#the only character she has a sibling dynamic with is King... why do you want to replace King with Hunter so badly?

[madockisser]

I just read How the king of Elfame learned to hate stories, the "So long as you are begging, he doesn't mind a bit." line at the end of the blurb stuck in my mind

He mentions begging in the books. Although he also begs Jude at some point iirc

Do you have any thoughts about how this almost power dynamic is important to him? Or why he'd be fond of it

I'm not sure how to word it properly, he's in a precarious position with the rest of his siblings for a good part of his life, Balekin manipulates him amongst other things.

why is cardan such a sadist?/ cardans struggle w power

hi! great question, i hope i answer it to your liking!

from what we can tell of cardan and his character, he doesn’t have much. he has his status as prince, and that is all that he can cling to. it’s his only advantage.

we know that he is not fond of courtiers, faking their admiration for him, allowing him to slap and use them; all while they can go home to someone they truly love.

all his life he assumes that cruelty gets him what he wants, it ensures that he keeps the little amount of power that he has, while his brothers scheme and kill for the throne, he hurts and humiliates those that question his power.

but any sort of dig against ppl, making them feel lesser so he can feel greater, making jude beg and submit to him so he no longer has to feel anything for her, so she won’t consume his thoughts with her disobedience, gives him that small amount of power, since a human girl opposing him, all while he sorta loses that battle against her, makes him look weak. in the eyes of his friends, family and the court/gentry

anyway, while he ofc can “fall out of favor” w his siblings, those sort of relationships w them do not matter to him, he insults caelia to her face in htkoelths, he does not care for dain, he cares a bit for rhyia, perhaps bc he sees most of himself in her, the way she is casual when it comes to her royal duties, and bc she is kind to him when the rest are not, when the rest have deemed him as balekins princely little monster, with an awful prophecy over his head.

what matters to him is his father, not that he likes him much but he still strives for what seems like attention from him. so he is cruel and sadistic for the sake of his father taking notice of him, bc thats all he knows

in twk, jude finds a crystal ball where asha neglects cardan until he hits another boy, and at that she laughs greatly and pays attention to him. being cruel is all he knows, the only way for him to be seen by his father, even if it is bad attention, atleast it is attention at all.

as for that power dynamic, again, he relishes in any chance to show ppl he is powerful, that he is important, even when he really isn’t.

so as jude opposes him, he is reminded time and time again that not only does jude have everything he wants, a loving family, but she has a strange sort of power over him, the power to make him feel not only desire but eventual care for her well being. which isn’t a feeling that he feels often

pair those feelings with the fact that she is human, and the fact that balekin encourages him to kill humans but cardan instead frees them, and takes beatings for them, he is very conflicted and angry and upset at his feelings for her.

he doesn’t want to care, it would be easier to act as those he has a heart of stone.

i assume his feelings make him feel awfully powerless, which is obviously a feeling he does not like, since he consistently goes out of his way to show his power to the court by acting without consequence and casting those that get in his way out of court.

anyway, later on he is begging to jude because at this point, i think he’s realized just how far gone he is in his love for her. he is vulnerable w her in a way that he never was w nicasia or anyone.

w nicasia he flaunted his power, pretended that he was more important and influential than he was, w nicasia he formed his group of friends that took advantage of his power and hurt him w it.

but w jude, he felt powerless bc of the powers she had over him, first off, his desire for her, second, his love for her, and third, ofc the bargain that quite literally made him her slave.

until jude, his sadistic power dynamics were used to hurt those around him, but then he learned that he’d much rather feel powerless so long as jude is there w him. he’d also learned that he can be useful, which he’d never thought before jude. he learned that he doesn’t have to hurt and lash out for a power thrill, that he can be powerful in being a good high king.

jude was the only person that taught him that he could be loved and worth something at all, without having to reach out and claw that love from someone’s hands.

jude and cardan understand each other in a way no one else in their lives ever bothered to.

and abt the begging part, im sure he also likes to simply see jude begging as well. after all they put each other thru, im sure they both like seeing each other beg.

hope this answered your question! if not, feel free to leave another ask!! 🫶🫶 and feel free to add on as always!

also i just want to add, i see everyone’s asks, and am working on quite a few, though i am still doing my reread, which is why it’s taking so long to get to my older asks! so sorry!! i answer the newer ones if they are easy to answer, w things that i already know w out having to grab my books to look for it.!

[rise-my-angel]

ok I love your blog bc I love your opinions on the show/ books. As someone who ONLY watched the show and knows a little lore from the books, why are jonsas so crazy???? as far as I’m concerned Jon didn’t really think about Sansa (apart from some worry of her and Arya being in kings landing) until she showed up to castle black and then his happiness at that was because he was like shit I have a little piece of family back. I did not infer that to be romantic at all???? Where are they finding all this supposed subtext of them loving each other? 🤮 she also betrayed him by telling his secret that literally could’ve gotten him killed. How is that “love”

Its even funnier because Sansa in the books has never left the Vale since arriving. She is nowhere NEAR Jons story. Also they basically NEVER think about each other.

Like, Jon only ever thinks of her in terms of "my sisters" when hes lumping both her and Arya in together.

Sansa at first only ever thought about him in a derogatory way, because she was very classist about having a bastard brother and hardly respected him at all. Like wishing Arya was a bastard too so she wouldn't be obligated to care about her as much.

In the books currently she is in disguse as Petyr Baelish's bastard daughter, and only when anothet character talks down to her for being a bastard in the exact way Jons faced his whole life only then did she briefly go "why is he being mean is it cua he thinks I'm a bastard i hate that" without the self awareness that she treated Jon worse then that.

Also, Arya is said to look extremely similar to Jon, and Sansa who looks very Tully, constantly insults Aryas appearance and calling her "so ugly only Hodor would marry her". So what does that tell you what Sansa likely thinks of what Jon looks? Well she thinks Aryas ugly and even comments Arya looks just like Jon ergo she clearly thinks Jon is ugly. (Which is funny considering how many Northerners all say Jon is pretty and handsome).

Basically their interactions in the books is almost non existent, because despite Jon loving all his siblings he was always looked down on by Sansa because he isna bastard. They have no connection what so ever.

I mean in the show before season 6, they're only even in the same FRAME in the shots where all the Starks are lined up to receive the Kings Company and never again.

Their dynamic in season 6 is entirely show fabricated is based on literally nothing. Not from the show or the books. They literally just put Sansa with Jon because they wanted Sansa to be more of a main character and so its easier to do that if shes in Jons story since he is basically the shows protagonist at that point.

But Jonsas are fucking nuts. They point to the most batshit of claims to proove its real and when you look at their so called "evidence" its just a drunk hampster drooling in the floor. There is nothing.

They literally one passed around A LINE FROM A FANFICTION and pretended it was a book quote to justify their ship. They literally have to lie and pretend fanfiction lines are canon to the books thats how much they have to stretch their delusional ship to even remotely make it make sense.

But it doesn't. Cus Jon isn't into incest. So there is no relationship. Also Sansa in the show is nice to him for like 1 episode and then she repeatedly is hostile, argues, shits on him and breaks his trust repeatedly.

I hate pretty much all Jon ships because none of them respect Jon as a character, they just use him as arm candy to make the female look better. But jonsas are a toxic ass breed of shippers.

They genuinely will argue that every single Jon scene ia secretly about Sansa. Meanwhile they never argue every Sansa scene is about Jon.

Because Jon isn't the character they care about in that ship its ONLY Sansa.

It....I could go on for fucking ever.

I hate Jonerys, Jonrya and Jongritte stans. But I hate none of them more then I hate Jonsas. They clog up so much of Jon discussion spaces with their fucking delusional incest fanfiction.

[allyriadayne]

what do you think about daemon secretly wanting viserys like matt said? don't get me wrong i was under the impression that the only reason why daemon didn't marry viserys was because viserys wasn't a girl. daemon made it clear he wanted to be his brother's heir and his brother's hand. imo he was hurt when he said i am your heir and that he would have protected him from otto. i just thought if only viserys was a girl. really.

we know vizzy sees rhaenyra as extension of aemma and aegon, helaena, aemond and daeron as extension of alicent and he projects his feelings towards aemma and alicent onto his children. with daemon imo it's the same with the way he sees rhaenyra. yes, daemon wanted power, but what he wanted the most was to be close to his brother. i guess it happens when family is inbred. alysanne and old king were siblings, alyssa and baelon too, if vizzy was a girl daemon would have married her.

what do you think of vizzy x daemon?

saying daemon wants rhaenyra because he wants viserys is a bit reductive imo. to me daemon is a deeply dependent character due to how tightly he's woven in the incest family, he gets everything from them, his identity, role, gender, everything and it's no wonder that he's learned that everything he could want comes from the targs. it's not that viserys could be a girl, viserys always has to be the patriarch, the Man, for the themes of the story to work (he is the one fucking everyone up by his choices), it's that daemon's role in the family is to be the visenya, viserys' opposite, and it's said right off the bat in the first episode: he's visenya, protector, sister, scorned wife. viserys doesn't let him be anything else than this narrow categories. when daemon is permanently expelled from viserys' esteem (right around ep 4 when daemon touches another one of viserys' toys) it's when he truly learns he could get what he wants from rhaenyra without getting kicked when he asks. circling back to the beginning, while i do think at the beginning that daemon likes and loves rhaenyra because she's viserys' daughter and that it might have played a role in daemon seeking her out, i don't think it's that prevalent after eps 4-5 when she shows she's her own person with her own desires. these are explicitly two people getting under the shadow of viserys and meeting him on their own terms in ep 8.

daemon wants to be close to viserys, yeah. that's the whole point of his character and why they fight at the end of ep 1. i honestly don't think he's that keen on absolute power tbh, not the way other characters are like otto, because he gets agency and control from his violence (direct rather than subtle of soft power), but if having powerful offices like master of law or hand of the king is what gets him near his brother's love then he's absolutely taking them (and fucking it up probably). it's very telling he had his uncle aemon and baelon, his father, as role models for the perfect brotherhood, that viserys is NOT following the protocol, which is fair he gets mad at. it's not that they are inbred at all, or at least not completely, bc even in marriages when the spouses are not related like viserys and alicent, the children like aegon and aemond still have a degree of unhealthy closeness. it's institutional rather than individual.

in any case, while i think the relationship between viserys and daemon is interesting, i'm not too keen on it. i always like to try to see daemon as an individual rather than as part of a relationship bec that's what it usually happens, as i said, i find it reductive in most cases when people talk about their dynamic. like, yeah, if daemon were a girl she would've absolutely married the shit out of viserys but that's not everything there is to their relationship. it's not only daemon who harbors those feelings but viserys too who doesn't like to share his toys and often thinks of the people around him as being there for his amusement. it's a complicated relationship.

[ladystarksneedle]

God I don't understand how people ship Alysmond in this fandom. There must be something wrong with them (perverts, I tell you).

A better ship for Aemond would be one with a dreamer, although younger (obviously). Let’s make her silver-haired and blue-eyed while we’re at it. Oh my, why not have her commit war crimes on dragonbacks alongside him like the perfect couple? 🥺👉👈 Let their romance be as darkly romantic as it can get and everyone will swoon! But wait; it gets even better! Just imagine if this woman bore his bastard children. Now THAT is truly a much better ship! Don’t you agree? Can I get a hallelujah?!

Helllooo Kalki! Congratulations on being my first discourse ask lol. I'm going to get right into it from a mixed pov. I watched the show before I read the book so you can maybe get a different perspective of my views on this ship. Again all these opinions are my own, I don't condone or promote any ship, merely like and comment on what I find interesting.

So when I first watched Hotd I thought Aemond and Helaena were cute. They were cute as siblings when they were younger and have an easy going, intriguing dynamic when they're older. Helaena seemed to be comfortable in his presence when one of the kings guard's brought Aemond to Alicent's chambers and Aemond was seemingly fond of his sister in episode 7 when he says he would do his duty by her. Now I personally interpreted it as something not romantic. Aemond from the get go has been shown to be heavily influenced by Alicent and his own traditions as a Targaryen. He's a stickler for duty and he sees Aegon shun every opportunity handed to him which he so desperately craves. He craves a dragon at that point, he craves a position which is worthy of him, respect and validation. Helaena along with being his sister, seems as a means or an added advantage being conferred to him were he in Aegon's position instead. She's his sister, he's close to her, he cares for her and he'll treat her much better than Aegon would along with the other duties Aegon's been bestowed with by order of his birth.

When they grow up we see Helaena and Aemond again comfortable in each other's presence. She looks up at him to seek comfort in moments of distress and he looks out for her when they are "at a threat" from the opposing faction. So for me, there was no obvious element of romance but again they're Targaryens so who knows? Siblings don't sibling like normal ones do🤷‍♀️

Now after I read the book and found out Helaena and Aemond had minimal to no interaction in it, my opinion changed drastically. All of her character exploration there revolves around Aegon, Alicent, her children and even Rhaenyra. Aemond is barely mentioned in relation to her.

Now if the show wanted to completely invent something new again they could, but to me personally, it would be a huge let down, not only because it takes away from the intresting and conflicted relationship Helaena and Aegon have in the books but also because I feel it goes completely against her combined, meshed book and show charcterisation.

Helaena is shown to be a dreamer on the show. That's something new they added which doesn't deviate so much from her book charcterisation. She's gentle, kind and has a strength which shines through her softness. She is feminine and strong. No pun intended. In the book she's depicted as a happy mother, a sensible advisor and a beloved queen which as far as season 1 is concerned I can sort of see happening in the future too.

