Ok, I cheated a little bit. This meta could serve for the prompt of the first day, “foreshadowing”, but since I already had something to post on day 1, I decided to post this meta for day 2. And well, the prompt might be “training of Targlings”, but before Jon and Dany can train their Targlings, they first must have their Targlings, right? lol
Anyway, with this meta I want to explain my reasoning for thinking Jon and Dany will have children. One of the hints that this is a possibility is this parallel between Jon and Dany:
I would need to steal her if I wanted her love, but she might give me children. I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall. I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister’s son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly’s boy as well. Sam would never need to tell his lie. We’d find a place for Gilly too, and Sam could come visit her once a year or so. Mance’s son and Craster’s would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb. - Jon XII ASOS
~
“Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was … her name …” Dany could not recall the child’s name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away. “I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons.” - Daenerys X ADWD
Both Jon and Dany think they will never have children. For Jon, it comes from the fact that he is a man of the Night’s Watch, but also from something else. Since Jon is a bastard, he never considered this possibility:
Benjen Stark stood up. “More’s the pity.” He put a hand on Jon’s shoulder. “Come back to me after you’ve fathered a few bastards of your own, and we’ll see how you feel.”
Jon trembled. “I will never father a bastard,” he said carefully. “Never!” He spat it out like venom. - Jon I AGOT
So Jon thinking that he can’t have children (and part of his reason for joining the Night’s Watch) also has to do with his marginalization in society, his fear of ever fathering a bastard or subjecting a child of his to this life. With Dany, her (supposed) incapacity to bear children also makes her marginalized as a woman:
Khal Drogo had been her sun-and-stars, her first, and perhaps he must be her last. The maegi Mirri Maz Duur had sworn she should never bear a living child, and what man would want a barren wife? - Daenerys I ACOK
~
“But,” said Reznak mo Reznak, blinking, “but you must, Your Worship. Before a marriage it is traditional for the women of the man’s house to examine the bride’s womb and, ah … her female parts. To ascertain that they are well formed and, ah …”
“… fertile,” finished Galazza Galare. “An ancient ritual, Your Radiance. Three Graces shall be present to witness the examination and say the proper prayers.”
“Yes,” said Reznak, “and afterward there is a special cake. A women’s cake, baked only for betrothals. Men are not allowed to taste it. I am told it is delicious. Magical.”
And if my womb is withered and my female parts accursed, is there a special cake for that as well? “Hizdahr zo Loraq may inspect my women’s parts after we are wed.” Khal Drogo found no fault with them, why should he? - Daenerys VI ADWD
So both Jon and Dany’s impossibility of having children is linked to their marginalization. None of this is, of course, conclusive evidence. One could argue that Dany remaining barren is thematically important as a woman who defined herself beyond her ability to bear children, and that dealt with her barrenness by redefining her concept of motherhood (by becoming both the Mother of Dragons and the Mhysa to the freed slaves). So Dany remaining barren could definitely be a good narrative choice. On the other hand, one could argue that Jon having children is important for him, because he would be overcoming the stigma of being a bastard by having children of his own. So we have arguments both against and in favor of Jon and Dany having children (and I do believe that if any of them has children, it will be with each other, so I’m not entertaining the possibility that they might have children with someone else). But there’s more that makes me think Jon and Dany will have children. And it has a lot to do with Dany’s story and prophecies.
Before I start, I need to credit @oadara, since she was the one who first came up with a lot of what I’m going to talk about now (x,x,x,x), and I’m mostly only going to expand on it, so please go read her metas for even more context. The number three is specially important in Dany’s story. She is called the “child of three” by the Undying, and all of her prophecies come in sets of three: three fires, three mounts, three treasons. Daughter of death, slayer of lies, bride of fire. Three deaths are shown in the daughter of death visions, three lies are shown in the slayer of lies visions, and Dany also has three visions in the bride of fire visions. All of this seems to suggest that Dany’s story will happen in three phases.
Another thing that corroborates the idea that Dany’s story happens in three phases are the Walls of Qarth. As already pointed out in this meta, the images on the Walls of Qarth eerily match the prophecies in the House of the Undying. The first Wall of Qarth is described like this:
Three thick walls encircled Qarth, elaborately carved. The outer was red sandstone, thirty feet high and decorated with animals: snakes slithering, kites flying, fish swimming, intermingled with wolves of the red waste and striped zorses and monstrous elephants. - Daenerys II ACOK
This wall seems to match the beginning of Dany’s story with the Dothraki, and the prophecies in the House of the Undying also seem to match Dany’s time with the Dothraki. I will copy here what I already wrote in the linked meta:
Most of the “firsts” seem to relate to the beginning of Dany’s journey and her life with the Dothraki, just as the first wall of Qarth. Dany’s first fire is “for life” (the dragons), and it happens when she’s with the Dothraki. The treason for blood could be either Mirri betraying Dany, or Dany “betraying” Viserys (as Viserys accuses her in her dream in Dany X ADWD). Either way, it happened with the Dothraki. The first death of the “daughter of death” section is Viserys’ death, that happens with the Dothraki. The first lie to be slayed is Stannis being Azor Ahai, and Dany slayed this lie by becoming Azor Ahai herself when she births the dragons, and this happens when she’s with the Dothraki. The first mount is her silver, and this is also related to the Dothraki. We don’t know some of these, but most of the “first” prophecies seem to match the first Wall of Qarth.
The second wall of Qarth is described like this:
The middle wall, forty feet high, was grey granite alive with scenes of war: the clash of sword and shield and spear, arrows in flight, heroes at battle and babes being butchered, pyres of the dead. - Daenerys II ACOK
This wall seems to match the second stage of Dany’s life, her time with the Dothraki, and her second prophecies in the House of the Undying also seem to match this:
Most of the “seconds” of the prophecies seem to relate to moments of war or moments in Slaver’s Bay, just like the second wall of Qarth is full of scenes of war. Dany’s second fire is “for death”. Her second mount is “to dread” (and it could relate to Drogon or her marriage to Hizdahr, either way it’s related to war and Slaver’s Bay). Her second vision in the daughter of death section is of Rhaego, who would be the Stallion who Mounts the World. But since he died, Dany took his place, and she will be the Stallion, which will also be related to war. The second lie she must slay is the “cloth dragon”, which most people assume to be Young Griff, and Dany will probably go to war against him as well. The corpse at the prow of a ship (the second vision of the bride of fire prophecy) could be Hizdahr being killed by Victarion, which will also happen in the context of war in Slaver’s Bay. So most of the second visions Dany has relate to war, just like the second wall of Qarth.
And the third wall is described like this:
The innermost wall was fifty feet of black marble, with carvings that made Dany blush until she told herself that she was being a fool. She was no maid; if she could look on the grey wall’s scenes of slaughter, why should she avert her eyes from the sight of men and women giving pleasure to one another? - Daenerys II ACOK
The third wall shows scenes of love, which also matches the “thirds” in Dany’s prophecies:
And Dany’s third prophecies seem to mostly relate to love. Fire to love, mount to love and treason for love. In the daughter of death section, her third vision is of Rhaegar speaking the name of a woman (a woman that he loved), and Rhaegar is the father of the man Dany will love (Jon). Her third vision in the bride of fire section is Jon himself, which once again is linked to love. So most of Dany’s “thirds” seem to relate to love, just like the third wall of Qarth.
Both the Walls of Qarth and the visions in the House of the Undying seem to corroborate the idea that Dany’s story has three stages (and there’s even more threes, so check the links above), and that the last stage of her journey will be centered around love. And unlike what some people speculate, it doesn’t seem to be just any kind of love (like love for humanity) but a specific kind of love: romantic and sexual.
So, based on the idea that Dany’s story has three stages, how do we define each stage, and how does the idea that Dany’s story has three stages leads to the idea that Dany (and Jon) will have children?
Well, I would say that at the end of each stage of Dany’s story, she experiences a rebirth: the first rebirth is obviously walking into Drogo’s pyre and hatching her dragons. Her second rebirth is when she finally rejects the peace in Meereen, flies on Drogon and is reborn in the Dothraki sea.
Both Dany’s rebirths have elements in common: in both, she survives unscathed a fire that burns away her hair (Drogo’s funeral pyre, and Drogon’s dragonfire that burns Dany’s hair away in Daznak’s pit). In both, she is reborn with a different resolve: the Dany that comes out of Drogo’s pyre is no longer the scared little girl of the past, but a strong leader. The Dany that comes out of Daznak’s Pit and the Dothraki Sea is no longer the insecure queen that compromises with slavers, but that will defeat them with fire and blood. And the last thing in common of both rebirths is this: in a way, Dany chooses her dragons over her human children.
At the end of AGOT, in one of the moments Dany wakes up from her fever dreams, her first thoughts are not to her human child, but to her dragons:
“Yes, Khaleesi.” Quick as that Jhiqui was gone, bolting from the tent, shouting. Dany needed … something … someone … what? It was important, she knew. It was the only thing in the world that mattered. She rolled onto her side and got an elbow under her, fighting the blanket tangled about her legs. It was so hard to move. The world swam dizzily. I have to …
They found her on the carpet, crawling toward her dragon eggs. Ser Jorah Mormont lifted her in his arms and carried her back to her sleeping silks, while she struggled feebly against him. Over his shoulder she saw her three handmaids, Jhogo with his little wisp of mustache, and the flat broad face of Mirri Maz Duur. “I must,” she tried to tell them, “I have to …”
“… sleep, Princess,” Ser Jorah said. - Daenerys IX AGOT
She thinks she needs something, that this something is “the most important thing in the world”, and it was not her husband of her son, but her dragon eggs. It takes some time before Dany finally thinks of Rhaego:
Jhiqui would have run as well, but Dany caught her by the wrist and held her captive. “What is it? I must know. Drogo … and my child.” Why had she not remembered the child until now? “My son … Rhaego … where is he? I want him.”
Her handmaid lowered her eyes. “The boy … he did not live, Khaleesi.” Her voice was a frightened whisper.
Dany released her wrist. My son is dead, she thought as Jhiqui left the tent. She had known somehow. She had known since she woke the first time to Jhiqui’s tears. No, she had known before she woke. Her dream came back to her, sudden and vivid, and she remembered the tall man with the copper skin and long silver-gold braid, bursting into flame.
She should weep, she knew, yet her eyes were dry as ash. She had wept in her dream, and the tears had turned to steam on her cheeks. All the grief has been burned out of me, she told herself. She felt sad, and yet … she could feel Rhaego receding from her, as if he had never been. - Daenerys IX ADWD
Which is not to say that Dany is an uncaring mother. She does weep for her son in her dream (and she later grieves him), but as she wakes up, she feels as if “he had never been”, because she unconsciously knows what happened. She unconsciously already feels that her choice to try to save Drogo, and Jorah bringing her into the tent, led to her son’s death, so the only thing left for her, the most important thing in the world that is left, are her dragons. Her choice to wake the dragons can also be seen as the least “peaceful/conforming” choice: Dany could be a good girl and go peacefully to the dosh khaleen as she was supposed to and as Rakharo wanted her to do (“You are khaleesi,” Rakharo said, taking the arakh. “I shall ride at your side to Vaes Dothrak beneath the Mother of Mountains, and keep you safe from harm until you take your place with the crones of the dosh khaleen. No more can I promise.” - Daenerys X AGOT), but Dany chooses to defy norms, and waking the dragons makes it possible for her to do that.
At the end of ADWD, in Dany’s second rebirth, Dany is once again presented with a choice between her dragon children and her human children:
“Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was … her name …” Dany could not recall the child’s name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away. “I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons.”
Aye, the grass said, but you turned against your children. - Daenerys X ADWD
“It is such a long way,” she complained. “I was tired, Jorah. I was weary of war. I wanted to rest, to laugh, to plant trees and see them grow. I am only a young girl.”
No. You are the blood of the dragon. The whispering was growing fainter, as if Ser Jorah were falling farther behind. Dragons plant no trees. Remember that. Remember who you are, what you were made to be. Remember your words.
“Fire and Blood,” Daenerys told the swaying grass. - Daenerys X ADWD
So by choosing war/her dragons, even if it’s necessary and even if the war is just, Dany still feels like a failure and that a choice in favor of war/her dragons means that she can’t plant trees, and forgetting Hazzea’s name is symbolic of Dany accepting more collateral damage. Which can be considered, in a way, prioritizing her dragon children over her human children (though, again, things are much more nuanced than that).
Ok, so what we have in both rebirths is Dany prioritizing her dragon children over her human children. And prioritizing her dragons also means choosing the less peaceful/conformist way (not going to the dosh khaleen, not accepting the peace with the slavers). So in a way, she is opting for war/confront both times, and this has consequences. These consequences are symbolized by something that happens in both of Dany’s rebirths: Dany loses a child.
The first time is obvious: Dany’s choices lead to Rhaego’s death (even if unintentionally). And in the second rebirth, Dany suffers a miscarriage:
She was bleeding, but it was only woman’s blood. The moon is still a crescent, though. How can that be? She tried to remember the last time she had bled. The last full moon? The one before? The one before that? No, it cannot have been so long as that. - Daenerys X ADWD
Dany is bleeding, but the timing is wrong: her period usually comes during full moons, and the moon is a crescent. So this is the first hint that this is not simply “moon’s blood”, Dany is having a miscarriage. Not only that but from this quote, we can also see that Dany never stopped having her period after Mirri told her she was barren (or else Dany wouldn’t be trying to remember when she last had her period, because she would already know that it was before Mirri cursed her). So if she’s wondering here when was the last time she had her period, it must mean that it has been one to three months since her last period, which indicates she was pregnant. We also have this quote:
Her belly was empty, her feet sore and blistered, and it seemed to her that the cramping had grown worse. Her guts were full of writhing snakes biting at her bowels. She scooped up a handful of mud and water in trembling hands. By midday the water would be tepid, but in the chill of dawn it was almost cool and helped her keep her eyes open. As she splashed her face, she saw fresh blood on her thighs. The ragged hem of her undertunic was stained with it. The sight of so much red frightened her. Moon blood, it’s only my moon blood, but she did not remember ever having such a heavy flow. Could it be the water? If it was the water, she was doomed. She had to drink or die of thirst. - Daenerys X ADWD
Here, we see that Dany is having terrible cramps, which seems to indicate that this isn’t simply moon’s blood, but a miscarriage. And we also have Dany saying that her flow is heavier than normal, which is another indication that this is not a normal period, but a miscarriage.
So having said that, I think it’s clear that in both of Dany’s rebirths, Dany lost a child. And I think losing her human children is symbolic of the consequences of Dany’s choices, of choosing her dragons and also of choosing war (as if the loss of children was symbolic of Dany’s belief that she can have no peace and can plant no trees). Now, since Dany’s story seems to follow a pattern, and her story has three phases, I am very confident that Dany will get pregnant again. And she is going to be presented with a similar choice: her dragons or her human children.
I find it unlikely that everything will happen exactly in the same way as Dany’s first two rebirths. I don’t think it makes much sense for GRRM to write Dany making the same choice once again, keeping her character stagnant. I think her third rebirth will show her character development, and it can happen in two ways:
Dany, this time, could choose her human child over her dragons. This could also be symbolic of Dany choosing peace (her human child) over war (her dragons).
I find this option a little bit simplistic considering the nuance in Dany’s story about how peace is not always good and war is not always bad. Which brings me to the second option:
Dany could realize that it doesn’t have to be a choice between her human children and her dragon children, that she can conciliate both. That she doesn’t have to be a dragon who plants no trees, but a dragon that can wage war when necessary, but also a dragon that can plant trees.
