#it's like a parallel to the ice storm arc

[lonestardust]

I also wouldn't be surprised if we find out that Carlos told TK he would handle it so that TK did actually misstep-pure intentionedly.

I wanna see their conversation before carlos leaves the loft so bad!!!!!! how everything is gonna go down while him and TK have an unresolved argument on top!!

[sageandred]

Ranking LS Disasters *by personal preference

(only doing the major ones that were big and/or filled an entire episode // I didn't include the GraceJudd car accident, because I wanted to do natural disasters, but I did include 4x09 because it takes the whole episode of Marjan trying to get to safety // maybe i'll do a gigantic post of every single event later down the line)

1) Ice Storm (3x01)-The fact that this was a 4 part event (A pregnant Grace stuck in the storm, Carlos waiting for TK to wake up from a coma, Paul..it was all very good)

2) Marjan runs for her life (4x09)-such a good solo episode (mainly focussing on 1 character the entire episode can usually be a miss, but Lone Star does good in all of their character-focussed ones)

3) Dust Storm (2x14)-speaking of solo character-focussed episodes...Mateo getting his time to shine(!), but also this was a well-constructed episode and every found family based show needs an episode where the characters are split up due to unforseen circumstances out of their control, like being reassigned to different work locations. (#3 and #4 were switched originally, but I just found this episode a little more entertaining all the way through)

4) Wildfire (2x03)-They took on a big task with such a packed episode, with this being the crossover event, and with [character] death being just 1 episode before it. I like the stakes and the team moments coming together, with their own and the LA force. (we also get the mention of Mateo's LA doppelganger cousin)

5) Volcanic Eruption (2x02)-for the shock factor (+ all of the graphic gore from the opening to the episode highlight), and we get great solo character moments + support for each other at the end

6) Arsonist Fire (2x12)-We get that great tarlos plot. It feels wrong to put this above #7, because the fire's such a small part/factor to the episode, but points since there were some episode shocks and the entire arc wasn't completely predictable the way that I thought at first]

7) Tornado (1x04)-There's a sense of togetherness and feeling like a family; the disasters got better with this being so early in the show. loses points for the car between the buildings, but the story of the man with his two kids was heartbreaking, even being as stupid as he was.

8) Solar Storm (1x10)-a pretty solid plot; as an episode it fell flat in some places.. but that radiation case from space on the phonecall with Grace 😭 (this episode and the plot was flawed, but this idea was promising and I was interested to keep going into season 2, so that's why it's higher than a couple)

9) Building Explosion (3x18)-(this previous episode end leading into the big finale is purely ranked on preference) not their best disaster, and not their worst...This moment was eventful and provided some good moments for Judd/Grace and even Wyatt due to Judd being trapped in danger. This might be higher if the Judd main plot wasn't so short, although a good fake-out with a new conflict of another one of their own going down, but that Owen hallucination arc was a miss for me. The explosion itself (at the start of 4x18/end of 4x17, especially) was epic, though!

10) Plane Engine (3x08)-I really liked the response to the emergency on the plane, the father-son stuff, and the help on Tommy via phone. Episode was great; the disaster itself falls last on my ranking. It was interesting, just not that intense; this being lowest on the list is solely because there are more mishaps that ended up being more intense. Though, it was a good emotional moment. (led to the great emotional tarlos reunion, too). The parallel of the flashback to present day that led to TK confessing to Owen was beautiful!

[bangpop91]

Lone Star 5×01 thoughts

This opening sequence is great. I originally thought it might have been a Carlos flashback, but I'm glad I was wrong. But also the horror movie vibes! The jump scare. *chefs kiss*

I called him and Kendra breaking up. No one needs to get off the hampster wheel than Owen. I do wish he took grief support more seriously though

I do love his conversation with Tommy. They have a great friendship.

This hose competition is great! It feels like a fire house extension of Catan game nights. I do wish Nanteo got more onscreen development

I do enjoy the dynamic between the two armored truck drivers. It makes for a great juxtaposition and balance.

This is a great opening disaster. It's the perfect amount of high stakes to lead into the 'big' multi episode emergency. It shows off all of the 126 strengths giving them all time to shine

I love that we are getting to see more of Nancy and Tks competence as paramedics

This fucking music. It feels like it was pulled out of a old western film. I love it

Wyatt, Leanne, and Liam are such a cute family

Charlie is so big!!!! 😭😭😭

I miss Grace already

One thing I like about Judd and Wyatt is that Wyatt is an adult so they can have a more adult father son relationship. But we still get Daddy Judd with Judd and Charlie

The dynamic between Carlos and Sam Cambell with Cheif Bridges is so interesting. I think it will be good for Carlos to have Sam around who isn't treating him like a young Gabriel

Mateo accidentally egging on the Strickwani competition while Tommy observes is a great character building scene

Lexi Mitchell!!!

What is with all very country western music this episode? Don't get me wrong I love it but it'd an interesting choice.

Such a great montage of Owen opening his eyes to the Strickwani competition

Again. I love the very adult father/son relationship between Judd and Wyatt.

I hate thar Grace is gone, but I do love the way they handled Sierra's exit from the show. It does honor Grace in a beautiful way.

Judd is applying for Trucking so that he can be home for Charlie and because he doesn't want to start all over.

I really like Wyatt's monologue here. It is really beautiful.

"Well you know you're my Dad." 😭😭😭😭

Tk trying to plan a couples hang is so good. I also love the domesticity of this scene while also moving the investigation forward

Tk being both intentionally and unintentionally helpful is perfection as is his confusion

Oh! I love competent Wyatt!

I really like this ranger trio. This is definitely a nice set up for a whole new series of stories that are darker.

I love Judd and Owen's friendship. With Grace following her vocation and Owen single(again🙄) I hope they put more focus on the Judd & Owen friendship vs shoestring another relationship in the final season

The armored truck chase is so good!

The fucking country western music 3 tines in one episode! But also Campbell Reyes have potential to be an absolutely iconic procedural partnership

I really like this conversation between them. It is soooo damn good on a deep character level.

Oh. Campbell calling Gabriel a pain in the ass. A perfect parallel to Washington calling Carlos one

Lou Two!

This is such a good scene. Tk being disappointed but understanding and Carlos still being a loving husband. This is just so good.

I was not expecting the autopsy photo!

A great cliffhanger! I love it! They have done a great job setting up the three acts, just like with the 4 act arc of the ice storm.

Final thoughts: this was such a great first episode! I don't know that it was worth a sixteen month wait(yet) considering this is the final season, and there are only 12 episodes with a lot of different different plot threads that need a conclusion. Bit I love Lone Star so I'm willing to ride this out.

[greenbloods]

(ok this is going to be somewhat of an unstructured post because i am just Thinking this through and laying my thoughts out, maybe i'll format it into a proper essay later)

I've seen a few posts talking about the narrative foils that the North and Dorne--ice and fire--play in the narrative, but recently I've come to notice another such foil. In the books, there seems to be this strange attraction in the narrative between the Iron Islands and the Stormlands, specifically between Stannis and the Greyjoys. It's been gnawing at the back of my head for a while, so I wanted to explore it and see what it might mean.

Similarities:

Colors: Black on gold (Baratheon), gold on black (Greyjoy)

Castles: Both Pyke and Storm's End exist on some level to spite the gods, battered as they are by sea and stone and sky. The danger inherent to the castles' design is significant to their design, with Balon falling into the sea at Pyke (probably pushed, but still) and Steffon and Cassana Baratheon were dashed at sea while approaching Storm's End

The Iron Islands worship the Drowned God, and loathe the Storm God as their enemy; Durran Godsgrief, the mythical founder of House Durrandon from whose line House Baratheon lays claim to the Stormlands, was the first of the Storm Kings and married the daugher of the sea god, and build Storm's End

But that's not all, because it's not just that the Greyjoys and Baratheons are paralleled, but Stannis specifically seems to be intimately involved thematically and plot-wise with the past and future of House Greyjoy.

As mentioned earlier, Stannis's parents are drowned at sea, which is one of the reasons why he stopped believing in the Seven, and allowed him to take to R'hllor later (see his Red Hawk speech)

During the Greyjoy Rebellion, Stannis was the one entrusted with the navy, and was able to soundly defeat Victarion (!!) and Euron (!!!) at sea (!!!!!) off Fair Isle

Patchface, Stannis's jester, was drowned at sea and reborn, and is theorized by many to be a champion/prophet for the Drowned God, which is one reason why he is feared by Melisandre

Stannis's storyline in ADWD intersects with Asha and Theon, having captured them both, and this seems like it will shape up to be an important part of the plot in Winds

Euron, as discussed above, was defeated by Stannis, the only person we know to have done so

The only important Greyjoy whose life does not entangle with Stannis is Aeron Damphair, who others have pointed out is a parallel to Stannis's priestess Melisandre, as both being POV characters who are the champions of their respective monotheistic faiths and use their fervent belief in their worldview as a shield to guard against their deeply scarred pasts ("Even a priest may doubt. Even a prophet may know terror. Aeron Damphair reached within himself for his god and discovered only silence. As a thousand voices shouted out his brother's name, all he could hear was the scream of a rusted iron hinge." vs "One day, Melisandre prayed, she would not sleep at all. One day she would be free of dreams. Melony, she thought. Lot Seven.")

STANNIS is initially skeptical of the FIRE PRIESTESS Melisandre but takes her in as she demonstrates her POWER and prophetic visions to Stannis; VICTARION is initially skeptical of the FIRE PRIEST Moqorro but takes him in as he demonstrates his POWER and prophetic visions to Victarion

what does it all mean? do these parallels between stannis and the greyjoys tell us anything about their themes, or what their arcs might be in TWOW/ADOS?

idk man this is all i got so far what do yall think

also this post was partially inspired by a post i read a while back which ive attached below so give it a read too:

[likelytowritesomestuff]

Ho postato 2.121 volte nel 2022

16 post creati (1%)

2.105 post rebloggati (99%)

Blog che ho rebloggato di più:

@novelist-becca

@not-some-background-noise

@rejectscanon

@thisgirlshouldbeworking

@that-was-anticlimactic

Ho taggato 63 dei miei post nel 2022

#one piece - 12 post

#mha - 7 post

#i mean - 6 post

#the owl house - 6 post

#my hero academia - 5 post

#arte anime - 4 post

#usopp - 4 post

#toh - 4 post

#demon slayer - 4 post

#kiribaku - 4 post

Longest Tag: 90 characters

#btw tetsukendo or as i like to call it iron fist is one of the cutest straight ship in mha

I miei post migliori nel 2022:

#5

IF YOU ARE STILL UPSET ODA DIDN’T GIVE ENOUGH TIME TO THE POST REUNION BETWEEN USOPP AND THE CREW AFTER WATER 7...

Here some fics that can supply this lack:

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY: 

basically Rufy doesn’t hold grudge and it shows especially after Usopp rejoins the crew... Rufy is a ray of sunshine and Usopp can’t believe he has a friend like him

THE STORM ENDED ALREADY (SO YOU SHOULD STOP SHAKING)

The confrontation between my favorite duo in the crew: Nami is still hurt about Usopp’s choice and she isn’t afraid to say it out loud, but she still cares for him. Both of them are very IC and the last scene is perfect

LOOK AHEAD (STAND BY ME)

Usopp’s leaving made Chopper’s abandoment issues resurfaces and there are some really great quotes in it and a great introspection of both the characters

SALVAGE 

Basically Franky comforts Usopp because he thinks his apology isn’t enought and they start to bond. Also, Sanji confirms to be a great observer because he realized Usopp’s feelings after his return and they have a really cute scene together (platonic or romantic, it’s up to you)

FEAR OF THE WATER:

Franky comforts Usopp, but this is more Franky-centric, focused on his feelings after he left Water 7 and his family: he also rethinks to his life choices and sees a lot of himself in the sniper

ON TOOLS AND FRIENDS:

Robin notices Usopp is acting strange after his return and decides to talk directly to him. Great underrated duo, I love the parallels between the characters in the arc

WHAT WE OWE TO EACH OTHER

The conversation we all wanted between Zoro and Usopp after he rejoins the crew. Probably one of the few fics that made me cry because there’s a lot of emotional stuff here and it’s developed in a very realistic way

NAKAMA MEANS:

probably my favorite, because it involves everyone in the crew, even if the focus is between Zoro and Usopp’s confrontation. Everyone is so IC and it could be easily the missing chapter/episode of the Water 7 arc 

13 note - Postate 26 ottobre 2022

#4

So I was watching the Whiskey Peak episodes, when the scene where Miss Wednesday tries to hypnotize Zoro came.

It's framed as something sexy, even if Zoro doesn't care at all about the girl in front of him, but the peculiar thing about this scene is the choice to put the 'Sanji's theme' as its soundtrack...

What does that mean?

57 note - Postate 23 agosto 2022

#3

I just realized something.

Zenitsu is basically SanUso's lovechild

60 note - Postate 29 settembre 2022

#2

Zoro: I'm not scared of anything

Nami: you still owe me 100000 Berry

Zoro: I'm scared of one thing

64 note - Postate 7 settembre 2022

Il mio post numero 1 del 2022

I need a fanart of Kirishima, Bakugou and Kaminari dressed up as Tanjiro, Inosuke and Zenitsu for Halloween

98 note - Postate 18 aprile 2022

Guarda ora l'Analisi del tuo anno 2022 di Tumblr →

[whosthere54]

Ooo I don’t know!!

