#and you like aegon of all people? a RAPIST who is glad to see his children fight till death?

[ladyaryawolf]

Talking about Daemon and Aegon and I'm really so upset with HBO. Not surprised. Truly upset.

Because we see clearly Aegon II loving Jaehaerys. We see his love for his trueborn son. We see Aegon grieving for Jaehaerys. We see him filled with wrath. We see him sobbing. Mourning his dad son. To the point that even if you don't like him. You pity him. I felt his pain. And I despise that man.

Tom made a great work with it. Ngl.

But Daemon? We were robbed of every interaction he could have with any of his children. We dont see him near Aegon III, nor Viserys II. The connection he should have had with Jace and Luke? Non-existent. We don't see him near Baela nor Rhaena, and it is truly a crime for me. Rhaenys seems to be the only parental figure these two had.

They deleted every scene Daemon is with the girls (especially the one where he comfort the twins after Laena's death) turning him into a distant parent who doesn't care with his children's pain and only cares about himself and a little about Rhaenyra.

Baela said herself she even may hate him.

And what is the reason for it? Because he is ruthless? And have a "dark past"? He is not afraid of spill blood?

Aegon II was a serial rapist. Even in the show. He couldn't care less with his bastard children. He gladly watched his bastard children fight till they died or have been severely injured.

Why does he deserve to be seen as "a good parent" and mourn, and sob, while Daemon doesn't even have a line with neither Baela, Rhaena, Aegon nor Viserys? It's unfair.

I really feel bad for Matt. It can't be easy dealing with show runners painting your character in a bad light every chance they have for personal reasons of all things.

They could give us a good scene of Daemon bonding with his children, just one, but they had a preference to show Alicent riding Crispin, and I'll forever be bitter about it.

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

apologies for being callous in asking this, but seeing as so many aegon-centric (or those who had tagged him) blogs, no matter how good their dissertion and dissection of aegon is, gets called/is assumed to be a rapist defender/apologist, have you ever received an ask/comment calling you that? if so, i hope it never bothered you at all. apologies for bringing it up but i feel like getting called that would probably stopped those from actually enjoying/talking about him and his other qualities (such as his alcoholism, his bond with his dragon, his actions during the dance, his desperate survival.) because it actually stopped me from enjoying his character (because i initially felt so bad liking a character like that), going through his tag as well as looking for fics because of the vitriol. well that was until i stumbled upon your AKAB and OFCiR, which gave me so much perspective on aegon. and your opinion on the dyanna scene (which is oh boy, such a hot topic) was so beautiful.

No worries anon! So actually, I've never received an ask or comment with the rape defender/rape apologist accusations (and now that I've said this, I'm sure I'm sure someone will want to break that streak lol). I've participated in discussions in general in which those sorts of attacks were tossed around, but I've never had them aimed at me directly.

I'm honestly pretty surprised it hasn't happened, but I sort of chalk it up to two things. 1) I block prodigiously and pre-emptively and 2) I tag my discourse posts judiciously and try not to antagonize other fans by posting critical things in the main tags. And although I know opinions vary on this, using anti tags and team tags is also another way of making sure that people who have certain tags blocked will not see my posts, so I do use those when I feel it's appropriate. Beyond those two things, I think I also have a habit of writing pretty detailed responses and providing evidence to back up my assertions, which probably discourages people who are just looking to get a rise out of someone and don't want to read a five paragraph essay about why they're wrong.

I'm really sorry that those sorts of accusations have stopped you from enjoying Aegon's character in the past, and I'm glad my fics helped you to enjoy him again. Obviously I think he's an interesting guy with a compelling, tragic story! I will say this: I've been in the greater asoiaf fandom for well over a decade now, and characters who are far more morally dubious than Aegon have always had fans. Ramsay has fans. Euron Greyjoy has fans. I don't know if you were watching GoT when the show first aired, but so many show only people hated Jaime at first, not knowing his arc, and by the end he was one of the more beloved characters on the show. And by the end of the Dance, no one's hands are clean. Rhaenyra herself allows Dalton Greyjoy to reave along the coast of the Westerlands, which results in hundreds of women being taken as salt wives (and we know what that entails!). If we can only enjoy the most morally correct characters, our choices for the Dance era are pretty slim, and mostly limited to literal children.

