#Bloodstone Emperor

[branwyn-the-half-witch]

Comparative Mythologies of the Long Night: Part One – Blood Betrayal

(posted alongside the twitter threads of the same title)

‘...the fact that some cataclysm took place many thousands of years ago seems certain’

A series of threads examining the myths of the first Long Night, and what it may tell us about the next.

In World of Ice and Fire (WOIAF) we learned that the Long Night was not merely a Westerosi story, but an apocalyptic event that impacted the entire Known World. That it was the same event is undeniable, because the stories share common threads; darkness, and unrelenting cold.

These threads will examine the origins of the Long Night, the stories of the heroes that fought against it, and will examine the parallels that exist with the main series (ASOIAF) in order to determine whether we can learn anything from these nebulous, uncertain legends.

We have one primary story for the origins of the Long Night, which comes to us from the Great Empire of the Dawn, the ancient predecessor of Yi Ti; this was a vast land ruled by the descendants of the God-on-Earth, only son of the Lion of Night and the Maiden-Made-of-Light.

These rulers, associated with specific gemstones, ruled a vast but increasingly troubled and sinful realm for thousands of years until the throne passed to the Amethyst Empress; however, the younger brother of this first Empress usurped the throne, with deadly consequences.

This ‘Blood Betrayal’ is explicitly cited as ushering in the Long Night. Examine how the Bloodstone Emperor’s reign is described; note that he is highlighted as practising specifically necromancy and slavery, and as having cast down the true gods. All hallmarks of the Others.

As an aside, this is the only mention we have of ‘the sinister Church of Starry Wisdom’ still found in port cities. This is a HP Lovecraft reference (‘The Haunter of the Dark’, specifically) where a cult of the same name worship ‘Nyarlathotep’, an outlier in Lovecraftian mythos because he is upon the earth, alive, and can take the form of a tall man. Unlike the detached, unfathomable horrors of Lovecraft’s other monstrosities, Nyarlathotep is deliberately cruel and openly beguiles and propagandises cults into existence to serve his goals.

Sound like anyone we know? The parallels between how Nyarlathotep functions and is described and Euron ‘when men see my sails they pray’ Greyjoy is quite striking, and the fact that the ASOIAF version of this cult is found in port cities serves to underline the parallel further.

GRRM seems enamoured with examining this kind of figure; one who operates by twisting both the physical and metaphysical into propaganda to serve privately hellish and disturbing goals, whose strength is more intellectual than physical, whose weapons are first and foremost the evil men are already willing to do. The Bloodstone Emperor, the Night’s King, Euron, pre-tree Bloodraven (and possibly even post-tree), the Undying; even Mel is a play on this theme insomuch as her reputation; only her inner thoughts reveal that there is more mortal than monster in her.

It’s important to hold to GRRM’s propensity for echoing his themes, heroes AND his villains throughout the world-building, because he’s writing a Song, and so both harmony and leitmotif are crucial.

(Your obligatory ‘Lovecraft-was-a-massive-racist-so-bear-that-in-mind’ note)

The Long Night is framed explicitly as an act of divine retribution; note the symbolism again that the ‘light’ deity turns her face away, and ‘night’ is the punishment wreaked upon the world. It is worth considering that, as above, the world was in a state of decay prior to the Blood Betrayal; this event is analogous to a great many divine cataclysms throughout our own legends, that come following an inciting horror after a long time of mortal hubris and moral decay. As with the fall of Babel, the Long Night leaves the world a broken and divided place.

The world was saved from the Long Night, and the sun returned. But it was not redeemed, and the Maiden-Made-of-Light still has her faced turned away. Evidence of this is shown in the malformed seasons; WOIAF gives us two knowledgable sources, sound, but untrusted by the Citadel. Septon Barth attributes the strange seasons to a magical matter, and one Maester Nicol contends that the seasons were once of regular length and reliable constancy, of which the only evidence were the most ancient of tales – those likely to pre-date the Long Night.

So what can this origin story tell us? Well, it has all of the hallmarks of GRRM’s main series and interlinks two of his cardinal sins; kinslaying and usurpation – most particularly of a rightful female ruler. Targaryen history is sown with usurpations of the House’s women, from the very beginning, reaching a climax with the Dance, and descending into a long nadir where the dragons die out and Targaryen women lose the last ember of escape available to them. I shall speak later of the notion of blood debts being imposed on the innocent to pay for the survival of all humankind, so make a note of that theme occurring in such a primal level here, in the construction of the mythos, and so all-encompassing that the whole world suffers for the actions of one man – and remember that in relation to Targaryen women specifically.

