#king jon x alayne
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Operation Stumpy Re-Read
TWOW: Alayne I (Sansa I)
My little lovebug! ❤️
She's finally here! 🥺
To celebrate, I might just copy and paste the whole gosh darn thing. You've been warned.
Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves for the mind-blowing, heart-stopping, epic conclusion of Operation Stumpy Re-Read Project!
Before we dive in, we need to revisit a theory that I proposed in Jon X, ADWD.
The last time we saw Jon's and Sansa's points of view in the same book was A Storm of Swords. You might recall the deliberate placement of their back-to-back chapters was anything but subtle.
The text was often copied verbatim, the situations were perfectly mirrored, and the topics of love, marriage, and family were prevalent in both.
You can view a quick summary of it all here.
That brings us to this chapter. Some of you might not be aware, but George was originally planning to put Alayne I in A Dance with Dragons.
That Sansa chapter I talked about finishing, for instance. It's still finished, but my editor and I decided it belongs in THE WINDS OF WINTER, not A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, so it's been moved into the next book. Sansa will not appear in DANCE. - Not a Blog
Based on the intentional placement of previous Jon and Sansa chapters, I have hypothesized that it should be possible to determine the original planned position of this Alayne chapter.
Below, I will do my best to argue Alayne I, TWOW was originally indented to appear directly before Jon X, ADWD.
Alright, it's time!
She was reading her little lord a tale of the Winged Knight when Mya Stone came knocking on the door of his bedchamber, clad in boots and riding leathers and smelling strongly of the stable. Mya had straw in her hair and a scowl on her face. That scowl comes of having Mychel Redfort near, Alayne knew.
I'm so slow, I'm only now picking up on the vague hints of Jon and Sansa's connection from the highborn-lowborn divide between Mya and Mychel Redfort.
She sounded so like Sansa, so happy and innocent with her dreams. Catelyn smiled, but the smile was tinged with sadness. The Redforts were an old name in the Vale, she knew, with the blood of the First Men in their veins. His love she might be, but no Redfort would ever wed a bastard. His family would arrange a more suitable match for him, to a Corbray or a Waynwood or a Royce, or perhaps a daughter of some greater house outside the Vale. - Catelyn VI, AGOT
She even had a king for a dad!
+.+.+
Why did she have to mention Harry? Alayne thought. We will never get Sweetrobin out of bed now. The boy slapped a pillow. "Send them away. I never asked them here."
Mya looked nonplussed. No one in the Vale was better at handling a mule, but lordlings were another matter. "They were invited," she said uncertainly, "for the tourney. I don't…"
Alayne closed her book. "Thank you, Mya. Let me talk with Lord Robert, if you would."
Oh look, 13-year-old Sansa is acting 24 again, and can I just mention she's absolutely fantastic at managing her son cousin.
+.+.+
"I hate that Harry," Sweetrobin said when she was gone. "He calls me cousin, but he's just waiting for me to die so he can take the Eyrie. He thinks I don't know, but I do."
"Your lordship should not believe such nonsense," Alayne said. "I'm sure Ser Harrold loves you well." And if the gods are good, he will love me too. Her tummy gave a little flutter.
Back to 13.
Just like Arya and Mercy, you can still find traces of Sansa in Alayne.
+.+.+
"I don't want you to marry him, Alayne. I am the Lord of the Eyrie, and I forbid it." He sounded as if he were about to cry. "You should marry me instead. We could sleep in the same bed every night, and you could read me stories."
In the future, it might be a good idea to ensure that Jon and Sweetrobin are kept apart at all times.
+.+.+
No man can wed me so long as my dwarf husband still lives somewhere in this world.
I don't know about that.
"Hush, you'll be the death of us. I did nothing. Come, we must away, they'll search for you. Your husband's been arrested."
"Tyrion?" she said, shocked.
"Do you have another husband? The Imp, the dwarf uncle, she thinks he did it." - Sansa V, ASOS
x
When Her Grace suggested that she would be pleased to help arrange marriages for his sons to the daughters of great southern lords, Lord Stark refused brusquely. "We keep the old gods in the North," he told the queen. "When my boys take a wife, they will wed before a heart tree, not in some southron sept." - Fire & Blood
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Alayne stroked his fingers. "There, my Sweetrobin, be still now." When the shaking passed, she said, "You must have a proper wife, a trueborn maid of noble birth."
"No. I want to marry you, Alayne."
Once your lady mother intended that very thing, but I was trueborn then, and noble.
Trust me, this is less than nothing, we're only warming up. I can do way better than this.
(-> -> -> Jon X?)
"Who brings this woman to be wed?" asked Melisandre.
"I do," said Jon. "Now comes Alys of House Karstark, a woman grown and flowered, of noble blood and birth." - Jon X, ADWD
+.+.+
Alayne smoothed his hair. Lady Lysa had never let the servants touch it, and after she had died Robert had suffered terrible shaking fits whenever anyone came near him with a blade, so it had been allowed to grow until it tumbled over his round shoulders and halfway down his flabby white chest. He does have pretty hair. If the gods are good and he lives long enough to wed, his wife will admire his hair, surely. That much she will love about him.
Mounting evidence that Sansa is plotting to kill Robert Arryn.
Why would he fear a blade?
+.+.+
"The Lord of the Eyrie can do as he likes. Can't I still love you, even if I have to marry her? Ser Harrold has a common woman. Benjicot says she's carrying his bastard."
Benjicot should learn to keep his fool's mouth shut.
Lmao.
+.+.+
"Is that what you would have from me? A bastard?" She pulled her fingers from his grasp. "Would you dishonor me that way?"
The boy looked stricken. "No. I never meant —"
Alayne stood. "If it please my lord, I must go and find my father. Someone needs to greet Lady Waynwood." Before her little lord could find the words to protest, she gave him a quick curtsy and fled the bedchamber [...].
Masterfully done!
This is why I can't have children, I would have locked him in a closet.
+.+.+
When she had left Petyr Baelish that morning he had been breaking his fast with old Oswell who had arrived last night from Gulltown on a lathered horse.
Did you know that the number of references to Oldtown gradually increases from book to book until it surges in A Storm of Swords, right before the city is formally introduced at the beginning of A Feast for Crows?
Gulltown is on a similar trajectory. The city is referenced nine times in this chapter alone. Nine.
+.+.+
Though snow had blanketed the heights of the Giant's Lance above, below the mountain the autumn lingered and winter wheat was ripening in the fields.
For timeline purposes: Sansa is lagging behind where Brienne and Jon currently are in the story.
Snow in the riverlands. If it was snowing here, it could well be snowing on Lannisport as well, and on King's Landing. Winter is marching south, and half our granaries are empty. Any crops still in the fields were doomed. [...] "I know," Jaime said, "there has been a white raven from the Citadel. Winter has come." - Jaime VII, AFFC
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Alayne loved it here. She felt alive again, for the first since her father… since Lord Eddard Stark had died.
Stop.
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She hoped they might still be talking, but Petyr's solar proved empty. Someone had left a window open and a stack of papers had blown onto the floor.
[...]
She closed the window, gathered up the fallen papers, and stacked them on the table. One was a list of the competitors. Four-and-sixty knights had been invited to vie for places amongst Lord Robert Arryn's new Brotherhood of Winged Knights, and four and-sixty knights had come to tilt for the right to wear falcon’s wings upon their warhelms and guard their lord.
It is widely speculated she saw something she shouldn't have, but hasn't fully grasped the significance yet.
Did you know there's 64 squares on a chessboard?
+.+.+
The competitors came from all over the Vale, from the mountain valleys and the coast, from Gulltown and the Bloody Gate, even the Three Sisters. Though a few were promised, only three were wed; the eight victors would be expected to spend the next three years at Lord Robert's side, as his own personal guard (Alayne had suggested seven, like the Kingsguard, but Sweetrobin had insisted that he must have more knights than King Tommen), so older men with wives and children had not been invited.
We love a petty king.
so older men with wives and children had not been invited.
Perfect for Blackfish! Where is that former Knight of the Gate? I know he's coming, the ellipsis of truth tells no lies.
And if Ser Brynden should survive this siege, he might be inclined to claim Riverrun in his own name . . . or in the name of young Robert Arryn. - Jaime V, AFFC
Where else is he supposed to go?
Edit:
Oh! @decadelongsummer reminded me that Jaime I, ADWD would have come before this. (<- <- <-)
"Might the Blackfish seek refuge at Raventree?"
"He might seek it, but to find it he'd need to get past my siege lines, and last I heard he hadn't grown wings. [...]" - Jaime I, ADWD
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"They're young, eager, hungry for adventure and renown. Lysa would not let them go to war. This is the next best thing. A chance to serve their lord and prove their prowess. They will come. Even Harry the Heir." He had smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. "What a clever daughter you are."
I will turn your liver into paste, and feed it to cats.
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"What a clever daughter you are."
It was clever.
✨ Clever girl! ✨
Dontos chuckled. "My Jonquil's a clever girl, isn't she?" - Sansa IV, ACOK
x
"There's a clever girl." He smiled, his thin lips bright red from the pomegranate seeds. - Sansa VI, ASOS
x
"[...] It was clever of you to see it. Though no more than I'd expect of mine own daughter." - Sansa I, AFFC
x
Sers, the Lady Alayne, my natural and very clever daughter . . . - Alayne II, AFFC
+.+.+
The tourney, the prizes, the winged knights, it had all been her own notion. Lord Robert's mother had filled him full of fears, but he always took courage from the tales she read him of Ser Artys Arryn, the Winged Knight of legend, founder of his line. Why not surround him with Winged Knights? She had thought one night, after Sweetrobin had finally drifted off to sleep. His own Kingsguard, to keep him safe and make him brave.
Sounds like something a queen might be responsible for planning.
Unreliable narrator Sansa Stark (or George R. R. Martin). Ser Artys Arryn was not the legendary Winged Knight from the Age of Heroes. Two different people.
I don't know if this is important or not, but while reading the history of Ser Artys, a few things stuck out.
Leading the attack was a champion in silvered steel, with a moon-and-falcon on his shield and wings upon his warhelm. Ser Artys Arryn had clad one of his knights retainer in his spare suit of armor, leaving him in camp whilst he himself took his best horsemen up and around a goat track that he remembered from his childhood, so they might reappear behind the First Men and descend on them from above. - The World of Ice and Fire
While fighting King Robar II Royce, Ser Artys used a decoy of himself, while he snuck up and around a goat track that he remembered from his childhood.
What's interesting about that is that Roose Bolton uses a decoy in ADWD, which fools Ramsay.
When the rider in the dark armor removed his helm, however, the face beneath was not one that Reek knew. Ramsay's smile curdled at the sight, and anger flashed across his face. "What is this, some mockery?" - Reek II, ADWD
But what really stands out is the goat tracks. I know a character who has deep appreciation for goat tracks being used during war.
"Goat tracks?" The king's eyes narrowed. "I speak of moving swiftly, and you waste my time with goat tracks?"
"When the Young Dragon conquered Dorne, he used a goat track to bypass the Dornish watchtowers on the Boneway." - Jon IV, ADWD
I don't know. It involved knights from the Vale, so it made me pause.
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Lord Nestor was showing Lady Waxley his prize tapestries, with their scenes of hunt and chase. The same panels had once hung in the Red Keep of King's Landing, when Robert sat the Iron Throne. Joffrey had them taken down and they had languished in some cellar until Petyr Baelish arranged for them to be brought to the Vale as a gift for Nestor Royce. Not only were the hangings beautiful, but the High Steward delighted in telling anyone who'd listen that they had once belonged to a king.
It's the conclusion of the most anticlimactic side plot in the entire series.
"Not as yet. In truth, he seems quite unconcerned. His last letter mentions the rebels only briefly before beseeching me to ship him some old tapestries of Robert's." - Cersei IV, AFFC
x
Petyr laughed. "Perhaps I shall. Or better still, to our sweet Cersei. Though I should not speak harshly of her, she is sending me some splendid tapestries. Isn't that kind of her?" - Alayne I, AFFC
This is nothing. It's only meant to showcase how Littlefinger purchases the loyalty of others.
+.+.+
At the north end of the yard, three quintains had been set up, and some of the competitors were riding at them. Alayne knew them by their shields; the bells of Belmore, green vipers for the Lynderlys, the red sledge of Breakstone, House Tollett’s black and grey pily. Ser Mychel Redfort set one quintain spinning with a perfectly placed blow. He was one of those favored to win wings.
Showing off, as per usual. She's only doing this to make Arya look bad.
+.+.+
"The Lord Protector's daughter," the bald knight announced, all hearty gallantry. He rose ponderously. "And full as lovely as the tales told of her, I see."
Not to be outdone, the pimply knight hopped up and said, "Ser Ossifer speaks truly, you are the most beautiful maid in all the Seven Kingdoms." It might have been a sweeter courtesy had he not addressed it to her chest.
"And have you seen all those maids yourself, ser?" Alayne asked him. "You are young to be so widely travelled."
"You are even lovelier than I was told, princess," he declared. "The queen has told me much and more of your beauty."
"How odd, when she has never seen me." - Jon XI, ADWD
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Alayne could not help but shutter. Myranda's husband had died when he was making love with her. "Those Sistermen who came in yesterday were gallant," she said, to change the subject. "If you don't like Ser Ossifer or Ser Uther, marry one of them instead. I thought the youngest one was very handsome."
"The one in the sealskin cloak?" Randa said, incredulous.
"One of his brothers, then."
Myranda rolled her eyes. "They're from the Sisters. Did you ever know a Sisterman who could joust? They clean their swords with codfish oil and wash in tubs of cold seawater."
“Well,” Alayne said, “at least they're clean.”
"Some of them have webs between their toes. [...]"
Uh huh.
Listen to me. Listen to me.
You know why this is here.
Davos: I:
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Remind me, what did we learn in Davos I?
To get home and call his banners, Stark had to cross the mountains to the Fingers and find a fisherman to carry him across the Bite. A storm caught them on the way. The fisherman drowned, but his daughter got Stark to the Sisters before the boat went down.
[...]
Our maester urged us to send Stark's head to Aerys, to prove our loyalty. It would have meant a rich reward.
[...]
That was when Stark said, 'In this world only winter is certain. We may lose our heads, it's true … but what if we prevail?' My father sent him on his way with his head still on his shoulders. 'If you lose,' he told Lord Eddard, 'you were never here.'" - Davos I, ADWD
Right, exactly. Go ahead and remind us of the Three Sisters in a Sansa chapter, George. Nobody can figure out where this is going.
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"Some of them have webs between their toes. I'd sooner marry Lord Petyr. Then I'd be your mother. How little is his finger, I ask you?"
Alayne did not dignify that question with an answer.
Totally normal thing you might ask his daughter.
+.+.+
"Is that a promise or a threat?" Myranda said. "The first Lady Waynwood must have been a mare, I think. How else to explain why all the Waynwood men are horse-faced? If I were ever to wed a Waynwood, he would have to swear a vow to don his helm whenever he wished to fuck me, and keep the visor closed." She gave Alayne a pinch on the arm.
Um, I have a theory!
"No," Catelyn agreed. "You must name another heir, until such time as Jeyne gives you a son." She considered a moment. "Your father's father had no siblings, but his father had a sister who married a younger son of Lord Raymar Royce, of the junior branch. They had three daughters, all of whom wed Vale lordlings. A Waynwood and a Corbray, for certain. The youngest . . . it might have been a Templeton, but . . ." - Catelyn V, ASOS
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"My Harry will be with them, though. I notice that you left him out. I shall never forgive you for stealing him away from me. He's the boy I want to marry."
"The betrothal was my father's doing," Alayne protested, as she had a hundred times before. She is only teasing, she told herself… but behind the japes, she could hear the hurt.
We can't be certain, but she doesn't give off the same vibes as the other Myranda on the show.
+.+.+
Alayne could not see the front of his shield from where she stood, but his attacker bore three ravens in flight, each clutching a red heart in its claws. Three hearts and three ravens.
She knew right then how the fight would end.
A few moments later and the big man sprawled dazed in the dust with his helm askew. When his squire undid the fastenings to bare his head, there was blood trickling down his scalp. If the swords had not been blunted, there would be brains as well. That last head blow had been so hard Alayne had winced in sympathy when it fell. Myranda Royce considered the victor thoughtfully. "Do you think if I asked nicely Ser Lyn would kill my suitors for me?"
"He might, for a plump bag of gold." Ser Lyn Corbray was forever desperately short of coin, all the Vale knew that.
Based on my powerful foresight, I predict that Lyn Corbray will exhibit violent tendencies in the future, possibly while utilizing his Valyrian steel sword.
Don't ask me who the victim will be.
+.+.+
There is truth in that, Alayne thought, but some demon of mischief was in her that morning, so she gave Ser Lyn a thrust of her own. Smiling sweetly, she said, "My lord father tells me your brother's new wife is with child."
Corbray gave her a dark look. "Lyonel sends his regrets. He remains at Heart's Home with his peddler's daughter, watching her belly swell as if he were the first man who ever got a wench pregnant."
Oh, that's an open wound, thought Alayne. Lyonel Corbray's first wife had given him nothing but a frail, sickly babe who died in infancy, and during all those years Ser Lyn had remained his brother's heir. When the poor woman finally died, however, Petyr Baelish had stepped in and brokered a new marriage for Lord Corbray. The second Lady Corbray was sixteen, the daughter of a wealthy Gulltown merchant, but she had come with an immense dowry, and men said she was a tall, strapping, healthy girl, with big breasts and good, wide hips. And fertile too, it seems.
"We are all praying that the Mother grants Lady Corbray an easy labor and a healthy child," said Myranda.