I doubt most people throwing out those accusations could even spot actual rape apologia in a fandom context, considering all of the other types of apologia I see flying around unchecked. Rape apologia is not the existence of rapist characters, enjoying those characters, or even analyzing why those characters did what they did. Rape apologia is not questioning why the show decided to make Aegon a rapist, or hoping he might get more character development in the future. Rape apologia is making excuses for rape, or outright denying that it happened. So, saying "Dyana was probably lying" or "Dyana was probably into it" or "Dyana was scamming the royal family," or even what Aegon himself said in the scene, "it was just a bit of harmless fun," that's clear cut rape apologia. And here's the thing, when something is wrong, it's usually because it causes harm, and unlike simply enjoying a character, actual rape apologia does cause harm. Making excuses for or denying even fictional rapes perpetuates rape culture in ways that make it harder for women to speak up against assault, and harder for rapists to be prosecuted effectively. But again, I have never seen actual rape apologia among the team green fans I know.

Finally, I'll just say that while fandom in general can be a fun, positive thing that helps people connect with each other based on shared interests, that drives people to think and to create and to do, on the other hand, fandom can also feed some pretty shitty modern impulses. It creates cliques, empowers bullies, and worst of all, it encourages a kind of brand driven consumption that in turn perpetuates this idea of fandom as activism. Activism is getting involved in your community, volunteering, fundraising, protesting, labor organizing, boycotting, etc. Activism is not scolding people online for enjoying media the wrong way. People who think this way need to reconnect with the outside world, and anon, I hope you continue to enjoy whichever characters fascinate you, including Aegon.

[dulcewrites]

Honestly speaking I am so glad you decided to write something about Aegon. I have always preferred him to Aemond even after they made him a rapist. Still, I think he is far more interesting than Aemond, mostly because I am also the eldest child and can relate to him in a way of never being good enough for parents. Well that's a harsh reality, all the parents expectations lies on firstborn shoulders and when they don't meet them well... it's not that we don't want to, cause we want, but at some point you realise it's not worth trying anymore because you will never feel validated. Simple as that. What do you think of show Aegon? They did their best to make audience hate him but as I said I could never since I understand very well where is his behaviour coming from. What do you think will Aegon do in 2 season? Any theories about his storyline? Have a wonderful day 😘

First, I hope you have a great day too.

Aegon… interesting lmao. his arc in s1 isn’t far off from the bad stuff said about him in the book (though the writers def added/compounded stuff). It’s just jarring compared to the way they characterized almost everyone else. I can’t blame people, for the most part, who do not like him bc the writers did him as a character no favors. Even Tom was surprised they’d open older Aegon with the scenes they did

I’ve seen way more interesting prose on him from the fandom compared to the writers. I think they should’ve switched the first meetings we got from young and older Aegon. I think they could’ve given the weird masturbaiting scene to older Aegon (if they just HAD to make sure people knew he was sex crazed or whatever). So it would go like

Ep 6: bulling Aemond with strong boys, “you are the challenge” scene with Alicent

Ep 7: him bored at the funeral/we see him beginning to drink to self sooth. him saying he doesn’t want to marry Helaena (I think we should’ve gotten more outside of ‘she’s weird’. I think showing Aegon’s aversion to this level of incest compared to Rhaenyra being groomed/thinking she needs daemon for legitimization would’ve been super interesting foils), Aegon realizing his mom was right/“just look at them”

Ep 8: scrap the **** scene. Put the masturbation scene here. We can still get the scene of Alicent telling him he needs to behave better especially with team black around, add a scene with Helaena and or kids idc which, him helping Aemond after the speech

Ep 9: I’m pretty ok with how ep 9 went for Aegon minus the weird brothel implication. I still think they could’ve worked in Aegon having bastards outside of the child fighting ring. Nonetheless I enjoy him being very honest/self aware about not wanting to rule

As for season 2, I think his most interesting dynamics will always be family related. I’m still waiting for a scene with him a Helaena or the kids. I do think Aegon’s ability to actually go out and fight his own battles is a strong suit, so I hope we see that. I would like a scene or SOMETHING, maybe a flashback between him and Rhaenyra.. I mean this is all about them. Oh and sunfryre of course. The special affects people better be perfecting the most beautiful dragon in the world!

