#hotd rambling

[daylander1000]

Will you watch season 2 of HotD or you've lost interest in the show? I wasn't thrilled with season 1, but I do like some characters and I'm curious to see if they'll do them any justice in the next season(s). I'm still trying to be optimistic (which is definitely against my nature 😁), although the latest leaks from Spain (which I desperately hope to be false) doesn't sound promising.

Idk it you read Fire & Blood, but that book is often overrated imho, almost all the characters there are painfully one-dimensional, shallow and bland, while the plot is full of illogical things (especially the Dance part) . So, as you can see, I'm not the biggest book fan, and I do believe that the show did some things better and gave a bit of depth and complexity to certain characters and fleshed them out. However, at the same time it seems to me that they didn't complete what they started, like, you see the potential of the characters and understand their motivations, but then out of the blue they do or say something totally nonsensical and OOC. Take Alicent at the end of episode 8. Rhaenyra says something nice to her and she suddenly forgives everything and forgets that's the same woman who wanted to "sharply question" Aemond after her son Luke maimed him over an insult (a fact, actually), the woman her husband always favoured at the expense of Alicent's own children and finally, the woman who is married to Daemon, the sociopath who hates Alicent and her children and who will kill anyone (and apparently with Rhaenyra and Viserys' blessing) without remorse if it benefits him and his side. I mean, the guy even had the gall to look annoyed during the prayer for Vaemond. Still, according to the show, Alicent somehow needs to "misunderstand" Viserys' last words to crown her own son, and not because it's probably the only way to keep her and her children alive and safe and because her son actually has the strongest claim to the throne according to Westerosi laws avd tradition. And don't get me started on the Velaryons who are collectively depicted as "Dae and Rhae fan club". Like, what is Corlys even thinking?! I won't ask about Baela and Rhaena because they obviously don't get to think and are just unconditionally supportive of Rhaenyra and the Strong boys. Rhaenys is contradictory and inconsistent. It's frustrating, really. Also, the fact that the narrative/the framing of the show heavily favours team black is also off-putting. Nevertheless, I'm still curious and just a bit hopeful that season 2 will balance these things a little. Maybe I'll just be terribly disappointed, but oh well. Sorry for the rant :D

Anyway, as a fan of your fic, I would like to know your opinion. Does the show deserve our optimism and what are your predictions regarding season 2?

S2 predictions? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Why would you ask me this? This is a show where someone in a professional HBO writers room said, "So what if a dragon just bursts up from the underground?" And the showrunner was like "Fuck yeah!"

I don't think they even thought to do a camera pan of the carnage. It's like they wanted to make Rhaenys look badass but did a Koolaid Man scene instead.

Tell me that this isn't Rhaenys

Predictions? This is not Leftovers where you could do a whole video essay on foreshadowing and subtext and hidden clues. This is a series where there's a horse running loose in a writer's room and nobody knows what it's going to write next.

This is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.

My prediction for S2 is that during the time off at least one person realizes that they failed to make Aegon into Joff 2.0, that instead of having him be affably evil, he's onscreen affable and offscreen evil, and they'll try to double down on actually showing that he's evil and actually showing that he's worse than Daemon and Rhaenyra.

We've seen Daemon in brothels, grooming and marrying children, killing Rhea, killing innocent people and murdering lords at court, but we've only been told (by very minor characters) that Aegon is a baby-eating rape monster. It's all extremely "tacked-on."

I think Aegon's the biggest problem that they have to work on. Just getting at least this one character to make sense moving forward.

When Jahaerys is killed, I think they'll use that to really commit to making him the bad guy. Like he'll have to be killing a baby or raping someone or eating someone so that it's not Rhaenyra and Daemon killing a child but "Look at what this bad man was doing instead of protecting his son."

As far as predictions go, that's all I can see. If they only develop one character in S2, it needs to be him. Rhaenyra has Rockstar!Daemon, Rhaenys and Corlys on her side, so they'll have to upscale the green threat otherwise it's a bunch of grown people and veteran soldiers fighting two children who have no experience at anything because the oldest one is a 20-year-old frat boy and his brother is still a teenager. Aegon's going to have to really be villainous.

I feel like there's a reason all his nude scenes are with his mother, it's one of the few consistent things between them through the time skips and actor changes, and I feel like they're going to go fully 500% in that Commodus direction

and have him just be creepy and rapey with her in a "bad incest," how-the-turntables, "be careful what you wish for" way. Alicent's defining trait seems to be "perpetual victim," so I feel like they'll go this way and frame it as if she's getting what she deserves for slapping him around. Ten extra points if they have Rhaenyra or Rhaenys there on hand to be like "Is this your king?"

