we were never strangers

main @ladyinasong. on ao3. icon by @morganapendragon. it's all clownery luv xx

[thedreadful2026]

since we’re bound to be something by @aflashofgreen

Jon/Sansa (ASoIaF/GoT), one-shot, future fic, love confessions, marriage proposal

They embrace with both their joy and their grief. This is the way it was meant.

[feral-ballad]

Kim Addonizio, from Wild Nights: New & Selected Poems; “Pareidolia”

[aethelflaedel]

going mad thinking about robb being born in the riverlands in the midst of a war, and him leaving the world in the same circumstances that he entered it.... did he ever have a chance.... sobbing

[turtle-paced]

What do you think of marriages performed in front of a heart tree being legally binding? If Rhaegar and Lyanna did marry in front of a heart tree would that make Jon legitimate?

Marriage - and everything that comes from that - is a social construct. The very fact that bastard children can be legitimised shows how artificial the whole thing is. If bastardy was some sort of natural status, after all, the word of a political authority couldn't change it.

From the looks of things in series, it doesn't seem like most southerners consider northern couples to be living in sin - it generally appears as though they consider northern ceremonies to be binding. But there are a few complicating factors.

For the Westerosi lawyers is a) whether Rhaegar could make binding vows to a second wife and b) whether the lack of witnesses (other than any greenseers dropping in almost two decades afterwards) affects the validity of the marriage. If a couple gets married in a forest and nobody's there to see it, this ceremony explicitly meant to be witnessed as a change in social status amongst the communities they live in, are they really married? The Westerosi politicians, past and present, are all within their rights to think that the story's awfully fishy and exceptionally convenient for the Starks.

There is nothing that can change the fact that Jon was raised as a bastard, a second-class citizen, and that this forms a key part of his identity. Bastardy might be made up, but Jon's experience is real.

[intactics-deactivated20211231]

and i don't necessarily believe any of this i'm just saying words recreationally

[realboyaegon]

oh jon. it will be so over for you the second you are shown just a little bit of gentle kindness…im sorry to say but your ass is grass. your mommysister issues my brother!

"Beth, you shouldn't make up stories," Sansa corrected the younger girl, gently stroking her hair to take the harshness out of her words.

Lady bared her teeth and began to growl, a low rumble full of menace, but this time Sansa silenced the wolf with a gentle hand to the head.

Tenderly she reached out and brushed back his soft blond hair.

"My poor Sweetrobin." Sansa smoothed his hair back.

She sat on the bed and smoothed his long, fine hair. He does have pretty hair.

"No. I want to marry you, Alayne." Once your lady mother intended that very thing, but I was trueborn then, and noble. "My lord is kind to say so." Alayne smoothed his hair.

He knew nothing of his mother; Eddard Stark would not talk of her. Yet he dreamed of her at times, so often that he could almost see her face. In his dreams, she was beautiful, and highborn, and her eyes were kind.

For half a heartbeat the agony started to ebb. But then the iron touched him once again, and he fainted. When his eyelids fluttered open, he was wrapped in thick wool and floating. He could not seem to move, but that did not matter. For a time he dreamed that Ygritte was with him, tending him with gentle hands. Finally he closed his eyes and slept.

[rhaenaoflesbos]

little red walks into the woods

[batarde]

“…It is decided—we are both playing, and moreover: we play differently: you—honestly, I—cheating. But, for all my dishonest play, I will be the one who plays to the death…”

— Marina Tsvetaeva, from a fragment featured in “A Russian Psyche: The Poetic Mind of Marina Tsvetaeva” (via kitduckworth)

[theusurpersdog]

When she opened the door to the garden, it was so lovely that she held her breath, unwilling to disturb such perfect beauty. The snow drifted down and down, all in ghostly silence, and lay thick and unbroken on the ground. All color had fled the world outside. It was a place of whites and blacks and greys. White towers and white snow and white statues, black shadows and black trees, the dark grey sky above. A pure world, Sansa thought. I do not belong here. Yet she stepped out all the same.

Its honestly sad that antis can’t understand that this line is Sansa’s character. They spend so much time debating the specifics of how spoiled, bratty, bitchy, selfish, and treasonous she is, when the reality of her character is so completely different.

She’s a young girl who, even after all these tragedies have happened to her, can look out upon a garden and be taken away by how completely beautiful it is. Despite how profoundly depressing her life has been for years at this point, despite seeing her family murdered in front of her, she instantly jumps to see how the snow has made a wonderland outside her door.

