#dontos hollard

[fortunate-hal]

Slowly, Sansa lowered the knife. Her head seemed terribly light, as if she were floating. This is madness, to trust myself to this drunkard, but if I turn away will the chance ever come again?

Sansa's secret meeting with Dontos as depicted in the Finnish special edition of A Clash of Kings illustrated by Petri Hiltunen.

#valyrianscrolls #sansa stark #dontos hollard #artist: petri hiltunen #source: book scan

[alaynasansa]

‘ She loved King's Landing ; the pagaentry of the court, the high lords and ladies in their velvets and silks and gemstones, the great city with all its people. The tournament had been the most magical time of her whole life, and there was so much she had not seen yet, harvest feasts and masked balls and mummer shows. She could not bear the thought of losing it all ’

‘ This was the Red Keep, this was King's Landing, this was the court of King Joffrey Baratheon, the First of His Name, and if there was one thing that Sansa Stark had learned here, it was mistrust ’

Sansa Month 2023 : day fourteen - king's landing arc

#sansa stark #eddard stark #ned stark #cersei lannister #joffrey baratheon #tyrion lannister #dontos hollard #source: a game of thrones #source: a storm of swords #source: game of thrones #asoiaf edits #made by me #sansamonth2023 #sansastarkappreciationfest2023

[goodqueenaly]

It’s like poetry something something but also comparing and contrasting Dontos Hollard being saved as a boy and Dontos Hollard being saved as an adult.

Dontos Hollard owes his salvation as a child not just to Ser Barristan Selmy, but specifically Barristan Selmy’s commitment to his own conception of knighthood. It was not simply that Barristan’s ironclad belief in his duty as a knight of the Kingsguard - such that he volunteered to rescue the king - prevented Tywin’s plan of razing Duskendale (perhaps with young Dontos Hollard inside, if he had been there). With the boy Dontos, Ser Barristan demonstrated his belief in an even more fundamental knightly charge than that of his Kingsguard vows - that is, to “defend the young and innocent”, as Lyonel Baratheon commanded of young Raymun Fossoway at the time of the latter’s knighting (a core virtue for Barristan, as evidenced by his later horror at the murders of Rhaegar’s children and the suggestion of killing the Meereenese child hostages). Dontos Hollard the child would presumably have meant nothing to Barristan; indeed, as the nephew of Ser Symon Hollard, who had slain Ser Gwayne Gaunt of the Kingsguard during the Defiance, Dontos might have appeared to Barristan as the heir of that past wrong, and so a fitting outlet for vengeance (just as Barristan had himself slain Symon, thus avenging his sworn brother). Yet Barristan called for Dontos to be spared anyway; Dontos’ identity as an innocent child appears to have mattered to Barristan far more than his so recently traitorous (and for Barristan, personally antagonistic) familial connections.

Of course, Barristan did not go quite so far as to challenge the order of a king now consumed by paranoia and a mania for violence. Rather, Ser Barristan couched his obedience to his chivalric charge in similarly knightly terms - begging young Dontos’ life as a “boon” which a grateful king could grant to this sterling knight who had done him such a service (compare, say, the would-be king Renly’s ceremonial grant of a boon to the melee champion Brienne, or the would-be king Joffrey’s likewise formal offer of a boon to the the knightly Tyrell sons after “[t]he roses [had] support[ed] the lion” at the Blackwater). In this moment completely devoid of chivalric courtesy - the ruthless, near absolute destruction and damnatio memoriae of two noble dynasties in the aftermath of a hostage crisis and siege - Dontos’ one hope rested with the promise of knighthood. Handed back his life as a knight’s boon, Dontos was allowed to journey to King’s Landing to serve as a squire, with the promise of a knighthood of his own one day. If there could never be (certainly not under Aerys II) a return of House Hollard to its pre-Defiance standing, Dontos’ knighthood might at least have restored some sense of personal dynastic honor; Dontos could, so it might have been presumed, live out his life as the sort of deposed but genteel knight Jaime imagines Edmure becoming in AFFC. Knighthood, in other words, both immediate and promised, comes to the rescue for the boy Dontos Hollard.

As an adult, Dontos Hollard finds himself again needing rescue from the murderous whims of a violent, sadistic king - but his salvation comes in a form far different from that he had experienced as a child. Summoned to the lists for Joffrey’s namely tourney - if no grand event, at least ostensibly more peaceful and chivalric than the Defiance of Duskendale - Ser Dontos appears as a foolish, indeed obscene drunk; only his horse maintains any sort aristocratic dignity, its “swirl of crimson and scarlet silks” denoting the barry gules and rose of House Hollard’s sigil, as Dontos himself stumbles half-naked around the yard. The promise of knighthood as his childhood salvation has soured badly: Ser Dontos may have the formal title of knight, but in his utter failure to make even the barest showing at that core knightly sport, the joust (and against a freerider, of the lowest class of knight often scorned by blue-blooded Westerosi chivalry), Dontos has hardly demonstrated himself a knight in practice.  

