#like even when jaime says that line it feels ironic

[ilynpilled]

george did not write “if i were a woman id be cersei” and vice versa as correct statements imo. while i do believe that their respective trials that they faced as a result of their gender had grave effects on them as people and shaped them into much of what they are, i still think there are fundamental differences in nature. like this is demonstrated by how differently they acted as little children (treatment of tyrion, murder of melara, etc). i think they have some core distinctions. especially with what they personally desire the most above all else and their differing levels of empathy. this was no doubt influenced by their experiences and societal roles as well but i do still think it is part of their nature too. they have some very interesting and important similarities, but they are by no means the exact same only distinguished by experiences. i think it is always a mix of nature and nurturer, like your experiences can suppress or intensify certain qualities that you have, for better or worse. they have agency. they responded to their trauma in their own way. the twins not being the same person on a fundamental level is meant to be subversive. put in opposite positions i do not think we would have the exact same people just switched. like this feels like it is emphasized in the text to me

[goodqueenaly]

Say hypothetically Jaime died or was killed while serving in the kingsguard anytime before Tyrion is convinced as a traitor. Who do you think Tywin would prefer to inherit the rock in that scenario, since he's made both his feelings on women's roles and on Tyrion very clear? Who do you think would actually stand a better chance (since Tywin cannot change the legal succession from beyond the grave)? Does it depend on where they are in the time line regarding Cersei's marriage?

A hypothetical covering the span of Jaime’s service in the Kingsguard “anytime before Tyrion is convinced as a traitor” is a pretty long period indeed; we’re talking about a stretch of time from 15-year-old Jaime’s investiture in 281 AC to Tyrion’s trial in 300 AC. (Let’s not even mention the numerous momentous events in Westerosi history in this period of time, much less the absence of Jaime at any given point would have had on these events.) So, all else aside, I think it would be very dependent on when specifically Jaime died in this scenario as to what Tywin might have done about his own succession.

If Jaime died prior to or during Robert’s Rebellion (again, let’s put aside Jaime’s very significant action at the end of the Rebellion), then I think Tywin would have had to consider whether he wanted to remarry. While Tywin IOTL never considered and would never have considered remarrying himself, he could take this decision secure in (what he believed was) the knowledge that he had his perfect golden heir, Jaime. However, without that perfect heir in his pocket, so to speak, Tywin may have felt more pressured to take a new wife, so that he could have a (male, able-bodied) heir of his own body. Would Tywin have looked to another wife, perhaps in particular another Lannister (like, say, one of Joanna’s younger sisters, or one of the daughters of Joanna’s brother Stafford, or his cousin Damon’s granddaughter Lanna, assuming any were the right age), in order to produce another perfect Lannister male heir? It’s at least possible. (How naming the son of a second wife as his heir would have been affected by the Widow’s Law is of course a completely unanswerable question.) 

Alternatively, Tywin may have looked to Cersei as the producer of his eventual heir. Admittedly, such a plan might have clashed with Tywin’s royal ambitions for Cersei, but between the throne and Casterly Rock, I think Tywin may well have chosen the latter. While I doubt Tywin would have seriously invested in Cersei as a future lady in her own right (any more than he did in Cersei as a queen and future queen mother and regent), I could see Tywin seeing Cersei as an acceptable Lannister broodmare, through which his own precious (to him) bloodline could be preserved and produced in an acceptable (read: male) heir. (Again, it’s far too speculative to determine whom Tywin might have chosen as Cersei’s husband, but I could see a Lannister kinsman like cousin Daven or even uncle Tyrek being selected to reinforce Tywin’s Lannister superiority.)

If Jaime died after Robert’s Rebellion but before the death of Joffrey, then I could see where Tywin would simply have seized Tommen from Cersei and raised him as a Lannister heir. There would have been some historical precedent for this, with Lucerys Velaryon being in his lifetime his “grandfather” Corlys’ heir as (ostensibly) the second son of Corlys’ late son, Laenor. With Joffrey assumed to inherit the Iron Throne, Tywin would have, in a sense, the large-scale Lannister political domination he had attempted to achieve in ASOS (notably expressed through the twin Valyrian steel swords made from Ice): the King on the Iron Throne and the Lord of Casterly Rock as the two heads of the Lannister family, inextricably binding the throne to House Lannister in perpetuity.  

If Jaime died in the short window between the Purple Wedding and Tyrion losing his trial by combat, then I think Tywin would have had to choose (or at least believed he had to choose) between versions of the above. Given that Tywin IOTL was ready to taking the new King Tommen back to the Rock to “learn to be a Lannister”, I could see Tywin perhaps simply naming Tommen his heir and installing him at an official or de facto new royal court at the Rock (something along what he had done during Aerys II's reign), fully merging the identities of the royal dynasty and House Lannister as he had begun to ahead of Joffrey’s wedding. Tywin may also have pushed the idea of Cersei’s remarriage even harder in this scenario, which he was already beginning to do IOTL (though whether he would have been so eager to wed her to Oberyn Martell, his preferred choice in ASOS, with Oberyn now poised to father the next generation of Lannister heirs is a more speculative question). Tywin may even have decided that when Tommen had sons of his own, the second son would inherit Casterly Rock - though this succession idea may have been too uncertain for Tywin’s taste, given that Tommen was probably the better part of a decade away from fathering multiple sons of his own (let’s put aside Cregan Stark’s apparent willingness to bet on a similar potential through the Pact of Ice and Fire).

About the only certain takeaway I think we can have in any version of this scenario is that Tywin would have done everything in his power to keep Casterly Rock out of Tyrion’s hands. While Tywin may not have gone quite so far as forcing Tyrion into the Faith, Citadel, or Night’s Watch - Tywin’s obsessive focus on Lannister exceptionalism (and the primacy of his own line within that) meaning that even the lowest and least of the main-line Lannisters, as he saw Tyrion, was superior in rank to every other aristocrat, and so unfit for a life of servitude - I very much believe Tywin would never admit that Tyrion had any right to Casterly Rock (much less the best claim as the most senior eligible legitimate male descendant of Tywin even IOTL). 

[jaehaeryshater]

my commission from the ASOIAF for Palestine campaign. It’s of Princess Daella daughter of Maekar and Duncan the Tall. The artist working on this is @ainzee_the_real on yet, although the amazing fundraising project was worked on by around 25 artists and thought up by (as far i know) @wodania

Despite the relationship not even being confirmed (seems the likeliest explanation for Brienne being descended from both a Targaryen and Duncan the Tall is that Duncan had a child by either Rhae or Daella, but which of the girls it was has not yet been indicated), Duncan and Daella is my one of my favorite relationships in the ASOIAF universe to think of headcanons/possibilities for. What makes the idea so interesting to me is that as opposed to Cersei or Rhaenyra, as far as we know, Daella (or Rhae, but for here on I’ll say Daella as that’s who I headcanon as being the one he had an affair with) was able to conceal that she had a baby a man that wasn’t her husband. Their paternity was never revealed, and the Tarth line at the time of AGOT is no longer Tarth biologically at all, but nobody knows (yes, I’ve considered they still have Tarth blood from Selwyn or Brienne’s mother). This seems like the exact thing that a fan of fairy tales or romances, such as Sansa, would cling to, but the story is absent. ASOIAF and Fire and Blood have a lack of stereotypical Knight and Lady/Princess romances, and that is almost certainly purposeful. Lucamore Strong was a Kingsguard, forbade to marry, and had three families simultaneously who did not know of each other. Jaime rose to the ranks of the Kingsguard as a teenager and was bedding a highborn lady, a Queen in fact, the entire time, but that Queen happened to be his sister. Loras Tyrell is depicted as a steroypical knight on the surface, one that Sansa is quick to swoon over, but it turns out that he is gay and in love with claimant to the Iron Throne Renly Baratheon. Brienne has not formally been named a knight, but her love for Jaime Lannister and overall arc is reminiscent of the knights in the stories, she is kind and honorable, as well as pure of heart. Even the most mentioned romance between a Knight and Princess/Queen, Aemon Targaryen and Naerys Targaryen, is between a brother and sister, in which Naerys possibly does not even return her brother’s feelings and Aemon fails to ever save her from her abusive marriage, but instead stands by and protects her abuser. The most wholesome stories, Bonifer Hasty and Rhaella as well as Garlan and Leonette are either a love never realized for the former, lost in favor of an abusive marriage, or between a knight in name but a Lord in practice and his wife of a similar standing. Duncan the Tall, as far as we’ve been told, does not have the personality flaws of Lucamore, Jaime, or Aemon, is lowborn unlike everyone else on this list, and his relationship with a Princess actually manifested itself in the Tarth line. Despite it not being known to any of the POV characters in the series, this story is one of the most clean cut and potentially wholesome knight-lady love stories in the series. I absolutely cannot wait to hear it, because it seems like it could be a breath of fresh air in any otherwise dark and heavy series.

Forgive me for the tangent, now I’ll get to the depiction. Daella was born in 199 AC, and Duncan in as early as 191 AC. Maekar became King in 221, making Daella 22. Given GRRM’s track record for marrying highborn ladies, particularly Targaryens, off young, my headcanon is that by the time her father became King, she was already married to Lord Tarth. It is unknown when Duncan became a Kingsguard, but we do know that he was in Tarth at some point, as Brienne has seen his shield in her youth, and therefore i hypothesize that he went to Tarth with Daella as either a personal shield hired by Maekar or as a Kingsguard. My personal headcanon is that Daella and Duncan began their relationship before her marriage and she was married to Lord Tarth to conceal this, but that’s pure conjecture. In this depiction, Daella is still at Summerhall and Duncan still a knight without titles or status. I believe his kind and romantic nature is accurately shown in this art, trying to win the favor of a Princess with a mere rose. They know they can never marry, but the courtship continues all the same. I don’t know, i just think it’s sweet ^_^

Anyway, this has been posted before by the campaign, but I thought I’d add my two cents as the person who requested. This group has done an amazing thing, all in the name of a very important cause. The amount of work they’ve put in with no benefit to them is commendable.

[justanartsysideblog]

A Whisper of Wolves

Robb Stark has heard the stories of the Mad King and his reign, and knows what happened to his grandfather and uncle when called to the Dragon’s court. It is no secret that while the North has accepted Queen Rhaenys as the ruler of the Iron Throne, they hold no love for Rhaegar’s daughter. When word comes from King’s Landing that the queen requests a Lord of the North for her council, Robb goes in place of his father who has not fully recovered from the bloody civil war fourteen years ago. When he arrives, expecting to find traces of the Mad King and his ilk, he realizes that the stories told in the North are not entirely true…and the dark-eyed queen is nothing like her grandfather.

