#i didn't write about otto or viserys in this post because if i did this post would be so long and would just be me ranting about them sooo

[irmawrites]

Sleeping with the enemy | One-Shot

Summary: your father, Gwayne Hightower, had always told you to beware of Davos Blackwood, son of one of your grandfather's most ardent haters. But when you meet him at a party years after graduating college, you can't help but think he's not so bad after all.

Rating: Explicit [18+], MDNI.

Pairing: modern!Davos Blackwood x Hightower!Reader (appearance isn’t specified, everyone is 18+ in this)

TW: smut with a tiny bit of plot, fingering, oral sex (m receiving), p in v sex, praising kink, unprotected sex, loss of virginity, dom/sub undertones, afab reader, not proofread.

Words count: 4393

Author’s note: Hi, everyone! This is my first time posting here, and I have to admit I'm a bit intimidated ahaha like a lot of people, I fell in love with Davos Blackwood's in episode three and ABSOLUTELY had to write this idea that's been on my mind for a while now.

I should probably mention that English is not my mother tongue, so please excuse my grammar mistakes!

Davos Blackwood had a bad reputation in your neighborhood, that much was true.

The rumors about him had started when you were still in college, something about red liquid smeared on the mirror in the boys' bathroom. A silly prank involving fake blood and strange theatrics to scare off a younger classmate that had perhaps gone too far. It was your own cousin Aemond who had found the fake crime scene just after the culprit had left, still licking his red-stained fingers. It caused quite a stir at the time, and he hadn't been seen on campus for at least two weeks. It may have been fake blood or just a tasteless joke, it was still inevitable that action would have to be taken.

It was Aeron Bracken in particular who had helped make these bizarre stories popular. He told anyone who would listen that Davos Blackwood was a deranged, violent madman. It was no secret that the two young men didn't get along. But no one expected things to get as bad as they did. There had been rumors in the hallways and whispers in the cafeteria, but that wasn't all. His car had been vandalized and marked with insults on several occasions. Even Gwayne Hightower, your father, had warned you.

A real witch hunt.

As far as you knew, however, the main target had remained unaffected by the situation, even toying with those who provoked him. In a way, he almost seemed to enjoy the wild, mysterious aura that all this fuss gave him.

You, for one, had never really believed it. After all, he didn't look like a bad guy, with his big, green eyes and permanently disheveled black hair. He seemed a little strange to you, a little off, but not enough to be considered a clear danger. But your opinion didn't matter much.

Nothing had ever destined the two of you to spend time together. His parents' company only did business with Rhaenyra's, refusing any ties and especially any agreements with the Hightowers. His father seemed to harbor a fierce hatred and boundless distrust of your family, apparently fearing that Otto's overweening ambition would lead him to overturn the order of succession established by Viserys himself and install his own grandson as sole ruler of the company.

And in your world, your parents had a bit more say in who you dated than they did for other people. You couldn't just go out with a guy because he seemed interesting, especially if he was the son of one of your grandfather's most ardent haters.

So you'd never spoken to each other in college, let alone at the lavish charity galas your family hosted.

Never, until that day.

"You like Iron Maiden?" a hoarse, unfamiliar voice said from behind you as you wrung the water out of your hair, "or is that your boyfriend's shirt?". The sun was high in the sky and you could feel the heat of its rays burning your exposed neck. The clear waters of the Targaryen family pool sparkled, and the garden echoed with the bursts of voices of those Aegon had invited to what should have been a casual gathering of the younger generation with ties to the Targaryen business.

You didn't think he'd invite Davos Blackwood, though.

"It's mine," you replied, giving the young man a mischievous smile, your fingers playing absentmindedly with the string that held the bottom of your swimsuit to your hip, "and yeah, it's one of my favorite bands actually." He seemed to take a moment to assess the situation, his eyes roaming up and down your body, an unreadable smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Never pegged you as a little rebel," he crossed his arms over his chest before continuing, "more of a model daughter." You knew he was toying with you, trying to tease you, but you were more than happy to play along.

Besides, you understood where the thought came from, you who were usually more used to short skirts and high heels than band shirts.

Mentally, you thanked Aegon for thinking of him. "Be careful, Blackwood," your voice sounded like a playful threat, "you might be surprised."

You were about to leave to return to the deck chairs, but it seemed that Davos wasn't quite finished with the conversation. "Wait," he ordered, taking your wrist between his broad fingers. Mechanically, you glanced around to make sure no one was watching. After all, the last thing you wanted was for someone to spy on your conversation with someone who still belonged to your grandfather's enemy side. "What is it?" it was your turn to cross your arms over your chest, your eyebrows furrowing as you waited for some kind of justification from him. It was clear he had something on his mind, but you just couldn't figure out what. "Do you want to come over to my place sometime?" he finally said, and you felt your breath catch somewhere between your throat and your lungs. "Why?" the question crossed your lips before you could even think about it.

You didn't know each other, had never spoken before, not to mention the fact that your families didn't approve of each other. You were tempted to agree, of course, because whether you liked it or not, you felt this kind of almost magnetic attraction pulling you together.

You'd have liked to think it was fate, but you knew it was just your love of danger and the forbidden.

His voice pulled you out of your thoughts again. "You seem like a pretty nice girl, and we obviously have the same taste in music," he replied, finally loosening his grip on your wrist, "we could watch a movie, get to know each other, something like that." The offer was tempting, the prospect of spending a little more time with him appealing, but even though you desperately wanted to say yes, you knew you couldn't. You had to be reasonable and listen to that little voice in your head that told you it all sounded like a terrible idea. But he seemed to sense your reluctance because he quickly added, "Don't worry, no one will know."

***

Davos’ room wasn't exactly what you'd call tidy. You noticed a half-full ashtray on the windowsill and a few empty cans on his desk. It was the opposite of your own bedroom, neatly decorated and perfectly organized. Your wardrobe drawers were a bit of an exception, but that didn't really matter.

Even so, you couldn't help but find it a little charming. The smell of his cologne in the air, the half-unraveled sheets, this was unmistakably him. It tasted risky and illicit, and it stirred something unfamiliar in the pit of your stomach. A reaction that no boy had ever managed to provoke in you.

"There's no denying it, vampires really are the best supernatural creatures," you muttered, sinking your teeth into the last slice of the half-cold pizza you'd ordered earlier. You were especially comfortable sitting cross-legged on his bed as the rain pounded against the windows and the end of the movie drew near on his computer screen. His parents were out of town for the week, on a business trip or something, providing you with an opportunity to finally meet away from prying eyes. He seemed quite comfortable too, with his leg pressed against yours and his hand wrapped around his soda cup, which he sipped absentmindedly. "I have to say, I never thought you'd be into movies like this," he told you after a few long seconds, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "given your looks, I thought you'd be more into romantic comedies or something." You held back an annoyed sigh.

"Like I said..." you finally replied, "you should beware of appearances."

They can be misleading sometimes, you kept to yourself.

It was true that you were usually a sweet, sensible girl, the ideal daughter who always smiled and never caused trouble. The pride and joy of your parents. But lately you had grown tired. Tired of following orders, of doing everything you were told without ever being able to listen to your heart. You were eager to get rid of this constant fear of disappointing your loved ones if you didn't live up to their expectations, and it seemed that life had given you the perfect opportunity to free yourself from all that. 

"Is there something I should know?" the young man’s hand came to rest on the top of your thigh, his thumb delicately stroking the soft skin there, "some dark secret of yours, princess?". His almost mocking tone and the annoying nickname were enough to bring back that scorching heat in the pit of your stomach. The way he looked at you, at your breasts, made you think that he was affected by this sudden closeness, too. His gaze burned, almost as much as his fingers, which were now creeping dangerously up the hem of your shorts. And when you felt them graze the lace of your underwear in the hollow where your leg and hip met, you thought that maybe, just maybe, you'd bitten off more than you could chew.

But even though you were entering unfamiliar territory, something foreign to you, you refused to lose control and let him take what he wanted without saying a word. This wasn't your style. You always had a witty comeback ready to go. And you were going to show him.

Slowly, you moved forward a few inches on the bed to sit astride his very inviting lap, never taking your eyes off his lips. Your hands found his shoulders, and you could feel the hardness of his desire beneath your thighs. Gods, the sensation was divine. This was your doing. You and no one else’s. The sudden surge of power and dominance made your head spin. "Be very careful what you do now," his fingers settled on your hips to bring your chests a little closer together, his grip tight and bruising. "Or what?" you replied in an almost insolent, even provocative tone.

"Or we could end up doing something you might regret."

This was all a very bad idea, that much was true. Davos Blackwood was a very bad idea. But you didn't want to dwell on what the future might hold, let alone the potential consequences of your actions. All you knew was that you wanted more. More of his hands on your skin, more of his lips on yours, and more of him.  

And it seemed that he, too, was eager to take it further.

His fingers made their way up from your waist to your chest, slipping under your tank top to brush his thumbs over the two little hardened buds. The ghost of a touch, really, but it was enough to make you moan. Your mouths were now just a few inches apart, your breaths mingling, but you didn't want to kiss him yet, choosing to prolong this delicious, exhilarating tension for a few minutes longer.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?" he asked, his voice hoarse with desire. "Do you feel it?". He backed up his words with action, rolling his hips and planting a kiss right at the corner of your jaw. "You know what this is?" he added, rolling one of your nipples between his index finger and thumb, "what happens to a man when a woman behaves the way you do?". Of course I know, you wanted to say but the words stuck in your throat and only a moan managed to break through the barrier of your lips. You weren't stupid, you were perfectly aware of what happened in this kind of situation. But you'd never seen it, let alone touched it, and the theory was very different from the actual reality.

"Shut up," you replied at last, before planting a kiss on his lips. You didn't mean it, though. To be honest, you wished he would talk to you like that all night long, sending a wave of heat straight to your core with words alone. His tongue found yours, silencing your thoughts, and you wrapped your arms around his neck to keep from losing your footing. "Such a foul mouth," he said, smiling against your lips as he gave you time to breathe, "we'll see if you're still so talkative once I'm done with you."

The young man's hands found the bottom of your tank top and pulled it over your head, and soon it was your shorts that suffered the same fate, leaving you in nothing but your black lace panties. You suddenly felt exposed, lying there under that hungry gaze that regarded you like a precious gift, a prized possession. You waited eagerly for his next move.

Where was the bold young woman who had taken the lead just a few minutes earlier, the one so determined not to lose control? It seemed like she'd already vanished, replaced by some shy creature beneath his crude words and inappropriate touch.

"What are you going to do to me?" you tilted your head to the side to give him better access to the skin of your neck, which he was kissing with increasing fervor. "Nothing you won't like," he replied as he stood up to get rid of his t-shirt, which joined the pile of clothes at the foot of the bed. Your eyes couldn't help but wander over his toned torso dotted with dark hairs, your hands itching to touch him.

Soon enough, his lips found your jaw, then your neck, then the top of your chest, and you immediately shivered. The weight of his body lying on yours was delightful, comforting. "Please..." you whimpered as your hands settled on his shoulders, urging him to give you what you were so desperate for. You felt his fingers slide slowly against the skin of your belly, then lower, much lower, to play with the lace of your underwear, and your back arched almost reflexively. You wanted more, you needed more, and you were getting tired of waiting.

