#sorry Stannis but it HAS to be a Stark

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

Yeah it’s cool and all that Lyanna Mormont and Wylla Manderly are such vocal Stark loyalists. But it’s actually quite important that they share names with two of the most important women in Jon Snow’s life: Lyanna Stark - his mother, and Wylla - his wetnurse and rumored mother in universe. Such stunning loyalty from these two girls who are named after women so important to Jon just tickles all the key parts of my brain. These are the women who gave him life. And it’s even more poignant when we realize that by ADWD, when the girls are declaring their loyalty, Jon is the KiTN who bears the name STARK per Robb’s decree.

[greenerteacups]

oooh please someday tell us what you think of GOT

oh, no, it's my fatal weakness! it's [checks notes] literally just the bare modicum of temptation! okay you got me.

SO. in order to tell what's wrong with game of thrones you kind of have to have read the books, because the books are the reason the show goes off the rails. i actually blame the showrunners relatively little in proportion to GRRM for how bad the show was (which I'm not gonna rehash here because if you're interested in GOT in any capacity you've already seen that horse flogged to death). people debate when GOT "got bad" in terms of writing, but regardless of when you think it dropped off, everyone agrees the quality declined sharply in season 8, and to a certain extent, season 7. these are the seasons that are more or less entirely spun from whole cloth, because season 7 marks the beginning of what will, if we ever see it, be the Winds of Winter storyline. it's the first part that isn't based on a book by George R.R. Martin. it's said that he gave the showrunners plot outlines, but we don't know how detailed they were, or how much the writers diverged from the blueprint — and honestly, considering the cumulative changes made to the story by that point, some stark divergence would have been required. (there's a reason for this. i'll get there in a sec.)

so far, i'm not saying anything all that original. a lot of people recognized how bad the show got as soon as they ran out of Book to adapt. (I think it's kind of weird that they agreed to make a show about an unfinished series in the first place — did GRRM figure that this was his one shot at a really good HBO adaptation, and forego misgivings about his ability to write two full books in however many years it took to adapt? did he think they would wait for him? did he not care that the series would eventually spoil his magnum opus, which he's spent the last three decades of his life writing? perplexing.) but the more interesting question is why the show got bad once it ran out of Book, because in my mind, that's not a given. a lot of great shows depart from the books they were based on. fanfiction does exactly that, all the time! if you have good writers who understand the characters they're working with, departure means a different story, not a worse one. now, the natural reply would be to say that the writers of GOT just aren't good, or at least aren't good at the things that make for great television, and that's why they needed the books as a structure, but I don't think that's true or fair, either. books and television are very different things. the pacing of a book is totally different from the pacing of a television show, and even an episodic book like ASOIAF is going to need a lot of work before it's remotely watchable as a series. bad writers cannot make great series of television, regardless of how good their source material is. sure, they didn't invent the characters of tyrion lannister and daenerys targaryen, but they sure as hell understood story structure well enough to write a damn compelling season of TV about them!

so but then: what gives? i actually do think it's a problem with the books! the show starts out as very faithful to the early books (namely, A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings) to the point that most plotlines are copied beat-for-beat. the story is constructed a little differently, and it's definitely condensed, but the meat is still there. and not surprisingly, the early books in ASOIAF are very tightly written. for how long they are, you wouldn't expect it, but on every page of those books, the plot is racing. you can practically watch george trying to beat the fucking clock. and he does! useful context here is that he originally thought GOT was going to be a trilogy, and so the scope of most threads in the first book or two would have been much smaller. it also helps that the first three books are in some respects self-contained stories. the first book is a mystery, the second and third are espionage and war dramas — and they're kept tight in order to serve those respective plots.

the trouble begins with A Feast for Crows, and arguably A Storm of Swords, because GRRM starts multiplying plotlines and treating the series as a story, rather than each individual book. he also massively underestimated the number of pages it would take him to get through certain plot beats — an assumption whose foundation is unclear, because from a reader's standpoint, there is a fucke tonne of shit in Feast and Dance that's spurious. I'm not talking about Brienne's Riverlands storyline (which I adore thematically but speaking honestly should have been its own novella, not a part of Feast proper). I'm talking about whole chapters where Tyrion is sitting on his ass in the river, just talking to people. (will I eat crow about this if these pay off in hugely satisfying ways in Winds or Dream? oh, totally. my brothers, i will gorge myself on sweet sweet corvid. i will wear a dunce cap in the square, and gleefully, if these turn out to not have been wastes of time. the fact that i am writing this means i am willing to stake a non-negligible amount of pride on the prediction that that will not happen). I'm talking about scenes where the characters stare at each other and talk idly about things that have already happened while the author describes things we already have seen in excruciating detail. i'm talking about threads that, while forgivable in a different novel, are unforgivable in this one, because you are neglecting your main characters and their story. and don't tell me you think that a day-by-day account tyrion's river cruise is necessary to telling his story, because in the count of monte cristo, the main guy disappears for nine years and comes hurtling back into the story as a vengeful aristocrat! and while time jumps like that don't work for everything, they certainly do work if what you're talking about isn't a major story thread!

now put aside whether or not all these meandering, unconcluded threads are enjoyable to read (as, in fairness, they often are!). think about them as if you're a tv showrunner. these bad boys are your worst nightmare. because while you know the author put them in for a reason, you haven't read the conclusion to the arc, so you don't know what that reason is. and even if the author tells you in broad strokes how things are going to end for any particular character (and this is a big "if," because GRRM's whole style is that he lets plots "develop as he goes," so I'm not actually convinced that he does have endings written out for most major characters), that still doesn't help you get them from point A (meandering storyline) to point B (actual conclusion). oh, and by the way, you have under a year to write this full season of television, while GRRM has been thinking about how to end the books for at least 10. all of this means you have to basically call an audible on whether or not certain arcs are going to pay off, and, if they are, whether they make for good television, and hence are worth writing. and you have to do that for every. single. unfinished. story. in the books.

here's an example: in the books, Quentin Martell goes on a quest to marry Daenerys and gain a dragon. many chapters are spent detailing this quest. spoiler alert: he fails, and he gets charbroiled by dragons. GRRM includes this plot to set up the actions of House Martell in Winds, but the problem is that we don't know what House Martell does in Winds, because (see above) the book DNE. So, although we can reliably bet that the showrunners understand (1) Daenerys is coming to Westeros with her 3 fantasy nukes, and (2) at some point they're gonna have to deal with the invasion of frozombies from Canada, that DOESN'T mean they necessarily know exactly what's going to happen to Dorne, or House Martell. i mean, fuck! we don't even know if Martin knows what's going to happen to Dorne or House Martell, because he's said he's the kind of writer who doesn't set shit out beforehand! so for every "Cersei defaults on millions of dragons in loans from the notorious Bank of Nobody Fucks With Us, assumes this will have no repercussions for her reign or Westerosi politics in general" plotline — which might as well have a big glaring THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT stamp on top of the chapter heading — you have Arianne Martell trying to do a coup/parent trap switcheroo with Myrcella, or Euron the Goffick Antichrist, or Faegon Targaryen and JonCon preparing a Blackfyre restoration, or anything else that might pan out — but might not! And while that uncertainty about what's important to the "overall story" might be a realistic way of depicting human beings in a world ruled by chance and not Destiny, it makes for much better reading than viewing, because Game of Thrones as a fantasy television series was based on the first three books, which are much more traditional "there is a plot and main characters and you can generally tell who they are" kind of book. I see Feast and Dance as a kind of soft reboot for the series in this respect, because they recenter the story around a much larger cast and cast a much broader net in terms of which characters "deserve" narrative attention.

but if you're making a season of television, you can't do that, because you've already set up the basic premise and pacing of your story, and you can't suddenly pivot into a long-form tone poem about the horrors of war. so you have to cut something. but what are you gonna cut? bear in mind that you can't just Forget About Dorne, or the Iron Islands, or the Vale, or the North, or pretty much any region of the story, because it's all interconnected, but to fit in everything from the books would require pacing of the sort that no reasonable audience would ever tolerate. and bear in mind that the later books sprout a lot more of these baby-plots that could go somewhere, but also might end up being secondary or tertiary to the "main story," which, at the end of the day, is about dragons and ice zombies and the rot at the heart of the feudal power system glorified in classical fantasy. that's the story that you as the showrunner absolutely must give them an end to, and that's the story that should be your priority 1.

so you do a hack and slash job, and you mortar over whatever you cut out with storylines that you cook up yourself, but you can't go too far afield, because you still need all the characters more or less in place for the final showdown. so you pinch here and push credulity there, and you do your best to put the characters in more or less the same place they would have been if you kept the original, but on a shorter timeframe. and is it as good as the first seasons? of course not! because the material that you have is not suited to TV like the first seasons are. and not only that, but you are now working with source material that is actively fighting your attempt to constrain a linear and well-paced narrative on it. the text that you're working with changed structure when you weren't looking, and now you have to find some way to shanghai this new sprawling behemoth of a Thing into a television show. oh, and by the way, don't think that the (living) author of the source material will be any help with this, because even though he's got years of experience working in television writing, he doesn't actually know how all of these threads will tie together, which is possibly the reason that the next book has taken over 8 years (now 13 and counting) to write. oh and also, your showrunners are sick of this (in fairness, very difficult) job and they want to go write for star wars instead, so they've refused the extra time the studio offered them for pre-production and pushed through a bunch of first-draft scripts, creating a crunch culture of the type that spawns entirely avoidable mistakes, like, say, some poor set designer leaving a starbucks cup in frame.

anyway, that's what I think went wrong with game of thrones.

[ladystoneboobs]

no of fence to jon snow fans who for some reason care about his exact age, but these discussions just annoy me no end. not only bc there's no way any weirwood flashbacks bran has to rhaegar/lyanna will come with time/datestamps, but also bc there's always comments like this:

SEVERAL turns of the moon (ie, months)?! have these people never seen a human baby before or just have no concept of their ages? even if we take into account travel time from the toj to wf, meaning jon was not a newborn too fresh out the oven when catelyn and robb arrived, there's still a difference between a newborn and a 3mo and an even bigger difference between those infants and an older baby 5-7mo. there's very good reasons these lines were cut. whatever birthdates can be worked out internally for jon and robb from when they're first mentioned as 15 and 16 don't matter in the end, bc grrm doesn't care about a consistent timeline and the actual text of catelyn's pov and ned's convo with robert about cheating on her should outweigh any guesstimates about jon's official nameday wrt robb's. catelyn may not have cared for jon, but she would sure as hell have noticed his nameday if it came before robb's and made him ned's firstborn. if jon's birthday canonically came before robb's then either ned's cover story would not involve adultery (not impossible for him to sire a bastard before his wedding), or he'd just give jon a new nameday along with his new name to fit the adultery lie. it makes no sense for him to lie about one and not the other, undermining the big lie with a little public clue of his story not adding up. whatever else she was as a stepmother, cat wasn't stupid and a bastard who was actually the eldest son being raised alongside her trueborn heir could be an even bigger insult than whether he was born of adultery or not.

