#Roslin your Frey is showing

[badbedforbedding]

Beauty standards in Westeros: wild beauty is beautiful?

Beauty is a huge topic in this fandom, specially in relation to some female characters. And different from the male characters, their physical traits are often put on higher ground than other aspects.

I know that we live in a society obsessed with ~aesthetics~ and with an ideal of beauty that is Eurocentric, ableist, and youthful; so it makes sense that the people (and their opinions) in this fandom reflects these ideals too.

(sigh) Anyway… Westeros is a fictional fantastical world set in a medieval era and this world too holds its sets of standards and ideals regarding beauty, and we can see how they affect the story/journey of some important characters; here I want to focus on the idea of the wild beauty associated with Arya and Lyanna Stark because it's a subjective enough word to cause a lot of confusion.

Now; suppose we all know how detrimental to women these beauty standards are, we cannot ignore that fact that they matter, they were made for a reason, and they serve a purpose in westerosi society:

First, it separates noble from commoners;

A Feast for Crows - Cersei III, Cersei compares Margaerys features to those of common people.

"Even peasant girls are pretty at a certain age, when they are still fresh and innocent and unspoiled, and most of them have the same brown hair and brown eyes as she does."

A Storm of Swords - Jon II, Jon's first impression of Ygritte.

"At a lord's court the girl would never have been considered anything but common, he knew. She had a round peasant face, a pug nose, and slightly crooked teeth, and her eyes were too far apart. Jon had noticed all that the first time he'd seen her, when his dirk had been at her throat."

By these recollections only, it seems like peasants have a certain look that is recognizable and sets them apart from noble people.

Without a deep analyses, we can already conclude that no Stark woman is common looking or plain. Their looks can be set apart from peasants and from among most other houses such as the Tyrell, its pretty signifying of their old noble blood:

Arya Stark - long face, gray eyes, brown hair, skinny and athletic body. Arya has the "wolf blood".

Sansa Stark - high cheekbones, blue eyes and "auburn hair lighter than her mother's".

Catelyn Stark - fair skin, blue eyes and auburn hair.

Lyanna Stark - Long face, gray eyes and brown hair. Slim body and tomboyish. Lyanna had too much of the wolf blood.

Edited: I’m not saying that peasants and common people are ugly, what I’m saying (what I deduced from reading the excerpts) is that compared to noble woman, common women are considered plain by noble people standards.

And the fact that most of these ladies are tied to one of the most traditional and old lineages in Westeros means that they don’t fit the common or plain category by Westeros beauty standards.

Second, it increases women's chance at a good marriage;

A Storm of Swords - Catelyn VI - Edmure and Catelyn talk about his betrothal to Roslin Frey.

"She's prettier than I dared hope." Edmure raised a hand before she could speak. "I know there are more important things, spare me the sermon, septa. Even so . . . did you see some of those other maids Frey trotted out? The one with the twitch? Was that the shaking sickness? And those twins had more craters and eruptions on their faces than Petyr Pimple. When I saw that lot, I knew Roslin would be bald and one-eyed, with Jinglebell's wits and Black Walder's temper. But she seems gentle as well as fair." He looked perplexed. "Why would the old weasel refuse to let me choose unless he meant to foist off someone hideous?"

"Your fondness for a pretty face is well known," Catelyn reminded him.

During the entire ordeal of a betrothal between a Frey daughter and Lord Edmure Tully, the latter complained about being denied of choice.

This is important because it shows exactly how it works for them: High lords who inherit castles and land can choose whichever lady they want, while ladies need to compete among themselves to try and get a good proposal, from where they can find security.

Robert Baratheon was to be Warden of the Stormlands at the time he was entertaining a marriage to Lyanna. Let's be honest now; do you think this asshole, the guy who fucks any pretty thing with a pair of tits without thinking, would settle for anything but a comely lady for a wife?

Of course there is the matter of her name and noble blood at play but just like Edmure, "his fondness for a pretty face was well known" and his feelings for Lyanna too:

"You never knew Lyanna as I did, Robert," Ned told him. "You saw her beauty, but not the iron underneath."

A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII

Edited: I’m not even questioning the physical characteristics that women need to have to be seen as beautiful. I think Edmure Tully’s speech at the quote I picked says a lot already, but in short: the preference that these privileged men show towards certain ladies is enough to know what is the standard held by Westeros society as a whole.

At last and most important, it reinforces the gender roles assigned to woman:

This is not supposed to be a critic to any of the women mentioned or their ways, but a critic of the people who praise certain traits and vilify others less soft ones.

About Elia:

"...the Stark girl, who was by all reports a wild and boyish young thing with none of the Princess Elia's delicate beauty."

"Princess Elia was a good woman, Your Grace. She was kind and clever, with a gentle heart and a sweet wit."

About Margaery:

"The girl no older than Robb, very pretty, with a doe's soft eyes and a mane of curling brown hair that fell about her shoulders in lazy ringlets. Her smile was shy and sweet."

About Sansa:

"Soft-spoken sweet-smelling Sansa, who loved silks, songs, chivalry and tall gallant knights with handsome faces."

Gentle, delicate, sweet, soft-spoken and other variants of these adjectives are used to describe these ladies in particular when mentioning their beauty. All these adjectives are found at the appearance section of their pages on Wiki of westeros.

Westerosy woman have little to no say in the decisions regarding their own lives, noble women are always at the mercy of a father, husband, or another man. They are raised to become two things only: a wife and a mother and again gentle, delicate, sweet, soft-spoken are words often related to motherhood and romance.

Wild, willful, stubborn and outspoken are completely different things from gentle, delicate, sweet and soft-spoken. In fact, they are opposite, and that's where the concept of "Wild beauty" draws so much confusion.

Edited: I’ve seen people interpret wild as unkept, savage, plain and/or ugly. The word in itself is not typically used to refer to one’s appearance, but to landscape or actions. But when the wild beauty idea come in George’s text is always to highlight Lyanna/Arya’s different look as well as character compared to southern ladies.

To use someone else’s perspective that is not their loving brother/father (since this means he is biased and unreliable as a narrator, *sarcasm*):

In The World of Ice and Fire - The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring

“The crowning of the Stark girl, who was by all reports a wild and boyish young thing with none of the Princess Elia's delicate beauty, could only have been meant to win the allegiance of Winterfell to Prince Rhaegar's cause, Symond Staunton suggested to the king.”

The juxtaposition of the descriptors Wild x Delicate makes the case stronger when we remember that the delicate quality that Elia had comes from her frail and fragile health.

In conclusion:

Lyanna Stark was a beautiful woman with beautiful attributes, her beauty was well known and no one could deny. On the other hand, she lacked the womanly shape desired from most men and had too much force of will to be accepted by the southern court.

Arya Stark is a girl still growing into her features, her looks, and personality are similar to her aunt's even as a young girl. It's not hard to see that she will become as beautiful as Lyanna was said to be.

The wild beauty is in their physical traits but something else too, more ethereal and impalpable, the wolf blood.

Their wild beauty it's a set of all that Westeros holds as beautiful, added to what they fear the most: a strong, willed mind.

That's it, if anyone read so far: thank you for your patience. I am incapable of being brief. I wrote this with my own memory and research, so if I missed something, feel free to add to it. Also, if you are one of those stans who complain about others calling Arya beautiful: fuck you.

[atopvisenyashill]

what are your asoiaf/hotd ships?

i am a multi shipper and my criteria for a ship is “i think it would be interesting” so that doesn’t mean i inherently want it to happen in canon, it just means they have a dynamic with some romantic tones in it that appeals to me - sometimes in a “they would be sweet” way and sometimes in a “oh they would make each other much much worse excellent” way. also - there’s just so many goddamn characters in asoiaf, very good chance i’m missing a ship i like. so anyways i italicized the ones i really enjoy let’s go -

house of the dragon

Rhaenyra/Harwin

Viserys/Daemon

Jace/Addam

Rhaenyra/Daemon

Rhaenyra/Laena

Essie/Sylvie

Rhaenyra/Aegon II

Gaemon/Aegon III

Baela/Cregan

Jace/Cregan

Laenor/Joffrey

Aegon/Helaena/Aemond (sometimes daeron is there but idc about him he’s boring lol. all the war crimes none of the mommy issues of his older siblings).

Alicent/Rhaenyra

Sabitha Frey/Black Aly

Rhaenys/Corlys

Daemon/Laena

Laenor/Daemon

Aemond/Alys

Rhaena/Jace (mostly bc of a fic i read tbh haha)

Jace/Nettles

also fuck alyn oakenfist all my homies hate alyn oakenfist

asoiaf (main series ships)

Sansa/Brienne

Sansa/Theon

Theon/Robb

Brienne/Jaime

Ned/Cat

Jon/Sansa

Cat/Brienne

Cat/Jaime

Cersei/Cat

Jon/Sam

Arya/Gendry

Thoros/Beric

Davos/Stannis (with Salladhor being super jealous in the background)

Davos/Stannis/Melisandre but like that caleb gallo meme “we’re in a gay centric semi non sexual throuple” no one knows what meli gets out of it but if you imply she’s not an important part of the throuple they start throwing shit at you

Robb/Jeyne Westerling

Oberyn/Willas

Jon/Young Griff

Joanna Lannister/Loreza Martell

Rhaella/Elia

Oberyn/Ellaria

Elia/Rhaegar

Renly/Loras

Ned/Cersei

Sansa/Jeyne Poole

Jon/Sam/Gilly

Sansa/Margaery

Jon/Ygritte

Sam/Gilly

Cat/Jason Mallister

Roslin/Edmure

Dany/Rakharo

Arya/Edric Dayne

Jon/Satin

Ashara/Elia

Arianne/Aegon VI

Jon/Arianne

Grey Worm/Jeyne Poole

Willas/Ellaria

i would say probably my favorites are nedcat, braime, throbb, and thoros/beric, i find their dynamics so romantic and tragic, like when i think about them i feel physical pain and that is what i need in a ship.

i did also really enjoy grey worm & missandei in the show even tho the ending was bullshit. and dany/jorah is marginally less creepy mostly bc of the actors chemistry lol so i am known to get slightly emo over show only jorah/dany but that’s bc their dynamic is also wildly different in the show, and also it’s ust that they gave me iain glen and harry lloyd in that amazing “yet here you stand” scene and i’ve been chasing that high ever since aksjsj

asoiaf (historical ships)

Nymeria/Mors

Elaena/Michael Manwoody (ONCE AGAIN ALYN OAKENFIST IS MY ULTIMATE OPP)

Duncan the Small/Jenny of Oldstones

Myriah/Daeron

Maron/Daenerys

Naerys/Melissa

Rhaena/Elissa Farman

Rhaena/Maegor

Rhaena/Elinor Costayne

Daeron/Jeremy Norridge

Elaena/Daena

Baelor/Maekar

Maekar/Dyanna Dayne

Aegon V/Betha

there’s some eras i haven’t really dug into yet that i want to, so i’m sure i’ll get interested in other characters too, and my reread will likely throw some other shit in my brain as well. but this is what i could think of for right now.

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

AFFC: Jaime V (Chapter 33)

Ser Daven's [Daven Lannister, Warden of the West] gaze went to Jaime's stump. "So it's true. The bastards took your sword hand."

[...]

"Was it Catelyn Stark who took it?"

"Vargo Hoat." Where do these tales come from?

"The Qohorik?" Ser Daven spat. "That's for him and all his Brave Companions. I told your father I would forage for him, but he refused me. Some tasks are fit for lions, he said, but foraging is best left for goats and dogs."

Once again, let's all take a moment to appreciate how well this worked out.

By the end of this series, the author is going to make sure the reader understands every decision Tywin Lannister ever made in his life was wrong.

+.+.+

"I'm Lewys Piper, if it please my lord."

"I beat your brother bloody in a mêlée once. The runty little fool took offense when I asked him if that was his sister dancing naked on his shield."

"She's the sigil of our House. We don't have a sister."

He he.

+.+.+

Jaime lifted his own cup left-handed and took a swallow. The warmth spread through his chest. "You were speaking of the Freys you wanted dead. Ryman, Edwyn, Emmon . . ."

"And Walder Rivers," Daven said, "that whoreson. Hates that he's a bastard, and hates everyone who's not. Ser Perwyn seems a decent fellow, though, might as well spare him. The women too. I'm to marry one, I hear. Your father might have seen fit to consult with me about this marriage, by the bye. My own father was treating with Paxter Redwyne before Oxcross, did you know? Redwyne has a nicely dowered daughter . . ."

That's the second time Desmera Redwyne has been inserted into this book. Samwell was also supposed to marry her.

And more Frey business!

Are we giving Ser Perwyn Good Frey status then? Sure, why not. Someone remember that name, because I won't.

A poster on Reddit was kind enough to make a Frey line of succession that goes all the way down to Big Walder Frey (#30!). Remember Big Walder Frey?

Little Walder objected. "And neither of us will ever hold the Twins, stupid."

"I will," Big Walder declared. - Bran I, ACOK

I'm in love with the idea of that being foreshadowing, so we're going to track it.

Daven names Ryman, Edwyn, Emmon, and Walder Rivers as Freys he wants to see dead. Count on it happening.

Ryman Frey (previously 2nd in line) will soon be killed.

We don't care about Walder Rivers, so that leaves Edwyn, and Emmon.

Progress! We're making progress.

+.+.+

When Jaime had taken his leave of Lady Amerei, she had been weeping softly at the dissolution of her marriage whilst letting Lyle Crakehall console her. Her tears had not troubled him half so much as the hard looks on the faces of her kin as they stood about the yard. "I hope you do not intend to take vows as well, coz," he said to Daven. "The Freys are prickly where marriage contracts are concerned. I would hate to disappoint them again."

Oh yeah, I totally forgot this is another broken marriage contract. Bwah!

+.+.+

Ser Daven snorted. "I'll wed and bed my stoat, never fear. I know what happened to Robb Stark. From what Edwyn tells me, though, I'd best pick one who hasn't flowered yet, or I'm like to find that Black Walder has been there first. I'll wager he's had Gatehouse Ami, and more than thrice. Maybe that explains Lancel's godliness, and his father's mood."

Are you telling me Black Walder is de-flowering all his blood relatives?

+.+.+

"I would, but where to begin? Whilst I've been building rams and siege towers, Ryman Frey has raised a gibbet. Every day at dawn he brings forth Edmure Tully, drapes a noose around his neck, and threatens to hang him unless the castle yields. The Blackfish pays his mummer's show no mind, so come evenfall Lord Edmure is taken down again.

I'm sorry, I love Blackfish, lol.

+.+.+

His wife's with child, did you know?"

He hadn't. "Edmure bedded her, after the Red Wedding?"

"He was bedding her during the Red Wedding. Roslin's a pretty little thing, hardly stoatish at all. And fond of Edmure, queerly. Perwyn tells me she's praying for a girl."

Jaime considered that a moment. "Once Edmure's son is born, Lord Walder will have no more need of Edmure."

"That's how I see it too. Our good-uncle Emm . . . ah, Lord Emmon, that is . . . he wants Edmure hanged at once. The presence of a Tully Lord of Riverrun distresses him almost as much as the prospective birth of yet another. Daily he beseeches me to make Ser Ryman dangle Tully, never mind how. Meanwhile, I have Lord Gawen Westerling tugging at my other sleeve. The Blackfish has his lady wife inside the castle, along with three of his snot-nosed whelps. His lordship fears Tully will kill them if the Freys hang Edmure. One of them is the Young Wolf's little queen."