Always a fan of Through Enderians Eyes because… ararrah but uhhh I think I have many I can’t choose-

Im also mainly a Sherb POV enjoyer for most things, season 3 especially, but I’ll try to mix some others in there (cough cough Rae cough cough)

S3 - Definitely Consequences and Avians Solace. I’m also a sucker for sad streams lol so I enjoyed like Taking it down, both POVs for two shall break, grave mistakes, tongues and teeth… streams like that(Ic POV). ALSO DIFFERENT NOW MY BELOVED. I CRIED SO HARD. (Rae POV) all the breakfast ones always <3

S2 - preparing for the fall, second chance, removing the rust. I also enjoy Parallel wound :) and y’know, castle crew the beloved <3

S1 - OH I LOVE PRISON ARC SO MUCH. CORRUPTION ARC IS SO NEAT! Obsession is a great one… three strikes, return of seven, don’t trust the robot, prison can’t be that bad… right? Raging storms the BELOVED!

In conclusion -

S1 - Through Enderian’s eyes or Raging storms

S2 - Castle Crew times or Parallel wounds

S3 - Consequences and Avians solace, or Different Now :)

Man. See I’ll stop while I’m ahead lol!

Me when fable :)

Hello - I was just wondering what everyone’s favorite VODs are !

Personally, I really like the bekfast VODs! They are really silly and comforting :)

[ruins-and-rewritez]

Ok let's straighten up some things while o have my mind on it

I'm not the biggest fan of Shadow and Bone (Netflix) unpopular opinion? probably but it feels like I need to reiterate for the reason that I keep seeing posts about show fans not having read the books

I have a whole slew of reasons for this so buckle up buttercup cause this could take a while

I absolutely love Six of Crows, absolutely stellar book, best one in the Grishaverse by far (in my opinion, mind I haven't read KoS duology yet, I'm getting there) diverse, inclusive cast, incredible plot, Kaz, you know really, job well done Leigh

Shadow and Bone, also good, but I didn't fall in love with Kaz characters half as much, still addictive read, 10/10

So having the Crows in the show was a real high point for me, mostly excited to eventually watch their interactions and watch relationships develop, and knowing that the best was yet to come, and of course just the facts that my favorite characters were being brought to life on screen even if they had a much more limited screen time then their more prominent Shadow and Bone counterparts

Honestly, Season 1, I don't have the biggest problem with

It's pretty well scripted, fairly accurate toward the books minus a few things that from a movie/tv standpoint probably weren't as seemingly integral to the plot as they didn't pack as big a punch as something like Alina being the Sun Summoner

I was kinda annoyed when they outed Kirigan as evil so early on when they probably could have waited toward the end so you could find out how Alina did because reading that line I remember thinking "fcking plottwisttt" but it's pretty normal show wise to point out the villain early on to you have a better grip on the good vs. evil of it all so I can forgive that

The original Crow trio having a plot line intersecting Alina's own was actually brilliant in its own way and was totally something that I could see as canon (the whole Alina climbing into the carriage was completely accurate on the Crows luck meter)

From a Crow lover standpoint I was pretty satisfied with the whole combination of the two and didn't really have a lot to complain about so I was really hyped for what new shenanigans they'd get into in Season 2 (and for my bby Wy but that's a whole nother ballgame)

So I impatiently what for the second season expecting it to meet my ridiculously high expectations, surely it was going to be on par with the previous one

Not

The Shadow and Bone side of the show was fine, pats on the back all around, perfecting casting for Nikolai, not much to irritate my desire for perfection

But I was fairly pissed off at the Crow half of things, it felt to me that the creators decided that they no longer cared about developing the characters like they were cast-off characters that didn't deserve anymore then what they got

I hated how Wy and Jes were immediately shoved into a relationship instead of their book-canon slow burn which I find much more appealing to their dynamic like it defeats the whole point the Wylan as Kiwi arc because Jesper just throws himself into it instead of the natural progression we get in the books (Jesper's self doubt of the whole situation being so important to his character and it just being ignored to fast track their relationship was unnecessary and honestly unfair)

I hated that the entire plot line of the second book (CK) was made into the parallel of the siege and storm arc when in the series it occurs later in the timeline

This of course destroyed any hope of the proper developments (character and relationship wise) between the crows, destroying their original foundations of trust and understanding

Having Kaz fight the Dregs wasn't as impactful as it should have been

And the progression of the (CK) plot wasn't as smooth and important without the Ice Court arc why the fuck would Kaz need control of the Dregs if he wasn't going up full force against Van Eck I mean he demolishes Pekkas entire dynasty in like two scenes what does he need more bodies for

The trama and experiences of their past are largely ignored save Kaz whose trama is an enormous part of his character. That's what made the books so addicting and intriguing to the whole audience

Usually people side with the underdog relating their own troubles and problems to whatever trama or deficiency they themselves find the characters going through as the story progresses

They beauty of Six of Crows is that each one of them is so faulted and struggling with their own set of problems that it's almost impossible to not relate to at least one of them

Fast tracking the journeys of beloved characters is painful especially when you know how they truly grew into themselves and their lives

I mean I'm probably being hyper-critical over one show when plenty of shows have their own set of flaws ands issues but it's like

They put all this effort into creating a brand new storyline for the Crows in the first season, a mission to accomplish that gave the audience a nice way to see they're dynamic and questionably moral choices and then in season 2 they just went and skipped ahead, over everything that makes Six of Crows soooo good and skipped to the end where Kaz finally gets his revenge on Pekka because it was more action packed then a bunch of trama-riddled teenagers breaking into an actual high security prison in the middle of that country's biggest celebration of the year but okay I'm just some nerd that happens to appreciate literary accuracy in show/movie development so forget me

I'm not a total monster there's plenty of things about the show I appreciate but I'm still angry that my Crow babies went done justice

Show pros here

[indieyuugure]

Rise of the Parallel!

1- A Cut Short Party: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 2- The Krang Be Back: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 3- Seeing Red: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 4- Corrupted Logic: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 5- Colliding Worlds: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 6- The Boiling Point: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 7- Eye of the Storm: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 8- Lurking in the Shadows: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 9- Bad News: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 10- Retribution: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

11- Hell on Earth: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 12- The Crystal Shards: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 13- The Promise: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 14- End Game: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 15- Owari: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Please enjoy! :]

你需要这个中文吗？在这里阅读故事！

Хотите эту историю на русском языке? Прочтите историю здесь!

Você precisa disso em português? Leia a história aqui!

Rise of the Parallel Specials:

Mikey and Ice Cream Kitty Short (Christmas)

Reeses off a Paraglider (April Fools Day)

Behind the Scenes Potty Mouth (Special Request)

Ad-Lib Bathroom Brake (Special Request)

The Typo Saboteur (Special Request)

Leo’s Villain Arc Edit (NOT MY WORK!!)

Get your hands on the first ever printed edition Rise of the Parallel by Indie Y. This two-volume set, with over 360 full color pages, includes all 15 chapters plus never-before-seen bonus content!

If you like what I’m doing, you can support me on Kofi!

[the-king-andthe-lionheart]

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Arya Stark and her Cinderella Motifs

In A Song of Ice and Fire, GRRM often uses fairy tale motifs to help tell a character’s story.  Sometimes this motif spans all throughout the characters arc while other times it will only be used for one or two scenes, or anywhere in between.  And often one character can have several fairy tale motifs at different times in their arcs or even running concurrently.  For Arya, she has quite a few fairy tale motifs in her arc, but for now I’m going to focus on her Cinderella motifs that are mainly prevalent in A Clash of Kings but do show up at other times all throughout her arc as well. I’m going to focus primarily on Arya’s A Clash of Kings arc, but we will be stopping by A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows a few times too.  And I am going to use several versions of the retellings of Cinderella, including the Disney version, but only the 1950 original and none of its sequels.  I also want to note that not all the parallels are obvious due to things being more metaphorical or symbolic, while other times being whatever subversion that tickled GRRM’s fancy at the time.

There are many common aspects across the board when it comes to Cinderella retellings.  Often it entails the heroine losing one or both of her parents, being oppressed by her abusive stepmother and stepsisters and being forced into menial, backbreaking labor that leaves the heroine dirty and often covered in ashes.  It usually entails a magical guardian who helps the heroine, magical transformations, ballgowns and a ball where she falls in love with either a Prince or a King. An identifying item is also involved, usually a slipper made of gold or glass, where one of the pair is lost when the heroine is running from her beloved.  And the Prince/King almost always searches the realm for the woman that identifying item belongs to, and when he finds the heroine they usually marry.

Written out like that it’s hard to believe that this is a motif used for Arya.  After all she’s not in the position to be going to balls and she’s just a child so it seems unlikely at the time she’s at Harrenhal she’s going to fall in love.  However, this motif appears all throughout her arc in various and creative and subversive and repetitive ways, and motifs don’t have to be all or none and they don’t have to be in the order the original stories were laid out.  A lot of people also don’t like the idea that Arya has an actual Disney Princess motif in her story because she’s a “tomboy”, but the fact is that Arya is a Princess at the time she’s at Harrenhal, it’s even explicitly stated in Arya X ACOK, whether people acknowledge it or not, where a lot of these motifs take place.  I know some people will be dismissive of this and think I’m reaching, but I hope upon reading this I’ll have convinced you of this motif being present. :)

Step-Mother and Step-Sisters

Some of the two most common features in any variant of Cinderella is the “Persecuted Heroine” and the “Female Persecutor”.  Often this manifests as the wicked stepmother and the evil step-sisters, but in some versions a stepmother does not appear, and it’s the heroine’s older sisters who confine her to the kitchens instead.  In the opera, La Cenerentola, Gioachino Rossini inverted the gender roles where the heroine Cenerentola is oppressed by her stepfather.  And in some retellings at least one of the step siblings is somewhat kind to the heroine even.  We symbolically see these archetypes many times in Arya’s narrative with various types of inversions.

When we enter ACOK, we find a dirty and disguised Arya traveling with Yoren and the Night’s Watch recruits, having just lost her father (a subversion of the prevalent theme of Cinderella losing her mother very young).  She is also being bullied by two older boys, Lommy and Hot Pie:

At Winterfell they [Sansa and Jeyne] had called her “Arya Horseface” and she’d thought nothing could be worse, but that was before the orphan boy Lommy Greenhands had named her “Lumpyhead.” - Arya I ACOK

That wasn’t the hardest part at all; Lommy Greenhands and Hot Pie were the hardest part. - Arya I ACOK

“Look at that sword Lumpyhead’s got there,” Lommy said one morning […] “Where’s a gutter rat like Lumpyhead get him a sword?”

[. . .]

“Maybe he’s a little squire,” Hot Pie put in. […] “Some lordy lord’s little squire boy, that’s it.”

“He ain’t no squire, look at him.  I bet that’s not even a real sword.  I bet it’s just some play sword made of tin.”

Arya hated them making fun of Needle.  “It’s castle-forged steel, you stupid,” she snapped, turning in the saddle to glare at them, “and you better shut your mouth.”

The orphan boys hooted.  “Where’d you get a blade like that, Lumpyface?” Hot Pie wanted to know.

“Lumpyhead,” corrected Lommy.  He prob’ly stole it.”

“I did not!” she shouted.  Jon Snow had given her Needle.  Maybe she had to let them call her Lumpyhead, but she wasn’t going to let them call Jon a thief.

“If he stole it, we could take it off him,” said Hot Pie.  “It’s not his anyhow.  I could use me a sword like that.”

Lommy egged him on.  “Go on, take it off him, I dare you.”

Hot Pie kicked his donkey, riding closer.  “Hey, Lumpyface, you gimme that sword.” […] “You don’t know how to use it.”

[. . .]

“Look at him,” brayed Lommy Greenhands.  “I bet he’s going to cry now.  You want to cry, Lumpyhead?” – Arya I ACOK

In the first two quotes we have Arya likening the behavior of Hot Pie and Lommy to that of Jeyne Poole and Sansa. In AGOT, Sansa and Jeyne took on the “evil step-sister” archetype (and before anybody attacks me, I don’t think these two are actually “evil”, just children who think it’s okay to bully someone who is different from them), but now we are shown that this archetype has temporarily shifted onto Lommy and Hot Pie, with some subversions.  These two are now male and they aren’t related to Arya in any way.  Some variants of the Cinderella story do portray male siblings mistreating the younger “Cinderella” sibling though.  One of the stories in One Thousand and One Nights depict a story called “Judar and his Brethren”, in which the main character is poisoned by his biological brothers in the end, depicting a rare tragic ending for this retelling. However, these subversions are completely fine because either way, they took on the role of the “bully” to Arya’s Cinderella archetype currently in the narrative.  

Furthermore, while Septa Mordane was the obvious “wicked stepmother” archetype to Arya’s Cinderella archetype in AGOT, I think arguably this has fallen to Cersei now (and the Lannister’s as a whole).  Cersei may not be present, but she is the reason why Arya is in the situation she is in right now.  After all, Cersei takes on the role of “Evil Queen” for Sansa and Jon (they both share Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs motifs) so I do think she is the metaphorical “wicked stepmother” in this equation regardless of the fact that Cersei isn’t anything remotely close to a stepmother to Arya in the narrative, but she fits the general archetype of “female persecutor” the most in the current situation.  For the case about Septa Mordane being a “wicked stepmother” archetype, I want to point to Cenerentola by Basile, in which the “wicked stepmother” started out as being the heroine’s governess, and Septa’s are the closest substitute to a governess in the universe of ASOIAF.