BUT, the unknowability of jon's true birthday is not the only reason this annoys me, it's bc this is all based on the assumption that jon must be older since rhaegar/lyanna ran off together before ned married cat, as if both boys must have been conceived asap as robb canonically was when his parents consummated their marriage. and that's not how human reproduction works! even if you don't understand how fast babies grow in the first year, you should know that people who get pregnant do so through ovulation cycles and a lucky sperm finding an egg and all that, not just immediately getting knocked up as soon as one has p-in-v sex for the first time. not unless you only know mean girls sex ed where if you have sex you will get pregnant and die. (even tho lyanna did die, there's plenty of canon examples where pregnancy did not lead straight to death. also examples of people who did not get pregnant right away and even some who are/were sexually active and childless without always having moon tea on hand.) we can't know how long lyanna was having sex before that sperm+egg match happened or even how long she was with rhaegar before losing her technical virginity. if they were married, doesn't it make sense to think they didn't consummate their relationship until the wedding night either? that's the only leverage there is to ensure a status as wife rather than just mistress.

and while i just said grrm doesn't care about exact timelines and a lot is still foggy surrounding the rebellion and esp rhaegar, there is one timemarker wrt robert's rebellion he voluntarily threw in, time and time again: that stannis was besieged at storm's end for almost a whole year. that siege, which mind you, did not match the duration of the entire war. it only started after robert won his battles at gulltown and summerhall, returned to storm's end, and then went out and lost the battle of ashford, leaving his homeland open to the reachermen. the same siege which only ended when ned made a detour there after the sack of king's landing, before going to the toj. even if lyanna may not have given birth that exact day ned found her, she could only be waiting in that bloody bed for weeks at the most, not months. so if rhaegar knocked her up the very same night he carried her off and jon was still a newborn when ned found her after the siege of storm's end had ended, wouldn't that mean lyanna was pregnant for well over a year? that's not how human pregnancy works either! so, maybe that's proof that jon and robb, whichever order they were actually born in, were actually very close in age as babies, much closer than if they were both conceived asap.

and really, jon's actual birthdate does not matter imho, when he was raised not just as the bastard to robb's trueborn heir, but with robb also known by catelyn and the world as ned's firstborn (which he was, in any case, as jon was ned's nephew by birth). what difference could a birthdate before robb's make (even were there some means of discovery) after ned, cat, and robb are all dead? if one is looking only at his birth parents then he's only a firstborn child on lyanna's side, but definitely a second son on rhaegar's side. maybe he was always meant to be a second son with a not much older half-brother! even if the aegon fka young griff is not in fact rhaegar's son, he'll still be known as aegon vi targaryen, meaning jon will never be known as any father's elder son. if i may reference mean girls again, it's not going to happen.

[atopvisenyashill]

im gonna finish adwd by the new year dammit

decided to start with davos chapters because FOR ME a davos chapter never misses (yall just have bad taste, sorry to say). gonna do this more like my got liveblogs, so this will probably be long because it’s all four davos chapters.

tldr of my thoughts on davos' adwd arc is:

davos is the common folk's superhero

manderly is RIGHT why is everyone discounting him as a loyal northerner when THEY MURDERED HIS SON MY GOD these people are asking to get baked into a pie

i am so so curious about the manderly family dynamics. i desperately want a longer and more intimate peek into that family!

wex pyke is iconic!!!!!

He had a sort of webbing between the three middle fingers of his right hand. Davos had heard that some of the lords of the Three Sisters had webbed hands and feet, but he had always put that down as just another sailor’s story.

love little details like this that really ground this story as a fantasy world!! just a trio of islands with people who still got webbing in their hands!!! i know this happens irl but usually that less "webbing between fingers" and more "fingers fused together" type thing - these people just have like, mermaid hands!

Those fingers do not lie. You are the onion knight.

they say this like he's batman omg THE COMMON PEOPLE'S HERO THE ONION KNIGHT

The galleys Oledo and Old Mother’s Son had been driven onto the rocks of Skagos, the isle of unicorns and cannibals where even the Blind Bastard had feared to land

RICKON AND SKAGOS MENTION

Part 30 in the epic love triangle of Salla, Stannis, and Davos, where Sallador begs Davos to come south with him and Davos refuses, going on his fool's errand to help win the North to Stannis' cause. Truly, whom else is giving me gay middle aged drama like this.

SISTER'S STEW. Damn I'm very hungry right now too.

The Manderlys are no northmen, not down deep.

CAREFUL MAN. I ENJOY YOU BUT BE CAREFUL SHIT TALKING THE MANDERLYS LIKE THIS.

It's funny that they say the Manderlys only came to the North "900 years ago" but you wouldn't say that Dorne isn't part Rhoynish just because the Rhoynar only came 1000 years ago. Like a hundred years isn't that much of a difference to discount the loyalty the Manderlys may have to the Starks!

The fisherman drowned, but his daughter got Stark to the Sisters before the boat went down. They say he left her with a bag of silver and a bastard in her belly. Jon Snow, she named him, after Arryn.

JON SNOW BABY THEORY. I know it's not true but I do wonder what happened to the fisherman's daughter that helped him. Did she have a bastard of someone else's? Was it just a rumor and her identity has long been forgotten, if she ever hears rumors about who jon’s mother is, what she thinks of them.

In this world only winter is certain. We may lose our heads it's true...but what if we prevail?

fuck i love ned so much

next chapter starts with a little tour of White Harbor, which is fun, getting to see a lot of the war refugees (bet Wyman feels stupid as fuck for leaving Lady Hornwood to die and not helping her escape Ramsay when he had the chance, Wyman you fucking jag off), then Davos just broods alone like "what am i meant for" FOR BEING A KING'S HAND YOU'RE JUST SERVING THE WRONG KING RIGHT NOW IT'S FINE YOUR KING IS STILL TURNING INTO A TREE BUT HE'LL BE BACK SOON

a slave revolt was raging in the east

DANYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

it’s interesting how “the last targaryen hatched dragons” and “there’s been several slave revolts” aren’t always connected as stories. probably just a comment on how slow news travels and how long the game of telephone going on is. i also love how when the men are talking about the targaryens that were in robert’s rebellion, a woman speaks up to be like “there was a girl too wasn’t there” AND she knows all about daena the defiant, very cute to me.

Robett Glover was in the city and had been trying to raise men, with little success. Lord Manderly had turned a deaf ear to his pleas. The Ryswells and the Dustins had surprised the ironmen on the Fever River and put their longships to the torch. And now the Bastard of Bolton was riding south with Hother Umber to join them for an attack on Moat Cailin. Some Hornwood men have joined them, and Cerwyns too. Ser Wylis, though, he's still a captive

just tracking northmen movements here

i love that the sloe eyed maid shows up all the way back in acok in a dany chapter, then we get to see what happened to it in a davos chapter all the way in adwd. once again, makes the world feel so connected, and the fact that it's davos, who understands the very specific pain of taking the risk to sail all the way to the east, only to die being tricked by a light in the Sisters......it's so good.

The knight wore silver armor, his greaves and gauntlet inlaid with niello to suggest flowing fronds of seaweed. The helm beneath his arm was the head of the merling king, with a crown of mother-of-pearl and a jutting beard of jet and jade.

the fact that the northerners never got any fit as sexy as they do in the books.....d&d when i catch you in these streets!!!

i forgot how infuriating that "robb actually killed all his own men by turning into a wolf" story is omg, the freys do have one thing and that's the AUDACITY because JEEZ the way they just keep going and going when even davos who doesn't know these people is like "hmmm wyman looks a little pissed off"

i am curious.....idk......robb turned into a wolf and murdered all his own men......sansa killed the king then turned into a bat and flew away...........am i cooking here?

i'm so interested in whether wynafryd is treated as heir apparent by wyman. wyman says she’s in on the plan, yet neither her sister nor mother are. this feels like a HUGE responsibility and secret he’s shared with her.

Davos asking for a book so he can keep at his reading...my heart...the little librarian in me started crying omg

king hon stark name drop…..the wolf den raised to defend against raiders….

I rose up from flea bottom to be a king’s hand and I learned how to read and write.

i’m sorry…..i’m crying again…..he learned how to read and write, on part with being the hand of the king….slight personal story but my great uncle dropped out of school in 6th grade to sell newspapers (he wasn’t a newsie, his dad has a truck, they did it together, which sounds slightly less like a dickens novel) but anyways he had very poor reading and writing skills and idk it’s just always something that gets to me about davos, that the reading is what he holds so dear, as dear as stannis’ favor!

PICTURE ME SCREAMING “ROBBEEEEEEEEEEEETT” AND RIPPING MY SHIRT OFF. NORTHERN POLITICS LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

i had to calm down i was so excited i was doing that thing where your eyes keep jumping down the page so you’re mixing up you’re reading.

They crossed the castle’s godswood, where the heart tree had grown so huge and tangled that it had choked out all the oaks and elms and birch and sent its thick, pale limbs crashing through the walls and windows that looked down on it. Its roots were as thick around as a man’s waist, its trunk so wide that the face carved into it looked fat and angry.

britney_yeah.gif

What Did I Just Say Up There. So stupid to think Wyman isn’t just as Northern as the rest of them. If we wanna start getting tacky with it, Wyman is so ready to get tacky with it. Sorry to Freys & Lannisters but I think the pies is a cooler war crime!

“PORRIDGE FOR THE DEAD MAN.” Garth the gaoler is a comedian actually omg promote him to court jester!!

The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home.

Wex is soooooo fucking funny, like setting Theon up to feel up his own sister on Pyke & being way too pleased about it, then being the first to join up for Theon’s last stand and forcing a bunch of proud old dudes to die for that idiot but managing to survive by hiding literally inside the Weirwood, and then over dramatically throwing a dagger at the island of skagos on a map to show Davos where Rickon is. This kid is funnier than most adults i know lmao, Wex Pyke you’re an icon.

[la-pheacienne]

this love story has nothing romantic sorry this man is like stannis who would do anything for his prophecy and to be the hero of the story, he was so arrogant that he believed he would win the war that he would come back and make changes, he was so arrogant to believe that there would not be a war he thought that the starks were going to be fine with the position of lyanna's lover, that robert was going to allow it, many innocent people because of him, he did not think about lyanna's dishonor in an extremely sexist westeros, he did not think about the stigmas against the targaryen bastards, he manipulated, locked up a 15 year old girl in the middle of a desert and that girl died because of his prophecy and his irresponsibility and the consequences with jon are worse because he left an orphan child in the hands of an irresponsible uncle with an abusive wife. Rhaegar did not take measures in case she did not return because his god and hero complex was too much that it ruined the lives of Lyanna and Jon and that is not romantic.

I'm sorry English is not my first language

oh sorry I was actually talking about these:

[asoif-fics]

Threads of Prophecy.

A/N(1) - Hey guys firstly I am not used to writing for stannis so I gave it a try, sorry if it's not like him.. secondly REQUESTS ARE OPEN. Enjoy!!!!!!