[mineralmines]

hi hi! this is op on my other account so this doesn't clutter my feed. wanted to be able to respond to all of your points! also please don't worry at all, i love discussing things like this! it's always great to talk over things with people who see it differently. i think everyone comes away with more thoughtful takes because of it! part of why i like supporting and criticizing both teams equally is because i'm able to sort of bridge the gap between the fans that support one or the other and get the best of both worlds. :) so let's get into it!

i'm not so sure that rhaenyra saving alicent is a good comparison to aegon not saving rhaenyra! a more direct comparison would be to look at rhaenyra's statements about aegon. she very clearly said that she'd happily kill him if he didn't surrender ("i shall have his throne or i shall have his head"). i honestly take issue with both rhaenyra and aegon over their willingness to kill each other! and yeah it was nasty to have sunfyre eat rhaenyra (reminded me of rhaena having dreamfyre eat her husband ahaha).

as for aegon ii's treatment of aegon iii, it's probably not the best to bring baela into things since she and aegon iii are quite different. baela permanently scarred and disfigured aegon. she has explicitly attacked him and participated in the war as a dragonrider. she is the reason he lives in agony. aegon has a reason to want her dead, where aegon the younger is innocent in all of this and i do think he recognizes that.

in terms of political pressure, we see that the greens actually continue to have leverage over the blacks-- this is why aegon iii is never able to acknowledge his mother as queen and maintains that aegon ii was the rightful king. i don't doubt that corlys and the blacks were part of why aegon iii was spared! but i do think aegon ii's willingness to spare aegon iii is likely still at least in part because he wanted to.

yeah part of the iron throne stuff is tricky to figure out because grrm seems to view whether someone is a good person and a good leader as very separate things, so it might be better not to include it in discussions of sympathy at all (i'm thinking of how robert baratheon, a canon rapist and wife beater, also never got cut by it, just because he fought for his throne and listened to his advisors).

as for aemond and harrenhal, yeah there's no really defending that. we haven't seen it in the show yet as well. but i can definitely see how being blamed for lucerys's death by everyone including his family could send aemond on a spiral. not an excuse, but a possible reason. i'm super interested to see how they show him coming to this point in later seasons of the series.

as for lucerys, i will reiterate: the book makes no claim as to how he actually died. they say that two dragons took flight, and only one landed. it's very deliberate that there are no actual witnesses to this besides aemond. you're right that it's difficult to sort out what we're meant to believe versus what is a fabrication of the writers. however, the hotd showrunners have made it clear that the events of the show should be taken as what actually historically happened. the book is just how history remembers things happening, not the actual events. grrm is also involved in the show and is helping these writers to sort out what he intended as truth. so when the book contradicts the show, we are meant to believe the show. and the show makes it clear that lucerys's death was an accident born through negligence.

hope this helps to further clarify why i said the things i did in my original ask! again, please never worry that it'll make me upset if you disagree. i really do think we're all better served by leaning into the discomfort of having your beliefs challenged! and i'm so glad that you've been enjoying stormbreak :)

Hi hi! (Before I begin I wanted to say I really love Stormbreak <3 Your writing is so powerful!) I have read your reply for anon on why you are a Book!Alicent apologist - as a book reader I'm not fond of her but I do concede to some of your points. However, wondering how you find Book!Aegon or Aemond? Aegon didn't rape, which is a good thing, but he also fed his sister alive to his dragon. And Aemond chose to pursue and kill Lucerys out of his free will (and not because he can't control Vhagar)

oh yeah i very much have thoughts about book aemond and aegon! let me say a few things here:

for aegon, there are still some allegations of him touching young girls inappropriately, though it's ofc always hard to tell with f&b what is meant to count as the accurate version, but i don't wanna ignore that since a commenter pointed it out.

