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tamurilofrivendell · 1 year

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A Kiss | Thranduil x Reader

Pairing Thranduil/Female Reader

Read on AO3

Content: It's pretty much just smut. Consume responsibly.

Prompt: (#9 on this list). It’s in bold in the text below.

Requested by anon.

The throne room had been abuzz with movement and noise all day as audience after audience took place before the King in quick succession. You could see that Thranduil was getting frustrated and drained as the time wore on. It barely showed of course, he was very adept at keeping himself composed, but you noticed all the same.

Truthfully, you couldn't keep your eyes off him and your attention continually drifted from the carousel of people who came to stand before the throne, to the King who sat there at the top of it. He was still wearing his winter crown, the spring season not yet fully flowered. Dressed in expensive fabric of mossy greens and muted golds, he sat with his silver waterfall of hair flowing down his broad shoulders, and his head was tilted just ever so slightly, looking far more interested in those before him than he actually was.

“Stop looking at me like that.” The Elvenking’s deep booming voice was fairly nonchalant when it came, as the doors closed after the final audience had concluded, but there was an edge to it. An edge that you mistook for anger until the rest of the sentence fell from his lips a beat later. “Or I’m going to kiss you.”

You blinked up at him. Oh. So, your looks had not been quite so subtle as you had thought them to be. You turned, sweeping your gaze across the room. Everybody had left. You knew guards were positioned at the entryway but the one that usually stood below the throne while Thranduil held court in here was missing.

With a soft smile, you turned back to look at him. His intense gaze was pinned on you and you could see a darkness in his eyes that you recognised immediately as desire. That, too, had been the reason for the edge in his earlier tone.

"Would that help your mood, my lord?" You asked innocently as you moved towards the steps at the bottom of his throne. Thranduil was watching you intently, his head tilted again, this time definitely as interested as he looked.

"A kiss?" You concluded, your feet moving and carrying you slowly up the steps, moving towards where Thranduil sat waiting.

He hummed softly, an affirmative, keen eyes following every little movement you made, every step that carried you towards him until you were standing directly before him.

Amusement danced with the desire in his gaze as he looked upon you.

"I do believe that would certainly help, little dove." Thranduil said in response, holding eye contact. You could have squirmed under the intensity of it.

"As my king wishes." You murmured in response, taking a step towards him. Thranduil's knees parted and a shiver ran through you as you stepped between them and leaned in slowly. Pausing just briefly before pressing a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth.

Thranduil growled his disapproval as you started to pull away again, a playful smirk tugging at your lips, but you didn't get far as he locked his knees in, trapping you between them. "Now, little star." He looked up at you with a small smirk in spite of himself, aware of the game you were playing with him. "That is not what your king wishes."

You looked back at him for a moment before you leaned in again. You had thought about getting him to chase you but he had caught you before you could even move so you decided you would comply. However, you were just a little disappointed, thinking that you'd have liked far more than a kiss and this was hardly the place.

Or so you thought.

As your mouth met Thranduil's, his hands gripped your waist and pulled you down with ease. You squealed in surprise and he took advantage of your open mouth, sliding his tongue in as you found yourself seated with your legs astride his lap.

You happily deepened the kiss, enjoying the taste and the feel of him. His hands soon began to wander, sliding up under the little intricately stitched lace top you had paired with your skirt that morning, causing another delicious shiver to shoot through you.

Thranduil continued his exploration of your body, delighting in your warm skin, hands moving of their own accord up to your breasts. You gasped softly into his mouth as his skilled fingers kneaded and massaged, tugging softly on a nipple every so often.

You writhed under his touch, kisses becoming harsher at his ministrations but it was nothing compared to when his fingers worked their way back down your body, one arm sliding round your waist as support and the other edging ever lower, down beneath your skirt, Thranduil seeking his most desired prize.

Bucking slightly at the feel of his fingers brushing between your legs, you broke the kiss and sucked in a deep breath. Your eyes opened so you could look at him.

"Here...?" You asked breathlessly, even as his fingers began to gently stroke between your legs, pulling soft sighs from your lips.

Thranduil nodded, watching your every expression like a hawk, every movement and sound you made only heightening his own desire, which was quickly making itself known between you both as he felt himself harden.