Whatever option happens, I think it makes no sense for the last rebirth to be the same as the first two, and I think this time, Dany’s child would be born, which would be symbolic of Dany’s new choices and character development. So to me, it makes a lot of sense for Dany to have a child at the end of the story.
Before I get to the conclusion, there’s also another argument for why I believe Dany will have a child: because Mirri’s semi-prophecy is a Chekhov’s gun. Mirri might not necessarily be intentionally making a prophecy, but simply telling Dany that Khal Drogo will never return, just to mess with Dany. But the fact that GRRM makes Dany constantly think of Mirri’s words (“When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before.”), and the fact that these things actually happen (Quentyn Martell, the sun, rises in the west and sets/dies in the east, her dragons set the Meereenese pyramids on fire, which are the mountains blowing in the wind, the Dothraki sea goes dry, and Dany’s womb quickens), seem to indicate that something more will come from this. And there would be no reason at all for GRRM to make Dany miscarry in ADWD if we were not meant to question if Dany really is infertile. So I think that making Dany barren, giving her a “prophecy” and then making her have a miscarriage are all Chekhov’s guns for Dany having a child in the future.
But why Jon? If Dany is supposed to have children, couldn’t it be with anyone else? Well, it could, if it weren’t for this:
Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness… . mother of dragons, bride of fire … - Daenerys IV ACOK
The blue flower in the wall of ice is without doubt Jon. And this comes during the bride of fire prophecy, and it’s the third vision of the prophecy, meaning that it will happen during the third phase of Dany’s story, the one that is focused on romantic and sexual love. So I think if Dany has a child, there’s really no one else that could be the father but Jon.
CONCLUSION
I think there is evidence that Dany and Jon might have children in the future. Both want children, but think that they can’t have them, and this is linked to their marginalization. Jon having children could be a great way to show Jon overcoming the stigma of being a bastard. Dany having children is more controversial, since her being barren is thematically important, but having children is also linked to her character development in terms of symbolism and the stages of her journey. Given the pattern of Dany’s rebirths, and the phases of her story, I’m inclined to believe that she will indeed have children. And if she does have them, it will be with Jon.
So will Dany and Jon live to train their Targlings? I think they will. I see no point in making Jon have children, after all this time thinking that he couldn’t have them because he was a bastard, only to be killed off. And I also see no point in have Dany thinking that she is good for nothing but war, that she can’t have peace (which is symbolized by both times she chooses her dragons and loses a child), only for her story to end exactly like that, or for her to finally have a child but die because she’s supposedly not made for peace (which would contradict the very symbolic idea of Dany having a child in the first place, because having a child is supposed to symbolize Dany being able to have peace). Not to mention that I just don’t think there’s enough time for Dany to have a child and later die in the War for the Dawn, so having a child would have to happen at the very end or in an epilogue. I think that, if I’m correct about Jon and Dany having children, it’s very likely that this will be a culmination of both their stories: Jon finally overcoming the stigma of being a bastard, and being able to belong, to build a family like he wanted but thought he couldn’t have. And Dany finally having a home and a family that she wanted, and her child symbolizing her character growth from the Dany who thought she could only be good for war and destruction, to the Dany that is able to conciliate the necessity for war with the also necessary peace and rebuilding.
So, after reading a bit into comments and theories about Young Griff/Aegon - which I certainly should not have done because many of those are really appalling – it seems that basically Dany is a total Queen for the same things for which Aegon gets mocked and abused. LOL!
And that’s when comparing them is completely nonsensical anyway.
It’s measuring up »Character A«, that we saw very little of and have no insight (POV) into, to »Character B«, that we have hundreds of pages on (both 3rd Person and POV) – and then judge »Character A« on the grounds of »Character B«.
From the tiny bits we saw of Aegon, it’s not even possible to create a reliable characterization – not if you’re not just trying to shove bias into the gaps as it suits you and execute some wishful condemnation.
For example, one of the accusations towards Aegon that I read quite commonly is that he is arrogant. Not that I would even see that between the lines – but that’s where I am as positively biased towards him as others are negatively biased towards him. Yet apart from that, Dany has a whole lot of scenes – every time she acts as a Khaleesi or Queen in particular – where she is arrogant or at least tries to be. Furthermore, she constantly goes on about all her titles, about being the blood of the dragon, and demands her people to cross the world with her to get her the throne she believes to be hers. That she is fearing and doubting and insecure, we only know from her POV – and the only reason why we do not know about Aegon’s inner monologue is that we did not see any yet. That, however, does not mean that he is a plain, empty caricature who is all that little bit of Tyrion- and JonCon-POV and nothing more. GRRM does not create plain caricature characters – so it’s very unlikely that there is not very much more to his character than the little we saw.
Another accusation often read is that he is naive and inexperienced – and for this, he is compared to Dany, Jon or Robb. But they WERE exactly that: Naive and inexperienced. They grew from it, but they have been with us for a very long time. We saw them grow from being little more than a child to the characters they are today, or to their demise. But Aegon has been sheltered away until basically today. He studied the world, but he has no experience with people. He, just like the others, will either grow or find his demise. Robb was hugely naive throughout his whole campaign, he was just lucky for a while. He headed out to safe, then avenge his father, and it got turned into a wanna-be-king-megalomania. Dany was a scared, little mouse until she found the strength to grow. Jon was as entitled as a bastard could be and pretty arrogant at that until Donal Noye and the rest of the Night’s Watch set his head right. Or take Renly who proved to be stubborn and naive beyond anything when his entire justification for wanting to supplant his older brother was: “people like me more than Stannis“.
Aegon has no tale like that YET. He has been on a boat, hidden away, sheltered. He is just starting out into the world. So comparing him to where Jon and Dany are today, or where Renly and Robb were before they ended, is really absurd. No matter how far the rest of the story is advanced, he is still at the beginning.
Now, please don’t get me wrong: Dany is a wholesome, fascinating character. She has her flaws and strengths because she is not just a caricature. But exactly that is what makes the way Aegon is treated so unfair.
And regardless if he is Aegon or only Young Griff, he is a boy of ~16 who has not seen much of the world. Yes, Daenerys is younger, but she has also been through a lot of shit already – which is not Aegon’s fault, nor is it his fault, that he is inexperienced.
Yes, he assumes that Daenerys will marry him – but so does Daenerys! When she thinks about the son of her older brother at one time, she believes that, had the boy lived, she would have married him because it would have been natural. Targaryens did that sort of thing. Daenerys grew up with that knowledge, just as Aegon did. The idea, that Dany might have a different idea on the matter, makes Aegon react angrily, though it’s not clear whether he is angry that he has been treated like he is a stupid child by Tyrion, whether he feels offended by the idea that Dany might not accept his hand in marriage – or whether he is completely shocked by the idea that all the stuff he has been fed his whole life might not work out as smoothly. It is so easy to read »spoiled brat« into that, but this is only Tyrion’s POV – and Tyrion was in a very bleak mood at that time. We see Aegon being friendly and gentle, laughing and joking, smart and a good student, helping and even saving Tyrion – yet it is that one moment at the Cyvasse Board that people use to judge his character – though that moment was so much more soul wrenching to him that just him losing the game.
All in all, judging Aegon on the same grounds as judging Daenerys makes absolutely no sense. Nothing of this is his doing, either. He is a young boy who is still trying to find his bearings in a world that probably consists only of lies. He might be just a pawn in a play, or he might be the last dragon, and then he is the rightful heir – no matter if Daenerys likes that or not.
People who believe that Aegon is fake mostly ignore the fact that Golden Company is ready to support Viserys and Daenerys too. They often forget that it’s Aegon himself who manage to win their favour after he has spoken his plan to sail West rather than meet Dany like Illyrio’s original plan. Bolding the fact that Aegon has the skill to persuade people that will come handy later in his ruler and that’s impressive as getting GC’s favour is hard to gain.
Gaining Ilyrio’s doesn’t mean he is a fake one, it’s not unsual for an adoptive father comes to love his adoptive children, I mean it’s in their human nature to feel attach to one another.
The mummer’s dragon and the Sun’s son can also refer to the same person, as Aegon is Varys’s dragon and Elia’s son. A cloth dragon in the midst of cheering crowds can also refer to anything it can be about Aegon brought back the Targaryen banners after he gains Westeros. Prophecies are not a certain thing it can be a red herring or as a plot device why would Dany later see him as a pretender, because often the Targaryen misinterpret their own vision that end up dooming.
Aegon not comes out of nowhere, GRRM is already telling about his importance when Dany see him in House of the Undying in the first book and Dany first chapter, hinting about the dragon has three heads. He always brings up by certain character about his death and how it was “unrecognizable”. It’s pretty telling I must say.
The switching babies is also make sense, Aegon is the heir to the throne after Rhaegar had been killed, his life is more at danger than anyone else in that house. A mother who had said to be a clever would do that especially in a time of danger. I believe Elia had tried to protect Rhaenys too, maybe it was Elia who told her to hide that’s why they were at different rooms, but unfortunately she was founded by Tywin’s man. Also there is rumor that Elia had killed her own son herself, perhaps it was Elia who is in the end smash the fake baby face after he died to make it look unrecognizable so they wouldn’t search for her actual son. Who knows right after all there is a rumor of her killing her own son in terror.
Varys’s sentiment when talking about Rhaeny’s death on some occasions but oddly he never mentioned of Aegon’s death. He is one of the Targaryen loyalist, if he’s a Blackfyre that everyone would like to believe then he wouldn’t mind if Targaryen getting destroy in the Sack of King’s Landing and yet it’s him who told Aerys not to open the gate when the lannister comes.
Varys has no reason to lie to a dying man.
The Blackfyre plot is not useless if Aegon being real, it just show that Dany and future enemies have their legit reasons to doubt Aegon’s legitimacy, but what makes it will become a better story is if Aegon is real that Dany’s action will be question, again putting her on the morally grey area between right and wrong. Aegon being real gives closure to the Martell’s plots and many things. Beside the Blackfyre plot never really matter in the main plot, so I bet most general readers wouldn’t even aware of that. Aegon being real has much more impact to the narrative rather than him being a fake one.
God, I love this post! There is so much about the Blackfyre-Theory that does make absolutely no sense to me.
Drogon has oldest sibling energy, but I always think of him as technically the youngest of Dany’s children because I associate the third really loud cracking of the egg as his egg hatching
Oh, and it would fit the order of the Targaryen siblings the dragons are associated with. Rhaegal for Rhaegar as the oldest, Viserion for Viserys the middle child, and Dany being Drogon’s rider as the youngest.
It also is connected with the domino of power. If Rhaegar had lived, he would have been the head of Dany’s family. Then when he died it became Viserys. Then through marriage, as a third, it was Drogo. In the same domino order, her destiny would have been, in turn, to live as the consort of one the three, as well.
Rhaegal is not the oldest, though. Viserion is the oldest, Rhaegal is the middle child, and Drogon is the youngest:
She heard a crack, the sound of shattering stone. The platform of wood and brush and grass began to shift and collapse in upon itself. Bits of burning wood slid down at her, and Dany was showered with ash and cinders. And something else came crashing down, bouncing and rolling, to land at her feet; a chunk of curved rock, pale and veined with gold, broken and smoking. The roaring filled the world, yet dimly through the firefall Dany heard women shriek and children cry out in wonder.
Only death can pay for life.
And there came a second crack, loud and sharp as thunder, and the smoke stirred and whirled around her and the pyre shifted, the logs exploding as the fire touched their secret hearts. She heard the screams of frightened horses, and the voices of the Dothraki raised in shouts of fear and terror, and Ser Jorah calling her name and cursing. No, she wanted to shout to him, no, my good knight, do not fear for me. The fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don’t you see? Don’t you SEE? With a belch of flame and smoke that reached thirty feet into the sky, the pyre collapsed and came down around her. Unafraid, Dany stepped forward into the firestorm, calling to her children.
The third crack was as loud and sharp as the breaking of the world. - Daenerys X AGOT
But what you said really is interesting. Drogon is the youngest, but he is described as the fiercest of Dany’s dragons, the biggest,and the bravest, just like Dany ends up being the most important of the Targaryen siblings and the one who accomplishes the most, despite being the youngest and a girl.
Drogon has oldest sibling energy, but I always think of him as technically the youngest of Dany’s children because I associate the third really loud cracking of the egg as his egg hatching
Yes, Arya thought. Yes, it’s you who ought to run, you and Lord Tywin and the Mountain and Ser Addam and Ser Amory and stupid Ser Lyonel whoever he is, all of you better run or my brother will kill you, he’s a Stark, he’s more wolf than man, and so am I.
- Arya III ACOK,
Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought. Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros? I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I
Day 28: Parallels with other characters -> Daenerys Targaryen
Dragondreams/Wolfdreams
Dany
Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet. She could hear it singing to her, She opened her arms to the fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce.
Arya
Sleep came as quick as she closed her eyes. She dreamed of wolves that night, stalking through a wet wood with the smell of rain and rot and blood thick in the air. Only they were good smells in the dream, and Arya knew she had nothing to fear. She was strong and swift and fierce, and her pack was all around her, her brothers and her sisters. They ran down a frightened horse together, tore its throat out, and feasted. And when the moon broke through the clouds, she threw back her head and howled.
Drogon has oldest sibling energy, but I always think of him as technically the youngest of Dany’s children because I associate the third really loud cracking of the egg as his egg hatching
Oh, and it would fit the order of the Targaryen siblings the dragons are associated with. Rhaegal for Rhaegar as the oldest, Viserion for Viserys the middle child, and Dany being Drogon’s rider as the youngest.
It also is connected with the domino of power. If Rhaegar had lived, he would have been the head of Dany’s family. Then when he died it became Viserys. Then through marriage, as a third, it was Drogo. In the same domino order, her destiny would have been, in turn, to live as the consort of one the three, as well.
Rhaegal is not the oldest, though. Viserion is the oldest, Rhaegal is the middle child, and Drogon is the youngest:
She heard a crack, the sound of shattering stone. The platform of wood and brush and grass began to shift and collapse in upon itself. Bits of burning wood slid down at her, and Dany was showered with ash and cinders. And something else came crashing down, bouncing and rolling, to land at her feet; a chunk of curved rock, pale and veined with gold, broken and smoking. The roaring filled the world, yet dimly through the firefall Dany heard women shriek and children cry out in wonder.
Only death can pay for life.
And there came a second crack, loud and sharp as thunder, and the smoke stirred and whirled around her and the pyre shifted, the logs exploding as the fire touched their secret hearts. She heard the screams of frightened horses, and the voices of the Dothraki raised in shouts of fear and terror, and Ser Jorah calling her name and cursing. No, she wanted to shout to him, no, my good knight, do not fear for me. The fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don’t you see? Don’t you SEE? With a belch of flame and smoke that reached thirty feet into the sky, the pyre collapsed and came down around her. Unafraid, Dany stepped forward into the firestorm, calling to her children.
The third crack was as loud and sharp as the breaking of the world. - Daenerys X AGOT
But what you said really is interesting. Drogon is the youngest, but he is described as the fiercest of Dany’s dragons, the biggest,and the bravest, just like Dany ends up being the most important of the Targaryen siblings and the one who accomplishes the most, despite being the youngest and a girl.
If you believe the theory that Tyrion, Jon, and Dany are the three headed dragon (which I do), and that they’ll ride Viserion, Rhaegal, and Drogon respectively, then their own birth order matches their corresponding dragons as well!
It’s also been on my mind for awhile about how amongst Dany’s sons, Viserion is the calmest of the three. And that the hierarchy of fiercest to (still fierce but) calmest of them all, goes Drogon, Rhaegal and then Viserion.