Now coming back to the ask, I'd like to ask why someone would want to completely change this woman's charcterisation to make her a warrior queen in the first place. I'm all for her wanting revenge after b&c. If that were the case in the books or it was done and explored well on the show I would cheer for joy. Here is a mother who's been wronged in the worst possible way wanting revenge, hell yes! But alternatively there is nothing wrong with her mourning and succumbing to grief instead and in my opinion it makes her all the more human. She's been traumatised to no extent why shouldn't anyone in her position be allowed to fall into despair without being called weak. Grieving does not make you weak. To say "let her be a warrior to show how strong she is" doesn't sit completely right with me because she's strong to me either way. She shows strength in captivity, strength in letting her children and Aegon go, despite all the horror she faces. Strength need not be of one kind, it can be through perseverance and retaining your softness. Sadly she does kill her self which is again very understandable. It doesn't make her weak. To summarise giving her another arc for the reason of making her "a strong female charcter" seems fishy to me and I don't like it's implications.

Coming to her children being Aemond's. There are many posts detailing the opening sequence of Hotd which shows the entire family tree. Anyone who wishes can clearly see the twins are not Aemond's. As far as the show is concerned I'd be highly disappointed to find out they were his because first the timelines dont match and he'd have to be a kid, younger than her to do the deed and after that questionable incident at 13 I doubt duty bound Aemond would have gone ahead with it. Secondly both Aemond and Helaena have grown up listening to Alicent secretly chastise Rhaenyra and her brood. Do you think Hightower-seven worshipper-mother's traumatised children would think of doing the same thing she berates her rival about, begetting bastatds when it was a bastard who cut out Aemond's eye. Now I'm not saying he hates them because canon wise he may have either a bastard or a true born son with alys but at present the Aemond portrayed to us would likely not indulge in activities as such and neither would Helaena.

As for alysmond. Alys by herself is an intriguing character, as well as Aemond who is my favourite after season 1. I'm not hoping for a whirlwind mills and boon romance. I would rather see a codependent, forced proximity, reluctant allies type of relationship bloom due to the circumstances they've found themselves in, which gives them solace while also driving them to insanity. I want questionable romance and jaw dropping character arcs ok. Not a fairytale.

Tldr : I like helaemond as a fanon ship. Their dynamic could have been interesting in a different scenario and the actors are two pretty people so what's not to love. As far as canon and the show is concerned, it's a no for me.

[kits-ships]

🌱 🥀 for the ask game?

omg thank you!!

🌱 Who was your first F/O?

eee.... the first romantic f/o i can clearly remember is chief, when i first started playing animal crossing wild world! i couldn't really read yet, but i would always talk to my mom about how he was my boyfriend... i also remember running to his house when i first saw the ufo event because, again, i couldn't read the game guide and had no clue what was happening !!!

he's in my new horizons world now !! he's so silly and i treat him like the king he is

--

🥀 Talk about some of your fictional crushes and why they aren't your F/O!

oh this is so embarrassing... do not look at me... /j

i'll talk abt my two demon slayer crushes because they are currently HAUNTING me !!!!

spoilers ahead

ough....

so the first one i considered (and am intense denial over) is

😡😡👹👹🤬🤬💀sanemi💀🤬🤬👹👹😡😡

this bitch!!! i am still mad at him for stabbing nezuko. i know it was an important moment / plot device but 🤬🤬 SHES JUST A BABY!!! luckily he apologized kinda so that was nice but he's still on thin ice...

also, the hashira i compare ione to the most is kanae! they're both very sweet and motherly and ik the fandom ships kanae/sanemi a lot. so.

PLUS THE FACT THAT BOTH IONE AND SANEMI LOST THEIR LITTLE SIBLINGS... IT KILLS ME. I JUST KNOW THAT THEIR OLDER SISTER/BROTHER GUILT IS CRAZY . THE IMAGINE BONDING POTENTIAL

also throwing giyuu into the equation as a polycule is so good?? the only three surviving hashira that have nothing left without the slayer corps??? BUT THEY HAVE EACH OTHER??? CUUUUTE!! giyuu also has insane guilt related to his sister so he fits in great during group crying sessions :') /j

tldr; i'm mad at him for being a meanie but the potential shipping dynamics are so cute. and he's a handsome fellow.

--

the second is fucking DOUMA. i don't really have a reason for not shipping with him other than

i'm shy and feel a weird ocd induced guilt whenever i want to announce another f/o

i'm trying to keep my dignity intact because douma is douma

it's hard to edit my carrd on my phone 😔

BUT HES SOOO SILLY. LIKE HIS CHARACTER IS SO SAD IN ESSENCE BUT HES ALSO MY SILLY...

also i might kin him a little. he's like the antithesis to me kinning aziraphale. an angel and a nihilist atheist. i don't know what this says about me

he literally makes me want to call him a little meow meow. but he also seems like he'd call me his little meow meow. fuck this guy.

tldr; guilt and sloth do NOT compel me.

also @lovediives kokushibo spotted 😎

[ultfreakme]

Do you agree if said that Megumi and Tsumiki are "toxic doom siblings" (like wei wuxian, jiang yanli and jiang cheng from MDZS)?

Also, I'm surprised your fav MXTX is SVSSS (I thought it will be MDZS). I always think that most people love to dismiss SVSSS and said that it's not as serious or deep as MDZS & TGCF (but I still love SVSSS the most). So happy when I find other people who also love SVSSS.....

For me

Best MXTX protagonist : Wei Wuxian

Best MXTX male lead : Luo Binghe

Best MXTX couple : Hua Cheng/ Xie Lian

Overall story and best comfort read : SVSSS

How about you, Riki? (Sorry if I'm wrong in calling you, I did not mean to be rude, it's just in the end if every 'ask' you wrote : Riki ask)

Also sorry for this long ask....

Hi Anon! I'm answering this in reverse order a bit hehe. I go by Riki it's not rude at all dw dw! No need to apologize for asks, long or short, I'm grateful someone wants to interact with me and talk about shared interests <3

Megumi and Tsumiki being toxic siblings...hmm....idk if toxic is the word I'd use to describe them but there definitely were a lot of issues. Primarily because I think their ideals on life clashed. Tsumiki is someone who wanted to be nice to everyone, but Megumi can't afford that, he's a lot more practical about what kindness and helping people means because of his reality as a sorcerer. Megumi's convinced that she's faking her kindness or is trying too hard.

I don't think Tsumiki is totally faking it, I think she is a genuinely nice person but like every teenager, likes messing around and isn't perfect. Potentially, she's trying to live up to what she preaches and is having a hard time.

I think a lot of the conflict is teenage angst and him being a little brother. She's the only constant in his life, he may have took that a little for granted and when she got cursed it brought into sharp relief the differences in their reality of being a sorcerer and non-sorcerer. No he's the one who has to protect her and he's been left alone. It's easier to probably harbor resentment for her doing something as 'stupid' as getting cursed than confront that their relationship wasn't on the best terms when she fell into a coma and there's no way for him to fix it anymore.

It had a lot of potential to have gotten better if Tsumiki remained, or if she came back any time that wasn't the Culling Games and they got to grow up together. But alas....It's less toxic and more "bad timing".

Also SVSSS fav???? They're so rare to find right? Omg yes!!!

I've only read SVSSS and MDZS, I haven't gotten around to TGCF but my irl friend and everyone online says it's the best one. I'm just intimidated by how long it is. I might get around to to it someday but who knows.

SVSSS is definitely less deeper than the other two but it's got its own charms. I know in terms of everything it's lesser but idk, the potential and the meta story is really intriguing. The extra chapters changed my entire perspective on so many characters (Shen Jiu my guy you had so much potential I am sorry).

Also hmmmm I haven't really thought about them in terms of like, best protagonist, best couple, best male lead.....If I really had to rank then:

Best Protagonist: Wei Wuxian, novel version especially. He's a lot more flawed and genuinely devious in a lot of place in there. I love his arrogance and his confidence.

Best Male Lead: Luo Binghe. Pathetic man, horribly evil. I love you king.

Best Couple: Mobei-jun/Shang Qinghua tied with Yue Qingyuan/Shen Jiu

I like side couples and rarepairs that have no content I hate my life why do I do this to myself? MoShang;s dynamic when it focuses on SQH being MBJ's creator and in many ways, equally powerful or more powerful than him is fun. YQY and SJ are so tragic like, love toxic doomed yaoi.

[felesrubrum]

im gonna roughly liveblog my thoughts on The Owl House i think because i don't want to watch the whole show and forget it!!!

ep1 - A Lying Witch and a Warden I liked it! Intriguing sense of world building and scale. I like Eda. I had a few moments of "why the FUCK does she sound so familiar" and it's bc she's Chichi from The Emperor's New Groove. I loved the 180 on King's crown, that was very cute. I also like Luz' attitude, even if she feels very Main Character. I really like the dynamic between all the characters.

ep2 - Witches before Wizards Cute! I love how Eda stuck up for Luz even though she technically doesn't like her (or acts like it). If I was in Luz' shoes I absolutely would not have fallen for that. ... ..... ....... unless I was between the ages of 5-17. Then I absolutely would have.

ep 3 - I Was A Teenage Abomination I really liked this one. I love Luz's dynamics with willow. I really understand Willow's attempts to force herself into a school of magic she doesn't jive with. (speaking as someone who went to uni for robotics... when i was always an artist :P) I like Amity as well. I already know about .. Amiluz? Lamity? But it's great to see how they started. Also lol at Luz getting banned from school.

ep 4 - The Intruder Ooo, classic stay-at-home episode. This one was fun and surprisingly thrilling. The animation of the intruder lurching around the corner after King was so good, the whole chase scene was very animated. I definitely called that it was Eda. I wonder how she got that way. I wonder who the person in her dream is. It was also so cute to see how Luz deals with magic and how she found her own way. I wonder how she's going to learn more spells if she needs to know the symbol that witches seem to instinctively know.

ep 5 - Covention This one was interesting. Why would you want to join a coven only to seal away all other forms of your magic? Given that, I totally understand the appeal of the Emperor's Coven. I also loved the reveal of Lilith. I think she may be the one who cursed Eda. I also wonder why the Emperor's Coven wants Eda specifically. It must be separate from her curse. Current theory is Lilith cursed Eda bc Eda was more powerful than her. I also really liked the interactions with Luz and Amity. Boy howdy, as an immigrant do I ever understand how hard fitting in is in a new community when you don't know the social structures or even any of the social norms.

ep 6 - Hooty's Moving Hassle Very cute. Standard rebel plot. I love that they accidentally animated the whole house. Makes me wonder if Willow is actually much, MUCH stronger than most other witches or whether Luz has some innate incredibly powerful magic. I don't think it's Gus but specifically I don't think he's the type of character who has a slumbering power type of deal. Also, love the episode title. I like Eda's side-plot as well. I respect forgetting to refill your meds till the absolute last second.

ep 7 - Lost in Language Okay i REALLY liked this one. My favorite so far. I love the dynamic between Amity's siblings and Luz. I also really like that Luz has this strong sense of justice (even if she's easily won over, like in ep 6). I love the little laugh Amity had toward the end. And I also really like the fact that Amity feels like a rounded character. I bet she very much plays up this snobby brat when she's at school bc she's the Emp Coven's protege.

ep 8 - Once Upon A Swap This one was also fun. Felt like a bit of a filler episode but seeing Luz deal with having basically unlimited magical power was fun.

ep 9 - Something Ventured Someone Framed I liked this one as well. Further cements my idea that Gus isn't some sleeper agent type character. I did like the 'human appreciation' thing, and the rivalry between Gus and the new kid. Didn't really like the faux apology but it does very much track. I'm also so proud of Eda for getting over her anger at the school and The Man so that she worked really hard to get Luz accepted into the school. Can't wait to see what Luz can learn there.

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

💡- What’s a idea you’ve enjoyed but never/couldn’t write?

🍤 - Who do you mostly write for (going “[someone] would enjoy this!” when writing)

💿 - Which character is most likely to have a terrible sleep schedule?

🔔 - What compliment meant the most to you regarding your writing? (offline or online)

🏳️ - Favorite way you have described something in your works

🔗 - What has been your favorite dynamic to write for? (romantic or platonic)

🥫 - What’s a scene you’ve really enjoyed working on?

💡 What's an idea you've enjoyed but never wrote//couldn't write?

Sea Three going on the Isle of the Doomed!

I mean. I did write it. Kinda. But there were more people and AU background and I'd like to write it again, thank you.

They'd go looking for CJ when she vanished, still, because it's a good motivation. However, I can't figure out a good trap for Gil, so I'm stuck.

Also Anthony doing Harriet's hair. I think it'd be neat.

💿 - Which character is most likely to have a terrible sleep schedule?

All three Hooks, Uma, probably Mal.

There is a bet going on about whether the Facilier sisters are sleeping at all.

Carlos while living in Hell Hall for reasons called "Cruella is crazy and time is fake."

Ben if someone didn't force him to stop working and/or studying at eleven in the evening at most.

Audrey sticks to her sleep schedule religiously to pretend she has everything under control and Fairy Godmother gives Jane lights out at ten o'clock sharp.

🔔 - What compliment meant the most to you regarding your writing? (offline or online)

Let me just:

And about every single comment @dragoneyes618 ever wrote me ✨

Unrelated to Descendants, someone once told me „I wouldn't be afraid to offer this to a publishing house.“ (We then met once and they said they loved my stories and it was the sweetest thing ever) (it was an original story, just to be clear.)

