#Neither team green or team black

[incomparableastraea]

well I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually looking forward to Daemon killing Aemond at harrenhal

I can't stand Rhaenyra's faction but Aemond has been truly unbearable this season

'let's blatantly attempt to kill the king in front of the army I now expect to follow me without question'

'let's parade the head of a dead enemy dragon in front of the small folk to show them that our dragons are entirely capable of being killed by mortal means'

'let's threaten Aegon in his sickbed while he can't get away after I horrifically crippled him for life, injured his dragon, and was partly responsible for the death of his son and heir'

'let's ignore the plight of the small folk and let them starve when they outnumber my men ten to one in the city I expect to rule'

All the while he acts so smug and self entitled, and appears to have zero sense of the wider consequences of his actions, and how damaging his behaviour is to his own faction.

[theothermaidoftarth]

Title: Song for Evermore

Pairing: Daeron Targaryen x Baela Targaryen 

Rating: M (a light M; it’s mostly T, except for a few paragraphs of non-explicit sexual content)

Summary: Daeron Targaryen’s hopes and dreams always came back to belonging. It had been so ever since he became a ward of Oldtown at five, at an earlier age than most. He finds a kindred spirit in an unexpected place: Lady Baela, the daughter of his grandfather’s bitter rival, Daemon Targaryen.

Word count: 47,559

Multi-chapter (essentially a one-shot split into six parts)

Status: Complete

Excerpt below:

“You sing to your dragon?”   

“Yes, I — yes.” Daeron thought he was alone, save the dragons and the last vestiges of his song, echoing back to him. She startled him. His eyes took her in, from boots to breeches and studded jack. Lady Baela and her grandmother had arrived too late yesterday eve to be presented to the court; they had met with the queen and her father, the Lord Hand privately before retiring to their allotted chambers. Baela had been shaped as if by a fine hand; spare, too lean, most would say, with the barest hint of womanly curves. Her hair was pulled back in a thick braid, the silver curls even brighter against her rich bronze skin. Her mouth, generous and lush, curved in a faint smile. Her purple eyes, large, doe-like and beguiling, at odds with the intensity of her expression which he saw as she drew nearer curiously; her gaze was as keen as a blade.

He thought she was as surprised to come upon him in the Dragonpit as he was her, though she hid it slightly better. Surprise was too weak a word. Even as he rose, feet firmly underneath him, he felt unsteady, as if he were on the deck of a ship embroiled in a storm. Fitting when she has both Baratheon and Velaryon blood. How his thoughts run from him, even more than usual. He should bow. He had forgotten to, but neither had she curtsied. Likely it was too late now. He had a thought she would laugh if he did, Daemon’s eldest daughter. Of what he had heard of the man, the uncle he’d never met, it seemed likely. She’d laugh for he would seem like a dog slow to remember an old trick. He might like to see her laugh, he thought hazily. Better that than this halfway state, midway between impassive and expressive.

“Is she the only she-dragon you will sing to?”

“You, my lady?” Daeron didn’t recognise his voice, a low husky murmur. He swallowed against a dry mouth. “You wish me to sing to…”

Her eyes were full of laughter as she said, “Moondancer.” Hot blood rushed to his face, though her amusement was not mocking. Her dragon, she meant her dragon. “Although…” her head canted to the side, “I would not say no to a song, Prince Daeron.”

At last he dusted off his wits. “And what of yours? Your voice, I mean.”

"It would make her weep.”

He gave a little laugh. She surprised him and that cleared his head some. No other lady he knew would ever admit such a fault, especially not so blithely. “So bad as that?”

She cast a fond eye over her dragon, green with pearl tipped wings and crouching stiffly as if expecting a fight. “Certes it wouldn’t settle her, see her thus, like—“ she nodded to the blue dragon behind him, lolling upon the floor contently; were she a pup, she may have rolled onto her back, legs all in the air.

“Tessarion,” Daeron offered with a warm smile, patting his dragon’s flank. Despite her blithe mien, Baela’s stance was almost too casual; something had her on edge. Oddly enough he did not think it was him. Just as oddly the same was true in reverse. She could have been any young woman and he any young man, not two scions of a family split in two. “Any particular requests?”

“If I said The Bear and the Maiden Fair…”

“I’d say you want me sent to the Wall for debauching a lady of the blood.”

