undeniablespice

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#fanart #comic #shireen baratheon #melisandre #davos seaworth #LMAOOOO #here’s how the dragonstone polycule can still win

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my live reaction when i read this for the first time

#happy squibling friday!!! i’m turning into an oyster #squibling friday is not a thing but drowned god i will make it happen #theon greyjoy #asha greyjoy #house greyjoy #canon quote #squiblings #i’m normal about them i promise #only think of this quote and break down sobbing once a week

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Greyjoy and his Stark boys

#i am LOOKING #fanart #theon greyjoy #house stark

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My words were spoken from a certain "delusional fag" persona I often inhabit.

#theon greyjoy

[undeniablespice]

aemond/oc fics just aren't creative enough, ngl.

It depends on what you consider creative, especially if you aren’t thoroughly curating your reading experience. If you’re just browsing the Aemond “One Eye” Targaryen/Original Female Character(s) tag on ao3, then chances are you’re going to get nothing but a host of works that are predictable and derivative. After having read through enough of them since the airing of hotd, I understand this perception. I just don’t believe in it because that doesn’t apply to all the Aemond/OC fics, just some that happen to achieve widespread popularity and influence. It’s these that are likely giving you, myself, and anyone else a hard time when it comes to engaging with fanwork of this specific niche.

For instance, the ones that you may be indicating usually hinge on similar premises.

Rhaenyra’s bastard daughter fathered by Harwin.

Rhaenyra’s bastard daughter fathered by Daemon.

Rhaenyra’s legitimate daughter fathered by Laenor.

Daemon’s eldest daughter born from Rhea.

Viserys’ middle daughter born from Aemma.

Genderbent Lucerys Velaryon.

Many of the tropes found in these stories also follow a distinct trend.

The most common OFC names include Visenya, Aemma, Alysanne, and Alyssa.

The dragon she claims is either Vermithor or The Cannibal, although I have seen a few instances of Grey Ghost as an option.

She is present for the fight between the children on Driftmark and either gouges out Aemond’s eye herself or does nothing but insists that he was solely the one responsible for his mutilation.

There is the implication or presence of a love triangle that either involves Alys Rivers or Cregan Stark for some reason.

Speaking of Alys Rivers, this poor woman is vilified by the narrative just by nature of having a pseudo-canonical relationship (to whatever extent) with Aemond.

Speaking of women who are vilified by the narrative, Alicent embodies the Wicked Stepmother/Evil Queen trope.

The account of Mushroom is taken as gospel and solidifies Aegon II as a morally repugnant caricature who serves to make Aemond look better by comparison. Some of the worst offenders include a bit of SA of the OFC.

A betrothal is forced between Aemond and the OFC to bind either side of their families together.

If forcibly betrothed, then their ‘union’ is rife with adultery as petty revenge.

Aemond is not only sexually experienced, but he and the OFC are having impossibly good premarital sex without the risk of scandal and/or pregnancy because Moon Tea exists.

Aemond must alter his entire worldview to sustain a relationship with the OFC due to the influence of his side of the family, which perpetuates his bad behavior. By rejecting them and atoning for his past mistakes, he is deemed ‘worthy’ of his lover.

Mind you, this doesn’t equate to an inherent lack creativity or quality in absolution. It’s simply that these are the kind of fics that are commonplace when it comes to shipping Aemond because the idea of a Targaryen OC does in fact have potential. Although, due to the structure of the Dance, it narrows the framework of storytelling unless the authors want to go full AU. Everything that was previously mentioned is likely to occur in fics because of the era in Westerosi history that is currently being showcased. If these are the only Aemond/OC fics that you’re finding and reading, then yeah, it’s going to seem like the very concept is uncreative in totality. Again, I’ve read through enough of these that I know which ones pique my interest and which ones don’t. If your preference is anywhere close to mine, then try to search for the ones that are either written by neutral or green-adjacent authors, they’ll usually indicate this in their notes.

