, and eventual acolyte, in the institution, I think it is safe to assume that Arya has not been fully informed of all the order’s inner workings. At least, she seems distant from the proceedings that take place among the full FM in the HoBaW in ADWD. Although she is still low ranking in the FM’s hierarchy, Arya has gathered a good deal of knowledge about the order so far. But I there is far more to learn about the FM in the next novels, specifically the nature of their relationship with the Iron Bank, the Sealord of Braavos, and dragons.

                              One shouldn’t forget general politics apart from the Iron Bank when taking the city into consideration. So far, the series has yet to produce a Braavosi politician that is actually active in the story. This makes sense considering the fact that Arya has been our eyes in Braavos. Seeing as she’s only assumed the identities of young girls low on the social hierarchy of Braavos, Arya has yet to see many prestigious parts of that city including both the Iron Bank and the Sealord’s Palace. Despite those limitations, Arya has been privy to some of Braavos’ politics. During her time as Cat of the Canals and Blind Beth, Arya was asked to return to the House of Black and White with the demand that she tell the Kindly Man three things she learned. Though some of what she learned was seemingly inconsequential, there are some standout details about the political climate of the city. One example can be found in ADWD when Arya tells the Kindly Man that the current Sealord of Braavos, Ferrago Antaryon, is ill to the point of death and his expected successor is Tormo Fregar. The Kindly Man responds by telling Arya that her piece of news was not new information and a new sealord will be chosen if Antaryon dies. In response, Arya thinks, “When he is dead, there will be a choosing, and the knives will come out. That was the way of it in Braavos. In Westeros, a dead king was followed by his eldest son, but the Braavosi had no kings.” With this plot point, GRRM introduces the prospect of an upcoming election for a new Sealord of Braavos. However, there is little information on how the process takes place. In The World of Ice and Fire, it is stated that the Sealord of Braavos is “chosen by the city’s magisters and keyholders from amongst the citizenry by a process as convoluted as it is arcane.” I have a hunch that the limited information about the sealord election process is an intentional omission on GRRM’s part by using the excuse of mystery. My assumption is only furthered by the fact that GRRM uses this excuse to provide very little information on the Faceless Men in the Braavos section of TWoIaF as well. Although the exact details of the election process are currently shrouded in mystery and complication, it can be understood from Arya’s thoughts that the election of a new sealord is known to bring considerable tension and danger to the city’s political climate. Moreover, the politics of the series are becoming more visible figures in Arya’s PoV. In “Mercy,” there were a total of five keyholders present for the performance of The Bloody Hand. While all that information may seem unimportant in a casual reading, I think that the steady and subtle inclusion of the city’s political developments is intentionally done by GRRM in order bring the politics of Essos and Westeros to a convergence.

                              Post-ASoS, the land of Essos was no longer restricted to Daenerys’ PoV. Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark, Victarion Greyjoy, Quentyn Martell, Barristan Selmy, Samwell Tarly, and Jon Connington all spend some, if not most of their PoVs chapters in the continent for various reasons that have some effect on the politics of Essos and Westeros.

To briefly (edit: I looked over my list and my eyes determined that this was a lie lol) go over the causes and effects of these eastern excursions, I’ll make a short list since I’m mainly concerned with Braavos in this post.

·         Tyrion’s escape at the end of ASoS leads to Cersei’s rise to power and all the political fiascos that follow. The fact that Varys is forced to hide him on a death threat from Jaime also sends Varys into hiding while shipping Tyrion off to Essos where becomes entangled in the plot to put Daenerys to Aegon Targaryen, the alleged son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell, on the Iron Throne. His involvement is cut short by an ill-timed trip to a brothel where he is abducted by the exiled knight, Jorah Mormont. After many more misfortunes, the two are sold into slavery. With exceptional cunning and good luck, Tyrion and his friends are able to escape the confines of their dead slave master’s camp and land spots in Ben Plumm’s mercenary company, the Second Sons. As of TWoW’s released chapters, Tyrion is attempting to not only survivie the battle of Meereen, but bring forth a victory for Daenerys’ cause. It has been hinted by show and GRRM that Tyrion and Daenerys will join forces in some fashion.

·         By the end of AFFC, Victarion Greyojy is sent by his brother, Euron, on a mission to bring Daenerys from Meereen so she can marry Euron and help him conquer Westeros. Victarion accepts the mission, but he intends to marry Daenerys himself and steal the throne from his brother. This mission is resumed by the end of ADWD where Victarion becomes involved with a red priest named Moqorro. He is involved in the battle of Meereen.

·         Barristan came to Essos storyline before the other Westerosi PoVs aside from Dany. His goal was to get Dany back to her throne in Westeros, but he ultimately has to hold together her crumbling occupation of Meereen in her absence. He’s involved in the battle of Meereen. He makes an agreement with the Tattered Prince to take over Pentos.

·         Quentyn Martell, with a little help from his friends, journeys his way to Daenerys on the orders of his father so that they can fulfill a marriage contract (more on that contract…) and conquer Westeros together. Quentyn fails to convince Dany, tries to steal her dragons, and is burned to death. This death will likely have negative impacts on Dornish/Targaryen relations if Arianne’s feelings in her TWoW sample chapter are any indication.

·         Samwell Tarly made a brief stop in Braavos on his way to the Citadel. During his time there and on the ocean with Maester Aemon, he learns of Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons, the prince that was promised prophecy, and meets Quhuru Mo. Mo takes him to Oldtown, where is able to inform Maester Marwyn about all he’s learned. Maester Marwyn is determined to get to Daenerys before other parts of the Citadel can influence her.

·         Jon Connington, the exiled lord of Griffin’s Roost, spent time with the Golden Company before he was enlisted by Varys and Illyrio to be Aegon’s guardian. He returned to Westeros with Aegon and their host by the end of ADWD. By Arianne’s TWoW chapter, Jon has contacted the Dornish with the intentions of creating an alliance by confirming Aegon as Doran’s nephew.

                              In all of these plotlines, the east and west cross paths in order to create some shift in the politics of the regions whether they intend to or not. Specifically, each storyline is influenced in some way by Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. Yet, the one major PoV taking place in Essos has not made a firm connection with Daenerys and her dragons. So far, Arya Stark’s PoV and the city of Braavos have been conspicuously absent of any influence from Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. This is contrast to other major Essos spots like Pentos, Volantis, and Slavery’s Bay. Considering Daenerys’ substantial following and notoriety or widespread esteem depending on who one asks in Essos, it should follow that her reputation would be a special topic in Braavos, the city built on slave rebellion. In fact, Daenerys’ reputation has even reached Westeros as evident by the mummer’s plays in King’s Landing and the word of Dany and her dragons in the Citadel from the prologue. With all those points in mind, I feel like it is suspicious that she’s not a bigger topic in the city of Braavos. Of course, Arya has heard a few mentions of the dragons while in Braavos, but they were brief.

 Here’s where I go into Speculation Mode:

                              I think that the absence of Daenerys’ influence in Braavos is going to be short-lived. Sooner than later, Daenerys will have to go back if she wants to move forward if I may loosely use Quaithe’s words. And if Daenerys should go in a reverse of her journey to move forward to her destiny, that means she will have to arrive at her first home in Essos before she lands on Westerosi land. That home is Braavos. Now, I am aware of theories that Daenerys has confused the location of her childhood home with Willem Darry based on the trees quote in “Mercy.” However, I do not believe that she is confused about her early in Braavos. Yes, the presence of lemon trees in Braavosi is strange, but it’s no stranger than the rest of all that is fantastic in A Song of Ice and Fire. If Sealord’s Palace can support tree life in official maps of the city, I’d wager to say that a wealthy man like Willem Darry could afford a luxury garden. Also, I think the marriage pact made by Oberyn and Willem in Braavos, and witnessed by the Sealord of Braavos, tends to give credence to Dany’s assertion that she and Viserys lived with Darry in Braavos. Now, there is much that is suspicious about the pact. Namely, why would the Sealord of Braavos get involved with a pact between House Martell and House Targaryen after Robert Baratheon took the throne? Did they wish to seek favor with the Targaryens and the Martells? Was this Sealord the current Sealord or a predecessor? Given what little information is supplied about the inner workings of Braavos’ politics, it’s anyone’s guesses on these questions. Indeed, they may remain unanswered if Ferrago Antaryon dies soon as expected and Tormo Fregar takes his office. Once he takes office, an event apparently already anticipated by the common people of Braavos, the most likely turn of events include Fregar taking a stance on Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. Braavos is a wealthy city known for hard anti-slavery policies in addition to possessing an extraordinarily impressive and powerful naval military. I find it hard to believe that Daenerys and Tyrion (two characters who have expressed desires to see the city) won’t find the city a considerable ally, by choice or force on the city’s part.

                              And what does the future of the city hold for Arya Stark? As I said, there’s far more to learn. Arya’s only ventured around the outskirts of the city, homes to tourists and the poor. Eventually, she will have to break out of her usual haunts and explore the parts of the city that she was almost destined to discover---the Iron Bank, the Sealord’s Palace, and the Moon Pool. So far, Arya is the only major PoV residing in Braavos. While others may speculate on her TWoW arc taking her to other places, I am firm in my belief that she will remain in the city. As a disciple of Syrio Forel, Arya is probably going to be lured to the Moon Pool and the Sealord’s Palace based on Syrio’s tale of the Sealord’s Palace and the prospect of water dancing in the famous, magical Moon Pool seems like it would be too good for Arya to pass up. Since the Iron Bank is apparently so connected to the Faceless Men, I think the chances of her getting involved with the institution in some fashion are high. The fact that she’s carrying around an iron key in “Mercy” for no discernable reason is a hint that she’s either been given or stolen a key from the powerful keyholders of Braavos aka Iron Bank officials.

