#alicent doesnt have any points

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To all the green/Alicent/Aegon/Aemond/Criston stans choosing to follow me of your own free will, make sure you're making the right choice bc you will see stuff that will likely upset you.

No, I do not think Rhaenyra was a whore or that her sexuality somehow makes or breaks her inherent moral character (this is a patriarchal invention that places more power in men over women's behavior bc as long as they have the political and legal advantage over women [as what has happened in many societies for millennia] it compels women to conform their overall behavior towards not even seeming to resemble the man's/larger developed ideas of "slut" rather than develop herself or have her own fun). And if a man can still be a good leader while having sex outside of marriage, if we truly look at woman as equal and inherently equal to men no matter the time period or place, then we should consider the same when women have sex outside of marriage! Reminder: Aegon SA or rapes; Rhanerya never once did that. which goes into my next point...

No, show!Rhaenyra did not SA or really even pressure Criston into sex. I explain why HERE & below form a past ask-post:

No, her first 3 kids were not bastards. "Bastards" only exist in the legal realm to separate a man/lord's and his family's resources/titles to those who carry his "blood". On principle, you shouldn't be accepting the objectification of women that is necessary to this formula, but aside form that, the meaning of bastardy has been subject ot change ust as many social construction, as we se in the Anstey case ands how William the Conqueror's bastardy was more defined as being that his mother was not noble rather than not married to his father. Because bastardry is more a legal phenomena more than anyting, Viserys--who has the only right and power to name anyone as bastard or legitimize them and thus is the final bulwark against the revelation of the boys being not Laenor's kids--was able to accept Rhaenyra's kids as his heir's heirs. Nobles keep secrets all the time for their own conience. Think about Lysa tully and all those rich people of various TV show and movies who cover up both actual harmful crimes as well as just those that would harm their reputation! This is what happens when you have any elite class AND mid-to-very strict social rules of conduct that you may be breaking anyway. And no, noble/royal wives of history weren't all sexually obedient little cupcakes...many had lovers while married and historically, some were even known by their families and husbands. (Check out Eleanor Herman's book Sex with the Queen).

No, Alicent of either thing didn't have any real reason, material reason to think her kids were in danger from Rhaenyra ascending. You can see why under posts tagged "alicent doesnt have any points" as well as this recent thread]

No I do not see Rhaenyra as uniquely "selfish", "'spoiled", etc. I do not make as if she is unacceptably and uniquely evil or the most amoral. That was overall Andal-FM patriarchay, Aenys I, Maegor I, Jaehaerys I, Viserys, and the greens, esp Alicent & Otto. Rhaenyra, of either the shoe or the book, was both trying to do her duty in her marriage as well as find some happiness AND autonomy alongside that. You were not supposed to readopt fedual patriarchal social "values" or prioritize them/social hierarchies over real human happiness, equity, and social harmony. If you have, you don't get ASoIaF!

For fuck sake, some of you like Jon Snow and think he's Azor Ahai! No, he is not legitimate, bc by the time Rhaegar and his generation was alive, polygamy had lost its validity and for any marriage to Lyanna he could have had needed to be reinforced by either force (Maegor) or public declaration or propaganda & deals careful planning (Doctrine of Exceptionalism) something along those lines...which even if we get the story of Rhaegar and Lyanna, we already know no such preparations occurred!

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"just doesn’t pan out because of the fantasy aspect of the ASOIAF world."

I mean...the green kids had dragons for all's sake! It's enough to intimidate & deter most lords. Rhaenyra was well...there was a much lower chance and likelihood that any lord would try to mess with Alicent's kids before they'd ally themselves with Rhaenyra and back her up. how much more when/if they actually did? There's a reason why we keep saying that the only people who could really bring House Targaryen was itself.

I saw this OG post way back when I first got onto to Tumblr and didn't really know what to make of it bc I know little to none of English history. ASoIaF really puts you onto research, like a good fiction book does.

And I keep saying this to people: where are the signs and evidence that any lord, ANY, were actively plotting against Rhaenyra--which they would have to years or right before she became the queen--in either the book or the show? Who other than the greens?! They had literal years of Rhaenyra being at Dragonstone--before that at court with Alicent trying to get Viserys to name them bastards in front of the court and effectively removing Rhaenyra from the line of succession, but obviously just failing at that, thus her seizing the castle and council after Viserys' death--to plan, plot, etc. against her...but no one did! Why would they start planning after Rhaneyra become Queen and she accrues even more power?

The greens gave a few others, those supporting them who they "recruited" themselves, the way to rebel because those lords saw that they had the greens' dragons by their side and better chance of grasping more power and/or preventing Rhaenyra's rise.

And on another note: just because something hasn't been done before or was been discouraged in the past, even something like girls being kept out of school, doesn't mean that when some people or person begins to flout that by putting girls into school and risking male violence against that means we should never put those girls in school. Someone had to be the first woman on the throne eventually for us to really see any sort of change towards the treatment of women, at least for the precedent for others to refer to and bank on.

Alicent turned on Rhaenyra as soon as she saw Viserys dismiss Otto for demanding he name Aegon as his heir. Such a turntells us more that she was outraged at Viserys refusing to give Aegon's "birthright" more than his safety. Her saying that she fears Daemon killing her kids is just weird, seeing as how Daemon only made fun of her and the kids while he visited Rhaenyra, likely seeing that Rhaenyra was miserable having to live with Alicent and her kids--Alicent would likely have tried to diminish Rhaenyra's presence at court and no one besides her own ladies in waiting and father were there...and her father refused to really castigate and call out Alicent at court. Daemon also proves that he only wants to kill one of the greens' when when of theirs kills one of rhaenyra's children.

Everything that the greens claimed Rhaenyra or Daemon would do to them, they or someone they're using are the ones to actually do it! Aegon is the one to turn the Keep into a "brothel" when he fondles so many servant girls [tg tends to claim he didn't SA them, so even in their own admittance, he makes the Keep into a place of indiscriminate sex...]. He is the one who overruns the Keep AND KL with his bastards. Aegon is the one who threatens to kill Rhaenyra first and at no point does Rhaenyra threaten to kill him unconditionally...she gives him terms stipulating a chance.

She also "forgets" that Aemond was the one to get violent with a green boy first (bk), and he continues a fight he already won in the show. (Refering to how he lost his eye).

I don’t think people understand why Alicent was so bothered by Rhaenyra having illegitimate children as much as she was. Yes, part of it was coming from a place of frustration at Rhaenyra for scoffing at tradition and not honouring her marriage vows, but Alicent’s primary focus was on the politics - and how it put her own children in mortal danger.

Painting: The Execution of Lady Jane Grey

You see, if Rhaenyra had legitimate children with Ser Laenor, then the Greens would have no reason whatsoever to try and replace Rhaenyra as heir to the throne with Aegon. They, in truth, would’ve been usurpers. But as we know, Rhaenyra having bastards not only weakened her own claim to the throne but by it, she has given her enemies a legitimate reason to support Aegon instead of her. Just think about it - nearly every lord in the realm has a bastard of his own. If Rhaenyra puts her own bastards on the throne, it sets a precedent - that bastards can have a claim to a title just as much as legitimate children can. This of course presents a HUGE crisis to the lords who probably have multiple bastards running around, now all potential heirs to his house. Some lords might even have older bastard brothers, brothers who would potentially be better rulers than them if they were trueborn. Brothers who would follow Rhaenyra’s suit and place themselves in positions of great power and usurp their trueborn sibling’s claims. No doubt, this would lead to violence, in-fighting, bloodshed and the potential extinction of houses and bloodlines that go back thousands of years.

So naturally, any lord who would be fearful of this playing out would naturally ally themselves with the trueborn children of House Targaryen - Alicent’s children. Whether the Greens want it or not, Aegon, Helaena, Aemond and Daeron would become unwilling figureheads for rebellions against Rhaenyra. These rebels would rally themselves around Alicent’s children, demand them to be crowned instead of Rhaenyra, and of course, Rhaenyra would have absolutely no choice but to execute her half-siblings, to save herself and her children. Whether Alicent’s children want it or not, they are living, breathing, constant challenges to Rhaenyra’s throne.

It’s the exact predicament Mary I of England faced - a Catholic queen who had just deposed her Protestant cousin, the Lady Jane Grey, Mary had no choice but to order 16 year old Jane’s execution in 1554. Despite having Jane imprisoned, rebels kept on popping up around England, all marching on London to dethrone Mary in Jane’s name, even though Jane herself was oblivious to what was happening because she was behind bars and had already relinquished her crown and declared for Mary. Mary was hoping to restore Catholicism to England and was planning to marry a foreign prince so she could provide England with a Catholic heir - but she knew so long as Jane lived, Mary, her future children and England would never know peace. So she reluctantly signed Jane’s death warrant, causing the death of one of England’s most tragic figures.

This would be the fate of Alicent’s children if Rhaenyra ever ascended the throne. No matter how good willed Queen Rhaenyra would be to her siblings, it wouldn’t last. The minute the first lord lit the beacon of rebellion and openly called Rhaenyra’s sons illegitimate usurpers of Alicent’s trueborn children with no right to the throne, Alicent’s children would’ve been executed. There’s absolutely no way Rhaenyra would ever chose Aegon, Helaena, Aemond and Daeron’s lives over her own living children - what mother would?

