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bettsfic · 5 years

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nobody asked but here’s how i would have ended it

i’ve been thinking about this for the past 12 hours, how one of the many major failings of the finale was that everything happened out of order, and the stakes were distorted. the entire point of the series is that the night king is the biggest threat, and the politics of the throne seem petty by comparison. to defeat the night king and then battle for the throne is completely illogical. so here’s my attempt to put the events in order and pare down the conflict so that it’s manageable to accomplish in 6 episodes.

first i have to retcon a few things:

euron greyjoy either doesn’t exist or isn’t involved

jaime doesn’t leave for winterfell at the end of s7 (but he is strongly conflicted about it)

cersei isn’t pregnant

jon isn’t aegon targaryen (because, again, the entire point of his arc is that a bastard is valid)

bran’s greensight has some value that is an actual threat to the night king, other than being like a dumb hub of all human knowledge

EPISODE 1

the season starts in king’s landing. the march north has yet to begin (fixing the continuity errors of the back and forth on the kingsroad this season).

dany gears up to take the iron throne from cersei. jon pleads with her to march north instead, but she refuses, so he leaves for winterfell with brienne, sansa, et al to begin gearing up for battle with the wildlings and anyone else who can pick up a sword, even though it is a lost cause.

cersei uses the commonfolk as bait for dany, knowing her weakness is mercy. jaime, believing dany is capable of going mad queen, tells her all the people will die, etc. how could she do this, and it’s the last straw. brienne’s “fuck loyalty” finally lands. his allegiance to cersei is broken, though he makes no indication of it (i believe in nikolaj to be able to convey this without needing any major declaration of it).

melisandre shows up and does some mysterious magic stuff and tells dany a creepy riddle that basically goes, if one of your dragons falls, it will call upon something something, and dany is just ?? lol k.

EPISODE 2

jaime seeks out tyrion to tell him the major deets of cersei’s plan. he gets caught and held prisoner. tyrion finds him, lets him go, and urges him to convince cersei to surrender.

missandei gives her two cents -- you only need to defeat the queen, not the people. dany gives her “they don’t love me, they fear me” speech and missandei says like, but they will love you. they’ll love you because you’re good. and then there’s some exchange about like, dany realizing no one can be good if they hold all the power. power corrupts, and the idea of the throne has corrupted her. missandei says that dany doesn’t need a throne to lead. she’s already a queen, and always will be.

meanwhile in winterfell, jon is rallying forces to defeat the night king, and working with his siblings (sans arya, who has gone south to king’s landing with the hound) to make a plan.

tyrion then begs dany not to kill everyone if they surrender, bell ringing, etc. the battle happens as it did in canon, except jon isn’t there. without the iron fleet it’s less of a big deal. cersei still believes her armies will prevail. the civilians are still running around trying to find safety, which makes everything chaotic. cersei’s armies (which have elephants!!) are making good headway. things look pretty bleak.

jaime finds cersei and urges her to surrender, believing that dany will kill all the people. cersei refuses, because she’s winning. they have pre-victory sex, but to jaime, it’s sad goodbye sex.

rhaegal gets speared and falls. more battle stuff happens, well into the night and reaching morning (but we can SEE shit because the lighting is GOOD). dany is stricken with grief. then! an ARMY of DRAGONS flies in from the west. they circle king’s landing. everyone is going totally batshit with fear and awe. the bells ring. empowered and angry, dany really wants to murder everyone. cliffhanger.

EPISODE 3

dany makes her choice not to kill everyone. she flies to the red keep and has a confrontation with cersei in the throne room. dany gives cersei the opportunity to bend the knee and join forces so that together, their armies can march north and defeat the night king. cersei refuses. dany threatens to take down the entire red keep. jaime is at his queen’s side, knowing what he has to do, not sure if he’s truly willing to do it.

the hound and arya make it to the red keep. arya agrees to separate and borrow some faces to make her way past the guards, and let the hound in from there.

in winterfell, bran offers himself as bait to the night king. it’s a shitty plan, but the only chance they’ve got.

the mountain moves to attack dany. drogon, perched outside, screeches a warning. the hound intervenes and attacks the mountain. arya attacks cersei, but jaime intervenes and fights arya. dany hops on drogon and starts burning down the red keep. we hear many dragon war cries of support, lots of screaming, the bells. everything is collapsing and on fire. while fighting, jaime tells cersei to retreat and find safety. cersei is finally afraid, but still somehow believes she’ll win.

the hound isn’t doing so well with the mountain. arya, seeing that cersei has had basically all her power stripped away, gives up her fight with jaime reluctantly and helps the hound.

jaime, alone now with cersei, offers his final plea -- if they leave now, they can escape, and go make a new life together. cersei, for the last time, says she will not leave the throne. jaime kisses her and stabs her (like the scene with jon and dany, but not that), a mirror of killing the mad king.

the hound is holding the mountain at bay. arya sets him on fire. the hound cuts off his head. together, they make it out of the red keep just in time to watch it fall. they help the civilians to safety.

dany, seeing cersei dead and jaime huddled over her dead body on the throne (the same position he was in after he killed the mad king), ceases fire, and rescues jaime from the falling keep.

the next morning, dany, tyrion, jorah, varys, missandei, and grey worm approach the iron throne. the remaining unsullied and dothraki are lined up behind her. the remaining lannister army soldiers are being held prisoner.

dany gives a speech about marching north. she offers the lannister army an opportunity to redeem themselves by marching with her. they agree.

she approaches the throne, says her little speech about not being able to count to twenty, makes a comment about how it’s not as grand as she thought it would be. we truly believe she has ascended beyond the plight of a petty throne. dozens of dragons are whirling overhead. finally she says something about the throne being a symbol of tyranny, and how she’ll break the wheel. then she commands drogon to destroy it.

drogon melts the throne.

EPISODE 4

jaime marches alone to winterfell ahead of the armies. he arrives and sees bran waiting for him. he feels unworthy to still be alive. he should have died with cersei.

he approaches sansa to tell her what happened. sansa questions his loyalty, if he was willing to kill his sister, why should he be able to fight for them? brienne steps up and defends him, but she’s obviously very worried -- he looks half-dead.

while waiting for the armies, there is lots of braime time. brienne tells him he did the right thing. jaime asks to fight under her, and she agrees. he heals very slowly by the comfort of brienne, though it is apparent he is still planning to die in battle.

theon and yara arrive with the iron fleet and offer to fight for sansa.

the wildlings find the carnage the wights have wrought and arrive in winterfell to say they have only a few days before the battle comes to them.

dany arrives in winterfell with all of the armies. jon is relieved that dany didn’t go mad queen. sansa is still skeptical, and doesn’t want the north under dany’s reign.

the rest of the ep is spent preparing for battle. the hound and arya arrive in winterfell. arya makes a teasing comment to the hound about how she’s grown tired of his company, and seeks out jon to have their reunion. then she looks for gendry and asks for a special blade.

that night, jaime knights brienne. arya fucks gendry. sansa and theon get caught up. jon and dany bang it out.

we see the wights marching closer.

EPISODE 5

the battle arrives, and happens pretty much as it does in canon, except BRIGHTER. the dragons cause a lot of damage.

at one point, jaime is outnumbered, and it looks very much like he might die. we see him give up and drop his sword, but brienne throws them all off and tells him he doesn’t get to die today.

everything is the same, except jon leaves to face the night king. he arrives alone, theon already dead. there’s a big battle and he’s totally outnumbered. then arya sneaks up while the night king is distracted by jon and kills the night king the same way she did in canon.

the wights fall. victory!!

EPISODE 6

nearly everything that happened in episode 4, re: pyres and celebration, except when dany offers gendry lordship, he declines it, knowing arya would never want that life

braime goes canon but like, better. jaime says he should have died, brienne should have let him die. brienne says she’s glad he didn’t. it’s as close as she can get to a confession of feelings.

dany, realizing how loved jon is, offers jon a partnership, to lead the seven kingdoms together. jon declines, and explains that he’s never been able to choose his own destiny, but now he can, and he has a lot of thinking to do. dany respects his decision.

sansa wants the north to secede from the seven kingdoms. dany is enraged by this, and threatens to tear down winterfell. jon says that if dany does that, he will die with winterfell.

dany reluctantly accepts the secession, but threatens to one day return to winterfell and claim it. it is acknowledged that there may be a future war between the six kingdoms and the north.

sansa allows jaime to stay in winterfell. dany punishes tyrion for treason by forcing him to remain hand of the queen.

sansa is crowned queen of the north. bran is given hand of the queen. arya, gendry, jon, the hound, and ghost lead the wildlings back through the wall.

dany is crowned queen of the six kingdoms, and vows, with the help of her new council, to listen to her people and come up with a better system of rule.

i know it’s not perfect! dany being crowned queen still offers a kind of “the ends always justify the means” theme that i don’t really like, as well as the idea of royal lineage, and if i had the entire series to myself, i would have made it so that her aspirations for “liberation” were more true, and that, once she got into power, she immediately disseminated it. but also there are a lot of foundational problems with the entire premise that i can’t really fix in one season. also there are really too many characters to manage, and i may have still had dany kill more people to show her ruthlessness, but this is loosely how i would have approached a tighter ending.

#got spoilers #my fic

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princessjasminetargaryen · 6 years

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The Kidnapping Plot

Just some random opinions (as most of my opinions are) on why the Kidnapping has to happen for a Jonsa/Stargaryen ending:

I believe it would be out of character for Jon Snow and Sansa to publicly acknowledge their feelings and/or marry, even after the parentage reveal. It is still incest because they thought of each other as siblings. On that front, I agree with the antis. As much as I'd like to think Jon Snow and Sansa will claim each other, the most they would do imo is accidentally kiss each other in private, and even if that happens they would be in turmoil over it. Plus, when you look at Jon Snow's eyes when he interacts with Sansa, you see so much guilt and sadness underneath it all. If he knows her history with men, he doesn't want to add himself to the list of inappropriate suitors.

We also have the issue of Jon Snow being the heir to the Iron Throne, but having little to no interest in moving on King's Landing. His loyalty is to the North, and his home is in Winterfell. He has no connection to the Red Keep, and his Targaryen heritage isn't enough to make him want to take it. Unlike the Dragon Queen.

Sansa thinks no one will love her, and has lost her faith in heroes. Her feelings for Jon seem to be subconscious. She is constantly talking about him and wishes for him to return home, but doesn't carry the level of guilt and longing that Jon Snow does.

And Arya needs an excuse to kill Cersei. She's not going to leave as long as she and Needle are needed at Winterfell.

The Kidnapping Plot is meant to blow all of this wide open.

First, it would force Jon Snow to stop suppressing and publicly act on his feelings. He won't be okay with leaving her in King's Landing until he can make a political bargain, like Robb. He will want to save the woman he loves. And once the cat's out of the bag on that, there's no going back for him. He can't just go back to acting like a platonic brother. He'll have to tell her how he feels at that point!

But if Jon Snow heads south to get Sansa, and Cersei dies in the fallout, someone has to rule Westeros. Aegon Targaryen is the best candidate, by blood at least. I can see him getting drafted into the King position once more.

As for Sansa, she needs to learn that she has a partner that she can trust and lean on. As of now, she trusts his character and his heart, but doesn't quite trust him to keep her safe from the schemers and players of Westeros. And look, I know that the trope of a woman needing saving is played out. But Sansa has already saved Jon Snow and the Wildlings at the Battle of the Bastards. Plus, I am sure she will help scheme with Jon Snow next season to protect him from Daenerys after his parentage reveal. She has rescued and will rescue some more. It's her turn to get saved. Being rescued would be a huge gesture of love which she has not experienced.

And Arya can finally deal with Cersei. I think Arya needs to see what Sansa was dealing with in King's Landing, and avenge her father's death.

Ultimately, Cersei kidnapping Sansa would lead to the Starks taking King's Landing and starting the next ruling dynasty of Westeros. But instead of doing it for political ambition or entitlement via heritage, it would be an act of love. An act of love that would make them the best power players in Westeros.

In the end for me, it is always about Ned Stark winning the Game of Thrones. Ned Stark will see his children on the iron throne, not due to his abilities to scheme and lie, but because he taught them how to love and care for each other. When winter comes, they band together and keep each other safe.

#jonsa

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thebluelemontree · 5 years

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How do you think the show has represented Sansa's relationship with Cersei? I never once got the feeling in the books that Sansa was a mini-Cersei. I felt she saw how Cersei ruled and rejected her style of ruling utterly. The show very much has her as learning a lot from and mirroring Cersei, becoming a protégé of sorts. Would love to get your thoughts on the Sansa/Cersei depiction!

"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. -- Sansa VI, ACOK.

Sansa is definitely not a mini-Cersei. Cersei’s lesson does not ring true to her. She learned that love was the best way of ensuring loyalty at her father’s knee. She says in no uncertain terms that she would do things differently. Sansa even goes into more profound complexity with the question of how you make people love you. She looks critically at how the Tyrells use good PR and how the commons respond to it.

Sansa had watched from the castle walls as Margaery Tyrell, and her escort made their way up Aegon's High Hill. Joffrey had met his new bride-to-be at the King's Gate to welcome her to the city, and they rode side by side through cheering crowds, Joff glittering in gilded armor and the Tyrell girl splendid in green with a cloak of autumn flowers blowing from her shoulders. She was sixteen, brown-haired and brown-eyed, slender and beautiful. The people called out her name as she passed, held up their children for her blessing, and scattered flowers under the hooves of her horse. Her mother and grandmother followed close behind, riding in a tall wheelhouse whose sides were carved into the shape of a hundred twining roses, every one gilded and shining. The smallfolk cheered them as well.

The same smallfolk who pulled me from my horse and would have killed me, if not for the Hound. Sansa had done nothing to make the commons hate her, no more than Margaery Tyrell had done to win their love. -- Sansa I, ASOS

In the events leading up to the Blackwater, the Tyrells were responsible for cutting off the food supply to KL. They caused the starvation among the smallfolk that led to the bread riot, knowing that the Lannisters would be blamed and would respond to the crisis with violent suppression. Do the smallfolk know this? Nope. They only know how things look from their point of view. The Tyrells then sweep into the city handing out food to the people. Margaery, young and beautiful, is the face of their campaign. Sansa isn’t blaming the smallfolk here as if they are just fickle. They are being manipulated and exploited because they are hungry and the institutions of power had failed them. The people attacked in the riot were representations of those institutions: the High Septon, the king, a knight, and the nobility. Poor Lollys Stokeworth was as innocent as they come and she got caught in the crosshairs. Her crime was being born noble. She understands that Margaery hasn’t really done anything personally to win their love any more than Sansa had done anything personally to deserve their hatred. True loyalty that leads to overall social stability needs to be made personal, and it needs to be a genuine two-way street. Her father’s tradition of having commoners eat at the table with his family while listening to them talk about their lives is so central to the Stark children’s upbringing.

Her father used to say that a lord needed to eat with his men, if he hoped to keep them. "Know the men who follow you," she heard him tell Robb once, "and let them know you. Don't ask your men to die for a stranger." -- Arya II, AGOT.

Sansa is very much her father’s daughter too. She’s largely learning from Cersei what not to do; however, there is this interesting tidbit from TWOW sample:

"Must?" She tossed her hair, took a sip of wine, made him wait. "How can you forgive someone who is unforgiveably rude? Will you explain that to me, ser?"

Ser Harrold looked confused. "Please. One dance."

That hair toss, wine sip, and making him wait is totally a Cersei power move. Harry is asking her to dance grudgingly at the behest of Lady Anya. He absolutely loathes that he has to be polite and dance with someone so beneath him. Sansa turns the tables on him by adopting a queenly posture and turning her nose up at his insincere apology. He’s so stunned and chastened that he ends up pleading for a dance instead. As awful as Cersei can be, she’s no mealy-mouthed doormat. She’s right that she should never have to be deferential to men just because she’s a woman and expected to. While inflicting fear through violence is not a good way of dealing with people, Sansa is making Harry fear her displeasure and rejection, and it instantly makes him treat her with more respect. So, yeah I think Sansa is capable of mining some gold nuggets out her experience with Cersei while also not adopting Cersei’s values.

The show is more unclear but seems to land on the side of uncritically emulating some of what Cersei does. On the one hand, Sansa calls correctly that Cersei is still a threat and that her word cannot be trusted. On the other, as of season 8 episode 4, we have the Stark sisters seeming to think a lot like Cersei: that the world is divided into Starks and non-Starks and only Starks and their loyalists are human beings worth caring about to paraphrase a fan’s very apt description of Cersei’s core belief. I can’t believe I just wrote that... kill me. I guess the idea is that Sansa has learned from Cersei and how she thinks. Yes, Sansa has devoted herself to making sure the people are fed, sheltered, and the army is well-supplied and outfitted. Good things. Far more concerned and hands-on about these issues than Cersei ever would be. Sansa does care for the well-being of her people, but I don’t see that warmth and personal touch of inspiring love coming through on the show. Cersei is still her enemy, but she’s also willing to scheme like Cersei. We see her circling the wagons against potential allies for no good reason except self-interest and fear of losing power. That’s Cersei. You can also add Littlefinger’s influence in here too. It’s a disaster, and I hate it, so I would rather not dwell on it any longer.

#got spoilers #books versus show #cersei lannister #sansa stark #got criticism #got negativity #Anonymous

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thundersnowstorm · 6 years

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Anonymous asked: I loved your RobbxRhaenys fic! How do you think the pairing would work if Rhaegar had won? Is he a ward like Theon, is she a bastard? Do they hate each other?