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Context- After the death of Robert, Stannis proclaims himself as the next King.. Melisandre is a Red Priestess fuels his delusion as the "Prince who was promised" but Stannis Baratheon has one woman whose word approval and strength he needs the most His second wife, Aerea Targaryen.

word count - 2959

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As the chamber door closed, Stannis Baratheon sat in silence, the weight of the new role pressed against him like the cold stone walls of Dragonstone. His fingers tightened on the armrests of his chair. The gravity of the words from King’s Landing and Lord Stark swirled in his mind, a storm brewing within him. The course of the realm has changed and this was the beginning of a storm that could not be held back.

His claim was undeniable, but with it came a weight of responsibility and the pressing realisation that the realm would not bend easily to his will.

Yet, beneath the simmering urgency to take action, there was something more pressing, something that gnawed at him even now: his relationship with his second wife Aerea Targaryen.

----

(The fight)

The previous days had seen his and Aerea's relationship fracture in ways Stannis had never anticipated his new found obsession with the Lord of Light—had created a divide between him and Aerea, who could not and would not bend to the worship of a God that she neither trusted nor believed in, after all Targaryens considered themselves closer to Gods,if not one of them with or without Dragons.

The breaking point had come days ago, after a council meeting in which Melisandre had once again pushed her agenda on Stannis, claiming that the Lord of Light had chosen him as the “Prince Who Was Promised” and that his path to the throne was predestined by the flames,But Aerea had seen it differently, after all she had heard this false prophecies all her life..

As they Headed back to their chambers.. Aerea turned looked to Stannis breaking the silence between them. "I will not stand by and let you fall prey to these delusions, Stannis!" her words sharp as a blade. "Selyse and Melisandre may convince you that you are some chosen saviour, some Warrior reborn; but you and I both know you’re no divine King. You are a man with flesh and blood, who's right to rule, will be earned by strength, not by the whim of a God".

Stannis, who was taken aback by her outburst, had resounded in anger. "You do not understand, Aerea. This is bigger than us. I cannot ignore what has been revealed to me. The Lord of Light has shown me the way!"

"You’ve let them cloud your judgment," Aerea had snapped, locking the door to their chambers with a forceful click, her voice rising with frustration. "Your first wife and that woman, Melisandre—both of them have twisted your mind! You think they have your best interests at heart? Selyse only seeks to keep you shackled to this madness as she dives deeper into it , and Melisandre—she's using you to further her own agenda!"

Aerea’s eyes burned with the truth she was goes to Stannis and looks him to face. “And your wife… Selyse—she called Shireen a distraction. She said YOUR daughter, is nothing more than an inconvenience, I may not have bore you a child yet but that girl is like my daughter too... And still, she clings to that madness. The madness that keeps the dead babes as abominations, pulling your soul further into darkness.” Aerea took a step closer, her gaze fierce as she locked eyes with him. “And yet, you will still take her counsel as word? and not mine? You would trust these people who cannot see the truth right in front of them?”

Stannis stood silently, his jaw clenched as Aerea's words echoed in his mind. The truth, harsh and undeniable, pressed against him like a weight he could not bear to lift. But his pride, his stubborn will, fought back. The years of hard decisions, the battles won and lost, had shaped him into a man who needed to believe in something greater than himself. And though Aerea's words were like daggers, they also threatened everything he had worked for.

"You don’t understand," Stannis muttered, his voice low but firm, laced with the hardness of his pride. "You don’t understand the burden I bear. Selyse... Melisandre... they have their purpose. The Lord of Light has shown me the path I must take." He turned away from her, his back stiff, as if to block the truth from piercing any deeper.

Aerea’s eyes narrowed, her frustration boiling over. "The path you’re following, Stannis, is one that leads to madness. And you’re too blind by virtue of your own ego to see it, you will lose this war, and I won't stand by and watch you lose it. "

Stannis refused to meet her gaze. "You may think me a fool, but I am not one to abandon my course now. Not when everything is at stake."

His words were cold, and his posture rigid as he set his shoulders back, the walls around his heart growing thicker by the second. The battle for the throne had already begun, and for Stannis, it was no longer just a matter of what was right or true. It was a matter of maintaining control, of preserving the power he had fought so hard to gain.

The words that followed had struck Aerea's nerves, as Stannis’s face darkened, his pride bruised. “You speak of my wife and my closest counsel with disrespect, you speak of my failure, You know nothing of what the Lord offers me.”

Aerea’s eyes narrowed, as she replied her voice cold “That same wife you never thought of while your brother married you off to a Targaryen,” she said, her words biting.

“You may not have chosen me, Stannis, but I was there to secure your house's claim, to ensure your family had the loyalty of the last of House Targaryen, after Your family sent mine Fleeing. You were married to me because it was politically necessary, not because you truly saw me or understood what I could offer.”

Stannis had frozen, her words striking at the heart of him, but it was Aerea’s final line that caused something deep within him to shift.

Aerea had taken a step back, her voice laced with a powerful, almost regal bitterness. "Do you not realize where you stand, Stannis Baratheon? You are in my ancestral castle, the seat of House Targaryen. It is my blood that courses through these stones, not yours. the blood of my Direct ancestors And yet, you would choose the counsel of a woman who claims to speak for a God you cannot even see over the blood that runs in your own veins."

Her words had hung between them, a truth that was hard for Stannis to ignore. Dragonstone—this ancient, weather-worn fortress—was a place that had belonged to the Targaryens long before his arrival, and yet here he was, living within its walls, an indirect guest to its legacy, married to one of its daughters.

Aerea’s voice grew colder, cutting through the tension in the room. “Your grandmother, Rhaelle Targaryen, would be ashamed to see her own descendant bowing to false Gods,” she said, her words sharp as daggers.

Stannis stiffened, his eyes narrowing. “You speak of my grandmother as if you knew her.”

“I know what she stood for, she was a Targaryen.” Aerea retorted, her tone unwavering. “She was a woman of honor, not a puppet to prophecies and self-proclaimed false Gods and its puppets." And you—you're betraying everything she believed in, everything your bloodline represents.”

Aerea's voice had softened, as she steps closer to him but only slightly. “I gave you everything, Stannis. My loyalty, my mind, my strength. And I’ve stood by you through all of this—through the madness of your claim, through your obsession with the throne. But I will not watch you destroy yourself with these fantasies .”

Stannis's jaw tightened, the weight of her words pressing down on him, but his pride kept him silent. He refused to show any sign of weakness, though the truth of Aerea’s words gnawed at him.

But the fire that burned within him, the desire to be more than what he had been, would not be so easily extinguished. as his ego flared, He clenched his fists at his sides, his voice rising, thick with defiance.

“You think I don’t know what I’m doing? You think I’m blind to the weight of Robert’s death and the throne that should have been mine?” Stannis’s voice was rough, laced with frustration and pride. “I know the truth, Aerea. I always have.”

Aerea's eyes narrowed, her disappointment turning to something sharper, more dangerous. "why do u let the false hope of light guide you? Why do you let Melisandre's whispers and your first wife’s lies define you? You’re not just a pawn in their game, Stannis."

He straightened, the walls of his pride rising higher. “I’m not some fool who will bow to every whim or every prophecy. The Lord of Light will guide me. I will be king.”

Aerea stepped forward, her voice lowering, but her words sharp as ever. “And what of the man who you used to be? The one who didn’t need a false god to see the truth? The one who believed in the strength of his name, his blood, and his allies?”

Stannis took a breath, his jaw clenched tightly, his pride refusing to bend. “That man is still here. And he will take what is rightfully his.”

"Aerea," he had said, his voice strained but resolute. "You are my wife, but you have no claim to this war. The throne is mine. And I will see it claimed, whether through wars, blood, or prophecy."

Aerea didn't say a word as she had stormed out of the chamber, leaving Stannis alone with the quiet, the darkness, and the weight of her accusations. And as he stood there, feeling the cold stone beneath his feet, he couldn’t help but wonder whether he was truly on the right path—or whether Aerea had been right all along.

-----------

The Next Morning, Stannis found his wife the study chambers of DragonStone, the weight of everything pressing down on him, he knew he had to make a choice. The war for the throne was upon them, but so was the war for his own soul and the woman he had grown to love, the woman who might bear him his first son. His relationship with Aerea, his second wife, was a battlefield, just as hard as any battle he was likely to fight.

His shoulders seemed to sag with the weight of the apology that he had kept bottled up for so long. The words came slower than he expected, but they were honest, raw.

“I’ve wronged you, Aerea. I should never have let myself be swayed by their voices. You’ve always been there for me—steadfast, loyal—and I failed to see that.” Stannis said as he walked closer to Aerea's table.

Aerea’s eyes softened, but her expression was guarded, as if she were still not sure whether she could fully believe his words. “You’ve made choices, Stannis, and those choices have hurt us both. You've let others pull your strings for too long, and I can’t forget that so easily.”

He took a step closer, as he sat next to her.. his voice softening. “I know. But I want to change that. I want to fight for us, for this marriage, for the realm—not for the Lord of Light, not for my first wife, but for the kingdom you and I will rule together. I don’t want to keep living under the shadow of what others tell me I should be.”

Aerea’s eyes flickered with something close to hope, as she looks at her wedding ring, then to him, there was a wariness in her expression, a lingering uncertainty. “You say that, but words are just words, Stannis. I need to see it. I need to see that you mean it. Your actions have to show me you're not the man I’ve spent the last months fighting against.”

Before Stannis could respond, the door to the study chamber creaked open, and Melisandre entered, her presence as commanding as ever. She surveyed the room, eyes flicking between Stannis and Aerea. The faint glow from her ruby necklace cast an eerie red hue across the stone walls.

“Is everything well, my lord?” Melisandre’s voice was soft, almost too soft, but there was an unmistakable edge to it, a subtle challenge beneath her words. She had clearly caught the tail end of the conversation.

Aerea’s gaze locked with Melisandre's, her lips curling into a thin smile that didn't reach her eyes. “Ao issi daor jorrāelatan kesīr melisandre, Bisa iksos rȳ issa se issa valzȳrys.”

Stannis looked between them, the tension suddenly thick in the room. He had no wish to invite conflict, he knew Aerea only spoke High Valyrian when she was angry , but he knew this moment would be when his choices would become clear.

“Melisandre,” Stannis said, his voice firm but not unkind, “I have matters to discuss with my wife. You will excuse us.”

The Red Priestess hesitated for a brief moment, her gaze lingering on him, as though reading something deeper in his words. Then, with a small, knowing smile, she turned and left the room without another word.

The silence that followed felt heavier than any battle Stannis had fought. “Aerea,” he said softly, stepping closer to her once more. “I know I’ve been blinded. By Selyse, by Melisandre, by the weight of what I thought was my duty. But I see now that I’ve failed you. I have allowed myself to be swayed by their voices, and I should have listened to yours.”

Stannis took a slow, measured step toward Aerea, his gaze intense, the weight of his confession still hanging in the air between them. The long months of doubt, the struggles, and the distance between them seemed to be closing with each step he took.

