#anti baela targaryen

[the-daily-dreamer]

“I am Blood and Fire. Driftmark must pass to Salt and Sea.”

And if I said clown behavior??? If I said what a cheap attempt at excusing no women inheriting any claims other than Rhaenyra???

Baela was raised by her salt and sea side. Her blood and fire side neglected and ignored her. And then they only accepted her as valuable when she was viewed as a future wife and mother. Rhaenyra fought to push her bastard on the seat of Driftmark to reaffirm her position subsequently passing over Baela. Corlys passes over both his granddaughters for his bastard grandson because he’s more obsessed with his name than his blood.

But now the show has run into the fact that actually team black is only propping up one woman, so what do they do? They have Driftmark be freely offered to a woman and have her turn it down so it can be taken by a man and follow book canon. Because naturally, Baela would have no ambitions of her own. Naturally, Baela would never stand for her sister to take the seat. She only exists to empower Rhaenyra! She believes in feminism!! So she has to support Rhaenyra’s claim to the IT and not accept her own claim to Driftmark.

Because feminism for team black is just Rhaenyra is special and has a right to rule. But all other women should exist solely to prop Rhaenyra up and have no claims.

What a complete and utter joke this show can be.

[fatum679]

Are you f*cking serious? 🤡

You're so stupid! lmfao

Knowing this, these idiots attacked Aemond in a crowd, beat him, cut out his eye and made him disabled. You are such clowns!

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

Alyssa died when Daemon was 3 years old. So shut up with your argument that Rhaenys gave Daemon a chance to claim Meleys. TB does not recognize the OPINION AND CHOICE OF THE DRAGON HIMSELF. DRAGON CHOOSE Rider! VHAGAR WANTED AEMOND!

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

[agentrouka-blog]

Honestly, if I was Jace, I'd be a little concerned about my future queen lecturing me how it's super common and no big deal for noble women to pass off their bastards as their husband's trueborn children.

(I mean, I hate Baela being reduced to a Rhaenyra apologia robot, but gods, the hilarious implications.)

[tessarionbestgirl]

When Beala said " I am Blood and Fire. Driftmark must pass to pass to Salt and Sea." I just couldn't stop thinking how much this mankes no sense, she spend 6 years as ward in Drifmark. She should felt some connection with that place.

Oh man I have forget about that. Make everything worse.

That's the big difference between Got and Hotd. In Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire, we see how Theon has a certain conflict for being raised in the North as a GreyJoy. But in Hotd, at least when it comes to the Velaryons and TB any character depth is washed away and replaced with one cool line to shut down everyone that doesn't give a second thought.

But it's clearly worse for Baela, I've said this before but the last episode just fucked up any characterization of her as a character and she's the worst character written behind just Rhaenys, just because she didn't do something as bad as Rhaenys and contradictory, but she is just as empty. We know that Rhaena and Baela are mirrors of Sansa and Arya. But they are not even half as complex. And they don't even get the basics right, because yes we see her playing with the crossbow, but less about her being a tomboy, and more about foreshadowing Jace's death.

And Baela is very feminine from what little we see of her at the same time that she is even colder than Arya herself. That scene of her with Corlys just made me feel bad for him, because she basically told him that he has no right to mourn.

And then in an unthought-out act of his, as a way of trying to fulfill his wife's wish, he offers Drifmark to her. While she shuts down, and she only does that because it's set up for the bastards to be legitimized.

This is a standard because all of her scenes only exist to move the plot or serve other characters. The only thing I know about Baela is that she loved Rhaenys, and somehow this justify her support for Rhaenyra's claim ( ironically the shows frames that as the reason and not that she is engaged to Jace lol) and has a complicated relationship with her father, but that doesn't affect her as a character, so it's more about the Daemon than anything else.

