i do think arya killing a nightswatch derserter in the same void that jon gets killed as nightswatch deserter is kinda crazy and something fans don't even talk about all that much

splitting affc/adwd was a loss

(normal person voice) yeah im a little into those game of thrones books haha

Being a king and war leader at 15 is so chill and fun 😊😊👍yay😄

playlia and playgar my beautiful lesbian failmarriage

The Titan’s Tongue: The Language and Script of Braavos

Been thinking a lot about Braavos and the writing system of its tongue. Arya and Sam’s chapters exploring the city are so full of flavor and life that I wanted to gain a glimpse into its writing as well, and see what it would be like. We unfortunately have very little information about the Braavosi language, with it being completely absent from the show and only mentioned in passing in the books that the Waif is teaching it to Arya as part of her training in the House of Black and White. What little we know is largely names, but from this we can ascertain a bit about the language, and what we need for the script itself. The language seems to be to High Valyrian what Italian was to Latin: reduced vowel system (no distinction between short and long vowels, similar to Astapori Vayrian), eschewal of consonant clusters in favor of gemination (like in Tagganaro and Bellegere), and preference to end words in vowels.

Over the course of this post I will be trying to determine the sounds we would find in Braavosi and create an alphabet for the city’s people

Phonology

I imagine that the Braavosi have had a script loosely descendant from the High Valyrian writing systems, developed about 400 years ago when the first escaped slaves landed in the shrouded lagoon that is now the city’s harbor. These slaves and Moonsingers would have likely spoken a Low Valyrian tongue absent of some of the sounds that are represented in High Valyrian. By loose descent, I mean essentially that the letters are not necessarily one-to-one drawn from specific Valyrian glyphs (like Phoenician and Egyptian) but instead used as general inspiration. I also imagine that the Braavosi script is rather rounded and elegant, primarily written by quill and inkbrush, unlike Valyrian.   Using @dedalvs​​ ‘s wonderfully crafted High Valyrian and its phonology, as well as the phonologies of its descendant tongues in Astapor and Meereen, we can construct the following statements about Proto-Braavosi Low Valyrian:

Based on the attested spellings of the Braavosi names (factoring the fact that it is filtered through a Westerosi’s ears), we can extract the following information.

Consonants: l qu f g n t r y/j s d b sh th c/k/ch q m z ph h

Vowels: a e i o u y

Diphthongs: aa (Braavos), ae (Baelish), ay (Prestayn), ey (Jeyne, Wendeyne)

Since ph and f seem to be transcribed as distinct (such as in the name Phario Forel) they seem to be phonologically distinct sounds and not simply allophones. Thus, ph can either be an aspirated stop [pʰ] or a bilabial fricative [ɸ]. Since no unvoiced ‘p’ is represented, let us say that this is an allophonic variant of \p\ in Braavosi speech, transcribed by foreigners as “ph.” The “ch” in Tycho Nestoris could be an affricate [t͡ʃ] or a [k]; the latter seemed more natural to me. The “qu” in Allaquo seemed it could simply be represented as [k] + [w] or [q] + [w], or otherwise a labialized [kʷ] or [qʷ]; I think it can be ignored when creating our letters, particularly as it is not attested in High Valyrian. The sound sh ([ʃ]) exists only in the name Baelish, which very well may be Westeros-ized by its speakers, seeing especially as the sound does not exist in High Valyrian; we will thus treat it as an allophone of [s]. Finally, “th” is used to spell many Braavosi names (Uthero, Otherys, Lotho); this may be interpreted as a fricative [θ] or simply as another spelling of [t]; for the sake of simplicity, we will represent this allophone (if it is even an allophone at all) as another variant of “t.” Thus our final consonant inventory is as follows:

Consonants: p/ph b t/th d k/c/ch g q gh* s/sh f v/w z m n l y/j r h

*gh = Proto-Braavosi only

Or, represented in an IPA chart:

Apart from the loss of distinction in vowel length, there are two changes of note. One is that the rounded close front vowel [y] in Valyrian has shifted to an unrounded close central vowel [ɨ] in Braavosi. Furthermore, although not represented in writing, the vowels ɛ and ɔ are found in Braavosi speech (basically leaning hard on the medieval Florence/Italian parallels).