This isn’t the end to these archetypes being in play.  As the early chapters of ACOK go on we see the animosity between Lommy, Hot Pie, and Arya disappear to the point where they become allies and then friends. With this shift in dynamic we see the archetypes disappearing with some of these same characters taking on entirely new Cinderella archetypes, while the “wicked stepmother” and “evil step-sibling” archetypes move onto other characters as well.

At Harrenhal we are introduced to two wicked women who next take on the “evil step-sibling” archetype, Goodwife Harra and Goodwife Amabel.  These two even comment on Arya’s feet:

When Arya's turn came round, Goodwife Amabel clucked in dismay at the sight of her feet, while Goodwife Harra felt the callus on her fingers that long hours of practice with Needle had earned her. "Got those churning butter, I'll wager," she said. "Some farmer's whelp, are you? Well, never you mind, girl, you have a chance to win a higher place in this world if you work hard. If you won't work hard, you'll be beaten. And what do they call you?"

Arya dared not say her true name, but Arry was no good either, it was a boy’s name and they could see she was no boy.  “Weasel,” she said, naming the first girl she could think of.  “Lommy called me Weasel.”

“I can see why,” sniffed Goodwife Amabel.  “That hair is a fright and a nest for lice as well. We’ll have it off, and then you’re for the kitchens.”

“I’d sooner tend the horses.”  Arya liked horses, and maybe if she was in the stables she’d be able to steal one and escape.

Goodwife Harra slapped her so hard that her swollen lip broke open all over again.  “And keep that tongue to yourself or you’ll get worse.  No one asked your views.”

The blood in her mouth had a salty metal tang to it. Arya dropped her gaze and said nothing. If I still had Needle, she wouldn’t dare hit me, she thought sullenly.

“Lord Tywin and his knights have grooms and squires to tend their horses, they don’t need the likes of you,” Goodwife Amabel said. “The kitchens are snug and clean, and there’s always a warm fire to sleep by and plenty to eat.  You might have done well there, but I can see you’re not a clever girl.  Harra, I believe we should give this one to Weese.”

“If you think so, Amabel.”  They gave her a shift of grey roughspun wool and a pair of ill-fitting shoes and sent her off. – Arya VI ACOK

Later Goodwife Amabel even threatens to rape Arya:

Three Frey men-at-arms were using them that morning as Arya went to the well. She tried not to look, but she could hear the men laughing. The pail was very heavy once full. She was turning to bring it back to Kingspyre when Goodwife Amabel seized her arm. The water went sloshing over the side onto Amabel's legs. "You did that on purpose," the woman screeched.

"What do you want?" Arya squirmed in her grasp. Amabel had been half-crazed since they'd cut Harra's head off.

"See there?" Amabel pointed across the yard at Pia. "When this northman falls you'll be where she is."

"Let me go." She tried to wrench free, but Amabel only tightened her fingers.

"He will fall too, Harrenhal pulls them all down in the end. Lord Tywin's won now, he'll be marching back with all his power, and then it will be his turn to punish the disloyal. And don't think he won't know what you did!" The old woman laughed. "I may have a turn at you myself. Harra had an old broom, I'll save it for you. The handle's cracked and splintery—" - Arya X ACOK

Menial, Backbreaking Labor

When Arya is enslaved and forced into the oppressive walls of Harrenhal, she is forced to scrub floors and do other menial, backbreaking work from sunrise to sunset, just like Cinderella:

Weese used Arya to run messages, draw water, and fetch food, and sometimes to serve at table in the Barracks Hall above the armory, where the men-at-arms took their meals. But most of her work was cleaning. The ground floor of the Wailing Tower was given over to storerooms and granaries, and two floors above housed part of the garrison, but the upper stories had not been occupied for eighty years. Now Lord Tywin had commanded that they be made fit for habitation again. There were floors to be scrubbed, grime to be washed off windows, broken chairs and rotted beds to be carried off. The topmost story was infested with nests of the huge black bats that House Whent had used for its sigil, and there were rats in the cellars as well . . . and ghosts, some said, the spirits of Harren the Black and his sons. – Arya VII ACOK

She spent the rest of that day scrubbing steps inside the Wailing Tower. By evenfall her hands were raw and bleeding and her arms so sore they trembled when she lugged the pail back to the cellar. Too tired even for food, Arya begged Weese's pardons and crawled into her straw to sleep. – Arya VII ACOK

Magical Transformations and Mice

In Disney’s Cinderella, the fairy godmother transforms mice into different creatures.  On the road to Harrenhal, Arya not only likens herself to a sheep, but a mouse and continues her time at Harrenhal referring to herself as a “mouse”.  This is also a subversion, while Cinderella in the Disney incarnation befriends mice, in our story Arya becomes the meek mouse:

On the road Arya had felt like a sheep, but Harrenhal turned her into a mouse.  She was grey as a mouse in her scratchy wool shift, and like a mouse she kept to the crannies and crevices and dark holes of the castle, scurrying out of the way of the mighty. – Arya VII ACOK

He does not know me, she thought.  Arry was a fierce little boy with a sword, and I’m just a grey mouse girl with a pail. – Arya VII ACOK

She was very small and Harrenhal was very large, full of places where a mouse could hide. – Arya VII ACOK

Even Jaqen calls Arya a mouse:

She crept up quiet as a shadow, but he opened his eyes all the same.  “She steals in on little mice feet, but a man hears,” he said.  How could he hear me? She wondered, and it seemed as if he heard that as well.  “The scuff of leather on stone sings loud as warhorns to a man with open ears.  Clever girls go barefoot.” – Arya VIII ACOK

However, through Jaqen, Arya begins to feel more in control of her situation, stronger and is transformed, if only for a short time.

“…Some are saying it was Harren’s ghost flung him down.” He snorted to show what he thought of such notions.

It wasn’t Harren, Arya wanted to say, it was me. She has killed Chiswyck with a whisper, and she would kill two more before she was through.  I’m the ghost in Harrenhal, she thought.  And that night, there was one less name to hate. – Arya VII ACOK

I was a sheep, and then I was a mouse, I couldn’t do anything but hide.  Arya chewed her lip and tried to think when her courage had come back.  Jaqen made me brave again.  He made me a ghost instead of a mouse. – Arya IX ACOK

Lucifer the Cat

In Disney’s Cinderella, Lucifer is Lady Tremaine’s cat who is described as being a sly, wicked, and manipulative mouse consumer.  He spends the whole film trying to torment and catch the mice.  I feel that Weese takes on aspects of this feline character, and I think this because of certain descriptors that are given to Weese to make him appear almost catlike:

“Weasel,” Weese purred, “next time I see that mouth droop open, I’ll pull out your tongue and feed it to my bitch.” – Arya VII ACOK

In his own small strutting way, Weese was nearly as scary as Ser Gregor.  The Mountain swatted men like flies, but most of the time he did not even seem to know the fly was there.  Weese always knew you were there, and what you were doing, and sometimes what you were thinking.  He would hit at the slightest provocation, and he had a dog who was near as bad as he was, an ugly spotted bitch that smelled worse than any dog Arya had ever known. Once she saw him set the dog on a latrine boy who’d annoyed him.  She tore a big chunk out of the boy’s calf while Weese laughed. – Arya VII ACOK

So here we have Weese purring, strutting, being compared to the Mountain who swats at peoples, and being watchful and observant, very much like a cat.  And like in the movie, a dog attacks him.  Now Weese didn’t fall from a tower window, but Chiswyck fell/was pushed. Considering these two are the two people Arya had Jaqen kill, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are meant to make up two halves of a whole in this regard.  After all, they are both wicked creatures who prey upon the weak, just like Lucifer and they both got their just desserts for it.

Jaq the Mouse

In Disney’s Cinderella, Cinderella rescues mice from traps, as well as from Lucifer, and dresses and feeds them.  They perform favors in return.  At the beginning of the film, a mouse named Gus is trapped in a cage, and the leader of the mice finds him and retrieves Cinderella to free him.  The leader of the mice is a mouse named Jaq, and he was also a mouse that was saved by Cinderella from a cage.  This sounds awfully familiar…

Rushing through the barn doors was like running into a furnace.  The air was swirling with smoke, the back wall a sheet of fire ground to roof. Their horses and donkeys were kicking and rearing and screaming.  The poor animals, Arya thought.  Then she saw the wagon, and the three men manacled to its bed.  Biter was flinging himself against the chains, blood running down his arms from where the iron clasped his wrists.  Rorge screamed curses, kicking at the wood.  “Boy!” called Jaqen H’ghar.  “Sweet boy!”

[. . .]

“Good boys, kind boys,” called Jaqen H’ghar, coughing.

“Get these fucking chains off!” Rorge screamed.

[. . .]

Going back into that barn was the hardest thing she ever did.  Smoke was pouring out the open door like a writhing black snake, and she could hear the screams of the poor animals inside, donkeys and horses and men.  She chewed her lip, and darted through the doors, crouched low where the smoke wasn’t quite so thick.

A donkey was caught in a ring of fire, shrieking in terror and pain.  She could smell the stench of burning hair.  The roof was gone up too, and things were falling down, pieces of flaming wood and bits of straw and hay.  Arya put a hand over her mouth and nose.  She couldn’t see the wagon for the smoke, but she could still hear Biter screaming.  She crawled toward the sound.

And then a wheel was looming over her.  The wagon jumped and moved a half foot when Biter threw himself against his chains again.  Jaqen saw her, but it was too hard to breathe, let alone talk.  She threw the axe into the wagon.  Rorge caught it and lifted it over his head, rivers of sooty sweat pouring down his noseless face.  Arya was running, coughing.  She heard the steel crash through the old wood, and again, again. An instant later came a crack as loud as thunder, and the bottom of the wagon came ripping loose in an explosion of splinters. – Arya IV ACOK

So here we have Jaq who is leader of the mice, who also helps Cinderella by doing her favors.  Then we have Jaqen H’ghar who is the leader of Rorge and Biter (this name seems even more fitting now) and who is performing favors for Arya, which leads me to Jaqen’s dual Cinderella archetype: Fairy Godmother.

Magical Helpers

Some versions of Magical Helpers come from fairy godmothers or talking animals or genies.  In other versions this help comes to the heroine through her dead mother, often manifesting through animal aid.  In One Thousand and One Nights, in the story of “Judar and his Brethren” Judar is our Cinderella figure, whose own brothers betray and poison him, but before that he was gifted a genie named Al-Ra’ad al-Kasif who granted Judar’s wishes.  In the passage below Jaqen grants Arya three “wishes” which is typical for genies to grant in our popular consciousness:

She remembered that she hated him.  “You scared me.  You’re one of them now, I should have let you burn.  What are you doing here?  Go away or I’ll yell for Weese.”

“A man pays his debts.  A man owes three.”

“Three?”

“The Red God has his due, sweet girl, and only death may pay for life.  This girl took three that were his.  This girl must give three in their places.  Speak the names, and a man will do the rest.”

He wants to help me, Arya realized with a rush of hope that made her dizzy.  “Take me to Riverrun, it’s not far, if we stole some horses we could—”

He laid a finger on her lips.  “Three lives you shall have of me.  No more, no less.  Three and we are done.  So a girl must ponder.”  He kissed her hair softly.  “But not too long.” – Arya VII ACOK

Later, we also see that “wishes” have consequences, which is also prevalent when genies are concerned.  GRRM himself is a big fan of consequences and unintended side effects.  

Jaqen is not Arya’s only form of Magical Help at Harrenhal however.  Jaqen may take on the role of Fairy Godmother/Genie, but we also see Arya experiencing the help of not only an animal aid, but from a dead parent.  For instance, the heroine in Aschenputtel, by the Brother’s Grimm, is given a hazel twig by her father that she plants over her mother’s grave.  She waters it with tears and over the years it grows into a glowing hazel tree.  The girl prays under it three times a day, chanting, and a bird emerges from it that grants her wishes.  There are two instances of something similar happening in the books:

In the godswood she found her broomstick sword where she had left it, and carried it to the heart tree.  There she knelt.  Red leaves rustled.  Red eyes peered inside her.  The eyes of the gods.  “Tell me what to do, you gods,” she prayed.

For a long moment there was no sound but the wind and the water and the creak of leaf and limb.  And then, far far off, beyond the godswood and the haunted towers and the immense stone walls of Harrenhal, from somewhere out in the world, came the long lonely howl of a wolf.  Gooseprickles rose on Arya’s skin, and for an instant she felt dizzy.  Then, so faintly, it seemed as if she heard her father’s voice.  “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives,” he said.

“But there is no pack,” she whispered to the weirwood.  Bran and Rickon were dead, the Lannisters had Sansa, Jon had gone to the Wall.  “I’m not even me now, I’m Nan.”

“You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the north. You told me you could be strong.  You have the wolf blood in you.”

