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Alyrie's Ladies-In-Waiting
Bethany Hightower (Played by Holliday Grainger), Daughter of Lord Ormund Hightower
Sansara Tarly (Played by Amelia Gething), Younger Sister of Lady Sam, Daughter of Lord Tarly
Maris Baratheon (Played by Sai Bennett), Third Daughter of Borros Baratheon, One of the Four Storms
Valaena Velaryon (Played by Stephanie Levi-John), Daughter of Aethan Velaryon, Niece of Corlys and Vaemond Velaryon
Tyshara Lannister (Played by Tessa Bonham Jones), Heiress of Casterly Rock, Eldest Child of Lord Jason Lannister
Cerelle Lannister (Played by Tamzin Merchant), Second Daughter of Lord Jason Lannister
Alysanne Blackwood (Played by Anna Popplewell), "Black Aly", Lady of House Blackwood, Sister of Lord Samwell Blackwood and Willem Blackwood
#alyrie targaryen oc#i like worldbuilding#valaena velaryon the second oc#velaryon oc#bethany hightower#sansara tarly#tyshara lannister#cerelle lannister#maris baratheon#alysanne blackwood#fun fact their names are in their house colors
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Perhaps the boldest letter [suggesting Aegon's new wife] came from the irrepressible Lady Samantha of Oldtown, who declared that her sister Sansara (of House Tarly) “is spirited and strong, and has read more books than half the maesters in the Citadel” whilst her good-sister Bethany (of House Hightower) was “very beautiful, with smooth soft skin and lustrous hair and the sweetest manner”, though also “lazy and somewhat stupid, truth be told, though some men seem to like that in a wife”. She concluded by suggesting that perhaps King Aegon should marry both of them, “one to rule beside him, as Queen Alysanne did King Jaehaerys, and one to bed and breed”. And in the event that both of them were “found wanting, for whatever obscure reason”, Lady Sam helpfully appended the names of thirty-one other nubile maidens from Houses Hightower, Redwyne, Tarly, Ambrose, Florent, Cobb, Costayne, Beesbury, Varner, and Grimm who might be suitable as queens. (Mushroom adds that her ladyship ended with a cheeky postscript that said, “I know some pretty boys as well, should His Grace be so inclined, but I fear they could not give him heirs”, but none of the other chronicles mention this affrontry, and her ladyship’s letter has been lost.)
Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)
#ASoIaF#Fire & Blood#valyrianscrolls#ch: Under the Regents: War and Peace and Cattle Shows#Samantha Tarly#Aegon III Targaryen#Sansara Tarly#Bethany Hightower#Maiden's Day Ball#V#GRRM#books#quotes#Damn!#I need Lady Sam's whole biography!
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Perhaps the boldest letter came from the irrepressible Lady Samantha of Oldtown, who declared that her sister Sansara (of House Tarly) “is spirited and strong, and has read more books than half the maesters in the Citadel” whilst her good-sister Bethany (of House Hightower) was “very beautiful, with smooth soft skin and lustrous hair and the sweetest manner,” though also “lazy and somewhat stupid, truth be told, though some men seem to like that in a wife.” She concluded by suggesting that perhaps King Aegon should marry both of them, “one to rule beside him, as Queen Alysanne did King Jaehaerys, and one to bed and breed.” And in the event that both of them were “found wanting, for whatever obscure reason,” Lady Sam helpfully appended the names of thirty-one other nubile maidens from Houses Hightower, Redwyne, Tarly, Ambrose, Florent, Cobb, Costayne, Beesbury, Varner, and Grimm who might be suitable as queens. (Mushroom adds that her ladyship ended with a cheeky postscript that said, “I know some pretty boys as well, should His Grace be so inclined, but I fear they could not give him heirs,” but none of the other chronicles mention this affrontry, and her ladyship’s letter has been lost.)
Fire and Blood, by George R.R. Martin, pg 640
#samantha tarly#war peace and cattle shows#under the regents#Fire and Blood#fire and blood quotes#samantha tarly's characterization#asoiaf quotes#asoiaf#a song of ice and fire#aegon iii targaryen#aegon iii#sansara tarly#bethany hightower
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Name: Sansara Tarly
Alias(es): Sweet Sansa, Sara, Little Maester
Title(s): Lady
Allegiance: House Tarly
Race: First Men
Culture(s): Marchers
Family: Donald (f), Jeyne (m), Samantha (s)
Details:
Sansara loves to read. She consumes knowledge like a puppy consumes breakfast. She takes books or scrolls everywhere and is the one of Rhaenyra’s ladies who is always by her side for diplomatic interactions and council meetings. Grand Maester Mellos hates her.
Aside from her endless thirst for knowledge, Sansara is the most ladylike of Rhaenyra’s ladies. With golden hair, sky blue eyes, and a lovely figure, the only time Sansara doesn’t look like the perfect lady is when she rides. It must me mentioned, however, that even when she is galloping like a dragon is chasing her, Sansara is sure to have at least one book on her person.
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Rating: Explicit
Tags: TW//Dubcon, learned helplessness, slut shaming, manipulation, obsession, This is not a nice pookie he’s very disturbed, pnv!sex, forced orgasm, he does touch the clit, overstimulation, drooling, dacryphilia, angst, Criston stop mentioning her family challenge
A/N: I was feeling evil. Anyways word to @starogeorgina for the chain in mouth idea
Taglist: @arcielee @aemonds-holy-milk @bambitas @elaratyrell @jamespotterismydaddy @lovelykhaleesiii @peachysunrize @starogeorgina @towriteloveontheirarms @zaldritzosrose
The gold hands kept your mouth open, drool dripping from your stretched lips. The Lord Commander was in a dark mood. He’d been taking it out on you, one of the ladies-in-waiting…truly a political hostage. His calloused hands hiked up your dress to expose your ass and cunt. You squirmed under his heat and touch.
The worst part of it all. He knew you. Your elder brother Alan trained with him at Blackhaven, they fought off the Dornish together in the wilds. You’d danced with a younger Criston Cole as a girl. He was much kinder then, almost shy, nothing like what this monster was.
You’d been reduced to a fuck toy.
A gloved hand pressed you down, your elbows painfully hitting his desk, spilling some ink across the table. Ser Criston snapped, smacking your ass, “Be godsdamn still.” You whimpered softly, teeth painfully biting into his chain. He sucked a dark mark on your neck, then another, biting down. The knight left marks no dress of yours could hide.
He was possessive, it wasn’t a well-kept secret around the keep that Lord Commander Cole was fucking Lord Tarly’s daughter. Court whispers assumed it was a sort of revenge for Alan Tarly flying black banners. He would shrug in public, sneering and declaring you a whore like the Queen your brother rallied for. He’d jest he wouldn’t touch you with a lance, dark eyes shining with mirth.
Criston’s hands ran up your trembling thighs, one of his thick boots kicking your feet apart. You remained still as the sounds of him jerking his sword belt off, pulling apart the bottom half of his white gambeson filled your ears. You whined, tears dripping with your drool onto the desk.
You cried because he still made you aroused, even after all of his mean mind games and brutal fucking. Some nights he would finish off and wipe you clean, petting your hair and talking about the Marches. His dark eyes would gaze at you…then slowly Criston would become so aggravated he would kick you out in a frenzy, your clothes barely back on.
Criston huffed, sliding the blunt tip of his prick against your swollen folds. One of his hands reached for your waist, gripping at the soft flesh there. Cole breathed, “You’re always so wet for me. What would your late father think? His sweet ‘maiden’ daughter taking cock like a whore. At least Sam and Sansara have a sense of aligning with the correct house.”
Only a mournful noise fell out from behind the golden hands, more tears falling down your cheek at the mention of your elder sisters. Criston sheathed his cock, grunting at the immediate feeling of velvet walls and hot slick. He gripped your chin, dark eyes peering at your tears. The man dropped your face, lips turned downward in annoyance.
He began to fuck you in earnest, hips clapping against your ass. Criston hissed, “You’re always crying, if it wasn’t so pretty I’d ask if you get tired of it, Lady Tarly.” You moaned softly, scrunching your eyes shut. He made your head spin— desire and disgust always at war.
Criston began to wind your bouncing braid around his hand. The Lord Commander growled as you cried out, “Hush— keep the damn chain in your mouth.” You miserably nodded, whimpering as his prick dragged against your sensitive walls. Criston groaned, fingers digging into your waist, hand tugging at your braid as he drove himself into you with abandon.
The sound of your wet cunt squelching around his cock could make you sick. He loved it, purring, “Hear how needy you are for me? You can’t deny it, your slut cunny sops for my cock.” You sobbed in frustration, heaving under him, pressing your forehead to the cold desk.
Criston panted against the back of your neck, biting once again, lapping afterward in a rare act of kindness. He nosed down your shoulder, leaving sore marks. Occasionally it felt like he left a kiss— but he’d never do that. Ser Cole told you he wasn’t going to be some soft-hearted lover, you were a body for him.
His hips stuttered as his gloved fingers felt around your mouth, feeling your swollen lips and wet chin. Criston groaned something unintelligible, digging his sharp hips into your giving flesh. His breath quickened, feeling your pussy pull and squeeze at his cock.
You whined and shivered again, his cock rubbing your walls, building hot friction. So good. Filled you perfectly. It made you want to heave. More pathetic noises fell from your lips as he got back to driving into your slippery cunt. Criston huffed, “Needy little whore loves my prick huh? Alan would be disgusted if he found out.”
You sobbed softly between helpless cries, Criston fucking you deep and rough. He panted in your ear, the hand in your hair dropping, shoving under your dress. His fingers slipped through the mess of your folds— slick with your juices and Criston’s copious leaking.
It was foreign and strange, the man had never put anything but his cock between your legs. He remained suspiciously quiet, leather-clad digits rubbing the neglected nub that made you whimper and shake down to your thighs. Criston laughed as you trembled and sniveled, drooling more.
“Am I the only one to have touched your pearl? Gods, ruined you all by myself. No one will marry you. No one wants a used and stained lady from a disgraced house. Shitty excuse for a marcher house, suckling the Tyrell’s teat,” he seethed, spittle flying from his clenched teeth.
You sucked in a heavy breath, deeply upset yet unable to think with the way he was pulling and thumbing your sensitive little nub. Criston moaned, dark hair tickling your cheek, “Fuck, keep squeezing me like that.” His nose brushed your skin, mouth dangerously close to your own.
You began to feel the sparks of a peak building fast in your lower belly. He was much too warm, too close, fingers too insistent. Crying out sharply, bucking under Criston, you sobbed in overstimulation. The knight only moved faster, hissing for you to shut up.
You garbled out a weak ‘no’, Criston laughing as he dug his cock deep inside of you, bumping against your cervix. The man had to hold you down, grinning in excitement as you whimpered and cried, the orgasm shoved through a wall of pain-pleasure. He gasped hotly against your wet cheeks. Another noise drew deep from his chest, almost pained.
Your cunt fluttered as you gushed around his cock, sight going fuzzy as you sobbed through the forced orgasm. Criston moaned in ecstasy, his hand dug so hard into your waist it would bruise. His legs trembled against yours, the knight drawing out with a low whine.
He didn’t stain your dress for once. You slumped against the desk— ashamed and disgusted. Your chest felt hollow, your stomach a pit of swirling emotions. Criston threw something to the side as he panted. He took the chain from your teeth, chuckling in amusement. Your jaw ached as you worked it, wiping your wet chin, stomach twisting further in knots.
The Lord Commander had tucked himself in and strolled to the grand chair across the desk. He sat down, eyes on you, frustratingly imperceptible emotion in the dark orbs. Pushing yourself up, you wiped the wet spot from your drool and tears with your dress. You knew you looked a mess and felt like one.
You gave him obeisance, hoping to leave quickly and lick your wounds, “L-Lord Commander.”
Criston absently shined his chain, a strange look upon his face. He grumbled, “No, you stay Tarly.” Your confusion was evident as he huffed, face twisting in annoyance. The knight snapped, “Get over here and stop sobbing…it is…grating.”
He was in one of those odd moods. You came around his desk, praying he wouldn’t make your sore jaw work again by warming his soft cock with your mouth. Criston wouldn’t make eye contact, absently staring at his chain while his gloved hand patted his lap.
You had no other choice but to obey, holding your sobs in with shuddery breath. Criston snatched you onto his thighs, your body facing his. He wouldn’t look at you, lips curled downward, face heated. You gingerly laid against him, closing your eyes and pretending it was a lover’s embrace. He smelled too familiar for the fantasy to work.
He stiffened when your arms wrapped around his neck, head pressed into his warm neck. Criston returned to shining his chain, arms on either side of you. His breathing was deep and rhythmic, yet his heart thudded rapidly. You were angry at yourself, livid, but the soft touch he allowed was pleasing.
Of course it felt pleasing— you ached for kind gestures, starved for love. Criston murmured, “You felt good…you are good.” You felt his head tilting to nuzzle your own. The Lord Commander sighed, one of his hands dropping to rub your trembling back. He seemed on edge, left leg tapping.
“You make me so…so,” the knight paused, “Nevermind, just be quiet and still.”
⋆---–---⋆ ⋆ ---––——––------––——––--- ⋆ ⋆ ---–--- ⋆
It was a shame you were a traitor by family. Criston’s mind warped between obsession and revulsion. He wanted to choke the life out of your pretty neck. He never did. That would mean being alone. The Lord Commander couldn’t stand to be alone and you were the sweetest thing, even back in the day visiting Horn Hill.
He felt your tears as he pressed a soft kiss to the crown of your head. Maybe one day you’d see him and smile.
#read the trigger warnings#hotd fanfic#hotd smut#criston cole x reader#ser criston cole x reader#crazy bad mean pookie#tarly!reader#angstFEST
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Al menos en Crown sabían escribir cuando estuve allí // JAJAJAJ no mientas por convivir // ¿? Quien llevaba a Leowyn Corbray escribía muy bien, Sansara Tarly o quien llevaba a Floris Baratheon roleaban bastante bien para mí y justo me fui cuando desaparecieron
b
R.