We are left with the following vowels.

(For context, here is modern Italian phonology lol.)

As for diphthongs, I won’t elaborate too much except to say that they are simply written using a combination of vowels (and the semivowel j/y), though their spelling patterns don’t always match onto their pronunciations. This post dwells little on orthography, but I think with more than 400 years of history the Braavosi script will have had time to develop concrete spelling patterns and crystallized standards which no longer reflect modern speech (though due to the somewhat egalitarian economy and political systems of Braavos, at least compared to Westeros and the other Free Cities, I think the script will not have diverged too radically from “common sense”). For instance due to sound changes representing an older form of Braavosi, a name like “Baelish” would likely be spelled something like “Bayelis,” with the spelled cluster “aye” represent the name.

I think there are two sound changes at play: one from High to Low Valyrian led to the loss of diphthongs (ae => e, so Daenerys => Denerys), and the second one from Low Valyrian to Braavosi which led to the elision of “y” between vowels(aye => ae, so Bayelis => Baelis/Baelish).

Script

With the phonology and basic history of Braavosi speech outlined, we can present the final writing system of the language, which I show in my next post:

https://www.tumblr.com/greenbloods/722222867516915712/the-idea-of-a-braavosi-alphabet-has-been-churning?source=share

Though it is bog-standard for fantasy scripts, I decided to make the writing system a bicameral alphabet, as it would best showcase the aesthetics of the script. I also wanted there to be a feel as if there were some far-back connection between Braavosi and the alphabet of the Common Tongue of Westeros (they would simply be using the Latin alphabet), which is also why I decided to make the “o” letter a blatant imitation of our letter O. The letter f is derived from the letter p as a visual reminder of the “newness” of the letter

Keep in mind that the script is only a snapshot of written conventions in one medium during one period of time, and there may be many variants for the script as well.

westeros when little girls are full people with a full range of human emotions and not little dolls you can dress up and play with:

months later i still think about this. what is a good person anon? is it an adherence to virtues, is it something more utilitarian, is it about actions or do intentions matter? what does it mean, to be a good person at core, depending on your definition, and how does that differ from the superficial appearance of goodness? why do you think jon is good? is prioritising your family over the realm ever good, or is it ever selfish? is abandoning your responsibilities for love ever good? (is rhaegar good? lol don't answer that). why are you so confident of jon's goodness? are protagonists good? is the prince who is promised good? is azor ahai, a man who kills a woman he loves for a greater responsibility, good? how many bad actions must someone commit before they are not good and how many hail marys seven pointed star readings much a character perform before they are sanctified again?

i actually have figured out a sincere answer to this question now but every time i try to answer it i'm hung up on the sheer number of ethical assumptions behind 'he would do it for any of the starks because jon is a good person at core'. anon take philosophy 101 PLEASE.

characters who would try to be leftists, but their politics are so deeply informed by navigating their class backgrounds, family histories, and access to power to the extent that they adhere to rather flawed, problematic understandings of radical left politics, potentially turning their back on being a class traitor eventually: jon, dany

characters who would have been effective leftists who interacted with the working class with some genuine intent had they not been sent into a pessimistic misanthropic doomspiral after watching all their family die: arya

honourable mentions: mirri maz duur

adding jaime lannister to the honourable mentions list because of his kingslaying accelerationist praxis

This is super interesting, because if you think on it, even when Brienne is concentraiting mainly on finding Sansa, she keeps walking across Arya's path.

The major exemples are of course Harrenhal, the Crossroad's inn and the Bwb. Yet they keep missing each other.

fr I have never seriously considered this possibility before but they do cross paths near constantly, and it's interesting that when Brienne gets her first genuine update on the whereabouts of a Stark sister, it's Arya and not Sansa. plus they're all three likely to orbit the Riverlands and LSH specifically in the next book or so so it really doesn't seem unlikely at all...

want to zero in on this:

because I think it's sometimes widely misunderstood how much Sansa and Arya go through a very similar arcs with similar core beats?