Jaime had met Jeyne Westerling, he thought, though he could not recall what she looked like. She must be fair indeed, to have been worth a kingdom. "Ser Brynden won't kill children," he assured his cousin.

Ser Brynden won't, but something else might? You never know what pack of animals you might run into near the Golden Tooth.

Nobody can produce an heir in this story, and then there's Edmure Tully. We still don't know the sex, but on the show it was a boy.

+.+.+

Ser Daven shook his head. "The Blackfish expelled all the useless mouths from Riverrun and picked this country clean. He has enough stores to keep man and horse alive for two full years."

I know this was wrong, but I so desperately want him to succeed, I'm having a difficult time holding it against him. Fight on, Blackfish!

+.+.+

Half the men I send off to look for food do not return. Some are deserting. Others we find ripening under trees, with ropes about their necks."

"We came on some, the day before last," said Jaime. Addam Marbrand's scouts had found them, hanging black-faced beneath a crabapple tree. The corpses had been stripped naked, and each man had a crabapple shoved between his teeth. None bore any wounds; plainly, they had yielded. Strongboar had grown furious at that, vowing bloody vengeance on the heads of any men who would truss up warriors to die like suckling pigs.

Is the Brotherhood treating enemies like food now?

+.+.+

"It might have been outlaws," Ser Daven said, when Jaime told the tale, "or not. There are still bands of northmen about. And these Lords of the Trident may have bent their knees, but methinks their hearts are still . . . wolfish."

It's easy to forget the riverlands remain as committed to seceding as the north.

That's made clear throughout this chapter.

Your lightning lord's not the only man who knows how to tie a noose. Don't get me started on Lord Beric. He's here, he's there, he's everywhere, but when you send men after him, he melts away like dew. The river lords are helping him, never doubt it.

+.+.+

Jaime glanced at his two younger squires, who were hovering near the braziers pretending not to listen. Lewys Piper and Garrett Paege were both the sons of river lords. He had grown fond of both of them and would hate to have to give them to Ser Ilyn.

Feeling sad about having to kill your squires, because of the actions of their fathers. This is what a redemption arc looks like, folks.

+.+.+

Ser Daven put his wine cup down. "My scouts report fires in the high places at night. Signal fires, they think . . . as if there were a ring of watchers all around us. And there are fires in the villages as well. Some new god . . ."

I support any rebellion, even if a bloodthirsty dead thing is in charge.

+.+.+

"I mean to offer him [Blackfish] generous terms." If he could end this siege without bloodshed, then it could not be said that he had taken up arms against House Tully.

In my world, laying siege to their ancestral castle counts.

+.+.+

"How is Cersei? As beautiful as ever?"

"Radiant." 

+.+.+

Last night he dreamed he'd found her fucking Moon Boy. He'd killed the fool and smashed his sister's teeth to splinters with his golden hand, just as Gregor Clegane had done to poor Pia. In his dreams Jaime always had two hands; one was made of gold, but it worked just like the other. 

Still tormented by Moon Boy. Hahahaha.

You're allowed to laugh at this, because he would never hurt her.

+.+.+

"The sooner we are done with Riverrun, the sooner I'll be back at Cersei's side." What Jaime would do then he did not know.

He won't tell you, but I will.

They'll have sex, and make another baby.

+.+.+

Across the river wolves were howling, and the wind was gusting through a stand of willows, making their branches writhe and whisper. 

BRAN?!

+.+.+

Jaime found Ser Ilyn Payne alone outside his tent, honing his greatsword with a whetstone. "Come," he said, and the silent knight rose, smiling thinly. He enjoys this, he realized. It pleases him to humiliate me nightly. It might please him even more to kill me.

Guys, help, I like Ilyn Payne.

+.+.+

For a little while Jaime had the better of it. Perhaps his old skill was coming back, he allowed himself to think. Perhaps tonight it would be Payne who went to sleep bruised and bloody.

It was as if Ser Ilyn heard his thoughts. He parried Jaime's last cut lazily and launched a counterattack that drove Jaime back into the river, where his boot slipped out from under him in the mud. He ended on his knees, with the silent knight's sword at his throat and his own lost in the reeds.

I don't have much faith Jaime's going to be a strong swordsman by the end of this series.

+.+.+

He made that clacking sound that might have been a laugh and drew his sword up Jaime's throat till the point came to rest between his lips. Only then did he step back and sheathe his steel.

What a dick, lol.

Anyway, throat and lips. Incheresting.

+.+.+

The Tully castle looked like a great stone ship with its prow pointed downriver. Its sandstone walls were drenched in red-gold light, and seemed higher and thicker than Jaime had remembered. This nut will not crack easily, he thought gloomily. If the Blackfish would not listen, he would have no choice but to break the vow he'd made to Catelyn Stark. The vow he'd sworn his king came first.

You might be dead if it wasn't for that vow to Catelyn Stark, but I digress.

In his mind, he serves House Lannister first and foremost, never forget that.

+.+.+

"Ser Ryman don't want his boys getting bored, so he gives them whores and cockfights and boar baiting," Ser Daven said. "He's even got himself a bloody singer. Our aunt brought Whitesmile Wat from Lannisport, if you can believe it, so Ryman had to have a singer too. Couldn't we just dam the river and drown the whole lot of them, coz?"

Many have predicted Whitesmile Wat will be the TWOW Prologue POV. Solid guess.

Ser Ryman's singer is Tom of Sevenstreams. The Brotherhood without Banners have infiltrated.

+.+.+

Jaime could see archers moving behind the merlons on the castle ramparts. Above them streamed the banners of House Tully, the silver trout defiant on its striped field of red and blue. But the highest tower flew a different flag; a long white standard emblazoned with the direwolf of Stark. 

Fly those banners! I believe in you Blackfish!

+.+.+

"The first time I saw Riverrun, I was a squire green as summer grass," Jaime told his cousin. "Old Sumner Crakehall sent me to deliver a message, one he swore could not be entrusted to a raven. Lord Hoster kept me for a fortnight whilst mulling his reply, and sat me beside his daughter Lysa at every meal."

Pretty sure Tywin arranged that trip.

"I once hoped to marry your brother to Lysa Tully, but Aerys named Jaime to his Kingsguard before the arrangements were complete. When I suggested to Lord Hoster that Lysa might be wed to you instead, he replied that he wanted a whole man for his daughter." - Tyrion III, ASOS

+.+.+

"Oh, Lysa was not so fearsome as all that." She had been a pretty girl, in truth; dimpled and delicate, with long auburn hair. Timid, though. Prone to tongue-tied silences and fits of giggles, with none of Cersei's fire. Her older sister had seemed more interesting, though Catelyn was promised to some northern boy, the heir of Winterfell . . . but at that age, no girl interested Jaime half so much as Hoster's famous brother, who had won renown fighting the Ninepenny Kings upon the Stepstones. 

🗣 Gayyyyy.

+.+.+

Jaime noted the banners of Lychester and Vance, of Roote and Goodbrook, the acorns of House Smallford and Lord Piper's dancing maiden, but the banners he did not see gave him pause. The silver eagle of Mallister was nowhere in evidence; nor the red horse of Bracken, the willow of the Rygers, the twining snakes of Paege. Though all had renewed their fealty to the Iron Throne, none had come to join the siege. The Brackens were fighting the Blackwoods, Jaime knew, which accounted for their absence, but as for the rest . . .

Our new friends are no friends at all. Their loyalty goes no deeper than their skins.

It's a Grand Riverlands Conspiracy!

I don't understand how the north will be independent without the riverlands joining them. There's something off about this Game of Thrones ending.

+.+.+

Pia was fussing at a brazier, trying to light the coals. Peck went to help her. Of late, Jaime oft went to sleep to the sound of them fucking in a corner of the tent. 

I hope it's annoying.

+.+.+

Jaime hugged her [Genna Lannister] dutifully and waited for her to pinch his ear. She had been pinching his ear for as long as he could remember, but today she forbore. Instead, she planted soft and sloppy kisses on his cheeks. "I am sorry for your loss."

"I had a new hand made, of gold." He showed her.

"Very nice. Will they make you a gold father too?" Lady Genna's voice was sharp. "Tywin was the loss I meant."

Lol.

"I am sorry for your loss as well, Joffrey," the dwarf said.

"What loss?"

"Your royal father? A large fierce man with a black beard; you'll recall him if you try. He was king before you." - Sansa I, ACOK

+.+.+

A pinkish froth glistened on Ser Emmon's lips when he spoke, courtesy of the sourleaf he liked to chew.

Everyone say goodbye to Emmon Frey, Lord of Riverrun.

+.+.+

"His [Cleos Frey, son of Genna Lannister] bones should be interred beneath the Rock, in the Hall of Heroes," Lady Genna declared. "Where was he laid to rest?"

Nowhere. The Bloody Mummers stripped his corpse and left his flesh to feast the carrion crows. "Beside a stream," he lied. "When this war is done, I will find the place and send him home." Bones were bones; these days, nothing was easier to come by.

He has good intentions, but I would be infuriated if I ever learned those bones didn't belong to my son. And I'm not even sentimental about dead bodies.

+.+.+

"This war . . ." Lord Emmon cleared his throat, the apple in his throat moving up and down. "You will have seen the siege machines. Rams, trebuchets, towers. It will not serve, Jaime. Daven means to break my walls, smash in my gates. He talks of burning pitch, of setting the castle afire. My castle." He reached up one sleeve, brought out a parchment, and thrust it at Jaime's face. "I have the decree. Signed by the king, by Tommen, see, the royal seal, the stag and lion. I am the lawful lord of Riverrun, and I will not have it reduced to a smoking ruin."

Make it a good death, George. Use your imagination.

+.+.+

"Ser Jaime, your lord father's faith in me was well placed, you shall see. I mean to be firm but fair with my new vassals. Blackwood and Bracken, Jason Mallister, Vance and Piper, they shall learn that they have a just overlord in Emmon Frey. My father as well, yes. He is the Lord of the Crossing, but I am the Lord of Riverrun. A son has a duty to obey his father, true, but a bannerman must obey his overlord."

Oh, gods be good. "You are not his overlord, ser. Read your parchment. You were granted Riverrun with its lands and incomes, no more. Petyr Baelish is the Lord Paramount of the Trident. Riverrun will be subject to the rule of Harrenhal."

That did not please Lord Emmon.

The only time I've smiled after being reminded of this.

It will flip back, but don't ask me to explain how the King of Westeros and the Lord Paramount of the Trident will rule from the same region.

+.+.+

Tyrion used to say that Lord Tywin had given him a nervous belly for a wedding gift. Genna has played her part as well. Jaime remembered many a feast where Emmon sat poking at his food sullenly whilst his wife made ribald jests with whatever household knight had been seated to her left, their conversations punctuated by loud bursts of laughter. She gave Frey four sons, to be sure. At least she says they are his. No one in Casterly Rock had the courage to suggest otherwise, least of all Ser Emmon.

What am I supposed to do with this information?

+.+.+

"Once Emm heard he was a lord, he had to come at once to claim his seat." Lady Genna took a drink and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "Your father should have granted us Darry. Cleos married one of the plowman's daughters, you will recall. His grieving widow is furious that her sons were not granted her lord father's lands. Gatehouse Ami is Darry only on her mother's side. My good-daughter Jeyne is her aunt, a full sister to Lady Mariya."

"A younger sister," Jaime reminded her, "and Ty will have Riverrun, a greater prize than Darry."

"A poisoned prize. House Darry is extinguished in the male line, House Tully is not. That muttonhead Ser Ryman puts a noose round Edmure's neck, but will not hang him. And Roslin Frey has a trout growing in her belly. My grandsons will never be secure in Riverrun so long as any Tully heir remains alive."

She was not wrong, Jaime knew. "If Roslin has a girl—"

"—she can wed Ty, provided old Lord Walder will consent. Yes, I've thought of that. A boy is just as likely, though, and his little cock would cloud the issue.

[...]

Tywin should have granted Riverrun to Kevan and Darry to Emm. I would have told him so if he had troubled to ask me, but when did your father ever consult with anyone but Kevan?

See, even Genna knows Tywin's a doofus.

+.+.+

And if Ser Brynden should survive this siege, he might be inclined to claim Riverrun in his own name . . . or in the name of young Robert Arryn."

Oh wow, what is that? Should he survive the siege? Dot, dot, dot?. . .

Go to the Vale, Brynden. Please oh please go to the Vale, Brynden. They know you there, Brynden. Return to your gate, Brynden. Get yourself an army, Brynden. Go get your great-niece great-nephew, Brynden.

+.+.+

"Reasons?" Lady Genna made a rude noise. "They had best be good reasons. The Swords and Stars troubled even the Targaryens. The Conqueror himself tread carefully with the Faith, so they would not oppose him. And when Aegon died and the lords rose up against his sons, both orders were in the thick of that rebellion. The more pious lords supported them, and many of the smallfolk. King Maegor finally had to put a bounty on them. He paid a dragon for the head of any unrepentant Warrior's Son, and a silver stag for the scalp of a Poor Fellow, if I recall my history. Thousands were slain, but nigh as many still roamed the realm, defiant, until the Iron Throne slew Maegor and King Jaehaerys agreed to pardon all those who would set aside their swords."

"I'd forgotten most of that," Jaime confessed.

"You and your sister both." 

Genna Lannister at family dinners:

+.+.+

"What would you counsel?"

She gave a ponderous shrug. "Emm wants Edmure's head off. For once, he may be right. Ser Ryman has made us a laughingstock with that gibbet of his. You need to show Ser Brynden that your threats have teeth."

I desperately hope that guarantees Edmure will be a big problem for them in the future.

That man is not making it to Casterly Rock.

+.+.+

"I mean to offer him good terms."

"Terms require trust. The Freys murdered guests beneath their roof, and you, well . . . I mean no offense, my love, but you did kill a certain king you had sworn to protect."

"And I'll kill the Blackfish if he does not yield." His tone was harsher than he'd intended, but he was in no mood for having Aerys Targaryen thrown in his face.

"How, with your tongue?" Her voice was scornful.

Lol, thank you.

+.+.+

Is it true that Cersei burned the Red Keep?"

"Only the Tower of the Hand."

So far.

+.+.+

She pushed herself to her feet. "I've said what I came to say, I shan't take any more of your time. Do what Tywin would have done."

"Did you love him?" Jaime heard himself ask.

His aunt looked at him strangely. "I was seven when Walder Frey persuaded my lord father to give my hand to Emm. His second son, not even his heir. Father was himself a thirdborn son, and younger children crave the approval of their elders. Frey sensed that weakness in him, and Father agreed for no better reason than to please him. My betrothal was announced at a feast with half the west in attendance. Ellyn Tarbeck laughed and the Red Lion went angry from the hall. The rest sat on their tongues. 

Is this one of the reasons they rebelled?

+.+.+

Only Tywin dared speak against the match. A boy of ten. Father turned as white as mare's milk, and Walder Frey was quivering." She smiled. "How could I not love him, after that? That is not to say that I approved of all he did, or much enjoyed the company of the man that he became . . . but every little girl needs a big brother to protect her. Tywin was big even when he was little."

Yes. :)

+.+.+

She gave a sigh. "Who will protect us now?"

Jaime kissed her cheek. "He left a son."

"Aye, he did. That is what I fear the most, in truth."

That was a queer remark. "Why should you fear?"

