I am so grateful that my oomfie worked on this commission for me. This is literally my fifth Ygritte commission 😭😭😭 at this point I’m her biggest fan. I think that it turned out so beautifully. It’s also the first art I’ve paid for that includes Ygritte’s daughter beyond the fashion sheet Nata made me for the entire House in December. I love Ygritte and I love Bael, I’m so happy to see them together and see Ygritte as a mom. Obviously she has many faults and is a violent person, but at least with small children she canonically does have a soft spot and I think she would have loved being a mother so long as she didn’t have to compromise who she was a person.
This is from my AU where Jon becomes King Beyond The Wall before he abandons the Freefolk. The AU predicates on the theory that the Others will only negotiate with a Stark and that all other attempts to get rid of them will fail (obviously I don’t think this is true canonically but the AU is if it’s true), based on the very first chapter of AGOT where the Others were communicating over Royce, perhaps they were wondering whether he was a Stark, which would mean they should capture him instead of killing him. It actually isn’t all that relevant if it’s true, only if the Freefolk believe it is. Mance wants the best for his people and he wants them to survive, so he passes his metaphorical crown to Jon. That’s when Jon forms House Whitewolf and he marries Ygritte since he decides he will try to negotiate with the Wall instead of going back to them entirely (his need to feel important and needed of his own volition, especially since his brother was also King, is also a factor as to why he stays). Please please please, I am begging you, don’t complain that he’s married to Ygritte instead of Val. This all occurs without the Battle of Castle Black and with who Jon is as a person, the responsibility he feels he owes, and the fact that he believes he is in love with Ygritte, is the reason that in an attempt to maintain as close of a character as he was in the books, he marries her. If you want an AU where he marries Val, I encourage you to make it because it is quite fun to do. Back to the timeline, Bael is born on the march down to the Wall, where Jon is hoping he can get the Freefolk through. They don’t stop for long for her birth, only during Ygritte’s labor, then they continue, as time is of the essence. Bael is Jon’s heir until her brother is born three years later, which is a foreign concept to the Freefolk as they previously did not pass Kingship on that way. But she shares Jon’s blood and should Jon come to pass, she would be their only hope of ever communicating with the Others. She’s also important in the negotiation with the Wall as Alliser tries to coax Jon into giving up all his demands and surrender himself for execution as long as they let Bael and Ygritte through the Wall.
Ygritte is a very good mother and protective of her daughter. She loves her with all her heart, as does Jon, but as Jon is incredibly busy, she does have a special connection with her oldest child. She raises her up like a Freefolk woman and she’s as soft with her as a quencher of the Freefolk could be expected to be. She’s so proud of the human she’s created and that she has fulfilled her ultimate person from the Old Gods. When Jon is off in battle, she serves as a regent in her daughter’s best interest.
I have a whole headcanon post for this AU and House Whitewolf, if anyone is interested. I posted it on either November or December. I cover everything from Bael to the rest of the children, the children’s hobbies that are influenced by indigenous cultures. I talk about where the Freefolk eventually settle as well as what changes Jon makes to their culture and how him being King is different than Kings of the past.
I cannot think @nautieval enough, they honestly got this out really fast for me and didn’t need a lot of references. The art is super pretty, their commissions are open as of now so I of course encourage anyone and everyone to reach out and purchase a commission from them.
Cold tears cut across his cheeks, and his hands scrabbled at the air. He did not want to die. He wanted to see his brothers and sisters again. He wanted Mother to hold him in her arms. He wanted to climb and ride and run in the wolfswood. He wanted to live. He wanted to live.
im ngl i have no idea how many times ive reread your posts about the quobb kids i really do love them sm. can i ask if you could eleborate more on them, like who does eddara and theon marry? im assuming a northern bride for theon. but also what does the sibling dynamics look like? love your work!
aw, i'm so glad you enjoy my stupid quobb fankids <3 i'll probably make a full spreadsheet for 'em one day, but to answer your questions:
eddara is betrothed to the heir of last hearth (the smalljon's son who is, horribly, named robb after her dad 😭). thankfully that dude dies so she ends up marrying his younger brother, jon. he's jokingly called "the even smaller jon" but is still seven feet tall and built like a brick shithouse. the even smaller jon is soft as helllll and loves poetry. dara doesn't really like him and finds his attempts at writing her poetry really pathetic </3 she softens to him over time and the even smaller jon is deliriously happy with his "he asked for no pickles >:-(" wife.
normal theon marries the evil barbie of the dreadfort, walda frey and roose bolton's scary as fuck daughter. you can see in her eyes that she wants to make a cloak out of him, but normal theon is too chill to notice #maritalbliss. the next lady of winterfell bout to be doing some crazy shit with weirwoods and the blood of innocents, i'll tell you that much!
torrhen ends up married to thick vic's daughter ygraine because vic never managed to have a son and they need SOMEONE with a dick to run the iron islands :-/ they're both weird and bad at social interaction, but they're chill with each other <3 i think it's funny if they also only manage to have a single daughter. greyjoy sucession crisis forever and ever amen
alannys marries into the iron throne 👀 in the ten billionth sequel to sow the tide i'll never write, good queen shireen has a son, lyonel (with either trystane martell or faegon but shhhh, you didn't hear that from me). lanny2 and lyonel's marriage is not super awesome cause lyonel is lowkey giving bobby b, but shireen is a dream MIL, so it works out. lanny2 is a simple, sweet person so she thrives in shireen's women's court <3
jon never takes a wife for uh. blackfish reasons. his dating history is messy as hell but he mellows out in his twenties and is basically going steady with the captain of whatever mercenary company survives TWOW lol
per the sibling dynamics: eddara isn't particularly close with any of her siblings, since she fostered out fairly young and isn't super friendly at the best of times. theon and torrhen are not-quite 2 years apart, so they were superrr close before torrhen was sent to the iron islands. theon moves on from that loss, but for torr it's a wound forever and he's searching for his brother everywhere. YAY!
theon has a very big brotherly relationship with both lanny and jon, as it's only the three of them at winterfell up until lanny comes of age and goes to king's landing. lanny dotes on jon, since he's so much younger than the rest of them and basically a doll to her. jon actually really liked being babied/given more attention, but it wanes as he grows up and he starts to search it out in other places.
Quellon was so busy trying to change the Iron Islands, he forgot to make his sons love him, it happens to the best of us 🤷🏼♂️
quellon as an emotionally unavailable nose-to-the-grindstone reformist is actually so fun to me. bro was letting those kids raise themselves while he shaped a new legacy for the iron islands. tywin lannister but woke
How old do you think Balon and Alannys were when they were married? Since Balon could be as young as 29 when he decided to rebel, with at least one son old enough to fight and lead a battle, he could be married pretty young.
that is a question that plagues me... canonically, they had to young, the only question is how young.
i have rod jr as ~18 in 289, so alannys fell pregnant with him in 270-271. if she was 16 at the time, then she was born in 254-255. balon could also be born as early as 255, so i think that works out (if you wanna avoid them being stupid-young idiot parents).
with that said, i really enjoyed this fic where they're stupid-young idiot parents lol: Defiance