[dirtytransmasc]

Yes, she decided. The moment she continued to go in his chamber, she could advice him to wed laena instead of trying to have a relationship with him, she could have remember him of his duty. She had a choice as everyone has

clearly logic is something that will not reach you no matter what I say but let's try again shall we.

first off, Viserys married for pleasure, not power or political gain. he knew his duties he knew what was best and had no interest. he married Alicent because that's what he wanted. it would be insanely inappropriate for a girl to advise a king on political matters AND it should not be the job of a 14 year old child to tell a king what he should be doing.

second off, she had a father to please, cause again, to reiterate, she was his daughter and she had a duty to him and her house. this was not a duty she wanted, but she didn't have a choice. she was young but se wasn't stupid she knew what her father expected of her, and if word got back from Viserys that she was actively advising him to marry someone else, she would then not only bring disobeying her father but going against him.

thirdly, and more minorly, "she should have pushed him to marry laena" isn't the gotcha you think it is. laena was even younger than her, and even if it was politically expected of him, still fucking gross.

lastly, cause I apparently can't stress this enough, SHE DIDNT HAVE A CHOICE, plain and simple. she had no agency, she had no power, she had no out, she was at the mercy of her father, she had to obey him, she had to do what he said, even if it meant walking herself to slaughter. once she met with the king, he took a liking to her and DEMANDED her presence, he the DEMANDED her hand. again, there was no point she could have said no. she couldn't say no to her father, she couldn't advise the king (he barely tolerated it when she was literally the queen, let alone if she had just been some girl entertaining him in his chambers), she couldn't deny the king of anything, she didn't have a choice.

she was 14 and scared, 14 and trying to survive, 14 and trying to please her father, 14 and sent to a man 3 times her age's chambers, 14 and lusted after by the king, 14 and knowing of her place in the world and what was expected of her. like every other woman in their history, she couldn't escape, she couldn't, there's no plainer way to say it. she faced her duty with poise and a stiff lip, cause that's what you had to do, but she was just a child.

you can't expect her to have been some radical icon, there were none, women who went against their station in life were punished or killed or put into god awful betrothals to lessen the shame brought to her family. she was a nobleman's daughter, she had a house to bring honor to. she did the heartbreaking thing of giving up, for the benefit of her father and house, doesn't mean she wanted it, doesn't mean it was ok, doesn't mean she isn't deserving of pity. giving in to your duty =/= wanting it.

"she had a choice as everyone has" she had a choice every woman has; accept it with grace, be forced into it, or damn herself to a fate much worse (and that's being generous, most didn't even have that many choices). it's the men who had choices, Otto offered his daughter up, he didn't have to, he had no obligation and nothing to lose if he didn't. Viserys had every choice, he could have married whoever he wanted, he could have denied her the second she entered his chambers. the men in her life had every choice to change her fate, yet they didn't take it, and you would rather blame her over them?

and listen, I know your set in your mindset of victim blaming a child bride who was raped until her husband didn't have the health or stamina to keep it up, and that you'll choose to blame her over the men in her life who damned her to such a fate. nothing I say will ever convince you, cause you clearly hate her past where logic will reach. you can keep sending asks with your terrible takes that have no backing or logic and actively ignore the political and societal state of the times and what it means for her as a young noble girl, and I'll keep answering them cause I have nothing better to do and I'll defend my girl to the grave.

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Cause

Cause he doesn't eat any dishes in the game

No text version under cut

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A) The Inevitably or High Probability that there'd Be Rebellion WITHOUT Green Intervention or Accusations

i'm not judging rhaenyra's choice to have children with harwin. but having bastards weakened her position - she was forced to leave court because of the rumors. her sons succession was challenged by vaemond - who, btw, genuinely believed that he was in the right and rhaenyra was an evil woman trying to usurp his home. did vaemond had a wife ? children? other velaryons that loved him & will want to avenge him & refuse to accept luke?

And who enables Vaemond (who was literally the only person who tried to go against Rhaenyra or call her son's bastards)? The greens. Vaemond seems to try by himself anyway, but how easy would he actually have found it to try to claim the Driftmark seat without the greens and meeting with Otto? He would have been killed or imprisoned a lot faster, or someone could have made an easier job of talking him out of it with such arguments that I'm making right now about him having no real means to go against Rhaenyra... basically he needed support to do so. Again, which he got from the greens who were essentially going to rule against Rhaenyra anyway, as was clear in the 8th episode.

Realistically, what chance did Vaemond have without Otto & Alicent? Truly? Even in the book/original lore, with Vaemond's nephews and others actually doing as you mentioned and trying to go against Rhaenyra (by going to Viserys himself, another dumb move), Viserys nevertheless had all of them immediately punished by cutting out their tongues. The challenge was handled. And the evident challenge only came from this group of people.

This reflects & mirrors the Green supporters that you mentioned. The ones that are with the greens are the Hightowers, Brackens, Lannisters, and some of those under their banners, etc. The Hightowers are Alicent's maiden house, so regardless of it being true they are bastards or not they would have backed her/the greens bc they have a direct stake and benefits in her and her sons. And the rest say opportunity. But where is the proof that they were planning to go against Rhaenyra independently? Would they have done anything WITHOUT the greens pushing for Rhaenyra to be removed through their specific accusations? Could they, or did they have the ability? Short answer, no (since I already listed why/how above in the first reblog).

Those supporters of the greens had no evident plans or preparations BEFORE they aligned themselves with the greens, why? Because they didn't have dragons and the greens did. They had a way in through the greens' actions of going against Rhaenyra, similar to how show!Vaemond's way was lubed by the greens and made a more of a real problem to Rhaenyra. The greens materially opened the way towards any possible rebellion against Rhaenyra that you are saying would be inevitable without those close to Rhaenyra doing something to invite such actions from external lords. This isn't a chicken-egg situation,o one thing clearly happened before the other and caused the other. There was no vague passive force pushing the greens to do what they did, and there was no vague passive force enabling the lords to make their moves or to choose the greens.

rhaenyra was also forced to marry the boys to baela and rhaena (again, referring only to hotd) instead of making matches with other houses and securing their alliance. and again, not judging rhaenyra or saying that she should've had children with laenor.

Even in peacetime, these betrothals would have likely happened or at least been at the top of the list of marriages because of how prestigious and blood-close the Velaryons are. Both of the Targ girls came from dragonriders, why wouldn't Rhaenyra marry her dragonriding sons to dragonriding girls? When the point of marriage was to produce children who would likely inherit specific privileges, etc.?

Does it benefit her own claim and her sons' or protect them by ensuring that their Velaryon allies were even more invested in them? Of course. Did the announcement of betrothal come after Vaemond's accusation & death? Yes. Does this necessarily mean that she only thought of marrying her kids to the girls after Vaemond? No, not necessarily. Because of all the reasons it is a good reason why she marry them to those girls even without her being the heir and a woman. Does this mean that she never would have betrothed them even without Vaemond at her neck? No, of course not.

To claim so, we need more specific scenes of Rhaenyra either never having thought of it before the "trial" or her, again, being reluctant as such a prospect. But there's no hard evidence in the show/season of such because we moved immediately to the small dinner after Viserys defends Rhaenyra. And to claim that the ONLY reason that she's marrying them to those girls is because of a fear of a threat thus comes into question under. Without proof of Rhaenyra having some sort of reluctance or without disapproving how she's really that different from most nobles by doing this, I don't think we can begin to argue that she had to be compelled to marry her sons off to the Targ girls. I think it's getting ahead of ourselves to argue that she ONLY sought a Velaryon-Targ marriage in her kids for her/her sons' claims. The show indeed seems to frame it in a way that Rhaenyra seems as if she were responding to external pressure by marrying her sons to those girls, but this reveals more that the writers wanted this dramatic moment for episode 8 when we consider that she had all that time (10 years) at Dragonstone living with Rhaena and her own kids for those mids to be very happy with the idea of marrying each other. Evidenced by their looks and smiles in episode 8. But even more so, where was the lack of surprise on those kids' faces? This supports the idea that such was discussed to them before the dinner AND that they had a while to process said information.

Nobles are always thinking of potential allies or accruing more wealth or access to certain lands for other purposes when they are considering who to marry or marry their children. It is already a custom in Westeros--HotD or not--that people marry their first cousins or cousins and nobles often try to marry relatives as close to them as possible to reduce the number of possible competitors to the children's claims or inherited resources/wealth. Rhaenyra would not be unique in doing what she did in betrothing her kids to those girls, even with the earlier attempt to marry Jace to Helaena, which reads as much more desperate than her marrying the Targ girls to her own boys.

In HotD & the original story, the Targaryen girls are both stepsisters and cousins of the Velaryon boys. In HotD, they went against one particular piece of lore (fosterage and who gets to actually marry some scions) to justify the idea that Corlys or Rhaenys had more say in who the girls married without Daemon's permission. Corlys, show or book, maintained that he didn't want Baela or Rhaena as his heirs above the boys and he didn't consider them a part fo his house even though they were his and Rhaenys' granddaughters by blood. They both "belong" to House Targaryen precisely because they are girls and are not heirs. Even so, why wouldn't Corlys desire or even seek out a marriage b/t his Targaryen granddaughters and the Velaryon boys when he was eager to marry Laenor to Rhaenyra in the show and the canon? And I mean why wouldn't Corlys be the one to ask Rhaenyra this before he left for that 6 yr war project? And if he didn't, again, wouldn't such a marriage only work more toward his long-held desires for power and prestige?

the fact that there are lords who believe that aegon should be king instead of rhaenyra is a danger in of itself - that's the point i was trying to make.

The greens' supporters are not the only nor had most of the most powerful lords of Westeros. Here is a list of those who supported Rhaenyra and kept fighting for her and her sons's claims after she and the V boys died. Plus, it is canon that Aegon III had his claim through his mother, not Daemon nor Aegon II being his uncle. As you mention ("like rhaenyra said, challenging luke is also challenging jace and her own claim to the throne. so even before viserys's death - her position was already challenged.") this means that those lords, who overwhelmed the greens, all supported both Rhaenyra and her V boy sons (as she even declared Joffrey her heir later) as those boys being the heirs to her was the condition that came with her being the next Queen. They were a package deal. Of course, there were defectors on both sides during the entirety of the war.

This society is definitely a sexist society since the core of Rhaenyra's claim and motivation to go to war is not that she was the oldest but that Viserys chose her (and that girls in Westeros already could & did technically inherit before younger brothers or cousins, it just wasn't preferred). However, that doesn't mean that what actually happened during the Dance doesn't inform us of how much support she actually did have & came to have because of this argument and her son Jace's efforts to gather people for their cause. Plus some of the Greens' dumber decisions before and during the war.

This is all important bc it contradicts both the idea that it was inevitable she'd rebelled against. When push came to shove, she had enough people fine with her ruling even with her having children that you'd or some in-world people'd consider bastards. The future that became the present contradicts your claim.

