#i feel like he’s one of the most tragic characters in asoiaf

[redwolf17]

A timeline of going feral about Persuasion

(or, how I suddenly turned into a starry-eyed, obsessive sixteen-year-old girl again with zero warning, goddammit Jane Austen you've done it again)

———————————————————

Saturday: Read Persuasion. Deeply enjoy it while also feeling like one has been hit over the head with a club made from the essence of yearning and catharsis. Look up gifs of the movies; decide the 1995 looks most promising, and the 2022 should be doused in holy water and exorcised because how goddamn dare you

Sunday: wake up early specifically to watch Persuasion (1995) while the bf is asleep. Squee to oneself the entire time. Finish the movie, and rabidly descend into the Persuasion tag on Ao3. Read most of the day. Find out the bf is slightly disappointed he wasn't included in the morning movie time; watch the movie again in the evening while trying not to scream because Amazon Video keeps messing up the audio syncing and ruining the experience.

Monday: Continue going through the Ao3 tag. Consider rewatching the movie, but resist due to lack of time. Briefly scold oneself for fixating on the romance and not the fantastic prose and social commentary. Consider buying the Annotated Persuasion to better understand the historical context; instead add it to the Christmas wishlist and keep fixating on the romance

Tuesday: Finish going through the Ao3 tag. Lament the tragic lack of additional fics. Vaguely consider a future Persuasion AU but discard it because there's really not a good immediate parallel in ASOIAF, and because more importantly, Anne/Frederick is the entire point, an AU with different characters wouldn't have them

Wednesday: Discover that the hyper fixation is not calming down, no, it's STILL going. Reread all of @amarguerite’s incredible figure skating AU where Frederick and Anne were once pairs partners, until Coach Russell forced them apart so Frederick could join the NHL. Feel way too many feelings about it.

Thursday: Reread the short side stories of the skating AU. Finally comment because oops, incredible work deserves comments, but the reading binge was so intense that no such deserved comments were given. Pray the fic authors are not bothered by the sudden onslaught of fangirling.

Friday: Decide to reread Persuasion tonight, because now one can really SAVOR it, really just go apeshit over every line and moment. And also because hopefully rereading it will get the brainworms to calm down, Jesus Christ, wtf?!?!?!! Stay tuned for the tag to be flooded with commentary, lol

#persuasion #jane austen #anne elliot #frederick wentworth

[myrxellabaratheon]

The Throbb power imbalance: a pet peeve of mine

I’ve been thinking a lot about if posting this or not, but as it’s a trope which is getting more and more popular I think I should at least explain why I said multiple times that A. I don’t really dig it and B. I don’t really think there is any power imbalance between them. (I know, who cares? you might ask, and honestly I don’t know but still)

So, let’s start saying that, differently for most of the other tropes in ASOIAF, there isn’t a “real life” translation of Theon’s situation in history (the closest I can think about it’s Vlad the Impaler’s childhood years and whatever Richard III did to his nephews during the Two Roses War, when it comes to highborn hostages, but both situations are different enough) which makes it difficult to really grasp the dynamics if the story was real.

Then, surely there is a sort of power imbalance between Theon and Ned and that’s not what I’m discussing here.

The problem is that Theon is Ned’s hostage and it’s been decided by Robert so when Ned dies Robert should have “confirmed” that Theon situation stayed immutate (hostages aren’t hereditary, especially not highborn ones and especially not when they aren’t taken hostage by the person but their captivity is decided by someone else). Considering that Robert dies before Ned, Theon is “free” the moment Robert dies, technically (because it’s Robert who took him hostage, not Ned).

Which brings us back to the fact that Robb and Theon have no obligation toward each other in that sense (and I’m not even bringing their friendship into the mix which will make things even more complex). Theon wasn’t even obligated to follow Robb in war tbqh, not by any law — he does because he’s the one suggesting Robb to call the banners and has that weird unresolved daddy issue with Ned, but still.

Also Robb isn’t Theon’s liege lord or king and never could he be! Theon is an ironborn and the heir to the Iron Islands (that’s the reason why he’s been taken hostage in the first place). If you pay attention, he never calls Ned “my lord” and refers to him as Lord Stark and nobody asks him to bend the knee to Robb or swear his loyalty to House Stark because he DOESN’T have to! One of the things I loved the most about the show is that when he does bend the knee he does it because it’s Robb he’s pledging ALLIANCE to (no obedience)!

- Am I your brother, now and always!

- Now and always.

- The King in the North!

And even when he calls him “Your Grace” later on he’s clearly teasing. (And it’s even more tragic because Theon would WANT Robb to be HIS king when they are both aware he’s not). And even when he goes back to the Islands his idea is the one to propose an alliance between them.

So where does the idea of power imbalance comes from? From Theon’s own chapters! He’s the one who feels like he’s not enough for the Starks (and generally it’s not like anyone but Robb made him ever feel differently). The entire power imbalance thing comes from the fact that he always wanted to be a Stark and considering that he’s never been allowed to, he feels like he’s not worth them (this also bodes well with the entirety of Theon’s character). And the point is: in my honest opinion, it’s waaaay better if the power imbalance is only perceived (especially in a shipping situation).

#throbb #theon greyjoy #robb stark #got #game of thrones #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #this is the position I’ll die on #it’s my opinion and my pet peeve #I enjoy power imbalance fics too #it’s just that I prefer when it’s not all the fic is about #because historically and politically it makes no sense #and people forget about the fact that theon comes from a great house too

[zumurruds]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Hello, and thank you for this ask!

It's really tough to pick just a few… I'll have to split this into two posts due to tumblr's word limit, but here are some that immediately come to mind. Remember, this list isn't exhaustive and isn't in any particular order. (Here's part two.)

(Warning: this list may include spoilers!)

Tyrion Lannister - His wit, intelligence, and resilience make him one of the most entertaining and tragic characters in ASOIAF. Despite being born into one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Westeros, he faces discrimination and cruelty due to his dwarfism. He didn't inherit the beauty of his siblings, nor is he tall, handsome, or skilled with a sword, and he's not particularly well-liked by others. But Tyrion holds a pivotal role in the series for good reason, and it's rare to encounter such a masterfully crafted and captivating protagonist who also grapples with disability. As Varys once said, "ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow."

Arya Stark - She stands as one of the most compelling and complex female characters in ASOIAF, yet she often remains underappreciated and misunderstood within fandom circles. While some may see her as a tomboyish archetype (forgetting that GRRM penned the books in the early 90's, a time when Arya's character was quite revolutionary in fiction), Arya's character transcends clichés to embody a raw and heartbreaking portrayal of a girl thrust into the brutality of war and forced to navigate a world torn apart by conflict as a child soldier. Separated from her family and faced with unimaginable challenges, Arya's unwavering determination to survive is both inspiring and heart-wrenching. What sets Arya apart is her multifaceted nature. She embodies a mix of magic, cunning, animalism, spirituality, and femininity, making her a rich and dynamic character. Her connection to her direwolf Nymeria and her training with the Faceless Men add layers of mystique to her narrative, while her unwavering sense of self and identity challenges traditional gender roles which modern readers can relate with.

Eugenides & Irene (because I can't mention one without the other) - In The Queen's Thief series, Eugenides, known as Gen, isn't just a master thief; beneath his sharp wit and roguish façade lies a man burdened by profound grief and the challenges of his disability. His journey through pain and loss adds intricate layers to his character, making him all the more compelling. As for Irene, the formidable queen of Attolia, her intelligence and resourcefulness are matched only by her inner turmoil. While she deftly navigates political challenges, the weight of her responsibilities and the harm inflicted upon her loved ones weigh heavily on her conscience. Their intertwined destinies and the magnetic pull between them form the heart of their portion of the series, making their romance a standout element of the story.