“I’ve been so lost in what others expected of me,” Stannis continued, his voice softer now, laced with vulnerability. “But you…” He reached out, his hand gently brushing a strand of Aerea’s hair back from her face, the touch tentative, almost as if testing the waters. “You’ve always been my anchor. And I’ve failed to see that.”

Aerea stood still, her eyes searching his face for any sign of sincerity. Her heart ached at the honesty in his words, but it was still guarded. The past had hurt her deeply, and despite the yearning in her chest, she wasn’t sure if Stannis’s actions could ever fully make up for the rift that had formed between them.

But as Stannis stepped closer, his presence undeniable, a shift occurred. The air between them grew heavier, more charged. Stannis’s lips parted as he slowly moved in, closing the remaining distance between them. His hand found the side of her face, his thumb brushing gently along her jawline, the touch intimate, as if he were trying to reach the part of her that had been locked away for too long.

"Aerea," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "I’m sorry. Let me show you I can be the man you once believed in."

His lips hovered just inches from hers, the room silent but for the sound of their breath, he leans in. Just slightly, just enough to bridge the gap between them. The kiss that followed was slow, hesitant at first, as though they were both testing the waters once more. But as the kiss deepened, as the weight of everything they had fought for seemed to melt away, there was something more—a reconnection, a spark that had been buried beneath the layers of time, pride, and war.

When they finally pulled apart,Aerea’s hand rested lightly against his chest, her pulse quickening, but she didn’t speak immediately. Stannis was breathless, his forehead resting against hers. He searched her eyes, a flicker of hope rising in him.

"I can’t undo what’s been done," Stannis said, his voice low, filled with quiet sincerity. His hand, still on the side of her face, traced the line of her jaw gently. "I can’t take back the time I’ve lost, the mistakes I’ve made. But I want to try. For us."

"You’ve always wanted to be a king," she replied softly, her voice carrying the weight of all they had lost. "But being a king is not just about the throne, Stannis. It’s about the people you’re supposed to protect. The ones you love.

Aerea’s gaze softened, her thumb brushing lightly against his chest where his heart beat steadily beneath her touch. "Your actions have to speak louder than your words, Stannis," she continued her voice low and steady. "Show me that you can choose what's right and just. Show me that you will choose this—this truth over prophesies, you will choose this marriage, over everything else."

He nodded slowly, a quiet resolve settling in his chest. "I will. I will choose you. And I will prove it to you. Not with words, but with everything I have."

The sincerity in his voice, the rawness of his apology, settled into Aerea’s heart like a balm. She could feel the distance between them shrinking, but she wasn’t ready to open herself fully yet—not until she saw the man he claimed to be.

"You will have to fight , Stannis," Aerea said softly, almost as if it were a challenge, the weight of the past still present in her voice. "Not just for the realm. Not just for the throne. But for the people you will rule over."

"We will rebuild this, Aerea," he said softly, a quiet promise in his words. "And I’ll do it with you."

Aerea, still uncertain, but feeling a shift inside of her, nodded slowly. "Then let’s begin."

(A/N- heyaaa hope you enjoyed this also sorry for a late post.. I had a block.. I am looking more into stannis and other characters and I Hope to see you guys in the next one,SORRY if its too long.... )

[bananacorn-limeade]

1961's The WORLD of ICE and FIRE

I'm going to do it. I'm going to self-indulge!

The Roger Corman ASOIAF production post is mostly just a novelty, but since I'm me, I have a lot of FEELINGS and OPINIONS about this cast. Naturally.

Anyway. Here's how well I think the actors in my post would play their roles, from worst to best.

#19, Worst: John Ashley as Robb Stark

You know how Ben Affleck has a face that knows about emails? John Ashley has a face that knows about sock hops. Woefully miscast.

#18: Tor Johnson as Gregor Clegane

God love the big guy, but I've only ever seen him make this face. Also, despite his repertoire of roles suggesting otherwise on paper, he just doesn't seem like a mean guy.

#17: John Agar as Jaime Lannister

Another terrible choice. The only reason he's not ranked as worst is because his soulless performance would make viewers interpret Jaime as an absolutely irredeemable sociopath, which at least would be... uh, interesting, I guess.

#16 Robert Reed as Renly Baratheon

Renly, but only if he was the most boring Baratheon. Go ahead, try to picture Reed eating a peach. You can't.

#15 Dawn Bender as Arya Stark

Aw, she'd try. But I feel like her attempts at Arya's fire would mostly come off as petulance.

#14 Richard Carlson as Ned Stark

Sorry, what? I fell asleep for a minute there.

#13 June Kenney as Daenerys Targaryen

Kenney would try her level best, but you know Corman would do a terrible job incorporating her storyline with the main plot, so she wouldn't have much to do except lounge around on mildly offensive orientalist sets and talk to her force-perspective dragon puppets. (Stop-motion you say? What, you think American International is made of money?)

#12 Dolores Faith as Sansa Stark

Again, no knock to Faith, but as with Daenerys, I think a 1961 production would flatten Sansa's character away to nothing. She'd get to pine and wear some nice dresses.

#11 Anthony Dexter as Petyr Baelish

This guy can play oily like nobody's business (check him out in 1962's Married Too Young), but 5D-chess-level deviousness might be beyond him.

#10 Michael Dunn as Tyrion Lannister

Full disclosure: I'm plopping him in the middle because I've never seen him in anything! The only little person I've personally seen in Corman's movies is Billy Barty (playing an actual, literal imp), and Dunn was someone I found who was said to play much meatier roles. In general, I think the depth of Tyrion's character would seriously challenge 1960s casting directors who were used to casting little people in jokey roles or as something less than human. One of many problems they'd have with the source material, no doubt.

#9 Lon Cheney Jr. as Sandor Clegane

Here's another actor who would do the best with what he was given - which would be an essentially empty role. This Sandor would be a beast used only for jump scares, with too much rubber over his face to ever show an emotion.

#8 Glen Langan as Stannis Baratheon

Langan would be serious, but dull, with lots of droning sermonizing. In other words, perfect. Still boring though.

#7 Basil Rathbone as Tywin Lannister

Who better to play a role totally owned by Charles Dance than an actor who's even Charles Dancier? The only reason I'm not ranking this legend higher is because I do think he'd kind of sleepwalk through this role, especially at this stage in his career.

#6 Raymond Burr as Robert Baratheon

The future Mr. Perry Mason was damn good at playing hard-drinking, prowly, "beastly" men. See him in this fabulous trailer for 1951's Bride of the Gorilla (spoiler: Burr is the gorilla). Of course, for this production, he'd be about 10 years on from that virile role, but that's perfectly on brand for Bobby B.

#5 Michael Landon as Jon Snow

Landon's tortured James Dean era would be a great fit for angsty goth teen Jon, though he might have trouble keeping his feelings as hidden as Jon does.

#4 Allison Hayes as Melisandre

Should she be ranked this high? Eh, maybe not, but this woman is a goddamn B-movie bombshell goddess. Her Red Woman would be a little less mysterious, sure, but her perfectly arched eyebrows and bullet bra would do R'hllor proud all the same.

#3 Marie Windsor as Catelyn Stark

They didn't call her Queen of the B's for nothing. Windsor always did great with roles that call for strength and verve. She'd be a fantastic Cat, and - dare I dream it - an even better Lady Stoneheart.

#2 Jack Nicholson as Theon Greyjoy

Now this would be fun. If baby Jack Nicholson had half the presence and charisma he would show in later movies, his Theon would be legendary.

#1 Coleen Gray as Cersei Lannister

If I can get Tumblr to understand one thing, it's how much Coleen Gray would absolutely eat in the role of Cersei. She's beautiful. She's a schemer. She's a helpless victim. She's back for revenge. I challenge anyone to watch her insane, murderous, fierce, gorgeous, duplicitous performance in 1960's otherwise pretty terrible The Leech Woman and not come to the same conclusion. I'm serious. There would be no survivors. 👑

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

Yesterday, I made a post about how fans of some characters will makes posts, come up with theories, and write fics where they take attributes of other characters and give them to their faves instead of writing about that character's actual personality. I listed a few characters who I see this happen the most with. I did not say they were the only ones or that all fans of those characters do this.

Now one of the characters I mentioned was Sansa Stark, and apparently some people had an issue with that. I did not disparage Sansa in any way or even say I hate aus with her, I was just criticizing some of her fans. Well some people really didn't like that criticism and have been reblogging my post, calling me a whiny brat, a Sansa anti, and just generally trying to say I'm wrong, stupid, and hypocritical. Well some people (namely @brydeswhale) asked for evidence, so here it is (I'm not including Alicent, Jason Todd, or Tim Drake, who I also talked about in that post, but I guess they didn't read that far):

First off: here's someone who is taking Lyanna's parallels with Arya and giving them to Sansa. I understand that you probably agree with the above post though, so I got some others.

Here is a Sansa stan, and a Jonsa, taking a quote where Jon is specifically thinking about Arya and instead claiming it's about Sansa, even though Jon notoriously thinks about her very little.

Moving on from Arya, here's someone taking a prophecy revealed to Daenerys in the House of the Undying and saying that it's actually about Sansa. Even though Daenerys has already literally fulfilled the Mother of Dragons part and is two-thirds of the way through completing the Bride of Fire part. Plus, it's Dany's vision, how is it related to Sansa exactly?

Again, taking Dany's vision and imagery (even Jon's too goddamn) and giving it to Sansa for no reason.

Once again, this quote is specifically about Arya and Jon's struggle with doing his duty and going to save his sister (Arya not Sansa) by bowing to Stannis. It's Arya's marriage to Ramsay that tortures Jon throughout ADWD while he outright dismisses Sansa's to Tyrion (disclaimer: I don't ship Jonrya, if you do that's all well and good, just not for me).

Once again, stealing from Arya. "Valiant Ned's precious little girl" is a line used by the Northern lords who are participating in the Northern conspiracy. A plot to overthrow the Boltons and save ARYA not Sansa, in their minds Sansa is far away and has no bearing on the situation ever since her marriage to Tyrion.

This is a little more indirect I guess, but still, this is completely forgetting about both Dany and Jon's arcs. Daenerys is ruling a fucking city in a treacherous time and Jon is Lord Commander of the Night's Watch when while the Others and wights are advancing. How are they not learning to rule again? And I'm sorry, but Sansa is not learning to rule in the Vale, she is doing tasks a high-ranking lady does, yes, but she isn't ruling and Littlefinger isn't exactly interested in helping her learn.

[raspberryfingers]

A Lion in the Garden -Tywin Lannister x Reader- (Part 19)

WARNING: Mentions of miscarriage

—————

My grandmother was arriving from Highgarden today, much to both Margaery’s and my happiness. It had been a long few months without her, especially when I’d been gone in Dorne and Margaery had been the only Tyrell—minus my father—in King's Landing. 

I was waiting for her at the gates of the Red Keep, and watching her carriage come through the grand doors made me smile more than I had since winning at the tourney. 

The horses stopped, and I instantly approached, watching my grandmother step down and look around with a sigh. She’d never been fond of Kings Landing.

“Hello, dear,” she said as I took her hand and kissed it. 