"Be patient, princess," he said, nibbling on the soft skin of your breast, his mouth soon wrapping around your hardened nipple. A grunt escaped you, and you weren't quite sure if it was from your frustration or the dominant tone he had just used. His hand slipped under the fabric of your panties to tease the top of your slit before brushing over your already soaked folds. It was annoying, really, the effect he was having on you with such a light touch. But it was heavenly, and you had decided to ignore the voice of reason for the night.

His index finger found the little pearl nestled at the apex of your center, and the contact felt like a delicious electric shock. You threw your head back, eyes closing, lips parting in a silent cry as he drew little circles around your most sensitive area. "Have you ever had anyone here?" he asked after a few seconds. When you didn't answer, he added: "I asked you a question, and I want you to answer me." There it was again, his commanding, almost controlling tone.

"N... no," you stammered as you opened your eyes again to meet his, "nobody." You suddenly felt like prey under his hungry gaze that devoured your trembling body. "Perfect," you heard, just before his fingers found your entrance, which was already clenching around nothing, "and here?".

The idea of being the first to enter you seemed to obsess him.

You nodded, this time from left to right, signifying that no, you had saved your virginity for the right man, the one who would know how to make you tremble under his ministrations, the one who would know how to make you beg for more, always more.

"Perfect," he repeated again, as the first knuckle of his index finger sank agonizingly slowly into you, teasing your inner walls. It was barely there, nothing really, and yet you already felt incredibly full. "You're so tight," he growled against the skin of your throat, "so warm too, you're going to feel amazing around me." He added a second knuckle and soon his finger was completely buried inside you. It felt good, and it felt right, but it didn't feel like enough. You wiggled your hips and it seemed as if Davos had understood your silent request immediately. "I need you to take another," he straightened on his left elbow to look at you with lust-blown pupils, "do you think you can do that for me?". Once again, you nodded your head in agreement, but this time it didn't seem to be enough for him. "Use your words, princess." You fought the urge to roll your eyes. "I... I can take more," you murmured right against his lips as you looked down between your thighs.

"Good girl," he said, his voice low and rough as you felt his middle finger pressing into you. He curled them both, brushing that spongy spot against your inner wall, and you threw your head back.

You dug your nails into his pale skin to stay anchored in the present as his thumb found your clit. But you knew you wouldn't last long. You could already feel tingles of pleasure buzzing through your body, and in the pit of your belly, the fires of delight burned a little more fiercely. You wanted to warn him, to tell him you were close, but he was quicker than you: "Come for me."

He didn't need to tell you a second time.

Soon, the wave of your orgasm washed over you.

It made your whole body shake with spasms, your climax exploding like fireworks behind your eyelids. Your lips crashed against his neck to stifle your final moan as your back arched under the intense sensation. The young man was merciful enough to give you a few seconds to recover before withdrawing his fingers, leaving you empty and frustrated. "Look at the mess you made," you heard him groan, "clean it up." His index and middle fingers brushed across your lips, which parted eagerly to welcome them into your warm mouth.

You timidly wrapped your tongue around them under his predatory gaze. The mere thought that you could taste yourself on your taste buds set your body on fire once again. It was indecent, inappropriate, and you probably should have been ashamed to be used like this, but you couldn't care less.

Maybe it was his fault, or maybe you'd just found each other despite everything that kept you apart.

His fingers left your mouth to wrap around your neck. But as he lay back on the mattress and guided you towards his lips, you resisted. Once again, you straddled his hips, only this time completely naked. He looked at you for a few seconds, a little confused, until you reached under the elastic of his underwear to slide it down his legs. This seemed to make him realize the extent of your intentions. His hard member jumped free and caught your eye. Standing proud with a mass of dark curls adorning its base, the sight alone made you salivate. "Let me thank you," you said, as your fingers gently traced its length. "I want to make you feel good too." You slowly moved between his legs to kiss his inner thighs.

You reached out tentatively and wrapped your fingers around his manhood. It felt heavy in your hand, massive and your index finger couldn't quite touch your thumb because it was so wide. You brought your lips to his crotch and, watching Davos from beneath your long lashes, planted a quick kiss on the head where it was already weeping for you. Your tongue traced a vein on the underside without ever breaking eye contact. He threw his head back, his lips parted to let out a muffled curse.

The rush of power you felt when you saw him so vulnerable under your touch was sinfully delicious.

You tilted your head to the side to plant a series of kisses all along his hardened manhood, your big innocent eyes still locked with his. There was a pause, a few tense seconds, before finally, finally, you moved your head forward to take him fully into your mouth. His big hand found refuge at the back of your skull, and you let him guide you completely.

The grip on your hair tightened, almost to the point of pain. "Breathe, through your nose," the young man ordered, but his voice was more urgent than before, his breathing becoming ragged from the growing pleasure. "You can do better than that." The fingers buried in your locks soon forced you to swallow him whole, your nose pressed against his pelvis, the unruly hair tickling your face. You could feel yourself drooling around him, the action messy. "Such a filthy girl," he said as his thumb came to caress the corner of your mouth, right where his member disappeared between your lips, "sucking my cock like a real whore." You let out an audible moan around his length in response to the foulness of his words.

But instead of disgusting you, it only served to encourage you.

You hollowed out your cheeks, still following the rhythm of his hand, which had resumed its place at the back of your head. He was big, and he filled your mouth in a way you hadn't experienced before, but you wanted to prove to him that you could satisfy him, that you could make him proud. Tears formed at the corners of your eyes, which he hastily wiped away with the tip of his free thumb. "Shh... you're doing so well," he praised you in a reassuring tone. You knew he was close to reaching his climax. His breathing had become labored, his movements erratic, and it was evident that you were causing him to lose his balance. But it seemed he didn't want to end it that quickly.

"Wait, not yet," he straightened into a sitting position, placing his hand on your cheek to force you back a few inches, "I'd hate to waste it." The implication made your cheeks flush, but you couldn't help but look forward to what would come next.

His hands came to rest on your waist, encouraging you to sit on his hips again, this time making his still impossibly hard manhood brush against your soaked cunt. The contact alone was enough to elicit a moan from you. His own fingers wrapped around his member as he guided it towards your narrow entrance.

And after what felt like an eternity, he finally thrust into you.

He stretched you to perfection, the foreign sensation a mixture of delicious pain and aching pleasure. "Fuck princess, you're tight," your head found refuge in the hollow of his neck, but you could hear that annoying smirk in his voice, "I'm going to ruin you." And oh how you couldn't wait for him to make good on his threats. "Move," you pleaded against the skin of his throat as you hesitantly moved your hips up and down to get that delicious friction you craved. He seemed hell-bent on teaching you self-restraint, even though you desperately wanted to see him lose control. He grabbed your waist in a firm grip, keeping you pressed against his hips and making you whine. "Did I say you could move?" he asked, kissing the side of your jaw. Once again that night, you'd annoyed him by not answering, and he repeated, "did I say you could move?".  

It seems he was also trying to make you learn obedience, in addition to patience.

You didn't even have a chance to react before the young man used his grip on your waist to pull back almost completely, revealing his member glistening with your sticky juices before thrusting himself into you once more. His head was rubbing against that most delicious spot inside you, making your legs tremble with pure bliss. "Please, I..." You didn't even know what you were asking for as he moved back and forth continuously. You thought he'd ask you to speak again, but he was too caught up in pleasure and close to his release to be bothered by your pleas.

But even if he'd lost his rhythm, it was clear he was still determined to satisfy you. His thumb was back on your little pearl, tracing small circles around it, while inside you his length relentlessly pounded against your inner wall. You could feel yourself clenching around him, and the heat between your thighs was back with a fiercer intensity than ever. “I’m going to fill you up,” his teeth nibbled at the soft skin of your neck, marking it possessively, “I’m going to fill you up and you’re going to take everything I’m going to give you, feel me for days.” The moans that came out of your mouth were now completely incoherent, a confused jumble of yes and please.

Your climax hit hard and fast—stronger than the one Davos had offered you earlier that night. You dug your nails into his shoulders, leaving red half-moons as evidence of your forbidden actions. Your back arched off the mattress, pressing his body against yours as reality slipped through your fingers and a myriad of stars danced behind your eyelids. He followed you just a few seconds later, pouring into you with white ropes.

He stayed inside you for a few more moments, his length softening. But neither of you felt like moving, not when you were so comfortable, lying against each other, your limbs tangled. He placed a tender kiss on your forehead that made your heart clench. You still refused to think about the future and the problems that might arise from such a strong connection between the two of you. All that mattered for the moment was his skin against yours and your fingers in his hair.

"We should do that again," you murmured as you kissed his cheeks, his chin, his nose, "someday."

He smiled.

"We will," he said with confidence, "I'll make sure of that, princess."

The nickname made your stomach flutter with excitement.

[rosewaffles]

THIS. THIS. THIS. THIS. i would've loved seeing conversations between them?? like it would've fleshed out their relationship even more instead of us viewers having to fill in the blanks......

but on the other hand, maybe the lack of interaction between these two characters could serve to highlight the inherent tragedy of the dance of the dragons - a family torn apart by their greed for power, by the cruel world they live in. rhaenyra and aegon ii are siblings in name only, but they're practically strangers to each other in their own home, they don't talk, and what love they could have had for each other is twisted and destroyed beyond repair by the fucked up targaryen incest (the targs fascinate me so much in how they cannibalize themselves to maintain their hold on power) and the medieval hell that is westeros. it makes me so sad thinking about them because they're so doomed from the start. there is no happy ending here. rhaenyra somehow choosing to love her siblings would mean her fully forgiving alicent for betraying her and marrying her father, and for attempting to replace her mother in her eyes, but she can't. from rhaenyra's perspective, aegon ii and all his siblings are the scar that alicent left behind. this scar, this love that she once had with alicent cannot heal, it will only fester and rot, and spread to her other siblings. aegon ii was supposed to be alicent and otto's perfect heir, their golden dragon, but he becomes so bitter and angry and cruel, and in the end rhaenyra becomes no better either. it's all about that intergenerational trauma, that wizened tree that sickens with age and gives them rotten fruit to feed their children because this poison is all they have ever known, all they have ever been allowed to want.

HOWEVER. the decreased episode count kinda worries me because what will happen to the other character relationships?? i fear that we'll get essentially dot-points of their character dynamics when we could be digging deeper into the brains. these characters have me in a chokehold, i want to study their brains like a bug. hopefully we do get to see more of their relationships develop, but i feel like at some point there should be some form of rhaenyra and aegon ii interacting?? like at least one?? i haven't read fire and blood so please correct me if i'm wrong (since i just skimmed the asoiaf wiki), but isn't the last and only interaction in the future between aegon ii and rhaenyra is when rhaenyra meets her death by sunfyre's flames by aegon ii's orders? if that is the case then rhaenyra growing up in the red keep with aegon ii would have been prime time for developing their relationship - even if it was just her attempting to straight up avoid him when he's a toddler and he just wants to play with his big sister and is too young to understand why she takes every opportunity to avoid him? ahh the more i write on this post the more sad i feel that they never got to experience a normal sibling relationship.