I don't see them doing anything with Rhaena besides sending her away, and I actively don't want to see Baela going out there getting her dragon killed and her face burnt off in defense of Rhaenyra.

I honestly try to not think about s2 of this.

I was a hardcore asoiaf fan but I didn't like Feast or Dance. I read Dunk and Egg, but he didn't finish that either. And when F&B came out, I got the audiobook and I listened to it for a few hours, probably less than five, and I couldn't concentrate because I kept thinking "Did this bitch seriously package his story notes as a novel for sale??? This is an insult to storytelling."

And I deleted it.

It's the quality for one thing. It's the lack of diversity, it's the author not finishing anything, it's the fandom being 20% fantasy fans, 80% trump rally...

Like, in just 10 episodes HotD has managed to give a voice to pro-rape feminists. Didn't even know that was a thing until I saw it on Twitter.

I saw some of the leaked pics of Helaena at the funeral on my feed, didn't have to scroll far to see people just casually r-wording Helaena and acting like having six fingers is a killing offense since eugenics rhetoric is apparently thriving in this fandom.

And on top of all that, the story doesn't even make sense.

I don't want to be like "dramaturgically speaking" but narrative coherence is a thing. Just from bing chat (yes, I'm using bing 😣):

Narrative coherence is the degree to which a story makes sense. Coherent stories are internally consistent, with sufficient detail, strong characters, and free of significant surprises. The ability to assess coherence is learned and improves with experience. Individuals assess a story's adherence by comparing it with similar stories. The ultimate test of narrative sense is whether the characters act reliably. If figures show continuity throughout their thoughts, motives, and actions, acceptance increases. However, characters behaving uncharacteristically destroy acceptance.

This show has curb-stomped narrative coherence.

Like, take that scene where they killed Vaemond. The way they write it, Rhaenyra has come back after 6 years of never visiting her father to drag him off his deathbed so he can support her in taking Driftmark, the seat of house Velaryon, away from Velaryon people to give it to her son by Harwin Strong. Vaemond is killed for telling the truth.

With different lighting and music, that's peak tyranny. That's some Mad King Aerys shit. In full view of all the lords at court. Every single person in that courtroom is aware that Luke is a bastard and they've just witnessed a lord like themselves get beheaded over it. This isn't Daemon killing commoners. He's killing the lords and ladies of Westeros.

But there's no fallout. Nothing. All the lords of Westeros cease to matter. It's just another Tuesday to them.

Hell, they go even further and frame the scene like Viserys is Old Theoden fighting off the curse of Wormtongue. Otto, Alicent and her goblin children all but shrivel and wither from the sunlight that Rhaenyra brings as Vaemond is cut down by noble Daemon. In that scene, Dark Sister might as well be Andúril, Flame of Old Valyria, sword of justice.

There are shows that are easy to watch that we say are "no brain cells required," but HotD is like, "No brain cells allowed. Switch them off or put them on silent so you don't disturb anyone."

I have no hope for season 2. I would never rec this to anyone or say that I think the writing will improve. The foundation is shit. You can't build a strong s2 on a shit s1 unless you're writing a procedural or an anthology where nothing that comes before matters.

You can't undo things like Alicent supporting Aegon as king because of a misunderstanding. There's a limit to how many things you can retcon without destroying all sense of continuity and they've already gone beyond that in s1.

They're past plot holes. They have whole parts of the world that are just void of all thought. Alicent and Rhaenys are characters who respawn and disintegrate from scene to scene as needed. Corlys is three lines of dialogue in a trenchcoat. Daemon Targaryen is somehow, impossibly, a less-developed Damon Salvatore.

No optimism here.

I'm that jaded ex fan who's like, "hotd is a barren wasteland, riddled with racists, ableists and toxic stans, and those are just the writers. The very fandom air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten-thousand Lindelof-level writers could they fix this shit."

But that being said, I have a really bad habit of watching shit TV.

I've seen Catwoman more than 5 times.

Waterworld, Jonah Hex, Elektra, Daredevil (Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell), Battlefield Earth, Supernova. At least 8 of the Fast movies. All the Transformers. Dracula 2000. All the old school classics of bad cinema.

I haven't watched Morbius as yet and the only reason why is because I feel like Jared Leto is intentionally trying to become Nicholas Cage and I don't want to support that.

There is something about the cringe that hooks me. And with a TV series? That weekly cringe? That is peak entertainment.

It used to take me 4 sometimes 5 hours to watch and digest a single episode of Titans because there were so many questions to think about.

