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butterflies-dragons · 3 years

Note

Just passed on my tl that post about Sam/satin/Sansa and that that anti reblogged your post to add that quote about willowy creatures 😭 and I have to remind myself that this is the same fandom who reads jon saying that only a monster would give a child to the flames something like that, followed by a daniela chapter where her dragon BURNS A CHILD and says “if they are monsters so am I” and still manages to believe jon will love this girl. But a willowy creature? Never.

Hello Anon,

This post? The ‘willowy creature’ quote was added to the original post (@istumpysk), they missed my addition I think...

They always use that quote to claim “Jon loves warrior women and ‘consequently’ he hates ladies.” That’s their "clever logic"... LOL

I wrote about the ‘willowy creature’ issue in this post:

Val

Repeat after me: Val is not a warrior woman. Again: Val is not a warrior woman. One more time: Val is not a warrior woman. If you don’t believe me, then read this:

However, in my own defense, I should note that Dalla was not a “warrior woman” per se. She was from a warrior culture, yes; one that gave women the right, but not the obligation, to be fighters. Ygritte was a warrior woman, as was (most conspicuously) the fearsome Harma Dogshead. Dalla and Val were not.

[Source]

But you may say, ¿What about the “the warrior princess and the willowy creature that only brushes her hair” quote?

Well, as GRRM has stated many times, all his POVS are “Unreliable Narrators”. Being from a “warrior culture” doesn’t make you automatically a “warrior woman”. But here is Jon Snow “deciding” that Val was a “warrior princess”. Once again, the contrast, the dichotomy in one single person: ¿A warrior like Arya, a princess like Sansa? Not that Arya has ever fought in a war, but you get my point. And Sansa was created following the princess archetype.

I will show you one of my favorite Jon’s passages that will serve us to read “the warrior princess and the willowy creature that only brushes her hair” line with a better and more revealing light:

I call this passage the “Jon -It’s nothing special- Snow”. Or as we say in Spanish when we can’t get what we really want: “Al cabo que ni quería”, that can be translated as “I didn’t even want it anyway”. Let’s see:

"Oh, I learn things everywhere I go.” The little man gestured up at the Wall with a gnarled black walking stick. “As I was saying … why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what’s on the other side?” He cocked his head and looked at Jon with his curious mismatched eyes. “You do want to know what’s on the other side, don’t you?”

“It’s nothing special,” Jon said. He wanted to ride with Benjen Stark on his rangings, deep into the mysteries of the haunted forest, wanted to fight Mance Rayder’s wildlings and ward the realm against the Others, but it was better not to speak of the things you wanted. “The rangers say it’s just woods and mountains and frozen lakes, with lots of snow and ice.”

—A Game of Thrones - Jon III

I mean… COME ON! This is one of the most telling passages to know, to really know Jon’s true nature, and it’s very, very similar to the quote about “the warrior princess and the willowy creature that only brushes her hair”:

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

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon XI

“Some willowy creature who sits up in a tower, brushing her hair and waiting for some knight to rescue her.” Nah, it’s nothing special, I didn’t even want it anyway, not for me, no.

Do I have to say more???

Actually, yes, I have.

Jon Snow does really want a lady. Jon Snow does really want to be a knight and rescue a maiden. Jon Snow does really want a lady to love and be loved back by her. Here some evidence:

Jon Snow wished that his mother were a highborn lady: “Not my mother, Jon thought stubbornly. He knew nothing of his mother; Eddard Stark would not talk of her. Yet he dreamed of her at times, so often that he could almost see her face. In his dreams, she was beautiful, and highborn, and her eyes were kind.”

Jon Snow wanted to be a hero like the Prince Aemon Dragonknight. The same Prince Aemon that jousted in a tourney, won it, and crowned his sister and lady love “Queen of Love and Beauty”, something that is straight out from the courtly love book: “The Dragonknight once won a tourney as the Knight of Tears, so he could name his sister the queen of love and beauty in place of the king’s mistress”.

Jon Snow tried to comfort Gilly with courtesy: “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. He could not help the girl, but perhaps the courtesy would please her”.

Jon Snow put Ghost between Ygritte and him and remembers that knights put their swords between their ladies and themselves, something that is straight out from the courtly love book: “After that he had taken to using Ghost to keep her away. Old Nan used to tell stories about knights and their ladies who would sleep in a single bed with a blade between them for honor’s sake, but he thought this must be the first time where a direwolf took the place of the sword”.

Jon Snow imagined romancing Ygritte as if she were a lady: “If I could show her Winterfell … give her a flower from the glass gardens, feast her in the Great Hall, and show her the stone kings on their thrones. We could bathe in the hot pools, and love beneath the heart tree while the old gods watched over us”.

Jon Snow wished for a domestic life in Winterfell, with his wife and children: I would need to steal her if I wanted her love, but she might give me children. I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. […] I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister’s son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly’s boy as well. […] Mance’s son and Craster’s would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb. He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily”.

Jon is a romantic that called his mare “sweet lady”.

Jon Snow closer friends in the Night’s Watch are Samwell Tarly and satin, they are literally male!Sansas.

Jon remembers fondly Sansa’s more feminine and ladylike traits: her romantic nature, her courtesies, her singing.

It’s also worth to mention that, despite Val’s beauty and physical attractiveness, Jon Snow, once again, appreciates her being maternal and singing to Gilly’s son, but was turned off by Val saying she would kill Princess Shireen:

“I have heard you singing to him.”

“I was singing to myself. Am I to blame if he listens?” A faint smile brushed her lips. “It makes him laugh. Oh, very well. He is a sweet little monster.”

“Monster?”

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon VIII

Once outside and well away from the queen’s men, Val gave vent to her wroth. “You lied about her beard. That one has more hair on her chin than I have between my legs. And the daughter … her face …”

“Greyscale.”

“The grey death is what we call it.”

“It is not always mortal in children.”

“North of the Wall it is. Hemlock is a sure cure, but a pillow or a blade will work as well. If I had given birth to that poor child, I would have given her the gift of mercy long ago.”

This was a Val that Jon had never seen before. “Princess Shireen is the queen’s only child.”

“I pity both of them. The child is not clean.”

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon XI

Wait a minute! Val was “singing to herself” like Jon’s memory of Sansa “singing to herself” while brushing out Lady’s coat???

Where did Jon get this idea of “some willowy creature that only brushes her hair” from??? It could be from his half sister Sansa, a literal princess, now trapped in a tower, that always brushed her hair and even brushed out her direwolf’s fur???

“She had brushed out her long auburn hair until it shone” —Sansa

“Her thick auburn hair had been brushed until it shone.” —Eddard

I often sent away her maid so I could brush her hair myself. —Catelyn

He thought […] Of Sansa, brushing out Lady’s coat and singing to herself. —Jon

And I also suspect that when Jon said this about Val:

Then Ghost emerged from between two trees, with Val beside him.

They look as though they belong together. Val was clad all in white; white woolen breeches tucked into high boots of bleached white leather, white bearskin cloak pinned at the shoulder with a carved weirwood face, white tunic with bone fastenings. Her breath was white as well … but her eyes were blue, her long braid the color of dark honey, her cheeks flushed red from the cold. It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely.

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon XI

He was remembering another pretty girl, princess like, next to a direwolf, looking as though they belong together.

A young beautiful girl, that everyone considers a princess, next to a direwolf???

Val is a beautiful young woman, Sansa is a beautiful young maiden.

Val has long blonde hair the color of dark honey which she wears in a braid. Val actually take care of her hair, enough to braid it, like Sansa that always brushes it. And if you google “dark honey” hair color you will find a variety of reddish brown (auburn) and reddish blonde hair colors.

Val has high sharp cheekbones, like Sansa.

Val’s eyes are pale grey or blue. Again the grey/blue eyes pattern…

Val is slender with a full bosom, like Sansa.

So?

Then Ghost emerged from between two trees, with Val beside him. […] It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely.

Of Sansa, brushing out Lady’s coat and singing to herself.

Think about it!

***

Thanks for your message ♡

#jonsa #anon asks

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nyangibun · 5 years

Text

Day 3 - At Last, My Lonely Days Are Over

Valentine’s Week - Love Songs

@jonxsansafanfiction

Song - At Last by Etta James

Ao3 Link

...

The truth is Jon Snow has been in love with Sansa Stark since he was eight-years-old.

Although, at that age, he didn’t exactly know that what he was feeling was love, but he knew that how he felt about Sansa was different to how he felt about Robb or Theon. With those two, they were his friends and he liked hanging out with them, and like any eight-year-old, they sometimes fought over stupid things like who ate the last chocolate bar and whether or not cops and robbers was a better game than tag. But with Sansa, all he wanted to do was make her smile. Anything she asked of him, he’d happily follow along, and it wasn’t just that Jon wanted to make little Sansa happy but he simply enjoyed being with her. She made him laugh. She was always so caring, in a way that Robb and Theon just weren’t.

Of course when they got older and Arya came along, they stopped playing as much but Jon never stopped wanting to make her happy. If he heard she wanted a particular type of snack, it’d appear in her room the next day. If boys were picking on her at school, Jon would take them aside and threaten them until they stopped. And when Harry cheated on her, he picked her up from the party, drove her around Winterfell all night until he finally got her to smile again.

But even as he did all these things, Jon never realised how he felt about Sansa. In his mind, she was a little sister he cared about but different from Arya because he knew the latter could take care of herself. With Sansa, he always told himself he paid extra attention because she was a fragile girl with a heart too big for her chest.

It was after the summer Sansa spent in Paris with her Aunt Lysa that everything changed. Those three months had been the longest they’d gone without seeing one another and when she came back, it was as if he was seeing her for the first time. Sansa Stark at fourteen was more beautiful than any girl he had ever met or known, and in those few seconds after she came home, Jon realised he was undeniably, helplessly, and ridiculously attracted to her.

But being seventeen and perpetually awkward around girls, Jon did what any kid his age would do: he pretended nothing had changed. If they had a party in the back garden and Sansa came out in a little sundress, Jon would volunteer to man the barbecue all afternoon just to avoid looking at her for too long. And if she asked him over to talk about boys like she used to before, Jon would just grit his teeth and imagine sicking one of the Stark dogs on them.

But it didn’t work – not that it mattered anyways.

Jon turned eighteen and moved to Edinburgh with Robb and Theon for university. He had had every intention of coming back, seeing her during holidays and allowing himself those brief moments of self-indulgence where he could just look and speak to her, but his mum died and going home didn’t feel so great anymore. He came for the funeral but he hardly remembered it. Everything blurred together in a dark haze and all he remembered was packing his things, selling the rest and moving everything to Edinburgh with the purpose of never returning.

He didn’t mean for it to happen. He wasn’t even sure how it did happen but after awhile, he lost contact with most of the Starks.

After his mum died, Jon dropped out of uni and started working in construction. He still saw Robb and Theon on the weekends but Robb eventually moved to Spain for his year abroad and stayed out there when he met a girl. Theon as well moved down to London to work for the family business after graduating. And everyone else just grew up without Jon realising the years had passed them by.

When he was twenty-five, he did think about reaching out again. He even reactivated his Facebook to look them up but that’s when he saw it: her engagement announcement. She was only twenty-two and she was already engaged. He couldn’t believe it; he especially couldn’t believe the blond-haired twat she was engaged to. The idea of really losing her felt like a distance too insurmountable for him and Jon decided to deactivate his Facebook and resign himself to the fact that that part of his life was really over.

So at twenty-nine, Jon is not bitter about the lost years but he’s not exactly thriving as he thought he’d be. He has a decent job managing the construction firm he joined ten years ago and a group of friends he has drinks with at the pub after work. He even has girlfriends from time to time but he doesn’t ever manage to fill the void where the Starks used to be. He doesn’t want to reach out either because the truth is he’s ashamed. Not just for letting them go so easily without a fight after all they did for him but for where he ended up. He’s not ashamed of who he is now, who he had to become after his mum died, but he does regret not going back to uni and making more of himself. He may not have had a dream but he does think he could have been something more.