Yet Dontos is saved from the king’s command for his death - not by a knight, but by a facially un-knightly expression of true knighthood. Indeed, there is something of a role reversal here from Duskendale, where Ser Dontos the knight (roughly about the age Barristan once at the time of the Defiance) owes his rescue to a child - not only one roughly about the age Dontos was at the destruction of the Darklyns and Hollards, but one who had herself so recently experienced the cruel extermination of her father and the Stark household, leaving her, like young Dontos, a child of a traitor dynasty (at least in the eyes of the crown) alone in the capital. Yet if Sansa is herself no knight, she nevertheless reveres the mystique of knighthood, understanding the role of a true knight as one who is (so she will think later) “sworn to defend the weak … and fight for the right”. Seeing a man who “was drunk and silly and useless, but … meant no harm” - that is, one of those “weak” whom knights were sworn to protect - Sansa takes the (considerable!) risk of arguing for his life to Joffrey, just as Barristan Selmy had done to Aerys in begging for the life of young Dontos. Just as Dontos had personally meant nothing to Barristan during the Defiance, so Dontos means nothing personally to Sansa here (his involvement in Littlefinger’s scheme to spirit her from the capital not yet begun); Sansa calls for his life simply because it is not right that a weak and innocent man should be murdered at the king’s whim, an expression (albeit unconscious on her part) of that core knightly responsibility.

Naturally, Sansa cannot rely, as Barristan did, on any sense of royal gratitude to save Dontos; where Aerys II could not refuse his so recent rescuer when the latter asked for a boon, Joffrey is as of this tourney regularly abusing Sansa, even threatening here to drown her for merely suggesting Dontos’ life should be spared. Instead, it is Sandor Clegane who provides the justification, corroborating Sansa’s clumsy warning of ill fortune to convince Joffrey against murdering a man on his birthday. Sandor Clegane, perhaps more than any other character in the series, specifically reviles and disdains the formal conception of knighthood - yet here, draped in a white cloak in a bitter parody of Barristan Selmy (as Sandor himself had replaced that virtual epitome of the Kingsguard), Sandor laconically (and, to be sure, indirectly) fulfills that knightly charge of defending the weak. Sansa then seizes on Joffrey’s temporary stay of execution to transform Dontos into a royal fool; where Barristan’s plea for Dontos’ life had set the latter on the path of royal squire and eventually knight, Sansa’s suggestion strips Dontos of any future knightly dignity, but in a way which would (so she might have presumed) save his life long-term (as indeed, a fool’s very position allows him some sense of license, preserving the fool from retaliation by the people he taunts). Once, one of the the most (publicly) admired knights of the Kingsguard (themselves supposed to be “the finest swords in all the realm”) had used his knightly position to save the life of the young Dontos and given him the promise of knighthood for his future; now, a young girl and a man who had vehemently rejected knighthood save the adult Dontos through the elimination of his knightly identity.

#asoiaf meta #acok #dontos hollard #sansa stark #barristan selmy #sandor clegane #knighthood

[wpmorse]

"Ser Lothor, the Reward"

Sansa pg 839

#asoiaf #a storm of swords #pen and ink #illustration #sansa stark #petyr baelish #dontos hollard #lothor brune

[sare11aa11eras]

“You saved me, sweetling.” He’s weeping, she realized. “And now you have saved me.” “Only if you go. If not, I have killed us both.” -A Storm of Swords, Sansa V

I posted an art process video on my tiktok (it’s waterlilyvioletfog just like my main) if y’all want to see that.

#asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #my art #sansa stark #dontos hollard #asos #asoiaf fashion hour #ser dontos hollard #the purple wedding

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

#asoiaf art #valyrianscrolls art #art reblog #themico #not mine #patchface #dontos hollard #moon boy #kings landing #dragonstone

[elegantwoes]

For a while now I have been wondering what the overall point was of characters like Sandor Clegane and Dontos Hollard being in Sansa’s story and I think I finally figured it out. While it’s true that both of them are false Florians and have betrayed Sansa in different ways, it should be noted that Sansa’s morals and ideals has sparked something in them to help her in some capacity (i.e Sandor saving her in the bread riot & Dontos helping her escape). Both of them are there to establish Sansa has the ability to inspire knightly valor in others. And if Sansa’s ability to inspire that is strong enough to get two alcoholic, disillusioned, broken men to fight for her, then imagine what Sansa can do with it when she inspires the Knights of the Vale to fight for her cause.

#asoiaf #sansa stark #valyrianscrolls #slight TWOW speculation #sansa appreciation post #meaning they are there to establish Sansa is a true queen who can inspire others like no other

[melrosing]

MBO Robert's Rebellion: Episode 6

we are over halfway!! (through season 1)

in this one... barristan selmy really ruins everything for everyone and Aerys endures a tragic backstory that kind of comes too late because he was already a piece of shit. also, dontos hollard origin story!!!

Prev: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5

Next: Episode 7

title for this one: Denys Darklyn Finds Out

We open in the Darklyn dungeon. Aerys sits chained to the wall, looking like shit. When the gaoler arrives to give Aerys a bowl of gruel or whatever, the squire Robin Hollard runs in after him to laugh at the king and pull his beard. When they eventually leave him in darkness, Aerys weeps :(

Opening creds :)

Back in King’s Landing: the King’s small council. How do we get Aerys out of this one? They talk through various eventualities, and in the worst case scenario it’s noted that should Aerys be killed, Rhaegar is ready to step up. Tywin’s face twists as he struggles to push this thought away

Rhaella, pregnant still, taking a walk with her ladies in the garden of the Red Keep. One of the ladies tells a simple joke, and it makes Rhaella laugh - abruptly, she seems stunned by her own laughter. Rhaella laughs harder, but it seems to be for genuine pleasure - she forgot what this was like

Time skip!!! Of approx. six months. Back to Aerys in the dungeon - we can tell time has passed because his beard has grown LONG and he looks like a sad wizard. The same kid as before comes in to give him a kick, but Aerys hardly retaliates - he’s weak, and seems close to giving up