Hence,
Viserion sensed her disquiet. The white dragon lay coiled around a pear tree, his head resting on his tail. When Dany passed his eyes came open, two pools of molten gold. His horns were gold as well, and the scales that ran down his back from head to tail. “You’re lazy,” she told him, scratching under his jaw. His scales were hot to the touch, like armor left too long in the sun. Dragons are fire made flesh. She had read that in one of the books Ser Jorah had given her as a wedding gift. “You should be hunting with your brothers. Have you and Drogon been fighting again?” Her dragons were growing wild of late. Rhaegal had snapped at Irri, and Viserion had set Reznak’s tokar ablaze the last time the seneschal had called. I have left them too much to themselves, but where am I to find the time for them?
This is when he is smaller, but she only calls Viserion her laziest one (can’t recall her calling Drogon or Rhaegal lazy.)
Whereas the fiercest of them is without a doubt, Drogon.
AndDrogon…
The winged shadow, the grieving father called him. He was the largest of her three, the fiercest, the wildest, with scales as black as night and eyes like pits of fire.
And in Barristan’s last chapter in ADWD, it highlights that although both are dangerous dragons, Rhaegal is the more dangerous one compared to Viserion
Far off to the east, beyond the city walls, he saw pale wings moving above a distant line of hills. Viserion. Hunting, mayhaps, or flying just to fly. He wondered where Rhaegalwas.Thus far the green dragon had shown himself to be more dangerous than the white.
In ASOIAF, a rejectionof one’s own nature directly leads to their demise and/or death and acceptionof this nature leads to their escape from that fate.
Parallels with Robb
Robb rejects his wolfish nature, even though Greywind ripping someone’s hand earned him the truth and loyalty of his men —> This puts him in a grave danger —> Death
Daenerys locks her dragons up —> This puts her in a grave danger —> ???
Parallels with Arya & Jon
Arya: Reconnects with her nature —> ‘'I am a direwolf, and done with the wooden teeth.” —> Manages to escape the Harrenhal —> Survival
Jon: Has a weaker connection with his wolf —> He’s now dead, stuck in Ghost —> He is forced to reconnect with his direwolf —> (Possible) Survival
Dany: Drogon crashes the wedding party —> This forces her to reconnect with her dragon —> (Possible) Survival
Just to expand on this and add some book quotes, the text makes it very clear that the rejection of their wolfish nature and instincts is part of what leads to both Jon and Robb’s deaths. For Robb, since the beginning of ASOS, he starts ignoring the warnings Grey Wind gives, against Catelyn’s advice:
“I am not a wolf, no matter what they call me.” Robb sounded cross. “Grey Wind killed a man at the Crag, another at Ashemark, and six or seven at Oxcross. If you had seen—”
“I saw Bran’s wolf tear out a man’s throat at Winterfell,” she said sharply, “and loved him for it.”
“That’s different. The man at the Crag was a knight Jeyne had known all her life. You can’t blame her for being afraid. Grey Wind doesn’t like her uncle either. He bares his teeth every time Ser Rolph comes near him.”
A chill went through her. “Send Ser Rolph away. At once.”
“Where? Back to the Crag, so the Lannisters can mount his head on a spike? Jeyne loves him. He’s her uncle, and a fair knight besides. I need more men like Rolph Spicer, not fewer. I am not going to banish him just because my wolf doesn’t seem to like the way he smells.”
“Robb.” She stopped and held his arm. “I told you once to keep Theon Greyjoy close, and you did not listen. Listen now. Send this man away. I am not saying you must banish him. Find some task that requires a man of courage, some honorable duty, what it is matters not … but do not keep him near you.”
He frowned. “Should I have Grey Wind sniff all my knights? There might be others whose smell he mislikes.”
“Any man Grey Wind mislikes is a man I do not want close to you. These wolves are more than wolves, Robb. You must know that. I think perhaps the gods sent them to us. Your father’s gods, the old gods of the north. Five wolf pups, Robb, five for five Stark children.”
“Six,” said Robb. “There was a wolf for Jon as well. I found them, remember? I know how many there were and where they came from. I used to think the same as you, that the wolves were our guardians, our protectors, until …”
“Until?” she prompted.
Robb’s mouth tightened. “… .until they told me that Theon had murdered Bran and Rickon. Small good their wolves did them. I am no longer a boy, Mother. I’m a king, and I can protect myself.” He sighed. “I will find some duty for Ser Rolph, some pretext to send him away. Not because of his smell, but to ease your mind. You have suffered enough.” - Catelyn II ASOS
Later we learn that Ser Rolph was part of the ploy with the Freys, and that he gains a lordship for it:
Ser Kevan presented another sheaf of parchments to the king. Tommen dipped and signed. “This is a decree of legitimacy for a natural son of Lord Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort. And this names Lord Bolton your Warden of the North.” Tommen dipped, signed, dipped, signed. “This grants Ser Rolph Spicer title to the castle Castamere and raises him to the rank of lord.” Tommen scrawled his name. - Jaime IX ASOS
Grey Wind also doesn’t want to go into the Twins:
There was more trouble at the gatehouse. Grey Wind balked in the middle of the drawbridge, shook the rain off, and howled at the portcullis. Robb whistled impatiently. “Grey Wind. What is it? Grey Wind, with me.” But the direwolf only bared his teeth. He does not like this place, Catelyn thought. Robb had to squat and speak softly to the wolf before he would consent to pass beneath the portcullis. - Catelyn VI ASOS
Walder Frey refuses to allow Grey Wind into the castle, meaning that Grey Wind is away from Robb when the Red Wedding happens:
The sight of the dogs made Catelyn wish once more for Grey Wind, but Robb’s direwolf was nowhere to be seen. Lord Walder had refused to allow him in the hall. “Your wild beast has a taste for human flesh, I hear, heh,” the old man had said. “Rips out throats, yes. I’ll have no such creature at my Roslin’s feast, amongst women and little ones, all my sweet innocents.”
“Grey Wind is no danger to them, my lord,” Robb protested. “Not so long as I am there.”
“You were there at my gates, were you not? When the wolf attacked the grandsons I sent to greet you? I heard all about that, don’t think I didn’t, heh.”
“No harm was done—”
“No harm, the king says? No harm? Petyr fell from his horse, fell. I lost a wife the same way, falling.” His mouth worked in and out. “Or was she just some strumpet? Bastard Walder’s mother, yes, now I recall. She fell off her horse and cracked her head. What would Your Grace do if Petyr had broken his neck, heh? Give me another apology in place of a grandson? No, no, no. Might be you’re king, I won’t say you’re not, the King in the North, heh, but under my roof, my rule. Have your wolf or have your wedding, sire. You’ll not have both.” - Catelyn VII ASOS
~
Then the tabletop that the Smalljon had flung over Robb shifted, and her son struggled to his knees. He had an arrow in his side, a second in his leg, a third through his chest. Lord Walder raised a hand, and the music stopped, all but one drum. Catelyn heard the crash of distant battle, and closer the wild howling of a wolf. Grey Wind, she remembered too late. - Catelyn VII ASOS
The same happens with Jon. Right at the beginning of ADWD, he is warned by Melisandre to keep his wolf close:
“Do not be so certain.” The ruby at Melisandre’s throat gleamed red. “It is not the foes who curse you to your face that you must fear, but those who smile when you are looking and sharpen their knives when you turn your back. You would do well to keep your wolf close beside you. Ice, I see, and daggers in the dark. Blood frozen red and hard, and naked steel. It was very cold.” - Jon I ADWD
Then, we see Jon rejecting his wolf nature and claiming to not be a wolf, just like Robb claimed he was not a wolf, and he does this again against Melisandre’s advice:
He was walking beneath the shell of the Lord Commander’s Tower, past the spot where Ygritte had died in his arms, when Ghost appeared beside him, his warm breath steaming in the cold. In the moonlight, his red eyes glowed like pools of fire. The taste of hot blood filled Jon’s mouth, and he knew that Ghost had killed that night. No, he thought. I am a man, not a wolf. He rubbed his mouth with the back of a gloved hand and spat. - Jon III ADWD
~
“You think so?” She knelt and scratched Ghost behind his ear. “Your Wall is a queer place, but there is power here, if you will use it. Power in you, and in this beast. You resist it, and that is your mistake. Embrace it. Use it.”
I am not a wolf, he thought. “And how would I do that?” - Jon VI ADWD
Then, right before he is killed, he locks Ghost away, just like Robb was away from Grey Wind when he died:
Horse and Rory had replaced Fulk and Mully at the armory door with the change of watch. “With me,” Jon told them, when the time came. Ghost would have followed as well, but as the wolf came padding after them, Jon grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and wrestled him back inside. Borroq might be amongst those gathering at the Shieldhall. The last thing he needed just now was his wolf savaging the skinchanger’s boar. - Jon XIII ADWD
So both Jon and Robb die because they reject their wolfish natures and are away from their wolves. And they realize this in the end, as their last words are the names of their direwolves:
“Jeyne?” Robb grabbed the edge of the table and forced himself to stand. “Mother,” he said, “Grey Wind …” - Catelyn VII ASOS
~
Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold … - Jon XIII ADWD
For Robb, his direwolf wasn’t able to save him, because they Frey men killed him. For Jon, on the other hand, his reconnection with his wolf will be his salvation.
With Arya, we see this play out with the way she feels like different creatures. First she is a a sheep, then a scared mouse. Then she is a ghost. And she finally frees herself when she reclaims her wolf nature:
On the road Arya had felt like a sheep, but Harrenhal turned her into a mouse. She was grey as a mouse in her scratchy wool shift, and like a mouse she kept to the crannies and crevices and dark holes of the castle, scurrying out of the way of the mighty. - Arya VII ACOK
~
Arya chewed her lip and tried to think when her courage had come back. Jaqen made me brave again. He made me a ghost instead of a mouse. - Arya IX ACOK
~
“You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the north. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you.”
“The wolf blood.” Arya remembered now. “I’ll be as strong as Robb. I said I would.” She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee. It broke with a loud crack, and she threw the pieces aside. I am a direwolf, and done with wooden teeth. - Arya X ACOK
The text makes it very clear with these examples that rejecting one’s own nature leads to doom, and accepting it leads to salvation. And the same can be seen with Dany. Locking away her dragons and making peace with the slavers represents Dany being imprisoned and enslaved, compromising her values, which goes against her nature:
Four hours later, they emerged again as man and wife, bound together wrist and ankle with chains of yellow gold. - Daenerys VII ADWD
~
It was time, though. A girl might spend her life at play, but she was a woman grown, a queen, a wife, a mother to thousands. Her children had need of her. Drogon had bent before the whip, and so must she. She had to don her crown again and return to her ebon bench and the arms of her noble husband. - Daenerys X ADWD
Meanwhile, the dragons represent freedom, which is Dany’s true nature:
“There is a reason. A dragon is no slave.” And Dany swept the lash down as hard as she could across the slaver’s face. Kraznys screamed and staggered back, the blood running red down his cheeks into his perfumed beard. The harpy’s fingers had torn his features half to pieces with one slash, but she did not pause to contemplate the ruin. “Drogon,” she sang out loudly, sweetly, all her fear forgotten. “Dracarys.” - Daenerys III ASOS
~
“Unsullied!” Dany galloped before them, her silver-gold braid flying behind her, her bell chiming with every stride. “Slay the Good Masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who wears a tokar or holds a whip, but harm no child under twelve, and strike the chains off every slave you see.” She raised the harpy’s fingers in the air … and then she flung the scourge aside. “Freedom!” she sang out. “Dracarys! Dracarys!”
“Dracarys!” they shouted back, the sweetest word she’d ever heard. “Dracarys! Dracarys!” And all around them slavers ran and sobbed and begged and died, and the dusty air was filled with spears and fire. - Daenerys III ASOS
This dichotomy is made even more clear when we see that going back to her husband in Meereen (back to the peace with the slavers) and turning away from Drogon is described as “closing her ears to the song of flight and freedom”:
No, Dany told herself. If I look back I am lost. She might live for years amongst the sunbaked rocks of Dragonstone, riding Drogon by day and gnawing at his leavings every evenfall as the great grass sea turned from gold to orange, but that was not the life she had been born to. So once again she turned her back upon the distant hill and closed her ears to the song of flight and freedom that the wind sang as it played amongst the hill’s stony ridges. The stream was trickling south by southeast, as near as she could tell. She followed it. Take me to the river, that is all I ask of you. Take me to the river, and I will do the rest.
The hours passed slowly. The stream bent this way and that, and Dany followed, beating time upon her leg with the whip, trying not to think about how far she had to go, or the pounding in her head, or her empty belly. Take one step. Take the next. Another step. Another. What else could she do? - Daenerys X ADWD
Reconnecting with her nature can only be a good thing for Dany. Whether she makes mistakes or not now that she reconnected with her inner dragon at the end of ADWD, we saw with the examples of Jon and Robb that the biggest mistake is ignoring your own nature and identity.
Drogon has oldest sibling energy, but I always think of him as technically the youngest of Dany’s children because I associate the third really loud cracking of the egg as his egg hatching
Oh, and it would fit the order of the Targaryen siblings the dragons are associated with. Rhaegal for Rhaegar as the oldest, Viserion for Viserys the middle child, and Dany being Drogon’s rider as the youngest.
It also is connected with the domino of power. If Rhaegar had lived, he would have been the head of Dany’s family. Then when he died it became Viserys. Then through marriage, as a third, it was Drogo. In the same domino order, her destiny would have been, in turn, to live as the consort of one the three, as well.
Rhaegal is not the oldest, though. Viserion is the oldest, Rhaegal is the middle child, and Drogon is the youngest:
She heard a crack, the sound of shattering stone. The platform of wood and brush and grass began to shift and collapse in upon itself. Bits of burning wood slid down at her, and Dany was showered with ash and cinders. And something else came crashing down, bouncing and rolling, to land at her feet; a chunk of curved rock, pale and veined with gold, broken and smoking. The roaring filled the world, yet dimly through the firefall Dany heard women shriek and children cry out in wonder.
Only death can pay for life.
And there came a second crack, loud and sharp as thunder, and the smoke stirred and whirled around her and the pyre shifted, the logs exploding as the fire touched their secret hearts. She heard the screams of frightened horses, and the voices of the Dothraki raised in shouts of fear and terror, and Ser Jorah calling her name and cursing. No, she wanted to shout to him, no, my good knight, do not fear for me. The fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don’t you see? Don’t you SEE? With a belch of flame and smoke that reached thirty feet into the sky, the pyre collapsed and came down around her. Unafraid, Dany stepped forward into the firestorm, calling to her children.
The third crack was as loud and sharp as the breaking of the world. - Daenerys X AGOT
But what you said really is interesting. Drogon is the youngest, but he is described as the fiercest of Dany’s dragons, the biggest,and the bravest, just like Dany ends up being the most important of the Targaryen siblings and the one who accomplishes the most, despite being the youngest and a girl.
If you believe the theory that Tyrion, Jon, and Dany are the three headed dragon (which I do), and that they’ll ride Viserion, Rhaegal, and Drogon respectively, then their own birth order matches their corresponding dragons as well!
