#benjen keeping ties with winterfell as a means of providing for the night watch

[wolfoath]

i promise i will calm down on the lyanna talk eventually, but -

the idea of twins and not knowing where one ends and the other begins; of being one in the same, to everyone else and to each other, and the blurring of lines between identity and autonomy. the way that benjen and lyanna are so intrinsically bound to one another, and the way that lyanna haunts the narrative and lingers in the lives of all of those whom she left after she dies, and the concept of not even benjen truly being alive - or real - once she is gone. benjen is forced to see her face every single time he sees his reflection, and ned and robert and everyone who knew her can't look at benjen without seeing lyanna, can't hear him laugh or see him smile because they are also hers. i do think this adds to his reasonings for leaving, for joining the night watch and going to the wall - it is the furthest he can get away from his sister (he will never forget her, never stop seeing her), and the only comfort he can give to his brother and those he knows, because their days will be haunted as is but he will certainly not help anyone to forget.