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yappathon · 16 days ago

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My honest gripe with HOTD as an adaption of one of my favourite books:

(disclaimer, I am team black and this is my opinion so dont like dont engage, just block and move on i'm not interested in convincing anyone or debating about it xoxo)

This is going to be a long post, I'm just making a list of everything at once so I dont have to make multiple posts about it, its going to be a long one with lot of over explaining so just strap in:

1. HOTD fumbled the Laenor/Rhaenyra/Harwin triangle

I dislike how the show takes the route of erasing ambiguity out of Rhaenyra's children's parentage out of it and makes it obvious. For me when I read f&b, the discussion of it especially since Book!Rhaenys had dark hair, was intentionally done in bad faith to find any reason to discredit Rhaenyra's claim as the Heir and to sully her reputation. It wouldn't have mattered to them if Laenor was father or not, her enemies simply weaponised it to use against her (misogyny).

HOTD should have kept Dark Haired Rhaenys especially since her season 1 wig was egregious and should have not casted a caucasian man as Harwin Strong since they changed the race of Velaryon's to adapt to the ambiguity. I think they should have changed Harwin's race as well 🤷‍♀️.

They purposefully erased the ambiguity by making Rhaenys silver haired woman and I could not think of why other than the fact that this change made Rhaenyra looked stupid and incompetent like ?

2. Book Rhaenys would spit on Show Rhaenys

They did her so dirty, adapted her so poorly I have no words like I'm flabbergasted, you could not even call them the same character.

B!Rhaenys was literally Rhaenyra's closest and arguably one of her biggest supporters. Show Rhaenys on the other hand, oh boy. From the moment of their first conversation you could tell that she was out to get Rhaenyra like idk the actress who plays her, plays her with a very haughty smug demeanor.

Show Rhaenys treats Rhaenyra's sons (J+L+J) coldly, having being offended on her son's behalf while her son is perfectly happy with this arrangement and treats those boys as her son. But during S2, she happily accepts her husband's bastards 😭😭 bro where is your sense of self. I wish I could say that this was the only stupid decision she made this season but I literally cannot believe that she advised Rhaenyra to find peace and sneak into Kings Landing.

She feels more like a mouthpiece for someone rather than her own character (like remember when at the end of Season 1, she gave Alicent grand speech about how Alicent toils in service of men in her life blah blah... literally pot calling kettle black) and I blame the writers team for that completely.

tldr; Rhaenys in the book seems like the kind of character who had been robbed of their birthright so she died to make sure Rhaenyra got hers. Rhaenys in the show is the kind of character that is bitter about her stolen birthright and internalises it and takes it out on Rhaenyra rather than the system in the sense that instead of a leaning support she feels like an obstacle of sorts in regards to Rhaenyra

3. The Alicent dilemma

Oh boy where to even start with this can of worms. First things first, I have to say I was a tentative fan of Season 1 Alicent but I am not the fan of the route her character is taking in Season 2.

I thought de-ageing Alicent and ageing up Rhaenyra was a choice. I have a love-hate relationship with it. As a sapphic woman myself I thought young RhaenyraxAlicent was cute but the writers are dragging it and both the characters are suffering for it.

So I know the majority of book fans and show fans agree on the point that Book!Alicent is a one dimensional character of an evil stepmother trope but I have an unpopular opinion about it. I agree that B!Alicent can come across as one dimensional and it was intentional because F&B is a history book written by misogynistic men and all the women would suffer from it.

I think Book!Alicent's motives of crowning her son as the King is a perfectly sensible in universe motivation where male primogeniture is commonplace (considering that was the only reason Viserys became king) and felt slighted that her son was denied the right. The motivation does not condone her actions but at least it makes sense in the context of the world.

Show!Alicent on the other hand feels like nothing but a perpetual victim. She is a chess piece and not particularly powerful either. All her agency and ambition is stripped off of her.

When we see Adult Show Alicent for the first time, her and Rhaenyra are hostile hostile and I was happy with the doomed yuri we got and that we are somewhat on the track but then.... sigh

In the same episode we see Adult Rhaenyra offering to betroth Jace and Haelaena as a while flag but Alicent rejects it without considering it at all. Alicent undermines Rhaenyra constantly but then in S2 when her allies turned on her because surprise surprise misogyny... she had her soul searching journey like gtfo i hated the storyline

Comparing it to the Book, where the Green Council was originally called The Queen's Party. Book Alicent was an active player who made decisions.

Like oh my god, remember how they butchered Show Alicent during Blood and Cheese like omg I'm convinced the showrunner actually hates woman like first Rhaenys then Alicent... (not to mention Helaena like, the show tried to make Helaena dragon dreamer and fumbled it, didnt even have her crowned alongside Aegon)

The Green Council plotting in the show versus the book tells you everything about this adaptation of Alicent.