I finally managed to finish the prologue! Enjoy below. AO3 link available here.

—

Prologue

One of Rhaenys’ earliest memories was of sitting atop the Iron Throne.

There were flickers of others, moments of lucidity among foggy recollections; the look upon her mother’s face as her father had given a token to another woman at a tourney, the sound of her father’s harp, the day her Uncle Viserys had called her “sand rat” and her grandfather had laughed.

But none were as clear in her mind as that day, when the screams had ended, and her mother had placed a heavy crown atop her head, bloodied hands trembling.

The air still smelled of smoke and the metallic tang of blood wafted through the throne room as shadows danced among the dragon skulls adorning the walls. The flickering torch light made their eyes gleam and their crooked grins seemed to stretch the more she looked at them. It was frightening, even though she knew she was not supposed to be afraid. You are a dragon, and dragons are not afraid , that was what her father always told her.

Still, she wished that she had been allowed to bring Balerion. She could feel the cold metal even beneath the cushion that had been given to her, and her little legs barely reached the edge of the seat. Her hands were placed firmly in her lap, as her mother had instructed.

“The edges are sharp, you could get hurt.”

Jaime Lannister stood to her right, armor polished bright, expression unreadable. He’d been the first to bow before her and swear fealty as her mother had stood behind her, hand warm and steady upon her back.

He had smiled when he had caught her looking, and she’d smiled back. Even though he’d seemed afraid, he’d made certain to smile at her.

She’d sat there for what felt like hours, as people came and bowed and swore their loyalty to her. They called her “Your Grace” instead of “Your Highness” and she’d tried to tell them they were saying it wrong but her mother said she was a grace now and not a highness anymore, so it was alright.

Only princesses are highnesses. You are a queen.

But her mother was supposed to be queen, when her grandfather died. She was supposed to be queen, and her papa would be king. That was the way things were supposed to be. Her papa had told her so.

“Where is papa?” She’d asked Sir Jaime, but he hadn’t seemed able to answer. Her mother had simply shook her head, and tucked a curl behind her ear.

Men in gold cloaks had lined the hall, and came and went to speak with Sir Jaime and her mother. They’d spoken to them, but they’d continued to bow to her and say “your grace” as if they’d been telling her all along. She did not know what they were talking about, but they mentioned wildfire, and streets, and “storing in safe places”.

Rhaenys had just wanted to sleep. It was past her bedtime, and she’d worried that her mother may have forgotten that she was supposed to read Rhaenys a bedtime story tonight. It had been hard to keep her eyes open, and only the reminder that the throne was sharp and could cut her had kept her from curling up against it and falling asleep.

When Lord Tywin arrived he’d knelt as well but there had been something different about his eyes when they’d met hers. Cold. Calculating. Things she had been unable to discern at so young and age, but that stuck with her for years after.

“Have the rest of the Kingsguard sworn their oaths?”

“Yes, father. All who are in King’s Landing,” Sir Jaime had nodded, voice weary. “It is done.”

Her mother had placed her hand upon her shoulder once more, before she had stepped forward and held out something gold and glittering to Tywin Lannister.

“For your service to the realm,” She had said, as she’d pinned the golden hand of the king upon his breast.

————————

The room smelled of herbs. My uncle must have overindulged last night , Rhaenys thought bemusedly. The slight furrow in Prince Oberyn’s brown as he reached for a cup of tea rather than his usual goblet seemed to prove her correct.

The morning meeting of the Small Council had yet to begin, but she knew already that the day would end in a shouting match. Ser Baelor Hightower, her Master of Coin, was frowning at his report on the recent crop yields, which did not bode well; no doubt the topic of raising yearly taxes would be brought up again. Everyone was present–no one would have dared come later than the Queen–but since she hadn’t started the meeting yet, they waited while looking over missives. Once everyone had settled she waved her hand for the meeting to begin. It did not take long for them to fall into all too familiar bickering.

Once again, her Master of Ships, Lord Gulian Swann, suggested upgrading their navy. Many of their ships needed serious repair and some were barely seaworthy. Not only this, the navy itself lacked sailors. The life at sea was harsh, and their standing navy was small and underpaid due to resources going elsewhere. Which was the counterargument given by her Master of Coin. Adding to the expenditure of the crown when naval battles were not their current priority was not something he would allow unless ordered to.

"Demand more ships from those damn Greyjoys if you need them so badly."

"I need a navy, not a fleet of pirates who are more likely to run than to fight!" Lord Gulian nearly slammed his hand on the table, but a glance at Lord Tywin's stern visage made him pause.

Lord Baelor cleared his throat, "Our coffers are put to better use elsewhere. We have the queen's ascension to the throne to celebrate, and the event must fit the grandeur of Your Grace," He nodded in deference at Rhaenys, who had silently been watching the argument. "We have borrowed too much coin. If we take out another loan we might as well give the throne to Braavos.”

“There is the option of marriage,” Lord Kevan Lannister reminded, then quickly continued as several voices raised in protest. “Not for you, Your Grace.” He nodded his head in a quick bow, “But Princess Daenearys has reached marital age. She would fetch a hefty bride price.”

Rhaenys cleared her throat. “I will be deciding on my aunt’s marriage. It is of no concern to the Small Council.”

“But Your Grace–”

“My decision in this matter is final.” Rhaenys held up her hand to silence her councilors. She knew she could not choose her own marriage partner–Lord Tywin would see to that–but the least she could do was spare Dany the same fate. Besides, Rhaenys was rather certain that supplying their naval fleet was of far more importance than a ceremony celebrating her crowning. She turned to Baelor Hightower, “Is there a way to at least supplement the manpower of our navy with able-bodied individuals from the poorhouses? Many are willing to work if able, I am told.” She glanced at Varys who gave a small nod.

“It would cost less than fixing the fleet as a whole,” Ser Swann admitted, “Though some ships will still need repair.”

“We could pay the poorhouse workers less and use the excess coin for our current repairs,” Hightower conceded. “That could last us until the yearly taxes to the crown.”

“Your Uncle Viserys should also be reminded of his duty to protect our shores as the Steward of Dragonstone,” Lord Oberyn interrupted, ignoring the subtle frown on Tywin Lannister’s face. Instead, he leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin and took another sip of his tea. The subtle insults traded between the two was normal, and while Rhaenys would prefer that her Hand and her Uncle got along, she knew very well that would never happen.

Lord Tywin’s daughter Cersei had become a bit of a nuisance since her arranged marriage to Rhaenys’ uncle. She’d gotten increasingly demanding with her father, or so Varys told Rhaenys, and Lord Tywin was getting fed up with filling her requests.

Rhaenys had no doubt that Tywin still held hope that his daughter would give him a Targaryen he could manipulate as he wished if he decided Rhaenys was no longer worth the investment. For now, however, Cersei seemed unable to conceive–whether the fault lay with her womb or Viserys’ seed was unknown, at least to anyone outside Dragonstone. Considering none of the women Viserys took to bed were with child, he was the likely culprit. It brought Rhaenys a bit of morbid satisfaction to know that the man who had called her sandrat and her mother a whore was impotent.

Rhaenys waited to see if Tywin would object, but when he remained silent she nodded, “Send my Uncle a missive, and begin preparations for searching the poorhouses.” She cleared her throat, “I do agree that a celebration would be beneficial, but there is no need for a grand tourney. To celebrate I suggest opening some of our grain stores to the citizens of King’s Landing. They will feel gratified to the crown and less likely to cause trouble if taxes must be raised.”

“Then what do you suggest for the nobility?”

“I will hold a banquet for the loyal retainers that helped me sit upon the throne.” Rhaenys watched the council exchange pleased glances before she continued, ignoring her heart hammering in her chest, “And I will invite the Lord of the North as a guest of honor to strengthen our relations.”

There was a brief moment of silence before every council member began to shout.

[atopvisenyashill]

What would've happened if Cersei and Jaime only had daughters?

To be completely honest, I think Robert goes hard in the PAINT for his daughters to inherit after him. Joffrey (Jocelyn, perhaps) will almost definitely be a handful the realm is not prepared to deal with because if we think a son of Robert, Cersei, and Jaime was going to be insane that's nothing compared to what an oldest girl and heir presumptive is going to be like. She's not likely to be as strong willed and kind as Myrcella because Mycrella is like that due to the abusive behavior of her parents and older brother; more like, we'd have a sort of mini-Cersei who believes other women are weak, that might makes right, and that as the heir presumptive she is worth more than all others around her. She's not likely to be quite as violent as Joffrey but Saera Targaryen did just fine torturing the court fool instead of innocent cats, so it's likely our Jocelyn Baratheon is going to act similarly.

At the same time - if Tommen comes out a girl, Cersei is going to start getting desperate to have a boy. Maybe she and Jaime get riskier and start fucking more often, where they're more likely to get caught. Maybe Cersei switches to other men and if Jaime gets wind of that (if the main series is anything to go by) he is going to react badly. While all this is going on, Jon Arryn and Robert are discussing succession. I'm saying it again but I think Robert is stubborn enough in the same way Balon and Stannis are, and would push his daughter to be named Crown Princess over Stannis or Renly, and that brings up all the issues that Rhaenyra (and Rhaena and Daenerys the First and Rhaenys) would bring up, the main issue of which is: CAN THE IRON THRONE PASS TO A WOMAN???

Slight historical detour here: Despite Maester Munkin's bitch ass opinions (if you recall, when debating whether Baela or Rhaena should be Aegon III's heir, Munkin simply says that a woman can't sit the Iron Throne because even though there is no other option but the dragon twins, because as Rhaenys says, men would rather put the realm to the torch than let a woman rule over them), and yet after the Dance there is a point where the Crown's heir is a woman despite male relatives being alive. Aerys I acknowledges Aelora (daughter of his next closest sibling, Rhaegel) as his heir but when Aelora dies, he doesn't then acknowledge Daenora as his heir (even though she's Rhaegel's youngest) but Maekar as his heir. And mind you, little Maegor is put forth not as Daenora's heir but as Aerion's heir instead (and then dismissed on account of being a literal infant). So women can be heirs potentially, if the King feels like it, but they can't inherit nor can their children. You can see where the problem is here, lol, lmao.

