Untitled

[mehek-mittal]

It deliberate that Rhaenyra and Jace keep bringing up Luke's name in almost every episode. And how noone, not even Halaena is allowed to name her son and grieve him. Aegon almost dies, and the entire discussion that follows is who did it to him, and who should replace him.

Not, what happened to him.

[bethanydelleman]

Fitzwilliam Darcy 🤝 Caroline Bingley 🤝 Elizabeth Bennet 🤝 Jane Bennet 🤝 Mr. Bennet 🤝 Lady Catherine 🤝 Charles Bingley 🤝 Mrs. Bennet

Being completely flabbergasted that Fitzwilliam Darcy loves Elizabeth Bennet

[joaniejustwokeup]

I’ll admit, I’m going to miss the little wizard guy. However I do like this thing where they completely change their logo randomly every few months.

I’ve started a collection:

[mehek-mittal]

I have transitioned from asking How does Tumblr make money to Does Tumblr make money.

And the fact that the answer is yes is truly the only right thing about social media currently

[sansasnowflakes]

the thing that makes me go insane when it comes to jonsa is that even though it’s not canon - and probably never will be - it’s a ship that’s got everything. it’s got everything you could ever wish for in a pairing. the shared history, the childhood memories, the complex family dynamics, being family yet being strangers, going from being strangers to being family. the parallels in their individual journeys - being in turn a traitor and a prisoner, learning to survive by playing a role in a place where they can never rest nor trust anyone. jon going from bastard to lord and sansa going from lady to bastard. being hurt over and over again, forced to grow up too soon, their dreams and ideals crushed, their innocence taken from them. the years-long separation, the pain of losing everyone they love, the longing for home and thinking they’re all alone in the world. and then… and then the reunion. unexpected and all the more beautiful because of it, all the more beautiful because of the distance that existed before, because she wasn’t his favourite sister, because of all the hardships they endured that made them into different people, people who could understand each other, love each other. the fact that with him sansa is finally safe, and with her jon finds his purpose again. avenging their family, avenging each other, and the house stark of it all - reclaiming their stolen home together when they used to be the two people who wanted to leave it the most. finding their identity as starks, an identity which was taken from sansa and never belonged to jon, by gifting it to each other - jon helping her get winterfell back and sansa letting him know he is a stark in her eyes, giving him the acceptance he never got from her mother. the comfort and protection, being each other’s safe haven, helping each other heal, learning to trust again, learning that they deserve to be loved. sansa’s wish of being loved for who she is, all her little girl dreams that she thought were impossible, coming true when she finds her prince in the most unlikely candidate of all. jon, with his lower status and feelings of inadequacy, being the hero she so desperately wished for, someone brave gentle and strong. but the anguish, the shame and the denial, a forbidden love, a burning desire fighting against the need to be honourable. jon’s parentage being revealed. the layers, the LAYERS guys!!! and that’s not even all of it. fics, meta, fanvids and edits have opened up this world of possibilities, they’ve taken these characters, understood them so perfectly, and created the most nuanced, compelling, beautiful relationship i’ve seen in all my years of obsessing over fictional couples.

[mehek-mittal]

Jonsa is the perfect ship because it's just enough both Pride and Prejudice and Emma with an added fantasy element

[dear-ao3]

hold on a fucking second. delaware is a state?? i thought it was a river? or is the river more important than the state? why don't i know this? (i should mention i don't like in america, i'm just confused)

there is delaware (state) and delaware (river) 

both are equally strange

the state is a tiny little cryptid thing

the rive is a monster that spans new york, pennsylvania, new jersey and delaware. also washington crossed it once and that was like kinda a big deal i guess. like crossing the rubicon in rome.

the state tries to me more important with its “im the first state!!!” bs (seriously its even on the fucking license plates) but we all know. its the river.

[dear-ao3]

THATS TUPPERWARE

[sobutmermaids]

i thought delaware was a place in ohio? why are there so many things named delaware?

[dear-ao3]

delaware is too powerful

[uncertaininnit]

what the fuck

[dear-ao3]

[skaktusposts]

Wait what? I thought Delaware was a store with building supplies. Like paint, wood, nails and stuff?

[dear-ao3]

THATS HOME DEPOT ???

[skaktusposts]

I know home depot, but dude I don't know anything about America mad have never been there. Are you sure there is not a some sort of store called something close to Delaware!?!

[dear-ao3]

.....ace hardware....?

[uncertaininnit]

this post has only been around for a few hours but could very well be a world heritage post

[dear-ao3]

but at what cost

[publiusmaximum]

This post launched at 8am PST on 12 Feb 2021. The above conversation has happened in 3 hours.

[mehek-mittal]

On Twitter this would have been a fight.

I truly love Tumblr. Can't wait to see this post on Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter screenshots in the next months.

[myanmarupdates]

PLEASE DON’T SCROLL

even if you only reblog, that’s enough

i was debating on whether or not i should post this on tumblr but seeing as there haven’t been posts about this yet, here it is. i’m exposing my real location and nationality but it doesn’t matter.

if you have been active on twitter, you may already know #savemyanmar is trending. long story short, there has been a military coup. several nations have released statements but i want to share insight on what’s happening in the country.

memes about a coup have been circulating around for a couple days and when i slept at 2 am last night, we were still under the rule of the National League for Democracy (NLD). while they are not technically democratic, they are the closest we’ve got. when my mother woke up at 6 this morning, she was notified that the country was now under the rule of the military.

banks services are no longer available. wifi was cut at around 7-8. some people got wifi again earlier but many got it barely thirty minutes ago. this is bad for businesses especially ones that require international communications. additionally, international students like myself are experiencing anxiety; how do we pay for and attend classes if we’re not sure wifi is a given?

