Agot - Tumblr Posts
benjen stark has been lost beyond the wall for 25 slutty, slutty years
One of things that I think is missed a lot in the fandom (I honestly blame the show for this), is that when she is not in an extremely traumatic situation, Arya really is a cheerful, extraverted little girl who names babies and picks up flowers for her father and makes friends with everyone.
And the thing is, if they didn't want to adapt her first chapter at all (which is a shame because it establishes a lot of her relationships and themes), instead of having her take the shot from Bran while her parents look on fondly (which... I love Cat and Ned but they would not react like that to her doing this at all) they could have her with Jon on the side, looking like she wants to join and tries what Bran is doing without doing so, and have them (Jon and Arya) bond in episode 1 on the outside, or actually have her pick up flowers outside while the boys are training.
And then instead of making her late because she is looking at the knights arriving, make her late because she was in the kitchen, talking with the cook, trying to figure out a name for the new baby, have them call her Arya Underfoot to show that it's something she does usually anyway or in the stable talking to the stableboy, being friends with him or just something that shows Arya Underfoot.
People underestimate just how much Catelyn is prepared to be an action girl actually
i feel like more people could benefit from remembering that catelyn stark slit a guy’s throat in the first half of agot
Jon thinking about his family
re-reading AGOT (determined to actually finish the series this time!!!), so here are some drawings! The first two are re-draws of old works I posted, the 2nd are new :’)
and
There’s a pattern here, Robb, and it does not speak well of you.
“No,” Jon Snow said, horrified. “I wouldn’t …”
“No? Never?” Tyrion raised an eyebrow. “Well, no doubt the Starks have been terribly good to you. I’m certain Lady Stark treats you as if you were one of her own. And your brother Robb, he’s always been kind, and why not? He gets Winterfell and you get the Wall. And your father … he must have good reasons for packing you off to the Night’s Watch …”
Tyrion was the last to retire, as always. As he stepped into the shelter his men had built for him, he paused and looked back at Jon Snow. The boy stood near the fire, his face still and hard, looking deep into the flames.
Tyrion Lannister smiled sadly and went to bed.
TYRION APPRECIATION MONTH
Day 2: Favorite Chapters || A Game of Thrones, Tyrion II
Every Arya & Lyanna parallel: → unwanted betrothals
LYANNA
"Robert will never keep to one bed," Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm's End. "I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale." Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. "Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature."
— A Game of Thrones, Eddard IX
ARYA
[Elmar] liked to boast how he was the son of the Lord of the Crossing, not a nephew or a bastard or a grandson but a trueborn son, and on account of that he was going to marry a princess. Arya didn't care about his precious princess, and didn't like him giving her commands. [...] Elmar gave her a scornful look. "No one cares about a serving girl's brothers." It was hard not to hit him when he said that. "I hope your princess dies," she said, and ran off before he could grab her.
— A Clash of Kings, Arya X
A Clash of Kings: The Illustrated Edition - Daenerys Targaryen in the Red Waste by Lauren K. Cannon
The Dothraki named the comet shierak qiya, the Bleeding Star. The old men muttered that it omened ill, but Daenerys Targaryen had seen it first on the night she had burned Khal Drogo, the night her dragons had awakened. It is the herald of my coming, she told herself as she gazed up into the night sky with wonder in her heart. The gods have sent it to show me the way. — Daenerys I
dany was so broken in agot, physically and mentally. she was ready to kill herself to escape drogo. her childhood had been a long unfortunate series of running away from the alleged monsters that killed her family and left her exiled and desperately trying to appease her abusive brother/guardian.
but then, after she's resolved herself to suicide, she has a dream. and then, she starts to notice the beauty in the new world around her. how the dothraki grass sea swallowed her up, the new sights and sounds and smells all around. she found solace in the people, she ate with them, learned their language in a matter of months, enjoyed their food. felt freer in dothraki riding clothes than in the fine silks ilyrio had dressed her up in.