“Grandmother. Welcome back,” I said, and she scoffed, linking our arms as we made our way toward the castle. Our slow pace was convenient, as my stitches had been taken out, but walking was a bit hard if I did it for too long. The maesters assured me that if I continued to take care, I’d be back to normal in about two weeks. 

That naturally excited me, because though Tywin and I had continued to… well, enjoy each other, it would be nice to do so without cautious restraint. 

“I’m not happy to be back. Dreadful city. Though, when I received that raven I knew I had to come,” she said, patting my hand gently as we went inside. 

“I wouldn’t have sent for you under any other circumstance. Margaery loves me, but she needs you here right now, as I’ve been a bit too busy helping Tyrion Lannister manage finances and plotting with the Lord Hand on how to handle Stannis Baratheon should he somehow manage to defeat Robb Stark,” I explained, and my grandmother nodded.

“Yes I’m aware, you’re quite involved. Margaery needs someone who knows her experience, anyways, and as far as I’m concerned, you don’t,” She said, raising an eyebrow at me. I shook my head.

“No, I certainly don’t. It’s happened to you before?”

“It happens to plenty of us, dear. It’s never discussed, but it occurs far too often. It causes far too much pain,” my grandmother said, lamenting what had apparently also happened to her. 

I felt my heart sink, and I had no clue what to say or do. All I could do was apologize.

“I’m sorry, grandmother.”

“It was all a long time ago. How has your sister been doing? Relatively, of course,” she asked quietly, not wanting anyone to hear us as we journeyed through all the damned stairs in the castle. 

“Slowly but surely she seems to be improving. Though, she hasn’t been eating as much these days, and I believe she’s been spending less time with the king. Cersei made a passing comment about it the other day, asking if she was alright because Tommen had not seen much of her lately. I explained that she had been sick and was recovering, though Cersei clearly did not buy it,” I informed her, watching her nod and sigh.

“Margaery’s going to need to start going outside again if she doesn’t want people to whisper. We’ll keep her away from more tedious things of course, but she needs to maintain her relationship with her husband or else things are going to go very wrong,” my grandmother insisted, quite animated with her free hand. 

“She’ll take it better from you.”

“Yes, I know.”

I looked around and sighed, a feeling of dread in my stomach. I felt so bad for Margaery that it often made me sick. 

“Oh, I nearly forgot. You’re a bloody fool for going to Dorne with Jaime Lannister,” she said suddenly, though I realized it was most likely because I was struggling with the stairs.

“It was fun, grandmother, and both Myrcella and Tyrstane are safe. Plus, they’re to marry at the end of this week,” I said, watching her roll her eyes. 

“Fun. You are utterly ridiculous, (Y/N). You love jumping into the wreck, don’t you?”

“It’s certainly my biggest flaw, grandmother.”

“The two children are quite eager, aren’t they? You’ve only been back for two weeks now,” she noticed, to which I nodded and laughed. 

“Yes, they certainly are eager. They are both good people, though. Cersei gave me a genuine thank you when I brought her daughter home,” I said, making her laugh.

“That would've been a sight! She detests the whole pack of us, only the gods know why. Perhaps she doesn’t like the thought of her mother being replaced,” my grandmother guessed, laughing even more as she whispered the last bit to me. 

“Oh please, grandmother, for the last time, I’m not-“

“Enough, (Y/N). Lord Tywin already told me the two of you kissed. I suspect you’ve done much more than that since then,” she scoffed, waving her hand at me in annoyance. 

I remembered then, that Tywin had said she’d made him promise to marry me after bedding me. I thought perhaps she’d done it as part of her assumptions about us, not based on actual evidence. Though, I was not entirely surprised. Nor was I upset, somehow. If Tywin had truly wanted to keep it secret from everyone, he wouldn’t have told my grandmother a thing. 

Perhaps he didn’t mind telling people because he thought… there might be something more to our relationship?

“We have not done more since then. And either way, I’m certainly not replacing Lady Joanna. Tywin has a special place in his heart for her,” I said, shaking my head.

“Try telling Cersei that.”

I sighed, knowing my grandmother was right. I hoped that someday Cersei would come to tolerate me, but I found the chances of that oddly slim. Then again, it seemed anything was possible now that I was in love with the man I’d hated for a lifetime.

—————

Olenna and Margaery were sitting together, and though Margaery felt bad for making her grandmother come to King's Landing, she knew it was what she needed. 

“I know it’s hard, my dear, and I’m so sorry. You’re still young though, and it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to have children,” Olenna assured her, taking her granddaughter's hand from across the table. Margaery nodded and looked down, pressing her lips together.

“I just- I wonder if it was something I did. Or rather, something I didn’t do. I wonder if it was my fault,” She whispered, making her grandmother shake her head. 

“No, my dear, it wasn’t any of that. Children die in the womb all the time, only the gods know why. I’ve gone through it too, and look where I am now. I have three wonderful grandchildren to make up for my disappointing son,” she said, making Margaery laugh for the first time since she had miscarried. 

“What was it… what was it like, for you?” Margaery questioned, fidgeting with her hands.

“It wasn’t easy. I was a bit farther along than you, and your grandfather already knew I was pregnant. He was thankfully supportive, but it took me a long time to move on. You don’t have that luxury, my dear,” Olenna said, making Margaery look down once more and furrow her eyebrows with a distinct sadness. 

“I don’t want Tommen to know. He’ll let it slip to Cersei and Tywin without even realizing the implications,” Margaery said softly, knowing that this was something she’d had to suffer through alone. A pain she would always have to keep a secret. 

“Which means you’re going to have to resume public life much faster than you’d like to. You don’t have to be ambitious just yet, but perhaps you ought to stay with the king in his bed tonight, and walk with him in the gardens tomorrow,” Olenna suggested, knowing that if Margaery remained secluded for too long rumors would inevitably spread and her relationship with Tommen might be affected.

“What if he wants to… to…”

“Let him down gently. Tommen’s a sweet boy, if you tell him you just want to hold him, he’ll comply. He probably won’t think anything of it,” Olenna said, to which Margaery nodded. 

“As for Cersei and Tywin, don’t worry yourself. So long as Tommen doesn’t know, Cersei won’t. Even if Tywin knew, he wouldn’t dare do anything, your sister would take his head,” she continued, to which Margaery smiled a bit. 

“I feel bad for (Y/N). I’m worrying her, I know I am,” she said softly, making Olenna scoff and shake her head.

“Don’t even think about (Y/N), her feelings in this don’t matter. What matters now is you, my dear,” she assured her granddaughter, hand to her cheek. Margaery simply nodded, which Olenna took a sign to move on from the topic. The last thing she wanted to do was make the trauma and pain worse by discussing it too much. 

“Now, tell me what I’ve missed, dear girl.”

“Kings Landing has been quite boring, I’m afraid. Besides a small uprising of religious fanatics, which were crushed quite promptly, nothing has caused any problems,” Margaery informed with a shrug. Olenna nodded.

“And what of your sister? Anything new?”

“Well, (Y/N) was the champion in the tourney, and she went to Dorne just before the wedding, though you already know both of those things,” Margaery said with a soft laugh.

“Believe me, when I learned of it, I was in the right mind to send down our best guards and retrieve her from King's Landing. Even more so when I heard that she’d accompanied Jaime Lannister to Dorne. Your sister is a complete idiot. It’s good to know I at least have one smart grandchild,” Olenna complained, a distinct aggravation in her voice. Meanwhile, Margaery found she could not stop laughing. She was extremely grateful you’d send for Olenna. 

“I’m certain Tywin Lannister would’ve thanked you for doing it. I wish you’d been there, grandmother. He kept yelling for the match to stop while (Y/N) was fighting, and he was shaking. I would’ve sworn I saw a tear slide down his cheek when she was being choked. I’ve never seen a man look more terrified in my life,” she said softly, as if worried someone might hear what she was saying. Olenna nodded and sipped her wine, swallowing as she processed everything.

“Do you think he’s bedded her yet?”

“It’s hard to say, but if I could place my bets I would say yes. The day (Y/N) left for Dorne, Ser Elias came up to me and asked if I knew where she was, to which I responded ‘no, should I?’” She began, pausing for dramatic effect, “apparently she’d told him that she was spending the night in my chambers. I covered for her of course, but it was rather odd, and when I saw her later that day she looked unusually happy.”

Olenna merely nodded, and Margaery thought it was rather odd. She would’ve expected her grandmother to laugh. She did not know, of course, that a promise had been broken. Well, the Queen of Thorns would not let that stand.

—————

Tywin Lannister was making his way up the tower of the hand, returning from the King's chambers, where he had informed Tommen that he planned to lead 500 men to Winterfell to destroy Stannis. He expected to leave in a little over a week, though he knew you would not be happy with it and would most likely demand to come along. When he’d agreed to send 500 men, you expected he would send another to lead for him, such as Kevan. But, in all honesty, he missed battle just as much as you did. More than anything, he just wanted to leave King's Landing for a month or so.

Admittedly, he didn’t want to leave you. Dorne had been miserable for him, but he tried to rationalize how much he missed you by telling himself it was merely because he was worried about your safety. 

While you’d been gone though, he had truthfully realized something else. It had been eating at him since you’d returned. 

“Lord Hand, Lady Tyrell is here to see you.”

Tywin had reached his chambers, and was surprised when the guards said that. Had you really climbed all the stairs? He knew you were mostly healed, but it seemed a bit strenuous all the same.

Opening the door and going inside, he looked around and did not see you. Were you in his bedroom? 

He ventured to find out, licking his lips somewhat anxiously at the thought of you waiting for him in bed. 

However, as he pushed open the door, he found your grandmother sitting at the small table in his room. There was a distinct shock in his eyes, and it gave Olenna great satisfaction.

“Lord Tywin, how lovely to see you. I have a feeling the sentiment is not shared, though. You were expecting my granddaughter, I would guess,” she said, rising from her seat and clasping her hands together.

“I did not realize you arrived today, Lady Olenna,” he said sharply, standing straighter and making sure that the initial shock on his face was nowhere to be seen. 

“Either way, the guards did tell you Lady Tyrell was waiting for you inside, and your first instinct was to come to the bedroom,” she noted, to which he scoffed and looked away from her. He would not tolerate this. 

“And that is relevant, why?” 

Olenna merely laughed, sitting back down and pouring herself some wine. 

“You’ve broken your promise, Tywin,” she noted, looking over at him smugly. He raised an eyebrow, sitting down across from her.

“I have done no such thing.”

“Then would you care to explain why my granddaughter has dresses in your closet?” She interrogated, making Tywin suck in his cheeks for just a moment. He was backed into a corner now, was it better to admit it or continue to resist? 

“I don’t blame you, Tywin. My granddaughter is quite beautiful, and I was aware that your restraint would tire eventually. I’d only like you to be honest with me so that I might be honest with you,” she said, watching Tywin pour himself some wine and take a rather large sip. 

“I would like you to know that (Y/N) presented herself to me, and that I attempted to protest. I had every intention to maintain my promise,” he told her after a moment, watching as she began to laugh.

