#A Dream of Spring

[moondostj]

“beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time.” / “he dreamed of her at times, so often that he could almost see her face. in his dreams, she was beautiful, and highborn, and her eyes were kind.” / “you saw her beauty, but not the iron underneath.” / “the slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore.”

— george r.r martin

[whatsupidontknow]

my BABIES 😭😫😭

[myownsummerhall]

i definitely think dany is going to be wearing armor frequently in twow/ados (at least when she rides on dragon or horse). using the show as an indicator of *anything* in the actual books is stupid i should know that, but part of me feels like show!dany wore those fake ass knockoff space opera tunics because they were too cowardly to put her in armor as she was often going to be in the books.

[ghostinwinterfell]

“dany will win the throne” “jon will be king” “dany and jon will rule together”—okay but what happens when they choose to remove themselves from the game entirely. what happens when they’re confronted with the true cost of seizing the throne on the rest of the realm. what happens when they realize that neither of them actually enjoys ruling because at their core all they want is to be loved and seen and understood. what happens when they ditch the endless power struggle to find a different kind of freedom together. what then.

[ladystoneshart]

some thoughts on daenerys and where I think the series is going:

I know there is a lot of... discourse surrounding dany's future and a general fear that her storyline is going to take a darker turn considering what they did to her in the show (understandable!) but I do think that's what's going to happen in winds to a degree.

but like. not like that.

not to keep comparing my favourite grrm side project to asoiaf but I think daenerys is going to be like miquella elden ring in a way: a generally good person who ends up causing a lot of pain and destruction while trying to do the right thing and help everyone. the fandom is going to be sooooo insufferable about it if it happens considering how everyone reacted to miquella's storyline in the DLC but I don't even think it would be a bad path for her story to take.

like miquella, dany cares for the vulnerable and the mistreated and is trying to replace the destructive rule of the past with a new age built on kindness and compassion, and like miquella she's slowly realising that there's no way to bring forth that new order without bringing also violence and destruction.

but I think in the end, unlike miquella, she'll realise you can't change the world for the better by just replacing the old über powerful blonde ruler (I'm thinking of aerys but also the whole targaryen dynasty here) with a shiny new über powerful blonde ruler who ascended to power in the same way as their ancestors: through fire and blood.

if she really wants to make a change, she needs to root out the rot of her family tree and let the world start anew. like count yimir says when asked about the nature of the world in elden ring and I choose to apply here to the iron throne and the targaryen legacy:

I fear that you have borne witness to the whole of it. The conceits – the hypocrisy – of the world built upon the Erdtree. The follies of men. Their bitter suffering. Is there no hope for redemption? The answer, sadly, is clear. There never was any hope. They were each of them defective. Unhinged, from the start. Marika herself. And the fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, …then we have little recourse.

hopefully, unlike miquella, she won't cast aside her love in the name of power. hopefully, unlike miquella, she will give up control and let the common people of westeros bring forth an age of their own, after centuries of being little more than pawns in the game of thrones. it's time to put the old order to rest and let the olive trees grow, without the shadow of the Dragon looming over them. to me, that's the dream of spring.

also this is miquella for those of you who don't know

so...

[sansansource]

SANSAN — POST WAR AU

Years after the Great War a traveling group of brown brothers reaches Winterfell and seeks refuge from cold rains inside the castle walls. One of the devout men is a mysterious monk who towers over his brothers and never lowers his hood. Sansa dares to hope she might have a clue about who the stranger is.

[munnisa]

[duncanrohanne]

thinking today about Sansa marrying some nice benevolent lord after the war and giving him a son or a daughter and maybe then commencing a relationship with sandor who obviously stayed by her side after all this time. thinking about her children aside form her eldest having steely grey eyes and almost black hair with a reddish undertone.

and maybe the gruff guard spends too much time training sansa’s sons with sword and laughing with her daughters in the solar, and maybe lady sansa smiles too brightly when she looks at them. and when he catches her look his eyes crinkle too and they stare at each other and marvel at what life they have created together and how much happiness it has brought them.

[athzhowakar]

I don't think that Jon Snow is going to be the king if he's really Rhaegar's son. That's because we have several historical incidents which suggest that dark haired Targaryens don't become kings.

To add —

Dark haired Targaryens die before they can ascend the throne.

[thelittlecrannogmen]

grrm has talked about how asoiaf will have a bittersweet ending and it’s time I present my thesis.

Jon Snow being king IS a bittersweet ending. Do I think Bran will be king in the end? Yes. Is Jon being king a more bittersweet ending? Yes.

Jon being king means literally everything that happened in the series is ultimately pointless. Within a generation it’s all undone. All of the people that remember the Long Night will be dead and their children will immediately doubt it’s severity and if it even happened, if the small folk in the far south ever believed it in the first place. Jon will be a good king sure, but will his children? His children that might have fucking dragons and just had their generations of Targaryen exceptionalism validated by the same apocalypse they spent centuries preparing for? Jon might be remembered as one of the best kings Westeros ever saw, but his children and their children will go right back to Targaryen insanity; incest, genocide, and all. Jon’s legacy would be ensuring the longevity of tyranny and continuing the cycle of violence.