myanmar has a long, complicated history with military governments. the last time the military went into rule was in 1962 and only stopped in 2011, following the 2010 elections. there was a huge protest in 1988 lead by students that resulted in lots of death. during the military junta, resources like rice, water, oil, were scarce. the gist is military rule is bad for us.

all of my followers are not myanmar citizens, i’m sure but as part of the international community, please help us. here is a petition that you can sign (although i’m not sure if that can do much). there may be protests in front of myanmar embassies so look out for those. most of all, please help spread awareness. 

the people here are coping with dark humor, primarily in the form of memes but we don’t know how long this rule will last, even though the official statement said only a year. here’s something that pretty much sums up our coping mechanism:

again, even a reblog helps

update :: all telecommunication means will be cut off at 12 am MMT

[ginazmemeoir]

it’s the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century.

you can only reblog this today.

[mjalti]

listen, when i go to open my mouth & what comes out is 12 degrees of seperation from what the original topic was, u need to connect the dots bitch. think fast. i’m not gonna hold ur hand but we’re leaving now and visiting every topic along the line. wave it goodbye, don’t get hung up on it

[theprideful-deactivated20251201]

everyone who reblogged this has adhd

[hellsbellschime]

Could you make a meta about jonerys storyline in s7?

LOL okay so fun story! I thought this would be a fun idea for a video and figured I’d do a scene by scene analysis except by the time I was done with 7x03 I already had FIFTEEN MINUTES of material, so I stopped there. It was interesting so I might dive more into it at another point, but I do feel like at the very least the subtext and narrative material from 7x03 is the most rich anyway.

Most fans of Game of Thrones were looking forward to the shows main leads, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, meeting each other for years. But unfortunately once "ice and fire" finally came face to face, their chemistry and relationship was tragically lacking. However, given that the show was trying to sell an epic love story between them in half a dozen episodes, what was it about Jon and Dany that went so wrong? And in retrospect, did it even go wrong at all? One of the most interesting bricks in the foundation of Jon and Daenerys's relationship actually gets set in stone before Jon and Dany even meet, and it's set in stone by Tyrion. There is an significant miscommunication caused by him in the second episode of the season, because Daenerys commands him to invite Jon to Dragonstone specifically to bend the knee, but the message he actually sends to Jon doesn't include that vital tidbit. But the question is, why is that?

It's possible to chalk it up to just an error in writing or editing, however it's something that would have to be overlooked by everyone, and given the way the season progresses it seems unlikely that that's the case. It could have easily been edited out of the episode itself, so the fact that it wasn't means that it had to have been left in for a reason. And the fact that this miscommunication is never clarified or brought up by Tyrion afterwards seemingly indicates that it's an intentional moment too. But what matters more about this intentional confusion is not the confusion itself, but what it's supposed to tell the audience. 

This disconnect between perspectives and understanding between Jon and Dany seems to repeat itself from the literal moment that they're introduced to each other as well. Obviously Missandei listing off all of Dany's many titles while Jon Snow is introduced with such little fanfare is a moment that plays very well comedically, but despite the fact that up until this point Jon and Dany have been portrayed as two of the most heroic characters in the series, the audience is immediately meant to see them as total opposites of each other. Obviously the disparity between them will become clearer later, but given the way they've both been presented as individuals thus far, it's quite odd that the literal second they meet they're portrayed in direct contrast to one another.

Jon and Daenerys's interactions are really weird right off the bat. Not only is Jon completely thrown for a loop when he arrives on Dragonstone and is immediately commanded to bend the knee and taken prisoner, but Daenerys is her worst, least appealing self as soon as she meets him. It's not entirely out of her wheel house to play hardball with another person in power that she's just met, but from what Tyrion has said about Jon she has no reason to negotiate so aggressively with him, and yet she does anyway. 

What really sticks out in this initial conversation more than anything though, is that immediately after Daenerys meets Jon, she does quite a few things that are going to be incredibly unappealing to Jon as a character. Firstly, she disregards Robb's quest for independence, something he literally died in service of, in order to defer to the supposed last King in the North, Torrhen Stark. That might make sense from Dany's perspective given that she has very little love lost for Viserys, but to Jon, overlooking his deceased brother who was legitimately chosen to be King in the North is not something that is going to win any points with him. 

Then Dany points out that Torrhen Stark swore fealty to House Targaryen in perpetuity in exchange for his life and the life of the Northmen. Now, given what Dany has done up until this point, no one would have expected her to kill all of the Northmen if Jon hadn't bent the knee, but Jon doesn't have the benefit of narrative omniscience, so this statement after his frosty welcome to Dragonstone seems like a pretty clear threat that if Jon doesn't submit to her, he and the Northmen will die. 

She also makes it clear that she sees Torrhen's vow (if a vow can even be considered legitimate when it's given under threat of death) as still valid despite the fact that this is centuries old history that she nor Jon had any choice in. When he refuses, she levies the accusation that he is somehow breaking faith with House Targaryen, despite the fact that according to feudal law, the Mad King very clearly broke faith with House Stark by nearly executing all of the men in the family. 

This is the first moment where Jon actually pushes back against Dany's claims and points out that it was clearly House Targaryen that broke faith, and Daenerys admits some guilt on her father's behalf but asks that he forgive this crime and not judge a daughter by the sins of her father. That would be a halfway decent concession for her to make, were it not for the fact that it's buffered by two implications that Jon is responsible for an oath that his ancestor swore as well as responsible for the fact that his father was best friends with someone who attempted to kill her. 

