#the greyjoys

[wylldebee]

Ye Olde Magick AU Part II: More Houses

As always: thank @books-n-guns for the existence of this AU :D Basic lore (and the first bunch of houses): X Without further ado, have some more houses~!

The Arryns: Wings, wings, wings. They have the most beautiful feathered wings you'll ever lay eyes on and back muscles because damn their wings are heavy. They need special oils and soaps, and are almost constantly grooming. And they have echo voices (X). If the song Hallelujah existed in ASOIAF they would own it. The skies of the Vale always has at least one Arryn or one of it's cadet houses The Boltons: Like books-n-guns says, they're vampires with an interest in blood magic. Legend says the Boltons actually used to be able to shed their whole skin—and I mean their whole skin—until one Bolton got into blood magic and suddenly vampires. The northern weather is perfect for them. The Mormonts: Werebears! Werebears! Werebears! You think Bear Island was named after the bears that inhabit it? No. It's the werebears of House Mormont. Were as wild looking as the Starks of old just bear themed; claws and teeth and fangs and thicker hair, and were generally bigger and stronger. Now they're just strong. Lady Maege Mormont can still crush a man's head between her hands.

The Tarths: Giants. For some reason the magic has been absent from their bloodline for a few years until Brienne was born. While not as big as her ancestors, Brienne is still big and has great strength. She didn't defeat those who had a bet on her maidenhead so much as she sent them flying. People held score cards. Loras was sweating in his armour and allowed Brienne to grapple him instead shut up you drunken archer of my family I allowed it because I didn't want to fucking die. The Hightowers: Flame hair. Think Hades from Hercules. It's safe to the touch and doesn't set anything on fire...unless the Hightower it's attached to wants it. Just like when they turn the beacon's fire green to call their bannerman, a Hightower's hair can turn green at will. Please imagine Alicent entering the room not only in her green dress, but with flickering green flame hair. The Baelishs: Fiery eyes. Look up Lucifer Morningstar red eyes and you get what I'm imagining, though the pupils are a glowing flame coloured. It's hard to look like a friendly and powerless man to be underestimated by all the high lords with these eyes, but Littlefinger manages it. The Greyjoys: Krackens. Honestly I'm just imagining a kracken version of Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean. But they can only get that form when wet with seawater. Can remain in that form so long as a part of their body is still in seawater. Rare times does it skip a member of the family, so sorry Aeron. The Karstarks: Since they are a cadet branch of the Starks they also benefitted from the same wolf magic—however instead of fangs they've got the claws. Sharp and deadly, the Karstarks are best at being frontline fighters where even if they lose their swords they can still maul a bitch. No, seriously, they will maul someone with their claws. They have mauled people with their claws. Rumors say they use grindstones to keep their claws nice and sharp. The Freys: Trolls, specifically bridge trolls. And not the dependable kind that they used to be back in the day. Still having that weasel look to them, they have granite skin that makes normal swords break against them and above-human strength, thus still making them the most powerful bannermen of House Tully. The Reeds: Lizard-lions or frogs. Actually, nobody really knows what the Reeds are—not now or back in the past. Not even Ned knows what Howland Reed looked like because he kept his entire person covered from the top of his head to his hands to his feet. The only thing he saw was a super long tongue jab hard at Arthur's neck that killed the knight and save him. And that's what I've got for now. Again ideas of other houses are welcome!

[duchess-of-oldtown]

You gotta have mad respect for Wex. The kid survives a massacre and then risks his neck to gather intel on Rickon's whereabouts (all the while avoiding Osha and Shaggydog's notice) and then using his knowledge to manipulate two major Lords in the North? The kid could have walked into the nearest village and started a new life, there's no way to tell he's Ironborn, he has no distinguishing features nor able to be betrayed by an accent. But no, this little kid says no, fuck it, "I'm staying right here and creating chaos on purpose". He learned from Theon but does it ✨successfully✨

[inwinterhell]

As a female athlete myself, I just want to quickly appreciate how George R.R Martin writes his women who fight. It’s never, “she wanted to be a warrior so she worked harder than everyone and eventually she could beat all the boys.” He actually gives his characters strengths and weaknesses—as well as cultural ties to fighting— and he makes these traits enhance the already existing plot lines these characters follow. The mental game is also always just as important, if not more, than the physical game, which I’ve found is true in sports and probably much more true in actual life-threatening situations.

