#king bran

[esther-dot]

Have we talked about these?

Those purple eyes grew huge then, and the royal mouth drooped open in shock. He lost control of his bowels, turned, and ran for the Iron Throne. Beneath the empty eyes of the skulls on the walls, Jaime hauled the last dragonking bodily off the steps, squealing like a pig and smelling like a privy. A single slash across his throat was all it took to end it. So easy, he remembered thinking. A king should die harder than this. Rossart at least had tried to make a fight of it, though if truth be told he fought like an alchemist. Queer that they never ask who killed Rossart . . . but of course, he was no one, lowborn, Hand for a fortnight, just another mad fancy of the Mad King.  (ASOS, Jaime II)

Lickspittle. If truth be told, Jaime had come to rue heaving Brandon Stark out that window. Cersei had given him no end of grief afterward, when the boy refused to die. "He was seven, Jaime," she'd berated him. "Even if he understood what he saw, we should have been able to frighten him into silence." (ASOS, Jaime I)

and

"A man who would violate his own sister, murder his king, and fling an innocent child to his death deserves no other name." (ASOS, I)

and

"Does the sight of my stump distress you so?" Jaime asked. "You ought to be pleased. I've lost the hand I killed the king with. The hand that flung the Stark boy from that tower. The hand I'd slide between my sister's thighs to make her wet." He thrust his stump at her face. "No wonder Renly died, with you guarding him." (ASOS, Jaime V)

I was just rereading some Jaime chapters, and I thought we were joking about “Kingslayer” being a hint for King Bran, but that’s actually what Martin was doing?

#bran stark #king bran #asoiaf

[atopvisenyashill]

Harrenhal will be the new seat of what’s left of the Seven Kingdoms at the ending.

I know a few people have already said bits and pieces of this but I wanted to get everything in one post for my own sanity lmao. There’s three kind of main branches to this theory: geographical reasons, historical reasons, and reasons specific to King Bran theories.

Geography surrounding Harrenhal

It’s the center of everything! Let me show you on the map because i’m a visual learner:

Ignore the North and Dorne and probably the Iron Islands too, bc the first two are not gonna be part of The Seven Kingdoms anymore and the Iron Islands is…gonna be a fucking mess lmao. Lemme zoom in:

It’s a very centralized point in the Riverlands but it’s also fairly centralized to the Crownlands (which will probably get absorbed into the others), the Stormlands, the Eyrie, the Reach, and the Westerlands. It makes sense, from a geographical standpoint, that if the lords need to choose a new ruling seat - and they will no matter what, because King’s Landing is gonna go boom - that a more centralized location for easier access to the capital would be their decision.

The Riverlands is also an excellent choice in general because geographically, they are always getting screwed due to being right in the middle of everyone. They get fucked during the Dance, the Blackfyre Rebellions, Robert’s Rebellion, AND the War of the Five Kings. The only area that really gets screwed over more during the various wars is probably the Dornish Marches, because of the conflicts between the stony Dornishmen and the Storm and Reacher Lords but you can’t really set up there because it’s too far from the Eyrie and Riverlands.

And the thing about the Riverlands is that part of why it gets fucked up is that it’s right in the middle of everything and has no natural defenses. The Eyrie has the mountains, the North has their snow, the Dornish has their desert. The Reach manages to stay out of a lot of fighting because that’s where the food is (although the Iron Islands are about to screw them, but that’s because the war has spiraled out of control) and while both the Stormlands and the Westerlands have seen big battles, they have some protection in their coasts, which gives them ships that the Riverlands just can’t quite access. Having the King set up in the Riverlands gives the smallfolk of the Riverlands some much needed protection and potentially, a break from all the fighting.

So the Riverlands is a good place to set up shop, but Harrenhal specifically? Well, that’s because it’s huge:

Every child of the Trident knew the tales told of Harrenhal, the vast fortress that King Harren the Black had raised beside the waters of Gods Eye three hundred years past, when the Seven Kingdoms had been seven kingdoms, and the riverlands were ruled by the ironmen from the islands. In his pride, Harren had desired the highest hall and tallest towers in all Westeros. Forty years it had taken, rising like a great shadow on the shore of the lake while Harren's armies plundered his neighbors for stone, lumber, gold, and workers. Thousands of captives died in his quarries, chained to his sledges, or laboring on his five colossal towers. Men froze by winter and sweltered in summer. Weirwoods that had stood three thousand years were cut down for beams and rafters. Harren had beggared the riverlands and the Iron Islands alike to ornament his dream. And when at last Harrenhal stood complete, on the very day King Harren took up residence, Aegon the Conqueror had come ashore at King's Landing.