"Here." He replied firmly, voice hoarse as he pulled you in for another kiss.

In the same moment, one of his fingers dipped inside you and you gasped again, the sound quickly swallowed into the hot cavern that was Thranduil's mouth.

Soon, a second finger had followed the first and you were squirming and wriggling in his lap, the movements only causing friction against his own arousal. He gritted his teeth as he continued to move his fingers inside of you, wanting to make you ready for him. His thumb focused on your swollen nub and he groaned softly as his fingers slid a little deeper, past where first they had found resistance.

His mouth had moved from your own by this point and he was tracing delicate little kisses down your throat and across your collar bone. Your head had tipped back to grant him easier access as you lost yourself to the pleasure he was bestowing upon you.

Thranduil practically growled as he felt you tighten against his fingers, moving faster as he pushed you towards your impending orgasm. A cry ripped itself from your throat as you came, his fingers leaving you empty as you gripped onto his shoulders to hold yourself steady.

When you opened your eyes, you noticed Thranduil had removed his erection from his slacks and was lazily stroking himself to the image of you coming undone before him.

Hot desire ripped through you at the sight of him.

Ignoring your still-shaking legs, you reached down between you both and replaced his hand with your own, giving him a few soft strokes, delighting in the sounds it pulled from him.

He could take it no more, you knew, as his hands harshly gripped your waist and moved, helping you to position yourself above him. You began to sink down onto him but it was too slow for his liking and he tugged at your waist, sheathing himself inside you.

You barely knew where his moan started and your own ended.

Thranduil started to move then, impatient, but you were more than happy to meet his thrusts, finding you'd recovered enough from your previous orgasm.

The empty throne room was suddenly full again, this time with your loud moans and gasps, neither of you caring how loud the two of you became. The guards at the entryway were more than loyal and you knew they would act as though nothing had happened at all.

Watching Thranduil as he thrust again and again, you could tell when he was reaching his peak. His breathing became more laboured and his thrusts more sloppy as his eyes began to fight to stay open.

He liked to watch your face but sometimes he could not stop his own pleasure from overcoming him completely.

You wanted it to.

As he thrust up to meet you one last time, your hand moved down between your bodies. He didn't even notice until, suddenly, your hand came into contact with him, lightly cupping his balls.

A cry ripped itself from his throat at the sensation and his grip on you tightened, his hips stuttering as he hit his peak, spilling inside you as you soon followed with your own pleasure.

Then there was a silence that was only broken by the pair of you attempting to catch your breath. Your legs were jelly as you slumped forward, your forehead against his firm chest. Thranduil sucked in a few more deep breaths before he finally lifted his hand and ran his fingers through your hair. He kissed the top of your head with a little chuckle that caused you to raise your head to look at him.

"Now that, little dove, was exactly what your king needed after such a dreadful day."

Smirking, you smacked his shoulder playfully as he laughed again and then stood, sweeping you up into his arms. You relaxed against him with another sigh as he moved out of the door that connected his private chambers with the throne room.

A nice long hot bath and a relaxing rest of the night with you in his arms was in order, he decided.

#thranduil x reader #thranduil x you #thranduil fanfiction #thranduil fanfic #thranduil smut #requests

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targsource · 1 month

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GAME OF THRONES CHARACTER POSTERS throwback: ice and fire

featuring: Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen in Season Three (1/2), Season Four (3/4), Season Six (5/6), Season Seven (7/8), Season Eight (9/10)

#jon snow #daenerys stormborn #tv: game of thrones #other tags:#daenerys targaryen #queen daenerys targaryen #game of thrones #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf

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demigoddessqueens · 2 years

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Steal your family’s look!