UPSTAIRS: Denys Darklyn! He notes the ongoing siege outside, but offers his men encouragement - they have stocks enough to last them years, so the siegers (is that a word) best make themselves comfortable. The men are heartened. His wife Serala, sitting nearby, is sceptical: if they kill the king, they’ve written their own death warrants, she says - but if they were to free him, does Denys assume Aerys would ever forgive him? Denys looks mad at having been undermined, and his men look equally so at having had to listen to a truth they don’t wish to hear - from a woman, no less

Tywin approaches Duskendale, on his way to oversee the siege. Six months is too long, and Denys has refused his final demand to surrender the King. Tywin means to end this and storm Duskendale, but of course that risks Aerys' life - it's not a tidy solution. Riding with Tywin is Barristan Selmy: he has a Cunning Plan. What if he dresses up as a poor person and sneaks in? Everyone agrees it sounds stupid but what use is a kingsguard without his king? May as well lol

Barristan Selmy doing his thing: sneaking behind walls, quietly strangling men who get in his way, etc. real shit. Eventually he makes it to Aerys who is THRILLED to see him… but when Barristan looks at this man, shrivelled and pathetic, he can hardly remember why he risked his life for him. For a moment Barristan just stands there, staring mournfully, till finally going to the king to free him

Breaking out of Duskendale. Duskendale soldiers have discovered Barry and Aerys and surround them, but Barry’s laying on the Epic Moves - they’re getting out of there. Once they’re finally through, Barry takes Aerys to Tywin… who looks down at this wormy king with the most disgusted look on his face :\ Aerys sees it and hates him for it

Denys Darklyn watching from the window as the king’s men storm Duskendale - he gradually realises that somehow, they’ve lost the king. Eventually, the men make it to Denys, and take him; they take Serala, too

In the courtyard at Duskendale, where Aerys was first taken last episode. Guy has every member of house Darklyn and house Hollard assembled before him, and he is going NUTS. Everyone gets a gruesome death sentence!! the worst kind of oprah. Barristan at the sidelines, looks sicker and sicker with every verdict. When they finally reach the young Dontos Hollard, he’s driven to speak - he asks Aerys to spare the boy, and Aerys, grudgingly, does

Finally, there is only Serala of Myr. Aerys wonders aloud who she is, one of his soldiers informs him that the men of Duskendale consider her to be the woman who led Darklyn astray to begin with: he’s not been the same since he married her, they reckon. Really, this is all her fault. Aerys promises there are special punishments for such women

Later in the courtyard - most others have left, but Aerys stays, watching a pyre. He smiles - it’s doing something for him. Upon the bones of the body that burns, we see Serala’s Myrish jewellery, blackened

The following day, back in King’s Landing. Rhaella receives a missive, stating that Aerys is rescued, well, and on the Rosby road - due for return any day now. Rhaella forgets to breathe a moment, and then keels over

Aerys arrives in King’s Landing, and is directly informed that the Queen is in labour. Rushing through the Keep with Aerys, we arrive just in time to see Rhaella delivered of a baby boy. Aerys hooting in delight as the baby is placed promptly in his arms; on Rhaella, bone tired and painfully resigned - her brother is home

#asoiaf #sparknotes robert's rebellion

[istumpysk]

hello, loved to read some of your re-read project! congratulations that you finished, yeah 💐 but now a question: how and when do you theorize that sansa will escape from the Vale?

Thank you for the kind compliment, anon. :)

I'm going to replace 'escape the Vale' with 'removed from her current situation'. Lol

When? Her very next chapter.

Tourney at Ashford Meadow: confrontation between Duncan the Tall and Prince Aerion Brightflame, death of Crown Prince Baelor Targaryen

Tourney at Harrenhal: Knight of Laughing Tree, Rhaegar Targaryen crowning Lyanna Stark

Hand's tourney: Gregor Clegane attacks Loras Tyrell

Tourney on King Joffrey's name day: Sansa saves Ser Dontos Hollard

George has established a pattern. Whatever's meant to occur, will take place during the tournament. It doesn't make a ton of sense to me to bring all these characters together, build up the tension, and then have nothing happen.

I believe Ser Shadrich will take advantage of a distraction, grab her, and head to Gulltown.

#stumpy ask #anon

[kellyvela]

You are getting a lot of winter rose related anons because rhaelyas have decided to gatekeep winter roses from characters unrelated to Rhaegar/Lyanna and Jon Snow. Someone tell them winter roses grow in the glass gardens of winterfell so people are not 'stealing' when they headcanon Sansa, Arya, Catelyn and all the other Starks with those flowers

The question is, is Sansa really unrelated to Rhaegar/Lyanna, and hence to Jon??? Obviously certain shippers will scream that Sansa has nothing to do with Rhaegar/Lyanna and the blue winter roses, but they are wrong, big time!

I already said that the blue winter roses grow in Winterfell's Glass Gardens, so any woman of House Stark has probably been given at least one of those blue roses in her lifetime. I also said that the first Stark girl associated with a blue winter rose was the one from the legend of Bael the Bard and The Rose of Winterfell. See here.

Bael the Bard and The Rose of Winterfell are obviously a proto version of Rhaegar/Lyanna.

The tale of Rhaegar/Lyanna has their own features that differ from Bael the Bard and The Rose of Winterfell. For example, it happened during a tourney, the Great Tourney at Harrenhal. And who is the ASOIAF character most associated with tourneys??? The obvious answer is Sansa Stark.

