‘lgbtabcd alphabet community too many letters har har har’ you’d fucking die fucking brain explosion DIE if you read asoiaf. asoiaf got hotd grrm d&d agot acok asos affc adwd twow ados f&b twoiaf awoiaf tsoiaf r+l=j n+a=j d+d=t bwb 3EC COTF rw wot5k KOTLT toj ptwp ymbq tdotd kitn LF YG NK BF BR CH LS KL KG WF NW. both use gnc though gender non-conforming 🤝 grand northern conspiracy

I made this instead of doing actual stats homework you're welcome

The Hobbits learn how to line dance to Cotton Eyed Joe!

THE LORD OF THE RINGS costumes appreciation: ― Haldir’s armour (costume design by Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor)

so i've been getting myself back into lord of the rings

(inspired by this post by @lotrreactionmemes !!)

was thinking about how cersei’s children and shireen were kind of “cousins” for a time :’|

jon, nonchalantly, in twow:

literally everyone else:

the way both theon and jon love robb so much....he loves them like they’re his true brothers and they love him back but hate each other. both out of jealousy and because they instinctively understand what exactly the other finds in robb...two outsiders who are of house stark but not part of it, they don’t bear the name and they know they’ll be made to leave one day. and neither of them can truly connect with robb the way a trueborn brother can, they’re constantly hampered by their place in society. like, theon is a hostage, the son of an enemy noble house. he doesn’t have the bond of common blood. jon does have that bond, but he isn’t a legitimate child, there are things theon can do with robb that he can’t simply due to his birth and position in society. and theon and jon, consciously or unconsciously understand this - but it’s not like they can fight society. so it’s easier to just hate the other boy who has the chance to make memories you can’t with the brother you both love.

getting involved in the socmed game of thrones fandom has made me learn everyone hates sansa for some reason. what the fuck, take me back to when i didn’t know that

“No one ever even ASKED me why I killed Aerys they just ASSUMED I did it for my Father!” Jaime. Baby. If Ned Stark had asked you point blank why you killed Aerys, would you have told him?? No, because “by what right does the wolf judge the lion”. Jaime has these instilled notions of superiority from his childhood (shared by Cersei and Tyrion) which actively impede his ability to act morally or like, at least healthily. They can’t interrogate their thoughts or actions honestly because it’s terrifying, it means they’re wrong, they’ve been wrong, their father was wrong, and they simply can’t compute. Their ideas of morality are stuck in “what’s best for House Lannister” but also “what’s best for ME, an extension and scion of House Lannister”, and as such, even when they try to act morally (Tyrion in ACOK and ASOS, Jaime in Feast, etc) they still can’t actually act in the interests of anyone but House Lannister, and they will do mental gymnastics to explain why their actions, i.e. keeping illegitimate and cruel leaders in power, is okay actually because they’re trying to mitigate the problems!! My brothers in the seven,,, stabbing someone in the eye with a fork rather than a steak knife is still going to blind a person.

something about LotR being Tolkien’s way of addressing the unimaginable loss of life and trauma during WWII.. something about ASOIAF being GRRM’s way of addressing the romanticization of war in Vietnam, and then later Afghanistan and Iraq… Tolkien’s atmosphere being dark and hopeless so he used fantasy to inject light into it and made a story where everyone got to live… while GRRM’s atmosphere was divided by invasion and imperialism, so he uses fantasy to show death and carnage as it happens in war, even in the face of magic. they both inform one another, they’re both products of their times and those losses, and they both have that ultimate message of saying “there are things worth fighting for,” but whereas Tolkien needed to say “we found it and we did it,” GRRM’s saying, “we’ve lost it and we need to find it again”

So if you must hate, Arya, hate those who would truly do us harm.

I think I found my favorite parallel between Eddard and Arya:

lists

He damned them all: Littlefinger, Janos Slynt and his gold cloaks, the queen, the Kingslayer, Pycelle and Varys and Ser Barristan, even Lord Renly, Robert’s own blood, who had run when he was needed most. 

…

Arya watched and listened and polished her hates the way Gendry had once polished his horned helm. Dunsen wore those bull’s horns now, and she hated him for it. She hated Polliver for Needle, and she hated old Chiswyck who thought he was funny. And Raff the Sweetling, who’d driven his spear through Lommy’s throat, she hated even more. She hated Ser Amory Lorch for Yoren, and she hated Ser Meryn Trant for Syrio, the Hound for killing the butcher’s boy Mycah, and Ser Ilyn and Prince Joffrey and the queen for the sake of her father and Fat Tom and Desmond and the rest, and even for Lady, Sansa’s wolf.

and self-blame

Yet in the end he blamed himself. “Fool,” he cried to the darkness, “thrice-damned blind fool.”

