#like it’s a genuine threat and they’re scared of the idea so they’ll switch to a calm rationale discussion

[davids-cartoon-corkboard]

Do you think that if Shredder!Raph will occur in rottmnt, the aftermath might result in Raph inheriting some of Shredder’s rage even after saved? Maybe that is how the crew is going to implement Raph’s trademark temper throughout previous generations and maybe even make him have to step down due to it, making Leo the new leader?

Short answer: “Inheriting the rage of a centuries-old demon" is a dope-ass idea, so if you’re a writer I would definitely encourage you to use that in your own stuff. But I think that if Raph’s temper worsens throughout the show, it should be because of his own character development and not a magical effect. However, a Shredder!Raph scenario could contribute to said worsening temper by inflicting emotional/psychological damage instead. :)

Long answer ahoy!

Looking at “Many Unhappy Returns” from the Shredder’s perspective makes it very clear why he does what he does. Like, he’s been dead for five hundred years, and then something went wrong with his resurrection. He’s waking up with no idea where he is or what’s going on and oh shit those guys are pointing weapons at him, that’s a threat!

Note that he doesn’t even bolt for them immediately, he does a warning stomp and screech (back off!) before starting to approach.

Those other guys are yelling, that’s also a threat,

and they’re closer so he’s gonna attack them first, actually. (None of the Foot wind up even comically injured, suggesting that flailing them around was an intimidation tactic rather than genuine Murderous Intent.)

And then the first group attacks, so of course he’s going to retaliate.

And then suddenly he’s somewhere else, with other threats (the animatronics), and then the first group that attacked him is back, so he’s gonna fight them again.

And these jerks just keep following him? He’s not going to ignore that. And WOW that’s a lot of bright lights and loud noises, which are also threats, what the fuck is going on?!

And then this tiny human girl chucks a giant metal box at him, holy SHIT?! Sure, the Shredder is a dangerous antagonist, but at this point I wouldn’t call him a “bad guy”, he’s literally just responding to what’s happening to him.

In summary, the Shredder was stressed tf out because he didn’t know where he was or what was happening, he retaliated against perceived threats, and quite possibly wouldn’t have attacked the turtles in the first place if they hadn’t just rushed in without understanding the situation.

Gosh, doesn’t that sound familiar?

So yeah, I’m waiting for Rise to give us that good good Shredder!Raph content.

As for the possibility of Leo taking over afterwards... no, but also yes, sort of? On the one hand, we know that Leo does have leadership capabilities, and it would be a waste for the narrative to not explore that. On the other hand, Rise has broken from the status quo in many ways, and it would also be a waste for the show to do a complete 180 and return to Leo Being The Leader™.

Consider how the “leader” role has influenced Leo in past iterations: his perfectionism wears on him and his brothers, any failure tanks his self-esteem, he feels isolated from the rest due to taking on such a large share of responsibility, being an authority figure grinds everyone’s gears, etc. It’s just bad for his mental health.

No doubt all this responsibility will also wear on Rise!Raph as the story progresses and the stakes get higher. It will be bad for him as well. But if Raph steps down, Leo will once again suffer from the weight of this role. So if neither option is quite correct, if neither brother can shoulder the burden of leadership alone, then the solution is just... for neither of them to shoulder the burden of leadership alone. Sure, Raph will probably remain leader in title and in spirit, but Leo taking on a sort of “deputy” role makes sense from a strategic standpoint, and would be good for his character development.

Here’s how I think it could go down:

The Shredder!Raph scenario will be different from the Shredder!Draxum scenario. The Shredder was starved for mystic energy the first time around, so he immediately chewed Draxum up and spit him out. But Raph could be compared more to a battery than a meal; it will take a while for the Shredder to drain him. And at this point the Shredder could be back in “evil samurai” mode, and thus will understand the value of holding Raph hostage.

Y’all who have followed my blog for a bit know about my “Raph is a system” theory; that when he was little, he got separated from his family and pursued by some cryptid hunter. This trauma formed Savage Raph, who is able to handle “being lost/alone/threatened” when Host Raph cannot. “Pizza Puffs” didn’t give us a lot of info about who I’m calling “Red Raph”, but he made his presence known when Host Raph was sort of... "emotionally alone”? In that his brothers were dying a little bit and too stoned to care.

So if Raph is trapped inside a living cage, scared and helpless and hurt and exhausted, his family unable to help him... he’s not going to be able to handle it.

Or, rather, Host Raph isn’t going to be able to handle it.

These two can, though.

I’m imagining a scene in the mindscape where the Shredder says something like “Your pathetic family cannot bear to strike you down, and so there is nothing that can stand in m- wait, why are there three of you OW FUCK-” Red and Savage will mentally kick his ass long enough for the other turtles to rip off a chunk of the armor so Leo can portal it into another dimension or something. Shredder gets K.O.’d since he’s not whole anymore, and the battle is won.

