#and that they speak high valyrian so they can be honest with each other

[aramblingjay]

DAEMYRA APPRECIATION WEEK: Day 1 – Favorite Scene ⤷ Aemma Arryn's funeral

[mini-kunoichi]

One Chance, pt.2

I wanted to add a little more to this before posting it, but I'll be busy for the next few weeks and I didn't want to leave y'all hanging. One of these days, I'll come up with my own header/line breaks. Just not anytime soon.

Fandom: House of the Dragon

Pairing: Daemon x OC

Summary: What happens when you put Daemon and Addie together? Peak Youngest Sibling Energy, apparently.

Warning: swearing, hints at parental abuse, Daemon being a menace.

Many thanks to @em-writes-stuff-sometimes for beta reading and translating the High Valerian for my lazy ass.

Part 1 Here; Read on AO3

Daemon waited a few days before bringing up the idea of Adelayde staying at the Red Keep for the duration of their courtship. He would stroll the gardens with her every afternoon, and it quickly became the highlight of his days. Despite her family being only slightly above Small Folk, the lady proved herself to be intelligent and quick-witted. Once Daemon was sure he wanted to continue the courtship, it was time to put his plan into motion.

It didn’t take much to convince Adelayde’s parents to have her stay. Her father was too ambitious to decline and her mother seemed intent on pushing her daughter on him. His brother was harder, but not by much. Once he was able to speak to Viserys privately (and therefore openly) about his reasoning, his brother did not put up too much of a fuss. In fact, he seemed to think it was a lovely idea. Though he did make Daemon promise to “do things properly.” The Queen and her cunt of a father objected on behalf of “propriety” or whatever-the-fuck, but Daemon didn’t really care about them. 

The hardest person to convince was, surprisingly, Adelayde herself. When Daemon brought it up to her, she suddenly became agitated. 

He was leaning against a wall in the garden, arms crossed, watching her pace and wring her hands.

“I don’t see the issue,” he said eventually. “You will have a much more comfortable life here. You can have a life away from your parents.”

Daemon really didn’t like Lord and Lady Mullendore. They were both overbearing, though in very different ways. He had already suffered through a handful of dinners with them. Adelayde was such a different person when her parents were around; meek, quiet, and submissive. Everything he didn’t want in a wife. He would have thought she would want to be away from her parents.

“Daemon, I don’t know anyone here,” Adelayde replied.

“You know me. And Rhaenyra.”

“That’s not . . . that’s two people out of hundreds.” The hand-wringing got worse, and Daemon pushed himself off of the wall to take her hands in his own. She started to shift from foot to foot instead. It was annoying, but not as self-destructive.

“You will flourish here. I know you will. Especially without your family holding you back.” He had learned early on that honesty fostered honesty with Adelayde. Though how she always knew whether or not he was being honest was currently lost on him. 

“My family doesn’t hold me back,” she replied with a frown.

“Well, your parents sure as fuck do.” Her frown deepened, but she didn’t reply. She knew he was right.

“Does not knowing anyone in King’s Landing really bother you that much?” he asked.

Adelayde let out a resigned sigh before saying, “I suppose I should be used to solitude by now.”

“So there should be no problem, then.”

“The place was familiar, though. I had my brothers. And a cousin.”

“I will keep you company,” Daemon said confidently. 

It wouldn’t be too much trouble, he figured. They’d had interesting conversations thus far, and she’d even asked him to teach her High Valyrian. Lessons would surely take up much of her time. But instead of happily agreeing (as most maidens would), Adelayde’s nose scrunched in distaste.

“Surely we would get sick of each other.”

Nonsense. No one ever got sick of Daemon Targaryen. Though, he supposed he might become sick of seeing her. Right now, Addie was like a shiny new toy, and he did have a habit of tiring of his paramours rather quickly.

“Well, I’m sure you can find a way to occupy yourself,” he replied eventually.

“Yes,” she agreed. “I suppose I can spend time in the library when you become boring.”

The nerve of this woman. 

– – – – – – – – 

In the end, it was agreed that Addie would stay at the Red Keep for the duration of their three-month courtship. After that period, her return to the Uplands would be decided based on if and when a wedding would take place.

