#okay this show is much more than daemyra to me

[mywatchhasnotended]

HotD 2x01 - My Recap

a/n: i used to do the analysis thingy back in 2022 which was fairly popular but i cringe reading those cos just 🫡 (hence on priv now) so anyway, moving on and learning from my mistakes but not breaking the tradition— i present, my recap of the episode! :)

warnings: s2 spoliers, mind the language, might delete later lol

They've changed the intro, perhaps foreshadowed in the last season with Helaena saying, "Dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread." Blood courses through the characters already dead, much like the S1 intro.

A raven flies through the woods, above the water body and a voiceover begins— not of any character we've known until now. "Duty is sacrifice. It eclipses all things, even blood", a heavy northern accent is noted as we're reminded of Rhaenyra's duty towards the realm— and we finally see Winterfell. It hints at the prophecy, of course.

"Winter is Coming."

Jace (Harry Collett) and Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor)— the latter looking reminiscent of Ned Stark with the former looking eerily like Jon Snow. Thanks for keeping the curls btw, last season's wig was atrocious. (But again, this is just me describing what I see, you don't have to agree.) As Jace is recounting the story of Torrhen Stark and ending it with "The war is coming... We cannot wage it without the support of the North." he finally looks at what lies beyond the wall. Cregan mentions how Jaehaerys and his wife stood at the same spot that Jace is standing at now and, "...watched as their dragons— the greatest power in the world— refused to cross it."

And what is beyond the wall? Jace asks. "Death", says Cregan.

Remember the raven we saw earlier? Yes, that's the "Urgent news from Dragonstone", and the look on Jace's face— he knows something is wrong, very very wrong.

We then cut to Rhaenys riding Meleys, and then unmounting— clearly looking exhausted. They've been patrolling the skies waiting to be attacked at any moment by the greens. They (Aemond) killed Luke. The blacks are threatened and on alert.

"We're flying out," Daemon says, least bit tired or worried. He runs on the chaotic energy, we've seen that before, haven't we? Daemon is not tired of this at all, he's excited, he wants Rhaenyra to do something— anything at all.

Daemon saying, "I cannot face that whorey hoary old bitch alone." Dude you can wtf "..with my dragon and yours together we can kill Vhaegar and her rider", that's right Daemon— make it a son for a son. He's lived with Vhaegar, knows about the dragon perhaps more than Aemond does, but he undermines himself. (Now I'm wondering if it means that there's going to be some kind of treachery at the final showdown?)

Daemon is clearly pissed, "The mother grieves as the queen shirks her duties," he roars. Rhaenys explains how she herself mourned Laena's death, she understands Rhaenyra's pain. Daemon, on the other hand, feels trapped because he could've instead been at Harrenhall but he remains powerless in the matter. I think it annoys him quite a bit.

"She was a fool to go alone," Daemon says, "What if Aemond were to happen upon her?" and I think in that moment perhaps Rhaenys knew Rhaenyra better. Daemon always saw her as a small (vicious, nonetheless, but still a small) thing. Daemon hasn't been there when she fought the most brutal physical and mental battles. The attack in the woods, the birth of her child, even during her miscarriage— he abandons her. Regardless of the fact that he himself was preparing and perhaps grieving in the manner he knew how to.

Daemon taunts her, or perhaps complains to Rhaenys again about the fact that she could've simply killed the greens when she had the chance to while escaping King's Landing, emphasizes that "Luke would be alive."— tell me if that's not father!Daemon at all like? He cared for the kid, enough about the psychopathic allegations. (Maybe calling him babygirl is too much for the creators to handle but don't tell me Daemon isn't human. He's got feelings too, he just knows how to hide them well behind his sharp tongue.)

"Fly with me, it is a command", he declares to Rhaenys but she continues to walk away from him. "Would that you were the King," she taunts back.

The scene transitions to Rhaenyra on the shore, lifeless with grief, lifeless with perhaps hope too. That her son might somehow crawl out of the water alive, or descend from the sky on his dragon. She's holding it in, but barely. She's never been away from him for so long, it is pointless to hope because something terrible has sure to have occured.

Cut to Corlys on the (Dockyard?) of a ship that has miraculously survived the Stepstones. It would take weeks to get these ships back to sea. "The smithey delivered this earlier," and Corlys is handed a weapon— a dagger that was commissioned for the heir to the Driftmark's throne— Lucerys Velaryon.

"They tell me you're the one that dragged my body out of the sea. I'm indebted to you— Alyn." Corlys says. And thus we're introduced to another new and important character.

The scene changes to one overlooking the Red Keep, kingsguard wearing green cloaks and holding the Hightower shield. Much has changed.

Arryk (I think), tells them to focus, someone shouts "Dragon" and the weapon (scorpion is what it's called) is drawn towards an incoming target. They're on high alert too, waiting for consequences. But it is only Aemond riding Vhaegar. She seems to be listening to him now, doesn't she?

Helaena's muttering as usual, and embroidering. Aegon walks in and asks for Jaehaerys, his son. Well, at least he can tell his kids apart. (Are they trying to redeem this man?) Anyway, he asks Helaena and she responds with "Why?", perhaps Aegon has learnt a thing or two because he wants to take his son to the small council. He himself was never the heir, never treated like one, perhaps he realises this.

"I'm afraid," she says as Aegon is leaving her chambers. "Don't be, they'd be fools to attack with Vhaegar protecting the city." But it isn't dragons that seem to scare her, it is rats. Aegon and the maids look around— there are no rats, not in her chamber. But she's a dreamer, she rarely talks of the present. "The Queen is an enduring mystery. Is she not?" Aegon asks dismissively. (The children with wigs— I cannot lol)

The scene then transitions to Alicent digging her nails into the armrest. Something, someone between her legs. Guess who? Crispin fucking hypocritic Cole. That's right, he's the dowager queen's whore. Apparently, he seems to be carrying out these activities in Rhaenyra's chambers. (Are they both thinking of her when they do it? Who knows lol) "We cannot, again" Alicent says to Criston but it looks like it has been happening for a while. Failed promises much, Criston? (Not to quote the duty and sacrifice thing again because Rhaenyra and Alicent were clearly trying to amend things before the men around them decided to make it worse. How does it feel to hate Rhaenyra now that you're being a whore anyway Crispin?)

"Yes, your grace" Cole says, "If you wouldn't mind" — handing her the cloak (remember how they showed young!Rhaenyra taking it off of him? And now Alicent is putting it back on? Yes, please, make Rhaenyra the devil for something that she did once and Alicent does over and over.)

