#beheadings

[madcat-world]

Trinket Tree - Sandara Tang

[cuties-in-codices]

the beheading of john the baptist

from a book of hours illuminated by the maître françois, paris (?), c. 1470-80

source: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Liturg. 41, fol. 201v

[secular-jew]

More misery and murder from the death cult

[believeroftheunseen]

[butterflies-dragons]

A Song of Ice and Fire starts with a decapitation involving the Stark boys, minus baby Rickon. So GRRM thought that it was only fair that the Stark girls were involved in some decapitations as well.

The girls' scenes are more intimate, since the victims are members of House Stark and not a stranger like Gared.

And because our author is determined to teach us all that life is not a song, he chose soft-spoken sweet-smelling Sansa Stark, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting of the Stark girls, who loves silks, songs, chivalry and tall gallant knights with handsome faces, to be the one to get involved in the most beheadings.

LADY

RELATION TO SANSA: DIREWOLF GIFTED BY OLD GODS

CRIME: NONE

EXECUTOR: EDDARD STARK

SWORD: ICE (VALYRIAN STEEL)

They were all staring at him, but it was Sansa's look that cut. "She is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher."

He left the room with his eyes burning and his daughter’s wails echoing in his ears, and found the direwolf pup where they chained her. Ned sat beside her for a while. “Lady,” he said, tasting the name. He had never paid much attention to the names the children had picked, but looking at her now, he knew that Sansa had chosen well. She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting. She looked at him with bright golden eyes, and he ruffled her thick grey fur.

Shortly, Jory brought him Ice.

When it was over, he said, "Choose four men and have them take the body north. Bury her at Winterfell."

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard III

* * *

Sansa found herself thinking of Lady again. She could smell out falsehood, she could, but she was dead, Father had killed her, on account of Arya.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa II

* * *

Joffrey lifted his crossbow and pointed it at her face. "You Starks are as unnatural as those wolves of yours. I've not forgotten how your monster savaged me."

"That was Arya's wolf," she said. "Lady never hurt you, but you killed her anyway."

"No, your father did," Joff said, "but I killed your father. I wish I'd done it myself.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa III

In the first Eddard chapter of A Game of Thrones, Robert Baratheon jokingly said that he'll have Ned's head on a spike, and if that wasn't enough foreshadowing, the execution of Lady was the final nail in the coffin.

By killing Sansa's direwolf, a gift from the Old Gods and part of his older daughter's soul, Ned Stark not only killed a magical beast, but also committed kinslaying. He failed Sansa. He was cursed. He was doomed.

Lady was chained but she still was a mythical direwolf, however she never fought for her life, she didn't see her death coming from the father of her master. She trusted too much and she was killed.

In a similar way, Sansa followed all the courtesies, she didn't testify against the Crown Prince, nor against her own family, she trusted in the honor of the King, the kindness of the Queen and the love of her father. But all of that was false or deficient. They all failed her. They killed her wolf.

Lady's execution was the first step in the death of Sansa's childhood innocence. The last one, was Ned's execution. Two beheadings, performed by the same sword. A full circle.

More about Sansa, lady and Ned here.

EDDARD STARK

RELATION TO SANSA: FATHER

CRIME: TREASON TO THE KING

EXECUTOR: ILYN PAYNE

SWORD: ICE (VALYRIAN STEEL)

A thousand voices were screaming, but Arya never heard them. Prince Joffrey … no, King Joffrey … stepped out from behind the shields of his Kingsguard. "My mother bids me let Lord Eddard take the black, and Lady Sansa has begged mercy for her father." He looked straight at Sansa then, and smiled, and for a moment Arya thought that the gods had heard her prayer, until Joffrey turned back to the crowd and said, "But they have the soft hearts of women. So long as I am your king, treason shall never go unpunished. Ser Ilyn, bring me his head!"

The crowd roared, and Arya felt the statue of Baelor rock as they surged against it. The High Septon clutched at the king's cape, and Varys came rushing over waving his arms, and even the queen was saying something to him, but Joffrey shook his head. Lords and knights moved aside as he stepped through, tall and fleshless, a skeleton in iron mail, the King's Justice. Dimly, as if from far off, Arya heard her sister scream. Sansa had fallen to her knees, sobbing hysterically. Ser Ilyn Payne climbed the steps of the pulpit.

[...] She could still hear Sansa screaming.

Ser Ilyn drew a two-handed greatsword from the scabbard on his back. As he lifted the blade above his head, sunlight seemed to ripple and dance down the dark metal, glinting off an edge sharper than any razor. Ice, she thought, he has Ice! Her tears streamed down her face, blinding her.

And then a hand shot out of the press and closed round her arm like a wolf trap, so hard that Needle went flying from her hand. Arya was wrenched off her feet. She would have fallen if he hadn't held her up, as easy as if she were a doll. A face pressed close to hers, long black hair and tangled beard and rotten teeth. "Don't look!" a thick voice snarled at her.

"I … I … I …" Arya sobbed.

The old man shook her so hard her teeth rattled. "Shut your mouth and close your eyes, boy." Dimly, as if from far away, she heard a … a noise … a soft sighing sound, as if a million people had let out their breath at once. The old man's fingers dug into her arm, stiff as iron. "Look at me. Yes, that's the way of it, at me." Sour wine perfumed his breath. "Remember, boy?"

—A Game of Thrones - Arya V

* * *

Sometimes her sleep was leaden and dreamless, and she woke from it more tired than when she had closed her eyes. Yet those were the best times, for when she dreamed, she dreamed of Father. Waking or sleeping, she saw him, saw the gold cloaks fling him down, saw Ser Ilyn striding forward, unsheathing Ice from the scabbard on his back, saw the moment … the moment when … she had wanted to look away, she had wanted to, her legs had gone out from under her and she had fallen to her knees, yet somehow she could not turn her head, and all the people were screaming and shouting, and her prince had smiled at her, he'd smiled and she'd felt safe, but only for a heartbeat, until he said those words, and her father's legs … that was what she remembered, his legs, the way they'd jerked when Ser Ilyn … when the sword …

[...] "I don't want to marry you," Sansa wailed. "You chopped off my father's head!"

