#anyways this is one of my favorite scenes in all of ASOIAF. I wanted the full quotation including her coaxing sweetrobin but that got LONG | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

franzkafkagf · 1 month

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okay so i want to hear about your take on aegon i know you like him and all (so do i no matter how much i wish not to) but whyy

yess thanks for asking, I love being insane about him<3

I think Aegon is such a wildly tragic character– many asoiaf characters are but I'm so drawn specifically to him; he didn't want power or responsibility or the crown. It all was bestowed upon him against his will, and he shouldn't; putting on the crown is his definitive death sentence. The coronation scene has got to be one of my favorites in the season– he is quite literally walking up to be butchered like a sacrificial lamb, there are tears streaking his cheeks in the scene! I love the tragedy of it, the way it couldn't have been avoided anyways; his fate was sealed from the very start! He was quite literally dead from the very beginning.

I'm going off a mix from the book and the show but I actually love what they did with the character in the show? The book version does have some hard-hitting moments from him that are missing ("What sort of brother steals his sister's birthright?") but there wasn't that much there in terms of characterization and relationships. And wow, did they deliver on that in the show; I'm gonna give whoever came up with his mommy issues a forehead kiss.

Because YES! He and Alicent are reflections of one another– Alicent suffered under the heavy boot of Otto, turned into the perfect daughter, turned into the perfect queen for him. She recognizes that this was wrong and abusive of him, then she turns around and does the same thing to Aegon– the poison DOES drip through, the wheel is NOT broken!! It's BRILLIANT.

@atopvisenyashill put a GREAT tag under one of my posts–

#he looks like her and he’s weak like her so why can’t he get strong like her.

While Alicent persevered, Aegon crumbled under the pressure. He is miserable when we meet him– and he should be! He is unfit for the role of king, but it is his destiny nonetheless, everybody tells him so. It destroys him.

It's so sad too and I cannot help but to feel bad for him. No one knows where he is in ep 9, I don't think he has anyone to confide in; it must be lonely. Everybody seems to have written him off already– he is a drunk and a failure at being heir, being a son, being a father. He tries to prove them wrong later, and does in some aspects.

His loneliness plays into another aspect of him that I really love; his desperation to be loved. He will never be enough for anybody, he probably knows it deep down.

"[Aegon is] desperate to be loved but destined to be hated." – Tom Glynn-Carney

Obviously there is the carriage scene with Alicent that shows this. But I also really love the moment in his coronation, where he basks in the people's affection and cheers. He is poised to bleed out in front of the throne, he was crying and fighting for his life not to take the crown just minutes before. But now he's here and they love him and he can't help but love that.

He takes the crown to protect his family (the show does hint at that with Alicent telling him as much in ep. 6– in the book it's much more explicit with Criston pressuring him on the day of the coronation itself) and then his son DIES because of it! And he drinks and rages and drinks some more; he must've blamed himself. He goes to battle, flies too high (figuratively), and he FALLS; he burns and falls to the ground. He isn't made to be king. He knows. He does it anyways.

"You have already written yourself into legend, you survived dragonfire" – Larys Strong in season 2 (probably)

He survives, he is gone for over a year, unable to do anything but he SURVIVES. He escapes the capital, takes Dragonstone, he falls AGAIN, he loses most of his family; but he still goes on. Fueled by what? Maybe anger, or bitterness or just pure lust for revenge. It doesn't matter. He must've realized somewhere on the way that this was always meant to go this way, ever since he put the conqueror's crown on. It doesn't matter.

And then he dies and it's not grand or spectacular or anything like that. He drinks poisoned wine, nobody even sees him die, they only find him after. It's so uniquely lonely.

#hotd #house of the dragon #tom glynn carney #aegon ii targaryen #aegon targaryen #hotd meta #aegonposting #alicent hightower #otto hightower #omg now im sad </3 #ales.txt #asks

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toadpeee · 2 months

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Hi Sav!! I been following ur work for a while and I always thought it was amazing!! I followed u on Twitter and I recently noticed u left there… I was wondering what happened. Did someone harass you? I hope you’re feeling good! Some kind of discourse can bring the worst people to the table. Anyway, sending u love!

Hello! & Thank you for supporting me :)

I’m done with GoT/asoiaf twitter for good, so tumblr is my forever Toadpeee. I’ve wanted to be done with the twt scene for a while now, it’s a very positive atmosphere anymore for artists & people are ass’s for no reason

I will keep all my asoiaf here + upload some new ones too that only existed on twt

Buuuuut— I’m trying to take my professional art stuff more seriously this year! I want to be a career artist/open up comms again, & I am done with artschool now :)

If I do make another twt, it will be for more serious art + other fandoms + my personal animation work— but I’m taking a full social media break till May. But I’ll be more anon & only give it out to some of my asoiaf art friends (so I challenge you to find me in the wild again soon….)

Thank you for ALL the love for my GoT stuff this last year, drawing fanart for my favorite thing really got me through it, & I’m glad I found a fandom community again

But also yes. I got run off my the l*cem*nds LMAOOOO but it was a good excuse/good timing + something I’ve wanted to do for a while but now seemed like a good time

Thank yall ♡

(Might also make an nsfw tumblr YOINK)

#ask #my art

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alliluyevas · 4 months

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Fic Author Interview (meme)

I was tagged by the lovely @heckofabecca. Thanks, Becca :)

1- How many works do you have on AO3?

71...I honestly was a bit surprised it was that many. I guess I've had that account a while and it adds up! Almost all of them are oneshots, though.

2- What's your total AO3 word count?

204,091.

3- What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

They're all ATLA, which makes sense when you think about it. ATLA is probably the second-biggest fandom I've written for other than ASOIAF, but ASOIAF is so big it's sometimes hard to get noticed. That being said, when I sort by hits, three of the top five are ASOIAF so I guess more people are reading those and not liking them. It probably helps that my top-kudos ATLA fics are all Zuko-centric and he's one of the most popular ATLA characters in fic whereas I think the ASOIAF topics I focus on are perhaps a bit more niche.

tongued with fire (728 kudos)

i got soul, but i'm not a soldier (714 kudos)

cold fire (655 kudos)

we die with the dying; we are born with the dead (597)

the sword and the pen (577 kudos)

4- Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I'll respond to all comments on recently published fic (unless it's a hate comment, which I delete) and for older works I try to respond, especially if it's a substantive comment. I like to engage with readers, especially since I tend to write a lot of really niche fandoms and it's nice to connect with other fans.

5- What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

probably either another atla fic that's set right after ursa leaves zuko and azula behind or this big love fic which has an ending that is... not necessarily angsty for the narrator but super bleak in context.

6- What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I don't typically write fluffy romantic fic (I usually do more bittersweet gen focused on family relationships) but I did when I participated in the Jaime/Brienne ship exchange a few times and this bakery-themed modern AU is probably my fluffiest/happiest ending. Exchanges are kind of fun because this is very much the type of fic I would not have ever written on my own.

7- Do you write crossovers?

I have not!

8- Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes, lol. My Lannister twins genderswap fic was very controversial among a certain subset of fans who vocally disagreed with my characterization (I will sum this up as them basically believing that genderswapped Jaime would just be canon Cersei which...lol). That's the only fic I've ever got hate comments on, though I did get a really bizarre comment back in ninth grade on FF.net before I migrated to ao3 where the person enjoyed the fic but also used the comment to grandstand against abortion, a topic that in no way was mentioned in my fic. Sir This Is A Wendy's.

9- Do you write smut?

I do write sex scenes but I wouldn't describe them as smut because they're non-explicit and mostly like fade to black stuff.

10- Have you ever had a fic stolen?

YES LMFAOOOOOOOO SOMEONE TOOK A MULTICHAPTER FIC I WROTE ABOUT NINA AND OLEG FROM THE AMERICANS AND SELF-PUBLISHED IT ON AMAZON AS AN EBOOK.

11- Have you ever had a fic translated?

I think someone asked if they could translate one of my fics into another language but it was years ago and I don't remember if they did it or not or which fic it was or even which language it was.

12- Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, my first ever fic! Me and my best friend wrote it in sixth grade and it's an unfinished sequel to Ivanhoe. We never published it, though. It's really, really bad lol.

13- What's your all-time favorite ship?

