it all goes back and back

That being said, I think that the reader who conceives of Brienne as physically beautiful to them is constructing a reading of her character which ignores the point, that Brienne is a worthy and honorable person regardless of her physical appearance. The point is not that beauty somehow isn't a material reality, the point is that it shouldn't be. That doesn't mean that Brienne is ontologically unattractive: within the story, Jaime is actively attracted to Brienne. But it does mean that a Brienne who is perceived as simply unconventionally beautiful instead of ugly by most every beauty standard seems, to me, to be missing the point.

Like. Another thing I find interesting is how much Theon is coded as having a divided identity, which *also* reminds me of mr. raskolnik-means-schism stupid Russian boy.

And in both of these cases, a huge part of the reason why their choices seem so strange is because they are self-contradicting, as the result of a very divided sense of self. Theon taking Winterfell to get revenge on the people who held him captive and then being surprised that they don’t treat him affectionately; alternating between trying to be fair and sympathetic and acts of extreme violence to establish himself as someone to be feared; all of it is very poor strategic decision making, and only makes sense as a result of his internal conflict. Of course, acting on it without actually resolving anything just ensures that he doesn’t accomplish either goal- again, very Raskolnikov coded. The quote “your worst sin is that you betrayed and destroyed yourself for nothing” could literally have been written about acok Theon.

Something else I find interesting about comparing these two characters is the fact that, in most modern media that takes inspiration from crime and punishment, the redemption arc is usually missing. Like; taxi driver is a movie that has a pretty clear Raskolnikov-slowly-alienating-himself-from-humanity-in-his-shitty-apartment vibe, complete with his most relevant relationship being with a prostitute, but it concludes with him finding a source of meaning in the recognition for the violence he committed (and from what I remember he’s pretty much a full blown fascist at that point too, lol). Not to say I don’t love that movie, but the fact that (imo) it’s kind of a pattern makes the whole thing kind of sad.

So I find it cool that we can see elements of that redemptive arc already appearing in the book, with the gradual reconnection to humanity happening through caring for a woman that society views as discardable (jeyne poole/ sonya). Recognizing that maybe there *isn’t* a hyerarchical division of value among human beings, and that, truly, he has more in common with the discarded and marginalized people of the world than with the violent elites he was simultaneously imitating and attacking, lol (which I think is very interesting when it comes to Theon, because by all means he *is* a noble, but for various reasons he has been ostracized and relegated to a scapegoat role through his life).

That’s part of why I think Theon’s show ending was so stupid (besides implying that he owed loyalty to the starks, lol). One of the things I love about Crime and Punishment’s last arc is the focus on finding meaning in life itself (“only to live, live and live! Life, whatever it may be!”) and I felt like the book was kind of going there with Theon’s “the gods are not done with me” thing. I would find it really interesting if it went on that route, instead of a “forgiveness can only be found in death for some people” approach.