Alayne could not help herself. She smiled and said, "My father is always pleased to be of service to one of Lord Robert's leal bannermen. I'm sure he would be most delighted to help broker a marriage for you as well, Ser Lyn."
"How kind of him." Corbray's lips drew back in something that might have been meant as a smile, though it gave Alayne a chill. "But what need have I for heirs when I am landless and like to remain so, thanks to our Lord Protector? No. Tell your lord father I need none of his brood mares."
The venom in his voice was so thick that for a moment she almost forgot that Lyn Corbray was actually her father's catspaw, bought and paid for. Or was he? Perhaps, instead of being Petyr's man pretending to be Petyr's foe, he was actually his foe pretending to be his man pretending to be his foe.
Uh oh, Nostradamus senses something. There she goes leaking the plot again!
The king's own fool, the pie-faced simpleton called Moon Boy, danced about on stilts, all in motley, making mock of everyone with such deft cruelty that Sansa wondered if he was simple after all. - Sansa II, AGOT
x
Sansa shuddered. Every time she looked at Ser Ilyn Payne, she shivered. - Sansa III, AGOT
x
Varys was wringing his soft hands together, Grand Maester Pycelle kept his sleepy eyes on the papers in front of him, but she could feel Littlefinger staring. Something about the way the small man looked at her made Sansa feel as though she had no clothes on. Goose bumps pimpled her skin. - Sansa IV, AGOT
x
For his sigil he had taken a bloody spear, gold on a night-black field. The sight of it raised goose prickles up and down Sansa's arms. - Sansa V, AGOT
x
Ser Boros was short-tempered, Ser Meryn cold, and Ser Mandon's strange dead eyes made her uneasy - Sansa I, ACOK
x
"I don't want to." Lollys clutched at her maid, a slender, pretty girl with short dark hair who looked as though she wanted nothing so much as to shove her mistress into the dry moat, onto those iron spikes. "Please, please, I don't want to." - Sansa V, ACOK
x
Besides, the lords of the Trident were sworn to Riverrun and House Tully, and to the King in the North; they would never accept Littlefinger as their liege. Unless they are made to. Unless my brother and my uncle and my grandfather are all cast down and killed. The thought made Sansa anxious, but she told herself she was being silly. - Sansa VIII, ACOK
x
Yet the more she thought about it all, the more she wondered. Joff might restrain himself for a few turns, perhaps as long as a year, but soon or late he will show his claws, and when he does . . . The realm might have a second Kingslayer, and there would be war inside the city, as the men of the lion and the men of the rose made the gutters run red. - Sansa I, ASOS
Believe in Sansa. The bottom line is that Lyn Corbray is a problem, and he's not as loyal to Littlefinger as Littlefinger thinks. Where this goes, I couldn't tell you.
(I desperately wanted to highlight every instance of Daenerys incorrectly reading someone, but I chose to be an adult.)
+.+.+
Alayne turned abruptly from the yard… and bumped into a short, sharp-faced man with a brush of orange hair who had come up behind her. His hand shot out and caught her arm before she could fall. "My lady. My pardons if I took you unawares."
"The fault was mine. I did not see you standing there."
"We mice are quiet creatures." Ser Shadrich was so short that he might have been taken for a squire, but his face belonged to a much older man. She saw long leagues in the wrinkles at the corner of his mouth, old battles in the scar beneath his ear, and a hardness behind the eyes that no boy would ever have. This was a man grown. Even Randa overtopped him, though.
"Will you be seeking wings?" the Royce girl said.
"A mouse with wings would be a silly sight."
"Perhaps you will try the melee instead?" Alayne suggested. The melee was an afterthought, a sop for all the brothers, uncles, fathers, and friends who had accompanied the competitors to the Gates of the Moon to see them win their silver wings, but there would be prizes for the champions, and a chance to win ransoms.
"A good melee is all a hedge knight can hope for, unless he stumbles on a bag of dragons. And that's not likely, is it?"
Speaking of problems.
You know who Varys is, I trust? The eunuch has offered a plump bag of gold for this girl you've never heard of. I am not a greedy man. If some oversized wench would help me find this naughty child, I would split the Spider's coin with her. - Brienne I, AFFC
The following is speculative, but also highly rational in my opinion.
It would be incredibly illogical for the author to introduce Ser Shadrich in Brienne's first chapter, reveal his objective to the reader, have him show up in the Vale near the same book's conclusion, clearly signal to the reader that he's correctly identified Sansa, and then proceed to not utilize him in any meaningful way. This is not what a red herring looks like.
There's probably a reason why Brienne's been gifted the knowledge of his appearance, and his objective. Brienne may not know what Alayne looks like, but she does know what Ser Shadrich looks like.
There's probably a reason why Brienne gauges both of their fighting skills while anticipating a potential encounter. (Come on.)
The Mad Mouse, she thought, at her first sight of him. Somehow he's followed me. Her hand went to her sword hilt, and she found herself wondering if Ser Shadrich would think her easy prey just because she was a woman. [...] If it was Ser Shadrich dogging her heels, she might well have a fight on her hands. She did not intend to partner with the man or let him follow her to Sansa. He had the sort of easy arrogance that comes with skill at arms, she thought, but he was small. I'll have the reach on him, and I should be stronger too. - Brienne II, AFFC
We watched Brienne intercept a Stark daughter three different times on the show.
None of these scenes can happen in the books, but we already know the show creators drew inspiration from canon events, and assigned different characters to the roles.
They gave the role of Biter to the Hound and made Brienne fight him, do you not think it's also possible one of these scenes is inspired by Brienne intercepting Shadrich and Sansa in the books?
"But Brienne's currently captured by Lady Stoneheart near Pennytree, and has a broken arm and face!"
Sansa's 👏 and 👏 Brienne's 👏 storylines 👏 aren't 👏 synchronized.
He told us what Brienne would do! He told us!
The Eyrie would be simpler, and Lady Lysa would surely welcome her sister's daughter . . .
Ahead, the alley bent. Somehow Brienne had taken a wrong turn. She found herself in a dead end, a small muddy yard where three pigs were rooting round a low stone well.
[...]
"I was looking for the Seven Swords."
"Back the way you come. Left at the sept."
"I thank you." Brienne turned to retrace her steps, and walked headfirst into someone hurrying round the bend. - Brienne II, AFFC
Brienne 👏 will 👏 escape! She'll 👏 turn 👏 back!
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They made a race of it, dashing headlong across the yard and past the stables, skirts flapping, whilst knights and serving men alike looked on, and pigs and chickens scattered before them. It was most unladylike, but Alayne sound found herself laughing. For just a little while, as she ran, she forget who she was, and where, and found herself remembering bright cold days at Winterfell, when she would race through Winterfell with her friend Jeyne Poole, with Arya running after them trying to keep up.
Always nice seeing her act her age.
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Harry the Heir, Alayne thought. My husband-to-be, if he will have me. A sudden terror filled her. She wondered if her face was red. Don't stare at him, she reminded herself, don't stare, don't gape, don't gawk. Look away. Her hair must be a frightful mess after all that running. It took all her will to stop herself from trying to tuck the loose strands back into place. Never mind your stupid hair. Your hair doesn't matter. It's him that matters. Him, and the Waynwoods.
Ser Roland was the oldest of the three, though no more than five-and-twenty. He was taller and more muscular than Ser Wallace, but both were long-faced and lantern-jawed, with stringy brown hair and pinched noses. Horsefaced and homely, Alayne thought. Harry, though…
My Harry. My lord, my lover, my betrothed.Ser Harrold Hardyng looked every inch a lord-in-waiting; clean-limbed and handsome, straight as a lance, hard with muscle. Men old enough to have known Jon Arryn in his youth said Ser Harrold had his look, she knew. He had a mop of sandy blond hair, pale blue eyes, an aquiline nose. Joffrey was comely too, though, she reminded herself. A comely monster, that’s what he was. Little Lord Tyrion was kinder, twisted though he was.
Wow, how much do you love that?
Sansa directly compares the horse-faced Waynwoods, who have Stark lineage and were once potential heirs to Robb, to the more attractive Harry Hardyng (aka Joffrey).
I'm sorry, you have to see this:
Un-fucking-real. So close. They're always so close.
Yeah guys, why isn't she thinking about Arya? It's obvious we're supposed to be thinking about Arya during this passage. The author's intentions here are clear, the subtext is Arya. Sansa comparing these Stark-ish, likable Waynwood men to the comely yet rude Harry the Heir is totally about Arya. Arya's written all over this. We're so clever to see it.
Side note,
Joffrey was comely too, though, she reminded herself. A comely monster, that's what he was.
x
"Beauty can be treacherous. My brother learned that lesson from Cersei Lannister. [...]." - Jon XI, ASOS
Love when my babies both learn about beauty's hidden dangers!
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"I look forward to a spirited discussion." Ser Roland swung down from his horse, turned to Alayne, and smiled. "I had heard that Lord Littlefinger's daughter was fair of face and full of grace, but no one ever told me that she was a thief."
"You wrong me, ser. I am no thief!"
Ser Roland placed his hand over his heart. "Then how do you explain this hole in my chest, from where you stole my heart?"
Man, these horsey Waynwoods are crushing hard on Sansa. hehehehe.
Instead, he blamed Jon Snow and wondered when Jon's heart had turned to stone. - Samwell III, AFFC
+.+.+
"You are in the Falcon Tower, Ser Harrold," Alayne put in. Far away from Sweetrobin. That was intentional, she knew. Petyr Baelish did not leave such things to chance. "If it please you, I will show you to your chambers myself." This time her eyes met Harry's. She smiled just for him, and said a silent prayer to the Maiden. Please, he doesn't need to love me, just make him like me, just a little, that would be enough for now.
Ser Harrold looked down at her coldly. "Why should it please me to be escorted anywhere by Littlefinger's bastard?"
+.+.+
A lady's armor is her courtesy. Alayne could feel the blood rushing to her face. No tears, she prayed. Please, please, I must not cry. "As you wish, ser. And now if you will excuse me, Littlefinger's bastard must find her lord father and let him know that you have come, so we can begin the tourney on the morrow." And may your horse stumble, Harry the Heir, so you fall on your stupid head in your first tilt. She showed the Waynwoods a stone face as they blurted out awkward apologies for their companion. When they were done she turned and fled.
Near the keep, she ran headlong into Ser Lothor Brune and almost knocked him off his feet. "Harry the Heir? Harry the Arse, I say. He's just some upjumped squire."
Alayne was so grateful that she hugged him. "Thank you. Have you seen my father, ser?"
Oopsie daisy, Nostradamus has returned.
The most terrifying moment of the day came during Ser Gregor's second joust, when his lance rode up and struck a young knight from the Vale under the gorget with such force that it drove through his throat, killing him instantly. The youth fell not ten feet from where Sansa was seated. The point of Ser Gregor's lance had snapped off in his neck, and his life's blood flowed out in slow pulses, each weaker than the one before. His armor was shiny new; a bright streak of fire ran down his outstretched arm, as the steel caught the light. Then the sun went behind a cloud, and it was gone. His cloak was blue, the color of the sky on a clear summer's day, trimmed with a border of crescent moons, but as his blood seeped into it, the cloth darkened and the moons turned red, one by one. - Sansa II, AGOT
x
"Look at that upjumped oaf," Joff hooted, loud enough for half the yard to hear.
[...]
I hope he falls and shames himself, she thought bitterly. I hope Ser Balon kills him. When Joffrey proclaimed her father's death, it had been Janos Slynt who seized Lord Eddard's severed head by the hair and raised it on high for king and crowd to behold, while Sansa wept and screamed.
Morros dropped his lance, fought for balance, and lost. One foot caught in a stirrup as he fell, and the runaway charger dragged the youth to the end of the lists, head bouncing against the ground. Joff hooted derision. Sansa was appalled, wondering if the gods had heard her vengeful prayer. - Sansa I, ACOK
x
At the last possible instant, Ser Humfrey's [Hardyng] stallion reared away from the oncoming point, eyes rolling in terror, but too late, Aerion's lance took the animal just above the armor that protected his breastbone, and exploded out of the back of his neck in a gout of bright blood. Screaming, the horse crashed sideways, knocking the wooden barrier to pieces as he fell. Ser Humfrey [Hardyng] tried to leap free, but a foot caught in a stirrup and they heard his shriek as his leg was crushed between the splintered fence and falling horse. - The Hedge Knight
A knight from the Vale.
Correctly predicting it will happen to an upjumped oaf.
A Hardyng.
There are two certainties in this life: death and Harrold Hardyng falling off his horse. (Plenty of people don't pay their taxes.)
+.+.+
The vaults were large and dark and filthy. Alayne lit a taper and clutched her skirt as she made the descent. Near the bottom, she heard Lord Grafton's booming voice, and followed. "The merchants are clamoring to buy, and the lords are clamoring to sell," the Gulltowner was saying when she found them. Though not a tall man, Grafton was wide, with thick arms and shoulders. His hair was a dirty blond mop. "How am I to stop that, my lord?"
"Post guardsmen on the docks. If need be, seize the ships. How does not matter, so long as no food leaves the Vale."
"These prices, though," protested fat Lord Belmore," these prices are more than fair."
"You say more than fair, my lord. I say less than we would wish. Wait. If need be, buy the food yourself and keep it stored. Winter is coming. Prices must go higher."
"Perhaps," said Belmore, doubtfully.
"Bronze Yohn will not wait," Grafton complained. "He need not ship through Gulltown, he has his own ports. Whilst we are hoarding our harvest, Royce and the other Lords Declarant will turn theirs into silver, you may be sure of that."
I smell converging storylines!
Our best hope may be the Eyrie. The Vale of Arryn was famously fertile and had gone untouched during the fighting. Jon wondered how Lady Catelyn's sister would feel about feeding Ned Stark's bastard. - Jon IV, ADWD
Someone cut Littlefinger's head off, so everyone can eat.
Anyway, there's more Gulltown. Gulltown, Gulltown, Gulltown!
She might do better to take ship for Gulltown or White Harbor. I could do both, though. - Brienne II, AFFC
x
If the Stinking Goose yields nothing, I will take passage on a ship, she decided. Gulltown was only a short voyage away. From there she could make her way to the Eyrie easily enough. - Brienne III, AFFC
x
"Gulltown next," her captain told her, "thence around the Fingers to Sisterton and White Harbor, if the storms allow. She's a clean ship, 'Strider, not so many rats as most, and we'll have fresh eggs and new-churned butter aboard. Is m'lady seeking passage north?"
"No." Not yet. She was tempted, but . . . - Brienne V, AFFC
NOT YET. NOT YET! GULLTOWN -> SISTERTON -> WHITE HARBOR. HE TOLD US. HE FORESHADOWS EVERYTHING. IT'S RIGHT THERE.
+.+.+
"And is Ser Harrold with them?"
Horrible Ser Harrold. "He is."
Lord Belmore laughed. "I never thought Royce would let him come. Is he blind, or merely stupid?"
"He is honorable. Sometimes it amounts to the same thing. If he denied the lad the chance to prove himself, it could create a rift between them, so why not let him tilt? The boy is nowise skilled enough to win a place amongst the Winged Knights."
Gosh, since his introduction, it seems like we've been constantly reminded that this upjumped squire is rather inept when it comes to sports.
"Our cousin Bronze Yohn had himself a mêlée at Runestone," Myranda Royce went on, oblivious, "a small one, just for squires. It was meant for Harry the Heir to win the honors, and so he did." - Alayne II, AFFC
+.+.+
"Come," Petyr said, "walk with me." He took her by the arm and led her deeper into the vaults, past an empty dungeon.
I will cut your eyelids off.
+.+.+
"Yes," she said, "but why must he be so cruel? He called me your bastard. Right in the yard, in front of everyone."
"So far as he knows, that's who you are. This betrothal was never his idea, and Bronze Yohn has no doubt warned him against my wiles. You are my daughter. He does not trust you, and he believes that you're beneath him."
"Well, I'm not. He may think he's some great knight, but Ser Lothor says he's just some upjumped squire."
Sansa's acquiring a new perspective through experiential learning: understanding the bastard experience. Aww. <3
+.+.+
Petyr put his arm around her. "So he is, but he is Robert's heir as well. Bringing Harry here was the first step in our plan, but now we need to keep him, and only you can do that. He has a weakness for a pretty face, and whose face is prettier than yours? Charm him. Entrance him. Bewitch him."
Getting to the good stuff.
I'll tell you one thing, I have more faith in Sansa successfully accomplishing this than 6-year-old Alys Karstark.
(-> -> -> Jon X?)
"It is my own fault. My lord father told me I must charm your brother Robb, but I was only six and didn't know how."
Aye, but now you're almost six-and-ten, and we must pray you will know how to charm your new husband. - Jon X, ADWD
I've said it a million times in other Sansa chapters, so I won't elaborate, but if you truly believe Littlefinger's plan is to wed Catelyn 2.0 to imitation Brandon Stark, you might be out of your mind.
Petyr put his arm around her.
I will pluck every hair from your head, and genitals.
+.+.+
"I don't know how," she said miserably.
"Oh, I think you do," said Littlefinger, with one of those smiles that did not reach his eyes.
Excluding the instance where she copied Harry's words, that is the only time she calls him Littlefinger in this chapter.
She hasn't forgotten.
+.+.+
"You will be the most beautiful woman in the hall tonight, as lovely as your lady mother at your age. I cannot seat you on the dais, but you'll have a place of honor above the salt and underneath a wall sconce. The fire will be shining in your hair, so everyone will see how fair of face you are. Keep a good long spoon on hand to beat the squires off, sweetling. You will not want green boys underfoot when the knights come round to beg you for your favor."
