FAQ
Here are some of our Frequently
Asked Questions, divided by category. If you don't see your question
answered here, please feel free to leave us a comment or contact us at thesnowkeep@gmail.com and we'll do our best to answer.
The Mountain FAQ
♦ Is there a reason why Tomard can't just ask the King or his wife's Redwyne relatives for help?
Yes, absolutely. If I had the time I'd write a lot more back story. As a Northern Lord, at this point in time, Tomard would not get help from the Lannisters, as he'd been a Stark ally up until the sack of Karhold. In this version of Westeros (the non canon version in my head), Robert is dead, Joff is dead, the Red Wedding has already taken place, The Starks have fallen and there is no longer a united North, it's every Lord for himself. So we're looking at Tommen on the throne and Cersei trying to hold the reins, while Tywin Lannister tries to clean up Joff's leftovers. The Lannisters would not agree to give help to the Karstarks, they'd rather House Karstark fall, weakening the North further. However, in marrying his eldest daughter to Gregor Clegane, Tywin's most loyal Lord, this puts House Karstark allied to House Lannister. Tomard may or may not have to bend the knee to the king [read: House Lannister], however, he is now basically connected to them by marriage. So at this time, it is the safest alliance for Tomard to make.
I'm sure he'd prefer to align with his wife's Redwyne relatives, but remember that House Redwyne is sword to Tyrell, who is aligned with House Lannister at the time this is taking place. Paxter Redwyne is a Small Council member after Joff's death, and will be, at least for the foreseeable future, so even if they want to help, it's doubtful that they can. Also, to get to the Arbor, located on a tiny island off the south-west coast of the Reach, Tomard would need to lead all of his people through either King's Landing or Casterly Rock. That in and of itself would be impossible, and then you have to take into consideration that the children and the elderly, all his remaining people, barely made it as far as Harrenhal. And he needs a safe place to house his people until he can win back his lands.
There is a ton of back story in my head, but finding the time to write is a huge factor. I never meant it to be more than a few chapters of fanfic, so I think you can tell in the early chapters, I may not dig as deeply as I might later on. Someday when I do have the time, I'd love to go back to the earlier chapters and flesh it out more.
♦ What happened to the "real" Karstarks?
As this is a fan fiction, we've used some original characters. We mean no offense to the "real" Karstarks, however, they don't quite fit into our storyline. We like to think of this Westeros as a parallel universe. These things may not really happen, but they could have happened if things had been different. The main goal was to write about Gregor, and very few book characters felt right. It's just fan fiction. I'm not claiming it's good or bad, it's just something that grew in my head. Does it all make sense? Maybe only in MJ's head. It's been a fun challenge to take some random Houses, a handful of characters, a handful of O/Cs and see what comes from it.
♦ I would love to link to your story on my tumblr/blog.
You're welcome to link to our stories, thank you for your interest and your support! Links are always appreciated, with proper credit. Please do not reproduce our stories or copy content from our blog and paste it into your own blog without our express permission, however. Disclaimer and Ownership information.
♦ Where do you get the ideas for your original characters? You can read about some of the origins of Gregor and Melly's story here.
♦ What does Harrenhal look like, is it falling down like it is on the TV series?
No, it's still standing strong. We read and imaginary castles meshed together in our minds when we picture Gregor's Harrenhal. You can read about our inspirations for the settings of the story here.
♦ What are your favorite fanfics? Do you read about the characters in your own fics? Can you recommend more fanfics?
We do have a few we've liked, but we aren't usually readers of fanfic. We've never actually read another Gregor or Ramsay fanfic. You can find some of our likes and links on our More Fanfiction page.
♦ I want to read more about Gregor and Melicent!
We're very pleased to hear that, and you can! The Modern AU Role Play/Fanfic Bolton Rising features Gregor, Melicent, Sandor, Petyr, Sansa/Alayne, as well as Ramsay Bolton, his Arya/Jeyne and Reek, of course.
♦ Why don't you update more often?
We're REALLY busy. We would love to update all the time but we have so much going on that it's difficult to find enough time. Just because we don't update for a while, doesn't mean we've quit our stories, so don't give up on us! We will finish them, we promise!
