alsethwisson

[alsethwisson]

Headcanon: Oromë personally welcomed Théoden when he came to Mandos and bid him farewell when he went beyond the world. He was so proud of him

[alsethwisson]

I don't think Dany has ever liked, much less loved, any girl she met on her journey. Used, yes; abused, sometimes. Loved? She kept Missandei's brothers as her soldiers, never bothering to idk deprogram them or even assign them to Missandei for f's sake.

But then, Dany doesn't do love in general, she always builds very hierarchical relationships, preferably with her at the top. She has no friends, and even her relationship with Daario is rather one-sided in that she is his mistress and he is bound to her will.

both daenerys and sansa love all the other girls they meet in asoiaf. there is no reason to assume they would not have a deep respect and adoration for each other <3

Of course! Because GRRM is not writing about complex characters in complex political situations and conflicts - he's writing about girls just getting along swimmingly!! <3 <3 <3

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Weird Asoiaf sexuality

Skimming the books for umpteenth time over I was unpleasantly surprised by one fact: there's no positive sexuality, especially female sexuality.

If a woman is sexual, she sells sex. Either she's a professional prostitute/sex slave, or she just gives sex in exchange for goods or help.

Men who want sex visit prostitutes. The only one who manages to have truly consensual sex is Theon and it is framed as wrong and perverse, unlike so very natural brothel-going.

All the while the only females who have sex for the sex of it, are young teens. Participating in group sex activities.

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It's also his Lannister family pride speaking, or rather Lannister family hubris.

He wants to be like Targaryens, because in his eyes his family is just as special, just as semi-divine as them. And what can signal that special-ness more than marrying children to each other?

Not that he's entirely to blame. Lannister obsessive hubris goes from Tywin ofc

"We could marry him(Joffery) to Myrcella, once we've sent Sansa Stark back to her mother. That would show the realm that the Lannisters are above their laws, like gods and Targaryens.- Jaime

Fans forget that Jaime wanted Myrcella to marry Joffery like Targs. It make me think if he is projecting himself and Cersei on his children who look like their young self.

You’re gonna laugh, but I honestly didn’t realize that was projection until you suggested it. 🫣That line always struck me as an odd thought for Jaime, it just never clicked. How funny!

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The year of 2024 and I wish all the best to jonsa but I'm as convinced as ever there will be no endgame...

the year of 2024 and i'm still in my jonsa feelings and still as convinced as ever that they'll be an endgame in the books

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On tangled family trees

Let's see...

Gwenys Rivers has a son by Darry and three daughters by Blackwood

Melantha marries a Stark, Betha a Targarien, Catelyn a Tully

Already fun stuff, but then there is a son by Darry that becomes a lord Darry and has three sons in his turn

His wife btw is Princess Daella because why not tangle the shit even more

So, three sons. The eldest is a lord Darry, the second a kingsguard

But the third marries a Princess of Dorne

Hello, Oberyn&Elia!

Elia and Oberyn being therefore the closest relative Ratty Boy had bar the Baratheons

Not enough tumbleweed? Let's go futher

Remember Daeron the Drunk? He had a daughter with one Kiera of Tyrosh

Born Blackfyre but we don't talk about it

Their daughter marries an Estermont and has a daughter Cassana

Who yes, marries Steffon Baratheon

Who is Rhaelle's son

All hail the Sixth Blackfyre Rebellion and its glorious leader Bobby B

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Somehow, still alive and kicking.

Will post a longread meta soon lol

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Defacing Sabaton's "Poltava"

Time has worn this story down, But we don't forget. On the field forever cursed We once made our stand.

Bastard squandered the land For the Dornish hounds; Hatred grasps the soldiers hearts, 20 000 strong.

Weep for the one true king, For the fight we won't win!

(Redgrass Field!) Rode to certain death and pain (Redgrass Field!) Blackfyre' soldiers met their bane (Redgrass Field!) Sacrificed their lives in vain Redgrass Field!

In the shade of purple mist The king fights his foe. Arrows break the silent air, Break his peaceful plan...

Aegor Rivers stands alone, He assumed command. His beloved brother lies On red-stained grass...

Listen, obey his command - Follow him or die by his hand!

(bridge)

Royal armies blocked their way 20 000 lost that day They bled the ground Peace they found.

There's no sign of victory But lord Aegor finds the way, We fled the land, He's in command!

Madness curse that feeble horde, He died by arrows who bore the sword!