They, Alicent and Cole reach the small council kind of together and that doesn't go unnoticed by Otto. Wonder what are his opinions now? Little Jaehaerys is being little and playful with Tyland Lannister.

Alicent asks if her letters to Rhaenyra have been returned. (How'd you even thunk it, woman?) She's apparently useless now that Aegon has been crowned and she has fulfilled her duty (or whatever she thought it was) towards Viserys. Aegon clearly listens little of her, like Joffrey did Cersei.

Aemond walks in and apparently Alicent doesn't know that Aegon has invited him. Aemond seems just as interested with Harrenhall as Daemon was earlier. Aegon has a valid argument, his dragons are bigger. But is it really? valid? (Does it matter whose balls dragons are bigger?)

Aegon outright dismisses his mother's opinion. Alicent shares a look with Criston. Perhaps they're questioning whether Viserys really wanted this or not. Power doesn't look good on her son.

Larys foot-fetish shows up with a "Good Morrow" and a subtle threat and warning both— nothing goes on here without his notice. (Does he know about Alicole? I think so. Probably doesn't like the idea of another man seeing her feet or whatever.) Ends that with, "I've chosen your new staff personally" sure you did Larys, sure you did. Also probably why Alicent dismisses everyone during her bath? She's clearly paranoid about the man (and the staff he's chosen for her).

Arrax's wing, and a part of whatever remains of Luke's coat is found. Rhaenyra is fast with Syrax, in tune with her (very unlike Vhaegar and Aemond), glides down swiftly. She finally finds confirmation that what she heard was, in fact, true. She breaks down there, and it is a very heart clenching to watch her unravel like this. Syrax roar-cries with her as well in the background.

Back at the Red Keep, Aegon is announced into the throne room as "Aegon the Magnanimous" and that's really funny because he seems to doubt its merit as well. But he nonetheless tries to live up to the standards that his mother and grandfather have set him up for. For once in his life, he feels driven and purposeful and perhaps that is the reason why he's generous and kind to the small folk (or at least acts as such)— he has a reputation to uphold, the one of his namesake's.

Otto is positively annoyed with him, not thinking his actions through. Aegon's clearly never been "prepared to rule" as he had told Alicent to do so all those years ago. And Aegon is aware of the disappointment he's causing. Larys plays a nice game, recognising the mismatch of opinions between the "King" and his "Hand", he gently nudges Aegon into considering appointing a new hand. (Perhaps him, as he's been so kind to suggest the idea.)

Otto and Alicent discuss their frustrations. There's honestly no big takeaway from these scenes other than hearing Rhys Ifans say "Daughter" over and over. Twice actually, that's all. 👀

A more interesting event takes place when Erryk Cargyll discovers Mysaria (alias, 'The White Wyrm') on a Velaryon ship, fleeing from King's Landing. Daemon is frustrated at her definition of loyalty, but he doesn't understand the small folks' lived lives. Erryk tries to explain the conundrum but Syrax roars and Daemon understands that Rhaenyra has returned. "Did you find what you needed?" he asks her, a gentle forehead touch because that's what their language is. Despite the taunts thrown at Rhaenys earlier, Daemon is loyal to Rhaenyra to a fault (and gentle too, now, from whatever tumoultous thing he'd transformed into during the finale, but we'll be seeing that side of him again—no worries there)

Rhaenyra enters and the council around the painted table brings her upto the events of the present, she's not listening though. She has fire in her eyes (no, really, there's the refection) and she says, "I want Aemond Targaryen." And Daemon's really just an uncle trying to please his niece-wife, you want it? you got it.

So that's the story of how blood and cheese begins, comparatively short-lived and different than what GRRM mentions in Fire & Blood.

Jace arrives, seemingly normal before his voice starts to break while informing Rhaenyra that he has secured allies in the Vale and Winterfell. Rhaenyra cries as well, relieved that her firstborn is well, but is hurt from his and her own grief. Once again we see how very differently Rhaenyra and Alicent treat their children. (Coming back to this in the last paragraph.)

So, Daemon is back in his murderous cloak, and he wants a "Son for a Son". The way Aemond never intended to kill Luke; Daemons seems to be following the same path because he instructed them to kill Aemond'. Would've been quite useful too if it worked because Vhaegar would be useless without her rider. But they miss him by minutes.

Aemond was there, plotting behind his brother's back about how to defeat the blacks. He's interested in power more than his brother. He also says that his mother speaks two tongues— he knows her well.

They find Helaena instead. Decide not to kill her because a daughter is worth nothing. Make her point out Jaehaerys and then murder him in front of her while she quietly picks up his twin sister and runs to her mother's chambers. Who btw is in the middle of having sex with Criston despite the— we cannot, again. Helaena is too traumatised to notice though. But yeah, the difference between these two mothers becomes apparent once again.

One who is there for her child when he needs it the most and the other who cannot even bring herself to comfort her daughter when her grandson is slaughtered under the same roof.

[atopvisenyashill]

This is just a thought experiment because I always toy with what-ifs like this and dabble in exploring it through fic, so I come to you because you understand the world better...

What could have happened (show events obviously) if, on hearing that Daemon and Rhaenyra got married and suspecting them of conspiring to murder Laenor, Rhaenys went to Viserys (privately) and threatened to publicly accuse Daemon and Rhaenyra of the murder as well as disinheriting all of Rhaenyra's sons from the Driftmark line of succession IF Viserys didn't a) dissolve or undo the marriage, b) banish Daemon and c) give House Velaryon custody of Baela and Rhaena? And she has Corlys's support in all of this, she's not doing it behind his back. She's just taking the lead.

that's interesting.

because okay. having a bunch of velaryons get their tongues ripped out is one thing. but the kinslaying thing is serious here, and rhaenys is also much smarter than the silent five - she's not waiting years to do this, and she's talking to him privately rather than calling Rhaenyra a whore in public (and like. sidebar bitching but i see people say like "they added vaemond calling her a whore to-" yeah yeah sure but the thing is no matter how he phrases it, he's implying she's a whore guys. why do we keep forgetting that they're all implying that she's a treasonous whore in public jfc). rhaenys & corlys are also the main branch which is more than you can say for vaemond and his family - they're not jockeying to become the main branch, they're pretty rightly annoyed by how the main velaryon branch has been treated by their overlords. big difference here in approach to the problem.

hmmm. so several things. firstly, if rhaenys approaches this more as "fuck daemon" i do think she's likely to get more traction there than if she approaches it as "fuck daemon and FUCK your daughter too." she's also just making a smarter argument - not "give me driftmark over rhaenyra's kids" (which is stupid) but "i think daemon & rhaenyra murdered my goddamn son" (which is a legit reason to be upset). i think if she brings this less as a conspiracy and has a bit of proof - or "proof" as it were - that might help as well. ALSO also the fact that she's not moving to disinherit the boys - she's saying she'll let them stay in the line of succession BUT she wants the girls, and she wants daemon gone. really framing this not as a move against rhaenyra (and therefore against viserys) but as a move against daemon. i mean take otto for an example - because he frames the brothel escapade as somehting bad rhaenyra has done, viserys goes on the defensive immediately. here, because rhaenys isn't clearly jockeying to get rhaenyra disinherited, he might not react badly.

