porcelain to steel

It’s not the actual ending I hate, I actually quite like the concept of magic god king bran who grabs power at the end, it is actually quite a dark and fascinating idea, if it was developed properly and not just inserted at the end. But it’s how they handled it that I can’t stand, their road to it, their misuse of Jon, their excessive focus on Dany, their refusal to be anything but incredibly ambiguous until the very end.

They seemingly baited all these Targaryen and Stark legacy hopes through Jon and Sansa/Dany just to completely pull the rug at the end and it was not satisfying at all.

How is it possible that we still don’t have the answer to “did you bend the knee for the north or because you love her?”

Why didn’t Jon ever say he did love her (as more than a queen) even in the finale when Tyrion says it, why didn’t he express his love and anger at events that transpired?

Why did that pier interaction play out our so weirdly? Was Jon supposed to be sad? Mad?

What was this love/duty duty/love nonsense? Was it just inserted to make the end even more cryptic?

All of these supposedly important questions for the endgame were just evaded entirely. Some people might tell themselves that it was cut and dry and everything was about J/D but I’m just not seeing that at all. If that was the case then why wasn’t it clear? What have they got to lose here?

I FEEL LIKE

EMILIA DOESN’T

UNDERSTAND HER

DAENERYS I’M SORRY I HAVE TO BRING IT UP AGAIN BUT YOU FUCKING KILLED ONE MILLION PEOPLE HALF AN HOUR AGO AND SINCE YOU INTEND TO DO THE SAME TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, I, AS A SHIELD WHO GUARDS THE REALMS OF MEN, HAVE TO PUT YOUR INSANE ASS DOWN. LET’S DISCUSS THIS PLEASE TELL ME YOUR OPINION PLS BECAUSE I’M A FUCKING DOORMAT AND I CAN’T TELL RIGHT FROM WRONG ON MY OWN

Obviously, we’re all disappointed for one reason or another: the systematic character assassination of Jon Snow, the nonsensical (even nonexistent) character arcs, the sudden discarding of some of the series’ most important themes, and the frenetic and disorganized placement of foreshadowing and hints that all amounted to nothing… 

But I think the thing that I keep going back to is that Jonsa was a deeply personal ship for many people who identified with Sansa’s story, and all of the compelling and healing work that season 6 did was completely torn down by season 8. They really did something with Jon and Sansa’s relationship in season 6–something new, something important–and then they tossed it in the rubbish in seasons 7 and 8. And they did it for D*ny, potentially the show’s least interesting or innovative character. Obviously, the books are a different story.

Season 6 gave us not only the complicated aftermath of a woman leaving an abuser (beyond a silly montage or ending scene), but also an aftermath involving a relationship with someone who accepted her, loved her, and yet meanwhile did not treat her like a broken bird. 

You can either choose to see romance in Sansa and Jon’s relationship throughout season 6 or not, but it is undeniable that their relationship was explored, in-depth, during that season. It is also undeniable that Jon learned about Sansa’s abuse, was emotionally reactive to it, and still treated Sansa like an equal. They argued. They made mistakes with each other. They tried to find an appropriate balance, amid both of them having trust issues and both of them knowing each other’s trauma. 

I know a lot of Jonsas were drawn to the ship specifically because the show did this: it gave a lot of people hope that it’s possible to have a real relationship–one that is both healthy and healthily complicated–after an abusive one. 

Even if you didn’t need this hope, it was an unusual and brave narrative, and it was so rewarding to see that on a show that has mostly relegated female strength to how much like a man you are, and which has overall grossly misused rape and abuse. Sansa wasn’t suddenly turned into a swordswoman to “recover” from her abuse–nor was she treated like glass by Jon, and in this, the show avoided two of the most common (and most toxic, imo) tropes around abusive relationships. 

Rather like writing established relationships, it’s a storyline that most writers will run away from because it’s complicated, it’s not immediately satisfying, and many viewers won’t know how to feel about it. They took the time to explore what Sansa’s relationship with a man could be like after Ramsay, and they took the risk in showing Jon and Sansa being frustrated, annoyed, and at times even bored with each other–yet all the while being loyal and loving toward each other. 

They wrote a real relationship. 

They also wrote Sansa going after something important to her–home and family–and going about it her way. Sure, they didn’t explore the aftermath of her abuse behind closed doors, but by giving her a storyline and a complicated relationship, they did so much more than so many TV series have done for women who have been abused.

Season 8 tore all that down for me. The friction between Jon and Sansa made no sense. Sansa’s absurd speech to the Hound–you all know what I’m talking about–undid so much of what season 6 achieved. Sansa ended up alone, without her siblings and without Jon. I love that she achieved northern independence, and that she didn’t stop fighting, but this feels like a sharp regression in our cultural understanding of what recovery from abuse really looks like, and it also, frankly, is a regression in character and storytelling complexity. 

