#dragon bound

[fated-mates]

You didn’t think we were going to stay silent during the current dragon frenzy, did you? We absolutely have things to say about dragon heroes, and the one from Thea Harrison’s Dragon Bound in particular — which meant we had no choice but to do a surprise deep dive, read along! We talk about dragon shifters, about the history of dragons in romance, about why we think this is a near perfect example of paranormal romance and road trip romance. Also, if you are looking for rom com, look no further. This is a funny funny book.

Show Notes

[kvalenagle]

It's National #AppreciateADragonDay?? Well, what better dragon to appreciate than Stekin from Dragon Source and Dragon Bound by Glenn Birmingham =]

Glenn's still recovering, but he's started writing again, and the audiobooks of his series are coming soon. (Art by Kittrel / YoteNotes.)

[perplexingly]

My favourite Merrill banter

[probablybadrpgideas]

Real Reasons Dragons Hoard Gold

Tax evasion scheme

There are no other options

The king's entire army is unable to stop this dragon from taking all the gold

And then the taxman comes along

"Oh no, I would tell you my assets, but they're all in the lair of a dragon. Guess you'll have to mark me as having no money and deserving of a significant tax cut!"

Then the taxman leaves, and what happens?

The King finds a bunch of adventurers and tells them to fight the dragon

And suddenly the dragon- who need i remind is superintelligent, an archmage, strong enough to tear a giant in half and took down an entire nation's military not last month?

"Oh no! I cannot defeat five traumatized weirdos! I am slain! I guess you'd better take all this gold back to the king"

And all is well until next tax season when Oh No! The dragon has "somehow" revived and has taken all the gold again!

Someone needs to expose this, guys. This is why we still have medieval tech after 3000 years- all the funding's vanishing into unlisted dragon accounts.

[anura-artist]

wake up babe new oc just dropped. this is Red he is my boy

[kitty4president]

did yall catch that new switch drop, who'd have thought sega would actually loan out the yakuza series to nintendo for this kind of collab!!

✨🐲🦀🏝✨

[mummer]

rhaenyra outsourcing motherhood to rhaena and assigning her that passive feminine role was REALLY interesting….. rhaenyra as a character is at her most fascinating when she is forced to navigate and ultimately perpetuate the gendered structures she despises and wishes she could transcend— the seeds of her tragedy already sewn here. just great character work

[tidetower]

The Prince of the Hightower and the Heir to High Tide

Artist: erchitos

[vaguely-concerned]

purple hawke who, at malcolm's death, lost not only a father, a mentor, the single most stable and safe point in their world up until this moment. but also the only person in their life who would consistently, gleefully 'yes, and — ' them. the loss, in one fell swoop, of both a beloved parent and your sole willing — no, not only willing, enthusiastic — improv partner. truly, the most unkindest cut of all that the maker could have seen fit to deal. (there's always so much less laughter in the house, after malcolm's gone.)

and then after all the horrors of the blight and trying to make a new life in the shithole turned shithome of kirkwall....... they meet varric. and something that's been slumbering deep within their soul dries a tear of relief and joy and whispers 'oh we are so back'. and they are so right

[kiivg]

.please please please please please pl.

[nonbinarylesbianherb]

[iamhereinthebg]

Happy Lunar New year!!

[kvalenagle]

I just realized that it's not just that a lot of GryphIns fan art hasn't shown up on Tumblr yet, but also Glenn Birmingham's Dragon Source. Well, since it's National Appreciate a Dragon Day, let's fix that, starting with @toadalled's wonderful Stekin pieces, some of the very first. Glenn has a tendency to stumble across random queer frogs or bug plushies in the wild and send them to Smatterbrain, and if I remember correctly, these were her way of saying thank you for all the gay frogs. Stekin is one of the two protagonists of the Reunification series by Glenn Birmingham. The first book follows Arten, a girl with magical fire burning its way out of her, and Stekin, a frosty dragon trying to get her to safety before the church finds her. While Stekin is hiding in human form for most of the first book, later entries take place inside a city of dragons. Though my favorite exchange from Dragon Source is... Arten: "But where does the tail go when you transform?" Stekin: "That is a very rude question!" Glenn's recovering from long COVID complications and only recently has become just well enough to do some writing. Dragon Source and Dragon Bound are available now (books2read.com/dragon source), and the third book is in the end of story edits, wrapping up an unfinished subplot, though there's no ETA while he's recovering. If you'd like to listen on audio, both of the first two books have been recorded by James Scott Spaid and are undergoing audioproofing.

[the-daily-dreamer]

The thing about the breakdown of the Rhaenicent relationship that is talked about but I think is still severely overlooked is the key role that both girls/women (specifically Rhaenyra) play in its destruction.

Because the fandom focuses in on this narrative that the relationship broke down solely because of the ambitions of men. And aside from that fueling the annoying idea that all women are inherently passive victims that suffer because men are ambitious and violent, it’s simply wrong.

While the catalyst was certainly Otto’s ambition and Viserys’s weakness (and perversion), Rhaenyra and Alicent’s relationship truly breaks down because of Rhaenyra’s entitlement, self-serving nature, and inability to see outside of herself and her experiences and Alicent’s (in my opinion reasonable) reactions toward this over time.

The beginning of the break down comes from Otto forcing Alicent to comfort the king and Viserys knowing his desire for her is wrong and forcing her to keep quiet about their visits until he decides to marry her without her prior knowledge or consent. And Rhaenyra (and the fandom) sees this as the ultimate betray against her by Alicent. Rhaenyra holds more resentment against Alicent for the engagement than she does against her father. Why is this? Some might say that it’s because she’s closer with Alicent and therefore would expect more from her than her father (whose relationship with her has been broken by the murder death of her mother). But I don’t think that’s fully the case.

