#corlys and baela won’t even be able to look at her for a time

[crownrots]

last night episode really got me thinking about elsa and rhaenys’ relationship, both when rhaela was alive and after she passed and rhaenys and corlys took her in (bc why wouldn’t they 🤡 … uncle daddy and auntie step mom). It’s such a tumultuous ride tho … rhaenys initially harboring ill will towards her because she’s technically corlys’ first born to being incredibly instrumental in raising her bc she KNEW her sister’s time with her was going to be short.

i ran out of tags to tag spoilers so: h*td spoilers dawgs for last nights hour of torture.

rhaenys, even if she didn’t show it as much, thought of Elsa as her own and Elsa, despite not showing it, always looked to her for the mother she was robbed of far too soon. The two argued like a parent and child might, the flew their dragons together, laughed and drank and mourned with one another.

But there was always a little sting, a little bit of resentment especially after Laena and Laenor passed, because while her only two children perished… Corlys’ child still lived and thrived and she always had to remind herself that Elsa wasn’t privy to her lineage. Only thought Corlys’ treated her as a daughter because that was expected of him as her aunt’s husband.

It’s not until everything is really laid out in the open that she’s able to let go of that little chip on her shoulder, to let it fall away so she can fully remember and realize the promise she had made to her sister on her death bed all those years ago; she has done far more for elsa than even SHE realized.

and then THIS happens … and the fact that they don’t even get to say goodbye. the fact that the last time they saw each other rhaenys was only catching a glimpse of her hauling ass north because something had gone amiss once jace departed from there. she never got to tell her just how much she loved her and loved raising her. that any anger or resentment or callousness she showed her at ANY point of her life had been ill placed and accidental. she never got to REALLY tell her how proud of her she was. how much of a privilege it had been to raise her up into the woman and mother she had become. she definitely does not see her late sister when she looks at her, but rather sees herself.

and when elsa returns, and in her grief goes to the alter by the tide pools that she’s visited far too often in her lifetime she absolutely loses it. while normally she’d have whittled a piece of wood to look like who she had lost, she stands there and just looks at the line of pieces that are already there; her mother, her grandmother, aemma, laena, laenor, viserys, luke, and her own son, rickon…she can’t put rhaneys there, she just can’t.

and in her grief and rage she destroys it, destroys the one place of peace she’s had all those years. destroys her once place of reflection and one place she could grieve uninterrupted. she rips the alter of driftwood and stone apart with her bare hands, knuckles bleeding.

it’s not a place of remembrance or reflection. it’s a glaring reminder of everything and everyone she’s lost. the empty spaces, a place holder for who might have an effigy placed there next; her husband, her daughters, her only remaining son, her nieces, her nephews, her queen and cousin, her father … the list goes on.

and all the while her dragon watches, feeling every ounce of her grief tenfold, and it’s unlike the kind she’s shared with her before. but when it’s all said am done, just like when elsa was fourteen and had lost her mother, frosteye lifts one opal wing, battle scars from them turning the tide in north still healing, and invites her under. and elsa accepts just as she did before, crawling beneath the wing, sand singing her split knuckles, drawing herself into a fetal position and weeping like a babe.

but she knows rhaenys isn’t coming to check on her like before. she knows frosteye won’t chortle and shift at the high valaryian spoken so softly and clearly to calm her upon approach.

she’s surrounded by so many, needed by so many. but she’s never felt so alone in rhaenys’ absence.

[aemmaemond]

come my sweetheart, let our blood mingle | Aemond x Fem!OC | Chapter 1

Pairing: Aemond x Fem!OC Rating: 18+ Word count: 2,548 words Warnings: Incest, slowburn, death, angst, child abuse, unhealthy family dynamics, unhealthy relationship dynamics, smut, possessive behaviour, yandere!OC Summary:

Rhaenyra would bear a third bastard, but this time, their crown would not be one of black, but one of white.

Aemma Velaryon is seen as Laenor Velaryon's only true child, but little does anyone else know, that she too is a bastard, same as her brothers. But, her existence seems to only bring pain to those closest around her. Will she finally be able to find the love she so desperately craves? Read on Ao3.