Tony and Carmela Soprano. sorry. Not ship in the fandom sense but...relationship of all time. (I honestly tend to write for canon pairings that I want to build on, anyway). In the traditional sense of "wanting them to get together in canon", probably Jaime/Brienne.

14- What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I honestly don't really have a lot of published WIPs, because I tend to do oneshots and if they're not ready they're just not published. Right now I do have a two-chapter Greek mythology/Iliad retelling I wrote in high school that is absolutely never going to get updated ever, but frankly I don't feel particularly strongly about finishing that. I did have an actual multichapter WIP with the Lannister genderswap fic that I really felt bad about not working on, but I finally finished it!

15- What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good with dialogue and characterization! A lot of my fic focuses on precanon/younger versions of canon characters ("flashback fic") and I think I'm pretty good at developing backstories. Also if I may say so myself, I write decent prose.

16- What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting, which is why I tend to do shorter character-study stories. I really struggle with doing actual plotlines. (This is also a problem in my original fiction, lol. I'm always like. Okay I have these fascinating people in an interesting setting. Now what the hell are they going to do).

17- What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If it makes sense in context, like a bilingual character, sure. I do think it should probably be written so that it's clear what is going on to readers who only know the primary language of the fic, though.

18- What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Other than the aforementioned Ivanhoe sequel, it was Harry Potter.

19- What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Can't really think of anything!

20- What's your favorite fic you've written?

I'm very proud of the Lannister genderswap fic because it's probably my most significant achievement in terms of plotting, which as I mentioned is hard for me, and I'm really happy I returned to it after over a year's hiatus and finished it! I'm also really proud of this big love fic because I appreciate the effort I put into fleshing out the characters' world (including historical research) and I think it is a really good work of character study.

Tagging @when-did-this-become-difficult @ofhouseadama and anyone else who wants to do this, I can't think of many mutuals on here whose fanfiction output I'm particularly familiar with.

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orangeflavoryawp · 6 months

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20 questions for fic writers

Ohhhh, haven't done one of these in a while. Thanks for the tag @esther-dot <3

How many works do you have on Ao3?

On Ao3? 91 But add to that, older fics on ffnet and other independent sites (oh Rolo Realm, my beloved), I think it's 102.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

1,020,258

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Naruto, X-Men, Star Trek, Record of Lodoss War, Sailor Moon, Harry Potter and several unpublished ones

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Almost all Jonsa, lol. - From Instep to Heel - A Violence Done Most Kindly - Wool and Tallow - Shepard Sees the Sky - Hallowed

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always, but it takes me time. I used to be very secluded, still am sometimes, and it took me effort to reply to comments and build relationships and community. I don't want to lose that. It's also important to me that readers understand how meaningful even a single comment is. So yeah, every comment, I try.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Alright, so there's a lot of contenders for this one. I'm not even gonna try to list them off.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably either Interlocking or What Grows in Winter? I don't write a lot of 'happy' endings, I would say. Mostly I write endings that have either hope or closure, and that can come in a multitude of emotions, but those two fics are probably the most light-hearted of my works so I'm going with that.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Sure, but honestly, not nearly as much as I expected. I've never really gotten someone trying to get into an argument with me. It's really just those one-line trolls that mass comment on a fic out of nowhere with stuff like 'Die parasite' or whatever.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! I can actually say that now, lol. It's semi-recent for me, I guess. Considering how long I've been writing, at least. At the moment it's just het smut, but who knows what the future will bring!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nope. Dislike crossovers, actually.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Several, actually.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, and I don't plan to. Don't think it would work well.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

I honestly can't answer this. Like... honestly. But the two couples I've spent the most time actively writing for would be Jon/Sansa (Game of Thrones/ASOIAF) and Storm/Wolverine.(X-Men), so there's that.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

It'd be between Rocks and Shoals and Sheparding Men, but I'm more hopeful that I'd return to Rocks and Shoals. Both are Mass Effect fic.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characterization and emotive language.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Setting and exposition, for sure. Also, paring down a scene, lol.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've thrown in a commonly known phrase or two, but I don't like it being used regularly. There's too much variance on how to show translation in fic, and I find it often breaks the pace of the piece trying to do so, anyway.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh geez, thinking back, probably Xena? Though that was unpublished. First published fandom would be X-Men.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Damn, that's hard. But I'm probably going to have to go with Reckoned from One Midnight to the Next for the way it changed my writing style going forward. Perhaps the most formative of my pieces. Close runner up would be A Violence Done Most Kindly though, since it's also pretty formative for me in how I tackle plot now, and I'm really proud of the intricacies in that one.

This was pretty fun! Tagging for those interested @theoriginalsuki @jonsaslove @amymel86 @barbex @hawkeykirsah @vorchagirl @razerathane @tlcinbflo @foofyschmoofer @goddesstiera @joufancyhuh @sailorshadzter

#writing #fanfic #tag game

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lhaewiel · 1 month

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For the Bookworm ask game! 15, 17 or 18, and 31

Hello!

15. Which genre(s) are your favorite?

Fantasy and fantasy adjacent. I absolutely adore Tolkien. I have enjoyed a lot Licia Troisi's "le cronache del mondo emerso", I have a really soft spot for anything Neil Gaiman, I am struggling a bit with Robin Hobb, although I am kind of enjoying her works. When I was younger I enjoyed reading a lot from Roal Dahl. I absolutely adore Stefano Benni.

I am also enjoying a lot @thebibliosphere 's "Hunger Pangs", though I bough the fluff edition as a personal preference.

I want to start reading also @xiranjayzhao 's "Iron Widow", which I am planning to buy as soon as I have some money (I am currently very poor and barely managing to the end of the month, but this one is in my list).

Weirdly enough I really do not like any of Terry Pratchett's books and I know this is the equivalent of swinging a bat against a nest of wasps. Pratchett was an amazing man, he did amazing things, but I really do not like or enjoy the way he writes.

For me to find a book enjoyable I must vibe and like the way a writer writes and Pratchett has never been my cup of tea.

I have read "The Golden Compass" and "The Chronicles of Narnia", which I enjoyed, but I need to read them again because I read them ages ago.

Anyway. Fantasy. All of the fantasy books. And I am always SO MUCH pissed off that a lot of these books are in the CHILDRENS section.

Like, seriously. Just because a book is fantasy, it DOES NOT mean it's for children. Just because a book does not contain sex scenes it DOES NOT mean it's for children. Welcome to my ted talk.

17. Favorite finished book series.

Uuuhhh if I said "The lord of the rings" I would be cheating, SO I am NOT going with that. I am going instead with the entirety of Georges Simenon's "Commissaire Maigret" tales (crime/investigation is my second favourite genre). Maigret has something that neither Agatha Christie, nor Arthur Conan Doyle, nor any other writers of the genre has. I love Maigret. I love how he incorporates a lot of personal details, I love the way he solves the cases and relates to both victims and perpetrators alike. I love his whole team of inspectors. Columbo did not invent anything, Maigret was there first. Another thing I will be probably cancelled for lol. Die mad haters.

I am also going for "The Witcher" by Andrej Sapkowski. I love that series to bits, one day I will manage to actually buy ALL of the books and finish reading it (I am currently on book 2). I love the characters, I love the way they are developed, I love their flaws and honestly I ADORE the way Sapkowski writes and I will be striving to reach that level no matter how many years it will take me.

18. Favorite unfinished book series.

I do NOT do unfinished book series. I am sorry, I need a completed book or a completed series. I simply do not have the commitment it takes. It's one of the many reasons I stopped reading ASOIAF. George RR Martin will need to pull his head out of his ass and FINISH what he started QUICKLY. It's annoying. He has no fucking reason to not finish the books. I am annoyed. Equally, I will not read a series that is still in progress for the reason that I am NOT putting in my will stuff like "I hereby request that my heirs will come to my grave to read the rest of XYZ's series so my ghost can have peace". LISTEN, READING BERSERK LEFT A MARK, NOW MIURA IS DEAD AND THERE IS NO TELLING IF/WHEN HIS ASSISTANTS WILL RESUME WITH THE STORY. I WILL NOT REPEAT THE EXPERIENCE.