I hyperfixate on bad writing. Trying to figure out all the ways it went wrong and why and what they were trying to do. Once I start, I can't stop thinking about it. I'm hoping swhhw gets it out of my system, but I don't know.

Like, anybody can make good TV. Anybody can do that if you try hard enough. But truly horrible TV isn't supposed to exist. It's like 20 million an episode to make HotD? Nobody is supposed to invest that in a show where the showrunner doesn't even know how old the characters are. Bad TV shows are supposed to be snuffed out before they see the light of day.

But HotD is something special.

You don't accidentally end up with a Koolaid Dragon busting up through concrete. A director described that scene to a VFX crew. The actors had to rehearse that repeatedly. They had to do a read-through...

Like, just think about that.

And then they announce that they're going ahead with s2 without writers?!

That is insane. Part of me says look away, and the other part of me says that s2 of HotD will be something the likes of which I'll never see again.

I really don't want to watch S2, but honestly, I might. Not because I think it will be better but because I'm dead certain it can only get worse.

#long ass post #hotd rambling #answered asks #bad writing

[xthecaptainssaviorx]

House of the Dragon - future seasons possible timeline

Since they're apparently preparing or planning for the Battle of the Gullet (x), here's my prediction and the possibilities for the coming seasons, based on the timeline of the dance.

This will be a long post because there are multiple ways this could go, depending on how many seasons they will actually go for. I think they said that 3 is certain but if they have 8 episodes per season, I think 4 seasons is more likely for the dance itself.

Obviously, this is just me theorizing and wondering and most certainly not actually what will happen. Beware of spoilers below!!

In season 1 we saw the prelude to the dance, the green council, Aegon's coronation, the black council, Rhaenyra's coronation, the assault on Harrenhal and the Dance over Shipbreaker Bay.

Now obviously we can only speculate how far they'll take season 2 but this version seems like a possibility to me:

I have to admit, before the filming news and all that, I was sure season 2 would end with Rook's Rest but obviously, that won't be the case since the spoilers confirmed that the aftermath of the battle will be shown. Timeline wise, that would make the Battle of the Gullet the next likely possibility. However, I've also seen people talk about the chance of the second season ending with the Fall of King's Landing. I've got my opinion on that and the plot would be way too rushed but unfortunately, it's not impossible that they'll go with it.

Despite that, I don't see the Fall of King's Landing happening in the second season, especially if we only have 8 episodes. My guess is that the Battle of the Gullet will be alluded to in the final episode of season 2 and will end on a cliffhanger with it opening the 3rd season.

Maybe they'll switch some battles around because Daeron's involvement in the war only truly begins with the Battle of the Honeywine, which takes place after the Battle of the Gullet. Or it could mean we won't see Daeron in action until season 3.

Now we get to the part I'm uncertain about. Let's assume, all of this is somewhat accurate and we're in the third season now, and let's also assume they make 4 seasons of House of the Dragon or rather the Dance of the Dragons because who knows, where they'll end the show, where do they end the 3rd season? I have two options for that one:

The Fall of Dragonstone seems like a plausible choice because, while the Battle above the Gods Eye, as well as the Storming of the Dragonpit, would make a more epic finale, I highly doubt they'd go into the fourth and possibly final season without two fan favourites, Aemond and Daemon.

But maybe I'm wrong about that and they will. Maybe it will end with the Battle above the Gods Eye. With the Storming of the Dragonpit in the fourth season.

Despite all of my uncertainty regarding this one, I'm pretty sure they will push Rhaenyra's death back as far as possible. Definitely in the fourth season.

I'm unsure where exactly they'll end it but personally, the wedding of Aegon iii and Jaehaera seems like a good option for me. Obviously, it wouldn't be a happy end kind of story but that's not what it's supposed to be in the first place. And it would also leave the option for more.

Maybe the death of Aegon ii is the actual ending and everything that comes after is more of an epilogue kind of thing, although I assume they wouldn't leave the mystery around his death unsettled either so maybe not. What do you think?