…

She went to the window seat and sat there, sniffling, hating them all, and herself most of all. It was all her fault, everything bad that had happened.

I think people who pick one character from AsoIaF/GoT to be The Protagonist are missing the point, because pretty much all of the characters think THEY are The Protagonist™ and that’s ultimately what screws them over.

(I also want to preface this by saying that that’s the reason I find these characters so interesting, and that this is not meant to insult any of them. I LOVE this story, and this is one of the many reasons why.)

Cersei thinks she’s the Villain Protagonist™ of a gritty drama. Even if it doesn’t make sense for things to work out for her, she assumes they will, seeing everyone around her as faceless idiots serving her narrative. Anyone and everyone will betray her because that’s what always happens in stories like this, so she won’t give them a chance to ever get there. People will move the way she assumes they will; everyone is predictable and stupid and shallow and cowardly. And as such, no one possesses the necessary skills to take her down. If she’s more ruthless and ambitious and paranoid than everyone else, she’ll get what she wants. But that’s not how life actually works, so all she does is alienate those around her, even necessary allies. People aren’t always predictable, not all of them are compliant or subservient or easily-frightened or incompetent. And if you prioritize ruthlessness and distrust, the people who aren’t those things aren’t going to see any reason to keep you around or give you aid.

Jaime thinks he’s a Cynical Misunderstood Antihero. He doesn’t need to work on bettering himself or de-internalizing his violent impulses, because he’s not the problem, it’s society, it’s people’s incorrect assessment of him. Look, he made a friend in Brienne, that must mean he’s not all bad, right? He thinks this story ends in a Public Image Rehabilitation, but he still conflates love with violence, and he still has a fucked up relationship with consent, he’s arrogant to a fault, he still insults Brienne (and just about everyone else) when the opportunity presents itself, and he never bothers trying to change that. And it’s all of this that prevents him from every truly becoming a good person. He’s so mired in this idea of being misunderstood that he doesn’t make a concerted effort to prove that he actually is. People think he’s an oath-breaker, that he has too big of an ego, that he doesn’t care about the people he swore to protect, and he thinks that simply going, “Yeah, but they don’t have the whole picture” is enough in and of itself to prove them wrong because, in a lot of stories, it is. But all his behavior does is cement his reputation as these things.

Dany thinks she’s The Chosen One, which means whatever she does is automatically the right decision. People will accept her rule because it’s hers, she deserves it, it’s morally right. All of her enemies are blanketedly wrong on all accounts in all cases. Her goals supersede anyone else’s because those goals are the way to a Happy Ending, and she doesn’t consider that other people might not see it that way. Many people’s gripes with her stem from gross places like misogyny or wanting to continue keeping slaves, but she forgets to acknowledge that some people’s issues with her might actually be valid. And that The Chosen One is actually a terrifying idea to people outside that person’s immediate personal context. She has three sentient WMDs, essentially. And if she thinks that using them is always morally correct, that the fallout from doing so can’t possibly be a problem because she’s using them and it’s for a noble cause, you end up with what happened in Astapor; and you end up with Drogon killing a child in Mereen and, eventually, her demise at the end of the show.

Sansa starts out thinking she’s an Optimistic Child Hero in a fairytale. This leads to her being held captive at court (she trusted that the authority figures were benevolent), writing a letter to her family that almost comes back to bite her to a deadly degree once her sister finds out in the show (she thought she could solve everything herself via a peaceful resolution), and to her trusting a complete monster of a boy until it’s too late (she thought he was Prince Charming). She thinks that being the Soft, Beautiful Heroine means people will love her and everything will end nicely and neatly, but sometimes instead of “love”, people just take advantage of you. And sometimes their reaction to your beauty isn’t innocent appreciation-sometimes you end up with Littlefinger. (Or Tyrion or The Hound who…let’s just leave it at “they have their own issues,” especially book-wise.) This morphs into assuming that a fairytale-esque betrayal will befall her with every new person she meets. It’s why she defends Petyr after his murder of Lysa, and it’s why she doesn’t leave with Brienne; if she’s going to be betrayed anyway, she might as well at least stick with a villain she understands.

Ned thinks he’s the Noble Hero in a typical fantasy series. He doesn’t consider everyone else’s capacity for cruelty or the idea that honor alone might not be enough. Sometimes there are no perfect choices, sometimes mercy does not give you the end goal you envisioned, and sometimes you can try your best and that can all be undone by one impulsive, unforeseeable action. You can’t honor your way out of ruthless political conflict.

Robb thinks he’s a Romantic War Hero, and thus everything will magically work out for him. His ideals and his marriage will conquer everything. But he broke a marriage promise to a powerful family, and that has consequences. The world won’t bend to his will, not even if he is doing the right thing or has noble goals, not even if he’s had war success, not even if the people at home love him, not even if he’s in love (show) or doing the most honorable thing he can (books). He thinks that being the hero means he can make it through Westeros without having to play the game, and he gets murdered for it.