[...] The heads were mounted between the crenels, along the top of the wall, impaled on iron spikes so they faced out over the city. Sansa had noted them the moment she'd stepped out onto the wallwalk, but the river and the bustling streets and the setting sun were ever so much prettier. He can make me look at the heads, she told herself, but he can't make me see them.

"This one is your father," he said. "This one here. Dog, turn it around so she can see him."

Sandor Clegane took the head by the hair and turned it. The severed head had been dipped in tar to preserve it longer. Sansa looked at it calmly, not seeing it at all. It did not really look like Lord Eddard, she thought; it did not even look real. "How long do I have to look?"

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

* * *

A blare of trumpets sounded. The king settled back in his seat and took Sansa's hand. Once that would have set her heart to pounding, but that was before he had answered her plea for mercy by presenting her with her father's head. His touch filled her with revulsion now, but she knew better than to show it. She made herself sit very still.

[...] "Look at that upjumped oaf," Joff hooted, loud enough for half the yard to hear. Morros, a mere squire and a new-made squire at that, was having difficulty managing lance and shield. The lance was a knight's weapon, Sansa knew, the Slynts lowborn. Lord Janos had been no more than commander of the City Watch before Joffrey had raised him to Harrenhal and the council.

I hope he falls and shames himself, she thought bitterly. I hope Ser Balon kills him. When Joffrey proclaimed her father's death, it had been Janos Slynt who seized Lord Eddard's severed head by the hair and raised it on high for king and crowd to behold, while Sansa wept and screamed.

[...] Once she had loved Prince Joffrey with all her heart, and admired and trusted his mother, the queen. They had repaid that love and trust with her father's head. Sansa would never make that mistake again.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa I

* * *

"The girl was wet with love. She would have done anything for Joffrey, until he cut off her father's head and called it mercy. That put an end to that."

—A Clash of Kings - Tyrion I

* * *

"My father always told the truth." Sansa spoke quietly, but even so, it was hard to get the words out.

"Lord Eddard, yes, he had that reputation, but they named him traitor and took his head off even so." The old woman's eyes bore into her, sharp and bright as the points of swords.

"Joffrey," Sansa said. "Joffrey did that. He promised me he would be merciful, and cut my father's head off. He said that was mercy, and he took me up on the walls and made me look at it. The head. He wanted me to weep, but . . ." She stopped abruptly, and covered her mouth. I've said too much, oh gods be good, they'll know, they'll hear, someone will tell on me.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa I

* * *

They are children, Sansa thought. They are silly little girls, even Elinor. They've never seen a battle, they've never seen a man die, they know nothing. Their dreams were full of songs and stories, the way hers had been before Joffrey cut her father's head off. Sansa pitied them. Sansa envied them.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa II

* * *

He is such a timid boy. Sansa had been wary of Tyrion's squire at first; he was a Payne, cousin to Ser Ilyn Payne who had taken her father's head off. However, she'd soon come to realize that Pod was as frightened of her as she was of his cousin. Whenever she spoke to him, he turned the most alarming shade of red.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa IV

* * *

The cold in the earth seeped through Brienne's blankets to soak into her bones. Before long every muscle felt clenched and cramped, from her jaw down to her toes. She wondered whether Sansa Stark was cold as well, wherever she might be. Lady Catelyn had said that Sansa was a gentle soul who loved lemon cakes, silken gowns, and songs of chivalry, yet the girl had seen her father's head lopped off and been forced to marry one of his killers afterward. If half the tales were true, the dwarf was the cruelest Lannister of all. If she did poison King Joffrey, the Imp surely forced her hand. She was alone and friendless at that court. In King's Landing, Brienne had hunted down a certain Brella, who had been one of Sansa's maids. The woman told her that there was little warmth between Sansa and the dwarf. Perhaps she had been fleeing him as well as Joffrey's murder.

—A Feast for Crows - Brienne I

* * *

It came to her suddenly that she had stood in this very spot before, on the day Lord Eddard Stark had lost his head. That was not supposed to happen. Joff was supposed to spare his life and send him to the Wall. Stark's eldest son would have followed him as Lord of Winterfell, but Sansa would have stayed at court, a hostage. Varys and Littlefinger had worked out the terms, and Ned Stark had swallowed his precious honor and confessed his treason to save his daughter's empty little head. I would have made Sansa a good marriage. A Lannister marriage. Not Joff, of course, but Lancel might have suited, or one of his younger brothers. Petyr Baelish had offered to wed the girl himself, she recalled, but of course that was impossible; he was much too lowborn. If Joff had only done as he was told, Winterfell would never have gone to war, and Father would have dealt with Robert's brothers.

Instead Joff had commanded that Stark's head be struck off, and Lord Slynt and Ser Ilyn Payne had hastened to obey. It was just there, the queen recalled, gazing at the spot. Janos Slynt had lifted Ned Stark's head by the hair as his life's blood flowed down the steps, and after that there was no turning back.

—A Dance with Dragons - Cersei II

Eddard Stark are the first words of A Game of Thrones Sansa's first chapter.

Eddard Stark is the most important man in Sansa's life. There is no other character she remembers more than her father. He is constantly in her mind.

Eddard Stark and his older daughter Sansa were so similar that they even shared the same flaws. That's why the same way Lady the direwolf was easily chained and never saw her death coming from Ned himself, Eddard Stark the Hand of the King was easily imprisoned and never saw his death coming from the people he naively trusted.

As you can see from the quotes above, Ned's death profoundly impacted Sansa's life, she is not only haunted by the memories of his gruesome beheading, but his death also showed her the cruelty of people and the hardships of real life.