"Who would ask to wear a bastard's favor?"
"Harry, if he has the wits the gods gave a goose… but do not give it to him. Choose some other gallant, and favor him instead. You do not want to seem too eager."
I'd be hesitant to allow fire to shine in Sansa's hair.
This feels like a developing story. I'd love to know who is getting this favor if it's not Harry the Arse.
He had worn her favor in the Battle of the Blackwater, where he'd slain a Myrish crossbowman and a Mullendore man-at-arms. "Alyn said her favor made him fearless," said Megga. "He says he shouted her name for his battle cry, isn't that ever so gallant? Someday I want some champion to wear my favor, and kill a hundred men." - Sansa II, ASOS
x
"Saving yourself for Lord Robert?" Lady Myranda teased. "Or is there some ardent squire dreaming of your favors?" - Alayne II, AFFC
x
Edmure escorted her up the water stair and across the lower bailey, where Petyr Baelish and Brandon Stark had once crossed swords for her favor. - Catelyn XI, AGOT
+.+.+
"Lady Waynwood will insist that Harry dance with you, I can promise you that much. That will be your chance. Smile at the boy. Touch him when you speak. Tease him, to pique his pride. If he seems to be responding, tell him that you are feeling faint, and ask him to take you outside for a breath of fresh air. No knight could refuse such a request from a fair maiden."
The above won't happen, but in her next chapter, I'll be super on edge whenever she's exposed and there aren't many people around.
+.+.+
Petyr drew her close and kissed her on both cheeks. "The night belongs to you, sweetling, Remember that, always."
I will make you deepthroat a cactus.
+.+.+
The feast proved to be everything her father promised.
Sixty-four dishes were served, in honor of the sixty-four competitors who had come so far to contest for silver wings before their lord. From the rivers and the lakes came pike and trout and salmon, from the seas crabs and cod and herring. Ducks there were, and capons, peacocks in their plumage and swans in almond milk. Suckling pigs were served up crackling with apples in their mouths, and three huge aurochs were roasted whole above firepits in the castle yard, since they were too big to get through the kitchen doors. Loaves of hot bread filled the trestle tables in Lord Nestor's hall, and massive wheels of cheese were brought up from the vaults. The butter was fresh-churned, and there were leeks and carrots, roasted onions, beets, turnips, parsnips. And best of all, Lord Nestor's cooks prepared a splendid subtlety, a lemon cake in the shape of the Giant's Lance, twelve feet tall and adorned with an Eyrie made of sugar.
For me, Alayne thought, as they wheeled it out. Sweetrobin loved lemon cakes too, but only after she told him that they were her favorites. The cake had required every lemon in the Vale, but Petyr had promised that he would send to Dorne for more.
A splendid subtlety, lol.
Nice, Littlefinger gifted her a giant penis. I wonder if the ones from Dorne taste any better. (I'm sorry.)
Look, it's a feast!
(-> -> -> Jon X?)
The stewards began to bring out the first dish, an onion broth flavored with bits of goat and carrot. Not precisely royal fare, but nourishing; it tasted good enough and warmed the belly. Owen the Oaf took up his fiddle, and several of the free folk joined in with pipes and drums. The same pipes and drums they played to sound Mance Rayder's attack upon the Wall. Jon thought they sounded sweeter now. With the broth came loaves of coarse brown bread, warm from the oven. Salt and butter sat upon the tables. - Jon X, ADWD
+.+.+
When the last course had been served and cleared, the tables were lifted from their trestles to clear the floor for dancing, and musicians were brought in.
[...]
"As am I," Coldwater said. Rising, he offered Alayne his hand. "Would you honor me with this dance, my lady?"
"You're very kind," she said, as he led her to the floor.
He was her first partner of the evening, but far from the last. Just as Petyr had promised, the young knights flocked around her, vying for her favor. After Ben came Andrew Tollett, handsome Ser Byron, red-nosed Ser Morgarth, and Ser Shadrich the Mad Mouse. Then Ser Albar Royce, Myranda's stout dull brother and Lord Nestor's heir. She danced with all three Sunderlands, none of whom had webs between their fingers, though she could not vouch for their toes. Uther Shett appeared to pay her slimy compliments as he trod upon her feet, but Ser Targon the Halfwild proved to be the soul of courtesy. After that Ser Roland Waynwood swept her up and made her laugh with mocking comments about half the other knights in the hall. His uncle Wallace took a turn as well and tried to do the same, but the words would not come. Alayne finally took pity on him and began to chatter happily, to spare him the embarrassment. When the dance was done she excused herself, and went back to her place to have a drink of wine.
Oh my goodness, they're dancing! Ser Jon Waynwood sounds like a hoot.
(-> -> -> Jon X?)
The queen's men outnumbered the queen's ladies three to one, so even the humblest serving girls were pressed into the dance. After a few songs some black brothers remembered skills learned at the courts and castles of their youth, before their sins had sent them to the Wall, and took the floor as well. That old rogue Ulmer of the Kingswood proved as adept at dancing as he was at archery, no doubt regaling his partners with his tales of the Kingswood Brotherhood, when he rode with Simon Toyne and Big Belly Ben and helped Wenda the White Fawn burn her mark in the buttocks of her highborn captives. Satin was all grace, dancing with three serving girls in turn but never presuming to approach a highborn lady.
[...]
"You could dance with me, you know. It would be only courteous. You danced with me anon."
"Anon?" teased Jon.
"When we were children." She tore off a bit of bread and threw it at him. "As you know well."
"My lady should dance with her husband." - Jon X, ADWD
Dance with me, Jon Snow! You'll dance with me anon.
Don't be offended Alys, you're not the right partner.
When the musicians began to play, she timidly laid her hand on Tyrion's and said, "My lord, should we lead the dance?"
His mouth twisted. "I think we have already given them sufficent amusement for one day, don't you?" - Sansa III, ASOS
And neither was he.
I won't get too deep into each dance partner, because this post is long enough, but I'm sure you can see there's more than a few allusions to Jon (Coldwater, Tollett, Ser Byron, Royce, etc.).
Read more here:
Allusions to Jon in The Dance Partners of TWOW, Alayne I (@cappymightwrite)
+.+.+
And there he stood, Harry the Heir himself; tall, handsome, scowling. "Lady Alayne. May I partner you in this dance?"
She considered for a moment. "No. I don't think so."
Color rose to his cheeks. "I was unforgivably rude to you in the yard. You must forgive me."
"Must?" She tossed her hair, took a sip of wine, made him wait. "How can you forgive someone who is unforgivably rude? Will you explain that to me, ser?"
Ser Harrold looked confused. "Please. One dance."
Charm him. Entrance him. Bewitch him. "If you insist."
Boo, hiss. Wrong dance partner!
She'll talk circles around you if you let her.
+.+.+
He nodded, offered his arm, led her out onto the floor. As they waited for the music to resume, Alayne glanced at the dais, where Lord Robert sat staring at them. Please, she prayed, don’t let him start to twitch and shake. Not here. Not now. Maester Coleman would have made certain that he drank a strong dose of sweetmilk before the feast, but even so.
Oh good, the doctor who keeps tempting fate is back.
Just give him a cup of the sweetmilk before we go, and another at the feast, and there should be no trouble."
"Very well." They paused at the foot of the stairs. "But this must be the last. For half a year, or longer." - Alayne II, AFFC
+.+.+
Instead she said, "I have heard that you are about to be a father." It was not something most girls would say to their almost-betrothed, but she wanted to see if Ser Harrold would lie.
"For the second time. My daughter Alys is two years old."
Your bastard daughter Alys, Alayne thought, but what she said was, "That one had a different mother, though."
What a totally unique name we've given this kid!
(-> -> -> Jon X?)
Jon turned to Alys Karstark. "My lady. Are you ready?" - Jon X, ADWD
Did I say he's Brandon Stark? I meant Brandon Stark with a little hint of Robert Baratheon.
+.+.+
"Yes. Cissy was a pretty thing when I tumbled her, but childbirth left her as fat as a cow, so Lady Anya arranged for her to marry one of her men-at-arms. It is different with Saffron."
"Saffron?" Alayne tried not to laugh. "Truly?"
Ser Harrold had the grace to blush. "Her father says she is more precious to him than gold. He's rich, the richest man in Gulltown. A fortune in spices."
"What will you name the babe?" she asked. "Cinnamon if she's a girl? Cloves if he's a boy?"
That roast is worthy of applause.
Fun words are everywhere!
(-> -> -> Jon X?)
"Hobb's mulled some wine with cinnamon and cloves. That'll warm us some."
"What's cloves?" asked Owen the Oaf. - Jon X, ADWD
+.+.+
"Saffron is very beautiful, I'll have you know. Tall and slim, with big brown eyes and hair like honey."
Alayne raised her head. "More beautiful than me?"
Ser Harrold studied her face. "You are comely enough, I grant you. When Lady Anya first told me of this match, I was afraid that you might look like your father."
"Little pointy beard and all?" Alayne laughed.
"I never meant..."
"I hope you joust better than you talk."
I am extremely confident he does not.
Are tall girls with honey in their hair his type? Too bad.
+.+.+
For a moment he looked shocked. But as the song was ending, he burst into a laugh. "No one told me you were clever."
✨ Clever girl! ✨
Melisandre closed her eyes, remembering. "West."
"She is not coming up the kingsroad, then. Clever girl. [...]" - Melisandre I, ADWD
+.+.+
He has good teeth, she thought, straight and white. And when he smiles, he has the nicest dimples. She ran one finger down his cheek. "Should we ever wed, you'll have to send Saffron back to her father. I'll be all the spice you'll want."
He grinned. "I will hold you to that promise, my lady. Until that day, may I wear your favor in the tourney?"
"You may not. It is promised to… another." She was not sure who as yet, but she knew she would find someone.
Before I get to the last bit, can I tell you something?
I read a sizeable amount of fandom commentary on this chapter, and not one single person contemplated who she's saving her favor for. It didn't come up once.
People are either deliberately avoiding asking themselves that question, or they believe the ending of this chapter is insignificant, and the topic won't resurface again. I'm not sure which one annoys me more.
+.+.+
"You may not. It is promised to… another." She was not sure who as yet, but she knew she would find someone.
Now turn the page.
(-> -> -> Jon X?)
It's the Alys Karstark x Sigorn wedding chapter! Yay.
Interestingly, in the first few pages of that chapter, the author intentionally creates an initial impression that it's Jon Snow who is marrying Alys Karstark. Curious, isn't it?
Let's discuss what we know about the bride, who the author led us to believe Jon Snow was marrying.
According to the fandom, Alys Karstark is Jon Snow's girl in grey. Small problem with that, she never wears grey, and never travels near a body of water to get to Castle Black.
"I saw water. Deep and blue and still, with a thin coat of ice just forming on it. It seemed to go on and on forever."
"Long Lake. What else did you see around this girl?" - Melisandre I, ADWD
However, she was fleeing from a forced marriage. Her great-uncle has assumed the role of Lord of Karhold, and made her a match, despite lacking any rightful claim to the land or castle.
Your uncle … would that be Lord Arnolf?" "He is no lord," Alys said scornfully. [...] Uncle Arnolf is only castellan. - Jon IX, ADWD
↓
"Lysa was murdered before the document could be presented for her signature, so I signed as Lord Protector. I knew that would have been her wish." - Sansa I, AFFC
The marriage is to her uncle, Cregan Karstark. Sorry, I should clarify this uncle isn't actually her uncle, it's just what they call him.
He's my great-uncle, actually, my father's uncle. Cregan is his son. I suppose that makes him a cousin, but we always called him uncle. Now they mean to make me call him husband. - Jon IX, ADWD
↓
"Wed?" Sansa was stunned. "You and my aunt?" - Sansa VI, ASOS
x
"I am Alayne, Father. Who else would I be?" - Sansa I, AFFC
Perhaps you're wondering how we arrived at this point. Long ago, Alys' father desired her to marry the future Lord of Winterfell. Unfortunately, at that time, she was too young to captivate him with her charm.
"It is my own fault. My lord father told me I must charm your brother Robb, but I was only six and didn't know how." - Jon X, ADWD
↓
Charm him. Entrance him. Bewitch him. "If you insist." - Alayne I, TWOW
Instead, she was betrothed to Daryn Hornwood, and they were patiently awaiting her coming of age.
Before the war I was betrothed to Daryn Hornwood. We were only waiting till I flowered to be wed - Jon IX, ADWD
↓
If they do that … why, then we shall know that there is no taint in your blood, and when you come into the flower of your womanhood, you shall wed the king in the Great Sept of Baelor, before the eyes of gods and men. - Sansa IV, AGOT
Sadly, Daryn Hornwood died in the war. Rickard Karstark was forced to find her another lord to marry.
My father wrote that he would find some southron lord to wed me, but he never did. - Jon IX, ADWD
↓
When you're old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who's worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. - Sansa III, AGOT
Of course all that went to shit when Rickard Karstark got his head cut off.
Your brother Robb cut off his head for killing Lannisters. - Jon IX, ADWD
↓
"But they have the soft hearts of women. So long as I am your king, treason shall never go unpunished. Ser Ilyn, bring me his head!" - Arya V, AGOT
Now, it's worth mentioning that Alys' older brother Harrion is the rightful heir to Karhold. However, if he were to die, Alys would inherit Karhold, which ambitious men like her uncles are aware of.
Should my brother die, Karhold should pass to me, but my uncles want my birthright for their own. - Jon IX, ADWD
↓
"But he does not know you," Dontos insisted, "and he will not love you. Jonquil, Jonquil, open your sweet eyes, these Tyrells care nothing for you. It's your claim they mean to wed."
[...]
She never thought to have a claim, but with Bran and Rickon dead . . . It doesn't matter, there's still Robb, he's a man grown now, and soon he'll wed and have a son. - Sansa II, ASOS
x
"The man who weds Sansa Stark can claim Winterfell in her name," his uncle Kevan put in. "Had that not occurred to you?" - Tyrion IV, ASOS
x
"Winterfell has withstood fiercer enemies than me. It is Winterfell, is it not?"
"Yes," Sansa admitted.
He walked along outside the walls. "I used to dream of it, in those years after Cat went north with Eddard Stark. In my dreams it was ever a dark place, and cold." - Sansa VII, ASOS
Thankfully, most people in this story are familiar with the rules of succession.
If her brother is dead, Karhold belongs to Lady Alys. - Jon X, ADWD
↓
Jon said, "Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa." - Jon IV, ADWD
Hence, the arranged marriage. Enter Cregan Karstark, a dangerous man who covets her birthright. He has a dark history, having buried multiple wives, and he would no longer need Alys if she ever had his child.
Once Cregan gets a child by me they won't need me anymore. He's buried two wives already. - Jon IX, ADWD
↓
"Only Cat." He gave her a short, sharp shove.
Lysa stumbled backward, her feet slipping on the wet marble. - Sansa VII, ASOS
x
Arya's gone, the same as Bran and Rickon, and they'll kill Sansa too once the dwarf gets a child from her. - Catelyn V, ASOS
Fear not, for this story finds a happy ending. Before her not-uncle can get his hands on her, our hero Jon Snow intervenes and arranges a marriage between Alys and a wildling, ensuring her safety and happiness.
"So," said Alys, as Jon poured, "I am now a woman wed. A wildling husband with his own little wildling army." - Jon X, ADWD
↓
I see what you are, Snow. Half a wolf and half a wildling, baseborn get of a traitor and a whore. - Jon X, ADWD
The guy is such a white knight, he even daydreams of gifting her Cregan's head! (Thank you @that-plo-koon for that one.)
I should make his head a wedding gift for Lady Alys and her Magnar, Jon thought, but dare not take the risk. - Jon X, ADWD
↓
[...] wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head. - Sansa VI, AGOT
x
"Tromp tromp I'm a giant, I'm a giant," he chanted. "Ho ho ho, open your gates or I'll mash them and smash them." - Sansa VII
[...]
A mad rage seized hold of her. She picked up a broken branch and smashed the torn doll's head down on top of it, then pushed it down atop the shattered gatehouse of her snow castle. The servants looked aghast, but when Littlefinger saw what she'd done he laughed. "If the tales be true, that's not the first giant to end up with his head on Winterfell's walls." - Sansa VII, ASOS
Isn't that a great story? Other than a few amusing nuggets, that mostly covers everything.
My brother Harry is the rightful lord - Jon IX, ADWD [Brother Harry]
↓
"Harry the Heir?" - Alayne II, AFFC [Father Harry]
x
Jon turned to Alys Karstark. "My lady. Are you ready?" - Jon X, ADWD [Sister Alys]
↓
Your bastard daughter Alys, Alayne thought - Alayne I, TWOW [Daughter Alys]
So that's Alys Karstark, the girl George had us believing Jon Snow was marrying, in a chapter likely intended to follow this one.
While we're on the topic of that Jon Snow fakeout wedding, can I tell you what my favourite passage was?
The girl smiled in a way that reminded Jon so much of his little sister that it almost broke his heart. "Let him be scared of me." The snowflakes were melting on her cheeks, but her hair was wrapped in a swirl of lace that Satin had found somewhere, and the snow had begun to collect there, giving her a frosty crown. Her cheeks were flushed and red, and her eyes sparkled. - Jon X, ADWD
Ha ha ha! Me too, bud. I am also reminded of your little sister.
Boy, what a ride that was.
Final thoughts:
Fam,
WE DID IT!
I can't believe I finished.
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So all the “Young’s” die an early death and it seems like they all will die to war crimes (Robb/Young Wolf at the Red Wedding, Daeron/Young Dragon under a flag of truce, Aegon/Young Griff more than likely after surrender his forces surrender) How do you think Harry/Young Falcon is going to meet his end?
