#and I think it has to be SToneheart or Sansa because he has to be confronted not only with his own sins but with the crimes of his family

[15-lizards]

ASOIAF ATLA Au bc I saw a JJK one and was mesmerized

Dany is the avatar this is not up for debate. Born into the disgraced former imperial family of the fire nation, she shows signs of being able to bend other elements but never acts on them because her opinion of herself is too low and she doesn't believe she could be the protector of the world. After Drogo dies she fully unlocks her earth bending during his funeral ceremony while creating the pyre and everyone's like omg Miss Avatar. Then continues on with her heroes journey/bad roadtrip to take back her throne. The zuko parallels are everything to me. Yes she still brings back the dragons cause they were (thought to be) extinct in ATLA too

Jon who thinks he's a non bender (and Ned prays he is) until him and Robb are play fighting in the yard one day as kids and he accidentally burns his brother's eyebrows off. Still goes to the Wall bc could the fire and ice symbolism even be more in ur face. Most of the wildlings distrust him for his destructive abilities but he learns to control himself and becomes a symbol of light and life instead of destruction when he becomes a leader (Zuko parallels AGAIN babey).

Arya is a water bender who completely rejects learning about healing because she thinks it's so fucking boring. Syrio starts to train her and she starts to develop her shifty and quick fighting style that most trained benders find confusing. Learns ab blood bending while on the run and is Understandably Horrified. The faceless men force her to learn how to heal. They also force her to use her blood bending more so she's not having a great time rn.

Sansa is an incredibly talented healer for her age, but has no idea how to fight because "ladies aren't supposed to do that sort of thing." Forced to heal Lannister soldiers while stuck in the capital, though she just wishes she could let them die. ALSO unlocks blood bending due to this and is also quite unnerved. Forced to pose as a non bender in the Vale.

Bran the water bender who is devastated when it can't be used to heal him after his fall. Starts getting really into the spirit world, increasingly noticing raven spirits that no one else can see. Meera and Jojen (she's the swamp bender kind of water bender and he's a highly spiritual non-bender) take him north of the wall where the harmonic convergence takes place

Robb is an earth bender like his dad (Starks were originally a purely water bending family but started to marry a lot of earth benders) and he's well trained and good for his age, but that doesn't save him from being 15 and making poor decisions. Really heartbreaking as this desperate teenager tries to keep up with more experienced enemies as they attack him from all angles at the Red Wedding

Tyrion is now both a non-bender and a dwarf, which makes him doubly disgraced in Tywins eyes. Has to prove himself through his intelligence, being useful on the battlefield by creating the plans for benders and soldiers. Always has a lot of snarky comments about benders but always dreamed of being an air bender

Jamie and Cersei are both fire benders. Cersei used to spar with Jamie as children but Tywin quickly put an end to that and she was essentially forbidden from using her bending. Jamie is one of the best benders of his generation, and even years after the fact, Cersei still deeply resents him for being the prodigy she never had the chance to become

Cat is a water bender who was a pretty decent healer who patched men up after the war, but didn't really use her powers too much once she got married, because she didn't have much reason too. This bites her in the ass during the Red Wedding when she can't properly defend herself, and once Lady Stoneheart rises, she becomes a blood bender who is going to use her powers to their full extent this time around.

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

I have no idea why people think Jon will stop being a POV post-resurrection, or why they think it’s even remotely a good narrative choice. Jon is at the center of the “human heart in conflict with itself” theme that keeps cropping up in these books. A lot of the action in Jon’s story isn’t so much what happens around him but how he internalizes things in his head. He’s always been a very internal character much like Ned and Sansa. So if we lose Jon’s POV, what does it matter that he’s been lied to his whole life and Ned isn’t his real father? What does it matter who his mother was? Who cares about his changing acceptance of magic now that he’ll need to rely on it to survive? Who cares how he views Dany, the only thing to connect him to his father’s family? There’s no point revealing Jon’s parentage or delving into these topics because losing Jon’s POV means losing the thoughts of the ONE person they affect. That is not how you write a narrative guys. And no for the 10000th time, Beric and Cat are NOT good comparisons for Jon. One Beric wasn’t even a POV so I’m not sure why people bring him up in the first place. And two, Catelyn’s arc ended with Robb’s at the Red Wedding. Stoneheart exists but we’re going to see more how her presence affects how other characters move forward: Brienne, Jaime, Arya, etc. Plus Catelyn wasn’t even a central protagonist like Jon is so I don’t understand why she even gets brought up. Beric and LH are there at the baseline to establish that resurrection can be done. Point blank. They’re not a one size fits all such that Jon HAS to be just like them. I’m pretty tired of hammering in this one point over and over again. There’s really no narrative or thematic justification to look at Jon solely through other’s eyes other than “wouldn’t it be cool if?” Istg a lot of people make predictions based on what’s cool (which is debatable) and not what actually makes sense for a character and the themes in their arc. It’s quite frustrating.

[amber-laughs]

Hii!

I was thinking here and had nobody to share, so what do you think Jon's relationship with his siblings, or rather, cousins ahaha, will be like after they reunite? Do you have any headcanons? Arya and Jon? Click right away as before or nah? Bran and Jon? Jon and Sansa? Jon and Rickon (at some point)?