[lemonhemlock]

regarding that baela and corlys scene, which i am also not a fan of, i have a feeling that the writers aimed to

(1) paint a less sexist picture of corlys in a misguided attempt to paint him in a better light because he is on rhaenyra's side and because he is played by a black actor,

(2) put more emphasis or validity on the lord's choice of heir over the actual succession laws that entitle baela to driftmark through laena the same way that the writing keeps trying to gloss over the fact that viserys' choice of heir can be challenged and questioned by existing succession laws.

no, i agree with both points, it's just that corlys is an inherently misogynistic man, not because of verbal statements (which could always be altered by writers if they wanted to tone down that aspect of his character), but because of what he DOES. he moved heaven and earth to prevent his granddaughters from inheriting.

which is why, ultimately giving him lines pretending that he was won over by baela and wanted her to inherit rings so hollow. they just wanted to give him the excuse to pass it to alyn.

to add onto the second point, what does it say about female inheritance and the supposed rights of women that rhaenyra champions when lord corlys' "choice" when it comes to his heir is literally "anyone but a woman, literally my long-lost bastards will do, whom i'm going to pass off as the children of my gay son to clown on the queen i fought for by claiming her husband cheated on her"?

any attempt to make corlys heroic is going to end up clownish because the man did not give a single fuck.

but there IS a way to write baela so that she's not a compliant yes-woman, it's to point out that this IS an injustice and that she's MAD about it, but that would mean the greatest crime of all: holding rhaenyra responsible for something, as most of this happens with her complicity

[darylandbethfanforever9]

Aemond did not steal Vhagar

I’m really tired of team black stans saying Aemond stole Vhagar, when he did not steal her in the first place. Hell, even the actress playing Rhaena says Aemond didn’t steal Vhagar. But Baela, Jacaerys and Lucerys falsely accuse him of stealing Vhagar.

Then by saying that, Laena stole Vhagar as she was bonded with Baelon. Aemond did not steal Vhagar. In all honesty, House Hightower is very interesting as they’re said to practise necromancy and dabble in sorcery.

House Targaryen is interesting, but I’m not a fan of their slavery.

[blackcat419]

Aemond looks so happy riding Vhagar for the first time 🥺 my sweet baby boy finally felt like he had proven himself!

Then each of the kids are the ones that attack him first and Aemond only uses force to get them off him.

Even when he is holding Luke by the throat he throws him back instead of hitting him more.

Aemond is always on the defensive and only uses force to defend him.

It’s telling that Aemond is the ONLY ONE to be injured while the four others get off without even a slap on the wrist.

[darklinaforever]

And yes, Daemon's daughters (Baela & Rhaena) and Daemyra's sons (Aegon III & Viserys II) survived the dance. Not Alicent. Sad. Nah, I'm joking. It's just as well that this bitch is dead. The Greens stans make me laugh trying to make believe that Alicent survived everyone in the end. No way. She will be locked up, hating the color green for the rest of her days before dying of fever. Not very glorious. (On the other hand, those in the comments who try to say that Daemon may have survived... No. He's fucking dead. Stop having weird fantasies about him fucking surviving !)

[kass-of-the-midlands]

In an attempt to make a feminist show, Hotd has Rhaenys be totally cool with her man cheating on her, has Baela refusing her mother’s claim, has Rhaena reduced to a nursemaid with little to no scenes with her twin sister, has Rhaenyra start a war for a throne because daddy said she could have it, has Alicent dithering around with no influence over the court that she’s ruled for over a decade, has Helaena offer up a necklace instead of her own life to try and save her children, also completely removes the fact that Helaena fell into complete despair and insanity due to this immense trauma, has Nettles–a commoner who learnt how to ride a dragon-erased, has Saera Snow-a major proponent of the Pact of Ice and Fire and an RLJ foreshadowing, not to mention an enriching factor to Cregan and Jace-removed, has Jeyne Arryn be totally cool siding with the man who murderered a fellow female liege, has—

[danyseastar]

[hed184]

Never let team Black stans and Targ fanboys gaslight you to believe that house Hightower is an enemy of house Targaryen:

1) Before the conquest, Aegon and Visenya visited the Oldtown and spent time at the Citadel.

2) The Hightowers did not march to the Field of Fire, and surrendered without a fight.

3) Aegon's reign officially began in Oldtown after he was anointed and crowned by the High Septon (who was a Hightower) in the Starry Sept, and was celebrated by the people of the city as he rode over the city on Balerion.

4) House Hightower was one of the few houses that helped the Targaryens in the First Dornish War.