Sansa was the unofficial Queen of Love and Beauty of the Hand's tourney in honor of her father at King's Landing, where Loras Tyrell, wearing an armor of blue sapphires forget me nots, gave Sansa a red rose. Fact that is a clear allusion to Rhaegar Targaryen, wearing an armor of red rubies and crowning Lyanna with blue winter roses during the Great Tourney at Harrenhal. And what did Sansa's younger sister say about attending this tourney??? She called the event stupid . . . .

Sansa also saved Dontos Hollard's life during the Tourney in honor of King's Joffrey 13th name day. Fact that is a clear allusion to Lyanna saving Howland Reed from the abuse of three squires during the Great Tourney at Harrenhal.

And right now Sansa/Alayne is forever organizing a tourney at The Gates of the Moon in the Vale of Arryn. Alayne Stone is the daughter of the Lord Protector of the Eyrie and the Vale, who is also the Lord of Harrenhal. Fact that is a clear allusion to the Lord of Harrenhal organizing the Great Tourney at Harrenhal in honor of his daughter.

And last but no least, Sansa is profoundly associated with the Tourney at Ashford Meadow, event that take place during the first tale of Dunk and Egg: The Hedge Knight. The five champions's surnames at the end of the first day of competition are: Lannister, Baratheon, Tyrell, Hardyng and Targaryen. Four out of five of those surnames match with the surnames of every Sansa's suitors so far: Joffrey Baratheon, Tyrion Lannister, Willas Tyrell and Harrold Hardyng . . . . Other tourney contestants and melee fighters mentioned in this tale, also match with men in Sansa's arc, there's a Ser Donnel of Duskendale and the Lords Arryn and Royce . . . .  

The Tourney at Ashford Meadow was organized by Lord Ashford in honor of his daughter's 13th name day. Among other allusions to Sansa's arc.

Anywas, back to the blue winter rose, the rose motif is strongly related to Sansa Stark. As every girl of House Stark she is obviously associated to the blue winter roses that grow in Winterfell's Glass Gardens. She was befriended by the Tyrells, whose sigil is a golden rose, Loras Tyrell gave her a red rose during the Hand's Tourney, Marillion told her that he was composing a song for her called the Roadside Rose.

But we also have the so many times mentioned beauty and the beast motif in Sansa's arc. The ancient tale, in its many versions, usually starts with a especial rose.

Obviously most readers want for Sansa to be the beauty for their fave beast, like cujo, Tyrion and Baelish. But none of those men are cursed princes, that have skinchanging abilities, live in a magical castle with magical companions and with a strong relation with a special rose . . . . You know who has all those requirements checked??? Yeah, Lyannas's baby boy.

Thanks for your message :)

#anon asks #sansa stark #blue winter roses

[alaynasansa]

There was something wild about a godswood ; even here, in the heart of the castle at the heart of the city, you could feel the old gods watching with a thousand unseen eyes

“It's very lovely”

“Lovelier than you know, sweet child. It's magic, you see. It's justice you hold. It's vengeance for your father. It's home”

Sansa Month 2023 : day twenty-six - magic

#sansa stark #fc: emily carey #dontos hollard #source: a clash of kings #source: house of the dragon #asoiaf edits #made by me #sansamonth2023 #sansastarkappreciationfest2023

[goodqueenaly]

Hi again! I’m sorry if this is a weird question but it occurred to me recently: if not for Dontos becoming a fool, do you think he would have kept the Florian/Jonquil framing with Sansa? (Or if it was LF’s idea) I think LF probably wanted to use it as a way of disillusioning Sansa as part of his grooming of her. I hope this isn’t too weird of a question but do you think it would make a difference if they used Aemon/Naerys instead, or any other historical/legendary pairing?

I don't think the specific Florian/Jonquil dynamic was something Dontos necessarily came up with (or was told to use) before meeting Sansa in the godswood. After all, it's Sansa herself who reminds Dontos of the dichotomy between fool and knight:

"Are you going to stab me?" Dontos asked.

"I will," she said. "Tell me who sent you."

"No one, sweet lady. I swear it on my honor as a knight."

"A knight?" Joffrey had decreed that he was to be a knight no longer, only a fool, lower even than Moon Boy. "I prayed to the gods for a knight to come save me," she said. "I prayed and prayed. Why would they send me a drunken old fool?"

At which point Dontos seizes on the romantic legend to fuse the two identities:

"I deserve that, though ... [sic] I know it's queer, but ... [sic] all those years I was a knight, I was truly a fool, and now that I am a fool I think ... [sic] I think I may find it in me to be a knight again, sweet lady. And all because of you ... [sic] your grace, your courage. You saved me, not only from Joffrey, but from myself." His voice dropped. "The singers say there was another fool once who was the greatest knight of all ... [sic]"

Dontos could not have known how Sansa would react to his appearance and offer of service, nor whether she would make reference to him as a fool rather than the knight she had expected. Of course, Dontos would have had every reason to know the story of Florian and Jonquil himself, as seemingly one of the most popular Westerosi tales, one which as a boy connected to an eminently knightly family (and later saved by one of the most venerated Kingsguard in history) Dontos would almost certainly have heard time and again. In that sense, Dontos might have always had the connection to Florian and Jonquil in his back pocket, so to speak, aware of both how his story might have appeared similar to Florian's and how Sansa (as a highborn girl with that same education in chivalric lore) would recognize the allusion and extend it to herself. However, I hesitate to say that Dontos was specifically planning on doing so even before he met with Sansa; if Sansa had, say, immediately embraced him as a true knight and her savior, it's possible he would have simply stuck to the familiar tropes of chivalric romance (with Dontos as the devoted knight and Sansa as his noble lady), or even looked to another story or stories which focused on a knight fulfilling a debt of honor to a lady.