The abused woman ends up cold and alone in the end, and I guess we’re supposed to cheer, because this is somehow “empowering”? No thanks. 

As a writer and consumer of stories, I want to see something new and unexpected, something complicated and not easily written. 

As a feminist, I want our culture to understand that wanting love does not make you naive or weak. 

As an abuse survivor, I want to see stories that reflect my reality–which is that having real, complicated, and completely healthy relationships after domestic abuse are entirely possible–so that others can begin to believe this, too. 

I mean…basically. Jon went from avoiding her and looking side eyed at her and denying her physical affection in back to back episodes - while also defying her by telling Sansa (specifically) his true identity…….to them saying all this stuff about love and how much he had believed in her and it just…he still ended up killing her?

It was like they set up Jon killing Dany as a culmination of a series of events that make her hate him and his family - then suddenly she’s bubbly and in love and completely surprised when he kills her?

Because even her demeanor in her death scene did not at all match how they interacted before then but most specifically in the episode right before this one.

It was the ending to a story that wasn’t really told. That Jon was deeply in love the whole time and couldn’t accept that she was dangerous 5 MINUTES AFTER SHE NUKED AN ENTIRE CITY.

Canon Robb Stark: The entire realm was literally pissed scared of Robb Stark. He was the young Lord turned King who was destroying, straight up destroying Tywin Lannister. Tywin Lannister! The man who got a song named after him for being a fucking nightmare and Robb Stark was embarrassing him at every turn. He captured the King Slayer, one of the deadliest swordsmen in the series, destroyed the west, saved the Riverlands, and basically became a legend overnight. Robb Stark with his mother’s help was leading and winning a war on his own skill. Seriously, he wasn’t called “The Young Wolf” as a cute play on words since he was a Stark. They called him that cause they thought he could turn into a fucking Wolf! He was also a Warg, the only one besides Bran who even understood what the Wolf dreams meant. It took being betrayed by his best friend, 3 sworn house armies, and Tywin organizationing the Red Wedding, which is the equivalency to burning a church in our time, to defeat him and still to this day GRRM, the creator of ASOIAF/GOT says that he had to kill off Robb or he would’ve been unstoppable.

I think this fandom seriously forgets how motherfucking badass this character was and how it took literally the worst mother fucking luck a king in the north can motherfucking have to fucking defeat him. Seriously the motherfucker was fighting in a war with fucking four other KINGS! Fucking Four motherfuckers Kings! Who’s to say who could’ve done better?! Fuck of Robb was still alive fucking the Lannisters would be taking it in the ass right now! Daenerys?! Do you really think how that meeting would’ve been the same if he was there

Dany: The last King in the North was Torrhen Stark.

Robb: Aye he was, until your ancestor Aegon The conqueror burned thousands alive in the fields of fire…Do you wish to repeat history if I do not kneel?

Dany: Under a Targaryen the realm has always had peace.

Robb: Has it? The Faith Militant Uprising, The Dance of Dragons, Blackfyre Rebellion, War of the Ninepenny Kings, and of course Robert’s Rebellion, the war your father and brother started by killing my grandfather, uncle, and kidnapping my aunt.

Dany: Don’t judge a daughter for her family’s sins

Robb: But yet you want their power…How does that work? Wanting the Targaryen’s legacy but not their sins?

Dany:

Robb: I came for Dragonglass, but I see I must find it elsewhere.

Dany: I haven’t given you permission to leave yet.

Robb: Can you fight more than one war at once, Daenerys? I’ve done it before and it’s not easy. You’re fighting the Lions, don’t make the Wolves a threat too. If you truly want to prove you are not your father, let us have have the dragonglass. In exchange, I’ll aid you in securing the Irone Throne.

Dany: You would withhold the North from me?

Robb: And the Vale and Trident.

Dany: Under what grounds?

Robb: under the grounds that it is my family’s land and they named me their king. If you are a Queen because your family held the crown, then remember so was mine. If you truly mean to make the realm better then understand my people know no king but the king In The North. They will fight the dragons till their last breath. Then what will you have? Ashes. If you burn King’s landing, the Trident, and the North, then invade it with your army of rapists, you’ll only be known as the Mad Queen of the Ashes.

Dany:….So What do you purpose?

Robb: Cersei will never surrender, not even if the dead, dragons, and wolves are at her door. Her arrogance made her start a war, even when I tried to sue for peace. She ignored it.

Tyrion: You see no point in even trying?

Robb: What do you think your sister will do with the choice of kneel or die?

Tyrion:…She’ll fight till the bitter end and take as many lives with her.

