Atariorgeen - Fantasyfreak

From where do people get the notion that book Jon Snow does not know how to negotiate?  I just came across a post on my dash with thousands of notes about how Robb Stark would have done fantastically negotiating with Dany as opposed to Jon Snow. First of all, I doubt D&D would have bestowed Robb with good storytelling in season 7 had he survived that long and secondly, I don’t recall any examples of Robb Stark being a good negotiator in the books?

I will also say that however fantastic the negotiation would have been by whichever Stark, the North would have to bend the knee for Dany’s help. That’s just how it is in Westeros. Recall that Catelyn had to pledge both KITN Robb and Arya in marriage to the Freys for just the use of a bridge! Jon was asking that Dany halt her war and use all her resources to help the North at great loss to her. The least the North can do in return for her saving all their lives is be a part of her 7 kingdoms and assist her against their common enemy Cersei Lannister.

Recall that in the books, Stannis is at the wall to help Jon face the threat from beyond the wall - but the condition is still that Stannis will be king with the North as part of the 7K. And Jon is giving Stannis all the help to fight the Boltons, win the North and become king of the 7K. Jon is allying with and helping a king who  likes to burn people to death to please his red priestess and the Lord of Light.

Now coming to Jon Snow and his diplomatic skills, let’s look at the different types of people with whom 15/16 year old Jon Snow has successfully negotiated with:

Tycho Nestoris of the Iron Bank – We have seen how it’s no easy task getting a loan from the Iron Bank and yet Jon is able to secure a loan to buy food for the Night’s watch – and he does this while Tycho is there to actually meet with Stannis. Rulers are vying for a loan from the Iron Bank and here Jon is getting one despite the Wall not being a good place to invest in for a Braavosi banker.

The mountain clans of the North – The chiefs are invited to the wedding of Alys Karstark and the Magnar of the Thenns where Jon speaks to them and convinces them in the worthiness of his plans including letting the Wildlings in past the wall. The Grand Northern Conspiracy also theorizes that the clan chiefs know about Robb’s will and are there to assess Jon’s leadership capabilities and leave convinced that he would be a good leader. 

The Freefolk/Tormund -  In return for letting them in, Jon has taken child hostages to ensure good behavior, obtained soldiers to man the wall, people to cook, clean and sew and even took their belongings to purchase food! He in effect has command over the freefolk so much so that they are ready to march with him south of the wall to attack the Boltons.

Stannis Baratheon: Jon Snow negotiates so well with Stannis for control of the castles/Freefolk at the wall that he actually wins praise from him – something so rare to get from Stannis. As Stannis tells Jon – “You haggle like a crone with a codfish, Lord Snow” – high praise indeed! And remember that Stannis is a southern king.

The viewpoint that Jon at the wall does not know anything about politics and the south is simply not true. Jon Snow learnt the same as Robb Stark and from the same teachers.  The classist thinking that the bastard is less knowledgeable than the rest of the Starks is false. Ned educated all the boys the same – and that includes Jon and Theon.  And this is reflected in Jon Snow often thinking of Ned’s teachings.

These are Jon’s teachers and mentors throughout the series at various stages – Ned Stark, Maester Luwin, Rodrik Cassel, Jeor Mormont, Donal Noye, Maester Aemon, Mance Raydar and even Stannis himself. He has learned from maesters, warriors and kings. He has learned from NW brothers like the Halfhand and from Ygritte. Which of the younger characters in the books has had better teachers than Jon Snow at this point? The fact that he acknowledges that he still has much to learn ( ‘I know that I know nothing’ - Socrates) makes him one of the wisest characters in the books.

What negotiation has Robb Stark successfully done? Robb was a young prodigy, a genius battle commander but negotiator? His intelligent, strong willed, politically aware mother took care of that. Catelyn negotiated with Renly and Walder Frey for Robb.  What negotiation has Sansa successfully done in 5 books?  Getting SweetRobin to eat his dinner is not the same as conducting a financial transaction with the Iron Bank.

So this idea that Robb and Sansa were/are seasoned politicians and negotiators as opposed to ‘out of touch’ and ‘know nothing’ Jon snow has no basis in the books. In actuality,  GRRM is involving Jon more and more in the politics of the realm as of the last book.  And if Robb’s will does come into the picture, it looks as if Jon Snow as leader of the North will be doing a lot of negotiating – even with southern rulers that perhaps include Daenerys Targaryen who has arrived in KL.