#hotd meta #hotd theories #house of the dragon #hotd s2 #hotd season 2 spoilers #hotd spoilers #hotd rambling #watch me coming back to this post when the show is over just to see how wrong I was

[arcandoria]

every time I hear or see crab rave now all that comes in my mind is the edited gif of matt smith with the daemon wig dancing crab rave

#hotd rambling #I guess

[stileslittlebanshee]

HOTD fandom: Hotd is not really about picking sides, it's about how power corrupts and all the characters are morally gr-

HBO promo: pICK A SIDE NOW

#aasasddff #house of the dragon #hotd #team green #team black #my ramblings

[finasol]

I’ve been off social media for HOTD and that’s absolutely for the best

#Saw one tweet that was like 'eww why are you romanticizing incest' like nope lol #I don't have the mental bandwidth for that shit #Imma delight with my fellow sinners in discord #Let me enjoy my uncle/niece ship with a problematique age gap in peace #Emma D'Arcy and Matt Smith are fuckin radiant together #fina rambling #asoiaf rambling #hotd rambling

[dragon-queensguard]

Alicents plan with rhaenys was really “let’s bond over the fact that you were fucking robbed of the throne because of your gender and then you can help me steal the throne from another woman on account of her gender”

#house of the dragon #hotd #hotd spoilers #rhaenys targaryen #rhaenys TQWNW #alicent hightower #ramblings

[daenerysies]

i think the biggest problem i have with the whole team discourse in f&b + hotd is that it isn’t just about which characters you like more/who you want to sit on the throne at that end; it’s that each side is fighting for completely different ideologies, regardless of one members personal beliefs. grrm could not have made it anymore clear.

team black isn’t just fighting for rhaenyra to be queen, they’re fighting for the monarch’s right to choose an heir, for the oaths they swore years before, for the complete opposite of precedent/tradition: the king’s word is law. team green isn’t just fighting for aegon to be king, they’re fighting for tradition, that no matter the words of a king being law sons will always come before daughters, that oaths are fickle and don’t matter. each side is in some way fighting back against what’s already been established for the kingdom, but the end goal is completely different.

we’re not given as much insight into why most of the houses initially sided with rhaenyra, but we do have an inkling into how the green council felt and acted, however. jaehaerys choosing baelon over rhaenys (against andal tradition, the king can choose his heir) is one point. the great council of 101 is another. alicent, despite being the leader of the council, is removed from the equation and shoved off to the side when it comes to swearing oaths of loyalty between the members on account of her womanhood. daemon being a second coming of ‘maegor’ (despite what we know would be a better suited title for aemond, but i digress) is also used. when discussing who would side with them the vale is automatically disqualified from the list, due to them presently being ruled by a woman, jeyne arryn. she doesn’t choose to fight for rhaenyra for the sole reason of them being kin, but because her own right to rule can and will be put into question if aegon steps over rhaenyra. because she is a woman. she does so in spite of her dislike for daemon (and his supposed maegor-ness) too.

even if one were to look at each characters personal feelings about the succession the fact of the matter is that rhaenyra is usurped because she is a woman. it’s stated almost blatantly multiple times before and during the war. the greens use scapegoats and smokescreens in attempts justify it (her ‘bastards’ chief among them, but legally her sons live and die as the trueborn children between her and laenor, with the reminder that septon eustace refutes this claim to begin with). even when she is killed grrm has her breast pricked to arouse a dragon that doesn’t want to kill her (and why is that?). aegon ‘wins’ against her and is king, but then why is jaehaera, as his last living remaining child not named his heir? why is aegon iii put ahead of her, despite being the enemies son? these are rhetorical questions. aegon had no plans to ever consider her his heir, he made it clear with how excited he was to marry cassandra baratheon and produce more ‘strong’ sons. his dragon (who had fought and bled for him the entire war) wasn’t mourned properly, he couldn’t wait to hatch a ‘new dragon, prouder and fiercer than the last.’ yet he wasn’t even capable of doing that in the six months before he too was killed.

it’s also safe to mention that grrm created an entire separate lore story, one that would seem to have no bearing on the original story unless you’re capable of understanding symbolism. the amethyst empress is usurped by her younger brother the bloodstone emperor, and the first long night ensues from this decision. rhaenyra (amethyst = arryn blue + targaryen red) is usurped by her younger brother aegon ii (bloodstone = hightower green + targaryen red) and the dying of the dragons, the very creatures needed to stop the next long night, are eradicated, along with the magic needed to hatch them and keep them alive (until). the war is the blacks (power, death, grief, rebellion, restraint) versus the greens (ambition, greed, jealousy, anger, wealth). the amethyst empress is important to the main story in the same way that rhaenyra is important, that snubbing the women (an integral aspect to the power the targaryens held) of house targaryen can lead only to disaster. daenerys is the key, the one to break the cycle and fix the wrongdoings caused by her ancestors obsession with power. mother of dragons, mhysa, breaker of chains, slayer of lies, daughter of death, the dragon queen, azor ahai come again, the prince that was promised will bring the dawn.

you can argue for technicalities sake all day, but there is a meaning to this story beyond the scope of rightful heirs. and it shouldn’t be shoved off to the side just so you can praise your favorites and hate those who go against them. it makes for a poor consuming of the actual story. fire and blood was created as a history book to expand on daenerys as a character. her family, what and where she’s come from, and how she relates to them. she’s the antithesis to every targaryen that’s come before her, a hero in her own right. the only targaryen’s we can say are radically important to dany’s story are the conquerors (aegon the conqueror with teats) and rhaenyra (the amethyst empress). i don’t know, just some food for thought.