5) Aegon agreed to betroth his son Maegor to Ceryse Hightower when Ceryse's uncle suggested that Maegor should be wed to his niece, and look what F&B has to say about Maegor and Ceryse: "Maegor boasted to having consummated the marriage a dozen times the night of the wedding, and those who had seen the bedding agreed that Maegor was a lusty husband."

6) Maegor recognized Ceryse as the official Queen of Westeros, even though he had two more wives, and gave all of her lands and titles back to her.

7) When Rhaena Targaryen fled from Maegor, he sent a rider to Oldtown commanding Lord Hightower to behead Rhaella (who was training to become a Septa) as punishment for her mother's betrayal. Lord Hightower refused, and imprisoned the messenger instead.

8) Alicent fetched old Jaehaerys' meals, helped him wash and dress, and read to him. On her deathbed, she said: "I want to see my sons again, and Helaena, my sweet girl. Oh... and King Jaehaerys. I will read to him, as i did when i was little. He used to say i had a lovely voice." She didn't mention her father or her brothers, but she mentioned Jaehaerys. That shows how much she loved him.

9) Rhaena Targaryen (Daemon's daughter) married Garmund Hightower, and had six daughters by him. As one of the few remaining heirs to the iron throne and the sister of the King, she had no reason to marry a third son and have not one, not two, but six daughters by him if she didn't love him.

10) They remained loyal to the Targaryens during the Robert's Rebellion.

11) Unlike Jaime Lannister and Barristan Selmy, Gerold Hightower remained loyal to Rhaegar till his last breath. He refused several opportunities to leave unharmed, and eventually died while he was defending Rhaegar's son.

12) Daenaerys thinks house Hightower is among the houses that will help her take back the iron throne. She assumes correctly because the Hightowers believe in a prophecy that says Oldtown would burn and its monuments would be cast down if they opposed the "Blood of the Dragon." That's why they gave full support to neither side during the First Blackfyre Rebellion, keeping a foot in both Targaryen and Blackfyre camps.

[darylandbethfanforever9]

You know what? I’m not done defending Aemond.

Firstly, Vhagar is the most powerful dragon in the current world, is over 150+ years old, and is not property to be owned and passed on. She had several owners Visenya Targaryen, Baelon Targaryen, Laena Velaryon, and Aemond Targaryen. None of whom were parent child relationships. The entire concept that Vhagar was a birthright is laughable at best. Dragon’s are not hereditarily acquired or passed down. Rhaena Targaryen had no more claim to Vhagar than anyone else who could become a dragonrider.

I can understand that as a young child grieving the loss of her mother, Vhagar is much more valuable to Rhaena and she would assume she could make a claim to her. But in the end, she didn’t. Vhagar wasn’t naturally hers to inherit. Dragons are not property; they are powerful creature that must be earned. And Aemond did just that by being the bravest ten year old and gaining the respect and trust of the most impressive dragon in the show.

Secondly, Aemond was bullied by his shitty brother and (even shittier) cousins, and he proved them all wrong. I keep seeing Targ, or more specifically Rhaenyra, stans talk about how sweet and wonderful Rhaenyra’s kids are, but last I checked sweet kids don’t bully and humiliate their cousin for the fact that they don’t have an extremely important family gift. They know he’s embarrassed by it. They know it bothers him. And they decide it hilarious to further humiliate him by giving him a pig: “the pink dread”. The kids are assholes, and Aemond proved his worth with his action of claiming Vhagar.

I already established he did nothing wrong by claiming a free dragon. But I think it’s even more important to show why he did it. Aemond was bullied and taunted by his cousins and brother for not having a dragon, and he decided to prove to himself and the kids who bullied him that he is brave enough and worthy enough to have a dragon. And not just any dragon, the greatest dragon. It’s a power move to prove himself against his, and he did it masterfully.

