awomanongont:

notsosilentsister:

I could absolutely see the series ending in some first baby-steps towards constitutional monarchy. There might well still be something like the Iron Throne - not as we know it in its current glory, but some institution that draws its legitimacy from this tradition, albeit greatly reduced in its powers - but there might also be some Magna Charta/Bill of Rights-type deal paving the way to constitutional monarchy. And once you have a proper House of Lords which can vote on the important stuff, you can start dreaming about a House of Commons. Introduce the notion of suffrage and the moral arc of history will hopefully bend towards its expansion. The Dream of Spring won’t quite get us there, but a dream is a start.

All we need now is a new King weak/enlightened enough to be bullied/convinced to sign a Bill of Rights. Luckily, you don’t have to reach very far to find parallels between the situation that led to the historical Bill of Rights and the situation as it’s shaping up in Westeros. The Bill of Rights came into being, when some disgruntled English aristocrats wanted to get rid of their catholic-loving Stuart-King because of the threat of a catholic heir. They supported an invasion of William of Orange married to the Stuart King’s conveniently non-catholic daughter Mary. But of course, with William and Mary not having the strongest of claims, their allies had some leeway to dictate the terms and, the narrowly averted threat of the Catholic-heir fresh on their minds, they had a big incentive to exploit that advantage and have it set in stone.

Aegon could well be Westeros’ William of Orange - the foreign invader with a tenuous claim to the throne welcomed by the disatisfied subjects. Alas, is his claim weak enough to make him sign a bill of rights? Well, his military might could be weak enough….  then again, I don’t think Aegon will be endgame. But once, such a document is set up, things often develop a dynamic of their own.

The British were ushered towards democracy by their fear of Catholicism. For the Westerosi, it might be the fear of Rhollorism that does the trick.

The trouble with this parallel (while I do kind of like the basic idea) is that the Glorious Revolution took place in 1689. ASOIAF takes place in a society that’s roughly at the level of the thirteenth or fourteenth century - at least two hundred years BEFORE the Glorious Revolution, barely a few decades after the Magna Carta, before the Renaissance, before the Civil War, before the prosperity of trade and diplomacy and the fifty-year reign of a ruler like Elizabeth I (who was always REALLY CAREFUL not to start wars with people because they were so fucking expensive) allowed the slow but steady rise of educated middle classes -

Basically, societal conditions in ASOIAF are SHIT for anything like a democratic revolution to take place. You’ve got no widespread education - no prosperity or security among the population in general. Democratic revolutions got started two ways: either you fucked up so hard and so long that you ended up in France in 1789 or Russia in 1917, or you allowed the steady rise of the middle classes and widespread education (and let’s be clear, the educated middle classes were INSTRUMENTAL in the French revolution, it wasn’t all people in rags running around with pitchforks shouting for bread, and equally instrumental in the Bolshevik revolution, the reason Russian reforms took so long and were so fucked up in the 19th century was because the aristocrats retained HUGE control over a HUGE part of the population - the serfs who worked the land - that the middle classes rising in the cities simply couldn’t compete with) to the point where you HAD to grant some sort of political rights to those people or be faced with, well, widespread violent revolt (which is basically what happened in Britain). Hell, Westeros doesn’t even have a Magna Carta.

Now Magna Carta is commonly misunderstood to be a kind of FREEDOM!!!!! AND CAKE!!!! AND A HARD-BOILED EGG!!!!!!!! type document that laid the cornerstone for England’s democracy as far back as 1215. This is historical myth-making and general bollocks of the worst kind. The Magna Carta was a document drawn up by the barons - ie the magnates of the kingdom, the real-life equivalent of the great families of Westeros - meant to protect THEIR sorry arses, not the people’s.

At the moment the barons in Westeros are too busy trying to plant their arses on the actual throne itself.

The thing is that documents like the Magna Carta or the Bill of Rights aren’t born out of periods of instability and religious discontent. They’re primarily born out of baronial/parliamentary resistance to the rule of an otherwise strong and legitimate king. They are instruments of defence, not cornerstones for a new order in the kingdom.

(Also the Glorious Revolution was kiiiiiind of the high point of a process that had been ongoing since, well, the Magna Carta in that Parliament had been arguing with five hundred years’ worth of Kings over how much power it had and in 1689 PARLIAMENT FINALLY WON. That’s a lot of development, both in legal and societal terms, that Westeros simply doesn’t have.)

