#asoiaf crit

[mariedemedicis]

ngl my first reaction when finding out that grrm said harry hardyng was blond like jon arryn was in his youth was '🙄 don't we have enough blond(e)s already'

brown-haired arryns >>>

#we already have the targs and lannisters we don't need any more thanks #asoiaf crit

[wanderingwolpertinger]

finished Six of Crows yesterday (yes I skipped shadow and bone entirely the opening exposition was annoying me buuuut I'll go back later. Blame my friend she said I should start with SoC) and I haven't started Crooked Kingdom (no spoilers please!) however I wanted to dump my thoughts for a bit (I probably ended up being overly critical so if this is your fav series maybe scroll by lol)

-the characters were the highlight of the story for me, super well executed banter. Tie between Kaz and Matthias for fav POV. (Kaz's backstory was especially well done, the way it influenced his actions throughout SoC was very natural)

-worldbuilding/lore was pretty easy to follow even though I did not read S&B or watch the show. magic system is pretty cool, excited to see it fleshed out in S&B

-not sure how I feel about how ship-happy this series is (maybe the author was trying to outrun ship war potential idk). possibly makes more sense when viewed as a series? (will have to update my opinion later) but overall having every main pov character paired off somewhat sappily by the end of book one was ehhh? I'm not opposed to romantic subplots but I felt they may have held too much influence in the main plot here.

-hrrmmm love me some GrimDark (not) (ok not when it's not done very impactfully imo) (mmmm let's not explore the ethics of casually taking lives for more than 0.5 seconds) (yes it's a fantasy book but still) (particularly Jesper's pov was ... odd) (he seemed to have issues with his actions but also didn't?) (maybe it will make more sense upon reread)

-Standard Heist Plot (no notes) (yes to explosives)

-ok back to the crit. one of the reviews in the front of my copy compared SoC to ASOIAF (haven't read it but I know enough to verify) and like yes actually it really did feel somewhat like aggressively PG-13 Game of Thrones. (I dunno this is more of a personal gripe with authors feeling the need to inject the sexual exploitation of women into their fantasy novels in order to be more Realistic) (especially when it's minors) (bleh)

-idk a lot of the side worldbuilding choices felt like something an edgy 14 year old would choose because they were Dark ™️

-however props for character design, the appearance/physicality of each of the Crows was wonderfully distinct

-not in loooove with the ending. It sets up book two nicely yes but kinda gave me KOTLC cliffhanger flashbacks

-sort of feels like this book is a sanitized adult fantasy novel with de-aged protagonists (could be being unfair here) and a YA plot

-no actually the number of times Nina's breasts are mentioned is absurdly high, the heck was up with that

-so Matthias being a ex-witch hunter = bad (duh) cause he was going to send Grisha to their deaths. Ok makes sense. Now tell me why Kaz/Inej/Jesper killing somewhat indiscriminately is not really addressed in moral terms beyond "necessary"? (Actually ignore this one for now I would need to do a reread before I have full thoughts on this) (But there will be thoughts)

-overall, I had a good time reading this book. Yeah I had problems with it but some of that could honestly stem from the fact that I am not 15 anymore and have different taste in books. (ok ok also I am actively comparing this with Lockwood and Co and I feel that series took equally dark topics but explored them much more maturely) (and honestly also Mistborn. That series also had dark worldbuilding but didn't linger on what it didn't have to?)

#maggie’s things #not going to tag this with soc or its characters for obvious reasons haha #maggie reads shadow and bone

[silverjetsystm]

TEN FAVORITE CHARACTERS FROM TEN DIFFERENT FANDOMS.

Moon Knight System - Marvel

Roy Kent - Ted Lasso

Kate Kane - DC

Emet-Selech - Final Fantasy XIV

Leia Organa - Star Wars

Brienne of Tarth - ASOIAF/GOT

Percival de Rolo - Crit Role

Spock - Star Trek

Benny - Fallout New Vegas

Ace - Doctor Who

tagged by @prettytm

#on the internet everyone thinks you're a duck #asked and answered

[galpalpetraral]

[20 Question Fic Writer Tag]

(tagged by @darlingpoppet)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 17 currently, but I'm a serial deleter and I always wanna keep it under 20. would be like. 69 by now otherwise

