#and i couldn't include jonsa

[joanna-lannister]

5 OTPs from 5 different fandoms

i was tagged by @wherewilltheygo thank you so much for the tag sweetheart ❤️✨

— Jaime x Cersei (Game of Thrones)

— Bellarke (The 100)

— Jaspenor (The Royals)

— Spuffy (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

— Cesare x Lucrezia (The Borgias)

tagging: @alexcabotgf @bellamyblakru @spnyuri @outragedmermaid @jckeperalta @musical-chick-13 @sweetaprilbutterfly and anyone else who wants to do it!

[esther-dot]

Jonsa Reunion

Safe and Sound 1k (I just have to highlight that this was posted in 2014)

Sansa escapes Baelish and finds her way to Castle Black.

Kiss of Undeath ficlet by @haraways

Sansa brings Jon back with a kiss.

Without You I Am Nothing 1k by @asbestosmouth

Castle Black is monochrome, but Sansa blazes like the fires of Rh'llor. Jon cannot help but burn.

Gifsets: Jonsa Hug by @joanna-lannister, Jonsa Hug by @c-sand, The Girl in Grey, Jonsa Hug 1, 2 by @kitnjon

Art: Jonsa Hug, Jonsa Hug by @vierverdeen, Jonsa Hug by @themarmic

Jon Comes Back Wrong

grave-dirt 3k by @charmtion

The edge of the world. The yawning dark. In his chest, a strange sluggish beat.

back in the pulse 2k WIP by @chispas-and-broken-bindings

(Who are you?) A dead man. A monster. The mistake of many and one. (And what have you lost?) Everything. (And what have you found?) You. (And what will you do with me?) Protect you. Always.

Made of Echos and Ice 1k by @thewolvescalledmehome

Ever since coming down from the Eyrie, Sansa has had the same dream. A wolf with white paws pacing in the snow. When she learns of the betrayal at the Wall, Sansa decides to do something about her dream.

i fall to pieces (when i'm with you) 70k by usuallysunny

"Go North. Only North. Jon is Lord Commander at the Castle Black. He'll help you." He'd had good intentions, this broken shadow of a man who used to be Theon, and he couldn't have known. Sansa finds a Lord Commander at Castle Black. He has steel-grey eyes, her father's eyes, and a dark beard framing a strong jaw, and he looks and sounds and moves like Jon... But he's not Jon.

Always Her ficlet by @temporal-tempest

Jon Snow came back darker, unreachable until her hand touched his face. This is what happens when you threaten that which has become the only warmth in a dark heart.

At Castle Black

My eyes were wide open 10k by @eruherdiriel

She hesitates, then reaches for his free hand, his other still tangled in Ghost’s fur. Their palms meet, hers warm against his chilly one, and the relief that rushes through him at her touch almost makes him close his eyes and forget the throbbing pain. “Do you remember what happened?” All he recalls are knives in the dark and cold, bitter cold. * It is in dreams that Jon begins to remember who he is.

Kisses Remembered, Kisses Forgotten 2k by QueenOfSloths

She remembers the kiss that he took. The only thing she doesn’t remember is him taking it. There are times when she is almost certain that she gave it willingly.

'cause i know that it's delicate 4k by @noqueenbutthequeeninthenorth

Set during "Book of the Stranger," immediately after Sansa arrives at the Wall. He goes to build the fire back up, and for a few minutes he stays silent, kneeling at the hearth, not looking at her. Finally he clears his throat. “I know,” he begins, “it’s not exactly what you’re used to — ” “You’d be surprised what I’m used to.”

make your fingers soft and light 10k by @ladyalice101

Jon goes quiet again, and his hand retracts, but just as quickly he is touching her again, oil on his fingers. He works methodically, moving from one wound to the next, one scar to another, from the base of her back to the top of her spine. It’s so gentle, so caring, and the longer it goes on the more Sansa relaxes, the safer she feels. Her eyes dip close under his rhythmic ministrations, and her mind goes blank, and she starts to feel the familiar lull of sleep edge around her mind. “This is supposed to make the scars fade?” Jon asks as he finishes up, his warm hands leaving her back, making her feel cold and startling her from her reverie. “Yes.” She isn’t sure she imagines the tightness in his voice when he speaks again. “If you are to do this every night, then I will gladly assist you.” // Jon rubs a soothing balm into Sansa's scars every night. But that's it. Nothing more. Definitely not. He's just there to help her do what she can't do herself.

as the night came down in a Nordic sky ficlet by @miazeklos

During her first night in Castle Black, Sansa reunites with the true North, and Jon welcomes her home.

Cold Nights at Castle Black ficlet by @estherruth-jonsatrash

They were grown now, childhood behind them. Yet they had been sharing a bed more like children, with the cold at Castle Black leaving them in need of warmth. At least at first.

How I wish you would take me for granted ficlet by @trollslanda

Sometimes her hands would shake- Solely in private, when she broke her quiet surface to gasp for air. Around others she still had a mental block, passively guarding her, bringing out the Stark iron. It made her keep her back straight and eyes steady, put up a solid front. Sometimes it felt like she was rusting from the inside and her brittle bones would never be whole again. --- Set shortly after Sansa has arrived at Castle Black, when she's still learning to feel safe. As it turns out, Jon is really good at that kind of thing.

Remedy ficlet by @wildflower-daydreamer

The night Jon and Sansa reunite at Castle Black.

To break and to mend ficlet @dreams-for-spring

In those moments nothing else matters and they forget what they have lost; in those moments they are more than the sum of their broken parts.

In the quiet of the night 4k by dreams-for-spring

It becomes a habit; each night she unlatches her chamber door, and each night Jon enters just as bashfully as before. Some nights he brings terrible sour wine, and others bitter ale for them to share as they sit around the hearth speaking of everything that has happened–everything except what has passed between him and his black brothers. She knows that is a topic he is not ready to share. Still, she does not find sleep when he leaves, but at least for those brief hours she is not alone, and something small inside of her begins to burn brighter with each night that passes. She tries to ignore the voice that tells her it is hope; hope is a dangerous thing for people like them.

Tous Deux On est Repartis dans le Tourbillon de la Vie 1k by @melimelo-ao3

He couldn’t even begin to picture what she had endured, what she had lived through. Yet, hearing her pleading in the night, he would give anything to know, to be able to understand her, to soothe her. He had only ever wanted to soothe her.

Gifsets: Where Will We Go by c-sand, Brienne Reacts to Jonsa, New Dress by @jonstarks How Could We Know, Sansa Tries Ale, Where Will We Go, Sansa Making Jon's Cloak, I Made This for You by kitnjon

Traveling the North

Five Times They Touch 1k by @justchunkit

She doesn’t touch him for days. Weeks. They travel from keep to stronghold, living in close quarters as they’d never done even as children. She is so close, but an icy veneer has covered the exhausted girl he’d started to know, and they can hardly exchange a good morning without it evolving into an argument.

Some Love Stories Need a Little Help 2k @graceverse

Or how Tormund effectively makes Jon share a tent with Sansa

Unnatural 2k by @amymel86

Once he is close enough, she leaps at him, arms wrapping him up and his nose buried in her copper hair. The shuddering exhale he expels is the most amount of sound he’s made in days but all he can hear is Sansa’s sniffling and the way their two hearts talk to one another in beats of the same song.

Gifsets: Arguing, Eye Contact, Jon Reacting to Sansa by jonstarks Side by Side by @baelerion

Pre Battle of the Bastards

we may only have this night 2k by wearycities

She summoned an image of Jon in her mind. When he saw her, at Castle Black. His eyes, his face. His hands letting go of the railing, like it had burned him. She could not stop thinking about his hands. She had turned the memory over and over in her mind on countless sleepless nights, wondering what it meant. After her argument with Jon the night before the Battle of the Bastards, Sansa returned to his tent.

The Madness of Dead and Broken Things 1k by @estherruth-jonsatrash

The first time, Jon tells himself it’s the last time. Jon gives into his feelings for Sansa the night before the Battle of the Bastards, telling himself he'll die the next day. He isn't prepared for the after of survival.

the night before the fight ficlet by @sailorshadzter

jon & sansa spend a night together before the battle of the bastards. pre parental reveal hookup, read at your own risk. nsfw.

Before the Storm 1k

Snowflakes fell from the grey sky, covering the ground in white even more than it already was. Grey and white, Sansa thought to herself. The Stark colors.

A gaze across a field 1, 2 ficlets by fedonciadale

Sansa's thoughts as she contemplates the possible outcome of the battle.

Gifsets: Arguing, You Don't Have to Be Here, I'll protect You I Promise by jonstarks, Pre and During BotB by baelerion, Jon Pummeling Ramsay by kitnjon, Jon Pummeling Ramsay by c-sand

Post Battle of the Bastards

Bloodstains and Stitches Chapter 1 and 2 by @trollslanda

Two scenes set after Battle of the Bastards: 1. In the courtyard, Jons pov. Post-battle calmdown and fluff I guess but also there's dead bodies and stuff. I dunno. 2. Sansa cleaning his wounds and stitching him up, her pov. A pretty sweet scene where they get a moment to breathe.