#asoiaf #fire and blood #hotd #rhaenyra targaryen #pro rhaenyra #daenerys targaryen #pro daenerys #team black #anti team green #anti aegon ii targaryen #the amethyst empress #the bloodstone emperor #the amethyst empress 🤝 rhaenyra 🤝 daenerys #i’m sick and incredibly tired so please excuse any typos in my ramblings lol

[beary-rambles]

₊˙♡﹗˚ ༘ MASTERLIST 𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔

requests are Closed ! - request rules

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

jacaerys velaryon

enemies to lovers (requested)

flowers - series masterlist

maid!reader x jaacerys (requested)

sneaking around (requested) part two

always together (requested)

Through it all, its still you (requested)

Plagued by you (requested)

shots (requested)

distractions (requested)

Aemond Targaryen

struggling conceiving (requested)

whos first? (requested)

theres a first time for everything (requested)

the fifth storm

forgettable date (requested)

Aegon Targaryen

seatfiller part one part two

childhood friend!reader x aegon (requested)

a little encouragment (requested)

ghostface!aegon x reader

the other woman (requested)

discovering yourself (requested)

admirer (requested)

SCREAM

ethan landry

simp!bsf!ethan x chubby!bimbo!reader (requested)

chad x reader x ethan threesome (requested)

ethan x chubby bimbo reader (requested) part one part two

deweys daughter!reader x ethan (requested)

ethan fluff (requested)

ethan smut (requested)

ghostface!ethan x reader angst (requested)

unable to save you (requested)

jill!reader x ethan (requested)

first meeting (requested)

adhd!ethan x adhd!reader (requested)

pearl!reader x ethan (requested)

second chances (requested)

the better brother (requested)

econ tutor (100 follower special)

party part one part two

chad meeks-martin

chad halloween fluff (requested)

chad fluff (requested)

best friend!reader x chad smut

chad car smut (requsted)

jealousy (requested)

chad request

confessions and confessions | spiderman!ethan

MISC

raffy barton (no longer written for)

raffy x archies sister!reader (requested)

fwb!raffy (requested)

on and off (requested)

drabble

osferth

jealous (requested)

#aemond imagine #aemond x reader #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon targaryen x you #aegon x y/n #jacaerys x reader #jacaerys targaryen #jacaerys x y/n #raffy x reader #raffy barton x reader #raffy barton #house of the dragon #hotd #ethan landry x you #ethan landry x reader #ethan landry x y/n #ethan landry #scream six #jacerys x reader #jacaerys velaryon x reader #beary rambles #chad meeks x reader #chad meeks martin x reader #hotd imagine #hotd fanfic #ethan landry fluff #ethan landry smut #ethan landry scream #ethan landry imagine #chad meeks martin

[rainhadaenerys]

I don't really care about HOTD all that much, but damn, it's hard to ignore how biased in favor of the Greens the show is. I just watched the new trailers, and not only is the Green trailer longer, but the Black trailer is filled with shots of the Green characters instead of actually focusing on the Blacks. The Black trailer also really seems to try to paint the Blacks in a worse light, while the Green trailer is all about "poor Alicent" who only wants to honor Viserys's "last wish" and who needs to be told by her father that violence is necessary because she is oh so upset about it... oh poor Alicent who made sacrifices for her house and the realm her entire life... the Green favoritism is really blatant.

