Jon Snow Defending Samwell Tarly // Lyanna Stark Defending Howland Reed

Jon Snow defending Samwell Tarly // Lyanna Stark defending Howland Reed

Even then, Ser Alliser would not call an end. “On your feet, Ser Piggy,” he called. “Pick up your sword.” When the boy continued to cling to the ground, Thorne gestured to Halder. “Hit him with the flat of your blade until he finds his feet.” Halder delivered a tentative smack to his foe’s upraised cheeks. “You can hit harder than that,” Thorne taunted. Halder took hold of his longsword with both hands and brought it down so hard the blow split leather, even on the flat. The new boy screeched in pain.

Jon Snow took a step forward. Pyp laid a mailed hand on his arm. “Jon, no,” the small boy whispered with an anxious glance at Ser Alliser Thorne.    

***

“None offered a name, but he marked their faces well so he could revenge himself upon them later. They shoved him down every time he tried to rise, and kicked him when he curled up on the ground. But then they heard a roar. ’That’s my father’s man you’re kicking,’ howled the she-wolf.”    

//

“Look at him, Halder,” Jon urged, ignoring Thorne as best he could. “There’s no honor in beating a fallen foe. He yielded.” He knelt beside the fat boy.   

***

When his fallen foes sought to ransom horse and armor, the Knight of the Laughing Tree spoke in a booming voice through his helm, saying, ’Teach your squires honor, that shall be ransom enough.’ Once the defeated knights chastised their squires sharply, their horses and armor were returned. And so the little crannogman’s prayer was answered…

//

Thorne smiled. “The Bastard wishes to defend his lady love, so we shall make an exercise of it. Rat, Pimple, help our Stone Head here.” Rast and Albett moved to join Halder. “Three of you ought to be sufficient to make Lady Piggy squeal. All you need do is get past the Bastard.”

“Stay behind me,” Jon said to the fat boy.

***

Whoever he was, the old gods gave strength to his arm. The porcupine knight fell first, then the pitchfork knight, and lastly the knight of the two towers. None were well loved, so the common folk cheered lustily for the Knight of the Laughing Tree, as the new champion soon was called.

i'm going to take this as stansas indirectly admiting that they see sansa stark as flawless, that's why they hate book canon so bad, CHILDREN ARE NOT FLAWLESS, children can be cruel and mean, just like sansa is, sansa is the biggest bully to arya, sansa bullied arya with adults present and enabling her and when they were the two of them alone, they are multiple chapters were this is exactly shown. there is no way that's an actual good sibling dynamic. even we are shown that arya is trying to amend the bad blood between them:

”It won't be so bad, Sansa," Arya said. "We're going to sail on a galley. It will be an adventure, and then we'll be with Bran and Robb again, and Old Nan and Hodor and the rest." She touched her on the arm.

”Hodor!" Sansa yelled. ”You ought to marry Hodor, you're just like him, stupid and hairy and ugly!"

arya being the younger sibling was even trying to console her big sister... and what does sansa do? yeah the answer is, being sansa.

"You have juice on your face, Your Grace," Arya said.

It was running down her nose and stinging her eyes. Sansa wiped it away with a napkin. When she saw what the fruit in her lap had done to her beautiful ivory silk dress, she shrieked again. "You're horrible," she screamed at her sister. "They should have killed you instead of Lady!"

arya throws a fruit at sansa in rage, that's actually normal sibling behavior and WHAT IS NOT NORMAL SIBLING BEHAVIOR is wishing your little sister was dead because of it. but that's sansa stark being sansa stark, whether you want to accept canon or continuing being delusional how stansas always do

Since GRRM is taking so long to finish Winds of Winter and the rest of ASOIF, here’s some visual concepts of that one moment we’ve all been waiting for … Jon Snow holding Lightbringer. Created with Midjourney.

"Ignore him."

“And afterward, we’ll ride north to see the Wall. We won’t even tell Jon we’re coming, we’ll just be there one day, you and me. It will be an adventure.”

“An adventure,” Bran repeated wistfully.

They were the shields that guarded the realms of men.