#「ʰᵉᵃᵈᶜᵃᶰᵒᶰ」ᶰᵒ ˢᵗᵃʳᵏ; ᵇᵘᵗ ʰᵉ ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵈᶤᵉ ˡᶤᵏᵉ ᵒᶰᵉ

[killthebxy]

points of divergence between the show and my personal portrayal and background for Jon Snow:

first, i want to point out that i am entirely show-divergent when it comes to Jon’s parentage. more information can be found on this post, this post, and this post, but in one sentence: my canon is that Jon Snow is the son of Eddard Stark with a woman so far unknown. i accept exceptions when they are plotted beforehand, namely when it comes to roleplayers of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, but otherwise this is what i will default to --- so, if you would like to write s08-based threads with me, please keep this in mind.

EPISODE 1

--- based on the above, Jon has no Targaryen blood and, therefore, is not a dragonrider. therefore, except for threads plotted out of my default, the scene where Jon rides Rhaegal happened according to what i have headcanoned with @zcldrizes: Jon rides Drogon together with Daenerys, because she wanted to show him what it is like --- you can find this scene better described on this ask. the exceptions i accept to this are: 1) my threads and plots with @perzyr, where Rhaegal accepts Jon as his rider not because of Targaryen blood but because of the bond that develops between them, and 2) any threads otherwise based on or related to the previous point.

--- based on the above, i do not acknowledge the revelation scene that happened in the crypts. Jon was simply there to find some solace and to reminisce together with the statues of his family and loved ones, and the talk that ensued was based on Sam’s grief over what Daenerys did and how he fears Jon may have been deceived by a woman who’s not showing her true colors. please note: obviously, this scene falls on the Sam roleplayers more than on myself, so i am simply stating my opinions on it --- save for the revelation, i am willing to adapt everything else between them during this moment. my default, to be further plotted and written with @tymptir and based on my headcanons together with @ashccra, is that Sam revealed to Jon that he is the son of Ashara Dayne, born from her fleeting romance with Ned during the tourney of Harrenhal.

EPISODE 2

--- the reason why Jon is so quiet at the beginning, why he practically zones out throughout Jaime’s entire trial, and why he actively avoids Daenerys (and, i headcanon, everyone else who may try to talk to him EXCEPT MAYBE ARYA OKAY) is because 1) he’s grieving for the mother he never met but now knows who is and the terrible way she died, 2) he’s trying to come to terms with the fact Ned never revealed this to him, but understanding why it was so, and 3) he’s currently very conflicted towards everything that concerns Daenerys and Sam. not to mention, he’s exhausted from the preparations for war and eating/sleeping/resting very little around this time, so it’s only natural that, all in all, he’s keeping to himself more than ever.

--- the final scene at the crypts with Daenerys: the only thing being discussed/being a source of tension between them was what i already mentioned, regarding her and Sam.

--- my headcanons for what is Jon doing during the final hours before the battle can be found: on this post.

EPISODE 3

--- my headcanons for the battle preparations and the battle itself can be found: on this post.

--- other than the previous point, my only point of divergence is that Jon sees Sam overrun by wights the moment he enters Winterfell to head for the godswood. even though he knows he’s running out of time, he spares a few seconds to kill those wights and to help his best friend back up on his feet. without saying anything, Jon then is off again --- Sam sees where he is headed and understands his purpose, and does not hold him back.

--- my headcanons for the damage that Jon took during the battle, as well as the consequences once everything is over, can be found: on this post.

EPISODES 4, 5, and 6

--- i do not acknowledge anything show-based for these episodes. for show canon only, i headcanon that Jon died fighting Viserion.

--- anything i write that is set after the battle for Winterfell/ after the battle for the dawn/ after winter will be solely based on my headcanons and on the plots i develop with my writing partners.

--- my post-show verses can be found: on this post.

--- my general overview of the season finale can be found: on this post.