           I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the keyholders, the sealord, election voting areas, the iron bank, and the iron key are all mentioned in “Mercy.” Those inclusions are all a set up for the rest of the Braavosi narrative that will be tied with Arya’s PoV. How one will affect the other remains to be seen, but they will impact other characters and how the rest of the series turns out. So far, Arya’s actions will likely cause further strife between King’s Landing and the Iron Bank.  She could also meddle with the Justin Massey’s Iron Bank envoy on behalf of Stannis Baratheon, the upcoming Sealord election, the Hardhome refugees, or the Faceless Men’s objectives. On that note, I do wonder how the Faceless Men will impact the story. If Jaqen is working on behalf of the group at the Citadel, what is his end goal? To destroy the dragons? To the control the dragons? To destroy the means of destroying dragons? The answer to the Jaqen question is uncertain at the moment, but seeing as the Faceless Men don’t take kindly to dragons as legacies of their slave past, I don’t think they want the dragons to live.  The desires of the Faceless Men could put them at odds or in unity with how the Iron Bank and the Sealord’s Palace wishes to deal with their future of their city and how they deal with the dragons and Westeros.

           After hundreds of years in solitude, I can’t imagine how the major institutions of Braavos are not tied with each other. The survival of the city relied on building a community of trust within the shroud of secrecy. But what happens to the city once crisis falls when the world of the series realizes the apocalyptic peril from the beyond the Wall? The Faceless Men are an order with their own god and set of doctrine to follow, the Iron Bank is an absolutely ruthless institution, and the Braavosi government is one of volatile politics. These institutions can easily conflict with each other once the world’s dangers present themselves. And from there they may act on their own intentions. Eventually the city and especially the major characters involved will have to follow in that Braavosi tradition of unmasking secrets.

[leafenclaw]

Tag your 10 favorite characters of all time

They can be from every book/movie/TV show/Video game, then tag 10 people.

Tagged by @jamlocked, thank you! :D

But also, oh god. XD

Early on as I was making that list, I encountered three problems: 1 - Most of my favourite characters of all time are actually variations on a single character archetype, with a whole damn lot of them even wearing the same name (or similar enough lol). 2 - Most of the ones that don’t fall under this category are from the same 2-3 source material, unless... 3 - ... they’re from sources that I cannot in good conscience recommend anymore, like for example books from MZ Bradley or OS Card that were extremely significant and shaped who I am, but considering what their authors turned out to be, enough said lol.

So instead of a “my favourites of all time” list, I just picked characters that made a significant and lasting impact on me, even if they didn’t turn out to be my absolute favourite from their media source. I hope that’s okay!

Cut for length, because as usual I got chatty.

In no particular order, aside perhaps for the first two: 

1 - Jamie Moriarty from Elementary. My everything. <3 She’s made of... honestly, pretty much all the archetypes I inevitably fall for, male or female, but somehow she rises above the sum of her parts and I cannot even start expressing how much she means to me. Other characters in the same general type would be of course all the Moriartys, Magneto, Gellert Grindelwald, Red John, Alice Morgan, etc. A lot of those characters are heavily defined by their sky-high intelligence and deviousness, but more importantly by the shapes they leave behind when they aren’t on screen/on the pages or when they’re hiding behind masks and facets that never encompass them as a whole, and by the way they always make a extremely lasting impact on the protagonist. When it’s a TV show or a movie, the use of camera language (lighting, colour schemes, camera plans, etc.) around them is always tightly defined and significant, and when it comes to literature, the same effect is applied through metaphors and symbolism. It makes the layers to those characters absolutely endless and when it comes to storytelling, it’s the one thing that’s guaranteed to hook me straight away. (Jamie is also obviously my favourite from her source material, even though Sherlock comes high in second place, and Watson a close third. And I also have a baffling soft spot for Joshua Vikner that probably deserves a mention lol.)

2 - Vegeta from Dragon Ball. Started a genocidal alien who regularly committed mass murder, ended a devoted, self-sacrificial husband and father of two (three if you count his son from the future). Still the best redemption arc I’ve ever seen (and probably will ever see) in any kind of media ever. (He is also -by far- my favourite from his source material.)

3 - Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. My fae child <3 Literally the only female character I ever identified with in that whole series. People close to me still regularly tell me I channel her lol. (Favourite from her source material: it’s a toss between Gellert Grindelwald and Severus Snape.)

4 - Jareth from Labyrinth. My (other) fae asshole child found in a trash bin lol. Love of my life before I was 10, kept me sane and believing in magic when I most needed to. I learned contact juggling because of him. (He is my fave, although I love Sarah even when she’s being a dramatic whiny teen.)

5 - Rebecca Anderson from The Mentalist. I have a strong and everlasting love for pretty much all characters in TM, but this one extremely minor character made a chilling impact on me by the fact she’s exactly who I would have turned out to be had I not made one tiny little change at a crucial point in my life. So she makes the list if only for that. (My fave TM character is Lisbon, but the way she acts and reacts baffles me on a daily basis. I understand and identify with Jane much better. Fighting hard in third place would be Lorelei Martins and Madeleine Hightower, I think, but I truly love them all and by this point it���s just nuances.)

6 - Erik from Phantom of the Opera. This one stabbed me with a spoon and ate my heart out lol. I care a lot more for the original Leroux version than the Broadway/movie version, but the absolute top iteration of this character is written by Susan Kay in the pastiche Phantom and I bet every serious PotO fan will agree. (He is -by far- my fave, with the Daroga a distant second.)

7 - Eurus Holmes from BBC Sherlock. This one took me completely by surprise. One of the shittiest character arcs I’ve ever seen, and yet. She’s the one that pulled me out of the meta mindset I had been stuck into since season 2 and gutted me like a fish before I had time to realise what happened. (Jim and Irene share the top spot for their source material, but all three Holmes siblings are fighting for third place.)

8 - Hans from Frozen. The one character that made me realise the storytelling & camera language studies paid off lol (”wtf Disney doesn’t design its princes that way, there’s something off about him!”). I genuinely hated him right off the bat when I saw that movie because he made my gut twist with so many red flags, but the moment he revealed himself as a villain things clicked into place and now I love him lol (I’m so predictable xD). He shares the “hiding behind smoke & mirrors & facets of himself” with the Moriarty archetype, which makes him fascinating to watch and analyse, and for that alone I hope to see more of him in Frozen 2 because I never get enough of that kind of character. (Elsa used to be my favourite, but lately there’s been a disconnect. I’m not sure if I just out-grew her or if it’s a depression thing. As for Hans, it’s a strange kind of love/hate/fascination thing that I couldn’t define.)

9 - Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs. For the sole reason that her fascination for Hannibal and the pull that makes her come back even though she knows he’s terrible for her mental health made me feel seen, and also validated my own fascination and love for villains, which people around me always found strange. (Obviously, my fave is Hannibal. I wish the recent show about him wasn’t so gore. Can’t watch it because I’m too sensitive to on-screen violence and body horror.)

10 - Laure/Mickaël from Tomboy This one is a little harder to explain, and to be honest I’m not sure I really want to. That movie is... questionable lol but maybe you’ll have an idea why that character made such an impact on me if you saw it. (Or maybe not. It’s okay.)

Runner-ups: Link from A Link to the Past, Sheik/Zelda from Ocarina of Time, Jake from The Dark Tower, Scotty Valens from Cold Case, Scar from The Lion King, Billy Elliot from Billy Elliot, Arya Stark from ASOIAF, Garraty from The Long Walk, L from Death Note, and many many others.

I have exactly 10 followers, one of them tagged me, and I tagged 5 of you earlier on something else so I’m not going to harass you people further. XD Steal this if you want to!

[cbrownjc]

Drama vs Logic (or how will this all end for Jon + Dany)

David and Dan don’t seem to have this problem though because I’ve noticed that as bloodthirsty as I am in killing all of these characters, David and Dan are killing some characters who are still alive in the books. Their body count is actually ahead of mine. When they say no one is safe on the series that is literally true. There are characters who are in Book 5 and who are going to be in Book 6 who are dead on the TV Show - GRRM, 2013 ( x )

I think there’s going to be a bittersweet ending. You know I’ve always taken my influence from JRR Tolkien and if you’ve read Lord of the Rings, um, Sauron is defeated and the ring is destroyed in the end but it is not a happy, happy ending. There’s a real sense of things lost too, and I found that very powerful and very moving. So I think my ending will also have a bittersweet tone I hope, if I can bring it off the way I want to bring it off. - GRRM, 2014 ( x )

So part of my thoughts on this subject come from an exchange I got into on social media over Jon and Daenerys’ relationship, where the other person noted that, because of Martin’s style - or what they perceived to be his style - of death and trope-breaking, that had this person saying that Jon and Dany would likely have a Red Wedding type deal for their ending. I took exception to that assessment because another Red Wedding type deal would not only be repetitive, but also because it doesn’t all fit into the idea which Martin specifically says he’s going for wrt the ending he envisions for the series.

George R. R. Martin doesn’t break tropes or kill characters just for the hell of it. Or for shock value . . . or because they can’t get an actor back for long enough to play the part, or for any other conventions that come out of writing for TV and movies. There is always an internal logic to his big character deaths, based on the choices the characters make and/or react to each other or events. Who Ned Star was as a character is what lead him to his death. The choices he mad as an honorable man in a place that did not value honor. So Ned’s death didn’t just break a trope for the sake of breaking one, there was an internal story and character logic that back up the breaking of the trope and had it make sense.

The same goes for The Red Wedding. That event happened because of decisions Catelyn Stark made and Robb Stark made, including breaking his word too many times to Walder Frey, as well as other decisions that lead to him losing half his army and slighting the Boltons, which led to Walder Frey, Roose Bolton and Tywin Lannister to make a pact which is why the betrayal of the Red Wedding even happens. Everything that leads up to that event follows one logical point to the next brought on by character decisions, interactions and motivations, not just for shock value and to break a trope.

Now compare those three death to Barristan Selmy’s death in Season 5 of the show, a character who’s still alive in the books, which was set up and done in nowhere the same way. It was done for basic tv/movie drama reasons - the need for there to be "consequences" for the Sons of the Harpy attack, so Barristan got the death nod; as well as the producers obviously wanting to cut some secondary cast members to free up money for the next season. Which is why his death doesn’t feel as complete as, say, Ned’s death or Catelyn & Robb’s deaths do. The character was placed in the situation he was TO be killed off, unlike Ned, Cat and Robb who, as characters, found themselves where they did because of their own decision and actions they took long before they finally met their ends.

