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jackoshadows · 4 years

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Stark Sibling reunions.

So there was some discussion on this in another forum and I thought I would jot down some of my long rambling speculations on which siblings will meet up and reunite first in the next book.

Jon and Rickon

Up north, I think there is a very strong chance that Jon and Rickon will be the first Starks to meet each other again. GRRM has stressed a couple of times that he has important things planned for Rickon, Davos has gone to Skagos to fetch him, Rickon has the backing of the most powerful Northern house in Manderly and in Bran’s absence, Rickon is Lord of Winterfell.

We know that GRRM is writing Rickon for the next book. He has mentioned how his Osha is becoming more similar to Natalie Tena’s version on the show. He has outright stated that Rickon will be in the next book. And how the books are different to the show because Rickon is still alive in the books.

Now, two things about the battle against the Boltons:

1. There will be a different Stark Vs Boltons battle in the next book. We have this note from GRRM:

Speaking of which: Martin leaves a little note for the producers when writing about Ramsay’s flesh-eating hounds, whom we see hunting down a girl for sport.

[N.B. A note for future reference. A season or two down the line Ramsay’s pack of wolfhounds are going to be sent against the Stark direwolves, so we should build up the dogs as much as possible in this and subsequent episodes.]

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/12/game-of-thrones-george-rr-martin-last-script-the-lion-and-the-rose

Notice the plural - as in direwolves, not direwolf. And the only two Starks with direwolves currently in the North are Jon and Rickon. We may see Jon come down from the Wall with a Wildling army and the North rallying behind Rickon and they combine forces to attack the Boltons. If Stannis is still alive and has an army at this point, it could be that everyone else joins him in battle.

Rickon could travel to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea which is closest to Skagos, or White Harbor or to Stannis’ camp. Either way, Jon and Rickon are now the closest siblings and have maximum potential to reunite since their plots look to be colliding soon as well.

2. Theon will be important to the resolution of the Bolton storyline.

What inspired him to create Ramsay Snow? GRRM said, and I quote, that he needed something “to bite Theon in the ass”. Ramsay was created for Theon’s storyline, and he is first presented as a prisoner and a servant and then rises to a high position while Theon becomes his prisoner and servant.

https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/6uwfb0/spoilers_extended_notestranslation_of_grrm_qa_in/

Theon is currently with Stannis who is preparing for battle against the Boltons. I doubt his story ends there - without meeting up again with either Bran or Jon. We know Bran is trying to communicate with Theon through the Weirwoods and Theon feels an immense guilt for what he did to Bran and Rickon. Jon and Theon have a lot of parallels and some of the same identity issues.

It’s possible therefore that Theon survives the battle of Ice with Stannis Vs Boltons to meet up with Jon and Rickon for the later battle of the bastards.

Arya

Lets examine Arya’s travel options from Braavos:

1. There’s plot and route that can take her to the North via Justin Massey and Jeyne Poole. The prevailing speculation being that once Massey lands in Braavos along with Jeyne, the real Arya meets up with fake Arya and decides to leave behind the FM and travel to the wall to take down some mutineers.

I think that plotwise for Arya’s character this makes sense. She has pretty much finished her FM training - time for plot progression and for her to move on to the North and get mixed up in both the political shenanigans and the army of the dead plot.

And if she does go North, she will finally reunite with Jon Snow - something she’s been trying to do since book one.

But there are some issues with Justin Massey getting to Braavos. In the first place, winter and storms have come to the North making travel hard. And in the second, Massey needs Stannis’ ships at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea to travel to Braavos - those ships are currently being overwhelmed by both storms and wights at Hardhome. So without transport, it’s hard to see how Massey gets to Braavos and Jeyne meets Arya.

It’s also possible that Arya just hears about what is happening in the North, gets on a ship and sails to White Harbor. She could meet up with Rickon and Jon that way.

But if Arya is not going North, where will she go to?

Travel-wise it would be easier for her to sail to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea or the port at White Harbor - traveling for a single person is always easy and Arya is an old hand at this.

But there is also speculation that Arya will travel to the Riverlands and meet up with her mother, Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood without Banners again. I am not fond of this theory, since in my opinion it will be once again a retread of her Riverlands story in books 2/3. She’s done with that part of Westeros. Yes, she did see her dead mother be dragged out of the water and a resolution and closure with her mother would be nice, but I am not sure how Arya in the Riverlands will progress the plot.

So if Arya does manage to reach the Riverlands and Lady Stoneheart, is there a sibling that she will meet up with?

Sansa

Let’s take a look at Sansa.

Sansa is busy in the Eyrie, embroiled in LF’s plot to snare Harry the Heir. Winter has come to the Vale and it’s pretty much snowed in. So it may very well be Sansa’s plot is limited to the game playing and political goings on in the Vale. If Sansa does indeed step outside the Vale, the logical place that she can travel to is the Riverlands.

I have often seen it argued (By a certain section of fans) that Arya’s story is in the Riverlands because she is just as revenge obsessed as Lady Stoneheart and her story is about giving up revenge while Sansa will travel North and reunite with Jon and win battles and become Lady of Winterfell. But in actuality, Sansa is far closer to the Riverlands (Much closer and easier for Sansa to get to the Riverlands than Arya) and has actual plot reasons to be there.

