ON THREADING

mutuals only on threads. it makes me more comfortable. feel free to send in memes even if we aren't mutuals - that's a key way to help me discover you ( and a key way to get me to follow you, since sometimes i'm too lazy to go through my followers list ).

no need to match my length. if it gets long and you can't find inspiration for it, feel free to shorten it. if you're filled with inspiration, feel free to lengthen it! i generally try to match length, but occasionally i can't, so i don't expect the same of you.

please don't godmod. aka, don't write "he watched as brienne [action that i did not write for her]" unless it's a small thing that won't personally harm my interpretation of her. brienne's actions are her own, and i prefer to keep tight to that!

ON FORMATTING

i like consistency in posts. i revert my partner's reply to small text, unless they already use small text. i use super small if they use super small. i try to match my partner's formatting: i like the way it looks. if you have issues readying small text, though, please don't be afraid to come and tell me! i'm fine making exceptions for people.

ON NEW FOLLOWERS

please allow me a few days to follow you. most times, i'm very lazy and so don't feel like going through my followers list but i promise i do go through it.

ON REBLOG KARMA

since apparently, this needs to be addressed. i do reblog karma as much as possible. the only time i don't is when i don't think brienne would say/do anything on the list. no need to do reblog karma with me!

now here's where we get to what i think is the most important part of my blog: the canon. there is a lot of debate in the asoiaf fandom when it comes to george r.r. martin's book canon, versus d&d's show adaptation of the novels. i play brienne's personality as book!canon. for show-based muses and those who have not read the novels, however, i will be happy to play in her show arc ( in which i acknowledge the events of the show instead of the book, on top of various book knowledge ). otherwise, i default to complete book!canon ( meaning, no acknowledgement of anything that happened in the show ).

i believe this section will be important to the show watchers when it comes to fully understanding my characterization of brienne. if you'd like to read/skim over it, it would be much appreciated! thank you in advance!

** these book-canon details will be present in my interpretation for show verses.

MAJOR DIFFERENCES IN BRIENNE'S CANON

SHOW-CANON: brienne is part of renly baratheon's kingsguard.
BOOK-CANON: brienne is part of renly baratheon's rainbow guard, whose knights are named by colors and wear colored armor. brienne's official title in his guard is 'brienne the blue.' she takes her rainbow cloak with her upon renly's death.

SHOW-CANON: brienne and jaime are found by three stark men. when they recognize jaime, brienne kills them before they can return to robb.
BOOK-CANON **: while they row down the river, brienne, jaime, and cleos are pursued by ser robin ryger, one of robb stark's men. she stops them by rolling boulders on their galley, effectively breaking it. they continue by land.

SHOW-CANON: jaime attempts to flee by taking one of brienne's swords. locke and his men find them in the midst of the fight and take them hostage. they take jaime's hand so that he cannot fight.
BOOK-CANON **: brienne, jaime, and cleos are ambushed by archers. cleos dies in the frey. jaime attempts to flee by taking cleos' sword. vargo hoat and his men find them in the midst of the fight and take them hostage. jaime saves her from rape; they take his hand. he saves her again after she convinces him to keep living and take revenge.

SHOW-CANON: brienne and jaime are in king's landing when the purple wedding happens.
BOOK-CANON: both the red wedding and the purple wedding happen while brienne and jaime are still traveling to king's landing. upon their return, loras accuses brienne of killing renly and jaime has her arrested for her safety.

SHOW-CANON: jaime gives brienne armor, podrick payne as squire, and a sword. he names the sword oathkeeper.
BOOK-CANON: jaime gives brienne a pouch of coins, a royal writ signed by tommen, a shield, new armor, and a sword. brienne names the sword oathkeeper.

SHOW-CANON: brienne and podrick travel together. brienne attempts to get podrick to stop being her squire.
BOOK-CANON: brienne runs into podrick, who is following her because he thinks he will be able to find tyrion. she allows him to stay with her. brienne also runs into hyle hunt and randyll tarly, both of whom she does not like. hyle joins them on their journey.