(Also TAXES. The most important concession ever wrung out of any King or Queen of England was that they weren’t permitted to raise taxes without consent of Parliament. On that concession is the constitutional monarchy founded. We have no indication in the books that taxes are an issue in King’s Landing. Or in fact anywhere else in the country. The Lannisters shit gold, they don’t need your stinking taxes….?)

I’m also somewhat hesitant about the religious parallel. In 1689 England had been fighting over the Catholic questions for 150 years. There was over a century’s worth of oppression and fear and civil war and Star Chambers behind the Glorious Revolution - for example, making the Anglican Church the religion of the State meant that misdemeanours which had hitherto been considered minor heresy and usually dealt with by the Church now became, by default, something like lèse majesté. Because to insult the Church was now the same as insulting the State, and if you insulted the State you were insulting the King or Queen.

A hundred and fifty years of vicious built-up religious resentment on both sides. I’d be surprised if GRRM can engineer Westeros to reach the same boiling point in less than a decade.

I think if we’re going to have any kind of constitutional monarchy at the end of the books, it’s going to be a Magna Carta type deal, probably in response to the great families of Westeros demanding some kind of surety for their families and inheritance from a descendant of Mad King Aerys.

They’d start a proper fight over it, but who’s gonna argue with three fire-breathing dragons?

sapiosexual-dyke:

As an avid shipper, you’re probably not going to expect me to be objective about the scenes from the last episode, The Bear and Maiden Fair. If you’ve been following me since my self-imposed Sanrion advocacy where only Sansa and Tyrion-related posts will occupy my tumblog until their long-awaited nuptials happen, you should know by now that these characters are my utmost favorite of the book/show series, and their pairing is a ship I will sail to the edge of the world with. Nevertheless, I’m aware of the circumstances surrounding their marriage which are hardly pleasant for either of them. They have also suffered so much injury in the previous seasons which is primarily what hinders them from truly connecting. There is a history of bloodshed between their families too, and their arranged marriage is a political move from Tywin Lannister to secure the North if/when Robb Stark has fallen in battle.

I understand the point of views from many non-book readers about this engagement, and the variety of reactions from both Sansa loyalists/haters and Tyrion loyalists/haters who do not approve that such an alliance should happen. But there a number of book fans who are also a fan of this complex pairing who have always known this day of reckoning is coming but have realistic expectations and reactions about what will come to pass between Tyrion and Sansa.

Let me just state for the record that we shippers ship them the way we do not because it’s a happily-ever-after situation. In marrying these two, their insecurities, fears and dreams will not diminish; they will not eagerly fall in love with each other or conveniently decide to be supportive of the one another’s plight as soon as they develop genuine feelings in the long run. It’s far from that. Sure, we wanted these things for Sansa and Tyrion—of all the characters they were the only ones who actively pursue love because they both believe so desperately that they deserve it. They cope with people’s prejudices through sheer will and tenacity; Sansa clings onto hope while Tyrion utilizes his wits, and both want nothing more but to restore a sense of completeness—and in a mirror-effect sort of way, they seem utterly perfect for each other. At least that’s how we shippers believe it. With the events that surround  them for now, they’re not ready to be together just yet. There are so many experiences to learn and grow from in either side, and it is our dream that they will overcome the obstacles and get a second chance someday.

For now, we keep our faith in anticipation of the actual nuptials to occur but we are also content to talk about what happened in the recent episode. Let me start first with Sansa and Margaery’s girl  talk.

The Tyrell women are seriously ahead of their time. Proving that she’s indeed the granddaughter of the Queen of Thorns, Margaery explicitly educates Sansa about sexual attraction and compatibility. For Sansa, the wedding itself is bad enough but she is even more terrified with the bedding that comes after. I’d like to add my perspective about the fact that she seems more than reluctant to sleep with Tyrion not only because he is an enemy of the family, but because he’s a dwarf—and that’s perfectly understandable. It’s certainly awkward. I would like to agree with Margaery when she said that Tyrion is rather good looking even with a scar—scratch that—especially with a scar. But being thirteen/fourteen years old, Sansa still perceives romantic attraction superficially. She starts to compare Tyrion to Loras who is her ideal of male perfection, apparently. But thanks to Margaery’s wisdom, she comes up with a delightful list on what women find attractive (and the casual way she throws in “pretty girls” was superb), and Sansa looks quite receptive to this new knowledge.She fancies Margaery to be her sister after all, and I think after their discussion, Sansa has began to consider Tyrion in a better light especially since Margaery seems to hint that Tyrion being ‘experienced’ is a good thing in the marriage bed.  Putting aside my being a shipper, this conversation wasn’t offensive for me at all. I’m not sure what other people think but I’ve read somewhere in twitter that Margaery and Sansa shouldn’t talk about matters like that. But hey, girls DO TALK ABOUT SEX but I find that when we do, emotional compatibility is also discussed.