And it would be exactly what all of the gods wanted. R’Hllor only really cared about stopping the Long Night, the Old Gods get Jon on the throne and Bran close to power, and the Seven get to maintain their spot as the preeminent religion on the continent (if they even exist).

Jon is the prophesied hero, the Prince That Was Promised, Azor Ahai reborn, the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms by all the laws of gods and men, and a righteous, just, and kind man. and none of that will matter.

[angrycommielez]

Speculations on Jon and Arya : "The woman is important too"

It’s no secret that Jon Snow has always wanted to be a Stark, and has a strong connection to this house and to the North, with his looks, his direwolf and warging ability, among other things.

“Lord Eddard Stark is my father,” Jon admitted stiffly. Lannister studied his face. “Yes,“ he said. “I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers.“ “Half brothers,“ Jon corrected. He was pleased by the dwarf's comment, but he tried not to let it show. [Jon - AGOT]

Now when Jon is going to learn the truth about his parentage, it’s going to be a mess in his head and he will obviously need time to process. It will cause multiple problems but I just want to focus on one in particular : his identity as a Stark. 

The male lineage tends to be more important, so wherever R+L marriage was valid or not, even if Jon remains a bastard, he won’t be Ned Stark’s bastard but Rhaegar’s. He may then not feel entitled - or less -  to be King in the North (if he is as in the show), or just feel like he doesn't really belong in the North/Winterfell due to his Targaryen father.

And that’s when Arya comes into play. To remind him that “the woman is important too”. 

"The Lannisters are proud," Jon observed. "You'd think the royal sigil would be sufficient, but no. He makes his mother's House equal in honor to the king's." "The woman is important too!" Arya protested. Jon chuckled. "Perhaps you should do the same thing, little sister. Wed Tully to Stark in your arms." [Arya - AGOT]

So I like to imagine that Arya will be there to remind him that his northern face, which he was proud of when Tyrion mentioned it, isn’t due to his father but his mother. That the sigil he wanted to wear but was never allowed to, is in fact his mother’s. 

"Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms. I did not make the rules, little sister." [Arya - AGOT]

And because the woman is important, he’s no less of a Stark or a northerner. Perphaps Arya will be there to tell him directly or he'll just remember her words.

PS : I also hc that when Jon will reveal to Arya the truth about his real parents, she’s gonna tell him these exact words : “You’re still my brother”. 🥹 And i'm still mad we didn't see the reactions on the show, but let's not start on that

[witchlingcirce]

Idrm that TWOW and ADOS aren’t out because I’m pretty happy with the asoiaf ending I made up in my head

[jedimaesteryoda]

What do you think will be Jon's ending in the books?

To be honest, if he is Rhaegar's son, and Martin had been hinting at that often throughout the whole series, then it means it's likely going to have a big impact on the storyline as the parentage of Cersei's children did. He also could be the prophesied hero of the Long Night, likely the incarnation of the original founder of House Stark if you believe Bran the Builder was the last hero.

Add to that all the King Arthur imagery: red dragon sigil, father was enemy of mother's (intended) husband, mother died from birth, raised in hiding as a bastard ignorant of royal heritage until late teens and at the Tower of Joy, he was defended by a knight named Arthur wielding a magic sword with a description mimicking that of Excalibur.

He would likely be revealed by proving it to Daenerys. Arthur had to pull a sword from a stone in a church yard or retrieve it from the lady of the lake. There is precedent for proving blood of the dragon, or Targaryen ancestry when Adam of Hull mounted a dragon. In place of the lady of the lake, a skeptical Daenerys who would have already dealt with a false pretender claiming to be Rhaegar's son may make that the test, knowing he'd likely die if he fails. Jon would mount the dragon in a godswood in place of a church yard, possibly at Winterfell for the Old Gods to witness.

It is not unlikely that he is crowned king in the end. He likely could be acclaimed at a Grand Council by vote just as he was as Lord Commander. He has the best claim being Rhaegar's son, would be a national hero after the Long Night, have hardly any enemies and mounting a dragon.

He may take the regnal name of Aegon VII given the importance of number seven, signaling a new era, but those who know him personally would still call him Jon.

Though, he would have his work cut out for him with a realm ruined by war, and possibly a burned capital. Rebuilding would take many years.

[siktheon]

The Black gate of Nightfort

A painting done in collaboration with David lightbringer. The Black gate is made of weirwood and has a vrinkled face, which looks as if a man lived for a thousand years and never died. It glows softly and speaks. If a member of the Night’s watch recitets his vow, the gate opens it’s mouth and makes a passage. Sam returned back from the great ranging and let Bran and his company beyond the Wall.

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[grandmaestershibe]

recent grrm interview puts my hopes for winds to rest..

never happening and i guess I'll have to live with it. the cope for me is that if he does ever get around to it, it would be the last book.

the double whammy of no winds and no dream still hurts tho.. i guess I'll have to find a new obsession.