2. What is your AO3 word count? 217,645...and see above LOL I shudder to imagine what it would be if I wasn't always deleting

3. What fandoms do you write for? mostly cql and asoiaf in recent years. tho I also have a zelda wip I've been kicking around for a while...we'll see if that ever amounts to anything :') and I'll still keep a few snk fics up, being mighty fond of those days

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? tuck the darkness in (wx shrinking haunted house fic), sunday night lights (eruri football au), friendly fields (wx ghost baby fic), fourth one will prob be deleted soon so it doesn't count lol, and where they grow (madam lan lives au).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? yep every time! at most it'll take me a month to respond but I never let it go beyond that. even the negative ones (I'm a Pro-Crit Fanfic Guy sorry)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? the ending to our shadow over the sea (rhaenicent fic) has garnered many delightful threats upon my person and I cherish them all. that and two slow dancers (eruri vampire au): FIGHT!

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? most of my other fics tbqh ugh :( maybe set me as a seal (eruri reincarnation au) just bc happy endings for the ruris are rare wah...

8. Do you get hate on fics? idk if I would call it hate, but criticism yes! most common word I hear along that line is "boring" which is definitely understandable lol, there are times when I reread my own works and find them too generic/not rly offering anything new, in which case I take that forward with me into new works to try to enrich them. although I guess if by "hate" you mean like, troll type hate on pairings & things, then yeah who doesn't LOL

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? yep, and more so in recent years! and it's the kind of smut that's way too sappy no matter the situation no matter the tone UGH :(

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? snk/asoiaf crossover for my yumihisu rights...idk if it counts as a crossover since it's just snk characters in the asoiaf world, but I did go Very heavy on the asoiaf lore lol whoops

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? yeah lol multiple but I kinda forgot until this was asked, can't bring myself to care unfortch, peace be with you

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? yes!! southern cross translated into chinese by gloria_77, set me as a seal translated into chinese by applethief326, and sunday night lights translated into russian by ackermantihora! and I know there's still several translations of deleted fics out there heh. I so appreciate the hard work of you amazing translators!!

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? not since I was a kid doing it for giggles with friends, but definitely a lot of fun :)

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? eruri literally life-changing, so. and korrasami

15. What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever will? oh man there was this one hannibal wip I had back in the day that like, the themes and imagery and stuff would've been so legit but I needed someone smarter than me to write it :( it was about will & hannibal taking sanctuary in that one silician cathedral while besieged by police. kinda weaving back and forth between past and present, contemplating God and gods and stuff. someone write this please. also there's this one cql post-canon fic but it's all about accepting death and the curse of immortality and stuff and it's kind of a bummer to write LOL maybe will keep chipping away at it one day

16. What are your writing strengths? seems like I'm good at getting across my goal themes & purposes - ppl seem to pick up what I'm putting down often and it makes me happy! because I do tend to err on the side of vagueness & trusting the audience, and it's nice when it's rewarded :)

17. What are your writing weaknesses? like mentioned before, my fics have been called boring & I think that has a lot to do with some generic imagery/syntax I've relied on - definitely something I've tried to improve on but it's a work in progress! like I've sometimes sacrificed diction for story flow ya know, it doesn't work on shrewder readers and I def respect that & want to do better

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? if you know what you're doing, cool! but I've come across too many instances in fics where the author demonstrated a lack of basic understanding of the language & not only does it throw you out but it feels disrespectful - I know ppl get all "it's just fanfic I'm not being paid!!1!!!!11" but if you're going to work within a culture that's not your own, research. not exactly sure if that's what the question is asking LOL but that's been my experience both as a reader and a writer

19. First fandom you wrote for? legend of zelda!! I wrote a billion words of ocarina of time pre-canon fic about the three goddesses at age 10 on a beat-up floppy disc. those were the days man

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? man something happened with southern cross that I've never been able to truly replicate...looking back there's a few too many extra words, few too many instances of passive voice, but for the most part I'm just like damn dude...what was she cooking

if you're a writer and you haven't been tagged yet I tag YOU!!!

