#Targaryen Weirdness

[mejcinta]

Helaena's Displeasure and Forcefully Taking Attention (A Body Language Study).

Love, love, LOVE Phia's acting here. In the first picture, you can subtly see the confusion in Helaena's soft gaze the second she walks in ("Have you seen Dyana? She's supposed to dress the children..." *pauses*) and then the shock and outrage that dawns on her in the second picture, when she puts together what Aegon had done.

Her eyes are wider (notice you see more of the whites of her eyes in the second pic) and her lips are pressed into a tight, tense line as she freezes. She was displeased and shocked (the incident happened in their room!), but somewhat resigned. This is because she makes no drastic show with her body. Also, we never see her face when Alicent hugs her, although it is apparent that Aegon is staring at her while their mother comforts her.

Note that Helaena doesn't flinch from Alicent's touch this time, like she usually does. She actually *wants* the comfort this time. She must be pretty hurt.

Meanwhile, Aegon was just as stunned as Helaena when she walked in on him (his mouth fell agape, his fixed gaze on Alicent abruptly breaking to blink in surprise when Helaena appeared offscreen).

Notice how he stared back at her, fiddling (nervously) with the sheets covering his manhood out of embarrassment, when Alicent basically confirmed to Helaena what she feared had happened.

While Aegon was indifferent with Alicent and her justified lecture, he is clearly not happy with himself at what his actions has done to Helaena.

Because he cares? Who knows. But even being the mess of a husband he is, it seems that he acknowledges his wife is blameless, spotless and innocent in every way. She's done nothing but be the dutiful wife, the dutiful mother... yet he's caused her pain and continues to do so.

Aegon could be grappling here with why he never seems to get anything right. Why he never seems to please anyone. Why he only hurts and disappoints. Why he's insufficient.

Later at dinner, he gifts Helaena a beetle. A poor attempt at apologizing, yes, but it is all he knows, it seems, of Helaena's taste. And his characterisation so far (using ep 6 as reference for his bravado and boastfulness) is shown not to be conversant with the concept of admitting failure or defeat verbally.

Helaena plays with the beetle before dinner begins and even shows it off to Otto while they chat.

She inspects the gift in the background when Aegon teases Jace, glimpses at him and takes a swig of her wine, giggling subtly at Aegon's sex joke. Does she find this truly funny? Is the wine loosening her up? Or is this a sarcastic/knowing laugh given what happened earlier? Who knows.

The matter, however, seemed to have been turning in her mind. Because shortly after when she is seen thoughtfully stroking Aegon's beetle, she suddenly stands up to make the provoking toast:

"I would like to toast Baela and Rhaena. They'll be married soon. It isn't so bad...mostly he just ignores you. Except sometimes when he's drunk."

She must have been pondering the incident with Aegon and Alicent earlier and reliving the feelings she experienced. Her outrage, disappointment, discontent and hurt finally found an outlet in that toast.

The sigh she heaves out before sitting back down indicates that she had wanted to get things out of her chest and that speaking up had offered her some relief, even if it came at Aegon's expense lol (I think she was happy to embarrass him, personally. And she is justified).

Generally, my conclusion from this analysis of Helaena's body language is that:

1. She was pretty upset with Aegon's actions, 'ashamed' as Alicent implied earlier to Aegon.

2. Her spontaneous roast of him at the dinner, the sudden nature in which she jumped up, shows that she had in fact been brooding over the incident and was quite angry with him.

3. However, her laughter at Aegon's jokes imply that her sexual encounters with Aegon aren't forced like people want to believe. She isn't nervous beside him. In fact I'd argue Aegon is more wary of her than she could ever be of him.

4. Her understanding of sex is warped but it is clear she has her expectations and desires. That's why she jibes at Aegon's alcohol addiction. Perhaps she wishes they would bond sexually without alcohol being a necessity. Perhaps she wishes he didn't ignore her.

Her dull tone when she says "It isn't so bad mostly he just ignores you" shows that she's sad about that part of her marriage.

