Reporters losing their minds about a grown man wearing shorts 🫠
Have all collectively forgotten we have seen him in a Speedo when he was in St. Andrew’s and Catherine in a bikini during their baby moon? I have seen them both in short shorts during their sailing engagements more than once.
Women on X complaining that she’s walking through cornfields because apparently cancer patients are not supposed to ? 😖
What’s wrong with people?
THE PRINCE OF WALES DOESNT WEAR SPEEDOS!!! WHO TOLD YOU THAT LIE!!!! WE HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN OVER THE SHORTS & BARE LEGS SCANDAL, AND YOU ARE BRING IN BARE THIGHS NOW?????? 😭😭😭
Jokes aside but I honestly cannot believe that was Liz Jones' very real and very serious argument, ik rr are dumb as rocks but that even surprised the heck out of me. That's a new journalistic low even for them.
It's utterly ridiculous and stupid the way these people are istg... the cornfields thing made me want to punch someone coz most tweets I saw were accompanied by 'oh but why isn't she showing us her treatment and journey that way' and I was just like????? Infact I saw a video of an rr also saying that. All these people wanted her was to be a show for their entertainment and the fact that she's decided to keep her treatment private and not given them those moments on a silver platter is why they are whining about this.
Also the most bizarre thing for me is that this is the same crowd who was on a complete witchhunt trying to 'find' her and the same people who called william an uncaring/unloving husband when she gave the news about the cancer alone. And now that they essentially have everything they were whining about in the first place with the new video, they are still criticizing her.
1. The curtain of light is mentioned only in a Bran chapter
2. The very first chapter of the first book is about an Other killing a brother of the Night’s Watch that looks like a Stark
3. Sam and Jon spend the entire series fighting wights and Others
4. all the mythology about the living dead is set in the North -thank you Old Nan-
5. Bran the Builder built a gigantic wall and a geotermal castle to stop them
But
Platinum Barbie has dragons! She’s the solution! I have connected the dots!… 🥴
part of why it’s so annoying is exactly that - the ice part of the song centers in the north, this apocalypse that’s spiraling out of control and no one cares to fight it except a few people. meanwhile, the fire part is clearly centered around dani and…her dragons are spiraling out of control and dani more and more turns a blind eye. you have so much of the northern magic in bran’s chapters, so much rich, interesting writing and information including the stupid curtain but all of that in the end is about…dani apparently. and we ignore that bran shares a name with bran the builder. we ignore that the kings of winter were doing fine for thousands of years until the targs showed up and periodically set the continent on fire every 50 years over the iron throne. we ignore that the valyrians were slavers who fell bc of a slave uprising & are still venerated by the targs & dani. we ignore that the long night happened before and *didn’t need a dragon to stop it.* ignore the CONTINENTAL WALL and ICE ZOMBIE DEFENDED CASTLE that stopped it the first time. ignore that dragons refuse to fly north of the wall.
all for…what? WHAT??? if dani is important to the endgame, let’s see the proof! “but i love her” IS NOT PROOF. I love theon’s lil flop ass, i don’t think he’s gonna single handedly defeat the long night based off a single line in arianne martell’s chapter or something. and like, i go back and forth on jonsa bc i go back and forth on everything in the endgame bc we’re two dense ass books away from it, but i will say is that the d and j/d fans loved to shout down every other reading of the text, which didn’t lead to a lot of great theories. while since i started poking around with the jonsas, even finding i have different opinions in major characters and their trajectories, the theories are *talked about*. i love stumpy’s reread bc it breaks down every theory, even ones that aren’t likely, or she doesn’t agree with, and imo that’s how a series as dense as this should be analyzed. we’re not all going to analyze it the same way but can we not pull nonsense out of our ass at least 😭😭
You know what? Let’s say for argument’s sake that Jon doesn’t care about Sansa, that he doesn’t think of her at all. Let’s asume that the moment they meet again they will look at each other with indifference and Jonsa is a crack ship at best.
“Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa” is still the best line about her than anyone else has said in the series so far. Everyone wants Sansa’s claim, everyone wants to use her, they call her stupid, they think she is too southern because she doesn’t have her wolf, she is a Lannister, she betrayed Ned, she will never go home.
Here’s Jon Snow, upholding the undeniable fact that she is Ned Stark’s daughter, that she is as Northern as any of her siblings, that she has the right and the ability to rule the North, no matter who her husband is because she was a hostage and was forced into that marriage.
Even if Jonsa doesn’t happen Jon has already made his choice for Sansa as he made his choice for Arya. He loves all the Starks, and he will stand for Sansa’s rights even at a great cost to himself. And that is canon, and will forever be, no matter how many haters Sansa has, this cannot be erased.
Hi there!
Yes, couldn't agree more. "Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa" is really iconic. And add to that that Jon never had an unfriendly thought about Sansa (and don't @ me about that 'half-brother' line)
But you know, even if they just fight alongside each other and are indifferent, Jonsa would still not be a crackship. Crackships are ships that do not interact in canon and have no idea that the other person even exists. Sansa/Hizdahr would be a crackship.