Within ASOIAF itself, the Red Wedding is such a horrific spiritual crime, it reverberates through time and space to touch far-flung dreamers. It has much the same feeling as this mythic betrayal, which I would be unsurprised to learn also involved the breaking of guest-right.

It is perhaps evocative of the described moral decay that led the GEOTD to be thrown down in the first place, that made it seemingly deserving of the scourge that would come to ruin the world. The Others are already on the march by that point in the story, of course, but much of the War of the Five Kings phase of the books does little to dissuade the reader from the belief that the world is due a massive paradigm shift, as lightning striking the tower. When the world is so unfairly and brutally structured, apocalypse becomes a necessity.

This concludes Part One. Part Two concerns the most famous name from our roster of heroes, and their famous sword.

[hallowed-harpy]

Viserion as the Pearl Empress of the New Dawn.

[cbswonder]

Rhaenyra Targaryen/Amethyst empress

Aegon Targaryen/Bloodstone Emperor

[kataraavatara]

“uhm actually the amethyst empress parallel isn’t a thing because rhaenyra was a bad person and bad politician and the dance was actually about how bad she was and about all Targaryens are evil and-”

come ON. The narrative parallel isn’t about the nitty gritty details and never has been, and there’s no reason the Dance can’t impart more than one message.

The Amethyst Empress gets like, two sentences. There is no personality, no actions attributed to her other than succeeding her father and being overthrown. Maybe she had bastards too, maybe she was mean, maybe she was cruel, likely she didn’t exist. We just don’t know. It’s a very sparse story. But just…look:

Elder sister (Rhaenyra/Amethyst Empress) usurped by younger brother (Aegon II/Bloodstone Emperor), bringing on catastrophic magical consequences (Death of the dragons & Targaryen decline/ First Long Night).

If this wasn’t an intentional decision on George’s part meant to draw comparisons, why not an Amethyst Emperor? All the previous rulers had been male, making the Amethyst Empress an outlier that draws the reader’s attention.

So…what’s the point if not to be a Rhaenyra parallel? As in like, please tell me. I haven’t a clue.

and a fun one: I’ve also seen (don’t remember the originator) the theory that Amethyst = Rhaenyra, because Amethysts are purple, which is red + blue…Targaryen Red + Arryn Blue…Rhaenyra. Bloodstone = Aegon II because Bloodstones are typically red and…you guessed it…green…

(also brown but pls don’t ruin my fun rock theories :((( )

[rhaenin-time]

Is it verging on tinfoil hat territory to laugh about how the egg Aegon II failed to hatch after murdering Rhaenyra was purple?

Or could it be an... easter egg?

[athzhowakar]

The Betrayal of Blood: The New Heir

❇️ Place: Yi Ti

❇️ Period: The Great Empire of the Dawn

❇️ ‘The Betrayal of Blood’ is a Tumblr series on the Amethyst Empress, the Bloodstone Emperor and the First Long Night.

❇️ Summary:

Chapter 1 : The New Heir

The Opal Emperor has declared the name of his heir.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

The crown princess was standing in the palace garden and plucking a flower when she heard some footsteps.

“Brother,” she said to the man who had just arrived.

“It is quite unusual to find you here. Generally, you stay in your manor and write scriptures or read books. Why are you here today?” the man asked.

The crown princess said, “It felt like the flowers called out to me. Tell me Brother, what brings you here?”

The prince replied, “I came to congratulate you, Sister.”

“Thank you, Brother,” she replied. “You lifted the burden off my shoulders with your words," she added.

The prince asked, “What kind of burden do you talk about?”

“The burden of loneliness,” she replied. She wore the flower that she had plucked, on her hair and continued, “When Royal Father declared me as his heir, I had thought that you would harbour sour feelings towards me. I had assumed that you would leave me alone among my friends and foes to fend for myself.”

“You speak of friends and foes, and then you speak of loneliness,” he said. “But Sister, how would my departure make you lonely if you have friends?”

The crown princess sighed.

She said, “Brother, in the court, it takes very little time for friends to turn into foes. You however, are my brother. We came from the same womb.”

She approached the prince and caressed his face. “We belong together. That is why, you must stay with me. You must protect me from the backstabbers and help me to rule,” she said.

The prince smiled and said to her, “I will. What good will come of a brother's sword if it cannot be wielded in his sister's service?”