A Little Friction ficlet by @justchunkit

“You don’t know anything about me.” “Because you won’t tell me anything!” After the Battle of the Bastards, Jon and Sansa try to get to know each other.

Of Justice and Ghosts 1k by @lurikko

He knows his sister is watching him carefully like they are the only two humans left in the world, as they in a way are, and that makes his every remaining piece crumble.

Ghosts that We Knew 7k @the-prophet-lemonade

In the wake of the Battle of the Bastards, and the proclamation of the North's fealty to the Starks once more, Jon and Sansa see the ghosts of their family all-around. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to separate the past from the present when so many that they love are dead. A series of vignettes based around "nostalgia", and Jon & Sansa compared to Ned & Catelyn and the rest of their family.

they say that we’re out of control and some say we’re sinners 14k

Doesn’t have enough time to reminisce on the past because she’s turned around, and he’s seen her face, and it’s her. Can’t be anyone but her even underneath all that smudged dirt on her pale cheeks. Would know the red of her hair anywhere, he thinks. Doesn’t linger on the why, and instead descends down the steps and towards her. She’s turned her body so she’s facing him now, her eyes tracking his every move, his doing the same. They’re so in sync it’s terrifying, really.

Five Kisses 1k by @ben-barnes-is-my-husband

The five kisses that Jon and Sansa have shared.

Undisclosed Desires 4k Nina36

“Why did you stop?” She asked. I was ashamed. He was yours. I was terrified that you saw who I am. He was yours to kill. It was what you needed.

bet you didn't know that i was dangerous 4k by @ladyalice101

“I mean that your brother took a woman to bed, and when he had his way with her, he said your name into her ear over and over again.” // In which Littlefinger tests for Jon's weaknesses, and discovers a secret.

Soiled 5k by @orangeflavoryawp

"'Talk to me, Sansa,' he pleads, voice wavering, and she shuts her eyes to the sound. Like a gale. Like a mountain coming down. This is how it empties from her. 'What do you want me to say?"' she bites out, voice quaking." - Jon and Sansa. The start of their descent.

Dark in Bloom 8k by orangeflavoryawp

"His gravity wavers, the axis of his world tilted to the measure of her lips." - Jon and Sansa. The stain of desire bleeds slowly between them.

Hallowed 5k by orangeflavoryawp

“’Tell me,’ he growls, more demand than he’s ever given her – crown or not – and the feeling is heady in its fervency. Sansa stares him down, mouth a harsh frown. She doesn’t resist his hold, doesn’t ease into it either. ‘He says your affections for me aren’t… brotherly.’” - Jon and Sansa. An encounter with Lord Baelish brings the truth of their desires to light.

but still you stumble, feet give way, outside the world seems a violent place 3k by @parkersedith

When she looks at him, she cannot see anyone other than Jon, especially with him wearing a simple breeches and tunic, divested of all ornaments, even Longclaw. She can only see Jon, not her bastard half-brother, not the King in the North, not the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, not a wildling, but only Jon, the Jon who took Winterfell back with her, the Jon who fought their battle, the Jon who has been there, at her side, ever since she found him again. or; instead of roaming winterfell when she cannot sleep, sansa goes to jon, and to jon's bed. it's not quite as illicit as it sounds, and gives them a chance to finally, truly, talk

In the quiet of the night 4k by @dreams-for-spring

It becomes a habit; each night she unlatches her chamber door, and each night Jon enters just as bashfully as before. Some nights he brings terrible sour wine, and others bitter ale for them to share as they sit around the hearth speaking of everything that has happened–everything except what has passed between him and his black brothers. She knows that is a topic he is not ready to share. Still, she does not find sleep when he leaves, but at least for those brief hours she is not alone, and something small inside of her begins to burn brighter with each night that passes. She tries to ignore the voice that tells her it is hope; hope is a dangerous thing for people like them.

love is more than telling me you want it 2k

When he smiles at her, she feels warmth flooding back into her bones. She’d almost forgotten what it feels like, she’s been cold for so long. Sansa and Jon learn to be something other than ships passing in the night.

Gifsets: Jon Looking at Sansa by jonstarks, Sansa Looking at Jon by baelerion, Forehead Kiss by joanna-lannister, Winter Is Here by kitnjon, Forehead Kiss by c-sand

PRE CANON - WESTERN - FAIRYTALES - REGENCY - LITTLE WOMEN - HOLIDAY - next week -> ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

[kellyvela]

hi!! i'm new to jonsa (just became a fan about a month ago haha!) and i'm not sure who to ask but i found this blog so i sent this message. do you have an idea how big the jonsa fandom is? i feel like tumblr and ao3 are the only websites where jonsa fans can have a safe space (for a lack of a better term i guess). in other websites such as twitter and reddit, it's not only that most people prefer other ships that include jon and sansa (like jonerice for example), jonsa seems actually hated? preferring other ships is one thing but being hated is another. though i guess partly that's because a lot of people hate sansa.

i'm just kind of curious since the community here on tumblr is so good 😭 i'm looking at posts from years ago to recent times and i love the art, the fics, the metas, and everything else. the community seems pretty active still too even if the show ended years ago and we have no idea when/if twow will be released lmao.

anyway, i'm not sure if i can find jonsa enjoyers on twitter and reddit. i think i tried some time ago but i couldn't handle the hate so i didn't try to dig deeper into those places.

¡¡¡WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!!!

I think we are big, used to be bigger, especially during the last 3 seasons of the show.

Some haters even claim that there's a secret jonsa agenda and we have a lot of money and power to change things, like making Sansa Queen in the North or paying producers to make an erotic film with Sophie and Kit as the main couple 🤷‍♀️

Tumblr and AO3 are safe places indeed, Twitter is full of haters but there's some of us there as well.

There are a lot of haters on reddit too, but there are a few pro jonsas as well.

They hated jonsa because we predicted the exact ending of the show, with aunty being the big bad guy and dying at the hands of a Stark.

Also jonsa interferes with sadly popular ships like jonerice, jon x fave sister and the cult of cujo (the hound).

Yes, a lot of people hate Sansa and they don't consider Sansa as a main character, so for her to end with a main character like Jon is almost sacrilege.

Anyways, don't mind the haters and enjoy our ship!

[fromtheseventhhell]

I'm not sure how to get it into people's heads that Arya is a female character. She's not a boy, not nonbinary, trans, agender, or genderless. I don't intend this in a way to be negative or wanky, but her girlhood is imbedded within her character. The problem isn't that Arya stans are missing the point by overemphasizing her femininity and wanting her to be a barefoot tradwife baby making machine, but that we're stating it exists when the majority of fandom and the show itself have gone out of the way to minimize the relevancy of her gender. I'm fully convinced there are a lot of people who think Arya would be the exact same character had GRRM created her as a male character named Arry instead, perhaps they'd do a better job at acknowledging her importance.

What's most ironic to me is how these same fans will gush and coo over the sisters being more alike than we think, but only if it involves giving Arya's characteristics to Sansa. Well acktually, Sansa likes to ride horses just as much as Arya does! They're so alike uwu! But dare acknowledge that Arya has traits and aspects commonly associated to Sansa then not only does that get accusations of wanting Arya to become Sansa, but that it's solely about showing Sansa up and wanting her to grovel in Arya's shadow and superiority 🙄 Hypocrisy and projection showing itself.

Somewhat of an aside, but I recently saw a post on reddit complaining about the fact that all four of Daemon's children survived the Dance specifically focused on the fact that both Rhaena and Baela lived. According to the OP, one of them should've died and their post-war roles in the story should've been given to only one of them. Which at its core is really the main conflict between Sansa and Arya stans, no matter how much the Stansas want to cover their ears and play dumb. It's not about Arya stans projecting their sibling squabbles onto the two of them but simply the fact that it's not possible for two characters to fulfill the same role in the story, specifically when it involves two female characters. The existence of two Stark sisters is an inconvenience for the people who want the story to revolve around Sansa.

I have to believe there's some bubbles that they don't want to admit will burst if TWOW will ever be released and that's why they cling to the idea that Arya stans are the delusional ones. They have to believe that the parts of Sansa's seasons 5-8 storyline they like came from GRRM instead of D&D or else their Jonsa and QITN fantasies will fall apart. I have no idea how someone can watch the scene where Sansa tells Arya she couldn't survive what she had while Arya can only sputter out that she was training and believe 1) it makes sense for their book characters and 2) D&D didn't blatantly favor Sansa and Sophie over Arya and Maisie.