They use that word for us to imply that it's crack to ship them and I simply refuse to go along with that. Even if Jonsa never becomes canon it has the hell of a potential.
As for Jon, I think that some parts of the fandom (*cough*) have takes on Jon that simply cannot be verified in the books. 🤷♀️
Sansa is alive by dumb luck but the woman who acquired three dragons by magic means has gotten no help? She is the one who had three personal slaves and a whole khalasar to tend to her smallest needs, and who lived on the top of a pyramid in luxury. She hasn’t lift a finger in her life, and she most certainly does not know how to sew.
The Varys quote is about Aegon son of Elia, who will be her political rival, anon.
But, since I agree with anon that you write metas very well, perhaps you should write a meta about why Barbecue Barbie will not have a happy ending. 😈
Her first chapter in the first book literally starts with aunty being bathed and dressed by two slaves, and her followed chapters aren't that different.
Other female characters like Sansa and fave sis are also depicted being bathed and dressed by maids (not slaves).
The three of them were helped to survive by many people, true and false friends, or even captors.
But of these three characters, only Sansa can sew, and she's very efficient with the sewing needles.
Also, of these three characters, only Sansa is dutiful, the other two are either entitled or rebellious.
And of course, of these three characters, only Sansa is closer to that Varys description of the perfect ruler:
"He is here. Aegon has been shaped for rule since before he could walk. He has been trained in arms, as befits a knight to be, but that was not the end of his education. He reads and writes, he speaks several tongues, he has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them. He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, swum in rivers and mended nets and learned to wash his own clothes at need. He can fish and cook and bind up a wound, he knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows that kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them."
—A Dance with Dragons - Epilogue
And of all those that traits, GRRM thinks that duty is the key:
What's the best, the ideal ruler for Westeros would have what kind of traits?
Well I think one of the fundamental things is... in a good king is someone who regards being king as a duty rather than a privilege that they’re entitled to. A duty to the realm, to dispense justice, to have peace and occasionally to do, you know, boring things like building roads and sanitation in King's Landing and all that… Nobody really wants to do a spin-off show about "King Jaehaerys builds the roads", but I do think, if you actually lived in Westeros, you might like a king who’s more concerned with building roads than fighting wars... And Viserys, of course, who comes to the throne when the old King dies, that's sort of his goals too, I mean he wants, he doesn't want, well he does kind of at the end of his life, he wants a little glory, but he's not driven by glory, he wants to be a good king, a wise king, to protect his people, I think those are the most important traits.
—GRRM - House of the Dragon Cast Comic-Con Panel - July, 2022
Duty and boring things aren't aunty (who literally dies of tedium while holding court) or fave sister's forte.
I know that aunty and fave sis have or there is the appearance that they have some of those traits Varys listed but they aren't dutiful and duty is the key.
That post was full of contradictions between the passive aggressive trolling and the lack of reading comprehension.
Aunty and fave sis have enough stans to write odes to them, I won't waste my time writing about something that doesn't interest me. It's enough to compile GRRM words directly or indirectly about those characters, that usually fit with what I think about them.
Thanks so much for the prompt, my dear! I hope you're good with a little bookshop/spy AU??
**
She’s been working in the bookshop five days a week for five months since Brynden placed her here, saying it would fill a need and keep her safe enough until he can get her home. Her role in the Resistance may seem a small one but it is vital. Information must pass back and forth somehow.
It carries a few perks as well.
She gets to live above the shop and this part of the capitol is not as dangerous as some. Sansa loves to read and she’s surrounded by so many books all day. Shelving books, keeping track of inventory, sweeping up and helping the few customers with the coin and freedom to come and shop these days are simple enough labors.
And then there’s him.
“Good day, Mr. Snow,” she says when the bell above the door stops jingling. Her heart is already racing. She’s always glad to see him but doubly so since he’s been absent for several weeks. Where has he been? She’s been worried. Does he know that? Would he care if he did?
“Good day, Miss Stone.”
Here, she is Stone. Is Snow his actual last name? She wonders if he knows how much she anticipates his visits or how his last name always brings home to mind.
“Reading ‘Florian and Jonquil’ again?” he asks, grinning when his eyes fall to the beautifully illustrated edition before her.
“It is my favorite,” she says, unable to keep from blushing.
It is her favorite, a precious gift from her parents when they were still alive.
But it's also a sign for him that it’s safe in here today. She cannot help the blushing. He’s a rogue and enjoys teasing her, she thinks. Her romantic heart gets carried away.
He wears a scholarly beard, tweed jacket and walking stick he doesn’t require. It’s all part of his disguise, she’s come to realize, the humble tutor with barely a whiff of a Northern accent most of the time.
She’d thought him a romantic figure even before the night that illusion had been shattered, the night he’d appeared unexpectedly after closing, dressed in black and carrying a gun instead of a cane, urgently rapping on the backdoor for her to let him in. His Northern brogue had fully appeared that night and how naturally it had fallen from his tongue as he’d passed her a small parcel, begged her to keep it safe for the night until he could return in the morning.