HOWEVER. Viserys is known for reacting badly when it comes to Rhaenyra! He takes it as an insult to himself (he's not wrong) or questioning of his judgement (again, not wrong). And of course he's particularly defensive about the kids because of the implication that Rhaenyra is committing high treason and should be executed for it. Because Rhaenys comes at this not from the PoV of "disinherit Rhaenyra for Aegon" or even "disinherit Lucerys for Baela/Rhaena" but solely on a "get Daemon OUT OF MY HOUSE and give me my granddaughters" she can really stick to her guns there that she's not saying anything about Viserys' judgement or Rhaenyra's. But I mean she is saying something about Rhaenyra's judgement inherently here by implying Rhaenyra had a hand in Laenor's death.

When you look at the Driftmark brawl, or the final dinner, in general what Viserys wants is for people to stop fighting with him. And considering Viserys is not particularly pleased with the Daemyra marriage in book canon (until, iirc, they have a kid and then like any grandpa/uncle he's just kind of happy they're having babies), and we get that time skip so we don't know for sure how Viserys reacts + Daemon rejects Viserys' offer to come home at Laena's funeral....see, I think he'd play ball with the Daemon exiling but once she mentions the boys he's going to get defensive and tongue chopping happy. especially post driftmark brawl, where he's prickly about the boys - it's possible he says something like "well if you want custody of the girls why don't you want custody of lucerys, he IS corlys' heir after all" and depending on how she responds to that, she might get what she want - which is Daemon exiled and custody of the girls - or he might bar her from the capital, which is going to kick off a minor political crisis.

[top-vi]

“daemyra is not abusive in the books”

D*emyras should remember George didn’t write Drogo/Dany to be abusive either, but we all have enough critical thought to know a 31 year old marrying at 13 year old is nothing more than child rape.

So a 30 year old man taking his 14 year old niece to a brothel isn’t sexual coercion and grooming? Give me a break! The very foundation of Daemyra is built on abuse and grooming, regardless of whether you’ve read the books, watched the show or both.

yeah this argument is always crazy.

like okay sure lets accept the idea that there was never any physical abuse shown in the book.........do you just think it's okay and/or not abuse for a grown man to violate a child? because that's what he was doing.

in the books, rhaenyra was even younger than 14 when daemon started grooming her, so no "butbutbut it wasn't canon in the books!!111!" argument holds any water to me.

also, as a side note: as much as i love the asoiaf books, we've known grrm is not great at writing girls like a normal person - sansa and dany especially. excuse me if i take the sexual/relationship dynamics he writes about in the perspective of a third hand observation decades later with a massive grain of salt lmao.

[allyriadayne]

what do you think jace thinks of daemon?

oh this is very complex and delicious. to me jace is of two minds when it comes to daemon:

1) he's the man who married his mother just after both of jace's father figures died of mysterious circumstances, therefore making daemon into a unknown entity who is stealing rhaenyra (adding that after a long separation, daemyra was v busy with each other).

and

2) daemon is jace's stepfather. and what is more, daemon is jace's longtime stepfather who makes his mother happy and after those tumultuous and traumatic events during eps 6 & 7, daemon is a stable parental and/or adult figure in jace's life. and most importantly, in whose presence jace implicitly feels safe.

i think for most viewers it's easy to see why jace dislikes daemon and it's the same for jace himself. daemon doesn't make himself likeable or palatable, he has rhaenyra, he has his family, he's safe and doesn't hunger for viserys' love as much. he's free from two half miserable marriages, he's more himself now than he ever was. conversely, jace is growing up in an unstable family context where he feels like he has to perform and prove himself constantly whether it's about his targaryen realness heritage and claim as second in line to the throne or about his role in the family when laenor checked out a long time ago and his other father figure harwin cannot act like one in public. i will be so bold as to say, jace was one of luke's primary caretakers too. this kind of parentified child might feel threatened ( + the obvious resentment jace feels for his parents) when another one comes into the picture.

jace might have felt after the driftmark episode that rhaenyra was alone and that it was his job to step-up so to speak (more or less what happened to aemon during the same scene, another parentified child!) so when daemon comes to the picture and he's planning to stay it clashed with what jace thought their life could be.

i don't think daemon really made any effort to parent the older kids (it's okay jace has bad vibes), but just because he married to rhaenyra he becomes jace's stepfather by default. but jace is so over fathers, he doesn't want another father who will die and leave him alone (and all the feelings of guilt bc maybe if jace hadn't complained and fought aegon better then harwin wouldn't have felt the need to defend him and be sent to harrenhal as punishment. where he died. in a fire. it's all jace's fault). so his best bet is to deny daemon any possible overture, anything that could made him be endeared to jace. he doesn't want the pain of losing anyone else.

and daemon is so easy to hate. easy to hate when he gives rhaenyra the silver haired purple eyed targaryen sons, when he can effortlessly and without bother or prejudice teach luke (and we know luke wants to please people so much, he would embrace daemon as a father) and joffrey how to swordfight, when he's already loved by baela and rhaena.

but the thing is that jace trusts daemon. he doesn't trust him per se in the emotional sense but he trusts that daemon will never hurt rhaenyra or his siblings, that he won't claim baby aegon and viserys are the better heirs over him (i've talked a bit about this subject here). this gets demonstrated in ep 10 where jace takes a more active role as rhaenyra's spokesperson when daemon's "gone to madness. gone to plot his war". while he seems nervous about speaking out, i don't think he's really afraid that daemon will do something to him, instead daemon takes him outside and does a very obvious show of loyalty, one that i don't think jace will dismiss even in his dislike. same thing in ep 8 where daemon cuts down vaemond velaryon for calling rhaenyra a whore and calling into question the birth of her older boys.

this is the man he's seen every day for six years, rhaena and baela's father, the man his mother loves above all. jace is not afraid of that.

tl:dr. jace trusts daemon with their safety but doesn't respect him (i.e. see how he calls him just "daemon" without titles). he purposely shuts him out emotionally because he doesn't want to get hurt again like after laenor's and harwin's death. he resent's daemon's role in the family as a result of being a parentified child in an unstable family context. i think they are fine.

