#daemon and his love nettles

[bohemian-nights]

you're a weirdo, stop talking shit about rhaenyra and daemyra while supporting nettles and daemon as a couple, rhaenyra was fucking groomed by daemon just like nettles, he's not a good person but neither is rhaenyra so stop acting like daemon and nettles where victims of evil queen rhaenyra, when she had every reason to think that nettles was going to betray her too

Oh my god I’m surprised it took this long to get hate for my posts

Is this your queen 👸🏼?

I’m not making Rhaenyra “out to be the evil queen.” Your queen flipped out when she thought Daemon was “cheating” on her with Nettles.

There is no basis for Rhaenyra’s hate of Nettles other than her general paranoia(of bastards no less which is ironic as hell) which was stoked by a butt hurt Misery.

I never called Daemon her victim. He is/was a grown a** fictional man. He was never her victim. I even said that Rhaenyra was groomed by him.

Nettles was about to become her victim though. She could have asked Nettles to be brought in for questioning, but she went straight to murder(to “free” her husband from a “low creature who stinked of sorcery”)

Thank God Daemon said not on my watch because Nettles got to live to see several other days. Daemon protected his maiden:

We all know what happened to Rhaenyra. Your ship 🚢 is stale 🤷🏽‍♀️

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

hotd writers don't be racist challenge: impossible

[navree]

Was Daemon a p*do in the book?

It's hard to say because Westeros does not have the same standards of sexual propriety that our modern society does; in our society you should not be marrying and having sex with and impregnating young teenagers but in Westeros, beyond the age of majority being sixteen, girls are considered sexually mature the second they've "flowered". So it's hard to parse out what's genuinely, you know, sexual desire for children and what's just men conforming to the standards of their time and living place.

But Daemon does appear to have a tendency to gravitate towards young teenage girls. He does in fact "dote" on Rhaenyra for much of their time together when she's quite young, and he does have an affair with Nettles, who is seventeen. The only exception to this appears to be Laena, because while he likely knew her since childhood, he only is interested in her/married her when she's in her early twenties, and their age difference is only eleven years in the book (that's why Daemon/Laena is the superior ship I'm sorry it just is). And I think there's a quote in the book about Daemon enjoying maidens, but I don't remember if that's true or not so don't quote me on it.

[starksinthenorth]

Timeline wise it is possible. Daemon returned to King’s Landing in 111 AC for Viserys and Alicent’s fifth anniversary tournament. At that point, he returned to his place on the small council.

Six months later he was exiled from King’s Landing. This was prior to Rhaenyra turning 16, which would’ve been in 113 AC. A this point, Mushroom claims that Daemon gave her kissing lessons to seduce Criston Cole. So he was in King’s Landing until either 111 or 112 AC.

His exile doesn’t have clear parameters, only that he returned to the Stepstones. His specific movements are neither relevant to a history book nor the story at large.

throw in the fact that GRRM is notoriously bad at math (Jace is listed as six during the Vhagar Incident but mathematically would’ve been five, for example).

So it is thoroughly possible that he stopped in Driftmark on his way to the Stepstones or returned there to consult with Corlys at some point.

But the release dates indicate that GRRM’s intention is for them to be read as lovers. The Princess & the Queen (2013), The Rogue Prince (2014), and The World of Ice & Fire (2014) all refer to rumors that Daemon and Nettles were lovers.

It’s only in Fire & Blood (2018) where GRRM inserts the notes about Daemon treating her like a daughter. Then Gyldayn, who effectively speaks with GRRM’s actual opinions in his own canon, says the maester’s notes are most likely the truth as an eyewitness account.

And those say lovers, which effectively ends the conversation as far as canon goes.

(Also it’s thematically important that a non-Valyrian can fly a dragon and the other three dragonseeds are all most likely bastards with Valyrian ancestry)

I think fandom needs to accept a certain fact regardless of their bias or headcanons: Nettles isn’t Daemon’s biological daughter. Period. No, there’s not “if” or “but”. End of discussion. She simply isn’t.

I’m not gonna argue about the nature of Nettles and Daemon’s relationship, because that is something that is up for interpretation (even though I think people oversell the idea that George wrote it to be this super ambiguous situation where we don’t know the truth. I think it’s pretty obvious what the truth is about, but I digress).

