Only Cat

Portrait of Lady Catelyn and her daughters

redcandle17 — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:22:14 GMT

I commissioned the following portrait of Catelyn, Sansa, and Arya from mathia as a birthday gift to myself.

fic rec

redcandle17 — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:38:12 GMT

The Fish and the She Wolf by Mandalbrot is a great ficlet about Catelyn's relationship with Arya.

art rec

redcandle17 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 07:50:00 GMT

song of a stone heart by Bubug is a gorgeous imagining of Cat's last living moment.

onlyBOOKcatelyn

redcandle17 — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:08:04 GMT

misstopia and I have decided to officially focus this community on book!Catelyn. As you all know, HBO drastically altered the characterization of Lady Catelyn Tully Stark for their television show. All indications are that she will be mischaracterized even worse in the upcoming season. One newspaper reviewer even called her season three storyline "character assassination."

But those of us who love the Catelyn written by George R.R. Martin will still have this community. I'd like to have some kind of Catelyn appreciation fest running here while HBO destroys the essence of her character over the next two months. We can post our favorite Catelyn quotations and/or passages, fan fiction, art (inspired by Martin's description of Catelyn, not Michelle Fairley), recommend favorite Cat-centric fanworks, etc.

Please join me and please spread the word to other fans of book!Catelyn.

Youth, Life, Death...

redcandle17 — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:36:38 GMT

Back in December I posted art of young Catelyn I'd commissioned from Martina Cecelia. It was meant to be the first in a three-part series depicting the different stages of Catelyn's life. Martina just finished the third picture and I want to share it with other Catelyn fans.

Cat of Riverrun
Catelyn, the Lady of Winterfell
The Hangwoman of the Riverlands

commissioned art (young Cat, Lysa, Littlefinger)

redcandle17 — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 05:08:58 GMT

I commissioned the following from envielestrange:

Fandom March Madness!

misstopia — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:17:20 GMT

Community, long time no seeee <3

Fandom March Madness is underway and Catelyn needs your votes in the preliminary round, she's lagging behind pretty badly, but the game is only just begun. At the very least let's give her a decent showing! Prelims close in about 48 hours (1-2 PM ET US on Thursday March 8th). Get those votes in and spread the word!

new art

redcandle17 — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:57:09 GMT

Recently I commissioned a scene of Cat and the kids greeting Ned upon his return from the Greyjoy Rebellion.

Commissioned from mathia.

fic: catelyn/ned

sophia_gratia — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:03:55 GMT

Hi, all! I'm new here – I bring to this festive little site of Catelyn-love a greeting gift, in the form of a story in which a decadeish-pre-canon Cat has a thing or two to teach her obtusely polite husband. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Title: A Short Grammar of Eros and Honor: On Naming
Characters: Catelyn Stark / Eddard Stark, miniscule cameo by an OFC
Rating: T, for mild sexual content
Words: ~1,350
Summary: ‘As the Lady of Winterfell, she has learned to take practical matters into her own hands. She sees no reason why the intimate matters of her marriage should be any different.’

{Read on LJ}
{Read on AO3}

*

your ideal Cat actress

redcandle17 — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:48:11 GMT

Apologies if this has been a topic here already. While Michelle Fairley has done an admirable job portraying Catelyn Tully Stark as HBO has decided they want her to be portrayed, HBO!Cat is a far cry from our own precious book!Cat. So, if you were in charge of casting and writing for the television adaptation of ASoIaF, who would be your ideal Catelyn?

Mine would be
Julianne Moore, even though she's currently the same age as Michelle Fairley, Moore just looks more like Catelyn. She conveys the strength and beauty (and make no mistake, physical attractiveness is vitally important for a Westerosi noblewoman - look at the way Selyse Florent Baratheon is regarded for example) of Catelyn perfectly, IMO.

A younger Jane Seymour would also have been excellent.