This ask came literally seconds after I drafted a post talking about this exact topic and it's so wild to me that we were both up thinking about Arya + her girlhood and wanting to discuss it 🥹

As for this ask, you really hit the nail on the head. Arya's gender is an essential aspect of her journey but fandom ignores that because they've decided that there's only one "right" way to exist as a female character. Arya's self-esteem issues stem from her being a non-conforming Lady in a misogynistic society, she has to disguise herself as a boy in part because of the threat of sexual violence, in Harrenhal she is assigned gender-specific tasks/labor, political matches are made without her knowledge/consent, she is threatened with sexual violence multiple times, and even her role within the FM is influenced by her gender. Her being non-conforming doesn't mean she's the complete antithesis of everything feminine. The obsession with propping up Sansa has ruined people's ability to perceive complex female characters, ironically including Sansa herself. They genuinely would've respected Arya more if she had died passively rather than fight for her life and you can't tell me that isn't misogyny.

That Reddit post is a great example of how people genuinely can't (or refuse to) comprehend the idea of two female characters occupying the same space. Cause you're right, that is the root of the issue. I think the only reason they bother with the fake "Stark sisters uwu" crap is because they've backed themselves into a faux-feminist corner and they don't want to look hypocritical for disliking Arya. So instead, they pretend to care all while rewriting her to serve as Sansa's prop. This is also why so many Queen!Sansa truthers are also anti-Dany + think that Sansa becoming Queen depends on Dany's downfall. They desperately cling to the show as canon, when D&D have openly admitted they changed the story because they favored Sansa/Sophie. They're fine with how show!Arya is written because to them, that's exactly how she should be; a subservient lapdog for Sansa. TWOW is definitely going to ruin that illusion, and one of the reasons I'm optimistic about it being released is getting to see fandom's reaction.

[agentrouka-blog]

Me in 2019: Show!Jonsa is so fun and moving and tragic! <3

Me in 2024: I am a hater. That little jerk could have spent one solid second actually respecting Sansa other than in the privacy of a one-on-one conversation where he's milking her for validation. Defend her to other people. Name her accomplishments. Actually not blindside her with his decisions and consult her beforehand for effing once. But no. Unpossible. Even handing her the leadership of the North had to be a little public surprise he couldn't have possibly told her about before. Not like Sansa was begging him to include her in the decision-making or anything. Instead, she's the scapegoat for all his insecurities. "Do you have any faith in me at all?" My little loser friend, why should she?? I just... do not want him with Sansa. Unworthy.

[cellsshapedlikestars]

Well, I'm quite curious to see who the ex is and to see how he and the others will interact with Jon and if they will agree to leave on foot.

Have you thought of doing a Jonsa story with them set in the world/s of The Day After Tomorrow, War of the Worlds, Godzilla and/or Cloverfiled? With Jonsa surviving and being together, of course.

So, I don't actually like apocalypse/dystopia stuff haha. Frozen pines is apocalypse-lite. The bad thing, while a threat, is contained, and there's an entire safe continent that they can get to. Does that make sense?

It's funny. I love horror movies, but honestly nothing scares me more than full on, world ending apocalypse stuff. Including zombies/sickness. Not in a jump scare way, but an existential dread sort of way. I can't watch any of it. I remember reading @kittykatknits's Hammerfall a few years back and having that dread the entire time, even though I couldn't stop reading. I don't know if I could write a fic like that tbh

So if you want an apocalypse story, go check out Hammerfall! Or United States of Irreversible Oblivion by @justadram

I can't think of any other Jonsa apocalypse/dystopia fics that I've read

[crimsoncold]

I couldn't decide which version of lighting I liked best for this one so have all 3!

.... and as a bonus have some Jonsa Bedding Fanfiction Recommendations

Closer by  @alczysz17

King Robert Baratheon has found out who Jon Snow's father and mother truly are. Ned fears for his nephew and so a compromise was settled between the former best friends. Jon is to marry Sansa Stark and take the Stark family name. Unfortunately, only finding out they are not siblings only a month earlier, a public bedding ceremony is proclaimed to make sure the marriage is consummated.

Sansa didn’t know what was worse, being wed to a man she once known as brother on her name day, or having her maidenhead taken by a man she once known as brother in front of an audience.

Tell the Ones That Need to Know (We Are Headed North) by @vixleonard

After years of confinement in the Red Keep with Ned prisoner in the black cells, the Dragon Queen comes. With the knowledge that Jon Snow is actually a Targaryen, she agrees to let the Starks return to Winterfell only if Jon marries one of the Stark daughters. Sansa volunteers so they can all go home. Soon she figures out being married to Jon isn't bad but it is complicated.

Lion-Hearted Girl by subjunctive

But in the end, the lords offered her the opposite of what she wanted: they respected her wish to go without a bedding, and every attempt would be made to secure her privacy, including hanging sheets from the bedposts, but they would have an audience on their wedding night nevertheless.

Between love and duty by @captainbee89

“She, however, will not give in,” Myranda stated, squeezing her arm again. “She thinks you are his Visenya, his duty, easily set aside for her, his Rhaenys, or so she believes. She thinks she will win him around in the end. So, you must show her that you will claim him if you must. Like a wolf claims a mate.”

Sansa swallowed, staring at her friend with wide eyes until she exhaled in defeat, the idea of losing Jon giving her courage to ask.

“How?”

Awake My Heart by kat_snow2613

Sensing her nerves, Jon suggest the two of them get some sleep on their wedding night.

Yet Sansa can't seem to fall asleep.

hiraeth by @kingsansa

“You’ll permit me.” He murmured.

It was not a question.

But for reasons she could not understand, she knew she would.

He ran his fingers over her cheek. Along her brow. Underneath her chin. He did not venture underneath her veil. He acted as if he did not need to.

His touch was warm, almost reverent.

When at last, his hand returned to his side, he said, just loud enough for her to hear, “There you are.”

Alayne said nothing, but the breath she released was tremulous. Anticipatory.

Exhilarated.

such simple words (such a complicated truth) by thimbleful

"You don’t have the right name to make men rally behind you, you don’t have any armies nor land or a castle or--”

“No, but I do.” Sansa drops her necklace and Jon shifts in his seat to get away from the twisting sensation in his stomach. He knows where this is going: his depraved dreams come true under the worst possible circumstances.

Jon and Sansa get married and consummate that marriage. That's it. That's the fic.

-Crimson Cold

A Bedding at Winterfell (Jonsa Fanart) by @crimsoncold

"It would not have been so bad being undressed for a man she loved, by friends who loved them both."

Companion piece to my Wedding in the Godwsood set (links to them here- Winter Version, Spring Version).

[cindy-clawford]

[greenhikingboots]

For the Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask : 🥺, 🎢, 💖, 🦅 Thank you🥰

LoulaNorth! Who leaves the most wonderful comments on AO3. Hello, darling! Thanks for the ask. Always fun to play along with these things. This is my Jonsa page, so I'm going to focus on Jonsa fics for these answers. Also my laptop is being wonky, so I couldn't link the post being refrenced. I'll try to remember to add it in the replies later. Here goes! - Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your chaters that never fails to put you in your feels? Oh goodness. I love a good confession of feelings scene. I had a lot of fun with my Jonsa one-shot, A Boy in His Cups, because it's a remaging of Jon's first POV chapter in AGOT, where he already knows the truth about his parnets. Which meant he was super in his feels in that fic. A mix of woe is me self-pity but also self-righteous, I'm better than Joffrey and Sansa should be mine. And pining! Basically, I just love having all that going on at once, in the middle of admitting feelings because -- ah! -- they're so strong the character just can't hold them back anymore. Such fun. - Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride? I'll go with the first Jonsa fic I ever started writing which was called For Better Dreams. It's taken down now, but I hope to eventually rework it and republish it. It was show inspired, a S6-8 fix it of sorts, but as I was writing it I was reading the books for the first time and reading so many amazing metas here on Tumblr. And that sort of made me lose interest in writing about show elements I'm no longer confident will be included in the final books (if they're ever finished). So I quit that fic when it was about 75% done with it even though I was very proud of the quality of writing I'd written. Since I hope to go back to it eventually, I guess that means the wild ride isn't over yet. - What made you start writing? I wrote for a different fandom for 8 or 9 months before I started writing for Jonsa. What made me want to write for that one was a desire to see more fics with a particular element of canon-compliance that I liked but thought was too often overlooked. What made me start writing Jonsa? Nothing too specific I guess. I read a couple one-shots that I liked and was basically like, "Yup! Let me get in on this action!" - Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants? I outline but it's a very loose outline. As I write the chapters in more detail, some pieces get moved, some get removed altogehter, a lot get added. I also relate to GRRM saying he's a "gardener" when he writes -- sometimes I plant little ideas I'm not 100% sure how I'll use later on, but I do it anyway because it makes the characters and their situations more flushed out, which I like. Plus, I've been trying to remind myself that fanfiction is supposed to be fun. Stories don't have to be completlely polished and perfect to be enjoyable for both writers and readers. That's all I got. Thanks so much, Loula. I'm flattered you wanted to know. 🥰

[sailorshadzter]

so @angrykittykrys & i have decided to participate in a daily writing challenge, hoping to elicit some creativity from our brains!!! so here's my first entry. here it is, if you're interested as well!

my first entry is of course, jonsa, but a modern setting. enjoy!