D&D killed Barristan Selmy for DRAMA. GRRM killed Ned, Cat and Robb Stark because he had those characters make choices that made sense for their characters though their story arcs, which led them to their ultimate fates. And all those characters arcs quite neatly fit into a three-act structure, something GRRM, as a former TV writer, likely writes unconsciously in at this point. Barristan Selmy’s character arc in the show, however, doesn’t. In the end, his character death had way more to do with advancing other character’s stories than being a conclusion for his own. Ned and Cat and Robb’s stories, if you notice, didn’t feel that way at all by the time they ended.

While he clearly loves breaking many conventional fantasy tropes, Martin always does it by having things grounded in the logic of the world he’s built. Something like a second Red Wedding happening is thinking how a tv or movie writer would think, not how like Martin would when it comes to his writing for ASOIAF. Because the Red Wedding is now such an iconic and pop culture thing, most tv shows would try and do such a thing again, no matter if it made logical sense or not.

Don’t believe me? Well, you know the phrase "Jump the Shark" right? Used to describe when a TV show has hit it’s peak and starts to decline, and how it came from an episode of Happy Days, where the character of Fonzie literally jumped over a shark on water skis? Well, that whole event was an attempt to recreate a very popular episode of Happy Days that had Fonzie jumping over a bunch of garbage cans on his motorcycle to make a world record or something. So that is why the whole Fonzie jumping a shark thing happened, because the Happy Days producers and writers wanted to recreate a popular episode to get the same kind of reaction and viewership interest they got the first time. Not because it made any type of logical sense.

So if you’re wondering what feels "off" about Season 7, it’s because D&D are pulling more standard tv writing tropes when it comes to things like the wright hunt, or Jamie and Bronn vs Drogon. In terms of the wright hunt, way more main characters should have died than just a bunch of redshirt extras. Jamie and Bronn, if they didn’t drown, should have at least been captured by Dany, NOT swim or have been carried downstream as we found them in EP5. That is exactly what WOULD have happened if Martin had written those two scenarios.

Maybe if D&D hadn’t been so bloodthirsty and consequence-DRAMA-killing happy so early on, there would have been more named characters around at this point that could have been killed off during things like the wright hunt and such, instead of them having to do conventional tv things wrt named characters instead.  

And the clear reason for all of this is that D&D are saving everything - and everyone - up for a character death bloodbath in Season 8 - which is really just the second half of Season 7 and not a full season of it own, just like Season 7 hasn’t been. To put it in a more concisely:

GOT Season 7 = Deathly Hallows Part 1. GOT Season 8 = Deathly Hallows Part 2.

The show was really supposed to end this season, but HBO had D&D pretty much split the final season into 2 seasons to extend things . . . just like too many films adapted from book series’ are doing right now as well.

And don’t get me wrong, GRRM isn’t completely without fault when it comes to a lot of this. D&D are clearly just working off outlines and notes now about how the ending is supposed to go, instead of having a full book to adapt from. So a lot of what they’re doing is just connecting the dots when it comes to some plot stuff. It’s sort-of the same problem the Harry Potter movies suffered from when the adaptation of them started before JK Rowling had finished writing the series. At least she was able to finish the book series before the movies could catch up and surpass her, but that still left the movies that were made before she finished (basically the first four films) leaving out some specific information, which lead to movies five, six and parts of seven & eight having to contain a lot of info dumping and exposition dumping, so that Deathly Hallows would make sense.

And, being an anime fan, it’s a problem I’m quite familiar with seeing when animes get adapted from mangas that are nowhere close to being finished when the anime start, and then end up overtaking the mangas. (I’m looking at you Inuyasha and the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist).

As to characters and character arcs, there are some things D&D clearly have more info on and about (Jon and Dany) than they do others. Or, because they strayed so far off the books path with some characters, for tv writing purposes, they now have to get characters back on the same path as the book-counterparts now because of whatever ending they’re supposed to have related to it (Jamie). Or, because the character plays an important role in the climax of the story they have to be brought in now, even though we’re basically in the 11th hour and adding new characters just takes more time away from other established characters (Euron, The Golden Company arriving next season).

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that, for any and all changes made, Game of Thrones is still an adaptation of another person’s work and themes, with D&D still following major templates set down by Martin. Shireen getting burned to death and Hodor/Hold the Door attest to this. Both are things Martin told them WILL happen in the narrative of the books, and so they were made to happen in the show too.

Anyway, as to the end of the show, I kinda expect it to be "bloodier" in some ways than the final books likely will. For one, there are a lot of characters in the books that aren’t even in the show. Just because they were cut out doesn’t mean they actually die, just that their arcs were not integral to the end of the story.

The change in title for the final book from A Time for Wolves to A Dream of Spring is the invocation of Martin working towards that bittersweet ending he envisions. The title A Time for Wolves is something that evoke the harshness of living during winter, where the pack must stay together in order to survive. A Dream of Spring, on the other hand, calls to what fighting and surviving though the winter is all about. That one day, winter will be over and spring will come. Not everyone will live to see that spring, but you keep hoping, keep dreaming that you can and will. That’s what Season 7/8 is an adaptation of, this idea, this dream of spring. And while D&D will likely make it as bloody as they can and kill as many named characters as they can get away with, the overall theme of a sense of loss that you get with LOTR will very likely remain.

So what does that mean for the ending for Jon and Daenerys? Well, I have my own ideas, which I’ll put in the cut below, (because this is already long as-is, and about to get more so), though my idea/theories don’t just focus completely on them.

So, first thing I want to make note of is the Seasons 1-6 recap trailer HBO released before the start of Season 7. In that trailer, five characters were individually highlighted in some propionate way, in this order: Tyrion, Daenerys, Jon, Bran and Arya. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these are the same five characters that GRRM’s original notes said were the key five characters for his story back when he first conceived it. Now, I don’t think that 100% means that every single one of those characters will be alive when the story is over by the last page of the lat book or by the final fade-to-black on the show, but I DO think it means that those five characters will all be alive by the time the final Battle for the Dawn takes place, which will be the climax of the story. 

Because see, at the end of the day, GOT/ASOIAF isn't just a story about the battle for power. It's a cautionary tale about how such unimportant infighting can lead people to ruin and almost utter annihilation because they were too busy doing so to work together towards a common goal. I don’t care what D&D said in the BTS video about this, nor Kit and Emilia either. They are NOT going to give away major plots for next season, plus the fact that D&D and Kit are notorious liars when it comes to off-season interviews and info.

Or is everyone forgetting the "we filmed fake scenes to throw off the paparazzi and leakers!" nonsense from before the season began? I wasn’t even watching Game of Thrones at the time Jon was killed at the end of Season 5, but I heard about it of course, and even I knew the "Jon Snow is dead and is not coming back" stuff was a complete lie.

Betcha if there is another leak and paparazzi photos from the filming of Season 8 they pull that same "we filmed fake scenes!" BS again. And some people, just like with Season 7 and the "Jon Snow is dead and not coming back" stuff after Season 5, will buy completely into it.

So no. I’m not at all worried about some Targbowl happening when Jon and Dany learn the truth. Why? Well aside from the fact that it makes zero sense if you actually know and understand Jon and Dany’s characters, it’s because it goes complete against one of the main points of the whole series: which is the fight for the throne does not matter. It has NEVER mattered. "This War of Five Kings means nothing." Doesn't matter if Melisandre has been wrong before, she's not wrong about this. Westeros is about to almost get totally destroyed when the Long Night comes again because the ruling classes were too busy fighting each other over a stupid uncomfortable chair than to properly prepare for winter and gather together to fight The Others/White Walkers. The Long Night IS coming again and while I don't think it'll last as long as the first Long Night did 8000 years ago, (which was for a generation), it'll last long enough and be devastating enough FOR all the petty infighting that came before the Great War TO have meant nothing - except being a contribution to Westeros' near destruction.

So guess what everyone? The fight for the throne is done and over now. It ended the minute The Wall fell and the White Walkers and Army of the Dead began to march into Westeros proper. The only real contenders left are Jon & Dany and Cersei & Euron. From now on, the real fight is all about survival, and those still focused on fighting for the throne - or holding onto it - will end up dead one way or another. Jon isn’t going to suddenly start caring about the Iron Throne when their is an army of dead men to fight, or think he should get it just because of his birthright, something he took issue with Dany trying to do this very season. And Dany will only look back south towards the throne when Cersei/Euron pull their double-cross which will hinder the fight against the White Walkers/Army of the Dead. And then it’ll only be about stopping them from hindering the fight against the dead anymore, not the throne itself.

And when the Great War is over? They’ll likely be next to nothing and no one left TO fight over the throne. With only six episodes left, the fate of the throne will be revealed during the Great War, with the loose ends regarding it tied up during the denouement after the final Battle for the Dawn (which will be the true climax of the story). And I just don’t think it’s a stretch to say that both Cersei and Euron will be dead when the denouement comes. Because, instead of focusing on fighting the real threat and war, they’ll either be focused on holding onto power or gaining more power. Hell, Euron might even get to occupy the throne himself, in his own name and right, for a time before he’s killed. That’s complete possible. However, he won’t hold it. Hell, there’s a small part of me that would relish it if Euron was the last person to ever sit on the Iron Throne at all before it got destroyed completely somehow. Yeah, heavy handed imagery regarding power and "absolute power corrupts" and all that, but I’d still love it. Especially if, as some people theorize, Euron really is the equivalent of, or somehow involved with, the Great Other, the enemy of the Lord of Light. Which yes is very Satan vs God standard trope type thing but, again, I don’t rule it out of happening in some way. Enron was brought into the show pretty freakin’ late as far as a tv show goes, and the fact that he’s still alive and will be in Season 8 shouldn’t be overlooked. Normally, he would have been a one to two episode villain, at most, and been killed off by the heroes before the end of the season. However, he’s still here and still alive with no losses suffered. He must have significant part to play in some way, that Martin told D&D, before he meets his end.

You know why this season feels kinda fast, aside from the fact that D&D have likely been adapting notes and not an even almost finished book? It’s because, at this time, the political machinations are pretty much over by in large. The only political chess moves left are trying to be the ones who survive the Long Night for however long it lasts. Trying to survive an Undead Army invasion doesn’t require a lot of political intrigue and maneuvering really.

