#My issue with him is that he's making a 'noble' statement with such little conviction that you can tell he's doing it to please others

[childofaura]

LittleKuriboh’s being a virtue-signaling moron on Twitter and I’m just-

It’s the whole “Minorities should ALWAYS voice their respective races” argument and like... It’s the most shallow thing for him to say for ass-pats.

At least people are tearing his ass apart in the QRTs.

[reactingtosomething]

Kris Reacts to Game of Thrones: 703, “The Queen’s Justice”

“A Failure of Imagination”

The Setup: I (Kris, aka @omeletsforpepper​) am not the only one of us who keeps up with Game of Thrones, but I am going solo for reactions to it this season (until maybe the finale). This could change, but my plan is to pick out a theme (not necessarily “the” theme) of the week’s episode, and discuss in depth just one or two scenes/sequences that involve it.

SPOILERS for and through season 7, episode 3 of Game of Thrones below.

Though the title of this post is spoken by Olenna Tyrell, it also applies to the problem faced by Jon Snow (“…He’s King in the North”) in his first encounter with Daenerys Stormborn, of House Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, rightful Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains. On what turns out to have remained the strangely minimalist advice of Melisandre (couldn’t she have done Thoros’s whole “look into the flames and tell me what you see” thing?), Daenerys has summoned Jon to bend the knee. But of course, he’s come to ask for help fighting an army of ice zombies. Oh, and right, her father killed his grandfather and uncle, whereas his ancestor swore fealty “in perpetuity” to hers.

As in Jon’s arguments with Sansa earlier in the season, the Dragonstone story in this episode benefits hugely from bringing together characters we’ve rooted for in their own “home” contexts — what’s more, largely unambiguous heroes who’ve overcome or at least survived villains we were happy to see topple and burn (often literally) — and pitting their agendas against each other. Though they absolutely SHOULD NOT BANG (see new section Further Reading below), given the difficulty of wartime resource allocation there’s a productive storytelling tension between their equally legitimate, if maybe not equally time-sensitive, concerns.

Or, well, maybe “productive” is a little generous. 

Jon’s struggle — getting Dany and company to believe him about the encroaching threat of the Night King — is a struggle of a different kind for the audience to accept. Here’s a woman who’s seen and done things that were supposed to be impossible, or at least of a bygone era. Again and again she’s come up against people who underestimated her because they refused to believe she was everything she claimed. And we’re supposed to accept that she doesn’t consider for a second that Jon might be telling the truth? Especially in a scene that goes out of its way to remind us that Daenerys is a voracious reader well-versed in Westerosi history? Even if she wasn’t more than smart enough to make the connection between a supernatural threat embodying winter and her own literal firepower, she should know first-hand the perils of dismissing such a story as mere myth.

Yes, the show gets her there, eventually (in a sequence that if nothing else is gorgeous shot after gorgeous shot on the coast of Spain, probably with a little CG enhancement), but it doesn’t feel like an earned arc. She shouldn’t have needed that much convincing. Would there have then been an absence of conflict that’s problematic in screenwriting? Sure. But an artificially generated conflict that’s in tension with previously established characterization is just as big a problem.

The throne room scene is also hurt by the fact that Dany’s argumentation is shockingly bad, and it’s unclear that the show fully realizes this. Again, yes, it says the right words, when Jon rightly suggests that if Daenerys can’t be held accountable for the sins of her father, neither can he be held to the oath of his ancestor. But by having Designated Reasonable Man Tyrion push Daenerys’s agenda even when she’s not around, the show makes the impasse feel a little more “Gotta Hear Both Sides” than “hey Dany here’s a reality check.”

https://twitter.com/saladinahmed/status/891859659514105856

Here is a conflict that, if better handled, might have been a strong enough engine to substitute for Dany’s implausible skepticism regarding the White Walkers. Daenerys planned her journey to Westeros saying she aimed to “break the wheel,” but that revolutionary ambition is nowhere to be seen (Cersei’s characterization of her notwithstanding) as she argues for reasserting an ancient status quo. I’d have liked someone to point this out.