Since the armor didn’t drain Raph as severely as it did Draxum, he won’t become as weak as Draxum did. However, it will still take him some time to recover. Raph trusts Leo in serious moments as of “Many Unhappy Returns”, and he already took charge when Raph wasn’t available back in “Man vs. Sewer”. So Raph will be like, “Hey Leo, can you handle the Mad Dogs for a bit? Just long enough for me to get back on my feet.” And Leo will be like, “Sure bro, I’ve got this.”

He does not, in fact, “got this”. Leo’s ego has caused trouble before (”Shell in a Cell”, “Minotaur Maze”), and being in charge will no doubt go to his head. This has the potential for both comedy and seriousness, leading to wacky mishaps and genuine danger. Being the leader is hard work and it’s not always fun, but someone has to do it and Leo will have to put the others before himself for it to get done. Once Leo realizes this, he could bond with Raph by asking for his advice on leadership. Sometimes Leo will follow the advice and sometimes he won’t, sometimes that will work out and sometimes it won’t, laying the foundation for the idea that there are situations where it will be better for one or the other to lead, rather than having one lead all the time. But that will only happen for a few episodes, because Raph will heal quickly and he’ll be the leader again and everything will be fine!

Everything will not, in fact, be fine. Raph is the strongest in the family, the tank, the one who can take a hit so the smaller ones don’t have to... the idea of being hurt, of being weak, scares him because his family is also in danger if he’s unwell. So I don’t think he’ll acknowledge to anyone, not even himself, that getting possessed hurt him emotionally as well as physically. And when a wound isn’t acknowledged, it doesn’t get tended to, and when a wound isn’t tended to, it gets worse.

That he’s a system will add another layer of complexity to this. The Shredder!Raph incident would make all the alters aware of each other via mindscape shenanigans, but it would also leave them with the fear of not being in control, so I think they’ll come in conflict with each other for a bit. They’ll argue with themselves, switch, and lose time more often, enough that it impedes their ability to function and the other characters start to notice something is wrong.

Host Raph will convince himself that Everything Is Fine and try to get things “back to normal”, which probably means he’s just straight-up not going to acknowledge that he's a system. He’ll rationalize that he’s always “gotten weird” from time to time, so it’s nothing to think too hard about... right?

Savage Raph will be on high alert because they just survived a near-death (a near soul-destroying) experience. He’ll probably take the front and go overboard fighting some villains that Host Raph could have ordinarily fought on his own. It might also take a while to convince Savage Raph that these “sewer monsters” who keep following him around really don’t mean him any harm.

Red Raph will get snappy (pardon the pun) about the more social aspect of “not being in control”; that Host Raph asked Leo to be in charge and then Leo started being an egotistical dumbass. And when Leo does make the right decisions, Donnie and Mikey might side with him over Raph, and that will also grind his gears.

Mix all that together and you have a recipe for a capital b Breakdown.

So yeah, I can definitely see how the Shredder!Raph incident and its aftermath would worsen all three of their tempers, trauma will fuck up your emotions real bad. Perhaps Host Raph loses faith in himself and tries to step down and get Leo to replace him as leader... only for Leo to be like “Bro I cannot do this full time I will one hundred percent have my own Breakdown if that happens.”

The life lessons here are that Leo learns to offer support by sometimes taking the leader role; not to benefit his own ego, but because he wants to help Raph. And Raph learns to accept support by letting Leo be in charge sometimes; not because he’s weak or incapable, but because he can’t always be a Staunch Immovable Rock and he needs to let himself rest by trusting Leo.

And then the Raphs can work on communicating, cooperating, letting their allies know about them, digging into their trauma, etc. now that they have some breathing room.

(Do you think the Hidden City has therapists? Steven Universe and Mao Mao both have therapists can we BLEASE get one for Raph.)

#Anonymous #rottmnt #rottmnt theory #rottmnt raph #rottmnt leo #rottmnt shredder #shredder!raph #savage raph #red raph #there's like 1800 words here holy shit #if anyone wants to do fic for this u have my blessing to go hog wild #the 'raph is a system' theory

[nightmaresindreamland]

HC: Fear

The past three years has not been kind to our favorite wizard. Things have gotten more scary, some things have stayed the same, but overall, his ability to react to things he finds intimidating has stayed the same.

Nightmare’s never really been a timid or fearful person, at least, that’s how it would appear. His fear conjures itself in ways that are non-typical, and ways that have baked themselves into his very personality.

Fear of isolation

Fear of betrayal

Fear of abuse

Fear of abandonment

Nightmare’s fear of isolation is perhaps his strongest one, which most of his outlook on life is rooted in. He always feels as though that the people around him will leave him, not through death, but justifiable reasons. He is an evil warlord, after all, it’s only natural they won’t want to stay. 

Most people aren’t evil, so Nightmare has to lower himself and let them command him (see; Jae, CS, Olimar) to avoid them leaving him or becoming dissatisfied with him. He knows people can’t genuinely like him, that’s impossible, so purchasing ‘allies’ through normal evil means (i.e money, power, goods) is the only way he feels he may have company. That or if he’s forced to through contract (see; Nana).

Something good happening to him is never not backed with something horrible happening next. He constantly sees that with the people he’s in relationships with. Having ‘allies’ is a special form of mental torment, because he feels obligated to wait on them to stave off pain they’ll inevitably inflict on him. There is no saftey, still, in his allies, but at least it’s better than having friends.