4. How ageing up and down undermines the book canon negatively

Ok but HOTD failed as an adaptation when the victim in the books is villainized and while her abusers are victimised.

The amt of Rhaenyra coerced Cole into having sex with her takes that came out during S1 was so mind boggling. Especially in the books when Alicent herself says "Ser Criston Cole protects the princess from her enemies but who protects the princess from Ser Criston Cole" (I am paraphrasing), like this is egregious.

Book!Aemma being a child-bride forced to marry Viserys when she was only eleven and she dies at just twenty three (!), the show aged her up to be in her early thirties at least by casting a much older actress (Sian Brooke who plays Aemma was born in 1980) while Book!Alicent was eighteen when she married Viserys while the show aged her down to 14-16 (I am unsure).

5. Erasure of female characters and medieval politics

Rhaenyra's Ladies in Waiting were all not adapted to the screen. Except for Elinda Massey who they turned into a maid-midwife-wetnurse and had her dressed as literally servant rather than a noble woman. Rhaenyra has no other friends or loyal companions in the show, Harwin's sisters are also erased with no mention at all.

And now from what I've read Nettles has also been erased like fuck off

5. Suffering from the eight episodes per season problem

So this doesnt have anything to do with the way they've been adapted Fire & Blood but I don't think eight episodes per season was the right medium to adapt this story. Because of this format the children of Rhaenyra and Alicent arent given enough screentime to develop and for general people to care about them, S2 felt like most happened during that and still nothing happened at all. The general audience are only emotionally connected to Rhaenyra and Alicent as they both are the only characters in the show to appear to have an arc or journey.

I really miss that we did not get a filler episode during time skip of Rhaenyra and Daemon on Dragonstone with their children so we can gauge their family dynamics like what is adult Daemyra's normal relationship like? how is their relationship with their children or stepchildren? Atleast something so when at the end of S1 Daemon chokes Rhaenyra (jesus christ) we atleast feel something other than shock and disgust like I hope you understand what I am trying to say here.

I think HOTD would have benefitted with a 26 episodes, hell even a 13 episodes season. The Episodes were needed to flesh out the cast of ensemble of characters

6. Laena and the disrespect to her and Rhaena

Laena and Rhaenyra might only have a single line in the books about their implied relationship but that was the excellent opening to flesh it out, instead Laena was de-aged (Laena was in her early twenties when Daemon pursues her rather than late teens). In the most blunt way, Laena was treated as a disposable black girlfriend trope whose was dishonored at her own funeral.

Laena is not fleshed out, forget implied relationship Rhaenyra is not even with her in the birthing chambers, they're not shown as nothing more than acquainted strangers and i hate it, i hate it so much

The show also attempts to other Rhaena because she doesn't have a dragon (Season 2) which makes no sense at all, it's attempting something and failing at it, it's not interesting, it's not working, it's not good. They're changing her story too and all it does is cause her misery, oh my god Let Rhaena be accepted and Loved.

Why was Rhaenyra mourning Luke scene cut with a scene with Alicent lighting a candle for him but we did not get Rhaena or any of Luke's siblings mourning for him.

7. What are they doing with Daemon?

Like seriously what are they doing with him? Daemon did nothing this season at all. The writers knew Daemon would never allow for the fuckass sneaking into KL, but they wanted it so badly so they had him hallucinate the entire reason. What a waste of Matt Smith.

8. Adding meaningless characters while erasing existing ones (why tf is Ormund Hightower needed)

Yesterday Ryan Condal reported that Ormund Hightower is going to have a big role in Season 3 and I just have one question, why? who needs more irrelevant characters when they should flesh out the ensemble of already existing ones.

Ok so Nettles was erased from HOTD plotline (an important character who is a black woman btw), along with Sabitha Frey and Black Aly but they added khia #13 to the main rooster.

(Spoiler for Season 3) Jace is going to die during Season 3 and the general audience wont even care that much because the writing team is fucking ass !

9. What is the show timeline again and casting decisions?

Seriously what is the show timeline, because every interview the writers did during Season 2, the ages of children of R & A is ambiguous as fuck like, fucking up ages has actually fucked the timeline.

And before I talk about casting decisions, disclaimer I am not hating on actors or I think they are bad actors, I think all the actors are phenomenal who did a phenomenal job with what they were given.

