Ann

20's da pitt pilled selfimmolation on ao3

[duckingduckofduke]

My crazy rambling

Hey. Hi. Can anyone hear me?? Okay, fuck it 

The Pitt/ASOIAF AU!! (Anyone who fucks with this please come share your pitt/asoifa headcannons)

ROBBY is HAND OF THE KING and hates his fucking job and wants to fuck off to the Free Cities or go join the godsforsaken Night’s Watch for a moment of peace but he can’t because in his mind he is holding up the GODDAMN WALLS. (One time he almost killed himself after a meeting with the Archmaester but met a cute novice of the Faith who briefly made him believe in good and chivalry again. He wonders where that kid is…)

LANGDON is a BARATHEON of Storm’s End who inherited at like 5 years old because his parents died on a shipwreck and he was fostered by Dana in the Vale. He was one of the greatest knights in the realm  before a bad injury (maybe i’ll make him addicted to milk of the poppy) but he refuses to stop jousting because his only Father Figure ™ is ROBBY and he can’t bear to disappoint him. He has to marry someone soon before he GETS HIMSELF KILLED or House Baratheon will go kaput. His best friend is YOLANDA, which is curious since the dornish and the stormlanders have a thousand years of bad blood between them. He HATES his cousin TRINITY.

MEL is the young ruling lady of her House. Her father was the jolly but ineffective Lord Beesbury of Honeyholt, and he taught her all he knew about BEEKEEPING. She is interested in the wound-healing qualities of honey and wishes she could study at the Citadel and forge her silver link (healing arts) as a maester. She grew up visiting the City often since her mother and aunt were close (Florents by birth) and her aunt is married to Lord Hightower. TOO BAD her mother died in childbirth trying to give her father a male heir and her father withered away soon after in drink and desperation, FUCKING UP their lands and holdfast in the process. After their deaths, she and her twin BECCA became wards of her good-uncle. The might of Hightower protects her for now, but she needs to marry well if she wants to keep her bountiful lands protected after her father’s shitty rule. Too bad her prospects are TERRIBLE due to the wagging tongues of the Reach all whispering her sister is a lackwit and it must be in the blood. 

(She meets Trinity and Dennis frolicking in Oldtown)

TRINITY is a Stark of Winterfell and wants to be a KNIGHT. After shunning all ladylike pursuits, her father arranged for her to be trained by Lady Mormont in arms and took her with him all over the North. Trinity is fearless and has a strong sense of justice. She SAVES a peasant girl from sexual assault by a group of lordings by KILLING THEM IN A RAGE. Unfortunately, two of them were heirs of their Houses and their fathers demanded RETRIBUTION. Instead of marrying her off quickly or sending her over to the silent sisters, her REED (crannogmen) mother convinces her father to “exile” their daughter to Dorne instead. This is only possible because when she was young she struck up a friendship with a Princess of Dorne in a tourney on Lannisport —they bonded over discussing poisons.

(the first option was sending Trinity over to her cousin Frank on Storm’s end, but she threatened to kill him in his sleep)

DENNIS is the SEVENTH son of HOUSE DARRY (the plowman), given over to the FAITH to become a septon. He was always very dutiful and pious, but has a revelation (after being nice to a sad beggar who turns out to be ROBBY) and decides to leave the Starry Sept to become a KNIGHT. Too bad no one of notice wants a former-novice, scrawny kid from a tiny house in bumfuck riverlands as a squire. Trinity finds him serving an abusive hedge-knight on her way through Oldtown and drags him off to Dorne with her. 

DANA is an ARRYN, ruling Lady of the Vale in her own right —who loved but never had any children with her husband— so she was always taking on fosters from other houses. She will never admit it but Frank and Heather were her favorites. Now that her husband is dead, kids are gone and her castle is silent and cold again, she moved to the royal court on King’s Landing to help her childhood nuisance friend Robby rule their clusterfuck of a kingdom and serves on the Small Council. Dana never truly forgave Robby for his involvement with Heather and visits her in the Free Cities every year. She is considering taking little Emma Westerling as her next ward.

JACK is the Lord of BLACKHAVEN (because the Marches are said to produce the fiercest warriors in the kingdom). He is a childless WIDOW who lost a leg quenching a Greyjoy uprising many years past. His wife died of a sudden chill while he was away warring, and he NEVER forgave himself for not being with her at the end.  He has no wish to re-marry. He and Robby grew up in the Eyrie as wards of Dana’s father and all three are still close to this day. He served in the Small Council and now fosters SHEN AND ELLIS (first Greyjoy with a brain in a hundred years).

EMERY WYL (coolest sigil in the world) is the Lady of THE BONEWAY, a Dornish castle close to Blackhaven and has been getting into squirmishes with stormlander Jack since the dawn of time.