Show Jon Snow has nothing in common with the book version and they are two entirely different characters with different personalities, characterization, plots, narrative themes and relationships.  Not sure why we are taking cues from the show on Jon’s negotiating skills and knowledge. Book Jon Snow’s journey in the next book is going to be different from what we got in the show. For one, he is going to be spending considerable time in a wolf!

Book Jon Snow is an intelligent and well versed diplomat who is capable of going toe to toe with Dany or Tyrion or whomever he would be negotiating with in the future. Hell, Tyrion was impressed by 14 year old Jon Snow. He’s going to be even more impressed when they meet up again in the books. 

Would the swtor equivalent of buzzfeed be known as BlastFeed

But imagine

THIS WEEK, ON THE HOLONET:

BLASTFEED: 22 hilarious memes to read before you get cut in half by your apprentice

BLASTFEED: An Ex-Slave Just Defeated A Darth In A Kaggath And Took His Seat And We’re All Losing It

BLASTFEED: 18 Of The Most Screwed Up Force Users

There’s so much potential and I’m cackling, please post ideas!!!

PHANTOM OH MY GOD BABY WHAT ARE YOU DOING

you think dew and aether ever fell asleep while on the phone with each other during this last tour, streaming some artificial fireplace channel in the background on both ends, simultaneous popping and crackling that they synchronized down to the second just to fortify the illusion of each other’s company, just so they can pretend to lay under the same blanket of flickering orange light, trying their best to relive their fireside naps in dew’s room

IF THIS DOESN’T MELT YOUR HEART, YOU HAVE NO SOUL

Sodo lost a horn 👿 He lost a part of himself for a moment

Letters to Santa 🎅🏻 #4.

Mountain: Dear Santa,…

Mountain: *just tired and worn down by those (Dew, Swiss and sometimes Rain when they get roped in. But mainly Dew and Swiss.) naughty ghouls.*

Mountain: Where do I start…

Dew with darker limbs or siamese markings, just a burnt marshmallow

Tip jar

Some kit related lore headcanons, because why not? Below the cut.

-Most ghouls tend to give birth to live young, but water and quintessence ghouls lay eggs instead.

If, say, a water ghoul and a fire ghoul had a baby, whether or not the kit will be born from a live birth or hatched would depend on who the carrier is.

-There's a common misconception among ghouls about how quickly kits develop, that kits who are hatched hit milestones later than kits who were birthed, but the only real difference between them is their physical size in the first month or so of life.

Kits that were hatched from eggs tend to be smaller, but catch up to their peers rather quickly.

-Because ghouls can glamour themselves/physically alter their bodies to disguise themselves, it is entirely possible for a ghoul to both carry kits and sire them, but there usually has to be some planning involved if they shift for the sole purpose of doing one or the other.

-Kits tend to walk around on all fours until they're old enough to learn to hunt, which varies based on pack social structure/species.

With water ghouls, kits are usually shuffling in and out of the water to hunt Hell crabs or water bugs from the moment they hatch, so they adapt quickly to bipedal movement, whereas earth ghouls tend to be more coddled and are not expected to walk, let alone hunt, until their almost a year old, similar to human babies.

-Kits have a natural inclination to "cling" to their parents, and can often be found latched onto them without any extra support such as a wrap.

Water ghoul kits in particular seem to be able to just stick to their parents by messing their soft scales together.

-If a kit is adopted into a pack, it may begin to take on features belonging to their adoptive family members as they grow and develop a more humanoid shape, however these adaptations are usually limited to the shape/style of their horns, growing scales or fur to mimic traits of the pack's primary element, or their underlying smell changing to reflect the familial scent.

And lastly;

-Because of how ghoul genetics work, and their ability to shift between forms, a kit can have more than one sire, although the limit on that is two, but for obvious reasons can only have one carrier.

In the case of kits who have two sires will usually take the most after its carrier parent and split the difference with the other two, so, biologically speaking they get half of their carrier's DNA and a fourth of each of their sires DNA.

Strangely, the resulting kit will always be a multi-ghoul, even if all three parents share the same element.