“Oh, she’s just like me, that girl. And, it’s quite a thing isn’t it? You attempted. Come now, Tywin, we both know that’s certainly not the same as maintaining it. You wanted my granddaughter, just as she wanted you.”

Tywin involuntarily fidgeted with the ring on his finger. The one you had given him.

“I’ll be honest, yes I did. And I don’t regret it,” he said sharply, trying to maintain his confidence before your grandmother. 

“I’m glad, because now it’s time you actually uphold that promise. You recall just as well as I do what you vowed to do once you began to bed her,” Olenna remarked, watching the Old Lion look down into his lap.

“I need more time.”

“Perhaps you should’ve considered that before you decided to bed my granddaughter. I’m going to be frank with you, Tywin. My son intends to accept another marriage proposal for (Y/N) by the end of this week, and to have another one of her suitors end up dead will not look coincidental. If you have any intention of ever marrying my granddaughter, you ought to ask her now,” Olenna explained, watching fire ignite in Tywin’s eyes at the mention of another man marrying you. 

“I still have time. Even if the proposal is accepted, I have until the wedding planning begins. Your son might be an idiot, but he’s not so stupid he won’t understand that marrying his daughter to me makes infinitely more sense than some boy from a liege house,” Tywin reasoned.

“Of course, but then it will create conflict. Whichever damn lord my son intends to give her to will naturally be upset that the engagement was called off, and perhaps even more upset at House Lannister. Should that liege house decide to try and do something to spite you, you would feel compelled to do what you’ve always done and destroy them. Now, when that happens, there’s a unique dilemma for House Tyrell. Not only would we be failing to protect a liege house, but we’d be marrying our eldest child to the person that committed the assault. You need to propose now, Tywin, that’s all there is to it,” Olenna said sharply, making sure that Tywin completely understood the repercussions of him deciding to wait. The lion would keep his promise or watch the woman he loved be married off, there was no debate or compromise. 

Tywin sat there in silence, knowing your grandmother was right. It did have to be now, lest he hold his silence forever and be forced to see you married to some pathetic boy and swell with his children. 

No.

It was time now, and Tywin knew it just as well as your grandmother did. And the truth of it was, he did want to marry you. He wanted to claim you as his wife and spend the rest of his years with you, even if they should be only a few. But there was an underlying fear in him, especially as he recalled what you’d said the night the two of you had laid together for the first time.

You weren’t ready to marry him either.

He doubted that in the last two months or so that had changed, and it made him beyond anxious. 

“What are you thinking, Tywin? Men like you don’t usually stay quiet for very long,” Olenna said, interrupting his thoughts. 

“I’ve already procured a ring for your granddaughter. I’ve been intending to give it to her since she returned from Dorne,” he replied after a moment, watching Olenna’s eyebrows raise with surprise. She certainly had not expected that of him.

“A ring?”

“She gave me this one as a testament of our good relationship. I’d like to give her one of her own as a testament to my devotion to her. As a testament of my- my love,” he explained while showing her the ring you had given him so long ago. Your grandmother smiled at him.

“How romantic of you, Tywin. I would not have expected it.”

“I am worried she won’t accept it,” he said, ignoring the previous comment made and pouring himself more wine.

“You’re worried she won’t accept your marriage proposal? Don’t be ridiculous, Lord Tywin,” she remarked with a scoff, believing the man to be exaggerating or unnecessarily nervous.

“Before she left for Dorne was the first time I took her into my bed. Before I did, I told her that you had requested that I did not bed her without requesting her hand shortly afterwards. In response, she said that she understood I was not ready to marry her, just as she was not ready to marry me. If her sentiments have changed in the last month or so, then I am unaware,” he explained, watching her nod.

“Let me ask you something then. Before that night, did you already want to marry her?”

“No. I felt our relationship was too young.”

“And since then your sentiments have changed?”

Tywin paused, nodding and looking away from Olenna’s satisfied smirk.

“Then naturally, Tywin, I don’t think it’s fair to assume that my granddaughter's sentiments are still what they were.”

“Even so, I don’t want to pressure her. She’s always expressed a desire to live her life the way she wants to, and I’m not going to take that from her.”

“She doesn’t have a choice, Tywin. It’s you or a liege lord. My son is clearly relentless, and I’ve already been trying to slow him down. She’s not getting any younger, and she does need to marry and have children,” Olenna said, despite wishing you didn’t need to. She’d enjoyed watching you grow into yourself, and had always dreaded the day you got married. Somehow, though, she felt you would thrive with Tywin Lannister for a husband. 

“Even if she marries me, it’s important to consider that she-“

“She detests the idea of children, I’m aware. Perhaps it’s a good thing given that you’re so much older than she is,” she noted after a moment, leaving the bait out. Tywin had no clue it was a test.

“It’s not the idea of children that she detests, it’s losing her freedoms with it. She’s excellent with her younger siblings, and I have no doubt in my mind she would make an excellent mother. However, (Y/N) would kill herself if that’s all she was ever permitted to be,” he corrected, watching as a smile appeared on your grandmother's face. It reassured her, in a sense. It made her feel that perhaps Tywin truly did understand you, and it was not a lustful fling. 

“And so, I will come to my next point. Something I have meant to speak with either you or your son about before asking (Y/N)’s hand in marriage. Something I am going to demand,” he began, standing up to assert a certain level of confidence and dominance in the conversation. Olenna remained unphased. 

“You’re not in much of a position to make demands, Lord Tywin. Either you marry my granddaughter or somebody else will,” she said, raising both eyebrows at him to demonstrate just how genuine her statement was. 

“Tell me, Lady Olenna, if your son found out I was not only willing, but actually quite eager to marry your granddaughter, what do you imagine he would say?” Tywin questioned, already knowing exactly what the response would be, of course. 

“He would most likely jump up and down while clapping his hands together, the pathetic fool,” she mumbled, remembering just how excited Mace had been upon hearing Margaery would marry Joffrey. 

“Precisely. Your son is more eager to marry (Y/N) to me than (Y/N) is to be married to me. Therefore, I am in the position to be making demands. Demands that he is not going to like, mind you, but demands that he will fulfill in order to marry his daughter to me,” Tywin asserted, making Olenna’s face twist with distinct annoyance. Gods, Tywin Lannister really was an insufferable cunt, wasn’t he? She had not a clue as to what you liked about him. 

“You love and desire my granddaughter far too much to ever give her up, Tywin. Let’s not pretend that I’m a blasted fool.”

“Correct. I have every intention to take her as my wife, but your son doesn’t know that, and I would threaten to reject her should he not give in. Don’t look so annoyed, you’ll like this demand.”

“But my son won’t?”

“No.”

“Very well, what is it?”

“I will marry (Y/N) on one condition: she must remain head of the Tyrell army until she can no longer hold a sword. That is my demand,” Tywin said sharply, watching Olenna’s eyes widen.

“My son is not going to give into that demand easily.”

“Nevertheless, he will if he wants to see his eldest daughter married to the richest man in Westeros,” Tywin assured her, knowing the kind of man your father was. He would complain, and then he would do as he was bid. 

“What if he does not? The one thing he’s quite unrelenting in is making Loras the new head once (Y/N) has been wed,” Olenna questioned, knowing just how strongly your father felt about the subject. 

“He will.”

“Yes, you’re right. But hypothetically, what if he does not? Would you truly sacrifice marriage to my granddaughter over it?” She asked, genuinely curious now. Tywin did seem quite confident in the fact that Mace would accept his request. 

“No, of course not. I would give (Y/N) anything on earth that she desires, and if she desires to be my wife, then she will be. It’s exactly why I am making this demand. She desires to fight, she desires to lead. So she will,” he said simply, knowing that any other man might’ve been blind to your misery as merely a wife and mother. But no, Tywin would not see you unhappy, even despite his concerns. He would rather watch the garden be overgrown than see it barren after he had cut everything back. 

Olenna merely nodded at the man, rising from her chair with a distinct satisfaction. It was odd for Olenna to consider that Tywin Lannister, the coldest, most brutal man in all seven kingdoms seemed entirely enslaved to your wishes. 

Just as he had been a good husband to Joanna, your grandmother was confident he would be good to you. Somehow, she got the strange feeling that deep down, Tywin Lannister was a romantic. She likened him to something such as ember, once soft and hardened after all these years. 

Of course, he’d been rather harsh even as a boy, but it seemed those who managed to find a way into Tywin Lannister’s heart would have his utmost loyalty and devotion. So long as they did not do something that might remove that sentiment, anyways. 

He was a small, sturdy fortress. Fiercely protecting the few that could fit within his walls, and easily repelling those that did not. 

Yes, you would do well with Tywin Lannister for a husband, your grandmother had not a single doubt about it. And even more than that, you would be happy. 

Olenna wanted to laugh at the thought. Two years ago, even she would not have been able to conjure up the thought of you marrying Tywin Lannister, for love especially. Yet, even now, at 28 years old, you continued to surprise your grandmother. She supposed you always would. 

TAGLIST:

@cheyxfu @lemonscoffee @groovy-lady

@ladysindar @vesta-ro @exo-nova @paola-carter

@prettykinkysoul @nothing2113

@fullmoonshadowwrites @kishie8

@the-desilittle-bird @dianilaws @girlonfireice @muscari-fae @lostgirllulu @abigfanofgameofthrones @smalltownbigheart @frombloodandflesh

[gulnarsultan]

Robert Baratheon: I hate Targaryens. I’ll kill them all.😡🤬

Modern Reader: Says the one, who has TARGARYEN blood. Robert, I understand that you hate Targaryens after what happened to Lyanna and Ned’s father and brother. But it doesn’t mean all Targaryens are bad.

Robert Baratheon: Oh really? Name me a Targaryen who isn’t bad.

Modern Reader: Your, Stannis’s and Renly’s grandmother, Rhaelle Targaryen.

Robert Baratheon: …

Modern Reader: What? Don’t tell me you didn’t know. Your grandmother is Rhaelle Targaryen, also your father had Targaryen features: purple eyes and silver strands of hair. You know what, I can name good Targaryens, but it’ll take a time. So, if you hate all Targaryens, does it mean you hate your grandmother?

Robert Baratheon: No.

Modern Reader: Really? But you said-

Robert Baratheon: I don’t hate her. I got the point. Not all Targaryens are bad.😒

This scenario happened in Council Chamber, where was the a question what to do with Daenerys and her brother Viserys.

So, reactions to this dialogue? Ned Stark, Stannis Baratheon, Renly Baratheon and Lannisters who were also there.

Oh my dear 😅

No one can beat your reader in a battle of words. Like Robert just got punched in the face😂(Sorry dude. You deserved it.)

Other than Aerys, I don't think the Lannisters have a problem with other Targaryens.

I think Stannis, Renly and Ned agree with the reader.

