#ic; green and mean

[ghostly-valley]

(Tag dump)

[synchodai]

HBO's Continued Insistence on Dumbing Down Westerosi Politics

So there have been countless thinkpieces already on how GOT simplified the feudalist politics of Westeros (by giving a lowborn sellsword lordship over The Reach, by having no consequences for destroying the Sept of Baelor, etc.), but I haven't seen a lot of people talking about that for House of the Dragon.

The worst being that the show presupposes that Rhaenyra is the lawful heir when the books showed there are plenty of lawful arguments why she wouldn't be.

Mind you that I've been enjoying the show a lot so far. This is just to vent out my frustration with the writers' failure to fully engage with the values and protocols of the Middle Age-inspired setting. The show seems uninterested in laws of the Realm in a story ostensibly about politics, save for when they're using it as an excuse to amplify depictions of sex and violence.

Blacks vs Greens wasn't a matter of misunderstanding of who each side thought Viserys wanted on the throne. It was the Targaryens' belief of their absolute authority clashing with the Realm's established traditions. Everyone always knew who Viserys chose as heir. In Fire and Blood, Grand Maester Orwyle said as much when he was parleying with Rhaenyra on behalf of the Greens.

Rhaenyra heard his terms in stony silence, then asked Orwyle if he remembered her father, King Viserys. "Of course, Your Grace," the maester answered. "Perhaps you can tell us who he named as his heir and successor," the queen said, her crown upon her head. "You, Your Grace," Orwyle replied. And Rhaenyra nodded and said, "With your own tongue you admit I am your lawful queen. Why do you serve my half-brother, the pretender?" Munkun tells us that Orwyle gave a long and erudite reply, citing the Andal law and the Great Council of 101. Mushroom claims he stammered and voided his bladder. Whichever is true, his answer did not satisfy Princess Rhaenyra.

(For non-F&B readers: Munkun is the Grand Maester who served Aegon III, the king who came after this civil war. Munkun's book, The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling, is one of Fire and Blood's source texts. Mushroom is the King Landing court jester from Viserys I to Aegon III's reign. One is a source written with academic rigor but is secondhand at best. The other is a firsthand eyewitness account but is from a literal fool who will take every chance to make things more scandalous and sexual to please the crowd.)

In House of the Dragon, they replaced Orwyle with Otto and Orwyle's discussion of legal precedent with Otto handing Rhaenyra a book page from Alicent. It's quite evident here that the writers, much like Mushroom, thought a discussion on the actual laws of the Realm were negligible in this story about a succession war.

Even Alicent made no pretense that Viserys chose Rhaenyra over her children and I have no idea why the HBO writers decided to make her mistakenly think otherwise. Maybe they thought a queen regent pushing her son to take the throne over another woman made her appear unsympathetic as a character, but if anything, this only makes show!Alicent less politically savvy and more delusional than her book counterpart, fully believing an addled king's vague muttering on his deathbed was sufficient grounds to change heirs last minute.

Book!Alicent following Andal laws instead of her husband's wishes makes sense given her Andal upbringing, her devotion to the Faith of the Seven which enforces said laws, and her desire to protect her children from Rhaenyra given that Rhaenyra has shown she's not above murdering family (see: Laenor).

In the books, there was a long discussion between the former king's council on who should succeed Viserys.

Here are the arguments for Rhaenyra:

Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood

the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens

hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.

Here are the arguments for Aegon II:

many of the lords who had sworn to defend the succession of Princess Rhaenyra were long dead [...]

Ironrod, the master of laws, cited the Great Council of 101 and the Old King’s choice of Baelon rather than Rhaenys in 92

the hallowed Andal tradition wherein the rights of a trueborn son always came before the rights of a mere daughter

Ser Otto reminded them that Rhaenyra’s husband was none other than Prince Daemon, and “we all know that one’s nature. Make no mistake, should Rhaenyra ever sit the Iron Throne, it will be Lord Flea Bottom who rules us, a king consort as cruel and unforgiving as Maegor ever was [...]”

Should the princess reign [...] Jacaerys Velaryon would rule after her. “Seven save this realm if we seat a bastard on the Iron Throne.”

Once again, the show chose to cut out this long political discussion. Instead, the council had already made up their mind and decided to stage a coup (when in their perspectives from the books, it would definitely not be a coup).

