#the quiet isle

[bidonicart]

Ser Hyle gave the big horse an admiring look as he was handing his reins to Brother Gillam. "A handsome beast." Brother Narbert sighed. "The Seven send us blessings, and the Seven send us trials. Handsome he may be, but Driftwood was surely whelped in hell. When we sought to harness him to a plow he kicked Brother Rawney and broke his shinbone in two places. We had hoped gelding might improve the beast's ill temper, but... Brother Gillam, will you show them?" Brother Gillam lowered his cowl. Underneath he had a mop of blond hair, a tonsured scalp, and a bloodstained bandage where he should have had an ear. A Feast For Crows, Brienne VI

Happy late halloween @haughtyflaki! Here is novice!Sandor, apparently the only one who can get "Driftwood" to behave.

where else to find me

[greenmtwoman]

Brienne. Wench, lady, knight, beauty?  Certainly not the last, except in his dreams.  I dreamed of you… Strong as an ox, yet gentle. Gentler than Cersei. And warm. In this light she could almost be a beauty. In this light she could almost be a knight...

Where was Elder Brother today, with his talk of love?  Jaime found himself returning to the man and the subject, as if poking at a sore tooth.  

[chikchirkun]

I absolutely love the theory about Brienne, Jaime and co. heading to the Quiet Isle after the encounter with Lady Stoneheart to heal Brienne’s wounds.

However, I have this one little headcanon about Jaime being “baptised” there, healing psychologically and spiritually while Brienne is healing physically, confessing all his sins and regrets and washing them away, finishing his redemption arc and beginning a new life with full commitment to his vows. It feels very poetic to me to end his cynical Kingslayer persona with a religious reference.

Besides, that’s what the Quiet Isle is there for, almost like GRRM created it specifically for Jaime’s character development? (suspicious side-eye)

[xxlittle0birdxx]

Chapters: 17/? Fandom: Game of Thrones (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Podrick Payne/Sansa Stark, Tyrion Lannister & Sansa Stark Characters: Jaime Lannister, Brienne of Tarth, Tyrion Lannister, Sansa Stark, Podrick Payne, Tywin Lannister, Cersei Lannister, Olenna Tyrell, Selwyn Tarth, Jon Snow, Tormund Giantsbane Additional Tags: Forced Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s04e02 The Lion and the Rose, Canon Divergence - The Purple Wedding, Jaime saving Tyrion, Eventual Pod/Sansa, The Quiet Isle, the wall - Freeform, Tarth, evenfall hall

Sansa brought her horse to a sudden stop, staring at a small figure crouched over a larger one.  She leaned forward, eyes narrowed, squinting. Sansa urged her horse forward a bit more.  ‘Arya?’ she murmured. The figure straightened up, twsiting to survey them. Sansa nudged her horse into a walk. It can’t be… No one’s heard a whisper of anything about Arya for three years. The person’s face swam into focus. She was taller, with the hint of womanly curves where she had once been all angles and planes. Her hair was shorter. But Sansa would never forget the face. Not until the day she died. She’d loved it. Sneered at it. Dearly wanted nothing more than to slap the cheeky grin from it when they were little. But it was a face she knew as well as her own. ‘Arya?’ Sansa shrieked, booting her horse into a gallop.  

[mother-rhoyne]

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: Queer science fiction, part 2

There is a lot of queer sf out there, and I read a lot of sf. When I started working on this list, I quickly realized it was impossible to include all that I’ve read and enjoyed in one single rec post. Thus, this is my second queer sci-fi book rec post. For queer sci-fi part 1, click here!

A note: queer here does not necessarily mean “guarantee of an f/f or m/m ship with a happy ending”, but rather simply a significant presence of queerness. Some of the books feature no romance but has a same gender attracted/trans/a-spectrum lead, or features an m/f relationship with bisexual, trans or aro/ace characters, or simply features a world-building which is heavily queer inclusive in ways that don’t always compare to our own ideas of sexuality and gender. I have however disqualified works where the only queer presence is along the lines of “gay best friend”, word of god, and a blink and you’ll miss it confirmation that never comes up again.

