#if he doesn't kill the Freys right away

[lykosog]

Q   :   WHAT TYPE OF VILLAIN WOULD YOU BE?

A   :   TRAGIC VILLAIN.

Everyone  thinks  you're  very  melodramatic  because  you  never  miss  an  opportunity  to  break  out  in  lengthy  monologues  about  everything  that  is  wrong  with  the  society.  But  you  are  deeply  misunderstood.  The  world  has  scarred  you  and  now  you're  simply  trying  to  get  even.  The  hero  says  you  go  too  far  in  trying  to  achieve  that  and  so  they  conclude  that  you  must  be  stopped.  Just  because  you  killed  a  few  people.  You  have  a  perfectly  logical  reason  for  that.  The  hero  would  actually  see  your  point  if  they  stopped  being  a  sanctimonious  asshole  for  once  and  would  just  hear  you  out.  Or  maybe  you're  actually  wrong  somewhat....  you'll  think  about  it  later.

Tagged  by:  @ach1llean   (  thank   you!  )

Tagging:  @moonsworn  ,  @kaerinio  ,  @vulpesse  ,  @gaindragon  and  anyone  else  who  wants  to  do  it  !

[atopvisenyashill]

general thoughts

calling this episode baelor is kinda inspired actually.

SEAN BEAN EMMY CAMPAIGN WHEN???

if looks could kill, walder frey would have died when he threatened to turn them over to the lannisters omg there is pure hate in her eyes

the actor for aemon does a good job wjth this scene. the “even the little children” and the way his face shakes when he says “you will live with it the rest of your days…as i have” devastating thanks

sansa looks so relieved when ned starts to confess because she thinks this means he’ll be spared and sent to the wall and live. she has no idea what’s coming. then, arya looking around in horror that the entire crowd is yelling for her father's death, because she has no idea how little the common people care about this sort of shit. they want a show, that's all. what is that man's death to them. nothing.

the scenes with osha and bran are always so good. they have such a great dynamic, every word she speaks to him is so soft, almost reverent. not a kneeler but she adores this little boy and she’ll play along with his silly little ways and lug him around and calm his nightmares, and pray to the gods that he doesn't have the gifts she suspects he does because she knows better than anyone else at Winterfell that his gifts are a burden.

it's a shame that isaac got so big so fast because i deserved more scenes of osha just carrying bran around on her hip omg.

i love that this bard can’t help but put his whole heart into those high notes even knowing that joffrey is insane and unstable. i also love that joffrey makes a crack about ilyn payne’s tongue when ordering the bard's tongue taken out. demented little shithead.

and he IS just a little shithead at the end of the day because his face falls when sansa refuses to react, and he’s so mad when she's able to bite back at him. he doesn't get the reaction he wants, and he throws a tantrum at her as a result.

anyways I'M FINISHED WITH SEASON 1 BABEEEEE. took me long enough lol. i think it's a solid season of tv but it has the exact same faults as hotd frequently has which is making the "narrators" men, and especially kings way too goddamn often. renly's story arc should have been from loras' pov. the argument with robert about aerys should have been barristan's pov. they do a great job showing us sansa and arya's povs regularly, but you can see the cracks starting to show already because catelyn, tyrion, and dany are vastly different from the jump and they cut out all the prophecy/fever dream stuff except when they have to include it like bran's dreams or the dragons. it SUCKS. it's a FANTASY SHOW WHY WOULD YOU CUT ALL THE FANTASY ELEMENTS. STOP GIVING FANTASY SHOWS TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE FANTASY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

changes i noticed

okay now we are getting into what i feel is the first purposeful change - shae. well i suppose renly counts here too? whatever. anyways. she’s clearly older, closer to peter’s age, she doesn’t play act at being a sweet naive girl in love; she’s unimpressed, snarky, sultry, clearly hiding something. she unsettles tyrion right away because she’s so hard for him to pin down but that’s why he’s interested in her, because he finds her fascinating, challenging. of course in the end, the parts of her that he finds most interesting are why this would never work - shae is not a woman who can hold her tongue when she doesn’t approve of something and that’s a deadly trait for a lowborn mistress to have, so they were always going to have to leave KL if they wanted to be together BUT tyrion can never leave these people, not really, and as it goes on, he just gets more and more dug in - he’s gonna die here on this continent involved in these people’s lives and there is nothing she can offer him to sway him from this path.

i think i understand wanting to have more uncomplicated romances in the series to appeal to a general audience, but i do think you have to come around to saying something similar with that romance. i think the problem here is that by itself, tyrion being unable to listen to the woman he loves pleading with him to just Leave before it’s too late, and then it’s too fucking late, it maybe gets tyrion to roughly the same point as him being purposefully obtuse to how unhappy and unsafe shae feels with him in the books, but the thing is. that’s not how it goes lmao so we have this great set up where tyrion and shae are more equal in their relationship but their relationship ending is ultimately completely tyrion's fault and shae is simply trying to exist in the world after the man she loves abandons her, except they put that stupid little knife in her hand and had her testify against sansa. i am already mad. alsjdfk.

WHATEVER, i think the actress who plays shae is really good. kind of similar to jacob anderson in that she's putting this whole story together out of nothing and doing a great job, and doesn't always get the recognition she deserves.

i think emilia and iain have unfortunatley great chemistry. when she cups his cheek and goes "is that what you think will happen" before she walks into the fire. it's really good and clearly romantic and i hate that they made this change to jorah. i can't even think of him as jorah most of the time.

[cruelfeline]

Actually, thinking on it, I got the most hilariously ironic theory on exactly WHY the break (And the Madness of Sussurus) does absolutely NOTHING to Frey, besides the the fact she has Tanta ancestry:

Everyone we've seen fight off the Break has someone/thing they strongly love directly anchoring them.

The curio shop owner's job he delights in, Robian's family and his MANY visual hopes and dreams of fixing the break and bringing things back to the way they were...

Cinta didn't crack until RIGHT after what was anchoring her, baby Frey, was gone, and Olas, who as Frey makes note, actually sounds more sane that the other Tantas, has illusion powers and devices, and she doesn't die until after we destroy them. Who's to say she wasn't using them on herself, in order to keep herself afloat with illusions of the ones she loved and kept her anchored still BEING there...? BASICALLY, Hypothesis: The power that holds off the break is LOVE.

Result: Cuff has now accidentally made Frey completely immune to the break forever and ever, because she and the wrist idiot attached to her love each other despite not wanting to admit it and thus make an infinite loop of love filled anti-break anchors. OOPS! >8)

Cuff realizing this is what finally kills him because he just withers away from absolute embarrassment: P

[redrawthecolorlessworld]

(not exactly) poorly explaining rhymix characters' backstories (part 3)

hi everyone

———

1. Colorless

how convenient that he's first...!

guy who has seen The Horrors of the World™ and loses all hope in everything and basically views the world as colorless.........do you get it now

a lot more might be elaborated during main story. who knows tho lol

2. Lea

i don't have much to say other than the fact that she had connections with spasmodic...... (lesbianism????!!!!! /hj)

3. Pandora Paradox

used to be The One Who Transcends All until she decided to do something that may have already been mentioned in past fic posts (aka her wanting to end the world because she thought that it's imperfect and shit like that). she got stopped by tsunagite and then boom. into prison realm she goes. after centuries or smth idk she gets released by tsuna because tsuna feels bad and misses her :(( let's go lesbians let's go. YURIIIIIII

4. Tsunagite

was a normal human being at first. also met pandora and bonded with her for like a full year or smth i forgor. pandora tries to fuck shit up and then tsuna stops her and seals her away into her prison realm. pandora ends up transferring some of her powers of tsunagite, entrusting her with the task of finding a successor for her. also tsuna misses her so she lets pando out like. a long time later. this is incomprehensible.

5. Mope Mope

was in an abusive household. watched her dad kill her mom right infront of her. the dad eventually gets arrested but she just. hates him a lot. eventually craves violence. lol

6. Mayoeru

she had a loved one. they live far away from memoria, though. she only met them once during a summer festival and never saw them again ever since. that's all

7. Trap Crow

.....will be elaborated in side story 1.

8. Aria

Nothing™

9. Suito

one of the first living beings to set foot onto rhymix. has lived a long life, and even got to know many people. his life isn't too interesting, aside from the very obvious beef between the elves and the humans of gyroscopia.

10. Ling Hao Cheliang

used to be a very upbeat and actually emotional kid, but then the experiments and the prosthesis replacements kind of fucked with his memories and his ability to feel emotions so. whoops

11. Ether Second

is simply here to complement with ether strike

12. Nhelv

explained in his introductory:

he used to like composing music but then after entering music contests and losing all of the time he gets really burnt out. do you see the reference and inspiration here yet

13. Random

dude idfk he's just there living his life taking whatever comes at him as if his playing baseball or smth idfk

14. #D3D3D3

sort of explained in her introductory??

the experiments related to the prosthesis led her to view the world and the universe in general as nothing. just blank. a Blank Universe.

Heh.

15. World Vanquisher

idk yet L

16. Convergence

i can't tell you this early, y'know? you gotta find out through something else. just wait until that time arrives.

17. Defection

worked for testify for a long time. that's all

18. Infinite Strife

has beef with world ender ever since they first met. that is literally all

also she actually has her own fear. nobody else should know about it yet.

19. Frey

sort of explained in his character teaser post

used to be a bright young kid who others would think would grow up to become someone remarkable one day. he said a lot of philosophical things too. however notalano lost its color, and at the same time, frey lost his parents. so he became more quiet and reserved ever since.

20. Horizon Blue and Bloody Marquis

used to be close friends, and even blue had feelings for marquis. but then they got taken in but uhhhhh astaroth, i guess???? and then marquis changed and blue is sad :(

21. The 90's Decision

she doesn't have too much shit going on with her. dw abt it. she's having fun

22. Pure

i don't really know yet ouch

23. solips

has always been curious of the world around him, including being curious of Himself???? damn bro what the fuck. idk what else to say i haven't really fleshed him out that much yet

24. Vulcanus

used to be friends with technicolour, and during the horrible accident in their hometown, he managed to escape and survive. now he resides in gyroscopia, waiting for the day where he and techni can reunite again

also he befriended inverted world. lol

speaking of inverted world...