What plot reasons? So a recent thread on asoiaf reddit brought up a 2012 comment from GRRM on Littlefinger:

That said, back in 2002, here's what a fan recounted with George:

Who is over lord of the Riverlands? (Since the Freys have Riverrun yet Littlefinger was named Lord Paramount). George says that Littlefinger is the Lord of the Riverlands but that he is going to run into trouble. I commented that Littlefinger is really powerful now that he has the Riverlands and supposed control of the Eyrie. GRRM laughed and said that I need to remember that for all his power Littlefinger has no army. (I thought that was interesting). GRRM also commented that (I forget which Frey, Emmon?) the Frey given Riverrun really wants to be Lord of the Riverlands and has dreams of having his father be his vassel. (I thought that was interesting also)

https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/itw5wd/spoilers_extended_a_deeper_look_at_three/

So it looks like Littlefinger is going to run into trouble in the Riverlands - where LadyStoneheart and the brotherhood have set up their base - and it looks like the Freys want control. All LF needs to assert his authority is a Vale army. The Lannisters are pretty much done in the Riverlands, the Blackfish is still around and Edmure is a prisoner.

LF could get support in the Riverlands with Sansa - a Tully. Remember LF, his vale army and Sansa being responsible for defeating the Boltons and avenging the red wedding on the show? What if we get LF, Sansa and his vale army taking on and getting rid of Walder Frey, avenging the Red Wedding and winning favor in the Riverlands and the North that way?

I suspect that Lady Stoneheart is a part of the Vale/LF plot in the books and that’s why it disappeared on the show with the rest of the Vale while D&D combined plots and transferred LF and Sansa to the North to take on the Boltons.

I think a LF/Lady Stoneheart confrontation will be very interesting and possible - given their history and given LF’s current infatuation with Sansa. We have this from GRRM:

My Littlefinger would have never turned Sansa over to Ramsay. Never. He’s obsessed with her. Half the time he thinks she’s the daughter he never had—that he wishes he had, if he’d married Catelyn. And half the time he thinks she is Catelyn, and he wants her for himself. He’s not going to give her to somebody who would do bad things to her. That’s going to be very different in the books.

LF, Sansa and Lady Stoneheart meeting again is almost certain in my opinion.

So if Arya is heading down south to the Riverlands for closure with her mother and if Sansa is heading there with LF to help solve his Riverland issues, is it possible for them to meet up? Will we get a Sansa-Arya reunion in the Riverlands? Remember, GRRM has assured us that these two will meet again and have ‘deep issues to work out’. Maybe this happens in the Riverlands with Sansa and Arya and Lady Stoneheart?

Anyways, if Sansa is uniting with a sibling it’s most probably going to be Arya. Everyone else is far up North and currently Arya is the only sibling truly free to move around to any destination. Will Sansa go North? Hell No.

Jonsa Stans think that Sansa is somehow going to travel all alone, all the way from the Eyrie to the Wall in harsh snowstorms.

Which, lol. By the time Sansa gets there, the books will probably be over and everyone would be chilling in Winterfell.

No army is currently getting North with the snowstorms. The Vale doesn’t even have a fleet to sail to White harbor from the Sisters. Littlefinger would have to hire a fleet from Essos and from Dany’s predicaments there we know how hard this is. After sailing to White Harbor, the Vale army would then have to march 400 miles to Winterfell in harsh snows that have stalled Stannis’ army and covered the walls of Winterfell.

Can Sansa, by herself, escape, catch a ship and sail from the Sisters to White Harbor? Possible, if she can get down the Eyrie, get to the Sisters and get a ride aboard a ship. I can’t see Sansa doing al; this. Plus, I still think with LF in the Vale and Riverlands, there is still a lot of plot for her down south. Plus, LF likely will clash with Varys as well:

Littlefinger and Varys are adversaries, both know a lot about the others' plans, so they're at a stalemate. LF knows more about Varys's motives than Varys does about LF

https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/5g7vef/spoilers_extended_grrms_second_talk_at_the/

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So we have Jon and Rickon reuniting in the North and Arya and Sansa maybe reuniting in the South if Arya travels to the Riverlands instead of the North.

As for Bran? I think he will be busy exploring the Lands of Always Winter and learning more about the Others in the next book. No reunions for him yet. I think he will meet up with his siblings in the last book.

#Jon Snow #Arya Stark #Rickon Stark #Sansa Stark #Bran Stark #Stark siblings #House Stark #asoiaf #GRRM

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sailorshadzter · 5 years

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i was tagged by @kissedbyfirequeen

thank you!!

Rules: 1. Answer the questions of the people who tagged you and ask ten questions of your own. 2. Tag ten people.

1. Who is your favorite character? Why? Sansa Stark, without a doubt. I admire her courage and strength, despite all that’s been thrown at her. From the moment i first met her in season 1 I knew I would like her. Watching her grow from a bit of a brat into a beautiful, strong, lead female character is inspiring as fuck. She lives through truly awful, horrendous things, but never loses sight of who she is.

2. Who is your least favorite character? Why? this is a toss up because i really, really hate a few characters lmao. But i think in the end, Littlefinger takes the cake. He’s the reason for SO MANY BAD THINGS and he feels no remorse. he’s one of those truly evil characters. i can get behind a good villain (hello dany) but he’s beyond that.

3. What is one place in ASOIAF you would want to visit? Dorne! i think it looks beautiful, plus its warm. I’d also like to visit Winterfell, but i hate the snow and the cold so it would have to be a quick trip.

4) Favorite Ship? Why? Jonsa, duh! they’re so good together, i mean a lot of the chemistry is because of kit and sophie but thats what makes it more convincing. sansa needs someone who’s going to watch over her, even if she says she doesnt, and jon needs someone to remind him who he is. what the other lacks, the other has. they’re each other’s yin & yang.

5) What storyline you would change if you could? ugh, id loved it if Lyanna Stark had somehow lived. i guess that wouldnt make the story as great, but even if she’d lived and Jon knew her but never knew that she was his mother.

6) What do wished was explored more in canon? id love to hear more about the past- like Brandon the Builder and The Mad King and everyone who came before and between.