That’s probably why when he does see one after all these years, he promptly decides to down the entire club’s collection of whiskey single-handedly.

Or maybe it’s just her that elicits this kind of response.

“Slow down,” Edd says, slapping at his hand as he’s reaching for the bottle once more. “I’m not carrying ya out of here. We already got our hands full with Mr Dancing Queen over there.” He gestures to the dancefloor where their big giant ginger friend is shaking his hips with a bunch of women from a hen do.

Jon snorts. “I’m fine,” he says with a wince. He managed to grab the bottle back and the whiskey is burning its way down the back of his throat. It stopped tasting like anything but regret several glasses ago.

“Clearly,” Edd rolls his eyes and snatches the bottle back to hand over to Sam on the other side of the table.

“What’s gotten into you?” Sam asks, those big eyes wide with concern, and because he’s so twisted up inside right now, Jon only feels resentment towards his friend.

“Nothing.”

But it’s not nothing. It’s very much something and she’s moving across the dancefloor, long red hair swishing behind her, as if she’s taunting him. He hasn’t seen her since she was sixteen but she must be twenty-six now. Fuck, she looks good. She looks so much better than good and it kills him.

Had he always had this strong of a reaction to her?

Jon doesn’t remember. He can’t even recall a single memory from the last time he saw her. The funeral had been so god-awful that all he wanted to do that day was disappear. And those weeks after. And the months after that.

She’s standing by the bar with her friend now and from this position, he can see her more clearly. She looks taller, more slender and toned than skinny, and she has a form-fitting emerald green dress on that is doing far more to him than he has any right to feel.

“Who’s the redhead?” Edd asks.

Jon curses under his breath and tears his gaze away. “Nothing. No one. I’m fine. Can we drop it?”

Edd glances at Sam and the two of them shrug but thankfully stay silent. His friends are observant and they can read him better than he gives them credit for but they also know when to push it and when not to. For that, he is grateful.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Tormund comes tumbling back towards their table and falls onto Edd, who kicks him hard. There’s a brief fight before the two settle down in their seats. Physically, Tormund resembles a terrifying red grizzly bear, but personality-wise, he’s more like a very horny golden retriever with little tact.

“If we want, they said we can join them!” Tormund exclaims happily.

Edd shakes his head. “You know their idea of a strip club doesn’t have women, right?”

The smile on his face slowly disappears, replaced by a pensive frown. “Then who does all the stripping?”

Sam hesitates. “Umm… men?”

“Dudes!?” Tormund shouts. “But why - oh, yeah that would make more sense.” He then shrugs. “I still wanna go. I mean I’ve never been to a dude strip club before. Maybe it could be educational.”

“Educational?”

“You know, for future moves,” Tormund smirks, wiggling his hips even though he’s seated. The rest of them groan and kick him again from all angles. He yelps but then laughs uproariously.

“I am not going to a male strip club just so you can learn some new moves,” Edd says flatly. “That requires a lot more alcohol than we’ve got.”

“Say no more!”

Tormund jumps out of his seat before either of them can tell him no and goes running across the club to the bar. Simultaneously, all three of them groan. It wouldn’t be the weirdest Saturday night they’ve ever had, not since Tormund joined the construction firm five years ago, but it’s definitely a lot more than Jon wants to deal with right now.

Although now that his attention is back on the bar, he doesn’t see her anywhere. At first, panic rises to his throat, but he reminds himself that he had no intention of speaking to her anyways so what’s the point? Sansa is his past, and even if circumstances were different, she’d never been his to have. He has no more claim to her than anyone else and just because, even after all this time, she still makes his heart race and his palms clam up, it doesn’t mean he should go talk to her. No, it definitely does not.

“Are we really going to go to a male strip club?” asks Sam with a resigned sigh.

“No,” Jon says.

“Probably,” Edd counters at the same time.

They look at each other and Jon cracks a smile for the first time tonight.

“Well, look at that, Broody Git Snow knows how to fucking smile for once,” Edd snorts. Jon lobs an ice cube at his friend’s head and the two chuckle. The anxiety is still knotted deeply in his stomach but some of it eases knowing his friends are all weird idiots that are there for him.

“Guess what!” Tormund shouts before he’s even reached the table (because he is that bloody loud). “I found my long lost sister! See, she’s ginger too!”

“What?” Sam immediately says.

Jon turns to look and his body goes cold.

“Jon?”

Her voice is still the same, yet it’s somehow older, more mature, and it twists him up inside. “Sansa,” he breathes out. Every nerve in his body is on fire and he’s dying to run away but he’s blocked in by Edd and Sam on one side and Tormund is now standing right in front of his only route of escape.

A brilliant smile appears on her face and Jon stands as she leans forward across the table. Her arms go around his neck and the feel of her sends his heart skittering at a worrying pace. He holds her anyways, hands wrapping around her slim waist, the tickle of her long hair against his cheek. She smells like Sansa: bright and fruity and all her.

God, is it possible to still be into her after all this time?

“How long has it been?” she asks, pulling back. Jon is reluctant to let go but he does. She smiles at him. “Robb’s never going to believe this.”

Robb…

The Starks…

He remembers now why he didn’t want to talk to her. The shame of his own cowardice and weakness.

Jon’s smile is faint as he says, “yeah, it’s been a long time.”

Thankfully, before she can ask him any more questions, his drunk, beautiful friend says without tact, “as fun as this reunion is, do you girls wanna go to a strip club? A male strip club?”

The conversation immediately changes and everyone is joyously discussing whether they should go and why or why not it’s a good idea. Jon stays quietly out of the conversation; he’s trying pathetically not to look at her but even as kids, he was always acutely aware of her. Her movements, her laughter, just the way she speaks draws him in like no one ever has, and dimly he’s aware, like no one ever will.

After ten whole absurd minutes of discussion, they decide to go and Jon finds himself walking down Edinburgh at one in the morning with Tormund, Edd, Sam, Sansa and Sansa’s friend, Jeyne, who, he finds, is as exuberant and mischievous as Tormund is.

He trails behind, unable to join in the good-natured joking as he might’ve done another night. He’s watching his feet as he walks, trying to remember the last thing he ever said to Sansa, when she sidles up next to him.

“You’d think after ten years, you would’ve figured it out.”

Jon looks up, startled. “What?”

“I couldn’t understand it,” she continues on; either she didn’t hear him or she chose to ignore it. “At first, we all respected that you needed the space but you never came back. I don’t mean to Winterfell; I mean to us. We thought - well, we thought we were your family too. Robb especially. But not just him, you know?”

He doesn't have an answer for her. Nothing that makes sense anyways, so he stays silent and lets her get it all out.

“Can I be honest?” she asks, though it’s not a question that requires a response. “I was so angry with you for leaving us like that. I know we weren’t as close as you are with Robb or Arya, but I was still mad.” She chuckles softly, the sound bereft of humour. “I was mad at you for hurting them. We cared so much about you and it takes ten years for one of us to finally see you? And not even on purpose?”

Jon is trying to think of an appropriate response when she grabs his wrist and stops them. “Say something!”

“I wish I had something better to say to you,” he says, still not looking at her. “But people grow up, Sansa. They grow apart. I’m sorry it happened but that’s it.”

Unfortunately, he can sense her anger without having to even look at her. “What the fuck, Jon? Is that all you have to say?! You’re sorry? That’s it?”

Something snaps inside of him. Not anger but frustration. “What do you want me to say?” he responds. His eyes finally snap to hers, unable to hold it in any longer, and his breath catches in his throat at the way she’s glaring at him. “My mum died and I didn’t handle it well. I had to get out and I did. I’m sorry that it meant we lost touch.”

“You’re such an asshole,” she murmurs. She lets go of his hand and begins to walk off.

This is what he wanted, right? For everything to just go back to how it was, for Sansa to go home and forget about him like she’s done the past ten years. But why does the idea of that fill him with such dread? Why does every single cell in his body feel like it’s dying the further she moves away from him?

Jon pulls at the ends of his hair in frustration before running after her.

“I was a coward,” he shouts. Several drunken stragglers turn to look at him but he ignores them for the redhead currently standing stock-still a few feet away from him. “I was scared of – shit, I don’t know, everything, I guess.”

He walks forward, moving a little closer, but still giving her space.

“After my mum died, I couldn’t deal with anything. I dropped out of uni and I just fell apart but even as everything was going to shit around me, I didn’t want to involve any of you. Dumb as it might sound, I was trying to spare you guys all the hassle of putting up with me.”

Sansa does turn around at this but only to give him a repulsed look.

He laughs. “Yeah, I know. I was nineteen. Emotional maturity was not really my strong suit… not that I got any better.” He sighs and steps a little closer. “I didn’t want to go back to Winterfell. It was too painful but I never intentionally tried to cut you guys out. I still saw Robb and Theon and I just figured I’d have time to reconnect with the rest of you when you got older. But Robb and Theon both moved away and none of you came to Edinburgh so by then I just didn’t know how to keep in touch with anyone anymore.”

“You could’ve just rang us. Or even texted.”

“I tried.”

The anger around her eyes have softened and it feels like it’s time to come clean, even if it means he has to go back to never seeing her again, because the truth is – the stupid, absurd, inexplicable truth is he’s still in love with her.

“When?” she asks.

“When I was twenty-five,” he says slowly. “I logged onto Facebook for the first since uni and I clicked on your name and that’s when –” He stops, hesitates for a brief moment as self-doubt wars inside of him, but the curious look in her eyes urges him onwards. “You were engaged. You were engaged to some guy I had never even met, with a life I was never apart of, and I don’t know what killed me more. Knowing that I had already lost you to someone else or knowing that I had been the one to create this distance between us.”

Her eyes widen and her mouth parts but he doesn’t give her a chance to speak.

“I was a coward, Sansa. Instead of being happy for you, I ran away and by the time I realised how much of an ass I was being, it felt like it had already been too long and I was ashamed. I let go of the only family I ever really had because I was too scared to let any of you see how fucked up I really was. And – don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy now, but I never went back to uni. I never made something of myself and I didn’t know how to face up to that.”

“You know what’s the most fucked up part?” she asks but she doesn’t wait for his answer. “The part where you thought any of us would even care. Jon, did you know Arya left just before her third year of uni and ran off to Asia to go traveling with some guy she worked part-time at a garage with? Or that Robb knocked up that girl he met in Spain? Or that Bran nearly died because he was dumb enough to go climbing without a proper harness?”

She steps right into his personal space and says, “or that I got engaged to a complete and total wanker who decided to cheat on me with one of my bridesmaids?” She pokes him harshly in the chest. “We’re all fucked up. You don’t have a monopoly on making bad decisions, Jon Snow! But we’re family and we support each other even when we mess up!”

“I - I didn’t know.”

“Of course you didn’t know! You didn’t even bother to reach out!” she shouts at him, her chest heaving up and down. “You didn’t even bother to ask if I felt the same way! You just assumed and assumed and left without so much as a word!” Tears began slipping rapidly down her wind-bitten cheeks. “You weren’t the only one who got their heart broken, you know?”

His heart feels like lead in his chest. He wants to reach out for her but he knows that’s the last thing she’d want. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Sansa. For everything. I know it’s too late now to ask for your forgiveness but I really am truly sorry.”

“There you go again, assuming!” Sansa grabs him by the collar of his shirt and pulls him towards her. Their lips crash together, painful and bruising, but the shock of it is quickly replaced by needy desperation. He pulls at her waist, fingers pressing into her skin, until they’re flushed against one another. It’s not the kind of first kiss he had always envisioned with Sansa; there’s no sweetness here, no whispered confessions of love or gentle shy touches. This is angry and aggressive; it’s a kiss born out of a decade of frustration and missed opportunities and terrible, pathetic mistakes.