Bolton Rising FAQ
♦ Why Ramsay? He's awful!
Why not Ramsay! Some of the most interesting characters are awful, that's why they're interesting! Aren't you curious about the bad guys? We are!
♦ Do you condone rape, torture, murder and abuse?If not, why do you choose to write about Gregor Clegane and Ramsay Bolton?
The actions and point of view of Gregor Clegane, Ramsay Bolton, or any of the characters portrayed on this blog do not represent the views of the owners or writers of this blog. Please do us the courtesy of not assuming that we practice or condone any of this type of behavior. While we don't condone some of their behavior, we find writing about the "bad guys" to be far more interesting than the "good guys." While we have nothing against the Jon Snows, Daenerys Targaryens and Arya Starks of the world, we find these character to be a bit predictable. For us, it's truly fascinating to try to figure out what Gregor Clegane would do, or what makes Ramsay Bolton do the things he does.
M.J. Snow & P.R. Bolton FAQ
♦ Who owns this blog? Who are you?
We are MJ Snow and PR Bolton. We're role players, writers, bloggers and A Song of Ice and Fire Book Fundamentalists, who have been in the ASOIAF fandom for close to 20 years. MJ is a Reiki Master Teacher, Integrated Energy Therapist and canine and avian behavior specialist working in the shelter/rescue world, and PR works in graphic arts and animal welfare. We look after a small zoo, which consists of birds, cats and dogs. Our ASOIAF loyalties lie with Houses Baelish, Bolton and Clegane. MJ is also a huge Harry Potter fan and is a true Ravenclaw. In our "spare time," together we co-curate several A Song of Ice and Fire tribute blogs, as well as a Facebook group.
♦ Are those your real names?
Well, kind of. We prefer to keep our identities private, but those are our online names, and they could possibly be made up of parts of our real names.
♦ Are there really two of you?
Yes, we've double checked and there are indeed, two of us.
♦ Will you post pics of yourselves?
Nope. Not on this blog. This isn't about us, it's about our characters. That's where we prefer to keep the focus at The Snow Keep. MJ's HBO Watch bio, Facebook might be good places to look, if you're really dying of curiosity. PR's pic is harder to find, he's not on FB, so happy hunting.
♦ What do you read besides ASOIAF? Do you have a recommended reading list?
This is a question we get a lot and I know it sounds lame, but we read just about everything. We don't have a recommended reading list yet, but we're working on it! We love the classics like Jane Austin, the Bröntes, Evelyn Waugh, Shirley Jackson & Thomas Hardy. MJS is in love with anything by Dodie Smith. She's also a sucker for James Ellroy, anything about King Arthur, ghost stories, Witch stories, fairy tales and haunted tales set in moldering old houses. PRB's individual tastes lean more toward the Manga and Japanese graphic novels, zombies, robots and samurais. In the Fantasy-ish genre, we range from Tolkien to Harry Potter to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon works, Kresley Cole's Immortal After Dark series, Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, and Bernard Cornwell's Arthur and Saxon trilogies... so many more!
♦ What do you watch besides Game of Thrones?
Lots of things! We actually don't really care all that much for HBO's version of Game of Thrones and stopped watching after season 5. Some of our all time favorites are Deadwood, Rome, The Wire, Sons of Anarchy, Vikings, Penny Dreadful, The Borgias, Hannibal, Black Sails & The Hollow Crown.
♦ Do you write anywhere besides on this blog?
MJ has been a staff writer for the HBO Watch webiste, and she also writes as a part of her day job and you can find her on twitter @mellytiel. We do try to keep our personal writing separate from our fandom stuff, so we don't share much of that here.
Both MJS & PRB have been involved in online role play communities for many years. MJ has written as Belle and Snow White in the Disney community, Luna Lovegood and Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter fandom and Talia al Ghul in the Batman fandom, but her primary focus has always been on Sansa Stark, Alayne Stone and Jeyne Poole in the ASOIAF community. PR has written in several anime & manga communities, as well as Bane in the Batman fandom, although his primary focus has been Petyr Baelish, Ramsay Bolton & Gregor Clegane in the ASOIAF community. Both currently are involved in ASOIAF RP only, by the books not the television show.