And then she thinks I do not belong here 

She sees all of this beauty around her, and doesn’t think she belongs; she doesn’t think she deserves something so perfect. A far cry from the narcissistic and power hungry bitch that her antis paint her to be, she can’t even include herself in the good she sees outside. 

Yet she stepped out all the same

That line says everything you need to know about Sansa. She thinks she doesn’t belong with beautiful things anymore; that she is too damaged, traumatized, or wrong to fit in with a world of whites and greys and blacks. But she steps out all the same. She so desperately wants to be a part of this world, to be a part of the beauty she sees in it. Her snow castle is her part of making something beautiful, of just being a part of the wonder she sees. 

It’s just amazing to me that you could read this chapter and miss so much of Sansa’s nature. The raw innocence in which she approaches the failed Godswood is so indicative of her character, and its a shame antis can’t see it. 

[gnomesittingunderalargetoadstool]

Brienne being tasked by Catelyn to rescue Sansa and Arya & the Tarth heraldry being the symbolic representation of their reunion is making me feel emotional this morning:

Catelyn I, A Storm of Swords

Arya II, A Game of Thrones

Brienne II, A Feast for Crows

[aflashofgreen]

Alex listening to Perrie's debut album (x)

[turtle-paced]

Hello! I was wondering about your general take on Jeor Mormont. I mean, are we supposed to like him? One thing that always bothered me a lot was his answer to Jon about Craster, saying his daughter-wives should take the axe he gifted Craster and kill him. Even by Westerosi standards (not even starting with the existence of a thing called trauma), that seems like a massive cop out. He basically says that they should commit Kinslaying.

I think the author's intention here is that we see Jeor Mormont as a fundamentally reasonable leader, who nevertheless has some serious limitations. Whatever else was going on, there's this speech to Jon Snow:

"We've seen the dead come back, you and me, and it's not something I care to see again. [...] Your brother is in the field with all the power of the north behind him. Any one of his lords bannermen commands more swords than you'll find in all the Night's Watch. Why do you imagine that they need your help? Are you such a mighty warrior, or do you carry a grumkin in your pocket to magic up your sword?" Jon IX, AGoT

It's an important speech on two levels. One, the zombies are front and centre. Mormont appreciates the threat of the White Walkers like few leaders in the series do. Two, it's a much-needed lecture to Jon about how the real world (of the story) works. It's a formative moment in getting to the Jon of ADWD who's in his office negotiating loans instead of gallivanting around with a sword like his show counterpart.

These are both critically important things about the series' messages - Jeor's got the point about prioritising the real society-wide threats and the need to work as part of a team to meet those threats. Whatever else, Jeor got those two very big things right, and passed the lessons on to someone who does a hell of a lot more with those ideas than he does.

I say this because Jeor is also a traditionalist at a time when traditionalism is keeping the Night's Watch within its accelerating death spiral. A lot of it boils down to how Jeor sees and maintains the noble-commoner distinction in his own ranks - he wants more noble recruits, rather than making use of the recruits he has. Nor is he flexible enough to make use of unconvential recruits like Sam Tarly, and his lack of flexibility nearly got Sam killed in training before Jon and Aemon stepped in.

And that's what comes out with Craster. Jeor's not a virulent bigot, but the way the Watch has dealt with Craster is the way they've always dealt with Craster, and Jeor's set in his ways about such things. Ditch the guy who's dealing with and sacrificing infants to the White Walkers (Jon II and III, ACoK) and start negotiating with the new Free Folk leadership? Too radical for Jeor. Not too radical for Jon Snow, come ADWD. And that lack of imagination helps perpetuate Craster's cruelty to the women and children who live in Craster's house.

Honestly my biggest problem with Jeor and the axe is that he and his men didn't spare Craster's victims the trouble and trauma of killing him themselves earlier. The Watch - Jeor included - knew what Craster was up to and enabled it for a long, long time. It's true, as Jon discovers, that leadership means compromises, some of them ugly. But Craster is literally trading with the enemies of all humanity, and the Watch can't deal with that because of their now-traditional atttitudes to the threat of the Free Folk.

The situation has changed. Jeor Mormont has the core elements of the right idea, but not the vision needed to execute the necessary changes. One of those changes should have been stop giving fucking Craster new axes and talk to the Free Folk like they might know something about the threats north of the Wall.

[jakebells]

#something something bella finally becoming aware of things #about how reckless she’s been acting lately #she almost died #and someone died for real #thinking about harry’s death and the pain leah and seth must be feeling #LEAH IS MY AGE #leah is so young and going through all that and she will never get her father or her life back #but bella can #bella can learn how to leave the past behind and start living #bella thinking about telling jake everything #bella thinking about moving on with jake because she knows he can help her do that #bella having character development #bella thinking about healing and moving forward #and then all of that flying out the window when alice returns

[turtle-paced]

Hello! Do you think that Jon would have handled differently sending Sam to Oldtown if he understood the context of why that was so traumatic for him? I wonder if he would have still sent him anyway but maybe less brusquely.

