"my beloved ghost and me"asoiaf(gendrya mostly)
67 posts
Fromstormsend - Argella Durrandon - Tumblr Blog
I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream
Lord Gendry Baratheon is hunting in the outskirts of Storm’s End when he runs into a bandit, who he soon discovers to be his lost love, Arya Stark of Winterfell
“Her dark hair was cropped short and straight around her head(..)” -AGOT Catelyn VI
After losing her men
“Her hair was black as a raven's wing, so short and shaggy that Alayne suspected that she cut it with a dagger.” -AFFC Alayne II
"They hacked the Maiden's breasts off too, though those were only wood," he told them. "And the eyes, the eyes were jet and lapis and mother-of-pearl, they pried them out with their knives. May the Mother have mercy on them all." "Whose work was this?" said Lem Lemoncloak. "Mummers?" "No," the old man said. "Northmen, they were. Savages who worship trees. They wanted the Kingslayer, they said." Arya heard him, and chewed her lip. She could feel Gendry looking at her. It made her angry and ashamed. -ASOS Arya IV
“(…)This place was put to the torch a long time ago.” “Who did it, then?” asked Gendry. “Hoster Tully.” Notch was a stooped thin grey-haired man, born in these parts. “This was Lord Goodbrook’s village. When Riverrun declared for Robert, Goodbrook stayed loyal to the king, so Lord Tully came down on him with fire and sword. After the Trident, Goodbrook’s son made his peace with Robert and Lord Hoster, but that didn’t help the dead none.” A silence fell. Gendry gave Arya a queer look, then turned away to brush his horse. -ASOS Arya VIII
The first time i read these chapters i felt like Gendry is kind of blame Arya for those cruel behaviors because she is a Stark and a half Tully. But then i realized whenever he is annoyed for something Arya describes his situation very clear.
“He always looked pained when he tried to think, like it hurt him something fierce.” Or “Gendry got that stubborn look on his face(..)”
But most of the time Gendry’s fury comes from his voice but he never talked about those cruel scenes with Arya. And now i think the reason he gave that looks to Arya is because he knows Arya well and thinking like “What kind of lord’s daughter is she?” Because he saw her with helping people, behave him as her equal, try to save people from fire etc. He gave this look not because of angry with her but because he recognizes how different her from other highborns.
Like father Like daughter (Robert Baratheon and Mya’s broken hearts)
They dreamed to marry;
“Robert had loved her even more. She was to have been his bride.” -AGOT Eddard I
"Mychel's my love," Mya explained. "Mychel Redfort. He's squire to Ser Lyn Corbray. We're to wed as soon as he becomes a knight, next year or the year after." -AGOT Catelyn VI
They failed(or refused);
“I killed him, Ned, I drove the spike right through that black armor into his black heart, and he died at my feet. They made up songs about it. Yet somehow he still won. He has Lyanna now." -AGOT Eddard X
“Mychel was the best young swordsman in the Vale, and gallant . . . or so poor Mya thought, till he wed one of Bronze Yohn's daughters. Lord Horton gave him no choice in the matter, I am sure, but it was still a cruel thing to do to Mya." -AFFC Alayne II
Then they refused any love;
“I had no wish to marry after Lyanna was taken from me.” -AGOT Eddard VII
“My father's tried to make a match for Mya, but she'll have none of them.” -AFFC Alayne II
But the saddest thing in all of those Robert left Mya for take back Lyanna and he lost both of them in the end;
“I knew that he would always be there to catch me." She pushed her hair back. "Then one day he wasn't. Men come and go. They lie, or die, or leave you.” -AFFC Alayne II
She remembered their travel on Riverlands. “What a time it was” she thought. It was Gendry who caught her after her attempt to escape from brotherhood without banners. All the way back she just kicked him and called him “stupid” several times. “They are saying lie to me, i’ve never see my family again!”she said. “Then i’ll be your family”. He was the one talked about being the bloody lowborn then. He was the one who wanted to left her behind.
She’d saw them again. Now she is in Winterfell, after eight years, she is safe again. The King legitimated him and made him Lord of Stormsend as he is the oldest male bastard of his brother, Robert. And now he is on the road for my hand. Does he still forge ? She wondered.