Hi there!
This ask reminded me that there is another Young X to consider, and he fits this pattern.
It had been years since his last vigil. And I was younger then, a boy of fifteen years. He had worn no armor then, only a plain white tunic. The sept where he'd spent the night was not a third as large as any of the Great Sept's seven transepts. Jaime had laid his sword across the Warrior's knees, piled his armor at his feet, and knelt upon the rough stone floor before the altar. When dawn came his knees were raw and bloody. "All knights must bleed, Jaime," Ser Arthur Dayne had said, when he saw. "Blood is the seal of our devotion." With dawn he tapped him on the shoulder; the pale blade was so sharp that even that light touch cut through Jaime's tunic, so he bled anew. He never felt it. A boy knelt; a knight rose. The Young Lion, not the Kingslayer.
But that was long ago, and the boy was dead. (AFFC, Jaime I)
This Young Lion, too, died in a crime, if you will: Jaime killed him by killing his king. Though in all honesty he died long before that if he ever lived. Jaime thinks of his knighthood as quite divorced from his other choices even before Aerys. His sordid relationship with Cersei, his lie to Tyrion and the crime against Tysha that followed - were those the actions of a "boy", washed away by his rise to knighthood? Was he ever a true knight if he never questioned himself? Jaime hates the name Kingslayer, but what did the Young Lion ever do but ignore the suffering of innocents in the name of duty?
Robb too "killed the boy" long before his actual death, harrassing the smallfolk of the Westerlands, freezing out his mother's advice and the plight of his sisters - married to his sword. He was the Young Wolf - but like Jaime, he couldn’t live up to the promise enshrined in that name. And the Young Dragon - a boy responsible for the death of thousands, dead before long and his "achievements" falling apart - enough said.
There’s a curse of failure attached to that nickname more than mere death by betrayal. They are young forever because they never get to finish what they started.
The curious thing about Young Griff and the Young Falcon is that both nicknames are erroneously applied. Neither are griffin or falcon in truth. Aegon is a dragon and the sun’s son. Harry is a checkered tablecloth (House Hardyng) several links removed from the last falcon ancestor. Quartering the Arryn falcon in his coat of arms is an arrogant overstep that banks on the death of a child.
Both will fail to live up to the expectation placed on the nickname - for Aegon those would be the expectations of all those who made him “Young Griff” to fulfill their plans, for Harry the expectation to actually inherit.
Both are likely to die, too. Aegon’s death seems entirely inevtiable but whether it involves parley or surrender or a fiery battle, it will be a crime, either way. He is the rightful Targaryen heir - or he is the king by popular acceptance based on his achievements before Dany’s arrival. Dany killing him will have no righteous angle, and his death will end all dreams of a Targaryen restoration.
Harry...
When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . (AFFC, Alayne II)
When the boy dies, the Young Falcon is born. Except the one won’t, so neither will the other.
I imagine his death - which is probable - will be less of a betrayal (unless Lyonel Corbray goes rogue) and more of a mirror to the death of Ser Hugh at the Hand’s Tourney. Inexperience, perhaps even arrogance will meet reality, and put a sudden end to what was supposed to be a promising future. Though he does have the benefit of Sansa’s best wishes: "I pray he proves a worthy knight." So my guess is that his death will perchance be noble in its own way, like Aegon’s is likely to be. Like Waymar Royce’s.
#harry the heir#harry hardyng#harrold hardyng#young falcon#young wolf#young griff#young dragon#young lion#parallels#failure#names in asoiaf
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It could never be…or could it?
"Jon Snow?" she blurted out, surprised. "Snow? Yes, it would be Snow, I suppose." She had not thought of Jon in ages. He was only her half brother, but still . . . with Robb and Bran and Rickon dead, Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again. But of course that could never be. Alayne Stone had no brothers, baseborn or otherwise. —A Feast for Crows - Alayne II
Targaryens & Lannisters lusting for their sisters.
Lord Mace Tyrell and his entourage had been housed behind the royal sept, in the long slate-roofed keep that had been called the Maidenvault since King Baelor the Blessed had confined his sisters therein, so the sight of them might not tempt him into carnal thoughts. - Sansa I, ASOS
x
The Dragonknight once won a tourney as the Knight of Tears, so he could name his sister the queen of love and beauty in place of the king's mistress. - Bran II, ASOS
x
Why shouldn't I marry Cersei openly and share her bed every night? The dragons always married their sisters. - Jaime III, ASOS
x
"I am sick of being careful. The Targaryens wed brother to sister, why shouldn't we do the same? Marry me, Cersei. Stand up before the realm and say it's me you want. We'll have our own wedding feast, and make another son in place of Joffrey." - Jaime VII ASOS
x
She pulled her hands away. "You are talking madness again. Would you have us ripped apart, as Mother did that time she caught us playing? Tommen would lose the throne, Myrcella her marriage . . . I want to be your wife, we belong to each other, but it can never be, Jaime. We are brother and sister."
"The Targaryens . . ."
"We are not Targaryens!" - Jaime IX, ASOS
-----
She punched him. "That's vile. Would you bed your sister?"
"Longspear's not your brother." - Jon III, ASOS
x
Jon had never met anyone so stubborn, except maybe for his little sister Arya. Is she still my sister? he wondered. Was she ever? - Jon III, ASOS
Jaime and Cersei are not Targaryens, but they are both Lannisters. Jon is a Targaryen. Do you know who else is a Lannister? Sansa Stark is currently a Lannister by marriage. Is she still Jon’s sister? Was she ever?
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Thanks for answering my ask about Aemond x Alys. I know Stark fans doesn't like to associate Jon with evil Aemond, so I'm glad to read that you are open to the idea anyway. So we got Jace x Sara for Jon x Sansa and the darker pairing Aemond x Alys for Jon x Alayne? :D But what do you think about Aemond x Helaena? The show kinda teased affection from Aemond to his sister and isn't Elaine (Alayne) is a form of Helen in English names? And she seems to have magic powers too in the show. Sansa was said that she killed the King with a spell and flew out of the window... somewhat like Heleaena (though a lot more sadly) during her captive by the Blacks.
Hello Anon!
I don't know if older Aemond will be evil in the show, but young Aemond is very likeable....
Who woulda thought? I was very exited to know the Velearyon/Strong boys just for them to be a bunch of violent little shits....
Now about Aemond and Helaena, I've seen that shippers compare them with Aemon and Naerys, and now I can't unsee it. Plus your message and I'm ready for the drama lol
Thanks for your message :)
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1- Prologue ADWD
2- Prologue AFFC
3- The Prophet (Aeron I)
4- The Captain of Guards (Areo I)
5- Cersei I
6- Tyrion I
7- Daenerys I
8- Brienne I
9- Jon I
10- Bran I
11- Tyrion II
12- Samwell I
13- Jon II
14- Arya I
15- Cersei II
16- Jaime I
17- Brienne II
18- Sansa I
19- The Kraken’s Daughter (Asha I)
20- Tyrion III
21- Davos I
22- Jon III
23- Daenerys II
24- Reek I (Theon I)
25- Cersei III
26- The Soiled Knight (Arys I)
27- Bran II
28- Tyrion IV
29- Davos II
30- Brienne III
31- Samwell II
32- Daenerys III
33- Jon IV
34- Jaime II
35- Tyrion V
36- Cersei IV
37- Davos III
38- The Iron Captain (Victarion I)
39- The Drowned Man (Aeron II)
40- Brienne IV
41- The Queenmaker (Arianne I)
42- Arya II
43- Alayne I (Sansa II)
44- The Princess in the Tower (Arianne II)
45- The Merchant’s Man (Quentyn I)
46- Cersei V
47- Reek II (Theon II)
48- Jon V
49- Tyrion VI
50- Daenerys IV
51- The Lost Lord (JonCon I)
52- The Windblown (Quentyn II)
53- The Wayward Bride (Asha II)
54- Brienne V
55- Samwell III
56- Jaime III
57- Tyrion VII
58- Jon VI
59- Davos IV
60- Cersei VI
61- The Reaver (Victarion II)
62- Daenerys V
63- Melisandre I
64- Jaime IV
65- Brienne VI
66- Reek III (Theon III)
67- Tyrion VIII
68- Cersei VII
69- Jaime V
70- Cat of the Canals (Arya III)
71- Samwell IV
72- Cersei VIII
73- Brienne VII
74- Jaime VI
75- Cersei IX
76- Bran III
77- Jon VII
78- Daenerys VI
79- The Prince of Winterfell (Theon IV)
80- The Watcher (Areo II)
81- Jon VIII
82- Tyrion IX
83- The Turncloak (Theon V)
84- The King’s Prize (Asha III)
85- Daenerys VII
86- Alayne II (Sansa III)
87- Jon IX
88- Brienne VIII
89- Cersei X
90- Jaime VII
91- Samwell V
92- The Blind Girl (Arya IV)
93- A Ghost in Winterfell (Theon VI)
94- Tyrion X
95- Jaime VIII
96- Jon X
97- Daenerys VIII
98- Theon VII
99- Daenerys IX
100- Jon XI
101- Cersei XI
102- The Queensguard (Barristan I)
103- The Iron Suitor (Victarion III)
104- Tyrion XI
105- Jon XII
106- The Discarded Knight (Barristan II)
107- The Spurned Suitor (Quentyn III)
108- The Griffin Reborn (JonCon II)
109- The Sacrifice (Asha IV)
110- Victarion IV
111- The Ugly Little Girl (Arya V)
112- Cersei XII
113- Tyrion XII
114- The Kingbreaker (Barristan III)
115- The Dragontamer (Quentyn IV)
116- Jon XIII
117- The Queen’s Hand (Barristan IV)
118- Daenerys X
119- Epilogue ADWD
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evermore prompt based on the album “happiness” (book!verse):
“You want me to forgive you?”
thank you! 😊
Thanks for the prompt, Anon. It came at a welcome opportunity for me to do some writing so I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Personally, I believe Jon and Sansa will reunite in the North rather than the Vale but since Winds is still not out, let’s pretend otherwise to call this book!verse.
Gifting this to @jade-masquerade on ao3 whose The Thawing of Winter is my fave Jon & Alayne fic :)
*****
Of all the times Sansa had prayed to see her family again, Jon was honestly the last one she’d expected to see even believing the others lost forever. It was the dead she thought she’d see first, thinking some fatal slip would send her to join them at last.
But that is not the case and, like everything else, even seeing Jon again, though sweet, has been far different than expected once it came to pass.
“Your Grace, welcome to the Vale. We are honored to host the King in the North,” Lord Baelish says in that unctuous tone she knows too well.
Her tummy twists uncomfortably as she’s wanting so much to rush into his arms, to show him her face and hope he’ll see beyond the darkened hair and years between now and then.
But it would not be safe. Who knows what schemes Littlefinger has in mind? Sansa does and Jon Snow is not part of them, that is for certain. Baelish cannot secure the North through Ned Stark’s bastard. Whatever plans Robb had made prior to his death, he’s counting on using Ned Stark’s daughter to gain power. The new King in the North is an obstacle and Petry does not let obstacles stand in his way indefinitely.
I must protect him.
Can she even? Would this man want her protection at all?
And, as she watches Jon approach with the Knights of the Vale kneeling in the snow as he strides towards them, some small part of her knows fear. She’s heard rumors, stories. He is a man now though no longer a man of the Nights Watch. Can those stories be true? So much has changed since they’ve left Winterfell. She is not the girl she had been and he is not the boy he once was.
Who are you now? Where have you been? Will you take me home?
Lothor Brune tugs at her sleeve, bidding her to step back and away from her false father. A king is meeting with the Lord Paramount of the Vale. She is a bastard girl and must remember her place. That is what Petyr had hurriedly whispered when word reached them of Jon’s approach. She must wait a little longer for the comfort of Jon’s arms and for the answer to her questions, wait for a time when they can truly be alone to speak.
And, while she waits, she will be forced to play the game.
She smiles and lies and avoids him for a fortnight as she is bid to do.
The king has told Baelish he should like to meet his daughter but excuses are always given. Why does the king wish to see her? Does he suspect who she is? Or does he wish to bed her? That is what some of the serving women have hinted. She does not know but it still does not seem safe to reveal herself.
So, a different sort of game begins over the following fortnight, a mad game of cat and mouse. He pursues her and she flees. She can almost pretend he is not the Jon she knows, that he is someone else.
She comes to revel in the thrill of it, of those breathless close calls and the beguiling lure of his boots crossing the paving stones in her direction, the hysterical giggles she must stamp down at the thoughts of him drawing nearer and nearer until he catches her. She begins to dream of that day when he confronts her at last.
She still wants to be held in his arms but she wishes for unseemly things, too. She wants a kiss, a sweet kiss as light as falling snow. What is wrong with her? Will he ever forgive her for it when they inevitably meet face to face?
*****
Alayne Stone has proven to be as elusive as smoke in the breeze for nearly a moon. He should not allow himself to be distracted from his purposes but she is distracting to say the least.
He is here for two reasons; to seek aid for the North in the wars to come and to find one girl and discover her secrets.
He hopes to win these Valemen over but he will need an ally besides Yohn Royce. He will need her. He’s tried to invent opportunities to speak with her alone, to get close to her, but Littlefinger is always annoyingly close by, lurking, smirking and foiling his efforts. He would fling him through their fabled Moon Door if this were the Eyrie though it might be suicide for himself.
Here at the Gates of the Moon; however, Jon must practice patience, never easy for him before and less so since he died. But he is not some reckless, halfling beast…or rather, he cannot behave like one here. He is a king now, for better or for worse.
And will Sansa ever forgive me for that someday if I should indeed find her?
But if the girl named Alayne is who his heart hopes she is, he must get her away from this place. She belongs in Winterfell with him.
He catches glimpses of her, here and there. He watches her discreetly from distances, seeking some sign. She is beautiful and kind, industrious, knowledgeable and well respected here. They would be proud of you despite the mask you must wear.
And while those traits Alayne possesses all suggest she is exactly who he hopes, a dirty, different corner of his soul secretly begins to nourish hopes that she is not her, that she is just who he’s been told, Alayne Stone, a bastard girl.
It would make it simpler to take her home as his bride, less complicated to explain marrying a bastard girl to his bannermen than his supposed half-sister. Marrying Sansa Stark will mean explaining some things. Will they even believe him? Will she?
Time to find out.
“My lady?”
She spins in the courtyard to find herself cornered. She has done well at avoiding him until this morning when the freshly fallen snow had made her easy to track.
“Your Grace,” she stammers, backing towards the stable. She has no place to go. He does not want to frighten her but she will not escape him either. Intuition tells him she does not mind being caught. And within, a primal hunger stirs as he paces closer to his quarry.
In the stables, she can no longer allude him and stops trying. He removes his gloves, allows his burned hand to caress her soft cheek. Her blue eyes flutter close, so very enticing. Her breath hitches. Does she think he means to take her? As if by being a king he has any right to do such a thing?
He leans forward, huffing a quiet laugh and gently kisses her forehead. “I knew it was you.”
Her eyes open again and he sees relief and affection. She flings herself into his arms, nuzzles into his neck. “I wasn’t sure if it was safe to come to you or when. I’m sorry for avoiding you. Can you forgive me?”
“You want me to forgive you?” he asks, incredulous. “It is I who must make amends with you, Sansa.”
Puzzled, she draws back from his embrace and asks for an explanation.
It is a long one.
And when he is done, she has things to tell him as well.
King Jon came to the Vale seeking support for his upcoming war. He left a little over a moon later with the Knights of the Vale following him, Little Lord Robyn safely in the custody of Yohn Royce and Littlefinger’s bastard daughter by his side.
There are rumors that the pair plan to marry though the girl’s father will not be present. He’d gone missing one morning after the Vale had awoke to fresh snowfall. No one of consequence will miss him all that terribly. And neither Jon nor Sansa are asking forgiveness of anyone for that.
#jonsa#jonsa fanfiction#vivilove-jonsa fic#dialogue prompt#king jon x alayne#I wasn't really doing prompts but this one caught my fancy :)
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King Jon and his mistress Alayne
Alayne is only a bastard girl, but the king wanted her from the moment he laid eyes on her.
The nobles will bristle at his choice, but he’s determined to make her his queen.
***
At first, Alayne was disappointed that Jon didn’t recognize her, but now that she knows what it feels like to be loved by him, she’s prepared to keep her real name a secret.
Inspired by @amymel86‘s drabble, which you can find here. So I am dedicating it to her and also to @vivilove-jonsa!
💕💕💕
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After a failed attempt to rebel against King Rhaegar, the realm is being torn apart by House Targaryen’s retribution. Alayne Arryn knows she will be spared due to her noble blood and her value as a political pawn, but decides to commit suicide rather than become a prisoner of war. As a servant, Sansa Stone would have been considered useless to the King and thus would have been killed or thrown away. Knowing the only way to survive is to impersonate her former mistress, she takes on Alayne’s identity. Soon after arriving at King’s Landing, “Alayne” finds out she is set to marry Prince Jon.
Jon x Sansa AUs ⋆ as Prince Jingim & Nergui // Marco Polo (TV Series 2014–2016)
#jonsa#jonsaedit#jon x sansa#actuallyjonsa#jonsacentric#jonsagifs#gotedit#gotjonsnow#gotsansastark#jonsnowedit#sansastarkedit#game of thrones#jon snow#sansa stark#mine#mine: gifs#mine: aus#queue
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In reference to the lovely ask by another Anno: If I may add, maybe the ""ice mask" was hinting that Jon was seeing Yg as someone else (Sansa) and it's an imagery of him projecting Sansa on to her(yg)? Or maybe it's a reference to how his lady love is wearing a mask?