YOLANDA NYMEROS MARTELL is the heir to SUNSPEAR, and the most fearsome lance of her House. She is known for her infamy in the battlefield and implacable wit. She was fostered for a short time on Runestone, where she caused scandal by her close “FRIENDSHIPS” with the young ladies of the Vale. There she met Frank, and they hated each other on sight. Nevertheless, barely a year after arrival, they were accosted by mountain clan members and had to fight together to survive the encounter; afterwards, they became fast friends. Yolanda returned to Dorne after the death of her uncle, who died with no issue, elevating her to first-in-line to the principality, following her mother. Her mother took in Trinity Stark to ward as a favor to a childhood friend, and she is Yolanda’s new plaything paramour.

(Yolanda and Frank are known for jointly smashing several Pirate incursions from the Narrow Sea, both on dornish and stormland shores.) 

SAMIRA is the only daughter of a Tyrell of Highgarden. As a third son with little prospects, he was allowed to marry for love to a bold lady from House Blackmont. Samira loves to travel, and spent most of her childhood vaulting from Dorne to the Reach and back again. Her father died on the road from an infected wound when she was young; they weren’t able to find any maesters to treat him. When she was thirteen she disguised herself as a man and became a novice on the Citadel. Her dream is to serve not a lord in a castle, but the smallfolk who are not afforded any measure of healthcare or instruction. Months before she forges her final link, a sudden sickness claims her uncle, the heir of Highgarden and all his children. After an absurd chain of unfortunate events, her other uncles and cousins die in succession, leaving Samira as the heir apparent to Highgarden. House Tyrell does not lack for branches, however, and as a young, half-dornish woman, her succession and life are in great peril.

CASSANDRA CASSIE is the Lady of Riverrun who had a whirlwind summer romance with a fuckass TOURNEY KNIGHT named CHADWICK, who is also a FREY and she HAD TO MARRY HIM after getting pregnant during one of their encounters and refusing to drink tansy tea. Until this day, she is not sure if he ever loved her or did it out of ambition. He is a terrible, terrible HUSBAND who is ESTRANGED but won’t ever leave her ALONE because divorce is not a thing and he is nowhere CLOSE to INHERITING THE TWINS.

VICTORIA is a DAYNE of STARFALL. Her lord father was set to marry a Princess of Dorne, but she spurned him for someone else and her lady mother EILEEN is a QORGYLE who was meant to marry the heir of Sunspear, but he went and DIED YOUNG, so her parents married each other. After the death of her mother’s betrothed, Sunspear passed to YOLANDA’s mother. As her parents still hold a grudge, they mean to marry her to some great house outside of Dorne. Maybe the Lannisters?  Victoria is currently at Riverrun as Cassie's ward and deeply in love with Ser Matteo.

JAMES OGILVIE is a LANNISTER  who will be betrothed to Victoria Dayne soon. He has none of his House’s famed charm, although his wit is nothing to scoff at. His greatest desire is to bequeath his inheritance to some random cousin and move to the Citadel to become Archmaester, but his family forces him to become a KNIGHT instead.

JOY IS A WHENT of HARRENHAL. She is PASSIONATE about the bloody history of her big-ass half-melted castle and can’t wait to see what will be her OWN family’s demise, as she summarily believes Harrenhal withers every hand who touches it . She loves to tell James all about her (fake) blood sacrifices and (made up) curses and spells. 

WHO is the KING/QUEEN? Where’s House Targaryen? Man, IDK.

[azaablue]

the best fanfiction you've ever read was written by a woman in her 40s before she made dinner for her kids. it was written by a teenager after school when they should've been studying for a history test. and a barista came up with the idea while they cleaned the espresso machine and busser fact-checked it on their break and the post-doc edited between writing grant proposals and the nurse apologized for typos in the notes after a long shift and behind every drabble and one-shot and multi-chapter fic there is a person with a wonderful and interesting and chaotic life and it is such a privilege that we get to be apart of it because they decided to do this thing we all share, for fun.

[duckingduckofduke]

Samira disguising herself as a man, "Arimas" and going to the citadel to become a maester

It even matches the Sarella/Alleras aesthetic from canon almost perfectly! She has a chip on her shoulder from her father's death and needs to prove herself as the best maester to ever forge a link. No one else knows, but she is deeply aware of being the first woman ever to study at the Citadel.