🏳️ - Favorite way you have described something in your works

...I don't think I'm describing stuff all that much?

I think this scene is neat, though, and I apologize for the length:

It only takes one visit to her room for her to get all she needs, her hands doing their tasks completely on autopilot. Unsteered.

Take the dagger, CJ, tuck it to your belt. Then the other one. And another. Don’t forget your sabres. The boxers, for when you feel like you want to punch something – you do want punch something, don’t you? Someone? Their bones cracking under your knuckles, their hot blood splattering all over you?

You do know that a few cracked faces won’t miraculously heal broken reality, don‘t you?

…Yes, that goes for skulls and spines too.

CJ’s own skull throbs violently, she wants to go to Harriet and make her tell her that everything will be okay, even if it’s a lie.

Somehow, explosives find a way to her bag.

Oh, who is she kidding? She knows full well how they got there, and she knows how she wants to use them, too. Her fingers just itch to zap the lighter and throw the gotten-on-black grenades with all her might.

Watch the world burn.

But not yet.

She knows who has to pay first. Who else should it be than the king that condemned her siblings to death for the mere crime of being born?

The atrocities afterwards do not count.

Old king or new king, CJ doesn‘t care anyway.

The old king and his family, the woman who set up the shimmering Barrier of CJ’s childhood prison and her siblings’s mausoleum, all the people who turned a blind eye to the Isle for the last two decades.

The entire royal council, yeah, sure, why not.

Go big or go home.

CJ laughs hysterically as she walks through the front gate of Auradon Prep, straight to the Castle Beast.

I'm also obsessed with this fic (claudine/huma) a normal amount.

Plus, for some reason, the mental image from this fic brings me so much joy: Ginny and Maddy sitting together on the floor, Ginny playing with her own hair while Maddy plays with her doll, raking her nails through its hair. They're so cute, your honour.

🔗 - What has been your favorite dynamic to write for? (romantic or platonic)

Harry Hook/Uma

Harriet & Harry & CJ

Harriet Hook/Anthony Tremaine/Ginny Gothel

Claudine Frollo & the pirate crews. Particularly Harry and Uma. No I will not shut up about them. It can be your problem.

✨ What's a scene you've really enjoyed working on?

Probably every single Hook siblings reunion scene. Which I wrote a normal amount of.

[navree]

Hi there !

I like to say that i really love your analysis of the conquerors dynamic. So i wanted to ask you about the way Aegon ii is portrayed in F&B why is shown to be very emotionally cold/distant? I know it has to with the fact that this book is written as historical book so it's kinda impossible to know the character's internal thoughts. However there are several characters who are shown to be emotional, like Rhaenys i , Helaena, rhaenyra, Viserys i etc..

I don't know if you got my point but what i mean Aegon seems very cold and antisocial only emotions he has shown is anger.

Thanks so much! I do have a lot of thoughts on those characters, it's honestly ridiculous at this point, but I'm glad people enjoy the ramblings.

I think there are a couple of factors at play to why Aegon II might appear to be emotionally cold and more distant, especially when compared to other characters. I think time in the public eye is a factor. Aegon reigned for a very short period, only two years, and that entire period was during active warfare, with long strips of time where he was AWOL, either due to recovery or actively being in hiding once Rhaenyra was in King's Landing. So because of this, he didn't have a long time for people to get used to who he was (Viserys I had nearly 30 years of ruling under his belt, and Rhaenys had an entire decade), and none of the time he had was able to get him involved in things like community outreach that would have allowed the populace to know him more in the way we saw with someone like Rhaenys, who was actively involved in the community with her marriage decisions and lawmaking and all those wonderful things she did because she was perfect. As for Rhaenya getting more known about her, that's likely because she was more noteworthy, given the breaking of the mold that she represented in Viserys naming her his heir, so people were more inclined to pay attention to her than to Aegon, who wasn't doing anything groundbreaking just by being the son of the king and following Westerosi customs (I say this, of course, with love, but it's true).

There's also a couple other elements at play that might lead to Aegon's temperament not having gotten written down beyond bing emotionally distant. I'll add that we don't actually know a whole lot about Helaena herself either, just that she was nice and well-liked, so it might also be a generation thing. And, quite frankly, Aegon II isn't remembered particularly well either. Both he and Rhaenyra have pretty bad reputations after they die, one of the key elements of the Dance is that neither side came off particularly well and they are not remembered fondly by Westeros in general, Aegon only just comes across marginally better off because the laws and customs of the country were on his side. The book is, as you said, a history book, and it is a history book written many many years after Aegon died, during a period of time that was decidedly anti-Targaryen (Robert's reign), so the writers were dealing with old records and wouldn't be interested in searching for anything beyond that. There's also the fact that Aegon might not have been the kind of person to show his emotions in public (I have a lot of personality traits, like most human people, but anyone who's ever known me casually or on a work basis would likely not be able to name a whole lot because I'm very reserved and do not emotionally open up to anyone who isn't a very close friend or immediate family member, and even that's rare), and so the public facing person that most people would have met wouldn't have been privy to emotions that were likely reserved for his siblings or kids or his mother.

But I'll leave you with this anon, the book does give us more to Aegon than just being distant, because we can actually infer a lot from what they tell us about. His rage about what happened to Jaehaerys speaks to his deep love for his children and family, the way he wants to honor Helaena and Aemond and Daeron speaks to how he felt about them, his closeness with Alicent speaks to him certainly being capable of being close to people, not just distant, his bond with Sunfyre shows a softer side to him, and anyone who's partying on the Street of Silk and able to keep good relations with the people there was probably at least fun to have around. There's not a lot said about Aegon's personality, due to the things I mentioned above, but I do think there's a fair amount implied.

[notbythemoonrp]

Swear not by the inconstant moon, Enoch. You are the Forgotten Child in Aura. At your advanced age, you are quite the daunting demon, especially with that shadow, water, and soul magic.

Can you find your way out of the darkness?

OOC:

Name/Alias: Krys

Pronouns: she/they

Age: 26+

Timezone: CST

IC:

Biography Information:

Skeleton/OC Role: the forgotten child

Character Name: Enoch

FC: choi wooshik

Species: demon [immortal]

Status: aware

Gender: cisman

Pronouns: he/him

Age: appears 31

Abilities: Shadow magic, water magic and soul magic

Original Fate: unknown

Biography:

Imagine you’re the sole heir of the demon king. An heir that would never be needed. It wasn’t as if the king was going to die. Why would one need to be named? Despite not being an heir, you are still, his soul son. there is only one of you.  So, you find your purpose. Something to assist your father. Something to make him proud. Despite you not being the heir, there is no point to living in immortality without a purpose. Perhaps, that is where the trouble begins….

Enoch was the eldest son of the demon king. One that had not been spoken of as a son to the public since he was young, ages before. A son that had been with him for some time before the dark enchantress fell upon their doorstep. The same son who helped orchestrate the events that forced her and her little heir in their direction. All it took was a head tilt from his father, a smile and he knew what was needed. As one of his father’s most gifted assassins, infiltration was easy. A few well-placed deaths carefully crafted and executed had her moving exactly where his father wanted her. Who was he to tell his father no? it had been some time since his own mother had been around or alive. If his father wished to have someone sit upon the throne with him, then Enoch intended to make sure it happened.

Of course, that isn’t the end of the story. More time would pass. he would continue to do what was expected of him and allow the family dynamic to blossom. More often a shadow than a person, he didn’t even take the time to introduce himself as his only blood son… It wasn’t as if the elder wished to bond with a child or even the women his father clearly coveted. Perhaps he should have. Enoch may have seen the signs if he went more out of his way to speak to them, rather than only his father.

An accident, they said. How terrible. An accident had claimed the demon king’s life. An accident. Enoch put little trust in that investigation. His father had spent centuries living. Centuries of watching out for betrayal. But as far as his eldest son was concerned, in the end, he wasn’t watching well enough. Not being close to the dark enchantress made it easy for him to suspect her.

The distrust evolved, began to fester. Even as he introduced himself as simply, Enoch, a trusted assassin. He watched, he waited and eventually a time came where he could exact vengeance. The ghosts that hunted her in that maze, he called upon. Allowing them to taunt and bare down on her for eternity.

But things change and refresh. What matters is Enoch remains. The same soul, the same body. His hate festering into something much stronger over time. It grew from sibling punishing the dark enchantress, to wanting to tear her apart, piece by piece. but first, he would start with people she loved. Her son, and those he loved. Each of them torn to shreds while he bathed in their blood.

These ministrations would take time, and he has been biding it. To kill a strategist, one had to be willing to also be one. Patient. A watcher that had been watching for a very long time. One of the more important parts of Enoch’s plan was to obtain the solar and lunar magics. Rip them away if he had to. But in truth, previous enemies, old stories…. Most of them meant nothing to him. Only her. Only her treachery and her pain.

There is very little left within the forgotten demon prince. A child that turned into nothing within the entirety of the story. A fountain of anger and hate. But the forgotten becomes the unknown. The unknown can’t truly be planned for. Time had passed and Enoch had been waiting been waiting for. so. long….

[numericalbridge]

TOH rewatch semi-liveblog. Season 1 part 2

episodes 6-10

Episode 6

- Why is the opening theme such an earworm.

- 'dangerous nomads' ugh

- curious about the special moon powers and how they fit with the rest of the lore.

- Willow is yet again so good!

- Wh... what? Here is Eda, carelessly saying how she would never trust Luz again if Luz messes up and causing Luz stress, even after what happened in episode 2?

And then Eda even 'threatens' Luz - who even closes her eyes in the end - and Willow and Gus have to intervene, but it turns out Eda just wanted them to clean up the house? But, sure, Darius is the evil/stupid/irresponsible one.

And I am sure everyone in the fandom was obsessed with making Eda disproportionally guilty over this behaviour and twisted her whole character to be about it... right? Like, everyone was screaming how Camila would find out about Eda's behavior and hate her? And everyone was writing out their 'funny' fantasies about slapping and beating Eda up? What, no? Everyone declared Eda the best mom and thought she was better than Camila? And jokes about her irresponcibility and mistakes were good-natured and sympathetic? Weird...

(Sorry, i don't want to rag on Eda too much, but the racist double standarts are so, so obvious. Both in how Darius is treated vs Eda, but also how Luz is treated vs Hunter)

Episode 7

- The Bat Queen is the richest demon on the isles? Another thing i've forgotten completely. I kinda assumed she was a weird half-legendary hermit.

- Yeah, to be honest i don't care about Amity's siblings. Actually i think the Blight family should've been just Amity and one of her parents.

- I do dislike the switch in regards of Amity from previous episodes to this one. My problem is not that we see a different side of her or that Luz wants to befriend her after the Convention, but that Willow just doesn't seem to factor in any of this episode's events, and the episode is pushing this 'Amity just doesn't know how to interact with others without being cold because she can't show weakness' - which might be true in general and in regards of Luz, but doesn't work with how she treated Willow in previous episodes especially from Luz's point of view.

And so the switch between Luz calling Amity out in the previous episodes to simply declaring Amity her rival in this one, as if that's the only problem with Amity's behavior, is odd. If any of that was actually intentional and was adressed and there was an equal focus on Luz and Willow's relationship, then this could've been interesting to explore, but if not then they should've changed that first interaction between Amity and Willow. Or, idk, just put some mentions of Amity and Luz's relationships with Willow in the episode.

Because no, i don't think the audience has to be spoonfed and Amity being multifaceted is not the problem, but the show is not that subtle most of the times and this shift seems more unfocused than deliberate; and Luz wanting to make Willow and Amity friends again is also not a problem and makes sense for her character (more about it in Understanding Willow liveblog), but the pacing of the character arcs seem weird and inconsistent/unfocused, and Luz constantly ends up having less meaningful interactions with Willow and Gus compared to the white characters.

-Oh, but you might ask, why do you, numericalbridge, say you excuse Eda and Darius, but not Amity's writing? Well, first i don't think you can ignore the racial dynamics here. Second, Eda is one of the main characters, and we see her in various situations and so we can conclude that, for example, the moment from episode 4 where she 'threatens' King is more of unthoughtful writing choice than anything meant to be revealing about her character. And with Darius it's the opposite - he is not a main character, so his and Hunter's development happening off-screen is much more acceptable, and if you ignore the things that the fandom straight up invents about Darius the storyline is actually pretty streamlined. But Amity and Willow end up somewhere in between, where they are supposed to be core characters, and yet the storyline is neither here nor there, neither simple nor fully developed, and Willow is the one who gets the short end of the stick.

- And the thing is Amity has so much more focus in the first season but then gets less and less and then her arc ends up completed by the end of season 2 earlier than arcs of other main characters (except Gus who just barely has anything😠), and in season 3 Amity doesn't have much to do, but if her and Willow's relationship and the rekindling of their friendship got more even development from early on, then Amity could've been more deeply connected to Willow's arc in season 3 and it would've benefitted them both.

- And the easiest solution to my problem with Amity's arc would be to make the expulsion episode in season 2 about all of the hexsquad rather than only about lumity, and have Amity call out her parents - or just Alador if she isn't ready to call out Odalia - in regards of their treatment of Willow.

- Amity calling Luz a bully is sure a thing

- The rabbit thing serving as a parallel to Amity would've been great if the show was better about Willow and more consistent about Amity.

- I think it might've been better if Understanding Willow was an earlier episode and then this episode happened after, with prior glimpses of Amity trying to befriend Willow and Gus and being awkward about it.