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Sansa and Sandor similar naming can't be coincidence too. If you are trying to use a certain way of clue to find foreshadowing for one thing then ignoring the other which also has similar foundation ( same sounding names) can't be stupid. Btw I am a Jonsa shipper as well just that the reason of similar sounding names using which you are drawing parallel to Sansara isn't consistent when same can't be argued for Sansa Sandor. I agreed with your Jace Sara hypothesis. I am just asking what does Sansara explain about any future speculation for Sansa. One draw parallels in the text to reach a conclusion or atleast point towards where things are headed. What does Sansa Sansara parallel say? The only of note is that she was married to a man and later married that man's son.
I'm not denying that Sansa and cujo's name are similar. They share the first three letters.
The one that married a father and a son was Sansara's sister, Samanta Tarly.
If after reading everything that other bloggers and I have written about this, you don't think that Sansa and Sansara means anything, that's OK.
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Perhaps the boldest letter came from the irrepressible Lady Samantha of Oldtown, who declared that her sister Sansara (of House Tarly) “is spirited and strong, and has read more books than half the maesters in the Citadel.” (Fire & Blood)
“If I am ever a queen,” said Sansara, “I will endeavor to influence the crown to become a patron to an institution of learning dedicated to educating women.”
Samantha’s hand paused from the letter she was writing. “Oh? You would not endeavor to influence the crown to command the Citadel to accept women instead? When I first became Lady Hightower, you begged me to influence my husband to command the Citadel to do just that. You would not believe me that House Hightower’s patronage of the Citadel does not provide Lord Hightower with the power to simply command the Citadel to do a thing it resolutely does not wish to do.”
Sansara replied, “I know better now, sister. Even Good Queen Alysanne with her dragon failed to convince the Citadel to allow women to train to be maesters. If the maesters and archmaesters of the Citadel could not be convinced by a dragon-riding queen wed to a dragon-riding king, then what hope would I have? This King Aegon is not likely to ride another dragon, after watching his mother devoured by one. If the Citadel stubbornly refuses to accept women, then why not create our own Citadel?”
“Our own Citadel?”
“There are motherhouses to train septas, are there not? Why should there not be a dedicated institution for training women maesters?” questioned Sansara. After a pause, she added, “Perhaps another name is required, however. The zealously overprotective guardians of the Citadel would balk at the title maesters being used by women, no doubt. After all, septas are not called women septons, they would be eager to point out.”
“A separate institution could make it harder for women to ever gain a place in the Citadel,” Samantha remarked. “There is already a place for women, the future guardians of the Citadel would say. Women should be content with that, they would lecture.”
“The Citadel would tell women to be content with our place in the world in any case. It has been telling us that for thousands of years. I know your quarrel is with the Faith, Sam, but the Citadel is not really any better. If they do not want us, then we must create a place for ourselves, a place as good as theirs. Better than theirs. Waiting for these maesters and archmaesters to be enlightened would not get us anywhere.”
“I will not mention your grand plan in my letter to the king, admirable as it is. His regents would mislike it, I’m sure. My sister Sansara is spirited and strong, I shall write instead.”
“Spirited and strong? You are making me sound like a horse.”
“A wild horse. Not likely to be broken.”
Sansara laughed. “No, that’s you, Sam. I can play at being meek and mild with the best of them, if that is what’s required of me. Tell that to the king as well."
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Sansa - Alayne - Alysanne - Sara - Sansara
A great deal has already been said about how similar Sansa Stark and Good Queen Alysanne Targaryen are. Here some sources:
Sansa Stark and "Good Queen" Alysanne Targaryen parallels
open thread #1: alysansa
Good Queen Alysanne translates to Good Queen D@ny??
Don't you think that Alysanne has more similarities with Arya than Sansa?
Tidbits from Fire and Blood
More tidbits from Fire and Blood
An Idyll where love conquers all
Jaehaerys and Alysanne was a romance unequaled since the days of Florian the Fool and his Jonquil
Doug Wheatley, we need an explanation!
can I copy your homework?
Lord Commander Burley also renamed Snowgate castle in her honor, as Queensgate
is nourishing
What are you doing George?
Jonquil Darke “the Scarlet Shadow” & Joffrey Dogget “the Red Dog of the Hills”
There is a certain irony in people rejecting any Sansa/Alysanne connection
There’s plenty Sansa and Alysanne parallels and some situations may actually repeat themselves
so sansa and good queen alysanne am i the only that sees it?
What are some parallels/similarities between Sansa and Good Queen Alysanne? Are there any?
More Sansa = Alysanne
Queen Alysanne has a knight named Jonquil and meets Lord Commander Lothor at the wall
Sansa & Alysanne portraits
Queen Alysanne and her cousin King Jaehaerys
Queen Alysanne/Sansa Stark parallel
Why is it so significant the parallel between Queen Alysanne and Sansa?
Queens
Now I will give you my contribution on the matter, mostly based on what I found in my recent first re-reading of Fire & Blood.
MERCY
Five of Maegor’s Seven yet survived. Two of those, Ser Olyver Bracken and Ser Raymund Mallery, had played a part in the late king’s fall by turning their cloaks and going over to Jaehaerys, but the boy king observed rightly that in doing so they had broken their vows to defend the king’s life with their own. “I will have no oathbreakers at my court,” he proclaimed. All five Kingsguard were therefore sentenced to death…but at the urging of Princess Alysanne, it was agreed that they might be spared if they would exchange their white cloaks for black by joining the Night’s Watch. Four of the five accepted this clemency and departed for the Wall; along with Ser Olyver and Ser Raymund, the turncloaks, went Ser Jon Tollett and Ser Symond Crayne.
—Fire & Blood
This passage reminds me of Sansa asking mercy for her father Ned and saving Dontos’ life by denying him the mercy of a quick death:
The king! Sansa blinked back her tears. Joffrey was the king now, she thought. Her gallant prince would never hurt her father, no matter what he might have done. If she went to him and pleaded for mercy, she was certain he'd listen. He had to listen, he loved her, even the queen said so. Joff would need to punish Father, the lords would expect it, but perhaps he could send him back to Winterfell, or exile him to one of the Free Cities across the narrow sea. It would only have to be for a few years. By then she and Joffrey would be married. Once she was queen, she could persuade Joff to bring Father back and grant him a pardon.
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa IV
"Do you deny your father's crime?" Lord Baelish asked.
"No, my lords." Sansa knew better than that. "I know he must be punished. All I ask is mercy. I know my lord father must regret what he did. He was King Robert's friend and he loved him, you all know he loved him. He never wanted to be Hand until the king asked him. They must have lied to him. Lord Renly or Lord Stannis or … or somebody, they must have lied, otherwise …"
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa V
Unhappy, Joffrey shifted in his seat and flicked his fingers at Ser Dontos. "Take him away. I'll have him killed on the morrow, the fool."
"He is," Sansa said. "A fool. You're so clever, to see it. He's better fitted to be a fool than a knight, isn't he? You ought to dress him in motley and make him clown for you. He doesn't deserve the mercy of a quick death."
—A Clash of Kings - Sansa I
JOFFREY & THE HOUND
In Fire & Blood we meet a character named Ser Joffrey Doggett, also known as the Red Dog of the Hills. He was a knight from House Doggett, a noble house from the westerlands, vassals of House Lannister.
During the reign of Maegor I Targaryen, Ser Joffrey Doggett was a member of the Lannisport chapter of the Warrior's Sons, an order of Westerosi knights sworn to the Faith of the Seven.
Ser Joffrey Doggett’s family was burned by the fires of Balerion:
Then Maegor himself took wing, flying Balerion to the westerlands, where he burned the castles of the Broomes, the Falwells, the Lorches, and the other “pious lords” who had defied his summons. Lastly he descended upon the seat of House Doggett, reducing it to ash. The fires claimed the lives of Ser Joffrey’s father, mother, and young sister, along with their sworn swords, serving men, and chattel.
—Fire & Blood
The day of his coronation, Jaehaerys I Targaryen appointed Ser Joffrey Doggett a member of the Kingsguard:
“I rose against your uncle just as you did,” replied the Red Dog of the Hills, defiant.
“You did,” Jaehaerys allowed, “and you fought bravely, no man can deny. The Warrior’s Sons are no more and your vows to them are at an end, but your service need not be. I have a place for you.” And with these words, the young king shocked the court by offering Ser Joffrey a place by his side as a knight of the Kingsguard. A hush fell then, Grand Maester Benifer tells us, and when the Red Dog drew his longsword there were some who feared he might be about to attack the king with it…but instead the knight went to one knee, bowed his head, and laid his blade at Jaehaerys’s feet. It is said that there were tears upon his cheeks.
—Fire & Blood
Much later, Ser Joffrey Doggett flew with Queen Alysanne on her dragon Silverwing:
Even for a dragon, the flight from King’s Landing to Oldtown is a long one. The king and queen stopped twice along the way, once at Bitterbridge and once at Highgarden, resting overnight and taking counsel with their lords. The lords of the council had insisted that they take some protection at the very least. Ser Joffrey Doggett flew with Alysanne, and the Scarlet Shadow, Jonquil Darke, with Jaehaerys, so as to balance the weight each dragon carried.
—Fire & Blood
So here we have a character from the westernlands, vassal of the Lannisters, named Joffrey but also known as a red dog, whose family was burned by dragonfire and later became a member of the Kingsguard of Jaehaerys and also protected Queen Alysanne. Ser Joffrey Doggett sounds like a combination of Joffrey Lannister and his sworn sword and later Kingsguard Sandor Clegane, the Hound. Both characters closely connected with Sansa Stark.
This is not the first time that GRRM did something like this. In the tale “The Hedge Knight”, part of his book “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”, GRRM has surrounded the fair maid of the Ashford Tourney, a girl of 13 years old, with a lot of characters that remind us of Sansa’s suitors and other men somehow interested in her.
And this is not the only time that GRRM did it in Fire & Blood either. Queen Alysanne is surrounded by a lot of characters that remind us of ASOIAF characters that surround Sansa Stark.
APPEARANCE
Before Fire & Blood, GRRM gave us this description of Good Queen Alysanne Targaryen, as an old woman at the end of Jaehaerys I reign:
GOOD QUEEN ALYSANNE
Alysanne was the queen, consort, and sister of King Jaehaerys I, the Old King, and like him she lived a long life. Since you pictured him as an old man at the end of his reign, I figure it would be most appropriate to do her the same way, rather than as the young woman she was when Jaehaerys first ascended the Iron Throne.
You might consider Alysanne as the Eleanor of Aquitaine of Westeros, and model her on Katharine Hepburn's portrayal of Eleanor in the film THE LION IN WINTER. Tall and straight, unbowed by time, she had high cheekbones, clear blue eyes. Age left crow's feet around her eyes and laugh lines about her mouth, but her face never lost its strength. She was a fine archer and hunter in her youth, and loved to fly atop her dragon to all the distant parts of the realm. Alysanne was slim of waist and small of breast, with a long neck, a fair complexion, a high forehead. In old age her hair turned white as snow. She wore it in a bun, pulled back and pinned behind her hear.
Her relationship with King Jaehaerys was always very close. She was his most trusted counselor and his right hand, and often wore a slimmer, more feminine version of his crown at court. Beloved by the common people of Westeros, she loved them in return, and was renowned for her charities.
[Source]
Here is Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in the film THE LION IN WINTER:
Katharine Hepburn‘s was 1.72 m.
After Fire & Blood, GRRM gave us this description of Good Queen Alysanne Targaryen, as a girl of 13 years old:
Though she had only recently turned thirteen, the young princess rose to the challenge brilliantly, all agreed. For seven days and seven nights, she broke her fast with one group of highborn ladies, dined with a second, supped with a third. She showed them the wonders of the Red Keep, sailed with them on Blackwater Bay, and rode with them about the city.
Alysanne Targaryen, the youngest child of King Aenys and Queen Alyssa, had been little known amongst the lords and ladies of the realm before then. Her childhood had been spent in the shadow of her brothers and her elder sister, Rhaena, and when she was spoken of at all it was as “the little maid” and “the other daughter.” She was little, this was true; slim and slight of frame, Alysanne was oft described as pretty but seldom as beautiful, though she was born of a house renowned for beauty. Her eyes were blue rather than purple, her hair a mass of honey-colored curls. No man ever questioned her wits.
Later, it would be said of her that she learned to read before she was weaned, and the court fool would make japes about little Alysanne dribbling mother’s milk on Valyrian scrolls as she tried to read whilst suckling at her wet nurse’s teat. Had she been a boy she would surely have been sent to the Citadel to forge a maester’s chain, Septon Barth would say of her…
(...)
“My little flower,” was how the queen described her. Like Alysanne herself, Daella was small—on her toes, she stood five feet two inches—and there was a childish aspect to her that led everyone who met her to think she was younger than her age. Unlike Alysanne, she was delicate as well, in ways the queen had never been.
—Fire & Blood
5.2 feet = 1.58 m.
Queen Alysanne’s “semi canon” description matched with Sansa’s a lot. But, from the “semi canon” source to the canon source (Fire & Blood), Queen Alysanne changed from tall (1.72 m) to small (1.58 m). She kept two features that are very similar to Sansa though:
Not purple eyes but BLUE EYES
Not silver hair but HONEY-COLORED CURLS
And these two features are very close to the main features of House Tully: Blue Eyes and Auburn Hair.
You can google “honey colored hair” and see by yourselves that honey colored is closer to auburn than silver. There are also metas about the matter out there, you can check them out too.
There is not no mention of high cheekbones in Fire & Blood, but the illustrator of the book, Doug Wheatley, definitely gave Queen Alysanne high cheekbones and a very close resemble to Sophie Turner, the actress that played Sansa Stark in the Series:
This could be a coincidence of course. This is what GRRM has said about book illustrations while promoting Fire & Blood:
Q: You have a very distinct idea of what the characters look like in your own head, because readers will always take their own?