Friends are just blatant lies. They’re people out to exploit, deceive, and destroy.

Paranoia

Persecution complex

It’s only reasonable that everyone is out to get him. You’d have to be insane not to be against him. He is the self proclaimed emperor of evil, and he’s done nothing but slaughter and hurt people for as long as he can remember. It’s only natural for him to think that anyone and everyone hates him. He revels in the hatred and the fear, of course, being a demon of the latter. But at times, a switch flips in his brain and he’ll get angry about it instead.

He feels no matter what he does, no matter what body he is in, no matter how he acts, he’s predestined to be hurt. That the universe itself has it out for him, and will always hurt him regardless of how he acts. He knows it’s cosmic karma for the war, and that he deserves it, but he still doesn’t want it. 

His paranoia is only ever confirmed true both through rps with characters that seemingly know he’s evil on first glance despite not knowing who he is, as well as the canonical existence of Star Warriors; an entire race of people who exist to wipe his face into the mud. He always feels hunted, which makes him constantly lash out against people, even the people he trusts.

I mean, how can he really trust anyone if he always suspects everyone wants to hurt him? No matter how much someone is tested, no matter how much he intimidates or submits, that person’s going to hurt him. It doesn’t matter if it’s not in their best interest, it doesn’t matter if they seemingly have no motive, they will. It’s going to happen. It can’t not happen.

Fear of being wrong

Inability to trust own judgement

Dependency

This fear is one that only produced itself post-war, when Nightmare became acutely aware that the opinions of mortals mattered towards his well-being. Economic anxiety was frequent among the employees he’d spoken to, and he’d frequently would be told about how his actions affected the wellbeing of his company; his pride, joy, and singular place of safety he’d ever been granted.

Nightmare slunk down into the pits of ‘inoffensiveness’ as the years waned on, killing less, lazing more, and keeping to himself in order to ensure his company could run. He wanted to murder, he wanted to kill, but he trusted the judgement of his mortal employees (see; CS) more than he trusted his own. This trickled into an extreme degree as of late, as Nightmare developed paranoia in rp. He cannot trust his own actions or thoughts, lest he lose someone to them, be left alone, or killed.

Nightmare is dependent on the people he forms relationships to do things he feels he’s incapable of doing, leading to them usually running his life for him (again, see; CS). He knows mortals run the universe, he’s a singular demon amongst a crowd of people. It’s better they have control over him than he have control over himself, lest he lose everything he built on their corpses and backs.

It’s why some can glare at him and tell him what to do without any consequence. They know better than he does, and at the very least he’s aware of that.

Fear of inadequacy

Nightmare believes that his existence is evil from the get-go. Even if he didn’t have a war, he would be evil and worth scorning regardless. He is conceptually evil, which, if you don’t know, is kind of a bad thing to be. He feels he has to convince people to tolerate him because of this, because he is a defective creature rather than a person.

Due to this, Nightmare lashes out at feelings of inferiority against nearly next to everyone who fits some level of a ‘normal’ person (see; Kirby) with extreme prejudice. He hates feeling ashamed of himself, so he doesn’t. Instead, he just becomes incredibly hateful towards people who ‘have an easy life’ just by being born into the right body. Then again, maybe even if he were born different, he would still be beaten to death regardless.

Nightmare feels the need to constantly prove himself to be worthwhile to people, that he has a use, that he shouldn’t be killed or tortured because x, y, z, even when no threat is present. He feels like he must prove himself, even to people he doesn’t know. 

Nightmare feels an intense need to please other people, and actively will not do things he wants to do if he feels it will hurt someone he arbitrarily finds to be important. Other people are in charge of Nightmare’s dignity, and he can’t afford to hurt it.

Nightmare knows that if he can’t be liked, genuinely, the very least he can do is be useful. Maybe then people won’t betray him, kill him, and destroy all of his stuff. But that’s a hard maybe. Nothing can change his fate, he feels, but he’s still trying to anyways. Maybe next time, paying someone and being submissive to their whims finally will be enough. But it probably won’t be. It never is.

Nothing he ever does is ever enough to keep him from pain. That’s just the problem with being born wrong.

Fear of intimacy 

Fear of affection

This was connected to the fear of abandonment, but I had a lot to say about it so it gets its own part here.

Nightmare needs the ability to talk to people and be intimate with them in order for his brain to not collapse in on itself. However, most things that people do together are off limits.

He feels no one can satisfy his needs in any of his relationship without them hurting him in some capacity, so he settles for being deprived instead. It’s better than to ask, better than to risk his pride, or worse, his life. He believes he has no intimate needs at all, and has forgone them entirely for the sake of being safe. 

Nightmare doesn’t want the faux comfort of physical affection. It makes him revolted when he receives it, because he knows it’s fake, only meant to have him drop his guard. It’s better to reject all of it than to accept it and be even more hurt when a betrayal inevitably happens.

Not like he needs it, anyways. He can live without it, can’t he? That’s normal. Besides, it’s not exactly villainous to be getting hugs.