“It seems like it should make sense for them to, for Dany to see the truth of her family’s reign beneath the careful lies and imagery that Aegon is clothed in, and to also confront the bloody legacy of Valyiria, personified in the Greyjoy Brothers.”@orangedodge
I did not know if I should reblog on your post or write my own because I think I’m going a bit off-topic from the original post, but i have problems with this statement. Not because it is baseless but because it has a base and the problem of that base is a double standard between
a) slavery/feudalism as oppressive systems that made individuals unequal by law. If dehumanizing Slavers is a point, why humanize feudal lords? And still Slavers have no PoV while feudal lords and their children hold 90% of them. This evolves in the biggest overall problem that Asoiaf has for me, a lack of conexion between structure and message. It condemns feudalism as a system but shows it mostly through the privileged by the system, and villanizes characters that successfully thrive on it (Little Finger) against the rules set by it. It condemns racism but mostly through white PoV, in a story centered around a white culture, while what he thinks are Mediterranean inspired people are identified as exoticized PoC (with good reasons) by most of the Fandom, a much more developement of White Savages compared to “brown” savages, etc.
b) House Targaryen/other cool feudal houses, specially First Men houses like the Starks. Why has everyone noticed that facing the bad of House Targaryen ruling is a theme, but facing the bad of House Stark (or Blackwood, or Dayne) is not a common discussion? Is because in general Stark PoV generate less political discussion? And why is that? Because he still can do this with Bran but there are not as half as clues as with Daenerys there, or people hasn’t stopped to look, either because Bran is less interesting or because this double standard between different houses is clouding that perception? Because we don’t really have a bad Stark ruler in Canon that actually peaks the attention on it?
This unbalances enormously the gray areas on the political topics he addresses. Which is a pity because a dressing those topics is the thing that makes the whole series special on his own, in my opinion, a very biased one because systems of social oppression would have been my speciality if I have prosecuted a PhD.
And yeah, I analysed this saga as the unfinished work it is, and that will be for a long time if not forever.
Thank you for your thoughts, and for giving me the opportunity to clarify.
I don’t disagree about the double standards Daenerys is held to, they exist plainly within both the fandom and the in-universe world of asoiaf. Yes, she shouldn’t be held uniquely responsible for the crimes of her ancestors, especially when the Starks, Lanisters, Greyjoys, and Martells have many of the same atrocities in their histories that the Targaryens do, but Daenerys remains the only character who is placed in a position where she has the chance to confront the negative aspects of her family legacy and work past them. She’s the character who is dismantling a slave system that her people maintained for thousands of years. She’s the one character whose story has involved working in opposition to systemic violence and injustice. She’s one of only two rulers who agonizes over what it means to rule well, if such a thing is possible. The other rulers tend to be either oblivious to how they’ve unfairly benefited from the exploitation of others, or just don’t care, in other cases.
In short, we devote this extra focus on injustice and responsibility to Daenerys herself and to House Targaryen, because they’re the ones who that focus has been given to by the author, while the Starks and the Lannisters rarely consider such things, or in the case of houses like the Greyjoys would be unwilling to in any case. There are fandom biases driving that focus as well, but I think it’s largely just attributable to our attention being drawn where Martin has invited it.
Should Martin not also begin to have other his other POV characters begin to interrogate themselves over how they’ve wielded political power in a feudal system, and benefited from the crimes of their ancestors? Yes, of course, but I don’t foresee him actually doing that, beyond what he’s already done with Stannis via Davos’ chapters. So when Dany is singled out (as I single her out), I believe it is because confronting the past is a structural part of her journey alone, both because of the unique placement of her character (as the last of the Valyrian dragonlords, and as the leader of a Dothraki khalassar, and as the leader of a Ghiscari city-state), and because she’s been the sole vehicle for the author’s exploration of his own sense of collective guilt.
I agree with both here. Yes, the reason these discussions tend to center on Dany has a lot to do with the fact that the character herself and her narrative end up questioning these injustices and legacy. However, I still think it’s a very valid criticism of ASOIAF, because the narrative does seem to have a double standard, and I don’t think Martin should do this. I mean, if fandom speculation is correct, Dany will end up accidentally burning King’s Landing. And the reason for this is that “she has to confront her family’s legacy”. And in the end the narrative will punish Dany for this, and she’ll have to die to “redeem” herself. And this is a very unfair narrative. Why aren’t other characters forced to confront their ancestors’ legacy? Why doesn’t the narrative punish them for their ancestors’ legacy in the same way that the narrative will punish Dany, by having her do something horrible and then kill her off? Why is Daenerys that will be punished by the narrative, when her character is one of the only characters that actually questions the injustices in the society, while characters that never questioned these injustices or the costs of war will not be punished by the narrative and get to live and rule in the end?
(I lost my post on this when I deleted my old account, so I decided to try it again. Coincidentally, this has ended up being different from my previous one.)
Joffrey wasn’t solely responsible for Ned’s death, nor were Janos Slynt and Ilyn Payne. Behind it all, there was a hidden player – someone more than used to manipulation, lying, and murder.
A lot of things don’t add up about Ned’s execution on the steps of the sept.
1. It was a planned event designed to look spontaneous:
It definitelylooked like Joffrey had just gone rogue the day of Ned’s execution— but did he, really? It’s true that most were shocked when he gave the order to execute Ned, but it doesn’t all add up.
“It does seem my sister was telling the truth about Stark’s death. We have my nephew to thank for that madness.”
“King Joffrey gave the command. Janos Slynt and Ser Ilyn Payne carried it out, swiftly, without hesitation…
“…almost as if they had expected it. Yes, we have been over this ground before, without profit.” —Tyrion & Varys, ACOK
The plan was for Ned to go the Wall. So if this really was just an impulsive act on Joffrey’s part, it seems unusual that Slynt and Payne would carry out the command without any hesitation.
2. What Arya sees:
We witness Ned’s execution through Arya’s eyes, and if you pay close attention you can catch some interesting details.
Clustered around the doors of the sept, in front of the raised marble pulpit, were a knot of knights and high lords. Joffrey was prominent among them, his raiment all crimson, silk and satin patterned with prancing stags and roaring lions, a gold crown on his head. His queen mother stood beside him in a black mourning gown slashed with crimson, a veil of black diamonds in her hair.
Arya recognized the Hound, wearing a snowy white cloak over his dark grey armor, with four of the Kingsguard around him. She saw Varys the eunuch gliding among the lords in soft slippers and a patterned damask robe, and she thought the short man with the silvery cape and pointed beard might be the one who had once fought a duel for Mother. AGOT
She also identifies Sansa. So other than her sister, Arya notices her father, the High Septon standing behind him, and then (from the excerpt above) she sees Joffrey, Cersei, the Hound, four members of the Kingsguard, Varys, and obviously the last man is Petyr Baelish.
And then this is what happens after Joffrey gives the command to execute Ned:
The crowd roared, and Arya felt the statue of Baelor rock as they surged against it. The High Septon clutched at the king’s cape, and Varys came rushing over waving his arms, and even the queen was saying something to him, but Joffrey shook his head. AGOT
At this point Sansa falls to her knees sobbing, and Ilyn Payne climbs the steps to the pulpit—without hesitation.
Look at who’s missing. Out of the people who Arya named, Petyr Baelish is conspicuously absent from this passage. And that’s because he wasn’t surprised, and because he didn’t rush forward to try and dissuade Joffrey from killing Ned like the High Septon, Varys, and Cersei all did.
And that’s probably because he was the one who signed Ned Stark’s death warrant in the first place.
There is a peculiar mode of analysis in the ASOIAF fandom whereby we apply modern standards, both ideological and moral, to the concrete material actions of the characters who are textually addressed as progressive for their time. In the sense that if I praise a character for doing something that goes against the feudalist-patriarchal grain, the response will be “oh just having [x identity] person on the council or being [x identity] isn’t revolutionary”. Which is certainly true, and of course as a Marxist we need to criticize identity politics as it has infiltrated the left and normalized the logics of neoliberalism.
Having said that, though, what we consider “normal”, or indeed even banal and pedestrian at this point, was not considered “normal” in the time that GRRM is writing about. All critiques of GRRM portraying a hyper-violent, hyper-patriarchal, incredibly white feudalistic world aside, feudalism was still a violent institution and deeply patriarchal, and splitting hairs over to which degree of violence it was does not serve. Feudalism was deeply hierarchical and rigid and the most hellish for serfs and women in particular.
When we’re looking at the material or concrete actions of a given ASOIAF character, then, it doesn’t serve to just write them off as “well this is normal, anyone can do it” or “wow should so and so get a cookie for it?” or “so and so isn’t anti-classist just because they’re friends with xyz”. This kind of routine buzzword-fed dogmatism ignores the nature of feudalism and how it structured feudal society.
Feudalism is so regimented that the classes cannot intermingle outside of the strictly assigned roles: a servant cannot be friends with a noble lady, that’s preposterous! A butcher cannot share food from the same pot as a highborn knight. Why would a queen share her bed with her lowborn handmaids? Think about any depiction of feudalism or any analysis of feudal society: do the lowborn sleep in the same beds, or even in the same rooms, as the highborn? Are their homes and living quarters the same? Do they eat the same quality and quantity of food, and share food from the same plate? Are lowborn and highborn people typically good, close, intimate friends, to the point that lowborn people can feel safe and free to share their opinions and even push back against or criticize their liege lords and ladies? Do kings and queens have former slaves, freedmen, and servants on their councils or serving them as political advisors? Do women typically fight alongside men in armies? Do women become Knights? Are women allowed to be openly sexually free and liberal, wear whatever clothing they want, take as many partners they want? Can women be openly politically ambitious and prioritize their political independence? Are bastards typically allowed to have leadership positions, even prioritized above natural-born heirs? Do people of different ethnic groups, classes, nationalities, religions, and cultures intermingle easily, especially if they’re of different birth statuses?
As Khaleesi, Daenerys is progressive for being a Queen Consort who stops rape and pillaging and deliberately interferes with the patriarchal leadership and prevents them from engaging in patriarchal tradition that maintains their class power over women (taking women as sex slaves, spoils of war, reinforces the brutality of patriarchy). Queen Consorts derive their power from their husbands. By commanding her husband’s men and “taking” their “spoils” from them, and then cajoling her husband to make him agree, she steps out of her assigned feudal role, knowing she’ll face backlash, to protect women. In a modern era, this won’t be seen as impressive because we have a better understanding of rape and women’s rights; however, that understanding simply did not exist in ASOIAF. It is the same reason why Alysanne was progressive for abolishing the lord’s right of first night in the North. This is why Dany faces so much backlash and punishment later on – she defied patriarchal tradition by denying her assigned role, destroying its boundaries, and going against the grain to protect women. How many instances are there in history of a Queen Consort doing such a thing? Not many.
I need not go into detail about how progressive Daenerys is for abolishing slavery. Even if it’s a hotly debated topic in the fandom, a Queen Regnant, a conqueror as it were, deliberately conquering for the sake of abolishing slavery and ruling to stabilize a society post-abolition, making enemies out of the nobility rather than allying with them, and destroying the sea of the slave trade rather than profiting from it, is highly irregular. The typical action of a conqueror would have been to join the imperialist-slaver nexus and expand an empire thusly. She doesn’t do that. Not to mention that Daenerys derives this consciousness in large part from her own experiences as a bridal slave.
Speaking of Daenerys being a bridal slave, the fact that she is able to recognize that what happened to her is slavery, that she was sold, despite the fact that even she thinks women are supposed to be good wives to their husbands, and despite the fact that the society she grew up in taught her that diktat, is also important. This belies a proto-feminist recognition of the patriarchal nature of marriage itself, and how marriage underlies the class component of patriarchy. I do not expect Daenerys to be completely enlightened or progressive about the nature of marriage, but the fact that she’s able to articulate what happened to her and explicitly admit that it was a condition of bridal slavery is immensely important.
Daenerys is progressive for being a She-King and Khal. Again, by directly challenging the assigned feudal role to her, she normalizes the reality that women can be and can do more than just bear children, marry husbands, and die after “serving their purpose”. She’s progressive for having her own lover and being enthusiastically sexually active rather than restricting herself, in a time when women’s bodies are so policed and brutalized and used as property for men’s political games.
Daenerys is progressive for mourning the smallfolk and freedmen and lowborn people who die, the ones that she is accountable to. How many characters in ASOIAF base their feelings of love, vengeance, and passion on the lowborn people who died under their care? How many ASOIAF characters go through the series with that remembrance, with those names on their lips and in their hearts, with those names as their guiding light? How many Kings and Queens in real life history do you think did so? How many ASOIAF characters and in real life divert their political goals or put themselves in harm’s way for the sake of a lowborn girl like Eroeh, a slave like Doreah, etc?
Daenerys is progressive for sharing food and space and sleeping in the same beds and quarters as her handmaids. How many characters in ASOIAF share food with their servants? How many sleep in the same beds as their servants, give their servants gifts, stay in the same quarters as their servants? How many starve and suffer alongside them instead of making them cater to their needs, as Dany suffered alongside her people in The Red Waste and said she needed to be their strength, rather than her relying on them? She shares her bed with Irri, Jhiqui, and Missandei at alternative turns and shares quarters with them too, rather than relegating them to the corner of the room or “servant’s rooms” that are ten times tinier than a queen’s room. She does not feel revolted at sharing food or eating the same food as them. If your response to this is “there is nothing radical or revolutionary about having a friend with x identity”, take a look at ASOIAF and tell me how many of the other highborn characters share these qualities and then come back to me.
Daenerys is progressive for having freedmen, former slaves, women, and people of different ethnic groups on both her military council and political Court. She is progressive for listening to and heeding the advice of lowborn and formerly enslaved people and using their voices to inform her own policies and statecraft. Again, if your response to this is “well it’s easy to do this, it’s nothing special”, tell me how many leaders in ASOIAF, or feudal kings/queens/lords in history, had literal former slaves on their council and servants (scribes/heralds/handmaids) giving political advice and opinions and then lords/kings/queens taking said advice into account.
These things are radical for Dany’s time because they destroy and subvert the highly and elaborately structured roles given to classes of people under feudalism. If this was so easy for anyone in ASOIAF to do, then all the characters would do things like this, but they don’t, and that is why Dany stands out. And I’m not saying it’s just Dany––Arya is progressive for befriending anyone regardless of birth status and for becoming close to low-born smallfolk, Jon is progressive for having women fight as part of his command and re-integrating the Wildlings into Westeros, Brienne is progressive for being a true female Knight and bodily protecting smallfolk, Tyrion is progressive for trying to fight against the corrupt elite and deliberately undermining or undoing their plans as the acting Hand to the King. Overall, though, these are patterns that speak to subversive behavior and revolutionary behavior. If it was so easy for women to be part of a fighting military force or to become knights, if it was so easy for anyone to become truly good friends regardless of class status, if it was so easy for people of all ethnicities and occupations to have political roles, then the societies depicted in ASOIAF would look quite different.
Bran & Daenerys both identify with monster imagery and struggle to reconcile being associated with monstrous creatures:
It was the wolves, it wasn’t me. He did not understand why they’d gotten so wild. (Bran IV, ACOK)
I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I. (Daenerys II, ADWD)
This makes me think that the unfolding of their dark turns and reclamation of humanity is going to be structurally parallel. Not only in how they cope with darkness, but also in how they struggle between using the monstrous creatures they identify with as a force of good vs. as a force for violence.
Okay I need people to understand it doesn’t matter if Arya’s pretty. I could dig through book evidence and theorize that she’ll be a “northern beauty” like Lyanna, that she’ll grow up to be a wild beautiful warrior queen, that the Kindly Man said she had a pretty face, etc, etc, and I get the appeal of that and I generally agree that’s what the text is telling us. But here’s the thing: Arya’s beauty or lack thereof doesn’t matter because 1) she’s 11 years old and 2) beauty is not an indicator of worth.