(posted as a regular text post bc tumblr fucked up and i lost the original ask)

ahh nonny thank you so much!!

i actually have a whole rhaegar wins au planned out in my head (maybe i’ll write some of it at some point, first i gotta finish the crownless fic follow-up oneshot). but here’s a general run down of how robb x rhaenys might play out in this world.

under the cut since this turned out wayy longer than expected

basic premise: rhaegar kills robert at the trident and wins the war. meanwhile in king’s landing, jaime still kills aerys when his madness gets too much, or when he reveals the caches of wildfire. tywin stays carefully neutral throughout the war. upon returning to the city, rhaegar is crowned king. lyanna still dies in childbirth.

rhaenys and aegon are legitimate. show canon and i do not get along lmao. jon, the semi-acknowledged bastard of the king, is taken to winterfell to be raised because elia is not risking another blackfyre rebellion, and ned wants lyanna’s kid to be raised in her home. rhaegar is just guilt-striken enough over lyanna’s death to allow it.

jon visits king’s landing on occasion as he gets older. he and rhaegar have a weird relationship (there’s a lot of angst there, a lot of unresolved issues). jon and aegon do get along though, which everyone is secretly relieved about. it takes rhaenys longer to warm up to jon. she remembers the rebellion, she remembers how hurt her mother was when rhaegar dropped everything for lyanna. rhaenys has never quite forgiven rhaegar. eventually, with encouragement from aegon, she strikes up a tentative friendship with jon.

with lyanna, brandon and rickard dead, house stark has suffered enough and rhaegar lets them go without asking them for much more. however, robb is asked (ordered) to visit king’s landing when he gets older. everyone has suddenly realized that house stark is a much bigger power than previously thought, and it’s a good idea for the iron throne to stay on good terms with the future warden of the north.

(by contrast, jon arryn is sent to the wall at the end of the rebellion. he didn’t have the advantage of being related to the new king’s dead lover to save him. the vale is passed down to harry hardying with one of the lords acting as regent. in the stormlands, stannis bends the knee and becomes lord. he marries cersei and it is the single most entertaining marriage in westeros.)

still, despite all the work queen elia and jon connington and the rest of the small council put into repairing relations with the north, they remain very frosty. ned certainly never forgives rhaegar. he’s not about to go to war again, but he’s also never going to step foot in king’s landing again. robb grows up with a distinctly antagonistic view of the iron throne, and the belief that it’s better for the north to keep to itself and stay out of politics of the realm. still, his childhood is more or less the same as it was in canon.

rhaenys is a force to be reckoned with at court. she grew up at her mother’s elbow, learning the nuts and bolts of ruling, how everything happens behind the scenes. oberyn taught her how to fight with a dagger (same as in crownless), as well as a few tricks to suss out people’s secrets. when she visits dorne, she watches doran, compares his style of ruling to her mother’s, to her father’s. if westeros had absolute primogeniture, rhaenys would make a formidable queen. as it is, she is aegon’s number one pick for hand for when he eventually takes the throne, scandal be damned.

her circle of friends is certainly an interesting mix. myrcella baratheon (a bit older and an actual baratheon this time) and margaery tyrell are conventional ladies in waiting, but they’re also both vying for aegon’s hand. meanwhile the sand snakes are the terror of the court and oberyn thinks it’s hilarious. rhaenys thinks tyene should stop pretending to poison mace tyrell. when arianne visits - well, things can get interesting. no one can quite tell if tyrion lannister and princess rhaenys hate each other or not, but their debates are certainly fun to watch.

(hmm, maybe theon also ends up in king’s landing. robert trusted ned to watch over him in winterfell but rhaegar and ned have a very different relationship. idk where i’m going with this train of thought, but it would certainly add a new dynamic to rhaenys’s little court.)

rhaenys is not betrothed. it’s unusual, and people have started to comment on it. she is one and twenty and the most eligible woman in the land. there’s quite a bit of interest for her hand, but elia has decided that rhaenys will have a say in her marriage, and rhaegar oscillates between not caring much about the matter and toying with the idea of marrying her to aegon, in the old tradition. rhaenys has told him that if he even tries to marry them, she will elope with the first man she can find and wouldn’t that be quite the scandal? so rhaenys remains unmarried.

(the biggest difference in rhaenys here from rhaenys in the crownless fic is that here, rhaenys knows power. not only was she born into power but she has grown into it as well. she will do her duty to her family and the realm, but she will not sacrifice her own happiness unless there is no other choice. as practical as she is, marriage alliances are off the table.)

this is a lot of setup to get to robb and rhaenys making out but bear with me lol.

robb goes to king’s landing shortly after turning eighteen upon request (summons) from the throne, accompanied by catelyn, sansa, and arya. it’s skirting on rude for ned not to come, but rhaegar lets it slide. he’s lyanna’s brother, and there’s a lot that rhaegar feels guilty about concerning lyanna. anyway, it’s robb’s second time in king’s landing, but the first time he’d been fourteen and rhaenys had hardly noticed him. now though, there’s a bit of “oh shit he’s hot now” before robb makes it clear he’s only here out of obligation. then rhaenys decides that there’s no reason for the two of them to interact and that is that.

(or is it, asks the author in a leading tone.)

so really, there’s no reason for robb and rhaenys to speak to each other. rhaenys is busy with a discrepancy in taxes coming from the vale, and robb is busy trying to avoid southroners at all costs. but circumstances bring them together somehow. maybe there’s a conspiracy afoot, and they have to work together to stop it. maybe rhaenys is forced to show robb around the keep. or maybe rhaenys finds the quiet of the godswood peaceful and robb keeps coming across her there.

“this isn’t a real godswood. not without a proper weirwood heart tree, like the ones in the north.” “mayhaps you can show me a proper godswood someday, my lord.”

really, they have nothing in common, there’s nothing they should have to talk about, but rhaenys finds robb’s frank honesty refreshing after all the double talk at court, and robb thinks she’s probably the cleverest woman he knows. somewhere along the line they become each other’s refuge from all the politics and mistrust of king’s landing.

there’s a feast one day, celebrating some important occasion or whatnot. and there’s dancing and mead, and rhaenys can’t remember the last time she had this much fun. she and robb slip away into the gardens to cool off in the night air and well. rhaenys will blame it on a few too many cups of dornish red but robb’s lips fit perfectly against hers and he tastes like cinammon.

robb panics. this is the princess he is kissing, daughter of the king who brought so much pain upon his family. gods this is jon’s sister, and robb’s father always told him to behave honorably towards women and the thoughts he’s having are certainly not honorable. so robb runs.

rhaenys is furious. well, really she’s embarrassed but anger is easier. for the next week or so she is a nightmare to be around. not that she’d admit to anyone that she’s in a bad mood. meanwhile, robb is moping and hiding from everyone and probably spending most of his time sparring.

jon, who isn’t blind and is absolutely done with them, practically forces robb to talk to rhaenys. he doesn’t care what happened, he just wants the two of them to get over themselves and stop being so insufferable. also rhaenys made one of the goldcloaks cry and no one quite knows how that happened.

so they talk. and robb apologizes for kissing her, which rhaenys is quick to tell him is absolutely ridiculous, she’s the one who initiated it and besides, it was just a kiss.

well, that one kiss turns into quite a few more.

there aren’t really words for what they are to each other. if she were anyone else, robb would probably ask for her hand, but she’s the princess of the realm, not some petty lord’s daughter. and rhaenys doesn’t want to think about putting a label on them, because that would mean thinking about how the two of them fit in the future. and since they aren’t betrothed and king’s landing isn’t dorne, no one can know about their…. whatever.

then rhaegar starts bringing up the subject of rhaenys’s betrothal again. aegon isn’t on the table, since he and margaery tyrell are all but promised to each other at last, but perhaps willas tyrell would do, or maybe harry hardyng in the vale. lady paramount is a perfectly acceptable role for the sister to the future king.

(robb isn’t mentioned as an option. he might be of the right status, but relations between ned and rhaegar are still quite frosty, and the realm still doesn’t quite see the north as equal to the southern kingdoms.)

rhaenys knows, intellectually, that she must marry someday. and really, willas tyrell and harry hardyng are just suggestions. she could always look for a second son for a husband, so she could stay in king’s landing. but she doesn’t want to marry a stranger, and she doesn’t want to leave the city, and the only person she can think of is her cousin quentyn, and arianne would kill her if she married quent.

robb learns about the discussions for rhaenys’s hand from rumors floating around the court. and really, he shouldn’t care who rhaenys marries, it’s not like they’re anything more than good friends who kiss sometimes. or at least, that’s what he tries to tell himself.

he’s not very good at convincing himself.

“marry me,” robb blurts out. rhaenys stops dead in her tracks. “what?”

rhaenys says no. winterfell is about as far as it gets from king’s landing, and she does not wish to be sent away to a frozen wasteland where she knows close to nobody. there is so much she can do at court, so much change she could help affect, and she cannot do that in the north.

she explains this all to robb and he shrugs. “we could stay in the south.”

rhaenys is not often surprised. this makes it twice today that she has been struck speechless.

robb does not like court, as she is quick to remind him.

“no, but i like you.”

they talk late into the night. the sun is starting to peek out behind the treeline when rhaenys says yes.

(the issue was not that she did not wish to marry robb. quite the opposite. but if she is to be a part of the politics of realm, she cannot do so effectively in winterfell all the time. so they talk, and debate, and eventually a plan is drawn up for where they will reside.)

of course, this is all dependent on rhaegar and ned accepting. robb’s time in king’s landing is drawing to a close, and so he returns to winterfell to ask for his father’s permission. rhaenys goes to talk to rhaegar and elia.

rhaegar is surprised, to say the least. elia, who has been quietly watching her daughter’s flirtation-turned-courtship for the past months, is not. in the end, the discussion is rather short. robb stark is heir to one of the great houses, and the iron throne desperately needs better relations with the north. there’s little to oppose.

ned, on the other hand, is more reluctant to bind the starks to the royal family so officially. he loves his nephew dearly, but he cannot forget the circumstances under which jon was born. but robb seems to care for this southron princess, and catelyn is right, they cannot try to stay out of southron politics forever.

robb and rhaenys are married in the godswood at riverrun, halfway between their families’ castles. for the wedding of a royal princess and the heir to the north, it’s a surprisingly lowkey affair. but robb hardly notices much other than rhaenys, resplendent in dornish silks, and rhaenys for once lets herself forget about the politics and the future, and just lets robb lead her around in a sloppy rendition of the bear and the maiden fair.

(robb is not a great dancer, but he is definitely an enthusiastic one. rhaenys thinks it’s charming.)

it isn’t easy all the time. splitting time between winterfell and king’s landing means endless amounts of travelling, and they aren’t always in the same kingdom together. there are fights, and long nights working, and sometimes the politics at court get to be too much for both of them, but for all their differences, robb and rhaenys love each other. and maybe that’s all that’s needed.

god this got long, and this is really only a sketch of what that scenario would look like. maybe i’ll write a proper fic for this universe sometime, we’ll see.

thanks again anon!

#rhaenys targaryen #robb stark #asoiaf au #asks #anonymous #asoiaf #sara writes stuff #asoiafrare #robb x rhaenys #my headcanons

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ssentiwsavonej · 5 years

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Game of Thrones: Battle of Winterfell Dead Pool

*mostly conjecture, but spoiler warning to cover bases*

Ok, so: after watching 8.02, I’ve been thinking a lot about the looming largest battle sequence out to film, and obviously given the happy moments in the lead-up, a lot of our faves are gonna bite it next week. So I wanted to put my thoughts to paper, as it were, and talk about the major players, where they’ll be, and what could happen to them.

Jon Snow

Location: atop Winterfell battlements, then eventually in the thick of it, because Jon

Outcome: ALIVE. C’mon, I barely have to say anything here. Jon Snow/Aegon Targaryen is far to pivotal to the titular game to die here. Plus he’s gotta sort things out with his girlfriend/aunt Daenerys. Speaking of...

Daenerys Targaryen

Location: based on previews, she’s gonna be all over Winterfell: atop the battlements, viewing the battle from afar in the nearby hills, and even in the TOTALLY 100% SAFE NOT-AT-ALL DANGEROUS CRYPTS

Outcome: ALIVE. Literally same reasons above. She’s key to the Game and she’s gotta deal with Jon’s poorly timed bomb drop. Plus she’s gotta survive here to potentially become a villain herself down the way as the Mad Queen/Night Queen

Ghost

Location: probably three feet from Jon at any given moment

Outcome: DEAD. “Whaaaat? You mean they’d really bring Ghost back for five seconds this week, just to kill him next week???” You’re goddamn right they would! And for a very utilitarian reason that every major crew member has said many times over: those Direwolves are hella expensive to make (somehow more so than dragons? I’m guessing because they still have to use live wolves, so getting the animal to behave just so, and then enlarge them in post is likely a bigger pain than straight CGI? Anywho...) so Ghost is gonna be badass and rip some throats out, probably save some asses, and then get the shit wrecked out of him like Summer did.

Sansa Stark

Location: She’s gonna be in an interesting spot, too bold to hide in the crypts, but not a fighter. So she’s gonna probably try (and fail) to stay high and dry.

Outcome: ALIVE. I don’t have as strong an argument for her survival, but I just have a feeling. She didn’t have any serious revelations or resolutions in 8.02, aside from flirting/fighting with Dany, so her death wouldn’t be AS heartbreaking as some others.

Arya Stark

Location: in the battle with her new weapon, though also from previews she ends up in the crypts (and looking fucking terrified)

Outcome: DEAD. It hurts to say this, but Arya is very likely going to be done saying “Not today” to the God of Death. She banged the hell out of Gendry KNOWING THIS COULD BE HER LAST NIGHT ON THIS PLANET, and ignoring that cardinal cliche, something in the crypts is going to scare her shitless, and to do that to Arya, it’s gotta be something BAD (more on that later) **EDIT: I also think her death next week would go down as the ultimate prank, because when she went on Jimmy Fallon and “accidentally” let loose a spoiler as an April Fool’s joke, the (supposedly) fake spoiler was that Arya died in episode 3. What greater troll could there be than her fake spoiler not being fake at all?

Bran Stark

Location: in the Godswood, seated in the perfect spot to make awkward eye contact with the Night King

Outcome: ALIVE? The situation with Bran and the Night King is interesting, and undoubtedly won’t be as cut-and-dry as “two men enter, one man leaves.” Like, obvious the Night King ain’t going down here, but I feel like the Three-Eyed Raven is too cosmically important to not survive this. So I feel like if/when these two meet, it may not end in death, but change of some sort. (If the Night King even shows! Speaking of...)

Night King

Location: outside Winterfell *MAYBE*

Outcome: ALIVE (generally speaking). As I said before, the Night King is too big a deal to go down here without more of Westeros dealing with him first. So if Bran’s plan works, something more nuanced is gonna go down in the Godswood. But here’s the thing: what if the Night King isn’t even here? In the preview we see a line of White Walkers on horseback, seemingly in the lead position of the army. But no Night King, no Viserion. He knows where Bran is, so he’s in no rush; what if he’s taken his dragon (and some of the army) on past Winterfell, marching instead directly on King’s Landing? Bran had previously seen a vision of a dragon’s shadow darkening the skies of King’s Landing - what if this was the Night King, not Daenerys?

Theon Greyjoy

Location: in the Godswood with Bran and the Ironborn (aka the bait)

Outcome: DEAD. Theon has had a very very strong arc over this show: we’ve liked him, hated him, felt beyond bad for him, and then grew to care for him again. But with this week and Sanaa’s hug, his arc is complete. Plus, if the Night King does show, he’s at GROUND. ZERO. He’s fucking toast mate.

Jaime Lannister

Location: on the flank with Brienne and Podrick

Outcome: ALIVE. Our second-favorite Lannister has had a lot of character development (which usually means a tombstone), and he’s not a super capable fighter on a dangerous fucking part of the field with Brienne. Despite all of that, the Kingslayer’s probably gonna see the other side of this battle, because he’s gotta A) deal with Bronn coming for him and Tyrion, and B) fulfill the prophecy Cersei has obsessed over and be the “little brother” that kills her.

Tyrion Lannister

Location: In the completely ironclad safe crypts

Outcome: ALIVE. I’m gonna talk more about the crypts later on separately, because it’s gonna get a bit contradictory. Obviously the crypts aren’t safe, but there are a solid couple of charcters down there that I think will make it out. Tyrion’s safety is twofold: A) they made all that fuss of everyone, especially Jorah, telling Dany that Tyrion should remain her Hand. That would be a lot of wasted runtime if he dies here, and B) like his brother, Tyrion currently has a former traveling buddy coming for him with a crossbow, and Game of Thrones is known for many things, anticlimax not being one of them.

Samwell Tarly

Location: on the battlements, ready to go balls-out, apparently.

Outcome: ALIVE. Despite Sam being a not-at-all capable fighter, I think he’s going to live by simple fact that somebody has to finish that book at the Citadel about the history of Westeros to present day (and totally title it A Song of Ice and Fire), but he’s also gonna have to do some mourning of his own...

Gillie

Location: those ironclad crypts of solitude

Outcome: DEAD. Gillie and Sam has their happy moment, and frankly, Sam is more important than her. So she’s gonna die, and to distract himself from the grieving process, Sam is gonna lock himself away in the Citadel to finish that damn book.

