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kaypeace21 · 4 years ago

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Crash-course for all the evidence of Will creating the mindflayer/upsidedown

* Honestly I’ve talked about this stuff in my did theories- where I explained how the upsidedown/mf/ the lab subjects/ and russians all connect back to Will creating them. But since so may people assume that Will got his powers from the upsidedown/mf rather than Will creating it all subconsciously (with his powers). Thought i’d do a short analysis of just that connection (without boggling it down with those other plot lines that are interconnected) . *So I’m not mentioning the lights -because it interconnects with the numbers/lab.I’m just going to list every example in short succession from every season for brevity’s sake (so it won’t be structured as eloquently as prior analyses).

refresher of how Will influences the mf/upsidedown ...

S1)

Will ( in s1e1) says to Dustin if he could have any comic it would be the xmen. Dustin later says "do you think - el was born with her powers like the xmen? " Will plays a d&d game saying the demogorgan got him -so it does irl. Will writes stories where bad guys weakness are fire so the mf/ demogorgans are lit on fire in s1-3 (and it's their weakness). Will watches poltergeist so Will is forced to be the child character in that film- who was trapped in a alternative dimension and could only speak to their mother through tech. The demogrgan is said to resemble a shark by nancy-mathcing Will’s Jaws movie poster in his room. in s1 Mr clarke describes the vale of shadows (later the upsidedown) as being created by “necrotic” (’dead’-zombie boy) and “shadow” (shadow monster/mf) “magic”. In d&d the Vale of Shadows, is as a lush valley hidden in the mountains that holds a sacred pool with the power to make dreams reality. In d&d the demogorgan is literally called the "deep father" in d&d Nancy also says the demogorgan is like a “lion” the meaning of the name Lonnie- is literally “lion”. We see it attack Will when using lonnie's gun (in lonnie's shed). And it knocks the bat out of Jonathan's hand too. (Baseball/hunting were taught by their dad lonnie). The demogorgan also hurts a deer- mirroring Jonathan's story about how Lonnie forced him to kill a rabbit and how this upset him as he was a fan of the rabbit character from the film bambi.. El when she first sees the demogorgan also sees it eating it’s own eggs-aka symbolically the father hurting his own children. Will's password for cb is rhadagast a wizard who protects Wildlife (the opposite of Hunter-lonnie/the demogorgan).

Duffers cited as inspo the silent hill videogames): And in s1 Hopper named dropped the character Alessa’s last name. “The bad guys faked Alessa’s death. Kaufmann prepared a substitute body of alessa; and performed the fake autopsy (like Will) . Alessa had precognition (future/intuition-like will the wise is said to have in s3) and pyrokinesis (firepowers mentioned Will the wise has in s1). Alessa’s latent psychic abilities are triggered and she shrouds Silent Hill in fog and an altered reality to prevent her ab*sive parent’s schemes from advancing. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town in the game, such as the horrific creatures that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination and delusions. “

Will also says in s1ep1 he wants xmen 134-about the dark phoenix saga. ‘dark phoenix’ - has pyrokinesis ( fire powers-like Will the wise). And the dark phoenix also “was able to warp reality on a universal scale”. One of the phoenix’s host was even the god Thor (god of lightning-an element Will is associated with a lot in s2)

(in s1 Will also spit up a slug- in d&d putting a slug in a humanoid can create/turn that humanoid into a mf. foreshadowing Will being posessed/becoming the mf in s2. ).

S2)

Will plays digdug (a videogame about underground tunnels) so the mf creates tunnels. Will's dog dies so demogogans become demo-dogs. He also watches Ghostbusters- where a character is possessed by the ‘gate keeper’ and can control demon dogs. So this happens to Will too -similar to s1 with poltergeist .In s1 , Hopper even mentions the book Cujo about a violent dog, who is replaced by a new dog named ‘Willie’ (to allude to this).In s1 we see Mike holding a drawing of Will’s- where Will's wizard has lightning powers (coming from his hand). everytime Will uses tech in s1, the phones explode and lighting appears out of them- hopper makes a BBQ joke about the burned phones.later in s2 the mf has these same lightning abilities and the lab technician makes the same BBQ joke.Joyce even describes the tunnels of the mf/ that Will’s draws as “like lightning.” We also see the russians eviserated by lightning next season too.

A lab tech calls Will a wizard-and they monitor his brain waves, record him on video, just like they did to El .(when the mf first appears at Will’s house- the lab techs even notice ). The drawing of the mf is next to a baseball (Lonnie ref) and Will says it was a drawing for a story he wrote. In s2 Nancy describes the mindflayer (but she’s actually describing Will).“So this thing is like a brain that’s controlling everything.”Because it’s not the mindflayers’ brain - it’s Will’s brain controlling everything. ( a “hive mind” aka the mf/WILL share a brain ). Owens in s2e1 (BEFORE the mf possession) says Will's ‘anniversary affect’ would make him remember “tra*matic memories” and “OPEN the neurological flood GATES” (aka Will’s neurological GATES are the gates between the real world and upsidedown - which are connected to the mf).

Owens in s2e1 (after mentioning the “gates”) even says Will's ‘anniversary affect’ / “tr*umatic memories” would cause temporary “personality changes”for Will (the later mf possession) . I mean... Owens wasn’t entirely wrong was he? Will even feels the back of his neck in s2 and says it has to do with “memories” ...and in s3 feeling the back of his neck meant Will was sensing the mf. Similarly, before his possession-mr clarke mentions phineus gage who after an accident had a “complete change to his personality” (and the shot pans to Will).

Nancy even calls the mind flayer the “mind-flamer”- hinting at it’s connection to Will the wise who has fire powers). And Dustin says the mf “takes over minds with it’s highly developed psyionic abilities “ And to “summon an undead army... cause the mindflayer loves brains ” ( and in s3 the mf creates a undead army by taking over people’s brains). Hopper even says “So how do we kill this thing shoot it with fireballs ?” (which destroys the flesh-monster in s3) ”

S3)

Will (the “zombie boy”) writes a story about juju zombies after watching a film about zombies at starcourt in s3 - then the mf creates a undead army -which was also foreshadowed in s2 (and similar to Will’s s3 d&d story). We also see Will wrote this d&d story in front of "the thing" poster. So the mf creates a flesh monster resembling the creature in that film too. We also see someone get bit (el) like in Will's story and when his friends retcon his ending to be about “sacrificing themselves via explosion (Hopper).” Will just says “fine you win” (so it ends that way).Also, the shadow monster is now called the Mindflayer - and mimics the mf from d&d (both can control rats with their powers in the show/game).

Will in s2-3 grabs the back of his neck and he attributed it to “memories”, “dreams”, and sensing the mf. Will created castle byers after his dad left and he grabs the bat in cb which was next to the Will the wise drawing (similar to how the baseball was next to the mf drawing in s2) and destroys cb with said bat . Then Will touches his neck and admits the mf has returned. EVERY moment Will senses the mf can be loosely connected to Lonnie. Lonnie used to call him h*mophobic sl*rs so anytime he subconsciously thinks of his feelings towards Mike the mf appears-1st time it’s on one of their ‘movie dates’, 2nd time when Mike and El walk off together down the hill to make-out, 3rd time right after he smashed castle byers after Mike says “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls”, 4th time (after the fight with Mike) when Billy is yelling to open the door (a trigger) and confides in Mike, 5th time when Mike asks him to go away so he can talk to El in the hospital waiting area, and 6th time when Mike says he loves El. The 7th time is when Jonathan is fixing up a car -something Lonnie used to do.Lonnie fixes up cars as a hobby-showing his remodeled car to Jonathan in s1 . Will then senses the mf and grabs his neck-which he said are connected to old “memories”. max and Mike are silent until Jonathan says says “got it (the distributor)”. Then Mike screams for his older sibling. We also see in s1 Jonathan checked to see if Lonnie threw Will in his trunk- something the mf does to some of his victims in s3.

Dustin and susie sing “never ending story”- which is literally about a seemingly normal boy named Sebastian with a bowl cut (from a single parent home) subconsciously making a fantasy world being invaded by a dark force (representing the loss of hope/dreams) that only his imagination powers can fix . “make believe i’m everywhere ... what you dream will be...Rhymes that keep their secrets Will unfold behind the clouds.And there upon a rainbow Is the answer to a never ending story” . Cough-Will’s rainbow ship he CREATED.Both times the lyric plays “Rhymes that keep their secrets WILL “ ( it pans to Will).

The film also follows a false chosen one who everyone says is supposed to save fantasia- named Atreyu (el). Specifically, for that plotwist that Sebastian (Will) has to be the one to do so , not Atreyu (who sebastian subconsciously created). In the novel/film-Atreyu ( the child who was deemed the ‘chosen one) is knocked from Falkor’s back, and into the sea of possibilities. There he wakes on the shore of abandoned ruins.

“There Gmork (The Mindflayer) reveals himself, having been lying in wait.And then latches his jaws onto Atreyu’s leg.”

-Before the duet, Susie tells dusin she’s reading “ a wizard of earthsea” and says ged is about to save his world. The book is about a boy-wizard named Ged (Will) who casts a powerful spell, but the spell goes awry and instead he releases a shadow creature! The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged. But the ‘shadow’ turns out to be a representation of the darkest aspects of his personality. And the only way for the world to be saved is for the 2 to merge and for Ged to accept himself .

-Will says he’s a wizard ( writing on a music tape in s3 “will the wise-wizard mix’ and having his password for castle byers be ‘rhadaghast’- a lotr wizard). The way they describe d&d Wizards matches Will/mindflayer perfectly “Wizards are adepts and magicians who combine according to the type of their spells. Relying on the subtle weaves of magic that permeate the universe, wizards are able to create spells of explosive fire, sparking lightning, subtle deception, and gross mind control. Their magic summons monsters from other planes of existence, predicts the future, and turns defeated enemies into zombies. Their most powerful spells can transform one substance into another, summon meteors from the sky, and open portals to other worlds” (all these powers Will the wise/mf are implied to have)

- Stranger things d&d comic (published post s3) : Will creating a illusion army of monsters -as Will the wizard.

- stranger writers twitter reffed several movies which discuss artist/writer WILLiam Blake who helped make the art exhibit “worlds turned upsidedown”

possible reason for the flayed eating chemicals& fertilizer (in s3)

full link/credits here. Lonnie’s gf has a biker shirt from Harley davidson- with the eagle logo and their saying “live to ride’. Which would imply lonnie is also in such biker circles. Harley davidson in the 80s had dr*g gangs too (primarily m*th).

One reason m*th is so prevalent in rural areas is that it can be formulated, or “cooked,” by small producers and one of the ingredients is readily found on most farms – anhydrous AMMONIA fertilizer. Both farmers and chemical suppliers have experienced thefts of anhydrous particularly in the Midwest.“

WHICH REMINDS ME OF the FLAYED EATING FERTILIZER AND CHEMICALS IN S3 . Nancy even says farmers/chem suppliers are having fertilizer stolen! And she later thinks flayed tom was on drugs- “A mysterious case of the missing fertilizer- a Nancy Drew Mystery”. This is also in the same season one character (who looks a bit like Lonnie) is a biker is corrupting the town.

Will creating /basing the supernatural from suppressed memories -means it’s from a very young child’s perspective . young Will would equate people eating chemicals, ammonia fertilizer, and ammonia... to using those SAME chemicals to create m*th and then physically consuming them . Why we see mrs driscoll eating fertilizer & Billy drinking ammonia.

The reason the flayed started behaving differently is probably because in s2 Will was forcibly injected with a needle & woken up with ammonia by Hopper-jogging some of those old memories.

EVEN Nancy’s proof Tom is on dr*gs is a symptom of m*th use or withdrawl from it-excessive sweating (like all the flayed in s2-3). M*th causes hyperthermia (body is at a higher temp than usual)-so they like it cold!!!!! Even clammy hands that she mentioned is a symptom of m*th use. in children it can even cause seizures- like Will :(

And when m*th is made via fertilizer it first is made into a highly corrosive liquid which is sometimes green-like the Russian lab.“six pounds of toxic waste is created for every pound of m*th manufactured. The waste is often dumped on farms, in rivers and and is harmful to the environment.” Like all the chemical leaks relating to Hawkins lab/mf that affected the crops in s2/this pic of water in s3.

m*th was even called ‘bathroom crank’-which is sketchy given the bathtub is what mf fears and how the sensory deprivation tank is also called a ‘tub’ by el . Becky even said Brenner would get terry high and throw her in the tank/tub.

It also does take some chemisty knowledge to COVERT various substances (including fertilizer and other chemicals) to make m*th- which reminds me of the kids saying they can convert one substance into another (when explaining why the possessed are eating chemicals)- they say they’re making a new chemical “in themselves”

other hints

Will’s b day is march 22 . Which is when “fire burns most brightly” and his ‘birthday number is number 7′ (”it was a 7 the demogorgan it got me′) . The number 7 is specifically associated with “wisdom and psychic abilities”. His b day even adds up to 7 (3+2+2).His horoscope is also influenced by the shadow god-ketu (who is also associated with wisdom and psychic abilities too).

* There’s way more details/depth/ other st inspirations in my DID analyses -specifically pt 2. (where i discuss how the mf/upsidedown connects to the numbers/russians- and also specifially Will).But this is just a crash course about the flayed/upsideown/it’s creatures connect to Will.

People will dismiss all of this as just the Duffers liking to reference random things they like/ and foreshadow via d&d without any in universe reason. but I really think that’s a disappointing explanation/outcome. Especially the predictable cliche theory that the mf is just experiment #1. Not only is it boring, cliche, and predictable af- but it doesn’t line up as well with the mental health themes mentioned in ever season.Will created everything via tr*uma cause of his dad- and overcomes this: is not only a “twist” that will make rewatching more enjoyable given all the hints- it’s more narratively sound given how much the series touches on themes such as overcoming tra*ma, mental health, and problematic fathers. The #1/ex experiment=mf theory doesn’t explain why they made the supernatural connect to Will in this way . And with such a boring cliche ending it would quickly be forgotten like other big sci-fi/fantasy shows that quickly lost relevancy after being popular: like heros, g.o.t, etc.One makes the show cliche another makes it remembered for decades (ex: jacob’s ladder).

#will byers #stranger things #byler #byeler #stranger things theory #did theory

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butterflies-dragons · 4 years ago

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GRRM has projected his love for medieval tourneys, heraldry, pageantry, knights and chivalry on Sansa Stark

Art credit: Heinrich von Breslau (Codex Manesse, 14. Jahrhundert)

GRRM:

“That whole story (The Hedge Knight) is built around a tournament. I love medieval tournaments, reading about them, writing about them. There's of course some of them in the main books, but this was an opportunity in a time of peace, not war, to look at a medieval tournament with all its pageantry and the jousting and the combat and reveal a little of Westerosi History”.

—In conversation: George R.R. Martin with Dan Jones FULL EVENT- August 2019

SANSA:

"The talk in the yard is we shall have a tourney, my lord," Jory said as he resumed his seat. "They say that knights will come from all over the realm to joust and feast in honor of your appointment as Hand of the King."

Arya could see that her father was not very happy about that. "Do they also say this is the last thing in the world I would have wished?"

Sansa's eyes had grown wide as the plates. "A tourney," she breathed. She was seated between Septa Mordane and Jeyne Poole, as far from Arya as she could get without drawing a reproach from Father. "Will we be permitted to go, Father?"

"You know my feelings, Sansa. It seems I must arrange Robert's games and pretend to be honored for his sake. That does not mean I must subject my daughters to this folly."

"Oh, please," Sansa said. "I want to see."

Septa Mordane spoke up. "Princess Myrcella will be there, my lord, and her younger than Lady Sansa. All the ladies of the court will be expected at a grand event like this, and as the tourney is in your honor, it would look queer if your family did not attend."

Father looked pained. "I suppose so. Very well, I shall arrange a place for you, Sansa." He saw Arya. "For both of you."

"I don't care about their stupid tourney," Arya said. She knew Prince Joffrey would be there, and she hated Prince Joffrey.