“The wolf blood.”  Arya remembered now.  “I’ll be as strong as Robb.  I said I would.”  She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee.  It broke with a loud crack, and she threw the pieces aside.  I am a direwolf, and done with wooden teeth. – Arya X ACOK

Here we see an inversion. Arya’s mother isn’t dead at this time, but her father, Ned is.  He is who we hear through the heart tree giving Arya this empowering “Mufasa” moment that gives way to Arya’s true transformation in this arc, she reclaims her identity.  And as soon as Arya asks the old gods for aid, a wolf howls in the distance as if in answer.  It’s not confirmed but I do truly believe that this howl came from Nymeria, by way of the Old Gods/Greenseers, who somehow helped strengthen their bond.  It is after this moment that Arya starts having full on wolf dreams in earnest and it’s through her first wolf dream that we see that Nymeria may have become Arya’s animal aid:

Her dreams were red and savage.  The Mummers were in them, four at least, a pale Lyseni and a dark brutal axeman from Ib, the scarred Dothraki horse lord called Iggo and a Dornishman whose name she never knew.  On and on they came, riding through the rain in rusting mail and wet leather, swords and axe clanking against their saddles.  They thought they were hunting her, she knew with all the strange sharp certainty of dreams, but they were wrong.  She was hunting them.

She was no little girl in the dream; she was a wolf, huge and powerful, and when she emerged from beneath the trees in front of them and bared her teeth in a low rumbling growl, she could small the rank stench of fear from horse and man alike.  The Lyseni’s mount reared and screamed in terror, and the others shouted at one another in mantalk, but before they could act the other wolves came hurtling from the darkness and the rain, a great pack of them, gaunt and wet and silent.

The fight was short but bloody.  The hairy man went down as he unslung his axe, the dark one died stringing an arrow, and the pale man from Lys tried to bolt.  Her brothers and sisters ran him down, turning him again and again, coming at him from all sides, snapping at the legs of his horse and tearing the throat from the rider when he came crashing to the earth. – Arya I ASOS

We see here that Nymeria and her pack protected Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie against their pursuers after their escape from Harrenhal.

Here is another instance of Arya praying under the heart tree:

Arya went to her knees.  She wasn’t sure how she should begin.  She clasped her hands together.  Help me, you old gods, she prayed silently.  Help me get those men out of the dungeon so we can kill Ser Amory, and bring me home to Winterfell.  Make me a water dancer and a wolf and not afraid again, ever.

Was that enough?  Maybe she should pray aloud if she wanted the old gods to hear.  Maybe she should pray longer.  Sometimes her father had prayed a long time, she remembered. But the old gods had never helped him. Remembering that made her angry. “You should have saved him,” she scolded the tree.  “He prayed to you all the time.  I don’t care if you help me or not.  I don’t think you could even if you wanted to.”

“Gods are not mocked, girl.”

The voice startled her.  She leapt to her feet and drew her wooden sword.  Jaqen H’ghar stood so still in the darkness that he seemed one of the trees.  “A man comes to hear a name.  One and two and then comes three.  A man would have done.”

Arya lowered the splintery point toward the ground. “How did you know I was here?”

“A man sees.  A mean hears.  A man knows.”

She regarded him suspiciously.  Had the gods sent him?  “How’d you make the dog kill Weese?  Did you call Rorge and Biter up from hell?  Is Jaqen H’ghar your true name?

“Some men have many names.  Weasel.  Arry. Arya.”

She backed away from him, until she was pressed against the heart tree.  “Did Gendry tell?”

“A man knows,” he said again.  “My lady of Stark.”

Maybe the gods had sent him in answer to her prayers. – Arya IX ACOK

In Cenerentola, the heroine’s (Zezolla) father is given a date seedling by a fairy and he gives it to his daughter.  Zezolla cultivates the tree in which a fairy lives.  This fairy gives Zezolla magical aid.  When Arya prayed beneath the heart tree in the above quote it almost seems like Jaqen appeared from the trees, leaving Arya to question if the old gods sent him.

And like in Aschenputtel and Disney’s Cinderella, Arya spends time at Harrenhal singing/chanting to herself as well:

Barefoot surefoot lightfoot, she sang under her breath. I am the ghost in Harrenhal. – Arya IX ACOK

This is very strange for a couple of reasons.  When we first meet Arya she claims not to like songs and doesn’t sing.  She continues this up until she goes to Braavos. There she discovers that she likes the bawdy songs when she is using the name, Cat of the Canals.  The only exception to this is when Arya is at Harrenhal. Another reason this is odd is because of where Arya is at physically and mentally.  So either Arya was always lying about not liking songs, or Arya singing here is supposed to tell us something.

And while this might not mean anything, I found it interesting that Arya spends a lot of her time in ACOK barefoot.  Now Cinderella isn’t really said to be barefoot in the stories, but she did usually lose a shoe when running away from the Prince/King, hence making her barefoot. When Arya decides to escape Harrenhal, she does don a pair of shoes again and from then on out she mostly wears them.  This also leads to a fun bit of subversion.  In the originals tales it’s always the Prince/King saving Cinderella from further oppression.  But in Arya X ACOK, not only did she (a princess) plan the escape, but she saves Gendry, a lost (albeit bastard) prince, along with Hot Pie, from further oppression (and torture and death) by their slavers in their prison camp.  (Hot Pie definitely reminds me of Gus Gus as well by the way :D)

From Rags to Riches

In many versions of Cinderella, we also see the heroine become physically transformed.  The heroine is usually dirty, covered in ashes, and wearing “rags” before they are made over.  In the most popular version, Disney’s Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother magically turns her from dirty household servant to highborn lady, adorning her in a silver ballgown and glass slippers.  In Ye Xian, magical fish bones, help the heroine dress appropriately for a local Festival, including a light, golden shoe.  And in Aschenputtel, the doves that emerge from her hazel tree, that grant the heroine wishes, drop a gold and silver gown and silk shoes down to her to wear to the ball.  Also, noticeably, this is the time the Prince/King notices Cinderella and finally “sees” her.

While we didn’t get anything like that in ACOK, we don’t have to look much farther than ASOS, when Arya goes to Acorn Hall and meets Lady Smallwood, who puts her in two different dresses:

And afterward, they insisted she dress herself in girl’s things, brown woolen stockings and a light linen shift, and over that a light green gown with acorns embroidered all over the bodice in brown thread, and more acorns bordering the hem. – Arya IV ASOS

It was even worse than before; Lady Smallwood insisted that Arya take another bath, and cut and comb her hair besides; the dress she put her in this time was sort of lilac-colored, and decorated with little baby pearls.  The only good thing about it was that it was so delicate that no one could expect her to ride in it. – Arya IV ASOS

And while there is no ball, Arya and Gendry spend their time in the forge together.  This is the very first time Gendry has seen Arya look like a proper lady.  Cinderella and Arya are no longer dirty and in rags and they are now in gowns looking their place in society, despite Arya’s dress not being nearly as grand.  However, it’s enough of a change for Gendry to finally realize just who Arya truly is when it comes to her place in the world.  And judging by his behavior after this event, he also begins to acknowledge that if he continues to stay by her side he could potentially love her romantically in the future as well:  

Gendry reached out with the tongs as if to pinch her face, but Arya swatted them away.

[. . .]

Gendry put the hammer down and looked at her.  “You look different now.  Like a proper little girl.”

“I look like an oak tree, with all these stupid acorns.”

“Nice, though.  A nice oak tree.”  He stepped closer, and sniffed at her.  “You even smell nice for a change.” – Arya IV ASOS

Runaway Princess

Now we may not have had a ball, but while taking shelter in a stone stable with the Brotherhood Without Banners, Arya does run outside, trying to get away from everyone:

His words beat at her ears like the pounding of a drum, and suddenly it was more than Arya could stand.  She wanted Riverrun, not Acorn Hall; she wanted her mother and her brother Robb, not Lady Smallwood or some uncle she never knew.  Whirling, she broke for the door, and when Harwin tried to grab her arm she spun away from him quick as a snake.

Outside the stables the rain was still falling, and distant lightning flashed in the west.  Arya ran as fast as she could.  She did not know where she was going, only that she wanted to be alone, away from all the voices, away from their hollow words and broken promises.  All I wanted was to go to Riverrun.  It was her own fault, for taking Gendry and Hot Pie with her when she left Harrenhal.  She would have been better alone.  If she had been alone, the outlaws would never have caught her, and she’d be with Robb and her mother by now.  They were never my pack.  If they had been, they wouldn’t leave me.  She splashed through a puddle of muddy water.  Someone was shouting her name, Harwin probably, or Gendry, but the thunder drowned them out as it rolled across the hills half a heartbeat behind the lightning.  The lightning lord, she thought angrily.  Maybe he couldn’t die, but he could lie. – Arya VIII ASOS

Now it’s not explicitly clear that it was Gendry who ran after Arya, calling her name, but due to the possible symbolism in the scene, and also his behavior in AFFC, it makes me think it was him.  But whether he was or not I believe just Arya believing it might be him makes this applicable enough as a loose parallel for the Prince chasing after Cinderella, only for Cinderella to disappear like in many of the Cinderella retellings.  

Searching the Realm

At the end of ASOS in the epilogue we learn that Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood Without Banners, who Gendry is a part of is actively searching for Arya:

The outlaw gave him (Merrett Frey) an encouraging smile. “Well, as it happens, we’re looking for a dog that ran away.”

“A dog?” Merrett was lost.  “What kind of dog?”

“He answers to the name Sandor Clegane […] Did you see him at the wedding, perchance?”

[. . .]

“He would have had a child with him,” said the singer.  “A skinny girl, about ten.  Or perhaps a boy the same age.”

“I don’t think so,” said Merrett.  “Not that I knew.” – Epilogue ASOS

In many retellings of the Cinderella story, the Prince/King searches the realm looking for the heroine with an identifying item, and typically that item is a shoe of some sort.  Once the shoe is placed on the heroine’s foot it symbolically means the heroine is reclaiming her identity.  Arya, however, didn’t lose a shoe, and I’d argue that when Ned/the Old Gods/the Greenseers spoke to Arya through the heart tree, empowering Arya, that’s when Arya reclaimed her identity, at least for that time as Arya must reclaim her identity multiple times in her arc.  I’d argue that Arya’s connection to the North and her family is her overall identifying item. But I fully believe Gendry himself might be another “identifying item,” along with him still taking on the archetypal role of “prince”.

Why do I say this? Because in AFFC Gendry is stationed at one of the last known places Arya was sighted at with the Hound, the Crossroads Inn, where he is blacksmithing while also helping to look after orphans. He was likely stationed there by Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood Without Banners because he knew Arya the best out of everyone (remember LSH would probably have a hard time recognizing Arya after two plus years and a resurrection).  So if she returned, he would not only have a better chance at recognizing her, but also possibly a better chance at keeping her there compared to anyone else.  If people are doubting that this is Gendry’s role, just remember that the BWB is actively looking for Arya, and also note Gendry’s personality shift post-ASOS. Gendry has always been rude and moody, but in AFFC it has been taken to the extreme.  He is absolutely furious and instead of being just plain rude, he’s actually become mean and more violent.  He also seems to have something against the Hound now, someone who he previously had nothing against during the Hound’s trial by combat earlier in ASOS:

…The boy came and stood beside her, his hammer in his hand.

Lightning cracked to the south as the riders swung down off their horses.  For half a heartbeat darkness turned to day.  An axe gleamed silvery blue, light shimmered off mail and plate, and beneath the dark hood of the lead rider Brienne glimpsed an iron snout and rows of steel teeth, snarling.

Gendry saw it too.  “Him.”

“Not him.  His helm.” Brienne tried to keep the fear from her voice, but her mouth was dry as dust. – Brienne VII AFFC

That “him” was very pointed and because of the symbolism in the scene surrounding that “him” and the overall change in Gendry’s behavior I definitely take it to mean Gendry does have a problem with the Hound now.  So what changed?  The Hound kidnapped Arya.  I think it’s safe to say that Gendry is just as invested as the rest of the BWB, if not more so, to finding Arya again, hence making him the “prince” searching the realm for his lost Cinderella.

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

In Disney’s Cinderella, songs like “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, “So This Is Love”, “Cinderella”, “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, “Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale”, and “The Work Song” are included into the film.  This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this in the previous retellings however.  Like I mentioned earlier the Brother’s Grimm, Aschenputtel, features this as well to some extant.  In Aschenputtel, the heroine would “sing a chant” to call upon the white doves that came from her glowing hazel tree.  These birds would help her grant wishes and help her complete tasks, and it was most likely the inspiration for why birds were included in the Disney version, although birds have featured in more than just Aschenputtel.  I mention this because GRRM wrote Arya a song in the novels:

“My featherbed is deep and soft,

and there I'll lay you down,

I'll dress you all in yellow silk,

and on your head a crown.

For you shall be my lady love,

and I shall be your lord.

I'll always keep you warm and safe,

and guard you with my sword.

 “And how she smiled and how she laughed,

the maiden of the tree.

She spun away and said to him,

no featherbed for me.

I'll wear a gown of golden leaves,

and bind my hair with grass,

But you can be my forest love,

and me your forest lass.”

This is very clearly a love song also and we know it’s most likely about Arya and her foreshadowing a possible future relationship with Gendry.  And it’s very clearly about them as Gendry is a bastard Baratheon “prince”, hence the mentions of “yellow silk” and a “crown”, and also because Arya quite literally is dressed as an oak tree at this time and almost a maiden and will be a maiden when they reunite later in the series.  We also know the song is meant to foreshadow them because of the context.  Tom O’Seven’s specifically winked at Arya as he sang this song, and after the song was sung Lady Smallwood, when taking Arya to get changed into a different dress, said to Arya, “I have no gowns of leaves,” which further tells the readers that this song is Arya’s song, her future love song.