“As if you were the bear himself to lick honey from my hair.” The silence was charged with something hot, heavy, which made his breathing hitch. Mayhap she felt it too for her voice was soft, a bare whisper. “You’d be singing a song.”

“And after? How do you know what I would or wouldn’t lick?”

Hot embarrassment at speaking such bold words filled him — Mother have mercy, he had only just met her — but then she took one step towards him, then another, and another. Something fiery stirred low in his belly as she looked him over from head to toe, her brow raised. Then her mouth dimpled in a cheeky half-smile. “My grandmother used to warn me away from the singers who’d come to call at High Tide. Seems she was right to.” Singer. Did she think him such? In truth he was a bit of everything. A bit of nothing. He felt like something under her gaze, like he could be something. “Is that a promise?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“It is discourteous to answer a question with another question.” But she was smiling as she said it, a slightly broader smile.

Seven save me, he thought, you’re so lovely, I can barely breathe. Princess Rhaenys was right to warn her away from those singers; one look at her smile and they must have yearned to carry her off over their shoulders, to sail away with her under the cover of night. What he said when he found his tongue was, “You are enjoying this.”

She stepped backwards away from him, and towards her dragon. The dragonkeepers had saddled her while they were talking. Moondancer was still tense; would a flight see her settled as well as a song? “Why we came is a matter of little and less enjoyment.” Baela paused, uncharacteristically grave, then her voice brightened, “So, why not seek it where I may?” She looked at him over her shoulder and winked.

A smile played across Daeron’s mouth. “Is that a promise?”

“Do you want it to be?”

He was laughing as he called to her retreating form. “Tis discourteous to answer a question with another question.”

Her merry backward wave was the only answer he received.

Read more on Ao3

[queenvhagar]

By the way, just so we can compare this "son for a son" thing that so many Team Black stans think is justified because of Lucerys' death:

Team Black's loss: a 14 year old boy, sent on dragonback to secure support for an uncertain ally on the eve of a war, gets ambushed by his slightly older uncle, whose eye he once cut out without remorse and whose enormous dragon instantly kills him and his dragon with one bite

Team Green's loss: a 6 year old boy, getting tucked into bed by his mother, is suddenly woken in the middle of the night to two strange men when one puts his hand over his mouth and proceeds to begin sawing his head off with a knife as he lays there watching, doubtlessly feeling everything as he dies after a few moments of the blade cutting back and forth across his throat, his only ever crime stealing a small council ball and having an uncle willing to pay for his head to satisfy a need for vengeance

[the-daily-dreamer]

Well well well… GRRM confirmed team 💚? ✔️✅✔️✅

GRRM SAID HELAENA THE BELOVED & RHAENYRA THE REVILED

I DONT WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE MAESTER THEORY. GRRM HIMSELF CONFIRMED RHAENYRA WAS HATED AND ITS NOT HISTORY WRITTEN BY THE WINNERS OR BY ANTI-TARG MAESTERS.

GRRM wrote this story to show that both sides were capable of evil and corruption, both sides had innocents who paid the price, and BOTH sides had a reason to fight. The reduction and changes by the writers to preserve the image of team black has even disappointed the creator of this universe! Because important character traits and plot lines have been destroyed and lost their impact and for what?

To push a “feminist” narrative of a toothless heroine in Rhaenyra. As opposed to a real story about the cost of power and war.

[nonbinarylesbianherb]

Whether you’re team black or team green we can all agree that watching the dragons get hurt and die is heartbreaking no matter what

[dragondream-ing]

If someone defends Rhaenyra’s usurpation because of tRaDiTiOn, they better be waving a Maegor banner proudly.

I’m being serious.

So many people in this fandom care about the tradition of Westerosi inheritance and act like yelling about it justifies team green’s actions. They never seem to take into consideration what it means.

This post is inspired by my allergy to inconsistency and hypocrisy. Here we go.

The only consistent tradition of Targaryen succession is the ruler choosing their own heir. Sometimes that aligned with Westerosi tradition, often it did not. And it started with the very first heir. So either you admit Maegor was the rightful heir over Aenys, or you admit he wasn’t because Aegon the Conqueror said so.

Let me explain.

