#someone compared Arya to the blackfish

[scorpiusartistry]

Crowning of a new Queen, after all, all men must die

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As much as I love Sansa, I think she may die in the end, as lady did :/

[ourmrsreynolds]

Jon, Arya and the Childhood BFF to Lovers Trope: Or, why everyone ships J0nsa

I had an argument with my sister which was precipitated by her quipping “nobody likes childhood BFFs” and “hot new guy is always endgame.” I almost flipped a table. I sat there and I seethed for 30 seconds and then I texted her back PIRATES OF THE MOTHERFUCKING CARIBBEAN and I gotta say I was p pleased with myself because yes, Elizabeth and Will end up together even though Jack Sparrow exists and is indisputably hot.

My sister and I are reading Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. This is a story that sets out to deconstruct the trope of “It was always gonna be you and me,” and while my sister can crow all day about how Hot New Guy Gets the Girl, I want to examine why it makes thematic and structural sense for that to be endgame. I think it comes down to the protagonist, who seldom ventures out of her comfort zone and has trouble letting herself want things. The combination of extremely deep feeling and almost pathological constraint is what makes her story so compelling—because in the course of the novel she learns to unabashedly want things, to reach out and take them: and what she wants is the sardonic lacrosse-playing jock, not the Boy Next Door she’s had a crush on since forever. One of the running gags in the background is her nine-year-old little sister inventing increasingly far-fetched reasons she should be allowed to have a puppy, because the kid “knows what she wants and will do anything it takes to get it.” The contrast with hyper-repressed Main Character could not be more pronounced. I ask you, who does Main Character remind you of? Not Arya, for a surety. This is one thousand percent Sansa.

After the finale aired Jenny Han and some other YA authors were dragged on twitter for openly shipping J0nsa, which, I mean (a) it was more “ugh fan fiction” and “ew incest” and “think of the children!!1!” than anything specific to J0nsa (b) of course she ships J0nsa. Of fucking COURSE. J0nsa is not a childhood BFFs ship, because the whole point is that Sansa’s character development leads her to see Jon in a new light. It’s above all about Sansa’s arc and the scales falling from Sansa’s eyes and there isn’t room for someone who has always seen the value in Jon, who has always loved him best. Because that would not be sufficiently Pride & Prejudice-y. Allow me to remind everyone that Pride & Prejudice is (1) the ur-Romance novel and (2) about people changing their minds and revising their initial judgments. Ffs it was originally titled “First Impressions.” This is the dominant narrative wrt romantic love, then—that one must fall in love, that it must be accompanied by major character development and reevaluation of preconceptions. This is the appeal of Enemies-to-Lovers.

Listen, I don’t ship a pairing because I think it’s endgame; I ship it because I think it’s interesting. What I’m trying to do here is formulate a theory as to why so many people find Jon & Sansa’s dynamic interesting, as compared to the small handful of us who find Jon & Arya’s dynamic interesting. I’m not engaging with the people who are anti-incest on principle (if you’re not into incest this is maybe not the fandom for you). I think it has a lot to do with the sort of romantic stories we elevate and validate. Gendrya is a wildly popular ship, and it falls very much in the Childhood BFFs mold, but I think we can all agree that Gendry & Arya are not a finished product—they have a lot of stuff to work on, and what shippers are interested in is the process of them hammering it out. Jon and Arya though? They’re already president of each other’s fan clubs, where’s the tension or drama in that? The obstacles to their relationship are external and plot-driven rather than internal and character-driven. And I say unto you: This is Arya’s creation myth: Before there was anything, there was Jon. That’s it that’s my kink that’s the kind of all-encompassing bond I’m about. The absolute trust they repose in each other gives me LIFE. I’ve seen some J0nsas parry the “she’s not even his favorite sister” argument with “because she’s his wife not his sister” and like ... ok valid ig but the whole reason I’m interested in Jon/Arya is because they set no boundaries on their love?? They are each other’s e v e r y t h i n g. I mean if you want to read about two strangers fumbling their way towards feelings that’s fine but do not pretend to me that J0nsa is some kind of underdog ship. It’s the most basic of ships -- it’s a Pride & Prejudice ship. (Gendrya otoh is Persuasion, which is the best Austen novel don’t @ me.) For in-universe reasons why J0nsa undercuts Jon and Arya’s unconditional love this is a great post, but I’m going to stick to the meta reasons people ship what they ship.