Daemon knew from the moment he saw Aemma that she was his.  

Her age, after all, lined up perfectly to the last time he had seen Rhaenyra. A singular moment of lust, giving into a love that could not yet be realized. He was gone before morning, leaving to Pentos with his lady wife, unknowingly leaving behind a babe. He had assumed that once he had heard word of the child’s birth, she was another bastard.  

He didn’t realize she was his bastard. 

The child was even more Valyrian than he, hair and eyelashes as white as snow. To look into her eyes was like looking into a mirror – she was more his child than Rhaena and Baela ever were by looks alone, and the glare she had given them upon their first meeting showed that her spirit was a match for his.  

“It is nice to meet you, Uncle.” She had said, without any hint of gladness in her voice. “Mother has spoken of you oh so much.” Already at eight she had learned the art of false niceties, yet she had not yet learned to hide her distaste. It made him wonder what exactly Rhaenyra had said to their daughter to make him dislike him so.  

He supposed he’d have to ask her. 

- 

“If looks could kill, I’d already be dead and buried.” Daemon chuckled, walking with Rhaenyra along the dunes of Driftmark, away from all the mourners who grieved the loss of his late lady wife. Finally, they were able to talk together alone, making up for time lost. 

“You don’t suppose she somehow knows, and thus holds some resentment?” Rhaenyra questioned, looking thoughtful. “She’s usually quite pleasant. To hear Corlys and Rhaenys speak of her, she is utterly peerless. Perfect, without even the most minute of flaws.”  

“It’s highly unlikely she could figure it out with just a glance.” Daemon shrugged, though he also appeared thoughtful. “Though then again, I could immediately tell.” 

“Oh please, it isn’t that obvious. Not like Jace and Luke.” 

“Not to others, but to me, it is.” Daemon stopped where he stood, suddenly taking Rhaenyra’s hands. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

His question was akin to stabbing Rhaenyra’s heart with a dagger, and she would pull her hands away, not wishing to look at him. “And how would I do that? By letter, where it could be easily intercepted? Go to Pentos myself, away from mine duty and husband? Furthermore, it was you who left me that night. Do you know how it felt to finally have her in my arms? It was agony, worse than the labour by tenfold at least.” 

Daemon would take her hands once more, his grip unyielding this time. “If I had known...” 

“I couldn’t even look at her, Daemon.” Her voice was strained, and hot tears were beginning to form in the corner of her eyes. “I sent her to Driftmark at the earliest opportunity. I couldn’t stand it. At least in appearance, she looked to be Laenor’s. None could find fault in her, none save for me.” 

Daemon would close his eyes, angry with himself, angry with her, angry at the world. But he’d force himself to soften, looking upon Rhaenyra with as gentle of a look as he could muster. “I won’t leave this time. I swear it.” 

- 

“You can’t make me go!” 

It took three guards to subdue the princess, with how hard she was kicking and flailing. Even then, it was a struggle for them, knowing that once they took her outside, things would only grow more difficult – the frenzied cries of Siren were testament to that.  

“Aemma, please. It is time to return home-” Rhaenyra pleaded. 

“Driftmark is my home!” 

The words pained Rhaenyra to hear, but she could not find fault with them. Driftmark was the only home that Aemma ever knew, and yet she was being pulled away from it against her will. Daemon watched on, unamused, leaning against the wall. The child was far too willful, and far too like him. Rhaenyra was losing control over the situation – he'd have to step in. 

He’d take a step forward, his face cold and uncaring, and he would lean downwards to face the squirming child. 

“Your mother, your future Queen, has given you an order.” He said, staring deep into her eyes. "You will not be the first Princess to be dragged kicking and screaming away from what she calls her home, and you will not be the last. Come quietly with dignity or be forced to in shame.” 

Aemma would stop squirming for a moment, but not out of compliance or of fear. She matched the intensity of his gaze, full of hate and anger. “You aren’t my father. You have no power over me.” Every word she said was deliberately chosen, spoken with the correct enunciation in High Valyrian. And Daemon knew in that moment that Aemma knew her true parentage. 