[horizon-verizon]

Daemyra stans on Twitter are so misogynistic, illiterate, and racists. They missed the entire point of Rhaenyra’s story. It’s scary how they refuse to admit that people have several loves in their lives. I hope they never met a remarried widow/widower irl.

*EDITED POST* (10/8/23)

Please refer to this post to get a more in-depth answer.

A)

It's pretty clear that in both the show and the original story these two would have preferred to marry each other from the beginning. I am not totally sure if book!Daemon would have actually pursued, developed a relationship, or "looked" at Laena while married to Rhaenyra like I suspect he did "when developed a romance/had sex with/pursued/"looked" at Rhaenyra when she arrived at Driftmark and visited during the duration of her friendship with Laena.

Repeating myself, which is most likely? IF Rhaenyra was not okay with an open marriage nor in love with/attracted to Laena herself: Book!Daemyra marry from the jump and Daemon has a relationship with Laena or acting on the attraction I think he'd still have & pursuing a relationship with her? Or Daemon and Laena being married & later Rhaenyra shows up and he pursues/looks/develops a relationship with her while married to Laena?

I do not think he stopped loving or caring for Rhaenyra in their unique way after he married Laena. However, in the original story it is more than obvious he loved & cared for Laena.

B)

Here's the thing, I was/am a Daemyra Stan before and after HotD existed and I love their story. I read them as intentionally the OTP of the narrative. But I also don't really get how book!Daemon was seen as uncaring didn't love or wasn't at least emotionally as well as physically attracted to Laena in the beginning and came to lover her more beyond that.

I as a reader/audience/consumer of stories do prefer soulmate and one-true-love stories over many other types of love stories, but it's not enough for me to measure a person or character's worthiness based on how many people they've been with. And in real life, it's just a fact that people fall in love (and I still don't know what that's supposed to mean myself, what "love" is) more than once in their lives. Doesn't seem fair to be so repressive and deny the possibility for DaemonxLaena to have more respect, affection, or care in a TV adaptation, which is what some do. The show we do have barely delivered and made it seem that Daemon cares but is much more distant than even what the original text shows.

So I don't begrudge people for saying show!Daemon should have been genuinely in love with or loved and cared for Laena, even while also in love with Rhaenyra. One, the text supports that possibility, and two, love could be different without being less or "more" or "less" as in quantity, whatever that is supposed to mean.

Outside of narrative, yes I do think it's possible for a person to want to be with one person more than another person, and the original story gives enough for us to believe that there was real love and caring between Laena & Daemon. In canon, they marry they married in 115. In 116 A.C., he took it upon himself to write a letter to Viserys un-flashingly (as is his way) to get him and his family to stay at Driftmark so their daughters could grow up in one of their ancestral homes. Before that, they lived together touring several Essosi cities before settling in Pentos so Laena could birth the dragon twins 116. Only a few months pass before they move to Driftmark so the girls can grow up there. So they had been married for a year or so, alone, for a year. At some point in 117, Rhaenyra becomes friends with Laena. Laena died in 120 A.C., so Laena-Daemon-Rhaenyra was a unit of some kind longer than Daemon and Laena were but Daemon was obviously still sleeping with Laena for her to be pregnant and die of her labors in 120 A.C. The man also grieved heavily after she died.

Meanwhile, he spent a few months with Rhaenyra after he came back from the Stepstones in 111 A.C. and before his next exile. Still, Rhaenyra admired him familially/platonically before Mysaria's exit and for years. I do not think he ignored her or did not spend some time with her before he went to the Stepstones, and he was not responsive to that, even if not to the same degree. There was a bond made there that facilitated/informed their later bonding after he returned and began to court/"court" her.

This is what I think DaemonxLaena's pre-marriage relationship was like and why he chose her/she chose him in the first place.

I don't think he loved her exactly like how he loved Rhaenyra nor that they immediately built a relationship like the one he does with Rhaenyra, but these women are two different people and the circumstances of their getting together are very different. And I am not sure if Laena thought of him as her great love so much as her partner because it likely wasn't that type of relationship, as: the text centers Daemyra more; we do not get a clue as to Laena's feelings for Daemon as much as we have considerations for how he felt for her besides her wanting to marry him (and not likely not wanting to marry a freeloading poor Braavosi boy-man); and the text emphasizes how much Laena loved dragon-riding and her bonding with Vhagar at 12 over any romantic feelings for Daemon while they were married. Her relationship & feelings of love (of any kind) for Rhaenyra also seem evidently stronger than her feelings for Daemon to me during the actual marriage. (But IDK, bc we don't have actual details!)

Is this because Laena had a smaller role to play in the story and did not do any political act besides marry Daemon have his kids and betroth her kids to Rhaenyra's and therefore there was less attention paid to her and her feelings for Daemon? Is this because those who could have brought more insight for us were at the Essosi cities the couple spent more time in than in Driftmark? Or is this because she just actually didn't express affection with Daemon in their time at Driftmark? IDK.

Conclusion(?)

It's also safe to say that he really did love/care about Laena when we know how he treated Rhea Royce. But, I can see how Daemon would love Rhaenyra more...intensely, I guess? There's a je-nais-se-quois to it.

Because it is without a doubt true that he spent with Rhaenyra not very long after Laena's death if he hadn't already been doing so before she died. Pretty sure that post-death sex was for intimacy and to "consummate" something interrupted and thus longed for.

Like I said in an earlier post, it's better to say that book!Rhaenyra was Daemon's first, enduring, and most intense(?) love. It's hard to impossible to quantify the unquantifiable.

NOTE

IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF THIS POST, PLEASE SET IT "Newest first" TO SEE A VERY IMPORTANT REVELATION!!!!