I think Jon Arryn is going to continue pushing for a male heir but at the same time, Jon has his female line backup heir ready in Harry Hardyng and the Vale has been ruled by an heiress turned Ruling Lady before in Jeyne Arryn. If Robert pushes for it, there's certainly a chance Jon agrees that from now on the Iron Throne will follow Andal law, wherein a daughter comes before an uncle. Indeed, Stannis also sticks by Andal law (he tells Renly directly that Renly would be heir over Shireen, because it's assumed Shireen would be his heir. After that, he makes sure to tell his men directly that Shireen is the new heir. Stannis, at least, also feels that Andal law should prevail so it's not a far stretch that Robert would agree and fight Jon Arryn over this). That makes the marriage match for Jocelyn Baratheon 100% more important because her husband's family must be aware that they may have to help fight for her claim AND it gives Dorne a potential in to push for absolute primogeniture.

This ripples out to Dany and Viserys in Essos. If Dany can make an actual claim to inherit something (because right now, her claim is tenuous at best under Targaryen rule! Women are not allowed to sit the throne!!) because the Throne is now a bit more egalitarian AND she has dragons? I do think she catches Varys' attention a little earlier in that scenario.

(if Robert really wants to he can engage Joffrey to Robb. You'd run into the same issues with Corlys/Laenor/Lucerys though since there haven't been enough prince-consorts to explain what an heir would do if he's consort, vs an heiress like Myriah was required to give up her seat to her younger brother. This would mean an earlier - and likely longer - conversation with Ned about betrothals. If Robert really wants his heir to marry a Stark, he can tell Ned that Robb can marry Jocelyn and either his second born inherits or Bran can inherit and Robb gives up his claim to Lord of Winterfell and set the precedent one way or the other. Then he'd do well to look at Dorne and the Reach for Myrcella and Tommen because he needs to shore up support while the girls are still young if he wants to avoid another gender based civil war. Otherwise, looking to the Reach, the Marches, and Dorne is an excellent idea to head off any rebellion issues. Most of the Blackfyre supporters were in the Marches and the Reach which makes sense because the Marches have a continuous geographic & ethnic based beef with Dorne, and the Reach is filled with shitty fantasy catholics. If he gets most of them on his side like Daeron II tried to, he can get in front of any rebellions coming from Stannis or Renly loyalists early).

Of course....the problem is that the children aren't actually Robert's. So while he's going ham on making sure his daughter is inheriting, Stannis and Jon are still getting suspcious as to why all three kids look golden haired, and Jaime and Cersei are still sneaking around...what happens then? Mess, is what happens, hahahaha.

[thelustybraavosimaid]

Why do Jonsas use "Ned and Catelyn look like Jon and Sansa" as the basis for their ship?

It's almost like...they're more obsessed with looks than anything else?

Jon's not going to want to get with Sansa because she looked like someone he didn't exactly like that much. Are we forgetting that Jon felt like Catelyn begrudged him every bite of food?

Jon wondered how Lady Catelyn's sister would feel about feeding Ned Stark's bastard. As a boy, he often felt as if the lady grudged him every bite. (Jon IV, ADwD)

That Catelyn made sure to make him feel unwelcome in his own home?

Something cold moved in her eyes. "I told you to leave," she said. "We don't want you here."

Once that would have sent him running. Once that might even have made him cry. Now it only made him angry. He would be a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch soon, and face worse dangers than Catelyn Tully Stark. (Jon II, AGoT)

--

It was not Lord Eddard's face he saw floating before him, though; it was Lady Catelyn's. With her deep blue eyes and hard cold mouth, she looked a bit like Stannis. Iron, he thought, but brittle. She was looking at him the way she used to look at him at Winterfell, whenever he had bested Robb at swords or sums or most anything. Who are you? that look had always seemed to say. This is not your place. Why are you here? (Jon XII, ASoS)

And never addressed him by name save for one time?

He was at the door when she called out to him. "Jon," she said. He should have kept going, but she had never called him by his name before.

Why would Jon want to be with someone whose appearance would remind him of any of this?

Also, Jon wants a child of his own, yes. But he accepts the free folk as they are and was more than willing to have Gilly's as well as Dalla's sons fostered at the castle. Jon's interest seems to also be centred around the concept of a found family. This does not align with Sansa's idealisation of marriage or children.

Jon and Arya are what I consider the foils of Jaime and Cersei. Cersei's love is conditional; she likes Jaime best when he follows her lead, looks like her:

The reflection in the water was a man he did not know. Not only was he bald, but he looked as though he had aged five years in that dungeon; his face was thinner, with hollows under his eyes and lines he did not remember. I don't look as much like Cersei this way. She'll hate that. (Jaime I, ASoS)

and does her bidding; when he does not do this, she belittles him.

"You took me in the sept. This is no different." She drew out his cock and bent her head over it.

Jaime pushed her away with the stump of his right hand. "No. Not here, I said." He forced himself to stand.

For an instant he could see confusion in her bright green eyes, and fear as well. Then rage replaced it. Cersei gathered herself together, got to her feet, straightened her skirts. "Was it your hand they hacked off in Harrenhal, or your manhood?" As she shook her head, her hair tumbled around her bare white shoulders. (Jaime IX, ASoS)

She also belittles him off the cuff:

Within the tower, the smoke from the torches irritated her eyes, but Cersei did not weep, no more than her father would have. I am the only true son he ever had. (Cersei I, AFfC)

She loves him, but mostly when it benefits her herself:

Jaime read it in the window seat, bathed in the light of that cold white morning. Qyburn's words were terse and to the point, Cersei's fevered and fervent. Come at once, she said. Help me. Save me. I need you now as I have never needed you before. I love you. I love you. I love you. Come at once. (Jaime VII, AFfC)

Meanwhile, we have undeniable, unconditional trust between Jon and Arya:

Maybe I should go to the Wall instead of Riverrun. Jon wouldn't care who I killed or whether I brushed my hair... (Arya VIII, ASoS)

And:

They had always been close. Jon had their father's face, as she did. They were the only ones. Robb and Sansa and Bran and even little Rickon all took after the Tullys, with easy smiles and fire in their hair. When Arya had been little, she had been afraid that meant that she was a bastard too. It had been Jon she had gone to in her fear, and Jon who had reassured her. (Arya I, AGoT)

We have Jon risking everything he vowed and everything at the Wall to ensure Arya was safe, going so far as to send Mance and six spearwives south to Winterfell. Meanwhile, when sent a letter of his own, Jaime refused to aid Cersei in her own time of need and lacked the same kind of torment we saw from Jon in VI-XIII, ADwD.

Uh why are they trying to equate Jon and Sansa to Rhaegar and Lyanna when they purport Rhaegar kidnapped and raped Lyanna? I don't get this point here.

Targaryen Champion + Ashford Maiden

No one won the hand of the Ashford maiden during the tourney, because Dunk disrupted the event.

Jacaerys Velaryon + Sara Snow

Are we forgetting that Sansa is not actually a bastard orrrrrr...?

Also Jon wasn't fostered at Winterfell under some other guise. He was brought up as a bastard and believed he was a bastard all his life. He was raised as one of Ned's sons. And this was done purely out of necessity.

Sansa is also not the Stark heir. Robb's will likely disinherited her from the line of succession due to her marriage to Tyrion, and in TWoW she acknowledges that she cannot remarry so long as Tyrion was still alive:

No man can wed me so long as my dwarf husband still lives somewhere in this world. Queen Cersei had collected the head of a dozen dwarfs, Petyr claimed, but none were Tyrion's. (Alayne I, TWoW)

Moreover, Bran and Rickon are ahead of her in succession, as they are both alive.

So I don't exactly understand this point, either.

When you put it all side by side, it really is quite astounding how none of these pairings have any relation to j0nsa. And we are not even touching op pretending Sara Snow was a real person.

[marybatson]

my general thoughts during black adam 2022 tht swirled in my mind like a flushing toilet. in no order

writers room and maybe mr johnson himself actually ironed out geoff’s adam origin and made him nicer because he literally murdered his nephew in that one. this works tho for what they were going for so okieee . will we get adam choking out the shazam kids in movie 2 LOL the rock would never agree to tht. wat happened to the anti in antihero mister…

kinda moe they made atom smasher n adam have bestie potential like in jsa lol.

gushing about adrianna and amon. amon AND HIS LIDDOL SKATEBOARD !!!!!! they were so so real even more so than their roles in 52 and I appreciate the writers sm for that. esp the role of khandaqi citizens later in the movie like ya fuck imperialism

it genuinely felt like a shift of two movies going back and forth between khandaq and hawkmans cruiser which I guess u could say makes it immersive

the entire jsa dynamic was so so good simply bc the chars were so fleshed out even in the small lines al and maxine (I LOVE U MAXINEEEE!!!) had they felt like heroes who’d worked together for so long. like it was easy breezy n if u compare that to the billion of quips and tension jl in the movie had like. it’s kind of wild. centering dc movieverse on jsa was not on my bingo. JAIME REYES BLUE BEETLE JSA MOMENT?

ROCK OF FINALITY ? let me ruminate on that.

shook w laughter every time somebody in the movie went “but WHO could defeat black adam” “only one person could defeat sabbac” “you’re so stacked even more so than any hero on earth adam” elephant in the room in the form of the literal shazam family with an upcoming movie:🧍

ok more on the point above just now. LIKE WTF. every time someone makes adam stronger while completely ignoring that billy is his equal nay his better. no matter what I think abt dceu’s shazam it’s still literally soooo embarrassing they think they can separate adam completely when HES GOT A DAMN LIGHTNING BOLT ON HIS CHEST. this movie just makes me angrier abt it bc they showed the shazam 2 trailer before it and god how incompetent and idiotic does shazam look in comparison to adam it’s literally so embarrassing ? can darla dudley beat adam’s ass. you know she can. be for fuckin real

cc binder checking in from the afterlife going hi how’s r my kids oh cool more to the fam oh cool there’s movies. BLACK WHO? WHO IS THAT…. villain from a singular comic beaten in one breath by captain marvel ????? slay but wtf. also where is freddy

aldis hodge knocked it out of the park tbh. so did mr pierce brosnan. hawkman smirking about I’m not afraid of dying JSNWNDKD well. sure. and the jsa kids ^_^ omg if we’re doing this jsa gimme jakeem n courtneyyyy. or r they tied down by cw

unrelated to all of this at all but I was just thinking I wish shazam never got a movie he should’ve been shoved into a reoccurring role in like that stargirl show or whatever idc

I’m on mobile idk how to readmore here just block me or kill me I’m sawry. TLDR I thought it was good fun! kind of a long movie imo and sabbac final villain was like. uhhh sure ok that was smth tht happened.. anyway. I feel like audiences will just like it and I guess its an interesting reset for the movies

READ BLACK ADAM 2022 AND SUPPORT MALIK WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!