So, no, WITHOUT the greens' accusing Rhaenyra of infidelity and having bastards, there is little substantive reason or material for us to speculate that it'd be more likely that Rhaenyra would be forced to kill her own siblings.

Also, I ask for proof of the ideas because Westerosi society, as I already mentioned, though sexist has had female leaders or girls/women considered as heirs. Therefore, we must go off of more than "it was a sexist world" to claim that there was absolutely going to be a rebellion WITHOUT the greens coming in first with their accusations.

B) Another Approach to the "My Kids Are in Danger"

So, HotD wise, Alicent's motivation is supposed to be that the lords will endanger or force themselves/their interests on her kids in a rebellion against Rhaenyra. We can argue that even bk!Alicent always believed that her sons would die if Rhaenyra became queen.

Bk!Alicent says, in the green council, that she thinks that Rhaenyra or Daemon would come to kill her kids if she succeeds in becoming queen ("The Blacks and the Greens"):

confidently "forgetting" that the Vhagar-claim incident and the fight was a literal fight b/t under 10s...except Aemond who was older than the rest, Joffrey having been 3. That Aemond was the one to push said 3-year-old and his brothers came to Joffrey's defense. Not that Aemond was necessarily evil for his pushing Joffrey, but he's not innocent nor NOT the provoker of the violence there. And still, in the show, he's the one to provoke the others or perform a "trick". Because after he pushes the group of younger children off of him, he proceeds to try to fight them again and would have bashed Jce's head in with a rock (because if you rewatch the episode, he re-raised said rock even as the others backed off). But as I already did in my last reblog, no, Alicent of nay version was wrong even if she felt that this was going to happen. Again, this is even if we argue that Bk!Alicent actually believed that Rhaenyra ore someone else would kill her kids...which she didn't she specifically says DAEMON would.

But here's the thing about her thinking Dameon would kill her kids: apart from his making fun of her after he came back from the Stepstones (and does mocking a person = beating them up, grabbing their shirt with a rock in the other hand, or actually planning to murder them? No.), do we have concrete, textual evidence from either the show or the book that Daemon would go after Alicent or her sons IF they do not try to make any moves against Rhaenyrs or Viserys? No. Daemon could have done a lot to Viserys when he forced him to abandon Mysaria and his first-ever child, but Daemon reluctantly and resentfully sends Mysaria away and that's the end of that. He would not kill Viserys' children even if he disliked them or thought them obstacles...until any of them did what Aemond did and kill Luke or seriously harmed Rhaenyra and the rest. Daemon had all the time in the world to harm his stepsons/the V boys, but didn't. And we see no time where he ever overruled Rhaenyra even when she later doesn't take his advice (delight spoiler but not rally, you'll maybe see). No, Daemon is not this stupid rabid dog who goes after people just because he doesn't like them AND he does place value on what may hurt his brother, niece-wife, stepsons, etc. Alicent and her sons simply never established any sort of bond with him, so he left them be until Luke. This all goes for the show!version of Daemon as well (not the overruling or trying to roughshod Rhaenyra part, that was purely a show invention/change). Even if he wanted, to he's not stupid enough to make any moves without provocation to the greens because he knows he'd be at the top of the list of being suspected, which in turn would harm his niece-wife and brother's needs.

In HotD, Otto from the jump says that he's making moves against Rhaenyra & that he's doing so because he believes the reason the lords will rebel against her or not accept her is bc of her gender alone. Doubly so, we understand that he's motivated not bc of bastards bc Rhaenyra is not even married at the point he says this.

Otto has much more influence and power than Alicent in the first episodes of the season. And over her. He's the one who gives Alicent the notion that her kids are even in any sort of danger. He's the one setting up that motivation that many say justifies Alicent's actions against Rhaenyra & her children. Without Otto, show!Alicent would not have really been so set against Rhaenyra, or at least have utterly destroyed their friendships by the numerous attacks. Without Ott, Alicent would not have perceived a threat to her kids bc she never conceived of such until he mentioned it.

We see instances of lords thinking Viserys will change his heir to Aegon in episode 3, absolutely, but if we're just going by HotD, I ask again where do we get the idea of there being either an absolute or very good chance that they will rebel against Rhaenyra for either her gender or, later, her bastards?

Going back to kinslaying, Alicent thinks it's a good idea to directly antagonize the woman who she says would have felt necessary to have her kids murdered...then proceeds to give her even more reason to do so?! In this scenario, it's different if she had approached Rhaenyra as a friend so that IF Rhaenyra were told or advised to execute her brothers, Rhaenyra would hesitate & thus there's more room for counter-advise or to prepare against hat. But, no show!Alicent decides to risk (since we're talking abt "risk" a lot) Rhaenyra being less hesitant towards the idea of killing her own siblings. Again, this is all in the case scenario that somehow Rhaenyra WAS as some for the she-could-kill-them arguers say she would or could be.

C) The Context, Nuance, & History of Bastardry; On Specifically Whether or Not the V Boys were Bastards or Proven to Be; Why Proving Matters in General and for Rhaenyra

In HotD, yes, Rhaenyra's sons are biologically Harwin's. (Me, I argue that even in the original story, at least Luke & Jace were likely Harwin's bc Laenor was not physically close to her for long periods until after things grew worse b/t the greens and blacks after Luke's birth.) I'd agree that considering that Rhaenyra's gender places her in the position that she follows contradictory rules about leadership, Rhaenyra's position would be troubled by having bastards in a way that it wouldn't for a man...however, the meaning or at least consequences that inform the meaning of bastard does not just mean or is defined by "not biologically" in a society that didn't have foolproof/good enough technology to prove the parentage of a child.

A reminder: HotD's Jaehaerys I's mother was a Velaryon & the Velaryons in HotD are black; yet Jaehaerys and all the Targs shown except Baela & Rhaena are Euro-Americana white bread white with no hint of Afro features that Euro-American racialization would designate as "Black". Or most other places in the world. Orig!Alysanne Targaryen's hair & eye color were not Targaryen-typical, being blond and blue respectively. We have Orig!Alyssa, with her having one green eye to her other purple eye, and "dirty blonde" hair. For these two women, we have yet to see proof that they didn't have the features I described in the HotD universe the writers constructed, so for now they have those features in the show as well. Orig!Rhaenys had dark hair. In later Targaryen families (& it's very doubtful that they will make biracial & Black or PoC main Targs in later period Targ stories if they adapt them), we have Baelor Breakspear & Rhaegar's Rhaenys. The first had dark hair and eyes, while the later had dark hair. Then there is Aegor Rivers and Shiera Seastar, Shiera had a blue and a green eye, while her mother (Serenei of Lys) very likely had the full-blown silver-gold hair & purple eyes of Targs (or had at least one typical Valyrian feature) because she was from Lys. Of course, Aegon IV was typically Targ-looking. Aegor had dark hair & purple eyes. The bastards I mentioned are all bastards not because it was materially proven that they were biologically not Naerys' (Aegon IV's only legal spouse), but because people observed that Naerys did not carry them respectively but that other women did. So, we see that regardless of who was the Targ parent (mom/dad), the undoubted parentage of various Targ children--trueborn or not--produced children with all sorts of looks. IF we stick to how real genetics work & try to apply it to ASoIaF and HotD, take also the cases of interracial marriages sometimes producing children that look like they are of a completely different ancestry or ethnicity than from one parent. Genetics can be wild. I mean, look at Alicent and all four of her children with Viserys come out having the silver-gold hair and the purple yes. Neither of which the Hightowers typically have (or it would be mentioned or shown, and what we do see in the show, the Hightowers are mainly brunettes).

Noblemen in Westeros, whether this is HotD or the canon--bc they are allowed to have affairs and cohabitating/non-cohabitating lovers even while married--wouldn't think of or really need to claim that their bio bastards are really their trueborn because they mostly have their mistresses or affairs publicly known and displayed. And they can't because they are not the ones birthing them. Whereas when noblewomen have bastards, it's usually kept very secret and the child is shipped off to another family to be raised while she's married off to prevent her from not being able to marry IF the news of her birthing said child reaches more people/out of the family, so that the family would also not lose reputation or opportunities for others to marry, build alliances, etc.

In real life, what made one a "bastard" could also mean how "good" a lineage your mother or father had more than just if your parents were married or not, as was the case for William the Conqueror. And I specifically mean that even if they weren't married, you as a "bastard" could still be entitled or have more "claim" to something over to others, especially when the father names you his heir as William the C's father did with him. No, he never "legitimized" him nor ever got a higher authority to. And because HotD's universe both comes directly from the original lore and little about how nobles noble has been changed PLUS how canon mirrors a lot of real-life EU noble practices/social principles, these are relevant.

I'm sure we already know all this, but it is important to think of the implications of such conditions and how it applies to how "bastardry" is not a fixed condition that is 100% or even "75%" built on incontrovertible facts but relies a lot on timing, perception, and opportunity as well as how well can you use a precedent against current circumstances (Anstey case of 1100s).

So, what incontrovertible proof did Alicent & the greens have that Rhaenyra's sons were not Laenor's? That Rhaenyra or Viserys were lying? Where is the accusation really coming from, and were there actual dangers to her children if she/the greens stopped trying to put as much attention on Rhaenyra as they did? Even in HotD, where no one has actually seen Harwin & Rhaenyra have sex or Laenor NOT have sex with her? Who has monitored & recorded her movements behind closed doors day in day out second by second, etc.?

You can say you just need to look at them to know since all 3 had different features, but the issue is that even when this is true (that there is observable data of them ALL having different looks from their claimed father), Alicent, in the show (epi 6), wonders how they could have ever hatched dragon eggs from the cradle/when they were babies or toddlers (compared to her own kids, who at least 2 had to claim dragons when they were older). Why does she wonder this? Because, she's implying, that children inherit their most impressive or desirable traits of appearance or behavior or otherwise from their father, not their mother. And since Harwin is not a dragon rider nor has any known Valyrian background, it made no sense to her at all. Not only does this reveal how comparatively little they--court or larger Westeros society--actually relied on real material knowledge of genetics or otherwise to make their rules, but it is also a clear reference or pulls from this F&B/the original lore or story fact about said society/court ("A Question of Succession"):

which itself comes from the older legend of Rhaena the Black Bride giving Jaehaerys & Alysanne their dragons when she placed the eggs in their cradles and they both got their dragons to hatch without having to grow older and claim a dragon as Aegon I, Rhaena, Maegor, etc. all had to.