And when Jace gives Helaena attention in the form of asking for a dance she readily seizes the moment. Not because she likes him (this is Baela's betrothed and she clearly respects that), but because she desires to be showered with attention and if Aegon won't give it she'll take it from someone else while forcing Aegon to give HER attention.

Aegon struggles watching Jace dance with Helaena, and he clutches Helaena's beetle... mirroring her action of stroking it.

Again, Aegon is not the kind of man to admit defeat, so he seethes instead in silence as she dances.

In Tom Glynn Carney's words Aegon didn't want Jace to win by gaining a reaction from him.

So Helaena dances to her content, fanning Aegon's anger and jealousy while also gaining HIS attention and punishing him for how he wronged her earlier.

As Alicent well put it:

"Think of the shame on your wife..."

By accepting Jace's hand, Helaena consciously or unconsciously made Aegon experience the shame she went through earlier after his cowardly action.

In a way, this whole scene is a display of power play and the rift between man and wife. Much like Alicent requesting Rhaenyra take her infant up to her chambers was a challenge of power between rivals.

[lady-phasma]

Why does everyone think that Daemon had a breeding kink?

Absolutely lovely question, anon!

I literally cannot speak for everyone but I can speak for myself and some writer friends. The first reason is canon and then we expand on that. Daemon is a firm believer in keeping the Targaryen bloodline pure. His parents Baelon and Alyssa were brother and sister and that's as "pure" as it gets.

So that's canon, Daemon says it in the series. But myself and other writers extrapolate the kink part based on how kinky we think he is in general. I don't write much about pregnancy but my headcanon is that he wants lots of Targaryen babies with any woman I ship him with. In the series we don't get this stated explicitly but it's implicit with the number of children he fathers (not referencing the book as canon here).

Also, I think it's fun, playing with that particular kink in fiction. If I were to get really "meta" about fanfiction and not just Daemon and HotD I would say that it is a kink based in a 21st century Earth (vs. Westerosi) taboo. Unprotected sex. It's one of the few taboos that is mainstream enough to not be in the realm of BDSM by default and is very illicit for modern readers. Readers (and writers) can live vicariously through Daemon and other characters in Westeros in this regard. I am thankful that unprotected sex has become a taboo for many people, that's awesome! PSA: have safe sex. However, in the world of fanfic smut it's a fun topic to explore through breeding kink. I could go into more explicit detail about that with the related kinks but I think this probably answers your question.

tl;dr - Daemon wants Targ babies and modern Western fanfic writers like playing with taboos.

[vintrage]

fire cannot kill a dragon BITCH

[jaydarino]

Cursed to live in human form.

[witchlingcirce]

Seeing people refer to Daenerys as entitled, or narcissistic is so actually mind boggling. Like DAENERYS???? The Daenerys who never even had a proper home??? The girl who said she would not rule of ash?? And wanted a happy kingdom??? The girl Who listens to all of her people’s complaints almost everydau??? Same girl who cried over chaining her dragons away??? THE GIRL who is legit kind to people who aren’t even close to deserving it (Viserys, Jorah)??? LIKE DAENERYSSS?!??!?!?!?!??

[prideprejudce]

"alicent's character is ruined!!" "she has turned her back on her kids and aegon!!" "she's just dumbly going along with aegon being killed!!"

this entire season alicent hightower has been trying to desperately come up with the best plan that will leave most of her family somewhat intact after this war. she is still pleading for aegons' life to rhaenyra, but knows deep down that they have already gone too far and had enough blood shed where the chances of him leaving this war alive are slim to none. she also KNOWS at this point that rhaenyra has the upper hand in the war and could easily come into kings landing and just annihilate all of them. so if she knows that she can't likely save aegons life (who she sees as already destroyed by his burns and in constant pain and might not even live anyway), and she can't stop aemond from continously adding fuel to the fire (and who she thinks is becoming a monster in his own right), but she can at least still try and save helaena and her grandchild, and even possibly go find her youngest son daeron and save him from being brought into the war as well

i will be the first to say that the writing on hotd isnt stellar, but saying that alicent is "ruined" and that she's turned her back on her children isn't a fair statement, she's just knows that they are currently on the losing side of the war right now, and rather than see her daughter and last son get pulled into it and watch all of her kids die one after the other, or become maimed in battle, she instead pleads to rhaenyra that she can open the gates to spare as many lives as possible. to say that it isn't in alicents wheelhouse to risk her sons life to save the rest of her kids and remaining grandchild when backed into a corner is a disservice to her character. it doesn't make her hate aegon or love him any less, she is just stuck between a rock and a hard place, so she does all of this to save her family at the risk of being accused of treason and losing her own head