7) What non POV character do you wish you had POV chapters for? i havent read the books yet (aside from like half of the first one) so i cant really say!

8) What do you wished you could change about your favorite character? oooh, im not sure!! i love all things about sansa, her imperfections make her who she is. i know thats kind of a cop out answer but its the truth!!

9) What do you think is the worst part of the fan community? the BAD (dany/jonerys, specifically) stans. the ones who send anon hate, the ones who stalk the tags to start fights, the ones who just in general want to cause trouble. we all like the same show. i dont understand why we cant get along? why we cant just debate normally about our differing opinions??? everything seems to be a fight of jonsa vs jonerys & its DUMB. its just a tv show.

10) Who do you want on the Throne? HONESTLY if there’s still a throne to be sat on... Gendry, i guess. my own personal headcanon would be Gendry on the throne, but he breaks the North from the 7K’s and Jon and Sansa would be King and Queen in the North. I just dont think Jon would ultimately WANT to be King of it all, you know? but if Gendry isnt the option, i guess it would be Jon and Sansa.

my questions:

1. Who is your favorite antagonist and why?

2. If you could save one character from death, who would it be and why?

3. Direwolves or dragons?

4. Is there a character you like that the rest of the fandom seems to dislike?

5. Any ship you absolutely detest?

6. Favorite ship moment?

7. Is there a storyline you don’t like? Why?

8. If you were part of the story, which House would you want to belong to?

9. What’s your favorite moment from the show?

10. What do you think the final outcome of the show will be?

I tag: @jonsnowbrooding @kissedbyfirequeen @riahchan @an-oranophobic-maniac @auxesia-winterqueen @pearlgreyjane @disneyprincessbuffyannesummers @tinylonibee @keytothenorth & literally anyone else who wants to do it!!

#thanks for tagging me!!#this was so much fun!!

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littlelostbluejay · 5 years

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| This information belongs to me for it’s part of the world that I have created for these creatures in my story |

The 4 types of mystical beasts in my world.

I am going to shed some light on the main creatures in my canon. They come in three categories: Lycans. Werewolves. Shifters.

Direwolf ‘Lycans’ *

Lycans are basically wolf people who have the ability to morph into either a human, feral, or humanoid wolf. They are known to possess the perfect balance of human and wolf properties that make up their entire being - with that said, they are able to communicate in both wolf forms while possessing the intelligence and sense of reasoning of a human. If a human happens to befriend such a beast, they should avoid using the phrase, “good boy/girl’, in jest or taunt, for Lycans views such words as downplaying their intelligence as if they’re dogs. They have much pride in who they are as a people, and will not tolerate humans who belittle their culture, intellect, or presence. However, their wolf half is based on their instinctual urges and impulses like that of an ordinary wolf, a wild beast molded within the hands of mother nature.

Their wolf essence enables them to be connected to the earth, moon, wolf, & raven. These four connections flowing within their blood are part of their spirit and way of life, for it acts like an ID that reveals their inheritance as clean and pure, undefiled from anything mixed in the gene pool. They have the ability to communicate with wolves and other animals, which is a blessing bestowed upon them from mother earth as long as they give something to her in return - take care of the environment and the creatures whom live in it. This is witnessed in my Dire Wolf species because they are known for nurturing the earth for centuries, but it’s quite possible for other (sub-species) Lycans to gain these gifts as well. They have a certain spirituality circulating around their existence that is rare in today’s modern age of man whom is the main dominator currently ruining the earth.

Unlike shifters and some modern lycans, the animal that they are connected with, the dire wolf, is fully integrated into their psyche where they are at ‘one’ with the mind, body, and spirit of the individual, instead of acting like a separate entity or a second conscious. This wolf within themselves represents the instinctual impulses of a wolf, but they also work as a subconscious where all the things that the consciousness of the person is presently unaware of, that being feelings, thoughts, fears, ect, also they act like a 6th sense. This being is referred to as their ‘wolf spirit’ - not a literal spirit but its what makes them a Lycan.

Lycan Direwolves are an ancient breed of wolf only mentioned in folklore, and are considered legends in the werewolf community that laid out the foundations of survival for their future brethren. I should mention there are regular lycans too, which are like the common wolf. Here’s a link to a post I made for more info about my species.

Werewolves (Modern Lycans) *

Creatures where a human was either, in a rare case, somehow infected by a sick Lycan with a contagious disease only vulnerable to humans, or born as one through genes passed down from a werewolf parent or ancestor; nonetheless, they are all descendants of Lycans in someway through synthetic genetic editing. They sometimes have an imbalance in their brain that causes the wolf within to be uncontrollably animalistic where they tend to lack reasoning in their wereform. And unlike a pure blood Lycan, some can experience pain when they transform. They also can’t morph into a feral wolf. This modern breed initiated the stereotype that enforced the idea that all wolves are blood thirsty beasts with the only agenda to kill everything in their path; it’s commonly seen in the entertainment industry and media in our world, many of which produces horror films involving ravenous werewolves, and it doesn’t help that humans already believe that regular wolves are dangerous to their livestock, hence gave wolves the title as the ‘big bad wolf’. But I should say that not all werewolves share the same mentality, they are quite diverse with a multitude of sub-species in how they interact and behave around people.

In their wereform, werewolves can either recognize their loved ones, friends, or not; they act more beastly, more like a wolf or dog as an easier term, but some are born with the ability to maintain their human mind in such a state. Some can even morph on a full moon or anytime they want. And when it comes to their body shape in wereform, they either have a physique that's all in proportion, or one where the limbs may be a bit longer than another; a more beastly form that often mimics a deficiency in their human sensibilities. There is a deep contrast between common Werewolves and Lycan Dire Wolves, but the overall concept is that Lycans are an ancient, pure blooded race that existed way back in prehistoric times when the extinct dire wolf once lived along side them, nonetheless, should a Lycan breed with a human, their offspring will have all the genetic makeup of their Lycan parent, which give onlookers the impression that they are pure. Werewolves are not always strictly pure blood, their genes have been mixed with other creatures (other than humans), which results in a number of variations of werewolves in my world. But what makes a werewolf obvious is their lack of the four spiritual connections that only a Lycan possess.