“I am glad that you think so,” the crown princess replied.

The eyes of the crown princess went to a nearby tree. “Look! Mistletoe is covering that tree,” she said.

The prince replied, “I see. The tree was kind enough to let mistletoe grow on it. Now, it is only a matter of time before it is killed by the mistletoe.”

The crown princess said, “I will ask the gardener to remove the mistletoe.”

“Let it be, Sister,” the prince said, holding her hand. “The stronger being feeds on the weaker being. Let us not interfere with the laws of nature. Let the mistletoe grow and feed on the tree as it desires.”

“You want me to let the mistletoe kill the tree?” the crown princess asked.

“Every tree has to die one day,” the prince replied.

“If you insist, I will let it be this way,” the crown princess said.

The prince looked at her and said, “Men and trees are alike. Some die of old age, some die of plagues, some die of hunger and some by sword. There are also others who die just like that tree because they were too blind to see that they had sheltered a mistletoe.”

“You are right,” the crown princess replied.

[kiren-a]

“victim”

[thesims4asoiaf]

~Ts4 Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon/ ASOIAF Lookbook +CC Links~ Blood Betrayal/The Long Night

•YITISH MYTHOLOGY•

As always, they are both available in the gallery! EA ID: FaePorcelain

skin

Amethyst Empress

Hair/headdress, dress, nails, hand tattoos, fingertips, eyelids, eyeliner, eyeshadow, cheeks, pores, blush, eyebrows, eyelashes, eyes 2, lipstick, rings, necklace, nosemask 1 2, earrings, teeth, boots

Bloodstone Emperor

Hair, floating acc, eyes, eyebrow, eyeliner, under eyebags, pores, cheeks, eyelids, mask, crown, outfit, boots, fingertips, rings, blush, necklace, lipstick, nosemask, ears, eyeshadow, face tattoo, teeth, skintone

[lemonhemlock]

I have seen some TB stans say that Amethyst empress and Bloodstone emperor are parallels to Rhaenyra and Aegon II respectively. Do you think there's any merit to this?

You can draw parallels between anything and still come up with something and, as such, some people take it way too far. I'm sure I can find similarities between a rock and an apple, it doesn't mean the two are thematically linked. The act of killing the Amethyst Empress supposedly lead to the Long Night, a cataclysmic event for the whole planet. Aegon II killing Rhaenyra is hardly that dramatic, lol. The one thing they have in common is gender and birth order - not succession laws. The Bloodstone Emperor is also steeped in Lovecraftian symbolism which is absolutely missing from Aegon II's portrayal.

[annachum]

The Amethyst Empress and the Bloodstone Emperor

Before the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, the Great Empire of the Dawn was in turmoil. The Opal Emperor passed down the throne to the Amethyst Empress after he died. Yet her envious younger brother, rhe Bloodstone Emperor and then ruler of the Northeast of Essos, eventually slain the Amethyst Empress and took over the throne. This sparked the bloody Civil War between the Far East Essosi Realms known as The Long Night. Eventually, the Empire of Dawn has fallen spectacularly due to the Bloodstone Emperor's staggering tyranny ( even by the standards of those times ), and the Golden Dragon Clan, who were loyal supporters of the Amethyst Empress, usurped the Yi Ti throne and had the Bloodstone Emperor burned at stake in front of a huge cheering crowd of people who are sick of the tyranny of the Bloodstone Emperor

After that, the Empire of Dawn has fallen, yet the Golden Dragon clan managed to refurbish Yi Ti and pushed it into a new Golden Age. Little did the Goldeb Dragon clan know that they will also have to protect their new empire against the looming might of the Targaryens who founded the Old Valyrian Empire.....

Also, the Bloodstone Emperor clearly is based on Emperor Qin Shi Huang. I think the Amethyst Empress may have some nods to Wu Zetian - the Amethyst Empress is like the Rhaenyra Targaryen of her time btw

[echos-muses]

Dance of the Dragons v.s. the Great Empire of the Dawn

Rhaenyra & Amethyst Empress Parallels

(amethyst empress art by Oriana Wiesner @ownix, rhaenyra targaryen art by AbigailSinsArt on deviantart)

both were named their father’s successors

both were cast down and slain by their younger brothers, who crowned themselves rulers

both of their deaths began times of strife

The Amethyst Empress was the legendary eighth ruler of the mythic Great Empire of the Dawn and one of its last monarchs. She succeeded her father, the Opal Emperor but was cast down and slain by her envious younger brother, who crowned himself the Bloodstone Emperor. According to the annals of the Further East, it was the Blood Betrayal, as his usurpation was named, that ushered in the Long Night.

and as we know, rhaenyra’s death was the beginning of the end of the dragons. after she died the dragons began to grow smaller and weaker.