as far as him feeding rhaenyra to his dragon, think of it this way: by this point in time, rhaenyra has had his six-year-old son slaughtered, has driven his wife insane to the point of suicide, was the reason his brother (aemond) was killed, and STILL poses a threat to his remaining family's lives. i would've fed her to sunfyre too at this point. if the roles were reversed, rhaenyra would have also done the same, and i would've also defended it.

i think aegon's willingness to keep aegon the younger alive and even to install him as his heir points to how willing he was to let bygones be bygones at the end of it all. he didn't want to punish baby aegon for who his mother was, and i think that's fairly honorable.

there's also the fact that the iron throne never cut aegon, which i think is so interesting. grrm makes a point of showing how when people are bad leaders (think viserys, think maegor towards the end of his life, and think rhaenyra towards the end of her life) the throne will reject them by cutting them. as a side note, i think rhaenyra would've been fine if she hadn't been so traumatized and twisted by the dance, i don't think she's inherently a bad ruler.

as for aemond, the book actually leaves it up to interpretation! as the accounts point out: no one knows exactly what happened up there. we know that both dragons took flight, and only vhagar and aemond returned, and that he did have lucerys's eyes. even the details we have, remember, can't be taken as actual fact, since the entire point of f&b is that history remembers things incorrectly. but still if you take them at face value, we don't know what actually happened up there, which is part of why the show didn't actually contradict the book with the season one finale. it simply added details the book did not show.

of course i'll always be the first to admit that i have a habit of trying to view characters from both sides in better lights than they are possibly meant to be perceived. but i still hold myself to using critical thinking and crafting actual, defensible arguments. i think part of why the unreliability of f&b is so interesting to me is because in many ways it doesn't rule out the possibilities of characters being actually not that evil, even while trying to make you think they are 100% evil (again this is true for members of team black as well imo and especially the women, not just for aegon and aemond). it has very clear agendas but doesn't always have evidence to back them up.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

Thoughts on Shiera Seastar?

There exist four characters from pre-canon, specifically Blackfyre-era that I’d call Complete Monsters, “the most depraved sort of villain utterly lacking in redeeming qualities”: Aerion Brightflame and Aegon IV the Unworthy (least controversially), Brynden Bloodraven Rivers (controversially for fandom, but after his actions in the Great Spring Sickness I consider him utterly reprehensible), and Shiera Seastar Waters. You might not think this label fits her compared to the other three legitimately cruel murderers, torturers, rapists, and tyrants, especially since we know so little about her, but as I explained in an earlier opinion piece, GRRM indicated she goaded her lovers into committing suicide, which for me puts her at the lowest of the low. I can’t imagine being so cruel as to prey on vulnerable people, make them depend upon me for emotional support, and then withdrawing that comfort when I got bored so these people would hurt themselves. I have severe triggers regarding clinical depression, abusive relationships, and suicide, so to see this character praised for being a “complicated, misunderstood woman” rather than a psychological sadist is utterly loathsome; it is for this reason why I tag my hate for Shiera, because she is a canonical female abuser and I wish people other than myself would realize this. However, I’ve talked enough about my opinion of Shiera as a horrible “person” in the earlier piece, so I might speak about the character’s lack of presence in the plot.