In regards to their 'wolf spirit’, the way it acts differs for each individual. In some circumstances, such as for the ones who experience that unnatural imbalance in their brain, their inner wolf holds the capability to force itself to the forefront of their mental to take control of the mind of the individual where they’d act on their animalistic instincts, but this doesn’t suggest that the beast within always hold hostile intentions, either way, this is a case where the wolf spirit is a separate entity with it’s own identity, but it still possesses the feelings of the individual that is suppressed deep in their hearts. As for the ones where there is a perfect balance, the wolf spirit is the same as lycans. This also goes the same for other were-beasts with their own ‘animal spirit’.

Shifters & Mythical Beasts *

Shifters differ greatly from were-beasts. There are a few factors that separate this race from the other, and one of them obviously involves in how they shift into their animal form. Foremost, shifters only have one form they can transform into, that being their ‘animal’ or ‘feral’ form; they don’t possess an ‘anthromorphic’ or ‘bipedal’ form where they can walk on two legs like were-beasts do. Nevertheless, they are either capable of articulating human speech, using a mental connection to communicate with other beings, or sometimes are incapable of communicating at all in the human language – the race varies within their own circle. Another thing is the animal that is a part of them is a separate entity all together; the animal within has their own mind with their own feelings, and in a way they act like a second conscious that represents the instincts of that particular animal (whereas for were-beasts their animal acts like a subconscious).

Mythical beasts are beings spoken in mythology.

//I’mma write more info at a later time

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madaboutasoiaf · 6 years

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Her father sighed. “Ah, Arya. You have a wildness in you, child. ‘The wolf blood,’ my father used to call it. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch. It brought them both to an early grave.”

She dreamed of wolves that night, stalking through a wet wood with the smell of rain and rot and blood thick in the air. Only they were good smells in the dream, and Arya knew she had nothing to fear. She was strong and swift and fierce, and her pack was all around her, her brothers and her sisters.

Dreams of wolves, and being told of “the wolf blood,” but she’s not the only one

Of late, he often dreamed of wolves. They are talking to me, brother to brother, he told himself when the direwolves howled. He could almost understand them... not quite, not truly, but almost... as if they were singing in a language he had once known and somehow forgotten. The Walders might be scared of them, but the Starks had wolf blood. Old Nan told him so. “Though it is stronger in some than in others,” she warned.

Bran and Arya are both told of the wolf blood, and I’d argue it’s strong in both of them. Arya has the wildness in her, she’s described as willful, but Bran feels the call of the wild too. It’s seen from the first book with his need to climb, and Bran is willful with that too.

In addition, Bran and Arya are the two most powerful skinchangers in their family. They’re not just wargs, dreaming of wolves, they skinchange into other animals too. Arya’s mind can reach Nymeria from a different continent, and she skinchanges a cat in Braavos. Bran has Summer, but he is also skinchanging ravens, and using them to communicate over long distances.

#Jo rereads asoiaf #arya stark #bran stark #this is not new but I felt like pointing it out again #parallels #this is an incomplete thought #I may write it out more fully at some point

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gumame1a · 7 years

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prompt for gendrya: 5 times Gendry saw Arya Stark truly smile

sorry for the wait!! but thank you so so so much for the prompt :)

two falling sparks, one willing fool (or 5 times Gendry sees Arya Smile)

Gendry had a theory.

While there were definitely other more important things that occupied his mind, and things that he spent his time thinking about, he swears that this was just something that would come and go.The theory was: the only time Arya was really, truly, smiling was when she was unaware of it.And it’s stupid, but the thought makes him smile himself and she’d probably kick his ass if she ever found out what goes around in his head but-He can’t pinpoint exactly how or when, but there came a time where he had learned Arya. At least enough to know when she smiled for real. It was something that he took pride in; she was a fairly hard person to get a read on. Not that it was a conscious effort. No. Just something that he learned over time.He could just tell a genuine smile from a false front.

1The first time he sees her genuinely smile is when he meets her for the first time.Stuck with Lommy and Hot Pie, taking heat for something he had nothing to do with, here he is, sentenced with scraping gum and other questionable sticky clumps off of the cafeterias chairs and tables.Yoren, the history teacher, the only teacher in this high school that Gendry was confident didn’t totally hate teenagers (at least not yet), handed over buckets and what looked like butter knives to each of them, with a pair left for him.