None of this, of course, is to say that Littlefinger did not use Dontos for very specific reasons, nor that Littlefinger was not gratified to further Sansa's disillusionment by that usage. Indeed, Littlefinger revealed to Sansa that he had chosen Dontos as his catspaw specifically because Sansa had saved him at Joffrey's nameday tourney, twisting the ostensible chivalric devotion inspired by Sansa's (genuinely!) selfless act of mercy into merely one aspect of a larger, and entirely selfish, scheme. Likewise, when Sansa miserably reflected on Dontos' self-identification as "my Florian", Littlefinger immediately took the opportunity to remind Sansa that "life is not a song" and that "[a]lmost everyone" will "[lie], forever and ever" (except, of course, Littlefinger and Sansa themselves, or so he then assured her). Even if he had no specific part in encouraging Dontos to refer to himself as Florian to Sansa's Jonquil, Littlefinger was nevertheless pleased at the outcome - another way in which he could attempt to isolate Sansa, gaslight her, and otherwise erase Sansa's hope in anything but Littlefinger himself.

#asoiaf meta #acok #dontos hollard #sansa stark #littlefinger #petyr baelish

[wpmorse]

"We must climb down," Ser Dontos said. "At the bottom, a man is waiting to row us out to the ship."

Sansa pg 836

#asoiaf #pen and ink #illustration #a storm of swords #dontos hollard #sansa stark #the red keep #the purple wedding

[agentrouka-blog]

When Sansa was running away with Dontos from KL, she was described as wearing woolen brown dress and a dark green cloak. It seems like she is dressed as a tree. Also Sansa does look like a Weirdwood tree. Do you think her dressing like a tree and running among trees is her more connection to nature?

Hi anon!

In a word, no, I don't think that's Sansa “connecting to nature”. While a godswood is a piece of nature, it's still within a castle, it is not wild. It is a place of worship cut off from its surrounding environment. A garden enclosed. 

Sansa is not a character who thrives in wilderness, and that’s perfectly alright. Humans have always cultivated their environment, it’s in our nature. When Sansa sees a snowy landscape? She begins to build. 

If she resembles a tree with her dress and cloak it’s perhaps a little reminiscent of little “oak tree” (”but a nice oak tree”) Arya, but mostly it’s also a truly escellent choice of colors to hide in the godswood. She disappears into the woods. 

I see something different and significant in the dress, though. Both she and Dontos are supposed to dress in dark colors, to hide themselves in the nightly escape. Both hide something beneath their cloaks:

Dress warmly, Ser Dontos had told her, and dress dark. She had no blacks, so she chose a dress of thick brown wool. The bodice was decorated with freshwater pearls, though. The cloak will cover them. The cloak was a deep green, with a large hood. (....)

Dress dark, he'd said, yet under his brown hooded cloak he was wearing his old surcoat; red and pink horizontal stripes beneath a black chief bearing three gold crowns, the arms of House Hollard. "Why are you wearing your surcoat? Joff decreed it was death if you were caught dressed as a knight again, he . . . oh . . ." Nothing Joff had decreed mattered any longer.

"I wanted to be a knight. For this, at least."  (ASOS, Sansa V)

The cloaks are hiding something about them. Ostensibly, details of status or bright decoration that might give them away. But why did GRRM choose these particular details?

Pearls are associated with bridal attire and fertility symbolism in the books, while Dontos is literally asserting a hidden identity beneath his cloak - the arms of his House, a House obliterated long ago.

A bride/mother and a fool/knight with a hidden identity in the godswood. It seems like just a brief glimpse of something entirely else.

#sansa stark #dresses #pearls #dontos hollard #godswood #jonsa #foreshadowing

[atopvisenyashill]

What if Aerys died at Duskendale?

okay, just like. some tw for torture here, i know it’s asoiaf but the fates of the darklyns is. a lot.

So, first of all, the people of Duskendale are even more fucked than they were in the main series. They didn’t just traumatize the king, and make Tywin look like an idiot, they killed the king. Poor Lady Serala is going to experience sexual humiliation to an extreme even for Westeros(she Already experiences a really racialized death in having her genitals mutiliated & being burned on a pyre & the people of Duskendale think this was too kind. if she’s partially responsible for the death of the king, she is fucked on such a massive, horrific scale. think the very worst of what Mysaria & Elia & Tysha & Tytos’ mistress experience here). Dontos is likely not spared because Barristan is not granted a boon for saving the King. Never mind massacring the whole of houses Darklyn & Hollard, I think it’s likely Tywin calls for the wholesale slaughter of all of Duskendale and burns the city to the ground.

After that, well, Rhaegar is 18 and old and not yet engaged to Elia. Losing Aerys to a petty rebel is likely a massive blow to the Targaryen Propaganda Machine, & while Rhaegar is young enough to rule & hasn’t yet shown any signs of being a tyrant, Aerys was also promising and look how that ended up. Politically, he’s on shaky grounds. I think Rhaegar is smart enough to realize he has to make some alliances quick, and that means a smart marriage for him, and probably a remarriage for his mother as well. Westeros’ Most Eligible Bachelorette’s include several Hightowers, Mina and Janna Tyrell (Mace’s sisters), Cersei Lannister, Lysa Tully, and Elia Martell, but there’s been several Rargaryens who married slightly more obscure houses to help keep peace - see Baelor marrying a Marcher, Aerys marrying a Stormlander (and we don’t know where the Penrose seat is, it’s possible they are also in the Marches), Rhaenyra marrying Laenor (tho that match was admittedly a completely failure lmaoo), etc. It’s possible Rhaegar attempts a match with someone in the Crownlands as sort of a “I’m not mad, I’m not gonna do collective punishment, I promise it was just the Darklyns we’re massacreing, you’re all good” sort of thing, possible he marries Cersei as a way of keeping Tywin as his loyal hand, possible he settles on Elia because he worries he’ll need their soldiers soon, and he’s already friends with Arthur Dayne.

