asoiaf sideblog ⚔️ too casual for the hardcore fans, too hardcore for the casual fans ⚔️ catelyn stan ⚔️ i overtag for fun & profit ⚔️ constantly turning the concept of chivalry over and over in my mind like a worry stone ⚔️
What Would Catelyn Tully Eat in a Day Growing up in Riverrun?
for breakfast: hot bread with soft cheese, crisp bacon, smoked herring, soft-boiled eggs, and roasted nuts.
for dinner: tart grapes, honeyed capons stuffed with grain and chestnuts, cream of leek soup, fresh bread, and a thin slice of honey cake.
for supper: trout wrapped in bacon, a salad of turnips and red fennel and watercress, hot bread, and nut-brown ale.
i recently reread the part in a game of thrones where catelyn remembered her and lysa feeding littlefinger so many mud pies that he was sick for a week, and the idea of the two sisters bossing him around as kids stuck with me, so i felt the idea of them ordering him to fetch them a snack in the middle of the night was very fitting.
for a midnight snack: warmed milk and candied salmon.
tyrion must have really confusing memories of cersei. sometimes he remembers days where she was sweet and funny and played with him and picked him up and swung him around, even when she normally can't even look at him. once jaime slapped his hand when he went to hold his brother's and bizarrely he ran to cersei. do you think he remembers a time when cersei loved him.
cersei going to sansa's bedchambers after she leaves maegor's holdfast during the battle of the blackwater, only to find sandor's stained white cloak already on the bed and thinking he raped her. she talks about how sansa is such a slut, how no one could truly care about her without wanting to get up her skirt, and when sansa stars to sob, trying to explain that it wasn't like that, that he "might've" kissed her but that was only it, that she was still proper, still a maiden, and cersei tells her to shut up, that she know the truth, that sansa is lucky she's bleeding and that the queen is above dirtying her hands, otherwise she would check her maidenhood herself to prove how much of a filthy liar she is, as filthy as her traitor's blood. and when sansa can't stop crying, curled up in her bed, barely able to speak, to beg for cersei's forgiveness, she simply... stops, sits next to sansa and caresses her hair for a while in total silence, until she gets up and leaves like nothing ever happened.
literally stannis and dany cousins on the same team au would be soooo fun. He would not be a father figure because he’s not a good father and kids do NOT like him but
1)when he meets Jorah he would immediately behead him for being a slaver and fleeing his sentence
2)he would be sooooooo proud of Dany for crucifying the masters and gives her an extremely stiff pointed nod with what he thinks is an approving yet stern expression and she’s mentally like “what the fuck is that face man” and assumes he must have gotten ill so she smiles and has someone bring him a flavorless medicinal soup in the evening, which is incidentally his favorite meal and he’s very touched that someone remembered
Very importantly Dany would recognize that she CANNOT make him her master of laws bc he’d be way too much of a hardass but she also can’t pick someone else as her hand bc he’d be a middle child about it and the whole thing makes her restructure her entire council to put everyone’s talents to good use so he gets appointed something between hand and guy who can figure out how to structure and finance all her new social programs. He’s pissy about it at first bc he wanted to mete out justice or whatever but he hunkers down and invents the excel spreadsheet (WITH formulas) because This Is His Duty. Six months in everything is structured and fully funded for the next 20 years because he got an insanely good deal with the iron bank. Dany very charmingly and pointedly credits him every time they hit her goals with raising literacy rates and vaccinating children and she designs a stag standing on a firm bedrock to put on all the public program logos so people start calling him some shit like Ser Stannis The Stalwart because he’s so hardworking and responsible (no he cannot possibly do a press conference, Dany needs him for a meeting that day, she sends her apologies) and Stannis is like finally some fucking recognition, NOT that he wanted or needed any he will simply continue to do his duty as always <- guy who’s 14 year old cousin absolutely played him into materially bettering society by addressing needs and creating safety nets instead of just punishing people
Was moon tea just not an option for Lollys after the assault? Because making her carry that pregnancy always felt unnecessarily cruel
We don't know if carrying the pregnancy was the worse choice for Lollys. It might be, it might not be. I just don't want to go with the premise that it was, unquestioned.
