#but if you see the majority of the hotd things I write are team green centric

[dulcewrites]

Yeah…..

I didn’t want to make this a thing™️ bc I feel like it can come off ungrateful and bitchy, which I never want. I love talking with you guys on things outside of my writing too. Characterizations, hotd/f&b, modern au etc. and just life in general. I feel very fortunate to have people in my inbox bc interactions/support can feel few and far especially for content makers on here

But there are times where I almost feel like people are like ??? Idk the word for it other than goad me into things even after I’ve made my opinions (imo) quite clear. Just certain questions that clearly want me to say something negative.

I don’t want to view it as malicious. I do think the questions/comments are being made in earnest. But if I give my opinion on something, then someone comes back with an ‘well actually - 🤓’ ask… it just makes me wonder what the point of giving my first opinion was. Bc I’ve made my opinion clear and it’s not gonna change. If it does, I will go back and edit said ask.

Does this make sense? I feel like I’m being whiny but I’ve been in a weird mood lately. Part of the reason is some of the asks that i have gotten over past couple of weeks. I try to answer things as honestly and kindly as possible. But sometimes I get asks and I’m just like ‘you’ve clearly made up your mind already that you don’t like this character or want them to have bad traits, so what is the point of this’

In particular, I’ve gotten these types of asks (that I have deleted) about Aemond (a lot of these) and alicent. Idk if it is the writing I have put out, though I like to think I’ve been pretty fair about a complex characters like Aemond and Alicent. I’ve made it clear that Aemond and Alicent are characters I like, my favs on the show so far, so the asks alluding to how horrible they are/could be is little odd to me. Bc I’m sure there are a plethora of places to shit on both characters if that is the prerogative (that goes for all team green characters… people who enjoy team green are kind of the minority lol)

I know there are hotd blogs out there that enjoy breaking down the show/f&b and characters at nausea, and that’s great for them. Same for the blogs that are filled with ‘theories’ made from Reddit. That’s not necessarily what my blog is. I appreciate y’all care about my opinions but I’m also of the belief not every person needs to give their opinions on everything.

My writing blog is something I consider cathartic and fun. I don’t want to get worked up talking about a theory/‘leak’ that hasn’t been confirmed by anyone other than people who apparently hate hotd… but still keep talking about it??? To the point of checking out what is happening on set??? I also don’t want to constantly being talking about people who enjoys ships I don’t care for (daemyra or helaemond or whatever else). Or constantly shitting on characters I do like.

It’s like I get it you think Aemond would be a horrible father, why does that have to do with me 😭. You think he’d be a terrible partner I GET IT!

If I write a character a certain way, I’d like to discuss that (positive or negative - show or book) or even just what happens in the show. I feel like interpretations for characters can be different for everyone and that’s the interesting part. But regurgitating answers isn’t really my cup of tea. I feel like people in the asoiaf fandom, but now more so in the hotd one, have gotten so use to arguing people down over stuff that it has sucked some of fun out of analysis. Idk it just feels like there can be bad faith questions/scenarios being bandied about

I just want to write my stuff, chat with you guys in a fun and open way, and make the occasional post about things on the show.

Ngl some of the asks y’all send me about hotd or even f&b just have me staring at my screen like ‘…. What am I supposed to say’ lmao

[greenaswildfire]

On Alicent hate:

Alicent is the perfect character to show that the same people who call her hypocrite are no different from her: a woman AGAIN is reduced and judged by her role as mother, not by her past experiences, her story, the generational trauma, her lack of safety net, the violence she had to endure all these years, her broken mental state, writing maneuvers to cast her in a bad light by adding scenes/words that weren't there.

And at the same time, having to stay strong when her kids are also breaking down.

People totally dehumanize and deliberately misinterpret Alicent on behalf of Rhaenyra's grief like Rhaenyra's was more valid just because she's girlboss and dragon lady and showrunner's golden girl.

And giving my unasked 2 cents on the matter: no, I simply can't simpathize with Rhaenyra after everything hotd has shown about her. Despite her losses, the artifices used to create the reasons for her pain didn't feel natural for me in comparison to Alicent, THERE I felt real struggle and grief.

While Rhaenyra's pain is healthly expressed (ffs even here she's better than Alicent), Alicent simply CAN'T do it. The same people who felt Helaena's pain, ironically pretend not to see that Alicent's manifestation of grief was a nuance of that same pain.