Aegon & Bloodstone Emperor Parallels

(bloodstone emperor art by sanrixian, aegon art by aLEK on artstation)

both were not named heir by their father despite being the eldest sons

both slayed their elder sisters and stole the throne

their actions both caused periods of strife

The Bloodstone Emperor was the legendary ninth and last ruler of the mythic Great Empire of the Dawn. He was the son of the Opal Emperor and the younger brother of the Amethyst Empress, who succeeded their father. Envious, he slew his sister and proclaimed himself the Bloodstone Emperor. The Bloodstone Emperor's reign was a reign of terror. His usurpation became known as the Blood Betrayal in the annals of the Further East, which claim that the act of usurping his sister's throne ushered in the Long Night. He practiced torture, dark arts, and necromancy. He enslaved his own people, took a tiger-woman for wife, feasted on human flesh and cast down the true gods of Yi Ti to worship a black stone that fell from the sky.[1] Some scholars believe him to have been the first High Priest of the sinister Church of Starry Wisdom.

the bloodstone emperor’s blood betrayal began the long night, and aegon’s blood betrayal began the end of the dragons.

this is by no means a hateful post, however if there is any hatred and false information spread from this post, i will report and block. this is just informational, using information from the wiki, further verified by the books.

[sebeth]

Watch "Targaryen Prophecy: Visenya had the Dream, Not Aegon | ASOIAF & HOTD Theory" on YouTube

[presentprompts]

I was thinking about this today, cos apparently my brain is game for any other idea but my WIP 🤦🏻‍♀️

In Jon/Aemon’s case what must it be like for your parent to now be your brother? This is such an interesting concept cos is it like straight possession? The will and personality of the host dies… Or something more like the Emperor merges with them?

I quite like the idea for a merger myself, each avatar of the BM would be slightly different, but still the same spirit, think Doctor who reincarnation. Perhaps an added horror element that he seems to be gaining more control each generation…

Also also what if children like Jon, conceived post ascensions, are always that little bit other? They’re not the heir so will never be a possible host, but they are the BM’s children in a way the heir’s never truly are. For some reason my head keeps going to the generation of the great bastards. Daeron would be the heir or maybe Daemon, but the others? That would be a great opportunity to delve into Bryndon’s strangeness- especially if he’s still around in Jon’s time.

Would the story arc be Jon trying to stop the BM once and for all? Possibly try and exorcise his brother 👀 all while grappling with what it means to be the Emperor’s son himself, maybe along the way he learns why so many of the children like him have found their own brand of immortality… Would Jon/Aemon end up defeating him? Or becoming something unnatural in his own right before he gets the chance…

III.31

Rhaegar Targaryen’s body is dying and Aegon will soon become Emperor. 

Aegon & Jon (Valyrian Empire AU)

Keep reading

[daeneryscel]

i think the biggest problem i have with the whole team discourse in f&b + hotd is that it isn’t just about which characters you like more/who you want to sit on the throne at that end; it’s that each side is fighting for completely different ideologies, regardless of one members personal beliefs. grrm could not have made it anymore clear.

team black isn’t just fighting for rhaenyra to be queen, they’re fighting for the monarch’s right to choose an heir, for the oaths they swore years before, for the complete opposite of precedent/tradition: the king’s word is law. team green isn’t just fighting for aegon to be king, they’re fighting for tradition, that no matter the words of a king being law sons will always come before daughters, that oaths are fickle and don’t matter. each side is in some way fighting back against what’s already been established for the kingdom, but the end goal is completely different.

we’re not given as much insight into why most of the houses initially sided with rhaenyra, but we do have an inkling into how the green council felt and acted, however. jaehaerys choosing baelon over rhaenys (against andal tradition, the king can choose his heir) is one point. the great council of 101 is another. alicent, despite being the leader of the council, is removed from the equation and shoved off to the side when it comes to swearing oaths of loyalty between the members on account of her womanhood. daemon being a second coming of ‘maegor’ (despite what we know would be a better suited title for aemond, but i digress) is also used. when discussing who would side with them the vale is automatically disqualified from the list, due to them presently being ruled by a woman, jeyne arryn. she doesn’t choose to fight for rhaenyra for the sole reason of them being kin, but because her own right to rule can and will be put into question if aegon steps over rhaenyra. because she is a woman. she does so in spite of her dislike for daemon (and his supposed maegor-ness) too.