Theon thinks he’s an Underdog Outcast Hero. He’ll come up from behind with an unsuspecting War Victory, and that will earn him respect, the love of his family, and a legacy he can look back on with pride. And that mindset leads him to murder two children, to drive away any allies and good grace he had at Winterfell, and the reason that the War Victory he imagined was so unexpected is because it’s completely untenable. He gets more and more desperate and it’s increasingly harder and harder to hold onto the control he’s managed to obtain. He has reasons for wanting this that make sense, and he’s been dealt a pretty bad hand in life, and he thinks that’s and his determination to overcome his personal identity struggles is enough to not only justify his actions, but ensure that those actions will be successful. And then his plan blows up in his face, he assumes he’s been miraculously saved (probably still having something to do with seeing himself as The Unexpected Hero), and ends up at Ramsay’s mercy.

Arya thinks she’s a Badass Heroine in the making, a skilled swordslady and Rebellious Princess who’s destined for more than this stuffy life of politics and dresses and formalities. But rebelling isn’t always enough. It doesn’t help with the Mycah situation, and she still needs to rely on others’ help in getting out of the city after Ned is executed. When she does try to embrace the “fully self-sufficient sword lady” idea while with the Faceless Men in Braavos, she is told to functionally discard her identity completely. She does an unauthorized kill because she, not her assassin-persona-in-training, wants to (though the victim’s identity differs in books and show), which leads to her being temporarily blinded and prevented from going on assassination missions, and outright forced to beg for food in the show. In the show, after being reinstated as an apprentice, she is tasked with killing an innocent person, refuses (rebels), and realizes that this life is one she can’t handle. She goes home, and her heading straight for her sword is one of the things that almost completely ruins her relationship with Sansa. In the upcoming Winds of Winter release, her chapter excerpt has her prioritizing revenge over her apprentice duties, and she remarks that her new identity is ruined with this rebellious action. When you rebel, there are consequences-this doesn’t change just because your intentions are good or because you are or think you are important.

Jon thinks, similarly to Ned, that he’s The Good Guy, that doing the right thing, that following The Code is paramount. He thinks that, because he’s The Good Guy, that doing the right thing with the maximum amount of good for everyone will always be a workable option, and that the heroic option will always yield the best result. This is why he thinks proclaiming his love to Ygritte in the show will end well (because love is good and conquers everything) and is, instead, shot by her several times. It’s why he doesn’t foresee a mutiny in either medium, which leads to his (temporary) death. (Let’s be real, he’s getting resurrected in the books, too, this is the one thing I’m sure of.) Because yes, everything is tense and he’s on bad terms with the Watch, but surely they wouldn’t go that far. It’s rough going, and he has to juggle the needs of several widely different groups of people, but he’s doing the right thing and that will win out; his conviction will protect him, at least for the time being while he tries to manage the bigger threat of the White Walkers. The real fight is with them, the mysterious overarching enemy, not within his own ranks. This is a story where everyone puts aside their differences to fight a greater threat-except for the times when it isn’t.

Even Catelyn isn’t immune, as she assumes that Petyr, since he’s her childhood friend, is invested in solving the mystery of what happened to Bran when he tells her the dagger used in the attack was Tyrion’s. Lysa is her sister, she can’t possibly be suspicious. She thinks the Lannisters are evil, her instincts tell her that they were behind everything, she’s the Protective Mother Heroine, so she must be right. But although she is to a certain extent correct, that’s not the complete picture. And this slightly-misplaced confidence leads her to arrest Tyrion, the retaliation of which is Tywin siccing his forces on her homeland, one of the major first steps in the upcoming political war. Then, her continued focus on saving her children-something that must take precedence because they are her children, and this is her story-leads her to taking Walder Frey’s supposed offer of a fix-it solution for Robb breaking his marital pledge at face value, despite House Frey’s reputation, and despite this neat resolution seeming far too good to be true. She’s so focused on the Lannisters-the Obvious Endgame Enemy-that she doesn’t consider the possibility of betrayal from the Freys. She thinks that the world is giving her a break-because she is so desperately looking for one, because she deserves one, because her family deserves one, and those are reasons enough for her to have one-that she doesn’t even bother to re-evaluate the situation until it’s too late.

Melisandre thinks she’s a Religious Hero, but she ends up burning a child alive and alienating one of her few remaining allies in the process (and Davos was barely an ally to begin with). She thinks she’s Doing What Needs To Be Done to serve her savior, but it hurts Stannis more than it helps him, and he just ends up being murdered by Brienne. This is obviously in the show only (at least at this point), and I don’t know if Stannis is going to burn Shireen in the books or not. Stannis thinks he’s the Lawful Hero, and thus, because according to law he’s the Rightful Ruler, anything he does is automatically excusable; he’s just righting a wrong. And in the process, he imprisons his closest friend, has a hand in murdering his brother (when kinslaying is one of the most universally hated breaches of conduct in this fictional universe), allies with a dangerous woman that much of his own court despises, and, in the show, murders his only child and drives away most of the rest of his remaining team.