[esther-dot]

Ok but what do you think that dany's motive for burning KL will be in the books? I tend to think it's the treason for love when she discovers Jon is in love with another. That and him being praised as a hero, his id known, will bring home the original "let him be king of the ashes". I think she will want to destroy Jon's potential of becoming a "happy" king. And then Bran steps in to release him. What a shame the show didn't have the guts to pull this angle through!

(in reference to this ask)

That’s a cool take on it!

I truly don’t know. The longer I think about all of this, the messier it is.

If we have a prolonged interaction between Jon and Dany (with Dany going North first and both going South later), I can definitely see what you’re saying. I mean, s8 presented the idea that she wouldn’t be accepted in Westeros, that she realized she didn’t have love and that she would either rule by fear or nothing, and it felt like she was threatening Sansa’s life to keep Jon in line in 8x05, that she knew he didn’t love her (hence, “let it be fear”), so something akin to what you’re saying may certainly be what Martin told D&D.

My issue is, I don’t think Jon can be implicated in the burning of KL, or Bran wouldn’t be a preferred candidate for king, so I’m hesitant to place Jon in KL as an ally to Dany when she burns it. And if he is there, I don’t see how it could be with a Northern army. I mean, how does Martin write the Lords of Westeros selecting Bran if Northmen were involved in the greatest atrocity they’ve ever seen? Maybe Martin will do it, it just seems weird to me. If this is to have more of Robert's Rebellion's parallels (rather than strictly DoD 2.0), and Jon is the one to kill her a la Jaime and Aerys, maybe she burns KL when taking it from Aegon, Jon stabbity stabs, and then Bran shows up. There’s a line about Ned racing to KL that made me wonder. So, I’m not sure how much Jon’s parentage would weigh on Dany that way unless she feels how tentative her hold on Westeros is.

But practically speaking, I’m not sure how Jon could be a threat that way to Dany. I mean, after Dany v Euron and Dany v Aegon, and the North v Others, who will have the means to support Jon v Dany? I don’t know how it would be possible. Also, even if they did, I’m not sure what proof we will have of Jon’s birth. It seems like something people will recognize as true if it serves their purposes, deny if it doesn’t. We’ll know the truth, not sure that there will be a universal understanding in-world. I lean towards the idea of some people wanting Jon to be king after the wars and him refusing for Aemon parallels (link), and that being part of the events that lead to Bran being king as driftingsnowflakes outlined (link), but now I wonder if they wont go to war with Dany. I used to think that we needed a showdown, but considering how anti war Martin is, I’m no longer sure if we will get a clean victory. It might feel too much like glorifying war because then the path to kingship for Bran was via war. And, that’s the thing, if Bran is to represent this new era, I wondered if he would prevent there being any “right of conquest” to his kingship. That made me think back to the Arya killing Dany idea, and the possibility that Starks v Dany plays out in the shadows/subterfuge rather than out and out war, especially with the talk about Dany fighting shadows and there are some quotes about wolves and shadows that I’ll have to revisit.

I guess I would say, it makes sense for Jon’s identity to play into Dany’s paranoia, and I still think Jon is Dany’s treason for love, so your idea totally works, but I don’t want Dany’s decision to burn KL to be about other people. To me, Dany has that struggle between peace and war, and her choice to take the Iron Throne has always involved sacrificing the life of others for that goal. So, I think taking the throne should be the escalation of that. I think she should face a moment in which she must choose to kill innocents to get her throne, or not have it at all. I would like her to give up her patina of wanting good things for people to acknowledge what has been true all along: she wants what she wants and she is willing for people to die to get it. I guess my thought is, maybe she will suffer so many losses, she will have to use dragons on KL or fail to take the throne.

I mean, we have two more books, I don’t know how she will evolve from here to there, but her motivation has always been the throne, I would like it to stay that way so that fans can tie it back to the first book, to her burning Mirri alive to get her dragons and realize, oh, this was always the way Dany’s journey to the throne was going to be, how it was going to end. All this evil has been done to win the throne, her final atrocity being done for the same purpose makes sense to me. But it’s hard for me to see how all these pieces we know need to be included work together.

Sorry, I’m back to my “I only have questions and no answers!” routine.

[whateverthedragonswant]

Love is the death of duty vs Duty is the death of love

I’ve been rewatching some season 1 episodes and man do they hit different now knowing how it all ends. A lot of us already know that Jon chose love over duty, that he chose to protect Sansa (and the Starks by extension) by killing Dany, which fulfilled Jon’s promise to Sansa from season 6. We also already know they were attempting to make Jon Ned 2.0 but watching this season, I didn’t realize just how much:

“Tell me, did you ever wonder why men of the Night’s Watch take no wives and father no children?”

“No.”

“So they will not love. Love is the death of duty. If the day should ever come when your lord father was forced to choose, between honor on the one hand, and those he loves on the other, what would he do?”

“He would do whatever was right. No matter what.”

“And Lord Stark is one man in ten thousand. Most of us are not so strong. What is honor compared to a woman’s love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms? Or a brother’s smile?”

...

“Yet, sooner or later, there comes a day in every man’s life where it is not easy. A day when he must choose.”

“Then this is my day. Is that what you’re saying?”

“It hurts, boy. Oh, yes. I know.”

“You do not know. No one knows. I may be a bastard but he is my father and Robb is my brother.”

*Aemon laughs*

“I will not tell you stay or go. You must make that choice yourself and live with it the rest of your days.” (x)

I’m not saying that D&D knew this early on how the series would end. But I do remember GRRM being involved in the show up until season 4 I think it was. It really was all going to come down to the choice Jon made. And how ironic that a Targaryen is the one to pose this question to him, a Targaryen that is part of the Night’s Watch as Maester. 

Ned chose to honor Lyanna’s request and keep Jon safe, spawning the heartbreak of Catelyn and people doubting his honor, two very important things to him before his family grew. This choice was considered dishonorable by the outside world (they did not know the real reason). Ned made his choice and lived it with the rest of his days. Jon was not Ned’s son but his nephew, the trueborn son of Lyanna and Rhaegar. 

Jon chose to keep his promise to Sansa and keep her safe, spawning the consequences of killing Dany and his banishment to the Wall. This choice was considered dishonorable by the outside world (they think they know the reason why but they don’t truly know why Jon chose to do it outside of KL massacre). Jon made his choice and now he has to live with it the rest of his days. Sansa was not his half-sister but his cousin, the trueborn daughter of Ned and Catelyn.

Jon indeed chose Love over Duty just like Ned did. And that is also why he has Ned’s armor on when going to confront Dany in the throne room.

He wasn’t just echoing Robb. The show wasn’t just displaying subtly that Jon was listening to Sansa’s warning from 7x01 about being smarter than both Ned and Robb. He was also channeling Ned, in the fact that he had to make a decision just as Ned did once upon a time. If Robert ever found out that Ned had been harboring a child of Rhaegar’s that his beloved Lyanna bore to the Prince that stole her... It was a dangerous decision but the right one, regardless of how dishonorable it made him look. Jon has also been faced with a dangerous decision but the right one, regardless of how dishonorable it eventually makes him look to parts of Westeros. 

Tyrion had that little clever spinoff of Aemon’s line that we all remember: “Duty is the death of love” -- because Tyrion thought Jon was just as much in love with Dany as he was, and even likens Jon to Jaime. But Jon never answered him or nodded or confirmed in any way that Tyrion was right. And even though Jaime is a mirror for him in the story, and Cersei has been paralleled with Dany throughout the series, other than their relationship being considered incestuous by Westeros, Jon/Dany are not the new Jaime/Cersei, and definitely not at this point in the story.

Jaime and Cersei are twins. Jon and Dany are two sides of the same coin while being aunt and nephew. Jaime and Cersei grew up together. Jon and Dany did not. Jaime and Cersei were raised to be Lannister first. Jon was a bastard in the Stark family and is taught family is important. Dany was raissed on the run and taught that the Targaryens are the rightful ruling family and that the IT/Westeros is theirs by right. Jaime and Cersei’s relationship is considered forbidden due to it being incestuous (something Westeros is trying to get away from after Aerys). Jon and Dany’s relationship is not considered forbidden (because no one really knows who Jon is yet). The only similarity the two relationships share is that Cersei/Dany become queen and Jaime/Jon become a sort of knight/advisor role to each of them, as well as both individuals being related by blood. 

And this is why Jon repeats Aemon’s line in that 8x06 jail cell scene after Tyrion talks about being in love with Dany, Jon being in love with Dany, and compares him to Jaime. Because Aemon’s dialogue to Jon back in season 1 confirms exactly what choice Jon made in the end:

“So they will not love. Love is the death of duty. If the day should ever come when your lord father was forced to choose, between honor on the one hand, and those he loves on the other, what would he do?”

“He would do whatever was right. No matter what.”

“And Lord Stark is one man in ten thousand. Most of us are not so strong. What is honor compared to a woman’s love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms? Or a brother’s smile?”

8x06 script: “Jon knows what it means for those he loves most”

Jon chose Love over Duty. He protected Sansa like Ned protected him. It came full circle. 

Edit 4/23/21: credit goes to @une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir​ for catching that Ned died dishonoring himself for love as well. And funnily enough, Sansa was also one of the ones he wanted to protect when making that decision, choosing to confess his treason. 

[heretherebedork]

The Battle Royale is back!! This time: Uke edtion 2.0: the comeback!! (This time: the battle is randomized and shuffled!)