She was moved to more permanent (and lavish) quarters and assigned handmaids who tended to everything from dressing her to serving her meals and preparing baths. She found it discomfiting. 

Being from a minor house, Addie was not used to having such attention. Sure, her father employed cooks, housekeepers, and the like, but nothing as elaborate as handmaids. They were surprisingly understanding, however, and mostly kept to themselves when not performing their duties. One of them even took it upon herself to acquire thread, cloth, and needles so that Addie could work on embroidery.

The little bluejay visited a few more times. No one ever acknowledged the bird and it never sang, so she ignored it each time.

Now that she had been moved to a new room, her father insisted that they break their fast as a family every morning. He always insisted she dismiss her handmaids so that they could “talk as a family.” It was the worst part of the day.

“You will not fuck this up for me,” her father growled, the same as every other morning.

“I won’t, Father,” Addie replied the same as every other morning.

“You’d better not,” he continued. “My place at court depends on this match. If he finds out you’re fucked in the head, he’ll reject you and it’ll all go to shit.”

I am not ‘fucked in the head’, she thought to herself bitterly, though she didn’t dare say anything out loud. Such defiance had major consequences. 

She was saved from having to respond when her mother spoke up.

“Addie is a clever girl. She has navigated court politics quite well thus far. And the Prince seems taken with her.”

“I didn’t ask for your fucking opinion,” he spat. “Speak out of turn again and there will be consequences.”

The rest of the meal was eaten in tense silence.

— — — — — —

Addie was uncharacteristically reserved in the days leading up to her parent’s departure. Daemon still had certain duties with the city watch and Rhaenyra had taken it upon herself to entertain her, which he appreciated. 

It was kind of the Princess, but the two did not really have much in common. Rhaenyra enjoyed the many forms of hunting; and while Addie was perfectly happy to visit the hawks, hounds, and horses used in such activities, she disliked the killing of animals. Rhaenyra’s assurance that the meat would be used in the kitchens made her feel only slightly better.

— — — — — — — 

Daemon took it upon himself to tutor his potential bride in High Valyrian. Partly because the palace tutor had decided she was “too simple for such a task,” (where he’d gotten such an idea was beyond Daemon’s comprehension) but mostly because he wanted to spend more time with her.

Adelayde was a surprisingly quick study. And Daemon was a surprisingly good teacher. The only problem was their motivations; Addie intended to learn and Daemon intended to flirt.

This led to the woman’s never-ending frustrations and the prince’s never-ending amusement. 

“Would you get your hand off my leg?” she hissed through her teeth.

“Whatever for?” Daemon asked innocently.

“I am trying to learn.” She smacked his hand off of her thigh, but he quickly replaced it.

“Say it in High Valyrian and I’ll consider it,” he replied with a smirk.

 “Aōhi ondos hen ñuha pore ondurās.”

“Close. Kirimvose, aōhi ondos hen ñuha pore nādīnās. Manners go a long way, you know.”

Addie’s eyebrows pinched slightly as she processed the sentence. It’s rather cute. Not that he’d admit that out loud.

“What does ‘kirimvose’ mean again?” she asked eventually.

He answered with a smirk and she smacked him on the chest with the back of her hand. Addie had taken to delivering light swats or kicks when provoked—as long as they were alone, that is. Daemon understood the importance of appearance within the court and society, but he appreciated that she had become comfortable enough to treat him as an equal. He once asked her if she treated her own brothers with “such brutality” and she replied that she did not. She hit them harder.

“I’m not saying please when I’ve already asked you several times,” she stated primly.

Daemon compromised by scooting his chair closer to hers and draped his arm over the back of her chair. Addie shot him an annoyed look that made her look a little bit like her mother. She opened her mouth to make a smart retort when they were interrupted.

“I believe the lady has asked to not be touched,” came the cold voice of Criston Cole, their assigned chaperone for the afternoon. He had been the one to chaperone them a lot lately, probably instructed to spy on them by either the Queen or the Hand.

Addie turned to look at him, gave him one of the most judgemental and condescending once-overs that Daemon had ever seen, and replied, “I am perfectly capable of handling myself, Ser Criston.”

The knight hung his head and mumbled an apology, thoroughly humbled. Once Addie’s attention was back on the books, Daemon shot the knight a haughty smirk.