Jon has never been much of a coffee drinker.

Tea either was never really his thing and so this left his flat empty of mugs of any kind. Rather, his cabinets were full of mismatched plastic cups and one wine glass he doesn't remember buying. And so, after the first few mornings of waking up and running herself down to the coffee shop just three doors down, Jon decided to do something.

He still remembers that first day she had stopped by after work; this had become their usual routine, her staying over at least three nights a week, if not more. Little by little, her things had begun to find their way into his place. Her hairbrush on the counter, her favorite wine in the refrigerator, even a shirt in the laundry. By then, he had been contemplating asking her just to move in, but after just six short months dating, he wondered if he was moving too fast. And so, he'd not asked her that day, but rather, before returning home that day, had stopped by the shopping mall to find her a coffee pot. Not just that, but a mug to go along with it, one just for her. On the side was some dumb, cheesy saying about rising and grinding, but he knew it would make her laugh, so it came along with the new coffee pot. One last stop that day had been to the supermarket, so he could spend ten anxiety riddled minutes picking out the coffee grounds.

When he'd gotten home, he'd set to work setting the thing up. Again, not being a coffee drinker, he'd never brewed a cup in his life- but it couldn't be that hard. And so, with a quick Google search (because who reads the included instructions?) he'd figured it out and had a pot of coffee brewing when she came through the door.

What is that? She'd asked, sniffing. Is that coffee? Her eyes had lit up, her dimples appearing when she grinned, dropping her bags onto the floor. He'll never forget that look on her face that day, a woman always before let down, a woman who had sworn to him she would never trust again... A woman who had cried because he brought her home a coffee pot and a cheesy mug to go along with it.

It's been several months since that day and the coffee pot is well used, the mug well worn. Truth was, he'd begun to buy her a new mug for any occasion- her birthday, the day she's finally moved in, their first anniversary, and sometimes just because. But that first one... It was her favorite one and he thinks most often he imagines her with her beautiful hands cupped around it.

On this particular morning, he's washing dishes.

She's asleep in their bedroom and he smiles to himself, thinking of her in there, wrapped in nothing but their sheets. But the dishes had been piling up, so he woke up early so he could tackle those and take out the garbage, two less things for her to think about that day. He would head off to work later in the morning, but not before they shared breakfast, their daily ritual since the very beginning.

He picks up her mug then, the one she's had since that first day and he begins to wash it. When he rinses away the suds, he finds there's still yet a faint, but coffee colored stain upon the white ceramic. And so he washes it again... And again... Until he realizes it's a stain. A permanent stain. He knows it's dumb, but that stain is a reminder, a beautiful, wonderful reminder of what he has. Of what they have. So he smiles, rinsing it one last time before he sets it aside so it might dry.

Jon smiles; he's happy, he's content, and he begins to brew a pot of coffee.

[leesielex]

Lol. And yet I spoke in general about your post and didn't make the attack personal. You decided to do that. Making my name the hash tag, calling all Dany Stan's deranged, parading around that pol Jon was a thing but they abandoned it. You're right that I did misunderstand that you were speaking of show only and I apparently wrongfully assumed it had to do with the books as well. So I apologize for that, because I literally see these posts all the time in the tag that use this pol Jon argument to be Sansa's lapdog in the books, and using the show to prove it. Jon in the books is political, he is dark, much darker than Dany at least but obviously not as dark as villians of the story. But Jon is also not stupid, and he would never forsake his honor in such a gross way in the books. I think you also misunderstood that I was DEFENDING JON's character. And I realize the show isn't the same as the books. Unfortunately many people do not realize that, so again I apologize for that.

You speak of all these unwritten rules of tmblr and how I am a bully, but then you are acting the same way, name calling and acting an innocent victim while my dms and posts have been full of Stansas and Jonsas since my first post on Daenerys when all I did back then was keep to myself and post my 3 favorite asoiaf characters. It was them that began coming after me constantly. In my posts and my dms. And here you are, not trying to teach me this unwritten rule I didn't know about. Not trying to be the bigger person. Instead, you are pompous, insulting and "bullying" as well. So I guess you have no problem being on that level. I apologize I misunderstood your post or that you took it so personally.

Also, I didn't tell you that you couldn't like a character, Jesus Christ I swear people take things way too seriously and assume way too much. Tho I suppose I'm no better since I assumed you were using the show to prove POL Jon/Sansa were a thing because it's literally the thing that has been going on recently in Jonsa fandom that keeps popping up in the anti Jonsa tag because tumblr can't figure out how to keep the tags separate if an anti is included anywhere. But I digress. I still feel like you are backtracking because I def do not even understand the point of trying to prove something was supposed to happen in a show that has been over for 5 years that they supposedly scrapped, by using a scene that didn't involve either character you are using the scene to say this is definitely what happened even tho there isn't any actual evidence that showed what happened: do you not understand that is... I'm trying not to insult you here, so I don't even know how to say that without you thinking I'm being a "bully"... but like... I can do that with every scene to fit what I want. That is the problem I have with this type of "proof" or "analysis". I can make up anything I wish to be true or for it to happen and pick out a scene of two completely different characters that would work and say, see here is my proof; this happened with these two characters and if I just trade them for say Jon and Dany then my headcanon is totally proven: that is.... just not how media analysis works. And if it's scrapped well then, pregnant Dany and the fire burning down KL was originally green for wildfire was also a thing that was scrapped before the final cuts... sooo.:. Then Dany wasn't just evil and it was originally Cersei and/or the Mad King that blew up KL, and Dany by accident so Pol Jon I guess wasn't a thing? Or it was a pol Jon that did use Dany and go against everything Ned Stark and the North stood for.

Did you know they cut that? That it was originally green wildfire on the story boards? That Emilia did not in fact know the extent of burning they had her do before she was at a watch party with her fans watching it with them? That even after in the behind the scenes interviews she says she wasn't mad or evil, she was greiving, had lost everything she cared for etc.? So yeah, she can draw inspiration from a member of history that was unsavory and not known for being good, but that isn't the entire picture either.

Where the heck did you get that before season 8 was filmed they flew out to GRRM for days to discuss the final season? That is complete horseshit. GRRM has said several times now that he was not consulted after season 3! And during season 3 is when they asked him how it ended and he said he "gave them the board strokes". He has more recently said and reiterated the more he writes the further away it gets from season 8. Sadly, on that point; you are just wrong and completely misinformed. GRRM was already upset and arguing with D&D for leaving out Lady Stoneheart and the storyline they chose for Sansa. Sansa especially. All these years later D&D have nvr said anything about GRRM giving them the ending other than "king bran; Hodor, and burning of Shireen."

Yes, I usually SS posts because I am allowed to do that, it's on the internet. 🙄Do people actually come to dms to do that? Because mine are only filled with harassment or friends or bots. I started SS when the hate was so bad and they were SS every Dany post to call her hitler Barbie and photoshop Sansa stomping her dead body in throne room, and make Jon some stupid lucky that just did anything Sansa told him. And Sansa is written as this ungrateful conniving person but "smart" more like Cersei and Littlefinger, and I love those characters and they are so horribly misunderstood and miswritten based on the show and people's headcanon: so yes I will defend them:

I am already accosted by Stansas and Jonsas minding my own business. So you can go on about me and other Dany Stan's being bullies, but it's not one-sided by any means. Even on our tag in fanfics on ao3 we constantly have Jonsas leaving anon hate comments on stories Sansa is her best friend or Hand of the King/Queen. Most of us "Dany Stans" actually LOVE book Sansa. But most of us were minding our own business until we got sick of the hate and started defending the books and characters since we were harassed either way.

And here you could have decided to take the high road since even I admitted I apparently misunderstood that you were speaking of show only and you knew that from your post. I did read the entire post so I don't know why you think I didn't. There is an obvious reason I wrongly assumed if you are on here any decent amount of time at all and see other Stansa/Jonsa posts. But I'll admit I was wrong. But you didn't take the high road, instead you decided to be "bullying" and insulting right back, you didn't try my dms, and in fact you added my name as a tag to the post too. I wonder if you can admit to your wrongdoings when you look up that in fact you are wrong that GRRM did not give them the entire ending and hash out the entire season 8 for days with them as I admit I was wrong?

So I will publicly apologize for my wrong assumption and I will even apologize for how harsh I was in certain parts. Some days I'm so sick of all the harassment and hate, I do give it right back and don't take the high road myself. Sadly you were an innocent victim to my explosion as your post just hit me wrong with my wrong assumption of it's purpose. I still completely disagree with the dishonest way of "proving" pol Jon but you are free to write whatever you want, just as I am free to reblog that that is not a proper way to analyze and prove two completely different characters storyline.

Btw, I didn't say you CANT like those characters, I was speaking to at least admit you don't like the book characters because the way people rewrite the book characters into their own headcanon to where they aren't even recognizable and claim to love that character is gross and shows they don't actually understand or like those characters as they rewrite them to fit their narrative. I still feel you did that a bit with this pol Jon thing, but at least you aren't using it to rewrite the book characters and pass that analysis off as happening in the books as well because I see that happen constantly.

