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Operation Stumpy Re-Read

A FEAST FOR CROWS

Summary & Foreshadowing Smorgasbord (Part III)

The epic conclusion of the blockbuster trilogy.

AFFC PART III: UNDER THE CUT

Chapter Transitions

JONSA 🐺❤️❄️

AFFC Part I: CLICK

Sansa Stark, Queen in the North

Jon Snow, King in the North

Jon (Aemon?) Snow

Ahoy Matey! Arya Stark Sails the Ocean Blue

Bran the Broken, King of Westeros

High Septon Rickon?

Pick Your Poison: The Twins Meet Their End in the Bowels of Casterly Rock . . . or King's Landing

Younger and More Beautiful Cersei

AFFC PART II: CLICK

Dark Daenerys Highlights & Laughs

Let's Dance: Stark vs. Targ

A Rat in a Maze 🐀🔪

The Usurper's Knife

Storm x Storm 🦑🖤🐉

Squid Game

Previous books:

AGOT Summary & Foreshadowing: CLICK

ACOK Summary & Foreshadowing: PART I / PART II

ASOS Summary & Foreshadowing: PART I / PART II / PART III / PART IV

Stumpy note:

If I didn't give you credit for discovering something or if I missed any foreshadowing, please contact me and I'll rectify that.

Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the reread project. All of you have great observations and comments, I wish I could highlight them all. 🙂

CHAPTER TRANSITIONS

Damn that man for breaking up this book, and ruining the chapter transition foreshadowing.

Prologue -> <- The Prophet

The storm is coming.

Thank you, @decadelongsummer!

"No," said Alleras. "It was Prince Rhaegar's young son Aegon whose head was dashed against the wall by the Lion of Lannister's brave men. We speak of Rhaegar's sister, born on Dragonstone before its fall. The one they called Daenerys."

"The Stormborn. I recall her now." - Prologue, AFFC

A storm was brewing, he could hear it in the waves, and storms brought naught but evil.

[...]

He was born a lord's son and died a king, murdered by a jealous god, Aeron thought, and now the storm is coming, a storm such as these isles have never known.

[...]

Aeron tugged his beard, and thought. I have seen the storm, and its name is Euron Crow's Eye. - The Prophet, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne I -> <- Samwell I

Two protagonists want to live up to their swords.

"A sword is only as good as the man who wields it."

[...]

When she slid Oathkeeper from the ornate scabbard, Brienne's breath caught in her throat. Black and red the ripples ran, deep within the steel. Valyrian steel, spell-forged. It was a sword fit for a hero. When she was small, her nurse had filled her ears with tales of valor, regaling her with the noble exploits of Ser Galladon of Morne, Florian the Fool, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and other champions. Each man bore a famous sword, and surely Oathkeeper belonged in their company, even if she herself did not. - Brienne I, AFFC

Once, when Jon came to consult with Maester Aemon, Sam had asked him why he spent so much time at swordplay. "The Old Bear never trained much when he was Lord Commander," he had pointed out. In answer, Jon had pressed Longclaw into Sam's hand. He let him feel the lightness, the balance, had him turn the blade so that ripples gleamed in the smoke-dark metal. "Valyrian steel," he said, "spell-forged and razor-sharp, nigh on indestructible. A swordsman should be as good as his sword, Sam. Longclaw is Valyrian steel, but I'm not. The Halfhand could have killed me as easy as you swat a bug." - Samwell I, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne I -> <- Samwell I

Encounters with mice.

Thank you, @decadelongsummer!

"Ser Shadrich of the Shady Glen. Some call me the Mad Mouse." He turned his shield to show her his sigil, a large white mouse with fierce red eyes, on bendy brown and blue. - Brienne I, AFFC

Sam was reading about the Others when he saw the mouse. - Samwell I, AFFC

+.+.+

Samwell I -> <- Arya I

Three characters are on a collision course.

Dareon will join you at Eastwatch. My hope is that his songs will win some men for us in the south. The Blackbird will deliver you to Braavos. From there you'll arrange your own passage to Oldtown. - Samwell I, AFFC

Braavos might not be so bad. Syrio was from Braavos, and Jaqen might be there as well. - Arya I, AFFC

+.+.+

Cersei II -> <- Jaime I

Play-by-play on the state of Tywin Lannister's rotting corpse.

+.+.+

Jaime I -> <- Brienne II

Royal blood in back-to-back chapters.

"I see you wonder, what sort of name is that?" the man had cackled when Jaime went to question him. "It is an old name, 'tis true. I am not one to boast, but there is royal blood in my veins. I am descended from a princess. My father told me the tale when I was a tad of a lad." Longwaters had not been a tad of a lad for many a year, to judge from his spotted head and the white hairs growing from his chin. - Jaime I, AFFC

"Well, there's Darkes, I'm one myself. My husband says I was Darke before we wed, and darker afterward." She laughed. "Can't throw a stone in Duskendale without you hit some Darke or Darkwood or Dargood, but the lordly Darklyns are all gone. Lord Denys was the last o' them, the sweet young fool. Did you know the Darklyns were kings in Duskendale before the Andals come? You'd never know t'look at me, but I got me royal blood. Can you see it? 'Your Grace, another cup of ale,' I ought to make them say. 'Your Grace, the chamber pot needs emptying, and fetch in some fresh faggots, Your Bloody Grace, the fire's going out.'" She laughed again and shook the last drops from the pail. - Brienne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Jaime I -> <- Brienne II

Crows are feasting.

On the morning after the battle, the crows had feasted on victors and vanquished alike, as once they had feasted on Rhaegar Targaryen after the Trident. How much can a crown be worth, when a crow can dine upon a king? There were crows circling the seven towers and great dome of Baelor's Sept even now, Jaime suspected, their black wings beating against the night air as they searched for a way inside. Every crow in the Seven Kingdoms should pay homage to you, Father. From Castamere to the Blackwater, you fed them well. - Jaime I, AFFC

The looters come with the carrion crows after every battle.

[...]

Lord Tarly's own striding huntsman appeared on many a badge and brooch and doublet. Friend or foe, the crows care not. - Brienne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne II -> <- Sansa I

Blood calls to blood. Somebody is noticeably missing the second time we get the rundown.

Or would she seek her own blood instead? Though all of her siblings had been slain, Brienne knew that Sansa still had an uncle and a bastard half brother on the Wall, serving in the Night's Watch. Another uncle, Edmure Tully, was a captive at the Twins, but his uncle Ser Brynden still held Riverrun. And Lady Catelyn's younger sister ruled the Vale. Blood calls to blood. Sansa might well have run to one of them. Which one, though? - Brienne II, AFFC

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

+.+.+

Brienne II -> <- Sansa I

Sansa's hoarding gods.

But when Brienne asked about Sansa, she said, "I'll tell you what I told Lord Tywin. That girl was always praying. She'd go to sept and light her candles like a proper lady, but near every night she went off to the godswood. She's gone back north, she has. That's where her gods are." - Brienne II, AFFC

They hadn't, though, not for a year or more. Sansa had prayed to the Seven in their sept and old gods of the heart tree, asking them to bring the old man back, or better still to send another singer, young and handsome. But the gods never answered, and the halls of Winterfell stayed silent. - Sansa I, AFFC

+.+.+

Sansa I <- The Kraken's Daughter

Asha's hilarious reunion with a fostered ghost from her past.

"Asha?" A shadow stepped out from behind the well.

Her hand went to her dirk at once . . . until the moonlight transformed the dark shape into a man in a sealskin cloak. Another ghost. "Tris. I'd thought to find you in the hall."

"I wanted to see you."

"What part of me, I wonder?" She grinned. "Well, here I stand, all grown up. Look all you like."

"A woman." He moved closer. "And beautiful."

Tristifer Botley had filled out since last she'd seen him, but he had the same unruly hair that she remembered, and eyes as large and trusting as a seal's. Sweet eyes, truly. That was the trouble with poor Tristifer; he was too sweet for the Iron Islands. His face has grown comely, she thought.

[...]

"If you like. It's nought to me. You look so lovely in the moonlight, Asha. A woman grown now, but I remember when you were a skinny girl with a face all full of pimples."

Why must they always mention the pimples? "I remember that as well." Though not as fondly as you do. Of the five boys her mother had brought to Pyke to foster after Ned Stark had taken her last living son as hostage, Tris had been closest to Asha in age. He had not been the first boy she had ever kissed, but he was the first to undo the laces of her jerkin and slip a sweaty hand beneath to feel her budding breasts.

I would have let him feel more than that if he'd been bold enough. Her first flowering had come upon her during the war and wakened her desire, but even before that Asha had been curious. He was there, he was mine own age, and he was willing, that was all it was . . . that, and the moon blood. Even so, she'd called it love, till Tris began to go on about the children she would bear him; a dozen sons at least, and oh, some daughters too. - The Kraken's Daughter, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne III <- Samwell II

Someone gets an escort to Eastwatch with one of Brienne's ancestors.

He sent me north aboard the Golden Dragon, and insisted that his friend Ser Duncan see me safe to Eastwatch. - Samwell II, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne III -> <- Samwell II

Where's little Dickon Tarly? Not at Horn Hill.

"Mooton's daughter, she's a maid," the man went on. "Till the bedding, anyways. These eggs, they're for her wedding. Her and Tarly's son. The cooks will need eggs for cakes."

"They will." Lord Tarly's son. Young Dickon's to be wed. She tried to recall how old he was; eight or ten, she thought. - Brienne III, AFFC

"I am a man now, Mother," I could tell her, "a steward, and a man of the Night's Watch. My brothers call me Sam the Slayer sometimes." He would see his brother Dickon too, and his sisters. "See," I could tell them, "see, I was good for something after all." - Samwell II, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne III -> <- Samwell II

Two sides of Hyle Hunt.

They had a wager.

Three of the younger knights had started it, he told her: Ambrose, Bushy, and Hyle Hunt, of his own household. As word spread through the camp, however, others had joined the game. Each man was required to buy into the contest with a golden dragon, the whole sum to go to whoever claimed her maidenhead. - Brienne III, AFFC

Looking at the water only made him think of drowning. When he was small his lord father had tried to teach him how to swim by throwing him into the pond beneath Horn Hill. The water had gotten in his nose and in his mouth and in his lungs, and he coughed and wheezed for hours after Ser Hyle pulled him out. - Samwell II, AFFC

+.+.+

Jaime II -> Cersei IV

Kingsguard having affairs with their queen.

"Who?" Ser Loras craned his head around to see. "Ten black pellets on a scarlet field. I do not know those arms."

"They belonged to Criston Cole, who served the first Viserys and the second Aegon." Jaime closed the White Book. "They called him Kingmaker." - Jaime II, AFFC

+.+.+

Cersei IV -> <- The Iron Captain -> <- The Drowned Man

Who is smart enough to give Asha some land for her help?

"Could we make use of the ironmen?" asked Orton Merryweather. "The enemy of our enemy? What would the Seastone Chair want of us as the price of an alliance?"

"They want the north," Grand Maester Pycelle said, "which our queen's noble father promised to House Bolton."

"How inconvenient," said Merryweather. "Still, the north is large. The lands could be divided. It need not be a permanent arrangement. Bolton might consent, so long as we assure him that our strength will be his once Stannis is destroyed." - Cersei IV, AFFC

"To end this war before this war ends us. We have won all that we are like to win . . . and stand to lose all just as quick, unless we make a peace. I have shown Lady Glover every courtesy, and she swears her lord will treat with me. If we hand back Deepwood Motte, Torrhen's Square, and Moat Cailin, she says, the northmen will cede us Sea Dragon Point and all the Stony Shore. Those lands are thinly peopled, yet ten times larger than all the isles put together. An exchange of hostages will seal the pact, and each side will agree to make common cause with the other should the Iron Throne—" - The Iron Captain, AFFC

"Peace," said Asha. "Land. Victory. I'll give you Sea Dragon Point and the Stony Shore, black earth and tall trees and stones enough for every younger son to build a hall. We'll have the northmen too . . . as friends, to stand with us against the Iron Throne. Your choice is simple. Crown me, for peace and victory. Or crown my nuncle, for more war and more defeat." She sheathed her dirk again. "What will you have, ironmen?" - The Drowned Man, AFFC

+.+.+

The Iron Captain -> <- The Drowned Man

Fun times at the kingsmoot.

+.+.+

Arya II -> <- Alayne I

Two sisters have new names.

She bit her lip. "Could I be Cat?"

"Cat." He considered. "Yes. Braavos is full of cats. One more will not be noticed. You are Cat, an orphan of . . ." - Arya II, AFFC

As the rising sun came streaming through the windows, Alayne sat up in bed and stretched. - Alayne I, AFFC

+.+.+

Alayne I -> <- Cersei V

Time to pluck the roses.

"How old are you, child?" asked Lady Waynwood.

"Four-fourteen, my lady." For a moment she forgot how old Alayne should be. "And I am no child, but a maiden flowered."

"But not deflowered, one can hope." Young Lord Hunter's bushy mustache hid his mouth entirely.

"Yet," said Lyn Corbray, as if she were not there. "But ripe for plucking soon, I'd say." - Alayne I, AFFC

"Only?" The queen let a hint of anger edge her words. "I must confess, I am running short of patience with dear Osney. It is past time he broke in that little filly. I named him Tommen's sworn shield so he could spend part of every day in Margaery's company. He should have plucked the rose by now. Is the little queen blind to his charms?" - Cersei V, AFFC

+.+.+

Samwell IV -> <- Cersei IV

Summer Islanders and the Faith have very different views on sex.

"You do not understand. Last night we . . ."

". . . honored your dead, and the gods who made you both. Xhondo did the same. I had the child, else I would have been with him. All you Westerosi make a shame of loving. There is no shame in loving. If your septons say there is, your seven gods must be demons. In the isles we know better. Our gods gave us legs to run with, noses to smell with, hands to touch and feel. What mad cruel god would give a man eyes and tell him he must forever keep them shut, and never look at all the beauty in the world? Only a monster god, a demon of the darkness." Kojja put her hand between Sam's legs. "The gods gave you this for a reason too, for . . . what is your Westerosi word?"

"Fucking," Xhondo offered helpfully. - Samwell IV, AFFC

Septon Raynard assumed a regretful tone. "His High Holiness sent me in his stead, and bade me tell Your Grace that the Seven have sent him forth to battle wickedness."

"How? By preaching chastity along the Street of Silk? Does he think praying over whores will turn them back to virgins?"

"Our bodies were shaped by our Father and Mother so we might join male to female and beget trueborn children," Raynard replied. "It is base and sinful for women to sell their holy parts for coin." - Cersei VIII, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne VII -> <- Jaime VI

Talk of diverting the Trident.

The innkeep never hung another sign, so men forgot the dragon and took to calling the place the River Inn. In those days, the Trident flowed beneath its back door, and half its rooms were built out over the water. Guests could throw a line out their window and catch trout, it's said. There was a ferry landing here as well, so travelers could cross to Lord Harroway's Town and Whitewalls."

"We left the Trident south of here, and have been riding north and west . . . not toward the river but away from it."

"Aye, my lady," the septon said. "The river moved. Seventy years ago, it was. Or was it eighty? - Brenne VII, AFFC

When the castle falls, all those inside will be put to the sword. Your herds will be butchered, your godswood will be felled, your keeps and towers will burn. I'll pull your walls down, and divert the Tumblestone over the ruins. - Jaime VI, AFFC

+.+.+

Jaime VI -> <- Cersei IX

Cersei's titles.

