#asoiaf world

[studyofasoiaf]

Names used in Westeros

(names of book characters from Westeros, Valyrian names of Targaryens included)

Crownlands

Dorne

Iron Islands

North

Reach

Riverlands

Stormlands

Vale

Valyrian

Westerlands

[penelopwgarcia]

I'm without my med so I had this weird ass dream that the targaryens had this fortitude on the air like the arryns but much higher and so you can only reach by dragons and that is like the blacks fortitude but rhaenyra tried a last resort to invite her siblings there but then aegon poison her and was so smug to helaena during the funeral on his quarters but then helaena poison him back with the same stuff and decided to write it down and tell her mother she did it before she jumps from the window and in between daemon is depressed as fuck because he blamed himself for not being there to protect rhaenyra so he dies like he supposed to and kills aemond on the process and daeron doesn't even want to involve in this drama he likes to live thank you very much so by the end jace is the only heir suitable and that's how the dance ended

and honestly I like my version better

[aethersea]

another thing fantasy writers should keep track of is how much of their worldbuilding is aesthetic-based. it's not unlike the sci-fi hardness scale, which measures how closely a story holds to known, real principles of science. The Martian is extremely hard sci-fi, with nearly every detail being grounded in realistic fact as we know it; Star Trek is extremely soft sci-fi, with a vaguely plausible "space travel and no resource scarcity" premise used as a foundation for the wildest ideas the writers' room could come up with. and much as Star Trek fuckin rules, there's nothing wrong with aesthetic-based fantasy worldbuilding!

(sidenote we're not calling this 'soft fantasy' bc there's already a hard/soft divide in fantasy: hard magic follows consistent rules, like "earthbenders can always and only bend earth", and soft magic follows vague rules that often just ~feel right~, like the Force. this frankly kinda maps, but I'm not talking about just the magic, I'm talking about the worldbuilding as a whole.

actually for the purposes of this post we're calling it grounded vs airy fantasy, bc that's succinct and sounds cool.)

a great example of grounded fantasy is Dungeon Meshi: the dungeon ecosystem is meticulously thought out, the plot is driven by the very realistic need to eat well while adventuring, the story touches on both social and psychological effects of the whole 'no one dies forever down here' situation, the list goes on. the worldbuilding wants to be engaged with on a mechanical level and it rewards that engagement.

deliberately airy fantasy is less common, because in a funny way it's much harder to do. people tend to like explanations. it takes skill to pull off "the world is this way because I said so." Narnia manages: these kids fall into a magic world through the back of a wardrobe, befriend talking beavers who drink tea, get weapons from Santa Claus, dance with Bacchus and his maenads, and sail to the edge of the world, without ever breaking suspension of disbelief. it works because every new thing that happens fits the vibes. it's all just vibes! engaging with the worldbuilding on a mechanical level wouldn't just be futile, it'd be missing the point entirely.

the reason I started off calling this aesthetic-based is that an airy story will usually lean hard on an existing aesthetic, ideally one that's widely known by the target audience. Lewis was drawing on fables, fairy tales, myths, children's stories, and the vague idea of ~medieval europe~ that is to this day our most generic fantasy setting. when a prince falls in love with a fallen star, when there are giants who welcome lost children warmly and fatten them up for the feast, it all fits because these are things we'd expect to find in this story. none of this jars against what we've already seen.

and the point of it is to be wondrous and whimsical, to set the tone for the story Lewis wants to tell. and it does a great job! the airy worldbuilding serves the purposes of the story, and it's no less elegant than Ryōko Kui's elaborately grounded dungeon. neither kind of worldbuilding is better than the other.

however.

you do have to know which one you're doing.

the whole reason I'm writing this is that I saw yet another long, entertaining post dragging GRRM for absolute filth. asoiaf is a fun one because on some axes it's pretty grounded (political fuck-around-and-find-out, rumors spread farther than fact, fastest way to lose a war is to let your people starve, etc), but on others it's entirely airy (some people have magic Just Cause, the various peoples are each based on an aesthetic/stereotype/cliché with no real thought to how they influence each other as neighbors, the super-long seasons have no effect on ecology, etc).