25. Inverted World

she doesn't have much going on with her. she just really wants to travel all over the world, and maybe even go into parallel universes herself. that's all

THAT'S ALL OF THEM YAYYYYY

[casspurrjoybell-24]

My Unwanted Mate - Chapter 8 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Calvin Frey

Mom stood at the counter, a large knife cutting through a carrot with enough speed that I was worried it would be her finger next that the knife went through.

Just because she knows what she's doing doesn't mean there aren't accidents.

She hasn't lost a finger yet but there had been plenty of near incidents.

Ones that included lots of blood and her cursing under her breath.

Hopefully that won't happen today.

"So when are you going to properly introduce your mates to the family?"

The question came out of nowhere and made me jerk.

My mug of black coffee tipped and I rushed to set it up right even though the contents had already been spilled.

Tearing off a bunch of paper towels to clean up the mess I made it a point to appear busy and ignore Mom's question.

I had yet to tell her that I sent them away.

Shit, if I could I'd never tell her but I knew she'd get suspicious if she didn't see them around.

It wouldn't be hard putting two and two together.

The biggest clue being that we'd never be seen together.

She'd mentioned that she'd seen them working at the pack house.

Which was good for me because she wasn't suspicious about their absence.

Although my first thought had been worry.

'Why did they need to work? Did they not have any money?'

I remember them saying they had to leave their pack.

What about family? They shouldn't have to work.

Which was a ridiculous thought... they weren't mine to be worrying about.

I didn't want them to be.

"Oh," Mom turned to me, her large knife pointed at me.

"Your dad wants to talk to you. Why don't you bring Benjamin and the twins over to the house and we can have dinner together."

Tossing the soaked paper towels in the trash, I kept my back turned to mom.

What could Dad want to talk about?

When he does talk, it's about something serious.

He's not like Mom who has something to say about everything.

He's more of an observer.

Turning back around to face Mom, I finally realized what she had said.

She wanted the twins to come.

That wasn't going to happen.

I've done good avoiding the need to go out and get my mate's to bring them back home.

I had to keep reminding myself that this isn't their home.

They're not mine.

I don't want a mate or mates in this case.

But I can't tell mom that.

"Maybe another day."

"I understand," Mom said, smiling at me.

"You've just found them and want them all to yourself."

If that's what she wanted to believe, I wasn't going to correct her.

Not when I knew she'd freak if I told her the truth.

There's going to be a day sometime soon when she does find out what I've done.

I didn't want that day to be today.

Or ever if I had it my way.

My pup stumbled into the kitchen before mom could ask anymore about the twins.

Benjamin's big hazel eyes were drooping from the nap he'd just woken up from.

His dark hair was all over his head and he'd somehow lost his bottoms.

"Papa," his little whine had me picking him up, trying to see if there was something physically wrong.

'Did he run into something? Did he fall?'

He hugged me, his head resting on my shoulder.

"What? Grandma gets no love?"

Mom put down her knife and came to stand beside me so she could get a look at my pup.

"Hi Gammy," Benjamin spoke softly before tucking his head in my neck. I frowned at mom, worried for my pup.

"What's wrong, pup?"

Rubbing his back soothingly, I tried peaking at him without moving him back.

"Belly hurt."

"What have you been feeding him? See this is why I came over. Your cooking is killing him," Mom complained as she went back to cutting vegetables for the roast she insisted on making us.

Frowning, I kissed the top of my pups head and sat down at the table with him in my lap.

All he's been eating is kiddie snacks and the pizza I had delivered.

It probably wasn't all that healthy or fulfilling for a growing pup.

But like mom had said, my cooking wasn't any better.

Sitting down at the table, I continued rubbing Benjamin's back until he eventually drifted off to sleep again.

He's been sleeping a lot the past couple of days.

Could he be catching a cold from playing out in the snow?

I know it was a common thing for humans but not wolves, our immune systems are strong and fight off the common viruses.

He hasn't had his first shift yet though, so maybe it could be a cold?

Mom had brought over her large crockpot and had a roast going.

She reminded me multiple times to cut it down to warm when it finished cooking. It was enough to last us a few days.

I never asked Mom or Torin to come over and feed us but they'd started doing it some time last year.

Apparently they thought we weren't eating enough.

It was a relief when Mom left... not because I don't like seeing her but because I didn't want her to ask me anymore questions about the twins.

I wish I hadn't met them while family was around, it would be so much easier getting rid of them.

Laying Benjamin on the couch and covering him with the blanket, I pressed the back of my hand against his forehead.

He felt a little warm but we're Werewolves.

We're always a little warmer.

Hopefully with sleep, he'll feel better later. 

The back door opened and I groaned, thinking Mom had come back.

I didn't expect to see the naked male who was standing in my kitchen going through the fridge.

"You don't have shit here but apple juice," Robbyy complained but continued to drink straight from the jug.

"What the hell do you want?"

Going into the laundry room I grabbed a pair of jogging pants before going back into the kitchen.

"Your brother is being a pain in my ass."

"One I'd prefer not to see."

Throwing the pants at him, I turned away and occupied myself with pulling a cup from the cabinet.

Robby chuckled under his breath.

"Right, you prefer when they come in pairs."

My jaw clenched but I chose to ignore the jibe.

"What did Torin do?" I asked, taking the jug of apple juice from the Alpha male and pouring some in a cup for him.

Robby frowned down at it and stayed quiet for a while.

"It's nothing," he groaned, clearly irritated about something.

"He won't let me touch him," he blurted out and I quickly shushed him, listening out for my pup.

"He says it's the month of the Moon Goddess, so we can't fuck," Robert continued complaining.

My brows furrowed as I thought over his words.

I didn't want to hear anything about my little brother's sex life.

Then I thought about all the holidays Mom had us celebrate while we were growing up and I couldn't remember there ever being a month dedicated to the Moon Goddess.

Especially one that kept you celibate.

If anything, the Moon Goddess encouraged her children to mate.

It took everything I had to hold in my laughter and keep the smile off my face.

Apparently the Alpha had done something to piss off Torin.

"This isn't fair," Robby growled and paced across the kitchen.

"It's already been a full six hours. He won't even let me use my mouth."

"Gross, I don't care."

I shook my head and took a sip from the drink Robby abandoned.

"This is an important month to those that celebrate. It means a lot to them."

I forced myself not to laugh and had to turn away to hide my smile.

"I know," Robby sighed, his shoulders sagging as if giving up.

"I'll just hang out with you," he decided.

"We haven't done that in forever."

I had a feeling this wasn't going to go so well.

Robby had the ability to get up to no good even when he wasn't trying to.

It's been a long time since the two of us had time to hang out alone.

A recipe for disaster.

Maybe this was something I needed.

A way to get my mind off... things.

"What do you want to do?" I asked, knowing Torin would be eager to have Benjamin for a day.

[agecfwonder]

*:·ﾟ✧ is that that aleksei frey , who is originally from valachia , and living in valachia ? it’s nice to see the assassin to the halliard family out and about on such a fine day as this. i’ve heard from the court spies that they notoriously reckless , whilst also managing to be quite charismatic . the thirty-three  year old was born human, and hails from the kingdom of transvania. 

———   GENERAL

NAME  : aleksei rian frey TITLE : assassin to the halliard family AGE :  thirty-three SPECIES : human GENDER : cis man  PRONOUNS : he/him SEXUAL ORIENTATION : bisexual BIRTHPLACE : valachia RESIDENCE  : valachia

———   RELATIONSHIPS

FATHER : damien frey † MOTHER : naena frey SIBLINGS : aleksandr 'sasha' frey † ALLIES : varian halliard ( lover ) ENEMIES : mikhail volkov

———   PERSONALITY

LABEL : the rogue TAROT : the hanged man ALIGNMENT : chaotic neutral POSITIVE (+) : charismatic — mindful — attentive ( to detail ) — discrete — loyal NEGATIVE (-) : reckless — relentless — sarcastic — brusque — reserved

———   HISTORY

looking back at his childhood, it's a wonder he turned out the way he did. the second son to a dedicated guard for the halliard family and a local seamstress, aleksei had been born in love and raised in it. his father was tall and strong, his mother was kind and gentle, and his older brother was the best of both of their parents and just a half step away from god in the younger's eyes. he'd always been half a step behind aleksandr- sasha as he was affectionately called- shorter legs constantly churning to catch up with him.

he'd been small for his age with a mouth that seemed to think he was much bigger. he ended up knocked on his ass more times than he could count until he learned he could outrun other children his age by three strides. there was a streak of almost reckless fearlessness in aleksei during childhood, always the one who was willing to 'go first'- the first to climb, the first to jump. a true wild child.

the wildness never left but it changed as he got older. sasha left to join the army the summer before he turned eighteen, leaving aleksei to go through the growing pains of adolescence alone. he stretched as he grew up- testing every boundary, every limit-- more often than not to the exasperation of his parents. there was expectation now that he was growing, a path set before him by a father who told him ( with love, everything was with love ) that he had to have some sense of purpose otherwise he'd float right away; sasha had been as steady and solid as the earth and aleksei had always been one good gust of wind from flying away and their father wanted to keep his youngest from wandering aimlessly.

when a letter delivered by a guard from the keep brought the news that sasha had been killed by a rogue vampire along the border, the home changes. his father doesn't laugh and his mother stops singing and aleksei grows angry. that anger lashes out against those that love him most- parents that cling all the tighter to the son they have left- all but dragging him to that life path of following in his father's footsteps to serve and protect the noble family. it's a path he finds himself starting- reluctantly- when his father grows sick and the house grows all the more quiet after aleksei buries him. his mother becomes a shell of who she was, sad eyes that stare out the window.

he tries for her, he does-- he cares for her and trains to take his father's place along the wall, day in and day out. aleksei had never been one to easily submit to authority— to fall in line and follow orders blindly— not when his mind could work so much faster and he could think of at least three other options that would work and work better. it lasts for months and the feeling of the walls ever closing in on him becomes too much-- and he leaves. it's something he thinks back on with great shame and even though his mother has forgiven him and told him that 'it's forgotten', he knows he'll never forget that rock of guilt and how it had felt so heavy the day he left. no real destination in mind, aleksei just had to get out of that track.

he makes his way by picking the pockets of those clearly more fortunate than he and by chance happens to stumble into the thieves guild though he's certain lady fate had been keeping a close eye on him. for a few years he makes his way as a petty thief- it's a far cry from an extravagant lifestyle but that time of his life is colored by bacchanalia, a wild freedom he hadn't known before.

but still there's that desire for more. it wasn't enough to make it by on picking pockets, he had to go for bigger targets-- bigger paydays that took him beyond the city of valachia and throughout the kingdom of transvania. fate is a funny thing and the lady certainly has a sense of humor because just as he was starting to make himself a name in a the cat burglary world, he picked the pocket of a man who would change the trajectory of his life. his name was mikhail volkov and aleksei could ( and would ) tell you all sorts of things he theorized mikhail saw in him in that moment but in truth, he couldn't tell you what he saw-- but he promised bigger paydays than aleksei had ever managed to get with thievery.

he was still a boy struggling like hell to make it into manhood when mikhail started to train him. when mikhail found him, he hadn’t grown out of his resistance to authority- something his previous employer had found entertaining and amusing- but he quickly learned that mikhail had no tolerance for impudence and no patience for outright disobedience. 

aleksei— for all his faults— was a fast learner, driven by a need to prove he was something more than ordinary. mikhail taught him how to bleed and how to make others do the same, taught him how to take life without remorse. everyone has a bounty on their head, it was just a matter of making sure you got there before someone else— and avoiding letting your own contract come up for grabs. he spent years working under mikhail, working his way up in the ranks, ever fueled by that desperate need to prove himself— and the money wasn’t half bad. his focus turned to poisons- the different plants and concoctions from across the kingdom that could loosen a man’s tongue or take him down with nothing more than a drop. 