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It's the fandom that made Dorne Orientalist. In reality it's much older, quite toxic Southern European stereotype, the one about sex-obsessed, passionate and always quick to anger "Spaniards". Even names and association with poison comes from there.

Even more prominent female rulers have to do with how English-speaking world perceives Spain (the most famous Spanish ruler being Isabella of Castille).

Only thing grrm added to the stereotype was more tolerant attitude towards homosexual relations, and even that is sometimes implied under "sex-obsesed".

Grrm associates Spain with Palestine because the Bible Epic Movies of old were filmed in Spain, just so.

But as ASOIAF has precious few in terms of non-European cultures, the fandom reimagined Dorne as vaguely Middle Eastern, which created a whole new can of problematic worms.

More Dorne posting: It's interesting to me that Dorne is very much an Orientalist fantasy, but because it's the older type of Orientalist fantasy about the Middle East/North Africa (and broader Islamic World, especially since the main historical inspiration seems to be Moorish Spain, including the choices of filming locations for a lot of the Dorne scenes in GOT) that's in many ways the opposite of the kind of Orientalist stereotypes of the region that became more common post-9/11 (and the first major encounter with Dorne in the series, A Feast for Crows, came out after that in 2005) that a lot of people in the fandom don't seem to recognize it as such. And so you instead get a lot of people thinking that Dorne is somehow "subverting" those stereotypes. And you just want to say, uh, I hate to break it to you Mr. TVTropes but the idea of a fantasy version of the Middle East that is much more open-minded about sexuality and gender than Europe, and whose people have strong sexual appetites is not, in fact, a thing that George R.R. Martin dreamed up. Far from it, this was the predominant view of the region among Western Europeans for centuries....

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Completely off-topic, but I really don't get how Olenna shitting all over her family and political allies makes her wise and/or sympathetic. Neither does it make her powerful or a savvy political player, for that matter.

Her bitter attitude comes from a place of weakness; her son, her grandchildren - they don't follow her advice, whether good or bad, and basically consider her a slightly embarassing cooky granma...which is what she is?

Also, dear fanfic writers. Olenna is the opposite of subtle.

sansa sees olenna sitting there looking all frail and grandmotherly and is like “oh what a sweet old lady” and then olenna is like “fuck the king fuck my son fuck my son’s wife fuck renly fuck the targaryens i love my gay grandson but fuck him too” and sansa is standing there like

[alsethwisson]

Russian fandom is wide and wild, of course I enjoy it!

Somehow it manages to be second to third largest on international archives lol.

also please add where you are from/you mother language in the tags!!

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I kinda think the ambiguous morality, “dark turn” thing of Jon forcing Gilly to swap the babies is undercut by it being the right thing to do

Was it, though?

Jon's got good reason to think that this swap is the only way Mance's child survives. But does that justify what he does to Gilly and to her child? Gilly's not an incapable parent. She's not abusing her own child. What has she done that means her child should be taken from her? What justifies taking Gilly's child from a loving parent? What do Gilly and her child get in return from Jon's actions?

No. Jon screwed Gilly over badly. He caused her immense pain and exposes her child to danger they didn't have to be in. Gilly's child could die for what Jon did. He did it to save the life of another child, he doesn't have great options, but that doesn't mean it was a good thing to do.

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Seriously tho, Cersei killed an innocent girl for wanting to marry Jaime. A Heatherspoon had zero chance to snatch such a husband for herself, not with Tywin at the helm, but still Cersei murdered her because yandere.

She was never going to not f-k her brother. Whoever were she married, she was never going to be faithful. Maybe she could have been civil, but even that is a big "maybe".

But people tend to forget poor Melara and dream up the "if only Cersei married a Good Man..." scenarios.

Robert - shocking! - was a good man who did his best to make that marriage work. Cersei sabotaged his attempts to have some alone time with her effing twin brother.

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On weird logic

Cersei fans: She tried her best to make the marriage work! Normal people: But like, she shagged her brother the morning after her wedding? Cersei fans: That's how it was supposed to work, you heathen! She shags her brother but stays a Queen, and Robert respects her choices!

I'm not sure logic works that way, but whatevs.

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I love (no) so much when in fan fiction Aegor begins to incite Daemon to revolt immediately after the death of Shwaegon. Come on, he is 10-12 years old, what should he rebel against, boiled cabbage?

But then it's such a noble cause!

Let's all rebel against (eww!) broccoli! Unite our forces! Hoist Shiera high to cover our enemies in green spit! Let li'l Brin whine his way to victory!..