For a second, he thought that his sympathy extended to actually helping them. It took him by surprise and he said so.“Me?” he laughed, as if the thought was so absurd. “That’s cute kid, but no. I’d never be able to stand again.”Yoren leaves without saying who and leaves them to it.Half an hour in, he thought whoever was supposed to be here would never show, but he hears her music before he even sees her because he recognizes it, and it’s that fucking loud, he wonders how she’s not deaf.He’d known her from around. The hallways standing with a sophomore he thinks is named Micah, in the papers with the rest of her family when Governor Stark came into office, a few parties here and there, and he’s confident that even though she has no idea who he is, and not sure how and who added who, but they’re friends on Facebook.Her clothes look expensive with the distinctive trademark fashion of the well-off. But she’s a walking contradiction with her old, worn out and ratty looking pair of Converse. She’s got this bored look on her face and yet, still doesn’t quite lose the aristocratic air that one’s born with the kind of family she’s from. So, sue him if he was 100% expecting her to bitch, whine and ditch.But she surprises him by nodding to no one in particular, letting her messenger bag riddled with buttons that’s falling apart at the seams with a thud, grabs the bucket and knife, and goes to work. Lommy and Hot Pie are not so subtly speculating as to why she might be with them suffering the same sentence. From what he’s heard, it was the bloody nose she gave Joffrey. He can’t say that he blames her. It was about time someone decked that jackass. What amuses him is that while he was taller than Joffrey, she would had to have reached quite a bit to throw the punch.He knows she can hear, but she stonily hacks away at a particularly stubborn piece of gum stuck to the chair, with a scabbed over white knuckled grip.Hot Pie’s scratching against the chair so fast Gendry’s worried it might actually catch fire.“Scrape, gently.”He doesn’t even stop, in fact, if it’s even possible, he’s scratching at it even faster. “Didn’t ask”“Yeah, well, tough shit, I didn’t ask to be here either .”He hears her snort, and it’s so loud at first he thinks she sneezed. But, no, he turns to see that she’s grinning at the underside of a chair, and finds himself smirking too.

2More often than not, it would be just the two of them at Motts. It started when he saw her walking home and asked if she wanted a ride at the last day of their community service and celebrate their freedom.She put her feet on the dash and changed the radio station within seconds of getting in his truck, and all he could do was scoff fondly at Hot Pie and Lommys reaction. He’d have given them an earful had it been any of the two, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell her off and, well, he just knew.From there, there was an effortlessness to the way they moved around each other. She took him completely by surprise at how much a part of his life she’d become. Gradually, it was her phone number in his phone saved as m’lady, both the jackets and hoodies she’d “borrow”, the distinct smell that would linger in his truck, the crap ton of selfies she’d leave on his phone, Nymeria’s fur everywhere in the upholstery despite that happening one time, and the inside jokes they shared. He was surprised how much he needed her and he hoped that she needed him the same way. He never thought he’d ever be this close to a girl, much less having a female best friend.And he likes it.Her presence. When Hot Pie and Lommy were around, they’d go out, but he likes this especially. He likes the companionship of them working in silence. He’d disappeared under the truck that came in a week ago, tinkering around, and she’s on the patched up sofa they picked up off the sidewalk on a whim that now sits in the middle of the garage, sprawled out with her headphones she’d long abandoned, having the radio loud instead and textbooks scattered about her like she’d been there forever, like she belonged there. He made sure he always had something to do with his hands because it was getting harder and harder to be around her, and he knew what that meant, but-He wasn’t going to be that guy. Suddenly, he’s being pulled out from under and the smell of freshly baked bread hits him. Lommy and Arya are on the couch while he and Hot Pie are on the ground. He’d missed the joke that everyone was laughing at, but he smiles anyway when he sees her head thrown back with a smile, as she kicks Lommy off the couch. She might as well have kicked him in the gut with what it was doing to him.He turns to see Hot Pie with an eyebrow raised at him and the smile on his face vanishes.

3He’s on the roof, trying to climb in through her window and sees her with only the laptop light illuminating her face, and she’s smiling at something and…… he falls with a thud that knocks the wind right out of him.“Seven hells, I haven’t done that since the 10th grade,” he groans, and she’s at his side in seconds where he’s on his back.“Are you okay?” He hears her laugh, typical. Here he is physically injured and she’s laughing, but despite everything, he’s laughing too.He’s trying to catch his breath. Somehow seeing her smile stretched out across her face, highlighted by the streetlight that would go out and come back on, with her hair tickling his cheeks doesn’t seem to be helping. He closes his eyes trying not to let her figure out what he’s thinking.I’m royally fucked, that’s what“Yeah, I’m fine. You don’t think they heard, do you?”She scoffs as she takes her place on her bed. “You worry too much.”Someone has toHe freezes in place because he didn’t think this part through. For a moment, he sees his life flash before his eyes when he remembers that she had 3 brothers that could kick his ass and one sister that would fucking murder him with a smile on her face if he so much as thought about Arya the wrong way.Was he really going to sit next to her on her bed, behind her closed bedroom door, unsupervised, at night?Yes. Yes he was.An hour and a half later, Fezzik, Inigo, Princess Buttercup and Westley are riding off into the sunset and the credits roll. He found it strange that she’d never seen it before.

“Hot Pie is Fezzik, Lommy is Inigo, and you’re Princess Buttercup.”“What, why do I have to be the princess?”It was a sort of game they had, casting each other in roles of movies they watched.He shrugs, “It just fits.”“And, what, you’re Westley?” she snorts derisively, but double takes when she catches him staring at her.He doesn’t realize until later what he’s just said. and he stutters under her own stare but has no time to backtrack until she says.“Ha! Fuck that, you can be Princess Buttercup. I’m Inigo Montoya.”