Fear of imprisonment

Fear of powerlessness

Fear of Eggman

Fear of electricity

Fear of rain

Fear of Christmas

Nightmare’s fear of imprisonment and entrapment has been around generally his entire life. The idea of being helpless to someone doing things to him is awful, and being unable to escape is equally unnerving. 

If he had the ability to have dreams, most of his bad ones would be about being contained somewhere he couldn’t leave, and being unable to defend himself from someone inparticular. Someone he doesn’t see, or can’t remember the face of when he wakes up.

Good thing he can’t dream. Good thing he’s never been captured.

Not in recent memory, anyways.

Conclusion

Nightmare’s fear manifests itself, mostly, as anger. The most amount of fear he’s shown in recent years has been in roleplays with Jae and her telling him to not do x, y, z. 

His fear has cooked itself so much into his personality that he believes there is no other way for him to live other than this. He’s accepted them so much that he viciously has to defend himself whenever questioned on why he acts the way he does.

He justifies his fears under the umbrella of ‘well, I’m evil, and thats how being evil works’ in order to not reflect on his own shortcomings. Or, ‘well, the world is made by mortals so naturally I need to listen to them’ as a courtesy. 

Being without things that he fears makes him more scared. Because anything that’s a deviation from the norm is the universe reeling up a hard swing to crush his entire face in.

But still, Nightmare is far from timid. He’s very evil. 

There’s no other way for him to live and be happy with his existence, in his opinion.

#nmehc #important

[weebsinstash]

omg that poly bakudekureader fic. i’m not too into that ship but your fic got me like 👀 they’re both so in character it’s incredible! do you think reader would play favorites to manipulate them? would they even notice or would they just be thrilled reader is paying attention to them (even if it’s at the expense of the other)? stuff like clinging to deku and maybe some water works when bakugo gets to rough, or telling bakugo how creepy they find it when deku writes pages and pages about them.

((i just wanna say before i answer this that sometimes i tell myself “i’ll answer this ask later” and then totally forget so im rlly sorry if you guys ever wonder if i ever got your thingy! although sometimes i just dont know what to say gkjdsbsbg))

honestly? i could see it going either way. that fic was actually partially inspired by an idea of Deku wanting to take their shared darling away from Bakugou because of how volatile and mean he can be.

--i could totally see Izuku trying to “lay down the law” with Bakugou because the green-haired young man has been swayed by your tears. He absolutely is weak to any crying or whining you do. ‘Bakugou makes me so scared! He’s always screaming threats and I’m scared he’ll kill me!’. god. Midoriya just collapses, practically strangling you with a hug as he promises he’ll never let Katsuki hurt you, never ever ever

--you think Bakugou would be suspicious, call you out and say you’re a liar? not really. honestly, he’s just as weak to your affection, if not more so. he’s critically starved of some genuine, gentle love and care, and if you play your cards right, cuddle up with the blonde and show some tears as you whimper, it practically flips a switch

“Katsuki... you’d never let Izuku... hurt me, would you? He acts so crazy sometimes, I’m so worried... you’ll protect me, right?”

--you could absolutely cause them to get into fistfights. they already have plenty of emotional and physical tension between them, but poke at their insecurities, their fears, their history and doubts about their partner, and they’ll be ready to BRAWL. Could you destroy their relationship in favor of them wanting you instead? it’s up to preference but uh... i certainly think it’s possible

--of course, on the other hand of the spectrum, if they manage to figure out your game? there will be some scolding,maybe some light punishment, but it’s not like you’re being entirely fake. you are nervous and scared, but they know it’s not at them! you just don’t know how to handle all this new information, and it certainly isn’t a normal dynamic, so of course it’ll take some time to get used to! this just means you need all the love they can possibly give you, to make sure you know just how special they really think you are, and how right they are for you ❤

#sinprompts

[immortalpramheda]

Game of Thrones ‘The Dragon and the Wolf’

This is going to be a very long post, but there is just so much to process.

We have come to the end of another season. Wow that went by fast. I loved the episode! I thought it was a fantastic way to end the season! There were so many great moments between characters. So many satisfying scenes. And the ending was epic and terrifying!

We finally see Grey Worm again. Last we saw of him and the Unsullied they had just taken Casterly Rock, when Euron’s ships came and attacked them. Well, they made it to King’s Landing and are standing out front, when the Dothraki come riding through. Jaime and Bronn look on, but they’re safe behind the castle walls, for now.

The rest of them arrive at King’s Landing. Jon has never been before, and he’s surprised that more people live in the city than live in all of the North. This is all so new to him. All he’s ever known is the North. The Hound checks on their dead prisoner. Yep, he’s still very much alive (dead alive?).

Cersei gets the Dragonpit ready for their guests, and tells The Mountain to kill all of them if anything goes wrong.

The crew all walk to the gates and are met by Bronn and some others to escort them. Brienne and Podrick are there too. There were all these mini reunions, which was great! Tyrion and Podrick! Bronn mentions something about Pod’s magic cock, which reminded me that we still don’t know what happened to those girls in the brothel way back in S3. Good to see they haven’t forgotten about that!