- I think this is the moment where the show starts to drag, and introduces more unfortunate designs as well.

Episode 8

- This episode is so stupid, but the hints at Eda and Lilith's relationship and backstory are good.

- Luz is again very inventive with the idea to light the sign up! She just doesn't think through the more pragmatic parts because she is an excitable teenager.

- Eda is so silly with the body swap idea and the decision is also soooo abrupt, it's almost like something out of season 2b when they were running out of time. I still wouldn't call it the worst episode.

Episode 9

- The first Gus episode! Luz and Gus are so funny together, and it's such a shame how they are barely allowed to interact with each other afterwards. Because Gus is the one with the experience of feeling tricked! He probably was traumatized by what he saw in Belos's mind too! Ahhh😠

- Again, love that Eda is allowed to be angry about school.

- Matt is so manipulative and funny, lol.

- Interesting that Willow is the responsible one in this episode, but overall at this point in the show she doesn't tend to assume the group leader position yet.

- "No one gets left behind" - except all the other students in the detention pit?

Episode 10

-Missed opportunity to have some deeper interactions between Luz, Willow and Gus.

- The Bat Queen's plot would've been so good if not the design choice. Can't believe Hunter's fandom manages to demonize even her in the AUs

- "Yeah, results of Eda's great parental skill" says my note, but i can't remember what this refers too.

----

Conclusion:

This is where the show kinda starts to drag down, and the inability to balance the cast and character arcs becomes obvious. Shame, because Eda and Lilith, Luz and King, and Luz and Willow and Gus - when they are not just there for comedic scenes - are all excellent character dynamics.

[theprinceandthewitch]

Can you imagine thinking Luz and Hunter are siblings? That's so embarrassing lmao.

[allyriadayne]

If you were in charge of HOTD how would you have structured the show? Would you have done 2 seasons - one with the younger and one with the older versions of the characters? Or would you have added episodes to season 1 and where? What were the problem areas that needed fixing. And yeah I know season 1 ended up like it did for reasons, this is just for fun!

hi! well you've given me a lot to think about. let's see. to me the biggest problems in regards to structure in s1 were mostly about pacing.

the first part of the season felt better than the second one because it covered relatively less time than episodes 6-10 with its two time jumps. it did a better job to present the characters and the dynamics between them (crucially because the second part depends so much on this when the characters are apart) and the reason the story is happening at all. i agree with not having a full season for the younger cast like emily and milly because to me it makes much more difficult to get used to olivia and emma, essentially new characters. it's v difficult for many people already only after five episodes! and i think it has to do more with the force of the story and the cohesiveness of the first part than being the older actor's fault.

HOTDMV (hotd mariana's version) under the cut

structurally, i would leave this first part as it is. perhaps i would add extra scenes of alicent's children as babies, more of aemma and her family before her death and maybe set up a little bit better characters like harwin, laena, larys and laenor for their more prominent roles in the second part of the season. but it's not really a dealbreaker for me because the main job of this part is to tell rhaenyra's story, how she sees the world and why she will do what she does later. it's normal that her siblings are not there much because she doesn't want them to be in her life as she doesn't want to see alicent either; beginning at aemma's death makes sense because this is where rhaenyra's story begins, her before and after; and as for the supporting characters, well, they are in the background until they matter to her lol she's the protagonist after all.

it's in the second part where the most changes would need to be done. a time jump is inevitable. you want to introduce your older cast quickly and painlessly, these are actually the protagonists of your show. but it comes with difficulties too. flashbacks? montages? exposition dump? i'm no tv expert so i don't know the best method or if it's feasibly but i would do smaller time jumps like in part 1 to establish: 1) the new dynamics 2) the new characters 3) the ongoing political situation. to solve this i'd add one more ep or maybe two BEFORE the events of ep 6 which is mostly one huge set up for the events of the driftmark ep:

the new dynamics

because i have boundless imagination and a penchant for headcanons, i can imagine how alicent goes from ep 5 (burned, sad, furious) to ep 6 (hateful, mocking, irritated) in those ten years. the kings continuous support of rhaenyra churning perfect child after perfect child with the "common look" while alicent rots with her imperfect targ looking children (from her pov), the lack of otto's guidance, her isolation and surrounding herself with people like criston cole and larys, etc.

BUT i don't think imagination is enough for most viewers. the rhaenicent dynamic would benefit immensely from showing the evolving relationship as rhaenyra's children are born. not showing birth after birth because it gets tedious but showing some kind of marker that rhaenyra just gave birth or something (AND what happened with rhaenyra's fear of giving birth???? this bugs me to hellllll). this will also help develop the children's' relationship to the adults in the RK (to viserys, to criston, to their parents). or maybe not show the children so much because it presents the problem of changing the actor esp when they are small children which is more noticeable unlike 22 yo milly alcock doing 14-19 yo rhaenyra than say laena's child actress portraying diff ages (rip ty tennant you would've been amazing).

new characters

let's say """new""" alright because only the children are truly new in the story by episode 6. i'd say harwin is not that big of a problem bc i'd extend the mystery of the father longer and "reveal" it like they do in the show. he'd be in the bg, too close to the family, bc it's how he's meant to be in the story. only coming up when the children are older and he can sort of bond with them as prospect warriors, leaving the audience with incomplete feelings about him when he dies (just like it happens to the velaryon boys!).

the critics regarding laena and harwin's death not having enough weight or coming out of nowhere are valid. esp about laena when she's portrayed by three diff actresses in what, four episodes? i would have the same actress play teenage laena and adult laena (same with laenor!). i just saw nanna blondell is 37 yo in real life, way too old for laena during the pentos years, savannah steyn is 28 lol i would let her do both parts and let makeup do the rest. it's fine bc it's to make the visual bond stronger when she's again seen in pentos w daemon. the transition between KL and pentos was kinda clunky to me but what they show was pretty good in setting the dynamics. so maybe i'd separate daemon's plot in two: laena and daemon carefree in essos vs laena and daemon family time, constrained by new responsibilities and homesickness. this would give laena's character to be more solid and set her motivations better. i'd even let them visit driftmark when the twins are born. no rhaneyra and laenor tho, it takes away from the daemyra reunion in ep 7.

the ongoing political situation

this speaks for itself. one council session in ep 6 was not enough. i'm glad rhaenyra and alicent seat in the council but there needed to be more precedent for it. it's clear alicent demanded otto's old seat maybe after rhaenyra was let into the council, but why? why after several times of viserys dismissing her and belittling her? oh you respect her now? of course, it has to do with viserys' decline but it's too many implicit parts. the princess and queen's party made explicit, rhaenyra and dragonstone (she hasn't set foot on it all those ten years?), a family dinner a la ep 8 with the younger children, the alliances with the other lords, etc. in summary, showing the tensions grew since ep 5.

eps 7 & 8 are near perfect to me so i would leave them as they are. the 6 year time jump works for me here though i wished they had done a little explainer as to why rhaenyra and daemon didn't come sooner to the capital. it's obvious they were half exiled or something and not wanting to aggravate viserys they stayed away from the public eye. the introduction to the older kids works better because we have in dept knowledge of them as children. we know why aemond throws himself to near physical perfection, why jace is so intense in his studies, luke's aversion to take action/confrontation, and aegon's decline.

this doesn't work much with the girls though! i feel like i don't know helaena enough and the twins are severely sidelined. why was baela fostered at driftmark? how did this affect them? how does helaena relate to her children? anyway. i have a sort of theory that rhaenys asked laena to foster her oldest in driftmark in hopes of changing corlys' mind (and as sort of foreshadowing to baela as lady of driftmark after the dance). this would be one of the extra scenes i would add, maybe in the driftmark ep?

ep 9 is weird. i like what they are showing, i don't like the execution or paper thin plot. oh so you caught aegon now what?

ep 10 is rushed? idk too many things happening.

i would do a mix of them. not separate by faction. i understand this is to make the viewer used to the individual plots that for sure is happening s2 onwards but it was clunky to me. the timeline was also insanely tight: dinner, fight, rhaenicent, viserys dying, crowning aegon. why didn't rhaenyra come back?!? was it a lie? imagine if she did come back and got imprisoned like rhaenys. it's too tight. i might make her come back and bond again with alicent for a few days > she leaves > viserys dies > coronation race.

in any case, i agree the season had to end where it did. it was very cinematic and the perfect ending and beginning.

[imagine-being-straight]

A Message to the TOH Fandom

I’m tired.

I feel like everyone in the fandom can agree that the TOH fandom overall has white favoritism. If you actively deny that we have a problem with white favoritism or are offended that I said this, look at yourself and other people who have been talking about this issue. Really look at yourself and ask why you are offended by what I said. Now back to the TOH fandom’s problem with white favoritism. It’s a huge problem and I don’t think people have realized how bad it’s gotten.

Luz and Amity

Do both of them have amazing content created about them? Yes, but if you look a bit closer to the contents of their contents you’ll see a clear disparity between the two. Luz is more likely to be in Lumity art (which itself isn't a problem), but the problem lies in that she is only there for Amity. Is there still content with her alone and highlighting her character? Of course there is, but for every content that exists for Luz solely, there are at least two others for Amity. Don’t get me wrong I love Amity as much as the next person, but she still is a side character. The Owl House focuses on Eda, King, and Luz mainly. They are the main characters.

When I first joined the TOH fandom, I noticed a lot of Amity focused content. A lot more so than I expected since she is a side character. I understand that a factor in her popularity is her crush on Luz and we’re all really excited for confirmed gay characters, but it doesn’t explain how popular she is. She appears in roughly half of season one’s episodes (I know she technically appears in 11 episodes, but some of her appearances are so minor you can easily forget they happened) compared to Luz being in all 18 episodes. Yes Luz isn’t always the focus of these episodes, but she still changes and develops as a character through most of them.

The reason I’m bringing all of this up is that Amity is white and Luz is a POC. Characters of color in the past have been overlooked and underappreciated in the past, not just in this fandom, but it still happens a lot here. Whether it’s conscious or not, we all have been affected by white favoritism and it is our responsibility to recognize it and change. The Owl House brings more than just gay representation: it brings an Afro-Latina Bisexual protaganist with two major side characters, Willow and Gus, being a mixed Asian-Black character and a Black character. You still think I’m full of shit saying there’s white favoritism in the TOH fandom? Well I’m just getting started here.

Willow, Gus, and Boscha

Boscha herself is an interesting character and I think people see a lot of potential for her character, but the problem is that she overshadows a lot of other characters who are much more important and relevant. Willow is a good example of someone who has been constantly overshadowed by Boscha. Most content I see of Willow is usually Boschlow content (I’m not approving or condemning Boschlow here, this is me just stating some facts) and it’s so unfair to Willow as a character. Willow is more than just Luz’s friend or a quiet girl and more people need to realize that. If you can analyze Boscha’s character in the three episodes she is in, you can do the same thing to Willow, who has been in 14 episodes (three more than Amity). There is no excuse for the lack of Willow content and the abundance of Boscha content.

The same thing can be applied to Gus. Sure he doesn’t get very much screen time, but it is still loads more than Boscha. I have seen barely any content about Gus and the few times I do, he is usually with a group and not alone. No one talks about him and I cannot express how underrated he truly is. If you want some funny content with him, play around with his interest in humans and how he has totally misinterpreted things we know as facts. If you want Gus angst, then write about how young he is and how he could be feeling inadequate despite being smart enough to skip two grades. Amity is seen by the fandom as a whole as being extremely smart, but the fact that Gus skipped two grades, a feat Amity has not done herself, truly showcases how smart Gus really is. It’s not that hard to make Gus content and everyone is just sleeping on him.

The fandom loves to attach itself to Boscha, who may I remind you is white. Willow and Gus, who have way more plot relevance and screen time, are constantly pushed aside for more and more Boscha content. Willow and Gus are beautifully written in the show, but most people overlook it for Boscha, who in the show has been fairly one note so far. If your only argument is that you want to show the background characters some love, then where is the Skara content? Skara has just as much screen time as Boscha, but I’ve seen very little content about her. I guarantee if Boscha was a POC she would have the same level of content as Skara, but since she is white she overshadows literally every other POC supporting character, including those who have had more screen time than her. Don’t even get me started on the Detention Track kids and Emira/Viney. This post is already long enough and I don’t need to make it any longer.

Camilia and Alador/Odelia Blight

Right here is the clearest example of the white favoritism of the TOH fandom. Alador and Odalia Blight have gotten so much content about them and we still haven’t seen their faces. You can easily find so much analysis on them and how their parenting must affect the Blight siblings. You can find so much content about them and we know literally nothing about them other than the fact that they’re abusive. I know Alador is set up to be less abusive than Odalia, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is still abusive to his kids. Whether he approved what was going on or not doesn’t matter because he was still complacent with what was happening.

Now let’s look at Camilia and all her content- oh wait there is basically none for her. All the Camilia content is basically nothing other than CamilEda content (again I’m not trying to bash or approve CamilEda, I’m just trying to state some facts). Camilia did make a mistake in setting Luz to the camp, but that does not make her a bad mother. People need to remember one bad action does not make a bad person. I think Dana herself said that Luz and Camilia do love each other, but they do have their differences, which makes things hard sometimes. Camilia truly does care about Luz and tries her best to do what‘s best for Luz and more people need to recognize it. There is so much untapped potential with Camilia’s character, like how she will react to Luz not coming home or what she will do to try to get Luz back. What if she sees all of the recordings Luz has made for her? How will she react? These are all things we can make content on, yet I see so many people sleeping on it.