A worse pain, the type of pain you feel crawling under your skin and still you can't find a way to express it. She was judged for being what society expected of her, and now she's judged again for not being emotional and supportive like a mother should be.

And here's the major point of the post:

It makes me think that vast majority who claim to understand and support women (in this Era where they talk sooo much about mental health huh?) apparently are the first to let their masks fall when criticizing Alicent.

It makes me think how people reduced her to an object of their anger and unresolved feelings offline. It's exhausting to pretend you're good and virtuous all the time, right? It reminds me of 1984, when manipulated masses gathered everyday for the "free hate session".

Alicent is the perfect character to unmask this pseudo-emphathetic society that uses her to vent their hate every sunday, then return to their everyday lives defending women's rights and freedom.

It reminds me of how these people will proudly hide behind the "it's just a TV show" excuse. It reminds me of how these very same people har@ss and wish team green d3ath threats, or worse, root for women to be "converted to TB by force" (aka have their bodies used against their will) the same brutality that Rhaenyra asked Aemond to be "interrogated".

It reminds me of how Team Green, although small, is very unlikely to do this same thing. It reminds me that Team Green is more likely to be empathetic: their leader is broken, fighting in this world with her bare hands without a dragon to shield her or force people to obey her whims. And even if the men around her have dragons, they're equally broken men, they're not better than her. Alicent can't give them what she had never had. While Rhaenyra had a looot of chances to show she's almost a saint (chances taht didn't convince me at all), Alicent on the other hand is portrayed with almost no redeeming quality in comparison. Alicent is a very flawed character, her counterpart not so much.

It reminds me that in a world where dragons (brute force, coercion, mostly considered male traits) are what people want to watch, the showrunner's attempt to portray a "conflict where men used women as puppets therefore women on both sides are victims" went downhill, for what matters now is who will sit on the iron throne. The only woman who seems to matter is a metaphor for male values and power, while the other one is hated for being broken. It reminds me that Alicent's side is the driving force of this show, for in Rhaenyra's side everybody is perfect or with minimal flaws.

Because if there's something people hate is the truth. And Alicent is the character who unmasks these people every week exposing their true nature: their support is most likely to be given to a dragon lady kind of girl, than someone like Alicent.

When support is conditional, it's not true support.

And that's why people hate her.

You may not win the battle in hotd, my Queen, but you, AND YOU ALONE, have done your duty splendidly: you've won the war in real life.

image source: Lyanna Stark

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

I've said it many times and I'll say it again. I don't understand why so many people claim that Aemond is somehow Ryan's favourite or even self insert. I guess it would be obvious now that he hates him as much as the rest of the greens, but some still insist on this. Like, here is the character that actually was one of the most popular in s1 despite the fact that he barely had any screentime and is tg, yet we are halfway through s2 and look what they've done with him?? 5 minutes of screentime, half of it the unnecessary brothel scenes to show him naked and to destroy his relationship with Aegon for good. Zero interactions with Alicent, Helaena, Otto...No reaction to Jaehaerys (but yes to luke).. And he's somehow Ryan's pet? Yeah, no. I think that Ryan is staunchly tb who loves Rhaenyra and Daemon (and Rhaenys) and just watch him give Daemyra an intense and emotional reunion to confirm Daemon's loyalty to her. All these harrenhal scenes are just devices to make the moment more impact full and to subvert expectations™, I'm 100% certain this will be the case. And what the greens got? Mutual hatred, a nonexistent cause, Aegon who still bullies and humiliates his brother and only sees him as a weapon, Aemond who tries to get rid of his brother in the middle of the battle and is completely detached from his family, Helaena who barely exists and don't even get me started on Alicent and Criston. Therefore, if Ryan, Hess or anyone in the writing team "loves" the greens, they sure have a strange way of showing that lmao.

Anyway, I would love to hear your opinion on this.

Hello!

To be honest, at this point I have trouble telling which HotD characters are actually loved by the writers. I am really tempted to say that none of them are because no writer treats a character they love like Condal&Co treat the majority of HotD folks, even TB ones, the supposed faves. Rhaenyra (post S1E5), the protagonist - meek and boring. Rhaenys a.k.a "the voice of wisdom" - a hypocritical woman (who is also basically a mass murderer). Daemon - I don't even know what to say about him, his characterization has been all over the place.