Her next attempt at winning Jon's allegiance is even stranger. She claims that House Targaryen and House Stark were allies for centuries, when the obvious reality is that they were unwillingly subjugated by House Targaryen and the Iron Throne for the entire time. She also calls them centuries of peace and prosperity, which they very clearly and objectively were not. Westeros has never been particularly peaceful, but it's also never been as chaotic as it was during the reign of the Targaryens. She also somewhat hilariously presents him with the offer of Warden of the North, as if that were a prize to be won for him and not an obvious downgrade in terms of his status among his people and in Westeros in general. 

Jon refuses in a pretty fair retort, explaining that he isn't beholden to his ancestors vows and Daenerys isn't guilty of her father's crimes. It's interesting though, because Daenerys is frustrated by this. It's somewhat understandable that she'd be frustrated by the fact that Jon isn't bending the knee, but it's also intersting that she is frustrated by something that is an objectively fair propisition that puts both she and Jon on equal footing with one another. Throughout their conversation it's been clear that she does not see things that way, she expects Jon to bend the knee because someone who isn't him made a vow, but she doesn't expect to be held guilty for her father's crimes because it wasn't her doing. 

When Jon says that he needs Dany's help and she needs his, her response here is very telling as well. Clearly she's flexing because she wants to be perceived as intimidating by everyone she meets, but what's curious is that she automatically disbelieves that she could need Jon's help when he hasn't even explained what she needs his help for. It's extremely telling because she is already in a mental position where she believes that nothing and no one could possibly pose any kind of threat to her. 

Jon's engagement with the conversation takes an interesting turn here, because even after everything that has been said and done so far, he tells Daenerys that she is at least better than Cersei because she hasn't attacked King's Landing yet. While that is technically true and feels slightly more on par with the heroic Dany that everyone has seen so far, what the audience does already know is that she hasn't just decided not to attack King's Landing, she's been convinced not to attack King's Landing. Thus far, this is the only positive thing that Jon has said about her, and the viewers already know that it's false. 

Jon, ever the wordsmith, tries to immediately apprise Daenerys of the gravity of the situation in the worst way possible by likening the game of thrones to children playing a game screaming that the rules aren't fair. But again, it's interesting that, even though Tyrion corrects her afterwards, Daenerys is offended that Jon is calling HER a child. And it seems that honestly, Dany has no interest in what Jon is saying to her so long as it's not about her and her right to rule Westeros. 

What's also really bizarre here about Daenerys and Tyrion's behavior is that when he starts explaining what's going on with the army of the dead, they are both apathetic and disbelieving, despite the fact that Melisandre told them to summon Jon Snow because something big was coming and Jon knew more about it than almost anyone. It's possible that they were suspicious that it was some kind of trap or ruse, but it's strange that they both act so clueless and uncaring when they've both already been told that Jon was going to show up and tell them some wild shit. 

The dialog exchange gets really bizarre at this point, because instead of actually responding to anything that Jon said, Dany goes off on a tangent that essentially sums up to the idea that she believes in nothing but herself and it's her destiny to rule Westeros. It seems so off topic that it's hard to even understand what the writers were trying to convey here, but the only thing that I can possibly comprehend is that they're essentially trying to make it clear that after everything Jon has said and done, Daenerys is still thinking of nothing more than her destined birthright. 

And once again, we're all meant to see a contrast here because Davos intercedes and counters with the idea that if it's Dany's destiny to be queen, then all of Jon's accomplishments were his destiny too. This is interesting for two reasons though. The first is obvious, that Jon isn't the type to talk himself up or behave in a remotely entitled way, and that he doesn't command respect but earns it.

However, this points out something else interesting that is easy to overlook throughout this exchange. Daenerys is extremely forthcoming about herself, her accomplishments, and what she believes is her right, but Jon hasn't offered up any information about himself willingly. It's an understandable strategic tactic, there is no reason to offer up information to a potential enemy, but the fact is that this conversation clearly has confirmed in his mind that Daenerys is still a very possible enemy. 

And unfortunately for both of them, as Jon and Dany's first ever conversation concludes, Daenerys actually confirms that Jon is her enemy, claims that he is in open rebellion against her, and takes him prisoner while refusing to admit that she's actually taking him prisoner. 

Jon's conversation with Tyrion later is even more interesting. Because Jon directly calls out the fact that he's a prisoner, and Tyrion tries to claim the exact same thing that Dany did, that he's not a prisoner based on the incredibly frail technicality that Dany did not directly tell him that he was a prisoner. But even more importantly, this is an obvious instance where Tyrion could have told Jon that his message to him was intentionally misleading and Daenerys's aggression towards him may have been partially his fault, but he doesn't, nor does he explain this at any point later. 

Another interesting element to their conversation is that Tyrion tells Jon that he actually does believe him about the army of the dead. It's interesting because, if that were the case, why did he so clearly tag-team Jon in his first meeting with Daenerys? Perhaps it took him a moment of thought to actually understand what Jon was saying and come around to believing him, but it's interesting that the writers had a character who was familiar with Daenerys and Jon who could easily have mediated between them and didn't have him mediate. 

Tyrion also makes mention of the fact that children are not their fathers, luckily for all of us. While this is just a one off line and potentially means nothing, it's also a potentially very telling one because, honestly, Jon and Tyrion are very much like their fathers. Jon has idolized Ned for his entire life and desperately wants to be his father, and despite all of his attempts to distance himself from Tywin, Tyrion is clearly the Lannister child who is the most similar to his own father. So the subtext there about none of them being their fathers when even at this point two out of three of them are incredibly similar to their fathers specifically, seems like it could be very obvious foreshadowing.

