#old sansa ic.

[melodicwitchlight]

gentlestag:

“Please, tell me everything” Lana took the girl gently by the arm, “I am your friend and you can trust me” she smiled trying to reassure her, “…If you’d like we can go someplace else..someplace private”  

“My friend…?” Sansa was surprised by how warm Lana was. “I would like that very much, Lana…” Glancing over at Cersei, whom still seemed to be rather close to them, Sansa didn’t feel safe in uttering what she truly felt, in this hall. She had written a letter to Cersei's apparent kindness of showing mercy to her Father, yet the woman had lied. She was very cruel and said Sansa was a little bird, yet she thought herself a wolf.

Sansa started eating the lemon cake, while waiting for Lana’s response.

[myrcenart]

Fire and Ice

Available as a print here !

[brucelinas]

Sansa doods

[irlplasticlamb]

why would the stars want to look down on such as me?

(2023 vs circa 2019)

prints + merch + commission info

[mother-rhoyne]

Arys Oakheart was courteous, and would talk to her cordially. Once he even objected when Joffrey commanded him to hit her. He did hit her in the end, but not hard as Ser Meryn or Ser Boros might have, and at least he had argued.

Sansa I - ACOK

It still shamed Ser Arys to remember all the times he'd struck that poor Stark girl at the boy's command. When Tyrion had chosen him to go with Myrcella to Dorne, he lit a candle to the Warrior in thanks.

The Soiled Knight - AFFC

[silverflameataraxia]

Jon could have told him. He knew, they all knew, yet no man of them would say the words. The Others are only a story, a tale to make children shiver. If they ever lived at all, they are gone eight thousand years. Even the thought made him feel foolish; he was a man grown now, a black brother of the Night's Watch, not the boy who'd once sat at Old Nan's feet with Bran and Robb and Arya.

- Jon VII, AGoT

Rickon probably wasn't old enough to hear Old Nan's stories, but where was Sansa? Did she find Old Nan's stories to be too foolish and beneath her to join in with the rest of her siblings? Did the stories not fit with the songs in her head that she'd based reality on?

"They were as close as brothers, once." Jon wondered if Joffrey would keep his father as the King's Hand. It did not seem likely. That might mean Lord Eddard would return to Winterfell, and his sisters as well. He might even be allowed to visit them, with Lord Mormont's permission.  It would be good to see Arya's grin again and to talk with his father. I will ask him about my mother, he resolved. I am a man now, it is past time he told me. Even if she was a whore, I don't care. I want to know.

- Jon VII, AGoT

It's interesting that Jon thinks about sisters in the plural, but only names Arya by name 🤣 I don't doubt that Jon cares a little bit about Sansa - because he's a decent person - but Arya's the one he would go to war for, kill for, and die for.

[sansas-amythest-hairnet]

Which characters would y’all assign to the seven?

for me rn

maiden: Sansa and Margaery

mother: Danaerys and Catelyn

warrior: Jaime, Sandor, and Brienne

smith: Gendry Waters

father: Ned Stark, Stannis Baratheon

the crone: Old Nan and Melisandre

the stranger: lady stoneheart.

[twinge-of-cosmicangst]

Various asoiaf characters/pairings and TTPD songs I associate them with

Artist credits:

Tyrion/Jaime and Brienne: Magali Villeneuve

Daenerys: Drazenka Kimpel

Gendry: Arantza Sestayo

Unfortunately I was unable to find artist credits for the Sansa and Arya

[alicentes]

To give you all a visual - book!sansa was the same age as laena valaryon in hotd when she was forced to marry 30 year old tyrion, who tries going ahead with their “wedding night” and when she was being sexually harrassed and assaulted by other men at court.

[waterfront]

Robert wanted to be loved. My brother Tyrion has the same disease. Do you want to be loved, Sansa?

[melodicwitchlight]

gentlestag:

She’d have to have a talk with him, she again smoothed out Sansa’s hair, “No one deserves to be hit, my dear” frowning she reached for a lemon cake, “Here, sweetgirl I heard you liked them” Lana would try her best to protect Sansa, “…How do you like here?”

