#jon snow white

[esther-dot]

Hair discourse: GRRM makes a big deal out of Catelyn’s and Sansa’s hair. And the Lannister’s. Actually, 🤔 everybody else’s too. TargARYEN hair, Tully hair. Snowhite Jon and his Stark hair that concealed his identity. Ygritte’s hair in connection to both Arya and Sansa.

On a side note, does anyone else remembers the stans were pressed during season 8 because Misandei wasn’t around anymore to braid Dany’s ridiculous hair?? Truly they had their priorities straight 🤡

I do remember those comments about Missandei. This fandom is truly sick sometimes. D&D really contributed to the horrible treatment of her by the fandom when they didn’t allow her to realize what Dany was and choose to leave her/return home. That’s the ending she should have gotten rather than getting killed to “justify” Dany’s murderous rampage that was seasons in the making. Infuriating.

Martin really does have a thing with hair! It comes up a lot and he uses it in multiple ways. I talked about Sansa’s hair a little over here, and think a lot more could be said with a closer inspection of how it comes up throughout the series. It connects to her mother/identity/reclaiming the North...it’s really interesting how seemingly inconsequential things have such importance in Martin’s world.

Also, I love your “snow white” Jon comment. lmao! I just read this, and my brain immediately went to Jon/Snow White:

One day in winter, the girl’s foster-father was skinning a milk-fed calf on the snow outside, to cook it for her. She saw a raven drinking the blood on the snow. She said to Leborcham:

‘I could desire a man who had those three colors there: hair like the raven, cheeks like blood, and his body like snow.’

(from The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu, link)

Lot’s of interesting ASOIAF-y things in that story!

[usernamesuggestionsarefunny]

Unironically a better concept than the future Snow White remake is going to be.

Jon Snow White (via mankardo)

[thewatcher0nthewall]

"Dance with me then"

[wanderlandjournal]

winter wonderland forest

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

Randomly thinking about grrm’s deconstruction of knighthood in asoiaf and how ironic it is that the Night’s Watch - an organization known to be half full of murderers, rapists, thieves, and all sorts of criminals - is essentially in charge of defending all of humanity when shit hits the fan. Like westeros just scrambled ‘the lowest of the low’ together into a penal colony in the far north and is totally fine depending on them for their survival; though tbf, i guess part of it has to do with expecting these societal ‘others’ to give their not so valuable lives for the good of the realm, who really cares if they live or die because they’re out of sight and out of mind. And it’s kinda funny too when we factor in the kingsguard because it’s a far more respected institution than the NW presently, but it too has its fair share of monsters. Quite a few men of the kingsguard have been morally bankrupt individuals, and we even see how the men of the KG sometimes forget other people they should be responsible for because their one priority is the king (we see what happens when you put the people of the realm first and then are ostracized by it a la Jaime tho there’s more to it). Missing the forest for the tree is something both institutions share, making them quite similar. So it’s interesting how grrm flips the fantasy classic of the black knight vs the white knight. The black knight is often anti-heroic, if not straight up villainous, and is often made to be diametrically opposed to the valiant and ever good white knight. But asoiaf has white and black knights both be shown of great virtue and great vice. The white knights in this story really are no better than the black knights. I’d love to see how these two entities could intersect, i.e., what happens when a white knight eventually changes his cloak for a black one (*cough* Jaime *cough*) and how that falls into grrm’s deconstruction of the romance of chivalry, the extent of personal heroism, and perceived knightly virtue. Welp I don’t even know what point I’m trying to make anymore, I just wanted to talk about the KG and the NW because they’re really cool.

[fistfuloflightning]

Before the heart tree, she reached out and took his hands. “Sansa of the house Stark comes before the old gods,” she said. “She is a woman grown, and she comes to be wedded.” “Jon of the house Targaryen comes before the old gods,” Jon echoed, eyes warm enough to make Sansa’s cheeks flare with heat. “He is a man grown, and he comes to be wedded.” His voice softened, lowered, became more private. “Will you take me, Queen Sansa?”

From the fic if you try to break me, you will bleed by @dialux which I devoured in two days

[mysticalcatpeanut]

They didn't have Lucerys's body for the funeral so to represent his whole life, Jace used his newborn clothes, Joffrey his toy as a child, Rhaenyra his clothes as an adult...