[choupetit]

GOT Recap: Iron Throne

Airdate:  5/19/19  Season 8, Episode 6 (Finale)

Well, here we are, everybody!  The Game of Thrones Finale has dropped and I for one was completely loving it.  It was so riveting and they were totally able to justify Dany’s mad queen arc,  plus, the way they tied up all the loose ends was truly spectacu ---oh for the love of god, I can’t do this anymore!  Here’s the truth:  The finale was GARBAGE!  It was disappointing and boring and, honestly, we all deserved better.  I know people say “You can’t please everybody.”  I get that.  But, dude, when the majority of people ain’t happy, you’ve done messed up.

That said, it’s dunzo and now we all can walk around dazed, like the survivors of King’s Landing, trying to make sense out of the madness.  I suppose, in a way, I’m grateful that the previous episode was so god awful, because it really helped me prepare for a let down.  So in that sense, expecations were met.  Let’s remind ourselves how this series, as a whole, was truly a special thing…most of the time.  It’s just too bad it had to end this way.   This is by far my least fave episode to recap, but I can’t just let the final notes of the Song of Ice and Fire go unplayed, so here ya have it:  My final GOT recap of “Iron Throne”:

Yo.  The massacre of King’s Landing is over – or is it? Tyrion Lannister -clearly not considering his own life or survival- has decided to stick around and take a long walk through the charred human remains and toppled buildings.  Jon Snow and Ser Davos follow him, equally stunned by the devastation.  White ash covers everything. We see a handful of shell shocked survivors as Tyrion passes through the streets to make his way to the Red Keep.  Jon tells him not to go in without backup, but Tyrion insits on going it alone. He gets into the castle and makes his way through the ruined map room and down the stairs to check on the secret passageway that he told his bro about.  It’s all moody and sad…but also confusing, because we saw the ceiling collapse last episode and it didn’t seem like there would even be a basement left to go to.  But maybe I’m just being a stickler for things that make actual sense.  Tyrion finds a giant pile of rubble blocking a passageway. A hint of light peeks from the top and he manages to climb and pick his way past the blockage.  Seems totally safe to me to disturb the unstable structure and debris.  

On the other side, there is another huge pile of rubble and Tyrion spies Jaime Lannister’s golden hand peeking out of the rocks.  Yeah, that’s right, the ceiling - and presumably entire structure - came crashing down on Jaime and Cersei Lannister last episode and yet here we are with body pieces barely covered.  Tyrion clears away a few bricks and voila! He has excavated Jaime and Cersei – nestled close together.  That whole thing is so…whatever.  I mean, Tyrion seems pretty upset, but when you look at the surrounding scene you’re just like “So…if Jaime and Cersei had simply stepped a few feet to the right, they would’ve been fine?”  It’s all kinda dumb, if I’m being honest.  But Tyrion’s feelings are real, and he’s devastated to see his siblings dead in each other’s arms.

As Jon and Davos make their way through the city to the Red Keep, they come across Grey Worm with a handful of Lannister soldiers on their knees, about to be executed.  Jon’s all “Whoa, man.  The fight’s over, these dudes should be prisoners!”  And Grey Worm is all “I’m following my queen’s orders to kill her enemies.” Jon wants to talk to his superior – aka Daenerys – and Grey Worm’s all “Cool, let me know how that works out.” He proceeds to cut the throats of each of the kneeling men.  Yowzers, that is cold!  

Meanwhile, Arya Stark walks up to the crowd of Dothraki who are hooting and celebrating outside the Red Keep.  It’s nice to know that the symbolic white horse at the end of last episode was able to carry her a full two blocks and then disappear for his next Lyft fare in King’s Landing – it’s surge pricing right now, people.

The Unsullied stand at attention, lining the long stairway up to the Red Keep and Jon slowly walks up. Grey Worm is already there – dude, the Unsullied are FAST! Tyrion stands to the side.   Drogon swoops overhead and lands in the courtyard and a few seconds later, Queen Daenerys Targaryen walks out to the top of the stairs to address her loyal Dothraki and Unsullied troops.  