Sansa couldn’t help a small smile, upon hearing Lana say that no-one deserved to be hit. Perhaps, Lana wouldn’t turn out to be as horrible as Cersei and Joffrey.

Sansa carefully took the lemon cake from Lana. “Thank you very much, my lad–I mean Lana. Yes, I love them.” She felt touched by how kind and caring Lana seemed already. They hardly knew each other, but Sansa felt they could quickly become friends soon.

She was about to devour the cake, until she heard Lana’s next question. “Here…? I’m quite enjoying it.” She then lowered her voice to an whisper. “…Except for some things.”

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Idea #82: The Chronicles of Narnia, but make it ASOIAF

@kyuremking recently asked me how I would go about combining Game of Thrones with The Chronicles of Narnia - and admittedly I was a bit baffled at first. Narnia has never been one of my go-to fandoms - I never liked how CS Lewis handled Susan, as if growing up was a crime worthy of exclusion from paradise, and the religious imagery feels quite heavy-handed considering the century in which they were published.

But I thought. And I mused. And I turned the idea over in my mind. And this is what I came up with: What if the Stark siblings fell into an Old Gods-analog of Narnia?

Just imagine it:

One day while exploring beneath the catacombs, young Arya Stark falls into Narnia. It is not quite the Narnia we know, with most of the heavy Christian symbolism of the books being replaced by the beliefs and mythology of the Old Gods.

As the religion of the Old Gods is not overly expanded upon in canon, let's imagine it here as something of a cross between shintoism and folk orthodoxy - polytheist and heavily animist with a notion of "pollution vs purity" and an un-codified moral code, but with localized cults of anthropomorphized saints which over the centuries have picked up certain aspects of certain of the New Gods. The details don't really matter so long as the two most important of these saints, which have taken on aspects of the Smith and the Mother, can be used to replicate the Narnian idea of son of Adam and daughter of Eve.

Arya falls into Narnia. Bran tentatively believes her, but the rest of her siblings think she's telling tales. This leads to some back and forth before Jon and Sansa are separately tasked to pull Bran and Arya out of the catacombs - and end up falling into Narnia after them.

Jon, Sansa, Bran, and Arya free Narnia from an endless winter at the hands of the Corpse Queen, who was trapped there by the Children of the Forest, which weakened the Others enough that the Last Hero was able win the Battle for the Dawn. They then rule Narina as Kings and Queens for forty years, eventually falling back into Winterfell while hunting the White Stag.

The exact details of the Narnia interlude are unimportant, as our story picks up literally the minute they find themselves all in a heap back in the catacombs, child-sized once more.

The rest of their family immediately notices the difference, but has no idea what to make of it. All of a sudden the four middle Stark children seem to have overcome all of their differences. They're not just acting like miniature adults, they're acting like proper lords and ladies - used to commanding and their orders being followed.

The difference is starkest with Arya - who seems have mellowed in the course of a day to warrior queen out of legend - and Sansa - who is no longer dreamy but dangerous in the way all Queens of Winter have always been. But it's there with Jon - who seems surer, steadier, and more comfortable in his own skin even as he looks at Ned with betrayal in his eyes - and Bran - who has gone from wanting to be a storybook knight to being the gallant knight he's always wanted to be.

Additionally, all four seem unspeakably close these days and can often be found whispering together - and slowly going silent when anyone else draws near. They're in and out of each other's chambers to the point where it's honestly strange to find one of them alone.

There's no time to ponder these changes, as the royal party is on their way North.

Ned will regret not paying closer attention for the rest of his life.

For while in Narnia, the Stark children learned two things: 1) That Jon is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and his second wife, Lyanna Stark. Though it's never outright stated, it's heavily implied that while Lyanna's abduction was willing, her imprisonment in a tower was not, and by the end of it hated her husband more than anyone. Jon will never, ever be sure where his conception fell on the spectrum; and 2) that the Long Night is coming. It may be in their generation, it may be in the next, but Westeros must be strong to ensure the Dawn will come. Everything they've learned about Robert Baratheon suggests that he will not - cannot - be the king Westeros needs. And so Jon, Arya, Bran, and Sansa plot, and scheme in preparation for Jon to take the throne himself.