Point is that the show!Alicent is going off of book!lore's social and historical context directly. Which means the same feelings and ideas about physical inheritance have been directly transferred into the HotD Westeros/HotD's court. Directly.

I'd argue that since even if Rhaenyra's sons weren't Harwin's in the original story/the book (bc there is debate even on why they'd be described with the features they are in F&B when Harwin, for example, had a broken shoulder I think & thus would be out of commission for sex for months or us not knowing what he even looked like, etc.), the center at this consideration is that the truth of Rhaenyra's sons' patrimony does not supersede how it's very possible & likely that the greens merely used such an accusation against Rhaenyra or not.

I stress that without the original lore that HotD heavily relies on for context. Even as it sometimes contradicts & its logic in some places. This is one of those times that its world only makes sense if you know what's going on prior. Would we be discussing bastards and such without the original story that existed even before Fire and Blood?

D) The Real Life Comparisons

the fact that there are lords who believe that aegon should be king instead of rhaenyra is a danger in of itself - that's the point i was trying to make. that's why richard iii killed his little nephews, that's why henry 7 killed edward warick, that's why mary killed jane gray - who clearly had a much weaker claim then her to the throne.

Richard (III) got to Edward V & Richard (brother, the Duke) from Elizabeth, taking advantage of an already existing separation b/t mother & son and all those military protections that Edward could have had. By contrast, Rhaenyra and her kids and her husband were all on Dragonstone with their possible protections...which include dragons. Please, let me know how the lords could expect to catch her off guard as Aegon (II) try to do first with one debated assassination attempt (failed) and another through Arryk (and failed)? Thse lords would likely (Occam's razor) not have the confidence to trry to attack Rhaenyra openly; privately, they still would be deterred by how well protected she was and have to bank on a lesser chance of really gettign to her.

Rhaenyra was already the monarch-designated heir, she was not a usurper. Richard III was never the heir, he was the usurper. Richard III took the throne away from his own nephews...of course, he did away with them. The throne was the nephews' by their "natural" male and direct blood rights by being Edward IV's sons. Richard was a usurper & usurpers must legitimize their rule when they seek to use illegitimate or violent means to force power into their own hands. Edward IV never named his brother (Richard) his heir over his sons, & his elder living son was considered a king in his own right before his uncle did whatever he did. So this is a false equivalence.

Rhaenyra is the one having something taken away from her. Not the greens/Aegon, Aemond, Daeron. Because Viserys explicitly did not name them as his heirs. And Rhaenyra was heir for almost 20 years before she was usurped.

So really, it is all her sons--especially Aegon III & Viserys II way later--who can be told to be in similar conditions as Edward V & his brother Richard, Duke of York. Aegon II is more like Richard III; maybe this is a spoiler since idk if you read the bk, but Aegon II threatens to mutilate the 10-year-old Aegon III and Aegon III is in Aegon II's custody before Aegon the Elder dies. He's also their uncle.

Unlike Elizabeth who actually seemed reluctant to get rid of Jane from an emotional place, Henry VII had Edward Warwick killed during a time when there were

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra had a much better line of descent/claim than Elizabeth or Henry VII by being the firstborn daughter of a man who declared her his heir and kept it so for years, never having legally named her as a bastard nor her sons as bastards. Rhaenyra had no such "kinks". Elizabeth had been ruled at one point a bastard while Henry VII had only a real claim to the throne through his mother. His house was a minor one descended from a bastard-turned-legitimate (John Beaufort, first Earl of Somerset, son of Jon of Gaunt and Katherine Synford, who birthed the Earl before she eventually married Jon of Gaunt. She had been his mistress for years until then).

Also, I don't understand why dragons are being left out of this conversation when they have been the game changer and the reason why the Targs are unique in their place from those real-life people that you listed. Elizabeth I didn't have dragons to feel like she'd be able to tell the lords pushing her to kill Jane "no" (she was reluctant in many sources). Henry VII didn't have dragons to deter or remove Perkin Warbeck fast enough, though he won the war by killing Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

There's a reason why dragons exist in this narrative, they serve the purpose of giving much more advantage or being much more of a deterrent against competitors. We really shouldn't underestimate not just their actual firepower but the role of them being deterrents. Once again, how likely were any lord to try to "force" any green boy to go to war against Rhaenyra with this in mind?

E) Using GoT

we also have dany and jon snow for example - dany was threatened by him despite the fact that he publicly swore allegiance to her. as long as a "stronger" alternative exists, rulers can't truly secure their reign.

I'm not sure using GoT Dany and the story they wrote for her to ascertain the realities and circumstances of Dany & Jon's eventual meeting in the actual story GRRM is creating, the politics, and how she'd react or think of them when they appear. Because Jon can be Rhaegar's son all we like, but polygamy was, for years, not accepted as legitimate after Maegor. Maegor got to be legitimately polygamous because he used his dragon & Visenya's support (Vhagar) plus the later army at his command to enforce it, as Aegon I did by winning his conquest (apart from him being already married to his sisters). Even we argue that Rhaegar could have restored its legitimacy, Rhaegar lost his chance to affirm his privilege to marry more than one woman by dying before he could announce Lyanna as his wife and for Aerys to maybe accomplish getting the rest & the Martells to accept such a union. This means his marriage to Lyanna in the show is not really that valid to make Jon Snow their legitimate son.

Who has/had the dragons between Dany and Jon, book or show? Who is the trueborn without any debate or "kink", hands down? Who had a fearsome army at their command and will definitely continue to do so when she meets Jon? Dany. Though she is a woman like Rhaenyra, she simply has too much on her side for her to be as nervous about the throne as D&D wrote her. It reminds me of when people tried to say that bk!Rhaenyra was legitimately or only resentful of Alicent bc she was pudgier than Alicent, when in fact it's far more likely she resented being compared to her as Aegon (II), Viserys, and Helasena were also pudgy people. No, Dany would not be that concerned about Jon. She'd more likely get a little frustrated with the sexism and scoff at the cheers for Jon, bc of what I mentioned.

Despite people (in-world and out) thinking that Jon was "stronger" bc he was a man & he rode one dragon, Dany was quite obviously the more powerful of the two with a stronger relationship with all three of those dragons she breastfed. Her dragons obeyed her, not Jon. If she did feel that threatened by him, that was an illogical writing thing on the part of D&D in their rush to end the show. Dany is more self-possessed than that ("Do you mean to make that [woman] as an insult?"), but they wrote her and several women more unnecessarily irrational, more like Dany consented to sex with a slave master, or more overtly and generally more sexual than their book counterparts without providing a bit of nuance in the sex we do see. We should then take their way of adapting with a grain of salt overall.

D&D made multiple consistency errors, multiple even sexist/classist/racist changes to characters and events, and forgot many things that they established in their version of ASoIaF, etc. So to use their writing to establish that things definitely would turn out the way they did is not useful.

One last thing that I don't know is a common point in the fandom: in HotD, Alicent & Otto both have many lords imprisoned, at least one killed, and they intimidated all of them at court to keep them from spreading the news of Aegon's coronation....if Alicent really were trying to protect her kids from rebellious lords...why is she giving them a far more tangible reason (than the already disproven "they don't want or can do something against Rhaenyra") to go directly against her, her sons, & the Hightowers?! One that has nothing to do with Rhaenyra herself and all to do with Otto & Alicent trying to clear the way for Aegon. And yes, Alicent imprisoned those people if not we remember Rhaenys she also explicitly says to the council that she endeavored to keep Rhaenyra out of the way and to crown Aegon. How to do that? Imprisoning those people is one way.

ok, so i've been getting a lot of "rhaenyra would never kill her siblings" asks recently.

first of all, no one is saying that rhaenyra WANTS to kill her brothers. but there's just no way that a woman & a bastard can inherit peacefully when 3 legitimate sons (with legitimate sons of their own) exist. this is not how westerosi politics work. the men in power wants to keep the men in power, this is the definition of patriarchy. and i'm not saying that's a good thing - because obvs it's not - but that's the truth. westeros is a patriarchal society.

the lords of westeros - the men in power - wants to preserve the existing order. legitimate sons inherit over daughters, bastards can't inherit. it's important to them because their own power is dependent on this very system. let's say rhaenyra becomes queen, and all of the sudden other firstborn daughters start to stand up and demand to be named heirs to their houses . let's say jace becomes the prince of dragonstone, and suddenly bastards that are older then their legitimate siblings start to demand their rights as well. from our modern pov - that's a great thing, but for the lords of westeros that's literally their worst nightmare.

"but a lot of houses supported rhaenyra". true! i'm not saying every lord in westeros will not accept her, i'm saying some of them def won't, and as long as aegon\aemond\daeron lives, there will always be someone advocating for their rights - and that's dangerous for rhaenyra and her family. so yeah, to protect herself and her children she will 100% kill her brothers. i'm not holding it against her - she's obvs going to care more about her children & herself then her brothers.

"but dorne ..." i feel like GRRM has made it abundantly clear that westeros does not want to become like dorne. dornish people are stereotyped and discriminated against - especially dornish women, that are viewed as promiscuous and are constantly oversexualized. westeros becoming like dorne is def not something westerosi men want.

ironically, jace will have to face the exact same situation with his own brothers aegon and viserys, but i digress.

also, did we forget how easily rhaenyra offered to have her 10yo brother tortured when she felt like her children were in danger? do you guys really believe that she's above murdering to protect them?