So, my fellow Cat fans, which actress best embodies your ideal Catelyn?

redcandle17 — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 21:55:57 GMT

Catelyn, Ned, Brandon, and love in the wake of ADwD

While I love Cat and I've written Ned/Cat and happy Stark family fics, I've never been fully committed to the Ned/Cat ship - though I've always acknowledged that they are probably the most compatible pairing ever - because of Ned's POV chapters wherein he doesn't think about his supposedly beloved wife nearly as much as he thinks about his old BFF Robert and his sister Lyanna.

Even before ADwD I suspected that this lack was deliberate on GRRM's part, along with the conspicuous lack of thoughts about Jon's parentage or Ashara Dayne, to fan the mystery and raise questions. However after reading ADwD and learning that Brandon Stark was more like Robert than Jaime (despite Jaime saying, "Brandon was like me (as opposed to Ned)" I know question the entire supposed Ned/Ashara love affair. Ashara dancing with Ned after talking to Brandon takes on a whole new meaning - Brandon was a ladies' man who had no qualms about seducing noblewomen - so it's possible Ashara danced with Brandon's shy younger brother merely to please Brandon because she liked him(Brandon). It's now possible that it was Brandon who impregnated and abandoned Ashara. I've always found the idea of Ned cheating on his wife , even if he barely knew her at the time, utterly out of character. With the new information we have, Brandon/Ashara makes more sense than Ned/Ashara.

However there's the issue of Brandon's duel with Petyr Baelish and Ned's statement that Brandon had mentioned Littlefinger "often, and with some heat." Despite Lady Barbrey Dustin's delusion that Brandon loved her and didn't want to marry Catelyn, we know that he cared enough to fight a duel for Cat's hand and to be angry enough at Littlefinger to mention it "often." Which convinces me that Brandon wasn't like Jaime, he was like Robert.

And that makes perfect sense. Brandon is Ned's elder brother and Ned was sent to foster with Jon Arryn at age eight, where he met and befriended Arryn's other foster son Robert Baratheon. We know what Robert is like. He still has Lyanna on a pesdestal fourteen years after her death and he claimed to love her, despite screwing countless other women even while he believed Lyanna was a captive victim being raped by Rhaegar Targaryen. And it's understandable that Ned would become attached to someone who reminded him of his older brother.

Now I can't help but think that Cat was Brandon's Lyanna - his beautiful perfect fiancee that he raged at the thought of another man wanting, while giving himself license to have as many other, lesser women as he wanted. And if Ashara wasn't Ned's secret lady love, then it's highly plausible that Cat was his only love. Which is romantic to me because I'm twisted and I like the idea of Cat wondering about Jon's mother and if Ned loved her more while Ned loves her and only her ever.

So what do you guys think?

top 5 fave Cat moments

redcandle17 — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:46:15 GMT

What are your five most favorite moments/scenes featuring Catelyn?

Parallel lives: Catelyn Stark and Arianne Martell

misstopia — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:18:34 GMT

Elio Garcia and Linda Attonson, the folks who run westeros.org, also contribute a blog post series to Tor.com about ASOIAF/Game of Thrones. Their second most previous one (I'd meant to post earlier but augh time management I do not have it) was entitled Parallel Lives, touching on how characters in the story can offer some neat parallels for each other. They focused on two more obscure parallels, one involving Catelyn, and I thought it was an interesting comparison:

Another one that very recently dawned on me, and one that I expect many will wonder at, is a parallel involving Catelyn Stark’s relationship to her husband... and Arianne Martell’s to her father, Prince Doran. In both cases, the men have secrets that they feel obligated to keep from these important women in their family, and they go about it in a way that drives a wedge between them. In the case of Catelyn, the nature of Ned’s relationship to Jon’s mother, and his insistence that Jon be raised at Winterfell as if he were very nearly a trueborn son, was an amazingly difficult thing. I would even hold that it’s a cruel thing, the way Catelyn describes Eddard frightening her in the early days of their marriage because she dared to ask her husband questions. Yes, fans are very likely to be very sympathetic to Eddard Stark — especially if, like many, you think you know why he has to keep this secret from her — but from Catelyn’s perspective, Eddard’s behavior seems indefensible, exerting his privilege as husband (and thus the dominant relationship, in the patriarchal Seven Kingdoms) over his wife.

