#hotd: 104

[cptrs]

[gameofthronesdaily]

ALICENT holding her daughter, HELAENA (1.04) HELAENA holding her daughter, JAEHAERA (2.01)

[emynarnen]

Rhaenyra’s red & gold off-the-shoulder dress

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1.04 "King of the Narrow Sea" // 1.05 "We Light the Way"

[hayley-on-the-daily]

[endless-ineffabilities]

About Aemond (and Daemon) ...

I understand I've got about two too many unfinished series, and your frustrations have not gone unnoticed. I won't go into specifics anymore on when I'll be updating them - I simply can't set out a posting schedule right now.

But Maroon will come soon enough... then Sapphire-Hearted... then Fire Like Yours... and eventually, my first-born child, Heart on Fire.

Thing is, I don't have it in me to write half-heartedly just for the sake of putting up timely updates. If I'm just not into the story for the time being, it will get stalled.

So those stories are NOT abandoned! Just rekindling the embers that only Aemond (and Daemon) can ignite. I owe all my readers too much 🖤

[rhaenyratargcryen]

if you are a house of the dragon fan in your mid-late 20s/early 30s (bonus if u read/write fanfiction) will you please like this...pls....i am trying to rebuild my dashboard from the ground up......

[asumofwords]

Smoke, Fire and Ash

Warnings: This fic includes noncon, dubcon, manipulation, violence, forced marriage, and inc3st. Tags will be added as the fic goes on. Blood, death.

This is a dark!fic. 18+ only. Read at your own discretion. Please read the warnings before continuing.

Summary: You are the eldest daughter of Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen. You are forced to navigate the difficult surroundings of your upbringing and the eventual disintegration between your family and the Hightower's relationship. What will happen when your older and estranged uncle suddenly takes a more sinister interest in you? (Dark!Aemond x Reader)

Masterlist

Characters: Aemond Targaryen X Reader, HOTD characters.

Note: Oh boy, look how far we have come? This has been such an insane ride, so just remember how much you love me... hahahaha. This chapter has been sitting with me since I started writing this fic months ago, so at least the vision stayed the same! We still got 6 more chapters to go... I sense some therapy invoices coming. Anyway... enjoy <3

Chapter 104: Star Fruit and Sacrifices

Sleep evaded you that evening as you laid in his arms.

The storm outside the Red Keep quietly raged on, and the chambers were lit intermittently with the bright flashes of lightning, your heart jumping in your chest each time as it illuminated a small figure at the end of the room.

Lucerys no longer whispered, but instead stared at you. 

Watched you.

Waited.

Always the same, and you were sure, would always be forever more. Dripping wet as he had been the day he was taken, on a storm very much like the one outside.

But war was coming, and there was no possibility of escaping that now.

And what was more; you were caught.

Caught in the decision that you knew you would have to make. Caught in the knowing that it would come too soon. Caught in the knowing that it would change everything forever. 

Change you forever.

You loved him. 

That much was true.

But you also loved them.

And there was no way that any of you would come out of this unscathed.

Unmarked.

Unscarred.

And Aemond would keep you locked away in these chambers as you would lose more of yourself and your family at his hands. 

Aemond would kill them all.

Or they would kill him.

But you loved him.

Despite all, you loved Aemond Targaryen.

And oh, how he had changed. How he had grown. How he had become his own man, held his own, made his own moves, and all because of you. All because you pushed him to. All because you made him believe he could. 

And he could.

And he did.

And now he was King, and you his Queen.

You shifted in his arms, looking up at his face. 

He had never looked so at peace. Lost to his dreams, his eye shut, the other sapphire, forgotten to be taken out, shining down at you. His lips were slightly parted as he breathed, hands wrapped tightly around you protectively, possessively, and legs intertwined with your own. Your stomach warmed.

Long, white eyelashes fluttered against his cheek as you wriggled out of his hold, moving to straddle him, your body atop his, chemise thrown over you at his insistence before you slept. ‘You will catch cold’ he had said, and you had let him dress you, as he pulled on a pair of loose breeches and dragged you back to bed to sleep. 

You sat atop his body and watched as he slowly came to wake, those long white lashes flicking open, pupil dilating as he focused on you and how you sat atop him, not unlike the many times before in the throws of your lovemaking.

“You’re beautiful.” You whispered to him in the dark, voice as quiet as the storm outside moved with every passing moment.

Aemond wet his lips with his tongue, clearing the sleep from his throat as his hands came to rest atop your hips, “You are more beautiful than any other in the realm.” He whispered back.

Tears prick at your eyes, and one slowly rolled down your cheek, your uncles brows twitching.

“My husband,” You cooed, “My King.”

Another tear fell.

The hands on your hips tightened, “What has happened?” He asked, concern nipping at you with each word, “Did you have a night terror?”

“I would move the heavens for you if I could.” You breathed, a hand coming to brush against his jaw, the subtle roughness of his shaved facial hair prickling your palm, “I love you. I have always loved you. I will always love you. I will always be yours.”

Aemond wiped away a tear that fell from your cheek. You grabbed that hand, bringing it down to press against your stomach, intertwining your fingers together, his hand dwarfing your own as you held him against you.

“This is us. Ours. Your child grows inside of me each day. And I cannot wait to meet him. I know he will be just as lovely as you.” You smiled at him, and Aemond smiled back softly, grabbing your other hand to press a kiss to your knuckles.

You swallowed thickly, feeling the presence of the memory of your brother behind you getting closer. 

Dracarys.

Tear after tear fell down your cheeks, running down your face to land on Aemond’s bare chest below. You swallowed, that great lump in the back of your throat again as your hands shook, heart beating against your chest like a drum.

“But you have broken me.” You whispered, gnawing at your lip painfully.

The hand on your stomach twitched as he looked up at you, smile dropping from his face as the other palm moved to grasp your hip again, fingers flexing against your skin.