31. Do you mostly read through e-reader; reading app on phone; on your laptop; a physical copy; or by audiobook?

I need to have a physical copy. I can't read for long through a screen. And also I like having a book in my hands. I like its smell and I like putting all sorts of nice bookmarks. I am now discovering audiobooks, though, especially now that my mind is struggling to stay focused for a long time. I can listen to an audiobook and do stuff at the same time and it's great. It's awesome. Especially if the narrator does their things with acting out all of the dialogue and you can HEAR different characters speaking and you are aware that it is the same narrator, but you actually heart a MULTITUDE of characters literally brought to life. It's amazing.

#asks #book asks

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esther-dot · 2 years

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Differences and Similarities between book Jon and Show Jon? And which is your favorite? and Sansa too

I only read ASOIAF because I wanted to know the end of GoT (forgive the heresy, I was a show fan first!), and it was a strange experience, to say the least. I love show Jon and show Sansa, but they’re very different characters from their book counterparts. There was a general flattening of the characters when they were translated to the screen, although I suppose the major exception of that may be show Cersei, who I really enjoyed. But for Sansa and Jon, I don’t think the changes were thoughtful, even though I enjoyed the show versions.

I’d say for Jon the most glaring difference is his cunning. One of my absolute favorite Jon moments is when he used being a bastard to convince Mance of his sincerity.

"I left the next morning . . . for a place where a kiss was not a crime, and a man could wear any cloak he chose." He closed the clasp and sat back down again. "And you, Jon Snow?"

Jon took another swallow of mead. There is only one tale that he might believe. "You say you were at Winterfell, the night my father feasted King Robert."

"I did say it, for I was."

"Then you saw us all. Prince Joffrey and Prince Tommen, Princess Myrcella, my brothers Robb and Bran and Rickon, my sisters Arya and Sansa. You saw them walk the center aisle with every eye upon them and take their seats at the table just below the dais where the king and queen were seated."

"I remember."

"And did you see where I was seated, Mance?" He leaned forward. "Did you see where they put the bastard?"

Mance Rayder looked at Jon's face for a long moment. "I think we had best find you a new cloak," the king said, holding out his hand. (ASOS, Jon I)

He is so smart to find a way to make himself relatable to Mance, to make it sound as if he shares Mance’s feelings of alienation, of willingness to desert because of his treatment. It’s such a fascinating moment too because Jon takes his bastardy, something that has given him immense pain, and uses it for the mission. His own pain becomes a tool. It’s shrewd, very quick thinking, it’s fucked up. I like it a lot.

We read that scene, we know how distraught he was during the feast, we know that this was not the norm, that he was beloved and accepted by most of the Starks, but the fact that this kid recognizes that feigning bitterness and resentment over it are the way to build a bridge between him and Mance, so clever. Jon has a very interesting psychology because even though he exhibits tenderheartedness and compassion throughout the series, he has a dangerous edge.

In the show he did some pretty dark things like hang Olly and nearly beat Ramsay to death with his hands (understandable), but these moments don’t seem to translate into his characterization as a whole and after s6, we’re meant to think Jon is guileless, merciful, and honor bound. Some of which is contradicted in the writing of the last two seasons, but the writers seem unaware of what they wrote. So even though it felt like we were being shown Jon had the capacity for more, we were also told he wasn’t, and I think that was an instance of wanting to set the stage for the finale while also wanting the audience to be shocked by it. Basically, we were being told two contradictory things for non-character reasons. Even so, I believe we were meant to register some of those dangerous vibes for show Jon and him throwing LF against the wall and threatening his life was meant to be the prep for him eventually killing another ally later on.

Anyway, I would say, book Jon is angry, has a lot of guilt and shame, he has this deep desire to be worthy because all of his life he’s had the “bastard” thing hanging around his neck telling him what he couldn’t have, would never be, would always be seen as, and I think the show has hints of these things but doesn’t focus on them. I was deeply touched when Sansa gave him a cloak that looked like Ned’s and told him several times he was a Stark to her, and even though we can see that it means a lot to Jon, the show doesn’t let it mean what it should, what it would to book Jon.

Of course, they also didn’t let being KitN mean much either because they couldn't figure out how to have a discussion about power that wasn’t black and white ie those who want it are bad and those who don’t are good. I think there were things pointing at book Jon in a few scenes, but it certainly wasn’t consistent. The biggest crime really might be downplaying what the Starks meant to him because the boy loves them. Show Jon does too, but book Jon is on another level. His love for the Starks combined with his shame over wanting Winterfell makes it clear he will never betray them. And his love for them + his anger at society at large makes me think there are no ends to which he wouldn’t go to protect them. Book Jon’s lines about bastard honor etc give you the sense that he is trying to redeem himself from some sin he didn’t commit (being born a bastard), which makes his decision to try to rescue Arya even more meaningful. In the show, he’s disillusioned and planning to leave the Watch and even though Sansa gives him purpose and acceptance, we don’t get the full weight of what he is willing to do for the Starks when they changed things. The show making the assassination about the FF was set up for his ending with them beyond the Wall, I suppose, but book Jon understood the practical reasons they had to be brought South of the Wall, while D&D really wanted Jon to be more of a humanitarian which is a really fucking weird choice when we think about how they wrote him in s7-8.

I love Jon and Sansa meeting at the Wall and Jon choosing to go with Sansa to fight for Rickon and Winterfell, but switching around Jon’s motivations and priorities was unfair to his character. They did that all along and I could understand it as modern audiences might not fully embrace the concept of honor and why this is such a struggle for Jon, but the better choice would have been for D&D to really hone in and maintain that thread in Jon’s story until the end because it was a major part of his ending. I think cutting that and juggling his priorities and downplaying his ruthlessness and anger were poor choices that made him a far less dynamic character. Book Jon feels…slightly unpredictable to me in a way that most heroes don’t, and D&D didn’t deliver on that. Although I still love show Jon, especially s6 Jon, but he’s a very different character from book Jon.

As for Sansa, well, it was an absolute shock to meet book Sansa because the way the fandom talks about her is so misleading! Book Sansa is very, very good. She has moments when she’s perfectly human followed by her thinking of the next person that strike me so forcefully considering the circumstances.

His uncle's part went less well. The bride's cloak he held was huge and heavy, crimson velvet richly worked with lions and bordered with gold satin and rubies. No one had thought to bring a stool, however, and Tyrion stood a foot and a half shorter than his bride. As he moved behind her, Sansa felt a sharp tug on her skirt. He wants me to kneel, she realized, blushing. She was mortified. It was not supposed to be this way. She had dreamed of her wedding a thousand times, and always she had pictured how her betrothed would stand behind her tall and strong, sweep the cloak of his protection over her shoulders, and tenderly kiss her cheek as he leaned forward to fasten the clasp.

The dwarf tugged at her a third time. Stubbornly she pressed her lips together and pretended not to notice. Someone behind them tittered. The queen, she thought, but it didn't matter. They were all laughing by then, Joffrey the loudest. "Dontos, down on your hands and knees," the king commanded. "My uncle needs a boost to climb his bride."

And so it was that her lord husband cloaked her in the colors of House Lannister whilst standing on the back of a fool.

When Sansa turned, the little man was gazing up at her, his mouth tight, his face as red as her cloak. Suddenly she was ashamed of her stubbornness. She smoothed her skirts and knelt in front of him, so their heads were on the same level. "With this kiss I pledge my love, and take you for my lord and husband." (ASOS, Sansa III)

Sansa has to marry a Lannister, is forced into it, and although Tyrion tells her she can marry someone else, he wanted to marry her to get Winterfell. He’s the one getting something out of this, and yet it is Sansa, the victim, who considers his feelings and humbles herself. Tyrion resents her, blames her for not kneeling later, but I find this an extraordinary moment of kindness.

I read a lot of older books and she fits very much with those heroines, their naïveté, their compassion, their representation of ideals. Obviously, in this series she represents innocence, hope for the future, and is not being used as an instructional “here’s how to be ladies,” but she certainly feels like Martin took an archetype and then made her human. The residual, “she is the good thing, the pure thing” remains. In the world he created, there is terrible darkness, she is the light. I know that will make exactly zero sense to the majority of this fandom who don’t like her, but Sansa’s values, her compassion and bravery, those are things that will change the future, not more wars, not more death. The instances when she thinks she wants people to die and then regrets it, those are telling us how different she is from her world, that she believes in mercy. Many of us have written about how singing to the Hound shows how her mercy can conquer violence, and I think that indicates why Martin would make her queen--she is the kind of leader her world needs.