However, IMO we need to take into account two things: 1) HotD writers apparently have received a commission to create a show with a clear as day feminist agenda to regain the audience's favor lost after Daenerys business in S8 of GoT; 2) the most important - they are fucking incompetent, and so they could ruin the characters they "love" just as effortlessly as they do with those they "hate" (sometimes they even fail with the latter - because they are kind of supposed to ruin them but, once again, are incompetent).

So, I really don't know whether Condal and the rest of HotD team are ruining Aemond on purpose - or are just trying to legit create a compelling arc for him by presenting him as a bullied kid with a fuckton of issues who one day just snapped and fully went into a psycho killer mode. Both options are possible - and actually both of them might be true because (and here goes yet another HotD problem) it really feels like the writers who work on the show have trouble communicating and coordinating their ideas. One pushes for one thing, another - for another, and as a result we have characters who act like they get a personality/brain transplant every episode (Daemon and Alicent in S1 are the prime examples of that).

As for the "Aemond is Condal's self insert" -everything is possible. To comment on that properly I would have to get into speculations about the latter's personality and mental state, and I'd rather not do this. As much as I despise him, he is still a real person; and I am neither a psychologist nor a psychiatrist (neither do I know him personally), so it's not my place to do that.

Thank you for the ask!

[liaa--qb]

Why, do you think, helaemond is more popular on ao3 than alysmond?

see people like that particular ship more and why they like it ? I am gonna say this answer very clearly in simple words as general audience/reader. I read FnB after watching HOD s1( n I still don't know why this book has so much hype cz it was just normal😑 if I compare it with my other favourite fantasy books). I dk wtf happens on twt, I am not twt stan thankfully that place is worse, some of my friends r so Ik how rubbish some people behave there .

Aemond to me is a character who is someone very perfect material for ETL ships or forbidden ships😂. I myself find Rhaena/Aemond or Aemond/strong daughter of Rhaenyra ship way more interesting than alysmond but that's never gonna happen😅

Then there's Helaemond which is also a forbidden ship. Main point of these ships would be that " Aemond is the typical bad guy who will fall for someone good.🤡🎃" That's how mostly fanfics n reader works usually go for in every fandom😹. Same thing kinda goes for Halaemond , as Helaena is pure Angel while Aemond is a villian. It's giving all typical bad guy-good girl dynamic with forbidden incest which actually suits HOTD alot😅, recreating borgias scandal again !

These are the major ships of Aemond -

Aemond with strong bastard of Rhaenyra

Aemond with any girl on team black side( daughter of Daemon/Rhaenyra)

Aemond with Helaena

Readers and writers like these following ships of Aemond more than any canon so ofc they would go for that whether it's ao3, Wattpad or anything. Aemond and normal servant or any other oc is more famous than alysmond 😭 and it's just reader's choice, no one forced them.

Moreover the way Aemond is , he is someone who would definitely go for valerian targ blood girl if his narcissist ass had any chance.

I usually don't get attracted to incest alot. I adore dany but I am still not fond of Jon/Dany 😭 & never will. It's all chemistry. Milly n Matt also had good chemistry 🔥 I got attracted to halaemond during episode 8, 9. Idk but chemistry was real good when they were just staring at each other. I still don't know why that guy turned his whole fucking chair to watch her dance with Jace !

Halaemond is providing more content for drama, forbidden, incest, cheating on green side and they do have a chance of becoming a kinda forbidden tragic couple. In short their couple actually reminds of something 'hamlet n Ophelia', very much. One can write alot if they want to n unlike other ships of Aemond it actually has chance on screen. So why not ?

though I appreciate every ship including alysmond too but I genuinely don't consider it was any romantic ship just the way some Stans like to say n I have reasons for it. It was sexy, they were partners with benefits like melisandre and stannis but never romantic to me. Who knows I might get attracted to alysmond if gayle and ewan's chemistry turned out to be good. It's different for everyone, right now to me other ships of Aemond have more appeal than alysmond, [nothing against alysmond 🙌 ] it's just my own preference n I am not shaming or forcing anyone.

[frazzledsoul]

I honestly am not sure how you deal with HOTD en masse as a fandom now that the ratings have dropped. It seems to me that the majority of viewers (the Team Black faithful) just want to see the Team Green characters slaughtered so that the "heroes" (Team Black) can win. Team Green can have a plot outline where all the things they want to have happened happen but they will still complain endlessly that the writers have conspired against them because it's not "framed" the way they want and no one online likes their favorite. The writing for the show is not nearly deft enough to handle these factions, the game plan seems sloppy at best, and both sides seem to want a straight morality play. I do not think this fandom as a whole is anywhere mature enough for the story they are going to get.