"Jaime," she said, tugging on his ear, "sweetling, I have known you since you were a babe at Joanna's breast. You smile like Gerion and fight like Tyg, and there's some of Kevan in you, else you would not wear that cloak . . . but Tyrion is Tywin's son, not you.

If you needed any more evidence that Tyrion Lannister is a major antagonist in this story, there it is.

Final thoughts:

As much as I love the twins, I've recently discovered there's such thing as too much Lannister.

-> return to menu <-

[reginarubie]

Sansa marriage to Tyrion and Edmure marriage to Roslin happened back to back in ASOS. The bride's are young and terrified while grooms are not happy with the match at first. But then grooms don't care about bride's feelings during bedding while brides cry whole time yet no one cared. Sansa and Edmure's family killed by their partners family. Cat compare Sansa and Roslin thinking over their sad marriage. Both Roslin and Sansa are called child.

Ciao anon,

Ah more soft ladies parallels. In the end Roslin and Sansa are not that different, both end up married to a man after being promised to another of highest standing, and once we look at it deeper it is actually astounding that it is not spoke more of:

Roslin is a Frey girl who is promised to a man of very high standing and near her age (Robb who is King in the North) but is spurned by Robb for another woman (Jeyne W.) and ends up being betrothed and married to Edmure who is Robb's uncle on his mother side and resembles Cat very much and who is older than her.

Sansa is a Stark girl who is promised a boy near her age of very high standing (Joffrey is King of the Iron throne) but is spurned by Joffrey for another girl (Margaery) and ends up marrying Tyrion, Joffrey's uncle on his mother and father side (who resembles Cersei in colours and often in behaviour).

Both look like they go willingly to their spouses, but are forced by the society, the rules and politics. Roslin is married to Edmure to get a Frey in Riverrun (even after Hoster had refused Walder offers many times before) and before Walder wanted her as queen; Sansa is being married off so the Lannisters can keep their claws in her claim to the North, though she was supposed to be queen through marriage with Joffrey.

The Tully are killed by the Freys during the marriage; Sansa is married to Tyrion and later House Lannister brings forth the destruction of House Stark during Edmure's wedding.

Both Sansa and Roslin are mindful of their position in society and know their duty, thus upholding it even when it's difficult and they are scared and don't really want to do it.

As the show has suggested in the end Roslin has given Edmure a son and will take her post as lady of Riverrun next to her husband and Sansa has managed to get the independence of the North and will (by book clues) be the one who rebuilds the North and House Stark as lady of Winterfell and Queen in the North.

And... I'm never over this parallel in particular:

"My lady is beautiful." Edmure took her hand and drew her to her feet. "But why are you crying?"

"For joy," Roslin said. "I weep for joy, my lord." — Catelyn VI, ASOS

Thankfully no one seemed to notice that she was crying as she stood there, wrapped in her father's colors; or if they did, they pretended not to. — Sansa III, ASOS

It's just...so heartfelt and both are truly children, while Sansa is slightly younger than Roslin, and are involved in games bigger and more dangerous than either asked to play. No one cares about their discomfort and they both use their courtesies to shield themselves. No wonder Roslin reminded Catelyn of Sansa.

And now I'm sad.

As always anon, thank you for your ask!, hope you have a very nice day!

[kingsansa]

*raises hand in back*

*small voice* Do you have any sneak peaks of any works you may share with us, pls?

—preview of the untitled 5+1 valentine’s day iy poolestark prequel:

“I said thank you for my valentine.” She stammers. “My candy gram, I mean.”

They’d been selling them at the front office. Robb always meant to buy Sansa one because somehow, with whatever she scrounged up from her piggy bank, she would always manage to get him one. But now he’s in sixth grade, and him and Sansa don’t go to the same school anymore. He had to go through a lot more work to send them. And it didn’t feel right to send her one and not Arya and Jeyne.

He loves them too.

“You’re welcome.” Robb says. “You liked it?”

Jeyne nods immediately, enthusiastic. “Sweet tarts are my favorite.”

“Since when?”

Arya walks in, sidestepping her. As she makes her way to the fridge, she makes sure to throw a dubious, unconvinced look over her shoulder.

“Since forever.” Jeyne hisses at her. “Duh.”

Robb smothers his laugh into his elbow.

She takes her seat at the kitchen table across from him, chin held high, seemingly undeterred from Arya’s attempt to out what is probably the worst kept secret in the entire world. He actually isn’t so sure she herself views ir as a secret, it’s become so obvious over the years.

His little sister’s best friend having a crush on him is as much of a scientific fact as gravity, at this point.

Robb doesn’t mind. Who would mind being adored?

“I was gonna make you a valentine, but Joy says you don’t get Valentines in middle school.” Jeyne informs him, a little loudly on the off chance Arya wants to interrupt her again.

Joy is one of Jeyne’s many sisters, and a year older than him besides, so he supposed she would know better than him. But he’d opened up his locker to a couple cards and candy.

He shrugs. “I got a few.”

Jeyne’s eyes go squinty, and she scowls fiercely as she demands, “From who?”

There’s no hiding his grin this time. He can’t help himself, “I don’t know. They were anonymous.”

That much is true, even though he has a good idea of who sent at least two of them. Alys Karstark always asked him to borrow a pencil, fluttering her eyelashes, and Roslin Frey could never speak to him in full sentences, even though they sit right next to each other in English. The other two are a mystery. He’s curious as to where they came from , but not curious enough to launch a full inquiry. The candy was pretty good, though.

Jeyne crosses her arms over her chest, lower lip poking out as she looks out the window. Her shoulders are a little low.

Robb feels kinda bad. He didn’t mean to upset her.

He nudges her foot underneath the table with his. “What about you, Little J?”

That seems to soften her a little. She preens at the nickname like she always does. But she crosses her arms over her chest still.

“What about me?” She mumbles.

“I bet your backpack was stuffed with Valentine’s.”

“Oh.” Jeyne hugs her arms around herself tighter, blushing. “No. Not really. Not outside of the ones from class, no.”

Robb has more than one memory of Sansa coming to the car, excited to show all of the valentines she found in her cubby when she was getting ready to go. Even he had some.

His chest tightens a little.

“Don’t forget about mine.” He nudges her a little again.

And just like that, Jeyne is beaming anew. Slowly. Like ice thawing.

“I’m not.” She says eagerly. “I won’t.”

“Oh brother.” Robb hears Arya mutter under her breath from behind him. He completely forgot she was there.

[winterrose527]

A little like a marriage

“Morning Mr. Stark,” Little Jon Umber greeted him from his place at the security desk.

That stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Mr. Stark?” he asked, “Jon we went to high school together. You’ve thrown up on me before.”

Jon cleared his throat, looking around, straightening his tie, then leaned in conspiratorially, “Things have changed around here, Mr. Stark, since you been gone.”

I was gone for a week, he almost said.

He knew it was a mistake, leaving the week the new people came in. But it was Theon’s wedding. Theon’s wedding. He couldn’t miss that, it had been pointed out to him many times.

“Alright then, Mr. Umber, you have yourself a nice day,” he shook his head and scanned his ID, going through the opened gates.

His phone buzzed as he was waiting for the elevator and he answered it, seeing it was Jon.

“Ohhh so you’re alive,” he chuckled.

“Shut up, please,” Jon groaned. “How… I didn’t know four day hangovers existed.”

“You were a delight,” Robb told him and then said, “Though I’d prepare to do some groveling with Sansa.”

“Sansa?” Jon asked. And he could hear him sit up and then groan. “What um… did I do to Sansa?”

“Oh you mean -,” Robb started but stopped talking as a flash of gold caught in his periphery. “Holy shit.”

“Robb what did I do to Sansa?” Jon repeated.

He heard that but he was a little distracted by the person who had just breezed through the security gate, like a door had never been closed to her entire life.

She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and her light eyes flicked to his briefly as she settled in a safe distance from him waiting for the elevator.

“ROBBERT HOSTER STARK WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO TO SANSA,” Jon now yelled in his ear so loudly that the beauty actually turned to look.

Her eyes flashed in recognition before turning away.

“You uh, sort of professed your love to her … and the entire after-party… through song?” Robb told him.

“By the… I…,” Jon stuttered.

“You have a nice voice though, so there’s that,” Robb assured him.

The beauty looked down at her shoes, covering her mouth before a small laugh escaped her. He couldn’t help but grin, too, and the elevator doors opened.

“Look Jon, I’ve got to go,” he said as he gestured to the woman to step in before him. “Meet the new Overlords.”

“Oh fuck, right, that’s today,” Jon said, temporarily brought out of his shame-spiral, “How you feeling?”

“Better than you,” he sighed, “Umber called me Mr. Stark. Bullshit, people who haven’t earned respect always demand shows of it.”

“They can’t all be that bad,” Jon pointed out.

Robb glanced at the beauty again. Are lips like that even found in nature?

“No, maybe not all bad,” he agreed, watching as a blush rose on her cheeks. “Look I’ve got to go, I’m meeting the princess in ten.”

“Okay good luck,” Jon agreed. He was about to hang up when Jon said, “Wait, wait, what song did I sing?”

Robb sighed, wincing, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

“Both parts?” Jon asked hollowly, like he’d just gotten a flashback and already knew the answer.

“Yeah man,” Robb scratched his cheek, “Both parts.”

He hung up to Jon muttering fuck and glanced at the woman to see if she was smiling again but she was very pointedly not looking at him.

His first mistake. She was likely a Lannister loyalist.

The doors opened and this time she didn’t wait for him to gesture, she just walked out of the elevator ahead of him. Not being on the phone with Jon gave him ample time to look at her butt, as she turned right towards the Lannister side of the office, and he turned left towards the Stark side.

He greeted his coworkers as he walked through, a few of them asking to have conversations later that day, likely wanting to pick his brain about whether they’d be kept around or be considered redundant. He didn’t have the answer to that, that was part of what he was planning to discuss with Myrcella Baratheon.

Myrcella Baratheon. Twenty-six years old and his new boss. It wasn’t so much her age that was the problem, he’d been the boss of men and women significantly older than him when he was younger than her. It was just the idea that she could come up from the South like she owned the place – because technically, she did.

Alys Karstark, one of the Vice President’s, came into his office.

“Alys, I don’t know anything,” he sighed.

“Well obviously, dipshit, you just got here,” Alys noted.

He turned towards her, raising his brow, “I thought everyone was supposed to refer to me as Mr. Stark.”

She rolled her eyes, “You’d hate that. I’m here to tell you what I know.”

He sat on the edge of his desk as she sat on the couch.

“Don’t underestimate her,” Alys told him. “And don’t be taken in by her.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes, “Trust me, you’ll get it when you meet her. But the point is, she may be polite. She may not peacock around like her uncle. But she is one of them. And she’s got the ear of her grandfather. I actually heard her tease him and he smiled.”

“I wasn’t aware they had updated his software to allow that,” Robb smirked.

Alys laughed, “Look, all I’m saying is –“

“Don’t piss her off,” Robb suggested.

She let out a sigh, and nodded, “Yeah, not pissing of Myrcella Baratheon would be a good idea.”

He looked at her, “You’re not actually worried, are you?”

“Of course I’m worried,” Alys told him. “I’m loyal to the Starks, and you know what happens when there’s a regime change… there’s always someone from the inner circle publicly executed to send a message.”

His stomach churned, because she was right. There hadn’t been any terminations yet, but it was only a matter of time. There always were in mergers, no matter what his Dad had said.

“Well I give you full permission to call me a dipshit out there too,” he tried for levity.

It was his responsibility as a leader. Behind closed doors he could say whatever he wanted, but to his employees he had to be the happy warrior. Their happy warrior.

She smiled but shook her head, “No. I’d rather go down because of loyalty than move up as a traitor.”

He nodded, feeling his eyes smarting and he turned away, straightening his tie.

This was why he’d gotten nearly in a bare-knuckle brawl with his Dad over this decision. These people, their people. All of them loyal, and how had they repaid that loyalty?

By throwing them to the fucking lions.

“Go on, I’ll find you after,” he told her.

She left him on his own and he straightened his tie once again. There was no point bringing anything to the meeting, it was just that. An opportunity to meet his new boss.

Besides, any facts and figures she wanted he could recite by heart. Because they weren’t just facts and figures to him.

He walked out of his office with his head held high, not stopping to look at any one of them, needing to go in with his game face on. He still saw in his periphery the way people stood though and stopped what they’re doing, he shook his head slightly and walked through the elevator banks and crossed behind enemy lines.

There was a receptionist who stood when he entered.

“Mr. Stark,” she greeted him, “I’ll take you to Miss Baratheon’s office.”

“Thank you…,” he started.

“Roslin, Mr. Stark,” she smiled, “Roslin Frey.”

“Thank you, Ms. Frey,” he could play by the rules.

For now.

She lead him through some of the smaller offices until they got to one of the corner ones. Rodrik Cassel’s old office.

“Miss Baratheon, Mr. Stark here to see you,” Roslin said as she knocked lightly on the door.

“Thank you,” a moneyed voice said.

Roslin gave him a smile, tucking her hair behind her ear and then left them to it. He stepped inside and stopped dead in his tracks.

“Please sit down, Mr. Stark,” the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen greeted him, “Or should I call you Robb? I know how you hate those false displays of respect, after all…”

[niffleheim]

ARYA STARK - ━━ ◤ ( THE THICK FUR OF A SHE-WOLF, MATTED AND BLOODY, THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS BREAKING THROUGH HARD SNOW, A LONG, THIN LITTLE BLADE DUTIFULLY POLISHED AND CARED FOR, AND THE MOTTLED GREYS WHITES AND BROWNS OF WOLF FUR ) welcome, ARYA STARK, SHE/HER. before you move in, tell us what you remember: RETURNING HOME TO WINTERFELL. excellent, now we are pleased to accept your offer to live HUNTING DOG CABINS, and your new job as DETECTIVE at DECIMATION POLICE AND FIRE STATION is waiting for you to begin. ( A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE AND MARGARET QUALLEY )

THE BASICS

NAME: arya stark

NICKNAMES: arya underfoot, arry, wolf girl, the ghost of harrenhal, monstrous she-wolf

BIRTHDAY: april 18th, 1995

AGE: 26

PRONOUNS: she/her

LAST KNOWN MEMORY: returning home to winterfell

ORIGINATION: a song of ice and fire

FACECLAIM: margaret qualley

THE DETAILS

FAMILY: catelyn stark ( mother ), eddard stark ( father ), robb stark ( brother ), jon snow ( adoptive brother, biological cousin ), sansa stark ( sister ), bran stark ( brother ), rickon stark ( brother ), benjen stark ( uncle ), lyanna stark ( aunt ), brandon stark ( uncle ), rickard stark ( grandfather ), lysa tully ( aunt ), edmure tully ( uncle ), brynden tully ( great uncle ), hoster tully ( grandfather ), minisa whent ( grandmother ), roslin frey ( aunt )

THREE FAVORITE THINGS: sprinting through the woods with nymeria, working on and refining her skills, time spent with her family ( especially her father and jon snow )

EDUCATION: ged 

SKILLS: swordsmanship, archery, intelligence, disguise, quick thinking, ability to imitate voices, multilingual, blind combat, practically a lie detector

HEADCANONS: arya’s primary canon will be taken from the a song of ice and fire books, with only some influences from the show (specifically leaving the house of black and white & returning to winterfell). this means that arya stark has warging abilities, though she hasn’t fully put this together. arya’s accent teeters between english and scottish, as the stark family was raised just around the border – however, when she gets particularly worked up and angry, her scottish side comes out in full strength, and she’s very difficult to understand. she was lucky in that she didn’t spend very long as a police officer at all – being a cop really didn’t suit her, especially seeing as she herself really didn’t like cops. her promotion to detective, however, suited her just fine. she felt more useful as a detective, her skills and abilities actually coming into play on a day to day basis. she’s excellent at undercover work and quick on her feet coming up with new ways to solve hard cases. she did her time in retail, shitty jobs here and there at diners and the like. if arya had a tiktok this is the energy it would have. this is literally an arya tiktok. so is this.