( TRIGGER WARNING: IMPLIED CHILD DEATH ) it was a job in branu— two warring merchant families, each taking contracts out on the other. he’d gotten greedy, playing the two against each other with that wolfish grin and when the sun rose on the seaside, both families had been slaughtered. there’s something about ending a family’s line completely that changes a man and while in the moment, his eyes had been veiled with the focus of an accomplished killer that saw nothing more than targets- contracts to fulfill— but in the light of day, no amount of scrubbing could wash away the blood from his hands and no amount of prayer to whatever god was listening could remove the mark on his soul from taking purely innocent lives.  it became a horror too terrible to bear and instead of returning with the coin he’d collected from the contracts, aleksei fled back to the only place he thought he could escape mikhail's wrath: he went home.

tail tucked between his legs and back in valachia after over a decade of wandering, aleksei appealed to lord halliard for sanctuary and employment. the loyalty that his parents had raised him in was fierce and if there were ever a cause to throw himself to that might absolve him for his past sins, it was to devote himself to the warden family that had cared for his the whole of his life. his skills and training made him useful and he became a blade for the halliard, working in the shadows to protect and defend the noble family from those that would try and harm them in the dark. 

coming home had been a fresh start and in that fresh start was varian. he'd always been there of course; they had been boys together, growing from knobby knees to broad shoulders- closer than brothers. they kept in close contact with one another even when their paths led them far from valachia- varian to his service with the military, bringing honor to his family and aleksei to the crooked path of theft and murder that would've shamed his mother to death if he ever told her the extent of it- writing letters over the span of years to each other.

it wasn't something he planned on-- in fact, for a long while, it was something he actively tried to fight against. his oldest friend, the only person who truly knew aleksei- 'warts and all' as his father would say- and still looked at him as if there were something good in him, something worth loving. and aleksei has loved varian a thousand different ways- as a subject loves a good lord, as a friend loves a friend, as a brother loves a brother, as a bard loves a ballad, as a poet loves a muse. it's something that has always felt fragile, something precious to be guarded-- something that's been for just them.

aleksei has been in the employ of the halliard family for nearly four years now and his devotion to the warden family is stronger now than it was when he first arrived, begging for asylum and purpose outside of killing for coin— which, of course, is still part of the deal but there’s the underlying deeper purpose that drives him forward and turns his eyes towards loftier goals. his eye has been on the master assassin position within the king’s small council though he remains rooted in the service of the family that had for all intents and purposes, saved him from himself. and for now, he’s content with that. 

———   QUICK FACTS ( TLDR; )

typical second child-- wild as hell, what my coworker would call 'a bad baby'

had an older brother named sasha that he adored/idolized that died when aleksei was a teenager while sasha was serving in the transvanian military

spends a while in the thieves guild before meeting mikhail volkov who takes him under his wing/mentors him into becoming an assassin

he's like. really good at killing people. [ hairflip ]

got really into poison bc while he can get his hands dirty, he can do so much More with poison like the possibilities are endless

took on a job where he took on the role of a butcher and ended two bloodlines and that can fuck a dude up if he dwells on it long enough.

[ steve miller band vc ] ooooooh took the money and ran

ends up appealing to lord halliard for sanctuary ( hiding from mikhail ) and lands a job as the assassin for the noble family

has been kicking it in that job for about four years now and is content but [ angelica schuyler vc ] he's never satisfied and is always looking for the next leg up he can get.

aleksei lowkey was super into the idea of being a bard when he was a kid. he has a worn gusli that he carries with him and sometimes uses as a disguise when he needs to move around in public without being known-- he can play most stringed instruments. dudes got a natural ear for music

has more aliases than i have throwaway email accounts

bc of that natural ear, he's v good at disseminating where people hail from and is incredibly good at imitating dialects and accents

he's a gemini. im sorry.

his favorite flavor is mint. lowkey always has that hint of mint about him bc the fucking maniac chews mint/peppermint leaves. this man would go absolute apeshit on some andes mints

incredibly fast thinker who happens to be incredibly paranoid. his brain is a super fun place to be

he's stupid your honor but i love him

[ladystonedwolf]

@2rats1gogh @alicentdeservesbetter Idk, maybe she saw brown-haired Alicent's blond kids and saw her strangely white great-grandfather Jaehaerys son of Alyssa Velaryon and figured it would work out.

Her mother is an Arryn, and Laenor's mother is a Baratheon, with dark hair in the books. Even though the show decided to ignore those indomitable Baratheon genes and stick Rhaenys in a silly blond wig (definitely just to make Rhaenyra's kids stick out more), the genes are still there.

Find someone who looks like her husband? The book is also full of examples where the absence of female relatives (gross) sent Targs looking in Essos to find a consort with super rare Valyrian features, so easier said than done.

Half the realm don't care either, btw. They rise in support of Rhaenyra, and her brown haired son Jace is the one they treat with. Otto claimed opposition to her was inevitable to justify his own coup, but half remained loyal and the other half wouldn't have been able to do any more than grumble if the greens didn't start a coup.

And in GRRM's earlier drafts, Rhaenyra was actually married to a Strong, and she was still usurped. It was never about her kids. Otto was stirring shit before she was even married, it was never about her kids. Say she didn't make it easy for herself all you like, but that doesn't let the Greens off the hook for deciding to coup, for turning down the peaceful offer of a betrothal and choosing to plunge the realm into war. The Greens defence that 'Rhaenyra didn't make it easy on herself so it's on her, we're not at fault' is similar logic to 'x didn't make it easy on herself when she walked alone at night in a short skirt'.

"Rhaenyra put her children's lives in danger by treating them as legitimate" Laenor, Rhaenys, Corlys and the King himself treated them as legitimate too. Again, half the realm did. It's not on her if the Greens decide to endanger her children. Otto liked to claim that Rhaenyra would inevitably kill Alicent and her children, but he still pushed Alicent into that position. Would you let Rhaenyra off the hook if she did as Otto predicted, based on the argument that 'well it was Otto's fault for putting them in that situation to begin with, what did he expect?'

As for your point about what Ned did... it's not as though Ned ever could get away with claiming Jon was legitimate. People would know he didn't come from Catelyn. I'm not sure what your point is, other than, yeah as a mother Rhaenyra had the option to give her children a better life than a father could?

And your final baffling point, that Rhaenyra didn't do anything to fight the patriarchy? She didn't back down when the Greens tried to kill equal primogeniture in its cradle, for starters. Maybe she did consider herself the exception, maybe she did believe in broader rights for women, we don't actually know. Spoiler warning i guess if you're just a show watcher and haven't read the book, but the only case we have to go on is her ruling on crownland inheritances during her brief time on the throne. A time when she was dealing with a civil war and a bankrupt treasury (due to the Greens stealing away 3/4 of it and spending the other 1/4 on their stupid coup), so she had to keep what allies she could on her side when she was forced to raise extremely unpopular taxes. Hardly a convenient time for radical reform.

Maybe under a scenario of a peaceful ascension, she would have done much more. Or maybe she'd have done nothing for women's rights. Other than, you know, set the precedent that a woman can rule, that a penis isn't in of itself a qualification. That's certainly why a bunch of women leaders chose to follow her. Rhaenys Targaryen, Sabitha Frey, Alysanne Blackwood, and Jeyne Arryn, who faced her own male relatives trying to depose her. Jeyne Arryn hated Daemon, but she recognised the importance of supporting Rhaenyra. Maybe to a third wave feminist her ascension alone isn't enough to radically overthrow the patriarchy, but it's not a meaningless step. For a society like Westeros, its huge.

I hear some Greens claiming that in the show Rhaenyra does usurp Baela and Rhaena in favour of her own sons and that makes her a hypocrite. First off, in the book it was never an issue. Rhaenyra, Laena, Laenor and Daemon decided together in their happy polycule to betroth the kids early on. Because Laenor loved those boys as his own, he even tried to name the firstborn Joffrey before his father interceded, and Laena loved her brother and was BFFs with Rhaenyra. They came up with the best solution to game a system that was biased against girls and bastards.

As for the show, it's never an issue there either. Because Vaemond is usurping his nieces too - they're not in the running for some reason. And for some reason Rhaenys plans to argue for her own non-existent claim rather than her grand-daughters. It seems by betrothing them to her sons Rhaenyra gives them a way to their inheritance that they wouldn't otherwise have.

The show never brings their claim up, even though it would have been an interesting thing to bring up in the scenario they wrote. The showrunners don't care about Baela and Rhaena as characters. Even though Baela was arguably one of the bigger personalities in the book, certainly bigger than Helaena, who gets wonderful characterisation in the show! And Rhaena's screentime gets dropped as soon as she no longer serves as a new incitement for the fight with Aemond (a more sympathetic one than the book, which begins with Aemond pushing a toddler into dragon dung to shut him up). Because of misogynoir, plain and simple.

So yeah, tangent aside, I don't get the argument that "Rhaenyra didn't radically reform Westeros during her brief stint on the throne in the middle of a civil war, therefore the Greens are excused for killing equal primogeniture in its cradle". It's not on her.