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone

Vivian Liao is a highly successful innovator, but she may have bitten off more than she can chew and fears the government may be coming for her. As she goes into hiding, she attempts to pull off one last stunt that could fix everything - but something goes wrong, and suddenly Vivian finds herself waking up in the far future, under attack by an army of robots in space. Hoping to find her way back home, Vivian must assemble a crew of dangerous outlaws to help her hunt down the Empress of Forever, the all-powerful entity who pulled her into the future. Lesbian main character.

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

Novella. On the outpost of a human colony by Jupiter, a man has gone missing. On the case to find him - and figure out why he disappeared in the first place - is enigmatic investigator Mossa. Her search leads her to the colony's university, and with it, her ex-girlfriend Pleiti, expert on Earth's pre-collapse ecosystem. Together they come to realize that the case is much larger than just a missing man, and could decide the outcome of humanity's very future. Sapphic.

My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan

Nine years ago, all complex technology was made illegal. This complicates life for Joel, young transgender single father, as a bionic just uploaded itself into his brain without consent. Scared of losing his daughter, Joel tries to keep the bionic secret while using it to fix his life, but things quickly get more complicated as the bionic gains more and more control of his body. A bit simplistic in writing style but makes a lot of cool parallels of bodily autonomy to Joel’s experiences as a transman. M/M romance.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez*

A strange child lands on an isolated planet, scaring its inhabitants into handing him over into the hands of Nia Amani. As captain of a transport ship, Nia is not only the planet's only contact with the outside world, she is also a woman out of time, years compressing into months as she travels through space at high speeds. Now responsible for a child who doesn't speak and in a galaxy that wishes them ill, she must rethink exactly what she wants to do with her life, and what she's prepared to give up. Features multiple major queer characters.

The Abyss Surrounds Us (The Abyss Surrounds Us duology) by Emily Skrutskie

Young Adult. Tumblr classic back in the day! Cassandra Leung's family are keepers of sea monsters, genetically engineered and trained to protect ships from pirates. On her first solo mission, Cas finds herself kidnapped by pirates seeking to obtain their own monster. Now they need her help to train it. As Cas seeks to regain her freedom, she must also reckon with unfortunate growing feelings for one of the pirates keeping her under guard. Sapphic.

Ancestral Night (White space series) by Elizabeth Bear

Haimey Dz is part of a three-man salvage crew in space (one of the crew being the sentient spaceship himself). When the small crew comes across a derelict ship that proves the scene of a horrible crime, they must go on the run as they seek to uncover a conspiracy that involves both ancient secrets older than humanity itself, and Haimey's own hidden past. On their tail is a dangerous space pirate, convinced that Haimey is the key to it all. Lesbian main character.

Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch) by Ann Leckie*

A space opera in which sentient spaceships can walk the ground in stolen human bodies, so called ancillaries. One of these ancillaries, the sole survivor after the complete destruction of her ship and crew, is one the hunt for revenge against the most powerful woman in the empire. This series does very cool things with gender!

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Five New Yorkers find themselves experiencing strangness as the city itself begins to wake up. They are its soul, its avatars and its protectors, and now they must keep it safe as it wakes as something alien and monstrous attempts to kill it before it's even fully alive. Mix of sci-fi, supernatural, and lovecraftian horror. Multiple pov characters of varying queer identities.

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb series) by Tamsyn Muir*

Gideon, raised as a swordswoman by unfriendly nuns, would rather run away and make her own life, but her services are needed. The Reverend Daughter, Gideon's childhood nemesis, has been invited to a trial to win a place as an immortal by the Emperor's side, and she's in need of a bodyguard. Listen, if you’re on tumblr I probably don’t need to explain this book to you. Trust me when I say it’s exactly as good as people claim. Humorous and spooky but also absolutely gut wrenching and clever with a lot of political commentary. There are also, indeed, lesbian necromancers in space.

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (Salvagers trilogy) by Alechia Dow

In a universe run on science and magic working hand in hand, Boots Elsworth makes a living selling fake treasure maps and Nilah Brio is a racer. When one of Boots' maps turns out to be more real than expected and Nilah has to go on the run after having been framed for a murder, the two find themselves on the same spaceship, working with Boots' old captain to find the rumored treasure and reveal the conspiracy its hiding before the people hunting them catch up. Features a main f/f relationship.