Not only that, but Eddard’s approach to matters sets up the very situation that many seem to abhor Catelyn for: her deliberately distancing herself from Jon Snow. Eddard’s refusal to compromise, to even talk about why he’s acting in such a personally unacceptable away and in a rather unusual fashion according to cultural norms, is the real problem. Catelyn is merely acting the part she’s given, a noblewoman who’s first duty is to her husband and to her children, not to his by-blows, especially a by-blow raised to act as if they’re noble and perhaps consider themselves better than the trueborn siblings.

Now look at Arianne Martell. Her father hides from her the secret betrothal he made years before, and to do this effectively, he practically dehumanizes her, sending one unsuitable and objectionable suitor after another. Naturally, Arianne refuses them all, much as Doran planned. But he seems quite unaware, or perhaps unwilling to accept, the opinion of him that his daughter developed because of this. Is it any surprise that Arianne comes to think that he sees her as a burden, as a weak and wanton woman that he’d rather foist on a dotard like Lord Beesbury or (worse) on Walder Frey? Worst of all, Arianne genuinely loves her father and wished only to be loved... but because of his secret, and his way about keeping it, she thought he despised her.

The secrets that men keep from the women in their lives are damaging things, clearly, examples of them believing they know best. In Catelyn’s case, with any sort of compromise unilaterally refused to her, she froze out Jon Snow from her sphere of life rather than distance herself from her husband; love proved too strong, and one might argue that she was too meek to make a stand and refuse to accept what Eddard offered her. In Arianne’s case, meekness was never an issue — she rebelled against her father, first in the small and immature ways of a girl... but then she goes much bigger, plotting against him. Note that she doesn’t plot to destroy him, however; she imagines that she will have him retire to his Water Garden, to spend his days in comfort and to finally rest from the burdens of rule that must have been even more of a burden as extreme gout began to take its toll on his health. Arianne’s plans may be somewhat naive, but that’s largely because Doran took his neglect further than just sending a parade of laughable suitors at her, he feigned more complete neglect so that the rest of the realm bought that he really didn’t care much for her. She never had the opportunity to learn from him, in other words, so it’s no surprise she took her lessons from the Red Viper.

Source: Tor.com

Rewatch update

misstopia — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:52:11 GMT

Re-watch of the series is postponed for a bit, guys, sorry! With the ADWD stuff coming up and my real life commitments I'm going to ix-nay the beginning of July (obviously, lol). Stay tuned for a re-poll!

moar Cat art

redcandle17 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:19:21 GMT

This is my last commission from envielestrange/Mary-chan. This one is Catelyn as a Lady, and it depicts her being greeted by northern bannermen upon meeting up with Robb's army at Moat Cailin. The previous artwork in this little series are:

1. Catelyn as a Mother (with Sansa)
2. Catelyn as a Daughter (with Lord Hoster)
3. Catelyn as a Wife (with Ned)

One of the things that interest me about Cat as a character is the various roles she has to fulfill and how she navigates all the demands that "Family Duty Honor" make on her.

new Cat art

redcandle17 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:32:25 GMT

I commissioned this from Mathia as a birthday gift to myself.

Community rewatch?

misstopia — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:41:14 GMT

Obviously I wasn't much around to update this place during the first season of GoT, so as a kind of remedy, would anyone be interested in a Catelyn-centric Game of Thrones community re-watch? We can discuss, analyze, squee, jeer, criticize, praise, make silly gifs and macros, etc etc. I'm planning to do this for one of my other communities anyway.

View Poll: #1755515

my latest Cat art commission

redcandle17 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:20:28 GMT

I commissioned the scene of Cat and Ned's reunion at Littlefinger's brothel from envielestrange.