On her head a circlet of hammered bronze sat askew, graven with runes and ringed with small black swords. When she saw Jaime, she laughed. "Who in seven hells is this one?"

"The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard," Jaime returned with cold courtesy. "I might ask the same of you, my lady."

"Lady? I'm no lady. I'm the queen."

"My sister will be surprised to hear that."

"Lord Ryman crowned me his very self." She gave a shake of her ample hips. "I'm the queen o' whores."

No, Jaime thought, my sweet sister holds that title too. - Jaime VI, AFFC

"We waited long enough." He thrust his fingers inside the bodice of her gown and yanked, and the silk parted with a ripping sound so loud that Cersei was afraid that half of the Red Keep must have heard it. "Take off the rest before I tear that too," he said. "You can keep the crown on. I like you in the crown." - Cersei IX, AFFC

+.+.+

Alayne II -> <- Brienne VIII

Brienne won't show her fear.

And yet the thought of leaving frightened her almost as much as it frightened Robert. She only hid it better. Her father said there was no shame in being afraid, only in showing your fear. "All men live with fear," he said. Alayne was not certain she believed that. Nothing frightened Petyr Baelish. - Alayne II, AFFC

I will not be afraid, she told herself, but it was too late for that. I will not let them see my fear, she promised herself instead. - Brienne VIII, AFFC

+.+.+

Cersei X -> <- Jaime VII

Cersei's ripping up her clothes.

I will teach them what it means to put a lion in a cage, Cersei thought. She tore the shift into a hundred pieces, found a ewer of water and smashed it against the wall, then did the same with the chamber pot. - Cersei X, AFFC

Jeyne never saw him at all. The widow rode with downcast eyes, huddled beneath a hooded cloak. Underneath its heavy folds, her clothes were finely made, but torn. She ripped them herself, as a mark of mourning, Jaime realized. That could not have pleased her mother. He found himself wondering if Cersei would tear her gown if she should ever hear that he was dead. - Jaime VII, AFFC

+.+.+

Cersei X -> <- Jaime VII

Right before walking into a disaster (a book delays Jaime), the twins are cold as ice.

Cersei could feel the eyes of the Seven staring at her, eyes of jade and malachite and onyx, and a sudden shiver of fear went through her, cold as ice. I am the queen, she told herself. Lord Tywin's daughter. Reluctantly, she followed. - Cersei X, AFFC

He woke in darkness, shivering. The room had grown cold as ice. Jaime flung aside the covers with the stump of his sword hand. The fire in the hearth had died, he saw, and the window had blown open. He crossed the pitch-dark chamber to fumble with the shutters, but when he reached the window his bare foot came down in something wet. Jaime recoiled, startled for a moment. His first thought was of blood, but blood would not have been so cold.

It was snow, drifting through the window. - Jaime VII, AFFC

+.+.+

Prologue -> <- Samwell V

AGOT

Prologue: ice threat introduction.

Final chapter: fire threat introduction.

ACOK

Prologue: cold-hearted King Stannis with his dying maester.

Final chapter: kindhearted King Bran with his dying maester.

ASOS

Prologue: Cursed snowflakes, and Jon Snow.

Sansa VII: Drifting snowflakes, and Jon Snow.

AFFC

Prologue: Pig boy Pate.

Samwell V: Pig boy Pate, back from the dead.

The alchemist pulled his hood down.

He was just a man, and his face was just a face. A young man's face, ordinary, with full cheeks and the shadow of a beard. A scar showed faintly on his right cheek. He had a hooked nose, and a mat of dense black hair that curled tightly around his ears. It was not a face Pate recognized. "I do not know you."

"Nor I you."

"Who are you?"

"A stranger. No one. Truly."

[...]

The cobblestones rushed up to kiss him. Pate tried to cry for help, but his voice was failing too.

His last thought was of Rosey. - Prologue, AFFC

"My thanks." There was something about the pale, soft youth that he misliked, but he did not want to seem discourteous, so he added, "My name's not Slayer, truly. I'm Sam. Samwell Tarly."

"I'm Pate," the other said, "like the pig boy." - Samwell V, AFFC

+.+.+

JONSA 🐺❤️❄️

Once again, thank you to @ladyofasoiaf for making the manual on all things jonsa. I heavily rely on it when making these posts. :)

Where would a girl in grey go?

If Dontos and this northern girl helped murder our sweet king, it seems to me that they would want to put as many leagues as they could betwixt themselves and justice. Look for them in Oldtown, if you must, or across the narrow sea. Look for them in Dorne, or on the Wall. Look elsewhere. - Brienne II, AFFC

As they were making their way to the next pier, Podrick shuffled his feet, and said, "Ser? My lady? What if my lady did go home? My other lady, I mean. Ser. Lady Sansa."

"They burned her home."

"Still. That's where her gods are. And gods can't die." - Brienne V, AFFC

+.+.+

Coming after a Brienne chapter, we learn Brienne's ancestor once escorted a royal to Eastwatch.

He sent me north aboard the Golden Dragon, and insisted that his friend Ser Duncan see me safe to Eastwatch. - Samwell II, AFFC

+.+.+

Not yet.

She's a clean ship, 'Strider, not so many rats as most, and we'll have fresh eggs and new-churned butter aboard. Is m'lady seeking passage north?"

"No." Not yet. She was tempted, but . . . - Brienne V, AFFC

+.+.+

The same breakdown appears in back-to-back chapters, only Sansa forgets someone.

+.+.+

A stag won't find Sansa, but a dragon might.

"Where?" Brienne slapped another silver stag down.

He flicked the coin back at her with his forefinger. "Someplace no stag ever found . . . though a dragon might." - Brienne III, AFFC

+.+.+

Of course it could never be.

There's a new High Septon, did you know? Oh, and the Night's Watch has a boy commander, some bastard son of Eddard Stark's."

"Jon Snow?" she blurted out, surprised.

"Snow? Yes, it would be Snow, I suppose."

She had not thought of Jon in ages. He was only her half brother, but still . . . with Robb and Bran and Rickon dead, Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again. But of course that could never be. Alayne Stone had no brothers, baseborn or otherwise. - Alayne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Someday a man will drown in her eyes.

Petyr studied her eyes, as if seeing them for the first time. "You have your mother's eyes. Honest eyes, and innocent. Blue as a sunlit sea. When you are a little older, many a man will drown in those eyes." - Sansa I, AFFC

The man kept staring at him, with eyes as big and black as wells. I will fall into those eyes and drown. - Jon V, ASOS

+.+.+

Coming after a Sansa chapter, Asha has an amusing reunion with an old ghost who was fostered at Pyke.

"Asha?" A shadow stepped out from behind the well.

Her hand went to her dirk at once . . . until the moonlight transformed the dark shape into a man in a sealskin cloak. Another ghost. "Tris. I'd thought to find you in the hall."

"I wanted to see you."

"What part of me, I wonder?" She grinned. "Well, here I stand, all grown up. Look all you like."

"A woman." He moved closer. "And beautiful."

[...]

"If you like. It's nought to me. You look so lovely in the moonlight, Asha. A woman grown now, but I remember when you were a skinny girl with a face all full of pimples."

+.+.+

Newly flowered Asha had an awakening during the war.

Her first flowering had come upon her during the war and wakened her desire, but even before that Asha had been curious. He was there, he was mine own age, and he was willing, that was all it was . . . that, and the moon blood. - The Kraken's Daughter's, AFFC

+.+.+

Fourteen-year-old Arianne loses her maidenhead to a bastard.

My father is many things, but no one has ever said he was a fool. The Bastard of Godsgrace had my maidenhead when we were both fourteen. - The Soiled Knight, AFFC

+.+.+

Experienced but still green after taking the black white.

It was her turn to flush. Her seduction of Ser Arys had required half a year. Though he claimed to have known other women before taking the white, she would never have known that from the way he acted. His caresses had been clumsy, his kisses nervous, and the first time they were abed together he spent his seed on her thigh as she was guiding him inside her with her hand. - The Princess in the Tower, AFFC

+.+.+

The Dornish (Aegon), the ironborn (Daenerys), and the north (Jon) are wedding dragons.

Thank you, @decadelongsummer!

Oh, but they must, or see the realm riven once more, as it was before we wed the dragons. - The Captain of the Guards, AFFC

None is fit to sit the Seastone Chair, much less the Iron Throne. No, to make an heir that's worthy of him, I need a different woman. When the kraken weds the dragon, brother, let all the world beware. - The Reaver, AFFC

"Why shouldn't we rule ourselves again? It was the dragons we married, and the dragons are all dead!" - Catelyn XI, AGOT

+.+.+

The blood of Winterfell.

I am not your daughter, she thought. I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. - Sansa I, AFFC

Ygritte was with him, laughing at him, shedding her skins till she was naked as her name day, trying to kiss him, but he couldn't, not with his father watching. He was the blood of Winterfell, a man of the Night's Watch. - Jon VI, ASOS

+.+.+

She likes them bold.

If not for Petyr Baelish it would have been Sansa who went spinning through a cold blue sky to stony death six hundred feet below, instead of Lysa Arryn. He is so bold. Sansa wished she had his courage. - Sansa I, AFFC

Surprisingly, Stannis smiled at that. "You're bold enough to be a Stark. Yes, I should have come sooner. If not for my Hand, I might not have come at all. - Jon XI, ASOS

+.+.+

Sister and brother, Maiden and Warrior (more).

"Why would Cersei need the Warrior? She has me." Jaime turned his horse about, his white cloak snapping in the wind. - Jaime II, AFFC

I thought that I was the Warrior and Cersei was the Maid, but all the time she was the Stranger, hiding her true face from my gaze. - Jaime IV, AFFC

The Maiden lay athwart the Warrior, her arms widespread as if to embrace him. - Davos I, ACOK

+.+.+

Radiant sisters.

"How is Cersei? As beautiful as ever?"

"Radiant." Fickle. - Jaime V, AFFC

He was twelve, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon's vast dismay. Prince Joffrey had his sister's hair and his mother's deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey's pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell's Great Hall. - Jon I, AGOT

+.+.+

The author gives Snow & Stone some space.

She could see Sky six hundred feet below, and the stone steps carved into the mountain, the winding way that led past Snow and Stone all the way down to the valley floor. - Alayne I, AFFC

Steep stone steps crept up the mountainside past the waycastles Stone and Snow, but they came to an end at Sky. - Alayne I, AFFC

+.+.+

Jon's heart is all Stone.

Thank you, @winkydinkle!

He could not blame Gilly for her grief. Instead, he blamed Jon Snow and wondered when Jon's heart had turned to stone. - Samwell III, AFFC

+.+.+

Sansa has a crush.

"Bronze Yohn knows me," she reminded him. "He was a guest at Winterfell when his son rode north to take the black." She had fallen wildly in love with Ser Waymar, she remembered dimly, but that was a lifetime ago, when she was a stupid little girl. - Alayne I, AFFC

Ser Waymar Royce was the youngest son of an ancient house with too many heirs. He was a handsome youth of eighteen, grey-eyed and graceful and slender as a knife. - Prologue, AFFC

Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.

[...]

Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. - Bran I, AGOT

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The princess in the tower wishes she had wings.

A falcon soared above the frozen waterfall, blue wings spread wide against the morning sky. Would that I had wings as well. - Alayne I, AFFC

"The little bird thinks she has wings, does she? Or do you mean to end up crippled like that brother of yours?" - Sansa IV, ACOK

The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. - Arya XIII, ASOS

+.+.+

Sansa gets the head, but still needs flowers.

One of the Mountain's men had tried to rape the girl at Harrenhal, and had seemed honestly perplexed when Jaime commanded Ilyn Payne to take his head off. "I had her before, a hunnerd times," he kept saying as they forced him to his knees. "A hunnerd times, m'lord. We all had her." When Ser Ilyn presented Pia with his head, she had smiled through her ruined teeth. - Jaime IV, AFFC

"Ser Harwyn says those tales are lies." Lady Amerei wound a braid around her finger. "He has promised me Lord Beric's head. He's very gallant." She was blushing beneath her tears.

Jaime thought back on the head he'd given to Pia. He could almost hear his little brother chuckle. Whatever became of giving women flowers? Tyrion might have asked. - Jaime IV, AFFC

Frog-faced Lord Slynt sat at the end of the council table wearing a black velvet doublet and a shiny cloth-of-gold cape, nodding with approval every time the king pronounced a sentence. Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head. - Sansa VI, AGOT

The smile that Lord Janos Slynt smiled then had all the sweetness of rancid butter. Until Jon said, "Edd, fetch me a block," and unsheathed Longclaw. - Jon II, ADWD

"What's wrong with flowers?" - Jon V, ASOS

+.+.+

A ghost wolf.

There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghost wolf, big as mountains. - Alayne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Roses kissed by frost.

"When he is a man grown," said Cersei.

Their smiles withered like roses kissed by frost. - Cersei V, AFFC

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Children of the mountain.

Thank you, @butterflies-dragons!

She pushed her hair back. "Then one day he wasn't. Men come and go. They lie, or die, or leave you. A mountain is not a man, though, and a stone is a mountain's daughter. I trust my father, and I trust my mules. I won't fall." - Alayne II, AFFC

"The mountain is your mother," Stonesnake had told him during an easier climb a few days past. "Cling to her, press your face up against her teats, and she won't drop you." Jon had made a joke of it, saying how he'd always wondered who his mother was, but never thought to find her in the Frostfangs. - Jon VI, ACOK

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Ser Byron enters Sansa's story.

"Dutiful and beautiful," said an elegant young knight whose thick blond mane cascaded down well past his shoulders.

[...]

"Knights they are," said Petyr. "Their gallantry has yet to be demonstrated, but we may hope. Allow me to present Ser Byron, Ser Morgarth, and Ser Shadrich. Sers, the Lady Alayne, my natural and very clever daughter . . . with whom I must needs confer, if you will be so good as to excuse us."

The three knights bowed and withdrew, though the tall one with the blond hair kissed her hand before taking his leave. - Alayne II, AFFC

The character I'm probably most like in real life is Samwell Tarly. Good old Sam. And the character I'd want to be? Well who wouldn't want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love. - George R. R. Martin

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A fool or a knight?

"Ser Galladon was a champion of such valor that the Maiden herself lost her heart to him. She gave him an enchanted sword as a token of her love. The Just Maid, it was called. No common sword could check her, nor any shield withstand her kiss. Ser Galladon bore the Just Maid proudly, but only thrice did he unsheathe her. He would not use the Maid against a mortal man, for she was so potent as to make any fight unfair."

Crabb thought that was hilarious. "The Perfect Knight? The Perfect Fool, he sounds like. - Brienne IV, AFFC

"A fool and a knight?" said Jonquil. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"Sweet lady," said Florian, "all men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned." - The Hedge Knight

+.+.+

Who's the pig boy?

Thank you, @fedonciadale!