This is because we don't know what Lollys wanted. People with intellectual impairments and delays get to make choices about their lives too (or they should, to the greatest extent possible). Even important decisions. Even bad decisions. Fuck knows that fully intellectually able people make choices where they don't understand the consequences and other people do. It happens all the damn time. As far as we know, the decision to keep the pregnancy (or not)/consent to an abortion (or not) is not reaching any sort of 'endangering self or others' threshold.
The rest is under a cut for the content - rape, ableism, assault pretending to be medical care. Another Thursday in Westeros.
Now, Lollys appears to need a carer. But we don't have the details on her condition. Whatever it is. We don't know what she understood about what happened and about her options, or how long explaining might take, or if it's possible. Maybe Lollys could reach the standard of informed consent. Maybe she couldn't. We don't know.
If Lollys did not want to take moon tea, either because she didn't understand what it was for or, hell, just because she didn't like the taste, should she be forced to take it anyway? We've got Lysa's backstory to tell you why that might be a very bad idea indeed, even without the further complications of Lollys' disability. I sure don't think it's a great idea to follow up the assault Lollys suffered with more assault. Certainly not something to do lightly, even assuming that giving the decision to Lollys' primary carer was absolutely 100% necessary and not just assumed because Lollys is "dim-witted". It's well within the realms of possibility that Tanda personally couldn't bear to force a medical procedure or medication on Lollys regardless of what a maester might have advised - Tanda's got her own trauma, too.
Anyway. Given what Westeros is like, I seriously doubt anyone tried to involve Lollys in her own healthcare. What we've got in the text is this:
"You should give her dreamwine," Shae said, "like Lady Tanda does with Lollys. A cup before she goes to sleep."
Tyrion VII, ASoS
Looks like Tanda's got no problems drugging Lollys whatever Lollys knows, doesn't know, wants, thinks, etc. Lollys is descibed as eating of her own volition; specifying that Tanda gives Lollys the dreamwine indicates that Lollys isn't necessarily drinking this because she thinks it's delicious and/or helpful. We also see this during the Battle of the Blackwater:
"She's been sick," Lady Tanda said. If a babe can be termed a sickness, Sansa thought. It was common gossip that Lollys was with child.
Sansa V, ACoK
There are, however, several reasons for Lady Tanda not to say outright what's going on. Saving face, concern for Lollys, things like that. So this one's got dubious weight as evidence.
But from what little we have, my opinion is that Tanda probably didn't want to believe Lollys was pregnant and missed the window where Lollys' pregnancy could be safely terminated. It looks to me like this situation likely came out of the difficulties of caring for someone, and then true concern for Lollys' safety. We know that Tanda was "half-crazed" with fear for Lollys on the day of the bread riots and got her request for help for Lollys in before Boros Blount reporting on a member of the Kingsguard missing (Tyrion IX, ACoK). I think she cares about her daughter; I don't think Westeros has good structures for her to do so while respecting Lollys' autonomy.
Problematic? Either way? Absolutely. Deliberate cruelty to Lollys or indifference to her wellbeing? I doubt it.
I wish the show had included this passage from the books. It’s literally the heart of Dunk’s journe he’s lowborn, surrounded by nobles who constantly doubt him, yet these small acts show that honor and integrity matter to ordinary people. Those blessings and gestures remind him (and us) that knighthood isn’t just about titles or court politics it’s about keeping your vows and protecting the smallfolk.
If the show had included even a hint of that it would’ve given viewers the emotional meaning of why Dunk fights and why people respect him despite his “lowly” status. It’s one thing to see him in duels or squires’ scrapes but feeling the gratitude of those who depend on him that’s what makes him truly heroic.
Remember when Davos was like "I can't be hand of the king everyone else will never support it" and Stannis was like "we'll kill those guys babe don't worry about it"
im glad that twow wasnt released if george thought it wasnt ready to be released. no matter what else im glad he has that creative freedom to say that to his publishers and the fandom. a bad ending is better than no ending