Visenya was Aegon’s first wife. In Westerosi tradition, Rhaenys would be considered at best a mistress and her children out of the succession or, at the least, behind Visenya’s children. The lords accepted the validity of Aegon’s plural marriage because they didn’t have the power to oppose the Conquerors, simple as. Tradition didn’t matter in the face of dragons. It is not a genuine argument and hasn’t been since the creation of the Crown itself. House Targaryen’s exceptionalism went beyond incest and dragons from the start, and accepting Aenys as king shows the nobles accepted this when it was convenient.

So I’d like team green to be consistent. Is the king’s word law, a la Aegon choosing Aenys as his heir? Or is this a break from tradition that was only corrected when Maegor killed his nephew and took the throne?

It gets messy from here. Maegor, as we know, didn’t have a child, so he chose his great-niece, Aerea as his heir. Jaehaerys was still alive, he could’ve chosen him. Heck, that might’ve eased like a drop of the tension between him, Jaehaerys and Alyssa Velaryon. So if you’re a tradition truther, Maegor was the proper king but then chose an untraditional heir. Hmm.

Then we get to Jaehaerys, and a tradition truther might think YES, THAT’S OUR GUY. But he’s really not.

Yes, he stopped considering his eldest living child, Daenerys, as his heir after Aemon was born. But then Aemon died.

Aemon did, however, die with an heir. Her name was Rhaenys. In Westerosi tradition, she’d inherit after him, because a daughter inherits before a brother. Now, I know the lords do all sorts of things to circumvent this (see Alys Karstark), but that *is* Westerosi tradition.

Did Jaehaerys follow tradition? Nope. He picked his second oldest son, Baelon.

Some might say there are logical reasons for this. Baelon was a warrior, older, and had grown sons. Rhaenys was like 18, married to an ambitious lord not named Targaryen, and at risk of dying in childbirth (Baelon was named heir in 92, Rhaenys had her first child in 92). HOWEVER, we see with Jeyne Arryn becoming Lady of the Vale while still a *toddler* that Westerosi tradition doesn’t set aside claims merely because such concerns exist. In fact, in ASOIAF, some Lannister married an f-ing BABY to lay claim to her lands because *she* is the acknowledged inheritor.

You could argue that it matters more when it’s the Crown, and I’ll concede that while pointing out you’ve made my argument for me: isn’t that a good reason for the Crown to do what it wants instead of following traditions that hamstring it?

If you’re a tradition truther, however, you should be in a rage and insisting Rhaenys inherit, and you should be outraged by what was done to her at the Council of 101 after Baelon dies. Her claim wasn’t even considered, Laenor’s was—ya know, her toddler son who got his claim *through* her.

So then Viserys takes the throne and continues the Targaryen custom of choosing his heir. And the tradition truthers of the fandom rise up and boo, and they cry “duty and sacrifice! What about tradition!?”

Just admit that the lords of Westeros, Alicent, her merry band of greens, and the fans that make excuses for them didn’t and don’t care about tradition unless it suits them, and they only become vocal about it when a woman stands a good chance of inheriting over a man.

Viserys never wavered in his choice, the realm knew it and so did the greens. This is precisely why Rhaenyra had far more support than her brother, and why the argument that the realm wouldn’t accept her is bs. The realm DID accept her. Because they understood something many in this fandom struggle to

There was only one consistent tradition of royal succession between the Conquest and the Dance: the ruler chooses their heir.

[leonanette]

"Two ways to view the world so similar at times

Two ways to rule the world to justify their crimes

By kings and queens young men are sent to die in war

Their propaganda speaks those words been heard before

Two ways to view the world brought Europe Westeros down in flames

Two ways to rule

Has man gone insane?

A few will remain

Who’ll find a way

To live one more day

Through decades long years of war

It spreads like disease,

There’s no sign of peace

Religion Succession and greed

Cause millions to bleed

Three decades long years of war

From dawn to dawn they’re fighting,

Die where they stand

The fog of war lies thick

When armies scorch the land.

When all of Europe’s Westeros's burning

What can be done?

They’ve been to war a decade long year,

Two more to come

Long way from home

Döpas och dö I strid

Lifetime at war

Has man gone insane?

A few will remain

Who’ll find a way

To live one more day

Through decades long years of war.

It spreads like disease,

There’s no sign of peace.

Religion Succession and greed

Cause millions to bleed.

Three decades long years of war.

When they face death they’re all alike

No right or wrong, rich or poor

No matter who they served before

Good or bad, they’re all the same

Rest side by side now

Has man gone insane?