#aemond targaryen #aemond the kinslayer #aemond one eye #aemond #prince aemond #daemon targeryan #daemon targaryen #hotd #hotd season 1 #hotd spoilers #hotd ep 9 #house of the dragon #house of the dragon spoilers #game of thrones

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wander-wren · 1 month

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sometimes i wonder about what fandom is going to look like in 5 or 10 years. i think we might have already started to see a shift.

because, look, most of the oldest, biggest fandoms are from tv shows and movies, in particular ones that go on for years and scores of episodes. star trek, star wars, stargate (is everything star?), doctor who, supernatural…even sherlock really got its biggest popularity boosts in the modern day from tv adaptations. marvel and dc were comics first, too, but movies made them more accessible; their “cinematic universe” tags are the biggest on ao3 by far.

but what tv shows are we getting now? short, 8-episode things that get canceled two or three seasons in, that are usually less-than-faithful adaptations of other media anyway.

what movies are we getting? well, marvel turns more to slop every day, and everything else is remakes and sequels no one asked for. the general populace will still go see them and find some good movies that they like, but there’s not much really for fandom to grasp onto.

the best shows for fandom that we’ve had recently, that i can think of, are stranger things, game of thrones, and maybe our flag means death. stranger things is dying off, especially since they’re looking at a 3-4 YEAR gap between s4 and s5. game of thrones’s popularity plummeted after its final season, we all know that. our flag means death is still chugging fairly okay, but after that second season a lot of the fandom dropped it, and with it now being cancelled, i don’t see it sticking around.

yes, we can chalk part of this up to a new generation to of fans having this growing idea that fandom is super temporary, to be abandoned as soon as its not on trend. but media used to be on trend for a whole lot longer than it is now. seasons were longer, we had filler episodes, things were lower quality sometimes but at least they came out on a consistent schedule. i don’t mind if supernatural isn’t an artistic masterpiece, but if i was a stranger things fan waiting until 2026 for the final season, i would be annoyed if it wasn’t damn near perfect. that’s assuming i watched it at all—we’re all so used to not getting endings and moving on, so why would i bother?

i think there are two types of shows doing sort of okay about this. one is procedurals—9-1-1 is a popular one i’ve run into, and it started in 2018, around the beginning of the decline, but it’s managed 7 seasons in those six years, most of them with 18 episodes. the other is, honestly, anime—though we can and SHOULD talk about the terrible working conditions that make the fast turnarounds there possible. look at how big some anime fandoms are.

judging by the relative fandom popularity of other procedural dramas (grey’s anatomy, law & order, criminal minds), i think that’s going to remain sort of niche. fandom likes fantasy and scifi best, and they just don’t tend to have as strong of an overarching arc to dig into. at least, that’s why i wouldn’t watch them. i think there’s also a good chance these will start to die out in the coming years as well.

anime could also die out a little bit. better working conditions would necessitate less/slower content, and it’s true that most of the popular anime fandoms have been around for years, even decades.

so, what, no new, lasting tv show or movie fandoms anymore?

what will the biggest fandoms be in 5-10 years?

podcast fandoms have a shot. the magnus archives is still going strong, and i’ve been seeing a lot about dungeons and daddies. i think we’re kind of almost past the golden age for podcasts, but i am an outsider, so maybe that will change.

book fandoms seem like a kind of obvious choice, but they just don’t get as big without, you guessed it, a movie or show adaptation. and the downsizing has hit them, too—can you think of anything from the last 5 or 10 years that rivals harry potter, percy jackson, warriors, lord of the rings, hunger games, acotar…even game of thrones (asoiaf) again? i can’t. the collapse of the publishing industry is another post entirely.

2020 is really what cemented these changes, though they were starting in the late 2010s, at least. with actual industries shutting down, there was room for indie creators making things alone in their houses to pop up, and people had more time on their hands to try new things out and get into them.

the two things that have really been on the rise since 2020 is rpf and video game fic—often both combined. we’ve got genshin impact, call of duty, minecraft of course being huge, rpf of various youtubers, and k-pop rpf. now, i think rpf is contentious enough that it won’t really become the main fandom, but video game fic…might be it.

even video blogging rpf can often be a blurred enough line that people are more comfortable with it. and the thing is…youtube creators are actually more reliable than mainstream television these days. they need to be, to maintain their platforms. they need to not cancel series and to live up to their own hype as best they can and to not abandon the channel for 3 or 4 years at a time. and again, you can talk about burnout and unrealistic expectations and all of those things, but it’s still true.

maybe i’m completely wrong. maybe in 10 years the film and publishing industries will all sort themselves out and we’ll go back to the status quo. but i think this position fandom is finding itself in is interesting, and i wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if what’s most popular (both in the specific source material sense and the medium/genre sense) is different some time down the road.