Gendry&Arya AU: Stannis won the war and and it’s time to keep promises between North and the Throne.
As you wish / As m'lady commands
That was all he ever answered. “As you wish.” Fetch that, Farm Boy. “As you wish.” Dry this, Farm Boy. “As you wish.”
Every time you said ‘Farm Boy do this’ you thought I was answering ‘As you wish’ but that’s only because you were hearing wrong. ‘I love you’ was what it was, but you never heard, and you never heard.” -The Princess Bride by William Goldman
"If you start calling me m'lady, even Hot Pie is going to notice. And you better keep on pissing the same way too." "As m'lady commands." -A Clash of Kings - Arya V
"That's right," he said angrily. "I'm too bloody lowborn to be kin to m'lady high." -A Storm of Swords - Arya V
When Arya and Gendry see each other again, Gendry had to make an explanation like Farm Boy did. I think ‘bloody lowborn’ sentence was a love confession but Arya didn’t get it like Buttercup :)
And yeah DEATH cannot stop true love but only DELAY. Valar morghulis.
“No hammerblow to the heart could have felled her half so hard.”
“The hammer was like part of his arm. She watched the play of muscles in his chest and listened to the steel music he made.” -A Clash of Kings - Arya IX
“As the swish of oars faded, she could almost hear the beating of her heart. Suddenly she was somewhere else . . . back in Harrenhal with Gendry.” -A Feast for Crows - Arya I
She dreamed of Gendry because her heart’s beats recalled Gendry’s hammer beats, the music he made with steel. And when Brienne first saw Gendry she thought he is Renly and get excited and characterized her feelings with “hammerblow” image. Even she didn’t know he is a blacksmith at this point. It is something Arya can say about Gendry actually :)
Arya Stark&Willow Heddle (Little Sisters)
First we all know Willow Heddle is a character who have parallels with Arya Stark. But it’s not just paralles. If we look in detail she and her sister Jeyne and their aunt Masha both have paralles with Sansa and Catelyn. Three of them are living in an alternative universe for Arya&Sansa and Catelyn. Look at their surnames; Heddle aka needle.
I am going to focus on Arya and Willow’s paralles. I found some of them from the forums and some of them myself.
1) Willow and Gendry together look after the orphan children and before Gendry did this with Arya too. They looked after Weasel, Hot Pie and Lommy.
2) Both of them threatened with rape by Rorge with tools in their hands;
“You shut your mouth!” Arya tried to think what Syrio would have done. She drew her wooden practice sword. “Come closer,” Rorge said, “and I’ll shove that stick up your bunghole and fuck you bloody.” -ACOK Arya II
“Willow stepped out into the rain, a crossbow in her hands. The girl was shouting at the riders, but a clap of thunder rolled across the yard, drowning out her words. As it faded, Brienne heard the man in the Hound's helm say, "Loose a quarrel at me and I'll shove that crossbow up your cunt and fuck you with it.” -AFFC Brienne VII
3) Arya&Gendry paralles;
-When Brienne first saw Gendry she thought he is Renly and said;
"My lord?" she gasped. "Lord?" The boy pushed back a lock of black hair that had fallen across his eyes. "I'm just a smith."
She thought Gendry is a lord. And after that she noticed Willow’s attitude on the children;
“Gendry was the closest thing to a man grown, but it was Willow shouting all the orders, as if she were a queen in her castle and the other children were no more than servants.”
Brienne started to think if Willow could be more, if she could be a highborn lady like Arya Stark;
“Brienne wondered whether Willow might be more than she appeared. The girl was too young and too plain to be Sansa Stark, but she was of the right age to be the younger sister, and even Lady Catelyn had said that Arya lacked her sister's beauty. Brown hair, brown eyes, skinny . . . could it be? Arya Stark's hair was brown, she recalled, but Brienne was not sure of the color of her eyes. Brown and brown, was that it? Could it be that she did not die at Saltpans after all?”
And the last shot comes from Ser Hyle;
“"One day that little girl will make some man a frightful wife," Ser Hyle observed. "That poor 'prentice boy, most like."