[killthebxy]

a smol headcanon that i just thought of:

Jon is not a Stark. he is a bastard son, and he would only have accepted to be legitimized by his father, Eddard Stark --- which is part of the reason why he refused Stannis’ offer, back in the day. this means that, should he get married, he has no real bride’s cloak to offer, as he would not make use of the Stark sigil. for this motive, he clasps around the bride’s shoulders a black cloak like those of the Night’s Watch --- as symbol of where he used to belong, and an analogy of his wife as his new home.

a note: whereas Ned and Cat had their bedding ceremony back in the day, i personally interpret that Ned (based on his general personality) wasn’t particularly fond of the tradition, albeit not having broken it. Jon takes after his father in this aspect, and in his case he goes as far as discarding the bedding ceremony entirely.

a second note: Jon will always want to get married in front of a heart tree. in case the bride keeps the Faith of the Seven and would like to follow her own tradition, two ceremonies will happen --- one for the old gods, one for the new gods. and the equivalent for the Drowned God and R’hllor and any other deities.

[killthebxy]

(from book!canon) burn scars covering his right hand half the way up to the elbow, from his fight with Othor when he grabbed the curtain that was on fire;

(from book! + show!canon) small-ish scars around both eyes, from Orell’s tallons;

(from book!canon) a scar at the back and front of his right thigh, from Ygritte’s arrow first at the back and, then, having to push the arrow out at the front;

(from show!canon) a stab scar by his left hip, from Karl’s dagger at Craster’s Keep;

(from show!canon) a long scar around his right eye, from the fight with the Other at Hardhome;

(from show!canon) a total of seven stab scars all over his torso, from the mutiny (note: i default to show!canon because, in book!canon, so far we do not know the extent of the damage);

(from show!canon) faint marks left all over his body by frostbite, from the fall into the frozen lake at the Frostfangs and subsequent ride back to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea;

(from show!canon) faint marks left here and there on his face and neck by freeze burns/frostbite, from riding Rhaegal at such high altitude/ high speed/ low temperature of the air during the battle for Winterfell;

(from show!canon) scars left on both his palms, from holding onto Rhaegal’s scales so harshly;

(from show!canon) a faint but large scar along his upper back and shoulder blades, from the grazing of undead!Viserion’s fangs during the airborne battle;

(from show!canon) a scar on his right cheek, from the rough landing when Rhaegal hits the ground;

(from show!canon) burn scars all over his back, shoulders, and the back of his arms, from the face-off with undead!Viserion at the castle yard --- these are not as deep as his burned hand.

[killthebxy]

also given the state of the dash right now, an important note:

Jon’s favorite part in a woman’s body is the cleavage. followed by the thighs. and the hips.

[killthebxy]

Do you have any HCs on Ghost/Jon’s bond? I’d love to hear them because I don’t think the show does it justice.

— @barkingsunlight​ —

          hello friend, thank you for asking! unfortunately i will disappoint you, though, because i really don’t… for one simple reason — i use headcanons to fix/complement canon when i personally believe it is needed. in the case, while i completely agree the show does not deserve Ghost AT ALL, i think the books do a wonderful job at portraying his bond with Jon, which is why i never really needed to add much more. i will however point out some of my favorite moments:

during the royal visit to Winterfell, Jon snatching literally half a chicken from the squires’ and pages’ table to feed to Ghost instead because u guys don’t need this it’s for my puppy;

Jon making Ghost knock over Tyrion, which was such a dick move back in this boy’s bully days, yes, BUT IT WAS HILARIOUS SUE ME;

that one moment Sam is crying and Jon is flailing internally because he has -23 skills of comforting people and so Ghost goes and licks Sam’s face all over till he’s laughing;

Jon showing Longclaw’s pommel to Ghost and saying look it’s you;

Jon & Ghost finding that stash of dragonglass by the Fist of the First Men, this is literally the reason why we know that dragonglass can kill Others;

Jon refusing to leave Ghost behind after Orell’s attack, even if that meant making someone of the importance of Qhorin Halfhand wait for half a day;

every single warg in Mance’s camp being in awe of Ghost because DAMN THIS BABY CROW HERE HAS SUCH A MAJESTIC BEAUTIFUL POWERFUL COMPANION WOW;

Jon using Ghost as a last mean to keep his own little eager hands from Ygritte and Ghost just probably like kiss her u fool;

Jon asking Ghost if the direwolves have names for the stars;