#rambling #anti got #anti got rant #anti hotd

[la-pheacienne]

Y'all. Probably the most UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED criticism against grrm is the abundance of gratuitous extreme sexual violence against women in asoiaf. GoT doubled down on that and is endlessly criticized for that. On the ONE (1) INSTANCE where sexual violence was NOT part of a female character's arc in grrm's work, HotD decided to introduce it as a means of giving "nuance" to a story and making a character more sympathetic. And now not only is this not considered a sexist narrative but on top of that you call this an inspired twist ffs I'm gonna eat my hair

#like there is no way to be so unserious guys #just decide #i can't believe we have been trashing GoT for centuries now for the exact same thing we are appreciating in HotD right now #'HotD is different' really? Where? #because of the lesbian drama? WOW #Is it based on shock value? yeah #does it have gratuitous violence? yeah #does it have MORE gratuitous violence than the author? YEAH #does it use rape as a means of sympathizing with a character like in Show!Sansa's case #which was THEN considered Oh So Problematic for some reason? #YEAH #asoiaf #fire and blood #anti hotd #aspa rambles #forever mad

[daylander1000]

Hi, I just wanted to say I really love your fic. Aemond/Rhaena dynamics is so well written and I enjoyed their dialogues. There is a lot of shared grief, misunderstandings, compassion and banter between the two and I've actually always thought that their show versions could've functioned well as a couple because they are so different and yet so similar at the same time.

Also, I'm glad you didn't make Rhaena and Baela another Rhaenyra's worshippers like in the show because that doesn't make much sense and it baffles me that Baela in her deleted scene with Rhaenys sees Rhaenyra as "her queen" and supports her unconditionally. I mean, Rhaenyra is a woman who replaced her mother so soon, she is also their father's niece and a woman whose sons will inherit not just the Iron Throne but also Driftmark, even though they have no Velaryon blood. Moreover, Baela didn't spend much time with her on Dragonstone because she was Rhaenys' ward on Driftmark, learning there what Luke should have been learning. And somehow, we are still supposed to believe that Baela and Rhaena are perfectly content with their situation? They are not just happy to be betrothed to Jace and Luke but also, they are not upset at all after they saw how (and why) Vaemond was killed? It's hard to believe this.

Another thing that bothered me in the show is this forced hostility between Rhaena, Baela and Aemond, but even more the instant friendship and closeness with Jace and Luke. Baela and Rhaena met Aemond and Rhaenyra's sons for the first time at Laena's funeral and, according to the show, they just decided they hated Aemond for no reason at all? "It's him" sounded too hostile and while I understand Rhaena's anger and grief at that specific moment, it sounded like the girls already hated Aemond's guts before the incident with Vhagar which is ridiculous. Furthermore, why would Baela and Rhaena enter Jace's room and ask for his help ? Not their father's help, their grandparents' or even one of the guards', but the boy's they met that same day. It seems to me that the writers just didn't want or didn't have time to bother with deeper analysis and needed to make all the children from TB super close and supportive of one another, so that was apparently reason enough to gang up on Aemond. Idk, I just don't buy the instant unconditional friendship between the Strong boys and Laena's daughters, nor the hostility toward Aemond. That's why I'm glad you are exploring their dynamics realistically.

I'm so sorry if this was too long. Once again, love SWHHW and I'm looking forward to the next chapters, especially Aemond/Rhaena scenes. Oh, and Alicent and Criston too, you write them so well.

Too long? 😅 This is where I come to hyperfixate on all things fictional. Too long???

(this is gonna be long af)

First, thank you for reading. Rhaemond is so much fun. At first, all I had was hate for this series, but tumblr forced me to open my heart a little and let this ship in.

It's fun to try to be a little realistic about it. I love when people deconstruct tropes. Like The Boys taking a look at how someone raised in a lab with Superman's powers might actually turn out to be a nightmare. But it doesn't always have to grimdark stuff. We can do some shipping.

We had Sky High about how a boy from a superpowered family would feel if he had no powers. Why can't we explore life for a dragonless girl raised in a Dragon-Makes-Right family? And why not ship her with the only other person in her who can relate to growing up dragonless in a Dragon-Makes-Right family?. This is what fanfiction is for. 😅

I can't help but think about it.

Like, there are a lot of series/movies that are underwritten in the way that you get out of the cinema and then you think something like, "Well, no. The stock market would freeze financial transactions if a supervillain went after Bruce Wayne's holdings." But HotD is underwritten in the sense that you're watching it in real time and thinking "Okay, don't stop there. Finish that sentence in a way that makes sense." And then they finish it with something bizarre like for instance "history remembers names" as if Westeros isn't the country that invented special names for bastards because they take that shit seriously.

The insta-friendship with Jace/Luke, the insta-beef with Aemond... It's just so weirdly done. They took the time to write the scene where Rhaenyra tells Jace, "Hey, your cousins are sad, their mother just died," and he's like, "Yeah, well, I'm sad too. Remember Harwin?" And then he grudgingly goes over, and Baela just sort of latches on to his hand... It's too one-sided for me.

