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esther-dot · 7 months

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That's a Pretty Name 1k @greenhikingboots

While dancing, Jon receives a lecture from Sansa on the importance of complimenting ladies when he meets them.

Courtesies 4k @softvniverse

Jon Snow is in love and Sansa is there to help him.

Memories 1k

“Gilly, he called me. For the gillyflower.” “That’s pretty.” He remembered Sansa telling him once that he should say that whenever a lady told him her name. Jon remembers a simpler and happier time with Sansa.

Dance With Me ficlet

"I told you that I can't dance!" he snapped. He didn't even know why he had agreed to this in the first place. Or Sansa's interest in his behaviour towards women. But ever sense she had seen him talking to the serving girl with a fierce blush and shy stammer she had taken it upon herself to teach him how to talk to girls. And how to dance with them apparently. "Nonsense," Sansa chirped, standing. She beckoned him forward. "Dance with me."

We Can Brave the Dark 2k by @thatgirlnevershutsup

When Arya dares Sansa to spend the night in the crypts, it’s Jon who comes to her rescue.

Nightmares ficlet

Sansa can't sleep, and normally she'd crawl into bed with Father or Robb, but they're not here. Jon is though, and he's even better with a sword than Robb, he can protect her from the monsters.

Games ficlet by @emberalchemist

Mother never likes it when Sansa talks to him, even though Sansa hardly ever talks to him.

First Dances, Feasts, and Other Fights 4k by @castaliareed

Winterfell has visitors from the Vale and Sansa couldn't be more excited. Her half-brother Jon is less enthralled.

Maybe in another lifetime ficlet by @ladywolfmd

Moments before they were to leave Winterfell, Ned goes up the battlements for a moment when he caught sight of a scene that always brought him sadness and yes, guilt. And sometimes with the same longing of things that could've been. But maybe in another lifetime.

Playing Pretend 1k

Robb never wanted to play Knights and Maidens with Sansa anymore - until Sansa asked Jon to be her knight instead.

Before She Knew Better 20k

Sansa Stark wasn't always so distant and cold to Jon Snow.

the half doesn't negate the brother by @thewolvescalledmehome

Jon learned early on in his life what bastard meant. He thought he was five years of age the first time he’d been told he was one. He couldn’t remember who it had been who called him that, but he remembered the heat and anger he’d felt, even though he didn’t actually know what it had meant. He just knew it was meant to hurt and hurt it did.

a moonsbreath from your side 3k by @simply-kelp

Jon has spent nights and days thinking what it would be like to crown Sansa the Queen of Love and Beauty himself, thinking of the kiss she’d given Robb and wondering what it might feel like if she pressed a kiss to Jon’s cheek.

Nipped in the Bud ficlet

Little Sansa feels sorry for her half-brother Jon Snow… Until she finds the perfect solution for his problem!

Maiden in the Tower 2k by @greenhikingboots

While playing a game in the godswood, Sansa decides to teach Theon in a lesson in humility by choosing Jon to bestow with her maiden’s kiss. A story inspired by pre-canon theories.

We're all just songs in the end, if we're lucky 2k by @myrish-lace-love

“Sing me another song, Jon.” Sansa curled up next to Jon’s side. She tucked her head under his chin as the thunder boomed. Jon’s chambers were smaller than hers, but as soon as he saw the first flash of lightning he knew Sansa would be off and running, on her way to him. Sansa was proud of being a little lady at four, but Winterfell’s storms terrified her. “What do you want to hear?” Jon stifled a yawn. Jon would stay up with her, as long as she needed. Robb would, too, of course, but Sansa had confided that Robb teased sometimes, about being afraid of the rain. “Florian and Jonquil.”

untitled ficlet by @allbrainsnosense

He tries not to get jealous—though at first Jon isn’t quite sure just what the knot in his stomach is when he watches Sansa bestow a gentle kiss to Robb’s cheek for saving her from the “ferocious dragon,” as portrayed by an energetic Bran. Sansa coos over Robb affectionately, keeping up her role as fair maiden, and Robb kneels before her like her noble knight. It’s a game the siblings had all played many times before—sans Arya, who refuses to be Robb’s “noble steed” as Sansa demands—and Jon has always found himself an onlooker to the merry play-acting that occurs in the godswood.

I've picked up the speed (to jump your palaces) 1k

Jon takes Sansa to the Godswood. She does a bit of thinking.

Blossoming Feelings 2k @hawkeyescoffee

Sansa studied Jon silently as he fell to his knees, particularly trying not to touch the blanket and smiling to Bran in front of him. It was a fond smile that stretched over his face and made his grey eyes sparkle in the sun. It was a smile that made Jon’s usually hard and sullen features soft and nice and handsome? Pretty even. Sansa pressed her lips harder together until they were just a bloodless line as she was biting the inside of her cheek. Did she just really think that?

In another perfect life 1k @captainbee89

Ned comes clean to cat and the rest of the family about Jon's true parentage and notice that things have changed between Jon and Sansa now that the truth is known.

I will ask you once. Please, will you give me my first kiss, Jon Snow? 2k @alczysz17

Sansa catches her cousin, Jon Snow kissing a girl and wonders what a kiss would be like. She can't get it out of her head so she mind as well go to the source!

kiss me on the mouth (and set me free) 5k

Sansa Stark hates her bastard half-brother. She hates his brooding stare, his dark, stranger’s eyes. She hates the way his very existence hurts her mother, that Robb and Arya love him all the same. And she hates that fire that sparks to life every time they argue. --- An AU of the secret, complicated relationship between Jon and Sansa pre-series.

WESTERN - FAIRYTALES - REGENCY - LITTLE WOMEN - HOLIDAY - SEASON 6 ANNE OF GREEN GABLES - THE GIRL IN GREY - FREE CITIES - FAIRYTALE PART II - POLITICAL MARRIAGE - SALTY TEENS - POST CANON

#jonsa #jonsa fic #pre canon #dot fic list

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rewildling · 2 months

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Using Songs to Predict Sansa’s TWOW Arc Part I: The Bear and the Maiden Fair

Let’s put on our tinfoil hats and have some fun.

When Sansa meets with Olenna and Margaery Tyrell in Sansa I ASOS, Olenna’s fool sings The Bear and the Maiden Fair extremely loudly so that their conversation isn’t overheard and Sansa is free to tell them the truth about Joffrey. In the text, the lyrics appear in all caps. This emphasis isn’t only to indicate the volume of the fool’s voice — the words are practically screamed at the reader:

A bear there was, a bear, a bear! All black and brown, and covered with hair. The bear! The bear! Oh come they said, oh come to the fair! The fair? Said he, but I'm a bear! All black and brown, and covered with hair! And down the road from here to there. From here! To there! Three boys, a goat and a dancing bear! They danced and spun, all the way to the fair! The fair! The fair! Oh, sweet she was, and pure and fair! The maid with honey in her hair! Her hair! Her hair! The maid with honey in her hair! The bear smelled the scent on the summer air. The bear! The bear! All black and brown and covered with hair! He smelled the scent on the summer air! He sniffed and roared and smelled it there! Honey on the summer air! Oh, I'm a maid, and I'm pure and fair! I'll never dance with a hairy bear! A bear! A bear! I'll never dance with a hairy bear! The bear, the bear! Lifted her high into the air! The bear! The bear! I called for a knight, but you're a bear! A bear, a bear! All black and brown and covered with hair She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair, But he licked the honey from her hair. Her hair! Her hair! He licked the honey from her hair! Then she sighed and squealed and kicked the air! My bear! She sang. My bear so fair! And off they went, from here to there, The bear, the bear, and the maiden fair.

There are two ways to apply this song to Sansa’s relationship with Sandor. The first is to read it as a motif, which is more straightforward, so we’ll start with that.

The description of the bear and the maiden are clearly evocative of Sandor and Sansa — “black and brown and covered with hair” (ugly, beastly, coarse, etc.) and “a maid pure and fair.”

Then there’s the obvious sexual subtext of the song. This is the first chapter where we see that Sansa’s sexuality is beginning to emerge. Her childish crush on Loras Tyrell has matured into a sexual fantasy:

She remembered Ser Loras in his sparkling sapphire armor, tossing her a rose. Ser Loras in white silk, so pure, innocent, beautiful. The dimples at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. The sweetness of his laugh, the warmth of his hand. She could only imagine what it would be like to pull up his tunic and caress the smooth skin underneath, to stand on her toes and kiss him, to run her fingers through those thick brown curls and drown in his deep brown eyes. A flush crept up her neck. Sansa I, ASOS

We know that Loras isn’t interested in Sansa, and this is also when she realizes that he doesn’t remember giving her the red rose at the Hand’s tourney. Her attraction to him will amount to nothing. The point is that she’s starting to experience sexual attraction in general.

Consider the line “I called for a knight, but you’re a bear.” Sansa prays for a true knight to rescue her while she’s a hostage in King’s Landing. While Sandor isn’t a knight, he is her protector after Ned Stark’s murder. But the line is also evocative of the following scene:

If I close my eyes I can pretend he is the Knight of Flowers. 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. As the boy’s lips touched her own she found herself thinking of another kiss. She could still remember how it felt, when his cruel mouth pressed down on her own. He had come to Sansa in the darkness as green fire filled the sky. He took a song and a kiss, and left me nothing but a bloody cloak. Alayne II, AFFC

Like the previous passage, this is a sexual fantasy. Except this time, Sansa isn’t fantasizing about Loras Tyrell — she’s fantasizing about Sandor Clegane. At first, she tries to imagine kissing Loras but ends up picturing Sandor instead. She called for a knight, but she got a bear.

Notably, singing is used in the last verse to imply sex, which is a recurring motif throughout Sansa and Sandor’s relationship:

"I... I know a song about Florian and Jonquil." "Florian and Jonquil? A fool and his cunt. Spare me. But one day I'll have a song from you, whether you will it or no." "I will sing it for you gladly." Sansa II, ACOK

He gave her arm a hard wrench, pulling her around and shoving her down onto the bed. "I'll have that song. Florian and Jonquil, you said." Sansa VII, ACOK

And she dreamed of her wedding night too, of Tyrion's eyes devouring her as she undressed. Only then he was bigger than Tyrion had any right to be, and when he climbed into the bed his face was scarred only on one side. "I'll have a song from you," he rasped, and Sansa woke and found the old blind dog beside her once again. Sansa VI, ASOS

The Bear and the Maiden Fair is one of many allusions to Beauty and the Beast that appear throughout ASOIAF, including Sansa and Sandor as a romantic pairing. In some versions of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is depicted as a bear:

The Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a Beauty and the Beast story in which the Beast is actually a literal bear:

The Bear and the Maiden Fair is featured multiple times throughout the series and applies to several romantic pairings, particularly Brienne and Jaime (who are also a Beauty and the Beast allusion). But there’s a reason the song is literally screamed at the reader in one of Sansa’s chapters — after Sandor has already left her during the Blackwater.