[all-lee24]

Dany

[wodania]

jaime and cersei sharing wardrobes

bonus under the cut

[js-dragonart]

Pinterest presented me with this picture without any context. But I saw an opportunity and took it.

Smol king finally has the high ground. Criston Cole is questioning his life choices ("This wasn´t in my job description.")

[eggtargaryenii]

You are a disgrace to House Targaryen, the product of an ill-conceived marriage between a lost prince and some Essosi whore. You have no power within the court and few prospects for marriage, but you are unbothered by it. You've always planned to wed a lord far from the Red Keep and die in peaceful obscurity, uninvolved in the conflict between the greens and the blacks. But when war erupts, you are no longer able to escape the game of thrones. Forced to marry Prince Aemond after pledging fealty to Prince Jacaerys, the only path before you is one of fire and blood.

✧ pairing: aemond targaryen x fem!reader x jacaerys velaryon

✧ notes: romance, childhood friends to lovers (except it's cousins), political drama, slow burn, eventual smut. the reader is half-valyrian and half-essosi, ethnically undefined. features are not described but she is considered conventionally attractive.

✧ warnings: targaryen incest (between cousins), xenophobia/racism. warnings will be updated as the story progresses.

✧ credits: dividers from @/cafekitsune, images in header are from the cocorrina divine feminine tarot deck.

PART I: THE FOOL

PART II: THE HIEROPHANT, REVERSED

PART III: THE HIEROPHANT, UPRIGHT

PART IV: TWO OF CUPS

PART V: THE MAGICIAN

PART VI: TBA

PART VII: TBA

PART VIII: TBA

PART IX: TBA

PART X: TBA

[mejcinta]

The comment "Aegon loves his sister but only as a sister" I mean... yes. But also no.

She's the mother of his children on TOP of being his sister. There's an element of possessiveness there. It's way more complicated than we think. 🤔

[lady-phasma]

How far I have come since October 17, 2022 😏

I've gone from cautiously enjoying the romance between an uncle and niece to screaming letting everyone know I ship a brother and sister in less than two months.

[warmdragonstew]

[letthefairyinyoufly]

Alicent Hightower & Helaena Targaryen

[the-daily-dreamer]

I can’t believe I need to say this at all.

But Alicent and Rhaenyra can have consensual sexual relationships with other people that aren’t each other. And they don’t have to be thinking about each other or using their partner as some sort of filler or replacement. Even if you’re a rhaenicent shipper.

Especially when the only time I see people being this up is when they are sleeping with non-white characters. Pretty much nobody said Rhaenyra was thinking of Alicent when she was with daemon and nobody said Alicent was thinking of Rhaenyra when she was with Viserys. But now that Rhaenyra kissed Mysaria and Alicent has been with Criston…they’re suddenly only thinking about each other. After two decades of being estranged?

And for a different subset of this group. If Rhaenyra can be with mysaria and not think of Alicent. Then both Criston and Alicent can have a relationship that isn’t hinged upon wanting Rhaenyra. I see too many posts under both the Criston and Alicent tags about how they are using each other to think of Rhaenyra and that is crazy talk because they have been estranged from Rhaenyra for 2 decades and have been each other’s support systems for 2 decades. They don’t need Rhaenyra to bond them.

I’m just annoyed. Yes, Alicent and Rhaenyra’s relationship is central to the plot. But they are two fully fledged people outside of their childhood bond. They can have wants and motives outside of each other. And that doesn’t detract from their bond that clearly still does influence them.