Honestly, I don't like any GOT characters from season 8. They are all a hot mess or terrible writing, tho the actors weren't to blame as they did brilliantly with the crap material they were given. And if you like those characters then you are free to like them. Since you were trying to pass them off as the same in the books then that comment wasn't even to you. Ya know that saying, if it don't apply let it fly. Like you calling me deranged. Lol. I know I'm not so I don't care that you stooped to "bullying" as you said I was. Because yeah, I am a big girl and I don't care at all what someone on the internet says about me or my posts.

Honestly, I am a little flabbergasted because usually people double down and never admit they didn't read the entirety of books so they aren't speaking to the books at all. So I commend you for your honesty on that.

Finally, I will reiterate that I apologize for the harsh tone and words, for assuming you were a Jonsa since all the Jonsa are trying to show Pol! Jon! Currently in similar manners to you, tho there was no evidence of that. Your post was not Jonerys but anti-Jonerys so let's point that out. But I was wrong for that and that I assumed you were speaking about book Jon, who is ACTUALLY political.

I still think it's a gross misrepresentation to say Jon would be that evil and deceitful. Someone who would do that to someone that has just saved their life, said they would fight for their country and home at great Sacrifice for them and their people, is not a good person whatever reasons one thinks justify it. Just like Dany isn't a good person when she decided to kills thousands of innocents. Even more so when he ended up not doing anything with that except help drive her to kill those people with his poor treatment and then kill her when it was too late for all those she already killed. But if that's what you want to believe makes him a great politician. You are welcome to it. Just as anyone is welcome to reblog and respond and disagree.

Jonerys Was A Game of Faces: More Evidence That Pol!Jon Was A Thing

Literally the scene before Jon bends the knee in 7x06:

This scene happens right after Dany watches as Jon's men undress him and sees the stab wounds from when Jon died.

Then we see Sansa sneaking into Arya's room and the first thing she sees after closing the door is a knife.

Then when Arya catches her rummaging around, Arya tells her about the Game of Faces she used to play while training to be a Faceless Man before she got her first Face:

"Back in Braavos, before I got my first Face, there was a game I used to play. A Game of Faces. It's simple, I ask you a question about yourself and you try to make a lie sound like the truth. If you fool me, you win. If I catch a lie, you lose. Let's play."

Sansa: "I don't want to play."

Arya: "How do you feel about Jon being King? Is there someone else you think should rule the North instead of him?"

Sansa: "Those faces...what are they?"

Arya: "Would you like to do the asking? Are you sure? The Game of Faces didn't turn out so well for the last person who asked me questions."

Sansa: "Tell me what they are."

Arya: "We both wanted to be other people when we were younger. You wanted to be a queen, to sit next to a handsome young king on the Iron Throne. I wanted to be a Knight, to pick up a sword like Father and go off to battle. Neither of us got to be that other person, did we? The world doesn't just let girls decide what they're going to be. But I can now. With the Faces, I can choose. I can become someone else. Speak in their voice, live in their skin. I can even become you." *she picks up the dagger* "I wonder what it would feel like to wear those pretty dresses. To be the Lady of Winterfell. All I'd need to find out is your face." *she hands the dagger to Sansa (indicating she's lost) & walks away*

Very next scene:

Jon comes to and finds Dany sitting right there, staring at him. He sees that she's upset and immediately begins to apologize, saying he wishes that they'd never gone. He even reaches for her hand to take in his. His body is covered except for the heart stab wound. And then what follows?

Dany tells him that she doesn't wish that, because now she's seen. She agrees to help him fight the NK because of what happened to Viserion. (meaning she's still not committed for the right reason which means things can still change, especially with someone who is impulsive) He thanks her, calling her Dany. She likens him to Viserys because that was who last called her Dany. "Not the company you want to keep."

"Alright. Not Dany. How about My Queen?" (this will come into play later in a near future post)

"I'd, um, bend the knee, but..." (notice how he looks away from her during this line; in the very same season he tells Sansa that Ned always said every word after 'but' was horseshit)

"They'll come to see you for what you are."

The very same music "See You For What You Are" plays later in 8x06 when Jon and Dany have that glare off on the steps in KL.

And in the scene before this (Arya and Sansa's scene), they make sure to show us Sansa seeing the dagger first (which connects her to Jon and that he took a dagger to the heart, the very wounds Dany was just ogling), Arya startles Sansa who immediately mentions that she has hundreds of men loyal to her ("but they're not here, are they?"), Arya begins the Game of Faces despite Sansa Jon not wanting to play, asks Sansa what she thinks of Jon as King (right before he's about to bend the knee?) and who should rule the North (something that Dany and Jon have been debating over), subtly threatens Sansa Jon and then switches the game around, she talks about how she wanted to be a different person as did Sansa (remember Dany trying to emulate Rhaegar at one point?) but neither of them got to be (Dany turned out to be nothing like Rhaegar except for the obsession with the prophecy/destiny thing), Arya threatens Sansa & and loses the game while Sansa Jon wins, and Arya walks away leaving Sansa Jon holding the dagger in his hand.

Not only is this incredible foreshadowing for what's coming down the pipe in the next season, but they're also purposely linking all of this together to show us one thing: in a way, Jon is playing the Game of Faces with Dany. Dany fell in love with Jon and despite her growing paranoia and distrust of him once she knew the truth about his parentage, he was the one able to get close enough to end her tyranny, the one she didn't supposedly see coming. Dany also wasn't able to fool Jon or Sansa or Arya or Bran or anyone else up North on who she really was and what she was. Even most of Westeros wasn't fooled into thinking she was this great Savior Queen that they wanted back on the IT. (Olenna, Ellaria, and Yara all joined her for revenge; only Yara showed any bit of buying Dany's sales pitch & that was more due to her feelings about the woman & the "promised" independence than anything) Dany was only ever able to use her "Faces" to fool others: Breaker of Chains, Mhysa, Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi. And things didn't turn out well for those who didn't "bend the knee" aka believe that image asked her questions.

Jon played the Game of Faces (even though he didn't want to) and won in the end. Do I think he was playing it maliciously? No. I think like Arya confirms in 8x04, he did whatever it took to get Dany and her dragons North to fight the NK. And since Sansa could easily see what Dany was and didn't want to play (until that convo in 8x02 but it was quickly dashed by Dany's anger at Sansa's asking about the North), after the NK had been defeated, he did whatever it took to keep Dany placated (and she was family to him) and keep Sansa safe (since Sansa was the only real threat left to her in Winterfell by Dany's own words in 8x04), as well as becoming a prisoner of Dany's because of her knowing who he really is.

It was all a Game of Faces.

I know people didn't care for this scene between Arya and Sansa at casual glance because it felt very OOC and some Sansa fans were upset at Arya for threatening her, but this is exactly why that scene is sandwiched between the Jon/Dany boat scenes, and why these two characters were chosen as the players to speak that dialogue. Sansa and Jon are connected in more ways than one here, never mind in the series. It makes sense that Arya would be the one to (hopefully) teach Sansa and the audience about this game and what it actually would mean for Jon's bending the knee and submitting to Dany. As well as his answer to Cersei's proposal in the next episode. Personally, I think it went over a lot of GA's heads (as we saw from some of their reactions to Dany going dark at all in the next season), but it was there.

And they even made sure to call back to that line Jon says to Sansa in 7x01 (another connection between them btw besides those mentioned above & the Prisoner theme) as an overt reference in and of itself.

This is proof in the pudding that pol!Jon was very much a thing. They just didn't execute it 100% correctly, and they abandoned it in the eleventh hour for whatever reason. But it's all right there.

[princess-in-a-tower]

Yess I agree with that post about D*ckon. Love the Jonsa fam and all they do but I really hated his addition and the whole d*cksa thing that went around in Jonsa fics. Legit couldn't read fics that included it!

Tbh the additon of ships like D*icksa and J*imsa in jonsa fics is something that personally turns me off, so I don’t read them. I tried in the beginning, but it just wasn’t for me. Same for j*nerys or any other Jon and Sansa pairing. I’m a strictly jonsa kind of person I guess. I’m sure there are plenty of people who enjoy those ships in their jonsa though, so kudos to the awesome writers who write about them 💖 💖 💖

[esther-dot]

I'm the 2011/2013 Tumblr anon, and this is kind of embarrassing to admit but I'm also the original Dune anon, if that gives you any idea of my fandom background. (*/ω＼*) I've been in fandom since I was probably eleven or twelve, so fandom is basically home to me lol. I was always more of a sci-fi fan than a fantasy fan growing up, and so it wasn't until GOT I heard of the books; I'd never been a fan of the show, and I was impartial at best to the books. (At school, I knew classmates were reading them--- but for full context, I was a nerd disliked by other nerds for being too weird, so I wanted nothing to do with Tolkien/GRRM lol). I still have a bone to pick with GRRM (and this is partly what limits my participation) and in the case of my regular fandom, I'm very much used to isolation lol. (It's alt-right trolls who have a problem with me... sigh. Imagine a ship like Jonsa which redeems the books' thematic ideas and that's my situation).