Video: Thronecast interview with Michelle Fairley

misstopia — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:22:18 GMT

Thronecast Ep.8 has an interview with Ms. Michelle Fairley! Video
here:

Cat as Lady

redcandle17 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:09:11 GMT

So I love Cat, and I feel 1. she's under-represented in fanworks and 2. most people just don't understand the character. I've done the best I can to remedy this via fan fiction, but since I have no artistic skill whatsoever, I had to commission the very talented Mary-chan(envielestrange) to express my Cat appreciation in art form.

I've already posted Catelyn as Mother and Catelyn as Daughter here, and Mary-chan is currently working on Catelyn as Wife. But I'm having a difficult time deciding on a scene from the books that best conveys Catelyn's role as Lady.

What are some scenes that you think best epitomize Catelyn as a great lady, with all the duties, responsibilities, and power that implies?

Tumblr links

misstopia — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:02:08 GMT

Oh my poor neglected community! I'm sorry I've been such a terrible mod :( Life seems to be keeping me busy, maybe I need to take on a partner here >.>

ANYWAY, for now I wanted to pass on some tumblr links that might be of interest:
Fuck Yeah Cat!
Fuck Yeah Ned/Cat
Women of Thrones

Aaaand I also set up a tumblr for this community. In case any of you hang out more on tumblr than around LJ, you can check for updates to this community at the Only Catelyn Tumblr. It won't have any original content, just links to posts here at the comm.

Cat as a loyal daughter

redcandle17 — Sat, 28 May 2011 21:07:58 GMT

I commissioned this from Mary-chan/envielestrange.

Who deleted my Glee!

misstopia — Sat, 14 May 2011 00:02:37 GMT

From theraddy @ tumblr

Article about Catelyn at suvudu

matitablu — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:56:07 GMT

Ran of Westeros.org wrote a post at Suvudu, analyzing the changes that Catelyn's character undercurred in the tv adaptation. It's pretty much all stuff we have already discussed, but it's nice to see it brought up at an "official" site.

A couple of quotes:

[on the cut "it should have been you" line]:I asked David Benioff and D.B. Weiss about this change at a recent conference call, and they explained that the line had originally been written, but as they watched the performance they felt that it was too blunt, that the performances were carrying so much of the subtext that it wasn’t necessary. And, certainly, new viewers seem to “get” that she doesn’t like Jon. The problem for me is that I’m not sure they fully understand why, or how very little she actively did against him. To some, she might even come off as crueler than she ever was in the novels.

Her ambitions for her family are gone, her desire to see honors, honorably won (as opposed to the other mother of the series, Cersei, who wants honors any way she can get them), given to her deserving husband and her beautiful daughter simply no longer part of her character. She is, for lack of a better word, a homebody on the TV show. The prickly, complex motivations that make her the most realistically-portrayed character in the novels, the steadfast loyalty and the steel spine and the boundless love for her family seem reduced, dulled down, until she’s now much more of a typical, loyal housewife who’s afraid to see the chicks leave the roost and who has some sort of thing against the bastard son.

For me, it’s a shame, and one that’s mitigated only by the fact that by the latter half of the second episode, she’s back to the Catelyn we know from the novels: resolute and determined, ferocious in her defense of her family (just witness how she fought for Bran’s life!) She’ll leave her sons safe within the guarded walls of Winterfell, to try and protect the husband and children she believes are marching into the lion’s den without being aware of just how truly dangerous the Lannisters are. Michelle Fairley plays the part beautifully, depicting a Catelyn who’s a strong woman, a woman to respect. It’s only a shame that she wasn’t given the more complex Catelyn to play, the one who mighty inspire a fanbase to polarize, but who would keep them talking about her over many books and many years, arguing passionately about her.

new Cat and little Sansa art

redcandle17 — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 19:51:47 GMT

I commissioned this from Mary-chan/envielestrange because I love them both so very much.