She speaks to the crowd in Dothraki and then High Valyrian and gives a super creepy Hitler-esque speech “Thanks for helping me liberate the city, y’all!  You guys have been so supportive and we are not going to rest until we have liberated the entire WORLD from the shackles of life!!!”  All of Dany’s supporters cheer. “Also, we are going to have a big potluck tomorrow to get to know our 27 surviving King’s Landing citizens! This is a reminder that I’m making my famous ambrosia salad flambée  and I really don’t want anybody one-upping me, so please steer clear from any and all other pineapple dishes with cool whip, m’kay?  It might just push me over the edge.  You guys are the best! See you tomorrow at 3pm near the charred moms and toddlers where the garden used to be!” Jon and Tyrion don’t understand a word she said, but they’re pretty sure it ain’t good.  Of course it’s not – ambrosia salad is not meant to be flambéed, it’s gonna be a disaster. But at this point, nothing Dany does would surprise me anymore.

Tyrion steps forward and stands next to Dany, who goes “You freed your brother, traitor.” And Tyrion goes “Yeah, but you just massacred a city, psycho, so there! Oh and btw, I don’t want to be your hand anymore.”  He removes his pin and tosses it down the stairs – y’all that is a bigger burn than what Dany just did to all of King’s Landing!    Daenerys’s guards escort him away.  Frankly, I thought she would just barbecue him right then and there, so things are going better than expected.

Jon stares warily at Dany who coolly gazes back at him and marches into the interior of the Red Keep. I don’t get how anybody can believe this is a sound structure, but then again all the building code enforcers are likely buried under a pile of rubble.  

Suddenly, Arya pops up next to Jon who is surprised to see her in King’s Landing.  She tells him of her plan to kill Cersei, “but your queen got there first.”  Jon is quick to remind her that Daenerys is everybody’s queen.  Arya retorts “Tell that to Sansa.” She also warns Jon that now that Daenerys knows his secret lineage, she’ll probably kill him one of these days.

Shortly after, Jon pays a visit to Tyrion, whose makeshift prison cell is a room filled with off-season Pier 1 decorative vases.  Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.  Tyrion attempts to turn Jon against Dany and gives him a whole spiel about how people with access to weapons of mass destruction and a penchant for mental instability somehow shouldn’t be allowed to be in power.  Jon’s all “Meh, it’s not really my decision to make. I’m gonna focus on the things I can control – like the tightness of my man bun and the number of steps I’m clocking on my fitbit.  Dude, this whole King’s Landing trip has got me up to 50K steps and it’s not even lunchtime!” “O-kay…but Dany really needs to be stopped.”  There’s a bunch of bumbling convo about how Tyrion really did love and believe in Dany and how love clouds reason. Jon tells Tyrion “Love is the Death of Duty” and Tyrion is blown away by the poetic insight, then realizes it’s Jon saying it and goes “Did you just come up with that on your own?” “Nah, man.  Maester Aemon said it to me once.”  “Yeah, that makes more sense.  Well, let me just take that gem, flip it and reverse it:  Maybe sometimes Duty can be the Death of Love…just sayin’.”  This wordplay is way too much for Jon to handle and he has to take a seat.  Probably as a defense for the writers to take Dany down the path of crazyville, Tyrion points out all the cruel things Daenerys has done in her pursuit of the crown and he says she was cheered on and thus validated in feeling that she is right and good.  When Jon tells him none of it matters now that the war is over, Tyrion goes “Is it though? She won’t stop till she’s the queen to everybody in this world – how is your family going to react to that?  And do you really think that she won’t kill you, too, one day – the person with a better claim to the throne?” Finally, Tyrion tells Jon that he has to make a choice – and has to make it now. Visiting hours are over and Jon leaves, making no commitments either way. Just Jon being Jon, folks.

Jon approaches the entrance to the throne room – Drogon is guarding it.  The dragon stirs from a pile of ashes, gives Jon a once-over and deems him worthy to pass.  Damn straight, ‘cause he’s a true Targaryen!

Meanwhile, Daenerys enters the throne room – or rather, what’s left of it.  The roof has been blown off with several of the exterior walls missing and the floor is covered with so much ash, it looks like a blanket of snow.  She stares at the Iron Throne - solitary in the open space -and walks toward it.  At last, she reaches it and touches one of the swords. This throne has always been so far from her grasp – even in her vision from the House of the Undying she never did manage to touch it - this moment has been a long time coming.

