#Robb's Will

[agentrouka-blog]

Do you think Sansa would mind that Robb disinherited her? I haven’t read all the books, but I recently saw a Sansa’ quote that she never thought to have a claim

Well, he didn't disinherit her. He placed Jon ahead of her in the line of succession in order to foil the Lannister plan of claiming Winterfell through her.

Ultimately, I think this move would hurt Sansa far less than the knowledge that he could have traded for her but chose not to. Though I doubt GRRM will take the time to explore that. Sansa connects no personal ambition to her claim, though she grows to connect it to her sense of home and belonging and return.

Sansa always had a place in the line of succession. The quote you refer to highlights how unlikely she considered it to become relevant:

But she had not forgotten his words, either. The heir to Winterfell, she would think as she lay abed at night. It's your claim they mean to wed. Sansa had grown up with three brothers. She never thought to have a claim, but with Bran and Rickon dead . . . It doesn't matter, there's still Robb, he's a man grown now, and soon he'll wed and have a son. Anyway, Willas Tyrell will have Highgarden, what would he want with Winterfell? (ASOS, Sansa II)

Later, she is well aware of what this claim means for her. It makes her a target of other people's ambitions.

Tyrell or Lannister, it makes no matter, it's not me they want, only my claim. (ASOS, Sansa III)

At least I am safe here. Joffrey is dead, he cannot hurt me anymore, and I am only a bastard girl now. Alayne Stone has no husband and no claim. And her aunt would soon be here as well. The long nightmare of King's Landing was behind her, and her mockery of a marriage as well. She could make herself a new home here, just as Petyr said. [...] The thought made Sansa weary. All she knew of Robert Arryn was that he was a little boy, and sickly. It is not me she wants her son to marry, it is my claim. No one will ever marry me for love. But lying came easy to her now.  (ASOS, Sansa VI)

GRRM begins the next chapter by having Sansa rebuild the entire castle from memory using snow. Which is pretty heavy-handed symbolism that depicts - without spelling it out - a growing sense of identification with her claim, with the role of bearing the legacy of House Stark and Winterfell. It is not ambition so much a responsibility and personal attachment that guides her.

The next books culminates with a re-emergance of her claim's importance:

 Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright. So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa . . . Harry, the Eyrie, and Winterfell. That's worth another kiss now, don't you think?" (AFFC, Alayne II)

Regardless of the actual sincerity of this plan on Littlefinger's part, we are painted a credible image of what Sansa's claim means politically, and she accepts this function of her claim.

To find out that this claim is removed from her would always be ambiguous and depend on context. If she is displaced by Bran and Rickon, it means her beloved brothers are alive. She would be jubilant. If she is displaced by Jon Snow, she may feel more conflicted in knowing her brother Robb disposed of her relevance in this way and how her mother would have felt about it. This might also play into initial concerns on her part how Jon will deal with the competiton that her claim presents in a world where bastardy carries social stigma. It may well put her in danger from other people's politics again.

That is IF Robb's will even becomes public knowledge. GRRM may well keep its impact focused on what it means to Jon in tandem with the reveal of his parentage - giving him two optional identities to privately choose from that cancel out each other.

[jackoshadows]

I feel like Robb's decree legitimizing Jon Snow as Jon Stark is in there to remove the issue of bastardy when Jon learns about his Targaryen lineage.

As in, Jon will learn about who his parents really are as Jon Stark, the KITN. And then the angst for him will be about who he is - Stark or Targaryen and not bastard or legitimate.

Jon Snow goes from Ned's bastard at Winterfell to the Lord Commander's steward at the Night's Watch to undercover agent with the Freefolk to defending the Wall in battle to being elected Lord Commander of the NW to most probably Jon Stark, Lord of Winterfell and King in the North as per Robb's decree.

He goes from one of the lowest positions to one of the highest. From the illegitimate bastard who didn't even have a home (Catelyn wants him gone as soon as Ned leaves for KL) to Lord of Winterfell and KITN.

I can see him thinking that he has reached that pinnacle - KITN - when he hears about his parentage. Which then throws everything into confusion again making him feel like his life has been based on a lie.

And if he then does embrace his Targaryen side/heritage/father it would be because he wants to and not because of the angst/issues around bastardy or the chance that he could indeed be legitimate.

ADwD Jon Snow has already made peace with his bastardy, shrugging off insults and ignoring the bigots and Robb's decree legitimizing him will be the final piece in resolving that inner pain and angst - particularly when the memory that pains him the most is Robb telling him that he can never be Lord of Winterfell on account of his bastardy.

So that when Jon finally learns the truth, it will center on and revolve around people, around Lyanna, Rhaegar and Ned. About being Targaryen. About having Targaryen family in Dany and being Arya's cousin. And not center around his bastardy.