The Hound and Brienne. They haven't seen each other since their brutal fight, and Brienne thought he was dead. She tells him that Arya is alive. He’s happy to hear that she’s safe, and that she can take care of herself. All both of them were trying to do was protect her. He seems genuinely happy to hear that about her, and doesn’t plan on getting in her way. I need them to reunite!!

We get a proper reunion between Tyrion and Bronn! He tries to get Bronn to switch alliances, but he refuses. He’s convinced that Cersei is going to pay him for bringing her traitors. Honestly, I’d love for him to ally with Daenerys, but Cersei probably does have more gold than Dany. I guess he’ll just ally with whoever will pay him more.

The Dragonpit is incredible! It’s basically a ruin now, and unused. But it’s where the Targaryen’s used to house their dragons. Incredible! Such a cool set, and a part of King’s Landing we’ve never seen before.

Bronn takes Pod off to get a drink, leaving the others alone in the Dragonpit. They’re confused as to what is going on. And Dany wasn’t there either, because we all know she’ll wait for the perfect time to arrive.

Cersei and co finally arrive. Lots of looks and stares. Tyrion and Cersei, Euron and Theon, Jaime and Brienne, The Hound and The Mountain. All these characters together who have history, and that was just perfect! The Hound goes over to his brother and tells him how ugly he is, and that he’s eventually going to kill him. (Cleganebowl hype!!) Unfortunately, that didn’t happen this episode, but I’m still holding out hope that it will happen.

They’re not happy that Daenerys isn’t there yet. She’s late. But then she flies in on Drogon, in complete epic style! She had Rhaegal with her too, which was stupid because now they’ll know she’s lost one dragon. Drogon intimidates them. She’s showing how powerful she is, and telling them not to cross her. That was epic!

Jon tells them why they’re meeting, which is the threat of the army of the dead. Cersei just rolls her eyes and doesn’t believe them. She thinks it’s all a joke. But then comes the proof. In comes The Hound single handedly carrying the crate. He opens it up and they're all watching. For a second I was worried that it was dead. I mean, dead dead. If that’s even possible? But it wasn’t. It was still undead and it runs out at Cersei.

I wasn’t sure how Cersei was going to take it. I didn’t think she’d be convinced. But when the wight ran at her, she genuinely looked scared. For the first time ever, she looked terrified. I’ve never seen her look like that before.

The Hound chops it in half and it still keeps moving, proving to them that they’re not easily killed. Qyburn picks up it’s hand and is fascinated by it. He’s intrigued with how it’s possible. This is his type of thing.

Jon shows them the ways to kill them. By burning them, and with dragonglass. It was like he was giving a presentation. How to kill wights 101 or something like that. But he did a really great job! Jaime seems to believe it, and thinks that they need to help. Euron, on the other hand, decides to run off back to the Iron Islands. The army of the dead can’t swim, so he'll be safe there. He is such a coward. Or is he?

Cersei accepts the truce, and agrees to help fight. Which was surprisingly easy, and I didn’t buy it. It wasn’t that easy, she wants Jon to stay in the North and not take sides. She believes in the word of Ned Stark’s son. Just like his father, he is honourable and keeps his word. Ned was stupid and made stupid decisions, and Cersei decides to take advantage of that.

Jon should have just agreed, but he’s Jon Snow so of course he doesn’t. He tells her that he has pledged his allegiance to Dany. You idiot Jon! They came all the way here to call a truce, and Jon ruins it by telling the truth. Cersei retracts her offer. The North will be attacked first after all, which is not her concern.

Brienne tries to get Jaime to see reason. To get Cersei to fight for them, but he says he can’t because of loyalty. Well, Brienne tell shim to fuck loyalty. This is about life and death.

“We’re fucked.”

It's obvious that Dany was grateful for Jon pledging his allegiance to him, but he was so fucking stupid for saying it to Cersei. They’re frustrated that he can't just learn how to lie. But Jon, being the honourable person he is, says he can’t swear an oath he can’t keep. He can’t pledge his allegiance to two queens. He can't lie. It's not who he is. Yeah, and telling the truth is what got Ned killed. Please don’t make the same mistakes that he did. I know that your heart is pure and you’re one of the most honest people in the world, but you could you not be sometimes? Please.

Tyrion decides to go talk to his sister. Jaime says his goodbyes, because he knows that she will probably kill him. But the meeting actually goes reasonably well actually. Well, Cersei does tell him that he killed her children. It’s true that because he killed their father, they ended up getting killed. If Tywin were still alive, none of it would have happened. But he loved Myrcella and Tommen. Cersei knows he did. Tyrion tells her that he doesn’t hate their family, and that he advised Dany against attacking King’s Landing. But still Cersei hates him, and she almost gives the Mountain the order to kill him, but she can’t do it.

She softens. Possibly the first time we’ve ever seen her so vulnerable. She says that when the wight was charging at her, all she cared about was protecting her family. Tryion figures out she’s pregnant. Maybe Tryion got though to her, or maybe it's the pregnancy hormones (if she even is really pregnant because I'm not completely convinced).

“You’re not like everyone else.”