JON SAYING GOODBYE TO GHOST BECAUSE HE CANNOT CLIMB THE WALL AND MAYBE THEY WILL NEVER REUNITE AGAIN;

JON AND GHOST REUNITING AGAIN THE NIGHT JON IS ELECTED LORD COMMANDER;

Jon canonically has a little rug for Ghost to sleep on by the hearth in the old armory;

Ghost already as a hugeass direwolf the size of a pony rolling around the piles of fresh snow like a pup while Jon watches in awe;

Jon seething @ Borroq’s boar because don’t u dare come near my boy i’ll fite u myself;

Jon whispering Ghost’s name seconds before he dies.

also, to close: i personally write Jon as keeping his warging abilities even in my show only threads and plots.

[killthebxy]

a heap of headcanons: the last hours before the Battle for Winterfell

inspired + complemented by @needlcd & @zcldrizes own posts

first of all, all of these come following my personal take on the events of s08, as i am show!canon divergent. this can be found: HERE.

Jon has had A LOT to do, ever since Tormund, Edd, and Beric arrived with the news. as Warden of the North, it falls on him to supervise the setting up of defenses. just as much, he’s been trying to learn as much as he can about the Unsullied and the Dothraki, as to understand how to better place them in the battlefield. he’s also been keeping close talks with Gendry and the other smiths, and helping with distributing dragonglass weapons to everyone himself, in between everything else already stated. for all this, he doesn’t have much free time up until after the strategy meeting we see in episode 2.

even though he concludes such meeting with “let’s get some rest”, he doesn’t follow his own advice really. he’s very antsy and understandably so, and cannot bring himself to stay still --- so he goes on a final round to make sure everything and everyone are as prepared as they can possibly be. this is when he goes to check in on Sansa and Bran, to also ensure they are well and to try and reassure them a bit --- again, as much as possible in the situation.

after this comes the scene we see in episode 2 between Jon, Sam, and Edd. they reminisce about their times at the Night’s Watch, particularly the night that Mance Rayder stormed the Wall --- note that @tymptir and i headcanon Grenn as very much alive and at Winterfell. Jeor Mormont and Mance himself (ft. @starfrckled) just as much, so Jon spends some time with all of them as well. he also finds Tormund (ft. @talltalkr) in between his moments with Brienne & co, and they talk of how they did not survive Hardhome to let the Night King come kill them in their own home now. particularly, while he says nothing about this, Jon prays to the old gods that Tormund will not be made to see/fight his daughters who have been turned into wights at Hardome.

next, comes the scene at the crypts with Dany. based on my divergent background and on my own plot with @zcldrizes, the source of tension between them at this point is the fact that Dany did not tell Jon that she burned the Tarlys for treason. now... Jon does understand this. he’s a commander himself, he’s executed men (and boys) for similar reasons. so what’s driving him off, at the moment, is 1) how conflicted he is, because he does not wish to hurt her but he also does not wish to hurt Sam, and 2) based on my plot with @tymptir, one day before, Sam revealed to Jon in these same crypts that his mother was Ashara Dayne (ft. also my plot with @ashccra). ever since, Jon has been struggling to come to peace with the fact that Ned never told him of it --- and here comes into play the heightened paranoia he was left with after the mutiny at Castle Black and his revival (if you’d like details on how this affects my portrayal of Jon, you’re welcome to read: this meta). Jon has ever felt the need to prove himself, as per his bastard-born nature and the internalization of this stigma (again, a meta: here), but after his own men betray him this grows A LOT worse --- as in, that was an absolute failure on my end and i deserved what happened. at this point, he’s questioning himself if maybe this is why his father never told him anything --- if Ned was ashamed to have him as a son, if Ned saw him under the same light Cat (for example) did and only tried to hide it out of kindness. then, suddenly... he gets told that Dany also hid such a huge fact from him, and this goes even further downhill. it is important to note: right now, after Sam’s revelation (+ the current very stressful circumstances + his own physical and mental exhaustion, as he’s been barely eating and sleeping during the past couple of days), Jon is NOT in his right mind. he’s exhausted, he’s paranoid, he’s dealing with HUGE guilt for being unable to guarantee his loved ones and his people will live to see another day. this is why he’s been avoiding Dany, and this why, even if they do talk right now at the crypts, he’s still very much distant --- it’s a self-defense coping mechanism. Artie and i, therefore, headcanon that, while they do not really fight, they are unable to properly discuss everything, either --- so they agree that they cannot afford to go into this battle whilst angry at each other, and they agree to take some time apart and to finish this talk later --- both of them fully aware that, likely, there won’t be a “later” for either or both of them.