WHAT THEY’RE PLANNING TO DO IN DECIMATION: arya traveled a lot once she completed high school, moving from place to place and immersing herself in the culture – but she always ended up back home. not that home was much of anything without family, and her half-brother jon snow was her best friend in the world. she didn’t even think twice about moving to decimation when told that he’d made a home here, and now she’s intent on doing just the same.

[ladycatofwinterfell]

30 :)

30. Moving while kissing and falling onto a bed/couch

They worked late quite often but they never went over time more than an hour or two. They had to get home to the kids and make them dinner on a reasonable time. Catelyn was glad over that their high positions gave them the ability to make their own schedules, it really made family life easier.

But some time had to be the first. And the reason for it was that one of their biggest investors had suddenly pulled out of their latest project due to a pretty major scandal surrounding Brandon and the more than a few woman who he had apparently fathered children on. It annoyed Catelyn more than she could say. Not that the women were speaking out about how he had refused to acknowledge his kids, that was completely reasonable and she was pissed at Brandon for his behavior, but that Frey had decided to pull out because of it. Because Brandon hadn’t worked there for a good ten years and no longer had anything to do with the company.

She glanced at the clock on her screen. It showed 21:17. And she had a feeling of that it would show a much later time when she was done. Though she could accept it, she had worked at StarkCo for fifteen years and it had never happened before. As long as it was a one time thing she could manage it. Edmure and Roslin had stepped in and taken care of the kids, so they didn’t have to think about that.

Most of the floor was dark. Of course everyone else had went home on time, so gradually the office had emptied until she, Ned and Maege Mormont were the only ones left. And she had a feeling of that Maege was getting ready to leave as well. Catelyn saw in the corner of her eye through the glass walls of the offices that Maege was packing her stuff.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Maege walked through Catelyn’s open door with her coat in one hand and her bag in the other. Oh how Catelyn envied her in that moment, she wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep.

“How long do you think you’ll be stuck here?” Maege asked.

“I don’t know” Catelyn sighed. “We’ll be stuck here until we’re done, I guess.”

They had to fix it quickly or the whole thing would collapse. They didn’t have time to go home and rest.

“And the first thing I’m going to do when we’re done is murder both Brandon Stark and Walder Frey” she added.

Maege laughed.

“I understand that” she said. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

“I hope we’re finished by then.”

The thought of maybe they wouldn’t be was almost enough to bring tears to her eyes. If they were not they would have to pass it on and go home to sleep for a few hours before coming back. But there were many hours until morning, surely they would have been able to work something out before that.

“I hope so too. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight” Catelyn said and turned her eyes back to her computer.

Focusing was very hard when she had stared at that screen since she came to the office that morning. She had eaten while working and had skipped her breaks. Her eyes were very tired and the lenses were beginning to grow irritating. She came to the conclusion that she would have to call Edmure and ask him if he could drive there and bring her glasses. And stretch her legs for a bit while doing so.

She took up her phone and called him. Three signals went and then her brother’s voice answered.

“Hey, Cat!”

“Hi, Ed” she said and stood up.

She had long since kicked of her heels and was walking barefoot over the carpeted floor.

”Are you on your way home?”

”Nope, we won’t be home for hours” she said. ”Do you think you and Roslin can stay the night? Or is that too difficult with Minisa?”

She could always check with her uncle or Lyanna otherwise.

“No, it’s fine” Edmure said.

Catelyn was so incredibly grateful for her brother in that moment.

“Thank you, you’re a life saver” she smiled.

“No problem. What are you calling for?”

“Can you come here with my glasses and the stuff I need to take out my lenses?”

She heard him chuckle.

“Sometimes I forget that you are old and blind.”

She wasn’t that old. But her eyesight was terrible, that she could admit to. She wondered what she had done to ruin it so early on in her life, she was only thirty five, after all.

“Well, can you please bring this old lady her glasses?” she asked with and eye roll.

“Sure. The traffic’s not too bad, I should be there in like half an hour.”

“Thank you! Call me when you’re here, I’ll come down to the lobby to meet you.”

“See you soon, bye!”

“Bye!”

She hung up and stood and looked out at the city below her for a minute. She really didn’t want to return to her chair and her computer. Desperately looking for an excuse not to do so she realized that she had not seen Ned for hours. Checking how he was doing was probably a good idea.

So she walked out from her office and towards Ned’s. The corridors were dark except for the light spilling out from the glass walls of his office. It felt a bit strange, the office was always filled with people and noise, but suddenly it was completely quiet and empty.

He didn’t notice her until she came inside.

“Hey” he said, smiling slightly.

“Hey” she said and walked over to the desk. “How are you doing?”

“Not great” he admitted with a chuckle.

“Same here.”

She took comfort in that he looked as tired as she felt. They were in it together.

Catelyn walked around the desk and sat on his lap. She would go back to working soon, but she just needed his calm and warm presence for a little while. He laid and arm around her waist and she leaned back against him.

“I’m very tired” he said.

“So am I. But your idiot brother has gotten us into this situation and now we have to get out of it.”

“He’s so damn stupid.”

“And an ass.”

They sat in silence for a minute. Catelyn looked at his screen, tried to see something that could bring her some hope of that a solution wasn’t far away, but she found nothing.

“I think I need some coffee” Ned sighed.

Normally she never had coffee that late, but it was a while until she would go to bed so it didn’t matter anymore.

“Me too. Let’s get coffee.”

She stood up and took his hand. She was pretty sure of that he had skipped breaks as well, because of the relieved smile on his face.

They walked together towards the little cafeteria in the heart of the floor, where the coffee machine was. Gods how she loved that coffee machine. There was no better coffee in all of Westeros.

It was quite dark, but not too dark to see and Ned quickly put a mug in the machine and pressed a button. Catelyn leaned against the counter and closed her eyes. The familiar humming from the machine was somewhat calming in all the silence.

“I wish we were at home” Ned said.

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

“The things I would do to be in bed right now.”

“I hate this job sometimes.”

“Most often I don’t, but right now I hate it. A lot.”

He came over to her and laid his arms around her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against him as he kissed the top of her head.

“Have we ever been alone here before?” he suddenly asked.

“Not that I can remember” Catelyn replied. “Most often we get off on time and there are still people here when we leave.”

“Huh.”

She pulled away from him enough to look at him.

“Why are you asking?”

“I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Nothing.”

His face certainly didn’t say that it was nothing he was thinking about. Maybe it wasn’t a terrible idea. It certainly would clear her mind a bit, and maybe that was what they both needed. To clear their minds so that they could look at it in a different way afterwards and just maybe come up with a solution.

“I think you might be onto something” she told him with a smile.

“Now I don’t understand.”

She reached up and kissed him and he immediately responded by pulling her closer. She could feel the edge of the counter against her lower back when he pressed her against it, but the initial pain of it was soon forgotten. There was not enough place on the counter for him to lift her up on it, so without breaking the kiss she pushed him towards one of the couches. He fell down on it and pulled her down on his lap once more, although in a different position that time. She moved so that she had her knees on both sides of his legs and he groaned into her mouth when she rolled her hips against him. Her skirt had slipped up her legs and he pushed it up further.

And just then the ringtone of her phone rang out through the, except for their heavy breathing, silent floor. Damnit, that had not taken as long as Catelyn had expected it to.

“Who’s calling you now?” Ned asked when she sighed and moved away from him.

“Edmure” she said as she walked back to the counter where she had left her phone. “I asked him to come with my glasses. Hi, Edmure!”

She forced herself to sound cheerful even though she hated her brother in that moment.

“Hi, Cat. I’m outside now. Cassel won’t let me in though, he says he can’t know you really told me to come.”

“Put me on speaker” she said.

She waited a moment before continuing to talk.

“Hey, Rodrik. I asked Edmure to come here, you can let him into the lobby. I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Yes, ma’am” Rodrik’s voice could be heard.

“Thanks” Edmure said. “See you soon.”

“See you soon.”

She hung up once more and locked eyes with Ned.

“You stay right where you are” she commanded. “I’m not done with you.”

“Yes, ma’am” he chuckled.

[dwellordream]

I’ve been reading haunt/hunt and I absolutely love how you wrote Nell and her story as well as how you flesh out all the female characters in your fic! So far chapter 45 probably made me the most emotional that I have a lot of feels about it. I’d love a Director’s Commentary and your thoughts writing it, especially the dream Nell has about Bethany and the whole grief and rage and pain that comes with it. Also, Walda’s side during her conversation with Nell would be interesting.. thank you!

thank you! I really dreaded all of Nell’s chapters at the Twins because I’d already gotten some backlash over the plot that culminated with Robb’s ‘death’ and her ending up a captive, and I figured frustration was just going to build the longer I spent writing Nell basically treading water at the Twins trying to figure out how she was going to escape. ultimately I’m pleased with how these chapters turned out but at the time I was always a bit anxious and tense when writing and posting them, because I was worried it was just going to be people in the comments going ‘this sucks. why am I reading this, again?’ (not that there isn’t room for criticism of those plot points, I think the pacing of Haunt/Hunt is a bit janky overall, but... not all that much I can do about that at this point haha) I knew the major setpiece of the chapter would be the sept at the Twins, the same one where Edmure and Roslin were just married, the same one that at the Freys presumably pray in... septs are always foreign places for Nell because she wasn’t brought up in that faith, never had a septa, and there was never a sept at the Dreadfort or Barrowton.  the obvious contrast here is that the sept is a holy place but it’s also at the site of a massive betrayal, and in the midst of this service Nell is plotting and scheming. there’s also the fact that this takes place shortly after Joffrey’s death, and so the Freys are mourning one boy-king after having just slaughtered another. Nell is so shocked and in grief that she can’t even summon up much triumph at Joffrey’s death, as she acknowledges that they will just crown Tommen instead, who is just a child being manipulated by the adults around him. I think it also highlights a main point of the fic- Haunt/Hunt is not a retelling of the entire ASOIAF story, it’s just narrowly focused on the North and the prominent characters there. I feel bad sometimes because I sometimes think readers are expecting me to suddenly pivot to characters like Dany or Cersei or the Martells, and while obviously their actions have consequences for everyone in Westeros, they’re not really the focus here. finally we get to the convo between Fat Walda and Nell. Walda is obviously very wary of Nell, given recent events and the fact that she’s married to Nell’s father. Nell sees Walda dressed in Bolton colors and thinks about how she used to take such pride in her house, and how when she first met Robb she was pretty snotty and felt him childish and beneath her. she feels horrific guilt over even being married to Robb in the first place, wondering if he’d married someone else he might still be alive and winning the war. she also feels so lost without the one person in her life besides Dana who she felt like really chose her and loved her in spite of her flaws.  Nell and Robb’s love story is really crucial to the story as a whole and it obviously still plays a major role even after he’s dead.  we then flash back to Walda, who, despite everything that’s happened and her torn loyalties, does genuinely sympathize with Nell and promises to keep Lysara safe. Nell is less than impressed with this, but does warn Walda about Ramsay- although it’s not just from concern for Walda, but fear for Lysara’s safety. she also warns Walda that Roose loves no one and nothing but himself, and whether he treats her well as his wife or not, he can’t be relied upon to keep her safe from Ramsay. Walda does, to her credit, take Nell seriously, and reveals her pregnancy, while confessing that Roose hasn’t, in her opinion, been all that cruel to her, adding that he is a much finer match than she could have ever hoped for as a Frey. many people acknowledge that canonically Walda seems quite pleased with Roose as a husband, praising him in her letters and seeming eager to have children with him and rule the Dreadfort. I wanted to keep some of that while acknowledging that, well, this Walda was also friends with his daughter... who’s just been betrayed and imprisoned and had her husband murdered... and is about to have her daughter taken from her.  Roose isn’t a good or kind person and I think Walda recognizes that while at the same time feeling that, well, he may be a murderer and a rapist and a traitor, but he’s not constantly bullying and insulting her, he doesn’t beat her, and any children she has with him will have a claim to the at-present most powerful house in the North. so is she in love with him? no. but she is used to having to be very pragmatic, given her upbringing. jumping to the dream sequence (actually the last time we’ve seen Bethany in a dream in this fic, I believe) it’s kind of a call to arms? it’s just the culmination of all Nell’s rage and pain and sorrow, triggered by the new loss of her daughter. she dreams she is back in her mother’s bedchambers in the Dreadfort, watching her waste away from illness, and for the first time she really goes off on dream!Bethany, voicing the pain and fury she still feels at being left motherless. to have Bethany die after promising Nell that they’d be happy and go live with her aunt if Roose died in the Greyjoy Rebellion was especially brutal for her. Bethany apologizes to her- something that never happened in real life, as Nell never had any adults apologize to her for her upbringing or the trauma she experienced- and encourages Nell to keep fighting and not give up, pointing out that she tried to teach her to be strong and determined, even in the face of evil.  to be honest, “I died for nothing, aye,” Bethany acknowledges faintly, too shrouded in smoke to be visible clearly to Nell now, although her voice is longer than before. “Yet before I died I lived for you. I lived for a child I thought could be more than the sum of all my rage and pain and regret. A child I thought could grow into a woman who might do things I had only dreamed of. And I have been wrong on many counts, my Nell, but never that one.”  is one of my favorite parts of the entire fic. I think the ‘oh, *insert character* died for nothing’ or ‘the moral of the story is the world sucks and kindness is weakness’ is something that gets thrown around a lot in the ASOIAF fandom, maybe due to the influence of the TV show, maybe not. but I really disagree with that. for all the horrible things that happen in the series I think the ending will be one of hope, not defeat or ‘accepting the world as it is’. change can happen and it can be positive, and not all sacrifices are in vain. Ned Stark didn’t ‘die for nothing’- he died to save Sansa’s life and he taught his children really important things about respect for others and keeping your promises and protecting those weaker than you. we see his influence in Robb always trying to do what’s best for his people, Sansa being kind to others in spite of her suffering, Arya still defending the weak even at risk to herself, Bran trying to use his powers for good, Jon always trying to make the hard but fair decision at the Wall. they may not always make the right choices and they do fail, frequently, but the point is to try, not to always be victorious.  in the same token, Robb didn’t ‘die for nothing’ in this fic- he dies fighting a war to return home and help his people, he dies with Nell and Lysara’s names on his lips, he dies always trying to protect the ones he loves, and I think that’s the actual point, not that he was ‘stupid’ or that Roose ‘outplayed him’. life isn’t a game and it’s not supposed to be treated as such. what matters is what Robb did while he was alive, the people he helped and the lives he changed. Nell is 100% a better person for her relationship with him and the growth she went through as she matured and took on more responsibilities. she is 100% a kinder and more compassionate person because of her relationship with the Starks, and Dana, and her ladies at Riverrun. she had to choose to change and step into her role as queen, but Robb really gave her a lot of confidence in herself and her abilities.  so yeah, I think the overall message of chapter 45 and the fic in general is “it doesn’t matter how you die, it’s how you lived.” Robb’s death doesn’t wipe out everything he did before that. the loss of Lysara doesn’t erase the love Nell feels for her. even when things look dire and life is shitty you can still take it one day at a time and keep striving for something better. Nell has to recognize that while Bethany’s death was painful and tragic and unexpected... she did help shape Nell into the woman she would become and her ultimate wish was not that Nell would be exactly like her, but that Nell would be better than her.