Shiera is a character I’m honestly confused exists, especially for this long (since before 2003). From GRRM’s perspective, the protagonist/most important of the “Great Bastards” is Bl00draven, the powerful and ruthless sorcerer who ruled Westeros for generations with an iron first only to re-emerge as Bran’s mentor come canon era. The actions of the other three revolve around him. Aegor is his magic-less “archenemy” who he has to oppose from taking over the kingdom (or else Aegor will…get rid of his authoritarian police state?). Daemon is the man he killed in battle, leading to his “cursed” reputation as a kinslayer, and the father of the other young men he also killed in his and Aegor’s bloody wars of…vengeance? You may think, as I have, why GRRM thought to split Daemon and Aegor into 2 characters. Surely it would make more sense (and be more historically accurate to the Jacobites, who lost none of their sons to battles with the Hanoverians; it’s also more accurate to the anti-hero GRRM may have based BR on, Elric of Melnibone in Michael Moorcock’s Elric Saga, whose rival was his cousin Yrkoon, the brother of his betrothed Cymoril) to have one rebel character oppose Brynden, lose, flee with his family to his wife’s home, and then emerge to fight another day alongside his sons. That would’ve tightened things up as well as make things more personal, since it would be Daemongor’s own children he was pushing for the throne rather than nephews (also it saves us from having to imagine Aegor/Calla and the trite Brynden/Shiera/Aegor love triangle). Frustratingly, I believe it’s to remove any moral ambiguity from the situation; Aegor can be the bitter, violent, opportunistic vengeance-obsessed rival who supposedly doesn’t care about the children he saw grow up, whereas Daemon can be the charming yet easily manipulated tragic hero dead before his time because of a sacrifice BR had to make. Merging Daemon and Aegor together would’ve made the resulting Daemongor character much too sympathetic and complex for GRRM’s precious antihero (of course, if you ask me, even apart they are loads more interesting and likable than a tyrannical egotist), for whom he constantly makes other characters OOC or less competent to give Bl00draven implausible victories.

As for Shiera, she is centered around Bl00draven to such an extent it’s honestly creepy. She is the only “Great Bastard” we don’t know the birth and death dates for (this is important for her negligible role in the narrative, since she may have been as young as 11 by the start of the Blackfyre Rebellion, making any “romantic” relationship she may’ve had with the 20 year old Bloodraven or 23 year old Aegor a clear case of pedophilia). While despite being supporting characters, Daemon and Aegor have interesting relationships apart from Bl00draven (notably with each other; but with Daena, Aegon IV, Quentyn Ball, Gormon Peake, Rohanne of Tyrosh and her 2 oldest children, Daenerys Targaryen, Da3ron II, Baelor Breakspear, even Eustace Osgrey and Maekar for Daemon; Barba and Bethany Bracken, both Lord Brackens, Lord Shawney, Torwyn Greyjoy, Haegon and Daemon III Blackfyre for Aegor), Shiera’s existence is more-or-less completely wrapped around Bl00draven; it is incredibly telling that Egg refers to her not as “the old king’s bastard daughter” or anything referring to their blood relation, but as “Lord Bl00draven’s paramour”. The only other named character she’s mentioned interacting with is Aegor Rivers (of course, in a romantic context), and the only significant action she took in-story is to “choose” Bl00draven over him (she never married him, though, so I’m honestly unsure what this entails); GRRM might do some window dressing about how beautiful or well-read or “dark” she is, but as it stands Shiera is a shallow Love Interest who, despite never “officially” marrying her lover, is so completely defined by him that even that is made all about his feelings (”it amused her more to make him jealous”). Her existence is made even less significant when Bl00draven reveals in aDwD that he never “loved” her at all according to his definition; that emotion is reserved for his ‘brother’, while he only ‘desired’ a woman who now haunts him, so her most important relationship isn’t even considered as important by the other person. You could merge Daemon and Aegor and still have the plot make sense, but you could take out Shiera entirely and absolutely nothing would be lost except Bl00draven no longer has a girlfriend (and not an average noblewoman; no, she has to be the most beautiful woman in history and an almost princess who is also a sorceress who maybe bathes in human blood because Seven forbid Bl00draven reveal actual depth to his character as someone who Just Wants to Be Normal despite his albinism in a sweet Bran/Meera parallel) and another reason to angst. Sure, Bl00draven has Shiera as a lover while Aegor doesn’t, but there are more political and personal reasons for Aegor’s resentment, and having it be over a love triangle is vastly cliche and a disservice to all three characters, as underdeveloped as one might be.

tl;dr Shiera is the epitome of a Shallow Love Interest and Distaff Counterpart to the Protagonist Bl00draven, which in other cases I’d like to see more developed, but her psychological sadism hits such a personal chord with me that I hate what little personality she has. I’m honestly glad she’s such a nonentity that I receive so few questions about her.