And this brings me to my second point: When Margaery asked if Tyrion is kind to her, Sansa answered that “he tried”. 

It was an appropriate response. It may be argued that Sansa is already honest with Margaery at this point, but I think Sansa still withholds many things from her surrogate sister, particularly about how she feels about things she is unsure about. I know for a fact she is grateful to Tyrion for the kindness she eventually acknowledges. Besides, that statement didn’t mean “He tried to be kind but it’s not good enough” as most viewers seem to interpret it. I believe what she meant was: “He tried to be kind even when he didn’t have to be.” That’s how I interpreted it and it makes more sense because Sansa isn’t a snob/dumb bitch as many of her haters like to argue.

And as a parallel to that scene, Tyrion and Bronn have a man talk about the situation too. I’d like to state for the record that I’m a Bronnthusiast/Jeromaniac for 2 years now, and bringing him in for this episode just so I could watch him drink and get sassy with Tyrion makes me very happy already. While Sansa doesn’t want to marry/have sex with Tyrion because he’s a dwarf, Tyrion’s reason is because she’s a tall child. Understandable as well, but Bronn was quick to counter that he wants to fuck Sansa but he just won’t admit it. It’s a fair assessment from a crass, insolent sellsword who always seems to enjoy poking fun at Tyrion all the time. But  the look on Tyrion’s face says it all. He dismisses that as an evil notion but I know for a fact that there’s a tiny portion of him that does lust after Sansa. And there’s nothing gross about that because it’s normal and you haters know it. You can hate and be disgusted about Tyrion wanting Sansa but not about Sandor wanting Sansa or Drogo fucking Daenerys (who is thirteen in the books)? That to me is prejudicial bias. Let’s not sugarcoat it. Sex between Tyrion and Sansa is disgusting to most of you because he’s a dwarf.

Well, I say to you what Margaery said to Sansa: you can never know unless you try. I’m not saying we should all go have sex with a dwarf now. What I meant is that it’s already established that Tyrion is a decent man despite the errors he has committed because he is kind to people who are mistreated like he was, and in that sense, marrying/having sex with him is not the worst thing that could happen to Sansa. And to think that most of you are Sansa haters too, but you’re not above her at all if you share her superficial outlook about having sex with a dwarf. I just feel like getting this message across because eventually, SanSan and Drogo/Daenerys in spite of the same gray area that Sanrion are going through now, gets approved by many shippers by now. So it baffles me that one of the reasons Sanrion is being dismissed is because she’s dumb/innocent or he’s one’s favorite badass/dwarf. 

There aren’t a lot of fans of BOTH Sansa and Tyrion and who also ship them, and those who do are usually book readers like me who have seen the complexity and possibility of this pairing for ourselves.  I just hope D&D will treat with their relationship with same sensitivity and empathy like GRMM did during their POVs reflective of each other. I look forward to next Sunday because watching Dinklage and Turner interact as Tyrion and Sansa makes my heart flutter and I know there are many more scenes between them that I can talk about with fellow shippers once more :)

notsosilentsister:

The only character I can think of whose actions are really mainly guided by prophesies is Melisandre and to a certain degree Stannis, in as far as he’s influenced by her. But prophesies are hardly his sole motivation – he has unfavorite-child issues and he would have found it hard to bend to Renly or someone else, prophesy or not.

Cersei’s paranoia is also fuelled quite a bit by prophesy, but then again, you don’t need doom-ladden prophesies do feel somewhat unsafe in Cersei’s situation, do you? Again, it contributes to her behaviour, but it just affirms and enforces something that would be there anyway.

 And Dany? Well, she’s certainly the object of many prophesies but have they really guided her actions so far? Dany wants the iron throne for tribal reason, she wants to avenge her family, she wants to get back what once was hers. This sense of entitlement is the only thing her brother ever gave her – she starts out with nothing but her name and of course she clings to it and every right it should entail in her opinion. Dany already believes that she is destined to rule Westeros by virtue of being born a Targaryen. Just as with Stannis, the prophesy is only the cherry on top. Dany was longing for a conquest of Westeros well before anything was said about princes that were promised and stuff.