I’m talking about facts. And here they are:

Nettles was born in 113AC

Daemon was away from Westeros from 111AC to 115AC.

This is stated in several asoiaf books: Fire & Blood, A World of Ice and Fire and so on. It’s simply not possible for Daemon to be Nettles’ biological father, because he wasn’t even in Westeros during the time Nettles would have been conceived.

Fire&Blood is written by unreliable sources, but that doesn’t mean every piece of factual information is suspect. Core dates and events such as Daemon fighting a war on the Stepstones aren’t up for debate. “Oh, but what if he secretly returned to Westeros” “what if her mother was at the war and ran away” “what if” then George would have written it. Because this is all from George’s mind and if he wanted it that way, he would have it written that way. As it is, he hasn’t. And if we are going to bend canon so it can embrace our headcanons, then I might as well go as far and say that actually, Aegon was secretly named heir by Viserys and Rhaenyra was excluded from the line of succession, and are we sure Daemon wasn’t actually a woman and married to Viserys because at this point I’m just making up shit.

These are the facts as they are. Take it or leave it, ignore it or not, they won’t change. If you want to headcanon that they were father/daughter, feel free to do so. But that’s all that will be: a headcanon. It’s not a theory. It’s not a “maybe”. In canon, it’s not a possibility.

Daemon is not her biological father.

[kass-of-the-midlands]

They erased Helaena’s gentleness, her belovednesd and her life-ending despair to give to Rhaenyra, they aged down Alicent and made her betray everything she loved for Rhaenyra, they made Cole sleep with Rhaenyra when he never did in the books because he held to his vows, they erased Mysaria’s flaws to make her a side piece for Rhaenyra, they erased Baela’s wildness and tomboyishness to have her be subservient to Rhaenyra, they erased Nettles to make sure Daemon never had a serious committment with anyone but Rhaenyra, they had the Velaryons ignore that Rhaenyra had caused the deaths of two of their members to be subservient to Rhaenyra, they had Laenor just fuck off and abandon everything so Rhaenyra wouldn’t get her hands dirty, they erased the Silent Five so Rhaenyra wouldn’t get her hands dirty, they made Vaemond’s death completely different so Rhaenyra wouldn’t get her hands dirty, they erased Rhaenyra’s racism and calling for a child’s death so Rhaenyra wouldn’t get her hands dirty, they erased Rhaenyra’s own opulence because sTrong InDePeNdAnT wOmEn cAnNot bE gIrLy, they erased Rhaenyra’s own desire for the throne

And I’m expected to believe this show favours Team Green.

Interesting.

[ophelieverse]

Everything is reduced to misunderstandings,mistakes and accidents.No one is plotting to take/steal the power like it was supposed to.

Characters are completely changed or are the opposite of what they are in the book.The is no gray,only black and white,only good people or bad ones.

Different team stans are at each other’s throats.

Daemon and Aemond are plotting against the people they are most loyal to and they want to become kings by themselves.

Daeron is lost somewhere and it’s rumored to be a bastard.

Maelor and Nettles don’t exist.Their storylines were so important for characters like Daeron,Helaena,Daemon and Rhaenyra.

Apparently having dragon blood/being valyrian has no use to ride a dragon.

Other dragons,like Dreamfyre,are long forgotten.

There was no interaction,no relationship,not even a conversation between Viserys children.

Laenor simply running away,living his best life in Essos meanwhile his family started a civil war.Same as Daeron,who is trapped in Oldtwon while his siblings are destroying each other.Perfect sense.

Rumors about Alys engaging a relationship with Daemon instead that with Aemond.

Aegon and Criston Cole being the most hated in the fandom when in the book they were completely different,so much wasted potential.

Rhaenyra being paint as saint/mary sue,instead that the political idiot she actually is and the bad person she is(and that’s why i loved her in the book).

Alicent being a scheming little bitch,a Margaery 1.0,not a little scared girl that did what she did because of a misunderstanding.She wanted to usurp the throne,she wanted the power and she didn’t stopped in front of anything.

Rhaenicent scene in the Temple was a comic relief,because otherwise it make no sense if you think about how the characters were supposed to be.Just another proof of how “good” and “misunderstood” they are,acting like it’s the world that goes against them and that is not them that are keep doing a bullshit after another.