Spotted Pate the pig boy was the hero of a thousand ribald stories: a good-hearted, empty-headed lout who always managed to best the fat lordlings, haughty knights, and pompous septons who beset him. Somehow his stupidity would turn out to have been a sort of uncouth cunning; the tales always ended with Spotted Pate sitting on a lord's high seat or bedding some knight's daughter. But those were stories. In the real world pig boys never fared so well. - Prologue, AFFC

His face darkened. "I am. I'm your father, and I can marry you to whoever I like. To anyone. You'll marry the pig boy if I say so, and bed down with him in the sty." His green eyes glittered with amusement. - Sansa III, ACOK

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Jon and Sansa know the power of song.

Thank you, @agentrouka-blog!

Dareon will join you at Eastwatch. My hope is that his songs will win some men for us in the south. - Samwell I, AFFC

A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands. - Sansa VI, ASOS

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King Robert liked to play with his cousin.

There had been a female cousin too, a chunky little widow with breasts as big as melons whose husband and father had both died at Storm's End during the siege. "Her father was good to me," Robert told her, "and she and I would play together when the two of us were small." It did not take him long to start playing with her again. - Cersei V, AFFC

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Sansa wants to dance.

What would she do when the music began to play? It was a vexing question, to which her heart and head gave different answers. Sansa loved to dance, but Alayne . . . - Alayne II, AFFC

When the musicians began to play, she timidly laid her hand on Tyrion's and said, "My lord, should we lead the dance?"

[...]

Perhaps she ought to have remained beside her husband, but she wanted to dance so badly . . . - Sansa III, ASOS

"You could dance with me, you know. It would be only courteous. You danced with me anon."

"Anon?" teased Jon.

"When we were children." She tore off a bit of bread and threw it at him. "As you know well."

"My lady should dance with her husband." - Jon X, ADWD

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You'll dance with me anon. - Jon XII, ADWD

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Prince Aemon's back.

"And the Dragonknight?" She flung the bedclothes aside and swung her legs to the floor. "The noblest knight who ever lived, you said, and he took his queen to bed and got her with child." - The Soiled Knight, AFFC

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Who could ever love a bastard?

Ser Loras had given Sansa Stark a red rose once, but he had never kissed her . . . and no Tyrell would ever kiss Alayne Stone. Pretty as she was, she had been born on the wrong side of the blanket. - Alayne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Poisoned gifts.

Petyr arched an eyebrow. "When Robert dies. Our poor brave Sweetrobin is such a sickly boy, it is only a matter of time. When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright. So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa . . . Harry, the Eyrie, and Winterfell. That's worth another kiss now, don't you think?" - Alayne II, AFFC

"Jon." Melisandre was so close he could feel the warmth of her breath. "R'hllor is the only true god. A vow sworn to a tree has no more power than one sworn to your shoes. Open your heart and let the light of the Lord come in. Burn these weirwoods, and accept Winterfell as a gift of the Lord of Light."

[...]

Stannis gave him a measuring look. "Does this mean you will not wed the girl? I warn you, she is part of the price you must pay, if you want your father's name and your father's castle. This match is necessary, to help assure the loyalty of our new subjects. Are you refusing me, Jon Snow?"

[...]

Stannis put a thin, fleshless hand on Jon's shoulder. "Say nothing of what we've discussed here today. To anyone. But when you return, you need only bend your knee, lay your sword at my feet, and pledge yourself to my service, and you shall rise again as Jon Stark, the Lord of Winterfell." - Jon XI, ASOS

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Lancel Lannister's story continues to raise eyebrows.

Lancel had taken to quartering the lion of Lannister with the Darry plowman, it would seem. He saw his uncle's hand in that, as in Lancel's choice of bride. House Darry had ruled these lands since the Andals cast down the First Men. No doubt Ser Kevan realized that his son would have an easier time of it if the peasants saw him as a continuation of the old line, holding these lands by right of marriage rather than royal decree. - Jaime IV, AFFC

Maybe he is praying for his cock to harden. In King's Landing it had been rumored that Lancel's wounds had left him incapable. Still, he ought to have sense enough to try. His cousin's hold on his new lands would not be secure until he fathered a son on his half-Darry wife. - Jaime IV, AFFC

When his coz did not answer, Jaime sighed. "You should be sleeping with your wife, not with the Maid. You need a son with Darry blood if you want to keep this castle." - Jaime IV, AFFC

+.+.+

More men marrying into houses.

When he was not singing, Nimble Dick would talk, regaling them with tales of Crackclaw Point. Every gloomy valley had its lord, he said, the lot of them united only by their mistrust of outsiders. In their veins the blood of the First Men ran dark and strong. "The Andals tried t' take Crackclaw, but we bled them in the valleys and drowned them in the bogs. Only what their sons couldn't win with swords, their pretty daughters won with kisses. They married into the houses they couldn't conquer, aye." - Brienne IV, AFFC

+.+.+

Val does cosplay. Again.

King Stannis had plans for Val, he knew; she was the mortar with which he meant to seal the peace between the northmen and the free folk. - Samwell I, AFFC

"Whoever?" Stannis gave him a measuring look. "Does this mean you will not wed the girl? I warn you, she is part of the price you must pay, if you want your father's name and your father's castle. This match is necessary, to help assure the loyalty of our new subjects. Are you refusing me, Jon Snow?" - Jon XI, ASOS

"The girl's happiness is not my purpose, nor should it be yours. Our alliances in the south may be as solid as Casterly Rock, but there remains the north to win, and the key to the north is Sansa Stark." - Tyrion III, ASOS

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Sansa -> Bolton requires a Stark daughter to claim Winterfell -> Jon.

"Your Grace has forgotten the Lady Sansa," said Pycelle.

The queen bristled. "I most certainly have not forgotten that little she-wolf." She refused to say the girl's name. "I ought to have shown her to the black cells as the daughter of a traitor, but instead I made her part of mine own household. She shared my hearth and hall, played with my own children. I fed her, dressed her, tried to make her a little less ignorant about the world, and how did she repay me for my kindness? She helped murder my son. When we find the Imp, we will find the Lady Sansa too. She is not dead . . . but before I am done with her, I promise you, she will be singing to the Stranger, begging for his kiss."

An awkward silence followed. Have they all swallowed their tongues? Cersei thought, with irritation. It was enough to make her wonder why she bothered with a council.

"In any case," the queen went on, "Lord Eddard's younger daughter is with Lord Bolton, and will be wed to his son Ramsay as soon as Moat Cailin has fallen." So long as the girl played her role well enough to cement their claim to Winterfell, neither of the Boltons would much care that she was actually some steward's whelp tricked up by Littlefinger. "If the north must have a Stark, we'll give them one." She let Lord Merryweather fill her cup once again. "Another problem has arisen on the Wall, however. The brothers of the Night's Watch have taken leave of their wits and chosen Ned Stark's bastard son to be their Lord Commander." - Cersei IV, AFFC

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The author's constant reminder.

Jaime sighed. "Then let them wed. It will be years before Tommen is old enough to consummate the marriage. And until he does, the union can always be set aside. Give Tyrell his wedding and send him off to play at war." - Jaime I, AFFC

"I said some words and gave her a red cloak, but only to please Father. Marriage requires consummation. King Baelor was made to wed his sister Daena, but they never lived as man and wife, and he put her aside as soon as he was crowned." - Jaime IV, AFFC

"She is old enough to be Lady of Winterfell once her brother is dead. Claim her maidenhood and you will be one step closer to claiming the north. Get her with child, and the prize is all but won. Do I need to remind you that a marriage that has not been consummated can be set aside?" - Tyrion IV, ASOS

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Jon vs. Tyrion Pregame.

"Well," said Sam, "he will not want it said that Stannis rode to the defense of the realm whilst King Tommen was playing with his toys. That would bring scorn down upon House Lannister."

"It's death and destruction I want to bring down upon House Lannister, not scorn." Jon lifted up the letter. - Samwell I, AFFC

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Big brothers.

My betrothal was announced at a feast with half the west in attendance. Ellyn Tarbeck laughed and the Red Lion went angry from the hall. The rest sat on their tongues. Only Tywin dared speak against the match. A boy of ten. Father turned as white as mare's milk, and Walder Frey was quivering." She smiled. "How could I not love him, after that? That is not to say that I approved of all he did, or much enjoyed the company of the man that he became . . . but every little girl needs a big brother to protect her. Tywin was big even when he was little." - Jaime V, AFFC

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That uncomfortable subject.

"How old are you, child?" asked Lady Waynwood.

"Four-fourteen, my lady." For a moment she forgot how old Alayne should be. "And I am no child, but a maiden flowered."

"But not deflowered, one can hope." Young Lord Hunter's bushy mustache hid his mouth entirely.

"Yet," said Lyn Corbray, as if she were not there. "But ripe for plucking soon, I'd say." - Alayne I, AFFC

___

"A child?" said Sansa, uncertainly.

Lysa waved a hand negligently. "Not for many years. You are too young to be a mother. One day you shall want children, though. Just as you will want to marry." - Sansa VI, ASOS

"I will." He cuddled close and laid his head between her breasts. "Alayne? Are you my mother now?"

"I suppose I am," she said. If a lie was kindly meant, there was no harm in it. - Sansa I, AFFC

___

She studied Alayne's face and chest. "You are prettier than me, but my breasts are larger. The maesters say large breasts produce no more milk than small ones, but I do not believe it. Have you ever known a wet nurse with small teats? Yours are ample for a girl your age, but as they are bastard breasts, I shan't concern myself with them." - Alayne II, AFFC

___

"The gods made men to fight, and women to bear children," said Randyll Tarly. "A woman's war is in the birthing bed." - Brienne III, AFFC

"How apt. The men will bleed out there, and you in here." The queen signaled for the first course to be served. - Sansa V, ACOK

___

Jeyne Westerling had been Robb Stark's queen, the girl who cost him everything. With a wolf in her belly, she could have proved more dangerous than the Blackfish. - Jaime VI, AFFC

"A child born of traitor's seed will find that betrayal comes naturally to her," said Grand Maester Pycelle. "She is a sweet thing now, but in ten years, who can say what treasons she may hatch?" - Sansa IV, AGOT

___

To break her fast the queen sent to the kitchens for two boiled eggs, a loaf of bread, and a pot of honey. But when she cracked the first egg and found a bloody half-formed chick inside, her stomach roiled. - Cersei III, AFFC

vs.

An immense round fat man, as big as three Moon Boys, he came cartwheeling into the hall, vaulted onto the table, and laid a gigantic egg right in front of Sansa. "Break it, my lady," he commanded. When she did, a dozen yellow chicks escaped and began running in all directions. - Sansa I, ASOS

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A king must have an heir.

And Cersei … I have Jon Arryn to thank for her. I had no wish to marry after Lyanna was taken from me, but Jon said the realm needed an heir. - Eddard VII, AGOT

"Jeyne," she called after, "there's one more thing Robb needs from you, though he may not know it yet himself. A king must have an heir." - Catelyn III, ASOS

"Young, and a king," he said. "A king must have an heir. If I should die in my next battle, the kingdom must not die with me. - Catelyn V, ASOS

He had not touched another woman since he gave her to the crabs. I will need to take a wife when I am king. A true wife, to be my queen and bear me sons. A king must have an heir. - The Iron Captain, AFFC

Victarion was turning to go when the Crow's Eye said, "A king must have a wife, to give him heirs. - The Reaver, AFFC

Many promised him their voices: Fralegg the Strong, clever Alvyn Sharp, humpbacked Hotho Harlaw. Hotho offered him a daughter for his queen. "I have no luck with wives," Victarion told him. His first wife died in childbed, giving him a stillborn daughter. His second had been stricken by a pox. And his third . . .

"A king must have an heir," Hotho insisted. "The Crow's Eye brings three sons to show before the kingsmoot."

"Bastards and mongrels. How old is this daughter?"

"Twelve," said Hotho. "Fair and fertile, newly flowered, with hair the color of honey. Her breasts are small as yet, but she has good hips. She takes after her mother, more than me." – The Iron Captain, AFFC

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Does the moon tea have anything to do with jonsa? I'll include it, and let you decide.

She had surrendered her virtue at six-and-ten, to a beautiful blond-haired sailor on a trading galley up from Lys. He only knew six words of the Common Tongue, but "fuck" was one of them—the very word she'd hoped to hear. Afterward, Asha had the sense to find a woods witch, who showed her how to brew moon tea to keep her belly flat. - The Kraken's Daughter, AFFC

"I swore a vow . . ."

". . . not to wed or father children. Well, I have drunk my moon tea, and you know I cannot marry you." She smiled. "Though I might be persuaded to keep you for my paramour." - The Soiled Knight, AFFC

"The little queen has appetites that Tommen is as yet too young to satisfy." That was always a danger, when a grown woman was married to a child. Even more so with a widow. She may claim that Renly never touched her, but I will not believe it. Women only drank moon tea for one reason; maidens had no need for it at all. - Cersei IX, AFFC

"As you will." Jaime turned to the daughter. "I am sorry for your loss. The boy had courage, I'll give him that. There is a question I must ask you. Are you carrying his child, my lady?"

Jeyne burst from her chair and would have fled the room if the guard at the door had not seized her by the arm. "She is not," said Lady Sybell, as her daughter struggled to escape. "I made certain of that, as your lord father bid me." - Jaime VII, AFFC

"You're bastard-born yourself. And if Ygritte does not want a child, she will go to some woods witch and drink a cup o' moon tea. You do not come into it, once the seed is planted." - Jon II, ASOS

Tears ran down her aunt's puffy red face. "I gave you my maiden's gift. I would have given you a son too, but they murdered him with moon tea, with tansy and mint and wormwood, a spoon of honey and a drop of pennyroyal. It wasn't me, I never knew, I only drank what Father gave me . . ." - Sansa VII, ASOS

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Two prophetic conversations have Sansa and Cersei on the same path.

"When will I wed the prince?" she asked.

"Never. You will wed the king." - Cersei VIII, AFFC

"No," Ned said. He saw no use in lying to her. "Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother's Faith and become the High Septon."

[...]

Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?"

"You," Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, "will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon."

Arya screwed up her face. "No," she said, "that's Sansa." - Eddard V, AGOT

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Ashford Tournament!

Thank you, @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly! (lol)

"Will there be another champion in Ser Humfrey's [Hardyng] place?"

"Lord Ashford had a mind to grant the place to Lord Caron, or perhaps the other Ser Humfrey, the one who gave Hardyng such a splendid match, but Prince Baelor told him that it would not be seemly to remove Ser Humfrey's shield and pavilion under the circumstances. I believe they will continue with four champions in place of five."

Four champions, Dunk thought. Leo Tyrell, Lyonel Baratheon, Tybolt Lannister, and Prince Valarr [Targaryen]. - The Hedge Knight

___

Lyonel Baratheon

Sansa must wed Joffrey, that is clear now, we must give them no grounds to suspect our devotion. - Catelyn II, AGOT

___

Leo Tyrell

The words came tumbling out of her. "Yes. I will. I would like that more than anything. To wed Ser Loras, to love him . . ." "Loras?" Lady Olenna sounded annoyed. "Don't be foolish, child. Kingsguard never wed. Didn't they teach you anything in Winterfell? We were speaking of my grandson Willas. He is a bit old for you, to be sure, but a dear boy for all that. Not the least bit oafish, and heir to Highgarden besides." - Sansa I, ASOS

Willas Tyrell was green as his surcoat and had no business riding in such company. The Fat Flower thrust him into tourneys at too tender an age, just as he did with the other two. He wanted another Leo Longthorn, and made himself a cripple. - Tyrion V, ASOS

___

Tybolt Lannister

"Yes. You are a ward of the crown. The king stands in your father's place, since your brother is an attainted traitor. That means he has every right to dispose of your hand. You are to marry my brother Tyrion." - Sansa III, ASOS

The Baratheon and Lannister defeat the maiden's brother(s).