after this, Jon heads for the godswood for a good while. he’s spoken to the statues of Ned and Robb already ( @kingwholost you can be sure there IS a statue of Robb), and now he goes to speak to the old gods. for the most part, though, he does not pray --- not yet. he simply seeks their calm and their peace and their wisdom, and sits under the heart tree honing Longclaw’s blade as Ned so often used to do with Ice, himself. and it does bring him a little bit of comfort.

finally, he heads back to his room and begins donning his Stark armor. and listen. idc what episode 3 will bring, JON -IS- WEARING ARMOR BECAUSE HE IS NOT STUPID. also the stewards @thedolorous & @satincrow are welcome to come help for a bit if they want. eventually, @needlcd comes to join him and he wouldn’t have it any other way --- he’s spending his potential last hours alive with his little sister, his heart, light of his eyes, the person he loves most in this world and quite more than his own life. he doesn’t need more than a look to see how distressed she is and, if nothing else, he’s happy that he can finally be here to keep her safe after all the horrors she’s had to face on her own. there isn’t much talking, as there is not need to be, and he simply lets her snuggle into him as much and for as long as she needs --- he lets her cry if she needs and makes no comment, simply running his fingers through her hair. Jon himself does not cry, not yet, because this moment is for her.

eventually... Arya falls asleep in his arms, Ghost by now also joined into the little cuddle pile, and Jon spends the last hours before the sound of the warhorns with himself. he’s exhausted, but he cannot sleep --- and he does not want to sleep, not when this may be his last chance to have his little sister safe in his arms. he thinks about everything and everyone, at this point. and this is when he prays: gods of my father, protect my people. protect Arya and let her live to see brighter days, she’s been through so much. protect Bran and Sansa. protect Dany and allow her to give justice to her child. protect my good and loyal friends who’ve followed me to the end of the world. i beg you, give me strength and skill to keep them all safe or at least alive. guide my steps and let me save them. and this is when he cries... or as close to crying as Jon Snow ever comes; a few silent, tiny tears rolling down his cheeks, and that he promptly wipes away with the back of his hand. it’s not his first time waiting for the enemy to come, though even wildling hosts pale in comparison to literal Death. at this point, Jon has a very cocky relationship with the possibility of his own dying --- because he has gone through it (twice, as i headcanon that he died in that frozen lake). not as in “i am so tough and death can’t kill me”, no, but in a completely detached sort of toxic mindset --- i have died and they brought me back because they still had a use for me (Melisandre told him this, through different words) --- if i die again and they still need me, they’ll bring me back yet again. but you, Lord Snow, you’ll be fighting their battles forever. he does not feel bitter about it anymore, for the simple reason he has repressed that experience to the point of being numb to it. therefore, right now, Jon is not afraid to die --- his only huge, overwhelming fear is that he will be unable to keep his loved ones alive/ unharmed, especially this skinny little girl currently sleeping in his arms. so, when the time comes, this is why he does not feel any of his fatigue anymore --- a sort of parallel with the wights; our enemy does not tire. Jon himself has become a wight animated by fire, rather than ice. and he will not tire --- not while he has his family and his home and his people to defend, or die in the attempt.

one final note: if there is one thing i do not tolerate in the show, it is the lack of consequences when it comes to Jon’s actions (frozen lake, cough, just to cite the more blatant case). i do NOT write Jon Snow as an overpowered superhero who can recklessly do whatever he wants and does not pay the price for it. i don’t know how the battle will unfold --- for example, if he will be wounded during it --- but i know that, should this be the case and the show does not acknowledge it, i will. in post-battle scenarios, despite what happens, he will suffer physical consequences for his actions --- and, if nothing else, he’s going to crash VERY HARD and go comatose for at least some 24h because his body will have reached the limit of exhaustion.

