im just saying that if i had been in charge of s6 of doctor who, i would have fully leaned into the horror of amy's pregnancy, the loss of her own agency in it, the way she was used as a vessel to create a child she would never hold again, amy pond who never indicated once that she even wanted a child and was made to have one anyway against her will, and once they were done using her, they even took away any choice she might make about it in the future.
and i would have had this be a factor in amy and river's relationship going forward. how do you interact with a child you never knew, never got to decide if you wanted to have, and she's also already your friend, you love her as this miraculous, insane woman who has saved your life more than once. she's always known more about you than you could about her, but now you know exactly how much she was keeping from you. it's not like she could have told you, could have stopped it, but all this time, she was your friend and she was your daughter, and how do you learn to live with her?
Ned was doomed before the beginning of the story; the direwolf has already choked on the stag antler in time to be found as an omen, Robert & Ned's fates are intertwined, Jon Arryn died from what he swallowed and Robert chose Ned to be Hand of the King, there is no way turning down a royal offer like that works out safely, and no way accepting it works out safely either. Ned was doomed, the gods just gave him a heads up.
But he became doomed in a particular way the moment he swung the sword down on Lady's neck.
The gods said hey, you're doomed, but here's the symbol of your house given mortal form to aid your children, and Ned killed one. His king gave a cruel, unfair order Ned disagreed with, that would hurt a child under his protection, his own daughter, to end the life of a creature that had done no harm, not for meat or furs to survive the winter but merely to satisfy the royal family's sense of offended dignity, and Ned carried that order out personally.
Ned killed Sansa's protector. He killed a gift from the gods.
Of course his own life ends on the royal executioner's block, a sword swinging down.
“kate has to babysit caitlin” well yes! otherwise there will be bloodshed on that court (jk)
no but really. i love that kate seems to be able to read caitlin so well that she can anticipate when she’s getting a little too heated even in the middle of a game. like that’s her psychotic baby fr
In honor of 2023 being the 40th anniversary of Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet, these are the beloved and much-read paperbacks I bought with my allowance money in 1992, when I was 13.