Helaena having no reaction after Blood and Cheese,but saying that things like this happen in the world.When in reality this is the event that will forever change her life,she will stop sleeping,bathing and eating.She won’t even look at her other children without feeling guilty for what happened.She literally goes insane with grief.

Rhaena bonding with the dragon that Nettles was supposed to have and that’s mean that we won’t probably see her real dragon:the pink baby Morning,that represents the hope for the dragons because in the dance they all died.

Ryan Condal if you plan to make a show about the Conquest,i beg you to not do it.I don’t want to see Visenya and Rhaenys being rivals and fight over Aegon,because i know this is what will happen!

[lorhaghanima]

so, it finally happened. writers of the hotd finally destroyed everything good about it, any potential it once had, all for some kind of... agenda?

they were destroying greens slowly during the whole season two. aemond, being hateful and vengeful, but not towards ones, who deserve it (the blacks), no - to aegon, his brother, his king. aemond not having any interaction with alys rivers, instead of it the whole season and a potentially large part of their relationship was given to daemon - prophecies, visions, support in war, romantic implications. helaena, whose scene of great loss was cut, happened because of incompetence of writers royal guards (absolutely impossible for a setting), somehow her mother's affair (which is also impossible, since there's know way criston could be the only and personal protectpr of helaena and kids), and she was robbed of her burden (choice between sons) and her grieve (she is already unhappy most of the time, not cheerful, not beloved, and her loss doesn't haunt the narrative the way it should - the way it traumatized the whole family daeron who). aegon crippled not in battle and with glory, but by betrayal of his own brother (supposed to be his supporter), also deprived of his rightful grieve and anger, and even his dragon - the most beautiful, the most loyal, sunfyre, so important for the original story and our understanding, how strong and unbreakable this bond can be - erased to one scene. alicent - oh, my sweet alicent, i will remember the one, who could've been - the one we lose completely. alicent, who always loves and protected the monstrosity and beauty and destiny of motherhood and queenhood, what have they done to you? alicent, who stands in front of dragon, to protect aegon (at least try to protect him), alicent, who cuts her husband's beloved daughter and heir to the throne because all of the injustice done to aemond, alicent, who loves, loves, loves, her sweet daughter helaena (even in first part of season two she says - but what have they done to my daughter?). alicent, the actual queen, alicent, beloved by the smallfolk, alicent, respected by the council, alicent, loyal to her family to the core. where did you go, my beloved?

And to the worst part - all of this was done for one purpose - to remind us once again about this targaryen supremacy. that they are chosen ones, that they are supposed to save everyone, that they are gods, not men, and they will not be punished by the story, instead - they will be victimised, they will be martyred, they will be rewarded for cruelty. The blacks have only two options in season two - they are either absurdly boring (cause they can't have any flaws, and supposed to be heroic - that's why it safer to make them blank and dull), or they are chosen, special, destined - to rule westeros, to ride dragons, to get whatever they want. this, of course, are qualities of the right kind of targaryens - the blacks, the connected with daenerys ones, not the whole family, obviously. This is the reason, why rhaenyra has nothing to do with the death of a child, somehow goes to the king's Landing and tries negotiations with alicent, breaks up with not-so-perfect daemon, tames bronze fury just because she can, and acting incredibly passive most of the season. This is the reason, why we don't have nettles - girl of color, of unknown birth, younger and more beautiful, who tames the dragon using only her wits, survives the story, surpasses the tragedy. of course we don't have you, dear nettles - you are a mirror, where targaryen, mostly daemon and rhaenyra, were supposed to see their flaws.

I remind you, that hotd is supposed to be an interpretation of a very specific story. One where dragons dance and house targaryen falls. One where smallfolk kills the dragons, where dragons are monsters, destroying cities, and targaryens are false gods and precarious rulers. The cursed war - kin against kin. The narrative, where everyone is dead long before the beginning, everyone is doomed. It's not supposed to praise house targaryen, on the contrary - it says 'look, what they've done, look, what they do', 'look, how treacherous, flawed, hypocritical, unnatural, brutal, unreliable they ALL are, even to each other', and what is most important - 'look, they can be killed, look, they can fall, look the dragons and their riders bleed, and we can destroy them'.

and all of this potential, all of this greekish kind of tragedy, lost... and i have no idea, what for.