I would add that any character in general doesn't have to take the mantle of radically reforming the whole world to deserve to live free of its cruelties in whatever way they can. Heck, when a character did take the mantle of radically changing the world, the show rewrote her into an impulsive violent dumbed-down genocidal Mad Queen and compared her to Hitler.

a thing that i really hate about team black is how they say that we can’t really be mad at Rhaenyra for having three bastard children as a woman, because men have been doing the same thing all the time and no one cared.

But they kinda always forget about a very important detail; Whenever men had bastard children, they pretty much never put them in line for inheritance. They were aware of the fact that some random children they had with some random women are somewhere out there living their lives. And they didn’t care. They didn’t put their lives in danger by saying “oh, yeah, they are my legitimate children” even though the children look nothing like their mother or something. And whenever they *do* have their bastards live with them, they always admit that they are their bastards and never put them higher than legitimate heirs to their house.

Like Ned Stark has always been like “hey, that’s my bastard son, Jon, he is living with us at Winterfell. We raised him, fed him and treated him right, but when it comes to inherit Winterfell, my legitimate son with my wife Caitlyn, Robb, who is the true heir to house Stark, will become the next Lord, not Jon”

Rhaenyra, well, did the exact opposte.

And if you say “oh, but she’s a woman, she can’t do that, since people will get angry if she admitted to having bastard children with a man that is not her husband!” I will say, as a woman myself, no matter how cruel that might sound: that’s Rhaenyra’s problem. She knew damn well that when a man and a woman have sex, it’s the woman that gets pregnant. And if she really wanted to have children, she could’ve had sex with someone that slightly looks like her husband. Like, what the hell did she, a blonde white woman, expect her children to look like, having sex with a dark haired white man?

Because that’s the world she lives in. A cruel and unfair patriarchal world. And she does absolutely fucking NOTHING to change it. She doesn’t fight for women’s rights, doesn’t call out this patriarchy that somewhat caused the war itself, she doesn’t do anything to get rid of it. So that’s on her

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ASOS: Arya XIII (Chapter 74)

I know this inn. There hadn't been a gibbet outside the door when she had slept here with her sister Sansa under the watchful eye of Septa Mordane, though.

[...]

They know him. The silence told her that. But that wasn't the worst thing. She knew them too. Not the skinny innkeep, nor the women, nor the fieldhands by the hearth. But the others. The soldiers. She knew the soldiers.

Keep in mind there's an innkeep, women, and fieldhands nearby.

+.+.+

There are only three, Arya thought. Polliver gave her a fleeting glance and the boy beside him never looked at her at all, but the third one gazed long and hard. He was a man of middling height and build, with a face so ordinary that it was hard to say how old he was. The Tickler. The Tickler and Polliver both. The boy was a squire, judging by his age and dress. He had a big white pimple on one side of his nose, and some red ones on his forehead. "Is this the lost puppy Ser Gregor spoke of?" he asked the Tickler. "The one who piddled in the rushes and ran off?"

The Tickler put a warning hand on the boy's arm, and gave a short sharp shake of his head. Arya read that plain enough.

The squire didn't, or else he didn't care. "Ser said his puppy brother tucked his tail between his legs when the battle got too warm at King's Landing. He said he ran off whimpering." He gave the Hound a stupid mocking grin.

Clegane studied the boy and never said a word. Polliver shoved the girl off his lap and got to his feet. "The lad's drunk," he said. 

We're going to make sure this inebriated boy is as mouthy as possible.

(A Storm of Swords, otherwise known as 80 Chapters of People Making Fun of the Hound.)

+.+.+

He wore three blades on his belt, Arya saw; a longsword on his left hip, and on his right a dagger and a slimmer blade, too long to be a dirk and too short to be a sword. 

Needle!

Arya only needs two. 💅🏻

+.+.+

"So much for my brave brothers of the Kingsguard." The Hound gave a snort of contempt. "Who killed him?"

"The Imp, it's thought. Him and his little wife."

"What wife?"

"I forgot, you've been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head."

That's stupid, Arya thought. Sansa only knows songs, not spells, and she'd never marry the Imp.

Bat!

Correct, Sansa only knows songs, not spells. It's one of her best qualities.

Arya is so desensitized, she doesn't even reflect on her sister potentially killing someone.

+.+.+

The Hound sat on the bench closest to the door. His mouth twitched, but only the burned side. "She ought to dip him in wildfire and cook him. Or tickle him till the moon turns black." He raised his wine cup and drained it straightaway.

The Hound hates Tyrion more than his master Joffrey, because Tyrion emasculated him during a battle, and in the throne room when Sansa was beaten.

That should tell you everything you need to know about the Hound.

+.+.+

"So Gregor took Harrenhal?" Sandor said.

"Didn't require much taking," said Polliver. "The sellswords fled as soon as they knew we were coming, all but a few. One of the cooks opened a postern gate for us, to get back at Hoat for cutting off his foot." 

The cooks at Harrenhal are building up quite the reputation.

+.+.+

Sandor said, "The Blackfish is still in Riverrun?"

"Not for long," said Polliver. "He's under siege. Old Frey's going to hang Edmure Tully unless he yields the castle. The only real fighting's around Raventree. Blackwoods and Brackens. The Brackens are ours now."

Boo. Hiss.

+.+.+

The Hound poured a cup of wine for Arya and another for himself, and drank it down while staring at the hearthfire. "The little bird flew away, did she? Well, bloody good for her. She shit on the Imp's head and flew off."

"They'll find her," said Polliver. "If it takes half the gold in Casterly Rock."

"A pretty girl, I hear," said the Tickler. "Honey sweet." He smacked his lips and smiled.

Ew. Hands off the maid with honey in her hair.

Half the gold in Casterly Rock, I wonder how much that is. I'm reminded of how little the bounty currently is.

+.+.+

"And courteous," the Hound agreed. "A proper little lady. Not like her bloody sister."

"They found her too," said Polliver. "The sister. She's for Bolton's bastard, I hear."

Nooo, don't spiritually die.

I always forget she was told.

+.+.+

"Saltpans? How should I know? The traders are back at Maidenpool, I heard. Randyll Tarly took the castle and locked Mooton in a tower cell. I haven't heard shit about Saltpans."

The Tickler leaned forward. "Would you put to sea without bidding farewell to your brother?" 

Arya would!

Was the intention of that to show me Randyll Tarly imprisons the enemy? Lol.

+.+.+

Arya took a step backward as the long steel song began. The Tickler came off the bench with a shortsword in one hand and a dagger in the other. 

I have to say, I'm liking this dual blade strategy.

+.+.+

Polliver was a grim, methodical fighter, and he pressed Sandor steadily backward, his heavy longsword moving with brutal precision. The Hound's own cuts were sloppier, his parries rushed, his feet slow and clumsy. He's drunk, Arya realized with dismay. He drank too much too fast, with no food in his belly. 

The Hound embarrassing himself during his final fight is beautiful.

+.+.+

They're killing him. Arya had no more cups, but there was something better to throw. She drew the dagger they'd robbed off the dying archer and tried to fling it at the Tickler the way he'd done. It wasn't the same as throwing a rock or a crabapple, though. The knife wobbled, and hit him in the arm hilt first. He never even felt it. He was too intent on Clegane.

Dagger!

+.+.+

Even the chunky brown-haired squire was up, fumbling for his swordhilt. She snatched her wine cup off the table and threw it at his face. Her aim was better than it had been at the Twins. The cup hit him right on his big white pimple and he went down hard on his tail.

[...]

Arya grabbed it with two hands, but as she lifted it someone grabbed her arm. The flagon slipped from her fingers and crashed to the floor. Wrenched around, she found herself nose to nose with the squire. You stupid, you forgot all about him. His big white pimple had burst, she saw.

"Are you the puppy's puppy?" He had his sword in his right hand and her arm in his left, but her own hands were free, so she jerked his knife from its sheath and sheathed it again in his belly, twisting. He wasn't wearing mail or even boiled leather, so it went right in, the same way Needle had when she killed the stableboy at King's Landing. The squire's eyes got big and he let go of her arm. Arya spun to the door and wrenched the Tickler's knife from the wall.

I have no problem with this.

It's unfortunate it's another kid, but he would have hurt her (or worse).

+.+.+

The Tickler backed away. Arya could smell his fear. The shortsword in his hand suddenly seemed almost a toy against the long blade the Hound was holding, and he wasn't armored either. He moved swiftly, light on his feet, never taking his eyes off Sandor Clegane. It was the easiest thing in the world for Arya to step up behind him and stab him.

I have no problem with this.

+.+.+

"Is there gold hidden in the village?" she shouted as she drove the blade up through his back. "Is there silver? Gems?" She stabbed twice more. "Is there food? Where is Lord Beric?" She was on top of him by then, still stabbing. "Where did he go? How many men were with him? How many knights? How many bowmen? How many, how many, how many, how many, how many, how many? Is there gold in the village?"

I- uh. Um.

+.+.+

Her hands were red and sticky when Sandor dragged her off him. "Enough," was all he said. He was bleeding like a butchered pig himself, and dragging one leg when he walked.

"There's one more," Arya reminded him.

Arya.

+.+.+

The squire had pulled the knife out of his belly and was trying to stop the blood with his hands. When the Hound yanked him upright, he screamed and started to blubber like a baby. "Mercy," he wept, "please. Don't kill me. Mother have mercy."

"Do I look like your bloody mother?" The Hound looked like nothing human. "You killed this one too," he told Arya. "Pricked him in his bowels, that's the end of him. He'll be a long time dying, though."

The boy didn't seemed to hear him. "I came for the girls," he whimpered. ". . . make me a man, Polly said . . . oh, gods, please, take me to a castle . . . a maester, take me to a maester, my father's got gold . . . it was only for the girls . . . mercy, ser."

The Hound gave him a crack across the face that made him scream again. "Don't call me ser." He turned back to Arya. "This one is yours, she-wolf. You do it."

She knew what he meant. Arya went to Polliver and knelt in his blood long enough to undo his swordbelt. Hanging beside his dagger was a slimmer blade, too long to be a dirk, too short to be a man's sword . . . but it felt just right in her hand.

"You remember where the heart is?" the Hound asked.

She nodded. The squire rolled his eyes. "Mercy."

Needle slipped between his ribs and gave it to him.

I have a big problem with this.

That is not the type of mercy he was asking for. There was no compassion accompanying this act. This was not about ending his suffering.

There's an innkeep, women, and fieldhands nearby. Leave him alone.

