Let’s talk about Brienne of Tarth for a minute. (Actually, most likely more than a minute. You know how these things go.) For those who don’t know, Brienne is a PoV character in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire heptalogy. She’s not a major player, and a lot of people seem to hate her in a way I just can’t understand. She is far and away my favorite character in the series and is quickly becoming one of my favorite fictional characters in general. (Just a note: I’m re-reading the series right now, but I’m only partway through A Storm of Swords, so if I make any mistakes, sorry. You ready for this? Let’s go.)

Just chillin' with a super badass sword.

The first time we meet Brienne, she’s in combat. Clad in cobalt armor, she’s fighting knights in a tournament. Catelyn Stark, who is the PoV character for that chapter, doesn’t realize Brienne’s is female until told by her escort. Basically, Brienne takes on two dudes at once, then Loras Tyrell (who is no slouch when it comes to combat) knocks the morningstar out of her hand. So she jumps at him, gets the axe out of his hand, knocks him off his horse, and lands on top of him. She then grabs a knife and gets him to yield. This first action tells us three very important things about Brienne: she is an unconventional and quick thinker in combat, she doesn’t give up, and she really should not be underestimated.

So then the crowd gets all pissed at her because she dared to beat Loras Effing Tyrell while also possessing a vagina, and Ser Colen explains to Catelyn that Brienne is a girl and then Catelyn proceeds to think such gems as, “Is there any creature on earth as unfortunate as an ugly woman?” Let’s talk about Brienne’s appearance, shall we? She is constantly described as ugly. She’s got big lips, crooked teeth and nose, and tons of freckles. She’s also really tall–somewhere in the 6’3″ range. She’s muscular, and not buxom in the least. But she does have beautiful, “guileless” blue eyes. And in essentially every interaction every character has with her ever, some mention of her appearance comes up. To me, this is Martin hammering home the inequality in Westeros. Sandor Clegane has half his freaking face burned off, and it’s rarely mentioned. But because she’s a girl, people don’t like Brienne. They call her Brienne the Beauty behind her back.

Yes. Brienne of Tarth is so ugly that calling her pretty is an insult. But I think it goes beyond that. As far as female warriors go, Westeros has the Mormonts, the Sand Snakes, Asha, and the Wildling spearwives. Now I realize the last two aren’t part of typical Westerosi culture (being from the Iron Islands or across the Wall), but Brienne is far from the only woman in the ASoIaF universe who steps into what is considered a masculine domain. But where Brienne is different, as far as I can tell, is that she never stops. During the feast that follows the tournament Brienne won, Catelyn noticed that Brienne was wearing the apparel of a nobleman.  Later, she talks about a time when her betrothed told her she would have to dress like a lady and stop fighting, she told him she’d agree if he beat her at a duel. And then she kicked his ass. And she is often described as not being comfortable in her skin. Contrast this with Asha, Osha, or Ygritte, who are also capable fighters but have no trouble at all attracting the opposite gender. (Not that this is the only indicator of femininity. I just can’t imagine Brienne flirting with anyone. Ever.) Brienne is just miserably uncomfortable, unless she’s in some sort of combat. When Catelyn criticizes Renly’s host as a group of summer knights (referring to their collective inexperience), Brienne says that even if they fall in battle, she’s fine with that because in songs all maids are beautiful. And I just want to say, I appreciate this SO MUCH. I mean, I think it’s awesome when there’s hot badass girls doing epic shit (and there are so so many of them), but here’s a character who has serious self esteem issues and still has no problems kicking ass and taking names. She’s a pragmatic fighter and she uses the fact that people underestimate her completely to her advantage.

And then she gets an even cooler sword from Jaime Lannister

So, basically, Brienne is an awkward outcast who nobody knows what to make of, so instead they just decide to hate her. Keep in mind that (at least according to AWoIaF), Brienne’s somewhere between 16-18 during the course of the books so far. I feel like in a lot of ways Brienne is the deconstruction of the Sweet Polly Oliver trope. In a more “typical” story, a character like Brienne would be able to pretend to be a guy to get to fight. Then some handsome man would come along, and they’d become good friends, and the guy would want to be more than friends while wondering how he could be attracted to another dude. In this story, however, Brienne is isolated (at least at the beginning). She’s in love with Renly Baratheon, who is cannonically gay and also married (to his lover’s sister, oddly enough), because he was the first guy who was nice to her. There’s no one waiting in the wings to sweep her off her feet.

So, I feel like so far in this post I’ve just said about a lot of things about why you should feel sorry for Brienne, but that’s not how I feel at all. She’s got a lot of obstacles to overcome, but do you know what? She challenges them head on. In her PoV chapters, you do see her fall into a bit of self pity, but it never reaches Jon Snow levels. She just tries harder and doesn’t take shit from people. She’s loyal and faces death a few times while taking Jaime Lannister to King’s Landing and then later while searching Westeros for Sansa Stark.

