#maddest bloody novel ever

[divinekangaroo]

One of the other things I wrote while away was brain-dump of bullet points on Lymond thoughts (as also I finished reading Game of Kings - what a bloody stellar ending, reuniting him with his mother!!!!), but without digging up my notebook, the key lingering take-away was:

This book did ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that all those writing guides tell you NOT to do

[thestarpilot]

“Less Green Euglossine”

The body arrived mid-morning yesterday. Unaccompanied by the usual vibratory contexts of discovery. All but the time since her estimated expiration: four days. The collectors delivering her shook their heads. Only saying, “This is above your paygrade.”

Everyone in the building was rattled. Seven hours into external examinations and little headway had been made at all. Opinions were split and war seemed more likely than consensus. Identity was pivotal. Those in the examining staff were the same in the newly scribed title– Imperial Haruspex. Only distinguished by degrees of seniority. But factions of thought superseded and three sets of characters feuded: the augurs, the coroners, and the pathologists. The mad, the bored, and the righteous. Most haruspices were bored, but satisfied with survival.

Vaulted ceilings loomed over the observation room. Freshly tapestried imperial banners hung from the mullions of the glass-block windows that arched toward the rotunda’s zenith, eclipsing most light. What had once been a bright space inviting thorough inspection had become grim. Washed bloody by the woven garnet hues. The building was old, older than most. Republican-old, but only the maddest, soon-to-be dead fool would say something like that. Yet still, some republican remnants persisted beyond buildings. Even the newly distinguished haruspices remained by their previous title medicator. At least in casual reference.

All haruspices had been medicators once. A soon fading memory. Since the upheavals of the old regime, the coalescence of the new one, and the quietus time since, there hadn’t been much opportunity for medicine. The thirty years of change had only one exceptionally static pattern. Bodies. All needing examination and factful determination. Yet almost all receiving the same broad detail of report:

“Case #: …

Subject: …

…

General Findings:

Presenting body displays usual processes of exsanguination. Putrefaction is almost non-existent. Except slight remnants of intra-abdominal cavity decomposition, near complete desiccation of remains.

Specific Findings:

No atypicalities.

…”

Death had become the exclusive writ of the imperium. All natural causes were absent in considerations. Being in the capital, the old mortuarium was centered amongst the bloodshed. Its haruspices had seen more than most of Empire’s fate-stained hand. But the cases were always the same: waifish young women, servants from the palace presenting divoted patella from too long knelt in Empire’s company; large brutes of men with scar-stained skin, praetorii given the graft marks their once fleshbound armor seared across the bodies once removed; feeble and crooked-shaped old men bearing the blackened internal tissues of nyxene drinkers, a lifestyle which only magistratuum salary could afford. No matter who it was the corpse on the table had been, the report was generally the same: They were letted.

The woman on the observation room’s examination table would receive no such report. Haruspices received corpses on the day they died without fail. Except her. And none of the waves of bodies before her had ever had any cause for the dispatch of an imperial envoy. When the Empire’s adjutant arrived, the dozen or so haruspices of the mortuarium gathered in the observation room at attention. Ready to brief him on their unfinished report. Case #: 2473-B:

“Case #: 2473-B

Subject: Unknown

…

General Findings:

Presentation of highly anomalous characteristics. Subject exhibits a complete absence of post-mortem change. Indications of either unknown techniques of preservation or novel state of physiology. Warrants further investigation.

Specific Findings:

Abnormal external appearance. Skin pale with subtle yet uniform blue-green undertone. Skin texture smooth showing no signs of dehydration or epidermal slippage. Surface temperature cool to touch but warmer than expected ambient temperature. No rigidity of soft-tissues, subject musculature remains manipulable. Absence of lividity. Signs of ocular clouding absent, no corneal turbidity or tache noire formation. Pupils remain undilated. Edges of sclera exhibit faint tinge of blue-green hue consistent with skin undertone. No presence of typical odor of decomposition. Faint metallic scent, unfamiliar to all observing haruspices. No visible wounds, contusions, or any other signs of violent trauma. Fingernails intact, no defensive wounds present.

Additional notes:…”

The adjutant’s face had seemed to freeze and boil at the same time as he read the findings. He stopped before the report concluded with additional notes. His consternation suddenly muted and resumed its cold, neutral state. One of the haruspices, an augur, began to chime in excitedly. Surely hoping to suggest some horrid new inquisition against this abnormal genestrain.

“Distinguished adjut–”

“Say nothing,” he blared, “Nothing at all. You are all hereby embargoed by order of the Emperor. All information pertaining to this subject is to remain secret by threat of death.”