Brienne isn’t beautiful by any means and is one of the best written female characters in fantasy. The appeal of characters like Daenerys and Sansa is in how they’re characterized and how they navigate their respective plots, not in the fact that others find them attractive (also Dany is 16 and Sansa is 13 so like. people finding them attractive should be more unnerving than validating). When people bring up beauty while trying to criticize Arya’s qualities the response should be “who the fuck cares??” not “actually this preteen child could be just as gorgeous as this other preteen child.” To use beauty as any measurement of Arya’s value as a character in universe or out of it is so blatantly regressive I can’t believe I even have to say it.
George R. R. Martin created Arya specifically as a feminist character:
I can’t say there’s any one specific model, but a lot of the women I’ve known over the years have had aspects of Arya with them. Especially some of the women I knew when I was a young man back in the ’60s and ’70s, you know — the decade of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement. I knew a lot of young women who weren’t buying into the, “Oh, I have to find a husband and be a housewife.”
That’s certainly part of Arya’s thing. There’s that scene where Ned is telling her, “Well, one day you’ll grow up and you’ll marry a great lord and you’ll be the lady of the castle.” And she says, “No, I won’t. I don’t want that. That’s Sansa, that’s not me.” I knew women who were saying things like that: “I don’t wanna be Mrs. Smith, I wanna be my own person.” – GRRM, Rolling Stone 2019
This is illustrated in her first chapter where she argues the value of women with Jon and insists she should have the same opportunities to learn as her little brother, Bran:
She watched her little brother whack at Tommen. “I could do just as good as Bran,” she said. “He’s only seven. I’m nine.”
—
“The Lannisters are proud,” Jon observed. “You’d think the royal sigil would be sufficient, but no. He makes his mother’s House equal in honor to the king’s.” “The woman is important too!” Arya protested. – Arya I, AGOT
Later in the novel, she asks her father about three different careers she aspires to, all of which involve power and influence in her own right rather than through a husband or male relations:
“Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king’s council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother’s Faith and become the High Septon.” But he will never run beside his wolf again, he thought with a sadness too deep for words, or lie with a woman, or hold his own son in his arms. Arya cocked her head to one side. “Can I be a king’s councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?” – Eddard V, AGOT
It’s interesting to note that while Arya and Ned are talking about how Bran’s aspirations to be a knight are over and Ned mentions sailing a ship across the Narrow Sea for his son, Arya doesn’t latch onto knighthood or sailing. She focuses on being a king’s councillor, architect, and high septon.
The historical figures Arya admires are progressive and assertive women who led others:
Nymeria nipped eagerly at her hand as Arya untied her. She had yellow eyes. When they caught the sunlight, they gleamed like two golden coins. Arya had named her after the warrior queen of the Rhoyne, who had led her people across the narrow sea. – Arya I, AGOT
Anguy would teach her to use a bow, and she could ride with Gendry and be an outlaw, like Wenda the White Fawn in the songs. – Arya XII, ASOS
In addition to admiring historical women, Arya defends other women by executing two rapists for their crime against another girl she never met, Layna. First she uses one of her death wishes on Chiswyck right after he tells the story of what he did. Raff the Sweetling’s execution was also due to his murder of Lommy, but he admitted to participating in the gang rape. Not only does she trick Raff into repeating Lommy’s last words, she presents herself as a young girl he can rape, only to turn the situation around on him.
Arya also has multiple positive female relationships and helps drive business to the Happy Port:
“The best whores are at the Happy Port, down by where the mummers’ Ship is moored.” She pointed. Some of the dockside whores were vicious, and sailors fresh from the sea never knew which ones. S'vrone was the worst. Everyone said she had robbed and killed a dozen men, rolling the bodies into the canals to feed the eels. The Drunken Daughter could be sweet when sober, but not with wine in her. And Canker Jeyne was really a man. “Ask for Merry. Meralyn is her true name, but everyone calls her Merry, and she is.” Merry bought a dozen oysters every time Cat came by the brothel and shared them with her girls. She had a good heart, everyone agreed. “That, and the biggest pair of teats in all of Braavos,” Merry herself was fond of boasting. Her girls were nice as well; Blushing Bethany and the Sailor’s Wife, one-eyed Yna who could tell your fortune from a drop of blood, pretty little Lanna, even Assadora, the Ibbenese woman with the mustache. They might not be beautiful, but they were kind to her. “The Happy Port is where all the porters go,” Cat assured the men of the Brazen Monkey. “‘The boys unload the ships,’ Merry says, 'and my girls unload the lads who sail them.’” – Arya III, AFFC
Or, Dorne is Westeros’ erotic, exotic, made complete with a helping handful of racism on top.
As someone from a West Asian culture living in a Western country, I had noticed something early on in the depiction of the Dornish that hit close to home and sat ill with me. To begin with, we were informed of the existence of the Dornish yet did not meet a prominent Dornish character until book 3, Oberyn Martell, who was observed through Tyrion’s POV chapters . Before we meet him, a few things are made clear: Dorne makes wine, they’re still upset over Princess Elia’s death, and they are very much the other. When anyone from north of Dorne speaks about the Dornish, they specify it as such, referring to them as Dornish, Dornishmen, and Dornish women. They are set apart from other Westerosis in the similar way to the Iron Islanders. Their culture is different, therefore specifications are required. While this in no way is a bad thing, as all cultures should be different in some way, discussion of Dornish culture by non-Dornish sources reveals a type of racism reserved specifically for the Dornish. Tyrion when he first meets Oberyn considers cracking asking “if he knew how a Dornishman differed from a cowflop”, an example of the casual racism that all non-Dornish seem to hold of the Dornish.
The problem goes beyond the racism of the Westerosi characters, however. George R. R. Martin failed the Dornish (and the Essosi) in several aspects of writing, by using racist tropes in his depiction of them and by introducing the Dornish so late and with so little. He did not introduce a prominent Dornish character until book 3, did not provide a Dornish POV until book 4, and even then gave us very little. Of the 9 Dornish POV chapters in books 1-5, one of them belongs to the pretty racist Reachman Arys Oakheart, 2 belong to the Norvoshi Areo Hotah, and the last 6 are split between Quentyn (4 chapters) and Arianne (2 chapters). While there appears to be more Arianne chapters to come in TWOW (2 so far), this is a shockingly small amount of Dornish perspective, with Quentyn’s story not even taking place in Dorne (and ending with his death).
In this essay, I’ll tackle the history of this anti-Dornish racism, how it is practiced by those in Westeros and abroad, and the (often racist) tropes Martin uses to prop up it.
It’s nigh impossible to go too long in the Jaime and/or Jaime x Brienne fandom without hearing talk of people headcanoning Jaime Lannister as being a bisexual disaster, but from where did this talk derive?
Interpretations of the text, of course! But what could be there, you say? How much so called evidence could there possibly be?
A lot.
A whole lot.
Now, I think we can all agree that any such textual evidence was unintentional on GRRM’s part; it’s more than quite likely that GRRM thinks he’s written Jaime to be a heterosexual man. That doesn’t change what he wrote, though, nor how his writing can be interpreted—or, in this case, hasbeen interpreted.
Bi Jaime headcanons were all born from endless textual bits of evidence concerning Jaime.
My fellow Jaime stans, let me introduce to you all the ways GRRM accidentally made Jam Lan far less heterosexual than he intended.
There is a plethora of homoerotic imagery and wording throughout Jaime’s interactions and thoughts with the men he has literary connections with—the men he respects and admires, begrudgingly or openly, because he perceives them to be honorable. Those who read Jaime as bi half-joke that, because of the pattern of the sort of men he’s “into,” he’s honorsexual. Though we joke, our humor and our interpretations are all born from the text itself, and how they can be read, especially if the reader isn’t looking through a heteronormative lens. Let’s break ‘em down—in chronological order of Jaime meeting them/falling for them.
Jaime and Brynden Tully (or, slutty questions at dinner tables, with a side of silver fox thirsting)
Brynden “the Blackfish” Tully is example A, the one who started it all—Jaime’s first honorcrush, you could say. Dive in to the quote:
[Lysa Tully] had been a pretty girl, in truth; dimpled and delicate, with long auburn hair. Timid, though. Prone to tongue-tied silences and fits of giggles, with none of Cersei’s fire.Her older sister had seemed more interesting, though Catelyn was promised to some northern boy, the heir of Winterfell … but at that age, no girl interested Jaime half so much as Hoster’s famous brother, who had won renown fighting the Ninepenny Kings upon the Stepstones. At table he had ignored poor Lysa, whilst pressing Brynden Tully for tales of Maelys the Monstrous and the Ebon Prince. (AFFC, Jaime V)
This paragraph pretty much sums it up. Young Jaime found the Tully sisters to be attractive; he thought Lysa was pretty, but he was only legitimately attracted to Catelyn (we’ll dive into that later on). And yet, he ignored them both to chat up their uncle—who is quite likely to be gay himself, but that’s another topic.
Now obviously, this wasn’t written to have non-hetero subtext or connotations—GRRM wanted to stress that Jaime hero-worshipped Brynden because of his fighting prowess and achievements on the battlefield, so much so that he ignored two pretty girls, even one he was actually attracted to, in order to speak with said hero.
But… the phrasing and wording of it all:
Her older sister had seemed more interesting […] but at that age, no girl interested Jaime half so much as Hoster’s famous brother. […] At table he had ignored poor Lysa, whilst pressing Brynden Tully for tales of Maelys the Monstrous and the Ebon Prince.
He ignored Lysa, a pretty girl, and Catelyn, the girl he was actually into,becauseno girlwas more interesting than Brynden Tully. What a way to phrase that, right.
But that was pre-canon. What does Jaime think about Brynden currently?
[Brynden] Tully had a craggy face, deeply lined and windburnt beneath a shock of stiff grey hair, but Jaime could still see the great knight who had once enthralled a squire with tales of the Ninepenny Kings. (AFFC Jaime VI)
Enthralled. Do you know how strong of a word that is?
Let’s have Merriam-Webster define it:
Enthrall: to hold spellbound; charm
To hold spellbound. Jaime was spellbound by Brynden Tully. Charmed.
What an intense adjective to describe a teen’s hero worship. It’s a word with heavy romantic connotations to it, far more appropriate to describe an infatuation, or romantic relationship. You’d think GRRM would save such language for describing Jaime’s feelings for Cersei, but no, GRRM used it for Brynden. LOL. Out of all the words GRRM could use to describe Jaime’s attachment to Brynden, that’s the one he chose? And we’re not supposed to read that as homoerotic? Byeeeeee
So, to revise Jaime’s recollection concerning the time he ignored the Tully sisters to chat up their uncle: no girl was more interesting than Brynden Tully, the knight who Jaime was enthralledby.
Still not seeing it? Let’s look at the whole line:
[…] but Jaime could still seethe great knight who had once enthralled a squire with tales of the Ninepenny Kings.
Jaime can stillsee the knight who had enthralled his teenaged self. So you could say that if he still sees that man, even now, that means that he is… stillenthralled by Brynden. Still spellbound. Still… charmed.
And can we talk about the whole paragraph?
Tully had a craggy face, deeply lined and windburnt beneath a shock of stiff grey hair, but Jaime could still see the great knight who had once enthralled a squire with tales of the Ninepenny Kings.
That’s a medieval way of saying “Yeah you got older, but you’re still a snack.”
Like. Jaime really out here saying that Brynden Tully has aged like fine wine. How hetero of him.
Also, haha, I looked up “craggy,”—the word Jaime used to describe Brynden’s face—on my computer’s dictionary, and, WELL:
BAHAHAHAHAHA
Jaime: He’s old and rugged but in a SEXY way I mean have you ever SEEN a silver fox like this
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA
So, revising again: No girl was more interesting to Jaime than Brynden Tully, the ruggedly attractive knight who Jaime was, and arguably still is, enthralledby.
You can’t get any straighter than that, I’d say. And somehow, when you breakdown Jaime’s relationship Arthur Dayne, it only gets straighter.
Jaime and Arthur Dayne (or, symbolic virginity loss, ghosts living in Jaime’s head rent free, and putting a ring cloak on it)
Arthur Dayne is the second honorcrush of Jaime’s, but the most vital. As the man who knighted Jaime and mentored him, Arthur Dayne is Jaime’s ultimate symbol for honor and the zenith of knighthood, and imperative to Jaime’s characterization and story.
He’s also the one who provides us with a shit ton of homoeroticism in Jaime’s chapters, even years after his death, as Jaime thinks about him all the time.
And he’d held his own against the Smiling Knight, though it was Ser Arthur who slew him. What a fight that was, and what a foe. The Smiling Knight was a madman, cruelty and chivalry all jumbled up together, but he did not know the meaning of fear. And Dayne, with Dawn in hand … The outlaw’s longsword had so many notches by the end that Ser Arthur had stopped to let him fetch a new one. “It’s that white sword of yours I want,” the robber knight told him as they resumed, though he was bleeding from a dozen wounds by then. “Then you shall have it, ser,” the Sword of the Morning replied, and made an end of it. (ASOS, Jaime VIII)
Jaime reminisces about the first time he spent time with Arthur, when they fought the Smiling Knight and his goons. Similarly to Jaime’s memories of Brynden, most of the language Jaime uses can be read as romantic in tone, or flowery.
First, we have this:
What a fight that was, and what a foe.
Jaime is in awe of Arthur’s skill in battle. It reminds me of this:
Jaime had done many wicked things, but themancouldfight! (AFFC, Brienne I)
Here, you could say Brienne is the young Jaime to a seasoned Jaime’s Arthur—expressing admiration for a more experienced warrior’s fighting skills in a dreamy or fangirlish manner. And while that’s true, we can’t forget the other connotations here. Considering the fact that Brienne is very much in love with Jaime—and so, any admiration she’d have for him is laced with sexual and romantic attraction—to have these lines be so similar does no favors for the “Jaime is straight,” narrative GRRM thought he wrote.
Jaime goes on:
And Dayne, with Dawn in hand…
This line is quite dreamy—you can practically hear Jaime fangirl sigh while thinking it. Dreamy is the only way to describe it; you even have the ellipsis to seal the deal. An ellipsis,a tool writers use to show a character is lost for words. Again, language. A writer isn’t going to put an ellipsis for no reason, especially in inner monologue. The ellipsis also implies that Jaime is stopping himself from full blown waxing poetic tributes about Arthur—showing restraint, living in denial, as a repressed bisexual or gay man from a medieval society might.
While thinking of Arthur on the battlefield, at his best—and, by a warrior’s standards, his most beautiful—Jaime is lost for words. Lost for words, while reminiscing of Arthur, and how amazing he looked on the battlefield, holding his sword, Dawn.
Swords. Something we know is constantly used as a euphemism for penises in GRRM’s writing. It wasn’t supposed to be one here, but, hey, with the dreamlike, fangirly energy exuding from this line, it does come to mind.
Now, to this:
The outlaw’s longsword had so many notches by the end that Ser Arthur had stopped to let him fetch a new one. "It’s that white sword of yours I want,“ the robber knight told him as they resumed, though he was bleeding from a dozen wounds by then. “Then you shall have it, ser,” the Sword of the Morning replied, and made an end of it.
Jaime has full recollection of a scene and conversation he wasn’t even a part of from almost twenty years ago. Such a fixation, especially in fiction, is used to demonstrate a character’s fanboyism, yes (and that’s what GRRM was going for here, as well as showing that an older Jaime, in his trauma and bitterness, longs for what he considers the good old days, and is recollecting these events through a nostalgic lens) but more often than not, fixations such as this are usually reserved for romantic imagery. Jaime remembers how well Arthur won the battle by describing all the wounds the Smiling Knight had, and the Smiling Knight’s dialogue is remembered only to give Arthur’s witty reply context in Jaime’s mind. Every word and sight is preserved within Jaime’s memory to keep Arthur exalted as some angelic figure who remains pure, untainted, legendary, and unyielding in maintaining honor.