[duckingduckofduke]

HI Just read your ASOIAF/The pitt post and I'm amazed at how good it is!! The backgrounds fit so well!! Trinity being crannogmen by her mother's side, Frank and Yoyo being heirs to enemy houses but turned to friends, Dana as Arryn, Cassie having a shitty marriage to a Frey, Victoria Dayne, Samira was a lower Hightower that suddenly became heir?? I LOVE YOUR MIND!! Please feel free to share any more thoughts you have about it always!! (Also I love how Mel always is a Beesbury in this, fated by name and fits so well)

Thank you so much! This AU has taken over my brain permanently, so I can't stop having thoughts about it! Today I offer you:

As a shameless kingdon shipper, obviously Frank and Mel end up together in this.

Frank is Lord Paramount and the last member of his family, so everybody and their mother is eager to marry a daughter into the Baratheon House. He is cordially invited by Lord Hightower to come see a couple new ships in Oldtown and coincidentally meet his daughter Abby! Abby is pretty, smart and her daddy is the richest man in the Reach, what could possibly go wrong?? Well, turns out her intended falls instantly, madly in love with her weird, shy cousin Mel (from a minor House, no less). And to put insult to injury, he marries her within a fortnight in her own hometown.

Mel feels really bad in the beginning for "stealing" her cousin's man, so she resists his advances at first (less than 24 hours) and Frank, who had planned to go home with the flimsy whisper of a maybe betrothal to Abby returns to Storm's end with a whole new wife and sister in law. But what could he do? He wanted her immediately on day one, from the moment they snagged a minute to themselves and sat together petting the Citadel's musty old dog.

(They get married in the Starry Sept in less than a week, using the flowers Abby's mother had saved for her daughter's wedding; everybody thinks it was hasty because Mel is pregnant)

Also: Frank and Trinity are cousins (twice over) in this AU. They look like twins and if he had died with no heirs, Trinity would very much be in line to inheriting his castle. Too bad he and Mel are like bunnies and Storm's End will never lack for heirs again.

P.S: I got so into it I made family trees. Here's kingdon and the Frank&Trinity cousin-ship.

[knightsofrayx]

@duckingduckofduke wrote this absolutely amazing Pitt x ASOIAF outline, which inspired this:

more detail under the cut

Trinity Stark of Winterfell

I used a combo of Cregan Stark for the pose (he had the perfect hairstyle complete with the slutty strands dangling over his eyes), Robb Stark for the outfit design, and Jon Snow for the color palette (the black felt like a better fit)

Yolanda Nymeros Martell, the Heir to Sunspear

Stole bits and pieces of outfits worn by Oberyn Martell, Ellaria Sand, and the Sand Snakes for this one.

Frank Baratheon of Storm's End

Most of the armor design here is inspired by fanart of what Robert Baratheon's armor would have looked like. Underneath the golden tunic, the plate and mail is a similar style to what Stannis wore in the show. The antler design is something I had sketched out years ago when I was playing around with making a stag sigil using the mirror tool, and this felt like the perfect time to use it.

[pontmercii]

“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.”

For the first time in years, he found himself remembering Rhaegar Targaryen. He wondered if Rhaegar had frequented brothels; somehow he thought not.

Robert would swear undying love and forget them before evenfall, but Ned Stark kept his vows.

"Lyanna is a hypocrite for calling out chronic cheaters like robert and then running away with Rhaegar" this is truly funny, the fact that you associate a man who chronically visits brothels, fucks child prostitutes and leaves bastards all around, with a man who left his one (1) arranged marriage for another girl he fell in love with. Especially when Ned already makes this exact comparison in the very first book, first between Robert and Rhaegar and then between Robert and himself, just to showcase how fucked up in the head his BFF Robert was compared to both Rhaegar and himself.

And now I'm not saying Ned should be uncritically treated by the reader as this paragon of virtue and feminism. I'm saying, however, that Ned's standards of "decent behavior towards women" are pretty close to the writer's standards of decent behavior towards women, in universe, considering he has one of the healthiest marriages and probably the healthiest relationship with his daughters in the asoiaf universe and his one basic fatal flaw regarding his sister is precisely arranging her marriage with his BFF Robert, a decision that haunts him to this day considering he spends one whole book reflecting on and regretting his friendship with Robert and his decision to marry his sister to Robert. And this regret is now reinforced by every single one of Robert's actions during or prior to AGOT that Ned finds repulsive, aka his murderous obsession with Dany, his violent treatment of Cersei, his mistreatment of all these women/children and their kids, his approval of the murder and rape of Elia and her kids.