Now, if we’re branching out to include a non-incestuous pairing between Aemond and an OC, then that’s where you’ll find a lot of hidden gems. If you’re pairing Aemond with someone outside of his immediate and extended family, then that opens up far more possibilities than just narrowing his options down to a made-up member of his incredibly dysfunctional family. I mean, the Four Storms are right there, and House Baratheon already has a historic tie to the Targaryens. Jason Lannister has 5 legitimate daughters. To say nothing of the women who are footnotes at the Maiden’s Day Ball or any of the other houses who allied with the Greens during the Dance.

I understand the frustration, I do. However, I would suggest giving it some time. The sophomore year of hotd is steadily approaching and depending on what is to be changed for the adaptation, you may find yourself intrigued by any of the fics that are published once the new season airs. There’s always the potential to be pleasantly surprised. If all else fails, you might just have to write the story you want to read.

#the number of bingos i’ve seen just browsing that tag…

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to be a top Poster in asoiaf tumblr you gotta have your own character that you have a PhD in. people have to scroll by your blog and be like 'oh i know them, theyre the resident expert in Rodrick the Reader and they post about him every other day.'

#found the guy who isn’t the rodrik the reader expert 🥴 #still working on my phd in aeron studies

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I mean Jaime probably isn’t good enough for Brienne but if she wants the weird incestuous rat man who are we to stop her

#westeros just has not invented a man good enough for brienne of tarth so sadly i have to root for the second best option #which is the dogshit morally bankrupt silly little sisterfucker she has chosen to love #i wish you chose better brienne. but frankly the choices are dire. at least jaime used to be hot. #brienne of tarth #jaime lannister #braine

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Yes, these Muppets have taken Manhattan. The question now is can they HOLD it

#tywin lannister

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some sansa costume design ideas!! had fun with these and definitely plan to make more with other characters

top row, left to right: pre-series, 2 king's landing bottom row: "alayne", older in winterfell, hypothetical queen in the north*

(*before anyone says anything i plan to do royalty designs for any starklings i get to because i like designing that sort of thing)

#since i’m in The Mood #sansa stark #house stark #fanart #soooo gorgeous. need to make a fashion tag

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thought too much about sansa stark from meorge reorge rartin gartin’s seminal fantasy series a song of ice and fire and now i want to fall into an endless abyss. i am so serious when i say that teenage girls should be able to kill people with impunity. especially grown men. holy shit. she is TWELVE

#call me lady’s ghost because i am actually about to rip some throats out #tyrion sandor PETYR watch your fucking sixes i’m coming for you #sansa stark #op #manifesting violence for joffrey and his whole kingsguard and everyone who saw her and did nothing

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“so you find the usurpation of a ruler’s LEGAL RIGHT TO THE THRONE funny? you like reading about the ways that MEDIEVAL FANTASY FEUDALISM disenfranchises and abuses WOMEN? you write fanfiction about the psychological damages of ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN? you hope this ends with the INVALIDATION of WARS OF CONQUEST and ABSOLUTE MONARCHY? this is outrageous!!!!”

ive got the sneaking suspicion you and i are not reading this series the same way, bucko…

#people talk like the throne is an absolute unquestionable good their favs 100% deserve to have #instead of a cursed blood artifact that destroys everything it touches and irreversibly corrupts those who sit upon it #really not sure how people reach that interpretation given the. you know. books. #but that post about victarion just having the iron throne to sit in IS living in my head rent free #only good use of the damn chair: statement decor #it’s just perplexing to me how many asoiaf fans (not even show fans) seem incapable of picking up on let alone understanding the underlying #themes of the series

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❝ You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you. ❞

— arya ii AGOT

#sansa stark #arya stark #house stark #canon quote #fav #how gorgeous

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i've spent the last year getting my degree in genderbent theon studies so lemme say some shit real quick. i'll probably make a seperate post about The Themes, but this is about the logistics, babeyyy 🫶