#wren wrambles #fanfiction #ao3 #fandom #fandom meta #fanfic #fanfiction meta #i’m curious what other people think about this #tempted to tag the fandoms i mentioned for reach but. dont know. we’ll see how this does

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thornescratch · 5 months

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BaileyAJohnson_: Needed to highlight this photo from washpostnewton and caption from our incredible desk PostSports — everyone met the moment on this one. And you can see more of their work (including a photo where Dylan Strome is not buried by his teammates) here.

Capitals: Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 9 (48:34)

#DON'T KILL HIM DOWD #A sweaty swarm of hockey LOVE #You can just see Strome's helmet peep up before Willy clutches it to his breast #Dylan Strome #Nic Dowd #TJ Oshie #Tom Wilson #Alexander Ovechkin #Caps Ensemble #Hockey hugs #Washington Capitals

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friendly-stardust · 11 months

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These incompetent showrunners really went in for the kill with Aegon II's character assassination

I know this has been said over and over again already but I am actually truly amazed at how far the showrunners/writers went to completely assassinate Aegon's character to make sure that he is portrayed in the worst possible way. As this has already been highlighted numerous times, he is characterised even worse than Mushroom's degenerate description of him in Fire and Blood. They really went as far as presenting us with a caricature, a monstrosity that cannot be believable to be human.

This claim of wanting to make a grey character out of this mustache-twirling villain stereotype they have created to put up against a heroic Disney princess, is just an insult to audiences who came in to watch an actual intelligent and well-written show.

I have never seen such blatant character assassination disguised as some profound creation of a grey character.

In this inconsistent fanfiction seemingly made for the glorification of Saint Perfect Girlboss Rhaenyra, her direct foil and opponent Aegon II is made to be:

A sexual deviant, masturbating out of a widow in his teenage years, and maybe a pedophile (with that ridiculous sentence from the Brothel Madam in the horrendous episode 9).

A bully, mercilessly bullying his younger brother Aemond.

A rapist, of course! How best to destroy a male character in this day and age if not by making him an obvious rapist! And then they want to talk about complex characterisation? LOL! Sara Hess knew what she was doing here.

Of course, a sadist who enjoys watching brutal children's fights (also including his own bastards) in a pit - the epitome of a laughingly cringe tentative to paint a character as the ultimate villain.

An abusive husband to his sister-wife, obviously! let's just pile on, shall we, even when nothing in the text in F&B suggests or supports any such claim.

A coward, willing to abandon his family and his dragon (his pride) to sail away and hide, leaving them at the mercy of Daemon and Rhaenyra's whims and wishes - the complete opposite of his character in F&B!

A great work of destruction indeed! All of these are just blatant and obvious willingness from these showrunners/writers to obliterate his characterisation in order to prop up Saint Girlboss Rhaenyra, but nothing makes my blood boil more than the multiple sexual deviances (the abject rapist characterisation being the worst offender), and the implied abusive relationship with Haleana they completely created in order to drive home how awful Aegon is supposed to be seen as opposed to the complete whitewashed version of their favorite girlboss. Maybe next season, Aegon will be shown to be someone who loves torturing puppies, who knows?

And even when the actor TGC made his concern well known, those amateurish writers just brushed it aside, while someone who is on record for saying that she has not even bothered to watch Game of Thrones (the incompetent Sara Hess) decided to tarnish and destroy his character even more by claiming to want to make it more like GoT. Absolute joke this one!

I just recently read something about how Jesse Amstrong (Succession) listened to Arian Moayed (playing Stewy Hosseini) and respected his decision to not be depicted as a typical bad representation of Iranians in Western media and this just made me realise even more how inept HotD showrunners/writers are at taking into consideration valid concerns from one of their own actors.

Overall, HotD has just been a massive disappointment on the writing side. The writing is cringe and horrendous, making it just an expensive CW-level show with a bigger budget. A huge letdown and an absolute travesty of the book characters.

#hotd critical #hotd #bad writing #aegon ii targaryen

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mejcinta · 3 months

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This scene will definitely be a set up of how Aegon rules (without motivation at first). I think, he still doubts Alicent's words that Viserys approved of him as king. And even if he did believe, he still thinks and feels like he's not cut out for the job and that brews some fear and insecurity.