As for Jon and Dany, well. I’ve read some theories from some longer-at-this-than-me book readers like @oadara about how the two of them will have to go into the Heart of Winter to end all of this, and I think it’s a good theory. As to how that ties into the end for them itself, I see it going one of five ways for them:

1. They both die during the climax during the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter. They save the world at the cost of their lives, but they do leave a legacy behind (their child), and a history is written about who they were and what they did.

2. One of them dies during the climax during the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter, leaving the other to carry on/rebuild/get crowned, etc. The survivor finds little joy as they continue on (maybe the only joy coming from the child made by their union), especially if they are made king/queen, but they do their duty - maybe even finally being able to "break the wheel" as they/the other wanted.

3. They both survive the climax of the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter, but have to/decide to leave Westeros after doing so. Only some people know for sure that they are alive/survived if they have to leave Westeros (like it magic gets banished complete and, because they are technically magic, they have to leave as well). If they decide on their own to leave, everyone will more or less know they are alive and that, after everything the sacrificed, love was pretty much the "death of duty" for them when it came to ruling the country after saving it. (They have a kid AFTER the Battle for the Dawn in both cases of such a scenario, not before).

4. They both survive the climax of the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter, stick around and jointly rule Westeros for a time as things are being rebuilt, help put together and implement some new modernizations to how Westeros' government works, and then both voluntarily step down from rulership, and the people/smallfolk start a new tradition of choosing their leaders. (The whole Break the Wheel concept - which is something I understand is show-only at the moment). They go live the rest of their lives together in relative peace.

5. They both survive the climax of the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter, get married, (if they haven’t already done so before), are crowned King and Queen in a big ceremony and live happily with babies ever after, fade to black.

Number 5 isn’t happening, okay? Let’s all understand that. Part of GRRM’s modus operandi in writing A Song of Ice and Fire was to answer the "what was Aragorn’s tax policy?" question. IF they rule together, we’ll actually see what that means and does to them, not a simple "they won and even though many people they cared for died, they ruled good and justly and lived happily ever after, the end." Even with a short denouement to end it all like I suspect the show will do, it still won’t be this ending.

And I personally don’t see scenario number 2 happening either. Maybe if D&D had made up this story/series completely it might have had more chance to. However, at the end of the day and for all the changes and false DRAMA they do, this whole show is STILL an adaptation of another person’s work. They aren’t changing the fate of two of the main characters of the story from what Martin has envisioned. And given the time and care Martin - and the show - has taken into paralleling Jon and Dany together and how they symbolize balance (yin-yang, ice-fire, death-life), I just don’t see him breaking that symbolism, which killing one of them and leaving them dead would do. Jon represents death already between them given that he already died once before.

And please don’t anyone bring up that Nissa Nissa thing wrt Dany. For one thing, that story has nothing to do with The Prince That Was Promised - it was just a story about what they last hero had to do to make a sword to stop The Others, and The Prince That was Promised is just supposedly a prophecy about him being reborn and how. If, in the show, this is all coming down to a 1 vs 1 fight between Jon and the Night King (and, boringly I think it is - at least on the show), then Jon already has a sword that can do such a thing - Longclaw made of Valyrian Steel. The point of the Azor Ahai-Nissa Nissa thing was that Azor Ahai DIDN’T have such a sword that could destroy The Others, and had to make a great sacrifice in order to do so, not that he just needed a sword that was specifically on fire and needs to kill his wife - or lover - in order to do it. So no, Jon isn’t going to be plunging his sword into Dany’s chest to set it on fire. Beric already shows that can be done without doing such a thing anyway. And BOTH of them have already made great personal sacrifices to get to this point, including a blood sacrifices that was used to wake dragons from stone. 

Plus, Dany isn’t dying before she has a child. Jon’s child. The heavy handed foreshadowing makes it clear that she will have a living child by the end. And given that Season 8 is only six episodes (even if each episode is supposed to be at least an hour and a half in length at least) I just don’t see the time for Dany to get pregnant and have a kid before the climax of the story. Not unless the show really is going to do an at least nine month time jump. Though, in fairness, the pace of Season 7 doesn’t rule out the possibility. And if option number 1 is the one that comes to pass? Then they for sure will have a child together before that happens.

That said, option number 1 is also kind of the same ending as Rhaegar and Lyanna. And I just am not sure Martin would repeat himself in that way, even if Dany’s death doesn’t come via childbirth. That said, I still think it has more chance of happening this way than option number 5 or option number 2.

My own personal wish for an ending for them would be option number 3. Let them save the world - with Dany "breaking the wheel" somehow during The Long Night after both Cersei and Euron are dead, leaving in place the beginnings of a new type of Government for Westeros where leaders can be chosen (elected monarchy, parliament governing body, whatever) before she and Jon head off into the final battle. Then, either all magic itself gets banished, meaning they have to leave Westeros for some other - happier - place; or they chose to leave Westeros for some other place in the known world to find some peace, and love can be their "death of duty." I don’t think this ending is impossible or wishful thinking either. In fact, it’s set up perfectly with Maester Aemon - a Targaryen himself, just like Jon and Dany - telling Jon all of this all about love being the death of duty, and what is it compared to the love of a woman, or the feel of a newborn son in your arms.

Before the wright hunt, Jon has always, always chosen duty. He did it when Robb marched off to war, he did it - was planing to do it - the whole time he was with Yigritt. By the time he knocks on Dany’s cabin door however, he’s beginning to chose love. His duty isn’t dead yet, and won’t be until the White Walkers/Army of the Dead is defeated. However, once they are? Yes, I DO think love could and WOULD finally be the death of duty for him. He is not at ALL interested in the skills and politics that comes with actual day to day ruling. Yes, his telling the truth about his pledge to Dany was noble and honest, but it was politically naive, and really did lead to Cersei deciding to double-cross them despite the pledge she made to help.  

As for Dany, her whole goal in sitting on the throne in the first place is to have the power to break the system that her family put in place wrt rulership. The minute she feels like she’s accomplished that, and that things won’t immediately revert back to how they were before, she too will feel her "duty" is over IMO. And as I said, that could all happen during the Great War/Long Night itself, depending on what last act Cersei and Euron pull.

However, it could also happen during the ending/epilogue/denouement of the story if scenario number 4 is how this all ends . . . and is the one that most closely matches what GRRM has not only said about wanting to know what "Aragorn’s tax policy" was, but would also fit quite well into the bittersweet tone a la LOTR that he also spoke about in the above quote I noted. They live, just as all the main characters in LOTR did, but there was a true sense of loss, and Frodo was too changed to remain in Middle Earth anymore. Once Dany gets to break her wheel and help set Westeros on a new path, she’ll be quite happy to find that home with a red door she thinks about a lot in the books. Bet before that will come the intricacies of what having to rebuild a society ravaged by an Apocalyptic War would really be like. With on six episodes left, I don’t know if D&D would really set aside time to devote a whole episode to such a concept. The books? Sure. The show? I’m not so sure.

Anyway, those are the five most likely endings as I see it based on the logic not only Martin has laid out, but what the show has shown. And for all D&D love to do standard TV Drama stuff, I think Jon and Dany’s ending will follow one of these five things with, IMO, numbers 3 and 4 most fitting what Martin is looking to do, and the most likely for the show to emulate/adapt.  

Sorry for the length of this meta, but I really couldn’t see any real way to cut this into multiple parts. When I begin a thought, I do like to be as thorough as I can with it. If you bothered to read the whole thing and liked it, thanks for taking the time to.  

[liesandarbor]

The Dark Side of the Moon Door

When we last left Alayne Stone in the Vale, we left her on … an almost surprising and positive note. It’s Day 0 of the Tourney she’s put together for the Lord of the Vale; noting that Sweetrobin takes solace in stories of the Winged Knight, Artys Arryn, Sansa concocts her very first “scheme” as a ‘player’ (a term I use loosely); surround the Lord of the Eyrie with his own bodyguard of “Winged Knights” to give him a sense of security. And what better a way to choose these Winged Knights than to make it a spectacle- invite every young, single knight in the Vale to compete for the positions.

Sixty-four knights will compete for a single spot out of eight (Robert felt he should have eight, more than Tommen Baratheon’s “seven”) by Robert Arryn’s side. These knights must be young, and if possible, single, because they’ll be working there for three years. ** Imagine leaving home to fight for a coddled, bratty pre-teen who can’t lay off the sweetsleep (let alone the teat)? Yikes.**

Alayne I in TWOW gives us one on one time with “main players” to watch over the next chapters. Alayne and Sansa chapters have been exceptional at soft introductions of characters in the background, pushing them to the front of the page by the next book. In TWOW, we’ve met several main Vale characters, and can use a few educated guesses to assume who may be competing in the tourney- I would expect to meet maybe a handful of newly named “small” characters in passing over Alayne’s TWOW arc- a 1:3 ratio of named vs. nameless characters competing in the tourney, if you will.

Alayne uses her charm to get one over on Harry-The-Arse and his ego, enchanting the young and pompous knight into being slightly less of a jerk and even engaging in a little bit of flirtatious banter- a 360 from the start, where Harry was only ever so slightly an a-hole to Alayne (especially in regards to her bastard status).

If we are to believe that Sansa will be heading to, towards, or be AT Winterfell by the end of TWOW, I imagine we’re going to have 1-5 Alayne Chapters to get there. I can see this going a few ways, but the rough outline, give or take a chapter would be:

Alayne I: Feast

Alayne II: Tourney Pt. 1

Alayne III: Tourney Pt. 2/Aftermath

Alayne IV: Big Climactic Moment  (Wedding, Sweetrobin death, Sansa reveal, something??? Who knows.)

Alayne V: Leaving for Winterfell

What can be gleaned from the sample TWOW chapter that hasn’t been gleaned yet? Bryndenbfish (@warsofasoiaf on tumblr) had some interesting takes on the State of the Vale a while ago at this link. I’ll touch some similar topics he also spoke about (all of the guns just a waitin’ to go off in the vale, for starters), but the most interesting thoughts I have found in the Vale actually come via parallels to the historical Battle of the Seven Stars. I’m no Archmaester Arnel, but I feel like we have some fun stuff to dig through in the upcoming Vale arc. Shall we begin?