A Mother’s Legacy

In the Magical Helpers section above I mentioned that a dead parent may be the one to help the heroine instead of the typical fairy godmother, by either sending an animal to aid the heroine and/or granting wishes, or by the heroine’s mother transforming into an animal.  In some Greek versions, in “the Balkan-Slavonic tradition of the tale”, and in some Central Asian variants, the heroine’s mother comes back as a cow who is then killed by the heroine’s sisters.  The heroine eventually gathers the bones and from her mother’s grave the heroine is gifted wonderful dresses.  In other variants, the heroine’s dead mother comes back as a fish or a female dog. These animals represent the heroine’s mother’s legacy.

Jon chuckled. “Perhaps you should do the same thing, little sister.  Wed Tully to Stark in your arms.”

“A wolf with a fish in its mouth?” It made her laugh.  “That would look silly…” – Arya I AGOT

That night she went to sleep thinking of her mother, and wondering if she should kill the Hound in his sleep and rescue Lady Catelyn herself.  When she closed her eyes she saw her mother’s face against the back of her eyelids.  She’s so close I could almost smell her…

…and then she could smell her.  The scent was faint beneath the other smells, beneath moss and mud and water, and the stench of rotting reeds and rotting men.  She padded slowly through the soft ground to the river’s edge, lapped up a drink, then lifted her head to sniff.  The sky was grey and thick with cloud, the river green and full of floating things.  Dead men clogged the shallows, some still moving as the water pushed them, others washed up on the banks.  Her brothers and sisters swarmed around them, tearing at the rich ripe flesh.

[. . .]

The scent was stronger now [. . .] Only the scent mattered.  She sniffed the air again.  There it was, and now she saw it too, something pale and white drifting down the river, turning where it brushed against a snag.  The reeds bowed down before it.

She splashed noisily through the shallows and threw herself into the deeper water, her legs churning.  The current was strong but she was stronger.  She swam, following her nose.  The river smells were rich and wet, but those were not the smells that pulled her.  She paddled after the sharp red whisper of cold blood, the sweet cloying stench of death.  She chased them as she had often chased a red deer through the trees, and in the end she ran them down, and her jaw closed around a pale white arm.  She shook it to make it move, but there was only death and blood in her mouth.  By now she was tiring, and it was all she could do to pull the body back to shore. As she dragged it up the muddy bank, one of her little brothers came prowling, his tongue lolling from his mouth. She had to snarl to drive him off, or else he would have fed.  Only then did she stop to shake the water from her fur.  The white thing lay facedown in the mud, her dead flesh wrinkled and pale, cold blood trickling from her throat.  Rise, she thought.  Rise and eat and run with us. – Arya XII ASOS

“So you sewed his head on Robb Stark’s neck after both o’ them were dead,” said yellow cloak.

“My [Merrett Frey] father did that [. . .] I only drank some wine…you have no witness.”

“As it happens, you’re wrong there.”  The singer turned to the hooded woman.  “Milady?”

The outlaws parted as she came forward, saying no word.  When she lowered her hood, something tightened inside Merrett’s chest, and for a moment he could not breathe.  No.  No, I saw her die.  She was dead for a day and night before they stripped her naked and threw her body in the river.  Raymund opened her throat from ear to ear.  She was dead.

Her cloak and collar hid the gash his brother’s blade had made, but her face was even worse than he remembered.  The flesh had gone pudding soft in the water and turned the color of curdled milk. Half her hair was gone and the rest had turned as white and brittle as a crone’s.  Beneath her ravaged scalp, her face was shredded skin and black blood where she had raked herself with her nails.  But her eyes were the most terrible thing.  Her eyes saw him, and they hated.

“She don’t speak,” said the big man in the yellow cloak.  “You bloody bastards cut her throat too deep for that.  But she remembers.”  He turned to the dead woman and said, “What do you say, m’lady?  Was he part of it?”

Lady Catelyn’s eyes never left him.  She nodded. – Epilogue ASOS

In the Chinese retelling of Cinderella, Ye Xian, the heroine befriends a fish, which is the reincarnation of her deceased mother.  In The Story of Tam and Cam, a Vietnamese version, the heroine Tam also had a fish which was killed by the stepmother and the half-sister, and its bones also give her clothes.  And a typical scene in Kapmalaien tales is the mother becoming a fish, being eaten in fish form, the daughter burying her bones and a tree sprouting from her grave.

So not only is Lady Catelyn a symbolic fish, a daughter of House Tully, but she’s also been resurrected (reincarnated), and is looking specifically for our heroine, Arya, who I believe will be gifted several various things (both good and bad) by this incarnation of her mother, but we shall see if the parallel continues when TWOW and ADOS come out.

Conclusion

I really hope that after you read this monster you were as convinced as I am that Arya indeed has Cinderella motifs, and an extensive amount of them as well. Whatever it may mean I don’t rightly know, but what I do know is that at the end of the day, the many stories of Cinderella are an analogy.  An analogy about someone “who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect”.  Of someone whose attributes were unrecognized in their society, only for them to be recognized.  And I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty hand in hand with one of her other biggest fairy tale motifs as well that runs concurrently with the Cinderella motif, and that is the story of “The Ugly Duckling”, who after years of neglect, finds acceptance within society, as well as self-acceptance within themselves. :)

[kellyvela]

Any thoughts on how Rohanne Webber might pareallel Sansa?

We can draw some parallels between Rohanne and Sansa, but she is more similar to Ygritte and even to Jon's aunt...

Rohanne and Sansa Stark:

Rohanne and Sansa are red haired.

Rohanne and Sansa have a “wicked” reputation.

Rohanne and Sansa are ladies with a claim to their paternal lands and rights.

Rohanne’s and Sansa’s succession rights has been put in a difficult position in their father’s and older brother’s will, respectively.

Rohanne and Sansa have a long list of suitors that covet their claims.

Rohanne and Sansa have suffered forced marriages.

Rohanne and Sansa have become disillusioned with men.

Rohanne asked Dunk to swear his sword to her, but he rejected the offer. Brienne, Dunk’s descendant, has already sworn her sword (made of Ice) to Sansa Stark.

Jaime Lannister, Rohanne’s descendant has also sworn a vow for Sansa Stark: “Sansa Stark is my last chance for honor.” [A Storm of Swords - Jaime IX]

Later, Rohanne married Gerold Lannister and became Lady Lannister of Casterly Rock, she was the mother of Tytos Lannister and grandmother of Tywin Lannister.  Sansa was betrothed with Tywin Lannister’s grandson Joffrey, and later married Tywin Lannister’s son, Tyrion Lannister. Point aside, Stannis Baratheon tried to convince Jon to accept his Winterfell offer, calling Sansa, Lady Lannister.

Rohanne and Ygritte:

Rohanne was red haired, like Ygritte. Dunk and Jon liked their red hair.

Rohanne was small, like Ygritte.

Dunk confused Rohanne with her auburn haired good sister lady Helicent Uffering, like Jon confused Ygritte with a man. Point aside, Lady Helicent having auburn hair and wearing a silver hairnet makes me think of Sansa Stark. Also I have to laugh at the comment about Dunk wanting to bed Lady Helicent… This is too much George.

It seems that Rohanne was good with bow and arrow, like Ygritte.

Rohanne wasn’t wearing a gown but breeches, like Ygritte.

Rohanne was older, bolder and teased Dunk a lot, like Ygritte was to Jon.

Rohanne openly flirted with Dunk, like Ygritte did with Jon.

Dunk was sexually attracted to Rohanne, the same way Jon was sexually attracted to Ygritte.

Rohanne and Ygritte weren’t maids, while Dunk and Jon were virgins when they met both women.

Later Dunk will have sex dreams with Rohanne, like Jon’s dreams with Ygritte.

In his dreams, Rohanne shoots arrows at Dunk, like Ygritte did to Jon.

Lucas Inchfield, almost as tall as Dunk, was jealous of him regarding Rohanne’s attentions. The same way, Orell, a warg like Jon, was jealous of him because he fancied Ygritte.

Later, a mentor figure will suggest Dunk to kill Rohanne, in a similar way that Qhorin Halfhand suggested Jon to kill Ygritte.  Dunk and Jon have the same doubts about killing a woman.

Rohanne share some of the violence impulses and inclinations that Ygritte had. These details also links Rohanne with another women in Jon’s arc like Val, and eventually Daenerys.  More about this later.

Dunk killed Lucas Inchfield, the same way Jon killed Orell.

Rohanne and Jon's aunt:

Curiously enough, we can find similarities between Rohanne and certain mother of dragons…

“Osgrey can keep his silver. Only blood can pay for blood.”

(…) “It is Bennis I want, and Bennis I shall have.”

(…) “…and she breeds the finest horses in the Reach. We have a dozen mares about to foal.”

(…) Go, or I will find a sack large enough for you if I have to sew one up myself. Tell Ser Eustace to bring me Bennis of the Brown Shield by the morrow, else I will come for him myself with fire and sword. Do you understand me? Fire and sword!

(…) She was a blood bay with a bright eye and a long, fiery mane. Lady Rohanne took a carrot from her sleeve and stroked her head as she took it. “The carrot, not the fingers,” she told the horse, before she turned again to Dunk. “I call her Flame, but you may name her as you please. Call her Amends, if you like.”

For a moment he was speechless. He leaned on the crutch and looked at the blood bay with new eyes. She was magnificent. A better mount than any the old man had ever owned. You had only to look at those long, clean limbs to see how swift she’d be.

“I bred her for beauty and for speed.”

—The Sworn Sword

As you can see we can find Targaryen and Dothraki references in Rohanne Webber. Who woulda thought?

Like a certain Mother of Dragons, Rohanne is determined to get what she wants, even if it has to be under threat of “Fire and Sword”.

Like a certain Khaleesi with a horse called “Silver” for the resemblance of her own hair, Rohanne had a horse called “Flame” for the resemblance of her own fiery hair.  There is also the issue with Rohanne’s long braid, like the Khal’s braids that remain untouched until they are defeated.

Dunk cut Rohanne’s long braid with his dagger tho…

I wrote more about it here: DUNK SNOW.

[ladyofasoiaf]

Jon ‘One Eye’ & Sansa Stark

In this meta I will try to point out the clues of Jon’s death- warging into his direwolf- coming back to life process. 

Our main hint is going to be : ONE EYE motifs... 

And interestingly this hint is always close to Sansa... 

[Most of these clues etc have been already examined by many people but I will try to put them all in order to show the pattern..]

A GAME OF THRONES:

Waymar Royce

Waymar Royce appearence and story are very similar with Jon’s. 

They look similar:

Ser Waymar Royce was the youngest son of an ancient house with too many heirs. He was a handsome youth of eighteen, grey-eyed and graceful and slender as a knife.

[AGOT; Prologue]

Jon’s eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.  

[AGOT; Bran I]

They are both young men of Night’s Watch but they were not very welcomed by their other black brothers:

His cloak was his crowning glory; sable, thick and black and soft as sin. “Bet he killed them all himself, he did,” Gared told the barracks over wine, “twisted their little heads off, our mighty warrior.” They had all shared the laugh. It is hard to take orders from a man you laughed at in your cups, Will reflected as he sat shivering atop his garron. Gared must have felt the same.

[AGOT; Prologue]

“Yes, life,” Noye said. “A long life or a short one, it’s up to you, Snow. The road you’re walking, one of your brothers will slit your throat for you one night.” “They’re not my brothers,” Jon snapped. “They hate me because I’m better than they are.” “No. They hate you because you act like you’re better than they are. They look at you and see a castle-bred bastard who thinks he’s a lordling.” The armorer leaned close. “You’re no lordling. Remember that. You’re a Snow, not a Stark. You’re a bastard and a bully.”

[AGOT; Jon III]

Others are a very important part of Jon’s arc and story and Waymar meets with them in Prologue:

Ser Waymar met him bravely. “Dance with me then.” He lifted his sword high over his head, defiant. His hands trembled from the weight of it, or perhaps from the cold. Yet in that moment, Will thought, he was a boy no longer, but a man of the Night’s Watch.

[AGOT; Prologue]

This phrase also reminds us Jon:

It is more than impatience, Jon realized. They are afraid. Warriors, spearwives, raiders, they are frightened of those woods, of shadows moving through the trees. They want to put the Wall between them before the night descends. 

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon.

[ADWD; Jon XII]

In Prologue, Waymar gets killed by Others:

Royce’s body lay facedown in the snow, one arm out-flung. The thick sable cloak had been slashed in a dozen places. Lying dead like that, you saw how young he was. A boy.

[AGOT; Prologue]

And Jon dies in ADWD:

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold …

[ADWD; Jon XIII]

But Waymar comes back to life as a wight with ‘ONE EYE’:

Will rose. Ser Waymar Royce stood over him. His fine clothes were a tatter, his face a ruin. A shard from his sword transfixed the blind white pupil of his left eye. The right eye was open. The pupil burned blue. It saw.

[AGOT; Prologue]

So: A young man of Night’s Watch who looks like Jon dies and comes back to life with ONE EYE. 

Let’s continue with the second book...

A CLASH OF KINGS:

Orell

Orell is Wildling who is also a skinchanger. His animal is an EAGLE. 

Jon kills Orell in ACOK; Jon VI:

Jon nodded toward the one by the fire. It felt queer, picking a man to kill. 

[...]

