aegonbeingfakeisracist

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

How are we all doing? I haven't been around in a while.

#misc

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

#misc

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

Latest COVID booster has knocked me on my ass, my head is killing me, and I have more work to do. Regretting every life choice that led me here.

#personal #I’m dying #I’m dead #nice knowing you all

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

Okay, guys, life tip: don’t sign up for both full time grad school and a full time job such that you have to lug around three laptops every day. If you do do that, be smarter than me and don’t also sign up to be a TA. I’m dying.

#personal

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

Okay, who knows how to write without dripping melodrama from every line, because I got nothing.

#personal

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

hi!

Can you talk more about Arianne and Daemon ? Seriously they are my favorite couple I even have a headcanon that Arianne will be pregnant with Daemon I mean it's more a parallel with Asha's possible pregnancy (pairs between Martells and greyjoys) and Daemons are so fertile hahahaha (Daemon Targaryan Daemon Blackfire) even begin another family but Martin chose the same name and Daemon Sand's father has twins in addition to him...

Anyway I don't see any chance of marriage/ engagement or Arianne's love interest in Aegon it just won't be happening,I see them having a friendship relationship and a strengthening of the family bond , with Ari being a guide for his cousin ( so much potential). This is a bullshit she doesn't want to be queen but Dorne anda her father love. I just want Arianne to be able to be happy white someone who respects her and see her more than just a pretty body and face, and Daemon strikes me as perfect.

I really don't want Arianne to be pregnant because it seems to me like needless drama and just all around bad timing – she's serving as an envoy. There's a war going on. And I feel like her words to Elia kind of apply to her, as well – kiss all the boys you want when you're home in Dorne, but this is so not the time. Sure, she propositions Daemon, but she didn't actually sleep with him. Also, Arianne canonically uses moon tea for birth control. So I'm hopeful there will be no baby unless she lives to the end of the series.

But I think her relationship with Daemon is just so unique in terms of all the relationships we see in the series – they were children doing this entirely on their terms. They were the same age. They just liked each other, and so engaged in a relationship without fear over consequences.

I think in recent years, there's been a weird rise in people forgetting that tropes are tools and not fundamentally good or bad. One of the ways this manifests in particular is hating "childhood friends to lovers" or people winding up with their first love. I don't have hard stances on the kind of relationships in fiction I find interesting or boring. Mostly for me, it's contextual – what is compelling in ASOIAF to me is not the same as what's compelling in another work. And while I certainly agree that there are situations in which a childhood friends to lovers angle may be boring, I think in the ASOIAF context, Arianne and Daemon's childhood sweethearts angle is actually extremely compelling.

For a start, this isn't a people-staying-with-their-middle school-boyfriend-forever scenario. It's the fact Arianne and Daemon had a relationship, broke up, lived near a decade having separate lives with Arianne certainly having other relationships and Daemon probably also doing the same, and are potentially coming back together.

For another, I really, really like what Arianne/Daemon would mean for Arianne as a character. I've said before that she's my favourite ASOIAF character. But even outside of my own personal bias, think about the type of fics that get written about her. It's hard to identify this for certain, because AO3 tagging is just so messy, and navigating through Arianne's tag is a lost cause, but mostly, fic!Arianne is just three sliders of stupidity, horniness, and ambition. Which is just so, so not book Arianne, at all.

Arianne is unique amongst the most important female characters of ASOIAF. She's is not the heir presumptive, she's the heir apparent. Dorne will be hers. And she is a descendant of Nymeria, the most recent in a long line of rulers of Dorne. Her family is central to Dorne's cultural memory, as it was Nymeria and Mors that turned the collection of states into a unified nation. So unlike, say, the Tyrells or Freys, who determinedly pursue these grand matches in a way of compensating for their relatively recent history, Arianne...doesn't really need to do that? Like, she can just marry a bannerman and it would be totally fine.

Furthermore, Arianne clearly has more rights of refusal than most women, and she is not shy about using them - these are real rights she has. I can imagine her feeling more pressure to accept if offered a candidate that wasn't clearly a joke, but given the setting, this is true for everyone. The fact remains, Arianne has options, and since she's going to be a ruling princess, those options are broad.

But despite all of this, her marital prospects are a huge theme. Doran offers her elderly suitors. Daemon and Drey wanted to marry her. There was an entire marriage pact that no one bothered to tell her about. Arianne intends on bartering her own hand, and thinks about how whoever she weds would rule Dorne by her side.

How does all this connect to Daemon? Because he's a nobody. Okay, sure, that's a little extreme – he's a knight, the son of an important lord, and the former squire of a prince. But even though that is the case, he is still a bastard. His father has at least two legitimate children. This isn't a case like Ellaria, in which the set up makes it extremely reasonable to think that her father's land and title will one day fall to her and her daughters - Daemon will not inherit anything. Meaning if Arianne were to marry him, or even just obviously choose him as her partner without a marriage? It would be for her.

There might be some political benefits, given that Daemon is clearly on good terms with his father, but very indirectly, and not nearly to the extent that would be the case with other marital candidates. It cannot be considered anything resembling a political move. So Arianne choosing Daemon would be her taking control over her life, making the choices she wants, for her. It would be her choosing a Dornish spouse that has ties to her family beyond just her alone. It would be her in a position where she can safely choose to make her life with a person that she loves, that isn't the best political choice.

It would be her choosing someone that is deeply, fundamentally tied to Dorne - not just because he's Dornish, but because he is a bastard, because he was once a child in the Water Gardens, because he attended the feast for Balon Swann and did not drink upon the toast to Tommen. Arianne drank. Doran drank. But Daemon did not. Daemon is clearly still in love with Arianne. There is a reason their relationship was never the same after Doran rejected him for her. He loves her enough to serve as her sworn shield and beg her to allow him to go into a dangerous situation in her place. But he has his own mind, and his own beliefs, and his Dornish identity is a big part of that.

We've seen very little of Daemon. But from what we have, he sees Arianne in a way that few do. Doran didn't understand what was going on with her at all. Arys and Areo both clearly had images of her in their heads that didn't quite align with reality. But Daemon, despite their relationship having never recovered fully and despite Doran being so much like Arianne that one would really think he should understand her more than he does, gets her more than anyone else. He understands the strained relationship with Quentyn and that Arianne maybe isn't so desperate to have her little brother return. He sees bits of Arianne in Elia. He literally finishes some of her sentences.

Of all the people Arianne could ever engage in a relationship with, I think Daemon, more than any other character, represents her making her own choices and coming into her own as the ruling princess of Dorne.

#A Song of Ice and Fire #Arianne Martell #Daemon Sand #moongirlgodness #replies

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

@severelyuniquebarbarian Thanks!

#replies #severelyuniquebarbarian

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

Update: they accepted my offer. Now that the uncertainty is gone, I'm way calmer.

#personal

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

@severelyuniquebarbarian My parents are helping me a bit with the down payment, I do not make enough to do this on my own! 😂

@moongirlgodness Thank you, I appreciate that. ❤️

#replies #severelyuniquebarbarian #moongirlgodness #god maybe I should rent forever I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared before

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

I am AFRAID and my HEART IS RACING and I have to go into work for document verification because I guess some LAW CHANGED and I WANT TO GO HIDE UNDER MY WEIGHTED BLANKET.

Someone please distract me, I might be buying a condo, and I'm waiting to hear back about an offer I made, and I am TERRIFIED.

#personal #SOMEONE TELL ME EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

Someone please distract me, I might be buying a condo, and I'm waiting to hear back about an offer I made, and I am TERRIFIED.

#personal #I lowkey would be very relieved if they said no

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

I normally focus on the tragedy of the Arianne and Doran relationship, with their chronic inability to talk to each other and express all the things they want to say, but it's also kind of very funny in a sad way. Like, it's almost certain that Daemon Sand was the first to ask for her hand. So, you'd have Arianne, who already is heartbroken about the Quentyn letter, maybe sad about Doran turning down Daemon (even if she didn't think it was likely, if Doran had approved, I think she'd have probably said yes), but probably hopeful that it meant that she still had enough of Doran's regard that he wanted a higher match for her than the illegitimate son that would never inherit anything...only for Doran to later offer her Walder Frey, and her to wonder why the hell he'd turned down Daemon if this was the alternative, and if he wasn't just ambivalent to her but actively hated her.

And it's even funnier if you think about the Daemon side of it. Imagine being Daemon, right, and you're young and in love and have a good relationship with your girlfriend's entire family, so you go up to her dad and be like, "Hey, Prince Doran, can I marry your daughter?" and he turns you down flat, but then later, you hear that he offered her an old, creepy man from halfway across the continent that already has like twenty kids.

#A Song of Ice and Fire #Arianne Martell #Doran Martell #Daemon Sand #Arianne x Daemon

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

If you were writing ASOIAF, what would you change about Aegon's story, both in its content and direction?

I find this an interesting question because we've really seen so little of him so far. So I'm going to ramble for a bit about his story and see if I come up with a conclusion.

One of the things I really enjoy about his story as it is right now is that his Rhoynish heritage is so present. They pass Nymeria's palace. He's on a boat with exiles of various forms. Everyone around him knows that they need Dorne. The surface is all the Targaryen side - he looks like Rhaegar, it's Rhaegar's friend that's been raising and guiding him, the original goal was for him to get to Dany, he's pursuing a claim through his father - but underneath that, his story is tied to his mother. All the references to Nymeria and the Rhoyne, the way he's ultimately going to meet with Arianne. So even though there's been so little of him so far, we get the impression of these layers to his identity.

In addition to this, Aegon is a cool character in his own right! He's friendly and likable and a compelling speaker. He gets along well with other people; he can convince people to follow his lead; he refuses to let harm befall Tyrion after Tyrion saves his life; he insists that he values Duck more than any knight of great renown and points out that Jaime Lannister had been that knight of renown. He's also prickly and argumentative and imperfect - he argues with people trying to keep him safe; he lashes out at Tyrion in response to needling; he freezes up because he's never seen battle; he's got a chip on his shoulder and comes across as a man that feels he has something to prove.

Now, keeping all that in mind...Aegon is, like, weirdly well adjusted. We're talking about a guy whose mother and older sister were murdered that has never known a single member of his family, despite his mother's siblings and their children being alive and well, despite his paternal aunt and uncle famously alive and in Essos. He's been raised with the idea of going back and reclaiming a throne. His father figure undoubtedly cares for him, but he is obsessive and controlling and not someone who's guiding him with clear eyes. And yet, he's just...living life, wandering around on a boat, trusting easily and seemingly not dwelling on the past.

To some degree, that makes sense - relatively speaking, he's been in a psychologically safer environment than other characters. It's not like he was in, say, Dany's shoes with a volatile and violent older brother pushing her into situations. But overall, I think it's a wasted opportunity, because psychologically safe is not synonymous with devoid of complexity. With so many other characters, we see the impacts of the past on them. Jon, despite having never known his mother, is heavily influenced by that absence. So Aegon, who has never known his mother or sister as people, but knows about their brutal murders, should be so influenced by that. Since we have no insight into his own thoughts, we don't know if he is or isn't, though.

So I think really what I would change is the amount of emphasis on why he's doing what he's doing. Why does he want the throne? What does the prospect of meeting Arianne mean to him? How does it affect him that people don't believe his story? What are his thoughts on the Mountain, on Tywin Lannister, on all these people that knew or could have known his family? I brought up his line about how "the Kingslayer was a warrior of great renown, and the son of a great lord as well" earlier, but I think it's worth reiterating: that is an insane line to leave at just that.

It would be one thing if that were, say, to have come up as a point of contention between Catelyn and Robb. In that case, it's just this famous event that sparked Jaime's notoriety. But it's Aegon that says it. Aegon, the grandson of the king referenced in the Kingslayer nickname. Aegon, whose mother and sister were being murdered while Jaime was sitting on the throne. Aegon values loyalty above all else because of this action - it's personal to him in a way it's not to anyone else. So how does he feel about not just Jaime, but everyone else involved? Why, in this world where entire families are held to account for the actions of one member, does he not have negative feelings towards Tyrion?

We haven't seen enough of him for me to know what I'd want to change, but I think this is what I'd want to see: what is actually driving him to make the decisions he does. Thanks for asking!

#A Song of Ice and Fire #Aegon VI Targaryen #starbright91 #replies

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

One of my most controversial opinions is that the YA/adult fiction division is entirely meaningless, and in fact, these categories are so broad as to be kind of useless for anything. As such, the way that YA is used so frequently as a shorthand for immature and adult for good (the latter less so than the former) is absurd.

It's a self perpetuating cycle, at this point - people have the very bad habit of suggesting that everything that could fall into the YA category and has complex themes or well written prose is actually for adults, just with younger protagonists or straight up ignoring the enormous amounts of mediocre fiction targeted at adults. So YA becomes about the perception of what a YA book is, not an actual meaningful or useful category.

#misc

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

Okay, it's not just me, this is a weird thing to comment on a fic, right? If your complaint isn't about what's in the fic, but about wishing it were something else, why go out of your way to comment?

#personal #like I'd get it if they thought it was bad #but that's not the complaint #it's been three weeks and I'm still confused about this comment

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

It's been nearly a week since my wisdom teeth came out. I still can't fully open my mouth. I'm dying over here. I miss real food with my entire heart. I'm going to go reread the scenes of nobles feasting while everyone else starves and imagine a world where I can actually eat properly.

#personal #these teeth were not causing any problems when they were still in my skull #god damn

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

I made ratatouille! Look how gorgeous it is. It was delicious.

#personal