#pro fire and blood

[reignof-fyre]

Hotd writers: the show is about feminism and the patriarchy ruining-

Me, an intellectual: if it was truly about feminism, you wouldn't have removed all the agency, ambitions, and complexities from the female leads (rhaenyra, alicent), nor would you have completely erased a strong female friendship/rumored love affair (rhaenyra x laena), nor would you have victimised the female leads when, in the source material, both relish their femininity and positions of power and use them to their advantage because, in a patriarchal world, having the power/title of queen/crown princess was all they had. You wouldn't have given firm decisions made by the female leads to men in their lives (murder of the strongs, heavily implied it was ordered by Alicent, alicent first demanding lucerys' eye before rhaenyra even spoke, and having rhaenyra order vaemond dead and fed to syrax for the insult he levied at her), nor would you have had Daemon murder Rhea Royce for shock value (and to try and make daemon a straight up villain) when it's provable that he was in the stepstones (with witnesses) when she had a hunting accident, lingered for nine days, long enough to implicate daemon, then died of a brain bleed, all without pointing the finger at daemon. Nor would you set the narrative of shaming rhaenyra at every turn for chosing not to rape her gay husband (whose likely bisexual in the book and fathered jace and luke because there is so much symbolism pointing to them being trueborn velaryons), you'd have kept Rhaenyra's kids' parantage ambiguous like it is in the book, nor would you have rhaenys pick a fight with rhaenyra during every scene they're in together because....what? There is no reason for rhaenys to hate rhaenyra, and yet you wrote it in when rhaenys is one of Rhaenyra's most ardent supporters in f&b

[black-queen-rising]

The focus on making Rhaenyra likable is overwrought no doubt, but painting these issues as because of her character ignores a fundamental issue of the show, they’re not doing any of the women well, and especially not Rhaenyra herself.

This isn’t an issue caused by or about her character. It’s that this show is based on and built from benevolent misogyny; where all the women just need to be different flavors of likable-above-all-else victims of eeeeevil men. Men who they’re clearly more interested in focusing on cause they’re allowed to actually do bad things and have complexities. The women have to go through monumentally out of proportion pain for every mistake they make, they have to be martyr-saint’s painted as the kind of people who no one in their right mind would hate because of the sheer amount of suffering they endured.

Rhaenyra being made Baela-lite and Baela being made the most inoffensive and bland version of herself is because the “mildly tomboyish, noticeably but effortlessly pretty, isn’t a “bitch” about stuff” female archetype (which heavily intersects but isn’t completely synonymous with NLog types) is what’s considered marketable, Read: Likable.

And ultimately the neglect and assassination of Laena, Baela, Rhaena, and I’d argue even Mysaria’s characters isn’t to make Rhaenyra look good, even at her blandest and most broadly likable, she is wildly polarizing. It’s about making Daemon look bad. By the end of this show that’s supposedly “all about women’s perspectives” they will have sacrificed half a dozen, and maybe more, female characters just to make a comic book villain out of a man who’s always been primed to be the next fantasy pop culture favorite. Because turning him evil while making Alicent a victim was the key to cementing this story as “women are well intentioned but powerless victims who suffer at the hands of violent, monstrous, but so very entertaining men”. And Rhaenyra’s character, her complexity, her trauma, her motivations, and more than anything her existence to both recontextualize Dany and hold a mirror up to the ugliest parts of both our own history and modern day was one of the most significant, and certainly the first, sacrifice for that purpose.

As for Black Aly, Sabitha, hell even Cregan, and certainly Laena, you can blame Rhaenyra for their mistreatment and erasure in so far as she is (ostensibly) one half of Rhaenicent, and the showrunners have sacrificed countless parts of this story to prop up that uninspiring and unnecessary doomed situationship. They were too busy focusing on a queerbait that, once again, is grounded in and centers on women’s suffering, on Condal’s weird attraction/obsession with Olivia, on Hess clearly being very attached to Emma as a person but not Rhaenyra as a character, on both their obsessions with using the latter as a scapegoat for their glaring misogyny and the former as the franchise’s pretty poster child, to simply put in the effort required to create a single even half-way compelling ACTUAL QUEER RELATIONSHIP George already gave them the building blocks to portray.

Alysanne and Sabitha specifically even have the EXACT “very real and meaningful sapphic relationship only possible because they were at a certain place and time in their lives. Ultimately lost because of societal obligations to marry, raise children, and be ladies” plot like they twisted both Rhaenyra and Alicent’s characters beyond recognition to shove them into. Down to having one end up with a man who is attracted to and encourages her wildness (Aly and Cregan) and one with a man who, at least implicitly, expects her to suppress it for the sake of their family/stability (Sabitha and Forrest). They’re even the “soft butch and neutral femme” aesthetic couple so many people so desperately want Rhaenicent to be; Aly was the one sited to prefer men’s clothes and referred to as “boyish”, she’s the only sapphic character in this story that fits that archetype. And to be clear, they’re amazing for it, and deserved to be portrayed well and expanded. If you’re going to be mad at Rhaenyra for something to do with Alysanne and Sabitha, be mad the fandom wants her to have Aly’s characterization and the show half heartedly plays into it when convenient but hasn’t paid any of the aforementioned characters their due.

