#dany wearing rhaenys' armour

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[magnoliasrotting]

The Three Heads of Rulership

I’ve been having a lot of thoughts about the Starks and the North post the War of Dawn. Thoughts of who will rule and who should? How will it be ruled? What will it look like after the War? The more I began to think about it, the more I began to think that Sansa, Arya, and Bran could rule as a triad or together. I know it may seem very cliché and cheesy but we have already seen a trio rule within Westeros.

“The three heads were Aegon and his sisters.“ 

"Visenya and Rhaenys,” she recalled.

Aegon and his sister-wives once conquered and ruled all of Westeros. There is canon example of a triad ruling together. Now, I’m not saying that Bran or Arya or Sansa will get married, far from it but all of these characters have shown a potential to rule. Sansa, Arya’s and Bran’s storylines are rife with kingly and queenly motifs and symbolism.

Sansa was meant to be queen and currently is acting as the de facto lady of the Eyrie and let’s not even begin to delve into her connections with Ned who was never meant to rule but ended up taking his brother’s place as lord. Arya has shown numerous times that she can lead, Nymeria is leading a huge pack of wolves and named her wolf after the Queen that established the Dornish people and Bran was the lord of Winterfell. 

All of these characters have shown examples of rulership. However, it is not only that, it is also how they all imitate Ned the man who was never meant to rule. Just like Ned, none of these kids were meant to be in a place of leadership. Sansa less so than the others, but she was never meant to rule over Winterfell, to the point where there are two attempts to remove her from the line of inheritance. 

A king must have an heir. If I should die in my next battle, the kingdom must not die with me. By law Sansa is next in line of succession, so Winterfell and the north would pass to her.“ His mouth tightened. "To her, and her lord husband. Tyrion Lannister. I cannot allow that. I will not allow that. That dwarf must never have the north.”

“By right Winterfell should go to my sister Sansa." 

”Lady Lannister, you mean? Are you so eager to see the Imp perched on your father’s seat? I promise you, that will not happen whilst I live, Lord Snow.“

Just like Ned, Winterfell was never meant for them and just like Ned, they have responsibilities thrust upon them at a young age. It is more than that though, all of them adopt some aspect of Ned’s leadership style, knowingly or unknowingly.

Arya sense of justice and her Stark values and sense of family are established on Ned’s teachings as short as they may be. Her desire for vengeance is not so much a desire for justice and her doing the kills, reflects Ned also adopting the mantle of both judge and executioner. 

Sansa similarly also adopts Ned’s characteristics. 

A lady’s armor is courtesy, that was it. She donned her armor and said, "I’m sorry my lady mother took you captive, my lord.”

He had taken off Father’s face, Bran thought, and donned the face of Lord Stark of Winterfell.

Throughout the text, Sansa is shown to continuously remind herself  to don this armour on and wear it. Bran as well has shown signs of adopting Ned’s characteristics and leadership styles. His introduction into power most overtly echoes Ned’s own entrance into power. Both being the second youngest sons and therefore being the most unlikely to rule.

However, there are more connections. There are links between the original three heads, Aegon, Viseneya and Rhaenys and the youngest Starks. 

The first example is Viseneya, the oldest of Aegon’s wives. She was the reason behind the founding of the Kingsguard, going as far as to choose the men herself. Sansa’s connections with knighthood and the Kingsguard is something that has been continuously reiterated. She is currently even trying to recreate a Kingsguard for Sweetrobin in TWOW.

 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.

Just like Viseneya once did, she is trying to create a group of knights protect her cousin. However, it is more than that, Viseneya was for the most part in charge of the construction of Kingslanding and running the place. Sansa’s storyline is very much connected to politics. She is currently learning from a man who is not only a master of politics but also incredible with money and gathering it.

Arya bears a lot of similarities to Rhaenys. She is the youngest of the two and is also the only Stark to have numerous friendships with the smallfolk. It is Mycah’s death that begins Arya’s desire for justice. Her list is begun because she sees so many who are people hurt and harmed and yet receive no justice and this sense of justice is heavily connected to the smallfolk. 

Later they passed through a burned village, threading their way carefully between the shells of blackened hovels and past the bones of a dozen dead men hanging from a row of apple trees. When Hot Pie saw them he began to pray, a thin whispered plea for the Mother’s mercy, repeated over and over. Arya looked up at the fleshless dead in their wet rotting clothes and said her own prayer. Ser Gregor, it went, Dunsen, Polliver, Raff the Sweetling. The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, Queen Cersei.

Arya’s list and prayer doesn’t begin because of the harm done to her, but rather because of the harm done other people. These connections go even further with further with Rhaenys most notable stories being associated with giving justice and women. It was Rhaenys who pushed for it to be made illegal for the ironborns to just kidnap women. She was integral to some of the protections put in place for women. While Arya hasn’t anything notable or similar as of yet, she has been shown to befriend women of all kinds and most likely, just like Rhaenys, believes that the woman is important too.

Rhaenys was shown to be the one who loved her dragon the most and was known to always ride it and while you can compare this to Arya’s love of horses and riding, there is a more notable comparison. 

This time the monsters did not frighten her. They seemed almost old friends. Arya held the candle over her head. With each step she took, the shadows moved against the walls, as if they were turning to watch her pass. “Dragons." 

The dragon heads don’t scare or frighten her, rather they give her comfort and make her feel less alone. While Arya has no dragons of her own, she recognises them as friendly, similarly to Rhaenys who loved her dragon most of all. 

These similarities exist between Bran and Aegon as well. Aegon not only ruled from afar but also built up his new home from afar as well. It has been shown that Bran is needed to replace the three-eyed crow and therefore at some point in his life will once more have to live away from Winterfell. The rebuilding imagery, similar to Sansa, is also particularly potent in Bran’s storyline. Aegon the Conqueror’s relationship with religion is also similar and clear in both men’s histories. Aegon building a huge sept to placate the Seven and Bran being embroiled in the religion of the Old Gods.

All three of the Starks mirror in one way or the other the original three heads. However, it is the examples of rulerships that makes me think this rulership is likely. 

We have seen time after time how toxic, how isolating and hard and tiring it is to rule alone. We’ve seen this with Robert and Ned and Jon and Dany and Robb. We’ve seen how toxic the existence of the Iron Throne as a central point of power is. We have seen how dangerous power belonging to one person is with both Joffrey and Aerys misusing it and no one being able to stop them. Cental points of power are not only hard but in the wrong hands, dangerous. 

Sansa, Arya and Bran all bring something to the table, whether that is politics, or justice or magic. They are three separate figures who have all been pulled in separate directions, learning things completely unrelated to the other. They are the three that become one.

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