If it’s going to be the capital, it has to be somewhere that can hold a whole lot of people and Harrenhal is ginormous and perfect for holding lots of people. It’s even happened before; part of why Lord Whent stages his big tourney where Lyanna is crowned queen of love and beauty is because likely because Ser Oswell Whent, his brother on the Kingsguard, asked him to stage an excuse to get all the Lords together so Rhaegar could discuss with them what to do about his father and Harrenhal is the biggest castle they can do that in outside of King’s Landing. From The Kingbreaker chapter:

Old Lord Whent had announced the tourney shortly after a visit from his brother, Ser Oswell Whent of the Kingsguard. With Varys whispering in his ear, King Aerys became convinced that his son was conspiring to depose him, that Whent's tourney was but a ploy to give Rhaegar a pretext for meeting with as many great lords as could be brought together.

It’s also built up to be sturdier than King’s Landing. Whereas King’s Landing was kind of haphazardly thrown together as it built up over the years, Harren the Black had always meant for a lot of people to be housed there. We see how many people can live in it during Arya’s chapters as she runs around inside of it and Harrentown and this is with a ruler who has no interest in keeping a lot of people in it. With a King or Queen living there, it opens itself up to growing in a much more easily defensible way than King’s Landing.

Historical Reasons Harrenhal is Significant

As you can see on the map, it’s built right on the edge of a very important place: The Isle of Faces and the lake that surrounds it, called the Gods Eye.

It’s a key place for the history of Westeros because it’s where the First Men and the Children of the Forest made peace:

Inexorably, the war ground on across generations, until at last the children understood that they could not win. The First Men, perhaps tired of war, also wished to see an end to the fighting. The wisest of both races prevailed, and the chief heroes and rulers of both sides met upon the isle in the Gods Eye to form the Pact…

It’s also notable for being the only place the Andals never managed to conquer:

It is possible that a few [Children of the Forest] survived on the Isle of Faces, as some have written, under the protection of the green men, whom the Andals never succeeded in destroying.

It’s a place associated with peace and negotiations between people, a place to stand strong against war and untouched by its horrors. A monument to what could be, if you will. And Harrenhal sits on its shore; it would add a very rich layer to setting up King’s Landing in a place associated with peace. And this isn’t the only time a succession crisis of sorts is settled there. The Great Council of 101 AC was held there.

To resolve the matter of his heir once and for all, Jaehaerys called the first Great Council in the year 101 AC, to put the matter before the lords of the realm. And from all corners of the realm the lords came. No castle could hold so many save for Harrenhal, so it was there that they gathered. The lords, great and small, came with their trains of bannermen, knights, squires, grooms, and servants. And behind them came yet more—the camp followers and washerwomen, the hawkers and smiths and carters. Thousands of tents sprang up over the moons, until the castle town of Harrenton was accounted the fourth largest city of the Realm.

Once again, we have Harrenhal associated with peace and negotiation in its history. However, that’s not all it’s associated with; there are several very significant battles that take place near the Gods Eye - again, it is in the middle of everything. It’s a place with lots of history and lots of ties to everyone in Westeros. There’s the Battle Beneath the Gods Eye between Maegor and Aegon the Uncrowned, The Battle of the Lake Shore and The Battle Over the Gods Eye during the Dance, as well as the story of Addam Velaryon landing Seasmoke on the Isle of Faces to take counsel from the green men after being accused of treason. It is, all in all, a very significant place in Westeros.

But that’s not the only reason Harrenhal is talked about. Basically every single time Harrenhal is brought up, someone will mention that it’s haunted. This belief comes because of Aegon the Conquerer and Harren the Black. While Orys Baratheon and Rhaenys march for the Stormlands & Daemon Velaryon and Visenya left for the Vale, Aegon himself first turns towards Harren the Black and the Riverlands. All three face opposition but Aegon conquers the Riverlands first because Harren is so ill loved:

So now the riverlands rose against him, led by Lord Edmyn Tully of Riverrun. Summoned to the defense of Harrenhal, Tully declared for House Targaryen instead, raised the dragon banner over his castle, and rode forth with his knights and archers to join his strength to Aegon’s. His defiance gave heart to the other riverlords. One by one, the lords of the Trident renounced Harren and declared for Aegon the Dragon. Blackwoods, Mallisters, Vances, Brackens, Pipers, Freys, Strongs … summoning their levies, they descended on Harrenhal.