[darklinaforever]

So... There's really just interest that the Wyler relationship is on hiatus, instead of the writers having just taken the romantic aspect out of nowhere. Because removing the romance between these two makes no sense. Especially when Jenna said that Tyler was off the mark in terms of romance, the writers corrected it by saying that, yes, Tyler's feelings for Wednesday would continue to be explored. But if they took off their jackets and just took off the romance to please Jenna, they're cowards. I'm sick of these writers who create romances and then try the next season to pretend it never existed. Either Jenna is lying so we don't get spoilers. Or else she's delirious. Everything is possible. Actors have lied before to avoid spoilers, and sometimes other actors, like those on HOTD, make statements about their characters that have nothing to do with what's happening on the show. Like Emma D'arcy saying Daemyra is a grooming relationship... So let's wait and see before we freak out.

Also, what's Jenna's problem with ROMANCE ?! In case she doesn't know, she and others who criticize this aspect of fiction, well it's actually the best and best selling type of story ! People like it ! I'm seriously sick of the fact that today romance is considered almost dirty. That's the limit. A story with romance in it, even if it's not the central subject ?! "Yuck ! How horrifying ! Besides, it's so unmature and unoriginal !" Like... Are you going to get people treated. Already because originality, regardless of the type of story, no longer exists. It is not for nothing that we find similar codes in yet very different stories. Then, if you hate to see romance in fiction so much, to the point that it's not mature for you to represent it, I would like to know how you consider it in reality ? You didn't want to fall in love ?! Love is somewhat the basis of human relationships, whatever the form. And I don't understand why today, representing romantic love in fiction is so critical, even almost shameful, as if it were worth less than other types of relationships on this planet ?! I find that seriously infuriating.

Also, I've never seen anyone complain that romance wasn't something appropriate for Wednesday in the movie "Addams Family Values" or even the musical ! And in both versions, the "romance" is between Wednesday and a normal guy. Here, Wednesday's love interest is literally a monstrous creature ! It's much more interesting than these two previous models that NO ONE has ever criticized ! (At least I never have them be...)

Or is it that they don't care about the character of Wednesday to say that romance is not something made for her... She's a fucking teenager ! Shit ! And before you tell me that romance has nothing to do with the general universe of the addams family... GOMEZ AND MORTICIA ?!

It's a universe that has literally given us one of the most beautiful romances of all time ! Why wouldn't their own daughter have the right to give us another fucking iconic romance ?!

So apparently romance isn't something cut out for Wednesday's character. My question is : Why ? Most of Wednesday's performances are when she's a little girl, so okay from then on. But when she is depicted as being in her early teens or as a teenage girl, romance has already been touched on for this character, in two different mediums, a film and a comedy musical.

And nobody had questioned it saying that it was not something appropriate for the character ! The only things that change with the series is that the romantic interests were human and that Wednesday was not the main character, but one of the main ones, since the subject generally remained the Addams family. But in the show, although Wednesday becomes the main character, romance isn't the main topic either, just one of many topics about her, so why is it so bothersome here ? Romance is a part of life, at least for some people. Especially teenagers. And this idea that Wednesday, in particular, is not a character made for a romance, is in fact totally unfounded and biased by this momentum that today society has absolutely associated strong women with celibacy in fiction. Shit. Women can be strong and in love ! One does not prevent the other ! And to think otherwise is very frightening ! It's actually just as scary as the time when women were only associated with romance ! To do the opposite extreme is just as horrible. Especially since I never see this kind of debate when a guy is the hero and he falls in love, even though that's not the main subject of his story. Strangely, no one will criticize…

Also, another detail, the series is somewhat associated with Tim Burton, the majority of whose works contain romances and or couples...

[generalkenobitrash]

spoilers for the season finale of s2

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

[alicentsgf]

One thing that kills me is how Daemyra fans try, and I mean TRY, to justify that god awful sex scene. It's like I get y'all want y'all ship to be thriving in every aspect of a relationship, but that scene ain't it. First of all: it's extremely disrespectful to Laena and the Velaryons. Second of all: Rhaenyra has a lot of nerve to be talking shit about Laenor lacking subtly, when if anything she lacks subtly. She's not subtle about her relationship with Cole (with how quickly Joffrey figured it out), she's not subtle with almost kissing Daemon at her wedding, she's not subtle with siring 3 obvious bastards, and she's not subtle when she screws Daemon at his wife's funeral. So yeah, please stop talking out of your ass Rhaenyra. You give yourself too much credit. Lastly: the chemistry was just not there. I understand that they were trying to make it passionate and show that these two star crossed lovers are finally being reunited after being separated for so long, but it wasn't giving what it was supposed to. It was dry. It didn't look like it felt good nor did it look like something that was worth waiting 10 years for, but now she's got him and we all saw how well their relationship turned out 😬

okay idk if this is a controversial opinion... but I don't think we were meant to think of that scene as passionate at all... I think the reason it seemed dry was because it was the culmination of Needing each other but not foremost desiring each other. like they do but that's not what them coming together that night was about.

rhaenyra is far more preoccupied with what daemon can offer her. she just looks vindicated, not like she's physically enjoying it. and Daemon did care about laena, as much as he gives the impression otherwise with how he acts that day, so theres definitely some fucked up shit going on in his head. plus rhaenyra has always in part been a symbol that represents something he wants, rather than just wanting Her for her.

so yeah it being a bit dry was not a mistake imo they're not exactly meant to be #couplegoals and that's not how the show chose to portray them as much as some might wish otherwise.

[bbygirl-aemond]

Wanted to ask this question a long time ago: how old is everyone exactly? If Aemond in your fic is around 20, that makes Aegon and Helaena older too. And the children, Daemyra's children especially, all seven of them, what are the ages you go by? If I remember correctly, you moved Daemyra's marriage years according to the books rather than series, which also makes everything a little complicated. Can you clarify on the ages please, because I'm a little bit confused.

