#this is also me about my beloved sansa<3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[pendraegon]

the thing about jaime and brienne is that you can go so long not thinking about them and then you do and then you're stuck into the vortex unable to escape for a good week or two.

[catofoldstones]

I love how in every chapter since asos sansa and arya both say “I’m a woman grown” or “I’m 11, a woman now” or “I’m a woman flowered”. Like you’re both severe minors, haven’t even broken the eggshells of the eggs from which you’re yet to hatch 😭😭 calm down there, buckos

[sunnysideaeggs]

hi babes this is my ep 3 review. this is a lil monday tradition i love to yap

lmao rhaenys subtly gagging rhaenyra and calling her out. i’m liking her more and more compared to the first season, she seems more rounded and actually a figure of peace instead of coping

now rhaenyra is coping lol. ‘a little boy murdered in his bed’ ‘but my throonee :((((‘

rhaenyra parentifying rhaena and making her go to her mother’s place of death to safeguard her sons 🙄 not even recognizing the burden she is putting in her. a white woman giving her children to raise to a black girl smh

i like a lot what they’re making with rhaena, giving her actual thoughts that often contradict her ‘side’. go get your hightower husband girl

why no one remembered that larys, yk, the greens’ master of whispers, is lord of harrenhal? like of course it is a green location? where is he? isn’t he a memeber of the council? why does he never attends council meetings?

lmao not daemon wishing to be called king when the proper title is king consort. let me just get a meme:

i just realized that alicent now dresses less ‘richly’ maybe to indicate frugality during war to the people. ‘look, we’re not having feasts while you starve’ kind of vibe. the green queen beloved of the smallfolk

and she is also less structured because she doesn’t need to cover herself for viserys. i enjoy her having the freedom to dress as she likes

as a sansa lover, i must say i love rhaena. go gentle princess with a good who feels everything too much and wears courtesy as a weapon. i love u

if they’re diminishing helaena’s grief and they’re not going to give me helaena taking revenge in dreamfyre istg 🤨🤨🤨

I KNEW THE ARMOR WAS VALYRIAN STEEEEELL 🔥🔥🔥 that’s why it doesn’t fit him it literally isn’t made for him. i hope it’s fireproof

egg promoting his lads 😭 medieval networking

lol larys is the kind of guy that suddenly comes to you with the weirdest true crime facts that leave you feeling icky. i love him

aegon did the alicent disappointed face to his kingsguard. neat party trick

not making baelon cheat on alyssa 🙄 our one successful sibling marriage and they take it from us

tbh if i was dyana you wouldn’t catch a glimpse of me after the meeting with alicent. fuck king’s landing, that stinky city. i would have alicent get me a little house in oldtown. a job as a cook. no chance of any dirty man getting his hands on me. why keep victimizing a character for no reason condal?

any dragonseed should zip it for good, unless you get something for your heritage. my mom was a lyseni whore, that’s what i would say. nobody asks you questions when you say your mom was a lyseni whore

aegon 🙄 i thought we were getting past this. i hope he apologizes, i’m tired of this aemond slander.

i dislike the full frontal scene with aemond. literally gratuitous, no one asked for it. and we know there’s awful people saying shit about ewan’s body, they now get another chance of making fun of his most intimate parts and aemond’s intimate moments. why.

finally some class conscience exploration with criston? are my prayers being answered?

lmao not rhaenyra getting another girl daemon. i dislike baela’s hot head since ever but if it gives me comedic relief i’ll take it

rhaenyra is his father’s daughter. not a compliment

i love how daemon barricades his door just to… open it when he thinks someone wants to get in. and gets out. big forehead not big brain.

MILLY APPEARS YAYYYY 🥰🥰🥰 jaehaerys noooooo 😭😭😭

i could see jae’s actor kinda winking, his little lashes twitching. he’s a baby and he’s doing his best omg 😭💕 it could be the candles tho

yes daemon cry i hate you

imagine you’re a kid and they tell you your job is to be still and have a pretty lady hum at you and touch your cheek. so comforting tbh

ALYS APPARITION YAYYYY 🥰🥰🔥 she’s as stunning and disturbing as i imagined her. devoured. ate him alive. as she should.

lmao of course alicent would think war is to be averted after seeing her grandson without a head 🙄 and if she does she’s dead to me istg

yes rhaenyra threaten a queen 🙄 of course she will react well and think of making peace with you. at gunpoint. classical targaryen.

also she literally smuggled a weapon into a church. threatened to spill blood in a holy place. then ask why people don’t believe you have any morals or respect for anything.

alicent asking her if she’s surrending it’s so funny loool

once again, alicent talks about a child’s murder. rhaenyra brings up the throne. i’m done with her tantrums.

did you betray him at your very last, alicent? don’t you know you owe loyalty to your rapist and jailer, alicent? don’t you know you’re not allowed to want, alicent?

that’s how rhaenyra sounds.

i love how rhaenyra doesn’t spare a thought to surrender yet wants to pretend bloodshed concerns her. lmao.

alicent, i’m back. go green queen.