[choccy-milky]

finally drew clora and seb's kids!!🙌🙌

Celeste Sallow: OK THIS IS THE NAME IM SUPER PROUD OF BAHAHA because not only does the name celeste relate to the stars (in typical ravenclaw fashion...clora picked the name) but celeste sallow is also an alliteration. BUT, its an alliteration that begins with a C, which means clora gets to match with celeste in the form of both of their names starting with a C, whereas sebastian gets to match with celeste because both of their names are an alliteration/they're alliteration allies🥹ITS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!🥳

Lewis Sallow: as for lewis, if you've read my fic then you know that seb has a vendetta against names that start with an L bahaha, but 'lewis' was actually HIS idea. when celeste was born, seb wanted to find a muggle story to read to her, since clora's favourite story is ALSO a muggle one (sherlock), and he wanted to stick with tradition. so he ended up finding alice in wonderland, which he loved because of how adventurous and clever alice was and of how much she reminded him of clora and celeste (both personality and looks wise). it became his favourite for those reasons, to the point that when they had lewis, sebastian overcame his L-name hatred by naming their son after lewis carroll.

Houses: celeste could have been sorted into either gryffindor or slytherin, but ultimately ends up in slytherin because she wants to be like seb. kinda like how clora also probably could have been in gryffindor, tbh. as for lewis.....him being 10000% in ravenclaw doesnt need any explanation BAHA, just look at him.

Appearance: since clora has a tiny bit of veela blood in her, thats obvs passed down to their kids, too, and so they mostly take after her as a result of it. but there's still little bits of seb that shine through in each of the kids: for lewis its his brown curly hair, and for celeste its her complexion/freckles. and the fact that celeste looks so similar to clora only doubles up sebastian's stress/protective instincts when he watches her BAHAH. he's ofc still proud that she takes after him so closely, but seb also cant deny that he wishes it had been their SON that had taken after him instead, to keep her out of danger.

Celeste & Lewis: for celeste and lewis’ relationship, celeste is a super proud big sister, and treats lewis kinda like how seb treats clora. if there's anything that needs to be done, she offers to do it for him. and although she doesn’t have the patience to read stories herself, she loves playing outside and having lewis read to her in the background, and loves to act out/use his stories to fuel her imagination. and lewis makes sure to pick stories that he KNOWS she’ll like (which mostly involve heroic and daring feats of adventurers or pirates. he's tried to read more classic fairytales and romances to her a few times, but celeste always gets bored). she loves to draw though, so sometimes when lewis reads books that have no pictures, she'll draw them herself.

Celeste & Seb/Clora: celeste is a daddy's girl LOL and always tries to impress seb with the stuff she does, especially after hearing how HE was at her age, and so its half to impress and half because shes competitive that she wants to do the same/be just as good. and seb always gets a kick out of hearing her feats in the crossed wands club, or in defense against the dark arts class, and he also goads her on, telling her she'll have to do better than that if she wants to be as good as HE was. and whenever celeste gets detention, clora always stresses and asks why, whereas seb just tries to keep the smirk off his face. as for celeste and clora, clora also reads to celeste, and bakes and cooks with her, which is something celeste actually likes doing. not only because it keeps her busy and she likes to help and get messy in general, but also because she likes the fact that it results in good food afterwards LOL, and constantly asks when things can be taken out of the oven. also, for as tomboy-y as celeste is, she honestly doesn't mind/likes the clothing that clora puts her in and likes when clora dresses her up, bc it makes her look like one of the princesses from the storybooks, and it just amuses her more than anything else. once she enters hogwarts, though, its mostly trousers. but she still DOES like the occasional girly clothing.

Lewis & Seb/Clora: lewis is a momma's boy LOL and unlike celeste, doesnt care about duelling or of proving himself or anything like that, and is only concerned with stories and his future studies. so ofc clora had to show him sherlock, which he naturally loved. it even inspired lewis to want to write his own stories, so that he could challenge his own skill and see if he could, but also because he wants his mom to read them, and likes the idea of writing his own sherlock-esque story with equations and mysteries to be solved that he can offer her. lewis also wants to write a book for celeste as well, bc although he wont admit it, he basically wants to write a story tailor-made for her and her interests. one that he thinks will have everything she’d love in it. and part of it is genuinely because he WANTS to do it for her, but the other part of it is also for his ego, and to see if he CAN write a compelling story, and write something that would actually get THE hyperactive celeste to sit down and read it in its entirety (not to mention of her own volition). as for with seb, lewis looks up to him more than anyone else, due to how well-rounded he is and how hes so good at practical stuff AND studying, and he kinda sees seb as a main character/protagonist from one of his books, and uses sebastian as inspiration for his own stories. if hes stuck on what he thinks the dashing main character should do next, he'll ask his dad what HE would do, which results in seb getting very weird questions that he nonetheless is always happy to answer. also, when lewis is older and finally learns the full story of what happened with clora and seb and ranrok and rookwood, he writes their story in novel form, except he just changes their names/some of the details, and it becomes a best seller LOL. and i didnt know where to put this, but the four of them all read a story before bed every night, with lewis in the middle and seb and clora on either side of him. though celeste stands at the foot of the bed, basically doing a charade/mime show of what theyre reading, and putting on a little play to go along with it BAHHA.

OK thats all i can think of for now ive yapped enough😩 if youve read all of this ur a real one.... ive also considered giving them a 3rd (and last) child, which would be a boy that looks exactly like seb, and seb would just be praying like please.....let this son take after me🧎‍♂️🙏 BAHHA

[prideprejudce]

I think alot more people would enjoy the show if they learned to see Rhaenyra and Alicent as Unreliable Narrators, and characters who are supposed to have glaring flaws and weaknesses.

Mandatory preface- There are Issues™️ with season 2 that are its own other ask- but the complaints ive seen about character assassination on both women kind of tells me ppl just wanted to see the two just GirlBossing around, not being tragic characters trapped in their own circumstances.

For Alicent specifically- she just isn't written to be Cersei 2.0, and while it was really interesting to see motherhood from cersei's point of view, its already been done!! I actually prefer seeing Alicent's mercurial clinging to and abandoning motherhood- its interesting!! She was made a mother at what- 15? An age where you truly arent mentally developed enough to raise 3 kids, AND be a child bride, AND be a queen, (AND be a lesbian).

Alicent is interesting to me because she's stunted at 15 years old, she's an adult woman who talks to and sometimes bullies her kids as if they are her peers, and is obsessed with her childhood crush(es). She hasn't built any new relationships* past the ones she was entangled with as a teenager, she's obsessed with both acting out to make SOMEONE see that shes suffering, (she's honestly pretty blatant for someone who prides themselves on being the Temperate Voice of Reason) but also to erase herself and reset to before she had to marry the king, before aemma died.

I think most of her 'bad out of character' decisions are just these two impulses winning out, her trying to force a reset, go back to a time where none of this had happened yet, when things were simpler and she had love and every day wasn't the worst day of her life™️.

She sleeps with cole, the man she thought was pretty at 15 (her last uncomplicated attraction just before it all went wrong and aemma died) -she doesnt seem to like it that much, but she does seem compelled to seek him out, esp when upset- shes obsessed with, and desperate to reconnect with Rhaenyra, her childhood best friend (and first love) and get back to where they were as kids, AND she still treats and asks her father for absolution as if he's still the only authority that matters to her just like she did at 15. Alot of her 'victim complex/bewildered they took it so far' behaviour in the plotting of rhaenyra's usurption reads to me like a teenager in over her head, she talked big game and now its real and shes panicking!! She's tragic BECAUSE she's still a teenager- so stunted shes unable to meaningfully grow up and learn to make healthier choices for herself, or move on and stop trying to grasp at the 'if i could just go back' urge.

As a mother, I think this creates an interesting dynamic as well, and I do like that in the casting even, she seems closer in age to her kids than rhaenyra does to hers. I think the contrast ppl are drawing with Alicent Protecting Her Kids in season1 compared to her giving them up in season two isn't bad writing to me, just massive differences in context. Sure she protected Aemond in driftmark, but we cant ignore that she probably felt humiliated by her husband choosing rhaenyra's side over hers in front of everyone, did it seem like a grown woman fighting for her son?? or a teenager furious with her ex winning one over her again? or both!! both sides twisted together is still interesting! When she protected Aegon from Rhaenys, is stepping in front of her son the king to protect him from the enemies dragon fire not the most romantic daydream of a deserving death a child bride could come up with?? Was it the impulse to protect the son she couldnt decide if she loved or hated, or was it to have the most heroic death possible to escape the reality that she sees coming. And if Rhaenyra hears about how Brave she was in the face of a dragons maw, and cries about it forever and feels sooo bad and regrets it til the day she dies, thats an added bonus. I think Alicent loves her kids, but is teenager selfish about HOW she loves and protects her kids, and is unable to be a mature, consistant, protective mother to them when she also sees them as having ruined her life. I think in season 2 when she 'gives them up' shes relieved, and once again following the compulsion of 'if i reset to when Rhaenyra was heir, i had no sons, and i wasn't married or queen, everything will be better'. I think theres complexity to it, i think she does love her sons and feels insane about it, but I think Alicent has been trying to Go Back in more and more Intense ways ever since she got married, and we might be giving her sanity more credit than it deserves when it comes to the need to wipe the board clean and go back to being 15.

hey anon are you trying to get married to me or what

[the-s1lly-corner]

*blows up in your room*

Hey, could i request an Jax x Cat!Reader who has the same skills and is very alike with the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland, Like the reader is always with that sharp teeth lazy smile and has the same personality as the cheshire cat too, thank youu (sorry if its confusing, im writing with a translator)

*crawls under your bed*

- 🦭

Jax x cheshire cat type reader!

jokes on you my bed doesnt have any space under it so HAH! another character where i gotta rely on the character wiki and my general understanding of the character from outside references because i have also never watched alice in wonderland/lh

this boy is immediately SMITTEN! like before i didnt think jax had much of a type, or rather i was stumped on what that type would be, but if youre a fellow trouble maker who wants to indulge and aid in his acts..

since you have the same abilities, you both use them to your advantage, it completely elevates jax's pranks and general asshole-ry

you guys look at each other before a huge grin pulls across both of your faces. no words are said, you just get each other. with a little nod, you guys both go out to cause havok

loves seeing funny things happen to people, but youre a funny person who fits his sense of humor so he likes seeing you

when you two do duo activities, youre usually the distraction and hes the one engineering everything to get things moving

loves your tail, i think at this point i might just headcannon that jax fidgets with things because i mention the idea in the ballerina post as well as the princess one

what im trying to say is is that hes probably going to fidget with your tail, if you have one

thinks its kind of unfair that you get cool abilities, no one else really has any; i mean zooble has their detachable thing, and everyone can handle a lot of damage, but thats basic cartoon physics, you actually have a power

...you guys may not use your unique abilities to troll caine...

caine will no longer be immune to the antics

"this is why i love you" after you come up with a brilliant idea to annoy the others (can be read as platonic or romantic)

[horizon-verizon]

Alicent’s Politicking

There is a current argument (or rather "emphasis") that Book!Rhaenyra did a very stupid thing to have illegitimate children and make it easier for her enemies (in general) to use it as pretext for attacking her or usurping her.