The Company of Death by Elisa Hansen*

A wild mix of genres, where a zombie apocalypse has struck and vampires gather up humans to keep their food source from going extinct, a robot travels across America with a young man she’s tasked to keep safe, and former-vampire-hunter-recent-zombie Emily teams up with Death himself to stop the apocalypse. Features bi and ace characters! Bonus rec: the author also runs the youtube channel Maven of the Eventide, where she talks about various vampire media. Check it out!

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Shizuka Satomi is a violin master who made a deal with a devil, and who must now save her soul by delivering the souls of her students in place of her own. Lan Tran is a mother and a refugee of an alien war, hiding on Earth with her children in a donut shop. Katrina Nguyen is a trangender runaway and violin player, in the need of a mentor. As their paths cross, their lives change forever. I would categorize this as cozy, however it does also deal with some pretty heavy themes.

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson*

Young adult. Young artist June Costa lives in Palmares Tres, a beautiful, matriarchal city relying heavily on tradition, one of which is the Summer King. The most recent Summer King is Enki, a bold boy and fellow artist. With him at her side, June seeks to finally find fame and recognition through her art, breaking through the generational divide of her home. But growing close to Enki is dangerous, because he, like all Summer Kings, is destined to die. While the main relationship is m/f, it features a worldbuilding where bisexuality is the norm, which is portrayed in its major characters.

The Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne

Nix Marr is a soldier and damned good at it, but that doesn't prepare her for her next mission: bodyguard for Subarch Kessandra, beloved royal and Nix's bitter ex, as she ventures into the underwater city of Fall to seek the cause of a bloody murder spree and a possible deadly contagion. But Kessandra has enemies, the answers she seeks marking her as a possible threat for the nation's rulers. On their way in an isolated and enclosed underwater ship toward Fall, the contagion catches up, and Nix will have to put her hurt feelings aside if the two are to arrive alive. Sci-fi with flavors of horror and the supernatural.

Adaptation (Adaptation duology) by Malinda Lo

Young adult. Strangeness is afoot: all over America, birds are hurling themselves against airplanes and causing crashes. As flights are canceled and travelers stranded, Reese and her debate partner and longtime crush David are forced to head home by car. Accident strikes, and the two wake in a military hospital with no memory of the last month. Returning home, strangeness follows the two, especially as Reese encounters the mysterious and beautiful Amber Gray, who may know more than she lets on. Features a bisexual love triangle.

Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz

Young adult. Fifteen-year-old Kivali, abandoned at birth and adopted by the nonconformist artist Sheila, has as a girl in boys clothes never fit in with the other kids. Sheila has always been supportive, until she one day sends Kivali off to CropCamp. While Kivali chafes at the strict rules of the camp, she also finds herself making friends, and maybe more, for the first time. Strange coming of age story, featuring exploration of gender and sexuality in a dystopian setting.

Isle of Broken Years by Jane Fletcher

Young spanish noblewoman Catalina thinks she’s done for when the ship she’s traveling on is attacked by pirates and she’s captured. Things gets worse when the entire crew is stranded on an inhospitable island where time works strangely, dangerous monsters terrorize the woods and something alien stops them from leaving. Strong Lost vibes. Lesbian romance. Admittedly quite indulgent but very fun and creative.

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Marta Wells*

After having hacked its own governor module, SecUnit uses its small amount of new freedom to secretly download and watch as much media as it can between doing its job guarding humans. But when the scientists it’s been charged with keeping safe come under attack, it must make a choice about whether to continue keeping its freedom secret or risk it all to save them. The series features both novellas and full length novels, and balances humor with scathing critique of capitalism. While it can be debated whether SecUnit counts as agender, asexual and aromantic, as it is a robot (I leave this up to individual judgmenet), however the series also has a diverse cast overall.

The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James*

Young adult. After the spread of a global virus causing infertility, teenagers Lowrie and Shen are now the youngest humans alive as the adults around them race to find a cure. As they investigate the ruins of the world, the two come across records from the past, of how grief stricken people turned to raising artificial children in apps and how these 'children’ developed, and through these records the two learn of their history. Bisexual main character.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah*

In a near future America, inmates on death row or with life sentences in private prisons can choose to participate in death matches for entertainment. If they survive long enough - a rare case indeed - they regain their freedom. Among these prisoners are Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, partners behind the scenes and close to the deadline of a possible release - if only they can survive for long enough. As the game continues to be stacked against them and protests mount outside, two women fight for love, freedom, and their own humanity. Chain-Gang All-Stars is bleak and unflinching as well as genuinely hopeful in its portrayal of a dark but all to real possible future. Sapphic.

