id hate to burst your bubble but in your last of her house no more series, daenerys and her daughter aren’t the only targaryens left in the world. jon’s one too.

jon ain’t shit and aemond’s gonna soon murder that bastard before fathering the newest brood of targ babies

why do i think jon snow is a bastard even if he is still rhaegar's and lyanna's son

even if r + l = j and we get into the mindset that lyanna went with rhaegar out of her own free will (which until now is exclusively a show thing), first things first, rhaegar was already married to elia martell and had with her two children, one of which is a boy.

(I'm not going to start on how it was incredibly stupid of rhaegar to leave his children and wife at the capital with a mad king known for burning people and not liking his choice of wife, while he went to a faraway tower for months with a stolen girl, because if she went by her will or not, to EVERYONE else she was stolen from her family and her betrothed; and he didn't send like a letter to her family? like... nothing?? man??)

(I'm also not gonna start on how rhaegar was possibly mad for supposedly believing so much in a prophecy he would pursue a girl, leave his whole family behind in danger and disappear with her just because of it)

so. . . rhaegar had an heir. two, actually, if we count rhaenys, which I totally do, but y'know asoiaf's misogynistic, medieval bullshit.

"oh, but targaryens had two wives..." no, that was outlawed by the Faith and whatnot like years before.

and then they were like "oh but he annulled his first marriage with the basis that she could not bear him any more children", and. . . no. if that was possible, every other lord with an old spouse would marry again, specially those who couldn't get male heirs.

(if it was possible though i bet rhaegar would do it independently of being a giant "fuck you" not only to elia but to the martells and dorne in general, I'm saying he mainly cares about the prophecy)

"You're mine, and I'm yours, from this day, till the end of my days" = till end of your fertile days you mean.

also would make no sense why the citadel wouldn't tell of this marriage to... idk, anyone? lyanna stark was buried as a stark, not as a targaryen.

idk he has no legit claim to the throne and putting him in it cause he is a man is stupid, daenerys didn't go through all of that for them to give it all in a silver place to the possibly bastard son of a prince who died bc of stupidity and obsession.

even the other aegon who i'm pretty sure is the mummer's dragon is a better candidate (but i think he is pretty stupid to look at his "aunt" with gigantic fucking dragons and talk as if he has a chance of going against her, that he'll "let her" keep essos, bitch you're not "letting" anyone do anything, calm down)

I doubt Jon will look much different when he comes back but allow me to indulge in the ‘grey eyes that glow red in the dark’ thought that rots my brain anyways-

If my day is going on smoonthly and I feel guilty and in need of some downing, I think about the upcoming Jon Snow sequel and yeah, it gets me depressed very, very fast.

no offense to the general public but when people say catelyn knowing about R+L=J would’ve changed her and jon’s relationship i know they don’t get catelyn’s character.

if ned had told catelyn the truth about jon it would not have made their marriage stronger it would have ruined it. telling his wife he puts jon’s safety above her children’s (which is exactly what he was doing) would put an end to the love in their marriage she would hate him. catelyn would’ve hated jon even more if she knew who he was because he was an even greater danger to her children. ned made traitors of all the starks without even telling them, if anyone ever found out they would have all been executed. she would’ve slit jon’s throat herself and maybe ned’s too

Jon Snow and Sansa Stark in Art

Prince Ivan on the Grey Wolf / Viktor Vasnetsov A Foster Mother / Charles Sillem Lidderdale Portrait of a Young Woman (detail) / Pierre-Auguste Cot King Arthur (detail) / Charles Ernest Butler Portrait of a Young Girl / Konstantin Yegorovich Makovsky Dante and Beatrice in the Garden / Cesare Saccaggi

She wasn’t a famous knight, and kings were supposed to put the realm before their sisters.

Arya IV, ASOS

AKSJSNIABABSNABSBS

Jon Snow could’ve “put the realm before his sister” by rationalizing that he can do more good as Stannis’ man and Lord of Winterfell. But he chose not to because

Which would you have as Lord of Winterfell, Snow? The smiler or the slayer?”

Jon said, “Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa.”

The same Jon who, when push came to shove, decided to become a deserter, to abandon his post as the “shield that guards the realms of men”, for his family….FOR HIS SISTER!!!

I have my swords, thought Jon Snow, and we are coming for you, Bastard.