You can spot some subjects that don't bow in this pic and Otto in the front waiting to steer Aegon. We could see how eager or not Aegon is to address his subjects as well as how he responds to Otto.

It's very probable that the scene of him on the throne here appearing pissed could be when a defiant lord, one of those that have not bowed to him in the throne room shot above, challenges his authority.

I mean, let's face it. Beesbury's death is being kept a secret and his house is probably there to demand answers. Aegon also looks a bit dishevelled, especially his hair...giving the impression he came later than expected and Otto is displeased with him, as well as some of his subjects who were waiting.

Should one of the lords speak out against Aegon, he could order they be detained, against Otto's directive not to do so. Aegon could use that chance to spurn Otto's control and show his subjects he's capable of ruling with an iron fist. Defiance will not be tolerated.

Ruling as King will begin as a game for Aegon, using power to serve vegeance to anyone that mistreated him, especially Otto, and maybe Alicent to a lesser extent.

However, Blood and Cheese could be the incident that finally thrusts Aegon into reevaluating the importance of his responsibilities as King. He's been warned by Alicent many times that the lives of his loved ones would be made forfeit if Rhaenyra took the throne. Loss, grief and vengeance will give him the motivation he lacks.

Since episode 9 of season 1 failed to show Aegon accepting to be king so as to protect his family, I imagine s2 will rectify this glaring problem by having Aegon take it upon himself to protect what remains of his family after B&C. Spite, guilt and anger will drive him into being more responsible if not more serious and proactive.

#hotd trailer #hotd season 2 #hotd theories #aegon ii targaryen #king aegon ii #otto hightower #alicent hightower #blood and cheese #helaena targaryen #jaehaerys ii targaryen #jaehaera targaryen #maelor targaryen #helaegon

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butterflydm · 8 months

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wot rewatch (book spoilers edition): 2x5

Not only is this one going to have spoilers for all the aired episodes plus any teasers (including the trailer for episode 6), it will also have book spoilers through book 14: A Memory of Light.

An interesting change from the books is Suroth calling Loial a slave -- in the books, the Ogier of the elite guard are very specifically not enslaved (I wonder if they got as badly jacked up by the Longing as the ones in the Westlands but their 'solution' ended up involving the Empress and the Crystal Throne somehow?). Since this exception is never explained in the books, I don't have any issue with it being changed.

2. I also think we are getting some really good set-up here for a potential fracture in the Seanchan once we get deeper into the series -- a fulfillment of the narrative promise that Jordan set up in books 2-9 but then backed away from once we hit Crossroads of Twilight & Knife of Dreams. I'm hopeful that we're actually going to get the Seanchan civil war that the books never gave us but that they desperately needed in order for Mat's characterization to make any damn sense in CoT & KoD.

3. The idea that Ishamael is being something akin to Suroth's Truthspeaker makes a lot of sense (I think only the Imperial family has Truthspeakers in the books? but it makes sense to expand them outward).

4. That Fain plays the game so well with Turak here can serve as a hint that he's playing the subservience game with Ishamael as well (who killed the Fade? in other words).

5. The saa in Lanfear's eyes! I love that we're getting a super-charged look at the True Power this early on. I definitely approve of the change of the Forsaken getting brought back with the True Power rather than being put in new bodies -- that can work in a book, but in a show, you want to keep your actors. Especially when they're so good!

6. The Elyas scene does feel like Elyas is essentially doing triple-duty this season: he's himself (Wolfbrother lore dump); he's Hurin (sniffer who leads them after Fain); he's Noam (completely detached from his previous human life).

7. I do like how Elyas feels... somewhat amoral (not immoral!) -- he cares about his fellow wolves (including Perrin) and only his fellow wolves. Obviously, part of the reason that's there is so that viewers will wonder if Ishamael (the Father of Lies) was telling the truth about Perrin becoming closer to the Shadow the closer he gets to the wolves but that's... a good thing, I think, for Perrin's narrative arc. It gives him a grounded reason to try to avoid embracing the wolves. The show has done a really good job in giving characters believable motivations for their behavior.

Show: has Elyas diss every human that Perrin cares about because he's trying to tell Perrin that he belongs with the wolves and not the humans.

Some Book Readers: Ah-ha! Laila wasn't his pack? Darkfriend!