Now when you compare how the fandom treats both Camilia and the Blight parents, there’s a clear bias in favor for the Blight parents. The Blight parents are given more attention and content despite having less actual screen time and being actual pieces of garbage. Camilia is shoved to the side despite there being plenty to analyze about her and her relationship with Luz. Camilia is also a good person, which is clearly different to the Blight parents. It’s never been a matter of which parent/child relationship is better because they’re both written very well, but rather the fact that Camilia gets shoved aside every time we talk about parent/child relationships. I mean when you look at it, Camilia and Luz’s relationship with each other is literally the Blight family’s dynamic, except the opposite. The only difference between the two families is that one has POCs and the other is white. And to no one’s surprise, the white family gets more attention and analysis than the POC’s family.

Statistics

If you’re still not convinced here's some cold hard evidence that white characters are more favored than POC characters. I’m going to be using AO3’s (archiveofourown) data on how many works a character is tagged in.

On AO3 at around 6:35 PM EST Oct 3, 2020, The Owl House had 1921 works. As we can see Luz is number one (as she should), Willow is number three, and Gus is number four. They’re ranked fairly high (which was a surprise to me), but when you look at how many works they’re actually in, the white favoritism becomes clear. Amity is tagged in around 1480 works and Willow and Gus each are in 730 and 610 respectively. Willow and Gus are in half the works Amity is. Somehow Willow appears in half the works Amity does even though Willow appears more than Amity in the show. Boscha also has 360 works with her in it, half of what Gus and Willow’s works despite being a very minor character who has appeared only a few times. What's worse is that Edric and Emira are literally 200 to 60 works away from Willow and Gus respectively. Edric and Emira, two white characters who have appeared in literally three episodes, but are tagged in nearly the same number of works as two main POC-supporting characters. Now maybe you’re like “Oh the Blight siblings are only so popular because of Lumity, this data is skewed” so the next picture is of all the characters with all of the romantic relationship tags excluded.

The data shows that the fandom favors the white characters so drastically that there is no excuse or other explanation for it. Lumity being popular doesn’t explain why Amity is still the third most written-about character, even with the Lumity tag being blocked. Quantity of episode appearances doesn't explain why Willow has less content about her because Willow appears in three more episodes than Amity does. The only explanation is white favoritism because the most popular characters are all white (with the exception of Luz, but that’s because she is the main character). Before you tell me “Oh it's because they’re more interesting or they have more potential” actually look and analyze the POC characters because they’re amazingly well written if you actually sit down and analyze them.

Why Calling Out White Favoritism Matters

Now you may be asking: why should I care? Well you should care because the fandom as a whole is literally favoring white characters over POC characters, which is low key racist. It makes people care less about POC characters and actual people which can lead to some internalized racism if not caught early enough. The Owl House tries very hard to highlight their POC characters and actively ignoring or dismissing them is disrespecting the show itself.

I feel like I should make it clear that I’m not shaming anyone who’s favorite character just happens to be white. What I’m doing here is being critical of whether or not a person likes a character because they are white (whether that decision is conscious or not). There is a clear difference between “Oh X is my favorite character, but I recognize the other characters are good in their own ways.” and “Oh I love X and only X. I will only use the other characters to further X’s character and completely ignore everyone else’s complexity”. Please take some time and think about why you like a character and see if you unconsciously love them because they are white. No one is immune to it and even I had to realize I was unconsciously favoring white characters while writing something The Owl House related.

The sad part about all of this is that it needs to be said that racism is bad. It needs to be said that white favoritism is extremely toxic and we should make sure we don’t actively take part or be complacent in it. I know for a fact that other POC have seen this white favoritism, but are too numb to say anything about this because they feel like their voices won’t change anything. The few people who have spoken out haven't been listened too. The fact that I had to step up and make this just to try to get people to listen and I might not even make a difference is so sad to me. The fact that I’m young makes me not numb to the white favoritism. The fact that I dealt with, for the first time, racism at the age of 14, which is extremely late for a POC. The fact that the only reason I can be mad about this is because I dealt with racism so late that I have energy to speak out against this and not be numb to this all. I hate that all of this exists and we all let this happen. We all let this problem fester and now it is now our responsibility to get our priorities straight and change. If we let this problem grow and grow, then in a few years this fandom will be a shell of what it once was.

“We can do this together.” -Luz Noceda

[vivacissimx]

lyanna stark, a drop of the wolf-blood, & the pragmatism underneath

the youngest we see lyanna (in my estimation), is this vision from bran

Now two children danced across the godswood, hooting at one another as they dueled with broken branches. The girl was the older and taller of the two. Arya! Bran thought eagerly, as he watched her leap up onto a rock and cut at the boy. But that couldn't be right. If the girl was Arya, the boy was Bran himself, and he had never worn his hair so long. And Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him. She slashed the boy across his thigh, so hard that his leg went out from under him and he fell into the pool and began to splash and shout. "You be quiet, stupid," the girl said, tossing her own branch aside. "It's just water. Do you want Old Nan to hear and run tell Father?" She knelt and pulled her brother from the pool

- Bran III, ADWD

but four books earlier, we see this quote from ned:

Lyanna might have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it

- Arya II, AGOT

so we know that that ned was close enough to lyanna to know that she enjoyed swordplay, close enough to know her desires and to know that rickard would never accept this (for whatever reason).

...but not close enough to be the one she practiced sworldplay with in secret. the picture this paints is telling. lyanna was explicitly banned from something, and chose to pursue it in a secret and harmless way, with someone she trusted.

but ned isn't privy to that information. whether because he wasn't around, or because lyanna thought he would disapprove, or because he just thought it was childish - either way, we see that lyanna is picky about who she trusts, bred out of having to be sneaky in achieving her goals under her strict father's nose. she even identifies old nan as a snitch (et tu brute?). clever kid.

lyanna has other hobbies, too. she loves flowers. she loves riding horses.

"You ride like a northman, milady," Harwin said when he'd drawn them to a halt. "Your aunt was the same. Lady Lyanna. But my father was master of horse, remember."

- Arya III, ASOS

[Brandon] loved to ride. His little sister took after him in that. A pair of centaurs, those two.

- The Turncloak, ADWD

Horses … [Domeric] was mad for horses, Lady Dustin will tell you. Not even Lord Rickard's daughter could outrace him, and that one was half a horse herself.

- Reek III, ADWD

worth mentioning, imo, that even though lyanna was an excellent rider, she couldn't beat domeric. this is paralelled with arya, who is great on horseback, but not faster than harwin the son of winterfell's master of horse. this isn't a case of 'not like other girls' syndrome, of mary sues who are magically the best there ever was. conversely, adversity doesn't scare either of them off - lyanna was clearly competitive, with domeric and likely with brandon before him, and it all added up to her being remembered as a fantastic horserider despite effectively leaving the north at 14.

so lyanna is determined. she's willful, to hear ned say it.

then, of course, we have this

"Robert will never keep to one bed," Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm's End. "I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale." Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart.

Lyanna had only smiled. "Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature."

- Eddard IX, AGOT

this seems fairly clear cut, but let's break down this conversation:

lyanna (told the news by the authoritative father; being approached by ned, the sibling who is best friends with the guy in question; thirteen years old): he will never keep to one bed. he has a bastard already, on a common girl he cannot marry which speaks to his character

ned: it isn't robert's actions that matter, it's his feelings. *crickets on lyanna's feelings*

now lyanna is thirteen. but she already recognizes that this is a losing battle. why? because she can't change robert?

no. because she cannot change the minds of rickard, or of ned.

there is no doubt in my mind that both these men loved her. but do they listen to her? clearly not.

lyanna doesn't bother to fight this fight she cannot win. she just smiles, realizing that rickard/ned are not going to hear her out on this, and gets the last word with "love does not change a man's nature."

this isn't the divide between lyanna and robert - this is the moment of divide between lyanna and ned. they're siblings who love each other, and love is sweet, but none of that changes that ned is on rickard and robert's side. it's a rough moment for a teenage girl. she was right earlier, she must realize - benjen is the brother she can trust.

so lyanna is determined, but she is pragmatic.

the next time we see lyanna, she's kicking ass at harrenhal.

[...]they heard a roar. “That’s my father’s man you’re kicking!” howled the she-wolf…

The she-wolf laid into the squires with a tourney sword, scattering them all. The crannogman was bruised and bloodied, so she took him back to her lair to clean his cuts and bind them up with linen.

- Bran II, ASOS

here is where lyanna really shines.

she has a moral code all her own, we already know this from her assessment of robert's child that differed from how catelyn views bastards disconnected from the home.

she dislikes bullies, which is fairly common (jaime hated bullies growing up, for example) but for some reason at this very moment, she also has a tourney sword in hand - why? well, because lyanna stark takes her opportunities when she has them. barred from swordplay? that's fine, dad, but when you're not looking is another story.

she doesn't go rushing in, nor does she ignore the scene. she watches long enough to see if howland can fight them off (he can't), giving her time to identify him as a crannogman - possibly even as a highborn crannogman. and then what does she do? she weighs her options, decides that she can probably beat the bullies, and does so. then she takes care of howland reed, picking him up like she picked benjen out of the water in bran's vision.

[T]here was to be a feast in Harrenhal, to mark the opening of the tourney, and the she-wolf insisted that the lad attend. He was of high birth, with as much right to a place on the bench as any other man.

- Bran II, ASOS

she claims his rights as a highborn lord to attend. he doesn't have clothes, nor does howland insist that he can go, but lyanna makes a reasoned argument that howland has every right to attend and that surely benjen can find him some clothes!

so lyanna is determined, pragmatic, and a problem-solver.

[T]he Knight of the Laughing Tree spoke in a booming voice through his helm, saying “Teach your squires honour, and that shall be ransom enough.” Once the defeated knights chastised their squires sharply, their horses and armour were returned.

- Bran II, ASOS

here, lyanna displays a trait that sets her apart. howland memorizes the face of his bullies. he wants to "revenge" himself on them. but lyanna does not go directly for the bullies, she challenges the lords to whom the bullies squire, and commands them to chastise their squires.

lyanna understands the chivalric system she lives in, and that she will not be listened to (how? her own father and brother don't listen to her!), so she figures out another way to get justice that plays on the very ideas of might & honor that exclude the weak. she is confident in her abilities (being experienced riding at rings), gathers up all the material she needs, and takes a calculated risk.

she manipulates the system, plainly. she plays the players at their own game and wins.

and she does it for a guy she met a few days ago.

lyanna is determined, pragmatic, a problem-solver, and ascribes to a moral code that is all her own, one that rejects societal hypocrisy.

You have a wildness in you, child. 'The wolf blood,' my father used to call it. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch.

- Arya II, AGOT

so how do we square this away? lyanna was wolf-blooded. she was wild. she was untameable.

or was she?

any girl/woman with half a personality gets described as "spirited" or "willful" or "stubborn" in asoiaf. it's a polite of saying "hard to control." we see several times that lyanna takes a measured approach to matters. she is brave, yes, but she is also thoughtful and chooses her battles with the information she has. when she is denied something for no reason beyond her gender and status, she finds a way to pursue her interests regardless.

but robert is something lyanna can't avoid. and that had to rankle her, the betrothal she is determined to avoid, but pragmatically cannot due to her family's insistence. the marriage that goes against her moral code (i'm sure lyanna noted that robert gladly volunteered to capture the KOTLT, regardless of what punishment might be given down by a deranged aerys).

[i'm going to skip over her relationship with rhaegar, because there isn't enough/any text to analyze that explicitly deals with their dynamic post-harrenhal. speculation isn't the point of this post. suffice to say she saw in him something she did not in her family or robert.]

then aerys burns her father and brother.

could rhaegar have stopped aerys once he made up his mind? we as readers know the answer is no. grrm says so much himself, that it was aerys who kicked off the war in this interview:

The Mad King was mad. He was paranoid and violent and he was abusing his power... [Robert's Rebellion] was triggered by[...]the execution of Ned’s father and brother, it was the thing that radicalized, as we would have said in the 60s, Ned and it put him in opposition to it. Robert was just rolling for a fight and it might affect that he’d lost his girlfriend.

the absolute power of kings is continuously critiqued in the series.

so how did lyanna react? of course she grieved deeply. even if she knew that she would likely not see her family again for several years at least, for them to die in such a terrible manner is horrifying.

but lyanna has been forged into pragmatism. she looked at the squires beating up howland and saw that the issue was not the bullies, but the corrupt, lazy lords they squired for.

why would she not be able to see that aerys's abuse of power was what had killed her own family? she's realistic and she's a moral actor and she understands the social system around her. whatever her opinion on feudal lordship before, abuse of power has now killed two people she loved. only extrapolation can say how she would react, but given that we see her in similar situations - it is safe to say that the she understands the removal of aerys from power is a necessity, and that a king who is ruled by his urges is unfit.

[lyanna doesn't have the highest opinion of robert, does she? would she think him fit to be a king? doubtful.]

however, she also wants her family to be safe - a family which is now going to include her unborn baby.