Tybolt Lannister and Androw Ashford rode against each other thrice more before Ser Androw finally lost shield, seat, and match all at once. The younger Ashford lasted even longer, breaking no less than nine lances against Ser Lyonel Baratheon, the Laughing Storm. Champion and challenger both lost their saddles on their tenth course, only to rise together to fight on, sword against mace. Finally a battered Ser Robert Ashford admitted defeat, but on the viewing stand his father looked anything but dejected. Both Lord Ashford's Sons had been ushered from the ranks of the champions, it was true, but they had acquitted themselves nobly against two of the finest knights in the Seven Kingdoms. - The Hedge Knight

___

Humfrey Hardyng

When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright. So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa . . . Harry, the Eyrie, and Winterfell. - Alayne II, AFFC

A lady's armor is her courtesy. Alayne could feel the blood rushing to her face. No tears, she prayed. Please, please, I must not cry. "As you wish, ser. And now if you will excuse me, Littlefinger's bastard must find her lord father and let him know that you have come, so we can begin the tourney on the morrow." And may your horse stumble, Harry the Heir, so you fall on your stupid head in your first tilt. - Alayne I, TWOW

At the last possible instant, Ser Humfrey's stallion reared away from the oncoming point, eyes rolling in terror, but too late, Aerion's lance took the animal just above the armor that protected his breastbone, and exploded out of the back of his neck in a gout of bright blood. Screaming, the horse crashed sideways, knocking the wooden barrier to pieces as he fell. Ser Humfrey tried to leap free, but a foot caught in a stirrup and they heard his shriek as his leg was crushed between the splintered fence and falling horse. - The Hedge Knight

___

Prince Valarr Targaryen

Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again. - Alayne II, AFFC

But they were all dead now, even Arya, everyone but her half-brother, Jon. Some nights she heard talk of him, in the taverns and brothels of the Ragman's Harbor. The Black Bastard of the Wall, one man had called him. - The Blind Girl, ADWD

Six pups they'd found in the late summer snows, him and Robb; five that were grey and black and brown, for the five Starks, and one white, as white as Snow. - Jon XII, ASOS

He was a shorter, slimmer, handsomer version of his sire, without the twice-broken nose that had made Baelor seem more human than royal. Valarr's hair was brown, but a bright streak of silver-gold ran through it. - The Hedge Knight

The last pavilion was Prince Valarr's. Of black silk it was, with a line of pointed scarlet pennons hanging from its roof like long red flames. The shield on its stand was glossy black, emblazoned with the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen. One of the Kingsguard knights stood beside it, his shining white armor stark against the black of the tentcloth.

[...]

And the black-and-white knight, Lord Gawen Swann, challenged the black prince with the white guardian. - The Hedge Knight

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#operation stumpy re-read #foreshadowing smorgasbord #affc summary #chapter transitions #jonsa #affc #istumpysk reread

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jonsameta · 2 years

Note

“A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You'll dance with me anon.” Please convince me this is related to future jonsa.

Dearest Stumpy ❤️

Apologies for the long wait on this one! As recompense here's an especially long answer!

Much like the Vale godswood passage in ASOS, Sansa VII, this imagery of dancing (and/or drifting) snowflakes is incredibly romantic. In an emotional sense, certainly, but also as an allusion to the Romantic movement, their reflective melancholy and reverence for the natural world — a literary movement we know GRRM is aware of and that I've talked about previously. I think that's why it is so striking and feels like there must be something being left unsaid there…

So, let's get right into it, looking first at this exchange though:

When Owen the Oaf began to dance with Patchface the fool, laughter echoed off the vaulted ceiling. The sight made Lady Alys smile. "Do you dance often, here at Castle Black?" "Every time we have a wedding, my lady." "You could dance with me, you know. It would be only courteous. You danced with me anon." "Anon?" teased Jon. "When we were children." She tore off a bit of bread and threw it at him. "As you know well." "My lady should dance with her husband." – ADWD, Jon X

What is quite remarkable and a bit weird about this interaction between Jon and Alys Karstark, which occurs prior to the quotation in your ask, is the use of the archaic word "anon" … or rather, I should say its misuse. Its usage above and in your asks' quotation are significant, I think, which is why I'm tackling it first and foremost. If we take a look at the Oxford English Dictionary, it has this definition:

So, with that meaning in mind, it becomes clear that while Alys meant to say, "You danced with me once before," her misuse of anon instead implies "You will dance with me soon/shortly." Jon immediately picks up on this fumble, though tellingly perhaps, he does not clarify this mix up to the reader, he simply repeats it quizzically and teasingly back to her. I'd wager that was very intentional on GRRM's part — an instance where he is encouraging his reader to do a bit of investigative work, instead of offering up a clear explanation right there on the page.

Realising her misuse of words, a flustered Alys throws a piece of bread at Jon — an action very evocative of Arya, imo. However, much like Ygritte at times evokes elements of both Arya and Sansa, so does Alys Karstark. Her throwing of the bread and her sisterly teasing suggest Arya, but her interest in dancing and her genteel tone ("It would be only courteous"), well, they very much evoke Sansa to me. But before I get into the ways in which Alys and dancing can be seen to hint towards Sansa and more specifically Jonsa, I want to look a little more into the use of anon.

An archaic, or old-fashioned, term, anon isn't out of place in the works of William Shakespeare for example, but it is also used by the likes of Tolkien as well:

Ever and anon Gandalf let blow the trumpets, and the heralds would cry: 'The Lords of Gondor are come! Let all leave this land or yield them up! – The Return of the King

According to the OED, it takes its origin from Old English, meaning "in or into (one state or course)." I don’t know if GRRM is aware of that earlier meaning, but it’s interesting to consider when we think about how dancing, or specifically the courtly dancing in ASOIAF, involves two people moving "in […] one state," in other words, together. Becoming one harmonious moving body. So, there is a sense of togetherness in the act of (paired) dancing, but also in the original use of the word anon as well.

In fact, the only instances in which this archaic word is used within the series is in the above passage and then again in the quotation featured in your ask! In both, it is specifically used alongside dancing, but also, it is used in a moment of separateness in relation to Jon:

On and on the wildlings came. The day grew darker, just as Tormund said. Clouds covered the sky from horizon to horizon, and warmth fled. There was more shoving at the gate, as men and goats and bullocks jostled each other out of the way. It is more than impatience, Jon realised. They are afraid. Warriors, spearwives, raiders, they are afraid of those woods, of shadows moving through the trees. They want to put the Wall between them before the night descends. A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon. – ADWD, Jon XII

In both moments in which dancing and anon are conflated, Jon stands notably apart, distinctly alone and separate… decidedly not "in […] one state or course" with another. Instead, he is a watcher, an observer. The above passage is arguably a quintessential Jon Snow positioning, physically emphasising his outsider status, his division from others… but then also highlighting it emotionally with that internal thought process. Earlier in ADWD, during the wedding festivities with Alys, Jon refuses her offer of a dance (the first "anon" mention), preferring to watch from the side-lines, a decision that seems somewhat like an act of self punishment. But for what reason?

What wall might Jon Snow wish to put between himself and his past? Between the Jon he was then, who "danced," and the Jon he is now… the Jon who might still "dance […] anon"?

Because while with Alys the use of anon is misused, in his later internal musings Jon uses it correctly. "You danced with me anon" vs. "You’ll dance with me anon." This correction is undoubtedly significant, detaching itself from Alys and instead signifying that the speaker of this second declaration and use of anon is not this newly introduced character, but someone else. Someone Jon already knows. Someone likely from "when we were children," from Jon’s life before coming to the Wall.

*cough* It's Sansa Stark. *cough*

A Dance with Her Husband

@astraphysical and I have speculated about how Sansa's dance partners in her TWOW chapter all reference Jon in some way, and even though it's been some time since we collaborated on that… I still stand by it and think it's a fun theory! Indeed, for both Jon and Sansa, implicit stand-ins and subtle references to the other arguably feature notably within their respective chapters. But looking specifically at the ways in which Alys Karstark mirrors and alludes to Sansa, it is interesting to note how dancing with one’s husband on your wedding day features in connection to both girls:

"My lady should dance with her husband." "My Magnar is not one for dancing, I fear. If you will not dance with me, at least pour me some of the mulled wine." – ADWD, Jon X

A lady should dance with her husband, Jon Snow says to Alys Karstark, a notion that speaks to the done way of things, to duty and honour, but also to his inherent romanticism me thinks. And this is a belief that Sansa Stark too shares, even in the worst of circumstances, with the worst of partners:

When the musicians began to play, she timidly laid her hand on Tyrion's and said, "My lord, should we lead the dance?" His mouth twisted. "I think we have already given them sufficient amusement for one day, don’t you?" "As you say, my lord." She pulled her hand back. Joffrey and Margaery led in their place. How can a monster dance so beautifully? Sansa wondered. She had often daydreamed of how she would dance at her wedding, with every eye upon her and her handsome lord. In her dreams they had all been smiling. Not even my husband is smiling. – ASOS, Sansa III

For albeit different reasons, Tyrion is likewise "not one for dancing," and so Sansa's dream of dancing with her future husband and lord, her expectation even, is thwarted. But unlike Tyrion, Sigorn does get up to dance, at Alys' insistence, regardless of his skill or how it might embarrass her and/or him. Again, this action of dragging him up to dance feels very Arya-like, but with the desire behind it — a love of dancing — strongly evoking Sansa:

The fish course was next, but as the pike was being boned Lady Alys dragged the Magnar up onto the floor. From the way he moved it was plain that Sigorn had never danced before, but he had drunk enough mulled wine so that did not seem to matter. – ADWD, Jon X

Similarly, Sansa's desire to dance trumps her propriety, but she does so without her husband as her partner and that is where Alys and Sansa divide.

Perhaps she ought to have remained beside her husband, but she wanted to dance so badly… – ASOS, Sansa III

Where Alys comes together with Sigorn in dance, "in […] one state" you might say, promising good things for their marriage, Sansa and Tyrion remain decidedly separate and alienated from one another — as they bloody well should, mind you! So, for Sansa this expectation of dancing with her husband remains tellingly unfulfilled, others "[lead] the dance," but perhaps she’ll dance with a true and wanted husband… anon. Because for both Jon and Sansa, this promise of a dance with a particular but unidentified partner is very significant and it is also strongly tied to the rituals of love and marriage. Once again, it is an example of their romantic sensibilities and deep held desires being in accord.

A Bastard and A Wildling Warrior

Just as a sidenote, the detail of Sigorn being "drunk enough [on] mulled wine" to have the courage to dance, even badly, is interesting when we remember that way back in AGOT, Jon I, Jon got drunk on "summerwine" and likely felt bold enough to express a few things he might not have otherwise:

[…] he was finding that he had a man's thirst, to the raucous delight of the youths around him, who urged him on every time he drained a glass. […] The procession had passed not a foot from the place he had been given on the bench, and Jon had gotten a good long look at them all. […] Sansa, two years older, drew the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon […] Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey’s pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell’s Great Hall. – AGOT, Jon I

So, not only are there potential parallels to be made between Sansa and Alys (who I’ll get back to in a mo), but also Sigorn and Jon. Just on a physical level, Sigorn is lean, like Jon, but with receding hairline that makes him appear older than he is (rip those luscious locks). Yet just as Jon is said to closely resemble Ned Stark, his presumed father, Sigorn is likewise a "younger, shorter version of his father" (ADWD, Jon III). Styr, we know, is described as "straight as a spear, all long wiry muscle, clean-shaved, bald, with a strong straight nose and deepset grey eyes […] he might even have been comely if he’d had ears," (ASOS, Jon I). So, obviously not a doppelganger in line with the likes of Waymar Royce… but Sigorn and Jon do share a few physical, character and behavioural traits:

Grey eyes — a typical Stark trait

A lean, or slender, physique

A strong resemblance to their “fathers”

An air of maturity related to their appearance and/or attitude

Thrust into a position of authority as a young man — Magnar vs. Lord Commander

Deep pride in and allegiance to their houses/clans — Stark vs. Thenn

Increased boldness/courage through wine drinking at a feast

They also share a certain romantic tenderness beneath a broody exterior:

"Sigorn," asked Melisandre, "will you share your fire with Alys, and warm her when the night is dark and full of terrors?" "I swear me." The Magnar's promise was a white cloud in the air. Snow dappled his shoulders. His ears were red. "By the red god's flames, I warm her all her days." – ADWD, Jon X

Call me an old softie, but I like to read the above two ways — his ears are red because of the cold, but also as a sign of tender bashfulness… a hint towards a romantic heart. And I think that reading is somewhat supported by how positively we’re meant to view this union between Sigorn and Alys:

[…] Lady Alys dragged the Magnar up onto the floor. From the way he moved it was plain that Sigorn had never danced before, but he had drunk enough mulled wine so that it did not seem to matter. "A northern maid and a wildling warrior, bound together by the Lord of Light," Ser Axell Florent slipped into Lady Alys’s vacant seat. — ADWD, Jon X

Hmm, "a northern maid" … and "a wildling warrior"? Interesting. Very interesting descriptions.

"Some of your own Sworn Brothers would have me believe that you are half a wildling yourself. Is it true?" – ADWD, Jon IV Mully cleared his throat. "M'lord? The wildling princess, letting her go, the men may say—" "—that I am half a wildling myself, a turncloak who means to sell the realm to our raiders, cannibals, and giants." Jon did not need to stare into a fire to know what was being said of him. The worst part was, they were not wrong, not wholly. "Words are wind, and the wind is always blowing at the Wall. Come." – ADWD, Jon VIII "I see what you are, Snow. Half a wolf and half a wildling, baseborn get of a traitor and a whore. You would deliver a highborn maid to the bed of some stinking savage. Did you sample her yourself first?" [Cregan Karstark] laughed. "If you mean to kill me, do it and be damned for a kinslayer. Stark and Karstark are one blood." – ADWD, Jon X "Ghost?" Jon was shocked. "Unless your lordship has some other white wolf, aye. I never seen him like this, m'lord. All wild-like, I mean." He was not wrong, as Jon discovered for himself when he slipped inside the doors. The big white direwolf would not lie still. He paced from one end of the armoury to the other, past the cold forge and back again. "Easy, Ghost," Jon called. "Down. Sit, Ghost. Down." Yet when he made to touch him, the wolf bristled and bared his teeth. It's that bloody boar. Even in here, Ghost can smell his stink. – ADWD, Jon XIII

In ADWD, Jon notably gets called "half a wildling" more than once, by his black brothers, Stannis Baratheon and Cregan Karstark… enough times for him to comment on it (see Jon VIII above), refuting the accusation, although only truly explicitly so within his internal thoughts:

I am not the trusting fool you take me for … nor am I half wildling, no matter what you believe. – ADWD, Jon XI

Ok, maybe he’s not a wildling per se… but there is something a bit wild about the boy, or there perhaps will be if we take the behaviour of his wolf as any indication. But anyway…

Winter's Lady

As explored above, Sansa and Alys most likely share a sincere love of dancing, but at the very least, certainly share an expectation of dancing with their husbands on their wedding day. In this way, Alys strongly evokes Sansa when we consider this connection to dancing, but also in how she is described and how she behaves too. Though, of course, a comparison to Sansa is never explicitly stated within the text, instead we find the much more expected and fondly familial comparisons to Arya, which follow a pattern first presented to us with Ygritte in ACOK. But just as with the Girl in Grey prophecy, you can never take the most obvious answer or explanation at face value!