They all think that, since they are the main characters of their own stories, that they’re the main character of the larger, overarching narrative. That having understandable reasons or sympathetic qualities or even just having a clear goal that they desperately want, that’s enough to cement their importance. And they think that means that they’re justified in everything they do, that everything will work out for them, that the consequences will be lesser for them than for others, because that’s what it’s like to be the main character. The whole point is that there is not A Protagonist™ and that maybe we should examine why a story needs A Protagonist™ in the first place and what that narrative tradition tells us. When GRRM said he turned down adaptation offers because they only wanted to focus on Jon and Dany, this is why.

at the end of the day i think the reason we’re all so obsessed w jon snow in the books is the inherent comedy of the Chosen One being sent to magical boarding school and just hating every minute of it. he’s not realizing his full magical girl potential he’s just exhausted. mans is TIRED. there’s a literal giant camping out in his front yard and he’s stressing over salt beef. there is an uber hot magical witch actively trying to seduce him and he’s just like ‘omg ygritte had red hair… im going to kms’. he is actively becoming a wolf. like straight up animorphing into his pet dog. and he doesn’t give a shit he’s like ‘hm that’s weird’ and then he gets distracted smelling satins’ hair again. easily the most character of all time. god.

Reflecting lately on the degree to which Cersei’s brothers treated her as complicit in her abusive marriage, the specific ways in which she was expected to manage their emotions. Robert was obviously not her choice of husband (that brute you made me marry), she was the foremost recipient of Robert’s violence & callousness. Yet we see early in their marriage, when Cersei sends Jaime to confirm Robert’s infidelity, that Jaime returns and asks if Cersei wants him dead. As if Cersei… has a choice. To condemn Robert to death at the cost of Jaime’s life no doubt.

That’s not isolated: Cersei later hides bruises from Jaime because his first instinct would have been violence towards Robert, putting her in further danger from her abusive husband should Jaime do anything short of murdering him and whisking her/the children far away.

Jaime goes on to be upset during the royal trip to Winterfell, upset because Robert might force himself on Cersei any given night, and it’s left to Cersei to manage that hurt by urging him to go hunting. Jaime throws Bran out a window for witnessing their ill-advised liaison and the next morning Tyrion finds him “with a lazy smile” while Cersei freaks. Jaime’s coping mechanisms of repression are well-documented at this point yet from Cersei’s POV her husband is in the room with the kid who could bust the whole case wide open should he wake, and she’s alone in displaying concern.

Even later, when Jaime expresses that it should have been him who killed Robert instead of Cersei, that implies that either he considers his hate of Robert more righteous than hers or that he values his protective instinct towards the woman he loves over hers towards herself. Regardless of which, it diminishes who Robert’s victim was - Cersei. When Jaime expresses blame towards Cersei for their children not knowing him as their father (“Tommen is no son of mine, no more than Joffrey was." His voice was hard. "You made them Robert's too.”), when he compares her to Robert while she acts out her trauma despite having gone through a similar experience himself (someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight) therefore being in a position to offer empathy.

And these were all highly gendered expectations! Jaime rarely seems to consider Cersei’s lack of mobility or ability to defend herself, centering himself in this dynamic as the savior, her as the perfect victim (a role she fails). Cersei for her part views Jaime in a similar manner, rarely considering his desires or internal struggles above her own conception of him, yet she is aware of the gendered ways in which they’re separated.

Cersei’s treatment of Tyrion was mocking & abusive so the schadenfreude he feels towards her isn’t shocking (Tyrion had rather liked Robert Baratheon, great blustering oaf that he was… doubtless in part because his sister loathed him so). That said for Cersei, who perceived Tyrion as the actor who would one day feed on her joy, Tyrion’s muted approval of her misery likely fed into her fear & hatred of him. For him to take little issue with the relationship despite being at some level aware of the violence within it was all that she would have registered. That Tyrion was otherwise affectionate towards her children in ways Jaime wasn’t, that he largely left her alone, was likely lost on her in exchange for becoming even more hostile towards him.

I was thinking about the scene between Varys and Illyrio in the red keep that Arya overheard and I really appreciate the irony of the master of whisper almost getting caugh in the exact same way he spies on other people.

Arya is essentially being an accidental little bird for Ned and it's both really deeply ironic (if Ned understood what Arya was saying, that might have screwed everything for them) and foreshadowing for the fact that she is essentially learning to be a spy now (maybe even better than him).