Thirdly, Aemond didn’t start the fight. That fight was started by Rhaena and Baela and joined by Jace and Luke. They all sought him out and started picking a fight with him. Rhaena is the one who made the fight first turn physical, and while I never agree with boys hitting girls, I also don’t agree with girls hitting boys. Violence is violence. Rhaena charged at Aemond with intent to hurt him and he pushed her off. He defended himself. Baela then charges at Aemond and punches him, when all he did was push her sister off him. He swings back (not cool but like...you try getting beat up and just taking it). Then all hell breaks loose. The conclusion on this point is that Aemond didn’t start shit. The other kids sought him out and started attacking him. Aemond simply defended himself.

Fourthly, and most importantly, the fight was completely and totally UNFAIR. Four against one is not a fair fight. All four kids circled him while he was on the ground and were mercilessly beating him. Again FOUR. Four kids, eight hands, punching him over and over. He pushed as many as he could off him and grabbed a rock for protection. And then when everyone stopped beating him, he lowered his hand with the rock. He clearly wasn’t going to beat Luke with that rock.

The only time he goes to be violent again is when Jace pulls out a fucking KNIFE on him and goes to stab him over being called a bastard (which is 100% true. The boys are bastards). Only then, when Jace has a knife does Aemond go once again to defend himself with that rock. Only to then get his eye cut out by Luke. Where in that scene does Aemond have anything fair? He’s the same age as these kids. He didn’t instigate anything, he was unfairly being fought by four kids (and winning too), and he defended himself against a knife.

Essentially, Aemond Targaryen is a child, and really didn’t do much wrong in this situation. He was bullied and harassed by his shithead brother and cousins for not having a dragon. He proved himself by gaining the mightiest dragon, which was his right as Vhagar was free to claim and isn’t hereditary property. He was sought out by the same shithead cousins and the Velaryon girls who instigated a physical fight with him and then all ganged up on him and beat him. And then he had his eye cut out for defending himself against a kid who pulled a knife on him.

If you watched any of that scene and thought “Yeah. This kid deserved to be beaten and mutilated by his bullies for taking a free dragon”...then you need help. That scene was disgusting and unfair, and Aemond was right.

[pureworlds]

just so fucking precious

[agentrouka-blog]

Hotd 2x02 Baela....

Baela: Lol, Jace-y, speaking of fathers, how do you feel about Harwin Strong, who is not my uncle, making you and your siblings not the true heirs to Driftmark, thereby stealing an inheritance that would by rights be mine? While we are fighting a war for your mother's claim to the Iron Throne? Oh, you think he loved you? So sweet! I am a Strong Female Character because I can shoot bolts with a crossbow and hate my evil father! Rhaenyra counts on me! Counts on me not to have any individual character motivation beside serving her plot and yours. 😍

[tessarionbestgirl]

The way there is no guard looking for Rhaena, that Baela is just Rhaenyra cheerleader to say people to STFU when they are upset. Those girls just get the absolutely worse writing the whole season.

[lemonhemlock]

so, after having a little break and seeing the last two episodes in pretty quick succession of each other, i will have to say that overall i thought they were fair to middling, sometimes decent, sometimes with abysmal plot choices, alternating with nuggets of greatness (welcome back, alyssa targaryen).

i don't think they are going to solve my fundamental problem with this adaptation, in that, with my specific narrative preferences, i just find myself uninspired when presented with a heroic framing vs a villain-adjacent one. this dynamic remains too simplistic for me to be super enjoying the writing. i just find myself weighing out these interactions and coming off dissatisfied.

i'm turning into a broken record, but it's disappointing to see how they just always seem to lean towards showing the greens as supremely disconnected, cynical and cold to each other, disassociated from any kind of positive emotion or bond, except for a couple of very brief, very rare moments (eg. aegon/jaehaerys). i am a little surprised at the reviews suggesting that the blacks stagnate in their boring ways, because, to me, the writing for tb has improved massively since last season. if the children were borderline NPCs in season 1, i thought they did a pretty decent job in fleshing them out this time, making effective use of limited screen time.

jace, baela and rhaena get to be frustrated with their family, confused, struggling, but also get scenes of genuine connection, they seem to like each other, they look like an actual team. people who could fight for each other and who have kinship even if they don't have perfect relationships.

