theskyeisup

[theskyeisup]

Princess Elia Martell arriving at Dragonstone 🤍

My commission by the wonderful and talented @rinthecap thank you!!

[theskyeisup]

normalize being 14 and having a homoerotic infatuation with your former betrothed’s current fiancee

[theskyeisup]

The two of us, visionaries

[theskyeisup]

favorite Cersei Lannister moments in the books

every time she's compared to a cat. I love that she hissed in her first POV chapter

her hearing that she will be killed by her brother/a brother and not once in all of 30 years thinking it might be the other one of her two brothers

the literally one scene in the whole book where her and Tyrion are happy with each other because theyre both laughing at how stupid Renly is (and then he poisons her with laxatives)

when she keeps fucking and seducing the Kettleblacks, gets one of them to kill the pope, and at no point seems to think her Kettleblack based infrastructure might have flaws

when she's like "ugh Robert only kept Jalabhar Xho around because he probably was thinking about Summer Island women… with their big dark nipples… wearing nothing but feathers…"

when she's running through the sept trying to evade capture and it genuinely reads like a Tom & Jerry scene

when she makes Aurane Waters her admiral because he reminds her of Rhaegar and then he embezzles all her shit and runs off

WHEN TAENA JOKES ABOUT MARGAERY AND LORAS HAVING INCESTUOUS SEX AND CERSEI IS LIKE "OK WRAP IT UP"

I really do think Cersei is smart and cunning and able to use many things to her advantage. I also think that she immediately got drunk on power and made less than ideal choices during AFFC

[theskyeisup]

one of my favorite little veins of pure gold in brienne’s story is how, despite the way she feels like an outsider, she’s basically catnip to people who get to know her. people just kind of go crazy around her?

spend enough time with her and you’re essentially guaranteed to become obsessively convinced of the depth of her honor. you will also believe wholeheartedly in her sheer competence as a warrior. and you might start trusting her to complete outlandishly heroic tasks in defiance of what other people would call logic or common sense. almost like you’re under some sort of hallucinogenic influence

you start with renly who, whatever else he thinks of her, makes her his kingsguard.

next cortnay penrose is all: if brienne isn’t on your side, you’re on the wrong side. i’d rather die than join you

and you move to catelyn giving her the most important job in the world

and obviously jaime and pod being lowkey and highkey hero-struck by her. jaime throws quests and loot at her like a lovesick buffoon

and even hyle quits his fucking job defending her badassery

septon meribald, the elder brother, jeyne heddle. kinda loras. maybe gendry?

hell, you’ll never convince me that even thoros wasn’t starting to fall under her spell. five more minutes and she’d have had him

[theskyeisup]

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.

[theskyeisup]

She's just like her daughters fr

I like when Catelyn starts killing people in her brain

[theskyeisup]

Princess Elia Martell ☀️

Commissioned by the wonderful @chemtrailsoverthesun ❤️!

[theskyeisup]

Underrated aspect of the book is how interconnected the Stark's are to their wolves and Lady being killed literally meant that a huge part of Sansa died that died that night too.

Both figuratively and literally, I mean. Lady's death represents Sansa's future losing of herself and her identity in King's Landing, because Lady dying literally meant that a part of Sansa was dead with her. When Ned killed Lady, he killed a part of Sansa; her innocence, her dreams. This even ties back to the warg and dream stuff. Sansa's being was buried with Lady.

And like, all of the other kids had their wolves for the majority of the time. Nymeria might not have been with Arya but the bond, their being, was still there.

Sansa doesn't have that, and I really wish more people explored this aspect of her. I think it further emphasizes how utterly alone Sansa is in this new world of hers. She doesn't have her father, her family, or even her wolf.

She only has herself.

[theskyeisup]

Catelyn Stark (Tully attire)

[theskyeisup]

FOR REALL she's one of my favourite characters in the whole universe, she's just so complex and interesting and it's such a shame that not more people are willing to give her a chance

Ik someone always says this: but I genuinely think that Catelyn Stark is one of the best characters GRRM has written.

Her chapters are genuinely so interesting, seeing a rise of the king through his MOTHER is such an interesting idea and I love it so much. Catelyns motherhood both being her downfall and her best strength??? Yeah don’t even talk to me

[theskyeisup]

actually one of the most romantic things in “a song of ice and fire” was ned building a small sept at winterfell so catelyn could practice her faith

[theskyeisup]

It's funny bc his justification probably was a mix of "I need another child of MINE" + "I need another daughter"

And Jon very much is not a girl, and wants nothing to do w being a Targaryen

Rhaegar: I need THREE heads of the dragon. THREE Valyrian children of the line of Aerys and Rhaella. But my wife must never conceive again or she will die. I have only two children. WHAT CAN I DO!!!

Viserys: *raises hand*

Rhaegar: Nah, not that one. Kidnapping a teenaged girl and starting a war that ends my entire dynasty it is. I am very smart.

[theskyeisup]

Battle of Blackwater is one of the funniest chapters to me. Sansa was a trooper

[theskyeisup]

[theskyeisup]

GoT Lannisters commit crimes then watch everyone deal with the consequences of their actions from the balcony, drinking wine

the reason why got!lannisters would absolutely eat the greens is that when greens commit crimes they spiral into twenty stages of religious guilt and suicidal urges and think "i am terrible and unlovable and past forgiveness, and i dishonored myself, and i need to be put down like a bad bad dog, and gods hate me, and when does this misery end and i need kill myself, but death is a fate too kind for someone like me and etc. etc."

when lannisters commit crimes they be smug about it. they think "in my hot girl era"

[theskyeisup]

Just got really sad thinking about how Arya and Sansa have no idea the lengths their mom went to save them — Catelyn literally broke Jaime out of prison and burned all her relationships for the extremely small chance that this very risky hostage trade would work because it was the only option she had left and she wouldn’t give up on her daughters :(