Ella of Frell - The curse placed upon Ella in Ella Enchanted, one of my cherished childhood books, serves as a powerful metaphor for the struggle many girls face in asserting their agency and setting boundaries. Forced to obey any command given to her, Ella's curse robs her of control over her own actions and decisions, leaving her vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation. Ella's struggle to assert her independence and reclaim her agency is a central theme of the novel, and it highlights the importance of standing up for oneself and setting boundaries. This aspect of her character resonates deeply with readers, particularly young girls, who may relate to the feeling of being powerless in certain situations.

Achilles - One of the most powerful moments in the Iliad is Achilles' encounter with Priam, Hector's grieving father. Priam's act of kissing Achilles' hands, despite them being responsible for Hector's death, demonstrates remarkable humility and shared grief. This profound display of empathy moves Achilles to return Hector's body to Priam. In this moment, Achilles transcends his own ego and recognizes the universal experience of loss and mourning. By agreeing to return Hector's body, Achilles symbolically abandons his pursuit of personal glory, finding redemption and closure.

#tyrion lannister #arya stark #the queen's thief #achilles #ella enchanted

[atopvisenyashill]

So I came upon your blog while looking through the asoiaf tag and explored it a bit. Would you please explain to me how are you against Targaryen incest, but find Jonsa fine? I’m genuinely curious, as I’ve just started reading the books (I’m half-way through a storm of swords) and find nothing fine about any form of incest, whether it is or not considered as such in-universe. I also find little to no Jonsa moments. Could you help me? Thank you!

okay so first of all i got sent an ask forever ago about what the appeal of jonsa is and i’ve been working on explaining basically where i see the plot going and why it’s thematically relevant and is2g i’m still actually putting it together it’s just doing that in a middle of a reread is tough bc my ideas are kinda all over the place lmao (just like this ask is about to be sorry!) (also once again, sorry if my tone comes across very weird, i swear i reread like twelve times to make sure i don’t sound too snarky and wasn't just vomitting up a thousand words of nonsense lmao!!).

BUT. Well there’s three points to this: what the characters may feel, what i feel about jonsa, and what i feel about targ incest. so first the characters:

I think it’s important to point out that first cousin marriage (and auncle/nibling marriage, esp if it’s a “half” relation) are not considered true incest in westeros and in many parts of our world. rickard and lyra, ned’s parents, are cousins. joanna and tywin lannister are first cousins. jonnel and sansa and edric and serena are uncle/nieces, and you’ll note that when alys karstark comes to jon for help, he is disgusted that her uncle is trying to steal her inheritance and not that he’s her uncle attempting to marry her. i point this out because not only is there nothing legally stopping a jonsa marriage, the characters themselves may also see it that way (as not incest). and if your next point is “well they grew up thinking they’re siblings” my answer is - yes and? One of the influences on this series is Mervyn Peake, who wrote gothic medieval stories, and both incest and pseudo-incest is very much a big part of gothic stories! A lot of the storylines in this world are dedicated to exploring incest as a force of socialization and romanticism, from Naerys pleading to live “as brother and sister” and Aegon insisting “we already are” to Alysanne’s “Alyssa is meant for Baelon” to Jaime’s “he heard none of it" in the sept. I don’t think it’s that far of a stretch to posit that two characters we have POVs for will fall in love and grapple with what that love says about them, about society, about their role in the world - and in fact, about half of Jon’s most popular ships are between him and a female relative. Sansa makes more sense to me because she’s closer to his age than Arya, has a more troubled relationship with him, is involved in the political aspects of the story just as much as he is, and isn’t likely to immediately start setting people on fire after they meet.

Now as for me, basically - i think both types of incest are the result of socialization + extreme trauma, and I fully expect that if Jonsa goes canon it will have a tragic ending. I think Jonsa takes some of the inherent misogyny of targ incest and plays around with it - Jon having significantly less societal privilege than basically every other Targaryen and what that means for Sansa as an heiress - but just because I think an exploration of that dynamic will be interesting, doesn’t mean I don’t expect it to be rife with problems.

because the problem with incest is the power dynamic ultimately, and you cannot escape that power dynamic bc people don’t exist in a vacuum. For all the Starks have some fucked up skeletons in their closet, Lyanna doesn’t show up in Ned’s bed naked and ask him to stop her betrothal to Robert, does she? This is the fundamental difference between targ incest and Jonsa or even Lannicest; Lannicest is rampant with toxicity from both of those deranged weirdos but they feel entitled to each other's bodies because of their own trauma surrounding their tumultuous childhoods (and probably some normalization of incest from their parents and proximity to Aerys/Rhaella/Rhaegar), but no one is saying "Jaime you are owed Cersei's body" or "Cersei your womb belongs to your brother and your brother alone." So I don't feel the need to sit here and go "Lannicest is toxic" like yeah? Clearly, lmao, these two feel like they are so damaged, and made so special by that damage, that they can only love one another, that's not what anyone would call healthy. I don't think it's necessary to sit here and explain that dynamic has abuse problems; it's right there in the text!

"well what about the power dynamic between jon and sansa?" YES WHAT ABOUT IT. that's the point! i'm interested in how a dynamic that is inherently abusive will play out between two people who were raised to believe some types of incest are okay but not others, who are victims of abuse and societal alienation themselves. because at the same time that i condemn targ incest, there are obviously real feelings and genuine care in these relationships and in these people, because again, people don't exist in a vacuum. daemon backs rhaenyra into this corner and then crucially does not kill any of her children because he realizes that's a step too far, she'd never forgive it, perhaps even because he grew to love them (i mean, Lucerys and Joffrey likely barely remember any other father but Daemon!). maegor is a monster who very specifically never harms rhaena's daughters! aemon is a useless pos but it seems likely he had a hand in raising naerys' son to be better than aegon because he could see the harm he and his brother were doing to naerys even if aemon was too much of a coward to actually stop that harm in any meaningful way! the difference, to me, is that jon will see that this relationship built on trauma and grief may be the only love he and sansa will ever allow themselves to feel but it is not healthy for them, and jon will leave! and sansa will realize she is not the impassive, frozen, detached symbol that the men around her want her to be, but a living, breathing person with her own wants and desires and agency, and will let him go!

Ultimately, while i think romanticizing and sexualizing the taboo is fine and even healthy, for me, there has to be some acknowledgement that you are in fact romanticizing the taboo. This is why the shitty dudes in asoiaf work for me in a way shitty dudes outside of asoiaf don’t usually - my general bitching about parts of the narrative that don’t click for me aside, there’s firm condemnation of the people engaging in these behaviors, from cersei sexually abusing lancel to sandor creeping on sansa. just because the narrative also shows us and wants us to feel empathy for sandor and cersei and why they’ve become bad people doesn’t mean what they’re doing isn’t bad. that’s what i like! i don’t want a story that holds my hand and drags me to the moral nor do i want a story that presents a god awful person who is supposed to be morally upright and not mean for us to dig deeper into them!

(this is why i like the pt but not the st of star wars, if you want an example - for all the prequels are um. flawed. lucas has an overreaching story about the effects of war, slavery, and interpersonal abuse that he’s dedicated to, and we are meant to be horrified by anakin choking padme just as surely as we’re meant to mourn their relationship and love for each other when palpatine gleefully tells anakin she’s dead and ani destroys the room in grief. vs like. what were the sequels even fucking doing man).

So the thing here is that I actually do in fact find Targaryen incest interesting while being morally repugnant as a practice, and I'm positive Jonsa will play around with both the morality of incest and the romanticism of it in a way that I find just as interesting, varied, romantic, and fulfilling as like, the Jaime/Cersei(/Brienne/Tyrion) mess or the Daemon/Rhaenyra/Laena/Harwin debacle! I like incest and I also hate it! I contain multitudes!

#asks #anti targaryen #jonsa #stone and snow remains #AND CAVEAT. I LOVE AND RESPECT MY JONSA MOOTS WHO BELIEVE IN HAPPY JONSA. i am not about to play these fandom games #of 'well i'm not like those bad jonsas who only care about their ship' absolutely not. i think happy jonsa atp doesn't make narrative sense #TO ME. but i GET the people who see the path. i'm not about to posit myself as the 'rational jonsa' bc that's stupid. #(not saying anon is doing that but i am saying i see that happen a lot and i think it's annoying!!) #this is just a rant. i am so sorry. i cannot figure out how to cut it down.