But probably the most intriguing and noticeably strange aspect of Jon's conversation with Tyrion is that Tyrion explains to him that asking for Daenerys's help against an enemy she doesn't even believe is real is not a reasonable thing to ask. However, literally everything that Tyrion and Daenerys have asked of Jon so far has been wildly unreasonable to ask. Daenerys has asked a complete stranger to bend the knee to someone he's never met or even seen before, and she has essentially taken him hostage when he refused instead of just trying to convince him to do so. Jon even offers her an incredibly easy way in, he asks for her help, and if she provides it it's obvious that he and the rest of the Northmen would be much more open to the idea of her as their queen, but rather than even hearing Jon out she takes a seemingly desperate person as her prisoner with the clear intent of holding him there until he bends the knee. 

When Tyrion convinces Daenerys to give Jon the dragonglass he requires, Daenerys makes her first attempt to actually relate to Jon on a personal level. It's once again interesting that Daenerys brings up the loss of her two brothers and relates it to Jon's loss of his brothers, because Jon offers literally nothing in return. 

But what seems to be more relevant is Dany's position that everyone enjoys what they're good at and Jon saying that he doesn't. Once again, because the audience has the luxury of seeing Jon's entire journey thus far, it's easy to see why he feels this way. However, this seems to be another opportunity to point out the way in which Jon and Dany contrast each other, not to point out the ways in which they're similar to one another. 

It's interesting that Melisandre claims that she has brought ice and fire together at the beginning of the episode. Aside from being a nice nod to the original text, it also positions Jon and Daenerys as opposing forces instead of united ones. And these constant contrasts that are being brought up from the instant that they meet seem extremely relevant to their relationship to one another, but the fact that Dany enjoys what she's good at while Jon doesn't seems to be the most vital bit of information that the show conveys about Jon and Dany right off the bat. Because there really are so many parallels between what they're good at. Much of Jon and Dany's journeys thus far have been about fighting from the bottom to get to the top, winning people over, and trying to kill their enemies before their enemies can kill them. However, many of the things that Jon seems to dislike about leadership the most seem to be things that Daenerys actually does genuinely enjoy. 

It's safe to say that their very first meeting wasn't all that many fans were hoping for, however it seems like in the brutally short timeline of the final two seasons of Game of Thrones, the writers felt that the most important thing to establish between Jon and Daenerys right off the bat was not some sort of chemistry or romantic interest, but was the idea that these two people are diametrically opposed to one another in every way that matters. Despite the fact that their character arcs have had so many parallels thus far, the first episode where Jon and Daenerys actually meet seems to be designed to establish that everything about their personalities, dispositions, and overall ideals are on opposite ends of the spectrum, which was truly just the first gigantic step in establishing a romantic relationship that seems muddled, disjointed, and generally hard to follow and comprehend.

[trinuviel]

The show began emphasizing their differences (the characters as foils) already in season 6 in how they themselves win over the Dothraki and the Free Folk respectively through magical acts. Dany leans fully into the deification whereas Jon rejects it decidedly. Dany gains the Dothraki through fear and overpowering might whereas Jon gets the Free Folk support through dialogue and co-operation. 

[hellsbellschime]

Agreed. The shorter timeline both made Jonerys’ development interesting and janky as hell because, although they are on the surface meant to be portrayed as love interests, literally from the second that they meet the show went out of it’s way to demonstrate how completely contrasting they are to each other despite the fact that there are very obvious ways in which they could point out Jon and Dany’s similarities. Like most things, it’s like what they wanted to portray and what they needed to portray were opposing one another so they legit just tried to do both at the same time and it made everything so astonishingly confusing it’s absurd.

[trinuviel]

What’s even weirder is that EVERY supposedly romantic scene is immediately undermined by either by the dialogue or the visual narrative (editing, blocking, Kit Harington’s non-verbal acting choices). The “romance” is just bizarre in season 7 and the first ep of season 8 - and then it just becomes this overtly abusive relationship but the show never explicitly acknowledges how emotionally abusive Dany is to Jon. 

I’m not even sure that they intended to depict it as a genuine romance (they actually have done a quick developed genuine romance that people actually bought earlier in the show). Overall, jonerys comes across as a hook-up gone bad. Dany was infatuated with a fantasy of her own creation (mainly centered on Jon being magical and extraordinary like her) and Jon just didn’t seem into her. I literally have no idea why Jon slept with her (though a leaked early script had a scene where she summons him to her cabin). Kit was pretty consistent in his non-verbal acting around Dany for two seasons - and if he was directed to act in love then his acting choices are just bizarre and it is equally bizarre that no one corrected him and that the dialogue and visual narrative subtly supports that this was never meant to be a romance. Jonerys honestly comes across as shallow fan service that the showrunners tried to use as a cover for the big final surprise of Jon killing her - and that was probably why they never had the narrative openly acknowledge how toxic and abusive this relationship was. 

The Ds have form for writing weird character interactions to hide a “surprise” twist- and they value these twists more than credible characterization and a coherent narrative - probably based on a misunderstanding about what actually made GoT so popular with its audience. It wasn’t the twists like Ned’s execution or the Red Wedding (that gave the show media notoriety) but rather the characters and the original story (the show really suffered when they no longer had the books to rely on).

It is because of how they used the “romance” to cover the surprising killing (+ the fan service aspect) that I’m doubting whether there’ll even be a jonerys romance in the books. Because Jon’s journey in the books seem pretty much designed to make him see through Dany immediately. 

[hellsbellschime]

Yeah I can’t remember who said it but someone pointed something out that totally had not occurred to me but completely made sense, which is basically that regardless of the fact that Dany was clearly a villain and was coercing Jon into a “relationship” by the end, the general audience would have absolutely lost it’s mind if Jon had not only killed Dany, but made it known that he was manipulating her or using her in some way. The only misgiving I have about that theory is that D&D are generally really bad at gauging when the audience is going to be offended by something, however given the fact that a lot of people already see Jon killing Dany as an act of domestic violence, it seems fair to expect that the negative reaction to it would have been a hundred times worse if they didn’t commit to the narrative that Jon truly loved her and was heartbroken to have to kill her. 

