#key to the north

[agentrouka-blog]

"The Neck is the key to the kingdom."- Theon(ACOK II). "Moat Cailin is the key."- Cat(ASOS V). "Lord Balon Greyjoy had known that the Moat was the key to holding the north."- Asha(ADWD). "Our alliances in the south may be as solid as Casterly Rock, but there remains the north to win, and the key to the north is Sansa Stark."- Tyrion(ASOS III). Do you think it means something? Moat Cailin has defended North from south. Sansa is called key to the north.

There is something there.

There is the theme of "Kyra with her keys" that repeats through Theon's ADWD arc, referring to a trap, a false hope. The way Theon is used to "unlock" Moat Cailin from the inside, so a false Stark daughter can be brought North, at the hands of an army of traitors and enemies, to facilitate the very thing that Tywin tried to do with Sansa: legitimize the new leader by a marriage to a "Stark" girl and creating an heir with "Stark" blood... It's like the ugly realization of Tywin's plan acted out with Jeyne Poole. But it, too, fails.

Moat Cailin is only effective if the North is united behind it. Even while holding the castle, the ironborn are beset by crannogmen attacks, starving and sick. They surrender when offered the opportunity (only to be horrifically killed), while the Neck still hides the true Stark loyalists and Ned's bones. Robb himself knew that there are ways around the castle through the bogs for the Northern army that is locked out of its own kingdom. Holding Moat Cailin and marching his Frey allies through it doesn't make Roose Bolton the accepted leader for the majority of Northerners. Meanwhile the mountain clans are riding for "Ned Stark's little girl" - against Roose.

If Moat Cailin was all it took, the Boltons wouldn't be struggling. It takes the support of the people to rule in the North. So it would appear that this key is not useful by itself for holding the North.

This:

"Your father tried to kill us all," he reminded Sigorn. "The Magnar was a brave man, yet he failed. And if he had succeeded … who would hold the Wall?" He turned away from the Thenns. "Winterfell's walls were strong as well, but Winterfell stands in ruins today, burned and broken. A wall is only as good as the men defending it." (ADWD, Jon V)

Exists alongside this:

That was the last that Jon Snow saw of Styr, the Magnar of Thenn. The Wall defends itself, he thought. (ASOS, Jon VII)

The literal castle called the "key" has fallen just as Winterfell did. But the North is not yet won.

The metaphorical castle called the "key", with her metaphorical walls, who builds Winterfell from snow? Is still holding on.

It may not just be the key that matters. It's who is holding it.

[inatungulates]

Key deer Odocoileus virginianus clavium

Observed by shabrobtilus, CC BY-NC

[northescere]

haikyuu!! as things my friends and I have said: part 3

part 1, part 2

I’m coming to realise that the interactions between my friends and I are very shiratorizawa coded.

Anyways dirty jokes ahead don’t read if you aren’t comfy with it

——

Tendou: So I was watching a show about the lift on the cannibalism ban in Thailand—

Ushiwaka, mildly horrified: Cannibalism?

Tendou: WAIT NO I MEANT CANNABIS

——

Tanaka: I’ll swallow your brains whole

Nishinoya: What brains

Tanaka: Oh yeah what brains

Nishinoya: We don’t have brains

——

Bokuto: What did he say? That he’s a penis?

Kuroo: (wheezing) he said he’s a pianist

Bokuto: OH

——

Tendou: Reon, tell him that I don’t have rabies

Reon: … (turns to Semi) I think he has rabies

Tendou: Betrayal

——

Kageyama: I had an alpha fish—

Tsukishima: Alpha fish.

Kageyama: No wait I meant betta fish

——

Tanaka: My entire life is a joke

Nishinoya: It’s okay, life is a circus

——

Ukai Keishin: (taking a picture of Karasuno) Looks like a volleyball cult group 

——

(texting)

Atsumu: I’m the smartest

Osamu: No me

Atsumu: monke

Atsumu: SHIT

Atsumu: *NO ME

Osamu: ???💀

——

Tendou: I have MAD skills

Shirabu: You don’t have mad skills you’re just mad

——

Kuroo, climbing down the stairs: HYDROGEN

Kenma, turning around to look at him: Bitch what the fuck

——

Daichi: I need to go to dunkin donuts to redeem a voucher

Hinata: You need to redeem a wild teacher??

Kageyama: You need to redeem a vulture???

Daichi: VOUCHER

——

Sakusa: I think one day I’m gonna have to put you on a leash

Atsumu: (raises eyebrows)

Sakusa: NO 

——

Sugawara: No but Canadians speak French

Nishinoya: What? Really? 

Sugawara: Yeah?

Nishinoya: I thought they spoke maple leaf or something

——

Tendou: (checking receiptify) The fuck is Norwegian indie

Semi: Do you stan anyone from Norwegia?

Tendou: (wheezing) NORWEGIA???

Semi: OH FUCK

[dollfishu]

PLUTO Key Animation ~

[hetagrammy]

I know it wasn't really popular until the 1870s, nor am I totally sure Arthur would go this far, but the idea of Arthur putting Molly on a "rest cure" to treat her "hysteria" around the 1840s before the Famine really kicked in is something that has been sticking in my brain. The idea of this woman going Yellow Wallpaper is something that just intrigues me. To be clear, either way, Arthur 100% referred to her as his "hysterical sister" and used that as an excuse to both keep her from going to Europe and making allies again.

[doueverwonder]

ND and SD explaining that only certain other midwest states are allowed to baby them, Ohio and Indiana? That shit is habitual, you can't stop it if you tried and they do it to the whole midwest, real mom friend/dad friend solidarity with those two.

Nebraska and Kansas? that shit is MALICIOUS they're just being mean and they need to stop rn or they're going to get bit >:(

[jiainokaitou]

Some people: the term girly kei doesn't exist in Japan!

Uma Musume, one of the most popular Japanese exclusive mobile game: 'Girly-kei suits you the most-- that's what Flight-san said about me. She really is knowledgeable about fashion...'

[mintyscuriocabinet]

Geumsaegi?!

[keiteay]

Florida outside of the major cities is one gigantic liminal space (Part 2)

[a-north-flower]

I drew the Girly kei Miku figurine but my internet wasn't working so I had to repost it

[maddie-grove]

One pet peeve I have about book-to-movie/show adaptations is when the book is set in an unglamorous part of the United States in a region outside the Midwest...and the movie/show is set in the Midwest. Like the audience is too stupid to understand that there are backwards and/or boring places outside the Midwest (which isn't uniformly boring or backwards, anyway). Or the audience won't find the story "relatable" if it's set in a more "specific" region. I've been annoyed about this since I watched the Lifetime Movie adaptation of Speak, which is specifically set in upstate New York!

[inatungulates]

Key deer Odocoileus virginianus clavium

Observed by tothemax, CC BY-NC

[northescere]

haikyuu!! as textposts

[iconsfinder]

[maid-with-sunset-in-her-hair]

Speaking of etymological foreshadowing, the name Alayne is a variation of the French name Elaine, which itself derivated from the Greek name Helen and means “sun rays, awakening.” Not only it reinforces the symbolism Sansa has with the sun and the dawn, it also reinforces the parallels she has with her Aunt Lyanna and the Rose of Winterfell. The name Lyanna is a variation of Eliana, which either derivated from the name Helen or from the Late Latin name Aeliāna (of the sun). The author probably picked Lyanna’s name as a reference to Helen of Troy, whose abduction started a war, and to parallel her to Elia, who is also named after Helios the sun god.

[countriesgame]

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