Catelyn Tully-Stark

She has always scared and repulsed me, because this was how Eve treated my sister and I when we were growing up. That was so long ago, one might think I would forget it, but there is something about being a child that makes memories shine brighter, or cut deeper. I don't know why she hated us; we were not even Adam's children, although he had been married to our mother years before. It felt like Catelyn was her reincarnation.

And then I saw the show, and I heard what Cat says to Talisa about baby Jon. It was as if a light switch flicked inside of me. Maybe, I thought, no one is pure evil. Perhaps, I thought, everyone has their reasons, and even the worst of villains are not immune to shame.

Catelyn may have deserved a good clout in the nose, but she did not deserve to be dragged back into this cruel world as Lady Stoneheart.

He was at the door when she called out to him. "Jon," she said. He should have kept going, but she had never called him by his name before. He turned to find her looking at his face, as if she were seeing it for the first time.

"Yes?" he said.

"It should have been you," she told him.