They're prepared to play the long game - but don't have to after Bran spies Jamie and Cersei in the First Keep. He arranges for the pair to be discovered in a way that is utterly undeniable. The twins are tried, found guilty, and beheaded in short order. Cersei's children are declared bastards - and, after Joffrey draws a sword in protest of this, Joffrey is slain as well. Myrcella and Tommen are remanded to Ned's care until they are old enough to join the Faith, enter the Citadel, or take the Black.

And then Robert does what he does best: drinks and whores, seemingly uncaring that his rule is hanging by a thread.

And so Jon acts - or rather, Jon and Sansa go to Ned so that he can act. They sit him down, explain that they know Jon is the rightful Targaryen heir, and state that if Ned does not declare for Jon now, he is dooming Westeros to a bloody civil war. It is best to act decisively now rather than wait for Robert's vices to kill him.

This conversation takes the better part of the night, but eventually Ned is convinced. When morning comes, Ned orders his guards put the few royal guards not already under watch (the majority Lannister men-at-arms having been imprisoned for rioting after Jamie and Cersei's deaths) and takes Robert hostage.

Jon is named King Jaehaerys III.

A great host marches south to King's Landing, picking up the lords of the Riverlands while fighting off Lannister forces, and takes King's Landing quickly, despite Renly's spirited defense of the city. Forces are sent to mop up Stannis at Dragonstone in echo of the Rebellion and in short order Jon is King of Westeros in truth.

What follows is a montage of Jon doing is best to strengthen the kingdom, put down rebellions, and make Westeros ready for the Long Night.

Bran marries Shireen Baratheon, who is named Lady Paramount of the Stormlands in her own right. Their marriage is one of surprising affection - and one which seems determined to restore House Baratheon to its greatest number through their own efforts. Bran is known as The Noble Wolf, and earns a reputation equal to that of the Dragonknight or Duncan the Tall.

Arya marries Robin Arryn, but it's doubtful they ever consummate the marriage. When he dies two years later, she claims the Vale by right of widowhood, and has already been doing such a good job ruling in his stead that few protest when there are no viable alternatives. No one ever quite knows who fathers her heir, but by that point the Long Night is in full swing and few take issue with it.

Robb marries Margery Tyrell, the closest the Tyrells can get to the crown. It's a successful marriage, if not one of deep affection, and ensures the North is well-fed when the Long Night comes.

Jon marries Sansa, with whom he'd had a relationship in Narnia and who he'd been dancing around after their return to adolescence. They often wonder about the children they left behind in Narnia, which causes some angst when they start having children in Westeros, but are undeniably the happiest royal couple in 200 years.

There are other efforts beyond marriage in the background, including 1) a long sequence during which Theon Greyjoy is installed as Lord Paramount of the Iron Islands after his father rebels. He proves to be remarkably loyal to the crown, marries Lyra Mormont, and turns the Ironborn from pirates into a royal navy in one generation; 2) Rickon is sent to foster in Dorne, which he takes to in a way no one could have predicted. He ends up staying in Dorne for most his life and becomes known as The Desert Wolf - a wilder, fiercer knight than his brother Bran. He never marries, but fathers a bevy of bastards to rival Oberyn Martell - at least half of them with Oberyn's daughter Loreza; and 3) Tywin being in open rebellion for years before Tyrion, in a desperate attempt to ensure a Lannister stays Lord of the Rock after they're assuredly defeated by the combined strength of the rest of Westeros, kills his father, takes his place, and swears his fidelity - just in time for the Long Night to descend.

With their preplanning, the Long Night is not half as bad as it was in canon - but it's still war. Sansa rules in King's Landing while Jon, Arya, and Bran lead the fighting to the north.