Sansa lifted her head. "It will be a splendid event. You shan't be wanted."

—A Game of Thrones - Arya II

Sansa rode to the Hand's tourney with Septa Mordane and Jeyne Poole, in a litter with curtains of yellow silk so fine she could see right through them. They turned the whole world gold. Beyond the city walls, a hundred pavilions had been raised beside the river, and the common folk came out in the thousands to watch the games. The splendor of it all took Sansa’s breath away; the shining armor, the great chargers caparisoned in silver and gold, the shouts of the crowd, the banners snapping in the wind…and the knights themselves, the knights most of all.

“It is better than the songs,” she whispered when they found the places that her father had promised her, among the high lords and ladies. Sansa was dressed beautifully that day, in a green gown that brought out the auburn of her hair, and she knew they were looking at her and smiling.

They watched the heroes of a hundred songs ride forth, each more fabulous than the last.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa II

GRRM:

“Tolkien imitators who came after him, a lot of them created a sort of Disneyland Middle Ages, you know, a sort of Middle Ages like you might see at a Renaissance Faire, but you don't have the dysentery, or the torture, or the leprosy, or the innate sexism, or classism, or racism that was so built into so much of that world for so many centuries, you really have to take, you know, I like the knights in shinning armor, the heraldry and pageantry as much as anyone, but you also have to include the fleas."

— Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival - NIFFF 2014

The novelist is midway through something of a European tour. After his trip to Switzerland, he is due in Scotland for the Edinburgh book festival. It has often been suggested that Ivanhoe (by the Scottish 19th-century novelist Walter Scott) was, alongside the War of the Roses, a major influence on A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones.

Martin was first turned on to Ivanhoe by the 1952 MGM movie starring Robert Taylor, George Sanders and a young Elizabeth Taylor. "I think it was Elizabeth Taylor at the peak of her...," his voice tails off before he clarifies. "She was the most beautiful woman in the world. I think I was nine years old when I saw that movie. How could you not fall in love with her? But the jousting and the pageantry of it made me love that story. Later, in high school, I did read that book. For a modern reader, it's a little tough to get through. The prose is very Victorian and thick but if you fight your way through it, the story is there. It has everything the movie has and more – the heraldry and jousting and the insight into the times. It was an influence in that sense."

—GRRM - Independent - 2014

SANSA:

The green knight laughed again. "Barristan the Old, you mean. Don't flatter him too sweetly, child, he thinks overmuch of himself already." He smiled at her. "Now, wolf girl, if you can put a name to me as well, then I must concede that you are truly our Hand's daughter."

Joffrey stiffened beside her. "Have a care how you address my betrothed."

"I can answer," Sansa said quickly, to quell her prince's anger. She smiled at the green knight. "Your helmet bears golden antlers, my lord. The stag is the sigil of the royal House. King Robert has two brothers. By your extreme youth, you can only be Renly Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End and councillor to the king, and so I name you."

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa I

No one ransomed the northmen, though. One fat lordling haunted the kitchens, Hot Pie told her, always looking for a morsel. His mustache was so bushy that it covered his mouth, and the clasp that held his cloak was a silver-and-sapphire trident. He belonged to Lord Tywin, but the fierce, bearded young man who liked to walk the battlements alone in a black cloak patterned with white suns had been taken by some hedge knight who meant to get rich off him. Sansa would have known who he was, and the fat one too, but Arya had never taken much interest in titles and sigils. Whenever Septa Mordane had gone on about the history of this house and that house, she was inclined to drift and dream and wonder when the lesson would be done.

—A Clash of Kings - Arya VII

Petyr had given her a roll of arms to study, so she knew their heraldry if not their faces. The red castle was Redfort, plainly; a short man with a neat grey beard and mild eyes. Lady Anya was the only woman amongst the Lords Declarant, and wore a deep green mantle with the broken wheel of Waynwood picked out in beads of jet. Six silver bells on purple, that was Belmore, pear-bellied and round of shoulder. His beard was a ginger-grey horror sprouting from a multiplicity of chins. Symond Templeton's, by contrast, was black and sharply pointed. A beak of a nose and icy blue eyes made the Knight of Ninestars look like some elegant bird of prey. His doublet displayed nine black stars within a golden saltire. Young Lord Hunter's ermine cloak confused her till she spied the brooch that pinned it, five silver arrows fanned. Alayne would have put his age closer to fifty than to forty. His father had ruled at Longbow Hall for nigh on sixty years, only to die so abruptly that some whispered the new lord had hastened his inheritance. Hunter's cheeks and nose were red as apples, which bespoke a certain fondness for the grape. She made certain to fill his cup as often as he emptied it.

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne I

Harry was staring at her. He knows who I am, she realized, and he does not seem pleased to see me. It was only then that she took note of his heraldry. Though his surcoat and horse trappings were patterned in the red-and-white diamonds of House Hardyng, his shield was quartered. The arms of Hardyng and Waynwood were displayed in the first and third quarters, respectively, but in the second and fourth quarters he bore the moon-and-falcon of House Arryn, sky blue and cream. Sweetrobin will not like that.

—The Winds of Winter - Alayne I

GRRM:

Firstly, thanks for that very thorough response on the tournaments and knighthood. Fascinating. In particular given the notes about _Ivanhoe_ and its influence -- I've only witnessed the A&E production of it, although maybe about time I read it. Seems it might be ripe for ideas.

IVANHOE is well worth a read, although the style is very old fashioned, of course. Still it has some fabulous characters and scenes, and so far as I know the definitive portrayal of a medieval tournament, both melee and joust.

It has been filmed three times that I know of. The recent A&E production had some good moments, as did the older Sam Neill version... the CLASSIC version, however, is still MGM's 50s version, starring Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, and George Sanders. The jousts are wonderful, Liz is radiant, and George Sanders steals the film as Bois-Gilbert. You should definitely rent that one and have a look.

—GRRM - 1999

SANSA:

She loved King's Landing; the pageantry of the court, the high lords and ladies in their velvets and silks and gemstones, the great city with all its people. The tournament had been the most magical time of her whole life, and there was so much she had not seen yet, harvest feasts and masked balls and mummer shows. She could not bear the thought of losing it all.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

She closed the window, gathered up the fallen papers, and stacked them on the table. One was a list of the competitors. Four-and-sixty knights had been invited to vie for places amongst Lord Robert Arryn's new Brotherhood of Winged Knights, and four and-sixty knights had come to tilt for the right to wear falcon's wings upon their warhelms and guard their lord.

The competitors came from all over the Vale, from the mountain valleys and the coast, from Gulltown and the Bloody Gate, even the Three Sisters. Though a few were promised, only three were wed; the eight victors would be expected to spend the next three years at Lord Robert's side, as his own personal guard (Alayne had suggested seven, like the Kingsguard, but Sweetrobin had insisted that he must have more knights than King Tommen), so older men with wives and children had not been invited.

And they came, Alayne thought proudly. They all came.

It had fallen out just as Petyr said it would, the day the ravens flew. "They're young, eager, hungry for adventure and renown. Lysa would not let them go to war. This is the next best thing. A chance to serve their lord and prove their prowess. They will come. Even Harry the Heir." He had smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. "What a clever daughter you are."

It was clever. The tourney, the prizes, the winged knights, it had all been her own notion. Lord Robert's mother had filled him full of fears, but he always took courage from the tales she read him of Ser Artys Arryn, the Winged Knight of legend, founder of his line. Why not surround him with Winged Knights? She had thought one night, after Sweetrobin had finally drifted off to sleep. His own Kingsguard, to keep him safe and make him brave. And no sooner did she tell Petyr her idea than he went out and made it happen.

—The Winds of Winter - Alayne I

GRRM:

Amon Shin in Maine asks, “If you lived in Westeros, which house would you like to be part of, or in which area would you like to live?”

Well, you know, there’s something to be said for being an honorable Stark, but you’re kinda cold all the time and poor and so forth. And you have a lot of land, but there’s not a lot of stuff on it, you know? On the other hand, if you’re a Lannister, you have a nice house and all the gold you want and all of that stuff. So, there’s a lot to be said for being a Lannister. I don’t know. Maybe I could probably see me being a Lannister. And I would always pay my debts.

—A Dance with Dragons | George R.R. Martin | Talks at Google - July 2011

SANSA:

They were going to take it all away; the tournaments and the court and her prince, everything, they were going to send her back to the bleak grey walls of Winterfell and lock her up forever. Her life was over before it had begun.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

* * *

Art credit: Loras Tyrell gives Sansa Stark a rose at the Hand’s Tournament by Jonathan Burton.

As you can see, Sansa loves tourneys because GRRM loves tourneys.

During the events that take place in the ASOIAF Books, we find 5 tourneys and Sansa Stark is directly or indirectly linked with all of them:

The Hand's tourney, a tourney in honor of Sansa’s father, Eddard Stark. Sansa was unofficially crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty by the Knight of Flowers, Loras Tyrell. GRRM wrote this passage as a resemblance to the Great tourney at Harrenhal, hiding hints and reversing colors.

Tourney on King Joffrey's name day, a tourney in honor of Sansa’s betrothed. Sansa defended and saved Dontos Hollard’s life.

Melee at Bitterbridge, Brienne won the melee and earned a place in Renly’s Kingsguard. Later she swore his allegiance to Sansa’s mother, Catelyn Stark, and made an oath to find Sansa Stark. Brienne also wields Oathkeeper, a sword made of Ice (House Stark ancestral sword).

Melee at Runestone, this event was organized with the sole intention of knighting Harrold Hardyng, Alayne Stone’s betrothed.

Tourney at the Gates of the Moon to select the members of the Brotherhood of Winged Knights, created and organized by Alayne Stone.

Sansa is also linked with other important tourneys that happened previously to the events of the ASOIAF Books:

Tourney at Ashford Meadows (The Hedge Knight), GRRM wrote the Hedge Knight when he was in the middle of writing A Clash of Kings, and he made sure of link the five initial champions of the Tourney at Ashford Meadows (Baratheon, Lannister, Tyrell, Hardyng & Targaryen) with Sansa’s suitors and betrothed. So Willas Tyrell and Harrold Hardyng are not a coincidence in Sansa’s arc, GRRM had already planned for this since he was writing A Clash of Kings.

Great tourney at Harrenhal, this tourney was won by Rhaegar Targaryen and as the champion he crowned Lyanna Stark (Sansa’s aunt & Jon Snow’s mother) as his Queen of Love and Beauty. And take note at this very interesting detail: Rhaegar Targaryen wearing an armor adorned with rubies (red) gave Lyanna Stark a crown of winter roses (blue), while Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, wearing an armor adorned with sapphires (blue) gave Sansa a (red) rose.

Sansa loves knights because GRRM loves knights. Remember that George’s Catholic high school (Marist) football team is called the Royal Knights:

Sansa loves pageantry because GRRM loves pageantry. Just look at his collection of knights and ladies figurines:

Sansa loves heraldry because GRRM loves heraldry. Take note that GRRM took inspiration from the antagonist of Ivanhoe, Brian de Bois-Guilbert’s sigil, to created House Corbray’s sigil:

Bois-Guilbert’s new shield bore a raven in full flight, holding in its claws a skull, and bearing the motto, Gare le Corbeau.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

The youngest man in the party had three ravens on his chest, each clutching a blood-red heart in its talons. His brown hair was shoulder length; one stray lock curled down across his forehead. Ser Lyn Corbray, Alayne thought, with a wary glance at his hard mouth and restless eyes.

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne I

(Not to mention that Sansa loves books because George loves books...)

There you have it, GRRM self inserts in a few of his ASOIAF characters, and Sansa Stark is one of them.

#Sansa Stark #GRRM #ASOIAF #Yes there is a House Corbray stained glass window in GRRM's office #George loves Brian de Bois Gilbert #Lyn Corbray is inspired in Bois Gilbert me thinks #Bois Gilbert kidnapped Rebecca...#:eyes emoji:#All tourneys in ASOIAF are inspired in Ivanhoe #I recommend you to read Ivanhoe #I recommend you to watch Ivanhoe movies too especially the Liz Taylor one #Radiant Liz Taylor played Rebecca

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une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir · 4 years ago

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random thoughts on jon connington’s chapters

The last time I read this was over four years and I had a different take on Aegon, so I was curious to see on what changed with a second read.

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The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

Sansa and Aegon

Alayne II (Sansa II) ~ AFFC

When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright."

The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

"We have gone to great lengths to keep Prince Aegon hidden all these years," Lemore reminded him. "The time will come for him to wash his hair and declare himself, I know, but that time is not now. Not to a camp of sellswords." (...)

"The plan was to reveal Prince Aegon only when we reached Queen Daenerys," Lemore was saying." (...)

The prince wore sword and dagger, black boots polished to a high sheen, a black cloak lined with blood-red silk. With his hair washed and cut and freshly dyed a deep, dark blue, his eyes looked blue as well. At his throat he wore three huge square-cut rubies on a chain of black iron, a gift from Magister Illyrio. Red and black. Dragon colors. That was good. "You look a proper prince," he told the boy. (...)

Sansa and Aegon are supposed to reveal themselves by washing the dye out of their hair and wearing their house colours, in an event that involves a wedding with someone that will facilitate claiming their birthright.

However, Aegon said “fuck that bitch Danerys” and getting married, revealed himself somewhat (to the Golden Company higher-ups only) wearing his house colours and went back to Westeros to reclaim his birthright on his own, unware that his cousin from his mother’s side is coming to him to offer aid in the war.. Aegon washing his hair of the blue dye and doning his armour will only happen wieh he sets foot in Westeros.

Likewise, we can draw a parallel scenario for Sansa and considering the “Sansa is grey girl who flees from a marriage” it all fits, Like Aegon, Sansa syas “fuck that bitch blonde Bobby B Harry and getting married, like Aegon she wears a grey cloak, and like Aegon she’ll be meeting her cousin and eventually claim her birthright.

I somehow doubt Sansa will be getting an army that soon, but in the show she got the Wildlings (via Jon, who can be seen as “sellsword” type of warriors) and the Vale army. In the books, there’s the mountain clans both in the Vale (loyal to Tyrion, whom she’s married to) and the north mountain clans (those that protected Bran because he is Ned’s son and joined Stannis also because of Ned and his daughter).

Another thing of note is Aegon ended up cutting his hair but dyed blue once more, so this may be true for Sansa as well. She may cut it shorter (a parallel to her sister Arya as well) but keep dying it for awhile still. Such, she may reach the Wall and meet Jon as a brunette (a parallel to Jeyne Poole as well as Alys Karstark). ETA: Likewise Aegon only revealing himself by washing his hair and doning his armour when he invades Westeros (his birthright), Sansa may only wash her hair and done her armour when the northern campaign starts.

Regardless, This is a smart choice because...

Cersei IV ~ ADWD

The queen bristled. "I most certainly have not forgotten that little she-wolf." She refused to say the girl's name. "I ought to have shown her to the black cells as the daughter of a traitor, but instead I made her part of mine own household. She shared my hearth and hall, played with my own children. I fed her, dressed her, tried to make her a little less ignorant about the world, and how did she repay me for my kindness? She helped murder my son. When we find the Imp, we will find the Lady Sansa too. She is not dead . . . but before I am done with her, I promise you, she will be singing to the Stranger, begging for his kiss."

The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

"His because they're bought and paid for. Ten thousand armed strangers, plus hangers-on and camp followers. All it takes is one to bring us all to ruin. If Hugor's head was worth a lord's honors, how much will Cersei Lannister pay for the rightful heir to the Iron Throne? You do not know these men, my lord. It has been a dozen years since you last rode with the Golden Company, and your old friend is dead."

Cersei’s attention on Aegon is also a parallel to Cersei’s attention to Sansa, interestingly enough Tyrion is mentioned in both instances. Cersei’s attention on Sansa also come attached with the “singing the Stranger for a kiss”, which is interesting because if “Sansa is the Grey Girl” theory holds to, the guy she’s running to for protection is in fact.... dead or close to (the Stranger is their god and in the show... the episode was aplty named, the Book of the Stranger).