GRRM: I do have ideas of what the characters look like in my own head but I’m perfectly willing to let the artist do different interpretations… You know, let different artists present their different interpretations of it, I’m fine with that. It’s not photography, so I love the idea of, you know, letting people use their own creativity within limits of course, but I love some of the works, many of the works I’ve bought original is hanging on, you know, on my own walls so…
In conversation: George R. R. Martin with John Hodgman FULL EVENT
Drawing Queen Alysanne with a close resemble to Sophie Turner was within the limits, it seems.
I’m not saying Queen Alysanne and Sansa are identical twins, they don’t have to be, but they share significant physical features. They have differences as well, Alysanne is slim with small breast while Sansa is curvy with a big bosom.
Queen Alysanne and Sansa also share these traits:
Alysanne was a bright but unremarkable girl; small but never sickly, courteous, biddable, with a sweet smile and a pleasing voice. To the relief of her parents, she displayed none of the timidity that had afflicted her elder sister, Rhaena, as a small child. Neither did she exhibit the willful and stubborn temperament of Rhaena’s daughter Aerea.
—Fire & Blood
This Alysanne’s description matches almost bit by bit these Sansa’s descriptions (including the contrast between Alysanne/Aerea and Sansa/Arya):
It wasn't fair. Sansa had everything. Sansa was two years older; maybe by the time Arya had been born, there had been nothing left. Often it felt that way. Sansa could sew and dance and sing. She wrote poetry. She knew how to dress. She played the high harp and the bells. Worse, she was beautiful. Sansa had gotten their mother's fine high cheekbones and the thick auburn hair of the Tullys. Arya took after their lord father. Her hair was a lusterless brown, and her face was long and solemn. Jeyne used to call her Arya Horseface, and neigh whenever she came near. It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household. Sansa had never had much of a head for figures. If she did marry Prince Joff, Arya hoped for his sake that he had a good steward.
—A Game of Thrones - Arya I
"Sansa was a lady at three, always so courteous and eager to please. She loved nothing so well as tales of knightly valor. Men would say she had my look, but she will grow into a woman far more beautiful than I ever was, you can see that. I often sent away her maid so I could brush her hair myself. She had auburn hair, lighter than mine, and so thick and soft . . . the red in it would catch the light of the torches and shine like copper.
"And Arya, well . . . Ned's visitors would oft mistake her for a stableboy if they rode into the yard unannounced. Arya was a trial, it must be said. Half a boy and half a wolf pup. Forbid her anything and it became her heart's desire. She had Ned's long face, and brown hair that always looked as though a bird had been nesting in it. I despaired of ever making a lady of her. She collected scabs as other girls collect dolls, and would say anything that came into her head. I think she must be dead too." When she said that, it felt as though a giant hand were squeezing her chest.
—A Clash of Kings - Catelyn VII
Tyrion let them have their byplay; it was all for his benefit, he knew. Sansa Stark, he mused. Soft-spoken sweet-smelling Sansa, who loved silks, songs, chivalry and tall gallant knights with handsome faces. He felt as though he was back on the bridge of boats, the deck shifting beneath his feet.
—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion III
So the singer played for her, so soft and sad that Arya only heard snatches of the words, though the tune was half-familiar. Sansa would know it, I bet. Her sister had known all the songs, and she could even play a little, and sing so sweetly. All I could ever do was shout the words.
—A Storm of Swords - Arya IV
INTELLIGENCE
Fire & Blood remarks Alysanne’s intelligence a lot, she was an avid reader and she could have been a Maester of the Citadel:
No man ever questioned her wits.
Later, it would be said of her that she learned to read before she was weaned, and the court fool would make japes about little Alysanne dribbling mother’s milk on Valyrian scrolls as she tried to read whilst suckling at her wet nurse’s teat. Had she been a boy she would surely have been sent to the Citadel to forge a maester’s chain, Septon Barth would say of her…for that wise man esteemed her even more than her husband, whom he served for so long. That was far in the future, however; in 49 AC, Alysanne was but a girl of thirteen years, yet all the chronicles agree that she made a powerful impression on those who met her.
(...)
It is written that the young king and queen were seldom apart during that time, sharing every meal, talking late into the night of the green days of their childhood and the challenges ahead, fishing and hawking together, mingling with the island’s smallfolk in dockside inns, reading to one another from dusty leatherbound tomes they found in the castle library, taking lessons together from Dragonstone’s maesters (“for we still have much to learn,” Alysanne is said to have reminded her husband).
(...)
“If I had not become queen, I might have liked to be a maester,” she told the Conclave. “I read, I write, I think, I am not afraid of ravens…or a bit of blood. There are other highborn girls who feel the same. Why not admit them to your Citadel? If they cannot keep up, send them home, the way you send home boys who are not clever enough. If you would give the girls a chance, you might be surprised by how many forge a chain.”
(...)
For three days she lost herself in the Citadel’s great library, emerging only to attend lectures on the Valyrian dragon wars, leechcraft, and the gods of the Summer Isles.
(...)
Once the initial frost had thawed, his lordship took the queen hunting after elk and wild boar in the wolfswood, showed her the bones of a giant, and allowed her to rummage as she pleased through his modest castle library.
—Fire & Blood
Sansa shares Alysanne’s love for reading:
The queen took Sansa's hand in both of hers. "Child, do you know your lettersSansa nodded nervously. She could read and write better than any of her brothers, although she was hopeless at sums.
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa IV
Jeyne Poole and all her things were gone when Ser Mandon Moore returned Sansa to the high tower of Maegor's Holdfast. No more weeping, she thought gratefully. Yet somehow it seemed colder with Jeyne gone, even after she'd built a fire. She pulled a chair close to the hearth, took down one of her favorite books, and lost herself in the stories of Florian and Jonquil, of Lady Shella and the Rainbow Knight, of valiant Prince Aemon and his doomed love for his brother's queen.
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa IV
“Do you read well, Alayne?"
"Septa Mordane was good enough to say so."
—A Storm of Swords - Sansa VI
Here is Arya listing all of Sansa’s artistic talents:
It wasn't fair. Sansa had everything. Sansa was two years older; maybe by the time Arya had been born, there had been nothing left. Often it felt that way. Sansa could sew and dance and sing. She wrote poetry. She knew how to dress. She played the high harp and the bells. Worse, she was beautiful. Sansa had gotten their mother's fine high cheekbones and the thick auburn hair of the Tullys. Arya took after their lord father. Her hair was a lusterless brown, and her face was long and solemn. Jeyne used to call her Arya Horseface, and neigh whenever she came near. It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household. Sansa had never had much of a head for figures. If she did marry Prince Joff, Arya hoped for his sake that he had a good steward.
—A Game of Thrones - Arya I
Arya is also here to tell us that Sansa is good at Heraldry:
No one ransomed the northmen, though. One fat lordling haunted the kitchens, Hot Pie told her, always looking for a morsel. His mustache was so bushy that it covered his mouth, and the clasp that held his cloak was a silver-and-sapphire trident. He belonged to Lord Tywin, but the fierce, bearded young man who liked to walk the battlements alone in a black cloak patterned with white suns had been taken by some hedge knight who meant to get rich off him. Sansa would have known who he was, and the fat one too, but Arya had never taken much interest in titles and sigils. Whenever Septa Mordane had gone on about the history of this house and that house, she was inclined to drift and dream and wonder when the lesson would be done.
—A Clash of Kings - Arya VII
Sansa understands songs sung in High Valyrian:
"I'm sore all over," Arya reported happily, proudly displaying a huge purple bruise on her leg.
"You must be a terrible dancer," Sansa said doubtfully.
Later, while Sansa was off listening to a troupe of singers perform the complex round of interwoven ballads called the "Dance of the Dragons," Ned inspected the bruise himself. "I hope Forel is not being too hard on you," he said.
—A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII
Then the heralds summoned another singer; Collio Quaynis of Tyrosh, who had a vermilion beard and an accent as ludicrous as Symon had promised. Collio began with his version of "The Dance of the Dragons," which was more properly a song for two singers, male and female. Tyrion suffered through it with a double helping of honey-ginger partridge and several cups of wine. A haunting ballad of two dying lovers amidst the Doom of Valyria might have pleased the hall more if Collio had not sung it in High Valyrian, which most of the guests could not speak.
—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion VIII
If the Eyrie had been made like other castles, only rats and gaolers would have heard the dead man singing. Dungeon walls were thick enough to swallow songs and screams alike. But the sky cells had a wall of empty air, so every chord the dead man played flew free to echo off the stony shoulders of the Giant's Lance. And the songs he chose . . . He sang of the Dance of the Dragons, of fair Jonquil and her fool, of Jenny of Oldstones and the Prince of Dragonflies. He sang of betrayals, and murders most foul, of hanged men and bloody vengeance. He sang of grief and sadness.
—A Feast for Crows - Sansa I
But, apparently, Sansa is bad with numbers...
It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household. Sansa had never had much of a head for figures. If she did marry Prince Joff, Arya hoped for his sake that he had a good steward.
—A Game of Thrones - Arya I
She could read and write better than any of her brothers, although she was hopeless at sums.
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa IV
Something changed then, because Alayne Stone is doing pretty well as de facto Lady of the Eyrie...
I can continue but this would be too long, so it’s better if I leave you this great post about Sansa’s intelligence: Sansa Smart
And here is GRRM himself talking about Sansa’s wits:
Up to now Sansa has been a piece, that other people have moved around the board, to achieve her own goals, using her, discarding her, using her for a different purpose: You know, you’re going to marry Joffrey. No, you’re going to marry Loras. You’re going to marry Tyrion. She is beginning to at least try to understand how she can play the Game of Thrones and be not a piece, but a player. With her own goals, and moving other pieces around. And she’s not a warrior like Robb, Jon Snow. She’s not even a wild child like Arya. She can’t fight with swords, axes. She can’t raise armies. But she has her wits! Same as Littlefinger has.
—Game of Thrones Season 4: Episode #8 - A Different Purpose (HBO)
UNDERDOGS
Queen Alysanne Targaryen and Sansa Stark are two examples of “underdogs”:
No one paid attention to Alysanne until she was a maid of thirteen and was left in charge to entertain and charm lords and ladies at court. She grew up in the shadow of her older siblings, she was never expected to be Queen:
Alysanne Targaryen, the youngest child of King Aenys and Queen Alyssa, had been little known amongst the lords and ladies of the realm before then. Her childhood had been spent in the shadow of her brothers and her elder sister, Rhaena, and when she was spoken of at all it was as “the little maid” and “the other daughter.”
(...)
We know very little about the childhood of Alysanne Targaryen; as the fifthborn child of King Aenys and Queen Alyssa, and a female, observers at court found her of less interest than her older siblings who stood higher in the line of succession. From what little has come down to us, Alysanne was a bright but unremarkable girl; small but never sickly, courteous, biddable, with a sweet smile and a pleasing voice. To the relief of her parents, she displayed none of the timidity that had afflicted her elder sister, Rhaena, as a small child. Neither did she exhibit the willful and stubborn temperament of Rhaena’s daughter Aerea.
—Fire & Blood
The same way as Alysanne was described as “unremarkable”, Sansa Stark is often described as “stupid”:
That gorget wasn't fastened proper. You think Gregor didn't notice that? You think Ser Gregor's lance rode up by chance, do you? Pretty little talking girl, you believe that, you're empty-headed as a bird for true.
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa II
"Your Grace," he said sharply. "You truly are a stupid girl, aren't you? My mother says so."
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI
. . . ah, you're still a stupid little bird, aren't you? Singing all the songs they taught you . . .
—A Clash of Kings - Sansa II
"Everyone wants to be loved." "I see flowering hasn't made you any brighter," said Cersei.
—A Clash of Kings - Sansa IV
"He will," Sansa lied. "He is very . . . very comely."
"You said that. You know, child, some say that you are as big a fool as Butterbumps here, and I am starting to believe them.
—A Storm of Swords - Sansa I
"Her heart was broken."
Sansa would have sighed and shed a tear for true love, but Arya just thought it was stupid. She couldn't say that to Ned, though, not about his own aunt. "Did someone break it?"
—A Storm of Swords - Arya VIII
"I forgot, you've been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head."
That's stupid, Arya thought. Sansa only knows songs, not spells, and she'd never marry the Imp.
—A Storm of Swords - Arya XIII
"NO!" Lysa gave Sansa's head another wrench. Snow eddied around them, making their skirts snap noisily. "You can't want her. You can't. She's a stupid empty-headed little girl.
—A Storm of Swords - Sansa VII
"Some books. I like the fighting stories. My sister Sansa likes the kissing stories, but those are stupid."
—A Dance with Dragons - Bran III
Sansa as Alysanne was not “remarkable” among her siblings, who often called her stupid, specially Bran and Arya, and was never expected to be the Heir of Winterfell or the Stark at Winterfell. She is the underdog...
... And GRRM just loves underdogs:
Chris Long: Do you watch sports through that lens (characters developed all the time, unsung heroes/archnemesis of everybody/misunderstood as villains/some heroes are villains in disguise), with your writing background, and your penchant for creating characters, do you look at the characters in sports?
GRRM: I do. You know, I think America loves the underdog, and we don’t like, except if it happens to be your dynasty, we tend not to like dynasties, you know?
—George RR Martin in The Fish Bowl with Chris Long
WEDDED BUT NOT BEDDED
Alysanne and Sansa flowered and wedded at a similar age. But both remained maidens:
The princess was three-and-ten years of age, and had recently celebrated her first flowering, so it was thought desirable to see her wed as soon as possible.
(...)
A modest feast followed the ceremony, and many toasts were drunk to the health of the boy king and his new queen. Afterward Jaehaerys and Alysanne retired to the bedchamber where Aegon the Conqueror had once slept beside his sister Rhaenys, but in view of the bride’s youth there was no bedding ceremony, and the marriage was not consummated.
—Fire & Blood
“How old are you, Sansa?” asked Tyrion, after a moment.
“Thirteen,” she said, “when the moon turns.”
—A Storm of Swords - Sansa III
“She is old enough to be Lady of Winterfell once her brother is dead. Claim her maidenhood and you will be one step closer to claiming the north. Get her with child, and the prize is all but won. Do I need to remind you that a marriage that has not been consummated can be set aside?”