In fact, Dany’s emerging theme with regard to prophesies is that she develops quite a habit of apparently thwarting them (or at least their more popular, more literal interpretations). If I remember correctly, we did get the Mirri-Marz-Durr prophesy. If it were ever to be taken literally, Dany actually thwarted it by mercy-killing Drogo, thus disabling his prophesied return. (At any rate, her action in this case is markedly not guided by prophesy). She also accidentally thwarted the Dothraki’s interpretation of the “prince-that-was-promised” prophesy by losing her baby in an attempt to save Drogo with dark magic.

I think we will eventually get Quaith’s “three treasons will you know” prophesy (otherwise, why introduce Quaithe at all?)  – this, in fact, does shake Dany quite a bit, but again, no person in her position could afford to be blindly trusting. Apart from occasionally speculating about the identity of her three traitors, Dany does not act based on that prophesy either.

I think that Dany’s contribution to the prophesy theme will be self-fulfilling prophesy again, but this time in a more positive sense. Dany tends to fullfill her prophesies accidently. (Many have mounted fairly convincing arguments that Mirri-Marz-Dur’s prophesy has come true by now – only the Drogo that came back was not the husband, but the dragon). Many of the actions she takes seem to take her away from the path of her destiny – trying to salvage the clusterf*ck of Meereen for instance – and she gets a lot of flak for that from potential allies as well as readers. Dany stays in Meereen because of her conscience, because of some peculiar notion that power comes with responsibility (that might be paternalistic, but I still find some merit in that idea), because she realized that freeing the slaves entailed consequences she had not really thought through and it would violate her sense of integrity to run away from the mess she made - not because some dubious prophesy tells her to. For some reason most people lost a lot of respect for her because of that.

But my prophesy is that disregarding prophesies and just following your own sense of integrity will turn out to be the best strategy to actually meet your destiny – for Dany as well as for Jon.  I hope that Meereen will turn out to be more than just a page-filling detour to pad the series and teach Dany not to veer from the path of destiny ever again. My theory is that Dany’s anti-slavery agenda – not thrust upon her by any prophesy at all, but merely something that seems close to her own heart – will win her important allies – the Faceless Men, the Red Priests of RHollor maybe, or powers as of yet unrevealed – that will be integral for her defeat of the Others (and I think that this is Dany’s true destiny, not necessarily sitting the Iron Throne). I guess that’s also a potential meaning for Quaithe’s “To go west you have to go east”-suggestion. Most people take that to mean that Dany has to take the Demon Road along Old Valyria, but it might not just be a question of logistics…To save Westeros, you must first save Meereen.

spasil:

I’ve always liked the little detail about Tyrion often needing supporting cushions when he is sitting to prop himself up because (unless I’m reading too much into it) it’s a clear testament to the lack of care/attention he had as a child, which he sorely needed. It’s very common for achondroplastic children to need support due to a weak posture. A good way to combat this is to encourage them to take up a sport that builds up muscle strength, but something which is smooth and not hard on the joints. A common one is swimming or some form of hydrotherapy.

Yes all this exact knowledge is beyond the grasp of maesters, but it would have been apparent from the start that Tyrion lacked muscle strength/definition to maintain a good posture, and I don’t think it would have been beyond them to know that it could have been treated with some form of strength-building activity.

As an adult Tyrion still needs this support, so evidently this did not happen. He was restricted from physical activities from a young age and soon came to believe they were beyond him. Plus it wasn’t really part of his natural interests and he preferred a much more sedentary lifestyle. He can ride a horse, but then of course he has his customised saddle to aid that.

It makes me think that from this lack of care, Tyrion probably developed spinal stenosis, which would explain the occasional spasms in his legs from temporarily losing motor control (something which confused me at first, as it was something I never associated with achondroplasia).

I don’t really know where I’m going with this; I just thought it was interesting.

(via thegoodlannister)

maidenvault:

It’s just so freaking weird to see these consecutive scenes of Sansa and Tyrion getting advice and encouragement from their BFFs about the sex they’re going to have to have with each other as if this situation is almost just supposed to be kind of funny and awkward. As if the arrangement of this marriage doesn’t mean that any other life Sansa might have hoped to ever have is over now. As if it doesn’t mean that now she’ll never be able to experience and enjoy having sex with someone she can actually trust, as opposed to a Lannister who regardless of his own moral character is still a Lannister who would reluctantly marry her before giving up what he has by defying his father, and therefore can never entirely have her trust.