Battle of the Seven Stars

Of notable events that take place in ASOIAF History, the battle of the Seven Stars is definitely the premiere historical battle in the Vale. The BOTSS took place during the Andal Invasion of the Vale at the foot of the Giant’s Lance. The Andals prevailed over First Men, leaving House Arryn and their supporters to take the Vale. The Andals had initially conquered most of the Vale, and the native First Men often collaborated with the Andals, infighting against other FM kings. Once the Vale was under Andal control, the remaining houses joined together behind Robar II Royce against Artys Arryn and his Andals. Royce was slain in battle, and remaining FM houses bent the knee, swore fealty to House Arryn, or were exiled into the Mountains of the Moon, becoming the mountain clans (Black Ears, Burned Men, Stone Crows, Moon Brothers, etc).

So what did the cast look like for both sides of this battle? Let’s take a glance.

A casual glance at the lists may not say too much. But if you give it a second glance… the majority of the characters look a lot like the current state of the Vale.

Lysa was as lonely as she was. Her new husband seemed to spend more time at the foot of the mountain than he did atop it. He was gone now, had been gone the past four days, meeting with the Corbrays. From bits and pieces of overheard conversations Sansa knew that Jon Arryn’s bannermen resented Lysa’s marriage and begrudged Petyr his authority as Lord Protector of the Vale. The senior branch of House Royce was close to open revolt over her aunt’s failure to aid Robb in his war, and the Waynwoods, Redforts, Belmores, and Templetons were giving them every support. The mountain clans were being troublesome as well, and old Lord Hunter had died so suddenly that his two younger sons were accusing their elder brother of having murdered him. The Vale of Arryn might have been spared the worst of the war, but it was hardly the idyllic place that Lady Lysa had made it out to be.

Where does that currently leave us in narrative? Right now, Littlefinger leads the Vale in Robert Arryn’s name as Lord Protector. The Lords Declarant, led by Yohn Royce, still want to oust Petyr and instill their own as Protector of the Vale.

Bronze Yohn Royce will continue to be hostile, I fear, but so long as he stands alone he is not so much a threat

But Royce isn’t standing alone this time. Royce is backed by most of the Declarant (although Littlefinger is attempting to buy them off one by one; Lady Waynwood and Corbray, for starters) – Lord Gilwood Hunter, Lord Benedar Belmore, Lord Horton Redfort, and Ser Symond Templeton. The most notable of this support is that Hunter, Belmore and Redfort are First Men houses in the heart of it, and fought for the First Men in the BOTSS.

“Anya Waynwood? Truly?” The Lords Declarant were down from six to three, it would seem. The day he’d departed the mountain, Petyr Baelish had been confident of winning Symond Templeton to his side, but not so Lady Waynwood. 

&

“For a start, you are the Lord Protector’s bastard, never forget. The Waynwoods are very old and very proud, but not as rich as one might think, as I discovered when I began buying up their debt. Not that Lady Anya would ever sell a son for gold. A ward, however … young Harry’s only a cousin, and the dower that I offered her ladyship was even larger than the one that Lyonel Corbray just collected. It had to be, for her to risk Bronze Yohn’s wroth. This will put all his plans awry.

So Baelish buys Waynwood out. With Templeton and Waynwood “won” to Baelish’s side, we can look at his support system as of Alayne I in TWOW: Lord Gerold Grafton, Lord Lyonel and Lyn Corbray, Ser Symond Templeton (inferred), and the support of House Arryn through Robert and Harry.

We open in on Alayne I in TWOW with both sides looking something like this:

**while not the Lord of the House, is a player in TWOW whose house supported the Declarants, so we’re going to include him for kicks.

The Brotherhood of the Winged Knights

Of the players in the Vale, we have a solid core of men competing for a spot in Sweetrobin’s throne room. Sixty-four competitors, and eight to take a place at Robert’s side. The rest is speculative fun, but boy, isn’t that the best part?

** First Men origins *Andal origins/support

With the lay of the battle in mind, who’s going to make it into the Winged Knights- hell, who’s going to make it out alive?

I propose the winners of the Tourney will be a mostly First Men line up, an inversion to the Battle of the Seven Stars, and surrounding Sweetrobin with Bronze Yohn Royce’s First Men; the first step to taking back the Vale. The Vale plot is compared to a chess match by Littlefinger quite often throughout the series, and through the tourney, Royce has his pieces ready to position directly around the “King.”

My Winged Knights draft (albeit I’m not 100% confident in it due to lack of information) looks something like this:

Mychel Redfort

Marwyn Belmore

Uther Shett

Ben Coldwater

Albar Royce

Ser Owen

Targon the Halfwild

New House Upcliff Member*

*this one I’m less sure on, as it’s a nameless member if they do show up, and feel as if George will be giving us a lineup of already known characters. But we shall wait and see!I would love it to be a member of House Upcliff to provide a mirror to the BOTSS.

From Fantasy to Horror

Sansa Stark’s story is filled with fantastical events of whimsy. Dancing lords and ladies, heaping feasts filled with delectable food, knights in shining, bedazzled armor, gallant and handsome steeds. One other common element that presents itself across Sansa’s pages? A splash of horror. The enchanting events Sansa looks forward to attending almost always end up in ruins- and often, in bloodshed. A date on the Trident with her betrothed, the Hand’s Tourney, her father’s “forgiveness” on the Sept of Baelor’s steps, Princess Myrcella’s departure, the Purple Wedding- I mean, we could go on for… five books, really. So let’s tack on a sixth. The Tourney at the Gates of the Moon is littered with guns, loaded and ready to go off. 

Some of these are speculation, some textually based. To tell the truth, this tourney could go so many ways. I don’t think that EVERYTHING on this list will occur, however that they are plot strings hanging, waiting to be grasped or utilized that I’ve noticed/want to touch on.

Sweetrobin’s Sweetsleep

As they waited for the music to resume, Alayne glanced at the dais, where Lord Robert sat staring at them. Please, she prayed, don’t let him start to twitch and shake. Not here. Not now. Maester Coleman would have made certain that he drank a strong dose of sweetmilk before the feast, but even so.

&

Colemon lingered a moment before following. “My lord, this parley might best be left for another day. His lordship’s spells have grown worse since Lady Lysa’s death. More frequent and more violent. I bleed the child as often as I dare, and mix him dreamwine and milk of the poppy to help him sleep, but…

Sweetrobin is sickly and breaks into fits at an alarming and increasing rate. Anything could set his epilepsy and shaking off, and he’s about one good shake of sweetsleep in his milk away from kicking the bucket. Could the Tourney of the Winged Knights hold his death? Will Littlefinger lose hold of the Vale quicker than imagined?

Ser Shadrich

A popular fan theory that I’m sure I don’t need to unravel for you all is Ser Shadrich of the Shady Glen, the Mad Mouse (literally he’s from the SHADY Glen, if that doesn’t tip you off), is looking for Sansa Stark (and has stumbled upon her in the Vale), and could possibly make off with her during any of the sizeable events occurring during the tourney.

While textually the idea is there, I don’t foresee Sansa getting kidnapped- TWOW’s Sansalayne arc will hopefully be more of her making a lot of big choices on her own, and reupping on some agency for once. I do think this would be a great time for a failed attempt at kidnapping Sansa— and a great time for the Alayne/Sansa reveal to happen before Littlefinger’s plans take off, and before she’s to wed Harry.

Eustace and Harlan Hunter

He put down his quill. "Redfort and Waynwood are old. One or both of them may die. Gilwood Hunter will be murdered by his brothers. Most likely by young Harlan, who arranged Lord Eon’s death. In for a penny, in for a stag, I always say. Belmore is corrupt and can be bought. Templeton I shall befriend. Bronze Yohn Royce will continue to be hostile, I fear, but so long as he stands alone he is not so much a threat.”

Both Eustace and Harlan claim their oldest brother killed their Lord Father, but Littlefinger claims Harlan, the youngest brother, killed the father. Both Harlan and Eustace seem to be of a young enough age to compete in the Tourney of the Winged Knights, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some brother-on-brother crime happening between Harlan and Eustace. Besides, Littlefinger thinking that Lord Gilwood is next in line to die would be a nice touch- him being close, but missing the mark as Harlan offs Eustace “accidentally” in the tourney. It doesn’t bring Harlan up to Lordship, but it definitely brings him one step closer.

Tollett V Redfort

Torgold Tollett in the Battle of the Seven Stars slayed Lord Redfort and Ursula Upcliff, and was killed via King Robar II Royce slashing at his head with Lady Forlorn. Mychel Redfort killing Andrew Tollett in the Tourney “accidentally” (or whatever could transpire) would be quite a nice nod to the inversion of the BOTSS that I speak about above, and not entirely out of the question. (…and, if, by SOME magical force, Dolorous Edd survives the Long Night…. would give Edd a nice place to plop his butt down post war!)

Mountain Clans

Throughout the first 3 books, the Mountain Clans of the vale are highlighted. Armed by Tyrion, the clans continue to be a dangerous threat to the Vale- even Hyle Hunt is informed enough to tell Brienne about them.

The Freys are up here at the Twins, Darry and Harrenhal are south across the Trident, west he’s got the Blackwoods and the Brackens fighting, and Lord Randyll’s here at Maidenpool. The high road to the Vale is closed by snow, even if he could get past the mountain clans. Where’s a dog to go?” (AFFC, Brienne V)

George lays the Mountain Clans right in our face in a pretty important POV, but when you flip the page… the Mountain Clans are missing from all of Sansa’s Feast chapters. In fact, the last mention of the Mountain Clans in Sansa’s chapters were in a Storm of Swords, Sansa VII. – in a VERY telling paragraph that I’ve already quoted several times, though the relevant information here is:

The mountain clans were being troublesome as well, and old Lord Hunter had died so suddenly that his two younger sons were accusing their elder brother of having murdered him.

With the best fighters and warriors from the Gates of the Moon and across the Vale stationed at the Tourney, the defenses are down… and the mountain clans just so happen to be freshly armed through none other than Sansa’s husband himself, Tyrion Lannister. What a nice wedding gift! I expect to see some tumultuous passages if and when the clans decide to attack.

Lyn Corbray

The venom in his voice was so thick that for a moment she almost forgot that Lyn Corbray was actually her father’s catspaw, bought and paid for. Or was he? Perhaps, instead of being Petyr’s man pretending to be Petyr’s foe, he was actually his foe pretending to be his man pretending to be his foe.