I’m sure what I’m about to say has been reiterated many times before, but the fact that there is not one interaction between Rhaenyra (Heir to the Iron Throne, the Kings firstborn, and head of Team Black) and Aegon (the Kings firstborn son, the other legitimate claimant to the throne, and the head of Team Green) is genuinely INSANE to me, and from a writing and narrative perspective…just plain BAFFLING.

Like, what do you MEAN that the two main figures of the ENTIRE Dance (Aegon being the literal reason there’s an inter-house war in the first place) don’t even interact BEFORE it begins?

What do you MEAN they’ve been in close proximity for YEARS and somehow not a SINGLE conversation has occurred for the viewer to listen too and say to themselves:

“oh so those two characters are going to be the MAIN figureheads for the fast approaching civil war that tears apart the realm and begins the demise of an entire house. gotcha.”

But what is worse is that there are literal episodes, literal SCENES, where this could have be done easily and without seeming like an afterthought or a weird insertion.

In episode 6, both teams are in the Red Keep the entire time, and yet, Rhaenyra and Aegon do not meet even once; Rhaenyra could have encountered him as she was making her way to Laenor, for example.

In episode 7, literally the entire family is at Laena’s funeral, Rhaenyra and Aegon could’ve, at any point, crossed paths. She could’ve said something about him being “in his cups” and he could say something about “needing a few more to get through this utterly depressing funeral” or something.

(+ bonus points if Rhaenyra gets upset because that’s her friend who just died “you drunk imbecile”).

In episode 8, the crème de la crème of episodes concerning crazy Targ+Hightower relations, how EASY would it be for hungover Aegon to say something petty and/or derogatory to Rhaenyra just before both families entered the throne room:

“Sister, what a surprise to see you here!”

“It shouldn’t be a surprise as it is a matter concerning my son inheritance-”

“I did not think you concerned yourself with any matters at all, but I’m glad you’ve returned, court has been lacking without its ‘delight’ to brighten up these gloomy halls.“

AND THE DINNER?! DONT GET ME STARTED ON THE LACK OF INTERACTION, THEY WERE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE TABLE AND NOT EVEN A SINGLE WORD WAS EXCHANGED?!

LIKE WHY!

[presidenthades]

Compromise Arc 1, Chapter 8: Behind-the-Scenes Commentary

Continuing my commentary as I reread what I've published of Compromise!

Reminder: I will NOT include any spoilers for anything post-Chapter 9! Spoilers for anything from Chapters 1-9 are fair game, as is anything mentioned in other stories like Daemon's Handbook and The Golds.

Chapter title is "My Brother's Keeper." Reference to a) the way Aegon becomes protective of Aemond at the Dragonpit, b) Aegon pretending to be drunk to stop Aemond from being embarrassed, and c) Aemond corroborating Aegon's lie so Aegon can see Jace.

In S1E7, Aemond seems like he's back on his feet 10 minutes after getting his eye cut out. This didn't seem right, so I did some research. As you might expect, violently losing your eye is AGONIZING. I'm by no means a medical person, but there are quite a few nerves in your eye! It should be an excruciating experience for Aemond, so that's what I portrayed after the initial adrenaline and shock wear off.

I deliberately used a lot of maritime words to describe Aemond's experience. "Tidal wave of pain." "Salt and sand." "Flounered in the darkness." "His only anchor."

“It’s closed, it’s closed, open it back up, hurry, hurry…” Helaenaaaa, what are you talking about??? (Hint: it's not really about Aemond's eye. You might be able to figure it out if you look at some of my Daemon's Handbook commentary!)

There's a behind-the-scenes deleted screencap from S1E7 of Aemond's mutilated eye sitting in a bowl after the maester takes it out. I'm kind of glad they didn't show that, because the scene is already stomach-turning. But that's basically what Orwyle is doing with the tweezers. :-/

Aemond overhears Otto and Aegon yelling. Otto is yelling at Aegon in a "why weren't you there to stop your brother???" kind of way. Otto figures out Aegon was distracted with his lute, Aegon gets mad at Otto, and then Aegon is so angry he smashes his own lute. Aegon's hands get cut so that's why they're bandaged.

Aemond tried SO HARD to hold onto the book for Luce. Even now he thinks it's super important to hold onto it. When he throws it against the wall later, that's how you know he's super pissed. :(

You can tell from Aegon's appearance that he really is worried about Aemond. Aegon hasn't been sleeping well because he feels guilty for shooing Aemond away. :(

Aemond is BRUSHING HIS HAIR for Viserys's visit, even though he should be resting. That's how badly Aemond wants just a smidgen of his father's approval.

Viserys is all for punishing the eye culprit in this AU, because it isn't Rhaenyra's kid. Viserys might prioritize Rhaenyra's kids over his own, but he still prioritizes his own kids over 99% of the rest of society.

“What a shame. You were such a promising swordsman.” Aaaand Viserys says the exact wrong thing to his young son who just had a traumatic, life-changing experience.

“My uncle Vaegon is an archmaester at the Citadel. I met him once. He’s rather like you. He enjoys alchemy and astronomy, that sort of thing.” This shows that Viserys actually does NOT know Aemond well. Aemond is scholarly like Vaegon, but Aemond is definitely not interested in alchemy. He has a passing interest in astronomy mostly for navigation purposes, but it's by no means a passion. Also, Vaegon is happy to be forgotten in the Citadel, where he can just learn forever. Aemond would NOT be happy to waste away forgotten. Aemond wants to be acknowledged; he wants glory.

Viserys tries to make Aemond feel better with his "oh hey we have something in common," but it makes Aemond feel WORSE. Also, Viserys didn't become a knight because he just wasn't good at it. Aemond is good at it, but outside circumstances are putting up obstacles. Aemond does not "lack the requisite abilities."

"This has been a harrowing experience for us all." Viserys, you weren't even thereeeeeeee for most of it!

Rhaenyra means it when she says she'll advise all her daughters to write to Aemond, but she doesn't know that Luce has broken her ribs, which is understandably distracting. If Luce hadn't made her escape attempt, Rhaenyra would have agreed to bring Luce back to KL in a few days to see Aemond.

Aemond says he's going to be a knight, and Alicent says, "I know you will." She actually believes him, because she knows he's stubborn enough to see it done.

Ahhh Aemond is worried that his face would scare Luce now. I think if Luce had managed to see him, she would be sad rather than scared.

The honey on Aemond's tray is of course a metaphor for Luce! It kinda pains him, but it distracts him and he can't help himself from having more more more.

"Although Alicent didn’t smile, she looked less grim than she had been the last few days." Alicent thought it was going to be a good letter that would make Aemond happy. :(

“TO AEMOND, FROM LUCERA.” Daemon sent the scroll and wanted to be extra sure that it made its way to Aemond, so he wrote that on the outside. Have you noticed that Daemon always calls Jace and Luce by their full names? Aemond notices the discrepancy immediately, but he's too excited to pay it much mind.

"He liked the way her full name rolled off his tongue, syllables bobbing up and down like a sunlit wave in the sea." AEMOND, YOU CAN BE ROMANTIC!!! JUST SAY THE THINGS OUT LOUD!!!

"It was a horrible compulsion, inflicting deep cuts upon himself as he let the words seep in beneath his skin, like a penitent self-flagellating to atone for his sins." Like Jace, Aemond is pretty devoted to the Faith, so this description was intentionally chosen fro him. Aemond knows he behaved poorly at Driftmark, and he feels bad about it, so to a degree he feels like he's earned Luce's wrath. But this is beyond what he expected. :-/

And there's the chest of Luce's things! Aemond's descriptions of the odds and ends are kind of mean. The blanket deserves to be rags. The knitted square is ugly. In this moment, Aemond does not want to do Luce any favors whatsoever.

"But if there was ever a time for such a pathetic display, then it was now, when he had lost everything. His eye. His knighthood. His visage. His ability to throw a damn ball at the target." And the last thing he's lost that he refuses to acknowledge: Luce.

“Don’t give her the power to hurt you. Don’t give anyone that power.” Alicent's advice helps shape Aemond's emotional coping strategy the next few years. He tries to build walls so nobody, particularly Luce, can hurt him anymore. He tries to forget Luce, to lose his affection for her. As for whether he succeeds…well, if you've read the other chapters, you know.

Wheereeeee did his box of Luce's things go? I WONDER.

We don't know a lot about the story of Symeon Star-Eyes, except that he had star sapphires for eyes, used a staff to fight, and fought some hellhounds. So I took the liberty of fleshing out his backstory. Symeon holds a grudge for many years against the king (justifiably so). Aemond also holds grudges! Aegon says as much in The Golds that Aemond is the master of grudges.

I like to joke that Criston is kinda a stepdad to Alicent's kids, but this is still a society where class lines are very important. The kiddos have never really ordered around Criston before, so it's a bit jarring for everyone when Aegon does it on Aemond's behalf. Criston reverts to his role as a guard, but he definitely still has some personal, quasi-familial concern about what's happening.

Aemond dressing up all prince-like to execute someone. Definitely feeling sour about the thug not recognizing him as someone very important.

Aegon hovers around Aemond because he is worried—he even stays on Aemond's injured side! But he knows Aemond super well, so he doesn't verbally offer help, because he knows Aemond will take it badly.

"He wanted the man to be afraid. He wanted the man to beg. He wanted the man to know it was Aemond who was about to decide his doom and cast him into the Seven Hells." Thus edgelord!Aemond is born! But in all seriousness, the execution is a turning point in Aemond's growth from boy to man.

I have disregarded the show's insistence that Vhagar is too large to fit in the Dragonpit. Balerion was larger than Vhagar ever was, and he stayed in the Dragonpit.

Aemond rattles off his lineage on both his father and mother's side. Like most Westerosi, he cleaves to his father's house first and foremost. But no matter what the fandom might think of the Hightowers as a result of HOTD, the Hightower bloodline really is impressive.

When Aegon asks if Aemond feels better after killing the thug, Aemond doesn't answer because the answer is no. It doesn't change the fact that his eye is gone, and now there's nothing else he can do to get revenge/justice.

As part of my research, I watched videos by a guy with a prosthetic eye who explains what it's like having such a prosthesis. My understanding is that glass probably would have been the better material because it isn't as heavy as a sapphire, but it's a fantasy universe so oh well. Also, as Aemond continued growing, he probably would have needed to get a new custom-made prosthetic to accommodate the fact that his eye socket is also changing shape. IDK, maybe Jace sends more sapphires from Laenor's stash? Or, you know, fantasy hand-waving.

"Aemond glared at the nearest honeypot and shoved it away." Metaphorrrrrr.

Aemond is mean to Daeron, and Helaena calls him out on it. Aemond doesn't really have an excuse, and he knows it. He's cranky and short-tempered, and he's kinda jealous that Daeron still gets along with his Velargirl.

Fun (?) fact: I spent a while deliberating whether "potty break" was anachronistic to the time period. I decided that they could derive the word "potty" from "chamberpot," so I went for it.

"Words are like arrows. You can’t take them back once you set them loose, and they might strike something you weren’t aiming at.” Helaena stating one of the big themes in Arc 1!