[killthebxy]

a heap of headcanons, pt. 3:

the aftermath + consequences of the battle for Jon Snow

also known as an extensive list of all the damage Jon took during this battle

whilst on the ground, Jon is relatively safe and guarded behind the castle walls.

once he rides Rhaegal to battle, however, this is when it starts. as i headcanon that Jon is wearing armor, at this point he will shed the bulk of it and keep only the ringmail --- making himself exposed, but he will need freedom of movements to ride a dragon, especially considering he isn’t as experienced as Dany.

building on @zcldrizes‘s own headcanons: riding a dragon at such high altitude, at such high speed, in the middle of a literal winter storm, is brutal on the body. while he is mildly protected by the ringmail, Jon is forced to hold onto Rhaegal’s scales as hard as he can, which ends up tearing the leather of his gloves and leaving gashes on his palms. he is also supporting his entire body weight (+ringmail) on strength of arms alone, which puts extensive strain on these muscles. this is part of the reason why, when we see him back on the ground to fight the wights, he isn’t as graceful with Longclaw in hand as we are used to --- hands slashed open, arm muscles under extreme tension.

still regarding the dragon ride, again with the altitude and pressure and cold, Jon is left with freeze burns/ frostbite on his face. nothing that cannot be healed afterwards, but it will be very noticeable at the end of the battle and it will require time to heal.

still regarding the dragon ride, at one point Viserion attempts to snap at Jon directly and misses only by miracle --- and because it catches Jon’s heavy, thick cloak instead. it ends up being ripped off and, while he is protected for the most part by the ringmail, the grazing of Viserion’s teeth breaks through fabric, metal, and skin and leaves a gash along Jon’s shoulder blades and upper back --- a superficial wound and not exactly dangerous, but it is there no less.

when Rhaegal lands so roughly, Jon is thrown off. he hits the ground harshly and at high speed and rolls off a few meters, and is left quite jolted. from this moment, he gains a few cracked ribs and bruises all over, as well as a few smaller gashes from the ringmail cutting into his flesh. because he hits solid rock ground so violently, he is also left with a mild concussion --- we can see in the scenes after this moment that, more than limping, Jon seems to be a bit uncoordinated in his movements, especially when he chases the Night King (he does not usually run this slow) and then within Winterfell, when he more than once collides with the walls. this is the other reason, again, why this time around he’s more clumsy in his sword fighting. from this fall, he is also left with a deep gash on his right cheek.

overall, Jon is subjected to varying degrees of burns --- during the air fight, during the moment when Dany saves him from the wights right after the Night King flees, and particularly during his confrontation with Viserion at Winterfell’s yard. while that lump of fallen rock protects him from the bulk of the blue flames, it grows extremely hot no less and this has the ringmail burning roughly right against his flesh. by the time the battle is over, Jon’s back and his shoulders and the back of his arms are extensively burnt --- not as badly as his right hand when he fought Othor, but still with first and second degree burns a bit all over. Jon is NOT immune to fire/heat, even in threads where i may write him as Rhaegar’s son.

by the end of the battle, it’s easy to guess that this boy took the beating of his life and is standing up still only because of the rush of adrenaline + sheer stubbornness. realizing what happened, i.e., that someone somehow defeated the Night King, he will immediately rush to the godswood --- from there, he will want to go find Dany and Rhaegal after leaving them behind, and then the rest of his family and friends --- because he won’t allow himself to rest even though he’s stumbling everywhere at this point, until he’s certain of their fate. therefore, he will only finally stop if someone else forces him to or if he collapses out of absolute exhaustion.

after this, because his body reached the limit, Jon will remain unconscious for a week or so --- between 5-7 days. he will be left with a new scar on his right cheek from the fall, one on his back from Viserion’s snap, several small scars on his palms from riding, and faint burn scars a bit all over his back and shoulders.