I actually was familiar with the Sansa/Sandor ship long before I was interested in either media, because of the shipping circles I run in. Going from that lack of context to the context revealed in the actual books was very weird, because they seem like extremely disparate concepts. If you take Sansa/Sandor scenes and rearrange things, including the numbers in Sansa's age, it does feel like a powerfully violent BatB rendering with a dash of medieval pseudorealism; he's no prince and the romance is impossible, but perhaps he could be her knight or guardian in an unconsummated chaste romance or secret affair etc. It made me really rethink some of the ships I was interested in, and why, and where my tastes diverged from people I usually trusted. I am much less interested in ship archetypes by themselves than how those are enshrined in the narrative/themes at stake. It's also just interesting to me that Jonsa is an arguably truer, redeeming rendering of BatB, or a revisitation of that theme--- which GRRM is interested in, Sansa/Sandor fans are correct about that, but I think it's foreshadowing a future arc for her. Surely all the BatB exploration is being set up for something big?

So how did I find Jonsa.... well, it was a consequence of reading the books lol, though I imagine many people would say the show was illuminating (which is no condemnation that antis think it is). My interest in the books was primarily piqued through the show's ending--- I came to things rather late, but I'm thankful for that, considering that it seems like some of the best fandom discourse has taken place since then. I was mostly interested in it for the purposes of comparison of adaptation, which I find very interesting, and because I find predicting endgames in general very fun albeit painful. I watch a lot of things just to see what my instinctual feeling is because I like practising my narrative divination. I like engaging with storytelling! But I do have a mechanical fascination with it as well. I think this motivated my sending an ask about Dune to both you and transdimensional-void, mostly because the thing that often leads me in the right direction is getting a 'feeling' for the tone of something--- sometimes even beyond pure narrative reasoning. Lol

You'd ordinarily think the show would be offputting to a Jonsa theory (and this is a major spanner in the works, although I do kind of only semi-ironically believe they paired Jon with D/aenerys because E/milia Clarke is shorter than Kit H/arrington, where S/ophie is too tall, which they couldn't have predicted before being informed about a potential Jonsa resolution--- when in doubt, assume stupidity) but Jonsa is also deliciously ironic and tragic even if redeemed through an actual marriage (and we have so many weddings, over and over, that a symbolic redemption of Rhaegar/Lyanna's wound is basically being begged for--- Lyanna is realised in many ways in the story, through both Arya and Sansa... but it makes sense they'd redeem two sides to Lyanna, the wild wolfgirl and the girl married to a dragon. The wound inflicted through Rhaegar's absconding with Lyanna has to be redeemed, whether that is positively or shirking the possibility of a Lyanna/Rhaegar union altogether, so the door is open for tragic Jonsa in my eyes. These types of narrative questions are what I look out for when predicting narrative resolutions and is what led to me to seriously consider Jonsa). I was meditating on this recently because people were asking whether Cat and Ned would approve, and the marriage is only possible because they're dead. A Jon/Sansa arrangement is only possible because they have lost the people they loved most, and perhaps--- like I've seen suggested!--- it might even drive Arya away. As a writer, that, to me, is how you make Ned and Catelyn's deaths in the story echo in a bittersweet way. It's good storytelling. It goes beyond 'and we re-enact the lessons of parents' which is the normal way you'd realise parental remembrance and legacy. And something tells me GRRM isn't interested in predictability. Unless you've read Gothic literature.

So, beyond Jonsa I'm very interested in the reasoning underpinning the show's derivations, and in my case I'm much more interested in Jonsa in the books than the show (that wasn't really what did it), though in the case of the show, I'm interested in where you can potentially see reflections of a book dynamic. But so much of the adaptation is muddied that it's hard to parse, and I'm really not sure how much of GRRM's suggestions they truly had versus what they stuck to. If they knew they needed 'a Jon romance', in the same way as they needed Robb to break his wedding pact with the Freys, but supplemented Talisa, what was motivating their decisionmaking? D/aenerys was the selling star of the show and basically the face of it, and the face of the merchandise and the cultural conversation etc. (which is why they made her death punishing--- the storytelling is so spiteful, and normally I'm a villain apologist through and through, but this case was particularly egregious) and it would seem silly not to give her a romance, because how can you write important female characters without romance? Now, I'm a perennial romance apologist, but the thinking here, to me, seems rather suspicious. So, I think what's special about ASOIAF right now is we've got a theoretical ending through the show, but where does that translate to the books? And where does the fandom get it wrong, and where do they get it right? The historic ubiquity of Sansa/Sandor, and many other fandom trends (e.g. D/aenerys is the rightful ruler, or tragic heroine, and so on) is kind of like honey to me, because all of those theories were completely blown out of the water by the show, but critically--- critically--- there's still room for expansion in the book for other directions. I was put off by simplistic interpretations of the books that floated around and when I read them the fandom characterisation, crossplatform, was actually shocking to me.

Since you asked--- and I'm terribly sorry--- I have a lot of feelings about when TWOW may or may not come out, not just because of anticipation, but because GRRM's authorial struggle is hard to watch through the eyes of fandom. The condemnation of his procrastination, his apparent carelessness--- that he 'took the money and ran'--- the hopelessness--- it's very hard to watch, and what I wonder is how he feels as a writer. Releasing TWOW will lead him into the final endgame, and he'll have to say goodbye to his magnum opus. That is very hard, beyond the show sailing ahead, and beyond anything else. It also gets to me in a personal way (which no one else can help!) because I am a writer trying to finish a long work, and I'm literally at the equivalent point GRRM is, and--- although he's a celebrated published author, and I'm writing for the sole joy of it--- I think that there is probably something fundamentally similar there, which is that holy fuck it's hard. It doesn't matter how much you know what you need to do, doing it is hard, and writing itself is actually an extremely difficult task. And by writing that means formulating ideas, as well as actual finger to DOS machine.

Writing sometimes is kind of like trying to paint a person, except you've never seen a human being before.

But I think that if GRRM is really committed to his bittersweet romanticism, he can pull off a goodbye, lol. And as much as I quibble with his narrative ethos and sometimes he makes me tear my hair out, I want to see him complete his work, because I think every single author deserves that. And because I think that at a minimum, for something like ASOIAF, the legacy of its ending ought to be his final say. I can't speak to his actual psyche but I do fully believe if he can publish TWOW, he can do ADOS. My observation is that TWOW is structurally much more difficult than ADOS, and I think that's one of many reasons he's been dragging his heels, long before the show caught up. Once he gets to the victory lap of ADOS, he will probably have both a professionally and emotionally easier time in terms of having to finish it. TWOW merges the split threads of AFFC and ADWD, whereas ADOS will only have to follow through (touch wood) on the one book, where many perspectives and their storylines will have converged--- at some point, we may have Sansa, Jon, and Brienne all unified! Which resolves character goals as well as being more economic with POV distribution. This is the angle I find very interesting because I think the way he uses character chapters to establish context and meaning beyond pure character is actually genius and rarely done so well in genre fiction, and I'm completely envious of it. (This is also why Jon/Sansa makes so much sense).

This is a terribly long ask so please don't feel the need to respond line by line, lol. I think I got a little excited! Having a positive fandom interaction is so nice. It's really weird that fandom has become such a polarised place (I mean, we had ship wars, but people kept to themselves more), and you're lucky Jonsa is your first fandom--- well, outside of the anti-Jonsas--- because I think it's a lovely place.

This goes for any Jonsa reading it: thank you all for literally keeping me sane. 🥰🥰🥰🥰 If I may ask, Esther, I think you've said that you came to Jonsa through the show then the books--- what drew you to Tumblr fandom? I'm always interested in how people find fandom!

Dune, anon! I'll tag @transdimensional-void because your convo about it did make me finally watch Dune (although I still don't think I'll read the book, sorry!), but the film was gorgeous. I didn't realize the director was Villeneuve. He always has very interesting projects and arresting visuals. Arrival was such a surprising take on an alien movie and it has really stayed with me. I think he has exquisite pacing, too.

Well now I’m even more concerned about the attempted doxing! Horrifying. The internet can be a wonderful thing, but I swear, it brings out the absolute worst in people.

I totally get what you mean about S*nsan seemingly being a BatB thing, but I’ve suggested before that it’s more in line with one of the old monster movies or even King Kong which love to pair something terrifying with a beautiful woman or little girl. It doesn’t mean romance, it’s the juxtaposition of extremes, raw power being stopped by beauty, violence being calmed by gentleness. There’s that line at the end of King Kong, “It was beauty killed the beast.” IMO, the beast and beauty idea is certainly there for the Hound and Sansa, I just don't think it's Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It's a highly romanticized idea, but not a romance in the way we use the term now.