Jon, despite his own romanticization of old things and old ways, has recently shown greater moral and political imagination by gender-integrating the army of the North, making true allies (not mere subjects) out of the wildlings, and (gladly) handing the oversight of Winterfell to Sansa. Though his enemies in politics and espionage have been superficially less impressive than Dany’s, they took him much more seriously as a threat and arguably required greater creativity and conviction to thwart. In the process he has lost any sentimentality for the sacredness of any particular power structure.

https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/891852536126349313

So with pragmatic advisors like Tyrion and especially Varys at Dany’s side, why hasn’t it occurred to anyone that totalitarian rule might not be necessary and inevitable? I half-jokingly mentioned this after the premiere, contrasting GoT’s ostensible endgame with the resolution of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s first year writing Marvel’s Black Panther: T’Challa and his mother and sister convene a council to write a constitution and transition Wakanda to an at least partially democratic government. 

The more I think about it, the less I think such a conclusion should be written off as silly for Game of Thrones. I’m not saying that I think it’s headed there — if it were, I suspect the seeds would have been planted by now, as they were no later than the second issue of Coates’s BP — but I do think it would have been a workable one, and specifically a worthy character challenge for Daenerys, the Prince(ss) Who (Maybe) Was Promised.

ALL THAT SAID, I really enjoyed the middle sequence of Dragonstone scenes. Partly this was because of how amazing they looked, but we also got some nice reminders that Thrones has a cast as good on paper as any on TV, most of them a comfortable seven years into their performances. In practice, only a few of them have consistently gotten material as strong as they deserve, Peter Dinklage being one of those few (and even for him, not a lot last year). So it was inevitably satisfying that even where the dialogue sometimes fell short, “The Queen’s Justice” provided the circumstances for great character moments.

Kit Harington has often had too little to work with besides noble frustration, but he’s found an interesting unity in Jon’s dueling martyr and imposter complexes, and his scene with Tyrion was one of my favorites he’s ever done. Especially that little speech about how Jon has proven right everyone who told him not to meet with Dany. Maybe just because I know a little something about kicking myself while I’m down, or maybe because truly self-critical introspection (as opposed to some variation on “what if I’m just not strong enough”) still feels rare among heroes of Jon’s traditional heroic mold.

For her part, Emilia Clarke has often had too little to work with besides dramatic speeches, but she’s reliably great at them, and when she does get quieter moments she usually carries them off with a well-modulated haughtiness. Dany’s pouting about Jon’s refusal to bend the knee belatedly gains an interesting shade in their second scene together, coming as it does while both of them are trying to extend olive branches. The show also demonstrates some increasingly rare restraint in its dialogue, by not taking Dany’s recollection that like her Jon has lost two brothers to a point where she has to explicitly express her condolences. She’s a little too proud for that, especially right now, but they can both file it away in their heads as something they have in common.

Given the relative flatness of their arcs over the years (even Jon’ s temporary death couldn’t slow his Inevitable Rise to Power, and few believed it would stick), Daenerys and Jon are the characters in whom Thrones most threatens to succumb to embracing the genre cliches it’s built its reputation on subverting. Their stories have thus required every ounce of actor-delivered nuance they could get. Despite my problems with how Dany is written here, “The Queen’s Justice” nevertheless manages to be a series highlight in part because it finally presents both Dany and Jon with challenges to their respective Destinies that we can’t assume will be inevitably vanquished: each other. “The Queen’s Justice” doesn’t stick the landing of this conflict between protagonists quite as well as it did with Jon and Sansa’s argument in the season premiere, but at least the show knows how valuable this raw material is.

And again, this location is just an incredible gift to Mark Mylod’s direction and to the show’s cinematography:

As for my very favorite beats of the episode:

TYRION: I’d very much like to believe that Jon Snow is wrong. But a wise man once said that you should never believe a thing simply because you want to believe it. DAENERYS: Which wise man said this?

T: I don’t remember. D: Are you trying to present your own statements as ancient wisdom? T: I’d never do that. To you.

That one was too easy for the writers, but the line readings saved it.