[lucy-pepperwood]

Got Au 

ASOIAF Au

Lorra Stark

The eldest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn

Born 282 almost 10 months after her brother Robb

( Name is pulled off of stark family tree: https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/House_Stark)

Lorra Stark is the eldest daughter of Lord Eddard Stark and His Wife Catlyn she is one of eight children

Robb

Lorra (Au character)

Hoster † ( Au character ) 

Sansa 

Arya

Brandon 

Rickon

Minisa ( Not born until the tail end of season one in this Au) 

Lorra is born ten months after her elder brother Robb, and shortly after her birth, her mother gives birth to another son. Hoster Stark does not live a week before he passes on. 

Lorra is a northern girl who has southern talents. So she rides horses and practices archery and has a fondness for falconry. Still, she also is a fine seamstress, and she can recite epic poetry. She has a pleasant singing voice and can even have a minor talent for the harp.

Lorra still is a northern girl at heart. Preferring simpler designs and manners. Much to her mother's horror, Lorra's favorite design to make is bone lace or pillow lace. Intensely popular in the North but looked down upon in the south, for it is made from a standard fabric. 

Lorra's favorite thing to do is create new gowns and designs. She loves learning different sowing techniques and different styling types. She has a closet full of dresses she could not wear in the northern realm. She loves using her little siblings as mannequins. ( They do so grudgingly because Lorra pays them in sweets.)

Lorra is a shining example for her younger sisters to follow. Both Sansa and Arya developing more common personality traits rather than being so radically different. 

Sansa embraces her northern culture earlier, she gets into the history of her home country. She appreciates the beauty that can not be found anywhere else on the map. Sansa turns into quite an artist with her steady hand she makes many a beautiful painting. 

Arya, on the other hand, does not rebel quite so hard. She first learns to braid by her sister's hand; at first, it's her hair, but then the lessons turn to archery and how to properly string a bow. Arya learns to stitch, and she has a practiced hand, but she's forever dragging her sisters about to go riding or hunting. Arya has quite the selection of hawks, each wears a braided band around it claw, its color denotes its name. 

Lorra and her brothers all have a good relationship, but she is not as close to them as she is her sisters.  Since she is the eldest girl, she often helps her mother take care of her younger brothers. When she has time, that is. 

At 14 years old; Her mother has started giving her more and more responsibility, its training, for when she has a keep of her own to room. At 14, she's in charge of the kitchen. She oversees the creation of the menu, the stocking of provisions, and what happens to the leftovers. Her mother still double checks her work, but Catelyn even lets Lorra handle most of those duties now.  

Lorra has a dire wolf as well as her father, uncle, and siblings

( Names are Subject to change)

Robb = Gray-wind

Lorra=  Patience

Hoster = None ( there is a dire wolf pup, but Eddard takes him.) 

Sansa= Winter -rose

Arya=Nymeria

Brandon= Duncan ( After Ser Duncan the Tall)

Rickon = Shaggy-dog

Minisa= ( This pup is sent back with Benjen to the wall )

Jon= Ghost

Eddard= Valor

Benjen= Lya

As the eldest daughter, Lorra is the one betrothed to crown prince Joffery. 

In this story, however, none of the girls are enamored with Kings Landing; when their father tells them its time to leave, they all follow his orders. However, things do not go as planned. They are all forced to flee.

Arya flees with her dancing master to Bravos. 

Sansa manages to escape with Vaymon and Jeyne Poole as well as four stark guardsmen. ( They travel to Riverrun and are the first to reach safety) 

Lorra, however, is waylaid by red clocks and is kept in the red keep. She takes on much of Sansa's storyline. However, she leaves with Tyrion and flees with him during the events of the purple wedding. 

Once in Essos, she Tyrion and Varys make their way to Daenerys Targaryen. Who is ruling Meeren and has her young son Reago with her. After much deliberation, they are expected in. Lorra first becomes her designer and later one of her handmaidens. 

( Daenerys dissolves the marriage of Tryion and Lorra ) 

Lorra proves to be very knowledgeable and is indispensable when it comes to information about the North. When she is finally safe, she lets her brother know and keeps in regular contact. 

Knowing that none of his sisters are in the Capital, Robb withdraws from the war and holds his line at the Riverland border. 

With his mother, sister, and newest sister Minisa to protect, Robb takes a much more conservative approach. He sends his mother and youngest sister back to Winterfell with 1/2 of the army and orders to start rebuilding the moat as fast as possible.

The way the story changes in major points

Theon is sent back with Catelyn, Sansa, and Minisa instead of going to the Iron Islands. He and Robb have high trust in each other, and Robb asks him to guard his family. 

With no one to rescue in Kingslanding, Robb does not advance past River Lands.

Robb is aware of Daenerys and her Dragons.

Finding Arya becomes a significant plot point. 

Robb does not die.

Robb Stark marries Roslin Frey before crossing the bridge, she is sent to Winterfell with his mother and sisters. 

Stannis wages war on the south much longer than in Canon

Stannis has three children

Shireen

Edmund 

Luthor

Of Robert Baratheon 20 children three live

Edric Storm

Mya Stone 

Gendry Waters

Stannis wins over the lords of storms end instead of them siding with Renly

Daenerys kills Stannis 

In the end, Lorra marries Edric Storm-Baratheon and becomes the lady of Storms End. ( She and Tyrion still have a good relationship, this creates centuries of good relations between the west and the Stormsland

Lorra becomes a legendary seamstress, she turns the Stormlands into one of the t production capital of the globe. 

Lorra and Edric have 7 children.

Sansa marries ( ?) and becomes the lady of Moat Caitlin renamed Winters Gate, and she and her husband take on the new name of Whitetower

Arya marries into the Manderley's; she is based in a port city. She often travels back in forth between Westeros and Essos. 

Minisa ends up being courted by Prince Reago. She becomes his first wife. 

Reago takes two wives, both for love. He feels he must repopulate the Targaeyn line because of how few are left.

After the events of the long night, bran travels to the citadel to become a master. He becomes a grandmaster in his time. He never marries. 

Rickon Stark leads the invasion of the Iron Islands with Theon Grayjoy after the rebel again. Queen Daenerys has them show no mercy, and Theon is raised as the new lord; he must promise to integrate the islands into being productive. ( They become one of the largest producers of food. And by the food, I mean fish. )

Rickon is granted an island for himself and pledges loyalty to house Grayjoy.

He and his wife take the last name of Northson and Rename the island Wolves Mouth. 

The North, while having good relations with the entire realm, goes back to its isolated tendencies.

Robb has to focus on integrating and or moving wildlings and dealing with the now-ended nights watch. As well as an expanded kingdom. 

Jon ends of being made lord of Hardhome once it is rebuilt, and Hardhome becomes the lord seats of the Winterland. He never marries but does end up having three children who bare the last name of Frostfeind. 

The North ends up being the supplier of freshwater and metals. Generating quite a bit of wealth for all of the houses.

Ned to Catelyn 

" We named Robb for Robert, and that is well and good, but I want a northern name for her."

" For your sister?"

"nay" "Do not misunderstand your thought brings me great comfort, but nay, it is still too soon."  

" Not Lyanna then, but there are still many L names from the stark bloodline; Lysara or Lynara?"

" It is still to close."

" What about Lorra?"

"Lorra"

"Aye, that is a good name."

" Then she shall be Lorra Stark, firstborn daughter of Winterfell." 

[swainlake]

Hello! So now that got has ended I'm looking for some tv shows that I could watch after I'm done with my exams. Do you have any suggestions? I'm not looking for anything specific, although if you have watched some good period dramas, I'd love some recommendations. Also wanted to add how much I love your blog, it's really beautiful

tysm that’s so sweet!! i love giving recs so i’ve got a bunch that you might like under the cut; i’ve put a ♡ next to my favs

period dramas:

NEW WORLDS (2014)this one is a mini series, only 4 episodes long, but please don’t let that stop you! it’s about anti-monarchism and rebellion and forbidden love in the 1600′s & is set in both england and america. i cried more than once but the ending is so bittersweet and hopeful!! 

POLDARK (2015—)i have a love/hate relationship with this one tbh. i started watching because of the main relationship but i ended up really into it for the side relationships instead?? the actual political plot doesn’t interest me but i love the drama between the family members. also i adore the women in this show, every single female character is well-written and realistic and you’ll love them all (even if at times you hate them). the men tho? the men are pretty much collectively the worst. “what’s wrong with the women in this family?” “the men.”

SPARTACUS (2010—2013) ♡i started watching this before i ever got into game of thrones but if you like the fight scenes in got, you’ll enjoy this! great characters, great fight scenes, great friendships. this one is based on gladiators who are fighting for their freedom.

THE WHITE PRINCESS (2017) ♡okay firstly and most importantly: jodie comer stars in this so you know it’s good. it’s also got michelle fairly (catelyn stark) in it though tbh she wasn’t my favourite character in this and i didn’t find her likeable at all. it’s not very historically accurate ofc but the relationship between henry/elizabeth is honestly the perfect enemies to lovers rep & always lowkey reminds me of book!sansa/jon possibilities

PAN AM (2011—2012)this one isn’t like game of thrones at all but it’s only one season and it’s super cute and has a lot of famous actresses in it like christina ricci & margot robbie. based on the adventures of a crew of pan am stewardesses, this is a good combination of lighthearted fun and chilling cold-war drama. an old favourite. 

THE MUSKETEERS (2014—2016) ♡i’ll be gushing over this for years to come tbh it’s really just that perfect. the relationship between the musketeers is so lovely, the personification of ‘brotherhood’ really, but also the romantic relationships are really good too?? which for some reason i personally hadn’t expected. my fav couple is aramis/anne (anne is played by the actress who played roslin frey!) because the forbidden love & the respect and adoration between those two is just perfect but really every relationship (even the ones that don’t become endgame) are written very well

OUTLANDER (2014—)i haven’t watched every single episode of this one but from what i have seen it’s very good, and has some similar themes to game of thrones!! the sex scenes are epic, the main relationship is lovely, and overall its a very realistic show that features supernatural elements!

THE LAST KINGDOM (2015—) ♡i’m not going to lie: i started this series by skipping straight to 2x7 because i’d seen gifs of the relationship between aethelflaed and erik but it was so good i ended up going back and starting from the beginning! this show reminds me of ‘vikings’ more tham game of thrones but it’s not as gory and the characters aren’t all assholes. side note: if you love sansa stark as much as i do you’re gonna love aethelflaed, lady of mercia! she’s actually a real person but this show is based on a book series that looks super interesting! honestly the main character also kind of reminds me of jon snow

HARLOTS (2017—) ♡oh my gosh how do i describe this show?? the family dynamics are so! intricate! and! beautiful! honestly just stunning. everything about this show is s t u n n i n g. the costumes are colourful and vivid and honestly i’d recommend watching just for that but the storyline really does keep you hooked!! also: liv tyler and jessica brown findlay are love interests in this which is honestly a dream come true

BLACK SAILS (2015—2017)okay full disclosure; i haven’t actually seen this but i’ve heard very good things and it’s on my list!! it’s about pirates, i think there’s some queer rep (can anybody confirm??), and there’s lots of amazing women. again, allegedly. 

dramas:

THE SOCIETY (2018—)i literally watched the entire first season in a single night so it must be alright, right? basically all you need to know about this is that a town full of teenagers go on a field trip & then return to find all their parents mysteriously missing and their town closed off from the outside world. it’s basically lord of the flies but modern! with some kick-ass friendships! and amazing young women (one literally teaches herself to be a doctor can you believe?)! 

SHARP OBJECTS (2018)if you haven’t heard about this one yet idk what rock you’ve been living under but welcome back! this one is a m a z i n g but also hella chilling and the ending is such a shocker if it hasn’t been spoiled for you yet!

THE BOLD TYPE (2017—) ♡i always describe this one as ‘sex and the city for millennials’ but i’ve never watched a single sex and the city episode in my life so i honestly don’t know how accurate that is?? but it’s about a group of 20-something year old women who are best friends and work mates and they love each other so much?? the relationship between the girls is my favourite thing about the show but the show honestly tackles a lot of relevant issues; trump, age gaps, queer rep, immigration, racism, etc. i can’t recommend this enough!

CODE BLACK (2015—2018) ♡you know those episodes in greys anatomy where everything is life-or-death and you’re on edge for the whole episode? that’s basically every single episode of code black. this is hands-down one of my most rewatched shows ever. i love medical dramas and this one balances well written characters with action-packed medical miracles so honestly what’s not to like?? 

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES (2018—)okay admittedly the only reason i watch this show is because of the main couple but i can’t help it when they’re just so gosh-darn cute!! they love each other so god damned much! i wasn’t completely sold on this straight away but by ep 3 i was HOOKED. if you like supernatural romances/dramas that are more mature than your usual cw show, this one is a good choice!

THE OA (2016—) ♡i can’t even put into words how much i adore this?? but also: it will confuse THE SHIT out of you. no matter how smart you are, this one will leave you scratching your head. basically: a group of people who’ve had near-death experiences get kidnapped and experimented on. it’s not as brutal as it sounds, in fact the show is exceptionally beautiful, but it does deal with some hard themes and the good guys don’t always win. 

12 MONKEYS (2015—2018)do you like time travel? do you like forbidden and yet totally-still-devoted-to-one-another-anyway love? then this is the show for you! this one is dark and gritty and deals pretty realistically with the concept of time travel & self-sacrifice and what people will give up to create a better world. it’s got a happy ending & you wont regret watching!

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018)oh this one will make you cry. in a good way though! long story short a family grows up in a haunted house and it affects them in ways they cannot imagine. it’s hauntingly beautiful and poetic and everybody should watch it at least once imo

comedies:

THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL (2017—)okay so this one counts as a period drama as well but it’s about a COMEDIAN so i put it in the comedy section lol. okay so long story short, a woman is left by her husband, she’s worth 1000 of him & everybody else knows it because you seriously can’t help falling in love with this woman but ofc there’s period-typical sexism she has to face as she struggles with being a single woman, a single mother, and an up-and-coming comedian. def recommend.

SANTA CLARITA DIET (2017—2019)drew barrymore is a zombie!! who lives a normal life but also eats people!! it’s only weird for the first couple of eps. the family dynamics are snarky and witty and they manage to make gore funny?? honestly this entire show is legit laugh-out-loud darkly hilarious.

[turtle-paced]

Revisiting Chapters: Catelyn V, ASoS

Ironically, this revisit of a chapter about delays travelling to a wedding was delayed because I was travelling to a wedding.

The story so far…

Someone’s gotta marry into the Freys. Robb’s decided that it’s going to be Edmure. Now it’s time to go to the wedding.

Those Left Behind

The chapter begins with Robb’s parting from Jeyne. The very fact that the rule of three is in place here should be yet another warning to the readers that bad things are going to happen, especially highlighted as the opening line of the chapter:

Robb bid farewell to his young queen thrice.

Not incidentally, it’s their final parting.