[lanaisdoe]

Daemon was so in love with Nettles that when he learned about Rhaenyra’s discomfort he sent her off and went to prove devotion to his wife

Anyway, Always this.

[cinematic-phosphenes]

I'm once again pissed off about Nettles likely being cut.

Dragonstone has dragons coming out the seams. If they had to give Rhaena an adult dragon*, they could have given her Grey Ghost and Nettles could still claim Sheepstealer. I don't want to hear shit about the CGI budget. There are some other unnecessary dragon scenes they could have cut. (I love Syrax and Caraxes but we did not have to see Caraxes doing nothing in the Riverlands or Rhaenyra taking off on Syrax to go confront Addam - although admittedly that shot of Syrax diving like a hawk is cool.)

*They're basically recycling Aemond's S1 plot for Rhaena. A Targaryen kid feels inferior and left out because they don't have a dragon. Eventually they claim the biggest, baddest dragon around and everything is (not) fine.

I think Rhaena coming into her own by hatching a dragon egg (something we haven't seen anyone else do in this series) and also realizing Targaryens are more than just their dragons and she can be a leader despite not being a dragon rider and not having a grown, intimidating dragon would've made for a better story and character development for her.

They could've shown Rhaena impressing Lady Jeyne Arryn and winning her over to Rhaenyra's cause despite not bringing a dragon to defend the Vale. They could have shown Lady Jeyne tutoring Rhaena in how to be a ruler and command men in a world that's reluctant to accept female leaders. That would be more scenes and character development for Lady Jeyne too, who has a great actress playing her.

They could've had Rhaena show up at Harrenhal in the season finale leading the Vale army she's recruited with diplomacy and negotiation instead of pointing a dragon at them. They could've shown Daemon realizing he's been underestimating Rhaena all along and finally show pride in his second daughter. It could have been a character growth moment for Daemon too since he's all about dragon supremacy and has been neglecting Rhaena her whole life.

I do like HOTD despite it being far from perfect ... but I want to like it more. I just want all my favourite girl characters to have better :(

Maybe the leaks are wrong.

Maybe I should console myself by writing fanfic.

[certifiedskywalker]

Three Weddings and Your Funeral (Part 2) - Daemon Targaryen

Anonymous asked: Hi certi, how are you ? I love all you're stories and most you do daemon targaryen characterization justice could you do second part  to Three Weddings and Your Funeral - Daemon Targaryen ?

Before the Dance of Dragons, there was another waltz. You and Daemon Targaryen were always drifting in and out, always spinning about one another without moving at all. Your dance of stillness stretched across the continent; but you thought you ended that dance long ago…Daemon, as always, had other ideas.

Part One

A twig splintered beneath your foot with a sharp, ear-tingling snap. At the sound, you caught your loud, ragged breath in your throat, careful not to add insult to self-inflicted injury. You let your gaze fall to the split thing under your shoe and cursed it in the quiet of your mind before daring to look back up towards the abandoned fishing hut. The storm-toppled tree branch that split its planks would be a warning realized too late. When you did look, its foreshadowing was the furthest from your attention.

“I thought I taught you better,” Daemon chided, slinking out of the shadows cast by the hut. His dark armor and silver hair glinted in the moonlight. Under its glow, he was alive and rippling like the bay waves that lapped quietly at the shoreline. One step in the wrong direction and you would be overcome: dragged under and drowned in him. It didn’t help that his eyes moved like the tide too: wishing and washing up and down your frame. “You look well.”

You swallowed after a long moment, forcing the caught breath into your lungs. “Sneaking about King’s Landing in your shadow hardly constitutes a lesson.”

Daemon hummed, the sound light and affirming, tilted up like the start of a dear song; and there you were, being lulled into the warm ease of familiarity. No, nothing about being familiar with Daemon was warm or easy. It was sweltering and you had somehow forgotten about the heat. It returned to you then, and the memory stung with vengeance. 

“What are you doing here?” Your voice did not waver with the question, which surprised you. Perhaps time weakened Daemon’s ability to drag you under. 

“I could ask the same of you,” he countered. The closed-lip smirk etched onto his features was unmoved by your bravery. “You sent word.”