and again! none of this is actually bad! (well ok some of those stereotypes are quite bigoted. but other than that this isn't bad.) there's nothing wrong with the season thing being there to highlight how the nobles are focused on short-sighted wars for power instead of storing up resources for the extremely dangerous and inevitable winter, that's a nice allegory, and the looming threat of many harsh years set the narrative tone. and you can always mix and match airy and grounded worldbuilding – everyone does it, frankly it's a necessity, because sooner or later the answer to every worldbuilding question is "because the author wanted it to be that way." the only completely grounded writing is nonfiction.

the problem is when you pretend that your entirely airy worldbuilding is actually super duper grounded. like, for instance, claiming that your vibes-based depiction of Medieval Europe (Gritty Edition) is completely historical, and then never even showing anyone spinning. or sniffing dismissively at Tolkien for not detailing Aragorn's tax policy, and then never addressing how a pre-industrial grain-based agricultural society is going years without harvesting any crops. (stored grain goes bad! you can't even mouse-proof your silos, how are you going to deal with mold?) and the list goes on.

the man went up on national television and invited us to engage with his worldbuilding mechanically, and then if you actually do that, it shatters like spun sugar under the pressure. doesn't he realize that's not the part of the story that's load-bearing! he should've directed our focus to the political machinations and extensive trope deconstruction, not the handwavey bit.

point is, as a fantasy writer there will always be some amount of your worldbuilding that boils down to 'because I said so,' and there's nothing wrong with that. nor is there anything wrong with making that your whole thing – airy worldbuilding can be beautiful and inspiring. but you have to be aware of what you're doing, because if you ask your readers to engage with the worldbuilding in gritty mechanical detail, you had better have some actual mechanics to show them.

[saessenach]

What is honor compared to a woman’s love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms… or the memory of a brother’s smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.

Jon Snow - and family that haunts him, because sometimes ghosts make for the best love stories.

[visenyaism]

rhaenyra and alicent consistently just throwing themselves at each other in the middle of the war like the direst possible circumstances with NO fucking plan just being like get me in there and the love will save us it will be enough. and it’s there it really is there and then it does not save them and is not enough. yeah

[violetumbrellalover]

Jaehaera Targaryen and her baby Morghul 🐉

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

The Knight of the Laughing Tree by Joshua Cairós

created for the 10th anniversary of The World of Ice & Fire

[cheryroseart]

Rhaena Targaryen and Dreamfyre🩵

.

Please don’t repost without credit❕

.

[targsource]

Queen Naerys

by lopatafour on twitter

[jon-sedai]

Thinking about how one of the most important motifs in Dany’s childhood memories is a seemingly nonexistent lemon tree. Or rather, a tree that her memory insists exists where it naturally shouldn’t. And thinking about how, in her last Dance chapter, at a pivotal moment of development, she reflects that while she wanted to plant trees and watch them grow, dragons don’t plant trees. But how funny is it that her narrative ancestor, Princess Daenerys of Dorne, left behind a legacy of planting an entire garden of trees — a place where children of all backgrounds could come and bloom within it? And then thinking back to Dany’s moment in Clash, when she comes upon a barren wasteland. A place that, despite its harshness, has many types of trees growing within it. For a brief moment, she considers staying to nurture and watch it bloom.

Sure, her childhood memories are false. But the lesson isn’t that she doesn’t belong anywhere because she dreams of lemon trees in Braavos, where they don’t exist. Maybe the lesson is that she can plant these nonexistent trees elsewhere.

Lemon trees don’t grow in Braavos, but Dany can grow them wherever she chooses to plant them. And this is something she will have to understand when the Long Night comes. Winter means death. It means the trees will wither and no new ones will grow to replace them. But Dany is the mother of dragons, and her life is tied to the very process of life and death, destruction and renewal. The Long Night will be marked by dead trees that bear no fruit. But that’s okay. Because Dany has spent her entire arc dreaming of trees where there aren’t any. And isn’t THAT the dream of spring?