[strangesmallbard]

something i’m observing in knight of the seven kingdoms is how people are drawn to dunk. after just one conversation, they seem to trust him implicitly and rely on him to uphold ideals of justice and honor. for example: egg, baelor breakspear, the fossoway squire raised to be a knight, eustace osgey. (i say men and not “people” bc the only woman given any page time so far is tanselle; her service worker/customer relationship with dunk + lower position in the hierarchy at the tournament + Westerosi Misogyny very likely informs their interactions. i’m about to meet rohanne and may update with my thoughts afterward.)

it would be wrong to say that dunk is wholly good. this is asoiaf; both grrm’s heroes and villains typically have complex moral values. rather, dunk 1) tries to be good and 2) believes it’s possible to be good in a world that rewards power and violence over anything else. he also maintains these convictions when “common sense” says otherwise and/or his bodily safety is at risk—i.e. kicking a targaryen prince in the mouth. men who want to be good and recognize how fucked westerosi society is are drawn to dunk like moths to a flame. these men also believe they’re shrewder than dunk; their convictions clash with their notion of “common sense.”

as a result, they revere him as a perfect expression of knighthood ideals and feel inspired to fight for honor again. this is why egg gets dunk when aerion hurts tanselle and, i believe, why baelor breakspear eventually fights by his side. (dunk is obviously not perfect; he has his own character arc to go through. he’s pretty uncomfortable with this reverence and feels a lot of misplaced guilt over his actions—an common ironic trait for heroes that fits really well in this narrative.) baelor is especially interesting in this context. right before he dies, he accepts dunk into his service and professes him as the type of man westeros needs. although we don’t have his pov, we can surmise his disillusionment with both his family and the feudal system overall.

as the dunk & egg stories deal with the aftermath of the blackfyre rebellions, i think we can also surmise that baelor’s disillusionment comes from winning the battle against “the pretender,” only to find the targs lacking honor, valor, kindness. perhaps dunk’s immediate willingness to risk everything to protect just one person inspires him to action once again, to a tragic end. (really good writing moment for grrm tbh, it’s going to be one of those asoiaf scenes that sticks with me.)

all in all, i really like dunk’s contribution to asoiaf’s internal questions about Being a Good Person. is staying honorable possible? does it even matter to believe in justice and honor when the world is unjust and dishonorable? how do i stay true to my convictions when i also want to stay alive and protect my loved ones? many characters encounter these questions—brienne & jaime are the most salient examples of Dunk Vibes from the og series, but there’s also dany, sam tarly, sansa, arya, ned, tyrion, sandor clegane, lady stoneheart, etc. dunk & egg also allows grrm to really lay into the monarchy and get into pacifism. anyway, i’m excited to see how these themes further develop in the rest of the dunk & egg stories and twow/ados (obligatory 😵‍💫 disclaimer.)

#asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #valyrianscrolls #dunk and egg #duncan the tall #knight of the seven kingdoms #yell.txt

[awfullylongtime]

I have been thinking about Rhea Royce.

Something is bugging me because when she appears on screen for the first (and only) time, we are shocked.

Daemon only described her as uglier than a sheep, called her his "bronze bitch." Of course we expected someone horrid; we meet a beautiful woman, who likes to ride and hunt, isn't scared to speak her mind and who dares to mock him and challenge him.

I often saw posts saying "is that what Daemon calls ugly?" and ughr.

I feel that the fact that Daemon was forced, litteraly dragged before the Seven, to wed her, is overlooked. And I'm not stating that to romantize him or wathever. Rhea certainly didn’t deserve to die as she does, and the series clearly shows and states that women do not often have a say to whom they get married to. She is a victim of it, even more, because of the fact that she is a woman; while Daemon has the liberties of a man, to bed who he wants; plus he is a prince, plus he basically does whatever he pleases most of the time. He acts first and think later.

Nevertheless, no matter how morally wrong it is for him to murder her, not even granting her a word while she speaks, I think it is relevant to remember that he was forced into marrying.

Like Rhaenyra was.

And it must be gust wrenching, even in Westeros, even in a world as tragic as ASOIAF. It is something that is disgusting, no matter the circumstances. How breaking it must be to comply when you want to run. Canonically, Daemon tried his best to escape.

When he comes to her at the wedding asking her "is it what you want? This is not for you," we ought to remember that himself had been forced to marry. He fought against it, he never touched his wife in hope of getting an annulment. He litteraly begged for an annulment; and that has nothing to do with ambition or Rhaenyra. He was basically sold, too. Sent off to the Vale, to be kept away from court (in episode 1, Daemon says he sent him away to the Vale. I think in the books it was his grandfather who married him off.) From Viserys.

Not to say that his deeds can be redempted (GOT and HOTD are not a place to discuss characters through ethics and moral), I think it is a side of him that is overlooked. Even more, I think it is something that makes him closer to Rhaenyra. They eloped to get a secret wedding; when they both had to suffer one when they couldn't be together at first.

Rhaenyra never questions Rhea's death, when he says his wedding has been "dissolved", she knows the truth of it, yet she says "so take me then." I am convinced it is because she knows what it is to marry when you don't want to. And she loves Laenor, she cares for him, it has nothing to do with him. She just doesn't want to get married at all.

I believe she can imagine what it feels to be forced upon wedding someone you dislike, because he had utter dispise for the Vale. It is not even directed against Rhea for who she is, solely for what she embodies. The fact that he was forced. His anger is not against her personally. Or because he tinks she is ugly. Daemon only wanted to stay close to his brother, and the Vale also represents a punishment. Even a character as conflicted as Daemon shows human emotion, from time to time, and whenever it comes to his first marriage, all that Rhea represented was one of the time he was forced to yield.

A dragon made slave.

#daemon targaryen #daemon x rhaenyra #daemyra #hotd #house of the dragon #rhaenyra targaryen #rhearoyce #hotddaily

[hamliet]

What do you think of Daemon and Nettles's relationship?

Is she Daemon's bastard daughter or is she his lover?

I kind of answered that here, but I am genuinely not sure she was either. I get why people assume one or the other, with the affair being the most common assumption.

However, I feel like both interpretations fall back on cynicism and are weak when it comes to what they offer the themes of the story and our understandings of the characters. To be fair, Martin can be quite cynical, but he's still a Romantic, and there's probably a reason he left it unconfirmed. Readers can decide what the story means for each of us.

That said, I genuinely think the themes of the story offer a completely different take on their relationship, one that is far more hopeful and yet sad than either of these. I'll paste what I said in the linked post here, as well as the textual evidence for it.

The tl;dr is that I think Nettles wasn't his daughter and wasn't his lover, but instead a child Daemon was trying to do right by. I'm very open to being "wrong," but I don't think we'll ever get any sort of confirmation either way, and I can back my theory up with the text just as well as those other theories, so.

When the text mentions rumors (which I’ve been paying attention to as I reread ASOIAF), it’s usually NOT one or the other, but usually a mixture of the two with some unknown third component there.

The problem is that both of the two options severely weaken a different theme.

Like, if Nettles is his daughter, that reinforces the idea that magic is only for a certain bloodlines, and while there is some truth to this in ASOIAF, it’s not fully the truth, and it seems very very odd to me that George would stick to this one fantasy trope and not deconstruct it like he usually does. Tyrion is most likely a dragon rider in ASOIAF alongside Jon and Dany, and it is much more powerful if he is not a Targaryen.

As for the more likely option–cheating–also weakens the themes because again, a queen is not paranoid and losing everyone if she’s right. I’ve seen some speculate Rhaenyra didn’t write that letter, but it is most likely that Rhaenyra did write that letter, because in a tragedy, she must bring about her own downfall. The problem is that it is a lot less thematically powerful if Rhaenyra is right about Daemon cheating on her.