#i wrote a thing

[thundersnowstorm]

bold of grrm to criticize tolkien for not talking about aragorn’s tax policy when he’s spent more time talking about the nipples of teenage girls than the land taxes of the north

#i say this with only a little bit of sarcasm: please write more about taxes in asoiaf george #asoiaf #asoiaf crit #mine #that one quote has been annoying me again idk #''but why didn't jrrt explain how hobbits reproduced'' idk george just use your imagination!! it's not that important!!

[phendorana]

least favorite fantasy trope is where the country of white people has either outlawed or never had slavery but it’s still practiced in the nonwhite country like that sure is a fucking interesting interpretation of your real-world historical inspiration.

#miramemos #crit #racism #it's becoming a pattern... #let's see. asoiaf. wot. stormlight to a degree. #the shin treat all warriors & truthless as property but don't have the same institutional slavery as the alethi

[earlgraytay]

...discussing cultural products like this is a form of inoculation against their potentially negative aspects, because once a reader knows that, for instance, the depiction of a given culture in a work of fiction has relatively little to do with any real world culture, they can compartmentalize that to the fiction itself; it loses its power to mislead and so may be enjoyed in safety, as it were.

#lit crit #asoiaf #got #game of thrones

[jadejedi]

Me, everyday, thinking about how angry I am that Jaime and Brienne had the ending they did, despite all of the beautiful set up and the longing glances and just EVERYTHING: 

#god i NEED winds of winter #braime #got crit #asoiaf #me

[suicunesrider]

I just realized that “keeping the (supposed) ending of the books as the ending of your adaptation, even if it no longer makes sense for your world, characters, and themes anymore” is the same thing that fucked up both Game of Thrones AND How To Train Your Dragon, oh my god

#game of thrones #got #httyd #asoiaf #httyd thw #httyd3 crit #sTOP DOING THIS???

[rookisaknight]

Figured I'd send you an ask instead of tacking onto an already quite long post while the tag for said posts is going thru Something(tm)- I like reading your analysis, but it also touches upon smth that was discussed when I was in college (studied film/animation) that they unfortunately didn't go into too much, but: there's multiple ways to analyze a narrative, 1) in the meta sense, where you treat characters as the narrative tools they are and delve into how they fulfull their narrative purpose, or 2) in-narrative (i'd call it diegetic but to most ppl that's just a music term), where you analyze characters like they're people with motivations etc. etc., which I feel like is the more common way that shows, movies, etc. are discussed online. I personally greatly enjoy reading about both, which is why I don't mind these rambles of yours, but it might make it easier for you/all of us to distinguish these two ways of approaching FC3, because I agree, it can get messy/complicated, and depending on which method you use, you're probably going to get wildly different outcomes on whether the standard Symmetry theory makes sense or not

Oh trust me I'm very familiar with the diegesis question (I got my Master's in English). and yeah tbh there is, a simplicity in splitting the uprights on those two modes of reading. There's definitely plenty of texts where I do prefer to engage with one over the other. Into the Woods, for instance, I read non-diagetically: its a story ABOUT fairy tale logic and it does a disservice to the text to react to actions of characters like they're real people. On the other hand, I read A Song of Ice and Fire almost entirely diagetically. Non-diagetic readings of ASOIAF can be compelling to me (there's a really good essay I found on the Others as perpetual warfare), but ultimately what I find the most interesting about that series are the complicated interpersonal tensions. It doesn't do me any good to really think about what these characters represent on a meta level because how they interact with themselves and each other as people is what's interesting to me.

With Far Cry though, that "mess" I refer to in all honesty is what makes the series so interesting to me. There's this constant underlying tension between what these characters represent within their meta narratives versus who they are within their own worlds. Its not just that they're different, but in the case of Citra and Vaas they can even be completely contradictory roles that, like you said, provoke completely opposing reactions from their audiences when looked at in isolation. That's not a negative so far as I'm concerned, its part of why I keep returning to this knot to untangle it and part of why I keep picking at a proper essay outline. Because I think there's something this series tries to say, and each game since 3 is a different attempt to get that meaning across, each with its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Part of my interest as a media crit guy is unpacking what works and what doesn't (from my perspective, for all that's worth lol)

That's not to say I don't enjoy other kinds of content. I have OCs for the far cry universe, I have fic concepts that are entirely about the interpersonal, I enjoy fanart and a whole variety of means of engagement. In the end you really kind of do have to pick and choose how you want to enjoy certain aspects. But the is the one that tends to linger the most with me and that keeps bringing me back here is just staring at this strange and contradictory piece of media and trying to see where one thread joins into the next.

