#arya knowing about hardhome from her but also the titan of braavos eating highborn girls

[mummersblade]

I wonder if Sansa never mentioning/thinking of Old Nan across all the books goes in hand with her inability to comprehend things for their ugly reality, reverting to pretty songs and the ignorance they signify instead.

Meanwhile the other Stark POVs are all thinking of Old Nan's stories as recent as ADwD. Arya recounts her stories about Hardhome when apprenticing with the HOBAW and providing information about the wildlings, Jon thinks about the ice dragons from Old Nan's tales, and Bran likens her stories with the ones shared by Bloodraven.

Old Nan contextualizes their settings. Arya thinks of her stories about Harrenhal when she is imprisoned there, and Jon thinks of her stories when he tells Ygritte about Queenscrown being named from Queen Alysanne on her visit to the Wall, and the same place for Bran and the Reeds. What more, Old Nan prepares them for monsters and magic.

Old Nan's stories (as remembered by Bran, Arya, and Jon) are brutal and terrifying. They are of frightful and oft forgotten things. They memorialize that which others may wish to forget. Juxtapose this to Sansa, who does not once think of Old Nan or recall any of her stories, despite her obvious love for 'the songs.' Clearly Sansa only cares about the romantic, happy songs, or at least the ones that make tragedy pretty. The naive ones that never confront the ugly side of things; not the Others, not the North far beyond the Wall, not the magic of the First Men, all of which the other Starks are connected to one way or another by ADwD. Sansa, who represses and revises and romanticizes (see: the unkiss, Arya as the sole source of blame for Lady's death, poisoning Robin), cannot fathom the horrors that are due to arrive in all their apocalyptic doom, which is another reason why she is entirely unqualified to have any leadership role in the face of this enemy. It's in the same vein as Arya's crypt story with Jon scaring the young kids; Sansa's instinct is to run from the supernatural.

#I should make a compilation of old nan's stories cause going through the searches for this brought up a lot of good ones #arya knowing about hardhome from her but also the titan of braavos eating highborn girls #arya knowing that in winters old men go off to die alone from their family to give food to the younger generations #jon thinking of the ice dragon speaks for itself lol #Bran and his experiences with the magic of the distant north related to Old nan's stories #canonbran #canonarya #canonjonsnow #asoiaf meta #rambles #asoiaf #I'm losing my mind over this now tho like Old Nan has been preparing them for their magic and their fight against the Others #because they LISTENED