Sorry for the ask, I'm just like bored :)

Please come to me with all your bored questions I love answering them! I wanna start off by saying I don't think Jon will be as devoid of emotion as some people theorize he will be. We have two cases of resurrection but they are very different scenarios than Jon's. First Catelyn to Lady Stoneheart: Cat went mad before she was killed, her mind was already heavily altered in her final moments then her spirit was seemingly sifting about aimlessly until Beric brought her back. Beric has been resurrected six times and he says it take a toll on him every time and theres less of himself each time, meaning his memory was nowhere near as bad the first time it happened. But most importantly neither of these characters are wargs like Jon is. Jon's spirit will be in Ghost who is spiritually and mentally linked to him which I think will be a saving grace. I don't mean to say Jon will have no change but he most certainly will not be a walking zombie, he will still be able to have heartfelt connections with the people around him in my opinion. So:

Arya and Jon: I think that Arya will hear about Jon's death before she gets back to Westeros and it will absolutely devastate her which will make their reunion all the more touching. Jon thought she was dead until ADWD and I assume will think she's dead again if he learns about the Jeyne Pool switch so I think their reunion will be one of relief. I've made a post about this before but Arya thinks she knows who Jon's mother is right now, Edric Dayne told her it was Wylla the Wetnurse and she explicitly says she can't wait to tell Jon. I think this will go one of two ways: Jon will finally be at peace to know the truth and then BOOM! he finds out the The Truth or he'll know about Rhaegar and Lyanna before hand and have to decide if he's going to lie to Arya and the rest of his siblings. I think the R+L=J situation will create a bit of a rift between them because it will feel like a severed bond but I imagine they'll heal that by the end.

Sansa and Jon: I think Littlefinger is going to massively get in the way of this dynamic. Littlefinger wants Sansa to have the North. Jon is Robb's named heir which throws a wrench in those plans. Not only that but George has said Littlefinger gets confused when it comes to Sansa, sometimes she's his daughter with Cat he never had and sometimes she is Catelyn. Grrm called Sansa Petyr's teenage fantasy that's come back and when you have mini Ned Stark walking around the halls that will cause problems on top of the fact that LF will definitely be sniffing around trying to find out who Jon's mother is. He'll try to cause as many problems as possible for them I think. That being said I think Jon and Sansa are a now more alike than ever not only has Sansa experienced being a bastard but Jon has experienced his first love and having that torn away from him. Jon went North essentially wanting to be a great knight and finding out Castle Black is not what he heard in the songs and stories just like Sansa when she went South. I think LF will be their main issue along with some tension over Sansa feeling like Robb sidelined her for Jon and I'm not exactly sure how or where it'll end up but I'm excited (I do not under any circumstances believe that they'll be romantically involved)

Jon and Bran: I know this is gonna sound weird because Bran is only 9 but I see their relationship becoming a little co-worker like. Bran will know all about the Others by the time they meet up and Jon and him will spend a good chunk of time trading information I think. On top of that I think Bran will end up becoming something of a warging teacher to Jon the way Jojen was to him. I don't think I believe that Bran will be the one to reveal R+L=J to him, I think that'll be left to Howland.

Jon and Rickon: Personally I see Rickon dying before he reunites with Jon. If that doesn't happen I'll be curious to know if Rickon remembers him. There's a section in the Cushings Draft of Feast for Crows where Ghost can sense Rickon and Shaggydog in Skagos I know it was deleted so that sort of nullifies it but we know Summer senses the other wolves and like I said with Jon's memories staying safe in Ghost I wonder if the direwolves' connections will have an effect on Rickon being able to remember his siblings despite his age. I personally think that he will remember them if he lives because narratively I don't really see a reason for him to not, I mean I know logically he was 3 when Jon left but he's only 5 now its not much of a stretch.

But to give an overall base answer yes, I think all of them will click right away with love, relief and familiarity but that the problems above will come down the line and can't be swept under the rug

[writergirl2011]

Regarding Hyle Hunt

There's been a little discourse regarding the role one Ser Hyle Hunt will play in Lady Brienne of Tarth's storyline going forward. Some people seem to think that he is her perfect match because they hate the idea that Brienne deserves to have a romance with the man she wants--aka one Ser Jaime Lannister--because that messes with the narrative they want to push, whatever that narrative may be.

Some people think that Ser Hyle Hunt is a more interesting and more remarkable man than he truly is, when nothing he's said or done to this point has shown him to be anything of the sort. Personally, I'm not impressed with a man who set up a bet with his buddies over a young noblewoman's virginity--which was essentially the kiss of death to said young woman, who didn't have much going for her on the marriage mart in the first place. (Don't give me the "men will be men" explanation. That makes you no better than Randyll Tarly.) And his proposal of marriage boils down to: "Hey, baby, you've got an island and a lot of money, I've got a functional dick that's already proven to be fertile. I can close my eyes and blow out the candle. Let's do it." How romantic.