Robb: Right. You may not believe my stories of dead men, but you at least believe in a form of peace. We can form an alliance. You made one with The Greyjoys, you can make one with me.

Dany: How did you-

Robb: The Ironborn would never work with you unless they would gain something. Let me rule over the North, Trident, and Vale. The rest of the realm will be yours. We will avenge our families that have suffered under the Lannisters and work together to stop the dead.

Dany: I still do not believe in stories of dead men, Robb Stark.

Robb: Aye, and I hadn’t believed in the return of dragons. The dead will come, yet the Lions are here now. One war at a time…Queen Daenerys.

Dany:…Very well…King Robb.

I only say that the meeting would have gone differently because Robb was raised and trained in history and how to negotiate and how to deal with Egos. I love Jon and his amazing Ass to death, but Ned didn’t raise him to be a Lord and definitely not a king. Jon was at the Wall during the war of the five Kings and was out of touch. Even Sansa and Tyrion had to tell Jon that he doesn’t understand Cersei like they do and he doesn’t. At the Wall there is barley politics, just survival. You can argue that the war for Dawn is different, but it takes someone to know how to deal with these people and their ego. That’s why Theories of Political Jon even exist. Going beyond the Wall wasn’t just to prove the army of the dead exist to Cersei, but to Dany too. Robb would believe Jon by default because he trusts and loves his brother. Robb would also understand just from the war of the five Kings that Cersei will never bend the knee, so it would be easier to convince Daenerys to fight with him like it was for Renly.

Build an all star North: Robb as King, Jon as a knight commander of the army, and Sansa as hand of the King.

My whole Point is that some people in this fandom need to start giving King Robb Stark some credit! He was a fucking Badass and when the creator of the damn series itself says he would’ve been unstoppable you listen.

Edit: Robb was the only one of the 5 Kings in the war who didn’t name himself King. His people did! The first king in 300 years! It wasn’t just the North either like most would think.

The North and the TRIDENT declared him their King! Two fucking continents declared a teenager King because he was that fucking badass! Seriously!

Tyson’s line: “Any man who must call himself King is no king at all.”

Stannis, Renly, Balon, Joffrey, all those fucks had to defend or fight for their claim. Robb Stark was given the crown. Two separate continents gave a teenager their crown! And he fucking wrecked everyone. Stannis and Tywin even had to respect him even though they wanted him gone. Fucking Renly wanted to work with him cus while his people loved him, Robb’s fucking people worshiped him. It’s been 5 seasons, 3 books and this mother fucker is still relevant in the fans eyes! Like fuck! Fuck You if you only remember as the tragic hero, he was more than just that.

Jon: Saw him as his best friend and hero. In the books and show he even claimed Robb was his better. Which maybe it was hero worship or maybe it was fucking true! Jon wasn’t a one man army in the books and in the show Robb didn’t have his guards. Fucker just want into war on his fucking own. Mind you that means he found a way to capture Jaime on his own too. Jon and Robb were close as fuck and the only reason book Jon didn’t join Robb was cause he thought he would’ve been killed for desertion. Jon still cries for Robb.

Sansa: Literally the poor girl took strength in Robb’s memory. It was the only comforting thing she could think about half the time. Her older brother, her hero, coming to fucking murder the Lannisters. Seriously from the day her father died till the day Robb died, he was all she thought about. She looked up to him, loved him. The fucker was her hero. She looked Joffrey right in the eyes and said “My brother will storm this fucking city and kill you all.” She always said she has to be strong like Robb.

Arya: She was just like Sansa. She looked at Robb like a hero. You show fans don’t know, but Arya loved Robb just as much as Jon. She thought about him daily and prayed for him to kill the Lannisters.

Bran: The boy wanted to go to war with Robb! Funny thing is while Bran wasn’t as good with the bow and arrow like Arya, he was better at swords. Bran wanted to warg into Summer and fight side by side with his brother. Just like his sisters he wanted to be strong like Robb.

Rickon: Robb was like a parent to him when Ned and Cat left. He took care of the kid, played with him. As he did with Bran .

The North and Trident: Those people books later still talk about him being their king and damning the oath breakers. Even the Karstarks still respect him. Seriously read the fucking books.

This made me cry. Michele has always spoken about her love for Sansa and the love she puts into Sansa’s costumes. I remember her discussing her wedding dress, how she was on set during filming and after each take of Ramsay ripping open the back, Michele would hand stitch it together again up Sophie’s back. The relationship between these two women, Michele and Sophie, and the connection between Michele and Sansa, is more intimate than we could ever know. So, while I wish Sansa had had her family with her, I’m glad Sophie had Michele. 

Thank you, Michele. You always took good care of our girl. I’m glad you were there as this was as much your moment as hers.

“Uncle, sit down”