To me, show Sansa is all of this too. I got all of these things from her but far more subdued because D&D went with a...what I would describe as a modern teenage version of her in s1, rather than the very carefully controlled book Sansa. The line that always grabs me about her is that Sansa was a lady at three, and then you compare that sentiment with the Sansa we know, and see this isn’t entirely a matter of nature, this girl works and puts in immense effort into always being proper, being perfect, and I suppose most modern audiences have little appreciation for it because we’ve largely done away with strict societal etiquette, but when D&D misread Sansa, when they decided that aspect of who she is didn’t matter, I think it meant they wouldn’t be able to deliver on the promise of her character.

Sansa has accepted her role since she was a toddler, and it is her extreme discipline as well as her innate goodness that allows her to navigate her life as a hostage, and charm the hell out of people. Because we don’t have the benefit of being in her head in the show, they opted to take funny/cutting thoughts and put it into words, but that combined with their other choices meant that fans didn’t fully register her range or depth, her agency in her story, and fans found it easy to ignore that the story isn’t glamorizing the men who abuse her (the Hound, Tyrion, LF...) but about her strength in enduring, in surviving. I guess I can’t really blame this entirely on D&D when book fans do the same, but if you read book Tyrion’s thoughts about Sansa when they’re married and come away thinking he’s the victim... 😬

Personally, I never had any issue with her behavior, show or books. I enjoyed her throughout. I know lots of book Sansa fans hated the changes that they thought made her a brat or the way she evolved in the later seasons of GoT, how she argued with Jon/had quips aimed at LF and Tyrion, but I enjoyed it all. She was never free to be honest while a hostage, so I loved her arguments with Jon in s6 on. It was thrilling to see Sansa free, free to say what she wanted, free to do what she wanted. I understand the objections to the “girl bossification” of female characters, and in my fics I tend to write Sansa much more in line with book Sansa, and yet I ate up all of Sansa’s attitude in the show! Brace yourself for more heresy, but I hope she goes head to head (in sweet book Sansa’s more gentle way) with Jon when they’re reunited. 😈

I know courtesy is her thing, but it’s armor. It makes sense to me that it will slip when she’s with Jon as a contrast to Tyrion trying to pry it from her. It’s also described as a wall, and I want to see her share her feelings with someone, and while I’m sure there will be tenderness and understanding, I also think Sansa will have her own opinions, and I want her to feel safe enough to speak up. I want her to do so and Jon’s response be such that she feels she does not need to be so fortified.

For some reason, D&D attempted to delete most of the softness from her character in later seasons, and I think that was a huge mistake. It makes no sense that they think Jon who had killed a boy was a more innately compassionate person than Sansa, but they really liked the “Dark Sansa” thing. Unfortunately for them, Sophie still acted Sansa with emotional depth which counteracted their dumbfuckery. When I read some excerpts from the scripts, I realized GoT Sansa, so much of what resonated with me, was because Sophie loved Sansa, and she brought a much more interesting character to life than the one D&D had envisioned. Anther actress who was less attached to Sansa could have very easily delivered the brittle, cold Sansa antis have concocted in their minds because honestly, there was some of that in D&D’s version, but Sophie gave us a Sansa who cared deeply for those around her, who served her people and was completely loyal to them and her family--even when they did not return that loyalty. I don’t know if she read the book, or if it was simply the fact that she cared so much about Sansa that made Sophie infuse such pathos into her every scene, but there’s a hell of a lot going on in show Sansa, grief, longing, love, anger that was just so much fun for me to see in later seasons.

Book Sansa is far more naive, but she is very strong and fights so hard to resist the poisoning of her mind. I love how she pushes back against being molded by her mentors/captors in small, often silent, ways. I also love her romanticism, and D&D seemed to think that wasn’t necessary to the story at all, but stories and songs, the way they shape the individuals and the world are so important in ASOIAF, that’s a baffling take. I’ve always thought that Sansa’s attempt to let go of her naivete, her acceptance that no one will marry her for love, her bitterness that other girls still believe in the songs when she no longer can...it seems to me that is the precursor to her being at the center of her own song, her own love story, and even if it doesn’t end as happily as I would wish, I think the author has stripped all the delusions away only to return the things he took from Sansa to her. His message to her (and the audience) isn’t that it is wrong to want these things, only that, the real world, the real version of them, is complicated and painful. D&D seemed intent on punishing Sansa, as if they truly thought her desires were wrong, that she needed to be humbled, and I completely disagree.

Show Sansa and book Sansa mean different things to me, I suppose, so I enjoy them in different ways. The book characters of both Jon and Sansa are a consistent vision with an interesting evolution, and I think they offer more to the genre than their show counterparts, so in that way, they matter more? The author is using them to say much bigger things than they are, D&D had no fucking clue by the end. But I’m attached to the show versions too, for who they were at their best, for who they were at their most entertaining, and for sentimental reasons that go beyond GoT, so I suppose I would say, they’re four different characters to me and I appreciate them all as such.

I love them all, final answer!

#ask dot #sansa stark #jon snow

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sealacrossthesea · 2 months

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🦭🦭🦭MUTUAL CATCH UP🦭🦭🦭

i was tagged by @bearsgrove hi!

LAST SONG: Death by Cellar Darling

CURRENTLY WATCHING: i'm not really into shows, i have terrible problems with attention and memory, it takes me months to years to finish a single season and by then i forget what happened at all

THREE SHIPS: uhhhh Ever Given, SSV Normandy, The Ebon Hawk (serious answer - i don't care about shipping all that much, sorry)

FAVORITE COLOR: indigo blue and moss green, sorry, can't decide between these two

CURRENTLY CONSUMING: i mean, i just consumed a cup of tea? i really don't like thinking of like playing games or reading as "consuming" something, and considering my memory problems, it doesn't end up consumed at all! barely touched. but anyway, right now i'm fighting for my life replaying kotor and i'm veeeeery slowly reading asoiaf books because they're the only ones i can process rn. don't care about the show, but the books are okay

FIRST SHIP: Uluburun shipwreck, according to Wikipedia. (serious answer though - Beleg/Turin, and in my defense i was 13 and extremely into silm which hasn't changed, i just grew indifferent towards shipping)

PLACE OF BIRTH: in the mountains somewhere in eastern europe

CURRENT LOCATION: in the west of eastern europe

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: haven't met the person who would be into my "haunted by demons" aesthetic

LAST MOVIE: Re-Animator. aside from one of the worst cpr scenes i've seen, it was a fun movie and made me almost laugh a few times. i love the squelchy practical effects

CURRENTLY WORKING ON: mostly on my original story, and since i have a new easel, i started sketching ideas for a new painting because i still have my oils and a blank canvas somewhere

i tag ummmm anyone who sees this and wants to do it? consider being tagged by me

#rho.odt #tag game #about #i guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#thanks for the tag!

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ackermental · 2 years

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do you think they are going to keep daemon and rhaenyra’s deaths unchanged? given the uproar that caused got season 8 do you think they are going to keep the “kill almost all characters” rule ?

Honestly, nonny, I never truly understood why the fandom woke up at season 8, when we were served absolute garbage ever since season 5. I always thought that season 8 was the best one HBO has produced in years 🤷‍♀️.

And even then, I don't think people disliked it because of 'kill almost all characters rule' (even though I really don't know what you mean by that, most of those bitches lived, and most of those who died didn't have any place in the story for a long, long time anyway). I mean, if you thought this was a lot, I'm scared of your reaction when WoW finally comes out. And let's be real, football watchers loved all of the shocking death scenes.

No, I think people disliked season eight for two reasons:

1. They actually thought that the point of this story was for humanity to unite, go fight against ice zombies, win, watch Dany and Jon get married, and have Azor Ahai on the Iron Throne 🙄.

2. Because they finally realized that D&D were terrible story tellers. ('Dany kinda forgot' makes my skin crawl till this day. Imagine being paid millions of dollars for doing your job this badly).

