#and I feel like brandon doesn't always consider the consequences of that

[taravangians-storming-balls]

btw have we all talked about how kaladin was in the middle of having a panic attack and then adolin walks in and kaladin is immediately checking out his outfit and how nice his hair is

[darkpoisonouslove]

Erendor/Samara because I’m interested 👀

And Marion/Oritel purely for self-indulgence 😇

Lmao sticking to canon is going to be a challenge considering how little screen time they have. And I mean both couples here.

Erendor x Samara:

1) I'm going to go with an educated guess here and say that they probably had an arranged marriage considering their stance on Sky's engagement to Diaspro and the fact that arranged marriages are totally still a thing as we've seen. I like that about them because they're clearly not head-over-heels in love but they seem very compatible (both in 2x14 and later in s5). Arranged marriage is one of my fave tropes and I think all iterations are interesting. Usually, though, my ships fall into the "hate at first sight that grows into begrudging love later" but they are a more middle-ground version. They're not bursting at the seams with love but aren't also particularly uncomfortable with each other which works very well for them as characters, I think. That would tie perfectly into their insistence on the marriage between Sky and Diaspro because they've grown to feel content in their marriage (so Sky should too) while at the same time they don't understand his passionate feelings for Bloom (because their situation is different).

2) Honestly, I've kind of grown to find how horrible they are funny. Like, Brandon and Bloom (in particular) don't deserve the dismissal and downright resentment that they get from Erendor and Samara but their intolerance and entitlement can also be quite funny. Especially since they've both had a couple more graceful moments which just means that they choose to completely suck about 98% of the time. Those better moments in particular are what makes them work as awful people for me because it feels like it was a deliberate choice made for their characterization. I am aware that it most definitely was not. Their characters specifically are literally just what works for the plot but the show of positive traits makes them feel more nuanced. It feels like there's something that could be explored with their characters instead of them just being hostile to Bloom simply to amp up the drama with Sky's arranged marriage. With good writing you can actually make them feel like complex people.

3) I LOVE the implication in Magical Adventure that Erendor just felt so guilty for betraying his alliance with Domino and the consequences this would have for the relationship between him and Samara. In 2x14 she's actually the one who's more antagonistic towards Bloom so I don't imagine she is fond of anyone from the Domino family. Having Erendor walking around like he's a ghost himself just because of his broken promise to Oritel would have probably annoyed her heavily to say the least. But then on the other hand, there's the fact that Samara is pretty much the only sane person in s5 (which was certainly A Choice) and she's the one who's more understanding of Sky and Bloom's relationship. It doesn't lead to tension between her and Erendor but I love the idea that it could. That is to say, their good character traits seem to be in total disharmony which leads to the funniest fucking implication that the only way they can remain compatible is to be on their worst behavior, always. Which, in turn, supports the idea that they are in love because, as I already pointed out, they are totally awful at least 98% of the time.

Did you expect all three points to come together in an essay-like meta because I did not?

Marion x Oritel:

I'll try to be short here because I put too many brain cells into the previous ship.

1) Love that Marion is the one with the Dragon Fire while Oritel is barely implied to have any magic. Extremely sexy of them. (Also, when the maids referred to them as "Your Majesty" and "Your Highness" in SotLK, they were talking to Marion first and she's who they referred to as "Your Majesty" because Oritel is just a consort even if they call him a king; you can't change my mind.)

2) Having a baby during a magical war? Iconic. On a serious note, though, I'm 100 000% certain that that was extremely hard on them both from an emotional and tactical point of view. It adds a lot of depth to their characters (or would if they had fucking bothered to give them any attention whatsoever) to know that they weathered the stress and dangers during the pregnancy only to then sacrifice themselves to save the Magic Dimension. Like I said, iconic.

3) Okay, this actually pretty directly goes against canon (5x12) but who can tell me that they aren't totally in sync in battle and practically know what the other one is thinking? Just try to convince me that that's not the case. They are totally battle mates and a power couple and their teamwork is pretty much unmatched. They are absolutely NOT each other's weak spot; in fact, the only way to defeat them is to separate them because their love for each other just gives them too much power.

Would you look at that? I can actually keep things short!

send me a ship and I’ll tell you three things I like about it

[ladycatofwinterfell]

A little something that always bugged me, but considering your research on harrenhal I was hoping you might find out an answer sooo

What tf was howland reed doing there? The crannogmen rarely leave their place in the neck like ever 'unless obviously they are called to war' that's number 1

Number 2... The north doesn't have knight? The tourneys are majorly just southern stuff? The only northern 'knights' we are aware of are the manderlys as they follow the seven and see jorah who was knighted by the king. And the crannogmen are old gods-aholic so why was he there? He doesn't compete either way. And the north mostly hold a certain amount of disdain to these affairs. Especially now with 'the mad king' and the 'cursed harrenhal' not a fun place to be in

Number 3, I believe it's quite dubious that they asked for the presence of every single house, not to mention the only time our guy got below the neck he was horribly bullied

I don't take coincidence for an answer in ASOIAF with George R R freaking Martin, and we only know the consequences of him being there, NOT the reasons (maybe a message from the old Gods? Since his torment kick-started everything?)...

I was hoping maybe you found something interesting or maybe you could discuss this??? :)

Love your posts by the way, thank you.

I’m happy to report that I (a Harrenhal expert at this point) have both answers and speculations surrounding your questions!

And maybe I should start by saying that I’m in no way actually an expert and if something I say here is wrong, please correct me.

1. Howland did not go south for the tourney, he left the neck and travelled down the Green Fork to go to the Isle of Faces in search of the green men. He stayed there all through that winter and left in 281 AC, to find the tourney at Harrenhal. It was a coincidence, in other words. He stayed after Lyanna saved him from the three squires that bulled him and introduced him to her brothers, as Ned offered to share his tent with him.

2. First I want to add Ser Rodrik to the list of northern knights. And then I say that you don’t have to be a knight to compete in tourneys, for example Brandon and Robert competed in the tourney at Harrenhal and neither of them were knights.

You are right in that tourneys are only held in the south, but I don’t see why northerners wouldn’t enjoy it. I don’t think it’s fair to say they have a disdain for all southern affairs, I just don’t think they have the means and climate to host tourneys of their own. We are shown northerners like feasts and gatherings even though theirs are not as lavish as the southerners’. I also have this little theory of that we interpret Ned’s feelings about certain things, such as southern business, as something all northerners feel despite Ned on many occasions being noticeably different than your average northerner.

3. I don’t think they asked for the presence of any house, I think they announced the tourney and anyone was free to attend. It is confirmed that from northern houses there were men of House Dustin, House Hornwood, House Manderly and House Mormont. And while we don’t anything for sure about other northern houses chances are high that many were there, as this was a big event for people of all seven kingdoms, not exclusively the southern ones. Not every southern house in attendance is mentioned either, but as just the joust went on for five days I guess there were a lot of people in the ranks and therefore a lot of houses.

I’m honoured by that you asked me about this, and thank you! Hope you got the answers you wanted!