For whatever reason, a lot of people don’t like her (she ranked #16 in the “most hated character” poll at Tower of the Hand), which I don’t understand at all. Even if you hate her chapters, that’s no reason to hate her as a character. Personally, I loved her chapters. Her story shows the shitstorm that all this civil war has wreaked on the common people of Westeros. (Previously, Arya’s chapters serve this function, but can’t anymore since she’s in Braavos.) And she so conflicted. She wants to live for honor , but at the same time doesn’t allow herself to trust the knights about her, who are supposed to live for honor and glory. She’s strong and ugly in a society that wants her to be weak, demurring, and, most importantly, beautiful. Just her quiet defiance is inspiring to me. She doesn’t go looking for trouble, but when it finds her, she doesn’t back down. She sinks a boat by dropping a giant rock on it. She almost manages to drown Jaime Lannister. She takes out three Brave Companions with the help of 12-year-old Podrick Payne (who may also get an appreciation post at some point. In so many ways, Brienne and Pod make an epic medieval crimefighting duo.)

Brienne: Resident Baddass of Weseteros

I will probably be writing a sequel to this when I finish re-reading through AfFC. Because Brienne is just that freaking awesome.

Totally the same kid

Part 2: A Song of Ice and Fire
So, if you don’t follow me on twitter, have me as a friend on facebook, watch my Tumblr, or ever talk to me, you might not know I’ve been into a little series called A Song of Ice and Fire. Seriously, I can’t talk enough about how this series is everything fantasy should be. The story starts 15 or so years after the typical fantasy “overthrow the evil ruler” quest has ended, and the country of Westeros is still dealing with the aftermath. It’s quite gritty and far more disturbing than, say, Lord of the Rings, but it’s definitely one of those stories that reminds me that problems aren’t ever really solved. They just morph into new problems.

SAPPHIRES.

This series also has one of my new favorite characters of all time: Brienne of Tarth. I’m planning to do a blog post just about her at some point in the near future.

Part 3: Fanfiction
I found out the other day that George R. R. Martin (the author of aforementioned ASoIaF series) is vehemently opposed to fanfiction. I just, I can’t comprehend this. You know what, I have a lot to say on that too, so I’ll make another post about that later.

Part 4: My life
My life has actually been fairly eventful lately, but mostly in things I don’t desire to post on the internet. I did finally get my air conditioning unit to work, which is great now that we’re no longer in a giant heatwave.

I also got Google+, so if you’ve got an account, feel free to circle me. Is that the correct terminology?

I’m also going to Wizard World Comic Con next weekend. I’m dressing up as Tonks, which essentially involves dyeing my hair pink and tripping over everything. (Well, the tripping comes naturally anyway.)

Part 5: Music
My new favorite song:

In case you haven’t heard, the midwest had some slight snow showers this week. My work was actually cancelled because of the blizzard. I think I was the only person in the entire state without a horror story about getting my car out of the driveway. The wind blew the snow to the other lot, the plow came through and plowed out behind me, and all I had to do was kick a little bit of snow off my tires. Although, I did drive to work on Thursday, and the drive was miserable. Next time I have to drive, I’m taking the tollway. Even if I hate it and it costs money, at least I get to go more than 35 mph. Friday, I decided to walk from my train station. Most of it wasn’t bad, but the snow was piled at least as high as my shoulder on the road right outside my work. Maybe the sidewalk will get shoveled over the weekend. (Oh, dreams.)

This blog post doesn’t really have a point, I guess, as much as I’m realizing people I actually know read this (occasionally), so I figured I’d give an update on my life from time to time. But don’t worry. I’m sure there will still be plenty of random posts that don’t really help anyone coming as well.

Also, since what’s an update without the music I’ve been listening to lately, here’s Dead Man’s Bones.

Looking back, this summer would have been a miserable time to move. I was working through a lot of things, as well as dealing with a fair amount of familial drama, and even if I’d had the cash to move, it would have felt like some sort of escapism.

Basically, without going into detail, it feels good to be moving to a new place for the right reasons.

I’ll post pictures as soon I’ve had time to use my mad (read: cheap) decorating skills.

For those who don’t know, Operation Beautiful is a movement which encourages women to leave post it notes in bathrooms to help other people’s self esteem.

I began Operation Beautiful by leaving positive messages on the mirrors of public restrooms — at work, at the gym, at the grocery store. I scribble down whatever comes to mind — “You are beautiful!” or “You are amazing just the way you are!” My personal goal is to leave as many Operation Beautiful notes as I can. Maybe some people read them and just smile, but I bet some people are truly touched by the effort of a random stranger.

(x)

First off, I don’t see why this is effective. I don’t doubt the sincerity of what is trying to be accomplished here, but some random stranger who probably has never seen me and with whom I will never interact leaving a note telling me I am beautiful is never going to do anything for me. Essentially, by this logic, I am beautiful because I am female and use the same restroom as you. Kind of the same way I totally expect my fortune cookie to always be an accurate predictor of my future.