Jon’s man leapt to his feet, thrusting at his face with a burning brand. He could feel the heat of the flames as he flinched back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sleeper stirring, and knew he must finish his man quick. When the brand swung again, he bulled into it, swinging the bastard sword with both hands. The Valyrian steel sheared through leather, fur, wool, and flesh, but when the wildling fell he twisted, ripping the sword from Jon’s grasp. 

[...]

“You ought to burn them you killed,” said Ygritte.

[ACOK; Jon VI]

But due to the magic of skinchanging, a portion of Orell’s consciousness remained in the eagle, which developed a fierce hatred for Jon.

And in ACOK; Jon VII he dreams of an eagle attacking him and people talk about vargs and skinchangers:

Then a sudden gust of cold made his fur stand up, and the air thrilled to the sound of wings. As he lifted his eyes to the ice-white mountain heights above, a shadow plummeted out of the sky. A shrill scream split the air. He glimpsed blue-grey pinions spread wide, shutting out the sun… “Ghost!” Jon shouted, sitting up. He could still feel the talons, the pain. “Ghost, to me!” Ebben appeared, grabbed him, shook him. “Quiet! You mean to bring the wildlings down on us? What’s wrong with you, boy?” “A dream,” said Jon feebly. “I was Ghost, I was on the edge of the mountain looking down on a frozen river, and something attacked me. A bird… an eagle, I think…”

[...]

“Skinchanger?” said Ebben grimly, looking at the Halfhand. Does he mean the eagle? Jon wondered. Or me? Skinchangers and wargs belonged in Old Nan’s stories, not in the world he had lived in all his life. Yet here, in this strange bleak wilderness of rock and ice, it was not hard to believe.

[ACOK; Jon VII]

So: There is a skinchanger who dies because of Jon but a part of him keeps living in his animal: eagle. 

The interesting thing is that between these two Jon chapters (Orell and eagle dream) comes a very important Sansa chapter which has many parallels with Jon VI chapter...

An example of parallels:

[…] ‘All I ask is a flower,’ Bael answered, ‘the fairest flower that blooms in the gardens o’ Winterfell.”

“Now as it happened the winter roses had only then come into bloom, and no flower is so rare nor precious…  

[ACOK; Jon VI]

Sansa lowered her head. “The blood frightened me.”

“The blood is the seal of your womanhood. Lady Catelyn might have prepared you. You’ve had your first flowering, no more.”

Sansa had never felt less flowery. “My lady mother told me, but I… I thought it would be different.”  

[ACOK; Sansa IV]

For more, please check: Jonsa Book Hints: B5 

In this chapter Sansa says she wants to be loved and Cersei warns her that “love kills too...” Next chapter is Jon with his eagle dreams and warging abilities:

A half smile flickered across the queen’s face. “[…]Robert wanted to be loved. My brother Tyrion has the same disease. Do you want to be loved, Sansa?”

“Everyone wants to be loved.”

“I see flowering hasn’t made you any brighter,” said Cersei. “Sansa, permit me to share a bit of womanly wisdom with you on this very special day. Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.”  

[ACOK; Sansa IV]

Let’s move on to third book...

A STORM OF SWORDS:

Orell and Wargs

In ASOS; Jon I, we learn the name of the Wildling that Jon has killed in ACOK; Jon VI:

“He slew Qhorin Halfhand,” said Longspear Ryk. “Him and that wolf o’ his.”

“And did for Orell too,” said Rattleshirt.

“The lad’s a warg, or close enough,” put in Ragwyle, the big spearwife. “His wolf took a piece o’ Halfhand’s leg.”

[...]

“What’s this?” he said. “A crow?”

“The black bastard what gutted Orell,” said Rattleshirt, “and a bloody warg as well.”

“You were to kill them all.”

“This one come over,” explained Ygritte. “He slew Qhorin Halfhand with his own hand.”

[ASOS; Jon I]

This Jon chapter comes after ASOS; Sansa I. 

And these chapters have many parallels such as:

Sansa knelt at the feet of her future queen. “You do me great honor, Your Grace.” “Won’t you call me Margaery? Please, rise. Loras, help the Lady Sansa to her feet. Might I call you Sansa?”  

[ASOS; Sansa I]  

“I would be pleased to eat, Your Grace. And thank you.”

“Your Grace?” The king smiled. “That’s not a style one often hears from the lips of the free folk. I’m Mance to most, The Mance to some. Will you take a horn of mead?”  

[ASOS; Jon I]

For more, please check: Jonsa Book Hints: C1

We also learn about Sansa’s new betrothed: Willas Tyrell.. 

Willas has a bad leg and so does Jon, in ASOS:

“Willas has a bad leg but a good heart,” said Margaery. “He used to read to me when I was a little girl, and draw me pictures of the stars. You will love him as much as we do, Sansa.”

[ASOS; Sansa I]

If the mare had gone down, he would have been doomed. “A lucky thing my leg got in the way,” he muttered.

He rested for a while to let the horse graze. She did not wander far. That was good. Hobbled with a bad leg, he could never have caught her.

[ASOS; Jon V]

Let’s keep reading...

In ASOS; Jon II chapter Jon’s eagle dream from ACOK comes true and Orell’s eagle attacks Jon’s eye:

He could still hear wings, though the eagle was not in sight. Half his world was black. “My eye,” he said in sudden panic, raising a hand to his face.

“It’s only blood, Jon Snow. He missed the eye, just ripped your skin up some.”

[…]

Can a bird hate? Jon had slain the wilding Orell, but some part of the man remained within the eagle. The golden eyes looked out on him with cold malevolence.

[…]

I will need to get this tended, he thought, but not just now. Let the King-beyond-the-Wall see what his eagle did to me.

[…]

The look Mance gave Jon was grim and cold. “What happened to your face?”

Ygritte said, “Orell tried to take his eye out.”

“It was him I asked. Has he lost his tongue? Perhaps he should, to spare us further lies.”

Styr the Magnar drew a long knife. “The boy might see more clear with one eye, instead of two.”

“Would you like to keep your eye, Jon?” asked the King-beyond-the-Wall. “If so, tell me how many they were. And try and speak the truth this time, Bastard of Winterfell.”

Jon’s throat was dry. “My lord… what…”

[ASOS; Jon II]

Jon almosts loses his ‘one eye’ and becomes Jon ‘One Eye’ Snow because of this attack..

After this eagle attack Jon chapter comes ASOS; Sansa II 

And these chapters have many parallels such as:

Jon wheeled and followed Tormund back toward the head of the column, his new cloak hanging heavy from his shoulders. It was made of unwashed sheepskins, worn fleece side in, as the wildlings suggested.

[…]  

“I wear the cloak you gave me, Your Grace.”  

[ASOS; Jon II]

A new gown?” she said, as wary as she was astonished.

“More lovely than any you have worn, my lady,” the old woman promised. She measured Sansa’s hips with a length of knotted string. “All silk and Myrish lace, with satin linings. You will be very beautiful. The queen herself has commanded it.”

“Which queen?” Margaery was not yet Joff’s queen, but she had been Renly’s. Or did she mean the Queen of Thorns? Or…“The Queen Regent, to be sure.”  

[ASOS; Sansa II]

For more, please check: Jonsa Book Hints: C2

And after the chapter of an eagle attacks Jon’s eye we learn in next chapter that Sansa’s betrothed Willas Tyrell flies EAGLES:

“Willas has the best birds in the Seven Kingdoms,” Margaery said when the two of them were briefly alone. “He flies an eagle sometimes. You will see, Sansa.” 

[ASOS; Sansa II]

Why is Almost One Eye Jon and Sansa Stark being near to each other important?

Because the first Sansa Stark in Stark family tree was married with her half-uncle Jonnel ‘One Eye’ Stark:

So another Sansa being close to another Stark family member who almost had lost his one eye sounds interesting. 

Well, Jon didn’t lose his eye but his face got scarred:

He had almost forgotten about his face. “A skinchanger tried to rip out my eye.”

Noye frowned. “Scarred or smooth, it’s a face I thought I’d seen the last of. We heard you’d gone over to Mance Rayder.”

[ASOS; Jon VI]

Who else has a scarred face? Sansa’s husband- Tyrion Lannister:

“I like your scar.” She traced it with her finger. “It makes you look very fierce and strong.”

He laughed. “Very ugly, you mean.”

“M’lord will never be ugly in my eyes.” She kissed the scab that covered the ragged stub of his nose.

[ASOS; Tyrion II]

Varamyr 

What happens to this eagle later?

Skinchanger, Varamyr Sixskins, takes control of Orell’s eagle. Varamyr uses the eagle to scout Castle Black and spots Stannis Baratheon’s arrival at the Wall.

The eagle bursts into flames during the attack on Castle Black with Melisandre claiming she was responsible. 

The skinchanger was grey-faced, round-shouldered, and bald, a mouse of a man with a wolfling’s eyes. “Once a horse is broken to the saddle, any man can mount him,” he said in a soft voice. “Once a beast’s been joined to a man, any skinchanger can slip inside and ride him. Orell was withering inside his feathers, so I took the eagle for my own. But the joining works both ways, warg. Orell lives inside me now, whispering how much he hates you. And I can soar above the Wall, and see with eagle eyes.”

[...]

“Banners,” he heard Varamyr murmur, “I see golden banners, oh . . .” A mammoth lumbered by, trumpeting, a half-dozen bowmen in the wooden tower on its back. “The king . . . no . . .”

Then the skinchanger threw back his head and screamed.The sound was shocking, ear-piercing, thick with agony. Varamyr fell, writhing, and the ’cat was screaming too.... and high, high in the eastern sky, against the wall of cloud, Jon saw the eagle burning. For a heartbeat it flamed brighter than a star, wreathed in red and gold and orange, its wings beating wildly at the air as if it could fly from the pain. Higher it flew, and higher, and higher still.

[ASOS; Jon X]

Melisandre burns the eagle. Who else got burned in the books? 

Jon Snow in AGOT:

He had burned himself more badly than he knew throwing the flaming drapes, and his right hand was swathed in silk halfway to the elbow. At the time he’d felt nothing; the agony had come after.

[AGOT; Jon VIII]

And Jon burns himself in AGOT; Jon VII:

Jon tried to shout, but his voice was gone. Staggering to his feet, he kicked the arm away and snatched the lamp from the Old Bear’s fingers. The flame flickered and almost died. “Burn!” the raven cawed. “Burn, burn, burn!”

Spinning, Jon saw the drapes he’d ripped from the window. He flung the lamp into the puddled cloth with both hands. Metal crunched, glass shattered, oil spewed, and the hangings went up in a great whoosh of flame. The heat of it on his face was sweeter than any kiss Jon had ever known. “Ghost!” he shouted.

The direwolf wrenched free and came to him as the wight struggled to rise, dark snakes spilling from the great wound in its belly. Jon plunged his hand into the flames, grabbed a fistful of the burning drapes, and whipped them at the dead man. Let it burn, he prayed as the cloth smothered the corpse, gods, please, please, let it burn.

[AGOT; Jon VII]

This Jon chapter comes after AGOT; Sansa IV:

And these two chapters have many parallels such as:

So she went to the queen instead, and poured out her heart, and Cersei had listened and thanked her sweetly … only then Ser Arys had escorted her to the high room in Maegor’s Holdfast and posted guards, and a few hours later, the fighting had begun outside.

[AGOT; Sansa IV]

They took his knife and his sword and told him he was not to leave his cell until the high officers met to decide what was to be done with him. And then they placed a guard outside his door to make certain he obeyed. His friends were not allowed to see him, but the Old Bear did relent and permit him Ghost, so he was not utterly alone.

[AGOT; Jon VII]

*

Yet somehow it seemed colder with Jeyne gone, even after she’d built a fire. She pulled a chair close to the hearth, took down one of her favorite books, and lost herself in the stories of Florian and Jonquil, of Lady Shella and the Rainbow Knight, of valiant Prince Aemon and his doomed love for his brother’s queen.

[AGOT; Sansa IV]

Yet he was trembling, violently. When had it gotten so cold?

[…]


Metal crunched, glass shattered, oil spewed, and the hangings went up in a great whoosh of flame. The heat of it on his face was sweeter than any kiss Jon had ever known. “Ghost!” he shouted.

[AGOT; Jon VII]

For more, please check: Jonsa Book Hints: A10

What happens to skinchanger Orell and warg Varamyr after the eagle burst into flames?

The incident greatly affects Varamyr and supposedly kills the remnants of Orell inside the eagle. 

After the defeat of the wildlings at the battle beneath the Wall, Varamyr has lost all his possessions in his madness from experiencing the eagle’s death; he has also lost control of his snow bear and shadowcat, but his wolves remain.

[Orell dying completely and Varamyr gets mad also reminds me another resurrected character Beric Dondarrion who also has ONE EYE and him dying for good to bring Catelyn Stark back to life... And like Varamyr, Lady Stoneheart loses her mind too... ]

Let’s move on to fourth book...

A FEAST FOR CROWS:

Jon is not even in this book? 

But Sansa is and we learn few things about her crushes:

Waymar Royce:

She had fallen wildly in love with Ser Waymar, she remembered dimly, but that was a lifetime ago, when she was a stupid little girl.

[AFFC; Alayne I]

Grrm reminds us Waymar Royce aka the biggest foreshadowing for Jon in AFFC book via Sansa’s chapter... 

Loras Tyrell:

Loras was another crush of Sansa and we learn that he got burned really bad in AFFC. 

Like the eagle and Jon. 

