shigraki-gone:

Im sorry that I choose my favs with my pussy and not my moral compass. Wish I could be as boring as the rest of you

The choke hold the “I hate everybody and everything but you.” trope has me in is fucking disgusting.

bakustark:

Morally ambiguous character with long hair and a tragic backstory: [exists]

Me:

queen-of-ice494:

me, just chilling:

my brain: all of your favorite characters in every piece of media are the misunderstood, disliked people who outwardly appear to be full of only rage and hate but are actually gentle and caring and filled with love; but they’ve been hurt and traumatized too many times, and their anger is a shield to protect them from being hurt again-

me:

I don’t know what it is but something about the murderer!boyfriend: “I will kill you if you touch my girl again” trope just be making my pussy vibrate.

elderzosima:

Rhaena Targaryen and Sansa Stark: Parallels and Speculation

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly’s James Hibberd, George R.R. Martin responds as follows when asked whether Fire and Blood would tease what is to come in A Song of Ice and Fire:

Are there any hints here in terms of what’s to come in your Ice and Fire saga?

There are a few that are definitely important, but I’m not going to flag them. Readers will have to find them and puzzle out whether they’re hints or red herrings. (x)

The following essay argues that one of these “hints” is evinced in Rhaena Targaryen, daughter of Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velayron. In particular, several complementary connections between Rhaena Targaryen in Fire and Blood and Sansa Stark in A Song of Ice and Fire provides us with some “hints” concerning Sansa’s endgame.

I. The Wild and Willful Sisters

One pertinent connection between Rhaena and Sansa are their wild and willful sisters. The following section looks at six similarities between Rhaena’s sister, Baela Targaryen, and Sansa’s sister, Arya Stark.

First, Baela and Arya are known for their willful and heterodox behaviour:

“[Baela] is wild, willful, and wanton, as we feared,” (Fire and Blood, 648)

“[Baela] was as wild and willful a young woman as any in the realm” (Fire and Blood, 645)

“[Arya’s] long horsey face got the stubborn look that meant she was going to do something willful.” (AGOT, Sansa I)

“And Arya … he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful.” (AGOT, Jon III)

Second, Baela and Arya’s undermine the social constructs used to sustain feudal societies by consorting with small folk:

“Time and time again she would escape her ladies to seek adventure in the streets. She took part in drunken horse races along the Street of the Sisters, engaged in moonlight swims across the Blackwater Rush (whose powerful currents had been known to drown many a strong swimmer), drank with the gold cloaks in their barracks, wagered coin and sometimes clothing in the rat pits of Flea Bottom.” (Fire and Blood, 645)

“Sansa knew all about the sorts of people Arya liked to talk to: squires and grooms and serving girls, old men and naked children, rough-spoken freeriders of uncertain birth. Arya would make friends with anybody. This Mycah was the worst; a butcher’s boy, thirteen and wild, he slept in the meat wagon and smelled of the slaughtering block. Just the sight of him was enough to make Sansa feel sick, but Arya seemed to prefer his company to hers.”(AGOT, Sansa I)

Third, Baela and Arya’s rejection of gender and class restrictions is a source of tension for those who seek to mold them into the feminine ideal:

“Septa Amarys, who had been given charge of her religious and moral instruction, despaired of her, and even Septon Eustace could not seem to curb her wild ways.” (Fire and Blood, 646)

“Idespaired of ever making a lady of [Arya].” (ACOK, Catelyn VII)

“Sansa’s work is as pretty as she is,” Septa Mordane told their lady mother once. “She has such fine, delicate hands.” When Lady Catelyn had asked about Arya, the septa had sniffed. “Arya has the hands of a blacksmith.” (AGOT, Arya I)

In addition to their shared behaviour and values, Baela and Arya are romantically tied to bastards. In Baela’s case, she marries Alyn Velayron, the bastard son of Laenor Velayron* and a fisherwoman, Marila of Hull. Alyn is later legitimized as Lord Velayron and his relationship with Baela is characterized as being “stormy”. In Arya’s case, her relationship with Gendry, the bastard son of an alehouse worker and Robert Baratheon, is rife with romantic undertones*.