The Disasters by M.K. England

A decade ago, the massive ship House of Wisdom was abandoned in orbit after its entire crew was killed in an outbreak in a matter of hours. Now, Zahra and her people hope to claim the ship as their own by kidnapping the sole survivor to gain access to its systems. But the danger of the House of Wisdom is far from gone. Horror, no major romance but has a major gay character.

Nax Hall may be a hotshot pilot, but that doesn't stop him from being expelled from the prestigious Ellis Station Academy in less than 24 hours. But as he's to be transported back to Earth alongside other failed students, the school is viciously attacked. Nax and the three other students only barely escape, and are left as the only witnesses - and the perfect scapegoats. Now they must go on the run together and find a way to clear their names. Bisexual main character.

Dust (Jacob's Ladder series) by Elizabeth Bear

In a dying spaceship, orbiting an equally dying sun, noblewoman Perceval waits for her own gruesome death. Having been captured by an opposing house, her wings severed and life forfeit, Perceval’s execution is imminent - until a young servant charged with her care proves to be Perceval’s long lost sister. To stop a war between houses likely to doom them all, the two flee together across a crumbling, dangerous spaceship. At its core waits Jacob Dust, god and angel, all that remains of what the ship once was. And he wants Perceval. Sapphic and asexual characters, however be prepared for kinda fucked up relationships.

Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings

Two ships have gotten stuck in a rift in space, isolated outside of time. One of them is the Jonah, a ship dodging a generations long war against an alien species, carrying a small crew of smugglers, an unintended passenger, and a hijacker. The other ship is the Gallion, which arrived from 150 years in the future carrying an alien ambassador - and whose crew is awestruck at meeting the heroes of the Jonah, known to have ended the war. As the two crews struggle to understand each other's timelines, they must also work together to leave the rift before they're stranded forever. Multiple queer characters, however the main romance plotlines are m/f.

One Last Stop by Casey McQiston*

Twenty-three-year-old August has a lot to deal with. She just moved to New York, got new job at a pancake diner, and acquired several slightly chaotic roommates. So what if she likes to flirt with the pretty girl on her subway commute? But Jane turns out to be more than just a charming stranger: she's lost in time, displaced from the 70s, and unable to leave the subway. Romance with a dash of timetravel sci-fi, One Last Stop is a delightful story of love and queer community.

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings*

In an alternate version of our present, the witch hunt never ended. Women are constantly watched and expected to marry young so their husbands can keep an eye on them. When she was fourteen, Josephine’s mother disappeared, leveling suspicions at both mother and daughter of possible witchcraft. Now, nearly a decade and a half later, Jo, in trying to finally accept her missing mother as dead, decides to follow up on a set of seemingly nonsensical instructions left in her will. Features a bisexual lead!

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

A decade ago, the massive ship House of Wisdom was abandoned in orbit after its entire crew was killed in an outbreak in a matter of hours. Now, Zahra and her people hope to claim the ship as their own by kidnapping the sole survivor to gain access. But the danger of the House of Wisdom is far from gone. Horror, no major romance but has a major gay character.

Alien: Echo by Mira Grant

Young adult. Twin sisters Olivia and Viola's parents are both xenobiologists, bringing them all over the galaxy. Most recently they’ve settled on a new colony world to study its life, but it proves more dangerous than they could’ve ever imagined. Under attack from alien monsters, the sisters must keep each pther alive while also coming to terms with a dark family secret. Sapphic horror. Part of the Alien franchise but stands well on its own.