4She’s a junior now, and he’s surprised she’s stuck around. Not that he’s complaining. He’s really not. He was expecting her to ditch and move on without really saying anything after he graduated. But, she made it clear that she wasn’t going anywhere when she demanded that he, Hot Pie and Lommy suffer with her at Sansa’s 18th birthday party.“She’s just turning 18. Honestly, I don’t see the big deal.” She says it like she’s dreading going, but he can tell how proud she is.He looks around the room and while Lommy and Hot Pie are eating enough for a whole village, having no trouble whatsoever enjoying the party, but he just can’t find it in him to. His skin feels like it’s shrunk two size and maybe it’s paranoia, but the moment he’d arrived, he felt like very single pair of eyes were burning a hole on the back of his head. There’s no denying that it’s the nicest party he’s ever been to, and when she leaves his side to take pictures he’s never felt more out of place. But the party fades around him and he can only focus on one thing.She’s standing there with the rest of her family. Governor Stark, Dr. Stark, Senator Robb Stark with his fiance Jeyne Poole, future Attorney Sansa Stark, Bran Stark, smartest of all the Stark kids, Rickon Stark, star hockey player of the Direwolves and Arya, aspiring artist with so much potential, and Jon Snow, the Private Investigator, with all their million dollar smiles. At least he’s sure what it’s going to say in the papers the next day. He can tell it’s forced and he laughs to himself when the official photographer raises her finger for just one more and that she’s just seconds away from ripping his head off.She decides to ditch the reception altogether and she nicks a wine bottle and drags him out to the parking lot, barefoot, having ditched her heels sometime in the night. It was freezing back in the function room, but he thinks his temperature spikes when she slots her fingers through his, abandoning their friends to the buffet. He doesn’t dare let go. They’re sitting in the back of her brother’s truck. She was dangerous for him like this, all affectionate and disorientated. She whispers with a breathy laugh that makes him shiver from the inside out, “You’re never getting rid of me, okay. You’re stuck with me.”“Okay.” Like he actually had much of a choice.“I think that’s enough.” He tugs the wine bottle out of her grasp and she settles at his side, she laughs again against his neck, warm gust of breath hitting the side of his neck, and he inhales sharply, for a split second, forgets how to breathe.Arya’s giggling and stops then, suddenly, like she just realised something, she laughs again oh my god, ass!He laughs a little himself, “What?”“Ass, Gendry!” Like repeating it would make it make sense.He shakes his head, “I don’t-” and he swallows thickly when he sees her staring at him, with a dazed smile, a smile that he’s never seen before. He’d never been much of a poet, maybe a sap, but she looked really fucking happy. And that made him happy. "Arya, I don’t understand.“When she’s calmed down, she says, “When she graduates, she’ll be Attorney Sansa Stark.”It takes him a while for him to connect the dots and he just rolls his eyes. She falls asleep with her head on his lap, with his jacket as a pillow, and a smile on her face and he hopes for the night to never end. He does his best not to move, feeling oddly honored that she decided to fall asleep on him. It was a lot like the first time he got a cat and it was an amusing thought to have. Gendry had another theory: even though she had this self-professed obsession with wolves, she was honestly just a big cat.

5The same unknown number is calling for the fourth time, but judging by the fact that they seemed pretty damned determined to get a hold of him and the handful number of people who knew him and of his friendship (if you could still call it that, these days, it was pretty fucking hard to tell), he can guess who it was.He debates leaving it to ring. He wasn’t obligated to answer, but he figured Sansa, or at least he thought it was Sansa (it was likely that it could have been Margaery, nosey little shits), was never going to stop. She was really determined when she set her mind on anything. And he knows exactly what this is about.Lately, he’d been cancelling every time Arya would ask to hangout. He’d bullshit his way through his excuses whether it was because he was working, or sick, or busy. It was getting harder and harder to say no.The first time was the hardest. He didn’t need to see the caller ID to know it was her, she had her own ringtone. That should have been the first sign. “Hey,”“Hey,” she hesitates, and he curses under his breath, “What’re you doing later?”“Actually, I’m actually down with something. It’s pretty bad. Maybe tomorrow?” “What, you never get sick,”He laughs mirthlessly, and he just wishes the call would end, because he’s just so tired of lying. “Yeah, I know. I’ll call you.”“Okay,” He ends the call before he has the chance to say anything else.Tomorrow, turns into next time, which becomes next week, and it’s been almost a month now. He’d thought that the distance would help figure things out, but he’s pretty sure that the only thing hes figured out is that he’s just useless without her, which he knew already. He takes a deep breath and exhales and answers, “Gendry! Thank God, I didn’t think you were going to answer-” the voice says before he can get a word“Sansa, whatever you’re going to say, it’s not going to change-”“Look, just listen.”Strangely, it’s enough to silence him. “I won’t pretend to know why you’re punishing yourself and won’t let yourself be happy but, before I kick your ass, because trust me I can and I will, I’ll give you the privilege of giving me a good reason not to.”“How generous of you.”He’s met with silence and all he can do is sit down. “I don’t know what you want me to say that you don’t already know.”“Why are you avoiding her?” It’s not like he doesn’t want to. Gods, all he wants to do is be around her. But it was too much. He can’t- He just couldn’t do it. She was everywhere. She was in the air that he was breathing, in his space, in his head. “Because, I sure as hell don’t know, if you could clue me in on that, that’d be-”“Because I don’t trust myself, alright? Is that what you want to hear? That I cannot, for the life of me, keep lying to my best friend? That it just kills me whenever she’s around? Or when she tells me about some dumbass who’s no less deserving than I am of her? That I never will be? That- That all I want to do is just tell her how I feel?”“Why don’t you?”He swears he has a heart attack when he sees her right there, standing right in front of him, fists clenched at her sides, looking like she’s ready to take a swing at him and his first thought is-Fuck“What are you-”“You fucking liar!”It stings more than it should, but no less than he deserves.“What did you hear?”She’s stalking towards him, and he has this wild instinct that’s telling him to run, but he’s too overwhelmed to even move. “Did you mean it?” she’s searching his face for any proof, and he can barely breathe because she’s so close now. “Arya-”“Did you mean it?” She’s staring him down, and all he can do is stare back at her. The look of utter hope and devastation has him surrendering. Before he’s even finished saying “Yes”, she throws her arms around him, and it knocks the wind out of him, as he stumbled backwards. And purely instinctual, like the first time she held his hand, his hands find their place around her, and his lips on hers, and crushes her to him.She breaks away and slides down slowly, breathing heavily, his face following hers, eyes not quite open. While her hands are still gripping the lapels of jacket, his have moved from around her to her face, looking at her, almost like he’s making sure she’s really there. He feels more than sees her smiling into the kiss when she kisses him again, and he hugs her tight, burying his face into her hair .