With a single gesture, the guards would let go of Aemma, who stood her ground, even at half Daemon’s size. The air was tense, and Rhaenyra stepped forward to try and intervene, but Daemon would gesture to her as well to step back. “What I am to you has no relevance to the fact that I can easily drag you by your hair to a ship to Dragonstone.” He said, responding in the same tongue she had used. 

“Siren would stop you. I’d get her to burn you alive-” 

“Then I shall gag you as well and have Caraxes and Syrax subdue the beast if she tries to fight back.” The way Aemma’s eyes narrowed let Daemon know that he had won. “Or you can ride her there yourself. You do not need to smile, you can scowl and cry and swear all you like. All you need to do is do it .”  

Rhaenyra would look between her child and Daemon, worried. She knew that Aemma had never been spoken to like that before, and it hurt her heart to see. She had almost tried to intervene again to ask Daemon to be kinder, but Aemma turned her head to the side, conceding defeat. 

“Fine.” She spat, this time in the common tongue.  

This time, the young princess thought, would be the only time Daemon was allowed to win.  

- 

When Aegon was born, the whole of Dragonstone celebrated for a week straight.  

Candles burned within every hall of the castle, making the usually dreary place seem homey and inviting. Aemma felt she might choke, so stifling was the sense of joy upon the island. Every person there was gleeful, congratulating her mother and father on the birth of their first boy. A most precious and auspicious son, one deserving of a powerful and foreboding name, Aegon.  

Aemma hated the creature the first time she laid her eyes upon it. 

The babe was soon a month old, and to hear her mother speak of him, he was a secret genius, some kind of prodigy. Aemma did not understand how this thing, who only slept and ate and shit, could have any kind of smarts at all. More pleased than her was Daemon, excited for the birth of his first true son. When Rhaenyra did not hold him, Daemon did, whispering to him in High Valyrian all his hopes and aspirations. 

It made Aemma grind her teeth together in frustration any time she heard them coo to him. No one else shared her hate, not even Joff who had been the baby up until this point. He would look over the edge of the cradle, down at the beast, offering to protect him from any monsters. It made Aemma scoff, as her younger brother still wet the bed in the night whenever he had a nightmare. Jacaerys and Lucerys were just as bad, often fighting with one another over who would get to hold him. If Aemma was handed it, she would let it drop to the floor like a sack of wheat.  

By the third month, Aemma’s anger burned so hot she wondered how she did not spontaneously combust into flame. Just a single mention of the name of the monster would sour her mood for the rest of the day, and to hear his cry would make her tear her nails with her teeth until they bled. Her Septa would admonish her and bandage the fingers, but Aemma would rip them off, back to her biting. Rhaenyra had set her aside, pleading with her daughter to just tell her what was wrong, but Aemma could no longer look her mother in the eye.  

The fourth month was when she could no longer take it. The monster had been put down for a nap, her parents were off elsewhere, doing something she did not care about. She walked into their room, hiding her hands behind her back, looking at the wet nurse who had been so diligently looking after it. The woman, who was plump and had a voice like a squealing pig. She looked at the cradle, cooing as if bewitched. 

Aemma made her presence known with a cough, and the woman jumped slightly, startled. “M-my princess, the prince is just going down to nap. I-if you would so kind as to...” 

“Mother asked to see you, she said it is urgent.” Aemma said sweetly, her hands behind her back.  

“I shouldn’t leave the prince alone-” 

“I can watch him.” Aemma offered the woman a smile. Though initially hesitant, the woman would quickly bow her head and run out of the room, leaving Aemma alone with her quarry. Looking behind her back to see that she was gone, Aemma would go to her parents’ bed and take a pillow, bringing it to the cradle.  

It was the first time she had gotten a good look at it. Like her, its hair was silver. It squirmed in its rest, perhaps sensing danger somehow, and she would watch as it opened its eyes to see a dark purple, near black hue. At first, it did nothing, but then it began to cry. Aemma panicked, dropping the pillow to the floor, but she would quickly pick it up and put it over the babe’s face, pressing down and... 