[dk-thrive]

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings

— William Butler Yeats, from "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" in "The Rose" (MacMillan & Co, 1893) (via Thoughts)

[atopvisenyashill]

my hot take of the day is that clearly the people who swallow the in universe targ & valyrian exceptionalism are being completely taken in by the exact system that george is trying to critique but also i think the people who over correct into this idea that not a single targaryen is worthy of like, our empathy or sorrow or are rightfully chafing against the structures put in place by valyrians, first men, and andals alike are also being incredibly 2d in their analysis. i feel like this happens most often when people try to make the case that andals are somehow oppressed in westerosi society on a cultural level simply bc valyrian supremacy trumps andal culture. i think this is incredibly silly to say or posit as the truth in universe because there is in fact some oppression of culture in westeros but it’s not the andals lol!!! it’s the first men, the dornish, the rhoynar/greenblood orphans, and the ironborn. there Is some level of,,,, idk bigotry/xenophobia towards valyrians but only valyrians who don’t worship the faith - people like larra rogare, who still follow valyrian gods, do face this bigotry because they’re Too Foreign, the same way someone like thoros, melisandre, taena, etc who are essosi but not from a still heavy valyrian-based society like volantis and lys, and that’s definitely important to the conversation, because it shows the Dominant Culture is in fact the Andal culture when it comes to westeros and that’s like,,, fine, and even more interesting to me to see how andals, who have been the dominant force on westeros for thousands of years, interact with valyrians, who clearly want to keep ideas of valyrian supremacy alive somehow and essentially try to get the other dominant force in westeros to buy in (which they do!). like, are these two at odds sometimes? yes! but i don’t think it’s correct to say that the andals face ~prejudice for being andals or followers of the faith either!

[swordmaid]

a hyle..

[pearly--rose]

Ok @venisehiatt commented on this post that I should link some Quiet Isle fics, and they are absolutely right! Here’s a few I had in my bookmarks and to-be-read list, that either take place entirely on the Quiet Isle or feature it in some way. (Please feel free to reblog and add to this list!)

--

I Should Live in Salt by dreadwulf ( @dreadwulf ) - Rated M Jaime and Brienne have survived the confrontation with Lady Stoneheart, at a terrible price.

From This Day Until the End of My Days by dreadwulf ( @dreadwulf ) Jaime Lannister should have returned to King's Landing weeks and weeks ago. Instead he brought an injured Brienne to the Quiet Isle and somehow ended up married to her. Now he's riding for the Vale with a strange assortment of companions on an impossible search for Sansa Stark, and Brienne won't even look at him anymore, and why does that bother him so much? Why is he even here? He should just go home. He'll do it any day now.

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action Please by earthwindandfiber ( @sapphiresandsunlight ) - Rated T Everyone who's anyone knows you can't shack up at the Quiet Isle if you're not married. So, Brienne's posse of Dudely Hangers-On decides to do the next-best thing, and set up camp right outside her door for an all-night jam sesh. What could go wrong?

Honor Thy Regard by SigilBroken - Rated E Everyone’s favorite post-ADWD series, taking Jaime and Brienne from Stoneheart, to the Quiet Isle, to the Vale.

None But the Lonely Heart by OccasionalAvenger - Rated T featuring: the quiet isle, chekhov’s wolfpack, someone's bloody wedding, brienne in king's landing, a messy custody battle, dad jaime, a long night that lasts considerably more than a night, and endgame.

Yield by PrettyThief ( @pretty--thief ) - Rated T Five times Jaime and Brienne fight one another and one time they both lose.

dream deep heavy sleeper (dream light heavy heart) by djelibeybi - Rated T Five nights Jaime and Brienne break the Quiet Isle's rules, and one night they don't.

pieces of me (are pieces of you) by SeeThemFlying - Rated T Banned from seeing Brienne, Jaime spends his time on the Quiet Isle mulling over his feelings for his wench......and looking after Podrick.

Presents and Promises, or The 7 Days of Cronemas by greyathena - General Audiences In which somehow, after the events of existing book canon and taking care of the Lady Stoneheart situation, Jaime and Brienne and Podrick (Ser Hyle . . . has gone somewhere) have found themselves looking for Sansa together . . . and have ended up passing through the Quiet Isle at precisely the wrong time. Or the right one.

(and finally, yeah, I’m gonna be completely shameless and link my own fic) Hesitate by pearly_rose - Rated M He had never known her to be an adept liar. Too righteous, too…good. Right now, she wears her guilt like a shroud. It’s written all over her, in how stiffly she holds her shoulders, in the way she won’t quite look him in the eye. Still he follows her into the Riverlands without question, with the same swirling intensity in his stomach as when he galloped back to Harrenhal to save her from the bear pit.

[greenmtwoman]

So Many Vows

Chapter Three: Question

Pod stopped in the doorway. “Ser Lady was hanging, too.” he said to Jaime. He stood straight, meeting Jaime’s eyes, serious and unflinching. “You should know that.” He nodded firmly and went out.