Here is the thing I will die mad about: Everybody takes childhood BFFs for this hegemonic trope and wouldn’t it be so eDgY to subvert it by making her fall for a HANDSOME STRANGER instead. Jfc have you seen the biggest young adult franchises of the past decade? They are: Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments. Spoiler alert none of the heroines end up with their childhood bffs. I know the love triangle is hardly the point of The Hunger Games but facts are facts. It’s been 150 years and the Little Women fandom is still generating twice as much Jo/Laurie fic as Jo/Bhaer fic because Louisa May Alcott did Jo March dirty by not letting her marry the man she clearly belonged with. I just think the idea of there being someone you belong with, always have and always will, is ultimate #goals and this is the hill i will die on.

I look at Sansa and Arya’s starting points, when it comes to Jon, and however their arcs resolve in the end I cannot imagine how you could retcon J0nsa into some kind of lifelong attachment?? Here is Sansa in the wake of Lysa’s death, mulling her options:

there was nowhere for her to go. Winterfell was burned and desolate, Bran and Rickon dead and cold. Robb had been betrayed and murdered at the Twins, along with their lady mother. Tyrion had been put to death for killing Joffrey, and if she ever returned to King’s Landing the queen would have her head as well. The aunt she’d hoped would keep her safe had tried to murder her instead. Her uncle Edmure was a captive of the Freys, while her great-uncle the Blackfish was under siege at Riverrun. I have no place but here, Sansa thought miserably.

She lists Tyrion among her potential refuges, without once mentioning Jon! TYRION. Unreal. Even Brienne weighs the possibility of Sansa going North to Jon, and Brienne has literally never even met Sansa:

though all her siblings had been slain, Brienne knew that Sansa still had an uncle and a bastard half brother on the Wall

In case anyone requires reminding, Arya takes every possible opportunity to suggest “hey we could go to the Wall instead of wherever we’re going!”:

"I know where we could go," Arya said. She still had one brother left. Jon will want me, even if no one else does.

Maybe I should go to the Wall instead of Riverrun. Jon wouldn't care who I killed or whether I brushed my hair

One of these girls has been trying to get back to Jon for going on four books now. The other one thinks about Jon Arryn more times in her POVs than she thinks about Jon Snow (18 Arryns out of 27 total hits for “Jon” in all Sansa chapters). I’m not saying Sansa hasn’t grown and changed, or that her reunion with Jon might not evolve into something interesting; it’s just not a dynamic I personally care about. I’m definitely not saying that authors deserve to be publicly shamed for shipping fictional characters, but I think an author’s shipping preferences are revealing and shed light on their choices as far as which stories they choose to tell. I’m saying I ship Jon/Arya and I accept it’s not the ship dynamic that appeals to most people but here I am.

[janiedean]

In your opinion, what characters from asoiaf were better adapted on the show? In terms of writing/ story/ appearance/ acting. And what characters turned out to be a disappointed compared to their book version?

oh god okay so, given that to me they had started well for almost all and then ended up in a mess

well-adapted + good acting:

bronn (I mean he’s probably had more screentime than book page-time and he’s less of an ass but I do enjoy him so)

davos (he has his moments of wtf but in general he’s one of the few that actually didn’t get the WHAT IS THIS OOC MOMENT treatment)

... I guess cersei though they softened her up too much and did a fairly bad woobification job in s2 but in comparison to the rest...

ygritte

sam

the high sparrow

tywin

the dead S1 crowd ie ned, drogo, viserys and robert

dead NW crowd ie jeor, pyp and grenn EXCEPT THAT PYP AND GREEN SHOULD BE ALIVE

varys

for what I care, renly

dany is a toss-up because I don’t think they butchered her sl and actually cutting shit from adwd helped but I think emilia’s the worst actress on the entire show - sorry guys I

roose

osha

tormund

good acting, ON THE FENCE on the adaptation:

jon (he’s the one out of the main three whose storyline I always enjoyed regardless of the targaryen crap at the end of S7)

tyrion (a+ acting, the character is way less gray than he should be but at this point I’ll take it)

bran (I mean okay but what’s this emotionless crap from S7 get out)

arya if we count S1-6, S7 was atrocious

brienne because gwen is a+ but they destroyed her with ooc-ness in S5 and they seem to think she’s the hulk 90% of the time

I guess margaery but I think they tried to make her look better than she actually is and idec that much about her so

the blackfish ie a+++ until his absolutely uncalled for demise

sandor because they gutted his S2 story but he’s fairly okay for the average

mance but I also didn’t think the actor was a fitting face for the role so

badly-adapted + good acting/acting opinions

LF (great actor, crap script since S3)

robb (a++++ in S1, madden is a gift from the gods, S2 and 3 were atrocious I wanted to die WHY TALISA WHY, continuously ooc for S2/3 whenever talisa was on screen)

cat (a++++ acting throughout, so sidelined in S3 I wanted to punch someone, total ooc writing in S3 half of the time)