When asked in a forum chat, "Is there any connection between Sansa’s story and the song The Bear and the Maiden Fair," GRRM replied, "Well, we’ll have to see," (So Spake Martin). So whatever this connection is, it hasn’t necessarily manifested yet, even though there are already obvious parallels between the song and Sansa and Sandor’s relationship dynamic.

This brings us to the second reading of the song: as foreshadowing.

The second verse of the song mentions a fair. There haven’t been any fairs featured prominently in the series so far, and apart from the song, they’ve only been mentioned a handful of times. In the most basic sense, a fair is a temporary gathering of people. Arguably the closest thing to a fair that appears in Sansa’s arc is a tourney. The Hand’s tourney and Joffrey’s Name Day tourney take place in King’s Landing during AGOT and ACOK, but the Winged Knights tourney is an upcoming event at the Gates of the Moon. It’s Sansa’s idea and is being organized by Littlefinger:

Four-and-sixty knights had been invited to vie for places amongst Lord Robert Arryn's new Brotherhood of Winged Knights, and four and-sixty knights had come to tilt for the right to wear falcon's wings upon their warhelms and guard their lord. The competitors came from all over the Vale, from the mountain valleys and the coast, from Gulltown and the Bloody Gate, even the Three Sisters. Alayne I, TWOW

In the song, who is it that goes to the fair? “Three boys, a goat, and a dancing bear.” If the song is foreshadowing the Winged Knights tourney, analogs to these figures should already be present in Sansa’s AFFC chapters.

When Sansa descends from the Eyrie to the Gates of the Moon, she finds Petyr drinking with three unknown hedge knights:

The hour was closer to dawn than to dusk, and most of the castle was asleep, but not Petyr Baelish. Alayne found him seated by a crackling fire, drinking hot mulled wine with three men she did not know. … Alayne laughed. “Are you louts?” she said, teasing. “Why, I took the three of you for gallant knights.” “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.” Alayne II, AFFC

These are potentially the three boys: Ser Shadrich, Ser Morgarth, and Ser Byron — but the goat may be here, too.

The Bear and the Maiden Fair is a motif that applies to both Brienne and Sansa. In Brienne’s story, the goat is Vargo Hoat. In Sansa’s story, it’s Petyr Baelish. There are several notable similarities between the two: Vargo and Petyr are both cunning, slender, have dark hair and goatees, and were/are Lord of Harrenhal (which didn’t end well for Vargo and doesn’t bode well for Petyr). Petyr’s great-grandfather came to Westeros from one of the Free Cities (Braavos) as a sellsword. Vargo Hoat also came to Westeros from one of the Free Cities (Qohor) as a sellsword.

Because of their association with the god Pan, goats often symbolize male lust. Vargo Hoat is a serial rapist, while Petyr Baelish is a brothel owner with the lifelong obsession of seducing Catelyn Tully (now transferred to her daughter, Sansa Stark).

Goats (specifically black goats) are also affiliated with the devil in European folk traditions. In the medieval era, the devil was commonly depicted as a man with a goat-like face, horns, and a small beard — a goatee. Vargo Hoat is a torturer and sadist, and Petyr Baelish is a devious megalomaniac. Both are certainly devilish characters.

During Sansa’s descent from the Eyrie, she stops at the waycastle Snow for "a hot meal of stewed goat and onions." When she reaches the Gates of the Moon "closer to dawn than dusk," she’s summoned to Petyr’s solar, where he’s been drinking hot mulled wine all night with the three hedge knights. As others have noticed, "stewed" is another word for "drunk." So Littlefinger can be read as a "stewed goat" in this scene.

Let’s take a little detour here and talk about the ghost of High Heart’s prophetic dream:

"In the hall of kings, the goat sits alone and fevered as the great dog descends on him." The old woman took another long gulp of wine, squeezing the skin as she raised it to her lips. The great dog. Did she mean the Hound? Or maybe his brother, the Mountain That Rides? Arya was not certain. Arya VIII, ASOS

The irony of this prophecy is that the great dog could be both Gregor and Sandor. The events that take place at Harrenhal in ASOS make it seem as if Vargo Hoat is the goat and Gregor Clegane is the great dog, which is true. But it could also be the case that Petyr Baelish is the goat and Sandor Clegane is the great dog. This is potentially more fitting, since Sandor is more closely associated with dogs than Gregor. After all, Gregor is "the Mountain That Rides." It’s Sandor who is "the Hound."

Littlefinger is currently Lord Protector of the Eyrie and the Vale of Arryn. He’s taken up residence at the Eyrie and the Gates of the Moon, the historic seats of the Kings of the Mountain and Vale: halls of kings. In addition, Petyr is Lord of Harrenhal — the same hall of kings Vargo Hoat sat in.

In the Vale, Petyr Baelish is also very alone. He murdered Lysa Arryn, arguably his only powerful ally there. The lords of the Vale dislike him, and several are actively working against him:

"They have the Vale." "Oh, much of it, that’s true. Not all, however. I am well loved in Gulltown, and have some lordly friends of mine own as well. Grafton, Lynderly, Lyonel Corbray… though I’ll grant you, they are no match for the Lords Declarant. Still, where would you have us go, Alayne? Back to my mighty stronghold on the Fingers?" Petyr Baelish, Alayne I, AFFC

He thinks he’s bought the violent and dangerous Lyn Corbray with gold and boys. But as Sansa observes, Ser Lyn’s loyalty is tenuous at best:

Corbray’s lips drew back in something that might have been meant as a smile, though it gave Alayne a chill. "But what need have I for heirs when I am landless and like to remain so, thanks to our Lord Protector? No. Tell your lord father I need none of his brood mares." The venom in his voice was so thick that for a moment she almost forgot that Lyn Corbray was actually her father’s catspaw, bought and paid for. Or was he? Perhaps, instead of being Petyr’s man pretending to be Petyr’s foe, he was actually his foe pretending to be his man pretending to be his foe. Alayne I, TWOW

Littlefinger is so lacking in allies that he’s placing his trust in three strangers whose true motivations are completely unknown to him:

The three knights bowed and withdrew, though the tall one with the blond hair kissed her hand before taking his leave. "Hedge knights?" said Alayne, when the door had closed. "Hungry knights. I thought it best that we have a few more swords about us. The times grow ever more interesting, my sweet, and when the times are interesting you can never have too many swords." Alayne II, AFFC

He has completely misjudged these men, at least one of whom is actually in the Vale searching for Sansa Stark:

Ser Shadrich laughed. "Oh, I doubt that, but it may be that you and I share a quest. A little lost sister, is it? With blue eyes and auburn hair?" He laughed again. "You are not the only hunter in the woods. I seek for Sansa Stark as well." Brienne I, AFFC

And he’s led them right to her:

"Lady Alayne," he said, "the Lord Protector has been waiting for you." … Alayne found him seated by a crackling fire, drinking hot mulled wine with three men she did not know. … "You are never an intrusion, sweetling. I was just now telling these good knights what a dutiful daughter I had." Alayne II, AFFC

So Littlefinger is sitting alone in halls of kings. But is he fevered? Maybe not literally, in the way Vargo Hoat was, but the word "fevered" also means excited or agitated. And Petyr Baelish is definitely fevered around Sansa Stark:

"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." "I won’t." He sounded almost like Marillion, the night he’d gotten so drunk at the wedding. Sansa VII, ASOS

He’s also fevered in the sense that he’s making a lot of moves very quickly. He steals Sansa away from King’s Landing, weds Lysa Arryn, kills her almost immediately, covers it up by blaming Marillion, takes Robert as his ward, starts poisoning him, gives Nestor Royce the Gates of the Moon, arranges a marriage for Lyonel Corbray (enraging Lyn Corbray), betroths Alayne to Harrold Hardyng, takes mysterious hedge knights into his service, and organizes a large tourney all in rapid succession.

Up until AFFC, Petyr’s schemes have generally taken years to play out. He himself acknowledges this:

"I had hoped to have four or five quiet years to plant some seeds and allow some fruits to ripen, but now… it is a good thing that I thrive on chaos." Petyr Baelish, Alayne II, AFFC

It’s possible that the moves he’s making in the Vale are an example of his advice to Sansa:

"Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you." Petyr Baelish, Sansa V, ASOS

But it’s also possible that his fevered pursuit of her is making him shortsighted. It’s likely that Littlefinger’s ultimate plan for Sansa is to marry her himself, which is fevered in the sense that it is delusional:

Petyr Baelish had offered to wed the girl himself, she recalled, but of course that was impossible; he was much too lowborn. Cersei II, ADWD

Okay, back to the The Bear and the Maiden Fair. There are three boys and a goat, so where is the dancing bear?

Throughout the series, "dancing" is often used as another word for "fighting," and we know that Sandor is the bear to Sansa’s maiden fair. As applied to Sansa’s arc, the "dancing bear" in the song could be a fighting dog descending on a goat, fevered and alone.

Though they have been mentioned, we still haven’t gotten a mystery knight as a major plot development in ASOIAF. The Winged Knights tourney could be GRRM’s last chance to include one in the series. And there are already hints that Alayne will give her favor to an unknown competitor:

"Saving yourself for Lord Robert?" Lady Myranda teased. "Or is there some ardent squire dreaming of your favors?" Alayne II, AFFC

"Who would ask to wear a bastard's favor?" "Harry, if he has the wits the gods gave a goose...but do not give it to him. Choose some other gallant, and favor him instead. You do not want to seem too eager." Petyr Baelish, Alayne I, TWOW

He grinned. "I will hold you to that promise, my lady. Until that day, may I wear your favor in the tourney?" "You may not. It is promised to...another." She was not sure who as yet, but she knew she would find someone. Alayne I, TWOW

The Winged Knights tourney mirrors the tourney at Harrenhal in several key ways. Ned Stark was living in the Eyrie when he descended to attend the tourney at Harrenhal. Similarly, Sansa has been living in the Eyrie and descends to the Gates of the Moon, where the Winged Knights tourney will take place.