When she pulls back, her lips are swollen and red. “I’m not forgiving you.”

“I know.”

“You hurt me, Jon. You really hurt us.”

“I know and I don’t deserve a second chance but if I had it, I would spend the rest of our lives making it up to you, to everyone.”

“They’d probably forgive you right away, you know? They don’t hold grudges. They just miss you.”

“But you hold grudges?”

There’s a faint smile on her lips and he can’t help kissing her again, just a small peck, brief and chaste.

“Oh yeah,” she says. “You might really have to spend the rest of your life making it up to me.”

He smiles now too. “I’d be more than happy to.”

“Good because for some stupid reason, I’m still in love with you and if you –” Sansa glares at him, tears springing to her eyes again. “If you leave again, I will never forgive you.”

“Sansa,” he murmurs softly, wiping at her tears with the pad of his thumb. “I’ve been in love with you since I was eight and spent the better part of ten years without you. I don’t want to ever do that again.” He presses his forehead against hers. “I promise. Never again.”

“Okay.”

He leans back to look at her, his heart beating wildly, feeling like this moment right here is too good to be true. “Okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

Jon nods. “Okay.”

#jonsa #actuallyjonsa #jonxsansaff #jon x sansa #jon snow x sansa stark #jonsaff #jonsa fanfic #my fics #long post

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sheikah · 7 years

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Do you think Jon and Daenerys will have a healthy relationship?

Hi,anon! Thanks so much for this ask. Yes, I do think their relationship will behealthy, and there are so, so many reasons for it that I’d love to gush abouthere.

1. Troubled Pasts

Jon and Dany both had experiencesin their childhoods that shaped their perception of society and other people insimilar ways.

As a bastard Jon was viewed andtreated as inferior at Winterfell during his youth. Despite Ned’s love we cansee that this had a profound effect on Jon’s personality and led to his laterself-doubt and “broody” attitude.

From the beginning of AGoT we seefrom Cat’s treatment of Jon and the fact that he is barred from the high tableat the feast honoring Robert that Ned’s attentive parenting, Robb’s friendship,and Jon’s close, loving relationship with Arya aren’t enough to make him trulyfeel like an equal member of the Stark family.

Similarly, Dany is told by Viserysfrom a young age that they are royalty deserving of a better life. He tellsher about their home and family, but she never gets to experience any of this.Instead she is shuffled around from place to place, never allowed to feelsecure and content in a real home. The only constant in her life is Viserys andhe is abusive.

Things don’t really get better forthem from there. Jon is allowed to go to The Wall and no one aside from Benjeneven attempts to warn him what his life there will be like, and even Benjen’swarning is lukewarm. Tyrion gives him a more realistic picture of what theWatch is but by that point Jon doesn’t want to turn back from his decision.

So as a young man Jon is thrown into a hard life in one of the most unforgiving climates of this universesurrounded by people who resent him for his family name—a family name hedoesn’t actually get to reap the benefits of out in the world. Thorne callinghim “Lord Snow” sets him apart from his brothers and puts a target on his backfrom the beginning. But Jon overcomes this and finds common ground with hisbrothers, starting with Sam, so that he can develop friendships with his newcompanions.

When she is sold to the dothraki,Dany is also an outcast. Physically she sticks out like a sore thumb amongstthe dothraki and she can’t speak a word of their language. She’s a young girland a virgin who is given to an enormous, intimidating brute of a man who rapesher. In spite of this she ingratiates herself to him and the rest of the dothrakito try and make the best of her situation, learning their language and earningthe friendship of her handmaids and the love of her husband.

2. Similar Worldviews

These experiences gave both Jonand Dany a look at what it is like to be a marginalized person in Planetos.Class discrimination in Jon’s case and misogyny in Dany’s show them both howhard it is to make a place for yourself in the world if the circumstances ofyour birth happen to put you outside the ranks of the privileged nobility.

Because of that they both make ittheir business to help the downtrodden and underprivileged people in theirrespective regions. Jon doesn’t execute Ygritte when ordered to do so,partially because it goes against his sensibilities to behead a woman, but alsobecause he hasn’t fully bought into the prejudices of his society. Andhis relationship with Ygritte allows him to see that the Free Folk are justpeople like him.

So while it’s true that Jon needsthe wildlings in the war against the White Walkers, he also brings them Southto bring them under the protection of The Wall because he believes in equalityand as someone who was treated as less than because of his birth, heunderstands to some extent what it’s like to be a wildling. And supports equaltreatment for them.

Across the world, Dany’sexperiences with the dothraki made her a champion for women in the largelypatriarchal culture in Essos. She tries to defend the women from the shepherdvillage, even though Mirri Maz Duur thinks her efforts are too little, too late.

But when Drogo dies and the strongof his khalasar desert her, Dany is just as happy to have the allegiance of thewomen, children, and elderly who are left to her when the others leave. She wants to care for peoplewho can’t care for themselves, and continues this crusade in the liberation ofthe slave cities.

She was essentially sold to Drogoas a slave and as such she cares deeply about the atrocity of slavery, refusingto sail for Westeros until Ghiscari slavery has been abolished entirely. Shealso liberates the women of the dosh khaleen, who are living in their own sortof slavery under the authority of the khals until Dany frees them.

Jon’s egalitarian views resultedin the men who are supposed to serve and obey him murdering him instead. Dany’ssimilar choices led to her own subjects attempting to murder her.

So we can see that equality andfreedom are important values to both Jon and Dany. And both of them faceddoubts and resistance from not only their enemies but their friends and allies, too, on their quests to improvethe quality of life for the wildlings, the dothraki, and the slaves.

So in one another, Jon and Dany will finally findanother person who 1. Understands what it is like to be a leader/ruler 2.Understands what it is like to have to make the unpopular decisions and 3. Iswilling to put themselves on the line to help the least fortunate people in theworld.

They also both know when violenceor drastic measures are necessary. We’ve seen Jon execute people against hisown hesitation on the matter, with Janos and then Thorne, Olly, and the othertraitors. This is something he obviously struggled with but he still did itbecause it is what needed to be done. At the same time, we know that Dany hashad to execute people who have challenged her rule, a rule that keeps peopleout of the chains of slavery. She was forced to execute Mossador and make anexample of the former master who she fed to Viserion and Rhaegal, and while Ithink she learned from this mistake later, she crucified the masters for theircrucifixion of the children. So both of them have experience with making thetough choices and facing the consequences.

This is very important for twopeople who are in positions of power when it comes to their relationship. It isessential that they share these values if their relationship is going to work.

3. Important Differences/Yin and Yang

But I am not here to try and saythat it will all be perfect. Jon and Dany have a lot of differences inpersonality. There is a reason we often look to them as the ice and fire of theseries, besides the obvious reasons of their family names, the cold and hotclimates they hail from, etc.

Dany has the fire, passion, andalso the hot temper. She is impulsive and quick to anger. But her passion alsomeans that she loves deeply and feels happiness just as intensely as she doessadness and rage.

While we have occasionally seenfits of rage from Jon, he is typically more stoic, harder to rile, and moreforgiving.

So when Dany wants to go all “fireand blood,” or when Jon doesn’t want to act rashly when she does, we can counton arguments and disagreements. But any healthy couple has these. No one isgoing to agree 100% of the time, and people often say opposites attract. So Jon’sand Dany’s differences are important, too, because they need to balance eachother out.

When Jon is full of doubt, Dany’ssurety will push him to action. When Dany acts on emotion, Jon can counsel herand make sure action is warranted. It’s like a yin and yang that I think willwork beautifully.

They even look like the yin and yang—Dany with her pale eyes and silver-whitehair, often wearing white and pale pastels, while Jon is every bit the man inblack. They complement one another in every possible way.

4. Common Protests

I often see people worry about the incest, but I don’t think we have a real reason to worry about that. As we know, GoT/ASOIAF is set in a fictionalized, fantasy version of medeival Europe where incest was more commonly practiced. But even if that weren’t the case, there is precedent in the series for this kind of incest, and I’m not just talking about Targaryens.

Jon and Dany are nephew and aunt, which is not a particularly close family relation.

In immediate ASOIAF history we see cousin incest that is completely acceptable and not alarming to the family members. Joanna Lannister and Tywin Lannister (Tyrion, Cersei, and Jaime’s parents) were cousins. Rickard Stark and Lyarra Stark (Ned, Brandon, and Lyanna’s parents) were cousins.

Earlier in history Jonnel Stark married his niece Sansa Stark. And Edric Stark married his niece Serena Stark.

In current ASOIAF history Aeron Greyjoy wanted to marry Asha/Yara to her uncle Victarion.

And none of this takes into account the several examples of incest in Targaryen ancestry. Since the Targaryens have strange features and some extra abilities they are not like regular humans and incest does not effect them the way it would normal people so even sibling incest is common for Targaryens (remember Jon and Dany are both Targaryen). It is a misconception that Aerys II represents all modern Targaryens or that all would be mad as he was because of incest.

So I don’t think that this would be an obstacle to Jon’s or Dany’s feelings about the other. If anything they will be elated to have a family to be a part of.

5. Loneliness

Finally, in spite of how far they’vecome, both Jon and Dany are still lonely and desire companionship. The famousparallel that I see mentioned all the time in the Jonerys fandom comes to mind:

Jon in ASOS:

Jon wondered where Ghost was now.Had he gone to Castle Black, or was he was running with some wolfpack in thewoods? He had no sense of the direwolf, not even in his dreams. It made himfeel as if part of himself had been cut off. Even with Ygritte sleepingbeside him, he felt alone.

Dany in ADWD:

Beneath her coverlets she tossed and turned, dreaming that Hizdahr waskissing her … but his lips were blue and bruised, and when he thrust himselfinside her, his manhood was cold as ice. She sat up with her hair disheveledand the bedclothes atangle. Her captain slept beside her, yet she wasalone.

Even with Davos and Tyrion as their respective advisers, even withTormund and Edd and Missandei and Jorah as friends, they still lack somethingthat only they can provide each other—a real partner. Someone who is theirequal and who can understand their struggles and support them. We have seen that both Jon and Dany have the capacity for love, realromantic love, not just marriages of convenience or necessity. And when ithappens, I think it will absolutely be healthy, and as happy as a relationshipcan be in the turmoil they are living through currently.

Lastly, it is something that we can believe GRRM is in favor of too based on the years of foreshadowing, discussed here by @oadara.