[illumiera]

Hello! 5, 11 and 19 for Elentari <3 For 5, I know you ship her with Miraak so tell em about them <3

✨ ask game ✨

hihi! thank you so much for the ask! 💖

5) do you ship your OC with a canon character? if so, who?

YOU GOT IT, Elentari is shipped with Miraak! I won't ramble about them too much (Lumi lies lyingly, knowing she has an 84k words and counting fic for them), but the gist of things is that as Dragonborn, neither of their souls are truly bound by the laws of time. this means that whenever she dreams of him in the Fourth Era, she's actually interacting with him four thousand years in the past. unbeknownst to her and forgotten by him (since Hermaeus Mora stole his memories from him), they have a whole lot of history before their "first" meeting in Apocrypha!

when they meet there, Ellie doesn't especially want to kill him. she's Arch-Mage, vanquisher of the World-Eater—hasn't destiny had its fill of her already? why should she strike down the one person who could possibly understand what it's like to walk Nirn a stranger to both mortals and dragons? and so she resolves to try to save him, or slay if she absolutely can't save him, and everything spirals from there... 😼

11) what was your inspiration for your OC?

as silly as it sounds, Elentari was one of those OCs who just mentally kicked the door down and announced herself like, "hi. I'm here now. this is my name, this is what I look like, now write about me." that said, I take a fair bit of inspiration from the goddess Persephone in the "goddess of spring" and "queen of the Underworld" sense—this idea of Ellie as a gentle, soft-spoken healer who wears flowers in her hair but can be ruthless and incredibly deadly when she sees the need. there's also definitely something of my beloved Eowyn, Daenerys Targaryen, and Sansa Stark in the mix!

19) what is their sexuality? what is their love language, both giving and receiving?

to me, Elentari is a big ol' demi! she's one of those people who somehow manages to be very warm and generous without letting many people in past her walls, so it takes a lot for her to actually fall for someone. as for a love language, while she'll certainly blush for the right words (and can totally reciprocate), she's a big fan of giving and receiving gestures that speak without words at all—a hand-embroidered gift, something fresh-baked, someone there when needed, favours done, a weight eased. this goes for friends, too! 🥰

[starsarefire824]

🌟 10 questions for writers 🌟

thanks @foodiewithdahoodie for the tag! <33

how many works do you have on ao3/tumblr?

I have 42 works on ao3. I don't post fics on tumblr. I used fanfiction.net back in the day, but those fics are lost to to the interwebs now.

what's your total ao3/tumblr word count?

I'm at 649,251 on ao3 :)

what fandoms do you write for?

right now i'm pretty much writing for stranger things exclusively. it's just a fun world! in the past i have written for Severance, The Morning Show, Star Wars Trilogy, Game of Thrones, and my beloved Turn: Washington's Spies.

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I usually always try to respond. Sometimes things get away from me and I feel like the time has passed if we're chapters and chapters further in the story, but I really appreciate them, so I always try to respond, and sometimes it can lead to some interesting conversations or things about the characters I might not have thought about per se, so I really enjoy responding! Sometimes, I respond to some friends on discord so I usually will just leave my screaming over there. :)

have you ever had a fic stolen?

I do not think so. There was an instance of reading something very similar in someone's fic who I knew had read my fic prior. While a little annoying, it was not enough to really bother me. But if there are things out there, I haven't seen them!

have you ever cowritten a fic before?

yes! I was working with @perpetualexistentialcrisis17 (perexcri) and @thornywords on a byler p&p au. It's posted on ao3, but it is on hold for now until we all are ready to delve back into it. <3

what's your all-time favourite ship?

Townhull from Turn and Byler. In the past, Reylo.... and Petyr x Sansa from GOT.

what are your writing strengths?

hmmm, I think maybe staying within one character's lens and finding the emotionality in sex scenes. People have told me that I am good at tension between characters and the way i reveal parts of the story.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Oh man, definitely rushing. Sometimes I get tired of looking at something, and then when i go back i find tons of little typos. So i'm constantly doing minor editing on a03. I wish I was funnier and better at actions scenes. I've gotten much better at this as I've gotten older and just write so much more, but sometimes I forget plot points if it's been too long writing lmao. Also I talk about eyes too much 😂🫠

first fandom you wrote for?