“You have scarred me, Aem. My body is covered in them. My mind faces the same fate. You raped me, Aemond. And left me to Aegon.” At the mention of his name, Aemond shifted beneath you, hands on your stomach and hip flexing, “I was miserable here, gone to grief, wishing to be dead, and you did little to save me.”

The man below you’s lips parted, a lungful of air being sucked into his chest as he moved to rebuke your accusations, “I am not that man any longer.”

You shook your head, “No. You’re not, and I am so proud of the man you have become. Of the man you were always destined to be. We were meant to burn together, you see? Destined by the Gods.”

Aemond’s face held remorse, but poured love towards you, “I know I can never atone for what I did, for what I have done to you. Taken from you. But I make no apologies, just as you would not do the same. We are changed, now. One.” The hand from your stomach slid to cup your cheek, “We will start anew. You have always been mine, and I have always been yours. Zālagon hēnkirī.”

Burn together.

"Always." A sob flew from your lips, and so you leant down to capture his with yours, holding his face in your hands as you poured love and adoration into him.

You loved him. You loved him so much it hurt. It felt as though with every beat of your heart, a knife was twisted further and further into your chest.

Doomed from the beginning.

Doomed by the Gods.

Doomed by fate and the path they had laid out for you.

You pulled away, hovering above him as you looked at his face, his eye, his eyelashes, his lips that you loved to kiss, his hair which was soft and flowing, and it made you sob harder.

“I know. Zālagon hēnkirī. Lanta hen keskydoso,” Two of the same, You repeated Helaena’s prophesy to him, watching as his eye lit up in recognition, "Vējes ondoso se Jaes'.” Fated by the Gods, “Lanta rōvēgrie zaldrīzes perzyssy, hēnkirī hae mēre. Hubon hen kasta, hubon hen zōbrie. Iā rōvēgrie ropagon naejot letagon lanta hubon. Vējes naejot zālagon hēnkirī.” 

Two great dragon flames, together as one. 

Spool of green, spool of black. 

A great fall to tie two threads. 

Fated to burn together.  

A smile worked its way back onto Aemond’s lips, and you continued, “I would never be whole without you. You have carved yourself into my every being, Aemond. We were always meant to burn together, the Gods made it so when they fated us since birth. I know this now. I know this now more than I know myself. You have shown me my future. Our future.”

You knew what it meant. 

You understood it all now.

You kissed him, and he kissed you, and you held his face in your hands as you uttered the words you know he had been craving to hear, needed to hear once more, “I love you, Aemond. Stars above, I love you. You are mine. And you will always be mine.”

Aemond’s smile widened, teeth showing as he held onto you, another tear falling from your eyes, “Avy jorrāelan, zaldrītsos.” I love you, little dragon.

Your lips sought his, eyes wet and heart beating in your chest. The cool of the sheet rolled beneath your hand as you slid it beside his head. Aemond gripped your hips tightly, slowly beginning to roll you against his hardening length. 

Fingertips sought what they seeked, and your lips parted as you breathed into the kiss.

Aemond jerked beneath you, and your face pulled back. His fingers dug their nails into your hips painfully as another sob fell loudly into the chambers. 

The blade in your palm was cold.

Such a beautiful blade.

The same blade that he had gifted you, with two dragons dancing around each other on the hilt.

Green and Black.

You and Him.

You held it tightly, knuckles white and hand shaking as it was imbedded in his neck, in a place where you had once tried to pierce with a shard of mirror before and missed, just above the scar of the old wound, but this time was final. 

This time, it had met its mark. 

Aemond’s hand flew to your wrist as you held the dagger in his flesh, blood spurting from the wound, spraying across the white of your chemise, and pooling into the sheets below. His brows were drawn in pain as he looked at you in disbelief, in betrayal, and you sobbed louder, tears falling down your cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but I can’t let you hurt them. I can’t let you kill them. I can’t.” You sucked in a large sob, pulling the blade from his neck in shock, in horror, and dropped it against the pillow, forgotten.

But then regret settled in your chest, like that knife that twisted against your ribs, making its way to your heart.

Your hand flew to the wound, pressing against it as his blood spilled over, pulsing through your fingers. Aemond’s eye widened, and his hand pressed yours against his neck, trying to stem the bleeding.

But it was no use.

The thick crimson life flowed from him steadily with each beat of his heart, and the tears in your eyes continued to fall with it. Your stomach twisted in knots, and all you could do was cry atop him as his eye fluttered.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I couldn't let you. I couldn't let you become a monster again." You sobbed down at him, watching as his brow softened, a small trail of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth as it opened, his hand skating up your hip to cup your cheek, palm covered in blood. 

But it was not enough.

It would never be enough.

Hands shaking, you leant down to kiss him one final time, tasting copper on your tongue as blood had begun to fill his mouth. Aemond kissed you back weakly, hand still cupping your face.

In love.

Denial.

Shock.

Betrayal.

You sobbed into his lips, pulling back as you looked at him, his mouth opened again, and another trickle of blood leaked down his chin, meeting the rest of the crimson that seeped onto his neck and chest.

“I love you. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. What have I done? Oh Gods, what have I done?” You cried, watching his lips part over and over, the love of your life attempting to speak, attempting to breathe, as he drowned in his own blood.

But no words could have passed his lips. And the soft fluttering of his eye slowed, and became hooded, his face growing paler than the pearl-like skin he already had. The pink flush of life beginning to fade.

The hand that cupped your cheek, the hand that had loved you, the hand that had held you, that had hurt you, slipped from your cheek and back onto the bed limply. 

Blood still pulsed from the side of his neck, though weaker now, soaking thickly into the sheets as you sat atop him. Its thick essence soaked into the white of your chemise at your knees and hips, and where the initial arterial spray had dashed across you.

Those long white eyelashes blinked at you slowly, opening once more as he looked at you, teeth coated in his own blood. The side of his lip twitched, and you prayed to the Gods that it would pull into that smirk you both despised and adored. That he would grin at you and laugh, sit up and pull you into his arms. 