I feel like we are going to see, in order:

Jon Snow → Jon Stark → Jon Targaryen → Jon Snow

with the series ending with just plain old Jon Snow, both Stark and Targaryen.

[rosaluxembae]

People keep saying that Jon is legitimised because of Robb's Will. Legitimisation can be granted by a king and can't be revered and Robb is King in the North. Except Robb's not and never was, at least according to literally every claimant to the Iron Throne. He's nothing more than a traitor and a rebel. That's what happens when you lose.

Stannis and his supporters constantly call Ramsay "Snow" because they don't recognise Tommen or his legitimisation. No monarch of the Seven Kings could recognise Robb's legitimation of Jon because that would be equivalent to recognising independence of The North.

What could happen is Northern lords recognise it and the Iron Throne issue their own legitimisation as a compromise so they could keep the North on side by being seen as respecting the Lord of Winterfell's last wish, while avoiding the sticky question of his right to legitimise bastards.

It might be slightly different if someone like Bran ends up on the Iron Throne. Then it wouldn't be so much of a problem to recognise The North as an independent kingdom in 298AC but say they diplomatically returned to the union in 302AC or whenever but it'd require a particularly Northern narrative to argue it that way.

[randommultifandomrants]

Being a girl is: wanting to go to bed early but deciding to just get on tumblr/wattpad/Ao3 for a little bit and then end up finding a fic series that you really like and read until well past your usual bedtime then keeping on because it’s already past your bedtime. Then being mad when you wake up in the morning because you overslept your timer.

[silverwingxox]

born to marry him, forced to read fanfics about him

[laurellerual]

Day 4: House Stark

Arya, the lone wolf, still lived, but the wolves of the pack had been taken and slain and skinned.

[lovernanaminn]

RIP Robb Stark, you would've loved to see a stark army crossing the twins 😔😔😔

[agentmilayawithshield]

The category is: A boy who has all of the makings of a great king, forced upon a war to save his scattered family, that dies before seeing them together again:

(they also have great hair, face cards that never decline, and daddy issues)

[saessenach]

What is honor compared to a woman’s love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms… or the memory of a brother’s smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.

Jon Snow - and family that haunts him, because sometimes ghosts make for the best love stories.

[kudriaken]

House Stark. New fanart family portrait from ASOIAF. My favorite cute beans.

[agentrouka-blog]

Some Jon fans make no sense. He doesn't have Tully blood or any connections to the Arryns, why would the Riverlands and the Vale be in support of him?

You mean as Robb's heir, if the will is brought into play? I agree.

There's a reason Robb never told the Blackfish his idea of legitimizing him and made Edmure the sole Tully witness, because he's less likely to object. People forget that Robb was Hoster Tully's grandson to the Riverlanders. Brynden openly distrusts Jon based on Cat's misgivings. What is Jon to them but the bastard son of their late king's father, a vague insult to House Tully?

The Vale isn't even part of Robb's short-lived kingdom, but the desire to support him was probably more closely tied to his relationship to the Riverlands and to being the trueborn son of Ned Stark, who forged personal relationships in the Vale in his youth. Ned's bastard is a non-entity to them. They don't know this kid.

Given the choice between him and any trueborn Stark, they would at least strongly hesitate before supporting a precedent that subverts the traditional rules of inheritance in a world where stability is the difference between peace and chaos. They have enough simmering resentment in their own region, what with angry second sons like Eon "the Poisoner" Hunter or Lyn "my brother finally has an heir coming I need to chew glass" Corbray. Plus the whole Sweetrobin vs. Harry situation.

It's pretty complicated.

[reneewalkersknives]

one egregious thing the game of thrones show misses out on is that the stark kids are CONSTANTLY thinking abt each other!! there isn’t like a single POV chapter from any of them where they don’t long for their siblings!! Jon wants to have a son and name him Robb!! Bran wants to be a bird so him and his siblings can live in a nest together!! Sansa prays for her siblings every night and makes the Winterfell castle and then gets upset bc there’s no one to throw snow at!! Needle IS Jon!! Arya’s list is her own prayer for her siblings, she doesn’t care that Joffrey is dead bc Robb is too!! Every single one of them believes that their big brother will come to save them!! there’s sm love and tenderness there and GOT missed out on lots of it bc it tries too hard for the grimdark angle without realising that the center of the stark’s story is their love for each other. anyways.

[vintrage]

motherless, friendless, and damned

[randommultifandomrants]

Being a girl is pt.2: deciding you’ve read enough fics for the moment and swiping out of the app just to re-open tumblr or open wattpad/ao3

[schn-tgai-sparks]

RAHHHHH TULLY MEN

Listen we can see where Robb gets some his swagger

[laurellerual]

Day 2: Family

When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.