SHOW-CANON: brienne and podrick run into arya. brienne kills the hound.
BOOK-CANON: none of that happens.

SHOW-CANON: brienne and podrick run into sansa and littlefinger. littlefinger's men attempt to kill them.
BOOK-CANON: none of that happens.

SHOW-CANON: brienne and podrick save sansa from ramsay's men. brienne swears her sword to her.
BOOK-CANON: brienne, podrick, and hyle run into another group of brave companions. brienne kills the leader, but has her cheek half-eaten by biter. gendry, part of the brotherhood without banners, kills biter. they nurse brienne back to health, then take her to their leader, lady stoneheart, the undead catelyn stark. when stoneheart makes her choose between killing jaime lannister and hanging, brienne does not choose. only after the trio is nearly hanged does she finally choose the former.

SHOW-CANON: brienne and podrick follow sansa to the wall. on the side of the tullys and starks, the duo goes to the seige of riverrun to try and persuade the blackfish to aid them. he refuses, and brienne and pod leave empty-handed.
BOOK-CANON: brienne ( and, assumedly, podrick and hyle ) go to the seige of riverrun to persuade jaime to follow them. he does, thinking brienne has finally found sansa and the hound.

MINOR DIFFERENCES IN BRIENNE'S CANON

SHOW-CANON: brienne's father teaches her how to fight.
BOOK-CANON **: brienne's father allows her to train with ser goodwin, tarth's master-at-arms. she receives the equivalent of a knight's training.

SHOW-CANON: brienne is the one who recognizes stannis as the shadow with the face.
BOOK-CANON: catelyn is the one who recognizes stannis as the shadow with the face.

SHOW-CANON: catelyn commands brienne to bring jaime back to king's landing to exchange for her daughters.
BOOK-CANON **: catelyn commands brienne to bring jaime and his cousin cleos frey, both captives at robb's camp, back to tyrion, in king's landing, who has promised the exchange.

SHOW-CANON: the guards are assumed to help jaime out of the tub after he faints.
BOOK-CANON **: brienne and qyburn help jaime out of the tub after he faints. afterwards, brienne helps care for him.

SHOW-CANON: locke throws brienne in harrenhal's bear pit for entertainment's sake.
BOOK-CANON **: vargo hoat attempts a third rape. brienne bites off his ear to stop him. in his anger, he throws brienne in harrenhal's bear pit.

SHOW-CANON: brienne and podrick encounter hotpie, who tells them arya is traveling with the hound.
BOOK-CANON: brienne encounters nimble dick crabb, who tells her he has seen a girl and a fool traveling ( assumedly, sansa and dontos hollard ). the travel to the whispers, where they run into a band of brave companions, who kill dick. brienne kills them.

as a young child, she had loved the stories and songs that filled the halls of evenfall. those dreams shattered too soon, after coming to the realization that the boys would rather laugh at her unfortunate countenance than offer their hands to her. the gods had not been kind to her.

… nor would they be kind enough to grant her happy marriage. her father found three men willing to take her hand in marriage. the first died of a cold fever. the second, ser ronnet connington, gave her a rose and told her it would be the only thing she would have of him.

her realization spurred her to physical altercations between her and those who mocked her. eventually, her father allowed her to take up training of the field, granting her tarth’s master-of-arms, ser goodwin, who taught her the courtesies of the sword. at the age of sixteen, she was betrothed yet again to ser humfrey wagstaff, a man bent on treating her cruelly. well trained and vowing never to be wed to a man who could not defeat her in a duel, brienne challenged him - and won.

at the battle of bitterbridge, she defeated those who mocked her and wagered on who would first take her maidenhead. at her request, renly granted her a place in his rainbow guard, renaming her brienne the blue.