And he makes very quick work of Harrenhal, making it the first Kingdom to become part of the Seven Kingdoms:

The riverlords outside the castle walls said later that the towers of Harrenhal glowed red against the night, like five great candles … and like candles, they began to twist and melt, as runnels of molten stone ran down their sides.

Ever since the burning of Harrenhal, no House has been able to hold it without going extinct soon after. For House Targaryen’s rule in Westeros to start with Harren the Black’s hubris and the fall of Harrenhal, and end with Harrenhal becoming the new seat of the King of the Four (??) Kingdoms is a really neat connection.

Reasons Why It Works With King Bran

But wait! you say. Didn’t you just say that Harrenhal is cursed??

Why yes I did. HOWEVER. There is one family that the Curse of Harrenhal supposedly never touched: The Whents.

You see, from Harren the Black up until the Whents, every other House in charge of it has gone extinct.

House Hoare? That’s Harren’s house and we all know what happened there - they don’t call him Balerion the Black Dread for no reason.

House Qoherys? Dead less than three decades later.

House Harroway? Wiped out a decade later.

House Towers? died out within two decades, ending with sickly Maegor Towers and then old and tired Rhaena Targaryen, until the two odd friends died and the holdings were free again.

House Strong? Well…between the fire that kills Harwin and Lyonel, Larys’ shenanigans getting him merced by Cregan, and Aemond just straight committing a minor genocide in the Riverlands, they all died out (except maybe Alys Rivers’ baby but we don’t have any info there).

House Lothston? Interestingly, they hold the castle for several decades, but they too went completely extinct under King Maekar.

So we come to House Whent. They’ve held it for about 6 ish decades and though they’ve also had some bad luck, they’ve had their people grow old - Walter Whent who threw the tourney is called “Old Lord Whent” by Barristan, and Shella Whent is old when she dies. But the most interesting thing is Minisa Whent.

We don’t know a lot about the Whent line, only that Shella refused to bend the knee to Joffrey, fled Harrenhal when it was attacked, and later died. You could say the curse still got them but in every other case, the whole line dies, not just the main line! Even Janos Slynt has no descendants and Littlefinger will have none to inherit either. But the Whents do: they have House Tully. Minisa Whent married Hoster Tully and had Catelyn and Edmure. The Whents are known for their sharp cheekbones and both Catelyn and Sansa, funny enough, are described as having sharp cheekbones. This very close relation could mean that the Starklings have a claim to Harrenhal through their mother.

This fits with King Bran because we know the lords are perfectly fine fudging things and going through the female line if it fits their needs. They did the same thing with Robert and his grandmother Rhaelle Targaryen, who married Ormund Targaryen, Steffon’s mother. Renly says here:

Oh, there was talk of the blood ties between Baratheon and Targaryen, of weddings a hundred years past, of second sons and elder daughters. No one but the maesters care about any of it.

The maesters love a loophole inheritance.

And remember that the odds of surviving the books for the Baratheons and Targaryens is very, very low. It’s pretty much just bastards all the way down (on both sides lmao, because I do not think either Young Griff or Dany are gonna survive). And whenever the inheritance isn’t clear, a Great Council is called. Catelyn even suggested it while parlying with the Baratheons:

Let the three of you call for a Great Council, such as the realm has not seen for a hundred years. We will send to Winterfell, so Bran may tell his tale and all men may know the Lannisters for the true usurpers. Let the assembled lords of the Seven Kingdoms choose who shall rule them.

Mentioning Bran, of course. A lot of people think it’s far fetched and while I do think him being so young is gonna be a hard sell now that the time jump is gone, I don’t think it’s that far fetched that the lords of the Stormlands, The Reach, the Eyrie, and The Westerlands would be convinced to choose Hoster Tully’s grandson and Ned Stark’s baby boy to rule over them.