The bells tolled for all of us that day. For Aerys and his queen, for Elia of Dorne and her little daughter, for every true man and honest woman in the Seven Kingdoms. And for my silver prince. (...)

He had grown fond of Lemore, but that did not mean he required her approval. Her task had been to instruct the prince in the doctrines of the Faith, and she had done that. No amount of prayer would put him on the Iron Throne, however. That was Griff's task. He had failed Prince Rhaegar once. He would not fail his son.

Let me live long enough to see the boy sit the Iron Throne, and Varys will pay for that slight and so much more. Then we'll see who's soon forgotten.

I grant that the obsession that Jon Connington has for Rhaegar Targaryen is milder and more honourable, compared to the obsession Littlefinger has for Catelyn Tully, but the fact is this is yet another parallel between Sansa and Aegon. They both have mentors with an unhealthy obsession with one of their parents and hate the other, which they project onto the kids. Last, but not least, both mentors are passing off as parents of the children while they remain disguised under a false indentiy.

However, as Sansa will have to run from Littlefinger’s toxic shadow, I suspect Aegon will do much the same. I have suspicions. Sansa escaped Littlefinger because of Jon, as he took the role of protection. No matter how people see the ship, the fact is Jon is a lot like Ned V2 (at least, that’s how Littlefinger will see it and he hated the man) but the truth is Jon is Ned’s nephew and Sansa’s cousin from his mother’s side.

Likewise, Aegon is about to meet Arianne Martell, who’s the niece of his mother Elia Martell, which makes them cousins from his mother’s side. Elia Martell, whom Jon Connington... hates, often speculated in fact that he was in love with Rhaegar Targaryen himself. The symmetry of all this, not only the mentor’s obsession with the children but also the love / hate hey have for their parents.

Connington’s wish to see Aegon crowned and the giant chip he has on his shoulder for not being recognised. For the former, I have not found any reference to Littlefinger wanting to sit the Iron Throne in the books, but this was basically his goal in the show. To be king with Sansa by his side. For the latter, well that’s the drive of his character, he’s a social climber seeking recognition.

Sansa VII ~ ASOS

I will tell my aunt that I don't want to marry Robert. Not even the High Septon himself could declare a woman married if she refused to say the vows. She wasn't a beggar, no matter what her aunt said. She was thirteen, a woman flowered and wed, the heir to Winterfell.

The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

"Why should I go running to my aunt [implied marriage] as if I were a beggar? My claim is better than her own. Let her come to me … in Westeros."

Eh. Same energy. They are not beggars and they know their birthright, they will not be forced to marry someone they don’t want to to facilitate it.

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TL;DR: I think these concurrence between Sansa and Aegon suggest that Aegon is real, but also glimpse into their characters beyond their toxic mentors and their ascencion to power. It will be interesting to watch their common points in future events, even if by the fact that they’re different genders and that makes PLENTY of difference in ASOIAF.

Jon and Aegon

Jon II ~ ASOS

A few tents were still standing on the far side of the camp, and it was there they found Mance Rayder. Beneath his slashed cloak of black wool and red silk he wore black ringmail and shaggy fur breeches, and on his head was a great bronze-and-iron helm with raven wings at either temple. Jarl was with him, and Harma the Dogshead; Styr as well, and Varamyr Sixskins with his wolves and his shadowcat.

The Lost Lord ~ ADWD

I personally ignored Aegon because I started with the show and didn’t know he was a (living) character until I read the books. I wasn’t even all that convinced he’d be particularly important. So I always looked at Jon’s interactions with Mance (associated with black + red) as "preparation” for Jon’s internactions with Daniella.

Hoewver, that changed when show!Cersei took over some of book!Aegon role: sitting on the Iron Throne, the Golden Company, and loved over Daniella in the last to final episode. It seems to me now that Mance can also (at the very least if not all) be seen as “preparation” for Jon’s interactions Aegon. As said, Mance dresss in a black and red cloak which associates him with Targs, the cloak being “copied” by Aegon. Mance united the notorious “give no fucks about authority) wildlings under one idea (run from the Others), while Aegon united a sellsword compay (sellswords are untrustworthty).

Moreover, it’s my conviction that Jon and Aegon are probably going to war against each other for a time (this is illustrated by what I believe are their respective dragons and a natural consequence if Aegon sits in King’s Landing while the Starks declare Northern Indepdencen), until they sommehow make peace (in case of Mance and Jon it was because of the Others, but for Jon and Aegon it could be their fire counterart, Danerys).

TL;DR: I think these vague connections between Mance and Aegon are rather interesting and may be “preparation” for Jon and Aegon’s intereactons will involve war AND peace. Interestingly, Connington’s next chapter feaures battle.

#aegon vi targaryen

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lumau · 4 years ago

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Chapters: 2/7 Fandom: The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Irene (The Invisible Library), Kai (The Invisible Library), Peregrine Vale, catherine (the invisible library), Lord Silver (The Invisible Library), Li Ming (Invisible Library), Ao Shun (Invisible Library) Additional Tags: ilcharacterweek, Angst, Some Humor, Some Romance, all a bit trippy, but it'll make sense, potentially additional tags per chapter, minor spoilers for the dark archive and all other books Summary: 7 chapters, each focussing on one of the main / favorite characters (written for 2021 Invisible Library Character Appreciation Week)

Chapter 2 - Kai

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Kai snarled as he whirled around. The uproar of primal fury made his guts churn, calling out to the rivers, the ocean, the sea. But there was nothing to meet his call. It was not his powers that had left him or been barred to him. He could sense the claws taking shape at the end of his fingers, scales drawing themselves across his skin like shimmering droplets. Yet, no answer came.

This was unacceptable. There was no place he had ever encountered where there was no water, not the least bit, he could reach.

Where was he? What sort of impossible place was this?

The room had a simple, square layout, and it was completely empty except for a plain wooden chair.

There was no draft he could make out, and no visible light source, although the room was brightly lit and felt fresh rather than stuffy. Three of the walls surrounding him were made of a shiny material, while the other as well as floor and ceiling were solid.

A minute back when he woke up slumped on the chair, he had first thought the panels were made of a black metal. Until he saw the vague outlines of shadows that were slowly moving behind all three of them. He had sprung to life, all senses alert at once, but had not been able to make out anything else yet.

There was chaos in the air. Not enough to suppress his nature or inconvenience him in any serious way, but enough to give him an uncomfortable itch of disgust.

Anger was rising in his throat. He was trapped. Whatever it was that was moving behind those windows – he would be able to face it down. But how did he get here, and why could he not call on his elemental power?

Kai forced himself to slow his pacing, and actually think. What would Irene do in this situation? What would Vale do?

Certainly, either of them would handle being trapped better than he did. Maybe Irene would use the language to shatter the glass walls, and stake those creatures behind them with bits of the chair. And Vale would deduce his whereabouts from the dust in the corners and hold a fifteen minute talk about everything he had learned from simply looking at the single piece of furniture provided.

But none of them were here now. He was alone. In a mysterious cell. Without any recollection of how he had gotten here. What could he do? Should he change?

His draconic nature was urging to be released, the more his rage and confusion grew. But what good would it do to have his body fill out the whole room? Would he be able to simply break the walls by sheer physical force, when he had no element to call to his aid?

He had almost made up his mind to give in to the need to take his true form, and try to push at the walls or ceiling, when suddenly the lights behind the windows sprang on. Kai wheeled around. At the same moment, the atmosphere was flooded with chaos. The shock of it threw Kai to his knees, weighing heavily on his body and mind.

Behind the windows were no dangerous creatures lurking in the dark. There were three other cells, just like the one he was in. The one to his left was completely empty, apart from Vale, who was seated on the bare floor in what looked like deep meditation, clearly unfathomed by the change in light. The cell in the middle almost looked like a room of the Library, with bookshelves, a desk and wooden chair just like Kai’s. Pacing around in it was Irene. She went from brushing over the backs of the leather bound books to sitting in the chair, only to get right up again to run her hand along the far side wall. The last cell held Catherine. The fae was sitting in an armchair, just as she would have done at home. Piled up around her were stacks of books, and she did not look up once.

After the first moment of stupor, Kai stumbled to his feet and rushed forward to slap his hands against the panes of glass. He called out the names of his friends, but none of them reacted - they did not seem to hear or even notice him.

Kai stopped his useless efforts. He stood back, panting heavily and looked back and forth between the three other cells. Clearly the glass must be mirrored, so he could see in but they could not see out. How could he get their attention, so that they could escape together?

Then the grinding, mechanical noise began to thrum deep underneath him.

Kai froze. The far walls of each of the other cells had suddenly sprung into grinding motion, pushing into the rooms in a steady movement. Panic clutched at Kai’s throat, as he saw the bookcases in Irene’s cell being pushed into each other, splintering wood forcing her to throw herself down and cover her head with her arms.

Catherine did not seem to notice anything that was going on around her, she was still sitting in her chair, calmly reading. Vale had not moved either, but Kai could see he was rapidly muttering under his breath, a fine sheen of sweat showing on his forehead.

Kai threw himself against the windows in a vain attempt to break them. The chaos level in the room suppressed his stronger, draconic body from taking shape, but he kept trying with all the force that he had, fear and fury pushing him to simply act on instinct. He fell back with a scream of pain, as something cracked in his shoulder.

There was no time. The cells were already reduced to half their size. There were three of them for him to rescue and he didn’t know how. What could he do in his current shape? His eyes darted around in panic and fell on the chair. Maybe he could use it to break one of the windows? He had to try, and he had to try now.

He picked up the wooden chair, and hesitated, forcing himself to think before acting. If he managed to break a window with it, the chair would break, too. He probably only had one chance.

And which of the windows should he try to break?

Which of his friends should he save?

All of them, of course! He would not allow any harm to either of them.

By now, Irene was buried under a pile of toppled shelves and had taken cover under the desk. The grinding noise of the moving walls was almost drowned out by the crunching of the wood as they mercilessly pushed further into the rooms. Certainly Irene was in the most imminent danger from the broken furniture in her cell.

But Vale was completely without protection. And while Irene might still come up with a last minute plan on how she could use the Language to save herself, Vale was simply human and his skills lay elsewhere. He had also sprung up now, and was hastily pushing and scraping at the walls, rushing back and forth in the small room that he had still left. And Catherine? She was merely a child. He had to save her. But still, she was also fae. Could he save a creature of chaos, while risking his friends’ lives and live with that choice?

Kai screamed at the top of his lungs, putting all his anger, frustration and agony into the outcry. Under normal circumstances his energy would have raised rivers, called storms and shaken the earth - yet right now, the sound rang hollow and the only effect was that it hurt his throat.

He raised the chair above his shoulder, and with all the force he could muster, he slammed it into the window of Irene’s cell.

There was a crash and an ear-splitting screeching sound as the chair and the glass shattered. Thousands of tiny shards rained down, cutting the skin of Kai’s face and hands as he stumbled through.

Panic got him right back on his feet, but he froze, as he found himself inside an empty corridor, walls solid and unmoving and no sign of either Irene, broken furnishings or toppled shelves. All the noise around him had stopped. Everything was quiet but his own rapid breath.

Kai ran back through the hole in the now shattered wall, only to see that the other windows had faded to black.

Did that mean he was too late? But, no, surely… the noise had stopped, certainly the others were safe? They had to be!

What had he done?

Kai fell to his knees. He felt tears run down his face, they stung, where they met the fresh cuts, but he only vaguely noticed anything but the immediate pain of his own betrayal.

“Vale, I’m so sorry,” he sobbed in shaking gasps. “I didn’t mean to. Catherine… I had to choose, I… Irene, where are you? Please...”

╳

#the invisible library #ilcharacterweek #kai strongrock #more angst you said? sure

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nymerias-heart · 4 years ago

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Firstly, the parallels between Arya/Lyanna are canon. They are not based on assumptions or theories of who Lyanna was. Ned tells Arya that she reminds him of Lyanna and that she looks like her. Harwin tells Arya she rides a horse as good as her aunt did. Bran sees a young Lyanna and immediately thinks it's Arya, the reason he concludes he isn't looking at Arya is because if the girl was Arya then the boy would have had to be him but he didn't wear his hair that long and Arya didn't beat him with swords the way this girl was beating the boy. So, Bran seen a young Lyanna and wasn't able to tell the difference between her and Arya. So, when speaking about looks, Arya IS Lyanna reborn. George wrote this. This is Canon. If George wanted sansa to have parallels with Lyanna then he would have written them. If he wanted Sansa to be Lyanna reborn, then he would have written it, he would have written characters comparing the two but he didn't. Sansa is compared to Catelyn not Lyanna. So it isn't that you can give Arya stans the parallels. The parallels ARE about Lyanna and Arya and no amount of twisting will make them about sansa. So, no, you can't give to us what already belonged to our fav.

"I was however trying to point out that you're not convincing anyone with your 'sansa has her own parallels with this raging lunatic who tried to kill her' routine" - - - - - I'm not trying to convince anyone. Sansa has parallels to Lysa. That is Canon. It's not me hating on sansa or making anything up. Her having parallels with lysa doesn't make sansa a 'raging lunatic'.

No one was comparing Sansa to Lysa, I was saying that sansa and lysa have parallels, not that they are the same person. But comparing their parallels to the parallels between Arya and Lyanna is the same. Why?. Because we are not changing who a character is to fit our parallels. It is the way the characters were written by George. Lysa and Sansa have parallels and that is not hate or saying that sansa will go crazy or shit. Or saying that Arya will marry a targaryen in secret and runaway to dorne. What we are doing is pointing out the similarities between characters but this does not mean they will have the Same fate or be the same person. What I think you meant is that we are comparing Arya to someone good while comparing Sansa to someone bad. But this isn't me making things up, it's the way George wrote the characters. And since when is Lyanna the most adored character?? Anyways, sansa can and does have parallels with other good characters but just not Lyanna. Or at the least not as many 'parallels' as stansas make their out to be. The ones you do have, just like in the op, are based on a Fanon Lyanna and not the one that is shown in the books.

Arya did flee from Kingslanding just like Lysa and Sansa did but in a much different way. Arya fled the red keep all on her own and no-one knew what happened to her. Then Yoren found her and cut off her hair and she left Kingslanding disguised as Arry the orphan boy. In comparison Lysa left with her son sweet Robin and obviously some small retinue. Though it's not mentioned in the books, she would have had to have been accompanied by someone because like HOW?? would she get to the Vale on her own. Sansa got notes from someone to meet her in the gods wood. Can't remember the name of the drunk Knight who helped her get out, but anyways someone helped her out of the castle and city and brought her to a ship where littlefinger was waiting for her, littlefinger who planned her escape. You could argue that syrio helped Arya escape but it's not the same because he wasn't there with her when she was escaping you could compare to the show when septa mordane tried to give sansa a head start. So Arya's escape was very much different. Not only was her escape different but also the place she escaped to. Arya went to the riverlands while Sansa and lysa went to the Vale.

It's not about who is superior to who. It's about who is who's foil. George said the initial reason for making sansa was because the starks were too good and he needed someone to cause strife within the family. Sansa was written as a foil to Arya. A foil doesn't mean being better, it means being there to draw an direct comparison to another character. From Aryas first chapter we can see that sansa is her foil.

Obviously, Arya wouldn't become the lady of the Vale, she has nothing to do with that plot line but sansa does. It's sansa who may or may not end up married to Harry the heir, not Arya. It's sansa who is in the Vale, not Arya. It's sansa who has parallels to Lysa, not Arya.

I agree that having parallels doesn't equal to having the same fate or becoming the same person. But don't twist Canon so you can make parallels where there aren't any, just like in the op with sansa/Lyanna. It's one thing to point out what is in the books and another to try and twist the books to suit your fanon.

I agree, any character can have parallels with another. But those sansa/Lyanna parallels weren't true to Lyannas character and were just something the op made up.