She turns to see Jon Snow at the doorway and she tells him a boring story about her childhood and how she assumed the Iron Throne was this gigantic behemoth of a throne.  Jon is just all “Hey, gurl…so…your soldiers are still slaughtering peeps in the street.  That’s pretty effed.”  Dany is all calm with crazy eyes saying things like “We can’t hide behind small mercies – sometimes you have to kill a whole bunch of innocent people to save an even bigger bunch of innocent people.” When Jon asks her if she’s actually seen all the children that she’s killed in the streets – children, women, men who had nothing to do with any of this, he insists that mercy has to be a part of the vision for a better world.  

Dany’s just all “I’m a visionary – I get that it’s really hard for you to see the grand scheme here, since you know nothing, but just trust that I know what is good and right.” It’s a callback to the convo Jon had with Tyrion just five minutes ago. Jon asks “Well, what about everybody else who thinks they know what’s good and right?” Dany replies, slightly flippantly “They don’t get to choose.”  She asks Jon to be a part of her awesome dream and of course he tells her “You’re my queen.  You always will be.”  They kiss and embrace.  

 Then, mid-hug, THWUMP! Jon plants a dagger into Daenerys’ chest. Dany didn’t see this coming and is flummoxed.  She collapses and dies in Jon’s arms, a trickle of blood spills from her mouth as he lays her on the ground.

Sensing a disturbance in the Force of the Mother of Dragons, Drogon flies up to investigate.  He sees him momma lifeless on the ground and gives her a few nudges with his nose “Wake up, mama!!!” It’s all kinda heartbreaking if you can forget the entire last half of the previous episode where Drogon and his mommy were burning up all of King’s Landing.

Drogon looks at the dagger in Dany’s chest and then at the Iron Throne and Jon.  He breathes in deeply and you can see the fire near the back of his throat.  Holy Moles, is he going to toast Jon and then we see Jon arise from the flames? Nope. He lets out a huge stream of fire…not on Jon, but on the throne.  What?!  Is Drogon a big dumdum for thinking the pointy throne killed his mom or is he such a genius that he understands the Iron Throne is a symbolism for power, the pursuit of which ultimately led to his mother’s demise?  We’ll never know, but either way, I think we can all agree it’s a weird reaction coming from the dragon.  But it looks cool, so I guess there’s that. Drogon melts the entire throne to the ground.  Then he picks Daenerys up gently in his talon and takes off.  Jon is completely unharmed and would ya look at that – no dead body!  Thanks Drogon!  Now Jon can be all “I dunno where Daenerys went…she said she was going out for some milk”, and nobody will be the wiser.  #PerfectCrime

We get a close up of Tyrion’s face – he wakes up from his prison cell floor and guards take him to the old dragon arena.  Judging by the length of his beard, several weeks have gone by.  Grey Worm leads him to a semi-circle of seated noblemen and women. It’s pretty much all the noble families left in Westeros - about a dozen or so peeps:  Yara Greyjoy, the new Dornish prince, Robin Arryn and his adviser, Ser Davos Seaworth, Ser Brienne of Tarth, Lord Gendry, Samwell Tarly, Edmure Tulley and a few faces we don’t recognize, plus the three Stark siblings: Bran, Arya and Sansa.

When Sansa asks where Jon is – he was supposed to be at this meeting - Grey Worm replies that he’s their prisoner and the Unsullied get to decide who earns a get out of jail pass to attend the Westerosi Nobles Summit.  Hold the door, people!! Wait a second.  First of all:  Jon’s milk cover story didn’t work???  Also, are we supposed to assume that Grey Worm has just been hanging out twiddling his thumbs waiting for somebody to tell him what to do?  Isn’t he second in command to Daenerys and thus the new person in charge?  Wouldn’t Tyrion and Jon be dead already for their crimes?  And who called everybody for this summit anyway?  Ok, none of these questions will be answered, so let’s get back to the action:

The gist of the gathering is that all the nobles have to decide what to do next, since there isn’t a monarch to make any decisions for the realm.  Tyrion, the prisoner, is the dude who gets to do all the talking and comes up with a plan where all the nobles should just get to vote on who should be king.  Sam suggests they try a democracy and everybody yucks it up. Lame.  Edmure Tulley tries to nominate himself and Sansa tells him to sit the eff down.  