+.+.+

The innkeep came scurrying back with two stone cups and a flagon on a pewter platter. Sandor lifted the flagon to his mouth. Arya could see the muscles in his neck working as he gulped. When he slammed it back down on the table, half the wine was gone. "Now you can pour. Best pick up those coppers too, it's the only coin you're like to see today."

"We'll pay when we're done drinking," said Polliver.

See? Sandor Clegane isn't such a bad guy. He pays the innkeep, and chastises the men who won't...

"Saltpans." He put a big hand on her shoulder to keep from falling. "Get some wine, she-wolf. And take whatever coin they have as well, we'll need it. If there's ships at Saltpans, we can reach the Vale by sea."

Never mind. I guess it's not that imperative the innkeep is paid what he's owed.

+.+.+

"Maybe Lady Lysa will marry you to her little Robert. There's a match I'd like to see." He started to laugh, then groaned instead.

Guys it's funny because Sansa will marry her little Robert.

+.+.+

When the time came to leave, he needed Arya's help to get back up on Stranger. He had tied a strip of cloth about his neck and another around his thigh, and taken the squire's cloak off its peg by the door. The cloak was green, with a green arrow on a white bend, but when the Hound wadded it up and pressed it to his ear it soon turned red. 

Maybe that fandom should spend less time dissecting green cloaks, and more time recognizing comic book references.

+.+.+

When he got the fire going, Sandor propped up his helm in the flames, emptied half the wineskin into it, and collapsed back against a jut of moss-covered stone as if he never meant to rise again.

Loving every word of this.

+.+.+

If Sansa was gone too, there were no more Starks but her. Jon was on the Wall a thousand leagues away, but he was a Snow, and these different aunts and uncles the Hound wanted to sell her to, they weren't Starks either. They weren't wolves.

So Jon's not a wolf? Damn, brutal.

+.+.+

Sandor moaned, and she rolled onto her side to look at him. She had left his name out too, she realized. Why had she done that? She tried to think of Mycah, but it was hard to remember what he'd looked like. She hadn't known him long. All he ever did was play at swords with me. 

I give you permission to be reminded of Daenerys, and laugh.

(I'm not comparing them!)

+.+.+

Arya glanced over her shoulder, but there was nothing behind them but a crow flitting from tree to tree. The only sound was the river.

BRAN?!

+.+.+

When he saw Arya staring at him, he said, "I'd skin you alive for a cup of wine, girl."

She brought him water instead.

Water for the dying man. Number three!

+.+.+

His eyes opened. "You remember where the heart is?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

As still as stone she stood. "I . . . I was only . . ."

"Don't lie," he growled. "I hate liars. I hate gutless frauds even worse. Go on, do it." When Arya did not move, he said, "I killed your butcher's boy. I cut him near in half, and laughed about it after." He made a queer sound, and it took her a moment to realize he was sobbing. "And the little bird, your pretty sister, I stood there in my white cloak and let them beat her. I took the bloody song, she never gave it. I meant to take her too. I should have. I should have fucked her bloody and ripped her heart out before leaving her for that dwarf." A spasm of pain twisted his face. "Do you mean to make me beg, bitch? Do it! The gift of mercy . . . avenge your little Michael . . ."

"Mycah." Arya stepped away from him. "You don't deserve the gift of mercy."

No, he doesn't. Get your shovel ready, dog.

Hey, remember that time the ASoIaF wiki claimed Sandor Clegane rescued Sansa during that beating?

Fucking riot. Even the Hound isn't that deluded.

+.+.+

The Hound watched her saddle Craven through eyes bright with fever. Not once did he attempt to rise and stop her. But when she mounted, he said, "A real wolf would finish a wounded animal."

Maybe some real wolves will find you, Arya thought. Maybe they'll smell you when the sun goes down. Then he would learn what wolves did to dogs.

+.+.+

She turned her horse and rode away from him, and never looked back once.

Goodbye fuckhead.

On Reddit, someone said this was the end of Sandor Clegane's story, and the gravedigger is his epilogue.

I thought that was perfect.

+.+.+

And there were ships.

Three, thought Arya, there are three. Two were only river galleys, shallow draft boats made to ply the waters of the Trident. The third was bigger, a salt sea trader with two banks of oars, a gilded prow, and three tall masts with furled purple sails. Her hull was painted purple too. Arya rode Craven down to the docks to get a better look. Strangers are not so strange in a port as they are in little villages, and no one seemed to care who she was or why she was here.

Everyone is your friend at the docks!

+.+.+

I need silver. The realization made her bite her lip.

[...]

She couldn't go back, no more than she could beg for help. Begging for help never gets you any. She would have to sell Craven, and hope she brought enough.

Is... is Arya going to trade a horse for a ship?

+.+.+

She liked Craven at first look, asked Arya how she'd come by her, and grinned at her answer. "She's a well-bred horse, that's plain enough, and I don't doubt she belonged to a knight, sweetling," she said. "But the knight wasn't no dead brother o' yours. I been dealing with the castle there many a year, so I know what gentleborn folk is like. This mare is well-bred, but you're not." She poked a finger at Arya's chest. 

Guys it's funny because Arya is highborn.

+.+.+

A half-dozen other Saltpans folks were around, going about their business, so Arya knew she couldn't kill the woman. Instead she had to bite her lip and let herself be cheated. 

Arya.

+.+.+

The captain was turning away when she said, "What ship is this, my lord?"

He paused long enough to give her a weary smile. "This is the galleas Titan's Daughter, of the Free City of Braavos."

The Titan's Daughter! Everyone gets to play.

+.+.+

"It's not silver." Her fingers closed on it. "It's iron. Here." She pressed it into his hand, the small black iron coin that Jaqen H'ghar had given her, so worn the man whose head it bore had no features. It's probably worthless, but . . .

The captain turned it over and blinked at it, then looked at her again. "This . . . how . . . ?"

Jaqen said to say the words too. Arya crossed her arms against her chest. "Valar morghulis," she said, as loud as if she'd known what it meant.

"Valar dohaeris," he replied, touching his brow with two fingers. "Of course you shall have a cabin."

Like a Faceless Man!

I just now realized George intended for Lady Stoneheart to be wreaking havoc in the riverlands for five years, waiting for Arya to return.

Crazy.

Final thoughts:

Sad to see this duo part ways.

He taught her so much, like... um... hm. Let's see. Uh. Oh, where the heart is located? Sure, we'll go with that.

-> return to menu <-

[cruelfeline]

All right. It's time to has out the game-relevant Athian timeline. I've been going through the lore entries and looking at various dates. Doing so has caused me to realize some little details that I find quite intriguing. This will go in two posts: this one about the Break and the implications of its timeline, and a second regarding the war against the Rheddig and its associated implications. So! Here we go.

The most recent war with the Rheddig, culminating in the Athian victory known as the Purge of the Rheddig, began with invader landfall on 3/10/3874.

The aforementioned Purge, and with it the decisive victory of the Athian defenders, occurred on 5/18/3874. This provides us with a war duration of approximately two months.

The next few years are spent rebuilding a war-torn Athia until the Break appears. Now, the Break does not actually appear until the first Tanta, Tanta Prav, goes mad.

She seems to fully fall on 8/1/3877, sentencing someone to death for stealing an apple. The Break is first seen on 9/15/3877, in all realms but Junoon.

Junoon remains free of the Break until 12/27/3877, upon which it succumbs as well. The Break continues to spread and, roughly one year later on 12/17/3878, covers about 80% of Athia and has killed 99% of its people.

So! What bits of information can be gleaned from this data?

1. The Break seemingly first appears when the Tantas lose their inner battles against Susurrus. It is not until the first Tanta goes mad that we see it mentioned in the records. And it is not until Junoon's Tanta falls that the Break is able to enter Junoon. It's logical to consider, then, that the Break doesn't just come from Cuff, but from some corruption of Tanta magic facilitated by Cuff being bound to and tormenting them. After all: Susurrus' first attack on Athia, many years ago, made no mention of Break-like phenomena. Likely because he was not bound to anyone, but broken and sealed in the Labyrinths. This is further supported by the Break being strongest around corrupted Tantas' castles but not around, say, Frey, who is bound to Cuff but not corrupted.

2. The Tantas internally fought Susurrus for at most nine months, much likely less. Cinta's memories inform us that Cinta fought against Suss and helped bind him when already pregnant with Frey. She loses her internal battle with him soon after Frey's birth. Frey was born on 12/25. We can assume this was 12/25/3877, as Cinta succumbs to Susurrus, allowing the Break to take Junoom, on 12/27/3877 the moment she sends infant Frey away. So for Cinta to have bound Suss while pregnant, only to fall very shortly after Frey's birth, means that she held him for less than nine months. The other Tantas held out shorter than she did. Cuff is apparently a very difficult person to live with.

3. We start the game in the Athian year 3898, given that Frey has just turned 21. Susurrus likewise states that he's been waiting twenty-one years for his vengeance. Game starts on 12/25/3898, likely moves into the year 3899, given that its events take at least a few weeks. This means that Susurrus is imprisoned for a third time in the year 3899.

Mind you, all of this hinges upon Earth dates and Athian dates corresponding, which we have no official word on. I like to think they do, given how Frey's birthday fits into things. And given how providing the Athian days would be sort of pointless if their year wasn't essentially like ours, simply because without that frame of reference, the dates just wouldn't mean much.

But! Assuming the dates correspond properly, this gives us insight on how long things took, so to speak. And how the formation and spread of the Break corresponded to the Tantas' internal struggles with Cuff.

Now... let me go type up this next bit about the Rheddig...