“What the fuck are you doing?” 

A hand grabbed her roughly, pulling her away. The pillow would roll off Aegon, and he would cry even louder than before. Aemma would turn to see Daemon, more furious than she had ever seen him in his life, and he would use his free hand to slap her across the face – the first time he had ever struck her.  

Rhaenyra was not far behind him, entering the room in a rush, picking up her babe and holding him to her chest, shushing him. She looked at Daemon and Aemma, concerned and confused. She had not seen what Aemma was attempting to do. 

“I didn’t do anything!” Aemma cried, trying desperately to pull away from him.  

“Daemon what is going on-” Rhaenyra would stop as her husband glared at her, the anger in his gaze shocking her to silence and inaction as he began to pull Aemma down the hallway. 

“Let go of me!” Aemma screamed, clawing at his arm that held her like a vice, finding his strength to be completely unyielding. 

Daemon did not let her go, and he did not loosen his grip until they went to her room. He roughly pulled her inside, practically throwing her to her bed, locking the door behind them. Aemma immediately went onto the offense once he let her go, running to him, hitting what part of him that she could, but it was akin to punching a wall. He let her hit him for a few moments, his anger rising, before eventually he had enough. He would grab her roughly, bringing her back to her bed, and pushing her face down into the covers. But unlike how she had treated Aegon, he allowed her the chance to breathe, with her face to the side. 

“Do you want to know how agonizing suffocation is? Your lungs burning, begging for air. The way your body begins to panic, trying to fight for breath?” He hissed. “You should know how it feels before you condemn my son, your brother, to such cruelty.”  

Even though it was useless, Aemma would still fight back, but not for her life, merely for control. “Do it!” 

Daemon did not intend for things to go this far, but something inside of him snapped. No longer would he allow his daughter that precious chance for air, as he roughly moved her head, pressing it down hard. He would rationalize it as a necessary lesson, to a child who did not know right from wrong, who needed to know of pain, who needed to know what it felt like to struggle for one’s life, but anger had blinded him. For a few brief moments, he had done it with malicious intent, and once he had realized that, he let go of her.  

Immediately, Aemma would be back on the attack, her tiny hands attempting to claw at his face. There was no sense of panic, no sense of fear – just anger, just an all-consuming anger and hatred that made his blood run cold.  

“Kill me! If you hate me so much then just kill me!” Daemon would stare at her in shocked silence, taking both her wrists in one hand, incapacitating her one more time.  

“If you don’t, I’ll kill you first. Me and Siren will kill you. She’s bigger than Caraxes, she could do it easy. We could kill you and Mother and Jace-” 

Where had she learned such hate? 

“-And Luke and Joff and Baela and Rhaena and the stupid beast you all love more than me-” 

There was a fresh red mark on her neck from his hand... when had he... 

“-And when that’s done, I’ll die too. I’ll kill myself, so that your stupid legacy dies as well-” 

He hadn’t pushed her down on the bed at all. He had choked her with his own hand. 

“-Everything you ever wanted will be killed by me. I’ll destroy everything, every last thing that you ever wanted-” 

She hadn’t even looked shocked or scared. She just accepted it as her fate. 

“-Everything will be dead, dead, dead all because of me. All because of the stupid, unwanted, unloved...” 

Daemon pulled her into a tight hug, one hand upon her back, the other at the back of her head. At first, she tried to fight it and pull away, screaming, but Daemon only held her tighter. Tears formed in his eyes as he listened to his daughter scream, those screams eventually dying down into desperate sobs, as her tiny hands clung to the back of his jacket, not trying to push him away but instead pull him closer.  

Daemon did not know how long they sat there like that, but he held her until she wore herself out, falling asleep within his embrace. But even then, he would not let her go, wanting to make up for lost time and lost love. 

There was a lot that needed to be made up for.  