They took the time to let you know that he wasn't in a friend-making mood. And it makes sense, because we know that Rhaenyra is planning to go after Daemon and she's like, "They're gonna be stepsiblings by tomorrow," but Jace doesn't know that. Both sets of children there are grieving a parent. They're strangers. Who makes friends at a funeral? It's not the time or place.

And I know the goal is to make Jace look like the self-suffering type of chivalrous gentleman who befriends pitiful women in need, but it's just too overtly disingenuous to me. The whole friendship. It's just not organic imo. It's this contrived thing the writers just pulled out of their ass like a trump card because "they were friends in the book," failing to realize how incoherent their adaptation was turning out.

I mean, let's pretend Baela and Rhaena are fleshed out 3d characters instead of plot devices. At this point, pre-wedding, they have no reason to think that they're never going back home to Pentos or never seeing their actual friends again.

Are there children in this world who go to their mother's funeral who come out of it thinking "The important thing is the friends we made." ??? Are they really looking to be recruited into Jace's beef with Aemond? Are they invested in that?

Cause it's not even really the "green v black" drama if you think about it, because Jace gets along well enough with Aegon and apparently Helaena, so at this point pre-maiming, it's really just a general "this kid doesn't have the latest toy" type bullying of Aemond for not having a dragon.

After Harwin dies, is Jace really just seething over Aemond? Does he dislike Aemond to the point that he can't wait for new blood in his gang? Is he really taking Rhaena and Baela aside to pitch them on the benefit of making an alliance for the few days they're in town?

How does Jace even explain that they've been laughing at Aemond for not having a dragon? How does he do that in a way that makes Rhaena (who also doesn't have a dragon) want to join in? Is he just like "If Aemond comes bothering you, don't go to your father or grandfather, come to me and I'll handle him. See, I'm the sheriff in these here parts. I don't take kindly to dragon-rustlers, and mark my words, that boy Aemond is a rustler if I ever saw one."

It's him, who?

They never give us a single conversation between the children to show why Baela and Rhaena pledged allegiance to Jace and Luke and decided that Jace and Luke's enemies were theirs, now and forever.

The word "bastard" is clearly Jace's berserk button, so we also know he didn't pitch them like "So I'm a bastard, but we've all agreed to pretend I'm not, except for the queen who's a real bitch who's like 'bastards shouldn't inherit over trueborn sons,' or whatever. Anyway, Aemond is the nastiest skank bitch you'll ever meet. Don't trust him. He's a dragon-stealing fugly slut."

But anyway, let's say that Baela and Rhaena spent their mother's funeral drinking the Kool Kidz of King's Landing Kool-Aid™. And let's say they have zero post-maiming regrets about the 4-on-1 attack on Aemond even though we clearly see them stop taking part in the violence after Jace pulls a blade. Doesn't that change after the wedding?

There's no way you're fine with someone claiming your mother's husband if one day earlier you were pissed as shit about someone claiming your mother's dragon.

And then on top of that Baela gets sent away. All Rhaenyra's children stay huddled and cuddled while Rhaena and Baela get split up. For years.

Baela's been on Driftmark with Rhaenys for years. They go out of their way to present the situation as hostile. Rhaenyra and Daemon have one granddaughter, Rhaenys has the other one. Rhaenyra thinks Rhaenys is fully going to throw her under the bus and is desperately asking her to accept a betrothal as a compromise, so we can assume that Baela and Jace haven't been flying back and forth, hanging out and chilling, growing up together, etc.

And Baela definitely hasn't been flying over every weekend either saying "Hey, my grandmother is super cool with what you guys did to Laenor, come visit for Thanksgiving. It's all bygones! We started using the fireplace again for marshmallows and it's like she doesn't even remember her son burning to death in there. It's totally fine!"

And Rhaenys hasn't seen Rhaena in years so she's not going over to visit either. And yet, so many years later, Baela wants to go do another team-up beatdown with Jace because Aemond said the b-word again? Why?

Are she and Jace star-crossed lovers kept apart by her grandmother's sensless standoff against Rhaenyra for no real reason (aside from her murdered son)? She's been trying to talk Rhaenys into accepting Rhaenyra as their rightful queen? Trying to get Rhaenys to swear allegiance to her son's killers?

But okay, even if in some scenario we say that Baela's been flying over to Dragonstone to visit her sister and the others and she's good friends with all of them.

Why is it still so one-sided? That's the crux of it for me. She's giving up her claim on Driftmark out of her friendship withJace, and Luke and Jace are doing what exactly? What is Baela getting out of the friendship?