Finally, Baela and Arya have strong moon imagery in contrast to their sisters’ sun imagery.

Sansa is your sister. You may be as different as the sun and the moon,but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you … and I need both of you, gods help me.“ (AGOT, Arya II)

“Baela’s dragon, the slender pale green Moondancer would soon be large enough to bear the girl upon her back/“ “Baela’s twin had brought a dragon’s egg with her to the Vale … and egg that had proved fertile, bringing forth a pale pink hatchling with black horns and crest, Rhaena named her Morning.” (Fire and Blood, 432 & 593)

Although Ned’s “sun and the moon” quote does not specify which of the Stark sisters is the sun and which is the moon, I speculate that Arya is the moon in reference. For one, Baela’s “moondancer” brings to mind Arya’s expertise in sword dancing. Second, Arya’s story is rife with moon imagery. Linked here (x) is a far better essay than I could write on the importance of the moon in Arya’s story.

In short, Rhaena and Sansa’s first connection is through their sisters. Regarded as wild and willful, Baela and Arya challenge the status quo by undermining inherent gender, social, and class restrictions. In addition, both girls are romantically tied to bastards from noble Houses and have strong moon imagery.

*It is suggested in Fire and Blood that due to Laenor’s preferences for men, Alyn was actually conceived by Marila of Hull and Laenor’s father, Corlys Velayron.

*Arya Stark was initially romantically tied to her bastard half-brother, Jon Snow, as was revealed in the 1993 ASOIAF outline. Jon Snow is theorized to be the bastard son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.

II. The Dutiful Daughters

It should be acknowledged that there are fewer connections between Rhaena and Sansa than there are between Baela and Arya. This is due to the Rhaena’s minor role in the Dance translating to limited information about her character. Nevertheless, the few mentions of Rhaena strike a compelling comparison to Sansa.

To begin, both Rhaena and Sansa lose their pets soon after bonding with them. Rhaena’s first dragon egg hatches but dies shortly after emerging from the egg. Similarly, Sansa’s dire wolf, Lady, is killed roughly three months after bonding with Sansa.

“Rhaena’s egg had hatched a broken thing that died within hours of emerging from the egg” (Fire and Blood, 432-3)

“Lady was dead” (ASOS, Sansa IV)

Second, in contrast to their willful sisters, Rhaena and Sansa embrace and embody the traditional feminine traits of their milieu:

“Lady Rhaena proved to be as tractable as her sister had been willful.” (Fire and Blood, 649)

“[Sansa] was the good girl, the obedient girl …” (AGOT, Sansa IV)

"Sansa was a lady at three, always so courteousandeager to please.” (ACOK, Catelyn VII)

Relatedly, Rhaena and Sansa enjoy by pomp and spectacle of the court:

“… Rhaena delighted in being the centre of court life” (Fire and Blood, 645)

“She loved King’s Landing; the pageantry of the court, the high lords and ladies in their velvets and silks and gemstones, the great city with all its people.” (AGOT, Sansa III)

“Sansa would shine in the south, Catelyn thought” (AGOT, Catelyn II)

Finally, the Vale of Arryn establishes a pertinent connection between Rhaena and Sansa. During the Dance, Rhaena accompanies her cousin, Prince Joffrey, to the Vale where she spends the remainder of the war as a ward of Lady Arryn. Comparably, Sansa is smuggled from King’s Landing to the Vale where she adopts the identity of Alayne Stone and takes care of her cousin, Robert Arryn*. In short, Rhaena and Sansa share four notable connections: the death of their bonded animals, embodiment and embrace of traditional feminine ideals as it relates to behaviour and activities, and spending their formative years at the Vale.