The situation goes poorly at first, with royal forces able to hold The Others off long enough for the Free Folk to to safety - but it's still a retreat, with each loss to the living strengthening the dead. The situation is starting to seem desperate by the time the Others reach the Wall.

In the darkest moment of the Battle of the Wall, the dragon Cannibal arrives at Castle Black to aid Jon, while two of his kin go to help Arya and Bran at the Shadow Tower and Eastwatch-by-the Sea. (These dragons being ice dragon cousins of the Targaryen fire dragons of the east, and thus drawn to the Stark bloodline when they bother to take riders at all.) Together they are the three heads of the dragon...

...and they start pushing the Others back. Within two years, they have won and the Night King is destroyed.

Jon goes on to rule for several more decades, beloved and capable in a way that no Targaryen ruler before him has ever been. (His few detractors are quick to point out he's more Stark than Targaryen, but Jon takes that as a compliment.) His queen, Sansa, seems less a consort and more a co-ruler, and is possibly more beloved than her husband. Their rule is one of peace and growing prosperity throughout the Seven Kingdoms and takes up an almost Arthurian place in the later history and mythology of Westeros.

They never speak of their experiences in Narnia to anyone - save Jon and Sansa's eldest son, Robb and Margery's eldest daughter, Arya's heir, and one of Bran and Shireen's middle children, who fall into Narnia themselves while exploring the Red Keep, who help the rightful king retake his throne...

Bonuses include: 1) The relationship between Robb and Jon never quite getting back to where it was before the Narnia interlude. As a result, Robb and Theon become even closer - which may have a strong role in Theon's efforts to turn the Iron Islands away from raiding. Dealer's choice if this relationship is bromance or romance; 2) A revival of the Old Gods and their religion following in the wake of the Targaryen Restoration. They win many converts everywhere the Stark family gains a foothold and godswoods are restored throughout the Seven Kingdoms; 3) A projection of Westerosi power into the lands beyond the Wall. At first this is nominal, but as parts of Beyond The Wall start to build villages and keeps similar to those in the North, things begin to change. Within 100 years most of the area capable of being settled this way is under control of their own Lord Paramount descended from a marriage between Robb and Theon's lines. The lands further north continue their pre-War lifestyles, but are nominally part of Westeros as well; and 4) Daenerys lives a happy life with Drogo in Essos. She watches with pleasure as her son Rhaego forms the largest land empire the world of ice and fire has ever seen - and lives just long enough to see that empire collapse after his death as his heirs scrabble for power. One of her great-grandsons, however, does end up on the throne of Yi Ti. His dynasty will eventually rise to be Westeros' great eastern rivals.

And that is surprisingly more than I thought'd I'd have. @kyuremking, IDK if this is quite what you were looking for, but it's the best I could come up with. As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you do anything with it.

More Terrible Fic Ideas

[cthaehart]

Sansa Stark🐺

[asoiafreadthru]

A Game of Thrones, Eddard IV

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?

[mysticnightmarewrites]

the night we met - Ch. 1

It's been years since Gendry last saw Arya, and his heart has never truly healed. When Sansa's wedding threatens to force a reunion he is not ready to face, Gendry finds himself begging the universe for a second chance. Not to go back to the end to keep it at bay but to go to the beginning to keep it from happening at all.

Read all chapters

SONG: "The Night We Met" by Lord Huron PAIRING: Arya/Gendry LENGTH: 1.6k words WARNING: Fic will be 18+ in subsequent chapters. Minors DNI.

The first time I ever pulled up the driveway to the Stark manor, it was for a funeral. It was only fitting, then, that the last time would be for a wedding.

When I got the invite, printed on sparkly, pink stationary, I wondered what Sansa was thinking, inviting me, out of all people, after everything that had happened. I almost hadn't come, and with the front door looming large over me, I wished I hadn't. If Sansa hadn't called last week – demanding I be there for her "special day" – I’d have still been at home on my threadbare couch in an oil-stained jumpsuit watching Ancient Zombies. Not dressed in a nice suit and shiny shoes. A farce, just polish on my rough edges.