Thanks for giving me a reason to talk about my faves, anon :)

#jonerys #jon x dany #got meta #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #myjd #answered

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mathiaskillmaster · 5 years

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My GOT Ending: The First of the Starks (Episode 4 Season 8) Part 2

Jon has just been brought to King's Landing where as a prisoner of distinction, he crosses the gates of the capital, sitting by force on a horse and a bag on his head. Escorted by a guard holding him by each shoulder, the young king in the north is taken immediately to the throne room, where sitting on the great iron seat, Queen Cersei is patiently waiting, as well as at her side Euron Greyjoy, Qyburn and the Mountain. Harry Strickland overtakes Jon and comes to stop at the foot of the steps to bow respectfully to the queen. _"Majesty, it is with great pride that I bring you, in flesh and blood, the king in the north." With that, Harry removes the bag from Jon's head, the latter seeing it finally clear for a long time. His face freezes in anguish at the sight of Cersei, who does not deprive herself to show her satisfaction. _ "You are doing a great service to the kingdom, Captain Strickland." says Cersei, "be assured that you and your men will be graciously rewarded." Harry just smiles and bows to the queen's generosity towards her, before retiring with his men, leaving Jon in the hands of Queen Lannister's guards. Cersei gets up from the throne, escorted by the Mountain and goes down the stairs to stand right in front of Jon and stare him up and down. _ "If you want to kill me majesty, so do not waste time." Jon just said, accepting his fate. This temper seems almost amusing Cersei. _"Killing you? No, it would be too simple, you're more useful to me alive. As long as you stay in the red dungeon, your little queen and her dragons will not be able to do anything against me. She can be impulsive, but she would never risk your life." Jon must recognize that it is thinking well from her and sighs heavily. _"Now I want to talk to you, come with me." she orders before starting to walk towards the back door, followed by the Mountain. Jon is also forcibly taken away by the two guards to watch him. Jon "follows" Cersei to the top of the ramparts of the red dungeon, offering a majestic and unobstructed view on the royal city, as well as lands extending in front. Jon can then see the many balistes having been placed on the ramparts, as well as the camp, real sea of tents, of the golden company extending on the fields in front of the capital. Jon then understands that Cersei is trying to show her all power and that she thinks she can stand up to any assailant, even the Night King's army. However, the queen is looking at another equally important subject that directly concerns the young king in the north. _ "The birds of my hand, Qyburn, have told him a story that I admit has surprised me a lot at first ..... Aegon Targaryen." Jon's heart leaps in his chest and she swallows. He sees it in her sure look. She knows. She now knows he is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, and therefore the most legitimate pretender to the Iron Throne. However, Jon defends himself. _ "I never wanted the throne and I would never want it! Moreover, how can you talk about this at such a moment? Winter is here, and the dead too! If you do nothing, it's is the entire population of King's Landing who will swell the ranks of the Night King!" Jon gets angry again, stunned by Cersei's detached attitude to the situation. The two guards restrain him, while the Mountain was about to unsheathe his sword. Cersei listens to Jon's words, but simply responds with a pout. _"Lock him up in one of the jails and stay under guard. If he escapes, I'll get you thrown from the ramparts, understood?" she said to the two guards escorting Jon. The latter obey and take the prisoner with them. Jon tries again to be heard, but Cersei does not deign to listen to him, remaining to contemplate from the heights her city so heavily protected, with a morbid assurance. ******** Following Bran's revelation about Jon, a summit meeting was held in the Dragonstone council room at the request of Daenerys. The idea of a frontal attack on the capital was quickly dismissed, all suspecting that the defenses of the city were strengthened, and that such an offensive would give a great opportunity for Cersei to kill Jon. It was Tyrion and Varys who then proposed to take a more discreet approach, infiltrating into the city by one of the many underground meanders underneath and some of which led to the outside, and even to the seashore. A first commando could infiltrate to free Jon while a second could trigger a diversion, a fire for example, to attract the attention of the majority of the guards. Tyrion knows it's a risky plan and that Cersei might well guess the scheme, but he has nothing better to offer for now. Arya is the first volunteer to go to King's Landing. Brienne decides that she will not go alone and will leave with her, as well as Sandor and Gendry. Knowing well the subterranean of the capital, Varys will leave too, with Tyrion. Jaime is also volunteering, eager to help continue to defend the living, such is the oath he pronounced at Daenerys upon his arrival at Winterfell. Daenerys would have liked to come, but the presence of Drogon would be too showy and the young queen does not want to risk the life of her last "child" still alive. In addition, in recent days, the young queen of dragons feels more and more tired, sometimes feeling mild pains in the belly. It is with the insistence of Ser Jorah, Tyrion and Missandei that the queen agrees to stay in Dragonstone. Samwell and Gilly reassure Ser Jorah, telling him that they will look after her during his absence. Thus, on the beaches of Dragonstone, Daenerys attends at the departure of the commandos designed to go to help Jon. A few soldiers recovering from the Battle of Winterfell prepare and board one of the ships of the fleet that will be used to approach the coast not far from the capital. Arya and Sansa hug one last time, Sansa making her little sister promise to come back safe and bring Jon back. Sandor, Brienne, Podrick and Jaime have donned their armor and board their swords at their belts. Gendry has recovered his hammer of war. Melisandre is coming too, saying that this was the will of the Lord of Light, and that she must go to King's Landing. Ser Jorah, Varys and Tyrion also send a last goodbye to Daenerys and Missandei, both of whom are watching their friends board the ship with concern. Before, Jorah promised his queen that he would bring Jon back, even if it would cost him life. After the final preparations, the ship begins to move away from the shore, the sail being erected and all the occupants on board ready for the mission that awaits them. Arya, Sandor, Brienne, Jaime, Davos, Podrick, Gendry, Varys, Tyrion, Melisandre, Jorah ... all are ready. From the beach, Daenerys, Samwell, Gilly, Sansa and Missandei attend the departure of their friends, praying for their success. In the sky of Dragonstone, Drogon sings a loud roar, almost like a cry of encouragement to the proud crew en route to King's Landing. After the departure of the commandos, Samwell returned from this step in the fortress to study in detail the books he stole from the Citadel, hoping to find in their old and damaged pages, a way to end this disaster. Gilly returned to take care of Little Sam and with the help of Missandei and Sansa, help the survivors of Winterfell. For her part, Daenerys goes, this time alone, in the caves of the island, to find Bran. Once again, the young man guesses her coming even before she crosses the threshold. _ "You say that Jon is our only hope .... how are you certain of that?" asks the young queen more than intrigued and also showing her fear of losing the man she loves. Bran although not showing it, guessed it. _"I know. I saw it, as I see everything that's going on, happened or will happen ...." _ "What else do you see?" the Queen asks as she approaches Bran. When asked, the young man looks straight at her. Daenerys feels almost uneasy, as if seeing through her mind. _ "I see the snow and the ash mixing and covering a gigantic room and partially destroyed ..... I see the Iron Throne, also buried and disappearing little by little ... but that, you saw it as well." the young three-eyed raven answered. At these words, Daenerys can not help but be surprised and feels her heart leap. The memory of this vision in the altar of the undying came back to her like a flash. She, being in this empty and ruined throne room, at the mercy of snow and ashes. She, approaching the Iron Throne, climbing the steps one by one. She was about to touch with her hand the cold iron of the throne, but abstained, suddenly feeling a presence behind her .... The presence of Bran ..... How could he ..... ? Daenerys gasped, as if emerging from a waking dream, in front of Bran, still impassive. _"I ..... I must go...." Daenerys suddenly said as she left the cavern with a slight hurry, leaving Bran alone again in front of his contemplations. After the departure of the mother of dragons, Bran looks at the fresco depicting the Night King, and his eyes turn white. In this new trance, Bran finds himself at a very distant time, in the middle of what looks like a small village of wooden houses, built in a valley surrounded by large rocky hills and near a river. Without them noticing Bran's presence, the locals continue their work, while the kids have fun. Bran recognizes the time when the First Men began colonizing Westeros millennia ago. Bran's gaze is on someone in particular. A man, alone, sitting in front of his house and carving with his knife a small wooden effigy. Approaching, Bran recognizes the face of the individual: it is the Night King, when he was still human. Another man comes to meet him, saluting him like an old friend and sits next to him. Bran listens to what they say to each other. _"So it's coming soon, is not it? You're going to become a father. I'll almost pity you." gently mocks the friend. _"Well, on the contrary, it's a chance for me. This new land is beautiful and it will be perfect for raising a child." said the future Night King. His friend gently nods his head and shows an intrigued look at the effigy of wood that the man holds. _"What's this?" _ "Oh that ..... it's a gift for my future child." he said, juggling the object in his hands. He gives it to his friend so he can take a closer look. Bran sees it too. The effigy of wood has the shape of a direwolf, almost similar to what will later become the coat of arms of the Stark family. _ "But why a wolf?" asks the friend of the future Night King. He takes the object and gives his answer with conviction. _ "It is an animal that inspires a certain respect ... the strength, the nobility, the loyalty .... some values that I want to transmit to my child through this effigy .... the meaning of the honor and sacrifice, for the good of all." Bran had listened to the end. The friend gave a friendly pat on the man's back and left him to his business. As Bran had seen, in a month, the man would give this gift to his son who came into the world. And a week later, he would be captured by the Children of the Forest, during a forest trip to collect wood, and would be transformed into the first of the white walkers. ********** At King's Landing, Jon is locked in a cell, shackled by iron on his wrists and ankles, whose chains are firmly fixed to the cold and sticky walls of this dark cell. The door of the cell opens briefly, while a guard brings him a piece of dry bread and water, before leaving immediately. Jon remains silent, desperate and thinking about what he could do. ********* Night has fallen. At Dragonstone, Samwell joined Bran in the caves of the island. Bran seems to have made a major discovery through the memories of these ancestral paintings of the Children of the Forest. Samwell has just heard this famous revelation and seems disappointed, shaking his head and apparently refusing the facts. _"No ... you must be wrong ..." Samwell said first. Bran remains categorical. _"It is the only way." _ "But ... but god damn it, it's not fair!" Sam adds desperately, "Search again, there must be another way, it can not end like that!" Despite Samwell's refusal of this possibility, Bran knows there is no other way and can only let his friend have to accept the inevitability. After calming down, Sam sits on a rock, running his hands over his face, sighing heavily. _ "Seven hells .... how could we get here?" And during that time, in the fortress of Dragonstone, Daenerys had to stay in bed following a sudden feeling of fatigue having seized her and other sharp pains that had occurred in her belly. Gilly, Missandei and Sansa stayed with her. But as she examines her, Gilly suddenly changes her expression, which the others notice. Daenerys then reveals under her dress a barely rounded belly. Sansa and Missandei exchange a very surprised look. _ "Majesty ...." said Gilly with a smile "... you are pregnant." *********** At King's Landing, the night has also taken over. In her royal apartments, Cersei wakes up and suddenly stands up in bed. His face is dripping with sweat and his heart is beating wildly. Immediately spreading the blanket, she discovers with horror her sheets stained with blood ... her own blood flowing from between her legs.

#game of thrones #A Song of Ice and Fire #daenerys targaryen #jon snow #fanfiction #deviation #white walkers #dragons

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i-just-like-commenting · 7 years

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Yes, the books were adaptable, part 3: Season 5 rewrite

So your first question might be, given that I’m imagining an alternative scenario, why adapt the remainder of books 4 and 5 in a single season when I could do it in two? Well, one thing the show is correct about is that seasons need conclusions of a kind, finales, turning points, something to make the audience want to tune in nine months later. And only going halfway through the arcs in aFfC and aDwD leaves you...halfway through arcs. With no real sense of resolution, completion, or full development. You could do what the books did and split it into two seasons based on location, but that barely worked in the books, and besides, I’d like to have the opportunity to, say, have Cersei and Dany be clear foils as they both try to unravel a prophecy of doom, or making Quentyn contiguous with the rest of the Dorn arc, things lost by the book split.

The difficulty with season 5 then becomes, unfortunately, too much plot, and thus I am going to cut or combine a bunch of characters and plotlines. This includes: Quentyn (merged with Trystane), Jon Connington and the rest of Griff’s motley band, Lady Falyse, the Blue Bard, Hyle Hunt, Moqorro, Ronnet Connington, the Widow of the Docks (merged with Talisa), Arys Oakheart (Bronn is in his role), Darkheart (now Obara), the grotesquerie, and many others. Some of them might be squeezed in as more minor figures, but even then they won’t be as prominent. That doesn’t mean that I think they’re inconsequential in the books or uninteresting. In fact a lot of them I adore and will miss (Lady Lemore~~). But we’re trying to fit this into ten episodes and keep the cast within a budget, which means making some cuts.

Because there is so much to fit in this season, I’ve also given myself the challenge of cutting each plot into chunks and describing what happens in each hypothetical episode. Spoilers for books 4 and 5 (and oh so many words) below the jump (also, apologies for my weak attempt at episode titles):

Episode 1: A Feast for Crows

King’s Landing: Tywin’s funeral, as Jaime stands vigil, Cersei doesn’t know how to handle Tommen’s grieving, and Kevan and Lancel making their departure. Cersei reluctantly agrees to go along with Tommen’s wedding to Margaery in exchange for Olenna leaving afterwards.