No one is going to be another character come again. But it is Canon that Young Lyanna and Arya look almost identical. So my point was if one of the two sisters was to be Lyanna reborn it physically could not be sansa. Once again obviously Arya is not Lyanna reborn she is so much more than Lyanna could ever be. Arya is a faceless assasin in Bravoos. That alone tells us that the two are not the same. But there are still many parallels between them. For example if you believe the jaqen=aegon theory then you have another parallel with a targaryen prince and a star girl in harrenhal.

I did not respond to the post because it said one character was another reborn. I responded to it because the 'parallels' they used were made up and were in no way true to who Lyanna was, a GNC woman. Guess what, GNC women can also be loved, turns out you do not have to be gentle and t

Courteous and ladylike for someone to see you as attractive.

It is Canon that lyanna/Arya have parallels. So when a stansa comes out and twists Lyannas entire character to fit the parallels, then that is stealing from Arya because it is arya who parallels with Lyanna not sansa. If you want to know, it is not the first thing that a stansa would have stolen from Aryas storyline. So yes it annoys us, because if you guys actually liked sansa why would you constantly steal storylines and aspects from other characters like Arya or Dany. The op who made that sansa/Lyanna post also made posts in which they plastered sansas face over Arya's and had Jon give her needle. Stansas do steal and it gets really annoying.

By the way I didn't say stansas were stealing Lyanna, I said they were stealing the parallels which you were. If the parallels were actually based on Canon, I wouldn't have said anything. But Lyannas entire character had to be twisted to fit those parallels.

The sansa is Lysa reborn was me using the op's logic to prove a point.

George wrote these books, he created these characters, he wrote the characters the way they are. The parallels between arya/Lyanna and sansa/Lysa were made by him.

#arya stark #asoiaf #sansa stans #sansa stark #lysa tully #lyanna stark

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thebluelemontree · 5 years ago

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Hello! I love reading what you have to say about Sansan and I’ve been wondering in my head recently about where their relationship will be at the end of the series. Do you think it’s plausible that Sansa and Sandor could actually be romantically involved at the end of the series and live a happy ending? GRRM has too much set up to not have them cross paths again. Many people have thought of different ways their stories may connect at the end of series. (1/2)

Some say Sandor will save Sansa from fire, he will die for her, she will knight him, or that they may be romantically involved and I have no idea what GRRM may choose. Will Sansa be queen and she can just marry Sandor? Will she never live a high born life again and she and Sandor just live as commoners? I seriously don’t know what to expect and I wanted to know what you think would be the most realistic ending or the one you want. Sorry this got so long! (2/2

Lotta questions here. No need to appologize.

Do you think it’s plausible that Sansa and Sandor could actually be romantically involved at the end of the series and live a happy ending?

Yes, oh yes; however, we still got a ways to go. A lot can happen in two books.

GRRM has too much set up to not have them cross paths again.

Agreed.

Some say Sandor will save Sansa from fire, he will die for her, she will knight him, or that they may be romantically involved and I have no idea what GRRM may choose.

I think Sandor’s arc has had him facing fire by drawing him closer and closer to it all along, but not in an ultimately bad way. I think it’s GRRM’s exposure therapy to bring him to a place of overcoming his trauma. His helmet is singed by fire at the Blackwater battle => His arm is burned when he is judged by the BwB for his role in Mycah’s death, rendering him a helpless child, so he’s forced to relate to his victim => He WILLINGLY submits to being burned by the boiling wine so that he might live a little bit longer to help Arya get to her aunt in the Eyrie. Then I have my speculations and theory concerning the Burned Men of the Vale, who ritually burn themselves to prove their strength and courage, as well as magic that notably feels like it’s burning. Would he die for her? Absolutely. That much is certain. I don’t think that means he needs to actually die to prove what we all already know is true; however, he could still die in other ways for other reasons. I think we need to read Winds first to get an idea of what his role in the endgame will look like. I try to keep my specific theories narrowly focused on the immediate future events in Winds rather than stray too far ahead. There are just too many unknown factors.

As for knighting, only a knight can make a knight. I don’t know if it will be literally or metaphorically, but I think that role goes to Elder Brother, who was a knight in his former life. Sansa did teach Sandor that true knighthood is about what you choose to do and what you stand for, not ceremony or title. All knights are not secretly bad people, as Sandor likes to think. That belief comes from the knighting of his biological older brother that caused his original trauma. If he chooses to let go of all that and embrace knighthood after earning it through selfless and noble actions, I think it would be a profoundly emotional moment to have his replacement older brother, the one that healed his wounds and cared for him, do the knighting. Like Dunk and the ambiguity surrounding official his knighting, it doesn’t matter if it’s recognized by the rest of the world. Just that the people that care about him are there to witness his character come full circle with it. That is totally appropriate for Sansa to witness his knighting and be his #1 cheerleader.

Will Sansa be queen and she can just marry Sandor?

If that were to happen, I think the Starks would first set him up with a title and some land as a reward for his service to their house. Sort of like how Littlefinger smoothed the way to being able to marry Lysa Arryn by getting upjumped to Lord of Harrenhal. I have doubts about Sansa being a literal queen, though. A leader, advisor, and influencer definitely, and still a highborn lady no matter what.

Will she never live a high born life again and she and Sandor just live as commoners?

Only very temporarily. I think they will have a brief moment where she’s still under the guise of Alayne Stone, and she’ll be able to express herself more confidently and freely. That would be a good time to rehash things and act on some feelings. Except then there will be the pull back to being Sansa Stark again, which will inevitably bring with it a lot of drama and conflict. What about her marriage to Tyrion? What about the regicide charge and the bounty on her head? How will she explain her role in Littlefinger’s schemes? I mean, if she publically reveals herself to be Sansa Stark she looks really suspect just being associated with LF all this time and with her aunt’s timely death. How will she manage to win the Vale to her side? Will she be pressured to marry someone else to secure that? I do think Sandor will play a role in helping her reclaim her identity, but I think it will also be a double-edged sword for them for at least a while. Duty vs. love, and all that.

I seriously don’t know what to expect and I wanted to know what you think would be the most realistic ending or the one you want.

I'm of the opinion that a happy ending as in they are together and have a family to carry on into the future is one realistic ending George could write. I disagree with the idea that he thinks unhappy endings are just more realistic and that romance is always doomed. Fuck, the man married his longtime girlfriend after having a failed marriage in the past. Why would he, who finally got the girl he always wanted to be with, think this type of ending is dumb or unrealistic? It’s his real life! And I think even if a tragedy like a character death happened, it would not be because he’s out to punish romantic love or the reader for caring. I think, at the very worst, their final endgame would be both bitter and sweet, with still plenty of sweet. Maybe they can’t be together openly as they wish, but they are still passionate and devoted to each other. Maybe Sandor is killed in the final battle, but Sansa is pregnant. But my money is on 100% sweet and an earned optimistic ending for them after a rough ride of more war and nearly dying with a post-Quiet Isle rehab Sandor, and a post-Littlefinger reclaimed Sansa Stark.

#sansan #sansan meta #sansan speculation #anonymous #asks #Anonymous

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trinuviel · 6 years ago

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Regarding that feather...

Ever since the Game of Thrones season 8 teaser Aftermath was released people have been debating who or what is represented by the feather that slowly falls from the broken railing on the battlements of Winterfell down to the remains of Bran’s wheelchair. Some people think the feather symbolizes Lyanna, other people think it represents Sansa and yet others claim that it represents Jon’s parentage.

I’m here to say that the feather actually represents all three options! In itself the feather is just an object, a prop - what it means is completely dependent on the context in which it appears - and when the context changes, so does the meaning of the feather.

At various moments in the story, the feather symbolizes different things - and it all depends on the context in which it appears!!!!!

In order to ascertain what the feather might signify in the teaser Aftermath, we’ll have to take a look at the circumstances where it has previously appeared. The feather has made appearances in season 1 and 5 as well as in 2 of the promotional teasers for the upcoming season 8.

Season 1

The feather makes its debut in the very first episode of the show, when the whole story takes its beginning. Immediately after his arrival in Winterfell, King Robert goes with to crypts with Ned Stark to pay his respects the Ned’s late sister Lyanna Stark whose “abduction” by Rhaegar Targaryen was one of the events that sparked Robert’s Rebellion, which put an end to the Targaryen dynasty. (Now we know that Lyanna wasn’t really abducted by Rhaegar but this is the official story and what Robert believes).

(GIF by Zulzibar)

Robert has brought the feather of an exotic bird which he places in the hands of Lyanna’s funerary statue. He laments that she is buried in such a dark place and when Ned says the she belongs there because she was a Stark, Robert angrily retorts that she belonged with him. Then Robert says that he kills Rhaegar all over again in his dreams, even after 15 years.

In this context, the feather represents Robert’s love for Lyanna - and it is thus a symbol both of Lyanna herself but also of his love and his loss, which haunts him to this day.

Season 5

The feather reappears in season 5 when Sansa Stark returns to Winterfell to be wed to Ramsay Bolton. Shortly after her arrival, we have a scene where she’s in the crypts, lighting a candle that she places in the hands of Lyanna’s funerary statue, much like Robert placed the feather there. She notices the feather lying at the feet of the statue, picks it up and blows off the dust that have accumulated on it.

(GIF by @thelawyerthatwaspromised)

The showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss explains one of the reasons why they included the feather in this scene:

"The last time we saw the statue of Lyanna was in the pilot episode," explains series co-creator David Benioff. "King Robert Baratheon laid this exotic, tropical bird feather in her hand. As we were preparing the scene [with Sansa], we thought: That feather’s probably still there. People haven't been going down there and cleaning up much. Certainly after Ramsay destroyed Winterfell, there hasn’t been a janitorial crew going down and vacuuming." "We thought it would be kind of a great thing to have Sansa wondering about it," co-creator D.B. Weiss notes. "Hopefully viewers wonder: Where did I see that before? – and then remember that in the first episode of the show, this is something that Robert left to remember the woman he loved." (Making Game of Thrones)

Now this sounds like the feather is just a sort of nice little Easter egg for the attentive viewer to remember. However, the context of the scene adds a layer of significance to this little object because the official story of Lyanna’s fate comes to function as a foreshadowing for what happens to Sansa later in season 5.

Just after she has picked up the feather, Littlefinger intrudes upon Sansa as she pays homage to her dead:

Sansa: Father never talked about her. Sometimes I’d find him down here, lighting the candles. They say she was beautiful.

This shows that Sansa didn’t really know much about her aunt who died before she was born. She doesn’t really have a connection with Lyanna but yet she’s down in the crypt lighting a candle to her. Why? The line quoted above subtly tells us that this is Sansa’s way of remembering her father. There’s no statue of Ned in the crypts but she remembers her father lighting candles to her aunt - and so she does the same as a way of remembering him, which is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

Littlefinger then goes on to tell the story of the Tourney of Harrenhal where Rhaegar first met Lyanna and crowned her Queen of Love and Beauty - causing a scandal. Sansa finishes the story by saying that Rhaegar then kidnapped and raped Lyanna. This shows that while Ned never talked about his sister, her story (or the official version of it) was well known in the North and that Sansa knew about it from other sources. The conversation about Rhaegar and Lyanna also serves as an extremely subtle hint of a big secret (Jon’s parentage) for the discerning viewer, especially one who’s familiar with the books.

As they walk away from Lyanna’s statue, Sansa is still holding the feather! They discuss Littlefinger’s plans for her to end up Wardeness of the North and as he prepares to take his leave of her she says:

Sansa: I expect I’ll be a married woman by the time you return.

We never see Sansa return the feather to Lyanna’s statue, which I think is important to note!

Within the context of this scene, the feather is obviously connected to Lyanna but it also becomes connected to Sansa more than one way. Firstly, because Lyanna’s fate comes to serve as a dark foreshadowing of things to come for Sansa as she is raped on her wedding night by Ramsay Bolton. This narrative connection between Lyanna and Sansa is further elaborated when Littlefinger serves Lord Rhoyce the lie that Sansa was abducted by the Bolton in season 6. Thus, the official story of Sansa’s presence in the North is one of kidnapping and rape, just like the official story of Lyanna is - and it is used to prompt the Lords of the Vale to go to war for her, just like it prompted Robert and the Starks to go to war for Lyanna.

It is also worth noting that Sansa wears her black, feathered gown during the scene in the crypt. The costume design is important but WHEN the costumes are worn is equally important - and Sansa’s gown also sports feathers dangling from her wrists, which the camera work draws attention to in another scene. Sansa is thus already connected to feathers visually and she has quite a bit of bird imagery as well - she’s been called both Little Dove and Little Bird in King’s Landing. So there’s a visual comparison drawn between Lyanna’s feather and Sansa’s costume.

The there’s the fact that the show draws visual comparisons between Lyanna and Sansa in season 7. Thus, Sansa wears her hair just like Lyanna did during her secret wedding to Rhaegar Targaryen.

Furthermore, Lyanna’s wedding gown features a belt that looks very similar to the one that adorned Sansa’s wedding dress in season 3 in the way it cross over her torso and sports an embellished collar. This is NOT a coincidence since costumier Michele Clapton is very particular with her designs and how they support the narrative - and in season 7 she was especially insistent on how each costume detail is symbolic:

We try to be really symbolic about everything everyone wears now.” (Michele Clapton, Insider)

Thus, the show creates a subtle connection between Sansa and Lyanna through the costuming and that adds to the way that the feather connects the two characters through the context of the scene in season 5. In light of this we have to ask ourselves WHY?

Why has the show gone out of the way to connect these two characters?

Crypts of Winterfell - season 8 Teaser

The feather makes a third appearance in The Crypts of Winterfell teaser for season 8 where we see Jon, Sansa and Arya stride through the crypts of Winterfell only to be confronted with statues of themselves. Though we never saw Sansa return the feather to Lyanna’s statue in season 5, it is back in this teaser where we see it cradled in the hands of the statue.

As Jon walks past, the feather is disturbed and it flies away from the hands of the statue as a Lyanna in a Voice Over says: “You have to protect him.”

These are the very words that she spoke to Ned on her death bed, which we saw in the flash back of season 6 - a scene that revealed that Jon Snow is not the bastard son of Ned Stark but rather the son of his sister Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen. Baby Jon’s life was in danger because Robert Baratheon would kill any Targaryen he could get his hands on, even a child. Thus the lie that Jon is Ned’s bastard was born.

In this context, the feather comes to represent Jon’s true parentage, which is a narrative bomb set to go off in this final season of the show. It is a secret that promises to radically reconfigure the narrative and have a huge impact on both political and personal relationships.

The feather IS important because the teaser draws special visual attention to it, not just by focusing on it after Jon ahs walked past Lyanna’s statue but also by making it the subject of an extreme close-up at then end of the sequence.

In short, once again the feather is ascribed a new meaning due to the context of the scenes where it appears in the teaser.

Aftermath - season 8 Teaser

The feather makes yet another appearance in a second teaser for season 8, The Aftermath, which I mentioned in the introduction. In this teaser we see a broken and abandoned Winterfell covered in snow. The Stark direwolf banner is torn and as the camera moves about the ruined castle, we notice objects associated with the main characters: the golden Hand brooch of Tyrion, Arya’s sword Needle, Bran’s wheelchair, Daenerys’ chain of intent, Jaime’s golden hand and Jon’s sword Longclaw. However, we don’t see any object that is obviously associated with Sansa. Yet Lyanna’s feather makes another appearance. Right before we see the feather, we get this shot of the battlements:

This particular place is a place where we’ve seen Sansa several times during seasons 5-7. It was where she was threatened by Myranda just before she and Theon jumped from the walls to escape their prison. It is where she talked with Jon in both season 6 and 7 and it is where she and Arya buried their differences at the end of season 7.

Sansa has also been at the battlements alone in season 7, right before she held the trial of Littlefinger. She the ONLY character that is especially associated with this particular location in Winterfell.

After the establishing shot of the battlements the camera zooms in on the wood guard rail that has been broken. Lyanna’s feather rests on it until the desolate wind picks it up.

Then it slowly falls down on the ground.

