#and dressed in their dragons colours

[addamvelaryon]

History calls the struggle between King Aegon II and his half-sister Rhaenyra the Dance of the Dragons, but only at Tumbleton did the dragons ever truly dance.

Artist: @asoiafattherite

[lizzybeeee]

DATV explaining the 'Regret Prison'

A REGRET PRISON IS STUPID AND I'M TIRED OF PRETENDING THAT ITS NOT

TL;DR: a prison can serve as a metaphor but it shouldn't be entirely comprised of a metaphor.

From what I understood from what the game gave us: Solas has made a new prison to move the God's too - since bringing down the veil would free them from the Black City. This new prison is separate(?) from the fade or so far removed/contained that bringing down the veil would not compromise it...apparently. We interrupt his ritual, Solas gets sucked into the new prison he made, and the elven gods are free.

When Rook gets kicked into the fade they're physically there - which means it's a physical place in the fade, like how it was a mixture of physical/thought when we entered it in DAI. Which makes sense - the gods are real and living beings, they need to be in a place, there must be some aspect of physicality to it.

Alright, cool, it's a Black City 2.0 - I assume it's better defended to prevent people breaking in/out again?

NOPE.

We get there and it's a 'regret prison'?? It's tied to the regrets of those within it? Composed of regrets??? Solas had to wait for the right moment for Rook to be sufficiently 'full of regret' that they could switch places?

So is the prison tied to Solas's regrets? If so, how can Rook escape? The prison seems to work around the idea that it relies on the regrets of the person it's holding to work - which is how/why Rook was able to be trapped and later free themselves (along with whatever remains of the team apparently being able to do something on their end, not that we hear about it).

WHICH IS STUPID!

Are you telling me the prison intended to hold to megalomaniac elven gods was going to imprison them based on their own regrets? Is Solas assuming that Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain are as self-pitying as he is? They'd break out quicker than Rook did! He made a time out corner for the elven gods to sit in and gave them an out if they reflected on their emotions/regrets or decided that they don't regret what they did. Elgar'nan, a spirit of tyranny, is not going to 'regret' his actions - he is going to justify them by telling himself and others that he knows what's best.

We can come across some of Solas's regrets in the prison if you run around a bit and explore:

Remnant of Failure - talking about the orb from Inquisition.

Remnant of Parting - talking about Mythal

Remnant of Reflection - more vague, talking about the Titans I believe.

So maybe he altered it - maybe he intended the prison to be 'locked' with his own regrets because after a millennia of having a pity party he still can't bring himself to self-reflect and look to the future. But what if Solas died? Or if his guilt lessened - would it diminish the strength of the regret prison?

We already have pre-established lore (though DATV has shown they don't really give a crap tbh) that once the being that has claimed/altered an area of the fade is slain, it's influence diminishes both in and outside of the fade. So if the prison was tied to his regrets then it would require Solas to basically live forever to keep it stable - especially if he brought down the veil and removed the one barrier that kept the world and the fade apart.

Rook and Solas needed some assistance to exit - but it doesn't seem like it was much! Solas used his dagger and Rook just...got out through a fade tear? This is Solas's 'more secure' second prison? It has a worse track record than the Black City! If Rook - who is not an elven god - managed to escape the regret prison what is to stop anyone else from breaking in and out of the prison?

And what did Solas intend to do with the blight - the bulk of which is apparently in the black city?? If bringing down the Veil would free the gods in the black city doesn't that mean that the blight would also be released?! Did he have a plan? Why does he go fully ahead with bringing down the veil at the end if the black city is still there and filled with blight?!

I get it: the 'regret prison' is a metaphor for how Solas holds onto the past and how Rook can move past their regrets and grow. He's trapped by the past - it's a prison. Cool. But this prison is supposed to by a physical place to contain the gods - not just to solely contain Solas. The mission is literally called 'A Cage for Gods'.

The Black City is an actual place that's so far out of reach of anywhere else in the fade that no mage can ever reach it while in dreams - let alone physically, which was only done once and took tremendous effort/blood sacrifices. It made sense - it was cool to see floating in the sky in DAO!

Though it's not said specifically, it's strongly implied that Arlathan is the Black City. You can see in the concept art that floating elven city is exactly the same as the black city in DAO! It's this foreboding thing just lurking in the sky - a constant reminder of the sin that led to the horrors of the blights and darkspawn. A real place with lore and history that also serves as a metaphor for the hubris and destruction of those who call themselves gods and act as tyrants -> for both the evanuris and the magisters.

I WANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS BIOWARE!

WHAT IS THIS KINGDOM HEARTS NONSENSE???!!

[emynarnen]

Rhaenyra's dark red dress in 2.02

[alicentflorent]

Imagine how free Alicent felt going out in nature alone though? Camping out in a simple tent, eating food that had been foraged or hunted, stripping down and going for a swim in the lake which is something she probably hasnt done since she was a child and there’s no city noise or duties for her to attend do she can just sit amongst the trees and be at peace with only the sounds of nature for company. She spent years locked in the castle forced to “perform her duty to her husband” nightly and produce heirs, raise her children with no support system, care for her husband as he got sicker and sicker and did her duty as queen consort and acting regent, sacrificing parts of herself to survive life at court but now she’s finally free.