I try not to have Aemond say "sorry" very often, because Aemond reallyyyyy hates apologizing. He only does it when he really knows he's in the wrong, like with Daeron.

“You’ll probably be a knight by then, Aemond, and I can squire for you instead of Lord Hightower. Then I can come home forever.” Unlike Viserys, 7-year-old Daeron knows the exact RIGHT thing to say to Aemond!!!

And now we have Aemond's training montage! Just like with the aftermath of losing his eye, I wanted to show that Aemond had a really rough time trying to get back to his former sword-fighting and athletic skills. The time skip between S1E7 and S1E8 makes it easy to dismiss Aemond's eye loss, because we don't see him working to regain his prowess.

In The Golds, we see that Aegon is good at acting, so he's only pretending to be drunk in the training yard. He did this on purpose to make everyone forget about Aemond and laugh at Aegon instead. Aegon can put up with being laughed at for a little while. Aemond can't. Criston probably suspected it was a ruse, but he went along for Aemond's sake.

Laenor's sack of giant sapphires was a throwaway line that he had in S1E6, I believe.

Getting the sapphire eye is also a turning point for Aemond! He can't un-lose his eye, but he can at least try to seem more intimidating/ majestic/ awe-inspiring/ edgelordy.

Criston saw active combat before he joined the Kingsguard. People on the battlefield aren't going to accommodate Aemond's lost eye, so Criston doesn't either. And that seems to be just want Aemond needs. He doesn't want to be pitied or coddled. He wants someone to believe he can get back to where he was before, and he wants someone to hold him to that standard.

"The tavern keepers and serving wenches claimed to have seen Aegon recently." All part of Aegon's plan! He paid them off to help with his alibi.

Aemond gets jealous of Aegon asking Helaena for help! Aemond complains alllll the time about Aegon, but the fact that he's not Aegon's #1 accomplice is hurtful.

When Aemond interrupts Helaena embroidering, she's working on red dragons for Jace and Aegon's wedding cloak. Then she takes out silver thread because she wants to work on the Velaryon seahorse.

Willis Fell is supposed to be a member of the Kingsguard before the Dance starts, but Harrold Westerling still being alive complicates that. My way of compromising between book and show canons was to make Willis a squire for Rickard Thorne. That way, one could argue that Willis was promoted to Aegon's Kingsguard after several of them went over to the Blacks.

I love Aegon and Aemond's brotherly dynamic, but Aegon and Helaena's sibling dynamic is also hilarious. Helaena just casually almost-punches Aegon's balls to get him to shut up.

Helaena is just so damn happy she doesn't have to marry Aegon lol.

"Grandsire might actually congratulate me. He would physically throw me into Jace’s bed if he could." Goddammit, now I want to write another AU crackfic where Otto tries to maneuver Aegon and Jace into compromising positions so they have to get married.

At the end, Alicent knows her kids are up to something. But part of her is just happy they're all getting along and having fun, so she dismisses it as sibling shenanigans.

Chapter 9 Commentary

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

How different book!Aegon is to his show version ? I keep seeing this take that they're so different but i couldn't see it in your fics i feel like they are the same even though i didn't read the book, maybe you write mix of both?

Hi anon, good question! Here's the thing. F&B has no internality for any of the characters whatsoever. That means we don't know what they're thinking, what they're feeling, or even their true motivations, not from their own POV. We know their actions and some of their words, but even these are secondhand. The only of our F&B sources who would have had much to do with Aegon personally would have been Eustace and Orwyle, and they have their own agendas. When we get told that Aegon "raged and drank" after B&C, for example, we don't know what was going through his head, we just know he was upset. F&B sadly doesn't give us any excerpts from letters or journals to tell us where his mind is at, so there really is no one fixed "book!Aegon" as far as his personality goes. Just as with any historical figure (and all the characters in F&B really) we don't really get a full picture of the person as an individual, so we have to create our own, just like Ryan Condal did, just like Tom Glynn-Carney did. That's just the nature of Fire and Blood.

There are a few concrete differences between show!Aegon and book!Aegon. He's slightly younger in the show, with a smaller age difference between himself and his nephews and a larger age difference between himself and Rhaenyra. In the book he was not friends with Jace or Luke because he was a good 7 years older than Jace, so he's more distant from his nephews. He was a hedonist in the book, a glutton and an alcoholic who got handsy with the maids and had affairs, but he was not textually a rapist. The child fighting pit story also came from Mushroom, who is not a reliable source. He supposedly had a "sullen look about the eyes and a pouty mouth," and was "quick to anger and slow to forgive" (almost the exact same words which were used about Rhaenyra, interestingly enough); he was handsome, was said to resemble Viserys in his youth, but he did not "look like a warrior." I think physically, Tom Gynn-Carney quite fits the description, although book!Aegon was maybe a bit chubbier? But even though he might not have been a swordsman, he was an excellent dragonrider and has a strong bond with Sunfyre. Although he was considered lazy before the war, he did care for his family; he did not try to run away, but he did at first resist being crowned until Criston Cole convinced him that his family would be killed if Rhaenyra and her bastard sons were allowed to take the throne. That's Viserys arranged his marriage to Helaena in the book, not Alicent, and like in the show, they were both very young when it happened, but we don't really know how they felt about it. We do know that his relationship with Helaena was probably not terrible because they did share a room before Blood and Cheese happened, and the aftermath of Blood & Cheese makes it pretty clear he feels something for them. Certainly he pays attention to their wellbeing because it's stated that after Blood and Cheese he had to take Maelor from Helaena and give him to Alicent to raise (Helaena wasn't taking proper care of him due to her depression). This is specifically attributed to Aegon, not Alicent or Otto or anyone else. In the show we haven't seen his relationship with his children yet, but he does look very upset in scenes following B&C.

The thing is, there's a LOT we don't know about book!Aegon, especially pre-war Aegon, and a lot of what people consider "changes" are headcanons, especially when it comes to Aegon's personality. There is definitely a contingent of fans that sees Aegon as some sort of gigachad dudebro and takes offense at the show's portrayal of him as a bit of a wet cat basketcase who wants love and validations. I too have seen the posts about how we were "robbed" of book!Aegon, but this is not a show!Rhaenyra vs. book!Rhaenyra type thing in which they gave her a whole new backstory, we just don't really know much at all about pre-war Aegon. Maybe he was an ultra confident sugar daddy type, instead of a bit of a fuckup. People are certainly free to headcanon however they like. But there's so-far nothing in the book that seriously contradicts the personality the writers and TGC have given show!Aegon either, because book!Aegon steps up and acts with courage and resilience only after experiencing horrific, life-changing events. We won't know how that affects show!Aegon's personality until season 2 and beyond air.

As for show!Aegon, I think a lot of how he's been characterized on the show does make sense based on what we know of him from the book. How would it feel to be the only eldest trueborn son of the king in history to be passed over as heir? Not good! In fact, it would probably result in some pretty low self worth. Mommy issues? Daddy issues? He doesn't feel good enough for either of them, and actively loathes Viserys. Self destructive behaviors? Checks out, that's straight from the book anyway. The book tells us he's lazy and we indeed see him lying around, sleeping in, not attending training. Didn't want to marry his sister? Makes sense given Alicent probably has a stronger influence on him than Viserys does. But again, so far we've only gotten 2 episodes of adult show!Aegon and a bit from the previews. For better or for worse, his show character has a lot of room to develop still. I am very interested to see what the show does with him post Rook's Rest because that's when Aegon really starts to become interesting in the book.

But is there some stuff that's inconsistent? Sure, and some of it is quite important. For instance, although it might have been a pure fight or flight response, Aegon running away in episode 9 gave many viewers the impression he didn't care about his family, including his kids. I don't know if the showrunners really intended this or not, but they're the reason he agrees to be crowned in the book so that's clearly a change. The child fighting pits were also a bizarre choice for one of the few major players in the Dance for canonically does not kill any children, and even spares Aegon III. Making Aegon a rapist gave many viewers the impression that all of his sexual encounters must be nonconsensual and so we get takes about how Aegon sexually assaults Helaena, when that's just not at all suggested by what's in the book. I think you can justify the choices the the showrunners made here, but they do lead to some contradictions between show and book.

The thing with writing book canon is that you can do for yourself what the showrunners of HotD did, and fill in the gaps in canon with what makes sense to you based on book events. So I'd say that rather than being a mix of book and show canon, the way I write Aegon ( together with @aifsaath in OFCIR) is a mix of book!Aegon along with what can reasonably derived from book's content. Some of that certainly matches up with how the show has so far decided to portray Aegon, but there are some differences too!

[rise-my-angel]

wait did u had ideas or have ideas on how you would have wrote house of the dragon ( based on that prologue post u mentioned how got did a good job versus hotd telling really nothing)?? i sometimes think about it and someone once mentioned about writing it in the pov of the great houses and i just kept thinking bc i personally would have liked seeing something like; showing the targaryens just from afar, keeping them detached from everyone, really into that above all men, keeping the mystique and just showing them unreachable. it doesn’t make sense in a writing way, especially george’s world and the game of thrones world because even the villains were shown their complex sides. but idk it would have been lowkey interesting seeing them just like afar and the pov being the great houses. or even the smallfolk. i know that people joke all the time about hugh or ulf and that we don’t need their backstories but maybe even from a pov of them who in the future become dragonriders would have been a cool story. idk. something new and interesting and different but not too different. i mean writing about the privileged characters who are monarchy and trying to show the complex sides of even them it’s something that i like personally, but like it’s a hopeless story?! ofc seeing dragons and the politics are things that got people excited so idk how much would these ideas really make people watch but as i said it’s a hopeless story?! and not to be cliche but we do need the good guys or the “heroes” to root for or something good and real to root for.. even jace and sara could have been a good story?!?! but yeah hotd is disappointing

The thing is, they chose a very complicated story to tell. They had a lot to live up to, because the Dance of Dragons is one of the most pivitol wars in the history of the Targaryean dynasty and due to the nature of the book being framed as an in universe historical recounting, there is a lot of detail to consider.

They started off roughly, the narration flashback kills most of that interesting history. The details of the Great Council of 101 AC is very detailed, there was a lot going on and there is a lot of nuance to why they made the choices they made that go beyond "Viserys was a man". Yes that was part of why they overpassed Rhaenys, but they also passed on Laenor because he was a male heir through a female bloodline. So it isn't just women bad, men good. It's a very specifically structured system that is so dense it required near a thousand Lords to gather to discern how to handle Jaehaerys succession.

In truth, they had enough characters in the main show whom were there, that they needed to give the answers slowly. When Otto suggests Rhaenyra for heir to replace Daemon, that was the perfect opportunity to start exploring the history there. Say more then just that the Lords wont accept a female heir, explain why.

I think another issue is simply, they were bad at knowing when to hold back and when to cut things. I think they needed to focus in way more on the politics on the story then the details of the Targaryeans and their legacy or purpose. They needed to go in on the details about the politcs and why characters are doing what they are doing, instead of showing off the life around that.

Cut everything about the prophecy, it makes no sense and bogs down the pacing. Either make the plotline of Daemon fighting the Crab Feeder more relevant to the plot then just "this is what Daemons doing btw", or cut it entierly. It felt too disconnected from the politics of the story because they didn't really connect us to why that matters to this story. It felt like a side story for the wrong show.