A better moment even on the page:

JON: You’ve been talking to Tyrion. DAENERYS: He is my Hand. J: He enjoys talking. D: We all enjoy what we’re good at. J: I don’t.

Oof.

Further Reading

Now that Game of Thrones is off-book, creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have shown a deeper inclination towards embracing these tropes than George R.R. Martin has. […] If Jon and Daenerys bang, it will further indicate that post-Season 6, Game of Thrones is seeking to simply be traditional epic fantasy rather than seeking to have a dialogue with it. - Lauren Sarner for Inverse

But “Game of Thrones” has always encouraged us to look past the things that are easy and make us feel good. And if any show has been a cautionary tale about the difference between female empowerment and true social change, “Game of Thrones” has been it. - Alyssa Rosenberg for The Washington Post

While there have been moments in the past where Game Of Thrones has moved swiftly, this type of breathless pacing is new, and I frankly find it equal parts alarming and refreshing. - Myles McNutt for The AV Club

Talking to men: a play in four acts - Keely Flaherty on Twitter

Follow us on Twitter!

[btextswriting]

QUESTIONING {part 3 of HACKED}

Yoongi looked up from his spot on the couch.

How would you know that’s true? He asked, his voice significantly smaller than it had been moments ago.

From these. You showed him a packet of records. From what you could comprehend, Yoongi’s father had been training and using Yoongi to hack into various government systems around the world. At a young age, Yoongi had tested with a higher IQ and his father ran with it, ultimately letting Yoongi take the fall.

So I can’t hack into my own records, but you can look at other files of mine? Yoongi asked and you shook your head.

I wasn’t looking for you, I was looking through logs to see how to handle people with your personality and I stumbled on your name. Why didn’t you tell me who your father was? You tried to figure it out for the nights leading up to today, but nothing made sense. He had a different name and his father wasn’t known to have a family.

I took my mother’s name at birth. I’m a bastard to my father and I was used like a militant child. They sat me in a room and tested me for various abilities. Finally, when I hacked into that guy’s account in high school, my father realized what they could use me for. So I began working in the government, hacking into security servers and formulating data so that the government could blackmail. You watched as Yoongi angrily spouted off his frustrations. His father seemed like a horrible politician who wanted nothing more than to control him and the country. A part of you cracked. You had been subjected to similar issues, your mother using you as a permanent test subject. But I got so tired of watching the citizens of my own country get fucked over. I cracked. I finally went off and released documents.

You went after your father. You said in a dazed way. You looked at Yoongi, who had his head hung.

He’s old, he doesn’t deserve me going after him like that. Although he treated me like shit, I’m still his kid. For the first time, you saw remorse in Yoongi’s action. A sweet side to a rather bitter man. But a part of you was angered by this.

How could you say that? He’s a horrible man for doing that. God, I thought that I wanted you to show remorse, but there’s a huge part of me that wants to beat the shit out of your dad. You responded, you didn’t have any idea what had gotten into you. Tears welled up in your eyes and your vision went red. I … I … UGH. You slammed your fist down on the coffee table and Yoongi let out a bit of a chuckle.

Hold on there, little miss feisty. I did what I could, but I paid for it. The people now have access to the documents and can see how the government fucked them over. I did my deed. He shrugged and you watched him lay back like he had done for the past week and close his eyes.

Oh shut the fuck up. You spat and Yoongi opened his eyes and looked at you. You continue to behave poorly. You’re not content with your circumstances, but you’re playing the noble hero card. You scoffed and Yoongi sat up, looking you dead in the eye. Huh, well, today’s session is over. You pointed to the clock and Yoongi continued to stare you in the eye. Not making any movements to leave, Yoongi just sat there, his gaze not budging from yours. You started to stand, when Yoongi reached out and grabbed your hand. You eyed the button that sat on the table next to you, it was meant for security situations, if you pushed it, the guards would rush in. Your mind contemplated pushing it, but Yoongi saw you look and quickly dropped your hand.

I’m not a bad guy. I just wanted you to know that. This entire experience hasn’t been the worst thing to happen to me, in a way, I’m free because I’m here. I’m not under my father’s constant watch. So I’m not remorseful because in a way, this opened doors for me. He shrugged again, but you saw something else in his eyes.

