#i think it’s a good foil to bloodraven who LOVES society to have her like her family but just not give a fuck abt the institution

[visenyaism]

ultimately i just love the idea of shiera seastar as the LEAST dramatic great bastard despite having the (very very gendered) reputation as the pot-stirrer. like it’s hour 6 of bloodraven and bittersteel’s screamfight about which one of them is a True Targaryen worthy of THE Shiera Seastar and neither of them have noticed that she is off in the library hitting the bong and trying to figure out how to cast fireball in real life with aerys

[fedonciadale]

Hi Fedon, I hope you are having a good weekend! I was thinking of the primary characters and their foils and parallel characters. A few I know of are: Dany/Cersi parallels, Jon/Sansa parallels, Dany/Jon foils, Dany/Stanis parallels, Jon/Theon foils, Sansa/Cersi foils, Jon/Jamie foils. Do you have some parallels/foils for Tyrion, Bran, Arya? Are there any particular foil/parallel characters that are your favorite?

Hi there!

and sorry for answering two weeks later.

I really, really love the Jon/Jaime parallels and their set-up as foils.

I've liked Jaime since book 1 (yes, I liked him before he got a PoV) and I'm very interested where that will lead (still not bought on Tyrion as Hand, lol).

Another thing I really like is Jon/Sansa. I would not call it parallels though. I think it's more like complimentary puzzle pieces that will make perfect sense when they finally meet each other again.

I'm not that much of a fan of all the Dany things and that's because her chapters make me angry, lol. I like the Cersei/Dany parallels though and Cersei/Sansa foils, maybe because I have a soft spot for Cersei.

Now as for Bran, Tyrion, Arya. This is actually a very interesting question. I think that Bran and Arya and their darker path in comporison to Jon and Sansa is an interesting parallel. All of the Stark PoVs have "evil" mentors, but Bloodraven and the kindly old man are even more sinister than Littlefinger and Stannis (and that's saying something!). So I think that Bran and Arya have parallels in the sense that they will reach a dark low point that Jon and Sansa will not touch. I also think that Arya has parallels with Cat's story line. She's connected to the Riverlands and there are many parallels between her and Cat, one that comes to my mind is how mud, the combination of earth and water (and maybe the magic of the children) occur very often in their PoVs. Arya goes well beyond Cat's wish to find a place for a competent woman in their society. I think Cat's probing at the boundaries is often overlooked because it is much more subtle than Arya's. Sansa retraces Ned's journey and Arya Cat's (at least until the Red Wedding 2.0.).

Arya might also have some parallels to Asha - a woman who is already confident in a role that is not traditional. Asha at the same time is maybe set up to be the future of the Iron Islands. She wanted peace after all.

I must admit that I'm not sure about Bran's parallels. His journey seems to be more or less unique. It is the only story that has real magic in it and Bran is exceptional. He does have some parallels to Sam - at least they both share a thirst for knowledge although it seems to come more natural to Sam who never really wanted to be a knight. I also think that Brienne and Sam are foils in that regard. Sam is a man with "feminine" traits who wants to escape the expectations of his gender and Brienne is a woman with "masculine" traits who wants to find her own niche. Ultimately it is easier for Sam, because learning and studying to become a maester is an alternative for a man (it's only his father who is a dick about the maesters). In the end Bran will deny Bloodraven I think, but we don't know enough about Bloodraven yet to decide if he is a foil.

To me, Tyrion is the most difficult. He has parallels to everyone who is vengeful and in that regard his dark path, has parallels to Dany and Arya. Jaime is also a foil to Tyrion, not only in his own head but also in how they both try to reenact their father's legacy. In my humble opinion, Jaime's attempt at bringing peace to the Riverlands is a misunderstanding of his father's legacy (and at one point I want to do a meta on that), while Tyrion is as Genna Lannister tells us "Tywin's son". So, while all the Lannisters have a problem with their father's legacy, it is Tyrion who really embraces it, including all the narcissist, brutal and tyrannical inclinations that are veiled under an illusion of "pragmatic politics". (sry, not sry, I dislike Tyrion very much).

I wonder if Tyrion will have parallels to Davos just like Dany has to Stannis. Will Tyrion see Dany as his goddess just like Davos sees Stannis as his god? He definitely sees Dany as a chance to get what he thinks he should get (which is Casterly Rock) and I wonder if he will become as blind as Davos - or if he will just pretend to worship Dany. Both would work as parallels I think: The blind worshipping follower and the person who just pretends to be one and both wreak havoc because of their loyalty.

As @princess-in-a-tower told me, Jon is Tyrion's foils when it comes to how they treat women (look up her 'Beauty and the Beast' meta on that).

And Sam is a foil to Tyrion as well. Both are interested in learning (their shitty fathers are not that different either) but Sam wants to do good with it while Tyrion just wants his own advantage. Sam is also someone who meddles with politics, just like Tyrion (election of the LC!) but he is far more altruistic about it.

So, that's what I come up with at the top of my head. I'm sure there is more, more secondary and tertiary characters who have parallels to Tyrion and Arya.

Not necessarily to Bran though. He might be unique for a reason. Melisandre is another "magical" person but my mind draws a blank when it comes to parallels/foils to Bran.

Thanks!