There has been absolutely no indication that Brienne will ever love this man, or even care the slightest for him. Threatening to turn someone into a eunuch isn't playful banter, especially not when said man once bet on her virginity and the last time she confronted someone(s) in that bet, she beat the living shit out of them. She hasn't forgotten, and she really hasn't forgiven. And when it comes to Hyle, she never really will, because in her eyes, what he did was the worst of all of them. He came the closest to winning by doing the one thing none of the others did--he made her feel included, like she might be earning a little bit of respect in that camp. Then she found out it was all a lie.

"But she hated Jaime at first!" Yeah, but that was before Jaime: told a lie about Tarth's wealth to save her from rape; shouted "sapphires" and risked a beating to save her from rape again; risked his own life to save hers by jumping unarmed into a bear pit (with only one hand to boot), and revealed the truth about why he killed Aerys, thus revealing that rather than it being a callous act, he'd saved an entire city of innocents--a noble act. THEN he put his trust in her to find Sansa, gifting her with a horse, armor, and a priceless sword. He gave her the respect Hyle only pretended to give her, expecting nothing in return.

What has Hyle done on their road trip? When Brienne kills the three former Bloody Mummers, I'm curious: how long was Hyle there? At least long enough to see her and Pod burying Nimble Dick, but the way he's described sitting there casually makes me think he'd been there longer. Watching. Sitting back doing nothing while she might've been killed. And we don't know what his true motives are in following her. If she finds Sansa, is he going to help her get Sansa to safety--or is he going to betray her and try to turn Sansa in to the Crown for the reward?

If you want any further proof that she doesn't care about Hyle, think about who she tried to bargain for when Lady Stoneheart was about to hang them all. Not herself, and certainly not Hyle. Podrick, the boy. And when they were hanging, as she was dying. the only person she had eyes for was Pod.

And who did she presumably agree to kill Jaime for? Podrick.

Yeah. She's really going to come around on Hyle.

[laurellerual]

Arya and Sansa storyswap: an exercise in imagination

Premise: I tried to speculate what might happen if Sansa manages to escape King's Landing and Arya gets stuck in the capital. I collected my thoughts on this scenario trying to make logical, credible choices that respected the characterization of the characters and the timeline of the books (the wiki was very usefull for this). I discarded all the scenarios that end in "…and then she dies horribly" because they're boring. I write with assumption that they would still remain POV characters and therefore mantain a minimum of plot armor. Like everyone, I have my biases so it's not perfect, but I tried to put myself in the most neutral mindset possible. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts. Part 1, Part 2

Part 3/3: Reunion

A Storm of Swords

Sandor and his “squire" are captured and bringed to Stoney Sept in the Riverlands. The Brotherhood without Banners takes them to Hollow Hill. Clegane is put on trial for various atrocities committed by Lannister soldiers, but he survives and is freed.

Arya is recognized by Harwin and Sansa. The two sisters reunite and remain under the "protection" of the outlaws. Because of this, the story takes a very different turn from here on.

For example, I don't think Arya would try to escape the Brotherhood so soon. As a result I don't think the Hound would be unable to kidnap the Stark girls again. However, the Hound could also decide to stay with the Brotherhood. He could plan to go to the Twins, introduce himself to Robb as Arya's savior, and ask him for a job.

So the Brotherhood proceeds as planned, they now have another valuable hostage and intend to take both girls to Lord Edmure's wedding and ransom them to their family. A group of men (like Lem, Harwin, Tom, etc) accompanies the sisters to Harroway to cross the Trident, but their journey is delayed because they find it flooded (like in Arya IX).

They reach the Twins just in time for the Red Wedding, and the outlaws manage to drag the Stark sisters away and save them. Arya and Sansa go through a complicated period of mourning but the fact of being together helps them. The two want to hold onto hope that perhaps their mother might have survived.

One night Arya has her first wolf dream in a long time: she sees Cat's body and drags it out of the river. In the morning Sansa suggests asking the men to go back and look for the woman, but Arya tells her that she's dead. As per canon Lord Beric, Thoros and the others come across the corpse and Dondarrion dies to resurrect her.

Lem's group continues their journey, this time they intend to take the girls to Lysa Arryn, but they discover that the mountain clans are bolder than ever and decide not to take the risk and return to the Riverlands.

The Stark sisters are getting impatient, Arya suggests that the two could run away and try to get to Winterfell alone. Sansa has to inform her sister that Winterfell was conquered by Theon months ago. She is devastated and abandons all plans. Lem's group returns to the Hollow Hill to discuss a new plan with Beric or perhaps to take more men as escorts before returning to the Vale.

Waiting for them in the hill, there isn't the lightning lord but Lady Stoneheart! Mother and daughters reunite.

A Feast for Crows

That's it. Final cliffhanger, sorry.

[kingsmoot]

ngl I thought GRRM's post was fake at first because it reads the exact same as like... every single reddit post that's been made since the season 2 premiere.

I'm also confused about the Helaena killing herself stuff because George states he has very little involvement in S3 beyond some conversations with Condal? It feels like he's assuming that Helaena must kill herself for no reason because Maelor isn't present, when the reality is they could've come up with another reason tied to the framework they've already set out.