Ciao anon!,
Well you pose an interesting question indeed. Post being referenced to x.
Now, I always associated Ygritte wearing a mask with the fact that Jon's “love” for her was born to mask his real love — his devotion to the North, and to the NW and his duties as a son of Winterfell — and because it was born under facetious pretences. He ends up with Ygritte because a) she is a sexual predator and b) he needs to convince the Free Folk he is a turn cloak for real and is loyal to their cause; so even though what he feels now is real, it's also no real love (more along the line of Stockholm syndrome, but I digress).
Also, silver (as I have analysed in a couple of asks before, x and xx) is actually an ominous foreshadowing and color as every time Sansa has worn silver jewellery something tragic has happened (also Daenerys is called the silver queen, an hint of her being destructive in her path to her Iron throne?, possibly, but I am digressing) also because in those time another material was called liquid silver but was actually mercury which is highly toxic. So it doesn't surprise that the frost — death— mask Ygritte wears looks like a silver mask — because mercury is so toxic it can indicate death and because Jon and Ygritte relationship was toxic to begin with for the reasons I stated above — so I always associate the mask with that toxicity and the fact that the frost will melt around Jon — the same Jon who was left dying on frozen ground with his wounds smoking and snow melting we can suppose on his feverish skin — once Sansa finds her way back to him, which is not something of a stretch since Sansa thinks precisely this:
Littlefinger was only a mask he had to wear. Only sometimes Sansa found it hard to tell where the man ended and the mask began. Littlefinger and Lord Petyr looked so very much alike. She would have fled them both, perhaps, but there was nowhere for her to go. Winterfell was burned and desolate, Bran and Rickon dead and cold. Robb had been betrayed and murdered at the Twins, along with their lady mother. Tyrion had been put to death for killing Joffrey, and if she ever returned to King's Landing the queen would have her head as well. The aunt she'd hoped would keep her safe had tried to murder her instead. Her uncle Edmure was a captive of the Freys, while her great-uncle the Blackfish was under siege at Riverrun. I have no place but here, Sansa thought miserably, and no true friend but Petyr. — Sansa I, AFFC
And, coincidentally finds out that Jon has made lord commander of the NW a little while later, thus is alive and in a position of discreet power (enough that he could protect her):
"Why must mules be so bony and ill-tempered? Mya does not feed them enough. A nice fat mule would be more comfortable to ride. There's a new High Septon, did you know? Oh, and the Night's Watch has a boy commander, some bastard son of Eddard Stark's."
"Jon Snow?" she blurted out, surprised.
"Snow? Yes, it would be Snow, I suppose."
— Alayne II, AFFC
Yeah, LF is wearing a mask, Sansa would flee him and all of his masks (choosing the pear instead than the pomegranate, x) if she only had somewhere to go, but LF wants her isolated and thus tries to isolate her and trap her in his schemes (as I have analysed here), but ultimately he will fail because Sansa is not as isolated as he thinks she is and she will slowly realise she has an alternative. Jon Snow. The mask of Alayne Stone will fall and Sansa Stark will come surging back — and who thinks she will bring back warmth to Jon's life after Mel (who he mistakes for Ygritte) even sing him back to life? 🙋♀️ — so that's what I've always associated the mask with.
Though it is true that Ygritte is a decoy for Sansa (all romantic interests in Jon's story are decoys for Sansa imho). She's someone who shares some physical traits with Sansa (Jon's ideal) and acts like Arya (safety and familiarity, someone he thinks he can deserve) but he truly starts feeling something for her when she channels the warmth he associates with Sansa — she is around the fire singing (the last memory he associates with Sansa is her singing softly to herself as she brushes Lady's coat) — it's also true that Sansa is presumed dead (no one knows where she is, and they presume she might be as well as dead) and hiding under a different persona, a mask she reminds herself she must wear at all times to survive (again LF's doing). Could the mask covering Ygritte be associated with Sansa wearing the mask of Alayne Stone (which cracks the moment her brother is mentioned?, which cracks when she channels her inner Sansa and steps out in the winter garden?) and thus with snowflakes melting on her cheeks which will bring forth her lover's kisses? Why of course it could!
After all Jon's “love” for Ygritte is nothing but a void decoy of the real love he will find in tenderness and warmth, all traits associated with Sansa. I've said more than once that Jon and Sansa's stories rhyme, and it is true also about his supposed love for Ygritte. Jon is projecting on Ygritte the love he is dreaming of, the same way as Sansa is projecting over the whole (un)kiss with the Hound, as I have analysed here:
Sansa and the Hound, the (un)kiss + metaphor of the cruel mouth/kisses
Jon and Ygritte, the cave as the romantic get-away and Ygritte as Orell's eagle
Both are seeking comfort in the romance they associate with those events (the cave, the knight come in the princess' tower to free her), more than with the people they were with (the Hound and Ygritte) who are decoys of each other (Ygritte actually predates on Jon who wishes for Ghost as a shield between the two of them; and the Hound almost kills/rape Sansa who is pressed down against the bed and threatened at blade-end even as the Hound offers to take her away from KL). The important thing is: Jon left the cave, Sansa did not go with the Hound. They chose reality over that idealisation and they will find their way back to each other. They both took a willing choice and though they both wonder of what would've happened if they chose differently (if Jon never left the cave and what it represented and if Sansa went with the Hound) they both have chosen differently and that has set them on the path to each other and to the true romance they have been seeking, finding it eventually in each other.
So, in conclusion, yeah, the mask could also hint toward Sansa hiding under the Alayne Stone persona. I think that as many metaphors it does hold many meanings, and these are the ones I personally give it.
Hope you enjoyed the read and thank you for your ask!, as always I wish you a very nice day!
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Operation Stumpy Re-Read
A FEAST FOR CROWS
Summary & Foreshadowing Smorgasbord (Part I)
Get in loser, it's foreshadowing time.
AFFC Part I: UNDER THE CUT
Sansa Stark, Queen in the North
Jon Snow, King in the North
Jon (Aemon?) Snow
Ahoy Matey! Arya Stark Sails the Ocean Blue
Bran the Broken, King of Westeros
High Septon Rickon?
Pick Your Poison: The Twins Meet Their End in the Bowels of Casterly Rock . . . or King's Landing
Younger and More Beautiful Cersei
AFFC PART II: CLICK
Dark Daenerys Highlights & Laughs
Let's Dance: Stark vs. Targ
A Rat in a Maze 🐀🔪
The Usurper's Knife
Storm x Storm 🦑🖤🐉
Squid Game
AFFC PART III: CLICK
Chapter Transitions
JONSA 🐺❤️❄️
Previous books:
AGOT Summary & Foreshadowing: CLICK
ACOK Summary & Foreshadowing: PART I / PART II
ASOS Summary & Foreshadowing: PART I / PART II / PART III / PART IV
Stumpy note:
If I didn't give you credit for discovering something or if I missed any foreshadowing, please contact me and I'll rectify that.
Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the reread project. All of you have great observations and comments, I wish I could highlight them all. 🙂
SANSA STARK, QUEEN IN THE NORTH
The lady of the house has duties to perform.
"In the game of thrones, even the humblest pieces can have wills of their own. Sometimes they refuse to make the moves you've planned for them. Mark that well, Alayne. It's a lesson that Cersei Lannister still has yet to learn. Now, don't you have some duties to perform?"
She did indeed. She saw to the mulling of the wine first, found a suitable wheel of sharp white cheese, and commanded the cook to bake bread enough for twenty, in case the Lords Declarant brought more men than expected.
[...]
The solar next. Its floor was covered by a Myrish carpet, so there was no need to lay down rushes. Alayne asked two serving men to erect the trestle table and bring up eight of the heavy oak-and-leather chairs. For a feast she would have placed one at the head of the table, one at the foot, and three along each side, but this was no feast. She had the men arrange six chairs on one side of the table, two on the other.
[...]
It might be that the lords would talk late into the night. They would need fresh candles. After Maddy laid the fire, she sent her down to find the scented beeswax candles Lord Waxley had given Lady Lysa when he sought to win her hand. Then she visited the kitchens once again, to make certain of the wine and bread. All seemed well in hand, and there was still time enough for her to bathe and wash her hair and change.
[...]
Alayne met them in the Crescent Chamber beside a warming fire, where she welcomed them in Lord Robert's name and served them bread and cheese and cups of hot mulled wine in silver cups.
Petyr had given her a roll of arms to study, so she knew their heraldry if not their faces. - Alayne I, AFFC
x
"Then he has none to throw at me. Isn't there some work you should be doing? And you, Maddy . . . are all the windows closed and shuttered? Have all the furnishings been covered?"
"All of them, m'lady," said Maddy.
"Best make certain of it." - Alayne II, AFFC
x
"Lord Robert is feeling stronger," Alayne told the serving women. "Fetch hot water for his bath, but see you don't scald him. And do not pull on his hair when you brush out the tangles, he hates that." One of the squires sniggered, until she said, "Terrance, lay out his lordship's riding clothes and his warmest cloak. Gyles, you may clean up that broken chamber pot." - Alayne II, AFFC
x
Petyr Baelish was clear across the Vale, though, attending Lord Lyonel Corbray at his wedding.
[...]
Alayne understood all that well enough, but it meant that the burden of getting Sweetrobin safely down the mountain fell on her. - Alayne II, AFFC
+.+.+
JON SNOW, KING IN THE NORTH
Are you sure?
Mance's blood is no more royal than mine own. He has never worn a crown nor sat a throne. He's a brigand, nothing more. There's no power in brigand's blood. - Samwell I, AFFC
+.+.+
Jon's acting like a king.
Lord Janos would have sent Snow ranging naked on a mule. 'Scamper on up to Craster's Keep,' he would have said, 'and fetch me back the Old Bear's cloak and boots.' We saved him from that, but now he has too many duties to drink a cup of mulled wine by the fire?"
Grenn agreed. "His duties don't keep him from the yard. More days than not, he's out there fighting someone."
[...]
Jon, he'd said, but Jon was gone. It was Lord Snow who faced him now, grey eyes as hard as ice. "You have no father," said Lord Snow. - Samwell I, AFFC
x
Only Robb and baby Rickon were still here, and Robb was changed. He was Robb the Lord now, or trying to be. He wore a real sword and never smiled. His days were spent drilling the guard and practicing his swordplay, making the yard ring with the sound of steel as Bran watched forlornly from his window. At night he closeted himself with Maester Luwin, talking or going over account books. Sometimes he would ride out with Hallis Mollen and be gone for days at a time, visiting distant holdfasts. Whenever he was away more than a day, Rickon would cry and ask Bran if Robb was ever coming back. Even when he was home at Winterfell, Robb the Lord seemed to have more time for Hallis Mollen and Theon Greyjoy than he ever did for his brothers. - Bran IV, AGOT
+.+.+
Many monarchs are implicated, so we'll put it everywhere.
Should Jon fear his black brothers?
On the morning after the battle, the crows had feasted on victors and vanquished alike, as once they had feasted on Rhaegar Targaryen after the Trident. How much can a crown be worth, when a crow can dine upon a king? - Jaime VI, AFFC
+.+.+
Sounds like a steward with royal blood.
Thank you, @agentrouka-blog!
Did you know the Darklyns were kings in Duskendale before the Andals come? You'd never know t'look at me, but I got me royal blood. Can you see it? 'Your Grace, another cup of ale,' I ought to make them say. 'Your Grace, the chamber pot needs emptying, and fetch in some fresh faggots, Your Bloody Grace, the fire's going out.'" She laughed again and shook the last drops from the pail. - Brienne II, AFFC
x
"There is no shame in being a steward," Sam said.
"Do you think I want to spend the rest of my life washing an old man's smallclothes?" - Jon VI, AGOT
+.+.+
Looks can be deceiving.
"Looking for mermaids, Slayer?" asked Dareon when he saw Sam staring off across the bay. Fair-haired and hazel-eyed, the handsome young singer out of Eastwatch looked more like some dark prince than a black brother. - Samwell II, AFFC
+.+.+
Sworn to protect the realm.
"The Iron Throne must defend the Faith," growled a hulking lout with a seven-pointed star painted on his brow. "A king who does not protect his people is no king at all." - Cersei VI, AFFC
+.+.+
JON (AEMON?) SNOW
Sounds familiar.
"He was a good man," he began . . . but as soon as he had said the words he knew that they were wrong. "No. He was a great man. A maester of the Citadel, chained and sworn, and Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch, ever faithful. When he was born they named him for a hero who had died too young, but though he lived a long long time, his own life was no less heroic. No man was wiser, or gentler, or kinder. At the Wall, a dozen lords commander came and went during his years of service, but he was always there to counsel them. He counseled kings as well. He could have been a king himself, but when they offered him the crown he told them they should give it to his younger brother. How many men would do that?" Sam felt the tears welling in his eyes, and knew he could not go on much longer. "He was the blood of the dragon, but now his fire has gone out. He was Aemon Targaryen. And now his watch is ended." - Samwell IV, AFFC
+.+.+
Little Aemon Steelsong (he has a song!) with the royal blood will be passed off as a bastard.
Thank you, @sherlokiness!
"Maester is not a name. You could call him Aemon, though."
Gilly thought about that. "Dalla brought him forth during battle, as the swords sang all around her. That should be his name. Aemon Battleborn. Aemon Steelsong." - Samwell IV, AFFC
x
"I do," said Sam, "but I could lie in a letter. I'm better with a quill in hand. I had a . . . a thought. When things are more settled here, I thought maybe the best thing for Gilly . . . I thought I might send her to Horn Hill. To my mother and sisters and my . . . my f-f-father. If Gilly were to say the babe was m-mine . . ." He was blushing again. "My mother would want him, I know. She would find some place for Gilly, some kind of service, it wouldn't be as hard as serving Craster. And Lord R-Randyll, he . . . he would never say so, but he might be pleased to believe I got a bastard on some wildling girl. At least it would prove I was man enough to lie with a woman and father a child. He told me once that I was sure to die a maiden, that no woman would ever . . . you know . . . Jon, if I did this, wrote this lie . . . would that be a good thing? The life the boy would have . . ."
"Growing up a bastard in his grandfather's castle?" Jon shrugged. "That depends in great part on your father, and what sort of boy this is. If he takes after you . . ." - Samwell IV, ASOS
+.+.+
AHOY MATEY! ARYA STARK SAILS THE OCEAN BLUE
Did Princess Nymeria do anything other than sail on ships? It's hard to tell.
There were two seats on the dais, near twin to one another, save that one had the Martell spear inlaid in gold upon its back, whilst the other bore the blazing Rhoynish sun that had flown from the masts of Nymeria's ships when first they came to Dorne. - The Captain of the Guards, AFFC
x
He rolled off of her to sprawl staring at the ceiling. A great crack ran across it, from one wall to the other. He had not noticed that before, no more than he had noticed the picture on the tapestry, a scene of Nymeria and her ten thousand ships. - The Soiled Knight, AFFC
x
She leaned her back against a fluted pillar and wondered if her brother was looking at the same stars tonight, wherever he might be. Do you see the white one, Quentyn? That is Nymeria's star, burning bright, and that milky band behind her, those are ten thousand ships. She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I. - The Queenmaker, AFFC
x
We are in part, Your Grace. Nymeria's blood is in me, along with that of Mors Martell, the Dornish lord she married. On the day they wed, Nymeria fired her ships, so her people would understand that there could be no going back. Most were glad to see those flames, for their voyagings had been long and terrible before they came to Dorne, and many and more had been lost to storm, disease, and slavery. - The Queenmaker, AFFC
x
Arianne would have given much and more for a copy of Ten Thousand Ships or The Loves of Queen Nymeria, anything to occupy her thoughts and let her escape her tower for an hour or two, but such amusements were denied her. - The Princess in the Tower, AFFC
+.+.+
We could be like Nymeria, and sail beyond the Sunset Sea.
Lord Gylbert began to speak. He told of a wondrous land beyond the Sunset Sea, a land without winter or want, where death had no dominion. "Make me your king, and I shall lead you there," he cried. "We will build ten thousand ships as Nymeria once did and take sail with all our people to the land beyond the sunset. There every man shall be a king and every wife a queen." - The Drowned Man, AFFC
+.+.+
The ship has a name.
"Just so. Your father was oarmaster on a galley. When your mother died, he took you off to sea with him. Then he died as well, and his captain had no use for you, so he put you off the ship in Braavos. And what was the name of the ship?"
"Nymeria," she said at once. - Arya II, AFC
+.+.+
Arya dreams of home while on a ship.
His father was shouting orders. Sailors scrambled up and down the three tall masts and moved along the rigging, reefing the heavy purple sails. Below, oarsmen heaved and strained over two great banks of oars. The decks tilted, creaking, as the galleas Titan's Daughter heeled to starboard and began to come about.
The star of home. Arya stood at the prow, one hand resting on the gilded figurehead, a maiden with a bowl of fruit. For half a heartbeat she let herself pretend that it was her home ahead. - Arya I, AFFC
+.+.+
Like any other person who seeks adventure.
Arya never seemed to find the places she set out to reach. - Arya I, AFFC
+.+.+
Arya prefers the boat.
She had crossed the narrow sea to get here, but if the captain had asked she would have told him she wanted to stay aboard the Titan's Daughter. Salty was too small to man an oar, she knew that now, but she could learn to splice ropes and reef the sails and steer a course across the great salt seas. Denyo had taken her up to the crow's nest once, and she hadn't been afraid at all, though the deck had seemed a tiny thing below her. I can do sums too, and keep a cabin neat. - Arya I, AFFC
+.+.+
Arya likes the sailors and harbors best of all.