That he would whisper into your ear that he was fine, that it was nothing that the Maester could not fix, that he would call to him now and have the maids fetch fresh sheets for you both, and bring a hot bath to soak into and wash your sin away. 

That you could take him once more inside you, feel the joy he could give your body, kiss his lips, and his cheeks, his neck, all of him. That perhaps this would be a tale that you could tell your children of later, laugh heartily at how silly you had been, how awfully in love the two of you were, and watch each other grow old and grey and withered by time, your heir eventually sitting the throne after him. 

But then the hand atop yours at his neck slipped away, and the violet eye that had seen so much of you became unfocused.

An ache spread across your chest as you sobbed atop him.

And his seeing eye, saw no longer. 

Another eye had closed.

Aemond’s chest stopped rising and falling, no more stuttering or shaking of his limbs, his thighs and core no longer tensed or twitched, and the blood that spilled from his wound had stopped its pulsing.

He was gone.

“I’m sorry.” You cried, your hands shook as you cupped his face, his lifeless head rolling in your hands, eye open to the ceiling, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Oh Gods, what have I done? What have I done?”

You looked down at your hands. 

They were stained with the oozing coppery liquid, the smell of iron curling around you thickly. 

Your stomach rolled.

And then, denial.

Your hands frantically tried to press against his neck, blood causing him to slip out of your grip, the open wound brushing against the scar of your palm, the scar you had given yourself, the scar he had given you, and the scar that now, ultimately would never heal. 

“What have I done? What have I done? Aemond? Please, Gods. Oh, Aemy. Please, wake up. Curse me, strike me, anything! Please, please don’t leave me here without you.”

The death of Aemond Targaryen broke you completely. 

Burnt pages and crisp beginnings, marred by blood and choices that no young woman should be forced to make. The night moved slowly, and you would not move from his side.

Curled up against it, laid in his blood, you held his body against yours, clutching him to you as you sobbed and cried, begging for forgiveness, apologising over, and over until your throat became raw, and your voice rasped barely above a whisper.

Your chemise was soaked red, clinging to your body, and your silver hair became stained as you tucked your head beneath his, feeling the warmth of his body slowly fade away. His eye, untrained on the ceiling, and yours brimming with tears.

Thanks so much for reading along with me, if you wish to be added to the tag list please let me know :) Likes and reblogs are greatly appreciated ! Enjoy <3

Tag List:

@izzicle @ej-shitchats @may-machin @alegria1580 @witchy-jadda @videovampire @inkdelicious @queteimporta39 @virtualsweetsqueen @fo-cus @auratiqs @feyres-fireheart @queenofshinigamis @asoiafwh8re @teasandcrumpets @shesjustanothergeek @grungegrrrl@queenofsarcazm @marihoneywk @curlszx88 @virgogaia @loser-keiji @asoiafwh8re @whore-of-many-hot-men @vipervixxen @theonewiththeimaginaryboyfriends @watercolorskyy @lavendervisions @mazmack666 @chokefrog @orangejump-suit @nik2blog @serrhaewinin @ohemgeewhat @winxschester @cryptidsrcool @drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed @celestedonut @bloodyvelvet777 @iamapersonthatsalive @av-sos @yentroucnagol @sanzu-s @opheliaas-stuff @bellameshipper @maviee @persephonerinyes @neytiri-09 @ensnaredinwonderland @xbluegracex @sotragedynut @nattieot7 @shesawaywiththefairies-blog @coffedraven @prettycutebunny @celestedonut @the-jess-life @ssulfurr @out-of-life @madislayyy @crazylokonugget @cicaspair418 @katwmk @relminnie @milovart @teagrex @visenyaverse @bellameshipper @toodlesxcuddles @tempt-ress @dontmindmereading7 @qyburnsghost @55gyi53vtnquwziq5 @notnormalthings-blog @maidmerrymint @qyburnsghost @madislayyy @chelseaouat

Bold is who I cannot tag!

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Do you know why no one’s attempted to bond with Vermithor until now? At least in show verse. Daemon’s ego at least seems like he would have wanted him. And the way the show’s apparently bent the lore enough to where Rhaenyra can touch him unscathed..seems like Vermithor actually inexplicably liked her lol to the point where it seems had she attempted to bond with him in her youth she may have been successful.

In show-verse, we're told that Daemon wanted Meleys (his late mother's dragon), and after Meleys rejected him and accepted Rhaenys instead, he bonded with Caraxes (Rhaenys's late father's dragon). I'm not sure exactly when all this was going on in HOTD time, but in book-verse Rhaenys was 13 and Daemon was 6 when she claimed Meleys in 87 AC (three years after Alyssa had died), and Daemon didn't claim Caraxes until he was at least 11, after Aemon died in 92 AC. But either way it doesn't matter, Jaehaerys died in 103 AC, so Vermithor wasn't freed up until then.

Now, Book!Rhaenyra first rode Syrax in 104 AC, when she was 7. Show!Rhaenyra has the same birth year, and show!Jaehaerys's death year is also the same. So Vermithor was available at the time Rhaenyra first rode Syrax (assuming that show!Rhaenya also became a dragonrider at age 7). However, it is frequently assumed that Syrax was a cradle egg (though the book says nothing one way or the other, and neither has the show). In the book Syrax is called "young" when Rhaenyra first flew her; HOTD's 1st episode script, when Rhaenyra is 14, calls Syrax "adolescent". It's quite possible Rhaenyra had no interest in Vermithor because she had her birth-bonded dragon to ride once she was big enough.

Alternatively, it's possible that the Dragonkeepers warned 7-year-old Rhaenyra away from the notably grouchy and angry Vermithor and towards a younger dragon more suitable for her age, as they did when Alyssa initially wanted to claim Balerion. In general I'd suspect that would be the case for most young dragonriders, at least the ones who weren't already bonded to cradle-egg dragons. (As Rhaenyra's sons were; it's unclear whether Sunfyre and Tessarion were cradle eggs, or bonded while very young.) And we know it was suggested that Aemond pick out a dragon egg or hatchling, before he claimed Vhagar by himself.