Buahaha, when I was 14 a Wes Crave movie came out called Red Eye with Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams. I was obsessed and wrote a fanfic with them that I never finished. That ship would have sailed so hard if that was released now. XD

I'm tagging @greenfiend, @souverian-are-we, @perpetualexistentialcrisis17, @thornywords, @wisehearts, @magentamee and anyone else who'd like to do this! @me so i can read! <3333

[daenystheedreamer]

i read a fic that was like... the kinkiest thing that nedcat are into is anal. it was a great fic and used it as a way to show their relationship and how they have that honesty and vulnerability and then also ned was lying to her the whole time anyway?? anyone this ask is insane but it was a good fic yeah

see so true. they would be so normal about sex. "oh teehee i bought tasteful lingerie i bought a small and practical prostate stimulator lets be naughty tonight my beloved 😙" meanwhile lysa and petyr are on the fourth plane of kinkxistence. lysa is doing kate bush babooshka to petyr meawhile nedcat are going for a nice anniversary dinner at a lovely grand hotel (sansa planned it out for them<3). renloras is another normal couple like can you tell me theyre 'unhinged' when stannis x selyse exists. stannis and selyse arent even having sex but theyre doing inter-dimensional weird subtle fetish shit with their neighbours and mlm scammer.

[lavenderfluorite14]

🩸🦇💖People I Want to Know Better💖🦇🩸

Thank you for the tag @ancuninfiles! I also ship Me and Your Mom.

1. Favorite Ships (in no particular order)

Wyllstarion (Baldur's Gate 3) The monster hunter falls in love with the monster? The monster teaches a cursed hero how to deal with his new body? A dash of enemies to lovers? A princely young man showers a lost and lonely man with the love he needs (deserves) while that same savvy, clever man helps the princely young man break his evil contract? YEAH.

Bloodweave (Baldur's Gate 3) None of us are completely immune to toxic old man yaoi.

Shadowzel (Baldur's Gate 3) LET'S GO LESBIANS

Ianthe x Harrow (The Locked Tomb Series) I'm toxic, yeah yeah

Reylo (Star Wars Sequel Trilogy) These two will always have a chokehold on my heart. They could never make me hate you Sequel Trilogy, although they have CERTAINLY tried. I will die bitter about TRoS, lol.

Jarden (Jude x Cardan, The Folk of the Air) Booktok is right sometimes.

Sansa x Brienne (A Song of Ice and Fire) A lady and her knight???? HELLO???????

Sarah x Jareth (Labyrinth) This ship has EVERYTHING I love.

Jasmine x Mozenrath (Aladdin: the Animated Series) This may be a deep cut, but I love enemies to lovers who never truly stop being enemies.

2. First Ship

Zelink (Zelda x Link, The Legend of Zelda). My first ship ever, I will always love them. Also easily my most wholesome ship, lol.

3. Last Song

Guess (feat. Billie Eilish) - Charli XCX.

4. Last Movie

Abigail! I was not expecting to live this movie as much as I did, we love a vampire horror comedy.

5. Currently Reading

Good Omens, Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman. I finally started this classic and then allegations emerged.

I haven't started these yet, but I also have these checked out in Libby: Loud by Drew Afualo

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

6. Currently Watching

I am SO bad at watching TV for no discernible reason. But I need to finish Season 3 of Fruits Basket, I'm a religious House of the Dragon watcher (RIP Game of Thrones), and I'm still reeling from the season finale of Succession.

7. Currently Craving

Mango Loco Monster Energy drink, my beloved

no pressure tags:

@rosieofcorona, @bee-chann, @roguishcat

[maedhrus]

took me a bit to get around to but thank you for the tag @unrealwasteland <3

rules: choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag 10 people you want to know better

fandoms:

the terror

the silmarillion

asoiaf/hotd

the first character you loved:

as i also subscribe to the "had to rewatch three times to tell these men apart" club, probably crozier ig! something about his ulster presbyterian charm and general poor mood sang to me

maglor because i've always been a massive fan of the sole survivor trope, the more guilt-ridden the better

sansa stark!! my girl!!!!!! she's learning politics but is adamant she won't lose her belief in goodness to do so!