And if Arthur is an angelic figure, Jaime is his acolyte. Like an overzealous worshipper, Jaime sees Arthur’s state of being (or rather, the state of being Jaime believes him to have) as the standard so much that it’s gotten to the point of wanting to behim. And because that standard is impossible, he fails constantly. He uses the pedestal he has placed Arthur on to put himself down—remind him of how far he has fallen:
And me, that boy I was … when did he die, I wonder? When I donned the white cloak? When I opened Aerys’s throat? That boy had wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight instead.(ASOS, Jaime VIII)
And even years after Arthur’s death, Jaime craves his approval:
He wondered what Ser Arthur Dayne would have to say of this lot. “How is it that the Kingsguard has fallen so low,” most like. “It was my doing,” I would have to answer. “I opened the door, and did nothing when the vermin began to crawl inside.”(ASOS, Jaime VIII)
Postmortem, Arthur has Jaime’s undying love, his loyalty, his worship.
He also has Jaime’s symbolic virginity.
It had been years since his last vigil. And I was younger then, a boy of fifteen years. He had worn no armor then, only a plain white tunic. The sept where he’d spent the night was not a third as large as any of the Great Sept’s seven transepts. Jaime had laid his sword across the Warrior’s knees, piled his armor at his feet, and knelt upon the rough stone floor before the altar. When dawn came his knees were raw and bloody. “All knights must bleed, Jaime,” Ser Arthur Dayne had said, when he saw. “Blood is the seal of our devotion.” With dawn he tapped him on the shoulder; the pale blade was so sharp that even that light touch cut through Jaime’s tunic, so he bled anew. He never felt it. A boy knelt; a knight rose. The Young Lion, not the Kingslayer. (AFFC, Jaime I)
In vivid, romantic detail, with the most sensual tone and flowery language possible, Jaime tells us of his knighting, not too long after he and Arthur defeated the Kingswood Brotherhood. And these details are brimming with sexual and romantic imagery, even marriage symbolism.
First, the setting. Jaime was knighted in a sept, a Westerosi church. In our own world, most weddings are held in churches. The setting fuels the marriage imagery here, and is its backbone.
Then we get to Jaime’s appearance. He is wearing white. White, the color of purity; a color associated with virginity in Western societies. Since Jaime was knighted before he had sex with Cersei in that inn on Eel Alley, it’s possible that Jaime was literally a virgin, here—as, considering how important Eel Alley is to Jaime, it seems that that was the first time he and Cersei went all the way, so that means that most likely, Jaime was literally and metaphorically a virgin at the time of his knighting. Either way, in a knightly sense, Jaime is a virgin, as he is about to become one and receive his title.
White is also the color most brides wear to their weddings—in our world, at least. The imagery reminds the reader of the traditions in our own world, whether or not it’s one in Westeros. So, by wearing white in a church, Jaime looks the part of someone about to be married. A virgin, awaiting their wedding ceremony.
Onto the actual knighting, where the sexual and marriage imagery intertwines. During a knighting, vows are made, just as vows are made during a wedding. The vows are similar—both make promises of loyalty, honesty, faithfulness, and most importantly, devotion. And Jaime is devotedto Arthur—he literally spends hours upon hours on his knees, awaiting Arthur’s arrival. He knelt so long that his knees bled open. Arthur even makes the blood symbolize he and Jaime’s bond, saying that blood is “the seal of their devotion.”
And that seal works in a pure manner as much as a carnal one. The image of staying on one’s knees for someone evokes both religious and sexual imagery. When most people pray, they do it on their knees… but, there’s also another reason someone would stay on their knees so long they’ve bled for someone—if they’re giving oral sex.
The religious imagery of bleeding knees while praying checks out. Jaime does worship Arthur, in a way, far more than he does the actual gods of the Seven. Symbolism for praying to show Jaime’s respect for knighthood, and especially Arthur, fits well, but also stresses his love for Arthur.
And the sexual imagery, well. Let’s look at the line in question:
When dawn came his knees were raw and bloody.
Arthur’s sword is named Dawn. Swords are metaphorical penises in ASOIAF more often than not. And dawn came. While Jaime was on his knees. So long that his knees had bled. Yeah. Read in a different light, that sentence can mean something way more explicit than intended.
Obviously, in the sentence itself, the dawn being referred to is the literal dawn—sunrise. But again, double speak. And if you combine this with all of the sexual imagery up next, it only becomes more potent.
So, Arthur knights Jaime. Let’s look at that quote closer:
When dawn came his knees were raw and bloody. “All knights must bleed, Jaime,” Ser Arthur Dayne had said, when he saw. “Blood is the seal of our devotion.” With dawn he tapped him on the shoulder; the pale blade was so sharp that even that light touch cut through Jaime’s tunic, so he bled anew. He never felt it. A boy knelt; a knight rose.
Arthur has Dawn wielded, and he uses it to knight Jaime. He is gentle when he touches Jaime with the sword, only using “a light touch,” and tries not to hurt Jaime, but Dawn is so sharp that it penetrates through Jaime’s clothes and skin anyway. When looked through the “sword = penis” lens, Arthur’s actions symbolize a man gently taking his lover’s virginity.
The lost virginity metaphor resides in the cut itself. Jaime’s whitetunic—white, the color of virgins and purity, the color of brides—is slashed by Dawn’s gentle touch, and his shoulder bleeds. Blood that is most likely virginal in a literal sense, but most certainly in a metaphorical one, as it bleeds through torn white clothing, and the blood belongs to one who has just become a knight, something he hadn’t been before.
Jaime also describes his wound from Dawn’s cut as “bleeding anew.” This evokes the imagery of one becoming undone in a physical and spiritual sense, one where the person in question has transcended beyond describable feeling. It’s like a religious awakening, which coincides with the worship aspect Jaime has toward Arthur and knighthood—but also an orgasm, especially one experienced by someone who has never had one before (and Jaime is that someone, in this case, as he’s either a virgin, or at least sexually inexperienced). That sense of euphoria continues with Jaime’s lack of awareness with the cut itself—he is in so much awe of what is happening that he never even felt the pain of the cut.
And after the state of becoming anew—which you could say is the afterglow of the knighting, the virginity loss—Jaime says this:
A boy knelt; a knight rose.
After being penetrated with Arthur’s sword, and bleeding through his white tunic, he is no longer a boy. He is a knight—an adult. A man.In Westeros, people refer to male teens—boys—losing their virginities as them “becoming a man.” That Jaime sees himself as becoming a man after bleeding from Arthur Dayne’s metaphorical penis’ cut only supports the sexual undertones of lost virginity.
I’d also like to point out that Arthur calls Jaime by his first name here—not “my lord.” This is vital. In this society, the highborn do not call each other by their first name unless there is a closeness between them, an intimacy, be it a platonic or romantic one. Considering the gentleness on display on Arthur’s part here, that he calls Jaime by his name shows the trust they share, specifically Jaime’s love and trust in Arthur, and Arthur’s respect of that love and trust. It only further shapes the imagery of a man gently taking someone’s virginity with someone he is close with.
In terms of imagery, Jaime’s knighting is not unlike his swordfight with Brienne, which was filled with double-speak,marriage symbolism,andsexual innuendos. Just as Arthur cuts Jaime’s white virginal tunic with his symbolic penis, so does Jaime cut Brienne’s inner thigh with hissymbolic penis:
His point scraped past her parry and bit into her upper thigh.A red flower blossomed, and Jaime had an instant to savor the sight of her blood […] (ASOS, Jaime III)
Both young Jaime and Brienne’s virginal blood spill at the cuts, and in both instances, Jaime is enthralled by the bleeding. With Brienne’s blood, he “savors the sight,” and with his own bloodshed he is so lost in wonderment that he “never felt” the cut.
It’s both hilarious and beautiful that there are so many parallels with Jaime’s knighting by Arthur to the sex and marriage metaphor that masquerades as Jaime’s swordfight with Brienne. Brienne, who is Jaime’s canonical love interest. Like.GRRM legit wrote Jaime to have similar sexual and romantic scenarios and imagery with his female love interest… and a man. You can’t do that and just not expect me to see Jaime’s bisexual energy. You just can’t. The fact that both scenes work so well and are emotionally evocative just makes the whole thing even better.
Yep. With exaltation years after death, and the symbolization of marriage and lost virginity, Jaime and Arthur have a dynamic that is sensual, strong, devoted, and, most importantly for this meta—lacking heterosexuality.
Jaime and Rhaegar Targaryen (or, “Notice me, senpai!” plus way too detailed reminiscing)
Jaime’s crush on Rhaegar isn’t as prolific as the other dynamics listed in this analysis, but I still find it worth noting. Jaime respected Prince Rhaegar, and feels tremendous guilt over not being able to save him or his children, Rhaenys and Aegon.
But there’s a bit of a crush energy to Jaime’s views on Rhaegar. Here’s Jaime’s memory of the last time he and Rhaegar ever spoke.
The day had been windy when he said farewell to Rhaegar, in the yard of the Red Keep. The prince had donned his night-black armor, with the three-headed dragon picked out in rubies on his breastplate. “Your Grace,” Jaime had pleaded, “let Darry stay to guard the king this once, or Ser Barristan. Their cloaks are as white as mine.”
Prince Rhaegarshook his head. “My royal sire fears your father more than he does our cousin Robert. He wants you close, so Lord Tywin cannot harm him. I dare not take that crutch away from him at such an hour.”
Jaime’s anger had risen up in his throat. “I am not a crutch. I am a knight of the Kingsguard.”
“Then guard the king,” Ser Jon Darry snapped at him. “When you donned that cloak, you promised to obey.”
Rhaegar had put his hand on Jaime’s shoulder. “When this battle’s done I mean to call a council. Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but … well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken. We shall talk when I return."
Those were the last words Rhaegar Targaryen ever spoke to him. Outside the gates an army had assembled, whilst another descended on the Trident. So the Prince of Dragonstone mounted up and donned his tall black helm, and rode forth to his doom. (AFFC, Jaime I)
What catches the eye is the immense detail. Just like Jaime’s memories of Arthur—whom we know he thirsted for—every single detail of Rhaegar is immortalized in Jaime’s brain—what Rhaegar wore, what the weather was like, exactly what was said. And it makes sense for Jaime to remember all of this so vividly—the Rebellion was an incredibly traumatizing time for Jaime, and it was the last time he ever saw Rhaegar alive.
At the same time, we have things like Jaime remembering that Rhaegar touchedhim, as well as his appearance. It’s relatively innocuous things to remember so vividly without a hint of romantic connotations being there, and as such, probably wouldn’t stand out in JonCon’s recollections of Rhaegar, who was definitely in love with him.
There’s also the matter of Jaime begging Rhaegar to take him with him to battle. Jaime was understandably eager to get away from Aerys, but I think he also wanted nothing more than to protect Rhaegar, the prince that he loved and respected. The prince he wished he was king.
This particular line should be noted:
"Your Grace,” Jaime had pleaded, “let Darry stay to guard the king this once, or Ser Barristan. Their cloaks are as white as mine.”
Jaime calls Rhaegar “Your Grace,” the title meant for kings or queens, not princes. It’s a strange thing, and, to my knowledge, no prince or princess is ever called “Your Grace,” in the entire series besides this one instance. It’s most likely author error, as Jaime outwardly calling Rhaegar by the king’s title is open treason, but in universe, it works at least for Jaime’s character. He sees Rhaegar as his king, and he wants to leave with him—maybe even die with him.
We also get a bit of “Notice me, senpai!” energy from the “their cloaks are as white as mine,” line. Jaime wants to prove his worth as a Kingsguard, but he also wants Rhaegar to see him. For someone who isn’t a weeb and, therefore, isn’t familiar with that trope (which seems to be more prevalent in anime than Western media) the connotation wouldn’t click, but for me… I don’t know, it just has that tone of the subordinate wanting their dreamy superior to take an interest in them.
Either way, on its own, Jaime’s loyalty and oddly vivid memory of Rhaegar is standard hero worship, but when you combine it with everything else in this meta, it’s worth mentioning, and doesn’t come off as straight as it’s meant to be.
Jaime and Ned Stark (or, villainous dick on the hero’s chest feat. obsession and boyfriend envy)
Jaime and Ned were a thing. On Jaime’s end, especially—and by that, I mean that Jaime is fucking obsessedwith the guy. Ned lives in Jaime’s head rent free almost as much as Main Honor Boyfriend Arthur does.
And yeah, we all know why. Ned was the one who walked in on Jaime sitting on the Iron Throne, right above where Aerys Targaryen’s freshly murdered corpse grew cold. Ned was the first person to judge Jaime for his actions, and Jaime has never forgotten it. He’s seemed to have used Ned as a symbol for allthe hatred and judgement he’s received for killing Aerys—a single representation of how the world perceives him, post Rebellion.
Ned remembers this moment in vivid detail, as well:
“Aerys was dead on the floor, drowned in his own blood. His dragon skulls stared down from the walls. Lannister’s men were everywhere. Jaime wore the white cloak of the Kingsguard over his golden armor. I can see him still. Even his sword was gilded. He was seated on the Iron Throne, high above his knights, wearing a helm fashioned in the shape of a lion’s head. How he glittered!”
“I stopped in front of the throne, looking up at him. His golden sword was across his legs, its edge red with a king’s blood. My men were filling the room behind me. Lannister’s men drew back. I never said a word. I looked at him seated there on the throne, and I waited.At last Jaime laughed and got up. He took off his helm, and he said to me, ‘Have no fear, Stark. I was only keeping it warm for our friend Robert. It’s not a very comfortable seat, I’m afraid.’” (AGOT, Eddard II)
But the thing is, Ned isn’t as obsessed with the incident as Jaime is—for obvious reasons. He has no fond memories of Jaime, nor does he approve of him, but he is relatively unbothered by the man, beyond the few times in which he is forced to interact with him, or discuss him.
Meanwhile, Jaime is…
You had no right to judge me either, Stark. (ASOS, Jaime II)
“Do you think the noble Lord of Winterfell wanted to hear my feeble explanations? Such an honorable man. He only had to look at me to judge me guilty.” (ASOS, Jaime V)
“By what right does the wolf judge the lion? By what right?” (ASOS, Jaime V)
Only [Eddard Stark’s] eyes had spoken; a lord’s eyes, cold and grey and full of judgment. (ASOS, Jaime VI)
[…] but the Blackfish was looking at him the way that Eddard Stark had looked at him when he’d found him on the Iron Throne with the Mad King’s blood upon his blade. (AFFC, Jaime VI)
…quite fixated on Ned’s disapproval of him.
Now, the author’s intent behind Jaime’s fixation with Ned is clearly that Jaime subconsciously respects and admires Ned; he sees him as an honorable man, so it hurts that much more for someone of Ned’s standing to find him dishonorable, when Jaime wants nothing more than to be a peer with someone like Ned—which is why, as a coping mechanism, Jaime has taken that respect, admiration, and hurt, and twisted it into disdain and resentment. In a way, Jaime craves Ned’s approval just as he craves Arthur’s—postmortem, especially.
On paper, this dynamic is not romantic or sexual within itself—it’s simply two rivals connected through judgement and underlying trauma, where one character unknowingly manifests as an essential catalyst for the other character’s motivation and backstory. On paper, this dynamic can be quite heterosexual.