ooh yes i've been wanting to talk about this actually! i did fudge several of the ages a bit. inspiration came from the show ages (which are a bit nebulous at times), the book ages, and the actor's ages. i'll put a list of all of the main characters' ages below, but first i wanted to explain the justification for some of the larger changes:

aemond: i wanted him to be an actual adult, and to be irish twins with helaena (to strengthen the parallels between them and also for secret valyrian purposes); i didn't want to put a teenager or especially a minor in the mature poltiical and sexual situations i have planned for this work

daeron: i wanted him to be much younger than his other siblings, who are all only a year apart, to emphasize how distant he feels from them. also, aemond was canonically premature and it's not unreasonable that alicent would take a break from having kids after a difficult pregnancy. it also makes viserys more of an asshole for conceiving daeron in the first place since it risked another difficult birth

alicent: i wanted her a little younger, more like fourteen when she was married, to emphasize how awful viserys really was and how helpless she was in that entire situation

rhaenyra: i wanted her a little younger to make her baby daddy decision a little more sympathetic due to immaturity, and to leave more time for future children

daemon: i wanted a more sympathetic reason for his immaturity at the beginning of the series (his youth), to give him and criston more in common to emphasize the parallels drawn between them, and to avoid making myself sad by thinking about him dying 2+ decades before his family because he's old

baela: it's not mentioned that she and rhaena are twins in the show, and they're not played by the same actor the way the lannister twins were, so by the time i realized they were meant to be twins it would've affected the plot. baela has major big sister energy tho so i'm not mad about it

okay so all that being said, here are the (rough) ages that i imagine everyone to be as i write. you'll see that all members of the main triad have been moved closer to their irl actors' ages:

maelor: 2

viserys: 5-6

jaehaera and jaehaerys: 6

aegon the younger: 9

joffrey and alyn: 11-12

rhaena, lucerys, and addam: 14-15

jacaerys, baela, and daeron: 16-17

aemond: 21

helaena: 21 (she and aemond are irish twins)

aegon: 22

rhaenyra: 31-32

alicent: 36

criston and daemon: 41-42

i'm also trying to avoid explicit mentions of people's age for the most part, to leave everything a little squidgy. also if this conflicts horribly with either canon please do not tell me eye do not wish to know <3

[daylander1000]

I don’t want to say that I disagree with the last anon (I don’t, i want that fluff too 😭) but I think what’s happening is very much in line with what we’ve seen of their relationship before in your fic. As kids, they kind of always verbally kept each other at arms’ length and even at such young ages (which wow. absolutely wild how the world had hurt them so young that walls started coming up at 8 and 9 years old) It’s understandable that at 16-18 they wouldn’t be the most talkative in that regards. I think Aemond’s POV (which their first meeting mostly was in) shows just how deeply insecure he really is, and how he truly held onto Rhaena as the only thing he could’ve ever really relied on to make him feel okay, while Rhaena, while I won’t say she’s completely moved on or anything, has understood and accepted change. To me, they seem like that whole “If I loved you less, i might be able to talk about it more.” or saving all the reverent stares and lovesick smiles for when the other looks away IDK sorry for rambling i just have so many thots

Lolol, no need to apologize. We all want the fluff. Sometimes I'm sitting writing and reminding myself "Hey, come on, keep this fun."

For me, it's not that she's moved on from their friendship but she's moved on from the idea of looking to Aemond (and his mum) to "rescue" her because she's at a point where she fully appreciates the danger and risk of being on the wrong side of her father.

While Aemond was studying the sword, she was getting a 7(?)-year post grad certificate in Daemyra Behavioral Psychology. She's seen firsthand how her mother, Harwin and Laenor's entire lives are disregarded and she doesn't want to be added to the jetsam/flotsam.

Aemond's still someone with a mother, a Criston, a grandfather, a granny dragon, older siblings in line to be the next king and queen... He was hurt and he's aware that he's on the expendable end of the Targ spectrum, but he's still protected in an enmeshed, 'circle the wagons' sort of way.

Rhaena's living the opposite of that enmeshed family dynamic. Estranged sister, dead mother, father was bad to begin with, worse now that he has his dream family, her grandfather is a Luke Stan, so she's in "Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?" mode.

Running to Aemond's wagon circle isn't a great idea cause that's not safe at all. Asking him to leave his wagon circle to ride out for her is 1,000% riskier. Hell, she's not even sure how circling the wagons are supposed to work because she's never had it done for her. She's seeing them do it around Luke tho, positioning hers and Baela's wagons to take the hits, so she's kind of like "fuck wagons in general. I'm going independent."

But of course to Aemond, that's like "Did she just totally reject the safest, most well organized wagon circle in all of Westeros? Is it because of that one single time I weak-linked it? Wtf do I do with this second wagon with your name on it? Sell it, like some kind of wagon-salesman to a pilgrim doing last minute wagon shopping???"

(he's left it a little late in the war game to start making allies and planning a power marriage with another family)

I mean, in the past and at this point, it's more of a proposal for her safety rather than a sign of any undying love, lol. And she's saying, "I'd rather take my chances with a non-prince who doesn't have a dragon who I've never even met before than you" so there's no way not to take that personally when he's out there training with Criston to work past his disability and make something of himself every way he knows how. That's worse than "I don't want to marry you." That's "you're incompetent/you're gonna get me killed/I don't trust you with my life or anything at all."

I actually had a happy reunion chapter written and drafted on AO3 just ready to be published. Real Swan Princess like, but I rewrote the entire thing to add some friction because they were hardly on the same page as children so it made sense for the gap to widen a bit.

Wasted time, but yeah.

I felt this version was a touch on the cruel side but I truly didn't mean it to be. Just wanted to emphasize that she's lost some of that easy friendliness and ability to communicate with people properly after getting out of her Shawshank sentence.

[minetteskvareninova]

Again on my Hot D bullshit, this time re: Daemon. I’ve been trying to sort out my feelings on this character, and it dawned on me that I love him, but in a very different way people usually love him. But also kinda, a little bit in the same way people usually love him. It’s complicated, okay? Basically, on the one hand, he’s a lot like Larys for me - yes, he’s horrible, of course I would loathe a person like this irl, but like... He’s not real. And on screen, he’s pretty hillarious? Daemon and Larys both are evil pieces of shit, but I wouldn’t have them any other way (except for the choking and foot fetish scene, those just suck and I hate them together with the people who wrote them). His conversation with Rhea’s cousin was great, “he can keep his tongue” simply iconic, not to mention the Crabfeeder bait thing? The Dragonstone temper tantrum??? Hell, I almost want the “heir for a day” thing to be said in the douchiest way possible, except I am not sure about its effects on his relationship with Viserys...