the character you relate to most:

nedward little!! each day is another day of tasks which he completes to middling success. also that simmering, ever-present rage

maedhros i suppose? i don't incredibly relate to any silm character but if i did it would have to be the world's first put-upon eldest sibling

jacaerys velaryon because i am also in a constant state of galled at the audacity

the character you'd slap

cornelius hickey but he'd probably like it. charles des voeux so the slap would result in less overt pleasure (still too much)

thingol because he's fun to torment

the burnt, cremated corpse of jaehaerys i targaryen

three favorite characters in order of preference

edward little (baby girl you gave it all and it wasn't enough), thomas jopson (mummy issues and duty as a curse, beloved), john irving (though very interchangable with crozier and silna tbh)

maedhros (eldest daughter syndrome), maeglin (trapped in a doom of his own creation), miriel (my omnipresent wife <3)

helaena targaryen (sweet girl!! haunted by her dreams!!), alicent hightower (girl you cannot escape the cycle! you are letting it consume you! you are continuing it for your benefit!), otto hightower (diva grandpa)

a character you liked at first but don't like anymore

generally i tend not to stop liking a character but i suppose some of them become less interesting to me?

literally everyone compels me to a certain degree but i suppose john franklin himself?? he peaces out before he can achieve any real revelation

i don't really care about luthien, very sorry to say

rhaenys velaryon. she's fine. it's fine. i don't see her achieving any real depth apart from "i was usurped. i now support rhaenyra unequivocally"

a character you did not like at first but now do

john irving who, at first watch, reminded me of every homophobic churchgoer i've had to interact with. with subsequent understanding he is now my sweet boy and no tongue shall rise against him

idril who i didn't care for at first but now i'm like oh!!! she's politicking!!!! her and maeglin are fighting a game of 4d chess!!

alicent hightower <3 you are so filled with hypocrisy and justifiable rage <3 you have no outlet for this but to cling to this idea of duty <3

three OTPs

joplittle!!! (as is apparent to anyone. there is no room for my manifesto to fit here), goodsilna (because they are sweet and so dear to me), and malving (because they have taken over my life)

russingon (devotion as a curse! devotion as a curse!!!!!!), magolfin (maglor/fingolfin kind of invented out of my mind but compels me in strange and unsettling ways), halenthir (literally brought together amidst war and in spite of doom! what's not to love!)

helaemond (literally doomed to die on the same day. loving your sibling in the incest family but not the one you're betrothed to), sansan (she! changed! him!), jacegan (swore a pact of brotherhood and we kiss about it)

tagging @charlesdesvoeux @abrahamvanhelsings @boogiewoogieweeb @perenial @burrowingregg @boatswainer @ithaca-awaits @erythriina @moonwifes and no pressure as always to do it!

[redotter]

Thought on ASOIAF and GOT

Some background: I own the books since 2014 but I didn't care much for them when I first gave them a try so I stopped after a couple chapters. Then the show was a massive hit, yet I remained uninterested and rather annoyed at how popular it was. But then I watched some tiktoks with best scenes and it really sparked my curiosity so I picked up the books again last year and it was a much more enjoyable read - for once I already knew the characters and the main plot beats from social osmosis so it felt like a reread (I mean this in the best way possible; I could actually focus on the details and make little head-cannons and theories instead of trying to keep up with all the names).

Long story short, sometimes things that are popular... are good. I love the books! GRRM is a good writer and all the negative reviews I've heard about them are not founded imo. For example, while the world is sexist, the narrative is not sexist at all. It has some really well written, strong and complex female characters, and that was in the 90s (I know, the bar is low but I'm giving credit where credit is due)! Now that I'm currently reading the forth book, I decided to also watch the show instead of piecing it together from gifs and... I'm mildly disappointed? Don't get me wrong, it's still a very good show so far, and it must have been mindblowing back when it was still running, I'm just less invested in it that in the books. And I wanna rant about it :^)

Aging up the characters

I entirely understand why this choice had to be made from a myriad of practical and ethical reasons. But it seems like they aged the characters, then kept a couple details from the books that work the way they work because of the age. For example, a lot of Sansa's lines and behavior are written for a preteen girl (her getting her period for the first time, her not understanding Margaery... just generally being naive and child-like). Then there's Jon being a virgin while looking like an attractive dude in his 20s (how could that even happen?). Or the tragedy of Robb fighting a war while so young (at least they changed the wife story, because an adult Stark would never fuck a woman while his odds of winning the war depend on him specifically not doing that). Or the horrible situation Dani is in at such a heartbreakingly young age, stuck between her brother and Drogo. Or Arya being confused for a boy while looking like a woman. All of these characters are also very idealistic and ambitious and have that teenage-y The Power of Believing in Yourself. They all make some extreme choices that a more seasoned adult would be way more cautious with.

2. The sex

Again, I get why it's there (it sells), but the show somehow has more sex scenes that the books? Or is it just me? There's also this weird focus on Renly being gay, which in the books is very subtle. The show also has some sexual violence scenes not present in the books, whose purpose I didn't fully get. Meanwhile, Daenerys goes "all men must die but we are not men *smirk*" as if the creators gave themselves a feminist pat on the back in-between nude scene #30 and a rape scenes #12. I've heard that it gets worse too.

