#but that also includes lsh too

[oseike]

"This person, who not so long ago searched for herbs with me so earnestly....

"It's too sudden. There's so much everyone wants to say, wants to hear.

"If only he could open his eyes one more time..."

If funerals are for the living, what of one's final moments? For whom do they exist? Is it okay to force wakefulness one more time, even if it should cause pain?

EDIT: @keidokusha has translated this to Vietnamese:

Many thanks to them!

[orviposition]

How jdj is the side story. I know that LHH is the protag there and most focus is probably on him and his companions. But I just wanted ask for your opinion?

consulted my wife friend about this list so that i wouldn't miss the important moments. a little heads up this post will have side story spoilers

when hsy opens the door at the end of chapter 551, kimcom are sent to a snowfield with two doors in it. in one of them theres a happy ending. kdj woke up and is waving at them. in the 2nd door, kdj didn't wake up. yjh was the first one to enter the 2nd door, Unnoticed by anyone might i add. he's the one who opens the door and says "if it was him, i knew he'd pull something like this"

when we get 49 kdj's pov at the end of season 1 of the side story there's a small scene of yjh bringing 49 food. the scene is not described with full details however we learn that 49 has forgotten most things about yjh, to the point he doesn't even rmbr if yjh has cooked rice for him before. yjh then says this line to him "You don't need to be anything. All that matters is what you want to be" next morning 49 decides to go to the 1865th regression turn in order to help kimcom get back 51.

yjh comes back from a second journey of searching for kdj fragments together with biyoo. he notices that hsy has failed to stop the 41st round, and ignoring lsh's warnings that he's too strong to descend into the 41st worldline bcs the probability will kill him and destroy the worldline immediately once he descends. he says that hsy and ysa need to create conditions for him to descend because "Kim Dokja is mine to bring back" kr fans have noticed that this sentence has two major tones to it. 1, possessive and 2, arrogant. "kdj is mine to bring back since you (hsy) couldn't"

season 3 of the side story has a lot of focus on dkos kdj. he's now lhh's sponsor and talks to him thru midday tryst. and he brings up yjh So Often that even lhh is bored/baffled. not to mention he refers to yjh with a lot of affectionate terms "joonghyuk-ah this, joonghyukie that" recently even selena kim and christina page were all "????" when kdj called yjh "joonghyukie" in front of them

in the beginning of season 3, yjh noticed a source of light enter the "curtain of the 41st worldline" (listen mtl is hard please bear with me) and he immediately slams himself into it, trying to follow after the light. seeing as the curtain is burning him and "grilling him like fish" jaehwan (aka the mc of the world after the fall) has to forcefully pull him back as he shouts "are you crazy" at yjh. spoiler alert, yes he is crazy

not exactly an explicit moment per se, but every time lhh incites himself as kdj or yjh his first thought will always be of the other

in order to subdue an overpowered 41yjh hsy decides to give him happy memories. those memories included a scene where yjh was cooking for kimcom and hsy described it as "yoo joonghyuk was dying from happiness." then the scene quickly puts kdj in the center where he comments about how good yjh's food tastes and that next time they come here (a picnic) they should bring more beef. she succeeds in subduing 41 even though he has never actually met kdj before. later on we learn that 41 also got the memory of the rooftop conversation between kdj and yjh. and like. dare i say. he really sounded a little jealous/sulky abt it. not to call him sp or anything..............

there's a small flashback of a (not written in orv) scene set during 1865th turn. it's about lost memories. yjh tells hsy that he forgets lots of memories whenever he regresses but it's okay because even if he forgets that guy (kdj) will remember them for him.

recent addition: ORV: yjh: you bought a useless skill (preserve humidity) / lsh: but dokja-ssi also has this skill / yjh: kdj has this skill?? *contemplates buying it* |||| SIDE STORY: lhh: this guy (kdj) actually purchased a useless item? (neck pillow) / kdj: but yjh also has this neck pillow / lhh: yjh has this pillow? *after learning its advantages thinks it's a good item* (also kr fans speculate that it was kdj himself the one who bought a neck pillow for yjh)

[atopvisenyashill]

thoughts on the grand northern conspiracy theory?

it makes some points but i think most of it is deeply silly and relies on far too many leaps in logic and characters acting in a way they would never act all to push a “jon will be king” theory, which as i’m sure everyone knows, i am a big hater of.

The basis of the theory is that the Northern lords are purposefully playing Stannis & the Bolton/Freys against each other so they can take each other out, and free the North up for a Stark King & Northern Independence. That, on its face, I fully believe. It’s the details in the theory that I don’t fully buy into.

It’s basically canon that the Northern lords & ladies are really taking advantage of the chaotic politics & lack of a real centralized leader at the moment to make their own political moves. Some examples here include:

Arnolf & Cregan Karstark are explicitly doing this, something Alys comments on and something several other lords point out: "My uncle declared for Stannis, in hopes it might provoke the Lannisters to take poor Harry's head. Should my brother die, Karhold should pass to me, but my uncles want my birthright for their own." They don't really care about Stannis, they want Harry dead so they can have Karhold.

Alysane Mormont is potentially working off orders from her mother, when she says here, "Five, we were. All girls. Lyanna is back on Bear Island. Lyra and Jory are with our mother. Dacey was murdered." Even though as far as we know before that, all of Maege's girls were at Bear Island (except Dacey, who was with Maege in Robb's campaign).

There's the Umbers refusing to fight each other while picking two different sides, and this theory here that it was likely a plan between Mors and Hother to keep the Greatjon alive.

The Manderly Of It All re: very obviously using his granddaughter's anger as a cover for his own brutal plans for revenge and a Stark restoration.

The North is all clearly playing the game & attempting to oust the Boltons & Freys from power. I also don’t think the grumbling for Northern Independence would have died down since Robb died - if anything, after their King is brutally, viciously murdered, his mother’s corpse made a mockery of, his little Queen now a prisoner, and his sisters married off to enemies & humiliated, I imagine the calls for Northern Independence have gotten louder. This is a people that has suffered not just death and violence, but a lot of humiliation on top of that, and all of that is the perfect recipe for some sort of nationalist call for independence.

But the theory has. Some points that I just cannot co-sign because they make absolutely zero sense to me.

The idea that the only thing stopping Jon from being king is Jeyne being pregnant or the witnesses of Robb’s will being dead is just silly. He isn’t Ned Stark’s son, he is Lyanna’s! That puts Robb’s entire will in question, and you can bet your ass that there will be some grumbling or discussion about whether Winterfell should bypass Ned‘a line despite him having TWO true born sons and TWO true born daughters still alive, or whether it goes to Lyanna and therefore to Jon. The succession question is just NOT as simple as the meta makes it out to be because it completely ignores that Jon is, I cannot stress this enough, NOT actually Ned Stark’s son.

The meta is right that it’s likely Maege & Gallbart got a message to Howland because Theon notes that there’s been attacks by craggoman. But. Howland is one of - possible thee only - person left alive that knows Jon is Lyanna’s son. There is just no way he doesn’t have a strong opinion on whether Jon should inherit winterfell without knowing the truth.

Irrelevant but it’s really mean to Jeyne Westerling. Whatever role she may have - even if it’s to die in the prologue of TWOW - her life and her death are important regardless of whether she’s pregnant! She is the widow of a King, and if she dies by LSH’s hand, it’s going to be a huge point in showing us the violence in the Riverlands. Maybe the continued breakdown in the Riverlands, Lady Stoneheart’s anger, and Jeyne’s defiance of her family is not relevant to the King Jon pushers, but it IS thematically relevant to the plot thank you very fucking much. THE GIRL IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE BOY.

More relevant to this point is there’s just no way in fuck that Lady Stoneheart is trying to crown Jon. “oh she has bigger problems” she is going to crown one of her children if she crowns anyone, likely Arya, not her husband’s bastard who she fucking hated & asked to be banished to a glorified penal colony. Look at Brynden’s comments about Jon:

The Blackfish narrowed his eyes. "Did your father arrange for that as well? Catelyn never trusted the boy, as I recall, no more than she ever trusted Theon Greyjoy. It would seem she was right about them both.

Cat hates that kid so much she wrote letters to her uncle talking shit about him but we are supposed to believe this is proof she wants to crown him? When she's so far gone she's willing to kill Podrick and Brienne off a perceived slight against her? When she's heard several rumors that her daughters may still be alive and well? No. Don't buy it even a little.

Also, Brynden is flying Robb’s banner bc Robb was his family, because he loved Catelyn, and because what else is he supposed to do when he’s in the middle of a siege?? This point is silly and nonsensical.

Harwin as the Hooded Man - i mean. there’s nothing for or against this really, but also the Theon Durden theory aka Theon is the hooded man and doesn’t realize bc he’s having a psychotic episode, is much more believable to me & much more in line with everything that’s happening in theon’s chapter.

So like. Yes, the basic premise of “the northern lords are desperately looking for a stark, any stark, to make king/queen in the north, bc they are tired of All This Bullshit” is something i completely agree with. I do think it’s likely Maege has been in contact with her daughters, & that she and Gallbart made contact with Howland, who is about to enter the scene in a big way. But all that ish about LSH, the BWB, and Blackfish? Absolutely not. LSH is about Arya’s story (and Brienne & Jaime’s), not Jon. Stoneheart doesn’t care about the politics in Westeros; she cares that she followed all the rules and it got her family killed, so now she will break every rule there is to get revenge for her slaughtered children. she is Alyssa Arryn except she has the power to cause a lot of suffering before her tears drown her. she is not wasting her second life crowning jon snow!