#by the way i hope the opening paragraph doesnt come across as like snotty or anything #i dont expect you to magically intuit my academia credentials i just have chronic grad school give background disease asdkfjhsakdfjh #thank you so much for all the questions by the way its been a good way to clarify a lot of this #far cry #girthy ramble #far cry 3

[mariedemedicis]

I would like a ruling Yronwood lady in f&b vol. 2 and a Ladybright lady in either Mariah or Dyanna’s retinue but like. I’m very scared of how Gyldayn is gonna talk about the Dornish :/

#personal #asoiaf #can you believe the only named yronwood ladies are ynys and gwyneth???? not even lord anders’ wife has a name??? #she was quentyn’s foster mother and like we do not even know if she’s alive (she’s probably dead since she’s never been mentioned -_- but. #gwyneth is seven years younger than quentyn so like. even if lady yronwood died giving birth to her. she would probably have been alive for #the beginning of quentykin’s fostering #we don’t even know what house she’s from :/ #it’s possible there were two wives of anders because cletus and ynys are both considerably older then her #but we don’t even know that for a fact. #gahhhh #asoiaf crit

[petersthree]

Robb and Jeyne Westerling?

Overall thoughts: Mehhhhh? 

Long answer: I…honestly don’t feel much for Robb/Jeyne or for Jeyne in general to be 100% honest. I think this is one of the differences I have with book fandom, in which I prefer the show version of Talisa & Robb/Talisa as opposed to the book version, because I felt like Talisa had…some character whereas for Jeyne she was just kind of…there. I remember some potential? Jeyne was very firm on not renouncing Robb as king even after he died, and I thought that was a cool fact about her character and added more to what feels like a very two dimensional character to me. 

But then again, book Robb also feels a little bit flat to me sometimes, and if not for the fact that I had already watched him onscreen + love sibling dynamics, I don’t think I’d care for the book character all that much. Maybe that’s another reason why I just don’t feel much for them; I need to care about a character in some way - or at the very least have some emotion about them, whether it be positive or negative - in order to then care about their relationships, and I didn’t really get that in the book. 

Send me a ship and I’ll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it

#sorry this was more about their individual characters rather than the ship lol #uh this isn't anti but.... idk #asoiaf crit #? maybe #janie gets asks #jewishcharlottewells

[borifle]

thank you for tagging me @tusklove !! 😊💕

rules: fill in the list and tag 10 people you’d like to know better

relationship status: single 😚

favourite colour: blue and green!

lipstick or chapstick: lipstick 💄💋

three favourite foods: ice cream, my grandma’s mac and cheese, and uuuuuuhhh chicken nuggets tbh

last song I listened to: I’m pretty sure it was “ignite” from rwby 🔥

top three shows: oh man. the stuff I’m most invested in currently are crit role and vld, but my all time favorite show is the clone wars. (also super fond of the j-drama ‘erased’ right now)

top three bands: I don’t?? really have favorite bands lmao. I love lindsey stirling though, and kalafina is really great! 🎶

book I’m currently reading: asoiaf series by g.r.r.m. and inferno squad by christie golden ✨

tagging: @transkanan @mvriel @shakespeep @shanoniusrex @galpalaven @dovahcaine @crimsonpeapod @yoshipng @metta-mark @megannicolewrites !! 💕 and feel free to steal this and say I tagged you if ya wanna do it yourself 😁

#really flattered by the tag!! thanks!! #personal

[porcelaiinivorysteel]

The ocs that you got commissioned from I am a lady damn it are so pretty, can you tell us about them? They seem interesting especially the targ

Hi there!

I’ve actually gotten three commissions from her. I’ll post the first one I got here soon, but Runa & Rhaenys are both pretty awesome. I love her art. Anyway, to get into it...

These are characters I’m writing on an online community RP for ASOIAF. Runa and Rhaenys are both characters that resonate with me well, especially Rhaenys, so I definitely wanted a commission with her, especially after what happened to her arm.