3. The actors

I love all of them, but I feel like some characters are so beloved because of the charisma of the person portraying them. I hated Drogo's guts until he died, same with the Hound. Can't believe they have such a fanbase. Even Daenerys, I like her as a character but her POVs are some of my least favorite. On the other hand, Sansa comes of as more sympathetic in the book, mostly due to the age thing I mentioned. I love Jaime and Brienne just as much in both and I care for Bran just as little in both.

4. The pacing

I have brain rot from fast media consumption, FINE, but some of the scenes move so sloooow. If you put together all of John's POVs, I bet half of it is snow scenery.

5. The setting

Why is everything beyond the wall a dessert? The book has woods, fauna and flora well into the north. Every time I see them march through Antarctica I can't help but wonder what do all of those people EAT. I know that humans can live in harsh conditions, but there's also no fishing options so???

There's some other smaller things (like Stannis being into the Red Woman for some reason) but there's no main category for it. Overall I'll continue watching it cause I'm curious how it will get worse (I already know that it does). And hey, if you've only watched (some of) the show and didn't like it, you might enjoy the books.

[branwendaughterofllyr]

branwen please share with us some more BNFs/JoLa tea ☕️ thank you kindly x

I’m probably going to regret this but I couldn’t resist lol.

I actually feel bad for a lot of the BNFs, including JoLa. The end of GoT wasn’t really fun for most of them, and most of them have left the fandom. JoLa has pretty much abandoned her tumblr, and good for her honestly. I think she’s a very silly, even over sensitive person, but she genuinely believed that she was going to be right. She hates being called a BNF and denies she ever was one, which is par for the course for her. She would alternate between denying she was invested in jonerys as a ship and commissioning jonerys fanart.

Her takes on Dany were honestly pretty hilarious in their tone deafness, which led to a lot of joking about her in my circle. She was really, really into Tyrion, which, uh, okay. The “curtain of light” theory has become pretty infamous now, and I cannot emphasize enough how seriously it was taken by some of the BNFs on tumblr. Big BNF poorquentyn (is he still around? Didn’t he convert to Jonsa at one point?) responded a lot to JoLa and nobodysuspectsthebutterfly back in the day.

I’ve screenshotted some of my favorite posts, most of which are from like 2015-2018.

I mean come on, Dany and Jon bang and have baby Drogo to save the world beyond the curtain of light? SPECTACULAR. I wish I was on those drugs.

And it’s amazing because on one hand I’m like “yes! The power of love as humanity’s greatest strength is a theme of ASOIAF!” And on the other hand I’m like “and where do Dany and Tyrion come into this at all????”

Beloved, read a single Sam chapter, I’m begging.

My personal favorite is how she justifies Dany ditching Meereen after she’s wrecked the place. Look, slavery was an inherently unsustainable system, and Dany did everyone a favor by wrecking everything and then flinching off.

Which, like yes, Dany did a good thing by trying to end slavery but also it’s a millennia old system??? It’s pretty stable, and Dany hasn’t really done a great job implementing change, and things are going to be way worse after she leaves, and any positive changes aren’t going to come at her hands. (and also has she really ended slavery? really, really?)

The Titanic comparison????? AMAZING. 

Dany is the lifeboat come to save the entire world. 

The best part is by far the tags

NEVER SAY THE BNFS DIDN’T GIVE US ANYTHING.

I loved these tags so much that one of the lovelies on the Jonsa discord made me this back in the day.

SHE’s SHOOTING STAR<3

THERE ONE MOMENT, GONE THE NEXT BUT FOREVER WONDEROUS TO BEHOLD

Who needs permanent political change, long lasting growth, and tree planting when you could have her <3

She can’t stay and actually fix any problems, she has a continent to set on fire and a curtain of light to fuck under. 

It’s crazy how such wildly different interpretations can come about from the same text, and it’s rather satisfying to me personally that I am in fact not crazy and what I was seeing the narrative is actually there.

The Tyrion humping and the refusal to acknowledge that maybe magic nukes bad actually are what cracked me up to no end.

Yes, the real enemy is the cold, but also maybe Fire and Blood is not the end-all be-all solution???? Like, just think about it for more than five seconds. Did the chapters about the destructiveness of fire mean nothing to you? Did WF, the home of the heroes at the heart of the story, going up in flames ring no bells???? Did Arya’s escape from a fire described like a dragon, where she desperately kissed the mud when she realized she was still alive not set off any alarms???? Literally anything that has to with trees??? No? Okay.

I cannot even begin to unravel her Bran takes, so I’m not going to try. 