Lyn Corbray, who likes gold and boys, seems to be Littlefinger’s catspaw and man…. But is he? We spend Alayne chapters seeing Baelish from her eyes, but not seeing his thoughts. Where his thoughts truly align, we don’t know, but Lyn Corbray did just get screwed out of Heart’s Home by Littlefinger… So where do his loyalties lie? What does Littlefinger want from him besides sowing discord throughout the Lords Declarant?

I could see Lyn offing Harry in the tourney, a theory that was first brought up by u/SKREEEEEEEE on Reddit if I recall correctly. This Sansa/Harry marriage? Totally not going to happen, guys. This marriage is a blue and red falconed and quartered herring if I ever saw one (literally, a blue and red falconed Herr-dyng) . Could Lyn bring Lady Forlorn out to play at the Tourney of the Winged Knights?

Furthering that thought, it is mentioned several times that Harry isn’t exactly the most skilled Knight:

“And is Ser Harrold with them?” Horrible Ser Harrold. “He is.” Lord Belmore laughed. “I never thought Royce would let him come. Is he blind, or merely stupid?” “He is honorable. Sometimes it amounts to the same thing. If he denied the lad the chance to prove himself, it could create a rift between them, so why not let him tilt? The boy is nowise skilled enough to win a place amongst the Winged Knights.”

&

And may your horse stumble, Harry the Heir, so you fall on your stupid head in your first tilt. She showed the Waynwoods a stone face as they blurted out awkward apologies for their companion. When they were done she turned and fled. Near the keep, she ran headlong into Ser Lothor Brune and almost knocked him off his feet. “Harry the Heir? Harry the Arse, I say. He’s just some upjumped squire.”

&

“Well, I’m not. He may think he’s some great knight, but Ser Lothor says he’s just some upjumped squire.” Petyr put his arm around her. “So he is, but he is Robert’s heir as well.

…..It sounds… as if it would be quite easy to beat Harry in a tilt….

I feel like Alayne II would be too soon for Harry to die in the story- I’d expect him to make it to their wedding, a-la some Harrenbowl style action to take place, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if he got taken out this soon. There’s bound to be some sort of Vale twist in store for us, and I wouldn’t put it past George.

Bonus: A Lady’s Favor

Before I give you some wrap-up ideas, when I originally set out to write this, the focus was going to be on two questions: who will be a Winged Knight for Sweetrobin, and who will Sansa give her favor to? Though those are no longer the main objectives of this work, I did want to touch a little on Sansa’s favor.

He was her first partner of the evening, but far from the last. Just as Petyr had promised, the young knights flocked around her, vying for her favor. After Ben came Andrew Tollett, handsome Ser Byron, red-nosed Ser Morgarth, and Ser Shadrich the Mad Mouse. Then Ser Albar Royce, Myranda’s stout dull brother and Lord Nestor’s heir. She danced with all three Sunderlands, none of whom had webs between their fingers, though she could not vouch for their toes. Uther Shett appeared to pay her slimy compliments as he trod upon her feet, but Ser Targon the Halfwild proved to be the soul of courtesy. After that Ser Roland Waynwood swept her up and made her laugh with mocking comments about half the other knights in the hall. His Uncle Wallace took a turn as well and tried to do the same, but the words would not come. Alayne finally took pity on him and began to chatter happily, to spare him the embarrassment. When the dance was done she excused herself, and went back to her place to have a drink of wine.

&

He has good teeth, she thought, straight and white. And when he smiles, he has the nicest dimples. She ran one finger down his cheek. "Should we ever wed, you’ll have to send Saffron back to her father. I’ll be all the spice you’ll want.” He grinned. “I will hold you to that promise, my lady. Until that day, may I wear your favor in the tourney?” “You may not. It is promised to…another.” She was not sure who as yet, but she knew she would find someone.

The romantic notion of a tourney and a fair young woman all the knights and valiant men are vying for is not something new to ASOIAF. The first passage recounting Sansa’s dance partners is almost a nice nod to a famous Storm of Swords passage.

The crannogman saw a maid with laughing purple eyes dance with a white sword, a red snake, and the lord of griffins, and lastly with the quiet wolf … but only after the wild wolf spoke to her on behalf of a brother too shy to leave his bench.

The similarities and differences between Sansa’s dancing and Ashara’s dancing: Sansa’s dance partners are named, where Ashara’s are not, but this story is more than likely going to end in tragedy, much like Ashara’s is thought to have.

Whoever wears Sansa’s favor is more than likely doomed, as Sansa chapters tend to go. Sansa regaining agency through Littlefinger’s laid plans is wonderful, but his plans are surely to go awry this whole entire book (they’ve been going just a little too smoothly- cough bastard daughter who looks exactly like Sansa Stark mutter). Additionally, Sansa’s first ‘scheme’ as a ‘player’ is surelygoing to bomb.

I personally have assumed Sansa would fail at her first challenge, but her first real success would be towards the end of TWOW, getting one over on Petyr somehow.

The Main Dance Partners

Ben Coldwater

Andrew Tollett

Ser Byron

Ser Morgarth

Ser Shadrich the Mouse

Albar Royce

3 Sunderlands

Uther Shett

Targon the Halfwild

Roland Waynwood

Wallace Raynwood

Harry Hardyng

So who’s my money on? I’m between two players. My bets are on Sansa choosing Ser Byron or Targon the Halfwild, with a strong leaning towards Ser Byron.

“Knights they are,” said Petyr. “Their gallantry has yet to be demonstrated, but we may hope. Allow me to present Ser Byron, Ser Morgarth, and Ser Shadrich. Sers, the Lady Alayne, my natural and very clever daughter … with whom I must needs confer, if you will be so good as to excuse us.” The three knights bowed and withdrew, though the tall one with the blond hair kissed her hand before taking his leave.

&

handsome Ser Byron

While Sansa’s soul is the very brevity of courtesy, and Targon the Halfwild seems to be just that:

Uther Shett appeared to pay her slimy compliments as he trod upon her feet, but Ser Targon the Halfwild proved to be the soul of courtesy.

Although our young she-wolf favors courtesy in her daily actions, she is more than likely going to choose the best looking guy to make Harry jealous… and Ser Byron sure is the handsome, floral, gallant type. While mentioned twice now in text, the hedge knight hasn’t been given a surname or backstory yet… which makes him a disposable character in the long run of the narrative.

Wrapping Up

If you made it this far, I’m impressed. High five yourself. This was long-winded but full of so much information and FUN TO WRITE… that I just couldn’t shorten it. Sansalayne’s arc in TWOW is going to be a wild ride, and whatever does end up happening… has me suffering in anticipation. I guess the biggest question of all of this formatted word vomit begs… what does it mean?

Rough outline? If there’s an inversion of the Battle of the Seven Stars and the First Men are put in a position ready to take the Vale back from the Andals, they’re going to need someone to rally behind. Initially, the rallying will appear behind Royce. But I think they’re going to need someone else to rally behind. Someone with the blood of the First Men running through their veins, someone who comes from a noble family that seems to accrue loyalty from houses not necessarily sworn to them easily, and someone who is courteous and learning to be a leader politically.

and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden’s cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back … why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright.

The exact middle of how we get there is fuzzy- your answers are probably just as good as mine. Whether you believe in Harrenbowl via the hype-bringing writers on Reddit u/hollowaydivision u/big-man-rebornu/godmademedoit (which is an entirely other post in itself, and extremely convincing) or subscribe to the controversial Sansa-raped-by-Baelish-kills-Sweetrobin or Kills-Sweetrobin ideas mentioned by u/megatron_mclargehuge or u/Cygw1n, there are tons of amazing ideas and theories out there to fill in the blanks.

However you look at it, with the loaded guns in the Vale set to go off, Alayne is in a position to be revealed as Sansa Stark VERY soon- possibly lying to save Baelish (he “saved” me! I swear, Lord Royce! Please don’t pop his obnoxiously pointy chin out of its socket!), uniting the First Men and Andal parties that are left in the Vale, pushing her claim and birthright to go home to Winterfell – and hopefully, slay the savage giant in a castle made of snow. ;)

[pandabearer]

Thank you @readalotsleepyhead​ for tagging me! I’m excited bc i feel like I rarely get to talk about books, but I have so many that I love!

1.) Which book has been on your shelves the longest?

I’m not 100% sure bc I can’t remember which happened first. The first book that I ever bought was Bliss by Lauren Myracle. I wasn’t a big fan of it at all. But the first book that my mother ever bought me was the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce (it was technically one book with all 4 stories included). I think I may have gotten the Tamora Pierce book first though?

2.) What is your current read, your last read, and the book you’ll read next?

I’m reading more than one book right now, but the ones that are my main focus are my rereads of acotar and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and actually finishing Gangsta (hope manga count). Acowar was the last book that I actually finished. And next I’ll probably start on King Hall by Scarlett Dawn which a friend recommended to me recently.

3.) Which book does everyone like and you hated?

I don’t really think I’ve ever really hated a book I’ve chosen to read. I eventually stopped reading the House of Night novels bc the heroine started getting on my nerves, but I was more disappointed in the authors than anything. There were still some aspects of the books that I liked though. Maybe Percy Jackson? I never got all the way through the series, but the fandom really turned me off of the books.

4.) Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?

I keep saying I’ll finish the Divergent series but it’s pretty unlikely. I finished the first book, but then my twin spoiled the end and a major death for me so I haven’t been able to bring myself to finish it and I probably won’t.

5.) Which book are you saving for “retirement”?

I guess I’m saving the entire asoiaf series. There are so many books already, with 2 more hopefully on the way. I want to save the books until they’re all published at least, bc I don’t want to get frustrated waiting like so many people already have. Plus there is so much that I definitely need a while to get through it all.

6.) Last page: read it first or wait till the end?

It depends on whether the book is a physical copy or an ebook. I never bother going all the way to the end to take a peek with an ebook. But I’ve been known to read the last paragraph or so of a physical book before starting from the beginning. (I majorly spoiled myself once doing that though and never even bother reading the book, it’s still just sitting on my self </3 ).

7.) Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?