[studyofasoiaf]

Names used in the North

(according to books; names of characters from Northern houses or Northmen, Crannogmen and Hills Clansmen)

- next to the names are either houses which have a character/s with that name or culture of the character/s with that name

Female

Alarra (Stark)

Alys (Karstark, Stark)

Alysane (Mormont)

Alysanne (Stark)

Aregelle (Stark)

Arra (Norrey)

Arrana (Stark)

Arsa (Stark)

Arya (Flint, Stark)

Bandy (Nortmen)

Barba (Bolton)

Barbrey (Ryswell)

Berena (Hornwood, Stark)

Beth (Cassel)

Bethany (Ryswell)

Branda (Stark)

Chayle (Northmen)

Dacey (Mormont)

Danny (Flint)

Donella (Manderly)

Erena (Glover)

Eddara (Tallhart)

Jessamyn (Manderly)

Jeyne (Manderly, Poole)

Jocelyn (Stark)

Jonelle (Cerwyn)

Jorelle (Mormont)

Jyana (Cranngomen)

Leona (Woolfield)

Lyanna (Mormont, Stark)

Lyanne (Glover)

Lyarra (Stark)

Lyessa (Flint)

Lynara (Stark)

Lyra (Mormont)

Lysa (Locke)

Lysara (Karstark)

Maege (Mormont)

Mara (Manderly)

Margaret (Karstark)

Mariah (Stark)

Marna (Locke)

Meera (Reed)

Myriame (Manderly)

Palla (Northmen)

Raya (Stark)

Sansa (Stark)

Sarra (Stark)

Serena (Stark)

Shyra (Northmen)

Sybelle (Locke)

Wylla (Fenn, Manderly)

Wynafryd (Manderly)

Male

Alaric (Stark)

Alyn (Northmen)

Arnolf (Karstark)

Arthor (Karstark)

Artos (Flint, Stark)

Barthogan (Stark)

Bartimus (Northmen)

Belthasar (Bolton)

Benfred (Tallhart)

Benjicot (Branch)

Benjen (Stark)

Bennard (Stark)

Benton (Glover)

Beren (Tallhart)

Beron (Stark)

Billy (Burley)

Bowen (Marsh)

Brandon (Norrey, Stark, Tallhart)

Byam (Flint)

Calon (Nortmen)

Cayn (Northmen)

Cley (Cerwyn)

Cregan (Karstark, Stark)

Cregard (Stark)

Daryn (Hornwood)

Denys (Woodwright)

Desmond (Nortmen)

Domeric (Bolton)

Donnel (Flint, Locke)

Donnor (Stark)

Dorren (Stark)

Duncan (Liddle)

Eddard (Karstark, Stark)

Edderion (Stark)

Edric (Stark)

Edrick (Stark)

Edwyle (Stark)

Edwyn (Stark)

Ellard (Stark)

Elric (Stark)

Errold (Stark)

Ethan (Glover)

Eyron (Stark)

Farlen (Northmen)

Gage (Northmen)

Galbert (Glover)

Gareth (Long)

Garth (Northmen)

Gawen (Glover)

Hallis (Hornwood, Mollen)

Harlon (Stark)

Harmond (Umber)

Harrion (Karstark)

Harwin (Northmen)

Harwood (Stout)

Harys (Hornwood)

Helman (Tallhart)

Heward (Nortmen)

Hoarfrost (Umber)

Hother (Umber)

Howland (Reed)

Hugo (Wull)

Hullen (Northmen)

Jeor (Mormont)

Jojen (Reed)

Jon (Stark, Umber)

Jonnel (Stark)

Jonos (Stark)

Jorah (Mormont, Stark)

Jory (Cassel)

Joseth (Northmen)

Karlon (Karstark, Stark)

Kyle (Condon)

Larence (Hornwood)

Leobald (Tallhart)

Lonnel (Stark)

Lothor (Burley)

Lucantine (Woodwright)

Lucifer (Long)

Luton (Northmen)

Lymond (Fisher)

Mallador (Locke)

Mark (Ryswell)

Marlon (Manderly)

Martyn (Cassel)

Maynard (Holt)

Medger (Cerwyn)

Medrick (Manderly)

Mikken (Northmen)

Morgan (Liddle)

Mors (Umber)

Mortimer (Boggs)

Ned (Woods)

Ondrew (Locke)

Osric (Stark, Umber)

Owen (Norrey)

Quent (Northmen)

Porther (Northmen)

Portifer (Woodwright)

Ramsay (Bolton)