And finally, Robb wasn’t called “Robb Stark, King in the North” he was also explicitly called “King of the Trident.” All the talk about who is Robb’s heir but look at how they all think of themselves - “as brave as Robb” “as strong as Robb” or they’ll have sons and name them Robb. Whereas Who Rules The North is all tied up in Robb’s legacy, the Iron Throne isn’t! If King Bran rules from the Riverlands, however, it gives Bran that tie to Robb; he gets to protect and rule from the lands Robb swore to protect, the lands he ultimately fought and died in. For Bran, he still gets to be Robb’s heir, at least in spirit, and I think that would be, to Bran, something very bittersweet.

#valyrianscrolls #harrenhal #king bran #harren the black #robb stark #house whent #ados speculation #a dream of spring #bran stark #long post #i might put it behind a cut? idk #i have to start living up to the ‘bran’s lawyer’ part of my bio!! #getting on my soap box

[catofoldstones]

Now that I am rereading AGOT, I feel like Bran is set up to be king since the first chapter.

This was the first time he had been deemed old enough to go with his lord father and his brother to see the king’s justice done.

The whole theme of the chapter is to introduce Bran to the responsibilities of a ruler. Well actually the whole series starts with Bran being introduced to the duties of a leader. Not to mention his chapter comes straight after the final villain of the books have been introduced so we know that he will be instrumental in defeating them from the get go. There’s a reason he named his direwolf Summer but I digress. The chapter continues on to Ned’s famous lesson

“…and we hold the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

This is clearly more metaphorical than it is literal. It reminds me of Gandalf’s philosophy from the Lord of The Rings

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.

It is the same message, life is precious and violence is barely ever the answer. So King Bran might not swing the sword on his own but will remember what his father had said when meting out justice.

The most apparent foreshadowing I found in this chapter was Ned directly talking to Bran, teaching him, and preparing him for a ruler role, though as Robb’s bannerman but a ruler role nonetheless.

“… and justice will fall to you. When that day comes, you must take no pleasure in the task, but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.”

The last line is as plainly as it could be said. You will be a ruler Bran, be a just one.

And that is all I could find in the first chapter.

#acok is filled with king bran foreshadowing #asoiaf #agot #bran stark #king bran #also feel free to add in your thoughts I want to know what the famous theories are and what you think #asoiaf theories #bran I

[laurellerual]

Do you know a detail of GoT that irritates me even after all these years?

This is Sansa the Queen of the North:

And this is Bran the King of the Six Kingdoms who reigns where the iron throne once stood:

But for some reason they bothered to come up with a crown design for only one of the two.

#game of thrones #anti got #rant #king bran #for fuck sake #like they made all the marketing aroud who wins the throne #and the guy who actually win the throne doesn't have a vrown or a coronation scene or a coronation outfit #ok #grrm #bran stark

[agentrouka-blog]

So funny that people are against the idea of the North or any other kingdom splitting apart when the Iron Throne is 300 years old while these kingdoms are thousands of years old.

I think it's less an ideological opposition but the assumption that a dissolution of all the kingdoms into independence will inevitably happen if the North (and Dorne) gains independence, leaving nothing to rule for Bran as a king - and therefore it's impossible that Sansa will be queen in the North. (The real point being made.)

Which ignores the idea of a voluntary union based on the actual advantages of mutual cooperation and coordination, and unhindered trade and a greater assurance of peace among the Southern kingdoms that are already almost culturally homogenous, have few if any significant geographical barriers between them.

A figurehead king with limited powers and limited biased ties to the region, elected based on a maternal inheritance claim to Harrenhal perhaps (should Edmure decline the ruinously expensive-to-maintain castle), presiding over a permanent Great Council, is just one of the potential ways this scenario could easily come to pass though, leaving the Northern claim with Sansa - potentially even through a change in Northern inheritance lines from male-preference to absolute primigeniture. Given the utter abundance of female heirs in the North comprising its nobility in the near future it's not an impossible option at all, either.

Seems to me a lack of imagination is the main issue. Or perhaps, a lack of desire to use it, because they simply don't like those outcomes.

#asoiaf speculation #king bran #queen sansa

[silverflameataraxia]

Friendly reminder that Arya, Jon, Tyrion, Dany, and Bran are central to the plot of ASOIAF.

Sansa is not.

