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atopvisenyashill · 1 month

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THE WIDOWS OF WINTERFELL: A True Telling of the Trials and Tribulations of Sansa & Serena Manderly Stark, as written by Coryanne Martell of Bear Island

Though the First Men, the Andals, and most of the Valyrians hold with the tradition that a daughter must always come before an uncle in matters of succession, the truth of this is that inheritance does not always - or even usually - follow such strict traditions. There are variances not only between the kingdoms that make up Westeros, but throughout the world as to whether a Lord or King's wealth and role may pass to a son, daughter, brother, sister, or even a relative further removed. These variances amongst traditions include the Iron Throne itself, where no woman nor man descended from a woman has ever sat, the Dornish and their Rhoynar tradition of age based succession - and, more recently, the North, which holds a similar age based succession tradition.

This tradition traces its origins to the succession crisis of Winterfell in the year 175 AC when a short - but tense - stand off occurred between Sansa Stark and her younger uncle, Jonnel Stark. Sansa, being the daughter of Jonnel's older brother, would have come first when holding to traditional succession laws, as would her sister Serena. The issue was seemingly resolved by the marriage of both sisters to their eldest uncles, Jonnel and Edric, with Jonnel being named Lord of Winterfell and Sansa his lady. In truth, the Sisters Stark had only begun their war of words against their young uncles.

Much of our knowledge of that time comes from the account of the succession crisis set down by Torrhen Stark and edited several decades later by Maester Walys, as well as the many letters sent to close friends while they plotted and planned - and the grumblings of their detractors in the North as well as the South. The judgement of their actions is varied; some called the Sisters Stark overreaching tyrants, more interested in their own power than having any true interest in what they called the rights of heiresses. Those that loved the sisters believed Sansa to have as tender a heart as any woman but with the cold pragmatism of the old Kings of Winter, and Serena an intellect to rival a Grand Maester that she hid behind charm and courtesy. Whatever the judgement of their actions, their impact on Northern succession law cannot be mistaken.

SOME NOTES HERE

The names are NOT listed in age order or the graphic doesn't work. Sue me!!!

My characterization for Jonnel, Edric, Barthogan, and Brandon is based off the very vague idea that the North “lamented” the loss of Rickard because the rule of his sons was “troubled” as they were just, not that good at being Lord of Winterfell, except in this version Sansa and Serena get frustrated with that and just refuse to let go of the North when Jonnel dies, and make their beef the North’s problem by going “actually succession is strictly age and not gender based now, new rule.”

read more here, this idea came from me trying to justify absolute primogeniture being recent in the North, for maximum drama between the Starklings and also to give Ned a heart attack.

This timeline is held together mostly on vibes lksjfd I might update the concept as I go along but I got tired of trying to piece together the ages and death dates.

I genuinely have like a novella worth of F&B style lore to back all of this up. Here is only a tiny little bit of it-

Cregan sends Sansa to the Maidenvault to be a companion to Elaena Targaryen. She is one of very few Northern girls sent, and likely (definitely) sent to ensure she could not develop proper support in Winterfell to rival Cregan's sons.

She is recalled to Winterfell once Baelor the Blessed dies, because Cregan Does Not Fuck With Viserys Like That, but Cregan hems and haws about her marriage match until the day he dies.

After she realizes Jonnel intends to cut Serena/Cregard out of the line of succession, she starts building alliances not just in the North but in the South as well. Elaena and Alyssa (one of Rhaena's daughters, Alyssa Hightower, because it is the funniest name!) help her find matches for Cregard, Aregelle, and Aranna that come with influence, money, and a small household ready to move into Winterfell and loyal only to Sansa and Serena.

Cregard marries a northerner, Robyn Ryswell, to gain the Ryswells as an ally. More than that, it was important to Sansa that Cregard marry a Northerner, because some talk about them being ~poisoned by Southron ambitions~ bc she was raised in the Capital.

Torrhen, Cregard's twin brother, marries Rhaella Hightower, or what Alyssa, Elaena, and Sansa refer to as Rhaena and Garmund's Oops Baby. Younger than her sisters by over a decade, Rhaella is doted on, and comes north with a large household and a small fortune.