[lupuslikethewolf]

Wordvomit on Lucerys Velaryon

I have… many, many thoughts about all of these characters. I will now be screaming them into the void. Enjoy, maybe. Possibly. If not, I thrive of people’s disappointment in me :D

I think there are two main interpretations of Luc that people tend to see/say: Luc as either a sweet, protective, all-around angel who made mistakes he will never be able to face in fear for his life, or a bitter and vindictive little bitch who’s desire was to inflict pain on Aemond for whatever reason. I would like to say:

One thing that stays the same is that Luc, as both a child and a slightly-taller child (6/7 & 13/14), loves his family, looks up to his grandparents, especially Corlys, and wants to be the person he thinks everyone expects him to be: a perfect prince, a perfect warrior, a perfect sea-farer, a perfect son, and most importantly a perfect Valyrian. Now, whether people actually expect this of him is a completely different sorry, but it is evident in what little screentime we get of him that he is well-fucking-aware of the pressure of his station (a completely different story than his mother, tbh) and does not think himself able to live up-to that.

What happens with Aemond’s Eye is, in either interpretation, is a turning point for the character.

To start, there is this little boy with hopes and dreams and the idea of a big, happy family, with no idea yet that the actions that make him, jace and aegon laugh, hurt aemond more than they know.

He, alongside the cousins and brother he looks up to as his idea of perfect, discover that, on the night of their aunt’s/mother’s funeral, someone stole laena’s dragon! On top of that, it was the dragon ‘meant’ for rhaena! Then, out walks aemond, who then taunts them (very lightly, this is not anti young aemond) about it. In her grief, rhaena (who is too fucking young to know how to handle grief, and her father is not the best example of it in a million years) attacks what she believes to be the boy who stole her mother’s dragon. He deflects. No one is hurt.

Then Baela attacks. Then Jace. Then Rhaena again. And Luc, watching, joins in, despite being half Aemonds fucking size. Aemond is, for lack of a better word, under attack, by children at least four years his younger and emboldened by their grief.

This is the point where the characterisations start to become clear:

There is one Luc, who watches, sees that Aemond might hurt or even kill his older brother, and uses Jace’s dropped knife to defend them both, enraged by Aemond calling them bastards and by Ser Harwin’s death being mentioned in such a callous way. Later, he hides, scared of his own actions and unable to face himself because of it.

In his mind, he just tore their family apart: Aegon won’t speak to them, both Aegon and Aemond believe them to be bastards, the queen now want’s his eye and he is petrified. The actions he was once told were okay and funny are now being used against him, he is being told are bad and wrong, and he has no idea who he should be listening too, or even what the fuck just happened.

Fast forward years later, he is seeing Aemond again for the first time in nearly ten years. The first thing Aemond does? Stand around menacingly, vaguely threaten them, and wear the colours declaring war against them and their mother. Fun. And most definitely not a safe environment to bring up the incredibly traumatic event that turned Aemond into this person.

Then The Roast Pig happens at the family dinner. Luc watches Aemond, and when Aemond doesn’t outwardsly react, laughs. This… I genuinely don’t know why he does. Best guess? He thinks that, since Aemond now has a dragon and making dragon-less jokes won’t hurt him, the old jokes are funny again.

Aemond does not react how Luc thought he would, and instead insults them all, and eggs on Jace to attack him. A fight breaks out. And just like that, Luc is swiftly reminded that his family is broken, and Luc is the reason. He blames himself. Maybe it would have been different, maybe he could have fixed it, maybe there was another way.

Or, there is another Lucerys:

This Luc, instead of being driven by any urge to protect, it is instead to avenge. This Luc, who watched Aemond call them bastards to their face, attacks because he wants to. He wants this Aemond to feel that pain. He is hurt and he is angry.

This Luc, sees everything in the aftermath, and doesn’t give two shits. He called them bastards, so he deserved it. Luc watches their family get torn apart by the actions of (unsupervised) angry children and can only think that those who got hurt? They deserved it.

Then he sees Aemond after ten years, and Aemond is better than him. Despite being one-eyed, this Aemond is confident and cocky in a way Luc never could be himself and Luc hates that. This Aemond is talented and rides the biggest dragon in the world and still threatens them, makes fun of them, and openly wears the war colours of their would-be usurpers. That makes him fucking angry. Bitter. Hateful.

