#by prophecies and by shortcomings and failures and all the deaths put right on -their birth-.

[godblooded]

big write up on how my rhaegar is my own interpretation (and how behind i am on westerosi literature) coming soon to a dash near you.

[fantasmalforces]

@the-maverick-deck SAID: ✨ for val, please?

💜 Tarot Practice Meme // ACCEPTING 💜

Nine of Swords

A disposition towards overthinking and obsessing over worst case scenarios has likely made it difficult for you to get a full night’s sleep between nightmares and too much mental noise. Your fears are fed into themselves until you become so overburdened that you push others away. You likewise risk turning them into self-fulfilling prophecies. Try to replace all negative thoughts with positive ones and reach out for support. Feeling loved and reassured right now can help you calm down enough to work on solving your problems, rather than just fretting about them.

// It is an unfortunate reality that Valentina has a major problem with overthinking and obsessing over things that are beyond her control. It ties back to the death of her father and the near constant conflict she felt with her mother over everything from her hobbies and interests, to the way she dressed, to her subsequent career path. She’s incredibly critical of herself and everything she does, to the point where she’ll keep herself up at night by counting her daily failures instead of counting sheep. She loses sleep over her own regrets and deep dissatisfactions with herself and her perceived shortcomings. She fears asking others for help and pushes them away because she’s scared of being ridiculed and seen as the failure she secretly thinks she is, and that leads her to self-sabotage. Replacing her negative thoughts with positive ones would do her good, as would reaching out to be reassured about her insecurities instead of just fretting over them. More than anything, Valentina needs to feel loved and cared for her, not just for the confident mask she puts on, but for her true, raw self.

[ode-to-an-inkwell]

So my rant mode has been activated—here’s why Season 8 ruined Dany’s character development.

Dany’s problems (and Targaryen problems in general) come from an inability to value different perspectives/people. The Targaryen madness has never been about mental illness or emotional instability, but self-obsession—a fixation on Targaryen exceptionalism. This is shown through Targaryen obsession with fire, prophecy, and blood purity. Inbreeding, doubling down on one perspective and on one set of genes, has exacerbated the shortcomings of these genes and this perspective.

GRRM’s point is: perspectives/people are limited, and we need to collaborate with others in order to get a full picture and make good decisions.

Dany was raised to value Targaryen exceptionalism. She believed her ancestors were good because they were powerful. Living among the Dothraki reinforced this idea that might is right/power is good. It’s important that Viserys deteriorates before her eyes—as he grows more obsessed with the IT, his weakness is exposed. Dany rejects him, and claims that Viserys was never a true dragon, anyway. She equates his flaws with a lack of power.

Her arc has always come back to Targaryen exceptionalism, only Dany doesn’t just see Targaryens as the exception—she is the exception. Her accruement of titles, her fears of prophecy, and her inability to understand the perspective of others has been the main focus of her story.

There is a reason why she is surrounded not by equals, but by subordinates. There is a reason why her major decisions ignore the advice of her advisors and circle back to “might is right”. Dany has an entire speech in Season 7 where she exposes her major flaw.

Dany believes in herself alone. She values herself alone.

Season 8, however, portrayed Dany as a victim of circumstance. She was put in a highly contrived “rock and a hard place” situation which made her downfall seem fated rather than self-inflicted. Many viewers even agreed with her decisions up to the final episode, long after she had fallen to villainy.

The show writers made her fall all about a fear of being alone—Missandei’s death, Jon’s questionable allegiance, and the rejection of the people “pushed her” into madness.

This doesn’t work because Dany is alone by her own design. She has propped herself up as a Chosen One. This trope is complex because a character such as Dany, who chooses herself, is technically the Unchosen One. No one voted for Dany, and no one put her into power. She seized it for herself. In doing so, she isolated herself. Had she shared her power, she would have been a part of something greater. But those aren’t her values. She likes being the exception—she likes being alone.

The IT is a seat for one. Dany doesn’t share because she doesn’t believe that others deserve the same as her. She doesn’t value others as equal to herself. She sees her perspective as the right perspective. Self-obsession, a failure to acknowledge others, is her hamartia. As a tragic figure, these things should be directly involved in her downfall. It’s about Dany failing herself. The show ruined this by positioning her as sympathetic until the very end—they made it seem as though the other characters failed Dany by not believing in her.

Which misses the point entirely.