Only Braavosi were permitted use of the Purple Harbor, from the Drowned Town and the Sealord's Palace; ships from her sister cities and the rest of the wide world had to use the Ragman's Harbor, a poorer, rougher, dirtier port than the Purple. It was noisier as well, as sailors and traders from half a hundred lands crowded its wharves and alleys, mingling with those who served and preyed on them. Cat liked it best of any place in Braavos. She liked the noise and the strange smells, and seeing what ships had come in on the evening tide and what ships had departed. She liked the sailors too; the boisterous Tyroshi with their booming voices and dyed whiskers; the fair-haired Lyseni, always trying to niggle down her prices; the squat, hairy sailors from the Port of Ibben, growling curses in low, raspy voices. Her favorites were the Summer Islanders, with their skins as smooth and dark as teak. They wore feathered cloaks of red and green and yellow, and the tall masts and white sails of their swan ships were magnificent. - Cat of the Canals, AFFC
+.+.+
No matter where she goes, Arya always comes back to the harbor.
Some days she rolled her barrow past the towers of the mighty to offer baked clams to the guardsmen at their gates. Once she cried her catch on the steps of the Palace of Truth
[...]
Customs officers from the Chequy Port would buy from her, and paddlers from the Drowned Town
[...]
One time, when Brea took to her bed with her moon blood, Cat had pushed her barrow to the Purple Harbor
[...]
Other days she followed the sweetwater river to the Moon Pool.
[...]
But she always returned to the Ragman's Harbor. – Cat of the Canals, AFFC
+.+.+
A young man hurts his hand, and has to become an oarsmen. I don't want to get into it, so you'll have to trust me that the Arya is strong on this one.
"You come work with me, Cat," urged Tagganaro as he was sucking mussels from their shells. He had been looking for a new partner ever since the Drunken Daughter put her knife through Little Narbo's hand. "I give you more than Brusco, and you would not smell like fish."
"Casso likes the way I smell," she said. The King of Seals barked, as if to agree. "Is Narbo's hand no better?"
"Three fingers do not bend," complained Tagganaro, between mussels. "What good is a cutpurse who cannot use his fingers? Narbo was good at picking pockets, not so good at picking whores."
"Merry says the same." Cat was sad. She liked Little Narbo, even if he was a thief. "What will he do?"
"Pull an oar, he says. Two fingers are enough for that, he thinks, and the Sealord's always looking for more oarsmen. I tell him, 'Narbo, no. That sea is colder than a maiden and crueler than a whore. Better you should cut off the hand, and beg.' Casso knows I am right. Don't you, Casso?"
The seal barked, and Cat had to smile. She tossed another cockle his way before she went off on her own. - Cat of the Canals, AFFC
+.+.+
BRAN THE BROKEN, KING OF WESTEROS
I bet they trade places.
"A letter to King Tommen?"
"At Winterfell Tommen fought my brother Bran with wooden swords. He wore so much padding he looked like a stuffed goose. Bran knocked him to the ground." Jon went to the window. "Yet Bran's dead, and pudgy pink-faced Tommen is sitting on the Iron Throne, with a crown nestled amongst his golden curls." - Samwell I, AFFC
+.+.+
The five year gab is abandoned, and the author immediately produces new history of a 10-year-old Stark chosen to rule.
"My lord, when I was looking through the annals I came on another boy commander. Four hundred years before the Conquest. Osric Stark was ten when he was chosen, but he served for sixty years. That's four, my lord. You're not even close to being the youngest ever chosen. You're fifth youngest, so far." - Samwell I, AFFC
+.+.+
He meant to call a council.
Rhaegar had put his hand on Jaime's shoulder. "When this battle's done I mean to call a council. Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but . . . well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken. We shall talk when I return." - Jaime I, AFFC
+.+.+
A man who sounds a bit like Bran tries to win an election.
Thank you, @decadelongsummer!
The Farwynds there were even queerer than the rest. Some said they were skinchangers, unholy creatures who could take on the forms of sea lions, walruses, even spotted whales, the wolves of the wild sea.
Lord Gylbert began to speak. He told of a wondrous land beyond the Sunset Sea, a land without winter or want, where death had no dominion. "Make me your king, and I shall lead you there," he cried. "We will build ten thousand ships as Nymeria once did and take sail with all our people to the land beyond the sunset. There every man shall be a king and every wife a queen." - The Drowned Man, AFFC
+.+.+
Many monarchs are implicated, so we'll put it everywhere.
(Three-eyed?) Crows are dining on kings.
On the morning after the battle, the crows had feasted on victors and vanquished alike, as once they had feasted on Rhaegar Targaryen after the Trident. How much can a crown be worth, when a crow can dine upon a king? - Jaime I, AFFC
+.+.+
Jaime Lannister slays kings, and makes kings.
"They belonged to Criston Cole, who served the first Viserys and the second Aegon." Jaime closed the White Book. "They called him Kingmaker." - Jaime II, AFFC
x
The man looked over at the woman. "The things I do for love," he said with loathing. He gave Bran a shove.
Screaming, Bran went backward out the window into empty air. There was nothing to grab on to. The courtyard rushed up to meet him. - Bran II, AGOT
+.+.+
Crowns switched to bells, then passed to a cripple.
Jaehaerys and his queen slept there during their journeys, it is said. For a time the inn was known as the Two Crowns in their honor, until one innkeep built a bell tower, and changed it to the Bellringer Inn. Later it passed to a crippled knight named Long Jon Heddle, who took up ironworking when he grew too old to fight. - Brienne VII, AFFC
+.+.+
HIGH SEPTON RICKON?
An eight-year-old boy is selected as High Septon.
"After that one died, an eight-year-old boy was elevated, once more at King Baelor's urging. The boy worked miracles, His Grace declared, though even his little healing hands could not save Baelor during his final fast."
Lady Merryweather gave a laugh. "Eight years old? Perhaps my son could be High Septon. He is almost seven." - Cersei VI, AFFC
+.+.+
Any number of boys.
Cersei did not doubt that there were any number of boys who would do more honor to the crystal crown than the wretch on whom the Most Devout had chosen to bestow it. - Cersei VI, AFFC
+.+.+
Might not have to look too hard.
Are you a priest or a greengrocer? "And what might I do to make it . . . riper?" If he dares mention gold, I will deal with this one as I did the last and find a pious eight-year-old to wear the crystal crown. - Cersei VI, AFFC
+.+.+
PICK YOUR POISON: THE TWINS MEET THEIR END IN THE BOWELS OF CASTERLY ROCK . . . OR KING'S LANDING
You're going to need the original theory to make better sense of this.
If you want to read the theory in its entirety (including the new evidence below), click on the link. I strongly suggest this option.
If you're familiar with the theory and only want the AFFC additions, keep reading.
To summarize:
Jaime and Cersei will intentionally drink poison as a castle crumbles above them.
The valonqar prophecy.
The old woman was not done with her, however. "Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds," she said. "And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you." - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
Cersei wakes from her valonqar nightmare choking in the same manner as Joffrey. . . when he drank poison.
The valonqar shall wrap his hands about your throat, the queen heard, but the voice did not belong to the old woman. The hands emerged from the mists of her dream and coiled around her neck; thick hands, and strong. Above them floated his face, leering down at her with his mismatched eyes. No, the queen tried to cry out, but the dwarf's fingers dug deep into her neck, choking off her protests. She kicked and screamed to no avail. Before long she was making the same sound her son had made, the terrible thin sucking sound that marked Joff's last breath on earth. - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
Like what?
Father found no better man. Instead he gave me Robert, and Maggy's curse bloomed like some poisonous flower. - Cersei V, AFFC
x
He touched one of the crystals lightly with the tip of his little finger. Such a small thing to hold the power of life and death. It was made from a certain plant that grew only on the islands of the Jade Sea, half a world away.
[...]
Cressen no longer recalled the name the Asshai'i gave the leaf, or the Lysene poisoners the crystal. In the Citadel, it was simply called the strangler. - Prologue, ACOK
+.+.+
The twins are dry, and need some wine.
It's ill luck not to eat the pie," he scolded as he filled his mouth with hot spiced pigeon. "See, it's good." Spitting out flakes of crust, he coughed and helped himself to another fistful. "Dry, though. Needs washing down." Joff took a swallow of wine and coughed again, more violently.
[...]
The boy's only thirteen. Joffrey was making a dry clacking noise, trying to speak. - Tyrion VIII, ASOS
x
The little queen is making excuses for her brother. Cersei's mouth was dry. I need a cup of Arbor gold. - Cersei VII, AFFC
x
"I was just . . . remembering." Her throat was dry. "You are a good friend, Taena. I have not had a true friend in . . ." - Cersei VII, AFFC
x
"It was. I know it was." Cersei shuddered. "My throat is raw. Be a sweet and pour me some wine." - Cersei IX, AFFC
x
So passed the longest night that Cersei Lannister had ever known, save for the night of Joffrey's wedding. Her throat was so raw from shouting that she could hardly swallow. - Cersei X, AFFC
x
"I've sent him wine."
"Wine?" Brienne was lost. "Robb? Or . . . Theon Greyjoy?"
"The Kingslayer." The ploy had served her well with Cleos Frey. I hope you're thirsty, Jaime. I hope your throat is dry and tight. "I would like you to come with me." - Catelyn VII, ACOK
+.+.+
Ser Ilyn keeps mocking Jaime.
The boy's only thirteen. Joffrey was making a dry clacking noise, trying to speak. - Tyrion VIII, ASOS
x
Ser Ilyn opened his mouth and made a clacking sound. A laugh, Jaime realized. Something twisted in his gut. - Jaime III, AFFC
x
The pockmarks on Ser Ilyn's face were black holes in the torchlight, as dark as Jaime's soul. He made that clacking sound.
He is laughing at me, realized Jaime Lannister. - Jaime IV, AFFC
x
He made that clacking sound that might have been a laugh and drew his sword up Jaime's throat till the point came to rest between his lips. Only then did he step back and sheathe his steel. - Jaime V, AFFC
x
"If I keep at this for another year, I may be as good as Peck," Jaime declared, and Ser Ilyn made that clacking sound that meant he was amused. "Come, let's drink some more of Hoster Tully's good red wine." - Jaime VII, AFFC
+.+.+
Cersei's feeling tight.
It is blood I need, not water. Tyrion's blood, the blood of the valonqar. The torches spun around her. Cersei closed her eyes, and saw the dwarf grinning at her. No, she thought, no, I was almost rid of you. But his fingers had closed around her neck, and she could feel them beginning to tighten. - Cersei I, AFFC
x
Seated on her gold-and-crimson high seat beneath the Iron Throne, Cersei could feel a growing tightness in her neck. - Cersei VII, AFFC
+.+.+
Cersei's going to have Jaime kill the younger and more beautiful queen.
Cersei is the younger and more beautiful queen. (Next section)
Anger flashed across the child's face. "If she tries I will have my brother kill her." - Cersei VIII, AFFC
x
She did. I knew it all along, she thought. Even in the tent. "If she tries I will have my brother kill her." - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
Jaime Lannister, The Kinslayer.
He never said he meant to kill our father. If he had, I would have stopped him. Then I would be the kinslayer, not him. - Jaime I, AFFC
x
The height of folly was reached when a plump fool came capering out in gold-painted tin with a cloth lion's head, and chased a dwarf around the tables, whacking him over the head with a bladder. Finally King Renly demanded to know why he was beating his brother. "Why, Your Grace, I'm the Kinslayer," the fool said.
"It's Kingslayer, fool of a fool," Renly said, and the hall rang with laughter. - Catelyn II, ACOK
+.+.+
A dragon's coming for the twins.
"The puppet lions grow greedy and arrogant as this treasonous tale proceeds, until they begin to devour their own subjects. When the noble stag makes objection, the lions devour him as well, and roar that it is their right as the mightiest of beasts."
"And is that the end of it?" Cersei asked, amused. Looked at in the right light, it could be seen as a salutary lesson.
"No, Your Grace. At the end a dragon hatches from an egg and devours all of the lions."
The ending took the puppet show from simple insolence to treason. "Witless fools. Only cretins would hazard their heads upon a wooden dragon." - Cersei V, AFFC
+.+.+
But where will it happen: King's Landing or Casterly Rock?
King's Landing
Cersei's asking for a storm to rock the Red Keep.
"No one wants rain," said Cersei. For herself, she wanted sleet and ice, howling winds, thunder to shake the very stones of the Red Keep. She wanted a storm to match her rage. - Cersei III, AFFC
x
"Even if Tyrion were still hiding in the castle, he won't be in the Tower of the Hand. We've reduced it to a shell."
"Would that we could do the same to the rest of this foul castle," said Cersei. - Cersei III, AFFC
+.+.+
God forbid dragonfire enters into the equation.
Jaime ignored that. "If these flames spread beyond the tower, you may end up burning down the castle whether you mean to or not. Wildfire is treacherous." – Cersei III, AFFC
+.+.+
Cersei's front row seat.
The Tower of the Hand gave out a sudden groan, so loud that all the conversation stopped abruptly. Stone cracked and split, and part of the upper battlements fell away and landed with a crash that shook the hill, sending up a cloud of dust and smoke. As fresh air rushed in through the broken masonry, the fire surged upward. Green flames leapt into the sky and whirled around each other. Tommen shied away, till Margaery took his hand and said, "Look, the flames are dancing. Just as we did, my love."
"They are." His voice was filled with wonder. "Mother, look, they're dancing." - Cersei III, AFFC
+.+.+
Who's going to die beneath the Red Keep?
Unless my brother murdered Varys too, and left his corpse to rot beneath the castle. Down there, it might be years before his bones were found. - Jaime I, AFFC
x
Tyrion hung back a moment. Varys had already betrayed him once. Who knew what game the eunuch was playing? And what better place to murder a man than down in the darkness, in a place that no one knew existed? His body might never be found. - Tyrion XI, ASOS
+.+.+
A dragon has been waiting for Jaime beneath the Red Keep.
He remembered the sullen orange glow of the coals in the iron dragon's mouth. The brazier warmed a chamber at the bottom of a shaft where half a dozen tunnels met. On the floor he'd found a scuffed mosaic of the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen done in tiles of black and red. I know you, Kingslayer, the beast seemed to be saying. I have been here all the time, waiting for you to come to me. And it seemed to Jaime that he knew that voice, the iron tones that had once belonged to Rhaegar, Prince of Dragonstone. - Jaime I, AFFC
+.+.+
Jaime's going to have some problems if he's ever down there again.
Jaime had led a dozen guards below, with torches and ropes and lanterns. For hours they had groped through twisting passages, narrow crawl spaces, hidden doors, secret steps, and shafts that plunged down into utter blackness. Seldom had he felt so utterly a cripple. A man takes much for granted when he has two hands. Ladders, for an instance. Even crawling did not come easy; not for nought do they speak of hands and knees. Nor could he hold a torch and climb, as others could. - Jaime I, AFFC
+.+.+
Casterly Rock
Tywin's under the Rock. Is he asking for company?
Her brother was growing his beard again as well. The stubble covered his jaw and cheeks, and gave his face a rough, uncouth look. He might at least have waited till Father's bones were interred beneath the Rock. - Cersei II, AFFC
x
There were watery caverns deep below Casterly Rock, but this one was strange to him. "What place is this?"
"Your place." The voice echoed; it was a hundred voices, a thousand, the voices of all the Lannisters since Lann the Clever, who'd lived at the dawn of days. But most of all it was his father's voice, and beside Lord Tywin stood his sister, pale and beautiful, a torch burning in her hand. - Jaime VI, ASOS
+.+.+
Cersei's place.
Her uncle was unmoved. "If you are resolved against another marriage, I will not force it on you. As to the other, though . . . you are the Lady of Casterly Rock now. Your place is there." - Cersei II, AFFC
+.+.+
Rolling thunder echoed off the Rock.
She was ten when she finally saw her prince in the flesh, at the tourney her lord father had thrown to welcome King Aerys to the west. Viewing stands had been raised beneath the walls of Lannisport, and the cheers of the smallfolk had echoed off Casterly Rock like rolling thunder. - Cersei V, AFFC
+.+.+
Jaime practically asks for it.
Harrenhal had seen more horror in its three hundred years than Casterly Rock had witnessed in three thousand. - Jaime III, AFFC
+.+.+
Makes for a big target.
She's known no home but Harrenhal, he reflected. Every castle in the realm will seem small to her, except the Rock.
Josmyn Peckleton was saying the same thing. "You must not judge by Harrenhal. Black Harren built too big." - Jaime IV, AFFC
+.+.+
What will the queen do?
"This city is a cesspit. For half a groat I would move the court to Lannisport and rule the realm from Casterly Rock."
"That would be an even greater folly than burning the Tower of the Hand. So long as Tommen sits the Iron Throne, the realm sees him as the true king. Hide him under the Rock and he becomes just another claimant to the throne, no different than Stannis."
"I am aware of that," the queen said sharply. "I said that I wanted to move the court to Lannisport, not that I would. Were you always this slow, or did losing a hand make you stupid?" - Cersei's III, AFFC
+.+.+
YOUNGER AND MORE BEAUTIFUL CERSEI
Thank you for the theory, @agentrouka-blog!
The prophecy.
"I will be queen, though?" asked the younger her.
"Aye." Malice gleamed in Maggy's yellow eyes. "Queen you shall be . . . until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear." - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
One more time.
The younger her.
"I will be queen, though?" asked the younger her. - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
While dreaming of her encounter with Maggy the Frog, Cersei frequently switches to third-person narration, giving the impression the girl is someone else.