“Tell me,” said Margaery. “I command it.” Command it? Cersei paused a moment, then decided she would let that pass. “The defenders fell back to an inner keep once the curtain wall was taken. Loras led the attack there as well. He was doused with boiling oil.” Lady Alla turned white as chalk, and ran from the room. “The maesters are doing all they can, Lord Waters assures me, but I fear your brother is too badly burned.”

[AFFC; Cersei VIII]

More about Loras // Jon, please check: Jonsa Book Hints: A8

Let’s keep reading the fifth book...

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS:

In ADWD; Prologue Varamyr encounters with Others (just like AGOT; Prologue) and Varamyr’s body dies, but his mind lives on in his wolf One Eye. 

And Varamyr also thinks about Jon and his direwolf.. 

So we have dead warg who kept living in his animal: A WOLF whose name is ONE EYE. 

Varamyr could feel the snowflakes melting on his brow. This is not so bad as burning. Let me sleep and never wake, let me begin my second life. His wolves were close now. He could feel them. He would leave this feeble flesh behind, become one with them, hunting the night and howling at the moon. The warg would become a true wolf. Which, though?

[...]

“They say you forget,” Haggon had told him, a few weeks before his own death. “When the man’s flesh dies, his spirit lives on inside the beast, but every day his memory fades, and the beast becomes a little less a warg, a little more a wolf, until nothing of the man is left and only the beast remains.”

Varamyr knew the truth of that. When he claimed the eagle that had been Orell’s, he could feel the other skinchanger raging at his presence. Orell had been slain by the turncloak crow Jon Snow, and his hate for his killer had been so strong that Varamyr found himself hating the beastling boy as well. He had known what Snow was the moment he saw that great white direwolf stalking silent at his side. One skinchanger can always sense another. Mance should have let me take the direwolf. There would be a second life worthy of a king. He could have done it, he did not doubt. The gift was strong in Snow, but the youth was untaught, still fighting his nature when he should have gloried in it.

[...]

A sleeping direwolf raised his head to snarl at empty air. Before their hearts could beat again he had passed on, searching for his own, for One Eye, Sly, and Stalker, for his pack. His wolves would save him, he told himself. That was his last thought as a man. True death came suddenly; he felt a shock of cold, as if he had been plunged into the icy waters of a frozen lake. Then he found himself rushing over moonlit snows with his packmates close behind him. Half the world was dark. One Eye, he knew. He bayed, and Sly and Stalker gave echo. When they reached the crest the wolves paused. 

[...]

The things below moved, but did not live. One by one, they raised their heads toward the three wolves on the hill. The last to look was the thing that had been Thistle. She wore wool and fur and leather, and over that she wore a coat of hoarfrost that crackled when she moved and glistened in the moonlight. Pale pink icicles hung from her fingertips, ten long knives of frozen blood. And in the pits where her eyes had been, a pale blue light was flickering, lending her coarse features an eerie beauty they had never known in life. She sees me.

[ADWD; Prologue]

Jon dies in his last ADWD chapter and his last word was his direwolf’s name: GHOST... 

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold …

[ADWD; Jon XIII]

So we have a full circle: 

It started with Agot; Prologue 

and ended with ADWD; Jon XIII

Let’s not forget that Jon’s death was foreshadowed in ASOS; Sansa VI chapter. 

Lord Petyr dismissed him with a wave, and returned to the pomegranate again as Oswell shuffled down the steps. “Tell me, Alayne—which is more dangerous, the dagger brandished by an enemy, or the hidden one pressed to your back by someone you never even see?”  

“The hidden dagger.”  

“There’s a clever girl.” He smiled, his thin lips bright red from the pomegranate seeds.  

[ASOS; Sansa VI]

Next chapter was Jon:

Fore more about Jon’s death and Sansa; please check: 

Jonsa Book Hints: C12 & E7 

“Do not be so certain.” The ruby at Melisandre’s throat gleamed red. “It is not the foes who curse you to your face that you must fear, but those who smile when you are looking and sharpen their knives when you turn your back. You would do well to keep your wolf close beside you. Ice, I see, and daggers in the dark. Blood frozen red and hard, and naked steel. It was very cold.”

“It is always cold on the Wall.”

“You think so?”

“I know so, my lady.”

“Then you know nothing, Jon Snow,” she whispered.  

[ADWD; Jon I]

In conclusion:

Jon’s death, him warging into his direwolf during his death and him coming back to life arc has been foreshadowed since AGOT; Prologue and its most obvious hints were given in ADWD; Prologue by echoing AGOT; Prologue. 

The ‘ONE EYE’ motif seems like a key hint for his resurrection. 

And Sansa is always close to this motif or she has some connections with this motif via other characters or her chapters. 

A Sansa Stark being close to another ‘ONE EYE’ Stark is interesting because of the historical couple: Jonnel ‘One Eye’ & Sansa Stark in Stark family tree.. 

Even the hints of Jon’s death can be found in Sansa chapters. 

All of these tell us that Sansa will be important in Jon’s past resurrection story. 

Thanks for reading. 

Some sources:

Waymar // Jon 

Disfigurements 

Jonnel / Sansa

Jon’s fate and losing an eye

[butterflies-dragons]

Hey! There was a giant lemon cake with phallic image in alayne chapter. Do you think it some coincidence or it means something? Especially it's presented by petyr. Also Sansa and her enemies giving her lemoncakes give same vibes as Hansel&gretel story.

And best of all, Lord Nestor’s cooks prepared a splendid subtlety, a lemon cake in the shape of the Giant’s Lance, twelve feet tall and adorned with an Eyrie made of sugar.

For me, Alayne thought, as they wheeled it out. Sweetrobin loved lemon cakes too, but only after she told him that they were her favorites. The cake had required every lemon in the Vale, but Petyr had promised that he would send to Dorne for more.

—The Winds of Winter - Alayne I

Petyr Baelish is grooming Sansa, that’s the awful truth. And he has studied Sansa, he knows what she likes/wants and he will use that knowledge in his favor.

He knows she had a distant relationship with Ned, so he becomes Alayne’s father.

He knows that Ned neglected her and that she always craved for her father’s validation, so he gives her that, he praised her wits for example, and called her clever and smart. 

If Sansa says something like “I can’t” or “I don’t know”, he is there to encourage and support and tell her “you can do it” & “you know it”.  

He knows she loves knights and tourneys, so he allows her to organize a tournament, whose winners will belong to a kind of “Kingsguard” for Sweetrobin, based on the child’s favorite hero of the legends: The Winged Knight, Ser Artys Arryn.

He knows she loves lemon cakes, so he gives her a giant lemon cake.    

The Tyrells has used the same strategy:

"Sansa," Lady Alerie broke in, "you must be very hungry. Shall we have a bite of boar together, and some lemon cakes?"

"Lemon cakes are my favorite," Sansa admitted.

"So we have been told," declared Lady Olenna, who obviously had no intention of being hushed. "That Varys creature seemed to think we should be grateful for the information. I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off. Alerie, will you have them bring the food, or do you mean to starve me to death? Here, Sansa, sit here next to me, I'm much less boring than these others. I hope that you're fond of fools."

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa I

We all know how much Sansa loves her lemon cakes, but the Tyrells and Littlefinger really treat her as if she were a child like Sweetrobin:

"Will they be lemon cakes?" Lord Robert loved lemon cakes, perhaps because Alayne did.

"Lemony lemony lemon cakes," she assured him, "and you can have as many as you like."

"A hundred?" he wanted to know. "Could I have a hundred?"

"If it please you." She sat on the bed and smoothed his long, fine hair. He does have pretty hair. Lady Lysa had brushed it herself every night, and cut it when it wanted cutting. After she had fallen Robert had suffered terrible shaking fits whenever anyone came near him with a blade, so Petyr had commanded that his hair be allowed to grow. Alayne wound a lock around her finger, and said, "Now, will you get out of bed and let us dress you?"

"I want a hundred lemon cakes and five tales!"

I'd like to give you a hundred spankings and five slaps. You would not dare behave like this if Petyr were here. The little lord had a good healthy fear of his stepfather. Alayne forced a smile. "As my lord desires. But nothing till you're washed and dressed and on your way. Come, before the morning's gone." She took him firmly by the hand, and drew him out of bed.

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

The lemon cake in the shape of the Giant’s Lance

The Giant's Lance is the tallest peak of the Mountains of the Moon within the Vale of Arryn, extending three and a half miles above the the valley below.

The great-grandfather of Petyr Baelish was a Braavosi sellsword that came into the Vale of Arryn at the service of Lord Corbray. His line was continued by his son, who became a hedge knight and took the head of the Titan of Braavos as his sigil.

As I mentioned in this post, a sword, Ice in particular, works as a phallic symbol in Sansa’s chapters. 

So, we can also make this association:

The Titan of Braavos = A Giant

The Giant’s Lance = Tallest Peak

Lance & Peak = phallic symbols 

Lemon cake in the shape of the Giant’s Lance = I don’t want to write it 

We can also say that Petyr Baelish is “compensating” his “shortfalls”, after all he is a short man called Littlefinger.  

Yes, I think this giant lemon cake could be seen as a phallic symbol and it makes sense with Littlefinger grooming her... yikes

¡¡¡SOMEONE SAVE HER PLEASE!!!   

My friend @lostlittlesatellites has already wrote about these subjects, giant lemon cake as phallic symbol and Hansel and Gretel story: 

I argued that lemon cakes in Sansa’s arc actually spell people trying to exploit Sansa’s weakness in an almost Hansel & Gretel way and a betrayal that follows.

“Interestingly Sansa’s first chapter in AGOT poses questions that will drive majority of her arc. Her desire for a courtly life in the South will not only prove to be hollow but worse a dream that turns into nightmare. Sansa asks two questions: “What could you want to see? It’s just fields and farms and holdfasts” and “Why would you want to ride a smelly old horse and get all sore and sweaty when you could recline on feather pillows and eat cakes with the queen?”

The world is larger than Sansa has been taught to believe, reclining more inward into her dreams with the strict regime that she taught to look away from the window. She doesn’t think she is prepared enough and that she needs more training. Yes, she doesn’t know enough but neither does Arya or Bran or Jon. Having Sansa finally leave her cage after completing her tutelage under Littlefinger is continuing that student-teacher dynamic she has had since Septa Mordane. People come to love the security of the cage they live in too long. This is why it takes so long to take out the fear of the outside from Sansa because the fact that she has barely any experience keeps her thinking she needs someone to rely on.

[…]

The “Feather pillows and cakes with the queen” part represents the glamour that attracts little boys and girls like Sansa. However, it is hollow as Sansa comes to realise about many things. In fact, people offering Sansa lemon cakes in Sansa’s storyline often forebodes a betrayal from the person offering it. Cersei offers her lemon cakes and a few chapters later she has Lady executed and even later, she has Ned arrested. Olenna offers Sansa lemon cakes, which Varys offers as valuable information to bring her guard down in order to lure her into her trap of marrying her to Wilas and getting hold of Winterfell and the North. They have her wear the murder weapon, which could implicate her for Joffrey’s murder even if their target is Tyrion. Littlefinger is offering her a 12 foot phallic shaped lemon cake in Sansa’s TWOW chapter. Given how happy Sansa is in this chapter that she is almost forgetting that she isn’t Alayne, the food is way too lavish when Winter is coming and along with this trend with lemon cakes, the clock is going to strike 12 and the illusion is going to break very soon. Soon Sansa will prefer riding those “smelly horses” and getting sweaty and sore in order to escape over those lemon cakes and feather beds offered by untrustworthy people. For Sansa’s arc to be fulfilling she has to experience the lives of small folk up close before she helps them. As a character whose view range is often myopic, she has to be put in the middle of the lives of the small folk to truly understand them.”

I highly recommend you to check @lostlittlesatellites blog, she’s a great ASOIAF meta writer, you can read more about these subjects here and here. She covered a lot of themes and symbolisms around Sansa in the Vale, some of them very disturbing regarding Littlefinger’s present and future actions against Sansa...   

But despite all that, since GRRM is a writer that likes to give different meanings to a same thing, there are also some very interesting details that are worthy to mention about the real Giant’s Lance:

So lovely. The snow-clad summit of the Giant's Lance loomed above her, an immensity of stone and ice that dwarfed the castle perched upon its shoulder. Icicles twenty feet long draped the lip of the precipice where Alyssa's Tears fell in summer. A falcon soared above the frozen waterfall, blue wings spread wide against the morning sky. Would that I had wings as well. 

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne I

The Winged Knight was Ser Artys Arryn. Legend said that he had driven the First Men from the Vale and flown to the top of the Giant's Lance on a huge falcon to slay the Griffin King.  

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

I can see strong dragon imagery here... 

I already wrote about how Sansa wishing falcon wings could be foreshadowing of her getting dragon wings.  

Here I also listed all the similarities between Jon and Sweetrobin.

But the most interesting detail is that the real Giant’s Lance is Stone covered by Ice/Snow. 

Sansa’s Vale arc has a lot of connections with Jon Snow, like this parallel that I called “Children of the Mountains”.

There is also the names of the waycastles Stone (Alayne) and Snow (Jon).

And one of my favorite Jon Snow reference in Sansa’s chapters, the ghost wolf, big as mountains:

All around was empty air and sky, the ground falling away sharply to either side. There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghost wolf, big as mountains.

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

So, 

The Giant’s Lance is the tallest peak of the Mountains of the Moon.