So yeah, I figure the Dragonkeepers would very much prefer not to see a repeat of the deeply unfortunate Aerea incident, where it was Balerion in control, taking the 12-year-old girl to his definition of home, not hers. Let alone allowing a young prince or princess to get flamed to ash on their watch. When someone young does go for a massive old dragon (Laena or Aemond with Vhagar), it seems most likely it's done where the busybody protective Dragonkeepers can't interfere... which was not Rhaenyra's situation in King's Landing.

I hope that helps!

[daenysthedreamer101]

Lady Rhea Royce looking fondly down at her young daughter Daena as they collect flowers in a meadow near Runestone, circa 104 AC

Rhea Royce proved to be a good mother. She was fiercely protective of her only child and never let the little princess out of her sight. Lady Rhea nurtured Daena and helped her grow into a fierce young woman.

Made using Viking Woman Dress Up on AzaleasDolls.com

HOTD masterlist

[horizon-verizon]

HotD: Daemon & Viserys

Disclaimer: This is a post detailing what I think the show writers' perspective and thought processes in creating HotD.

Image Credit: fireandbloodsource @ Tumblr

In regular feudal history, the individual receives economic security through marriage, rights by lineage, and family connections. Inheritance determines deserving.

In the lore of A Song of Ice and Fire, incest and kinslaying results in the abuser, or the perpetrator of violence, sharing the similar physical and psychological spaces with their victim. the Targaryens are a prime example of it.

Which means that likelihood of localized oppression and abuse PLUS salvation from that abuse or from general social degradation lies within your own family most of the time. Where else does Rhaenyra feel she can find what could develop into an unequivocal allyship if not with the relative that Valyrian and Targaryen custom sets up for her? It's not really until she married Daemon that she gets a feeling for being closer to having a basis of more independent power (in the moment of her youth's emotional confinement). And yet Daemon could have been the one to undo her authority if he perceives her actions to get in the way of his spontaneous decisions to seize political or personal power for himself. Similar to the Cersei-Jaime situation, but Jaime was less into the political one unless it protected his siblings and father. Daemon clearly has a lot of pride in the Valyrian dragonriding culture for its dominance, which Rhaenyra, a dragonrider and the heir, is the closest to being emblem of that.

Daemon

Book Description:

The greatest of his [Otto Hightower] rivals was Daemon Targaryen, the king’s ambitious, impetuous, moody younger brother. As charming as he was hot-tempered, Prince Daemon earned his knight’s spurs at six-and-ten [16], had been given Dark Sister [Visenya’s sword] by the Old King himself in recognition of his prowess. Though he wed the Lady of Runestone in 97 A.C., during the Old King;s reign, the marriage had not been a success. Prince Daemon found the Vale of Arryn boring (“In the Vale, the men fuck the sheep”, he wrote. “You cannot fault them, the sheep are prettier than their women.”), and soon developed a mislike of his lady wife, whom he called “my bronze bitch” after the runic bronze armorworn by the lords of House Royce. Upon the accession of his brother to the Iron Throne, the prince petitioned to have his marriage set aside. Viserys denied the request, but he did allow Daemon to return to court, where he sat on thr small council serving as master of coin from 103-104, and master of laws for half a year in 104.

Governance bored the prince, however. He did better when King Viserys made him Commander of the City Watch. Finding the watchmen ill-armed and clad in oddments and rags, Daemon equipped each man with dirk, short sword, and cudgel, armored them in black ringmail (with breastplates for the officers) anf gave them long golden cloaks that they might wear with pride. Ever since, the men of the City Watch have been known as “gold cloaks”. (pgs 354-355) 

 ...nor [Viserys] have much taste for the joust, the hunt, or swordplay, whereas Prince Daemon excelled in these spheres, and seemed all that his brother was not: lean and hard, a renowned warrior, dashing, daring, more than a little dangerous. (pg 355)  

We could refer to Daemon talking to Rhaenyra in the garden in episode 4, where she talks about not wanting to marry and how marriage for women can be a death sentence due to being pushed into give birth and weakening themselves. Daemon responds with Aemma's death being a tragedy but Rhaenyra shouldn't let tragedies stop her from enjoying other good things in a marriage...like having enjoyable extramarital sex while still doing one’s “duty”. The question of grooming in this scene relies on whether or not you perceive Daemon as being sexually interested in Rhaenyra or interested in getting her to trust him so he can sexually exploit her. And I believe that he fully intended to exploit her lost virginity against Viserys so that he had his “revenge” for a perceived lack of trust and betrayal.

Funny how in the book Fire and Blood, Daemon was organizing a group of soldiers for Viserys’ claim before the Great Council of 101 A.C.:

Reports had reached the court that Corlys Velaryon was massing ships and men on Driftmark to “defend the rights” of his son Laenor, whilst Daemon Targaryen, a hot-tempered and quarrelsome young man of twenty, had gathered his own band of sworn swords in support of his brother Viserys (pg 344).

(Only the events of the Dance of the Dragons/Dying of the Dragons is told to us as being the least reliable of events recorded happening to the Targaryens.)

However, I'm also inclined to think that the episode wanted us to know that he had some nonsexual and non-ambitious kin-based concern for Rhaenyra and realized it fully when he got Rhaenyra up against the wall, even as he also intended to use her lost virginity to spite Viserys and get back at him for not allowing Daemon to act out his perception masculine power through specific political positions. As the show would have us believe.

By looking at her the way he did when he drew back a little while Rhaenyra went forward several times to draw him back, it looked to me like he was and not understanding why.

Daemon has a lot of extramarital sex and there were many theories as to why he can’t finish with Mysaria in episode 1, why she offered a “silver”-haired “maiden”. In the book Fire and Blood, it was assumed by mainly aristocrats around him that he preferred having sex with pale-haired virgins.