Okay. Well we can pick this up on Friday. You said and Yoongi’s eyes shot up at you.

Friday? Why Friday? Why aren’t you here for the week? He erupted with a myriad of questions. His eyes darted around the room and you realized so much from that small interaction.

You need to calm down. I’m going to come back. You reassured him, but he didn’t seem completely convinced. You realized that within a week, Yoongi had formed a connection to you. He saw you as a constant in his world and someone who was willing to vouch for him. Sitting back down, you timidly took hold of Yoongi’s hand. I have some connections of my own in the government and I think I have a case to help you. You said quietly. Yoongi looked into your eyes and it felt as though a scared child was staring back. A piece of your heart broke as you looked deep into his eyes.

A case? He asked and you nodded.

Everyone is in here for a reason that they caused, but a person who is forced to do a crime is seen as innocent and the person who forced them into the crime is the guilty one. You said before letting go of his hand and standing up again. Yoongi sat there, his eyes staring at an empty part of the room, and you could tell his mind was racing. Yoongi, you have to leave my office now. You said and he stood up only giving you a small wave and exiting without a word.

You packed up your things. The next day you made your way to your friend’s office, sitting in front of him, you laid out the case.

So Min Yoongi, the convicted government hacker, is actually innocent? Y/N, I thought you usually helped people that are insane, but looks like you’re the insane one here. You rolled your eyes.

Look at his documents, his statements don’t make sense. The government changed his transcripts so it made it look like he worked alone. I swear he’s innocent, his dad is the one who put him up to this. You ran your mouth at your friend who sat back in his chair.

I’m a second year at this firm, I can’t be bringing a case against one of the top government officials, saying that his illegitimate son was used as a pawn and that he’s actually a horrible man while his son is innocent! I’ll end up jobless! You looked at him and pleaded.

But that’s exactly what happened! You yelled and your friend looked around. Giving a sigh, he held out his hand.

Give me the documents, but don’t be upset if this goes nowhere. He said in an exasperated tone and you gladly tossed the documents to him.

This was the beginning of the trial of the century.

[the-fisherman-messenger-blog]

Azeroth Defense Council Forgets to Defend Home City

By Fisherman Swaffman

Like most articles I write these days, it’s with a grave heart I write this article. Perhaps after I open everyone’s eyes to this hard truth I’ll finally hang up my pen, go back to strictly fishing. Before we begin on the serious topic, I’d just like to alert everyone that Orruk is not dead. Some Goblins off the coast of Highmountain caught a glimpse of him before he darted away to avoid losing trace of his recent hunt. Now that’s out of the way, let us begin. 

As we all know, I’ve become somewhat of a respected member of society to some, while others view me as a little annoying runt. First off, if you’re one of the latter and you’re reading this, I resent that. Second off, as a general member of society it is my duty to see to its betterment. That is why I’ve often attended such meetings as the House of Nobles, the ADC, and a completely corrupt court case.  *Editor’s Note: If you have not read about the completely corrupt court case, you should go find it. I’m sure Orruk left some copies around Stormwind. 

Recently, the ADC has fallen onto some hard times. Don’t believe me? Just read this little snip from the Royal Courier and then tell me I’m wrong.

You see, after much of the original leadership of the organization left, the new leaders of the Alliance Defense Council have decided that claiming the defense of the Alliance isn’t enough. They have to be all of Azeroth’s defense council, which is honestly a cruel joke. While that’d be fine and dandy to claim the defense of all of Azeroth, the only problem is that there’s no Horde representatives on the council. How can the council claim the title of Azeroth Defense Council if they’re only representing a small portion of its people? Even before they claimed the title of Azeroth Defense Council, when they were solely the Alliance’s defenders they still didn’t account for all races of the Alliance. Most consisted of humans, with an occasional dwarf, draenei, and elf. Now, today, their leadership is mostly human, yet they’re the defense council of our whole world. 

One of the worst parts of this council is the fact that the leaders stationed on the Council aren’t even world leaders. Never has the Council of Three Hammers attender, nor has Anduin or Tyrande. Now, with the inclusion of Azeroth as a whole, I fully expect them to invite the Banshee queen to our doorstep so she can raise our dead for her unholy army. 