“And you listened, after all this time.” Daemon lingered in his spot in the sand before he stepped towards you, his expression becoming clearer and all the more taunting. It was as if he knew how you, just hours before, had clutched the parchment and traced his lettering. “Did you ever stop listening?”

Nettle-like memories again: endless, stinging flashes of tourneys and weddings spent at Daemon’s side. So many years spent biding by his beck and call like a hound eager to please. What did you have to show for your dedication? A single kiss, before being left entirely to fend for yourself. How you had loathed his silence then; but, with him stood just a pace away, you found yourself unwilling to give him the satisfaction of the truth.

So, you ignored him and asked again, this time through gritted teeth: “What are you doing here?” 

Daemon cocked his head, his smirk widening ever-so-slightly, and stepped towards you until he was only an arm's length from you.

“Why?”

“Why?” 

“Why did you come to meet me here?” His eyes were dark but not like the pitch night about you. The fire in him shone through as it always had, but it was dimmer than you remembered. At your last meeting, his gaze had been wild, spitting like coals needing air…needing you, however briefly. What had he blamed then?

“Impulse.”

With the word, memory stung Daemon too. His smirk melted into the lines on his face, some old and others new. Impulse made your hand twitch with an itch to reach up and be taken under his current. Then, you could learn those new lines and trace them as you had with his lettering. 

You managed to still yourself, curling your fingers into tight fists. Daemon’s gaze flicked your hands before it settled on your face with a gripping cold. His scowl-stuck lips parted, sealed, then parted again, a hesitation that had you almost gleeful. At long last, you had knocked him off balance; though, he eventually found his words.

“You married,” he snapped, his tone icy and startling, and suddenly you were the one careening. He leaned in, his eyes searching yours for…what you were unsure. “Did you not think I heard?”

Your marriage into House Cox of Saltpans had been no great news, hardly news at all. It, like many a marriage, was strategic: safety from dancing dragons seemed a better bet in the far, underfed reaches of the Riverlands. 

Saltpans was a quality choice in that regard, having been stymied long ago by men who called themselves River Kings and ruled the Bay of Crabs by boat before Aegon conquered by dragon. Left charterless, the town never sprawled into a city, and trade, while present, was limited to the sweet meat of pygmy crabs and seashell beads carved by those living nearer to the Trident. With such limitations, House Cox, as the town’s stewards, had few arms to provide to the war effort, an insufficiency that left it rather uninvolved in combat. 

At most, what you heard of the Blacks and Greens was the distant roars of whichever Targaryen most recently claimed the ruins of Harrenhal. Though, it seemed that relative, personal peace had worn out. The wave of dread that accompanied that realization washed your mind clean enough to clarify the object of Daemon’s searching eyes. How could you?

“I am married,” you replied, your voice barely above a murmur, “as are you, thrice over.”

Daemon scoffed, letting his face turn down and to the side.

“Did you truly expect me to wait for you after all that happened?” 

“Do not think me so foolish,” he snapped, his head lifting to meet your gaze. In his eyes then, you saw the Daemon so many feared, the worst of the man you had loved for so long.

“I knew you to be so foolish, or at least so cruel as to expect that of me.”

“Yes, so cruel,” he stepped towards you as he spoke, his boots sinking to the sand with such heated anger that you were surprised the grains did not turn to glass beneath him. “Cruel, yet I have kept my promise. You, your Lord, and these wretched reaches of the Riverlands have been spared dragon fire. Do you think that was by fate? By the Old fucking Gods?”

He was close enough to you then that his breath kissed the peaks of your face, just as it had so many years ago, on another beach, when he told you of his intentions with Rhaenyra. The aching depth of feeling then… It welled up inside you and spilled onto your lips. “Daemon-”

“It was me,” he finished, his nose nearly knocking yours as he leaned closer. “Nyke jāhor daor ivestragī ao zālagon, and you have not burned.”

Daemon smelled of dragon and sweat, and there was the swelter again. Perhaps it was that familiar heat that pushed you to take that one, drowning step, or maybe you were just exhausted by a dance you thought ended years ago. As if you were with Caraxes, you reached a careful hand up to test the heat of the air about his face. Your palm was immediately met with warmth and Daemon’s cheek as he pressed his face into your skin. 