They also made a very bad choice in framing. Fire and Blood presents as a historical texts, but with testimonies of different perspectives to explain that there is no affinitive prognosis on what is the full truth. The show made a bad choice by choosing what side was right, when in reality, it needed a mix. Show aspects of both sides, and for more, go in the middle. More often then not, when you have two vastly different descriptions of one incident, the actual truth is somewhere in the middle. The show needed to be that middle.

Also, a lot more focus needed to be on building up to Lucerys death. His death becomes the cataclyst for so much of the war, and they really needed to lean into the tension between the families before that. We needed to truly feel like these are two toxic sides of the same family, and peace was never going to be possible. By the time Viserys dies, we needed to feel that "oh shit". That moment of, he's done and nothing is in these families ways from starting their own ends.

I think the Green Council was their best episode, showing the time sensitive nature of crowning Aegon and all the details that went into that process. Now I think they should've stuck closer to the books events because it's simply the more ineteresting version, but thats personal opinion.

But the Black Queen, thus needed to be the true final nail in the coffin. They needed to the tension leading to his death, we know something bad is going to kick off this war, but we don't know what. Because when Lucerys sees Aemond at Storms End, it feels like things got tense out of nowhere when in reality, we needed that to be the climax of the episodes tension.

Season 2 though, is a mess. Fixing season 2 would require an episode by episode playthrough because I cannot elaborate here alone on why season 2s structure was so bad. It didn't need to be the book, but it still needed to be good, and it wasn't even on it's own merit.

Basically, I have ineterest in exploring how I'd fix hotd, but I'd really need to go in episode by episode because I think they had enough time to tell this story and they completely wasted it.

[dreamedfyre-a]

i'm pretty sure i've written something to that effect before but i'm writing more and also i can't find the post so

the greens didn't decide impulsively to take the throne when viserys died. that was the plan all along and i think they were all aware of it (to some extent; perhaps reluctant to see it, but aware at some level). of course, i'll never dictate how other muses felt or should feel about it (and takes like show based alicent never having any intention to do so are 100% valid!). but looking at the overall situation, it's blatantly obvious otto was playing the long game from the moment he started parading his daughter as a replacement for aemma, and that he meant to get aegon on the throne one way or another.

the first attempt was trying to get rhaenyra and aegon married, which would achieve his goal and prevent a war of succession. that failed, he clearly didn't give up. alicent's children were raised with that claim for the throne in mind. helaena was married to aegon to further his claim. when viserys died, aemond's first answer is to ask 'is aegon king?'. they all knew it'd come to that.

which is why i can't see (and don't write) helaena being oblivious to her role and what it entails, to how royalty is perceived and how it matters. if anything, i think that's one of the first things helaena had thrust upon her, still as a child; she's a princess and she has to behave like one, and she would have started to understand why it matters then. struggling with it doesn't mean she cannot understand or is unaware. she forces herself to endure and masks the discomfort, to her own detriment, because it's what she had to learn to do.

she takes her duties seriously. she would have always tried to do her best. this extends to her time as queen. i don't think she was an entirely passive queen, nor that she would have been content to simply let alicent take charge of everything (whether that causes conflict or they work together is up for discussion). helaena didn't want to be queen, but she is. and if she is, she'll be the best queen she can be.

from what we know of consorts in asoiaf, it's suggested there's a strong diplomatic element (associated with how they are perceived by court and winning over and keeping the support of relevant lords and houses, as well as dealing with foreign dignitaries), and honestly a strong public relations sort of thing in regards to dealing with the faith and the smallfolk which is where i think she did best, perhaps inadvertently more so than on purpose. when welcomed by the king, queens can also act as advisors (which i'll get to later).

we know the book suggests helaena was greatly loved as a queen (even when the people's opinion of her brothers wasn't as positive). cultivating a positive relationship with the faith and appearing pious (and letting people see that) is part of what would be expected of her, and part she would have no hard time complying to. helaena does follow the faith; her mom did raise her to go to church and pray, to be charitable to those they meet along the way. (and it's such a small thing, but wouldn't it make a difference for people to know their queen kneels in front of the mother above and prays to the same gods they do?)

and it's the same when it comes to charity; people seeing the crown doing something for them makes a difference. people seeing a queen take the time to go to them and help those in need made her loved. while hesitant to be too close to anyone, helaena would neither be unkind nor arrogant if respectfully approached. she's not sociable, but she's gentle and genuine. it's her duty to help these people, and she takes it seriously.

helaena wouldn't be good at all with court politics, though. she knows how to behave and what she should or shouldn't do, but charming people is not something she excels at and if people go off script she struggles with what to do. she doesn't want them near she doesn't want to befriend them and while she is polite and gentle, she doesn't do as well with this.

if organizing events and feasts falls under the responsibilities of queens, this is a task she could handle with help. because helaena doesn't really like big events and what makes them appealing for most people knfkjdnfjkn (this made me think of aegon's feast to celebrate aemond post storm's end though. i don't think she likes the idea of a public celebration at all, and yet she would still prepare it because like i said the other day ultimately she's holding her brothers' hands no matter how bloody they are)

last but not least, i assume aegon wanted her in his council (otherwise she wouldn't be there) and she wanted to be there (otherwise she'd have refused to be there), and that was the standard from the beginning of his rule, which is why she was present the morning they received rhaenyra's terms. like i said, helaena takes her duties seriously; she would do her best to offer informed advice. to keep aegon's impulsiveness and aggressiveness in check, too, as she does re: how to answer to rhaenyra.

i genuinely think aegon and helaena would've worked well together in that sense, finding a middle ground between too impulsive and angry and too passive and diplomatic. i also think she's one of the few people there who'd be genuinely on his side; not the crown, not their own ambitions, because ultimately helaena is in it for her family. it's them she cares about.

of course, this is short-lived. after jaehaerys' death, all she might yet have been seen doing on occasion would be going to the sept, and even that would stop well before rhaenyra takes the city because helaena can't be bothered to leave her room. before that, though, she did take part on her queenly duties. that's what made her loved, and that's what made the commonfolk react viciously to her death.

[generalkenobitrash]

spoilers for the season finale of s2

i really don't think i will watch s3. nothing makes sense anymore. there were some good moments, there were more than some of bad ones. i must say that alyn's actor (abubakar salim) is so, so good and corlys really deserved the shit alyn gave him. i was really thinking that they would make alyn continue to be loyal despite growing up the way he and addam did, but i am glad to see that he has his own reservations about it, especially now that addam is a dragonrider. aemond is so fkn stupid fr. calling helaena 'sister', reaching out to touch her arm, saying they're of one blood after probably scaring her to death in front of their mother, only to say that he could have her, HIS QUEEN, killed for saying he was going to die. i liked daemyra's reunion, even though it felt kinda stupid for daemon to realize his loyalties only after seeing the future. i think that should've happened much sooner and because he remembered that rhaenyra is the woman he chose to marry, to defend and fight for. he crowned her. anyways. simon strong is a real one. sara hess and ryan condol are utter idiots. wtf was the scene between larys and aegon? i literally facepalmed. and what the fuck were they on when they decided to drag out the tyland in myr scenes? god they were so fucking useless. still, i do think the scene between gwayne and criston was okay, mostly because it explored some themes that are important to them (chivalry, honour), but the writing was soooooo boring. i do hate that the writers think they can just swap around nettles and rhaena. like i said in my rant about the previous episode, rhaena didn't need to become the rider of sheepstealer, when morning holds SO MUCH importance to the story post-dance. and not to mention, it was so stupid of her to cartoonishly shrug off the duty given to her by rhaenyra. those boys are basically left alone with the several knights. i don't know what i was expecting when basically half the episode was already leaked. the second secret rhaenicent meet-up was fkn stupid as well. rhaenyra sassing alicent was nice. her being a bitch (which was kind of within her right) was truly nice. i do kinda like that she's a flawed character now. referring to jaehaera as 'helaena's child' hurt me physically. i still hate that the writers didn't let helaena grieve. jaehaerys died for basically NOTHING. alicent still talking fondly about viserys aggravates me. the music and cinematography was great (except the cgi monkey and three-eyed raven). the shots of the dragonseeds getting ready, together with all the different armies marching (and sailing) was cool. sheepstealer's design is cool ngl. really shitty for rhaena's story this entire season has been setting her up as sheepstealer's future rider and she doesn't even bond with it in the season finale. but hold on a sec. has otto been in the dungeons in the red keep this entire time???? i fr thought he just refused to come back bc he was tired of this shit. anyways, i still think the blockade is a little stupid. king's landing's main source of supplies is the reach. spices, salt and other fancy stuff is what's mainly coming in through the narrow sea. i actually stuck around to watch the inside of for ep8. abubakar and steve talking about their scene together was so good. tbh ryan condal looks so disinterest in the show that HE'S making. so yeah. good luck waiting another 2-3 years for, quite possibly, another messy season.

[atopvisenyashill]

Its weird that people think they need to choose a side. Both the blacks and the greens did horrible things and the smallfolk suffered because of all of them. I'm personally fascinated by both sides and find many characters of both intriguing. But choosing a side seems like something GRRM didn't think we should be focusing on. So it's weird that the show thought it should be marketed as such. They definitely missed the point of the war.

Oh for sure, I do think it’s more of a marketing issue than a writing issue - I think it’s interesting for example that Aegon and Rhaenyra have the same sort of “yeah i did that, now say shit” look when Otto confronts Aegon about the ratcatchers and Rhaenyra is watching Hugh claim Vermithor. For them both, the ends justify the means and they’re not really thinking clearly about the long term cost even as both of them are putting up this front that they’re the sovereign who cares about ~the common people - the care is genuine from both of them, imo, but it's also very selfish. They both want to be wanted, want to be chosen, more than they actually care about lessening the damage done by the war, and the more selfish sides of their personalities come out in those moments. So I think it’s there in the show, that even though both sides have their reasons and their fears and their excuses, the ultimate cost of the war is too high and they refuse to see it, and the show makes sure this theme is coming across on both sides.

But then you get to the marketing…and it’s all team stuff lol. They had team black v team green promos & interview spots, all the posts were about the teams, half the merch is about teams, the literal actually tagline was “all must choose” it was just crazy and I think it really exacerbated and enabled some of the nastier comments online (thinking mostly about people throwing slurs at fabien & bethany + that matt smith incident). IDK how much of that is Condal & Hess and how much of that is HBO missing the point.

I mean - okay i don’t fuck with the hunger games movies (that’s a long rant lol) but I think they more or less capture the themes & spirit of the books. But then you get to the promotional and merchandising and it’s all like “have your capital moment with this makeup kit” stuff as if what Katniss is going through is glamorous, or they’re pushing the love triangle hardcore, as if those three don't have a lot of other shit going on. And marketing loves to do that over the opinions of the writers & actors - the actress who played prim really argued against the love triangle push, for example, and called herself "team katniss." it's just a very annoying phenomenon and i think as The Internet gets more and more...idk hostile? mean? playing into that stuff eggs on the toxicity of a fanbase, something that does not need to happen but especially with a fanbase as completely deluded as this one.

personal note though yes, idk why people get so entrenched in their "side" when imo both sides have dud characters and both sides have interesting characters and both sides have "no really what the fuck is your angle here" characters! i've made no secret that my favorites are rhaenyra & jacaerys, but i think alicent, helaena, aegon, larys, baela, rhaena, viserys, rhaenys, corlys, the hull boys, and the lads are all very interesting! but that's like, not allowed, lol. okay well idk care so!