Two things can be true at once. Rhaenyra and Alicent have weaknesses for one another because they both grieve and long for their bond as girls (romantic or platonic, it doesn’t matter). And, Rhaenyra and Alicent exist outside of each other and can make decisions that are unrelated to one another

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

I feel so dumb for never having realized this before but I was thinking about the bookend in AGoT between the Others, the dragons, and two heroes: Waymar Royce and Daenerys Targaryen.

While squaring off against the Others, Waymar Royce asks for a dance.

Ser Waymar met him bravely. “Dance with me then.” He lifted his sword high over his head, defiant. His hands trembled from the weight of it, or perhaps from the cold. Yet in that moment, Will thought, he was a boy no longer, but a man of the Night’s Watch.

It’s notable that this scene is eerily silent save for the bits of dialogue. And when Waymar’s dance finally begins, there’s a notable lack of music.

The pale sword came shivering through the air. Ser Waymar met it with steel. When the blades met, there was no ring of metal on metal; only a high, thin sound at the edge of hearing, like an animal screaming in pain. Royce checked a second blow, and a third, then fell back a step. Another flurry of blows, and he fell back again.

I’ve always asserted that Ser Waymar is a failed last hero if we judge his success based off Old Nan’s blueprint.

So as cold and death filled the earth, the last hero determined to seek out the children, in the hopes that their ancient magics could win back what the armies of men had lost. He set out into the dead lands with a sword, a horse, a dog, and a dozen companions. For years he searched, until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog, and his sword froze so hard the blade snapped when he tried to use it. And the Others smelled the hot blood in him, and came silent on his trail, stalking him with packs of pale white spiders big as hounds—”

Both Ser Waymar and the last hero lost their companions and both had their swords shatter to the cold. Yet Waymar failed to complete one important step: find the children of the forest. The children are also known as “the singers”. So it’s notable that Ser Waymar attempts to dance without any music(ians) to accompany him. And because he does so, his dance ends in failure.

But then we have Daenerys Targaryen in the Dothraki Sea.

As Daenerys Targaryen rose to her feet, her black hissed, pale smoke venting from its mouth and nostrils. The other two pulled away from her breasts and added their voices to the call, translucent wings unfolding and stirring the air, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.

Dany performs a miracle in bringing dragons to life, the first person to do so in centuries. And these dragons sing a song that proclaims her, an exiled young princess and a widow, Azor Ahai reborn - the champion of fire, and warrior of light.

This bookend between the first and last chapters is so poignant. It’s not just that fire has returned to combat Ice. It’s that Dany brought back the music necessary to complete this dance. We start the book with a failed hero and end it with the rise of a true one; also interesting that Waymar’s end comes while he’s down on his knees whereas Dany rises to her feet reborn.

This makes Dany’s identity as the promised prince(ss) all the more impressive.

“He has a song,” the man replied. “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany’s, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door.

Waymar failed because he didn’t have a song to accompany him. Yet Dany has a song to dance to. A song of fire.

I think this raises some interesting questions regarding the nature of this great conflict. There not only has to be a song to dance to, but it seems that there is a key distinction between the singer and the dancer. Rhaegar Targaryen failed to fulfill the prophecy because he was the singer and not the dancer. His role was to provide the hero’s musical accompaniment. In a way, it’s almost like he as the bard is the herald. And the herald is rarely, if ever, the main character. So notice how Rhaegar heralds the hero, the king, while looking at Dany.

But! - there’s different kinds of songs. Dany has one, made by her dragons. But it’s not be the only one. The children of the forest are heavily associated with the last hero and while Waymar Royce is dead, there lives another: Bran Stark.

Bran found the children, the singers, and is a step closer to completing the last hero’s journey.

Now Bran is an interesting case.

“Go,” Bran whispered to his own horse. He touched her neck lightly, and the small chestnut filly started forward. Bran had named her Dancer. She was two years old, and Joseth said she was smarter than any horse had a right to be.

He has a dancing horse but at some point has to leave her behind. So does that mean that he has to learn to do the dancing in his own way?