Sadly, the rebellion ended in ignominious defeat and utter ruin. Arses were switched and desserts prohibited for a week, and somehow Daemon and Baelor got the worst of it because they were the eldest and had to know better and be a good influence.

Not that it taught Aegor anything. As soon as the maester prescribed fish oil to royal kids, the rebel banner was unfurled again and soared high and proud!

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If Blackfyres and their relatives wеre Christians, what branch of Christianity would they profess? Or maybe it would be other monotheistic religion?

Oh my.

I take Catholic as baseline Sevenite.

So, Aegor would be very hardline Protestant, I guess, not exactly Puritan, he's not against fun as a concept, just against others making HIM have fun. Traditional Scandinavian Lutheran, I would say.

Rohanna follows Aegor because why won't she. She was a Muslim, but converted for love.

Barba Braken is the sole reason Aegor is definitely not Puritan: trying to stop her from having her fun and brewing her beer is...ill-advised.

Daemon is Orthodox, because he dissociates from his immediate Targaryen relatives so hard he prefers Hightowers instead. Because of course granny Alicent just sounds much, much better than granny Larra "Lyseni Whore" Rogare. He believes himself legit married because Aegor impressed into him that living in sin is wrong.

Jon and Jeyne are neither here nor there, as is their mother Elaena. They believe in gods and whatever they were taught in summer school, but never think much about denominations.

Brynden is that New Age guy every family has. The one who comes with a new religion each week and all of them are strangely cult-y. He may or may not be under investigation for organising a death-and-sex cult himself but remembers nothing. He was high at the time he founded it.

Shiera is a good Catholic girl, church-going and all that. She went to a Catholic school, they taught her magic there. She may be actually into New Age herself, of the "all gods are one god, peace&love" kind.

Maekar is even more Protestant Hardliner than Aegor, but his wife doesn't let him become Puritan. She loves her mummer shows, thank you very much.

Nobody knows what religion Aerys follows, but he seems to take Lovecraft's works seriously. Excessively so. Also, that cult Brynden may or may not have invented when he was high? Aerys is a high priest there.

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We are talking about woman who was obsessed with having children with her brother she considered herself-but-male, who was yandere enough to kill her childhood companion for even wanting to marry said brother and who saw her marriage only as a way to get a crown.

It goes counter to her whole nature to suppose that "a good man" could have reformed her. Kinda sexist, too, if you think of it...

Do you think if Cersei married a decent lord who treats her better she would actually at least have one child fathered by him ? I don’t think she’s going to cut off her relationship with Jaime but it got me wondering if she’s gonna take it a step further and have hers and Jaime’s children instead of this good guy

When Cersei did conceive her first child by Jaime, it had a direct relation to Robert's disrespectful treatment of her:

As soon as Cersei closed her eyes, the king would steal off to console the poor lonely creature. One night she had Jaime follow him, to confirm her suspicions. When her brother returned he asked her if she wanted Robert dead. "No," she had replied, "I want him horned." She liked to think that was the night when Joffrey was conceived. (AFFC, Cersei V)

Her decision to not have Robert's children at all is also motivated by his treatment.

"A dozen years," Ned said. "How is it that you have had no children by the king?"

She lifted her head, defiant. "Your Robert got me with child once," she said, her voice thick with contempt. "My brother found a woman to cleanse me. He never knew. If truth be told, I can scarcely bear for him to touch me, and I have not let him inside me for years. (AGOT, Eddard XII)

In various instances, she describes how painful, violent and humiliating Robert's sexual abuse of her was. Alongside the humiliation of his public infidelity, the bastard children, the disrespectful treatment in public, the non-sexual violence, the drinking... She specifically did not want his children because she hated him from the bottom of her heart and it was her way of exercising control.

Meanwhile, her little escapist fantasy about Rhaegar does feature trueborn Targ babies:

Her aunt had lied, though, and her father had failed her, just as Jaime was failing her now. Father found no better man. Instead he gave me Robert, and Maggy's curse bloomed like some poisonous flower. If she had only married Rhaegar as the gods intended, he would never have looked twice at the wolf girl. Rhaegar would be our king today and I would be his queen, the mother of his sons. (AFFC, Cersei V)

So, if - and this is a big if - a husband was capable of both treating Cersei with the respect she feels she is due and capable of holding her attention enough, she would probably have had trueborn children without any resentment whatsoever. Perhaps alongside children by Jaime, perhaps not. This doesn't mean she would necessarily be happy, but she would certainly be less furiously unhappy and resentful.