#ice reps

[tinygryphon-58570]

I've tried a dozen times to doodle a mermay thing this month and nothing's really looked good to me, so here's a coloured version of an older sketch instead ^^

[weedle-testaburger]

in light of recent events (massive F for ice adolescence)

[bambiraptorx]

watching tmnt 2003 is so wild honestly. a guy shows up from another dimension to fight leo and not only does everyone more or less roll with it, splinter knows exactly what's going on somehow

[katsu-curry835]

Why Bisexual Jon Snow Could Work /srs

Jon Snow is bisexual and here's why.

Aight, I'm aware the queer rep in asoiaf is pretty eh for the most part. Sweets is cool, and Loras and Renly have a nice implied relationship but Dany and Cersei having gay sex scenes felt way more fetishized than actually meaningful representation, especially since neither character considers a romance with a woman. Because of this, I'm gonna say that while I think this could be a valid direction to take the story, I'm like 50% sure that GRRM won't write it. Then again, it's been so long between books that times have literally changed and FnB seemed to have a ton of queer relationships so who knows.

Ok, ok, so I've laundered my argument; we all know why we're really here. Jon Snow could be bisexual and that could be really important for the story. Why?

First and most obvious is that it's another parallel with Dany. Jon and Dany have had storylines that directly mirror each other, especially in books 3 and 5. Dany is confirmed bisexual by the narrative, since she has regular sex with her handmaiden Irri, although because of her position of power over her, she tries to limit them. And, as already mentioned, she never gets to be romantically attracted to a woman. Maybe that's coming in future novels, who knows, but all that to say Dany and Jon mirroring each other on the bi front is not inconceivable, especially when you consider that there is already evidence for Jon being bi.

I'm sure most of you deep into this discourse(?) have probably predicted that I'm going to talk about Satin. And if this story does go in the 'Irri' direction, Satin is definitely the candidate for Jon's male love interest. He's a former prostitute from Oldtown, which mirrors another of Dany's handmaids (Doreah I think) and he's Jon's steward, like Irri is to Dany. Other characters also seem to think that Satin has kinda slept his way up the ranks to being Jon's steward, confirming at least that this idea is in GRRM's head. I wanna take a look at a few scenes and see how they could imply a future relationship between Jon and Satin. Take a look at this fight scene between Jaime and Brienne (I promise this is relevant.)

"'Give me the sword, Kingslayer.'

'Oh I will.' He sprang to his feet and drove at her, the longsword alive in his hands. Brienne jumped back, parrying, but he followed, pressing the attack. No sooner did she turn one cut than the next was upon her. The swords kissed and sprang apart and kissed again. Jaime's blood was singing...

...The dance went on. He pinned her against an oak, cursed as she slipped away, followed her through a shallow brook half choked with fallen leaves. Steel rang, steel sang, steel screamed and sparked and scraped, and the woman was grunting like a sow at every crash, yet somehow he could not reach her."

To me this scene has always read as implicitly foreshadowing Brienne and Jaime's future romance. Words like "kissed" or "grunted" or "pinned her against a tree" feel implicitly romantic/sexual, even the way the scene is described as a "dance." Jaime even says at a later point "Might I have this dance my lady" to mock her. Of course there is plenty more in the story as a whole that foreshadows Brienne and Jaime having a relationship, but I use this as an example because I want to point out how GRRM sometimes writes a fight scene as romantic and sexual foreshadowing, or at least that can be how some scenes are interpreted. Now I want to look at the scene where Jon trains Satin.

"It's too heavy," the Oldtown boy complained.

"It's as heavy as it needs to be to stop a sword," Jon said. "Now get it up." He stepped forward, slashing. Satin jerked the shield up in time to catch the sword on its rim, and swung his own blade at Jon's ribs. "Good," Jon said, when he felt the impact on his own shield. "That was good. But you need to put your body into it. Get your weight behind the steel and you'll do more damage than with arm strength alone. Come, try it again, drive at me, but keep the shield up or I'll ring your head like a bell . . ."

This scene reads similarly to me. Words like "jerked," "rim," "get it up," even the one word sentence "Come," can read as sexual foreshadowing in a similar way to Jaime and Brienne if you are given context that Jon and Satin do end up together. In particular, "ring your head like a bell" reminds me of a scene where Gendry gets approached by a girl but rejects her advances.

"I'm named Bella," the girl told Gendry. "For the battle. I bet I could ring your bell, too. You want to?"