She dreamt an old dream, of three girls in brown cloaks, a wattled crone, and a tent that smelled of death.
[...]
Cersei watched the girls huddling, whispering to one another. Go back, she tried to tell them. Turn away. There is nothing here for you. But though she moved her mouth, no words came out.
[...]
Lord Tywin's daughter was the first through the flap, with Melara close behind her.
[...]
Leave her be, the queen wanted to cry out. You little fools, never wake a sleeping sorceress. Without a tongue, she could only watch as the girl threw off her cloak, kicked the witch's bed, and said, "Wake up, we want our futures told."
[...]
The girl with the golden curls put her hands upon her hips. "Give us our foretelling, or I'll go to my lord father and have you whipped for insolence."
[...]
Beneath her golden curls, the girl's face wrinkled up in puzzlement.
[...]
Anger flashed across the child's face. "If she tries I will have my brother kill her." Even then she would not stop, willful child as she was.
[...]
"What is a valonqar? Some monster?" The golden girl did not like that foretelling. - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
One more time.
"Begone," she told the girls, in a croaking whisper.
"We came for a foretelling," young Cersei told her. - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
Are there two queens present?
"Here," she whispered, "give it here." When Cersei offered her hand, she sucked away the blood with gums as soft as a newborn babe's. The queen could still remember how queer and cold her mouth had been.
"Three questions may you ask," the crone said, once she'd had her drink. "You will not like my answers. Ask, or begone with you."
Go, the dreaming queen thought, hold your tongue, and flee. But the girl did not have sense enough to be afraid. - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
In the middle of the dream, we're told Maggy the Frog was young(er) and (more) beautiful when she arrived at Lannisport, but age and evil had left their marks on her.
Sounds familiar.
The old woman's eyes were yellow, and crusted all about with something vile. In Lannisport it was said that she had been young and beautiful when her husband had brought her back from the east with a load of spices, but age and evil had left their marks on her. - Cersei VIII, AFFC
x
"You are being foolish. I am only here to help you."
"To help me to my grave. I asked for you to leave. Will you make me call my gaolers and have you dragged away, you vile, scheming, evil bitch?"
Cersei gathered up her skirts and dignity. - Cersei X, AFFC
+.+.+
In a later chapter, Taena Merryweather reassures Cersei by telling her she was young(er) and (more) beautiful than the hateful Maggy.
Taena took her hand and stroked it. "This was a hateful woman, old and sick and ugly. You were young and beautiful, full of life and pride. She lived in Lannisport, you said, so she would have known of the dwarf and how he killed your lady mother. This creature dared not strike you, because of who you were, so she sought to wound you with her viper's tongue." - Cersei IX, AFFC
+.+.+
Immediately after waking from her dream, Cersei calls on old Pycelle. Younger Pycelle used to be a magnificent man, but the cells and razor ruined him.
Sounds familiar.
Pycelle had been old as far back as Cersei could remember, but there was a time when he had also been magnificent: richly clad, dignified, exquisitely courteous. His immense white beard had given him an air of wisdom. Tyrion had shaved his beard off, though, and what had grown back was pitiful, a few patchy tufts of thin, brittle hair that did little to hide the loose pink flesh beneath his sagging chin. This is no man, she thought, only the ruins of one. The black cells robbed him of whatever strength he had. That, and the Imp's razor.
"How old are you?" Cersei asked, abruptly.
"Four-and-eighty, if it please Your Grace."
"A younger man would please me more." - Cersei VIII, AFFC
x
She screamed and kicked and howled until her throat was raw, at the door and at the window. No one shouted back, nor came to rescue her. The cell began to darken. It was growing cold as well. Cersei began to shiver. How can they leave me like this, without so much as a fire? I am their queen. - Cersei X, AFFC
x
They brought lye soap, a basin of warm water, a pair of shears, and a long straightrazor. The sight of the steel sent a shiver through her. They mean to shave me. A little more humiliation, a raisin for my porridge. She would not give them the pleasure of hearing her beg. I am Cersei of House Lannister, a lion of the Rock, the rightful queen of these Seven Kingdoms, trueborn daughter of Tywin Lannister. And hair grows back. - Cersei II, ADWD
+.+.+
Another prophecy.
The old woman was not done with her, however. "Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds," she said. "And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you." - Cersei VIII, AFFC
Cersei and Jaime will intentionally drink poison.
+.+.+
Cersei says she'll have her brother kill the younger and more beautiful queen. In other words, Cersei will have Jaime kill Cersei.
Anger flashed across the child's face. "If she tries I will have my brother kill her." - Cersei VIII, AFFC
x
She did. I knew it all along, she thought. Even in the tent. "If she tries I will have my brother kill her." - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
Cersei wakes from her valonqar nightmare choking in the same manner as Joffrey. . . when he drank poison.
The valonqar shall wrap his hands about your throat, the queen heard, but the voice did not belong to the old woman. The hands emerged from the mists of her dream and coiled around her neck; thick hands, and strong. Above them floated his face, leering down at her with his mismatched eyes. No, the queen tried to cry out, but the dwarf's fingers dug deep into her neck, choking off her protests. She kicked and screamed to no avail. Before long she was making the same sound her son had made, the terrible thin sucking sound that marked Joff's last breath on earth. - Cersei VIII, AFFC
+.+.+
Cersei fears the prophecy because Maggy foretold Melara's death, yet it was Cersei who chose to kill Melara that evening. Cersei's actions are making the prophecy come true.
Cersei did not want to hear that. "This maegi made certain prophecies. I laughed at them at first, but . . . she foretold the death of one of my bedmaids. At the time she made the prophecy, the girl was one-and-ten, healthy as a little horse and safe within the Rock. Yet she soon fell down a well and drowned." Melara had begged her never to speak of the things they heard that night in the maegi's tent. If we never talk about it we'll soon forget, and then it will be just a bad dream we had, Melara had said. Bad dreams never come true. The both of them had been so young, that had sounded almost wise. - Cersei VIII, AFFC
x
A young girl sat beneath a fountain, drenched in spray, and stared at her with Melara Hetherspoon's accusing eyes. - Cersei II, ADWD
+.+.+
Cersei is destroying herself.
"You would not believe half of what is happening in King's Landing, sweetling. Cersei stumbles from one idiocy to the next, helped along by her council of the deaf, the dim, and the blind. I always anticipated that she would beggar the realm and destroy herself, but I never expected she would do it quite so fast. It is quite vexing. I had hoped to have four or five quiet years to plant some seeds and allow some fruits to ripen, but now . . . it is a good thing that I thrive on chaos. - Alayne II, AFFC
+.+.+
The beginning of the end.
In her final chapter, Cersei is imprisoned, but not before claiming the younger and more beautiful queen is finished.
Maggy the Frog should have been in motley too, for all she knew about the morrow. Cersei prayed the old fraud was screaming down in hell. The younger queen whose coming she'd foretold was finished, and if that prophecy could fail, so could the rest. No golden shrouds, no valonqar, I am free of your croaking malice at last. - Cersei X, AFFC
+.+.+
AFFC: Part II
Touch me.
Dark Daenerys Highlights & Laughs
Let's Dance: Stark vs. Targ
A Rat in a Maze 🐀🔪
The Usurper's Knife
Storm x Storm 🦑🖤🐉
Squid Game
+.+.+
#operation stumpy re-read#foreshadowing smorgasbord#affc summary#sansa stark#jon snow#bran stark#ship girl#rickon stark#house lannister#asoiaf
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Winter – Fell – Winter – Mountain
Winter, from the Old English, masculine winter
Fell, from the Old Norse, neuter fjall
On the horizon stood the mountains like a great shadow, range on range of them receding into the blue-grey distance, their jagged peaks sheathed eternally in snow.
[...]
The sky was cloudless, the jagged mountains rising black on black until the very top, where their cold crowns of snow and ice shone palely in the moonlight.
[...]
It had snowed the night before, and the two of you had built a great mountain above the gate and were waiting for someone likely to pass underneath.
[...]
Outside its sheer white walls was only the mountain and the long treacherous descent past Sky and Snow and Stone to the Gates of the Moon on the valley floor.
[...]
On the valley floor autumn still lingered, warm and golden, but winter had closed around the mountain peaks.
[...]
A mountain is not a man, though, and a stone is a mountain's daughter.
[...]
"My father's grandmother was a Flint of the mountains, on his mother's side," Jon told her.
[...]
Though snow had blanketed the heights of the Giant's Lance above, below the mountain the autumn lingered and winter wheat was ripening in the fields.
the glacier's lance by guy worsdell / a clash of kings, jon iv / a clash of kings, jon vi / a storm of swords, jon i / a storm of swords, sansa vii / a feast for crows, alayne ii / a feast for crows, alayne ii / a dance with dragons, jon x / the winds of winter, alayne i
#cappy's thoughts#jonsa#jon x sansa#shared imagery#winter imagery#winterfell = winter mountain#parallels#old norse and old english word origins#just some nerdy stuff
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ASOIAF character ages going into Winds of Winter (300AC).
KEY
• [X AC] = X years after Aegon I Targaryen's Crowning in Oldtown.
• [~X] = almost/roughly X years old.
• [X-Y] = age range of X to Y years old.
• [X~Y] = minimum age to maximum, given contextual evidence.
• [x*] = if x character is not dead
~ All ages are derived from birthdates on the ASOIAF wiki, as given in canon or as calculated by fans ~
OLD AS HECK
• Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers (125)
• Lord Walder Frey (92)
• Lady-Dowager Olenna "Queen of Thorns" Redwyne (82)
ADULTS
• Ser Barristan Selmy (64-73)
• Ser Brynden "The Blackfish" Tully (~57)
• Lord Wyman Manderly (48-61 y/o)
• Lady Maege Mormont (41-61 y/o)
• Ser Jorah Mormont (~46)
• Prince Doran Martell & Captain Areo Hotar (~43)
• Ser Davos Seaworth (40-45)
• Ser Jon Connington & Lord Roose Bolton (~40)
• Lord Mace Tyrell (37~44)
• King Stannis I Baratheon (36)
• Lady Alerie Hightower (36~43)
• Lord Howland Reed (35-40)
• Ser Jaime Lannister & Queen Cersei I (34)
• First Ranger Benjen Stark & Aurane Waters (~33)
• King Euron "Crow's Eye" Greyjoy (32~43 y/o)
• Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (32)
• Victarion Greyjoy (31~43)
• Ser Sandor Clegane* (~30)
• Obara Sand (~29)
• Ser Harrold Hardyng (~29)
• Tyrion Lannister (27)
• Ser Gerold "Darkstar" Dayne (26-30)
• Lord Edmure Tully (26~33)
• Nymeria "Lady Nym" Sand & Lady Taena Merryweather (~26)
• Asha Greyjoy (~25)
• Ser Willas Tyrell (24~31)
YOUNG ADULTS
• Princess Arianne Martell (24)
• Tyene Sand & Ser Garlan Tyrell (23)
• Theon Greyjoy* (22)
• Mya Stone & Myranda Royce (~21)
• ~20 y/o: Brienne of Tarth, Wynafryd Manderly & Sarella "The Sphinx" Sand.
• Steward Satin of The Night's Watch (18-20)
HODOR
• Walder of Winterfell, 15~25.
TEENAGERS
• ~18 y/o: Aegon VI "Young Griff" Targaryen, Ramsay Snow, Lady Roslin Frey, Ser Loras Tyrell*, Lancel Lannister.
• Penny (17-19)
• ~17 y/o: Queen Margaery I, Queen Jeyne I*, Meera Reed, Lord Commander Jon Snow*, Novice Samwell "The Slayer" Tarly, Queen Daenerys I Targaryen, Irri.
• ~16 y/o: Jhiqui, Gendry Waters, Lady Alys Karstark.
• Wylla Manderly (14-16)
• Martyn Lannister (13-15)
CHILDREN
• ~14 y/o: Sansa "Alayne" Stark, Jeyne Poole*, Jojen Reed, Podrick Payne, Elia Sand.
• 13 y/o: Trystane Martell, Lord Ned Dayne*, Edric Storm, Devan Seaworth.
• ~12: Missandei of Naath & Obella Sand.
• 11 y/o: Arya "No-One" Stark, Beth Cassel*, Princess Shireen Baratheon.
• 10 y/o: Bran Stark, Lyanna Mormont, Elmar Frey, Princess Myrcella*.
• ~8 y/o: Lord Robert "Sweetrobin" Arryn, King Tommen I, Dorea Sand.
• 7 y/o: Loreza Sand.
TODDLERS&BABIES
• Rickon Stark* (5)
• ~2: Ghost, Nymeria, Summer & Shaggydog* (born in 298AC, AGOT).
• "Monster", Drogon, Viserion & Rhaegal (born 299AC).
• Prince Aemon Steelsong, son of Dalla (born 300AC).
UNKNOWN: Ellaria Sand, Lord Yohn Royce, Lord Orton Merryweather, Dolorous Edd, Queen Selyse Florent, Ser Ilyn Payne, Daario Naharis, Hizdahr zo Loraq, King Mance Rayder, Magnar Sigorn of Thenn, Tormund Giantsbane, Osha, Val.
*IF NOT DEAD
• Ashara Dayne, dead at 14~23 y/o in 283AC.
• Ashara Dayne, (~36): for rumours of Ned/Ashara to be at all plausible to me, Ashara must have been 16 years old at MINIMUM during the Tourney of Harrenhall (well within her approximated birthdates of 260-269AC).
#fandom resource#asoiaf#character ages#asoiaf timeline#valyrianscrolls#i started this on the back of an envelope#look how it's grown#meta commentary to follow#plz correct math#i have birthdates in a separate sticky note
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Jonsa in TWOW - laying it on thick, GRRM.
We already start strong in the three sample chapters Arianne I + II and Alayne I, by the way of what happens and which stories are brought up within the text.
We have a nice triangle here:
The Young X in combination with a knightly Harry, who have both recently abandoned a previous obligation/intention (Myr, Myranda, Daenerys, Saffron, Cissy) to turn their attention elsewhere, are now on a combative undertaking and meeting up with an heiress who recently spent a long time in confinement in a tower and has a complicated relationship with her father(s). Their future seems destined for marriage, but the heiress seems more emotionally preoccupied with a certain bastard in her company, whom she has known since childhood.
A bastard with a curiously Targaryen first name that seems to be another literary reference to, say, a magical animal companion.
*
In other parallels brought up in Arianne’s chapters since AFFC, Jon Snow’s idealized childhood hero Daeron the Young Dragon, who is a big foil to Jon’s (actual or alleged) half-brother kings Robb and Aegon VI, was actually the cousin of Aemon the Dragonknight who was in love with his sister. They are rumored to have actually consumated their love.
*
Also, the heiress, whose “father” had betrothed her to a guy who unfortunately died at the hands of a raiding society grown recently bolder, goes on a quest after her attempted seduction of a dubious knight ended in disaster for herself and a child, and she heads toward a family member who was thought dead but is making recent strides against their arch enemy. She travels lightly and in secret, veiled, and connects with her homeland on the way, learning recent history and rumors, and acts as a bold diplomat. On the way, she is intercepted in the woods by questionable figures. Also, she shares an attraction to her sworn sword, a bastard, but they don’t act on it and have spirited discussions about strategy and politics instead.
*
This is going to be so much fun, really.
#asoiaf#jonsa#foreshadowing#arianne martell#daemon sand#arianne x daemon#parallels#harry the heir#aegon vi targaryen#sansa stark#jon snow
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FIRST LINE OF YOUR LAST 10 STORIES!
Rules: List the first lines of your last 10 stories (if you have less than 10, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. (it was 20 but @owlsinathens did 10 and I’m following her lead cos I got bored)
Thanks @owlsinathens for the tag 😘
I’m gonna try to do this in order of writing:
A few are for A Daydream of Jon and one is for Citadel Ladies Night so they might change between now and the events...
1. Once there was a boy who was the youngest of four. (The Greyking and the Dragon Nagga, for Theon Month prompt Gods and religion)
2. Jon looked up at his dad and siblings on the top table and poured himself another glass in response. (Unnamed Jon x Jeyne P. for the Daydream prompt ‘Jon felt hot tears on his cheek’)
3. It was in the third moon after the Raven had come about Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Nights Watch, that Alayne realised her bleeding had not come, not since before then, before the Tourney her Lord Father had held. (Wolfish, Sansa x Myranda Royce for Ladies Night)
4. “The Prince of Summerhall,” said the man approaching him through the milling crowds in the Queen’s Ballroom with a bright grin at odds with the flourishing bow he also extended. (Unnamed Jon x Theon for the Daydream prompt Rhaegar Wins AU)
5. Sansa picked Theon up at twenty past one, even though they’d agreed half past, Theon had been waiting for her because he knew flights made her super-efficient. (Because History, Theon & Sansa, Theon & Asha, for Theon fic exchange prompt Theon as parent)
6. After the long ride to Seagard, that final ride that the King in the North’s mother had deemed unnecessary for him to undertake, they stood on the beach, the sea singing its songs, the air filled with salt. (After the Storm, Theon x Robb, Drabble for Theon fic exchange)
7. At 4.17 Jon locked the front door, and went through the checklist in his head another time, knowing that regardless someone would have forgotten something; the stockings were in the girls’ bags, the stocking presents were at the bottom of his bag unwrapped (this was at his sister’s insistence, because apparently it was impossible that Father Christmas might have more one type of wrapping paper). (Fairly Complicated, Theon x Jon, Christmas Fic)
8. A raven came, not for him, for Jeyne. (Take My Hand as the Sun Descends, Theon x Jeyne P. for Theon fic exchange)
9. Mikken’s boy bolted in through the back door. ((Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For? Jon x Dany)
10. The sky was as blue as her eyes that morning when she had asked for his help. (tangled up in blue, Jon x Sansa for daydream prompt Song-inspired)
tagging @salty-wench @selkiewife @evax3 if you’d like to, of course 🥰
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ADWD: Daenerys vs Jon
In this meta, I will try to find the clues of Dance of Dragons 2.0 in Daenerys and Jon ADWD chapters.