—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion IV
Also Alysanne’s determination to marry his King brother Jaehaerys against her own mother's wishes, sounds pretty much like Sansa's stubbornness to marry Joffrey against Ned's orders.
Sansa, in an act of defiance, ran to Cersei and tells her of her father's plans, pleading that she might be allowed to stay and marry Joffrey.
"How well I know that, child," Cersei said, her voice so kind and sweet. "Why else should you have come to me and told me of your father's plan to send you away from us, if not for love?"
"It was for love," Sansa said in a rush. "Father wouldn't even give me leave to say farewell." She was the good girl, the obedient girl, but she had felt as wicked as Arya that morning, sneaking away from Septa Mordane, defying her lord father. She had never done anything so willful before, and she would never have done it then if she hadn't loved Joffrey as much as she did. "He was going to take me back to Winterfell and marry me to some hedge knight, even though it was Joff I wanted. I told him, but he wouldn't listen." The king had been her last hope. The king could command Father to let her stay in King's Landing and marry Prince Joffrey, Sansa knew he could, but the king had always frightened her. He was loud and rough-voiced and drunk as often as not, and he would probably have just sent her back to Lord Eddard, if they even let her see him. So she went to the queen instead, and poured out her heart, and Cersei had listened and thanked her sweetly … only then Ser Arys had escorted her to the high room in Maegor's Holdfast and posted guards, and a few hours later, the fighting had begun outside. "Please," she finished, "you have to let me marry Joffrey, I'll be ever so good a wife to him, you'll see. I'll be a queen just like you, I promise."
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa IV
Alysanne ran to Jaehaerys himself and they both elope to Dragonstone:
No record survives of what Alysanne Targaryen said or thought when first she learned that she was to be wed to a youth ten years her senior, whom she scarcely knew and (if rumor can be believed) did not like. We know only what she did. Another girl might have wept or raged or run pleading to her mother. In many a sad song, maidens forced to wed against their will throw themselves from tall towers to their deaths. Princess Alysanne did none of these things. Instead she went directly to Jaehaerys.
The young king was as displeased as his sister at the news. “They will be making wedding plans for me as well, I do not doubt,” he deduced at once. Like his sister, Jaehaerys did not waste time with reproaches, recriminations, or appeals. Instead he acted. Summoning his Kingsguard, he instructed them to sail at once for Dragonstone, where he would meet them shortly. “You have sworn me your swords and your obedience,” he reminded his Seven. “Remember those vows, and speak no word of my departure.”
That night, under cover of darkness, King Jaehaerys and Princess Alysanne mounted their dragons, Vermithor and Silverwing, and departed the Red Keep for the ancient Targaryen citadel below the Dragonmont. Reportedly the first words the young king spoke upon landing were, “I have need of a septon.”
—Fire & Blood
Curiously enough Alysanne’s first betrothed was Orryn Baratheon, just like Sansa’s first betrothed was Joffrey Baratheon.
LIKE IN THE SONGS
Alysanne and Jaehaerys eloping and first wedding had all the element’s of a fairy tale, like the songs Sansa loves to read:
The Kingsguards as witnesses
The Kingsguard arrived from King’s Landing by galley a few days later. The following morning, as the sun rose, Jaehaerys Targaryen, the First of His Name, took to wife his sister Alysanne in the great yard at Dragonstone, before the eyes of gods and men and dragons. Septon Oswyck performed the marriage rites; though the old man’s voice was thin and tremulous, no part of the ceremony was neglected. The seven knights of the Kingsguard stood witness to the union, their white cloaks snapping in the wind.
—Fire & Blood
The Kingsguards fighting against the men that tried to separate the couple
From that day to this, the tale has been a favorite of lovesick maidens and their squires throughout the Seven Kingdoms, and many a bard has sung of the valor of the Kingsguard, seven men in white cloaks who faced down half a hundred.
—Fire & Blood
This eloping, secret wedding and the Kingsguars involvement reminds me a lot of Lyanna’s “abduction” by Rhaegar and the Kingsguards “protecting” Lyanna in the Tower of Joy...
A romance unequaled since the days of Florian and Jonquil
“That is how the singers tell the tale, certainly; the swift and sudden marriage of Jaehaerys and Alysanne was a romance unequaled since the days of Florian the Fool and his Jonquil, to hear them sing of it. And in songs, as ever, love conquers all. ”
—Fire & Blood
Florian and Jonquil love story is Sansa’s favorite.
We are one now, and neither gods nor men shall part us
“As you command, Mother.” King Jaehaerys pulled his sister closer and put his arm around her. “But do not think that you shall unmake this marriage. We are one now, and neither gods nor men shall part us.” “Never,” his bride affirmed. “Send me to the ends of the earth and wed me to the King of Mossovy or the Lord of the Grey Waste, Silverwing will always bring me back to Jaehaerys.” And with that she raised herself onto her toes and lifted her face to the king, and he kissed her full upon the lips whilst all looked on.”
—Fire & Blood
An endless honeymoon
“It is written that the young king and queen were seldom apart during that time, sharing every meal, talking late into the night of the green days of their childhood and the challenges ahead, fishing and hawking together, mingling with the island’s smallfolk in dockside inns, reading to one another from dusty leatherbound tomes they found in the castle library, taking lessons together from Dragonstone’s maesters (“for we still have much to learn,” Alysanne is said to have reminded her husband), praying beside Septon Oswyck. They flew together as well, all around the Dragonmont and oft as far as Driftmark.”
—Fire & Blood
A maid observing her love while training
Every morning Jaehaerys trained with them in the castle yard, shouting at them to come at him harder, to press him, harry him, and attack him in every way they knew. From sunrise till noon he worked with them, honing his skills with sword and spear and mace and axe whilst his new queen looked on.”
(…)
“Jaehaerys was oft brusied and bloody by evening, to Alysanne’s distress, but his prowess improved so markedly”
—Fire & Blood
Jaehaerys training with more than one man at the same time reminds me of Garlan Tyrell and Jon Snow because they do the same:
On the edge of the yard, a lone knight with a pair of golden roses on his shield was holding off three foes. Even as they watched, he caught one of them alongside the head, knocking him senseless. "Is that your brother?" Sansa asked.
"It is, my lady," said Ser Loras. "Garlan often trains against three men, or even four. In battle it is seldom one against one, he says, so he likes to be prepared."
"He must be very brave."
"He is a great knight," Ser Loras replied. "A better sword than me, in truth, though I'm the better lance."
—A Storm of Swords - Sansa I
Jon swelled with pride. "Robb is a stronger lance than I am, but I'm the better sword, and Hullen says I sit a horse as well as anyone in the castle."
—A Game of Thrones - Jon I
“When Iron Emmett spied him, he raised a hand and combat ceased. “Lord Commander. How may we serve you?”
“With your three best.”
Emmett grinned. “Arron. Emrick. Jace.” . . .
“Which one do you want first?” asked Arron.
“All three of you. At once.”
“Three on one?” Jace was incredulous. “That wouldn’t be fair.” He was one of Conwy’s latest bunch, a cobbler’s son from Fair Isle. Maybe that explained it.
“True. Come here.”
When he did, Jon’s blade slammed him alongside his head, knocking him off his feet. In the blink of an eye the boy had a boot on his chest and a swordpoint at his throat. “War is never fair,” Jon told him. “It’s two on one now, and you’re dead.”
—A Dance with Dragons - Jon VI
An Idyll
“Queen Alysanne, for her part, was in no haste to return to court. “Here I have you to myself, day and night,” she told Jaehaerys. “When we go back, I shall be fortunate to snatch an hour with you, for every man in Westeros will want a piece of you.” For her, these days on Dragonstone were an idyll. “Many years from now when we are old and grey, we shall look back upon these days and smile, remembering how happy we were.”
—Fire & Blood
Sansa Stark is sighing somewhere...
QUEENS
I found this very interesting detail in Fire & Blood: The Three Queens
In 50 AC, the realm of Westeros found itself blessed with one king, a Hand, and three queens, as in King Maegor’s day…but whereas Maegor’s queens had been consorts, subservient to his will, living and dying at his whim, each of the queens of the half-century was a power in her own right.
In the Red Keep of King’s Landing sat the Queen Regent Alyssa, widow of the late King Aenys, mother to his son Jaehaerys, and wife to the King’s Hand, Rogar Baratheon. Just across Blackwater Bay on Dragonstone, a younger queen had arisen when Alyssa’s daughter Alysanne, a maid of thirteen years, had pledged her troth to her brother King Jaehaerys, against the wishes of her mother and her mother’s lord husband. And far to the west on Fair Isle, with the whole width of Westeros separating her from both mother and sister, was Alyssa’s eldest daughter, the dragonrider Rhaena Targaryen, widow of Prince Aegon the Uncrowned. In the westerlands, riverlands, and parts of the Reach, men were already calling her the Queen in the West.
—Fire & Blood
This passage obviously makes me think in The Three Queens mentioned by Littlefinger in a conversation with Sansa in A Feast for Crows:
“You would not believe half of what is happening in King’s Landing, sweetling. Cersei stumbles from one idiocy to the next, helped along by her council of the deaf, the dim, and the blind. I always anticipated that she would beggar the realm and destroy herself, but I never expected she would do it quite so fast. It is quite vexing. I had hoped to have four or five quiet years to plant some seeds and allow some fruits to ripen, but now … it is a good thing that I thrive on chaos. What little peace and order the five kings left us will not long survive the three queens, I fear.”
“Three queens?” She did not understand.
Nor did Petyr choose to explain. Instead, he smiled and said, “I have brought my sweet girl back a gift.”
—A Feast for Crows - Alayne II
Thanks to this passage of Fire & Blood about The Three Queens:
Queen Alyssa, Queen Regent, widow of Aenys
Queen Alysanne, Queen Consort, wife of Jaehaerys (but still a maid)
Queen Rhaena, widow of Prince Aegon the Uncrowned (& Maegor)
We can make the following association with these three ASOIAF characters in a similar position:
Alyssa/Cersei = Regents & Widows
Alysanne/Sansa = Wedded but No Bedded
Rhaena/Margaery = Twice Widows of Aegon/Maegor & Renly/Joffrey
But Fire & Blood has a little surprise in a footnote:
Footnote:
*1.- It should be noted, lest we be charged with omission, that there was a fourth queen in Westeros in 50 AC. The twice-widowed Queen Elinor of House Costayne, who had found King Maegor dead upon the Iron Throne, had departed King’s Landing after Jaehaerys’s ascent. Dressed in the robes of a penitent and accompanied only by a handmaid and one leal man-at-arms, she made her way to the Eyrie in the Vale of Arryn to visit the eldest of her three sons by Ser Theo Bolling, and thence to Highgarden in the Reach, where her second son had been fostered to Lord Tyrell. Once satisfied of their well-being, the former queen reclaimed her youngest boy and repaired to her father’s seat at Three Towers in the Reach, where she declared she would live quietly for the remainder of her life. Fate, and King Jaehaerys, had other plans for her, as we shall relate later. Suffice it to say that Queen Elinor played no role in the events of 50 AC.
—Fire & Blood
The fourth queen was Elinor Costayne, widow, mother of three living sons and one stillborn of Maegor.
So we can make this final association:
Alyssa/Cersei = Regents & Widows
Alysanne/Sansa = Wedded but Not Bedded
Rhaena/Margaery = Twice Widows of Aegon/Maegor & Renly/Joffrey
Elinor/Daenerys = Widows, Mothers of three living sons: 3 Bolling sons/Drogo-Rhaegal-Viseryon & one twisted and malformed stillborn (unnamed/Rhaego)
Take note how Alysanne is described as “a younger queen” and “maid of thirteen”, because this could be a hint that Sansa Stark is the younger and more beautiful queen of Maggy The Frog prophecy.
FLORIAN & JONQUIL
Sansa Stark’s favorite love story is the Tale of Florian and Jonquil, and Alysanne Targaryen is heavily associate with that story as well.
As mentioned earlier, Alysanne’s own love story is compared to Florian and Jonquil:
“That is how the singers tell the tale, certainly; the swift and sudden marriage of Jaehaerys and Alysanne was a romance unequaled since the days of Florian the Fool and his Jonquil, to hear them sing of it. And in songs, as ever, love conquers all. ”
—Fire & Blood
The Maidenpool incident
Alysanne suffered an attempt of murder perpetuated by three women at Maidenpool:
The town of Maidenpool was far famed for the sweetwater pool where legend had it that Florian the Fool had first glimpsed Jonquil bathing during the Age of Heroes. Like thousands of other women before her, Queen Alysanne wished to bathe in Jonquil’s pool, whose waters were said to have amazing healing properties. The lords of Maidenpool had erected a great stone bathhouse around the pool many centuries before, and given it over to an order of holy sisters. No men were allowed to enter the premises, so when the queen slipped into the sacred waters, she was attended only by her ladies-in-waiting, maids, and septas (Edyth and Lyra, who had served beside Septa Ysabel as novices, had both recently sworn their vows to become septas, consecrated in the Faith and devoted to the queen).
The goodness of the little queen, the silence of the Starry Sept, and the exhortations of the Seven Speakers had won over most of the Faithful for Jaehaerys and his Alysanne…but there are always some who will not be moved, and amongst the sisters who tended Jonquil’s Pool were three such women, whose hearts were hard with hate. They told one another that their holy waters would be polluted forever were the queen allowed to bathe in them whilst carrying the king’s “abomination” in her belly. Queen Alysanne had only slipped out of her clothing when they fell upon her with daggers they had concealed within their robes.
Blessedly, the attackers were no warriors, and they had not taken the courage of the queen’s companions into account. Naked and vulnerable, the Wise Women did not hesitate, but stepped between the attackers and their lady. Septa Edyth was slashed across the face, Prudence Celtigar stabbed through the shoulder, whilst Rosamund Ball took a dagger in the belly that, three days later, proved to be the death of her, but none of the murderous blades touched the queen. The shouts and screams of the struggle brought Alysanne’s protectors running, for Ser Joffrey Doggett and Ser Gyles Morrigen had been guarding the entrance to the bathhouse, never dreaming that the danger lurked within.