Ned now finally realizes what Lyanna already instinctively knew about Robert's nature from the get go (even if she didn't have all the data at the time). He should have known what she already instinctively knew, despite being so young, but he was too far gone into his delululand of sacred bromance with Robert to care. Now he knows precisely why his sister chose Rhaegar and now he reflects on all this and his regret and guilt run so deep but it's too late because Lyanna and Rhaegar are dead and there is nothing he can do about it. And the harrowing recounting of Lyanna's death in Ned's pov is something for sure, but let's not forget the understated yet still discernable regret and sadness in his visual memory of Rhaegar's death which is in sharp contrast with his complete apathy and emotional detachment towards his living breathing friend who is standing right in front of him:

“I vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to her.” “You did,” Ned reminded him. “Only once,” Robert said bitterly. They had come together at the ford of the Trident while the battle crashed around them, Robert with his warhammer and his great antlered helm, the Targaryen prince armored all in black. On his breastplate was the three-headed dragon of his House, wrought all in rubies that flashed like fire in the sunlight. The waters of the Trident ran red around the hooves of their destriers as they circled and clashed, again and again, until at last a crushing blow from Robert’s hammer stove in the dragon and the chest beneath it. When Ned had finally come on the scene, Rhaegar lay dead in the stream, while men of both armies scrabbled in the swirling waters for rubies knocked free from his armor. “In my dreams, I kill him every night,” Robert admitted. “A thousand deaths will still be less than he deserves.“ There was nothing Ned could say to that.

Ned's trajectory from being a victim of the evil targaryen dynasty and Robert's faithful friend to questioning the entire basis of his old allegiance and realizing that actually Rhaegar maybe should have been King and that his sister was right about Robert because he's indeed full of shit, his subsequent guilt, regret and disillusionment over the regime he enabled, and his inability to save his house from collapse are all core elements of his arc and why his character is so fascinating and tragic. Ned's gradual deconstruction of Robert and his friendship with him is the thought process that led to all of the above. Ned remembering Lyanna's quote about Robert is there precisely to reinforce his disillusionment with Robert and highlight his difference with Rhaegar, a recurring theme in his arc. And it is particularly funny that so many people that call themselves Stark Stans TM (!!!) just swipe away all of the subtext and actual text surrounding this quote just to prove a point that is directly antithetical to the quote, its meaning and its function in the narrative, while also framing lyanna as a hypocrite over it lmao.

[branwinged]

there are three things of note happening with mirri & dany in agot

“tell me again what it is you saved.” — “your life.” — “look to your khal and see what life is worth, when all the rest is gone.” dany saves mirri from certain death back at the lhazareen village and it's a meaningful exercise of whatever little influence dany had over drogo but mirri is completely unmoved by this gesture because the life she leads in drogo's khalasar is that of a slave. "tell me again what it is you saved" is about dehumanisation — mirri's home is gone, she's lost her autonomy and has to serve the people who did this to her.

“My time is near,” Dany said. “I would have you attend me when he comes, if you would.” Khal Drogo laughed. “Moon of my life, you do not ask a slave, you tell her. She will do as you command.”

[...] Dany turned back to Mirri Maz Duur. The woman’s eyes were wary. “So you have saved me once more.” “And now you must save him,” Dany said. “Please …” “You do not ask a slave,” Mirri replied sharply, “you tell her.”

emphasis on dany's continued insistence that she "saved her" because at this point dany still believes there is nothing worse than death but in the world of ice and fire there is something much worse, the others don't just kill people, they reanimate them as wights. the real evil in these books is dehumanisation, that manifests in westeros as the lannisters and the boltons' (and the kingsguard's) corruption of feudal oaths to mean complete subversience and in essos as slavery - the others are not a fantastical threat removed from the political climate of westeros, they are a reflection of the worst of westeros. mirri is the first person to teach dany this when she repays in kind by returning drogo to her as a shell of his former self (“This is not life, for one who was as Drogo was. His life was laughter, and meat roasting over a firepit, and a horse between his legs...”)

“if joffrey should die... what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?” — “everything” mirri killing rhaego is not some kind of a baby hitler thought experiment with no correct answer, the narrative has a very clear stance on this because the murder of children is one of asoiaf's big preoccupations. robert climbs his throne over the corpses of rhaenys and aegon, stannis considers feeding edric storm to the flames (and will burn shireen), mycah's death, the miller's boys etc. the narrative has boundless empathy for mirri but her reasoning here, that of “the stallion who mounts the world will burn no cities now. his khalasar shall trample no nations into dust.” is pretty much what robert has to say about dany

Eddard Stark had seldom felt quite so alone. “You will dishonor yourself forever if you do this.” “Then let it be on my head, so long as it is done. I am not so blind that I cannot see the shadow of the axe when it is hanging over my own neck.” “There is no axe,” Ned told his king. “Only the shadow of a shadow, twenty years removed … if it exists at all.” [...] “Whereas Daenerys is a fourteen-year-old girl.” Ned knew he was pushing this well past the point of wisdom, yet he could not keep silent. “Robert, I ask you, what did we rise against Aerys Targaryen for, if not to put an end to the murder of children?”