(I will be pointing out how these two are meant to be against each other)
Mostly: I will examine the chapters that follow each other.
Let’s start...
A) ADWD; Daenerys I & Jon I:
Daenerys I:
He lifted the sack, and spilled its contents on the marble.
Bones they were, broken bones and blackened. The longer ones had been cracked open for their marrow.
“It were the black one,” the man said, in a Ghiscari growl, “the winged shadow. He come down from the sky and … and …”
No. Dany shivered. No, no, oh no.
“Are you deaf, fool?” Reznak mo Reznak demanded of the man. “Did you not hear my pronouncement? See my factors on the morrow, and you shall be paid for your sheep.”
“Reznak,” Ser Barristan said quietly, “hold your tongue and open your eyes. Those are no sheep bones.”
No, Dany thought, those are the bones of a child.
[ADWD; Daenerys I]
Dany’s dragon Drogon burns a child
Let’s look Jon chapter that comes after this Dany chapter:
Jon I:
Burning dead children had ceased to trouble Jon Snow; live ones were another matter. Two kings to wake the dragon. The father first and then the son, so both die kings. The words had been murmured by one of the queen’s men as Maester Aemon had cleaned his wounds. Jon had tried to dismiss them as his fever talking. Aemon had demurred. “There is power in a king’s blood,” the old maester had warned, “and better men than Stannis have done worse things than this.” The king can be harsh and unforgiving, aye, but a babe still on the breast? Only a monster would give a living child to the flames.
[ADWD; Jon I]
GRRM knew exactly what he was doing by making this chapter follow the Dany one.
Only monsters burn children= Dragons are monsters.
Even Dany says so. And Dany calls herself a monster too in her second chapters:
Daenerys II:
Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought. Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros? I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I.
[ADWD; Daenerys II]
Monsters burn children= Dragons are monsters = Dany is a monster
This ADWD; Dany II chapter comes after ADWD; Jon III.
Let’s keep reading Jon I chapter:
Jon I:
Stannis read from the letter. “Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is STARK. A girl of ten, you say, and she presumes to scold her lawful king.”
[ADWD; Jon I]
Like Daenerys, Stannis also believes that he is the only lawful and true ruler, he sacrifices people to flames, he listens what flames tell him, he wants everyone to bend the knee to him.
Also let’s not forget about the Dragonstone and Azor Ahai parallels between Dany and Stannis.
Just like Lyanna Mormont doesn’t bend the knee to Stannis; the other Northern lords won’t accept Daenerys either.
Stannis sees Jon as his key to the North. But Jon made his choice and he chose family and honor over his own desire of becoming the Lord of Winterfell:
“By right Winterfell should go to my sister Sansa.”
[ADWD; Jon I]
Daenerys might also see Jon as her key to the North in the future books but Jon will always choose his honor as a Stark and his Stark family.
Lonely and lovely and lethal, Jon Snow reflected, and I might have had her. Her, and Winterfell, and my lord father’s name. Instead he had chosen a black cloak and a wall of ice. Instead he had chosen honor. A bastard’s sort of honor.
[ADWD; Jon III]
This also comes before a Dany chapter:
[About Jon choosing Sansa and him becoming her hero, please check: Jon x Sansa Book Hints: C12, C13, E2 ]
B) ADWD; Daenerys III & Jon IV:
Daenerys III:
The next morning Xaro’s galleas was gone, but the “gift” that he had brought her remained behind in Slaver’s Bay. Long red streamers flew from the masts of the thirteen Qartheen galleys, writhing in the wind. And when Daenerys descended to hold court, a messenger from the ships awaited her. He spoke no word but laid at her feet a black satin pillow, upon which rested a single bloodstained glove.
“What is this?” Skahaz demanded. “A bloody glove …”
“… means war,” said the queen.
[ADWD; Daenerys III]
GLOVE IS OFF AND IT MEANS WAR!
Next chapter is Jon:
Jon IV:
As they did their count, Jon peeled the glove off his left hand and touched the nearest haunch of venison. He could feel his fingers sticking, and when he pulled them back he lost a bit of skin. His fingertips were numb. What did you expect? There’s a mountain of ice above your head, more tons than even Bowen Marsh could count. Even so, the room felt colder than it should.
“It is worse than I feared, my lord,” Marsh announced when he was done. He sounded gloomier than Dolorous Edd.
Jon had just been thinking that all the meat in the world surrounded them. You know nothing, Jon Snow. “How so? This seems a deal of food to me.”
[ADWD; Jon IV]
Jon takes his glove off and loses skin and maybe it gets even bloody?
In this chapter Jon is having problems with finding food and it is safe to assume that dragons are a threat to realm’s supplies.
Jon thinks their best hope is untouched Eyrie- where his Tully cousin hides as a bastard: (source: Best Hope is in Eyrie)
“If we had sufficient coin, we could buy food from the south and bring it in by ship,” the Lord Steward said.
We could, thought Jon, if we had the gold, and someone willing to sell us food. Both of those were lacking. Our best hope may be the Eyrie. The Vale of Arryn was famously fertile and had gone untouched during the fighting. Jon wondered how Lady Catelyn’s sister would feel about feeding Ned Stark’s bastard. As a boy, he often felt as if the lady grudged him every bite.
[ADWD; Jon IV]
He once again chooses his Stark family in this chapter:
Which would you have as Lord of Winterfell, Snow? The smiler or the slayer?”
Jon said, “Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa.”
[ADWD; Jon IV]
C) ADWD; Daenerys VII & Jon IX:
Daenerys VII:
This is Dany’s wedding chapter and she learns about her father’s jealousy about married cousins Tywin and Joanna and she also thinks about a love between a Targaryen prince and a Stark lady:
“I want to know. I never knew my father. I want to know everything about him. The good and … the rest.”
“As you command.” The white knight chose his words with care. “Prince Aerys … as a youth, he was taken with a certain lady of Casterly Rock, a cousin of Tywin Lannister. When she and Tywin wed, your father drank too much wine at the wedding feast and was heard to say that it was a great pity that the lord’s right to the first night had been abolished. A drunken jape, no more, but Tywin Lannister was not a man to forget such words, or the … the liberties your father took during the bedding.” His face reddened. “I have said too much, Your Grace. I—”
[...]
If he loved you, he would come and carry you off at swordpoint, as Rhaegar carried off his northern girl, the girl in her insisted, but the queen knew that was folly.
[ADWD; Daenerys VII]
Tywin betrayed Aerys and Rhaegar’s love for Lyanna caused a big trouble for the realm...
And we know that Daenerys is still waiting for a BETRAYAL FOR LOVE.
The voices were growing louder, she realized, and it seemed her heart was slowing, and even her breath… three treasons will you know… once for blood and once for gold and once for love…
[…]
A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness… mother of dragons, bride of fire…
[ACOK; Daenerys IV]
And next chapter is Jon who is a secret Targaryen and the son of Prince Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark.
So Jon comes after betrayer Tywin. (betrayal)
He is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna.. (love)
Who is the cousin?
Well A SISTER comes to him in this chapter:
A grey girl on a dying horse. Melisandre’s fires had not lied, it would seem.
[ADWD; Jon IX]
According to Melisandre’s vision this “grey girl” should have been Jon’s sister but Alys Karstark came to him.
“I have seen your sister in my fires, fleeing from this marriage they have made for her. Coming here, to you. A girl in grey on a dying horse, I have seen it plain as day. It has not happened yet, but it will.”
[ADWD; Jon VI]
But in truth Jon’s only sister Rhaenys is dead and the only sisters Jon knows are his COUSINS actually.
Which cousin? The one that fits into the “grey girl” prophecy. Sansa Stark... Who is now facing a new marriage.
According to fan made reading order for AFFC & ADWD: (source: AFFC&ADWD reading order)
ADWD; Jon IX chapter is following AFFC; Alayne II chapter where she learns about Petyr’s plans of marrying her with Harry Hardyng.
So according to same reading order, this Alayne chapter comes between this Daenerys chapter and Jon chapter.
[About Jon and Sansa being Dany’s betrayal for love and doom please read: Jon x Sansa Book Hints: B4, D4, E6 ]
So the fake grey girl that comes after Dany chapter gives us the clues of Dany’s last betrayal for love by pointing out two cousins who are a Targaryen prince and a Stark lady.
Let’s continue with ADWD; Jon IX:
Queen Selyse descended upon Castle Black with her daughter and her daughter’s fool, her serving girls and lady companions, and a retinue of knights, sworn swords, and men-at-arms fifty strong. Queen’s men all, Jon Snow knew. They may attend Selyse, but it is Melisandre they serve.
[ADWD; Jon IX]
We know that Jon dislikes Queen Selyse and he knows that she is actually a puppet of Melisandre.
In one of his ADWD chapters he describes Selyse like this:
A word from Melisandre, and she would walk into the fire willingly, embrace it like a lover.
[ADWD; Jon X]
This description reminds me Daenerys Targaryen.
Who did walk into flames willingly and embrace it like a lover? Daenerys Targaryen:
She had sensed the truth of it long ago, Dany thought as she took a step closer to the conflagration, but the brazier had not been hot enough. The flames writhed before her like the women who had danced at her wedding, whirling and singing and spinning their yellow and orange and crimson veils, fearsome to behold, yet lovely, so lovely, alive with heat. Dany opened her arms to them, her skin flushed and glowing. This is a wedding, too, she thought.
[…]
And now the flames reached her Drogo, and now they were all around him. [...] Part of her wanted to go to him as Ser Jorah had feared, to rush into the flames to beg for his forgiveness and take him inside her one last time, the fire melting the flesh from their bones until they were as one, forever.
[…]
A rising heat puffed at her face, soft and sudden as a lover’s breath…
[AGOT; Daenerys X]
The interesting thing is that a Daenerys chapter follows this Jon X chapter where he describes Selyse.
Let’s keep reading Jon IX:
If he is not a kinslayer, he is the next best thing. Axell Florent’s brother had been burned by Melisandre, Maester Aemon had informed him, yet Ser Axell had done little and less to stop it. What sort of man can stand by idly and watch his own brother being burned alive?
[ADWD; Jon IX]
another Daenerys hint: Dany-Viserys or Jon killing his kin maybe?
“Salladhor Saan?”
“The Lysene pirate? Some say he has returned to his old haunts, this is so. And Lord Redwyne’s war fleet creeps through the Broken Arm as well. On its way home, no doubt. But these men and their ships are well-known to us. No, these other sails … from farther east, perhaps … one hears queer talk of dragons.”
“Would that we had one here. A dragon might warm things up a bit.”
“My lord jests. You will forgive me if I do not laugh. We Braavosi are descended from those who fled Valyria and the wroth of its dragonlords. We do not jape of dragons.”
No, I suppose not. “My apologies, Lord Tycho.”
[ADWD; Jon IX]
Jon is warned against dragons.
D) ADWD; Daenerys IX & Jon XI:
Daenerys IX
Dizzy, Dany closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she glimpsed the Meereenese beneath her through a haze of tears and dust, pouring up the steps and out into the streets.
The lash was still in her hand. She flicked it against Drogon’s neck and cried, “Higher!” Her other hand clutched at his scales, her fingers scrabbling for purchase. Drogon’s wide black wings beat the air. Dany could feel the heat of him between her thighs. Her heart felt as if it were about to burst. Yes, she thought, yes, now, now, do it, do it, take me, take me, FLY!
[ADWD; Daenerys IX]
Daenerys rides Drogon for the first time and this looks like an orgasmic experience but don’t let it fool you: people in Meereen are not happy because they are dying etc...
Next chapter is realm’s shield Jon:
Jon XI
Jon clasped the offered hand. The words of his oath rang through his head. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. And for him a new refrain: I am the guard who opened the gates and let the foe march through. He would have given much and more to know that he was doing the right thing. But he had gone too far to turn back. “Done and done,” he said.
[ADWD; Jon XI]
He remembers his oath about protecting the realm.
He thinks Ghost (his Stark side) is the only protection he needs:
Ghost was the only protection Jon needed; the direwolf could sniff out foes, even those who hid their enmity behind smiles.
[ADWD; Jon XI]
Jon wants to scream that fire obsessed queen is not his queen. And he wants Selyse and Melisandre gone.
[Stannis + Melisandre + Selyse = Daenerys]
Val’s playful smile died. “You have my word, Lord Snow. I will be a proper wildling princess for your queen.”
She is not my queen, he might have said. If truth be told, the day of her departure cannot come too fast for me. And if the gods are good, she will take Melisandre with her.
[ADWD; Jon XI]
A northern princess doesn’t bend the knee to fire obsessed queen:
“The queen’s face hardened. “A grievous oversight.” What faint traces of warmth her voice had held vanished all at once.
“Free folk do not kneel,” Val told her.
“Then they must be knelt,” the queen declared.“Do that, Your Grace, and we will rise again at the first chance,” Val promised. “Rise with blades in hand.”
[ADWD; Jon XI]
Jon remembers his Night’s Watch oath AGAIN:
“I know what I swore.” Jon said the words. “I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. Were those the same words you said when you took your vows?”
[ADWD; Jon XI]
So as we can see Daenerys’ bonding with her dragon doesn’t seem like a good omen for Westeros. But at least we have our shield and warrior: Jon SNOW.
We are done with the chapters that follow each other but I am going to look at Daenerys’ last POV in ADWD too:
BONUS:
ADWD; Daenerys X:
A wolf howls when she thinks about her betrayals and it makes her sad and lonely but not less hungry:
Yet who else could it have been? Reznak, her perfumed seneschal? The Yunkai’i? The Sons of the Harpy?
Off in the distance, a wolf howled. The sound made her feel sad and lonely, but no less hungry. As the moon rose above the grasslands, Dany slipped at last into a restless sleep.
[ADWD; Daenerys X]
Ants, which are coming from a WALL, bite Dany:
It turned out that their anthill was on the other side of her wall. She wondered how the ants had managed to climb over it and find her. To them these tumbledown stones must loom as huge as the Wall of Westeros. The biggest wall in all the world, her brother Viserys used to say, as proud as if he’d built it himself.
[ADWD; Daenerys X]
Wolves and crows are not good signs for her:
My flesh will feed the wolves and carrion crows, she thought sadly, and worms will burrow through my womb.
[ADWD; Daenerys X]
She embraces “Fire and Blood”:
No. You are the blood of the dragon. The whispering was growing fainter, as if Ser Jorah were falling farther behind. Dragons plant no trees. Remember that. Remember who you are, what you were made to be. Remember your words.
“Fire and Blood,” Daenerys told the swaying grass.
[ADWD; Daenerys X]
In conclusion: Daenerys will be dangerous for Westeros. It seems like Jon and Starks will be against Daenerys at some point and in the end Daenerys will meet her doom because of them..
Thanks for reading...
#this version is shorther and easier to follow.#I cut the Sansa parts because ı already talk about those in other posts so I only gave the sources for Sansa parts.#asoiaf#mine#meta#jon vs daenerys#adwd#jon snow vs daenerys targaryen#dance of the dragons 2.0#dod 2.0
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Why does the fandom villify Aegon and Harrold more than pedos ?
Well, there are several reasons.
They stand in the way of what they want for their fave. Shippers belonging to the unHoly Trinity (sansan, sanrion, sansa x petyr) don't like Harry because they think Sansa already belongs to one of them. I mean its not as though Sansa's arc couldn't possibly be about her regaining her agency and freedom from abusers /s. It's not as though we don't have Sansa reject all three - first with Tyrion when she refuses to be the adoring wife he wants and to consumate, second with Petyr when she rejects his kisses & finally the message couldn't be any more clearer when after a nightmare of the Hound, she tells the blind dog that she wishes it was Lady instead.
With regards to Aegon/Young Griff, they don't like him because they think the throne belongs only to Jon or Dany or both. The sad thing is that Aegon has doom written all over him (I have hope that Arianne as the pov for this king character, will survive in a subversion of what happened with Catelyn) Anyway Aegon also being the son of Rhaegar also challenge the idea of Dany and Jon being special as the last Targaryens (but like Jon is already a warg and Dany has three dragons) which is why we have convoluted theories about him being Ilyrio son supposedly even though it makes a lot more sense for him to be the real deal especially with the fact that they were never able to identity the body....
Furthermore wrt Aegon a lot of it is racism. I'm not the right person to talk about that but I will say I think a lot of it also has to do with the fandoms attitudes to the Martells. The fandom can be very dismissive of the Martells and there are weirdos who try to insist that they are white but that's not the case. And Aegon is white passing but he is a MOC, he is biracial and it honestly makes me wonder if he had been taken after Elia physically like Rhaenys and therefore didn't fit the "ideal" Targaryen image that Dany does (silver hair, purple eyes)
So yeah I think this is why the fandom demonises Harry and Aegon. Are they perfect? Of course not. Harry in his introduction to "Alayne" is just plain rude. His comments about Cissy are gross. But they don't deserve hate at all. Unless they do something that's worthy of it (Doubt it in Aegon case) And so far they haven't. Not like the unHoly Trinity.
#sansa stark#young griff#harry hardyng#asoiaf#a song of ice and fire#game of thrones#got#anti sansan#anti sanrion#anti sansa x petyr#asks
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