And I do expect Jonerys to happen in the books, but GRRM clearly gives no fucks about romance writing, and given that he can actually explain the character points of view exactly, I don’t think that Jon’s potentially political motivations for the situation are going to crush the reader’s view of him as a person. And of course he’s never backed away from Dany’s dark side anyway, so the series isn’t going to end with the lost little girl having to be put down like Old Yeller. 

[trinuviel]

I think it was me that said that - that might explain why they tried so hard to sell the supposed romance off-screen but never on-screen. Ultimately, it is what’s on the screen that matters because THAT is the final product and not the discourse surrounding it.

Dany is already so much worse in the books because the show really sanitized her actions in Slaver’s Bay. GRRM is going to make her twice as ruthless and dark in the books now that she has chosen Fire and Blood and being the Mother of Dragons rather than the Mhysa of the downtrodden.

[mehek-mittal]

I think this is also connected to the disconnect between marketing and creative teams for TV shows where people creating promotional materials are seldom aware of the entire story.

Also, the show never established Dany and Jon as Fire and Ice. Rhaegar and Lyanna were fire and ice, Jon is also both.

I don't understand how Jon killing Dany can be seen as an act of domestic voilence. There was nothing domestic about their relationship.

Killing your wife/girl is domestic voilence, killing a dictator who also happens to be your ex?/romantic partner is political assassination.

Jon and Dany's relationship can be a case study for how people get the opposites-attract trope wrong.

Throught literature, the only kind of "opposites-attract" couples that have sustained have been the ones who appear opposite externally but share very similar internal motivations and beliefs. Like Elizabeth and Darcy.

Jon and Dany are the opposite of that. All they have in common is appearances. All the parallels are superficial, more about place and situation of birth than upbringing.

The entire destined lovestory of Jon and Dany seems very similar to Emma Woodhouse and Frank Churchill, how this two are meant to be together. When they are too similar on the outside and too different internally to ever be a romantic match.

When a show depicts the lovemaking between their supposed "star couple" against the backdrop of it conclusively being incest AND both of them being competitors for the same throne, you know they are not actually rooting for them.

Conquering the world and saving it look similar from far but are two very distinct motivations.

[daisyedens]

Only Just

I.

283 A.C.

“Robb, meet your Aunt Lysa.” Her sister gently places the babe in Lysa’s arms. Catelyn’s exhaustion is visible in her voice – remnants of the birthing, but pride as well. Catelyn and her lord husband had been together scarcely a fortnight before he had ridden off with Jon Arryn, leaving her behind with nothing but promises. And she’ll have a son to give him if he comes back. If he falls in battle, he’ll have a son that’ll be his legacy.

Trust her sister to be blessed so quickly when it sometimes took other women over a year and more. Lysa gazes at the red-faced babe, and for a moment she feels as though she is about to retch. This could have been her precious little baby she was holding, not Catelyn’s, the baby she and sweet Petyr made that night – Bursting into tears, Lysa thrust Robb back into Catelyn’s arms.  Deaf to Catelyn’s startled cries, Lysa fled from the room.

She knows that Catelyn will go to find her later, but Lysa will not want to see her. She doesn’t want her sister or that horrible Lord Jon Arryn. He was older than even Father, and yet he had excepted her to go to bed with him? She had wept so bitterly she had believed the seven gods would free her, but if the seven heard her they were not merciful, and neither was her father.

Jon Arryn is an excellent match for a girl that acted as shamelessly as you did. Have I taught you nothing, Lysa? Family, Duty, Honor. When it comes to our house words, duty comes second- because it is the family to which we owe our duty. And you failed our family when you allowed that boy to despoil you as if you were some serving wench, and not a daughter of Riverrun.

Lysa notices how Father never speaks Petyr’s name – instead always referring to him as “that boy”. Catelyn doesn’t speak of him at all. Petyr who had been her father’s ward and who had loved her sister so- they had discarded him so easily. Not Lysa, though. She would not forget Petyr so easily, no matter what lords her father gave her to. Nor would she forget their child either. He would have been so beautiful. Lysa thought with a dull ache. I would have given Petyr a son. Catelyn might be Father’s favourite and better at nearly everything, but she wouldn’t be able to claim that. And neither it seemed, would Lysa.

II.

288 A.C.

It is her fourth pregnancy. She is seven moons gone. A blessed number Lysa thinks - seven for the seven faces of god.  Surely that must count for something, Lysa hopes.   She knows her husband waits impatiently with bated, stinking breath for the son she will finally give him - but Lysa knows in her heart that she is having a daughter.  And although the babe undoubtedly belongs to Jon - the result of all those nights she was trapped beneath the weight of his body, her eyes shut and mind far away- when she dreams,  her daughter looks like Petyr.

She is seven moons gone and surely that must mean something.  That it will be different, this time.

It isn’t.

She awakes suddenly in the middle of the night, to find their bed drenched.  Her heart freezes when she realizes what it means.

No, no, no, no, please-

It’s too early.  This is a nightmare, she’ll go back to sleep and all will be well.  And when she awakes again, she won’t be here but a child again in Riverrun.  

Instead, Maester Pycelle aids her in her delivery.  Lysa is right - she does give birth to a daughter.  Small, beautiful - and dead.  It is morning when Pycelle pulls her little girl from her, and it will be before the sun has set that she will be buried, along with a piece of Lysa’s heart.  For every babe she lost, they took a piece with them.