[horizon-verizon]

Do we have confirmation that Rhaenys and Corlys are still getting along for 20 years?I've seen their fans think that the age difference is less now because of the cast and it's one of the things I complain about on the show.

Rhaenys, Corlys and Daemon literally don't age in...30-35 years?Harwin and Criston also look the same, should I perceive that they are closer to Rhaenyra's age or Daemon's? What the hell is Otto's age? Was it still the hand of Jahaerys before Viserys?Did Aemma and Viserys still get married as early teenagers? Because none of them seem to be in their early 20's during the GC.

Alicent and Rhaenyra change to show that they are "adults", I can't even pretend to understand the disaster that is the age difference of the actors who play their children, if they are like 5 years apart, why do those from Alicent look like adults? Rhaenyra certainly looks like Jace and Luke's mother, Alicent could play sister to her children. And even though I love the actors and they did a fantastic job, I don't understand why Laenor and Laena needed three actors to play them and by god I can't begin to guess what the age difference is between them and Rhaenyra

Fans complaining about the age difference could understand, there's certainly an eww factor that can occur when one sees that on screen (I have a friend who was never able to see the time traveler's wife because of the scenes in which he is an adult and she is a child) It's about playing with the chase, but the way that perception is represented in HotD is certainly strange and superfluous,I can't take seriously people who clutch their pearls when not even the producers seem to know what age we're seeing on screen and whether or not it's problematic.

Anon responds to this post.

I didn't feel too bad abt Daemon's aging, bc his hair was shaping his face and telling the stages of his mind as the years went by. Plus the charisma was a good deflector. For me.

Aemma's/younger Rhaenys' casting were issues bc just as young Alicent's age was a clear element to what story the show!writers were writing, it's very important that Aemma/Rhaenys are shown to have been preteens/teens when they married. Espe when bk!alicent was not either of these two's ages ehn they married!

Why? HotD uses Aemma's storyline for Alicent in that Aemma was giving birth too young (form at least 13) and arranged to be married to 16-yr old Viserys at 11. She is the one who's put through terribel reproductive abuse from a terribly young age. Her mother, Daella, married young and died in childbirth the very first time she fell pregnant with Aemma. This provides even more context for how Rhaaenyra has been a victim in this story, bc the fear HotD presents in Rhaenyra of childbirth becomes presents itself, comparatively, as more diluted. Aemma at the 1st episode beside Viserys looks more appropriate in age, so while she is being used for reproductive labor, she also presents as less...mistreated without that knowledge of being too young. Which a lot of tg fans have "forgotten" in their assessments that Alicent "deserves" to have her sosns be heirs bc she was too young in marrying Viserys & was abused by him (something to "make up" for suffering"mindset)...okay, Aemma was also young, spent most of her life pregnant and losing one child after another until she finally dies with Baelon. In this line of thinking, does Aemma not "deserve" to hae her child on the throne, as she "tried" her damndest to "give" Viserys an heir?! And HotD helps this with the whole Alicent taking bk!Rhaenyra's dress moment, posing as if Alicent had anything really to complain about concerning Rhaenyra's actions. Rhaenys chooses 37 yr old Corlys at 16...which means they've been "talking" for before then, we don't know how long but it spells not-good.

In a perfect world, we'd have three separate actors for all of these characters...or at least most. I'd choose: Rhaenyra, Daemon, Viserys, Rhaenys, Laena.

For two actors: Laenor, Aemma, Corlys. (I don't include the black kids [dragon twins, V boys], they were great).

But as it is, I wasn't too weirded out by Daemon, Corlys, Laena, Laenor's castings in terms of age bc of D's hair and the suspension of disbelief that I kinda always employ. because this is also a trend in the industry where you have actors who do not look like their orig counterparts' ages. There were obviously exceptions.

Is it weird that I never had an issue with Aemond? I thought he looked fine enough as a son to Alicent. Aegon, too? I thought Olivia was in her early to mid 30s. 🤷🏽‍♂️ I really was shocked to learn otherwise.

[aphroditelovesu]

Hello. If possible, could you write more about the Princess (Alicent's daughter/firstborn) that everyone is yandere for?

Yes I can and I will, anon 😚😊. Here I'm going to clear up some things that maybe weren't clear in the last few posts and describe a little more, if you don't mind xoxo

Y/N Targaryen (meaning you, me, all of us) is the first child born from King Viserys I Targaryen's second marriage to Alicent Hightower. She is the eldest and the first girl to be born.

She is the most loved and protected child of her mother's future children with the King. Some say it's because she's the firstborn child and the firstborn are always the most loved, others say it's because she's more attached to her father and mother than her other siblings. Either way, it's no secret that everyone loves the princess for who she is. Everyone in this blessed family is obsessed with her in different ways.

Alicent loves her daughter with all her heart, she is her most prized child and Alicent would die and kill for her if need be. It is shown that she doesn't like to deal with her children in many ways but not with you, with her precious daughter she is all patient and loves to be by her side all the time. If she could do it, Alicent would sew you up to her. Viserys is in love (platonically) with his little princess in his own way, it is quite obvious that you of his children with Alicent are the ones he prefers and loves most or considers as his child. Viserys loves to spend time with him and just talk to you about random things or problems, but he loves talking to you and it's one of his favorite things to do with you. Just listen to you ramble and vice versa. You are Otto's biggest weakness and he doesn't even try to deny it, he doesn't try to hide how much he is in love with you. There's no question who his favorite grandchild is, he loves to spoil you and I can see him wanting more of your time and, who knows, wanting to see you on the Iron Throne. This is Otto we're talking about, he still loves you dearly but he's ambitious and more than willing to make you Queen, whether it's making you usurp Rhaenyra's throne or making you marry Aegon.

Rhaenyra at first was wary around you but she gradually became more open to you and grew closer. She always wanted a sister, and even though you didn't share the same mother, she still adored you just the same. She's your overprotective and possessive big sister, wanting to claim your time just for herself. Aegon was jealous of the attention and affection you received from everyone and, therefore, kept his distance from you, but when he realized that it clearly bothered you, he decided to try to put those negative feelings aside and started spending more time with you and the more he did the more his obsession grew. Aegon found himself becoming more and more attached to you and whenever something happened he would run into your arms looking for comfort. Helaena absolutely adores you, you are the only friend she really has and she loves how you are always there for her. Helaena isn't as intense or possessive as the others, but she is a bit obsessive about you and doesn't like it when you spend time with other people. Aemond is the most possessive of his brothers and the most likely to commit murder just to be with you. He is easily jealous and suspicious of anyone who gets too close to you outside of his family. Aemond does his best and impossible to take care of you and he wants to be his favorite brother.

Daemon doesn't have much of an opinion of you and has always kept his distance and only approached you because of Viserys and Rhaenyra. As he spends more time around you the more he warms up to you and soon Daemon will become obsessed with you as well, but in a more murderous and possessive way, clashing with Aemond for these reasons. Corlys and Rhaenys aren't that close to you because they live outside of King's Landing but when they go there it's nothing new that these two will be close to you, they like you and spend as much time as they can around you, but always keeping an eye on their own actions on behalf of the rest of your family. Similar to their parents, Laena and Laenor are still more distant than the rest of the family but closer to you than their parents. Laena adores you and spends hours talking to you. Laenor likes to fight ans you so if he gets the chance he will teach you how to wield a sword. Of course, this was kept secret from your parents.

Jacaerys and Lucerys are very close to you on account of their mother, in fact you are the closest aunt they have. Jacaerys is in love with you (either romantically or platonically) and he wants to stay by your side. He's not as possessive but he still gets jealous when you spend a lot of time with other people, he wants to take care of you even if it's not really necessary. Lucerys is attached and extremely clingy to you, bordering on possessive at times. He cries out for your attention and approval constantly.

You need to learn to divide your attention with your family because if you don't, it could end very badly.

~ Lady L

[willowslily]

tainted faces | part two

What if Lucerys Velaryon was born a girl? AND that Aemond Targaryen is head over heels for her instead!

tainted faces | part one

tainted faces | part three

tainted faces | part four

A/N: y'all are so nice! thank you so much for requesting part two and leaving some reviews. although english isn't my first language, i hope u guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it <3 BTW i'll be posting part three soon!!

trigger warning: cursing, mentions of death, incest

genre: angst? slow burn enemies to lovers

Lyssaera placed her hair brush down her vanity table. She took her face powder and dabbed it on her face. She took a deep breath before touching the scar. It has been a year since the dining hall incident. They left for Dragonstone immediately after the maesters finished stitching the cut.

The scar made her feel hideous. Crying almost every night because of the pain inflicted upon her. After that night, Jacaerys also became protective of her. Scowling at anyone who stares or whispers about her. After being left alone in her thoughts for a while, she heard a knock on her door.

“Come in!” She said, Jacaerys entered her bedchamber. “Do you know what is happening? I think this place is in chaos.” He said. “What? I have no idea what you are saying Jace.” Lyssaera placed the jar of powder back on her vanity before walking to Jacaerys. “Want to see for yourself sister?” He said as they both stepped out of her bedchamber.

The people were rushing, leaving Lyssaera and Jacaerys clueless. They gave each other a confused look. "What’s happening? Is there something wrong?" Lyssaera asked her brother. He shrugged as he grabbed the arm of some guard. "M-my prince?" The guard stuttered, stepping backward to offer Jacaerys space.

"What is all this haste about?" he asked. The guard hesitated before answering, but he composed himself before talking. "I think it is better if you hear it from the Princess Rhaenyra, my Prince." The guard said it plainly, bowing his head before going away.

"This is not good, brother, we should look for our mother." Lyssaera rushed, with Jacaerys behind her. As soon as they arrived at their mother’s quarters, they didn’t waste any time asking questions.

"What’s going on, mother? Everyone was in such a hurry down the hall." Jacaerys asked. Sadness was seen in Rhaenyra’s face. They also looked at Daemon, who was leaning back on a chair, fiddling with his fingers. "Uncle?" Jacaerys turning to Daemon. Rhaenyra looked at Daemon, "Viserys had passed." he said.

Lyssaera didn't know what to say. Jacaerys shocked, his features softening. They both stayed silent for a while, waiting for Daemon to say something. "Jacaerys, Lyssaera, do you both understand what’s about to happen?" Daemon asked. Both Lyssaera and Jacaerys are still silent, but they nodded. It is clear what's about to happen, but they didn't say anything further.

"Are we heading for King’s Landing then? Is that why everyone is rushing?" Jacaerys asked. Daemon shook his head and stood up, walking to stand beside his wife.

"No, Jace, we will not. It has been weeks since Viserys’ passing. They kept it, hid it from us." said Daemon. "And of the throne? Who sits upon it now? Who sits on it while we are here?" Lyssaera asked. "My brother, Aegon, is usurping the throne." Rhaenyra answered. Lyssaera sighed in disbelief.