The most powerful thematic option is if Daemon just saw a kid who had power and tried to protect her from the war. Maybe trying to get some insight into her powers, maybe not. But he loses Rhaenyra in the end because of her own inability to trust, and then what does Daemon do? He decides to essentially die tragically defeating Rhaenyra’s most formidable enemy: Aemond and Vhagar.

When there’s no love left, there’s still duty towards a queen.

Like, no, of course that isn’t “couple goals.” I’m not saying it’s some great fantastical romance that we should all swoon at. But I’m also saying that it is true that Daemon’s life was defined by love, which is way more thematically consistent with Martin’s works than “bad guy do bad thing.”

#ask hamliet #daemyra #daemon targaryen #hotd #fire & blood #nettles #daemon and nettles

[aella-targaryen]

It's wild that people came away from ep6 thinking Laenor was a good and supportive partner when it's clearly implied that he's not super involved in the boys lives and is basically just running around drinking with Qarl most of the time. And then after a decade of being mostly useless wants to abandon everyone right when shits clearly gonna hit the fan soon! Like sorry but Rhaenrya deserves someone who will fight for her cause and that man clearly ain't it.

Laenor and what it means to be a father.

Hi dear anon.

I think the fact that many had grown fond of Laenor is because he did the right thing (Helping Rhaenyra walk after she gave birth) when no one else did. Doing that right thing, although it seems like something that we have to do for humanity, in a certain sense it is like a breath of fresh air in the cruel world of ASoIaF.

Also I think we all feel bad for him because he has had to lie for a much longer period than 10 years. He has had to lie almost all his life.

The truth is that for that simple reason, I can understand his great motivations to escape from his current life.

What I don't like about the character is that he wants to abandon the children that he says he considers his sons when they are in danger. He claims to love those children as his own (if not, he would not have calledJoffrey his son and would not have looked at him and at the others kids with such affection)

Apparently Laenor has not really given all his heart to anyone and it is not surprising due to the tragic death of the man he really loved and who accepted him as he really was.

But my compassion has its limits and those are the innocent. In this case their children. For 10 years Laenor welcomed Rhaenyra's children as his sons. He allowed them to love him and see him as their father.

And suddenly, when those children are in danger and need a father to protect them, Laenor proved to be a deficient father to the boys with his desire to get away from his domestic life and run away from all the falsehood of his life.

An efficient father is one who teaches you to face problems but is also someone who is willing to help and protect you if you ask for help or if situations warrant it.

I believe that Laenor loves the Rhaenyra's boys as his sons. But love is not enough to be considered a good father.

and the ones who are going to pay dearly for that are Jace, Luke and Joffrey.

#hotd #daemon targaryen #daemon x rhaenyra #rhaenyra targaryen #rhaenyra x daemon #rhaenrya targaryen #rhaneyra targaryen #hotd spoilers #house of the dragon spoilers #daemyra #daenyra #ask anon

[horizon-verizon]

Why Aemond has become such a popular character? When he is not even an interesting second son like Stannis/tyrion/Oberyn etc... And i don't buy the whole thing about him being dutiful and honourable man "tis i who studied the blade and philosophy...." Got to admit this is one of the cringiest and corniest lines I've ever heard in any show/movie . And no i don't believe he is a worthy man of becoming a king because the first serious mission he has given he fucked up badly by killing unarmed Luke And condal explanation of this doesn't add any "nuance" or "complexity" to Aemond's character. Killing Luke by mistake just show how Aemond is a shitty dragon's rider who couldn't even control his dragon after years of riding it not how "complex" or "tragic" he is.

Why I find the line of "blade and philosophy" strange, bad, and unnecessary is because there is no indication in Aemond's actual canon characterizations that he'd bother because he is a very action-oriented, physical person.

He'd be all "blade" and have no time or will for reading or analyzing things the way we modern person would expect out of a "philosophizing" person.

In the medieval context (which HotD is supposed to come from or be modeled from since its story is a part of the ASoIaF story...or tries to be), a philosopher is understood as a person who studies, reads, and organizes already-taken-as-fact-or-credible-and-religious-principles. People did not make or groundbreaking, "fashionable" new principles and had their writings "published" to help people learn something so much as to maintain their faith in God and other Christian/Church doctrines. Many times, even then things the ideas contradicted each other. 

An example is Thomas Aquinas and several other writers writing about lycanthropy and how it could never exist because only God has the power to change or create real shapes human can shift into, since humans are told be in his "likeness" and we can't fuck with that (again, because we as humans do not have that ability).

If Aemond were to ever read any “philosophies”, it would be things like this. Or just treatises on how the Seven do exist and influence the world. Basically, these would be heavily religious.

Aemond knows/feels his place as a man, as a trueborn, as a "true" Targ, and all of that derives from Alicent and the Faith's teachings about female chastity, bastardry, etc. Plus, the show itself does not show Aemond reading, thinking deeply, or taking the time to pick and choose his battles (Lucerys) so nothing supports this idea of his "philosophizing". Any "philosophizing" he would have done is to repeat the already existing Faith tenets and male privilege of the patriarchal values that give him personal license to usurp Rhaenyra.

Anon is also talking about what Seth Abramson calls Ryan's "theory of accidents". How Ryan believes he is adding complexity by making characters reactive instead of proactive and asking unnecessary and motive-dismissing "what ifs".

Some hate Daemon and see how the show makes parallels between him and Daemon. As Daemon's thematic and political "match" or rival, they glom on to Aemond.

HotD's Aemond also has an actor that many find very attractive and his wig is in much better condition than most of the wigs on that show.

Many also think that the greens are the ones on the political defense or in the moral right, especially after Aemond loses his eye (thinking that he was a poor victim in that struggle and not caring or noticing his prejudices). People love to think that if you are a victim, you have zero culpability and are exempt from being "judged" (or fairly analyzed) for your actions forevermore. Aemond and Alicent received their cloaks of innocence from their looks and Alicent's obedience to conservative, feudal values. And since Aemond is the green's ace, Aemond is God.

#aemond targaryen #aemond's characterization #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #fire and blood comment #fire and blood #dragonriders #dragonriding #hotd comment #hotd critical #hotd #house of the dragon #hotd characterization #characterization #hotd accidents #history is a series of accidents #hotd accountability

[amethysttribble]

List ten different favorite characters from ten different pieces of media, and tag ten people!  

Thank you so much @himemiyaaah for the tag, I’m sorry I took forever to do this! We’re organizing these by piece of media

Celegorm: by god, if you look at his character for a little bit, there is so much going on with him! He’s friends with Orome, he has a magic angel dog, he’s super close with Curufin despite the age difference, he’s friendly with his cousins and he gets Finrod killed, he’s an elegant speaker, his followers commit the most abhorrent crime of the kinslayings, he’s assaults Luthien, he’s close with Aredhel, he’s a renowned hunter and failure as a military general. There’s so many layers and contradictions and I love him. (Silm)

Elwing: She is my baby girl, and once I write my ‘conversations between Elwing and Maglor’s Wife’ fic, it’s over for you bitches. She’s just... so resolute, and so sad, and so angry, and she turns into a BIRD and I don’t know what more you want from me. (Silm)

Curufin: Every time I write Curufin I black out and then pages upon pages of the most miserable words on the planet are recorded on screen, and I don’t know what that says about me (Silm)

 Percy de Rolo: this tragic white-haired anime boy with a gun has entranced me, mind body and soul. He really misses his family, you guys T_T (Critical Role, C1)

 Veth Brenatto: This woman is one of the most fascinating characters at the Critical Role table, and that she gets reduced to “Caleb’s mom” so often is fucking criminal, I LOVE her and want her to be happy and blow shit up (Critical Role, C2)

Hubert von Vestra: listen... I’m a sucker for the loyal (male) retainer to the driven at all costs, morally questionable (female) leader. And also they were platonic soulmates. Hubert is a spooky vampire who lives on devotion, and I fucking love him. (fe3h)

Catherine Morland: I recently remembered why Northanger Abbey is my favorite Austen book, she’s just a fucking hoot, I wish I could be her (Northanger Abbey)

Sanji: Sanji, sanji, sanji, WHAT am I to do with you? The most character of all time, so well written sometimes, so poorly written on others. He is forever and always my One Piece blorbo (One Piece)

Catelyn Stark: This woman... Need it be said how goddamn amazing Cat is? I’m not sure it does, my the unbridled tragedy of her watching lose her family one by one, how war steals her young son from her and she is forced to watch, rattling against the bars of the patriarchal cage, and she STILL has a higher on page kill count than Robb? She was already perfect and then she died and cam back a wraith bent on revenge, no one is doing it like her. (asoiaf)

Shimura Shinpachi: MY FUCKING SON! The most important Gintama character and also the most underrated, he’s just a sweet lad, doing his best!! He’s so good to Kagura, and so good to his sister, and so good his friends, and he just wants to be a samurai but also he’s a son of the new age, and he’s trying so hard and I LOVE HIM. (Gintama)

Again, can’t do 10 people, I can give you 5. @agroupofcrows, @aipilosse, @arofili, @shrikeseams, @shiroandblack, feel free to answer or ignore at your leisure!