I think that it really depends on how the author executes it in regard to them being interesting. I rarely care enough about the author to read the acknowledgements (oops) so I think that is also a factor. If I’ve read another story by the author, or the plot was amazing, or the characters really drew me in and had me invested then I’m more likely to appreciate and bother with acknowledgements. So overall I’d say it varies, but for me they mostly don’t matter.

8.) Which book character would you switch places with?

This one is super tough. I’m going to say Hermione though. I think that the opportunity to experience magic and that world and it’s creatures, along with being around such extraordinary people and forming such strong relationships would make the trying and traumatic experiences that she goes through worth it tbh.

9.) Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince reminds me of all the times I fucked around with my friends during study hall in 6th grade (I’m 21 in a month how do I remember this).

10.) Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.

I’ve bought all my books or been gifted them by my fam. All of them except two. During my last 2 years of high school I was home schooled and the school sent me the books I was supposed to use. At the end of the year they emailed me the ones that I was supposed to return by mail. The list didn’t include To Kill a Mockingbird or Our Town by Thornton Wilder, so those 2 are still on my shelf.

11.) Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?

When I was younger I was super possessive of my books (more so than I am now) so I never would have willingly given them away (I legit only let one friend that I trusted even borrow my books) plus my mother would have killed me for doing that with something she spent money on. But me twin let a friend borrow our shared copy of the first Maximum Ride novel and we never got it back so that could count right?

12.) Which book has been with you to the most places?

Probably either The Host or The Hunger Games. I know I took them both to school when I was younger, and to friends’ houses. I’ve also taken them to college to reread when I’m bored and have some time.

13.) Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?

I don’t remember a lot of the required reading, but I liked the majority that I can remember like The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Outsiders. We always saw the movies after finishing the books too, which was fun. The ones I didn’t like reading (that I can remember) were things like The Scarlet Letter, which was hard to understand, and A Separate Peace, which was full of details that a bunch of 14 yr olds were supposed to find deeper meaning in. I didn’t like them then and I’m still not a big fan now (but it’s been less than 10 yrs so I still have time I guess).

14.) What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?

Probably just some notes and underlining in a used copy of Don Quixote that I bought. Now the strangest item that I’ve ever put in a book is another story. It was a library book that I’d checked out and I had written down a bunch of misleadingly sexual URL’s that I’d found online on the receipt. Things like penisland.com (pen island). Then I forgot the receipt in the book when I turned it back in.

15.) Used or brand new?

I prefer new, but if I’m tight on cash and I really want the book I’ll buy used. Lately I’ve just been doing ebooks bc they’re pretty cheap and I can start reading right away (give me that instant gratification).

16.) Stephen King: literary genius or opiate of the masses?

I’ve never entirely finished a Stephen King book, and the ones I’ve started I barely remember so I can’t really say. I’ve liked the majority of the movies and shows I’ve seen based on his books and short stories, but I don’t know how accurate they are to his actual works.

17.) Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?

Pride and Prejudice probably. I’ve liked all the interpretations I’ve seen more than the book surprisingly, even the zombie version, and don’t think I don’t feel like a heathen bc of it (I still like the book though, don’t get me wrong). I think it just translates well to the screen, or maybe we’ve just been lucky. In most cases though I like the book better, even if I do enjoy the movie too.

18.) Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?

Twilight

19.) Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded?

If we’re not allowed to count cookbooks then the answer is no, not as far as I can remember.

20.) Who is the person who’s book advice you’ll always take?

Idk if I would always take anyone’s advice about books. I mostly trust my own instincts over anything else. Probably the person I trust most would be ma girl Ash who does the most reading of any of my friends, including me. But she’s not very selective about the books she reads, she’ll try just about anything, whereas I’m a little more particular about what I like. If she’s really emphatic about a book though I can generally trust it to be good.

This took longer than I thought it would. I had to try looking up a couple books bc I couldn’t even remember their names. Hmmm, I guess I’ll just tag @starswove since I’m not sure who all are readers. @lev-viathan I don’t know what all you’ve read, but if you wanna do this you can just put a different warrior cats book for every answer :3c

[zcldrizes-a]

meta: Dany's bond & relationship with Drogon

i.Yet that night she dreamt ofone. Viserys was hitting her, hurting her. She was naked, clumsy withfear. She ran from him, but her body seemed thick and ungainly. Hestruck her again. She stumbled and fell. “You wokethe dragon,” he screamed as he kicked her. “You wokethe dragon, you woke the dragon.” Her thighs were slick with blood. She closedher eyes and whimpered. As if in answer, there was a hideous ripping sound andthe crackling of some great fire. When she looked again, Viserys was gone,great columns of flame rose all around, and in the midst of them wasthe dragon. It turned its great head slowly. When its molten eyes foundhers, she woke, shaking and covered with a fine sheen ofsweat. She had never been so afraid.

ii.Yet when she slept thatnight, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in itthis time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black asnight, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools ofmolten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hotjet. She could hear it singing to her. She opened her arms tothe fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temperher and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blackenand slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there wasno pain. She felt strong and new and fierce.

iii.Dany gave the silver over to the slavesfor grooming and entered her tent. It was cool and dim beneath the silk. As shelet the door flap close behind her, Dany saw a finger of dusty red light reachout to touch her dragon’s eggs across the tent. For an instant a thousanddroplets of scarlet flame swam before her eyes. She blinked, and they weregone.

iv.Stone, she told herself. They are onlystone, even Illyrio said so, the dragons are all dead. She put her palm againstthe black egg, fingers spread gently across the curve of the shell. The stonewas warm. Almost hot. “The sun,” Dany whispered. “The sun warmedthem as they rode.”

v.“Khaleesi, “ Jhiqui said, “what is wrong?Are you sick?” “I was,” she answered, standing over the dragon’s eggs thatIllyrio had given her when she wed. She touched one, the largest of the three,running her hand lightly over the shelf. Black-and- scarlet, she thought, likethe dragon in my dream. The stone felt strangely warm beneath her fingers… orwas she still dreaming? She pulled her hand back nervously.

Ithink the first thing to note here is that, from very early on, we have itestablished to us that Daenerys is something unique. Not everyone bonded todragons dreams of them – though we know that Aemon did ( I see them in my dreams, Sam. I see a red star bleeding in the sky. Istill remember red. I see their shadows on the snow, hear the crack of leathernwings, feel their hot breath. My brothers dreamed of dragons too, and theirdreams killed them, every one. ) but as the readers, we get no realindication that Viserys did. And given he’s presented to be the actual dragonat first, though we learn quickly that is not the case, I think the messagehere that we take from this is simple: Daenerys was always fated to be themother of dragons, and Daenerys was always fated to be the first rider in centuries.

Firstly,I want to quickly clear something up: despite what the show neglected to portray,Daenerys loves all three of her children in equal form, even if in differentways. I won’t link all of the proof of that here – that can happen in anothermeta if someone really wants it – but I think the thing to note is that eventhough all three are her children, one of them is necessarily more equal to herin her own state of mind in the sense of him being her mount. She loves herchildren and wants to protect them, yes: but to protect them, she would needDrogon’s help, realistically. That means in her own mind, she will always viewhim as an equal, and someone she fights alongside, whilst Viserion and Rhaegal can’tbe viewed in the same lense because she isn’t bonded to them in the waydragonlore states ( quickly on dragonlore: I mix my own canon for writing it,as most people know, from a concoction of asoiaf canon, Eragon, HTTYD, etc ).She can attempt to protect them: but Drogon protects her. Drogon is her equal,in that sense. It doesn’t mean she loves him more, it means she loves him differently.I’m happy to extend my thoughts on her actions in locking Viserion andRhaegal up, but in my own state of mind, and I think established relativelydecently in some forms of canon, Daenerys doesregret what she had to do. With that in mind, it’s something she would havedone to all three if she had a chance, for the sake of the people she was ruling.

Secondly,before I go into specifics about her bond with Drogon, a general note about thedragons bonding: I do prescribe to the very established canon that only thosewith Valyrian blood have the ability to ride dragons. We know from Martin’scanon that Valyrian Dragonlords used magic to bind the dragons to them – and thatcan explain the many references to the blood of the dragon, specifically. That’sto suggest that the blood carried on from Valyrian descendants still containsthat bond, however diluted through the ages. There are of course someexceptions to this, and those usually come from extenuating circumstances: butwith Dany’s dragons, we see in canon that they are resistant to just anyone riding them. Quentyn Martell’sdeath after trying to mount Viserion – admittedly at the hands of Rhaegal –confirms that they don’t tolerate just anyone, and it’s also important to notethat Daenerys was the first dragonriderin a century and a half. The exception I make for my own canon is @killthebxy and his Jon riding Rhaegal, and the explanation for this is simple: after months of bonding, and under the canonwhere no other Valyrian blooded people exist, and also in a context whereViserion is dead and Drogon has a rideralready, it makes sense that Rhaegal would crave a rider so badly that hewould bond with another. With that being said, we also know from canon that a dragononce bonded will not allow anyone else to ride them ( unless their rider isalso present ). That means no, your musecannot ride Drogon without Daenerys there. He doesn’t want it, and she wouldn’t allow it, so don’t try it.

…itwas said that even Aegon the Conquerer never dared mount Vhagar or Meraxes, nordid his sisters mount Balerion the Black Dread. Dragons live longer than men,some for hundreds of years, so Balerion had other riders after Aegon died…but no rider ever flew two dragons.

Now,I’m going to break this up into a few different sections to write.

- oo1. BOND FORMATION.