And what’s also bothersome is how the conversation between Sansa and Margaery is full of these suggestions that their situations are necessarily comparable just because Margaery will be willingly marrying Joffrey. For Sansa, there can be no “making the best of this” and taking control of her own situation like how Margaery was able to see the advantage in marrying her brother’s gay lover and now knows how to take advantage of the Lannisters because she has a support system and protection from her own family in such a dangerous situation. Canon!Margaery I’d think would appreciate the difference and would probably find some more practical way to comfort her than telling her to try to be open-minded.

Especially since, for fuck sakes, Tyrion is quite understandably not comfortable with this either, even if he is attracted to Sansa. Even ignoring all the other factors that make this conversation ridiculous, is it at all reasonable to put this expectation in Sansa’s mind that Tyrion will totally be on his game with her and just might sweep her off her feet with his legendary skills in the sack? Give me a goddamn break.

It seemed like her advice was supposed to be empowering for Sansa somehow, but it really wasn’t anything that would realistically be of any help for her to hear. Is she supposed to take comfort in the idea of one day having a son who will be heir to Winterfell, which implies the eventual defeat of Robb in the war and the Lannisters assuming control of the North through this marriage? IS SHE SERIOUSLY SUPPOSED TO GIVE A CRAP RIGHT NOW ABOUT WHAT TYRION LANNISTER COULD BE LIKE AS A LOVER? SERIOUSLY??

Which is why it’s so hard to believe that this is a scene GRRM actually wrote himself. Unless it was actually the best he could possibly do with what had been decided in the writers’ room needs to be established in this episode given the direction D&D intend to take this storyline. After all, I’m sure he can only do so much to bandage up their overall catastrophe.

stormdicks:

…Except no, not really at all.

I was listening to another episode of Boiled Leather, and once again they were complaining about how Asha is unrealistic. This time the criticism was that she was like a “stereotypical fantasy warrior woman” and not a believable product of her society, but also that she had stereotypically “feminine” qualities like caution, protectiveness toward family members, and empathy. And somehow that’s bad and boring. Yawn. (Also, this is a bit contradictory—aren’t “stereotypical fantasy warrior women”, like all stereotypical characters, rather one-dimensional?) 

I’ve already discussed here why her leadership style and attitude toward her family makes sense given what we know about her upbringing. This time I’m going to discuss why her being a warrior and political leader makes sense and is portrayed “believably.”

Not that I should have to do such a thing—I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone complain that Jaime’s kindness toward Tyrion is “unrealistic” despite Tywin being his only surviving parent. But here we go anyway.

• First of all, here’s a whole big honking timeline of women who were involved in medieval warfare. Many of these women had atypical roles in their societies, but they did exist. There was a woman who led an army in the Crusades. And, in a culture more analogous to the Ironborn, there were women warriors among the Vikings. Historical evidence suggests that they were rare (just like among the Ironborn) but there are reports of them in historical records. Just had to get that out of the way.
• Asha is not the only woman to work in the crew of a longship. We know that. Moving on.
• The Boiled Leather dudes did acknowledge that her high birth does allow her to “get away with” stuff that lowborn women might not. She has both the status and the capital; she doesn’t have to marry and take a job in a village for economic reasons, and it’s just a general fact that nobles can do stuff other people can’t. 
• As far as how she’s able to get away with what she gets away with while having the unrepentantly sexist Balon Greyjoy as a father, there’s of course the fact that for a long time she was her father’s only living heir, but we do know that even before the loss of Theon, Rodrik and Maron she was playing with axes as well as dolls. Balon might not have approved of this at first. But one thing we can’t forget about Balon is that he despises weakness. He might not have thought it was appropriate for a girl to learn to fight, but once he saw that Asha was an adequate fighter he probably realized that having a daughter who was “strong” by his standards was preferable to a child he considered “weak”. And such a daughter was much preferable as an heir to a weak son. As Aeron thinks, “That was Balon’s blindness; he saw himself in his wild, headstrong daughter, and believed she could succeed him,”  (AFFC, “The Prophet) 