even if one were to look at each characters personal feelings about the succession the fact of the matter is that rhaenyra is usurped because she is a woman. it’s stated almost blatantly multiple times before and during the war. the greens use scapegoats and smokescreens in attempts justify it (her ‘bastards’ chief among them, but legally her sons live and die as the trueborn children between her and laenor, with the reminder that septon eustace refutes this claim to begin with). even when she is killed grrm has her breast pricked to arouse a dragon that doesn’t want to kill her (and why is that?). aegon ‘wins’ against her and is king, but then why is jaehaera, as his last living remaining child not named his heir? why is aegon iii put ahead of her, despite being the enemies son? these are rhetorical questions. aegon had no plans to ever consider her his heir, he made it clear with how excited he was to marry cassandra baratheon and produce more ‘strong’ sons. his dragon (who had fought and bled for him the entire war) wasn’t mourned properly, he couldn’t wait to hatch a ‘new dragon, prouder and fiercer than the last.’ yet he wasn’t even capable of doing that in the six months before he too was killed.

it’s also safe to mention that grrm created an entire separate lore story, one that would seem to have no bearing on the original story unless you’re capable of understanding symbolism. the amethyst empress is usurped by her younger brother the bloodstone emperor, and the first long night ensues from this decision. rhaenyra (amethyst = arryn blue + targaryen red) is usurped by her younger brother aegon ii (bloodstone = hightower green + targaryen red) and the dying of the dragons, the very creatures needed to stop the next long night, are eradicated, along with the magic needed to hatch them and keep them alive (until). the war is the blacks (power, death, grief, rebellion, restraint) versus the greens (ambition, greed, jealousy, anger, wealth). the amethyst empress is important to the main story in the same way that rhaenyra is important, that snubbing the women (an integral aspect to the power the targaryens held) of house targaryen can lead only to disaster. daenerys is the key, the one to break the cycle and fix the wrongdoings caused by her ancestors obsession with power. mother of dragons, mhysa, breaker of chains, slayer of lies, daughter of death, the dragon queen, azor ahai come again, the prince that was promised will bring the dawn.

you can argue for technicalities sake all day, but there is a meaning to this story beyond the scope of rightful heirs. and it shouldn’t be shoved off to the side just so you can praise your favorites and hate those who go against them. it makes for a poor consuming of the actual story. fire and blood was created as a history book to expand on daenerys as a character. her family, what and where she’s come from, and how she relates to them. she’s the antithesis to every targaryen that’s come before her, a hero in her own right. the only targaryen’s we can say are radically important to dany’s story are the conquerors (aegon the conqueror with teats) and rhaenyra (the amethyst empress). i don’t know, just some food for thought.

edit: i have revised some of my opinions on this through a further reread but the gist of it is still the same.

[horizon-verizon]

You know what’s crazy is asoiaf fans, both the Daenerys antis and the Jonerys shippers (they’re the same people), will claim the Rhaenyra/Aegon II parallel is Daenerys/Young Griff. But Young Griff is a mere puppet Blackfyre and he’ll die for it and chances are they will likely never meet. The real threat will be a legitimized Jon Stark. Like Aegon II, he is the son by a Targaryen man’s second “dalliance”. Jon IS the parallel to Aegon II in this situation. It’s actually even worse for Daenerys because she’s Aerys II’s daughter, a big pockmark against her. Her rumored infertility, her liberated sexuality, her conqueror status, against solemn male heir ? I get more and more scared everyday the more I think about this.

I've been thinking that if there ever was a Bloodstone Emperor figure to be Dany's enemy, it would be Euron Greyjoy and not Jon Snow bc Euron has many materials and intentions for becoming a magical enemy to dragons with his horn and goal to basically conquer Westeros. one user remarks that he might instead tear down the Wall and thus usher in the new Long Night--paralleling and repeating what the Bloodstone Emperor did to bring about the first. I don't see Jon bringing about the Long Night, even with how intimidated I am about the possible effects of his resurrection.

We shall see.