Raymun (Redbeard)

Rickard (Karstark, Liddle, Ryswell, Stark)

Rickon (Stark)

Robard (Cerwyn)

Robb (Stark)

Robett (Glover)

Robin (Flint)

Robyn (Ryswell)

Roderick (Dustin, Stark)

Rodrik (Cassel, Flint, Ryswell, Stark)

Rodwell (Stark)

Rogar (Bolton)

Roger (Ryswell)

Ronnel (Harclay, Stout)

Roose (Bolton, Ryswell)

Royce (Bolton)

Timotty (Northman)

Theo (Wull)

Theodan (Wells)

Theomore (Manderly)

Theon (Stark)

Tomard (Northmen)

Torghen (Flint)

Torren (Liddle)

Torrhen (Karstark, Manderly, Stark)

Tym (Northmen)

Varly (Northmen)

Vayon (Poole)

Walder (Northmen)

Walton (Stark)

Warrick (Manderly)

Wayn (Northmen)

Wendel (Manderly)

Willam (Dustin, Stark, Wells)

Wyl (Northmen)

Wylis (Manderly)

Wyman (Manderly)

Wynton (Stout)

[queenvhagar]

Defenders of HOTD... who insist everything is happening logically and consistent with character and in-universe expectations... please imagine any of these events happening in early seasons GOT. Imagine Cat dressing up as a nun to meet Cersei in the sept to convince her to end the war because Robb and Joffrey were men who wanted violence but they were women who knew better and wanted peace... and then Cersei just letting Cat leave the city afterward to continue the war with her family. Imagine Robb gets crowned king but instead of going to war or making any real decisions he hesitates and thinks and only reacts to what people around him do or say, and when Lord Karstark betrays him somebody else decides to execute him, causing the Karstarks to abandon the Starks through no fault of Robb. Imagine Melisandre performs dark arts to kill an innocent in blood sacrifice but then a few episodes later she's advising Stannis about how war is bad because it kills innocents and he should meet with his brother to make peace. Like just imagine for a second that any of these happened. How could you continue to watch the show knowing just how illogical, inconsistent, and inconsequential the writing choices were?

[itsburningsa4ge]

Daenys the Dreamer

I was supposedly giving her a couch but I got overstimulated from drawing nonstop last August 😭 hope y'all like her 💗

but also... COMMISSIONS ARE STILL OPEN 💌💌💌

[shalottpress]

The Pack Survives by @astolat.

My second bind had to be this Robb Stark centric masterpiece that has lived rent free in my brain since December 2023. I wanted to get this finished before the year anniversary hit in December.

I love this bind and she is my beloved second born but holy hell I’m glad she is done.

In all honesty, this bind was cursed from the off. Everything that could have gone wrong with this bind went wrong. I had to resew the signatures because wood oil, I made my design slightly too big so adding it to the cover was wonky and I melted parts of the black vinyl adding my silver vinyl to the book cloth to name but a few mistakes. I didn’t dare try to trim her edges, lord knows where I would have ended up.

All that said I’m still proud of her and wanted to share. Done is better than perfect and I hope I look back in a year and see how far I have truly come.

The Pack Survives can be read for free on AO3.

[sansawargs]

the thing with jaime is that killing aerys was the objectively right thing to do but because him doing it was dishonorable he was branded a kingslayer and scorned, never recieving so much as a thank you for it even though everyone around him was grateful and certainly not honorable either. and so he rejected the concepts of "honor" and "doing the right thing" because what was the point of caring about those things if it seemed no one ever did and he lived and thrived that way, because in King's landing honor and justice gets you nothing at best and, as ned stark's head showed, dead at worst. until he meets brienne, a woman whose sense of honor and justice literally only gets her ridicule, scorn and harm and who embodies the very values that make a knight despite knowing she can't ever reap the praise and rewards of being one, and yet still continues to adhere to them because it's the right thing to do and his entire world is rocked because maybe, maybe, it's not about praise and rewards but about just doing the right thing because it IS the right thing. yeah he hasn't fully gotten there yet but you know, step by step

[polysucks]

today I was plagued by human adult larping so I only had the chance to doodle some little jons

he’s making teenage faces bc he’s an annoying teenager