I owed the Starks a lot. Too much. There was no way to tell Sansa no.

The doorbell rang loud inside the manor, but no one came to open the door. So I was early, then. On the inside, the manor looked the same as it had before, but with bouquets of flowers bursting across the wall and out of the floors. I had almost left the entrance hall when the guest book in the corner caught my eye. Sansa would like it if I added my name. There, on the mostly blank page, were the four letters that, after all these years, could still pierce my heart.

Arya had written her name in the way she always had. Large, block letters that had once closed out postcards and hand-written notes when everything was falling apart. So she was here. Of course she was here. What were thousands of miles when your only sister was getting married? My feet turned toward the door, begging me to run far away, but in life you can't go back. You can only trudge forward and put the closed door behind you. I wrote my name, all lowercase letters, next to hers, remembering times when I had been as close to her as our names now were. These days we weren't even in the same book.

A shout of my name coming down the hall alerted me to a ball of curly red hair launching at me. "Rickon!" I exclaimed surprised as I wrapped my arms around the boy and mussed his hair like I used to, before I remembered he wasn’t a boy anymore and I wasn’t his favorite sister’s boyfriend either. But he still smiled up at me. "You've grown! What are you, in high school now?"

Rickon rolled his eyes and teasingly punched my shoulder. "Nope. I'm a freshman at Riverlands U." Our old school. It didn’t need to be said. The kid already knew.

"Wow, it’s been that long, has it?"

There was a suspicious twinkle in Rickon’s eye as he grabbed my elbow and started guiding me toward the godswood, where the ceremony would take place. I hadn't realized Sansa would want a northern wedding, but it made sense, too.

"Wait a second.” I lifted up a small box wrapped in obnoxious pink paper I’d bought just for the occasion. Rickon started to point to an elaborately decorated gifts table, which only had a handful of presents on it, but I shook my head. "No, I mean, where's the bride? I need to give this to Sansa myself."

His mouth opened in surprise, his brow furrowed. For a moment, he looked unsure. "I suppose that's allowed. You're not the groom after all," he said, tapping his chin. "And I'm sure Pod wouldn't mind. You're family," he declared, taking me by the arm again, but this time pulling me in a different direction, toward the bedrooms.

The closed door in front of me felt like an impenetrable wall. Arya was on the other side of it. She had to be. I could almost feel her energy wrapping around me at this distance. The ghost of everything I couldn't have, mocking me and shredding up my heart.

Rickon knocked sharply a few times, yelling so loud I thought they could hear him all the way in the capitol. "Gendry wants to see you!" My heart stopped. I didn’t think I could bear to see her, even by accident, and so I added, not quite as loudly, "Sansa, are you there?"

Her light, clear voice rang out from the other side. "Just a moment!"

When the door opened, Sansa appeared, wrapped snug in a fancy robe with the word bride embroidered on the back in pink thread, and she'd never looked happier, not since I'd known her. I'd been that happy once, but I didn’t let my sour thoughts take the smile off her face.

The door closed before I could see anything beyond it. I almost wished Arya had opened the door, just so I could see her face, one last time, without a crowd of people around to stand witness to my pain.

"I'm so glad you came," and the way she said it made me think she meant it.

"I couldn't say no to you, Sansa. I had something I wanted to give you, actually, before the ceremony, in case I don't see you later." In case the panic of seeing her again made me leave before the toasts were even given.

She looked curious, but accepted the box and pulled off the paper, wadding it up and tossing it to Rickon, who caught it like the football star he was.

"Oh," she exclaimed when she lifted the lid of the jewelry box to find a small, heart-shaped locket. She opened the clasp delicately to look inside. When tears filled her eyes, I felt like I fucked up, and I wanted to throw up from the nerves of it all.

Carefully, but purposefully, she set the box down on a table and unclasped the gold chain currently around her neck, dripping with sapphires, and replaced it with the plain, gold locket.