[atopvisenyashill]

thoughts on dany as amethyst empress with slavery abolished worldwide?

you opened a door you can’t unlock here buddy!!!!! okay several things. this one is getting imo into a lot of very murky territory prediction wise simply bc we don’t have the information. my feelings on a lot of the cyclical aspects of the story change frequently. i think all the weewoo stuff is here on purpose but i think trying to figure out what it means CONFIDENTLY is impossible. EYE think we are essentially putting together the silmarillion through clues from lord of the rings here, right, which means there’s a lot of room for error. it’s also hard to say what was planned when - one thing about george he loves to change a plan and tell you to catch up. so….walk with me here.

to start, i think dany is the bloodstone emperor. the basics of the story are that the bloodstone emperor commits a blood betrayal of the amethyst empress, and this pattern repeats throughout history with different people playing different roles - an emperor is corrupted by a black stone, and commits a blood betrayal that helps usher in an age of darkness. as i’m sure you know, there’s a lot of conflation of azor ahai & several other heroes. i think it wasn’t literally the same person in many aspects - more like the pattern just repeated again somewhere else. think about the similarities between like, the five forts and the wall, despite the five forts supposedly predating the long night.

azor ahai is, imo, another retelling of this story, with azor ahai as the bloodstone emperor and nissa nissa as the amethyst empress. am i saying the empress was a willing victim or nissa unwilling? like all things, i think it’s likely somewhere in between those two things. i don’t inherently believe that the bse/aa/the stallion/etc are anti christ figures; i think there’s room for redemption in all of these stories. but it remains - dany is not nissa nissa, dany is azor ahai, and therefore dany is the emperor who commits the blood betrayal for the black stone. let me paste in the passages from agot-

The red door was so far ahead of her, and she could feel the icy breath behind, sweeping up on her. If it caught her she would die a death that was more than death, howling forever alone in the darkness. She began to run. “… don’t want to wake the dragon …” She could feel the heat inside her, a terrible burning in her womb. Her son was tall and proud, with Drogo’s copper skin and her own silver-gold hair, violet eyes shaped like almonds. And he smiled for her and began to lift his hand toward hers, but when he opened his mouth the fire poured out. She saw his heart burning through his chest, and in an instant he was gone, consumed like a moth by a candle, turned to ash. She wept for her child, the promise of a sweet mouth on her breast, but her tears turned to steam as they touched her skin. “… want to wake the dragon …” Ghosts lined the hallway, dressed in the faded raiment of kings. In their hands were swords of pale fire. They had hair of silver and hair of gold and hair of platinum white, and their eyes were opal and amethyst, tourmaline and jade. “Faster,” they cried, “faster, faster.” She raced, her feet melting the stone wherever they touched. “Faster!” the ghosts cried as one, and she screamed and threw herself forward. A great knife of pain ripped down her back, and she felt her skin tear open and smelled the stench of burning blood and saw the shadow of wings. And Daenerys Targaryen flew. “… wake the dragon …” The door loomed before her, the red door, so close, so close, the hall was a blur around her, the cold receding behind. And now the stone was gone and she flew across the Dothraki sea, high and higher, the green rippling beneath, and all that lived and breathed fled in terror from the shadow of her wings. She could smell home, she could see it, there, just beyond that door, green fields and great stone houses and arms to keep her warm, there. She threw open the door. “… the dragon …” And saw her brother Rhaegar, mounted on a stallion as black as his armor. Fire glimmered red through the narrow eye slit of his helm. “The last dragon,” Ser Jorah’s voice whispered faintly. “The last, the last.” Dany lifted his polished black visor. The face within was her own.

she commits the blood betrayal by sacrificing rhaego to wake dragons from stone, to become the last dragon, the bloodstone emperor. as azor ahai sacrifices nissa nissa to make lightbringer (drogon, who awakes from a black stone egg), as the bloodstone emperor usurps the amethyst princess for the powers of the black stone which ushers in the long night.

now she IS associated with amethysts as well, that can’t be denied. i think it’s likely euron wants to sacrifice her, as HIS nissa nissa, his amethyst princess, to wake his own dragons, in his godkilling quest. i don’t think he will be successful - she is the one who makes the sacrifices, she is not the sacrifice. is her association with amethysts purely a setup for EURON to think she’s the amethyst empress? can she play both roles? is the point that she DOES play both roles? i mean, whose to say at this current point in time.

next point. i don’t necessarily think that the amethyst empress must be an inherently benevolent figure that would shepherd in a slave uprising worldwide. i think it’s true that the blood betrayal caused the first long night, and that aegon ii as the bloodstone emperor committing his own blood betrayal against rhaenyra causes the dying of the dragons. but we don’t know anything about the amethyst empress, and rhaenyra is not a wholly positive figure nor is aegon driven by ambition alone. these blood betrayals are tied to loss of magic but i think it’s more complicated than “and loss of magic is inherently bad.” is it catastrophic for the environment, and the people? often, yes, but that’s to do with whatever the black stone does. but is the cycle inherently bad? i would say the jury is still out on that.