The Kingsguard made short work of the attackers, slaying two out of hand whilst keeping the third alive for questioning. When encouraged, she revealed that half a dozen others of their order had helped plan the attack, whilst lacking the courage to wield a blade. Lord Mooton hanged the guilty, and might have hanged the innocent as well, save for Queen Alysanne’s intervention.
—Fire & Blood
I find this incident a metaphor of that famous Littlefinger line: "Life is not a song, sweetling. You may learn that one day to your sorrow." Maidenpool was a place where a great love story occurred but for Alysanne was also the place where other women tried to murder her. She was pregnant of her first child during the attack and later she gave birth a premature baby, Aegon. He died three days after birth. Alysanne blamed her son’s death on the women who attacked her at Maidenpool. Had she been allowed to bathe in the healing waters of Jonquil’s Pool, she would say, Prince Aegon would have lived.
The same ‘disillusionment’ happened when Jaime and Brienne arrived at Maidenpool in ASOIAF and found the pool full of corpses:
At Maidenpool, Lord Mooton's red salmon still flew above the castle on its hill, but the town walls were deserted, the gates smashed, half the homes and shops burned or plundered. They saw nothing living but a few feral dogs that went slinking away at the sound of their approach. The pool from which the town took its name, where legend said that Florian the Fool had first glimpsed Jonquil bathing with her sisters, was so choked with rotting corpses that the water had turned into a murky grey-green soup.
Jaime took one look and burst into song. "Six maids there were in a spring-fed pool . . ."
—A Storm of Swords - Jaime III
But this awful incident was the cause for Alysanne to take a female knight to protect her. A knight with a very singular name: Jonquil Darke.
FEMALE KNIGHT
Jonquil Darke
With hundreds of knights eager to compete for the honor of serving in the Kingsguard, the combats lasted seven full days. Several of the more colorful competitors became favorites of the smallfolk, who cheered them raucously each time they fought. One such was the Drunken Knight, Ser Willam Stafford, a short, stout, big-bellied man who always appeared so intoxicated that it was a wonder he could stand, let alone fight. The commons named him “the Keg o’ Ale,” and sang “Hail, Hail, Keg o’ Ale” whenever he took the field. Another favorite of the commons was the Bard of Flea Bottom, Tom the Strummer, who mocked his foes with ribald songs before each bout. The slender mystery knight known only as the Serpent in Scarlet also had a great following; when finally defeated and unmasked, “he” proved to be a woman, Jonquil Darke, a bastard daughter of the Lord of Duskendale.
In the end, none of these would earn a white cloak.
—Fire & Blood
Jonquil reminds me a lot of Brienne of Tarth, the True Knight of ASOIAF. Both female knights that competed for a place in the Kingsguard. Jonquil didn’t make it, but Brienne got a place in Renly’s Rainbow Guard.
After the Maidenpool incident, Alysanne chose Jonquil Darke to be her sworn shield:
“I need a protector of mine own,” she told His Grace. “Your Seven are leal men and valiant, but they are men, and there are places men cannot go.” The king could not disagree. A raven flew to Duskendale that very night, commanding the new Lord Darklyn to send to court his bastard half-sister, Jonquil Darke, who had thrilled the smallfolk during the War for the White Cloaks as the mystery knight known as the Serpent in Scarlet. Still in scarlet, she arrived at King’s Landing a few days later, and gladly accepted appointment as the queen’s own sworn shield. In time, she would be known about the realm as the Scarlet Shadow, so closely did she guard her lady.
—Fire & Blood
At this point in ASOIAF, Briene of Tarth is in a quest to find Sansa Stark to fulfill the promises that Jaime Lannister and her did to Catelyn Stark:
“Hear me out, Brienne. Both of us swore oaths concerning Sansa Stark. Cersei means to see that the girl is found and killed, wherever she has gone to ground . . .”
Brienne’s homely face twisted in fury. “If you believe that I would harm my lady’s daughter for a sword, you—”
“Just listen,” he snapped, angered by her assumption. “I want you to find Sansa first, and get her somewhere safe. How else are the two of us going to make good our stupid vows to your precious dead Lady Catelyn?”
The wench blinked. “I . . . I thought . . .”
“I know what you thought.” Suddenly Jaime was sick of the sight of her. She bleats like a bloody sheep. “When Ned Stark died, his greatsword was given to the King’s Justice,” he told her. “But my father felt that such a fine blade was wasted on a mere headsman. He gave Ser Ilyn a new sword, and had Ice melted down and reforged. There was enough metal for two new blades. You’re holding one. So you’ll be defending Ned Stark’s daughter with Ned Stark’s own steel, if that makes any difference to you.”
“Ser, I . . . I owe you an apolo . . .”
He cut her off. “Take the bloody sword and go, before I change my mind. There’s a bay mare in the stables, as homely as you are but somewhat better trained. Chase after Steelshanks, search for Sansa, or ride home to your isle of sapphires, it’s naught to me. I don’t want to look at you anymore.”
“Jaime . . .”
“Kingslayer,” he reminded her. “Best use that sword to clean the wax out of your ears, wench. We’re done.”
Stubbornly, she persisted. “Joffrey was your . . .”
“My king. Leave it at that.”
“You say Sansa killed him. Why protect her?”
Because Joff was no more to me than a squirt of seed in Cersei’s cunt. And because he deserved to die. “I have made kings and unmade them. Sansa Stark is my last chance for honor.” Jaime smiled thinly. “Besides, kingslayers should band together. Are you ever going to go?”
Her big hand wrapped tight around Oathkeeper. “I will. And I will find the girl and keep her safe. For her lady mother’s sake. And for yours.” She bowed stiffly, whirled, and went.
—A Storm of Swords - Jaime IX
See? Jonquil Darke was Alysanne’s sworn shield as Brienne of Tarh is Sansa’s sworn sword. A sword made of Ice, literally.
Later, when Alysanne visited the North for the first time, she met another “female knight”, a wildling girl:
Manderly also staged a small tourney in the queen’s honor, to show the prowess of his knights. One of the fighters (though no knight) was revealed to be a woman, a wildling girl who had been captured by rangers north of the Wall and given to one of Lord Manderly’s household knights to foster. Delighted by the girl’s daring, Alysanne summoned her own sworn shield, Jonquil Darke, and the wildling and the Scarlet Shadow dueled spear against sword whilst the northmen roared in approval.
—Fire & Blood
It would be no surprise if Sansa meets another female knight or warrior during her return to the North, a wildling spearwife, or a Mormont woman, or her wild faceless assassin sister Arya Stark.
To finish with Jonquil Darke, take note that her name and surname are also references to Dontos Hollard, another character that acted as Sansa’s knight. Sansa called Dontos “Her Florian” and House Hollard was once sworn to House Darklyn of Duskendale, that are related to House Darke.
Also take a look at this color refrences:
Jonquil Darke was also known as the Serpent in Scarlet and the Scarlet Shadow.
Ser Joffrey Doggett was also known as the Red Dog of the Hills.
Ser Dontos Hollard was also called Dontos the Red.
Only Brienne of Tarth breaks this pattern, because she was called Brienne the Blue, during his days as member of Renly’s Rainbow Guard. Wanna know who was the Red in Renly’s Rainbow Guard? It was Ser Robar Royce, son of Yhon Bronze Royce and brother of Waymar Royce, Sansa’s first crush.
But my point with all this Red/Scarlet colored references is that red is a color hugely associated with Sansa Stark, because of the red of her hair and the red of the weirwood tree.
THE VISENYA AND THE RHAENYS
During a discussion between King Jaehaerys I and his older sister Rhaena, these words were exchanged:
“And Silverwing?” asked Rhaena. “Our sister—”
“—had no part in this. I will not put her at risk.”
The Queen in the East smiled then. “She is Rhaenys, and I am Visenya. I have never thought otherwise.”
—Fire & Blood
Rhaena compared Jaehaerys with Aegon the Conqueror, herself with Queen Visenya and Alysanne with Queen Rhaenys.
This is part of a dichotomy that GRRM work with a lot: the Lady Woman Vs the Warrior Woman. A pattern that started with the Stark Sisters, and is replicated a lot in Fire & Blood with several Targaryen Sisters. Here some examples:
Visenya and Rhaenys
Rhaena and Alysanne
Aerea and Rhaella
Baela and Rhaena
Rhaena was not exactly like Visenya and Alysanne was not exactly Rhaenys, but Rhaenys and Alysanne certainly shared a lot of similarities:
Rhaenys
Rhaenys, youngest of the three Targaryens, was all her sister [Visenya] was not, playful, curious, impulsive, given to flights of fancy. No true warrior, Rhaenys loved music, dancing, and poetry, and supported many a singer, mummer, and puppeteer. Yet it was said that Rhaenys spent more time on dragonback than her brother and sister combined, for above all things she loved to fly. She once was heard to say that before she died she meant to fly Meraxes across the Sunset Sea to see what lay upon its western shores.”
(...)
Queen Rhaenys was a great patron to the bards and singers of the Seven Kingdoms, showering gold and gifts on those who pleased her. Though Queen Visenya thought her sister frivolous, there was a wisdom in this that went beyond a simple love of music. For the singers of the realm, in their eagerness to win the favor of the queen, composed many a song in praise of House Targaryen and King Aegon, and then went forth and sang those songs in every keep and castle and village green from the Dornish Marches to the Wall. Thus was the Conquest made glorious to the simple people, whilst Aegon the Dragon himself became a hero king.
Queen Rhaenys also took a great interest in the smallfolk, and had a special love for women and children. Once, when she was holding court in the Aegonfort, a man was brought before her for beating his wife to death. The woman’s brothers wanted him punished, but the husband argued that he was within his lawful rights, since he had found his wife abed with another man. The right of a husband to chastise an erring wife was well established throughout the Seven Kingdoms (save in Dorne). The husband further pointed out that the rod he had used to beat his wife was no thicker than his thumb, and even produced the rod in evidence. When the queen asked him how many times he had struck his wife, however, the husband could not answer, but the dead woman’s brothers insisted there had been a hundred blows.
Queen Rhaenys consulted with her maesters and septons, then rendered her decision. An adulterous wife gave offense to the Seven, who had created women to be faithful and obedient to their husbands, and therefore must be chastised. As god has but seven faces, however, the punishment should consist of only six blows (for the seventh blow would be for the Stranger, and the Stranger is the face of death). Thus the first six blows the man had struck had been lawful…but the remaining ninety-four had been an offense against gods and men, and must be punished in kind. From that day forth, the “rule of six” became a part of the common law, along with the “rule of thumb.” (The husband was taken to the foot of the Hill of Rhaenys, where he was given ninety-four blows by the dead woman’s brothers, using rods of lawful size.)
—Fire & Blood
Alysanne
Queen Alysanne looked back on the short-lived glories of her father’s court fondly, however, and made it her purpose to make the Red Keep glitter as it never had before, buying tapestries and carpets from Free Cities and commissioning murals, statuary, and tilework to decorate the castle’s halls and chambers. At her command, men from the City Watch combed Flea Bottom until they found Tom the Strummer, whose mocking songs had amused king and commons alike during the War for the White Cloaks. Alysanne made him the court singer, the first of many who would hold that office in the decades to come. She brought in a harpist from Oldtown, a company of mummers from Braavos, dancers from Lys, and gave the Red Keep its first fool, a fat man called the Goodwife who dressed as a woman and was never seen without his wooden “children,” a pair of cleverly carved puppets who said ribald, shocking things.
(...)
The king’s first progress was meant to be a modest one, commencing with the crownlands north of King’s Landing and proceeding only as far as the Vale of Arryn. Jaehaerys wanted Alysanne with him, but as Her Grace was with child, he was concerned that their journeys not be too taxing. They began with Stokeworth and Rosby, then moved north along the coast to Duskendale. There, whilst the king viewed Lord Darklyn’s boatyards and enjoyed an afternoon of fishing, the queen held the first of her women’s courts, which were to become an important part of every royal progress to come. Only women and girls were welcome at these audiences; highborn or low, they were encouraged to come forward and share their fears, concerns, and hopes with the young queen.
(...)
Men oft speak today of Queen Alysanne’s laws, but this usage is sloppy and incorrect. Her Grace had no power to enact laws, issue decrees, make proclamations, or pass sentences. It is a mistake to speak of her as we might speak of the Conqueror’s queens, Rhaenys and Visenya. The young queen did, however, wield enormous influence over King Jaehaerys, and when she spoke, he listened…as he did upon their return from the Vale of Arryn.
It was the plight of widows throughout the Seven Kingdoms that the women’s courts had made Alysanne aware of. In times of peace especially, it was not uncommon for a man to outlive the wife of his youth, for young men most oft perish upon the battlefield, young women in the birthing bed. Be they of noble birth or humble, men left bereft suchwise would oft after a time take second wives, whose presence in the household was resented by the children of the first wife. Where no bonds of affection existed, upon the man’s own death his heirs could and did expel the widow from the home, reducing her to penury; in the case of lords, the heirs might simply strip away the widow’s prerogatives, incomes, and servants, reducing her to little more than a boarder.
To rectify these ills, King Jaehaerys in 52 AC promulgated the Widow’s Law, reaffirming the right of the eldest son (or eldest daughter, where there was no son) to inherit, but requiring said heirs to maintain surviving widows in the same condition they had enjoyed before their husband’s death. A lord’s widow, be she a second, third, or later wife, could no longer be driven from his castle, nor deprived of her servants, clothing, and income. The same law, however, also forbade men from disinheriting their children by a first wife in order to bestow their lands, seat, or property upon a later wife or her own children.
(...)
Alysanne remained in the Red Keep, presiding over council meetings in the king’s absence, and holding audience from a velvet seat at the base of the Iron Throne.
(...)
“I see no honor in any of this. I knew such things happened hundreds of years ago, I confess it, but I never dreamed that the custom endured so strongly to this day. Mayhaps I did not want to know. I closed my eyes, but that poor girl in Mole’s Town opened them. The right of the first night! Your Grace, my lords, it is time we put an end to this. I beg you.”
(...)