With that out of the way, I think Aemond is miscast because his actor looks older than he is and when placed alongside Luke's actor, it does not look like a squabble between 17-19 year old and a 13-14 yr old, it looks like a man in his late twenties harassing a child 😭 especially in regards to the actor they cast as Aegon and he looks much younger than Aemond's actor

And while I am not against the decision to make the Velaryon's black, I can't help but feel like it was done thoughtlessly and without much care because Jaeherys I's mother is a Velaryon yet he is depicted as a white man in the show instead of mixed. Both Jaeherys and Alyssane would be half black, making all the future Targaryen's to be of mixed race.

10. Who stole whose nachos?

In the books, it was actually Viserys and Alicents wedding anniversary tourney feast (squint im not 100% sure about the occasion) that Alicent wore a green gown and it was Rhaenyra who upstaged it by arriving in a bold black and red gown, rather than the other way around as seen in the show.

Instead of Jace, Luke and Aegon teaming up against and bullying Aemond as seen in the show, in the books it was Aegon, Aemond and Daeron teaming up against Rhaenyra's children because they felt like Rhaenyra + children stole their birthright, the iron throne

Instead of Daemon commanding the Council in Rhaenyra's absence (S1), it was actually Rhaenys who did that in the books

Rhaenicents got Laenyra's nachos plain and simple

and I'm only giving this from the top of my head, there's probably a few more that I am not remembering.

11. Saintly peace loving women

HOTD pretends to be a 'feminist' adaptation by changing the one dimensional female characters of books (intentionally done so by misogynistic maesters) but it fails at it. In trying to develop the female characters and making them more real, they are stripped of their agency and ambitions. They are not allowed to be petty and ambitious and morally gray ie Alicent Rhaenyra Rhaenys Helaena while other female characters are erased completely and its very frustrating because regardless what twitter says The Dance of Dragons was always about misogyny and how Green Council gathered alliances to try to strip Rhaenyra of her birthright just because of her gender.

Oh they can try to disguise it as gender not mattering and doing only whats good for realm as Rhaenyra would not be a good ruler but the guy they want on the throne is so infinitely worse in every way that their propaganda fails.

In the end, while making big changes in S1 (age) the writers have cornered themselves where they can do nothing but dig the hole deeper. They had a biased history book and all they had to do was expand some parts of it that was sensible but no.....

It might stand well as a show if S2 was a better season and I can only hope they can redeem themselves in S3, because they've already failed as an adaptation of a book but it can still be a good entertaining show and that's literally our best bet.

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darklinaforever · 4 months ago

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My god. What did you smoke to think that was well written ?! At what fucking moment ?! And lol ! If people really think that this kiss will have an effect on the Daemyra couple, people are completly dreaming. That Rhaenyra will have a serious relationship with Mysaria ? Even less ! It is very likely that this stupid kiss will not even be discussed in the future. Also... at one point in the video, the girl tries to say in relation to those who would have reacted badly to the kiss : "But don't straight people also kiss when they are sad ?" THE FUCKING CONNECTION ?!

And the rest is WORST !

Except that fucking yes ! There could have been official sapphic content in HOTD without these shitty relationships that are Rhaenicent and Rhaesaria ! Why ?! BECAUSE THERE ARE CANONICAL LGBTQ+ COUPLES IN THE HISTORY OF DANCE ! INCLUDING SAPPHIC ! But obviously you're not complaining about the non-adaptation of canonical queer relationships which are therefore not doomed to go nowhere or break up like Rhaenicent and Rhaesaria ! Why are you happy with representation that won't go anywhere and the erasure of canonical queer relationships ?! Are you stupid or what ?!

And yes, Rhaenicent is what we call queerbaiting ! Pure and simple ! How can you even dare to say otherwise with such aplomb ?! The writers and actors are constantly contradicting each other about the Rhaenicent relationship ! Open your fucking eyes !

Pigeons, that's what everyone who supports these two shitty ships are ! And no, I'm not sorry to say it, and I will never sorry. Wake up people, damn it !

And you know what could have been good to confirm Rhaenyra's possible bisexuality, even if I don't think she's bi in the source material ? LAENA VELARYON ! HER FUCKING BEST FRIEND ! AND NOT WITH THE TWO WOMEN WHO RUINED THE BEGINNING (ALICENT / yes yes, in HOTD, Alicent is still Rhaenyra's abuser, because Daemon, outside of the OCC strangulation scene, never really abused her) AND THE END OF HER LIFE (MYSARIA) ! BUNCH OF IDIOTS !

Also, instead of fundamentally choosing to make Rhaenyra a bi person when she probably isn't in the book objectively speaking, well just adapt the true queer characters of the dance ? No ?

No one complains that the real queer characters and relationships aren't adapted ?

You prefer that we transform a potentially straight character into bi to make her be in relationships that will go nowhere because she will never leave her man ? Well you really are pitiful.