The tourney at Harrenhal was hosted by Lord Walter Whent to celebrate his maiden daughter. The Winged Knights tourney is Sansa's idea and is being hosted by Petyr Baelish, who is posing as her father and certainly seems to be celebrating her at the feast:

And best of all, Lord Nestor's cooks prepared a splendid subtlety, a lemon cake in the shape of the Giant's Lance, twelve feet tall and adorned with an Eyrie made of sugar. For me, Alayne thought, as they wheeled it out. Sweetrobin loved lemon cakes too, but only after she told him that they were her favorites. The cake had required every lemon in the Vale, but Petyr had promised that he would send to Dorne for more. Alayne I, TWOW

The tourney at Harrenhal is where Ned Stark first met Howland Reed, who became his close friend and ally during Robert's Rebellion. At the tourney, Howland's honor was defended by a mystery knight, the Knight of the Laughing Tree — widely considered to have been Lyanna Stark in disguise.

Sansa’s arc in the Vale closely mirrors her father’s. A mystery knight appearing as an ally to her at the Winged Knights tourney would neatly harmonize with the events at Harrenhal. Regardless of whether or not Sandor Clegane is disguised as Ser Byron via a glamour, it isn’t unreasonable to suspect that he might show up at the Winged Knights tourney.

Back to the song. Sansa is certainly a maid, pure and fair, but does she have honey in her hair?

The color gold is often associated with deception in Sansa’s chapters. This imagery appears directly in relation to Littlefinger:

“We shall serve him lies and Arbor gold, and he’ll drink them down and ask for more, I promise you.” Petyr Baelish, Sansa I, AFFC

Sweetness is also associated with deceit in ASOIAF:

Give me sweet lies, and keep your bitter truths. Tyrion IX, ASOS

Littlefinger often calls Sansa “sweetling” or “my sweet,” particularly when he addresses her as Alayne Stone:

“Alayne,” he said. “My sweet. What brings you here so late?” Petyr Baelish, Alayne I, AFFC

Honey is both gold and sweet. There are plenty of examples of it being associated with deception and pretense throughout the series:

Her mouth tasted of honey and cloves, and her fingers were deft and practiced as they found the fastenings of his clothes. … Tyrion suspected her delight was feigned, but she did it so well that it did not matter. That much truth he did not crave. Tyrion VIII, AGOT

And Joffrey was the soul of courtesy. He talked to Sansa all night, showering her with compliments, making her laugh, sharing little bits of court gossip, explaining Moon Boy’s japes. … Snails in honey and garlic. Sansa had never eaten snails before; Joffrey showed her how to get the snail out of the shell, and fed her the first sweet morsel himself. Sansa II, AGOT

Reek was there too, he remembered, but he was a different Reek, a Reek with bloody hands and lies dripping from his lips, sweet as honey. A Ghost in Winterfell, ADWD

So honey can imply deceit. Is there something in Sansa’s hair that is associated with deception?

“It was not meant as flattery. If truth be told, you look too much like Catelyn. Something must be done. We shall darken your hair before we bring you back to the Eyrie, I think.” Darken my hair? “If it please you, Aunt Lysa.” Lysa Arryn, Sansa VI, ASOS

To keep up her disguise as Petyr Baelish’s bastard daughter, Sansa dyes her hair brown:

Alayne had darkened it again last night before she went to bed. The wash her aunt had given her changed her own rich auburn into Alayne’s burnt brown, but it was seldom long before the red began creeping back at the roots. And what must I do when the dye runs out? The wash had come from Tyrosh, across the narrow sea. Alayne I, AFFC

Deep down, at the root, she’s Sansa Stark, not Alayne Stone. Her true identity is constantly creeping back. She can’t keep up the charade forever. This chapter even features a reference to gold in her hair:

In the end she chose a simple velvet ribbon in autumn gold. When Gretchel fetched her Lysa’s silvered looking glass, the color seemed just perfect with Alayne’s mass of dark brown hair. Alayne I, AFFC

There are layers to this imagery. Autumn yellow is one of the colors of House Clegane. In this scene, she chooses to wear a simple ribbon rather than the opulent jewelry Littlefinger gave her. The ribbon is certainly a possible reference to Sandor and a hint that she’ll choose his directness and honesty over Petyr’s scheming or any other man. But gold is also the color of honey, and it’s in her hair — perfect with Alayne’s hair, specifically.

As applied to Sansa’s arc, the honey in the song could allude to deception, or lying. And how does the bear find the honey? He smells it:

Sandor Clegane snorted. “Pretty thing, and such a bad liar. A dog can smell a lie, you know.” Sansa II, ACOK

Sansa has gotten better at lying, but if Sandor shows up in the Vale (if he hasn’t already), he’s going to see straight through her disguise.

In the next verses, the bear “lifted her high into the air” while the maid “kicked and wailed.” This imagery is evocative of wife stealing. There are a lot of allusions to wife stealing in Sansa and Sandor’s dynamic. Sandor’s attempt to steal Sansa during the Blackwater failed — he wasn’t worthy of her at the time and couldn’t win her consent, but maybe he’ll do better now that the rage inside him has been gentled.

There is symbolic foreshadowing of a successful attempt at wife stealing by Sandor at the Gates of the Moon in Brienne VI, AFFC. That’s in addition to Littlefinger’s explanation of why Harrold Hardyng is Robert Arryn’s heir:

“The fourth was on her way to the riverlands to marry some Bracken when Burned Men carried her off.” Petyr Baelish, Alayne II, AFFC

Alayne is betrothed to Harry — figuratively “on her way” to marry him. And Sandor is literally a burned man.

The context in which The Bear and the Maiden Fair appears in Sansa I, ASOS is also an important hint at its significance: marriage. The Tyrells and Sansa are discussing Margaery’s upcoming wedding to Joffrey and Sansa’s potential betrothal to Willas. Neither of these marriages actually come to fruition. The Tyrells poison Joffrey the day of the wedding and the Lannisters force Sansa to marry Tyrion. Part of the scene's significance is that the song is associated with marriage — Sansa’s marriage.

In the song, the bear licks the honey from the maid’s hair — an obvious euphemism for oral sex. But if we read it as foreshadowing, this line implies that Sandor Clegane is the key to restoring Sansa Stark’s true identity:

He had come to Sansa in the darkness as green fire filled the sky. He took a song and a kiss, and left me nothing but a bloody cloak. It made no matter. That day was done, and so was Sansa. Alayne II, AFFC

Sandor Clegane and Sansa Stark — the two are connected in her mind. Her true identity is tied to Sandor. If she encounters him again, it will likely force her to reclaim her identity as a Stark and abandon the role of Alayne Stone. Then the deception will literally be rinsed out of her hair.

The lines "Then she sighed and squealed and kicked the air" combined with "My bear! She sang. My bear so fair!" have obvious sexual connotations. But these lines also imply that the maid is happy with bear. This is something Sansa deeply desires, even though at this point she’s resigned herself to never having it:

Tyrell or Lannister, it makes no matter, it’s not me they want, only my claim. Sansa III, ASOS

It is not me she wants her son to marry, it is my claim. No one will ever marry me for love. Sansa VI, ASOS

And now the last lines of the song:

And off they went, from here to there, The bear, the bear and the maiden fair!

Read as foreshadowing, this verse could imply that Sansa is going to leave the Vale with Sandor — but how? And where would they go? Stay tuned for part 2.

#sansan saturdays #get her a dog #sansan meta #sansan #asoiaf meta #asoiaf #sansa stark #sandor clegane

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elegantwoes · 1 year

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sansa stans steal everything from other characters/relationships. 'the queen we chose line', dany's dragons, arya's wolf, good queen alysanne, gendry. jonsas steal the 'what do you know of my heart/sister' line from jon and arya, and most recently i've seen them steal the bear and the maiden fair song from braimes. your fave is so boring and dull you have to steal stuff to make her more interesting and unique. she is the most boring character in asoiaf deal with it.

I specifically asked you to provide sources we actually 'stole' those things too, because half of these are outlandish as fuck. I will only address the ones that do have some merit: The Alysanne one.

Anyone who has a basic understanding of English history knows that Queen Alysanne is based off of Eleanor of Aquitane. GRRM flat out said he based Alysanne on Katherine Hepburn's version of Eleanor in the lion in Winter (1968) movie. However this isn't the only time GRRM spoke about Eleanor of Aquitane:

However, with Catelyn there is something reset for the Eleanor of Aquitaine, the figure of the woman who accepted her role and functions with a narrow society and, nonetheless, achieves considerable influence and power and authority despite accepting the risks and limitations of this society. (x)

The first character GRRM compares Eleanor to is Catelyn and calls them both baddass. Secondly he describes Eleanor as 'the woman who accepted her role and functions with a narrow society'. GRRM describes a type of female character that conforms to societal expectation of womanhood in a feudalistic society and Sansa squarely falls under that category..

Also while Sansa hasn't 'achieved considerable influence and power and authority despite accepting the risks and limitations of this society' just yet we can clearly see that Sansa will go down that route. Anyone who analyses Sansa's narrative arc in good faith knows she will hold a political position by the end of ASOIAF. The fandom has unamiously agreed to this. The only ones who vehemently deny this are antis.

So since Sansa is so extemely similar to Eleanor of Aquitane it naturally makes sense that she is similar to Alysanne as well, but that isn't the correct way to describe this.

It's Alysanne who is similar to Sansa. She is created in Sansa's and Catelyn's image and not the other way around. After all they are the major POV characters with lots of chapters. Alysanne is only a historical figure in Westeros who is only mentioned in one book whereas Sansa is a character who will shape the future.

And this is only aspect to Sansa Stark as a character. There's also her biggest storyline that is related to songs and truths, her identity and autonomy arc, how she is deconstructing and reconstructing what it means to be a true lady (a fine counterpart to her true knight), her romantic storyline is another.

These are all storylines that only belongs to Sansa and aren't stolen from anyone. So you were saying, anon?

#answered #Sansa Stark #Catelyn Stark #because she is mentioned

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jackoshadows · 1 year

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The memory of her laughter warmed him on the long ride north - Jon Snow

Arya Stark and Jon Snow’s strong attachment for each other has been forged by otherness. The only two Stark children who looked like each other, ‘the odd birds’ as GRRM puts it.