Right next to the broken remains of Bran’s wheelchair.

The camera focuses on the feather for 9 whole seconds, which is a long time in terms of television, especially in a trailer that is just a little over 1 minute long. In comparison the camera spends only about 3 seconds each on the other character symbols except for Jon’s sword, which the camera lingers on for 9 seconds. This proves that the feather is obviously important.

So does the feather represent Sansa in this teaser? It isn’t a question that can’t be answered conclusively unless the creators either confirm of deny it. However, considering that the battlements is a place especially associated with Sansa, combined with the fact that she was associated with the feather in an earlier scene in season 5 + the visual connection made between her and Lyanna in season 7, I’d argue that there’s a very high possibility that the feather does indeed represent Sansa. But why use Lyanna’s feather and not a more recognizable item, like her necklace, that is more readily associated with Sansa? I don’t really have an answer for that other than the creators have decided to infuse the teaser with some ambiguity and that the Lyanna/Sansa/R+L=J connection that the feather symbolizes will be narratively important in some way.

Another interesting detail is the fact that the sequence with the feather is placed between the shot of Arya’s Needle and Bran’s wheelchair, which brings to mind the promotional photo shoots where Sansa repeatedly has been placed between Arya and Bran.

Having the feather land by Bran’s wheelchair also connects it symbolically with Bran, which activates its symbol value as a signifier of Jon’s true parentage since he is one of the only two people who knows the truth of Jon’s parents as of the end of season 7 where he witness the secret wedding of Lyanna and Rhaegar. Thus, the feather comes to symbolize several things at the same time: Sansa as well as Jon’s parentage, also invoking Lyanna by association.

The Crypts of Winterfell teaser invoked the feather as a symbol of Jon’s true parentage and its importance for the narrative. It is the most narratively coherent of all the season 8 trailers and it establishes the importance of who Jon really is and hints at what it could mean for him politically (”You have to protect him”).

The Aftermath teaser is quite different. It is akin to the season 6 Hall of Faces teaser where the faces of both living and dead characters adorn the walls of the temple of the Many-Faced God. it was clearly meant to remind the audience that no character is safe on this show and to make people worry for their favorites.

Aftermath serves a similar purpose. It teases a grim future where our heroes lose the War against the Dead, leaving behind a frozen wasteland. It teases the ultimate defeat and the death of all the characters, making us worry just like the Hall of Faces teaser did. There’s no room for politics in this apocalyptic scenario and you have to wonder why the camera takes its time to linger long on an item that symbolizes Jon’s parentage as well as Sansa. You have to wonder why they’ve chosen to put so much focus on this humble feather that is narratively connected to both Lyanna and Sansa as well as serving as a symbol of Jon’s royal heritage.

#game of thrones #teaser #aftermath #sansa stark

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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years ago

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Hello! I've been reading your posts for quite some time. Now I have been reading about scenarios in which Oscar got kidnapped with or without Ruby by Salem but....what if Ruby got kidnapped by Salem and Oscar has to go out and save her (with backup of course). I'm not suggesting that Ruby should take on the role of the damsel in distress given her development in the show thus far but it's been so common nowadays about these speculations of Oscar being more likely to be kidnapped. Just curious.

Hello Rainbow.Well to be fair, I’m among the folks who’ve been pitchingthe idea of Oscar beingthe one to be taken by Salem alone.

However before duringV5’s runtime, one of the firsttheories for a potential Dark Domain Arc in RWBY that I pitched featured the idea of Oscarand Ruby both becoming prisoners ofSalem, being forced to survive on their own and make the perilous trek acrossthe Grimm infested Dark Lands.

Back then, I figured that Ruby and Oscar would bekidnapped together because between V4 and V5, there were hints of this beingpossible. In V5, we got Lionheart mentioning taking Oscar to Salem and in V4,Ruby was made a target by Salem who sent Tyrian Callows to kidnap her and if itweren’t for Qrow intervening, Tyrian may have succeeded in abducting her.

Despite Tyrian’s failure, it doesn’t excuse the fact thatSalem showed an interest in Ruby and with Tyrian expected to be a part of theupcoming Atlas Arc, it wouldn’t surprise me if he dared to enact his revengeand claim a second chance at whisking Ruby away to Salem. So if Ruby becomes a prisoner of Salem,it wouldn’t surprise me.

However here’s the thing, Ican’t picture the idea of Ruby being kidnapped alone with an entire arc being dedicated to focusing on her friends having tosave her being led by Oscar. And my reason for that is due to her status as ourmain protagonist of RWBY. Ruby is our valiant hero of the story and I can only see theWriters writing her to be that way. I’m not saying Ruby can’t become Salem’sprisoner. I’m just saying I can’t see that story being written in a way whereRuby is the maiden waiting to be saved by her friends. I can only see Rubybeing captured only to escape and then the audient spends the story watchingher struggle to make her way back to reuniting with her friends who are lookingfor her.

That’s how I see it. I also can’t see Ruby being takenalone with Oscar having to find since the narrative so far has painted the bothof them with clear targets on their backs. Oscar especially, given Salem’sreaction to learning that Ozpin is alive and reincarnated as him and the V6finale after-credit moment of her preparing her Winged Beringel Army topossibly go after Ozpin and essentially Oscar.

I can’t see Ruby being taken without Oscar. For me, I canonly see it as Ruby beingkidnapped with Oscar since both smaller,more honest souls have been previously alluded to be targetedby Salem or just Oscar takenalone with Ruby being the only to save him. That’swhat I see being more likely to become canon with my current favourite beingthese two headcanons being the one about Oscar being taken.

I’m sorry if it’s become a common theory but as I alwayssay, my firm reasoning behind why I love the ‘Oscarthe prisoner and Ruby his saviour’ theory isbecause of the strong parallels to the Lost Fable episode from RWBY V6 and the Lost Princessof Oz fairy-tale.

Oscar draws inspiration from Princess Ozma, as many RWBYtheories had deducted, and in the Oz book series, there is a story titled ‘The Lost Princess of Oz’ which depicts Princess Ozmabeing kidnapped and it is her best friend Dorothy Gale who leads a search partyto rescue her.

Many RWBY theorists believe that Ruby draws inspirationfrom Dorothy Gale apart from her trademark Little Red Riding Hood motif.Personally I was more under the impression that both Ruby and Oscar shared influence from Dorothy but it is Ruby who’ll become the Dorothycharacter in Oscar’s Ozma story.

Dorothy was said to be Princess Ozma’sclosest confidant in the Oz series and this is thetype of relationship that I’m anticipating to see reflected in the Rosegardenbudding friendship. I’m expecting Ruby tobecome Oscar’s best friend and closest companion as well as his future love interest since Oscar also takes influence from the Little Prince whose truelove was a red rose that was his main companion back on his home planet.

As for the Lost Fable, should Oscar becomeSalem’s prisoner then I am of the opinion that she would lock him away inside a lonely tower much similarto how she was imprisoned centuries ago. I adore the parallel of Oscarbecoming like Salem once was---stripped away from his loved ones and lockedaway by a wicked being who condemned him to a life of isolation and loneliness;never knowing if he’d see the outside world ever again or be reunited with thosehe holds dear.

I am behind this theory 100% because I think it would be fittingto have Oscar, as an incarnate of Ozma, become the Boyin the Lonely Tower waiting to be saved by his caped champion. Itis quite the appropriate satire to have Salem, the original girl in the tower detainthe boy who is the very embodiment of the hero who once saved her from hersolitude. Salem the imprisoned becoming the imprisoner to lock away the boy was once the righteous man who freed her in anotherlifetime is such a perfect parallel . At least to me it is.

In Salem’s story, Ozma was the righteous valiant hero whofought and freed her from her captivity. I can definitely see Ruby becomingOscar’s champion, leading the charge to save him from his imprisonment. There are similarities to Ruby and Ozma just as much as there are similarities to Salem (original) and Oscar. I discussed those similarities better in this Musing post right there.

This is why I love this theory so much. It connects backto two important tales related to Oscar. I really would love to see that parallelto the Lost Fable because I think it’s the most possible. If not that, then it’sRuby and Oscar against the Dark Domain theory because that headcanon also hasan Oz equivalent. Two actually.

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was kidnapped by the flyingmonkeys and taken to the Wicked Witch. As I said, Ruby and Oscar both shareinspiration from Dorothy Gale. There is also another Oz book--- ‘Glinda ofOz’ in which Dorothy and Princess Ozma got kidnapped together. This was another nodto the Oz books that helped me justify why I inclined to the theory of would be cool if bothRuby and Oscar got nabbed together since they both technically representDorothy and Princess Ozma.

As a matter of fact, I’d actually love to combine both ofthese theories. Imagine if…Ruby and Oscar are kidnappedtogether and taken to Salem. Oscar is then lockedaway in another solitary part of Salem’s castle while Ruby is held elsewhere---possiblyin some kind of tomb-like dungeon of some sorts where Salem can potentiallyentertain herself by forcing Ruby to combat countless hordes of Grimm withoutthe use of her Crescent Rose or her silver eyes.

Some fans have shared the idea of Ruby losing one of her eyes. While this squigglemeister isn’t too big of a fan of this theory, I’lladmit that I can actually see it happening. I can see Salem damagingRuby’s eyes but not to the point of her going completelyblind.

Since by my assumption, Salem would most likely rather sadistically wishfor the young huntress to see every bit of torment Salem was going to put her through. Instead Ruby’seyes are damaged just enough so that she can’t summon forth her indomitablepower. At least, not without causing herself excruciating pain or failingentirely.

Perhaps Salem damages Ruby’s eyes using dark magicmaking her injuries impossible to be healed even by normal means such as Jaune’ssemblance. I’ve more been a fan of Ruby losing her eyes to dark magic since it an potentially open up a bit where Oscar can master control ofhis own magical powers as means of healing Ruby’s eyes back to their originalstate. It’s only another headcanon butit’s one that I like.

Anyways, eventually Ruby manages to free herself byoutsmarting Salem’s forces. We then get a story of Ruby finding her way toOscar who she learnt was being kept in a lonely tower. There she reunites withOscar and the two share a tender moment before making their daring escapetogether.

However in spite of their heartfelt reunion, our twoRosebuds aren’t out of the danger yet. Escaping Salem’s castle and the lonelytower was only the first obstacle. The hardest journey would be making it back to civilization to findtheir comrades---granted that they were still alive after the Fall of Atlas.

That actually doesn’t sound too bad. I am down for bothof these theories being combined, if ever possible.

So to reiterate, I can’t see Ruby being kidnapped alone.In my mind, we’re more likely to either see Rubykidnapped with Oscar and the two have to work together to escape Salem.

Or…it’s ascenario where Salem arrivesto kidnap Ruby but Oscar lets Salem take him in Ruby’s place. Or…it’sthe latter where Salem comesto take Oscar and threatens to the lives of everyone in Atlas if Oscar didn’t surrenderhimself over to her. So in the end, Oscar gives himself up toSalem to protect everyone including Ruby who fails to save him and can onlywatch helplessly as Oscar is taken away before her eyes while the entire kingdom of Atlasfalls around her.

That’s how I’m seeing it. I see the heroes taking their biggest hit and facing their biggestfailure in Atlas Kingdom. Even worse than Vale. Notonly does Atlas Academy fall but the entire kingdom itself. Since Atlas is inthe sky, that is just a giant red flag in my eyes for this entire kingdom to plummetto the ground.

My impression is that Atlaswill fall from the sky at some point during itstrilogy and what I figured could be an interesting way to tie this narrative toa potential standalone Dark Domain Arc is if Salemsimultaneously kidnapped a handful of Atlesian citizens during the Fall ofAtlas to hold them hostage in her domain.

Like…imagine General Ironwood and the Atlesian military workingdesperately to evacuate every surviving citizen during the Fall of Atlas; boardingthem all on airships to be taken to safety in another neighbouring kingdom(like Mistral or maybe even Vacuo); only to be bombarded by Salem’s forces whotake control of those ships.

So while some airships managed to evade captivity, Salem stillsucceeded in capturing a good percentage of the populace. Among the safepassengers are, of course, our heroes (minus Oscar) but to their dismay, theyare forced to watch helplessly as Salem took hostage of some of the airshipswith evacuees on board. Among them were some of their friends and even family.

Like perhaps Team FNKI and I have this headcanon thatWeiss’ family---Whitley, her mother, Klein and even Winter were among theevacuees captured by Salem. Y’know to give Weiss an incentive to join Ruby in venturing into Salem’s Domain on a life and death rescue mission to save Oscar.

These days I’m really starting to lean toward the headcanon of Salem capturing Atlesian citizens during the Fall of Atlas to use as leverage to torture Oscar into submitting to her whim during his imprisonment by threatening their lives if he didn’t obey.

By my headcanon, Oscar figured he had saved everyone with his sacrifice when the reality was, he didn’t. I described this theory betterin these two Pinehead headcanons----Oscar’s GrimmBuddy and Oscar’sBetrayal.

So yeah, I think this covers why I’m more in support of the Oscar the Prisoner theory. The Ruby reverse isn’t bad. I just find the version with Oscar more likely to happen because of the strong parallells to Oz and the Lost Fable. Hope this answers your question.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #rwby theories #rwby volume 7 theories #rainbowfireheart #squiggles answers

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inthegroundontime · 5 years ago

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Title: So, You Married a Selkie Rating: PG Ships: Rudyard/Liesel ( @ncvaflows ), mentions of Chapman/Masha ( @enjcyourselves & @caughtintherevolution ) Characters: Rudyard Funn, Georgie Crusoe, Liesel Ivanov Summary: Rudyard may not have noticed that he’s been married for the last four months, but it hasn’t escaped notice altogether.

It’s unorthodox, but Rudyard supposes he quite likes having the shifter woman around. She’s kind to him in ways no one, not even Georgie or Antigone has ever been. She listens to his stories and shares some of her own. At dawn, when she returns from her swim, he makes her a cup of tea and she sits with him, reading her book while he does the Piffling Matters crossword. Together, they delight in typos and the simple pleasure of a sunrise in Piffling Vale before the rain rolls in. It always does – especially when she leaves to swim again and Rudyard departs for work. As he worries about her safety, the storms sometimes abate, but every now and then, the lightning becomes fierce and he thinks hers will be the next body Antigone embalms. Liesel. She’s an unusual woman, with sad, dark eyes. Sometimes she seems quite happy in his company, but when he can’t stay with her or when they part for the evening – him for his bed and her for the sofa (Rudyard really ought to charge her rent but he can’t bear to) -she looks at him with such profound despair, it breaks his heart a little. Nothing has broken Rudyard’s heart in a good, long time.

He no longer sleeps well in the bed. It isn’t particularly comfortable – it never has been – but it never seemed so large before, so empty. It’s cold under the blankets and Rudyard eagerly springs from bed in the morning to make tea and toast to go with the kippers Liesel has hunted off the coastline. Once, she brought him back a pearl the size of his thumbnail. He keeps it in his other top pocket – the one above his heart, where Madeline does not sit. He used to keep nothing but lint and a pen there. He doesn’t know why he does this foolish thing, but he does it anyway. It gives him comfort, allowing him to pretend Liesel is nearby when he knows she is swimming and he is trying to keep the funeral home afloat in a much less friendly tide. Across the square, Chapman has only grown more cheerful. No one wonders how he enticed the island’s newest resident – a pretty blonde whose presence dripped magic in a way Rudyard thought was bad form, but that everyone else seemed to take for charm – yet everyone speculates why Liesel hangs around Rudyard. Rumors circulate. He has used a love potion on her. (He hasn’t. He can’t brew a decent one to save his life and Antigone finds them unethical). He has stolen her skin and enslaved her. (He hasn’t. He returned her pelt to her the day they met. Slavery makes his skin crawl). He has hypnotized her, enchanted her, cursed her. (He has done none of these things. Since reconnecting to his witch roots, he has not ever attempted something so advanced).

No one, not even Rudyard, knows why Liesel stays.

No one, except Georgie Crusoe.

