What do you know of my heart?

I have to disagree with you, Anon. I’ll respond with numbered points just because it’ll help me organize my thoughts a little better.

1. When Jon thinks “what do you know of my heart, priestess?,” he also follows it with “what do you know of my sister?” It’s not about his whole family. Jon had multiple opportunities to betray his vows for the sake of his family (specifically for Ned and Robb). He could have gone running to Sansa’s aid when he heard of her disastrous marriages. He doesn’t. His sister = his heart. No other sibling relationship is characterized as being so close in this series. Except, oh wait, Jaime/Cersei... Cersei says that she and Jaime are one person in two bodies, directly drawing on that imagery of being a part of another person. 

2. When was the last time you thought of your siblings as “your heart,” the very organ that people cannot live without? I love my siblings a lot, and there is enough of an age gap between us that I feel very maternal towards my younger ones. However, I’ve never thought of them like that. And like it or not, GRRM is writing for a contemporary audience who would look for hints and cues made for them.

3. Jon hasn’t seen Arya in at least a year when the whole Ygritte business happens, and surely there are skinny people in the NW if he’s just looking to compare her to any skinny person. Also, GRRM didn’t *need* to add a simile. He could have just said that maybe Ygritte was skinny? We understand what that means as readers. In the scene, Jon thinks that Ygritte could be pudgy and then says “Underneath all [her clothes] she could be as skinny as Arya.” It’s not even that Jon is looking at her naked and thinking about how skinny she is. He’s *imagining* her naked (without her furs, etc.) and thinks about his sister.

4. When was the last time you mentally undressed someone and then thought they had the same body shape as your sibling? I just... 

5. Jon absolutely questions whether Arya is his sister for narrative purposes, like a reminder of his bastardy. It serves to remind him that he gave up his family when he joined the NW. It also serves to plant doubt in the reader’s mind since Jon’s parentage (more specifically his mother) is a perpetual question for the audience. Importantly though, he doesn’t ever ask this about Robb, Bran, Sansa, or Rickon. The latter three he was never super close to, but he and Robb were basically the same age. Jon tells us they were best friends and rivals all in one. Jon might question whether he should come to Robb’s aid, but he certainly doesn’t have the same sort of “was he ever” line about Robb like he does with Arya. 

6. GRRM created Jon and Arya as two parts of a love triangle, and we can safely assume that at least AGOT was published with that initial Waterstones plot in mind. The question is, has GRRM done anything in all these years to characterize Jon and Arya any differently? At their parting in AGOT, Jon arms Arya to keep her safe. In ADWD, Jon betrays his brothers and his vows for “one little girl,” who he has no proof is still alive other than the word of Ramsey, to save her from a monstrous marriage. He very literally dies to protect her. So, GRRM isn’t really doing anything to make his readers think that Jon and Arya are any less vital to each other than they were in book 1. They think about one another constantly, and at times they are the only things that keep each other grounded. 

I think it would depend on whether Arya is into Gendry or not. Personally, I don’t see Arya ever forgiving Gendry for turning his back on her. I mean, she might understand his reasons, but Arya is all about pack and, to her, I think he would be pushed to the peripheral at that. She wouldn’t want to see him come to harm, but I don’t think she would allow him the sort of close bond they had on the road. 

Also because he’s a bastard, I don’t think anything would come of a betrothal or marriage in canon, so it wouldn’t be an issue of jealousy since there’s nothing to be jealous about. But if we’re imagining some sort of AU where Bobby B legitimizes him and Ned accepts a marriage to a legitimized bastard for his daughter, then, all that being said, I can imagine a few things: 

1. If Arya is truly happy, Jon would not say a damn word to her about it and force himself to be happy. I also don’t think he would recognize his feelings for what they are, so he’d probably resent another man taking his place as the closest man in her life, but nothing beyond that. 

2. Arya wouldn’t be truly happy. Let’s be real, hotness does not a good husband make. I don’t care if Gendry wins Mr. Westeros five years running; he just doesn’t have what Arya needs. Now, Arya can either suck it up and be resigned to her lot in life, or she can fight against it. 

3. The MOMENT that Arya expresses any sort of displeasure with her betrothal or marriage, Jon would come running (assuming he’s not in the NW and more of a free agent). Arya would be delighted, because it’s Jon and he’s the only person (her father aside) who has ever made her feel truly loved and happy. Jon would disapprove of the whole thing with Gendry and monopolize Arya’s time like it’s his job. 

4. Those two, left alone in their own little world, would definitely be drawn closer together, especially as adults. Think Cesare and Lucrezia from The Borgias, but without the presence of a family scrambling for power. (If you’ve not seen that show, run, don’t walk, to your nearest streaming service). 

5. This leads to very impure thoughts and behavior. Jon, perhaps jealous that he can’t ever just openly *have* Arya like he wants to, doesn’t hesitate to get involved with her physically. In this scenario, she is all he has, and it’s toxic AF but also fulfilling. As for Arya, well…Jon is family. He is pack, and her allegiance is to him first and foremost, despite whatever she swore before Gods she doesn’t believe in. This is also not healthy, but she’s starved to feel like herself again, before she ever left the North for some fiance/husband. 

6. They end up in bed with one another. A lot. The first time, Arya removes her wedding ring as that marriage has no place in her bedroom (ironically). Jon asks (commands, most likely, for a little D/s element) she put it back on. Whenever she takes him into her hand, Jon gets a thrill out of looking at it while she’s stroking him, because it’s such a beautiful fuck you to a man who doesn’t deserve her. (P.S.: this would also happen in any modern AU too). 

After writing all this, I realize that it’s not so much about Jon’s jealousy, Nonny. So, sorry about that. But I also don’t think that I can quite offer a lot of headcanons on that topic because there’s absolutely nothing for Jon to be jealous over because Arya would always put him above anyone? And this isn’t even me making stuff up. We know from AGOT that Arya wouldn’t tell the truth to Ned when he asked directly who armed her. If she is more loyal to Jon than her own *father* who she loves dearly, then Gendry doesn’t stand a damn chance in the hierarchy of Arya’s love. 

So, I don’t think that we should take anything that happened in GoT as canon for ASOIAF. Do I think that some of it may happen as a variation on a theme? Certainly. For instance, I’ve bought that Dany-descends-into-villainy narrative since 2014-ish, but that is in large part because Dany recognizes her own...idk...monstrosity is probably the best word because that’s literally *her* word for it. Also, GRRM seems to be shifting all his characters in to the morally gray area in the end. The Lannister boys are prime examples. Readers are set-up to dislike Jaime and like Tyrion, but as the story continues, it’s Jaime that becomes more likable and Tyrion less so, generally speaking. I think this will be a trend with many of the major players in the end. 

I also want to say that my main complaints with all the other Jon and Arya ships, but especially J*nerys and J*nsa, isn’t that they exist, but that fans argue that the ships have all this canon evidence. That’s just...not true. At all. By all means, people should feel free to ship all they want, but it’s the rabid insistence that these ships are canon that I take a lot of issue with. All I ask is that people be real about what is and isn’t there.

Y’all, I ship some serious crack ships, especially in other fandoms, okay? In fact, it feels like all I do is ship non-canonical ships? And that is OKAY, but I don’t go around insisting that, for example, Rick and Daryl from The Walking Dead are really going to bang one out in season whatever-the-hell. And I’m not going to get in it with Rick/Lori or Rick/Michonne shippers and act like it’s really going to happen in the show. For me, that’s where J*nerys and J*nsa shippers take it too far, *especially* when we’re talking ASOIAF.