• This doesn’t mean that he believed that all women had the right or capacity to be warriors. He might even have believed that the fact that most women hadn’t taken up arms was proof of their inherent weakness, given the Ironborn’s “only the strong survive” mentality. There’s a proven phenomenon that when people with deeply ingrained prejudices against certain groups encounter members of those groups who defy their stereotypes, they see those individuals as “exceptions”, as the “good ones”, but it doesn’t necessarily change their perceptions of the group as a whole. So Balon’s seeing Asha as “not like other girls”  wouldn’t have changed his view on women in general. 
• Don’t discount Alannys’s influence. All signs suggest she was a tough, outspoken woman during Asha’s childhood, and she might well have defended Asha’s right to do what she wanted. And we don’t really know anything about her older brothers, but they too might have included her in their games or given her something to aspire to or compete with.
• After the Greyjoy Rebellion, as we know, Asha effectively became Balon’s heir. Although Theon was the legal heir, evidence in the text suggests that even before he was taken as a hostage he was seen as weak; Aeron Damphair derisively remembers how he openly displayed emotion as a child. So Asha was presumably allowed to do and learn everything a male heir would do. This isn’t unprecedented in history—in the absence of a male heir, women were able to do many things men normally did (we need look no further than Elizabeth I). 
• And, although Asha herself (mostly) sees no contradiction between her role in society and her gender, there is evidence that Balon views her as a replacement son and not as who she really is, as when he refers to both her and Theon as “my sons”. (I am currently working on another meta about the complicated relationship between Asha and Balon, and the Old Way, but that’s a subject for another time.) 

And, unlike a “stereotypical fantasy warrior woman”, Asha does face limitations, many because of her gender. The whole idea of a “Mary Sue” is terribly gendered to begin with, but some of the ideas have merit as signs of poor characterization in characters of all genders—if a character can get away with anything, if a character is constantly rebellious and mouthy to everyone regardless of relative power and the narrative wants you to believe they’re always right, (I can’t really think of any examples in ASOIAF, since every major character has had to answer to someone and has suffered consequences for their choices). But Asha’s character? Not like this at all. She’s not always rebelling. She doesn’t have all the answers. And it’s always clear that she’s functioning within the limitations of an oppressive society despite being an exception in some ways.

• First of all, we don’t see what she went through in her early years and what she had to do to gain acceptance. We only see her after she’s been a captain for a number of years. 
• It is interesting to note that, like the novel’s other two culturally atypical warrior women, Arya and Brienne, she was considered unattractive (at least as a child)—is GRRM suggesting that, like them, Asha adopted a “masculine”-coded role at least at first because of her difficulty fulfilling the requirements of femininity? With Asha, we don’t know, and I hate to think of it purely in terms of “she only did it because she wasn’t pretty”—that reduces the complexity and power of ALL of these women, and the “pretty” ones as well. But the parallels are there.
• And, while Asha is accepted as a captain and a leader, eventually she hits an…iron ceiling, shall we say. A Feast for Crows is a novel where both of the female heirs (Asha and Arianne) of autonomous kingdoms have their inheritances called into question, and, unlike Arianne, Asha fails to confirm hers. The Kingsmoot was called in the first place because Aeron refused to acknowledge a law that would allow a woman to sit the Seastone Chair, and he claims that according to the voice of the Drowned God “no woman may rule over us”. It’s likely that whatever the circumstances of Balon’s death, even without Euron claiming the throne, there would have been some challenge to Asha succeeding him. 
• And don’t forget Asha’s attitude throughout this whole thing. Although she shows some bravado, calling it her “queensmoot”, she acknowledges from the beginning that she doesn’t have nearly enough support and offers to concede to Victarion as long as he accepts her as Hand (which he doesn’t). In her first chapter in ADWD, she admits to herself that she is unlikely to ever become queen. In short, Asha understands her limitations in Ironborn society as well as anyone, and although she makes a good effort, she’s largely resigned herself to trying to minimize the damage. While Balon’s presence limited her in some ways, making her less able to pursue her own course of action, it also allowed her to be an heir—an heir, but never a queen. Ironborn society is so sexist that most of the men in it are willing to ignore the wishes of a revered leader in order to keep a woman off the throne. That’s pretty intense.

We’ll see what happens in the aftermath of Euron’s orgy of destruction, and whether the Ironmen will reevaluate their decision in her favor, but at the moment things don’t look good; her only hope is having the Kingsmoot decision overturned on a technicality. 

In conclusion? I think writing Asha off as a “stereotypical hot Viking chick” ignores the subtleties of her character as well as dishonoring the real women who had similar roles. This “hot Viking chick” might be feisty and rebellious at times, and she might have an atypical role for a woman, but her character arc also includes obedience, compromise, doubt, and resignation. She is not a character who functions as though misogyny doesn’t exist. She has been shaped by history and culture, and while she fights against the limitations put upon her, she is never able to transcend them, and certainly never able to ignore them. 