It was just so clear to me, in watching the episode, that Elyas mentioning Perrin's wife was the last straw that made Perrin push him away. It was not meant as a Darkfriend hint of any kind! Elyas did not know Laila as a person! He does not care about Laila as a person! It's pretty clear that he only cares about Perrin (because he's a fellow Wolfbrother). That's why he only saved Perrin from the caravan; that's why he led Perrin eastward instead of west. He has zero interest in putting himself in danger to help humans; he does not identity with humans.

8. Ooo, I wonder if we're going to see Perrin's wolf name visualized at some point by the wolves -- Young Bull with his axe that is also his horns, strong and protective. Again, the show has done such a good job in showing us the Perrin that I think Jordan wanted us to see but that he didn't quite manage -- pretty much every show-only reactor sees Perrin as genuinely considerate and empathetic and believes that he has a good heart and wouldn't leave people to suffer.

9. Brilliant choice to have Aviendha introduced here and be part of Perrin's storyline. I do really like how Elayne, Aviendha, and Min have all been part of another main character's plotline before anything implied romantic between them and Rand happens. Hopefully, the show does the same thing with Tuon in the season when she gets introduced. I'm going to guess that (rather than going along with Perrin because of Faile) Bain and Chiad are going to help Aviendha meet her toh towards Perrin once she's told that she needs to become a Wise One apprentice and Bain and Chiad will travel with him to the Two Rivers. I suspect that Gaul will be introduced next season as well.

10. I also really like the way they set up Dain and Perrin's future dynamic here as well -- Dain realizes that Perrin is from the Two Rivers, so that gives him a reason to go there after he (mistakenly?) thinks that Perrin has killed his father. I do wonder whether or not Fain will go to the Two Rivers at all. It's kinda... crowded over there, since we know that Slayer was cast (I think). There isn't, imo, any real need for Fain to corrupt the Whitecloaks in the show -- I feel like they can corrupt themselves just fine. (I kinda feel that way about Elaida too) -- and it might be good to tie Fain back into Rand and/or Mat's plotlines.

11. The Seanchan and the Whitecloaks both have a 'evil but not the evil of the Dark One' situation going on, and we kinda get that here, with the (new) innkeeper being even more unhappy with being occupied by Whitecloaks than by the Seanchan. I actually like that they have the new innkeeper here selfishly being okay with the Seanchan -- the issue that I had with various plotlines in CoT & KoD wasn't "it's unrealistic for anyone to be collaborators with the slavers", of course some/many people are selfish enough that it doesn't matter to them that some people get enslaved as long as it isn't them; it was an issue with specific characters turning collaborator without there being anywhere near enough work in the characterization or narrative to justify it. That was the issue that I had.

Especially since this same conversation does illustrate how selfish this man's PoV is, if you pay attention to the dialogue. The old innkeeper's granddaughter was kidnapped by the Seanchan -- SHE would not agree with him that they're totally chill if you only just swear the oaths.

12. Seeing Lady Suroth like this, 'dressed down', as it were, gave me quite a start. She looks almost naked without the super-long nails and the helmet and with me being able to see that she has no eyebrows. Like, it gives her a big 'pathetic and vulnerable' vibe even though she's been just as awful as she was in her introduction.

And it makes me wonder... are people who are sympathetic to Tuon in Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams also more likely to be good at visualization when they read? Because, personally, I don't see pictures in my head when I read books. I think it's part of the reason why I can so easily accept adaptations in the first place -- there's no prior image that I need to override. I had no firm mental image of how 'Rand' or 'Nynaeve' or anyone looked in the books, so the actors can easily become that person for me. It's all just... words in my head for me. The most that I ever visualize is something akin to black and white abstract sketches.

How this relates to Tuon: one of the deeply frustrating things about CoT+ Mat to me is how he behaves like Tuon is 'not like the other Seanchan' even though her behavior on the page is just as rancid and terrible as any other Blood. But, in her descriptions in CoT & KoD, she doesn't visually resemble other Seanchan anymore -- her hair is growing out, she's in Westlands clothing instead of Seanchan High Blood clothing. But as someone who doesn't visualize characters and scenes when I'm reading a book, the clothes that a character is wearing has little to no impact on my perception of them as a character.