A few will remain

Who'll find a way

To live one more day

Through decades long years of war?

It spreads like disease

There's no sign of peace

Religion Succession and greed

Cause millions to bleed

Three decades long years of war..."

Lyrics: A Lifetime of War by Sabaton (slightly altered - to fit House of the Dragon - by me)

I'm not trying to be deep with this. I just have this song stuck in my head and, now, so do you.

[im-not-batman]

Should i finish this rhaenicent gif or nah

ive been looking at it so long now i kinda hate it so im looking to external validation to fuel me

[annes-andromeda]

Long Post Incoming

——————

I don’t know who needs to hear this (*cough* TB stans *cough*) but Aegon has always had a stronger claim that Rha*nyra.

According to Andal law, a son comes before a daughter, and a niece comes before an uncle. The only time Rha*nyra had a strong claim was when she was Vis*rys’s only living child. No one wanted Da*mon on the IT because they knew that he would essentially be a second Maegor (or worse). Not only was Rha*nyra more well liked at the time, but in accordance to the law, she had a stronger claim that Da*mon.

At the end of the day, Rha*nyra being named heir had nothing to do with Rha*nyra. In the book, she was named heir so that Da*mon wouldn’t become king, and in the show, she was named heir because of Vis*rys’s guilt for killing Aemma. It was never about her. But, once Rha*nyra heard her daddy name her his successor, she rolled with it and refused to give up her claim. Which again, at the time, was at its strongest.

That is, until Vis*rys married Alicent and had Aegon.

Otto states that the succession changed the second Aegon was born, and although Otto isn’t the easiest man to like, he wasn’t wrong. As soon as Vis*rys fathered a living son, Rha*nyra was brought down from being first in line, to being second in line, with Da*mon now being third in line.

Now GRRM harkened back to Henry VIII and the succession crisis regarding his three living children (Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward), and states that Edward was third in line but was to become king first.

There’s just one problem. There was no succession crisis.

Edward, despite his age, was ALWAYS first in line for the throne. Everyone and their mother knew the second he was born, he would be Henry’s heir. Henry removed Mary and Elizabeth from the succession and denounced them as illegitimate because he annulled his marriages to his first and second wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

Mary and Elizabeth were only returned to the succession through the Third Succession Act of 1543 because Henry did not father anymore sons, and he needed spares should anything happen to Edward. But Edward remained first in line nonetheless, whereas Mary and Elizabeth followed right after despite both of them being older.

Because of Aegon’s birth, Rha*nyra’s claim has weakened substantially, and while it’s still stronger than Da*mon’s, people will naturally gravitate towards Aegon due to the majority of Westeros, save for Dorne, following male primogeniture.

If Vis*ys really wanted to strengthen his daughters claim and instill her as heir, then he would’ve never remarried and had sons. He would’ve helped Rha*nyra gain allies, and teach her how to rule. But he didn’t. He just named her heir and that’s it.

Which is why Vis*rys still wanting Rha*nyra to be his successor despite having Aegon is stupid, because the law dictates that Aegon is first in line. And Vis*rys never changed the laws of succession, he only wanted his daughter to be the exception.

Now if this were Dorne, where absolute primogeniture is practiced, then Rha*nyra would most certainly be the uncontested heir. But since she’s not Dornish, Rha*nyra’s claim to the IT is weaker than Aegon’s. And it only gets weaker once Vis*rys sires two more sons following Aegon.

With the births of Aegon, Aemond, and Daeron, Rha*nyra is pushed even further down the line of succession. And when Aegon has two legitimate sons of his own (Jaehaerys and Maelor), she’s pushed even further down the line.

It’s why Da*mon groomed and married her: so he would get closer to the throne. But even with their claims combined, and despite the fact that they have Aegon III and Viserys II, Aegon’s claim is still strong.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is what the succession should look like:

Aegon II—>Jaehaerys—>Maelor—>Aemond—>Daeron—>Rha*nyra—>Aegon III—>Viserys II—>Helaena—>Jaehaera—>Da*mon

Fans can scream about how Rha*nyra and the Blacks had more houses supporting them during the Dance (which realistically doesn’t make a lick of sense), but it doesn’t change the fact that Aegon has always had the stronger claim.

You can say that she was usurped all you want, but it doesn’t mean that Aegon didn’t have a claim to the throne. If anything, he had the strongest claim of them all.