[rose-like-the-phoenix]

Work in progress Wednesday

Now, I've never done this before (nor do I know if I will do continue to do this but thought I'd at least do it once) this WIP doesn't need much more work, other then a read through and maybe a few word changes here and there but enough of that, enjoy this draft from my skyrim thieves guild fanfiction "The one who lived". Inspiration for this post: @thequeenofthewinter

(Brynjolf's pov)

"Did you get what I told you?" Raven questioned, as I walked in. "Yep" I smiled, tossing her a coin purse "just hope they don't mind a couple missing gems" I grinned, folding my arms. "Brynjolf" Raven exclaimed, as I pulled a couple flawless emeralds from my pocket. "You know I can't help myself lass" I chuckled, earning a deserved look of disapproval from the guildmaster. "Fuck off" she retorted, walking away. I shook my head with a smirk and repocketed the two green gemstones, taking a seat between Delvin and Vex "you sure are good at getting yourself in trouble" Vex snickered, shoving some drink down her gullet. "Like everyone else in this gods forsaken cistern, the trick is to get yourself out of it" I replied. "Whatever" she said, leaning back in her chair. Heh, good ol' Vex. Suddenly, the tavern went still and silent. I looked around trying to figure out why, as I did, I noticed a blue spectral mist hovering over me. "For once. Someone tell me they can see what I'm seeing" I exclaimed, I'd bet money this is Mercer. Delvin and Vex nodded, one right after the other. I sighed, this is going to sound crazy "Mercer?" I asked staring at the anomaly. The mist moved to the side, "the one and only" he smirked, his transparent from taking shape. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the table, hoping ignoring the situation would have some sort of desirable effect

"Am I drunk or are you weirdly calm about this Brynjolf?" Delvin spoke up, doing what the others seem to be too afraid of, breaking the silence. "Maybe it's because he's been pestering me for weeks at this point" I explained annoyedly. "You can blame Nocturnal for that" Mercer laughed. "I don't blame Nocturn for anything asshole" I grumbled. "You could've told us about this" Vex snapped. "Are you daft?" I shot the Imperial a frustrated look, "you really think I would just tell you I had Mercer Frey's fucking ghost following me around and make myself out to be a madman?" I added. "I thought you already were a madman" Mercer said, a smile plastered to his deathly face. "You shut the fuck up" I exclaimed, the chair falling to the floor as I stood up. "You killed Gallus and tried to kill Raven and you expect me to not be piss'd off" I exclaimed, "first bandits ruin the only home I ever knew and then you try to fuck up everything else, hell, if it weren't for Aisha, Raven and Sofie I'd be convinced the soul reason I existed was to be miserable. Now leave me the fuck alone" I yelled, anger engulfing me. With heavy breaths, I made my way out of the tavern, slamming the door behind me.

(Vex's pov)

Wow, not sure I've ever seen Brynjolf this mad. Mercer's ghost stood silently in the middle of the room "just let it be known, you deserved every bit of that and then some" Sapphire barked, knowing more of the story behind Bryn's outlash then anyone else in the room. The ghost of our former colleague evaporated as Raven, Aisha and Annabelle walked in. "What was all the yelling about?" Raven exclaimed. "I'm not sure what else to say, except you need to go find you're husband" I explained, gesturing towards the door. Raven stared at the door for a moment "Vex keep things in order, Aisha you're coming with me" the dunmer exclaimed, she and Aisha walked out in search of their firey redhead. I wonder where he took off to?

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

There is this argument by some fans about why Stannis has to win Winterfell. Among the arguments that Stannis is a brilliant commander, the Boltons & Freys times are up, and that the story needs to progress faster, one I often see pop up is that it would be repetitive for Stannis to go through all of this and simply lose just so Jon Snow can do the exact same thing. However, even though I think that the arguments presented are not particularly convincing to me, this is by far the least convincing.

Stannis first marches from Castle Black to treat with the mountain clans and get them on his side. The Karstarks (falsely) declare for him. After taking Deepwood Motte, he gets both the Mormonts and the Glovers. Even remnants of the sack of Winterfell by Ramsay join him, along with men of the Stony Shore, and half the Umbers under the command of Crowfood. I'm hesitant to say that the entire anti-Bolton faction of the North is on his side, as the Manderlys have not yet declared for him and won't without Rickon.

Stannis even signs a deal with the Iron Bank to buy sellswords in Braavos, although they won't participate in the battle. All things considered, Stannis quickly accumulated a lot of allies very quickly, but he has several issues. The first is the blizzard, which slows his army to a complete halt, forcing him to stand his ground at the crofter's village. The mass death from the cold doesn't help. Secondly, there is already tension between his men due to faith. The southrons are declaring for R'hllor and say they should appease him with sacrifice, while the northmen argue they should appease the old gods. And look at the POVs too. Theon and Asha are Greyjoys mixed up in a battle for Winterfell. Quite ironic. The point is, Stannis is a foreign commander in a unique situation and he has the support of the majority of the North.

Now, take a look at Jon. First off, he recruited the free folk to join him south and after his resurrection I'm sure they'll still want to join him and kill some kneelers. As Jon tells Stannis earlier in ADWD, after he asks for armour and weapons to arm the free folk on his campaign;

"Drinking from Mance Rayder's skull may give Mors Umber pleasure, but seeing wildlings cross his lands will not. The free folk have been raiding the Umbers since the Dawn of Days, crossing the Bay of Seals for gold and sheep and women. One of those carried off was Crowfood's daughter. Your Grace, leave the wildlings here. Taking them will only serve to turn my lord father's bannermen against you."

Jon says it right here. If you were to take the free folk as your main force, that seeks the alienate the rest of the North. The free folk and the northmen hate each other, in particular the mountain clans and the Umbers. Instead of finding widespread support, Jon would find himself severely lacking in allies. I've already discussed why I think Stannis loses and Jon fights Ramsay, the only thing I wanted to discuss was the fact that this argument I see all the time doesn't have merit.

Jon and Stannis has similarities, but are fundamentally different people. Stannis is trying to do his duty no matter what, he wants to unify Westeros to fight the Others. Jon is a teenager who misses his family and has thrown away his duties as lord commander to pick up his duty to protect his family. And Jon won't look like a hero to anyone else either. A bastard? Broke his vows to the Night's Watch? Invading with a wildling army? It's a very bad look for him.

[scorpion-flower]

Ned Stark: Is forced to keep a secret by spoiling his honour, loses his father and two siblings during the Rebelion, is betrayed after serving as Robert's hand, kept in prison and beheaded

Catelyn Stark: Loses her husband, is led to believe that three of her children are dead, is betrayed by the Freys, eldest son gets murdered right in front of her and moments later she gets killed as well

Robb Stark: Loses his father, is made to believe that three of his siblings are dead, is betrayed by one of his best friends, fights to take revenge on the Lannisters, save his sister and make the North an independed kingdom but makes the wrong choice, loses allies and is betrayed and killed by the Freys

Jon Snow: Is being treated as an outsider because he's a bastard, is made to join the Night's Watch, fights literally everyday, is being mentally abused by the men of the watch who don't like him, when he falls in love prefers to do his duty, lover dies in his arms, loses many of his friends in every fight, is made Lord Commander, wants to make peace with the wildlings but is stabbed and killed by the men of the Night's Watch, is brought back from the dead, takes back the North, the people make him King, tries to talk Daenerys into helping them fight the White Walkers, chooses to bend the knee and begins an affair with Daenerys, finds out the truth about his parents, is constantly manipulated into keeping it a secret, is made to choose between his lover and his family, gives up his claim to the Iron Throne, is one of the few who stay loyal to Daenerys but then he sees her for the dictator that she is and kills her and is then sent into exile but survives

Sansa Stark: Learns about the cruelty of the world after being raised to believe in fairytales, is made to betray her father and older brother, is made to watch her father's execution, is kept as a prisoner of the Lannisters, is physically and psychologically abused, is forced to marry a man she doesn't want to, loses her mother, older brother and believes the rest of her siblings are dead as well, is accused for a murder she didn't commit, runs away with a man who's grooming her to be his pawn and lover, is almost killed by her aunt, is sold to the family that now rules over the North, is raped, after she escapes and reunites with Jon she helps him beat the Boltons, she wants no credit for her help but obeys Jon when he goes away and rules over it, offers it back to her younger brother when they meet again, because little brother is a psychic she now has proof to kill Littlefinger which she does, is made to bow down to an invador because Jon tells her to, is constantly manipulated and talked down by said invador, is almost killed when the White Walkers arrive, tries to talk sense to her brother, wants him to take the throne when the truth about who he is is uncovered and after Daenerys' death, becomes Queen in the North

Arya Stark: Sees her father executed, is constantly on the run, is psysically abused, sees the few friends she makes along the way either killed or abducted, loses older brother and mother, has to learn how to fight because of the several attempts made on her life, flees Westeros and trains as an assassin, almost gets killed, finally returns home, gets Littlefinger executed with the help of Sansa and Bran, is forced to bow down to Daenerys because Jon says so and alongside Sansa tries to talk sense into him, fights against the White Walkers and even kills the Night King, witnesses the destruction of King's Landing and in the end she survives but decides to sail away from Westeros

Bran Stark: Is pushed out of a window which leaves him paralyzed, has his home taken away by the Greyjoys and is forced to flee with his younger brother and guardians, wanders around the woods for many years, loses half of his family, is forced to send his younger brother away, trains to become the Three Eyed Raven, loses half of his guardians, is touched by the Night King who's now coming for him, is no longer himself because he lives in the past because of his supernatural power, learns the truth about Jon and every obscure part of his family, the Night King almost gets to him but he survives and becomes the King of Westeros in the end

Rickon Stark: Loses his family, is forced to run away with Bran and their guardians, is constantly in danger, flees Westeros with Osha only to be brought back and kept as a prisoner by the Boltons and is killed by Ramsay seconds before reaching Jon's arm

Daenerys Targaryen: Has a rough begining with abusive brother, is sold to someone who rapes her but they finally come to terms, assists in her brother's death, loses child and husband but gets three killing machines, everywhere she goes people see her as a liberator or either fear her and join her cause, has millios of allies and only begins to have loses after reaching Westeros -two dragons, two advissors, the love of the people- she can't handle it, her dictatorical genes take over and she snaps, so Jon, one of her last supporters kills her

Daenerys Stans: I HaTe HoW DaEnErYs LoSt EvErYtHiNg BuT tHe StArKs GoT tHeIr HaPpY eNdInGs!!1!

[thebluelemontree]

Hi, this is lyastark (i changed blogs), you responded to my ask here: /post/175700394682/. i wanted to say that i loved your meta! i was thinking more of their relationship in the purpose of the story. for me, no one knowing about this interaction has to serve some plot purpose. b/c of this, i think that sandor is going to be the one to tell her about LF shitty behavior towards her. her relationship with him is the ONLY one that LF doesn't know about. we know he doesn't b/c he NEVER mentions (1)

sandor to sansa. he was quick to dismiss tyrion, loras, wilas, margaery, etc but he said nothing about sandor. i also believe that sansa has gotten to the point where there’s no one “new” she has met that she would 100% trust with something this big. sandor is someone she explicitly trusts not to lie to her, and is someone she associates with safety and her old life. he’s her hidden dagger, if you will

Hey, glad you liked it.  