And Arya … he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful. Arya never seemed to fit, no more than he had … yet she could always make Jon smile. He would give anything to be with her now - Jon, AGoT

If only she could climb like Bran, she thought; she would go out the window and down the tower, run away from this horrible place, away from Sansa and Septa Mordane and Prince Joffrey, from all of them. Steal some food from the kitchens, take Needle and her good boots and a warm cloak. She could find Nymeria in the wild woods below the Trident, and together they’d return to Winterfell, or run to Jon on the Wall. She found herself wishing that Jon was here with her now. Then maybe she wouldn’t feel so alone - Arya, AGoT

“I know where we could go,” Arya said. She still had one brother left. Jon will want me, even if no one else does. He’ll call me “little sister” and muss my hair. - Arya, ASoS

They associate each other with a sense of togetherness, happiness and home because growing up they are each other’s comfort zone and safe space in a world where they are made to feel as if they don’t belong. We know that Jon thinks Arya belongs with him - ‘Bring her home Mance’.

Reading their POV chapters after leaving KL, there is a sense of loneliness there - especially with Arya. She is searching, always searching, always trying to find a pack, somewhere she can belong. It’s telling that till the end of ASoS, she’s trying to get to Winterfell, Robb, Catelyn and Jon at the Wall. It’s only when the Captain of the galley refuses to take her to the Wall that she finally gives up on getting to the people she loves and decides to take passage to Braavos.

We see that Arya finds friends among the serving girls and cooks and their children because she can’t fit in with Sansa and her friends like Jeyne and Beth. Jeyne mocks and taunts her appearance and Beth has the same interests that Sansa does.

Sansa knew all about the sorts of people Arya liked to talk to: squires and grooms and serving girls, old men and naked children, rough-spoken freeriders of uncertain birth. Arya would make friends with anybody - Sansa, AGoT

Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father’s table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-and-maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. Fat Tom used to call her “Arya Underfoot,” because he said that was where she always was. She’d liked that a lot better than “Arya Horseface.” - Arya, AGoT

We don’t get much in the books about Jon’s friends in Winterfell. I am assuming this is because, unlike with Arya and Sansa, he had a good relationship with Robb. They were brothers and friends. And yet, we also see this:

“Benfred has raised his own company of lances. Boys, none older than nineteen years, but every one thinks he’s another young wolf. When I told them they were only young rabbits, they laughed at me. Now they call themselves the Wild Hares and gallop about the country with rabbitskins tied to the ends of their lances, singing songs of chivalry.”

Bran thought that sounded grand. He remembered Benfred Tallhart, a big bluff loud boy who had often visited Winterfell with his father, Ser Helman, and had been friendly with Robb and with Theon Greyjoy. - Bran, ACoK

Notice how Benfred Tallhard is friends with Robb and Theon and not with Jon Snow. I am assuming there is not much interaction between the sons of other houses and Eddard Stark’s bastard. Similarly, Alys Karstark mentions her father bringing her to Winterfell to meet Robb Stark.

“You came to Winterfell with your father.” The father Robb beheaded. “I don’t recall what for.”

She blushed. “So I could meet your brother. Oh, there was some other pretext, but that was the real reason. I was almost of an age with Robb, and my father thought we might make a match. There was a feast. I danced with you and your brother both. He was very courteous and said that I danced beautifully. You were sullen. My father said that was to be expected in a bastard.” - Jon, ADWD

I think this is why Arya and Jon are able to quickly make friends outside of lords and ladies. They don’t fit in amongst their own circle and therefore find their packs elsewhere. Jon with his brothers at the Wall and Arya with her little pack in the Riverlands.

And while Arya is too young to understand the depth of the pain that Jon feels at his social ostracization, she considers him one of their own and defends him at every turn, right from the very start of the books.

“Poor Jon,” she said, “He gets jealous because he's a bastard.”

“He's our brother,” Arya said, much too loudly. - Arya, AGoT

“I did not!” she shouted. Jon Snow had given her Needle. Maybe she had to let them call her Lumpyhead, but she wasn’t going to let them call Jon a thief. - Arya, ACoK

And it’s because Jon is able to empathize with Arya’s sense of ‘not being good enough’ through circumstances beyond her own control that he is kind to her in a way that Ned and Catelyn are not. He understands her and what makes her tick. Him giving her Needle in secret (Don’t tell Sansa!) represents that understanding, an admiration and respect for Arya wanting to be who she is.

Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair. Arya flushed. They had always been close. Jon had their father’s face, as she did. They were the only ones. Robb and Sansa and Bran and even little Rickon all took after the Tullys, with easy smiles and fire in their hair. When Arya had been little, she had been afraid that meant that she was a bastard too. It been Jon she had gone to in her fear, and Jon who had reassured her." - Arya, AGoT

To compare this to a classic romance of cousins growing up together and falling in love, while Jon and Arya are vastly different to Edmund and Fanny in Mansfield Park, there’s some similarities in terms of the kindness and consideration Jon extends towards Arya. Edmund finding pen and paper for Fanny and Jon secretly getting Arya a sword. And Arya’s loyalty and love for Jon Snow mirrors the loyalty and love that Fanny has for Edmund (though Arya’s love is platonic for now and Fanny’s was romantic)

A week had passed in this way, and no suspicion of it conveyed by her quiet, passive manner, when she was found one morning by her cousin Edmund, the youngest of the sons, sitting crying on the attic stairs.

‘My dear little cousin,’ said he, with all the gentleness of an excellent nature, ‘what can be the matter?’ And sitting down by her, he was at great pains to overcome her shame in being so surprised, and persuade her to speak openly - Mansfield Park

Jon and Arya’s deep bond growing up in Winterfell defines their future relationships with other partners - romantic or otherwise. Arya and Gendry, Jon and Ygritte. Jon’s friendships with Sam and Satin. Arya being the single positive female influence during Jon’s childhood in Winterfell means that he is searching for an Arya in every girl he meets.

It's a reference to a certain physical type, and a certain indication of what Jon finds admirable. It's like someone who reminds you of, you know... Other people might be put off by this, you know, hair that looks like small rodents have been living in there. It doesn't put him off because he is used to that. - GRRM

There will be so much to look forward to, such a bubbling pot of emotions when they meet again, a resurrected, more wolfish Jon Snow and a grown up Arya Stark, changed by their life experiences. Will he still muss her hair and call her little sister? But she’s not so little anymore. He will have to call her something else. Was she ever his sister?

#Jon Snow #Arya Stark #needleheartwinter #Childhood #Outcasts and Belonging #Jonrya #Jonarya #Jon x Arya

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thewindsofwolves · 1 year

Text

Jon Snow & Sansa Stark Book Parallels & Mentions 22/∞ : Bastards are all wanton... or are they ?

"Mercy. I have been singing love songs for hours. My blood is stirred. And yours, I know . . . there's no wench half so lusty as one bastard born." "I'm a maiden," she protested. A Storm Of Swords, Sansa VI

Bastard children were born from lust and lies, men said; their nature was wanton and treacherous. Once Jon had meant to prove them wrong, to show his lord father that he could be as good and true a son as Robb. A Storm Of Swords, Jon X

#jonsa #jon x sansa #actuallyjonsa #jon snow #sansa stark #jonsa book parallels serie #my posts #gifs/edits by me #got #game of thrones #gotedits #asoiaf #asoiafedits #a song of ice and fire #sansastarkedit #jonsnowedit

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kellyvela · 10 months

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There is difference between creative license for graphic novels and just random artworks. Its common sense. Secondly, starks canonically have dark hair so drawing them as such is not strange, however, drawing them with red hair is out of blue.

Maybe it seems out of the blue, but among the people in charge of the 'A Clash of Kings' Graphic Novel are GRRM's own editor Anne Groell, and his friend, minion, and collaborator Raya Golden, who often updates GRRM's Not a Blog.

And there's also the fact that GRRM's editor Anne Groell, and the adaptor of 'A Game of Thrones' Graphic Novel, Daniel Abraham, know some parts of the series's ending.

So, there are many important people involved to believe that this is just a mistake.

~~~

About the curious case of the Redhead Rose of Winterfell from A Clash of Kings Graphic Novel that looks too close to Sansa Stark and her mother Catelyn, and how this fact makes fave sister stans cry . . .

~~~

UPDATE:

GRRM talking about Graphic Novels illustrations:

"I just carefully reviewed all the dialogues and drawings to make sure that no mistake or inaccuracy crept in anywhere."

