Pyke Is Neither The Largest Nor The Grandest Castle On The Iron Islands, But It May Well Be The Oldest,

Pyke is neither the largest nor the grandest castle on the Iron Islands, but it may well be the oldest, and it is from there that the lords of House Greyjoy rule the ironborn. It has long been their contention that the isle of Pyke takes its name from the castle; the smallfolk of the islands insist the opposite is true. Pyke is so ancient that no one can say with certainty when it was built, nor name the lord who built it. Like the Seastone Chair, its origins are lost in mystery. ♦ requested by dalekofchaos

When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths. So if you must hate, Arya, hate those who would truly do us harm. Septa Mordane is a good woman, and Sansa…Sansa is your sister. 

headcanon 1 || the tyrell images

the TYRELL family find themselves in images. they create, they bloom, THEY SURVIVE. each child has their own way of life is so surrounded in pictures of themselves that they create to ensure that on the o u t s i d e they seem like the perfect family.

WILLAS:     the scholar; darling broken boy. he is found in libraries, in ink stains on fingers, in the silent spaces. OH!! he has a good h e a r t, doesn’t he? he is the rain that falls on the crops, the way things GROW despite struggles. his is the strength of the water, the relentless desire to reach goals. they paint the perfect HEIR on his fingers, make other families wish for a son so good. his is the justice of the courtroom, the solemnity of a prayer, the wisdom of a maester. his image is in the pages of a book, and they sell him as the wisest of them all. 

GARLAN:    the warrior; man of swords. he is found in the crash of steel, in the blood of man, in laughter after a good fight. OH!! isn’t his bravery is the kindof l e g e n d s? he is relentless training, the pint of ale given to an EXHAUSTED body. his is the strength of the fire, the burning desire to make it mean something. they paint him to be a man away from SHOW, hide him from tourneys and make him a hero of myth. his is the calm before the storm, the wishes on a battlefield, the lives left behind. his image is in the shine of a sword, and they sell him as the bravest of them all.

LORAS:  the knight; bathed in flowers. he is found in tourneys, in the roar of the crowd, in the endless banners. OH!! don’t they love to put his n a m e in songs? he is the very public smile, the private TOUCHES that he gives to lovers. his is the strength of the earth, the growth and development of so many living things. they paint him to live in the SPOTLIGHT, to play the crowds and give everyone thoughts of love. his is the loyalty of a friend, the desire for a celebrity, the dreams of a child. his image is the doting of a crowd, and they sell him as the loveliest of them all.

MARGAERY:  the princess; pretty little thing. she is found in laughter, in quick footsteps in hallways, in gowns and balls. OH!! isn’t she the most g i v i n g girl? she is a blooming rose, the promise of a GIFTED future. hers is the strength of the air, the constant movement of a life in motion. they paint her to take the WORLD by storm, to give to the doting underdogs who see her as their queen. hers is the giving of a martyr, the sweetness of a dessert, the beauty of a dove. her image is the love of a saint, and they sell her as the kindest of them all. 

                                                               –  BONUS. –

LEONETTE;    the maiden; brought to riches. she is found in hopeful eyes, in the dreams of every girl, in the realities that find them. OH!! didn’t she t a k e to this life with such ease? she is white dresses and bare feet, the thought that everyone can RISE above their station. hers is the strength of spirit, the ability to find her feet in a new home. they paint her as the GREATEST good, to have thrived as the new daughter of a great family. hers is the love of a woman, the grace of a lady, the dreaming of a child. her image is the woman he saved, and they sell her as the sweetest of them all.

Ladies of the Great Houses during the Baratheon/Lannister Reign.

“A woman can preach, a woman can work, a woman can fight. A woman can build, can rule, can conquer, can destroy, just as much as a man can.” - Zoe Saldana

As I read you description of Renly's scheming to get Margaery to be Robert's mistress, how much of that do you think was his idea and how much was the Tyrells'? I tednt to read Renly as a (witting and willing) puppet of the Tyrells in their bid to get more power.

I think it was mostly (perhaps almost entirely) Renly’s idea. The Tyrells want power, yes, but they’re cautious about it. Well, partially cautious. For example:

Her grandmother snorted. “Gallant, yes, and charming, and very clean. [Renly] knew how to dress and he knew how to smile and he knew how to bathe, and somehow he got the notion that this made him fit to be king. The Baratheons have always had some queer notions, to be sure. It comes from their Targaryen blood, I should think.” She sniffed. “They tried to marry me to a Targaryen once, but I soon put an end to that.”“Renly was brave and gentle, Grandmother,” said Margaery. “Father liked him as well, and so did Loras.”“Loras is young,” Lady Olenna said crisply, “and very good at knocking men off horses with a stick. That does not make him wise. As to your father, would that I’d been born a peasant woman with a big wooden spoon, I might have been able to beat some sense into his fat head. […] It’s treason, I warned them, Robert has two sons, and Renly has an older brother, how can he possibly have any claim to that ugly iron chair? Tut-tut, says my son, don’t you want your sweetling to be queen? […] The thought that one day he may see his grandson with his arse on the Iron Throne makes Mace puff up like […a puff fish…] We should have stayed well out of all this bloody foolishness if you ask me, but once the cow’s been milked there’s no squirting the cream back up her udder. After Lord Puff Fish put that crown on Renly’s head, we were into the pudding up to our knees, so here we are to see things through.”

–ASOS, Sansa I

This discussion is of course about the Tyrells supporting Renly’s bid for king, but I think it also applies to Renly’s Margaery/Robert plot. While Mace might find the plan attractive, Olenna would consider the idea of throwing her sweet granddaughter into a den of lions in hopes she might succeed in turning Robert’s head and gaining a crown for hers absolutely appalling. (There’s the danger of Cersei knocking Margaery off, there’s the chance that the adultery/incest might not be provable, there’s a chance that Robert might make Margaery his mistress but not his new queen, or maybe he’d just love her and leave her like he does with most women, etc.) So I very much doubt it was a plan that the Tyrells came up with on their own and proposed to Renly.

Rather, I think Renly was visiting Highgarden, saw Margaery and heard something about how people were comparing her beauty and appearance to the proven royal-seducing Lyanna (which of course is B.S. but also Margaery doesn’t look a thing like Lyanna so, y’know, the romance of the Reach yadda yadda), and realized aha, here was the key he could use to influence Robert and get rid of Cersei. Maybe Loras played a small part too – like, “you’re unhappy with Cersei and Joffrey, why don’t you do something about it” – but he also was definitely Renly’s instrument in convincing his family to go along with the plan. Varys says Loras was writing to Mace, not the other way around. And also, Mace may be an ambitious pompous blowhard, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who’d come up with the idea to pimp out his daughter that way (unlike those who facilitated Aegon IV’s mistresses, like Lord Bracken with his daughters Barba and Bethany, or Lucas “the Pander” Lothson with his wife and daughter).

Note Renly also tells Stannis that he was planning to make Margaery Robert’s queen, he doesn’t blame it on the Tyrells or anything – and though thatcould just be his own “look how clever I am” taking credit for it, IMO it’s said too casually, as an admission of “yep, guilty, I had those plans all right”. Basically, I think it’s an extreme misread to think Renly was being manipulated by the Tyrells to give them power, or by anyone else. Everything he did was his own choices, alas.

We free folk know things you kneelers have forgotten. Sometimes the short road is not the safest, Jon Snow. The Horned Lord once said that sorcery is a sword without a hilt. There is no safe way to grasp it.

ladies of ice and fire: dalla