♦ Is there a reason why Tomard can't just ask the King or his wife's Redwyne relatives for help?
Yes, absolutely. If I had the time I'd write a lot more back story. As a Northern Lord, at this point in time, Tomard would not get help from the Lannisters, as he'd been a Stark ally up until the sack of Karhold. In this version of Westeros (the non canon version in my head), Robert is dead, Joff is dead, the Red Wedding has already taken place, The Starks have fallen and there is no longer a united North, it's every Lord for himself. So we're looking at Tommen on the throne and Cersei trying to hold the reins, while Tywin Lannister tries to clean up Joff's leftovers. The Lannisters would not agree to give help to the Karstarks, they'd rather House Karstark fall, weakening the North further. However, in marrying his eldest daughter to Gregor Clegane, Tywin's most loyal Lord, this puts House Karstark allied to House Lannister. Tomard may or may not have to bend the knee to the king [read: House Lannister], however, he is now basically connected to them by marriage. So at this time, it is the safest alliance for Tomard to make.
I'm sure he'd prefer to align with his wife's Redwyne relatives, but remember that House Redwyne is sword to Tyrell, who is aligned with House Lannister at the time this is taking place. Paxter Redwyne is a Small Council member after Joff's death, and will be, at least for the foreseeable future, so even if they want to help, it's doubtful that they can. Also, to get to the Arbor, located on a tiny island off the south-west coast of the Reach, Tomard would need to lead all of his people through either King's Landing or Casterly Rock. That in and of itself would be impossible, and then you have to take into consideration that the children and the elderly, all his remaining people, barely made it as far as Harrenhal. And he needs a safe place to house his people until he can win back his lands.
There is a ton of back story in my head, but finding the time to write is a huge factor. I never meant it to be more than a few chapters of fanfic, so I think you can tell in the early chapters, I may not dig as deeply as I might later on. Someday when I do have the time, I'd love to go back to the earlier chapters and flesh it out more.
♦ What happened to the "real" Karstarks?
As this is a fan fiction, we've used some original characters. We mean no offense to the "real" Karstarks, however, they don't quite fit into our storyline. We like to think of this Westeros as a parallel universe. These things may not really happen, but they could have happened if things had been different. The main goal was to write about Gregor, and very few book characters felt right. It's just fan fiction. I'm not claiming it's good or bad, it's just something that grew in my head. Does it all make sense? Maybe only in MJ's head. It's been a fun challenge to take some random Houses, a handful of characters, a handful of O/Cs and see what comes from it.
♦ I would love to link to your story on my tumblr/blog.
You're welcome to link to our stories, thank you for your interest and your support! Links are always appreciated, with proper credit. Please do not reproduce our stories or copy content from our blog and paste it into your own blog without our express permission, however. Disclaimer and Ownership information.
♦ Where do you get the ideas for your original characters? You can read about some of the origins of Gregor and Melly's story here.
♦ What does Harrenhal look like, is it falling down like it is on the TV series?
No, it's still standing strong. We read and imaginary castles meshed together in our minds when we picture Gregor's Harrenhal. You can read about our inspirations for the settings of the story here.
♦ What are your favorite fanfics? Do you read about the characters in your own fics? Can you recommend more fanfics?
We do have a few we've liked, but we aren't usually readers of fanfic. We've never actually read another Gregor or Ramsay fanfic. You can find some of our likes and links on our More Fanfiction page.
♦ I want to read more about Gregor and Melicent!
We're very pleased to hear that, and you can! The Modern AU Role Play/Fanfic Bolton Rising features Gregor, Melicent, Sandor, Petyr, Sansa/Alayne, as well as Ramsay Bolton, his Arya/Jeyne and Reek, of course.
♦ Why don't you update more often?
We're REALLY busy. We would love to update all the time but we have so much going on that it's difficult to find enough time. Just because we don't update for a while, doesn't mean we've quit our stories, so don't give up on us! We will finish them, we promise!
Bolton Rising FAQ
♦ Why Ramsay? He's awful!