I'm still deeply touched everytime I read about dany giggling, joking around, moving forward, hugging her friends, leading, and fighting after enduring so much. it's not about her being right in everything she does or everything ending well for her. she went through hell, was already going through it before the series even started, and she kept going. she grows and fights and fucks and laughs and cries and rages. she falls and she gets right back up again.
dany is ready to end her own life. the next day, she notices how pretty the sky is. she learns a few more dothraki words everyday and starts to connect more with those around her. she tries some new foods and starts to feel more comfortable on her horse.
the dragon dream certainly did Something to dany - a scarlet and black dragon (drogon, balerion come again) baptizing her in flame. scouring her, tempering her, making her clean. after this, dany makes the quiet choice to live. there is no grand revelation, no "i want to live!" monologue. she simply starts to notice the beauty in the world she's traveling through, the loyalty and easy comradery in her companions, the tasty food and comfortable clothes. dothraki smells, horse smells. riding leather, painted vests, the gently singing bells braided through hair. dany chooses life everytime she giggles, everytime she tries a new food or convinces her friends to try one, everytime she stops to stare at a pretty sight.
she was ready to choose death and she chose life. when her entire world had narrowed to the scope of her pain, to the strength of her abusers, to the golden collar drogo had put around her neck - she still chose life. and just like that, her world expanded and she could see all that was worth living for.
do not fear for me. the fire is mine.
The largest structure ever built by the hands of man, Benjen Stark had told Jon on the kingsroad when they had first caught sight of the Wall in the distance. “And beyond a doubt the most useless,” Tyrion Lannister had added with a grin, but even the Imp grew silent as they rode closer. You could see it from miles off, a pale blue line across the northern horizon, stretching away to the east and west and vanishing in the far distance, immense and unbroken. This is the end of the world, it seemed to say.
When they finally spied Castle Black, its timbered keeps and stone towers looked like nothing more than a handful of toy blocks scattered on the snow, beneath the vast wall of ice. The ancient stronghold of the black brothers was no Winterfell, no true castle at all. Lacking walls, it could not be defended, not from the south, or east, or west; but it was only the north that concerned the Night’s Watch, and to the north loomed the Wall. Almost seven hundred feet high it stood, three times the height of the tallest tower in the stronghold it sheltered. His uncle said the top was wide enough for a dozen armored knights to ride abreast. The gaunt outlines of huge catapults and monstrous wooden cranes stood sentry up there, like the skeletons of great birds, and among them walked men in black as small as ants.
love that the first lesson jon had to learn at the wall from donal noye and the first lesson that tyrion had to learn in exile from penny were that they might be outcasts, yes, but that they were afforded luxuries due to the privilege of being highborn that they should never forget. that they are mistreated by their world but that they lived lives of comfort that the people around them could only imagine, and that two things may be true at once.
The Tower of Joy: Terrific Digital Painting by Florian Biege
All Daenerys' appearances in the Game of Thrones Histories & Lore (including Rhaella pregnant with Dany and giving birth to Dany)
This was the boy he had grown up with, he thought; this was the Robert Baratheon he’d known and loved. If he could prove that the Lannisters were behind the attack on Bran, prove that they had murdered Jon Arryn, this man would listen. Then Cersei would fall, and the Kingslayer with her, and if Lord Tywin dared to rouse the west, Robert would smash him as he had smashed Rhaegar Targaryen on the Trident. He could see it all so clearly. That breakfast tasted better than anything Eddard Stark had eaten in a long time, and afterward his smiles came easier and more often, until it was time for the tournament to resume.
oh yes, Sansa Stark is in fact, her fathers daughter.
Jon serving as Mormont's steward and Arya serving as Bolton's cupbearer is such an underrated parallel. While their circumstances are completely different, the actual details of their jobs are pretty much the same. They're taking on servile positions where they're waiting on a person in power, which gives them access to privileged information, shows the inner workings of the politics, and gives them unofficial instruction on leadership. Both Jon and Arya even use their position as a powerful person's steward/cupbearer to convince others that what they're doing is on the orders of the person they serve. Its not lol
While this position is presented as a reward for Arya (which it is), Jon takes offense to it until Sam explains that this position puts him on the path to leadership. And that's true. Serving a person in power is usually treated as a type of internship for young nobles and royals. Rhaenyra became her father's cupbearer once she became his heir so she could attend small council meetings and court sessions, the same way Arya and Jon are both present for meetings that they otherwise wouldn't have access to. It was similar with Aegon V who served during council meetings when he was a child.
Roose doesn't intend for this to be an internship for Arya the way Mormont foes for Jon, but it's likely the author's intent for her in this case.
