I Think We As Modern Humans Have A Tendency To Forget That Historical People Were Also Humans Who Had

The only reason Jon views Catelyn as a mother figure/maternal figure is because Ned neglected him enough that Jon projected that onto his father's wife. Ned neglected him by witholding any information about his actual mother and by not prividing an adequate emotional replacement for his "son", be that a maternal caretaker or his own damn self.

Ned gets praised to hell and back for the bare minimum.

But people blame Cat for Jon's issues. The actor blames Cat for Jon's issues.

It simply has to be the woman's fault.

The expectation that Catelyn was supposed to act as an actual mother figure to Jon in any official capacity is a massive misogynistic doubel standard that entirely hinges on ignoring the context of the setting and Ned's responsibilities and on insisting that women have the obligation to provide for the emotional needs to male characters regardless of their own self-interest.

She never treated him "like crap". Her worst "crime" (apart from an emotional outburst at her absolute breaking point) is not being warm to Jon and regarding him with suspicion in a way he was able to detect. It sucks for Jon that he was a child and an adult in his life communicated her dislike of his presence. BUT SHE WAS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS EMOTIONAL VALIDATION. NED WAS.

I will never forgive the show for the absolute character-derailing travesty of a scene where Catelyn castigates herself because she couldn't "love a motherless child" when that is absolutely brushing aside her actual issues in the book canon. It's one of the worst examples of sacrificing a female character's storyline for a male character's validation in the series, and it's on par with Sansa "thanking" the Hound for his abuse or telling Tyrion he was "the best of them", or utterly ignoring Shae's murder.

It cheapens Sansa's validation of Jon because it casts her actions as "making up" for Catelyn (or her own "awful" past, which, don't even get me started on that nonsense). Like it's something Jon is owed by either of them, instead of something Sansa gives to Jon because she she chooses to, because she sees him as worthy of it on her own accord and because of his own actions.

No, instead she has to apologize for not being his #1 stan from day one, like a "good" female character would have been (like Arya). Liking and loving and validating Jon is framed as a default standard, and deviating from it is immediately a transgression that has to be compensated for.

Male-centric, misogynistic nonsense.

My hats off to Kit for giving this mess some thought, but unless his show actually examines the angle that Cat wasn't the bad guy, that the person who withheld emotional validation and crucial information from him was Saint Ned the Honorable... I can't take it seriously.

i hope we get the scene of matthias doing cpr on kaz saying i. should. let. you. die. where every full stop is punctuated by one (1) compression

Thinking about it, I’m pretty sure my ancestors would be horrified with me.

Not because I’m lazy or unworthy or anything like that…

…but because one of my distant uncles was among the eight survivors of the Essex, the ship that inspired the ending of Moby Dick and sank after being rammed by a whale, and what do I fuckin do after my bloodline has this Ordeal at Sea?

I get a fuckin degree in Marine Science and go back the fuck out there.

no because where the fuck did mike get the poster. like this was before the days of ordering posters online and having them shipped to your house and then offering your parents to go get the mail so they wouldnt see you bought something. mike wheeler had to go to a store to buy it. and he doesnt have a job, so how did he pay for it? his allowance maybe? but who drove him to the store to get it? you really think he went with his mom? was it maybe nancy? who would be able to clock him faster? were they with him in the check out? what fucking store sold this even? what did the cashier say when they saw it? i have so many questions it's unreal

Okay so other than Lucas, none of Steve’s friends care about sports, and even for Lucas, it’s more about actually playing

But one day one or a few of them figure that maybe it’s about time they do Steve’s thing instead of Their thing

And they watch a game on the TV and they just don’t get it. They try to figure out what the commentators are talking about but suddenly it feels like there is so much context missing, even though Steve’s already explained most of the rules - so they ask Steve

And Steve, well, by this point he’s already absorbed in the game so he isn’t thinking about if they’ll care or be bored or think he’s weird, so he just starts rambling

He starts talking about all of the history and culture and politics of the sport. He talks about how certain teams have this rivalry that originates from political issues that have made the fans of the two teams obsessed with getting one over on the other. He talks about team members trading (and they didn’t even know people could switch teams like that, weren’t they supposed to play for their hometown???). And he talks about the racist dynamics that sometimes manifest and the demonstrations that sometimes take place. 

And they realise that maybe they’ve been making a lot of assumptions about something they don’t understand. And also that Steve is a fucking nerd.

Maybe it’s with Robin, and even if she still doesn’t care, they regularly watch sports together just like they regularly watch Robin’s artsy weird films

Maybe it’s with the Dustin, or all the kids, and they don’t really make a habit of it, but they respect his interest and hang out during games sometimes

Maybe it’s Eddie, and while Steve is distractedly rambling about all the information, he’s subtly writing notes, adapting some of this drama to his campaigns, maybe even introducing a gladiatorial fighting competition as a political tool between kingdoms

Maybe it’s Max, and she isn’t nearly as interested as Steve is, but she gets into it, like, yelling at the screen because what was that player thinking and it’s fun to vent her anger into something harmless and boding with Steve

Just… his friends appreciating that sports aren’t one dimensional hobbies for mouthbreathers

Me: *Removes my cat from my lap to do something else.*

My cat: Father is...evil? Father is unyielding? Father is incapable of love? I am running away. I am packing my little rucksack and going out to explore the world as a lone vagabond. I can no longer thrive in this household.

gooby woobies

it’s 2022 and i’m still mad over the game of thrones scene where ned gives sansa a doll

d&d and the fandom really do paint it as sansa just being ungrateful but i would argue it’s the exact opposite

first off, in the show sansa is 13 years old.

13 year olds in westeros are seen as a midway point between child and adult, the closest concept they have to teenagers. sansa is betrothed, she’s 13, giving her a child’s toy is completely inappropriate

and then there’s her line “i haven’t played with dolls since i was 8.” i love arya and this isn’t criticizing her, but i do think it’s telling that ned gets arya sword lessons and clearly takes an obvious interest in her life yet misses sansa not playing with dolls for 5 years.