For all their marketing how two sides are equally grey, HotD is actively delegitimizing Aegon II. The strongest argument for him is how his claim follows the laws of the Realm, but the show doesn't seem to care about the laws of the Realm or the political need to maintain a more predictable/tested transfer of power.

Instead, the show focuses on Viserys's relationship with his daughter and the mysticism of the Targaryen bloodline. In doing so, they emphasize Rhaenyra's strongest arguments for succession — that she's more of a Targaryen than her half-brother and that her father prefered her.

And what for? Because in our modern-day, we don't have male-prefered inheritance and people can only imagine misogyny as the only injustice here? What about the injustice of a monarch exercising absolute control, thinking that his "superior" heritage makes him above the established laws of the native people?

This is not to say Aegon II is unquestionably the heir. But this is to say that the show removed the political nuance of why people are questioning in the first place. Precedence isn't the end-all-be-all of succession, but neither is "because daddy said so".

[queen-helaenas-pet-spider]

Top 2 Princess/Future Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and her uncle/future second husband, Prince Daemon Targaryen, flirting in front of the Iron Throne {S1EP1}. Bottom 2 Queen Helaena Targaryen and her little brother/brother-in-law, Prince Regent Aemond Targaryen, talking in front of the Iron Throne {S2EP5}......Which could mean nothing......👀

[drakaripykiros130ac]

“Poor Helaena…to lose a child like that”

“Poor Aegon…a father’s rage is justified”

Not hearing a whole lot of poor Rhaenyra who lost her father, her son, her throne and her unborn daughter in a short span of time.

According to TG stans, a child’s death is absolutely horrible (unless it’s Rhaenyra’s. If it’s Rhaenyra’s child, it’s fun, let’s celebrate).

I fail to see why Helaena’s grief is more important than Rhaenyra’s. She lost one son, said “bye bye world” and shut down (and I don’t see anyone pointing fingers at her and calling her useless in this war even though she was. She had a dragon she could use, but chose to remain locked up in her room and in depression).

Rhaenyra lost a whole lot more, and she had to stay on her feet and fight to take back what rightfully belongs to her.

Why is Jaehaerys’ death more tragic than Lucerys’?

Lucerys was murdered in cold blood, just like that boy of Helaena’s who’s barely relevant throughout the whole story.

Lucerys was a boy too.

Now there’s the question of who shed first blood.

The Greens did.

Actions call for reactions, and this is war.

Daemon wanted Aegon the Usurper to lose a son, just like the Greens forced Rhaenyra to suffer the loss of one of her own. He called for retribution. A life for a life. He could have arranged to have everyone in that tower killed that night. He could have demanded Aegon’s daughter, Jaehaera, be killed in exchange for the life of the daughter the Greens made him lose (Visenya). But he didn’t.

I’ve seen comments cheering on Aegon for wanting vengeance for his dead son, but apparently Rhaenyra is not allowed to demand retribution for the death of hers.

Misogyny runs high in the 21st century, doesn’t it? A woman who is not perfect is a monster, and a man with vices is just “misunderstood”.

And then you all have the nerve to point fingers at people who don’t care about the consequences of B&C. No, I don’t care that Aegon’s child is going to be murdered. Because I didn’t see that sympathy from stans when Lucerys was murdered. All I saw were jokes made at a child ripped apart by the biggest and most dangerous dragon alive because her rider is a twisted one-eyed psychopath.

The Blacks are entitled to vengeance.

Lucerys’ death is on Aemond’s head. And so is Jaehaerys’. He’s 100% responsible. If anyone is to blame for B&C, it’s Aemond the Kinslayer.

[greenaswildfire]

Hbo: Nah lets make Rhaenyra say that Helaena doesnt like riding dreamfyre, so we can make KL downfall and dumb prophecy easier. We have no money!