am i implying jon is the amethyst empress? i mean…again, i think it’s too early to say for sure, but my gut says yes. my thing with jon is very much that prophecy chasers tend to get shit kicked in the end, and rhaegar was a prophecy chaser. i think there’s something interesting, similar to the succession issue with casterly rock re: tywin's line shenanigans, that jon isn’t the subject of any prophecy, even after rhaegar went through all that trouble. but there is also the possibility of “he’s playing a completely different role than rhaegar thought” that could work. and you also can’t quite put away the singer/bard stuff with jon, the fact that the reeds swear by ice and fire, and the “his is the song of ice and fire.” and i feel in general the starks are very moon coded (cut rant here), as is…nissa nissa, and therefore the amethyst empress. and any sort of legitimacy given to jon puts him ahead of dany. but i am not married to any of this (i mean i am to ‘dany is the bse & starks are moons’). jon does have a very azor ahai/bloodstone emperor nightmare where he kills ygritte & rob for winterfell - but. well let me put it here-

That night he dreamt of wildlings howling from the woods, advancing to the moan of warhorns and the roll of drums. Boom DOOM boom DOOM boom DOOM came the sound, a thousand hearts with a single beat. Some had spears and some had bows and some had axes. Others rode on chariots made of bones, drawn by teams of dogs as big as ponies. Giants lumbered amongst them, forty feet tall, with mauls the size of oak trees. “Stand fast,” Jon Snow called. “Throw them back.” He stood atop the Wall, alone. “Flame,” he cried, “feed them flame,” but there was no one to pay heed. They are all gone. They have abandoned me. Burning shafts hissed upward, trailing tongues of fire. Scarecrow brothers tumbled down, black cloaks ablaze. “Snow,” an eagle cried, as foemen scuttled up the ice like spiders. Jon was armored in black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. As the dead men reached the top of the Wall he sent them down to die again. He slew a greybeard and a beardless boy, a giant, a gaunt man with filed teeth, a girl with thick red hair. Too late he recognized Ygritte. She was gone as quick as she’d appeared. The world dissolved into a red mist. Jon stabbed and slashed and cut. He hacked down Donal Noye and gutted Deaf Dick Follard. Qhorin Halfhand stumbled to his knees, trying in vain to staunch the flow of blood from his neck. “I am the Lord of Winterfell,” Jon screamed. It was Robb before him now, his hair wet with melting snow. Longclaw took his head off. Then a gnarled hand seized Jon roughly by the shoulder. He whirled … … and woke with a raven pecking at his chest. “Snow,” the bird cried.

note that in contrast to dany’s dream - when dany gets to the end of her nightmare, all she has left is rhaegar and the red door. but jon is jolted out of his nightmare by a mysterious gnarled hand. delicious to me. is it bloodraven, or bran, attempting to steer jon away from a fate as the bloodstone emperor (because he needs to fill another role?)? or do they need him to hold off on becoming the bloodstone emperor, until after he dies, and he's not dead yet? he mentions he has been abanded at the wall, kind of similar to the last hero, and once again you have all these questions - are these figures the same? who is playing what role?

and the same as we don’t know a lot about the amethyst empress…i’m always comparing dany to darth vader, and the bloodstone emperor can also be a vader esque character who does great evil and then attempts to atone. if the bloodstone emperor is also azor ahai, he stops the long night - or A long night. does he do this within the same “cycle”? or was it a second iteration of the pattern, a further cataclysmic event that damaged the world & its magic, and THEN the long night was ended? is it JUST a long night? because imo, whatever the bloodstone emperor causes is what destroys asshai - and that reads more like a magical nuclear bomb than a long night. again, whose to say. the point is, dany could play both roles, or jon & dany could both take on their own role, or dany is the emperor and someone else entirely is the empress (it was rhaego the whole time??). has the long night happened more than once? have the cotf helped ward it off before, with a stopgap measure rather than a permanent solution? or was it a different sort of evil that hunted the people of the great empire of the dawn? are azor ahai and the last hero iterations of the same story?

because….well i’ve seen a lot of “the last hero is also azor ahai” stuff but….the last hero is BRAN. and bran’s role is not the bloodstone emperor but rather the god-on-earth, the child of the lion of night and the maid made of light. so did the last hero perhaps establish their own pattern, break off the mold too far or was the last hero always playing a god-on-earth role?