I'm so tired of the attempts to defend Rhaenicent and Rhaesaria, two shitty relationships that were poorly written in HOTD but when you take Fire and Blood become downright insulting.

Also, another thing I find ironic. The fact of always trying to say in defense of these two ships that we don't care about the source material that is Fire and Blood. Listen to me, you idiot, without Fire and Blood there is no HOTD. So you shut up about the neglect of the source material because you just come across as even more stupid than you probably are. But strangely, to talk about the so-called infidelities of Daemon, present precisely in Fire and Blood and not HOTD of these same fans, well there are people ! While these infidelities did not take place in HOTD and may never take place. And beyond that, at no time have these so-called infidelities been proven. At no time. And if you have a functioning brain in terms of reflection and analysis, it is necessarily probable that these infidelities of Daemon with Mysaria and Nettles are purely false. But of course, the fact is that most of these people are condemning Daemon for something he hasn't done yet and may never do, in the only material that matters to these people, namely HOTD. But strangely, Rhaenyra's infidelitie, no one cares about that. On the contrary, it's apparently great because it's sapphic "representation". Rhaesaria is representation ? An improvised scene that comes out of nowhere and has no impact on the storyline ? Let me laugh. And apparently, Rhaenyra would be justified, because Daemon strangled her at the end of season 1. You know, that other scene that came out of nowhere and made no sense. But obviously, critical thinking is dead in this type of person.

Put Fire and Blood aside if you want to justify these two shitty ships, but the reality is that they don't need Fire and Blood to be bad. They are simply poorly written in the context of HOTD alone.

These two ships make me so fucking sick.

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greenaswildfire · 8 months ago

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I get the feeling they decided to nerf Alicent and Helaena on purpose, so they could taunt part of the audience who likes the "more womanly" type of character.

Something like "oh, are you tired of girlboss characters like Rhaenyra? there you have it, your fragile woman kind of character you like so much!" and then turned them into two bland pacifists instead of soft power players they were in F&B.

There is a quote I see frequently on social media but have no idea who said it:

You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you’re capable of great violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless. Important difference.

Alicent and Helaena were peaceful in F&B. Helaena transitions to harmless after B&C, but she had a reason for it.

In HotD? Both are turned to harmless women. Helaena refuses to fight because prophecy, refuses to burn innocents by sacrificing her life and her Jaehaera's, c'mon girl, you're also innocent in all this! It's absolutely stupid to imagine that Rhaenyra would let them live, mainly because by Rhaenyra's precedent as queen, any House could back Helaena and Jaehaera's claim the moment Rhaenyra refused to bend to said House whims.

She would never let them live, she could never. And even if Rhaenyra refuses to do anything, certainly Daemon would in her stead. He's kinslaying on behalf of the queen who also happens to be his wife so he gets a pass, right? RIGHT?

I get the feeling they wanted to trap us in this "muahauha see? see? You say you hate girbosses but look at you now, you want show!Helaena, a Sansa-like character to act like a girlboss, hypocrites! Muahau we got you, traitorous women who dare to defend the patriarchy by liking non-girlboss characters!" situation.

But they forget one important thing: Alicent was bold and politically savy in S1, she was butchered because of their rhaenicent thirst and I don't doubt they build up S3 around the mandatory rhaenicent scene (this time it will be a s3x scene in the cell, after Rhaenyra imprisons Alicent for her "treason" since Aegon is no longer in KL). Alicent was a strong female character in her own right, until she wasn't.

And Helaena is just a background character tbh, writers knew they couldn't make her disband to TB side so they made her a Bran 2.0 who poses no threat to TB, but doesn't help TG either. If any female character can't be part of TB, they'll turn her into a third party so they won't pose a threat to "rightful kween". The only time she was treated as equal was by Aemond when he asks her to help protect the family and she refuses.

C'mon, she's neurodivergent but she's clearly capable of thinking that if she refuses to fight, everybody will die way quicker than if she accepts to. She's not stupid (I mean, at least until plot demands it, so her inaction-caused-by-her-visions can benefit cult leader kween's path to apocaliptic prophecy). She could clearly say something like "I will. but I won't fight because you asked me to, I'll fight for my daughter's life, I'll fight for mine." and I'm sure that Aemond would be hurt anyway, but would hide it because he's also determined to protect her.

She wants to live, so does he, and he'll somehow make up for Jaehaerys death by protecting Helaena. Helaena instead of doing the same like the other dreamers (choosing humanity's salvation over anything else) subverts expectations and says f u prophecy, and decides to fight against the prophecy instead of fulfilling it, so she and her daughter can have a chance to live. It would be such a contrast to cult leader, they make parallels in hotd all the time, why couldn't they do the same here with Helaena's plot?