A series of comics based on your story "The Hedge Knight" has recently been released. Are you satisfied with its implementation? Are there any plans to make comics based on your other works? The proposal to create a comic book based on The Hedge Knight did not come from me, but from the publisher. I was contacted, showed some preliminary sketches, which didn't impress me. But the guys were persistent and did not give up: they continued to search for a suitable artist until they settled on Michael S. Miller. In the end, he did his job just perfectly. Michael was very cool, in my opinion, was able to convey the inner essence of the characters through their appearance - that's exactly how I imagined them when I wrote the story. My participation in the project was minimal: I just carefully reviewed all the dialogues and drawings to make sure that no mistake or inaccuracy crept in anywhere. Now we are discussing the creation of a sequel based on the second part of the adventures of Dunk, published in the collection "Legends 2". It will most likely be made in the same six-comic series format as Knight of the Hedge. We also discussed the possibility of creating comics based on the Canto novels themselves. But given the size of my books, this would require a really massive series. I'm not sure that we are ready for such a grandiose project. —Mir Fantastiki - 2006 - Google translation from the source in Russian:

~~~

Told you!

#anon asks #asoiaf #asoiaf graphic novels #asoiaf calendars #asoiaf artworks #grrm #the rose of winterfell

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astradrifting · 1 year

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Hi! Were there any perspectives in the ASOIAF fandom that made your eyes roll? If there are, what made you say so? Thanks!

[mostly written in 2021, and posted very late. Sorry nonny!]

woof, this could open up a can of worms. I'm almost afraid this is a bait ask but I'm also very willing to run my mouth online about ASOIAF, and I love making fun of dumb theories, so let’s go!

Every time someone says that Jon and Dny are the song of ice and fire, my soul dies a little. Enough said.

I also hate the idea that parallels between ASOIAF history and the events of the books don’t matter. Not to state the obvious, but Westerosi history isn’t real. No part of it actually happened organically, GRRM has manufactured all of it, so everything must have been written with a purpose. I don’t buy that it’s just all world-building, because if parallels are obvious to us, they must be a thousand times more so for the man actually writing it all, and the army of editors who are probably helping him keep it straight.

There is absolutely no way that anything about Jonnel ‘One-Eye’ is a coincidence. Half-brother to Rickon Stark is obvious enough, but then we have his mother. Lynara sounds very similar to Lyanna (side note: a jonsa baby named Lynara would be adorable), but the real link is that she was born a Stark - all of the women on the family tree are listed under their maiden names. Her relation to her husband Cregan isn’t specified; it would have been so easy to have her be from another random house, or even a Karstark, yet what George wanted to convey is that Jonnel has a Stark mother, as well as a Stark father who happened to be heavily involved with the Targaryens.

Another fun thing linking Jonnel to Jon! Jon’s first relationship was with a red headed girl, who claimed that they were married because he’d stolen her. In the same conversation where she’s called half fish…

“You know nothing, Jon Snow. I’m half a fish, I’ll have you know.”

“Half fish, half goat, half horse…there’s too many halves to you, Ygritte.”

(ASOS, Jon V)

this conversation is already jonsa gospel as foreshadowing because of “half-fish”, but the horse part was always a little strange to me. As far as I remember, they didn’t have a prior conversation about her loving horses or riding particularly well, so that was seemingly out of left-field.

Well Jonnel’s second wife was a Ryswell - their sigil is a black horse’s head with a red mane.

pictured: the jonsa agenda winning again

The idea that Stannis will take Winterfell isn’t as personally annoying to me, all these dudebros have very detailed, tactics-based reasons to believe he’ll win I’m sure (something about a nightlamp?), but I just think it doesn’t do anything for the narrative, nor does it make sense with either his arc or Jon and Sansa’s.

Winning Winterfell will put Stannis in a position of strength, give him a base of operations in the North that’s not on loan from the Night’s Watch, and would probably lead to most of the Northern houses swearing allegiance to him, as Manderly has already promised to do. Why would a man in that position ever choose to burn his daughter, his only heir, alive? That is literally one of the few guaranteed book plots we have, so IMO speculation about Stannis all needs to work backwards from this end point; it’s ugly and horrible, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach reading it, but it’s the only ending to his arc that makes sense.

Kinslaying reoccurs time and time again in Stannis’ arc. Kinslaying for his own personal benefit, no less. In his first appearance in ACOK, he listens to Selyse suggest that he kill Renly, then stands by whilst Melisandre kills Maester Cressen, his surrogate father. Cressen raised him and loved him like a son; yet if he had killed Melisandre instead, Stannis would have lost the power she wields for his benefit, the main reason he has a chance at the throne. Later in the book, he implicitly allows his brother to be murdered so that he could gain the Stormlords that had rallied to Renly instead of him (anyone trying to argue that the shadow wasn’t technically Stannis so technically it wasn’t kinslaying will be put in the naughty corner for excessive pedantry). In ASOS, he’s willing to sacrifice his nephew, an innocent 12 year old under his guardianship. He says it’s for the realm, for duty, but really it’s for his destiny. What is the life of a bastard boy against a kingdom so close to his grasp?

It’s escalation. Each time so far he’s had a layer of deniability, but he’s not going to have that in the end. Ordering Shireen’s death himself, murdering his daughter in some desperate bid to secure victory over the Boltons, will be the final step off the cliff. Maybe he’ll have some military victories before that, smarter people than me have no doubt discussed the parallels to the Greek myth of Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia, but I have no doubt Stannis’ story is headed only towards tragedy.

….Turns out that I do have a lot of feelings about Stannis. But to get back to my original point, Jon and Sansa taking Winterfell back together, travelling through the North doing the work and proving themselves as worthy rulers, makes a lot more sense for their future roles in the story than Stannis winning it all for them. It’s also much more affecting and thematically resonant, so I refuse to believe D&D entirely made up that storyline.

I also inevitably end up rolling my eyes whenever I'm bored enough to go onto r/asoiaf, there's always a bad take right on the front page. One that annoyed me enough to go into @istumpysk’s inbox and kickstart my jonsa blogging was one asking what the point of R+L=J even is, because it never amounted to anything and just muddled up J/D being “the song of ice and fire”.

While it gets so close to the point that it’s funny, there’s no way the “song” is going to boil down to a relationship, let alone JD. I would almost buy Jon and Dænerys being the song of ice and fire if Jon actually were just Ned’s bastard, all ‘ice’. Hell, if he really wanted to make a relationship the song of ice and fire, he could have cut out the middleman and made Jon a trueborn Stark from the start - make them starcrossed lovers from warring families, truly ice and truly fire. Utterly boring, but thematically coherent at least. A major point of Jon’s character is that he is both - and something a lot messier than that besides, as a bastard.

It's not all bad on r/asoiaf though, when I went back to look for that post I saw another about how the Titan of Braavos is a Pacific Rim-style mech that will come to life to fight any dragons coming to the city, a theory that I will be championing from this moment henceforth.

Wait, nevermind, in that same thread someone said that Jaehaerys is the sexiest Targ name, so r/asoiaf is immediately cancelled again. That's another fandom perspective that makes me roll my eyes, the idea that Jaehaerys is in any way an acceptable name, especially as Jon's ‘secret’ name.

This 👏 is 👏 Targaryen 👏 propaganda 👏

Just look at it!! How do you even pronounce that? The hill I will most definitely die on is that this name is ugly.

#astra rambles #me throughout this ask: AND ANOTHER THING #my own stannis take does hurt me somewhat because for a while fanon stannis was /my/ boring little man #however then I read the books and didn’t actually like him much lmao #jonsa #anti stannis baratheon #anti house targaryen #anti daenerys targaryen #anti targaryen stans #just covering my bases #meta #within all the rambling at least #jesus this is long #I cut out another terrible r/asoiaf post I was ranting about because it’s seriously been a year since I started this

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depends-on-the-sellsword · 2 years

Text

Masterlist

[ requests are currently closed! ]

[ current requests in line: 5 ]

Ask to be added to taglists!

arya stark

no longer alone - you and your new best friend run around the red keep.

below the keep - arya takes you to see the dragon skulls.

jon snow

moon of my life - in which you and jon get trapped in the elevator on the way down from watch duty.

before it kills me - you're jealous of the dragon queen, and it's tearing you up.

the bear & the maiden fair - while singing campfire songs, you get roped into playing a maiden fair.

robb stark

without speaking - robb keeps looking to spend more and more time with you. sansa has a party.

bronn

playing with fire - you and bronn get bored on guard duty, and you're both idiots who like a challenge.

sandor clegane

comfort enough - your lover calms your temper, and you have a moment together.

#asoiaf #asoif/got #game of thrones #a song of ice and fire #arya stark #arya stark x reader #masterlist #the sellsword writes #reader insert #imagines #jon snow #jon snow x reader #bronn x reader #bronn of the blackwater #sandor clegane #sandor clegane x reader

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imaslutforcuddles · 11 months

Text

Did something bad (sneak peek)

PART THREE

[ part one ] [ part two ] [ part three ]

Robb Stark x Fem!reader

song link | Did Something Bad By Taylor Swift

summary | You go to war against your father and Cersei, to Robb’s surprise you help in every way possible. His men threaten you because your a woman, you can’t go to battle, they lock you up before dawn of the war for your ‘safety’. Lets just say you put up a good fight, the war isn’t the Lannisters against the north anymore. It’s a war against you and your mother, she arrives to take you home. The war starts to go south (pun intended?) and the north is suffering, you end that suffering along with any doubt and hate Robb had for you.

warnings | Death, war, violence, sexism, swearing.

a/n | I apologize for the wait!!!! (I AM SO FUCKING SORRY-). Too long.

She had stepped into your quarters long before you had woken up and when you finally had, she was right there to wish you well.

“Oh gods!”

Your hand was next to your heart as it tried to slow itself down a little. “Forgive me my Lady you startled me.”

Caitlyn smiled at your politeness, Arya and Sansa were for more stubborn than she had hoped for. “There is no need to apologise y/n, i understand your surprise.” You both chuckle for a moment before you rise out of bed, “I’d imagine you are not here to just say goodmorning?”

“You are for more clever than i thought you were.”

You scoff a little.

“Perhaps Lady Caitlyn, i am not just some maiden. I have a brain and i have been taught far more than your average girl.”

Her eyes widen for a second at your remark, “You are going to be doubted; that is what us women have to endure, you should know this by now. You are stupid until proven otherwise,”

“And yet,” She moves toward you, “The only thing you have proven to me is that your naive and impulsive.”

You Step forward toward her, showing no sign of backing down.

“That’s the thing Lady Caitlyn,” You step again.

“I’m not naive and i’m not impulsive. I’m just simply not afraid to speak my mind when necessary, and i will not have you disrespect me. Especially when you question my place as a woman.”

A guard from outside your quarters barges in, “My Lady, it is urgent!”

“I don’t care who you are or what is urgent, you do not barge in my room.” You state to the boy.

He snorts, “You are just a weak woman.”