He’d had a cut on his brow and his shoulder was bleeding. Ignoring his protest that he was fine, she’d led him up the stairs into her private quarters. She’d helped him out of his shirt and tended his wounds with a clean cloth, tea spiked with liquor and soothing words. For nearly an hour, he’d stayed by her fire, his eyes making an inventory of her boudoir before he’d fled into the night again.
When they’d parted, he’d pressed a kiss to her hand in thanks. It was her palm in fact which he kissed most ardently. It had been like a brand, a fiery pledge, she’d been sure and that was the first night Sansa had purposely thought of Jon Snow as she’d laid abed.
The next morning though, he’d acted as if that part, the kiss to her palm and the hungry way his eyes had lingered on her lips had never happened. But Sansa remembers.
“Have you anything you wished to return, sir?” Is there anything for me to pass along for you?
“Not today, miss.” He is always polite but she remembers that hunger in his eyes and the feel of his warm skin under her caring ministrations that night and wishes he would not be quite so polite sometimes.
He casually strolls around the shop, appearing to be in search of something but making doubly sure no legitimate customers or hidden queen’s agents are lurking about the corners of her shop. She’s already given him the sign that it’s all clear. When will he truly trust her?
Satisfied that they are indeed alone at last, he stands opposite the counter from her and asks, “Do you have anything new for me today?”
“Something arrived yesterday in fact.”
She’d been hoping that meant he’d be returning but she’d been afraid to hope. The Resistance has known its share of losses this year and it’s a very dangerous game the spies like Jon play. It’s part of why she doesn’t pressure Brynden for a precise date of when she might go home. The other part is because of this man.
He smiles at her answer, making her insides feel like warmed jelly.
“But it just arrived last night and it’s still in the back,” she adds, glancing towards the front window.
Sometimes, there’ll be a small wolf scrawled along the border of those coded messages or packages she receives. When that’s the case, Brynden had said she must keep them especially secret and safe so she does. She is diligent in her little role.
Mr. Snow walks to the front door, peers out into the street before turning the sign to Closed and the lock. He turns back towards her and, though he may note how her blush deepens and spreads down her throat, he cannot possibly know the fantasies she entertains with that closed sign, locked door and them alone.
“This way,” she murmurs, intending to take him to the back of the shop before recalling her change of heart last night. Had that been on purpose? A touch of embarrassment as she tells him, “It’s, um…actually up the stairs.”
He nods once, eyes falling to her lips but also wary. He lays his false cane aside to follow.
They climb the stairs and enter her boudoir. Her bed is still unmade. She always makes it. The scented soap she enjoys washing with lingers in the air. Her night gown lies across the bed, along with a pair of stockings. She is usually so tidy. It’s an intimate sort of scene she’s presented for him, whether by design or unintentionally. What imaginings she’s imagined since his previous visit to this room.
Her skin is too hot, stretched and taunt and the longing she feels for this man feels unbearable as she kneels beside her bed and pulls out a stack of her favorite books. There’s a shabbier copy of ‘Florian and Jonquil.’ It was there that she tucked the envelope with the wolf scrawled along the top last night.
“Florian again?” He’s standing right over her when she looks up at him. “Is it the fool or the knight you enjoy most?”
“The romance is what I enjoy the most,” she admits, passing the envelope.
He takes it slowly from her outstretched hand, his fingers caressing hers, another brand to carry.
She swallows hard and rises, steps towards the fire though she burns. She hears the papers crinkling and knows he’s reading the code words she doesn’t know but that he must know by heart.
Just as she’s thinking that she should tidy up or head back down the stairs on her own or perhaps see what he might do if she were to start unfastening the buttons of her blouse for him, he speaks. One word, a question, slow and deliberate.
“Stark?”
She spins, gasps. No one knows her last name here except Brynden.
But Jon does now. He holds up the coded message and a photograph, one that was taken a few years ago when she was still just a carefree girl.
“I never would’ve…you have surprised me more than once but this…” His lips twitch as he appraises her again as if he’s seeing something new. She supposes he is. And how has she surprised him already?
“What does it say?” she asks, nodding towards the message she cannot read.
“That it’s time for you to pack up your books and go home, princess.”
“Oh,” she says softly. She doesn’t think of herself as a princess but, in the Resistance, they call Robb their king.
She’ll be leaving the capitol and going home. She’ll be safe perhaps. She’ll see her family. She’s happy and yet…she’ll be leaving him behind. Will he ever know how that affects her? Would he care if he did?
Emotion starts to carry her away. She walks towards him, wanting an embrace, to cry in his arms perhaps, wanting to bid him farewell at least, wanting more than she wants her next breath to kiss him and show him how much he’s come to mean to her.
They do embrace and he wipes her tears away. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Snow. I’m going to miss you is all.”
His eyes are smiling when he takes her hand in his once more and presses yet another soul-searing kiss to her palm. “Call me Jon but you won’t get to miss me yet. I’m to be the one who takes you there.”