Have you ever played Umineko no Naku koro ni? One of the most important aspects of the game imo it's exactly this "fight against your destiny" thing. How much do you value your life and others's? What are you willing to sacrifice for a slim chance to live and see them again? When your destiny is the same in most universes, should you give up and die instead of keep looking for one where your destiny is different? They could have done the same with Helaena here. Cole for example, he knows that probably he won't make it out alive of this war and yet he fights! Why can't a woman do the same? Fighting against destiny is something that only men do? Or are you telling me that Cole is stupid for not giving up, for relying on this slim hope he has of seeing Alicent again, of living with her and the remaining targtower children after the war?

But again, it's a web weaved by the writers, we can't ask Helaena to fight because she isn't girlboss in hotd. I should despise Alicent, I should despise Helaena, but I won't. If I do, it will only confirm the approach they've taken with these characters and I refuse to be caught on these showrunners's web.

#anti hotd #aemond targaryen #hotd critical #helaena targaryen #helaena the dreamer #aemond one eye #alicent hightower #anti rhaenicent

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lemonhemlock · 7 months ago

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The thing that's getting lost in the weeds when it comes to talking about being a book purist vs. a show HOTD fan is that the main issues, imo, aren't necessarily the departures from the text, it's the REASONS why Condall and Hess made those departures. Maelor not being included, and having Helaena have a Sophie's choice moment between the twins would have been fine if they also kept all the other details in Blood and Cheese and Helaena's grief after the fact. If you want to use child labour laws as an excuse, fine, altho Condal went on a podcast and said that they changed B and C because of Alicent's 'propaganda' lol. But let's take Condal's words at face value for a moment. Then why cut out the maid being strangled? Why cut out Alicent being tied and forced to watch as it happened? Why cut out the threats to Jaehara? Why cut out Helaena offering her life? Why were Criston and Aemond not shown trying to get in the room as it happened? None of those changes involved having a toddler on set being subjected to triggering scenes, so the that excuse no longer works, and none of them involved spending more time or money on the scene. They simply should have cut out the buddy comedy between Blood and Cheese and that stupid dog to give more time to Helaena and the kids.

Instead we have Alicent having sex with Criston, Helaena not offering life, Helaena not feeling any grief and getting over it almost immediately because heaven forbid Daemon and Rhaenyra look bad because of a grieving mother.

Every single change to Blood and Cheese was done to white wash Daemon, by extension Rhaenyra, and by further extension to white wash team black. I'm not a book purist by any means, but almost every single change to the source material that isn't due to budget constraints is done to cynically white wash Rhaenyra and push the agenda that you are a misogyny loving Woman for Trump if you side with Alicent and the Greens.

Other changes like Rhaenys choosing to go fight instead of being ordered by Rhaenyra, Laenor not being killed by Daemon so he could marry Rhaenyra, Rhaenyra not ordering Vaemond to be killed and eaten by her dragon, Nettles being cut because the writers can't have their Girl Boss 'lose' to another woman and be humiliated by her husband cavorting with a teenager, Helaena not feeling grief because that would make Rhaenyra/Daemon/TB look bad. Maelor wasn't cut because of budget or kid issues, he was cut because his storyline made Rhaenyra look bad. THAT's the issue here. I don't for a minute buy that they cut Maelor because of child labour laws, there are in fact ways to have kids in scenes like that where they don't have to see or hear anything offensive using smart editing, etc. That's my problem here, all of this was a very cynical and transparent way to whitewash TB and further demonize TG.

Any time people in the fandom are baffled as to why certain changes were made, just ask yourself how it serves Rhaenyra and you will get your answer.

^^^^^^^ i don't really have anything more to add, anon, you spelled everything out! 👌

tumblr user maglors-grief even recently commented that they actually aged down aegon iii and viserys ii, so, if using toddlers is such a hassle and a problem, why didn't they age them up instead? it's just a invented pretext to wave away their bias

#ask #anon #blood & cheese #hotd s2

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thecountesstribe · 9 months ago

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HOTD Ep 2x7 Spoilers and review.

So this was one of my favorite episodes this season and also one of the coolest imo.

Seasmoke being protective of Addam and looking proud he terrorized Addam into being his rider was too funny. I love that dragon 😂. Come through Addam the Loyal, all Rhaenyra had to say was she's queen and he immediately acknowledged her and bent the knee, I loved that. He's really about to become my other favorite boy.

Corlys being shook and acting like he doesn't know Addam, like sir if you don't tell the truth already. He's never gonna beat the deadbeat allegations. Although when he told him “Well done” I did whoop a little. I would've kicked his ass had I been Addam though.