And so it came to pass that the second of what the smallfolk named Queen Alysanne’s Laws was enacted: the abolition of the lord’s ancient right to the first night. Henceforth, it was decreed, a bride’s maidenhead would belong only to her husband, whether joined before a septon or a heart tree, and any man, be he lord or peasant, who took her on her wedding night or any other night would be guilty of the crime of rape.
—Fire & Blood
As you can see, we can easily associate Sansa Stark with these shared similarities between Queen Rhaenys and Queen Alysanne.
SINGERS AND KNIGHTS
Queen Alysanne was fond of singers and gallant knights, just like Sansa:
Three of the brothers had been singers before taking the black, and they took turns playing for Her Grace at night, regaling her with ballads, war songs, and bawdy barracks tunes.
—Fire & Blood
Ser Simon Dondarrion
Though his castle was small and modest compared to the great halls of the realm, Lord Dondarrion was a splendid host and his son Simon played the high harp as well as he jousted, and entertained the royal couple by night with sad songs of star-crossed lovers and the fall of kings. So taken with him was the queen that the party lingered longer at Blackhaven than they had intended.
(...)
But the champion’s laurels went to the gallant and handsome Ser Simon Dondarrion of Blackhaven, who won the love of the commons and queen alike when he crowned Princess Daenerys as his queen of love and beauty.
—Fire & Blood
A young and handsome noble man that played the high harp as well as he jousted sounds like Sansa Stark’s ideal man.
Also, the name Simon and the surname Dondarrion are very subtle references of Jon Snow, an idea that I’m developing in an unfinished meta.
Ser Ryam Redwyne
Queen Alysanne knew in person to the famous knight Ser Ryam Redwyne:
It was a time for celebration and celebrate they did, with a tourney at King’s Landing on the anniversary of the king’s coronation. Princess Daenerys and the Princes Aemon and Baelon shared the royal box with their mother and father, and reveled in the cheers of the crowd. On the field, the highlight of the competition was the brilliance of Ser Ryam Redwyne, the youngest son of Lord Manfryd Redwyne of the Arbor, Jaehaerys’s lord admiral and master of ships. In successive tilts, Ser Ryam unhorsed Ronnal Baratheon, Arthor Oakheart, Simon Dondarrion, Harys Hogg (Harry the Ham, to the commons), and two Kingsguard knights, Lorence Roxton and Lucamore Strong. When the young gallant trotted up to the royal box and crowned Good Queen Alysanne as his queen of love and beauty, the commons roared their approval.
—Fire & Blood
Later, Ser Ryam Redwyne served as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard under Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Viserys I Targaryen.
In Sansa’s case, while having a nightmare of the riot of King's Landing, Sansa wished to be saved by Ser Ryam Redwyne Florian the Fool, or Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, but none appear:
That night Sansa dreamed of the riot again. The mob surged around her, shrieking, a maddened beast with a thousand faces. Everywhere she turned she saw faces twisted into monstrous inhuman masks. She wept and told them she had never done them hurt, yet they dragged her from her horse all the same. "No," she cried, "no, please, don't, don't," but no one paid her any heed. She shouted for Ser Dontos, for her brothers, for her dead father and her dead wolf, for gallant Ser Loras who had given her a red rose once, but none of them came. She called for the heroes from the songs, for Florian and Ser Ryam Redwyne and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, but no one heard. Women swarmed over her like weasels, pinching her legs and kicking her in the belly, and someone hit her in the face and she felt her teeth shatter. Then she saw the bright glimmer of steel. The knife plunged into her belly and tore and tore and tore, until there was nothing left of her down there but shiny wet ribbons.
—A Clash of Kings - Sansa IV
The only man that effectively, but unbeknownst for her, had fulfilled Sansa’s wishes for a hero, was Jon Snow:
Frog-faced Lord Slynt sat at the end of the council table wearing a black velvet doublet and a shiny cloth-of-gold cape, nodding with approval every time the king pronounced a sentence. Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head. But a voice inside her whispered, There are no heroes, and she remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. “Life is not a song, sweetling,” he’d told her. “You may learn that one day to your sorrow.” In life, the monsters win, she told herself, and now it was the Hound’s voice she heard, a cold rasp, metal on stone. “Save yourself some pain, girl, and give him what he wants.”
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI
“You are refusing to obey my order?” “You can stick your order up your bastard’s arse,” said Slynt, his jowls quivering. […] “As you will.” Jon nodded to Iron Emmett. “Please take Lord Janos to the Wall—” […] “—and hang him,” Jon finished. […] This is wrong, Jon thought. “Stop.” […] “I will not hang him,” said Jon. “Bring him here.” “Oh, Seven save us,” he heard Bowen Marsh cry out. The smile that Lord Janos Slynt smiled then had all the sweetness of rancid butter. Until Jon said, “Edd, fetch me a block,” and unsheathed Longclaw. […] The pale morning sunlight ran up and down his blade as Jon clasped the hilt of the bastard sword with both hands and raised it high. “If you have any last words, now is the time to speak them,” he said, expecting one last curse. Janos Slynt twisted his neck around to stare up at him. “Please, my lord. Mercy. I’ll … I’ll go, I will, I …” No, thought Jon. You closed that door. Longclaw descended. “Can I have his boots?” asked Owen the Oaf, as Janos Slynt’s head went rolling across the muddy ground. “They’re almost new, those boots. Lined with fur.”
—A Dance with Dragons - Jon II
WATER AND BREAD FOR THE SMALLFOLK
Alysanne procured clean water for the people of Kingslanding:
Queen Alysanne served each of them a tankard of river water at the next council meeting, and dared them to drink of it. The water went undrunk, but the wells and pipes were soon approved. Construction would require more than a dozen years, but in the end “the queen’s fountains” provided clean water for Kingslanders for many generations to come.
—Fire & Blood
Sansa made Joffrey gave some money to a poor woman with a death baby:
Halfway along the route, a wailing woman forced her way between two watchmen and ran out into the street in front of the king and his companions, holding the corpse of her dead baby above her head. It was blue and swollen, grotesque, but the real horror was the mother's eyes. Joffrey looked for a moment as if he meant to ride her down, but Sansa Stark leaned over and said something to him. The king fumbled in his purse, and flung the woman a silver stag. The coin bounced off the child and rolled away, under the legs of the gold cloaks and into the crowd, where a dozen men began to fight for it. The mother never once blinked. Her skinny arms were trembling from the dead weight of her son.
—A Clash of Kings - Tyrion IX
But the people was hungry and wanted bread:
From both sides of the street, the crowd surged against the spear shafts while the gold cloaks struggled to hold the line. Stones and dung and fouler things whistled overhead. “Feed us!” a woman shrieked. “Bread!” boomed a man behind her. “We want bread, bastard!”
—A Clash of Kings - Tyrion IX
Bread that Sansa would have given them, If she had it:
Tyrion called to her. “Are you hurt, Lady Sansa?” Blood was trickling down Sansa’s brow from a deep gash on her scalp. “They . . . they were throwing things . . . rocks and filth, eggs . . . I tried to tell them, I had no bread to give them”.
—A Clash of Kings - Tyrion IX
In the Show they translated this Sansa’s line of dialogue to this one: “I would have given them bread if I had it.”
Sansa, like Queen Alysanne, knew that love was a surer route to people’s loyalty than fear:
“The night’s first traitors,” the queen said, “but not the last, I fear. Have Ser Ilyn see to them, and put their heads on pikes outside the stables as a warning.” As they left, she turned to Sansa. “Another lesson you should learn, if you hope to sit beside my son. Be gentle on a night like this and you’ll have treasons popping up all about you like mushrooms after a hard rain. The only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy.”
"I will remember, Your Grace," said Sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people's loyalty than fear. If I am ever a queen, I'll make them love me.
—A Clash of Kings - Sansa VI
THE NORTH
Did you know that in the ASOIAF Books, Queen Alysanne is mostly mentioned in Stark POVs? Yes, she is. Queen Alysanne is mentioned by Jon, Bran, Catelyn and Sansa. You can also count Samwell Tarly in this list, because he is now a Black Brother of the Night’s Watch and Jon’s best friend.
Jon, Bran and Samwell mention Good Queen Alysanne’s visit to the North and the Wall.
In Catelyn’s and Sansa’s case, they heard singers singing the song “Alysanne”, that according to Sansa is a sad song.
Winterfell
In Winterfell Good Queen Alysanne met Lord Alaric Stark. A man that reminds me a lot of Stannis Baratheon:
Alaric Stark
Alaric Stark was best left in Winterfell; a stubborn man by all reports, stern and hard-handed and unforgiving, he would make for an uncomfortable presence at the council table.
(...)
Lord Alaric had a flinty reputation; a hard man, people said, stern and unforgiving, tight-fisted almost to the point of being niggardly, humorless, joyless, cold. Even Theomore Manderly, who was his bannerman, had not disagreed; Stark was well respected in the North, he said, but not loved. Lord Manderly’s fool had put it elsewise. “Methinks Lord Alaric has not moved his bowels since he was twelve.”
(...)
Her reception at Winterfell did nothing to disabuse the queen’s fears as to what she might expect from House Stark. Even before dismounting to bend the knee, Lord Alaric looked askance at Her Grace’s clothing and said, “I hope you brought something warmer than that.” He then proceeded to declare that he did not want her dragon inside his walls. “I’ve not seen Harrenhal, but I know what happened there.” Her knights and ladies he would receive when they got here, “and the king too, if he can find the way,” but they should not overstay their welcome. “This is the North, and winter is coming. We cannot feed a thousand men for long.” When the queen assured him that only a tenth that number would be coming, Lord Alaric grunted and said, “That’s good. Fewer would be even better.” As had been feared, he was plainly unhappy that King Jaehaerys had not deigned to accompany her, and confessed to being uncertain how to entertain a queen. “If you are expecting balls and masques and dances, you have come to the wrong place.”
—Fire & Blood
Stannis Baratheon
"Robert can barely stomach his brothers. Not that I blame him. Stannis would be enough to give anyone indigestion."
—A Game of Thrones - Bran II
"Oh, a shred, surely," Littlefinger replied negligently. "Hear me out. Stannis is no friend of yours, nor of mine. Even his brothers can scarcely stomach him. The man is iron, hard and unyielding. He'll give us a new Hand and a new council, for a certainty. No doubt he'll thank you for handing him the crown, but he won't love you for it. And his ascent will mean war. Stannis cannot rest easy on the throne until Cersei and her bastards are dead. Do you think Lord Tywin will sit idly while his daughter's head is measured for a spike? Casterly Rock will rise, and not alone. Robert found it in him to pardon men who served King Aerys, so long as they did him fealty. Stannis is less forgiving. He will not have forgotten the siege of Storm's End, and the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne dare not. Every man who fought beneath the dragon banner or rose with Balon Greyjoy will have good cause to fear. Seat Stannis on the Iron Throne and I promise you, the realm will bleed.
—A Game of Thrones - Eddard XIII
A king's first duty is to defend the realm, and Mance attacked it. His Grace is not like to forget that. My father used to say that Stannis Baratheon was a just man. No one has ever said he was forgiving."
—A Feast for Crows - Samwell I
"A boy he may be, my lord, but … King Robert was well loved, and most men still accept that Tommen is his son. The more they see of Lord Stannis the less they love him, and fewer still are fond of Lady Melisandre with her fires and this grim red god of hers. They complain."
—A Dance with Dragons - Jon III
At this point in ASOIAF, Stannis is in the North trying to take Winterfell from the Boltons. And as Queen Alysanne melted all the ice of Lord Alaric Stark, I think Sansa could do the same with Stannis Baratheon. Sansa would easily befriend Princess Shireen as well:
Even a lord as stern and flinty as Alaric Stark found himself helpless before Queen Alysanne’s stubborn charm.
(...)
The longer the queen stayed, the more Lord Alaric warmed to her, and in time Alysanne came to realize that not everything that was said of him was true. He was careful with his coin, but not niggardly; he was not humorless at all, though his humor had an edge to it, sharp as a knife; his sons and daughter and the people of Winterfell seemed to love him well enough. Once the initial frost had thawed, his lordship took the queen hunting after elk and wild boar in the wolfswood, showed her the bones of a giant, and allowed her to rummage as she pleased through his modest castle library. He even deigned to approach Silverwing, though warily. The women of Winterfell were taken by the queen’s charms as well, once they grew to know her; Her Grace became particularly close with Lord Alaric’s daughter, Alarra.
—Fire & Blood
Night’s Watch
Alysanne then decided to visit the Night’s Watch:
In the North, Queen Alysanne grew restless with waiting, and decided to take her leave of Winterfell for a time and visit the men of the Night’s Watch at Castle Black.
—Fire & Blood
Once at Castle Black she met the Lord Commander:
Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, Lothor Burley, assembled eight hundred of his finest men to receive her. That night the black brothers feasted the queen on mammoth meat, washed down with mead and stout.
—Fire & Blood
Lothor Burley sounds pretty much like Lothor Brune, another of Sansa’s protector.
Curiously enough, Queen Alysanne had this exchange with Lord Commander Burley:
Burley was apologetic for the quality of the food and drink presented to the queen, and the rudeness of the accommodations at Castle Black. “We do what we can, Your Grace,” the Lord Commander explained, “but our beds are hard, our halls are cold, and our food—”
“—is nourishing,” the queen finished. “And that is all that I require. It will please me to eat as you do.”
—Fire & Blood
This exchange is very similar to the one between Sansa Stark and “Lord Commander” Edd Tollet during Season 6 of the Show:
Edd Tollet: Sorry about the food. It’s not what we’re known for.
Sansa Stark: That’s alright. There are more important things.
From Snowgate to Queensgate
Queen Alysanne left her mark in the Night’s Watch forever:
Above all else, a queen must know how to listen,” Alysanne Targaryen often said. At Castle Black, she proved those words. She listened, she heard, and she won the eternal devotion of the men of the Night’s Watch by her actions. She understood the need for a castle between Snowgate and Icemark, she told Lord Burley, but the Nightfort was crumbling, overlarge, and surely ruinous to heat. The Watch should abandon it, she said, and build a smaller castle farther to the east. Lord Burley could not disagree…but the Night’s Watch lacked the coin to build new castles, he said. Alysanne had anticipated that objection. She would pay for the castle herself, she told the Lord Commander, and pledged her jewels to cover the cost. “I have a good many jewels,” she said.