Jorah Mormont

Location: probably protecting Dany, then breaking off at some point when it goes to shit

Outcome: DEAD. Jorah’s has quite a ride, in and out of the friend zone with Dany from the beginning, and as of now he’s accepted his place and even gone to bat for Tyrion as the better man for his job. Couple that with his reunion with his family, and Sam passing on his family sword to him, and Jorah is going down swinging (and those swings are probably gonna save Sam’s ass, because it would be poetic to save the man who gave him the sword)

Sandor “The Hound” Clegane

Location: in battle somewhere (ideally far from fire, if he had his way)

Outcome: ALIVE. Though the Hound has solid development and actual dimension as a character this week, he’s gonna see it through for one simple reason: CLEGANEBOWL! This is something book fans AND show fans have been teased with for years, and this battle is likely the last hurdle between the Hound and burning his undead brother right the fuck back.

Varys

Location: the crypts, because lol at the idea of Varys fighting and not hedging his bets

Outcome: DEAD? I was more certain of his survival initially, because come onnn it’s Varys! The Spider played things in the shadows better than Littlefinger, and always knows how to avoid the God of Death. However, since my first thoughts, I was reminded that Melisandre mysteriously told him he would die in Westeros. So, the crypts could likely become his tomb.

Gendry

Location: swinging a big ass hammer somewhere, no doubt.

Outcome: ALIVE. I debated on Gendry’s survival for a bit, considering he was recruit to smith, and he did his smithing (not to mention the horror movie trope of “you fuck, you’re fucked.”) However, I think he’ll see it through just because he’s still Robert Baratheon’s son, and could therefore complicate the line of succession for the Iron Throne once Cersei is finally knocked off.

SER Brienne of Tarth

Location: on the flank with Jaime and Podrick

Outcome: DEAD. Also painful, but after this week, the writing is on the wall is tears and giant’s milk for our favorite honorable knight. She is officially a knight of the seven kingdoms, saved Jaime’s ass from a barbecue, and noted that she’s fulfilled all of her oaths. She’s going down, but she’s not gonna go down easy (probably going to be the reason Jaime survives).

Podrick Payne

Location: on the flank with Brienne

Outcome: DEAD. Pod’s golden pipes and magic cock can’t save him here. He’s noticeably better with a sword now, but even Brienne said he’s not there yet. Plus he got to sing that song to the drunk sharing circle. Pod’s going down, and I’m betting he’ll be one of the first.

Grey Worm

Location: in the battlefield somewhere nasty

Outcome: DEAD. Not much to say here: Grey Worm promised to take Missandei away after the battle, wherever she wanted, and they can be happy on a beach. He may as well have said he’s two weeks from retirement.

Missandei

Location: the danged ol’ crypts man. Can’t say much else here without repetition.

Outcome: ALIVE. This is by a razor-thin margin in my head, but everyone’s favorite translator is going to live for one reason and one reason alone: she’s the perfect candidate to cry over Grey Worm’s body after the dust settles. Because let’s be honest: they made the cardinal mistake of talking about their futures, so (at least) one of them gotta die, and Grey Worm is a soldier on the field.

Dolorous Edd

Location: atop the battlements, for now anyway.

Outcome: Edd’s DEAD, baby. He survived the wall coming down, made it back to warn his friends, and hugged it out. Jon said it himself: the Night’s Watch has no purpose now, meaning Edd has nothing to be Lord Commander of. His watch is ending next week.

Tormund Giantsbane

Location: somewhere in the thick of it, with a belly full of giant’s milk

Outcome: WILD CARD. Honestly, I couldn’t peg down Tormund, and it’s just because he’s so damn bonkers. Like, he survived the wall, and we got more insight to his (alleged) upbringing, and his surprisingly liberal ideals when it came to Brienne’s status, which could spell death. But he’s just such a crazy bastard that if anyone could defy the writing on the wall, it’s him.

Davos Seaworth

Location: on the battlefield, giving everyone a good what for

Outcome: DEAD. He’s had a good run, but it’s time to say goodbye to our dear Onion Knight. He said it himself: he’s been through a lot of battles and he’s not even sure how he’s made it. He’s been a mentor, but they’ve all gotta spread their wings, plus he had those moments with the reluctant militiamen and the adorable Shireen stand-in. He’s going out like a damn champ.

Beric Dondarrion

Location: somewhere out there with his medieval lightsaber

Outcome: WILD CARD. I couldn’t pin down Beric because he’s in a very unique position: Rhllor the Lord of Light has brought him back from the dead 13 times. Despite his weapon being covered in something very effective against the undead, there’s no doubt he’ll fall in battle. My question is: which side will he fight for when he gets back up? The Lord of Light could bring him back, but the White Walkers also have a knack for putting corpses back on their feet. Or even crazier, will he become some sort of halfbreed, with tht eyepatch covering a glowing blue eye? (Probably not, but it’s a fun idea)

Lyanna Mormont

Location: the front? The crypts? I don’t know, she does what she wants.

Outcome: WILD CARD. I’m leaning slightly towards the dead end of the scale with Lyanna, because despite how sharp her tongue is and how big her balls are, she’s still a small child fighting an army of zombies. She’s a badass and could make it, but she’s a child and could just as easily eat it.

Bronn

Location: somewhere between King’s Landing and Winterfell

Outcome: WILD CARD. I can’t even say if Bronn will show up for this battle, but we do know he’s on his way with a big ass crossbow called “poetic justice” (according to Cersei). So he totally could show up and off one or both Lannister brothers while they’re distracted by zombies, or he could learn the true meaning of friendship and forsake the money to help out. And possibly die saving them. Or he won’t even make it there until afterwards. Who knows here man.

Now, a little more on the crypts, and why they gave me problems. So, they put the non-combatants and the children in the crypts, because it’s underground and by all accounts, safe. However, sollowing cinematic rules of foreshadowing, repetition is the surest sign that something’s important. EVERYBODY said the crypts are safe, repeatedly. Couple that with the shots of a very frightened Arya running from something, and it’s shaping up to be bad news bears down there. Many have guessed it, but for the sake of thoroughness, here’s the issue: the crypt is full of DEAD STARKS, and we all know how fond the White Walkers are of raising the dead. Provided they’ve got the range, Arya could be facing down the dead wearing the faces of her family. And given that, we could figure who it’s likely going to be. Ned is headless (plus it’s been mentioned that his bones were returned, implying there’s not much to bury), Robb is also headless and possibly not even buried in the family crypt, considering his body was paraded around on horseback with his wolf stitched onto his neck, so aside from ancient Starks, that leaves two candidates: Rickon (which, let’s be real, nobody cares about him and he’s not that intimidating either), and Catelyn. We don’t know if she made it to the crypts either (because Red Wedding), but she’s the strongest candidate for a truly unsettling foe for Arya, as well as an in-point for the TV show to introduce a skewed and twisted interpretation of Lady Stoneheart from the books into the show.

So yeah, with this information the Crypts could have a much higher principle death toll, but I think Arya being in the crypts sets up a heroic sacrifice scenario where she can ensure the other (important) people get out alive.

With a score of 11 - 11 - 4 the Battle of Winterfell is shaping up to be a potential Thanos Snap for our cast of characters next week. I can’t say how right or wrong I am on this, but this is the most thought I’ve put into predicting character deaths since Negan whistled his way onto the Walking Dead. So regardless, I’m excited to revisit this after the episode goes up on Sunday!

#game of thrones #winterfell #got spoilers #spoilers #dead pool #got s8 #got predictions #battle of winterfell

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balerios-blog · 5 years

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Season 4 , Ep 8 thoughts

Before I begin I want to say that the issues that I have is with the writing and what I feel is an extremely poor direction the show as a whole has been through for quite some time now. I do not like Game of Thrones as a show, but I do not have issues with those who choose to portray their muse based on show events. I am going to handle it is based on characters (Jon, Sansa, Daenerys, Missandei, Jaime, Brienne and Cersei):

Brienne: Definitely deserve better treatment than what she received and I do not think I can properly put into words how angry I am for her.

Jaime: My issue with Jaime and his behavior last night is his actions contradicts this ‘redemption arc’, which is extremely confusing. What he did to Brienne is typical fuck boy shit and I am not happy with it. Killing Cersei better be worth the pain he caused Brienne.

Cersei: My main issue with Cersei as a character on this show is how her behavior is always justified, but Dany is labeled as ‘mad’ or ‘power hungry’ for doing the same thing Cersei is. The double standard is unacceptable and for the last eight seasons I have been wondering where is all the ‘mad queen’ energy for Cersei? I want to touch her treatment of Missandei, but I am going to save that.

Sansa: Up until this season, I really have not paid Sansa much attention. My main issue with Sansa and how she is being written is how volatile she is. This post pretty much sums up how feelings with Sansa and I find her behavior to be unacceptable. Jon told her something (which I will get to because he should have kept his fucking mouth shut like Daenerys told him to) and instead of keeping her brother’s confidence, the FIRST thing she did was run and tell Varys and Tyrion. Her behavior only confirm what Dany was trying to warn Jon about in the first place. She has made it VERY clear to me that her only intention is to ensure Dany does not sit on the Iron Throne; her exact reason for being so hostile to Dany honestly have NO IDEA AND SOMEONE NEEDS TO EXPLAIN IT TO ME! Sansa and Dany have similar stories and considering how Cersei is a common enemy to them, being an ally would have made more sense.

Jon Aegon: I have no fucking clue what is up with Aegon Stargaryen. His behavior, how he is treating Dany is so extremely frustrating and hurtful to watch. He turned his back to her, ignored her plea of keeping his secret and now it clear he has decided to abandon Daenerys all together. For Jon to do this considering how much Dany has lost and sacrifice for him makes my blood boil. In addition, the question I need someone to answer for me is what was his intention of telling Sansa and Arya when he DOES NOT WANT THE IRONE THRONE? JON DOES NOT WANT THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, SO WHY TAKE THAT AWAY FROM DAENERYS I CANNOT UNDERSTAND. In addition, his treatment of Ghost was so heart breaking, and for D&D deciding to throw away Jon’s characterization and give him something he does not even want is ridiculous. I am not expecting much from Jon next week.

Daenerys: As someone who has fought Show! Dany’s characterization since the very beginning, having such a change of heart is crazy. The last two seasons Daenerys has soften and let her guard down. She surrounded herself my people she believed were good council and would help her achieve her life’s goal of taking back the Iron Throne. Her plan was set and everything was going, as she wanted – until she met Jon. Meeting Jon changed a lot for Dany; she put her war on Cersei on hold and followed Jon back to The North with Drogon, Rhaegal (Visierion died as she saved Jon from the Night King and the White Walkers) and her armies to fight in what she believed was right. She did not want to just save the North; to save Westeros from the NK and protect her people. When she arrived to Winterfell Daenerys was met with such hostilities and mistrust from everyone; Sansa using any chance she had to be snarky to Daenerys as if she did something to her. Dany wanted to prove she was not her father, she wanted to help the people and you would think after losing the Dothraki, a vast portion of the Unsullied and her most trusted and beloved advisor that would have been enough.

But of fucking course, it was not.

Instead of thanking Daenerys for the sacrifices she had made for the North, she was met with even more disrespect and isolation. While Tormund was praising Jon for riding on Rhaegal (like he wasn’t beyond the wall with Jon and she also said his fucking life), all I could think of was where was Dany’s congratulations when she was the reason her dragons were present in the first place? I cannot even imagine how alone she must have felt and the only person who knew how to comfort her was gone. She BEGGED Aegon not to say anything to anyone about his true identify and what did he do? After everything Daenerys has loss for him, Aegon decides to betray her trust to people HE KNOWS are plotting against her. She tells him she loves him and he has nothing to say to her. The North as a whole made it very clear they had no interest in helping her and so Dany went out on her own and once again lost. Missandei and Rhaegal were losses I do not think Dany will be able to recover from. Their deaths will culminate for Dany not taking any more shit and more importantly, being so angry with herself because she knew she should have followed her gut. She should not have given Tyrion so many chances, not to trust Varys and of course to follow Jon to the North. Dany should have went directly to the Red Keep the moment she came to Westeros and everything would have been over. However, of course she cannot do anything without being called the “Mad Queen’ or threating to be too consume with power. D&D have zero clue how to properly write female characters; a woman in power should not be perceived as negative. A woman should not have to experience tragedy and be the stepping-stone for a man to achieve his purpose. It is this kind of misogynistic writing that has repelled me from the show for so long and I HATE how this is it ends for Daenerys. It is not fair her entire series arc is just being used to propel Aegon forward; I am so angry by this.

Missandei: My heart is so heavy still for my beautiful butterfly daughter. I knew that she was going to die, but the brutality of it has made so angry I doubt I will watch another episode of this show. As a woman of color myself, I can identify with how Missandei felt during her time in the North. To see people they do not look like you do is always uncomfortable, but from a young age, we are taught to make the best any situation. However, to be treated so horribly, to have people look down upon you because you are different is so damn hurtful Missandei was uncomfortable and clearly separated from Daenerys for the majority of their time in the North. During the battle of Winterfell being in the catacombs with said people and having to listen to someone JUDGE the person you know has given up everything to be there is frustrating.

Especially when it is someone, you believe in and know that their efforts are being completely disregarded.

She believes in her Queen, Missandei knew if she wanted to leave and no longer be by Dany’s side, she would have let her go without any questions. This loyalty and love for Dany is what ultimately leads to Missandei’s death; a prisoner in chains to a woman who viciously murdered her just prove a fucking point. D&D did not consider Missandei as a WOC who spent the majority of her life in slavery would be HUMLIATED by dying in chains. She did not deserve to die; they did not need to kill her so savagely for the shock factor. People gave Daenerys so much shit for killing the Tarlys, but I have not seen the same energy for Cersei who killed someone completely innocent.

Overall, I am drained from the inconsistencies and shit characterization from D&D. The sad thing is my expectations were so low for this season and for them not even to hit par says a lot. I am so done with a show I cannot even began to describe. I just want everyone to die and I hope Daenerys burns KH to the fucking ground.

Fuck everything at this point.

#got spoilers #☼ ▒ : [OOC] - DOM THE GENEROUS QUEEN

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thelivesoftargaryens · 6 years

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Tagged by @chillyravenart . This looks like a fun challenge so thanks for the tag :)

Rules: Answer the 10 questions below. Then make up 10 of your own for the next person to answer, and tag people.

1. What are your top 3 favorite houses in Westeros?

Well... Of course the Targaryens are my all time faves, but the Velaryons come a close second, and i’ve always loved the Martells. (Sorry I just have to add in the Daynes here too!)

2. If you could live during one era in GRRM’s universe, what era would it be? (Age Of Heroes, Valyrian empire, Conquest of Westeros, Dance Of Dragons, etc.)

As much as i’m the biggest fan of the Valyrian empire... They’d most likely have me as a slave (But let’s hope i’d be born into one of the ruling families and get to have a lil’ dragon of my own :) ) I will have to say The Dance Of Dragons though, because even though i’d probs not be highborn enough to get within Daemon’s vicinity, a little bird told me he liked to hang out in Flea Bottom too, so i’d most likely search this badass up and just ask him to adopt me or take me to wife, mistress... whatever works for him. Y’know, I ain’t picky-- Just make it happen.

3. What is your favorite episode/scene from the Game of Thrones series?

My favorite episode will have to be when Dany is in THOTU to retreive her stolen children and she sees all these forebordings. My favorite scene is stuck between the scene in the same episode where Dany meets Drogo again and Rhaego (it just hurts the soul, man.) and the scene where Bran tells sam that Jon is Rhaegar’s son.

4. What ruler do you think brought the most change in Westeros, be it good or bad?

This is one tough cookie, but i’ll have to say Fat Aegon (aka Aegon the unworthy, Aegon the fourth) Because this absolutely thick, dumb fool thought it would be a great idea to legitimize all of his bastards and then fuck up the line of succession, leading to oh, so many rebellions and wars. Absolutely idiotic.

Honorable mentions go out to Viserys I, the one who couldn’t make up his fucking mind and declare the heir who’d be succeeding him once and for all, and Jaehaerys (father of Aerys) Who thought it would be a great idea to marry his son and daughter to each other, because some randy dwarf that his brother’s peasant wife had brought to court (thinking it was a child of the forest) said so. (No hate to Jenny though, she seemed swell) Though I can’t say that I wouldn’t have seen Aerys and Rhaella wed, because then we wouldn’t have gotten Rhaegar the hot sad boi™️

5. If you could ask GRRM one question, what would it be?

Ugh... I have so many, yet now I can barely think of any. I won’t ask the obvious but I would ask ‘’Why is it so dangerous to travel to Valyria after the doom and why did so many go missing?’’ It was trademarked like we’d get to know this in Fire & Blood, but either I must have completely missed it or it was fake advertising hmmm.... I still want to know, i’d love to know more of the Valyrian freehold.

6. If GRRM could write a short novel/series about one other family or historical time (besides the Targaryens) in this universe, what would you want it to be about?

Personally, I’d want it to be about the Daynes and how they gained their Valyrian features (silver gold hair and purple eyes) without being of any kin to the old Valyrians and Targs. (I know Maekar married Dyanna Dayne but their kids didn’t marry back into the Daynes, so they didn’t gain the features from that one wedding.) It would also explain why Dawn is such a badass, superior sword (even toward Valyrian steel.)