#tribble post

[rise-my-angel]

Heart of the Great Wolf has to be my favourite Robb Stark and Jon Snow piece of writing out there. Seriously, the way you capture both of their personalities is so untouchable that it’s ruined others writing for me. I would rather reread HOTGW over and over again then find something new with a mere fraction of what you have going with your story. It’s truly so beautiful, the way you blend beauty and sorrow so wonderfully. You don’t paint one brother to be worse than the other, that it’s just simply a girl with two loves who has lost too much in her life at such a young age. You are such a gifted writer 😭🫶🏼

This is too kind seriously..thats the end of the ask..I have nothing more to say whatsoever..

Their characterizations are the ones I worry the most about, especially now that I am into a post resurrection Jon having to juggle his true character contrasted to what i think resurrection would change about who he is inside. So I appreciate it because I am constantly terrified you guys are going to think I am way off the mark with these characters. I work a lot to think about what i think would realistically play out and why, and write within those in universe consistencies.

Robb was easier I think, since most Robb x Reader x Jon fics that have a Jon endgame, tend to paint Robb in a different light in order to boost the Jon pairing.

I too was going to underplay it. When this series was first being outlined Robb was way less important. He was more an obstacle to get to the plot I wanted, but the more I outlined the more I realized how unfair it would be to do that. Robb is so important to GoT/asoiaf, people seem to forget that when Robb died, the entire country fell into what was essentially a post apocalyptic state of fear. He died and all hope was shattered for the realm, and I think it does him a disservice to not give his relationship that fair treatment. He is smart, and emotional and deeply caring of his people and cause and I wanted to rectify what I thought was an insulting love interest for him in the show. Give him a relationship with the reader, that was real.

Were Robb not to die, they'd still be together. Regardless if Jon was in the plot now or not, Robb and the reader were real and they loved each other with everything they. It's partially why I made the reader spend three years not talking about Jon. Beacuse she didn't want to risk letting him dominate her thoughts with her husband and its tragic beacuse its in chapter 11 'What Lies Beyond the Veil' when she finally has come to accept she can talk about the man she always loved normally with the man she grew to love and not feel guilt, and its the last time. I wrote that entire wedding reception from Robb's point of view beacuse I didn't want any mention of Jon to make it seem like the reader was thinking of him when she died, when no, their deaths were entirely about each other.

It's also why Jon never thought much about Robb in his pre 'What Lies Beyond the Veil' pov's beacuse I never wanted to give off the impression that his jealousy was out of malice. I never wanted it to be Jon feeling like it was him versus his brother. It was just the cards you three were dealt and as much as it burns him to be the one left in the cold he knows that no one actually chose to leave him behind, it was just how it worked out.

I just don't like fics where it's this kind of double pairing, but Robb doesn't feel like he was given a fair chance. A lot tends to feel like I'm just waiting for the Red Wedding to get to the Jon stuff that they want to do instead, when I was dreading getting to it in mine beacuse I didn't want the Robb saga to end yet. I sort of allude to this when Ned said in the first chapter,

"Just because losing Jon hurts, doesn't mean I don't think you aren't willing to love Robb."

And that's the essence of the double pairing, I hated the idea of one brother being seen as the more important relationship then the other, Robb died in chapter 11 by chapter 29 I'm still writing scenes about losing Robb, beacuse it felt disingenuous to paint one brother as the better pairing for the reader then the other. I didn't like the idea of a double pairing being about Jon versus Robb or vice versa.

Just the story of what happens, when your love finds itself equally.

#the orignal outline for chapter 1 had so much more jon but i changed a lot of that to be in flashbacks of later chapters #it needed to be about robb beacuse thats the life you were going to be in and i never wanted Robb to feel like the disposable love interest #and i ended up liking it better with a much bigger robb focus #i knew jon was the slow burn he was always going to get his day in court but robb was the one here and now and i refused to underplay that #i just hope you dont disagree with my characterization of Jon the futher we go #since post ressurection Jon isnt quite the same man as he was before #and I hope I am decent enough to convey my ideas in a realistic manner or that my ideas arent super out of character in general #long post

[alsethwisson]

what are your top 5 and bottom 5 ASOIAF characters?

Top 5:

Sansa. Like, she's the best, m'kay? It's hard not to like the sweetest, most compassionate and caring person in this whole mess.

Cat. Clever, badass in her own right, passionate and unrelenting, tragic to the core.

Robert. Yeah, I know. Problematic fave. But still he's the best of the Baratheon brothers, the most human of them. He had a lot of promise and a lot of faults and he's interesting to imagine in his youth.

Jon. Again, hard not to like him, though honestly he was kinda grating in the beginning with his grudge against his station in life. Which I can get, but others have it so much worse, but then Jon is disgruntled exactly because he has everything-but-not-quite.

Theon. I have something of a sweet spot for people who destroy themselves with their idiocy, I guess, but I liked his dynamic with Robb and loved his post-Reek resurrection.

Honorable mentions: Vissy3, Aegon2, Baelor the Blessed, Daemon B and other guys who are barely characters, but have my heart.

Bottom 5

Cersei. It's easy because she's so perfectly hateful, isn't she? But that's why she starts this list. She's a villain, and plays her part well, but that doesn't mean I somehow hate her, she's just too perfect for her role.

Daenerys. Again, a villainous character, honestly quite an engaging one, and I have nothing against villains per se. Most of my dislike is motivated by her big and active fandom, I guess?

Arya. I just...don't like her? Don't like the tropes she represents? Both? When I think about her, she's just not that interesting. When I read her POVs, I want to discipline her. She is really not well-written, to boot; I hardly can imagine a noble child so lacking any idea of social norms and customs and her behaviour is one of a modern moody teen isekai'ed into a nine years old from semi-medieval world.

Tyrion. He's just the worst. I hate him with a passion and his chapters make me cringe hard and his ego is the size of the Death Star. But then I remember that he's a villain and feel better!

Arianne. Absolute bottom of my list because she's just. So. Grating. The shallowest, most self-absorbed character in the book where Dany and Tyrion exist. Delusional like Cersei, as badly fitting into the world as Arya and has a touch of authorial racism/misogyny as a cherry on top.

Dishonorable mentions for Jorah the Slaver and Bran the Sexually Precocious.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #anti daenerys targaryen

[esther-dot]

I wish that all parts of the fandom, including, I hate to admit it, Sansa fans, would not act as though abuse is something their faves alone have experienced and deserve compassion for. Every part of the fandom is guilty of this. That's not to say no one can dislike a character if they're an abuse victim, but it's entirely possible to dislike a character and still show compassion for the abuse they've suffered, still take into account their trauma when judging their actions. And yet I never see that anymore. Everyone, in all parts of the fandom, seem now to be saying, "Compassion for abuse victims, but only for the ones *we* like." More than anything, this has been what's made me want to disengage from the fandom, even my once beloved Sansa fandom. All talk about compassion for abuse victims becomes hollow and meaningless if we only apply it to our faves. Every character who is an abuse victim (and there are so many, many abuse victims in ASOIAF) deserves some degree of compassion, even the ones we don't like.