[accenderesposts]

FGO Transmigration AU

TBOAH/TCF Story

OG!Cale sometimes gets visions of the events of TBOAH, which includes the 20 year war. He usually sees these future events when he's dreaming in his sleep. Whether he's simply seeing the future or he regressed is up for speculation.

Unfortunately, the first few visions he gets are a bit far into the future. He never knew that Harris Village would be attacked until it was too late.

The visions/dreams of the ruined future really stressed Cale out, causing him to stay out and drink more often to clear his mind.

He hangs out at the hill where the Man-Eating Tree is because people stayed away from the area due to the rumors of the tree, allowing him a brief moment of respite away from harsh comments and whispers.

Cale meets a pair of siblings who keep warning him to stay away from the tree (even though he's making sure to keep a distance from the tree). He gives them tons of coins (not gold because giving one would paint a target on these kids' back) so they leave him alone (and buy food).

Soon after that, he meets a pair of cats whose colors are suspiciously the same as the hair of the siblings. He instantly connects the dots and just adopts them.

Here, OG!Cale adopts On and Hong.

The Soos transmigrate to TBOAH, just the outskirts of the Henituse County. They encounter Cale when he was hanging out by the Man-Eating Tree with the cats.

There was a language barrier and Cale, while justifiably suspicious of these strangers, decided to teach them the language since it seemed like they meant no harm.

Here, only Choi Jung Soo read TBOAH. He recognizes Cale as the minor villain of the first volume of the novel and found it strange when Cale didn't act like the trashy character he read. However, since the Koreans didn't want to encounter any knight that might apprehend them, being with Cale is a better option.

KRS still gets the Ancient Powers at CJS's insistence to protect himself. While Cale gets the other half of Jour's AP.

Because CJS doesn't have Record like KRS, some information and events can sometimes slip from his mind. Thankfully, this is helped by Cale's future visions.

CJS informs KRS, LSH and Cale about the events in the future. In return, Cale also reveals his own future visions.

Unfortunately, the day the Koreans transmigrate is the same day Harris Village is destroyed.

The Soos grew closer to Cale after they decided to work together. KRS, CJS and especially LSH are upset and worried whenever they see Cale, an 18-year-old, drink multiple bottles of wine in one go. It doesn't help that they knew that he began drinking when he was only 15. They vow to one day give the Count a piece of their mind over neglecting his first son.

Henituse Family and Molan Duo are very sus of these Koreans.

Cale becomes the Soos' new dongsaeng. And Cale eventually starts calling all three of them "hyung".

Lots of competition over being Cale's "best hyung". There is a similar competition among the father figures.

Cale is "Naru" because he's a more experienced actor.

Cale and KRS are the group's self-sacrificial idiots. And they are both loved by everyone of their found family and get adopted by many parental figures.

KRS adopts Raon.

Cale, KRS and Raon are tsunderes and everyone finds it endearing. They become less tsun as time passes while Cale and KRS begin to finally openly express their true selves without fear.

Hinted possible Cale harem (such as Choi Han, Alberu, Paseton, etc.). Only if you wish to see it as romantic.

Cale is drinking buddies with Taylor, Cage and Bud.

Cale's relationship with the Henituse Family is still distant, especially compared to his new family. They don't get many chances to properly talk due to the war. Though, there are promises of getting much needed discussions after everything is over.

Unfortunately, it may never happen.

During the final battle with the White Star, the leader of Arm uses a strange magic that is foreign to this world just before KRS could stab him with the bloodied branch. Cale sacrifices himself by taking the branch and pushes his hyung out of the way, stabbing the WS while getting hit by the strange magic.

A bright light blinds everyone, but KRS who is the closest to the two redheads, sees his dongsaeng give him one last smile as Cale fades into particles of light. WS's body falls for the last time, finally dead after so many years, as Cale Henituse disappears.

Everyone remained in shock over the conclusion of the battle. CJS and LSH rushed over to KRS, who still didn't respond to anyone's voices and just continued to stoically stare at the spot where his dongsaeng disappeared. For the first time in many years, a single tear fell from his eye.

Thanks to Cale, he and the Soos actually managed to hide most of their involvement from the public (which is mostly the Roan Kingdom) for the majority of their adventures, so Cale was still known as trash and the Soos' were still mysterious and unknown to others. Their involvement was only revealed when the war was nearing its end, with the Roan public viewing Cale as a reformed trash who redeemed himself by sacrificing his life for the greater good. This public perception naturally enraged his found family and even when they and most of the foreign royals tried to boost Cale's reputation, the public remained skeptical.

Meanwhile, the GoD tries to find Cale's soul. If Cale is truly dead, then GoD should have already found him. The strange magic the WS used was more akin to teleportation. He tried to check on Earth but for some reason, something is preventing him from being able to connect to Earth.

In the middle of a burning city, three individuals find an unconscious red-haired man.

He wakes up, remembering nothing but his name, "Cale".

Currently making the next part. Who should I make Cale's main Servant? In all honesty, if Cale were a Servant, I think he'd be a Pretender.

[yuriisclumsy]

Hiii I LOVE your Cale stories

Can I ask to make a story about the plot in LCF part 2? It is ok to ignore this ask if you haven't read part 2. But in case you have, here is my idea, it is a bit long so please bear with me.

In the part 2 Cale got the ability to jump through the worlds to eliminate the hunters. What if he has to go to his original world, where now Cale!KRS exists. Due to some plot, Cale has to tell everyone that he is a transmigrator and agreed to switch places with Cale!KRS, including to the people from his original world aka his teammates on Earth. There is where Sui Khan is also revealed to be the reincarnation of LSH and CJS is "alive" as a Wanderer.

Then one of his teammate ask what about [Reader]? Because LSH & CJS who are close to Cale are involved, surely she is also involved in this because she is Cale's lover? Maybe she also got reincarnated?

Cue to everyone from Roan to be surprised because Cale never mentioned anything about her. Cale actually has no idea where [Reader] is, whether she got reincarnated or not. Then it is revealed she was reincarnated in a world he never visited. Then he goes to that world to meet her again.

That's the gist of my idea, I'm not sure what she is doing after reincarnated or whether she remembers the past life or not. I'll leave that to your capable hand 😄 I hope the idea is not too long and not confusing. I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes, English is not my first language.

Hi, love! Sorry I can't do your request. Not because I don't want to(you have a really cool concept), but because I haven't read Part two and have no idea what your talking about.

I only follow up to what the Manhwa has put out!

Again, sorry.

[the-king-andthe-lionheart]

This fanon notion that Ned was a bad father to Sansa is absolutely ridiculous and not remotely based in canon. Like Sansa stans are just mad that Ned didn’t mistreat Arya because Sansa stans hate Arya and want everyone to treat Arya like shit

Exactly @daenerysthevampireslayerr

They can't stand that Arya is one of the Key Five and is important to the story. They also can't stand that she's in GRRM's top 3 favorite characters. And because Sansa isn't among these groupings, they are ridiculously jealous and believe that Arya deserves to be punished. It's also why whenever a character shows love or loyalty towards Arya, treats her like a human being, or a plot is about her, or she does something good and heroic or political, they erase her. Jon deserts the NW and dies for Arya? Erased. LSH and the BWB+Gendry are glaringly obviously looking for Arya? Erased. Brienne's quest about finding Sansa leads her on a journey following Arya's path and learning more about Arya's fate after her escape from KL? Erased. The Northerner's rising up in Ned's and Arya's names? Erased. Arya successfully pulling off a coup in Harrenhal that wins the castle for Robb? Erased. Arya hearing Ned's voice (not Bran's voice) through the weirwood at Harrenhal that gives her the strength to try to escape? Erased. Arya saving 4 people from a burning barn, including a toddler she later cares for? Erased. Arya being the second most powerful skinchanger after Bran? Erased. Arya learning all the same skills as Varys? Erased.

The fandom just loves erasing Arya's importance, her themes, her actual arc, her intelligence, the political skills she is learning, and the context in which she does things, just so they can prop other characters like Sansa up. But it's so pervasive that they've convinced so many other fans of this too, and it didn't help that we have misogynistic dudebros and incels in this fandom who overly criticize Arya for things that they applaud in the male characters. Like seriously, Arya has done nothing worse than what Ned has done, but which one in the fandom is deemed "good" and "honorable"? Ned.

But what's funny about these people is how they clearly can't read. The reason why Ned kept talking to Arya, is because he was blaming her for the fights with Sansa, and thought that Arya was the problem when it came to Septa Mordane. He was admonishing her. The reason why he got Arya water dancing lessons was to keep her busy, and he obviously knew it would be a good outlet that would teach Arya to focus her anger, and gain more discipline and patience. He never intended on the lessons to go far. He thought it was a phase she would grow out of before conforming into a southern lady. The reason why he said Syrio could come to Winterfell with them, but that Sansa couldn't say good-bye to Joffrey, is because Syrio wasn't a freaking Lannister, and the point of them leaving secretly had to do with the Lannister's being dangerous. But apparently that's favoritism and it means he didn't love Sansa? Even if Arya was his favorite, he clearly loved Sansa enough to think Sansa was well-behaved enough that she would never dare be the instigator towards Arya.