I feel like he's in crisis over his legacy and going about "correcting" it in all the wrong ways.

i agree with your reddit post comparison and made the same myself. i just don't feel that it is interesting or constructive to lay out the changes from book to screen in terms of how a missing baby will impact the timeline of westerosi events. that is uninteresting to me. discussing how changes to the source text betray a fundamental ignorance/misunderstanding of its core themes is interesting (ramsay's knock off harley quinn sidepiece, giving jeyne's (and by extension, arya's) plotline to sansa, replacing jeyne westerling with a lowborn common girl robb fell in puppylove with, eliminating lady stoneheart, etc.) and worthwhile. but that isn't what this notblog did. it was a venn diagram of book vs. show with frequent pauses to say "many are saying the way i wrote it was better. and i can't help but agree."

i also agree re: his framing if helaena's show suicide. i think to say that helaena kills herself in the show "for no reason" is.... dishonest. a dragon dreamer ignored and ostracized her whole life and forced to bear her older brother's rape babies has plenty of reasons to throw herself out of a window. losing one less child doesn't make her life amazing when compared to book!helaena.

i'm not comfortable speculating over george being in crisis over his legacy but i will say that if preserving the integrity of his work in the public eye is his chief concern, he should stop selling the adaptation + licensing rights to it 🤷 if he wants his story represented accurately then he needs to be the one to bring it into being, no one else. i don't blame him for being mad that his source material wasn't stuck to, because if i wrote a book and sold the rights to it and was told hbo would produce a very book-faithful adaptation, and then hbo produced an adaptation that was widely loved but very NOT book faithful, i would be pissed. george is far from the only writer this has happened to i mean look at the southern reach trilogy vs. that total dogshit nat portman adaptation. jeff vandermeer is publicly vocally angry on twitter about that all the time.

but it was just. an odd move. to post this blog entry... i am certain george is much more upset about much more significant changes to his book than maelor the toddler being written out. and i think he decided to pull his punches and nitpick about something stupid because he's upset. but imo he should have pulled the punch all together and just not. posted this. IMO!!!

[catofoldstones]

having lots of feelings about jon being known as lord snow/lord commander and sansa being known as a lady and now having to walk in bastard's shoes in their later arcs..opposite parallels are really there its so neat i'd wish i'd have more to say on it but its just an observation

wishing that the shed identities of each stark kid will be resolved by at least winds but while i have concrete ideas on how characters like arya,sansa or bran will resolve their identity issues even if bran is a bit more vague than jon, Jon is still a semi wild card, i don't believe he'll go full targaryen or whatever that suggests to fans but he does have a lot of arcs featuring identity issues from bastard/snow to wanting to be a stark by name to the widlings/warging in ghost constantly to lord commander of the night's watch and all of that almost and does get him killed by ADWD so i am curious on his next "transformation" but i do think it will feature a more "no bullshit" type of jon, the targ reveal will make it more complex but it'll always repeat on the crisis of being a stark, how it'll affect him personally and his family whether bastard or not and fans over emphasizing that jon will suddenly have targaryen loyalty is a bit far fetched considering how late the reveal is in his own personal story

They really started as lady and bastard only to end up bastard and lord by adwd, huh. There much more on the inside like Sansa was married off to a Lannister when Jon was pretending to be a deserter of the NW. Before that, little bird and crow. And now they're going to come home along with the other Starklings, finally ending the parallel cycle, oh my 🥺

I agree with you fully. Jon "let them say Ned Stark fathered four sons not three" Snow is not going to easily accept anyone else as his father lol. That boy has always wanted to be a Stark, there is no catharsis in him becoming a Targ and fully accepting it. He has been raised on the stories of how Lyanna was abducted by Rhaegar and how much the Starks suffered because of the last Targaryen monarchs. He is not going to accept his Targ heritage quietly or fully. If anything, we have evidences of people coming back from the dead as 'more themselves'. Take Lady Stoneheart, she is only concerned about avenging her family with her heightened sense of moral righteousness, which Catelyn already possessed and expressed. If anything, Jon is going to be more Jon, someone who has always wanted to be a Stark. You are also right in the fact that he is a wild card. We don't even know if he's going to get resurrected the same way LSH did or Beric Dondarrion did. We don't know for sure what impact warging into Ghost at his time of dying will have on him or his psyche or his personality.

Though I really like how the rest of the pov Starks will definitely shed their false identities within the coming arcs. I genuinely don't know what that means for Jon and what's on his plate next. No one could have predicted LSH either. Death tends to be sort of final...

[atopvisenyashill]

Asking this because I (for some reason) have yet to see a theory stating this (even though it must exist!) but waht do you think the changes are of Brienne being the person who gets Alaynes favor and her potentially competing on Sansa's behalf in a trial for the kinslaying allegations? Obviously Brienne and Sansa even meeting is hotly debated but with the direction the show went in I can't see Briensa (platonic) not happening!

First I'm assuming you meant kingslaying because I was like wait how did I forget Sansa being accused of killing one of her siblings omg?? alsdjf unless you mean "kinslaying allegations" ie she betrayed Ned in which case, if that does come up (it's certainly possible) it's not likely to come up until waaaay later because the only person who would care is like, Arya, really, (I think both Jon and Bran would understand Sansa's actions here) and I don't think it will escalate to Brienne having to fight a trial by combat for her in that case.