[soncee]

Jon Snow sketchh, kinda hate this one

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

‘the black bastard of the wall’ moniker is the exact opposite of the ‘white wolf’ moniker and this perfectly highlights the irreconcilable differences between book Jon and show Jon

[esther-dot]

"When he weds 'Arya Stark' at Winterfell, Ramsay wears a black velvet doublet slashed with pink silk and glittering with garnet teardrops. The pink bride's cloak is also spattered with red garnets." "Tyrion wore a doublet of black velvet covered with golden scrollwork, thigh-high boots that added three inches to his height, a chain of rubies and lions’ heads" Both Jon foils wore Targ colors while marrying Stark girls. Bonus Ramsey wore garnets.

and this ask:

Joffery had ruby on his sword while Jon had garnets on his sword. Rhaegar wore black armour with rubies at his breastplate while Jon wore black garbs as a NW brother with garnets on his sword. Interestingly Dany had a dream where she was at Rhaegar's place wearing black armour.

I searched black velvet and rubies and garnets, and those pop up enough that I can’t say there’s a totally consistent pattern in how they’re all used, but the Lannisters are kinda wannabe Targs, as in, the comparison of themselves comes up so it’s certainly on the author’s mind, and their power via violence reign ends as pathetically as the Targs will, so I think the connection is undeniable. And of course, Ramsay is the horror story of what a bastard might do to rise to power, so I think you’re right to notice those similarities. Some quotes:

Tyrion wore a doublet of black velvet covered with golden scrollwork, thigh-high boots that added three inches to his height, a chain of rubies and lions' heads. But the gash across his face was raw and red, and his nose was a hideous scab. "You are very beautiful, Sansa," he told her.  (ASOS, Sansa III)

Ramsay Bolton stood beneath them, clad in high boots of soft grey leather and a black velvet doublet slashed with pink silk and glittering with garnet teardrops. A smile danced across his face. "Who comes?" His lips were moist, his neck red above his collar. "Who comes before the god?"

-----

After a moment of silent prayer, the man and woman rose again. Ramsay undid the cloak that Theon had slipped about his bride's shoulders moments before, the heavy white wool cloak bordered in grey fur, emblazoned with the direwolf of House Stark. In its place he fastened a pink cloak, spattered with red garnets like those upon his doublet. On its back was the flayed man of the Dreadfort done in stiff red leather, grim and grisly. (ADWD, The Prince of Winterfell)

There’s a comment of garnets being more affordable than rubies, so that may be why they’re used here, and that’s why I think Tyrion and the Lannisters comment on this from the Targ angle, and Ramsay mainly from the ambitious bastard side. It gives us commentary on both those aspects of Jon’s identity.

We also have the confirmation of what Martin is doing with the black and red colors elsewhere:

"They will do well enough, I suppose," he told Haldon. "The camp is only three miles south." The Shy Maid would have gotten them there more quickly, but he preferred to keep Harry Strickland ignorant of where he and the prince had been. Nor did he relish the prospect of splashing through the shallows to climb some muddy riverbank. That sort of entrance might serve for a sellsword and his son, but not for a great lord and his prince.         

When the lad emerged from the cabin with Lemore by his side, Griff looked him over carefully from head to heel. The prince wore sword and dagger, black boots polished to a high sheen, a black cloak lined with blood-red silk. With his hair washed and cut and freshly dyed a deep, dark blue, his eyes looked blue as well. At his throat he wore three huge square-cut rubies on a chain of black iron, a gift from Magister Illyrio. Red and black. Dragon colors. That was good. "You look a proper prince," he told the boy. "Your father would be proud if he could see you."                 

Young Griff ran his fingers through his hair. "I am sick of this blue dye. We should have washed it out."  (ADWD, The Lost Lord)

In contrast to the Targ black and red, Martin uses white and red for Jon a lot. We’ve joked about him being Snow White because if you look at his chapters/references to him, Martin loves the combo, crimson on ivory, blood on snow....it’s everywhere. There have been metas written about how this connects Jon to Weirwoods via his direwolf who is white with red eyes, and of course, Sansa who also resembles it.