and you might say it's only a possibility of an invasion with dany but a certainty of it with rhaego because of the prophecy and to be fair it's probably hard to tell with martin's orientalism but the prophecy of the stallion who mounts the world is obviously playing with racist anxieties of an invasion led by "the barbarians from the east" because it's clearly the dothraki cultural variation of the myth of azor ahai and is in truth about dany's destiny of uniting and then defending the realm during the long night (which is possible to read as like, dany as the white westerosi figure civilising the dothraki even though i don't think it's played that straight, dany's khalasar is mostly made up of women and the elderly and those who cannot fight so the dothraki's culture of violence is being associated with patriarchal ideals, which is in line with martin's criticism of war in westeros) so it's not a matter of whether or not you agree with mirri on the ethics of child murder for utilitarian purposes, you cannot unironically say something like "the murder of children in asoiaf is presented as unconscionable. except for dany's ontologically evil child of course". reflect on this.

“but it is not your screams i want, only your life. i remember what you told me. only death can pay for life.” on a basic level dany is simply executing mirri for a crime against her person, as any westerosi lord would do (when people criticise dany here they do it with the expectation that she should've read some foucault and recognised that mirri and her are merely actors under the structural force of patriarchy. which. is ridiculous obviously) there is nothing uniquely repulsive about what dany does here, other people have done it. she can only hatch dragons through such a sacrifice, through the murder of another person (and the sacrifice is definitely mirri, not herself. dany never exepcts to die, she walks into the pyre because she knows the fire will not harm her) because power is not an uncomplicated force, by definition it means having an amount of control and influence over someone else (not exclusively through coercion, but it's often the case) and that's only possible through a hierarchy that facilitates unequal status — kings have power because the smallfolk don't. the same is true for magic (which is power) in asoiaf, the price of true magic is someone else's life. a magical blood sacrifice is not any different from the concept of taking however many lives in a war for someone else to ascend to power, what were rhaenys and aegon's deaths if not a blood sacrifice that ensured robert's ascension to the iron throne?

now asoiaf's not woke enough to posit that a power hierarchy itself is evil and we must work to dismantle it in which case dany doing a blood sacrifice magic ritual to gain dragons would be an unforgivable act. asoiaf is about how power can be redeemed if used well (“Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’t protect themselves?”) so dany murders someone to get her dragons (power), but she's also presently making using of that power in a crusade against dehumanisation in essos. dany could've just decapitated mirri and that would've been the end of it (A word, and Dany could have her head off … yet then what would she have? A head? If life was worthless, what was death?) afterwards she could've either jumped into drogo's funeral pyre or spent the rest of her life as a widow in isolation, but instead dany creates life out of her death because at the end of agot she's left with the remanant of drogo's khalasar—the old and the weak, the ones who cannot protect themselves—and when she walks into the fire she's not simply doing it out of a desire to reclaim her identity and autonomy, but also because of the awareness that she's now responsible for all these other lives, because she has to answer for what was done to eroeh. because she's a queen and for what other reason do gods make kings and queens if not for this.

She told herself that there were powers stronger than hatred, and spells older and truer than any the maegi had learned in Asshai.

— Daenerys X, A Game of Thrones

[duckingduckofduke]

tagged by my girl @h0mespun. Thank you for the tag!

1. The last book I read: A Game of Thrones, by George R.R Martin. I read a Theon shitpost from @goldcrescent and my hyperfixation from 12 years ago rose like a sleeper agent. Now I realize I had no business reading ASOIAF under the age of 13, but what can you do? Still the best fantasy series in the world.

2. A book I'd recommend: Cosmos, by Carl Sagan. To me, it's one of the most brilliant books ever written and everyone should read it at least once . We are all stardust indeed.

3. A book I couldn't put down: The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. Aside from having a wonderfull fantasy world-building and character development, the mystery and the science versus magic set-up is glorious. I read it all in one sitting, missed about three meals and watched the sun rise in my desperation to finish that book. I have one of the characters LAB SAFETY RULES passage glued to my locker at work because it is peak advice even for people who work in real-world research.

Unfortunately, just like ASOIAF, this is a fantasy series that has never been completed. I still long for the day I will awake and discover Rothfuss is publising something.

4. A book I've read twice or more: Nevernight, by Jay Kristoff. It's a clever, engrossing book with great personalities and simple prose. Not as dense as some of my other favorites and it's pretty short, which makes it my go-to wherever I am traveling or have a few hours to kill during errands. The sequels Godsgrave and Darkdawn are also pretty good.

5. A book on my TBR: My best friend gifted me This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone but I haven't had the chance to read it yet. I heard it is sci-fi.