BUT.

THAT'S AN INTERESTING THEORY. I think the general consensus here is that they're going to meet somehow at the tourney and escape it together, and also, Shadrich will be involved and probably Bronze Yohn as well, but that's pretty much as concrete as I've seen anyone get (altho if anyone does have a more concrete theory, let me know!!!).

So firstly, I think this would match up with the Ashford Tourney Theory very well -> Sansa having all the same suitors, only for the tourney to get upended by a trial by the seven/the appearance of The Truest Knight In All Of Westeros. Brienne, being both a True Knight and a descendant of Dunk, makes the most sense for being part of the foreshadowing of this theory in my opinion. And that little note we got of GRRM's outline included that line "kill the mouse" which points to Shadrich being a problem for Sansa or Brienne or both in the coming twow chapters. However...some random hedge knight can't just make off with either Sansa Stark, Last Surviving Stark or Alayne Stone, Only Child Of Lord Protector Baelish, without causing a HUGE ruckus (look at her escape from KL - they needed a huge ruckus to cover up their movements!). SO. Considering he showed up with a bunch of other guys...maybe Shadrich and several others looking for Sansa accuse of her being a kingslayer and say they are arresting her and taking her back to King's Landing to face the king's justice. And just like Tyrion got free by having Bronn defeat someone, perhaps Brienne, who enters in the lists in the hopes of getting close to Sansa as a mystery knight, steps up to call for a trial by the seven. That would be a parallel to Dunk as well!

And in the chaotic aftermath, when Brienne (and Bronze Yohn maybe!!) has cleared Sansa's name, something goes awry (maybe Harry dies fighting in the trial, maybe Sweetrobin dies and Sansa tells Brienne she doesn't want to marry Harry), the girls decide to make a run for the Wall, to the only other known relative Sansa has left alive outside of the Tullys - her recently revived bastard brother Jon Snow.

As for gaining her favor...while I'm fairly confident that Brienne saves Sansa and they leave together from the Vale, the state in which Brienne shows up is really up in the air. She's just leaving from whatever the fuck has happened with Lady Stoneheart and Jaime. Maybe she's injured. Maybe she has no money. Maybe she sees Ser Shadrich there and decides she's better off disguised. It could make sense that she enters the tourney in an attempt to see if she can find Sansa in the crowd, spots her, and asks her for her favor. Cue Shadrich accusal, trial by seven, and escape.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Interesting prediction anon, I'd love to hear what other people think.

[agentrouka-blog]

Hello Rouka :3

I just came across a meta that said that Sansa singing Mother’s Mercy hymn to Sa/nd/or could be foreshadowing for him becoming her knight in the future. Not romantically, but as a part of his absolution. I always thought that the last we see of Sa/nd/or is as the Gravedigger in the Riverlands. What do you think, will he end up as Sansa’s sworn sword in twow/ados?

(I know I have too many questions, I apologise 😫)

That's the kind of take you arrive at when you get really really confused about who the main character in their interactions is, and who the tertiary villain.

If you think Sandor is the one we're supposed to focus on, it may feel a little unsatisfying to see him defeated in his act of forcing himself on a frightened 12-year-old, clothing his intended sexual assault in the language of romance by framing it as demanding a romantic "song", and then being served a religious hymn instead, being shamed into slinking off in tears. Where's his happy ending, you may wonder. Where's his redemption and his reward? Surely, it can't be over between them? He hasn't gotten what he wanted from her! He hasn't been validated!

If you recognize that the protagonist here is the POV character, said frightened 12-year-old girl, who in a situation in which she could have been subjected to horrific assault (which is the logical culmination of all their prior interactions), instead manages to defend herself using nothing but the power of her mind and her voice, well... it feels pretty damn finished. She has been validated. She has gotten her reward, which was her own physical integrity. Sansa defeated the tertiary villain and has moved on to bigger challenges.

And if someone is still confused on the subject: Brienne. Of. Tarth. Exists. She is literally on a quest to save Sansa. You know, like a true knight.

Sansa, though . . . I will find her, my lady, Brienne swore to Lady Catelyn's restless shade. I will never stop looking. I will give up my life if need be, give up my honor, give up all my dreams, but I will find her. (AFFC, Brienne II)

In a knight-off between the gravedigger and the truest knight in the entire book series, Brienne would win easily. But we won't get that knight-off because he's not relevant enough. Brienne is literally on the same island as him, without knowing it, hoping to kill him, and ends up doing much more important things instead. Saving orphans and such. Facing Lady Stoneheart. Things related to her arc that connects her to the Starks.

If there's unfinished business for the Hound to attend to, it's not with Sansa or any of the Starks. It's with himself and his brother and his destructive life choices.

(Also, I love questions, thank you for asking!)

[stormcloudrising]

D&D and George said that main characters will have the same stories in the books, but not the secondary characters. Sansa and Jeyne fusion is one thing (Jeyne is a secondary non-pov character, so that’s not a big deal that Sansa’s story absorbed hers), but changing plotlines for THREE main characters and to completely omiss a whole love story between two MAIN characters? How is that possible? And I’ve seen 3BP, they changed the stories to make them more digestible, but main characters still stand almost the same (some fusion happened here too) and the romantic storylines are between the characters that they are supposed to be, so it’s not like they like doing something like that.

