Such a well written piece and an excellent look into Catelyn's motivations and feelings about Jon. We may finally discover his true parentage soon! Your little glimpses into characters' heads are fascinating! Thank you for sharing your talent!

Oh, very sad :(
but very good!

Most of Catelyn's cruelty towards Jon existis ONLY on the internet. Loads of pages (and fanfiction stories) have been written about how evil she was towards him. You have stories where she blames him and harshly punishes him for nothing, where she has him killed or beaten (even raped!). Nothing could be further from what she did in canon. Yes, she resented his presence in Winterfell, and she had her (very valid) reasons. She had asked Ned to foster him somewhere else. The problem here is the way Ned went about it. If he had told her the truth (whatever the truth is: whether Jon was Lyanna's or Brandon's or his) or at least given her something to reassure her, everything would have been much better. But by yelling at her when she dared ask and keeping her in the dark and behaving like an ass ("he is my blood, that's all you need to know") all he did was fuel her nightmares. Yes, she had reasons to believe Jon and his myserious mother were a threat, and Ned could have eased her fears, but he never did. And Jon never really suffered. As a bastard, his life was much better than most. He had a house (a castle!), family who loved him and pretty much led the life of a Lord. I think Jon had a decent life thanks to Catleyn, not in spite of her. Any other highborn woman would have really had him banished (or worse! Think of Cersei, Lysa, Selysa, Margaery, what would they have done? I would fear for poor Jon in all these situations). The only thing Catelyn ever did to Jon was show him indifference. She kept her feelings bottled up. The only time she lashed out was this time you mentioned. (And in the books it was worse, she said "It should have been you"). But we're talking about a woman who is broken with grief sitting helplessly by the bed of her dying son"! She had not eaten or rested in days!

People who have only watch the series have absolutely no reason to believe she was ever nasty to him, since on the show they barely interct and they barely speak about each other. It is in the books where you see how they feel towards each other. They truly resented one another: she resented his presence in Winterfell since he was both a threat and a shame, and he resented the fact that she never loved him. She was not sorry when Jon was sent to the wall and he was not sorry when she died (he cried for Robb, but not a paragraph in his chapter is spent lamenting that Catelyn had been killed as well).

I could never understad the hate she gets. She is basically hated for resenting a boy she had very valid reasons to resent (whether we agree with them or not is another story, but in that society, unfortunately, Jon was indeed a threat to her and her children, only made worse by the way Ned behaved), and for uttering these empty words in a moment of weakness ... Other characters have killed, maimed, and made innocent people suffer and are loved! Unbelievable!

Unfortunately, when it comes to Jon, some pople behave like school children. Jon is a fan favourite, so many people start thinking "You don't like my friend so I don't like you" and they forget that Catelyn never ever ever hurt Jon and that she had her reasons to resent him (mind you, none of the Jon's fault).

I really loved your piece and I think it shows exactly how she felt towards Jon, Ned and the whole situation ...
Thanks!