To his credit, if Jon Arryn blames her for disappointing him once again - he does not show it.  He is too honourable for that.  But he is thoughtlessly cruel.   When Maester Pycelle suggests naming their daughter, stating that it helps some women to do so, Jon squeezes her hand and thanks the Maester who is even older than he is. “We’ve never named a child yet,” he says wistfully.  For that Lysa wants to slap him, for she has given a name to every child she has lost.  The babes she lost were all named, and loved and wanted- including the first babe she lost all those years ago in Riverrun.  The babe that would have been Petyr’s, the man she loved still.

III.

289 A.C.

Princess Mrycella is born in the first month of the new year. Later, men will tell Robert Baratheon that the gods sent Mrycella as a sign to herald his victory in defeating the Greyjoys that same year.  

As she is the wife of the Hand of the King, Lysa has the honour to be one of the first to hold the little princess.

Lysa smiles and pretends happiness for her queen.  And maybe a part of her really is happy for Queen Cersei.  After all, perhaps the gods will stop torturing her and grant her a child of her own too one day, who will grow up to become close with Mrycella. Like she and Cat.

But when her husband receives a raven from his former ward that Lysa’s sister has given birth to their third child - a healthy girl named Arya, and a sister for their Robb and Sansa - Lysa wants to rage at the terrible unfairness of it all.

Lysa has worked it out, and Arya was born on what would have been her first child’s sixth nameday.

IV.

299 A.C.

When she hears of how Winterfell has fallen, and that the Greyjoy boy has killed her two nephews, Lysa wants to weep for her sister.  She knows the torment Catelyn must be going through.   Perhaps in a world that had been kinder to Lysa Arryn, she would have.

But she is glad too, as she clutches her Sweetrobin closer to her chest, who is not just her only child but her miracle as well.

The gods had taken so many children from her.

It was only just that they would take some of Catelyn’s away, as well.

[mehek-mittal]

Fuck. This was Wow.

The saddest thing about this that Men like Jon Arryn will still be considered honorable and just and kind, even by men like Ned Stark even to this day, when they refuse to show the slightest of kindness to the person closest to them.

[mehek-mittal]

Everyone who thinks Arya -"I am not a Lady"-Stark would be instant friends with Daenerys-too-pretentious-a-list-of-titles-to-type- Targaryen must surely be disillusioned.

What Arya has with Sansa is what I like to call the 'I am not like other girls' conflict.

Like many of us, Arya has been conditioned to beleive that women who sew and dance and bow are weak and hollow. And so, like many of us she suffers from "I am not like other girls syndrome", which she ofcourse will gradually overcome as she comes to appreciate her sister's completely opposite but equally important strengths.

What Arya might share with Dany if they ever meet is a principled conflict where thier entire belief systems are opposing. This stupid shit of Arya admiring Daenerys because of Dragons and power is frankly too stupid.

Arya Stark doesn't admire power. She admires Justice.

Arya Stark is a trained assassin who believes in fighting her own battles. Dany rides dragons and spews fire. She wouldn't know swordfare or war strategy if it came to her in a dream.

Arya hated being called lady , why would she ever like someone who insists on being called Queen without ever actually becoming one?

Arya is a vigilante, Daenerys an invader. Why would they ever get along?

[latenightsinpemberley]

Let’s take a look at the case of Mad Queen and Dark Dany, shall we?

On the one hand we have the allegation that Daenerys decided, with full conscience, to burn King’s Landing to a crisp in advance to the attack, during her ‘Let it be fear’ scene with Jon Snow.

(Dumb&Dumber did say that it was a shift that happened in that moment and was not planned, but….. at this point do I even need to elaborate???)

Well.

This is the woman who lost her husband and baby and stepped into a fire with three dragon eggs. The woman that got her people out of the Red Waste alive only to have them all be slaughtered. The one that found herself captive to the Dothraki and escaped captivity as their fucking leader, in the most badass throw-me-to-the-wolves-and-I’ll-return-leading-the-pack moment of female empowerment.

Daenerys is the goddamn comeback Queen.

She’s been brutalised, abused, sold and raped. She’s lost more people than anyone. She’s been through everything. There’s nothing you can throw at her she hasn’t already known.

And you expect me to believe that what breaks her is Jon Snow being loved and idolised by a bunch of Northerners and wildlings that are coincidentally his buddies?

Really?

Daenerys Stormborn, the Breaker of Chains, the mhysa worshipped by her people was so incredibly jealous of Jon Snow, whom no one outside the North has even heard of, she decided to go completely berserk? She goes to the region that’s notorious for being isolationist and obstinate, sees them demonstrate the predictable, xenophobic attitude they have towards anyone that isn’t them and she just falls into despair? Does she plan to move the capital to Winterfell and worries about how she’s gonna cope? She literally doesn’t need to set foot in this wasteland for the entirety of her reign.

Do you expect me to believe that Dany was one breath away from her life’s goal achieved, with King’s Landing surrendering without the blood of a single innocent shed, and she just went ‘fuck it, let’s throw this all in the garbage. Three days spent with a bunch of elitist Northern little shits have convinced me that I’m a completely useless leader that will never be loved by anyone, even though my entire life I have found myself navigating cultures completely foreign to me, managing to adapt and integrate, and ultimately win the people’s love and respect. If I don’t have the Northern Stamp of Approval I’m nothing! ’?

Do you expect me to believe Daenerys, who has lost so many people in her life just couldn’t stand the idea of Jon Snow not loving her? Do you really expect me to believe Daenerys Stormborn went full Ophelia/Lady MacBeth combo because.. a man rejected her? That’s it?! A man she knows for no more than a few weeks and has cost her near everything while giving her nothing?