Rudyard is half-in the flue of the crematorium, scrubbing the bricks clean of soot and unnamable junk. Georgie, meanwhile, sits on the table, flicking through a manual on cremation that Rudyard shoved her way this morning. As they work, Rudyard can’t help but lament certain goings-on.

“Chapman is allowed to have a mystery woman turn up and follow him around and no one accuses him of enslaving her!” he grunts between scrubs. “Meanwhile, I open my home to a woman who prefers the sea to my company and the whole town thinks I must’ve bewitched her to sleep on my sofa when she gets tired of swimming!”

“Course no one accuses Chapman of anything,” Georgie says without looking up. “The whole ruddy island still thinks he’s human.”

“Of course, he’s human. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be much of a novelty around here, now, would he?”

“Mmm.” Georgie pauses and then asks, “Does Liesel always sleep on the sofa?”

“What, now?” Rudyard pops his head out from inside the chimney, coated in black soot. “Yes, of course, she does. What kind of impropriety-“

“ ‘S not impropriety if you’re married, sir.”

Rudyard smacks his head on the bricks as he climbs out of the chimney. Massaging his scalp, he looks at Georgie with shock and then sternness.

“Now, look here,” he says, “I think I would know if I was married to Liesel. I don’t appreciate your new brand of humor and demand you quit while you’re ahead.”

“I don’t think you would,” she continues. “Know if you’re married, I mean.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, I’d know.”

“R-i-i-i-ght,” Georgie says. “Oi, Rudyard?”

“What?”

“Are you married?”

“Good God, no! Like I said – I would know. And I am – and will always be – a bachelor.”

“I don’t know how much longer you’ll have that option.”

“It isn’t optional, Georgie. It’s a fact of life. No one would nor ever shall marry me. I’m short-tempered, bossy, and wholly unsuited to the enterprise.”

“Yeah. You’re unsuited all right.” A pause. “But how d’ya like Liesel?”

“Well, of course, I like Liesel,” Rudyard stutters. “She’s kind and smart and doesn’t ask me stupid questions and she’s been contributing to the household in her own way and-“

“But how d’you like her?”

Rudyard scrambles back into the chimney. Scrubbing the bricks furiously, he waits a long time before answering the question.

“She’s kind to me, Georgie. You have to understand, I have something of a weakness for people who are kind to me. And she listens to me – about anything, like what I have to say is important. No one does that. Not really, anyway. She makes me feel… special? Is that the word? … Valued? And I would return the favor instantly, but she looks so sad all the time and we both know I’m rubbish at cheering people up and besides, she spends so much of her time in her seal-skin, swimming and fishing and bellowing at Chapman when he goes for a dip in the ocean, so I get the feeling that maybe she’s only being nice to me so I won’t charge her rent since she prefers the ocean to me, which shouldn’t hurt, since she wouldn’t be the first, but I wish I knew how to make her stay…”

“Rudyard!”

“Yes? What?”

“Do you like Liesel? As in, do you fancy her?”

“Well, of course, I do, but that’s nobody’s business but my own, thank you very much!”

“Then why the bloody hell do you make her sleep on the couch?”

Rudyard smacks his head on the bricks again as he emerges. He grumbles for a moment.

“Now look here, Georgie-“ He sounds more tired than he does angry; resigned and almost sad. “-That’s not how things are done. When I fancy somebody, I don’t ask them to bed. I shove it down and wait for the feeling to die. It inevitably does. And then, since it’s already buried deep in my psyche, I don’t have to worry about giving it a proper send-off.”

“Oh my God.”

“It isn’t as if telling her I like her will amount to anything,” Rudyard continues. “Talking about your feelings has never gotten anyone anything.”

“Rudyard, you stupid-“ Georgie doesn’t finish that thought. “Tell me the story of how you met Liesel.”

“That’s hardly relevant,” Rudyard says. “But it was on the beach. I was trying to enjoy a cheese sandwich as far away from Antigone as I could get, so I’d gone down to the beach. It was an idyllic day – perfectly toasted sandwich, peaceful scenery, really, all except the angry wind, which I managed to stop, thank you very much! And a curious thing happened: a fur coat washed up on the beach at my feet. I picked it up – I can’t abide littering – and then this woman, lovely eyes, totally naked, begged me to give her her coat back. Well. Of course, I did, but not without lecturing her about beach rules! This isn’t the Riviera, after all! The last thing Piffling needs is a nude beach! And then, somehow, we got to talking and I offered her a place to stay until she was back on her feet – or flippers, I suppose. A little shifter humor. And the rest is history.”

“So, Liesel is a selkie.”

“Well, when you put it like that… yes. I suppose she is.”

“And you had her pelt?”

“I didn’t know it was her pelt! I thought some irresponsibly and obscenely wealthy woman had left a valuable fur coat lying about!”

“And you returned it?”

“She was naked! What else was I meant to do?”

“Rudyard. D’you know anything about selkies?”

“Sure. They’re seal-shapeshifters and they enjoy Russian literature, fresh flowers, and get weepy over televised ballets.”

“No, that’s just Liesel,” Georgie said. “Do you know what if means when a man takes a selkie’s pelt?”

“I didn’t take it on purpose!” Rudyard snaps. “It washed up on the beach, I picked it up, I handed it to her.”

“Men don’t normally do that.”

“Are you saying I should have kept it? Proved all those damned rumors true? That I can only earn someone’s affection by enslaving them?” He sits down on the hearth. Drawing his knees to his chest, he looks bleakly over at Georgie, who has abandoned her reading. “I didn’t realize then that she was a selkie, but even if I had, I still would have returned her pelt to her. She deserves to choose for herself how she wants to spend her life.”

“Have you noticed how she’s chosen to spend her life?”

“Miserable in the funeral home at night and in the morning; in the ocean the rest of the time?”

“With you.” Georgie joins him on the hearth. “When a human offers a selkie her pelt back, he’s proposing. She accepted. Congrats, sir. You’ve been married for four months.”

“I’ve been what?”

“It’s a shame we couldn’t have thrown you a real stag party.” Georgie elbows him. “I bet we coulda gotten Chapman to jump outta a cake.”

“Good heavens, why would I want that?”

“Dunno. It would be hilarious, though.”

Rudyard chuckles weakly. Imagining Chapman looking like an idiot, covered in buttercream frosting almost distracts him. But suddenly, the color drains from Rudyard’s cheeks – not that it’s easy to see under the grime.

“Wait. I’ve been married to Liesel for four months?” he asks. “When was anyone planning to tell me?”

“She thought you knew,” Georgie says. “Still does. And you are a rubbish husband.”

“Well, we’ve established that I would be!”

“Yeah, but you’ve been ignorin’ her. Makin’ her sleep on the couch. You’ve never even tried to kiss her… I mean, have you?”

“No, of course not! I just learned that we were married thirty seconds ago! How was I supposed to know I was meant to act as a husband?”

“Dunno. A little cultural sensitivity?”

“I don’t have that,” Rudyard laments. “I don’t even have a paradigm of what a good husband does!”

“What about your mum and dad?”

“We don’t talk about them,” says Rudyard. “Their marriage wasn’t exactly ideal. I’d want to do better by Liesel. She deserves better than to only be acknowledged on birthdays and holidays.”

“Yikes.”

“Indeed.” Rudyard runs a filthy hand down his filthy face. “I need to start planning. I need to woo her. Show her I’m serious about making this marriage of inconvenience work.”

“I think the phrase is ‘marriage of convenience’.”

“Tomato, to-mah-to. The point is, I do fancy her and if I want her to spend less time at sea and more time with me, I’ll have to let her know, won’t I?”

“So you’re not gonna just push this down?”

“Things have changed, Georgie. I’m a married man now.”

“Just like that, eh?”

“What do women like from romantic partners? You’re a woman. What would you want from your ideal husband?”

“A flamethrower. A helicopter. A trip to the Maldives.”

“Now you’re just being difficult.”

“Nah. Just bein’ me. What would Liesel want?”

“I suppose I could get up earlier… Go with her to the beach. Learn to make a better breakfast.”

“And ask her to sleep in the bed instead of the sofa?”

“We walk before we run in this relationship. We’ll see.”

“Rudyard…”

“… I’ll ask, but if she leaves me over it, I’m blaming you.”

Rising to his feet, Rudyard walks towards the door. Georgie watches him curiously. He stops at the threshold and turns. For a moment, he looks as if he’s about to thank her. Instead, he nervously fidgets with the wilted collar of his shirt.

“How do I look?” he asks.

“Like hell.”

“Oh. Good. Women love a bad boy.”

As he walks out the door, Rudyard hears Georgie’s last bit of yelled advice: “Oi! Rudyard! Take a shower, you daft bastard!”

What he doesn’t hear as he veers upstairs and towards the bathroom – a shower might not be a bad idea – is Georgie’s whispered hopes.

“Good luck.”

#x. drabble #ncvaflows #.002 | making funerals magical since the 15th century #r: for once i'm lost for words | {rudyard x liesel}

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metalgearkong · 6 years ago

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Game of Thrones: Season 8 Thoughts & Review

5/20/19 **spoilers**

Produced by David Benioff & DB Weiss (HBO)

It took me a few years to actually begin watching Game of Thrones after it came out, but once I did, I became a die-hard fan, and even started reading the books. This series truly felt like a post-modern take on Lord of the Rings or any other high fantasy properties in the best possible way. The complex and gray morality, clever dialog, intrigue, backstabbing, dramatic character changes, and authentic production vales help make this one of the best TV shows of all time. Seeing the bad guys constantly get the upper hand on people much more honorable and virtuous has a strange addictive quality to it, I believe because it made you hunger for justice that much more.

While George R.R. Martin is still working on the 5th book in the series, show runners David Benioff and DB Weiss quite literally ran out of material to draw from. This was the slow but eventual collapse of the quality of Game of Thrones. Everyone who worked on the show should be applauded for the amazing prop, set, costume design, music, cinematography, and great acting, but it was the dialog, intrigue, and subversion that truly made the show special. Pulling dialog from the books felt like the easy part when compared to casting, acting, and everything visual and audio that goes into making the show. I was a big fan of seasons 1-6 (topped off with the epic Battle of the Bastards), but season 7 and 8 have been nearly unbearable.

From the out of character dialog and choices, to disappointing resolutions, to outright illogical plot progression, Game of Thrones seasons 7 & 8 have been felt like a jarring shift in priorities for the producers. Spectacle and special effects seem to have taken over. Now, with season 8 finally concluded, the final season of one of the most successful and popular TV shows of all time, I can give my true thoughts to how this grand series has come to a close. Unlike many reviews of this show online, I will avoid all hyperbole and exaggeration in my opinions, so as to be as honest as possible.

Season 8 didn’t truly piss me off until episode 3 with the Battle of Winterfell. The Night King, White Walkers, and army of the dead have been the big overarching threat for the entire world, ever since the show began. Part of why Jon Snow was ostracized so much is because he was one of the few people who believed in the White Walker threat. Banding together the Seven Kingdoms seemed like the point of the show, in a way that the petty squabbling, greed, and power meant nothing compared to total annihilation. I thought this conflict would have taken place at the end of the season as well, symbolizing what truly matters means much more than, quite literally, games of thrones.

But apparently not. The White Walkers and wights entirely rendered extinct with one stab of a dagger, their leader, the oh-so-built-up Night King, had no personality, no motive, no explanation, and we didn’t even get to see him properly fight. On a more thematic level, he and Jon never got a chance to spar or have a heart to heart. Jon spent the entire battle either flying around on his dragon, then being pinned down behind some rubble. Arya, who I think is a very cool and capable character, defies all logic and thematic purpose, and flies out of nowhere, delivering the killing blow to the Night King. Not only does she instantly kill him, but every White Walker and wight. Effectively, the writers got themselves out of a logistical nightmare and just proclaimed all the bad guys to be defeated at once.

I don’t necessarily mind Arya doing it, but I take huge offense to how it happened. Her entire story from the show’s inception had nothing to do with White Walkers or larger existential threats. She was all about training and getting revenge on the people who have so deeply wronged her and her family. It was Jon’s story that had everything to do with honor and being a good enough leader to gather the world together to defeat this mythical threat. From a more grounded standpoint, why also, even if Arya ran through a courtyard filled with White Walkers and leaped close enough to kill the Night King, why then when he spun around and grabbed her, did she not turn into a White Walker? We’ve seen this happen many times that the Night King simply has to touch you to instantly convert you. How cool would it have been if Arya, this epic badass, now was on the side of the enemy and had to be put down by the people she loved?

Cleaning up after the battle, Jaime hooks up with Brienne of Tarth, only to immediately leave her for Cersi. Of course, in between episodes, the entire world thought it was a trick so he could get close to Cersi and kill her, fitting with his character and who he’s become to be. But nope, turns out he truly did hit it and quit it with Brienne, and not only did Jaime go back to Cersi, they both die under the crumbling keep. This is one of the biggest character assassinations (figuratively) I’ve seen since Luke in The Last Jedi. Jaimie went from being a scumbag knight to champion of the downtrodden, only to revert back to Cersi at the last moment at the height of his redemption. This season has so many idiotic moments I can’t even remember them all.

I actually don’t mind at all with the direction Daenerys’ character went. I felt it was always going to be her fate as a Targaryan and daughter of the Mad King to massacre people in her conquest for the throne. After she fights her whole life for what she wants and feels she is entitled to, Daenerys finds out she isn’t even the true heir, and that Jon is. The extra frustrating part for her, is that Jon doesn’t even want the throne, and now practically everyone knows she doesn’t have the right to be Queen. On top of all of it, Jon doesn’t even want to sleep with her, knowing she is his aunt, but she doesn’t care, as that’s never really stopped Targaryans before (and in fact I think most of the time they aim to keep their bloodline as pure as possible). All of this lead to her snapping and burning King’s Landing. I get it, and I think its a fitting arch for her character.

I also fully expected Jon to kill Dany someday because she would grow too power hungry. The death itself was underwhelming, but why in god’s name did Drogon not then kill Jon? The Dothraki and Unsullied would have never let Jon live after doing that. And then after everything he’s gone through: resurrection, uniting kingdoms, becoming warden of the north, realizing he’s a Targaryan, he’s sent back to the Wall (and by his own brother!) And I suppose Arya is just Columbus now, sailing west until she hits the back side of Essos. The show wrapped up far more neatly and happy than I ever expected, and it makes me want to finish reading the books to see how the events “truly” happened.

I wont say it’s all bad. I was quite physically on the edge of my seat for every minute of this season. It had my full attention and engagement despite constantly subverting my expectations in the worst possible ways. The season did have some highlights and some stand-out moments, but not nearly of the same ratio as it used to. One of my favorite moments of all Game of Thrones was in the final episode when Tyrion describes stores as what turly brings people together, not war or banners or violence. And as he said this, I recalled all the friendships made or that have been evolved, not only because of Game of Thrones, but other TV shows, movies, video games, and so on. It felt like something right out of George R.R. Martin’s philosophy and I loved that message. But you’re only as good as your final performance and unfortunately Game of Thrones ended on an epic slow death. I love the show for so many reasons but it makes me less inclined to go back and watch it again knowing what it all accumulated to.

5/10

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sanrionharbor-blog · 6 years ago

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Reasons For Thinking Things Will End Well For Sansa & Tyrion (Even If It’s Not Romantic)

Long post ahoy! May eventually get around to their character arcs too, but had to put a period somewhere. ;-) Spoilers if you ain’t caught up; also considers some of the rumored “leaks” and the Dark!Dany theory. Thou hast been warned.

What The Actors Say About Their Characters in Season 8

Peter Dinklage actually said quite a bit about his character’s conclusion when he said “it ends beautifully for Tyrion.” He appends that by saying “death can be a great way out,” but in what ways can things wrap up “beautifully” and still involve death? That tells me that IF Tyrion dies (no guarantees), it can be interpreted in a positive way: a sacrifice for the greater good, more than likely.