7. What was your first introduction to ASOIAF/ Game of Thrones? Did someone tell you about it, did you see it online or did you come across it at a store/shop)

Well... I first came across the series after it was broadcasted on TV and my dad told me that Tywin hated Tyrion, though more of a direct quote would be ‘’Look at this show, that one hates his son who’s a dwarf.’’ And then I binged it all but forgot about it for a few years. Then I randomly started to watch it again after it was hyped up, but i’d say I discovered the series like 5 years ago.

The books came a little later, however and It was during a Swedish class that I discovered the book (we had quiet reading time and i’d forgotten my book, so I got to choose a random one and thought ‘A Game Of Thrones ‘ looked interesting. It was in swedish though and I only read Dany’s chapters because she was the only character that I knew for sure, who she was.

After reading her chapters, I forced my friend to come with me to the library and I borrowed all of the books and read them during the summer.

Fun fact: After I finished them all (circa 6 months) I began rereading them again because so much had passed since the first book and I for some reason wanted to jog my memory. This was around 2-3 years ago.

8. What was the one thing that bothers you about GRRM’s series?

As @chillyravenart put it, the women dying in childbirth all the time irks me a bit, because i’d wanted characters such as Laena Velaryon and Joanna Lannister to have lived and even though dying in childbed was common back in the days... That the child they’d birthed almost always died, seems a bit overused too.

9. What’s the one thing you unbashedly love about GRRM’s series?

The Targaryens and Valyrians beeetch. I’m a sucker for that light hair and purple eyes (and inhumanly sexy, might I add, features.) They’re basically gods to me. Yet I love how he also shows us the rawness of characters and the human heart in conflict... There’s not really black or white, a lot of things come in varying shades of grey (except like Joffrey, fuck that little shit) and I love the way he describes everything, it’s all sex, sweat and regret--Passion, heartbreak and the ugliness of war.

10. What are your feelings about the prequel series in development at HBO right now for the Long Night?

Unpopular opinion, but i’m not tooo excited. I mean i’ll watch it but I really wanted one about the Valyrian freehold. I’m still hoping for it though. The long night ain’t really my cuppa’ tea.

Now for @chillyravenart ‘s questions...

1. Which Westerosi castle would you like to live in?

Hard question but i’m stuck between Dragonstone and Starfall. Probably Starfall since Dragonstone would be a little too cold and damp for my taste.

2. Would you rather be a rich and influential lord, born into wealth and privelege, or would you rather be someone who wields power from the sidelines, like littlefinger?

Tbh i’d probably like to be born as a rich lord because life just seems to be easier if you’re already at the top... Idk if i’d be clever enough to be as smart as littlefinger lol. Make me a Targaryen princess and i’ll be content.

3. Pick one: Platinum hair or purple eyes?

This is a really tough one but definitely purple eyes. I can just color my hair platinum but purple eyes are rare and ethereal and I just love them sksksk.

4. Based on a tag I made once, based on your physical features, which part of Westeros/which house do you belong to?

I’d probably say the Martells.

5. Who do you think will actually defeat the Night King?

Oh, a hard one. Probably Daenerys and the other two unknown dragonriders. In the series; Jon and Dany.

6. Three people you think will die in season 8?

Tyrion, Cersei and Euron.

7. What would you name your dragon/direwolf?

Well I’d probably name my dragon something like ‘’Valerion’’ and my direwolf would probably be ‘’Viséa’’ idk why lol.

8. How must Ser Pounce be avenged?

Do what Cersei did to Ser Pounce, twice to her. Honestly reading the articles about Ser Pounce’s death was horrible for me, since my favorite animal are cats. I’d make Cersei suffer.

9. Whose POV chapters are your favorite?

Dany’s are a hard favorite but Cersei’s come a close second. I always fancied Arianne’s chapters, too.

10. Your favorite ASOIAF/GOT antagonist?

Don’t lynch me but I love me some Viserys. *Shouts from the rooftops, hidden behind a bench* He was misunderstood, okay?

Here are my own questions; Sorry if they’re shit in advance haha.

1. What do you think about Arthur Dayne?

2. Do you think Rhaegar truly loved Lyanna, or was he fueled quite a bit by his obsession for the prophecy of TPTWP?

3. Why do you think Ashara Dayne killed herself?

4. Do you believe that Young Griff is the real son of Rhaegar and Elia Martell, or a fake?

5. What do you think will happen to Daenerys in season 8?

6. What are your thoughts on Cersei?

7. Do you think Tyrion will betray Daenerys in season 8?

8. Who do you want to sit atop the iron throne and rule the seven kingdoms?

9. List your top 5 characters and a short explanation to why.

10. Thoughts on Fire & Blood?

I don’t really know who to nominate so i’m nominating random people I follow, sorry lol. @mhysaofdragons @eliaamartell @where-is-the-winds-of-winter @rhaegardaily @wolvesofspring @ladyofdragonstone

And... I hope whoever reads this found my answers mildly interesting, even though no one will probably see it. Also, Tis my first post. YAY!

#asoiaf #targaryen #house velaryon #valyria #house dayne #house martell #housetargaryen #asongoficeandfire #GRRM #challenge #thelongnight

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obsidianarchives · 5 years

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Game of Thrones Recap: S8E4 - "The Last of the Starks"

Didn’t we almost have it all? At the moment I’m not sure I’m talking about the episode, this season, or (if you really want to get spicy) the first four seasons of the series, but this show started off SO WELL and then devolved into an unfounded attack on everything I love and believe in. We’re back to split locations this week so let’s get into it, and trust we’ll be discussing that ending. TW: There is brief discussion about the use of rape as a narrative tactic in the “Winterfell” section.

Winterfell

The episode picks up right where we left off last week as the survivors of the Great War bid farewell to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for loss. As much as I’ve never seen it for either of them, Daenerys’s sadness over Jorah — her first friend and a man (for all his MANY faults) who was a constant throughout her adult life — and Sansa tearfully placing a Stark pin on Theon’s corpse were touching and earned conclusions of their character journeys. But there’s still no country for slave traders and child murderers so, bye!

Leading the ceremony, Jon puts some bass in his voice, does his best Captain America impression, and delivers the most impassioned and leaderly speech we’ve heard from him yet as he modifies the Night’s Watch farewell to begin lighting the pyres of fallen heroes outside the castle. Ramin Djawadi put his foot all the way in the score on this scene as we see just how much the fight took out of the survivors. All of our main characters are bruised and bloody, poor Ghost lost an ear, and Rhaegal has holes in his wings and is still too weak to fly without a bit of a hook. Everyone needs a drink.

And what an after party it is! Gendry suffers through awkward dinner conversations with his girlfriend’s father (we’ll get there) the Hound while he awaits Arya who’s a no-show at the feast. Daenerys sees him and takes the opportunity to note that he’s the unknown bastard son of a King. For a moment, I thought she was trying to make a point to Jon about the validity or lack thereof about his claim to the throne, but she instead legitimizes Gendry and proclaims him Lord of the Baratheon’s old seat of Storm’s End. By raising up the former blacksmith she not only installs a Lord Paramount of the Stormlands forever loyal to her, creating allies she desperately needs, she also buries another potential claimant against her crown.

For some reason Sansa is confused and disgusted by this and Tyrion clocks it but says nothing. As the drinking continues, Dany realizes how isolated she truly is as she listens to Jon be toasted by Tormund, a Kobe stan during a LeBron James championship parade. Instead of being a proud aunt towards her baby dragon riding nephew, Queen Daenerys sees how little she is loved by the Westorosi, an awakening that began with her witnessing Lord Royce and Theon’s admiration for Sansa earlier this season. Lurking dramatically behind her and observing all of this is, of course, Varys because he stays in the mess.

Ser Brienne, Podrick, and the Lannister brothers are playing Tyrion’s drinking game where they guess facts about each other, which is fun until the lord imp surmises that the newest knight from Tarth is a virgin. Brienne leaves in anger and shame while Jaime follows after her, leaving Tormund to finally realize where he stands as the third wheel, crying to the Hound. After Clegane chases him off into the arms of a willing Northern girl, Sansa and the Hound share their first conversation since season two and the Battle of Blackwater. When he acknowledges that the “little bird” has grown and changed as much as Arya, she tells him that without the horrors she’s had to endure she wouldn’t be the person she is today. There’s been a great deal of frustration with that line, as the notion that rape can be a tool to make a woman stronger, or that she owes her growth to the men in her life, is demonstrably false. I didn’t initially read the scene that way simply because the theme of terrible things and regrets forming people into who they are has been a repeated one this season (with Jaime, Bran, Theon, etc.), but it is a mark of poor and male-centric writing to not recognize the difference between intentional actions the male characters chose themselves and cruelty done to a character against their will that they’ve had to survive. But this wouldn’t be the last time the writers failed to understand context.

Gendry finally finds Arya in the castle working on her archery instead of reveling in the feast (Big Introvert Energy) and tells her that not only is he the son of a King, he’s now a proper lord himself. Kissing her, he gets down on one knee and tells her it doesn’t mean a thing without her by his side and proposes. Maisie Williams sells the scene with just her eyes, as she kisses Gendry back onto his feet, but has to let him down gently that being a lady is just not her. It calls back to what she constantly told Ned in season one, and the realization she had in her reunion with Nymeria last season.

Jaime channels his inner Drake and brings a flagon of wine to Brienne thee Stallion’s room, reminding her that she hasn’t finished the game. Brienne keeps her room nice and hot, so the Kingslayer starts to take off all his clothes, while probing her interest in Tormund. Always one to keep her guard up, Brienne finally realizes what’s about to happen and helps him take his shirt off as she joins him in disrobing and they finally consummate the years-long dance around and to each other’s hearts.

Daenerys and Jon finally have a heart to heart where Rhaegar’s son reiterates that he has no desire for the throne and is pledged to her. She then begs him to not tell anyone else (specifically Sansa and Arya) and to swear Samwell and Bran to secrecy lest the truth of a rival with a stronger claim gets out and threatens her position. So of course, Jon does the opposite and, forcing Sansa and Arya to promise to keep the secret in the family, has Bran divulge that he’s actually Aegon Targaryen. The scene cuts to black before we get to see their reactions to the news, but hold that thought.

With the demise of the Night King (who we’ll have to wait on the books which shall never be written to learn more about) and his army of the dead, Daenerys finally begins drawing up battle plans to take King’s Landing. As is her wont, the Dragon Queen wants ALL of the smoke and is ready to take Cersei out, whatever it takes. Ever the idealistic pacifist, Tyrion urges the long game of a siege to turn the people against her by starving the Lannisters out. Jon, who at this point doesn’t want to be in the middle of any other squabbles, concedes the feasibility of the plan but then in comes the maester of checking people in public, Lady Sansa. She councils a bit of patience on Dany’s part since her troops are dead tired from fighting zombies, one of her dragons is flying with a limp, and she really has no plan other than “I want the throne.” Admittedly, I’ve been #SansaHive for a while now, but the show seems intent on driving this division between the two matriarchs for no other reason than to manufacture tension and rush towards this narrative that Dany is the Mad Queen that has not been justified. Trying to get back in her good graces (or her bed), Jon however pulls rank and reminds the room that the North is pledged to Daenerys and will follow her to whatever end.

Ser Bronn finally arrives in Winterfell and displays the level-headed pragmatism that I’ve said more than once will put him on the Iron Throne. Rather than outright killing the Lannister men as Cersei wanted, he negotiates. While we finally discover the Queen offered him Riverrun and presumably reign of the Riverlands, Tyrion counters with Highgarden and the seat of the Reach. Less out of an affinity for the brothers and more because he’s seen what dragons can do to an army, he accepts the side he thinks is more likely to win, but promises his bill will come due once the war is over. Another thing this episode has done is remind us just how many Great Houses have fallen in Westeros. Daenerys mentions the support of a new, unnamed Prince in Dorne, and Edmure Tully is possibly still alive in a dungeon somewhere or hiding in oblivion with young Robin Arryn, but almost all of the ruling southern houses have been wiped out.

On the road from Winterfell, the Hound is riding south alone until he’s joined by Arya, and it seems they both have unfinished business back in the capital. If they’re pump faking us and we don’t get Cleganebowl, somebody has to square up. For now, the best buddy duo is back on the road again and neither have plans on coming back alive. Sansa, on the other hand, almost immediately tells Tyrion the ONE thing she promised not to and confides Jon’s secret identity. That’s how we know he wasn’t Ned’s son. Eddard managed to take decades of hate from his own wife to protect his nephew, Jon couldn’t even last a damn week.

The goodbyes continue as Tormund finally takes the wildlings back home to the REAL north to settle down and repopulate now that the threat of the White Walkers is gone. The show, choosing to emphasize his embrace of his Targaryen roots (and that he’s probably going to die soon) has Jon send Ghost north of the Wall as well, since a direwolf has no place in the South and would be happier. This is where the disrespect began and we should have seen the okey doke coming. The relationship between Jon and Ghost is one the show has always underplayed but my man would never! He didn’t even give his beloved companion a goodbye hug, simply looking on as Ghost whines for his friend. We also find out Gilly is pregnant with Sam’s baby for real this time, and if it’s a boy they’ll name him Jon. Yeah, he’s definitely going to die.

Hearing what went down at Dragonstone, Jaime, after knocking the sheen off of Brienne’s starry sapphire again for good measure, leaves in the middle of the night bound for King’s Landing. She runs out in her housecoat and slippers begging an ain’t shit man to come back into her life after just 24 hours; men are a curse. Jaime reads through the litany of things he’s done in the name of his love for Cersei and insists he’s not the good man Brienne thinks he is. It seems clear he’s going back to try to stop her this time (and possibly fulfill the prediction of the valonqar), but he doesn’t tell that to his new boo, who very uncharacteristically breaks down in tears.

Dragonstone

With her fleet preparing to invade King’s Landing and take back the throne, Daenerys and crew set sail to her birthplace on Dragonstone. Tyrion couldn’t even wait to make it to shore and immediately tells the news of Jon’s true parentage to the Benita Buttrell of Westeros in Varys, but he ain't one to gossip, so you ain't heard it from him. As the ships drop anchor in the port however, Drogon and Rhaegal are attacked by Euron Greyjoy’s suspiciously sneaky Iron Fleet now outfitted with improved Scorpions which catch Rhaegal unaware, killing yet another dragon. Gotta pour one out for the homie as we’re now down to one and I am inconsolable. Daenerys in a rage is tempted to fly Drogon straight on to light them all up, but facing another round of fire is forced to flee. Euron being the trash panda he is then targets the ships themselves, sinking most of them and forcing the Unsullied to swim to shore. A distraught Grey Worm is left to panic as he screams for Missandei, who was not among those who washed up on the beach.

On the verge of losing everything, Daenerys is understandably tired of being checked by her advisors and is finally ready to burn the Red Keep to the ground if she can sit on the ashes. In a private conversation, Tyrion keeps trying to push the obvious solution that Jon and Dany, who are in love as it is, should just get married, solving all their problems. As infuriating as it may be that the simplest answer is the one that will never happen, even he realizes the futility of hoping for logic to win out. Varys stops short of admitting he’s putting a hit out on Dany, but the Spider, going back to his defense of the realm, is obviously ready to move on to a new leader and leaves Tyrion to drink.

King’s Landing

Meanwhile, back in the capital Cersei has been opening the Red Keep to the common folk in an attempt to call Dany’s bluff that she wouldn’t burn the city with so many people inside the castle walls. Congratulating walking STD Euron on his successful mission Cersei tells him she’s carrying his child (as Qyburn confirms), and hides her disgust as Greyjoy is overwhelmed with new daddy glee.

The writers then lose the plot entirely as they cut to Missandei, back in shackles, Cersei’s prisoner as the queen remarks “so much for the breaker of chains.” We’ll get to it soon but it goes without saying that seeing a Black woman, the ONLY Black woman on the show, placed back into bondage when her story arc has been one of rising above her enslavement is reprehensible. That said, this is a show about reprehensible people doing reprehensible things. It hurts no less, but what used to elevate the series was that these actions were grounded in an internal logic and narrative fullness that resonated with character motivation and agency for both sides. This was simply done for shock value, both in-universe for Daenerys and out of it for the viewers.

Outside the Red Keep, the walls of which we see have also been outfitted with Scorpions, the two Hands of the Queen meet to discuss terms, and when it’s clear that Cersei will not be surrendering, Tyrion tries to speak directly to his sister and beg for her better nature to avoid bloodshed, insisting that she’s not a monster. WHAT WOMAN DOES HE THINK HE’S BEEN DEALING WITH FOR ALL THIS TIME? Of course that nonsense doesn’t work and Tyrion’s inability to recognize that villainy is possible even under the guise of white womanhood is what should get him killed. Instead it’s Missandei who is caught in the crosshairs of the 53% as she utters her last words, “Dracarys,” before being beheaded by the Mountain.

My personal affinity for Missandei should be well known, so you can imagine how I reacted to seeing this mess. To clarify, it's not just that she died that was so galling. If you read the episode two review we called that happening, and I’d assume most of you weren��t shocked either, even though it doesn’t hurt any less. It’s the how and why that was so poorly handled that added insult to injury of the pain that's inherent when you have so few people of color in the cast in general, but Black women specifically. Had she had the agency to choose her own end and her death come as the result of her story arc, so be it. This is a show of terrors and loved characters die everyday, B. Had she died in the crypts of Winterfell fighting for her life and the Queen she believed in, and Daenerys and Grey Worm had gotten to mourn her the way they gave tired, rockface Jorah his final respects it would have been better. Had her Dracarys command gotten Drogon to start the roast of the city? We outchea! But for it to be simply the impetus to justify razing King’s Landing, and as a pawn in a war of aggression between two white women while she’s placed back in bondage, was a perfect storm of disrespect, to the character and the audience. We've established for seven seasons that that city is a rathole, filled with people we haven't seen in years. I don't care about Dany burning the castle to the ground, but NOW? I need Thanos to show up because I want nothing left but ashes. For a blog whose motto is MORE Black Girls MORE Dragons, this episode was always going to be particularly painful, but the fact that there was no greater narrative purpose for it makes it even worse.

