#i miss season 1 when the horrors were not so heavy im gonna kms

[helaenalyst]

me when theres a war in the war show: guys im so fucking sad about the war

episode 4 reactions

fun note: i saw someone who knew either from the books or from leaks who died in the episode but described them as "the most annoying character in the show" and i loved that because depending on who you ask that couldve been literally anyone

anyway

SIGHS

aemond. aemond. what a character. ewan really squeezed his three milliseconds of screentime this season to provide a buildup for what happened today. aemond's inner emotional wound that he's carried all his life is so strong that he chose to take his revenge rather than seize an easy bloodless victory for his team. aegon's intervention even played in their favor, since meleys locked into battle with sunfyre was the easiest of targets for a melee attack. but he straight up chose to burn aegon, and later was seen trying to finish the job? hundreds if not thousands died needlessly, and among the ones that could have easily died as well was cole, who raised aemond like a father and who trusted him blindly with his life and with the life of his men. and for what? i can imagine this is going to be a divisive topic because i think this isn't how it goes in the books but personally i see it as a logical development of what we've seen of show!aemond so far. he's a deeply wounded individual who cannot see past his wound and an embodiment of what the targaryens are (and of the pain and damage that they cause to everyone who has the misfortune to interact). even in a gray morality context such as the one in this show, i feel that aemond earns the title of villain from me because he fights only for himself and does not care even for the lives of those who have been actively kind and loving to him

and i know a lot of people will likely disagree with that. personally i think in a show like this where all the big players in the war have done terrible things it is quite the fun introspection tool to see who we may consider the "worst" of them all and why. for me i think that the way that aemond toyed with the lives of hundreds today for his own personal gain is what takes the cake. i think the only other main character off the top of my head for whom "nothing is sacred" in pursuit of personal gain would be larys and i'm not sure what that says about the show's relationship to depictions of disability but that's a topic for another day. what i am trying to say is that it is fun to see what each fan considers the "worst sin" committed in a show that is basically a sin feast. hypocrisy? being a bad mother? being a bad father? kinslaying? we each feel our heart and our own wounds stir at ones and not others, i believe

daemon in harrenhall continues to be an A+ storyline, alys rivers is fantastic and i loved the little interaction between aegon and larys where aegon said "dude? you don't care? it's your fucking castle!!" and larys replied uhhhh yeah but it's haunted milord. i eat that shit up i love that kind of fantasy storyline. cursed castles, witches, battling your own mind, i eat it up. i loved one little shot where we could see daemon's bloodied hands from where the camera was but it disappeared as he turned his hands. i know he'll be okay but i just love descent into madness storylines

i loved jace and baela in the council btw they are so adorable if the shows turns them into bad parents or evil rulers i am going to jump off a cliff you cannot grow attached to any innocent kid / young adult on this show fr but i do think those two have a heart of gold and if not then i guess i will eat my words

so much more to say but its almost 6am i hope everyone enjoyed the episode i know i did except for all the scenes where i felt like there was no point to go on living. the fact that criston chose to hang out with gwayne despite being one of the few people he doesn't closely know in the entire fucking army has my approval and i hope gwayne didn't die so they can eventually kiss that's all