Which brings me to the other thing: Daemon’s relationship with the few people he actually likes and respects. And honestly, in this way, the show’s writing has been kinda dissapointing. There are kernels of something truly fascinating in every one of them that elevate Daemon above the funny evil man, but... The execution tho... - Viserys. Okay, that one was actually fine, for what it was. It could’ve been better developed, but you know. It didn’t have to. Considering the show couldn’t be Magnificent Century lenght, they gave us enough to chew on. - Rhaenyra. Hooo boy. That daemyra ship is truly something. Starts out as weird incestuous bonding over feeling underappreciated, by Viserys mostly, but also the world at large. I get the sense that he is way more into her than she is into him, but that’s just my headcannon. After all, Daemon’s main appeal is that he’s funny, and honestly what’s funnier than a thirty-something man simping over a teenage girl who has a vague crush on him, but if he doesn’t want her, she could go for her hot bodyguard too, because she doesn’t care THAT much? Anyway, he still loves after years of marriage to some other woman, while she... Well, she doesn’t. But boy does wish she did, because in hindsight he seems appealing. So when he comes back to her life just when they both suffered the loss of their significant other, they get together as naturally as two opposite poles of magnets. And they are happy! For a few years, they are genuinely happy together! But his toxic masculinity gets in the way of him supporting her emotionally when she’s at her lowest point, and he mistakenly thinks that fighting for her instead would suffice, and... Hey, what’s that? He’s still hung up on her dad, who hasn’t factored in their relationship for decades? In fact, for him, she’s the emotional substitute for her dad? And this thing, that hasn’t been alluded to and absolutely ruins an otherwise perfectly good and interesting relationship for the sake of another one that is just completely over narratively and was good as it was... This was worth giving us a scene of domestic violence against the fucking queen that goes completely unpunished (she doesn’t even so much as shout at him, what the fuck?!), that is actually kinda out-of-character and that utterly demolishes a perfectly good relationship??? OKAY, THEN. FUCK YOU TOO, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. (All else aside, domestic violence just isn’t funny. I fully support all of Daemon’s atrocities, but only as long as they are funny. Going back to my Larys comparison, I had the same problem with the foot fetish scene.) - Laena. Honestly, that one was just too little too late. I have absolutely no idea why the fuck show!Daemon married her, that’s the first problem; but also even outside of that, the relationship is criminally underdeveloped. Now I could headcannon myself into oblivion, but ultimately the fault lies with the writers. They should’ve given us so much more than they did! - His kids (and stepkids). Look, I was just as hyped for daddy Daemon as anyone, but “loves his kids, but isn’t good enough in sincere emotional expression to bond with them”... Well, I can get behind that. The fact that they cut so many nicer moments of him with his children still leaves me salty. - Velaryons, Corlys and Laenor especially. Honestly, this show needed more Velaryons, period. Like, seeing Daemon with actual buddies was so nice, I wish we got more than a little sprinkle here and there around their relationship. Their reactions his marriage to Rhaenyra are not shown, the failure of Daemon’s friendship with Corlys skipped over, the fact that Daemon and Laenor have been fighting together for years and that Laenor kind of respects Daemon completely ignored... Just. Tons of absolutely fascinating character stuff thrown in the bin, because our best boys and girls don’t deserve the attention payed to Aegon the Trashy wanking. Again, fuck you.

Basically, Daemon works very well as a funny evil man with some hints of psychological issues, but I wished he as a character could be developed beyond that and he just... Wasn’t.

[lemonhemlock]

I saw lots of anons sharing your thoughts with you so I will add mine point of view to this discussion. The whole "Making Aegon the main bad in greens side to be Daemon mirror when it could have been Aemond from the start" I understand all the parallels between Aegon and Rhaenyra both in books and in the show, but what is really beyond me is that people are still mad that show is not the same as books. They called it whitewashing, giving Greens more agenda and not showing that Blacks are on the right side of conflict 🤦‍♀️ like if one watches the show only to point out that it differs from book where the narrators are unreliable because they didn't witness all of things happening during the Dance, then this conversation makes no sense. Like, apart from certain battles (between Aemond and Daemon, between Tessarion, Vermithor and …, between Aegon, Aemond and Rhaenys) + some characters deaths like Jace, Joffrey, Rhaenyra, Aegon, Aemond, Daemon, Alicent, Tyland Lannister, Rhaenys and Corlys we cannot say that book contains the facts and show is lying. Book is filled with speculations and needs to be treated as such. Not like some true source of knowledge from the showrunners decided to not take into account. To quote Littlefinger "None of you were there to see what happened." Another thing is that after season 1 ended, all that everyone do is talk about whitewashing. Okay, Aegon was made worse than in the books, but again, some people are mad because Alicent is not a villain and then say that she should have been like in the books and 5 minutes later they say it's good that Aegon is worse than in the books because no one will root for Greens now. Aegon was there for short time in season 1. I don't want to jump into conclusions and predict his whole story in show when I have only few scenes to see him. What will happen for sure is that Sunfyre will kill Rhaenyra and Aegon will be a ruler for a short while and then he will be poisoned. Maybe they gave him such short time in season 1 and he wasn't much into spotlight as Aemond because simply he will live longer than Aemond and after Aemond dies we will get plenty of scenes with Aegon? As for the part whether will make him hide in the Red Keep when Aemond fights (aka is regent) - no he won't be hiding, he will be basically barbequed so he will be lying in his bed with maesters surrounding him trying to heal his burned body. That's the reason Aemond is regent, because Aegon state is that bad he cannot leave his bedchamber. Aegon clone of Joffrey? Coward? Like when? When he is smart, escapes King's Landing before Blacks arrive and goes to Dragonstone and waits for Rhaenyra? He is much smarter than Joffrey. Aegon power hungry? I would say applause starved and being a King provided him what his family did not. And why are you all so mad that show didn't let us know that both Aegon and Rhaenyra are not suited to rule? Like, maybe wait a bit until she takes King's Landing and then you will see? Part 1

I understand all the parallels between Aegon and Rhaenyra both in books and in the show, but what is really beyond me is that people are still mad that show is not the same as books. They called it whitewashing, giving Greens more agenda and not showing that Blacks are on the right side of conflict 🤦‍♀️

the problem is not "things are different from the books", the problem is that aegon is the only character from the cast that received the worst interpretation possible from the books (from unreliable source mushroom, nonetheless), whereas every other character has been softened up. the changes are not random, they were specifically designed to make certain characters look good - like daemyra not fridging gay character laenor and rhaenyra not being involved in vaemond's murder. so far aegon did not get one single change that made him "look better" in comparison to his book counterpart

Maybe they gave him such short time in season 1 and he wasn't much into spotlight as Aemond because simply he will live longer than Aemond and after Aemond dies we will get plenty of scenes with Aegon?