And lest I forget, JoLa also supported Sansan and even Creepyfinger at various points, sooooooo. I took her assertions that she’s a big Sansa fan with a pile of salt.

But nobody go harass JoLa’s account please. The only reason I’m talking about this is because it was literally years ago at this point, and she’s moved on and I’m reminiscing about the horrible old days. JoLa was actually a pretty civil and nice person (I think it was nobodywhosuspectsthebutterfly who was the combative one), if very silly and wrong. 

[tavina-writes]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

This is a difficult one! I've loved a LOT of characters over the years even if the current blorbo of interest is NHS from MDZS/CQL bc he's just such a fun little guy BUT lets see if I can try to do this chronologically and not in like, any character ranking fashion:

1 & 2: these two characters are absolutely the rulers of my heart: Huang Rong and her father, Huang Yaoshi from Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. I just love my beloved spoiled conwoman princess and her insane evil wuxia version Maes Hughes dad so much. I could write so many essays about the Huangs and how they mean so much to each other and also to me. I'm always insane about family members who have complex relationships with each other and that's super evident with them.

3. Uchiha Madara from Naruto. Now, people who have known me for a long time know that I am a Naruto girlie, and that I skipped all the way to "Sasuke's Insane and Sad Pathetic Ancestor" on the character likes list. I love insane murder men and Madara is an insane murder man! He's also very sad. What's there not to like about him truly.

4. Mirasol from Chalice by Robin McKinley. I have a deep love for beauty and the beast narratives and this one ALSO had magic bees. I love Mirasol for her kindness and her devotion even in the wake of massive change and I have a special fondness for the entire story of Chalice both for the lovely worldbuilding and also Mirasol herself.

5&6. Sansa Stark and Cersei Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire. I really really love both of these characters for entirely opposing but also really similar reasons! I love them for their flaws. For being stuck in their positions in a world that's really just! not! kind to them! and how they take that and go in such different directions.

7. Sheng Rulan from The Story of Minglan. I have such a soft spot for Rulan. She's petty, she's spoiled, she has so much love and holds onto her principles and her dreams so tightly, she's her father's least favorite child despite also being a legitimate daughter, she finds love, she's so cute, she's the clearest sighted of all four of the Sheng sisters, she's got such a growth arc to her, I love her SO SO MUCH. (I love all three of her sisters too don't get me wrong, Rulan is just my favorite.)

8. Wei Yingluo from The Story of Yanxi Palace. Yingluo! My girl! Never have I ever seen a female lead with so much pent up rage and desire to get even in a story that does not judge her for her hard edges and her propensity for violence. I love that about her. I love how kindness and cruelty and how her quest for vengeance never destroys her ability to love and care for others and recognize other people's genuine kindness and the difficulties other people face in life. I love her shrewdness and her determination to survive too! I'm just! So fond of her!

9. Jaskier from The Witcher (TV). I RARELY TALK ABOUT. MY UNAGING BARD BLORBO. BUT I LOVE HIM. I love the messy relationship Jaskier, Geralt and Yennefer have in the Witcher TV show and I REALLY love the way that Jaskier is portrayed. I don't know anything about the games but! I just! I love! This annoying kind of foppish man because annoying foppish male characters are another beloved character archetype for me, see below.

10. Nie Huaisang from The Untamed/Modao Zushi. Beloved Blorbo. Little crimes man. Unfilial and spoiled. Beloved for being SO jiggly and full of trauma and his tragedy is writ large to me because it! powers! the plot! without his tragedy there is no plot! he burns down his social circle because he loves his brother! There's just so much in here that's like, oh god. I love that he's an annoying foppish dandy and that he loves his pets and creature comforts and that he doesn't enjoy working hard and has so many problems. This too is life. I love this little guy I want to rotate him for a good long time.

[aradeia]

Between a crazy spring semester and writing my MA thesis this fall, I didn't get to read for fun too much this year unfortunately. But here are my five favorite books of the few I did get to in 2022:

(1). The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. One of the best myth retellings I've ever read. Atwood presents Penelope as an unreliable narrator with an agenda of her own (this is an Odyssey retelling after all!). She then counters Penelope's version of events with the maids' point of view. Penelope's relationship with the maids, as well as her relationship with Helen, were the highlights of the book for me.

(2). A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. I know, I know. Game of Thrones. I blame beloved House of the Dragon for making me finally pick this one up. I'm so glad I did. I love Martin's characters. They're so well designed; each point of view character provides a different critique of chivalric society and the fantasy genre. Martin does a good job bringing each characters' story to a satisfying end in this one (especially Daenerys, Sansa, and Catelyn). The execution of the honorable Ned Stark is a shocking subversion of tropes.