Then Tyrion goes on to suggest that the person with the best stories should get to be the ruler – because, ya know, it’s stories that unite people.  And who has a better story than Bran Stark? Um…pretty much all the other perfectly qualified women in the half-circle.  Sansa objects that Bran doesn’t want to be king and besides, he can’t have kids.  But for Tyrion, this is a minor detail:  Who better to rule than somebody who doesn’t want the power?  And let’s just elect rulers rather than passing down the throne via birthright!  From now on, all the nobles will get to vote for their next king or queen.  When Tyrion asks Bran if he’s ok being the Big Kahuna, Bran with his super dead-in-the-eyes mug goes “Why do you think I came all this way.”  HOLD THE DOOOOOOOR, people!!!! Are you saying Bran knew this WHOLE time that he was going to be king?  Are you kidding me?  Is this the dumbest thing ever?  Do I now have to pick apart a gazillion instances that make this so messed up if Bran always knew where things were going?  No.  We’ll stop here.  

Everybody votes for Bran except for Sansa who goes “I love you little bro, you’re gonna be awesome as king but I can’t support you because the North is going independent baby. We’re ruling ourselves!!!” And Bran just nods.  Now everybody else feels like a total moron for not putting in any special requests for their regions when they voted “Aye” for Bran. Ha, suckers!

Finally, to conlude this extremely boring scene, Tyrion names Bran king and puts in a super offensive name in his official title:  Bran the Broken, first of his name…yadda, yadda.  Bran looks around at everybody super hurt and goes “You guys have been calling me that behind my back this whole time?!”  To get back at him, Bran tells Tyrion he has to be hand of the king. Grey Worm is all “You can’t do that! He’s our prisoner!”  And Bran’s all “I can do what I want cause I’m king! Nanny, nanny, boo, boo!  Also, Tyrion messed up big time and now he has to dedicate the rest of his existence to fixing his mistakes.”  Um, seems like a pretty cush job to me, frankly.  

They also throw in that the Unsullied can take The Reach as their own land, since pretty much nobody in Westeros lives there anymore.  It’s the equivalent of telling them they can have Nebraska, and guess what?  Nobody wants it.

Next, Tyrion visits Jon, whose beard is also looking cray from all the weeks of growing it out.  He gives him the news:  The Unsullied wanted Jon dead and the Stark sisters wanted him released, so Bran hit a compromise wherein Jon has to go back to the Wall and live out the rest of his days there, just like a regular Night’s Watchman:  No wifey, no kids, no lands.  Jon’s all “Why the hell is there even still a wall?” –“Duh, because.”

We see a freshly groomed Jon walk through the docks of King’s Landing, accompanied by two dudes from the Night’s Watch.  Grey Worm gives him the stinkeye from his ship – the Unsullied are heading to Naath. Hey, maybe Grey Worm can find himself another nice girl from there!  

Jon says goodbye to his siblings/cousins.  Sansa is now queen of the North, which is pretty much what she always wanted.  She laments that they lost their king, though.  When Jon tells Arya she can still visit him she’s all, “Nah.” She wants to explore the seas west of Westeros where the maps end – so basically, our girl is gonna hang out in Hawaii for the rest of her life, hopefully doing more Eat Pray Loving than colonizing.

Brienne of Tarth is seated with the big Knight-o-pedia book in front of her.  She finds the entry for Jaime Lannister and adds on to it.  She is sure to mention that he had the best sex of his life with her, in spite of his tiny cock.  Or, ya know, she takes the high road and puts in something really nice about him dying while protecting his queen.  Ugh, Brienne, why you always gotta be so good?

In the Red Keep, it’s time for the very first small council to convene.  Tryion gets all the chairs ready just so, and then in walk Ser Davos, Samwell Tarly, and Lord Bronn of the Blackwater – he finally got Highgarden, btw. They exchange some banter which falls short.