I would be remised if I didn't mention that Jon calls Satin pretty three times in the chapter where he's supposed to be engaged in a battle with the wildlings. Like yeah, that's a bit weird, why are you thinking about that now Jon. Or I could mention the fact that he described Satin’s voice swearing his words as being like song and that he could smell the fresh sweet oils Satin rubbed into his beard. Jon… buddy you got something you wanna say? I’m joking of course: you don't have to be queer to recognize another man's beauty. What I think puts this into perspective is if you compare this to how he describes Val, someone who it's generally agreed upon that he takes an interest in.

Here's a quote where Jon describes Satin:

"The boy claimed to be eighteen, older than Jon, but he was green as summer grass for all that. Satin, they called him, even in the wool and mail and boiled leather of the Night's Watch; the name he'd gotten in the brothel where he'd been born and raised. He was pretty as a girl with his dark eyes, soft skin, and raven's ringlets. Half a year at Castle Black had toughened up his hands, however, and Noye said he was passable with a crossbow."

Now here's Val:

"Val stood on the tower roof, gazing up at the Wall. Stannis kept her closely penned in rooms above his own, but he did allow her to walk the battlements for exercise. She looks lonely, Jon thought. Lonely, and lovely. Ygritte had been pretty in her own way, with her red hair kissed by fire, but it was her smile that made her face come alive. Val did not need to smile; she would have turned men's heads in any court in the wide world."

I mean, the fact that "pretty" is a word used to describe both Ygritte and Satin is a connection that I shouldn't need to point out the significance of, but I digress. If you actually compare these quotes, both look like neutral descriptions of someone's appearance in isolation, however in context, you have to ask why the author shows you this stuff. Why does Jon comment on how good looking both of these characters are so often? It doesn't seem like there would be any other purpose to these, again, repeated descriptions of both Val and Satin other than to highlight that the fact that Jon finds both of them attractive is important.

Again, none of this proves anything outright. I mention this because this is the sort of thing where if you reread the books with this lens, suddenly more things start to jump out at you, and it can read like obvious foreshadowing you missed. Like when Catelyn sees her reflection in some armor and comments on how "drowned" she looks. It doesn't mean too much on a first read, but when you know what happens to her, it's some clever foreshadowing.

Another big reason I think Jon getting with Satin might be important is that you can see it as a pivotal part of Jon's character arc, specifically Jon's sexual awakening storyline. When Jon first has sex with Ygritte, she's the one who initiates the interaction. In fact she has been doing that the whole time he's had her hostage, teasing him with advances and mocking him for his inexperience. In the famous cave scene, Jon's thoughts are how he wants to bang her, but also about how it would be in conflict with his vows. That's the main reason he never has sex with her until she incites it on her own; it's not because he doesn't want to. It's because he thinks it would violate the words he swore at the weirwood.

So Ygritte begins this part of his arc, and Jon discovers that he likes having sex, how original. But he still feels reservations about it, during the act and afterwards. After all, his people resent him for being able to openly take a woman to bed with him, while they have to go to Mole's Town to dig if they want to get any action at all.

My view on this is that the story is heading in a sex-positive direction with respect to Jon. There’s plenty of theming about this “why is it a sin if it feels so good” etc etc. The books are full to the brim of people feeling needlessly guilty about having casual sex, Jon especially. Where I think this is headed, therefore, is probably something like a wildling understanding of sex; Jon has to view sex as Ygritte did, because that was always the healthiest way for him to go about it. Except this time, to complete his arc, he is going to need to take the initiative himself and embrace his desires like Ygritte did. Her teasing him for not doing this was trying to get him to come out of his shell. It would feel strange to me if this went nowhere. Jon needs a future romantic/sexual partner so that he can feel no qualms with taking the initiative with them. How he learns to do that is up to George but suffice it to say, however uncertain I maybe that this partner will be Satin, a future romance is in the cards for Lord Snow.

So Jon's in a bit of a bind here from a meta perspective. If we want him to complete his sexual awakening storyline, he's going to have to take the initiative himself with a partner without feeling any inhibitions. But he can't do that if he's still a brother of the Night's Watch because of the aforementioned conflict with his vows. But he's not going to stop being a crow, his vows are important to him. So how do we reconcile the fact that Jon's character arc about his sexuality needs to be resolved, but he also needs to keep to his words? Simple: make his next partner male so it doesn't violate anything.