You smile and tilt your head, “I am not just a weak woman, i am a woman of power.”

Lady Caitlyn bows her head to you, “She was right, you are not to enter any quarter without permission. Or you will be banished, do you hear me boy!”

The knight gulps and nods slowly.

“Now take me to the urgency boy!” Lady Caitlyn scoffs at the ‘so called’ knights idiocy.

His eyes widen and he nods his head, “R-right this way my Lady.”

The knight led Lady Caitlyn and you to his General’s tent and nodded to you before running of.

When you had walked in, the stench of death hit you.

Looking around for the source you found a small child lay on the bed where the General should lay to rest.

You frowned and sighed in guilt, how did he die? Who was he?

Turning around you gasped as a familiar face became present.

The General grunted as he made his way into his tent finding you over his sons body, “We found him just across the border your royal highness.”

Lady Caitlyn sighed and nodded understanding what this meant.

“They must have sent someone before their army.”

Your eyes widened at Lady Caitlyn’s assumption, “You mean the Lioness is already on her way?”

Lady Caitlyn’s face became stern and sour, more harsh than before, she would argue that it hurt to frown that much.

“I believe so.”

I am so sorry i almost forgot about who wanted to be tagged! @queerqueenlynn

#game of thrones #got #Robb Stark #robb stark x reader #robb stark x y/n #robb stark x you #cersei lannister #caitlyn stark #king of the north

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esther-dot · 1 year

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"The queen wore a high-collared black silk gown, with a hundred dark red rubies sewn into her bodice, covering her from neck to bosom."- Sansa(AGOT IV).

"Joff wore plush black velvets slashed with crimson, a shimmering cloth-of-gold cape with a high collar, and on his head a golden crown crusted with rubies and black diamonds."- Sansa(AGOT V).

"He(Joffery) was in crimson samite, his black mantle studded with rubies, on his head his heavy golden crown."- Sansa(ACOK VIII).

"Tyrion wore a doublet of black velvet covered with golden scrollwork, thigh-high boots that added three inches to his height, a chain of rubies and lions' heads."- Sansa(ASOS III).

Lannisters are wearing Targ colors in Sansa chapters. Could it mean something other than Lannisters are standin for Targs?

And I'll paste in an anon, too:

I found something interesting in Sansa chapters. When Sansa was called to write letters to Robb, Cersei was wearing black gown with rubies. When Sansa goes to court to plead mercy for Ned, Joffery was wearing black and gold with rubies in his crown. During her marriage with Tyrion, he was wearing black and red dress with rubies chain. All are invoking Targ image and trying to exploit Sansa. Cersei pretending to be a just queen, Joffery a just king and Tyrion being a good husband.

(related to this convo)

I agree with both of you that the Targ colors have an interesting habit of creeping up in pivotal moments for Sansa. I could describe the Joffrey and Tyrion instances as examples of a Stark maiden being taken advantage of by a prince who charms her with a song, and a suitor/husband who has ulterior motives. So, yes, it is more than just a general connection to Targs, I think Lyanna is woven into this.

I can’t remember lines to indicate that Sansa knows the extent of Tyrion’s ambition, that if she were to give him a son, her life would be endangered, but we know her life would be, so it kinda reads as another connection to Lyanna who died as a result of Rhaegar's desire for a third head of the dragon.

Before we have joked about Cersei's dress referencing Rhaegar, and I actually do think it's intentional:

They had come together at the ford of the Trident while the battle crashed around them, Robert with his warhammer and his great antlered helm, the Targaryen prince armored all in black. On his breastplate was the three-headed dragon of his House, wrought all in rubies that flashed like fire in the sunlight. The waters of the Trident ran red around the hooves of their destriers as they circled and clashed, again and again, until at last a crushing blow from Robert's hammer stove in the dragon and the chest beneath it. When Ned had finally come on the scene, Rhaegar lay dead in the stream, while men of both armies scrabbled in the swirling waters for rubies knocked free of his armor. (AGOT, Eddard I)

The queen wore a high-collared black silk gown, with a hundred dark red rubies sewn into her bodice, covering her from neck to bosom. They were cut in the shape of teardrops, as if the queen were weeping blood. (AGOT, Sansa VI)

We could say that’s far fetched, except, in Sansa's first chapter Rhaegar and his rubies are quite pivotal, and the Trident incident leads to her losing Lady. What's important about that is that Sansa's pleas for Lady's life remind Ned of Lyanna:

He could still hear Sansa pleading, as Lyanna had pleaded once. (AGOT, Eddard IV)

One might say the two Stark girls are deliberately associated by the author. 😊

So we get Rhaegar and his Rubies when Sansa suffers a great loss, Rhaegar and his rubies when she realizes her prince doesn't care about her, Rhaegar and his rubies when she is forced to "betray" her family, Rhaegar and his rubies when she is forced into an unwanted marriage….I mean, I'm not saying reading this as Lyanna’s story is the only way to read those descriptions, but it's a very interesting way to see them!

#anti rhaegar #r+l=j #sansa stark #lyanna stark #sansa and lyanna #dot chat

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agentrouka-blog · 1 year

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"Life is not a song, sweetling," he'd(petyr) told her. "You may learn that one day to your sorrow." In life, the monsters win, she told herself."- Sansa(AGOT VI). "In songs, the hero always saved the maiden from the monster's castle, but life was not a song, no more than Jeyne was Arya Stark."- Theon(ADWD I). What do you think about the quote life is not a song in these two instances?

I'd say in light of the fact that Theon does, in fact, when the stars align, and opportunity meets his recovering sense of self, choose to save Jeyne Poole from the monster's castle.... there's something to be said for how the songs can come to life. By choice. By one's own contribution.

To bring the song to life - to create a sublime moment of poetry within their rough world - a character must insert themselves into the fabric of a story by their own actions, and surrender themselves to risk. Surrender themselves to a song that might not even be their own.

Theon may escape Ramsay with Jeyne but he is not rewarded for his act. Stannis captures him and execution looms. And yet for Jeyne this is the most important thing anyone has ever done for her.

It's a beautiful mirror to Brienne who becomes a true hero when she steps out into certain violent doom at the Crossroads Inn. Will anyone sing of her bravery? Maybe those orphans whose lives she paid for with part of her own face. Or maybe they won't. She still did what she did and they lived.

The point is, we as readers are partaking of the song. We see them and what they do.

Be brave, she told herself. Be brave, like a lady in a song. (ASOS, Sansa V)

Sansa turns herself - and later Sweetrobin - into characters to help both of them overcome moments of great fear and danger. It makes them stronger. The same thing is true for plenty of people in real life, who take inspiration from fiction during moments of hardship.

Life may not be a song, but they intertwine. They hold hands.

#songs in asoiaf #the power of storytelling #theon greyjoy #sansa stark #brienne of tarth #asoiaf is not grimdark #rouka queue

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mybworlds · 1 month

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Chapter 11: The party

Pairing: The Hound x Sansa Stark

Summary: Arya, Sandor and Sandor arrive in an unknown village where there's a party. Sansa meets a handsome young man triggering strange thoughts in Sandor who wonders about their relationship, Arya notices all this and can't stop herself from commenting on their strange relationship.

Chapter Warnings: language, attempted rape hint

Masterlist

Before to start... thank you to follow me, please remember English is not my first language.

Thanks @vase-of-lilies for the banner

The next day, they stopped at an inn, there was a party in that remote village, there were storytellers, jugglers, musicians, none of the three of them knew what the party was about: Sansa once knew everything about it, she did everything to know what the others were celebrating so that she too could take part in it, but that time Sansa knew nothing.

The village was not among the richest ones they had been to so far; however, the cheerfulness that exuded from the pale, emaciated faces of the people who animated the streets of that unknown village made Sansa smile. There, the girl could finally buy a dress; it was not like the fine clothes she left behind in King's Landing or Winterfell, but at least she was covered and could avoid Arya's comments, the stares that some of the men were giving her, and Sandor's gradually more intense stares. She loved parties, even if the ones she loved were parties of a very different kind! In spite of this, she was enchanted in observing strange colored fruits with aphrodisiacal powers, a salesman said, or in observing strange wooden objects at the end of which there were small dangling colored feathers, it was Arya and the Hound who pulled the girl away. "For tonight we stop here." the Hound declared. Sansa was pleased and smiled, at that moment her eyes fell on a boy with dark curly hair, an upturned nose, and full lips, he was not like her prince charming, but he really came close. He was handsome, she thought. The dark-haired boy looked up and noticed her watching him raptly, so he decided to dedicate a song to her, a song about a young maiden with hair kissed by fire. Sansa smiled: no one dedicated a song to her in a long time. The first and only time was when a storyteller dedicated a story to her about the beauty of a future princess of the North. "My sister is like this," Arya said somberly. They were at that inn for a few hours, Arya and the Hound were sitting at a dusty old table eating and drinking, he mostly drinking. Sansa, on the other hand, was laughing and dancing sinuously beside the commoners who laughed and shouted contentedly at the fleeting joy that the drums, harps and lutes conveyed to the dancers. "What do you mean?" he asked her, gobbling down another big gulp of red wine. "All she has to do is blink a little, smile and everyone falls at her regal feet," she spat venomously without losing sight of her older sister. "Are you jealous or am I wrong?" the Hound asked her, looking away for just one fleeting moment from the little girl with long red hair. "Me? About that lying princess? Not a bit." she spat in an aggressive tone. "Sure." he commented, however, not believing his tablemate's words. He watched as Sansa, elated, danced. It was regal even the way she danced, even how she smiled. Sandor watched her rapt, "I'd say that's how it went with you, too, right?" Arya resumed. "What?" he asked caught out. "You like my sister." that was not a question, Arya was sure "I've seen the way you look at her. You want her before you kill us, scarhead?" she provoked him violently. "Careful, you brat." he admonished her in hopes of making the young girl beside him stop. "Or what? Afraid of the truth?" the little girl resumed "You fool!" Arya railed and then got up and went outside, something told him to follow the younger Stark who just walked away, but something else told him to stay there. Sansa was fucking beautiful that night, in addition to being damn drunk, and everyone was eating her up with their eyes, including that boy she immediately eyeballed as soon as they got there. Sandor called himself a fool; it was obvious that she was looking at a good-looking young man who also spoke well to her, who especially spoke sweet words to her; on the other hand, she deserved that.