*Rhaena and Sansa led somewhat different lives at the Vale. Rhaena is said to have “enjoy[ed] a life of comfort and privilege as Lady Jeyne’s ward” whereas Sansa, while enjoying the comfort and privileges of being the alleged daughter of the Lord Protector, is embroiled in problematic political schemes and experiences sexual harassment at the hands of her alleged father.

III. Kind, Gentle, Noble versus Brave, Gentle, Strong

“There are a few [hints] that are definitely important,” says Martin. Given these connections, what does Rhaena’s story “hint” about Sansa’s endgame?

Perhaps Rhaena eventually hatching another dragon, Morning, is meant to hint at Sansa eventually receiving a second dire wolf. Perhaps Rhaena’s role in solving a succession crisis is teasing Sansa’s involvement in solving a potential Arryn or Stark succession crisis? These are all compelling answers, but a third captures my attention: Rhaena’s marriage.

After the Dance, King Aegon the Third’s regents attempt to secure a successor for the young king by marrying off his half-sisters, Baela and Rhaena. However, Baela defies the regents by marrying Alyn Velayron. Incensed, the regents attempt to prevent Baela from being the first to provide the Crown with a suitable successor and thus quickly order Rhaena to marry a man of her choosing.

Assessing her options, Rhaena requests that her potential husband meet the following criteria:

“[I]t would please me if he was not so old he could not give me children, nor so fat that he would crush me when we are abed. So long as he is kind and gentle and noble, I know that I shall love him.” (Fire and Blood, 649)

She chooses to marry a man that she is “especially fond,” of Ser Corwyn Corbray. Rhaena’s decision is considered “far from an ideal choice” for several reasons. In particular, Ser Corwyn is thirty-two years old (sixteen years Rhaena’s elder), a second son, and has two daughters from a previous marriage. Nevertheless, the marriage is accepted not in the least part due to Lord Corbray’s influence as Lord Protector of the Realm.

—

I believe Rhaena’s marriage to Ser Corwyn is meant to “hint” at a future marriage between Sansa and Sandor Clegane. For one, Rhaena’s request that her husband is “kind and gentle and noble” echoes a promise Ned Stark made to Sansa:

When you’re old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who’s worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. (AGOT, Sansa II)

Although, Sansa characterizes several characters as brave, gentle, and strong, Sandor is the only character that Sansa describes using all three adjectives:

“To thank you, for … for saving me … you were so brave.” (ACOK, Sansa IV)

“The Hound gave her a push, oddlygentle” (ACOK, Sansa II)

“He pushed her toward her wardrobe, almost gently.” (AGOT, Sansa VI)

“The Hound pulled her to her feet, not ungently.” (ACOK, Sansa III)

“Strong hands grasped her by the shoulders,” (AGOT, Sansa I)

“She might have fallen, but a shadow moved suddenly, and strong fingers grabbed her arm and steadied her.” (ACOK, Sansa IV)

The quotes listed above are not the only moments where Sansa describes Sandor as such. Qveenofthorns created a graph illustrating the occasions where Sansa describes a character using those specific adjectives and finds that Sandor dominates the graph (illustrated here).

Not only does Sandor match the Rhaena-esque criteria, he also shares some similarities with Ser Corwyn. Both Sandor and Ser Corwyn are in their thirties, share a similar age gap of sixteen years with their romantic interests, and are second sons. However, there are some notable differences. Ser Corwyn was previously married, a father, and a knight of repute. On the other hand, Sandor lacks all three. Nevertheless, these connections - like the connections between Sansa and Rhaena or Arya and Baela - are not meant to be a consistent one-to-one match, but complementary.

*Ser Corwyn is Rhaena’s first husband. He dies attempting to settle a succession dispute between different Arryn claimants. Rhaena later marries an unnamed Hightower.

It was not the song of Florian and Jonquil, but it was a song. Her voice sounded small and thin and tremulous in her ears.