So when The Roast Pig happens, Luc sees the perfect opportunity to get back at this new Aemond. So he laughs, and he makes sure Aemond sees him do so. Because he wants to hurt Aemond. And he does. But Aemond can now hurth them back, and Luc wasn’t expecting that.

Then a fight breaks out, which was not a good thing, but, shit happens. Aemond got punched. The divide got deeper. Luc stands by his family.

So, in conclusion:

Luc can be a sweet boy who made terrible mistakes with no idea how to address or solve them, especially because at the time, those around him told him it was okay (i.e. the bullying and aegon, and the eye incident and rhaenyra). Luc can also be a hateful and bitter little shit who wants to hurt the man who is out to get them, for reasons it is up to the reader to interpret as either valid or not.

Either way, he most definitely is a Mama’s Boy, who loves his family in one way or another, and most definitely has self-worth and self-image issues rooted in his “bastardry” (which aemond absolutely did not help, but neither did anyone, really) and his own need to be perceived as perfect.

(Final Note: Aemond’s obsession with Luc was definitely gay. No I will not take criticism on this. Hate is not the opposite of Love, indifference is!)

[theredpharaoah]

And how are they going to explain the Rook’s Rest decision? Corlys gets pissed because she said Rhaenyra sent Rhaenys alone to Rook’s Rest and didn’t let Jace and Joff go. Obviously Joff couldn’t go to Rook’s Rest or battle at all - he was 11. But what about Jace and Baela? She may be able to stop Jace but she won’t be able to stop Baela - not when it comes to Rhaenys. She might not even be able to stop Jace as I’m sure he considers Rhaenys his grandmother- she is legally. And we saw 2 episodes ago that Jace knew Laenor but he didn’t really know Harwin at all. They could say she sends Rhaenys alone because it’s 9 days after the siege started and they weren’t expecting enemy dragons? Idk if that’ll be convincing though. Joffrey not being an option could explain her wanting Jace in Dragonstone in case of an attack.

It also said that she gave over leadership of the council to Corlys and Rhaenys in her grief over Lucerys. I’m assuming this is supposed to be the time in the show when Daemon was ruling and she was looking for Luke’s body? And Corlys’ response is going to have to change. “It should have been you!”…she’s the queen? The ruling Queen doesn’t go to war. Rhaenys and Daemon are basically the 2 strongest commanders/soldiers in the Black army rn. And him saying she didn’t send Jace and Joffrey also made no sense as Tyraxes wasn’t even large enough to fly yet and Vermax was still very young. Vermax wouldn’t have even been able to fight Sunfyre 1 on 1. At best, those two would’ve gotten in the way. I don’t expect Corlys to consider honoring Rhaenys’ memory and continuing his support of the blacks, as he is an extremely selfish man. We see that clip of Baela yelling on Moondancer which makes me think she’s seeing Rhaenys die. That or it was from that faux-trailer I watched where someone threw a bunch of clips in.

They keep mismatching events. And they’ve complete cut out the fact that Aegon wasn’t just bloodthirsty, but nervous as hell. He’d started drinking because he realized that Rhaenyra had more support and he couldn’t break the blockade. Yet they had Alicent saying Rhaenyra had no supporters and that the few she had was abandoning her cause last episode.

Also, I’m still tryna hone in on Mushroom’s identity. I don’t think he’s an actual fool I think he’s an alias someone constructed. No one would really be around to say “there was no fool named mushroom at court” and these(Mushroom and Eustace’s accounts) are the only two texts we have of the event. “Unbeknownst to all, it was I who ruled them now”…Mysaria? I don’t think so cuz wasn’t this written after the Dance? And Mysaria stood ten toes down the whole time. I don’t believe she told Rhaenyra Nettles has bewitched Daemon and Sheepstealer. Maybe Corlys? Mushroom served Viserys, Rhaenyra, Aegon II, and Aegon III. But he outlived Aegon’s reign, went to White Harbor, Sealord’s Palace, and the Port of IB. That makes me think it’s either Baela or Rhaena but I really don’t know.