Now who among here excretes the most uke energy? A gaybie? A soft uke? A perfect Uke? And the contestants are:

Taekyung vs. Adachi

Sky (GB) vs. Tae Joo (Eyes Linger)

Pi vs. Gene

Tian vs. Pharm

ShuYi vs. Shi Lei

Zhao Zi vs. Si Qi

Meen vs. Tine

Jin vs. Arthit

Kit (Gen Y) vs. Wad (SOTUS S)

Karl vs. Gavreel

Tutor vs. Knock

Mico vs. Jaime

Reb vs. Jim

Tong vs. Folk

Paii vs. Wayo (2moons2)

Beam vs. Kit (Both 2moons2)

Mon vs. Shi Gu

Chon vs. Mes

Masuk vs. Nuea

King vs. Third

Puth vs. Boss (My Engineer)

Kao (DBK) vs. Kao (Oxygen)

Chol vs. Xingsi

Mu Ren vs. Yu Hao (Crossing the Line)

Pete (LBC) vs. Fiat

Yeon Woo (Color Rush) vs. Ki Wan (Ryu's Wedding)

Hin (Chance to Love) vs. Hin (Lovely Writer)

Aey vs. Yi Chen (Obsessed)

Pao vs. Ake

Phai (Gen Y) vs. Wayu (Gen Y)

Day (Sotus S) vs. Zon (WhyRU)

Typhoon vs. Mekhin (Close Friend)

Team vs. In

Guitar vs. Ray (Close Friend)

Type (2gether) vs. Sang Ha (Mr. Heart)

Sheng Zhe (Right or Wrong) vs. Shao Fei

Frong vs. Duen

King vs. Sky (My Day)

Ou Wen vs. Minh Hoang

Can vs. Techno

Yu Zhen vs. Bunn

Bonus: (Ga On vs. Da On)

This time, anyone can play! Feel free to play this game! It's open to all!

I'd also like to dare @absolutebl and @raiko101 to try this one! Hehehe

and also: thank you @absolutebl for your posts! I also learned a lot from you! prolly half of these characters came from you so, yay thanks!

Goodluck!

Ahaha, wow, my anons are pulling in my mutuals? Again? My life is wild here, y'all. Yay Battle Royale Anon! How did you know I have time to kill before Golden Blood?

Also, this one is fascinating because how does one define uke? Because some of these characters might be bottoms but I wouldn't define them as ukes because ukes are typically the ones being pursued. So I've sort of been trying to figure that out and so some of these get some odd answers depending on the character. Is an uke defined as what most straight girls think of a bottom? Is an uke the character being pursued or who needs to be taken care of?

... Look, uke is an ever-evolving word, especially from when I first joined fandom. So it's very interesting!

Taekyung vs. Adachi

Adachi has to win this. I love Taekyung to death and he's my tiny gaybie but Adachi just... he's darling and small and he needs to be protected and pursued and he just... fits more of what I think of as an uke. Now, this is probably because this is a Japan (creator of the uke/seme dynamic as we know it) versus Korea (who really don't do strong seme/uke dynamics) thing rather than a character thing. Since uke really is in the relationship and not just the character...

Sky (GB) vs. Tae Joo (Eyes Linger)

It's Sky. Sky is a baby. Sky is absolutely baby. He's in need of so much love and care and protection. Although Tae Joo is close and he definitely needs it, it's in a different way. Plus, Sun is gonna take a bullet for Sky and I am an absolute sucker for that. But they're such good characters to contrast.

Pi vs. Gene

I gotta admit that I'm giving this to Gene. Now, this is because of the show. I want Gene to be taken care of by his love. I want Nubsib to love and care for Gene. I don't want Pi to be take care of. I want Pi to go be independent and pissy somewhere else without ever thinking about Mork again.

Tian vs. Pharm

Pharm had to win this. I love Tian, don't get me wrong. But Tian and Phupha have a different dynamics than Dean and Pharm. Dean and Pharm definitely lean more towards what I would consider a seme/uke relationship and, thus, Pharm wins. Also, tiny gaybie Pharm almost always wins.

ShuYi vs. Shi Lei

This is so interesting because it's Taiwan vs Taiwan and they don't do the really strong seme/uke... but yeah, it's Shu Yi. Shu Yi 100%. Shi Lei is an uke but he's not as much of one as Shu Yi. Shu Yi is such a darling who just needs so much love.

Zhao Zi vs. Si Qi

It's Zhao Zi. Look, I adore Si Qi. He's a darling. But Zhao Zi is just gaybie energy x100 alongside abandonment issues and that sunshine over sadness energy is just A+.

Meen vs. Tine

This one is hard. They're both such ukes, such little gaybies... But I like Meen more, so I'm going with him. He was the bright spot in the show where Tine was, ironically, one of my least favorite characters in his show.

Jin vs. Arthit

I had to give this to Jin. He just loved being pursued so much and all the attention and the little gifts from Bbomb just made him so happy. He couldn't help himself. Arthit just didn't quite have that with Kongpob, as much as I love them together. Different vibes.

Kit (Gen Y) vs. Wad (SOTUS S)

Kit is basically the perfect example of a tsundere uke. Like, he is the platonic (lol) ideal. And I love him for that so much. He's definitely one of my favorite characters just in general and such a little tsundere uke he has to win.

Karl vs. Gavreel

This one is a bit harder. Ugh. Like, you could claim it for either one and also argue that neither one is exactly an uke... but I'm gonna give it to Gavreel. Mostly for levels of realism. Karl is just so realistic it's hard to call him an uke.

Tutor vs. Knock

Yeah, it's Tutor. He was tough as nails but he melted so nicely under Fighter's hands and just falls apart and gets sick without him and that's just... such an uke thing, okay? SUCH an uke thing.

Mico vs. Jaime

I had to go with Mico. I love Mico. He's such a darling and absolutely radiates gaybie in need of love energy at all times and I still desperately wish that Hello Stranger the movie had given him more of a chance at the end rather than a rush.

Reb vs. Jim

... It's Reb because Jim just annoyed me mostly. Also, Reb is tiny and adorable and has that super innocent gaybie energy that makes him a bit more real but also a bit more uke. I dunno, this is what I mean about the definition of uke. It's hard to pin down for me!

Tong vs. Folk

Look, I get it, I'm the only person who preferred IttPai to PureFolk. I GET IT. But that just means I'm gonna pick Tong because PokTong was the best pairing beside MarkKit and also holy shit sex and holy shit the love they share that they damaged and hurt so much together... ugh, uke energy be damned, I'm choosing my favorite.

Paii vs. Wayo (2moons2)

Yo is ultimate uke. He's such an uke is almost hurts. Like, he always wins this. Every time. No question or hesitation.

Beam vs. Kit (Both 2moons2)

Kit wins again. Because Kit is a tsundere uke and, frankly, 2moons2 Kit is even MORE of the perfect tsundere uke because he also melts. He melts so hard and so fast and it's adorable beyond belief.

Mon vs. Shi Gu

Sorry, Shi Gu, but Mon is such an uke. Like holy sheesh this boy. This most darling boy. He's tiny and gaybie and adorable and PORTABLE and yeah, he's super uke.

Chon vs. Mes

I'm gonna give it to Chon because he's just... a bit more? To me. He's more of an uke and I love him for it. Tough as nails uke boy with a lot of of darlingness. Yeah, just gotta go with my heart.

Masuk vs. Nuea

I might like Nuea more but I think Masuk has more uke vibes. They're still weak but they're there and I just gotta give it to my darling Masuk. He's so soft and needs so much love and a lot of care.

King vs. Third

Third is ultimate uke. Crying in a shower? Weeping over everything? Very protective friends? Yeah. YEAH. He wins this.

Puth vs. Boss (My Engineer)

Puth just isn't an uke to me. He's got different vibes. But Boss? Boss is an uke and adorable and he just wants to finally love Mek openly and honestly and just be held and goofy and ride on his back. And seriously, love the boy.

Kao (DBK) vs. Kao (Oxygen)

Ugh, this is hard because I'm not 100% on how much an uke Kao (Oxygen) is and I don't really think about DBK ever... I'll give it to Oxygen. I love Oxygen and I miss Kao.

Chol vs. Xingsi

Xingsi wings this by being the most take over uke ever, the one who definitely wants to be spoiled but also knows exactly how he wants to be spoiled and isn't afraid to show it. Gotta love him.

Mu Ren vs. Yu Hao (Crossing the Line)

I gotta give this to MuRen. CTL had almost no seme/uke energy but they definitely went harder in CTY. So... MuRen wins by virtue

Pete (LBC) vs. Fiat

Screw you, they're both ultimate ukes. Everybody wins!

Yeon Woo (Color Rush) vs. Ki Wan (Ryu's Wedding)

I had to go with Yeon Woo. Like, I had to. What a darling little uke who needed to be chased and needed to be convinced and needed to be saved from himself and the other people who love him.

Hin (Chance to Love) vs. Hin (Lovely Writer)

Lol, I had to go with Chance to Love because, like, look at that boy. He gave up everything in the hopes that his seme would be happy and just... what a tiny darling. Sadly, Hin didn't get any romance. So... outta luck, child.

Aey vs. Yi Chen (Obsessed)

Obsessed is just all about the seme/uke dynamic. I had to give it to Yi Chen. Like, had to. Absolutely had to.

Pao vs. Ake

Neither are my favorites but I have to give the uke energy to Pao. Ake is adorable and all but Pao just radiates that 'I'm a baby take care of me' energy, especially as a ghost.

Phai (Gen Y) vs. Wayu (Gen Y)

Yu is the most uke uke to ever uke. Seriously. What a baby. And he's such an uke he has two semes fighting over him! You can't get much more uke than that, let's be honest.

Day (Sotus S) vs. Zon (WhyRU)

Look, I gotta be honest, I mostly just watch the Kongpob and Arthit scenes of SOTUS S. But also... Zon. Zon is puppy uke. He is tiny, tiny puppy uke and I cannot deny him that title. He deserves it.

Typhoon vs. Mekhin (Close Friend)

I gotta give it to Typhoon. I still don't like that part very much and I just want to protect him from his boyfriend ignoring him and I think part of that is what makes him such an uke. I just want to protect him so badly.

Team vs. In

In's not an uke to me. But Team? I'm good with that. I can handle it. And he needs that care and that love. Also, as I say every time... Between Us must exist!

Guitar vs. Ray (Close Friend)

Gui beats Ray by a hair. BARELY at all. But I just love Gui and his darling softness and just his everything... Ugh, Gui definitely has uke energy.

Type (2gether) vs. Sang Ha (Mr. Heart)

I gotta go with SangHa. What a darling boy. Type is great and all but their relationship is much more equal than anything else. And SangHa is just... this boy who needs to be loved and cared for and then to run alongside his boyfriend.

Sheng Zhe (Right or Wrong) vs. Shao Fei

I gotta give it to Sheng Zhe. I love Shao Fei deeply but Sheng Zhe wins in terms of uke. Like, he's darling and family and sweet and full of love and I love him so much I cannot even.

Frong vs. Duen

Duen gets it, even if I view him as entire asexual and, frankly, more than a bit aromantic. I genuinely think he dislikes being in a committed relationship. But... uke energy? Yeah, he gives out more than Frong.

King vs. Sky (My Day)

King is way more uke than Sky because Sky isn't uke at all. My Day was amazing for having such no seme/uke dynamic, yo. But King? Yeah, he's got that energy with Ram.