Each goodbye is steadily less publicly appropriate, and each highlights the different public and private aspects of their characters. There’s a formal farewell in the godswood, between king and queen. Then Jeyne and Robb say goodbye as husband and wife at the Riverrun portcullis, with what’s described as “a long embrace and a longer kiss.” Finally, though, we see how young Jeyne and Robb really are when Jeyne rides hard out of Riverrun to catch up because she just can’t let Robb go, while Robb gets cranky at the need to console her (and having to do so in front of his army; it’s embarrassing in a very teenage way). At the last, these two are teenagers trying so very hard to be adults. They don’t always succeed.

Jeyne was left at Riverrun for her own protection, at Catelyn’s insistence. Unlike the show, where Robb brought his wife to the Twins and is posthumously called stupid for trusting the Freys, we see here that Catelyn (with Robb’s ultimate acknowledgement that she’s correct and sensible to do so) does not trust the Freys. Though she tells Robb that she doesn’t want him to be in the position of having to endure Walder’s direct insults to Jeyne, what she has in mind is different:

Her lord father had never trusted Walder Frey after the Trident, and she was ever mindful of that. Queen Jeyne would be safest behind the high, strong walls of Riverrun, with the Blackfish to protect her.

That would indicate to us that Catelyn’s got serious fears about Jeyne’s physical safety, and serious fears that any threats to that might come from the Freys. By implication and in combination with Catelyn’s remaining chapters, it shows us the strength of guest right in Westeros. Guest right is so strong that trusting it against people you think might kill your daughter-in-law is reasonable.

There’s also the other reason to leave Jeyne and her brother Rollam (Robb’s squire) behind: bringing them along would be tactless. The Starks are trying not to be assholes, here. They don’t want to rub it in that the Freys lost out when Robb married Jeyne.

Nevertheless, the decision to leave the Westerlings behind is hard on Jeyne and Rollam; from the Twins Robb is expecting to begin a campaign in the North. Jeyne and Robb are looking at an extended separation, while Rollam’s going to miss out on some serious experience.

This departure means that there must also be a plan to hold the Riverlands in the absence of Robb’s main force. This is now Brynden Tully’s responsibility (Robb’s newly-created Warden of the Southern Marches). Catelyn believes that if anyone can hold the Trident, her uncle can. Robb’s also left behind most of the Riverlords who swore to him.

And, at last, Catelyn herself is to be left behind. Not in her childhood home of Riverrun, but in Seagard, a virtual prisoner, away from anything she considers home and anyone she considers family.

After The Wedding

Perhaps this chapter’s foremost sting to the rereader is in knowing a) how most of the plans here will come to nothing, and b) just how cruel the Freys are being (okay, just Lothar this chapter, but it still counts).

“Queen Jeyne has a loving heart,” Lame Lothar Frey said to Catelyn. “Not unlike my own sisters. Why, I would wager a guess that even now Roslin is dancing around the Twins chanting ‘Lady Tully, Lady Tully, Lady Roslin Tully. By the morrow she’ll be holding swatches of Riverrun red-and-blue to her cheek to picture how she’ll look in her bride’s cloak.”

Lothar gave a good-natured laugh. “Let us pray your marriage ends as happily [as the Stone Mill], my lord.”

When you know that Lothar knows the plans, and that Roslin did not, this is just…so dickish. Contrast the Starks’ behaviour with the Freys. This is a cruel fucking joke.

But back to what Robb is actually planning to do. Though he’s left most of the Riverlords behind, he’s taken his Northern bannermen to retake their homes. He spends the first half the chapter planning offscreen, a plan which is ultimately revealed later. He gives his first hint as his army makes their decision to go to the Twins via Sevenstreams and Hag’s Mire (due to the bridges across the Blue Fork being washed out). His discussion of his possible heir I’ll talk about in a second. Near the end of the chapter, however, someone shows up from all the way back in ACoK. It’s the captain of the Myraham, the ship Theon took to Pyke. And he’s got news. Balon Greyjoy is dead, and Euron is back.

This means big changes for the Ironborn situation after the army leaves the wedding. Robb sets it out well, so let’s just go long quote.

“Euron Greyjoy is no man’s notion of a king, if half of what Theon said of him was true. Theon is the rightful heir, unless he’s dead…but Victarion commands the Iron Fleet. I can’t believe he would remain at Moat Cailin while Euron Crow’s Eye holds the Seastone Chair. He has to go back.”

“There’s a daughter as well,” Galbart Glover reminded him. “The one who holds Deepwood Motte, and Robett’s wife and child.”

“If she stays at Deepwood Motte that’s all she can hope to hold. What’s true for the brothers is even more true for her. She will need to sail home to oust Euron and press her own claim.”

In short, the leadership vacuum on Pyke is going to suck away all the leadership the Ironborn have on campaign. ‘Disorganised’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. Neither, from Robb’s perspective, does ‘opportunity’. It’s time for him to explicate his plan a bit better. He assigns people to find Howland Reed in the Neck, so that they can make the approach to Moat Cailin a bit differently, so that they’re not fighting the odds by trying to take the Moat from the south. Again, let’s just take Robb’s explanation, an even longer quote.

“But if we can attack from the north and west simultaneously, and take the ironmen in the rear while they are beating off what they think is my main thrust up the causeway, then we have a chance. Once I link up with Lord Bolton and the Freys, I will have more than twelve thousand men. I mean to divide them into three battles and start up the causeway a half-day apart. If the Greyjoys have eyes south of the Neck, they will see my whole strength rushing headlong at Moat Cailin.

“Roose Bolton will have the rearguard, while I command the centre. Greatjon, you shall lead the van against Moat Cailin. Your attack must be so fierce that the ironborn have no leisure to wonder if anyone is creeping down on them from the north.”

[…]

“There are ways through the Neck that are not on any map, Uncle. Ways known only to the crannogmen - narrow trails between the bogs, and wet roads through the reeds that only boats can follow.” He turned to his two messengers. “Tell Howland Reed that he is to send guides to me, two days after I have started up the causeway. To the centre battle, where my own standard flies. Three hosts will leave the Twins, but only two will reach Moat Cailin. Mine own battle will melt away into the Neck, to reemerge on the Fever. If we move swiftly once my uncle’s wed, we can all be in position by year’s end.”

Such a detailed outline has to go wrong somewhere. Rule of storytelling. This plan gives the reader hope that Robb will be successful. As Dacey Mormont’s pointed out, Robb’s never lost a battle.

Rereading, you know he never will. He won’t even get to this battle. He won’t become the first to take Moat Cailin from (essentially) the south. This is the last glimpse of hope for Robb, disguised as a plan going forward.

Drowned in Grief

Even as the other characters discuss what’s going to happen after the wedding, Catelyn looks forward and sees only despair. This chapter shows us just how little she has left and how those losses are affecting her relationships with the people she does have, all the more apparent as she retraces her steps amongst dying trees, recent battlefields, and the ruins of a kingdom, from Riverrun to Winterfell. The scenery and weather are important aspects of this chapter. The Oldstones scenery I’ll discuss in a bit, but the battlefields Catelyn’s passing remind her not only of the battles fought there, but provide a relevant, grim background to Catelyn’s thoughts of the people who’ve gone and died on her (or apparently died on her). In terms of weather, it rains all chapter, at first lightly, but increasing to floods.

If, in plot terms, there are options generated this chapter, our PoV character sees only one grim path to walk.

Ahead awaited Edmure’s bride and Robb’s next battle…and for me, two dead sons, an empty bed, and a castle full of ghosts. 

This prompts Catelyn to think on one of the very few, faint hopes she has left - that Brienne will succeed in her mission to bring Sansa and Arya back. Maege and Dacey Mormont sympathise with her. Dacey in particular is optimistic, given Robb’s track record of winning battles, but Catelyn’s really not in a good way. Being strong for Robb is ever more of an effort, and the consequences to her own psyche if she slips look worse.

I must be stronger, she told herself. I must be strong for Robb. If I despair, my grief will consume me.

Later in the chapter we see a rerun of this interaction, again with Catelyn not being able to see the ever-so-slightly brighter side that Maege and Dacey can. This second time, however, Maege, Dacey and Catelyn get to discussing the merits of taking up arms. The Mormont women are not “proper ladies,” historically having taken up arms to help defend their island against Ironborn raiding. They mention Lynesse Mormont, who was very much not suited to the martial traditions of her husband’s female relations.

Try as she might, though, she cannot chase away the thoughts that Robb’s lost everything but the battles, and they have next to no chance “caught between Lannister and Greyjoy.” She dares not dwell on that issue. When Catelyn compares herself to the Mormont women, she blames herself for her family’s woes.

Had there been too much of Lynesse Hightower in her after all, and too little of the Starks? Would that I had known how to wield an axe, perhaps I might have been able to protect them better.

In her mind, it’s all down to her own frailty.

Catelyn’s relationship with Edmure is also strained. This time, she’s got no sympathy for Edmure’s complaining about marriage. Specifically, his concern that Roslin might not be pretty.

“Cersei Lannister is comely,” she said sharply. “You’d be wiser to pray that Roslin is strong and healthy, with a good head and a loyal heart.”

As she says, Edmure does not take this rebuke well. GRRM actually develops both sides of this  miniature conflict. On the one hand, Catelyn’s not entirely incorrect in saying that Roslin’s constitution and temperament are more important than just her looks - and then Catelyn reflects that she’s got no room to throw stones.

And was it really such a terrible thing, to want a pretty wife? She remembered her own childish disappointment, the first time she had laid eyes on Eddard Stark.

Attraction is important too. Note, however, how Catelyn responds. She admits she spoke sharply to Edmure because of her own grief; her internal response to working out that none of Edmure’s peers ever criticise him sharply is to think that she probably shouldn’t do it either. And when considering that she might have wanted a handsome husband, it’s apparent that she never felt she had the luxury of sulking about it. She had duty instead of passion. After the war, she had “love enough for any woman,” but that was after - and, even if Catelyn doesn’t want to think it, she was lucky to be married to someone emotionally and sexually compatible.

The centrepiece of this chapter, however, is Catelyn’s discussion with Robb at Oldstones. Oldstones is described in some detail - “a ruined stronghold of the ancient river kings.” GRRM describes how most of the stones were long ago taken. What survives, though, is an old sepulchre of a king, worn away by time and weather. There are more than a few shades of Ozymandias, here. To make it even more apparent, Catelyn identifies the king as Tristifer, who won ninety-nine battles and lost just the very last one, but that one was enough to ruin his kingdom. Here, Robb and Catelyn talk about who is to inherit his kingdom should Jeyne not be pregnant.

Catelyn had five children. Five potential heirs to Winterfell. She believes Bran and Rickon dead. Sansa would come after Robb.

“…so Winterfell and the north would pass to her.” [Robb’s] 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.”

Not Sansa, then. Catelyn dives back through her Stark family history, but Robb brings her up short. 

“Mother.” There was a sharpness in Robb’s tone. “You forget. My father had four sons.”

This is one of Catelyn’s worst, longest-standing fears. Jon Snow inheriting Winterfell. She’s not going to let this go without a fight. A Snow is not a Stark, she says, and Robb tells her that Jon’s more a Stark than Catelyn’s preferred alternative of a Vale lordling. Jon’s a man of the Night’s Watch, she says, and Robb says now they’ve got precedent for releasing men from the Kingsguard, so they can apply that to Watch vows as well, plus compensation. Jon’s a bastard, she says, and Robb says, not if he’s legitimised by royal decree. What if he turns out like Theon, she says, and Robb calls the idea ridiculous. At last, Catelyn asks what about Arya? Robb finally loses his temper, here.

“…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.”

Robb’s list of losses is almost as long as Catelyn’s, though he handles it differently - and where Catelyn’s clinging to Robb himself as the sole hope of her house, Robb’s hanging on to Jon. Robb wants Jon to be his heir. Catelyn just can’t support him.

“In all else, Robb. In everything. But not in this…this folly. Do not ask it.”

“I don’t have to. I’m the king.”

Again we see how Catelyn’s options, all those paths to a brighter future, have been cut off. Then it only gets worse when Robb announces that she’s going to be sent to Seagard. Robb’s systematically shot her down and now he’s cut her off.

They had known, she realised. Catelyn should not have been surprised. She had won no friends by freeing the Kingslayer, and more than once she had heard the Greatjon say that women had no place on the battlefield.

Forget being able to wield an axe - Robb’s decision here takes from Catelyn her ability to even use her words and wits to help him, and he does it in the name of protecting her.

“If you keep all your treasures in one purse, you only make it easier for those who would rob you.”

Like an object. And then, still in front of Catelyn, Robb has his lords fix their seals to his will passing over Sansa and Arya in favour of Jon Snow.

A king indeed, Catelyn thought, defeated.

This is not quite the culmination of Catelyn’s ongoing interaction with gender roles, but we do see here that she’s absolutely disempowered. The role she excels in has hit its male-defined limits, and she knows it. At the same time, she’s also achieved none of what she set out to achieve, in terms of protecting her family. Lady Stoneheart is not just the product of terrible wrongs, but of a longer-simmering frustration with being unable to act, and a longer-simmering self-loathing, now turned outward.

Chapter Function

Well, since the positive plans in this chapter come to nothing…

...a lot of what this chapter does is tell us a bit about how the aftermath is going to distribute itself. With plenty of irony. The Ironborn plot is set up, and the Riverlords were left behind (Jeyne and the Blackfish chief amongst them). We see both these plots in AFFC. The Blackfyres got a bit more development; we’ll see more of that in ADWD. A potential Northern succession crisis is discussed, possibly for TWoW, as well as some prominent mention of Howland Reed.

In character terms, it’s important to note that whether or not Robb wins the battle, Catelyn finishes the chapter defeated. Her own son has marginalised her to the point of uselessness. We’re nearly at the bottom of Catelyn’s tragic descent.

But not quite.

Miscellany

Robb maintains a rearguard for his army, even when there’s no known enemy behind them for hundreds of leagues. This is the sort of caution which meant Tywin couldn’t assassinate him in the field.

Catelyn notes here that she’s lost track of Ned’s bones, unsure whether they got past the Neck before the Ironborn invaded.

Catelyn recalls crossing these lands “often” with her father, yet more indication of how she was favoured by her father (and how Hoster did include her in political business); that sort of travelling is the sort of thing a lord might do with their heir.

More worryingly, Catelyn recalls a day when she played at Jenny of Oldstones and the Prince of Dragonflies with Petyr Baelish. She might have been only twelve, and Petyr younger still, but the narrative there seems to have stuck in Littlefinger’s mind, albeit gender-flipped.

Clothing Porn

None.

Food Porn

None.