As we know, Jon assumed TGiG must be Arya… but then it seemingly turns out to be Alys, though there are several inconsistencies there, key ones being she doesn’t arrive in grey or from the right direction. Ok, so it must be Jeyne Poole then? Jeyne Poole disguised as Arya, thus sort of aligning with Jon’s first instinct… but also not, and surely that's the twist? But hey! We’re forgetting someone! Someone who has been lurking in the subtext of every romantic female figure that Jon meets…

The girl smiled in a way that reminded Jon so much of his little sister that it almost broke his heart. "Let him be scared of me." – ADWD, Jon X

Alys Karstark reminds Jon of his "little sister," and who else could that be but Arya? Especially when we have proof of their shared fierceness in the following line (though that bravery is a trait held by all the Starklings, including Sansa, I'd argue). That’s all fine and dandy… but then we get the next bit of description and someone else starts to come to mind instead:

The snowflakes were melting on her cheeks, but her hair was wrapped in a swirl of lace that Satin had found somewhere, and snow began to collect there, giving her a frosty crown. Her cheeks were flushed and red, and her eyes sparkled. "Winter’s lady." Jon squeezed her hand. – ADWD, Jon X

It's not just Alys' love of dancing, her courteous nature ("It would only be courteous"), her desire to dance with her husband on her wedding day that creates a parallel to Sansa. The inclusion of melting snowflakes on their faces/cheeks, flushed cheeks, and her lacey wedding garb are also noteworthy:

The smallclothes were all silk, but the gown itself was ivory samite and cloth-of-silver, and lined with silvery satin. The points of the long dagged sleeves almost touched the ground when she lowered her arms […] The bodice was slashed in the front almost to her belly, the deep vee covered with a panel of ornate Myrish lace in dove-grey […] They brought her new shoes as well, slippers of soft grey doeskin that hugged her feet like lovers. "You are very beautiful, my lady," the seamstress said when she was dressed. "I am, aren’t I?" Sansa giggled, and spun, her skirts swirling around her. – ASOS, Sansa III Sansa drifted past frosted shrubs and thin dark trees, and wondered if she were still dreaming. Drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover’s kisses, and melted on her cheeks. At the centre of the garden, beside the statue of the weeping woman that lay broken and half-buried on the ground, she turned her face up to the sky and closed her eyes. She could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. It was the taste of Winterfell. The taste of innocence. The taste of dreams.[…] "What are you doing?" Petyr straightened his cloak. "Kissing a snow maid." "You're supposed to kiss her." Sansa glanced up at Lysa's balcony, but it was empty now. "Your lady wife." "I do. Lysa has no cause for complaint." He smiled. "I wish you could see yourself, my lady. You are so beautiful. You're crusted over with snow like some little bear cub, but your face is flushed and you can scarcely breathe. How long have you been out here? You must be very cold. Let me warm you, Sansa. Take off those gloves, give me your hands." – ASOS, Sansa VII

In the first passage, from ASOS, we have a description of Sansa's wedding garb, though at the time she was unaware of what this new outfit was intended for. What is striking, however, is how the combination colours — ivory, silver, silvery, dove-grey, soft grey — are not only the colours of House Stark, but also evoke a wintery landscape, especially a gentle flurry of snowflakes with "her skirts swirling around her." It’s a very romantic image, but so is the description of Alys Karstark in her wedding clothes… though it's always struck me as rather convenient, as opposed to realistic, that "a swirl of lace" just happened to be found for the occasion. Indeed, what use do men of the Night’s Watch have for such fripperies, I ask you?

Admittedly, Sansa is never called "a northern maid" or "winter’s lady" like Alys is, but such descriptions wouldn't be out of place regarding here, as we have Sansa’s ties to the north and her position/identity as a lady/maiden emphasised time and time again throughout the series. And "a snow maid" and "winter’s lady" feel fairly synonymous to me. Alys Karstark is also called a "a northern maid" by Ser Axell Florent, which could well be said of Sansa too:

"Sansa was a lady at three, always so courteous and eager to please. She loved nothing so well as tales of knightly valour. Men would say she had my look, but she will grow into a woman far more beautiful than I ever was, you can see that […]" – ACOK, Catelyn VII "I forgot, you've been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head." – ASOS, Arya XIII "[…] If Dontos and this northern girl helped murder our sweet king, it seems to me that they would want to put as many leagues as they could betwixt themselves and justice […]" – AFFC, Brienne I "[…] A young maid, three-and-ten and fair of face, with blue eyes and auburn hair […]" – AFFC, Brienne II I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. – AFFC, Sansa I

I mean… no disrespect meant to you Alys, you seem like a nice gal, but… I mean… come on, now. If anyone is the OTMN/OTWL (One True Northern Maid/One True Winter’s Lady) of the series, it’s Sansa goddamn Stark. But to summarise, just from looking at that first usage of "anon," Jon's interactions with Alys Karstark, and Alys herself, we can get the sense that there’s something more going on here that isn't immediately apparent:

There are some mysteries in these books. There are some things that I’m gonna reveal later on that I’m planting clues for. There are some later plot twists that I’m foreshadowing. There are things that are gonna happen in Book 5 and Book 6 and Book 7 where I’ve planted a seed for it in Book 1. But I don’t necessarily want to give away my hand. So, what do I do when I plant the seed? Well, I plant the seed, but I try to do a little literary sleight of hand, and while I’m planting the seed, my other hand is up there waving and is distracting you with some flashy bit of wordplay or something that’s going on in the foreground, while the seed is being planted in the background. So hopefully the seed is there, the foreshadowing is there, but maybe you won’t notice it, because it’s surrounded by so many other things. [source]

The Significance of Snowflakes

I've kind of talked around your actual question and key quotation because I wanted to put it in context first before I really dive into it and pick it apart. But let's return to it fully now:

To recap, "anon" is used only twice in the series: in ADWD, Jon X and ADWD, Jon XII. In its first usage it is notably misused ("You danced with me anon"), as the meaning of "anon" refers to a future event, rather than the past. In the second and above usage, which refers back to that first mention, it is used correctly by Jon in his internal musings. Something about it suggests to me that this undisclosed voice is a familiar one to Jon, especially when we consider how Alys Karstark implicitly parallels Sansa and therefore acts as a sort of stand-in, or not quite right placeholder for her (a la Ygritte and Val).

Something else to ponder on is the possibility that this request, but also assurance of "dance with me, Jon Snow […] You’ll dance with me anon" is actually a recollected memory. This would marry the two past and future usages of "anon" — Alys' (mis)use, which referenced a dance shared when she and Jon "were children" and Jon's, which uses it correctly and points towards the future… though, a future dance also shared with someone from the past, a past previously thought walled up and left behind (... what are you fleeing from Jon? For those not in the know, check out my Byronic Hero meta 👀).

So, past events and a foreshadowed future are important to consider here. Likewise, childhood and memory. But what is behind the importance placed on dancing, and moreover, on snowflakes?

As I said in my introductory paragraph, the Romantic description of dancing snowflakes alongside a request to dance and possible remembrances of the past/childhood feels strongly evocative of an earlier passage from ASOS and therefore one character in particular… Sansa Stark:

Outside the flakes drifted down as soft and silent as memory. Was this what woke me? Already the snowfall lay thick upon the garden below, blanketing the grass, dusting the shrubs and statues with white and weighing down the branches of the trees. The sight took Sansa back to cold nights long ago, in the long summer of her childhood. She had last seen snow the day she’d left Winterfell. That was a lighter fall than this, she remembered. Robb had melting snowflakes in his hair when he hugged me, and the snowball Arya tried to make kept coming apart in her hands. It hurt to remember how happy she had been that morning. Hullen had helped her mount, and she’d ridden out with snowflakes swirling around her, off to see the great wide world. I thought my song was beginning that day, but it was almost done. – ASOS, Sansa VII

The descriptions of Sansa entering the Eyrie's godswood that follow the above are some of my favourite passages in the whole of ASOIAF. But it’s interesting to consider how snowflakes in particular serve to connect Jonsa to one another through memory. Robb is described by both Sansa and Jon in their memories as having "melting snowflakes in his hair," and there is something quite melancholy about that association, the impermanence of it and the knowledge that Robb is no longer:

Robb had melting snowflakes in his hair when he hugged me […] – ASOS, Sansa VII "So do you, Sam. Have a swift, safe voyage, and take care of her and Aemon and the child." The cold trickles on his face reminded Jon of the day he’d bid farewell to Robb at Winterfell, never knowing that it was for the last time. "And pull your hood up. The snowflakes are melting in your hair." – ADWD, Jon II He thought of Robb, with snowflakes melting in his hair. – ADWD, Jon XIII

But more than that, the sight of snow in the godswood "took Sansa back to cold nights long ago, in the long summer of her childhood," but especially her last day in Winterfell. Similarly, the sight of snowflakes melting in his friend's hair reminds Jon of Robb, but also of his own departure from home — "the day he’d bid farewell […] never knowing that it was for the last time." Like Sansa, Jon too was setting off "to see the great wide world," and both have had that idealism challenged by adversity. The melting of snowflakes, and their connection to Robb, serve to highlight a past and safety that has been lost, a childhood that can never be returned to — it has melted away, just like the snowflakes.

But what does it mean when snowflakes aren’t melting, in hair or on cheeks? Can they still be connected to remembrance? What about the future, signified by snowflakes in motion, yet to settle?

It’s worth noting how infrequently "snowflake(s)" are actually mentioned in the series — only 28 uses across five books so far. Similarly, "flakes," used as a shortening for snowflakes, are also referenced even more sparingly, amounting to just 10 uses.

11 -> Jon = ASOS (3), ADWD (8) 5 -> Sansa = ASOS (5) 5 -> Bran = AGOT (3), ADWD (2) 4 -> Theon = ADWD (4) 4 -> Samwell = ASOS (1), AFFC (3) 2 -> Melisandre = ADWD (2)

It's unsurprising that Jon Snow would get the most mentions, as not only is he situated in the frosty north for the entirety of his story thus far, but he is also one of the most prolific POV in the series:

42 Chpts. -> Jon =GOT (9) -> ACOK (8) -> ASOS (12) -> AFFC (N/A) -> ADWD (13)

Most of Jon's snowflake references feature in ADWD, where he has the most POV chapters of any other character — just one above Tyrion, however. By comparison, Sansa and Bran, our second placers, have far less POV chapters (sides eyes GRRM), so they are perhaps all the more noteworthy:

25 Chpts. -> Sansa = AGOT (6) -> ACOK (8) -> ASOS (7) -> AFFC (3) -> ADWD (N/A)

21 Chpts. -> Bran = AGOT (7) -> ACOK (7) -> ASOS (4) -> AFFC (N/A) -> ADWD (3)

14 Chpts. -> Theon = AGOT (N/A) -> ACOK (6) -> ASOS (N/A) -> AFFC (N/A) -> ADWD (7)

10 Chpts. -> Samwell = AGOT (N/A) -> ACOK (N/A) -> ASOS (5) -> AFFC (5) -> ADWD (N/A)

1 Ch. -> Melisandre = AGOT (N/A) -> ACOK (N/A) -> ASOS (N/A) -> AFFC (N/A) -> ADWD (1)

It's clear that the number of snowflake references mirrors the number of POVs a character has… to a certain extent. But for me, what is especially interesting about this breakdown of references is that everyone, bar Sansa, is in the north at the time of their snowflake/flake mentions. By contrast, Sansa is in the Vale and the Eyrie with her references all taking place in a single chapter — ASOS, Sansa VII, aka the godswood chapter — where there are some very heavy allusions made to her past in Winterfell, as well as her involvement in its future restoration. So, she may be physically some distance from the north, but the emotional thrust of that long passage in the Eyrie’s godswood is nevertheless utterly wrapped up in imagery of the north… and in Jon Snow, funnily enough.

Comparing Snowflake Uses Across POVs

I think it’s always worth considering parallel imagery and word choice when it comes to seeking out hidden references and/or foreshadowing in a series like ASOIAF. With the snowflakes referenced in Jon and Sansa’s chapters, they are more often than not described as either drifting, dancing or swirling. Delicate and fragile, but in perpetual motion, not quite settled. Persevering.

But let’s take a closer look:

11 -> Jon = ASOS (3), ADWD (8)

Jon watched the flakes melt as they drifted over the flames. – ASOS, Jon I

Snowflakes speckled Tormund's broad face, melting in his hair and beard. – ASOS, Jon II

"Are all crows so curious?" asked Tormund. "Well, here’s a tale for you. It were another winter, colder even than the one I spent inside that giant, and snowing day and night, snowflakes as big as your head, not these little things […]" – ASOS, Jon II

The cold trickle on [Sam's] face reminded Jon of the day he’d bid farewell to Robb at Winterfell, never knowing that it was for the last time. "And pull your hood up. The snowflakes are melting in your hair." – ADWD, Jon II

When the last of the riders had disappeared into the trees, Jon Snow rode the winch cage down with Dolorous Edd. A few scattered snowflakes were falling as they made their slow descent, dancing on the gusty wind. One followed the cage down, drifting just beyond the bars. It was falling faster than they were descending and from time to time would vanish beneath them. Then a gust of wind would catch it and push it upward once again. Jon could have reached through the bars and caught it if he had wished. – ADWD, Jon VI

Melisandre raised her hands, and the ditchfire leapt upward toward her fingers, like a great red dog sprinting for a treat. A swirl of sparks rose to meet the snowflakes coming down. – ADWD, Jon X

Melisandre’s eyes shone as bright as the ruby at her throat. "Then come to me and be as one." As she beckoned, a wall of flames roared upward, licking at the snowflakes with hot orange tongues. Alys Karstark took her Magnar by the hand. – ADWD, Jon X

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon. – ADWD, Jon XII

He thought of Robb, with snowflakes melting in his hair. – ADWD, Jon XIII

Above are all the references to snowflakes in Jon’s chapters, but I want to zero in on several comparable uses, in which there is an interesting combination of factors at play:

A few scattered snowflakes were falling as they made their slow descent, dancing on the gusty wind. One followed the cage down, drifting just beyond the bars. – ADWD, Jon VI

The snowflakes were melting on [Alys’] cheeks, but her hair was wrapped in a swirl of lace Satin had found somewhere, and the snow had begun to collect there, giving her a frosty crown. Her cheeks were flushed and red, and her eyes sparkled. – ADWD, Jon X

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon. – ADWD, Jon XII

Across three chapters in ADWD, we find references to snowflakes used… but described in a very particular, delicate way:

Light snowfall -> "A few scattered snowflakes," "slow descent," "the snowfall was light," "a thin scattering of flakes," "the snow had begun to collect there," "a snowflake […] then another."

Dancing/drifting/swirling -> "Dancing on the gusty wind," "drifting just beyond the bars," "dancing in the air," "a swirl of lace […] the snow had begun to collect there," "a snowflake danced upon the air."

