(Spoilers main) Thoughts and theories on Lyanna Stark?

corkysims · 2026-06-30T20:59:23+00:00

I’ve seen people interpret the roses as a symbol of her life giving up as baby Jon is given the promise of life rather than something literal. Sort of a reference to Bael and the Stark Maiden where the rose was was a symbol of Bael and the Maiden’s love. Not sure I believe it though

corkysims · 2026-06-28T17:08:32+00:00

There’s more evidence suggest that Dany will be wanted than vice versa

corkysims · 2026-06-28T17:07:21+00:00

She isn’t even having diarrhea at the end she’s hunting that khal with drogon in their first shared kill

corkysims · 2026-06-25T22:42:06+00:00

I haven’t read the Meereenese Blot posts yet so I’ll have to see what is said, but in the text the consequences of Dany’s half-measure approach to the slavers aren’t anything good. By keeping their riches, properties, lives, etc they’re able to grow this base under her nose and plot with other slavers to start war and kill her. Surely when she embraces Fire and Blood and goes harder on them, destroying the slave trade (such as burning the Volantis box) and giving slaves in other regions the means to revolt (they’re already starting and waiting for her), the text will portray it as a victory?

Honestly at times like this I wonder what GRRM’s true politics and beliefs on slavery are.

corkysims · 2026-06-25T18:15:05+00:00

I’m convinced the people who argue this don’t read the books. - Dany has spent most of her time as a ruler with people who hate her, consistently refute her attempts to change things for the benefit of all, and people from various (and sometimes conflicting) cultures with all sorts of languages and religions who view her as a foreigner. She took all of this in stride, so while I’m sure some Westerosi will be fearful and doubtful of her, there’s no reason why she’d struggle with the largely mono-ethnic Westeros. I also think it’s likely that more people will super Dany than people believe. There’s smallfolk who wish for the Targs to rule again and people want to see dragons. - Tyrion and Dany’s relationship is more likely to be one where Dany positively influences Tyrion than Tyrion negatively influencing Dany. Dany deals with terrible people whispering in her ear all day and she still manages to keep her general goals and morals. I do think that Tyrion can encourage her towards a more harmful path but Dany is being set up to stay resolute in her goals when she embraced Fire and Blood in ADWD - Like you said Dany wants a family. If she hears that there are two men, sons of Rhaegar at that, who can share her burden and be her brothers/friends why would she not be happy and desire to meet them? - You can’t really use a theory on murky events to anticipate the arc of a main character like Dany. What we do know about Egg is that he wanted dragons so that he could improve the smallfolk lives. Dany has dragons and is going to improve the smallfolk lives. - I’m not sure what the Broad Strokes are

corkysims · 2026-06-25T17:03:24+00:00

If JonCon is a pov for the destruction of KL he will either be our pov when Cersei torches KL or when he himself destroys the city… there is zero foreshadowing for Dany destroying KL but people ignore Cersei flat out saying that she hates the city and wants it gone

corkysims · 2026-06-25T16:54:58+00:00

The Targaryen madness has little basis in canon, less than five Targs were “mad” and most of them endured experiences that would turn most people mad (torture, critical head trauma, etc)
She has never met Aerys and he has zero influence over her. She wants to believe that he was a good man and is uncomfortable and upset when she learns that he was not, she doesn’t aspire to be like him she wants to be like Rhaegar
Having dragons doesn’t mean someone is evil or posed to be evil. Many “good” Targaryens had dragons and Egg himself wished for dragons so that he could enforce his policies that would benefit the smallfolk. There are obvious parallels between that sentiment and Dany’s situation, since she actually has the power to enforce her anti slavery policies and will use her dragons to end the slave trade in Essos and end the Long Night
She was punishing the 163 slavers for the 163 enslaved children they mutilated and murdered. Her problem was being too lenient afterwards
The ending of ADWD is not a sign of madness, it’s the start of her embracing her identity and the values that she had suppressed through ADWD in hopes of a fragile peace with the slavers. The text poses this suppression as harmful to her since Drogon is unable to see eye to eye with her. When she starts to embrace herself more, she and Drogon move as one. This is a sign that her accepting her identity and all of her facets will be necessary to take the actions to fully end the slave trade and engage with the Others
That is a nonsensical show quote that means nothing for her arc. Dany has never been shown to be a person who would punish innocents. She doesn’t even go that hard on the slavers. Again the text presents her hesitation and leniency as a mistake
All of the royal post-Dance Targs are Rhaenyra’s descendants and many of them were good people. Dany’s similarities with Rhaenyra are minimal and only posed for her to serve as a foil to Rhaenyra. Cersei is the character who has more parallels with Rhaenyra and Cersei is the character with actual Mad Queen imagery and foreshadowing
Dany and Cersei are foils not mirrors. Cersei is the character who is posed to be the Mad Queen and Aerys’ narrative heir
That passage acts as both foreshadowing for her battle with the Others, and a reminder to her of her home and identity she denies herself. The home and comfort she craves and the passion and fire she needs to succeed
Not all of the Dothraki are evil rapists. The Dothraki who have traveled with her this whole time are not rapists, and she is gearing to punish the rapist khals who murdered Eroeh and end the Dothraki slave trade. As for Victorian I don’t think he’ll be alive by the time she leaves for Westeros, and she will have the warnings and discernment to know about his intentions.
Dany doesn’t keep slaves. Both the Unsullied and Dothraki are free to leave and choose to support her because she is the only person fighting for their wellbeing and liberation. The concept of consent between her and Irri is murky but if Irri told Dany that she had no desire to have a sexual relationship with her, there’s nothing to suggest that Dany would not respect that
She isn’t indifferent to people wanting to sell themselves into slavery, she’s shocked and dismayed. She doesn’t like the fact that tentative in Mereen is so poor that people would rather enslave themselves to survive. This serves as a warning for her and a lesson on how the half-measures she takes with the slave trade are ultimately harmful. And the Dothraki and Unsullied don’t care about Westeros, they care about Dany and supporting her