that being said, i was appalled at how they completely reversed the corlys-baela dynamic (that man did everything in his power to prevent baela from inheriting) and had baela say with her own mouth that she wasn't suited to be the heir to driftmark. i maintain that baela & rhaena should have developed resentment for being cheated by rhaenyra (and corlys!) out of their inheritance and will probably die on this hill. they tried doing this a little with rhaenys by highlighting this point of conflict with her husband, but to have baela outright refuse driftmark is nuts. a targaryen dragonrider can't hold a keep of her own? on what grounds? is dragonstone not also an island surrounded by salt water and boats and sailors? rhaena has this storyline of feeling useless and sidelined by her family because she doesn't have a dragon, yet being overlooked for driftmark doesn't make her feel any kind of way?

imo that remains a huge weak point in how they're writing the girls, but at the very least i can appreciate that they are trying to forge a sense of connection between these people, because they still have to explain how they didn't betray each other and go on their merry way. human relationships can be complicated and sometimes the ones you love the most hurt you and disappoint you the most, so there maybe even is a believable story here.

a story that could very well also be applied to the greens, but they are just almost invariably made to act so frigid with one another. it would be something else if it were just one or two characters, but all of them? all the time? while the other side get to be friendly and affectionate? even rhaenyra and mysaria get scenes of sincere camaraderie. whereas whatever the greens get, it's always in this somber negative light. the non-canon additions overwhelmingly carry this nefarious vibe: aemond tries to kill aegon (not canon), aegon is too dumb to speak high valyrian (not canon), killing the ratcatchers is suddenly so upsetting it can damage the war effort (not canon),* the smallfolk are eager to rebel in king's landing (not canon), alicent actively opposes and is distressed at aemond becoming regent (not canon), the smallfolk think slaying meleys (who killed a lot of innocent people during her escape) is an ill-omen (what the hell?), even the not-canon alicole can't just be sexy, it has to be frostily tinged somehow with the guilt of child murder. compare that with the non-canon addition of rhaenyra and jace working together to organize the dragonseeds or the messianic speech she gives him about how he has to pass on aegon's prophecy.

*they even have AEMOND, who, by then, has committed kinslaying twice and has one attempted regicide under his belt, comment on how, yes, the ratcatchers should be absolutely taken down because it is bad form.🤦‍♀️

it would be something else entirely if the greens were in a stand-alone story and this was the characterisation given to them. we would be having a completely different conversation about dysfunctional family relationships. but they are presented IN COMPARISON to another side and thus you cannot analyse them in a vacuum and it is impossible to escape this comparative approach or pretend that it doesn't directly invite the viewer to a pre-determined conclusion.

(even cersei & tyrion or tyrion & tywin had moments when they were just chilling and not at each other's throats)

likewise, they make every decision taken by the greens range from bad to catastrophic. name one thing that otto, alicent, criston, aemond or aegon get to do that the writers chose to paint in a positive light. one success. it's alicent wanting peace because she feels sorry for rhaenyra. meanwhile, tb has ONE character that acts out and on whom everything unsavory can be pinned: daemon. everything unappealing about rhaenyra's war effort can be traced back to daemon. everyone else in her camp is just so earnestly engaged in harm-reduction.

i'm not even getting into how AEGON of all people is the least developed dragonrider in the show, he who was supposed to have the best and purest bond with his dragon🤦‍♀️meanwhile we've seen how many shots of caraxes and syrax by now? even MOONDANCER. i'm sorry, guys, but baela rode her ass just THEE ONE TIME. for fuck's sake. even rhaena is going to have more flying time than aegon by the end of this show.

the way i can explain my dissatisfaction better is like. imagine succession (yes, it always comes back to this, doesn't it). only that, alongside the dysfunctional roys and their hot mess of a family and questionable (atrocious) morals, you would simultaneously be presented with, say, the old-money pierces. only THEY get to be a quirky bunch of honest-to-god people just tryna do their gosh darn best in this wacky late stage capitalism. unironically. maybe they have a couple of flaws, maybe they even fight sometimes and say things they regret, maybe they have an old crazy un-woke uncle that they try to keep under wraps (hey! nobody's perfect!). but with little to no commentary on their misdeeds and heroic framing compared to the roys. also completely ignoring that they, too, have a corruptible media empire of their own. it would be much worse as a show, no?