This can debunk the possibility that was proposed that Sansa would “go behind people’s backs” to protect her family. How does A debunk B? Some people think it’s possible Sansa could use Tyrion’s affection (platonic or otherwise) for a chance at Northern Independence. While this is a mindset that Littlefinger taught her to utilize, I don’t see Sansa duping Tyrion and possibly leading to his death (with that, I mean the death-by-trial rumors). Why? Again, because of Dinklage’s comments (above) and Sophie’s comments (below):

Let’s take into account what Sophie revealed about her character: she said in season 8 interviews that Sansa will be shown as “…a steely, strong, manipulative, intelligent, kind, young woman” who “has the strength of her family behind her.” So, even if she does risk tearing the Stark’s apart, she still has them behind her. And I can’t imagine Turner describing her character as “kind” if she was willing to use Tyrion like a tool. Of course, GOT is king of the morally grey character, but I think it’d be a hard sell for Sansa to manipulate Tyrion so shortly after they faced death together. She was vulnerable with him in the crypts; she survived with him. Survival was the key factor that bonded Sansa with Theon, and look how deep their relationship became. I don’t think Sansa will think of Tyrion lightly after this, to say the least.

I think there’s enough inferences to draw the conclusion that both Tyrion and Sansa are good people–but also ruthless when needed. But why would either need to betray or manipulate the other, especially when they could just as easily vent through Jon, who’s the real bridge between the Starks and Targaryens (on more than one level)? Let’s not forget: Tyrion doesn’t yet know about Jon’s claim to the throne. Neither do Sansa or Varys, for that matter. And how those three react to that information will be more politically influential than how Dany or even Jon feel about it.

The Barrier Between Sansa and Tyrion

What could eliminate this barrier between Sansa and Tyrion: the fact that Tyrion is technically obligated to be more loyal to Daenerys than anybody else?

Well, if Daenerys’ claim was eclipsed by Jon’s.

Or if Daenerys decided to grant Northern Independence anyway (is this why the Northerners are so cheery in the ep. 4 preview?).

Or if Dark!Dany materializes.

What the Dark!Dany Theory Could Mean

It is interesting to note that it took Jorah to convince Dany to give Tyrion another chance. And now Jorah is gone.

In addition, they can’t have made Tyrion less-than-clever the past few seasons and driven tension between him and Dany without a purpose. Part of it is less-than-stellar writing, yes, but when D&D get things right, they really get them right. And even though I believe the books will diverge wildly from the show, the same beats will supposedly be present, and I can’t help but think GRRM has something clever in store for Tyrion’s endgame. In fact, at this point, I’m really holding out for GRRM’s ideas to help bolster whatever framework D&D have put together.

And that framework includes a questionable, morally grey Daenerys.

So, Jorah’s voice is no longer influencing Dany.

Tyrion and Dany are still in hot water.

Tyrion will be present at King’s Landing (and though I want Sansa to be there so I can see more Sansa, I don’t know why she’d leave the North after she’s been acting as de-facto leader all this time…unless Dany entices her presence with some promise of Northern Independence, perhaps if they needed Sansa to convince the Vale/Riverlands to fight for them–I can’t remember where we left the Tully‘s in all this, to be honest). So there’s a slight possibility that Sansa will be there during the arc in the South, and to further explore the tense dynamics between her, Jon, Tyrion, and Dany.

Again, how the political players react to Jon’s parentage will have major repercussions. These players include Sansa, Tyrion, and Varys.

And what will be the value of dragons in the commoners’ eyes now that the threat of a magical unrelenting force is no longer in play (or so we think)? At this point, the dragons represent a liability to everyone but Daenerys.

And what about Ahor Azai? I’m not totally convinced that Arya was this legendary figure, but only because she doesn’t fit the bill for the prophecy. And why did Melisandre never address the fact that she could have been “wrong” for bringing Jon back? Why would D&D (and, we think, GRRM in tandem) plan Jon’s revival and bolster up this prophecy if it was just going to be ignored?

[I’m far from the first one to talk about the following theory]:

Could it be that the Ahor Azai isn’t a savior but a destroyer? The “fire” of a song of ice & fire? The Targaryen that people like Rhaegar so desperately wanted to produce–a promised prince/ss. But who, ironically, attempts to destroy what the Targaryens built.

After all, GRRM himself likened Dany’s dragons to nukes. He doesn’t take them lightly, nor does he think his readers should.

And I can’t help but think of Emilia Clarke’s surprisingly revealing words on Dany in Season 8: “I couldn’t believe this would be the last flavor left in people’s mouths of who Daenerys is.” [paraphrased]

Regardless, there’s groundwork for this plot twist–but no guarantees. If Dany, short of going mad, completely loses her voice of reason through Jorah, Tyrion would have very good reasons to defect. And would probably (hopefully) be the one to mastermind how to neutralize such a threat. Not a pretty picture, but an appropriately GOT-esque one.

Or….

Perhaps Daenerys does destroy what the Targaryens built. She destroys the Iron Throne, thus breaking the wheel, but she must do so with her death.

This would be a far more heroic (and still thematically satisfying) conclusion for Daenerys, albeit bittersweet, and, if Tyrion and Sansa survived all events prior to that possible scenario, would also “eliminate the barrier.”

But hey, this is all speculation.

Hand Kiss Symbolism

The hand kiss was arguably many things, but one thing for certain: Tyrion acknowledging his and Sansa’s own humanity in the face of death.

But let’s just safely say it wouldn’t have played in the same fashion with any of the other available characters (Missandei, Varys, etc.). So, the kiss was also very specific to Sansa and Tyrion’s relationship. It was a gesture of humanity that made the most sense between these two characters. When a kiss makes the most sense between two characters, something is up.

So, one one hand, it can be seen as romantic. As a shipper, I have no problem with this interpretation.

On the other hand, it’s also interesting to note that a kiss on the hand is generally a sign of loyalty. Kissing the ring on a ruler’s hand, etc., common practices, etc.

A pledge.

Sansa and Tyrion thought they were going to die. Beautifully, ironically, after Sansa pretty much pointed out that fighting the wights was futile, they decided to enter the fray anyway. To die as the best versions of themselves.

There wasn’t a future worth considering, so Tyrion kissing Sansa’s hand couldn’t be seen as “I pledge my loyalty to you.” HOWEVER, the contextual symbolism remains. Could it be foreshadowing, a metaphor, a hint that Tyrion’s loyalties will change in the future?

In a show laden with symbolism, it’s certainly a possibility.

#sansa stark #tyrion lannister #got speculation #got spoilers #dark!dany #in theory anyway #sanrion #sansa x tyrion #meta #fantheory #long post #hand kiss #symbolism #addressing the leaks

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bunny-wan-kenobi · 6 years ago

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Bunny’s GOT Top 10

So I’ve been re-watching old GOT episodes this week as a bit of a cleanse (believe me it’s been good for the soul) because while things soured in Season 8, when GOT has been good, it’s been AMAZING. And it’s been encouraging for me to revisit the episodes that struck a chord in me and stayed with me because as I said before, NO ONE can take that away from me. So here’s my personal favorite episodes:

10. Kissed By Fire (3x5)

This episode lingers with me because it’s a character-driven one with a bittersweet quality to it that pulls you in. It’s an episode about choices and their consequences, and the choices alluded to and made here leave a significant mark on the characters’ lives. It’s also an episode that adeptly balances action, intrigue, and rich dialogue-heavy scenes.

Highlights: Jon and Ygritte consummate their love, introduction of Davo’s first and always #1 adopted child Shireen, Beric vs The Hound, Robb makes the fatal error of executing Karstark (I love the score for that scene)

Favorite Scene: Jaime revealing why he killed Aerys to Brienne at Harrenhall. Both actors were captivating in the way they carried this profound moment, and it’s one of the best GOT monologues.

9. Fire and Blood (1x12)

After the shocking and climatic death of Ned Stark, this episode manages to draw together all the characters’ threads into an emotionally compelling season finale. This is where all that time investing in these characters pays off as we see them both mourn their losses but prepare for their next move, perfectly setting the stage for Season 2.

Highlights: Robb crowned King in the North, Tyrion is made Hand to the King, Arya meets her new crew of Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy

Favorite Scene: Dany rising from the ashes with 3 dragons. It doesn’t get more hopeful and iconic than that.

8. Hardhome (5x8)

It was tough not ranking this one higher because it’s really an exceptional episode that hammered in just how much of a threat the White Walkers are to the rest of humanity. Not only that, but we get rewarded with some long-awaited character interactions, some painful to watch and others simply engrossing.

Highlights: Dany and Tyrion’s first meeting (so GOOD seeing the interplay with these two), Jon slays his first White Walker, Sansa and Theon reunite, Karsi the Free Folk chieftainess

Favorite Scene: The Night King raising the dead as Jon and the remaining Free Folk flee in diminished numbers. It’s a game-changing and tragic moment with a haunting final image, even as it spawned a slew of new memes.

7. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (8x2)

This one ranks higher because of the way it emotionally resonated with me, and it’s one that doesn’t lose its introspective power the more I re-watch it. It has a play-like elegance honed in on these intimate scenes between characters simply working through their tensions as well as reflecting upon their pasts. It truly is a love letter to these characters, honoring their journeys and their relationships as they quietly await the dreaded Long Night.

Highlights: Jaime’s trial, Jaime and Tyrion’s conversations about family and “self-betterment,” Sam gives Jorah Heartsbane, Jon reveals his parentage to Dany, the “Fireside Club” (honorable mention to everyone’s reactions to Tormund’s ridiculous tale), the gorgeous marriage of melancholic imagery with Daniel Portman’s rendering of “Jenny of Oldstones”

Favorite Scene: Brienne’s knighting by Jaime. One of the rare moments of pure light and joy on the show, and a beautiful tribute to Brienne’s idealism and honor as well as her transformative and magnetic relationship with Jaime.

6. Rains of Castamere (3x9)

I remember how devastated I was when I first saw this episode. The set-up to it was so well laid out that it was inevitable, but the almost-Shakespearean sense of tragedy still hurts to this day. The performances here are raw and powerful, and from the moment the ominous strains of the Lannisters’ song begin, you can’t look away.

Highlights: Jon leaves Ygritte and just misses a reunion with Bran and Rickon, Jorah’s epic team-up with Daario and Barristan Selmy in Yunkai, Bran and Rickon say goodbye

Favorite Scene: The massacre at the Twins. I mean...what else could it be? This entire sequence is heartbreaking, from Arya realizing her family is being slaughtered to Greywind’s death to Catelyn’s final wail.

5. The Watchers on the Wall (4x9)

This episode stands out to me as one that testifies most to Jon’s journey. It illuminates his strengths as a leader, the fire-forged loyalty of his friendships, and the poignancy of his first love: Ygritte. There are some spectacular action pieces here, and even the deaths of minor characters heft an emotional punch. It’s also one of the few episodes to be grounded in one location, and that adds to its depth.

Highlights: Grenn’s last stand against the giant, Sam defeats a Thenn, Ygritte dies in Jon’s arms

Favorite Scene: Jon taking command on the ground level. There’s an elemental ferocity and resolve in the way he carves his way through the battle, turning the tide in a way everyone bears witness to.

4. Baelor (1x9)

The episode that changed everything. I wept when I read the chapter where Ned dies in the book, and I still wept here seeing it onscreen. His execution is so abrupt and unjust and horrific that the impact of this moment reverberates throughout the story forever after. There’s actually a LOT that happens in this episode, and it’s all riveting.

Highlights: Robb defeats and captures Jaime, Dany tragically loses her child to save Khal Drogo’s life (it’s weird calling this a highlight but it’s a deeply sorrowful and important moment), Jeor Mormont gives Jon Longclaw

Favorite Scene: Ned’s death. It’s still hard to watch because it’s so painful.

3. Battle of the Bastards (6x9)

Brilliantly shot, edited, and acted, this episode is one of the most memorable of the GOT battles. It works because it doesn’t lose sight of the characters, conveying the horrors of warfare to a visceral degree. The ending is also one of the most satisfying in the show, cathartic even as the wounds of battle linger.

Highlights: Dany’s triumph in the battle at Mereen, Sansa’s “Riders of Rohan” rescue with the Knights of the Vale, Dany meets Yara and Theon, Sansa ends Ramsay with his own hounds

Favorite Scene: Jon draws out Longclaw to make a final stand as the calvary races towards him. It’s just one of those shots that becomes emblematic of the show and the character, and Djawadi scores it beautifully.

2. Blackwater (2x9)

This episode is teeming with amazing character moments and splendid visuals. But I love it most because it’s the peak of Tyrion’s leadership arc within the first two seasons. He commands the troops and the screen, and it’s hard not to root for him as he amasses the full force of his cleverness and resilience to fight against looming odds.

Highlights: Bronn lights it up with wildfire, Cersei and Sansa’s conversations (some great Lena Headey moments here), Cersei’s lion story to Tommen on the throne, the Hound leaves the battle and Kingsguard after seeing flames

Favorite Scene: Tyrion’s speech. It embodies the character so well: irreverent, pragmatic with a good dose of “to hell with it!”

1. The Winds of Winter (6x10)

I have re-watched this episode so many times I’ve lost count. It contains all the best of what GOT represents to me: rich characterization, well-cultivated storytelling, and rewarding plot payoff against a backdrop of exceptional score and cinematography. More than that, it’s the kind of episode that I leave feeling like I’ve experienced something truly special, something ineffable.

Highlights: Jon revealed as the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, Dany proclaims Tyrion Hand of the Queen, Arya gets revenge on Walder Frey, Davos confronts Melissandre about Shireen’s death, Jon made King in the North

Favorite Scene: THE WHOLE EPISODE. Okay, I’ll just cheat and share just two scenes. The first is the entire Light of the Seven sequence because I just think it’s the perfect scene. It’s builds up its ominous tension so brilliantly and brings everything to such an explosive climax so incredibly supported by the music that it’s a work of art. The second is the ending, which I also think is perfect. It’s what so much of the story has been working towards: Dany sailing to Westeros, and every visual, from her standing proudly on the ship to the combined forces of several houses to her dragons soaring above her, culminates in this triumphant moment that is simply unmatched.

#got #game of thrones #got meta #where bunny summarizes what got means to her #bunny posts

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tex-studmister · 5 years ago

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11 Questions

I was tagged by @my-funky-little-cowboy thank you! I’m not gonna tag anyone or have my questions just bcus i recently did one of these but i wanted to answer these questions so i hope thats alright <3

my-funky-little-cowboy

1. If you could live anywhere with no strings attached, where would that be?

Norway. An exchange student from Norway came to my high school and i became really good friends with her and i sobbed when she moved back, i still miss her and would love to visit her. if i can easily still visit my family, and live comfortably, then norway, because thats also where my family on my dads side came from, norway and sweden.

2. What is your favorite, treat yourself activity/food/thing?

slap on a face mask, chocolate coffee or chamomile tea in hand, ice cream at ready, and i play stardew or sims 4 hell ye

3. What is your perfect afternoon?

me sitting outside drawing with it not too hot, no bugs bothering me, marley is outside running around being her funky little self looking for squirrels, i complete the drawing and am happy with it, with some juice to drink and fruit as a snack on the side!!

4.Who was the first band/performer you saw live? (If you’ve never been to a concert, what was your first music purchase?)

I saw a live show of Welcome to Night Vale and it was amazing shoutout to the person who straight up made a glow cloud and brought it to the show

5. Are you more afraid of what’s in the ocean or what’s out in space?

yes

im afraid of both quite equally but a bit more of the ocean since its closer but again its pretty tied since both are quite unexplored

6. What’s one thing you wish you had forced your younger self to do?

not let people walk over me and learn to let people go and not obsess

and to tell my language arts teacher in middle school to eat fucking shit for singling me out for my nervous habits

7. Whats one thing no one would ever guess about you?

im an open book my guy

i guess that im actually very hhh with blood in real life? i can handle it easily in fiction and on myself but if someone is bleeding in front of me im big HH

also if u put a needle near me i will stop breathing

8. If you were to give someone a movie suggestion, what would you suggest?

i mean my default is Princess Mononoke but not everyone may like that, but uhhhhh Into The Spiderverse is very good and people should definitely watch that

9. What was the first video game you ever played.

some disney game or pokemon ruby i think? ruby or sapphire

10. Vine or TikTok?

some TikToks are actually p good but i will always love Vine

11. Favorite fictional character?

hghng,,,,,arfur,,,,, arthur morgan what a surprise sdkjgs

#heyyy thank you for the tag my guy!#these are always fun #but uhhh ye mrs s can suck it #11 questions #11 questions tag meme #my-funky-little-cowboy #about tex #tex text #sfw #long post #// long post #needle mention #blood mention

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itsclydebitches · 6 years ago

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RWBY Recaps: Ruby Rose

This is a reposting from Sept. 22nd, 2017 in an effort to get all my recaps onto tumblr. Thanks!