[Ned] could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes. Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black

- Eddard I, AGOT

the promise she solicited from ned is to care for baby jon, presumably.

more importantly, in this final conversation, lyanna is putting all her trust in ned.

this moment is a tragic one, but it is also a cathartic one. whatever has happened, and there is plenty of difficulty between ned and lya at this point, they are putting that to the side and affirming what matters most: their love and loyalty to one another, not in service to house stark, or to any king or cause, but to each other as lyanna and ned.

ned didn't listen before, but he promises her now. lyanna didn't confide in him before, but she does now. yes she's on her deathbed, but this is powerful anyway. it's a healing moment for them both, one lyanna held on for even though by all means she could have trusted the kingsguard to whisk baby jon away earlier and succumbed to the pain.

lyanna doesn't spend her last moments begging for forgiveness or explaining herself. she spends her last moments trying to solve the problem of jon's safety, of her son's life. even at the end, she is determined that he will live.

she dies fearless. she smiles, maybe the same way she smiled in winterfell when ned told her robert would be a good husband and she saw the love in ned's words but not the respect. a bittersweet smile, because jon will survive but she won't see it.

"She should be on a hill somewhere, under a fruit tree, with the sun and clouds above her and the rain to wash her clean."

"I was with her when she died," Ned reminded the king. "She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father."

- Eddard I, AGOT

this is our actual introduction to lyanna, when robert and ned initially visit her in the crypts. given everything we know, it's so fitting - robert is displeased with her gravesite. he never got what he wanted (his manic pixie dream girl </3), and even in death he doesn't like her grave.

lyanna was never the person robert projected her to be. in her crypt, she's still defiant against him/what he symbolizes. her determination, her wishes, her home, they all shine through.

But there were others with faces he had never known in life, faces he had seen only in stone. The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna. Her brother Brandon stood beside her, and their father Lord Rickard just behind.

- Theon V, ACOK

in the end, lyanna's close to her family (even by their side in theon's dreams). she's close to brandon, rickard, ned, old nan, everyone she ever knew growing up, and most importantly: to jon. it's a romantic ending for a minor character, a character grrm clearly cherished when he wrote.

the point of this post is that i want to leave behind the idea of lyanna stark as this harbinger of tragedy. the woman who ruined every man who looked into her eyes (robert, ned, rhaegar) and is now turned to stone. lyanna stark isn't written as a cautionary tale, as a romanticized medusa - instead, her memory lives on in a son who doesn't know her but still loves her, in how the people she knew remember her for what she actually loved, and even in lyanna mormont (a fitting namesake). there's defiance and meaning in that.

i could never say it better, so have hélène cixous's banger to round out my thoughts on lyanna:

You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful and she’s laughing.

[the-king-andthe-lionheart]

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Arya Stark and her Cinderella Motifs

In A Song of Ice and Fire, GRRM often uses fairy tale motifs to help tell a character’s story.  Sometimes this motif spans all throughout the characters arc while other times it will only be used for one or two scenes, or anywhere in between.  And often one character can have several fairy tale motifs at different times in their arcs or even running concurrently.  For Arya, she has quite a few fairy tale motifs in her arc, but for now I’m going to focus on her Cinderella motifs that are mainly prevalent in A Clash of Kings but do show up at other times all throughout her arc as well. I’m going to focus primarily on Arya’s A Clash of Kings arc, but we will be stopping by A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows a few times too.  And I am going to use several versions of the retellings of Cinderella, including the Disney version, but only the 1950 original and none of its sequels.  I also want to note that not all the parallels are obvious due to things being more metaphorical or symbolic, while other times being whatever subversion that tickled GRRM’s fancy at the time.

There are many common aspects across the board when it comes to Cinderella retellings.  Often it entails the heroine losing one or both of her parents, being oppressed by her abusive stepmother and stepsisters and being forced into menial, backbreaking labor that leaves the heroine dirty and often covered in ashes.  It usually entails a magical guardian who helps the heroine, magical transformations, ballgowns and a ball where she falls in love with either a Prince or a King. An identifying item is also involved, usually a slipper made of gold or glass, where one of the pair is lost when the heroine is running from her beloved.  And the Prince/King almost always searches the realm for the woman that identifying item belongs to, and when he finds the heroine they usually marry.

Written out like that it’s hard to believe that this is a motif used for Arya.  After all she’s not in the position to be going to balls and she’s just a child so it seems unlikely at the time she’s at Harrenhal she’s going to fall in love.  However, this motif appears all throughout her arc in various and creative and subversive and repetitive ways, and motifs don’t have to be all or none and they don’t have to be in the order the original stories were laid out.  A lot of people also don’t like the idea that Arya has an actual Disney Princess motif in her story because she’s a “tomboy”, but the fact is that Arya is a Princess at the time she’s at Harrenhal, it’s even explicitly stated in Arya X ACOK, whether people acknowledge it or not, where a lot of these motifs take place.  I know some people will be dismissive of this and think I’m reaching, but I hope upon reading this I’ll have convinced you of this motif being present. :)

Step-Mother and Step-Sisters

Some of the two most common features in any variant of Cinderella is the “Persecuted Heroine” and the “Female Persecutor”.  Often this manifests as the wicked stepmother and the evil step-sisters, but in some versions a stepmother does not appear, and it’s the heroine’s older sisters who confine her to the kitchens instead.  In the opera, La Cenerentola, Gioachino Rossini inverted the gender roles where the heroine Cenerentola is oppressed by her stepfather.  And in some retellings at least one of the step siblings is somewhat kind to the heroine even.  We symbolically see these archetypes many times in Arya’s narrative with various types of inversions.

When we enter ACOK, we find a dirty and disguised Arya traveling with Yoren and the Night’s Watch recruits, having just lost her father (a subversion of the prevalent theme of Cinderella losing her mother very young).  She is also being bullied by two older boys, Lommy and Hot Pie:

At Winterfell they [Sansa and Jeyne] had called her “Arya Horseface” and she’d thought nothing could be worse, but that was before the orphan boy Lommy Greenhands had named her “Lumpyhead.” - Arya I ACOK

That wasn’t the hardest part at all; Lommy Greenhands and Hot Pie were the hardest part. - Arya I ACOK

“Look at that sword Lumpyhead’s got there,” Lommy said one morning […] “Where’s a gutter rat like Lumpyhead get him a sword?”

[. . .]

“Maybe he’s a little squire,” Hot Pie put in. […] “Some lordy lord’s little squire boy, that’s it.”

“He ain’t no squire, look at him.  I bet that’s not even a real sword.  I bet it’s just some play sword made of tin.”

Arya hated them making fun of Needle.  “It’s castle-forged steel, you stupid,” she snapped, turning in the saddle to glare at them, “and you better shut your mouth.”

The orphan boys hooted.  “Where’d you get a blade like that, Lumpyface?” Hot Pie wanted to know.

“Lumpyhead,” corrected Lommy.  He prob’ly stole it.”

“I did not!” she shouted.  Jon Snow had given her Needle.  Maybe she had to let them call her Lumpyhead, but she wasn’t going to let them call Jon a thief.

“If he stole it, we could take it off him,” said Hot Pie.  “It’s not his anyhow.  I could use me a sword like that.”

Lommy egged him on.  “Go on, take it off him, I dare you.”

Hot Pie kicked his donkey, riding closer.  “Hey, Lumpyface, you gimme that sword.” […] “You don’t know how to use it.”

[. . .]

“Look at him,” brayed Lommy Greenhands.  “I bet he’s going to cry now.  You want to cry, Lumpyhead?” – Arya I ACOK

In the first two quotes we have Arya likening the behavior of Hot Pie and Lommy to that of Jeyne Poole and Sansa. In AGOT, Sansa and Jeyne took on the “evil step-sister” archetype (and before anybody attacks me, I don’t think these two are actually “evil”, just children who think it’s okay to bully someone who is different from them), but now we are shown that this archetype has temporarily shifted onto Lommy and Hot Pie, with some subversions.  These two are now male and they aren’t related to Arya in any way.  Some variants of the Cinderella story do portray male siblings mistreating the younger “Cinderella” sibling though.  One of the stories in One Thousand and One Nights depict a story called “Judar and his Brethren”, in which the main character is poisoned by his biological brothers in the end, depicting a rare tragic ending for this retelling. However, these subversions are completely fine because either way, they took on the role of the “bully” to Arya’s Cinderella archetype currently in the narrative.  

Furthermore, while Septa Mordane was the obvious “wicked stepmother” archetype to Arya’s Cinderella archetype in AGOT, I think arguably this has fallen to Cersei now (and the Lannister’s as a whole).  Cersei may not be present, but she is the reason why Arya is in the situation she is in right now.  After all, Cersei takes on the role of “Evil Queen” for Sansa and Jon (they both share Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs motifs) so I do think she is the metaphorical “wicked stepmother” in this equation regardless of the fact that Cersei isn’t anything remotely close to a stepmother to Arya in the narrative, but she fits the general archetype of “female persecutor” the most in the current situation.  For the case about Septa Mordane being a “wicked stepmother” archetype, I want to point to Cenerentola by Basile, in which the “wicked stepmother” started out as being the heroine’s governess, and Septa’s are the closest substitute to a governess in the universe of ASOIAF.

This isn’t the end to these archetypes being in play.  As the early chapters of ACOK go on we see the animosity between Lommy, Hot Pie, and Arya disappear to the point where they become allies and then friends. With this shift in dynamic we see the archetypes disappearing with some of these same characters taking on entirely new Cinderella archetypes, while the “wicked stepmother” and “evil step-sibling” archetypes move onto other characters as well.

At Harrenhal we are introduced to two wicked women who next take on the “evil step-sibling” archetype, Goodwife Harra and Goodwife Amabel.  These two even comment on Arya’s feet:

When Arya's turn came round, Goodwife Amabel clucked in dismay at the sight of her feet, while Goodwife Harra felt the callus on her fingers that long hours of practice with Needle had earned her. "Got those churning butter, I'll wager," she said. "Some farmer's whelp, are you? Well, never you mind, girl, you have a chance to win a higher place in this world if you work hard. If you won't work hard, you'll be beaten. And what do they call you?"

Arya dared not say her true name, but Arry was no good either, it was a boy’s name and they could see she was no boy.  “Weasel,” she said, naming the first girl she could think of.  “Lommy called me Weasel.”

“I can see why,” sniffed Goodwife Amabel.  “That hair is a fright and a nest for lice as well. We’ll have it off, and then you’re for the kitchens.”

“I’d sooner tend the horses.”  Arya liked horses, and maybe if she was in the stables she’d be able to steal one and escape.

Goodwife Harra slapped her so hard that her swollen lip broke open all over again.  “And keep that tongue to yourself or you’ll get worse.  No one asked your views.”

The blood in her mouth had a salty metal tang to it. Arya dropped her gaze and said nothing. If I still had Needle, she wouldn’t dare hit me, she thought sullenly.

“Lord Tywin and his knights have grooms and squires to tend their horses, they don’t need the likes of you,” Goodwife Amabel said. “The kitchens are snug and clean, and there’s always a warm fire to sleep by and plenty to eat.  You might have done well there, but I can see you’re not a clever girl.  Harra, I believe we should give this one to Weese.”

“If you think so, Amabel.”  They gave her a shift of grey roughspun wool and a pair of ill-fitting shoes and sent her off. – Arya VI ACOK

Later Goodwife Amabel even threatens to rape Arya:

Three Frey men-at-arms were using them that morning as Arya went to the well. She tried not to look, but she could hear the men laughing. The pail was very heavy once full. She was turning to bring it back to Kingspyre when Goodwife Amabel seized her arm. The water went sloshing over the side onto Amabel's legs. "You did that on purpose," the woman screeched.

"What do you want?" Arya squirmed in her grasp. Amabel had been half-crazed since they'd cut Harra's head off.

"See there?" Amabel pointed across the yard at Pia. "When this northman falls you'll be where she is."

"Let me go." She tried to wrench free, but Amabel only tightened her fingers.

"He will fall too, Harrenhal pulls them all down in the end. Lord Tywin's won now, he'll be marching back with all his power, and then it will be his turn to punish the disloyal. And don't think he won't know what you did!" The old woman laughed. "I may have a turn at you myself. Harra had an old broom, I'll save it for you. The handle's cracked and splintery—" - Arya X ACOK

Menial, Backbreaking Labor

When Arya is enslaved and forced into the oppressive walls of Harrenhal, she is forced to scrub floors and do other menial, backbreaking work from sunrise to sunset, just like Cinderella:

Weese used Arya to run messages, draw water, and fetch food, and sometimes to serve at table in the Barracks Hall above the armory, where the men-at-arms took their meals. But most of her work was cleaning. The ground floor of the Wailing Tower was given over to storerooms and granaries, and two floors above housed part of the garrison, but the upper stories had not been occupied for eighty years. Now Lord Tywin had commanded that they be made fit for habitation again. There were floors to be scrubbed, grime to be washed off windows, broken chairs and rotted beds to be carried off. The topmost story was infested with nests of the huge black bats that House Whent had used for its sigil, and there were rats in the cellars as well . . . and ghosts, some said, the spirits of Harren the Black and his sons. – Arya VII ACOK

She spent the rest of that day scrubbing steps inside the Wailing Tower. By evenfall her hands were raw and bleeding and her arms so sore they trembled when she lugged the pail back to the cellar. Too tired even for food, Arya begged Weese's pardons and crawled into her straw to sleep. – Arya VII ACOK

Magical Transformations and Mice

In Disney’s Cinderella, the fairy godmother transforms mice into different creatures.  On the road to Harrenhal, Arya not only likens herself to a sheep, but a mouse and continues her time at Harrenhal referring to herself as a “mouse”.  This is also a subversion, while Cinderella in the Disney incarnation befriends mice, in our story Arya becomes the meek mouse:

On the road Arya had felt like a sheep, but Harrenhal turned her into a mouse.  She was grey as a mouse in her scratchy wool shift, and like a mouse she kept to the crannies and crevices and dark holes of the castle, scurrying out of the way of the mighty. – Arya VII ACOK

He does not know me, she thought.  Arry was a fierce little boy with a sword, and I’m just a grey mouse girl with a pail. – Arya VII ACOK

She was very small and Harrenhal was very large, full of places where a mouse could hide. – Arya VII ACOK

Even Jaqen calls Arya a mouse:

She crept up quiet as a shadow, but he opened his eyes all the same.  “She steals in on little mice feet, but a man hears,” he said.  How could he hear me? She wondered, and it seemed as if he heard that as well.  “The scuff of leather on stone sings loud as warhorns to a man with open ears.  Clever girls go barefoot.” – Arya VIII ACOK

However, through Jaqen, Arya begins to feel more in control of her situation, stronger and is transformed, if only for a short time.