I've actually thought this could work as a plot point for anyone either in the Night's Watch or the Kingsguard. One of these men surely has to consider at some point the obvious loophole of "so I can't bed a woman, but what about a man?" and how that affects their honor or whatever. It just slots kinda nicely into Jon's storyline here. Another reason it really works is that Jon is looking to socially progress the Night’s Watch: unity with the wildlings, defending Satin from homophobia etc. Him realising the obvious flaw of the vows for not considering that men can be romantically involved through his own experiences as a bi guy can help him begin to dismantle the outdated nature of the customs. He’s framed as this sort of reformer, and being a queer bastard (who is also probably the lost heir to the Targaryen dynasty) makes this thematically poignant. He’s an outcast, but also a king.

Of course, he’s always been an outcast, being queer would just help add to that. And this is just one way of writing this arc; I’m not married to this take on this basis alone.

I can so imagine a scene where Jon is having sex with Satin and the lit hearth is positioned behind Satin's head from Jon's POV and it looks like Satin's been 'kissed by fire.' Also, Jon considering how Ygritte would feel about him doing this and coming to that conclusion that she would be proud seems like a great way to end a chapter about the two hooking up because Jon's arc would be basically resolved.

This final part is something that I feel should not be left merely implied: Jon being canonically bisexual would be great representation. This is one of the most beloved and famous heroes in all of fantasy, hell, in all of modern fiction. Making him queer would be a really important step forward for queer rep that should not be underestimated. Verity Ritchie (VerilyBitchie on yt) did an excellent video essay on bisexuality in reality tv, a point from which I'm going to paraphrase: it's really hard to effectively depict bisexuals because any confirmed relationship with another character would look like they 'picked a side.' But in order to continually show someone's openness to sexual attraction to two or more genders, you risk going to far the other way, falling into the bisexual sex demon stereotype. This is a really difficult needle to thread, and is why we have characters like Nick Nelson constantly having to remind us that they're bi, rather than having us just assume they could be. Put simply, we need better bi representation, especially with men and Jon Snow is excellent casting for the role. His relationship to Ygritte is constantly referenced throughout the narration as something he treasures and misses, so there would be no doubt that he was not 'gay the whole time.' But, if the Satin story goes ahead, there can be no doubt he's not queer either. Literature is a great place to put bi characters, I think, since an internal monologue can remind you of past relationships with other characters of different genders and how they mean something to the character in question, but never undermining the integrity of the current relationship.

Me personally, I'd be buzzing for Jon Snow to be confirmed as bi. Really interested to see people's thoughts on this.

[cottoncandysprite]

I always forget Yuri!!! On Ice is actually like. Really really good

[tangerinecherrygal]

the author had a chance to tell a really powerful story w acosf but instead she broke nesta down until she wasn’t herself anymore. She subjected her to more abuse on top of the trauma that was already affecting her and left her isolated and without much support.

ik it’s ‘not that serious bc it’s just a book’ but as someone who has really bad mh struggles, like a lot of us do, it’s a bit disheartening. her suffering is just an inconvenience to the people around her which is such a fear of so many people with psychological problems have. Like if it’s affecting you, imagine how tired we are.

worst of all she had no true happy ending. she’s been through so much and her healing is still in progress but she’s stuck with a man that doesn’t even seem to like her and surrounded by the ic that openly despise her. how is her healing supposed to continue under these conditions?

If you have a mental health struggle: you are not a burden and you deserve company that accepts you as you are and doesn’t treat your struggles like it inconveniences them. <3

[cherriko-art]

I just finished my nth rewatch of Legend of Korra (due to the live action bringing me back to my atla/lok roots), and was violently thrown back 9 years ago while rereading the original reaction subreddits when everyone was arguing whether korrasami was canon, all bc Nick wouldn't have ever allowed the creators to show an in-show kiss between two women.

It really shows how far we've made it in today's society and media. Korrasami shocked us 9 years ago (gay marriage wasn't even federally legalized in the USA till a year after), but if it came out today none of us would've blinked at the queer rep on a kids show (by kids I mean Nickelodeon). It just makes me so happy that it's now (mostly) normalized to have safe and good queer rep in media, esp kids media.

I can't imagine what it would've felt like to have shows/movies like Nimona, Steven Universe, She-ra, etc growing up. Or just media normalizing that queer people exist and are like everyone else (instead of the butt of a joke or a "token gay character").

[midnighttreasureseeking]

James Somerton and the Vampire Chronicles

Ok last thing about this whole James Somerton situation before watching the hbommerguy video.

James Somerton made several videos in which he mentions interview with the vampire and they always rubbed me the wrong way. In the last one, a video of which im still trying to figure out the point, he spends about 20 min trying to tell us that Anne Rice was the first person the portray the vampire as sexy. Which is not true, for example 'The vampire lovers' was made in 1970 and 'The kiss of the vampire' in 1963 (and then i havent even talked about literature). It is not Anne Rice's original idea that vampires can be sexy. But the portrayals of sexy vampires before 1975 were mostly women being sexy, and i guess that doesn't count for him.