I am combat ready! Or at least writing ready. For ages now I've wanted to tackle a comprehensive recap/analysis of each RWBY webisode and what better time to start then a few weeks before Volume 5? Though I'll mostly be sticking to plot points as they occur chronologically, any new RWBY viewers should be aware that recaps will include spoilers, mostly in the form of referencing foreshadowing and parallels. Read at your own risk.

Let's get started.

Our series technically opens with four trailers (which you can no more skip than Doctor Who fans can skip Nine), but for the purposes of this recap we're saying that we start the show off with an origin tale. A fairy tale, if you will. Our very first shot is of a high tower decked out in green, beacon-like lights that I'm sure are in no way symbolic standing atop it.

Our narrator, an unknown woman, begins with a cryptic message:

“Legends, stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts of a forgotten past.”

Obviously not everyone has forgotten these legends, considering that she's the one telling us them, but right from the start there's a dichotomy set up. There are people, humans, who view the past as something that inherently includes them. Any myths that are passed down are about humans--they're the "exploits of heroes and villains." However, this woman reminds us that there was an existence long before mankind was created; that the world, its history, and its power is far more vast than we're willing to acknowledge. Or able to.

We're small in comparison. We're just "remnants" of something far larger.

(Also, interestingly, note the "we" in "we are remnants." We learn a lot about Salem later on and no matter how she might look or act, she seems to view herself as human.)

From there on we're given the story of man's creation. Born from dust into an "unforgiving world" already populated by monsters, were it not for their discovery of certain elements--a power that they named "dust" after their own origins--they never would have survived, let alone flourished. Power allowed for civilization. As the story supposedly resolves, we get a change in animation style, moving from the story-book imagery to the real world. The focus on a shattered moon suggests that, despite humanity’s success, things are not all peachy-keen.

Also, enter these guys.

This is Roman and I just love his entrance. RWBY is a show that is very overt in its tropes and homages, and though there's complexity later on, for now Roman and his goons are pretty straight-forward. They're Bad. How do we know they're Bad? Because they're creeping out of the shadows late at night. We've got this guy smoking in an age where the habit is thoroughly demonized. All his goons are pretty identical in true, gangster fashion and Roman himself is the most flamboyantly dressed, drawing on a long (and very problematic) tradition of queer-coding villains. He's wearing a bowler hat for heaven's sake, which is basically just a step up from a fedora.

He's also a redhead. That'll be important.... later.

For now, Roman struts down the street (giving us a hilarious first-look at RWBY's silhouette background characters) and Salem changes her tone, suddenly sounding far more menacing as she lays out humanity's inevitable destruction. All lights "flicker and die" and we're warned that "there will be no victory in strength." The only thing that keeps the scene from becoming depression central is the introduction of a new voice, a man's that--if you're paying attention--you'll recognize later in the episode:

"But perhaps victory is in the smaller things that you've long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul."

Pan down to this cutie.

Wow! I wonder who the small, honest soul could be?

(Also take note of the ad on the back of the magazine: the Schnee logo with the tagline "The Finest of them All." Weiss, based off of Snow White, is therefore "the fairest of them all." Or at least she thinks she is.)

Roman barges in and starts talking about how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late which... raises a number of questions for me? Like why they're looking for a dust shop that's open at all. Why not just wait until everything is closed down and then rob the place? It certainly wouldn't be hard to break in. Given what we know of the villains' larger plans in Volume 3, it could be that they want to sow fear in the people of Vale by committing robberies in plain sight (recall the horrified background characters as Roman walks by), but if so why not actually attack in broad daylight? Overall it just seems like a strange comment.

We're given our first glimpse of Roman as an ambivalent villain as he refuses the shopkeeper's money. He's here only to complete his mission of stealing dust, not entirely wipe the guy out so... yay, I guess?

One of the goons notices our little red riding hood and pulls a sword on her, which is kind of hilarious. I'm not even sure why. Maybe it's because right after that a different goon pulls out a gun which is obviously the more logical weapon here. But no. Goon #1 needs his massive, red sword to threaten the small child with.

Small Child is not impressed.

"Are you robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Ooooh."

And she proceeds to kick him from the back of the store all the way into the far wall.

Let's take a moment to appreciate Roman's dafaq face here:

This is a technique nearly two decades old. Everyone knows the story of how Buffy got started. Whedon wanted a stereotypical heroine--small, cute, blonde--but who, rather than getting killed by the monster in the alleyway, ends up being the very thing that the monster should fear. It's an oldie now, but a goodie. We're presented with this tiny, adorable girl who is characterized as a victim, only to find that she's the one with the most power. Not only can she kick a full-grown man across a room, she's got some crazy weaponry tucked away too.

This is, by definition, a badass moment.

As we see in the ensuing fight this little girl is very proficient with her scythe. There's a great moment as her headphones play "This Will Be the Day" diegetically, only for the song to move into non-diegetic soundtrack, and then back to diegetic music as she turns off her headphones and... they disappear? Presumably she has pockets.

Iffy animation aside, RWBY seems like the kind of world that would give its girls pockets.

Roman: "Okay... get her."

That little moment of confusion--Roman's disbelieving "Okay?"--seems a little like inconsistent world-building. Certainly he knows that Signal and Beacon aren't too far from here, meaning that there are lots of teenagers around, Huntsmen and Huntresses in training that are capable of kicking his henchmen's ass. Is he just thrown off guard by this girl's (even younger) age? Who can say.

Regardless, she handles all the goons with ease. Ruby (yeah, let's just use all names for simplicity's sake) has a direct and efficient fighting style. This is our first glimpse into the maturity hiding behind a seemingly immature outer shell. Ruby doesn't take the time to taunt the goons or get all flashy with her fighting, she just takes them out, pure and simple, something that young and confident heroes often struggle with. Roman proves a little harder though when his cane turns out to be a gun.

Lesson One: pretty much everything in RWBY is a gun. Cane? Gun. Scythe? Gun. Thermos? Gun! That lamp? Probably also a gun.

As Roman escapes we get another glimpse of Ruby's priorities when she asks the storekeeper, "Are you okay if I go after him?" It's a small but wonderful moment that tells us Ruby isn't a hero who wants to fight for the sake of fighting, at least outside of friendly competitions. Had the storekeeper been injured or needed her for some other reason, Ruby would have held his needs above just catching the bad guys. That's important.

So, having gotten the a-okay, Ruby chases Roman up to the rooftops and we hear his annoyed (yet impressed?) mutter of, "Persistent." Just as they're about to duke it out again an airship arrives that Roman boards, throwing out a dust crystal that explodes when he shoots it. It looks like Ruby might have been caught in the blast, but at the last possible second Glynda Mother-F***ing Goodwitch arrives to save the day.

Why was she out in town this late at night? How did she feel seeing some tiny child fighting a notoriously wanted criminal up on the rooftop? These are questions only fanfic can answer. The point is that Glynda saves Ruby not once, but twice, all while exhibiting a truly impressive amount of power. It's here that we first get to see not just fantasy weapons, but what we might term magic (in what will quickly become a fairly convoluted magical system). It isn’t until later that we realize others don’t consider Glynda’s abilities to be magic, though given what we now know about semblances and their assumed connection to Humanity 1.0, it’s perhaps no coincidence that the audience is meant to think this is magic at first glance. But telekinesis--the ability to manipulate anything from objects to the weather itself--is staggering nonetheless and the show should really give Glynda something else to do with her power besides fixing craters and broken buildings. Or just bring her back, period.

Glynda even makes a little "Humph" sound when she blocks the blast like, "Please. You'll have to try harder than that."

They do.

Roman yells to the pilot that they have a "Huntress" to deal with and we're given glimpses of a more important villain: fancy dress, high heels, strange tattoo on her back, and an affinity for fire. She's deemed important simply by the fact that the 'camera' always keeps her face hidden from view, inviting speculation as to who she is and what her motives are. Though she and Glynda seem pretty evenly matched (with Ruby joining in to help), Roman flies them out of there before things get more heated. Pun intended.

As a side note, it’s worth pointing out that, in retrospect, we did just see magic with Cinder... which we then assume for a very long stretch was her semblance given what we quickly learn about Glynda. You can see why this stuff gets muddled. The fact that Ruby, a bright and fighting obsessed girl, doesn’t seem to think it odd that someone can shoot fire just hammers home how not magic-y these abilities read to characters in world. Until the plot suddenly wants them to. AKA bird anger.

Regardless, as the viewer cheers at the rarity of three women dominating a fight scene, Ruby has bigger things to think about. Like the fact that Glynda is a Huntress and Ruby just has to have an autograph.

Cut from this:

To this:

Humor aside, this actually does a lot for situating what a Huntress is in the viewer's mind. We might not have an exact definition yet, but we know two important things: they're on the side of our small hero (Glynda protects Ruby) and they're regarded as at least minor celebrities. In short, they're the Big Good to the mysterious Big Bad.

They’re also, as we’re about to see, subject to the law.

But back to Ruby. See that spotlight? Glynda has this 15yo girl in an interrogation room, prowling about while lecturing that she "put herself and others in grave danger." Interesting. What others were in danger? Civilians? Looks like everyone else cleared the streets once Roman showed up. The shopkeeper? As said, Ruby was very careful about making sure he was okay. Normally I’d be 100% on Glynda’s side here, but I think Ruby actually acted very maturely given the circumstances. Especially considering that she’s right: they started it. Glynda’s generic reprimands might imply that there are many non-Huntsmen trained fighters out there making a mess of things (at least by Glynda's standards). Certainly we later see conflict between trained Huntsmen/Huntresses and those who learned to fight "outside the kingdom."

Also... just reminding everyone... that Glynda uses a riding crop. Rooster Teeth had to know the can of worms they were opening with that little choice. If you don't want porn of the deputy headmistress and various other characters, don't dress her like a dominatrix and give her lines like, "I'd have sent you home with a pat on the back... and a slap on the wrist!"

Glynda is very serious that Ruby would be in big trouble if it weren't for the fact that a certain someone wants to meet her. Enter my trash fave:

Ozpin.

He's basically Dumbledore if he actually had better justifications for his iffy decisions and looked like a hot 30yo. My priorities aside, more fascinating questions start cropping up. How long has Ruby been held in this room? What was that conversation between Glynda and Ozpin like--Hey, I found this random child who nearly took out a whole criminal gang, that seems like your kind of thing? Why does Ozpin arrive with a full plate of chocolate chip cookies? Did he bake them himself? Does Ruby ever get Glynda’s autography?

These kinds of questions are the lifeblood of fandom.

As an aside, I'm a complete animation snob. I've been spoiled by too many great artists to immediately accept just anything you throw up on screen. When I first watched this episode and saw Crunchy Roll's review that RWBY is "lovely to look at" my response was, "...seriously?" This moment, when Ozpin gives Ruby the cookies and they proceed to just disappear as they approach her mouth was my breaking point for a while. I had to be talked into watching more... and I'm so glad I was. Now, after years with these characters, I have a much deeper appreciation for the art style and the beauty that RWBY contains. Now the cookie scene is just straight up funny to me.

Back to plot though. Ozpin introduces himself by introducing Ruby. We get her name for the first time and as Ozpin peers down at her he says, "You have... silver eyes," which confuses Ruby and has the viewer nodding sagely. Yep. That'll come back later.

Ozpin reviews Ruby's fight and wants to know where she learned all that. More specifically, he wants to know who taught her to use "one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed," which is another fascinating moment that I think is largely overlooked by the fandom. Ruby is living in a world chock-full of crazy dangerous weaponry. Already we've seen a gun-cane and a riding crop used as a wand. The fact that Ozpin labels Ruby's sniper-scythe as one of the most dangerous not only re-emphasizes her skill, but hints that the scythe may be a particularly powerful weapon... one even he might favor. Though we later get to see Ozpin fight with his cane and he clearly prefers that form, we've yet to get a full explanation for those gears in it:

In retrospect after Volume 6, there’s little evidence that his cane turns into a full other weapon, but it was an cool theory for a while.

Ruby says proudly that her Uncle Qrow taught her everything and that she's currently a student at Signal Academy.

Ozpin: "And what's an adorable girl like you doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

Ruby: "Well... I want to be a Huntress."

Ozpin: "You want to slay monsters?"

Ruby: "Yeah."

Ruby launches into an excited speech about following in her big sister's footsteps, looking for a career that's more "romantic" than the police, and above all getting to help people. Watching Ozpin in this scene gives us a pretty clear view into his thoughts: his shock at Ruby's proficiency with the scythe, making sure he's reading the situation correctly (this small, adorable child wants to fight evil?), his look of approval as Ruby tries to explain her thinking. There's even what I read as a little test. "You want to slay monsters?" A major theme in RWBY is that people are the real monster, the biggest threat, and it takes Ruby a long time to learn that. To semi-quote Sirius, the world isn't split into good people and Grimm. Though Ruby doesn't realize this yet--she just implies that she wants to fight Grimm--her skill and pure intentions (which will come into play later during "Mountain Glenn") are enough for Ozpin to offer her a place at Beacon two years early. As we learn later, as an added bonus this also helps keep her safe. Those with silver eyes are hunted and Ruby has not been keeping a low profile.

"You want to come to my school? Well... okay."

One of these teachers is happier about this situation than the other.

It’s pretty amazing though.

Yang thinks it's amazing too. We jump ahead an unspecified amount of time to meet Ruby's half-sister on the airship to Beacon. I adore their interaction here because so often media limits sibling relationships to arguing and competition. Not so with these two. Yang isn't at all jealous that her little sister is getting special treatment. Ruby is the only one with issues:

Ruby: "I got moved ahead two years... I just don't want people to think I'm special or anything."

Yang: "But you are special."

Ruby just wants to be a normal girl with normal knees. No bee's knees allowed.

As Ruby begins struggling with her new situation we get Roman's name in a news bulletin, along with a hilariously different art style.

We also get reference to people called "Faunus" who possess animal traits, their civil rights movement, and the violent organization called the White Fang that recently interfered in a peaceful protest. The bulletin is cut off by a holographic Glynda's welcome.

Yang: "Who's that?"

Glynda's hologram introduces herself immediately after, but I find it funny that Ruby doesn't even look like she's going to try and answer. As if she hadn't met and fought alongside Glynda just a little while ago. Also. Ruby knew exactly who Ozpin was. Didn't have a clue about Glynda. Poor Professor Goodwitch does all the work around Beacon and receives none of the credit lol.

I actually really like Glynda's speech here though. She's welcoming to the students without coddling them. Like other shows with children entering combat, RWBY lets the viewer know that we can't always apply our real-world morality to these situations. These kids might be young--17 years old and 15 in Ruby's case--but they're going to be treated like adults for as long as that’s logical. As we’ll see later though, there’s a distinct difference between responsibility inside school and out...

Right before our pilot ends we're introduced to Jaune, or the name we know him by so far, "Vomit Boy." The webisode ends on a light note with Jaune getting puke on Yang's shoes and the two sisters freaking out about it. We're also given our first, gorgeous look at Beacon:

Now that’s animation I can get behind. Everything is light and happy. Ah, they have no idea the horror that's coming for them. Just wait until Volume 3.

Until then, 💚

#rwby #mymetas #RWBY Recaps

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