[lambentflame]

its full blown winter where i am, so i wanted to do a sketch of rhaenyra if she were to visit the north ❄️

[skierisa]

oh look at them. being gay and shit

[rainofthetwilight]

testing out a new brush, so ofc I had to use sora as my test subject <33

[backjustforberena]

Something I've noticed, and I don't know if it's significant, is that whilst Rhaenys's new political outfits and her dragon-riding outfits are very much within the Targaryen silhouette with the strong shoulders and angles and that structure... Rhaenys's funeral outfit isn't, though it is in Targaryen colours.

There's not much of a relationship with the gowns that the other women there: Rhaenyra, Rhaena, Baela. What we do have, however, is rounded sleeves, with a bit of room that then come into tight cuffs around her wrist. We have apparently a velvet sort of material. Velvet has previously only been seen with her Velaryon gowns. Even the sleeves; rounded shoulders are like her Velaryon gowns, and the billowing out and then tapering to a tight cuff was seen (albeit in a more grandiose and different way) on her casual Driftmark dragonriding gown.

Her colours are Targaryen, but for a scene where she is only a grandmother, standing next to her husband, mourning their heir, her tailoring has Velaryon features.

[maestergirl]

She would not give them the pleasure of hearing her beg. I am Cersei of House Lannister, a lion of the Rock, the rightful queen of these Seven Kingdoms, trueborn daughter of Tywin Lannister. And hair grows back.

Cersei II, A Dance with Dragons

Trying out drawing on the tablet, here's a Cersei to start off with.

[evilsartcorner]

[alstroemeria-fox]

i won the auction!!! super tiny baby bogsneak Acquired™

[untaintedtea]

Painted over an old abandoned Leithianel sketch that I was gonna erase since it looked bad, but I’m glad I kept it now. I’m trying to use up leftover dried paint so some colours are kinda off (+ colour correcting is a pain) and I painted it very casually, but it turned out better than I thought 💐

[xeneric-shrooms]

I don't know what to call this but *hands you a weird fucked up rock*

[absolutedoorknob]

WAKE UP BESTIE THIS IS URGENT

So it’s late at night and I’m scrolling through the simplicity pattern website when, this is not a drill….

I saw House of the Dragon sewing patterns!!

Technically they’re not licensed or anything but if you know anything about sewing patterns for costumes, you know it gets pretty dang obvious.

Ok so it’s a pretty basic shape, and it looks like we’ve got an Alicent and a Rhaenyra dress based off of the styling of the models and the colours of the garments. They are not accurate to one single dress either of these characters wear, but it’s a great start, open to plenty of relatively easy modification (take this opinion with a grain of salt I have never modified a pattern) for creativity and maximum cosplay potential. I wish they’d make a Green Green Dress pattern, but I do know that designers and companies are limited to what pieces they can fit inside an envelope (this is the reason why in View B of Simplicity 1009 there isn’t a separate underskirt).

So let’s do some examination!

Starting with View B because it’s on the left, I said it looks like a Rhaenyra pattern mainly because of the color— young Rhae wears a lot of these dull golds (a desert gold if you will?) and beiges when she’s younger, when she’s not wearing red or her dragon-riding fits.

The neckline on the pattern could be easily adapted to either be higher like on the right or more angular like on the left.

The sleeves, however, are reminiscent of two other gowns, with these pattern pieces being good for both Rhae and Alicent.

I love a good open sleeve, and so do they. Also I swear there was another Alicent one with more open sleeves but google images was not kind to me.

Now on to View A! It’s pretty clear from how the neckline is with the trim plus the belt that this dress is modelled after this blue dress Alicent wears, which may or may not be her mother’s.

Now unfortunately the sleeve patterns do not have this amazing “ladder detail” but that would be pretty early to modify in, as well as to cut the neckline lower to add the top “ladder bit”.

This pattern also has Princess seams, like the other view, because it is a relatively simple way to get a good fit around the bust. Now, if you were making a “100% accurate with paper silk and I get the cops called on me because they think I stole it from HoTD’s wardrobe department” cosplay, these would have to be drafted out, because no dresses in the show have Princess seams, most likely because they are a relatively modern fitting technique and the shows in Westeros have historically influenced/inspired costuming. To get the fancy bodice like Alicent’s dress, the easiest way I could think of would be to trace the pattern piece twice, then chop one tracing up into sections with the sections being drawn on the other tracing (so you have a guide on how your puzzle fits together) and remember to include seam allowance if you do this, otherwise you will regret it.

Now this?? This is Daemon. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. Because most of the men on the show (or at least Daemon, Hardin when he’s not in armour defending his lady love— i mean Alicent, and Aemond) wear something similar to this, it’s a great bass with plenty to work with. The vest comes with pattern pieces for either no skirting or longer skirting, as seen in View B vs View A. Also, fun fact, the jacket under the vest/jerkin? It’s a crop top.

There’s a joke to be made here but I just can’t think of it.

These are McCalls patterns, and I have had fit issues in the past with them. Before picking out and cutting your size, I strongly recommend double checking the finished garment measurements, which should be printed on the back of the envelope. This will save you a lot of trouble and from having to buy the same pattern twice in case you cut out a size too small… I speak from personal experience.

Many way, that’s all folks! Personally, I can’t wait to see what Simplicity comes out with in the next few months (they release their new Halloween patterns in like September or something, and suffice to say I’m gnawing at my drywall), and I am praying for a Green Green dress pattern!

[localghostgorl]

I wanted to draw an Eastern European re-interpretation of Tatyana. The outfit is inspired by those worn to the Romanov ball of 1903.

I do commissions!    

[mumble-ssketches]

Hi