They want Arya severely punished in this story, but it's not even just Ned they want to punish her. Lately I've even been seeing disturbing things about them wanting Gendry to rape her. Imagine wanting a 12 year old to be raped or sexually assaulted, even a fictional one. It's disgusting and it's unhinged. They want Arya to suffer unimaginable torments but as soon as someone mentions an ending for Sansa that doesn't include Sansa being queen and having a Disney fairy tale ending they shriek and cry and send death threats. And I'm not even talking about people theorizing that Sansa will go dark or die by the end. I'm talking about people getting ulcers from the mere suggestion of Sansa ending the series in an arranged marriage and that she might have to seek love outside of her marriage considering GRRM loves tragic romances. But no, Arya and Dany are the special punching bags in this fandom, who deserve horrible things done to them, for... *checks notes*: "Doing the exact same things the male characters are doing and being praised for".

[the-king-andthe-lionheart]

The way I see it, GRRM created Sansa to cause conflict within the Stark family and to especially be a foil to Arya. We see in AGOT when Sansa is her most antagonistic, that Arya is the one we should be rooting for between the two of them in that book. GRRM was actively saying that Arya was in the right, while Sansa was in the wrong. We do know GRRM has gone beyond that and started making Sansa more sympathetic, and he obviously has plans for her that probably entail Sansa being the one to get rid of Littlefinger. However, GRRM also hasn't been doing the same character work on Sansa that he's been doing with Arya, Dany, Jon, Tyrion, Bran, and Jaime for example, which I think should tell us everything. We have seen Sansa's first chapter in TWOW, the 6/7th book in the series and Sansa is the same as ever, in fact I'd say she's actively regressed in that chapter in some ways, so I don't think GRRM has moved past the idea that Sansa is still there to cause conflict. So yeah, I think Sansa is still around to cause conflict between the Starks.

I think it's very naive of the fandom to think that the Starks won't have a succession crisis, but it's being set up. We have LF in the Vale moving pieces on the board to try to gain territory in the future and more power and wealth. It's very likely he absolutely has plans on Sansa taking the North back once she is made Lady of the Vale in whichever way that may happen. It's likely the Vale will probably declare Sansa QitN. However, we also have Catelyn as LSH actively looking for Arya with Robb's crown and Arya is no doubt heading back to Westeros soon enough and will likely unintentionally end up back in the Riverlands where she will encounter LSH and the rest of the BWB. They will likely crown Arya QitN. Then we have Jon who was made heir in Robb's Will, and he will likely be made KitN before Bran shows back up, and then there is Rickon. This conflict is being set up. However, it's unfortunately likely that Rickon will die, Jon will probably pass on the mantle of King to Bran, but act as Regent, and Arya will probably pass on Robb's crown as soon as she reunites with her brothers. So I think the end conflict between the siblings will be Jon, Bran, and Arya versus Sansa who will be being controlled by LF.

So I think any reconciliation between Arya and Sansa is just doomed from the start. Especially, like you said, it's highly likely Sansa blabbing about Ned's plans and the whereabouts of Arya is going to come to light and she's not going to be easily forgiven. People in this fandom like to cry about Sansa being a child, and it's true. In the Doylist interpretation of the books Sansa is a child. However the world in the books and the people in the books are not going to look at Sansa and see a child. Sansa has flowered, she will either be still married to Tyrion, or could be in a bigamist marriage with Sweetrobin or Harry, and for all we know Sansa could be with child by this point considering GRRM originally meant for Sansa to have children in the books, and a lot of stuff in his OG synopsis has still happened in some capacity even if the characters and motivations have changed. People in that world are not going to see a child but a woman grown who betrayed her family and her people. They are going to see a woman who lived with the Lannisters for 2 and some odd years, married one of them, kinslayed/kingslayed the monarch via the most treacherous way, and is now being mentored/controlled by LF. They are not going to trust her, including her siblings. I mean there is a reason why it's not some secret that Sansa blabbed. It's likely Tyrion is going to say something about it since he's the one that was told about it. So no, I think there is too much set up for a conflict coming that will not be fully resolved by the end, and that includes Arya's and Sansa's relationship with each other. Will they all work together against the common enemy? Probably. But that's not exactly indicative of love, loyalty, support, trust and acceptance either.

something to know about me, i dislike this quote with a burning passion:

"You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you … and I need both of you, gods help me."

sorry ned but maybe try to pay attention to the way your eldest daughter actually treats the younger one before saying something like that next time. look i admit it, is a cute quote and everything but the way stansas had run wild with this quote is disgusting.

i can talk only about arya here because the other sister doesn't interest me much and it gets so tiring to have a horde of people claiming that there's an already loving siblinghood between the stark daughters when the only evidence they have at their disposal is that exact quote up there and one of sansa's memories of a snowfight, oh my god... could this mean that there is not a close relationship at all between them?

remember this?

"Sansa had once dreamt of having a sister like Margaery; beautiful and gentle, with all the world's graces at her command. Arya had been entirely unsatisfactory as sisters went..."

i hope i remember this correctly (if not send me anon hate i don't care and it wouldn't be the first time either) but sansa was thinking like this after having the knowledge that her little sister is mostly dead so this is why i don't buy the whole "the adults were the ones pitting the sisters against each other" and sure, catelyn with her comparisons between them and septa mordane with her abusive behavior towards arya surely added something like reassurance in sansa's mind that she was better than her little sister and that arya deserved to be treated badly, which sansa canonically did to arya. but what i want to get is that, in my opinion sansa started to resent arya mostly because her little sister was different and had different interests than her, sansa wanted arya to behave the same as jeyne poole, who even when we're presented with the fact that sansa and jeyne were something like best friends, it was mostly a relationship that depicted sansa and her following minion who validated every breath and step that the eldest stark daughter took.

and in the books we are clearly shown that arya loves all of her family dearly (yes, even sansa and even when it's not reciprocated)

Arya never looked back. She wished the Rush would rise and wash the whole city away, Flea Bottom and the Red Keep and the Great Sept and everything, and everyone too, especially Prince Joffrey and his mother. But she knew it wouldn't, and anyhow Sansa was still in the city and would wash away too. When she remembered that, Arya decided to wish for Winterfell instead.

and

"She hated Ser Amory Lorch for Yoren, and she hated Ser Meryn Trant for Syrio, the Hound for killing the butcher's boy Mycah, and Ser Ilyn and Prince Joffrey and the queen for the sake of her father and Fat Tom and Desmond and the rest, and even for Lady, Sansa's wolf."

and

"I could find out somehow, I know I could, if only I could get away. When she thought of seeing Robb's face again Arya had to bite her lip. And I want to see Jon too, and Bran and Rickon, and Mother. Even Sansa... I'll kiss her and beg her pardons like a proper lady, she'll like that."

but at the same time, arya being passionate about those who she cares about is not something she only does when her family is involved, she started a pack of her own, with a bull, a pastry, a weasel and lommy greenhands (sorry my dude, i couldn’t think about any other thing to call you) and later on we see her making friends with the youngest son of a captain, the daughters of a fishmonger and a group of sex workers…exactly like sansa said back in agot:

Sansa knew all about the sorts of people Arya liked to talk to: squires and grooms and serving girls, old men and naked children, rough-spoken freeriders of uncertain birth. Arya would make friends with anybody.

arya doesn't actually need her sister in the same way that sansa doesn't need arya, and no, they are not the two different sides of the same coin, because for that to be the truth both stark daughters should be closely related and sure they are sisters and sansa is arya's foil but the closeness is simply not there at all, no matter how much you want to force it. and stansas use the coin analogy to push the idea that arya is the brawn and sansa is the brain(?) and that the two girls combined would be an unstoppable force rather than think about i don't know... hope that your favourite girl finally learns how to stand up for herself and stop being dependant on other people... maybe…

i honestly hope to see that if they are reunited, arya and sansa would share a hug, i think that both girls need the physical confirmation that the other one is real and not an illusion after all. but i'll always think that both girls are too different from each other to coexist peacefully side by side.

you can't tell me that arya would stand behind a person that doesn't care for others at all.

"l e t a r y a a n d s a n s a b e d i s t a n t s i b l i n g s"

[mypromptlair]

TCF Prompt 15

Eleceed AU

Choi Han, an 'orphan' living on his own and on a scholarship at Rain City, was walking back to his cottage home in Harris Village, when he came across an injured fat black cat.

Said black cat was actually one Kim Rok Soo. Who, after being gravely injured escaping the man known as 'White Star' and separated from his hyungs, used an unknown ability to transform into said cat.

The adventures that await Choi Han in this 'ability' world has just begun. And perhaps, they both find a family along the way.

---------------

KRS may or may not have been trying to scam a man named "Barrow" not knowing he was le White Star. He almost succeeded. almost. GoD might have fucked it all up...oops.

Choi Hans ability is his dark destruction sword art/dark light(and later awakens his family's ability Black Yong)

KRS abilities are his OG ones: Record, instant, etc

KRS is annoyed at first, but then totally vibes with being a cat. He can finally slackk!! Until Choi Han and Cale cause chaos. ugh. Little shits(but his lil shits dammit)

(OG)Cale also has a huge role to play and his abilities are the ancient powers(silver shield, etc.). He has one secret power which is the same as his mothers(the annual rings of life)

The Annual Rings of Life is an ability of the Thames family. A very high rank ability sought by many, as its very rare and powerful: not only showing ones life span, but showing another users "Achilles heel" so to speak.