#a song of ice and fire #arya #jon snow #tyrion lannister #daenerys stormborn #king bran #anti sansa stark #asoiaf #arya stark #jonarya #daenerys defense squad #brandon stark #anti sansa stans #george r.r. martin #pro arya stark #jonrya #team daenerys #jon x arya #anti jonsa #daenerys targaryen #canonaryastark #anti jonsa stans #daenerys x jon #canonarya #canonjonsnow #pro dany #dany targaryen

[queenmiriamele]

I think one of the most disapointing things for me about King Bran is that, while all of our protagonists are of noble birth, Dany and Jon have acquiered ruling experience in a post obtained by their own will and merits while Bran's experience is owed to being Robb's brother and the circunsmtances.

#asoiaf #king bran #jon snow #daenerys targaryen

[iceywolf24]

Just remembering Varys speech on Aegon and Kingship in the ADWD Epilogue.

"He reads and writes and speaks several tongues" - Varys

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one."

"The children of the forest, Old Nan would have called the singers, but those who sing the song of earth was their own name for themselves, in the True Tongue that no human man could speak. The ravens could speak it, though"

- Bran, III ADWD

"He has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them". - Varys

"The singers of the forest had no books. No ink, no parchment, no written language. Instead they had the trees, and the weirwoods above all. When they died, they went into the wood, into leaf and limb and root, and the trees remembered. All their songs and spells, their histories and prayers, everything they knew about this world. Maesters will tell you that the weirwoods are sacred to the old gods. The singers believe they are the old gods. When singers die they become part of that godhood. "- Bran III ADWD

"He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands... He can fish and cook and bind up a wound " - Varys

"I was just remembering," he said. "Jory brought us here once, to fish for trout. You and me and Jon. Do you remember?" - Bran V AGOT

"Jojen sent Hodor out for wood and built them a small fire while Bran and Meera were cleaning the fish and frogs. They used Meera's helm for a cooking pot, chopping up the catch into little cubes and tossing in some water and some wild onions Hodor had found to make a froggy stew" - Bran I, ASOS

"Meera had drawn the broken arrow from his leg and rubbed the wound with the juice of some plants she found growing around the base of the tower" - Bran IV, ASOS

"He knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid" - Varys

"The last of the food that they had brought from the south was ten days gone. Since then hunger walked beside them day and night. Even Summer could find no game in these woods. They lived on crushed acorns and raw fish" - Bran I, ADWD

"The Umbers and the Karstarks and the Manderlys may all be dead as well, he realized. As he would be, if he was caught by the ironmen or the Bastard of Bolton" - Bran II ASOS

He saw the bones of a thousand other dreamers impaled upon their points. He was desperately afraid. "Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?" he heard his own voice saying, small and far away. And his father's voice replied to him. "That is the only time a man can be brave." - Bran III AGOT

Bran was also hunted by wights in Bran II ADWD.

"Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them." - Varys

"Bran gazed up at the rough stone ceiling above his head. Robb would tell him not to play the boy, he knew. He could almost hear him, and their lord father as well. Winter is coming, and you are almost a man grown, Bran. You have a duty." - Bran II ACOK

A good lord protects his people, he reminded himself. "I’ve yielded Winterfell to Theon." - Bran VI ACOK

The way Varys was describing Bran when he talking about how Aegon was raised to be a good King.

EDIT: added some parts .

#bran stark #Bran stark meta #Asoiaf meta #Asoiaf #Asoiaf foreshadowing #King Bran #Varys

[sayruq]

If it turns out Bran is able to have children, who do you think he should marry. While Breera is cute I don't see it happening.

Should marry - probably an influential house, perhaps a lannister given how their wealth is imperative to helping westeros recover from the long night. Maybe Rosamund Lannister from Lannisport. But having a Lannister be queen will definitely be controversial after everything they've done.

He will probably marry a Southerner, likely someone whose kingdom is not as accepting of his reign perhaps. I can see him marrying someone from the Westerlands (not a Lannister because I don't think they'll have much wealth left thanks to @istumpysk reread project) in an effort to give the War of the Five Kings a peaceful conclusion. Same with a girl from the Iron Islands. I can also see him marrying someone from Dorne to bind the Dornish to his kingdom like Daeron II did and as a way of establishing a continuation between Aegon VI's reign and his reign.

#Anonymous #bran stark #king bran #asoiaf speculation #song of ice and fire

[x-aefx]

PLEASE TELL ME SOMEONE ELSE SEE'S THE SIMILARITIES.

THEY'RE PRACTICALLY THE SAME PERSON (looks wise ofc) BUT WHENEVER I TELL SOMEONE THEY LOOK IDENTICAL, NO ONE AGREES WITH ME.