Yeah, I’m in agreement that Sandor will be crucial to Sansa reclaiming her identity in a few ways, and it will pay off that their relationship has flown under the radar for all this time.  While Jeyne Poole is also an alternate possibility or an addition to that, I think Jeyne is on course to meet with (perhaps travel with) Arya first.  It may take all of TWOW, maybe to the beginning to ADOS, for Arya and Sansa to reconnect.  One thing I’m reasonably sure of is that things will start happening pretty quickly in TWOW for wrapping up Sansa’s training arc.  With only two books left, it’s time to start moving all the remaining characters into the final act.  

I’m just going to put the rest under the cut.  This isn’t so much a coherent meta, but me just riffing because I have a lot of feelings about this topic XD

Littlefinger was only a mask he had to wear. Only sometimes Sansa found it hard to tell where the man ended and the mask began. Littlefinger and Lord Petyr looked so very much alike. She would have fled them both, perhaps, but there was nowhere for her to go. Winterfell was burned and desolate, Bran and Rickon dead and cold. Robb had been betrayed and murdered at the Twins, along with their lady mother. Tyrion had been put to death for killing Joffrey, and if she ever returned to King’s Landing the queen would have her head as well. The aunt she’d hoped would keep her safe had tried to murder her instead. Her uncle Edmure was a captive of the Freys, while her great-uncle the Blackfish was under siege at Riverrun. I have no place but here, Sansa thought miserably, and no true friend but Petyr. – Sansa I, AFFC.  

“She would have fled them both…” if she had another option available to her.  If she had another friend nearby, but in her mind, she doesn’t.   

For Sansa’s training arc to end, her sense of isolation and dependence on Littlefinger have to be overpowered.  It is a psychological obstacle as much as it is a physical one.  Sansa has seen Littlefinger literally get away with murder and come out in a stronger position than he was before.  He seems to always be a step ahead of his enemies.  He has already bribed and extorted his way to power among the Vale lords.  He’s iced Yohn Royce out of political influence.  He’s planted seeds of doubt in Sansa toward Myranda Royce before she even met her.  (On a side note, Myranda does know Sansa’s real identity, but has never confronted her about it and nor has she used that information against her).  So LF’s locked down all the potential allies or troublemakers that he can see.  But we know there are things he can’t see, like the possibility of Sansa winning Lothor Brune’s loyalty from him.  Nor does he seem to be aware of Lyn Corbray’s seething resentment over being ousted as his brother’s heir thanks to Littlefinger’s marriage brokering.  Not to mention he’s hired a bunch of hedge knights for his household guard not suspecting for a moment that they are there to steal Sansa from him.  Littlefinger’s hubris has made him blind to things that are right in his own backyard.          

While I’m 95% sure Sandor will be at the center of Sansa reclaiming her identity, I definitely don’t think he will be her only trusted ally or source of support before it’s over.  That comes from Sansa herself in doing what she does best:  being kind and empathetic to win people over.  I see her cultivating her own little band of helpers to escape rather than (as some speculations suggest) Sansa simply name-dropping at the tourney and all the Vale lords instantly pledging their swords to her as their new regent/leader/whatever.  That makes for a dramatic turn of events but is also pretty unrealistic as I see it.  I think she will eventually be in a position to receive Yohn Royce’s military support, but I strongly disagree that it’s going to be as easy as name-dropping.  Littlefinger has too much backing of his leadership right now.  The Vale lords at the tourney are already on board that gravy train of gifts, gold, and glory.  He has custody of Robert Arryn.  No one really gives a shit about Lysa’s murder and everyone is looking toward the future with the more robust young falcon, Harrold Hardyng.  IMO, Sansa needs to get with Yohn Royce before the rest of the Vale falls in line.  He’s against the ropes right now (and being kept far from the tourney for a good reason I think), but he is the one that is most likely to wrest back political power from Littlefinger once Sansa is no longer his pawn.  Then she would have powerful backing of her own.  The trick is getting her to Yohn Royce and for that, she needs a persuasive reason and the confidence to flee from LF.                      

Where Sansa is in the story right now, I think she already possesses most of the individual puzzle pieces to what Littlefinger has done.  She just hasn’t been able to bring herself to put all those pieces together into one complete, horrifying picture.  There’s a lot of trauma and suppression of painful thoughts wrapped up in the things she’s seen and experienced.  Things part of being Sansa Stark that will shatter the tenuous safety she finds in being Alayne Stone.  She knows on one level that Littlefinger did something with Jeyne.  She’s buried that memory and thinks about Jeyne only in more innocent times.  She hasn’t dared to ask probably for fear of the answer and for fear of the repercussions from asking.  And there’s the fact that she’s trapped with her abuser, who has muddled help and safety with exploitation and pushing her moral boundaries.  She’s under a lot of pressure to marry HtH, which has been framed as her best and only chance to go home, even if it comes at Robert Arryn’s expense.  All she has to do is let go of her empathy and see people as objects she can use to further her interests, and then she can not only feel safe but powerful and untouchable as well.  No one will ever hurt her again.  Littlefinger’s philosophy is terrifying, but there are parts of it that are very seductive to someone who has been made to feel powerless, stupid, and vulnerable.  In a way, Sansa is being tempted with adopting a cynical worldview similar to what the Hound was for Sandor. Narratively speaking, what better person to bring her back from the edge of losing her humanity than by the person she inspired to reclaim his own?  Sandor and Sansa have been saving each other all throughout their story.  The first moment they met was defined by Sansa looking Ilyn Payne, the persona of death, in the face and falling backward into Sandor’s hands (ugh, my heart!).  Many times he just seems to appear out of nowhere to catch her.  So yeah, Sandor as a “hidden dagger” works really well not only for literally saving her life, but saving Sansa Stark’s identity and her core values.  But that also comes with unpacking a lot of unpleasant things.                   

The missing piece of the puzzle and the one thing that will be the final straw should be learning that her father’s arrest and execution was orchestrated by Littlefinger.  Sandor was a present for all that.  He’s the best person to tell her, and yes, she would believe him.  That forces Sansa to start looking at all puzzle pieces she has avoided putting together.  Turning against LF will not just be a triumphant moment, but it’s probably going to be ugly and painful.  Sansa has a lot of suppressed guilt and shame over what LF has made her complicit in.  While she was never a willing participant and shifting responsibility on to her was a key feature of LF’s abuse strategy, Sansa has played a role to some degree in the cover-ups of LF’s crimes.  Some people think the unkiss is a symptom of PTSD.  Nope.  This situation right here puts Sansa at risk for PTSD.  It will be shattering to know she ever called Petyr a friend, trusted him, and sometimes helped him while he did awful things.  There’s your dark night of the soul that a few people reasonably predict for each of our major POVs in TWOW, especially if an innocent like Robert Arryn dies (I’m 50/50 on that).  She’ll need someone who can relate (think of Sandor’s dying anguished confessions of his sins), someone who won’t judge, and someone that can help guide her back to being Sansa Stark because right now, that identity comes with a lot of traumatic baggage.  Just as being Sandor Clegane did.  (UGH, MY HEART!) 

I could go on about how similar both Petyr and Sandor’s backgrounds and origins are, how cynism plays into their world views, and the divergent paths they took.  They don’t have to speak of each other or share a scene together, but they have always been opposing philosophical forces with Sansa between them.  One embodying sweet lies and the other blunt honesty.  But I think the most telling passage about these three is in Eddard VII:

Sansa said, "I knew the Hound would win."

Littlefinger overheard. "If you know who's going to win the second match, speak up now before Lord Renly plucks me clean," he called to her. Ned smiled.

Littlefinger bet against Sandor and lost.  Daddy approved. 

[ericanoelle]

What is Robb was betrothed to Margery?

The betrothal would have been made when they were young and during peace time. I think they married right before the news of Jon Arryn's death so, when the king visited to ask for Ned to be the Hand, Robb and Margaery were already married (I think they are like 16 here for this to work and thats around the age people marry in GoT). I also see Sansa and Margaery getting on really well.

So, everything happens as it does in the North, Bran falls, Joffrey and Sansa are promised and Ned takes Sansa and Arya south. Petyr and Sansa meet much the same way and he begins planting seeds in her mind about court life.

When it comes down to Ned discovering Cersei's secret, the biggest change is this: Petyr does not betray Ned. He is a number's man. He knows the North, Riverlands and the Reach would rebel and possible join Stannis. So, he doesn't want to take that risk. Its not a smart calculated move.

Also, Renly doesn't have his own rainbow guard because Margaery is not there to marry but he still flees the city.

Petyr pays off the Gold cloaks and Cersei and Joffrey are arrested. Ned is a kind man and he would not harm Tommen or Myrcella. They would be locked comfortably in their chambers. He writes to Stannis and he comes to take the throne. Stannis executes Cersei and Joffrey and the other children- against Ned's wishes. Stannis never met Mel (can't spell her name so won't try) for this to work. Renly is named Stannis's heir and Ned betroths Sansa to Renly.

Petyr goes to The Vale to bring Lysa in the loop and they marry with permission of Stannis. Lysa and Petyr marry.

All of this enrages Tywin and declares for war. Ned calls for his Bannerman, and war descends upon Westeros. Edmure marries a Frey girl to bring them into the loop. The Reach is aiding against "Tywin's rebellion" as is the Vale. However, he does not have the numbers and peace reigns when Tywin, Jaime and Tyrion all die. All hail King Stannis. I kind of see Casterly Rock being gifted to Davos.

He builds his small counsel and asks Ned to remain as Hand. The only one who is not there, is Petyr due to his marriage with Lysa. He does come back for a time to show the new Master of Coin the books. However, Lysa ends up dying while he is away (he totally arranged for the death). A "distraught" Petyr goes back to the Vale and Stannis makes him Lord Protector of the Vale.

Catelyn comes to King's Landing to be with her husband while Robb reigns as Warden in the North on behalf of his father. Margaery probably gives him two or three children as the years go by.

Sansa and Renly marry a few years later, however, Petyr is a man of chaos and the Purple Wedding happens but this time, it is Stannis who dies. Renly becomes King and Sansa becomes Queen.

Renly asks Petyr to join his small counsel because he is good with numbers but stays Lord Protector of the Vale at the same time. Arya is also betrothed to Robin Arryn much to her dismay. Ned and Catelyn also goes back to Winterfell shortly after this.