I understand, yes, beauty is subjective, and yes, the majority of people will be beautiful to at least one or two people. But at the same time, I reject the idea that beauty is an ideal that people should consider the be-all and end-all to their self worth. In the same way that, as a fat person, I don’t want notes on bathroom mirrors telling me “You are skinny!” Sure, it may make a few people who are feeling slightly down about their weight feel better, but it just masks the problem. Beauty, when most people talk about it, has little to do what is inside. So what?

(Tangent: I hate that phrase, “beauty is on the inside.” It just feels like a cop-out for people who aren’t willing to call someone ugly or average. And what is wrong with being average? Most people are. And what’s wrong with being ugly? Absolutely nothing. Be who you are, and don’t let anyone tell you that you need makeup, or a diet, or a certain kind of clothing to be the perfect you.)

Why is being pretty such a big deal? It’s just another thing that people are. Personally, I am a lot of things, and I don’t count being pretty among them. And you know what? I find that to be quite excellent. When I tell someone they’re pretty, I am saying it because I mean it, not because I feel like I have to or they’re going to feel bad. I wouldn’t tell Stephenie Meyer I think she’s a good writer just because it would be the polite thing to do. I wouldn’t tell Gerard Way his voice has the same amazing tonality as Tom Waits’s. People are different. Beauty is just one of those things, like being able to pick up music easily, or to write well, or be able to do the moonwalk.

When I gave up feeling like I had to be beautiful, it freed me up to appreciate my face and body in a way I’d never been able to before. My face may not match up to anyone’s definition of beautiful, but it is interesting enough to appease me, and I’m not embarrassed to be in photos anymore. My body may not be society’s definition of attractive, but I like it well enough.

My point is: being beautiful is not the ideal. Rocking whatever skills you have available to you is.

So, if you end up going to a bathroom and see a note along the lines of: “You may be pretty, you may not be. Be who you are and own it”, you’ll know I was there.

Not unrelatedly: this.

People who have known me for a long length of time know that I used to be quite an avid webcomic reader. However, due to a series of unfortunate events (growing up, getting busier, going to college, my computer getting stolen, waka waka waka) I gradually stopped reading them until the only two comics I even sporadically read were xkcd and a softer world. Over the summer, I found a few good webcomics, and started reading them, mostly from the beginning. To check to see if there were updates, I’d do the normal thing and select one or more from my bookmarks.

Thanks to this amazing tutorial by the ever talented Jisuk (it’s not name dropping if the dude’s legitimately awesome, is it?), I can now view the webcomics I read in a logical fashion. And I don’t have to make sure I bookmark them on my netbook as well as my desktop. Totally excellent.

If you took the time to actually read the tutorial I linked above, you probably saw the comic used as an example was Hanna Is Not A Boy’s Name. I read it, and it really reminded me of the feeling I had that my vampire novel (from two years ago, now) really would have been better if it was written as a comic. So, I’m planning to start work on that as soon as Nano is over. Even if I suck at drawing. Woop the woop. More details will be forthcoming.

In the meantime, if you haven’t yet read Questionable Content, go do so. Immediately.

Yes. I’m sorry. And no. I don’t think I ever will be done talking about My Chemical Romance.

In other news, Pink continues to be strangely awesome.

But that’s not the point of this blog post. The point of this post is that for years I pretended to like coffee. I’m not 100% sure why, but I think it’s because I’ve always been really picky about food, and it was really embarrassing to have yet another thing that I didn’t like. It might be dumb and dorky, but drinking coffee is almost a social norm. I mean, you don’t ask a date to go get a cola with you. (Well, theoretically. I actually might.) To combat this, I devised some methods of making it seem like I drank coffee without ever having to touch the stuff.

Get a coffee cup, preferably a reusable one with a lid. You can put whatever the heck you want in there. I used to come to work all the time with a mug filled with orange juice or some sort of tea. Just make sure you close the lid when you’re not drinking, and badaboom. Instant coffee cred.

Put soda/grape juice in a coffee mug. Actually any dark colored beverage will work. This one’s great after there’s been a party and there’s still three bottles of Coke in the fridge (did this happen at anyone else’s work?). No one, unless they’re some sort of psycho coffee-poser detective, is going to run around sniffing your drink to make sure it’s actually real coffee. And, once the foam goes away, cola does look an awful lot like coffee.

Order hot chocolate, just so you can come to work/class/wherever with a coffee cup from the local starbucks/gas station/laundromat that serves coffee.

Order a latte. This one’s more for people who are going out for coffee with someone. I know it involves coffee, but the taste is nowhere near as strong as straight coffee, and you can sip at it while you talk.

Never ever own up to disliking coffee. If you’re going out for coffee, order hot chocolate or tea and just say “I don’t really feel like coffee today.”

Granted, there’s really no reason other than minuscule (and occasional) social stigma to ever fake drinking coffee. But, that’s never stopped me from trying to be cool. (Yes. Coolness is relational to coffee consumption.)

• Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
• Waifs and Strays by Charles de Lint
• The Circus And Victorian Society by Brenda Assael
• Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer

This may be my weirdest NaNo yet, and my first year I wrote about a 6 foot tall green one-eyed mutant. I can’t wait.