#brandon stark #bran stark #bran the broken #king bran #the three eyed raven #hiccup #how to train a dragon 2 #httad #how to train a dragon #a game of thrones #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #george rr martin #game of thrones headcanon #game of thrones prompts #game of thrones memes #game of thrones #house stark #hbo house of the dragon #house of the dragon #jon snow #king in the north #sansa stark #robb stark #arya stark #rickon stark #catelyn stark #ned stark #daenerys targaryen #tyrion lannister

[esther-dot]

I feel that BRAN is actually the "Queen Elizabeth I" of the story & a child by Sansa/Jon would be the King James I of England (6th of Scotland)

Oh Esther thank you so much for the shout out. I am not an expert by any means but I think anon is onto something here.

1. Sansa shares clear parallels with Elizabeth I but she also shares parallels with Bran:

A. Both are unlikely heirs, having an older sibling who reigns. Robb, like Mary Tudor, married against the wishes of their council to someone who was profoundly disliked.

B. Any jonsa kid would be “of the North” which is roughly the Westerosi equivalent of Scotland so, parallel with James.

C.A jonsa child would be Brandon’s nephew, just as James was of Elizabeth.

D. A jonsa child would technically be both the northern heir AND the southern heir, therefore uniting BOTH crowns. This way the North wouldn’t be giving up their independence.

E. Both lost their mother at an early age and had to deal with responsibilities beyond their years. James was also a very young King.

F. A funny tidbit is that James’s mother was considered a great beauty, and her embroidery skills were legendary, just like Catelyn’s.

The way I see it, Brandon is not Elizabeth but the York King, if he had lived. GRRM is writing the war of the Roses with a flipped ending where the Yorks=Starks win and not the Tudors=Targaryens.

(about this ask)

Thank you for the additional thoughts, @minitafan!

#jonsa #king bran #bran stark #historical parallels #dot chat

[atopvisenyashill]

Ppl who dont think Bran gets hate clearly didnt see the GOT/Freefolk subreddit after s8. The blatant and gross ableism and gleefully bashing on Bran was whack and completely out of line. (and they always specifically target him being disabled and making 'jokes' about breaking his wheelchair and it was all circled on his disability. its genuinely so infuriating to see how quick ppl are to lose all sense of morality when they're mad)

exactlyyyyy the jokes always center around breaking or fucking with his wheelchair in a way that is super pointed. there’s a difference between “i don’t think king bran was done well and i’m mad” which is imo perfectly fair. the show literally cut him out of an entire season even though they easily could have stretched the bloodraven stuff for two ish seasons, & grrm doesn’t really emphasize his PoV enough in later books (bc he struggles with writing kids but again - you shouldn’t have made them so young then old man git gud) but the amount of people defaulting to “haha watch me roll him off a cliff” or “i’m gonna bust the wheels on his chair” is so, shall we say, WEIRD!!!

one reason i really want to keep digging into the “aragorn’s tax policies” aspect is bc for the old “curtain of light” people, the key five weirdos, the rabid fans on free folk reddit, alllllll of them, the only aspect of bran that existed is how his magic could be used to serve dany’s conquest - he would warg a dragon for her benefit, he would stay in the north so as not to challenge her title, his magic would never come south so as not to clash with her magic, of course br isn’t a villain he’s a targaryen :) which is all unfair analyses!! there’s a lot that points to him being a LEADER not second fiddle to someone else and that MATTERS because of his story but all we get is jokes about how his story isn’t that good. boooo. no one deserves my weird tree magician king son!!!

#like bran will stay north + sansa will stay in the vale is so transparently trying to get them out of the way but lemme not speak!!!!!!!!!!! #THATS MY SONNY BOY IM PROTECTIVE #wank for ts #getting on my soap box #bran stark #king bran #fandom wank

[laurellerual]

Your good ending AU has me thinking... if Bran is King in the North, he'll have to pass the judgement sentencing someone to death, but can't realistically swing the sword. I have a theory that as his councilor as well as another Stark and a Princess of the North, perhaps even the first female knight, Arya would do it on his behalf. Any chance I'm right?

The AU is this one.

I think that the concept of “The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword” is too fundamental to the way of conceiving power that the Starks and northerner culture have. This is the first thing we learn about the North, and it is the first 'lord lesson' that is imparted to Bran. It's a concept that is repeated to us in almost every Stark POV. Ice, their ancestral sword is described, not as an real two-handed sword, but as an executioner's sword: big, broad, long and heavy. Beheading is almost as much a part of the Stark tradition as skinning is a part of the Bolton tradition.