6. A book I've put down: I picked up Coleen Hoover's Ugly Love from a bin of discarded books and quickly realized why it was put there. It's absolutely terrible. Then I made the mistake of searching the author because I couldn't believe that was published by an actual company and discovered a lot more than I bargained for.

7. A book on my wishlist: I have read mixed reviews and opinions about R.F Kuang's Babel, so I am curious to see it for myself. No clue on when I'll get around to buying it, though.

8. A favourite book from childhood: Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie! They used to sell her murder mystery hardbacks in the checkout line of a big grocery store in my hometown, so I would always beg my mother to take me with her “to help with the shopping,” secretly hoping I’d get a little book as a reward afterward. She assumed they were all children’s books because of the cover art, and I sure as hell didn’t correct her. I eventually worked my way through all of them. Murder on the Orient Express isn’t my favorite, but it was my first, and that makes it special.

9. A book I'd give to a friend: Depends on the friend, depends on the book! I am of the belief that each book affects you differently depending on what you're going through in your life. Plus, when you come back later it gives you something else. Heraclitus' a man and the river etc etc. So I try to be mindful of that when gifting books. Last one I gave was The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick.

10. A book of poetry or lyrics that I own: "The Ash of the Hours" by Manuel Bandeira. Sometimes I catch myself mouthing my favorite lines to the ceiling when I can't sleep; then I read it again ad infinitum

11. A non-fiction book that I own: 100 years of Alice, by Conceição Duarte. It's the biography of an "ordinary woman"; the author is her oldest daughter (and my great-great aunt) and it's such a ride to read about the people in my family no one remembers. It always pained me that coming from a very, very poor family means our records of the former generations are almost non-existent.

12. What I'm currently reading: A Clash of Kings (Catelyn Tully Stark deserved better and I will kill anyone on the hill who disagrees) and Powdered Latin, by Caetano W. Galindo, a short and sweet work about the origins and development of brazilian portuguese.

13. What I'm planning on reading next: A Storm of Swords, by George R.R Martin. It used to be my favorite when I was a kid I read it the first time; can't wait to see how it holds up now!

I tag @coffeealwayshelps, @melika-elena, @slidewhistlebj, @slowburnlover, @heyfruitcake, @holywaterhangover and @yourmilwaukeebeers because I am curious about y'alls reading habits outside of fic, but don't feel obligated to anything <3

[duckingduckofduke]

This or that trope

I was tagged by the amazing @holywaterhangover! I love these little games yay

slowburn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt/comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high-school romance or middle-age romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbours or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or genderbent // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane

I will tag @langdnmel because they launched melpregsummer and deserve all flowers.

[awinterrosesstuff]

I don't think we talk enough about the complexity of Eddard Stark.

Ned is the second son of the powerful house of the North. He wasn't supposed to rule, but to fight. He was raised to lead battles, to second his brother, Brandon. Then, his sister Lyanna got kidnapped, Brandon went to the capital to ask for the return of his sister, Rickard went also to the South to help his eldest and they both died there, killed by the king himself. Then Aerys asked for his head and Jon Arryn refused and declared war.

(Kinda ironic that the rebellion is called Robert's rebellion when in truth, it was Jon Arryn who made the first act of rebellion by refusing his king and calling the banners. I know in the end, it got that name because Robert became king and I've always found it interesting.)

Imagine how Ned felt when he learnt that the king Aerys was ready to erase House Stark, by ordering the head of one of the last heirs. Lyanna was lost in the south, with the prince. Probably Aerys would have asked for Benjen's head too...

But Ned did his duty, he called the banners and married Catelyn to unite the North and Riverrun. Then he fought alongside Robert and went to Kingslanding, discovering the sack of the capital and then his first disappointment with Robert... Robert wasn't horrified at the sack and the killing of Elia's child. Duty and honor are important to Ned (interesting that Ned fits so well the words of Tully's house). After other disagreements, he left to find Lyanna... and his sister was dying when he found her.

There is lots of trauma in Ned because of that war. He lost almost all of his family. When he returned to Catelyn, he came back with Jon (a child he decided to take with him because of love) and found his heir, Robb. Catelyn and him didn't have a great relationship then (Catelyn quite liked Brandon), and the presence of Jon made it worse. A few words after his return, Benjen left for the Night's watch.

Ned only started to rule Winterfell and already had lof of grief and trauma.

I'm not going to describe the rest of his background, it's quite developed and detailed. But I think GRR Martin did a great job with Ned. You can see his trauma, his doubts and his inferiority complex. He's torn apart between his family, his love for Robert, his duty and most importantly his honor. Everything is quickly translated in the way he talks about his brother :

Brandon. Yes. Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant from Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was born to be a King's Hand and a father to queens. I never asked for this cup to pass to me.

Even after years of leading Winterfell, he still doesn't feel he's right for the role. Or at least, he thinks his brother would have made a better job. He's probably bitter too and has the survivor's guilt. In my humble opinion, for all we know, I'm not sure I agree with this "statement". Brandon was impulsive, hot-tempered and quite arrogant. He's said, by Catelyn, to be charismatic. But he doesn't sound like someone who would be good at ruling, at fighting definitely, but ruling ?

And when Cersei told him he should have taken the throne, instead of Robert, he answered that :

I have made more mistakes than you can possibly imagine, but that was not one of them.

It's true he made mistakes (he's human after all), but are they worse than Robert's mistakes ? Ned doesn't have this belief he's fit to rule neither the North or the seven kingdoms. He ruled the North and accepted to be the Hand's king not because he likes it, but because of his duty and honor. And even when he's in conflict with Cersei, he stills cares about it. He offers Cersei to leave with her children - because he refuses to harm a child - tells Stannis of him being the natural heir to Robert and refuses Renly's aid to take the Lannister's children as hostage. The only time he firmly goes against Robert is when he's plotting to kill Daenerys, a child.

(Note that Robert also thinks Ned should have ruled the kingdom instead of him. At least, he's aware of his flaws.)

He doesn't want to see the horrors of the past repeating themselves. Horrors he had witnessed. And he has a lot on his shoulders : ruling the kingdom (because Robert doesn't care about it and doesn't have the decency to do his duty), searching for informations about Jon Arryn, raising his daughters etc. You can see his trauma in the way he never planned for betrothals for his children (Robb was 14 at the beginning of the story). None of his children were fostered. Seems like he wants to keep his family around him as much he can. You also see it in the way he named his children (Jon for Jon Arryn, Bran for his brother and Rickon for his father). But when Robert, the only person he loves as much as his family, comes to him, he can't refuse. Even when his family was grieving, his wife crying for Bran, he still took his daughters with him and left with Robert. Plus he feels "obligated" to search the truth about Jon's death. Or the way he loves both of his daughters, but can talk to Arya and can't talk to Sansa only because of his trauma concerning Lyanna.

I'd like to add many people noticed Ned's honor, from Robert, Baelish, Stannis to Jorah. My favourite is probably this one from Robert

You never could lie for love nor honor, Ned Stark.

When Ned told Robert didn't know Lyanna, he's right. But it seems Robert didn't know Ned that much either. Because Ned lied twice for love, to protect Jon from Robert's wrath (if we consider Jon is indeed Rhaegar's son) and to protect Sansa from the Lannister. His honor was more important than his life, but less important than his daughter's life. He isn't afraid of death, but cares more about his family. Yeah I think Family, duty & honor fits him quite well, maybe even better than the words of his own house...

[ishmaelautolycus]

In addition to all of the other emotional body blows Ned suffers, Jon Arryn essentially sides with Robert about the killing of Elia and her children. Most likely for pragmatic political reasons, but it still must have felt like another betrayal by someone Ned knew and admired.

[richardharington]

“Brienne’s story is an adaptation of a traditionally male narrative, one that usually sidelines or victimises female characters. She swears fealty to a woman, as male knights swear to their liege lord, because she respects that woman’s strength, her bravery and her kindness. She goes on a quest to save the beautiful maiden, but not to marry her or benefit from the quest in any way, but to return her to her mother. Because she cares for Catelyn, and because it is the right thing to do. It is a story of a woman, rescuing a woman, for the sake of another woman. It is a rare story where the mother, the young girl and the shieldmaiden are all given equal weight and worth. Brienne, despite taking on many stereotypically male traits, is not “one of the boys” or in any way dismissive of her gender as a group. She does not fit into the role that society has assigned for her, but she does not disparage those who do. She uses her strength and her skill to respect and help other women in ways that most men in Westeros would never even think to attempt, because she understands, more than any other knight, that women are truly worth something as individuals.”

— “There Are No True Knights: Brienne of Tarth” @ Feminist Fiction  (via amstibovvered)

[mylestoyne]

@ygrittebardots there’s so much material here

[kingdonagegap]

kingdonagegap's kingdon fic rec list

note these are all staples for me!! aka fics I read when I first joined the fandom or fics I keep rereading over and over. If u see yourself on this list and you'd like to be tagged, let me know :) or if one of the links is wrong, let me know about that too. also most of these will probably be rated e and most of you follow me for one reason, so you shouldn't really be surprised LOL and remember to read the tags and take care of yourself

(insert eggplant emoji here) by @virginmel (reread 5x and counting)

Centerfold Baby by @francislangdon

what God has joined together by @francislangdon (genuinely insane and a classic To Me. definitely read the tags though!)

after the storm by @dumbestdyke

happy to help by @dirtbaghot

Always_ Be_My_Baby.mp3 by @avocado-moon

#FuckLangdonClub by @kingdonspirits (so funny and sleaze bag frank on top)

WALK-OFF by @sawdustandstardust (everyone who knows me should know this is one of my all time favorite)

if at first you don't succeed by @thatbuddie

like i would by @starkovzova

sugar rush by littlefoolswritings

talk to me. by @holywaterhangover

get into physical by @melheartsfrank

touch my body tender by @cvldbones

Teenage Dirtbags by @miracle-and-wonder (a classic for a REASON! i think everyone should read this at least once)

I Drink The Honey (Inside Your Hive) by @pansiesandposies

we could be anything! by @francis-mulcahy

there's a #freak among us. by @holywaterhangover

Side step by @khrogerswrites

a little buzz to make your heartbeat wild by @treeinthepond

rank frank! by @holywaterhangover (honestly, just read everything by her)

name the time and i'll be your place by Lirazel (frank is unhinged in this one)

Confidence Game by @avocado-moon (perfect, the smut is hot and their bond is so delicious and sweet)

what to do, now that i've found you? by prncesselene

Pick Your Poison by yahtobio

king, princess by @penguin-purple

heavy metal by @starkovzova

you radiate, in shades of grey by @langdonmels (a newer one, but it's already cemented it's place as one of my faves)

Vitamin D by @langdonmels

Watching You Is The Only Thing That I Know by @pansiesandposies (stalker4stalker. this is true romance.)

so i think he wants to be gentle with me by @stickwithme1 (i mean. age gap...... babysitter au...... this is kind of my whole brand)

for educational purposes only by twilightstargazer

Click Send by @cynicscene

turn 6 by @shedelulululu

intimate, private, special by foremmaandevermore

Forgive Me, It Sounds Cocky by @evermorecardigan (they are so dork4dork)

he's so pretty (when he goes down on me) by frankengf (i love this persons bellyconrad fics and the kingdon ones they have posted so far are amazing)

The Licentious Letter by thevirgovisionary (god it's everything i love)

You're like a whole constellation, swimming like you on vacation by Anonymous

too hot to handle by ev0lution

rocky road by selfimmolation

A Proper Family by @keystothekingdon

Needs Met by @h0mespun (a great exploration on sexuality with hot smut and their dynamic is soooo yummy)

look at you by Anonymous

The Parent Trap by @khrogerswrites (i eat up every update)

kiss and cry by thepittsnewestintern

Pas De Deux by @pansiesandposies

Friend who knows the way you taste by Heavenbait

a nice distraction by goombellas

birthday treat by @kingdoncomes (#letmelbeahole)

knocked me off the ground from the start by @coffeealwayshelps

[goldcrescent]

Iron Islander voice: Theon you [19 syllable dolphin noise slur] I see you came back WOKE and GAY and a WOMAN from us leaving you as a child prisoner to the guy with an 8 foot sword that makes you drag it around to executions in front of his screaming faced tree gods as a daily reminder that he can and will kill you (a child) just like he killed the rest of your family (some of which were also children). Did you have fun polishing his sword? I’ll bet. Did you write this letter yourself? Knowing there’s a one person literacy limit? Should we call you Theon the Reader, you reading fuck? And standing here in a jean jacket you bought yourself, may as well be sucking dick at old navy. You know who’s NOT woke or gay or a woman? Your sister Asha. Why can’t you be less gay and woke and a woman, like Asha? I bet she could run a democratic election because you know what isn’t gay Theon? Democracy

[verity-strasser-blog]

Democracy still kinda gay tho

[goldcrescent]

good point we should democratically elect an extremely evil tyrant to subjugate everyone else and balance out how gay having an election was. Like some kind of blasphemous one eyed kinslaying freak. That seems unlikely. Does anyone know where we can find a blasphemous one eyed kinslaying freak? Has anyone in westeros ever had an election decided by a blasphemous one eyed kinslaying freak?

[sh5]

even messier version of this

[craftclass]

a dog with two tails

"What would you ask me for," he said, "if you knew that I would give it to you?"  He didn’t mean for it to sound so overtly sexual, but she was looking down at him on the floor in front of her and he was burning from the inside out, so he said it the same way he would if he were actively trying to seduce her, slow and low and pointed.  He watched her lips part and her eyes widen. She was always so expressive, he loved that about her, he loved that he could always tell exactly what she was thinking. Come on, say it. Just ask me. “It can be anything, Mel. I’ll give it to you.”

Mel needs to practice asking for the things she needs and Frank has an itch that needs scratching.

explicit | 7.2k words | complete | written for @sub-langdon-fest

[divorcedfranklangdon]

1.15 | 2.15