Oscar Tully! That's it. That's the fuckin post. He gagged Daemon and stood on business. I love to see young kids bullying arrogant adults, he reminded me of the OG lil boss Lyanna Mormont. That's my lil nephew now.

Daemon didn't take the crown. We saw him hallucinating again, this time with the sick version of Viserys and Viserys holding the crown which he didn't take. I mean anybody with a brain could summarize that he never wanted the crown, we didn't need to spend so much time in his delusions in Harrenhal to tell us that. We certainly didn't need a scene of him feasting on his mom to tell us that, yuck. For all his faults he really was about his family. He went about it the wrong way but that's Daemon for you. His stupid self destructive ass.

We had an unnecessary scene of Alicent running about the woods after leaving King's Landing. Chile anyways. Larys is totally protecting Aegon now and he's essentially crippled atp. I fear for Baela's storyline.

Rhaena is looking for Sheepstealer. Her and Jeyne are still tussling but they waited until the final 2 episodes to give her something, Baela had no lines besides looking pretty and staring at Jace. I fuckin hate it here. Could we bully HBO AND THE WRITERS SOME MORE. WTF!!

Vermithor and SilverWing looked so cool. What did that old bum feed Vermithor though? He's big asf. SilverWing just might be the coolest looking dragon. I can't rank them anymore cause I like them all 😭. Literally my favorite thing about the episode. Like the directors cooked. The dragons are funny asf 😂😭😭😭. There were a lot of parentage reveals, I don't believe for a second Saera sired that ugly man but anyways. RhaeRhae led those people to their deaths. Rhaenyra deadass gave this big ass pep talk, she reminded me of Erwin before he led the scouts out on what would be their suicide mission except she didn't stay to see the outcome or participate in it. Vermithor saw an opportunity for a buffet and took it, Hugh claimed him. Fuckin cinema. Still gonna hate his bitchass but I can't lie that was badass. SilverWing was bullying Ulf. Why do people I hate always win sometimes?! Ulf literally failed upwards. Can't be mad at it. I mean if I was a dragon I would've done the same shit. How dare mediocre specimens come before me who is essentially the next best thing after the Gods!

We got Rhaenyra speaking High Valyrian. She had her dragon squad quit on her though and gave her a warning (foreshadowing). Her also being able to calm Vermithor, that's the Dragon Queen of her era y'all. We saw a little movement with her and her protective spoiled cat Syrax too 😍.

Not people hating on Jace now. Listen that argument has been brewing since season 1. He just finally let it out of his brooding body. I don't think many people understand the implications that argument meant. He sounded classist and maybe he was, highly doubt he is but he's being realistic and in the future he was proven right (unless they scrap the book canon). Rhaenyra paralleled Viserys in that entire scene. She really is her father's child in some ways. She did to Jace what Viserys essentially did to her. The one thing that could've upheld his ascension to the throne was him having a dragon and she essentially gave a free pass to anybody to do the same, the same thing was done to Rhaenyra when Viserys decided to marry Alicent and sire more children when he knew damn well that if he had a son, her claim to the throne would've been compromised. Jace knows he's a “bastard”, a legitimate one but a “bastard” ntl (I'm not calling him a bastard in a derogatory sense either, he isn't. Laenor claimed them as his sons and that's the end of it to me) , it shouldn't matter considering the throne is not passing from his father's side but his mother's. Sure his last name would've changed the minute he was named heir and ascended as stated by Viserys but what weight does that hold now? They briefly touched on it when he spoke to Baela about his fathers but he had always been insecure about his parentage. No he didn't call his mother a whore, he's been fighting that battle all his life, she just made it worse. In the dire situation they're in, the sacrifice had to be made but I could understand why he's angry and hurt over it again. She literally just made him illegitimate in the eyes of the realm. His anger is valid. Was his tone harsh yes, try dealing with the whispers and the jeers and everything else for the past 16 years of your entire life and seeing the same proof of what everybody else sees everyday and tell me that you wouldn't hold some kind of resentment towards it. I liked how Rhaenyra was patient with him though, just wished it wasn't as rushed as the scene felt.

The last shot of the episode was fuckin brilliant. Aemond turning his bitchass around knowing he can't handle that kinda pressure. Also Vhagar and Aemond's bond may not be as strong as it should be. She clearly does not listen to him sometimes. He's still responsible for Lucerys death IDC what y'all got to say. The episode got a 4/5 stars from me just for the dragons. I'm here for Jace, Baela, Addam and the Dragons!

Until next week guys for the finale. We're going to see Tessarion and Sheepstealer next week. I'm so excited.