Aranna is the first match Elaena and Sansa set up though it's not for politics (it happens before Edric dies) but because of their fondness for each other - Elaena's son, Jon Waters, with Serena's oldest girl. I know there’s the bastard thing but executive decisioning that Jonnel and Edric are excited about it - they grew up hearing all sorts of stories about Alyn Velaryon and they can't help but think it's both very cool and potentially useful to have his bastard son with a Targaryen princess in Winterfell.

Aregelle's husband, Garin Martell, is not from the direct line of the Martells aka a brother to Myriah and Maron. He is however, part of the household sent to protect Myriah when she comes North to marry Daeron in 169, as a squire. Elaena suggests the match and also hints at the idea that she wants a Dornish influence in the North to help Sansa and Garin is like "say no more, that's hilarious."

The match between Lyanna and Galeo Cassel is made by Serena. Galeo Cassel was a merchant from Braavos who made his home in winter town, finding he much enjoyed the cold weather and the odd, serious ways of the Northerners. He becomes a close friend of Serena's while Sansa is in the South, and is rewarded with a marriage match, when he designs a sigil - he tells everyone who will listen that the single wolf is Cregan, the two wolves are Sansa & Serena, the three wolves are him, Lyanna, and his brother, and the four wolves are their children (who haven't been born yet). Being the richest man in winter town, his support and fondness for the girls becomes important to their goals. Yes I worked in an origin story for House Cassel.

Sansa reaches out to every aunt she has with the promise of fantastic matches for all their kids if they back her claim against Barthogan. I simply did NOT have the room for all of the kids, hahahaha, but this is how she gets the Norreys, Umbers, Ryswells, and Blackwoods on her side - all of a sudden, they get to jump the line over her uncles AND they’re offloading their spare kids into other people’s castles. In return, she gets second son Leo Blackwood's own son, Ronnet, a sweet match with a Tully, and they marry back into the family a generation later. She gets the Ryswells a sweet match as well with Cregard, obviously, and will get the Umbers one soon (hold that thought).

Alysanne Stark, daughter of Torrhen and Rhaella Hightower, is their oldest child. She, Edrick, and Addam and Elaena are all close, growing up in Winterfell together. Alysanne, who married Jason Blackwood, is given some land in the Wolfswood to settle, and the two eventually form their own cadet house, at first called House Stark of the WolfsWood but eventually it is shortened to Starkwood. Elaena Soranys, a name she later takes on to rid herself of the taint of bastardry, marries the heir to House Umber. Olyvar marries the heir to House Mormont, Janna, and his second born child - they have four daughters in total - establishes House Martell of Bear Island.

I haven’t decided if it’s more likely that the Martells of Bear Island are just, this random Martell cadet branch in the North that by present day just doesn’t look Dornish at all and has no relationship to Dorne or the main Martell branch, but kept the Martell name, OR if Bear Island is like, just a Little multicultural because the presence of its original Dornish founding member is enough to draw the presence of more Dornish people to Bear Island. I was picturing kinda like the Marches, where you can see through the names and marriages a bit of a mixing of the two dominant cultures there, like a lil sprinkling of southron influence seeping through.

I still wanted to keep the concept of a succession crisis when Dunk and Egg get to the North SO! Brandon still marries Alys Karstark - a match Sansa fights against loudly - and Beron still marries Lorra Royce and has several children (i stole some of them for other characters though). Cregard dies before his mother and Serena, who is old, frail, and sickly, rules in name alone when Sansa finally passes - the rule of Winterfell is mostly in the hands of her grandson, Edrick. He marries a Manderly, and they have one child that lives to adulthood, Arsa, though she has a number of cousins all eager to be her favorite - including, eventually, her cousin William.

After William’s wife, Gillian’s Glover, dies in the birthing bed, Arsa sends for a nursemaid to care for his son, Brandon. Though Brandon dies soon after the nursemaid, Nan, gets to Winterfell, a grieving William is touched by his cousin’s care.

When Sansa dies, and Edrick is fatally wounded not long after, Dunk and Egg walk into a succession crisis. While several first born daughters have inherited since Sansa and Serena's changes - Janna Mormont, Corlynne Cerwyn, Arya Flint, and Serena Hornwood - the very short rule of Edrick and the premature death of Cregard has everyone on edge about yet another ruling Lady of Winterfell. As Edrick lay dying, Westeros’ nosiest squire and most upon knight roll up to the castle, curious as to why every single Stark is suddenly at Winterfell.