Hi Nonny,

Thanks for the ask!

I disagree with your interpretation.

You are describing something that writers do all the time in adaptations. Look how many writers came to George and wanted to eliminate half of the story because they thought the canvas was too big and so they wanted to simplify things. That’s what D&D ended up doing at the end.

But what was bad about D&D, and in a way was insulting to the audience is that they hinted at the real stories in the background. They didn’t totally eliminate the Jon and Sansa relationship. Just look at how they wrote and framed them in a romantic manner in a way they never did Jon and Dany.

Other important changes they made that included main characters include leaving out the entire Lady Stoneheart arc. Do you think that Catelyn wasn’t a main character or that the Lady Stoneheart arc won’t be important? They left out Faegon. He is not a main character but his arc plays a very important role in Dany’s story and will take up a big chunk of her TWOW and ADOS story. Faegon/Dany isn’t even the final Dance with Dragons. That will be Jon and Dany, but it’s a main preview, and George has been foreshadowing it for hundreds of years in story time. And yet D&D cut it. Do you think that’s not a major change or isn’t important?

They completely eliminated Sansa Vale arc, and the events of the Tourney of the Winged Knights. Do you think that George has been setting that up since the first book and heavily foreshadowing it in the Hands Tourney and Oberyn and the Mountain’s fight because it won’t be important to the storyline? Sansa’s vale arc will be extremely important to final events. Aspects of it are literally part of prophecy. Sansa has been mentioned in three possibly 4 prophecies/visions and people still think that she’s not important.

I stand by my theory that Jon and Dany are a show only thing and that the books foreshadows them being in opposition to each other and not being in a romantic relationship.

[greenerteacups]

Do you have any OTP ASOIAF ships? I'm definitely a Sansan fan based on the books and the heavy beauty and the beast symbolism (the fantasy kiss she invented is so... interesting)... I definitely think he's the gravedigger and will eventually prove himself to be the "true knight" she's been waiting for (though I do acknowledge that the age difference is wild irl... but in the context of Westeros... not as insane as it could be). I also have hopes for Gendrya...

Team Jaime/Brienne forever. I'm so giddy that they're back together by the end of Dance and about to get front-row seats to the Lady Stoneheart plot line. It's one of the rare matches in ASOIAF where they both do make each other better and bring something good to each other's lives. Jaime gives Brienne the validation and friendship of an equal she's never known as someone outside the gender/class hierarchy, and she rekindles his faith in the concept of goodness and knighthood as ideals. I love a POV/POV romance because you get both sides of the arc and it's beautiful.

Along those lines, I thought Tyrion and Sansa in the show was cute because (a) Peter Dinklage could charm water from stone and plays show!Tyrion as much more respectful/honorable than book!Tyrion, and (b) Sansa is aged up in the show, and even though we're told she's like 14, she's being played by a 17/18 y/o actress who is much more capable of holding her own in scenes with adults. I do not think it would work as a relationship because Tyrion has a terrible track record with treating women badly and Sansa at that point is basically just a traumatized child trying to get home, but I like the quasi-friendship they develop, and if the war had ended after Joffrey's death I could see them eventually having like a Ned/Cat thing. Gendry and Arya would also be sweet, tough as-is because Arya is still so very young in the books, but I could see them being cute together later on if they meet again as teenagers.

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

What Stark relationships could you see being important in winds

Jon and Rickon since they're physically the closest could reunite first plus maybe bran depending on how long it takes for him to get back to winterfell

Bran and Ned - Through time travel bran observing Young Ned throughout the years could lead to Bran understanding his father more

Arya and Cat/LSH the reunion seems likely to happen at some point in winds

Arya and Sansa - I honestly could see these two reuniting before they reunite with their brothers depending on how things go

Sadly, I don't think that we are gonna get many Stark reunions in The Winds of Winter. Martin's original title for the last book of his saga " A Time for Wolves" makes me suspect that he intented for most of the Starks to reunite and team up on this one.

In my opinion the most probable reunions we are gonna witness on The Winds of Winter are the one between Arya and Lady Stoneheart and between Bran and Ned (if we can call reunion Bran observing his father via greenseering). It makes quite the summetry for the second son who is the current heir of his father - who was also a second son and thus never thought to rule originally- to meet on the far North; where Stark gods are the strongest, while the daughter who had the most difficult relationship with her mother to meet her on the latter's homeland; aka the Riverlands. In Arya's case she has unfinished bussiness in Riverlands so it makes sense for her to be there on TWOW -and for practical reasons,too because the ships from Braavos often land in Riverlands.

Perhaps Bran could also meet via greenseering his brother Jon, while the latter will be in comma between life and death? I wouldn't be surprised if that happens,too.

I'm not so sure that Jon and Rickon reuniting will happen on the next book, but if it does I bet it will be at the ending of it. Jon has a lot on his plate and he hasn't even be resurrected yet - and we don't know how many chapters it will take before he does. I think he's gonna need to further develop on his own storyline before his path lead him to meet any sibling of his. As for him first in person reunion my money are on either Rickon or Bran.