Riverlands: Brienne is on the road, asking extras if they’ve seen Sansa. She suspects someone is following her. It is Pod; he tells her his sob story and she feels bad and makes him her squire.

The Wall: Stannis and Melisandre let wildlings across in exchange for converting to Rh’llor-ism (Davos does not approve) and executing Mance (yeah I know, character who isn’t dead in the books, but he may be soon, so let’s simplify). Jon then has to remind Stannis that he can’t betray the Watch to go recapture Winterfell, and suggests getting the aid of the Mormonts and mountain clans who won’t want to support the Boltons.

Moat Caitlin: Roose uses Theon to betray the Iron Born and retake the castle. He lets one iron born escape, letting us see Theon is still inside there somewhere. Jeyne arrives as “Arya” and Theon immediately sees through the ruse, but Roose doesn’t care.

Braavos: Arya sails into Braavos, with some cool effects shots and arrives at the House of Black and White. Gets accepted by the Friendly Man.

Road to Meereen: Tyrion is bitter, mean, and drunk as he’s unloaded by Illyrio Maptois and sent packing in a cart with Varys on his way to the river. He asks where they’re going, and Varys has said that they’re going to join Dany. “Didn’t you help Robert try to assassinate her once?” “That was before she had dragons.”

Meereen: Dany holds council; the Harpies have been killing overnight, HIzdahr proposes marriage and reopening the pits, and someone presents a corpse killed by Drogon. Dany hears advice on each of them, and the episode ends with her locking her dragons in the vault.

Episode 2: Fathers and Daughters, Mothers and Sons

Dorne: Arianne, Bronn, and Ellaria arrive at Sunspear with Oberyn’s bones. They meet up with Tyene, Nym, and Obara (mention that Sarella is off somewhere) and confront Doran. He and Ellaria both refuse to start a war of revenge, but Arianne and the Sand Snakes aren’t happy. We end with Arianne watching Myrcella and Trystane (who should be about 15 and 17 respectively) playing cyvasse. Myrcella says she’s going to miss Tyrstane after he leaves; he jokes that that’s only because she always wins against him.

King’s Landing: Flashback to Maggy, followed by Tommen and Margaery’s wedding, left unconsummated until his coming into majority. This will emphasize that Cersei is still regent and also be less creepy. Cersei is upset with how chummy Jaime and Loras are being. He is upset that she blows up the tower of the Hand and declares she won’t be appointing a new Hand (she considered it in the book, it saves us a character, and demonstrates her incompetency). Cersei starts trying to lure away two of Margaery’s retainers, Taena and Oswald.

The Wall: Stannis departs with his men, leaving his family, Melisandre, and Davos behind. Jon sends off Sam with Aemon, Gilly, and her baby to Oldtown to keep them all safe and to get a new maester. Sam expresses fear because his dad never wanted him to be a measter.

Riverlands: Brienne meets Sam’s dad. He is an asshole to her. She gets a lead on Sansa and heads off to hunt it down.

The Eyrie: Sansa is still posing as Alayne and dealing with Robin’s fits and strangeness. She learns from the maester that the drug Littlefinger is giving him could be lethal and puts two-and-two together.

Shield Islands: Victarion and Euron raid a town, and talk about how Euron learned magic in Valyria. Euron entrusts Victarion with bringing Dany back using his dragon horn.

Road to Meereen: Tyrion and Varys board a boat and meet “Griff,” an arrogant boy with obviously-dyed hair who Varys says will accompany them to meet Dany. Tyrion starts trying to figure out who Griff really is while being sullen and mean.

Meereen: Grey Worm finds one of his friends dead and it is sad. She starts to reconsider Hizdahr’s proposal. Barristan is against it because she needs to marry in Westeros, and meanwhile she and Daario are getting all sexy.

Episode 3: Descent

King’s Landing: Cersei switches Qyburn to be on the council. We have a scene of a dwarf head being delivered to her, implying there have been many others. She and Jaime get into a heated argument complete with wine-throwing over his recommending Tommen squire for Loras and Jaime implying he suspects about Lancel.

The Eyrie: The high castle must be abandoned for the winter. Sansa figures out how to keep Robin calm going down the harsh path without drugging him by telling him his knightly stories.

Dorne: Arianne and Bronn are naked in bed, talking about how she suspects her father is going to place her brother Trystane on the throne instead of her, and that his trip is secretly a cover to win allies. They discuss Dornish inheritance law, and Bronn jokes that if Westeros followed that, Myrcella would be queen. Arianne gets an “I have an idea!” look.

Riverlands: Brienne chases down her lead, and it’s the last of the sellswords from last season setting a trap. She almost loses defeating them, and questions whether she’s cut out for this. She tells Pod the story of the bet made by Renlt’s men as they take heads back to Tarly.

Beyond the Wall: Bran’s training is underway as he is skinchanging into crows and flying around to see the wights outside. Jojen still isn’t doing so hot.

Braavos: Arya is doing her routine of chores, watching activities in the temple, and practicing lying. We get a basic intro to their religious beliefs about death. They tell her that if she wants to move on with her training, she must abandon her old self. She throws away her things except for Needle, which she hides (a montage of Needle scenes here would be nice).

The Wall: Jon meets and becomes friends with Val, a wildling leader, and with Davos. They agree how White Walkers are a bigger issue. Jon has a wolf dream, and Melisandre reveals that she knows of his powers and says that sex magic could enhance them. He turns her down.

The North: Yara and her men are hiking across country to try to reach Dreadfort by land when they are caught by Stannis and his men. Meanwhile Theon and Jeyne arrive at Winterfell, and he discourages her from letting Ramsay know she’s not Arya, or else he will hurt her.

Road to Meereen: Tyrion beats Griff at cyvasse and wins out his secret, that he is supposedly Rhaegar’s long-lost son. Tyrion is skeptical, and challenges Varys, who says it doesn’t matter because Griff has been raised to be king. They coast into Volantis.

Meereen: Dany gets news that Astapor has fallen back into slaver hands, and their army is marching towards Yunkai. A wave of refugees come in ahead of them that Dany welcomes. She tells Hizdahr she will marry him if he can figure out how to stop the Harpies.

Episode 4: Separation

Kings Landing: Having had it up to here with Jaime, Cersei sends him off to the Riverlands to be useful and cool his head. As he heads out on the road with Ilyn Payne, he passes the sparrows coming into King’s Landing. Qyburn asks Cersei for permission to gather paupers to experiment on and she grants it.

Dorne: Arianne and Bronn meet with the Sand Snakes to hatch a plot to place Myrcella on the throne. We can include the threesome with Tyene that Arys turned down, because you know Bronn wouldn’t and it would give the show its obligatory extra sex.

The Wall: Jon sends Val across the Wall to send word to other wildlings that they will be offered safety. Selyse and other Watch members question how friendly he is with the wildlings. One of them accuses him of being a beastling for how close he is to Ghost.

Braavos: Arya gets her first task, to pose as an oyster seller in the canals and bring information. She does so, and one day meets Sam when his crew stops at Braavos to resupply. She learns that her brother has become Lord Commander, and her tone of voice when she shares this information lets them know she’s still attached. She drinks a potion and wakes up blind.

Beyond the Wall: We have some scenes of Val riding off that are witnessed by Bran’s ravens. Three Eyes tells him it’s time to take the next step, and he drinks a potion and has his first set of visions, garbled at first, but we end with a scene of Ned and Cat in the godswood from season 1.

The North: Yara is Stannis’ unhappy prisoner, but finds a friend in Alys Mormont. Jeyne is shown as “Arya” to the gathered Northern lords, and we can tell they are not convinced and hate the Boltons, and that Ramsay doesn’t like his father having power over him.

Road to Meereen: Varys, Tyrion, and Griff meet with one of Varys’ contacts, Talisa (see why I kept her around?) who has become involved with a planned slave uprising. She gives them the rundown on the situation and begs them to convince Dany to come help her in Volantis. Tyrion, though, goes and gets drunk and buy a prostitute without thinking about whether she’s a slave. He gets caught by Jorah who is also in the brothel, and Jorah kidnaps him.

Meereen: None of Dany’s advisors (Barristan, Daario, Rakharo, and Missandei) are happy with her idea about marrying Hizdahr, but she doesn’t have much choice, because the killings are decreasing. They get word about a plague among the refugees. Dany goes down to see it; it’s greyscale (ties to Shireen) and while Rakharo suggests driving all the refugees out because greyscale is a curse, Dany quarantines the ones showing symptoms and starts setting up help.

Episode 5: Deals and Designs

King’s Landing: Cersei is having a ride with Taena, plying her for secrets on Margaery, when they run into a crowd of sparrows surrounding the Sept. A riot almost erupts, which Cersei stops. She meets with the High Sparrow, who has just deposed the former High Septon. Cersei bargains with him to repeal some of their debts in exchange for letting them be armed to defend the countryside.

Riverlands: Jaime and Brienne are both travelling through devastated countryside. She follows a lead to Quiet Isle, he stops at Harrenhal. We get an abbreviated broken man speech from Brother Meribald as he asks why Brienne doesn’t just go home, and she gives her “confession,” sometimes as voice over as Jaime wanders around Harrenhal at the places she’s describing.

The Wall: Jon takes inventory of food and begins worrying whether he can feed all the wildlings he’s bringing across. He tells Satin, who is assisting him, that his father had always planned to repopulate the Gift, and he may have to as well. The wildlings make noise about Shireen being cursed with greyscale. Some of the Watch make homophobic remarks about Satin.

Beyond the Wall: Bran goes on his first official vision quest, to the tourney at Harrenhal. Three-Eyes has chosen it because the greenseers interfered in history there, but Bran is distracted by seeing Jaime made a member of the kingsguard, remembering how much he wanted to be a knight and how Jaime pushing him out the window ruined that forever. He’s too upset to continue and they pause for the day.

The Eyrie: At the base of the mountain, Sansa and Littlefinger meet the other lords of the Eyrie and as in the books Sansa gets an up-close lesson on people manipulation.

The North: Stannis approaches Winterfell, while things between Yara and Alys are turning flirty (because I have no problem making Yara gay). Alys is worried that Stannis is keeping Yara for her “king’s blood” in case something goes wrong. Then it starts snowing. Inside Winterfell, Ramsay and Jeyne marry, and we try to make it a little less awful than in the books, please?

Road to Meereen: Now aboard a ship with Jorah, he and Tyrion hate each other. Also on board the ship is a little dwarf girl named Penny who recognizes Tyrion’s name and attacks him; her brother was killed by people who mistook him as Tyrion. Tyrion feels guilt and promises to make amends to her somehow. Meanwhile Varys says that if they plan to invade Westeros they need sellswords, and promises Griff that if it’s really what he wants he’ll find them.

Meereen: The pressure is on Dany to marry Hizdahr as the killings have now stopped, the plague is spreading, and the Astapor army is at their door. She finally gives him a yes after her sellswords betray Daario and switch sides. Dany and Daario sleep together in spite of their pending engagement.

Episode 6: The Lost and the Blind

King’s Landing: Taena delivers information to Margaery about how Cersei belittles Tommen that Margaery uses to get Tommen to speak out against his mother. Cersei decides she needs to take away Margaery’s support after this and sends Loras off to take Dragonstone in Stannis’ absence.

Riverlands: Brienne is generally being despondent on the road, and Pod tries to cheer her up. Jaime meets Lancel either at Harrenhal or not far from it, and gets confirmation of Cersei’s cheating. He tells Ilyn about how he would have taken Arya’s hand after the Nymeria incident.

The Wall: Val returns with more wildlings and news of even more at Hardhome. Jon’s secret agreement with the wildlings is revealed and it causes uproar in the Watch. He argues in favor of the agreement, but a few are still unhappy. Jon then organizes a group of wildlings led by Tormund to go save Hardhome, wishing he could go with them but he can’t.