-Willow is stobborn girl too like Arya and made polemics agaisnt Gendry(again like Arya :)
“We better be careful. I’ll go around west, see if there’s some road. There must be if you saw a wagon. You take the shore. If you need help, bark like a dog.” “That’s stupid. If I need help, I’ll shout help.” (Just an example)
“"No," said the boy smith. "Yes," said the girl Willow. They glared at one another. Then Willow stomped her foot. "They have food, Gendry. The little ones are hungry."”
But of course real Arya says “no” with him at the same time 😂;
“"NO!" Arya and Gendry both said, at the exact same instant. Hot Pie quailed a little. Arya gave Gendry a sideways look.”
BONUS;
“We have beds, though. Some featherbeds, but more are straw.”
“He heard his laughter in the dark, saw his eyes, blue and clear as mountain lakes.” -AGOT Eddard XV
“The apprentice lifted his face. Ned studied the shape of his jaw, the eyes like blue ice.” -AGOT Eddard VI
Robert was a summer king but Gendry belongs to winter.
Bonus:
“When she spied Gendry, his bare chest was slick with sweat, but the blue eyes under the heavy black hair had the stubborn look she remembered.” 🥹
“… and she could ride with Gendry and be an outlaw, like Wenda the White Fawn in the songs.”
“I trust my father, and I trust my mules. I won't fall.”
Robert Baratheon & Lyanna Stark - Shared Last Words.
‘Promise me, she had cried, in that room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned.’ - A Game of Thrones, Eddard I
‘“Serve the board at my funeral feast,” Robert rasped. “Apple in its mouth, skin seared crisp. Eat the bastard. Don’t care if you choke on him. Promise me, Ned”‘ -A Game of Thrones, Eddard XIII
BONUS:
“I will give Lyanna your love, Ned” -Robert Baratheon, A Game of Thrones, Eddard XIII
Robb my boy……
“He loved her, and would love her; and defy her, and this miserable bodily pain.”
Robert&Lyanna “North and South” AU by Elizabeth Gaskell.
I like Henry Cavill as Robert Baratheon’s portrait but Aaron got me first sight!
Aaron at the Venice Film Festival August 2024 😍 he looks so good 😍❤️🔥
Westeros children during the Robert’s Rebellion;
-Prince Viserys of House Targaryen 🐉
-Tyrion of House Lannister 🦁
-Renly of House Baratheon 🦌
-Edmure of House Tully 🐟
Sooo… I feel like ranting a little bit, if you follow me you know why. I don't have the virtue of synthesis. And sorry for spelling mistakes, it's late and my English sucks.
About Gendry:
I don't understand how two friends who playfully beat and tickle each other can "look like rape". “Gendry invited Arya to a secluded place and then he pushed her to the ground” but that's not what happened. Arya is upset about the things she overheard being discussed at dinner and she goes out alone in a place she doesn't know. Gendry joins her and to distract her suggests they go and visit the forge together. He starts a conversation talking about Thoros and Robert. Considering the topic and the fact that a few chapters later he will ask to join the BWB, I think it's reasonable to assume that Gendry was pondering his decision to leave Arya and that he wanted to talk to her about it. It's only when ther is a misunderstending and Arya suggests that he goes to Riverrun and serve her brother that Gendry decides to let it go and change the subject. Secondly, it's not Gendry who pushes Arya to the ground. What happens is that Arya pushes Gendry against the anvil and when he grabs her hand, she kicks him which makes them fall both on the ground.
When Lem confronts Gendry that he tried to take advantage of her, Arya defends him against the accusation. There's no reason to believe that after spending all this time witnessing rape and abuse Arya wouldn't be able to recognize Gendry's intentions if they were less noble. Arya trusts Gendry also because he has spent so much time alone with her, but he has never taken advantage of it. The most emblematic scene is the one in which he confesses to her that he knows she's a girl. The two are alone in the forest and Arya remembers “This lot, half o' them would turn you over to the queen quick as spit for a pardon and maybe a few silvers. The other half'd do the same, only they'd rape you first. Only Gendry was different”. Furthermore, it is in fact Gendry that defends Arya from unwanted sexual advances at the Peach. Then you say “That scene had its function. Because it made Arya look like a victim of sexual abuse.”. What's kind of function is that?
