#robyn arryn

[inncorrect-starklings]

Robb: Would you rather lick a cactus or kick an updog.

Arya: What’s a cactus?

Rickon: What’s a cactus?

Robyn: What’s a cactus?

[she-wolf-of-highgarden]

So apparently my brain won’t let me rest until I write this out. Earlier today I saw a post and it made me mad, so I want to talk about the Stark girls and being maternal. It boils down to this: it is kinda to early to tell if they are maternal or not (the fact we are having these arguments about these girls, but not about the boys is kind of ridiculous and seems pretty misogynistic, but what’s new). Sansa and Arya are young. Do some people know from a young age they want kids? Sure. Does every single person make that decision as a child? No. It’s unreasonable to look at 10-year-old Arya Stark and say that because thus far she hasn’t shown interest in having children then she never ever will. You don’t know that. Maybe she wont and that’s cool or maybe she will and that’s cool too.

Sansa is at the other end of the spectrum. The thing about Sansa is that I while expect she will go on to have children and be a good mother, right this second, she doesn’t appear to want children for the sake of the children themselves. She wants kids because Sansa has a check-list for what her life should be like and kids are on the list. They are something to be checked off. And at her age that makes sense. She is young. Her whole life she has been told the best she can do is marry a high lord and give him sons:

“Joffrey will show you no such devotion, I fear. You could thank your sister for that, if she weren't dead. He's never been able to forget that day on the Trident when you saw her shame him, so he shames you in turn. You're stronger than you seem, though. I expect you'll survive a bit of humiliation. I did. You may never love the king, but you'll love his children.” - Sansa IV, ACoK

“She pictured the two of them sitting together in a garden with puppies in their laps, or listening to a singer strum upon a lute while they floated down the Mander on a pleasure barge. If I give him sons, he may come to love me. She would name them Eddard and Brandon and Rickon, and raise them all to be as valiant as Ser Loras. And to hate Lannisters, too. In Sansa's dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was even a girl who looked like Arya.” - Sansa II, ASoS

Of course Sansa expects to have children, society expects her to as well. If Sansa, herself, is particularly fond of  kids in general or not is not something the reader knows because a) she’s never thought of it really and b) she hasn’t really been around them while the reader has known her so we dont have her thoughts on the matter. 

Going by the relationships they have with Robyn and Weasel respectively aren’t terribly useful. Neither are really looking after these kids by choice. Arya has much more of a choice in this than Sansa does, but it seems to come more from her sense of justice than anything else. She saved her from the fire like she save Jaqen and the others and the kid needed people to stick with. What was she going to do make her leave? For Sansa’s part...she really really doesn’t have a choice. Is she kind to him? Of course she is, but how much of that is maternal and how much of that is Sansa’s natural kindness and her knowledge that she needs to find a way to control her cousin’s behavior is arguable. What we do know is that Sansa (at the mo, it could change at some point) doesn’t see her self as Robyn’s mother (nor should she):

“I will." He cuddled close and laid his head between her breasts. "Alayne? Are you my mother now?"

“I suppose I am," she said. If a lie was kindly meant, there was no harm in it. - Sansa I, AFfC

Sansa is trying to comfort her cousin and she can relate to his plight. She has lost her mother as well. But like with Arya saving Weasel, kindness doesn’t wanting to be a caregiver to a person. Sansa doesn’t appear to take any real joy in being the one to look after Robyn which, again, is understandable. She is 14. She shouldn’t be in this position. Does that mean she will never want kids? No. It means she is a 14 year old. 

Anyway. All of this to say it’s weird we’re arguing about whether or not little girls are maternal and judging whether or not they will have children based upon how maternal they are or are not. When it comes to the Stark girls it’s too early to know for sure what they will want in the future when it comes to kids. 

[officialvladimirputin]

THE GLOW UP. BOY DAAMN

[yaaaaaaaslaaaaaay]

Everyone after that scene:

[ladystarks]

[captain-noir]

the 2nd best thing, after sansa’s coronation ofc, was the house tully cook-out at the dragonpits where sweetrobin showed off the benefits of tiddy milk in his post-puberty glow-up, bumbling uncle edmure trying and failing to be hip and cool to the mortification of his nieces and nephews, sansa and arya nearly starting a civil war in an attempt to break their war-criminal cousin out of jail and bran finnessing himself an entire continent by being dedicated to his local cryptid persona for 8 years. catelyn and house tully are the true winners of game of thrones.

[joneryswarrior]

You know what Robyn Arryn made a few points.

[artemisiabarnes]

This kid grew up lookin like Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid and I don’t know what to do with that