Your breath hitched at the feeling, but your thumb traced the peak of his cheekbone with a gentleness you feared you had lost when you lost Daemon. Comforted and angling for a different approach, you asked your first question again, gentler than before: “Is that what brought you here?”

Daemon merely closed his eyes and pressed his face harder in your touch. So, you asked another way: “Were you compelled by another impulse to tell me, again, that you have danced about me without my knowing? You have known where I was since my leaving you and, again, shielded me from the hard truth?”

“From war,” he murmured, the edge of his lips tickling your palm.

“The truth,” you asserted, and before he protested, you continued. “How?”

Daemon’s eyes fluttered open and it was as if you were children again, before weddings and feelings and knowing. “When I first took Harrenhal for Rhaenyra. I heard of your marriage from the Strong’s there and sent to have eyes on you.”

“By your own admittance, House Cox is removed from your war. There are no spies here in Saltpans.”

“Anyone can be bought,” Daemon answered, much too simply. 

His features went startlingly grey as if remembering a time buried under the sea’s stone bottom, and his eyes fell past you, seeing through the sediment of time. Just like that, Daemon was far from you again. Within your grasp yet entirely out of reach; but there were no arms of another brilliant bride for him to run into. He was, for however long you could stretch this moment, only with you, and how right that felt.

Right, but you knew that, with all he had confessed, you should feel violated, exposed. You should be scathing and demanding an apology. No, you should be demanding that he leave. You and Daemon were married after all, not to each other. Never to each other.

That thought, as it always had, pulled you out from under the tide of him. “You did not answer my question.”

“I did,” he said, his voice alarmingly soft as his gaze flitted back to you. “I have protected y-”

“No, Daemon,” you interrupted, your hand falling from his face. He went rigid immediately, his posture straightening as if shocked by a stabbing blade. The heat of him lingered, but the comfort you had taken in it was gone. “Why are you here, after all this time and everything you have done? If you knew I was here for so long, why not come to me sooner?”

Daemon just stared at you, his sharp eyes and features unyielding. You drank in the sight of his steadfast expression, unsure of how long it would be before you saw it again and too sure that Daemon would leave without giving even a moment’s notice. It was then you saw his armor again, but this time, you saw past the shine of it. You saw the scorch marks, the scratches, each new, like the line in his face. A different sort of heat rushed like a wave against you, nearly knocking you over.

When you looked up at Daemon again, tears stinging in your eyes, he knew that you understood. “I’ve come to take Harrenhal for the last time.”

“The last time,” you echoed grimly, your tears falling freely.

“I wrote to you and then to Green’s own kinslayer,” he winced as if the word struck him before pivoting in his speech. “I am to face Aemond.”

Then, it was your eyes that searched Daemon’s. Your object: fear. When you found no trace, more tears streamed down your cheeks, but Daemon quickly raised a hand to wipe them away. Despite the tenderness of his touch, the pad of his thumb was rough against the apples of your cheeks. Had he ever been soft? You couldn’t recall a time he wasn’t all rough edges.

“He will have Vhagar,” you murmured as the tips of his fingers skimmed the edge of your lips.

“And I will have Caraxes.”

“Daemon, he is swift and fiery, but Vhagar is-”

“I know,” he interrupted, his hand cupping your face. His thumb rubbed against your cheek and, despite the shadowy loom of a stacked fight, Daemon smiled. “Do you remember our first meeting?”

All thoughts that consumed you were of your last meeting, your parting words a terrible echo in your skull…it will be your funeral. How could he be smiling?

“It was Viserys and Aemma’s wedding,” Daemon pressed on, “and you were waltzing with some hoary goat. Do you remember?”

You stared at Daemon, trying to place his smile and intent. Your funeral. You shook your head as you were unable to think of anything else but Daemon’s doom.

“Old fool kept leaning on you. Too frail maybe, or ripe with lust, I never did know which. All I knew is that I needed y- I needed to intervene,” Daemon cocked his head and leaned towards you. His breath fanned across your face as he asked in a whisper: “Do you remember how?”

The question had you drowning in him as if it were the first time. “You came in like the sea and washed me away into the rest of the waltz. You led,” you sniffled through a bitter smile, “rather poorly, I recall.”