Blowing on the wind -> "Dancing on the gusty wind," "dancing in the air," "the wind was blowing," "a snowflake danced upon the air."

Let’s keep the above in mind as we move onto Sansa's uses!

5 -> Sansa = ASOS (5)

She had last seen snow the day she'd left Winterfell. That was a lighter fall than this, she remembered. Robb had melting flakes in his hair when he hugged me […] Hullen had helped her mount, and she’d ridden out with the snowflakes swirling around her […] – ASOS, Sansa VII

Outside the flakes drifted downas soft and silent as memory.– ASOS, Sansa VII

Drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover’s kisses, and melted on her cheeks […] She could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. – ASOS, Sansa VII

The wind flapped her skirts and bit at her bare legs with cold teeth. She could feel snowflakes melting on her cheeks. – ASOS, Sansa VII

Bar two, you could argue that all of Sansa’s snowflake references subtly mirror the four Jon usages I singled out above… or rather, his mirror hers…

She had last seen snow the day she’d left Winterfell. That was a lighter fall than this, she remembered. Robb had melting flakes in his hair when he hugged me […] Hullen had helped her mount, and she’d ridden out with the snowflakes swirling around her […] – ASOS, Sansa VII

Outside the flakes drifted down as soft and silent as memory.– ASOS, Sansa VII

Drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover’s kisses, and melted on her cheeks. – ASOS, Sansa VII

Light snowfall -> "That was a lighter fall than this," "soft and silent," "as light as lover’s kisses."

Drifting/swirling -> "The snowflakes swirling around her," "the flakes drifted down," "drifting snowflakes."

What is absent, however, is any emphasis placed on the wind and how it carries these snowflakes. By comparison, in Jon passages where the above two factors are included it could be that the inclusion of snowflakes "dancing on the gusty wind," "dancing in the air," "the wind was blowing," etc., is meant to emphasise their motion even more so. And perhaps not just their motion, but also possibly their direction — towards Jon and therefore towards the north… just like the girl in grey:

[…] dancing on the gusty wind. One [snowflake] followed the cage down, drifting just beyond the bars. It was falling faster than they were descending and from time to time would vanish beneath them. Then a gust of wind would catch it and push it upward once again. Jon could have reached through the bars and caught it if he had wished. – ADWD, Jon VI […] flakes dancing in the air, but the wind was blowing from the east along the Wall […] – ADWD, Jon X So lovely. The snow-clad summit of the Giant’s Lance loomed above her, an immensity of stone and ice that dwarfed the castle perched upon its shoulder. Icicles twenty feet long draped the lip of the precipice where Alyssa’s Tears fell in summer. A falcon soared above the frozen waterfall, blue wings spread wide against the morning sky. Would that I had wings as well.– AFFC, Alayne I

I’ll come back to the significance of that easterly wind in particular in due course.

5 -> Bran = AGOT (3), ADWD (2)

A light snow was falling. Bran could feel the flakes on his face, melting as they touched his skin like the gentlest of rains. – AGOT, Bran V

Robb lifted his face to the snow, and the flakes melted on his cheeks. – AGOT, Bran V

The joy Bran had felt at the ride was gone, melted away like the snowflakes on his face. – AGOT, Bran V

The wolf let his tongue loll out between his teeth, tasting the frigid air, his breath misting as snowflakes melted on his tongue. – ADWD, Bran I

Snowflakes drifted down soundlessly to cloak the soldier pines and sentinels in white. – ADWD, Bran III

With Bran, references to snowflakes are typically soft "like the gentles of rains," but also often melting — against his face, on his tongue, on Robb’s cheeks. References to snowflakes makes sense in Bran's chapters as he spends the entirety of them in the north where snow is frequent. However, only once are they referred to as drifting (or any similar verb), so his inclusions aren't a perfect match to Jonsa's… nor are they perhaps meant to be.

Light snowfall -> "A light snow was falling […] like the gentlest of rains," "drifted down soundlessly."

Drifting -> "Drifted down."

Melting -> "Melting as they touched his skin," "the flakes melted on his cheeks," "melted away like the snowflakes on his face," "snowflakes melted on his tongue."

4 -> Samwell = ASOS (1), AFFC (3)

He stared upward at the pale white sky as snowflakes drifted down upon his stomach and his chest and his eyelids. – ASOS, Samwell I

A snowflake landed on Sam’s nose. – AFFC, Samwell I

"So do you, Sam. Have a swift, safe voyage, and take care of her and Aemon and the child." Jon smiled a strange, sad smile. "And pull your hood up. The snowflakes are melting in your hair." – AFFC, Samwell I

A light snow had begun to fall, the big soft flakes drifting down lazily from the sky. – AFFC, Samwell I

Like Bran, snowflakes are not out of place in Sam's chapters given the northernly environment in which they are set. In fact, his uses could be said to share the same intent as Bran's — setting the scene, evoking Robb Stark, etc. — though interestingly they are at times described as drifting.

Light snowfall -> "A light snow," "soft flakes."

Drifting -> "Snowflakes drifted," "soft flakes drifting."

Melting -> "The snowflakes are melting in your hair."

4 -> Theon = ADWD (4)

The first flakes came drifting down as the sun was setting in the west. By nightfall snow was coming down so heavily that the moon rose behind a white curtain, unseen. – ADWD, The Turncloak

Lord Ramsay commanded Abel to give them a marching song in honour of Stannis trudging through the snows, so the bard took up his lute again, whilst one of his washerwomen coaxed a sword from Sour Alyn and mimed Stannis slashing at the snowflakes. – ADWD, The Turncloak

Outside the snow was coming down so heavily that Theon could not see more than three feet ahead of him. He found himself alone in a white wilderness, walls of snow looming up to either side of him chest high. When he raised his head, the snowflakes brushed his cheeks like cold soft kisses. – ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell

The hot water filled the air with clouds of steam, melting the snowflakes as they came drifting down. – ADWD, Theon I

Theon's snowflakes are notably mentioned whilst he is at Winterfell, and also whilst he is in the godswood. He's been described as Jon's foil by GRRM, so it is interesting to me that where for Jon snowflakes arrive with a light snowfall, for Theon these similarly drifting snowflakes are instead falling "so heavily." There is some softer imagery with the description of the snowflakes brushing his cheeks "like cold soft kisses," but there is little romance to that, or the context of that scene.

Light snowfall -> "Cold soft kisses."

Drifting -> "The first flakes came drifting down," "drifting down."

Heavy snowfall -> "By nightfall snow was coming down so heavily," "outside the snow was coming down so heavily."

Melting -> "Melting snowflakes."

2 -> Melisandre = ADWD (2)

Snowflakes swirled from a dark sky and ashes rose to meet them, the grey and white whirling around each other as flaming arrows arced above a wooden wall and dead things shambled silent through the cold, beneath a great grey cliff where fires burned inside a hundred caves. Then the wind rose and the white mist came sweeping in, impossibly cold, and one by one the fires went out. – ADWD, Melisandre I

A few snowflakes drifted by the open window, floating on the wind. – ADWD, Melisandre I

Now, Melisandre is an interesting one. Only one POV chapter in the series so far and yet she gets a couple of snowflake mentions that line up with the imagery used in Jon's and Sansa's chapters.

Light snowfall -> "A few snowflakes."

Drifting/swirling/whirling/floating ->"Snowflakes swirled."

Blowing on the wind -> "The wind rose," "floating on the wind."

I think the second reference, in particular, stands out since it ticks all three requirements, with the softness of the snowfall (indicated by their sparseness) being key, I think. Why is that interesting? Well, what has Melisandre been wondering about throughout her chapter? The girl in grey.

A Snowflake Danced Upon the Air from the East

The identity of TGiG has been long speculated about and I’m someone, like many Jonsas, who believes that she will be none other than Sansa Stark. By working on this meta though, I feel like I’m even more convinced that that’ll be true. Considering the above, I get the sense that when certain factors occur alongside one another — light snowfall that drifts/dances/swirls — what we’re getting is an implicit reference to either Jon in a Sansa chapter, or Sansa in a Jon chapter. The slight difference between them, however, is that for Jon we have the added factor of the wind carrying these snowflakes… as though towards him:

A "gusty wind" carries these "dancing" snowflakes, "drifting just beyond the bars" of the winch cage Jon is travelling in. A snowflake just out of reach, but then drifting closer, so close that "Jon could have reached [out] and caught it if he had wished." A snowflake. A snow maid. Interesting.

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon. – ADWD, Jon XII

Again, in the quotation from your ask, we have mention of "a snowflake," and that singularity possibly being significant. Though, as we saw previously, there being a singular snowflake isn't a prerequisite for a potential Sansa reference in Jon’s chapters, at least imo. But it's intriguing, nonetheless. Returning to the wedding between Alys and Sigorn, what's also intriguing is this:

"All praise R'hllor, the Lord of Light," the wedding guests answered in ragged chorus before a gust of ice-cold wind blew their words away. Jon Snow raised the hood of his cloak. The snowfall was light today, a thin scattering of flakes dancing in the air, but the wind was blowing from the east along the Wall, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan used to tell. Even Melisandre's fire was shivering; the flames huddled down in the ditch, crackling softly as the red priestess sang. Only Ghost seemed not to feel the chill. Alys Karstark leaned close to Jon. "Snow during a wedding means a cold marriage. My lady mother always said so." He glanced at Queen Selyse. There must have been a blizzard the day she and Stannis wed. Huddled beneath her ermine mantle and surrounded by her ladies, serving girls, and knights, the southron queen seemed a frail, pale, shrunken thing. A strained smile was frozen into place on her thin lips, but her eyes brimmed with reverence. She hates the cold but loves the flames.He had only to look at her to see that. A word from Melisandre, and she would walk into the fire willingly, embrace it like a lover. – ADWD, Jon X

Snow is positioned here as an ill omen, signifying a "cold marriage" if it falls on your wedding day , and yet we've seen from the interactions between the wedded couple that so far that hasn’t come to pass, in fact, they look set for a pretty warm and happy marriage. So maybe this talk of prophetic superstitions is just a distraction… but a distraction from what?

The snowfall was light today, a thin scattering of flakes dancing in the air, but the wind was blowing from the east along the Wall, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan used to tell. Even Melisandre's fire was shivering; the flames huddled down in the ditch, crackling softly as the red priestess sang. Only Ghost seemed not to feel the chill. – ADWD, Jon X

Light snowfall, dancing snowflakes on the cold wind… and yet "Ghost seemed not to feel the chill." Indeed, if the behaviour of Ghost is any indication… Jon Snow may be Queen Selyse's opposite in the sense that he hates the flames but loves the cold. Loves a snow maid. Loves winter’s true lady. Will love the girl in grey on a dying horse, running from the hunters… travelling from the east, blowing towards him on an easterly wind:

The girl. I must find the girl again, the grey girl on the dying horse. Jon Snow would expect that of her, and soon. It would not be enough to say the girl was fleeing. He would want more, he would want the when and the where, and she did not have that for him. She had seen the girl only once. A girl as grey as ash, and even as I watched she crumbled and blew away. – ADWD, Melisandre I "Hills. Fields. Trees. A deer, once. Stones. She is staying well away from villages. When she can she rides along the bed of little streams, to throw hunters off her trail." [Mance] frowned. "That will make it difficult. She was coming north, you said. Was the lake to her east or to her west?" Melisandre closed her eyes, remembering. "West." – ADWD, Melisandre I The snowfall was light today, a thin scattering of flakes dancing in the air, but the wind was blowing from the east along the Wall […] – ADWD, Jon X

Because if Long Lake is to the west of her, then the girl in grey will be coming to the Wall from the east… "Blowing from the east along the Wall," just as Melisandre saw in her flames; a girl who "crumbled and blew away," who is fleeing, riding north on a dying horse, in motion, on her way to Jon Snow's side. As I've said, it’s not a brand-new theory to believe that Sansa is going to be the real girl in grey, but I think that these dancing snowflakes (an allusion to Sansa) blowing in from the east further supports that conclusion. Building on that, I wouldn't be surprised if, much like in the show actually, Sansa's arrival coincides with a swirl of drifting snowflakes, dancing on the north-easterly wind.

And it's not just in Jon's chapters that the direction of east, or a wind blowing in from the east, occurs:

Alayne's apartments in the Maiden's Tower were larger and more lavish than the little bedchamber where she'd been kept when Lady Lysa was alive. She had a dressing room and a privy of her own now, and a balcony of carved white stone that looked off across the Vale. While Gretchel was tending to the fire, Alayne padded barefoot across the room and slipped outside. The stone was cold beneath her feet, and the wind was blowing fiercely, as it always did up here, but the view made her forget all that for half a heartbeat. Maiden's was the easternmost of the Eyrie’s seven slender towers, so she had the Vale before her, its forests and rivers and fields all hazy in the morning light. […] […] A falcon soared above the frozen waterfall, blue wings spread wide against the morning sky. Would that I had wings as well. – AFFC, Alayne I

Like a lady in a song, like "some willowy creature who sits up in a tower" (ADWD, Jon IX), Alayne Stone resides in the Maiden's Tower, "the easternmost of the Eyrie's seven slender towers." From her tower, she looks out to the east, wishing that she had wings to carry herself away…

They are all convinced she is a princess. Val looked the part and rode as if she had been born on horseback. A warrior princess, he decided, not some willowy creature who sits up in a tower, brushing her hair and waiting for some knight to rescue her. – ADWD, Jon IX

East. East. She is coming from the east. A drifting, dancing snowflake on the light gusty wind. Beyond the bars of Jon's cage — both physical and abstract — almost within his grasp. Almost. And not some willowy creature, not even a snow maid, but a real living girl, saving herself, rescuing herself, but in need of some help too.

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon. – ADWD, Jon XII

And as the snowflakes drift, on a gusty eastern wind, their touch as light as lover's kisses, they will dance with one another anon...

Hope this answer and my thoughts were worth the wait! xx

#cappymightwrite #ADWD #Dancing #Jon Snow #Sansa Stark #alys karstark

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jonsameta · 2 years

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The mythology series [Jonsa] ~ Isis and Osiris, the ‘ghost’ king and his resilient wife

Ciao my Jonsa folks! (and those lurking, or just curious!), here I am with another instalment of the mythology series pertaining possible parallels between myths and the couple formed by Jon and Sansa in the world of asoiaf.

As always, the premises still stand — no I am not an expert, yes it's all for fun and because of my curiosity, and yes if you are an expert and know better I'll appreciate your input — and for this cycle this time we go to Egypt and to one of my favourite mythological parallels of the Jonsa ship.

Put your seatbelt on, it's going to be a ride! (again)

Isis and Osiris, the dutiful, resilient wife and the ‘ghost’ king — a ghost wolf, as big as mountains (Egyptian mythology vs. GRRM Asoiaf)

All around was empty air and sky, the ground falling away sharply to either side. There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghost wolf, big as mountains. And then they were on the other side (...) — Alayne II, AFFC

Jon fell to his knees. (...) "Ghost," (...) When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold … — Jon XIII, ADWD

As always, I cannot stress enough, these pieces of art are not mine, nor do I claim them as such, they are amazing pieces shared online and they belong to their creators, my only merit, if it is even that, is having collected them to make this series of metas more aesthetically pleasing!