Arya is a small child. She’s nine, she’s skinny; she would probably never excel at being a knight, so instead she learns a different type of fighting. She’ll never overpower anyone, but she can be quick and sneaky and use her left hand which most people don’t know how to fight against. Also, I would argue that Syrio’s teachings about “looking with your eyes” were far more important to her than the physical part of water dancing. Most of the time she isn’t using her skills to directly fight people, but to run away, to spy on people, to catch food and survive. Syrio is her friend, Needle is Jon Snow’s smile, etc. Arya learning how to use her stature to her advantage is part of a greater connection to her identity and the people who helped her.

Brienne is stronger than most men, but she faces constant misogyny because of that (which is all too realistic). She constantly faces internal battles with her own self-image and harassment wherever she goes. She gets taught to use men’s pride and anger to her advantage:

“Old Ser Goodwin was long in his grave, yet she could hear him whispering in her ear. Men will always underestimate you, he said, and their pride will make them want to vanquish you quickly, lest it be said that a woman tried them sorely. Let them spend their strength in furious attacks, whilst you conserve your own. Wait and watch, girl, wait and watch (AFFC Brienne 7)”

Finally, “no chance, and no choice” is her most memorable line for a reason. It’s not her martial prowess that makes her a great character; it’s her bravery and honor.

Cultural ties are also so important to the reasons many women in the series fight. Asha is Balon’s last remaining child when all her brothers are dead and gone. Of course she knows how to fight and sail. Her tension with Theon is less about her showing off and more about her proving how much she actually knows her people while he doesn’t (of course that isn’t Theon’s fault but that’s a whole other post). The Mormont women learned to fight because they historically had to fight off invaders; the Sand snakes’ skills show their connection to Oberyn, etc.

Anyway I just love how George uses fighting to enhance his characters’ personalities and not define them. None of them are physically or mentally infallible, and none are exempt from misogyny. They just learned to do something that empowers and protects them despite society’s expectations. George’s writing of women is definitely not perfect, but this is something I really appreciate.

[souryam]

" He raised his eyes. 'Sister. See. This time i knew you.' "

[lmaowh-at]

Catelyn heard someone snigger behind her. She loves him, poor thing, she thought sadly. She'd play his squire just to touch him, and never care how great a fool they think her... (and some other things)

[shebsart]

POV characters: AFFC

-

[agot]

[acok]

[asos]

[apple-of-my-pie]

justice for all the women of westeros but especially ASHA GREYJOY who ran for president on a platform of “I’ll finally end the forever wars that have brought us literally no gain whatsoever” and still somehow lost to an evil wizard who did the fantasy equivalent of bringing back plutonium rods from Chernobyl

[kudriaken]

House Greyjoy. Another fanart for Great Houses of Westeros. Sorry for not posting here for so long!

[amber-laughs]

grrm has a real knack for writing men who cower in the corner due to the overwhelming shame of their mere existence while simultaneously saying to themselves “i am the hottest girl in this grocery store” twice per page. jaime, theon, jon etc etc

[laurellerual]

Our Blades Are Sharp

[hylora]

Went on a proper reread of ASOIAF in english recently and I don't know what happened.

Never really cared for Theon, never understood the obsession some had with him, and when reading his chapters in ACOK he was even worse than I remembered.

Then I got to ADWD again, and now I understand....

[jessescatorccio]

love the type of male character that is just a losing dog

[naggascradle]

i got reminded how funny the greyjoys are again its so awesome how throughout acok youre like god theon you are insane and a weirdo and like sure asha is there and also insane and weird but she's kind of serving with it and yeah aeron is there for two minutes but he seems like he's been through it so its ok he's kinda odd. so you let it pass and then you hit affc and you finally get more greyjoy povs and you realize Oh. They're all like batshit insane. Theon is on the normal side here. Conceptually Imagine being jon and haaating theon growing up because you think he's an asshole and he is yeah and then you meet literally anyone else in his family and theyre like that but worse and also command ships of hundreds of men. SUCH a tragedy we never got any of the starks to meet literally any other greyjoy to have a point of comparison here on what theon couldve been like

[theghostofpyke]

Aeron: "Men fish the sea, dig in the earth, and die. Women birth children in blood and pain, and die. Night follows day. The winds and tides remain. The islands are as our god made them."

Some scenes for the prompt "Home" for twoweeksoftheon

(The scene with Aeron hit me, when I reread. We often fault Theon for his homecoming, for failing to get to know the people and find allies first. But one of the first things he does on the Iron Islands is in fact ask for advice and information in full humility, from someone he remembers as potentially helpful. Aeron isn't.)

[lmaowh-at]

Theonposting today. Archery + Asha + Pyke that i will never finish

[asoiafpalestine]

our twenty-sixth piece is…

balon with his last remaining child, asha by host @wodania

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