“I missed you,”“And who’s fault is that?”“Fucking finally!” It’s Margaery this time.He laughs and steps out of their embrace.And just like that, he can breathe again. “Oh my god,” She grabs the phone from him “ hang up!”“I think the words you’re looking for are Your Wel-”Arya hangs up as Gendry sits on the table, blushing furiously, and looks down with a hand on the back of his neck. The look of remorse on his face was replaced with embarrassment. “Look Arya, I’m so-”“Oh, Gods, no, nope. We are not doing that. Just shut up and kiss me.”tadaaaaa, i hope you liked it haha :D title is from the song from afar - vance joy [ao3]

#gendrya #gendrya fanfiction #gendry x arya #got fanfiction #got #gendryatrash #tiny writes #god i hope its not too shitty uuuugh #i hate ending fics its the worst tbh #sorry it got so long omg #tiny answers #modern au

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jackoshadows · 4 years

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This is a write-up regarding the situation in the North as of the last book A Dance with Dragons regarding the Starks and their claim to WF and the North. It’s a rather long post with book quotes that looks at why each character has a claim to the North/WF and how much support they have for that claim going from the character with the strongest claim/support to the weakest.

Contenders currently in the North:

Bran Stark: Currently in the lands beyond the wall with the 3ER. Prince Bran Stark was the Prince of Winterfell and the Stark in Winterfell when King Robb Stark was campaigning in the South. He ruled over the North until Theon’s betrayal and attack wherein Theon became the Prince of Winterfell with his father Balon Greyjoy as King. Ramsay then sacked Winterfell and Roose Bolton took over as Warden of the North with Ramsay Bolton as the Lord of Winterfell, by way of marriage to ‘Arya Stark’.

Rickon Stark: Currently in Skagos. Next in line to Bran Stark. Has the support of the powerful Wyman Manderly to become the Lord of Winterfell/Warden of the North under King Stannis Baratheon as per the deal made with Stannis’ envoy Davos seaworth. Robett Glover also agrees to join Stannis’ campaign if Davos brings back Rickon safely from Skagos and sends weapons and hunters to Stannis to help in his march on Winterfell against the Boltons. Davos is currently headed to Skagos to bring Rickon back.

Characters that know that Bran and Rickon are alive: Theon Greyjoy, Wex, Wyman Manderly, Robett Glover, Stannis Baratheon, Davos Seaworth, Samwell Tarly, Gilly, Osha, Hodor, the Reeds and the Liddle of the mountain clans.

Additionally, Bran is communicating with Jon, Arya and possibly Rickon through their wolf dreams and in Theon’s case through the WF Godswood. Jon sees Shaggydog eating a unicorn in Skagos through Ghost. He sort of ‘knows’ that Bran and Rickon are alive through the direwolves communicating with each other.

Jon Snow: Ned’s bastard son only comes into the picture through Robb Stark’s will. So let’s take a look at this will. Before his death, Robb Stark creates a will to ensure that the Northern kingdom does not die with him. At this point, Robb thinks that Bran, Rickon and Arya are dead. First, he needs to make sure that the Lannisters don’t get the North:

By law Sansa is next in line of succession, so Winterfell and the north would pass to her.” His mouth tightened. “To her, and her lord husband. Tyrion Lannister. I cannot allow that. I will not allow that. That dwarf must never have the north.”

“No,” Catelyn agreed. “You must name another heir, until such time as Jeyne gives you a son.”

Robb and Cat seem pretty determined that Sansa, her husband and any children they have will never get the North/WF. This indicates that there is a provision in the will where Sansa is explicitly debarred/disinherited from getting the North. This seems to be a pretty popular idea as, up North, Stannis is of a similar mind –

"Lady Lannister, you mean? Are you so eager to see the Imp perched on your father's seat? I promise you, that will not happen whilst I live, Lord Snow."

So anyways, Sansa is out. Next, Robb decides to legitimize Jon Snow and he trusts Jon so much that he decides to do this before even knowing whether his wife Jeyne Westerling is pregnant or not. Catelyn is so distressed over this, that she would rather Robb select some cousin from the Vale to be Lord of WF/KITN than Jon Snow because she thinks that Jon will steal Robb’s child’s birthright. And that once Jon is legitimized it cannot be taken back. They argue over this:

He is set on this. Catelyn knew how stubborn her son could be. “A bastard cannot inherit.”

“Not unless he’s legitimized by a royal decree,” said Robb. “There is more precedent for that than for releasing a Sworn Brother from his oath.”

“If you make Jon legitimate, there is no way to turn him bastard again. Should he wed and breed, any sons you may have by Jeyne will never be safe.”

“Have you considered your sisters? What of their rights? I agree that the north must not be permitted to pass to the Imp, but what of Arya? By law, she comes after Sansa . . . your own sister, trueborn . . . ”

“ . . . and dead. No one has seen or heard of Arya since they cut Father’s head off. Why do you lie to yourself? Arya’s gone, the same as Bran and Rickon, and they’ll kill Sansa too once the dwarf gets a child from her. Jon is the only brother that remains to me. Should I die without issue, I want him to succeed me as King in the North. I had hoped you would support my choice.”

From all this we can speculate that the Robb’s will has provisions that disinherits Sansa, legitimizes Jon and makes him KITN if Jeyne does not have a child – since the only uncertainty at the time the will is written up is whether Robb will have a child or not.

The following lords are signatories and witnesses to this will: Jason Mallister, Raynald Westerling, Greatjon Umber, Galbart Glover, Maege Mormont and Edmure Tully. We don’t know where this will is – it’s speculated that Galbart Glover and Maege Mormont are in possession of the will and were last headed for Greywater watch, the residence of Howland Reed.