Yarwyck and Marsh were slipping out, he saw, and all their men behind them. It made no matter. He did not need them now. He did not want them. No man can ever say I made my brothers break their vows. If this is oathbreaking, the crime is mine and mine alone.  […]

IM CRYING SCREAMING THROWING UP IN THE CLUB RN

If Jon had just sent Sansa to Dragonstone in his place, none of this shit would have gone down.

After the avalanche of bad takes inspired by got and hotd I would just like to say that the point of asoiaf is not "feudal power corrupts" and it is not "no one can save Westeros because feudalism bad". I would like to remind you what the function of feudalism in the story actually is, as stated by GRRM:

The medieval setting has been the traditional background for epic Fantasy, even before Tolkien, and there are good reasons for that tradition. The sword has a romance to it that pistols and cannon lack, a powerful symbolic value that touches us on some primal level. Also, the contrasts so apparent in the Middle Ages are very striking -- the ideal of chivalry existed cheek by jowl with the awful brutality of war, great castles loomed over miserable hovels, serfs and princes rode the same roads, and the colorful pageantry of tournaments rose out of a brown and grey world of dung, dirt, and plague. The dramatic possibilities are so rich. ( Source)

Now his notorious statement about Aragorn's tax policy (as much as I vehemently dislike that statement concerning Tolkien, it is still very insightful for GRRM's work) :

Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it’s not that simple. Tolkien can say that Aragorn became king and reigned for a hundred years, and he was wise and good. But Tolkien doesn’t ask the question: What was Aragorn’s tax policy? Did he maintain a standing army? What did he do in times of flood and famine? And what about all these orcs? By the end of the war, Sauron is gone but all of the orcs aren’t gone – they’re in the mountains. Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill them? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles? (Source)

Moral relativism right? Nihilism, pessimism, every symbol is doomed to fail, every effort for a better future is doomed to fail because the feudalist structure is inherently rotten. Should we even try then? What is the point in showing a ruler genuinely try? If every leader is doomed to fall victim to external opposing forces and/or corruption or other moral flaw, what is the point in trying? Let's see another statement by GRRM where he explains what asoiaf is actually about:

"In a very basic level winter is coming for all of us. I think that’s one of the things that art is concerned with: the awareness of our own mortality. “Valar morghulis” – “All men must die”. That shadow lies over our world and will until medical science gives us all immortality… but I don’t think it makes it necessarily a pessimistic world (...) the important thing is that love, compassion and empathy with other human beings is still possible. Laughter is still possible! Even laughter in the face of death… The struggle to make the world a better place… We have things like war, murder and rape… horrible things that still exist, but we don’t have to accept them, we can fight the good fight. The fight to eliminate those things.There is darkness in the world, but I don’t think we necessarily need to give way to despair". (Source)

The combination of these statements speaks for itself to someone who has read GRRM's work: the sword has a romance that pistols lack, the dramatic possibilities of the medieval setting are rich, ruling is hard, we can fight the good fight, we should not give way to despair. From that to "No one can save Westeros" the distance is huge and the endpoint is extremely deceptive and also deeply reactionary. If no one can save Westeros, then there is no point in trying to save Westeros. Characters that try to save Westeros, or Essos, or the Wildlings, or anything bigger than their own ass, are not morally superior to others that just benefit from the current status quo or passively tolerate/enable it, since no one can actually do shit and every effort is doomed to fail. Yet this goes directly against the point of asoiaf that can be summed up in the phrase: "ruling is hard". It is hard alright, but the thing is, someone has to do it. Whether that someone has been chosen by the people, or by the gods, or by destiny, or by circumstances, and regardless of the political system that allowed them to yield that power, the point is that someone has power ad hoc at any given time, and power equals responsibility. What do you do with it? How do you govern? How do you choose between two equally grievous alternatives? Who do you listen to? Who do you trust? How can you learn? What if everything you've been told was a lie? How do you move on from there? What if the promises you made contradict each other? What if you fail? How do you live with the guilt, how do you go on? How do you instigate a structural change? What if you try to do that and people die? What if you try to do that and it kills you? Was it worth it? How do you use the power you have? How do you fight the good fight? What makes a fight good?