Dorne: The conspirators secret Myrcella off in the middle of the night and ride into the desert, filling the princess in on their plan to make her queen, with Trystane as her consort. Arianne regales Myrcella with stories of Dornish history until they reach the boat they’re going to head to King’s Landing on. Out pops Areo, who beheads Bronn (shocking death!), and they realize they’ve been betrayed. Obara goes berserk and tries to kill Myrcella, badly injuring her. Obara is slain, and Arianne and the other Sand Snakes are captured.

Braavos: Blind Arya is doing her chores and also learning to fend off attacks. It isn’t going so well, but we see her feeding and petting cats that mill around the temple.

The North: After the wedding night, Jeyne is scared and broken and begging Theon to rescue her, but he’s too frightened to help her. We get a parallel to Sansa’s moment at the end of season 1 where he thinks about pushing Ramsay over the edge, but he can’t go through with it.

Beyond the Wall: More of the tourney at Harrenhal. Bran witnesses how Howland Reed met his father and aunt, and talks about him with Meera and Jojen.

At Sea: Our first check-up with Victarion, as he reaches the stepstones and raids a bit. He reveals to his men that he doesn’t plan to let the “godless” Euron take Dany, that he’ll marry her himself. Elsewhere Aemon is falling sick on board while Gilly and Sam try to care for him.

Road to Meereen: Penny and Tyrion are warming up to each other as she explains her life as an entertainer and he starts to realize she has no shame over being a dwarf. Then there ship is attacked by a slaving vessel and all three are captures.

Meereen: Dany meets with Astapor delegates, who offer to leave the city alone if she will let them resume slaving. Hizdahr is in favor of the idea as they plan the wedding, which will involve re-opening the fighting pits. Daario is in danger of giving away their relationship, so Dany sends him to go try to turn his sellswords back to her side.

Episode 7: A Fair Bargain

Dragonstone: the very opening scene is Loras attacking and being injured. We cut away before we see his ultimate fate, but news is delivered to Cersei that he’s dying (this should sound a little suspicious, to leave a window for Loras not in fact dying which I don’t think he will).

King’s Landing: with Loras out of the way, Cersei sets her next plan in motion. She offers to sleep with Oswald if he can convince Margaery to commit some adultery. We see him try and Margaery cleverly shutting him down. Cersei decides he can just lie about it, and he insists she pay up her side of the bargain, which she does, reluctantly.

Dorne: Arianne is on a hunger strike in her tower room, until her father agrees to see her. We pretty much follow the book to a “T” here, only we’re giving Trystane Quentyn’s role. Cut to him hiding in one of the Astapori’s guards as they enter the city for Dany’s wedding.

Riverlands: Jaime has a dream of hurting Cersei that wakes him up, unnerved. He arrives at Riverrun, and assesses the situation, including witnessing Edmure’s fake hanging. He has an unsuccessful negotiation with the Blackfish.

Beyond the Wall: Tormund and his band reach Hardhome and try to convince the other wildlings of Jon’s good intentions. This will end on a cliffhanger as the wights and white walkers attack. Meanwhile Bran will return to the tourney and witness Howland seeks out the greenseers’ help. Bran wonders why any of this is important. Three-Eyes will tell him this is more important than he thinks to the fate of the world.

The Wall: Jon is settling arguments between free folk and kneelers, and Melisandre tells him she sees knives in the dark all around him. We see her try to look into her fires to see where Stannis is, but only can see Jon’s face. Our escape iron born from way back in episode 1 makes it to the Wall and lets them know what is happening – and reveals that he saw Osha and Rickon heading to Karhold way back in season 3. Davos volunteers to go get him because a Stark heir will help his king’s cause.

The North: Stannis is trapped in a blizzard, and burns some men who committed cannibalism hoping to remove the storm. Yara and Alys are closer than ever. Inside Winterfell, Theon talks Jeyne out of an ill-planned escape attempt. Some of Roose’s men die overnight, and he’s not sure who did it, the Northern lords or Ramsay.

The Vale: We have a scene of Littlefinger, Sansa, and Robin travelling, with Littlefinger drugging him as Sansa tries to teach him to be a better king.

At Sea: Aemon dies, it is sad, and while mourning him Sam and Gilly sleep together. Elsewhere at sea, Griff and Varys are on a ship full of sellsword extras, with Griff anxiously excited to reach Westeros.

Meereen: Dany agrees to the Astapori bargain, and watches as they bring slaves in off a ship. She oversees the removal of bodies dying of greyscale and is generally under a lot of stress, which she relieves by sleeping with Daario some more after he comes back empty handed.

Episode 8: Hardhome

King’s Landing: Oswald confesses to the High Sparrow, Margaery is arrested, and Cersei gets a moment of relief thinking she’s beaten the prophecy. Then after visiting Margaery to gloat, it’s revealed that Oswald turned on her, and she is arrested as well.

Riverlands: At a disastrous war council, one of the Freys observes to Jaime that his father would have handled this better. So Jaime thinks it over and gives his infamous trebuchet speech to Edmure, ending it with a snide remark about “is this what my father would have done?” A shaken Edmure enters Riverrun and turns it over. Meanwhile Brienne follows a rumor about young children gathered at an inn, and instead of Sansa finds Gendry. The inn is attacked by brigands, and Brienne is badly injured fighting them singe-handedly. Gendry says he’ll get help.

Beyond the Wall: shorter version of the battle at Hardhome that everyone loved, where most of the wildlings are wiped out. Tormund starts the survivors on forced run back to the Wall as fast as they can. Meanwhile Bran is growing frustrated with history lessons and casts about wildly. He sees Theon at the godswood and tries to speak to him…

The North: Ramsay and Roose have an argument when Ramsay realizes Roose’s new wife is pregnant. Theon goes to the godswood and hears the tree call him by name as he’s praying for guidance as to what to do.

At Sea: Victarion is sailing past Valyria, and makes ominous noises about evil things in Valyria that destroyed the empire of dragons, man my brother must be evil too.

Outside of Meereen: Tyrion, Jorah, and Penny are on the market block and about to be sold off to be brute labor when Tyrion volunteers that Jorah is a skilled fighter and he and Penny can perform mock battles for amusement. They get purchased, and are told they are headed to the fighting pits, which will open tomorrow.

Meereen: Dany refuses her “examination” before her wedding night. Trystane reappears basically just in time to be a guest at the wedding. He tries to talk her out of it, but it’s too late. The wedding itself is miserable, with Daario glaring daggers at Hizdahr, Hizdahr making nice with slavers, and Missandei being very disappointed. Dany and Hizdahr’s wedding night sucks too.

Episode 9: Fire and Blood

King’s Landing: Cersei is in prison suffering from sleep deprivation. Kevan comes to the city with Randyll Tarly and meets with the High Sparrow to learn of Cersei’s “crimes.” He proposes a walk of shame to cover most of them rather than death. Qyburn goes to Cersei to give her the news, and she has him send a letter to Jaime asking for help.

Riverlands: Jaime learns that Blackfish escaped and is pissed, but also feeling like a heel for his actions. He lets the garrison go, and when someone says that isn’t what his father would have done, he says he’d rather die in the saddle than on the privy. When Cersei’s letter arrives, along with the first snow of the season, he burns it without giving a reply. Meanwhile Brienne is brought to the Brotherhood and set before Lady Stoneheart, who threatens Pod until Brienne agrees to bring them Jaime.

The Wall: the survivors of Hardhome arrive, and Jon lets them in. Melisandre is more convinced than ever that Jon needs to develop his wolf powers to stop this supernatural foe, but he refuses.

The North: some of Stannis’ men are arguing for him to burn Yara because she has king’s blood and is a traitor. Alys argues against it. Stannis says he wishes he had news about what was going on in side Winterfell. Emboldened by Bran’s voice, when Jeyne asks Theon to help her, this time he tells her they need to come up with an escape plan. They do, but it goes awry, and they jump off the wall together, deciding it would be better to die than to go back to Ramsay.

Braavos: Arya struggles blind until she’s stroking a cat and freezes. Her eyes do the same thing Bran’s do, and she jumps, startled. But then she tries again. She’s able to tell the Friendly Man later than she knows he’s who is attacking her, and we realize it’s because she was watching through the cats. She gets her eyesight back.

Mereen: it’s the big day of the opening of the fighting pit, and Dany is miserable. Trystane is there, feeling miserable that he failed. Then Jorah, Tyrion, and Penny are brought out, and a lion is sent at them. She doesn’t recognize any of them, but enough is enough and she throws off her robe and rushes into the pit to stop it. When she’s injured, Drogon appears. Dany tames him and flies away.

Episode 10: Knives in the Dark

King’s Landing: Cersei is subjected to her walk of shame. At the end of it, Qyburn greets her with her new champion in any more trials she should face (FrankenGregor).

Riverlands: Jaime is on his way back to King’s Landing, wondering to Ilyn what he’s going to do about Cersei, when Brienne rides up and tells him she’s found Sansa. (cliffhanger!)

The Wall: We open with Jon getting a letter, reading it, and needing to go off for a think. He then gathers the wildlings and the Watch together for an important announcement. They start airing all their various complaints against him. He reads them the pink letter (which should confuse audiences, because Stannis sure isn’t dead yet) and says he’s leaving the Watch with the wildlings. Chaos erupts, Jon gets stabbity-stabbed, and his last words are “Ghost…”

The North: Alys is preparing to help Yara escape her imminent burning when they find Theon and Jeyne fleeing in the snow. They bring them back to the camp and they tell Stannis what they know from inside. Stannis gets an “I have a plan!” look and sends Jeyne off and imprisons Theon. As Theon is preparing himself for the worst, a raven lands nearby and says his name…

Beyond the Wall: and using the power of jump-cuts we see Bran back in the cave, having just spoken to Theon. He argues to Three-Eyes that he spoke to Theon through the trees as well, but Three-Eyes says that’s impossible.

South of King’s Landing: Griff and Varys land, and they meet a group of lords who Varys contact who are sick of Cersei and the Lannisters and ready to join their cause.

Braavos: Arya is given her first mission and her first new face as a creepy teaser for next season.

The Vale: Now at their winter residence, Sansa proposes a tourney as a way to calm Robin down rather than drugs, and Littlefinger, at first shocked, has to agree and starts arranging things. Later, as people are arriving, Harry shows up and is a jerk to Sansa. She asks Littlefinger who he is and he explains how he’s Robin’s heir. “What do you plan to do to him?” “Why, marry him to you, of course.”

Meereen: The slavers are demanding extra concessions in Dany’s absence, and Hizdahr is too eager to roll over. Barristan arrests him on suspicion of being the Harpy. Trystane decides that he could win Dany over to his side if he could tame a dragon too. He gets roasted alive for his efforst, and the dragons escape. As the city panics, Barristan calls Grey Worm and says they need to start preparing for a battle. Outside the walls, Tyrion and his companions see the dragons. They overhear a sellsword leader leaving their owner’s tent, muttering in Westerosi about how they aren’t paid enough to deal with dragons. Tyrion gets a look, and says, “Excuse me, but have you ever heard of the gold of Casterly Rock…?”

Dothraki Sea: Dany is recovering from her injury in the pit with Drogon, ruminating over her prophecy and where she went wrong. Drogon refuses to let her fly back to Meereen, so she starts to walk by herself. Dothraki riders appear and start to surround her, but Dany only smiles and says “To go forward, I must go back,” and a shadow sails over them, and Drogon lands behind her. End of season.

So there you have it. I’m not a professional screenwriter so I can’t guess exactly how long each scene will have to be. It’s possible that some of these episodes might be much too long as I’ve scripted them here. Events may have to be moved around from the very broad outline I’ve written here, some less necessary bits like the tourney flashbacks or Hardhome might have to get tossed. Ideally we’d have had 15 episodes to cover all of this but alas.