About My Featherbed:
The song is about “a Targaryen prince in love with a girl from the North.”? Is it? I can vaguely understand how the Maiden of the tree can be interpreted as "from the North" because trees are linked to the religion of the Old gods, but the symbolism does not add up. The Maiden of the song wears a dress of golden leaves, while weirwood's leaves are red. Lyanna was associated with a weirwood tree, not a tree with golden leaves. The Maiden of the tree is clearly Arya, just a page before George highlights it by making her say "I look like an oak tree". (I would add that Arya is a little girl and is dressed as a green 'oak tree' in summer, while the woman in the song is a maiden and is dressed as a golden 'oak tree' in autumn).
Then I absolutely do not understand how someone can read about a Lord who wants to dress his beloved with yellow silk and a crown and think: he is clearly a Targaryen prince !!! Especially when Gendry is a Baratheon bastard who feels inadequate and the sigil of that house is a crowned stag in a yellow field. Finally, the concept of dressing the bride and making a vow to protect her recalls the foundation of house Baratheon with Orys covering Argella. What do the Targaryens have to do with all of this?
About the love triangle:
I understand the Arya-Lyanna parallels because the writer himself draws it. Gendry-Robert seem more foils than parallels. The two look alike, but where the father's hammer destroys the son's hammer builds, where Robert is friendly, greedy and lustful, Gendry is grumpy, pragmatic and green. If Robert didn't know Lyanna, Gendry instead stood by Arya at her lowest. What I don't understand is the Jaqen-Rhaegar parallelism. I guess they are both handsome and mysterious, but what do they have in common really?
At most the Hound should be parallels because he kidnaps (in this case for real) Arya and Gendry seems to be ready to beat him up as soon as he sees his helmet reappear. Edric Dayne could provide a parallel because he has Valyrian colors, makes the blacksmith jealous and Arya seems to get along with him. Or in the future the Rhaegar parallel could be Jon Snow or Aegon/Griff. But regardless of who could be the third pole of this hypothetical triangle, the dynamic is totally different, because Gendry and Arya are not two strangers socially bound by a betrothal, but two friends hindered by the difference in social class.
About the future:
The source is: “Okay so GRRM, arrived in Toronto yesterday for a book signing and unfortunately because of an exam, I was unable to attend (BOO!) so I asked my friend to ask him about Gendry and Arya's "relationship" and if they would ever reunite again. His response was that Arya and Gendry have separate futures but whether they'll ever meet up again, you'll just have to keep reading.” The statement is quoted only by one person who was not even present to hear it and they don't quote Martin's exact words. Also this answer sounds particularly spoilery by George's standards so I don't know if it's reliable. BUT I don't think it's that important.
Nothing prevents Gendry from being Arya's love interest anyway, not all the relationships we see in the books will survive the endgame, but that doesn't make them any less significant. “There won't be any baby. If Arya is going to be a mother someday, Jaqen will father her child/children.” Arya will not have a baby in story because at the end of ADOS she won't be more than 13 years old. So I'd say that whichever ship you prefer we shouldn't expect to see anything beyond hugs, holding hands and maybe a kiss.
About Jaqen:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't understand talking about Jaqen as if he were a person. We don't even know if that's his real face and since it's an FM it's probable that that's not his real name. I don't believe that man is Jaqen any more than he is the Alchemist. Also some words from the Kindly man seem to imply that the FMs must be sterile, but maybe it's just my impression.
George may have mentioned that Arya and Gendry have separate futures, but I'm pretty sure he never said anything about an Arya-Jaqen reunion.
About Jamie:
“Rosey is a foil for Arya, Pate is a foil for Jaqen and Lazy Leo is a foil for Jaime.” and “Patchface is a foil for Jaqen and Owen the Oaf is a foil for Jaime.”. I don't understand by what logic you can draw these parallels between characters, these guys have nothing in common with each other. Foreshadowing is not simply substituting one name for another and expecting this to be proof that other unrelated characters may find themselves in the same situation in the future.