Thank you for sharing your feelings about this, anon. I agree with you that we are certainly meant to have sympathy and compassion for characters when they suffer abuse, and we should be careful with how we talk about characters who are abuse survivors. I saw someone mention this before because of how Dark Dany fans talk about her, and I’ve tried to have that in mind ever since.

I never know what my anons have seen and if they’re reacting to what I write or some other blogger, but in general, I think the Sansa fandom tries to be sensitive to this and has been the main segment to focus on the abuse and say it is abuse where others want to romanticize it. It isn’t something we take lightly. However, because of how we (broadly speaking, we don’t agree on everything) perceive his story, we think Martin’s doing certain things with that, so it isn’t the case that we mean to say Sansa alone deserves our compassion, but that Martin isn’t using abuse in the same way in her story as he uses it elsewhere. I’m not a fan of it, but he does use abuse within the family and societal alienation as the context for his villains. His purpose shifts our focus from the suffering of the character to how he’s using it to develop them which changes the tone in which we talk about it. Is that what you’re picking up on?

If this is in relation to other characters, not Dany, I responded to an angry Hound fan once trying to explain why I wrote about him the way I do:

(link)

I once had an ask about Tyrion which I can’t find at the moment, and I tried to explain that I mostly write about things from Sansa’s perspective. As in, I don’t discount the abuse Tyrion suffered, I do find it tragic, but in each post I can’t say all the things I think, I usually am focusing on one thing. It doesn’t mean I don’t also acknowledge what Tyrion suffered and how that impacted him, it’s context that I simply didn’t take the time to remind people of because they fandom at large is sympathetic to him, but so sympathetic, they then neglect to acknowledge Sansa’s suffering! I wrote about that once too:

(link)

Again, I agree with you that we should be disturbed by their suffering and understand how wrong it is, (I answered an ask the other day and mentioned how personally, I wouldn’t have these victims of abuse become villains because it’s so distasteful to me), but we all post in a certain context. That context is:

from whose perspective we’re viewing the situation

the author’s purpose

what we have written before on the subject before

our understanding of the framework for this part of the fandom. Perhaps it’s been longer than normal since we brought those issues up, but I think most of the popular Sansa bloggers have addressed the issue of abuse in ASOIAF at one point or another.

So, I’m not saying there isn’t room for improvement, and I understand why you find the fandom’s attitude as a rule off-putting, but I think the nature of the work/the author’s goals, the habit of the fandom to discount Sansa and anything she has suffered, and the assumption that others share our views because of what we have previously said on the subject…that context is why we don’t elaborate on other characters’ suffering as much. I know I sometimes write flippantly about Dany dying, but it isn’t because I’m insensible to the fact that she has had a horrible life, abused by her brother, being a child bride, raped repeatedly by Drogo….it’s harrowing and awful. But that isn’t all she is, and she has committed wrongs and will commit more by the end, so I’m horrified by her suffering, but equally horrified by the suffering she has and will cause for others unless stopped. For Tyrion, I think I lost interest in talking about his victimization when he started talking about raping and murdering his sister. For the Hound…I think his suffering is interesting shading on his character, but he slaughtered a little boy and didn’t care at all and threatened Sansa’s life very early on, so I never had much sympathy for him, I’m afraid. This might be what you mean by our talk of compassion feeling meaningless? Because I do think it’s awful what the characters endured, but it doesn’t change the fact that I view them badly for how they treat others.

I’m not trying to dismiss you at all, just explain my perspective on this and see if that’s what you think is problematic or if you’re talking about something else. Your comment about us “taking into account their trauma when judging their actions” makes me think our views on this aren’t in total alignment, but I am certainly happy to hear your further thoughts on that. I’ve had other disgruntled Sansa fans message me over the years, and it always feels like what they’re mostly upset about is this idea that they can’t state their opinion. I always say: do it. No one can stop you from stating your opinion on this and saying it will prevent you from becoming resentful that your thoughts aren’t being discussed. There is likely a group of fans who agree with you! You may not just be a voice for yourself but others who haven’t felt like they were brave enough to speak out. And, even if it is an unpopular take, just throwing it out there helps alleviate your own frustration with the fandom. I disagree with other Sansa fans and Jonsas, and that doesn’t stop me from stating my opinion in my own posts on my own blog. That has never been a problem. They may be unpopular takes, I may lose followers, I’ve lost mutuals, but it’s worth it to me because I can’t not say what I think (it’s a problem 😂), but there’s a larger good here in that it also prevents our small corner from falling into total group think or having our own mini-BNFs we’re afraid to contradict. I reblog stuff I disagree with, some people do the same to me. Your opinion is worth considering even if it is different from mine. Also, if you pay attention, any of us might throw out an idea randomly, or a quote, and then it kinda…infiltrates and takes hold—you don’t have to be a popular blogger to change our whole corner of the fandom’s thoughts on an issue. So, I’d encourage you to not let this end here, with this exchange, just a criticism of the fandom, but to go ahead and make a post about a specific scene and your feelings about it taking into account the trauma of the perp, just as you said you think we should. I recently wrote a post that was far more sympathetic to Ned than Sansa fans typically are. Nothing bad happened! If you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself, feel free to send those thoughts to my inbox. I may not agree on a specific interpretation, but I’d rather help you be heard than have you leave the fandom thinking we don’t care. I assure you, the abuse issue is something we do care about. We care very deeply. For some, that’s what drew them to Sansa and this part of the fandom in the first place.

I understand if it will take time for you to think of a specific scene or thoughts regarding a character you want to express, but in the meantime, please try filtering certain words, character names, or even blogger names. We have a lot of control over what we see here, especially with the filter content option (right under tags to filter) which will help you better control your fandom experience. I love that tool because there are bloggers who I don’t want to see because their views offend me and now even if people I follow reblog their stuff—I don’t have to! I’ve put in certain words so untagged stuff doesn’t slip by either. I also started following non ASOIAF/GoT blogs, unfollowed bloggers that were too negative, etc to help change my tumblr experience. It makes a world of difference! If it’s my content specifically that bothers you, I tag all my asks “ask dot” so that you can filter that tag and avoid it.

I hope you don’t feel like I’m dismissing you, and I truly hope you either talk some about this on your blog (you can @ me or send me a link so I can share it) or come back and chat with me some more about this before depriving yourself of something you once enjoyed. The fandom may not be what it should be, but we can make it better. 💗

#ask dot

[patrocles]

hey!!! first of all i wanted to say that your alysmond fics are superb, your writing is great nd i’ll definitely stay tuned if you write anything else <3 secondly i know hotd discourse is dying (thankfully) but i wanted to hear how you think the show will handle aemond and alicent’s relationship, with the way they built up aemond’s character and the fact that he sort of “leaves her” in kl (at least that’s how many ppl interpret it, i’ve read f&b a while ago). would love to hear your insight on this

omg thank you so so much!!! i really love writing for them. the fic i'm currently working on is giving me such a headache in trying to pull together, so i may just scrap it and write this quick AU i've had rocking around for a while (if lyonel brought alys to KL with larys and harwin, but with alys and aemond closer in age) SO STAY TUNED

thank you for the question!

this is going to be very interesting to see on screen. i don't necessarily see it as him Leaving alicent, but trying to accomplish something to 'fix' things. if in s2, he sort of has these issues of internalizing guilt for "starting the war", that could definitely cause a bit of tension between the two of them.

like it's difficult, right, because alicent really wanted to fix things with rhaenyra and this was the last ditch effort. after luke's death, that's definitely not going to happen. and i can't see her directly blaming aemond, but there's definitely that undercurrent of resentment i can definitely see coming between them. aemond won't have the FULL context of everything between his mother and rhaenyra, and i could see that adding to his internalization of full responsibility-- especially since we've already established his strong sense of duty to his family.