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headtrip-honey:

daenerys-theconqueror:

let’s stop complaining about Sansa saying “but he’s a dwarf”, because even though in the books she never says something similar, part of her objecting to marry him is about his look, about how ugly he is.
Yes, first of all in the books she openly says she doesn’t want to marry him because he’s a Lannister! but let’s not pretend that his bad look,which includes his dwarfism, isn’t one of the reasons why she objects to marry him.
Besides, GRRM wrote the episode! basically you’re criticizing the man who created all the characters and knows their psyche more than any reader could ever understand.

A few things.

1. No, Tyrion being a dwarf didn’t have much to do with Sansa objecting to marrying him. It did, however, have a lot to do with her not being sexually attracted to him. And that’s okay! People are allowed to NOT be sexually attracted to people. Peter Dinklage is an incredibly handsome man, however book!Tyrion is NOT. (Honestly I’d have trouble being attracted to ANY person COMPLETELY MISSING THEIR NOSE but I guess I’m just shallow.)

Sansa’s first thoughts on hearing that she’s to marry Tyrion:

My claim, she thought, sickened. Dontos the Fool was not so foolish after all; he had seen the truth of it. Sansa backed away from the queen. “I won’t.” I’m to marry Willas, I’m to be the lady of Highgarden, please…

It’s funny, it’s almost as if the thought of his looks don’t enter into it all. It’s almost as if she’s horrified at being tied to the Lannister family, who is going to try to use her to usurp her claim…(additionally, when Cersei first refers to Tyrion in this conversation, she merely calls him a “gargoyle,” which Sansa interprets as Cersei referring to WILLAS)

She also thinks:

It had been the Imp who saved her from a beating that day, the same man who was waiting for her now. He is not so bad as the rest of them, she told herself. “I’ll go.”

WOW IT’S ALMOST AS IF SHE’S NOT EVEN THINKING OF HIS LOOKS????

The first time she thinks of his NOT being handsome, is when she sees him face to face. And the only thing she thinks is:

Tyrion wore a doublet of black velvet covered with golden scrollwork, thigh-high boots that added three inches to his height, a chain of rubies and lions’ heads. But the gash across his face was raw and red, and his nose was a hideous scab. […]

Should I tell him he is handsome? He’ll think me a fool or a liar. She lowered her gaze and held her tongue.

So, yes. She correctly notes that Tyrion is not handsome. His facial wound is hideous to look at - which is an objective fact. That doesn’t make her shallow.

And then:

“You did not ask for this marriage, I know. No more than I did. If I had refused you, however, they would have wed you to my cousin Lancel. Perhaps you would prefer that. He is nearer your age, and fairer to look upon. If that is your wish, say so and I will end this farce.”

I don’t want any Lannister, she wanted to say. I want Willas, I want Highgarden and the puppies and the barge, and sons named Eddard and Bran and Rickon. But then she remembered what Dontos had told her in the godswood. Tyrell or Lannister, it makes no matter, it’s not me they want, only my claim. “You are kind, my lord,” she said, defeated. “I am a ward of the throne and my duty is to marry as the king commands.”

He studied her with his mismatched eyes. “I know I am not the sort of husband young girls dream of, Sansa,” he said softly, “but neither am I Joffrey.”

“No,” she said. “You were kind to me. I remember.”

During the wedding she is “mortified” that Tyrion wants her to kneel for the placing of the bridal cloak, yes. She’s embarrassed, because it’s not the way she envisioned her wedding being. But then moments later she is “ashamed of her stubbornness” and kneels to kiss him.

Wow, gee, it’s almost like she recognizes that his being a dwarf isn’t that important in the scheme of things…

She does think he is ugly. But again, when offered a handsomer husband, she remembered that Tyrion had been kind to her. His kindness was more important to her than any physical deformity.

During the wedding feast she does her best to make the situation happy. She asks Tyrion to dance, and he rebuffs her. (wow what a bitch I know)

All throughout the bedding scene, Sansa is terrified. No matter who her husband was, she would have been TERRIFIED. Because she was about to be RAPED by a man she could not consent to marry, kindness notwithstanding. 

It’s not until AFTER he says that he won’t consummate the marriage that she thinks about his lack of beauty.

Look at him, Sansa told herself, look at your husband, all of him. Septa Mordane said all men are beautiful, find his beauty, try. 

Does Sansa find it? No. She finds nothing in his physical person beautiful. Is part of this likely due to his dwarfism? Yes. But Tyrion’s physical appearance had nothing to do with Sansa’s objecting to marry him. That had everything to do with his being a Lannister, and her being forever tied to a family that had and would continue to abuse her. The family that killed her father.