Theimportant thing to note here is that Ipersonally think the bond began long before Daenerys actually rode Drogon.We see within canon in her dreaming days that when dreaming of the dragons, Danyalways dreams of the black. It’s nocoincidence that Drogon was born to bear her House colours, nor is it coincidencethat he is often called Balerion ( Khaleesi… there sits Balerion, come again. ) whilst she herself is paralleled toAegon the Conqueror ( She is the widow ofa Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conquerorwith teats. ) – this sets up in a very visceral manner that this is whatMartin’s intention was, to establish this bond very early on. We know that inhatching the dragons, Daenerys had known for an incredibly long time what shewas going to do to hatch those dragons, and we can see that in the followingfew passages, that she references her intent and the pre-emptive nature of whatshe’s about to do, before it’s DROGON’S egg that she lifts first. ( This is madness, she told herself as shelifted the black-and-scarlet egg from the velvet. It will only crack and burn,and it’s so beautiful, Ser Jorah will call me a fool if I ruin it, and yet, andyet… Cradling the egg with both hands, she carried it to the fire and pushedit down amongst the burning coals. The black scales seemed to glow as theydrank the heat. Flames licked against the stone with small red tongues. Danyplaced the other two eggs beside the black one in the fire. ) Between thedreams and the following few pieces of evidence, we know her intent wasestablished early on.

i.“You will not hear me scream,” Mirri responded as the oil dripped from her hairand soaked her clothing. “I will,” Dany said, “but it is not your screams Iwant, only your life. I remember what you told me. Only death can pay for life.” Mirri Maz Duur opened her mouth, butmade no reply. As she stepped away, Dany saw that the contempt was gone fromthe maegi’s flat black eyes; in its place was something that might have beenfear. Then there was nothing to be donebut watch the sun and look for the first star.

ii.Jhogo spied it first. “There, “ he said in a hushed voice. Dany looked and sawit, low in the east. The first star was a comet, burning red. Bloodred; fire red; the dragon’s tail. Shecould not have asked for a stronger sign.

iii.She had sensed the truth of it long ago, Dany thought as she took a step closerto the conflagration, but the brazierhad not been hot enough.

Throughoutthe younger years of the dragon’s development, both book and show canon seemsto build the hatchlings to some degree, but it is Drogon we so often get moreof a glimpse into. Very often, it is Drogon who is perched on her shoulder ( ashe in in the arrival to Qarth ) or on her lap ( as he is when she is informed ofRobert Baratheon’s death ). We also know in the House of the Undying that it isDrogon who accompanies her, and who protects her and allows her to escape, inbook canon – and in show canon, that it is Drogon who is the first to respondto her command for fire in burning those who leave her in chains. By the timewe get to the Sack of Astapor, I think the fact it is Drogon who she offers upas part of her plan speaks volumes: she knows that he will respond to hercommand, and she knows that he will not hesitate to do so. By this point, it’s veryestablished that of all three dragons, he is the one already utilised the mostin her plans, and the one who she clearly gravitates to most centrally. 

Wethen reach the stages of Drogon’s rebellious years. Regardless of whether ornot he intended to burn the child – dragons are intelligent, he likely knewwhat he did – we can either read Drogon’s absence as one of two things. Eitherhe can tell that Daenerys is disappointed in him for what happened, or perhapshorrified with himself; or more likely, he knows that as much as Daenerys is onthe cusp of becoming a woman, she is notready to be his rider yet. I think the show gives us a really beautifulmoment here, where she reaches for him, and she is unsure and he flies away before she can touch him; he knows thatshe isn’t ready for him yet. By default, by this point I believe Drogon knew that she was supposed toride him – and that is confirmed when he comes to save her at the fightingpits. Now, here’s where I take issue with the books: the only way that I will acceptthe necessity of Drogon needing to be beaten into command is if he was truly soconfused and feral after months away that it took him several moments torecognise her. In my own canon, I do think the show had the better iterationhere: he trusted her, and their bond allowed her to mount him, because that waswhat he was born for.

Bythe time we get the first flight, it’s not the bond being formed: it’s thefinal step to formation. When we talk about dragon bonds, I think it means morethan a human and pet; dragons are intelligent, and they are magical. For them to bond with a humanmeans something special: Daenerys and Drogon are the literal entity ofsoulmates, because their souls were born to be connected. He is an ever present feeling at the back of her mind, and likewise, she is with him always, no matter how far apart they are. That goes deeper thanany love, any kind of familiar connection; they are part of each other, and this journey up until now was just aboutfinding their way to that point and establishing / building it.

- oo2. EMOTIONS /COMMUNICATION.

Drogon raised his head,blood dripping from his teeth. The hero leapt onto his back and drove the ironspearpoint down at the base of the dragon’s long scaled neck. Dany and Drogonscreamed as one.

Asan extension of the headcanon that they are soulmates, I think this reads verysimple as follows: they understand the emotions that the other is feeling. Theyfeel pain, that the other is feeling. It isn’t as tangible as Drogon gettinghurt and Daenerys aching in the same spot – but more that she feels that he is suffering, and there’s anoverwhelming desire to help. We get some of that again, from the show, where heis struck in 7.04 and her first instinct upon landing is to remove the spear –and even in the pain addled state of mind that follows for him, the moment shesees Jaime and we see her fear,Drogon responds. We get it again in 7.06, when Viserion is killed; on Dany’sface, we get shock, and though she is mourning clearly in the later parts ofthe episode, her reaction is reserved. For Drogon, whilst she is silent, he is screaming for his fallen sibling. Andyes, that be construed as part of his grief – but likely, it’s because he isfeeling for the both of them.And lastly, we get a beautiful moment of this in 8.03, when Dany is crying for Jorah, and Drogon’s response is to curl around her and coo to her. This isn’t a protective stance - the battle has ended, and he’s low, not on alert. He’s close to her, making soft noises, and that body language communicates comfort, not anything else. He feels her grief, and he feels it himself, and so he lays close to her to offer whatever he can.

Communicationbetween them is not quite so blatant as thinking commands to the other, butsimply instead, that they can sense what the other wants. Likely, Dany was idlychattering to Drogon before handing him to the Masters at the Sack of Astapor,because she knew he would know what to do without command. And though she talksto the dragons in Valyrian, it’s not a language they were likely born knowing (and if they did, likely, they knew others to ) – so more than likely, it’s notthe words that Drogon responds to, but the intent behind each of them. And thedeeper that bond goes, the more we see ( again, more viscerally on the show )that he responds without question – in executing enemies, or even in thegentleness by which he carries her, lets her down, by the way he bristles whenpeople disrespect her. The communication between them is far more primal andintimate than language; it’s spoken by hearts and minds forged together in theflames.

- oo3. FLIGHT NAVIGATION.

Again,an extension of the above, but when it comes to flight navigations, we have noneed here for the way that Daenerys commanded Drogon in the books ( The dragonlords of old Valyria hadcontrolled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. Daenerys madedo with a word and a whip. Mounted on the dragon’s back, she oft felt as if shewere learning to ride all over again. When she whipped her silver mare on herright flank the mare went left, for a horse’s first instinct is to flee fromdanger. When she laid the whip across Drogon’s right side he veered right, fora dragon’s first instinct is always to attack. Sometimes it did not seem tomatter where she struck him, though; sometimes he went where he would and tookher with him. Neither whip nor words could turn Drogon if he did not wish to beturned. The whip annoyed him more than it hurt him, she had come to see; hisscales had grown harder than horn. ) – this implies that Drogon needed tobe beat into submission, and while he was more stubborn and juvenile then, hewas still her intended and her bonded.

Sowhen we talk about flight navigation, my canon is as follows: they worktogether. Dany knows, mostly, where she wants to go – and Drogon knows how toget them there. For the most, he follows what she wants if it is specificallythe reason they’re travelling; but in situations in battles, etc, he will alsomove without need of command, always to protect his mother. The one (1) timethat she falls from him in my canon, it is not his fault, and he never forgiveshimself for it. Drogon’s flying style is rougherthan most other dragons would be – he’s large, he’s animalistic, and he’s nevertruly understood how fragile she is when it comes to him, because he perceiveshis mother as so strong. Hence why she cuts her hands from holding on, orbruises so badly from him thrashing around, or her thighs get cut from the wayshe grips his scales through her clothes. They work together, and for the mostpart, neither think twice about it.

- oo4. EXTERNALRELATIONSHIPS.

It’sas simple as this – if Daenerys doesn’t like someone, Drogon likely hates thatsomeone. In no world does he ever give a moment’s time to someone who she hasno connection with; which is why it can be construed that Drogon tolerates peoplelike Doreah, or Jorah, or Jon. Because of the emotional connection betweenthem, this transfers to the way he connects with people she loves: by default,he feels at the least some sort of loyalty, or urge to protect them. Firstly,this is because he knows that she cares for them, and that if anything happenedto them, she would be sad. Secondly, because he feels that emotion for themhimself as a result of the bond. And thirdly, because he has likely had somefurther interactions as a result, which formulate his own bond with themindependent of his mother’s emotions.

Withthat being said, there is never, ever a situation where Drogon would choseanother person over his mother. It doesn’t matter what she becomes or what shedoes to anyone else – no singular person, or groups of people are as importantas a rider to a dragon. And likewise, even if Daenerys were to have humanchildren, she would never stop viewing the dragons as her own children too, ortreating them as such. Those relationships, even to her, come beneath the bondshe has with Drogon. And even when it comes to the other dragons, she loves them with all of her heart, butshe will never feel the closeness she does with Drogon because he’s not just inher heart, he’s in her mind.

- oo5. IF EITHER DIED.

Lastly,talking about the potential of death for either of them. For dragons, theirlife span far outlasts their riders – and Daenerys hopes that long after she isgone, he will find someone ( in her own bloodline, or other ) whom he mightfeel that bond with. With that being said, she isn’t just his rider to him, butalso his mother, which means if shedied, that grief would transcend what a dragon might normally feel for theirrider’s death. Unlike what we see in the series finale, if someone were tocause her death, then regardless of who that person was to Drogon, he would nothold back his revenge from the person who took her from him – this bond is morethan a normal dragon and rider, he was bornto be with her, birthed by her, raised by her, and lived by her side forall of his life. This would be the first time he wouldn’t feel her with him, and that would cripple him, to know that hewould live for centuries with that presence void in his life.

Ifthe situation were flipped, and Drogon was lost to her, I believe Daeneryswould feel that grief on a physical level, as well as emotional. Drogon iswarmth and strength at the back of her mind and thoughts – she would not feelwarm again, without him there. Would never feel as strong, without him there.Would never be able to replicate that emotional bond with another being orentity, without him there. Would constantly be calling for him, constantlysearching for him in the skies. That would be a loss that she would never, everrecover from – and I believe in that instance, she would crave the reunion withhim in death, though she might not go so far as harming herself. It wouldtranscend her desire to see anyone else in the afterlife – she would be focusedexclusively on seeing her child again, and being with him again.

Havinga part of one’s soul ripped away would physically hurt, and that is what they would both feel.