Aside from how her extramarital sex and birthing her sons is actually not that much a political worry as we think by historical precedents, I refuse to leave Alicent behind in "politically or logically stupid moves" argument. Because that's the other thing: no one green considers how deeply Book!Alicent fucked up and was sometimes both politically "stupid" as well as (actually) morally deficient.

She antagonizes Rhaenyra since the latter was 10. There was public notice of their enmity many times, even enough for Essosi travelers to take notice of it in one of the tourneys. If Alicent was smarter, she would not have made her hatred of Rhaenyra so obvious.

Her teaching her kids to see Rhaenyra as lesser or just a enemies was also dumb since Alicent doesn't really know what she or her husband (before and after Laenor, if Daemon hadn't been available) would have done to her or her kids before Viserys died to secure Rhaenyra's claim. Or afterwards when Rhaenyra took King's Landing. He/they could have been a lot crueler to Alicent than Rhaenyra was (Quote below).

Alicent seriously miscalculated how many supporters Rhaenyra would have.

Why? Alicent is going against the word of a King/the monarch and she acts as if the oaths that these people took have 0 value or were not enough for the to support Rhaenyra. Not only is this self contradictory (oath-taking is a matter of ideological, chivalric honor and are supposed to be about the privilege of nobles and men....make it make sense), it seems she hadn't expected them to believe the blend of feudalxabsolute monarchy and a King's word to matter...then why should her own son, Aegon's words matter? Of course Daeron (Hugh and Ulf), Jaehaera (Unwin Peake), and Aegon (his poisoning and the Shepherd) were all killed/not taken seriously. All the Greens' supporters were either already in line with them for their own self-serving ambitions or were forced to (Maidenpool).

Rhaenyra had the Velayrons at her side, so she had way more dragons than the greens did, and Helaena wasn't thought as a serious fighter. I don't think that Alicent really thought that Aegon would even have to ride his dragon or be willing to, to defeat Rhaenyra and put himself in harm's way. Therefore, she also puts her kids in harm's way through her ignorance and miscalculations.

Fearing for her sons, Queen Alicent went to the Iron Throne upon her knees, to plead for peace. This time the Queen in Chains put forth the notion that the realm might be divided; Rhaenyra would keep King’s Landing and the crownlands, the North, the Vale of Arryn, all the lands watered by the Trident, and the isles. To Aegon II would go the stormlands, the westerlands, and the Reach, to be ruled from Oldtown.

Rhaenyra rejected her stepmother’s proposal with scorn. “Your sons might have had places of honor at my court if they had kept faith,” Her Grace declared, “but they sought to rob me of my birthright, and the blood of my sweet sons is on their hands.”

"Bastard blood, shed at war,” Alicent replied. “My son’s sons were innocent boys, cruelly murdered. How many more must die to slake your thirst for vengeance?”

The Dowager Queen’s words only fanned the fire of Rhaenyra’s wroth. “I will hear no more lies,” she warned. “Speak again of bastardy, and I will have your tongue out.” Or so the tale is told by Septon Eustace. Munkun says the same in his True Telling.

(Fire and Blood; Rhaenyra Triumphant)

As if Alicent wasn't the one who began all this conflict by teaching her kids to hate Rhaenyra/her sons AND was not the one to want Lucerys' eye for Aemond's, to which Rhaenyra was responding with accusation of treason.

Rhaenyra's dismissal of Alicent makes it very clear the great and stupid risk Alicent took based on her pride, miscalculations, and zealotry. It got her screaming into the night, alone, and isolated, hating the color green forevermore and all her kids dead through terrible means, all her boys dead with ideas of their own privilege and grandeur.

EDIT #1: 

Refer to @the-king-andthe-lionheart‘s reblogs below for expansion.

EDIT #2:

I wrote a post back in Dec '22 about how Alicent and Otto and all green stans are wrong about Alicent being "right" about the lords, how they came to that conclusion, and Alicent's characterization/prejudice HERE.

EDIT #3:

Why....why, why would a person looking to negotiate terms  to save their children (Alicent) call their target's (Rhaenyra) sons "bastards" right to their very face?!!! 

When in the past this is the very thing that proved a huge point of contention, the weapon they rubbed and used against their target back then, that they are trying to make deals with now?!!

EDIT #4 (HotD’s Alicent specifically):

F&B Quote (and if we take at HoD!alicent at face value):

In canon, we don’t hear anything about how Alicent (specifically and clearly) viewed cradle-bonding as related to the Velaryon boys, whether she hoped they wouldn’t be able to hatch any dragons in their childhood. It is implied, though, by her character of courtliness and Andal-Seven upbringing/teachings that really concerns itself with bastards vs trueborns, etc, that she would have believed this, though.

However, since book!Alicent is still smarter than show!Alicent, I assume that while she believed and held out hope so that the court speculation would turn towards her and her kids’ favor, she also wouldn’t come out and say that Rhaenyra’s kids were made obviously illegitimate through this event where they didn’t hatch any eggs. Her own daughter, Helaena, had to claim a dragon way before Aemond claimed Vhagar. Dreamfyre was Rhaena Targaryen (the Queen Dowager)’s dragon two generations ago. Viserys, Alicent’s own husband, also had to claim a dragon, and he did it in his 20s--Balerion the Black Dread and Aegon the Conqueror’s dragon, who died not long after Viserys first rode him. These same facts are the same in HotD’s “universe”. 

If Alicent from the canon and book still believe in legitimacy being "proven" through cradle bonding even after being married to Viserys AND having at least 2 of her 4 kids having had to claim a dragon, then she'd be dumb for still thinking that. However, she'd still be smarter than show!Alicent for not expressing it aloud where her husband could hear her.

So show!Alicent was very stupid for vocally and confidently saying how she couldn’t understand how Rhaenyra’s sons’ eggs hatched to imply their bastardry. Aside from Targaryens/Targ-descents mostly claiming dragons since Valyria was a thing, it wasn’t politically smart. Why would you call your husband’s grandchildren bastards in front of his face, and so cavalierly?! 

It’s rather a sign of Viserys’ stupidity and allowance if her getting away with a lot for no particularly good reason. Or terrible writing and character development. Why would Viserys be so adamant in keeping Rhaenyra’s kids safe and the heris for the throne and then not snap at Alicent for being so brazen and direct? For even the implication, for allowing her to go one for years about their parentage without harsher reprimands? And it goes back to how we weren’t allowed the scenes between the two parts of the family throught the ajor jump cut, because after Alicent first implied such a thing, we should have seen Viserys be as harsh and direct as he was towards Aemond in episode 7 and towards Otto in episode 4. And then, in the events of epsiode 6, Alicent would have been much more careful bringing up this bastard claim, creating so much more tension!

[polysucks]

“It’s nOt rEaLisTic!” “RhAenYra dOesNt kIsS wOmeN!” “AlicEnT woUlD nEvER TrY to mEdiAtE wItH RhaeNyra lIkE thAt!”

Says who? The maesters? The Maesters who trained at the Citadel? The Citadel that is vehemently against The Old Gods? The Citadel that renounces any use of magic, especially blood magic allegedly*? The Maesters that record kept for the Targaryen rule? You know, the Targaryens? The ones that can control dragons due to ancient blood magic? Maester Gyldayn who straight up makes notes in the margins about rumors and how some “facts” in Fire and Blood might not be true? These maesters? The Maesters that we know to be 100% honest all the time, and only ever do right by the people they serve, never get involved with politics, and never have personal biases and opinions? The Maesters that NEVER withhold information and knowledge from the people they are bound to serve? The Maesters that follow STRICT ethical practices? Those Maesters?

Alright. So, what if the maesters are 100% honest all the time? (Don’t even come at me with “but Mushroom1!1!1!!1” wtcho goofy ass. he’s not a part of this) you think all the occupants of the castle aren’t aware of the eyes that watch their every goddamn move? These white haired bitches got personal paparazzi following them everywhere. You think the only lying, sneaking, whispering, bribing, and hiding occurred during Viserys’ reign? Oh, just these two seasons? You ever wonder why no secretaries or janitors from Area 51 don’t come forward for a Shane Dawson “””documentary”””? Well, the Targaryens didn’t have access to lawyers and NDAs. Nah. If someone was gonna spew, or a guard saw something they shouldn’t have? Liberate head from neck. Chadgor The Coomer made this point evident.