It would take eight years to raise the new castle, which would bear the name of Deep Lake. Outside its main hall, a statue of Alysanne Targaryen stands to this very day. The Nightfort was abandoned even before Deep Lake was completed, as the queen had wished. Lord Commander Burley also renamed Snowgate castle in her honor, as Queensgate.
—Fire & Blood
This is an action that Sansa could easily replicate as Queen in the North. House Stark was always a friend of the Night’s Watch. And as Queen in the North Sansa would probably have statues to honor her all along the North.
Also the “Snow” gate becoming the “Queen” gate gives me a lot of Jon and Sansa romantic vibes.
A New Gift
Queen Alysanne proposed a New Gift:
Lord Stark and King Jaehaerys would never be fast friends; the shade of Walton Stark remained between them to the end. It was only through Queen Alysanne’s good offices that they ever found accord. The queen had visited Brandon’s Gift, the lands south of the Wall that Brandon the Builder had granted to the Watch for their support and sustenance. “It is not enough,” she told the king. “The soil is thin and stony, the hills unpopulated. The Watch lacks for coin, and when winter comes they will lack for food as well.” The answer she proposed was a New Gift, a further strip of land south of Brandon’s Gift.
The notion did not please Lord Alaric; though a strong friend to the Night’s Watch, he knew that the lords who presently held the lands in question would object to them being given away without their leave. “I have no doubt that you can persuade them, Lord Alaric,” the queen said. And finally, charmed by her as ever, Alaric Stark agreed that, aye, he could. And so it came to pass that the size of the Gift was doubled with a stroke.
—Fire & Blood
Jon remembers Ned Stark’s wishes for the New Gift:
Your brothers will not like it, no more than your father's lords, but I mean to allow the wildlings through the Wall . . . those who will swear me their fealty, pledge to keep the king's peace and the king's laws, and take the Lord of Light as their god. Even the giants, if those great knees of theirs can bend. I will settle them on the Gift, once I have wrested it away from your new Lord Commander. When the cold winds rise, we shall live or die together. It is time we made alliance against our common foe." He looked at Jon. "Would you agree?"
"My father dreamed of resettling the Gift," Jon admitted. "He and my uncle Benjen used to talk of it." He never thought of settling it with wildlings, though . . . but he never rode with wildlings, either. He did not fool himself; the free folk would make for unruly subjects and dangerous neighbors. Yet when he weighed Ygritte's red hair against the cold blue eyes of the wights, the choice was easy. "I agree."
—A Storm of Swords - Jon XI
This is something Sansa would do as Queen in the North, to fulfill Ned’s wishes, either with the wildlings or northern people, or both.
Also, take note how Jon is always choosing the redhead girl over a threat to the realm and humanity... After all, Jon is the shield that guards the realms of men.
The Wall and Beyond
Finally, to finish the North section, we have that Queen Alysanne’s reaction to the Wall and the lands beyond, is very similar to the reaction Jon Snow imagines Sansa would have to that sight:
Her first sight of the Wall from above took Alysanne’s breath away, Her Grace would later tell the king.
—Fire & Blood
The pale pink light of dawn sparkled on branch and leaf and stone. Every blade of grass was carved from emerald, every drip of water turned to diamond. Flowers and mushrooms alike wore coats of glass. Even the mud puddles had a bright brown sheen. Through the shimmering greenery, the black tents of his brothers were encased in a fine glaze of ice.
So there is magic beyond the Wall after all. He found himself thinking of his sisters, perhaps because he'd dreamed of them last night. Sansa would call this an enchantment, and tears would fill her eyes at the wonder of it, but Arya would run out laughing and shouting, wanting to touch it all.
—A Clash of Kings - Jon III
And this passage about Alysanne ride atop the Wall from Snowgate to the Nightfort and the descending to the ruinous castle, reminds me a lot of Sansa’s descending from the Eyrie to the Gates of the Moon:
Lord Commander Burley himself took the queen into the haunted forest (with a hundred rangers riding escort). When Alysanne expressed the wish to see some of the other forts along the Wall, the First Ranger Benton Glover led her west atop the Wall, past Snowgate to the Nightfort, where they made their descent and spent the night. The ride, the queen decided, was as breathtaking a journey as she had ever experienced, “as exhilarating as it was cold, though the wind up there blows so strongly that I feared it was about to sweep us off the Wall.” The Nightfort itself she found grim and sinister. “It is so huge the men seem dwarfed by it, like mice in a ruined hall,” she told Jaehaerys, “and there is a darkness there…a taste in the air…I was so glad to leave that place.”
—Fire & Blood
"Ser Sweetrobin," Lord Robert said, and Alayne knew that she dare not wait for Mya to return. She helped the boy dismount, and hand in hand they walked out onto the bare stone saddle, their cloaks snapping and flapping behind them. All around was empty air and sky, the ground falling away sharply to either side. There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghostwolf, big as mountains.
—A Feast for Crows - Alayne II
I HOPE MY HUSBAND FALLS OFF HIS HORSE
This is just a funny parallel:
What do those “highborn ladies do whilst their lords are out deflowering maidens? Do they sew? Sing? Pray? Were it me, I might pray my lord husband fell off his horse and broke his neck coming home.”
—Fire & Blood
Those lords Alysanne was referring to sounds very much like Harry the Heir:
A lady's armor is her courtesy. Alayne could feel the blood rushing to her face. No tears, she prayed. Please, please, I must not cry. "As you wish, ser. And now if you will excuse me, Littlefinger's bastard must find her lord father and let him know that you have come, so we can begin the tourney on the morrow." And may your horse stumble, Harry the Heir, so you fall on your stupid head in your first tilt. She showed the Waynwoods a stone face as they blurted out awkward apologies for their companion. When they were done she turned and fled.
—The Winds of Winter - Alayne I
Sassy Queens!
A FEMALE RULER
A ruler needs a good head and a true heart. A cock is not essential. —Alysanne Targaryen
Queen Alysanne wanted a female Targaryen ruler. She really wanted it. She tried. She failed.
This is a bit hypocrite tho... Since Alyssa, Jaehaerys and Alysanne herself wronged Rhaena and her claim to the throne, but still...
You could argue Jaehaerys and Alysanne ruled together, but despite the great influence and counsel of Queen Alysanne, she was not the ruler. Jaehaerys was. Alysanne was only the Queen consort.
Alysanne wished for her daughter Daenerys to be Queen, but Jaehaerys wanted a male heir to succeed him on the throne, so he chose his son Aemon:
“She is so clever, she will be reading to me before long,” she told the king. “She is going to be a great queen, I know it.”
(...)
Jaehaerys loved all three children fiercely, but from the moment Aemon was born, the king began to speak of him as his heir, to Queen Alysanne’s displeasure. “Daenerys is older,” she would remind His Grace. “She is first in line; she should be queen.” The king would never disagree, except to say, “She shall be queen, when she and Aemon marry. They will rule together, just as we have.” But Benifer could see that the king’s words did not entirely please the queen, as he noted in his letters.
—Fire & Blood
Alysanne also wished for her granddaughter Rhaenys to be Queen, she was the only child of the heir to the throne, Prince Aemon, but Jaehaerys wanted a male heir to succeed him on the throne, so he named Prince Baelon, Aemon’s younger brother, the Prince of Dragonstone:
Baelon, a seasoned knight of thirty-five, was better suited for rule than the eighteen-year-old Princess Rhaenys or her unborn babe (who might or might not be a boy, whereas Prince Baelon had already sired two healthy sons, Viserys and Daemon). The love of the commons for Baelon the Brave was also cited.
(...)
The most prominent dissenter was Good Queen Alysanne, who had helped her husband rule the Seven Kingdoms for many years, and now saw her son’s daughter being passed over because of her sex. “A ruler needs a good head and a true heart,” she famously told the king. “A cock is not essential.”
(...)
The queen died of a wasting illness in 100 AC, at the age of four-and-sixty, still insisting that her granddaughter Rhaenys and her children had been unfairly cheated of their rights.
Sansa Stark has a lot of Queen foreshadowing and imagery around her and she could be the one female ruler to defeat patriarchy in ASOIAF.
SARA SNOW
Let me tell you about a northern girl, the mysterious bastard girl from Winterfell, a wolf girl called Sara Snow:
But we turn to Mushroom to find the tales other chronicles omit, nor does he fail us now. His account introduces a young maiden, or “wolf girl” as he dubs her, with the name of Sara Snow. So smitten was Prince Jacaerys with this creature, a bastard daughter of the late Lord Rickon Stark, that he lay with her of a night. On learning that his guest had claimed the maidenhead of his bastard sister, Lord Cregan became most wroth, and only softened when Sara Snow told him that the prince had taken her for his wife. They had spoken their vows in Winterfell’s own godswood before a heart tree, and only then had she given herself to him, wrapped in furs amidst the snows as the old gods looked on.
This makes for a charming story, to be sure, but as with many of Mushroom’s fables, it seems to partake more of a fool’s fevered imaginings than of historical truth. Jacaerys Velaryon had been betrothed to his cousin Baela since he was four and she was two, and from all we know of his character, it seems most unlikely that he would break such a solemn agreement to protect the uncertain virtue of some half-wild, unwashed northern bastard. If indeed there ever lived a Sara Snow, and if indeed the Prince of Dragonstone perchanced to dally with her, that is no more than other princes have done in the past, and will do on the morrow, but to talk of marriage is preposterous.
(Mushroom also claims that Vermax left a clutch of dragon’s eggs at Winterfell, which is equally absurd. Whilst it is true that determining the sex of a living dragon is a nigh on impossible task, no other source mentions Vermax producing so much as a single egg, so it must be assumed that he was male. Septon Barth’s speculation that the dragons change sex at need, being “as mutable as flame,” is too ludicrous to consider.)
This we do know: Cregan Stark and Jacaerys Velaryon reached an accord, and signed and sealed the agreement that Grand Maester Munkun calls “the Pact of Ice and Fire” in his True Telling. Like many such pacts, it was to be sealed with a marriage. Lord Cregan’s son, Rickon, was a year old. Prince Jacaerys was as yet unmarried and childless, but it was assumed that he would sire children of his own once his mother sat the Iron Throne. Under the terms of the pact, the prince’s firstborn daughter would be sent north at the age of seven, to be fostered at Winterfell until such time as she was old enough to marry Lord Cregan’s heir.
—Fire & Blood
How is Sara Snow connected with Queen Alysanne and Sansa Stark?
At this point in ASOIAF, Sansa Stark is under the disguise of Alayne Stone, a bastard girl, like Sara Snow. Both young maidens, and both were called wolf girls:
The green knight laughed again. "Barristan the Old, you mean. Don't flatter him too sweetly, child, he thinks overmuch of himself already." He smiled at her. "Now, wolf girl, if you can put a name to me as well, then I must concede that you are truly our Hand's daughter."
—A Game of Thrones - Sansa I
And regarding Queen Alysanne, Sara Snow is linked with her through their husbands.
According to Mushroom, Sara Snow married a Targaryen Prince in secret. And who was this Targaryen Prince? It was Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, the older son of Rhaenyra Targaryen, the Prince of Dragonstone, Heir to the Iron Throne.
Prince Jacaerys Velaryon was a Targaryen Prince with brown hair (Like Jon Snow). He was probable a bastard (Like Jon Snow) son of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Ser Harwin Strong, called Breakbones.
Curiously enough, Jacaerys Velaryon supposed father, Laenor Velaryon wanted to name him Joffrey (Like Sansa’s first betrothed Joffrey Baratheon, also a bastard).
Jacaerys is a traditional Velaryon name. House Velaryon is of Valyrian descent, and its members often have Valyrian features, such as silver hair, purple eyes, and pale skin. But as I said before, Jacaerys had brown hair, like Jon Snow.
Also, Jacaerys sounds like the Velaryon version of Jaehaerys. The short for Jacaerys was Jace.
Sara Snow and Jacaerys Velaryon married in secret like Alysanne and Jaehaerys.
Alysanne and Jaehaerys eloped because their mother planned to marry Alysanne with Orryn Baratheon (This is also parallel with Rhaegar and Lyanna).
Jacaerys Velaryon was already betrothed with his cousin Baela Targaryen. Jacaerys Velaryon broke that vow to marry Sara Snow in secret.
These two couples Sara Snow & Jacaerys Velaryon and Alysanne and Jaehaerys Targaryen are two similar versions of Rhaegar and Lyanna, a Targaryen Prince with a Stark maiden or, in Alysanne case, a maiden that reminds us of a Stark one. All three secret marriages that broke a previous betrothal.
Curiously enough, Cregan Stark (Sara Snow’s brother) and Jacaerys Velaryon signed “the Pact of Ice and Fire”, a pact sealed with a marriage, a marriage between the Stark Heir (Cregan’s son) with a Velaryon/Targaryen Princess (Jacaerys’ daughter).
Under the terms of the pact, Jacaerys’ firstborn daughter would be sent north at the age of seven, to be fostered at Winterfell until such time as she was old enough to marry Lord Cregan’s heir.
That pact never happened because Jacaerys Velaryon died childless.
Mushroom said that Vermax (Jacaerys’ dragon) left a clutch of dragon’s eggs at Winterfell. This could have meant that Sara Snow (Jacaerys’ wife) was already pregnant with Jacaerys’ first child and if that child were a girl, she must have married her cousin Rickon Stark. But that never happened.
What did happen was that Jon Snow, the son of a Targaryen Prince with a Stark Maiden, was raised at Winterfell, next to his cousin Sansa Stark, older daughter of Lord Eddard Stark, with whom he can fulfill the “the Pact of Ice and Fire”.
Rhaegar himself probably tried to fulfill “the Pact of Ice and Fire” with Lyanna Stark. And Jon Snow would be the fruit of that fulfillment, a son of Ice and Fire.
Here you can read more about Jace & Sara.