A random fan with no millions of dollars. Just Unity, some assets, two months, and a dream:

I'm so in love with whole family flying together! 🥹💚

[alicentofficial]

now that criston is back in kings landing it is viable for alicent to choke him with the hand of the king chain…. Ryan condal if you’re not a coward get on this ASAP

[greenqueenhightower]

Alicent and Criston are both bonding over their shared feelings of betrayal. They both feel betrayed by Rhaenyra; Alicent because she was lied to, and Criston because he was cheated. That’s why there is so much TENSION in the air when Criston confesses the truth to Alicent: he exposes his own involvement that can get him killed, and Alicent understands that he feels ashamed for ever trusting Rhaenyra, the same way she’s feeling at that moment. That’s why she doesn’t punish him, and lets him go.

No, actually, that’s why she understands him. She immediately perceives that he is a man of honor and that what he has done has left him with a sense of worthlessness. Heaven knows how many times she too has felt worthless for things she was coerced to do. So when he disappears after Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding, she somehow knows he’s seeing suicide as a way out and knows where to seek him. Has she ever contemplated suicide as a means of escape? (And now I can’t help thinking of the opening lines of “Labour” and the “escape plan” that Alicent might have been hoping for at times in her life).

But Alicent gets and sympathizes with Criston, in the same way he gets and sympathizes with her. That's why their bond and connection are ever deeper and stronger than the blood of the dragon could ever be.

[robotic-bakery]

episode 26 of icebound //

who's gonna be the "that dumb notch looking, creepy voice having, old ass looking, spencer's gifts having, blacklight using, old ass soup pervert" and the "who the hell puts beans in dynamite beef? who calls a meatless beef a stew??" to my "I'd rather starve you sicko! I'd rather starve you sick freak!!"

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

Leonard 'Cold As Ice' Snart: Huh. It's been almost twenty minutes since I explained to a murderer just how much Flash and I like each other. I better do something about that.

[spirkbitch]

spirk fic writers need to decide once and for all whether vulcans have higher or lower body temperatures than humans

[estrangedandwayward]

The king and his guard dog

[aristocraticelegance]

There is a space-themed bar near me that I finally got around to visiting and look at this magnificent drink!! I was actually so distracted by the dry ice that it didn’t even occur to me to marvel at the fact that it was also glowing until now.

[cutekoala1001]

What to wear, what to wear??

(He always goes with the red one) 🎀

[the-real-daddy-van-der-bellen]

you might think i grew out my hair because I simply think it's pretty. but in truth it is so that i can eat ice cream and when i inevitably get it on my shirt, i can simply hide the stain with my hair.

[drakaripykiros130ac]

Delusional minds: “Aegon killed Rhaenyra, so the Greens won the Dance.”

The opera is not over until the fat lady sings.

The Black armies completely obliterated the Green armies in the final battle of the Dance: The Battle of the Kingsroad.

How can one claim that Rhaenyra’s death signified the end of the Dance when other battles followed?

Armies win wars, just fyi.

And after the Queen’s death, the Blacks rallied behind Rhaenyra’s son, Aegon, the true king.

The Battle of the Kingsroad left the Greens without an army and so the war was finished. The Lads, Lord Cregan Stark and Lady Jeyne Arryn were all marching to King’s Landing to depose the false king and crown Rhaenyra’s son.

Victory belongs to the Blacks (as confirmed by GRRM himself).

[snackugaki]

Not me idly rerererererererererewatching Gargoyles and realizing I didn't post the Gargoyles AU shit that took me and @amutantturtleenthusiast (18+ blog) by our throats for... what was it, almost a month????

shit was wild, i'm still unwell

so unwell we still babble over it every now and then

we definitely mangled a few concepts for maximum drama

we hit everything, forbidden love, clan politics, clan betrayal, curses that lasted a 1,000 years, reincarnated lovers, stolen family, unethical genetic research, we had Anton Sevarius and Jasper Barlow for ultra fuckery, enraged glowy eyed action, tender romance, figuring out how the new york subway system works, overseas travel shenanigans when half your party turns to stone in the day, the implications of half your crew turning to stone during the day, hilarious clan-to-clan misunderstandings, revenge quests... hoo.

we had them replace the tengu who taught humans ninjutsu

they big as fuck

sprinkled a little Abe no Seimei seasoning on my Venus

My Donnie was metaphorically born in the wrong century, he's fine now he has gears, wrenches, and WiFi

...we gave them hair

Barlow and Sevarius got to a couple people... unfortunately

fkkn love that funky li'l gecko i reused it for my Mondo

the Manhattan clan is ...just somewhere in the background, away