Similarly, both Sansa and Arya have to deal with their own seperate storylines -one in Vale and the other in Riverlands- before they reunite. I don't know if Martin plans to make them reunite first before they meet their brothers but I also like that idea. They have some issues to resolve between them which will take more time in order to make it believable unlike the smooth reunions with their brothers.

In the end , I guess I'll be overjoyed with any Stark reunion among the Starklings Martin offer us first because I need the family feels.

[janiedean]

thoughts on this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5vjfvv4eUw

I'm very happy to see that there is some person in this godforsaken fandom who

knows what literacy is

actually understood the point of jaime's storyline and brienne's storyline and who realized that lady stoneheart is actually fucking important

I don't agree with the end when he said he'll meet cers again but and I think he should have mentioned that the other important thing about the whole j+b and stoneheart thing is that like... brienne is going around with jaime's sword in order to find sansa because jaime told her to fulfill a vow they both swore to catelyn herself that he actually wanted to uphold so like brienne's whole thing in affc is that she's entirely aware he trusted her with his honor that no one else believes he has in order to fulfill a vow for a dead woman who also was the first person to take brienne seriously as a knight so he'd be entirely aware of what it would take her to kill aerys taking THAT into account too and it would make even more of a moral issue for her because by killing catelyn and saving the man she loves she's breaking the vow she's sworn to both of them and she's not saving his honor either* (but hey she saves his life sooo) and I think he could have mentioned it but it was a ten minutes video that was 99% more correct than all the trash jaime meta that people write so I'm supporting the guy pushing the why tf would they cut catelyn agend

*I was not expecting the guy to go into a shipping rant so I'll do it here but again jaime has been thinking of brienne as his protector since asos so seeing her actually say fuck vows for his life and do all of that just so he's alive would imvho make him stick around rather than run off anywhere else but hey that'd imply actually reading asos

[fromtheseventhhell]

I don't want to imply only Arya antis think she'll go to the Riverlands first lol I'm pretty sure us Arya stans came up with the theory she'll reunite with Lady Stoneheart and give her the gift of mercy in the first place. Unfortunately though there are a lot of people whose speculation for Arya starts and ends at her killing people and disappearing off the face of the earth or realizing "revenge is bad" and then doing absolutely nothing afterwards. Though one thing I've seen very common with Arya antis is the idea that she'll effectually never reunite with any of her family members or identify as Arya going forward, either staying in the shadows or dying nameless or faceless without anyone recognizing her. That's a bit that worries me somewhat with her returning to the Riverlands first thing. Most Arya fans do expect her to be crowned by Lady Stoneheart and lead the BWB and Nymeria's pack up north but a lot of speculation from non-Arya fans ends up similar to Arya's reunion with Sansa and Bran in season 7; out of the loop, out of place, her journey treated as boring compared to the others, underwhelming reunions, conveniently out of the picture long enough so she can't ruin relationships that otherwise wouldn't happen with her present, secondary to Sansa.

One thing I think gets overlooked is how close Braavos is to Westeros. I've seen a lot of people act like Sansa in the Vale is a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Wall while treating Braavos like it's as far away as Meereen but they're actually about the same distance away. Braavos does appear to be perfectly placed if his original intent was for Arya to end up somewhere in the North, whether at the Wall, White Harbor, or even Hardhome.

But mostly I reject the idea that Arya will end up secondary to her brothers if she goes North. I have faith in GRRM loving Arya too much to ever treat her the way the show did in seasons 7 and 8. I think she has a role to play in the North considering how much of the Northern plots in ADWD are tied together with the "Arya"-Ramsay marriage and Jeyne. Stansas ASOIAF fans really believe that Jeyne will have absolutely no intersection with the person she's impersonating despite GRRM spelling it out that she's almost guaranteed to sail to Braavos for safety. It makes absolutely no sense to believe Jeyne would go to Braavos and never even encounter Arya. We also know GRRM intended for the Stark direwolves to go against Ramsay's hounds at some point in the future of which there's about nine named ones so far. Sounds like Ramsay will find out what wolves to do dogs ;) That may be enough to overwhelm Ghost or Shaggydog even if together but even a fraction of Nymeria's pack going north with her could handle them. I also refuse to believe Lady Stoneheart will die again before encountering a resurrected Jon. There's been rumors she and her men have been seen disappearing into the Neck which did lead to in book speculation the BWB has some contact with the Crannogmen. Arya can also be a bridge between Bran and Jon if GRRM keeps the estrangement between them.

And I really want Roose to find out he was in fact careless with a prize of great worth by not realizing he had the real Arya Stark under his nose in Harrenhal as his cupbearer lol. It'd be a shame if he died before finding out. But I do agree that she could go to either location and GRRM could make it work. I seem to remember jokes about GRRM being stuck because there are too many locations he wants her to be in lol.