Soon thereafter Ser Brienne of Tarth and Ser Podrick Payne (awww he got knighted, too) enter with King Bran.  Bran notes they are still missing a few positions: boring, boring, and dullsville. Then he goes “Does anybody know what Drogon is up to?” He was last seen flying east and Bran excuses himself to do some Professor X-ing to see if he can find him.  But of course, we don’t actually get to see Bran warg.  The small council continues with the boring business of figuring out how to spend money on rebuilding King’s Landing and it all ends with Bronn gunning hard for new brothels.  Ugh.  Seriously.

At the Wall, Jon arrives to be reuinited with his good pal Tormund Giantsbane and also:  the bestest direwolf of them all, Ghost!  This time, Jon gives Ghost an affectionate cuddle.

We get a cross-cut of a bunch of dull scenes of Jon, Arya, and Sansa getting dressed and walking. Sansa is crowned Queen in the North, Arya sets sail on a ship with the Stark sigil and Jon walks out to the Castle Black courtyard.  

In the final scene, Jon heads out on horseback with Ghost and Tormund and a slew of Wildlings returning to their home. Has he abandoned the Night’s Watch? Is he Lord Commander again and can do whatever the heck he wants?  Is he finally a ranger and is just going out on a temporary jaunt with his pal Tormund? Who knows.  But it’s worth noting that the series finishes in the exact same way as it started:  Men leaving the wall to head North into Wildling territory. The end.

And there we have it: 8 years of Game of Thrones came to a lackluster end with the Starks all on top.  I’m still processing the weirdness I feel about the show ending this way.  Truly, watching the episode was so dull at times that I just wanted it to be over already. While this could have been a much worse end to the series, it certainly wasn’t satisfying.  But after the bombshell they dropped in the penultimate episode with Daenerys going nuts, I guess this final episode of the series didn’t have anywhere else to go that would have made it much better.

There are gazillions of cool things that were introduced throughout the previous seasons which were rendered somewhat pointless in the end.  I would have loved more exploration and explanation of the mythology and its origins:  The Children of the Forest, the Three Eyed Raven, the Night King, the previous defeat of white walkers and how they came back, the Lord of Light, all the fire priestesses in Essos, where the dragon eggs came from, the faceless men, etc.  Also, I guess Varys’ letters about Jon being Aegon Targaryen were never delivered – or peeps just didn’t care?  [shrugs] Oh well?

I thought this past season would be bittersweet to watch, but it took such an unfortunate turn in storytelling that I just wanted the bad plotlines to end.  Season 8 never did live up to the hype of fan theories that were swirling about for two years.  Can we blame it for coming up short?  Kinda and kinda not.    All I know is that I feel oddly cheated by the final season.  Taken as a whole, though, I still love the show.  I was always blown away by the sweeping visuals, the epic battle scenes, the engaging complexity of the characters.  The acting, sets, costumes and music were all amazing.  And of course, there was the joy of ruminating over all the possibilities of what might come in the next episode, and discussing the show with my fellow fans. Very few series are as special and engaging as Game of Thrones and I’ll miss it for sure.  It’s nice to know there may be some amount of redemption for the story, when George R. R. Martin finally releases the last two books. So I’m holding onto hope for a slightly more satisfying end to this saga.  Thanks for joining me on my recap adventures each week!  It’s been a fun ride.  And now my ‘caps have ended.  Sorry, but I had to.

[coolkidsstayyoung99]

The children of Lord Gendry and Lady Arya Baratheon

I.  Eddard Baratheon / The Black Stag

The oldest son of Arya Stark and the legitimized Gendry Baratheon. Eddard or ‘’Eddie’’ like his sister call him, was named like that in honor of his late grandfather Eddad Stark which his mother loved so much. Eddard inherited the Baratheon eyes and dark hair. Though he is skilled with a sword he’d rather use a bow and arrows. He is a young man of principle, being patient, noble and just exactly like his grandfather honorable and humble. Though a natural leader, Eddard can be plagued by doubt and criticized himself whenever he makes an error. There are notables similarities between Eddard and his cousin Daemon as: their strong sense of justice and fairness, their loyalty to their family and friends, and the fact that they’re both natural leaders but a difference of his cousin, he has a moderate sense of humor and gets more laid-back more often. He likes to walk and explore all the lands in Storm’s End when he is not study and teaching his little sister Ellena how to use the sword. 

