@aerltarg / aerltarg.tumblr.com
Arya Appreciation Month 2022
Day 29: Feminist Moments- Arya’s Ambitions beyond gendered restrictions
Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?" - Eddard, A Game of Thrones
ARYA STARK APPRECIATION MONTH -> Day 14: Identities
“No one,” she would answer, she who had been Arya of House Stark, Arya Underfoot, Arya Horseface. She had been Arry and Weasel too, and Squab and Salty, Nan the cupbearer, a grey mouse, a sheep, the ghost of Harrenhal . . . but not for true, not in her heart of hearts. In there she was Arya of Winterfell, the daughter of Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn, who had once had brothers named Robb and Bran and Rickon, a sister named Sansa, a direwolf called Nymeria, a half brother named Jon Snow. In there she was someone . . . but that was not the answer that he wanted.
BRAN STARK APPRECIATION MONTH 2022
Day 10: Parallels with other characters -> Bran and Daenerys Targaryen
Both Bran and Daenerys are shown sitting upon simple thrones instead of luxurious ones in A Dance with Dragons, which highlights the fact that they’re both modest leaders who primarily use their powers and privileges to protect their people, not to benefit themselves.
Furthermore, it’s also significant that Dany’s and Bran’s thrones are respectively made of ebony and weirwood because these two particular woods appear combined several times in the books (in Tobho Mott’s workshop, in the House of the Undying and in the House of Black and White), likely foreshadowing a future alliance between the Mother of Dragons and the Winged Wolf.
lyanna
more lyanna doodles from the bird app
“Aegon finally decided to take over Westeros and unify the Seven Kingdoms that existed at the time, under a single rule. There is a lot of speculation that in some sense he saw what was coming 300 years later and wanted to unify the Seven Kingdoms to be better prepared for the threat that he eventually saw coming from the north – the threat that we’re dealing with in A Song of Ice and Fire.”
—
– George R. R. Martin
In case anyone missed it, GRRM is pro-Conquest and pro-unified Westeros. The Targaryens taking over the rule of the Seven Kingdoms is treated as a positive necessity. The intent was to protect the continent from the main villains of the series, the ice zombies called the Others. They are not villains and their loss of the Iron Throne is a threat to the unity Aegon I tried to create. Dany retaking Westeros is what she believes is what will help the county and what she has been told the people of Westeros want. If she learns that her ancestor unified the continent to protect it from zombies, that will make her cause even more righteous.
I also saw a lot of criticism about how Aegon did a bad job if his reasoning was to save Westeros from the threat. Which makes no sense. He wanted to unify Westeros to be prepared for the threat - and he did that! In his lifetime, there was no threat - so what else was he supposed to be doing?
And the Starks, - whose house motto is Winter is coming - who build the bloody wall in the first place, even they seem to have done nothing about this threat, allowing the Night’s Watch to fall into disrepair manned by outlaws, rapists and murderers.
And apparently it’s wrong that the Targaryens did not tell about this to Starks. One, we really don’t know if there was some communication between the Starks and Targs on this. And two, it’s not like the Starks prepared for this threat either, despite their history with the Others.
Alysanne did more for the Wall than the Starks did. And while Ned considered proposals to increase the revenue for the Wall, he did nothing about it.
And then there are the criticisms of how there is no justification for Aegon waging violent war for unification even if it was to save Westeros. When this is precisely what Stannis and Jon Snow are doing right now!!! Stannis’ campaign in the North - fully supported and aided by Jon Snow - is to unite Westeros under one king - him. Because Jon and Stannis know of the threat from the North and know that the realm has to be united under one ruler instead of fighting each other.
And considering that Stannis is not going to be sticking around for long, which ruler wanting to unite the realm is Jon going to be turning to? That’s right, Daenerys Targaryen.
"How dare you to criticise my favourite Stark kid!! That surely means you negatively compare them to other Stark kids. Do you know that it's not a competition and that you can like all the Starklings at the same time??"
Or maybe we could treat each of them as a separate character and judge them for their own traits. There is nothing wrong with liking more than one Stark kid (or all of them) but it's not obligatory to like them all just because they belong on the same family.
A DIREWOLF is a close relative of the wolf, but larger and stronger. They are named after the real world direwolves, Pleistocene megafauna, which were larger than modern wolves (but not as large as portrayed in the books). Direwolves are extinct north of the wall, as they are a very large and dangerous predator, and people have probably hunted them out. A grey direwolf in a white field is the sigil of House Stark.
(requested by direwolfrising & daenelicious)
winter rose
“He’s to marry Arya Stark. My little sister.” Jon could almost see her in that moment, long-faced and gawky, all knobby knees and sharp elbows, with her dirty face and tangled hair. They would wash the one and comb the other, he did not doubt, but he could not imagine Arya in a wedding gown, nor Ramsay Bolton’s bed. No matter how afraid she is, she will not show it. If he tries to lay a hand on her, she’ll fight him.
ARYA STARK APPRECIATION MONTH 2022
Day 12: Braavos
Braavos was a city made for secrets, a city of fogs and masks and whispers. Its very existence had been a secret for a century, the girl had learned; its location had been hidden thrice that long. “The Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria that was,” the kindly man taught her, “but Braavos is the bastard child who ran away from home. We are a mongrel folk, the sons of slaves and whores and thieves. Our forebears came from half a hundred lands to this place of refuge, to escape the dragonlords who had enslaved them. Half a hundred gods came with them, but there is one god all of them shared in common.” - Cat of the Canals, A Feast for Crows
Arya and Bran playing swords? Or just spending time together since they’re so close in age. Love them! I also think they’re close in height since Arya is canonically small for her age. Thank you for all that you do! Love you and your art!
bran stark appreciation month 2022 → day 5: bravest moments
“There is no shame in that. A lord must protect his smallfolk. Cruel places breed cruel peoples, Bran, remember that as you deal with these ironmen. Your lord father did what he could to gentle Theon, but I fear it was too little and too late.” *** A good lord protects his people, he reminded himself. “I’ve yielded Winterfell to Theon.”
....says the Jonsa....
What is more clichéd than making a woman associated with dragons into the villain? GRRM goes out of his way subverting the typical fairytale dynamic between Rhaegar, Lyanna, and Robert to paint the dragon as the better to Robert's valiant knight. So why wouldn't GRRM subvert Dany's association with dragons as well? Also, this insistance that dragons are evil is entirely euro-centric. In the east, they have more positive connotations. Funny, because the wolf is pretty much universally despised and feared in history and folklore, yet no one is using that association to condemn the Starks. 🙄
“But it was Jon Snow she thought of most. She wished somehow they could come to the Wall before Winterfell, so Jon might muss up her hair and call her little sister.”
Idealized Ending for Game of Thrones || In the wake of the Long Night, the Seven Kingdoms found themselves, for once in their whole history, ruled by just women and honorable men. Daenerys Targaryen claimed the Iron Throne of Westeros and took Jon Snow as her king consort. Missandei of Naath became Hand of the Queen while Grey Worm became the Lord General of the Westerosi armies. The queen legitimized Gendry so that he might continue the Baratheon line as Lord of Storm’s End with his wife, Arya of House Stark. To the south, Arianne Martell became the Princess of Dorne. Tyrion Lannister reclaimed Casterly Rock as Lord of the Westerlands. To the north, Bran Stark regained his true self and became Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North with Meera Reed at his side. For years to come, the realm would know nothing but peace.
@pscentral event 15: favorite ship
Only Gendry was different | ARYA V, A Clash of Kings