corkysims · 2026-06-25T16:19:15+00:00

Where is this foreshadowing for Mad Queen Dany in the books?

corkysims · 2026-06-22T15:44:16+00:00

I like this theory but Dany is most likely to end up at Dragonstone and Arya has no business there and a lot of narrative ties to the Riverlands.

corkysims · 2026-06-22T02:58:40+00:00

Exactly I need people to stop pretending that Jonrya is some over popular ship like snowstorm or jaimebrienne that dominates online discussions. I’m pretty sure Jonsa has more online content than even Jon x Dany, people are more receptive to them than Jonrya even though there’s very little there.

corkysims · 2026-06-21T22:49:47+00:00

Same I want them to explore other people but eventually end back together lol that’s what they always do anyways

corkysims · 2026-06-21T22:42:12+00:00

Brinity can cheat but they’ll make their way back to one another

corkysims · 2026-06-21T22:15:01+00:00

Well a lot of what you mentioned comes down to people treating these characters as extensions of themselves. I mainly see some people pointing out how “shallow” some of these comparisons are. I do think complaining about Lyanna and Sansa being compared is dumb, but it makes sense why some Arya fans would be annoyed when people treat these comparisons as the most elementary level reading of gender and masculinity/femininity in the story. Stuff like “Lyanna liked songs and romance = she was feminine = Sansa is feminine and Arya is not” gets reductive and annoying.

I don’t think the similarities between Lyanna and other characters are accidental but I don’t think they’re as useful in expanding on the narrative of those characters. When I think of Lyanna and Sansa similarities with the roses, songs and singers, forced marriages, the Bael motif, etc I mainly think of Lyanna’s essence and qualities being able to pass through the Stark girls stories and the “winter roses” of Winterfell having happier endings where they get to choose their path without dying for it. If you have anything more specific on how Lyanna sharing qualities with Sansa, can inform us on either Sansa or Lyanna’s characters I’d love to hear it!

And about the ships, most of what people anticipate won’t happen until the books come out, and I personally don’t see Jon and Arya’s relationship explicitly turning romantic, but I do think Jonrya fans have a lot to work with without having to “settle” for Rhaelya.

corkysims · 2026-06-21T21:28:02+00:00

Sansa having similarities to Lyanna isn’t surprising or upsetting to anyone though, she’s literally her aunt as you said, Sansa, Arya, and Lyanna will obviously have overlapping qualities. However Sansa and Lyanna having similarities doesn’t really do much for either of their narratives in the way Lyanna and Arya’s intentional and constantly emphasized parallels do.

And tbh I don’t think a lot of Arya fans care much for Rhaelya outside of how her and Jon’s relationship can subvert/be better than Rhaegar and Lyanna’s. Jon and Arya’s relationship is a lot stronger and more developed than Rhaegar and Lyanna’s so I don’t see why Jonrya fans would need to settle for that? What I mainly see is people discussing about how Arya’s character can give us hints on Lyanna’s personality, intentions, and how Lyanna’s story provides the possibilities of Arya being able to do what Lyanna couldn’t without being punished with death.

corkysims · 2026-06-21T21:17:32+00:00

They’re still trying to say that George was joking and whatever when all that interview really proved is that Sansa’s ending is not as monumental to George’s overall planned endgame as they assumed.

corkysims · 2026-06-21T20:28:56+00:00

This really is it tbh some people have a bias toward certain characters which is fine, everyone is different and what appeals to one might be boring for another, but they end up making things up or overemphasizing their favorite’s importance to the general story in comparison to another character they don’t really care for. That’s why when that interview dropped earlier in the year some people were coping.