ALYSANNE “BLACK ALY” BLACKWOOD
Alysanne Blackwood, also known as Black Aly, is not very similar to Queen Alysanne or Sansa Stark. She was a woman more like Arya Stark. In summary: Not a Lady.
But Alysanne Blackwood became the second wife of Lord Cregan Stark, wich made her Lady Stark, Lady Alysanne Stark.
RICKON STARK
Lord Cregan Stark had a son with his first wife Arra Norrey, a boy named Rickon Stark. And little Rickon sang for the new Lady Stark:
The wedding itself was said to be splendid, however; Black Aly and her wolf pledged their troth before the heart tree in Winterfell’s icy godswood. At the feast afterward, four-year-old Rickon, Lord Cregan’s son by his first wife, sang a song for his new stepmother.
—Fire & Blood
This will probably never happen, but imagine our little Rickon Stark singing for his sister-mother Sansa Stark... But our beloved Rickon is a wild wolf pup so he would probably howl instead of sing, after all:
“The Starks know no music but the howling of wolves.” —A Game of Thrones - Catelyn V
SANSARA TARLY
If you thought that all this similar/linked names are just a coincidence, that Sara Snow has nothing to do with Queen Alysanne and Sansa Stark, now let me tell you about “more coincidences”, let me tell you about Sansara Tarly.
In Fire & Blood, during the searching for King Aegon III second wife, we meet a character named Sansara Tarly:
Perhaps the boldest letter came from the irrepressible Lady Samantha of Oldtown, who declared that her sister Sansara (of House Tarly) “is spirited and strong, and has read more books than half the maesters in the Citadel” whilst her good-sister Bethany (of House Hightower) was “very beautiful, with smooth soft skin and lustrous hair and the sweetest manner,” though also “lazy and somewhat stupid, truth be told, though some men seem to like that in a wife.” She concluded by suggesting that perhaps King Aegon should marry both of them, “one to rule beside him, as Queen Alysanne did King Jaehaerys, and one to bed and breed.”
—Fire & Blood
Sansara is literally a combination of Sansa and Sara.
Sansara is from House Tarly, and our beloved Samwell Tarly is, what I call, a Male!Sansa:
Yes, it’s just amazing how similar Sansa Stark and Samwell Tarly are. They have a lot of common interests and they sure would be the best of friends:
Whatever pride his lord father might have felt at Samwell’s birth vanished as the boy grew up plump, soft, and awkward. Sam loved to listen to music and make his own songs, to wear soft velvets, to play in the castle kitchen beside the cooks, drinking in the rich smells as he snitched lemon cakes and blueberry tarts. His passions were books and kittens and dancing, clumsy as he was.
—A Game of Thrones - Jon IV
Sam remembered the last time he’d sung the song with his mother, to lull baby Dickon to sleep. His father had heard their voices and come barging in, angry. “I will have no more of that,” Lord Randyll told his wife harshly. “You ruined one boy with those soft septon’s songs, do you mean to do the same to this babe?” Then he looked at Sam and said, “Go sing to your sisters, if you must sing. I don’t want you near my son.”
—A Storm of Swords - Samwell III
And during a few passages in the ASOIAF Books you can read how Samwell prays to the Mother: “Mother have mercy, Mother have mercy, Mother have mercy.”, just like Sansa.
It is said that Sansara Tarly “has read more books than half the maesters in the Citadel”. This is a direct connection to Queen Alysanne, another book lover that could have been a Maester of the Citadel; and also to Samwell Tarly who is actually studying at the Citadel to become a Maester (Thanks to Jon Snow). Another book lover? Yes, Sansa Stark.
Sansa - Alayne - Alysanne - Sara - Sansara
What an interesting chain of names George, all of them connected, so subtle of you:
SANSA’S bastard name is ALAYNE
ALAYNE can be formed removing a letter S and one letter N from ALYSANNE
SARA was called WOLF GIRL like SANSA
SARA is a bastard like ALAYNE
SARA married in secret with JACAERYS just like ALYSANNE married in secret with JAEHAERYS (Also JACAERYS = JAEHAERYS)
ALYSANNE “Black Aly” Blackwood married Lord Cregan Stark and became LADY STARK, LADY ALYSANNE STARK
SANSARA is a combination of SANSA and SARA
SANSARA is from House Tarly, like Samwell Tarly who is a Male!Sansa
SANSARA is as cultured and well read as ALYSANNE (Also like Samwell and Sansa)
GRRM chooses the names of his characters very carefully. For example, here is what he has said about the Stark Sisters’ Names:
The names Arya and Sansa are meant to represent the polar opposites of their characters, Arya being a hard sounding name, Sansa a softer more pretty name, etc. [Source]
After all of this, if GRRM decides to name a next character of the ASOIAF Universe: ‘ALYSANSA’, I would not be surprised.
I rest my case.
#Sansa Stark#is this jonsa?#jonsa#Alayne Stone#Alysanne Targaryen#Good Queen Alysanne#Sara Snow#Sansara Tarly#Alysanne Blackwood#Jacaerys Velaryon#Jaehaerys Targaryen#King Jaehaerys I Targaryen#Cregan Stark#AlySansa
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who do you think were alicent's ladies in waiting during the dance? it's so odd to me that the queen consort isn't seen with her own entourage of hightower relations and other women currying her favor.
By now I think it's pretty clear GRRM has minimal interest in depicting queen/lady-in-waiting relationships, and that he doesn't really consider that dynamic the way he does the Small Council or Kingsguard.
We also just don't know the names of a ton of ladies during the Dance who weren't aligned with the Blacks, so.
It's a bit hard to speculate, besides maybe some of the ladies who later show up during the Maiden's Day Cattle Show as possible brides for Aegon III. Some of the older ones or their older sisters/cousins could conceivably have been ladies in waiting for Alicent and/or Helaena at some point.
Ladies from the Maiden's Day Cattle Show who either have no age listed or are old enough to have been at least in their early teens during the Dance:
Alyssa Royce
Barba Bolton
Elinor Massey
Henrietta Woodhull
Jeyne Merryweather
Jeyne Mooton
Jeyne Smallwood
Lyra Hayford
Moriah Qorgyle
Patricia Redwyne
Rosamund Darry
Ysabel Staunton
We don't know exactly when Bethany Hightower was born, but she might have been old enough to serve as a lady in waiting to Alicent and/or Helaena. The same goes for Samantha Tarly's sister Sansara. Sharis Footly may also have been a possible lady in waiting to Alicent at one point or another.
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¡Tu familia te busca!
Gemelos Hightower
Dos caras de una misma moneda. ¿Lealtad o deslealtad? Lyman volvió a casa después de la guerra, y en su boca cargaba una noticia terrible: su padre y sus cuatro hermanos habían muerto en batalla. Marlon no vio dolor en sus ojos, solo vio la ambición de quedarse como dueño y señor cuando llegara el momento... ¿Delira o está en lo cierto? Todo lo que sabe es que, por su propio bien y el de los suyos, debe proteger a la rama principal de él, de su propio hermano.
Donald y Sansara Tarly
Por proteger a su familia, Lord Tarly no dará su brazo a torcer hasta que sus flechas alcancen las gargantas de los dornienses que claman por hacerse con Las Marcas. Mientras él siga vivo, no habrá pero que valga con esos invasores.
Su hija menor, Sansara, no se siente preocupada por el hecho de no haber tenido un hermano varón, mucho menos porque ella misma no haya sido uno, y el motivo de su tranquilidad se debe a que ella asume que puede obtener el señorío de Colina Cuerno. No está dispuesta a dejarse amedrentar y espera llevar su hogar a su máximo esplendor bajo su carácter firme y consistente.
Las Doncellas del Faro
Un trío de doncellas, cada una más variopinta que la anterior. Son pupilas de Medea Hightower y aspiran a ser grandes damas algún día con la guía de la señora, aunque eso no les ha impedido desarrollar sus ambiciones. Hay una cuarta que ya ha acabado su instrucción, pero se ha quedado como huésped con un cuestionable motivo... ¿Qué es lo que quiere realmente?
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Canon y Semicanon del Dominio
LYONEL TYRELL
31 DDN | GOBERNADOR DE DORNE | EL DOMINIO | HENRY CAVILL
Lord Lyonel era un bebé cuando su padre murió durante la Danza de los Dragones, siendo la regencia asumida por su madre. Criado entre algodones, cuando Lyonel alcanzó la mayoría de edad ya era un perfecto cortesano.
Aunque se le instruyó para tener buenos modales, ser galante y llegar a ser un buen señor algún día, tampoco se descuidó su educación con las armas. Es un excelente justador y un guerrero competente, así como un comandante respetable que logró distinguirse durante la Conquista de Dorne. Por sus actos, su buena relación con el rey y sus capacidades, fue nombrado como gobernador de Dorne a fin de mantener la zona en paz y controlar cualquier foco de rebelión que surja.
A pesar de comportarse como corresponde a un caballero, lejos de la corte y el Dominio, en Dorne tiene un carácter muchísimo más duro de lo que podría imaginarse. Ha perdido muchos hombres y algunos amigos durante la contienda, muchos más durante la paz. Permite que sus hombres actúen con dureza y cometan excesos sobre la población a fin de que terminen por despreciar a los rebeldes. Su relación con el antiguo príncipe, Quentyn Martell, es terrible, más aún desde que dijera que se casaría con su hermana cuando la trajeran del exilio.
LYONEL HIGHTOWER
45 DDN | SEÑOR DE ANTIGUA | EL DOMINIO | MARC WARREN
Después de que su padre muriera durante la Danza de Dragones, Lyonel se convirtió en el señor de Antigua. Tras el conflicto, se negó a aceptar las condiciones del nuevo rey pero fue la viuda de su padre, Samantha Tarly, quien le sedujo y se ofreció para ser su esposa a cambio de que cediera ante el rey. Además, Lord Tyrell le amenazó con hacer daño a su hermano Garmund si los Hightower osaban levantar un ejército contra el rey. Así, Lyonel devolvió a la Corona el oro que los Verdes habían escondido en Antigua.
Con el paso de los años, ha superado las viejas rencillas de aquella época; además, tras la muerte del Septón Supremo que se negó a casarle con Samantha dado lo escabroso de su relación, han conseguido al fin contraer matrimonio. Tan solo resta en él cierto rencor hacia los Tyrell debido a las amenazas profesadas a su hermano en el pasado.
SAMANTHA TARLY
47 DDN | LADY | EL DOMINIO| LARA PULVER
Es una mujer que aún conserva la belleza y el ardor de la juventud junto con un carácter fiero y duro. Cuando tenía 16 años fue entregada como esposa a lord Ormund Hightower cuyo hijo mayor, Lyonel, fruto de su anterior matrimonio, se obsesionó con ella desde el primer momento.
A la muerte de Ormund en la batalla de Ladera durante la Danza de Dragones, se entregó finalmente a Lyonel haciéndole prometer que juraría lealtad a Aegon III. No pudieron contraer matrimonio hasta que murió el Septón Supremo que se lo impedía dada su relación pese a lo cual tuvieron hasta seis hijos.
Enfrentada con la fe, Samantha viró sus intereses hacia lo material participando en la creación del Banco de Antigua gracias a la ayuda y consejos de Lotho Rogare, su protegido.
RHAENA TARGARYEN
41 DDN | LADY | EL DOMINIO| KATHERYN WINNICK
Hija del príncipe Daemon Targaryen y Laena Velaryon, tiene una hermana gemela llamada Baela con la que comparte unos rasgos marcadamente Targaryen además de la elegancia y la esbeltez de sus movimientos. Pasó parte de su infancia en Rocadragón.
Durante la Danza de Dragones permaneció en El Valle como pupila de Jeyne Arryn al tiempo que protegía tres huevos de dragón pendientes de eclosionar. De ellos nació su dragón rosado Aurora. Con el reinado de Aegon III volvió a la corte junto con Baela y allí fue admirada y agasajada por hombres y mujeres.
Contrajo matrimonio con Ser Corwyn Corbray pero éste fue asesinado en El Valle cuando actuaba como mediador en el problema de sucesión. Tras unos años en la Fortaleza Roja, fue entregada como esposa a Garmund Hightower, a quien dio seis hijas.
SEMICANON DEL DOMINIO
Hermanas de Lord Tyrell 0/2
Garmund Hightower - 40 ddn. Hermano pequeño de lord Hightower, fue pupilo en Altojardín. Aunque tras la Danza de Dragones lord Tyrell amenazó a su hermano Lyonel con hacerle daño si levantaba a sus ejércitos contra el rey Aegon III, Garmund siempre recibió buen trato en Altojardín. De carácter alegre y conciliador, se convirtió en el segundo esposo de Rhaena Targaryen con la que tuvo seis hijas.
Sansara Tarly - 34 ddn. Inquieta, curiosa y una apasionada de la lectura, Sansara contrajo matrimonio con ser Eustace Oakheart. No fue una unión demasiado fructífera pues de varios embarazos solamente uno llegó a ser viable, naciendo así el único hijo del matrimonio. ser Eustace falleció meses atrás luchando en las Marcas contra los rebeldes durante la conquista de Dorne y aunque Sansara ha vuelto a su hogar en Colina Cuerno, mantiene su independencia.
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Ok I got it if I am not mistaken Sam as a gendered reverse of Sansa i.e Lady Sam. So shouldn't the parallel be between Samantha and Sansa? Also what do these parallels inform us? Like with Sara you draw the parallel with a female bastard and a Targ prince with dubious identity and the conclusion that we could arrive is that of Jonsa that might parallel those 2 i.e Jace and Sara. So what does Sansara Sansa parallel that you draw inform us about any future speculation that might happen in Sansa's arc. Parallels are meant to foreshadow something right!
Look, if you think that Sansa and Sansara similar names means nothing significant, that's OK. We can agree to disagree and move on.
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So Sansara married a father and later son of that man. How is that a parallel to Sansa? Except the names I just don't see any strong grounding for parallels to be drawn.
That's Sansara's sister Samantha Tarly, known as Lady Sam.
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In regards to Sansa and Sansara parallels that's like saying Sansa and Sandor are parallels as well because they have similar sounding names.
That's exactly what cujo shippers say and theorize about.
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