Why not Ramsay! Some of the most interesting characters are awful, that's why they're interesting! Aren't you curious about the bad guys? We are!
♦ Do you condone rape, torture, murder and abuse?If not, why do you choose to write about Gregor Clegane and Ramsay Bolton?
The actions and point of view of Gregor Clegane, Ramsay Bolton, or any of the characters portrayed on this blog do not represent the views of the owners or writers of this blog. Please do us the courtesy of not assuming that we practice or condone any of this type of behavior. While we don't condone some of their behavior, we find writing about the "bad guys" to be far more interesting than the "good guys." While we have nothing against the Jon Snows, Daenerys Targaryens and Arya Starks of the world, we find these character to be a bit predictable. For us, it's truly fascinating to try to figure out what Gregor Clegane would do, or what makes Ramsay Bolton do the things he does.
M.J. Snow & P.R. Bolton FAQ
♦ Who owns this blog? Who are you?
We are MJ Snow and PR Bolton. We're role players, writers, bloggers and A Song of Ice and Fire Book Fundamentalists, who have been in the ASOIAF fandom for close to 20 years. MJ is a Reiki Master Teacher, Integrated Energy Therapist and canine and avian behavior specialist working in the shelter/rescue world, and PR works in graphic arts and animal welfare. We look after a small zoo, which consists of birds, cats and dogs. Our ASOIAF loyalties lie with Houses Baelish, Bolton and Clegane. MJ is also a huge Harry Potter fan and is a true Ravenclaw. In our "spare time," together we co-curate several A Song of Ice and Fire tribute blogs, as well as a Facebook group.
♦ Are those your real names?
Well, kind of. We prefer to keep our identities private, but those are our online names, and they could possibly be made up of parts of our real names.
♦ Are there really two of you?
Yes, we've double checked and there are indeed, two of us.
♦ Will you post pics of yourselves?
Nope. Not on this blog. This isn't about us, it's about our characters. That's where we prefer to keep the focus at The Snow Keep. MJ's HBO Watch bio, Facebook might be good places to look, if you're really dying of curiosity. PR's pic is harder to find, he's not on FB, so happy hunting.
♦ What do you read besides ASOIAF? Do you have a recommended reading list?
This is a question we get a lot and I know it sounds lame, but we read just about everything. We don't have a recommended reading list yet, but we're working on it! We love the classics like Jane Austin, the Bröntes, Evelyn Waugh, Shirley Jackson & Thomas Hardy. MJS is in love with anything by Dodie Smith. She's also a sucker for James Ellroy, anything about King Arthur, ghost stories, Witch stories, fairy tales and haunted tales set in moldering old houses. PRB's individual tastes lean more toward the Manga and Japanese graphic novels, zombies, robots and samurais. In the Fantasy-ish genre, we range from Tolkien to Harry Potter to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon works, Kresley Cole's Immortal After Dark series, Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, and Bernard Cornwell's Arthur and Saxon trilogies... so many more!
♦ What do you watch besides Game of Thrones?
Lots of things! We actually don't really care all that much for HBO's version of Game of Thrones and stopped watching after season 5. Some of our all time favorites are Deadwood, Rome, The Wire, Sons of Anarchy, Vikings, Penny Dreadful, The Borgias, Hannibal, Black Sails & The Hollow Crown.
♦ Do you write anywhere besides on this blog?
MJ has been a staff writer for the HBO Watch webiste, and she also writes as a part of her day job and you can find her on twitter @mellytiel. We do try to keep our personal writing separate from our fandom stuff, so we don't share much of that here.
Both MJS & PRB have been involved in online role play communities for many years. MJ has written as Belle and Snow White in the Disney community, Luna Lovegood and Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter fandom and Talia al Ghul in the Batman fandom, but her primary focus has always been on Sansa Stark, Alayne Stone and Jeyne Poole in the ASOIAF community. PR has written in several anime & manga communities, as well as Bane in the Batman fandom, although his primary focus has been Petyr Baelish, Ramsay Bolton & Gregor Clegane in the ASOIAF community. Both currently are involved in ASOIAF RP only, by the books not the television show.
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