Wasn’t everyone crying about Dany being powerhungry and obsessed with the Throne until yesterday? So how the everliving fuck can they seriously consider a plot that has her throw her victory and lifelong dream away, in any way believable?

Wasn’t everyone crying about Dany’s notorious dark side and Targaryen ruthlessness? So why didn’t she go straight for the Red Keep to take her revenge by taking down the woman that murdered her best friend, the woman who’s family ordered the massacre and brutalisation of her niece, nephew and sister-in-law and tried to decimate the entire Targaryen House?

‘But that’s what made her lose it! She couldn’t handle it and turned mad! The Targaryen genes! The inbreeding!’

Bullshit.

Five Targaryens have gone mad in three centuries. Five. And many others went down in history as some of the kindest, most benevolent rulers of the Realm.

You want to talk about her father, whom everyone loves bringing up with their smartass I-told-you-so comments? The man whom it took years to descend into madness and become the Mad King? The Nero of Westeros, that wanted to burn King’s Landing because he thought that would make him a fucking dragon? That’s the parallel you’re going for? Based on what?

How is a Pavlovian switch from sanity to madness, caused by bells of all things, a plausible depiction of a character descending into madness?

Dany was enraged, and she had every right to be so. She had every right to unleash holy hell to those who wronged her. Go full fire and blood.

I absolutely love Dany’s darkness, and I will defend the harshness with which she punishes her enemies, the slave masters and rapists and abusers, until my dying breath. I would have loved to see her every bit as ruthless getting her revenge from Cersei and her cronies, a living reflection of Visenya Targaryen, a dragon breathing fire herself.

But burning a city full of innocents to the ground is not how someone overcome with grief and rage that seeks revenge acts.

It’s not how any damn person acts, let alone the show’s posterchild of protecting the innocent and bringing justice. The woman that found a way to liberate Yunkai without shedding a drop of blood. The woman that refused to attack King’s Landing straight away, as any clever leader would do, to spare the innocents, lost her allies’ forces because of it, was willing to put everything on hold to save the North costing her dramatically, and negotiated with the devil for the umpteenth time to save those damn civillians.

Who has ever even done that? Stannis Baratheon that was about to sack the capital with his fleet? Robert Baratheon when he overthrew the Targaryens? Honestly what kind of conqueror bends over backwards, and turns their backs to an easy and certain win so that civillians won’t get hurt?

Daenerys fucking Targaryen did.

Meanwhile, every character we’ve spent seasons watching sit idly by as atrocities are committed, that have done their fair share of actually horrific shit in their day are suddenly clutching their pearls every time that Dany so much as voices the wish to finally fucking do what they came here for.

The gaslighting of Daenerys this past two seasons has been beyond outrageous. Cersei could literally throw her in a cell and Tyrion would be like ‘Your Grace, maybe it’s not wise, to move right away and release you…. Think of the innocent people…. The weather….. The omens…Flower power….’

She had to put up with all this patronising bullshit, suffer detrimental losses in her forces (that were then magically recovered but I am not getting into that shit) because of people that treated her as a mentally unstable liability and just take it.

And she did. She fucking took it all. She singlehandedly won King’s Landing with no civillian getting hurt after postponing the attack a million times already.

And I’m expected to believe that she threw it all away and just started burning everyone alive? Is this the Twilight Zone?

This clusterfuck was neither Dany embracing her fire and blood side nor going mad. It was merely a clownery meant to provide shock valur, that gave the audience the worst case of whiplash in the history of television and the character assassination of one of the most iconic female characters in fantasy.

[the-roman-imperatrix]

I agree. The ending was really bad when I first saw it, but looking back, it’s even worse. Daenerys was literally the only person who tried to change the status quo in a positive way. Not even Jon Snow cared for people unlike himself. He was content in the North, away from the rest of the world. It’s almost funny, considering she’s been fighting against slavery and deposing tyranny for years, and now, apparently fighting tyrants makes one a tyrant, and killing evil men is a gateway to killing innocent people. 

[mehek-mittal]

Okay. Lots of things.

1. What exactly was Dany "avenging" Cersei for? Cersei did not kill her father or anyone she knows.

Jaime did and frankly should be rewarded for it.

Fighting for the throne is not revenge. It's ambition, greed, thirst for power... something from that category.

2. When did Dany ever adapt or integrate?

Ever since she has got her Dragons , she has always been in a position of authority. She had made people how down to her, adapt to her needs.

3. Dany didn't win the Dothraki in the most badass

throw-me-to-the-wolves.... way. She won the Dothraki in a Don't-follow-me-and-I'll-burn-you-down way.

She did the same thing at King's landing.

4. Daenerys Targaryen, The First of her Name, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea...blah blah blah..WAS jealous of Jon Snow, King in the North. People followed Dany. Feared her. Worshipped her. NOONE loved her.

Jon Snow, King in the North who wasn't really known outside the North was LOVED by all the people who knew him. They adored him.

This is the reason she was jealous of Sansa as well.

5. People worshipped/followed Dany because she has showed them her POWER.

Theon, Jaime, Brienne kneeled to Sansa because she/her mother had been KIND to them.

It's a different feeling for people to still love you when they have the choice not to. Dany didn't really give people that choice.

[fedonciadale]

People dislike Sansa not because of misogyny. She is written to be disliked. You can stan a character no matter where their moral spectrum lies but to turn that stanning to make them look good and whitewash their actions seems hypocritical. At least Cersei stans do not whitewash her actions while still sympathising with her . Sansa has been abused and so are many Westerosi women but that doesn't mean all of them are good people.

Hi there!