The White Star wiped out half of them trying to gain the ability for himself.

They all went into hiding after escaping. Jour stayed behind of course(and they lost contact with each other).

"Barrow" eventually finds her and destroys Jour's plate trying to take her ability. She uses the last of her energy to hide Cale from his sight to protect him.

Cale kept all of this to himself while trying to protect his family from WS and ARM(including Ron and Beacrox). What a heavy burden he placed on his tiny shoulders.

Cale lives alone as it was too uncomfortable to live with his 'estranged' family(not to mention the rumors the staff and other cousins created, and his act).

They do care about Cale tho. He just doesn't realize it(Ron and Beacrox are also protective in their own way too).

The Henituse families ability is either a silver shield or super rocks power(or both. since the family crest is a turtle. aka protection/defensive ability)

While starting off as enemies(and due to a lot of misunderstandings mostly due to Venion and Neo using his name to cause incidents he actually had no idea about) Cale and Choi Han eventually become frenemies to friends to maybe more. But that's way longer down the line…

Almost everyone in the small group knows KRS is trapped as a cat.

Cale gets captured and tortured at some point, protecting CH and KRS. He either escapes on his own or is rescued. Either way, this Ron wont let him out of his sight again…neither will Choi Han or KRS…hmm..

Protective Thames family show up to help when Cale is captured as well.

Both KRS and Cale have weaker bodies/plates and both end up coughing up blood when powers are overused. oh dear.

Cale is a total tsundere and often comes over to Choi Hans to "visit the cats and Rok Soo" but also bringing in food or other things he sees Choi Han everyone else needs.

Rosalyn has elemental abilities(like a black mage). She comes from a family of 'mage' ability users. She is the most powerful so far. She is also a distant cousin of Cale.

Rosalyn eventually becomes a student of the great dragon mage Eruhaben.

Lock has more of a role to play and is the one of the ones who helps them escape with Raon(along with his siblings).

Raon, On and Hong are also ability users, who all live with Choi Han and KRS.

Alberu is the same age as KRS, and has a healing ability(along with his Dark Elf form/skills).

Eruhaben is everyone's protective dad/grandpa.

LSH and CJS are very much alive and causing mayhem trying to find their brother. And then they are salty that KRS an Alberu are causing chaos without them.

CJS and CH family bonding. He had no idea his nephew was alone this entire time(CJS is the uncle this time lol)

CH family was killed when he was young, and he was living on the streets until he was taken in by an elderly couple in Harris Village. They left him their cottage after they passed. He promised them he'd go to school and live happily.

CH unlocked his ability Black Light when he was young. Because of this he starts to see himself as unnatural and a monster(certain incidents with non ability users didn't help). KRS and Co eventually help him deal with this mindset(but its a slow process. Something KRS greatly understands).

CH is very smart, and one of the top students with Rosalyn(Cale is extremely smart as well, but he barely goes to class or puts in effort...cause lazy, etc. KRS gets it)

CH and Cale get help with their anger issues(perhaps how they really start to bond).

Everyone is super protective of one another.

future CH/OG!Cale.

Maybe Alberu/KRS?

[mallowstep]

(This is a question about Blackstar's reckoning, so if you haven't read, ignore this question) Spoilers... 3... 2 ... 1 ... What are thoughts on Hollyflower in the Blizzardwing situation? I've seen a lot of people pity her, but I'm conflicted. Did she know Blizzardwing already have a mate or not? Because I don't see why it wouldn't be public knowledge. Therefore, she knowingly seduced a taken tom.

okay i have read blackstar's reckoning & appreciate the concern but as a point of info: if it's released and still in my tagging-for-spoilers, i haven't read it, otherwise, it's fair game. what i'm tagging for is in my pinned post, or at least, it should be.

i read way too fast for you to avoid me reading a spoiler if you send it. seriously i read things paragraphs at a time. there's no avoiding it. so y'know. while i'm generally not angry about spoilers (lsh is a bit of a special case in that the fact that i haven't read it is endlessly exhausting to me), if you're not sure, i'd rather you ask first. i do try to answer housekeeping questions asap.

aaanyway i don't have any strong opinions.

like.

okay...and?

i don't see cats as very...big on monogamy. ik it doesn't come up very often in my fic but everything can't come up in fic. but also like. i've started just making everything fire/grey/sand, including things with greystripe/silverstream involved, with no contradictions or drama.

i mean ik it's more complicated than that but i throw canon shit out all the time, and even more so when it comes to romance. the erins are not romance authors, and i am not a particularly romantic person, and we collide in the worst way on the matter. easier to start from scratch.

ig the only way i could answer this is, "how would i write this if i ever covered it in a fic?" to which the answer is, "everything would be fine and chill because it's a stupid thing that i hate. everyone can date it's fine."

[nossbean]

Myrcella / Sansa Anon Here: Like Jaime and Brienne are both Beauty and the Beast, Myrcella and Sansa have the potential to be both Cinderella and the Prince/Knight. Myrcella a bastard disguised as a Princess and Sansa is a Princess disguises as a bastard. When the Starks fell, the old man could have written Myrcella as one of Sansa’s Protectors since she knows how to survive Cersei while when the Lannister’s fell from power, Sansa would give Myrcella a home. For cherry on top, Myrcella could 1/2

2/2 inherit Jaime’s sword skills and her desire to pursue that could be a way to escape being her mother’s mini-me, only valued for her looks, and toxic family as well as an attempt to gain some control over her life. I had more articulate thoughts on this but I wrote them down somewhere I can’t recall. In canon, you already have Arianne set up for the fairy godmother role and Brienne as a subversion of the typical stepmother. Either way, less creepy than any potential in-canon Sansa ships.

Honestly, anon, you persuaded me with these first two, but the absolute joy is that you came through with even more! I do wanna quickly say though that I support folx shipping who they ship and in whatsoever way brings joy, we’re all here for the love of the characters and the story after all <3

I am as ever at the moment, very late to the party, but I’m so glad you came back to share all this! A lot of what you’ve said by way of potentials has lived rent free in my head. I’m very into the fairy tale elements you’re describing (particularly noting Arianne as fairy godmother, and Brienne as a subversion of the typical (boring, sexist) fairy tale stepmother...!) and the incorporation of major themes that could be present in Myrcella’s arc (I’m poss wearing my clown shoes, etc, but I do think there’s a chance some of those could come to bear in the remaining books, with or without Sansa, so let’s hope) Your note about Myrcella inheriting Jaime’s sword skills set off a different thought in my head, that it would be interesting for her to instead pick up a lot of the knight’s code and utilizing it to her whims and needs, though without the fighting/sword skills element. There’s resonance and balancing there, then, with parts of Sansa’s arc, and also with themes in Brienne’s arc, and is again, a repudiation of much of what Cersei (and Joffrey) thinks and believes. Though am also very much here for more sword wielding ladies.

Anyway, onwards with the rest of your Sansa/Myrcella galaxy-braining:

Also, we know Myrcella wasn’t scared of Joffrey so we could have had Myrcella getting in his face to defend Sansa and having a tense stand-off. Plus, it would be a more explicit sign of Jaime and Cersei not being soulmates and gender swapped mirrors as the cruel and cowardly Joffrey being Cersei if she was a boy and brave and clever would be Jaime as a girl.

ANON. I am SO INTO playing with aligning Cersei with Joffrey and Jaime with Myrcella explicitly! It definitely could be there for the taking (that note about where did Myrcella and Tommen get their sweetness, I WONDER) but whether GRRM will take it... Things seem to be pointing Tommen-ward atm when it comes to possibilities with Jaime and his children, which is, idk, to be expected to a degree I guess. BUT ALSO, as is on the record, I’d really rather a sharp veer towards Myrcella instead (Tommen can come too I guess but centring Myrcella would be grand)

And also just: a Myrcella who takes on her brother (and by extension, Cersei) *on behalf* of Sansa would have been fucking incredible, and would absolutely have been particularly satisfying for the resonance it would have for Jaime’s later arc. And there’s every possibility Myrcella could have stood up for Sansa, or even if we frame it more as “against Joffrey”, at least at first. Also what you describe as being possible later by way of role reversal of who protects who, yes thank you please. Deeply into how that shapes Lannister-Stark relations and also honestly the potential impact on LSH storylines, in the event Sansa meets LSH in around the same time Brienne and Jaime are confronting her (I mean, that would substantially alter the timelines, possibly, but still!) 

Also ALSO, Sansa being sapphic would better show the limits societal scripts have a person’s perceptions, agency, and ability to connect with others since her character is so influenced by storytelling, imagination, and societal roles. It would also expand her understanding of womanhood and femininity, paving the way to reconcile with Arya.

Into this, as well! Don’t really have much more to say than that, really XD Oh, only that Sapphic Sansa is very satisfying to say, hehe. Anon, I ask if you’ve read this excellent meta about Sansa? It’s a long read but a good one. 

admittedly, Myrcella did luck out with getting the sweet, age appropriate, and non-creepy Trystane Martell as her canon love interest.