“…Some are saying it was Harren’s ghost flung him down.” He snorted to show what he thought of such notions.

It wasn’t Harren, Arya wanted to say, it was me. She has killed Chiswyck with a whisper, and she would kill two more before she was through.  I’m the ghost in Harrenhal, she thought.  And that night, there was one less name to hate. – Arya VII ACOK

I was a sheep, and then I was a mouse, I couldn’t do anything but hide.  Arya chewed her lip and tried to think when her courage had come back.  Jaqen made me brave again.  He made me a ghost instead of a mouse. – Arya IX ACOK

Lucifer the Cat

In Disney’s Cinderella, Lucifer is Lady Tremaine’s cat who is described as being a sly, wicked, and manipulative mouse consumer.  He spends the whole film trying to torment and catch the mice.  I feel that Weese takes on aspects of this feline character, and I think this because of certain descriptors that are given to Weese to make him appear almost catlike:

“Weasel,” Weese purred, “next time I see that mouth droop open, I’ll pull out your tongue and feed it to my bitch.” – Arya VII ACOK

In his own small strutting way, Weese was nearly as scary as Ser Gregor.  The Mountain swatted men like flies, but most of the time he did not even seem to know the fly was there.  Weese always knew you were there, and what you were doing, and sometimes what you were thinking.  He would hit at the slightest provocation, and he had a dog who was near as bad as he was, an ugly spotted bitch that smelled worse than any dog Arya had ever known. Once she saw him set the dog on a latrine boy who’d annoyed him.  She tore a big chunk out of the boy’s calf while Weese laughed. – Arya VII ACOK

So here we have Weese purring, strutting, being compared to the Mountain who swats at peoples, and being watchful and observant, very much like a cat.  And like in the movie, a dog attacks him.  Now Weese didn’t fall from a tower window, but Chiswyck fell/was pushed. Considering these two are the two people Arya had Jaqen kill, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are meant to make up two halves of a whole in this regard.  After all, they are both wicked creatures who prey upon the weak, just like Lucifer and they both got their just desserts for it.

Jaq the Mouse

In Disney’s Cinderella, Cinderella rescues mice from traps, as well as from Lucifer, and dresses and feeds them.  They perform favors in return.  At the beginning of the film, a mouse named Gus is trapped in a cage, and the leader of the mice finds him and retrieves Cinderella to free him.  The leader of the mice is a mouse named Jaq, and he was also a mouse that was saved by Cinderella from a cage.  This sounds awfully familiar…

Rushing through the barn doors was like running into a furnace.  The air was swirling with smoke, the back wall a sheet of fire ground to roof. Their horses and donkeys were kicking and rearing and screaming.  The poor animals, Arya thought.  Then she saw the wagon, and the three men manacled to its bed.  Biter was flinging himself against the chains, blood running down his arms from where the iron clasped his wrists.  Rorge screamed curses, kicking at the wood.  “Boy!” called Jaqen H’ghar.  “Sweet boy!”

[. . .]

“Good boys, kind boys,” called Jaqen H’ghar, coughing.

“Get these fucking chains off!” Rorge screamed.

[. . .]

Going back into that barn was the hardest thing she ever did.  Smoke was pouring out the open door like a writhing black snake, and she could hear the screams of the poor animals inside, donkeys and horses and men.  She chewed her lip, and darted through the doors, crouched low where the smoke wasn’t quite so thick.

A donkey was caught in a ring of fire, shrieking in terror and pain.  She could smell the stench of burning hair.  The roof was gone up too, and things were falling down, pieces of flaming wood and bits of straw and hay.  Arya put a hand over her mouth and nose.  She couldn’t see the wagon for the smoke, but she could still hear Biter screaming.  She crawled toward the sound.

And then a wheel was looming over her.  The wagon jumped and moved a half foot when Biter threw himself against his chains again.  Jaqen saw her, but it was too hard to breathe, let alone talk.  She threw the axe into the wagon.  Rorge caught it and lifted it over his head, rivers of sooty sweat pouring down his noseless face.  Arya was running, coughing.  She heard the steel crash through the old wood, and again, again. An instant later came a crack as loud as thunder, and the bottom of the wagon came ripping loose in an explosion of splinters. – Arya IV ACOK

So here we have Jaq who is leader of the mice, who also helps Cinderella by doing her favors.  Then we have Jaqen H’ghar who is the leader of Rorge and Biter (this name seems even more fitting now) and who is performing favors for Arya, which leads me to Jaqen’s dual Cinderella archetype: Fairy Godmother.

Magical Helpers

Some versions of Magical Helpers come from fairy godmothers or talking animals or genies.  In other versions this help comes to the heroine through her dead mother, often manifesting through animal aid.  In One Thousand and One Nights, in the story of “Judar and his Brethren” Judar is our Cinderella figure, whose own brothers betray and poison him, but before that he was gifted a genie named Al-Ra’ad al-Kasif who granted Judar’s wishes.  In the passage below Jaqen grants Arya three “wishes” which is typical for genies to grant in our popular consciousness:

She remembered that she hated him.  “You scared me.  You’re one of them now, I should have let you burn.  What are you doing here?  Go away or I’ll yell for Weese.”

“A man pays his debts.  A man owes three.”

“Three?”

“The Red God has his due, sweet girl, and only death may pay for life.  This girl took three that were his.  This girl must give three in their places.  Speak the names, and a man will do the rest.”

He wants to help me, Arya realized with a rush of hope that made her dizzy.  “Take me to Riverrun, it’s not far, if we stole some horses we could—”

He laid a finger on her lips.  “Three lives you shall have of me.  No more, no less.  Three and we are done.  So a girl must ponder.”  He kissed her hair softly.  “But not too long.” – Arya VII ACOK

Later, we also see that “wishes” have consequences, which is also prevalent when genies are concerned.  GRRM himself is a big fan of consequences and unintended side effects.  

Jaqen is not Arya’s only form of Magical Help at Harrenhal however.  Jaqen may take on the role of Fairy Godmother/Genie, but we also see Arya experiencing the help of not only an animal aid, but from a dead parent.  For instance, the heroine in Aschenputtel, by the Brother’s Grimm, is given a hazel twig by her father that she plants over her mother’s grave.  She waters it with tears and over the years it grows into a glowing hazel tree.  The girl prays under it three times a day, chanting, and a bird emerges from it that grants her wishes.  There are two instances of something similar happening in the books:

In the godswood she found her broomstick sword where she had left it, and carried it to the heart tree.  There she knelt.  Red leaves rustled.  Red eyes peered inside her.  The eyes of the gods.  “Tell me what to do, you gods,” she prayed.

For a long moment there was no sound but the wind and the water and the creak of leaf and limb.  And then, far far off, beyond the godswood and the haunted towers and the immense stone walls of Harrenhal, from somewhere out in the world, came the long lonely howl of a wolf.  Gooseprickles rose on Arya’s skin, and for an instant she felt dizzy.  Then, so faintly, it seemed as if she heard her father’s voice.  “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives,” he said.

“But there is no pack,” she whispered to the weirwood.  Bran and Rickon were dead, the Lannisters had Sansa, Jon had gone to the Wall.  “I’m not even me now, I’m Nan.”

“You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the north. You told me you could be strong.  You have the wolf blood in you.”

“The wolf blood.”  Arya remembered now.  “I’ll be as strong as Robb.  I said I would.”  She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee.  It broke with a loud crack, and she threw the pieces aside.  I am a direwolf, and done with wooden teeth. – Arya X ACOK

Here we see an inversion. Arya’s mother isn’t dead at this time, but her father, Ned is.  He is who we hear through the heart tree giving Arya this empowering “Mufasa” moment that gives way to Arya’s true transformation in this arc, she reclaims her identity.  And as soon as Arya asks the old gods for aid, a wolf howls in the distance as if in answer.  It’s not confirmed but I do truly believe that this howl came from Nymeria, by way of the Old Gods/Greenseers, who somehow helped strengthen their bond.  It is after this moment that Arya starts having full on wolf dreams in earnest and it’s through her first wolf dream that we see that Nymeria may have become Arya’s animal aid:

Her dreams were red and savage.  The Mummers were in them, four at least, a pale Lyseni and a dark brutal axeman from Ib, the scarred Dothraki horse lord called Iggo and a Dornishman whose name she never knew.  On and on they came, riding through the rain in rusting mail and wet leather, swords and axe clanking against their saddles.  They thought they were hunting her, she knew with all the strange sharp certainty of dreams, but they were wrong.  She was hunting them.

She was no little girl in the dream; she was a wolf, huge and powerful, and when she emerged from beneath the trees in front of them and bared her teeth in a low rumbling growl, she could small the rank stench of fear from horse and man alike.  The Lyseni’s mount reared and screamed in terror, and the others shouted at one another in mantalk, but before they could act the other wolves came hurtling from the darkness and the rain, a great pack of them, gaunt and wet and silent.

The fight was short but bloody.  The hairy man went down as he unslung his axe, the dark one died stringing an arrow, and the pale man from Lys tried to bolt.  Her brothers and sisters ran him down, turning him again and again, coming at him from all sides, snapping at the legs of his horse and tearing the throat from the rider when he came crashing to the earth. – Arya I ASOS

We see here that Nymeria and her pack protected Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie against their pursuers after their escape from Harrenhal.

Here is another instance of Arya praying under the heart tree:

Arya went to her knees.  She wasn’t sure how she should begin.  She clasped her hands together.  Help me, you old gods, she prayed silently.  Help me get those men out of the dungeon so we can kill Ser Amory, and bring me home to Winterfell.  Make me a water dancer and a wolf and not afraid again, ever.

Was that enough?  Maybe she should pray aloud if she wanted the old gods to hear.  Maybe she should pray longer.  Sometimes her father had prayed a long time, she remembered. But the old gods had never helped him. Remembering that made her angry. “You should have saved him,” she scolded the tree.  “He prayed to you all the time.  I don’t care if you help me or not.  I don’t think you could even if you wanted to.”

“Gods are not mocked, girl.”

The voice startled her.  She leapt to her feet and drew her wooden sword.  Jaqen H’ghar stood so still in the darkness that he seemed one of the trees.  “A man comes to hear a name.  One and two and then comes three.  A man would have done.”

Arya lowered the splintery point toward the ground. “How did you know I was here?”

“A man sees.  A mean hears.  A man knows.”

She regarded him suspiciously.  Had the gods sent him?  “How’d you make the dog kill Weese?  Did you call Rorge and Biter up from hell?  Is Jaqen H’ghar your true name?

“Some men have many names.  Weasel.  Arry. Arya.”

She backed away from him, until she was pressed against the heart tree.  “Did Gendry tell?”

“A man knows,” he said again.  “My lady of Stark.”

Maybe the gods had sent him in answer to her prayers. – Arya IX ACOK

In Cenerentola, the heroine’s (Zezolla) father is given a date seedling by a fairy and he gives it to his daughter.  Zezolla cultivates the tree in which a fairy lives.  This fairy gives Zezolla magical aid.  When Arya prayed beneath the heart tree in the above quote it almost seems like Jaqen appeared from the trees, leaving Arya to question if the old gods sent him.

And like in Aschenputtel and Disney’s Cinderella, Arya spends time at Harrenhal singing/chanting to herself as well:

Barefoot surefoot lightfoot, she sang under her breath. I am the ghost in Harrenhal. – Arya IX ACOK

This is very strange for a couple of reasons.  When we first meet Arya she claims not to like songs and doesn’t sing.  She continues this up until she goes to Braavos. There she discovers that she likes the bawdy songs when she is using the name, Cat of the Canals.  The only exception to this is when Arya is at Harrenhal. Another reason this is odd is because of where Arya is at physically and mentally.  So either Arya was always lying about not liking songs, or Arya singing here is supposed to tell us something.

And while this might not mean anything, I found it interesting that Arya spends a lot of her time in ACOK barefoot.  Now Cinderella isn’t really said to be barefoot in the stories, but she did usually lose a shoe when running away from the Prince/King, hence making her barefoot. When Arya decides to escape Harrenhal, she does don a pair of shoes again and from then on out she mostly wears them.  This also leads to a fun bit of subversion.  In the originals tales it’s always the Prince/King saving Cinderella from further oppression.  But in Arya X ACOK, not only did she (a princess) plan the escape, but she saves Gendry, a lost (albeit bastard) prince, along with Hot Pie, from further oppression (and torture and death) by their slavers in their prison camp.  (Hot Pie definitely reminds me of Gus Gus as well by the way :D)

From Rags to Riches

In many versions of Cinderella, we also see the heroine become physically transformed.  The heroine is usually dirty, covered in ashes, and wearing “rags” before they are made over.  In the most popular version, Disney’s Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother magically turns her from dirty household servant to highborn lady, adorning her in a silver ballgown and glass slippers.  In Ye Xian, magical fish bones, help the heroine dress appropriately for a local Festival, including a light, golden shoe.  And in Aschenputtel, the doves that emerge from her hazel tree, that grant the heroine wishes, drop a gold and silver gown and silk shoes down to her to wear to the ball.  Also, noticeably, this is the time the Prince/King notices Cinderella and finally “sees” her.