She is written to have conflict with Arya, but if you think that Sansa even needs to be whitewashed you clearly have not read any of her chapters. We don’t need to let Sansa look good: Sansa is good.

She was sad for him, she realized. (AGOT, Sansa II)

That is after the Hound shoved her around and told her his story.

It would have been unkind to say so, however, so Sansa took a sip of milk and changed the subject. (AGOT, Sansa IV)

We see her thoughts and she fights with Arya, but she is always polite. And we shouldn’t underestimate how nice it is to interact with a person that does not insult you at every turn.

Sansa could not believe she had spoken. Was she mad? To tell him no in front of half the court? She hadn't meant to say anything, only . . . Ser Dontos was drunk and silly and useless, but he meant no harm.     (ACOK, Sansa I)

Sansa spoke up to save Ser Dontos.

"Help him," Sansa commanded two of the serving men. One just looked at her and ran, flagon and all. Other servants were leaving the hall as well, but she could not help that. Together, Sansa and the serving man got the wounded knight back on his feet. "Take him to Maester Frenken." Lancel was one of them, yet somehow she still could not bring herself to wish him dead. I am soft and weak and stupid, just as Joffrey says. I should be killing him, not helping him. (ACOK, Sansa VII)

Sansa helped Lancel an enemy.

How can I let my sister marry Joffrey? she thought, and suddenly her eyes were full of tears. "Margaery, please," she said, "you mustn't." It was hard to get the words out. "You mustn't marry him. He's not like he seems, he's not. He'll hurt you."     (ASOS, Sansa II)

Sansa warns Margaery of Joffrey, although she doesn’t yet know, if she can trust her.

He had not been dead when she left the throne room. He had been on his knees, though, clawing at his throat, tearing at his own skin as he fought to breathe. The sight of it had been too terrible to watch, and she had turned and fled, sobbing. Lady Tanda had been fleeing as well. "You have a good heart, my lady," she said to Sansa. "Not every maid would weep so for a man who set her aside and wed her to a dwarf."

A good heart. I have a good heart. Hysterical laughter rose up her gullet, but Sansa choked it back down. The bells were ringing, slow and mournful. Ringing, ringing, ringing. They had rung for King Robert the same way. Joffrey was dead, he was dead, he was dead, dead, dead. Why was she crying, when she wanted to dance? Were they tears of joy?   (ASOS, Sansa V)

Sansa weeps for Joffrey, even though he was horrid. 

She felt him nod. "The Winged Knight was brave, and so am I," he boasted to her bodice. "I'm an Arryn."

"Will my Sweetrobin hold me tight?" she asked, though he was already holding her so tightly that she could scarcely breathe.

"If you like," he whispered. And clinging hard to one another, they continued on straight down to Sky. ...

Alayne took Robert's gloved hand in her own to stop his shaking. "Sweetrobin," she said, "I'm scared. Hold my hand, and help me get across. I know you're not afraid."    

He looked at her, his pupils small dark pinpricks in eyes as big and white as eggs. "I'm not?" 

"Not you. You're my winged knight, Ser Sweetrobin."

"The Winged Knight could fly," Robert whispered.

"Ser Sweetrobin," Lord Robert said, and Alayne knew that she dare not wait for Mya to return. She helped the boy dismount, and hand in hand they walked out onto the bare stone saddle, their cloaks snapping and flapping behind them. All around was empty air and sky, the ground falling away sharply to either side. There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. (AFFC, Alayne II)

Sansa helps a small boy over a chasm and gives him courage! She saves his life.

All these scenes are not my invention. That’s not me “whitewashing” Sansa. That is who Sansa is.

I also stan Cersei by the way and I know she is a foil for Sansa, a foil not a parallel.

Now, I suggest you do something else than wailing in Sansabut in my inbox.

Sry, not sry, all Sansabuts are misogynists, that completely miss the point of the fundamental importance of kindness and resilience.

[mehek-mittal]

The only way you can write a "character to be disliked" is by actively showing characters whom you like disliking that character or showing that character do awful things to the characters we like/support the characters we dislike.

Let see. Who is the most disliked ASOIF character that interacts with Sansa?

1. Joffrey Baratheon?

Except the first few interactions, all the other interactions between Joffrey and Sansa paint Sansa as Joffrey's victim not his confidante. Yes, many Westerosi women have been abused, but we specifically see one of the most hated characters actively abuse Sansa, and it's written for us to dislike HER???

This is not misogyny. You are correct. This is active hatred of women.

2. Littlefinger

Does Littlefinger like Sansa? Unfortunately, Yes.

Does Sansa like Littlefinger?

"Sansa had no choice but to explain about heroes and monsters. The king's councillor smiled."

"Sansa tried to step back, but he pulled her into his arms."

3. Cersei Lannister

As nuch as she wants to see herself in Sansa, she only sees someone better and hates her.

Let's see the people who love and care for Sansa:

1. Catelyn Stark

2. Arya Stark

3. Ned Stark

4. Jon Snow

How was she written to be disliked?

[mehek-mittal]

As much as I read our colonial history, the more I can see parallels with Daenerys. And it's so funny when people defend Dany with lame and baseless arguments like her having "good intentions" because those are the exact same arguments people use to justify the colonisation of my nation.

[fyeahcontroversialcharacters]

[sinclair-wildstar]

I will reblog this every time it crosses my dash.

[dreamychocolateprincess]

People who don’t get this infuriate me

[mehek-mittal]

Is Sansa Jon's queen now?

Nights watch comes under the North, right? So, Sansa is canonically Jon's queen?

[jonskory]

kit really said that jon was desperate to tell sansa that he wasn't her brother huh

[mehek-mittal]

Also Kit saying that If there's one person Jon would hate in GOT, it is Littlefinger!