My parents are both huge readers, not really into novels. My dad liked The Hobbit and LOTR tho, and got really into doing dramatic readings of those at bedtime for us kids. I remember The Hobbit the best because he’d make up tunes for all the songs and sing them. They’re very nostalgic for me, that love extends to the LOTR movies, but made it impossible for me to sit through the Hobbit adaptation. Anyway, I read a few sci fi and fantasy books, but I never really got into it. My little sister on the other hand luuuuurrrvs fantasy and she was the one who got me to watch GoT (I’d heard of the books, hadn’t read them) together, but then we ended up living in different states and she decided that it should be our thing to avoid spoilers and only watch the show when we got together. So, we were always running behind from that point on, but we made it through s5 that way. Eventually we just didn’t have the time to do that, and she was so disgusted with s5 she was happy to drop it completely--never watched another episode. I was too invested to stop, so I watched s6-7 myself and was simply appalled by the characterization of Jon. It made me get online for GoT content for the first time. This was in 2018. I saw that Martin gave interviews saying the show’s ending would be his ending, so I a) sped read the books, b) started listening to some of his interviews, c) saw the term “Jonsa” for the first time in the comments of one.

It took nothing to get me onboard because Jon and Sansa were my favorites, I really loved their scenes together, I hated everything after they separated in s7, and I read a lot of 19th century lit as a teenager, so cousin marriage didn't even strike me as weird in the historical context. I can't remember which meta it was I read first, one of Fedon's or blindestspot's prediction of a Jonsa reunion and marriage from 2013, but I got on tumblr and was totally sucked into the fandom.

“I do kind of only semi-ironically believe they paired Jon with D/aenerys because E/milia Clarke is shorter than Kit H/arrington, where S/ophie is too tall”  — I’m screaming. D&D @ Kit: "Sorry buddy, if you didn’t want your character to fall in love with a mass murdering tyrant you should have kept growing." lmaooooo.

“Jonsa is also deliciously ironic and tragic even if redeemed through an actual marriage (and we have so many weddings, over and over, that a symbolic redemption of Rhaegar/Lyanna's wound is basically being begged for--- Lyanna is realised in many ways in the story, through both Arya and Sansa... but it makes sense they'd redeem two sides to Lyanna, the wild wolfgirl and the girl married to a dragon. The wound inflicted through Rhaegar's absconding with Lyanna has to be redeemed, whether that is positively or shirking the possibility of a Lyanna/Rhaegar union altogether, so the door is open for tragic Jonsa in my eyes.” --You put this so beautifully. I wish you'd get a side blog and post that in the Jonsa tag, I love it!

One of the major puzzles to me is how the fandom all know just how much the text talks to itself, it's notably self-referential, so the way they dismiss the idea of Rhaegar's son and a Stark girl romance...I have a really hard time believing they don't see the logic there, how it would bring things full circle. The way they treat S*nsan as "practically canon" while calling Jonsa a crack ship when we have that hanging over our heads is a little incomprehensible.

“I was meditating on this recently because people were asking whether Cat and Ned would approve, and the marriage is only possible because they're dead. A Jon/Sansa arrangement is only possible because they have lost the people they loved most, and perhaps--- like I've seen suggested!--- it might even drive Arya away.” --I agree with this too. I am very struck by how NedCat, some of the best people and one of the best relationships Martin offers, has this pain and tragedy written into their love. That's a big reason why I can't quite get on board with an easy resolution to Jonsa, because Martin is just drawn to conflict which is why his characters and story is so compelling, but also makes me think, there will be layers to Jonsa, some real pain there.

“And something tells me GRRM isn't interested in predictability. Unless you've read Gothic literature.” — I once posted a list of gothic lit tropes and he’s included all of them. But Gothic heavily influenced horror, and ASOIAF has horror elements, so that isn't totally surprising when you think about it. It still amuses me though!

It’s definitely a real struggle to see the sense behind D&D’s choices but when I was reading an interview looking for a specific quote, I did see that even in 2011 Martin was saying he knew the endgames, which is a) comforting for Sansa ending up safely in Winterfell purposes, b) reassuring for Dark Dany believers, c) hilarious when you think about how many people are still pissed about Arya and Bran’s fates. And Jon? Well, I’ve made my peace with a tragic ending (although I’ve mocked it a great deal too because I can't see how it works), but we all know they fucked him over the most in s7-8, so I could also see D&D trashing what his ending was meant to be in favor of catering to Targ fans. Apparently Emilia has recently reiterated her frustration that Jon “got away” with killing Dany, so like…imagine the rage if he’d killed Dany and then got a HEA in Winterfell. 

My feeling is that Martin told them Jon would kill Dany and they chose to do "the romance" (which imo, they didn't like because the way they wrote and filmed it and permitted Kit to act it just...sabotaged it in every way imaginable) to make it more palatable to her fans who ate it up. They actually are comforted that Jon "loved" Dany and after s8 dropped pics/gifs of him cradling her dead body into our tag bragging that he loved her. Like, D&D made really crappy choices, but I think it was about manhandling their audience while hitting Martin's plot points they knew the Targ fans would hate, not a result of them throwing out the endgames.

“ The condemnation of his procrastination, his apparent carelessness--- that he 'took the money and ran' --I’m not a Martin defender, I have real reservations with some of his choices, but I have family his age and do try to think of him as a person. I find a lot of how people speak of him...well, I have no issue with people being frustrated we don't have TWOW considering how long ago he said he'd finish it (like, back in 2016) and how often since then he's indicated getting close to the end only for it to then sound like he's quite a ways away. As long as people don't harass him, I don't think it's an issue to talk about this in fandom spaces. However, they often sound ignorant of what it takes to write something like ASOIAF, with all the levels he's trying to work on. Also, his writing style sounds like a total nightmare? The idea of tearing things up to fix them seems hopeless to me, and he’s talked about doing this repeatedly—it would be so hard to finish a chapter or several and then realize, nope, gotta rework all of it.

“because I am a writer trying to finish a long work, and I'm literally at the equivalent point GRRM is, and--- although he's a celebrated published author, and I'm writing for the sole joy of it--- I think that there is probably something fundamentally similar there, which is that holy fuck it's hard.” --Oh ho ho! Well, you know that’s gonna make me have all sorts of questions, so if you want to tell me about your work (genre, tome or series, influences, themes etc) I am all ears, but I also know some writers have to keep all that to themselves until they’re done so I won’t pry. Although, because of our exchanges, I would be interested in how you use romance in your own writing.

“writing itself is actually an extremely difficult task” // “Writing sometimes is kind of like trying to paint a person, except you've never seen a human being before.” —dead! I think the issue is, many people don’t distinguish between types of writing? So someone doesn’t distinguish between the goal and what say, a modern romance is attempting to accomplish versus a Jane Austen novel. They might end the evaluation at "like or didn't" and not grasp what all goes into different types of novels, their individual successes or failures, and why some novelists can complete multiple novels in a year, another might spend a few years on one. I think about this a lot when I see people suggest Martin get some ghost writers, and like, this man isn’t churning out genre fiction (which I love, I was a snob as a teen and cured myself, but it is an entirely different kind of writing!), so it's just...a lot of fans totally misjudge the effort required and how easily replicated the work would be.

“I think that at a minimum, for something like ASOIAF, the legacy of its ending ought to be his final say” --I find it incredibly sad every year that goes by and the chance of him completing his series dwindles. People forget that what holds sway over a culture doesn’t always have staying power and a) I think his work is doomed to being forever misinterpreted unless he finishes and b) I don’t think he’ll have accomplished what he wanted to regarding elevating fantasy / getting it the respect he believes it deserves unless he gets to that ending. It's a shame.

I enjoyed reading all your thoughts on Jonsa, the ideas it touches on and how GoT/ASOIAF might differ. Thank you!

[kellyvela]

Hi! I'm reading Fire & Blood and there's something I couldn't take out of my head and is the visit that Jacaerys did to Cregan Stark in Winterfell. I will put the quotes to go to the point.

"After drinking and hunting together, the pair swore an oath of brotherhood, sealed in blood"

I'm very intrigued by the way Jacaerys and Cregan sealed this alliance because till this moment no Targaryen has sealed an oath with blood and I don't know if this is something that is done more in the North or if it's kind of a special pact. They didn't do something like this with anyone else so this oath has any special meaning or weight?

"Jacaerys ultimately gained the north through the Pact of Ice and Fire, (called like that by Munkun) promising that if he were to have children, his firstborn daughter would be betrothed to Cregan's heir, Rickon Stark."

I don't know if this had been already debated but, it's possible that Rhaegar had found and learned about this pact and thought to fulfill it by taking Lyanna as wife?

Even though we could think it wasn't necessary since the pact was made by Jacaerys, promising his future kid, which he never got the chance to have cause he died, maybe Rhaegar still thought that a pact sealed in blood, Targaryen and Stark blood should be fulfilled.

I may be stating the obvious and this has been already talked but I follow pages that are pro Sansa or jonsa and I have not seeing this until I read the book and I don't know if I just missed it or it is because it's obvious or this has no importance at all in R+L=J or GOT.