Had Tyrion been a Tyrell, yes - she would have been disappointed in his looks. But I am positive that she would have been much happier to marry him had doing so meant that she could escape the Lannisters.

2. As for GRRM writing the episode….bullshit. 

We can complain all we want, regardless of the author of the content. And we don’t know that GRRM wrote that scene. He has said before that scenes he didn’t write (like the Bronn/Sandor scene in Blackwater) have been inserted into his episodes. And we know that scenes from this episode were shuffled with scenes from another. The initial title for this episode was “Autumn Rains,” but after the scene-shuffling occurred, they re-titled it to be more appropriate.

So we absolutely do not know that GRRM wrote this scene. And even if he did, we can be upset that it seems to contradict or vastly over-simplify what was present in the books. That’s our right as viewers and readers.

If you don’t like seeing the complaining - block those who do it. Simple answer to a simple problem.

flawedxdesign:

I cannot believe this fandom right now. How the hell is this even up for debate? I am sorry, but I am harshly judging anyone who dares say Theon wasn’t raped. Just because his body reacted UNVOLUNTARILY to a girl grinding on him does NOT mean he gave consent. Rewatch that scene if you see it as anything else but rape. He is TERRIFIED. It doesn’t matter if he was attracted to the women; it doesn’t matter if he had an erection; it doesn’t matter if he didnt try to fight her off him. IT WAS RAPE.

secretlyatargaryen:

onlyalittlelion:

sweet-lady-justice:

onlyalittlelion:

sweet-lady-justice:

Friendly reminder that in A Storm of Swords, on their wedding night, while Tyrion was naked and aroused and Sansa was naked and terrified, she recalled her Septa’s words that “all men are beautiful in their own way” and tried to find the beauty in Tyrion.

Okay I love Sansa and you guys know I ship Sansa/Tyrion but

“Septa Mordane said all men are beautiful, find his beauty, try.  She stared at the stunted legs, the swollen brutish brow, the green eye and the black one, the raw stump of his nose and crooked pink scar, the coarse tangle of black and gold hair that passed for his beard. Even his manhood was ugly, thick and veined, with a bulbous purple head.  This is not right, this is not fair, how have I sinned that the gods would do this to me, how?”

“When the dwarf grimaced, his scar tightened and twisted … Deprived of passing scenery, she chose to stare at her folded hands, uncomfortably aware of her husband’s mismatched eyes … .  Tyrion rubbed his scarred, scabby nose yet again, an ugly habit that drew the eye to his ugly face.”

friendly reminder that Sansa finding Tyrion unattractive is completely canonical 

I wasn’t saying that it wasn’t canonical that she finds him unattractive. My point was that Sansa approaches it with more depth than “but he’s a dwarf”. (also apologies for not quoting it correctly)

Sorry I misread.  It’s just that this keeps coming around my dash along with people saying “Sansa didn’t even care Tyrion was a dwarf!!!1!” which is simply not the case.

As Cat just pointed out, Sansa’s part of an ableist society and I don’t hold her thoughts against her since she has the grace to keep them to herself.  (I also don’t mind her confiding them to Margaery, since that’s the only way we’re going to get her anxieties across on the show.)  

The thing that bothers me when people say that Tyrion’s dwarfism has nothing to do with Sansa’s feelings towards him is that it’s usually accompanied by an erasure of Tyrion’s feelings about his disability and the way other people view him because of it.

I understand that this is a reaction to dudebros using Sansa not being attracted to Tyrion as a stick to beat her with, and I don’t think Sansa is shallow, as she is so often called (nor should she, for that matter, be required to be attracted to someone she’s being forced to marry), and she does try, but she’s also physically repulsed by him and Tyrion is aware of this, because it’s something he’s had to deal with his whole life, not just from women he’s attracted to but from everyone who thinks he’s less human because of his dwarfism. I love Sansa and I do think she gets some gross misogynistic hate but the “Tyrion blames everything on his dwarfism as an excuse” argument is equally gross.

I’m not saying Sansa is at fault here, she is young, and like others have said, a product of her society. And I do think she’s much less ableist than a lot of people in the books. How many people in Sansa’s situation would even try to look at Tyrion as a human being? She does try, and she feels empathy for him. So yeah, she does approach it with a lot more depth than just “he’s a dwarf”, but that wasn’t her only reason on the show for not wanting to be married him, and definitely not her first, but it is there and I’m glad they acknowledged it.

(via onlyalittlelion)