Ou Wen vs. Minh Hoang

I'm gonna give this to Minh Hoang. Because Ou Wen isn't uke energy for me. But Minh Hoang has some. Neither of these shows really does the seme/uke energy, honestly. But I can lean a bit more towards Minh Hoang.

Can vs. Techno

I'm giving it to Can despite the unconventional nature of his relationship with Tin and the maturity they show through the show. But I love Can and the want to care for him and I want to protect him. And the more I want to protect a character, the more I go with uke. (Not that I'm a seme, I'm just a sunshine puppy disguised as a person.)

Yu Zhen vs. Bunn

I feel weird but I'm definitely giving it to Yu Zhen. I gotta. I can't help myself. He's such a darling young man who just needs to be taken care of by Shi Lei on every possible level. I mean, boy still doesn't know not to eat gummies. Seriously.

Bonus: (Ga On vs. Da On)

I have to give this to DaOn. I can't help myself. I get the same energy from Ga On but DaOn just sends me away with the need to protect him, seriously.

Holy shit that took me the entire length of The Boy Foretold by the Stars, fyi. BUT I DID IT.

[wolfsneedles]

perhaps a small meta like thing i wanted to write and share on robb. I was thinking about that very haunting and pivotal moment in ASOS, when rickard karstark a loyal man of robb and starks killed the two prisoner/wards kids from lannister family when he realised catelyn released jaime. Catelyn releasing him is different and a very realistically emotional thing but robb acting and defending his mother when rickard says It was Lady Catelyn who was responsible for murder of the two kids....he just slaughtered in sleep and dark of their cells (reeks of bit sexism and misogyny tbh). Not realising however that jaime wasn't gonna get killed anyways that to by rickard or Robb was never gonna let them hurt him. basically so if karstark was avenging his sons...who died in battle with Robb, it is understandable but this was rickard's individualistic revenge - he was fighting for robb too. For North and for Starks and for his KING. i never understood how he killed two children but thats not the concern really. It is how robb reacts to murder of two children by karstark which is so foolish and stupid and honestly cruel considering his revenge was not gonna succeed anyways when jaime had...already escaped (and no omg cat wasn't responsible for karstark betrayal). And then Robb says, "

"I owe their fathers truth," said Robb. "And justice. I owe them that as well." He gazed at his crown, the dark gleam of bronze, the circle of iron swords. "Lord Rickard defied me. Betrayed me. I have no choice but to condemn him.

He made up his mind anyways to execute karstark not for betrayal but also for justice. Poetic Justice maybe...but the entire scene of rickard karstarks execution is very hauntingly beautiful however uneasy and eerie, and you see robb from Cats POV doing something from his own hands himself. The imagery and environmental gloom is perfect. Even weather grrm wrote like, was hauntingly unsettling.

Lord Rickard's fought at my side in half a dozen battles. His sons died for me in the Whispering Wood. Tion Frey and Willem Lannister were my enemies. Yet now I have to kill my dead friends' father for their sakes." He looked at them all. "Will the Lannisters thank me for Lord Rickard's head? Will the Freys?"

He obviously knew, the death of karstark's liege lord will earn him worse betrayals and series of more unfortunate events,, yet he still in despair asks brynden and others, that freys and lannisters will obviously not thank him for this. Infact they repaid him worse.

How then can you call this vengeance? This was folly, and bloody murder. Your sons died honorably on a battlefield, with swords in their hands.”

I wanted to describe the scene which is so poetic. But the fact that there is constant thunder and rain can highlight the fact that it was or can be synonymous to misery and death and...robbs ultimate betrayal when karstarks leave in the night same day. Catelyn described the weather outside as,

"Outside the thunder crashed and boomed, so loud it sounded as if the castle were coming down about their ears. Is this the sound of a kingdom falling? Catelyn wondered"

In the next sentence u see, robb more mature and dauntless when he decides he will execute rickard, "Robb reached down with both hands, lifted the heavy bronze-and-iron crown, and set it back atop his head, and suddenly he was a king again. “Lord Rickard dies.”

(also makes me mention how ppl criticise dany too mostly from the got show, but in books why she kills people, i think....if u put yourself in those historical framework and mentality of medieval society with loyalties and devotion tied to each other whether based on federalism or personal love, betrayal and treachery or going behind a king or queens back doesn't...go unpunished. Treason never goes unpunished when we also think of jon snow executing janos and robb with karstark. You have to realise emotions of both people. the one who carries sentence and one who dies.)

Back to the scenic description i found in this chapter. Catelyn again talks about weather and i absolutely loved contrast bw the weather and grimness of it and an execution soon to be carried in godswood,

"When day broke, grey and chilly, the storm had diminished to a steady, soaking rain, yet even so the godswood was crowded. River lords and northmen, highborn and low, knights and sellswords and stableboys, they stood amongst the trees to see the end of the night’s dark dance."

"Robb flung the poleaxe down in disgust, and turned wordless to the heart tree. He stood shaking with his hands half-clenched and the rain running down his cheeks. Gods forgive him, Catelyn prayed in silence. He is only a boy, and he had no other choice"

I think the rain is perfect thing. the way it is pouring down and then previously it was mentioned how remaining men who took part in killing young boys of lannisters with karstark were hung from trees ...but their faces were darkened and washed and grrm mentions this a lot everytime he mentions a depressing scene with death and ppl hanging from trees esp when lady stoneheart or brothers without banners or brienne and pod encounter people hanged. Its also sooo haunting how karstark was executed in front of heart tree and godswood...by hands of Robb as well (similar to what ned said that man who passes sentence will swing the sword so he knows what he feels too and robb did it last moment too)

" That was the last she saw of her son that day "

This line by catelyn also describes horror of war and how young people like robb in this case are dragged into the lords game of thrones, sometimes half-heartedly sometimes intentionally she describes how war is affecting her son who is after all a boy.

".....rain continued all through the morning, lashing the surface of the rivers and turning the godswood grass into mud and puddles"

This weather is same as it was described and was on the day or eve of when Catelyn and robb along with edmure were making for the Twins and and something more horrific which was about to unfold there as well ( red wedding ) and on their way to twins the rain is mercilessly beating and falling too.

Last i wanna mention is day when robb and his men with Catelyn made for the Twins for wedding and weather was same miserable since last time it was when karstark was executed...which I was thinking DOES point to robbs failure and demise in the end as weather has a lot of impact on story and so does the ice and fire contrast that has always been made where winters and cold winds welcome the coming of darkness and enemy force in this case the Others, and fire reflects passion, warmth and hope for me in passages. prob why i love mention of dany and her dragons because they do represent an entirely different aura and hope against the dread that is building on the Wall and beyond it for coming of the actual-evil-forces the Others.

This is how perfectly the differences bw robbs victory in Whispering wood taken as sign of pride and hope is mentioned with --> emphasis on how warm the weather was, and now their travel to the Twins for red wedding as --> rain, mud, puddle, banks overflowing, their stark banners flooded and hanging down (another excellent indication for how house stark did have their back and strength broken after the wedding hence banner hanging low, or when arya later travels to twins and sees the banners on fire due to the massacre taking place...)

"..As the gods would have it, their route took them through the Whispering Wood where Robb had won his first great victory. They followed the course of the twisting stream on the floor of that pinched narrow valley, much as Jaime Lannister’s men had done that fateful night. It was warmer then, Catelyn remembered, the trees were still green, and the stream did not overflow its banks. Fallen leaves choked the flow now and lay in sodden snarls among the rocks and roots, and the trees that had once hidden Robb’s army had exchanged their green raiment for leaves of dull gold spotted with brown, and a red that reminded her of rust and dry blood"

[nossbean]

More of the fairy tale thingie. Marvellous banner by @scoundrels-in-love.

It was not just that first morning he joined her, but each morning thereafter. He had even begun arriving before her, which was at once better and worse: he made the room warm, welcoming. Placated its ghosts so Brienne imagined her memories less as hovering spectres, lurking to prick her with unwanted reminders, and more like pets curled, contented in slumber, in the corners of the room.

Her mother was still gone, but Brienne was not so alone.

It wasn’t long before Brienne stopped thinking of him as Mister Storm and began thinking of him as Jaime. Until a few minutes tardiness on his part left her feeling out of sorts — only a little, but that was too much.

She couldn’t bring herself to stop him.

He was intriguing, and strange. She couldn’t name him kind, exactly, but there was a generosity to him of which she didn’t think him fully aware. He could be incisive and snide one moment, considering and compassionate the next. He collected information like the sea swallowed rain, and parsed it in such a way that Brienne thought he’d likely be able to make sense of the churn of the waves if she asked him.

Sometimes Jaime made her smile. She hid them.

He was unthinkably handsome. Light adored him, it didn’t matter the type. Whether the sun gifted them its illumination, rare and watery as they entered winter months, or whether the heaviest, deepest of storm clouds doused them in dark and left them to the flickering of few and fewer candles, the light thrived on finding its favourite of his features to highlight and set aglow.

Sometimes he gave her a smile which was true. Brienne looked away.

She had one complaint. (Just the one? she could hear him drawl.) Each morning he would greet her, “Lady Evenstar,” and say the same when they parted. It wasn’t the words — the title was one she wore, proud of its legacy — but rather the way his tongue curled around them. Something ironic about it.

In another time, she may have commanded him otherwise. Or found another way, to take away the sting of the rebuke. Except for this: outside of these mornings, she had no reprieve.

Winter months were hard. Lean stores were coming leaner. The only advantage she could count with winter months was that the threat of attack diminished.

“Lady Evenstar,” he greeted her, that ironic roll on his tongue, a bending at his waist in acknowledgement of the title, before he took his now-customary seat.

Brienne pressed her lips together. Felt the coarse fabric of her trousers rasp against her palms as she smoothed her hands over her thighs. “Mister Storm,” she returned. The corner of his mouth lifted, irony there, too, she thought, as he nodded to her. “If you would,” she began, and was caught momentarily as the overcast gloom transformed into an invitation, caressing the line of Jaime’s jaw as he tilted his head curiously to her.

She tried again, “Are you familiar with the history of the Evenstar?”

Jaime appeared unfazed by this topic of conversation, and Brienne watched in unwilling fascination as his expression eased into the gentle breath of a smile, hovering around the corners of his eyes and his mouth. “I am not,” he said affably. “Will you tell me?”