[killthebxy]

a heap of headcanons, pt. 2:

the defenses of Winterfell + strategy for the battle

          let it be known that i am writing these for a simple reason: i am greatly unsatisfied with how the battle was planned for episode 3. my portrayal is always book-based, even in show-only plots and threads, and book!Jon is a brilliant strategist --- he and Robb learned it all from Ned and, while it is true that Jon lacks real war experience when compared to Robb, it is no less true that this boy: 1) helped defend Castle Black from Styr’s attack, even if it meant risking to be the one to kill Ygritte, 2) was charged with the defense of the Wall, at age 16, by Donal Noye who believed him fully capable of such, 3) was named acting commander by maester Aemon, the sagest of men, and 4) held the Wall against Mance Rayder, 100,000 wildlings, mammoths, giants --- not because he had the numbers, but because of his exceptionally intelligent planning of their defenses. add to this the fact that Jaime Lannister, lord commander of the Kingsguard, a man able to battle Ned Stark eye on eye, is at Winterfell, and definitely there is no way i will ever accept how badly this battle was planned. i am no battle specialist myself, but i will try my best to make sense out of this. and also: i headcanon that these strategies were placed together by Jon and Jaime, with Tyrion’s supervision together with Jorah, Grey Worm, Dany’s bloodriders, Sandor, Beric, Tormund, Davos, Theon, and Brienne (i.e., characters with training and experience in battle strategy) --- and then shared, discussed, debated, and fixed as necessary together with everyone else in the castle. no one was left out, no matter their role.

first and foremost, while i do not personally agree with the suicidal plan of “let’s lure in the Night King and use Bran as bait”, i will accept it because otherwise i would have to change literally the entire episode and everyone’s own muses’ actions and this is obviously not my intention. the strategy is what will differ.

the Unsullied are the main line of defense and their purpose is to shield the castle --- if a single wight enters the castle, everything is lost. the Dothraki riders, on the other hand, are purely offensive and they need a vast field to perform their attacks. HOWEVER. whilst they are still the van, they are not pitched head-on towards the wights nor are they tossed carelessly like meat to be slaughtered. they will be placed on the sides of the field, so to speak, so that they can charge into the wights as the wights come forth. so, let’s envision it like this: there is Winterfell, right in front Winterfell the Unsullied legions are placed as a shield. the wights will charge right into this shield, as they are vicious and rely on ruthlessness only, therefore they attack in a block. this will allow, therefore, for the Dothraki to charge into them from the sides, supporting the shield this way and minimizing their deaths as much as possible.

regarding the dragons: this will build on my plotting with @zcldrizes and @perzyr. i write Jon as having no Targaryen blood (except for very few threads plotted otherwise), and he is able to ride Rhaegal only because of a bond they have built ever since Jon arrived at Dragonstone --- Rhaegal chooses Jon for his rider not because of blood, but because of the person Jon is. still, Jon is a much less experienced rider than Dany, and his initial plan is not to go fight in the air. for the initial part of the battle, Jon stays on the ground and supervises and commands from atop Winterfell’s walls, together with Arya and Sansa and Davos. Ghost is with him, because Jon knows his direwolf won’t make a difference in this sort of battlefield --- there is 99% chance Ghost will be butchered, and he will be much more useful within the castle walls, to help shielding from the inside out.

regarding the dragons, pt.2: again based on my plotting with Artie and Daisy --- while Jon stays on the ground for now, Dany flies off with Drogon and Rhaegal. considering everything i state above, too --- they begin burning the waves of wights, again as a way to keep casualties to a minimum, which allows the Dothraki riders to only charge in when it is safe --- and then retreat again, rinse and repeat. eventually, Dany spots the Others by the edge of the wolfswood and steers Drogon that way to go fight. Rhaegal stays behind and continues supporting the forces on the ground because 1) he refuses to fight Viserion (this is @perzyr‘s beautiful headcanon, with a lot more detail and depth to it than i am exploring here), and 2) he refuses to abandon Jon. after some moments of airborne fighting, Dany realizes she will be unable to bring down Viserion on her own and this is when she returns for Jon --- in this moment, Jon and Rhaegal together decide to go fight as well, and this is when everything else happens like we see unfolding in the episode.

on the other hand, this when the odds start becoming very tilted against everyone fighting on the ground. with the dragons gone off to fight Viserion, the armies do not have that protection anymore --- and they are greatly outnumbered by the wights. this is when the retreat begins.