Sansa was having a good time, she was as happy as she had been in a long time, even accomplice to a few too many drinks. She allowed herself to be persuaded by Lian, the boy who immediately attracted her attention, to let loose and enjoy herself. He sung to her and danced with her, and she felt happy. She could not even remember how long it had been since she experienced such a feeling. It almost felt like feeling good again. However, from time to time she found herself looking at Sandor, "Hello Stranger." greeted her Lian "You look beautiful." he certainly was a straightforward guy, Sansa thought as she lowered her gaze slightly embarrassed. "Thank you." she said simply. "What is such a rare beauty doing in such a village? You ain't from around here." "No." she replied offhandedly only to remember in a glimmer of lucidity about what the Hound told her which means not to talk too much and especially not to reveal her identity for any reason in the world. "Where are you from?" he asked her, taking a glass with some amber liquid with a spicy smell. "You?" she replied. "Cape Kraken, I live in a small village." he replied, Sansa frowned. She cast another glance toward the Hound who was drinking more and more, she sighed and then looked back toward the good-looking boy: in doing so she noticed a coat of arms, a tree and three snakes entwined around it. Sansa whitened and looked toward the young man who noticing the change on her face asked her if she felt well, she asked, "Is that your banner?" Lian turned his head toward the direction indicated and he replied, "Yes." Sansa looked at him with disdain "What's going on?" he asked interdictedly. "Are you their leader?" he asked again. "Leader?! I lead them, but … I don't like to call myself leader." "Your soldiers attacked me and were about to rape me in the woods." she blurted out as she stood up, he stopped her by the wrist "Let me go you're hurting me!" she shouted, but without arousing anyone's attention since they were all too busy singing, dancing, drinking and eating. "Please, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for-- for what they did. They have all been punished." "Liar! My friend punished them!" Sansa never attacked someone before. That attitude would be typical of Arya: strong, resentful. Sansa was not like that, but she became: her experiences up to that point and the Hound's harsh words like slaps opened her eyes. Sansa learned what to do with those people she did not know: no fine words, no ceremony. She was a Stark of Winterfell and would be respected, by noble or commoner alike. But most of all, she wondered how long she considered the Hound her friend?

"The only two survivors have been punished, please, princess, believe me." "I'm not a princess," she objected harshly. "But you are as beautiful as one, your skin is so … perfect, your lips …"

Was that young man courting her? If Sansa had spoken like that a long time ago, she probably would have blushed and fallen at the man's feet, but today… oh, for a moment she deluded herself that she could be as happy again as she was when she was in Winterfell with her whole family, but that illusion had lasted but a blink of an eye: reality immediately reminded her of what she was actually experiencing. Her eyes caught a movement: the Hound gotten up and was heading upstairs, he was going to the room they paid for that night, she would have liked to reach him, stop him and drag him there with her, but Sansa did not. "Stop." she told him in a firm voice, "Your flattery don't interest me." "Because of my men?" "I'm not interested," she replied hastily and turned away from him. She was too tired to continue drinking or dancing or hearing singing, so she went up the stairs and opened the door to the room, the one she learned with embarrassment a few hours earlier that she had to share with her sister and the Hound; when she opened it, however, she saw not her sister, but only the Hound abandoned in a chair drinking. "I thought you were already asleep." Sansa looked at him and seemed to him as if he suddenly aged despite being not too much older than her; she approached him and resumed, saying, "Why don't you sleep?" "I couldn't." he replied simply and slurring the two words. "Why?" she asked her. His hair fell uncomfortably in front of his face and she, maybe it was the thrill, reached out to push those strands of hair away and caress his face, he reacted in a way that made Sansa wince: he grabbed her wrist and stood up abruptly. "You frighten me," she said, looking toward his face hidden by hair. "You shouldn't be…not of me…" he said letting go of her wrist and placing a hand in her hair "…Sansa." she looked him straight in the eye: it was the first time he called her by her name and not using one of the usual nicknames. She found herself swallowing hard, the air around them became charged with a strange and unfamiliar force and neither he nor she knew what to do, Sansa looked as if she wished she wanted to do something or expected something, but she did not know what to say or do, Sandor knew against what to do, but was afraid to do it with her. She was not just anyone, she was not just some whore found in the first brothel, she was Sansa Stark, and he suddenly felt uncomfortable. Shit, that little girl totally clouded his mind! "Sansa?" he called her in the semi-darkness and she pointed her blue eyes into his gray ones "I'm going to kiss you." he warned her, if she wanted she could have pulled away and run out, maybe she could have even yelled at him, but Sansa didn't move, she just stood there waiting and he asked her "Do you really want this? Do you really want this kiss?"

Was he, Sandor Clegane, really asking for someone's wish? The world and its order were being completely turned upside down.

And so, was this what it felt like to kiss someone, she thought as his imperfect lips rested on hers, is this really what it felt like? Surrendering and strong at the same time? Sansa thought for a moment about her mother, when she used to talk to her about how beautiful it was to love and be loved by one's lord, she hoped and dreamed with all her heart that the lord her mother spoke of would be a knight in a shining armor and on a white horse would lead her to his castle where they would live together as happy as her mother and father. Life, however, gave her a man in a dark armor always smeared with blood, with long dark hair and a weathered face, a man always ready to bite and attack, but a faithful, fearless and strong man. Sandor held her close by wrapping one arm around her and with the other slipped a hand through her hair. When Sansa opened her eyes, the light illuminated the room and she was alone there, lying on the bed wearing the Hound's cloak, her head ached and then she remembered that kiss… but had it really happened or was it the effect of alcohol that revealed to her what she really wanted? That is, to kiss and be kissed by him. By Sandor Clegane.

Before you leave... thank you for reading and if you want consider to like, reblog or leave a comment, or if you want you can leave me a pm. I leave with this question, Sansa and Sandor shared a kiss or it was a dream only?

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istumpysk · 2 years

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Operation Stumpy Re-Read

AFFC: Sansa I (Chapter 10)

My little chicken nugget! 🥰

Once, when she was just a little girl, a wandering singer had stayed with them at Winterfell for half a year. An old man he was, with white hair and windburnt cheeks, but he sang of knights and quests and ladies fair, and Sansa had cried bitter tears when he left them, and begged her father not to let him go. "The man has played us every song he knows thrice over," Lord Eddard told her gently. "I cannot keep him here against his will. You need not weep, though. I promise you, other singers will come."

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.

But that was when she was a little girl, and foolish. She was a maiden now, three-and-ten and flowered. All her nights were full of song, and by day she prayed for silence.

Is it already time for another 'be careful what you wish for'?

Sansa had prayed to the Seven in their sept and old gods of the heart tree

Such an adaptable young woman.

+.+.+

If the Eyrie had been made like other castles, only rats and gaolers would have heard the dead man singing.

It's too bad Jon's not a singer, because this would have sent me over the moon.

+.+.+

He sang of the Dance of the Dragons, of fair Jonquil and her fool, of Jenny of Oldstones and the Prince of Dragonflies. He sang of betrayals, and murders most foul, of hanged men and bloody vengeance. He sang of grief and sadness.

I laughed.

+.+.+

"Please," she begged Lord Petyr, "can't you make him stop?"

"I gave the man my word, sweetling." Petyr Baelish, Lord of Harrenhal, Lord Paramount of the Trident, and Lord Protector of the Eyrie and the Vale of Arryn, looked up from the letter he was writing. He had written a hundred letters since Lady Lysa's fall. Sansa had seen the ravens coming and going from the rookery.

My, what nice titles you have, Daenerys.

Writing all those letters like he's the smart version of Tywin Lannister.

+.+.+

It is better that he sings, yes, but . . . "Must he play all night, my lord? Lord Robert cannot sleep. He cries . . ."

". . . for his mother. That cannot be helped, the wench is dead." Petyr shrugged.

Regardless of what happened, it's a mistake to be talking about her like that in front of Sansa.

+.+.+

Sansa had met Lord Nestor Royce once before, after Petyr's wedding to her aunt. Royce was the Keeper of the Gates of the Moon, the great castle that stood at the base of the mountain and guarded the steps up to the Eyrie. The wedding party had guested with him overnight before beginning their ascent. Lord Nestor had scarce looked at her twice, but the prospect of him coming here terrified her.

I'll give the author a break and assume her hair was dyed at this point, but I'd really like to know when and where that happened.

Am I supposed to believe he's got L'Oreal on hand at his little sheep shit farm?

+.+.+

"What if Lord Nestor values honor more than profit?" Petyr put his arm around her.

I will rip out your heart, and feed it to you.

+.+.+

He smiled. "I know Lord Nestor, sweetling. Do you imagine I'd ever let him harm my daughter?"

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

+.+.+

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.

Shhhh. You do.

+.+.+

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 did not know what to say to that.

"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." And then that never happened. The end.

+.+.+

"Some lies are love," Petyr had assured her. She reminded him of that. "When we lied to Lord Robert, that was just to spare him," she said.

"And this lie may spare us. Else you and I must leave the Eyrie by the same door Lysa used." Petyr picked up his quill again. "We shall serve him lies and Arbor gold, and he'll drink them down and ask for more, I promise you."

He is serving me lies as well, Sansa realized. They were comforting lies, though, and she thought them kindly meant. A lie is not so bad if it is kindly meant. If only she believed them . . .

It's like Ned, only sinister.

"We all lie," her father said. "Or did you truly think I'd believe that Nymeria ran off?"

[...]

"It was right," her father said. "And even the lie was … not without honor." - Arya II, AGOT

The good news is Sansa knows she's being served lies.

+.+.+

The things her aunt had said just before she fell still troubled Sansa greatly. "Ravings," Petyr called them. "My wife was mad, you saw that for yourself.

Woah, woah, wait a second. Why are you thinking of that? I was under the impression there was no point to you hearing all of those confessions.

+.+.+

Petyr saved me. He loved my mother well, and . . .

And her? How could she doubt it? He had saved her.

He saved Alayne, his daughter, a voice within her whispered. But she was Sansa too . . . and sometimes it seemed to her that the Lord Protector was two people as well. He was Petyr, her protector, warm and funny and gentle . . . but he was also Littlefinger, the lord she'd known at King's Landing, smiling slyly and stroking his beard as he whispered in Queen Cersei's ear. And Littlefinger was no friend of hers. When Joff had her beaten, the Imp defended her, not Littlefinger. When the mob sought to rape her, the Hound carried her to safety, not Littlefinger. When the Lannisters wed her to Tyrion against her will, Ser Garlan the Gallant gave her comfort, not Littlefinger. Littlefinger never lifted so much as his little finger for her.

Except to get me out. He did that for me. I thought it was Ser Dontos, my poor old drunken Florian, but it was Petyr all the while. Littlefinger was only a mask he had to wear. Only sometimes Sansa found it hard to tell where the man ended and the mask began. Littlefinger and Lord Petyr looked so very much alike.

Is she already questioning whether he loves her? Am I understanding that correctly? He's so screwed.

+.+.+

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.

Pretty sure I read this exact same breakdown in the previous chapter, only this time one person is noticeably missing. Again.

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. - Brienne II, AFFC

"They never think about each other!"

Yeah, I wonder why, you concrete block.

+.+.+