[alleyskywalker]

Discussions the other night on The Discord were making me think about the differences between show!Theon and book!Theon characterization and specifically led me to the thought of how show!Theon has a certain aspect of his canonical counterpart’s characterization reversed. That’s probably not the most accurate way to put it, but what I mean is like:

In the books, every time someone, specifically a Stark (especially specifically Robb), gives him shit, he kind of…just takes it. Put your sword away, Theon; let me humiliate and lowkey threaten you in front of half of my household guard even though you just saved my brother, Theon; why are you so proud of your insignificant war trophies, Theon? He doesn’t really respond or gives only a half-hearted retort/defense. For all the talk of him smiling in a disconcerting way, he kinda never really fights back, even when he’s being attacked with bullshit.

On the other hand, in the show, Theon’s always got something to say (especially to Robb) when he thinks they’re full of shit. “Put away your sword” à “I take orders from your father, not you.” “You have no right” à “to what? To save your brother’s life?” let’s have a row about it! “It’s not your duty, because it’s not your House” à oh now you want to know where Bran is? Sorry, don’t know, “it’s not my House.” Show!Theon, in those first seasons, doesn’t really take any shit, hostage or not.

Then Ramsay happens. Theon is obviously terrorized and tortured into submission, dehumanization, dissociation, etc in both cases. Then he gets out. That’s the plot.

After, show!Theon capitulates to accepting constant humiliation. He never fights it, he never really tries to defend himself, even when he should/could. The Starks are his sole purpose in life, with a slight detour to help out his sister, and that’s in parallel too, but not the center point here. There’s the occasional moment of dignity in how he handles the humiliation, true. Occasionally, he gets the bright spot – snipping at Euron at the kingsmoot, fighting side-by-side with Yara, that smile after the Dragonstone beach fight… But overall, he’s all too willing to degrade himself and to let others degrade/humiliate him, especially if they’re Starks (or “Starks” as with Jon).

In the books…even with all the misery and torture and submission that he’s forced into under Ramsay, he never quite loses that streak of defiance? From thinking that not matter what Ramsay does to him, he can’t take his sanity unless Theon lets him, to thinking smack about how ugly Ramsay and his crew are, to the bitter dark humor when he’s imprisoned and (once again) tortured, this time by Stannis. And yes, this is all very internal and externally he probably would seem just as broken and submissive, etc as show!Theon and I think initially when I watched the show, I just projected Theon’s ADWD defiance onto the show scenes because he could still be having those thoughts. But on re-watch…. The thing is, book!Theon has external  moments as well. From insisting to the spearwives that Bran and Rickon weren’t his brothers so he might be a lot of things but not a kinslayer thanks, to insisting to Stannis, not without pride, “I saved the girl.” Even Stannis laughs at him, he insists on it.

It's just such an interesting (even if I hate the show’s choices, it’s still like interesting) thing how there’s this double reversal where show!Theon starts more aggressively defiant and comfortable in that defiance against power moves, humiliation and submission than book!Theon seems to be, but then after the Ramsay Thing (TM) these characterizations get, relatively to each other, reversed.

[catofoldstones]

Its funny to me that the common thought I see repeated is that ‘sansa was disinherited!!! She cant ever get winterfell, plus the northern lords would never trust her bc she was married to a lannister!!’ As if George would just cosign that in his writing like yep sorry girls arent equipped to rule🤷🏻‍♀️ he continuously criticizes sexist ideologies thru out asoiaf

Sansa wasn’t disinherited, she was overridden in favour of Jon. And so were all of her living siblings btw, which will be all of them once they are found/come back home.

Plus, the content of Robb’s will is pure speculation. We genuinely don’t know what there is in Robb’s will. Maybe he has declared the eldest living son of Eddard Stark as the heir to winterfell and after all is said and done, that would be Bran Stark. Maybe Robb said that it will go to Jon Snow and Jon Snow only. Even then Sansa and her siblings will have a right to Winterfell by way of social custom, especially after the R+ L = J reveal. What if Jeyne Westerling is pregnant? Then what? The will goes to whack, stark siblings get pushed down in the line of succession and we finally put an end to this already tired and beaten debate. My boy Jon did not stand there and say Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa for shits and giggles, social customs and inheritance rights are important. Moreover, if Westerosi history shows us anything it’s that Sansa’s kids will still have a claim to winterfell even if she is expelled from the will.

On top of all of this, her marriage to Tyrion isn’t even going to last courtesy Mr. Lancel Lannister of the faith whose life she saved in a brave act of kindness. And that’s where it becomes funny to me too because what leg do they have to stand on now.

Though I doubt the fandom is saying girls can’t rule, they’re saying Sansa can’t rule. They can’t say girls can’t rule because then that punishes their faves Arya and Dany too. But all of that too is rooted in misogyny because to favour one type of woman win over another is deeply problematic (okays favouritism at best and excuses racism at worst). But yes, you’re right because George seems to be calling out this type of misogyny too. We have women leading Houses (the Mormonts), we have women leading (or having a very strong claim nonetheless and fighting for it) kingdoms (Asha and Arianne). Stannis asks for Shireen to be on the Iron Throne in case he dies fighting for it, so clearly women can be heirs and hold leadership positions in their own right.

In the end, yes the Westerosi culture can allow women leadership positions (though not easily and in very limited circumstances) and Sansa Stark is absolutely still an heir to Winterfell.

[asongoficeandthrones]

A Clash of Kings First Read - Chapter 44

(POV: Tyrion X.)

Setting: King's Landing (the Red Keep; Shae's manse).

Favorite character: I... don't know. Not because I liked no one, but rather because I liked too many characters. There's Shae because she's not just a prostitute, she's also someone who is brave and street-smart and she shows it here; there's Varys because he gained a little more depth, what with the story of how he was castrated and the fact that he chose to tell it (even though it's not just for the sake of it and he has a goal in mind); and then there's Tyrion because even though he's growing a lot darker in my opinion, he still cares about the people closest to him.

MVP: I'm hesitating a lot right now (again, lol): there's Tyrion for thinking of a plan to keep Shae (relatively) safe in the Red Keep; there's Varys for making that plan better than it originally was; and then there's Stannis (offpage) for winning Storm's End over.

Things I loved/liked:

Varys and Tyrion's relationship. First, there's Tyrion saying (and I kinda hope he means it because they're an iconic duo), "Why no, I trust you implictly." A bitter laugh echoed off the shuttered windows. "I trust you like one of my own blood, in truth." (Which I just realized probably means not at all, lol.) Then, there's Varys actually telling Tyrion how he was made a eunuch, which was obviously a painful story to live and tell (and I get that he didn't do it out of free will, but at least he did it), and Tyrion apologizing, and then Varys saying, "You are sorry, but you do not believe me." And why, Tyrion, why didn't you believe him?? Because Varys was obviously right in thinking that there was something magical involved. (Then again, I guess Tyrion has no reason to believe in magic yet, so I guess I can understand him a little.)

Varys for thinking of a better plan to keep Shae safe in the castle than her being a scullion.

Shae's character as a whole. She's a lot smarter and braver than she lets on in my opinion (which might not be a good thing...), and we see it a lot throughout the chapter, for example when she says: "A lady might be afraid, [...] but I'm not," or when she guesses Varys's identity when even Tyrion can't.

I actually really liked Tyrion and Shae's scenes in this chapter. I still have some problems with their relationship as a whole, because for one, it kinda feels like he's coming to her only when he needs relief from a bad day. Which is fine, because Tyrion deserves some peace, but I usually don't really see the love he claims. But here, I liked their scenes a lot because it felt a lot more real, what with their arguing and Tyrion actually confessing to his first marriage. Plus, he actually listens to her and what she cares about (aka the singer being allowed to live and keep singing).

Tyrion's reaction when learning that Storm's End was no longer under siege felt... adequate, to say the least. If a little violent.

Tommen being made safe (relatively), I guess. He's kind of a cutie pie.

Least favorite moment(s):

Shae's father. We don't actually see him, and I definitely don't want to after learning what he did to Shae.

I guess Shae having too much ambition. But her declaration / proposal was kind of sweet, so. "Though I would be your lady, m'lord. I'd dress in all the beautiful things you gave me, in satin and samite and cloth-of-gold, and I'd wear your jewels and hold your hand and sit by you at feasts. I could give you sons, I know I could... and I vow I'd never shame you."

Lancel wanting to command during his next (and first, if I'm thinking correctly) battle. I think it's stupid to give any command at all to a sixteen-year-old boy (except, I guess, if that boy is someone like Robb Stark). Lancel's definitely not ready, though, and Tyrion says it himself (kinda): A splendid way to die before he finished growing that mustache, but young knights always think themselves invincible. So I hope his "Perhaps" was a way to refuse Lancel.

Bronn being too ambitious. I mean, I like him, but he's allowing himself some (read: a lot of) liberties with Tyrion, and if we take into account this chapter and the preceding one, it's going to get him into trouble. And on a related note, I used to like the relationship between Tyrion and Bronn, but here, it's kinda going to sh*t: And I don't trust you with my nephew. (Though I suppose Tyrion's completely right not to trust him.)

I'm... kind of ambivalent on Tyrion's changing personality. I know the riots and the discovery that people in the city hate him and not Joffrey must have rankled him, but he's becoming... darker. For example, when he strikes Shae for "mocking" him. At least he felt guilty about it afterwards: And I never meant to strike you. Gods be good, am I turning into Cersei? And he's also growing very weary and very bitter (that's how I see it anyway): "Don't you see the jest, Lord Varys?" Tyrion waved a hand at the shuttered windows, at all the sleeping city. "Storm's End is fallen and Stannis is coming with fire and steel and the gods alone know what dark powers, and the good folk don't have Jaime to protect them, nor Robert nor Renly nor Rhaegar nor their precious Knight of Flowers. Only me, the one they hate." He laughed again. "The dwarf, the evil counselor, the twisted little monkey demon. I'm all that stands between them and chaos."

Quotes: Just because it gave more depth to Shae's character (for me), I'm going to say this one:

"Lord Varys has come to see you," Shae announced. The begging brother blinked at her, astonished. Tyrion laughed. "To be sure. How is it you knew him when I did not?" She shrugged. "It's still him. Only dressed different." "A different look, a different smell, a different way of walking," said Tyrion. "Most men would be deceived." "And most women, maybe. But not whores. A whore learns to see the man, not his garb, or she turns up dead in an alley."

Thoughts overall: Kinda worrying. And surprising too, with all the confessions we got.

[lavalais76]

Glad I’m not the only one who thinks Satin played a major role in Jon’s stabbing…..