[thebluelemontree]

You mentioned somewhere that Arya has an association with swans, can you tell more about that?

So glad you asked!  The obvious first association is the “ugly duckling” theme in her story.  Now Arya is not truly ugly, she’s just nonconforming to patriarchal standards of femininity; nonetheless, it’s a source of pain and insecurity in her life.  There’s plenty of signs that Arya is growing up into a beauty all her own.  According to Ned she definitely resembles her aunt Lyanna who was regarded as a “wild beauty” in her mid-teens, but Arya is only 9 at the start which is usually the awkward pre-teen stage for many people.  

Lady Smallwood gave her the dress with the acorns on the bodice (over her heart) and will call her pretty while she is wearing her son’s clothes.  Gendry will say she looks like a “nice oak tree” while wearing the acorn dress.  While Arya may struggle with believing people when they call her pretty, she does remember the people that do.  Not that growing up to be beautiful is the most important thing for Arya, but it is nice when people recognize her as such.  So the “ugly duckling” will grow into a beautiful swan.

There’s also the style of Braavosi swordplay she learns from Syrio Forel called “water dancing.”  It’s the perfect style suited to Arya’s build, her speed and agility, and her little sword, Needle.  Syrio has her practicing balancing on her toes.  Is that not like a ballet dancer?   

The swordsmanship of the bravos of the Secret City is as famed as the beauty of her courtesans. Largely unarmored, and wielding slender pointed blades far lighter than the longswords of the Seven Kingdoms, these warriors of the streets practice a swift, deadly style of fighting. The greatest bravos call themselves water dancers, given the custom of dueling upon the Moon Pool near the Sealord’s Palace; it is claimed that true water dancers can fight and kill upon the pool’s surface without disturbing the water itself.       

Water dancers are as graceful upon the water (like swans) as they are deadly.  Arya is training to become a bravo and what is Braavos known for?  Deadly swordsmanship and beautiful courtesans.  Hold on to that connection with the courtesans, because we’ll get to that in a moment.  Swans may be beautiful and graceful, but they can mess you up pretty bad too!  

And it gets even richer with the swan references later on.  Readers may find some of these themes problematic and there are TWOW “Mercy” sample spoilders, so you have been warned.

Arya V, ACOK for the “Swan Lake” / ballet / water dancer connection:

Arya felt as though the lake were calling her. She wanted to leap into those placid blue waters, to feel clean again, to swim and splash and bask in the sun….

Thirty yards from shore, three black swans were gliding over the water, so serene … no one had told them that war had come, and they cared nothing for burning towns and butchered men. She stared at them with yearning. Part of her wanted to be a swan. The other part wanted to eat one.

The black swan from the ballet is sensual and seductive and Arya is identifying with the black swans.  This is a foreshadowing of some of her story in Braavos where Arya will be discovering her femininity and her sexual awakening.

Arya in her role as Cat of the Canals pays a lot of attention to the beautiful Braavosi courtesans, who are set apart from whores.  They are independent women of high status who may or may not choose to engage sexually with their clients.  They are much closer to geishas than they are prostitutes.  Also note Arya is selling shellfish, a not so subtle reference to female genitalia though she is still a maiden.  The courtesans have their own pleasure barges that they gracefully float upon (SWANS!).

The courtesans of Braavos were famed across the world. Singers sang of them, goldsmiths and jewelers showered them with gifts, craftsmen begged for the honor of their custom, merchant princes paid royal ransoms to have them on their arms at balls and feasts and mummer shows, and bravos slew each other in their names. As she pushed her barrow along the canals, Cat would sometimes glimpse one of them floating by, on her way to an evening with some lover. Every courtesan had her own barge, and servants to pole her to her trysts. The Poetess always had a book to hand, the Moonshadow wore only white and silver, and the Merling Queen was never seen without her Mermaids, four young maidens in the blush of their first flowering who held her train and did her hair. Each courtesan was more beautiful than the last. Even the Veiled Lady was beautiful, though only those she took as lovers ever saw her face.      