And I find it interesting that Bran has a female dancer horse because this creates a neat parallel with Dany, a dancer who may also be the stallion that mounts the world; if it’s not her, then it has to be her mount, Drogon. This is important if we consider that the last hero, Azor Ahai/the promised prince, the Stallion That Mounts the World, etc. are all different yet complimentary manifestations of one heroic legend.

But the issue of songs doesn’t end there because there still exists one Jon Snow, another version of the last hero and promised prince. Jon isn’t a bard but he has been positioned as being adjacent to dancers. I won’t harp on about Jon’s parallels with Waymar Royce because they’ve been done to death. But it seems that Jon, like Bran and Dany, will succeed where Ser Waymar failed.

Because not only does Jon have music to herald him:

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.

But he is also positioned as a last man standing among many dead heroes:

“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.

And he has a sword that will not shatter against the cold:

“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.

It’s noteworthy that Jon is the son of a singer, Rhaegar Targaryen. The very singer who sang the song of ice and fire; and notice how Jon is clad in both. Plus he has been mentored by another, Mance Rayder, whom he eventually succeeds.

At a quick glance, it’s very interesting to me that Jon is constantly listening to songs beyond the Wall. There’s the song of the blue winter rose (which in a way heralds his own birth), the song of Joramun and the Horn of Winter, and many others.

It’s also noteworthy just how often giants are mentioned as the subject of songs in Jon’s POV chapters. I bring this up because of the Last of the Giants:

Ooooooh, I am the last of the giants, my people are gone from the earth. The last of the great mountain giants, who ruled all the world at my birth.

I think there is a parallel here between the dragons, the giants, and the children of the forest. These are all dying species, yet they linger on for the song of ice and fire still needs to be brought to completion.

And let’s consider where our heroes fit in all this. Dany commands the dragons, Bran learns from the children, while Jon begins to befriend the giants. All these creatures make musical accompaniments for our heroes to dance to.

Lastly, I’m inclined to think of the Stark girls though I’m not entirely sure where they would fit in all of this. Arya, at some point, trains to be a dancer:

On the way back to his chambers, he came upon his daughter Arya on the winding steps of the Tower of the Hand, windmilling her arms as she struggled to balance on one leg. The rough stone had scuffed her bare feet. Ned stopped and looked at her. “Arya, what are you doing?” “Syrio says a water dancer can stand on one toe for hours.” Her hands flailed at the air to steady herself. Ned had to smile. “Which toe?” he teased. “Any toe,” Arya said, exasperated with the question. She hopped from her right leg to her left, swaying dangerously before she regained her balance. “Must you do your standing here?” he asked. “It’s a long hard fall down these steps.” “Syrio says a water dancer never falls.” She lowered her leg to stand on two feet. “Father, will Bran come and live with us now?”

Now Arya is no singer, but her wolf is.

In another place, his little sister lifted her head to sing to the moon, and a hundred small grey cousins broke off their hunt to sing with her.

On the other hand, Sansa is no dancer but she is known for her ability to sing. And boy does she sing beautifully.

Her throat was dry and tight with fear, and every song she had ever known had fled from her mind. Please don't kill me, she wanted to scream, please don't. She could feel him twisting the point, pushing it into her throat, and she almost closed her eyes again, but then she remembered. It was not the song of Florian and Jonquil, but it was a song. Her voice sounded small and thin and tremulous in her ears. Gentle Mother, font of mercy, Save our sons from war, we pray,

In fact, a lot of Sansa’s songs are prayers for those who dance to the music of swords. Her songs are soothing, calming. And see this during Stannis’ assault on Kings Landing when she is able to calm Sandor and the noble women through the power of song. Hers is not a song to dance to, it’s a different kind though I’m not entirely sure what it entails. I do want to say, though, that Sansa is often paralleled with creates that take flight; various birds and bats. So she is a singer, much like the dragons.

I may have neglected other characters here, but I just thought it was intriguing that our main heroes (Jon, Bran, Dany, maybe Arya) are all positioned as dancers for the song of ice and fire.