I imagine it could also work in a less literal way, but after the contempt that Ned seems to reserve for the concept of executioner, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth if the heir to the Stark house didn't get his hands dirty with the blood of those he sentenced to death. The point is that the lord must not forget what it means to kill someone, to be 100% sure of the sentence he is about to pass. Lord Stark is judge, jury and enforcer.

I'm not an expert on beheading, but I don't think it's impossible for Bran to play this role. Maybe with a guillotine. I'd even prefer hanging if it meant the lord pulling the lever. I'm not an expert on spinal injuries, but I once saw a guy who couldn't move his legs chopping wood with an axe. He simply did it kneeling on a ledge. Maybe it's different though, idk…

I don't think it's impossible, but I don't like your idea very much. Neither this nor Arya's as a knight. I would rather see Arya fulfilling her role as 'lord of a holdfast' in a castle of her own, in the completeness of her duties. I think it's a more coherent way to carry out the theme of justice in Arya's storyline without betraying a fundamental part of her culture.

#arya stark #bran stark #king bran #asoiaf

[agentrouka-blog]

Just because I’ve seen this floating around... Jon cannot pass his claim to the Iron Throne on to anyone once Dany is dead. Certainly not to Bran. 

The claim (fictional though it is, the Targs having been deposed) is through his paternal line. Bran is Jon’s maternal cousin with zero links to the Targaryen dynasty. He has no connection to that line of inheritance. 

Abdicating any claim to the Southern throne - should anyone even care to offer it to Jon - would therefore in no way create a direct path for Bran to get it. Jon would need to accept this claim, reign as king and make Bran his heir, father no children, and then die, in order for Bran to receive the throne from Jon himself. Even joining the Watch would more likely lead to a succession crisis unless Jon first spent decades stabilizing the Realm, because why would anyone respect his wishes regarding his heir otherwise?

If Jon rejects the title, it’s really a free for all. Or a scouring of the Targ family tree to find the next viable Targaryen descendent, which might be through Aegon V’s sisters Daella or Rhae.Though it is actually unlikely that Aerys would not have married Rhaegar to any one such descendent instead of Elia, should they still exist, so more likely, we’re looking at House Martell through the line of the elder Daenerys. The Martells are likely NOT interested, so we’d need a totally new approach. 

Basically, there is absolutely no way for Bran to get the Southern throne unless a bunch of people decide he should have it, because Jon absolutely doesn’t have the power to make it happen unless he becomes king first and then refuses to create a more stable line of succession by simply having his own kids.

If anyone even cared to offer Jon that throne. Which is by no means certain in the first place. 

It’s going to have to happen differently.

#jon snow #king bran #line of inheritance

[silverflameataraxia]

Everything Syrio Forel had ever taught her vanished in a heartbeat. In that instant of sudden terror, the only lesson Arya could remember was the one Jon Snow had given her, the very first.

She stuck him with the pointy end, driving the blade upward with a wild, hysterical strength.

When the spirit stepped out of the open tomb, pale white and moaning for blood, Sansa ran shrieking for the stairs, and Bran wrapped himself around Robb's leg, sobbing. Arya stood her ground and gave the spirit a punch. It was only Jon, covered with flour. "You stupid," she told him, "you scared the baby," but Jon and Robb just laughed and laughed, and pretty soon Bran and Arya were laughing too.

The memory made Arya smile, and after that the darkness held no more terrors for her.

- AGoT, Arya IV

#a song of ice and fire #game of thrones edit #pro arya stark #ser brienne #joffrey lannister #walder frey #night king #syrio forel #jon snow #anti sansa stark #king bran #robb stark #asoiaf edit #a game of thrones #arya #brienne of tarth #joffrey baratheon #jonarya #brandon stark #asoiafedit #game of thrones season 7 #arya stark #brienne the beauty #jonrya #asoiaf #game of thrones #jon x arya #anti jonsa #agot #gotaryastark

[bookcalanthedaily]

"The Nilfgaardians will rue that day, brother."

#bran tuirseach #king bran #eist tuirseach #brothers #brothers tuirseach #the witcher #the witcher 3 #the witcher 3 edit #tw3 #tw3edit #wiedzmin #wiedźmin #witcher