Jon and Dany have a conversation about how the dragons used to be locked in the Dragonpit and wouldn’t grow because of being confined in a small space. There is this tiny dragon skull on the ground. They didn't grow very much at all, which saddens Dany. She can’t imagine locking her children up like that. Because of being confined, the dragons eventually all wasted away and the Targaryen’s became like everyone else. But Jon tells her she’s different.

Then once again, Dany brings up that she can’t have children. Jon asks her who told her that. And she says, “The witch who murdered my husband.” And then Jon asks her if she's sure they were telling the truth. Very smooth pick up line Jon. He was basically asking her to try to get pregnant. With him.

Tyrion returns and it appears that him talking to Cersei changed her mind. She comes and says that she will fight alongside them. She will send her armies north to help fight. That seemed…. surprisingly easy. Did she really agree to to it that easily? Has being pregnant made her change that much? Well, not quite.

Meanwhile in Winterfell, Littlefinger is still trying to manipulate Sansa. She’s annoyed that Jon pledged his allegiance to Daenerys without telling her. And Littlefinger suspects that he wants to marry her. Well, he’s not wrong. They would be incredibly powerful together. He suggests that Jon could be unnamed King, and Sansa seems to consider it. But she says that Arya would probably try to kill her if she did that. Jon was always her favourite sibling. And she’s a Faceless Man now.

He then goes on to tell her that he plays a little game when trying to figure out someone. He assumes the worst of everyone. He tells her to apply that to Arya. The worst that she could do is murder Sansa and become Lady of Winterfell. There is no fucking way that Sansa was buying that. Arya has said countless times that she is not, nor does she ever want to be, a lady. But Sansa looks freaked out, and Littlefinger thinks he’s won. Oh boy, he has no idea whats coming. From that conversation it was obvious that Sansa was up to something.

Sansa asks for her sister to be bought to the Great Hall. Sansa and Bran sit at the table, while the other Lords watch as Arya is brought in. Littlefinger has a smirk on his face, This is exactly what he wanted. And just when I thought the Stark sisters were possibly going to destroy each other, Sansa said the greatest thing possible.

“You stand accused of murder. You stand accused of treason. How do you answer these charges... Lord Baelish.”

And she glances over at him. YES!!!! It was all their plan! The fighting, the pretending to be against each other. It was all a ploy. They wanted Littlefinger to think that his plan had worked. That he had turned them against each other! But the Stark's know what they’re doing. He is so fucking shocked! His face! Sansa accuses him of murdering their Aunt Lysa, and get getting their father murdered. He tries to deny it, saying they have no porrof. But nope, Bran sees everything. He saw what Littlefinger did. That's all the proof they need. So, I guess Bran told Sansa and Arya everything off screen and they came up with this plan?

Littlefinger then gets on his knees and begs Sansa. That is a sight I never thought I’d see. Petyr Baelish on his knees begging. Begging for his life. He speaks directly to Sansa, and says he loved her mother, and he loves her. But Sansa retorts and says he turned their mother and Lysa against each other, and tried to do the same thing to Sansa and Arya.

Then Arya comes and slashes his throat, with the Valyrian steel dagger. FUCK YES!!! Littlefinger is finally dead!! That scene was so satisfying!!! Yes!! I am so happy that Sansa came to her senses. It seemed like she was continually being manipulated by him and didn’t realise. But fuck yes! That Valyrian steel dagger is what started a whole lot of events back in S1. It was the dagger that almost killed Bran. It’s the reason that Catelyn captured Tyrion. And it was Littlefinger’s all along. What a poetic and satisfying end for his character. Littlefinger always used words to manipulate people, and even when his throat had been slit, he was still trying to talk his way out of fit.

The Arya/Sansa dynamic has been annoying me a bit the last few episodes, but this pay off was definitely worth it! I am so happy with the way they worked together to end Littlefinger.

Jon, Dany and co arrived back at Draonstone. I’m not that mad about the travel times, because Dragonstone is actually quite close to King’s Landing. It wouldn’t take too long to get back there. They discuss a strategy, and Dany agrees that it would be best for her to travel with Jon to Winterfell. Yeah, or she just wants to be close to Jon on a boat…

“You’re a Greyjoy, and you’re a Stark.”

We got a great scene between Jon and Theon. They grew up together. They both grew up as Stark’s, even though neither of them were. Ned was a father to both of them. And Theon betrayed them. It’s no secret that Jon doesn’t like him. But Theon basically bares his soul and apologises for all the things he’s done. He regrets so much. It pains me to see him like this. Yes, he’s done horrible things, but everybody makes mistakes. And he’s been through so much torture and so much pain. Jon forgives him for what he can, and tells him he will always be a Stark and a Greyjoy. His words give Theon the push he needs to go save his sister.

Those words could also be applied to Jon. Although he doesn’t know yet, he is both a Stark and a Targaryen.