soon, stannis baratheon sent a shadow to assassinate his younger brother renly. brienne, present at the assassination, was promptly accused of murder after two knights his blood on her hands. catelyn stark, also present, vouched for her innocence before taking flight with brienne. when they reached robb stark’s camp, catelyn convinced brienne to enter into her service, and brienne was soon after told to bring jaime lannister back to king’s landing in exchange for the stark daughters, whom catelyn believed to be held hostage. they left the camp in the middle of the night, along with cleos frey, a cousin of jaime’s.

along the way, a band of outlaws killed cleos. jaime attempted escape, but brienne fought him off - until the brave companions found them and took them hostage. the brave companions cut off jaime’s sword hand, leaving him unable to fight. upon noting his despair, brienne convinced him to live. in turn, jaime stopped brienne from being raped, telling the men that her father, lord of evenfall hall, would pay her weight in sapphires for her safe return.

brienne shared a bath with jaime and learned of king aerys ii targaryen’s wildfire plot, and how he slew the king to stop it from happening. she did not, however, leave with him, but was kept as vargo hoat’s 'prize.' that evening, hoat attempted another rape, but she bit his ear off to stop him. as punishment, she was thrown in harrenhal’s bear pit to die. jaime returned soon after and slayed the bear before taking her with him.

during their return, robb and catelyn stark and joffrey baratheon were killed. brienne fell into despair at catelyn's death. at king's landing, ser loras tyrell, once part of renly’s rainbow guard, accused brienne of murdering renly. jaime had her arrested for her own safety, where she then convinced loras of her innocence. jaime gave her the valyrian steel sword oathkeeper, as well as a new haulberk for her armor lost at the hands of the brave companions, a new horse and shield, two bags of gold, and a royal writ to find sansa stark, and sent her on her way.

along the way, she spotted podrick payne following her. he explained to her that he was once tyrion lannister’s squire, and believed that he may be able to find tyrion with sansa once more. she allowed him to follow her, but soon ran into hyle hunt, a sellsword whom she had once known at renly’s camp.

along the way, the trio encountered nimble dick, who joined the band under assumed knowledge that he might lead them to sansa stark. they then ran into the remains of the brave companions. nimble dick was killed, but they continued their travels, this time to the saltpans.

this time, they encountered more remnants of the brave companions. not so lucky, brienne was nearly killed, but survived with several broken ribs and a severe wound to her cheek. gendry, one of the members of the brotherhood without banners, killed biter before he could kill her, and took them, captive, to lady stoneheart. the undead woman gave her an ultimatum: to kill jaime lannister to prove her loyalty, or hang with podrick and hyle. brienne chose to hang. as they dangled, brienne screamed a word...

i. sleep.

brienne of tarth does not have good sleeping habits. generally, her duties overtake any other decisions or desires she might have. sleep is not high on her list of things to accomplish, and will often be set aside for other demands. if she can, she will attempt to catch her sleep during the darker hours, but her time unconscious is cut drastically if she has something to do or if she has something on her mind. when settled and comfortable, it often takes her at least twenty to thirty minutes for her to finally fall asleep –––– and that’s on a good day. she often has trouble falling asleep; hyper-self-aware of both herself and her surroundings, she oftentimes wakes up and has trouble falling back asleep.

as for sleeping around people, her habits are even worse. she can only sleep soundly around people she trusts wholly and completely, which poses quite a problem for a woman who has learned not to trust anybody at all. most of the time, it is her own decision to stay awake when there’s someone around –––– she knows full well she will not be able to get to sleep, if at all. all other times, it is her own body that acts against her and doesn’t let her fall asleep. when that happens, she often goes days on end with little to no sleep, resulting in an inevitable crash at the end, during which she is very difficult to rouse awake again and very short-tempered if disturbed.