"All of this, after the death of my sister. And now the greens take away your birthright from you? This is too much. They’ve taken too much from us." Lyssaera said, tears forming in her eyes. Lyssaera was taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She sat down, holding onto Jace’s hand to seek comfort.

The Greens. Oh, how she despises them. How much she curses them. How much she despises that colour. How much it angers her every time she remembers what they did to her. What he did to her.

They all looked at the door when a knight rushed in, bowing his head to Rhaenyra.

"Otto Hightower has arrived, at the bridge." Daemon glanced at Rhaenyra. "I shall go now," Daemon said. "We are coming with you." Jacaerys suggested. Daemon looked at Lyssaera, waiting for her. "As well as I. '' She said as the three of them were looking at Rhaenyra before heading out.

“I come at the behest of the Dowager Queen Alicent, mother of King Aegon, Second of His Name, Lord and Protector of the Seven Kingdoms.” Otto Hightower stated. “I’ve been directed to deliver her message only to Princess Rhaenyra. Where is the Princess?” He asked but only to find Daemon staring at him, unamused, with Lyssaera at Jacaerys standing behind him.

Syrax’s deafening roars above them were the way to announce Rhaenyra's presence. Her eyes widened upon seeing her mother wearing the late king’s crown. She felt proud. Syrax circled the bridge before settling down. Rhaenyra climbed down from Syrax, making her way beside Daemon. Seeing her mother, standing proud and tall with the late King’s crown on her head, she felt proud. The hues of the setting sun enhanced her features, and she thought that her mother was the most beautiful woman in the Seven Kingdoms.

“Princess Rhaenyra.” Otto Hightower started.

“I am Queen Rhaenyra now, and you all are traitors to the realm.” She spatted assertively as Syrax growled in the background.

“King Aegon Targaryen, the second of his name, in his wisdom and desire for peace, is offering terms. Acknowledge Aegon as king and swore obeisance before the Iron Throne. In exchange, His grace will confirm your possession of Dragonstone. It will pass to your first trueborn son, Jacaerys, upon your death. Your first born daughter Lyssaera, will be confirmed as the legitimate heir of Driftmark and all the lands and holdings of house Velaryon but is still in question. Your sons by Prince Daemon-” Otto was interrupted by Daemon.

“Who questions Princess Lyssaera's inheritance of Driftmark? Corlys Velaryon swore to us and clearly made my daughter his heir. Is it because she is a lady?” He asked as he grasped the grip of the Dark Sister. Otto did not say a thing to him. Lyssaera’s lips formed into a tight line. Daemon may not be her father, but he never failed to treat her as his own.

“Your sons by Prince Daemon, will also be given places of high honour at court. Aegon the Younger as the King’s squire, Viserys as his cupbearer. Finally, the King in his good grace will pardon any knight or lord who conspired against his ascent.”

“I would rather feed my children to the dragons than have them carry shields and cups, for your drunken usurper cunt of a King.” Daemon stated. Making Otto Hightower sigh.

“Aegon Targaryen sits the Iron Throne. He wears the Conqueror’s crown, wields the Conqueror’s sword, has the Conqueror’s name. He was anointed by a septon of the Faith before the eyes of thousands. Every symbol of legitimacy belongs to him. And then there is Stark, Tully, Baratheon, houses that have also received and are at present considering generous terms of the King.” said the wanky slender man before them.

“Stark, Tully, and Baratheon swore to me. My daughter, the Princess Lyssaera, betrothed to Royce Baratheon, Lord Baratheon’s only son, to secure their loyalty to me as their Queen, when King Viserys named me his heir.” Replied Rhaenyra.

“Stale oaths will not put you on the Iron Throne, princess. The succession changed when your father sired a son. I only regret that you and he were the last to see the truth of it.” Otto Hightower said. Rhaenyra walks towards him, removing the brooch on his coat and throws it to the sea.

“You are no more hand than Aegon is king. Fucking traitor.” Rhaenyra spatted. A tall silvered-hair man appeared behind the crowd of knights. Lyssaera’s eyes widened at the sight of him. Jacaerys clenched his jaw as he searched for his sister's hand, holding it. Lyssaera’s heart was pounding just as her knees felt weak at the sight of him.

“Careful sister. You could be killed for treason.” Aemond said as he walked towards Rhaenyra, all knights on guard. He looked at the people before him, observing them. He smirked when he saw Jacaerys, he looked at the woman beside him. There she is, ñuha gevives. Aemond said to himself.

‘There she is, my beauty’

A year had passed since the dining hall incident. But Aemond thinks that her beauty did not change at all despite the scar. Aemond scanned her face. Her godly eyes would make the devil himself repent once he sees it. Her plump pink lips that has been in his dreams for a while, scenes where he would imagine the same lips on his neck and lips. Her chocolate brown hair that compliments her complexion, her flushed peach cheeks. And the scar, still pink, runs across the left side of her face. Her face carved out by the gods and heavens, the same face that corrupts his mind.

“As for the Princess Lyssaera’s legitimacy to Driftmark, I am here to make the situation much easier.” Aemond said. He looked at Rhaenyra smirking, and he finally looked at his Lyssaera. He grinned as he terror was seen in her eyes, and found it funny as Jacaerys was staring intently at him.

“King Aegon promised her to me. She is to be my wife, se iksi naejot sagon wed isse se tradition hen īlva lentor.”. He announced.

‘and we are to be wed in the tradition of our house’

Lyssaera was trembling. She cannot stand the idea of being his wife, bare and mother his children. The thought of it makes her sick. She was about to speak but Jacaerys preceded her.

“That’s fucking nonsense! After what you did to her?! Lord Corlys and the Queen secured her position as heir of Driftmark years ago! And as she is betrothed to Lord Baratheon’s son!” Jacaerys exclaimed. His jaw was tense, his eyebrows knitted together, he was enraged.

“I did what I had to do nephew. My brother is the king and he said so himself. Do you really know who the House Baratheon sides with? Confident enough to betrothe your sister to some pathetic man for them to bend their knee? If you wish to secure your legitimacy and possession of Driftmark, you, Lyssaera Velaryon, will be wed to me. Let us both keep the Targaryen-Velaryon bloodline pure and strong”. Aemond grinned wickedly as he mocks them. He likes, no, loves, the look on their faces.

“I’d rather die than be your wife! You are vile!” said Lyssaera, eyes narrowing in disgust, but Aemond did not care about the words she said. He only thinks about the thought about him and Lyssaera being husband and wife. The ones who should be ruling the Seven Kingdoms. Treason or not, he absolutely does not care.

Once Aemond heard about Lyssaera’s betrothal to Royce Baratheon, madness and jealousy enveloped him. Did they not think about why he carved her face? The reason behind her scar? Having it his way, he convinced Aegon to wed Lyssaera to him. His brother being easy to fool, Aemond used their blood line as an excuse. He wants Lyssaera for himself. He’s going to have her, with or without anyone’s approval.

TAGS:

@hopebaker @maylaysia109 @azaleapotterblack @missusnora @auratiqs @spn-obsession @stillinracooncity

[attonitos-gloria]

Alicent's obsession with rhaenyra's virtue is so interesting to me because you can tell there's so much to it as you said in the tags of that "cheating" post, and it reminds me of how paddy considine and matt smith said viserys envies daemon's freedom while daemon wants to go back to having careless fun and evading responsibilities with his brother like in their youth and... wow, the parallels between these two relationships, how the throne gets between both, are A LOT.

yes!!!! we need to talk about episode five!! we are FINALLY seeing the beginning of alicent's evil stepmother era and they connected it so tightly to her resentment of rhaenyra's freedom. they didn't need to do that. they could simply make her a cersei kind of mother, protecting aegon's rights above everything. BUT THEY DIDN'T. she doesn't turn around when otto talks about her children. she has a change of heart because of cole's confession. you can see it in her face when it happens! THIS IS INSANE WRITING (and insane acting). they really looked at her character and said "her villain origin story is resentment over patriarchy, hope that helps <3"

and now the mirror between alicent/rhaenyra and daemon/viserys is complete, what brings them together and what pushes them apart: alicent and viserys are bound by duty; they look at daemon and rhaenyra and profoundly resent them for escaping, for the fact brother and friend are not willing to stay inside the cage with them. rhaenyra and daemon are united by a longing for freedom; they look at the cage, and they simply cannot understand how someone can choose to stay inside, and they take alicent's and viserys' choices as an extremely personal offense.

just excellent drama all around?!! i want to kiss whoever did this.

[icarusignite]

Heyyy,

In your post, where you answered my question "which character are your favorite characters", you asked why I like my favorite character.

I have to say that I liked Rhaenyra from the beginning, she does what she wants and doesn't let anything be said. Many people don't like it, but she remains true to herself and does what she likes and I love that so much. She is strong-willed and self-confident. I also think that she is a great mom, she is always there for her children and you can see the admiration for her children in many scenes.

I love Daemon because he's just cool, I can't say much about it. But I think it wasn't so cool of him to ignore Rhaena in the one episode. (I think it was episode 6)

Did he actually ignore her because her dragon didn't hatch?

Yes, so my favorite characters are Rhaenyra and Daemon.But I also love Rhaenyra's children, Viserys, Helaena, Rhaenys and Daeron. I find a lot of characters interesting and great. There's just no character I don't like except Otto and Criston Cole, I just can't stand them.

Aegon is very cruel, but I think he also became like that because everyone blamed him for everything! Of course, this is not a reason for his behavior and it is terrible how he deals with people and especially with women. But I also blame Alicent, Otto and Viserys for his behavior. They were just terrible to him and he never got love from them!!!

I wanted to say thank you again for writing a story for Daeron because there is nothing about him and I'm just happy!!!! Thank you!!!!!

Much love for you 🫶

Heyyy love. Yes, yes, yes. I absolutely love all your takes. Rhaenyra is so absolutely badass and I adore her. I love her strong willed personality and the fact that she does what she likes. I know some people get bothered by that cuz like "oh a woman of her standing in her time period isn't supposed to be that reckless and bold" but to me that's part of her charm. I like that she's bold and does what she wants. There was even that scene in one of the earlier episodes where she tells her father something along the lines of "oh no one would care if i was a man because men get to sleep around and have as many bastards as they want". Like if Rhaenyra was a man, her behaviour would not be scorned or shamed as much as it is because she is a woman. So honestly, slay queen. I'm here to support her rights and her wrongs (this is a Rhaenyra simp account lol)

I totally agree with your points about Aegon too. His behaviour is trashy but the root of all the problems is definitely Otto's scheming and Viserys's lack of attention to his own children.

Also your Daeron request has been published here. Hope your enjoy it and feel free to send in more requests 🫶🫶

[iris-sistibly]

The Targ Talk (a review series): House of the Dragon episode 10 (Season finale)

Note: I've decided to write another post about MY overall thoughts about the first season of this show.

[🔥]

-That mother and son moment between Rhaenyra and Luke 😭 I love the queen as a mother, she is never hard towards any of her children. She always makes sure to be there every step of the way. On top all that, my heart aches because I know of the fate of Lucerys, it was a bittersweet moment between them and I will never be able to move on.