Next Three Chapters

A Ghost in Winterfell, ADWD - The Soiled Knight, AFFC - Reek III, ADWD

[sweetdclights]

♔  →  westeros  presents  ROSLIN FREY,  the  LADY  of  HOUSE FREY.  a  raven  sent  word  that she bear(s)  the  resemblance  to  ELLISE CHAPPELL.  the  TWENTY-SEVEN  year  old  FEMALE  was  DEMURE  &  INTELLIGENT  before  the  dawn  of  war,  but  have  now  become  SECLUDED  &  UNSURE.  when  songs  are  sung,  their  verses  speak  of  EMOTIONAL EMBRACES THAT SPEAK MORE THAN HER VOICE CAN BEGIN TO ARTICULATE, THE TRANSLATOR OF MUSIC TO HUMAN KIND, INVISIBLE BLOOD ONLY SEEN BY THE WEARER STAINED UPON ALL PREVIOUS MEMORIES.  whispers  throughout  the  seven  kingdoms  claim  that  their  allegiance  lies  with  HOUSE  STARK /  THEMSELVES,  but  fealty  means  little  when  you  play  the  game  of  thrones. (  jasmine,  19,  pst,  she/her.  )

AKLHSDFLKJHIAOWSNFD i am so excited to be back here with roslin. though, this time, i have done some renovations on my roslin portrayal just because i have had time to think about her and develop her a little bit more. 

okay, some basic headcanons i put on my app!

roslin is a musician at heart, and has been raised to embrace this side of her while she could. a gift her mother gave her before she had died, roslin made sure to keep music very much present in her life while she grew older and her father demanded that she became as eligible as possible for any suitor that came along.

because her father kept her rather secluded from the world, roslin relied on books and her instruments to fill her voids of boredom. she did try to escape her quarters for the sake of even getting a glimpse of the excitement that was the world outside of her stoned walls, though she was never the best sneaker and was always found by her brothers or sisters and turned in to her father.

her siblings were rather envious of her. at least, those who gave a damn about ol' walder frey's attention and approval. she very much had the spirit of a performer and wanted to express that to the world. to teach the world the gentleness it still possessed and show that it still could be redeemed from it's wretched deeds. something her father thought quite differently about. however, he loved her still. or at least, loved her as much as he could.

roslin is said to be the most beautiful daughters walder has ever beared, and though this may be true, her siblings often had a saying that it was her beautiful personality within that made her a beauty on the outside. how could someone so sweet and so kind be seen as an ugly human being, after all?

roslin very much wanted to get married. after all, it was the only thing her life was leading up to. all ideals of marriage were being feed to the young girl and she would be a liar if she didn't admit that she very much was in love with the idea of marrying robb stark. though, that idea soon left her mind as she realized that robb stark was never meant to be wed to her. not now, perhaps not ever. he was a leader of the stark house, and perhaps the closest thing to being the true king of westeros. she couldn't possibly get in his way, with her remote understanding of the world. she doubted herself being a good wife to him, and in the end, she was happy to see him choose his path and decided not to wed her. she felt deep down, he would have regretted it.

roslin has a self-image about herself that is decent, to say the least. she knows she is beautiful, she knows she is a good person. she knows that she can probably get any man out there. however, she also knows that she is far less capable than those in dorne. she knows that she far more docile than the women who make it in this world. she feels that she wouldn't make a great leader, and she feels as though she should settle for less now instead of excelling and becoming better than she is. she feels that this person she has become is all she can be. deep down, she can be as fierce as any of her siblings. she can be as cunning as the world would require her to be. she can, yet she feels that she can't and won't be able to

basically, in summery, roslin has never understood the purpose of the war, from the very beginning. she has understood the war as a necessity for power, for a family to be higher than the rest and that this was never what the people of westeros needed. because of this, she doesn’t wish to participate in the war. yet, she has been unwilling thrown into the fire pit as a pawn of the game and never to be undone ever again. her actions have caused irreversible consequences and now she must endure what comes at her. roslin hasn’t been prepared for it, and to this day she still feels unprepared. though, with the few companions (like the Starks and the Tullys and anyone she has remotely had a conversation with), she is coming to terms with these matters slowly but surely.

bring her friends! bring her enemies, bring her potential lovers and bring her old flings. she definitely can be intimidated (though perhaps by the wrong people????) so you bet your butt there will plenty of that in a place where she is face to face with all the major players of the game of thrones. admiration? roslin doesn’t know many but she definitely admires people. people who roslin considers family? YOU BET YOUR BUTT SHE NEEDS AND WANTS THAT! 

i can assure you, i will find something for our characters to be like.

just like this post and i will hop into your im’s and we can start plotting! if you have a preference for discord, you can find me @bluepolaris#9579! 

[tatticstudio55]

The thumbs of Westeros

Little Thumbling and the Red Wedding / Thumbelina in the Great Grass Sea

You probably all heard the tale “Hop-o’-My-Thumb”, or “Little Thumbling” (Le petit poucet in French), but for those who’d need a refresher, Little Thumbling is the youngest son of woodcutters too poor to feed their seven children. The parents decide to abandon them in the forest, but Little Thumbling manages to find their way back by leaving pebbles behind him. Later on, knowing that their parents will want to abandon them in the forest again, he tries to sneak outside early to get more pebbles, but since the door is locked, must do with crumbs from the breakfast’s bread. Unfortunately, the birds eat the crumbs and Little Thumbling and his siblings can’t find their way back. They eventually come across an ogre’s house and ask for shelter because there’s wolves in the forest. The ogre’s wife let them in, feed them, and all is good until the ogre comes back and decides to have the children for his supper. His wife persuades him otherwise by presenting him with pork, veal and muttons, and Little Thumbling and his siblings are given a bed for the night, next to the bed shared by the ogre’s seven daughters – all wearing golden crowns. Worrying that the ogre might want to slaughter his “guests” during the night, Little Thumbling wait until the ogre’s daughters are asleep to switch their crowns with his own brothers’ hats. When the ogre effectively comes in the chamber with a knife and feel the hats on his daughters’ heads, he assumes it’s Little Thumbling and his siblings in the bed and slice his daughters’ throats. Little Thumbling and his brothers flee before morning, by which the Ogre realize what he’s done, put on magic boots and run after them. He comes to a halt at some point to rest, fall asleep, and Little Thumbling steal his boots, who magically adjusts to his size when he puts them on. He then runs back to the ogre’s house and tells his wife that her husband was captured by thieves who’ll release him in exchange for a ransom. The wife hands Little Thumbling everything she has, Little Thumbling return to his parents with the gold and they live happily ever after (I suppose).

Just to lay things out from the get go, I think Arya Stark is the Little Thumbling of asoiaf. The ogre, of course, is Walder Frey, and Arya’s “six brothers” are her mother and brother Robb.

-Arya is travelling by forest to reach the Ogre’s house (the Twins), after Sandor Clegane has taken her captive and plans on taking her to the Twins himself to get his ransom. Robb and Catelyn are also traveling (largely by forest) to the ogre’s house for Edmure’s wedding.

They had ridden so far in rain and darkness, through trackless woods and nameless villages, that Arya had lost all sense of where they were. - Arya, ASOS

As the gods would have it, their route took them through the Whispering Wood where Robb had won his first great victory. - Catelyn, ASOS

-It’s implied that there’s an abnormal quantity of wolves roaming those forests:

“Is it safe, my lord?” Qyburn asked. “Only three days past, Septon Utt’s men were attacked by wolves. They came right into his camp, not five yards from the fire, and killed two horses.” 

“It is wolves I mean to hunt. I can scarcely sleep at night for the howling.” (...)  It is queer to see the common wolves of the south so bold.” - Arya, ACOK

-After being captured by the Hound, Arya tries to help the brotherhood without banners to find her back by leaving marks on trees (the bread crumbs), until she’s caught red-handed by the Hound.

...but Arya still expected to see the outlaws every time she looked back. She had tried to help them by scratching her name on the trunks of trees when she went in the bushes to make water, but the fourth time she did it he caught her, and that was the end of that. - Arya, ASOS

-Arya herself has a lot in common with Little Thumbling: she’s small, skinny, very young and a disappointment to her parents (or at least, that’s how Arya perceives it), but she’s also quite resourceful and uses her wits to survive. Like Little Thumbling, she’s stuck with a pack of “travel companions” (the six siblings in the tale; Lommy, Hot Pie and Weasel in asoiaf) who aren’t very useful and wouldn’t make it far without her (even Gendry tells her as much in ACOK), despite her being the smallest and scrawniest of the bunch (except Weasel).

“She’s no use,” Gendry repeated stubbornly. “Her and Hot Pie and Lommy, they’re slowing us down, and they’re going to get us killed. You’re the only one of the bunch who’s good for anything. Even if you are a girl.” - Arya, ACOK

-The ogre’s wife tries to save the children by offering veal, pork and mutton to her husband. Arya and the Hound try to reach the Twins by pretending that they’re bringing salted pork and pigs’ feet for the wedding’s feast. 

"Got pickled pigs' feet too, ser." 

"Not for the feast, you don't. The feast's half done. And I'm a northman, not some milksuck southron knight." 

"I was told to see the steward, or the cook . . . " 

"Castle's closed. The lordlings are not to be disturbed." - Arya, ASOS

-The ogre’s daughters all wear crowns. Walder Frey wants (or wanted) to crown one of his daughters by marrying her to the King in the North (Robb).

-Little Thumbling and his brothers seek shelter because of the wolves outside. Robb is coerced into leaving his direwolf outside at the Twins.

The sight of the dogs made Catelyn wish once more for Grey Wind, but Robb's direwolf was nowhere to be seen. Lord Walder had refused to allow him in the hall. - Catelyn, ASOS

-Little Thumbling and his brothers are offered food and a bed at the ogre’s house. Catelyn, Robb and his men are offered guests’ rights at the Twins. The ogre’s wife knows that her husband eats children, but can’t do anything about it. Roslin Frey probably knew about her father’s plan to slaughter the Starks after the wedding, but couldn’t do anything about it either.

-The ogre slices his daughter’s throats after feeling the boys’ hats on their heads. Walder Frey let Catelyn slice his grandson’s throat, the one surnamed “Jinglebell” for the bell hat that he wore.

Robb had broken his word, but Catelyn kept hers. She tugged hard on Aegon's hair and sawed at his neck until the blade grated on bone. Blood ran hot over her fingers. His little bells were ringing, ringing, ringing, and the drum went boom doom boom. - Catelyn, ASOS

*This only concerns the show so far, but we have another scene where “Walder Frey” slaughter his own children:

-Little Thumbling and his brothers flee on time. So does Arya at the Twins (with a bit of help from the Hound), but she doesn’t manage to save her mother, nor her brother.

"We're here," she shouted. Her voice sounded thin and scared, a little girl's voice. "Robb's just in the castle, and my mother. The gate's even open." There were no more Freys riding out. I came so far. "We have to go get my mother." 

"Stupid little bitch." Fires glinted off the snout of his helm, and made the steel teeth shine. "You go in there, you won't come out. Maybe Frey will let you kiss your mother's corpse." - Arya, ASOS

-Little Thumbling steal the ogre’s boots, whose size magically adjusts to his feet, and also steals gold from the ogre’s wife. In Braavos, Arya steals boots (presumably her size – we’re told that the boots she previously wore were too big for her) from a Night’s Watch deserter, and cuts a purse in ADWD.

Someone slit his throat and pushed him into a canal, but they kept his boots." 

"Good boots are hard to find." 

"Just so." She tried to keep her face still. 

"Who could have done this thing, I wonder?" 

"Arya of House Stark." She watched his eyes, his mouth, the muscles of his jaw. - Cat of the canals, AFFC

She slipped her hand through the gap, slit the purse open with the finger knife, filled her fist with gold … - The ugly little girl, ADWD

As we can see, there’s a lot of parallels and foils here. I tend to view the boots as a coming-of-age achievement and a symbol of empowerment, but in my opinion, Arya’s story goes beyond that: she wants to go home and the “ogre” is the main obstacle to that quest. Her story arc in Westeros more or less culminate with the events at the Twins (her encounter with the ogre), where she powerlessly witnesses the slaughter of her family. The rest is details: she takes her revenge on Polliver and get her Needle back, which symbolically marks the end of her peregrinations as a prisoner. She frees herself from the Hound (another “ogre” figure, though this one is more ambivalent). Then she leaves. She embarks on another storyline with another “ogre”, the Titan of Braavos, who “eat the flesh of little highborn girls”. Braavos, essentially – what lays behind the Titan – is another ogre’s house:

Even so, she kept one hand on Needle as they slipped between his legs. More arrow slits dotted the insides of those great stone thighs, and when Arya craned her neck around to watch the crow's nest slip through with a good ten yards to spare, she spied murder holes beneath the Titan's armored skirts, and pale faces staring down at them from behind the iron bars.

And then they were past. – Arya, AFFC

The House of Black and White also tries to “eat” Arya’s family: Arya must forget about her mother. She must forget about her brothers. She must forget about herself and become No One. She must rid herself of her belonging. This time, nonetheless, she outwits the ogre by hiding her most precious possession (Needle) from him. The House of Black and White shares another similarity with the ogre’s house, for few who enters ever get out – actually, one could even make a case of the House of Black and White “digesting” those who came to die there: the servants clean the dead, take their purses, coins, clothes, and the faces are taken down a labyrinthine web of stairs, halls, doors underground (the “intestines”) before ending up in the Hall of Faces (as “nourishment” for the House of Black and White). There’s even a short scene in AFFC where Arya fears that the meat she’s given for her supper is actually the flesh of the dead (before the kindly man reassures her that it’s only pork).

Arya’s Little Thumbling can be taken as a criticism of the patriarchy displayed in the original tale: the woodcutter’s wife and the ogre’s wife are both depicted as passive victims of their husbands’ cruelty (the woodcutter’s wife tries to dissuade her husband from abandoning their children in the forest, but to no avail). The good mother/cruel father dichotomy is quite present in Arya’s storyline, especially in Westeros (the good mother Catelyn and the Hound, the meek lady Frey and the big bad Walder). Thus, it’s interesting that the Little Thumbling of Westeros is in fact a little girl disguised as a boy. It’s also curious that Arya herself takes the role of a mother to “Weasel”. And, as far as parents go, the Little Thumbling is also a story about the validation of the hero/heroine to his/her family: the sickly, skinny, useless Little Thumbling save his siblings from an ogre and presents a bag of gold to his parents at the end of the story. Arya “Horseface” Stark, the little sister who can’t sew, can’t stitch, can’t draw or sing, would’ve attempted (truly) to save her mother and brother by herself at the Twins – something the Hound scoffs at, because unfortunately, Arya’s story isn’t a fairy tale…

"We should go back," she suddenly decided. "We should go back to the Twins and get my mother. She can't be dead. We have to help her." 

"I thought your sister was the one with a head full of songs," the Hound growled. "Frey might have kept your mother alive to ransom, that's true. But there's no way in seven hells I'm going to pluck her out of his castle all by my bloody self."

 "Not by yourself. I'd come too." 

He made a sound that was almost a laugh. "That will scare the piss out of the old man." - Arya, ASOS

The Little Thumbling is also one of these stories where the hero’s “quest” centers around returning home. Another story of the same style would be Thumbelina: a tiny girl, the size of a thumb, is born inside a flower, stolen by a toad who wants to marry her to her son, and left on a waterlily so she can’t escape. She receives help from some fishes and a butterfly who carries her waterlily far from the toads; however, she’s then snatched by a beetle who take her up a tree for company, until fellow beetles show up and start calling Thumbelina “ugly”. Thumbelina’s abandoned again and wanders in the forest, making herself clothes from the grass and covering with a fallen leaf when the cold sets in. She finally comes across a mouse’s nest and is taken in by an old mouse who let her stay for the winter. During that time, Thumbelina finds a near-frozen, injured bird that she nurses back to health. The old mouse also introduces her to a mole who wants to marry Thumbelina, and although Thumbelina doesn’t want to marry the mole (meaning that she’d live under the earth forever), she’s not really given a choice. The day of her wedding, however, the bird she nursed back to life come to take her away and bring her to a flower field, where she meets, falls in love with and marry a tiny fairy prince who lives in a flower.