Theon approaches the Greyjoy men, the ones who survived Euron’s attack, which isn’t many. He gives a speech, asking them to come help him save Yara. But they call him a coward for leaving her behind. They blame him for her getting captured. The main guy proceeds to beat him up. Theon isn’t very strong. After all the shit he’s been through, he’s become so weak. But he tries to fight back. Oh he tries. And then the guy kicks him between his legs, and he feels nothing. That was hilarious!! That's usually a mans weakness, but not for a eunuch. That gives him the upper hand and he beats the guy to death and rallies the rest of his men to go save his sister. Now it seems that Reek is completely dead, and Theon has been reborn. Finally!

Back in King’s Landing, Jaime has started calling their soldiers and sending them North. Cersei comes and accuses him of treason. Jaime is confused. She says he is stupid for believing she’d send their armies to fight for their enemies. I knew that her agreeing was too easy. But fuck this?? She’s not not even telling her brother these things now. Jaime knows that that’s the stupidest idea ever because they are betraying so many people. He is so fucking done with her. I can tell.

Oh, and she sent Euron to the Iron Bank. She's purchased the Golden Company, a huge army of sellswords. So Euron didn’t just run, he was in on Cersei’s plan.

Jaime does not agree with her at all. Cersei accuses him of treason again. Then she gives The Mountain the order to kill him. For a second I was so scared that Jaime was going to die. I legit thought he would. The finale hadn’t had much death yet and I legit thought Jaime was going to die.

“No one walks away from me.”

But Jaime doesn’t believe her. He calls her bluff and walks away. Cersei now has no one. Except for unborn child, who I’m guessing won’t ever be born. She’s just lost the last piece of family she had left.

Jaime rides away. He’s leaving King’s Landing. He’s leaving Cersei. He’s finally going to be free of her! I am so happy for him! He’s been wanting to get away from her for a while now, and I'm so happy he now finally is!

Then it starts snowing in King’s Landing. It never snows this far south, so this is huge. Winter has come. Daenerys’ vision in S2 is starting to come true.

Back in Winterfell, Sam shows up! He says he came to help Jon fight the White Walkers and army of the dead. But of course, Jon is still not back. And I’m guessing he still probably doesn’t know what happened to his father and brother. It’s going to be a bit awkward when he meets Daenerys, considering she burnt them alive.

He went to see Bran. He members when Sam let him through the Wall. Bran seemed a little more like himself in that scene. Maybe as he gets better control of his powers, he becomes more like his old self. He gives the speech about how he’s the Three Eyed Raven and Sam just nods and acts like he understands. Bran tells him that Jon is coming home soon, with Daenerys. And Sam asks, “Did you see that in a vision?” And Bran holds up a scroll. Lol.

Then Bran reveals to Sam that Jon’s parents are Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, and he was born in Dorne, meaning his name should be Jon Sand. And then Sam suddenly does remember what Gilly told him a few episodes ago. That prince ‘Ragger’ had his marriage annulled and married someone else in Dorne. Bran, who supposedly knows everything, had no idea. I guess that maybe he has all the information in his head, but he just can’t access it all at the same time. So he needs some sort of key words or something and can then conjure up a flashback maybe?

He sees a flashback of Rhaegar and Lyanna getting married. The first time we’ve seen Rhaegar (who legit looks exactly like Viserys) on the show. I actually had chills during this scene. It was so short, but so beautiful and so satisfying to actually get confirmation of all this. Bran pieces it all together. He remembers that Lyanna told Ned that Jon’s real name is Aegon Targaryen!! Aegon (eighth of his name I believe) is Jon’s real name!

“Robert’s Rebellion was built on a lie.”

Rhaegar didn’t kidnap or rape Lyanna, he loved her and she loved him. Lyanna’s supposed kidnapping is what started all the events that led up to Robert’s Rebellion. Jon was never a bastard. He is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. I was bawling my eyes out that this point. the Tower of Joy last season was so satisfying and this just added onto that. The truth its out there now. Jon just needs to know.

While Bran was piecing this all together, it flashed to the boat. Jon goes to Dany’s cabin, closes the door, and they have sex. Which was hot, don’t get me wrong. But Tyrion was listening, which was a little creepy. (And was Jorah on the boat too?? That’s a bit rude if he was. #friendzoned) And it was happening as Bran was narrating the truth about Jon. While he was telling us that they are definitely related, they were having sex, which was a bit of a turn off. But, Kit Harington’s butt right? And with all the talk about Dany not being able to get pregnant, I’m guessing that next season she will be pregnant with Jon’s baby.

“The lone wolf dies but the pack survives.”

Back at Winterfell Arya and Sansa have a nice chat, bonding over taking Littlefinger down. And they talk about their father. They were really getting along. Plus there was some sisterly teasing. That scene made me smile. I was worried that they really were turning against each other. But they’re on good terms now. That was a great way for them to end the season. Now we just need Jon to come back and reunite with Arya (which will be the most emotional reunion) and all the Stark’s will be back together!

Then the final scene of the season. Bran is warging into some ravens, as he does. We see Eastwatch. Tormund and Beric are there, and they see some White Walkers and army of the dead show up. And then along comes the Night King riding on an undead Viserion, and he breathes out blue fire (or ice-fire? not sure exactly how that works?). AND HE DESTROYS THE WALL!! Well, part of it. Eastwatch is basically destroyed. But, we didn’t see Tormund die, so I believe he’s still alive. He still needs to make babies with Brienne. He can’t die before he’s achieved that.