Best to ignore the parts you don't like and just go for the vibes that resonate with you, I guess.

[cosmic-walkers]

No, I find I highly un-empathetic, because I wonder if anon or op would have the same reaction for rhaenyra’s miscarriage, or rhaenyra losing her throne, or aemma’s death (actually - a lot of people don’t care about aemma and are constantly trying to paint viserys as a good father figure and king to rhaenrya, so perhaps, they wouldn’t care).

the fact of the matter is that things are supposed to be shocking, they are supposed to make people uncomfortable because that is good writing and media literacy.

if a woman having to pick between the murder of her sons or her daughter being raped doesn’t make you uncomfortable, or if you think that people who are uncomfortable by it are overreacting - especailly women who have been raped, or who have lost their children to vioelnce…then to me at least that’s concerning. and you know what, you don’t HAVE to think it’s bad or you don’t have to be shocked by it or anything, but to make people feel bad for being uncomfortable or acting like people are overreacting.

it also shows to me how stan/team black vs green mentalities have really ruined any type of indepth media literacy or discussion.

even as someone who leans more toward alicent and helaena, i was absoltuely devesated and heartbroken when rhaenyra had her throne taken from her, i was angry when she had her miscarriage. And tbh, i feel OP probably was too.

But HOTD/GOT fans have this issue with not caring about things like rape, misogyny, or violence done to women if it's happening to women that they don't like - they see it as a fair punishment or something that's not to be taken seriously. This is kinda gross imo - but i've watched for years as violence against women simply has not been taken seriously or how people who are uncomfortable by that violence have been shamed simply because the majority of the fandom doesn't like the woman it's happening to and thinks they deserve it.

YOU don't have to care about B & C but making people who do care about it out to be sensitive is really weird

I always feel like the people who get so torn up over Blood and Cheese just haven't consumed a lot of adult media.

Is Blood and Cheese sad? I mean, I suppose so. But I've seen and read much, much worse things.

Someone said once that HOTD was like babies' first adult drama, and that feels so true when you've got people weeping, howling, clutching at theit chest devastated over the horror, the cruelty, the inhumanity of B&C.

They hype it up like it's the single worst act that anyone, ever, in the history of the world has ever done, when honestly it's like low level to mid tier bad. I think most viewers are just going to shrug, say "wow that was shitty" and then move on and forget about it.

Agreed.

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

The leaks are so bad, everyone will hate Aemond after the next episode😭 It's really now the most loyal Aemond's fans against the world because he will be the most hated person for both teams

Hello!

While I am really worried about the turn Aemond's character development will take starting from the next episode, there are a couple of points to consider:

I'd rather wait and actually watch the episode instead of preemptively forming an opinion on how bad it's going to be. To be honest, IMO the chances of the Rook's Rest going by the worst scenario imaginable are very high. But at the same time remember how everyone and their mother was hyping up the brothel scene to be the cringiest thing ever and saying that no one would take Aemond seriously after it - and compare it to what we actually got.

Attempted fratricide is not the way to the audience's hearts, sure. But how many viewers will actually begrudge Aemond trying to hurt or even kill Aegon (never mind actually start hating him for it)? Some people from the fandom - sure, specifically people who are only in it for Aegon, maybe some of neutral folks as well. But the majority of GA? Don't think so. Some casual viewers probably will change their mind about Aemond but it's worth remembering that in the show we have actually got very little positive interactions between the Green brothers (and most of them took non-verbal form and came to us through the acting as opposed to the actual script). I heard quite a lot of reactors basically say something along the lines of "Aegon, you are cooked" or "Aemond will snap so badly" during/after the brothel scene in episode 3. Looks like that one line about "closest blood and best sword" did almost nothing to change the GA's perception of Aegon and Aemond's relationship, and it's not a surprise.

So, to be frank, I am more worried about the way people will react to Aemond's actions during his regency as it really seems that he's about to fully go into the psycho mode.

Side note: as for me, I find it harder and harder to actually engage with what's going on in the show with every episode and every new piece of information regarding ones to come - especially seeing how this season the writers are destroying almost everything that I love most and had the biggest hopes for regarding HotD. The writing for the most part is so outlandishly bad that sometimes it's hard to believe that what I'm seeing and hearing is real. I will finish this season but it really looks like I'll be watching it purely for the actors' performances and not for the story itself.