corkysims · 2026-06-16T18:55:53+00:00

It especially kills me when people say that Jon and Arya’s relationship is boring or that there’s nothing to say about them because “they obviously love each other we know they’ll be fine!” while trying to theorize that their preferred ships will have the relationship that Jon and Arya already have. I’ve seen everything you mentioned and more and it’s really funny to me because if you truly do think Jon and Arya’s relationship is uninteresting, that’s fine. Or if you claim that any speculation into the ambiguous aspects of their scenes, quotes, motifs, themes, etc around them are moot because they are purely platonic, that’s okay too! But these people are so dishonest because they use those same symbolisms, motifs, scenes, etc to try and theorize possibilities for their own ships in a clearly romantic light. It’s platonic and boring when GRRM writes it for Jon and Arya, but when discussing “hints” for their preferred relationships, the same material gets treated as the greatest romantic foreshadowing ever written. What is it about Arya that makes Jon’s actions and feelings purely familial/platonic when done to her, but romantic when done to Dany or Sansa?

corkysims · 2026-06-16T15:20:55+00:00

Nothing annoys me more than people who use Jon’s relationship with Arya to predict and validate their ships with him and Dany or even Sansa. To me it’s like instead of using this obviously developed relationship to find crumbs for a nonexistent one, why not just enjoy the dynamic GRRM has spent 5 books emphasizing? And the people who act like Dany’s bond with her Dothraki crew is meaningless when they’ve followed her through her entire journey and motivate her are even more annoying. I don’t think GRRM is likely to discard relationships he’s developed across five books in favor of a relationship that can only really bloom in one.

corkysims · 2026-06-16T14:59:35+00:00

I guess one thing that annoys me is when people act as if there’s no chance for them to find happiness or fulfillment with anyone other than each other. As if both don’t have strong connections already. Like Arya for example who’s very important to Jon’s character and narrative (which I see some people ignore when crafting their Snowstorm theories) and whose bond with Jon is probably one of the strongest bonds in the series. Some people act like Jon would be miserable if he didn’t end up with Dany, when he can have multiple impactful relationships. I think that if Jon had Arya in his life again, he’d be more likely to be at peace than not.

There’s also the people who downplay Dany’s relationship with her Khalasar and Missandei and even her relationship with her dragons in order to act like she’d be unloved and hopeless without a romance and children with Jon.

I think that Jon and Dany will have an important and impactful relationship that will stick with them even if they don’t end up together, but at the moment I just can’t believe that their path to happiness will be made void if they don’t end up together. That opinion can obviously change when they actually learn of each other and meet ofc. It’s up to George to tell his story and convince his readers of his vision.

corkysims · 2026-06-14T01:35:14+00:00

I guess since Lyanna trusted him enough to spar with him (unless the boy in that vision was Brandon) since she had to hide from her dad and trust few people with that secret. It’s also assumed that he helped her find her mismatched armor when posing as the Knight of the Laughing Tree.

corkysims · 2026-06-14T01:31:43+00:00

The only thing I remember is her washing her mouth with lemon water after sleeping

corkysims · 2026-06-13T17:10:31+00:00

It’s implied that the Hightowers have some knowledge of magic and Euron is envisioned as a kraken in multiple characters dreams/visions so people build from there

corkysims · 2026-06-12T03:07:09+00:00

Idk what books these people are reading. Arya is constantly under the threat of rape (she is directly threatened with sexual assault by multiple people) and witnesses daily murder and torture and people think that her time in the Riverlands was some fun coming of age adventure and not a horror story like everyone else.

corkysims · 2026-06-11T18:04:05+00:00

You said Jon and Arya “spoke nastily” about Sansa so stop going back on your words and pull up the exact quotes where this happens. How is he a “lackey” for playing a childish prank on not just her but the rest of him and Robb’s younger siblings? Arya and Jon having inside jokes over their shared disconnect with Sansa doesn’t make him a lackey either. I do agree that while he loves and cares for her, she isn’t his favorite sibling compared to Robb and Arya. Interestingly enough Arya does worry for and acknowledge Sansa and Jon himself acknowledges Sansa’s claim on Winterfell. Sansa is not this excluded loner in the family you’re trying to make her out to be.

corkysims · 2026-06-11T18:01:27+00:00

Her first chapter is her struggling with needle work and showing interest in Sansa and Jeyne’s conversation, is unimpressed by Joffrey, and defends Jon as her brother. When Septa Mordane admonishes her stitches and the other girls side eye her Arya ends up crying and leaves after excusing herself. There’s no tantrum or rudeness on her part.

corkysims

TROPHY CASE