The first episode makes this preference more of a mystery. Does Daemon like virgins that happen to look Valyrian enough because virgins are the ideal for power-seeking, does Daemon like to have sex with pale-haired people because he is attracted to Rhaenyra, or is he sexually attracted to pale-haired people because he feels he should be? Mysaria in the books came from Lys and had pale hair which lead to her being called the “White Worm” by others. The show casted Sonoya Mizuno who has her dark hair out instead of a pale wig, so that makes me think that it’s that Daemon was always interested in a Valyrian.

In episode 6, we saw him go through a book of Valyrian dragonriders and Laena revealing he still dreams of inheriting and practicing their Targaryen dragonriding “glory”. 

When I offered up my crown, you said I could have anything. I want Rhaenyra. I'll take her as she is and wed her in the tradition of our house.  Give me Rhaenyra to take to wife and we will return the house of the dragon to its proper glory. (Daemon: Season 1, Episode 4)

As a prince/nobleman in this world, he’s also used to the idea and reality of getting his own way most of the time. Those closest to him are his Valyrian family, yet his brother is his political superior and had not allowed him to hold a position he believes was his due while only benefiting Viserys the more: the Hand position.

Family-by-blood is the most dependable source of personal security to Show!Daemon. Everyone else is either subject or enemy. That Viserys, in his view, denied him the position was baffling, stupid, and hurtful. But he’s a prince, a man who wants power and still thinks it should be given to him, so he won’t do any asking of any kind or open himself to that.

I think, in the show, that he was confronted by the knowledge that Rhaenyra was rival, child, prospective lover, brother’s daughter, loved one all at once in immediacy of sex/expectancy of sex. That many things finally presented themselves as a mess of overlapping realities of their relationship and that that was intimidating. That closeness and seeing Rhaenyra’s excitement and willingness to have sex with him and lose that virginity discombobulates his confidence because he likes and wants her too much to only use her as a means to defy Viserys. And he doesn’t see or feel the weight of that it until then.

Image Credit @ PeanutGalleryBanter

In episode 5 he walks up to Rhaenyra asking her in the dance, “Is this what you want?” in High Valyrian (after which for the rest of the season, they never speak to each other again in). 

It was apparent to me that he wanted to get out of his own anxiety by riling her up after sitting through that part of the engagement party. After realizing the dilemma described above, he seems to have wanted to run away from his own discontent by stirring up problems as well as have that opportunity to...kiss her? Did he kiss her or was it just weird face-touching?

The fact the scene is in Viserys’ point of view and was blocked by passing people is an artistic touch to make us uncertain whether or not they actually kissed. But even if they didn’t close the distance, it was too close between them and their faces were too close to merit doing in her engagement party while her wedding date was just announced. So we get both the assurance that they were publicly intimate without actually seeing if anything was “completed”. A callback to the first time they kissed where they didn’t actually have sex, and therefore never “finished”.

Unlike when he tried to use Mysaria in episode 2, Daemon partially sees Rhaenyra as being competent and trustworthy enough to match the prominence of being a Valyrian dragonrider. He also seems to relate to Rhaenyra’s bristling at perceived obstacles to her own authority and agency, which to Daemon are one and the same.

He never really respected Mysaria like how we moderns would want a man to treat a woman as an equal, and he obviously didn’t treat her the exact same way as he did Rhaenyra (before episode 10... this is an obvious edit) nor ever like Rhea Royce. And all those sex workers he slept with were people he didn’t regard as much as the next Westerosi nobleman or noble woman wouldn't. Still, Daemon is better, by even entertaining Mysaria's condemnations when another lord would have sent her off or even become violent. And he was willing to accept either futures of their childlessness or having children (even with them being illegitimate).

But as a man still wanting a specific type of power and being very emotionally stunted from that life-goal, he still doesn’t totally going to allow himself to ever feel indebted to anyone.

And all that culminated into a clarity, then shock and hesitance that finally gave way to a guilt he was not used to feeling. Which shows his immaturity and callousness.

And it seems unlikely that he had a serious problem with ED when it came to her since it's never really referred to again after he marries her or after the 5th episode. Of course, it’s possible that he still did and Rhaenyra was successful in making him feel it actually didn’t matter, but I can’t really believe that--with how sexual potency is a chief component to how more powerful men feel confident in themselves. (Unless the creators of the show just decided to let that pass or forgot about that suggestion completely.)

Maybe with Laena? Men can still impregnate while having ED--the condition varies amongst individuals. But again, that issue is never brought up again. We'll have to see if it in in the second season to better determine if his ED was mostly emotion based--him not having the person he really desired--or just a physical thing. Or both.

As for him choking Rhaenyra, I believe that was him showing how little he understands and cares about accountability--his own and others--as he loses control over the repressed feelings about Viserys’ death. Viserys was the brother who he felt didn’t see his worth in protecting what Daemon felt paramount. There is no real closure between them...not that there ever would have been with both men being so emotionally closed off from each other.

He focused more on putting himself to “use” as he saw it by setting up both defenses and offensive measures while Rhaenyra screamed for him to stop the planning and appear in her birthing room, specifically to stop him from waging violence before it became necessary. 

But he also seems to want to run away from the possibility of her death, as he witnessed Laena’s labor pains and voluntary death, her “abdandonment”. Moreover, in light of Viserys’ just-announced death. And yet he also sees himself as being a reason for Viserys’ death---Second Son-style (all their arguments and not being there to “protect” him--in episode 8 we see that he looks like he is appalled by Viserys’s decay and pities him) while seeking to destroy Alicent for looking suspicious enough to kill Viserys/not being a Targaryen. 

Because he is so repressed, as Rhaenyra makes herself an obstacle in his violence and learned method of releasing inner turmoil/grief, she becomes the target, the focus as she always partially was (episode 3 with the egg incident on th bridge to Dragonstone). Again, this is show!Daemon.

Rhaenyra, to my surprise/not surprise, doesn’t resent him or show anger but focuses on how his anger reveals his ignorance of the prophecy. And once again, the unexpectedness of her reaction and her forcing him to see a different truth of him shakes him into trying to ignore or run off from that shock. Again, a certain immaturity.