The execution of it, however, is anything but.
Jaime’s fixation on Ned is constant, and never loses potency; years later, it lives on, restless, even after Ned’s death—especially after Ned’s death. Ned Stark’s effect on Jaime Lannister is so powerful that you could literally organize Jaime’s life as Before Ned’s Judging GazeandAfter Ned’s Judging Gaze, and, that… is inherently essential and specific enough in its intensity to have romantic and sexual connotations, whether GRRM intended it to or not. It’s difficult to write a connection that strong between two characters without it being just the slightest bit sensual, at the very least—or in this case, full blown homoerotic—and GRRM, to my utter Jaime x Ned shipper’s glee, failed to do so.
Not to mention that there is so
“I can see him still.” (AGOT, Eddard II)
much
“How he glittered!”
STARING
[…] through the night and the rain, he glimpsed the white of Jaime’s smile (AGOT, Eddard IX)
“He only had to look at me to judge me guilty.” (ASOS, Jaime V)
BETWEEN THEM
Only [Eddard Stark’s] eyes had spoken; a lord’s eyes, cold and grey and full of judgment. (ASOS, Jaime VI)
Ned could see rain running down his face. (AGOT, Eddard IX)
The backdrop for Jaime and Ned’s dynamic is one dipped in homoeroticism if one interprets Jaime’s obsession beyond what GRRM intended. And that backdrop fuels a certain scene between them that is kinda… sexy.
“I’m looking for my brother. You remember my brother, don’t you, Lord Stark?” (AGOT, Eddard IX)
Yes.This scene.
To recap: Catelyn Stark has kidnapped and arrested Tyrion Lannister on charges of Bran Stark’s attempted murder. Jaime, being a protective big bro (but still in his villainous fuckboy phase) doesn’t take it well, and confronts Ned over Tyrion’s kidnapping, with the intent to murder him for his family’s transgression. After being reminded by Ned that if Jaime kills him, Catelyn will kill Tyrion, Jaime goes down the petty route and chooses to order Ned’s men murdered, instead.
This confrontation is many things. Violent, shocking, dark—
—andbeyond sexually tense.
First, imagery:
Ser Jaime ripped his longsword from its sheath and urged his stallion forward. “Show me your steel, Lord Eddard. I’ll butcher you like Aerys if I must, but I’d sooner you died with a blade in your hand.” (AGOT, Eddard IX)
Now, I think it’s not much to say that fighting and sex are heavily acquainted with one another in GRRM’s writing—he writes his male characters to become aroused during battle, and most of them sate their lust afterward with camp followers and the like. And we’ve already established that, in ASOIAF, swords are endlessly used as euphemisms and metaphors for penises.
Ser Jaime ripped his longsword from its sheath and urged his stallion forward.
Jaimeripped his sword from its sheath. Check the language there—ripped.In a literal sense, he’s only brandished his weapon in a rough manner. Metaphorically, ripping a sword from a sheath evokes the imagery of rough, violent sex. Sheaths are usually euphemisms for vaginas in GRRM’s work, but in this case, it works for anuses as well. Jaime plans to fight/kill Ned—or, metaphorically, “fuck him up his arse,” which is a phrase crude men in this setting use all the time to describe besting other men, physically or mentally.
There’s also the matter of Jaime “urging his stallion forward,” right after showing Ned his metaphorical penis. Stallions, symbolically, are associated with male virility, particularly concerning their penises, or sexuality. “Stallion,” in slang or informal language, is a term for men with large penises, or, at the very least, men who exhibit sexual aggression and skill. This further strengthens the intense, unyielding, violent sexual tension between Jaime and Ned in this scene. And not just regular sexual tension, either; considering the bad blood between the men, you could say this line brings about not just imagery of rough sex, but specifically hatesex.
And all of that is just from one fucking line. It gets even more tense. And gayer.
“Show me your steel, Lord Eddard.”
Jaime has already taken out his sword—his penis—and he’s asking Ned to take his out, as well. Not just take it out, but show it to Jaime.Mmhmm.
Also, there’s the fact that the line “Show me your steel,” sounds a lot like this:
"Give me the sword, Kingslayer.”
“Oh, I will.” (ASOS, Jaime III)
Both lines have similar energies—the identical aggression, the same mirroring contempt… even a twined context and theme, since Jaime and Ned’s dynamic and the conflict of their dynamic is centered around honor, and Brienne, at that time of that quote, held conflict with Jaime concerning honor and judgment, just as Ned did.
But most importantly, considering the fact that Jaime and Brienne’s fight in A Storm of Swords was filled to the brim with a plethora of sexual symbolism concerning swords, and the line “Give me the sword,” basically means, “Give me the dick”… well, “Show me your steel,” could certainly be used to mean show me your dick. And the fact that Brienne is Jaime’s love interest makes the parallel even more sexual. Jaime commanding a similar thing to Ned Stark that his love interest commands of him later on—something that was purposefullywritten to be a sexual innuendo—does nothing but rake up the homosexual energy here, and further stomp on any heterosexual “just two rivals having a pissing contest” imagery GRRM seemed to be going for.
And it’s still not over. No.
It gets. GAYER.
Jaime Lannister poked at Ned’s chest with the gilded sword that had sipped the blood of the last of the Dragonkings.
Do I even need to explain why this line is gay as fuck?
Jaime’s holding his sword, his metaphorical penis, and is putting it on Ned’s chest. Not just touching him with it, but poking. Poking,which is certainly a verb you could use to describe an erect penis touching skin, especially a body part like the chest. This further coincides with GRRM loving to associate sexual arousal with violence in his work. Jaime’s at full mast here, and he’s ready to go—thing is, considering all the unintentional layers of the relationship between GRRM’s violence and sex metaphors, it reads more like he’s ready to not only fight, but fuck, too.
The body part GRRM chose is a chef’s kiss, too. He could have had Jaime aim the sword at Ned’s throat, or right between the eyes. But no. He chooses the chest. Perhaps he was going for the “he wants to stab Ned in the heart,” kind of thing but, yeah, not working, my guy. When metaphorical dicks start touching chests after a slew of sexual innuendos has risen, there’s really no going back, is there?
Something else great about this is the phrasing and language Ned chooses to use here. Jaime’s “gilded” sword sipped the last of Dragonkings’ blood, huh? By R’hllor, that reads like the point of view of a poetic, naive maiden, swooning over the bad boy who’s about to seduce her. And yeah, this is about Jaime’s side of things, not Ned’s, but I want to stress here that the sexual tension in this scene is far from one-sided.
But here’s the true beauty of this line—which says a lot, because everything about this line is beyond gorgeously gay. This line comes after Jaime has ripped his sword from his sheath and commanded Ned to show him his steel—or rather, after Jaime has taken out his penis and asked Ned to show his own penis to Jaime’s.
So now, we have an order to these sexual metaphors. First, Jaime ripped out his sword from its sheath (in this context, the sheath being his pants or underwear). By doing so, metaphorically, Jaime was undressing—exposing his penis.
And now, he’s touching Ned with it.
So, the order of Jaime’s literal actions toward Ned coincide with the usual order of sex; typically, people take off their clothes before they start going at it.
And then, we reach the end:
“Kill me,” he warned the Kingslayer, “and Catelyn will most certainly slay Tyrion.”
Jaime Lannister poked at Ned’s chest with the gilded sword that had sipped the blood of the last of the Dragonkings. “Would she? The noble Catelyn Tully of Riverrun murder a hostage? I think … not.” He sighed. “But I am not willing to chance my brother’s life on a woman’s honor.” Jaime slid the golden sword into its sheath. “So I suppose I’ll let you run back to Robert to tell him how I frightened you. I wonder if he’ll care.” Jaime pushed his wet hair back with his fingers and wheeled his horse around. (AGOT, Eddard IX)
Ned reminds Jaime that his murder would bring about Tyrion’s, so Jaime abstains. He sheaths his sword—or, puts his dick back in his pants—and then he…. flips his hair, and leaves.
Flips his hair.
I just. It’s so flirty. Even out of context it’s flirty, considering Jaime’s flamboyant personality, but in context? With all the metaphors we’ve just broken down?
Bruh.
Let’s repeat the order here. Jaime rips his sword from his sheath, a.k.a. undresses, because he’s ready for some hatesex. He commands Ned to take out his sword, a.k.a. undress and show Jaime his penis. Ned warns him that he and Tyrion’s life are connected; you can’t kill one without the other dying. Jaime wants Tyrion to live. So he can’t fight Ned—the hatesex can’t happen. They are interrupted. No penetration took place—just some stripping, and a little chest-to-dick action. Jaime dresses, then flips his hair as he turns to leave.
Am I the only one getting imagery of someone flirting with their fuck buddy after a sex session? Hair flipping is an action done to entice the person watching; it’s a sensual movement performed by models, dancers, and any celebrity who uses sex as part of their brand all the time.
It’s flirting. Jaime is flirting with Ned.
And honestly, Jaime has lowkey been flirting with Ned during the entirety of this scene. Teasinghim:
“The wolves are howling,” their leader said. Ned could see rain running down his face. “Such a small pack, though.”
“He was the Hand of the King.” The mud muffled the hooves of the blood bay stallion. The line parted before him. On a golden breastplate, the lion of Lannister roared its defiance. “Now, if truth be told, I’m not sure what he is.”
“I’m looking for my brother. You remember my brother, don’t you, Lord Stark? He was with us at Winterfell. Fair-haired, mismatched eyes, sharp of tongue. A short man.”
“You would not perchance have any notion of who might have wished my brother ill, would you?”
Jaime Lannister smiled.
[…] through the night and the rain, he glimpsed the white of Jaime’s smile […]
Jaime’s drawing this out, having fun with it. Its predator taunting its prey—or, specifically, since Jaime is a lion of Lannister—a cat, pawing at his favorite enemy. The tone of Jaime’s dialogue is very much like a flirtatious villain who lowkey wants to fuck the hero.
And, most wonderfully, Ned knows he’s being teased, too, and Jaime himself admits to it:
“What do you think you’re doing?” [Littlefinger said.]
“He knows what he’s doing,” Ned said calmly.
Jaime Lannister smiled. “Quite true.”
And again, Ned isn’t helping the scene get any straighter. I already sort of mentioned how Ned and Jaime do nothing but stare at each other, but this scene really shows that, especially through Ned’s point of view. Throughout this scene, Ned is constantly describing Jaime.
What he wears:
On a golden breastplate, the lion of Lannister roared its defiance.
The times he smiles:
Jaime Lannister smiled.
Theway he smiles:
Ned glimpsed the white of Jaime’s smile […]
The wetness of his hair, and the way he combs his fingers through it:
Jaime pushed his wet hair back with his fingers […]
And the fucking rain streaming down his face:
Ned could see rain running down his face.
(And yeah, it’s raining during this entire scene. As if we needed any more romantic imagery.)
There’s also Ned’s attention to Jaime’s sword—you know, his dick. First, Ned calls it “gilded.” Then, “golden.” The descriptors are not only flowery—again, evoking the imagery of an infatuated maiden taken by the bad boy—but they also tell us that Ned is watching this sword. Not taking his eyes off that dick.
And yes, in this scene, Ned’s constant observations of Jaime is meant to show that Ned is a warrior on alert, wary of a fight, preparing for battle… but we’ve already established GRRM’s insistence on intertwining swordfighting with sex, and his inability to make Jaime and Ned’s interactions fully hetero in nature.
Plus, when you remember how vivid Ned’s reminisce about Jaime’s appearance was…
“[…] Jaime wore the white cloak of the Kingsguard over his golden armor. I can see him still. Even his sword was gilded. He was seated on the Iron Throne, high above his knights, wearing a helm fashioned in the shape of a lion’s head. How he glittered!”
“I stopped in front of the throne, looking up at him.His golden sword was across his legs, its edge red with a king’s blood. My men were filling the room behind me. Lannister’s men drew back. I never said a word. I looked at him seated there on the throne, and I waited.At last Jaime laughed and got up. He took off his helm, and he said to me, ‘Have no fear, Stark. I was only keeping it warm for our friend Robert. It’s not a very comfortable seat, I’m afraid.’” (AGOT, Eddard II)
…it all just comes together. When it comes to Jaime, Ned is the “I am looking respectfully,” meme—but looking disrespectfully, since he has beef with homeboy. He is just so awareof Jaime’s physicality and external self, almost as aware as Jaime is of Ned’s internal self, his judgment of him—a judgment that haunts Jaime, and fuels his obsession over Ned. An obsession that is lined with sexual and romantic connotations.
Thing is though, the hatesex scene doesn’t just give us hatesex imagery; it also gives us more insight into Jaime’s emotions regarding Ned. Not all of Jaime’s dialogue with Ned is flirtatious or teasing; some of it is passive aggressive, and referencing Jaime’s issues concerning Ned’s disapproval of him:
“I’ll butcher you like Aerys if I must, but I’d sooner you died with a blade in your hand.”
Jaime unnecessarily brings up Aerys’ death, the very thing that causes the conflict between Jaime and Ned in the first place. As a coping mechanism, Jaime plays the part of the sadistic, violent, evil Kingslayer, the role society put him in after Aerys’ death. He reinforces Ned’s negative opinion of Jaime by bragging about killing Aerys, when in reality, he is incredibly bothered by the fact that Ned judges him for killing Aerys. He doubles down on the conflict between them to present the illusion that he’s comfortable with Ned’s feelings toward him, but the reader knows the truth—Jaime is hurt by Ned, even all these years later.
What stresses this even more is this random, odd line about Robert:
“So I suppose I’ll let you run back to Robert to tell him how I frightened you. I wonder if he’ll care.”
Now, upon first reading, this doesn’t sound too impactful. Jaime is just insulting Ned for using Robert as protection, yeah? No big deal.
Except Jaime says this to Catelyn, in the next book:
“As for your Ned, he should have kissed the hand that slew Aerys, but he preferred to scorn the arse he found sitting on Robert’s throne.“ (ACOK, Catelyn VII)
Jaime makes it clear here that he hates the fact that Ned judges him, but supports Robert.
And it makes sense—Robert was a man who sneered at and dehumanized the butchered corpses of children, publicly shamed his wife by parading around his mistresses and creating bastards where ever he went, beat and raped his wife, and chose to drink and whore instead of running his kingdom. He is far from honorable, yet Ned Stark supports him… all while shaming Jaime for being dishonorable. Jaime finds this hypocritical, and it makes Ned’s disapproval of him hurt that much more, but also enrage him.
But that’s not all Jaime reveals to Cat regarding his take on Ned and Robert:
“I think Ned Stark loved Robert better than he ever loved his brother or his father … or even you, my lady. He was never unfaithful to Robert, was he?”
In Jaime’s eyes, Ned loves Robert more than he ever loved his brother Brandon, his father, even his wife—and especially more than Jaime, who he loves not at all. That part goes unsaid, but it doesn’t need to be spoken—the fact that Jaime randomly throws jabs about Ned and Robert’s relationship in the most bitter way possible more than once says it enough. Ned loves Robert. Robert, a man who is just as dishonorable as Jaime, if not more. The hypocrisy is salt in Jaime’s Ned-shaped wound.
But it’s more than just salt.
Jaime is jealous. He is jealous of Robert, because for all of his dishonorable flaws and shortcomings, he has Eddard Stark’s love, and Jaime does not. He is jealous of Ned and Robert’s relationship. He is like a scorned, rejected suitor, seething from afar at the one his crush chose instead of him.
And the fact that Jaime talks about them as if they’re boyfriends only makes that imagery stronger.
“He was never unfaithfulto Robert, was he?”