sansa (I was good with sansa until S4, then S5 happened and I just - blergh. half of the time she’s okay and half I’m like wtf, but fucking S5 turned me sour forever)

theon (started well, then went into torture porn and whatever but then they sidelined him from HIS OWN GODDAMNED STORYLINE AND HE STILL DOESN’T KNOW RAMSAY IS DEAD AND don’t get me started on how much I loathe theon’s sl, this last season was sortamaybemoredecent but I still think they robbed him)

asha (yara is not asha EW I love gemma but nope)

jaime (best character arc ever after theon, TOTALLY BUTCHERED FROM S4 TO S7 and the fact that he relapses into being an ass when cersei’s around and brienne’s not just shows they didn’t understand shit about the fact that after brienne gives him the kickstart he wants to be decent and stays wholly decent idk why they did S5/6/7 SIX ESPECIALLY but good fucking grief I’m so angry about jaime you don’t even wanna know)

stannis (written 50% ic and 50% ooc until s5 just to give him that fucking ridiculous ending like are we srs)

loras (good acting, totally ooc post-s2)

melisandre (I mean kay but idg what they’re doing with her)

the poor direwolves

I’m prob. missing someone but I think the main ones are here lol

[twilight-sparx]

Both of Cersie's summons to Jon and Sansa (7.01 and 7.06), Sansa's S1 letter, Sam's letter about dragonglass, Tyrion's letter to Jon, Bran's letter to Jon about the WWs and Jon's letter about bending the knee, all of these were Scrolls.

There were so many scrolls this season. It seems the size of the scroll depends on the content and writing of the sender(just look at the scroll Arya is holding compared to the one Jon is holding). As King of the North, Jon has received a lot of scrolls which can be seen next to the map. There seems to be a letter there as well.

We did see a letter in S7, Jorah was writing one to Khaleesi. Sansa's message that Brienne took to the Blackfish in S6 was also a letter. And in S5 Jon, as Lord Commander was shown signing letters to different lords asking for more men for the Night's Watch.

I do believe these are letters that Sansa is burning. They could be from Jon, it would explain Sansa's lack of worry for him (7.03, 7.04 and 7.05. She was worried in 7.06) and his lack of reaction at reading about Bran and Arya and seeing Brienne in KL. Davos smuggling them out and getting them to Sansa seems plausible, especially since he knows very well how to smuggle things in and out of Dragonstone(That is how he helped Stannis in Robert's Rebellion).

Or these letters could be from someone else. Sansa mentioned in 7.06 they have 20000 men, 10000 more than the number Jon mentioned in 7.04. [Tinfoil: they could be from Howland Reed, or from Lyanna or from Benjen, you never know.]

I doubt it is something incriminating like the letter Arya found, which wasn't exactly incriminating as Arya made it out to be. Winterfell was ruled by Ned, then Robb and later Bran, non of them seem to be the type who'd have done something incriminating. Unless ofcourse this is something from Rickard Stark's time, which is impossible in the show.

Whatever these pages are, Sansa burning them is a very pointed action that the creators specifically put in the show. She doesn't even throw both papers in the fire, She first throws one, watches it burn and then throws the other. We also see that it is snowing outside. The scene is shot inside, it doesn't really matter if it's snowing or not, so why specifically show it.

It is a very deliberate scene, which I hope is somehow explained in S8.

@thelawyerthatwaspromised @myrish-lace-love @a-redqueenofthewolves-love @hyojung12 @nonagaye @argetlam25 @aliceinfwonderland

Why is Sansa Burning these pages?

I was watching 7.06 again. In the scene where Sansa sends Brienne to King’s Landing, she is holding two pieces of paper that she burns in the same scene.

The scene starts with the camera focused on the papers. (It is also worth noticing that she is wearing the dress that she wears in 7.01 and 7.02 when Jon is around.)

The camera pans upwards and we see Sansa’s face. She seems impassive. Brienne is out of focus in the background, which means this shot was supposed to make the viewer look only at Sansa and her face expression. (In this entire scene all of Sansa’s shots are close shots meant to make the viewer look closely at her expressions.)

I’m beginning to think this few seconds long shot was just to show that it is lightly snowing outside. (There is meta about snow relating to Sansa. I don’t know the name otherwise i’d copy its link here.)

We see her throw both papers in the flame.

I find this extremely intriguing. The only two people I remember burning pieces of paper are Catelyn and Theon. Catelyn burns the letter Lysa sends her in Season 1 and Theon burns his own letter that he was going to send to Robb.

So what are these and why is Sansa burning them? If these were insignificant pieces of paper then there wouldn’t be so much focus on them.

[scorpiusartistry]

If you think this story has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention

The Queen of the North, Sansa Stark with her sworn sword, her sister, Princess Arya Stark