The Giant’s Lance is Stone covered by Ice/Snow.

Sansa compared those mountains with a giant Ghost Wolf.  

I’m sorry Littlefinger, you can’t touch this girl!

Thanks for your message.

[twistedisciple]

Man, they were dropping like flies out here. The pink-haired one falls right after the other finishes chewing him out (and NOT paying attention to their enemies’ movement, like he suspected), leaving Griss standing alone in the middle of a ring of powerful, mostly-unhurt Emblems. A pretty lucky day, if he was being honest. Too bad about everyone else. He hopes they like the taste of dirt.

The one on the wyvern swoops down at him, brandishing an electrified axe bearing a resemblance to lightning itself. Dark talons hit the ground, throwing up earth and grass beneath powerful wings, as the woman lifts the weapon overhead and calls down a storm of bolts. Griss’ hair raises with static as lightning strikes loudly hardly more than a few feet away, singing the air with the stench of ozone and searing a smile across his own face.

Doting Sister 18/18HP* hits Griss 5.5/10HP with Bolt Axe! [Roll: 2 + 6 = 8] Griss loses -1.5HP, 4/10HP Followup: Doting Sister barely hits with Bolt Axe! [Roll: 1 + 6 = 7] Griss loses -0.5HP, 3.5/10HP

From screaming reptile, to magic-charged weapon, to the power, respect, and awe she commands in scant armor, she kinda reminds him of Zephia. The frenzy in his eyes fades a little with fondness, but he pulls out a tome nonetheless and hovers his hand over its pages.

“Now you got me thinking about someone. I don’t know which Emblem you are, but you better not disappoint me.”

His fingers curl and lift water from the pages, and as he had with the boy he’d inadvertently struck back earlier, he sends it out in a whirlpool of ice

Griss 4/10HP counters with Varunastra! [Roll: 17 + 4 = 21] Doting Sister 18/18HP* loses -0HP

only for it to bounce ineffectually off of scaly armor. For a moment, Griss can hardly believe it. In Elyos, he’d earned his title as a sage. His magic was strong. It might work differently here (in Fódlan, in this illusion), but he’d never seen it do nothing. He starts to laugh, though it rings empty in his ears without anyone else to share it with. Zephia would’ve been laughing with him - at him - if he’d tried that on her (and it probably would’ve bounced right off her too).

Dual Strike: Princess Exalt hits with Parallel Falchion [Roll: 10 + 6 = 16] Griss loses -2HP, 1.5/10HP Princess Exalt uses Bonded Shield on Doting Sister and Lonely Heir

One of the others - the Princess Exalt, he knows that one, but it doesn’t matter anymore - thrusts forward with her blade, running him right through the middle. Pressing his fingers into his side, gripping around the sword’s edge hard enough that it cuts his hand open as he stumbles back to dislodge himself, he keeps laughing.

“That’s what I’m talking about! Don’t hold back!” he shouts like the specters don’t just simply stare back at him wordlessly, expressionlessly, like they all had when Lord Sombron had blessed him - them, the Hounds, rings of their own.

Griss 1.5/10HP hits Doting Sister 18/18HP* with Varunastra! [Roll: 10 + 4 = 14] Bonded Shield blocks the attack

He slings another spell from his book with the hand not holding his blood in, his arm haphazardly arcing wide as the spell once again bounces off - this time off the Exalt’s blade - and the book hits the ground. It’s enough to get the wyvern woman’s attention again though. Griss charges for her, hungry, yearning, grieving all at once, before he hits the ground with a clap of thunder.

Doting Sister 18/18HP* counters with Bolt Axe! [Roll: 12] Griss 1.5/10HP loses -2.5HP, 0/10HP

“That’s it…” he moans, darkness encroaching the edges of his vision, muscles spasming with the dispersing electricity. “That’s… all I wanted…”

Griss is defeated!

Steel Round ends!

Self-Destruct Countdown [Steel Round Team 12]

[swordmaid]

Super unpopular opinion in the gen fandom but Brienne as forever the Starks’ sidekick is so unappetizing. I don’t mind her official knighthood as long as it goes into how she reforms the system or the Starks respect her as an older sister/advisor. Whenever I read fics where Jaime dies & leaves her loveless so she guards the Starks is depressing to me? Like ‘oh, you loved the wrong man so you have to make it up to dedicating your whole life to the right family’ or ‘she’s loyal (ie dumb) muscle.

Yes, she is Duncan’s heir parallel but it is not a 1:1 comparison. She is his foil too. The characters’ genders, ages, and social statuses play a huge role in their arcs, personalities, and experiences. To have them end in the same place is just ??? Besides, Tarth’s place as an invasion means she will probably be thrust into a leadership role. Honestly, the only other worse ending is if she ends up with Hyle like a bad romcom written by a Nice Guy Incel whose inspiration came from a wet dream.

Also the Baratheon’s are dying, no one is officially in charge of it, the siege of Storm’s End is ongoing, Aegon’s forces are sweeping the area, Greyscale. Besides Davos, Brienne is the most significant POV from the Stormlands most likely to survive. Yes, she’ll probably find kinship & respect in the North. However, I’ve a hard time believing a woman who fears not being a good heir & is dutiful & compassionate even to people who were cruel to her would just abandon the place she grew up.

The Stormlands, like the Riverlands, are going to need strong and moral leadership when all of this is done, especially if Edric Storm is named Lord Paramount since he is just a kid and a bastard at that. Brienne, who has first hand experience with suffering and commits acts of small and large compassion, would be needed.

Same anon who ranted about Brienne, glad you liked my take! Wanted to add that if Brienne becomes a knight, I want her to lead reforms to take away knighthood from people who exploit it and focus it more on community engagement, knights other women, etc. while the show’s knighting scene is excellently acted, I feel :/ for it as a capstone for her arc because I feel like there are many plots that can come from and they just go oops, she’s Kingsguard now. Let’s not explain why she wants to!

Let’s not explore what it means to be a woman in a corrupt and toxically masculine field in such a visible job title! Let’s not explore the challenges of holding others accountable and how to stay ethical and not jaded/numb in a difficult job field. Let’s not explore how it will impact other women to see a female knight! Let’s make a knight and move on, people! We got CGI dragons and world’s most dull conclusion to film.

my reply is under the cut because this is already so long, but YASSSSSSS GO OFF!!!

I always and will forever express it--- i hate brienne as a sworn sword to the Starks. Gonna even go FURTHER to say that she’s not even MEANT to be a sworn sword. The fact that the two people she has sworn under died--and even if it’s out of her control--i think that’s going to have a play in her stance about this whole thing. I’ve said it before again, I don’t care about her getting knighting all too much as well because acquiring the title of the knight/ser isn’t what’s important--it’s her being recognized as one. we know, from the various of knights in the series, that having the title of ‘ser’ doesn’t mean shit when none of them uphold the values. we also know that hedge knights has a reputation of them being beggars with swords, and they’re usually frowned at. brienne achieving that recognition that she is a true knight without actually having the title of ‘ser’ herself would be important to her character imo because her character has been heavily and constantly judged by crowd perception throughout the series. even if she has the title of ‘ser’ who would believe it? if say, hyle knights her or jaime knights her, would other characters in the series believe that she actually has that title or would they think she’s just fucking around? achieving that crowd recognition--having that perception from the small folk etc. would mean so much more since it actually shows that you don’t need to be a ‘knight’ to be seen as a true knight, since all it boils down to is if you uphold the values or not (which she already does). though it would be nice to have, brienne doesn’t really need the title of a knight since she’s already one. she just needs to be recognised as one because so far, jaime, pod (maybe hyle?) is the only one who recognises her as one. (i would argue the lil kids in the orphan inn too)

I love the idea of her mentoring Edric Storm actually. Personally, I love entertaining the idea that Brienne doesn’t serve under anyone anymore, rather, she serves the small folk. her ‘political power’ comes from the influence that she garners from the people in the realm. and as you know with ice and fire, the opinions of the smallfolk & bannerman ACTUALLY matters like it’s not just a game between the great houses, and i think brienne will bring some relevancy to that. But in a scenario where she becomes an advisor for Edric Storm as some sort, I can definitely see her wanting to focus on the safety of their people first and foremost.

My mind is going off on a tangent rn but I don’t see her ruling over a land as well actually. I think a lot of factors will definitely come to play + it would depend on how this would end, but I don’t think Brienne would rule in some way. This is just mostly because I see so much ‘hero’ and ‘legend’ motifs peppered in her POV that if the series ends and she lives, the ending that I see her having is EITHER she’s gonna settle down with jaime somewhere OR she’s gonna go off with pod and continue to help and protect people ala dunk and egg. I’ve never seen her as a character who would rule; I don’t think she has any political agenda, but obviously that can be changed and I can be convinced otherwise but currently that’s where my mind is rn. 

And I don’t want to think about the show’s knighting and Brienne being in the Kingsguard honestly dfkgdjg I refuse to have the show occupying my psyche like, no thanks!!! All I’m going to say that if brienne’s path leads to that in the books I’m gonna hunt down germ’s cabin in the woods 

[likelytowritesomestuff]

IF YOU ARE STILL UPSET ODA DIDN’T GIVE ENOUGH TIME TO THE POST REUNION BETWEEN USOPP AND THE CREW AFTER WATER 7...

Here some fics that can supply this lack:

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY: 

basically Rufy doesn’t hold grudge and it shows especially after Usopp rejoins the crew... Rufy is a ray of sunshine and Usopp can’t believe he has a friend like him

THE STORM ENDED ALREADY (SO YOU SHOULD STOP SHAKING)

The confrontation between my favorite duo in the crew: Nami is still hurt about Usopp’s choice and she isn’t afraid to say it out loud, but she still cares for him. Both of them are very IC and the last scene is perfect

LOOK AHEAD (STAND BY ME)

Usopp’s leaving made Chopper’s abandoment issues resurfaces and there are some really great quotes in it and a great introspection of both the characters

SALVAGE 

Basically Franky comforts Usopp because he thinks his apology isn’t enought and they start to bond. Also, Sanji confirms to be a great observer because he realized Usopp’s feelings after his return and they have a really cute scene together (platonic or romantic, it’s up to you)

FEAR OF THE WATER:

Franky comforts Usopp, but this is more Franky-centric, focused on his feelings after he left Water 7 and his family: he also rethinks to his life choices and sees a lot of himself in the sniper

ON TOOLS AND FRIENDS:

Robin notices Usopp is acting strange after his return and decides to talk directly to him. Great underrated duo, I love the parallels between the characters in the arc

WHAT WE OWE TO EACH OTHER

The conversation we all wanted between Zoro and Usopp after he rejoins the crew. Probably one of the few fics that made me cry because there’s a lot of emotional stuff here and it’s developed in a very realistic way

NAKAMA MEANS:

probably my favorite, because it involves everyone in the crew, even if the focus is between Zoro and Usopp’s confrontation. Everyone is so IC and it could be easily the missing chapter/episode of the Water 7 arc 

[fedonciadale]

Could it be plausible that Jon might go to the Vale to meet Sansa & both of them return North. The Girl in the Grey theory holds weight for Sansa but one thing that bothers me a bit is how is she going to journey all the way from White Harbour to the Wall when the weather is so bad . We know Stannis Army was stranded due to the storms. It looks logistically impossible for her to take the road journey. However, she can take a ship to Eastwatch.Any thoughts ?

Hi there!

This problem has bugged other anons as well:

Do you think Sansa will go to Riverlands in TWOW ? Journey through the North with snow storms during winter is going to be difficult. Maybe Baelish meets LSH ? Any thoughts ?

So how will Sansa journey to the North with KoTV?They aren't going to Moat Caitlin because of the storms making the roads impassable & the Vale also does not have its own fleet.The only way it could be if she takes a ship alone& travels through the Sisters & arrive at White Harbour like Ned.But due to advent of storms,I think it will be better for her to take a ship to Eastwatch because by the time she takes the road from White Harbour to Wall,the story will be over&it's logistically impossible.

So, I could get snarky and tell you that I don’t really see a problem with logistics in a world that has an ice wall several thousands of feet high, that should melt from the pressure....

But, to be serious: @lover-of-lemoncakes wrote a meta on the possible way of Sansa as the Girl in Grey (here) and they sum up the possible route Sansa might take - that aligns with what Melisandre sees in the fires:

“ If you look at the map, if she takes a ship to White Harbor, she will have Long Lake on her west going North towards Castle Black.”

The whole point of the journey is that it will be incredible dangerous and life threatening. We don’t know yet, who might accompany her and die on the way. One of me pet theories is that her magic might come into it. Luthien, the character in the silmariliion who has many parallels to Sansa, has the ability to sing spring awake. And maybe something like that might happen.

I do think that Sansa will arrive by the time Jon is resurrected.

I don’t see her taking a ship to Eastwatch, because what would be the point of the prophecy then? And the Storm God might be more dangerous than we are led to believe.

I don’t see Sansa in the Riverlands either, because the meeting with Lady Stoneheart will be in Arya’s arc I think. Arya will become “Mercy” when she will see what revenge does to a person.

I also don’t think that Littlefinger will meet Lady Stoneheart. The giant dies within the walls of Winterfell. It will fall to Sansa to avenge her father, hopefully with the help of Arya.

So, yes, the journey will be long and hard. I mean “dying horse” implies that. But I’ve no doubt that Sansa will make it.

Thanks for the ask(s)