And not only that, but Aegon had legitimate sons as his heirs, unlike Rha*nyra, who was trying to pass off her illegitimate bastard sons as her heirs, despite it being very illegal.

People say that Jace, Luke, and Joff were fighting for their claims when… they literally had no claims to begin with. They’re illegitimate bastards who shouldn’t be anywhere near the line of succession. Just because they have the last name Velaryon and Laenor “accepted” them, doesn’t suddenly make them legitimate.

That’s like that saying that because Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen had the last name Baratheon, it suddenly means they were Robert’s trueborn children, when we know they weren’t.

All in all, Vis*rys was the real reason for the Dance happening, all because he couldn’t make up his mind about the succession and was politically inept. And no, him marrying Laena wouldn’t have stopped the Dance from happening because there still would’ve been a chance that Laena birthed a son (or sons).

[ladyoftheblades]

with the new episode of HOTD i have a lot of tjoughts ⚠️SPOILERS FOR S2E1⚠️

if the writters make one more war crime "an accident" im coming for their head. Wtf do you mean "kill aemond targaryen" what happened to a son for a son ???????

i did not like the change from the books of alicent sleeping with criston instead of being there during B&C. It was a stupid unnexessary change, in order to make alicent seem hypocritical and dishonorable. if she was there gagged and unable to help her family it would make her seem too human, and we cant have that, shes the villain, and villains cannot be sympathetic, ever 🤷‍♀️.

But that being said i feel that the people who blame her for not being there but dont hold rhaenyra to the same standard for laenas funeral are hypoctrites.

overall, great episode but too much TB pandering 😔

[rhaenin-time]

It's not sexist to claim that Alicent was probably the most responsible for the Dance of the Dragons out of any individual it's actually sexist to claim that it's sexist to claim that.

[lady-phasma]

My sister likes Daemon and Aemond and I'm so freaking excited!!

[theothermaidoftarth]

Daeron Targaryen, son of Viserys I and Alicent Hightower

Excerpt from my fic Song for Evermore:

It was not usual that newly ascended lords travel to the Red Keep to do homage to the Iron Throne, to the Crown, but Ormund Hightower had done so at the behest of his uncle, the Lord Hand. He performed the commendation ceremony twice, bare-headed and weaponless as a sign of his submission; once before the court, full to bursting with spectators highborn and low, and then again in the king’s chambers with the queen, Hand, members of the Small Council and the Keep’s septon as witnesses. Thus was Ormund invested as the new Lord of the Hightower, Lord of the Port, Beacon of the South, Defender of the Citadel, Oldtown’s Voice, Defender and Lord. Such a heavy weight of titles. His shoulders could bear them up, as easily as he’d borne up Daeron on one arm and Lyonel on the other as boys, while they giggled and shrieked.

Daeron was five when he first went to Oldtown. He couldn’t remember much of his first impressions, only that he’d thought it was a holiday, at first. Until it dawned on him that he wasn’t going back to the Red Keep, not unless the king or queen wished him back. He had been dumped at the Hightower like a sack of weevil-infested barley. His mother saw it differently, barely a day into the Hightowers’ presence at the Keep she had said to him: “I know it was necessary you be here but I still rather wish you had stayed away. This is not the place for you. You are too good to be drawn into… all of this.”

He had felt a curious roiling in his stomach. Was court not where he was supposed to be as the son of the king? Third son, yes, but a dragonrider; a consummate courtier, personable, well-spoken, courteous, the image of charm and grace itself — or so many and more courtiers had gushed since his arrival three days before. Why have they been hiding you away, my prince. You are ever so delightful. You are the sun itself, smiling down upon us all. Oh Prince Daeron, you are a charmer; not like your brothers at all. It is true what they say, the Reach does produce fine crop. Fine, indeed.

The praise was heady, like the first sip of strongwine. He couldn’t yet tell if he liked it or not. He’d only known such praise from foreign envoys come to call at the Hightower, or Reachlords who had daughters they were looking to marry off. He was just Daeron to his Hightower family, even after he claimed Tessarion at the age of nine. Just Daeron with ink liable to stain his fingers from all his scribblings; just Daeron who was getting a bit of squint from all the reading he did even by dying candlelight; just Daeron who was more likely to follow than lead.