My cynical take here is that it isn’t coincidence that Myrcella lucked out with Trystane being sweet and being part of a family who (mostly?) wants her safe and happy not just because of her proximity to the Iron Throne but for her own sake, only to be almost certain to lose him, heh.

Sansa/Myrcella it could be about forgiveness, chosen families, breaking the cycles of violence and revenge, hope for the future, the importance of female solidarity, re-writing the future to include everyone.

Just here to say I am a sucker for each and every one of these themes, thank you.

Physical doubling is another shared feature of both Myrcella and Sansa’s stories. Everyone comments on how much Sansa looks like her mom and Littlefinger plans to unveil her identity using her red hair. Myrcella also looks like her mom and has a double in her cousin. Both are hurt and almost killed while in care of someone they should trust, Myrcella during the Queenmaker plot and Sansa with her Aunt Lysa.

Sansa’s themes of identity, self-preservation, perception, longing for something beyond your childhood home, the power and consequences of shaping stories through truth and lies can easily be mapped onto Myrcella.

Your Jaime and Myrcella post reawakened my dormant interest in Myrcella and Sansa, since Jaime is tasked with returning Sansa.

Again, mostly am just here for all this, particularly the potential theme sharing and how they could help one another through 😍🤩

Reading all this, I feel like you hit on one of the major things that GRRM fails with on the regular in ASOIAF, which is that women and girls... often like one another? Even when they’re, like, different from one another? 😱😱😱 And even if he didn’t want to pursue a shippy route, to your earlier point, there was plenty of room for friendship and solidarity between Sansa and Myrcella when they were both in KL, even with Myrcella being younger. There could be an added element wherein Myrcella goes behind Cersei’s back somewhat to do this, given Cersei would undoubtedly put the kibosh on it had she been aware - which again, would have had resonance later for that Jaime and Myrcella mirroring angle. Buuut that would require GRRM to recognize the power of relationships between girls and women, and I admit I remain stuck on the idea that apparently no woman or girl in Brienne’s life ever did anything but mock/deride her until Catelyn came along. I invite you to imagine that a small part of my soul is always howling to the heavens: NO ONE????????? (though this is, happily, an easily retconned detail, so my clown nose is honking that there may be even a throwaway note about some girl or woman in Brienne’s past in Winds, anyway, I digress)

I DUNNO, I’m trying to, like, contribute to this excellence but mostly I’m just picking up everything you’re putting down...! 

And finally:

I don’t have a Tumblr, though I enjoy reading fic and people’s meta, so I forgot I sent that ask to be honest, haha.

Again, I’m sorry for how very, very late here, but I am so very glad you did...!!!!

[alicentflorent]

i had to simplify in previous ask due to charac limit. but what i meant was while yes sansa took down LF with the help of bran & arya, in the books arya has nothing to do with him and while i liked that in the show arya was the one who killed NK, in the books arya isn't included in others story. i think bran will have the most important role against them, but others are part of jon's story unlike arya. yet no one says they gave all these storylines from diff arcs to arya to make her important...

yeah same. I think bran will play the most important part too and yes it has been jon’s storyline so far but I feel like Sansa and Arya will be there for the battle and be a part of the plot but since there isn't a NK in the books (not yet anyway) the plot will go down differently. 

I get what you mean though. The fandoms hypocrisy is the problem here. They accuse Sansa of stealing storylines but lots of characters have been given storylines that belong to other characters in the books. Jon and Cersei took aegon’s plot, Arya had Catelyn/LSH plot, Robb was basically made a main character at the expense of catelyn and her arc, also I saw a post recently about Margaery having some of Arianne’s traits which I never realised before but the OP was right. That’s just off the top of my head, there are probably more but Sansa is the one who gets shit because she was given a rape arc instead of her own story and she said arya’s quote once which is unforgivable in the eyes of the fandom.

[orviposition]

I saw someone talking about how with the scenes added in the ebook and with the scenes in the ongoing side story, with emphasis on that one scene where LHH talks about the heroine of ORV, DokSoo might become canon. And while they did mention that they read the side story, I thought that that particular scene pretty much sunk many ships?

oh boy ngl i was a bit reluctant answering this ask but imo this is just fans' wishful thinking rather than singshong walking through a doksoo route.

the doksoo scenes added to the ebook arent really so fundamental to the point that theyre the closest ship to become canon. in fact I'd say that the main reason to make them canon would be that it's a (well-developed) straight ship tbh. in the 1863rd turn, theres an added smoking-on-the-roof scene. kdj tries smoking and immediately has a coughing fit. hsy asks him if she did well in this round. this added scene is a direct parallel to kdj telling her that she did well during the enemy of the story arc

another scene is during kaizenix. yjh and kdj decide to try the romance route and bcs yuri was in love with ricardo, it's kdj who writes the letter "write a story that's for me and me alone" this is also a foreshadowing to what we learn in the epilogue lol. to expand more on kaizenix, we also have yjh telling kdj that his writing skills are terrible despite him reading so much, kdj tells him that with his face he certainly didnt have any problems with courting. yjh then goes on a thinking tangent about how he could not care less about the looks of someone he likes (and we know who is called ugly throughout the book)

as for the lhh part where he talks about orv's heroine (kdj's love interest in this context) he is 100% not referring to han sooyoung. he says that the character he had in mind didnt have as much screentime as the other leads. the main women in orv when it comes to screentime are hsy jhw uriel and ysa. going by lhh's logic and IF his words represent singshong's stance, then hsy is immediately ruled out. i also wouldn't consider jhw for the role either, not only bcs i didnt really see their scenes with a romantic undertone but also why would singshong write kdj's romantic interest love someone else (lhs) romantically?

with uriel, unless you consider kdj/uriel to be a direct parallel to 999yjh/999uriel then i dont think shes The candidate either. now for ysa, im a bit iffy when it comes to her bcs sure she doesnt have as much as screentime as lets say yoohankim but shes also not someone you would consider neglected (like lsh for example) also i genuinely think that romance would undermine doksang's bonds. i think theyre so good BECAUSE theyre platonic

singshong have told us in multiple ways that orv is not a story about a canon romance so you can interpret the ending however you want just dont mis-label the novel's genre (this includes both het and gay romance). plus i just dont think they would shoot themselves on the foot and risk "angering" the largest active part of the fandom (general statement). i dont want to sound arrogant but you cant deny that joongdok shippers are the backbone of orv fandom and joongdok artists have been the only ones to be recruited to promote orv. alter (the official artist before blackbox) is a danmei artist, blackbox is a joongdok shipper, haban (taiwanese release cover artist) has a danmei history, the artist of the simplified cn version release has jd porn on their twitter and so on. certainly singshong are aware that orv didn't get this big bcs some guy recommended it in solo leveling's comment sections

speaking of guys, not every dudebro out there ships doksoo anw, some like doksang, some dont ship anything. the same can be said about the female audience too. not everyone ships joongdok. some ship doksoo, some yoohankim, some nothing thats not canon. im not part of the latest group since i could not care less about a ship's canon status lol

this got WAY too long. if you want a TL;DR refer to the first paragraph

[whatspastisprologue-blr]

After some discussion with @patroclusdefencesquad about the writing/creative decisions regarding TWN, I decided to do a little digging into the writing and showrunning credits to see if they'd be able to shed any light on some of our questions/complaints/confusion. I'd done it previously for The Handmaid's Tale, a while back--I don't remember why, something about the same writer having done a handful of episodes that were either "eh" or "bad" and then never came back after midway through S2--and thought, hey, why not another go. Sometimes, it helps, when discussing story decisions, to look at who's doing the writing. I don't know if we'll get anything particularly illuminating or interesting from it but it'll be out there in case anyone sees something that stands out to them.

This also isn't meant to bash anyone, or the show. I really enjoy The Witcher and analyzing stories is fun for me. It's been a part of how I enjoy shows/movies/books for as long as I can remember--yes, I'm that person who will talk during the movie, questioning the plot and the characters, though I try to not do it at the theater (partly out of politeness and partly as a joke with myself as a Firefly fan) or with people who aren't okay with me keeping up a semi-constant running commentary. (And yes, I do like MST3K.) So, like, this isn't me hating on it. I like the story, so I want to engage with it, and not just as a passive observer.

Throwing all of it below a cut because I anticipate this getting wordy, and not just because I'm the one writing this post (though that's part of it, certainly [I tried to find a GIF of the "To keep a long story short"/"Too late" bit from "Clue", but alas, to no avail]).

Oh, and all this is from IMDb. And I'm not including Andrzej Sapkowski because that one's kind of a given--he seems to get a 'based on' writing credit. And also Lauren Schmidt gets credit on all the episodes, too, so I'm not going to specifically mention her, either--just, here's a blanket credit. She's the showrunner, she's attached to each episode.