If Robb’s will comes into play, then Jon goes from Jon Snow to Jon Stark and that automatically pushes him to the head of the queue as the eldest Stark, even if Bran and Rickon are alive. Of course, ultimately it all depends on which houses will support Jon Stark and which houses will support Bran, Rickon or Arya stark.

Contenders currently outside the North:

Because much of the North and house Stark is patriarchal, the girls come further down the line when it comes to their claims to WF and the North.

Arya Stark: Currently in Braavos. She is involved in the Northern plot in the book through Jeyne Poole – who marries Ramsay Bolton as ‘Arya Stark’ to help the Boltons hold the North. With Jon’s help, Stannis engages with the Mountain clans and they agree to fight under him to defeat the Boltons and free Arya. As Big Bucket Wull explains:

Winter is almost upon us, boy. And winter is death. I would sooner my men die fighting for the Ned’s little girl than alone and hungry in the snow, weeping tears that freeze upon their cheeks. No one sings songs of men who die like that. As for me, I am old. This will be my last winter. Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die. I want to feel it spatter across my face when my axe bites deep into a Bolton skull. I want to lick it off my lips and die with the taste of it on my tongue.

So the clans and Stannis are fighting to save Arya. While Stannis himself is not interested in Arya as a heir to WF (he wants to rescue Arya for Jon’s sake and send her to him), the clans and some of the Northern houses in the game – who don’t know about Bran and Rickon being alive – could be plotting to get rid of house Bolton and restore WF/North to Arya as Queen in the North. Even Roose’s so called Northern allies are not pleased with the way ‘Arya’ is being treated.

Barbrey: The bride weeps ... Dressing her in grey and white serves no good if the girl is left to sob. The Freys might not care, but the northmen ... they fear the Dreadfort, but they love the Starks.

Theon: Not you.

Barbrey: Not me, but the rest, yes. Old Whoresbane is only here because the Freys hold the Greatjon captive. And do you imagine the Hornwood men have forgotten the Bastard's last marriage, and how his lady wife was left to starve, chewing her own fingers? What do you think passes through their heads when they hear the new bride weeping? Valiant Ned's precious little girl. Lady Arya's sobs do us more harm than all of Lord Stannis's swords and spears.

“Night work is not knight’s work,” Lady Dustin said. “And Lord Wyman is not the only man who lost kin at your Red Wedding, Frey. Do you imagine Whoresbane loves you any better? If you did not hold the Greatjon, he would pull out your entrails and make you eat them, as Lady Hornwood ate her fingers. Flints, Cerwyns, Tallharts, Slates … they all had men with the Young Wolf.”

“House Ryswell too,” said Roger Ryswell. “Even Dustins out of Barrowton.” Lady Dustin parted her lips in a thin, feral smile. “The north remembers, Frey.”

Meanwhile, Lord Commander Jon Snow at the Wall has send Mance Raydar – the King beyond the wall – to rescue his sister. After he receives a letter from Ramsay Bolton informing him that Stannis has failed and that Mance is dead, Jon rallies the Wildlings to go attack the Boltons and save Arya. He is assassinated at this point.

So while all this is happening in the North, the real Arya is in Braavos. How would she connect to this plot? Well, if Jon is dead at the wall, fake Arya/Jeyne Poole may end up going with Justin Massey to Braavos – where Stannis has send him to get more mercenary soldiers and men to fight against the Boltons. Imagine Arya’s surprise when she comes across Jeyne masquerading as Arya in Braavos while Arya is walking around with someone else’s face?! This could very well be the spur that pushes her to make a trip to the Wall or the North. The only obstacle is of course that Winter has come in the books and the snowstorms are so bad that Stannis and his army is stranded unable to march even to WF. It’s not going to be easy for Arya to get North at this point. It’s possible that Arya therefore travels to the Riverlands or even the Vale since weather wise that’s easier to do.

Sansa Stark: Currently in the Vale. She is LF’s nominee for the North/WF. The major obstacle for her getting the North is her marriage to Tyrion. Currently she is still married to Tyrion as of the last book. This marriage can only be annulled by the high Septon in KL – which means there should be a regime friendly to Sansa in KL before this can happen. Or Tyrion should die. This is what LF is hoping for - that Cersei somehow manages to kill Tyrion. LF’s plans depends on both Tyrion and SweetRobin dying. Hence why Sweetrobin is being given dangerous levels of sweetsleep, despite the Maester’s warnings. LF also thinks that Bran and Rickon are dead.

So according to LF’s plans, Cersei kills Tyrion, SweetRobin dies, Sansa marries Harry the heir and is unveiled as Queen in the North/Lady of Winterfell.She gets the North and the Vale in one swoop.

But unfortunately for Littlefinger, the North is moving full speed ahead with their own plots and games. Bran and Rickon are still alive, some Northern houses are pushing for Rickon, others support Arya and Robb’s will basically disinherits Sansa Lannister. LF does not know any of this. There’s also the fact that with winter coming to Westeros and the snow storms, no army is going to be able go North any time soon. No single person would be able to do the same. Alys Karstark nearly died riding from Karhold to the Wall. So Sansa is going to be stuck in the south for a while yet.

So with Sansa in the vale, Arya in Braavos and Bran beyond the wall, the closest contenders for WF and the North location-wise are going to be Rickon and Jon. And Jon is still lying dead in the snow. So it’s very likely that we will get either Lord of Winterfell Rickon Stark if Stannis wins or KITN Rickon Stark if Stannis dies in the next book.

#ASoIaF #Bran Stark #Rickon Stark #Jon Snow #Arya stark #Sansa Stark #Robb Stark #Northern lords #Winterfell #And the North

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