#and not just aemond lol people get really defensive with a whole host of characters like it's their own family members you're talking about

[lemonhemlock]

IMHO the shipping wars will continue as usual, no matter what happens on screen next season. Why? Because some people just can't accept that other people genuinely like a different ship and lash out using the usual arguments - accusations of self-inserting into the female character, liking incest, misogyny, etc. - things which are bound to get reactions from the opposite side and keep the conflict going. If anything, things have gotten a little bit worse since you "left", at least with Helaemond vs others, like most of the new Helaegon shippers have turned out to be just antis who've joined their Alysmond friends into constantly bashing them. It's also a bit funny considering that, in the beginning, most of the first Helaegons were also Helaemonds, but since then, the ship has been taken over by antis, which made it unpalatable, at least for me. I think though that you did receive some complaints about this new wave of Helaegon shippers just before you closed off your inbox for anons, if I remember correctly. Other than that, I guess there have been some Daemyra vs Alysmond conflicts, at least on Twitter from what I've seen, which involved the former piling on the latter simply because they disliked some theory or interpretation on the text. This is obviously unhinged behavior, but I still support the Daemyras doing this considering that Alysmonds and other green antis have done the exact thing, or worse actually, to fellow greens like Helaemonds so it's a bit hypocritical for them to complain when team black stans give them a taste of their own medicine. Sorry, this got a bit too long lmao, I guess you can take it as an update of how things stand when in comes to the shipping wars.

Hey there, anon, thanks for this very comprehensive recap on the state of the fandom. That's, um, a lot. 😅 I don't know what to say about the helaegon v helaemond thing - for me that is just beyond, bc I also remember people used to ship both with absolutely no issue a couple of months back. I, for one, also ship both + helaegond, so I really don't have any desire to engage with any of that, wow. 🤖

And that is the same advice I would give to anyone else - just stop bothering with the antis and do your own thing. As a general observation, I think that people get sucked into bickering way too often instead of just talking about the things they enjoy & making content for that. I get that, on some level, everyone feels the need to defend themselves when they encounter hate and nasty attitudes, so some level of that is perfectly understandable, but I don't think it's really worth it to let it take up the majority of your fandom experience. As someone who's literally been through hell & back these past months, I can promise you, it's not that serious. ☠️

There is something happening in fandoms of all kinds with the breakdown in communication and just general social norms and manners, where, upon encountering even a slightly different take from their own, people will start losing their shit and engaging in petty fights. They're just some ships, lol. None of these people are real! You can imagine scenarios in which even crackships can make sense. Fans are forming parasocial relationships with fictional characters nowadays - I've lost count of how many "MY Aemond would never do that" I used to see. Girl, what? I mean, it's fine as a joke, but then again you see them getting really belligerent with others, so you really have to question how much of it is truly horsing around and how much is just unhealthy investment and compensation for something else.