II. Steffon Baratheon / The Strong Blacksmith 

Steffon was the only one out of his siblings that was interested in blacksmithing like their father. Skilled in making any weapon Steffon has a kind-hearted and is a hard working boy. He enjoy making weapons in the Storm’s End forges with his father and believes that making swords and  warhammer are more easy than dealing with ‘’bigger things’’ and because of that he always has his hand all dirty and rough. He also inherited the Baratheon blue eyes and dark hair. Known for being very humorous and easygoing he is the easiest to get long out of his siblings. He is quite popular with the smallfolk due his work in the forges, friendly ways and charisma. Since Steffon likes to spend time in the forges he knows all the weapons and how to use them, but his favorite sword is the first one he did. He spent days and nights trying to get the prefect sword that even his father began to worry, but he always finishes his works perfectly. Steffon has been such a good blacksmith that it is believed that even his father says that he has overcome it him. And the only thing besides that is spending time with all his brothers.

III. Robb Baratheon / The Wild Thing

Robb is the combination of the Starks and Baratheons. He has the dark hair and grey eyes, as same his brother. Robb is strong, honest and brave but headstrong and rash which he inheretd from his grandfather Robert. He’s also hot-blooded, is described as originating from “the wolf blood” that his great uncle Brandon had it. That’s why he is the only child to have a direwolf, which his name is Orys, like the founder. Robb shared this trait with his cousin Rickon, and since the two have the same conditions, they support each other all the time and, as time goes by, they became better friends. Robb is the best swordman among his siblings and an excellent jouster. And although he is excellent with the sword, his favorite weapon is the warharmmer that his brother Steffon forge in his birthday. Because of his personality it is difficult to deal with him, since he tends to be like an animal that if he gets angry becomes wild. Brave and proud takes him to almost always have problems, but since the past is learned, his family and friends are always there to guide him and to control him when he does something wrong. Although Robb is not a boy for easy courtesies, he is very good boy and loving to his family, and especially with his shy twin brother Ryle, that he feel he needs to protect from strangers, and because of that he likes to rider with him.

IV. Ryle Baratheon / The Wise Soul

Although Robb and Ryle were twins, they were completely different. While Robb was stubborn and reckless, Ryle was quiet, reserved and a bit shy. When they were born all were surprised, since it could be a little complicated the delivery of them to their mother. The first to be born was Robb, with the combination of both families, Baratheon hair and Stark eyes, and making so much noises and slight cries. After 10 minutes was born Ryle, with the same physical traits. He did not make any noise, he were so calm that his mother was frightened, but they realized that the little baby was only quieter than normal. Little Ryle loved since he was a boy reading every book that had his reach and all sorts of subjects. From history, healing, herbal, the speech of ravens, the building of castles, navigating by the stars, the measurement of days and the marking of seasons, but mostly the human body, so thats why he wants to be a maeste. Every day he goes to study with the maeste Malleon and encourages to follow his dream. When he is not studying or helping to write letters to the master Malleon, he is with his brother Robb riding or doing some mischief. 

V. Ellena Baratheon / The Brave Maid

The little Baratheon girl was the copy of his mother, but with some differences. The little Ellena has the all Baratheon look, but her personality was her mother Arya. She is a fiercely girl who has a spirited heart. As a little girl like his mother she was considerate a tomboy who wants to learn how to used a bow and arrow, but her wishes were more encouraged that from her mother. As she grown up, all her brothers teaches her all their favorites things and many important things. Shireen learned many subjects from Ryle, like speak some little High Valyrian, from his brother Robb how to fight with a sword and warhammer, with his brother Steffon how to make any weapon with almost every thing, but his most beloved teacher was her oldest brother Robb which teachers her to use the sword. Every afternoons she and Robb would train in the forrest in many situations and even in horses. She admired her mother for her braveness and she hoped that one day she could be just a brave as her. Ellena was the most beloved child of the family and even her brothers know that but they don’t care because she is the favorite in their hearts. In her free times she explore the forests of Storm´s End trying to find a treasure that one day she read in one book, although nobody believes her.

Hey people this is my own little take on the children of Arya and Gendry. Hope everyone like it. Here’s others, because why not? (Update: I changed the as of each character because i didn't like the old ones lol)

JonxDaenerys MeeraxBran  SansaxPodrick