i think in pure ASOIAF tradition, things being left Unsaid, the "we'll talk, when i return", the unfulfilled promise of things being better later, will definitely happen between aemond and alicent and it will be SO TRAGIC. i know we joke about aemond being terrified of his mommy being mad at him, but i do think that's something that will really affect him! and like sure people can be quippy in their oedipal jokes, but i do think it's a really underscoring just how devastating it could be for aemond SPECIFICALLY to lose his mother's emotional support, or feel like a failure in her eyes. she's been his only parent, his primary support system. and he's prided himself on being The Reliable One for her as well.

so i think he's going to leave KL around the end of s2. and when he does, i can see their relationship being back kinda on the mend with him promising to win the war and return everything to how it was and fix things. and thing is, alicent love her kids so much, she was never really mad at HIM, so much as she was mad at the situation. but its the tragic lack of these people being able to really talk to each other that makes it hard for them to have that conversation, or for her to truly be able to convey that he never lost her love (even if that's how it felt for him).

and i think what will be really interesting, and telling of alicent's dedication to aemond, and her belief in him if they keep the scene where she tells rhaenyra that aemond will come back and save her. it's choosing her faith in aemond and her love for her son outweighing any possibility of reconciliation with rhaenyra because of course that's what matters most. but of course aemond could never really know any of that, and fact is he very well may die still believing that he was a disappointment to her. he wasn't able to keep the promise he made her.

when you think about The Dance and think about the saddest possible outcomes, its not just about gruesome deaths, its really about things like this right. relationships that are never able to be fixed, things that are forever left unsaid. families torn apart because a pointless war and realizing that pointlessness too late.

AND NOW I AM SAD

the best part is that olivia and ewan are going to devour every scene they share together and i cannot wait

#alicent hightower #aemond targaryen #asoiaf #anon #asoiaf ask

[navree]

Hey, hope you're doing well!

I wanted to ask what you think of Criston's death? I know he's disliked by the majority even though if you were to rank from most to least "problematic" he's towards the very bottom - only the babies and Helaena have him beat.

I've seen people hope he's given a disgraceful death which....from what we've seen of him so far, could probably happen, which would be very disappointing.

Maybe I'm being too harsh but some of the messaging given the show's theme(s) confuses me. I agree with you when you said that Viserys got a tragic and sympathetic death despite his unacknowledged awfulness. We obviously don't know how the other deaths will go down but bookwise, Daemon (who is the Problematic King) gets a cool duel at the end. And if Criston, who's nowhere near as bad as others and is underprivileged socially and politically, gets a send-off that narratively paints him as the main instigator or a disgraced knight, I really do think I would side-eye this show.

Not saying he's the best, but there's something pretty tragic about a knight who has no choice (because otherwise he's stuck in the marches or something) but to protect the most corrupt system in the show choosing to swear himself first and foremost to a child-bride who also has no choice but to serve the crown lest her family dies. They're both working within the system to protect themselves and their loved ones, not seeking power, compared to the opposition who believe they're entitled to the throne and have more power.

Thanks!

Thanks so much anon for the well wishes anon! I'm doing good, my birthday's next week so I'm having a banner time being my parents' precious little girl in the build up to that, my mom gets very affectionate around birthdays and likes to show that affection by buying me food.

I think Criston's death kinda depends on what you're looking for from the narrative, because, as I've mentioned many times, F&B is meant to be read as a history. And in history, sometimes people have these ignominious deaths. Mark Antony had a moment quite like Criston's where he attempted to challenge Augustus/Octavian to some sort of single combat, and Octavian said no because he was on the winning side and it wouldn't make any sense for him to give up his advantages in military combat when he clearly would lose in one-on-one. Sometimes that's just how life works. You can try to organize a grand and glorious death for yourself but if the other side doesn't see any profit in it for them, they're not going to acquiesce, and in war they're going to try and get rid of you as soon as possible. And in a world like ASOIAF, which prides itself on the fact that there are real consequences to actions and that it doesn't lean into certain clichés (which one-on-one single combat for the fate of the war would be), Criston dying because he was outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned and the people he was fighting against decided to just get him out of the way makes sense. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad sendoff. I actually find Criston's death, as it was written in the book, as quite noble. He tries to negotiate, literally says he'll surrender without a fight as long as his men aren't harmed, and he's the one who was refused, and even if you look at it from a neutral eye Longleaf comes off as a bastard in his ordering of Criston's death. I'm also not a fan of those takes that, if a character checks a certain number of boxes on the Disprivileged Checklist, they cannot have anything bad happen to them ever because It Sends A Bad Message because it can feel infantalizing and also people who tend to view fiction like that range from boring to annoying half the time because their reasoning doesn't go any further beyond just that sort of YA book type of view without any thought to history or context or just how fiction works and how trends work and why certain things exist. So while it may be a bit of a letdown from a story perspective, it does make sense for the rules of the world as well as how we're meant to be looking at the tale, and it does still give Criston something of a sendoff, in my opinion.

(daemon's death is just dumb tho, this man is pushing fifty and he's somehow making these anime moves and flying off of dragons to land on another dragon and stab someone in the middle of the air while the dragons are fighting? no, he's not, it's just there because george likes daemon and wanted him to have a cool sendoff, no shade to grrm i've done my fair share of twisting the narrative for my faves but that's what happened here)

We'll see what the show does with Criston, because that's like a couple seasons off (if the show really is going for four seasons, I think this'll be a season 3 thing) and the circumstances have changed. Criston gets a sendoff where he's taunted for starting this war and being a "Kingmaker" in the book, but in the show he's not. He's not the Kingmaker, and had much less of a role in putting Aegon on the throne than in the book, both publicly and privately. So they can't do that, and the show might do something to counterbalance any narrative that they're disproportionately punishing someone societally disadvantaged (especially when a lot of Criston's disadvantaged background, being an out and out commoner and being an ethnic minority in Westeros due to being Dornish, etc, are literally from the show as the book just says he was the son of a steward), since they decided to avoid any "bury your gays" backlash or anger at only killing off characters of color by faking Laenor's death (while still not doing great by the rest of the black characters and also creating a mountain of plotholes and still killing off some poor random black dude anyway for it to work but since he's not named it's fine I guess?). It really depends on what they want to do with Criston throughout the rest of the show, what else they'll give him to do, and how they'll build up his relationships and the circumstances behind things like the Butcher's Ball. Hopefully he gets a good goodbye scene with Alicent before he and Aemond leave King's Landing, at least, for all of our fragile hearts.

#personal #answered #anonymous #yeah i think criston's death is fine #it makes sense for the world and of course it's far off enough that we really don't have a firm grasp to even guess how they'll handle it #it's a very 'wait and see' thing for me

[rhaegxr]

𝐇𝐂; 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐲

      So this has been a long time coming. I don’t remember if I’ve ever, in the almost 8 years of this blog existing, written about this together in one post. Yes, I’ve reblogged random theories/metas around but not something I’ve written myself, so here goes. ( And bear in mind that these will likely be altered/changed as the blog goes on, more info comes out, etc. )

Rhaegar is undoubtedly one of the most mysterious characters in ASOIAF not only because he was a private man, but because we have so little about him, and all from different perspectives. But I won’t focus much on that. I’ll focus more on Rhaegar himself, on his family, his origins, his circumstances, what was happening around him. It doesn’t take a psychologist to know all of those aspects shape a person, for the good or bad... And there was a LOT of bad even before he was born. 

❝ He was born in grief, my queen, and that shadow hung over him all his days. ❞

That quote I believe defines him not only figuratively, but literally, so I think it’s a good place to start. Even before he was born, Rhaegar’s very existence is based on prophecy. He was not the product of love but of a forced and later abusive union. During his birth, many died in a night that was supposed to bring back dragons from stone–And instead, HE was born, the ‘Last Dragon’. It was a night of sacrifice and grief and it would define his existence as much as the prophecy would. His mother, who was barely a woman ( a young teenager by our modern standards ), would suffer not only miscarriages in a loveless marriage, but she would be abused by her own brother. Who would also whore his way with whoever he fancied to her face, including her ladies. 