my issue is not really with his short screen time, it's with his ridiculous past times. take away the rape and the child fighting pits, leave him as an irresponsible debauched drunk and we're fine. i wasn't expecting him to be a paragon of morality or responsibility, but more on par with rhaenyra at the same age

Aegon clone of Joffrey?

lots of people make the joffrey comparison. i disagree, as stated in my previous posts

And why are you all so mad that show didn't let us know that both Aegon and Rhaenyra are not suited to rule? Like, maybe wait a bit until she takes King's Landing and then you will see?

bc it's ridiculous to make them unbalanced to this level. rhaenyra literally gets "divinely ordained" framing and aegon gets rape and a hobby only the most deranged psychos partake in. there is nowhere near this level of discrepancy in the text

[whateverthedragonswant]

HotD: 1x06-1x07 Thoughts

I enjoyed these episodes, more than I thought I would to be honest:

I admit, I was leery of the time jump and recasting but I have to say it worked out very well, the new cast is fantastic (and we got to keep Fabian) and it actually really fits where the story is at now I think (besides the time passage)

Alicent, Alicent, Alicent - wow, time has definitely changed her - that one scene with her and Criston walking really shows just how much bitterness (and jealousy) has taken root and been allowed to grow or maybe fester is a better word

Not gonna lie, I was happy for Aemond to get Vhagar (especially after all of the bullying) until what happened and I was reminded that Laena's daughter did not have a dragon either - not to mention, I don't think this will be a good thing for Rhaenyra's family, Otto seemed way too pleased with this development

Aemond in that fight scene and afterwards gave me strong Draco Malfoy vibes - can you imagine?

I kind of rolled my eyes at the Daemon/Rhaenyra scene but I have to say I felt way more comfortable with it happening now that she's a full on adult and she initiated things

My heart still breaks for Alicent and Rhaenyra, but as is reiterated by the show, who we saw in the first 5 episodes is not who they are now, they're no longer those versions of their characters (literally)

While I'm not a Daemyra fan, I am curious to see what will happen now that they married and just what kind of chaos Daemon will unleash against the Hightowers, and in KL when they return; I think that was a very smart move on Rhaenyra's part, no matter how I feel about Daemon; he's that guy if you're going to war, you want him on your side, because you just know he's going to be one hell of a formidable weapon/opponent, especially in the Game

Sorry, but to me, Aegon is such a waste, he's nothing but a spoiled brat and a bully (love the actor though!) - imho Aemond showed more guts and his ability to handle things/play the Game

Alicent is truly giving off some Cersei vibes in that scene where she demands justice for Aemond; I have never been so glad to see Daemon when he prevented Criston from reaching Alicent's side; I also love how no one was going along with what she said, I get it, her kid lost an eye but to say one of Rhaenyra's kids has to do the same...yeah, no; it seemed like everyone else, even Criston and Otto, were looking off to the side thinking 'right now she's being cray cray, I ain't getting caught up in that'

I am so relieved they didn't kill Laenor; had Rhaenyra really okayed that and the murder happened, I would have been so upset with her; I'm glad she let him go live his best life instead (though I feel sad for Rhaenys and Corlys, especially after they just lost Laena)

speaking of Laena, what a badass! I'm sad at what happened to her but I thought she was a remarkable character - one I don't think we got to see too much of unfortunately

Larys needs to go but then again he does make a good villain

I'm about to slap Criston silly if he so much as smirks at or about Rhaenyra one more time - I get why he's bitter but in no way does it excuse this douchebaggery

I'm glad Otto is back but I'm also wishing he wasn't back if that makes sense?

When do we get to see more Caraxes and Syrax action? I loved seeing Vhagar but I need more of the other two as well

Harwin Strong should be renamed Hot Second, because that's literally how long he was in the show though he fathered all three of Rhaenyra's children - I would have liked to see more interaction with Rhaenyra and him, even if for only one more episode

The Inside the Episode for 1x07 was amazing - I loved Emma's honest take on Daemyra (she's so right btw) and Matt's blunt take on Daemon - they really understood the assignment

Loved Miguel directing 1x07 - it showed imho

Should be interesting to see where we go from here. Daemon is now officially back in the Game for the IT, what he always wanted and how he wanted it be. And Alicent, Otto, and his grandsons are standing in Daemon's way.

Interesting indeed.

[minetteskvareninova]

Minette Watched The Second Of His Name: Assorted Thoughts

- Pretty Thing Of The Episode: Alicent. My girl has never looked so cute! (Although Rhaenyra’s riding habit and that little braid Daemon sports were also strong contenders.)

- My God, this was such a boring episode! Most of the episode is spent on the bullshit hunt, on which fucking nothing happens - except for the Lannister courtship, which is also mostly pointless, Viserys’ assurances that Rhaenyra is still the heir, honest, and Rhaenyra’s trip with Criston Cole, which was admittedly a bit cute, not gonna lie.

- The obvious symbolism in this episode had me rolling my eyes. As if we needed that to know Rhaenyra would be a better king than Viserys! Every person on that hunt would be a better king than Viserys, including the toddler and all of the dogs and horses.

- Speaking of, Viserys seems to have a bit of drinking problem, which was a nice touch. The book, as far as I know, doesn’t explicitly state it, but it’s not out of the question considering the rest of his characterization. Also, Preston Jacobs pointed me to this one, so yay for Preston the broken clock showing the right time for once?

- My girls seem to have broken up off screen, which is obviously unforgivable. For shame, show.

- Again, loved Rhaenyra’s little trip with Criston Cole. Couples that slay (the pig) together, stay together? And I think I kinda ship them now. Like, I thought I would be ride-or-die for Daemyra, but idk, so far I am open to other possibilities.

- I like Leanor so far, and I can’t wait for Laena’s appearance. Rhaenyra obviously doesn’t get along with other ladies at court, so her having a female friend again would be amazing. I just... I stan Velaryons in general, okay? Velaryons are neat. Let me have them.

- I did not expect Daemon’s habit of beating the shit out of bearers of bad news to make an entrance. Nor did I expect said bad news to be “your older brother is going to bail you out”.

- Daemon’s suicide mission was just as overdramatic as I expected it to be, and more. After a super boring episode, it was very refreshing.

- I do, however call bullshit on Daemon surviving that volley of arrows AND dragon fire. I don’t care how chaotic and cool he is, that’s just stretches my suspension of belief too much. (And before you say something about dragons - this world has so far been established as one where dragons exist, yes, but noone ever said anything about Valyrians having super arrow dodging skills.)