Ned’s death was the catalyst for Sansa to finally open her eyes to reality, but that event also awakened her inner ‘Starkness’, because if any of the Stark children is the epitome of endurance, that is Sansa.

So, after Ned’s death, we see Sansa always finding her strength and courage in the memories of Winterfell and her family, yearning to go back north, to home, to Winterfell.

More about Sansa, Lady and Ned here.

But lest's go back to Sansa's memories of witnessing her father's horrid beheading and how she couldn't look away, because it reminds me of this passage from Bran's first A Game of Thrones chapter:

Bran's bastard brother Jon Snow moved closer. "Keep the pony well in hand," he whispered. "And don't look away. Father will know if you do."

Bran kept his pony well in hand, and did not look away.

—A Game of Thrones - Bran I

I don't know you, but I see a pattern here:

Robb witnessed Gared's beheading and later he got to be King in the North. And after that he performed some beheadings as well.

Jon witnessed Gared's beheading and later he became Kings Robb's heir. And after that he performed some beheadings as well.

Bran witnessed Gared's beheading, and according to the Show, he will be the King of Westeros, minus the North.

Sansa witnessed Ned's beheading, and according to the Show she will be the first Queen in the North. She was also forced to see her father's severed head on a spike. And even before everything happened, Sansa inadvertently sensed Ned's death at the hands of Ilyn Payne and also foresaw Robb's death. And later she performed a metaphorical beheading as well. She is also prophesied to slay a savage giant, so maybe she will put his head on a spike on Winterfell's walls. Does this give her extra bonus?

It seems that the only Stark kids that didn't witness a decapitation won't get to be monarchs.

Arya did look away from Ned's execution and Rickon was too young for decapitation witnessing.

Sorry, Arya and Rickon. No crowns for you two.

SEPTA MORDANE

RELATION TO SANSA: TUTOR

CRIME: BEING LOYAL TO HOUSE STARK

EXECUTOR: PROBABLY ILYN PAYNE

SWORD: PROBABLY ICE (VALYRIAN STEEL)

Joffrey marched her down the wallwalk, past a dozen more heads and two empty spikes. "I'm saving those for my uncle Stannis and my uncle Renly," he explained. The other heads had been dead and mounted much longer than her father. Despite the tar, most were long past being recognizable. The king pointed to one and said, "That's your septa there," but Sansa could not even have told that it was a woman. The jaw had rotted off her face, and birds had eaten one ear and most of a cheek.

Sansa had wondered what had happened to Septa Mordane, although she supposed she had known all along. "Why did you kill her?" she asked. "She was god-sworn …"

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

Nothing is sacred for some people, dear Sansa. But don't you despair, Joffrey is as cursed and doomed as your father was. Sadly, there won't be a beheading involved, but it will be something close enough, strangulation!

ROBB STARK (+ GREY WIND)

RELATION TO SANSA: BROTHER (+ HIS DIREWOLF)

CRIME: TREASON & REBELLION AGAINST THE KING

EXECUTOR: UNKNOWN

SWORD: UNKNOWN

Joffrey gave a petulant shrug. "Your brother defeated my uncle Jaime. My mother says it was treachery and deceit. She wept when she heard. Women are all weak, even her, though she pretends she isn't. She says we need to stay in King's Landing in case my other uncles attack, but I don't care. After my name day feast, I'm going to raise a host and kill your brother myself. That's what I'll give you, Lady Sansa. Your brother's head."

A kind of madness took over her then, and she heard herself say, "Maybe my brother will give me your head."

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

* * *

Joff did not know what to make of that, though he looked suspicious and out of sorts. "Yes. Well. I am pleased you're not dead, Uncle. Did you bring me a gift for my name day?"

"I did. My wits."

"I'd sooner have Robb Stark's head," Joff said with a sly glance at Sansa.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa I

* * *

They're traitors. I want them killed, Grandfather. I won't have any generous terms." The king turned to Grand Maester Pycelle. "And I want Robb Stark's head too. Write to Lord Frey and tell him. The king commands. I'm going to have it served to Sansa at my wedding feast."

"Sire," Ser Kevan said, in a shocked voice, "the lady is now your aunt by marriage."

"A jest." Cersei smiled. "Joff did not mean it."

"Yes I did," Joffrey insisted. "He was a traitor, and I want his stupid head. I'm going to make Sansa kiss it."

"No." Tyrion's voice was hoarse. "Sansa is no longer yours to torment. Understand that, monster."

—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion VI

* * *

The most he could do was to shield her from the uglier details of the Red Wedding as they came down from the Twins. Sansa did not need to hear how her brother's body had been hacked and mutilated, he decided; nor how her mother's corpse had been dumped naked into the Green Fork in a savage mockery of House Tully's funeral customs. The last thing the girl needed was more fodder for her nightmares.

It was not enough, though. He had wrapped his cloak around her shoulders and sworn to protect her, but that was as cruel a jape as the crown the Freys had placed atop the head of Robb Stark's direwolf after they'd sewn it onto his headless corpse. Sansa knew that as well. The way she looked at him, her stiffness when she climbed into their bed . . . when he was with her, never for an instant could he forget who he was, or what he was. No more than she did. She still went nightly to the godswood to pray, and Tyrion wondered if she were praying for his death.

—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion VII

In her first A Clash of Kings chapter, Sansa inadvertently foresaw Robb's death:

The morning of King Joffrey’s name day dawned bright and windy, with the long tail of the great comet visible through the high scuttling clouds. Sansa was watching it from her tower window when Ser Arys Oakheart arrived to escort her down to the tourney grounds. “What do you think it means?” she asked him.

“Glory to your betrothed,” Ser Arys answered at once. “See how it flames across the sky today on His Grace’s name day, as if the gods themselves had raised a banner in his honor. The smallfolk have named it King Joffrey’s Comet.”

Doubtless that was what they told Joffrey; Sansa was not so sure. “I’ve heard servants calling it the Dragon’s Tail.”