That ending was epic! I guessed it, because I knew that would be an incredible way to end penultimate season. The visuals, and just the scope of the ending scene were incredible. The last shot of the army of the dead heading south led by the Night King on a dragon was breathtaking and terrifying.

Amazing end to the season! Personally, I loved the whole season. Sure, it was very fast paced and the travelling times didn’t really make sense. But I’d prefer this than episodes of characters just travelling. And this is a fantasy show, of course it’s not going to be entirely realistic. So much happened on each episode, and it was overall an incredible season. I can’t believe there are only 6 episodes left, and we might have to wait 2 years to see it. I’m on such a high from this seson. So damn much happened, and honestly I probably need a year (or two) to process it all anyway. And I can always rewatch the show, and hope the next book comes out before then. This season has been a wild ride.

So, I have a few questions. Where was Gendry? He wasn't in King’s Landing, and we didn’t see him at Eastwatch. He only just came back so he better not be dead.

I wonder how Edd is going at Castle Black? Only the Wall at Eastwatch seemed to be destroyed, so hopefully Edd has everything under control at his end.

Where is Ghost? We haven’t seen him all season. I know it’s mainly because of budget reasons, but it still would have been nice to see him at least once. Or even get a mention of him. It seems that Jon just completely forgot about him.

Jon’s real name is Aegon, but Rhaegar had a son with Elia named Aegon. It seems a bit odd to have two sons with the same name. But, I guess Jon was born after Rhaegar, Elia and their kids were killed. So maybe Lyanna wanted to pass on the name?? I’m not sure. Or, I guess because Young Griff (fake Aegon Targaryen) in the books is not in the TV show they wanted to include the name somehow.

I’m still a bit conflicted about Jon and Dany’s relationship. They have undeniable chemistry, and that boat sex was hot. But I wish would see more of them getting closer. So far they’ve just been staring longingly at each other, and only talk about alliances and war. I want to see them actually talk and get to know each other. I think that’s why it’s lacking a bit for me. They have so much that they could talk about.

They are both actually quite similar. They both started with nothing, and look where they are now. Jon grew up as a bastard and is now the King in the North. Daenerys was sold off to the Dothraki by her brother, and now she has three dragons and a huge army. They both lost their first loves in tragic ways. Jon lost Ygritte, and hasn’t been with anyone else since. Dany lost Drogo, and hasn’t loved anyone else since. There was Daario, but we all know she never loved him. He was just a comfort for her. Someone who took a liking to her. I wish they would talk to each other about their first loves.

Jon didn’t want to open his heart to anyone after Ygritte died, but now he has allowed himself to fall in love again. That is huge for him. I know Jon is not one to talk about his feelings, but I wish he would feel comfortable enough to. And, Ygritte was kissed by fire because of her red hair, and Dany literally has fire within her.

Same with Dany. After Drogo, her sun and stars, died, she’s been reluctant to open her heart to anyone else. But now she has to Jon.

My point being, they’ve both only ever been in love once, and now the second time they truly fall in love is with each other.

Dany is definitely going to get pregnant. There have been so many hints that she will. The witch told her only death can pay for life. Now that one of her dragons has died, maybe she can have a baby. How are they going to act when they find out they’re related? It’ll be a bit awkward. I don’t think Dany will have much of a problem with it, considering she is a product of incest herself. But Jon might be a bit grossed out.

Some predictions for next season:

Now that the White Walkers and army of the dead can get through the Wall, they are first going to attack the north. With the way time has been going, they’re going to arrive at Winterfell fairly soon, I hope they’re ready to fight. They were training everyone right? Lyanna Mormont is going to be a hero I bet.

Theon is going to save Yara, and hopefully kill Euron.

Jon will ride Rhaegal.

Cleganebowl will happen. It’s got to happen right? They were just teasing us this episode.

Jaime will kill Cersei. Or, one of my favourite theories, Arya will kill Cersei wearing Jaime’s face. Either way, Cersei will die.

The Iron Throne will be destroyed, and there will no one on the throne. I think the show will end with a whole new democracy. Kings, Queens, succession, highborn, lowborn etc. None of that will matter. It will be a whole new and better world. That’s how I think the show will end.

This whole mess could have been prevented if Rhaegar and Lyanna just told people that they were in love. Robert’s Rebellion never would have happened if they'd just told everyone the truth. The war started because of Rhaegar and Lyanna. Jon, their son, and Daenerys, Rhaegar’s sister, are going to end it. Which will be poetic end.

What an episode and what a season! Now for the dreaded long hiatus.

#game of thrones #got season 7 #got s7 #game of thrones recap #the dragon and the wolf #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #dany x jon #jaime lannister #cersei lannister #tyrion lannister #arya stark #sansa stark #the hound #the mountain #argon targaryen #brienne of tarth #tormund giantsbane #littlefinger #petyr baelish #bronn of the blackwater #ser davos #bran stark #samwell tarly #drogon #dragons #viserion #rhaegal #targaryen #lyanna stark