Her hands found mine and she squeezed them tight. "Thank you so much," she whispered solemnly. Her blue eyes were still damp. "This means the world to me. Getting to have dad with me on my big day. How'd you get a picture of him?"

I knew my eyes must have looked glassy, too. "I cut it out from the picture he gave me years ago, when he first came to see me, of him and my…father. To prove he knew him. He left it behind and I kept it as a reminder of what he did for me. But I felt it was time to bring it back, where it belongs."

Sansa nodded and pulled me into a hug. "Go wait in the courtyard, then, you two," she smiled. "You've got to give the bride enough time to primp." With that, she slipped back into the room.

For all I knew, Arya was on the other side, maybe leaning against the door, remembering what we can never have again. Remembering how it ended. But I’m not. I’ve thought about all that pain too often in the time that’s passed. No, I’m thinking about how it all started.

"Go on ahead," Rickon said. “I need to go check on my soon-to-be brother. Not like I have enough of them already or anything."

I walked in silence to the godswood. What had once been sacred for many was now only sacred for the few. And while times had changed, the heart tree still stood solid in the center, its blood-red leaves bright against the pale bark. The godswood may have been empty, but it was filled with memories.

It had felt like a great, cosmic joke that just months after Ned had popped back into my life – having wrangled a stipend out of my bastard of a biological father – the world had decided to take him away. A crash, they'd said, but that felt too neat, too clean, considering the seedy world he'd been pushed into in good old Bobby B's circle. An accident? More like a Cersei-dent. They'd held his funeral here in the godswood. It's how he would have wanted it. And that was the first time I saw her, standing by that tree, looking uncomfortable in a black skater dress. She’d been clutching blue roses and trying to hide the tears in her eyes. That night had felt like a dream, not real life. Because how could someone like Arya not be a dream? She stood there now in my imagination like a ghost, a transparent shape outlined in misery, and I couldn’t bear the sight. So I turned away and sat with my back to the tree, weary with dread and not religious enough to kneel and pray like I've seen others do.

The aisle was spread out before me like it was mocking me. Reminding me of what never was. What could have been, once, maybe. I'd had all of her once. Then most of her, some of her, and then none of her, and all of that had cut me to the bone.

I closed my eyes, remembering the way she'd looked that night, fear in her stance and tears in her eyes. With everything in me, I wished I could go back to that night, tell myself to turn away and take a different path, when she had yet to touch me and work her way into my heart. I wanted to stop hurting this much.

"Take me back to the night we met," I whispered over and over, rocking back and forth, my head thudding against the bark of the bleeding tree. "Take me back. Take me back." I couldn’t hold the tears back anymore.

Continue to Chapter 2:

[silverflameataraxia]

It was running down her nose and stinging her eyes. Sansa wiped it away with a napkin. When she saw what the fruit in her lap had done to her beautiful ivory silk dress, she shrieked again. "They should have killed you instead of Lady!" Sansa threw her head back in disdain. "You?" You couldn't sew a dress fit to clean the pigsties." "It won't be so bad, Sansa," Arya said. "We're going to sail on a galley. It will be an adventure, and then we'll be with Bran and Robb again, and Old Nan and Hodor and the rest." She touched her on the arm. "Hodor!" Sansa yelled. "You ought to marry Hodor, you're just like him, stupid, and hairy and ugly!" She wrenched away from her sister's hand, stormed into her bedchamber, and barred the door behind her.

AGoT, Sansa III

My mom treated me the exact same way Sansa treats Arya (putting her down all the time, calling her names, calling her ugly, saying she's an embarrasment, wishing someone else could be her sister/wishing Arya was a bastard, and saying that she wished she was dead). All my therapists have called this emotional abuse. Even if you look up emotional abuse, it fits Sansa to a T. So why do we say that Sansa's mean to Arya or that she bullies her, when really Sansa abuses Arya?

Also, saying this is normal sibling behavior is like saying my mother and I have a normal/healthy relationship, when really it's an abusive one.