This all, the contrast with Targs and the indication of who he is, begins pretty early on:

The pommel was a hunk of pale stone weighted with lead to balance the long blade. It had been carved into the likeness of a snarling wolf's head, with chips of garnet set into the eyes. The grip was virgin leather, soft and black, as yet unstained by sweat or blood. The blade itself was a good half foot longer than those Jon was used to, tapered to thrust as well as slash, with three fullers deeply incised in the metal. Where Ice was a true two-handed greatsword, this was a hand-and-a-halfer, sometimes named a "bastard sword." Yet the wolf sword actually seemed lighter than the blades he had wielded before. When Jon turned it sideways, he could see the ripples in the dark steel where the metal had been folded back on itself again and again. "This is Valyrian steel, my lord," he said wonderingly. His father had let him handle Ice often enough; he knew the look, the feel.

----

They had moved him back to his old cell in tumbledown Hardin's Tower after the fire, and it was there he returned. Ghost was curled up asleep beside the door, but he lifted his head at the sound of Jon's boots. The direwolf's red eyes were darker than garnets and wiser than men. Jon knelt, scratched his ear, and showed him the pommel of the sword. "Look. It's you." (AGOT, Jon VIII)

Rhaegar and Dany are presented as true dragons unlike our boy:

They had come together at the ford of the Trident while the battle crashed around them, Robert with his warhammer and his great antlered helm, the Targaryen prince armored all in black. On his breastplate was the three-headed dragon of his House, wrought all in rubies that flashed like fire in the sunlight. The waters of the Trident ran red around the hooves of their destriers as they circled and clashed, again and again, until at last a crushing blow from Robert's hammer stove in the dragon and the chest beneath it. When Ned had finally come on the scene, Rhaegar lay dead in the stream, while men of both armies scrabbled in the swirling waters for rubies knocked free of his armor.  (AGOT, Eddard III)

And saw her brother Rhaegar, mounted on a stallion as black as his armor. Fire glimmered red through the narrow eye slit of his helm. "The last dragon," Ser Jorah's voice whispered faintly. "The last, the last." Dany lifted his polished black visor. The face within was her own. (AGOT, Daenerys IX)

The cream-and-gold dragon was suckling at her left breast, the green-and-bronze at the right. Her arms cradled them close. The black-and-scarlet beast was draped across her shoulders, its long sinuous neck coiled under her chin. When it saw Jorah, it raised its head and looked at him with eyes as red as coals. (AGOT, Daenerys X)

And yes, the ruby/fire/blood thing is bad, not positive as we see with the additional comments Martin makes on this:

His hands were shaking, but he made himself be strong. A maester of the Citadel must not be afraid. The wine was sour on his tongue. He let the empty cup drop from his fingers to shatter on the floor. "He does have power here, my lord," the woman said. "And fire cleanses." At her throat, the ruby shimmered redly. (ACOK, Prologue)

Melisandre was robed all in scarlet satin and blood velvet, her eyes as red as the great ruby that glistened at her throat as if it too were afire. (ACOK, Davos I)

As he neared, she saw that Stannis wore a crown of red gold with points fashioned in the shape of flames. (ACOK, Catelyn III)

King Joffrey sat above them all, amongst the blades and barbs of the Iron Throne. He was in crimson samite, his black mantle studded with rubies, on his head his heavy golden crown. (ACOK, Sansa VIII)

"Some smaller than others." Valyria. It was written that on the day of Doom every hill for five hundred miles had split asunder to fill the air with ash and smoke and fire, blazes so hot and hungry that even the dragons in the sky were engulfed and consumed. Great rents had opened in the earth, swallowing palaces, temples, entire towns. Lakes boiled or turned to acid, mountains burst, fiery fountains spewed molten rock a thousand feet into the air, red clouds rained down dragonglass and the black blood of demons, and to the north the ground splintered and collapsed and fell in on itself and an angry sea came rushing in. The proudest city in all the world was gone in an instant, its fabled empire vanished in a day, the Lands of the Long Summer scorched and drowned and blighted.                 

An empire built on blood and fire. The Valyrians reaped the seed they had sown. (ADWD, Tyrion VIII)

We know this is also the story of House Targaryen. Dany will go full Targ and end her house forever. Aegon, even if he ultimately rejects the path of his family, likely will die at her hands because of the Targ habit of killing other Targs. And AGOT already told us Jon will not follow the Targ path because Martin is doing something with his ruby vs garnet thing:

    

As he entered his lord father's solar a few moments later, he heard a voice saying, ". . . cherrywood for the scabbards, bound in red leather and ornamented with a row of lion's-head studs in pure gold. Perhaps with garnets for the eyes . . ."       "Rubies," Lord Tywin said. "Garnets lack the fire."         (ASOS, Tyrion IV)   

As for the guys betrothed to/marrying Stark girls (or a girl believed to be) wearing Targy colors, no idea what that could mean!