Idk what they've planned for HOTD. But I think they really should keep Rhaenyra's and Daemon's deaths. And I do so for the same reason I believe 'no spoilers' rule shouldn't be as restrict for this production as it was for GOT. Because when you first read this story, you already know that Blacks are going to lose. It's truly like a Greek Tragedy, when you want to scream at the pages for your favorite characters to stop and turn around, or wake up and start noticing some things, yet you realize that nothing can save them.

I think not killing Rhaenyra and Daemon would ruin that experience, not mention mess up significantly with the rest of the story. Believe it or not, everything is connected. Fire and Blood is as important to ASOIAF as Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, whatever people whining about George writing those instead of WoW are saying. They are not just fillers. If you change something as important as Rhaenyra dying, we would never get Jon or Dany.

So I do hope they won't mess it up.

#hotd #asoiaf #rhaenyra targaryen #daemon targaryen

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atopvisenyashill · 10 months

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what are your asoiaf/hotd ships?

i am a multi shipper and my criteria for a ship is “i think it would be interesting” so that doesn’t mean i inherently want it to happen in canon, it just means they have a dynamic with some romantic tones in it that appeals to me - sometimes in a “they would be sweet” way and sometimes in a “oh they would make each other much much worse excellent” way. also - there’s just so many goddamn characters in asoiaf, very good chance i’m missing a ship i like. so anyways i italicized the ones i really enjoy let’s go -

house of the dragon

Rhaenyra/Harwin

Viserys/Daemon

Jace/Addam

Rhaenyra/Daemon

Rhaenyra/Laena

Essie/Sylvie

Rhaenyra/Aegon II

Gaemon/Aegon III

Baela/Cregan

Jace/Cregan

Laenor/Joffrey

Aegon/Helaena/Aemond (sometimes daeron is there but idc about him he’s boring lol. all the war crimes none of the mommy issues of his older siblings).

Alicent/Rhaenyra

Sabitha Frey/Black Aly

Rhaenys/Corlys

Daemon/Laena

Laenor/Daemon

Aemond/Alys

Rhaena/Jace (mostly bc of a fic i read tbh haha)

Jace/Nettles

also fuck alyn oakenfist all my homies hate alyn oakenfist

asoiaf (main series ships)

Sansa/Brienne

Sansa/Theon

Theon/Robb

Brienne/Jaime

Ned/Cat

Jon/Sansa

Cat/Brienne

Cat/Jaime

Cersei/Cat

Jon/Sam

Arya/Gendry

Thoros/Beric

Davos/Stannis (with Salladhor being super jealous in the background)

Davos/Stannis/Melisandre but like that caleb gallo meme “we’re in a gay centric semi non sexual throuple” no one knows what meli gets out of it but if you imply she’s not an important part of the throuple they start throwing shit at you

Robb/Jeyne Westerling

Oberyn/Willas

Jon/Young Griff

Joanna Lannister/Loreza Martell

Rhaella/Elia

Oberyn/Ellaria

Elia/Rhaegar

Renly/Loras

Ned/Cersei

Sansa/Jeyne Poole

Jon/Sam/Gilly

Sansa/Margaery

Jon/Ygritte

Sam/Gilly

Cat/Jason Mallister

Roslin/Edmure

Dany/Rakharo

Arya/Edric Dayne

Jon/Satin

Ashara/Elia

Arianne/Aegon VI

Jon/Arianne

Grey Worm/Jeyne Poole

Willas/Ellaria

i would say probably my favorites are nedcat, braime, throbb, and thoros/beric, i find their dynamics so romantic and tragic, like when i think about them i feel physical pain and that is what i need in a ship.

i did also really enjoy grey worm & missandei in the show even tho the ending was bullshit. and dany/jorah is marginally less creepy mostly bc of the actors chemistry lol so i am known to get slightly emo over show only jorah/dany but that’s bc their dynamic is also wildly different in the show, and also it’s ust that they gave me iain glen and harry lloyd in that amazing “yet here you stand” scene and i’ve been chasing that high ever since aksjsj

asoiaf (historical ships)

Nymeria/Mors

Elaena/Michael Manwoody (ONCE AGAIN ALYN OAKENFIST IS MY ULTIMATE OPP)

Duncan the Small/Jenny of Oldstones

Myriah/Daeron

Maron/Daenerys

Naerys/Melissa

Rhaena/Elissa Farman

Rhaena/Maegor

Rhaena/Elinor Costayne

Daeron/Jeremy Norridge

Elaena/Daena

Baelor/Maekar

Maekar/Dyanna Dayne

Aegon V/Betha

there’s some eras i haven’t really dug into yet that i want to, so i’m sure i’ll get interested in other characters too, and my reread will likely throw some other shit in my brain as well. but this is what i could think of for right now.

#asks #like i’m definitely missing some there’s a million characters aksjjd #but i guess these are the ‘main’ ones #there’s actually a dead dove don’t eat one i read a lot for aksjsjsjs that i did not list

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edoro · 2 years

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Questions for fic writers: 9, 16, 26, 41

9. How do you find new fic to read? - every day, several times a day, i check my ao3 dashboard to see if i got any new comments, and then i hit the Hunter | The Golden Guard (The Owl House) tag and see if any new Hunter fics have been posted that i want to read.

sometimes people will recommend me fics that do not specifically involve him as a tagged character, and every so often i venture out of my current fandom fixation into a new one, but i pretty much always have a particular character or grouping of characters that i want to read about, so i primarily sort by character tags.

16. What’s an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)? - i really love the Tag Team TOH au, and in general the entire concept of "what if Belos ended up getting Luz before Eda did?"

TOH specifically is also a canon that i think makes for a fascinating adaptation into a more mundane realistic setting - i also really love the fic Clawthorne's Landing, which is a mundane human au where Hunter runs away from his abusive uncle and ends up working at a farm run by Lilith in exchange for room and board. it's such a specialized little look into the author's personal area of experience and i love when aus show me a new way of looking at the world that i haven't experienced before!

i also theoretically enjoy the idea of like, social worker aus, where characters end up encountering Hunter specifically bc he gets removed from his uncle's custody due to various horrific abuses, but i have yet to find one that i actually like reading in practice.

i would also absolutely LOVE to see some kind of au where somehow Belos ends up dying before the Day of Unity and Hunter ends up on the throne, because i love me some tasty political intrigue. i want the full ASOIAF treatment here.

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue? - oh, probably no dialogue. it's entirely possible i have WRITTEN fics with no dialogue? actually, Become Ungovernable comes pretty close because the only dialogue in it is a brief flashback to the canon scene that happens immediately before the fic starts.

but yeah i'd definitely find it much easier to write environmental descriptions or meandering internal monologue rather than all dialogue.

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.” - oooh gosh well tbqh every time i read a well-written fic i have a minor crisis of feeling like because that isn't my personal exact style, I Must Be Doing It Wrong, but!

The_Resurrection_3D has written a handful of TOH fics which are all my favorite entries in the "wow, there is something Fucking Wrong with Philip Wittebane" genre, and i love his style a lot. it's poetically gorgeous and communicates quite a lot with relatively few words (a thing i am very much not capable of lmao) and i also really admire the way he plays with style and structure and format.

i also really love the fic what we are is the sum of a thousand lies because of, specifically, how absolutely fucking funny it is, while still feeling very in-character. written humor can be hard! i like to think i'm funny but that's really up to peer review, right? anyway though, the sort of wryly understated ridiculousness of the entire situation and the verbal exchanges here, contrasting with but never undermining or overshadowing the emotional impact of the situation itself, are just very good and something i definitely strive for myself.

#ask game #asks #fic recs

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alleyskywalker · 1 year

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2022 Fanfic Year Wrap Up Meme

Number of Fics: 45 Number of Unique Fandoms: 6* (ASOIAF, GoT, HOTD, Harry Potter, War and Peace, Romeo and Juliet) Number of Unique Pairings: 30 (repeat ships: Throbb [4], Tris/Theon [4], Jaime/Cersei [2])** Total Number of Words: 102,105

*Counting ASOIAF, GoT and HOTD as different fandoms because that’s kind of how I’ve been doing it when tagging and stuff. Including F&B into ASOIAF here. I only had 1 fic for it anyway. **Only counting ships which were primarily featured as a focus of the story. Often times ships would hover in the background but weren’t counted. # Gen: 16 # Het: 15 # Slash: 18 # Fem: 5 *Some stories fall into more than one category.