#Game of Thrones #Season 8 #Recap

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christabellanikolai · 6 years

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Winter’s End, Chapter 1

My dear Brother, you must awaken, Winter is now over. As the snows begin to melt, your duty to North has come to an end. Go South for Westeros needs it’s one true King.

“Aegon…Aegon...”

“That’s not my name.” No, it wasn’t, he thought as his senses slowly returned. As he softly spoke he remained held between the world and his previous slumber. “Jon, my name is Jon.”

“You are Aegon Targaryen, the Prince who was Promised. You must remember this.” Jon did remember, that same voice telling him his true identity, sitting in his chambers at Winterfell before the war. He had refused to believe it until his Brother had taken his hand and shown him two visions. A secret wedding and the tragic hour of his own birth. He had fought the Night King, his sword ablaze, he remembered driving it through the beings chest just before…

His eyes opened as he felt air rush back into his lungs, a realization that he once again should not be alive hit him. Looking around he found himself to be somewhere he could not recognize. He was lying on a stone slab, cradled by the branches of trees and surrounded by flowers among the snow. His sword lay between his hands, it’s blade no longer burning.

“Yes my dear Brother, you must awaken, Winter is now over.”

“Bran! Where are you?” he said as looked around, unable to see, only hear his younger brother.

“I am sorry Jon, I can no longer see you as I once was,” said Bran “I now must remain hidden to maintain the peace you have given to us all.”

“Bran… I shouldn’t be here right now. The Night King before he fell he...”

“Stabbed you, I know. I along with the Children healed you.” As if they had been waiting for a cue, Jon watched a small group of the Children of the Forest approached. “The Night King tried to turn you just before he died. They stopped his magic from consuming you with dragon glass, and I used my own to prevent you from becoming part of the undead.”

“Why I don’t understand, I should have died when the Night King fell,” said Jon

“You needed to be here, you are the blood of the first men and of the dragon.” said one of the Children. “Without you, the Walkers could have risen again. You made sure it could never happen again.”

“I did nothing.” said Jon “Once the Night King fell,...there was nothing.”

“There was more than nothing, you did more than nothing.” said Bran “Soon you will remember but now is not the time. Now that the snow has begun to melt, your duty to the North has come to an end.”

Jon stared ahead in silence unsure of what to say. None of this made sense to him, he should have died. The memory of his final moments with the Night King was clear. His flaming sword cutting through the Night King’s abdomen. Just as the Night King fell he felt a sudden sharp cold pain in his side, as he looked down, he saw the end of one of the Night Kings swords pierced into his flesh. As sank to his knees he reached down, pulling the shard of ice from his skin, warm blood immediately pouring from the wound.

“Jon you must go South.” he heard Bran say as one of the Children held out there hand, helping him to climb down from he sat. “Soon Westeros will need it’s one true King.”

“I am not their King,” said Jon

“Yes you are Jon,” said Bran. “You have to go South.” One of the Children led a horse, it’s saddle lined with supplies. “Ride for the wall. The stairs leading to the Southside are still there. Climb them and walk directly to Castle Black, there you will find people who will help you. You should have everything you need for the journey.”

Jon remained hesitant, unable to move. His mind felt as if it were a swift-moving flood, memories returning to him. None of them were apparent, he felt as if there was nothing for him in the South, that he should stay in the North. A small voice in the back of his mind told him otherwise “When the Night King is gone, I want nothing more than to rule with you by my side.”, this voice was a memory, one he knew he should recognize, the inability to do so left him with a feeling of dread.

“Ride South Jon, in time it will all become clear,” said Bran “I will be with you whenever you need guidance. There is no need for you to remain in the North any longer, you must go South.” Jon stepped forward before slowly climbing on top of the horse. Before he could say anything one of the Children hit the horse in the back, commanding it to charge forward. As he lurched forward, Jon was able to grab the reigns at the last second, just as another memory returned. It was the same voice as before, only this time marked with sadness “Come back to me, promise me you will come back to me.”

He needed to go home, and his home was no longer in the North but with someone. Jon then could see her, a woman with hair as pale and gold as sunlight, standing among dragons, waiting for him.

Within the Queen’s chambers, Missandei stood with her longtime friend, the woman who had rescued her from life as a slave, the Queen she owed everything to. “Is it all to your liking, your grace?” she asked as she placed the final touches on Daenerys braids, before helping to pin a long red cape over the Queen’s shoulders.

“Perfect as always Missandei,” said Daenerys as she smoothed some unwanted wrinkles out of the long black dress. “Though I have noticed there is no longer any fur linings in my gowns. Has the seamstress run out of the material?”

“No my Queen. The weather here no longer requires it.” said Missandei “Though I can ask her to place the fur lining in your gowns if that is what you please.”

“No, do you think this warm weather means… could this Winter be over?”

“I am not familiar with those matters.” said Missandei “Though I do hope so, it has been too long and so much has been lost.”

Daenerys nodded in silent agreement. The memories of the final moments of the war with the undead continuing to haunt her. She had remained in the camp as Jon had ridden Rhaegal into a final battle with the Night King. Both armies had decreased significantly, and Daenerys had begged him to let her go with him, his little sister Arya had even said she would go in his place. He had refused both of their requests, proclaiming he would not allow any more of them to die for his cause.

Days had passed, and members of Jon’s army had returned to the camp. They spoke of how Jon had gone after the Night King on his own, as he went off to fight Longclaw began to burn. It was a day more when Rhaegal finally returned to the camp, alone.

When Davos told her the dragon had no rider she fell to the ground, a sense of both numbness and terror washing over her. Over the next few days, she had refused to eat, declined to speak with anyone, refusing to leave. She stared ahead, waiting for Jon to return. Riders had been sent out to look for him, they returned with evidence that the Night King was gone, and no sign of Jon. Finally, her advisors had ordered that she be brought back to Dragonstone. She had screamed at all them, believing they were turning their back on Jon, on their King.

On the ship back to Dragonstone, little Arya had come to see her. Heartbroken with tears in her eyes the girl had taken the Queens' hand. “My Brother is gone, Jon is gone.”

“No, he will come back,” she said to Arya, pulling her hands away. The young girl was quick though and grabbed both of the woman's wrists.

“No Daenerys he won’t!” yelled Arya “If Jon were still alive he would have returned to us by now. He is dead!” It was the first time someone had said it outright. Jon, her love, her King was dead. Hearing it from Arya, someone who was just as close to Jon as herself made it real. She lunged forward pulling Arya in her arms both women began to grieve. “We are still here though, both of us know there is still another war to come.”

“My Queen, shall we go?” said Missandei, pulling Daenerys from her thoughts. “They are waiting for you.”

Daenerys nodded toward her advisor before leaving her chambers. Winter did take everything from her but also had given her so much more.

In the Godswood of Winterfell, they stood together, in front of his family and their advisors. Before each of them was his closest friend Samwell Tarley “Queen Daenerys of House Targaryen do you take this man.”

“I take this man.”

“I am hers, and she is mine” “I am his, and he is mine.”

“From this day until, the end of my days” How long Jon had ridden he did not know, though Bran had been correct. As he rode the confusion he had felt after returning to the living was gone. He could now remember, remember her. His wife Daenerys, they had married in Winterfell before heading North to fight. To the shock of those familiar with the customs of the Old Gods, they had added a piece reserved for those practicing the Faith of the Seven. She was his ‘Dany’ and he her ‘Jon.’ Even before they went to fight the Night King some had already begun to say they were both the true Queen and King of Westeros, even his little sister Arya saw it that way. While he had no desire to rule all of Westeros, he only wished to remain by her side. When she sat upon the iron throne, he had promised to stand alongside her.

As he rode, he was left confused by the state of the area. It appeared as if the war had never happened. The grounds, even the Wall seemed to be unscratched. There was no sign of his armies anywhere. Bran had told him to ride for Castle Black, that must have been where they now waited for him. Once he reached Castle Black, he would be reunited with his wife.

While he walked the Wall, he did what he felt he always had done best to past the time. He began to strategize, make plans for his wife’s invasion of Kings Landing. He had only been there once, to ask Cersei for help in the fight against the army of the dead. Daenerys had been there to comfort him when he had learned of her betrayal. He had been in a rage before Daenerys had grounded him. It was then Arya shared with them her list of names of those she wished to kill, and of her desire to kill the Queen. Whatever plan they decided upon, Arya would play a role as long as she was safe.

While he had reached the top of the wall at sunrise, it was now nightfall and exhaustion was taking hold of him. With every step, his legs were beginning to feel heavy. As he reached the top of the wall overlooking Castle Black, he could see torches that lined the top of the wall overlooking Castle Black. Among them, he could see a large flame blazing above the smaller ones. It appeared to be part of a statue. As he got closer he could see where the light was coming from, a flaming sword, part of a stone statue that now stood on top of the wall. It was a statue of him, the sword was clearly Longclaw, set ablaze just like it had been during the battle with the Night King. Etched within the base in small letters was his name and what he assumed were titles followed by larger letters reading ‘Jon Snow, the Sword in the Darkness, the Fire that Burns the Cold and Bringer of the Dawn, the Shield who Guards the Realms of Men’

“You there! What business do you have being up here?” he heard a voice shout. He still continued to stare in awe of the statue, confused by its presence on top of the wall. Even as he listened to the members of the Night’s Watch approach, he still reached out to trace his hand across the lettering.

“This statue…” he said breathless “Who put it here?”

“Why it was the Queen of course.” answered one of the young recruits. “Came all the way from Kings Landing to light the fire herself.”

Jon laughed before shaking his head. “Now why would Cersei do such a thing?”

“Are you mad or just simple?” asked the recruit “It wasn’t Cersei, she is a long-dead boy, rightfully so.”

Jon turned to them in confusion. “You said the Queen the came from Kings Landing if not Cersei then...which Queen do you speak of?”

“Why the one true Queen of Westeros, Daenerys of House Targaryen.”

‘It can’t be true’ He thought to himself ‘How long have I been gone?’ As he looked up to stare at the face of the statue, he could feel his heart begin to race. He fell forward as he lost control of his breath. The two recruits ran toward him, as they did he heard one of them gasped “Seven Hells Mycha I think it’s him…” Exhaustion and shock were beginning to overtake him, he no longer could stand on his own or even speak.

“Impossible” He could hear the other recruit say. “Jon Snow has been dead for 5 years.”

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#jonerys #jonerys fanfic #jon snow #daenerys x jon #jonerys fanfiction #daenerys targaryen

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octopuscato · 6 years

Text

Fic: With spite in our rotting bones (And flowers in our hair)

In light of the recent events concerning @janiedean and the JB bashing she received, I was inspired to write a spite-fic for her. This was brought to you by: SALT. (I hadn't imagined this would be my first foray into JB fic, but there you go.) Fandom: Game of Thrones Title: With spite in our rotting bones (And flowers in our hair) (AO3 link) Pairings/Characters: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Cersei Lannister Word count: ~2,800 Content: Everyone Is Dead, Wights, White Walkers, Blood, Gore, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Characer Death, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat Summary: Who’d have imagined that wights have a love life? True, it's a bit passive regarding touching each other and involves eating people, but Jaime certainly won’t complain. HEED THE WARNINGS! ------------------------------------------------------------

They fought bravely. They gave it their all.

They lost anyway.

Jaime can’t tell when exactly it was that the battle turned. They’d started out well, two dragons and all, and they had even managed to bring down the undead one. Turns out real fire – two to one, at least – will burn an undead ice dragon, after all. Heck, they all had weapons made of dragonglass; swords, and spears, and arrows, and they’d used them, killing white walkers and dozens – sometimes hundreds – of wights alongside every single one of them. Still, it hadn’t been enough. The battle had gone well, until it hadn’t, and he’d been alive one moment, fighting off wights back to back with Brienne, until – well.

He remembers being overrun by sheer numbers, and blinding pain, though the memory of that is getting blurrier by the day, together with a whole lot of others – and who’d have thought a wight even had any memories of being alive in the first place? Because there’s that: he’s a wight now. As is Brienne, as is everyone in the North.

His first thought upon opening his eyes again had been: “Nothing hurts, and it’s not freezing. I’ve got to be dead.” He’d been right, though he hadn’t quite realised just then what that meant. What he had realised was that this? – wasn’t what he’d been expecting.

He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been waking up and finding himself face to face with Brienne, who was looking at him with eyes that seemed even more breathtakingly blue than he remembered them. It’s only now that he is dead that he can admit to himself that he’d been convinced he would end up in one of the Seven Hells, for trying to murder Bran Stark at the very least, if not for more, and that certainly was no place Brienne belonged in.

So when he’d found her right beside him, his second thought had been: “That can’t be right. I’m not dead after all.”

Only then he’d seen the wounds on her. There were at least half a dozen, and they couldn’t be written off as grazes or even flesh wounds. She’d been mauled, no, eviscerated was more like it; her armour was gone, her whole mid-section a mess of torn flesh and blood – and yet she was sitting up and staring at him, unblinking, with her amazing blue eyes, which had always reminded him of the sky, or cornflowers, but which now were shining brighter, colder. Ice-blue.

That’s when he’d finally got it.

Strangely enough, he hadn’t been all that upset at the idea of what had happened. Slowly, he got to his feet, and next to him Brienne did the same. All around him, he noticed, the dead were rising; just a few feet away, Jon Snow was standing, his furs torn half off, his skull split wide open. He’d been supposed to lead them to victory, he and Danaerys Targaryen, both riding her remaining dragons into battle. It had fit, considering Jon was no real Snow, wasn’t even truly Jon, but Aegon Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne.

But that doesn’t matter anymore; they’re all the same now, kings and lords and smallfolk. Walking, always walking south, day and night, never tiring, never stopping, killing every man, woman, and child in their way, with the dragons circling above them. He’d have despised himself before to lay hand on defenceless people, Jaime still knows it, but now, he can’t seem to care anymore. He walks, and he kills – it’s a compulsion he can’t escape, and he doesn’t want to.

There’s just one other thing he wants besides these two, and that, too, he’s got: Brienne is walking beside him, never straying far even in the frenzy of killing whoever happens to be in their way. Every now and then, she’ll turn to him, look at him with eyes that are just as beautiful now as they used to be when they were alive. She doesn’t smile, doesn’t speak – they can’t do that, or if they can, then they don’t feel the need to – but it’s unnecessary anyway. He knows, feels it in every fibre of his rotting flesh as clearly as he feels the Night King’s command: they’re together, they always will be, and to hell with the rest.

There are other pairs like them, more and more as they overrun whole towns and villages, and he doesn’t doubt that they feel the same. He’s seen Jon and Daenerys walking side by side, their strife about the succession forgotten. There’s Bran – who now walks again instead of flying – and Meera Reed, and to his surprise, Sansa Stark is walking beside Sandor Clegane. “Little bird,” the man had called her sometimes when he’d thought nobody paid them attention, and from the way she had looked at him, Jaime realizes now that he could have known sooner had he bothered to notice - but truth be told, he’d been busy shagging his brains out with Brienne. They don’t get to do that anymore, but he finds he doesn’t miss it, which he vaguely thinks is a pity.

Slowly, but steadily, they cross the Neck into the Riverlands. At the Twins, the corpses of the Freys rise from shallow graves to join them, and not far downriver, a skeleton that seems to be part man and part wolf approaches to take its place next to Theon Greyjoy.

“I’d promised him my sword, now and always,” Greyjoy had admitted to Jaime one evening close to the battle that had found both of them sitting with dark thoughts. “All this time while … while I was here, after, I thought I … that I should have died with him. They all forgave me, but even so – we shouldn’t be apart, not like this.”

They’ve got their now and always now, and while it’s not the way they wanted - well. Jaime doubts they feel any more regrets than he does, feel anything but the need to walk, and kill, and never be parted again.

Jaime doesn’t know how long it takes them to reach King’s Landing. By the time they’re there, he doesn’t think the army of the dead could be counted anymore – everyone living north of the city in all of Westeros is with them. His mind has been pleasantly blank except for his three imperatives; more and more memories of feelings and thoughts from when he’d been alive have faded away. He’s got no need for them anymore.

Now that the city comes into sight, though, there’s something unpleasant stirring, a feeling he’d thought had long died with the others. He tries not to think about it, but it’s hard, and that’s irritating. He’s grateful when they reach the gates and he can focus on only one thing for a while.

Flea Bottom is overrun quickly, and most of the nobles seem to have fled, leaving only empty houses in their wake. Not all, though, and in a large backyard filled with a few naked trees and a small glass garden full of blue winter roses, they meet what must be almost three dozen men in the foolish attempt to make a stand. They fight bravely, as Jaime once had, but of course the wights are too many and make short work of them.

When the fighting is over, Jaime looks around for Brienne. He sees Sam and Gilly then, and their little one – naked, ribs and other bones visible by now as his flesh keeps receding – biting down to tear out one of the last knights’ throat. Some faraway part of him thrums with the knowledge that he should be horrified, but it dies away as fast as it came – and then his gaze falls on Brienne.