So, let's hop onto the story of Osiris and Isis.

As with most myths the story itself varies locally, and marginally during the ages in which it has been transcripts but some details remain the same; for example we should differ the roman-greek transcription of this myth as it is influenced by details that are not egyptian in truth, while a full record of the entire myth by egyptian hand has gone lost, we have myriads of stories, funerary spells, etcetera that depict variants of this same myth, or add details necessary for the purpose of the text in which is featured the story. This makes the myth of Osiris and Isis one of the most detailed and cohesive of egyptian myths that arrived to us.

The myth touches a series of problematics that could be (read: are) featured in asoiaf as well, and primarily not only the matter of resurrection [some time I'll really, really have to wrap up my series of metas about resurrected characters in asoiaf] but also that of succession (who should succeed the previous king? His brother or his son?). And I think we can all see how this features perfectly in asoiaf with the character of Jon as Osiris (as what we have now — up until the moment Jon gets killed by his sworn brothers Aegon could've been a candidate as well, but since Jon has been betrayed by his sworn brothers and killed and we know he will be resurrected...well he remains the sole candidate for this role).

So...let's see why Osiris and Jon fit almost like a glove.

Osiris, the wise and just king and Jon the “king hidden under the snow”

Name yourself in your heart and know who you are. — Awakening Osiris, N. Ellis, A new translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead

“(...) kings are a rare sight in the North” Robert snorted “More likely they were hiding under the snow! Snow, Ned!” — Eddard I, AGOT, GRRM Tyrion Lannister had claimed that most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it, but Jon was done with denials. He was who he was; Jon Snow, bastard and oathbreaker, motherless, friendless, and damned. For the rest of his life—however long that might be—he would be condemned to be an outsider, the silent man standing in the shadows who dares not speak his true name. — Jon IX, AGOT, GRRM

So, Osiris was a foreign king who came to Egypt bringing with himself a new set of law and skills that he taught the egyptians who loved him and respected him.

So far so good: Jon is born from a foreign dynasty (the Targaryens) and the Starks who are a beloved dynasty in the North, he is loved by his sworn brothers to the point they name him, at seventeen, Lord Commander of the Nights Watch. He, himself teaches some of his brothers how to fight.

Osiris was beloved because he was just, smart and honorable. Jon is beloved for those same things — he has done some fucked up shit, like forcing Gilly to swap the babies — but as those characteristics breed love and loyalty, they also breed disloyalty and envy.

Osiris' own brother, Seth, betrayed him — made him a casket precisely build with his measurements — and then tricked him into entering it, closing the lid and ensuring he died before setting the corpse and casket into the Nile's currents.

Another check: Jon's own sworn brothers (the brothers he chose over Robb, though he chose fakeArya over them) betray him — convince him to join them outside with tales of his own uncle news, fashioned exactly to appeal perfectly to Jon's nature and love for his family, just like the casket was fashioned precisely with Osiris measurements — and kill him leaving him to bleed out in coldness.

Osiris later gets resurrected even if his own body pieces are scattered around all of Egypt, he is sewn back together by his sister-wife, and returned to life under the full moon (which, coincidentally is pretty much linked forever with wolves and werewolves, men turning into wolves in that very night and the Starks' sigil is the direwolf and all of them are wargs, why Sansa is said to have changed into a wolf with bat-like wings and flown away) and has to walk in the kingdom of the dead of which he is now the king.

Anyone thinking of Sansa sewing a cloak exactly like Ned Stark's and gifting it to Jon thus claiming him as a Stark and sewing back his identity as a northerner after all he wanted to do once reawaken was to hide away? No? Only I?

Jon, we know, will get resurrected by Melisandre and imo (but yes, you'll have to wait until I finally post my series of metas about resurrection in asoiaf) that means Jon will return but not all of him will return, only his most pure, primordial nature will return with him.

A wolf protecting his pack, which was the identity he chose (Arya over the NW) when he died... and who is en route to him? Sansa, as the show has suggested they'll be the first two Starks to reunite.

Also, is entirely possible Sansa calling his name or singing (as one of his fonder memories of Sansa is her singing softly to herself as she brushes her direwolf's fur) will bring him back to himself more, transforming him from a dead-man walking, to a living person again.

In the show it's Sansa who gives Jon purpose after he chooses to leave the NW and the whole of Westeros to its fate. She's the one who makes him fight again and the hidden (or not so hidden) motive for all of his actions in the last seasons.

Isis the bird of prey Queen mother of Egypt and Sansa Stark the “little bird”

To pronounce the name of the dead, is to make them live again. — The Blind assassin, M. Atwood

She had not thought of Jon in ages. He was only her half brother, but still...with Robb and Bran and Rickon dead, Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again. (...) There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghost wolf, big as mountains. — Alayne II, AFFC, GRRM He thought of Robb, with snowflakes melting in his hair. Kill the boy and let the man be born. He thought of Bran, clambering up a tower wall, agile as a monkey. Of Rickon's breathless laughter. Of Sansa, brushing out Lady's coat and singing to herself. You know nothing, Jon Snow. He thought of Arya, her hair as tangled as a bird's nest. — Jon XIII, ADWD, GRRM

Isis is a figure that assumed more and more importance and influence as the centuries passed as, in the first centuries of egyptian culture she was mostly unknown and obscure, though the priests of the temple of Re, consacred to the god of the Sun developed her myth and she turned out to be the matriarch of the egyptian pantheon and one of its primal figureheads.

She was the sister-wife of Osiris and sister of Seth and Nephthys.

She is highly linked with queenship and kingship to the point the hieroglyph associated with her is also the same that spells the word ‘throne’ — “The girl's happiness is not my purpose, nor should it be yours. Our alliances in the south may be as solid as Casterly Rock, but there remains the north to win, and the key to the north is Sansa Stark.” Tyrion III, ASOS — she's often depicted with a crown with the solar disk and/or the horns of a cow (a symbol of motherhood and fertility), she could depicted as a series of animals scorpions, sow or cows but especially a bird.

Sansa, while being the first of Ned's children to be called ‘wolf-girl’ (Sansa I, AGOT) is called by Cersei ‘little dove’ and by the Hound ‘little bird’ (both are denigratory) and the bird imaginary doesn't stop there, in fact after she escapes KL, the people around the known world (story of it reaches even Braavos!) say she killed the king with a spell and then turned into a wolf with the wings of a bat and flew away from the Red Keep.

Also, Arya when she learns of this rumor comments on how Sansa knows only song, and songs in Egypt like in any other ancient culture, were highly connected to magic and religion.

What did Isis bring with herself when she followed her husband to Egypt? She was known to support her husband wholeheartedly (“Jon is our king” and bookSansa supporting Robert as lord of the Eyrie, helping her cousin through the snow and peril as she feels Jon and Ghost) she taught women to sew (what is Sansa shown doing in the very first appearance? Stitching the same way she'll stitch back the northern independence cause), brew beer and bake (all feminine traits) and she could change into a bird. She's also heavily connected to motherhood and the fact that she hides her son until he is of age to take back the throne not in her own name but in her son's name — "Balon Greyjoy thinks in terms of plunder, not rule. Let him enjoy an autumn crown and suffer a northern winter. He will give his subjects no cause to love him. Come spring, the northmen will have had a bellyful of krakens. When you bring Eddard Stark's grandson home to claim his birthright, lords and little folk alike will rise as one to place him on the high seat of his ancestors. You are capable of getting a woman with child, I hope?" Tyrion III, ASOS — She was the perfect queen for egyptians, content to stay in the shadows of power, letting the men take the limelight but capable of using her wit and female diplomacy skills to guard both husband and son should the need arise. The same way Sansa is using her wit and her diplomacy skills to make sure Robert is loved by the knights of the Vale as @elegantwoes has analyzed in her post about the various purposes her arc in the Vale has (and her parallels with Cat in that aspects), especially with the Winged Knights, pertaining the way nobility sees her and her role, x.

[On a footnote, I think it's highly important the way Jon connects some of the things that have been said to him to his siblings when he thinks of them. For example he thinks of them in the order of succession so Robb, Bran and Rickon as the three trueborn sons of Ned Stark first and then he thinks of the girls, Sansa and then Arya. He nestles things that had been said to him and will have a very important impact on his life after his death between important siblings. He says this: «He thought of Robb, with melting snowflakes into his hair. Kill the boy and let the man be born. He thought of Bran, clambering up a tower wall, agile as a monkey. Of Rickon's breathless laughter. Of Sansa, brushing out Lady's coat and singing softly to herself. You know nothing, Jon Snow. He thought of Arya, her hair as tangled as a bird nest. I made him a warm cloak from the skin of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell. I want my bride back...» this is, imo, a passing of the baton, between the one he'd think of first, and who will get it last. Robb was supposed to get Winterfell over him (who too wanted Winterfell and be its lord) and became KitN but it was not meant to last, and the baton is passed to Bran who he remembers doing what he does best, climbing up the towers agiler than any of them (metaphorically surpassing obstacles they'd never even approach) and what does he associates with kingship and lordship over Winterfell? Maester Aemon: “kill the boy and let the man be born” which could intertwine nicely with him discovering Robb's will and him choosing still to pass Winterfell over the Sansa (“Winterfell belongs to my sister, Sansa” and showJon giving Sansa ladyship over Winterfell through the lord's chambers “You're the lady of Winterfell” which she remains even after he's named king). Then we have Rickon (I don't want to address his breathless laughter, because no, Jon, you might have foreseen your own death but I'm refusing to believe you're foreshadowing Rickon's death. No. I am in denial over it, sue me) and in a full circle we have the girls. Jon has always favored Arya over all of his other siblings and in fact he dies thinking of Arya who he has chosen over the NW neutrality, he considers her, as his sister “his heart” the point is that between thinking of Sansa and Arya, Jon interposes Ygritte. Ygritte who resembles Arya but with whom Jon falls in love because of her similarities with Sansa, her red hair, her singing and her easy smile what is Sansa doing in his memory? (I've spoken of how Ygritte is only a vessel for Sansa in Jon's arc, go check it out if you are interested, x and x and the parallels with courteous love here) Singing softly to herself brushing Lady's coat.

While, instead for Arya he remembers her with her hair all tangled up like a bird nest (I discussed a bit how Jon and Sansa want the same thing which differ from what Arya wants and where her journey is headed, x) so if above between Robb and Bran the baton is passed from the oldest to the younger, here the journey is the opposite, with the baton being passed from the younger (Arya) to the older (Sansa). Jon has been thinking more of Arya than Sansa, thought some would think it was a coping mechanism not too think too much of the sister he had some strange sort of attraction to... I mean Sansa does embody everything Jon wishes of in a partner, but I am digressing; anyway he's thinking and being spurned into action thinking of Arya yet he interposes Ygritte between them and in a full circle as between Robb with melting snowflakes in his hair and Bran doing what Bran does best, approaching and surpassing obstacles they would not approach, the same thing happens between Arya and Sansa, he thinks of Arya with her hair all tangled and of Sansa doing what Sansa does best taking care of others (Lady — as the Lady) while singing like a maid from a song. We see the pattern, do we not? Then, after Arya he thinks of what spurned him in action, word of what had happened to Mance and the death of the spear wives and Ramsay wanting ‘Arya/his bride’ back).

Is Jon supposed to end up saving a ‘bride’ from her ‘husband’ beyond what he did for Alys Karstark? I did say that Ghost fighting the black dog during Jon I, AGOT might foreshadow Jon defending Sansa from the Hound but we have also another possible contender, a contender GRRM had meant for a triangle with Jon Snow from his first draft: 🥁 Tyrion Lannister, Sansa's husband 🥁]

Nephthys the Goddess of decay and death and Arya Stark acolyte of the Faceless Men

I believe life is an education meant to teach us the need to be better people. — R. E. Goodrich

A bruise is a lesson, she told herself, and each lesson makes us better. Syrio stepped back “You're dead now” — Arya IV, AGOT, GRRM

Nephthys was the goddess of death, decay and birth and she was the youngest daughter of Geb and Nut (parents of Osiris and Isis as well as of Seth) and she was also the goddess of the rivers (and a good portion of Arya voyage after she leaves KL, is in the Riverlands where she starts to understand the way common folk are condemned and destroyed by the plays and games of the nobles). She is considered the mother of Anubis which is either conceived, in some myths, with her husband Seth or after an adulterine intercourse with Osiris, whom she deceived by wearing her sister and his wife's face, looking like Isis!

And who is an acolyte of the Faceless Men in Braavos as of now?, wearing another skin and face?

«I can become someone else, speak in their voice, live in their skin. I can even become you. (...) all I need to find out is your face» — Arya Stark to Sansa Stark in s7e6, GoT.

In another myth, instead, Osiris rapes her and that would be the source of animosity between Seth and Osiris.

While in the beginning her egyptian name — Nebhtet — has been translated as “Mistress of the House” wrongly assuming her as a goddess of the homely hearth (and this reminds me of Arya baking in the books and baking the death-pie in the series), the most probable and correct translation would be instead “Mistress of the Temple” which refers to her sacerdotal duties (which reminds me of Arya's own ambitions and her role as an acolyte of the Faceless Men in Braavos)

Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?" — Eddard V, AGOT

Nephthys was considered a very important member of the pantheon, on the same level as her sister; which again reminds me of the crypts trailer in which Sansa, Jon and Arya are all on the same place of honor, all three of them with statues of their own.

Also...Ned says this to Arya, a little bit before he is executed:

“Sansa is your sister. You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you … and I need both of you, gods help me” — Arya II, AGOT

And one of the funeral inscriptions of the V dynasty recites in the pyramids:

Rise and fall. Descend with Nephthys, and sink in the darkness with the Boat of the Night. Rise and fall. Rise with Isis, arise with the Boat of the Day.

She was considered important and unsettling, but not for that less beloved and she was the protectress of the act of dying as she gave strength to the dying to pass onto the next life. The demons of the afterlife trembled before Isis and Nephthys both, and often the goddesses were associated and considered as a unit, working together — the same way Sansa and Arya will work together, the harpist and the water dancer holding the hidden dagger.

By some recent studies it appears that Nephthys is considered as Seth's wife, but not the Seth antagonistic of the myth of Osiris' death, but the benign version of the western oasis in which he is co-regnant with his wife.

Nephthys does hold an important role in the myth of Osiris resurrection as she is the one helping her sister — and crying along her — to get back all the dismembered pieces of Osiris and also helps the sister to raise Horus, working as a unit.

Legality of ascension to the throne, Osiris is killed, Horus rises, part I

Osiris is killed, as we've seen, by his own brother, Seth, grown envious of him. At first Seth simply fashions a casket with Osiris measurements and then closes the lid assuring himself Osiris dies and sends his body down the Nile. When he discovers Isis has found the body he dismembers it and scatters all pieces around all of Egypt thus claiming the throne as Osiris' heir. In the meantime Isis helped by Nephthys has found all pieces of Osiris' body — save for his manhood — and has resurrected him on the night of the full moon. Once resurrected though, Osiris can no longer be king of Egypt as he is dead, and claims his throne as king of the Afterlife. But, before doing so, he sires a true born son from his wife, Isis, Horus — a god with the head of a falcon — whom Isis goes into hiding with as Seth governs Egypt.