So we have the maiden connection here carrying the train of their courtesan and Arya is on the cusp of her own flowering.  In Swan Lake, Odette has her own retinue of other swans that follow her.  Arya is drawn to these women.  They would all be considered unacceptable in the patriarchy of Westeros.  Here they are powerful, influential, respected and revered.  And which one does Arya make a connection with?  The Black Pearl, Bellegere Otherys, a black swan, the most famous of courtesans.  I don’t think that connection was one sided either.  Bellegere gives Arya silver “ten times the asking price” for three cockles, calls her “little one” and asks her for hot sauce.  Cockles look like very small clams, so I’m sure you get the maiden not-yet-flowered symbolism here.  One of the sailors calls Bellegere the “Queen of Cockles” as a joke, but it’s very fitting imagery.  Arya doesn’t have hot sauce, but in a feisty way tells her not to call her “little one” and tells her her name is “Cat of the Canals.”  One of the three things she learns and tells the kindly man is that Bellegere is the Black Pearl’s real name.  So one can envision Bellegere in that conversation being amused by “spicy-tongued” Cat lacking in hot sauce and introducing herself by her true name in return.  Perhaps she saw the black swan in her, which is true seeing Arya’s essence.  Perhaps the kindly man saw it too early on in Arya II, AFFC:

“You believe this is the only place for you.” It was as if he’d heard her thoughts. “You are wrong in that. You would find softer service in the household of some merchant. Or would you sooner be a courtesan, and have songs sung of your beauty? Speak the word, and we will send you to the Black Pearl or the Daughter of the Dusk. You will sleep on rose petals and wear silken skirts that rustle when you walk, and great lords will beggar themselves for your maiden’s blood. Or if it is marriage and children you desire, tell me, and we shall find a husband for you. Some honest apprentice boy, a rich old man, a seafarer, whatever you desire." 

Clearly, the assassin identity (also a black swan) is not the only one available to Arya though she may not see it yet.  They are not mutually exclusive. (Love that little Gendry reference ;))         

“The Black Pearl” is an inherited title passed from mother to daughter.  Bellegere’s great-grandmother was a famous pirate queen (and daughter of a princess of the Summer Isles) who had a daughter, Bellenora. by Aegon the V, Targaryen or Aegon the Unworthy.  Bellenora was the original “Black Pearl.”  We see this Summer Isle / swan connection earlier when Arya thinks the Summer Islander swan ships are “magnificent.” 

Both sides of the black swan can exist within Arya.  She’s carrying her barrow of shellfish as she is in conversation with the singer, Dareon whose head is “full of courtesans.”  

"Yesterday I ate herring with the whores, but within the year I’ll be having emperor crab with courtesans.”  

 Yes, Dareon’s “song is ending” (swan song, get it?) as Arya will soon dispatch him for his desertion of the Night’s Watch.  His prediction for himself seems a lot more appropriate to Arya than it is to him.  She’s a deadly swan who will soon incorporate the power of her sexuality to lure another target.  In TWOW sample chapter Mercy, Arya will see the Black Pearl again in the audience attending the play she is in and again singles her out for her captivating presence.  “She was so lovely that the lamps seemed to burn brighter when she passed.”  Arya is playing the role of a maiden who will be raped in the play.  Arya spies a “gift” in the form of a guard standing behind the Black Pearl herself who is a “lamp” that shone a light on him.  It’s Raff the Sweetling, one of the Mountain’s men and a vicious murderer and rapist.  It’s not the maiden who is going to be savaged as in the play.  “Mercy” seduces him to get him alone the subsequently stabs him to death.  It’s the black swan in Swan Lake, Odile, that is a seductress that lures the Prince away in a plot point that will lead to his downfall.     

I guarantee in TWOW, Arya will be spending more time with the Black Pearl who will be someone who guides Arya into womanhood.  This is very fitting for the ugly duckling to not only know her power as a fighter, but her power as a woman as well.