Is it different if you do/can visualize how differently Tuon looks when she's traveling with Mat vs how she looked when she was embedded in the Seanchan power structure? Because it really does genuinely confuse me when I see people repeat what Mat says about her being different from the other Seanchan because her behavior is just... identical to all the other Seanchan Blood from what I've seen in the books -- intensely political and manipulative; firmly supports and believes in slavery; gets off on torture and abuses her slaves even while believing that she's the bestest and kindest slave owner in the world; thinks of herself as inherently better because she's Of The Blood, etc. I remember when Mat places her in the same 'better than other nobles' category as Talmanes in KoD, my brain just bluescreened because he's consistently been shown on the page that she's still just as awful as the others (the chapter where she literally collars and tortures three of his allies is certainly never anything I'm forgetting, even if Mat 'goldfish' Cauthon forgot about it five minutes after it happened). But, yeah, if you visualize characters and scenes when reading books, do those visuals have an impact on how you think of the characters?

(on a character level, I understand why Mat would lie to himself about Tuon if he genuinely believes himself to be trapped in a marriage with her -- the issue with that is two-fold though: a. with Mat's other lies to himself, we are given outside context with other PoVs and behavior from other characters to see that he's lying while in CoT and KoD, we're pretty firmly locked into Mat's warped perspective, and b. Jordan did a shit job of showing why Mat gave up so quickly and just believed that he's doomed to be married to Tuon without him making ANY attempts at fighting the prophecy)

13. Looking forward to the future... I do suspect that we'll still get Semirhage trying to shape and mold Tuon (unless we don't get enough seasons), but I think in the end (exploring @sixth-light's idea about having a split Seanchan Empire instead of having the Sharans), we may end up with Suroth in charge of one half of the Seanchan (who will fight for the Shadow) and one half led by Tuon (who will fight for the Light) and that we will, hopefully, be getting a Tuon who actually has to confront what being a sul'dam means and that the Seanchan will fracture on the issue of slavery (which would make their American accents even more apt) instead of the Westlands characters becoming friends and lovers with gleefully cruel slavers. Having Tuon's 'stubbornness' and pushback against Semirhage actually lead to her questioning the established order would be so much more powerful than her stubbornness being used as an excuse for her dodging and avoiding any character growth for the entire time that she hangs around.

14. I hope that Aviendha's amusement here over Perrin's protectiveness is perhaps going to be more of the vibe we get with Rand & the Maidens once that relationship gets going. Rand really doesn't have the same reasons (so far) to be as unreasoningly overprotective of them as he is in the books, since the Two Rivers in the show aren't Weird about women in danger the way that the books are. It's very much a Perrin hangup because of his wife and we've seen it develop over time. And if Rand feels some protectiveness, I'd like it to be tied more towards him feeling like he doesn't want to lose any of his newfound family.

15. It feels clear that Moiraine is absolutely still bound by the Three Oaths. She obviously WANTS to lie in the scene where she's introducing Rand to Anvaere and Barthanes, but she isn't able to. It's played very much the same way as when she was caught in the Oath last season (one of the funniest moments in S1 is when she wants to tell the Two Rivers' kids that she trusts them now but she absolutely doesn't trust them and can't say the words).

16. So, who in this scene is a Darkfriend. I suspect that Barthanes is and I suspect that Anvaere is not. Anvaere's information session with Moiraine last episode completely destroyed the Shadow's plans for Rand -- it could be the Shadow tripping over itself but I suspect it's just that Anvaere is what she seems to be -- a very political but non-Shadow-aligned person.

17. I wonder if the end of the next episode is going to timeskip us the few weeks to the wedding (thus making it so that Egwene spends several weeks in 'training') -- or maybe we'll timeskip between episodes 6&7. From the preview, it looks like we're going to spend some serious time showing how horrible and dehumanizing the damane 'training' is. What they might do is show us the initial beginning of it -- and then we jump forward and see how things are after several weeks? The mention of the wedding just feels... potentially significant, since it's not from the books. This would give Perrin time to travel to Falme with Aviendha; Mat and Min would have time to get to Cairhien; Elayne and Nynaeve would have time to bond; and Siuan would also have time to get to Cairhien, since we know she goes there at some point. And it might mean that, along with Egwene getting her 'training' from Renna, we might also get Rand getting some training from Logain and potentially Lan as well.