In the beginning, the priestly scribes of Yin declare, all the land between the Bones and the freezing desert called the Grey Waste, from the Shivering Sea to the Jade Sea (including even the great and holy isle of Leng), formed a single realm ruled by the God-on-Earth, the only begotten son of the Lion of Night and Maiden-Made-of-Light, who traveled about his domains in a palanquin carved from a single pearl and carried by a hundred queens, his wives. For ten thousand years the Great Empire of the Dawn flourished in peace and plenty under the God-on-Earth, until at last he ascended to the stars to join his forebears.

all of this fits much better imo with what we know of brandon the builder rather than either emperor or empress roles. that the builder, like the god on earth, roamed around and established a great dynasty. like bran, the god on earth was carried everywhere. and this also nets in well with bran & the fisher stories - a godlike ruler with wisdom beyond years, who moves about the land rather than being tied to one place. a ruler who IS the land.

so. yes i am basically slotting bran into god-on-earth, jon into amethyst empress, and dany into bloodstone emperor. i think it fits with what we know of what cycles they’re repeating and honestly it potentially even fits the idea that jon doesn’t fulfill any prophecy at all - if bran is the god-on-earth, the last hero, and dany is the bloodstone emperor, azor ahai, which leaves jon as the amethyst princess, nissa nissa….i mean what do those do in the end, really? they die. just like jon. if the amethyst empress is in the end, only there to die…is she actually particularly prophecy incolved? or does she have a greater role that’s still hidden from us? i do think we’re likely to find more out in further chapters that deal with euron because HE doesn’t believe jon is the amethyst empress, he believes dany is.

how do i end all the woo woo stuff. my opinion on this changes constantly check back with me next week and whenever i get into the woowoo stuff, no one is allowed to hold any weird reads against me bc it is so vague.

next point. will dany abolish slavery worldwide? i mean, hard to say, although i do think her image and name will continue to be associated with it no matter how her story goes. certainly her death & memory can be used as a rallying cry to overthrow skavery throughout essos - but that’s likely to happen, again, no matter how she dies. she’s already being used as a symbol in volantis; i think esp with her association with rhollor and azor ahai and the bloodstone emperor that i've detailed (and the potential schism in the faith between meli’s believers and the essosi ones), her reputation in essos will be much more positive than in westeros. even if the absolute worst happens in the ghiscari bay, i think her image has reached escape velocity here - to the essosi, she will be remembered as a brutal ruler but one that tried to make things better, at the very least.

but if she lives, what will she do? well…if we’re talking “she abolishes slavery worldwide as twow and ados goes on” no i don’t think that’s happening on page. she’s getting back to meereen and she's not sticking around long, and it will fall into slavery again when she leaves two seconds later for westeros, and when she gets to westeros she’s being completely rejected there, AND THEN…life goes on. history keeps moving, regardless of the outcome. her image will remain positive in essos, and negative in westeros.

if she pulls a true nettles, and disappears forever, basically all of the above can still happen, and i think that's a sort of bittersweet ending - a legacy of light and dark both. if she lives, and dips out of westeros unseen, and goes back to essos and then doesn’t pull a true nettles but gets reinvolved in the politics there? or perhaps even is Allowed To Leave (by who? well [cut 10 paragraphs about possible endgame scenarios for dany]) and just goes straight back there and dedicates herself to truly abolishing slavery? i mean, we’re at the end of ados now babeeee i think it’s going to be left up in the air in that case. i think it’ll be hopeful maybe, and i would imagine in arya’s adventures that im sure he has written pieces of for fun whenever he gets angry at whatever chapter of twow he’s working on, we’d continue to get some information about dany being queen in the bay but i don’t think it’s likely she’s going to keep conquering (i imagine that would be part of whatever deal gets her back to essos - you don’t move, and we won’t panic). although then you have to factor in volantis and really all the free cities and we’re getting into the weeds here, the point is i think she’s going to have to Pick a place and stay there. the whole “queen of literally all of terros” thing no, i don’t think so - again, she’s not the god-on-earth, she’s the bloodstone emperor. and in the end, both the emperor and empress fall (just as in the dance) while the god-on-earth lives a long life and joins his people peacefully in the heavens.

tldr i think dany is the bloodstone emperor, not the amethyst empress, but that doesn’t mean she won’t help abolish slavery only it will be AFTER the series ends, and not during.