Alysanne Blackwood - Tumblr Posts

[10/20] ASOIAF power couples → Cregan Stark × Alysanne Blackwood

For six days, Lord Cregan Stark held sway at court, a period that came to be known as the Hour of the Wolf. Though Lord Stark made some concessions and compromises, on one point he remained adamant: the betrayers and poisoners of King Aegon II must pay the price. So fierce was his demeanor, so unyielding, that the others gave way before him and, having been empowered Hand of the King by the young King Aegon III, Cregan had more than twenty men arrested. “The city was his, to do with as he wished,” Septon Eustace says. “The northman had taken it without drawing a sword or loosing an arrow. Be they king’s men or queen’s men, stormlanders or seahorses, riverlords or gutter knights, highborn or low, common soldiers deferred to him as if they had been born to his service.”

Among those put down for death was Lord Corlys Velaryon, yet Lord Stark chose not to proceed with the execution, a decision that has intrigued scholars ever since. But the fool Mushroom claims it was a bargain struck with Lady Alysanne of House Blackwood that persuaded him. Huntress, horse-breaker and archer without peer, Black Aly had little of a woman’s softness about her. Yet in King’s Landing, while accompanying her young nephew Benjicot at court and council, she had met Cregan Stark and conceived a liking for the stern northman.

And Lord Cregan had responded in kind. Though Black Aly was no man’s queen of love and beauty, her fearlessness, stubborn strength, and bawdy tongue struck a chord for the Lord of Winterfell, who soon began to seek out her company in hall and yard. “She smells of woodsmoke, not of flowers,” Stark told Lord Cerwyn, said to be his closest friend. And so when Lady Alysanne came to ask that he let Aegon’s edict stand, restoring to Lord Corlys his offices and honors, Lord Cregan listened.

[…]

After resigning his position as Hand, Lord Stark marched south with a great host, made up in large part of men unwanted and unneeded in the North. Legend tells us it was Lady Alysanne who suggested an answer. The lands along the Trident were full of widows, she reminded him — with winter at hand, strong backs and willing hands would be welcome in many a hearth and home. For the most part, Lady Alysanne’s matchmaking was a great success. The resettled northmen not only strengthened the riverlords who welcomed them, but also helped revive and spread the worship of the old gods south of the Neck.

the dance of the dragons week: day 1 → the blacks or the greens

STARK WEEK

day 3: one member (pre-asoiaf) → alysanne blackwood   

“During the Hour of the Wolf, Lord Cregan Stark of Winterfell briefly served as Hand of the King and dispensed justice after the death of King Aegon II Targaryen. Aly agreed to marry Cregan in exchange for allowing Aegon’s prior pardon of Lord Corlys Velaryon to stand. She had four daughters, Sarra, Alys, Raya, and Mariah Stark.”

The wives of Cregan Stark… Arra, the childhood companion he lost in their youth. Alysanne, the wartime wife he loved with all his heart. Lynara, the wife who survived him and bore his sons. 

“Grant me this boon, and I shall never ask another. Do this, and I shall know that you are as wise as you are strong, as kind as you are fierce. Give me this, and I shall give you whatever you may choose to ask of me.” Mushroom says Lord Cregan scowled at that. “What if I ask you for your maidenhead, my lady?” “I cannot give you what I do not have, my lord,” she answered. “I lost my maidenhead in the saddle when I was three-and-ten.” “Some would say that you squandered on a horse a gift that by rights should have belonged to your future husband.” “Some are fools,” Black Aly answered, “and she was a good horse, better than most husbands I have seen.” Her answer pleased Lord Cregan, who laughed aloud and said, “I shall try to remember that, my lady. Aye, I’ll grant your boon.” “And in return?” she asked.

fancast: alexander dreymon as cregan stark and meghan ory as alysanne blackwood

the women of the dance:

“The great Lords would have given us another two years of war […] it was the women who made the peace.”

jodie comer as rhaenyra targaryen, natalie portman as alicent hightower, alexandra dowling as helaena targaryen, lucy griffiths as alysanne blackwood, rebecca ferguson as johanna lannister, juliet aubrey as jeyne arryn, alicia vikander as the unnamed lady tyrell, and jodhi may as elenda baratheon

when i say The Lads be aware that that very much includes sabitha frey and aly blackwood. where would they be without those women

YYEEAAHHH BABY it’s the Blackwoods vs. the Brackens next ep oh how i live for their beef

seeing as benjicot blackwood is in the next hotd episode, i’d BETTER see alysanne at some point this season.. she’s literally ben’s advisor to the point where she’s basically his regent

willem blackwood put to the sword BENJICOT AND ALYSANNE SOON PLSPSPLSPLSPLSPLSPLS