uuuhhhmmm… that depends on what you mean by “cut out” i guess?

if you mean that they, like, filmed it into s8 and then completely cut all those scenes and that storyline out of the season when it aired? no, i highly doubt that tbh. that sounds like more effort than they put into s8 and s7 combined lol. unless we are talking about cgi dragons or flaming bears, i just don’t see them going through the trouble.

if you mean that they could have been potentially setting it up in previous seasons as something that could maybe happen down the road and then realized “well shit we aren’t going to have time for this”? then yeah, i think that’s totally possible sure. i could definitely see it as having been something they were setting up to make a future part of the story in s6. but then once they realized how short they were gonna make seasons 7 and 8, they just considered it unnecessary at that point and decided not to do it. especially if Jon was just going to end up being banished at the end (which i still hate sorrynotsorry) and especially especially with how incredibly non-Stark centric they were going to make s8. i think it’s been really clear the past two seasons that they had decided what/whose storyline they cared about most and wanted to tell. and that they just kind of counted everything/everyone else as extraneous and not worth any extra effort beyond what it took to close everything down and bring it to an end as quickly as possible so they could move on.

and if that IS the case, that would make it the SECOND one of my otp’s that happened with this year and i gotta say i am N O T amused lol.

Hey there dear anon… Sadly you might have come to a but of the the wrong place haha. Not because I think Gendry is gonna die! But mainly because I literally just have no idea wtf is going to happen and I am terrible at guessing.

I do agree that the footage of Arya running in the crypts is really worrying. In every other scenario that she’s been running from something/someone, she has at least looked in control. Even if she looked stressed out or scared, she was in control of herself and her body and her movements and all her faculties. In that scene, it really just looks like she is scared shitless and hauling ass. We have never seen her like this before, where it literally looks like she is running for her damn life. The idea that, even after all her training, something scares her enough to make her look like that makes me incredibly nervous.

There are obviously alternatives to it being Gendry that Arya is running from… I personally think that at some point the old Kings of Winter that are buried in the crypts are going to end up being raised from the dead as White Walkers, and that would be terrifying af in my opinion haha. There was a scene in s1 when Bran and Rickon were in the crypts while they were getting ready to flee Winterfell after Theon took over. They end up taking some of the swords off the tombs of the dead kings, but they talk about how every tomb needs two swords because the swords prevent them from rising from the dead. So now there are no swords on those tombs preventing those inside from rising. With how the show runners have said that a lot of things specifically connect back to earlier seasons in this season, I think that could be a definite possibility.

I mean, it does though… It does make sense.

Well primarily because Lady Catelyn was not the head of House Stark at the time, Robb was. A pledge to Cat wouldn’t be the same as swearing fealty to House Stark unless Cat specifically indicated that it should be. And given the circumstances of Robb and Cat’s relationship at the time, it makes some sense that she didn’t. Cat was in trouble with Robb for wanting to save her daughters, Brienne’s vow included saving Cat’s daughters… The two were inherently contradictory. Brienne could not have possibly served Cat and all of House Stark at the same time at that point.

To be clear, I’m not saying that a pledge to Sansa would explicitly mean he wasn’t pledging to her alone, because it could mean that. But given the circumstances, I highly doubt that it would. If Jaime is going to fight for the Starks and the North, he would be pledging to all the Starks. And the only way for him to make THAT kind of pledge would be through Sansa, Lady of Winterfell and current Head of House Stark. It would be either to Sansa or possibly to Jon, depending on how things work out with Jon’s title once he returns.

Swearing himself to Bran though WOULD be a pledge to Bran and Bran alone. Unless Bran specifically indicated that he wanted serving House Stark to be a part of Jaime’s pledge, Jaime would have no duty or obligation to do so, just like Brienne doesn’t.

Swearing fealty to Bran would NOT be the same thing as swearing fealty to the Starks. Swearing fealty to Sansa could, and probably WOULD, be.

Hey Anon!

Well, I can’t personally say I have noticed a huge uptick in the amount of SanS@n speculation or that specific type of theorizing on my dash. Although I will admit I haven’t really been keeping an eye out for it. I feel like I am more of a Mindless Scroller than an Active Seeker these days tbh.

I generally don’t like to comment on J/D. But far as the likelihood of SanS@n, at least for me, I think it depends on whether you are talking about the show or the books…

[Speculation under the cut]

Hey Anonny!

Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by an Actual Thing™ lol. 

As far as any actual latent or apparent romantic feelings for each other on either of their parts? No, I honestly don’t think there are at this point. I think they still strictly see each other as brother and sister and that it probably wouldn’t have even occurred to them to think of each other as anything but. While they do clearly care deeply about each other, their relationship as it stands is platonic. 

But, personally (at the risk of sounding ~delusional~ or whatever it is), I think that last season and the beginning of this season could have been a set up for a potential future relationship. While I don’t think the show runners were trying to frame Jon and Sansa in an implicitly or explicitly romantic light, I do think they were showing us two people who care about each other and are comfortable being emotional with each other. I also think all the “we” and “us” language, as well as all the Ned and Cat parallels, could very well have been to get us used to viewing them as a unified front. 

I talked last season about how intense their magnetism seemed to be from their very first episode reunited. And personally I don’t think it really let up at all during s6 tbh. It is possible, of course, that the reason all the Jon and Sansa scenes seemed so significant was because two characters who had never interacted before suddenly became one of the most important people in each others’ lives. But I really do think it’s just as possible that they were setting up for a change in their relationship later in the series. This is obviously just all me speculating though so take it as you will… I could be completely wrong!