Also, here are the invented sigils, the Mormont Martell words are not serious but I imagine their words are similarly metal:

#valyrianscrolls #sansa manderly stark #serena stark #elaena targaryen #rani graphics #the north and dorne #the north #house cassel #genderswap au #for the roslin/jocelyn thing #i hit the text limit for this one lajskdflkjasdflkjdf

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toadpeee · 1 month

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One of the lastest of the asoiaf 6 fanarts thing I did ♡

#my art #game of thrones #asoiaf #game of thrones art #elia martell #sansa stark #wylla manderly #arianne martell #olenna tyrell #alerie tyrell #house of the dragon

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eliaism · 3 months

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ASOIAF girls I’m defending 🫶🏼 (arianne fanart by Bella Bergolts)

#rhaenyra targaryen #baela targaryen #daenerys targaryen #sansa stark #arya stark #margaery tyrell #ygritte #brienne of tarth #wylla manderly #arianne martell #game of thrones #got #house of the dragon #hotd #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #fire and blood #f&b

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thenorthsource · 2 years

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NORTHERN GIRLS

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jeyneofpoole · 7 months

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asoiaf character you'd like to be tumblr mutuals with? asoiaf character you'd have beef with on tumblr?

it’s already been said but wylla manderly is basically already on tumblr and she would be the coolest mutual that i could ever have. also sansa would do the justgirlythings bit including the lesbian part and i eat that shit up. i would have beef with selyse’s tradcath r’hollor blog who blazes her 5 note posts religiously (all 5 notes are mel on separate accounts it’s a mating ritual.) also if mance was a real person and he was in a band i would have to blacklist the tag because the people on here would make so much old man yaoi between him (lead singer) and the drummer (qhorin) i would have blood feuds with people posting untagged mancexreader fic on MY dash in the year of our seven 298 AC

#i love this ask thank you so much #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #valyrianscrolls #wylla manderly #sansa stark #mance rayder #qhorin halfhand #selyse baratheon

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tragedy-peanut-gallery · 8 months

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So I tried my hand at @melrosing ‘s asoiaf art meme! Hope I’m not late to the party!

Note: the pose used in the red wedding scene here isn’t mine, it belongs to tiktok artist mellonsoup (@mellon_soup), so credit to them and I have their og image under the cut!

#meleys #rhaenys the queen who never was #…kinda-#naerys targaryen #wylla manderly #nymeria of ny sar #daenerys targaryen #drogon #myriah martell #daeron ii targaryen #sansa stark #catelyn stark #robb stark #balerion the cat #aegon vi targaryen #elia martell #rhaenys daughter of elia #godDAMN why did I draw so many fellas 😭😭😭#asoiaf fanart

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jonsource · 1 year

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The North Remembers!

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stavosmissionary · 7 days

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mel for @staysail

wylla for @tragedy-peanut-gallery (im only realising now that there was another wylla...im so sorry if you meant her 💀)

val for @dyannawynnedayne

rhaenys for @elaena

marya for @daenystheedreamer

sansa for @satinoflowers

#valyrianscrolls #my art #melisandre of asshai #wylla manderly #val the wildling #rhaenys the queen who never was #marya seaworth #sansa stark

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dailysansastark · 1 year

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Sansa Month day 20: Potential Friends/ Allies

#sansa stark #sansastarkedit #alys karstark #brienne of tarth #yohn royce #jon snow #wynafryd manderly #wylla manderly #ours: edits #asoiaf #asoiafedit #valyrianscrolls #valyriansource #sansasource #thenorthedit #thenorthsource #sansamonth2023 #day 20: potential friends/allies

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asongofstarkandtargaryen · 1 year

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I could see some of the robb's bannermen stepping into parental roles, for example wyman or his son wylis if he's freed stepping into a fatherly role for Bran/Rickon when they make back to winterfell or others like Jason Mallister or Tytos Blackwood could also end up in a similar position. Also while Edmure will have his hands full with his own kid, I feel he'll want to be there for cat's children and sweetrobin (please let him live George), especially after having lost his sisters so close to one another.

Wyman Manderly is such a loyal Stark supporter that he would make a great parential figure for the youngest Stark boys. He's the one who is trying to retrieve Rickon from Skagos. And also Bran singled Wyman out among the Northern lords as the one who treated him better than the rest:

Or they could go south to fat Lord Manderly. At Winterfell, he'd laughed a lot, and never seemed to look at Bran with so much pity as the other lords.