I think that when discussing possible future situations the characterization of the characters as they have been constructed up to now cannot be completely ignored. Why would Jaime be in a position to tell Jaqen that he wants to rape Arya. It seems to me out of character for Jaime would seriously consider raping a girl the age of his daughter. But then, has he ever even had sex with a woman who wasn't his sister? When has he ever looked at a young girl and thought: you know what? Now I think I'm going to rape her. For heaven's sake he's certainly not a saint, but he's not the Mountain. Such an initiative goes against the characterization of Jaime as we have known him up to now.
As for “a foreshadowing of a Lannister raping Arya in the Mercy chapter from The Winds of Winter” I have another interpretation. The staged rape of Bobono (Tyrion) and Arya (innocent girl) mirrors the staged rape of Arya (Mercy) and Raff (who lies to Mercy saying he is westerosi lord).
The end. I think I said it all, I vented enough. Thanks for reading and sorry for the length. Good night!
i was checking Arya and Jaqen(aegon which i am not sure but interesting) theories and i saw this and i think i need this delusional on my life for my problems :D
I have read this passage many times over the years and I didn’t notice that both, Gendry and Willows, are stand-ins for other characters here:
Gendry was the closest thing to a man grown, but it was Willow shouting all the orders, as if she were a queen in her own castle and the other children were no more than servants. - Brienne, A Feast for Crows
I mean, it’s obvious that Willow is Arya. It has been brought up many times by the readers. It’s often mentioned when people want to emphasize Arya’s leadership skills. It’s also one of the instances of the foreshadowing of Arya’s future as a queen of sorts. Some shippers also consider it a foreshadowing of Arya’s relationship with Gendry. Perhaps that’s why I haven’t noticed it before: both of them are playing someone else’s roles here. Gendry is not just being himself nor symbolizing his future. Just like Willow is not meant to be seen here just her. Gendry is the closest thing to a man and Willow is the closest thing to a queen. They are not themselves, both of them. A man is naturally Jaqen ( Aegon ) and Willow is Arya, his future queen.
It’s yet another moment of the foreshadowing of Arya’s and Jaqen’s future and yet another one that hints at her dominance over him.
The best thing about Yoren he protected Arya and Gendry from the (mad) Queen like before Jon Arryn did the same for Ned and Robert. I like Lyanna-Robert and Arya-Gendry parallels but i worship Ned-Robert parallels.
***
“King Aerys had them brutally slain, then followed these murders by demanding that Lord Jon Arryn execute his former wards, Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark. Many now agree that the true start of Robert's Rebellion began with Lord Arryn's refusal and his courageous calling of his banners in the defense of justice.” -TWOIAF
***
"Thing is, the boy's in the Night's Watch now. What he done back in the city don't mean piss-all.” "The queen's not interested in your views, old man, and neither am I," the officer said. "I'll have the boy."
"You'll have no one," Yoren said stubbornly. "There's laws on such things.”
"Don't see why no one wants neither o' you," Yoren said, "but they can't have you regardless. You ride them two coursers. First sight of a gold cloak, make for the Wall like a dragon's on your tail. The rest o' us don't mean spit to them." -ACOK Arya II
Will Gendry be Ned’s Son? (We know how)
⟪“If the day ever comes when Gendry would rather wield a sword than forge one, send him to me. He has the look of a warrior.”⟫ -AGOT Eddard VI
⟪ "Good," he said, smiling. "I will give Lyanna your love, Ned. Take care of my children for me.” The words twisted in Ned's belly like a knife. For a moment he was at a loss. He could not bring himself to lie. Then he remembered the bastards: little Barra at her mother's breast, Mya in the Vale, Gendry at his forge, and all the others. "I shall … guard your children as if they were my own," he said slowly. ⟫ -AGOT Eddard VII
⟪"I bet he's that traitor's bastard," Lommy said one night, in a hushed voice so Gendry would not hear. "The wolf lord, the one they nicked on Baelor's steps."⟫ -ACOK- Arya III
****
There is more hints about Arya marrying with a blacksmith but these are specifically about Gendry will being Ned’s son.