Season One:

The End's Beginning: Haily Hall (staff writer)

Four Marks: Jenny Klein

Betrayer Moon: Beau DeMayo

Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials: Declan De Barra

Bottled Appetites: Sneha Koorse

Rare Species: Haily Hall

Before a Fall: Mike Ostrowski

Much More: Haily Hall

Season Two:

A Grain of Truth: , Declan De Barra (written by), Matthew D'Ambrosio (staff writer)

Kaer Morhen: Beau DeMayo (written by), Matthew D'Ambrosio (staff writer)

What Is Lost: Matthew D'Ambrosio (staff writer) Clare Higgins (story and teleplay), Lauren Schmidt (in addition to the 'created for television by' credit she gets on all episodes, she also helped write the teleplay for this one)

Redanian Intelligence: Matthew D'Ambrosio (staff writer), Sneha Koorse (written by)

Turn Your Back: Matthew D'Ambrosio (staff writer), Haily Hall (written by)

Dear Friend...: Matthew D'Ambrosio (staff writer)

Voleth Meir: Matthew D'Ambrosio (staff writer), Mike Ostrowski (written by)

Family: Matthew D'Ambrosio (staff writer)

So, some initial observations, which may or may not be important--I don't know, I'm just putting it out there in case anyone has insight they'd like to share--are:

It looks like, outside LSH, every season one episode had just one writer--Haily Hall for 3 out of 8, whereas the others each got one--while almost all of the season two episodes had more than one writer. The exceptions are E6 and E8, written solely by Matthew D'Ambrosio according to IMDb, who also had a hand in all of the other episodes in season two. My guess is one writer was involved in all episodes for a sense of consistency across the season; he got to write two alone, though.

With the exception of Clare Higgins, whose only credit is E3, all the other S2 writers were also S1 writers.

Jenny Klein, however, didn't seem to come back for S2.

Beau DeMayo was involved in Betrayer Moon and Kaer Morhen.

Declan De Barra was involved in Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials: Declan De Barra as well as A Grain of Truth

Sneha Koorse was involved in Bottled Appetites and Redanian Intelligence.

Mike Ostrowski was involved in Before a Fall and Voleth Meir.

Haily Hall was involved in The End's Beginning, Rare Species, Much More, and Turn Your Back.

I'm half tempted to go through the credits for each one but I think this post is starting to get long enough. I will, however, go through LSH's credits for producing and writing:

Producer:

The Witcher (including The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf and The Witcher: Blood Origin [and might only include S1 of The Witcher, since IMDb only lists those episodes])

The Umbrella Academy (10 episodes, 2019)

The Defenders (8 episodes, 2017)

Daredevil (13 episodes, 2016 [co-executive])

Power (8 episodes, 2014 [co-executive])

Do No Harm (4 episodes, 2013 [supervising])

Parenthood (12 episodes, 2010 [supervising])

Private Practice (10 episodes, 2007 [co-producer])

Writer:

The Witcher: Blood Origin (post-production)

The Witcher (created for television by-16 episodes, written for television by-2 episodes, written by-1 episode, teleplay by-1 episode)

The Umbrella Academy (teleplay by-2 episodes)

The Defenders (written by -5 episodes)

Daredevil (written by-3 episodes)

Power (written by-2 episodes)

Do No Harm (story by-1 episode, written by-1 episode)

Parenthood (written by-1 episode)

Private Practice (written by-4 episodes)

Drive (written by-1 episode)

Justice (written by-3 episodes)

The West Wing (staff writer--22 episodes, story by-4 episodes, written by -2 episodes)

I haven't heard of Power, Do No Harm, Drive, or Justice; might've heard of Parenthood and Private Practice--which is not an attempt to slam any of those shows. I just don't know anything about them. I can't speak to them because I'm not familiar.

The Umbrella Academy and Daredevil are on my to-watch list, though; I'm unsure about The Defenders. I haven't seen them, so I can't say anything about them.

So, here it is. I don't know if anyone will be able to make anything out of this or if anyone will find it interesting. Again, I really like The Witcher, so none of this is coming from a place of "ew, I hate it" or anything like that; it's entirely possible to critique even things you like. I like the story, so I want to engage.

[whiteladyofrohann]

I've always thought in terms of personality, arya is much more like catelyn and Sansa much more like Ned. Popular opinion seems to like it the other way round though. Maybe it's because of looks, maybe it's because Sansa/cat less popular arya/Ned more so they group them like that. But I firmly believe personality wise, arya gets more from cat and Sansa more from Ned. I was wondering if you could expand on this and share your opinion?

Hey there anon :).I’ve picked up on this many times before and for some reason its oftenoverlooked by many in the fandom. I’ve always thought that while Arya resemblesNed and Sansa resembles Cat, their personality and mannerisms are actually morelike the other parent. I personally think this is often denied because a lot ofpeople love Ned and Arya but don’t like Cat and Sansa, so I’m hoping this mayhelp change their opinion.

Catelyn and Arya:

Feminism: Despite thevery patriarchal society they live in, both Cat and Arya are essentiallychampions of women, recognising the worth of women and also almost scorning howthey’re seen as second value citizens in Westeros:

Catelyn: ‘A woman can rule as wisely as a man’: When Brynden seems to worrythat Lysa intends to rule the Eyrie, Catelyn says this, emphasising her beliefthat women can do just as much of a good job ruling (and to be fair, Bryndendoes agree that the ‘right’ woman can)

Catelyn: ‘Girls are not important enough, are they?’: This is her responsewhen Robb tells her that he could’ve traded Jaime for Ned, and she realisesthat Sansa and Arya aren’t worth as much, lamenting how society favours menover women.

Arya: ‘The woman is important too’: This is when Jon spots that Joffreywears both the royal Baratheon sigil of his ‘father’ and the Lannister lion ofhis mother and says that the royal sigil should be enough but he wears hismother’s house sigil as equal and Arya protests that, saying that women arejust as important.

Both Catelyn and Arya are actually rather intelligent: Now I’mnot saying that Sansa and Ned aren’t intelligent, but Arya definitely takesafter Catelyn, she’s a lot more intuitive than Sansa is, and that is all Cat. Catelynmanages to outwit Tyrion, and he acknowledges that himself: ‘All his life Tyrion had prided himself onhis cunning…yet this seven-times-damned she-wolf Catelyn Stark had outwittedhim at every turn’. Arya is intelligent as well, for example, she uses herwit and intelligence to manipulate Jaqen into freeing them from Harrenhal, shemanages to learn how to speak Braavosi, despite her young age (I also love howwhen she’s in Braavos, ‘Cat of the Canals’ is a name she uses, it breaks myheart).

They both have a massive taste for revenge:

Arya: ‘Every night Arya would say their names. SerGregor…The Tickler and the Hound, Ser Amory, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, KingJoffrey, Queen Cersei’: The list of names that Arya has of people she wantsto kill is very well known in both the books and the show.

Catelyn: ‘I want them all dead, Brienne. Theon Greyjoyfirst, then Jaime Lannister and Cersei and the Imp, every one’: This isbefore Lady Stoneheart, so there’s not even the excuse of the ruthless,resurrected zombified Catelyn who is taking this stance on revenge.

Catelyn literally has a list of people she wants dead, notnecessarily by her hand, whereas Arya actually wants to kill the people on herlist, but if this isn’t a huge pointer to who Arya takes after, then I don’t knowwhat is. Now Catelyn isn’t violent, but she’s certainly after vengeance. Ned isn’ta someone who seems like that. Yes he went to war, but I’d argue that was moreabout finding Lyanna. And if he had got the chance, I’d say he would’ve killedAerys without blinking, but I firmly believe Arya’s stance on revenge andvengeance comes from Cat, and not Ned. Here are some of Cat’s other quotes:

‘You are the gentlesex’ said Lord Karstark…’A man has a need for vengeance’…‘Give me CerseiLannister, Lord Karstark, and you would see how gentle a woman can be’

‘I have no skill withswords, but that does not mean that I do not dream of riding to King’s Landingand wrapping my hands around Cersei Lannister’s white throat and squeezing until her face turns black’

Not only is Cat demonstrating her taste for vengeance, butparticularly in that second quote, she’s describing it gruesomely. Cat has afierceness that is seen in Arya. Arya’s list is almost purely based on a desireto get revenge for the deaths of her family, that sounds pretty similar to acertain resurrected character. This fierceness we see in Arya is all Cat, Ned is not a fierce person at all.

Emotion: Both Cat and Arya are driven by emotion, and this can oftenmean them doing reckless things. While Cat (for the most part) is morerational, and that comes with age and maturity, she can be impulsive at times. ForArya, things like hitting Joffrey (although he was attacking Mycah, Joffrey isthe crown prince and it’s punishable by death to strike him) is an example ofher recklessness, but she does it to protect someone. Catelyn releasing Jaimestrikes me as something similar, it is a reckless act, but driven by a desireto protect her daughters and get them safe. Yes, it wasn’t a good move andseverely weakened Robb’s cause (Though I don’t think that cost him the war asothers do. They just place the blame on Cat), but it reminds me of Arya,because that is something she would do.

Cat is very emotionally driven when it comes to Jon. Jon’spresence (not his existence, contrary to popular belief, Cat doesn’t hate thefact that Jon exists. She actually says she wouldn’t mind if Ned had manybastards, as long as they were kept away) affects her emotionally and it hurtsher to see him every day, to be reminded of the honourable Ned Stark’s infidelity.She acts on emotion and chooses to ignore him over something he had no choicein, and it is driven by her hurt over the situation. Arya is similar to this,in the show, not the book, when Gendry is taken. Gendry is like an anchor forArya at this point, and it really hurts her to see him being taken byMelisandre. However, she adds Beric, Thoros and Melisandre to her list forthis. A list that includes Cersei, Joffrey, Walder Frey, people who helpedmurder her family. Now, Gendry being taken really hurt her, but do them threedeserve to be on her list? Not really, it’s purely driven by emotion.