The biggest change here is that Jaime may not join the Kingsguard - he isn’t raised up until 281 and that’s done bc of Aerys/Cersei/Jaime all scheming with their various motives, and with Aerys out of the picture, that seems less likely (for now at least - it might change when Tywin starts seriously looking for a wife for Jaime). One of the other biggest changes is Tywin himself - he hasn’t retired as Hand yet, his suit was rejected but by Aerys not Rhaegar, and we have genuinely no idea how close Rhaegar and Tywin were! Does he decide to just keep Tywin as his hand or does he attempt to distance himself? Tywin is the key here and we know little about how he felt about Rhaegar; all of his reminiscing about the Targaryen Dynasty centers around Aerys, not Rhaegar. If Tywin is on Rhaegar's side, it's possible Tywin can keep Rhaegar in line at least enough to stall the rebellion or make it less bloodthirsty. If Rhaegar and Tywin don't get along, however, things probably go very similarly to the main series.

#asks #canon divergent au #the mad king aerys #aerys targaryen #rhaegar targaryen #tywin lannister

[fandomficsnstuff]

Wolves And Hounds-7

(Warnings: Slight angst but also some fluff:3)

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Karliah flinched as the Hound’s shield met with his opponent’s mace, the mace quickly being thrown from the man’s hand and with a bash of the Hound’s shield, then man fell over the edge and into the small courtyard below, Karliah watching Sansa flinch a little at the sudden sound of metal and flesh crashing against stone below. “Don’t let him see you flinch” Karliah whispered soothingly while the new ‘king’ moved over the edge to see the corpse better as he praised his ‘dog’.

“Did you like that?” he asked Sansa and Karliah had to look ahead to not glare at him, her eyes finding Sandor’s and she felt a hint of comfort. “It was well struck, Your Grace.”

“I already said it was well struck.”

“Yes, Your Grace…”

“What I think my niece meant to say is that it was a good demonstration of what a man is capable of in a fight” Karliah smoothly swooped in, Sansa smiling weakly at Joffrey “it was, Your Grace. Forgive me, I’m not as attuned with battle as you are” she stated softly and it seemed to please the boy king somewhat as he smirked and looked ahead again. “Who’s next?”

“Lothor Brune, free rider in the service of Lord Baelish!” a few people clapped as the man stepped forward.

“Ser Dontos of the Red House of Hollard!” there was a long silence, followed by the man repeating the announcement, everyone expecting the man to step forward from the side, as gestured, but instead he walked down the steps nearby, dropping his helmet, chasing after it as he spewed out apology after apology, trying to put on his helmet, at first putting it on the wrong way before putting it on the right way. “Are you drunk?”

“No. No, Your Grace. I-I had two cups of wine.”

“Two cups? That’s not much at all. Please, have another cup” Joffrey gestured to the wine ready to be poured for himself and those sitting with him under the canopy, Karliah downing her goblet of wine in preparation for whatever torment the boy king had in mind for the poor guy, her eyes moving to the Hound as he arrived back by the other Kingsgarde and he glanced at her before looking ahead, making Karliah look back at Sansa as the poor man from before was dragged off, a horn forced down his mouth as a barrel of wine was lifted to pour into the horn, forcing it down the man’s throat. “You can’t!” Sansa exclaimed before Karliah could stop her, Karliah heart racing as Joffrey turned to her “did you just say I ‘can’t’??” he asked with bubbling anger and Karliah’s heart raced “I-I only meant-”

“It’s bad luck to kill a man on his name-day, Your Grace” Karliah jumped in smoothly, Sansa nodding with a smile in agreement as Joffrey scoffed “what kind of peasant superstition-”

“It’s true, Your Grace. What a man sows on his name-day, he reaps all year” Sandor jumped in casually and after a second or two, Joffrey flicked his hand dismissively, his garde letting the man go and he fell over, vomiting up the wine, Karliah’s heart bleeding for him. But a bleeding heart did nothing for the man, nor her niece. What would it do? Save him from Joffrey’s wrath? Stand before him as a shield? No. Her bleeding heart could do neither, and so she stayed silent, forcing a neutral expression on her face, a hidden pride bubbling in her chest as Sansa managed to trick Joffrey into making the poor man a fool, instead of killing him on the morrow, Joffrey proudly announcing the man’s new status as the man thanked both the boy king and Sansa before being dragged away. Sansa looked over her shoulder at her aunt, only to find Karliah smirking at her, giving her a subtle nod of her head. Karliah was proud of her.

She was finally playing the game. The game she had been thrust into when her father’s head was taken, when she had been forced to stare upon it, her lip bleeding from Ser Meryn’s iron gauntlet. The boy king didn’t even have the guts to lift the hand himself.

‘The man who passes the sentence must swing the sword.’ Her brother used to say. Men and their swords. The thought almost made her scoff. Why did men have to make everything about swords?

“Beloved nephew!!”

Karliah almost smiled at the sound of that voice. Finally, a solace to the hell that was the king’s presence. Tyrion was a good man, the best Lannister she had ever met, in fact. He was kind, clever and he understood human nature. He got it. He understood the game.