But now to the courtiers of the Red Keep, he was the sun that lights up our sky; a jewel of the age; the Beacon of the Crownlands (Beacon of the Crown, one daring lady whispered).

Why send him away, a mere babe of five yet keep Aegon, perpetually drunk, teary if not sneering, eyes lingering where they shouldn’t and hands too if the way the maidservants acted told it true. Their wariness had extended to Daeron too until they saw his kindness was no illusion, that he acted as such with everyone, highborn or low. He would ask but he was wary of feeling his mother’s loving touch. It is only because I love you that I do this, he heard her say the very day he arrived as she gripped Aegon’s chin in her hand. Everything I have done has been for you, to prepare you and save y— She noticed Daeron then, lingering by the doorway of her rooms, half afraid to come in. She smiled at him wanly and released Aegon. Her eldest son scuttled away, the dismissal unheard but clear. That was when she said she wished he had stayed away. Where is duty? she asked the Crown Princess Rhaenyra on High Tide one dark night. Where is sacrifice? Trampled under your little foot again. He thought, Was I one of your sacrifices, Mother?

[naggascradle]

i just finished hotd so im obviously thinking about it more but ive been really working to try to narrow down why i found hotd so much more fun to watch despite its flaws compared to my frustration throughout all of game of thrones with the character reductions and missing the point of the books.

first of all i think its down to the new showrunners understanding themes and like... what makes a story compelling in terms of characterization and what you can flesh out from a more barebones text. there's a lot to that you can have fun with & turning vague historical figures into a story to follow. i loved the alicent and rhaenyra background where we see them as children! episode one of season one is such a strong set up for the rest of the show and the themes it wants to deal with on the horror of motherhood and women being seen as vessels to carry children, which leads into the primary theme of the show and assumptions of people based on physical appearance.

which like, compared with game of thrones which seems sort of confused? about what it wants its themes to be for the show? like the books have a pretty major theme of the sins of the father sort of narrative and the cyclical nature of abuse and the way society pushes forward the abuse. the show removes most of these themes, oddly, like the biggest examples to me were tyrion's abuse by his father with tysha (this gets a mention in the show), the greyjoy family nightmare of abuse that just keeps going (the most we get on tv is theon being like my dad doesnt really like me :( and thats it but the books are pretty brutal in being like theon gets told someone's dad will beat them and he's like well my dad did that to me so idk what you want me to do about it.), arya's whole book narrative is how revenge begets revenge and in the process of revenge you will lose your own identity in pursuit of violence as a cycle, the point of the Others is to have the realms of men unite against an evil so great it will kill them if they keep doing petty squabbling, the list goes on. but the show doesnt really seem all that interested in playing with the ideas of cycles or what they mean? i honestly cant even tell you what i think the theme of game of thrones the tv show is. violence hurts people, i think?

hotd does a better job with picking a theme and running with it (the theme being what the assumption of a person means based on their physical traits; societally, politically, and personally). this is a major focus of a song of ice and fire as well, so it lends to the story of house of the dragon in a great way! we get larys who is disabled and his explicit discussion with aegon about how people will underestimate you and it will be your advantage (great parallel to doran martell in the books), the bastardy of jaecerys and his disgust with himself and following it up with him meeting the dragonseeds who have an entirely different view of being bastards (something id love to see more of in season 3, despite knowing jace's eventual end), rhaenyra & alicent obviously and the way people treat them as women. rhaenyra's conversation in episode one with aemma is suuuch a haunting one by the end of the same episode. alicent of course with her discussions about being undermined in front of her sons and how no one will be able to control them if she is continued to be shown as incapable in front of them.

anyway apart from themes hotd does also play with the concept of what adapting stories means, and how they'll play out differently on the screen, especially in a context of an adaptation along the lines of a historical fiction sort of show, as f&b isnt a chapter novel, more like an outline of how the history went. historical adaptations can be fun too in how the narrative is told, like giving nuances to characters when we just have their actions on paper. aemond unintentionally killing luke is up there for me in terms of "this is a really fun way to interpret the text" because all we know is that aemond killed luke when pursuing revenge over his lost eye, having their dragons act like actual animals with minds of their own in that moment was a strong choice! like of course vhagar will turn and try to kill a much smaller dragon for attacking her head on, she's a three ton massive sky beast. luke is a 14 year old with an adolescent dragon that's much more nimble, it makes total sense he could outjuke vhagar for a moment to get a direct fire shot on her. and it makes sense for aemond in turn to try to get control back of vhagar and fail. those are all incredibly compelling character choices to do when the accounts are so vague.