Nonetheless. while I’ve dramatically reduced the cast from what it is in the book, changed a large number of details, amped up the sex and combat violence where I could, and I’m sure some of my fellow book snobs will still be unsatisfied, it is at least recognizably the plot from the books.

This could have been adapted. They chose not to.

#asoiaf meta #a song of ice and fire #game of thrones #the books were adaptable

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3y7world · 5 years

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TL;DR In defence of Brandon Stark

Oh, boy this ended up long, but I’m gonna post it anyway, maybe someone finds it interesting and maybe sparks some hope in them that Winds of Winter and Dream of Spring are still worth to be waiting for.

Ever since the Game of Thrones finale I see everyone crying about how Bran is actually a manipulative arsehole and the real villain of the story, and people doubting GRRM, judging him already if he was the one making this decision. I have also watched videos and read articles about raging people dissecting every inconsistency and illogical acts on the TV show and they all did much better job at it than I would, so I am not here to do that. But since I have put way too much thought into this and I hadn’t yet encountered anyone online that I could agree with a 100%, I decided to write this little dissertation on why I think Bran the Broken is the actual endgame of A Song of Ice and Fire and why it is the perfect ending.

I would like to say first though, that this is not going to defend the showrunners because they screwed up majorly, this is merely what I think that Martin might plan with the character of Bran Stark and why it all makes sense.

Okay, it’s important for me to note that I am not exactly objective here. Bran is my second favourite character in the books (because no one can be more badass than Ser Davos Seaworth, I mean who else CANNOT WAIT for his story arc in Winds of Winter? An island full of cannibals, really?) and perhaps I have payed way too much attention to his storyline and motivations in the story so far and I might have ended up with an exaggerated version of him in my head, but it still sound kind of logical.

When the last episode came out I have been in a weird state of apathy: while the previous episodes in had left me raging, I couldn’t help myself watching the last episode and thinking “yep, I can see where they are going with all this” and I had realized very early that this might be because this is how the book will end and the two very different narrative in my head tend to mix up.

So, what A Song of Ice and Fire is actually about?

So far, I have encountered two different interpretation co-existing of this epic book series and both have been confirmed by quotes from the author himself.

The first one is very obvious: that the book is an exploration of the nature of power. How power would corrupt anyone, even the good or bad. Because we’re humans after all, we make mistakes, everyone has a bad side and a good side, and existence is basically about the inner struggle between the good and the bad in you. It goes even further and establishes that there’re no good people or bad people: “Someone’s hero is another’s villain” and it is explored in many ways through many minor and major characters. In the TV show this had become way oversimplified after they had run out of source material, making the good guys more good and the bad guys almost caricature of actual villains. We can make examples of this by comparing the things that are book canon and TV show canon. Like Jon Snow, who as commander of the Night’s Watch was spared from the more morally dubious decision he had to make in the books (i.e. switching little Sam with Val’s baby to ship off all the “king’s blood” out of Melissandre’s reach, or talking the young Karstark girl into marrying Tormund Giantsbane to somehow strengthen the position of the wildings south of the Wall). Were these things the right thing to do? Yes, absolutely. Was it cruel and unjust to people who had actually trusted him and considered him a friend? Also yes. Tyrion, whose shift into darkness was entirely omitted from the show bringing his character to a complete standstill after season 4, consequentially making it completely illogical for him to join up with Daenerys in the first place (I mean the “breaking the wheel” conversation is the stupidest thing I have ever heard and the Tyrion in the show, who is not super-vengeful towards every living thing in Westeros and a bitter shadow of himself like he’s in the books – though in there they haven’t met yet, so it might go down very differently – should have been able to point this out immediately, but I could rage on the wrongness of that single dialogue for ages, I must stop). Cersei, who started out as a cunning, insanely selfish, yet somehow strangely pitiful and very relatable character turns into an unjustified, completely illogical madwoman, with no real payoff. Or the whole complex and multi-layered politics and schemes of the Iron Islands simplified into arrrgh-igh and urrrgh-ing and some misogynistic jokes, completely killing Asha Greyjoy storyline and butchering up Euron’s entire being, making him into the most one-dimensional character ever. And the list goes on. This is the first point that made the ending with Bran Stark as king less understandable than it should be in the books, but more on that later.

Throughout the book series, at first we see the same struggle in Bran between what’s good and what’s evil and when he finally meets the Bloodraven, we can also witness him trying to leave this internal conflict behind and – as the show says multiple time – slowly become “something else”. Considering that the very first chapter is a Bran POV chapter, it immediately works in establishing his significance in the story and it gets even more prominent throughout the first book. For example, how Ned had seen him as a bridge that could possibly mend the conflict and animosity between the Starks and the Lannisters and the fact that he was in the centre of the start of the whole conflict of the Seven Kingdoms, or how Martin has dedicated an entire chapter for his post-fall experience, his first vision, which is also the first real chapter (besides the prologue) to foreshadow the main conflict of the story: the war against the White Walkers. In contrast with all this, for example Arya or Sansa chapters are in there more to further the events in Kings Landing leading up to Ned’s demise and just minorly about building up the girls’ characters, considering their importance later in the story.

Now by the end of Dance with Dragons, we are very early in the story of Bran’s journey in the books, we barely know anything about the range of his powers or the character development that he will have, but considering that we get a fairly good amount of information about the Bloodraven and his past we can kinda extrapolate that – like in the TV Series – becoming this all-powerful, ever-seeing varg/greenseer supercombo is going to lead him into loosing everything that makes him Brandon Stark who is the son of Eddard and Catelyn, Prince of Winterfell, the loveable boy who likes climbing walls etc. He has already made very important decisions that is propelling him this way, like sending Rickon off with Osha or making Sam swear to not tell Jon that he’s alive and going beyond the Wall, because he knew all these things would stop him from fulfilling his quest. On the other hand, right now, he’s still a little boy, who would go around asking “are we there yet?” and having a cute little crush on Meera and though we see glimpses of the this more mature and less human Bran more and more he still has a very long way to go and we cannot be sure which of these two conflicting sides will win over the other. But we also know that Hodor’s death scene is book canon, since George R. R. Martin said so, I think it’s safe to assume that Bran will make the same decision to fully embrace his powers after screwing up royally and leave his previous life completely behind as he did on the show.

So, after establishing all this, back to the whole point with the “power” thing, let’s see the ending.

For the record, I think Daenerys’ descend into madness and Jon ending up killing her is book canon as well. As I said, since in the show had decided to dumb down their characters into their cartoon version starting from season 5, the route to that point was way over-simplified, but taking everything into consideration that we know about them in the books, it seems like a very viable thing that can easily happen.

With Daenerys, someone who was established as a little naïve, sometimes unnecessarily cruel but overall just woman corrupted by power and chased into madness and Jon, her counterpart, who yet again would make a right, but morally dubious decision the central message about power would be that there is no human being that is worthy of the throne and thinking about it this way, Drogon burning down the Iron Throne is like the most satisfying moment in the whole saga (assuming – of course – that Drogon is previously established as a complex human-like character both emotionally and intellectually: something the show yet again failed to do).

So, in the end it would make sense, that the character that is the most “not-human” is the best candidate to rule the Kingdom.

Someone on the asoiaf subreddit had directed my attention towards the legend of the Fisher King, particularly, the old Welsh version. I wasn’t familiar with this story, but I looked it up a little bit. The legend is of Welsh origin and is strongly tied into the Arthurian myths and if I had understood correctly, he is traditionally considered as the keeper of the Holy Grail. In this version, which if Wikipedia is to be believed, the oldest version of his story, he is called Brân the Blessed, who has a very tragic story as far as I could gather. He has a bunch of artifacts, for example a cauldron that can resurrect the dead, though imperfectly (they couldn’t speak) which he had given as a wedding gift to the Irish king when he married his sister, Branwen. Branwen had been mistreated by his husband so Bran started a war against Ireland where he was wounded on his legs and poisoned: he had become the “Maimed King”. According to the legend his land had also become a barren wasteland just as his body was consumed by poison. In the end, he told his people to cut his head off, which stops the curse and he still ruled his country as talking oracle head for some 80 years. The legend part comes in that it is said, that he still looks after his lands from where he is buried in London and the ravens at the Tower are his helpers or something which is beside the fact, that is all sorts of cool, you can see the point I’m trying to make here. The Fisher King had become a great ruler after he lost his humanity, which in the case of this story was his body, making him incapable of doing things that the people of this age would have found honourable and the right thing to do: chivalrous acts or siring children and so. (If this was a very butchered version of the story, I meant no disrespect to Welsh people and their legends, but I tried to summarize it as well as I could.)

It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to assume that Martin, who is well-known for using historical events, mainly British ones, as an inspiration would want to use this legend as well. Of course, not literally probably, thought I think it would cool if the one to resurrect Jon would be Bran, who is associated with the old gods (ice) making him a nice contrast to Dany, who is pretty much believed to be the princess who was promised by the red priests and priestesses of Essos (“resurrected” by fire). After all, since Melissandre is a thousand miles away from Castle Black by the time Jon is murdered and the most possible way for Jon to survive is that he wargs into Ghost, it sounds plausible that it will be Bran that guides him somehow back to his actual body. This is of course my speculation, but it would be really awesome nonetheless.

Or who knows, maybe I’m misinterpreting the Fisher King thing, and this legend is supposed to allure to Bran the Builder or Eddard’s brother Bran Stark, but for me, just like for Old Nan, all Brandons are the same.

But even without this convoluted analogy, the Bran the Broken endgame still stands on its own.

Because the other, more allegorical interpretation of A Song of Ice and Fire is that the White Walkers are a metaphor for climate change. While everyone is occupied by their petty struggle for power, the real threat is ignored, and it grows rapidly. The only way to defeat it – by the way, this was also a point that was lost in adaptation by the TV show – is that the people of the world put aside their differences and work together to stop the inevitable destruction.

I don’t know if that will be book canon or not, but in this interpretation, the fact that the Children of the Forest created the White Walkers makes perfect sense even with the fact, that there is no Night King in the books (thus no convenient hive-mind plot device, thank Goodness! My guess is, actually, that the solution will be one of the magical horns we keep hearing about). The Children, who had been closely associated with the imagery of nature, had been hunted ruthlessly by humankind, literally cutting down their sacred trees, killing their environment, so in response, they created the White Walkers, just like, I guess, the Earth tries to “fight back” with extreme weather conditions. In this sense, Bran, who is chosen as the sort of champion of the Children ending up in a position of power kind of indicates a very hopeful outcome, if the right thing is put into focus point.

After all, this story is still a fantasy story in its core, and George R.R. Martin himself said so. In a fantasy story – however gruesome and realistic it is – needs to be a message of hope. And I think this would also tie up nicely with everything we knew about the world of ice and fire so far: in some way, we get a really sad ending when your heroes (Jon and Dany) are not really heroes, but at the same time, we get a promise of hope, that mankind might still be salvageable. Thus, a bittersweet ending.

“But this what we had seen in the show,” you might ask at this point. “If this is a satisfying ending, why I hated all this in the TV last Sunday?”

Well, the answer is incredibly simple, and it can lead back as far as Season 5.

Is it because of the butchering of the characters I had mentioned earlier? Partially, but no.

Is it because they ignored important world building of Essos and its politics in order to speed along the fanservice moment of Tyrion I-use-complicated-words-so-people-wont-realize-that-I-am-talking-bullshit Lannister and Daenerys I-will-only-talk-solely-in-one-liner-catchphrases-so-it-could-be-used-in-a-cool-trailer Targaeryen having the dumbest chit-chat ever? Fustrating? Yes. But no.

Is it because they sacrificed one of the Seven Kingdoms and its incredibly interesting storyline with highly complicated political issues and very intriguing power players in order to Jaime and Bronn have a bro-trip to Feminaziland? No, it was horrifying, but not even that. This all could have been forgiven if repelled in later seasons. The unchangeable mistake hasn’t been these ones.