Yall look silly out here not thinking any of this could be realistic. (Despite the obvious changes from the source content—I’m looking at you Benioff and Weiss. I’m coming for legs)

[alicentsgf]

i think peoples understanding of alicent very much hinges on whether or not they have enough empathy and self-awareness to overcome that first scene we get with older alicent.

we are reintroduced to this character as this callous, passive agressive woman who apparently plots to snatch newborn babies from their mother's arms, someone who lashes out with her tongue and eventually a knife, a far cry from the 'inoffensive' sweet pro-rhaenyra girl that she was. and then like.... we never see her again. not really. because every other scene we get after that walks it back a little, giving us new (or maybe renewed) reasons to understand her point of view; she's frantic. she's scared. she's angry. she loves her children. shes scared for her children. she still loves rhaenyra. she's a caring wife. her husband doesn't love her. her husband barely acknowledges the children he forced on her. she wants peace. she abhors violence. she thinks of the smallfolk when no one else does. she expresses an ability for genuine self-reflection and regret, especially after her own loss of control at driftmark (something we see in absolutely no one else btw, except for rhaenyra once). and i think having your entire view of her dictated by that first scene with her in the Princess and the Queen and never exploring the character further because you've already decided she's not worth it is such a huge mistake.

it speaks to an ability to change your views when presented with new information and reconcile the fact victims can also be perpetrators. because the alicent we meet in the Princess and the Queen is still Alicent. people will say 'oh younger alicent was innocent but older alicent is just a bitch' to justify their hatred of her and it stresses me out because how can you have seen what younger alicent was subjected to, empathise, and then see that she is STILL being subjected to it, and yet not understand and empathise with the woman shes become? is it just because she is now expressing her pain in uglier, more outwardly damaging ways? expressing it in ways that hurts others and not just herself. ways that hurt rhaenyra and her children.

victimhood isn't always going to look like a timid young woman with bleeding nail beds whos easy to feel sympathy for because she doesnt make life difficult for your faves. sometimes its seething, spitting, and wielding a knife but that doesnt make it any less worthy of acknowledgement.

[lady-margaret]

bridgerton season 3 episode 4 screaming thoughts (unedited)

AW DEBLING THAT WAS SO CUTE 😭 colin step it up jeez

lol she likes that window cuz she can see the bridgerton house from there

oh ben is back at it again

CUTIE POMERANIAN

me and the queen thinking same thoughts cuz?????? how the hell brimsley reading all that from back there

i just know the queen is gonna hate the bridgertons when franny doesnt pick the marquis

HYACINTH 🤣🤣🤣

JOHN FCKING STIRLING JOHN STIRLING IS IN THE HOUSE YALL ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

VIOLET IS SO FUNNY WITH HER LOOKS LIKE SHE CAN JUST TELL RIGHT AWAY

wait theyre so funny 😭😭😭😭 not them literally sitting in silence

alice is gorgeous i cant wrap my head around their family storyline when shes onscreen

OMG IS THIS WHERE THEY’LL PLAY JEALOUS

eloise 😭 read the room 😭

o god colin

oh :((((((((((( oh lol nvm :>>>>>> theyre in agreement

hes so cute 🥹🥹🥹

hElp why am i rooting for debling COLIN DO BETTER !!!!!!! DAMN U COLIN what is it with him and 3somes

franny is so cute 🥹🥹🥹

pausing the ep to say that the visitor for cressida is def eloise

yep i was right

boys rly are boys at any period of time *sigh*

colin get out of there buddy … is he gonna wank it out

look okay portia does have a point but but but 🥺 love

did kate and anthony seriously go on an extended honeymoon 🙃 shes gonna be pregnant when they get back

violet knows what she’s doing and i love her for that

its the hairstyle of the queen the went viral

oh alice ur so beautiful

idk about this violet storyline 🥺 between me and her i feel like im the one who’s not over edmund 😭😭

i want eloise cressida and pen to be just friends and for cressida to say sorry to pen and grovel

LORD KILMARTIN BACK IN THE HOUSE i love him 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

philippa really selling the pregnant thingy 😭😭😭 o are they both pregnant

SNOW ON THE BEACH !!!!!!!!!!

eloise is back

O GOD COLIN ‼️

debling is connecting the dots

okay so colin, honey, listen. you will only resolve this if u like propose like rn

portia pls love ur daughter

AW IT WAS SHEET MUSIC??? 🥹🥹🥹💕

COLIN YES GO COLIN wait he ran after the carriage 🤭🤭

wait did they not play jealous at all yet? or have i missed it

COLIN SAY IT SAY ITTTTTTTTTTTTT

CARRIAGE SCENE PLS ‼️🤞🤞🤞

despite being the writer of the bridgerton family, and yes he is good with words, he has yet to have like a distinct monologue or line that becomes the pinnacle of the season

YES PENELOPE YES SPEAK UR TRUTH AND GET UR MAN

omg omg omg omg omg

i forgot what song title it is but omg its the pitch perfect song 😭

OH HES GOING FOR IT

seggs scenes are so awkward for me lmao

okay wait i love this

AHHHHHHHHH

oh no now he has to find out shes lady whistledown

OMG HE SAID THE THING HE SAID THE THING

[noodles-doodles01]

I know I used to defend this, and I blame it on the fact that the writers banked on season 2 taking 2 years to make and I just FORGOT a lot of s1 points.

Aemond betraying Aegon is stupid. And that being the turning point for him to becoming a villain is even more stupid.

S1 shows he defends his family above all, despite his anger towards Aegon. And that works with how book!Daemon acts (since they are supposed to be warped reflections of one another).

Now I haven’t read FnB in a while, so correct me if this deviates from the book too much:

Aemond uses how he perceives Daemon as a way to cover up his guilt, and this guilt drives him toward becoming more violent as the series progresses.

I always thought Aemond’s guilt would be his driving motivation this season. A scene with his admission to murdering Luke and acting that it was on purpose, having to deal with the closest person in his family almost dropping him for an enemy (Alicent raised him this way, but she’s still a religious woman, and knows this has them nosediving into war). I didn’t hate the brothel scenes since Aemond does struggle with relations in general and does add to his character on that front (it would also give a decent parallel, seeing that Daemon used brothels as a station for power, whilst Aemond seeks comfort from the same place).

Blood and Cheese would be the point where Aemond starts to lose it. He fully blames himself for the death of Jahaerys, being the one who killed Luke and the one who was the initial target (ideally that’s just what he thinks). He begins to hold this heavy burden of having to carry his family’s well being on his own being the rider of Vhagar, and it starts to chip at him.

He becomes more irritable, and starts plotting for war in his spare time. This gets taken as him doing things behind the king’s back, and it doesn’t help that Aemond getting pissed over Aegons pettiness proves that point further. But he DOESNT betray him, the anger and frustration is simply from his overwhelming fear that his stupidity will eradicate his family. This would be so interesting since Aemond is closest with Alicent, giving them decent parallels in which they begin to realize their ambition came at a cost (and I’m talking book Alicent here not the schmuck that Condal wrote).

Then Rook’s Rest. In FnB the way that it’s written him betraying Aegon and it being a stupid tactical mistake are both viable reasons (he dove Vhagar down atop Meleys and Sunfyre) and I’m ok with both, but it being a stupid mistake where Aemond is overconfident serves this concept more. Again he acts as though it’s nothing.

Now this guilt journey doesn’t erase other aspects of his character: Aemond still believes he’s better fit to be king, he believes he is superior to team black, and that translates still, there should never be any doubt in those points. The guilt should come from the fear that he may not be able to protect his family, with Alicents words gnawing at him. So he never removes the conquerors crown bc it gives a sense of comfort, he is king, he holds all power. He never betrays his family, because despite everything they are better off than the league of Bastards.

But the key difference between him and Daemon, is that Daemon is experienced. He knows how to bait the younger version of himself, and that’s what gives him the upper hand.

When Aemond goes to Harrenhall and realizes he’s been tricked, he burns at the river lands. It’s a terrible reaction to the guilt he feels and that’s where the villainy comes from: he finds comfort in this false sense of tyranny when he’s overwhelmed.

Now imagine the amount of fun Alys has when she realizes this bundle of guilt waddled into her playground. The girl will give him visions for weeks depicting all the wrongs he’s done and ramping up what he’s been feeling, telling him the only way to get past this is to destroy Daemon (I HC that Alys just wants to get rid of both of them). She also uses the fact that he’s alone to manipulate him further, and he believes that she loves him and cares for him.

It makes his character more interesting and more consistent with what we’ve seen in s1, and it gives a nuance that wouldn’t be recorded in FnB.

And best of all:

EWAN MITCHELL WOULD KILL IT

[divinesolas]

aegon targaryen x reader where aegon likes reader but doesnt realize it til aemond asks for her hand angsty confession and aemond knew the entiee time and did it on purpose. thank you much love ❤️

A little encouragement

a/n: i loved writing this request tysm for requesting !!! my only warnings is that the charcs are probably ooc and aegons a bit of an ass (when isnt he lol)

pairing | aegon x gn!reader

wc | 1.5k

“What.” His chest heaves has his breathing grows more frantic, his fist clenching on the table. He can only stare at his brother with hate in his eyes.

“I plan on asking y/n for their hand-” One of his legs began to shake vigorously, he lifted one of his hands near his face and began biting his nails.

He can't be serious. “No.” Aemond scoffed, “Who are you to tell me no? you are not their father.” Aegon scoffs and shakes his head, “aegon.” His mother who sits next to him attempts to calm her son down but it is no use.

“You have never shown interest before-” “theyre is a great friend, they shall be a great-”

Aegon slams his hands on the table and stands, “I forbid it.” “Who are you to forbid me?” “Your future king.” It was the first time he had referred to himself as king leaving his mother speechless.

Aemond holds his ground giving his brother an amused look, “You will not be king when I marry them.”

Aegon glares, if looks could kill aemond would have been six feet under since his first word in this unforgivable conversation started.

Aemond crosses his arms, “Why are you so upset? You have never shown interest in y/n before hmm?”

He’s right, why was he so upset? You were the stupid friend helaena met as a child. He had seen you around the castle for years, sending him silly smiles or waving frantically if you saw him. He thought you were odd. He would always get this weird feeling whenever he would look at you. It had to be your fault.

Aemond shook his head at his brother before turning to alicent who could only sit there in shock, “I have only come to inform you of my intentions and to ask for your permission.” Alicent looked over to Aegon who didn't even spare her a glance too busy glaring daggers at aemond. “Of course I do not disapprove, y/n is a fine person but maybe we should take some more time to consider-” “I have no need to wait any longer.”

Aegon scoffs, “You have no affection for them.” Due to his anger aegon does not notice the amused and knowing smirk dawning aemonds face, “You know nothing of my affections for them.” Alicent sighs and stands up giving both the boys a pointed look. “Well, I need some time to think this over, you are both dismissed.”