“King Joffrey sits where Aegon the Dragon once sat, in the castle built by his son,” Ser Arys said. “He is the dragon’s heir—and crimson is the color of House Lannister, another sign. This comet is sent to herald Joffrey’s ascent to the throne, I have no doubt. It means that he will triumph over his enemies.

“Is it true? she wondered. Would the gods be so cruel? Her mother was one of Joffrey’s enemies now, her brother Robb another. Her father had died by the king’s command. Must Robb and her lady mother die next? The comet was red, but Joffrey was Baratheon as much as Lannister, and their sigil was a black stag on a golden field. Shouldn’t the gods have sent Joff a golden comet?

— A Clash of Kings - Sansa I

Robb and Grey Win didn't die by beheading but their heads were severed from their corpses after their deaths. Later, the Freys sewed Grey Wind's severed head onto Robb's headless corpse and placed a crown atop the wolf's head sewn onto Robb's dead body.

I know the Freys thought that was a great mockery, but they unintentionally linked crowns with beheadings, which support my theory explained above. So thank you Freys... I guess.

Anyways, violating the Guest Right cursed and doomed the Freys. Good look with Lady Stoneheart, you little shits!

But punishment would come sooner for the Lannisters with the Purple Wedding.

Punishment will come for everyone, even for savage giants.

SWEETROBIN'S DOLL

RELATION TO SANSA: HER COUSIN'S TOY

CRIME: DESTROYED SANSA'S SNOW CASTLE

EXECUTOR: SANSA STARK

SWORD: NONE

"It's not so great." The boy knelt before the gatehouse. "Look, here comes a giant to knock it down." He stood his doll in the snow and moved it jerkily. "Tromp tromp I'm a giant, I'm a giant," he chanted. "Ho ho ho, open your gates or I'll mash them and smash them." Swinging the doll by the legs, he knocked the top off one gatehouse tower and then the other.

It was more than Sansa could stand. “Robert, stop that.” Instead he swung the doll again, and a foot of wall exploded. She grabbed for his hand but she caught the doll instead. There was a loud ripping sound as the thin cloth tore. Suddenly she had the doll’s head, Robert had the legs and body, and the rag-and-sawdust stuffing was spilling in the snow.

Lord Robert’s mouth trembled. “You killlllllllled him,” he wailed. Then he began to shake. It started with no more than a little shivering, but within a few short heartbeats he had collapsed across the castle, his limbs flailing about violently. White towers and snowy bridges shattered and fell on all sides. Sansa stood horrified, but Petyr Baelish seized her cousin’s wrists and shouted for the maester.

[…] “It was my fault.” Sansa showed them the doll’s head. “I ripped his doll in two. I never meant to, but …”

"His lordship was destroying the castle," said Petyr.

"A giant," the boy whispered, weeping. "It wasn't me, it was a giant hurt the castle. She killed him! I hate her! She's a bastard and I hate her! I don't want to be leeched!"

[…] A mad rage seized hold of her. She picked up a broken branch and smashed the torn doll's head down on top of it, then pushed it down atop the shattered gatehouse of her snow castle. The servants looked aghast, but when Littlefinger saw what she'd done he laughed. "If the tales be true, that's not the first giant to end up with his head on Winterfell's walls."

"Those are only stories," she said, and left him there.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa VII

Sansa's snow castle scene happens in the last chapter of A Storm of Swords, but earlier in the Book, the Ghost of High Heart prophesied the event's of the Purple Wedding and another one very similar to the snow castle scene:

“I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief,” the dwarf woman was saying. “I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells. I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow.”

—A Storm of Swords - Arya VIII

The first prophesy came real: Joffrey died from the effects of the poison called Strangler.

Sansa was the maid at a feast (Joffrey's wedding feast) with purple serpents (black amethysts from Asshai. The rarest kind, a deep true purple by daylight) in her hair (a delicate silver hair net winking with dark purple gemstones that Dontos gave her), venom dripping from their fangs (the poison called Strangler hidden as one of the amethysts of Sansa's hair net).

Sansa not only wore purple and silver in her hair, those were also the colors of her dress:

Sansa wore a gown of silvery satin trimmed in vair, with dagged sleeves that almost touched the floor, lined in soft purple felt. Shae had arranged her hair artfully in a delicate silver net winking with dark purple gemstones. Tyrion had never seen her look more lovely, yet she wore sorrow on those long satin sleeves. “Lady Sansa,” he told her, “you shall be the most beautiful woman in the hall tonight.”

—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion VIII

She was dressed to kill! Sorry not sorry, Joff ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also take note how purple and silver are associated with poisons, venoms and death, and those are also Targaryen colors.... If you know what I mean!

Now, we all know that the second prophesy is also about Sansa: "And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow." But there are many candidates for the giant and for the castle built of snow.

Some readers believe the savage giant was indeed Sweetrobin's doll, others have theorized about the savage giant being Gregor Clegane (Robert Strong), Tyrion Lannister and Petry Baelish. While for the castle built of snow the candidates are: Harrenhal, White Harbor and Winterfell.

I particularly believe that the savage giant is Littlefinger (He hates the Starks and Winterfell) and the castle built of snow is of course House Stark's seat. I have many reasons to believe this, but the main one has to be with Ned Stark, because all the people involved in Ned's death are, somehow, destined to be "slayed" by his children:

Joffrey is metaphorically Sansa's kill, there are folk tales about that and she is even wanted for Kingslaying.

Illyn Payne is in Arya's Payer (her list of the people she wishes to kill), but I don't care if Bran or Rickon or their wolves or even Nymeria claim him as their kill.

Petyr Baelish will be Sansa's literal/actual kill. She will probably judge him and sentence him to death and it would be awesome if Brienne or Jon cut off his ugly head with Valyrian Steel ( Oathkeeper/Ice or Longclaw).

Janos Slynt is Jon's kill.