Viserys

Image Credit: unknown @ Tumpik

Book Description:

Viserys I Targaryen had a generous, amiable nature, and was well loved by his lords and smallfolk alike. The reign of the Young King, as the commons called him upon his ascent, was peaceful and prosperous. His Grace’s open-handedness was legendary, and the Red Keep became a place od song and splendor. King Viserys and Queen Aemma hosted many a feast and tourney, and lavished gold, offices, and honors on their favorites. (pgs 353-354)

The king had grown soft and plump over the years. Viserys never claimed another dragon after Balerion’s death, nor did he have much taste for the joust, the hunt, or swordplay, whereas Prince Daemon excelled in these spheres, and seemed all that his brother was not: lean and hard, a renowned warrior, dashing, daring, more than a little dangerous. (pg 355)  

Viserys I Targaryen was not the strongest-willed kings, it must besaid; always amiable and anxious to please, he relied greatly on the counsel of the men around him, and di as they bid more often than not. (pg 361)

Viserys is presented by the show--or TV Viserys--is just easier to understand to me than either TV or Book_Daemon is.

After listening to the Emma D'Arcy, Paddy Considine and Ryan Condal, I'm inclined to think that Viserys looked to Alicent not only as the better option for a second wife (because of her more advanced age over Laena), but also because she actively acted to comfort him by talking to him about his grief and present turmoil over Rhaenyra's position. But really, again, this is just for how the writers saw the original story and created their own fanfiction passed as an adaptation.

TV_Viserys sees Daemon as too unruly and someone not completely trustworthy he can’t trust because they act against his wish to justify himself.

After not only losing his wife in the birth of his yearned-for son, he wants Daemon to obey his orders more than ever so that that performance (of obeying) buttresses his own sense of control. Of his conflicting emotions, his authority, and his right to the last.

He betrayed Aemma in not telling her about the c-section that would kill her quicker but also left her totally unprepared for the worse pain of it versus the dying she was going through before. She was a charcater that experienced the betrayal of someone she had been doing her “duty” towards for years, who she had been emotionally and physically intimate with for years and already had a child with.

What he did to Aemma shook his understanding of himself: father vs partner came at a clash when under his feudal duty as king and the precedent Jaehaerys left. Daemon was supposed to be his way of fixing this almost as much as Rhaenyra was. Still, I never looked at him fondly since the first episode when he had Aemma cut open and how he handled the disagreements between Alicent, Rhaenyra, and their kids. As well as how he handled Aemond’s eye getting taken so violently. How they never got to why Jace and the other boys wanted to hurt Aemond. And how he’s never really addressed Alicent’s misgivings and possible desires.

I agree mostly with Emma in that show!Viserys feels immense guilt for denying Aemma's autonomy when he decided to rip her open without her consent so he "makes it up" to her and tries to comfort himself by making Rhaenyra heir and refusing to change that.

But he mainly looks like he tried to relieve himself of that weighted guilt by creating his own meaning of her death from the ready ideological principle of king/man-must-do-his-duty-and-secure-house-power be the only meaning--and his own meaning has Aemma be only “mother” and “wife”, rather than show her as something other than that.

To Viserys, Rhaenyra’s success would mean Aemma’s death was for not for nothing. That he could be a justified murderer and all that becomes what “really” matters to him when he has a kingdom to rule. That his debt to Aemma would be fulfilled or shaven off, little by little. That though one of the kids he put in her killed her, the living one would “reward” her. Aegon's prophecy also is a hanging oppression unnecessary to the story itself, yet it hangs on him asif the Targs absolutely went to conquer Westeros for altruistic reason, setting up this "for the realm" nonsense Alicent repeats.

But that creates a negligence in him: in trying to understand or see the importance of asking for the motivations and desires of others. The appearances of behaviors will inevitably mean more than the how and why, and the appearances mean so much more when you factor in that they actually do matter when performances give people the excuse to not confront a more advantageous and higher statused person, like Viserys the king.

It allows him to think that there is a simple and direct way to organize others’ behaviors and to see them as the problem.

It makes Viserys harsher to Rhaenyra than was necessary when he confronted her having extramartial and unlicensed sex with who he thought was Daemon (someone who he sees as a destroyer of the house), ignoring knowing anything about her motives and allowing himself to diminish them to just her wanting sex. There was no opportunity for discussion and opening up about motivations in that conversation, so Rhaenyra clams up and speaks to what he will consider--how Otto is plotting against his own authority.

This is not to say that the political consequences of any public knowledge of her having extramarital sex aren't valid in the context of this feudal system and the uncertainty of a peaceful succession. That would definitely give incentive for both to act and say what they did, but they weren’t the only strong reasons for the emotional suppression in that "conversation".

But after many years of their married life, he seems to perceive that Daemon and Rhaenyra are not as rebellious or troublesome as he thought they’d become when he talked to Alicent about them. He is still too lax about Rhaenyra's birthing the illegitimate Strong boys, as that endangers their hold through Rhaenyra’s succession--mainly because to investigate her after the first virginity incident would shake Rhaenyra’s base worse. He also seems to think here that Daemon isn’t as influential over Rhaenyra to make chaos and for the sake of appearances, thus Alicent goes ignored.

And the reason why he doesn’t pay enough attention to or favor his other kids as he does Rhaenyra is not just because Rhaenyra is the daughter of the dead and betrayed Aemma (those kids remind him that he took another wife), or that Rhaenyra is the heir he chose, or that Aemma was the wife he was happiest with:

those kids are also the children of a woman who did not want him in the first place and who never really was romantically willing--the daughter of Otto, who he always distrusted after dismissing him. The whole set is more Other and foreign, less actual family, than Rhaenyra and Daemon are to him 

they are all  also potential competition to Rhaenyra and her claim since Rhaenyra and Alicent’s rift (caused by him, but he never gets to that fact), and any competition to her claim, in light of Aemma-the-betrayed, can’t be held close to him’

At least how I understand it.