Sure, Jaime’s just joking here, and is purposefully saying cruel things to hurt Catelyn, so he throws in her face that, while Ned cheated on her, he never “cheated” on Robert, his king—never forsook him, never betrayed him, never went turncloak. At least, that seems to be the authorial intent behind the line.
But here’s the thing. Firstly, during this conversation with Cat, Jaime is drunk as fuck:
As he laughed, she realized the wine had done its work; Jaime had drained most of the flagon, and he was drunk. (ACOK, Catelyn VII)
And, you know, in vino veritas. Many people argue that a drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts. I wouldn’t say Jaime is exempt from that.
Secondly, the fact that Jaime not only compared Ned’s loyalty to Robert to a faithful lover, but be jealous of that dynamic, does nothing but add to the homoerotic subtext in his own dynamic with Ned. And considering all of Nedbert’s homoerotic subtext (“Muscled like a maiden’s dream,” anyone?) Jaime being jealous of it just comes off as homosexually charged, as opposed to a heterosexual man being outraged at Ned’s hypocrisy, and nothing more.
Also, quick side note. This…
“He should have kissed the hand that slew Aerys.”
and this…
You ought to be blowing me kisses, wench, he wanted to tell her. (ASOS, Jaime VII)
…are pretty similar. In both scenes, Jaime is frustrated with Brienne and Ned, upset that they’ve interpreted his good intentions to be dishonorable (with Ned, he misunderstands why Jaime killed Aerys, and with Brienne, she misunderstands why Jaime had her imprisoned).
Jaime gives us his deduction as to why Brienne and everyone else always assumes the worst of him:
Why must they misunderstand every bloody thing he did? Aerys. It all grows from Aerys. (ASOS, Jaime VII)
So Jaime believes that Brienne misunderstood why he imprisoned her because of Aerys… which isn’t really the case with Brienne at this point, but it’s definitelythe reason why Ned also misunderstands him. Again, making parallels with Ned and Jaime’s love interest is a lot of things, but straight ain’t one of em.
And to top it all off, with both scenarios, Jaime thinks that, instead of judging him or making negative assumptions, Brienne and Ned should have kissed him.
So, yeah. With intense admiration, repressed hurt over disapproval, jealousy over boyfriends best friends, a whole bunch of staring, and an almost-hatesex scene that reads like a release to an almost twenty year build up of obsession, Jaime Lannister and Ned Stark’s dynamic couldn’t get any homoerotic—nor could Jaime’s bisexuality be any more prevalent.
But it doesn’t even stop there. Brynden, Arthur, and Ned may have been the boyfriends Jaime never had, but there’s a few other men who sexually sparked something in him, but weren’t honorable enough to reach Boyfriend Status.
Let’s get into the randos. And yes, Jaime is so fucking bi that he has random men he thinks about in almost exclusively sexual manners, rather than the romantic subtext he possesses with the male characters he has more of an emotional connection to. There’s a reason why I’m writing this meta, guise.
Thechaoskampf is a feature in many European and West Asian religions, where a god who symbolizes order fights and defeats a god or demon who symbolizes chaos. Most often, the chaos god is depicted as a serpent or a dragon and is often associated with salt water and the abyss. On the other hand, the god of order is most often associated with storms and fresh water. At best, the chaos god is simply amoral; at worst, the chaos god is pure evil.
Examples:
Babylonian: Marduk vs. Tiamat
Bhagavata: Krishna vs. Kaliya
Caananite: Baal vs. Yam-Nahar
Egyptian: Ra vs. Apep
Greek: Cronus vs. Ophion, Zeus vs. Typhon
Hittite: Tarhunt vs. Illuyanka
Jewish: YHWH vs. Leviathan
Norse: Thor vs. Jörmungandr
Rigveda: Indra vs. Vritra
Slavic: Perun vs. Veles
Zoroastrian: Fereydun vs. Zahhak
It is also worth mentioning that the storm god is often (though not always) depicted as younger than the chaos god. Therefore, the chaoskampf can also symbolize the triumph of a new order over an old one. During the rise of Christianity, the chaoskampf was often used to symbolize Christianity triumphing over paganism (for example, Saint George and the Dragon.)
All of these things are interesting when considering the Ironborn and their native religion in A Song of Ice and Fire. The Ironborn, contrary to most real world cultures, appear to align themselves with the chaos god in this equation. Furthermore, many of the Ironborn are rigid believers in “The Old Way” and cannot abide the thought of living any other way.
The books aren’t finished yet, but some readers have come to the conclusion that Asha and/or Theon Greyjoy are the best hope for their people and that their uncles’ rigid commitment to tradition will bring about their deaths.
I have no idea if George R. R. Martin was aware of the chaoskampf motif when he created the Ironborn. But even if it wasn’t, I’d say it’s a still a fascinating coincidence.
You know, the more I think about it the more I realize the depth of how toxic and detrimental the environment Septa Mordane created was to the girls. I’ve seen it discussed at length when it comes to Arya (as it should be, it plays such an important part in her narrative) but I’ve rarely seen it addressed when it comes to Sansa.
Now obviously, the damages inflicted were nowhere close to Arya’s. Sansa was the golden girl, the scale every girl in Winterfell measured themselves in terms of being a perfect young Lady. On the other hand, Mordane thought that an appropriate response to Arya’s failure to meet that ideal was to shatter her self-esteem to the point where she didn’t think her own family wouldn’t want her because her hair wasn’t properly combed. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Sansa got the better hand there.
But I do think Mordane’s teachings impacted Sansa in a bad way too. I find her insistence on having the girls conform to the (southron) ideal of ladyship almost obsessive. Sansa is partially to “blame” for that (I know, poor wording but I couldn’t think of another way to say it), since her meeting all the expectations likely pushed Mordane to always ask for more - to the point where even the royal princess didn’t live up to her.
And don’t get me wrong, Sansa excels at these traditional activities mainly because she enjoys them. She likes singing and embroidery and being courteous. She likes being the “good girl” and, let’s be honest, the benefits that come along with it. But on the other hand, she is not given any space to grow outside of that particular image. Septa Mordane is constantly riding her to behave a certain way, and scolding her everytime she says or does something that could be considered slightly out of place from what a lady is supposed to do.
“I’ve never seen an aurochs,” Sansa said, feeding a piece of bacon to Lady under the table. The direwolf took it from her hand, as delicate as a queen.
Septa Mordane sniffed in disapproval. “A noble lady does not feed dogs at her table,” she said, breaking off another piece of comb and letting the honey drip down onto her bread.
“She’s not a dog, she’s a direwolf,” Sansa pointed out as Lady licked her fingers with a rough tongue. “Anyway, Father said we could keep them with us if we want.”
The septa was not appeased. “You’re a good girl, Sansa, but I do vow, when it comes to that creature you’re as willful as your sister Arya.” She scowled.“
- [AGOT, Sansa I]
I mean, they’re eating breakfast in the middle of the road. They’re not exactly in a banquet with the royal family. It’s not really a situation where people would think less of Sansa (or Septa Mordane…) for feeding her wolf. They most likely don’t even notice them. Moreover, what I find interesting is that when Sansa pushes back (= don’t comply blindly), Mordane immediately labels her as “willful” and not a good girl anymore - something Sansa based her whole identity around.
There is such an insistence from Mordane to appear like a perfect lady… but not on much else. I don’t recall any instance where she pushed Sansa to cultivate skills outside of the realm of appearances. Sansa says “she could read and write better than any of her brothers”, but she’s never praised on that. Or for remembering a shitload of sigils and their corresponding houses. She’s never being pushed to work on skills she seems to be lacking in (namely maths and managing a household, even though they’re crucial tools for a lady). In short, there’s not much emphasis on developing the mind over the body.
An obvious example, in my opinion, is this one.
Her father’s decision still bewildered her. When the Knight of Flowers had spoken up, she’d been sure she was about to see one of Old Nan’s stories come to life. Ser Gregor was the monster and Ser Loras the true hero who would slay him. He even looked a true hero, so slim and beautiful, with golden roses around his slender waist and his rich brown hair tumbling down into his eyes. And then Father had refused him! It had upset her more than she could tell. She had said as much to Septa Mordane as they descended the stairs from the gallery, but the septa had only told her it was not her place to question her lord father’s decisions.
- [AGOT, Sansa III]
To be honest she’s not wrong (Sansa doesn’t indeed have enough facts about the situation to make an informed opinion, and also she’s 11), but what bothers me most is there isn’t even an attempt at discussion. She immediately shuts down Sansa’s opinion. I don’t mean they should march in there and demand Loras be sent instead of Beric, but there could at least be talking about it. Sansa is meant to be queen, and I believe it is Septa Mordane’s job to make her, if not politically savvy, at least introduced to politics.
That was when Lord Baelish had said, “Oh, I don’t know, Septa. Some of her lord father’s decisions could do with a bit of questioning. The young lady is as wise as she is lovely.” He made a sweeping bow to Sansa, so deep she was not quite sure if she was being complimented or mocked. Septa Mordane had been very upset to realize that Lord Baelish had overheard them. “The girl was just talking, my lord,” she’d said. “Foolish chatter. She meant nothing by the comment.”
- [AGOT, Sansa III]
Now it might be a bit of a stretch, but I do believe Mordane is more mad that someone overheard Sansa express her opinion, moreover one that is “unladylike” (aka she doesn’t agree blindly with her father) than any concern she might have of presenting a united Stark front in front of the court. I could be wrong, of course, but since Mordane doesn’t show any sign of being politically conscious, I don’t think I am.
Notice also that her way of diminishing Sansa’s remarks is by going after her intelligence. Sansa is not stupid. She’s able to read people pretty well, and she often makes astute observations. The problem is, she is very quick to cover them up with a layer of illusions when they don’t fit with what she wishes. Joffrey and Cersei kill Lady? But they’re so beautiful and gracious and kind to her afterwards, they’re not the ones to blame, Arya is, nothing would have happened if Arya had done what she was supposed to do, if she had been a good lady. Margaery and the Tyrells might have ulterior motives in befriending her? But they’re so beautiful and gracious and kind to her, they’re nothing like the Lannisters, they just want to help her. Sansa always ends up warping reality into a version she is more comfortable with, not only in AGOT but throughout the other books as well. She refuses to look too deep and face the brutal truth until she is forced to do so - despite often making the correct assumption at first glance.
And while I wouldn’t say her upbringing is sole responsible of the blinders she puts over her thoughts, it does play its part. On one hand because, in my opinion, she tends to doubt her own intelligence (she is very quick to believe she is stupid, despite the words being uttered by Cersei and Joffrey of all people) since it was never emphasized to be important, and thus not a feature she built her identity around. On the other, well, that’s what she was promised right? Do as you’re told and you’ll get what you want. Except it doesn’t work, it never works. And Sansa - despite never actively reflecting on it - is a prime example of that. She did everything right; she did everything that was asked of her, relishing every aspect of it, thriving under it. Because that’s the contract, right? Do everything we say, and you’ll get everything you (are supposed to) want. And it works for a while. She gets the admiration of her peers, the praises of the adults, a beautiful prince and the promise of a wonderful life free of pain and hard labor. But, as we saw, that contract is flawed in the first place because the other party is never held accountable to keep its part of the bargain.
Sansa never questions what she’s spoon-fed, because like I said, she prides herself on being a “good girl”. She’s the one who follow the rules to an exceptional degree, and she’s rewarded for it. She even draw strength from it. But she never realizes how intimately constricting these rules are. That a lady’s courtesies is not her armor, but her shackles. She never realizes these rules are meant to keep her down, passive and helpless. Those are rules made by men and for men, designed to keep women relying on them alone, without any means to fare on their own.
I find particularly telling that Sansa doesn’t have any relationship in her life that isn’t dictated by conventions, that isn’t conditional. She refuses to consider Jon as her brother because he’s bastard-born, and bastards are wicked - it doesn’t matter that she grew up with him, that she knows what kind of guy he is and that every one of her siblings think of him as their true brother. Arya can’t conform to the system, therefore she doesn’t have a place in Sansa’s world, she isn’t fit to be her sister, she isn’t worthy of care and attention. (And yet, a few chapters later, she dreams of having a sister eerily similar to the person Arya would have been had she had the proper support system.) Even her best friend Jeyne Poole, her closest companion, a girl with whom she grew up and shared everything, isn’t exempted of Sansa’s classism. Sansa has some very unkind words towards her supposed best friend. She may not say them aloud, but she thinks them nonetheless.
Jeyne covered her eyes whenever a man fell, like a frightened little girl, but Sansa was made of sterner stuff. A great lady knew how to behave at tournaments.
- [AGOT, Sansa II]
Of course, Jeyne had been in love with Lord Beric ever since she had first glimpsed him in the lists. Sansa thought she was being silly; Jeyne was only a steward’s daughter, after all, and no matter how much she mooned after him, Lord Beric would never look at someone so far beneath him, even if she hadn’t been half his age.
It would have been unkind to say so, however, so Sansa took a sip of milk and changed the subject.
- [AGOT, Sansa III]
(Notice that it is not the thinking part she finds unladylike, but the saying part; meaning a lady is supposed to always be conscious of that class barrier, to uphold it even with her closest friends. The only thing stopping her is knowing it would hurt Jeyne’s feelings, though whether it stems from genuine kindness or superficial (”ladylike”) kindness is unclear.)
Jeyne Poole had been confined with her, but Jeyne was useless. Her face was puffy from all her crying, and she could not seem to stop sobbing about her father.
“I’m certain your father is well,” Sansa told her when she had finally gotten the dress buttoned right. “I’ll ask the queen to let you see him.” She thought that kindness might lift Jeyne’s spirits, but the other girl just looked at her with red, swollen eyes and began to cry all the harder. She was such a child.
- [AGOT, Sansa IV]
To me, this ever-present consciousness of status and class means she’s never unconditional with others, she’s never free, she’s never real. She constantly thinks about how to act, what is appropriate (allowed) to say, be it with strangers or with her own family and friends.
And that intense focus on appearances, on conforming to the statu quo is at the core of her narrative. This is a trap she keeps falling in, way after the first book. Sansa constantly rewrites herself to fit into what’s expected of her, hoping to be handed her share of the bargain - even when she knows it’s been drawn for other people’s benefit. This is what have been ingrained in her brain since the moment she was born, and I really hope that one of the key realization of her journey will be to realize how fucked up that ideology is.
From Sansa’s very first chapter I sussed her out. Sansa may not know it yet, or acknowledge it yet, but she does feel restricted by the patriarchy. Her wanting to see Arya punished for picking flowers for Ned, is something a very frustrated and envious person would want. Yeah, Sansa has her classism hang-ups as well when it comes to Arya, but this is just something MORE to me. I think while Sansa enjoys typically highborn feminine skills and excels at them, she was made to feel that she had to be restrained and polished and ladylike at all times. Sansa who has been a “lady at three” must feel stifled at times, and she probably doesn’t even understand why. But every time I reread her first chapter all I see is Sansa being angry that Ned is letting Arya be a child. And the sad thing is, I don’t even think this is favoritism on Ned’s part. I think he’d have behaved the same with Sansa. But because Septa Mordane and Catelyn shaped Sansa into that highborn ideal really early on, Sansa doesn’t even think she’s allowed to enjoy herself like Arya enjoys herself. And it’s honestly sad because we’ve seen lady’s playing and do enjoyable activities with nobody punishing them for it. However, I do see her becoming a tad less restrained as Alayne. For instance it was refreshing to see her racing Myranda (even though it was a trick to make Alayne look discheveled) in Alayne I TWOW. :)