“Yes, well, if you recall, I despise weddings. I never intended on enjoying myself, it jarred me.” Daemon brushed the tips of his fingers through your hair slowly, savoring the feel of those strands of you against his skin. “Though, I do like to think we have been dancing ever since then. Married in our own way, without the garish decor and ghoulish crowd.”

“Daemon-”

“So, if you find it in yourself, I would like to dance a touch longer.” He took a step back and let his hand slip from your face just to let it hang in the air between you. An offering you could not refuse.  

The time for words having passed, you took Daemon’s hand and let him lead you until dawn broke at the edge of the Bay of Crabs. When the first rays of Sun kissed the sand, he let the hand holding yours fall while the other remained wrapped about your waist. He pulled you against him until you were sharing the same air, and you could not imagine a day to come where you did share the world with him.

“I cannot turn from you again,” you whispered, your lips brushing against Daemon’s as you spoke. His hand held you tighter.

“You will not have to,” he replied, before kissing you at last. There was no rush to his kiss, despite the distant cries of a battle-hungry Caraxes. There was only Daemon’s last, perhaps only, bit of softness; saved for you. Lips still locked, he spun you in the sand. 

When you parted and opened your eyes, you saw, past Daemon’s shoulder, the shoreline castle seat of House Cox. Quickly, you refocused on the man before you, wishing you could drown in the pools of his eyes as you had done in the past, in those moments that stretched just long enough. All steps in our dance.

“I’ll go,” Daemon said, his tone gentle but his words an order. “Then, after a while, you will go.”

“What if I do not listen this time?”

Daemon let out a breath of a laugh, one heavy with knowing but sweet enough to make you hope. Perhaps you were the fool. “We both know that you will.” “Just this last time,” you murmured. “After this, you are to listen to me.”

“Of course, issa jorrāelagon,” Daemon leaned up and kissed your forehead. The swelter eased with the act and you felt your stomach twist. He took a step back and smiled. “Of course.”

Then, Daemon Targaryen kept his last promise to you: he turned away. 

[drakaripykiros130ac]

The idea that Daemon survived the fall after the Battle above God’s Eye is absurd (the idea that he abandoned his family so he could run away with Nettles is beyond that).

Daemon Targaryen loved his family more than anything, for starters. He loved his daughters, he loved his sons and he loved his wife/his Queen (the woman he waited years and years for). He would have never abandoned them at their time of need, especially during a war deciding the future of House Targaryen.

Secondly, our favorite Rogue Prince has always been highly interested in getting House Targaryen back in shape and at the height of the reign of Aegon the Conqueror. It was his life goal. He wouldn’t have abandoned that cause for anything. Prince Daemon Targaryen was one of the few true dragon lords House Targaryen produced.

If Daemon had survived that fall, he would have returned to King’s Landing with Aemond’s head on a platter, not hesitating to take pride in how he eliminated the Greens’ single ace card (and by that, I mean Vhagar. Aemond was nothing without her). And with that, he would have proved his unwavering loyalty to Rhaenyra, and protected the claims of their remaining children.

[bohemian-nights]

Rhaenyra being forced at nineteen (when most noble born women are betrothed when they’re children and married sometimes before their sixteen to men twice their age) to marry (after being allowed to tour the seven kingdoms to find a husband of her choosing) isn’t sexist. Heirs both female and male have to have a heir to continue the line. Politically marrying Laenor Velaryon is a smart move but Rhaenyra was only forced to marry Laenor because of her inability to choose one on her tour and the fact that she was seen in wh*re house allegedly having sex with not only her Uncle but with Daemon. I understand Rhaenyra’s reasons for not wanting to marry (i.e her mother) but by wanting to eventually be Queen she has to bite the bullet and do it.

And as for her leaving Kings Landing I’m pretty 50/50. I understand why she left but leaving and not returning for six years was a big no no. This is more of a side note but her and Daemon ragging on the fact that Alicent changed the design of the Red Keep makes me angry. It’s been six years and Alicent is Queen Consort to a sick and dying King (a King who treats both herself and their children horribly) let her decorate how she wants to. And with all the sick sh*t the Targaryens do they need Jesus lol (another thing the way they made it seem as if Alicent is the only person wanting Aegon and Helaena to marry makes me mad. Book!wise Viserys and Viserys alone does that. By having Alicent arrange that the two be married makes her a very main cause of her children’s suffering).