I wanted to share this cause I have nobody to talk about this lol... and because I wanted to know your thoughts or to know if there is any theory about this, also if any jonsa or pro Sansa wants to share their opinion I would love to know your thoughts.

Hello @winter-love!

In the north, the worshippers of the Old Gods practiced human sacrifices to the weirwood trees.

In the prequel show House of the Dragon, Daemon and Rhaenyra will marry in some Valyrian ritual which includes their own blood. They will cut and join their bleeding hands.

Now, about this passage:

Munkun’s True Telling says that Cregan and Jacaerys took a liking to each other, for the boy prince reminded the Lord of Winterfell of his own younger brother, who had died ten years before. They drank together, hunted together, trained together, and swore an oath of brotherhood, sealed in blood. This seems more credible than Septon Eustace’s version, wherein the prince spends most of his visit attempting to persuade Lord Cregan to give up his false gods and accept the worship of the Seven.

I think "sealed in blood" refers to Prince Jacaerys Velaryon and Sara Snow marriage and consummation, and also the fact that the Pact included another marriage in the future. Because with Jace and Sara's marriage Cregan and Jace became brothers, and with the future marriage of Rickon and Jace's daughter, their blood would have joined again.

It is very possible that Rhaegar found some old scroll about this Pact of Ice and Fire, and since apparently the Targaryen also called Aegon's dream about the Long Night, the Song of Ice and Fire, both were the same and pursued an union with a maiden of House Stark to fulfill the Pact and the prophecy at the same time, so a son of a Targaryen and Stark blood will be the Prince that was Promised.

I wrote about Jace Velaryon and Sara Snow in this post, and I also cited other posts about it there.

Thanks for your message :)

[fedonciadale]

A lot of Jonsa fans think that Jon sleeping with Dany is just an act to fool her into lending him her help. I myself want to believe it, but I have a feeling it's too OOC for Jon to do such thing. Jon has never been the kind to fool with anyone's feelings. His experience with Ygritte has pained him so much I doubt he would try it again. Jon after all, is very kind and considerate. I'm leaning more on the Dany seducing Jon and he couldn't refuse her. He would totally regret it later tho.

Thanks for the ask. TBH, I’m withholding judgement for the moment. All I will say, that for a romance Jon’s behaviour is slightly off, like stepping back from D@ny, doing an eye roll, while at the same time music, lighting and Davos seemingly push Jon and D@ny together. I think that the theory that Jon plays D@ny can at least explain some of the strange things and I refuse to blame ‘bad writing’ for everything. The show has its faults (Dorne!), but until now they have handled quite well when two people feel attracted. Just look at Robb/Talisa or Myrcella/Trystane. We didn’t need much to realise that this is love.As for sleeping with D@ny because he plays her I think that would indeed be ooc, but so would be dumb Jon who falls for a woman that is the exact opposite of everything he stands for. If you look at episode 2 and Jon’s 'vow of fealty’ to the North, that might be a clue. He would do everything to protect the North, and playing D@ny would be definitely an option. I don’t think that necessarily includes Sex, because Sex would not be needed for an alliance. He might still be attracted although he doesn’t like her, he might just want to bang, he might take a turn towards liking D@ny. One thing I’m sure off is that we won’t know by the end of season 7. The show will leave that particular twist ambiguously open, I mean they want us on the edge of our seats.Another thing is that the original leaker who was very pro-D@ny and pro-Jon€rys was not sure if they are in love by the end of the season.I think that it will probably be multi-layered if they do it right. Thus the inner turmoil that is bound to happen once Jon’s parentage comes out would be very believable.

[cellsshapedlikestars]

Seeing all your cool home updates && half-watching some HGTV w/my mom while drawing had a simple prompt idea if you might be interested! Basically HGTV reno show Jonsa - Sansa is a designer and finally gets a chance for her own show but loses Rob (her #1 contractor) to an injury before filming starts && Jon jumps in (either to help Rob /or/ the studio execs (maybe Targs?) throw him in) and the two have to work together somehow. Idk idk, just wanted to share! <3

ANON.

No, you have no idea, I already HAVE a house reno wip. It's not super long, but... yeah. I've got that.

Here, I'll post what I have written of it, since we CAN'T GET ONTO AO3.

this isn't exactly your prompt, though I do honestly love yours a lot and sort of want to change mine. If I changed mine, the show Sansa works on would definitely be like Rehab Addict, where she restores old homes to their prior state instead of making them "modern"

But mine is sort of similar? This snippet is just the set up and doesn't include the part where Sansa decides to start a youtube channel for her renovations, (a la WabiSabE, which I used to watch and was probably the inspiration for this fic when I first started writing it like a year ago lol), and everyone starts shipping her with her contractor Jon, who she keeps forcing to be in the videos because she can't really make them without him being in it...

.

Sansa winces as her car hits another bump and jolts her in her seat.

“You owe me,” she huffs out, hands tight around the wheel.

“I know, I know,” Robb's voice comes through her sound system and fills the car. He's distracted, she can tell, and she bites back a snippy comment. Robb's just so busy, he couldn't possibly get away.

That's not fair, the small part of her brain that's still being rational thinks. Of course Robb couldn't drop everything and come out to the middle of nowhere to deal with their Great Uncle Brynden's estate. Robb's got a new baby and his job.

Robb's got a baby, Arya's got her tournaments, Bran has school, and Rickon's still underage. All of her siblings have lives they can't get away from. All except her.

No significant other, no kids. A tenuous career that she can technically do from anywhere.

“Oh no,” she breathes, when the house finally comes into sight through the trees.

“What's wrong?” Robb asks, his full attention back on her.

“Robb,” she whines, the car coming to a pathetic, rolling stop on the overgrown gravel drive. “It's a mess.”

“A mess?”

She doesn't answer, too busy staring at the mansion in front of her. Or, what used to be a mansion, she thinks.

It's still vaguely house-shaped, but... The roof is missing shingles in multiple places, the windows all seem busted out. The steps up to the covered front porch are fine, but the porch itself has a massive sinkhole, and half the wood looks rotted and ready to crumble.

Gods, if this is what the outside looks like...

“What kind of a mess?” Robb asks. She's just about to start listing the many problems when she hears another car approaching.

“I've gotta go,” she tells Robb. “I think the lawyer's here.” She hangs up before Robb can answer, and watches the other car slowly emerge through the trees up the bumpy road, past the broken gates, and onto the circular gravel drive. It stops behind her and a man gets out. She gets out, too, phone clutched in her hand, just in case.

“Miss Stark?” the man asks, and his face splits into a kind smile when she nods. “Perfect, perfect. I'm Samwell Tarly. It's nice to finally meet you.”

Sansa moves forward to shake the lawyer's hand. He isn't what she was expecting. He's young, for one – maybe only a few years older than her. And he seems just as nice in person as he'd been over the phone. She didn't think lawyers came in nice.

“We should have met at your office,” she says, eyeing up the weeds sprouting from between the gravel and brushing against her ankles. “I didn't realize the road here would be so...”

Mr. Tarly laughs. “This place has been abandoned for quite some time,” he agrees. “I never met Brynden myself, but I’d heard about him. Apparently he decided to up and travel the world and left this…”

Sansa looks back at the crumbling mansion and feels her face scrunch up. She tries to smooth it out. “So, how fast do you think I can sell this?” she asks.

That’s when Mr. Tarly’s smile falters. “Well,” he starts, hesitant, “you see, it’s in such a poor state, I can’t imagine anyone would be willing to buy it.”

“But the land must be worth something? They can just knock it down and-”

“Ah,” Mr. Tarly winces, and Sansa’s sentence breaks off, unfinished. “I suppose you didn’t read all the fine print?” At the slow shake of her head, he grimaces. “Riverrun Manor is a historic property. You, legally, are not allowed to tear the structure down. Anything you do needs to go through lots of committee approvals…”

“So what you’re saying,” Sansa says, closing her eyes as reality crashes down around her, “is that literally no one is going to want to buy this.”

“Maybe if you find someone who’s both very rich, and very interested in Riverlands history?”

She opens her eyes and there must be a glare on her face, because Mr. Tarly winces again.

Then she turns back to the manor, and really looks at it this time. Beneath the grime and the moss and the crumbling wood, she can see what it used to be.

“What if I fixed it up a bit?” she asks, turning back to the lawyer. “What if I just did the major repairs, do you think someone would buy it then?”

She doesn’t want to do that, but it beats letting the property sit around even longer and paying the taxes on it. Or, worse, not paying the taxes and having that on her and her sibling’s financial records.

“I’m not a real estate agent,” Mr. Tarly responds, looking at the building thoughtfully. “But this is a good location, lots of historic stuff around. I wouldn’t doubt you could sell it if the building weren’t… well, that.” He waves his hand towards the manor.

“Alright,” she nods. “Maybe we should head to your office to do the paperwork, though? Then I’ll… I guess I’ll look for a contractor?”

Sam nods, and a bright smile lights his face again. “Oh, I know someone you can call!”