# PG: 24 # PG-13: 16 # R: 2 # NC-17/Explicit: 3

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?. Feels like more, honestly. I would have not thought I’d write as much as I ended up writing for Battleship. (Although, looking at last year’s meme…apparently I wrote around 7k* more in wordcount last year, though 15 fics less. Which I guess is the effect of writing a lot of short fics for Battleship but not having Heart Attack in the fall/not until spring this round. And then things like Like Northern Stars because ~3k longer than my longest fic this year and my longest non-10k-exchange fic this year being shorter than the same for last year (roughly 9k vs 13k). Interesting.) (*Technically ~5k since I’m not counting the OrigFic here but it did take up writing space.)

Where did you publish/archive your stories? AO3 with some cross-posting to Tumblr. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? *sigh* The battleship porn – both the tentacles and the threesome. Also never thought I’d write Regulus/Sirius or Jily. And yet. Did you take any writing risks this year? *Gestures vaguely at like half of what I wrote for Battleship* Do you have any writing goals for the new year? Honestly, I’d like to work on some of the longer/more involved ideas that I have but feel like there’s never the time for. What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest. Real hard to pick from the top 3...but probably Love's Heavy Burden. Okay, NOW your most popular story? Going by kudos, The Price of Loyalty. Story of yours most underappreciated by the universe, in your opinion? Love’s Heavy Burden. Story that could have been better?

There’s always a bunch, and I feel like this year the format of Battleship requiring both speed and a lot of stretching out the comfort zone produced a few mediocre results. Most fun story to write? You know I’m not sure… Maybe Shelter In The Storm? Story with single sweetest moment? There were a few mostly-fluff fics and I’m not sure which one of them wins out. I mean, something like Daytrip is all fluff and comfort really!

The story that made you cry? I think The Price of Loyalty came closest.

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story? *sigh* The tentacles ones. (Not that “for me” is a very high bar, mind, lol.) Sexiest story? Ah, no idea, but I’d like to think it’s A New Peace. Hardest story to write There were a few lol. (What you won’t do for your Battleship team xD Although part of me wants to say it’s the fic I wrote for the Theon Exchange lol.)

Easiest story to write? Victory, but only because it was largely repurposed from a scrap scene I already had sitting around. Most unintentionally telling story *shrug* I really never know how to answer this one lol. Story you haven’t yet written, but intend to Ahaha you know the throbb/reyne AU I mentioned last year? Still that one *lolsob*

#fanfiction #meme #writing #fandom #op

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rise-my-angel · 3 months

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hi mimi! i know this is just one voice, but i really cannot exaggerate how fucking ravenous i am over hotgw (and your whole blog too). I've been completely hyperfixed on hotgw since i found it and can EASILY say this is my all time favorite fic. nothing even begins to hold a candle to how you completely NAIL the characterization of everyone you write (which is especially such a breath of fresh air in this fandom in particular haha), how you always take the time to explore every plot point so we're constantly fully invested in the world we're in, how everyone feels so dynamic including the reader while leaving room for self insert. how descriptive your writing is so that everything just feels so fleshed out and real and its always so easy to visualize. like just straight up, you're a very very talented writer. so that coupled with the fact that you're expanding on a universe that we love. and how its so obvious that you do too with how much effort and passion shines through your writing. just makes your story so unparalleled and immersive.

also your smut is out of this world. for as limited as smut writing is, you still manage to keep it so descriptive and well paced that it feels so new and real every single scene you write. you can make even just regular smooching feel so intense. BUT I DIGRESS.

i can totally understand why the amount of notes can make it feel like its not worth updating, but please know those of us still following along really really adore your fic. and we would do anything to read it all the way to its end and see what direction you decide to go in because its obvious you can and will cook something really good up.

also!!! i want to show appreciation for the analysis posts and the tags under your reblogs and what not. they really help to fill the void in between the days we're waiting for hotgw to get updated. much love for your blog.

tldr, thank you so much for the scrumptious meals you serve us every monday <3

Truly, for someone who started out on here as pretty much just a no plot only porn smut writer, it is out of this world to me that I've written something that people enjoy as much as they do. I adore the world of asoiaf and I want to put every appreciation and respect I have for it into this fic. I want you all to see the story as I see it play out. Have plots take their time because the best parts of the main story is when we see all the details leading up to the big moments, not just the moments themselves, and I wanted to capture that.

I orignally thought this story was WAY too big for me to handle, and was going to make a new outline of chapter 1 and make it just a Robb Reader Jon sort of love triangle but it felt like there could be so much to tell once that story was done anyways, that my original outline got reworked into something with far more longevity.

I really appericate it, especially since the last fandom I came from previously, it was heavily a numbers game. If you didn't have the engagement, you were a flop. No one ever talked about it if you didn't get 200 notes minimum per fic and success was everyone reblogging it and boasting it all the time. I left the fandom because the fic mentality was really making me feel like a terrible writer, and sometimes even now it's still difficult to see low numbers and not think I am a failure with a terrible story no one likes.

Also I'm glad you enjoy the nonsense on my blog the rest of the time, especially considering how much those tags and analysis posts get me into trouble in this fandom.

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nineteensixtieschikadee · 3 years

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Arya Stark & Femininity

This might turn into a mini rant, so bear with me here. A lot of times whenever I watch old GOT clips, (bc I hate myself) and read stuff about Arya on fansites, I realize that there’s been a lot of misconception about her and her character. Particularly about her being a woman. And a lot of times i see this sort of “justification” from her fans that the reason why she’s such a fan-favorite character in the show (and to some extent, the books?) is because Arya is esentially this “bad-ass ninja asassin tomboy who’s out for revenge against those who’ve killed her family.” And some of her fans and especially her anti’s will call her out expressing that “Arya’s only a child who doesn’t like girly things like dresses and boys and doing her hair. She “identifies” herself as a tomboy because she likes “boyish things” like sword play, and playing in the mud, and gore, wrestling, etc. I was scrolling through the Jonrya tag here on Tumblr, this is a comment I found regarding Arya:

The moment I read that I straight up just wanted to rant! Lol! Also, I’m sorry for the formatting, I’m writing this on mobile. :( Anyways, these people who make those claims about Arya, esentially only see her as this small girl who likes fighting and getting dirty. They completely disregard everything else that makes Arya, Arya. Pretty much just limiting her to her sex, understanding that because Arya likes boyish things, she’s NOT ALLOWED to inherit things, like the North, fall in love and get married, have a high position in the hierarchy and in politics. It’s because that these people see her as someone who hates needlework or everything that isn’t Sansa, everyone believes that she hates everything that makes her FEMALE. Everybody here knows that Arya’s my favorite female character in the books, so I just wanna talk about how the general public views her, and how their views tend to go against Arya’s entire character.

People have this view that she is the “exact opposite” of Sansa. And while that’s true in terms of their different characteristics, it doesn’t mean that Arya is against everything that makes Sansa, feminine. Now lemme elaborate here. Sansa is everything that represents “femininity.” Especially in terms of the inspired time period that ASOIAF takes place in. She’s very girly & lady-like, is mannerful, “soft-spoken.” She daydreams about boys and being a princess. She’s graceful and elegant. She knows her place in terms of society, and as a woman. AND YEAH, Arya is the exact opposite of that. Yes, she has this boyish nature. She’s wild and free spirited. Loud also adventerous. But that’s the thing: Arya has a lot of femininity in her. It’s just not the femininity that we’re used to. What society percieves as “normally feminine.”

Arya is not Sansa. And it’s because she doesn’t act like a “lady” that the audience sees her as this girl who “doesn’t want” or most importantly, should not want/get the same treatment as the typical noblewoman in Westeros should recieve. This idea was engraved into people’s heads because of the show, and that’s how we’re supposed to see her. As this cold hearted ninja assasin warrior who happens to be a girl, but doesn’t act like a typical girl. The audience pretty much places her in the “I’m not like other girls” trope. Which is honestly, so wrong to me. Because yeah okay, Arya isn’t like the typical lady. But god, she is far deeper than that, and is a much more complex character.

Here’s the thing, Arya does not reject being a female, and most importantly, she does not reject the typical ideals of what makes a lady feminine. Of course not. In fact, she actively encourages that women be included in all things, especially in things only made for men. She believes that women should not be held back or ignored because of their sex and femininity.