As for Daemon himself he’s a sh*t father and a sh*t husband. He “tries” but he should try 100x harder. So why he thinks he should have an opinion on what goes on in a home he hasn’t laid his head down in for sixteen years is beyond my understanding lol.

Nothing to add. These are all the facts💅🏽

[coffincoitus]

in the context of the show it's much more rewarding to convey the themes well than to ensure every character makes it into the script. imo.

I get why ppl were attached to nettles but it's kinda silly how bothered ppl are that rhaena is taking her place? do they not realize how necessary it is to condense characters when translating a history/bibliography type of book into an actual narrative for tv. grrm drops 30 names per page with two lines for each character and they have to flesh out those characters into actual personalities for the tv...

[navree]

I love your devotion to the Velaryons. ❤️❤️❤️

Aw thank you!

Funnily enough there's not a whole lot of Velaryons in the book I care all that much about, it's mostly Laena and my beloved Daenaera. But I feel like the show has really bungled the writing for the Velaryons and their factional allies, and more importantly, by doing so while also choosing to make the Velaryons Black, and the only major characters of color, with no thought given to the lack of care in their writing, it needs to be called out for its real world implications. I'm not a major "fiction affects reality" person, but reality absolutely influences fiction (and occasionally vice versa), so having the only main characters of color get some insane writing choices time and time again and really just not be given the same care and consideration their white counterparts are getting doesn't sit right with me.

[chrkrose]

Daemon without Nettles in his arc: he no longer develops a bond with a woman who brings him no political advantage; he’ll no longer question his belief of Targaryen supremacy by facing the reality that maybe a person without Valyrian ancestry was able to claim a dragon; he’ll no longer betray his cause, his Queen and his blood to save an innocent woman from death. Regardless if you consider nettles another victim of his grooming habits, he put her before all the things he believed to save her when that would bring him nothing. If out of guilt or selfless love, it’s nuance we won’t see coming from him anymore. So a character who is already pretty dark will become much darker.

Rhaenyra without Nettles in her arc: she no longer has any reason to display her racism and classism; she’ll no longer order the death of a woman based on accusations that this woman is sleeping with her husband when said husband was already cheating on her with others and she was aware of it; she’ll no longer sabotage an ally for a petty reason and alienate a dragon rider who so far had fought for her cause. So an already whitewashed character becomes even more saintly in the narrative.

SO HOW IS NETTLES ERASURE SOMETHING DONE BY THE WRITERS TO BENEFIT DAEMON WHEN ITS HIS CHARACTER WHO LOSES ALL NUANCE AND COMPLEXITY WITH HER REMOVED FROM THE STORY?

Be so for real, are yall stupid or something?

[gojuo]

Condal had to whitewash Aemond's entire character, give him traits from others, and make Aegon look cartoonishly incompetent and pathetic so he could live out his childhood dreams in his self insert

imma need to keep it real with you i dont think condal even likes aemond bc what he made him do this ep was unforgiveable and unjustifiable and locals are turning on his ass. i just think he believes tearing down the greens' love and loyalty to the family (and giving that aspect to rhaenyra's) is essential to his quest of making the greens the unequivocal villains of the dance.

i mean, that love and loyalty the greens all held towards their little family was /their/ redeeming quality, whilst team black was betraying each other left and right (daemon betrays rhaenyra, rhaenyra betrays laenor, corlys betrays rhaenys, ulf and hugh betray rhaenyra, rhaenyra betrays addam and nettles, corlys betrays rhaenyra, rhaenyra betrays rosby and stokeworth and they betray her right back, lord mooton betrays her which in turn makes daemon betray her again, the people of king's landing betray rhaenyra, syrax betrays her, and the entire dragonstone garrison betrays her too).

instead of giving aemond a compelling character arc where he's driven mad and manic by guilt towards what his actions caused the family (he was the one that killed luke and so kickstarted the war and b&c after all), ryan condal made him a psychopathic cold blooded murderer that gives 0 fucks about his family. like, not even daemon tried to kill his own brother no matter how much he wanted the throne 💀