Context

A)

The definitions of family, honor, childhood versus maturity and what youth was to the general ancient & medieval person was 1) not based on any (comparatively) more advanced scientific knowledge or study of human psychology for the sake of the individual 2) paired with and determined by the economic needs of the people in the agricultural-to-mercantile societies.

The fact that 12-18 year old persons in Westeros or real life were not only allowed but purposefully arranged to marry and have sex with over-18 persons for resources, power, and status for centuries is going to unsettle and even anger today’s people who live in digital/metropolitan societies. (No matter the context) Even with instances of marriage with persons even younger and where they weren’t allowed to have sex with their married person for safety reasons it’s still harrowing to imagine putting a child in the a position where them having sex and having it with an adult or much older child.

While there were women in real European medieval history who held gave orders to knights and other men, ran lead a castle under siege and and armies into battle, more often than not it was under the name of and for the rights of their absent husband, father, or children or after the properties were given to her by a father or husband. The ideal political leader who got to make the decisions that will determine the living conditions of the majority was the oldest living male in a noble house. Which is what makes a patriarchy, and the one I described with one having lords and knights is a feudal patriarchy.

This sort of thing is much bigger than any individuals themselves and only could have been practically stopped and critiqued by after a change in cultural ideology on the borders between childhood and adulthood, how much and where gender/class creates a person and their social dues to other persons.

B) As Condal, Hess, and Writers Use It

But older/younger men and boys (more overtly in aristocratic groups), like Viserys, also had the license and advantage to decide for others in many, many cultures. You break it down to who is the oldest man, who would become the head of the house/realm, and you’ve got a “head man” deciding things for not only women, children, peasants, etc., but also other men who grow up with a sense of their own license to order around those who do not themselves head a house (feudal lords like a Stark or a Tully or an Uller) as well as one’s own younger brother. Thus, patriarchal systems with deceptively simple hierarchies allowed certain men and boys the chance to perform more oppressive actions against the woman (who was made subject to the man-as-leader) as marriage and reproduction equaled more security over resources.

While there is the undeniable and timeless principle that there is a point in a human’s psychological development where they cannot fully understand the elements of healthy limits for themselves and others and how exactly they can form identities from that (childhood), such a phenomenon itself is always going to be determined and defined by the time-allowed, resources and rights of those around them. What those adults can and cannot give them and still be considered a “ deserving citizen” of the society in which they all live. The value that your neighbor (fellow human) sees in you based on how well you behave according to how they can live as safely and with as much advantage as possible.

It is a paradox that we, as humans, have to live with and don’t always learn to see. That the meaning of a society’s core, enduring values is still subject to, comes from decisions on, and changes of economic needs and desires.

C)

Daemon, the TV character, himself says to Rhaenyra that she was "only a child" in episode 7 as a reason for not staying with her after the episode 4 & 5 events. He also says to Viserys in episode 4, after Rhaenyra's found out, that Rhaenyra is now a woman who can do what she wishes like the two of them. But Viserys confronting him was a moment where Daemon, in his perspective, tried to make a bad situation advantageous (for him, Viserys, and Rhaenyra), all of which brings up interesting implications for his character. And Viserys is a man give the role of supreme leader who also has to keep in mind that the lords under him have their own military power and distinct ideological heritages (lineage histories and how those form their identity).

Which is what ultimately brings me away from thinking Criston Cole, Viserys or Daemon totally equal to the pedophiles and groomers--those who search for victims to abuse against the socially recognized needs of that child. 

I think that it's more accurate to say that the show is trying to tell us that many of the men are heavily conditioned into participating in using and abusing young female bodies for their own advancement. When Westerosi boys and men are told, forced, or and compelled to satisfy the practical demands of their aristocratic hold on lands, as well as their ideological identities as noble men. Combined with a ethnic history of sanctioned Valyrian incest, incest of cousin-marriages in Weteros, and worldwide child marriages, we’ve got A Song of Ice and Fire TV series.

Their priorities are house pride and maintaining or getting more power over the mental wellbeing of those house's individuals. We remember that both Rhaenys/Corlys and Otto put forward their ultra young daughters up for marrying the adult Viserys, who chose the better option of an 18 year old he had been Netflixing and chilling with at her father's pushing. After his own wife's death at his own hands.

The Ties to Alicent & Rhaneyra

Them acting this way doesn't take away the consequences their actions, though. Alicent is still deprived of a teenage stage of sexual exploration and becomes more and more desperate for her own political and emotional support from others in the face of a neglectful, older husband who has more political authority than her. But she doesn’t realize that her own father has been using her and attacks Rhaenyra, who has doesn’t nothing wrong really and Alicent becomes an ardent agent of misogyny and feudal patriarchy: “Duty and Sacrifice”.

Rhaenyra faces censure for not being as submissive to her father's demands of her body and society's demands of her behavior, despite the grief she continues to feel and her problems with duty and motherhood that she is compelled to ignore to conform. She takes on the heir role she didn’t want partially to get back her father’s regard (that was more focused on getting a boy) and recognition in her overall agency and competency -- respect (as the show seems to suggest). She has no real peers due to her princess status, her heir status, so she doesn’t have any other person who could relate to her and speak with her frankly and gently. 

By marrying Viserys, Alicent becomes her superior and Otto’s agent, thus emotionally separating them since Alicent will always have the advantage of ordering her around even against her will. 

Thus Rhaenyra was also very lonely, both before and after marrying Laenor. Harwin alleviated some of that loneliness but he couldn’t be both partner and protector. Daemon, as a candidate as her partner by being a dragonrider, military leader, and a Targaryen, is her best perceived option as well as the one who she felt she could relate to the most without losing too much of a sense of her own authority.