Rhaenys is very Visenya-esque. A warrior that takes no shit. Towards the beginning of writing she was actually critically injured by a Hightower in a joust that she snuck into. It made her arm limp and she was in a large deal of pain for up to like, three months.

Long story short, she had some brother issues, jealousy issues, went off on a dragon hunt, came back to King’s Landing and visited some of the R’hllor peoples that set up shop there.

She demanded they fix there arm, and that’s what they did.

See the darkness on her arm? That was because I crit on a roll, actually. Well, not crit, but close enough to it. 98+ on a d100. I got some positives, but ended up rolling a 113, and voila. There we go. Awesome arm.

The idea worked out in the end. She emerged without pain, unscathed, and her character has changed for it. She’s become more wilful, more powerful, and just challenged her cousin to a duel over Summerhall. 

She also got herself a fine Valyrian Steel blade from a Rogare boi that washed on shore at Dragonstone. So that’s cool, I guess?

I’ve loved writing her a lot. 

As for Runa, there isn’t much to say. She’s a woman with... nephew issues, powerful in her own way but also reserved. I haven’t had the chance to write her much, but she was based off Amanda Seyfried, whereas Rhaenys was based off of Suki Waterhouse. She has a sort of bitter resignation, but is also progressive in her own way.

She lost a lot of her family in 403 -- the game is played in 407 -- and works to protect what’s left of them. With the Greyjoys stirring shit up, she’s doing the best she can to keep them alive.

Hope this gives some insight! If you have any more questions just send them my way. 

[ameliathermopolis]

Top 5 badass characters?

ellen ripley screaming “get away from her, you bitch!” in alien

raishan revealing she’s been infiltrating whitestone for weeks in crit role

buffy summers in the entire series but also in that Scene. “take all that away and what’s left?” “me.”

every woman in asoiaf who gets shafted by the men in their lives but they carry on anyway 

hana “d.va” song from overwatch

#ask meme #top 5 meme #invisiblyfamous

[thundersnowstorm]

🔥 and the north?

ok so my biggest beef with the north that people don't really talk about is how the religion of the old gods makes NO goddamn sense!! it's very clearly drawing inspiration from celtic paganism (and then a lot of original stuff from grrm), except it ended up being much more new age-y in vibe than a pseudo-medieval religion. there are no religious leaders and very few rituals, which is just odd?? our ideas of religion as a personal and individualistic choice is quite modern, it's traditionally much more about building community ties and trying to understand the world, so the fact that there are so few structures and institutions to it feels very off. pretty much all you've gotta do to be a follower of the old gods is stand in front of a heart tree and pray alone, that's it. but this leaves so many questions unanswered?? if you're a random northern peasant, do you share a godswood with your village? with your liege lord? is the winterfell godswood only for the starks' personal use? are there any communal prayers? any rituals beyond the marriage ceremony? what rules/ practices should you follow as a follower of the old gods? what are the burial practices if you're not wealthy enough to be buried in a crypt? actually what happens to northern ladies when they die, if only the lords are buried in the crypts? is there an afterlife? what is that afterlife like? what is their creation story? is there such a thing as heresy, or religious views/ actions that might get you in trouble? how do the practices of the free folk differ from those of the northerners? are there holy men and women who people seek out for advice? if the high septon has no authority in the north, how does divorce work? are there seriously no religious leaders, or do northern lords have some sort of dual leadership role? carving the faces in heart trees and protecting godswoods sounds like a job someone should be in charge of. right now bran and bloodraven seem to be the closest to religious leaders the north has but they're more in the wizardy vein of religion than in the "lead your followers in prayer and bless babies" vein. there are so many questions. george i know you're out there and i demand answers!!!!!

also the idea that the starks are the rightful rulers of the north is propaganda used to retroactively justify their own conquest of the north and acting like they're morally superior to the targaryens because their conquest happened longer ago is dumb and we should just accept that any sort of debate about "rightful claims" is gonna be inherently based upon monarchist arguments. this is fantasy feudalism, no one's really got much actual moral high ground on this.

#grrm's religion worldbuilding is kinda his weakpoint bc he approaches it from a very modern view on religion #also if any of my laundry list of questions are actually answered in the text that's my bad it's been a while since my last asoiaf reading #newmidnightmayor #the north #asks #ask meme #asoiaf crit #my meta