[loyalannister]

UNDER THE LENS : Daenerys I, A Game of Thrones

The first perspective of Daenerys Targaryen opens in Magister Illyrio's manse at Pentos, where we meet the last scions of House Targaryen and get a glimpse of the contrasting traits, dreams and ambitions of the two siblings even as the chapter ends with a step forward in the narrative of the future mother of dragons.

• Probably no PoV other than her very first one does a better job of showing us exactly what Dany really wants - momentarily and for her future:

Dany could hear [...] the shouts of ragged children playing games beyond the walls of the estate. For a moment she wished she could be out there with them, barefoot and breathless and dressed in tatters, with no past and no future...

The text explicitly says that the Iron Throne & the lost glory of the Targaryens was something exclusive to Viserys' desire - not his sister's:

Viserys lived for that day.

It's absurd to claim that Daenerys would have rejected an opportunity to return to Westeros & reclaim the prosperity of her house at this point in the narrative but Martin does sharply contrast Viserys' desire with that of his sister's in the very next sentence :

All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known.

• The house with the red door looms large on Dany's innermost desires not only in A Game of Thrones but in her journey throughout the series. There have been various speculations on this house and its location, even some theorizing that it exists only as a figment of her imagination. But Daenerys recalls her emotions surrounding the red door with sharp clarity :

After Ser Willem had died, the servants had stolen what little money they had left, and soon after they had been put out of the big house. Dany had cried when the red door closed behind them forever.

Of course, one might argue that Daenerys was younger and she might not be recalling certain things correctly. But that begs the question - which parts of her childhood memories are trustworthy & which parts are not?

• One thing which captured my attention early on in the chapter was the fact that Daenerys is far more observant, intuitive & wary of everything offered to her compared to her older brother :

“Why does he give us so much?” she asked. “What does he want from us?” For nigh on half a year, they had lived in the magister’s house, eating his food, pampered by his servants. Dany was thirteen, old enough to know that such gifts seldom come without their price, here in the free city of Pentos.

Dany is right to be wary of Illyrio though, She even thinks back to the words spoken of Illyrio in the streets - 'he’d never had a friend he wouldn’t cheerfully sell for the right price.' When Illyrio assures Viserys that the common people of Westeros are sewing dragon banners & awaiting his return, she knows better than to hang on to his every word:

Dany had no agents, no way of knowing what anyone was doing or thinking across the narrow sea, but she mistrusted Illyrio’s sweet words as she mistrusted everything about Illyrio.

When Viserys vows to kill powerful people like Jaime Lannister and Robert Baratheon, Daenerys is quick to note Illyrio's reaction, which her brother misses:

Dany saw the smallest hint of a smile playing around his full lips, but her brother did not notice.

• As much as Viserys is and should be criticized by the readers for his abusive behavior, this chapter lays out the psychological basis for his behavior and makes me feel somewhat sympathetic for him. Viserys is essentially stuck in the past even though the events occuring around his escape from Westeros has long transpired:

Nodding, he pushed back a curtain and stared off into the night, and Dany knew he was fighting the Battle of the Trident once again.

He is desperate to reclaim the glory and power of House Targaryen (which is essentially why he arranges Dany's match with Drogo):

“We will have it all back someday, sweet sister,” he would promise her. Sometimes his hands shook when he talked about it. “The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King’s Landing, the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms, all they have taken from us, we will have it back.”

Though he spins his own 'web of dreams', Viserys is not as confident as he might appear at first glance - his resolution wavers at times & he looks for reassurance from Illyrio to validate his desires and plans:

“The realm will rise for its rightful king. [...] And the smallfolk will be with us. They cry out for their king.” He looked at Illyrio anxiously. “They do, don’t they?”

• Daenerys shares a number of parallels with Tyrion Lannister (widely believed to be one of the three heads of the dragon with good reason). This sentence, in particular, sharply reminded me of the dynamic between Tyrion and Cersei:

Her mother had died birthing her, and for that her brother Viserys had never forgiven her.

Much like Viserys did to Daenerys, Cersei too has physically abused Tyrion (on more than one occasion, I dare say)

• This PoV introduces us to slaves for the first time in the series. Daenerys is astute enough to note that :

Illyrio’s servants entered, bowed, and set about their business. They were slaves, a gift from one of the magister’s many Dothraki friends. There was no slavery in the free city of Pentos. Nonetheless, they were slaves.

These are the servants (or rather slaves) who inform Dany of the many slaves working under Khal Drogo :

“Drogo is so rich that even his slaves wear golden collars...”

What many people seem to forget along the line is that Dany did not randomly take pity on slaves along her journey and decide to free them. Her revolution to end this horrible tradition stems from her own experience : she was essentially sold as a slave to Drogo. Even in her very first PoV, she is made to wear a collar before meeting Drogo - a very fancy collar but a collar nonetheless:

Last of all came the collar, a heavy golden torc emblazoned with ancient Valyrian glyphs.

• Obviously the Targaryens are not fireproof but they are resistant to heat to some extent. Will this come in useful for Daenerys in the future?

The water was scalding hot, but Daenerys did not flinch or cry out. She liked the heat. It made her feel clean.

• It's interesting that Viserys refers to Khal Drogo as 'Aegon the Dragonlord come again', while later on Tyrion Lannister refers to Daenerys herself as 'Aegon the Conqueror with teats'.

(I think it's high time antis stop denying that if Daenerys is to be compared to any of her forebears, it's Aegon the Conqueror, NOT Aerys the Mad King and if she is to be compared to any of her brothers, it's Rhaegar, NOT Viserys. Martin does a really good job of pointing out these comparisons throughout the series)

TRIVIA :

• Daenerys meets the Unsullied for the first time in her very first PoV.

• Magister Illyrio possesses a menagerie (which boasts of a panther among other animals).

[cipheress-to-k-pop]

Tye Longshadow x Barnes!Reader

Anon Asked:  Hi! Do you think you could do Tye Longshadow x Barnes! Reader? Bonus for Jaime’s reaction and stuff too, thank you so much in advance! I just can’t get enough of dad! Bucky

You join the Young Justice team as kind of an act of rebellion

You were getting pissed off because the Avengers wouldn’t listen to you

It’s not like you were powerless, you had abilities

Your father didn’t want you out on the field because you were his little girl and it was dangerous out there

And while you did understand that

It was pissing you off because they wouldn’t listen to you when it came to something as small as what route to take

Just because you were a kid

So, you decided that you’d go to a team where being a kid isn’t a problem

You’re integrated quite quickly since you’re representing the Avengers

When your dad found out though, he was heartbroken

Steve tried to comfort him being like “She needs to leave the nest so she can spread her wings and fly.”

“Shut the hell up, Steve.”

“I’m sorry dad, I just had to do this.”

“I understand, baby doll, just be safe okay?”

“And bring back a batarang or something!”

“Tony!!”

The others are quite jealous that you have such a non-problematic relationship with your dad

You meet Tye through the team and you immediately hit it off

He was very lowkey and cool which was a welcome change from Tony and Thor back in New York

You two spend a lot of time together, even outside of the team

Mostly at the skatepark

Even if you don’t know how to skateboard

“You know how to shoot a gun and steer an airship. But you can’t skateboard?”

“I just don’t understand how you can control where this thing goes just by putting your feet on it.”

He usually teaches you how and definitely teases you about wearing knee pads

“You’ve been through countless fights.”

“And I never scrape my knees thanks to these babies!”

He hears ALOT about your family

Since you’ve never been away from your family for too long

You begin to miss them very quickly

He can tell you’re getting homesick because of the sheer amount that you talk about it

Even when it doesn’t seem related

“You know my dad likes pecan pie.”

“We’re eating quesadillas.”

But you never say that you miss them or are feeling homesick because you don’t want anyone to think you’re a baby

But Tye realizes and wants to do something nice for you

So, he snatches your phone when you’re not paying attention and contacts your dad

And Bucky is only too happy to drop everything and fly over there to see you

“Dad?”

“Hey, baby.”

You totally ran across the room, flying right into your dad’s arms

Good thing he has a metal arm because otherwise the sheer impact would have gotten him flat on his ass

Tye is quietly watching from the side-lines and he’s unknowingly smiling just watching you hug your dad tightly

Even though it’s not the case for him, he knows that you’re really close to your dad

And it makes him happy to see you happy

But he never makes anything of it

Until Jaime literally brings it to his attention

“You literally bent over backwards so her dad would be allowed in here.”

“That’s only because she missed her dad.”

“I miss my mother, too.”

“Then call her for god’s sake, are you that lazy?”

After hearing it from Jaime, Tye becomes a little more aware

And he quickly realizes that he’s falling for you

It kind of freaks him out a bit

So, he gets a little quiet

More than usual

“You sure you’re okay, Tye?”

“Yep, Bueno.”

“Okay....”

You don’t spend a lot of time with Tye that week, opting to stick to your dad and show him around

He isn’t as upset as he thought he would be

And a part of him wants to bring to your attention that he was the one who called your dad so he can get your affection

But ultimately decides against it

But you find out eventually, through your father

“You aren’t going to introduce me to your boyfriend?”

“Who? Tye?”

“Yeah, he was the one who called me over here.”

That day the hug you give Tye nearly knocks him off his feet and he’s blushing but hides his face in your shoulder

“Thank you...”

“No problem.”

The crush becomes embarrassingly obvious after that

But it’s quite obvious that he’s stuck in the friendzone

And everyone around him just cringes every time he tries to tell you how he feels and you just have no idea

“Let’s go on a date to that restaurant.”

“Great idea! Let’s call Jaime too, he wanted to try out the food there.”

“(Y/N), I like you.”

“Cute, but flattery doesn’t work on me, you’re not getting any more of my fries.”

Your dad finds it incredibly amusing

A part of him wants to tell you because it’s downright painful to watch

But another wants to kill Tye for even looking at you

Tye eventually thinks of a good idea

He knows how much you look up to your dad

So, he thinks that taking your dad’s permission before asking you out would probably be a good way to show you that he likes you

But your dad wasn’t born yesterday

“Drop and give me 50.”

“What?”

“You heard me. My daughter isn’t going to date a weakling. I want 50 pushups.”

He can’t even get through 15 of them but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try

Luckily for him, you get there just in time to see him faceplant onto the ground

“What the heck is he doing?” You ask your dad

“Physical test.”

“For what?”

“Application to be your boyfriend.”

“Oh. OH!”

And your blushing and really very happy because Tye? The guy you’ve been crushing on since you got here? Likes you back?

And he’s just like “I’m sorry did you just say physical test? You mean there’s a written test?”