the other historical adaptation moment i really enjoyed was the dragonseed storylines (...enjoyed is a bit of an overstatement, i thought some of the dialogue for these scenes couldve been better.) where you can be like ?? who are these guys why do i care. until addam gets seasmoke and its like ohh those other two are the other two dragonriders ulf and hugh. got it.

honestly this is a very low bar in most shows but game of thrones really, really hated doing things like this except like once or twice (the only example i can think of is olenna tyrell getting a bunch of camera shots with the goblet at joffrey's wedding). game of thrones removed most of its foreshadowing in the tv show for major events that are borderline told to the reader that will happen in the books, and it makes the show a lot worse because it means it doesn't trust its audience can still be compelled by the story if they can figure out what will be happening (leading to like everything from s6 onward in terms of plot decisions lol), as well as made characters like ridiculously stupid in terms of their plans from the start because the show didnt seem to trust the audience in understanding what was happening in the story either? like the whole sansa being snuck out by dantos is... there for like one scene, but the book version makes it a whole shock twist that it was littlefinger arranging the whole thing (which was something you could pick up on beforehand, but from sansa's point of view she had no idea who was doing all this for her.), the show changes it to have petyr straight up tell sansa in the middle of the red keep "i'll sneak you out of here" and its like ?? people can say the characters got a case of the stupids in the later seasons but they definitely had the case of the stupids in early seasons too. why the fuck would littlefinger straight up tell her where everyone can hear him. this successfully lowers the stakes, makes littlefinger look like an idiot & everyone can guess who has sansa. like do varys's little birds mean something in this show or do they not.

i do think hotd leaves room to be desired with not making rhaenyra nuanced enough, but i can see where they really want the audience to root for her. regardless i dont think there's much where i was like "wow this character is ooc" its been pretty decently consistent about every character being consistent, and i do worry about if they start making rhaenyra have bad decisions itll be weirdly ooc lol. she's been shown to be prideful and wanting to be the only person making decisions & getting annoyed at others without her approval which i think is a pretty decent flaw to not make it overkill in making her an incapable ruler. idk i think rhaenyra is like. fine. as is. if she becomes bad at ruling id rather it be a slow progression over her control issues stemming from the way people treat her like she doesnt know anything and doing things without her approval. because it looks like they might lean into that and especially so after jace's and joffrey's deaths.

generally ive been reading everything hotd chooses to do as like this is a historical adaptation and some things will get changed for adaptability reasons. yes some things wont hit as hard if you loved them in the book but for the most part the changes have been in service of the themes i listed before, making the show feel like it has a purpose and wants to try and say something, so im more willing to forgive a lot of things in service of that.

anyway i wish we did have halaena's choice & nettles </3 those are the only two i dont really understand yet but im willing to wait and see how they play out

[peridot-tears]

I think a lot of people miss the point of Alicent Hightower's parenting methods. It's toxic and awful, but she was raised to social climb no matter the cost. For her, love is control and steering her kids on the right path even if they don't want it. They're in a precarious position where their family painstakingly reached the status and power they have now, but a misstep could spell death and suffering for all of them.

Rhaenyra, on the other hand, was born into a dynasty where their place on the throne had long been secured. And her father was able to raise her with a secure attachment to him.

Watching House of the Dragon as an immigrants' kid, I recognize Alicent's actions as the ultimate parental love. But apropros to nothing, I also don't talk to my mother anymore.

[edenrain97]

It’s intreseting to me the amount of people saying that Aegon II is a good father. He was not, but he is trying to be - and that, in many ways, makes the events of the episode more tragic.

Aegon II goes to Haelena to ask where his son was. He is intent on not repeating the father-son relationship that he had. Neglectful. Distant.

Yet, that is the current relationship he does have. His appearance in Helaena’s quarters was a surprise. He doesn’t know his children’s schedules enough to know his son is in his lessons.

(Also, the obvious way the maids freeze, careful not earn his attention, is perfect. They all know what he did.)

The scene in the council room reflects exactly what he assumed he wanted from his father: someone to protect him, to dote on him no matter is actions.

He didn’t protect his son, though. And I’m so excited to see where this goes with his character next episode.