If OP and I can certainly agree on one thing though, it’s that the show is poorly (arguably not at all) thought out, lazy, uninspired, fanfic. No wonder it’s spawned so many self-indulgent, half-assed, self-insert fandom copy cats. That’s all they’ve ever been from the start.

They’re trying to erase Nettles, Black Aly, and Sabitha Frey……

So…..it’s not only the hatred they have for Nettles it’s also them not wanting other female characters to outshine Rhaenyra. I don’t get how people don’t understand that cutting down other characters to prop up another only makes that character look worse and the writing is obviously weak. All 3 are badass characters are very ACTIVE in the dance. Jeyne Arryn I also consider a CANON strong willed woman, so naturally I’m sure she’ll have as little screentime as possible. If the other 2 are cut they lowkey giving their traits to Rhaenyra and they also stole Baela’s traits. One of the young Rhaenyra scenes from season 1 was ripped straight out of Baela’s interactions in Fire & Blood. It also effects the other characters that have relationships and interactions with them. Jace, Daemon, Cregan, etc. They also ruined Mysaria. She’s not mysterious, intriguing, and self serving like her character should be. They reduced her to a prop that just exist to give Rhaenyra compliments and tell her how she’s different than Aegon. This doesn’t work with Mysaria because why is the so called “champion of the people” constantly giving praise to a high born? She should lowkey be talking shit about team black and team green behind their backs. Why does Larys get to be self serving but not Mysaria? How is SHE a champion of the smallfolk when we’ve already established she has been moving her way up the ranks BEFORE the time skip and she’s wearing fancy dresses? It’s giving Varys from Temu. Nettles is the real smallfolk because the girl is homeless a a😂 so that sucks because I really was interested in Mysaria but she’s out of the question atp. They probably cut black Aly thinking it’ll take away from Nettles outrage.

The show is lowkey a fanfic I think it’s multiple writers doing this self insert thing not realizing the blowback it’s gonna bring them.

[lovl3igh]

"Rhaenyra tried to put bastards on the throne"

[greenqueenhightower]

Alicole was underwhelming, but B&C takes the cake as the worst adaptation of a single asoiaf/f&b event so far:

It was so rushed and whitewashed and did not focus on Helaena at all. Where is Helaena pleading for her son's life and offering up her own life instead? Where is Maelor whom Helaena was coerced to offer up as a sacrifice and does not bear to look at? Where is Heleana being forced to make a decision that haunts her entire life? She is obviously traumatized by what happened, but having her just say "they killed the boy" does not do her character and her grief justice. I really hope we get to see more of Helaena in episode 2 because it would be really upsetting if the show just brushes her off.

Not to mention Alicent's absence from the events of B&C. Alicent was really there, worried for her daughter's and grandchildren's lives, and was the first person to offer Helaena some comfort and consolation. The more I think about it the more mad I get because we got robbed of what could have been a truly harrowing and distressing scene that would do the events and the characters justice. Book!B&C was about two mothers and their shared agony, pain, and grief. It could have been powerful and shocking from an acting perspective alone if they had followed the events of the book.

[darklinaforever]

And yes, Daemon's daughters (Baela & Rhaena) and Daemyra's sons (Aegon III & Viserys II) survived the dance. Not Alicent. Sad. Nah, I'm joking. It's just as well that this bitch is dead. The Greens stans make me laugh trying to make believe that Alicent survived everyone in the end. No way. She will be locked up, hating the color green for the rest of her days before dying of fever. Not very glorious. (On the other hand, those in the comments who try to say that Daemon may have survived... No. He's fucking dead. Stop having weird fantasies about him fucking surviving !)

[pureworlds]

with their 3 minutes of screen time, emma d'arcy somehow managed to be the most memorable character in the first episode. rhaenyra's grief, anger, and sadness was portrayed perfectly and i could not have asked for a better scene than this.

[theflorasdiary]

still mourning this loss

[tweedfrog]

The maester propaganda thing has gone too far let it go I beg you because why the hell did I just see a video that claimed Maegor actually was loyal to his family and all the bad things written about him were lies by biased maesters

[meanqueens]

ty grrm for my canon alicent crumb (alicent loved her family so much that it was her who organized jaehaera and maelor’s escape from king’s landing and refused to snitch on what happened to them)

[fatum679]

Are you f*cking serious? 🤡

You're so stupid! lmfao

Knowing this, these idiots attacked Aemond in a crowd, beat him, cut out his eye and made him disabled. You are such clowns!

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

Alyssa died when Daemon was 3 years old. So shut up with your argument that Rhaenys gave Daemon a chance to claim Meleys. TB does not recognize the OPINION AND CHOICE OF THE DRAGON HIMSELF. DRAGON CHOOSE Rider! VHAGAR WANTED AEMOND!