When she closed her eyes she could see him in his sky cell, huddled in a corner away from the cold black sky, crouched beneath a fur with his woodharp cradled against his chest. I must not pity him, she told herself. He was vain and cruel, and soon he will be dead. She could not save him. And why should she want to? Marillion tried to rape her, and Petyr had saved her life not once but twice. Some lies you have to tell. Lies had been all that kept her alive in King's Landing. If she had not lied to Joffrey, his Kingsguard would have beat her bloody.

Still no cause for concern in Sansa Land. She's trying hard, but she knows it's wrong.

+.+.+

But as the first light of dawn was prying at her shutters, she heard the soft strains of "On a Misty Morn" drifting up from below, and woke at once. That was more properly a woman's song, a lament sung by a mother on the dawn after some terrible battle, as she searches amongst the dead for the body of her only son. The mother sings her grief for her dead son, Sansa thought, but Marillion grieves for his fingers, for his eyes. The words rose like arrows and pierced her in the darkness.

Oh, have you seen my boy, good ser? His hair is chestnut brown He'd promised he'd come back to me Our home's in Wendish Town.

Is this about anyone other than Catelyn?

+.+.+

Gretchel and Maddy were helping Robert Arryn squirm into his breeches when Sansa stepped into his bedchamber. The Lord of the Eyrie had been crying again. His eyes were red and raw, his lashes crusty, his nose swollen and runny. A trail of snot glistened underneath one nostril, and his lower lip was bloody where he'd bitten it. Lord Nestor must not see him like this, Sansa thought, despairing. "Gretchel, fetch me the washbasin." She took the boy by the hand and drew him to the bed. "Did my Sweetrobin sleep well last night?"

"No." He sniffed. "I never slept one bit, Alayne. He was singing again, and my door was locked. I called for them to let me out, but no one ever came. Someone locked me in my room."

"That was wicked of them." Dipping a soft cloth into the warm water, she began to clean his face . . . gently, oh so gently.

[...]

Robert's lip quivered. "I was going to come sleep with you."

I know you were. Sweetrobin had been accustomed to crawling in beside his mother, until she wed Lord Petyr. Since Lady Lysa's death he had taken to wandering the Eyrie in quest of other beds. The one he liked best was Sansa's . . . which was why she had asked Ser Lothor Brune to lock his door last night. She would not have minded if he only slept, but he was always trying to nuzzle at her breasts, and when he had his shaking spells he often wet the bed.

Sansa, you seem so matured, and good with children.

+.+.+

"My poor Sweetrobin." Sansa smoothed his hair back. "You miss her, I know. Lord Petyr misses her too. He loved her just as you do." That was a lie, though kindly meant. The only woman Petyr ever loved was Sansa's murdered mother. He had confessed as much to Lady Lysa just before he pushed her out the Moon Door. She was mad and dangerous. She murdered her own lord husband, and would have murdered me if Petyr had not come along to save me.

Woah, woah, wait a second. Why are you recalling that? I was under the impression all those confessions went in one ear and out the other.

+.+.+

The slender pillars looked like fingerbones, and the blue veins in the white marble brought to mind the veins in an old crone's legs. Though fifty silver sconces lined the walls, less than a dozen torches had been lit, so shadows danced upon the floors and pooled in every corner. Their footsteps echoed off the marble, and Sansa could hear the wind rattling at the Moon Door. I must not look at it, she told herself, else I'll start to shake as badly as Robert.

[...]

Brune lifted the boy in his arms and carried him from the hall. Maester Colemon followed, grim-faced.

When their footsteps died away there was no sound in the High Hall of the Eyrie. Sansa could hear the night wind moaning outside and scratching at the Moon Door. She was very cold and very tired.

If that's Bran, I wish he would be less creepy in Sansa's chapters. Like, would a gentle breeze be so hard?

Don't ask me about the footsteps and shadows.

+.+.+

"As oft he did," Lord Nestor said. "The man was craven, but the favor Lady Lysa showed him made him insolent. She dressed him like a lord, gave him gold rings and a moonstone belt."

You won't believe how Littlefinger has dressed Marillion for his questioning!

Marillion by contrast looked almost elegant. Someone had bathed him and dressed him in a pair of sky-blue breeches and a loose-fitting white tunic with puffed sleeves, belted with a silvery sash that had been a gift from Lady Lysa. White silk gloves covered his hands, while a white silk bandage spared the lords the sight of his eyes.

+.+.+

Petyr Baelish sighed. "It was unseemly," he agreed, "and I put an end to it. Lysa agreed to send him away. That was why she met him here, that day. I should have been with her, but I never dreamt . . . if I had not insisted . . . it was I who killed her."

No, Sansa thought, you mustn't say that, you mustn't tell them, you mustn't. But Albar Royce was shaking his head. "No, my lord, you must not blame yourself," he said.

He leaned forward. "If I gave her Jon Arryn's true killer, she might think more kindly of me."

That made Littlefinger sit up. "True killer? I confess, you make me curious. Who do you propose?" - Tyrion IV, ACOK

It's my goal to catch him doing this again in TWOW.

+.+.+

"Mord, take him back to his sky cell," said Petyr.

"Yes, m'lord." Mord grabbed Marillion roughly by the collar. "No more mouth." When he spoke, Sansa saw to her astonishment that the gaoler's teeth were made of gold. They watched as he half dragged half shoved the singer toward the doors.

"The man must die," Ser Marywn Belmore declared when they were gone. "He should have followed Lady Lysa out the Moon Door."

"Without his tongue," Ser Albar Royce added. "Without that lying, mocking tongue."

Lots of hidden Tyrion in this discussion about tongues.

+.+.+

Lord Nestor seated himself beside the fire. "This will not be the end of it," he said to Petyr, as if Sansa were not there. "My cousin means to question the singer himself."

"Bronze Yohn mistrusts me." Petyr pushed a log aside.

"He means to come in force. Symond Templeton will join him, do not doubt it. And Lady Waynwood too, I fear."

"And Lord Belmore, Young Lord Hunter, Horton Redfort. They will bring Strong Sam Stone, the Tolletts, the Shetts, the Coldwaters, some Corbrays."

"You are well-informed. Which Corbrays? Not Lord Lyonel?"

"No, his brother. Ser Lyn mislikes me, for some reason."

"Lyn Corbray is a dangerous man," Lord Nestor said doggedly. "What do you intend to do?"

We'll save the deep dive on Lyn Corbray for another chapter, but I will say I think it's a big deal one of the first things we learn about Ser Lyn is that he dislikes Littlefinger.

Book Littlefinger and television show Littlefinger are very different characters. They're probably the character that's most different from the book to the television show. There was a line in a recent episode of the show where, he's not even present, but two people are talking about him and someone says 'Well, no one trusts Littlefinger' and 'Littlefinger has no friends.' And that's true of television show Littlefinger, but it's certainly not true of book Littlefinger. Book Littlefinger, in the book, everybody trusts him. Everybody trusts him because he seems powerless, and he's very friendly, and he's very helpful. He helps Ned Stark when he comes to town, he helps Tyrion, you know, he helps the Lannisters. He's always ready to help, to raise money. He helps Robert, Robert depends on him to finance all of his banquets and tournaments and his other follies, because Littelfinger can always raise money. So, he's everybody's friend. - George R. R. Martin

I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me it's all a show, and they're on the same team.

Fam? Fam. You need to trust Sansa's instincts. If Sansa senses something is wrong, then is something is wrong.

+.+.+

Lord Nestor clutched the parchment tightly. "I will not say I had not hoped for this. Whilst Lord Jon ruled the realm as Hand, it fell to me to rule the Vale for him. I did all that he required of me and asked nothing for myself. But by the gods, I earned this!"

"You did," said Petyr, "and Lord Robert sleeps more easily knowing that you are always there, a staunch friend at the foot of his mountain." He raised a cup. "So . . . a toast, my lord. To House Royce, Keepers of the Gates of the Moon . . . now and forever."

[...]

"Do you understand what happened here, Alayne?"

Sansa hesitated a moment. "You gave Lord Nestor the Gates of the Moon to be certain of his support."

[...]

She nodded. "The signature . . . you might have had Lord Robert put his hand and seal to it, but instead . . ."

". . . I signed myself, as Lord Protector. Why?"

"So . . . if you are removed, or . . . or killed . . ."

". . . Lord Nestor's claim to the Gates will suddenly be called into question. I promise you, that is not lost on him. It was clever of you to see it. Though no more than I'd expect of mine own daughter."

"Thank you." She felt absurdly proud for puzzling it out, but confused as well.

+.+.+

He wants to believe that Lysa valued him above her other bannermen. One of those others is Bronze Yohn, after all, and Nestor is very much aware that he was born of the lesser branch of House Royce. He wants more for his son. Men of honor will do things for their children that they would never consider doing for themselves.

Judging from the comments I read about this chapter, everyone seems to believe this is a reference to Jon. Uh, maybe? Personally, I think it fits a little better with Sansa.

"So what is your answer, Lord Eddard? Give me your word that you'll tell the queen what she wants to hear when she comes calling."

"If I did, my word would be as hollow as an empty suit of armor. My life is not so precious to me as that."

"Pity." The eunuch stood. "And your daughter's life, my lord? How precious is that?" - Eddard XV, AGOT

+.+.+

Littlefinger put a finger to her lips.

I will boil your teeth, and air fry your liver.

+.+.+

"I know what I know, and so do you. Some things are best left unsaid, sweetling."

"Even when we are alone?"

"Especially when we are alone. Elsewise a day will come when a servant walks into a room unannounced, or a guardsman at the door chances to hear something he should not. Do you want more blood on your pretty little hands, my darling?"

God he's good. I hate it.

+.+.+

"I am tempted to say this is no game we play, daughter, but of course it is. The game of thrones."

I never asked to play. The game was too dangerous. One slip and I am dead. "Oswell . . . my lord, Oswell rowed me from King's Landing the night that I escaped. He must know who I am."

"If he's half as clever as a sheep pellet, you would think so. Ser Lothor knows as well. But Oswell has been in my service a long time, and Brune is close-mouthed by nature. Kettleblack watches Brune for me, and Brune watches Kettleblack.

Good idea, let's do a random recap of everyone that knows.

+.+.+

Trust no one, I once told Eddard Stark, but he would not listen.

Oops, oops. He fucked up. He should not have said that. That was a mistake.

You better pray her brother never escapes that tree.

+.+.+

He put two fingers on her left breast.

I will gouge out your eyeballs with a rusted nail, and drink from your skull.

+.+.+

"Even here. In your heart. Can you do that? Can you be my daughter in your heart?"

"I . . ." I do not know, my lord, she almost said, but that was not what he wanted to hear. Lies and Arbor gold, she thought. "I am Alayne, Father. Who else would I be?"

Looks like Littlefinger taught Sansa how to lie to him.

There goes Sansa. Welcome, Alayne.

+.+.+

Lord Littlefinger kissed her cheek.

I will braid your veins, and crack your manhood like a glowstick.

+.+.+

"With my wits and Cat's beauty, the world will be yours, sweetling. Now off to bed."

Ah yes, Cat's beauty. Beautiful Catelyn Stark, who recently visited the Vale, giving everyone the opportunity to see what she looks like.

+.+.+

Sometime during the night she woke, as little Robert climbed up into her bed. I forgot to tell Lothor to lock him in again, she realized. There was nothing to be done for it, so she put her arm around him. "Sweetrobin? You can stay, but try not to squirm around. Just close your eyes and sleep, little one."

"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.

Everything will be okay, because she's 27.

Final thoughts:

Strange, we have a Sansa -> Asha transition here, and I can't think of any connection.

"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.

[...]

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."

[...]

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.

If anyone has any theories as to why these chapters are back-to-back, I'd love to hear it.

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#operation stumpy re-read #affc #sansa i

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