His voice was almost resolved, but betrayed a thin quaver. Clearly, even he wasn’t sure how to handle this or its relay to his superiors. Upon his decree, after only the briefest pause and a somewhat rushed official imperial salutation, he turned and his accompanying retinue followed. Much to the relief of the attending haruspices who were left to their duties. Thankfully– seemingly– spared for now. But as the doors of the observation room slammed shut behind the imperial procession, a silence thickened in the room. The haruspices exchanged uneasy looks.

“What now?” A coroner sputtered, as surely uncertain as the rest.

“Nothing, you heard the adjutant!” Barked back one of the augurs. “Whatever foulness this is, there will be no further examinations. Not unless so ordered.”

The augur’s words lingered in the room, vested with the hefty weight of imperial authority. But they were also untrue. The adjutant had embargoed dissemination of findings, indeed. But he had mentioned nothing of further examination. Eyes met in glances as the room of haruspices searched amongst themselves for answers.

“And if we’re ordered to forget?” One pathologist rejoined, his eyes fixed to the subject on the examination table. Her faint blue-green skin almost aglow in the waning red light of the room.

The room again felt a thick silence as the implications of the question rippled through. Coroners shifted, caught between survival and curiosity. Even the augurs themselves, torn between loyalty through obedience and service through discovery. Both groups wrought by fear and wonder.

“It reminds me of bees...” The youngest haruspex broke through the silence. All eyes turned to look at him in massed confusion.

“Her skin.” He tried to solve their puzzlement. “Her skin reminds me of orchid bees. Euglossines, I think. But less green.”

[ghostofbambifanfiction]

Can you be more specific on why you like Arya and Sansa? So many people like Arya for being strong and fierce, but for some reasons so many hate Sansa for what she was like in the earlier seasons. Can you give specific instances why you like both of them? And why not Daenerys? Thanks! (I'm just really curious, please indulge me :) )

I’m going to talk about Dany first (and I’m sticking to the show here, though I have read the books, but they’re never getting finished, let’s be real), and then I'll put my thoughts on Sansa and Arya in another post (hey, you asked, so I’m delivering) because otherwise this will go on forever and it’s cleaner this way. Putting a ‘read more’ here because this is long (lol I’m at work I should be working)

To preface, I would not dislike Daenerys as much as I do if she didn’t want to be queen. I’ll touch on this when I talk about Arya, but I appreciate characters who have the self-awareness required to know who and what they are. Since Daenerys does want to rule Westeros, I have so many issues.

I also think the eighth season is going to see her turning on most of the people she’s currently allied with and I think the catalyst for that is the discovery that Jon is the legitimate child of Rhaegar and Lyanna, and therefore his claim to the throne supersedes hers. I’ll gladly admit that I’m wrong if I am, but right now I don’t think I am. Here’s why.

1) She is an ineffective ruler

After Dany liberated the slave cities of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen, she stayed to rule and did a terrible job of it. Nobody in particular was better off, the majority of the slaves she freed were homeless and scraping for food in mess halls, and she killed elders who had spoken out against slavery without even listening to what any of them had to say. She has the mind for conquering, not for ruling.

(side note: why does she even want to be queen? It’s something she just seemed to jump on in season two without ever reasoning it out, and from there on in it’s like an obsession that has grown inside her. Now she says she wants to make the world a better place but she hasn’t the skills to do it. It should be enough for her to liberate oppressed societies and allow somebody qualified to fix them. But it’s not.)

The truth is, Meereen saw no real improvement until after Dany skipped town on Drogon, because Tyrion had the idea to replace the slave trade with actual trade. He made changes that impacted the city’s economy and allowed its residents to start supporting themselves, so of course, the slavers attacked just as Dany came back, at which point her bright idea was to decimate an entire armada when she needed ships. Tyrion had to talk her out of it. Which brings me to her next point.

2) She requires constant babysitting

It’s ironic to me that Tyrion told Cersei that “the difference” between Cersei and Daenerys is that Dany knows herself well enough to hire advisors who tell her not to do dumb, impulsive things, firstly because that is such a low bar, Tyrion! There are people out there (Sansa) who do not require that kind of monitoring! Secondly because Cersei is far more self-aware than Dany.

Cersei knows that the things she does are bad and does them anyway because fuck it, she knows she wants power for power’s sake. Dany has such a narrow view of justice that actually thinks she’s being righteous when she burns people to death (more on that later) and that is the most dangerous mindset a leader can have. Compare that, if you will, to Sansa, who quite sensibly told Arya that chopping off heads might feel good but that’s not the way to make people work together. Jorah, Tyrion and Jon have all had to speak out against Dany’s more violent predilections and she’s fast running out of people she wants to listen to. She and Tyrion are certainly hanging on by a thread. Which brings me to my next point.