When Horus is old enough to reclaim the throne he battles his own uncle, Seth, for the throne and to avenge Osiris' murder; ending up victorious and becoming king of Egypt; but during the fight his left eyes is poked out — I've lost count of the metas about how Jon will possibly lose an eye and end up having a scarred face after all is said and done — and magically comes alive.

Though Horus won the throne, there was still the matter of whom legally owed the throne. Seth affirmed the throne belonged to him as Osiris' brother and Horus' uncle; while Horus affirmed the throne was rightfully his as Osiris' son and heir. Ultimately it was decided that the throne belonged to Horus thus the line to the throne did not move horizontally between brothers, but vertically between sire and heir.

C'mon, anyone who has read asoaif know this (⬆️) is one of the subjects that has been confronted by the books.

[A note, we're talking only of trueborn children, as the baseborn or bastardborn ones are not considered in the line of succession if not after all true born heirs, vertically or horizontally have died]

Robert was the undisputed king of the Iron throne (legally) at the beginning of AGOT as he has won the realm through conquest and has been offered the crown; when he dies he thinks Joffrey, as his son, will inherit the throne but Joffrey is a bastard, thus Robert does not have trueborn heirs at which point his heir is Stannis, his brother, because Robert died without trueborn children.

Stannis thus reclaims the Iron throne, just as Joffrey does, and he names Shireen, his only child, as his heir going as far, for now, as to have his people swear to put Shireen on the Iron throne if he dies before he takes it.

BUT, Renly, Robert and Stannis' youngest brother, reclaims the throne as well, wrongfully, as he is the youngest (thus he cannot come before Stannis and Shireen, as the line of succession moves horizontally only after vertically it has extinguished).

At the same time in the east Viserys, as Aerys only surviving son, reclaims the Iron throne as his as he is Aerys' heir. When Viserys dies childless the Targaryen line moves horizontally to his sister, Daenerys and to the children she would bear (which would've put Rhaego forward on the line to the throne even before the mother as Viserys' nephew, as the line to the Iron throne passes women over in favor of the males).

In the meantime, in hiding, Aegon reclaims the Iron throne as a claimant because he is the heir of Rhaegar the crown prince to the Iron throne and if his identity is confirmed it puts him before both Viserys and Daenerys in line for the Iron throne, as that would mean that he and any heir he might sire would have to die before the line of succession move horizontally toward Viserys and then Daenerys.

In the same way, Jon as Rhaegar's son — a man raised in Westeros by the most honorable man of the 7K and a man who has protected the Realm from the wights threat — may come before Daenerys in case of Aegon's death, in four cases:

if he's trueborn —› thus after Aegon, who is older, and his possible children; Jon would be the next in line as things stand in the Targaryen line.

if he's legitimized and named by Aegon in an attempt to remove Daenerys from the line —› in the same way as Robb put Jon's claim to Winterfell and the North above Sansa and Arya's by legitimizing Jon as a Stark; thus Jon still does not come before either Bran or Rickon, but he can come before the girls.

if he's offered the throne and declared by the lords over Daenerys despite his bastardy —› the lords of Westeros would sooner accepted a man they do not consider a foreign, who appeases both to the Targaryen loyalists by being Rhaegar's son and the lords who stood against the Targaryens by having the support of Ned Stark's children (for one of whom he has been killed) and having being raised by Ned Stark in Westeros; while Daenerys is a barren woman (which holds a very big influence in the political game of Westeros) who was raised in exile and comes like an invader with dothraki and unsullied and dragons and whose ‘destiny’ is to give her enemies ‘fire and blood’.

Even by being baseborn, with Daenerys being barren he is the only Targaryen/bastard Targaryen who can continue the line, or if he has already sired a true born son to his name.

Similarly in the North Bran, as he is alive, is the rightful king in the North after Robb, as Robb died childless. After him comes Rickon if he abdicates or dies childless, and after Rickon (same as before) comes Sansa as the oldest female of the line and any child she might bear (especially if male) and if she dies childless or abdicates then comes Arya as the youngest daughter. Only in case Arya dies childless or abdicates it's Jon turns as the son of Lyanna Stark thus as a cousin, but he would need to marry either a Stark or another kin (a Karstark — Alys Karstark is already married — for example) to legitimize his right to Winterfell.

This is talking legally speaking. Realistically speaking the one that became king was the one who won through conquest and was recognized as such by the lords and ladies of the kingdom (this is the way Robert became the rightful king of the Iron throne, making of the Targaryens nothing but claimants).

I think that Jon could actually embody — just like Sansa with LF and the Lady Stark-Bael-lord Stark retelling (x)— both Osiris, the dead and resurrected king, and Horus the prince hidden by his mother (by his mother's side — he was hidden and protected by Ned, Lyanna's brother) coming to reclaim his throne from the ambitious and cunning uncle (aunt). Which is why it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up fighting Daenerys (to defend his family, the Starks and Aegon — because, what kind of man watches his brother burn and does nothing?) and then abdicate (like Osiris did) to favor Bran or to accept the lords naming Bran in his place as he might end up banished from the South and in the North, or if he chooses the name Stark over Targaryen thus coming automatically and legally after Bran.

BUT,

The not so small detail of Jon being resurrected from death associates him primordially and almost inseparably with Osiris more than any other character, and Sansa by embodying Isis' characteristics (as I've explained before) might end up being his wife or as I've said many times the untold reason for everything he does even if the romance between them remains always in hiding instead of in the light, told to us only through their thoughts; and wouldn't it be typical of Jon to abdicate because “I died, I was passed over” to one of his siblings?

Also, there is the matter of both Bran and Rickon being alive and in hiding, one of whom is being collected by Davos, means the will making of Jon king in the North will be neutralized by the true born heirs being still alive and Horus could be Bran —

The Rise of Brandon of House Stark, Osiris is killed, Horus rises, part II

Guess you weren't expecting that!, or perhaps you were.

Horus, in the myth, is a disabled God (he loses his eye during the battle against Seth) but his disability has also empowered him magically (his eye has become a magic symbol of healing). Brandon is the prince to Winterfell, after Robb's death he's the rightful king in the North by law, and he calls himself Bran the Broken, because he is disabled as he has lost the use of his legs and yet in his disability he has found power, as being forced to not be able to move of his own volition has sped forth his training in learning how to harness the natural ability he has, as a Stark, to warg and green-seeing.

Horus is Osiris' son and the prince of Egypt who has been usurped by his uncle. In the same way, if Jon accepts the will Robb made, which makes of him a Stark and the new king in the North he is unwittingly usurping Brandon's — his cousin's — claim to the North. Though this remains to be seen, as Jon has more than once ‘abdicated’ in a way i favor of Sansa, who is a female and legally doesn't carry the Stark name anymore (though the marriage with Tyrion was a sham, Jon has no way to know this, and the argument that Sansa is now lady Lannister is used countlessly to convince him to take Winterfell); it's difficult to imagine he won't do the same for Brandon who legally comes before him anyway; in the same way as Jon has refused Winterfell and defended Sansa's claim to it as Bran and Rickon's heir, Osiris abdicated his own right to the throne of Egypt to put forward his own son, Horus as claimant and heir; possibly Jon will use the same excuse — having being killed, having been dead and thus passed over — to abdicate in favor of Brandon thus in a way getting everything he had wanted to begin with.

In fact the theme of Jon abdicating in favor of his true born siblings his desires is the foremost theme in Jon's arc since the very first chapter of AGOT.

In Bran I, AGOT Jon advocates for the Starklings to keep the direwolf pups even when everyone wants to kill 'em, and the count only comes correct because he counts himself out.

Bran saw his father's face change, saw the other men exchange glances. He loved Jon with all his heart at that moment. Even at seven, Bran understood what his brother had done. The count had come right only because Jon had omitted himself. He had included the girls, included even Rickon, the baby, but not the bastard who bore the surname Snow, the name that custom decreed be given to all those in the north unlucky enough to be born with no name of their own. Their father understood as well. "You want no pup for yourself, Jon?" he asked softly. "The direwolf graces the banners of House Stark," Jon pointed out. "I am no Stark, Father." — Bran I, AGOT

The result?, Jon gets a pup of his own, Ghost, an albino who carries the colors of the Heart Tree (the white and the red), a gift from the Old Gods to reward Jon's selfless act.

Later, Stannis offers to free Jon of his vows to the NW and make of him a Stark and the rightful lord of Winterfell. To Jon's knowledge he is the last male Stark of the line, as Robb is confirmed dead and Rickon and Bran are believed dead. Arya is presumed dead as well and only Sansa remains of the true born children of Ned Stark, with a new name that speaks of an allegiance that would make the lords of the North grimace. She's Lady Lannister.

Yet, Jon defends Sansa's claim to Winterfell above his own.

I would need to steal her if I wanted her love, but she might give me children. I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall. I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister's son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly's boy as well. Sam would never need to tell his lie. We'd find a place for Gilly too, and Sam could come visit her once a year or so. Mance's son and Craster's would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb. He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. It was a hunger inside him, sharp as a dragonglass blade. A hunger . . . he could feel it. It was food he needed, prey, a red deer that stank of fear or a great elk proud and defiant. He needed to kill and fill his belly with fresh meat and hot dark blood. His mouth began to water with the thought. — Jon XII, ASOS

You can't be the Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born, he heard Robb say again. And the stone kings were growling at him with granite tongues. You do not belong here. This is not your place. When Jon closed his eyes he saw the heart tree, with its pale limbs, red leaves, and solemn face. The weirwood was the heart of Winterfell, Lord Eddard always said . . . but to save the castle Jon would have to tear that heart up by its ancient roots, and feed it to the red woman's hungry fire god. I have no right, he thought. Winterfell belongs to the old gods. — Jon XII, ASOS

"How can I lose men I do not have? I had hoped to bestow Winterfell on a northman, you may recall. A son of Eddard Stark. He threw my offer in my face." Stannis Baratheon with a grievance was like a mastiff with a bone; he gnawed it down to splinters. "By right Winterfell should go to my sister Sansa." "Lady Lannister, you mean? Are you so eager to see the Imp perched on your father's seat? I promise you, that will not happen whilst I live, Lord Snow." — Jon I, ADWD

“(...)Which would you have as Lord of Winterfell, Snow? The smiler or the slayer?" Jon said, "Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa." "I have heard all I need to hear of Lady Lannister and her claim." — Jon IV, ADWD

So, if we go by the tradition set in Bran I, AGOT; Jon should end up getting his own version — a rightful version — of what he wanted. Then it would come into play also his parentage, at which point Jon would have a claim to the whole of Westeros and the North at his back, ralling after him.

In the end, if Jon ends up abdicating as he did before to Bran who is the northern true king as of now, and who might be named king of the whole realm because of his foreshadowed sacrifice of his own magic — which is what makes him feel able to be empowered again and not useless — this might mean that in reward Jon might did got Winterfell, the wife and the children. And who else shares in the same dream in the same way and is foreshadowed as much as Bran to become queen, but Queen in the North? Sansa Stark.

The similarities with Horus do not end there.

Horus has the head of a falcon, and one of the translations of his name means “He who is distant”, “he who is/climbs above”; Horus was also associated with the sky and his eyes begun to be considered as the sun and the moon — Brandon's sisters, the sisters he strives to find and defend, are associated with the moon and the sun and their foreshadowed protector, Brienne, bears on her sigil the sun and the moon; the same Brienne the show has at the end as Lady Commander of the Kingsguard — the eye he lost was given back to him, in the myth, by the God Toth (the God of knowledge and science and writing) but Horus refuses it and gifts it to his father, Osiris, instead to sustain his strength as king in the Afterlife, which makes me think of Bran giving independence to the North under Sansa, as the show suggested, thus banishing Jon (who would be a threat as Rhaegar's son) thus loosing part of what is supposed to be his (the 7K he would be named to) and giving Jon in the meantime everything he wanted.

Also, Horus took the form of falcon and Brandon is the winged wolf.

"You will never walk again, Bran," the pale lips promised, "but you will fly." — Bran II, ADWD

The moon was a crescent, thin and sharp as the blade of a knife. A pale sun rose and set and rose again. Red leaves whispered in the wind. Dark clouds filled the skies and turned to storms. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, and dead men with black hands and bright blue eyes shuffled round a cleft in the hillside but could not enter. Under the hill, the broken boy sat upon a weirwood throne, listening to whispers in the dark as ravens walked up and down his arms. "You will never walk again," the three-eyed crow had promised, "but you will fly." Sometimes the sound of song would drift up from someplace far below. The children of the forest, Old Nan would have called the singers, but those who sing the song of earth was their own name for themselves, in the True Tongue that no human man could speak. The ravens could speak it, though. Their small black eyes were full of secrets, and they would caw at him and peck his skin when they heard the songs. The moon was fat and full. — Bran III, ADWD

Notice this chapter is followed by Jon VII (in which Jon is battling with himself and the fact that Jeyne posing as Arya is in Ramsay' clutches), the choice Jon will make in the end will cause his death (moving against Winterfell to save Arya).

The mention of the passing of time, the crescent moon becoming full and fat makes me wonder... under which moon was Jon assassinated?

If it follows the myth of Osiris whatever the moon he has been assassinated under (possibly a dark moon?), he should be resurrected under the full moon, or under another type of moon but remain ‘indisposed’ to return to himself once he find himself back with a Stark, since he will return possibly in his purest form — a defender of the Starks. So when he meets Sansa...I wonder if they'll meet or she'll awake him back under a full moon. But this is speculation.

It is foreshadowed Brandon will reject magic, the magic that gives him power, and his dark master to save the realm (and one of Horus epithets is also ‘savior of Egypt’) remaining nothing but Bran the Broken, which is more than enough to be chosen to become the new king; in the same way as Horus gave his now healed eye to Osiris to give him strength in his new life.

We know Bran will end to be king of the six kingdoms — as that is a major detail that will remain the same as per Martin own affirmations — just in the same way as Horus became king of Egypt.

By this interpretation the Starklings would serve different the tropes of different mythology figures of the same myth:

Osiris — Jon

Isis — Sansa

Arya — Nephthys

Bran — Horus

Could Rickon be used by Stannis against Jon and maybe even Sansa? And thus fulfill, if unwillingly, the part of Seth? I dislike this very much tbh, but it's a possibility that could happen (Stannis trying to unthrone Jon and his authority as Ned Stark only alive son, after he learns Robb has named him heir, by using Rickon whose Davos has been sent to retrieve); after all in some of the myths Isis fights with Horus because she asks that Seth is spared (as he is her brother still) and it comes to the point that Horus even beheads her, to then heal her and reconcile with her.

Though I am more confident of the brothers of the NW serving as a Seth stand in.

So...this turned to be not only Jonsa, but about Arya and Bran as well. Hope you enjoyed the read, let me know what you think of it, and, as always if anyone knows better, has a different opinion etcetera feel welcome to leave your input!

You can find my other mythology metas here:

Cersei vs Daenerys — Venus decoded

Sansa and the mythological figures she embodies (Persephone/Kore, Isis, Medusa, Gunnlöd, Psyche) — the Myth of Sansa Stark

Jonsa mythology — Jonsa foreshadowing, part VIII: Love and Psyche

[Also, as an afterthought, should I expand on the Sansa/Octavian Augustus parallels I realized at the end of the meta about the similarities between Daenerys' story and Cleopatra's? (x)]

As always wish you a very nice day!

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