#nothing but an unworthy bastard who brought down the highborns around him who history wished so quickly to pretend never existed

[rise-my-angel]

When it comes to Sara Snow, it seems, to me, that there is a bit of an ethnicity issue as well. I have seen a non-zero amount of people who unironically say shit like 'Why would Jace pick some unwashed Northern hillbilly over Baela?' I genuinely wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not. That is, word-for-word, what was said about her in some of the posts I saw. My jaw dropped when I first saw it.

Baela is a Targaryen, a royal woman who has the blood of two Valyrian houses running in her veins. It's no secret that Targs are believers in the supremacy of their blood, as are the vast majority of their fans- So to them, Baela, as a Valyrian girl, is special.

In contrast, Sara is a Northwoman who presumably worships the Old Gods- A girl from a culture that is widely looked down on, and a follower of a minority religion. So, in the Valyrian supremacists' minds, she's of a 'lower' race.

This is exacerbated by the infuriating fact that this fandom, even the non Targ stan sides of it, seems to genuinely buy into the claim of Northern 'savagery' Instead of understanding that maybe, just maybe, the text is trying to critique the discrimination and prejudice certain portions of society face based on the arguments of some cultures and peoples being 'barbaric'

So when these two factors are combined together, their already existing distaste for Sara Snow snowballs into a perception of her as a bastard girl who is not only of a 'lower' race, especially when compared to the "ultra special" Valyrians, but also of a 'savage' one.

You phrased exactly what I was thinking but couldn't figure out how to put into words, thank you!

It is very jarring. It always comes from extreme targ stans who speak about her in a way that genuinely feels like they are just a few steps away from calling her a slur. She's a Northern, she follows a minority religion that no one shows any respect towards, she is a bastard, and she has absolutely no ties to Valyria what so ever.

Sara Snow and Baela are as far away from each other in commonality as they possibly could be, and that makes people uncomfortable at the idea that Jace fell in love with the opposite of everything that makes Baela so special and highborn. How could he look at this lowborn Northern savage bastard and see anything he couldn't have from his highborn Valyrian princess?

Now thats not me shaming Baela, but that is everyone else shaming Sara. It's why they insist she didn't exist. It's easier to pretend that her and Jace falling in love was a made up fairy tale, rather then to face the facts that everything about the Targaryean supremecy that Jace grew up with became the exact opposite of what he fell in love with. He fell in love with a girl that represents a life completey opposite of his, and yet she looked at a prince who was also the complete opposite of her, and didnt treat him any different either.

I don't think it's a coincidence Jace fell in love with her when he was completely and utterly disconnected from his family. He was in the North for weeks. He bonded with Cregan, they hunted together, they came to see each other like brothers. And he spent time with Sara, a bastard girl who like her brother, didn't judge him for being a prince or for the rumours he was a bastard, and fell in love with who he was seperate of all of that. Something impossible for a Targaryean/Velaryon to do with one another.

It makes these people uncomfortable that their Targaryean Prince fell in love with everything that stands against what the Targaryeans represent. With Baela, there was no mistake. He was always going to be Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, heir to the Iron Throne, and rumoured Strong bastard. But to Sara, he was just Jace. There were no expectations on who they had to be in front of each other because they had nothing looming over who they were to one another. Sara had nothing to lose, because she has nothing to offer but herself, and Jace fell in love with that.

It should say something to them that the character they supposedly love so much, fell in love with what they look at as a savage, wild, unruly Northerner. Why did Jace see all of those supposed things and still fall in love? Maybe because he learned none of those things are true, and there is nothing wrong with Sara nor Cregan as Northerners which would make him look down on them.

And it's that which makes them uncomfortable. They don't want to see in Sara what Jace saw in Sara, because it means challenging their preconceived notions about the North in general and they don't want to do that.

They are comfortable in their bubble where the Targaryeans represent the best way of life, and the North is just a wild and chaotic place that is too stubborn to be "tamed" or "controlled". When really, Jace got over those things and saw her for who she is, so it should say something about how much they really like his character, they they refuse to accept what he accepted.

They'd rather say she was a dirty Northern bastard who was nothing compared to the beautiful, special, royal Targaryean bride he had waiting for him at home. When in reality, there was nothing wrong with Baela, but there was nothing wrong with Sara either.

Jace saw that for himself, and his heart followed suit. His heart chose genunity and love over what and who he was told to love soley because their marriage was advantagous for his own families power.

Baela grants them both power, Sara offers Jace no power and he chose Sara anyway. And I think it says something about the people who hate her, that they refuse to agnowledge why he chose her.

They'd rather live in a world where she is just a savage bastard girl who probably didn't exist in the first place.