And talking about our boy Jon Snow, recently I realized that the passage that precedes Jon's murder attempt, is very similar to Sansa's snow castle scene:

The screaming had stopped by the time they came to Hardin’s Tower, but Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun was still roaring. The giant was dangling a bloody corpse by one leg, the same way Arya used to dangle her doll when she was small, swinging it like a morningstar when menaced by vegetables. Arya never tore her dolls to pieces, though. The dead man’s sword arm was yards away, the snow beneath it turning red.

"Let him go," Jon shouted. "Wun Wun, let him go."

Wun Wun did not hear or did not understand. The giant was bleeding himself, with sword cuts on his belly and his arm. He swung the dead knight against the grey stone of the tower, again and again and again, until the man's head was red and pulpy as a summer melon. The knight's cloak flapped in the cold air. Of white wool it had been, bordered in cloth-of-silver and patterned with blue stars. Blood and bone were flying everywhere.

Men poured from the surrounding keeps and towers. Northmen, free folk, queen's men … "Form a line," Jon Snow commanded them. "Keep them back. Everyone, but especially the queen's men." The dead man was Ser Patrek of King's Mountain; his head was largely gone, but his heraldry was as distinctive as his face. Jon did not want to risk Ser Malegorn or Ser Brus or any of the queen's other knights trying to avenge him.

Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun howled again and gave Ser Patrek's other arm a twist and pull. It tore loose from his shoulder with a spray of bright red blood. Like a child pulling petals off a daisy, thought Jon. "Leathers, talk to him, calm him. The Old Tongue, he understands the Old Tongue. Keep back, the rest of you. Put away your steel, we're scaring him." Couldn't they see the giant had been cut? Jon had to put an end to this or more men would die. They had no idea of Wun Wun's strength. A horn, I need a horn. He saw the glint of steel, turned toward it. "No blades!" he screamed. "Wick, put that knife …"

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon XIII

These similarities between Sansa and Sweetrobin's doll with Wun Wun and Ser Patrek makes me believe even more in the theory that the savage giant is Littlefinger and not other. Let's see:

► Sansa is a northern princess trapped in a tower far from home (Maiden's Tower at the Eyrie), the same way Val is a "wildling princess" trapped in a tower far from home (Hardin's Tower at Castle Black).

► Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun is and actual giant, but in Sansa's snow castle scene we have many giants, because GRRM likes his layers:

Littlefinger: "When he had enough, he stepped over both walls (of the snow castle) with a single long stride and squatted on his heels in the middle of the yard". But unlike Wun Wun that was guarding "princess" Val; Littlefinger is Princess Sansa's captor.

Sweetrobin's doll: "Tromp tromp I'm a giant, I'm a giant," he chanted. "Ho ho ho, open your gates or I'll mash them and smash them."

Sansa: Sansa was a giant to Sweetrobin's doll, who ripped out it's head as easily as a child pulling petals off a daisy, as easily as Wun Wun dismembered Ser Patrek of King's Mountain.

► Ser Patrek's homeland is called "King's Mountain" and it's lacation is unknown, but "King's Mountain" sounds pretty similar to Kings of Mountain and Vale, the ancient kings of the Vale of Arryn. Robert "Sweetrobin Arryn" is a descendant of the old Kings of Mountain and Vale. Maybe one day we will learn that Ser Patrek was actually a knight from the Vale???

► Ser Patrek was probably attempting to steel Val, when Wun Wun attacked her. At Jon's refusal, Stannis offered Ser Patrek the Lordship of Winterfell and Val's hand in marriage. While Littlefinger is planning to marry Alayne with Harrold Hardyn (second in line to the Eyrie) and later use the Vale Army to retake Winterfell. Sweetrobin's doll was being used to destroy Sansa's snow castle (it's meant to be Winterfell) when she ripped out its head.

► Ser Patrek of King's Mountain lost his head and both arms and Wun Wun kept his legs and body. Sweetrobin's doll lost his head, there is not mention of arms and Sweetrobing kept its legs and body.

► Jon was unsuccessfully trying to calm Wun Wun and the men to prevent more deaths, when Bowen March and a few others attempted to murder him. Sansa unsuccessfully tried to stop Sweetrobin of using his doll as a giant to destroy her snow castle, and later her aunt Lysa tried to kill her.

► Wun Wun prevented that Val were stolen by Ser Patrek of King's Mountain, and killed him. Littlefinger (the giant) saved Sansa's from Lysa's murderous intentions, and killer her instead.

More about Jon and the Stark sisters slaying rag dolls here.

More about Snow Castles & Giants here.

JANOS SLYNT

RELATION TO SANSA: HER FATHER'S EXECUTOR

CRIME: DISOBEDIENCE TO HIS LORD COMMANDER

EXECUTOR: JON SNOW

SWORD: LONGCLAW (VALYRIAN STEEL)

Frog-faced Lord Slynt sat at the end of the council table wearing a black velvet doublet and a shiny cloth-of-gold cape, nodding with approval every time the king pronounced a sentence. Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

* * *

“You are refusing to obey my order?” “You can stick your order up your bastard’s arse,” said Slynt, his jowls quivering. […] “As you will.” Jon nodded to Iron Emmett. “Please take Lord Janos to the Wall—” […] “—and hang him,” Jon finished. […] This is wrong, Jon thought. “Stop.” […] “I will not hang him,” said Jon. “Bring him here.” “Oh, Seven save us,” he heard Bowen Marsh cry out. The smile that Lord Janos Slynt smiled then had all the sweetness of rancid butter. Until Jon said, “Edd, fetch me a block,” and unsheathed Longclaw. […] The pale morning sunlight ran up and down his blade as Jon clasped the hilt of the bastard sword with both hands and raised it high. “If you have any last words, now is the time to speak them,” he said, expecting one last curse. Janos Slynt twisted his neck around to stare up at him. “Please, my lord. Mercy. I’ll … I’ll go, I will, I …” No, thought Jon. You closed that door. Longclaw descended. “Can I have his boots?” asked Owen the Oaf, as Janos Slynt’s head went rolling across the muddy ground. “They’re almost new, those boots. Lined with fur.”