There isn’t actually a written test

But Tony sends him 300 questions to be finished in 16 minutes just to mess with him

“Who’s (Y/N)’s favourite avenger: A) Tony Stark. B) Iron Man. C) Tony Man. D) Iron Stark.”

Tye is touched-starved and loves affection so you spend a lot of time in each other’s rooms just cuddling

Dates are lowkey but still intimate

And he is possibly the most supportive boyfriend you can find out there

Totally supports you in anything

But offers his true judgement and honest advice when you need to hear it

Since you still miss your dad at time, zoom calls with the three of you are a thing

“Move over Tye, I can’t see my daughter.”

“Whoops, sorry sir.”

In actuality, you were sitting on his lap and Tye pouted when you had to move off it

Tye and Bucky being part of the ‘Amazing hair team.’

“Can I join?”

“No, Clint, your hair sucks.”

Bucky doesn’t give him the traditional dad speech but he does intimidate him every chance he gets

Of course, it doesn’t help that he actually owns and knows how to use multiple guns

Tye thought that meeting the Avengers would actually be normal

He can’t imagine why

Tony kept trying to embarrass you; “Hey, boyfriend! Look at pictures of (Y/N) crying when her dad had to go for a mission.”

Clint was fake-crying; “Oh, my darling baby is all grown up.”

Thor was generally confused but what’s new

Bruce was just in the middle of the chaos, trying to pretend that these are not the people that he works with

Natasha was like; “You’ll name your daughter Natasha, right? You won’t betray me like Clint did?” “I DIDN’T BETRAY YOU; GOD DID!”

And Steve just comes up to him in a pink apron, offering cookies

“Yep, let’s go back now.”

“Good idea.”

[atopvisenyashill]

What would happen if Aerys had killed Elia and her children in a fit of rage after the battle of the trident?

jaime’s gonna shank him a lot sooner i’ll tell you that much, but it’s fine bc his dad’s on the way. maybe tywin has a harder time getting robert to like him because he can’t use killing baby aegon as a selling point but he’s rich and robert needs help giving himself legitimacy and repairing things after the war, and tywin is a crafty man. i think arguing the finer points of which is worse kingslaying or kinslaying is right up tywin’s alley.

i imagine viserys & dany are a bit different? i think it’s hard for viserys to idolize his father so much if aerys straight up murdered his own grandchildren (aegon being one of his only heirs left alive!!). later down the line, i’m kind of unsure if barristan still joins dany or not? he realizes robert was a shit king, but part of that is the anger over robert forgiving tywin. if that never happens, and aerys had the stain of kinslaying on him, idk, does barristan think about joining stannis? my gut says he still goes for dany but it feels like a strong possibility he looks elsewhere for his ~true king~. regardless of if dany is getting her information on aerys from barristan or not, i imagine it’s hard to hide the truth from her, even if viserys still managed to twist everything, when aerys very publicly killed his grandchildren.

the biggest change by far is dorne. they are probably a lot less bitter towards the iron throne - they haven’t fared well in this war but the lannisters killed the reason elia & her babies are dead. and jeez, between losing lewyn, elia, rhaenys, and aegon to targaryens & their politics, no way in hell does doran every try to ally with viserys & dany. BUT. if doran wants to make a play for his blood on the iron throne again. that changes the game when the “modern day” rolls around. doran is not one to pick a fight he thinks he can’t win - and if, say, stannis sends out his lil missives saying he’s the true king, and then renly and robb declare, and doran notices stannis only has shireen as heir…does he shoot his shot? is he traumatized by the loss of elia to her own father in law, or does he say “the lannisters are kinda wild, maybe stannis is the better bet and i get his heir married to my son” and starts getting wild about absolute primogeniture in westeros and shit? because it stannis has a) more people and b) smarter people when he attacks KL, like, i mean who fucking knows right!!

[ladyandtheghost]

How “The Dany-Show” ruined GoT at the core: 3-point system

1. Sansa vs. Cersei: 

How is it possible that we had a million reunions - many of them involving secondary characters for fluff and fan service with zero impact on the plot - but these two women who had so much drama, so much unresolved business, never saw each other again? This is where you would have found the good story to tell and a major plot strand to resolve: the conflict between the Starks and the Lannisters. This is what started it all, this is where it should have ended. This is the story they should have focused on. 

So why didn’t they? 

Because Game of Thrones was already dead and gone and the series had become The Dany-Show and nothing but The Dany-Show. 

Every character, every story arc, everything had to be directed towards Dragon Barbie and her drama. So of course there was no time or space for anything that was not related to the The Dany-Show. Basically a black hole that sucked all the great storylines and characters into its dark void. 

Massive loose plot strands like the Stark-Lannister showdown were left to rot, because it was far more important to show off that CGI budget for gratuitous dragon shots and inane conversations between secondary character including sex jokes on the main. 

There was literally more screen time allotted to the dragons than to Cersei...

After four seasons of Sansa and Cersei constantly referring to each other and the day they would meet again (willingly or not), it’s scandalous that they shoved so many characters back together for pointless reunions that were more or less blatant fan service (Bronn and the Lannister boys, really?!) but the big conflict, the personal drama that was playing out between Sansa and Cersei - that had actually taken on political dimensions now - did not even get a single scene? 

Wrong choice. 

I mean can you even imagine how Lena and Sophie would have acted the shit out of their reunion, because I can and it makes me furious that we were robbed of it. When two characters have so much unfinished business, so much foreshadowing and so much history that still isn’t resolved, the least you can expect is to give them at least a half-assed resolution - but we did not even get that, because it had nothing to do with The Dany-Show. Because all the characters have to only think about Dany and relate to Dany and if there is to be a conflict between female characters, it has to involve Dany and no one else. 

Poor Lena deserved better than to be reduced to playing a two-dimensional shadow of Cersei Lannister who was little more than a prompt giver to The Euron Greyjoy Side-Show (because sex jokes!) 

Also Bonus fuck-up: the prophecy of the YMBQ? Cersei died in the arms of Jaime, if anything Dany’s attack had given her back the one person/thing she cares about. So how exactly did Dany rob her of “all you hold dear” when Dany’s attack caused Jaime to literally drop Brienne like a hot potato, declare his undying love for Cersei and run back into her arms for his final moment? 

Before that, Sansa had already “taken” Jaime into her services together with Brienne. He’d actually switched sides to serve “another queen” (just not Dany) and at least this prophecy made sense for two seconds but of course the YMBQ had to be Dany because it’s The Dany Show, whether it makes sense or not...

They just didn’t care anymore, did they? 

2. Little...who?: 

So we have half a dozen characters rolling up to Winterfell who knew Littlefinger and his dirty business, and Arya, Sansa and Bran are about to go: 

Only for some reason: NO ONE asks. 

There is not a single reference to the fact that the Stark kids found out that Littlefinger is the mastermind behind 90% of everything that has happened since S1 and that he was executed for this. It’s like it never happened and he never existed and neither did all the important plot points before S8. 

Did Jon ever find out that Littlefinger betrayed Ned and conspired with the Lannisters to bring down the Starks? 

Did Tyrion ever find out that Littlefinger framed him at the Purple Wedding?

Did Varys ever find out that his nemesis was outsmarted and defeated by three teenagers?

Nope. Nope. And nope.  

Ain’t we all?

A character who’s been hailed as MVP by a huge part of the fandom because he knew how to network and play the game™ that is advertised in the title like no other, isn’t even mentioned again. One of the most popular theories re: S8 was (ridiculous as I found it myself) “Littlefinger isn’t dead” because many people felt he was still important to the story and there was also a lot of unfinished business with other characters he was connected to...Jon, Varys, Tyrion, Cersei, Sansa...

Instead, Littlefinger himself, his death and every plot point he was ever involved in was simply erased -  because Littlefinger and his relation to these characters had nothing to do with, i.e. did not contribute to...you guessed it...The Dany-Show and therefore POUF, he never existed...

3. R+L = who gives a f***

But you know, these are minor grievances compared to the fact that Jon’s character was not only dumbled down and turned into a complicit in genocide...

Jon’s parentage story arc - you know, THE big revelation and PLOT TWIST  - was turned into a side note, a five-minute mini drama that was more about how this will affect poor little Dany and her feelings. 

They gave us scenes of Dany waxing on about how Jon’s being the one true king stresses her out because she wants the throne and what she expects him to do about it - but they ROBBED us of the moment Jon tells the Stark siblings that he is not truly their brother, but their cousin. 

Because who cares about how Jon feels about this and his “siblings” coming to terms with the fact that:

their father Ned Stark had kept Jon a secret from everyone 

that he had not fathered a bastard and betrayed their mother

but saved the one true heir, at cost of his honour, 

they lived with the Targaryen crown prince and raised him under everyone’s nose...

No, no, the important thing is how Dany feels about it all and how it affects her. 

After the huge build-up, the theories, the overt foreshadowing,  even more infuriating - after throwing poor Elia and her children under the bus and making Jon legitimate...

After literally EVERYTHING in this series leading up to the moment when everyone would know who Jon Snow truly is...it had no effect on the story whatsoever, besides contributing to Dany finally revealing the full extent of her insanity (which was only a matter of time anyways)

Heir to the Iron Throne? Targaryen Prince? Rhaegar’s son? PTWP?

The point is: Drama for poor little Dany because her nephew doesn’t want to fuck her anymore is the actual heir. 

You can’t even say that it led to her advisors finding out and betraying her because that is something they should have done ages ago, at the latest when she burned the Tarlys. It gave them a legitimate alternative option, yes, but it was not the first time they thought she needs to go...

At least R+L=J served one good purpose: it rubbed Dany’s nose in it that she is not special at all. She is NOT the last Targ, nor the “princess that was promised” - and it was never her destiny to rule, she was only ever the “aunt” of the prince. 

Sadly, this is again ALL about Dany and her feelings and how everyone else reacts to her in light of the news that Jon is Aegon. 

So R+L=J is not even about Jon in the end, it’s just another element of The Dany-Show. And once Dany is gone, it’s like R+L=J also got erased (just like Littlefinger and the Stark-Lannister-conflict) 

...because let’s just send the Head of House Targaryen and last of his line beyond the wall again just because the murderous army of the mad tyrant, whom he heroically freed us from, demands it...and of course we have to wrap up the last five minutes of this shitty episode. 

Conclusion: 

D&D just REALLY didn’t care anymore once The Dany-Show was over and it’s painfully obvious to see. The good news is that all of these plot points that got erased/dumbled down/ignored^^ are things that are important to GRRM, which gives me hope for the last books at least...