The only other things he could talk about was how sexy the main characters are (in a way that made me honestly uncomfortable because he seemed to be undermining the point of the scenes and the show in general) and to give us a general summary of the show he spends ten minutes on.

He goes into the attractiveness of lestat in the book and briefly the show but he goes into no further depth beyond that. And there is a lot to say about attraction in the vampire chronicles beyond that!! Why do we get a ten minute summary of the show instead, where nothing is mentioned to further your point?

Don't get me wrong, Interview with the Vampire is my current hyperfixation and i love hearing about it. But i already knew the plot of the show and you had a point to make, right?? (the point never gets made)

When watching the video back when he posted it i was pretty disappointed that he went into so little depth regarding the show, certainly after the analyses i had already read about it, but now i'm honestly relieved. No doubt he would have directly stolen from our amazing meta creators and analysts in this fandom.

There are more things i can talk about.

His endless praise of Anne Rice as the saviour of all gay people while every other woman (including queer women) is bad for liking and creating content about gay men. (heartstopper, fanfiction, etc.)

How he doesn't mention the racism present in the books while only sparing a sentence or two talking about the handeling of racism in the show. And with that taking a firmly white lens stating that Lestat releases Louis from the shackles of humanity and therefore racism and homophobia. Which, when you watch the show, is obviously not what actually happens. Louis is still factually a black man in the Jim Crow south, he just also has to kill people now and can't talk to his family. Not crazy he doesn't take to vampirism so easily. But James seems to agree with Lestat that he should get over it and have fun.

He does not talk about any of the misogyny present in the books, just not at all. I don't remember him talking about the women in the books or the show at all either...

Now i'm going back to real life where people disappoint me far less

here 5 youtubers that source their content

[sinusoidaldysfunction]

Happy pride, some lesbians for your enjoyment.

[astrababyy]

The humans in ACOTAR are literally just props. The story doesn’t actually care about them or what happens to them. The characters contradict themselves in the way they behave towards them. Hell, the author herself barely gives them a second thought.

During the endeavor to save the Mortal Realm through book 2-3, the Mortal Queens were consulted and their help was requested. The High Lords were consulted and their help was requested. But when it came to the actual helping part, I swear, the humans in the south of Prythian didn’t even know any of this was happening. While the Inner Circle plotted and planned out their fates like they’re pieces on a chess board, none of them even knew any of this was happening. That doesn’t seem a little screwed up to anybody?

[tinygryphon-58570]

I'm really liking this whole 'draw element-themed things during each festival' that I've been doing this year, because it's helping me focus on a lot of characters I don't really give enough attention to, and figuring out where they fit into my clan has led to another cute little match-up (or cute giant match-up in this case? xD)

Frazil's got a girlfriend, Frazil's got a girlfriend -3-

[acewithapencil]

Dany Month Day 4: House Targaryen

Dany with some of my favorite House Targaryen monarchs I like to compare her to!

Aegon the Conqueror: Dany is uniting the seven kingdoms whilst leading a trio of dragons, rides “Balerion reborn,” will fulfill the prophecy of the prince that was promised and help defend the world against the Others

Rhaenyra: Dany is also striving to be the first reigning queen of the seven kingdoms, where Rhaenyra being usurped and killed coincides with the death of the dragons, magic, and a decline in power for House Targaryen, Dany’s rise to power signals a return of all those things

Aegon V: Both Dany and Aegon V think of all their people, especially those without power, Aegon seeks to bring back dragons to enforce reforms to help the smallfolk, similarly Dany seeks to use her power to help and defend her people, Aegon dies in the attempt to hatch dragons, Dany succeeds in bringing them back

[seiwas]

...gojo

it is as they say: i see you in everything ✨

JAKSNKSJXKDKJD HELP RIRI IT RLLY IS GOJO 😭😭😭😭😭 he is such a snow boy i can’t even… dare i even say… maybe an ice prince ????!!!!

[ice-6caydesqueen]

Children of mandalor

Left to right

Kad skirata/ venku skirata - rep com and legacy of the force a son of a Jedi and clone

Mirta gev - legacy of the force granddaughter of boba fett

Dinua jeban - boba fett a practical and legacy of the force adopted daughter of bevin and medrit

[madelinetaylorsversion]

GUYS SHES SERVING SO HARD OH MY GOD LIKE IM ON THE FLOOR HELPPPP UGHHHHHHH 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