Brienne made herself look at Jaime directly. “So do you hate me?” she asked.  "I wish to know."

An indecipherable expression flickered across his face. “Perhaps I should,” he said.

[cryinghound]

sandor in the quiet isles spin off please

I really just want to write sandor settling down somewhere in the quiet isles after all the shit he’s been through. His own brother thrusting his face into the fire, being forced to serve as a hound amidst a den of lions, being forced to serve a little shit who reminds him of the very same brother who abused him and being forced to do terrible things in his name, the battle of the blackwater and facing wildfire, then risking his sorry ass to come back and try to help sansa only to be rejected and unappreciated because he looks like a monster, then risking his sorry ass again to help arya (at first only for money, but he does grow to respect and even care for her) only for him to suffer a fatal wound protecting her and then being left for fucking dead with no remorse by arya (on the surface, anyway. in braavos arya plays a lying game and is smacked over and over when she screams ‘i hate him [sandor]’ again and again. She just left him for dead not because she wanted him to die but because she couldn’t bring herself to kill him. Yes, she wanted him dead at first, but she took him off her murder list…)

And THEN in the show when he’s actually settled down in some peaceful place and thinks he can finally get away from all that shit and start a new life those villagers he helped DIES and the only guy who ever tells him he can change and he has hope dies too and then he goes right back to killing people for revenge and then is told by those band of fuckin FIRE WORSHIPPERS (seriously, his luck is TERRIBLE) that his ‘true nature is a killer’. LIKE BRO. LEAVE THE GUY ALONE.

Honestly I don't blame sansa for being too afraid to leave with him during the battle of the blackwater. like she was still in her idealism stage, she hadn't yet been traumatised beyond repair yet, she hasn't been too involved with petyr baelish yet, so she wasn't in the right mind to trust sandor who is the literal polarisation of what the image of an 'ideal heroic knight' looks like in her mind. PLUS he didn't exactly treat her that nicely... with his words, anyway.

but tbh he’s the kind of guy who says he hates kids and cats but then when a kid asks him to save a cat from a tree he would, STILL while complaining the whole time, but he’d still do it. he was trying to be a true knight in his own way

[daydreamingcara]

marty as "i'll wait" teacher too

[reddslym]

Rhaegar on the Quiet Isle assuming he washed up there before his rubies did: Fuck, I couldve just set Rhaenys or my potential baby sister up with whatever son Brandon and Catelyn had instead of running off with Lyanna.

Welp, back to playing this high harp I made outta driftwood and hoping it all works out in the realm's favor anyway

[agentrouka-blog]

I doubt Lancel is going to survive especially when Cersei will do something in future for revenge. In the show too he was dead.

I suspect you are right.

In his own way, Lancel is as self-centered as any other Lannister. He sees his own suffering and his own guilt, but he remains blind to what doing better might actually encompass, how he might turn his focus on other people. He has been cruelly victimized and is essentially a version of Aeron Greyjoy right now. Sexually abused, near-death experience, refuge in religious extremism.

And Aeron is a tragic character, but he is not a particularly sympathetic one nor in any way wise. He is devoid of true compassion almost all of the time. You could even draw a parallel to Melisandre, who fervently believes she is serving a just and important cause through her faith, who shies away from the trauma of her childhood and enslavement. Who is wrong and enables the worst sort of brutality.

If Lancel was intent on atoning for his sins through religion, he could have chosen a life similar to that on the Quiet Isle:

Those who dwell here are penitents, who seek to atone for their sins through contemplation, prayer, and silence. (AFFC, Brienne VI)

The Elder Brother heals the visiting sick. Sandor Clegane serves by burying the dead that wash up on the Isle. There is service and contemplation both.

Lancel chose the sword.

And not like Brienne, to lift it in the service of the people. He is outsourcing his judgment and his choices to other people once again:

“The Faith Militant reborn … that would be the answer to three hundred years of prayer, Your Grace. The Warrior would lift his shining sword again and cleanse this sinful realm of all its evil. (AFFC, Cersei VI)

I don't think GRRM had him make that choice to signal good things happening to this character.

[anthrofreshtodeath]

Chapter 2 of When We Were Gone Astray can be found here.