"Feudalism bad" and "no one can save Westeros" are not just incredibly uninspired catchphrases, they are something much worse: a very nice way of avoiding to answer the real, hard, uncomfortable questions that are the driving force of asoiaf, and a very neat way to justify those who tolerate, enable or reinforce the status quo. Coincidentally, these questions remain the same in every single political system. They are universal. That's why this is a good, relevant, applicable story, that's why we give a fuck even if the context is foreign to us. So spare us the moralizing bullshit please, and thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

“No,” Jon Snow said quietly. “It was not courage. This one was dead of fear. You could see it in his eyes, Stark.” Jon’s eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.

Robb was not impressed. “The Others take his eyes,” he swore.”

Jon and Robb in AGOT | Bran I

jon snow heard the phrase ride or die but thought he had to pick one so he was like ok. die then

as an addendum to my post about hating "jon snow gets daenerys' dragons or have eggs or they give her plot to him so he does it 'better' ", i would like to add that i've discovered ANOTHER level of shit in the fandom, called "people who let rhaenys live, and then make her and dany's jon's props in the plot"

i HATE the idea of jon as the new aegon the conqueror, PLEASE stop shipping him with rhaenys and daenerys; or at least don't make them BASICALLY his arm pieces in the new "conquest".

it's misogynistic, and sometimes the portrayal of rhaenys is plainly racist.

hc that all the starklings had a musical education befitting a High Lord's kids (flute, lute, other instruments specific to the north like drums etc), except for jon. everyone assumes 'oh it's a bastard thing-' no. ned once saw jon playing a harp 2 months into his musical education with robb and almost vomited blood. he had every harp in winterfell thrown out alà sleeping beauty.

someone shoot me cause i can’t stop thinking about jon snow helping you sleep.

you’ve always been a dreamer. growing up with the starks, you’d tell jon (or anyone who asked) about your dreams the night before, either furrowing your brows at the bizarre nature of them, or laughing as you recall dreaming maester luwin having hooves for feet. this didn’t help the fact that you naturally didn’t sleep much. when you did, dreams plagued your mind so often it felt like you weren’t even sleeping at all.

but dreaming often also meant nightmares followed suit. usually, you’d try and calm yourself down, but if it was an especially bad one—you’d find solace in jon’s arms. a risky move in winterfell, but it was either that or you didn’t sleep. and jon slept best with you anyways.

not much had changed in that while at castle black. the only difference is, if you couldn’t sleep, jon would put you to sleep the best way he knew how.

strong arms would cage you in, his calloused hand wrapped in yours, anchoring you as he pays close attention to the space between your thighs. slow drags of his hips as he kisses you sickly sweet, breaking you down piece by piece until your worries melt away, & your brain is only clouded with thoughts of him. his lips on your neck sending goosebumps down your skin, as bolts of pleasure shoot up your spine.

he’s good at this. too good.

too good at making you forget what was even keeping you up in the first place. mind numb as you can’t remember where you stop & he begins, and that’s just how he wants you. his thumb comes to wipe away any stray tears that fall, while his brows pinch in concern until he feels you clench on him, strings of curses falling from your lips as he brings you to the edge. and it’s with a shudder of his name you cum, sighing & running a hand through his curls as you come down from your high, thanking him because that was just what you needed. & he knows.

“yeah? y’ feel better?”

you nod your head, a quiet “mhm” coming from your mouth as he wraps his arms around you. you settle into them, head facing his chest as he traces your spine.

jon has a small smile on his face. knowing that he’s the reason for your pleasure, knowing how much you trust him not only with your body, but with your problems. if you can’t sleep it’s him you come to, and you knowing he’ll fix it brings him more satisfaction than he’ll ever admit. he may not be able to control a lot of things, but one thing he can control is how much pleasure he can give you. not just with your body, but with your mind. you know you’re safe with him, time and time again has proven that this may be the only safe place left in the world.

with jon. in his arms.

i actually need him so bad it’s not funny :( sigh want him to make me forget my problems.

Honestly? Still kinda ticked Gendrya didn't end up together and that all the surviving Stark children were BY THEMSELVES at the end of the series even the whole point of their story was their love for their family and wanting to find their way back to eachother

Jon coming back “wrong” but it’s not in the fire-zombie way people imagine. Rather, as a result of the different types of magic within him heating up to a fervor, he comes back as a freak of nature, playing right into GRRM’s deconstruction of biblical doctrine and prophecy. In true Christ-like fashion, Jon transforms into the fantasy hero we think we deserve: a prophet, warrior, king, and god. It’s good for Westeros and its survival, but is it good for Jon? Is it really good for him? He’s only 17. He’s a kid ☹️