“The Lannister’s are proud,” Jon observed. “You’d think the royal sigil would be sufficient, but no. He makes his mother’s House equal in honor to the king’s.”

“The woman is important too!” Arya protested.

This excerpt is from Arya’s very first chapter in AGOT. It is also my favorite Jonrya moment, lol. And asides from the scene foreshadowing potential plot points for not only Jon & Arya, the scene introduces to us and examines Arya’s perception of society and more specifically, the women in society. In this scene Arya joins Jon in observing Prince Joffrey, talking about the Lannister/Baratheon coat of arms. Jon makes a point that while the Baratheon sigil should be enough to prove that Joffrey is of royalty, the Lannisters (Cersei) are a proud house, married into the royal family. So therefore Joffrey is of house Baratheon AND Lannister. That is why the Lannister sigil stands besides the Baratheons. Because they, specifically Cersei, should be seen as equal to the king.

And while Jon makes this seem like it’s wrong or not needed, Arya disagrees with him. She tells him that the women should not be forgotten, as they should be seen as equal to the men. That the women are just as important as the men, and that it would be of good conduct to not forget that. And with that being said, she never acknowledges that Joffrey’s mother is too lady-like or too feminine to be seen as an equal to the king. Nope. Although she does question later as to why if women cannot fight, why should they have a coat of arms. Though that is hardly the point of her argument.

Another point that makes people believe that Arya is not feminine or does not support femininity, is when she flat out says to Ned that she hates the idea of being a lady.

“Your mother and I have charged her with the impossible task of making you a lady.”

“I don’t want to be a lady,” Arya flared.

Alot of people misinterpret this as Arya not wanting to be a noblewoman, because she only likes to play with swords, and get dirty. Because acting like a lady is stupid and not her. This is simply not true. Arya has no problem with women, or being a lady. She is a lady. A highborn one. What she does have a problem with is that being a lady often means being trapped in the conformities of what society percieves to be the acceptable standard for women in this time period.

All of the acceptable standards is what Sansa is. And she is not like Sansa. She does not believe herself to be a lady like her sister or her mother. When she first reveals her true identity to Gendry in ACOK, he immediately apologizes to her for his behavior and calls her m’lady. :3 Arya unfortunately sees this as a form of mockery and an attack because while Gendry acknowledges that she is a lady, Arya doesn’t act like a typical lady or even look like one. That insecurity of not being a lady like her mother and sister makes her believe that Gendry is using her sex against her. Like a form of irony. But I mean, we all know that’s far from the truth, lol!

And Jon recognizes this too! It’s the reason why they are so close and tightly knit together. Because Jon understands Arya, and sees her insecurity like how she sees his. They are one and the same. Jon sees and understands Arya’s frustrations of sexism viewed in Westeros. He acknowledges that Arya is to become a lady. But he also sees that Arya is not the conventional type of lady wanting to stick to the norms. She is a different type of lady, and to him, that is okay. He may tease her for it once in a while, pointing out all the unfair limitations that women have to go through. But he accepts her for being this unconventional noblewoman, and often encourages her to pursue being different.

“Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms. I did not make the rules, little sister.”

Later when Jon and Arya say their goodbyes, Jon gifts Arya with the swords. Needle. This is his way of saying, fuck all them haters, be who you wanna be. Solidifying the idea that he supports her and accepts her for who she is. Kinda like how Tyrion told him to use his identity as armour, Arya should do the same to herself. It’s okay to be different than the rest. Fuck the rules.

It’s not that Arya hates the idea of being a lady. It’s a far cry from that. It’s the sexism that goes along with being the typical lady that infruiates her. Arya loves running around, riding horses, playing with swords, being loud and adventurous. She has a firery temper to her. And just because she likes doing all of that, and is all of that, it doesn’t mean, shouldn’t mean that she isn’t a lady. That she can’t be a lady. All of those things shouldn’t limit her to being viewed as a girl, a highborn lady. She is a woman, and she identifies as one.

“Listen to him, boy.”

“It was the third time he had called her “boy.” “I’m a girl,” Arya objected.

That is why, even though she sees herself as a woman, she often tells herself and other people that she is not a lady. Despite others telling her that she is one. Her insecurity and her frustrations do not allow her to see herself as a lady because she isn’t a “conventional woman.”

But the thing is, even though Arya doesn’t enjoy most of the typical lady-like things, she still has a ton of femininity to her. And people often ignore her more feminine traits in favor of her more “badassery” side, which unfortunately are most often occupied by men. People forget and downright ignore that Arya is really intelligent. She particularly excels in math. It’s one of the few things that she’s better at than Sansa. She loves flowers—like her aunt Lyanna. The very person who she’s said to look and act like the most. And a really important one is that she has motherly instincts. It’s what helps her protect other kids throughout her journey. Her ability to empathize enables her to be more social with outcasts and befriend others without judgement. She is well-mannered and kind to strangers. (An example of this would be when she apologizes to a common woman who lent her a dress to wear, and she accidentally destroys it because she and Gendry were playing by the acorn tree.) She can also cook and clean just like any other woman—or any other person. All of those are feminine traits, and are traits that make her more human. And the show opted to get rid of all that and gave us some cold-hearted, angry, ninja.

The audience perceives that because Arya is this ninja warrior who rejects the common standards of being a lady, it means that she can’t have these other more female traits. Nope. She’s not allowed to have or want more rights and power because that’s not her. She’s a warrior and nothing more. She can’t find love because she has to be this bad-ass independent woman who don’t need no man. That’s not her, that’s her sister. We can’t have Arya be any more female than she already is because she rejects the idea of being female. Leave all that crap to her sister! Sansa’s the princess—and we can’t have Arya being a princess or queen. Arya’s only allowed to carry a sword.

And it’s the audience’s perception of her that goes against everything that Arya is, and everything that she believes in. Because remember, Arya hates the idea that being a lady means being trapped in the societal norms. And it can be said vice versa too. Arya still respects those who want to be more of the conventional type. Arya may not have the more typical feminine traits that make her a lady, but to hell with it! It doesn’t mean that she’s not allowed to have the other things that the more conventional woman would/should have. That goes against all of her views and beliefs. The audience puts Arya at an unfair standard because she doesn’t act like a conventional woman.

It’s the same thing as the audience saying that Jon Snow doesn’t want a title or power, because he’s devoted his life to the Nights Watch and is unselfish. False. Very false. Just like Arya. Arya’s young. She still has time to grow, and no doubt she doesn’t think of all those things now because of other priorities. But she’s slowly getting there. And there is so much foreshadowing of her finding love, becoming a woman gaining power, etc, etc. She’s not there yet, but that’s a part of her growth. Just because she defies the typical female standards, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t want or wont want all those things later.

Like com’on. Everyone knows that Arya is the only legitimate candidate right now to inherit the North. Everyone knows. The Northmen know, the Nights Watch knows, the people in Kings Landing knows. Hell, even the damn wildings know this. And it’s because of this knowledge that formed the majority of the northern plotline in ADWD. People are going to war for her. She is the true key to the North, and that’s why the Boltons lied and said that they have her. It’s why Jon went to war and died for her. I don’t think Arya will truly believe it if/when she finds out that people are fighting for her because she holds the power to the North. Unless Jon’s gonna be the one to tell her himself. The fact that she is being set up to inherit all this power, and yet people deny it and believe that she doesn’t want it because it’s “not her” in regards that she’s not feminine enough, is seriously infuriating.

I mean look at the type of women Arya respects and idolizes. Where do you think she got the name Nymeria from? Nymeria’s name originates from the Princess of Dorne herself, Princess Nymeria of Ny Sar. Princess Nymeria was said be very beautiful, strong-willed, cunning, and full of wisdom. She was a “warrior-queen.” From that alone, her femininity clearly did not matter. She was a woman whose goals were not held back because of her femininity and sex.

Arya does not hate femininity or things that makes women more feminine. She doesn’t truly hate wearing dresses or being a lady. It’s being conformed to the general standards that she hates. It’s her sex being used against her that makes her angry. It’s not being able to be herself that she despises. And thanks to Sansa and her mother’s judgement of her, Arya’s insecurity only heightened. Despite looking exactly like Lyanna, Arya herself believes that she’s not beautiful enough to even be considered a lady. Only Jon and Ned allowed Arya to be Arya. Only they called her beautiful, and only they encouraged her to be who she wanted to be. Arya loves her fellow women. And yeah, she also loves Sansa despite her being such a pain in the ass bitch, lol.