Childhood: Arya is obviously well known for her play during childhood. She’smessy, enjoys playing with the boys, wants to swordfight, and just wild ingeneral. People often liken that to Lyanna, but Catelyn remembers her ownchildhood where she used to make mud pies with Lysa, and used to play with herand Petyr. Although she didn’t swordfight, Catelyn’s own childhood mirrors Arya’squite a bit, since she also enjoyed playing as a child (I have a headcanon thatArya’s archery skills come from Catelyn because as a child, Cat was taught howto use a bow and arrow by Brynden Tully, but there’s no evidence for that, it’sjust a headcanon). People may then call Cat a hypocrite for wanting Arya not toengage in play activities, but people also forget that Cat was forced to growup very quickly after her mother died and it likely was a quick transition thatshe wasn’t prepared for and I argue that she wanted Arya to be more preparedthan she was and she’s also aware of how harsh society is for women, especiallythose who don’t fit into the roles of ‘looking pretty’ and producing babies.

Strength: Another similarity is both of them remaining strong.

Arya: ‘I am a wolf and will not be afraid’ and the repeated ‘I’m not afraid’ in the show’ demonstrate Arya’s strength. Arya is afraid, and the Hound picks up on that, but she tries to push the feeling of being afraid away out of fear of being weak, she can’t allow herself to be weak, instead she resorts to her inner strength.

Catelyn: ‘I want to weep, shethought. I want to be comforted. I’m so tired of being strong. I want to befoolish and frightened for once. Just for a small while, that’s all, a day, anhour’ While Catelyn is talking about grief and not fear, she also shares the similar belief that she has to be strong, so she pushes her grief away because she also can’t allow herself to be weak, like Arya, demonstrating the inner strength she has.

I said in a previous ask Cat and Arya’s relationship is undervalued, but there are so many things Catelyn loves about Arya and now Arya will never get the chance to know how much her mother loved her. One thing that is heartbreaking is that we know how desperately Catelynwanted to give Ned a son that looked like him, but she never got the chance to.I believe that despite the fact that Arya is not seen as ‘pretty’ and doesn’t getthe nice Tully features the other four do, Cat wouldn’t change Arya’sappearance because Arya is the brown haired, grey eyed child she’d alwayswanted.

LSH doesn’t look like she will be introduced in the show,but in the books, I firmly believe that it will be Arya, to put her out of hermisery. And I like to think that having to kill her own mother, Arya will stopher quest for vengeance and head north to find her family.

Ned and Sansa:

Naivety: Sansa has obviously changed since season 1, but in season 1,her and Ned shared the same naivety. Both of them go to Cersei in the hope thatshe will listen to them, and it backfires on both of them. Ned confrontedCersei with the fact that he knew the truth about her and Jaime, and that wasessentially him signing his death warrant. It was naive of Ned to believe thatCersei wouldn’t try to fight back in any way. Cersei has watched Robert’svengeance follow the Targaryen children around in exile, and she didn’t wantthat for her own children, Ned’s naivety cost him his life. Sansa also runs totell Cersei of Ned’s plans to leave, and it backfired. 

Too Trusting: Ned obviously doesn’t trust Cersei, but he places trust in her that he believes she will take up his offer and flee. He trusts that she will put the interest of her children first, and she doesn’t and he was too trusting of her.

Ned: ‘Distrusting me wasthe wisest thing you’ve done since you climbed off your horse’—‘I did warn you not to trust me’: This is the classic example of Ned being too trusting. Placing his trust in a man who literally tells him not too.

Sansa: ‘Once she had loved Prince Joffrey with allher heart and admired and trusted his mother, the queen. They had repaid thatlove and trust with her father’s head: Sansa places her trust in the wrong people, just as Ned does, and unfortunately for her, she finds out the hard way and it’s certainly a learning curve for her. The too trusting thing is all Ned, Catelyn is much more wary of people, as is Arya (Roose Bolton at Harrenhal for example)

The Eyrie: This is much more of a simple parallel, but it is still one.

Ned: Grows up in the Eyrie as a ward of Jon Arryn

Sansa: Spends time in the Eyrie under the ‘protection’ of Littlefinger as his bastard daughter (niece in the show)

It’s a very simple similarity, but I believe there is a purpose to everything that George writes. It’s funny that LF is almost trying to make Sansa turn into Catelyn, but he’s doing so in a place where Sansa will feel connected to Ned.

Traditional: While Cat and Arya very much champion women and are essentially medieval feminists, Ned and Sansa are much more traditional. Now, that’s not to say that they don’t value women, because they do. Sansa has probably been beaten down to think that women aren’t worth much but by season 7, we see that she’s really starting to believe in herself as a woman. Ned definitely valued women, respected them, he had a lot of trust in Catelyn, but in reality they are both traditional and fit in with the patriarchal society. Sansa despises of anything unlady-like that Arya does, because it’s not how a woman should act. Certainly in book one, Sansa is convinced that she has to look pretty for Joffrey, smile for him, give him babies, a very traditional medieval view of a woman’s role. Ned certainly doesn’t see Catelyn as a breeding machine, and that’s not what my point is here, but he is still traditional in the fact that he is in charge, and what he says goes. He doesn’t give Cat a say in Jon’s situation and then forbids her to talk about him, using his authority as the male over her. That’s not to say Ned is mean, it’s him being traditional, the man is superior to the woman.

Gentleness: Both Ned and Sansa are much more gentle than Cat and Arya. Cat and Arya have a fierceness we don’t see in Ned and Sansa. Sansa is a gentle young lady, made for the south, doesn’t know how harsh the world is, a very gentle soul. Despite his rough exterior, we know that Ned is actually a very gentle person: ‘Eyes that could be soft as fog or hard as stone’, ‘Once I found the good, sweet heart beneath Ned’s solemn face’. Sansa’s gentleness towards people and life is 100% Ned, even though he doesn’t seem the gentle type.

Armour: Their metaphorical suits of armour are pointed out:

Ned: ‘You wear your honour like a suit of armour, Stark’

Sansa: ‘What was it that Septa Mordane used to tell her? A ladies armour is courtesy’

It’s another simple similarity, but a fascinating one again, because they are both using these metaphorical suits of armour to almost shield them from real life. Ned holds honour in high regard, as Sansa holds courtesy as well, and they are the things that they use to shield themselves, as armour is supposed to do.

General Personality: Ned is known as the most quiet (his nickname is the ‘Quiet Wolf’), sensible, patient, dutiful and this is definitely evident in Sansa. Sansa is also rather quiet (in comparison to Arya), sensible and patient, she’s not rash or reckless, she’s slower to act to things, idealistic, she has a great deal of empathy. That’s not to say that Catelyn is the complete opposite, Catelyn does have empathy and she’s not completely reckless, but these qualities are much more evident in Ned.

Reassurance: This again is only a small one, but in the show only, we’ve seen a similarity between Ned and Sansa, trying to reassure Catelyn and Jon respectively that they belong in Winterfell

Ned: ‘All these years and I still feel like an outsider when I come here’ — ‘You have five Northern children. You’re not an outsider’

Sansa: ‘I’m not a Stark’ — ‘You are to me’

It’s a very simple parallel, but an important one. They are both reassuring someone who isn’t sure of their place, that they belong. We saw Sansa through season 6 continue to try and assure Jon that he had a place, that he was a Stark. She made him a Stark cloak, she told him he should have the lord’s chamber, she convinced him to be the person to lead them retaking Winterfell. I imagine that Ned throughout his marriage, assured Catelyn that she belonged in Winterfell, the North was her home etc.

Like Cat and Arya, Ned and Sansa’s relationship is massively undervalued as well. Sansa is his first daughter, and while he obviously loves Arya too, that’s something special to him. She’s the first child he would’ve been present for the birth, seen her as a newborn. We don’t actually know when Ned and Cat fell in love, but Sansa could’ve been the first child out of love. Sansa is precious to Ned, she’s just like him in personality, but she looks just like the woman he loves more than anything, and her innocence and gentle look on the world is why I think he doesn’t tell her what the world is really like, he wants to shield his little girl from the horrors of it.

In the end, people talk a lot about Ned sacrificing his honour for Jon, but they often ignore the fact that Ned loved Sansa enough that he was willing to be deemed a traitor to his best friend in order to save her and that is Ned Stark summed up in one scene. He thinks honour is important, but it’s nothing compared to family. Sansa is one of the last things he sees before he dies, and Ned would be proud of the woman Sansa has become

[vintagegeekculture]

You mentioned that the X-Men usurped Legion fandom. I'm surprised you didn't mention that the Shi'ar Imperial Guard (featured frequently in X-Men space adventurers) were a more-or-less direct translation of the Legion to the Marvel universe. The Wikipedia page for the Imperial Guard even gives the intended Legion equivalents!

You’re absolutely correct! There was a lot of cross-pollination of creative people and ideas between the two comics, which is a major reason that X-Men had a similar approach to Legion (long-form “fan friendly” arc storytelling, love triangles, etc.)