She stands tall over most others, eyes fixed on him; the glass garden was destroyed during the fight, and she must have fallen at some point, because there are rose petals and even a few whole winter roses tangled in her matted hair.

“They complement her eyes,” he thinks, and it doesn’t matter that her nose is almost gone, that naked tendons stand out on her neck, and some of the fingers that hold her sword are only bones anymore.

Before he can think any further, though, he feels the pull of his king’s will, as do the others, and they begin leaving the garden, making their way, slowly, to the Red Keep.

The feeling is getting stronger the closer they get – he’s irritated, agitated, and he can sense that in turn, it’s irritating Brienne, who keeps looking over at him fare more often than usual. He wishes he could explain, or better yet, make it go away, but all he can do is go on in growing annoyance. What in the Seven Hells is wrong with him (apart from being undead)?

It’s anger, Jaime realises as the gates of the Red Keep splinter under the onslaught of wights. He’s angry – he’d almost forgotten how it feels, but oh, he remembers all right now, just as he remembers who it is he’s angry with. One look at Brienne is enough to convey his intentions, and they’re on their way.

The castle is emptier than he’d have thought, but then, loyalty and even gold don’t mean much when an army of wights and white walkers is approaching, so maybe it’s unsurprising that more than half of the guards and servants seem to have deserted their queen.

One guard, though, Jaime expects will still be there – and he’s right. The Mountain stands before the door to her chambers, monstrous and silent, just as undead as them. He could be dangerous, tear them apart too badly for them to be able to go on, but even as he thinks it, more wights catch up with them, engaging Clegane in a battle Jaime knows he’ll lose, in a while. And while he’s distracted…

Cersei doesn’t turn, at first, when he opens the door. She’s standing at the window, very still, looking out at the dying city with a glass of wine clutched tightly in her right hand. Had he expected anything else?

She must know she’ll die any moment; the sounds of the fight are audible from the corridor, though curiously, no wights other than him and Brienne have entered. Finally, when she is not attacked, she slowly turns to face them.

“J-Jaime?!” The glass falls from her fingers and shatters, her eyes wide as she stares at him in what he recognises as horror. He’s never seen that on her before, has never seen so much genuine emotion on her, he realises.

So this – seeing him rotting and undead and yet moving, seeing him come for her – is what it takes to shock his sister into showing true feeling. He’d thought he had seen it in the past, when she had slept with him, when she’d told him that nobody mattered but the two of them. Maybe she’d been closest when she had grieved for their children. But nothing of it had been real, and it makes him angrier than he can remember ever being when he’d been alive.

No, he’s not simply angry, he is enraged, because now that he’s dead and standing before her, he remembers more than he cares to know: every cruel word, every unkind action, and what she’d done to him, to them, from the beginning. They could have had something beautiful, something special – damn it, he’d gone almost all his life thinking they did – but she had destroyed it, twisted it, even as a child. He’d forgotten all about it; his mind had, somehow, chosen to forget. Maybe, he wonders faintly, recalling what he’d seen done in war, recalling the way their mother had stared at her in shock and disgust, it had been necessary for him to survive. As it stands, that’s not a concern he has any longer.

He wants to tell her that he knows now, he knows everything, most of all that he can’t fathom how she – or he, truly – could ever have thought they were even remotely alike. But when he tries, no sound will come; if he ever was able of speech after his death, by now it has rotted away. Oh, well. In the end, it doesn’t matter all that much anyway.

“Jaime,” she repeats, lifting her hand almost as if she were reaching out to him. She’s done it so often, he remembers, and he remembers the tone of her voice as well. Beseeching, persuasive. Or at least it had seemed like that to him. Now he finds it grotesque. Is she truly expecting that she can reason with the undead?

He looks at Brienne, who nods once before she, like him, turns back to Cersei. Jaime means to have seen anticipation in her eyes, and that, too, is a feeling they share.

“No!” Cersei gasps as he makes the first step towards her. “No, you can’t!” She steps back as they advance, but there’s only the wall and the window behind her, and Jaime doubts she’ll have the courage to jump. Besides, even if she were to survive the fall, the outside is swarming with wights just the same.

“Stop it, Jaime!” She’s pressed against the wall now, eyes wide and frightened, but also still angry, as if she hadn’t understood quite yet that this is the end. “Ser Gregor! Ser Gregor, help!”

No help comes, however. The fighting sounds out on the corridor have stopped; it’s just the three of them now.

He reaches for her, undeterred, and she shrieks and –

If he could, Jaime would double over with laughter. She’s slapped him in the face and sent part of the flesh of his cheek flying, which now lands on the floor with a soft, wet sound. For a few moments, there is only silence, and all Jaime can do is marvel at the fact that even now, she tried to somehow force him into submission.

Because that’s it, isn’t it? What she’s wanted from everyone, always, and especially from him – submission. And he’d given it to her, every single day of his life, until so very recently that the time in between still seems like nothing. Well. Not anymore.

When he reaches for her this time, he isn’t held back by her flailing hands, by her fingernails sinking into his neck where they claw away rotting tissue. It’s easy, so easy to just slam her against the wall, watch her blink in confusion after her head hits the stone, and then go for the kill. Not the throat, though – it would be too quick, quicker than she deserves by far. He wants her to suffer.

Luckily, he knows Brienne knows it and wants the same.

“Jaime! – Jaime! – Jai–“ Cersei’s desperate shrieks turn into shrill, tortured howls of pain as both he and Brienne rip her apart with bare hands and teeth, shredding silks and flesh alike, biting and clawing at muscles and tendons until her screams die down and their hands and faces turn slippery with blood.

“She’s dead.” There’s satisfaction in the thought, and they could stop now, but Jaime dismisses the idea within a moment: he wants her gone from his life, or whatever it is he has now, wants her to disappear once and for all. So instead, they go on until there is nothing left but unrecognisable lumps of flesh and splintered bones. She’ll be no wight, they made sure of it.

Slowly, the frenzied bloodlust and anger recede, and Jaime gets back to his feet from where he’d been kneeling next to Cersei’s sorry remains. Brienne does the same, and he knows that if he were still breathing, her sight would take his breath away.

She’s soaked in fresh blood from head to toe, tiny clumps of flesh spattered everywhere, and some winter roses are still stuck in her hair, complementing her eyes which are shining so lovely cold and blue in contrast to her red-dripping face. She’s a marvel, and for the first time in a long while Jaime feels something like regret that they can’t fuck anymore.

Only - they did, didn’t they? This right here, those last few minutes - they had felt each other’s thoughts and emotions, as always, had felt their mounting satisfaction spreading with each bite and each spurt of blood, and the only times that had ever compared, had even come close -

Oh.

Well. Who’d have imagined that wights have a love life? True, it's a bit passive regarding touching each other and involves eating people, but Jaime certainly won’t complain.

“Let’s go.” The thought is Brienne’s, he knows, but he agrees entirely. Now that Cersei is dead - gone, he corrects himself, gone forever - he feels no inclination to linger. His rage is fading, being replaced, once again, by the desire to walk and obey his king.

He doesn’t mind that - as long as Brienne walks with him. So they turn and they leave, and they don’t look back.

#game of thrones #jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #jaime x brienne #braime #anti-cersei #anti-cersei lannister #guys you have been warned #dead dove do not eat #and i mean it #lordhellebore's fic

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sanjuno · 7 years

Note

That's ok! How about the MCU, or just the Avengers if the MCU is too broad. -Lark

(Oh shit, I have opinions about the MCU and the Avengers, my friend. So I apologize if this offends but not really.)

6/7 GoT Crossover Fix-Its: An Assemblage of Fire and Ice.

Anthony Edward Stark’s life was a battle from beginning to end. He fought the world, he fought people who claimed to be his friends, he fought honest enemies, and he fought every challenge life and the universe at large threw at him as he went. He fought the Ten Rings and became Iron Man, he fought public opinion and became a hero, he fought obstinance and fear and became a man who stood for accountability. He fought Thanos, and became the man known for mastering the Infinity Stones. When Tony Stark finally died in a blaze of glory more than 20 years after Iron Man first burned his way free of a cave in the desert, he left behind a legacy that would last for ages.

Eddard Stark is born bright red and squalling in the middle of a snowstorm where the sun shone through the clouds to birth lightning. The contradictions only continued as the boy grew, Ned Stark was a calm, thoughtful child but was occasionally taken by wild frenzies. One moment reading peacefully, or training seriously in arms, the next shouting at the top of his lungs and running off to the forge to make a new type of steel, or designing an aqueduct system that wouldn’t freeze. Rickon Stark took to sighing whenever Ned’s voice started to echo. Lyarra Stark laughed, and told her husband their second son had Ice in his veins and Fire in his heart.

Tony was actually rather pleased with this version of the Stark family. Sure, sometimes Brandon was a bit too much like Morgan for comfort, and sometimes Lyanna reminded Tony of himself during the worst moments during his rebellious teen phase, but the Starks were all loyal to one another and Tony had 200 years of people managing skills. Nudging Brandon to be a bit more responsible, to respect the women he took to bed, that wasn’t hard. Coaching Lyanna on how to protect her own interests, showing his little sister how to compromise for a result everyone could live with, that was simple enough. Tony was used to corralling teenage (and adult) superheroes, asking a few honourable nobles to think about things rationally wasn’t exceptionally difficult. Ben was the easy one. Mostly Tony just had to talk him down from the extreme choice, and the youngest was usually pretty reasonable about listening to a logical argument.

In one version of the song Lyarra Stark dies birthing her third son, in this world young Ned has been asking questions of the Maester, the herbalists, the midwives, and anyone else with an ounce of teaching in the healing arts how things work, why things work, and what do you do when it doesn’t work. So the healers of Winterfell have been pushed and prodded and challenged to raise themselves up and their skills reflect that. Lyarra will never have another child, but she lives. She is weak, and bedridden for moons, but she lives. So Rickon Stark’s ambitions are gentled, and his children’s happiness has a greater sway over his thoughts.

Tony is pleased and so, so grateful that his mother survived. The leading cause of death for women in pre-industrial societies is childbirth, and Tony was never the kind of doctor who could heal. Fix and augment, yes, but surgery and birth complications were out of his league. Thankfully he already knew what questions to ask in order to get the healers in Winterfell thinking and making improvements on their skills. All the women in the North would benefit, and eventually the new studies and knowledge would spread further than just the Northern Kingdom.

The Stark children are fostered out, of course. Still themselves but still slightly different. Ned and Robert make fast friends, but the Quiet Wolf is not the retiring second son he was in the first version of the song. When Mya Stone is born Ned shames Robert into taking proper responsibility. Robert’s daughter and the girl’s mother are dowered and set up to be able to live comfortably, and Robert is given a scathing lecture on consent and respect. “You don’t have to abstain,” Ned says, “but if a child results from it you need to step up and be their father.” So Robert, being Robert and thus allergic to responsibility, starts carrying a pouch of Moon Tea in his purse.

The Tourney at Harennhal happens, and Lyanna once again saves Howland Reed. Once again, the Knight of the Laughing Tree bids the unruly Squires to learn respect. Once again, the Mad King sees assassins everywhere and the Silver Prince comes across a young Lady in the Godswood. Only it’s different as well, because none of the Stark children are betrothed. Rickon Stark made the announcement when his Heir turned 16 that his sons would seek their own spouses for his approval when they came of age, and any who wished to court his daughter could submit their suit for approval when Lyanna’s own 16th age day came. So Lyanna is not desperate to escape an unwanted betrothal, and there is nothing gentling the public dishonour of Rhaegar’s attentions when he wins the joust. There is nothing romantic about a grown man betraying his wife for a girl not yet of age.

Tony wants to rage, wants to kill the Prince very, very badly when he sees how scared his little sister is. When the crown of blue roses lands in her lap, Lyanna Stark does what she’s always done when she doesn’t understand something. She turns to her middle brother and begs him to fix things. Tony knows exactly where this is going, if the Prince thinks he can bully his way through all the moral arguments saying his attention is unwanted. So Tony holds out his hand to Lyanna, and she brightens, putting the flower crown in his hands, and Tony promptly puts it on his own head. He meets the Prince’s eyes, and lets Rhaegar Targaryen see the Merchant of Death usually hidden behind the public persona of the Quiet Wolf. The Prince does not get to coerce Tony’s baby sister into any sort of relationship against her will.

Just as the Prince publicly shamed his wife, the girl he chose shames him in turn. Ellia and Aerys are, for the first time ever, amused by the same thing. Ned Stark wears the Crown of Love and Beauty for the rest of the Tourney. It gets him many, many dances from the Ladies in attendance during the feasts. Rhaegar, for all he was trying to quietly gather support to supplant his father, realizes somewhat belatedly that he just screwed himself out of support from Dorne and the North. The Northern camp closes ranks, especially around the women. From Lyanna Stark down to the common maids, none of the Northern women go anywhere without an escort.

Jaime Lannister still joins the Kingsguard, Cersei’s scheming fuelled by the proof that Rhaegar is loosing interest in his wife now that Elia is known to be barren. The younger son of a Dornish Lordship, Jaime Fowler, has blood from the Summer Islands and finds Ned Stark with the comment that he “must be made of Iron to mock the Prince this way.” And Tony replies with “it’s gold-titanium alloy, actually.” Rhodey just shakes his head, happy to have found his best friend again. Lysa Tully, who had overheard, tells them “I’ve caught you doing worse. Will this be all, Mr. Stark?” Pepper was just so very done with these shenanigans. The things Tony drags them into, honestly.

When the Tourney ends, Ned Stark goes to take over Moat Cailin, which he has been granted permission to restore. Accompanying him is his betrothed, Lysa Tully, and a Dornishman who is rumoured to share their bed. The South (minus Dorne) is scandalized. The North, well used to the Quiet Wolf’s particularities, just shrugs and moves on.

Rhaegar Targaryen is a man obsessed by prophecy, and few realize that he is just as mad as his father. Rhaegar is mad in the quiet, subtle way men go mad when they are left alone for too long with only their own thoughts for company. Lyanna Stark amuses King Aerys, and when the Pact of Ice and Fire is brought up he sees it as a perfect way to torment Rhaegar for overstepping, slight Elia for not being a real Targaryen, and punish Lyanna for thinking that she can refuse a dragon. Aerys announces that Rhaegar will take a second wife that is capable of bearing children, and that he has selected Lyanna Stark for the role.

There is not a single Great House in Westros who are not being insulted by this move. Lyanna is terrified, because she had grown up expecting to be courted by her future husband and even then not until she was 16. Lyanna, in this version of the song, was supposed to have a say in her choice of husband. Her wolf blood is howling, wanting nothing more than to rip and tear and devour. Once again, it’s Ned who steps in to fix things. It’s Ned, drawing on Tony’s many years of experience who talks her down from running away. It’s Ned, aching over the sacrifice his sister is being asked to make, who reminds her that their people will suffer if Lyanna makes a choice that will lead to war. It’s Ned, standing alone with his sister in the Wolfwood, who speaks quietly about allies, and secret wars, and that Elia’s brother is the Red Viper. Aegon was all but guaranteed to be free of Targaryen madness, given that he was only half. 16 years was not so long to wait for vengeance.

A Second Hour of the Wolf was now Lyanna Stark’s goal. (Not Targaryen. Never Targaryen. She would only ever be a Stark in her heart.) The Stark siblings spend the night a seething Rickon sends his formally, frigidly polite acceptance of the betrothal to the Red Keep in the Godswood, praying to the Old Gods for a sign. (Tony still doesn’t like magic, but he’s old enough to know it exists. There’s no other explanation for how Extremis still lights up his skin in Arc Reactor blue when things get tough.) They leave the Godswood with a pack of Direwolves loping at their sides. A pack, because while Brandon, Lyanna, and Ben each have a single wolf, Ned has 7. Also they beg Ned to let his wife name their children because by the Old Gods, Ned is bad at choosing names for things.

Tony ignores them. He has his babies back. Dummy, You, and Butterfingers are as playful as ever. Jarvis is even more long-suffering, Friday is mischievous, Jocasta is sassy, and Ultron, his poor wayward son, is free of the corruption in his programming caused by the Sceptre. The warg thing is a bit of a surprise, because his siblings can all do it without the assistance of Extremis, but Tony rolls with it and teaches them what he knows about communicating mind to mind. Greensight is like a wireless connection, which took a while to figure out. Tony is so relived to be able to share his secrets with his siblings at last. For the first time, Tony lets his siblings watch him work in the forge, and their eyes are very wide as the blue-and-gold glow shines under his skin and sparks in the runes carved into the armour plate and blades he forges for each of them.

“Magic is terrifying,” Ned tells his siblings, “and I never wanted you to fear me. But you all have magic of your own, and you need to learn how to use it. If things are waking up, if the Targaryens want the North in truth instead of just in name, then we need to be ready.” So Ned shows them how to work the runes, how to connect to their wolves and to the other animals around them, how the send their Greensight through the trees. They only have a year, because Rickon was only able to negotiate a delay until Lyanna turned 16, hoping that the Mad King would change his mind in the interim. Unfortunately, the raven demanding Lyanna come to King’s Landing for her wedding to Rhaegar comes within a moon of her 16th nameday.

Rickon and Lyarra Stark remain in the Northin subtle protest, but all their children go South. The smallfolk gathered along the streets in King’s Landing hoping to see the heathen wildling Princess from the savage North do not dare jeer. The Starks ride atop the backs of massive wolves, each one as large as a horse. Their armour gleams like ice in the light, and their fur mantels make them look natural among the wild beasts they command. The eyes of the welcoming party in the Red Keep are very wide, and Rhaegar looks like he’s regretting all his life choices.