Hokay I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about this, but I am nothing if nothing contrary af. SO anon I am going to use your ask as a kind of like ~general layout~ of my thoughts on the potential of UCJ.  I’m going to maintain though that I would prefer not to discuss any potential consent issues for personal reasons. 

I am also gonna shout out to the other few anons as, well as @ladyanyawaynwood and @lyanna-mormont, who also sent me asks on this topic. 

SO all right folks *drum roll* It’s the new favorite fandom Disc Horse! Either you love it or you hate it! Either you want to have its babies or want to kill it with fire!… It’s THE UNDERCOVER JON THEORY!

Before I start rambling, you should all totally check out the bottom part of this really excellent post by @him-e about some of the details and possibilities of this theory, because Claudia is so much better at words and explanations and life than me. There’s also this post by @blindestspot, whose no nonsense approach I always really appreciate.

Ok, first of all: I would like to go on record once more in saying that God I really dislike the name Undercover Jon. I primarily hate it because I feel like it’s misleading, at least in terms of what I personally would consider this theory to be. I feel like “undercover” implies deliberateness and ill intent and malice aforethought that I generally don’t really think is involved here. Also, I guess I don’t really subscribe to the Undercover Lover theory at all, because I don’t think Jon’s feelings for/sexual relationship with Dany have anything to do with it (i.e. I do not think Jon purposefully and deliberately seduced Dany for the sole purpose of manipulating her, nor do I think he is merely pretending to have feelings for her for the sole purpose of personal/political gain). 

I truly don’t believe Jon is in any way maliciously gaslighting Dany as part of any Grand Scheme. Personally, I feel that would be too much at odds with the Honorable and Noble character and narrative established for Jon. But that’s not to say that I don’t think the general theory is totally with out merit. I actually think some elements of it could definitely make up a potential plot line. I have explained my take on it as more Flying By the Seat of His Pants Jon- I think “scheme” would be way too strong a word, I think “plan” would probably even be too generous. It’s probably more along the lines of “ok so this is what we are doing now.”

Hey Anon!

You know that’s kind of a hard question, just because so much changed this season? Before this season I would have said Bran and Rickon were the closest followed by Jon and Arya. But obviously now Rickon is gone (SOBS FOREVER!), so that removes him from the equation.  

And there is also the way Jon and Sansa’s relationship has progressed this season. Not only were they the first two Starks to reunited, but they also went through a lot together in a very short amount of time. I think they are clearly very close, but its a different kind of closeness than Jon and Arya I guess? 

I think Jon and Arya are close because they have always had that close sibling bond. But I think Jon and Sansa’s bond is different at this point, I think they are bonded by their experiences from the past season. 

SO tldr- idek Anon lol. I’m sorry but that’s just not a question I can really answer. And when all the Starks ARE reunited, I don’t think it is going to be some kind of competition over who is the closest. After everything they have been through I think they are just going to be grateful to have each other back and do everything they can to keep it that way. 

NOPE! Not even a little lol.

But, just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean I can’t accept the fact that it might happen, no matter how much I don’t want it to… I ~wish~ I had that kind of power!

AND even if I did I probablyyy wouldn’t waste it on shipping!

Hi Anonny!

Well I generally really don’t like to speculate, mainly because I am terrible at it and always wrong lol. But I guess with Jon/Sansa specifically I am kind of in a weird in-between place? I am not going to sit here and say “IT’S NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!” (I am really not a fan of when people do that), but I also won’t say “JON AND SANSA WILL BE CANON I SWEAR IT ON MY ANCESTORS!” (I kind of side-eye when people do that too tbh).

For me I guess it is solidly on the “Definitely Possible” end of the ASoIaF/GoT Sliding Scale of Things That Could Happen. I think the literary parallels and foreshadowing could definitely be there, its honestly what attracted me to the ship in the first place. I especially see it in Jon and Sansa’s parallel journeys in the book series of her becoming a bastard and him becoming a lord and them ~walking a mile in the other’s shoes. I think that is significant to both of their character arcs for sure.

But I think the same thing about parallels and foreshadowing could be said about a lot of ships for both Jon and Sansa, such as SanSan or Jon/Val, and in particular Jon/Dany. I do think that Jon/Dany are definitely going to meet, and yeah it’s my instinct that they will canonically have some kind of relationship. But I honestly have ~no idea~ how it’s going to end. Jon/Dany almost feels like it would be too easy? And this ~is~ GRRM, so you know he won’t make it easy!

Idk Anonny!

She could have answered that when she was planning on dying it if she didn’t know her hair was too damaged to dye again yet. She could have been talking about a wig. She could actually have plans to dye it in the future. She could have been trolling. Honestly, it’s anyone’s guess! lol

I will admit I have a soft spot for ginger Sophie. But I am also loving blonde Sophie... Mainly, I just really love Sophie is the thing!

Hi Anonny! Sorry it took me so long to answer, this got a little buried in the ol’ inbox and I am also The Worst. So ok I guess you address a few things? So I am gonna to try to go through my speculations on each point by point so it doesn’t turn into a cluster fuck of an answer, which I am prone to…

Hi Anonny!

I have kind of already answered this question in lots of unnecessary detail here, but my short answer is: NOPE. I think all the remaining Starks are going to continue to ~remain~ until the end of the series!

Hi Anonny!

So I am not dead set on the idea or completely convinced, or even speculating that he is alive really... I just wouldn’t really be surprised if he wasn’t dead.

D&D have more than proven that they love to get as down and dirty and ~bloody~ as possible. Also, as we all know, the show is on HBO which means there are like slim to no limits on what they can show the audience... Based on past performance I would just think that if they had the opportunity to show us a gross death and dead body, they would have definitely taken full advantage of it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