The connections between the X-Men and Legion of Super-Heroes are so numerous that they exceeded the scope of that post, and the main connection is through the “All New, All Different” X-Men’s chief artist, Dave Cockrum, who was also THE Legion artist of the 1970s. Cockrum was also a huge Star Trek fan, which is why the Legion-Future’s starships and technology (transporter rooms, starships with saucers and warp nacelles) suggested Trek. 

Here’s one of the major connections between X-Men and the LSH: Cockrum created Nightcrawler to be a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes (and later was in his Outsiders pitch), but Paul Levitz said he was “too weird looking.” Here’s the original proposal sheet for Nightcrawler:

One of the longest-standing complaints about LSH is that there were never enough alien looking members, so Nightcrawler fit that one to a T. The original concept is that Nightcrawler was from an alien race who resembled devils and are responsible for legends of them, kind of like in Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End.  The Outsiders pitch also included a villain team designed to fight them (kind of their Masters of Evil or Brotherhood of Evil Mutants), which also featured another character who later appeared in the Legion, the villainous robot-handed, mohawked alien warlord Tyr. By the way, notice the feral bad guy standing behind him. Cockrum named him Wolverine.

Incidentally, the Legion of Super-Heroes eventually did get a spin-off comic, the Wanderers. If LSH is a dead fandom, the Wanderers are in complete oblivion, which is a shame. Their last series started with all of them dying, only to be cloned again to solve the mystery of who killed the originals. 

The start point for the Marvel character we know as Storm was as a character Cockrum created for the Legion universe, the Black Cat. Cockrum liked the costume and look so much he repurposed it into the Storm we know: 

Another sign of the cross-pollination between X-Men and Legion of Super-Heroes is Jim Sherman, a breathtaking artist who never got as much work as he deserved and did maybe the greatest Legion of Super-Heroes story ever told, Earthwar. Sherman also did numerous X-Men arcs that had a disproportionate impact in the comic’s glory days.

[the-king-andthe-lionheart]

I honestly believe that all of the Starks will be declared as King/Queen by different factions at various times in the next two books, and by all the Starks I do include Arya in this considering she has a shit ton of Queen/leadership foreshadowing.  Now I don’t believe we are going to see them necessarily in conflict with each other, considering I don’t believe Arya and Sansa will make it North in time considering how bad the winter weather has already been so far.  I do believe Arya will intend to go North by ship from Braavos but winter storms out on sea will push them south and Arya will arrive back to Westeros where she left, Saltpans.  Arya just has way too much unfinished business not to go back to the Riverlands.  So I think Arya will be entwined with LSH, the Brotherhood, the Blackfish and various other people from the Riverlands.  I believe LSH is going to go against Robb’s Will and crown Arya, despite what Arya would want.  So I think it will play out like this:  Rickon will be found and considered King, but around this time the Will will be revealed.  Unfortunately I do believe Rickon will die which will lead to everyone going with the Will and proclaiming Jon as King.  This is around when I believe Arya will make it back to Westeros and will be crowned by LSH.  And I believe at around the same time, Sansa/Littlefinger will find out about the Will and disinheritance and she will be revealed to the Vale and they will rise up to support her claim.  And of course I believe Bran will be our endgame King of the 7 Kingdoms. :D  Basically I believe this will happen for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to unite the people under common leaders in preparation for the coming War for the Dawn as I believe the the Others will make it as south as the Riverlands.  This way the North, the Riverlands, and the Vale will eventually be reunited and working together to stop the true enemy. :)  But yes, without a doubt this Will will be fought against, and I believe LSH in her vengeful madness will also be included in this despite it going against Robb’s wishes, but even so we still don’t know exactly what else was in the Will for sure besides Jon’s legitimization and Sansa’s disinheritance.  So who knows? :)

Is it possible that Robb's will is a red herring? That it's actually a thing or be relevant?

I do think that it will play an important role in pushing forward Jon Snow as a possible candidate for KITN. Without that decree, Jon will not in any way be relevant to the politics of the North.

IMO, the only reason Jon even became King on the show is because that’s a book plot. Considering how much Benioff and Weiss wanted Queen Sansa, considering that there is no way the North would have made bastard Jon Snow king when Ned Stark’s legitimate eldest daughter was sitting right there, and considering that the show hand-waved away both of Sansa’s marriages,  I think KITN Jon Snow is a book plot that they inserted in there without the writing to back it up.

And then there’s the things GRRM has mentioned in interviews:

I have a question, since Robb actually  legitimized Jon and named him his heir for Winterfell and the North  before the Red Wedding (granted no one knows about this and is still  alive or free, the Greatjon knows as does Edmure, but I dont see them  getting out of the Twins any time soon and Catelyn would probably die  before telling anyone) does this make Jon's rejection of Stannis' offer  moot?

Edmure and the Greatjon are prisoners, true... but you are forgetting  the envoys that Robb sent to Howland Reed... Galbart Glover, Maege  Mormont, Jason Mallister... they are all alive and free.

As to what is and is not moot... the key point is, only a =king= can legitimize a bastard......

GRRM SSM, August 06, 2000

It is GRRM who brings up that Glover, Mormont and Mallister are still out there and alive and free and were witnesses to the will. I think this implies that this point is going to be relevant.

GRRM has also stressed that at the end of the day, might is right. Meaning, whomever has the most houses and armies supporting them is who gets to be King. Robert Baratheon’s will was torn up to make Joffrey Baratheon king. The same can be done to Robb’s will. And that is even without considering that Robb was considered an enemy traitor and not a king by the Lannisters and Stannis.

I had forgotten that all the others signed and  witnessed Robb's decree. Also, wasn't Robb a King when he signed the  decree? Granted not king of much, with the North lost but he was a King  wasn't he?

He was a king in his own eyes and those of his followers... in the  eyes of the Lannisters and Stannis and =their= followers he was a rebel,  traitor, and would-be usurper.

GRRM SSM, August 06, 2000

On inheritance in Westeros:

Well, the short answer is that the laws of inheritance in the Seven  Kingdoms are modelled on those in real medieval history... which is to  say, they were vague, uncodified, subject to varying interpretations,  and often contradictory.

A man's eldest son was his heir. After that the next eldest son. Then  the next, etc. Daughters were not considered while there was a living  son, except in Dorne, where females had equal right of inheritance  according to age.

After the sons, most would say that the eldest daughter is next in  line. But there might be an argument from the dead man's brothers, say.  Does a male sibling or a female child take precedence? Each side has a  "claim."

What if there are no childen, only grandchildren and great  grandchildren. Is precedence or proximity the more important principle?  Do bastards have any rights? What about bastards who have been  legitimized, do they go in at the end after the trueborn kids, or  according to birth order? What about widows? And what about the will of  the deceased? Can a lord disinherit one son, and name a younger son as  heir? Or even a bastard?

There are no clear cut answers, either in Westeros or in real  medieval history. Things were often decided on a case by case basis. A  case might set a precedent for later cases... but as often as not, the  precedents conflicted as much as the claims.

The Wars of the Roses were fought over the issue of whether the  Lancastrian claim (deriving from the third son of Edward III in direct  male line) or the Yorkist claim (deriving from a combination of Edward's  second son, but through a female line, wed to descendants of his fourth  son, through the male) was superior. And a whole family of legitimized  bastard stock, the Beauforts, played a huge role.

The medieval world was governed by men, not by laws. You could even  make a case that the lords preferred the laws to be vague and  contradictory, since that gave them more power. In a tangle like the  Hornwood case, ultimately the lord would decide... and if some of the  more powerful claimants did not like the decision, it might come down to  force of arms.

The bottom line, I suppose, is that inheritance was decided as much  by politics as by laws. In Westeros and in medieval Europe both.

GRRM SSM, November 02, 1999

I have seen some people state that no one can be disinherited and that legitimized bastards come after legitimate children. As seen above, GRRM has left all this deliberately vague. It’s very possible, that Robb’s will disinherits Sansa and legitimizes Jon, decreeing him as Jon Stark, KITN and Lord of Winterfell - directly putting him ahead of the rest of his siblings. People can be disinherited in Westeros - the question is if being disinherited will be recognized by everyone else.

Reasons for why this is possible - Robb Stark was adamant that Tyrion should not get Winterfell through Sansa. Even Catelyn was agreed on this. Robb would not have allowed for any loop holes for this to happen in his will. And second, Catelyn was strongly against Robb legitimizing Jon and naming him heir precisely because it would put Jon ahead of her children. I can see this as a plot point in the North in the next book.

Questions with the will:

Robb assumed that Bran, Rickon and Arya were all dead when it was written. Many houses like Manderly now know that this is not true. Rickon and Arya will both be back in the North in the next book. So will Robb’s decree still hold true if it’s drawn up with false information?

It all comes down to which house supports whom. I get the feeling that with GRRM’s SSM above, that houses Glover, Mormont and Mallister may push for King Jon Snow. Manderly and others may move for Rickon. And of course there is no way that Littlefinger and Vale Lords would acknowledge or accept Sansa’s disinheritance as valid. Littlefinger does not even acknowledge Robb as king.

All this deliberate vagueness regarding inheritance would also apply to when Daenerys comes to Westeros with a claim to the Iron Throne. Whomever has the most armies and support among the houses would have the better claim. With her dragons, Dany easily wins this one.

At the end of the day, who will become King/Queen is upto whatever GRRM wants for the story - that’s why he’s left it undefined and nebulous.