Lyanna Stark’s smile is a snarl, teeth bared and sharp as blizzard winds. She all but ignores Rhaegar entirely and instead puts considerable effort into charming Elia. (Tony had long suspected that his sister preferred her own gender over men, and thankfully Elia was Dornish enough to be flattered by the attention. The fact that it irritated Rhaegar to see his wives seek out each other instead of him was just extra entertainment.)

Thanks to greensight and warging, the Starks all remain in close contact that no one else knows about. Benjen moves further North when he comes of age and takes over both Gifts with the intention of supporting the Watch. He doesn’t join them, because he feels the need to pass on the Stark Magic that’s in his blood and that requires a wife, but he still serves the Wall in his own best way. Brandon takes on his duties as the Heir to Winferfell, travelling around the North to meet all their Bannerman. Ned rebuilds Moat Cailin even grander than before, and moves on to restructuring the trade routes and methods in the North. Lyanna drives Rhaegar insane with passive aggressive undermining of his schemes. Luckily, Aerys is entertained by Lyanna enough to be distracted from his usual pastimes.

Following Ned’s advice, Lyanna goes to Rhaegar every night for a fortnight one week after her moonblood comes, and is pleased a moon later when the Maester tells her she’s pregnant. (”Treat him as he thinks to treat you.” Ned had said. “He thinks to make you a broodmare for his seed? Nay, instead let him be the stud you use to get your own children, sweet sister, and go to him only when you wish to make use of that service.”) Lyanna is quite pleased to be able to tell Rhaegar that he’s served his purpose for now and she has no more use for him until after the babe is weaned. So she’ll call for him again in about two years. (Elia loves her sister-wife, you have no godly idea how much Elia loves her sister-wife.)

Brandon Stark marries Ashara Dayne, and even if she’s not of the North the Bannerman are content with her having the Blood of the First Men in her veins. Benjen Stark manages to seduce a Wildling Chieftess into marriage on a trip North of the Wall and her tribe agrees to serve him in return for being allowed to settle South of the Wall. Ned Stark has a brood of children with his red-haired Tully wife, and if it takes a bit of magic to ensure that they all have Stark grey eyes and Summer darkened skin that’s no one’s business but their own. Lyanna has her first son in pace with Lysa’s first son and the realm celebrates the birth of the second dragon prince. Rhaegar gives his very, very Stark son a Targaryen name, and Lyanna promptly starts to call the boy Jon just to spite him. Aerys is not pleased that Jon is so very Northern, and goes back to burning people alive in his throne room.

Lyanna is appalled, notices that no one is going to do anything to stop what’s happening, and proceeds to consult with her brothers. Ned’s husband is sent to visit family in Dorne and stops in King’s Landing to visit Lyanna on his way back. No one notices the wicker basket among the many gifts Jaime Fowler brought for the Northern Princess. No one notices the Princess’ eyes go all-over white as she sits in her bedchambers, alone for but her infant son as a King Cobra slithers through the Keep to leave two more punctures among Aerys’ many scabs. No one notices the tradesman from the Northern Marshes on his way to Dorne collect a sealed wicker basket from a maidservant before setting out to see with the tide before sunrise.

Everyone notices when the King is found stone dead in his own bedchambers, having died during a fit in his sleep. Rhaegar is crowned King, Elia and Lyanna being crowned with him. Lyanna loves her wife, even she’d rather drop her husband down a well. Still, Elia is an Andal, and it’s the Blood of the First Men that gives the Stark their magic. Jon is taught the secrets of his birthright by his mother while they sit together in the Godswood, joined in time by Aemon and Visenya. When Jon is nearing 16, Lyanna’s wolf disappears for a few moons, only to return heavy with pups. The Starks living in the Red Keep all have direwolves now, and Rhaegar is oblivious to the fact that none of his children think of themselves as Targaryens. That’s what happens when you ignore your children in favour of self-fulfilling prophecies.

Benjen has slowly been converting the Wildlings to the aggressively peaceful coexistence the Northern Lords and the Hill Clans favour. Then comes the time he starts to hear of the dead walking again to kill the living, and the Wildlings are suddenly afire to accept Benjen and Vals terms. The Gifts are soon full up, and the Castles along the Wall are being repaired and manned by volunteers from among the Free Men, and several Tribes are being sent further South to various Hill Clans to be settled in, and yet more are taking over long abandoned settlements to build them back up. Benjen scrambles to keep up, to keep his siblings informed, and he’s so, so grateful that Brandon and Ned are there to help disperse in massive influx of people around the Northern Kingdom. Thankfully Ned’s trade structures have grown enough that there was a demand for workers, and there’s wealth and space enough to go around.

Benjen is set upon by a White Walker, and his skin glows blue-and-gold in his desperation to survive. Benjen burns the way his older brother once showed him, in Extremis, and he survives to pass the warning on. The Others are coming, and the dead are marching on the Wall.

The Starks prepare for a war against the Long Night.

/…/

Tyrion Lannister is born a dwarf, but thanks to new knowledge passed down from the North his mother survives the birth. He was a very intelligent child, but had the unfortunate tendency to pick fights he had no chance of winning over the smallest of slights. Joanna despaired of him ever learning his limits, and despite Tywin’s best efforts to temper Tyrion’s foolishness the boy inevitably ends up picking the wrong fight and dying for it. Steve Rogers is always born to a physical disadvantage in hopes that he will eventually learn to compromise. A dwarf body is stunted, but he was healthy and clear headed. He could make something of his life if only he tried. Steve Rogers still needed to learn to reign in his impulses and keep unwanted opinions to himself. Not every argument needed to be settled with fists.

Margary Tyrell was much like her grandmother, and was likely to be the new Queen of Thorns when Oleanna finally passed away. Natasha Romanova enjoyed the simplicity of a new life where she didn’t need to kill anyone for a living. Still, she kept a wary eye on the Starks. They were advancing at a rate that was familiar to her, and the last thing she wanted was to be on Tony’s bad side again.

Denys Arryn was the darling of the Vale, but what few people knew was that his preferred weapon was the bow. Despite being from a poor house, he remained humble and courteous to all. Clint Barton regret nothing as much as he regret leaving Laura and his children to fight Stark over a stupid piece of paper. This time around he was committed to staying with his wife and raising their kids without any stupid running off. Seeing the Stark with Tony’s too-sharp smirk running around the Ayrie for a few years only cemented that decision in his mind.

Stannis Baratheon was a humourless boy, too smart and too serious by half. Although his anger, when roused, was mighty enough to tear down stone walls. Robert learned not to upset his younger brother the day he tormented Proudwing, and Stannis beat his elder brother bloody for harming the bird. Bruce Banner was resigned to the legacy of warning people “you won’t like me when I’m angry.” But really, Ours Is The Fury was just a bit too on the nose for him to be amused by it.

/…/

Rhaegar Targaryen felt very foolish indeed as he stared at his little sister. “You what?”

“… I hatched the dragon eggs you got me for my nameday.” Daenerys looked a little sheepish. “Lyanna and Elia helped me figure out how.”

The Dragon has Three Heads. Rhaegar felt faint as he stared down at the three squalling hatchlings cradled in his baby sister’s arms. His wives were laughing at him, he knew they were. Dragon’s had no gender, a Prince who was Promised could just as easily be a Princess, and sometimes a dragon is just a dragon.

“By the way, husband.” Lyanna mentioned idly from where she stood with a snickering Elia. “My brother Benjen tells me the Night King is awake again. The North is getting ready for a Long Winter, and to fight back the Others. You might want to start preparing the rest of the Kingdoms for that.”

Stiffly, Rhaegar turned his head to stare at his Winter Queen. “… What.”

And so the Prophecy of Fire and Ice is proven true.

#Sanjuno's ficwork #Tony is a Stark #GoT reincarnation crossovers #MCU fanfic

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kittykatknits · 7 years

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Hi hi! I just read an answer of yours where you said you have a theory about Sansa being an empath. I'd love to know more about it but couldn't find anything here. Did you write something about that? If so, could you please send me a link for it?? Bye, and thank you so much, I love your blog! :)

Anon asks: What’s this theory about Sansa being an empath? I never heard about it before.

First, thank you @twiseei for those kind words! :)

Ok, the Sansa as an empath theory. I’ve written about it before, but not actually here on Tumblr that I can recall. It’s not a popular idea, by any means, but there are others I’ve discussed this theory with in the past.

First, Sansa as an empath is something I use as way to engage with the text. It’s not a theory that I would argue strongly for or tag as meta because it’s closer to crack. I believe the fandom term is tin foil, yeah? So, I listed it specifically as my theory because of it. It’s one of those things that makes the books more enjoyable for me. Honestly, I rate this as more believable than Howland Reed is the High Septon but really far down the list when compared to something else, like Aegon is a Blackfyre.

The idea of Sansa as an empath first came to me sometime after aFfC was published, don’t remember exactly when. It was the result of exploring magic as part of Sansa’s story line. Specifically, the idea that Lady is still a presence for Sansa even though the wolf physically died in the first book.

Jon says this in the very first chapter:

Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord.“

Then we get this is in Eddard IV (bold emphasis mine):

Bran’s wolf had saved the boy’s life, he thought dully. What was it that Jon had said when they found the pups in the snow? Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord. And he had killed Sansa’s, and for what? Was it guilt he was feeling? Or fear? If the gods had sent these wolves, what folly had he done?

If the wolves were sent by the gods and the Starklings were meant to have them, then it is possible that Lady’s death alone is not enough to sever the link between Sansa and her wolf? If the link is still there, then that leads to wondering how this link is shown.

Now, we see Sansa’s siblings all have wolf dreams throughout the story, even if they don’t realize that’s what they are. It would make sense that Sansa does not because of Lady’s death. But, there are two incidents that always made me wonder:

Tyrion dressed himself in darkness, listening to his wife’s soft breathing from the bed they shared. She dreams, he thought, when Sansa murmured something softly—a name, perhaps, though it was too faint to say—and turned onto her side.

-Tyrion VII, SoS

We don’t know if it is a name or who’s name it could be at that point. But, it’s possible we are told later:

That night Sansa scarcely slept at all, but tossed and turned just as she had aboard the Merling King. She dreamt of Joffrey dying, but as he clawed at his throat and the blood ran down across his fingers she saw with horror that it was her brother Robb. And she dreamed of her wedding night too, of Tyrion’s eyes devouring her as she undressed. Only then he was bigger than Tyrion had any right to be, and when he climbed into the bed his face was scarred only on one side. "I’ll have a song from you,” he rasped, and Sansa woke and found the old blind dog beside her once again. “I wish that you were Lady,” she said.

-Sansa VI, SoS (bold emphasis mine)

She has a restless night, full of dreams and many names appear in that description. Yet, upon waking, it is Lady’s name Sansa refers too. This led to the idea that Sansa may not have wolf dreams in the same way as her siblings, but she still has dreams.

So, if Lady is still with Sansa, how would it be displayed? After all, she’s not up north with Jon and Bran, surrounded by the old gods. She’s not with Arya at magic assassin school. Sansa is in KL and the Vale, interacting with Cersei, LF, Joffrey, and other real winners. Her story features politics, diplomacy, and court intrigue. Her mantra is “courtesy is a lady’s armor.” Superficially, it appears magic plays no role in her story at all. Yet, the old gods sent her a wolf and Lady is still with Sansa, at least in her dreams. There is some magic, even if it isn’t to the same degree as the other Starks.

If magic, and a connection to Lady, is part of Sansa’s story, I wondered what it would look like. Her courtesy, and how to wield it, is a skill that grows in the story. We first see her wielding it in GoT when she meets both Renly and Barristan. Later, it comes out in a more polished manner in her Winds gift chapter. Sansa puts a lot of effort in thinking on what to say, how to present herself, what to wear, and so on. She studies people and tries to determine their thoughts and motivations.

Despite this, there are times when it appears almost instinctual for her. There are other exmples, but I’ll limit this to only a few. First, there is this interaction with Tyrion:

“I would sooner return to my own bed.” A lie came to her suddenly, but it seemed so right that she blurted it out at once. “This tower was where my father’s men were slain. Their ghosts would give me terrible dreams, and I would see their blood wherever I looked."Tyrion Lannister studied her face. "I am no stranger to nightmares, Sansa.

-Sansa III, aCoK

Her motivations have nothing to do with nightmares, but a desire to continue seeing Dontos. The lie came to her suddenly and she blurted it out. It’s different than the lie we see earlier in the book, when she struggles to save Dontos. It comes easier to her and it turns out to be the perfect thing for her to say. Tyrion believes her. Later in the same book, she sings to the Hound:

Her throat was dry and tight with fear, and every song she had ever known had fled from her mind. Please don’t kill me, she wanted to scream, please don’t. She could feel him twisting the point, pushing it into her throat, and she almost closed her eyes again, but then she remembered. It was not the song of Florian and Jonquil, but it was a song. Her voice sounded small and thin and tremulous in her ears.

- Sansa VII, aCoK

It’s very similar to her earlier interaction with Tyrion. She remembered, it came to her, she says it because it feels right. As it turns out, the Mother’s Hymn was exactly the song to give, the influence on the Hound is still being felt when we later meet him as the gravedigger.

Finally, we have this observation by Tyrion:

Without his father beside him holding him up, he would surely have collapsed. Yet when Sansa praised his valor and said how good it was to see him getting strong again, both Lancel and Ser Kevan beamed.

- Tyrion VIII, SoS

That passage takes place during the PW when Tyrion and Sansa are in the yard. Here, Tyrion explicitly describes them performing the necessary courtesies which Sansa does with Ser Gyles and a few others. However, her compliment leaves Lancel and Ser Kevan beaming. Not pleased or thankful, but beaming. If we take into account what happens to the two of them further in the story, Sansa’s compliment is an incredibly powerful thing. Kevan is broken up over what happened to his son, to a degree that Sansa would have no way of knowing about. Somehow, she stumbled upon the perfect thing to say. And she did it effortlessly.

Now, Sansa lies a lot. Like a lot. She lies about her love of Joffrey and loyalty to the IT, which no one believes. She lies about going to the godswood. She lies to SR because some lies are kindly meant. She lies to LF because she knows what he wants to hear, lies and Arbor gold. She lies to the Lords Declarant., thinking how her tears would help. She plans what to say and how to behave all through the books.

Yet, every once in a while, something will spill from her lips, without thought or plans, and each time, they turn out to be the exact perfect thing to say. In the first example, she did it to make sure her escape plans continue. In the second, she did it with a knife to her throat while the Hound is suffering a very obvious break.

Sansa, as a character, is strongly associated with empathy, probably more than any other in the books. She helps Lancel, tries to comfort Lollys when crossing the drawbridge, talks to the women during the Blackwater, understands the Hounds’s fear of fire, and so many other examples I could go on for hours.

But, she doesn’t have a wolf to ride with into battle or protect from an assassin. She doesn’t have a wolf to tell her of the free folk close by. But, that doesn’t mean Lady isn’t still protecting her in some way, even if she is physically gone.

So, what if Lady is that instinctual part of Sansa, the unexplained? If Sansa was meant to have her, maybe she still does in some way.

Also, other traits of an empath that Sansa displays: knowing things without explanation, feeling the emotions of others, knowing when someone is lying (she’s getting much better at this), looking out for the helpless (Dontos and Lollys), creativity (singing and dancing, needlework), daydreaming (think of her love of songs and stories).

Basically, this theory is taking certain traits of Sansa, specifically her natural empathy, which is only growing stronger, and trying to connect it to Lady.

Like I said, this is something I consider closer to crack, the textual evidence is weak. It is not something I would present as an argument when discussing Sansa’s character. However, I do believe there is something to the idea of Lady still being with Sansa, even if we don’t (and never will) understand what that something is. After all, the gods sent her the wolf, Sansa was meant to have her. If Lady is a part of Sansa, then that part is already in Winterfell, waiting for her to return home. And I am absolutely convinced, that connection, whatever it is, is not so easily broken.

#Sansa Stark #anon asks #sansa is an empath theory #my meta #feel free to ask #feel free to ignore

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godemperor307 · 6 years

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Conqueror and the Red Wolf Chapter 2

Sansa sent letters to all the lords of Westeros that she had retained independence, but managed to negotiate an alliance with Daenerys Targaryen, as well as the existence and grave threat of the Dead beyond the Wall, which was quickly approaching. She had Jon leave a strong rearguard at Eastwatch, and the castle nearest to it, Last Hearth. The Umbers took to this task with earnestness, commanding a full garrison there. Token garrisons were placed in the surrounding castles, all armed with Dragonglass weapons.

The relationship between the Red Stark and the Silver Dragon deepened in secret. Many began to wonder why exactly it was that the silver haired queen chose to keep such close companionship with whom logically should have been her rival. But Sansa put aside such thoughts and enjoyed her cute girlfriend’s kisses. Their campaign in the south was bringing Euron and Cersei to heel. Dragons proved unstoppable to any army she fielded and were instrumental in the Siege of Pyke, along with Theon who led the first vanguard through the breach. Sure enough, southern Westerosi lords all flocked back to the side of the Dragon Banner, as it was before the days of the Mad King. Any Ironborn who bent the knee were also allowed to live, under Queen Yara, who executed Euron herself and pledged to join Daenerys with fresh reinforcements after the last Euron loyalists had been defeated.