-The look on Daemon and Rhaenyra's face when they found out about Viserys' death was EVERYTHING!!! The queen's disbelief and the anger on the prince was *chef's kiss*

-Jacaerys standing up for his mother when Daemon was ignoring his wife, pretty much what Ser Harwin would have done if he was alive.

-Watching Rhaenyra give birth to Visenya while refusing the midwives' help, her pulling the baby out only to find out she was dead, cradling her little dead body, and finally wrapping her corpse while crying was so heart-wrenching! And she did all that on her own. Then the moment Daemon crowned her (with the same crown Viserys I donned), the grieving mother in her was put aside and she became a queen, and it all happened on the SAME FUCKING DAY!

Fun fact: After finding out about Viserys' death and Aegon's coronation, Rhaenyra went into labor. There she shrieked curses, calling down the wrath of the gods upon her half-brothers and stepmother, detailing the torments she would inflict upon them before they let them die. According to Mushroom, she cursed the child inside her, clawing at her belly as Maester Gerardys and her midwife were trying to restrain her and shouting, "Monster, monster, get out, get out, GET OUT!" (Source: Fire & Blood by George RR Martin)

-Speaking of the birthing scene, I love that part that when Rhaenyra was screaming in pain and Syrax was feeling it too 🥺

-I think the difference between the coronations of Aegon and Rhaenyra were night and day. Aegon was crowned in the Dragonpit, in the eyes of the commonfolk who had no idea who he really is and what kind of king he will be. Whilst his sister's coronation, although wasn't done traditionally, was witnessed by her family and the people who were loyal to her WHO, by the way knows what kind of a person she truly is.

-Daemon and Otto meeting at Dragonstone and Rhaenyra appearing with Syrax, and our queen once again preventing a bloody battle, I would love to see Daemon cut off Otto's head though.

Fun fact: It was Grand Maester Orwyle who went to Dragonstone and laid out Aegon's terms and conditions. Rhaenyra heard these terms in stony silence then asked Orwyle if he remembered her father to which he replied, "yes." Then the queen reminded him of who her father named as heir and questioned why Orwyle was serving Aegon. Some accounts say that Orwyle cited the Great Council of 101 as his reasons, then another source said that the dude peed himself while answering to Rhaenyra. Either way, Rhaenyra wasn't satisfied with his answer and stripped him off his chains and gave it to Maester Gerardys. (Source: Fire and Blood by George RR Martin)

-Hi Vermithor! Also, I love that High Valyrian song Daemon was singing.

-Aemond and Vhagar chasing Luke and Arrax was so intense! You can tell Lucerys was scared the shit out of his wits and Arrax sensed that Vhagar was a threat, soooo poor baby spit on granny's face and Vhagar has zero patience for younglings and there you have it. Anyhoo, this scene didn't fall any short of excitement. Oh, and I love Aemond's sapphire eye.

Fun fact: During the battle between Aemond and Lucerys, watchers on the castle walls saw distant blasts and heard a shriek cut the thunder. Then the two beasts were locked together, lighting crackling around them, since Vhagar was five times Arrax's size, so the battle could not have lasted long. Arrax fell, broken and swallowed by the waters of the bay. Then Lucerys' corpse washed up as well and Aemond plucked out his eyes and presented them to Lady Maris on a bed of seaweed. Some say that Vhagar swallowed Lucerys whole, and some claim that Luke survived the ordeal, swam to safety, but lost all his memories and lived out the rest of his days as a simpleminded fisherman. (Source: Fire & Blood by George RR Martin)

-Rhaenyra at the end. I had freaking goosebumps! The anguish, the anger, her eyes telling the audience: There is going to be blood. Her throwing away everything she promised to Viserys to keep the realm as one, and become the vengeful queen who wants nothing but to kill every living Hightower and their allies was AMAZING!

Fun fact: Rhaenyra collapsed when she heard of Luke's death. Joffrey swore vengeance against Aemond and Borros, only the intervention of Corlys and Rhaenys kept the boy from mounting his dragon at once. As the black council sat to consider how to strike back, a raven from Harrenhal arrived, "An eye for an eye, a son for a son," Prince Daemon wrote, "Lucerys shall be avenged." (Source: Fire & Blood by George RR Martin)

-Emma D'Arcy's performance from Rhae's first scene as an adult up to the last was top notch. Emma was able to pull-off Rhaenyra as a woman, a queen, a wife and mother. They are a living example that a talented actor is someone who can portray ANY character, be it a cis-man, woman or a member of the lgbtqia+ community. Y'all are hyping up Rhaenyra so much and I love her too, but let's also give credit to the person who worked so hard to deliver her character.

-That table lighting up was the coolest thing I've seen in this episode, it was so beautiful and it was like watching the opening of HotD. Whoever did that deserves a raise!

[Meh]

-Rhaenyra holding Lucerys' hand for the last time, I was like NOOOOOO MY QUEEN! It's a bad idea, let ravens do their thing. But alas, this boy's ending is tragic just like the rest of his family.

-So prior to episode 10's premiere, I've read a spoiler on twitter about the birthing scene when Rhaenyra was asking for Daemon to be beside her and this motherfucker chose to do something else other than be with his wife. Maybe it had to do with his trauma on Laena's difficult labor and eventual death, he has already seen his first wife and older brother in so much pain…perhaps he couldn't bear to witness such a horrifying incident as this. But like the rest of y'all, I fucking hate that he wasn't beside this wife when she needed him the most, and I curse whoever wrote and assassinated his character. Though, I am glad that they didn't cut the part when Daemon saw Rhaenyra cradling their dead babe, and then he went out and grieved on his own. HBO did him so dirty when they omitted the scene of him comforting his daughters.

-This is connected with what I've said earlier, despite everything that happened she tried her best to prevent bloodshed. But either way, neither the greens nor the blacks would yield to one another, and even if Luke didn't die, war was never out of the question. Like I said in my previous post, Aegon has already won the hearts of the commonfolk, her ascending the iron throne will never not be questioned or challenged. It was a painful reality Rhaenyra failed to acknowledge at first due to her desire to reign in peace (I have nothing against it though, but you get the point).

[WTF]

-THE CHOKING SCENE WAS SO OUT OF PLACE! Daemon Targaryen is a murderer, a crazy bastard, and a ruthless warrior, but it's so fucking out of character of him to suddenly have an outburst simply because Rhaenyra didn't agree with what HE wanted, didn't know about the song of ice and fire, didn't take bullshits from prophecies, and Rhaenyra considering Aegon's terms and conditions (take note: she never said she would yield, but perhaps think of her own ways to negotiate with her brother). Most likely, Daemon would have acted on his own just like what he fucking did at the Stepstones (remember him refusing Viserys' help and did a one-man army stint instead?). I would have understood the banter between husband and wife, but again, there was no part in that conversation where him suddenly grabbing Rhaenyra's neck out of the blue was necessary. He would kill and harm anyone, but NEVER his family and NEVER RHAENYRA! I fucking hate the fact that they wrote Daemon in such a way that all of his redeeming qualities were diminished in a single fucking scene!

-I also hate that they did not include a scene from the book wherein Daemon vowed to avenge Lucerys for Rhaenyra. This character assassination is unforgiveable!

Fun fact: When Rhaenyra had her council meeting with the Blacks, Daemon AGREED with Rhaenyra to NOT be so rash about going into war (considering the number of dragon riders they had, and also considering the fact that one of their enemies' dragon is Vhagar). Daemon instead laid out his plans and strategies, he planned for the coronation of his wife (and he crowned her himself too), and called the lords of the Seven Kingdoms to declare allegiance to their true queen. Daemon himself said to "fight this war with words before we go to battle." (Source: Fire & Blood by George RR Martin)

Again HE NEVER CHOKED RHAENYRA! Whoever the fuck butchered his character deserves to be dracarys-ed!

-So…y'all are telling me, that being dumb runs in Alicent's family? That Aemond was just messing with Luke, and his death was an accident? The war started because of an accident…that is about the biggest bullshit I have ever seen all throughout this show so far.

Fun fact: When Lucerys Velaryon was escorted out of Borros Baratheon's palace, the second daughter of Lord Borros (Maris) who was angry with Aemond for preferring her sisters than her asked Aemond, "Was it one of the eyes he took? Or one of your balls?" her tone as sweet as honey, "I am so glad you chose my sister. I want a husband with all his parts." And that's when Aemond lost his shit and went after his nephew. (Source: Fire & Blood by George RR Martin)

[mariuspompom]

"But while the show gave Alicent many scenes of her selflessly supporting women, even women less privileged than her." There is absolutely NO WAY Alicent's watched the show. It's just impossible.

I don't quite get what you mean, who said that about Alicent? It wasn't me, and I didn't see somebody reacting on my post saying that, but it's ok, let's talk about the claim itself.

I just didn't see Alicent having many scenes of selflessly supporting women even women less privileged than her. That's my first point. My second point is that even if we agree that these scenes exist, what difference does it make to anyone really?

Yes we have the scenes where Alicent tries to make Rhaenyra feel better, whatever. There is the scene where Alicent defends Rhaenyra to Viserys, I think, which results in her father's demise that part wasn't even in the books and doesn't make much sense but ok whatever. Except that, well, it wasn't actually Rhaenyra's fault, because, you know, Otto was the Hand of the king and he was literally conspiring against the king himself and his rightful heir, which is not exactly a great quality of a Hand. So in this plot point, while we get, emotionally, why Alicent would be mad and bitter, she's still in the wrong in the grand picture, because the truth is her father was a traitor and had no place in court anyway. The problem was Otto's greed for power, not Rhaenyra lying. But fans, and the writers CANNOT make this very simple distinction between feeling for a character and considering a character as just. Sure we feel for Alicent, she lost her dad because her friend lied to her, boohoo, except that her dad was a fucking traitor and should have left anyway. So yeah, she "selflessly supported" Rhaenyra here at the cost of loosing her daddy, we will give her a golden star.

And there is that scene with Dyana, which, ok? Instead of flat out terrorising her which she totally did but in a sneaky low-key way she said "I believe you" and she tried to calm her down before paying her to practically disappear. I don't consider her evil here, she was practical and realistic about it while being kind of human with the girl, I guess. I don't understand what was the purpose of that scene though? To distract us from the obvious fact that Alicent is conspiring against that ONE woman in order to usurp her and put her son on the throne on the basis of his penis? Hm. So she's not an usurper with internalised misogyny for that? Nope, she's instead supportive of women? Why, because she was not a total bitch to her son's rape victim? Ok? We will give her a golden star for that too.

The bottom line is, 1) yes there is that intention in the writing to show Alicent as supportive of women 2) this doesn't fucking matter since the main reason this character exists and the driving force behind 90% of their actions is their desire to usurp and destroy a woman on the basis of her vagina, which is not exactly what you would call "supportive of women".

I feel that I used so many words to explain something that is blatantly obvious to everyone outside of Tumblr and I wouldn't even go that far if I didn't have Tumblr, I would be an oblivious happy local enjoying the show with a correct and unbiased interpretation, seriously, you don't need much detail. It's fucking there, even despite the obscurity purposefully cast by the idiot writers.