Please refer to @last-ofthe-starks​ ‘s Post on their Analysis on Why Daemon Being an Anti-Hero  

(Can’t Find a Post How He Isn’t Yet)

[alleyskywalker]

I posted 809 times in 2022

104 posts created (13%)

705 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@agameofstarks

@centrumlumina

@team-mom-wannabe

@destinationtoast

@catelynhightower

I tagged 809 of my posts in 2022

#asoiaf - 233 posts

#fanart - 113 posts

#op - 103 posts

#hotd - 89 posts

#theon greyjoy - 80 posts

#sansa stark - 71 posts

#game of thrones - 67 posts

#alicent hightower - 47 posts

#meta - 41 posts

#asoiaf - 36 posts

Longest Tag: 95 characters

#i wish i could still tag stuff for organizational purposes without putting it in the global tag

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

128 notes - Posted March 4, 2022

#4

See the full post

131 notes - Posted March 30, 2022

#3

See the full post

131 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

#2

See the full post

147 notes - Posted May 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I always had a suspicion that that scene with the knife would be after Aemond gets hurt because, damn, in Alicent’s place I might’ve snapped too. Like, even all the other baggage they’ve got aside, your kid just gets stabbed and permanently disabled by one of the multiple other kids who ganged up on him in a 4-on-1 fight (two of whom had already been involved in lowkey bullying him before), and your husband, your hurt child’s father, seems far more concerned what mean things your hurt child had said to “provoke” being stabbed. (The things happened to be mean but also true.) Then, the brat’s mother says your already seriously injured child should be tortured until he confesses where he heard the mean-but-true things he said. And while that doesn’t happen, literally no one is punished for your child being beaten and stabbed for no fucking reason other than saying some mean things. I mean, come on...

270 notes - Posted October 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[cptrs]

[gameofthronesdaily]

Rhaenyra Targaryen & Alicent Hightower — 1.04 Aeron Bracken & Davos Blackwood — 2.03

[emynarnen]

Rhaenyra’s golden dress with red sleeves

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1.02 “The Rogue Prince" // 1.04 "King of the Narrow Sea"

[raybyanothername]

Is Fear in his eyes the longest chapter/section of a fic/oneshot you've written? Because its like 3000 words but its such a good fic it doesnt seem that long because its so interesting. Btw I believe I've added about 104 more rereads since 2 days ago? Anyway this is a very long winded way of asking how your writing is going for FIHE and ur other WIPS. Plus now Im curious, how long do you spend writing these?

Fear is definitely one of the fics with the longest chapters. There's a few chapters of RAMD and CBK that have broke 3k, but I'd say most of my chapters hover in the 1.5-2k range. Like Mother, Like Son is my other fic with those big chapters. Both of these fics have a lot happen each chapter though, so it makes sense.

They're also the fics that take me the longest to write... ^^' Keeping Up and Targaryen Solution are on the other end of that spectrum, they're usually shorter chapters and when I'm writing them I can usually knock a few out in one sitting (I can and have done that with all my fics though to be fair). It really just depends on how much time I have to write and whether the muse is cooperating.

I've been working on these fics rather than my book as late so... that's why they're being updated regularly. I think I average an hour or two of writing a day. Spread across various fics and projects, probably around 2kish a day? Fear is special in that it gets written in a notebook and then I have to type it up when I finish the chapter. That's also how I'm writing my current book, which is why it's so easy to procrastinate on them. ^^'

I'm just like: I could write a bit more... then I don't have to type... oh, look, here's something I can write on my phone, no typing required! *takes a nap instead* What was I working on?

I am a rather chaotic writer. That's why I have a day job. Which I can fortunately write at sometimes. I think I've written half of Keeping Up during my office hours. XD

As for actual progress:

Fear has 1 of... 3? major scenes written.

LMLS is the same, and at 1k, so Fear is probably the same size.

I actually started The Beast, which is my big modern omegaverse AU. I have almost 600 words and it feels amazing to finally have something written for it!

My other fics all have, like, maybe 2 sentences each in progress? I've been trying to finish up some of one-shot WIPs so I'll have fewer untitled documents. ^^' I'll probably try to dive back in to Keeping Up this weekend though, because I have *plans* for the wedding night...

My plan for tonight is to finish the brim of a hat I'm knitting and actually type up some scenes from my book. I'm finally gonna get to write about my own dragons instead of GRRM's! Maybe... if I can wrangle my attention span...

Either that or I'll reread LMLS so I can channel Jace's attitude for the Daemyra wedding properly.

I've actually been struggingly to decide what to focus on the last few days, and that ends with me working on nothing or (maybe) on something new rather than current projects. My brain is very annoying like that sometimes. I wish I could put up a poll asking people to tell me what I should write some days. Just take that decision out of my hands so I can *start* when my brain is being frustrating.

If I'm close to the end of a chapter or fic (like, within 500-1k words) I'll sometimes try to wrap them up when I get asks about them. That's why both my A/B/O one-shots for HotD got posted in the last 24 hours. ^^'

I'm definitely rambling now... Oh well, enjoy what I'm sure was a very convoluted answer to your question! XD

[unhinged-nymph]

I posted 8,547 times in 2022

That's 8,321 more posts than 2021!

263 posts created (3%)

8,284 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ballerinalouis

@kafaminguzelligi

@lena--beana

@donutcats

@rxverrieee

I tagged 2,241 of my posts in 2022

#rhett and link - 114 posts

#gmm - 111 posts

#rhink - 104 posts

#good mythical morning - 88 posts

#hotd spoilers - 59 posts

#link neal - 53 posts

#goog edits - 42 posts

#hotd - 40 posts

#rhett mclaughlin - 38 posts

#rhink ☺️ - 33 posts

Longest Tag: 82 characters

#😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

No further comment, your honor

203 notes - Posted October 29, 2022

#4

Everyone’s in love with Shane 😍

290 notes - Posted October 28, 2022

#3

See the full post

523 notes - Posted October 8, 2022

#2

Now if that ain’t the god’s honest truth

780 notes - Posted November 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

These are the same image

4,028 notes - Posted November 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →