the iron underneath

north and north and north again AO3

[ghostinwinterfell]

possibly the greatest asoiaf moment ever is when jon gets the letter about bran waking up and mormont expects him to grieve because “sorry kid :( it’s actually bad news :( he’s never going to walk again :(” but jon is all like “my brother is going to live !!!” and then he races out of the room and tells everyone he passes that “my brother is going to live !!!” and he gets back to the common hall and picks tyrion up and spins him around and makes him read the letter too because “my brother is going to live !!!” and he’s so giddy that he befriends grenn and tells thorne to go fuck himself and then everybody laughs and jon is just so happy because “my brother is going to live !!!”

meanwhile bran is back in winterfell listening to robb’s bannermen whisper about how death is a kinder fate than his, how they should’ve just let him die, how he’s too broken to be alive—with no idea that his big brother is out there celebrating because bran is going to LIVE !!!

[ghostinwinterfell]

adding these lovely tags from @artemideaddams <3

[ghostinwinterfell]

it’s also worth noting that at the start of this same chapter, this is how jon thinks about donal noye’s disability:

jon claims that noye’s life is effectively “over” because (along with having lived a full life and being “old”), he’s also now disabled. but when mormont later displays this same attitude about bran, jon completely dismisses this idea and celebrates the fact that bran is going to LIVE! his life is not over!

it’s such a beautiful (if subconscious) moment of development for jon. it almost reminds me of his shift in attitude towards the free folk, with jon initially displaying period-typical attitudes towards a marginalized group of people before being directly confronted with their reality/humanity and shifting his worldview accordingly. I mean this entire chapter is about him dismissing and ridiculing “lowborn” recruits until noye gives him a dose of reality, leading jon to take accountability, reflect on his own classist attitudes, gets his act together, and build a brotherhood with his fellow recruits. whether it’s disabled people, common people, or the free folk, jon snow can be as ignorant as the next person, but the difference is that he learns.

[ghostinwinterfell]

Bran thought about it. “Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?”

“That is the only time a man can be brave,” his father told him.

[ghostinwinterfell]

rip sansa stark you would’ve loved having more fics than any other asoiaf character on ao3

[ghostinwinterfell]

hi hi hi I saw your Thanksgiving chapter we’re so so back im so excited for Christmas (it’s almost June)!!!!!!!

ah thank you!! 🫶 so hyped for this christmas chapter I’m trying to get myself in the spirit lmao, it’s probably going to be a bunch of mini stories in one because I have absolutely no self control when it comes to the holidays

[ghostinwinterfell]

every time I find myself baffled at how people interpret asoiaf so differently than I do, to the point that we derive completely different meanings from the text, I think of that one jon quote “we look up at the same stars, and see such different things.” yeah okay fine. I guess it’s pretty cool that the same text can come alive for people in so many different ways. FINE. I guess there’s something kind of beautiful about that. beautiful in a really annoying way.

[ghostinwinterfell]

“soft and ladylike snores” sansa my darling girl can we be so serious for a second

[ghostinwinterfell]

westeros when little girls are full people with a full range of human emotions and not little dolls you can dress up and play with:

[ghostinwinterfell]

goddd the way arya, sansa, and jon all believe that they have nothing left to live for after ned’s death:

[ghostinwinterfell]

do you ever think about how one of the last things that ned ever hears is the sound of sansa crying and screaming.

[ghostinwinterfell]

tbh even for asoiaf, ned’s death scene is pretty evil. he has no idea what’s happened to arya, sansa is collapsing with grief, the crowd is throwing rocks and calling for his death, he’s probably got “promise me, ned” playing on repeat in his head, he’ll never see catelyn again, he’ll never see his sons again, he’ll never get to tell jon the truth, he’s praying, he’s failed, he’s leaving his daughters all alone among enemies, it’s lyanna all over again, he’s right back where he started. and that’s it.

[ghostinwinterfell]

the starks are never beating the witch allegations:

[ghostinwinterfell]

rip jaime lannister you would’ve loved being pregnant

[ghostinwinterfell]

do you ever think about how one of the last things that ned ever hears is the sound of sansa crying and screaming.

[alayne-stones]

happy pride to ned stark 🏳️‍🌈

[goldcrescent]

Do you think Cersei would have been less or more insulted it Robert had called out Ned’s name on their wedding night instead of Lyanna’s

[sorcerervaati]

[courfeyrec]

it's a main character to ME

[spiribia]

i like how we all ignore that soldier / poet / king is probably supposed to all be descriptors for jesus christ and we're all just like this is my 3 blokes from the last television show i watched

[housestarkweek]

❆ WINTER IS HERE ❆

i gladly present the first house stark week that will take place from december 11 to december 17.

use the #StarkWeek2026 on your posts and check the prompts below.

¡ CREDITS !

fanart by laurellerual on tumblr and the banner was made by emberspears

¡ IMPORTANT !

— AI generated posts will not be accepted.

— use #StarkWeek2026 and tag @housestarkweek on your posts.

— you don’t have to follow the daily prompts, they are just suggestions. feel free to post whatever you want as long it’s about house stark.

— all types of content are accepted (fanart, edits, fanfics, aesthetics, cosplay, playlist and etc.)

— if you have any doubts about the prompts you can comment here or send me a dm.

— the week will happen on twitter too! please follow starkthinkerr