Some meta on how Myriam feels about the Starks?
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So, for the majority of her life, Myriam has held the Starks in high regard. She’s lived in the shadow of Winterfell, born and raised there actually, and they’ve been a constant presence in her life. She has always seen Ned as a good lord, an intimidating yet compassionate man. Her mother told her of how the Starks made sure everyone in Winter Town had enough food and kept warm during difficult times, and Myriam (who often felt like she wasn’t being looked after enough for various reasons) enjoyed the idea of having someone, some overruling presence, watching out for her.
As for the children, she’s just a little bit older than Robb and Jon, so she can vaguely remember Sansa being a small child, but clearly remembers when Arya was born. Of course, she never had anything to do with them until much later on. She saw the boys mostly, when heading out of the castle and through Winter Town when headed on a hunt or other manly stuff with Ned. But she always felt some kind of connection with them all. When she was young, she often daydreamed about bumping into the boys or Sansa by accident and becoming firm friends and then the Starks taking her in like they had with Theon (for she wasn’t completely sure of who Theon was or why he was there or that he was a noble until she was older).
Most of us know (unless ur a new follower or have been living under a rock) that she had a bit of a from a distance crush on Jon. It’s a difficult one to explain given that she has next to no contact with him ever when she’s in her teens, but she feels there are similarities between them. They are both looked down on because of certain aspects of their parentage, sort of outcasts, etc. She feels he is the one she has the most chance of speaking to and that interests her. She’s pretty heartbroken when he goes to the Wall. I can’t talk much more about Jon for now because it all differs from portrayal to portrayal. My Jons and I all have different stories for these two and that’s something I love and respect so I can’t go into all of them!
So yes, her feelings towards the Starks were mostly positive for the majority of her life. I think the point where the tide begins to turn is with Theon’s invasion of Winterfell. To Myriam, the Starks have all but abandoned them (although she does understand why) to be looked after by old men and little boys, and it takes so long for help to come after Theon arrives. Obviously, things just keep getting worse and worse and she becomes more and more disillusioned with not only the Starks, but the nobility in general. They are fighting wars for themselves, in her opinion, with little to no thought about the lives they are wasting - a large proportion of which come from her own “class” of people. Boys she grew up with and knew in Winter Town dying for the quarrels of men and women who cared very little about them.
She does feel sorry for the Starks, though, and is particularly enraged about the events of the Red Wedding.
Now, skip forward (and into show canon). Myriam would be happy enough for Jon to come back and kick Ramsay out and be declared King. He is the closest the Starks have to a “common” person, and she believes this can only be a good thing. He’s more in touch with the reality of things, and appears to be focused on things far more important than politics. All in all for Myriam, the Starks are back on track, doing good things, and being decent people.
Now, we obviously don’t know yet how the people of the North are going to react to Jon having bent the knee to a certain blonde but I can tell you for one that another certain blonde wouldn’t be happy about it. Myriam is not a historian or a diplomat or anything of the sort but she knows the stories of Roberts Rebellion and the rumour mill has been working away, we can assume. If news of what happened in the Westerlands hadn’t already reached Winterfell in some way, it would do shortly after Jon’s return, and you can be sure as hell that that won’t warm Myriam to this new guest. Again, that whole decision of subjugating an entire region of Westeros to a foreign queen who doesn’t know them (because lbr, the Targaryens knew jack shit about the north even when they ruled the place, Daenerys hasn’t been there ever - not her fault, but it won’t help her case as to why Jon should have bent the knee) will just bring back memories of the nobility operating above the smallfolk’s heads without any consideration of how they might feel or how this might affect them etc. Jon is not perfect by any means, of course he isn’t, but Dany’s reputation precedes her, especially in Westeros. Sure, among certain people they would be hailing her return but others, they would be telling stories of this queen who conquered people, burned the Tarlys alive, has terrible dragons who kill livestock and children (none of the good stuff). Myriam will be sure as heck at the start of season 8 that she doesn’t want this woman being in charge of her or the North and she’d be mad as heck at Jon bringing her to Winterfell and having sworn fealty to her. (I stress this is like show canon Myrie. This obviously differs from story to story I have with various blogs here).
As for the others at this point, she is pretty proud of Sansa, seeing all she has overcome and how well she is doing. Myriam would be so pleased to see the other babs returning as well. She’ll love seeing how much Bran and Arya have grown, and especially seeing how Arya is her own woman.
So basically, Myriam’s feelings towards the Starks started off well, but she’s became more and more disillusioned, with a closeted wish to support them because she does feel an affinity with them - but she just doesn’t like the way things are panning out with the concept of nobility in general, but with the Starks as a specific example.