While we didn’t get anything like that in ACOK, we don’t have to look much farther than ASOS, when Arya goes to Acorn Hall and meets Lady Smallwood, who puts her in two different dresses:

And afterward, they insisted she dress herself in girl’s things, brown woolen stockings and a light linen shift, and over that a light green gown with acorns embroidered all over the bodice in brown thread, and more acorns bordering the hem. – Arya IV ASOS

It was even worse than before; Lady Smallwood insisted that Arya take another bath, and cut and comb her hair besides; the dress she put her in this time was sort of lilac-colored, and decorated with little baby pearls.  The only good thing about it was that it was so delicate that no one could expect her to ride in it. – Arya IV ASOS

And while there is no ball, Arya and Gendry spend their time in the forge together.  This is the very first time Gendry has seen Arya look like a proper lady.  Cinderella and Arya are no longer dirty and in rags and they are now in gowns looking their place in society, despite Arya’s dress not being nearly as grand.  However, it’s enough of a change for Gendry to finally realize just who Arya truly is when it comes to her place in the world.  And judging by his behavior after this event, he also begins to acknowledge that if he continues to stay by her side he could potentially love her romantically in the future as well:  

Gendry reached out with the tongs as if to pinch her face, but Arya swatted them away.

[. . .]

Gendry put the hammer down and looked at her.  “You look different now.  Like a proper little girl.”

“I look like an oak tree, with all these stupid acorns.”

“Nice, though.  A nice oak tree.”  He stepped closer, and sniffed at her.  “You even smell nice for a change.” – Arya IV ASOS

Runaway Princess

Now we may not have had a ball, but while taking shelter in a stone stable with the Brotherhood Without Banners, Arya does run outside, trying to get away from everyone:

His words beat at her ears like the pounding of a drum, and suddenly it was more than Arya could stand.  She wanted Riverrun, not Acorn Hall; she wanted her mother and her brother Robb, not Lady Smallwood or some uncle she never knew.  Whirling, she broke for the door, and when Harwin tried to grab her arm she spun away from him quick as a snake.

Outside the stables the rain was still falling, and distant lightning flashed in the west.  Arya ran as fast as she could.  She did not know where she was going, only that she wanted to be alone, away from all the voices, away from their hollow words and broken promises.  All I wanted was to go to Riverrun.  It was her own fault, for taking Gendry and Hot Pie with her when she left Harrenhal.  She would have been better alone.  If she had been alone, the outlaws would never have caught her, and she’d be with Robb and her mother by now.  They were never my pack.  If they had been, they wouldn’t leave me.  She splashed through a puddle of muddy water.  Someone was shouting her name, Harwin probably, or Gendry, but the thunder drowned them out as it rolled across the hills half a heartbeat behind the lightning.  The lightning lord, she thought angrily.  Maybe he couldn’t die, but he could lie. – Arya VIII ASOS

Now it’s not explicitly clear that it was Gendry who ran after Arya, calling her name, but due to the possible symbolism in the scene, and also his behavior in AFFC, it makes me think it was him.  But whether he was or not I believe just Arya believing it might be him makes this applicable enough as a loose parallel for the Prince chasing after Cinderella, only for Cinderella to disappear like in many of the Cinderella retellings.  

Searching the Realm

At the end of ASOS in the epilogue we learn that Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood Without Banners, who Gendry is a part of is actively searching for Arya:

The outlaw gave him (Merrett Frey) an encouraging smile. “Well, as it happens, we’re looking for a dog that ran away.”

“A dog?” Merrett was lost.  “What kind of dog?”

“He answers to the name Sandor Clegane […] Did you see him at the wedding, perchance?”

[. . .]

“He would have had a child with him,” said the singer.  “A skinny girl, about ten.  Or perhaps a boy the same age.”

“I don’t think so,” said Merrett.  “Not that I knew.” – Epilogue ASOS

In many retellings of the Cinderella story, the Prince/King searches the realm looking for the heroine with an identifying item, and typically that item is a shoe of some sort.  Once the shoe is placed on the heroine’s foot it symbolically means the heroine is reclaiming her identity.  Arya, however, didn’t lose a shoe, and I’d argue that when Ned/the Old Gods/the Greenseers spoke to Arya through the heart tree, empowering Arya, that’s when Arya reclaimed her identity, at least for that time as Arya must reclaim her identity multiple times in her arc.  I’d argue that Arya’s connection to the North and her family is her overall identifying item. But I fully believe Gendry himself might be another “identifying item,” along with him still taking on the archetypal role of “prince”.

Why do I say this? Because in AFFC Gendry is stationed at one of the last known places Arya was sighted at with the Hound, the Crossroads Inn, where he is blacksmithing while also helping to look after orphans. He was likely stationed there by Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood Without Banners because he knew Arya the best out of everyone (remember LSH would probably have a hard time recognizing Arya after two plus years and a resurrection).  So if she returned, he would not only have a better chance at recognizing her, but also possibly a better chance at keeping her there compared to anyone else.  If people are doubting that this is Gendry’s role, just remember that the BWB is actively looking for Arya, and also note Gendry’s personality shift post-ASOS. Gendry has always been rude and moody, but in AFFC it has been taken to the extreme.  He is absolutely furious and instead of being just plain rude, he’s actually become mean and more violent.  He also seems to have something against the Hound now, someone who he previously had nothing against during the Hound’s trial by combat earlier in ASOS:

…The boy came and stood beside her, his hammer in his hand.

Lightning cracked to the south as the riders swung down off their horses.  For half a heartbeat darkness turned to day.  An axe gleamed silvery blue, light shimmered off mail and plate, and beneath the dark hood of the lead rider Brienne glimpsed an iron snout and rows of steel teeth, snarling.

Gendry saw it too.  “Him.”

“Not him.  His helm.” Brienne tried to keep the fear from her voice, but her mouth was dry as dust. – Brienne VII AFFC

That “him” was very pointed and because of the symbolism in the scene surrounding that “him” and the overall change in Gendry’s behavior I definitely take it to mean Gendry does have a problem with the Hound now.  So what changed?  The Hound kidnapped Arya.  I think it’s safe to say that Gendry is just as invested as the rest of the BWB, if not more so, to finding Arya again, hence making him the “prince” searching the realm for his lost Cinderella.

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

In Disney’s Cinderella, songs like “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, “So This Is Love”, “Cinderella”, “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, “Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale”, and “The Work Song” are included into the film.  This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this in the previous retellings however.  Like I mentioned earlier the Brother’s Grimm, Aschenputtel, features this as well to some extant.  In Aschenputtel, the heroine would “sing a chant” to call upon the white doves that came from her glowing hazel tree.  These birds would help her grant wishes and help her complete tasks, and it was most likely the inspiration for why birds were included in the Disney version, although birds have featured in more than just Aschenputtel.  I mention this because GRRM wrote Arya a song in the novels:

“My featherbed is deep and soft,

and there I'll lay you down,

I'll dress you all in yellow silk,

and on your head a crown.

For you shall be my lady love,

and I shall be your lord.

I'll always keep you warm and safe,

and guard you with my sword.

 “And how she smiled and how she laughed,

the maiden of the tree.

She spun away and said to him,

no featherbed for me.

I'll wear a gown of golden leaves,

and bind my hair with grass,

But you can be my forest love,

and me your forest lass.”

This is very clearly a love song also and we know it’s most likely about Arya and her foreshadowing a possible future relationship with Gendry.  And it’s very clearly about them as Gendry is a bastard Baratheon “prince”, hence the mentions of “yellow silk” and a “crown”, and also because Arya quite literally is dressed as an oak tree at this time and almost a maiden and will be a maiden when they reunite later in the series.  We also know the song is meant to foreshadow them because of the context.  Tom O’Seven’s specifically winked at Arya as he sang this song, and after the song was sung Lady Smallwood, when taking Arya to get changed into a different dress, said to Arya, “I have no gowns of leaves,” which further tells the readers that this song is Arya’s song, her future love song.

A Mother’s Legacy

In the Magical Helpers section above I mentioned that a dead parent may be the one to help the heroine instead of the typical fairy godmother, by either sending an animal to aid the heroine and/or granting wishes, or by the heroine’s mother transforming into an animal.  In some Greek versions, in “the Balkan-Slavonic tradition of the tale”, and in some Central Asian variants, the heroine’s mother comes back as a cow who is then killed by the heroine’s sisters.  The heroine eventually gathers the bones and from her mother’s grave the heroine is gifted wonderful dresses.  In other variants, the heroine’s dead mother comes back as a fish or a female dog. These animals represent the heroine’s mother’s legacy.

Jon chuckled. “Perhaps you should do the same thing, little sister.  Wed Tully to Stark in your arms.”

“A wolf with a fish in its mouth?” It made her laugh.  “That would look silly…” – Arya I AGOT

That night she went to sleep thinking of her mother, and wondering if she should kill the Hound in his sleep and rescue Lady Catelyn herself.  When she closed her eyes she saw her mother’s face against the back of her eyelids.  She’s so close I could almost smell her…

…and then she could smell her.  The scent was faint beneath the other smells, beneath moss and mud and water, and the stench of rotting reeds and rotting men.  She padded slowly through the soft ground to the river’s edge, lapped up a drink, then lifted her head to sniff.  The sky was grey and thick with cloud, the river green and full of floating things.  Dead men clogged the shallows, some still moving as the water pushed them, others washed up on the banks.  Her brothers and sisters swarmed around them, tearing at the rich ripe flesh.

[. . .]

The scent was stronger now [. . .] Only the scent mattered.  She sniffed the air again.  There it was, and now she saw it too, something pale and white drifting down the river, turning where it brushed against a snag.  The reeds bowed down before it.

She splashed noisily through the shallows and threw herself into the deeper water, her legs churning.  The current was strong but she was stronger.  She swam, following her nose.  The river smells were rich and wet, but those were not the smells that pulled her.  She paddled after the sharp red whisper of cold blood, the sweet cloying stench of death.  She chased them as she had often chased a red deer through the trees, and in the end she ran them down, and her jaw closed around a pale white arm.  She shook it to make it move, but there was only death and blood in her mouth.  By now she was tiring, and it was all she could do to pull the body back to shore. As she dragged it up the muddy bank, one of her little brothers came prowling, his tongue lolling from his mouth. She had to snarl to drive him off, or else he would have fed.  Only then did she stop to shake the water from her fur.  The white thing lay facedown in the mud, her dead flesh wrinkled and pale, cold blood trickling from her throat.  Rise, she thought.  Rise and eat and run with us. – Arya XII ASOS

“So you sewed his head on Robb Stark’s neck after both o’ them were dead,” said yellow cloak.

“My [Merrett Frey] father did that [. . .] I only drank some wine…you have no witness.”

“As it happens, you’re wrong there.”  The singer turned to the hooded woman.  “Milady?”

The outlaws parted as she came forward, saying no word.  When she lowered her hood, something tightened inside Merrett’s chest, and for a moment he could not breathe.  No.  No, I saw her die.  She was dead for a day and night before they stripped her naked and threw her body in the river.  Raymund opened her throat from ear to ear.  She was dead.

Her cloak and collar hid the gash his brother’s blade had made, but her face was even worse than he remembered.  The flesh had gone pudding soft in the water and turned the color of curdled milk. Half her hair was gone and the rest had turned as white and brittle as a crone’s.  Beneath her ravaged scalp, her face was shredded skin and black blood where she had raked herself with her nails.  But her eyes were the most terrible thing.  Her eyes saw him, and they hated.

“She don’t speak,” said the big man in the yellow cloak.  “You bloody bastards cut her throat too deep for that.  But she remembers.”  He turned to the dead woman and said, “What do you say, m’lady?  Was he part of it?”

Lady Catelyn’s eyes never left him.  She nodded. – Epilogue ASOS

In the Chinese retelling of Cinderella, Ye Xian, the heroine befriends a fish, which is the reincarnation of her deceased mother.  In The Story of Tam and Cam, a Vietnamese version, the heroine Tam also had a fish which was killed by the stepmother and the half-sister, and its bones also give her clothes.  And a typical scene in Kapmalaien tales is the mother becoming a fish, being eaten in fish form, the daughter burying her bones and a tree sprouting from her grave.

So not only is Lady Catelyn a symbolic fish, a daughter of House Tully, but she’s also been resurrected (reincarnated), and is looking specifically for our heroine, Arya, who I believe will be gifted several various things (both good and bad) by this incarnation of her mother, but we shall see if the parallel continues when TWOW and ADOS come out.

Conclusion

I really hope that after you read this monster you were as convinced as I am that Arya indeed has Cinderella motifs, and an extensive amount of them as well. Whatever it may mean I don’t rightly know, but what I do know is that at the end of the day, the many stories of Cinderella are an analogy.  An analogy about someone “who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect”.  Of someone whose attributes were unrecognized in their society, only for them to be recognized.  And I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty hand in hand with one of her other biggest fairy tale motifs as well that runs concurrently with the Cinderella motif, and that is the story of “The Ugly Duckling”, who after years of neglect, finds acceptance within society, as well as self-acceptance within themselves. :)