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nyeisha95 · 8 months ago

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I can’t get over how shit the writing for Alicent is. Like she truly is the worst written character in the whole of HOTD. Because the writers were so obsessed with making her a victim and taking away any accountability for her actions, they instead made her Dumb, a hypocrite, and now a coward. She’s stupid because she genuinely believed Viserys changed his mind (on his death bed and heavily doped up mind you). The writers changed this so her stans could use the excuse that she genuinely made a mistake but this mistake just makes her a dumbass. She’s a hypocrite because she goes on and on about Honor and Decency and Duty, and yet she keeps people like Larys around her even though she knows he kills his brother and father, but because having him around benefits her, she’ll make up any excuse she can to justify why she never reported his ass to the crown. And now the final cherry on top, they have made her an absolute coward. Because she can’t stomach the war any longer (mind you EVERYONE is exhausted and can’t stomach this war) she now wants to run away and hide from her own decisions, and to save herself and only ONE of her children and grandchild, she is willing to throw her own son under the bus and okay his execution, never mind the fact that he is only on the throne because you forced it upon him, you manipulated him all his life to believe Rhaenrya would have him killed if she were to ascend the thrown. You stoked the flames of hatred within him toward his OWN sister, you turned him into this and yet you are willing to allow him to die because he’s what “too far gone now”. COWARD plain and simple. Like I would at least respect her if she stood on business when it came to her own decisions, but the fucking idiot can’t even do that. Trash writing and trash character. Like I don’t even like Aegon and Aemond like that (they’re both bitches too) but even THEY deserved better than the trash heap that is their mother. Argue with the wall!!!!

#daemon targaryen #hotd spoilers #house of the dragon #house of the dragon spoilers #rhaenrya targaryen #team black #anti alicent hightower #anti alicent stans

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thephantomcasebook · 9 months ago

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I just saw a leaked clip of Rhaenyra telling Alicent to her face that Aegon has to die and Alicent just accepting it.

There are so many talented writers out there in the world and yet Ryan Condol had to be the one to adapt Fire & Blood and write HOTD. Fml

No ...

You gotta go back and rewatch this shit.

What actually happens is equally stupid.

So, Alicent betrays Aemond and Criston by telling Rhaenyra their battle plans. Then, Alicent offers Rhaenyra King's Landing uncontested and without bloodshed if she is allowed to take Helaena and Jaehaera out of the city to disappear. She tells Rhaenyra that Aegon is terribly wounded and a shadow of himself and that he'll bend the knee to Rhaenyra cause he still listens to Alicent.

Rhaenyra tells Alicent that its a stupid plan, because, she still has to execute Aegon, she must take his head to end his claim. Then she asks if Alicent is okay with this. Alicent pauses and doesn't say anything, showing that she is not.

Then, fucking stupid goes fulling fucking retard.

Rhaenyra gets enraged and frustrated that Alicent still defends Aegon. Like ... WHAT?!

Like, somehow, Rhaenyra just expected Alicent to be okay with her chopping her eldest son's head off, like they've unilaterally agreed that Aegon is not a person, or Alicent's child, and therefore he has to die and Alicent should be okay with this.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE EVEN TALKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?!

WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

Are you fucking serious?!

Like that line and that reaction, boils my fucking blood - on a deeply personal level that media rarely can touch.

Rhaenyra just expects Alicent to accept that her sons are evil and that she has to kill them and is visibly offended and betrayed that Alicent isn't on her side about KILLING AEGON, HER SON. Fuck You, you crazy supremist cultist bitch! And fuck Alicent for even allowing her to have that reaction and let her believe that she's on her side about this. Ugh, I fucking can't stand this shit!

I'm seriously thinking about just closing the book on Alicent Hightower, and writing her off forever. What she did is really unforgivable and completely indefensible.

I mean she admitted to Rhaenyra that she loves Criston (wouldn't say his name in front of her) that she cares for children. But she still willing to betray all of them because ... SHE WENT ON A SWIM IN THE LAKE!

Sara Hess might be one of the worst writers in the fucking world.

#House of the Dragon #Alicent Hightower #Rhaenyra Targaryen #Aegon II Targaryen

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abla-soso · 9 months ago

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It's genuinely SO embarrassing when a lot of low-budget and low quality historical shows were easily able to do what HOTD was too sacred to do: Present the real ugly reality of a civil war between royal kin and show how each side is morally corrupted and unjustified.

This shit has been done before! So many times! If the writers were too lazy to create their own original spin on it, they could have just taken direct inspiration from these shows.