18. I love Verin kickstarting the Black Ajah Hunt so much. I already talked about this a lot in my earlier post about Darkfriends, so I won't get into it here but: fantastic choice. It does imply to me that we don't really need the Wondergirls to go back to the Tower next season to get their Black Ajah Hunting instructions, since there's already a Hunt started by full Sisters. Which I would be fine with -- they literally spend less than a week in the White Tower in book 3. They dip in for Egwene & Elayne's tests, to get more instructions from Siuan, and then dip out again. I feel like the show could easily have them decide to hunt the Black Ajah of their own accord (Nynaeve in particular has a reason to want to go after Liandrin).

19. I do not think that Sheriam knows that Verin is 'Black Ajah' or that Liandrin is (more genuinely) Black Ajah. She and Liandrin were at odds too much earlier in the season over Nynaeve imo. Joiya, otoh, I think might know that Liandrin is also Black Ajah, because she immediately backed Liandrin up in the big group discussion.

20. "We respect the One Power so much that we don't believe that anyone should wield it by accident of birth". I've seen other people (reactors on youtube) wondering if this conversation means that the Seanchan already know that sul'dam are learners, since they talk about training the sul'dam for years and them earning the right to use the One Power, but this line in particular makes me feel like they don't know. Because sul'dam are only sul'dam because of an 'accident of birth' as well. I'm sure that we'll find out, because the realization of the sul'dam secret was a pretty huge moment with Egwene in the books (even if Min & Nynaeve appeared to have completely forgotten the information when they were spending time with Rand later in the series) so it will definitely stand out if it gets played differently and Renna doesn't get that horror of realizing that she, too, is marath'damane.

21. I've also seen people wonder why the damane & sul'dam didn't catch on that Liandrin was channeling to wake the girls and free Nynaeve, but she was channeling that entire time (to hold open the Waygate) so her tiny weave would have been masked by the larger one.

22. Aviendha's attitude towards obligation and honor is going to be such an interesting contrast to how weighed down Rand is by his obligations. Looking forward to them getting some good scenes together in s3.

23. I hope Egwene gets to hit Renna over the head in this version too. And collar her to the wall. I can already tell that this is going to be painful and intense. I did notice that a lot of show-only reactors have NOT picked up on how terrifying and awful the damane slavery is yet, but I feel like the show is going to make it very clear in the next episode. (I don't know how you can look at Egwene in pain here and not already understand but... next week should make things crystal clear).

The preview did show us how... earnest (ugh) Renna is going to be in her 'training' of Egwene. The way she called the damane kennels "your new home" and the (horrifying) sincerity in her voice.

I'm actually wondering if Egwene is going to be freed in episode 7, before Rand gets to Falme, since Perrin and Aviendha are headed in the direction of Falme and it's Perrin who is attached to the Ingtar and Horn storylines and not Rand (who didn't even find out that the Horn is a thing that exists until 2x3). Because Rand isn't actually involved in her rescue in the books iirc -- that was Elayne and Egwene (with Min tagging along). He spots her and seeing her is why he refuses to leave, but since he's going there for his own purposes unrelated to the Horn in this version (I assume), then he doesn't need that extra push to stay. From the preview for episode 6, it kinda sounds like Loial & co are going to try to help her be freed but I'm not sure if it'll work that soon.

Expecting next episode to be extremely rough, emotionally.

Additional spoilers/speculation based on imdb listings (which may not be entirely accurate):

The actress who played Maigan in S1 is listed as being in the next three episodes (6, 7, 8). She was planning to go west to investigate the rumors. She has not been seen in the White Tower this season. The actress who is playing Ryma is only listed for episodes 5 & 6. Renna is listed for all the remaining episodes; Seta is listed for the final two episodes. That just all seems like interesting information to me, though again, imdb.

Complete side note, episode 7 is the episode that Hayley Mills is listed for. I wonder if she's the Queen of Cairhien that Barthanes is marrying.

#butterfly watches wot #wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot show spoilers #wot prime spoilers #wot s2 spoilers #wheel of time s2 spoilers #wot book spoilers #a memory of light #wot 2x5 spoilers

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