Aegon swiftly left the room to go confront you leaving aemond and alicent in the room. “You are cruel to him, you know of his affections-” “It will be worth it mother just wait.”

Maids swiftly move out of the angry princes way as he rushes through the hallways with one particular person in mind.

He had spotted you sitting in the courtyard beneath a tree and rushed over.

The yard was empty other than the two of you and the occasional maid who passed through.

He froze to admire you for a second. You were reading some history book aemond must have lent you, not noticing the stare of the angry prince. His angry left for a moment, fully consumed by you, that feeling was in his chest again. The feeling he couldn't understand, again he grew angry and stormed over to you.

He felt himself rip the book out of your hands, you gasped and looked up in shock only to see him. “My prince.” You readjust yourself and sit up straight, he glares down at you. “What is the meaning of this?”

You tilt your head, “What ever do you mean my prince?” He scoffs, “Have you entered a courtship with my brother?”

You gasp lightly and look down, he notices your face is flushed, he feels his fists clench.

“I have no idea what you mean my prince.”

Your words are hushed and quiet as you play with your fingers.

He feels himself grow anger at your response. “When did that happen?” You stand and shake your head, “What-” “You have a fondness for my brother? Why?”

You shake your head but he continues growing closer , “What did my brother say to you hmm?” his face is now dangerously close to yours, his words growing more hushed, “Did he woo you somehow? Manage to get you into his bed and have his way with you, i always knew he was-” You shove him back. your chest heeaving with heavy breaths and your face flushed, was it nerves? was it anger? was it embarrassment? he couldn't tell.

“How dare you?” Your eyes well up with tears he feels himself grow uncomfortable by your saddened look. “I hold no affection for your brother prince aegon. I have no clue where you got this idea from.”

You turn your back to him, tears running down your face.

It had been aegon you had quickly fallen in love with as a child. Admiring him became a hobby of yours. He was beautiful, especially in the day light and strangely enough he looked gorgeous right now. Your childish affections grew into much more as the years went on, despite his seeming distaste for you you had always loved him. The words and accusations thrown at you would not hurt from anyone else, but they were from him.

“The only prince i hold affections for is you.”

He feels himself freeze at your words, “What.” Its a different what than earlier, it's quieter, less harsh. His hands are frozen, relaxed and open, his eyes widen as he stumbles back slightly as if youve stabbed him.

“I do not wish to repeat-” “please…” you turn back at the plea of his voice, you notice his expression has fallen into one of despair, his eyes water as he stares at you.

“Aegon.” You take a step towards him and he takes one back, you reach for his hand and grasp it before he can pull it away, “I… I have always loved you…..”

He looks into your eyes for a sigh of deception, you must be lying, how could you love someone like him?

But all he sees when he looks into your eyes brings the same familiar feeling in his chest he had been feeling for so long.

It was love.

The hand holding yours tightens as he pulls you into his chest, he hears you gasp slightly but it is lost to his sobs as he begins to cry.

You wrap your arms around him and he pulls you in even closer, “im sorry my love im sorry.” he mumbling into the croak of your neck.

“its alright aegon.”

He shakes his head, “no no is not i love you. i love you.”

You grab his shoulders and push him back slightly so you could look at him, he whines and tries to move back but you stand your ground.

“You should not say things out of pity…”

“This is not out of pityy!”

The harshness of his tone shocks you for a second, “i could never understand what i felt for you before but now i understand, i am in love with you my love and i think i always have been.”

your own tears begin to fall as you accept this and accept him.

He leans forward his face once again right against yours, “Please allow me to kiss you.”

You laugh and press your lips against his in an easy kiss.

This kiss fills him with an unfamiliar sense of comfort, sure hes kissed others before but it has never felt like this. He feels shock waves flowing through his body in pure pleasure as he deepens it. he should vow to never kiss another as another's kiss will never bring pure bliss loe yours has.

You two pull away and you can only stare at him in shock, it must have felt as good to you as it had him.

“Im glad you are still wooed by my charms my love.” You roll your eyes and shove him lightly, of course a kiss could bring him back to normal.

“You are an idiot.”

He shakes his head and grins, “I may be an idiot but i am your idiot my love.”

You flush and shove him again.

“Now please do not marry my brother.”

You take a step back in shocked, “What ever are you talking about?”

“He had asked for permission to marry you implying you two had entered some sort of courtship…” He trails off at the look on your face and his face grows hard, “that bastard.”

Aemond can only watch from the balcony above with a satisfied look, “i told you mother, he just needed a little encouragement.” Alicent can barely hear him over her happiness, she holds her hands against her chest and smiles fondly at her son, happy he found a happiness she never could have.

[kingcunny]

Both Viserys and Rhaenys ended up with likenesses carved after deaths but they feel wildly contrasting to me.

Viserys's is huge, grand, a part of long line. It's done out of tradition, it's putting forward an idea of a legacy and a new name of "Viserys the Peaceful" - it's not even representative of Viserys during the majority of his reign as he's healthy. It's done because it has to be done.

Whereas Rhaenys's is smaller but freer. She will travel, as part of that ship. She will lead. It's also connected to the real woman, more, even having a name she had in life, and looking how she looked in death, with her armour. It's done not because it HAS to be, but out of love.

What are your thoughts, if any?

this isnt really related to what you said but its something ive been thinking about so im gonna use this as a jumping off point.

but i think its really interesting that viserys statue has his valyria model in it, because it was such a private, personal thing. its not something anyone who didnt know him personally knows about. his statue makes him look like he was a city builder, but he wasnt. he wasnt anything. he just coasted on his grandfathers goodwill. but its trying to give him something, some legacy. i dont think it hit me until now that he was never called ‘the peaceful’ in life. thats really only a name you can earn in death

ive also questioned who commissioned the viserys statue (otto, certainly) and just like the idea that viserys statue was created as a form of legitimacy, a claim to power. just like everything else otto and alicent have done to set aegon up for the throne. but the inclusion of the valyria model feels so intimate to me, wondering if this was when otto first started to realize he missed viserys…

i actually dont remember rhaenys figurehead so i had to go back and rewatch that. and like you said i love that shes free, shell travel, able to lead in a way she wasnt ever given in life. the ship will carry on her name. her statue was made out of love and honor, dedicated to the life of a woman who was loved. verus viserys statue being made due to tradition, dedicated to his death, forever chained in the throne room- the thing that killed him. it doesnt honor his life and legacy like rhaenys does, it tries to create a new one…

[beesmygod]

today is webcomics day. i am bea and i make "A Ghost Story" - part 1: pre-gaming

webcomic day is a yearly celebration of the art form concocted by the screentones podcast team as a way for people to see how the sausage gets made. my webcomic "a ghost story" has been running for over 10 years, and yet i still don't think i can say i am good at making a webcomic. regardless, the comic is getting made because otherwise i become very, very sick in the head. today i would like to share with you the process of making a page of "A Ghost Story" from start to finish. either this demystifies the process or will make you think im so cool and strong for doing this 2x a week. instead of reblogging this one post until it gets very long, i will be posting individual updates that i will then compile and post on my personal website. block the tags now if you HATE comics and want them to EXPLODE.

if you have any questions, even things like "what the fuck are you even talking about" feel free to ask. i want to feel confident in what i make again and i think sometimes interrogation from an outside source is really

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that said, let's get started. wait just kidding i want a cup of coffee first, hold on.

ok now im ready. i have a big glass of water. i have coffee. i have a headset for the parts of work that don't involve typing words. i can't type words and listen to some streamer babble in my ear at the same time, so it has to be instrumental music or nothing. i just took my meds so they should kick in after about 30 mins. i woke up late today, which is weird and annoying. but maybe i can work late instead.

first off, i need to know where i'm going beyond this one page. if i dont know where im going with something, then i usually create something that sucks that i have to deal with later. hold on my internet died, i have to reset the router. ok, anyway.

what's rattling around in my brain is that not only do i have to deal with maxine's current predicament, i am also dealing with multiple plot elements i need to wrap back around to from the previous chapter. luckily, im about to put maxine down for a nap, which means i can get back to those other elements:

i need to finish the exposition from the three ankou characters for this story arc establishing their motivations as the oppositional force in the story. the "villain" is not these three specifically, but their boss. they need to have a loose understanding of what's going on in order to communicate this to the audience. god this started turning into a huge ass paragraph so i'll just keep it short there.

we've jumped back to before jack's horrible day from the first chapter of this storyline so we have to make our way back toward that and then lapping it, which means wrapping up his various open threads like:

feeding victoria and learning something new about her

finding out alice is a very exceptional employee who is getting many awards

watching valdo call lily while interrupting her during something personal to ask her for help with maxine's situation.

jack meeting with valdo and lily the day after they first met so jack can just tell them straight up that lily has 4 sisters she doesnt know about.

help that girl with her poltergeist problem. remember that. i've had jokes for this rattling in my head for like 4 years. im going insane.

and also the fucking tilberi!!! that has a point its going somewhere!!! there's a larger menace here!!!

other things to set up the climax of this storyline. sexual tensions, hints at larger emotional problems not immediately evident to the reader

lots of moving parts. and i feel like im moving in slow motion to get to them. i can see them all weaving together in my head, its the process of putting that onto paper that's proving difficult.

ok that took an hour starting and stopping. -_- let me write the next part as i keep brainstorming on how to approach this page. taking a "rubber duck" approach to this might help. heres an image from the last page i worked on (i have a 5 page buffer rn so the site does not match the finished pages) to get us semi-situated.

also because images will help people understand what skill level we're working with here. i need to be able to communicate an idea to the audience; if the art also looks good on top of that, then that's just an added bonus. but the ability to communicate my ideas is sometimes hampered by my lack of artistic skill or comics language ineptitude. like those speech bubbles kind of fucking suck but at a certain point you have to just hit print on what you're working on in order to keep your already glacial pace.

webcomics is a tightrope act where you're also spinning 4 plates at once. the trick is to keep the audience from realizing how many actually fall or how wobbly they all are. the act sucks but technically its not a failure.