So here's the progression from Jon's PoV. Jon doesn't start the conversation brusquely and gets thrown for a loop (quotes from Jon II ADWD unless marked otherwise):

This is not going as I had hoped. He had known Gilly would be hard, but he had assumed Sam would be glad to trade the dangers of the Wall for the warmth of Oldtown.

The change in tack is a result of Jon quickly coming to understand that he's dealing with trauma rather than malingering. Before the coldest part of his speech:

Kill the boy, Jon thought. The boy in you, and the one in him. Kill the both of them, you bloody bastard.

Jon knows enough context to realise that whatever the shock to Jon personally, this is actually difficult for Sam - and because Westeros sucks, he thinks the appropriate way to deal with trauma is a verbal kick in the rear. It's not sensitive, it's not trauma-informed, but it's the tool Jon's culture has given to him. It hurts Jon too not to approach this with compassion and patience. It hurts him because he knows that this hurts Sam.

And so Jon's little speech to Sam finishes with this:

"And here's another order. From this day forth, you will not call yourself a craven. You've faced more things this past year than most men face in a lifetime. You can face the Citadel, but you'll face it as a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch. I can't command you to be brave, but I can command you to hide your fears."

Jon does not want to hurt Sam. On the contrary, Jon wants to see Sam recover from the hurts Sam's father inflicted on him. Jon has no idea how to do this while also appropriately handling Sam's trauma, and that's how we end up with Jon acting like, and Sam perceiving, this -

Jon, he'd said, but Jon was gone. It was Lord Snow who faced him now, grey eyes as hard as ice. Sam I, AFFC

-instead of a concerned friend.

It's a long way to say yes, Jon would have sent Sam, and he would have been exactly as brusque. As with a lot of other things, Jon is way out in front of a lot of Westeros in recognising Sam's ongoing trauma even when it seems irrational to an outside observer. In the sort of small scale tragedy all over this series, Jon has even less of an idea how to handle it than he does the impending zombie invasion.

[thelaughingtree]

I think when Dany is compared to the moon, sometimes the dark symbolism and meaning of this comparison is lost, especially in AGOT:

here we're presented with a story where a moon is a receptacle for a birth. something fragile, something that perishes in the fire, and something that gives way for that which is considered much more important: dragons. it is not venerated as a creator; it 'wanders', without intention, and then dies. it is passive, it does not exert much will, it does not have much control. notably, as much as 'the other moon will kiss the sun' is phrased romantically, it means destruction for that moon as well.

Irri and Jhiqui, however, dispute this telling:

'it is known,' of course, signals common knowledge that should not be questioned or disputed (read: we should question and dispute this). Here, the moon is positioned as a divine feminine who is defined by being a wife. It is a feminine construction but instead of being subservient to the process of childbirth, it is instead subservient to its husband. This is reaffirmed when Drogo calls Dany 'moon of my life' as a form of address. It is worth remembering how Dany has had choices made for her, her will and volition curved, and that marriage to a khal is not a marriage to an equal (and nor is marriage in Westeros); indeed, marriage in this workd is not about romantic unity, it is about consolidation of power.

As a result we have two symbolic constructions for the moon - both feminine, both passive, both involve a dissolution of will, and a destruction of sorts - either of personality and independence as ones wants and dreams are secondary to one's husband, or a literal fiery destruction in childbirth. These depict two dreary routes for Dany's future - wife or sacrifice - but also foreshadow the coming of dragons and a future outside of the Dothraki.

In any case, Daenerys manages to overcome this binary by being both sun & moon, by birthing the dragons by her own volition and will and decision, by using others as her sacrifice - others who represent the life she has rejected, Khal Drogo her husband and Rhaego her child and Mirri, most importantly, her midwife. She defies subservience. She walks into the fire. She forges her own path. But that path is not without blood (fire and blood, of course) and we should not forget that.

[ghostinwinterfell]

jon and dany being hungry for food, for answers, for home, for belonging, for love, for a place in the world. jon’s hunger being compared to a dragonglass blade vs dany being reminded of her hunger when she hears a wolf howl. possibly the loneliest kids in the world.

[jon-quil]

jon has been a collector of father figures since birth like even his name is in honor of his father’s father figure but so motherless in every aspect of his life