… that being said, she’s suffered from this mild insomnia for so many years that she hardly ever looks tired. her body has adjusted to it, and she’s learned to hide it.

ii. scars.

brienne of tarth has several scars decorating her body. when she was a child, she obtained several scars on her person for her endless days of sparring with ser goodwin. they lurk on her forearms, on her biceps, and on the sides of her abdomen. over the years, these have faded to almost nothing.

jaime lannister left her with a deep gash on the inside of her right thigh; since healing, it has faded and blended into the stretch marks. the brave companions left her with several others, including one to the right of her philtrum which just barely ghosts over her lip, obtained after one man’s fist drove her lip into her teeth. several more were left on her abdomen and her jaw in the scuffle preceding the shout of “sapphires!” she does particularly well not talking about these or answering any questions about them when asked.

the bear pit at harrenhal left three long scars across the inside of her shoulder and halfway down her bosom, a reminder of the places where claws sunk deep into her flesh. these, though healed, are bright and very easily seen.

the most prominent out of all brienne’s scars is the huge gash that biter left in her cheek. a large chunk of her cheek was torn away, leaving her incapacitated for several days. in the fight, she also sustained a broken arm and three broken ribs. this scar will never heal completely.

lady stoneheart and the brotherhood without banners left her with a faint scar along the midst of her neck. it runs to her ears. this one is hardly noticeable, and only able to be seen in direct light.

iii. sex.

brienne of tarth very strictly does not equate sex with love. this stems, mostly, from her experience with the anything regarding the raw experience. since early childhood, she has been exposed to crude words and slights made at her expense. sex is not done out of love, in her mind, but out of lust, for torture, or to establish dominance. being also the subject of a certain bet in renly’s camp has made her increasingly warier of those who exhibit any sort of sexual interest in her.

branching off of this: she also has a fear of losing her virginity. this comes directly from the brave companions and vargo hoat. even broaching the subject within the confines in her own mind brings forth at least slight discomfort, as well as certain ill memories of hoat –––– in fact, most of the time she cannot think on losing it without instantly being reminded of him. prone to distrust, it takes her longer than a few months, if not even a year or more, to feel assured enough around the other person.

however, in relationships of mutual respect, these set states are blurred. being asexual**, she does not experience any sexual attraction towards anyone –––– this includes people in whom she confides. this just means she will never be the one to instigate a sexual act: that’s based on the other person. she doesn’t care to have sex to ‘prove her love’ when she can just as easily commit to protecting the other person with her entire being. but, she’ll willingly engage in the act for anyone she loves and trusts fully.

( ** several people have come to me for clarification on the meaning of brienne’s sexuality. here’s the fast version: she does not experience sexual attraction, but she still has a sex drive. )

modern.
Born into a moderately wealthy family, Brienne Tarth always knew she was better off than the rest. But her looks deceived her, and soon she became an object of scorn and laughter for the other students. Her schooling ended up rough, not a true reflection of her own self. Straight out of schooling, in an effort to find her own identity, she decided to attend her local police academy. There, she learned the ins and outs of English law, in addition to self-defense and how to handle various weapons. Her current employment –––– not quite an officer, though she was willing to don the title –––– had her moving around, meeting in various troubled locations. Her life and mind revolved around her career, as it always would.

WHERE THEY ARE JUST AND LOYAL.

harry potter.
Brienne Tarth was born as a pureblood to rich Selwyn Tarth the wizard and his wife, an unknown witch who passed away before memory allowed her a picture of her face. Even as a little girl, Brienne was never very good at focusing. Whenever her parents attempted to teach her histories of the magical world, she would never listen -- only when they spoke of spells did she pay attention. At the age of eleven, she was invited to Hogwarts. First year, her core class grades were rocky. Through the years, however, she became better at balancing coursework, though she still favored spelled-based courses like DADA and Transfiguration.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.
star wars / sequels.

Brienne was born and raised as part of the Resistance, learning the grip of the force and lightsaber through Luke Skywalker's training. Under his tutelage, she became well-versed with the saber, able to control the force as well as many of the others, and slowly learned her own techniques and body-granted gifts. After an unfortunate incident with one of his pupils-turned-rogue, she continued in the Resistance with her will to see Kylo Ren's rising First Order destroyed growing even stronger, weaving her way onto the front lines and destroying what troopers of the First Order that she could.