“We looked for you on the battlefield. You were nowhere to be found.”

“I’ve been here, ruling the Kingdoms…” Joffrey defended as Tyrion walked over “and what a fine job you’ve done” Tyrion praised, yet there was a hint of sarcasm, of slight mockery, but what was the king to do about that? Behead his uncle? Karliah would love to see him try. As Tyrion turned to look at his niece, he gasped softly, his cup of wine almost forgotten in his hand “look at you!” he leaned closer and gently kissed her cheek “more beautiful than ever!” he praised before turning to his youngest nephew “and you! You’re going to be bigger than the Hound! But much better looking” Tyrion joked as he took a sip of his wine, chuckling lightly before gesturing to Sandor “this one doesn’t like me” he informed a man he had arrived with, the man glancing at Sandor for barely a second “can’t imagine why” he stated and there was a hint of a joking tone to his words, making Karliah smirk a little. “We heard you were dead” Joffrey spoke, Mycella speaking up directly after “I’m glad you’re not dead” she admitted sweetly, Tyrion taking another sip of his wine “me too, dear. Death is so boring. Especially now with so much excitement in the world” he stated as he walked a little, looking around before his gaze fell on Karliah and Sansa, his joyful demeanour gone. “My Lady, My Lady,” he greeted each of them with a soft bow of his head “I’m sorry for your loss, both of you” he stated softly but before either of them could speak up, Joffrey beat them to it. “Their loss? Ned Stark was a confessed traitor!”

“And their father and brother respectively. Surely having recently lost your own beloved father, you can sympathise” Tyrion interjected quickly, Joffrey looking at Sansa and Karliah, Sansa looking at Joffrey before looking back at Tyrion. “My father was a traitor. My mother and brother are traitors, too. I’m loyal to my beloved Joffrey” Sansa stated, a mantra she’d had to repeat over and over again “of course you are” Tyrion muttered with sympathy and Karliah dreaded the day Sansa would bleed, being forced to marry the king. Joffrey next looked at Karliah, who clenched her jaw, biting back her anger as she turned to look at Tyrion “it’s true. My brother confessed his sins and treason. My sister-in-law is a traitor, my nephew is a traitor as well” she spoke the words with thinly veiled disgust, the words like poison on her tongue and she felt as though she was choking, Tyrion nodding ever so slightly “of course, My Lady” he bowed his head ever so slightly, both of them acknowledging the bitter taste the words left on her tongue and he downed his goblet “well, enjoy your name-day, Your Grace. I wish I could stay and celebrate, but there is work to be done” he stated as he put down the goblet, walking past the boy king who stood up and looked at him as he walked away “what work? Why are you here?” he called out, his questions going unanswered, a variety of… different… men walking after Tyrion, as well as the one who seemed to be more like Tyrion, sarcastic, joking, a dagger strapped to his back.

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“Whatever you do, bite your tongue… Do you understand? This is how we survive, for now. We bite our tongues until they bleed and until we are alone” Karliah whispered softly as she sat next to Sansa, both of them having just heard the news that she was to supper with the queen and her two youngest children. “Look at me, Sansa” Karliah whispered softly, the young girl looking up at her, as told, and Karliah cupped her cheek gently “you are a Stark. You are a wolf… wolves prey on stags, but only when they know they can win. We cannot win. Not right now. ‘Winter is coming’ and we have to hold out, just a little while longer, do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

“Yes, aunt Karliah” Sansa spoke meekly and Karliah sighed softly, bringing her into her embrace, hugging her tightly, holding her close “when you were just a babe, I remember holding you for the first time… I’d held Robb, of course. Even Jon. But you… I was horrified” Karliah admitted with a smile, Sansa leaning back to frown up at her “I was horrified I’d drop you… a little winter rose, so small and fragile… I kept thinking ‘what if I drop her?’... ‘What if she starts to cry when she sees me?’... but you never did” Karliah added softly, cupping Sansa’s cheeks in both of her hands, making sure the young girl kept her eyes on Karliah “the only way anything can grow in the North is if they have deep roots, buried in the ground, entangled with the dirt and soil… don’t let them pluck you from the ground. You’re not a weed, you’re a Stark of Winterfell” she whispered, Sansa nodding with tears in her eyes “your father was an honourable man… a man doing everything he could for his family… I have to ask, but do you still want to marry Joffrey?”

“I have to-”

“But do you want to?” Karliah asked, Sansa weakly shaking her head and Karliah nodded “then you won’t. I won’t allow it.”

“But the queen-”

“I won’t allow it” Karliah whispered more sternly, gently stroking her niece’s red hair “I will never allow you to marry that monster… I will find a way, one way or another-”

“Please, no, I can’t lose you, I can’t lose you too-”

“You will not lose me… I promise. I swear it on the Old Gods and the new, I swear on my life. But you will not marry that beast” Karliah whispered softly, Sansa nodded and Karliah sighed softly, hugging her again “go on, get ready for supper… I may not be able to be there with you, but I’ll be here, waiting for your return” Karliah whispered, kissing the top of Sansa’s head before letting go of her, watching her leave to get ready to sup with the queen and Karliah was ready to break everything in her chambers in anger.

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Karliah looked up as she heard footsteps, leaning back in her chair as the man she’d seen on Joffrey’s name-day entered, in the same armour. It seemed as though King’s Landing hadn’t rubbed off on him yet, but there was still time, of course. “My Lady” he greeted with a bow that felt exaggerated, Karliah raising a brow at him before sitting a little straighter in her seat “Brynn, is it?”