For analysts Iona and Peter Opie, the moral behind Thumbelina’s story is that people are happier when they’re with their own kind (make sense). Whereas we have Arya as the Little Thumbling of Westeros, Daenerys Targaryen would be Thumbelina: she’s “stolen” from her home soon after birth, is betrothed twice to men she has no wish to marry, goes from places to places, never really fitting in anywhere. Just like Thumbelina who can’t really find her place among toads, beetles and moles, Daenerys never really belongs with the dothraki, the people from Quarth or the meereenese, and just like Thumbelina, ends up “flying away” from an unwanted marriage and an unhappy home at the end of ADWD. Although nowhere near the size of a thumb (of course), Daenerys is described as quite small, physically, (and, like Thumbelina, dainty and beautiful). Moreover, when in the “green grass sea” in AGOT and ADWD, she could just as well be the size of a thumb, for the grass grows much higher than herself. In ADWD, Daenerys even tries to make herself some clothes (a hat) with grass.

(For those who’ve seen the 1994 movie “Thumbelina”, you might also remember how Cornelius, the fairy prince who marries Thumbelina, is temporarily frozen in a block of ice. If this doesn’t remind us of a certain westerosi prince, I mean bastard, ah, stuck around a big chunk of ice for some time.)

The paradox here lies with Thumbelina’s connection to seeds, plants and flowers, and the recurring “Dragons plants no tree” mantra from Daenerys’s story. Still, Thumbelina is a little girl in a shell: she’s born from a barley seed and sleeps in a nutshell (before being stolen by the toad). Dittos for Daenerys, a dragon in a shell who hatches in a sea of grass. ADWD leaves Daenerys in a situation that roughly mirrors Thumbelina’s forest wanderings at the brink of winter:

In this way the summer and fall went by. Then came the winter, the long, cold winter. All the birds who had sung so sweetly for her flew away. The trees and the flowers withered. The big burdock leaf under which she had lived shriveled up until nothing was left of it but a dry, yellow stalk. She was terribly cold, for her clothes had worn threadbare and she herself was so slender and frail. Poor Thumbelina, she would freeze to death! Snow began to fall, and every time a snowflake struck her it was as if she had been hit by a whole shovelful, for we are quite tall while she measured only an inch. She wrapped a withered leaf about her, but there was no warmth in it. She shivered with cold.

Near the edge of the woods where she now had arrived, was a large grain field, but the grain had been harvested long ago. Only the dry, bare stubble stuck out of the frozen ground. It was just as if she were lost in a vast forest, and oh how she shivered with cold! Then she came to the door of a field mouse, who had a little hole amidst the stubble. There this mouse lived, warm and cozy, with a whole store-room of grain, and a magnificent kitchen and pantry. Poor Thumbelina stood at the door, just like a beggar child, and pled for a little bit of barley, because she hadn't had anything to eat for two days past. (H.C. Andersen, Thumbelina)

Not to draws too many straws here, but the parallels with Daenerys are there:

Dany's clothes were hardly more than rags, and offered little in the way of warmth. (…) Sweat and grass and dirt had stained it, and Dany had torn a strip off the hem to make a bandage for her shin. I must look a ragged thing, and starved, she thought, but if the days stay warm, I will not freeze. (…) She was hungry too. (…) The grass was as tall as she was. (…) Though she walked through a green kingdom, it was not the deep rich green of summer. Even here autumn made its presence felt, and winter would not be far behind. The grass was paler than she remembered, a wan and sickly green on the verge of going yellow. After that would come brown. The grass was dying. (…) "I need a hat," she said aloud. Up on Dragonstone she had tried to make one for herself, weaving stalks of grass together as she had seen Dothraki women do during her time with Drogo, but either she was using the wrong sort of grass or she simply lacked the necessary skill. Her hats all fell to pieces in her hands. (…) "I am lost at sea," she said (…) Instead she began to shiver violently. (…) She scooped up a handful of mud and water in trembling hands. – Daenerys, ADWD

And both girls are rescued from this environment by flying creatures. Little Thumbelina is small enough to mount a bird. Daenerys, a girl of “regular” size, mounts a dragon:

"Yes, I will go with you!" said Thumbelina. She sat on his back, put her feet on his outstretched wings, and fastened her sash to one of his strongest feathers. Then the swallow soared into the air over forests and over lakes, high up over the great mountains that are always capped with snow. When Thumbelina felt cold in the chill air, she crept under the bird's warm feathers, with only her little head stuck out to watch all the wonderful sights below. (H.C. Andersen, Thumbelina)

Dany leapt onto his back. She stank of blood and sweat and fear, but none of that mattered. "To go forward I must go back," she said. Her bare legs tightened around the dragon's neck. She kicked him, and Drogon threw himself into the sky. – Daenerys, ADWD

Thumbelina flies to a country of eternal spring, where she meets the fairy prince and gets her happily ever after. The bird who carried her is sad nonetheless because she chose the fairy prince over him.

From what we know, Daenerys will soon be flying to a country threatened by eternal winter, where she will meet a prince (Jon) who connects both with flowers (the “blue flower from a chunk of ice”) and snow.

These are, so far, Arya’s and Daenerys’s journeys back home.

[anerdquemoraaolado]

Breaking the Wheel

The Pack

Jon and Daenerys were seated at the table in the central hall of the Fortress, separating the letters the family had received.

One of them was from Robb, where he counted the following:

My beloved brother Jon,

Our father is very worried. We have had many casualties and we need allies that contain the territories we have already conquered and prevent the south from conquering again. That's why I'm on my way home with plans in mind. I know it's dangerous and risky, but my mother advised me to do it. I'll tell you more when we see each other. Send my regards to all our brothers and sisters and my dear sister-in-law.

From your blood brother and in arms,

Robb Stark.

"What is it Jon?" Daenerys noticed how worried he was.

"Robb is coming home," he replied, "but with dangerous plans, he doesn't tell me what it is."

"I hope he's careful," she declared, contradicting herself.

Three days later Robb arrived in Winterfell and didn't tell his brother what his plans were. Instead he proposed to walk through the White Harbor with their brothers. Jon understood his intentions behind it.

"Robb, Jon, we'll get ahead," Bran warned.

"Hurry up Bran" Rickon was pulling him impatiently.

"I keep an eye on the boys." Daenerys followed them.

When they were finally alone, Robb showed his grief.

"What upset you my brother?" Jon put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"My plans," sighed Robb, "I intend to marry Roslin Frey so the Frey can provide soldiers and resources."

"But Jeyne Westerling," Jon replied solemnly, "you love her, didn't you ever think of a life you could have together?"

"Yes my brother," Robb smiled sadly, "but duty is honor, victory, that will deliver innocents from death, for an end to war. And ... I can work hard to love Roslin. All love develops, you learn to love. I'm willing to make it work."

"Have you made the proposal to Walder Frey?" Jon asked, understanding the situation.

"He came to me and I accepted," Robb replied. "I'm determined, brother, and I will not go back.

"I hope you're not unhappy," Jon wanted.

"I won't be Jon," Robb said, "I'll do my best to be happy."

When they stopped talking, the little Stark came rushing to meet the brothers.

"Jon! Robb!" Rickon called,"you won't believe what we found."

"What are they up to, Dany?" Robb laughed relieving the tension.

"It's a surprise," Bran said more calmly, "just follow us."

Jon and Robb looked at each other with a shrug and followed the boys. They came to a lane and looked at the ground, and saw five puppies.

"We want to take it home," Bran said, "please."

"But all of them?" Jon asked, "I don't know if Lady Catelyn will like it."

"It has to be all of them!" Rickon tapped one foot for each of us.

"Oh no Rick" Robb realized "it's 5 and we're in 6"

"You can get them and I won't get one," Jon decided.

"Oh my brother," Robb laughed, "no sacrifices, please. You deserve a puppy, after all you're a married man and as they say, we started the family with a dog."

"We already have Dany, the cat," Jon countered.

"But a puppy keeps her company," Robb said like a plea, which made Bran and Rickon laugh.

It was at that moment that another puppy appeared, right at the feet of the reluctant Jon.

"Looks like you don't have a choice now, my love." Daenerys picked up the little puppy.

"Oh no, Dany," her husband rolled his eyes.

"Please, my love, my brave and believed Jon Snow" Daenerys said in a sweet voice. "Can we keep him?"

"How can I say no to such a plea?" He finally persuaded himself.

The Statk returned to the Fortress and Lady Catelyn as reluctantly as Jon eventually accepted the pack.

Robb named his GreyWind, Jon's Ghost, Arya's Nymeria, Sansa's Lady, Bran's Summer, and Rickon's ShaggyDog.

As if that were not enough, they did not know that Daenerys' cat was pregnant and soon gave birth to three kittens. The young Mrs. Stark named them Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal. The kitten got so attached to her and she to them that Daenerys also stayed with them.

In the midst of all that mess and excitement, it was possible to hope for a peaceful future in the midst of the war that still surrounded them.

A / N: "Jon Snow" here is an annoying nickname that soldiers gave Jon to mock him. Daenerys knows this because Robb told her. Here I am also fixing the Red Wedding, see Robb, that's what you had to do. Yes, I made dragons into cats. That's why the cat was called Dany, my reference to "Mother of Dragons"

[liesandarbor]

Hi! i just read your Ashara twitter thread (great work btw) and was wondering why you think that lady catelyn heart is a "cold, stone-hearted emptiness". I mean she was terrible and cold to jon snow, but she loved her kids and ned fiercely.

Thanks, anon!  What I meant about her having “cold, stone-hearted emptiness” wasn’t necessarily meaning she was a cold-hearted person, or had no love.  Catelyn certainly loved her children ferociously, and Ned, too.  However, let me unravel for you a bit. 

Ned’s acedia in communicating with Catelyn about Jon and Lyanna wasn’t the first breaking point.  Catelyn entered the North with a target on her back.  A southerner - who aren’t exactly the most welcome sight in the North currently - who’s only claim and insurance is that Ned, the sudden Lord of Winterfell, knocked her up…. and she doesn’t even get the luxury of enjoying that, because he returns home to greet her with a bastard on his hip.  

Catelyn sat on her horse, unmoving, with Hal Mollen and her guard around her, and she waited as she had waited before, for Brandon and Ned and her father. She was high on the ridge, and the trees hid most of what was going on beneath her. A heartbeat, two, four, and suddenly it was as if she and her protectors were alone in the wood. The rest were melted away into the green.Catelyn X, AGOT

Catelyn, who forfeited affording herself emotion in her pairings, was nothing but dutiful for her father, marrying who strengthened his political affiliation as was expected of her (interesting contrast against Lyanna, where Cat had to deal with the emotional brunt of her non-duty).

Imagine: the only problem in your marriage, in 15 years, is that there is one topic that your husband completely refuses to speak of, and regards his ‘cheating’ on you and ‘having a child’ with another woman.  That’s a pretty big non-starter when it comes to healthy relationships, no?

That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. “Never ask me about Jon,” he said, cold as ice. “He is my blood, and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name, my lady.” She had pledged to obey; she told him; and from that day on, the whispering had stopped, and Ashara Dayne’s name was never heard in Winterfell again.

Whoever Jon’s mother had been, Ned must have loved her fiercely, for nothing Catelyn said would persuade him to send the boy away. It was the one thing she could never forgive him. She had come to love her husband with all her heart, but she had never found it in her to love Jon. She might have overlooked a dozen bastards for Ned’s sake, so long as they were out of sight. Jon was never out of sight, and as he grew, he looked more like Ned than any of the trueborn sons she bore him. Somehow that made it worse. “Jon must go,” she said now.Catelyn II, AGOT

Catelyn, incapable of dealing with these emotions, or processing them whatsoever - because Ned won’t allow her, due to his ‘honorable promise’ - lived with the thought in the very back of her head that Ned was unfaithful to her, that it was probably the dead chick, Ashara Dayne, and that Ned harbored some fantastical love in his heart for another woman that she could never compare or beat.  

That brought a bitter twist to Ned’s mouth. “Brandon. Yes. Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant for Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was born to be a King’s Hand and a father to queens. I never asked for this cup to pass to me.”Catelyn II, AGOT

Even Ned finds himself comparing the present to what could have been had Brandon survived - not just Catelyn.

“For just an instant Robb sounded more like Brandon than his father.”Catelyn II, ASOS

As we traverse through the first three books, Catelyn, ferocious yet cautious wolf-mother, begins to grow wearier and wearier in front of our very eyes.  And bitter.  And cold.  She’s separated from her family, she experiences almost all of them ‘dying’, and almost grows resentful.

“Our duty.” Catelyn’s face was drawn as she started across the yard. I have always done my duty, she thought. Perhaps that was why her lord father had always cherished her best of all his children. Her two older brothers had both died in infancy, so she had been son as well as daughter to Lord Hoster until Edmure was born. Then her mother had died and her father had told her that she must be the lady of Riverrun now, and she had done that too. And when Lord Hoster promised her to Brandon Stark, she had thanked him for making her such a splendid match.

I gave Brandon my favor to wear, and never comforted Petyr once after he was wounded, nor bid him farewell when Father sent him off. And when Brandon was murdered and Father told me I must wed his brother, I did so gladly, though I never saw Ned’s face until our wedding day. I gave my maidenhood to this solemn stranger and sent him off to his war and his king and the woman who bore him his bastard, because I always did my duty.Catelyn VI, ACOK

I would even go as far to say that, past AGOT and Ned’s death,  she spends a good amount of the books basically assuring herself that her love with Ned was real, that everything was great, and that by fighting this war, she is doing the right thing - Family, duty, honor, right?

She remembered her own childish disappointment, the first time she had laid eyes on Eddard Stark. She had pictured him as a younger version of his brother Brandon, but that was wrong. Ned was shorter and plainer of face, and so somber. He spoke courteously enough, but beneath the words she sensed a coolness that was all at odds with Brandon, whose mirths had been as wild as his rages. Even when he took her maidenhood, their love had more of duty to it than of passion. We made Robb that night, though; we made a king together. And after the war, at Winterfell, I had love enough for any woman, once I found the good sweet heart beneath Ned’s solemn face. There is no reason Edmure should not find the same, with his Roslin. Catelyn V, ASOS

I had love enough for any woman doesn’t exactly sound like Ned swept me off of my feet, he was my big, beautiful love, the world has stopped spinning. No, it is a woman who has been halted by circumstance, who has made the best of her situation and fiercely loves the family she has been given.

“Joffrey will show you no such devotion, I fear. You could thank your sister for that, if she weren’t dead. He’s never been able to forget that day on the Trident when you saw her shame him, so he shames you in turn. You’re stronger than you seem, though. I expect you’ll survive a bit of humiliation. I did. You may never love the king, but you’ll love his children.”Sansa IV, ACOK

While obviously a bit of a different situation, Cersei, who was also sold off for swords to a man she didn’t really desire, nails home what a woman’s role in this world was, and what a woman could rise to.  Brave Danny Flint, Brienne, all of these female warriors breaking gender roles in Westeros show us what can happen to those that break their ‘mold’, and Catelyn did not have anything to push to change her life and world - all she had was holding on to her husband, her children, her gods, and helping to run the household.   

That’s why Catelyn is so intrigued by Brienne - both raised on the same concepts and morals, but Brienne shied away and refused to go along with what her father wanted for her, where Catelyn took the road more often followed.

Catelyn wished they would all go away. They were good men, loyal, yet she was tired of them all. It was her children she yearned after. One day, she promised herself as she lay abed, one day she would allow herself to be less than strong.But not today. It could not be today.Catelyn II, ACOK

By the end of Catelyn’s plot, she is exhausted, cold, and empty.  What few things she had left, the things she clung to - her Gods, her husband, her children - are ripped away from her, piece by piece.

The societal norms that raised and nourished her for so long slice her neck open, just as Raymund Frey’s blade did.