(3). Carrie by Stephen King. I felt so bad for Carrie! I related to her very strongly. The most interesting relationship in this book for me was Carrie and Sue Snell. Between them was the complicated and ugly female bullying story I wanted to explore–– especially after the simplistic, boring story I'd gotten from Stranger Things 4. I wish Carrie and Sue had interacted more (I think it would have made Carrie's death scene more impactful for me), but Sue got replaced by her boyfriend Tommy in the narrative. Heteronormativity strikes again.

(4). A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner. So fun, and I love Sophos! I found it really compelling that Sophos had to come to the realization that there was no nonviolent solution before him if he wanted to stay alive. He lost innocence in this way. In retrospect, that kind of character development reminds me of what I love most about Game of Thrones. Also, Sophos' relationship with Helen/Eddis is wonderful. I love that Helen helps to deceive him, because it's for the good of her country. I don't often come across stories about women in power who are not guided first by their personal loves and interests. (Thinking of Cersei Lannister here. Also Rhaenyra Targaryen by the end of dragon show.)

(5). Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I love the characters! I love Sophie, and Howl, and most of all, Calcifer! I hadn't read this book as a kid or watched the movie, so it was all new to me. I think my favorite part about this story was the decision to present old age as liberating for Sophie. Becoming old allowed Sophie to shed her inhibitions, grow more confident, and more powerful in her magic. I like that story, especially for young girls, who are told that becoming old is the worst thing that can possibly happen to them. It's not!

Even though I didn't get to read so much this year, I still read some pretty compelling stories and met really fascinating characters– my favorite part of reading. Definitely getting back into the A Song of Ice and Fire universe has been a big deal for me. It's replaced Star Wars in my heart, I can't believe...

Here's to hoping I get to read more next year!

[sansalicents]

Sansa Stark for the ask game 😊

yesss thanks! sansa my beloved <3

i'm gonna do all 3 for her:

how i feel about this character: my babygirl, my beloved, my everything <3 fav asoiaf character and a top 5 character of all time for me.

all the people i ship romantically with this character: margaery and theon (show only for both of them). also i've seen people ship aemond/sansa and YES!

my favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: sansa and brienne <3 also sansa and catelyn!

my unpopular opinion about this character: i think loving her is actually the unpopular opinion in this fandom 😔

one thing i wish had happened with this character in canon: i wanted more positive sansa and arya scenes in season 7/8

favorite friendship: sansa and brienne <3

my crossover ship: ohh i never thought about that. how about sansa/quinn fabray?

notp: sansan, sanrion and petsa (i think that's their ship name 🤔). i just want my girl away from these grown men

brotp: brienne <3

otp: sansaery <3

second choice: theonsa

fluffy pairing: modern au sansaery happy lesbians

angsty pairing: show theonsa

poly ship: i don't have one tbh

weirdest pairing: probably sansa/aemond since he lived like 200 years before her lol

[nymika-arts]

chiming into the convo about sansa and dany

10000% agree that dany's storyline ultimately made sense but they def rushed it. if you watch the seasons back to back, her descent into tyranny is like. definitely an undercurrent but it's all ~for the sake of justice~ and we're rooting for her so we don't mind! until she just. burns a city of innocent civilians to the ground. which made sense to me, honestly! the whole "when a targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin" thing bolstered that, too. but agreed, they needed more time to build the way she snapped because up until like mid-8 she's like "i will not be queen of the ashes" and then. she is.

also sansa my beloved <3 no one but sansa could have survived what she survived. she's fierce and loyal and strong and cunning and firm but also gentle and kind and loving but she will not take your shit. she was forged from fire and anyone who hates her is just Incorrect <3

YES EXACTLY undercurrent is the right word bc it's there and u can start to see it in some of the choices she makes but until the very end even the worst ones are still reasonably justifiable for the circumstances and what she's trying to achieve, and then when she finally succeeds in getting exactly what she's been fighting for (like she knew king's landing had surrendered), she just turns around and burns the entire city to the ground for seemingly no reason. like before that she always had some reason behind her choices even if they were extreme, but that just came completely out of nowhere—and it definitely could have worked it just needed a lot more build up.

I was also really disappointed that nothing ever came of the reveal that jon snow was actually the last true targaryan heir, bc that would've made for such a good ending alongside dany's descent into madness, bc he was actually the rightful heir to the throne all along (+ the peace and prosperity that would come with jon on the iron throne and sansa as queen in the north??), but they just decided to speedrun the invention of democracy and make the three eyed raven king sjfbdjfjd

also YES sansa means so much to me fr like she comes so far from where she began and she faces SO MUCH and just comes out of it stronger and smarter and more capable, her arc is just amazing to watch and I'm so excited to see it develop again in my rewatch <3

[buginateacup]

I was tagged by @attonitos-gloria​ and I say thank you my dear!