I bet he would like to have either Bran or Rickon under his influence (and probably would try to engage them with his granddaughters).

Jason Mallister and Tytos Blackwood also seem alright fellows but since they are lords of Riverlands they probably won't have as much interaction with the Stark kids as the Lords of the North.

Speaking of Northern Lords, what about Alys Karstark and her husband Sigorn? Both are personally indebted to Jon Snow so I bet they would be more than willing to foster one of his younger brothers in Karhold. Maybe it would the best choice for Rickon to go to a place where Northerners and free folk have mingled.

As for Edmure, I also believe that he would have wanted to be there for his sisters' children. And I really hope he can be there especially for sweet Robin. That poor child could use some relatives who actually care about him after being under Littlefinger's "care" for such a long time. Maybe he could invite his nephew to Riverrun for a long visit? Also, maybe Sansa could also be invited? (since among Cat's kids I could see Sansa being the one who would appreciate Riverlands and its culture the most).

#house stark #bran stark #rickon stark #sansa stark #valyrianscrolls #asoiaf ask #wyman manderly #jason mallister #tytos blackwood #alys karstark #sigorn of thenn #edmure tully #robert arryn

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goodqueenaly · 1 year

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@mryoyo000 reblogged your post “I apologize if this is a question you've already...”

Thanks so much for this great answer! Generally speaking, I am more engaged with the main series ASOIAF than with the histories, but this whole backstory is really intriguing to me. I also wonder what Sansa and Serena’s religious upbringing and practice was like, if they worshipped both the Old Gods and the Seven or only one. My first guess is that, if they were part of the faith of the Seven (even alongside faith of the old gods), they might have felt that anyone contesting their claims to Winterfell would try to use that against them. I might be just really overthinking this, though.

On the contrary, I could very well see some of that speculation coming true. I don’t know how much Sansa and Serena officially worshipped the Faith of the Seven (the fact that Ned built the sept at Winterfell for Catelyn suggests to me that a sept did not exist at Winterfell prior to Ned’s time as lord), but even if they did not or they kept it in a more limited or unofficial way (or kept both faiths, as we see to varying degrees among Ned and Catelyn’s children), I could see where their faith or purported faith in the Seven might have been used against them as claimants to the leadership of House Stark. Compare, say, the rumors about Larra Rogare and her faith - specifically that after the future King Aegon IV’s birth “the city heard that his mother meant to have him blessed by her own gods as well, and rumors of obscene ceremonies in the Mermaid and blood sacrifice in Maegor’s Holdfast began to be heard on the streets of King’s Landing” - and I think there could well have been similar rumors about Rickon’s daughters. How hard would it have been to suggest that their mother, Jeyne Manderly, had smuggled in a septon to bless her daughters in the light of the Seven, and/or that she sought to raise her daughters to forsake the gods of their (Stark) ancestors for those of the (post-Andal) Manderlys - especially if Jeyne herself still worshiped the Seven (again, privately or unofficially or in any otherwise limited capacity)?

In what may well have been a tense and divided atmosphere within Winterfell, especially after Rickon’s death - with perhaps no certainty as to who should be the next ruler of Winterfell - any faction might have used any advantage against any other faction to gain political advantage. Consequently, any supporters of Cregan’s sons by Lynara succeeding ahead of Rickon’s daughters might have sought to craft a socio-politico-religious narrative against Jeyne and her children: the Manderlys were (to paraphrase Godric Borrell) no true northmen, Cregan Stark had erred in wedding this impious Manderly to his heir, she had proven the Manderlys were no good by only bearing daughters (compare, say, the complaints in Duskendale about Serala Darklyn, that if only Denys Darklyn had wed a Stokeworth or another local aristocrat the Defiance would never have happened), surely she was maliciously raising these daughters to reject the old gods and the very essence of House Stark, and of course that could not be allowed to happen. Just as I suspect there will be a mix of reasons brought up by the various interested factions against the claims of the Stark children converging on Winterfell, so I think it’s entirely possible a religious component was brought it to argue against the claims of Sansa and Serena Stark as heirs to Winterfell (a parallel which I think may be further explored in the for-now-called “The She-Wolves of Winterfell”).

#tumblr replies #serena stark #sansa daughter of rickon #jeyne manderly

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