While Rhaenyra having a higher expectation of Alicent may be a reason for her increased and unequal resentment, I think the main reason is that Rhaenyra cannot fathom Alicent could do this because she has never been in this position. Rhaenyra sees this as Alicent being complicit in the deceit and seduction because Rhaenyra would simply rebel. She can’t understand why Alicent wouldn’t simply say “no” to her father or betray the king for her. Rhaenyra’s world view is very blinded by her privilege. She simply thinks Alicent should and could defy her own father because…Rhaenyra has and will again. Rhaenyra is able to disobey her father and get away with it so why can’t Alicent? Ignoring the fact that a crown princess has vastly more power than the daughter of the hand, Viserys is a weak and compliant parent compared to Otto’s manipulative and stern nature. It’s easy for Rhaenyra to disobey because the consequences are either nonexistent or very mild. Alicent doesn’t have this luxury and privilege but Rhaenyra can’t conceive of it.

But also, Rhaenyra sees her father as…her dad. Not the king. Rhaenyra sees it as easy to defy him and his orders because he is her father first and her king second. But for Alicent that is the king. The most powerful man in the world. Defying him could have disastrous consequences for her and her father. But because Rhaenyra doesn’t force herself to see things from another’s perspective, she doesn’t see it as Alicent being beholden to the man who could (if he wanted to) ruin her family or kill her and her father but rather her friend not betraying her dad.

After this we see Alicent be the one to continuously try to extend an olive branch and support Rhaenyra behind the scenes. Asking for Rhaenyra to have the option to choose who she marries (a privilege and kindness Alicent, herself, and every other woman in this universe hasn’t had). Reaffirming Rhaenyra as the right choice for heir when Viserys is questioning his decisions. Defending Rhaenyra against rumors that would damage her reputation. And all Alicent gets in return is snark, anger, and lies (leading to Alicent’s isolation and suffering in court).

Which leads to event two that breaks the relationship: Rhaenyra’s entitled behavior and lying. Alicent spends a great deal of her time coinciding her husband in favor of Rhaenyra. But Rhaenyra, seeing herself as exceptional and above the rules, continuously acts out in ways that hurt her standing. Most especially with her decision to go out and try to sleep with daemon and then pushing Criston to sleep with her.

Alicent is the one to be transparent with Rhaenyra about the “rumor” to get her side. Something Viserys would simply not care enough to do. Rhaenyra, knowing her actions being confirmed would be disastrous, tells half truths to Alicent who is all too eager to believe and support her friend. Even worse, she uses the memory of her mother, something she knows Alicent holds incredibly sacred, to further convince Alicent that she’s telling the truth. And this decision by Rhaenyra to lie (over something she knows Alicent holds dear and has used multiple times to try to connect with her) to protect herself directly harms Alicent as her father and only ally in court is kicked out and ostracized. But that’s not Rhaenyra’s concern. While Alicent has given a lot of effort to protect and defend Rhaenyra, Rhaenyra is far too focused on her on wishes and desires to care about the impacts her choices have on anyone else.

And that’s why when Alicent finds out that it was a lie, a lie that got her father taken away from her, she goes full scorched earth and wears the green dress. Because she realizes that Rhaenyra will never stop being entitled and self-serving. She realizes that all this time and effort she has put into fixing things with Rhaenyra and defending her is completely one sided. Because Rhaenyra can only see things from her perspective and can only see things based on how she can benefit even to the detriment of others (herself, her father, Criston, etc.).

Then the final nail in the coffin is the birthing of bastards. At this point Alicent has had her eyes opened to how Rhaenyra will do as she pleases without considering the consequences (to herself and others) and then she watches Rhaenyra flagrantly birth obvious bastard after obvious bastard, pushing the children she was forced to have further and further down the line of succession behind kids who objectively should not have the throne. And it makes her bitter and jealous and as she should be. The fandom is too obsessed with marking Alicent as the reason the relationship was destroyed because she was unnecessarily jealous of poor Rhaenyra who was just so brave to do as she pleased!

But it’s a spit in the face to Alicent. That Alicent was pimped out and forced the have children with a man she didn’t love at the ripe old age of 15 hole Rhaenyra is free to take a lover and birth obvious bastards and get away with it. She has every right to be angry. Not because she thinks all women should be submissive and bend to patriarchy. Because she is watching how privileged Rhaenyra is before her very eyes while she was forced to suffer the way almost every other woman has.

While I acknowledge that Viserys and Otto are the catalyst for the breakdown of Rhaenyra and Alicent’s relationship. Rhaenyra’s flagrant disregard for others and her entitlement are what truly break the relationship until Alicent is no longer willing to be submissive and accepting of Rhaenyra’s behavior. And this in turn, causes her to make choices that service her and her children. The way Rhaenyra has always done and always will.

The breakdown of rhaenicent was always inevitable regardless of which men were involved. Because at their core, Rhaenyra would always put herself first and Alicent would always come to the realization she is no longer willing to be a doormat.

[vultures-and-scavengers]

everyone who calls cullen rutherford meticulously neat and tidy has never seen that mans desk, office, or bedroom. there's rubble, trees, and papers all over and you want me to read this fanfic and think he has a proper place for everything.

[territorial-utopia]

Oh what's this?? An old WIP that I'm sharing now because I don't have anything new to share? Wowowowow

Yeah anyway Lovia has some experiences™