Arya’s character encourages women to just be women. She encourages us the audience to just be ourselves despite all the conformities forced upon us. Her character explores the limitations of sex, gender, and especially the loss of identity. Arya not wanting to be a lady doesn’t actually mean she doesn’t want to be a lady. She doesn’t want to be held back by the standards of being a lady. Her question, her argument is that why should women be limited only to being this or that. Women are far more than meets the typical standard, and if society can’t accept it, then fuck that! Women can be knights and still be a lady. They can be fierce and passionate and emotional and still be a lady. Women can be warriors and still be a lady. Just because there are some women out there who don’t fit the ideal standards of what it means to be lady, it shouldn’t make them feel like less than one.

#Arya Stark #Arya Stark meta #game of thrones #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #jon snow #Gendry Baratheon #Jonrya #Gendrya #Arya is a feminist #When is TWOW come out?! I miss her!!#Also shes going through puberty in the next book so uh that’ll be interesting hm?#Ya’ll Dany may be going mad in the books too #But I mean Dany and Arya NEED to interact at least 1 pls George give it to me :(#Anti GOT

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nobodysuspectsthebutterfly · 3 years

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Hello! If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on watching House of the Dragon? I'm personally unsure about it. I was cautiously optimistic about it since D&D are not involved, but the recent casting news have been ugh disappointing imo. What do you think?

Hey anon! Sorry to say I kind of mind you asking because my inbox is still closed (to everyone except my secret Santas, which is why the ask page is accessible at all), but then I realized it’s possible if you’re on the mobile app only, you haven’t seen said note in my askbox, or my FAQ, or anything of the sort. And with older metas of mine being reblogged recently, it’s possible you may be confused. (I hope you’re on mobile only and not just ignoring my requests.) So I wanted to inform you of that... but also, y’know, I kind of wanted to make a post about the HotD cast anyway? And this ask is as good a prompt as any... so, you’re lucky, but please don’t push your luck. ;)

So, straight up: I currently have no plans to watch House of the Dragon. HBO is not getting any of my goddamn money, I don’t trust like that. And hunting down illegal livestreaming sites is a pain in the ass and I regret ever doing it for GoT, as well as regretting getting drunk every weekend enough to dampen my senses to ever tolerate that show. Yeah it’s different showrunners and writers, I know. It’s still (mostly) the same executives at HBO and even if the pervert producer is gone (or is he?), you know they still just want to sell sex and violence and dragons to an audience that thinks fantasy is for geeks.

Also, considering that Fire & Blood’s story of Dance of the Dragons has very little actual narrative or dialogue, and the historical record is deliberately untrustworthy, that gives them pretty much full rein to do whatever they like with the story and characterization and words without even being slightly obliged to GRRM at all. Furthermore, since the story is wholly political with virtually none of the magical side of ASOIAF (excepting dragons), and honestly does not have much in the way of themes or depth that main ASOIAF or even D&E has, I think it will be very hard for an adaptation to show even those brief sparks of quality that used to make me wistful GoT couldn’t be that good all the time and eventually just made me frustrated and depressed. Note I do like the history and characters of the Dance despite myself, despite its many many many textual issues, but I don’t need to see an adaptation, I have a very visual imagination. I don’t watch a lot of television to begin with, I don’t see why I should start again with this.

However, I’m not going to avoid spoilers or discussion, and I’ll probably follow the show the tumblr way, through gifsets and video clips and people bitching on their blogs etc. If, somehow, by some miracle of good screenwriting and acting, the show manages to transcend its source material, I’m sure I will be informed. And then, if and only if then, I may try watching. (Without, of course, giving HBO any of my goddamn money.) We shall see.

(Though I certainly don’t know why anyone in Targ standom would ever watch a Dance adaptation considering almost every Targaryen and everyone else in the story is terrible except Helaena and the kids, and considering how the story ends, unless y’all are gluttons for punishment? (I do not comprehend hatewatching, sorry.) It’ll probably be fun at first to see the adventures of those “precious silver douchebags” (to borrow a friend’s tag), but eventually rocks fall, everyone dies, including the girlboss you know you’ll hope the story will be changed enough that she succeeds. Just letting you know now, she won’t.)

That said. I’ve been following the casting news and I think the hate/fear/wild screaming is entirely overblown. Yeah, I know, but wait, just listen. On Friday I officially welcomed @naomimakesart to the “favorite character is now played by an actor who looks nothing like most fanart and is mostly known for wildly different roles” club. I still remember that day in September 2009 when my brother texted me “yarp”... and that right there is the thing. Yeah. Rory McCann looks very little like most pre-GoT Sandor fanart... but many fans grew to love him anyway. (There are some who never did, of course. And yeah the character went off the rails by the end, but truly, who didn’t. Having seen his audition, having spoken to him and heard him wistfully talk about book scenes he loved, I’m convinced if Rory had only been given Sandor’s actual scenes and such, he would’ve killed it. Sigh. Deep, deep sigh.)

And Rory isn’t the only one. Neither of the actors for Jaime and Cersei were considered “beautiful” enough at first. I recall very clearly people bitching about Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (about his nose particularly?) because they had wanted Tarzan-era Travis Fimmel to be Jaime. (Seeing people bitch because current-Fimmel isn’t playing Daemon made me laugh out loud for both BEYONCE?! meme -type “why would you ever cast him omg he doesn’t fit my headcanon Daemon at all”, and amazing amounts of fandom flashbacks.) Lena Headey was “too square-jawed”, “too mean-looking” (since at the beginning you should never be able to guess she’s evil), “too dark-complected”, “too mannish”, not at all attractive enough. (Tricia Helfer was the most common “but I wanted” for Cersei, btw.) And of course “they don’t remotely look like twins, ugh!” Note, there’s receipts for all of this, none of it is made up. (Unfortunately.) Those two actors are just the ones whose casting wank I recall most clearly, particularly because oh how the turn tables.

Also. You know, there’s a post with Matt Smith and Mark Simonetti’s TWOIAF Daemon going around with shrieks of horror... and I’m finding it maddening in a “am I crazy? am I the crazy one???” way, because Matt looks like the painting. Their features are not that dissimilar.

Same deepset eyes. Same cheekbones of doom. Same thin lips. Same protruding chin. Same high forehead. Same invsible eyebrows ffs. Matt has a squarer jaw, and a longer more rectangular face, and a wider nose, but considering that Daemon’s features are not described in the text, and this is the only official ASOIAF artwork that shows Daemon’s face straight on, I can for sure see why he was probably shortlisted to begin with. And that’s not even getting into to his role in The Crown, which I’ve heard is very well played with politics and palace intrigue... and if you doubt Smith can play seductive/roguish and/or evil (depending on how you LARP as a Westeros historian), or look good with long hair... well. I do not want to watch the movie, but this trailer is disturbingly enlightening.

And as for Rhaenyra... y’all know this show is starting at the beginning of the story, right? When she’s a teenager? Not a voluptuous MILF? Yeah, Emma D’Arcy doesn’t look like a Magali Villeneueve painting (though who does, good lord), but you know who she does look remarkably like? Harry Lloyd.

Same jawline. Same nose. Same thin lips. Same sharp cheekbones. Notably, same kind of sharp cheekbones and deep-set eyes as Matt Smith. HBO evidently has a concept of a “Targaryen look” that’s a little bit quirkier than supermodel-Greek statue-gods on earth, yeah, fine. But it’s consistent, and they look like family, and that-- that is good casting.

And yeah, in a few months to a year or so, you’ll see them in costume and wigs and makeup, you’ll see them in motion and speaking lines, and go Oh. That’s different. Never mind. And while people will make fanart of the show depictions of the characters and those will probalby get popular, they’ll also keep doing fanart of their pre-show headcanons, and those too will be popular. (God knows when I draw or visualize book!Sandor, Rory does not come to mind, lol.) Either way, there’s no reason to panic. We’ll live.

(Though will we live well? Got to wait on the writing and showrunning for that, alas.)

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