unlike what we see in the episode, the walls are very well prepared to deal with wights trying to climb up --- this is literally what Jon had to face when defending the Wall, and he’ll put all this knowledge and experience to good use. atop the walls, there are boulders and scorpions and barrels filled with stone and ice and more barrels of oil and torches. everyone there is armed with longbow or crossbow, and fire arrows.

in the meanwhile, however, something else happens that definitely ruins all these preparations --- the moment when the Night King, after being knocked off Viserion and now face to face with Jon, rises all the dead soldiers. because this means there is now wights within the castle walls, no matter what.

regarding the crypts: i had a thought of headcanoning that, rather than the crypts, Jon would have everyone gathered at the great keep --- because he is not stupid, and he knows the crypts are an accident waiting to happen, as soon as the Night King brings up his arms. however i ultimately chose not to because 1) again, it is not my intention to change half the episode for everyone, and 2) in theory, the crypts ARE the safest place. not when the dead rise, yes, but at this point the entire castle is overrun and it will make little difference where you are. no place is safe anymore --- when the crypts fall, every other place is already gone before.

one final note regarding Ghost: as i said, he is NOT sent off to fight, as in my personal opinion this makes little sense. he stands by Jon for as long as Jon is on the ground. once Jon leaves with Rhaegal, he instructs Ghost to retreat to the crypts and guard everyone there --- exactly because he knows there is a real risk matters will go downhill. for this battle, Jon had a layer of armor made for Ghost, that covers his torso. around his neck, he wears a collar with spikes made of dragonglass, to both help him defend and attack against the wights. if anyone who writes the Staklings wants to join me in on this, i am more than glad to headcanon that Shaggy, Summer, and Nymeria (and Frost, ft. @clevrest) are also wearing similar armor.

          tl;dr: if you look at the outcome, it is pretty much the same as what happens in the episode. a similar number of persons died. HOWEVER. they died because the odds were severely against them and because it was impossible to have done much more --- not because anyone in Winterfell was too stupid to properly plan this battle.

[killthebxy]

so a few of you tagged me on this thing and considering Jon has been receiving sex advice for the past 24h, i thought why not. and here we are now.

[killthebxy]

Hello Fil ily. winter has come so I must require 4 headcanons for Jon pls and thank

// @misplacedheroics

          …for the record, i am jealous of you because soon it will be summer here and i am already struggling. AND ALSO ILY AS WELL YOU SWEET BEAN. but let me oblige to this request, for when am i ever not ready to babble about my boy:

          1. even though we’re used to Kit’s flawless hair, Jon’s isn’t as fantastic — lbr there is no conditioner nor fancy shampoo anywhere around Westeros. while his hair is naturally wavy, it is more so than perfectly curly like Kit’s, and whenever he wears it lose it gets tangled up quite easily. also, and again despite what the show does because literally they had Kit dying his hair black, Jon’s hair is dark brown in all my verses.

          2. despite his high birth and having grown with plenty of servants to do some things for him, Jon always cares for his own swords and daggers. Ned taught him and Robb that a lord must do this by himself rather than to delegate this duty even to a squire, because after all this is how the North works — the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword, and thus should also take care of it. this does not change when Jon becomes lord commander and has a personal steward, nor when he becomes King in the North afterwards.

          3. while Jon wears glasses in all of my modern and AU verses, mainly because so does Kit and they make for some damn cute icons, in canon his vision is very sharp. not only is he observant by nature but he’s also skilled at discerning matters from a great distance and even under not so great weather — like Bran points out himself, Jon’s eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. and also, yes, Jon has dark grey eyes in ALL my verses, again despite Kit’s beautiful browns.

          4. Jon absolutely loves babies and children! — which comes from the fact he grew up with so many little siblings and helped to raise them. overall, he never allowed himself to dream of having his own… first for being bastard born and doubting any lord would wish to have a daughter married to him, then all the more after taking the black and swearing his vows, and then because basically it’s all-out war on the Dead and who knows if you’re gonna survive to see the end of it anyway. he is an excellent father/father figure however, because he’s loving and understanding and empowering of his children, but at the same time is not afraid of adequately disciplining them when there’s need so that they don’t turn into spoiled brats.