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon II

As you can see from the two famous quotes above, Sansa wished for a hero to cut off Janos Slynt’s ugly head as punishment for his participation in Ned’s death, and four books later Jon Snow beheaded Janos Slynt using his sword Longclaw, honoring the Stark way, to avenge Ned’s death.

You might think that only shippers would think that beheadings are romantic, but did you know that, in universe, "heroes chopping off heads" actually has romantic connotations?

Because, believe it or not, inside the A Song of Ice and Fire Universe, chopping off heads is a love language. Let's see:

One of the Mountain’s men had tried to rape the girl at Harrenhal, and had seemed honestly perplexed when Jaime commanded Ilyn Payne to take his head off. “I had her before, a hunnerd times,” he kept saying as they forced him to his knees. “A hunnerd times, m'lord. We all had her.” When Ser Ilyn presented Pia with his head, she had smiled through her ruined teeth.

[...] “Ser Harwyn says those tales are lies.” Lady Amerei wound a braid around her finger. “He has promised me Lord Beric’s head. He’s very gallant.” She was blushing beneath her tears.

Jaime thought back on the head he’d given to Pia. He could almost hear his little brother chuckle. Whatever became of giving women flowers? Tyrion might have asked.

—A Feast for Crows - Jaime IV

Credits to this clever anon.

But these two examples from Jaime's A Feast for Crows fourth chapter aren't the only ones. The most romantics examples are brought to us by the flamboyant Tyroshi, Daario Naharis:

“Khaleesi,” he cried, “I bring gifts and glad tidings. The Stormcrows are yours.” A golden tooth gleamed in his mouth when he smiled. “And so is Daario Naharis!”

Dany was dubious. If this Tyroshi had come to spy, this declaration might be no more than a desperate plot to save his head. “What do Prendahl na Ghezn and Sallor say of this?”

“Little.” Daario upended the sack, and the heads of Sallor the Bald and Prendahl na Ghezn spilled out upon her carpets. “My gifts to the dragon queen.”

[...] “Why?”

“Because you are so beautiful.”

[...] “Draw your sword and swear it to my service.”

In a blink, Daario’s arakh was free of its sheath. His submission was as outrageous as the rest of him, a great swoop that brought his face down to her toes. “My sword is yours. My life is yours. My love is yours. My blood, my body, my songs, you own them all. I live and die at your command, fair queen.”

—A Storm of Swords - Daenerys IV

* * *

The Tyroshi sellsword was not a good man, no one needed to tell her that. Under the smiles and the jests he was dangerous, even cruel. Sallor and Prendahl had woken one morning as his partners; that very night he'd given her their heads.

—A Storm of Swords - Daenerys V

* * *

Strong Belwas seized Ser Jorah by the arm and dragged him out. When Dany glanced back, the knight was walking as if drunk, stumbling and slow.

[...] "You need not even say the word, my radiance. Only give the tiniest nod, and your Daario shall fetch you back his ugly head."

—A Storm of Swords - Daenerys VI

* * *

On the road to Yunkai, when Daario tossed the heads of Sallor the Bald and Prendahl na Ghezn at her feet, her children made a feast of them.

—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys II

* * *

"Kill them all and take their treasures, I say. Whisper the command, and your Daario will make you a pile of their heads taller than this pyramid." "If I knew who they were—"

—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys IV

* * *

Other nights she tossed in her bed, imagining that he'd betrayed her, as he had once betrayed his fellow captains in the Stormcrows. He brought me their heads.

—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys V

* * *

“Marry me, and we can have all the nights forever.”

If I could, I would. Khal Drogo had been her sun-and-stars, but he had been dead so long that Daenerys had almost forgotten how it felt to love and be loved. Daario had helped her to remember. I was dead and he brought me back to life. I was asleep and he woke me. My brave captain. Even so, of late he grew too bold. On the day that he returned from his latest sortie, he had tossed the head of a Yunkish lord at her feet and kissed her in the hall for all the world to see, until Barristan Selmy pulled the two of them apart. Ser Grandfather had been so wroth that Dany feared blood might be shed. “We cannot wed, my love. You know why.”

—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys VII

Credits to this clever anon. And to this one and to @chispas-and-broken-bindings for this compilation.

See? Nothing says true love like decapitation (credits to themiddleliddle for the tag).

Jon Snow doesn't know he's made a maiden's wish come true, Sansa doesn't know that Jon has became the hero she wished for. And their mutual ignorance of each other's actions and wishes is what makes the execution of Janos Slynt truly romantic.

And something tells me that Sansa's reaction when she find's out that Jon Snow chopped off Janos's ugly head won't be different from Pia's smile or Lady Amerei's blushing or Dany's bold passion and public exhibition of affection.

Only in the World of Ice and Fire you can build romance with beheadings and stuff [wink to @riahchan].

More about Jon/Sansa and Janos Slynt here:

Jon Snow: The silent, unknown and unthought answer to Sansa’s hopes

Jon Snow: The silent, unknown and unthought answer to Sansa’s hopes 2.0

Sansa: There are no heroes / Jon: Hold my beer

GRRM and Janos Slynt's execution

Jon, Sansa and courtesies

Janos Memes

TYRION LANNISTER (WANTED)

RELATION TO SANSA: (FORCED) HUSBAND

CRIME: KINGSLAYING (INCRIMINATED)

"Tyrion's wanted to be me since he took his first step, but he'd never follow me in kingslaying. Sansa Stark killed Joffrey. My brother's kept silent to protect her. He gets these fits of gallantry from time to time. The last one cost him a nose. This time it will mean his head."