It’s tragedy and pain and sorrow everywhere, from the moment he was conceived. As a child, his intellect was praised by the maesters but he was an obsessive reader. This, I see, as yet another byproduct of his birth and surroundings, a survival method, maybe. I have no doubt that Rhaella adored him but Rhaegar was aware of something ‘wrong’ with his parents, his family, what others whispered and what his mother probably tried to shield him from ( something she took to the extreme with Viserys afterwards once she was more mature as a mother ) and failed. He took to the books not only for refuge or an escape but to look for answers of himself, of his life. 

Let’s try to dive into the mind of a bright child that’s not oblivious of his parents’ loveless marriage, and how the rest of his family died the night he was born. We see it in divorces: children feel themselves at blame one way or another for their parents separating, even if it’s not. What if little Rhaegar’s ‘shadow of Summerhall’ was exactly that–Guilt? Not only sadness or grief, but guilt for those people that died so that he could be born? And then he grows up to see that his parents don’t hold love for each other, so why and what was he born for? What did the rest of his family die for? He can’t protect his mother, he can’t appease his father, the things he likes ( books, music ) are not too fondly looked upon so he can’t even be himself. Who is he supposed to be, what is he supposed to do? 

And then in comes the prophecy, its words fitting almost too perfectly with the circumstances of his birth. Suddenly, all that sadness, all that sacrifice, seems to have a reason and he is an instrument to fulfilling that greater purpose. So he goes to the ruins of Summerhall, and possibly there he finds more pieces of those answers ( Ghost of High Heart? Other literal ghosts? Dreams? All are just as possible, I believe ). He comes back with heart breaking songs–Tragic stories of the past when the first Long Night happened or of the future where another comes? We know that it’s when he learned of the prophecy in books that he decided to become a warrior, believing that was part of the destiny he has to fulfill. He exchanged correspondence with Aemon on matters of the prophecy. The way I see it, when you come to discover the reason behind your very existence ( again, Rhaella and Aerys were forced to marry to birth the Prince that was Promised ), you either refuse and go against it or you embrace it, and he did the latter. 

Now this ‘shadow’ did more than just steer him down a search for answers of his fate and purpose, it also influenced other actions along with his personality, his emotions. 

❝ But I am not certain it was in Rhaegar to be happy. There was a melancholy to Prince Rhaegar, a sense… Of doom. ❞

His melancholy I like to use as a veil for him, of sorts. Rhaegar I think does FEEL pretty strongly, he absorbs a lot of emotions around himself ( typical INFJ, Pisces trait yep ) and the melancholy, the ‘sadness’, is a result of them all mixing and consolidating together in him. It’s also a way for him to ‘deal’. For example, some other characters might default to a form of detachment to better process these emotions, to not be overwhelmed by them. Rhaegar’s default is that melancholy, which is then channeled through his creativity for music and his escapism in books. So when he is indeed overwhelmed, when the melancholy fails him ( say, when he’s very angry ), he becomes detached in the sense of an absence of emotion as a defense mechanism-He becomes cold, he burns cold. This fits in with Jaime’s own dream of how Rhaegar ‘burned with a cold light’. I might elaborate more on his emotions in another post. 

I do think Rhaegar has a subtle ( or maybe not so subtle ) Messiah complex triggered by his belief of the prophecy as being his purpose. He was loved by the smallfolk despite being melancholic and private, because he would often play for them on the streets, mingle with them, probably was involved in more than a few acts of charity, etc. When compared to his maddening father, he’s the perfect candidate for a future king, as even Tywin would later point out ( though we know his interests are beyond the good of the Seven Kingdoms but more personal ). I’ve always seen this complex as a little contradictory because the belief that he is some savior will drive him to do selfless things, sacrifice even himself, but at the same time; he’s robbing others of their own decisions in a way. But anyway, that’s beside this. 

These acts of selflessness, compassion, kindness, etc. may be another product of his birth, his upbringing and his guilt of it all. He overcompensates, he tries to redeem himself by being good or doing good acts that would justify those sacrifices and grief, justify his very existence. Again, that guilt might just yet be another reason why he embraces the prophecy so strongly, too. What more good can there be but to be a savior of the people, of the known world? It’s the ultimate ‘good’ act, and he has to strive to achieve it, to redeem his existence that was based on that prophecy, and on the deaths of his family as well as the abusive, loveless marriage of his parents. This fills him with purpose, determination, courage, the strength to make those decisions that might be looked upon negatively or have the possibility of dire consequences. 

But then comes indecision. Why? He was going to make changes during the Tourney but plans changed when Aerys decided to attend so okay, there was a legit reason to not go ahead with that. But then, again, we return to his birth, his childhood and prophecy. He marries, has a daughter and then conceives a child when the burning star is in the sky. There has been no impending Long Night, no real disaster to save the people from–Could it be he is only to father the PTWP? I won’t go into why he thinks there has to be a third head, or whether he really was expecting a ‘Visenya’, that’s another subject. Rhaegar, since he was a child, has been searching for answers and he is still as an adult, searching. So when the prophecy now also seems to fit the conception of a son, then he changes his interpretation to fit the circumstances. He is still in a way that savior, he still has that greater purpose to accomplish, but now with that change probably comes the desperation, because–What if he’s running out of time by not realizing this sooner? This could be a reason for his seeming ‘recklessness’ when going away with Lyanna, along with the fact that a bad winter returned following the year of the false spring ( during which the tourney took place and he met Lyanna ). Does this mean that his reason for going with her was purely prophetical? Not necessarily nope, though it could’ve been. But that’s another subject also. It’s very dependent on a Lyanna writer as well. 

I don’t think it was in Rhaegar to even ‘love’, in the purely romantic way we know of. To love someone, to want them, is selfish and is against what he thinks is his purpose in the way that he should do what’s best for all, not just for one. But not only this, he also didn’t see what love is like, he saw the contrary ( not hate, hate is not the opposite of love ). And maybe into play also comes that ‘shadow’ aka the guilt. Does he deserve to be loved? Does he deserve to love? There was a ‘sense of doom’ to him, a sense of ‘death’, of an ‘ending’, a ‘terrible fate’. Could he know he was going to die to fulfill his purpose? I don’t think he knew he was going to die in the Rebellion, but maybe after? Or was that sense of ‘doom’ a melancholy, a nostalgia for who he could’ve been but will not be, because he must fulfill the prophecy? A doom for his sacrifice, not literally but symbolically, by having to let go of his true self for that prophecy? Or maybe he simply was too focused on his fate to allow himself to be happy, to love. 

Does it mean he can’t love? Not at all. I am sure he loved the people, his friends ( as few as they were ), he loved his mother, his brother, his wife, his children, maybe even Lyanna in his way but let’s remember there are different types of love. Like those different types of love, Rhaegar, I believe, is such a complicated character because he can be contradictory in so many aspects yet simple in others. All these rhetorical questions I’m writing in this are just a sample of that, because I do not think there is just one ‘correct’ way to interpret him. There are different ways that have equal potential of being true, until we get actual facts from GRRM himself in the coming books, at least. And again, it’s also dependent on the RP partner and their own interpretations, since I am always open to explore pretty much any. 

But if you managed to read all the way down here ( thank youuuu!! ), this is pretty much the base upon which I build my portrayal of Rhaegar. Those unanswered questions and ‘what if’s I added are all possibilities for my take of him. His birth, his childhood and the prophecy are the three cornerstones that I tend to use when writing him–But, of course, as more info comes out or the more I write/develop/explore him, this might change. That’s the beauty of RP, isn’t it?

#this is longish and still it maybe only covers half of my thoughts for rhaegar's character base ok #i cant put all the thoughts into words but this should give an idea #hopefully if you can understand all the rambling #i tried to organize as best i could ok I SUCK AT THAT #rhae headcanons #headcanons #hc #hcs #now i can eat dinner in peace lOL