Everyone knows the pink letter, everyone has a theory on who wrote it, well try this one on. In a Feast for Crows Ch. 17, Cersei is discussing the Nights Watch helping Stannis, and after discussion, Cersei and Qyburn decides to sent assassins to kill Jon Snow. Now I want you to think back on the very many times Cersei needed devious help. Who did she use? Littlefinger. Who just so happens has plans for Sansa to take the North. So bastard brother could be a inheritance issue depending on how the lords react to Stannis offer. Wartime male commander proven in battle? Or a female who never led troops? They would pick Jon. So who does Littlefinger employ? Whores. Whorehouses everywhere. Enter Satin at Castle Black. A male whore from oldtown who somehow just happened to find himself in Gulltown in the Vale before being sent to the wall. Sorry whores don’t leave a bigger nicer town to travel across the entire continent. His story is very suspect. Who knows how to read and write which is very very rare. Whores don’t learn how to read and write. Many nobles don’t even learn. So he becomes steward to Jon. Able to search, snoop, possible Sweetsleep Jon, if your wondering why light hurts him, his hands don’t work very good at times, and his sudden mood swings. So Satin arrives and finds the perfect plot already brewing. Bowen Marsh, and most importantly Clydas. Maester Aemon assistant and the only one trained to handle ravens at Castle Black. So they already control the information coming in from the entire North. How did they know Reek escaped and Arya? Well it would make sense to send a raven warning them. The pink letter is full of terms used by wildlings, who knows those but wildlings and Nights Watch who deal with them every day? Bowen Marsh is fully believing Jon is destroying the Watch and will bring doom upon them. But you can’t just walk up and kill Jon. The rest would kill Bowen and gang. You have to get him to flat out break his vows. Then you have the justification for stabbing him “for the watch”. So you read every letter that arrived, Satin overheard pretty much every conversation, write it in a very nice handwriting. Not blood, which flaked and blocky letters like the 2 Ramsey sent. Not Roose Bolton cause that letter would inflame the north against him and you cannot threaten to attack the watch in the north without repercussions. Not Barbrey Dustin or Mance since Roose would be guarding the ravens to prevent any word from leaking. Stannis is very short on ravens. The seal was smeared instead of the usual button of pink. It was designed to piss Jon off and get him to stand in front of everyone and break his vows publicly. Once he read it and said he was going south with a army, they can kill him and be in the right for doing it. Satin reports back to Littlefinger, who tells Cersei. Littlefinger gets trust, and one less problem to Sansa’s takeover. Cersei gets one less Stark for the north to rally behind. Since she knows Arya is fake. And as a added bonus, many people wonder how Sansa will flee the vale to go north, well she just got informed that Jon is Lord Commander of the Nights Watch, so I imagine she will watch for any ravens or news. Imagine the shock and horror when the completion letter arrives that shows Littlefinger had her brother killed. Might make her rush north. Or slay the giant in the snow. But either way the letter was written by Bowen Marsh desperate to stop Jon from destroying the watch, Satin the whore from Oldtown, who somehow wound up in the vale in Gulltown before coming to the wall, and Clydas, who controls all ravens.

As for the wildling terms used you write how you talk based on where you live. As for asking for the queen, princess, Val, Melisandre, how would anyone in Winterfell even know who Val is? Or that reek and Arya would go there to castle black? His wife was supposed to go to nightfort. But if your Bowen Marsh, you know who everyone is and he wants them ALL gone. Anyone associated with stannis, wildlings, and so yes he would demand they all be sent away to Winterfell, knowing Jon can’t do it. You threaten Val, wildlings ready to kill, threaten queen and co. And Jon is in a horrible spot, but can count on both groups to give him the troops to start revenge planning. He reads the letter out, declares he’s gone, they roar approval, and he is a traitor.

Edit: some guy asked about how satin can get there and be little fingers tool. Tin foil hat time. But Jon was never going to live. As for little finger and satin, little finger plans ahead. Far ahead. Honestly tin foil hat time, what was really in the letter from Lysa? In code. Really hidden and delivered at the perfect time to force Ned south? Who wants Ned dead? Who wants Jon dead? Ummm Lysa is totally bonkers and nuts. She can’t plan anything or fight her way out of a wet paper bag. But boss man little finger can. And Catylen is convinced he’s her true friend. That is littlefinger fingers all over it. And Catylen hasn’t made qualms about wanting Jon gone and wiped off the face of the earth. Go reread the first few chapters. She is daydreaming during lovemaking. About hot springs, family, everything but Ned. Oh she claims to love Ned, Ned is bitter over his brother. But not his sister who ran off and started everything? Brandon did what any brother would do. Cat forces him south, and somehow Benjen talks to maester luwin about Jon joining the Nights Watch. Why the hell would benjan not talk to Ned?!?!?! So yeah they knew Jon was going to the wall sooner or later. Luwin was telling Jon for a while how AWESOME the wall was. Why lie to Jon unless he has to go cause he is a threat. So there’s my two cents on that. She is terrified of Jon taking her kids inheritance. Why? Cause he is the rightful heir. Not robb

[atopvisenyashill]

hm, how could shireen win?

okay so i was actually thinking about stannis battle at winterfell and how he wins that but the thing is we don’t even know how he’s going to LOSE THAT age very well might have ALREADY lost but he also very well might have faked his death. but is he still going to lose even after faking his death? does he get run out because of the rickon plot? where the hell is shireen fitting into this bc if HE is the one to burn her, they’re not even in the same place right now! it’s possible he gains winterfell, sends for shireen, then winds up in a siege and burns her then? where the fuck is jon in all this?? still hanging out in ghost???? i hate guessing about this because it has to do with complex timeline stuff and i am so ass at that.

now regardless - what Stannis needs to win is a) more supplies to last the winter b) more fucking men and specifically northerners flocking to his cause and c) a stark in hand!! i do think, with rumors of several stark children flying about, that stannis is going to have a hard time keeping the attention of the northerners. and he NEEDS THEM here bc they’re the ones who are experienced with fighting and living in winter! and he NEEDS SUPPLIES bc the storms are getting worse, and everyone is already getting human sacrifice happy so if he wants to get control of that, he needs rations that are going to LAST. the easiest way to get all of these things is to take winterfell, but *tywin voice* can he hold it?? until ramsay is dead and the freys are dealt with, he’s fighting a very tricky and dangerous war against an enemy who does not fight fair. AND i think it’s not unlikely that the moment he tries to execute theon, bran (future bran, current bran, some combination? who knows) is gonna start screeching through the birds and the weirwoods to knock that shit off, that’s bran’s emotional support idiot thanks, and stannis is gonna have to deal with THAT too.

now how does shireen win? honestly….she just needs a single just one (1) competent guardian looking out for her. someone who doesn’t want to burn her, someone who is mentally aware enough to get her out of danger (sorry patchface). jon is generally anti burning people but he just got caesard and he’s gonna be living in ghost for a while. so she has her mom and melisandre.

her best bet is jon getting back to his body and back in control as soon as possible. from there….i mean again, it’s at winterfell with jon. he’s just the only adult besides davos who can keep her from being burned. i don’t know that winterfell will last through the long night but i do think being there is better than a lot of other places.

although if we’re talking “how does shireen win the war of five kings” again, this requires stannis to be a little less stannis. reaches out to robb with his intent to declare before robb is declared king, offers the men he’s been able to raise at dragonstone as backup to robb’s riverlands campaign. it’s fine if he tries to kill renly (he can cursed by the gods and just do it more lowkey ya know), but in that case he needs to reach out to dorne, offer shireen to trystane, so he has a little bit more backup here. he needs to get the tyrell’s before littlefinger - even if all he’s doing is cutting them off from the capital, and not making any sort of alliance - so when he and robb and maybe doran take the black water (with DAVOS in charge perhaps and not the idiots he originally had) the tyrell’s don’t fuck them from behind. he needs king’s landing, he needs to hold it. don’t ask me what the vale is doing right now.

once he wins, there will be questions about his heir - renly got merked, shireen is a girl. maybe melisandre is like “don’t worry we got this” or maybe stannis is like “did i stutter i said shireen is my heir” and that makes trystane prince/king consort, lmao. it’s possible he goes for a tyrell match up right away…..willas is old but that might be seen as a good thing, and mace gets his grandkid on the throne after all. or maybe shireen gets a brother and retires to highgarden/dorne to be left alone singing songs with patchface.

[agentrouka-blog]

Dear Rouka, I am a Jonsa fan just for context in this ask and I was wondering something about Robb's will. I haven't seen a post specifically on this but please forgive me if it's a repeat.

Obviously the show glossed over the Stark identity drama central to Jon's character and it doesn't seem like that will be the case in the books. But do you think, 'Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa' will hold true if he's made aware of the will, prior to Targ reveal? Do you think that there would be strategic consult with Sansa? I have seen powderpowderblue discuss a shared leadership between Jon and Sansa as regents for Rickon (thank you powderpowderblue) so you all are already on the ball with that, but I'm wondering here from an emotional angle/heart in conflict with itself.

How do you think Sansa will feel? How do you think Jon will feel about it in respect to Sansa? Do you think a developing Jonsa romance will affect it? How do you think the will will interact with Jon's parentage reveal? I'm trying to figure out how it all fits together, and I wonder if GRRM is, too. Trying to maximise the drama is key... but what drama... to me that's probably why Jonsa is going to happen just because it's maximum drama and justifies their developing character arcs.

Sorry if that's too many questions, I'm just not sure how it all fits together character-wise.

Hi anon!

I don't think anyone has a truly specific scenario laid out how the northern succession drama is going to go down, nor the RLJ reveal. Both depend on the specific way and timing of how other influencing factors will go down. Jon's path post-stabbing, the mode and itinerary of Sansa's return, the retrieval of Rickon, the timing of Howland Reed's introduction into the current plot, the travel of information regarding Bran's survival and journey North (that Liddle met him, after all) and so on and so forth. Too difficult to predict in the details, even if the thematic direction is not that hard to pin down: reunion, reconsolidation, return to stability, the pack survives.

But I am a bit partial to one interesting scenario that was suggested to me by an anon in this post. Which is that Robb's will and RLJ may be revealed to Jon at the same time by Howland Reed, creating an immediate and character-defining need for a choice. I like that it would both tighten up the speed of events and heighten the tension of what this means for Jon by laying out immediate consequences - both good and awful.

It would also mirror the choice of Stannis offer, to which Jon's answer was sticking to his own chosen identity ("he had his answer then") and preserve the contrast to Robb who discounted the importance of "the girls" (leading to the necessity of this will) by choosing "the girl" - his mother Lyanna - to matter more than a title he had craved all his life.

Sansa has consistently not put personal value on her claim, as opposed to the desire to go home or her growing attachment to the castle of Winterfell, so I don't see that changing. Robb's choice is likely to hurt her on some level, though his unwillingness to trade her would hurt more if she were made aware of it. I don't see this as the teased conflict between Sansa and Jon that the show created mainly because a) Sansa isn't doing the nonsensical Ramsay plotline to "earn Winterfell through suffering" and b) book!Jon cares about her claim very much. They would theoretically support each other's claims, as opposed to fighting over it. Not to mention the known survival of Bran and Rickon that would nix the conditions under which the will was created in the first place.

The connection to Jonsa I see is that it's the one real reward in this for Jon. The initial inner conflict will be all about identity and succession, with Jon choosing the truth and his mother and the murky darkness of his conception, no matter how it hurts, but the resolution will likely involve both Jon and Sansa embracing the opportunity it opens up for them to freely admit their feelings to each other. And perhaps even take advantage of their own relative unimportance in the succession (inconveniently married girl, half-Targ cousin) to pull a Romeo and Juliet/Jace and Sara secret mutual commitment in the godswood move, like the two dramatic teenagers they are. Which should make for a fun tension when Jon and his former "friend" Tyrion meet again.