—A Storm of Swords - Jaime IX

* * *

At least I will not be expected to don mourning for Tyrion. I shall dress in crimson silk and cloth-of-gold for that, and wear rubies in my hair. The man who brought her the dwarf's head would be raised to lordship, she had proclaimed, no matter how mean and low his birth or station. Ravens were carrying her promise to every part of the Seven Kingdoms, and soon enough word would cross the narrow sea to the Nine Free Cities and the lands beyond. Let the Imp run to the ends of the earth, he will not escape me.

—A Feast for Crows - Cersei II

* * *

The man proved to be Tyroshi; short and stout and sweaty, with an unctuous smile that reminded her of Varys and a forked beard dyed green and pink. Cersei misliked him on sight, but was willing to overlook his flaws if he actually had Tyrion's head inside the chest he carried. It was cedar, inlaid with ivory in a pattern of vines and flowers, with hinges and clasps of white gold. A lovely thing, but the queen's only interest lay in what might be within. It is big enough, at least. Tyrion had a grotesquely large head, for one so small and stunted.

—A Feast for Crows - Cersei VIII

* * *

No man can wed me so long as my dwarf husband still lives somewhere in this world. Queen Cersei had collected the head of a dozen dwarfs, Petyr claimed, but none were Tyrion's.

—The Winds of Winter - Alayne I

Oh look! Here's one more Cersei and Dany parallel, dubious men willing to make piles of severed heads just to gain their queen's favor.

Tyrion's head is wanted because he was framed for Joffrey's murder and his champion lost his trial by combat, but at the las minute he escaped from his execution with the help of Jaime and Varys.

But Cersei Lannister isn't the only one that wanted Tyrion's head, Robb Stark also wished to take his ugly head off in order to make Sansa a widow:

"He's the Kingslayer's brother. Oathbreaking runs in their blood." Robb's fingers brushed the pommel of his sword. "If I could I'd take his ugly head off. Sansa would be a widow then, and free. There's no other way that I can see. They made her speak the vows before a septon and don a crimson cloak."

—A Storm of Swords - Catelyn IV

Here, here! I volunteer to fulfill that noble mission too!!!

SANSA STARK (WANTED)

CRIME: KINGSLAYING (INCRIMINATED)

Winterfell was burned and desolate, Bran and Rickon dead and cold. Robb had been betrayed and murdered at the Twins, along with their lady mother. Tyrion had been put to death for killing Joffrey, and if she ever returned to King's Landing the queen would have her head as well.

—A Feast for Crows - Sansa I

* * *

She would need to be brave down below, where the chance of being unmasked was so much greater. Petyr's friends at court had sent him word that the queen had men out looking for the Imp and Sansa Stark. It will mean my head if I am found, she reminded herself as she descended a flight of icy stone steps. I must be Alayne all the time, inside and out.

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

Sansa's head is also wanted for Joffrey's murder. Her supposed participation in the act of kingslaying has became a folklore tale among the smallfolk of Westeros:

“The dwarf’s wife did the murder with him,” swore an archer in Lord Rowan’s livery. “Afterward, she vanished from the hall in a puff of brimstone, and a ghostly direwolf was seen prowling the Red Keep, blood dripping from his jaws.”

—A Storm of Swords - Jaime VII

* * *

“I forgot, you’ve been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell’s daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head.”

—A Storm of Swords - Arya XIII

And she is also ripping out rag dolls' heads at the Vale under the alias of Alayne Stone. She is the terror of small children and their toys. We have reports that her little sister was committing the same crime at the Vale before she sailed away to Essos.

More about the Stark sisters slaying rag dolls here.

But Sansa lives in terror of decapitation since before the Purple Wedding, Ilyn Payne wielding Ice plagues her dreams since Ned's execution.

Oh wait, actually, Ilyn Payne has terrorized Sansa since her very first A Game of Thrones chapter, where she met the headsman.

By definition, a headsman is a man who was responsible for beheading condemned prisoners. So Sansa is really surrounded by beheading imagery since the very beginning:

As the headsman looked at her, his pale colorless eyes seemed to strip the clothes away from her, and then the skin, leaving her soul naked before him. Still silent, he turned and walked away.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa I

* * *

She dreamt of footsteps on the tower stair, an ominous scraping of leather on stone as a man climbed slowly toward her bedchamber, step by step. All she could do was huddle behind her door and listen, trembling, as he came closer and closer. It was Ser Ilyn Payne, she knew, coming for her with Ice in his hand, coming to take her head. There was no place to run, no place to hide, no way to bar the door. Finally the footsteps stopped and she knew he was just outside, standing there silent with his dead eyes and his long pocked face. That was when she realized she was naked. She crouched down, trying to cover herself with her hands, as her door began to swing open, creaking, the point of the greatsword poking through …

She woke murmuring, "Please, please, I’ll be good, I’ll be good, please don’t,” but there was no one to hear.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

* * *

As Joffrey’s betrothed, Sansa had the seat of honor on the queen’s right hand. She was climbing the dais when she saw the man standing in the shadows by the back wall. He wore a long hauberk of oiled black mail, and held his sword before him: her father’s greatsword, Ice, near as tall as he was. Its point rested on the floor, and his hard bony fingers curled around the crossguard on either side of the grip. Sansa’s breath caught in her throat. Ser Ilyn Payne seemed to sense her stare. He turned his gaunt, pox-ravaged face toward her.

[…] “Why is Ser Ilyn here?” Sansa blurted out.

The queen glanced at the mute headsman. “To deal with treason, and to defend us if need be. He was a knight before he was a headsman.” She pointed her spoon toward the end of the hall, where the tall wooden doors had been closed and barred. “When the axes smash down those doors, you may be glad of him.”

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa V

* * *

The queen looked displeased. “When you asked about Ser Ilyn earlier, I lied to you. Would you like to hear the truth, Sansa? Would you like to know why he’s really here?”