The marriage is not consummated and at first Sansa thought it was because of Stannis's death. However, as time goes on, she begins to realize that he is gay. They never tell anyone because Renly doesn't want it getting out. This brings a discord between them. Sansa confides in Petyr and the two begin an affair.

He also successfully hires someone to kill Daenerys across the narrow sea.

Sansa becomes with child and terrified what Renly will do, Petyr gives her something to drug him. The next morning, she tells Renly that the marriage was consummated and well, he believes her (it wasn't).

When she tells him that she is with child, he believes that it is his and is relieved. Sansa gives birth to a black haired baby boy that they name Robert. When Robert is about five, Sansa falls pregnant again with Petyr's child (this affair goes on for awhile). Sansa is a bit more bitter and hard at this point and they arrange for Renly to die. He has a "heart attack" in bed with a lover.

Its humiliating but no one questions it. Sansa also revealed that she is with child shortly after he dies. She gives birth to another son named Rickard. Sansa sits on the throne until her son becomes of age.

Petyr, knowing that the boys are his children, ensure that when they come of age, nothing stands in their way. While Sansa and Petyr never marry, their affair continues for a very long time.

[treadmilltreats]

Racism, why does it still exist? 

So recently during the Capitol take over, as I watched so many white people climbing walls, knocking down fences and destroying our Capitol, I spoke on it and all of the Trump supporters kept bringing it back to the BLM. The situation with BLM was about basic human rights and not about being a sore loser and following the Hitler like man who is running this country.

See, I could never understand this and today with 50 years under my belt, I still can't understand it. I never knew it because I wasn't raised knowing it, my mom was born and raised in Harlem, her best friends were black, as there was no segregation in New York. When we moved upstate even though our town was small, we were diversified, we had Black families, White, Spanish, Jewish, Indian and mixed families. We even had gay families and drag queens in our small town and we were all friends.

My "Big daddy" Sam Whitfield was a family friend for as long as I could remember, at our house every week and every holiday.

My first very best friend was named "Cookie" who was also black and it was there I learned to love fried chicken, collard greens and her mom's incredible corn bread. 

There was no color, there was just friendship, there was love, there were people who had your back and you had theirs, that simple. It was never us against them or that we thought we were better in any way, we all bleed red, we all have hearts, we are all human beings.

When I started to go to church I found one that touched my heart, one that spoke to me, to my soul, it just happened to be a  predominantly black church, yet I never felt more than welcomed and loved from the moment I stepped foot in there. These wonderful men and women are now my friends, they have become my family, and yes, I would lay down my life for my family, there is that much love there.

So when I still hear so much about racism in this country I am blown away, Why? What makes you think you're better than another human being? Who said you were the chosen one? And why? Because someone else doesn't look like you? I would have hoped that by 2021, with so many strides we have made, so many ways we have come forward, even with having a black president, that this would have changed. When I was growing up, who would have thought that was even possible? Yet, it happened and I hoped that change would have come with it, but there are so many people still stuck in a time warp about racism.

Especially in the last 5 years when Trump started to run, he made it okay for the racist and the closet KKK to bring out their robes out of hiding. Even as we watched them destroying our Capitol, they were there with rebel flags and shirts that said  “Camp Auschwitz” emblazoned with a skull and crossbones, and under it the phrase “work brings freedom” – an English translation of the Auschwitz concentration camp motto: “Arbeit macht frei.”

On the back it said Staff.

Another image, more subtle but no less incendiary, is of a different man whose T-shirt was emblazoned with the inscription “6MWE” above yellow symbols of Italian Fascism. “6MWE” is an acronym common among the far right standing for “6 Million Wasn’t Enough.” It refers to the Jews exterminated during the Nazi Holocaust and hints at the desire of the wearer to increase that number still further.

Their hatred is just like Hitler's was against anyone who didn't look like them, this time it looks like a bunch of uneducated rednecks with no teeth. No offense to anyone who is not a racist without teeth.

(See what it has come down to, to make sure you don't offend anyone, anymore)

QAnon followers, the Proud Boys and the other far-right and alt-right groups that converged on Washington imagined that they were living out the great fantasy that underlies what many consider to be the bible of the white nationalism movement, a 1978 dystopian novel, “The Turner Diaries,” by William Luther Pierce. That theirs, somehow stupid, is a superior race.

There is no racism, there is just stupidism, stupid, small minded people who for some God forsaking reason think they are better then someone else, than everyone else and as if it was  their jobs to rid the world of everyone who doesn't believe, and who doesn't look like them.

So today my friends, let's stamp out stupidism, let others know it's not okay to say racial slurs of any kind, to not judge a person on skin color. Let's put our foot down and say that it's not okay to shoot at, pepper spray and kill Black protesters but take selfies with white protesters that stormed the Capitol. 

We need change in our police system where on their day off they are allowed to put on their white sheets to help these nut jobs and yet we don't think it is possible for it to overflow into their judgments while they are on the job. Give me a frigging break! This is white privilege at it's finest and this must change. 

So many are now crying that they are "targeted'' that they cannot fly because they are now labeled terrorists, that they lost their jobs and now ha, ha, ha their right to bear arms. Too fucking bad, you are terrorists, you are a group of small minded, low educated, toothless people who think the country should be run by a man, who let me tell you doesn't give two shits about you. He is only out for himself, his power and his money but you all are too stupid to see that.

So today my friends, I apologize for ranting but I can't understand how so many people think this is alright? How hating another person based on their skin color, their religion or their sexual preference is okay. We need to judge people on their hearts, who they are inside, how they give back as a society and to be more open minded about another's culture and race because we all bleed the same color and at the end we all will turn into dust, no matter what color you are.

Again I will leave you with this…

It is so important to realize we must speak out against injustice even if it is not pointed at us.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

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[swordsandarms]

My own favourite thing about these kind of "get back at/gotchas" @ Lyanna and the whole "what good girls do Vs what bad girls do" analogies (often used to distance Arya from Lyanna in particular so that Arya would be "acceptable"/a "good gilrl" that deserves support as she is) is that not only it requires making up this scenario in which "the good girl only does things right (OR ELSE)" but also one in which "good girls only ~act out~ if there's some evil cartoonish threat triple approved else she'd be bad".

So, as @pixiecactus pointed out it can't be "loving parents" Ned and Catelyn who are not like that TM. IF good girl Arya would have some evil parents (only evil parents do that) that force her into marriage then she would be entitled to "save herself" as long as she is unproblematic and non disruptive about it, of course. Good smart girls don't make a fuss. So good girl Arya would be nice and quiet and nothing would happen in the background. She would disappear from a highly political landscape and it would cause no consequences. All because she did it while being the rightest about it and in the very realistic rightest ways.

Lyanna disappearing with a high profile man instead of alone or someone lesser is being dumb. Because it is very realistic for a past puberty girl to "just cut her hair" and go merry. Danny Flint's history is not horrific. Because it is very realistic to lay low and sleep with a lower status man and they would just let you be. Lysa didn't have her "disgrace" hushed because she was too much of a political valuable chip for that to ruin things for her family. Her father was painted as a comically evil cruel father and not weeping guiltily about it as he ruined her mental and physical health forever "for her own good" and the interest of their noble family.

While I believe her story with Rhaegar hints at regard for him as well by the author and narrative building up (especially as it obviously doesn't make sense that having no respect and regard for Robert means making a different choice at the least in that aspect), surely Lyanna is some dumbass for not turning to the above very lucrative in practice straight up fantasies of escape and instead goes away with one of the only men powerful enough that her likewise very powerful family me and fiance couldn't shush it and put her back in her place "for her own good because they care" (and they did, just as Hoster did), and general protection from what can befall one who's grown boobs, has womanly hips and lost the baby fat from their face in a society of Westeros depicted as ready to be violent at any opportunity shown to such if found vulnerable enough.

Going back to Ned and Catelyn and how complex these relationships are, and how it's obviously not so clean cut, and only evil parents hurt you and make bad choices for your wellbeing, happiness etc etc-

It's insane that we've forgotten Catelyn LOVES her daughters immensely and did crazy things that contributed to her and her son's/House's fall AND furthered Sansa's match with Joffrey in spite of Ned's already pointed out (not disapproved by her!) reservations about Joffrey because "a Stark Queen" in KL is more important. AND made a match to be both unhappy and non-beneficial for Arya with a Frey because when it came down to it, she was a chip to be played for House Stark and so be it.

And NED and his unreliable contradictable narration, particularly about Lyanna, and hence how he relates to the daughter that resembles her-

1. You see Arya, it's not good being wild. That's what killed Lyanna. Because she was wild and left from her family IN SECRET as opposed to I guess talking-

2. Oh wait! Flashback to Lyanna reaching out to Ned and having her concerns shut down.

3. But no, yeah, all was good, you see Robert loved her soooo much.

4. Oh wait! Ned tells Robert he didn't even know her. That she would talk back to him when necessary.

5. Oh no! Robert savagely hits woman who talks back at him. Ned: looks away.

6. A sword, Arya? I remember Lyanna would have liked one. OUR father wouldn't let HER. For reasons. Just not right. For a girl. Unclear what damage it can do. Just not how it's done.

7. Ok, have it I guess. Strangely the world doesn't come down crashing about it. Hm. Just told people a small lie about it. Hired a reliable skilled tutor. But obviously it had to be hidden. Because it's bad. For reasons. Whatever.

8. Oh, but yes, have it while it lasts. You will grow up, and then all we allow you to do is give a man sons. Maybe even daughters, but that's irrelevant. We are talking about consequential children who will grow up to do grand things in life. But I genuinely love you so much and I WOULD die for you and your sister of course, that doesn't change, my DAUGHTER :).

ETC ETC ETC

And Arya LOVES THEM. She hates not living up to their expectations. And they ARE hurting her. (Would have continued to do so. With love!). THEY LOVE HER AND SHE LOVES THEM AND WOULD KILL AND DIE FOR HER AS THEIR LITTLE GIRL AND INDIRECTLY KILL HER (FOR REAL OR INSIDE) AS LADY AND LORD STARK IF THEY HAD TO AND IT'S AWFUL.

(And that's why to understand Lyanna, we are shown Arya and are told to look deeper at HER and it will tell as how.)

If it had been Arya instead of Lyanna

If arya finds herself trapped in a forced marriage arranged by an ambitious father (let's pretend it's not Ned), there are only two possibilities. she will either flee to essos or beyond the wall and she will definitely cut her hair. My girl won't run away with a crazy, married prince. Like why would she run away with him because they fell in love? This is dirty for arya.