I didn't think you were implying that, I just wanted to clarify that there were valid reasons for her heading to the riverlands and that I agree that some people only theorize that because they view the North as the most important location so they ignore her connections to it. I agree with a lot of your points and it's very frustrating that Arya's arc gets reduced so much because people refuse to see her as an important character. A majority of the theories surrounding her are the barest bones and people only expect her to leave the faceless men, kill [x] character, and then fuck off in a boat while her siblings (i.e. Sansa) carry the bulk of the Northern plot. The reality is that Arya's arc is difficult to predict because she has so many plot setups. There is an entire arc in Braavos waiting to play out, she has connections to the Northern plot, and she has plenty to do in the Riverlands. Arya is one of George's favorite characters and he's spent a lot of time developing her for a reason, so safe to say that whatever route he ends up taking it's going to be well-written and respectful to her character.

[laurellerual]

how do you feel about king in the north arya. i love love your art of lady stoneheart crowning her

Thanks anon! I think the crown of the King in the North will make this change of hands ^

Now the crown is with Lady Stoneheart who is, among other things, looking for Arya with the BwB.

Many agree that a meeting between these two is inevitable due to foreshadowing and the narrative and thematic relationship that binds them.

Imo if when this meeting takes place LS will decide to pass the crown to Arya. In this hypothetical situation she is the only one of her children still alive (as far as LS knows) so I think it makes sense.

I know that there are theories that LS will go north to crown Jon and fulfill Robb's will. But to me this contradicts the characterization of Cat and the actions she has taken since she was resurrected.

Will Arya gladly accept the crown willingly? I don't know, probably not. But it wouldn't surprise me if she ends up being considered sort of an outlaws queen for a while. I think Arya will decide to continue her journey north, but this time she won't do it alone. And then she will pass the crown on to the revived Jon Snow.

It makes sense that Jon is the king of winter from a thematic point of view, but also and above all from a practical one, because there is a will that legitimizes him and because he is the only "Stark" mature enough and prepared for this role.

Also it seems to me that “Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms” necessity of a closure. Jon gave Arya a sword, now it's Arya's turn.

Not sure according to which dynamic Jon will end up giving up the crown, but I am convinced that the summer king of the endgame must be Bran. This is one of the few GoT points that seems to have been confirmed by Martin and I expect it to happen.

Of course this is just speculation. And Rickon and Sansa are a little bit of a question mark. A lot of this will depend on the order in which the characters return to the North and the order in which they reunite. Feel free to add the order in which you think this will happen and how you think it might affect the story!

[onthearrow]

hello arrow~ just curious, were you ever into game of thrones, and if so, who was your favorite romantic pairing (canon or not)? and did you ever at some point in time considered writing fanfiction about them?

Oh anon THANK YOU for this question I will now be putting on my GOT hat.

I loved GOT (and was ultimately disappointed like the rest of us) but still return to fic browsing occasionally. I've got two fave ships, the first of which is Jaime/Brienne. Jaime has a very compelling redemption arc (we are NOT talking about the last episode THANK YOU) that is hugely influenced by Brienne. She subverts so many of his expectations of what it means to be a knight and a lady and through that he begins to find the essence of his true self. Jaime himself is a fascinating character (the dyslexia?? omg) and the slow burn he has with Brienne is just *chef's kiss*.

As for Brienne, I really sympathize with her character. I was bullied as a kid and spent years feeling misplaced amongst my peers. I ended up determining my own path and coming into myself much as she has---I even took up fencing! And I love how she WANTS Jaime to be an asshole and he ends up un-asshole-ifying. In a way, he subverts her expectations too, they become equals, and they become a team. That shit is ROMANTIC.

My second-favorite ship will offend people, I'm sure, but there's a caveat to it so stay with me before sending me anon hate (that will be deleted, sorry). I LOVE Sansa and The Hound*. ASTERISK, BIG ASTERISK, because the age gap in the books is enormous and Sansa is a literal child. I cannot ship that romantically in good conscience, but platonically I'm obsessed with the dynamics of this relationship. In book 1 Sansa heads to the capital with her head full of beautiful princes and fairytales and castles and happily ever after, only to find out that her prince is the most sadistic fuck in all of Westeros and that the capital is cruel and that the good guys don't always win (her own father's execution???).

And then there's The Hound, the most objectively terrifying person around with the most hideous face, a complete perversion of the knights she grew up reading stories about. And yet he ends up being the one who shows her kindness. He gives her his cloak when Joffrey tries to strip her in front of the court. When he flees King's Landing, he offers to take her with him. I think there's a scene where she gets beaten and he offers her a handkerchief, too?

So while I can't ship a thirty-something alcoholic knight with a fucked up psyche with a literal teenager, I think this relationship is key in the recurring theme GRRM has going of subverting expectations. In canon, I'd like to see Sansa reunite with Sandor and ask him to be her sworn shield as Queen of the North. I think that would be a fitting ending for them. In fic, I love AUs where she's aged up and he's aged down and the author leans into the potential romanticism that that creates. It's just a straight-up no for me in canon.

Would I write fic for either of these? I don't think I'd write SanSan, but I would absolutely love to write for Braime at some point. Like at least an AU one-shot, but if I was going to go hard, I'd probably continue off from where we left them with Lady Stoneheart and give them a proper ending. (Unfortunately, I don't think GRRM is ever going to finish the series.)

This was a lot of information--sorry if it was too much anon! But I am happy to discuss GOT with anyone 😅