She did not dare answer, but it did not matter. The queen raised a hand and beckoned, never waiting for a reply. Sansa had not even seen Ser Ilyn return to the hall, but suddenly there he was, striding from the shadows behind the dais as silent as a cat. He carried Ice unsheathed. Her father had always cleaned the blade in the godswood after he took a man’s head, Sansa recalled, but Ser Ilyn was not so fastidious. There was blood drying on the rippling steel, the red already fading to brown. “Tell Lady Sansa why I keep you by us,” said Cersei.

Ser Ilyn opened his mouth and emitted a choking rattle. His pox-scarred face had no expression.

“He’s here for us, he says,” the queen said. “Stannis may take the city and he may take the throne, but I will not suffer him to judge me. I do not mean for him to have us alive.”

“Us?”

“You heard me. So perhaps you had best pray again, Sansa, and for a different outcome. The Starks will have no joy from the fall of House Lannister, I promise you.” She reached out and touched Sansa’s hair, brushing it lightly away from her neck.”

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa VI

Gods be good, Sansa thought, it is happening, Joffrey’s lost his head and so have I. She looked for Ser Ilyn, but the King’s Justice was not to be seen. I can feel him, though. He’s close, I’ll not escape him, he’ll have my head.

[…] She spared Sansa not so much as a glance. She’s forgotten me. Ser Ilyn will kill me and she won’t even think about it.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa VII

* * *

Once she dreamed it was still her marrying Joff, not Margaery, and on their wedding night he turned into the headsman Ilyn Payne.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa II

Oh my God. It is really disturbing when you realize that Sansa always feels naked and frightened next to Ilyn Payne.... And this gets even worse when you understand that his father's sword Ice is there as a phallic symbol.... I hate you George!

Read more about this here:

GRRM wrote Marillion’s attack (rape attempt) to Sansa  to mirror the Hound’s attack (rape attempt) to Sansa 

Sansa, nightmares, sexual abuse and Ilyn Payne

Sansa, unreliable narrator and sexual abuse

For all the sexual undertones around Sansa and the headsman, and the popularity of certain ship, it is really incredible that there is no people shipping them out there...

I'm really sorry for making you read this, but it was indispensable to talk about these two characters while talking about beheadings.

But please don't hate me, Ice is in better hands now. Actually, there is no Ice anymore, there's only Widow's Wail, that is held at the Red Keep until King Tommen is old enough to wield it; and Oathkeeper, that is currently wielded by Brienne of Tarth.

In the hands of Brienne of Tarth, that sword will never mean a threat for Sansa's physical or sexual integrity. The fact that a knight sworn to protect Sansa Stark is wielding part of Ice, means that House Stark have retaken its ancestral sword.

So let's thinking for a moment about how “Brienne is Sansa with a sword,” because it takes on a new meaning when you realize that Brienne is wielding Oathkeeper, a sword that not only was made of Ice, the ancestral sword of House Stark, but was also named because of Sansa.

Ice was meant for Robb…

Ice was deeply desired by Jon…

But it is Sansa the one that is, somehow, wielding it.

And I think that’s beautiful.

And the fact that Sansa will eventually have House Stark's ancestral sword in her power, reminds me that in the past, the heir that got his father's sword was the one considered as his rightful successor to the throne:

King Aegon knighted Daemon in his twelfth year when he won a squires' tourney (thereby making him the youngest knight ever made in the time of the Targaryens, surpassing Maegor I) and shocked his court, kin, and council by bestowing upon him the sword of Aegon the Conqueror, Blackfyre, as well as lands and other honors. Daemon took the name Blackfyre thereafter.

—The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aegon IV

And curiously enough, in the tale called "The Sworn Sword," where Brienne's ancestor Ser Duncan the Tall is said "sworn sword," we find this very telling passage:

"You told me your sons died fighting for the king."

"And so they did. The rightful king, Daemon Blackfyre. The King Who Bore the Sword."

—The Sworn Sword

Oh, what a great Queen foreshadowing Oathkeeper is! Right?

Despite all of Sansa's fears of losing her head by her father's former sword, that sword will give her a crown to don.

So there you have it!

Sometimes being surrounded by beheadings doesn't mean that you will lose your head.

Sometimes being surrounded by beheadings means that you will wear a crown on your precious head.

Thanks for reading ♡

[uwmspeccoll]

Severed Head!!

It’s been a couple of years since we added a post to our Severed Heads collection. Yes, it’s true, we actually maintain a Severed Heads Tumblr Collection. We know it seems a tad on the morbid side, but in Special Collections, it’s surprising how often we come across these images. Why not collect them?

Today’s severed head comes from an etched frontispiece in Notizie al Pellegrino della Basilica di Santa Prassede (News for the Pilgrim of the Basilica of Saint Praxedes), printed in Rome by Antonio De Rossi in 1725. The author was Dom Benigno Davanzati, rector of S. Prassede for 16 years and abbot of the Vallombrosan Benedictines who staffed the church. The Basilica is named after the 2nd-century Saint Praxedes, known for burying the bodies of martyred Christians. Other than this, very little else is known about her. We tried to use our poor Latin skills to gain some insight from inscription in the frontispiece, but to little avail. It reads something like, “Learn from the dreadful death of the mighty friends of Praxedes, who teach bravely, O Virgin.” 

We know a little bit more about the printer De Rossi, however. He was a prominent and longstanding printer in Rome who flourished between 1695 and 1755, known especially as the principal printer for the Italian literary foundation, the Accademia dell'Arcadia.

We wonder if the winged putto-head at the top to the etching represents the souls of the beheaded!

[retrogradeink]

- Caravaggio - David with the Head of Goliath - #caravaggio #oldmasters #oldmasterpaintings #davidversusgoliath #davidandgoliath #baroque #baroqueart #baroquepainting #paintings #art #arte #artexhibition #beheading #beheadings https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Bkpj7Aav1/?igshid=54w32fc7slin

[pointless-letters]

‪.....I’ll not lie to you, I’ve watched a lot worse. ‬