But no, they had to push themselves into a corner by insisting on a good side vs. bad side narrative in a story that was supposedly about entitled, power-hungry royal brats. It's a stupid and unnecessary writing choice that sucked all the fun and the nuance from the story, and it's now slowly falling apart in a spectacular way.

#anti hotd #house of the dragon

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mhsdatgo · 1 year ago

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Alicent crowing aegon exposing her children to more risk than just letting rhaenyra became queen. Rhaenyra wanted that throne, there is no way she would have accepted those "terms", and alicent is 100% aware of this in the book and in the show as well. By crowning aegon she start a war and put her children DIRECTLY on the battlefield against people who were more experienced in war like daemon or ride dragon longer like rhaenyra and rhaenys amd consequently may control their dragon better. If you didn't want to consider a crash between two or more dragons, even if they were on a dragon against an army the danger is very high, look at rhaenys the conqueror or aemon the first son of jaehaerys, they were on dragon's back and yet both of them were killed by arrow. Not to mention that both in the book and in the show alicent spend years creating animosity with rhaenyra, If you TRULY believe that someone may hurt your children you do everything you can to maintain at least a civil relationship, and not constantly provoke them and then cry about how your children may be hurt by your stupidity. Because that what alicent has done in the book starting hating rhaenyra, pray viserys to name Aegon as heir and constantly share gossip to damage rhaenyra's image (with a 10 years old girl, meanwhile Alicent was a GROWN woman), and in the show the situation is not different. The truth is that alicent’s action were based on her own ambitious in the book and on her resentment to rhaenyra in the show, but NEVER in the interest of her children. In fact aegon never wanted to be king, he was forced by her and has to endure all the consequences while watching all of his family die

Ladies and gentlemen, here we have someone who quite literally didn't get a single thing about Fire and Blood.

See, anons like these are what makes my blood boil at the writers of HotD for making Rhaenyra appear like a saint which not only made most of the decisions she'll take from this moment onward out of (show) character (as far as character building and development goes) but also fucking boring.

I'm always one to listen to different points of view and interpretations of books as complicated as these, but something that has always bugged me is the way this fandom CANNOT DIGEST the type of tragedy that is just inevitable.

It was never about picking sides, it was never about sexism, it was always about kin torn apart by kin and their own flaws dragging them down. There was no way to ever avoid that and I cannot have a proper discussion about F&B with anyone who doesn't understand this first.

Moreover, just what do you think Alicent should've done? Shut up, be quiet, sit still and look pretty while Daemon's spies turned her children into bloody shreds? Allow them to be assassinated because of the threat they pose to Rhaenyra's claim? Does everything revolve around her? Is she some kind of Twilight Sparkle?

Let me tell you this: no woman would willingly step back and leave their children to their own devices when their own lives pose a threat to someone else's interests.

I have respect for Rhaenyra and her will to fight for what she believed was her birthright (although let's be honest, it was a feeling born out of nothing but the entitlement of a spoiled brat, it turned into a war of parents after one of each faction's children was killed) but I also have so much more respect for Alicent and her courage to bare teeth and claws and plan a coup to be allowed the upper hand and more possibilities of looking after her children if one of them is ruling. It's not "stupidity" it's awareness. And acting according to it.

It's true that Alicent has her own ambitions, but to say that they started growing in her when she was nothing but an 18 year old girl marrying a 30 year old man... Do you hear yourself? That's a girl getting graduated from high school. Oh shiver me timbers, we're scared of young adults here.

Everyone likes and loves and adores to talk about the way ALICENT was having beef with Rhaenyra as a 10 year old but nevermind Rhaenyra placing a bounty on two toddlers and one of them getting ripped apart because of it. Nevermind her refusing that bastard Corlys' advice to take Daeron as a hostage and demanding that he be killed instead. (Because this bitch was the #1 threat to her rule, but y'all aren't ready for that conversation)

She never "prayed" for Aegon to be named as heir, what she DID pray for was for him and Rhaenyra to be betrothed to one another. I hate Rhaegon personally, (no hate to any Rhaegon stan that reads this ♥️) but honestly this is the only marriage that could've MAYBE prevented the Dance. It started because there were two claimants to the throne. Just marry them to each other and the issue was solved. Both of them get crowned, no Dance, peace.

But noooooo, Viserys, the incompetent twat, as always had to act like an incompetent twat and be like "lol but they don't get along". IT WAS HIM WHO DOOMED HIS CHILDREN, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF HIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS. ALL. OF. THEM.

Everyone else acted as a consequence to the cluterfuck that the sick old man created. Namely, chaos. What else did you expect?

#hotd #house of the dragon #pro alicent hightower #pro team green #anti rhaenyra stans #anti team black #anti viserys i targaryen

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