It’s because they dropped Bran’s storyline for an ENTIRE SEASON.

If him becoming king really is endgame, and not just later decided to bring into the story as shock value (ehhem, like with Arya), they must have known this when they were developing season 5.

Sure, I understand the decision from the showbusiness aspect: it would probably wouldn’t have been that interesting of a storyline and would have required a lot of boring universe building. Because it should have explored the Bloodraven’s character more, giving more gravitas and foreshadowing for the mistakes that Bran would make.

In fact, if they would have included a little trial-and-error process, wherein Bran explores the fact that even though he could interact with people through his visions, he cannot change the outcome of it, for like trying to change things that he considered bad in the past. For example, he might have caused Aerys’ “burn them all” fixation, when he tried to stop him from murdering his uncle and grandfather. Popular fan theory is that Bran sort of goes through the history of Westeros to ready the land for the Long Night: like warging into Bran the Builder and building the Wall and Winterfell, some even say that he could easily be the one who established the prophecy of light in the first place making him into Rhllor. Of course, these theories are very far-fetched and unrealistic and in order for this to work, they would have to establish many things from historical events of Westeros through boring scenes of conversation. The only reason I would have put somewhat similar scenes into the season so it would be more explicit that even though Bran knows about things, he cannot change of the outcome of the events. This way, it would have been understandable that he doesn’t try and stop Danaerys burning down Kings Landing. The cultivating moment to all this would still have been the Hold the Door scene, which kinda meant to establish this trope, but failed spectacularly, because by this point, no one in the audience cared about Bran. He had become a completely unrelatable character who “didn’t do shit”. The emotional response that Hodor’s death scene evoked in the audience was solely for the fact that he was innocent and good, yet he had to live his life in complete misery and die a horrible death for someone else’s mistake. The lesson that Bran and the audience was meant to learn from this scene was completely lost, because Bran’s emotional response by killing the last renmants of who he used to be wasn’t a moment with proper build-up. The showrunners had put Bran to the sidelines while trying to give lines to the people around him to maintain his significance (like BR telling him, that he will be waiting for the Night King and such), yet not giving him anything to do. They fell into the usual pit of writing a character that was too strong for them to handle: so they decided to only get him of a shelf when he was needed as a plot device.

All these things makes me really sad and angry as a fantasy fan, because the creators of the show have been given a once in a lifetime opportunity when they actually had the budget and resources to connect the genre with a mainstream audience and actually making fantasy into pop culture instead of a sub-culture. In the wake of the success of Game of Thrones a lot of good fantasy novels’ filming rights had been sold and was put in development, but while failing to end the show properly, they made this into a hazardous business for big companies yet again and who knows how many of these productions will we actually see?

To summarize things, in the books, where the defeat of the White Walkers will be a much more complicated issue will have more room for Bran to explore and use his powers for good and I’m absolutely positive he will and I honestly hope people won’t hate Martin if he does end as King of Westeros.

I’m not saying that this is the only plausible ending, I just wanted to point out that there’re many indicators that point to this endgame and it’s not a bad one, despite the fact that the TV show was a huge let-down and I sincerely hope that many people will give Winds of Winter and the whole fantasy genre another chance to impress them.

#game of thrones #got season 8 #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf spoilers #long and rambling

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theowlsarenotwhattheyremembers · 7 years

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Episode Two: Stormborn

The attitude towards killing off characters here before they actually get to do anything interesting invites reflection of the terrible aptness of the gamer term ‘wasted’ to refer to a death.

But reader let us begin at the beginning.

Scene 1: The weather in winter-has-come Westeros is miserable, and Daenerys is cabin feverish in her new storm-whipped angular rock palace. She has a go at Varys for his key role in the plot to assassinate her in season one, which initially is awkward but then he gets self-righteous and delivers a speech about being the People’s Spook which wins over everyone’s hearts and minds again.

Honestly the Khaleesei has such a dream team around her, it makes me feel anxious. When is a traitor / assassin / magic monster / other issue going to arise and sneeze on everyone’s dessert? Probably soon and also to an extent in this very episode, the snake being that penis Euron.

Then they all go into the throne room and Melisandre is standing there between Daenerys and the throne!

It’s like Melisandre is receiving Daenerys in the throne room and not the other way around, which is very awkward and seems like it could be foreshadowing about the Red Priestesses getting out of hand like Cersei’s Sparrows? Tbh I am also concerned about the Dothraki too who hardly seem likely to bring harmony to Westeros, devoted as they are to rape and pillage. Could the Dothraki be persuaded to settle down as gentle farmspeople of the Reach? This seems unlikely. Yet mass deporting them back to the steppe seems neither feasible nor fair on everyone else who lives there, who are probably now entering into an unprecedented age of peace, prosperity and cultural flourishing. Daenerys is a magical dragon queen and Varys and Tyrion are the best statecrafters in Westeros probably, but are their skills a match for the religious fire witches of Asshai AND the Dothraki AND the Army of the Dead AND all of Westeros’ more standard-issue intractable problems? We will find out, but for now Melisandre substantially moves the plot along by telling Daenerys that she absolutely must meet this northern hunk Jon Snow. “Sounds like quite a man,” says Daenerys, probably filling the tall sails of Dany/Jon fantasists with merry gusting hope; but, further to my concerns about Daenerys’ already too dreamy team, plus how boring Skyrim is once you reach high levels, I hope your sails turn to rags sorry. Game of Thrones is about the joy of not getting what you want. There is no point complaining. Melisandre understands that more is less so doesn’t mention anything at all about Jon apart from some vague stuff about the prince/ss who was promised and wildlings and so on.

Daenerys says she’ll send Jon an invitation to visit and “bend the knee,” confirming the sinking feeling everyone had when we all heard those fatefully inconvenient words, “the King in the North”: good for the morale of people who live too far north to be comfortable / clean most of the time; bad for every other objective.

Scene 2: Jon, Sansa and Davos are already reading Daenarys’ letter, because this plot waits for no raven. Davos, genius of his age, notes the radiantly obvious fact that fire-breathing dragons will be of great use against an army of ice demons who only die by means of 1. rare materials and 2. fire. They all agree that Jon actually going and securing the dragons to save the world would be too dangerous, however.

Scene 3: Cersei lists an array of tediously one-sided facts about Daenerys’ atrocity record to date, larded with some unnecessary racism. The sanctimonious southern lords assembled all duly listen in prim horror. Jaime tries to poach Sam’s dad from the Tyrells using more racism, a good strategy with Sam’s dad.

Scene 4: Jorah’s grayscale is looking absolutely terrible.

The Archmaester scolds him for not cutting off his own arm immediately, but because he’s an aristocrat gives him the opportunity to commit suicide before shipping him off to a decade or so of frenzied madness in Valyria. Westerosi best practice of sending crazed grayscale victims off to roam the wilderness seems questionable from an epidemiological perspective, but what do I know.

Scene 5: Creepy kindly wrongun Qyburn shows Cersei his new spear-crossbow, and impresses her by getting her to shoot it at a centuries-old, already-cracked dragon skull, against which it works wonderfully effectively.

How punchably excited Joffrey would be if he was alive! His mum looks quite pleased too.

Scene 6: Tyrion explains to the Southern and Western Ladies of Westeros how this war is going to go. They’re going to do a hearts-and-minds war with minimal use of foreigners in key optics locations, thereby preserving the country as something more than ashes (Daenerys repeats a line here about being queen of the ashes that Tyrion used earlier). Tyrion is saving the Dothraki to pillage his own ancestral seat! What a guy. Olenna points out that the hearts-and-minds strategy didn’t work out for Maergery, something I too am yet to process emotionally. In a one-on-one Olenna counsels Daenerys that war is permanent and to ignore clever men. Thanks Olenna!

Scene 7: Missandei and Grey Worm, two extremely emotionally scarred yet preternaturally attractive young things, share a scene whose tenderness is am I right in saying unrivalled in GoT history? Grey Worm’s lines about Missandei being his weakness are not what anyone used to talking to people in informal settings would call smooth, but this poor young man is like 75% scar tissue, and anyway Missandei calls him on it and refuses to take “you know what I mean” for an answer. She has prepared for this moment by wearing a dress you can undo by pulling a cord, and after pushing Grey Worm to develop greater levels of emotional literacy they go to bed and have a fulfilling experience together despite their tragic pasts and Grey Worm’s absent genitals. In fact,

"Sir Richard Burton, in his travels, wrote about the eunuchs of Mecca and talked about them being sexually active with their wives. When we had the rise of the Italian castrati, who were castrated usually between the ages of 10 and 12, we have a number of them attempting to marry, and a legal brief from the Church in 1718 said that they shouldn’t be allowed to because eunuchs are too tempting to women. ‘They are more esteemed by lewd women because they can give them all the satisfaction without any risk or danger of pregnancy.’"

The scene is extremely affecting good god

Scene 8: Is that Missandei’s hand grasping a bedpost no it’s the Archmaester getting a badly written history book off the shelves what is wrong with you. The Archmaester is going to write A Record of the Wars Following the Death of King Robert Baratheon, First of His Name. Sam suggests a more “poetic” title. This scene is further confirmation of the fan theory that Sam wrote A Song of Ice and Fire.

Sam says he can maybe cure Jorah, the Archmaester tells him he can’t without probably catching greyscale. We cut to Jorah writing a suicide letter to Daenerys, but then Sam comes around with a trolleyful of hope and crude surgical equipment, and goes ahead and very kindly and politely peels off Jorah’s skin. Sam, is there not a facemask in the Citadel? After the Archmaester’s warning this seems excessively rash and virulent pus eye squirting seems extremely probable.

Scene 9: The show’s cruel hatred for the viewer at home is confirmed by this cut.

But Game of Thrones forgiveness springs eternal in this recapper’s heart - look, there’s Hotpie!

The appearance of her homely old friend, together with his revelation that Winterfell is Stark again and Jon Snow is its king, gets those unending hope jets spurting too: maybe Arya’s life could end up not being entirely unremittingly without friendship, solace, love?

Scene 10: Jon immediately scotches our reunion at Winterfell hopes by making the sensible decision to leave for Dragonstone after all in. He also makes the sensible decision to leave Sansa in charge of the north, which I guess she looks okay with? King in the North is a bit of a poisoned chalice to be passing on and he did just say he neither wanted it nor asked for it.

Then Littlefinger goes down to annoy Jon while he’s attempting some quiet reflection at Ned’s grave. To Littlefinger, Jon says: “you don’t belong down here”, “I have nothing to say to you”, and [strangling him] “touch my sister and I’ll kill you myself”. Were these the intended outcomes of this conversation for Littlefinger? I guess Littlefinger doesn’t always have a masterplan and is possibly just looking for an opportunity to worm up the old chaos ladder on which he may temporarily have misplaced his footing?

Scene 11: Was that Nymeria?? Arya says “That’s not you”, which made me think the reason why the wolves leave is because she wargs them or something?

Scene 12: Just as Yara and Ellaria are about to strike up a beautiful friendship, Euron ruins everything by firebombing the Ironborn fleet.

This was a sad scene in which as mentioned above two thirds of the Sand Snakes got massacred after only perfunctory wielding of their signature weapons. Could the remaining Sand Snake be developed into an interesting Last of the Sand Snakes figure? It seems possible that captivity in the hands of Euron and presumably also Cersei will offer Yara, Ellaria and the Last Sand Snake few character development opportunities, and that they will be gorily sacrificed at the altar of the development of Euron’s character as the new Ramsey, and join Maergery and Ros in a lugubrious chorus of Female Hubris in the sky. Let’s hope for a sexy triple escape instead, during which the Last Sand Snake, shorn of her sisters from whom she was unfortunately formerly indistinguishable, dons characteristics and saves the day.

#gotcap

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