3) She mistreats her own Hand

The relationship between Dany and Tyrion absolutely reeks of Aerys and Tywin, their respective fathers, who were the best of friends until Aerys’ jealousy and paranoia forced them to opposite sides of a bloody war. Dany is all too happy to take credit for Tyrion’s best ideas when they work (and he is happy to let her) but as soon as one of his plans go wrong she whirls on him and berates him like he’s a piece of trash. Everything’s his fault when a plan goes wrong.

When he brought up the matter of the succession she accused him of plotting her death with his brother, which not only is batshit insane but proves that Daenerys gives far less of a shit about the future of Westeros than she claims to, because if she cared that much, she’d care about planning to carry on the legacy she wants to build. She can’t seem to forgive Tyrion for the heinous crime of…loving his siblings? Trying to broker the most peaceful end to the war? Not wanting his brother to die?

Honestly, her treatment of Tyrion is one of the most telling aspects of her character and I am aghast that nobody seems to be talking about it.

4) Like all of the maddest Targaryens before her, she gets off on burning people

This one isn’t subtle at all. Sorry to drop the intellectual veneer for a moment but she fucking loves that shit. It doesn’t bother her a whit to watch people scream as they’re being burned alive. She takes pleasure in burning people, you can see the satisfaction on her face, and a good leader should never take pleasure in something like that.

(FYI people like to mention how Sansa smiled when Ramsay’s dogs ate him when I make this point and to that I blow a raspberry. That was her personal moment of justice against her rapist and abuser, not the lord of some house who wouldn’t submit to her, there is no fair comparison)

Dany was smiling like a satisfied cat when she burned down the temple of the Dosh Khaleen and killed everybody inside it, which was something she did to seize power, by the way. She didn’t do it to stick it to a bunch of misogynists, though I’m sure that was an added bonus. She did the exact same thing Cersei did to the Sept of Baelor and for the exact same reasons, yet only one of them is painted as a villain by the viewing public even though you can argue that Cersei was also sticking it to misogynists when she killed the High Sparrow. The only reason for that is that Dany was given humble origins while the narrative told us that Cersei was bad from the very beginning.

Theon is still beating himself up for killing and burning those two farm boys — as he should. Stannis burned his daughter and everyone was horrified. Jon was so repulsed to watch Mance Rayder burn that he defied Stannis and shot him in the heart. How many times is the show going to have to tell us that burning people alive is a terrible act of evil before people stop cheering Dany on for it? When Ned Stark was Lord of Winterfell, he understood and felt the weight of executing a man. Jon feels the weight of it, too, as we’ve seen on a couple of occasions. Sansa clearly thought long and hard about executing Petyr — that’s what her moment of reflection on the battlements was meant to show us. Dany just… doesn’t care. I think she cared a bit when she had Daario execute Mossador, but I can’t think of any other occasion where she has been directly responsible for a death and been remotely bothered by it.

So. yes.

I think the reason a lot of people – and in particular a lot of women – support Daenerys is because she has a girl power narrative. She does have a girl power narrative, it’s true, but that is not a good enough reason to support a character who on so many occasions has proven herself to be unqualified for the job she wants, not to mention bordering on dangerously unhinged and increasingly paranoid. In that sense I think her season 1 narrative was genius, because her origins and the way in which she started to gain power (as well as her gender) has granted her a kind of automatic forgiveness for behaviours that several male characters – and Cersei, most importantly, because she also has a girl power narrative (and she and Dany are two peas in a pod) but the show told us she was a baddie from episode one – would be dragged through the mud for. And I’m sorry, but it’s not good enough for me. I’m not going to support a powerful female character just because she’s a powerful female character who did some good things once. Powerful women can be good or bad.

Some other points re: Daenerys

The dragons are weapons of mass destruction and need to be killed. They’re nukes with wings. She’s burned her own people with those monsters because fire doesn’t fucking differentiate. Sorry not sorry.

The Targaryens are literally GRRM’s interpretation of the Aryan race. It’s practically in their name.

“I have tried to make it explicit in the novels that the dragons are destructive forces, and Dany has found that out as the tried to rule the city of Meereen and be queen there. She has the power to destroy, she can wipe out entire cities, and we certainly see that in Fire and Blood, we see the dragons wiping out entire armies, wiping out towns and cities, destroying them, but that doesn’t necessarily enable you to rule – it just enables you to destroy.” – George R R Martin, folks.

One of the show’s directors, Jack Bender, made a reference to Hitler when talking about her. He said we should be “horrified” by her. No shit, Jack. No shit.

“Do you wonder if the gods ever get lonely?” Just… this line. Get a grip, woman.