I wouldn’t even be writing about this topic, considering it’s just a bunch of human nobles pretending to be in power once more, but the problem is that a “reputable” news source is promoting them. That’s where the problem here lies, the Royal Courier is feeding its incompetent readers false stories about the authority of this power grabbing council. The next think you know they’ll be reporting on how my paper has been banned and I’ve been thrown into the Stockades. I wish I could end the story there, but there’s even more to feel sorry about.

The above is part of the same “Azeroth Defense Council” article posted above, this time the ADC pledging its support to the Stormwind city guard to help clean its streets up. A noble goal, considering the shit pile that’s been building up for months. If you have no idea what shit pile I’m talking about, go read one of my older articles. I’d take a moment to inform you, but I don’t believe I can handle that kind of horror right now. One would hope that the ADC got off their asses and truly did aid the incompetent guards in cleaning the streets up, as stated above, but let me shed some light onto what’s really been going on. 

*Editors Note: If you haven’t already, also go find the old article posted about the guard’s mishaps. That may help some confused readers on what they’re about to read.

The above is a picture of the Royal Courier’s recent article on a mishap that occurred recently in the Alliance’s Crown City, Stormwind. Odd, earlier the ADC pledged the guard their support, yet now a -KNOWN CRIMINAL- entered the city with -HIS FOLLOWERS-. Huh, you’d think that a competent city guard would be able to spot a known criminal, and even if that was hard they’d be able to think something fishy was about when they notice a man being followed by a group. Not only that, but the -COMMANDER- of the guard broke protocol, which is for more than one guard to respond to an alert, and took on a -KNOWN CRIMINAL- and his -FOLLOWERS- by himself. Hmm. . Odd that a man who’s supposed to be the commander of the city guard can’t even realize that taking on a group of criminals by himself is quite possible one of the dumbest decisions he could make. Why, I might even go as far to say that the only dumber decision would be letting a known necromancer walk away alive. 

Before anyone sends in any letters asking, the above statement is not a joke fabricated by me to help prove my point, this is a real article and real statement made by the guard Commander. Just as I stated before, the Royal Courier has decided to put the idiotic Commander on a pedestal for all to glorify for an idiotic decision. I believe they meant to say “Commander Aldenhardt foolishly took on three of the group single-handily. He miraculously managed to harm two of the cultists before a third made the smart decision and attacked the commander. They all fled, clearly done with their crucifixion and torment of the poor Commander.” That would make sense. Alas, I find nothing in this doomed world makes sense anymore. 

Anyways, back onto the subject: The guard Commander has now broken protocol twice yet he is still in command. I ask that we rise up and demand that a new Commander be chosen and the old one thrown into the Stockades for collaboration with necromancers and criminals. His current solution is to ask the known criminal, Demetrius Devereaux, to just turn himself in. I’d like to note that this criminal is known for many unmentionable crimes, and has been convicted by the courts before. The man somehow broke out of the Stockades, under the command of Commander Aldenhardt, and now runs free. How can we continue with our day to day lives knowing that this criminal roams the streets while the Commander is solving the issue by asking nicely? 

Not only has Commander Aldenhardt proven time and again that he’s a complete failure, the ADC supposedly “pledged their support” and the city has only gotten worse! Is the ADC working with Devereaux? Or is the ADC actually a puppet of the Burning Legion, seeking to throw Stormwind into chaos? Perhaps it is Commander Aldenhardt who is a minion of the Old Gods and would rather watch everyone die as our world is slowly corrupted? Where is Orruk in our time of need? Will this city ever make sense? Have the guards, nobles, and ADC taken the Royal Courier hostage so they will only write about their specific plots in order to advance their own agendas? All these questions and more to be answered the moment I cease hating this world.

((All of this should be taken IC as the paper is an IC article, in absolutely no way should this be taken into OOC)) 

@the-royal-courier @houseofnobles-wra @official-adc-wra @percy-aldenhardt @demetrius-devereaux @the-house-of-crows