3 ships: tyrion/sansa (same!) - political partnerships my beloved! We are both loathed and considered useless but we’re learning to trust each other and finding our way to defeat our enemies and hold on to something. I eat that up with a fancy dessert spoon! Megamind/Roxanne - for obvious reasons. But I still like them at their best when they are all bitey and flirty together (there is ZERO indication Roxanne is not an absolute bitch when she’s not trying to be professional and I love that for her). She deserves someone who likes her mean side. They’re both such drama llamas I hope they are just as unhinged together in the show. Also currently on a MASSIVE Hero/Don John kick which feeds my soul in a betrayed to lovers kind of way

first ever ship: I think I have to say Han/Leia, because I grew up on the original trilogy and that’s the first one I remember. Also Hawkeye/Margaret from M*A*S*H*, though in later years I say this ship does NOT fuck severely. But they should absolutely be terrible drinking buddies who play wingman for each other. My love for Kellye/Winchester however, only grows and grows (seriously someone give me a 5 years later medical conference where they meet and reconnect and deal with coming from such different backgrounds and introduce each other to their families)

last song: Ain’t No Grave (Zach Winters) to break up the podcast episodes on my long long drive)

last movie: Ever After (I was feeling nostalgic and it holds up SO WELL)

currently reading: Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom (thanks @ejga-ostja​!), Rereading all of Astolat’s GOT verse and all of Joanna Nell’s books about retired women dealing with age and life.

currently watching: Poirot (murder mysteries are my go to when sick) Farscape (horny aliens my beloved) and contemplating another rewatch of Golden Kamuy

currently consuming: I road tripped ten hours today and oh god I ate so much junkfood trying to make sure I stayed awake. Last thing was a gurger no tomato, but there have been Maxibons and dimsims and golden gaytimes a plenty today

currently craving: Sleep. I drove so long today away from my family :( Sleep and swings and a swim and to lay in the grass and look at stars

tagging: @nientedal​, @elf-kid2​ @kizzyanel​ @undynedevotion​, @owlinabasket​ and anyone else who wants to tag themselves

[butterflies-dragons]

I can’t tell you how casual a reader I was of asoiaf and how long ago it’s been. However I still knew a couple of things by the end. 1) Dany was not the hero. 2) Sansa’s marriage was incredibly important and could either stabilise or destabilise the north. I couldn’t figure out how it would work out who though. 3) Jon will probably break every part of his nights watch vows. They are too oddly specific to him if R+L=J. When I heard the Jonsa theory it all clicked. A twist that made total sense.

Yeah, for me the main protagonists/heroes were always the Stark children. They were blessed by the Old Gods with the direwolves.

The direwolves were born despite their mother was killed, which oddly reminded me to the old caesarean sections, where they just cut open the mother's body to get the baby out and obviously the mothers didn't survive. And that just shot my mind directly to Shakespeare and Macduff, who was none of woman born, who finally fulfilled the prophecy and killed Macbeth. And I said, Yup, these children will kill the big baddie someday.

On the other hand, the one that sacrificed human life to hatch nuclear weapons medieval fantasy analogy, couldn't be the hero... nope, next, bye!

About Sansa's claim, of course her marriage was important to control the larger region of the Seven Kingdoms. She is the key to the North, as one of the biggest political animals of the series wisely said. The issue is so important that GRRM wrote an allegory of the competition for Sansa's hand in marriage in the form of a fucking tourney (the Tourney at Ashford Meadow), a tourney that was inspired in another tourney that was organized for political reasons (the Tourney at Ashby from IVANHOE, one of GRRM's fave books ever). And not only that, but GRRM rewrote two scenes from the main ladies of IVANHOE and gave them to Sansa. So, Sansa is in part Rowena, the Saxon Princess whose hand in marriage could either rebuild the Saxon dynasty on England against the Norman monarchy, or unified both parties making peace between them. And Sansa is also in part Rebecca, who was abducted Rhaegar & Lyanna's style and then imprisoned in a tower.

Yeah, that's how important Sansa Stark is for GRRM.

And Jon Snow, my beloved son, all surrounded by love and duty themes... But of course he was going to break those vows, that's the human heart in conflict with itself at its best.

Now, the possibility of Jon and Sansa makes a lot of sense, politically and romantically, more than falling in love with someone that just looks like you (because that would be too much similar to Jaime and Cersei) and much more than making Jon the Oedipus of the story.

Thanks for your message :)