Both get their romantic illusions (in love and in justice) shattered, both go through hellish versions of their romantic desires (a relationship, an adventure), both have to wear masks to hide and diminish themselves, both question who they fundamentally are, while they're made into tools of abusive people or organisations, and both finish AFFC/ADWD on the precipice of abandoning their true identities as Starks or rejecting the cages they're in to reclaim their Stark identities.

But also more than that, I think Arya as a character is someone who is very concerned with justice - with the right and wrong ways to use violence, to enact fairness or unfairness - in a way resonates with Brienne and Jaime's journeys with knighthood respectively. Arya is descending into disillusionment and loss of self in the robes of an institution just as Jaime is trying to end his cynicism and pull himself out of a fifteen year long identity crisis that also began with an institution and a uniform - the Kingsguard. Arya and Brienne in particular are both perspectives concerned with the difference between murder and justice, and to what extent is justice in ASOIAF simply legitimised murder by the aristocracy bestowed to those who are knights. Consider both of these encounters with Thoros:

-- Arya VI, ASOS

-- Brienne VIII, AFFC

Both characters adhere stubbornly to principles that are socially and politically inconvenient - Arya defends the life of Mycah, a peasant boy the aristocratic class considers worthless collateral, and Brienne adheres to her oath to Catelyn to find her daughters, regardless of how the tides of the war shift. Both wield swords as reminder of the principles they tried to server, to remember what is true to themselves - and interestingly, both Needle and Oathkeeper were gifts from men who loved them and valued them for who they were (you could insert a whole post on Jaime & Jon mirroring here if you wanted), and both swords serve as physical and psychological lifelines.

-- Arya II, AFFC

-- Brienne VIII, AFFC

But I also think, surprisingly, Arya and Brienne have been under-contrasted in how they each approach gender. Their attitudes are far from identical but both fundamentally see their inability to meet standards of femininity as a failure and a root of insecurity. In any case, I actually feel this is where the interesting subversion takes place. Brienne imagines herself rescuing a princess from the tales, but instead finds that princess is in fact a girl in disguise as a boy, with dirty knees and a sharp tongue and a skinny little sword, who is as ill fitting to be a lady as she imagines herself to be, and wouldn't that be interesting and transformative?

FEAT. TWO TRUE KNIGHTS WHO WISHED UPON & CHANGED THEIR STARS ͙͘͡★ A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS (2026) ͙͘͡★ A KNIGHT'S TALE (2001)

2026 COLOR CHALLENGE: JULY + GREEN

ive seen some aus where cersei manages to send ned to the wall but none that really acknowledge the timelines. by the time he got through the riverlands all the way to the north, we would be way into acok and jon would be beyond the wall where things would unfold more or less the same. you have to understand the appeal of this kind of au is to make jon's already bad no good awful day worse. he comes back to the wall a traitor, he broke his vows, he's shot in the leg, the wall is under attack, they're understaffed, most of his friends are presumed dead beyond the wall including his boss and now his dad is there squinting at him judgmentally with a 'i know what you are 🤨' look on his face. and fine, he can look at silver linings. ned and him can bond. they're both traitors, they both have a leg injury and he no longer needs to compete with his siblings for attention. he might even be able to look for some comfort or words of wisdom regarding the whole breaking vows for a woman thing. he might even tell him about his mother and they can go look for uncle benjen together. male bonding! except the next plot relevant thing that happens before they get 1 millisecond of free time is a baratheon spawning at the wall with an army and a "burning royals alive to wake dragons" agenda. between that and not being able to drop the fatal 'just like your daddy' bomb on jon, ned stark dies of stress aged 36-ish. the end.

like you have to understand jon's perspective here. imagine having the worst possible shift at work and suddenly you are told you have a new coworker and surprise, it's your father here to judge you in your darkest hour. and youre 16 and again, having a terrible time. there's a clique at works that wants you DEAD. your unlawful girlfriend shot you and then died. you were coerced into the relationship but you have no language to explain that either. you may or may not be promoted to manager position against your will as well. i can't stress how adding ned to that equation just makes everything worse, not better