Three years younger than Ned, Valerie grew up influenced by his own path. By her adolescence, she became increasingly aware of the injustice caused by words and actions. Although never wanting to do anything as drastic as join the military, She began to take interest instead in a quieter path closer to home, and largely disregarded her father’s suggestions that she join Tim in working with him. At the age of 18, she decided to go into law enforcement, although she was never a true officer. Up until the age of 27, she worked, until one day an accident with her dispatch team left her the prime suspect of a homicide. After suffering nightmares consisting mainly of violence against her, Valerie moved to king’s landing, in part to try and recover, and in part to be nearer to her brother, one of the only ties to her childhood. Reincarnation was a myth to her, but only after suffering a particular bloody nightmare filled with shadows did she begin to listen to the warning signs around her.

After an undisclosed tragedy, marked with the scent of Stoneheart and the Brotherhood, led to Jaime Lannister's death, Brienne found herself in the company of his twin sister, former queen now disgraced, caring for her as she would have never cared before. Through the wilds they ran from those who wished to kill Cersei, and off the land they lived, masquerading as a knight and a lady, until the day came when Cersei could finally regain control once more over the Seven Kingdoms. The Queen of the Andals and the First Men took Brienne as her own knight, and, unbeknownst to Brienne until the question was voiced, ask that they be married. From then on, Brienne was named Ser Brienne of House Tarth, Consort to the King.

AND THAT'S WHAT I'M GOING TO DO.
season 2.

Intended as a flexible show arc verse for any character with whom Brienne interacts during her journey with Jaime. After Catelyn Stark instructed her to bring the Kingslayer back to his brother in King's Landing in exchange for her daughter, Brienne set out with the man. Whilst traveling, Jaime attempted escape, which Brienne was able to prevent only moments before they were found by Locke and his men –––– collectively known as the Brave Companions, and widely known as the Bloody Mummers. During their captivity, the Mummers treated them less than kindly, taking Jaime's sword hand and abusing them both on their ride to Harrenhal. At Harrenhal, Brienne learned more of Jaime's past, which majorily changed her perspective of him.

It was always Renly Baratheon. He was the boy who had stuck out in her mind since the moment he had come to Tarth on his leisurely lord’s progress, the boy who she had dreamed about. It seemed fate had it the same way for her. Little Bryen Caron, to whom she would have been wed in the month of her first flowering, died of fever. Several years later, Ronnet Connington gave her his rose and refused to wed her at all. But it was Renly who was her third. Her father, ever willing to consent to a marriage between Tarth and Baratheon, consented to it. Months later, the wedding was underway, and Brienne Tarth of Tarth thereby became Brienne Baratheon, Lady of Storm’s End.

INFORMATION

this blogs puts into practice mains, but not exclusivity. basically, what that means is that i'll go to mains first and foremost to ask interest on threads i'd want to do. reasoning behind not doing exclusivity is, the asoiaf fandom is a place where people constantly come in and leave, and i feel uneasy being tied to one particular version of a muse for fear that the mun might up and leave at any given time. it's happened to me before, and it's not fun. however, i am usually deeply attached to the people i am mains with.

RULES

i prefer people who i know are fairly consistent in their replies to me. i like to know that people are dedicated to their muse and are passionate about their writing. i like to be friends with them, i like them to be reliable. mains are the people i talk with every day / every few days.

if you're mains with me and you go on an announced hiatus and you're planning on coming back, i'll keep you up here because i love you. if you go on unannounced hiatus or do not attempt to write with me for a while, then i'm going to remove you after two months. please don't take it personally: if you return and begin writing again, i'll be happy to add you back!

don't be afraid to approach me if you'd like to become mains with me! i would be happy to accommodate you, if that's what you'd like. i'm not scary, i swear!