Rhaenys got shot down but we're supposed to believe that she's been raising Baela to think that Rhaenyra is beyond a doubt going to be queen and that "King Jace" is a sure thing, so "yeah, even though his mother killed my son, keep that friendship strong and hopefully he marries you. Fingers crossed. And hopefully he's a good husband. His mother and your father left my son to burn in a fireplace until he was unrecognizable just so they could get married but aside from that, I'm sure they'll be excellent rulers. You'd be lucky to marry Jace. Marriage is the best. Look how glorious my life's been as Corlys's wife. Don't you want this exact same life that I have, where I ask my husband to do things and he's like no? My children are dead because of his poor decision-making and my lack of a say in anything, but it's more fun than it looks. I am loving life. So glad I wasn't queen myself because it doesn't get any better than this, granddaughter. You should be this lucky."

I mean, it is totally possible that the showrunners went to all the actresses and writers and said that all the female characters should be treated like "women for trump".

Rhea—Big dyke energy from you. You die first cause you're not fuckable.

Laena—you're a nag and you have failed at childbirth. That is your one purpose in life. This is so embarrassing; you should just kill yourself.

Rhaenyra—were you groomed or were you into it? Domestic abuse isn't actually all that bad, it's a little light choking. You're into it. Women need to stop emasculating their men in the name of feminism. Upgrading wives 3 or 4 times is normal, he might have treated the ones before you like shit, but you're special. Maybe.

Alicent—You are a church lady. Be good and listen to your husband and your father, and just, you know, be obedient like it says in the bible. You don't do any plotting at all. Yeah, just turn that cheek. Keep turning it. Serve your husband. Marital rape isn't even a thing, so you know, take care of him like a good wife.

Rhaenys—well, you're the hypothetical postmenopausal crazy bitch who should not be trusted with nuclear codes because you'll kill a bunch of people due to hormones and mean girl catfighting, etc.

Helaena—*checks notes* are dreamers the same as manic pixie dream girls? you get to speak in riddles constantly. Like women do... Jace will dance with you and that'll sort of define you. We just need you to give birth really, so...

Rhaena—Your role is Dangerous Urban Youth, but you grow up and learn your place. Less is more. Remember: seen, not heard.

Baela—We let women inherit but only certain women, so you're essentially the Black Best Friend. You know. No purpose outside of defending the white main chracters in your life who you would gladly die for. You're the type of Good Woman™ who hands over her entire paycheck to her man because she knows he really needs it, mixed in with some Cool Girl™. You're cool with anything and everything he does. No opinions on nothing, sort of like your sister, but Cool.

What is this show and how does it exist in 2023 on HBO?

#i have been answering this for days #hotd rambling #anti hotd

[youraverageaemondsimp]

Hey, as a fellow author;

If you're feeling pressurized to complete a WIP, do not even work on it. It will lead to resentment of that said work, and it will be more of a chore than enjoyment.

Being an author is tough, but I'm proud of you, it must be hard doing all that research just to get a one sentence scene accurate, it must be hard to brainstorm ideas and express it uniquely, it must be hard to find the correct words to describe the said action, but i appreciate you, I appreciate the time you take for your work, the way you carefully craft it and publish so that we readers can enjoy it, and that too free of any charge.

I'm sending all of the love and support to all the authors out there, you all deserve only the best, thank you for doing this for free, thank you for taking your time out of your days to write, thank you for providing us with amazing fiction, thank you for your contribution to the fandom.

#authors #mae rambles #appreciation post #author appreciation #house of the dragon #fanfiction #house of the dragon fanfiction #hotd #hotd fanfiction #fandom #fandom stuff

[arcandoria]

if you wanna know what it is sharing a server with me atm

#hotd rambling

[stileslittlebanshee]

Aemond Targaryen + Tumblr text posts

#had fun with this #aemond targaryen #house of the dragon #hotd #hotd spoilers #alicent hightower #ewan mitchell #hotd edit #hotd humor #hotd memes #my ramblings

[rhaenyratargayen]

listen to me! stop hating on alicent hightower for protecting her children. The same people that praise rhaenyra for her motherhood scorn alicent for hers. every time she looks at her children she hears otto warning her that if rhaenyra becomes queen, she will kill alicent’s children. she’s been in survival mode her entire life! her husband and her father are the king and the hand of the king and they both want someone different on the throne and she is forced in between. The queen in chains and all she wanted was her children to be safe.

#this is just rambling #but you get the idea #hotd rewatch #alicent hightower

[dragon-queensguard]

Helaena you’re the only green motherfucker I’ve ever respected that dance had my heart

#ramblings #house of the dragon #hotd #hotd spoilers #helaena targaryen #jacaerys velaryon #HER HOPPING