"thea" vs. asha: pick your hostage

from the get-go, whether it is theon ("thea") or asha who is taken hostage, the intent would be to 1) shore up the power of the loyal regions in mainland westeros, and 2) "neuter "the iron islands. a northern or riverlands match is the best option, as both lack any significant fleet (which is bizarre in and of itself, but that's what grrm went with), balancing out the reach's naval superiority with the redwyne fleet.

in canon, we don't get any in-depth explorations of how women experience the hostage system. we know of dorna swyft, who was given to house lannister as a hostage until house swyft could pay off its debts. dorna would later marry kevan lannister, which tyrion describes as ser harys swyft's "greatest accomplishment". tyrion is naturally biased, but a relatively minor vassal getting to marry into the ruling house IS a serious step up. however, this is only one case, with it's own unique circumstances.

which brings us to my original question: would asha or "thea" be taken? asha is the obvious choice in a two-greyjoy-daughters scenario, as she's the legal heir, but asha is also a lot less malleable. she's around 13 by the end of balon's rebellion, and though women's opinions or identity wouldn't be given much weight or consideration in this context, the intent of a marriage pact would be to build a working alliance and mend rifts between regions. that's a lot more difficult when the conquering party doesn't have a mostly blank slate to work with.

also, theon was balon's last son and legal heir, but even he was essentially written off as dead in canon. i imagine a daughter would be regarded as similar to a salt wife, taken from her family by conquest due to her male relatives "weakness"/inability to protect her. it would be too much for balon's ego and sense of ironborn masculinity to bear, so i don't doubt he would consider her "as good as dead" as well, even if the conquering party (robert baratheon & co) couldn't have anticipated this.

most importantly, as we see AFFC, "the laws of the green lands" do not count for much on the iron islands. so let's get into it.

to start, the greyjoys themselves are relatively new major lords, having ruled for only 300 years (compared to the starks' alleged thousands of years of kingship). and, as we can intuit from the kingsmoot, the greyjoys do not command unquestioning loyalty from the ironborn. dunstan drumm, gylbert farwynd, and erik ironmaker all put forth their names at the kingsmoot, and some receive a levels of support that is surprising to the greyjoys in attendance, particularly aeron, who has a very skewed perception of balon (and therefore an overly rosy view of balon's legacy).

if it had been asha who was taken as hostage-bride, i honestly don't think any tully-greyjoy or stark-greyjoy children (who would have been ~9 years old MAX at the time of the kingsmoot in canon, assuming asha was forced to have children immediately after the rebellion) would have stood a snowball's chance in hell of inheriting. euron would likely have them killed in some clandestine way, and victarion, should he win, would be pressured to neutralize them in a less kinslay-ey way (though he could potentially take a male child on as heir, given his own lack of progeny).

all of this to say, the greyjoy line of succession is inevitably thorny. in my predominately vibes-based opinion, in the absence of a clear male heir like theon and knowing the ironborn's lack of deference to "green land law", "thea" might be taken over asha. i imagine lords like ned stark or hoster tully would be afraid that an asha match would basically be throwing their grandchildren into the greyjoy succession meat grinder, when asha/"thea" still have so many living and powerful male relatives.

anyway, thank you for coming to my female theon succession and hostage logistics tedtalk, and please tell me how wrong i am in the replies/reblogs 🫡

#theon greyjoy #asha greyjoy #house greyjoy #meta #hmm if only we knew someone writing a fic about the intricacies of hostage-bride and salt marriage wrt fem theon #🤔 #much to consider…

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the stooges / the dream thieves by maggie stiefvater / phoebe bridgers / how to be a dog by andrew kane / sleepycorvid / mitski / margaret atwood / ethel cain

#theon greyjoy

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Yes, these Muppets have taken Manhatten. The question now is can they HOLD it

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#theon greyjoy #jeyne poole

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The Asha Greyjoy that lives in my head (part 2)

#asha greyjoy #house greyjoy