“Bronn.”

“Bronn. Why are you here, if I may ask?”

“Thought I’d introduce myself” he stated casually as he walked over, plopping down in the seat across from her, beginning to pick at the grapes that were ready to be eaten, noting that Karliah’s plate was still empty, not a single crumb left on it, evidence of her fasting. She hadn’t eaten this evening. “You skip breakfast too?” he asked casually and Karliah frowned at him “excuse me?”

“‘s not healthy for a Lady-”

“With all due respect, what is healthy for me is none of your concern.”

“True, but it is to Lord Tyrion. He’s worried ‘bout you” he stated casually as he began to eat more of the food on the table, pouring himself a goblet of wine as Karliah stared at him in disbelief. “Worried? Well, you can tell Lord Tyrion that my health is also none of his concern” she stated sharply, Bronn just raising an eyebrow at her before shrugging, standing up to lean over, snatching her plate to use as his own, Karliah’s mouth open in shock. “What are you doing?!”

“What? You weren’t using it” Bronn rationalised and Karliah continued to stare at him in utter shock and disbelief, making him smirk “see somethin’ you like?” he asked cheekily and Karliah’s face grew hot with anger and outrage “I suggest you leave my chambers before I have you forcefully removed” she warned quietly, Bronn studying her before putting down the food on his plate “alright, listen, Lord Tyrion told me to make sure you ate somethin’-”

“So you eat my food instead?”

“So just-... eat somethin’, alright? For both our sakes” he stated with an almost pleading look on his face, Karliah still staring at him in shock before gathering herself “if I eat, will you leave?”

“Maybe” he stated with a smirk and her cheeks burned as she demonstratively grabbed a single grape and ate it, raising a brow at him and he smirked, leaning back in the chair, putting his feet up on the table but as soon as he’d put them up, they were shoved down, a dagger thrust into the table next to his hand as she stood over him. Bronn looked up at her with a hint of shock on his face, as though he truly hadn’t expected her to do that, or that she’d even have a weapon on her. “Leave, or I will cut off your balls and force them down your throat, I’m not in the mood for Lannister games” she warned with anger, Bronn studying her before smirking, slowly standing up which forced her to straighten herself up instead of leaning down, her hand still clutching the dagger firmly as he towered over her. He wasn’t as tall as Sandor, but he was taller than her, her heart racing with confusion at why she even drew that comparison to begin with, she hated him, she hated the Hound. Bronn looked down and placed his hand over hers, making her jerk her hand away only to realise it was intentional so she’d let go of the dagger, and he pulled it out of the table, smirking at it before looking back down at her “a shame to put a hole in such a nice table” he stated calmly and Karliah scoffed “my niece did worse” she mumbled, she hadn’t intended to amuse him, to continue any kind of conversation, and yet she longed for it. She longed for any kind of familiarity, any kind of connection, even if it was a slightly hostile one. “Really? What she’d do? Bump against it while practising her dance?” he joked and Karliah actually laughed “Arya?? Dance?!” she asked through her laughter, unable to stop even as she tried, covering her mouth with her hand as she turned away to try and stop laughing, a brief snort leaving her before she could prevent it. She remembers her mother scolding her as a child, saying it wasn’t attractive for a young girl to snort when she laughed. Though Lyanna had argued that if a man could get her to laugh like that then it wouldn’t matter, so long as Karliah was smiling.

“Didn’t know a Lady could have such a cute laugh” he flirted and she scoffed, finally coming down from her fit, still chuckling ever so slightly “be quiet, it’s not cute” Karliah managed to get out through her giggles, a big grin on her lips as she looked down, her smile slowly fading when she remembered Lyanna. She’d sometimes make fun of her for her laugh, but the second someone else said something, she stood up for her, ready to fight whoever had made Karliah sad in any way, only to make fun of her laugh right after. “C’mon, eat somethin’” Bronn urged and she looked up at him, studying him with a frown before sighing, turning towards the table, picking up a vine of grapes, picking at them slowly, looking up at him as though to ask ‘satisfied?’ and he smirked, taking one of the grapes and throwing it up, catching it with his mouth, making her smirk a little. She looked around, making sure they were alone before doing the same, catching it just like he did and Bronn smirked “you’re not like all the other Lords and Ladies, are you?”

“Well, most of the Lords in this city haven’t ever been to war” she muttered, her cheeks turning red immediately after “not that I have either, war is no place for a woman-”

“I’d love to see you in a fight” he stated plainly and Karliah stared at him in shock. “That’s a… strange sentiment to have. I’ve never met a Lord who approved of a woman fighting.”

“‘m not a Lord” he stated proudly and she smirked, nodding ever so slightly “well, then I will have no problem throwing you on your arse out of my chambers right now, though I suppose getting beaten by a woman would be humiliating for you, it usually is to you men” she stated casually and Bronn smirked at her, about to step closer to her, as though he was going to kiss her, when he felt something sharp against his crotch, looking down to find another knife, right at his balls and she smirked up at him “go” she ordered in a soft voice and Bronn smirked, stepping back, gently taking her hand and kissing the back of it before leaving, the knife he’d pulled out of the table laid upon the wood, ready to be picked up and Karliah watched him leave with a scoff, sitting back down and rolled up her sleeve, subtly hiding the smaller knife she’d held against his crotch before putting the other dagger back where it had been hidden in a pocket in her dress.

#got #game of thrones #got fic #game of thrones fanfic #karliah stark #sandor clegane #sandor x karliah #sandor x oc #Wolves And Hounds