Suddenly Sansa heard something in the distance. Horns of the North blowing proudly and wolf banners flapping in the cool wind. Prince Edmure kneeled before her. “My queen, Prince Jon’s host is approaching.” Sansa nodded. She would finally reunite with Arya and Bran. Sure enough, they arrived and Sansa flung herself into Arya’s arms. Arya was wearing a Northern-style coat and most of the baby-fat was gone, leaving a tough, fierce warrior. “Missed you, sis.” She whispered into Arya’s hair. “You better tell me everything. How exactly did you convince the Dragon Bitch?” “Don’t talk- I’ll explain later.” Arya looked at her curiously but let it pass. “How did you survive? You disappeared from King’s landing after Father….” “Long story. I came back after you and Jon beat the Boltons. I almost didn’t come back home. I went to kill Cersei.” Sansa smirked. “I’m working on it. How would you-” Arya grinned back. “You’re not the selfish stupid little girl I used to know.” “No……I suppose life forced me to grow up. Where did you go? After Father died, you disappeared.” ”I was in the company of the Hound, and then I sailed to Braavos. But I never could have survived what you survived. I would have tried to kill the Lannisters every day since Father….” Arya embraced her again. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you, Sansa. Please accept me into your Queensguard. I can handle myself.” “It’s quite alright. You’re here now. You sure you want to-” “I’ve never been suited to be a princess, Sansa. As much as you are suited to being queen, that’s never been the life for me.” “Very well, sister. I will find a place for you in my guard. Say your Queensguard vows within the week.” Finally, Bran spoke up. “Hello, sister.” Sansa flung herself onto Bran, and the three siblings engaged in a group hug. “Hi, Bran. I missed you so much.” “I am truly sorry”, Bran said, barely above a whisper. “I saw your wedding. I saw what the Boltons and Lannisters did. I wish I could have prevented it.” “I’m just happy you’re here now.” Sansa said, pained. The lone wolves died but the pack had managed to reunite. Arya spoke up again. “So why have you joined the North to the Dragon Bitch?” “Actually, Arya…we’re in love.” “WHAT?” Arya screeched. “I went on a diplomatic mission to negotiate an alliance against Cersei. Things happened. She courted me.” “But….you were so boy-crazy…Remember Joffrey-“ “Never say that name in my presence. I was a foolish young girl with dreams and fantasies, I admit it, but I am sure of my feelings. It never mattered that we were both women. There are far stranger traditions in her family.” “No kidding…” “You should not speak of this to the public. It could destroy everything we’ve built, the entire alliance. I am only telling you and Bran because you are family and deserve to know.” “I understand,” said Bran. “Ugh…fine, sis. I still don’t trust her. If she ever hurts you…” “I will warn her, Arya,” Sansa giggled.

A horn sounded at that moment, announcing the arrival of the rest of Jon’s united host to join the Targaryens waiting outside the city. All told, over a hundred thousand men, awaiting the signal to begin the final assault up the walls of the capital. Many among Daenerys had initially wanted to simply attack the Red Keep with Drogon, now that nearly all of Westeros had rallied to their side. but the Queen in the North advised against it. Neither her nor her girlfriend had any wish to harm innocents unnecessarily.

She could not get enough of her sexy dragon, savoring the taste of Daenerys’ skin, her soft lips, the mounds of her soft breasts pressing up against Sansa’s own. They pulled apart however when they heard someone coming. Prince Jon burst in, furious. “They lied to me! Father lied to me.” “What is going on, Jon?” Sansa asked softly. “I am Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark!” he shouted. “Howland Reed, Sam and Bran told me everything. Father should have told me this before I first left Winterfell. He sent me to the Wall, knowing what it was, who I really was, when I could have avenged my true family and killed Gregor Clegane.” Daenerys eyed him sympathetically. “if this is true, then I am not as alone as I once thought. It is a pain beyond what anyone should suffer through, to think you are the last remaining member of your family.” “Yet Mother and Father foolishly started a civil war, all based on a lie apparently. Rhaegar did not rape her. She went with him willingly. Thousands died for it.” Jon snarled. “How many millions might live because of the love I have for your cousin, Jon? We united Westeros and are currently marching to save it. Love is much more powerful than you think.” “We need you, Jon. I don’t care what Bran says. We were raised together. You’re my brother and heir. You are a Stark, and a Targaryen. You embody the most admirable traits of both. I need you….” Sansa finished softly. Jon broke down in tears and launched himself into his sister’s arms. “Jon, I will never lie to you. I love you. I always will. If I fall…..you need to lead Westeros to victory, as the rightful prince of our kingdom.” Jon sniffled. “I could never lead as well as you. I don’t want power. Never did. You need not worry about me pressing my claim. You are my queen, Your Grace.” “Thank you, Jon. There is something else you must know about me. Queen Daenerys and I have fallen in love. We just told Arya. I hope I have your support.” Jon did not hesitate. “It goes without saying, Your Grace, as long as she makes you happy.” At that moment, Jaime Lannister cautiously stepped inside the tent. He was stopped by the Lady Commander, who hissed “Back, Lannister, or we will kill you. Why did the guards let you pass?” “I only seek to serve the queen, Brienne. They know that.” “Bloody terrible job you did of that. She’s surrounded and soon to be dead.” “Not Cersei. Sansa. I once promised her mother I would protect her, remember? Cersei is dead to me.” He hissed hauntingly. Clearly there had been a falling out, or he was simply abandoning a lost cause. “It’s ok, Brienne.” Sansa turned away from her brother. “Let him pass.” “As you wish, Your Grace.” “Now, Ser Jaime…..why do you wish to join us? Why should we trust you?” Jaime chuckled darkly. “Half your army is savages, eunuchs, and former enemies of yours. One more won’t hurt. If you’ll have me, I’ll help lead your armies against the dead – Yes, I believe you - kill your enemies, and do whatever it takes to earn at least a small part of redemption for myself and my family.” Sansa stayed quiet, weighing her options. “Very well. Kneel, pledge you shall be loyal to me, and it shall be so. I will even grant you the Rock, should we both survive this.” “I humbly pledge my loyalty, Queen Sansa. You shall not regret this. I am humbled by your offer, and I agree to lead my people. I will take command of the Westerlanders on your flank, and lead foraging parties for food.” “See that you do, Ser Jaime.” With that, Jaime rode off to the other side of the encampment. Brienne stiffened. “Is it really wise to trust a bloody Lannister? Mere hours ago, you would have had his head on a spike, Your Grace.” “If this war has taught me anything, Brienne, it’s to forgive but never forget. Jaime Lannister tried to kill my brother. You think I don’t want to make him suffer? It is the right of a queen to punish her enemies. However, that is not the kind of queen I want to be. We’ll never get through this if I or my bannermen act out every last grudge or battle amongst ourselves.” “But-“ Prince Edmure snarled “Question your queen again, woman.” “It’s quite alright, Uncle.” He growled disapprovingly. The next morning, Sansa sent a messenger, intending to give Cersei one last chance to work out the terms of her surrender. Daenerys disagreed. “I can send Drogon to do one passover and it is likely they all will simply throw down their weapons and surrender. It’s mostly sellswords, Sansa.” “That is not the queen I wish to be, ruling through fear. If they fight for gold, they won’t want to die against nearly one hundred thousand men. I do not believe that Cersei is ready to die either. She will do whatever it takes to keep her power. I believe that means bending the knee. Even Balon Greyjoy bent his knee before Robert Baratheon.” “Yes, and then he betrayed the Baratheons.” “I know. However, has Queen Yara not reformed the ironborn and made them staunch allies of ours? I feel that the same can be done for the Lannisters.” “Very well, my love. However, if negotiations go south, we do this my way.” “Your Graces….” Arya interrupted. She eyed Daenerys warily, having never truly trusted her. “Arya? We’re about to begin the parley. Go back to your post.” “Forgive me, Your Graces. Perhaps the men could do with a speech. Last night, half the army were drunken fools, Jon included. The new arrivals also seem to have doubts about you two.” “I see. Thank you, sister. Rally the Queensguard. I will speak to them.” Sansa declared fiercely. Arya bowed and left. Before Sansa could leave, Daenerys muttered something. “D?” “I said…I love you, my wolf.” Sansa’s heart soared, and pounded in her chest. Daenerys had never said that before to her. This drop dead gorgeous bombshell loved her? It almost defied her imagination. “Oh D, I love you too, my dragon. From the moment I met you, I did.” Daenerys grinned genuinely, and gave her one last peck. Sansa then rode out to the head of her gigantic army, which had gathered outside.

Her messenger had returned and reported that there would soon be a parley from the leadership of the city’s defenders. A dozen riders came from the gate, carrying a flag of truce. Including……

“False Queen Sansa, Daenerys the Usurper, I present to you, Queen Cersei of the Iron Throne, rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.” The Lannister knight snarled. “Little dove” Cersei Lannister sneered mockingly. You rose high, didn’t you? But a weakling is still a weakling. I see you brought my brother. Pity…...” “Cersei, the game is up! You must see that! Three Dragons would be difficult enough to fight, let alone Dothraki, Ironborn and Unsullied. Your sellswords and ballistas won’t stop them.” Jaime pleaded. “Qyburn assures me they are able to pierce through solid stone-“ “And It won’t stop them!” “Sansa…” Cersei sighed, ignoring her brother she had now given up for dead. “Did you really think I rode out here to issue a surrender? I did not. I only did to get a final look at my enemies, before burning them to the ground. Do you really think I would bend my knee before eunuch scum and flea bitten horselords? Before the man who murdered Father?” Sansa smiled “No, honestly I was not expecting a surrender from you. However, it does me good to see you again. You taught me much about ruling. Thank you for your lessons, Queen Cersei. I wanted you to see what those lessons have made me become.” “You can skulk back home, you little cunt!” Cersei screeched. “You can take this city, over my dead body-“(“Actually, that’s more or less the idea,” quipped Edmure)- and a pile of burning ash and stone. You think because you put a crown on your silly little murderous head, that you have become better than me? You are even more arrogant than I thought. It would be depressing, really, if it wasn’t so hilariously pathetic. Send your armies, then. I will burn them!” With that, she turned and rode off back inside. Sansa smirked, and turned to her mighty host. “I look around and much of you know me. I am Sansa Stark, rightful Queen in the North, Vale and Trident, and I fight with the rightful Queen of the South, Daenerys Stormborn. Many years ago, the Vale, North, Trident and Stormlands all rose in rebellion against a mad monarch. The Trident couldn’t have defeated the Mad King by themselves, but heroes like my father rode with them. Now, another fire obsessed monarch would have us all on our knees! We won at the Rock. We won at the Blackwater Rush. We won at Pyke. I mean to destroy once and for all, those who have favored power and greed over honor and loyalty, who slaughtered my family and gave my home to murdering, flaying cowards. One last legion of foolish men lies awaiting us inside those walls. The Golden Company.

“They fight for Cersei’s lies, trinkets and bribes. You fight for your homes, your families, your very future that will be wrested free of tyranny and slaughter. Every second we let them keep control over Queen Daenery’s lands is an abomination I cannot tolerate. Today, none of us belong to any one house or culture. Dothraki, Unsullied or Westerosi. We belong to the cause of justice, freedom and courage. To those still trapped in that city under Cersei’s tyranny, I say only this: hold on, we’re coming. I declare that on this day, madness has seen its final sunrise!” A massive cheer erupted. “RED WOLF! RED WOLF! RED WOLF!” Daenerys quickly landed beside her girlfriend. “That was one Seven Hells of a speech, Sans. You are ten times the queen I will ever be.” Sansa smiled lovingly and proudly. Daenerys took this as her signal and mounted Drogon to provide air support for the oncoming rush of artillery pounding the walls, before the first wave rushed in.

If the Lannisters feared Stannis’s attempt to do the same, they were soiling their trousers at this sight. Cersei herself stared out from the Red Keep at the seemingly endless hordes approaching her without mercy, seemingly still confident she could burn them. Sansa watched the battle with interest. Sure enough, sellswords had no reason to die for nothing and began surrendering to Sansa and Daenerys’ mighty scaled sons. Suddenly, she felt rumbling. Was the Earth itself trying to deny them victory? She felt only burning before her sister and Brienne pulled her away in time. She stared aghast at the destruction. You really did it, you mad bitch. Cersei had decided to let Sansa be queen after all, over ash, fire and dust. The wildfire ignited, swallowing the Red Keep and everything within the walls. However, none of the Dragons had been hurt, safe as they were flying overhead, and they had more than enough men for the war against the Night King “Are you alright, honey?” Sansa’s girlfriend whispered with tender care and concern, once she landed in the camp. “I am fine, D. I can’t believe she did that. But this is not over. We need to get our remaining forces to Winterfell.” “One thing at a time, honey. You got burnt a little.” She softly caressed Sansa’s cheek. “I am okay. Check for survivors. Leave a garrison behind to protect the Crownlands. Then get the men in formation, to start marching north.” Daenerys, Jon and Arya all stood before her, refusing to move, and then kneeled. What was this? “What are you doing? Stand up, please.” Daenerys then declared “Sansa Stark, our Alliance is over.” Sansa almost sobbed. They were rebelling? Leaving? Breaking up? Did Daenerys not love her? But why? They had just defeated Cersei once and for all. Cold sadness and despair was quickly replaced with burning rage for this vicious and cruel betrayal. “I formally bend the knee to you, Queen Sansa of the Seven Kingdoms, First of Her Name.” This was beyond anything Sansa ever expected. She continued sniffling and crying. “B-Bu-“ “I could think of no one better. I have made some foolish mistakes, yet you can rally together a continent. Look at them. You’re my queen, from this day until my last day.” “W-what about your dragons-” “They shall be in your Queensguard, no?” Ssnsa nodded, laughing in spite of herself. “I will never doubt you again, Daenerys. Today, in the name of freedom and humanity, we shall take our world back from the Night King!” She was truly queen of nearly everything now, with a doting sexy wife in all but name, loyally supporting her. Sure enough, the men began gathering around, a song in their hearts and fire in their bellies. They unfurled the wolf banner, letting it flow in the wind.

Their voices only cried one name. “RED WOLF! RED WOLF! RED WOLF!”

10 years later. “Did you beat the dead people, Mummy?” asked 7 year old Lyanna Stark, whom Sansa and Daenerys had adopted together into the royal court, and legitimized, alongside 6 year old Rhaenys Stark. “Yes, Mummy did, with a lot of help, especially from Mama.” Sansa wistfully explained to her daughters.

However, hurt and pain flashed across her eyes. In truth, it was a nearly hopeless battle and they only barely won at the last second before being completely overrun inside Winterfell. When the dead breached the walls, Prince Jon died on the back of Rhaegal in his final duel against the Night King, saving Sansa’s life but destroying the Night King once and for all in the process, using Longclaw which he had set on fire. Only 5000 of their original host had survived in fighting condition. The Northern fighting men were almost obliterated. Davos, Tyrion, Samwell, Thoros, Beric, Robin Arryn, Arya, Gendry and many others also didn’t make it out alive. Entire houses were lost. But she did not have the heart to admit this yet to her children. “We lost a lot of people. But we recovered and rebuilt slowly over these last 10 years. A hard-won peace, led by your mama and I.” Sansa said. “But people still want to hurt you, Mummy.” “I won’t let them, sweetling.” Daenerys took that opportunity to walk into the room. “MAMA!” the girls squealed, hugging her tightly. “Hello girls.” Daenerys smiled fondly. “How did it go, honey?” Sansa asked, regarding the two-week diplomatic mission with the Free Cities.

Over the past 10 years since the Battle of Dawn, they had taken the opportunity to slave-raid and bully the weakened houses of Westeros. The absence of Dothraki caused a massive continent-wide war between the Free Cities, Slaver’s Bay and Yi Ti, all of which attempting to reform Valyria and conquer the vacant Targaryen Sea, as it was now known. Daenerys took her dragons and routinely crushed them, however she hoped with this new landmark peace deal, they would cease their slave raids and gradually phase slavery out. “Well enough, I believe. The Essosi slavers will not trouble us for some time.” “Very well. I’m glad your home safe, wife.” Sansa smirked at her. The silverhead laughed and kissed her. Their daughters squealed in delight. “So cute! Mummy, will you tell us about the time you rode your direwolf and killed a Bolton in single combat?” Sansa laughed “What have you been telling them, D?”

They had won the war for the future of their people, Sansa thought nostalgically. They were finally safe, or as safe as they would be for a long time. Her wife, who married her shortly after Sansa changed the laws to allow it, would be her only love. She thought back to when they had first met, young and inexperienced queens desperately fighting for survival. Their alliance ultimately was the only thing that could have won the Battle of Dawn. A victory eclipsing all others and Sansa owed it all to the thousands of brave heroes who fought with her that day, for their Red Wolf, for freedom, for love, for the future of their children to come. She wondered briefly how the tales might be told a hundred, or a thousand years after her death. How would she herself be remembered? The slaughter of the Westerlanders, Karstarks and Umbers still haunted her, wishing there was another way. Tyrant? Conqueror? Hero? Failure for allowing the deaths of nearly her entire family? Just another vengeance-obsessed noble? She decided that she wanted only to be remembered as someone who loved her wife and children. The Red Wolf was never real. She was only Sansa Stark, the whole time.

The End.

#daensa #dansa #Sansa Stark #lesbians falling in love #cute #cersei lannister #Trigger warning: bad words #Character death #Daenerys x Sansa

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