Thank you for pointing those contrasts out, anon!

[hewantshisbrideback]

ARYA STARK AND THE GODS ❦ BOURNE FOR THE GOD OF DEATH

Thirty different gods stood along the walls, surrounded by their little lights. The Weeping Woman was the favorite of old women, Arya saw; rich men preferred the Lion of Night, poor men the Hooded Wayfarer. Soldiers lit candles to Bakkalon, the Pale Child, sailors to the Moon-Pale Maiden and the Merling King. The Stranger had his shrine as well, though hardly anyone ever came to him. Most of the time only a single candle stood flickering at his feet. The kindly man said it did not matter. "He has many faces, and many ears to hear."

The Many-Faced God, also known as Him of Many Faces, is a deity worshipped by the Faceless Men, a guild of assassins established in the Free City of Braavos. The tale of the guild's beginnings centers around a figure of unknown origins, the first Faceless Man, who heard the prayers of the slaves to their various gods of death and came to conclude they all prayed to the same god "with a hundred different faces", the Many-Faced God, and that he was "that god's instrument".

This belief came to be reflected in the Guild's temple, which has a large public sanctuary that contains idols of thirty death gods. The religious order refills its pool of black water with a poison, so that drinking from it leads to a painless death. Visiting worshippers light candles to their god, then drink from the fountain using a stone cup, then go lie in one of the alcoves. Others take advantage of special alcoves, called "dreaming couches", which have special candles that bring visions of the past, for a sweet and gentle death.

Followers of Him of Many Faces consider death to be part of the natural order of things and a merciful end to suffering. The guild will agree to kill anyone in the known world, for a price, considering this contract to be a sacrament of their god. The price is always high or dear, but within means of the person if they are willing to make the sacrifice. The cost of their services also depends on the prominence and security of the target.

The High Valyrian words associated with the cult and its assassins are valar morghulis, or "all men must die", and its traditional response, valar dohaeris, or "all men must serve". This philosophy runs deep. Members are made to forsake their identities for the service of the Many-Faced God, and may only assassinate targets they have been hired to kill. They are not allowed to choose who is worthy of the "gift" by themselves.

[sunny12th]

love the idea of young griff announcing himself as rhaegar's kid, jon snow also raising his hand like "same here according to my time traveling brother and my dad/uncle's bestie", and aurane waters just jumping on the Claiming Targ Heritage train immediately. and dany "i am so desperate for family i dont even care at this point" collecting them all and forcing everyone to attend family game night on dragonstone

[thewatcher0nthewall]

[amber-laughs]

Dancing to the Song of Ice and Fire

“Ser Waymar met him bravely. “Dance with me then.” He lifted his sword high over his head, defiant.” A Game of Thrones - Prologue

Our introduction to not just the Others but to the world itself. "Dance with me then"

The sight made Lady Alys smile. "Do you dance often, here at Castle Black?" "Every time we have a wedding, my lady." A Dance with Dragons - Jon X

When the Night King wed his Corpse Bride it took Brandon the Breaker with his forces and Joramun, King-Beyond-the-Wall, with his forces coming together to take him down. There was a wedding and then their armies had to dance with the Others.

"You could dance with me, you know. It would be only courteous. You danced with me anon." "Anon?" teased Jon. "When we were children." She tore off a bit of bread and threw it at him. "As you know well." A Dance with Dragons - Jon X

Anon is a word that we don't use as much in this context anymore but it means both "Soon" and "Shortly". For example in Romeo and Juliet when her nurse is calling for her Juliet responds "I come anon" meaning she'll be there shortly. It is never before and never again used in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Alys is telling Jon he danced with her for a brief time, specifically in the past tense and specifically to replace the word "shortly". But when Jon recalls this moment a few chapters later he misremembers it.

"A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You'll dance with me anon." A Dance with Dragons - Jon XII

Jon now recalls this in the future tense and uses Anon to replace the word "soon". It's not that he danced in the past it's that he'll dance in the future. He'll dance with the Others soon just like Waymar Royce.

[buildoblivion]

weirwood!jon my beloved

[thevelaryons]

Addam & Jon Parallels: 8/?

Sentinel at the The Dragonpit/The Wall