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

[reignof-fyre]

Book!Alicent: ambitious woman who wanted her son on the throne and emotionally and mentally abused a child to obtain her goals, began smear campaigns against Rhaenyra and rhaenyra's sons with absolutely 0 proof they were bastards, waved off Jace, Luke, and Joffrey's deaths as "bastard blood spilt in war" and wished rhaenyra would die in childbirth, demands lucerys' eye BEFORE Rhaenyra requests that aemond be questioned sharply about where he heard that jace, Luke, and joff were bastards

Show!Alicent: whitewashed victim-complex who had many traits that are, in actual fact, rhaenyra's. Boring. Bland. Religious fanatic.

Book!Rhaenyra: fully desires her birthright, the Iron Throne (and why shouldn't she?), delights in her feminism, never once wishes she was a boy to please her father, named heir at nine years old, adored by the smallfolk, best friends with laena velaryon, apple of her dad and uncle's eyes, is verbally abused and smeared by the greens because she has the audacity as a woman to know what she wants. Likely Jace and Luke are Laenor's with the Baratheon/Arryn looks because rhaenys has black hair and rhaenyra's grandfather was an arryn with brown hair *gasp* genetics is a thing

Show!Rhaenyra: indecisive about being heir, constantly wishes she was a boy, whitewashed and victimised and written blandly

Book!Daemon: morally grey anti-hero who loves his family and the targaryen Dynasty and does questionable things, loved by the smallfolk, adored by rhaenyra, raised a literal army to put his brother on the throne, had ample opportunity to overthrow viserys and never did, was thousands of miles away when rhea Royce died, loved laena, loved rhaenyra, loved his children, even rhaenyra's three sons, fought to the death for rhaenyra's claims

Show!Daemon: I am villain he-he

Book!Rhaenys: never held her not being named Queen against Rhaenyra, was disinherited by Jaehaerys, a bamf bitch who loved her family, openly and proudly supported rhaenyra, had black hair streaked with white

Show!Rhaenys: I shall take my anger out on an innocent party and hold onto my resentment for years and insist the succession crisis isn't my problem when my granddaughters are in danger by association because that makes sense

Book!Otto: plotted and schemed for years to have his blood on the throne and conspired with his equally conniving daughter to do so

Show!Otto: pretty much the same, yeah

Show!Aegon; drunk, sad-boy rapist chad

Book!Aegon: drunk, sad-boy rapist chad who refuses to take his sister's birthright

Show!Aemond: whitewashed victim sad-boy

Book!Aemond: cold, calculating sociopath who willingly and happily kinslayed his nephew Lucerys over an incident years in the past of his own making and went on to commit genocide in the riverlands and take Alys Rivers as his spoils of war

Show!Helaena: dragon dreamer baby girl

Book!Helaena; sorry, but she's actually pretty irrelevant but she's still a baby girl

Show!Daeron:...doesn't exist? Yet(?)

Boom!Daeron: just as sociopathic and murderous as aemond, also commits genocide by burning an entire village to the ground

Show!Laena: kind of just around???

Book!Laena: best friends with rhaenyra, also likely her lover, loved by Daemon and Rhaenyra both, did not die by ordering vhagar to burn her, actually died much more tragically, rider of Vhagar, all around bamf

[rhaenyralove]

Aegon joked about burning the Riverlands and people found it funny. He stopped a council meeting to make his master of coin give a pony ride to that annoying ass little boy and it was seen as cute. He made stupid and uninformed decisions when on the throne and people think he’s a good ruler because he’s thinking of the small folk. He killed a dozen innocent rat catchers but he’s acting out of anger and it’s justified because his son was killed by one of them.

Meanwhile young Rhaenyra being disagreeable during a marriage tour makes her a spoiled irresponsible brat, her not wanting to be a mother at 14 and go through what her mother did makes her a pick me, her expecting to be the queen after her father, the ruler of a hereditary monarchy promised her the throne makes her an idiot who didn’t earn her inheritance.

For EVERY single thing she does, she’s villainized and seen as unworthy for the throne. If she was the one talking about burning lord Tully and the Riverlands, we wouldn’t be hearing the end of how mad and unfit the tyrannical she is. But who gaf if an idiot with a cock says it. No wonder they’ve been writing her the way they do.

And I don’t even want to hear it from you idiots saying “Rhaenyra fans want her to be innocent!!” When the entire fucking planet has been anticipating her cruelty since the premiere. But I also acknowledge that you freaks will tear her apart the minute she does anything controversial meanwhile THE MALE CHARACTERS DO THE ABSOLUTE SAME THING OR WORSE.

You people are stupid and misogynistic even if you don't think you are.

[lovl3igh]

"rhaenyra thinks she has a claim because her daddy said so" yeah... that's... that's kinda how it works... when your daddy is a king

[spacerockfloater]

Daily reminder that Sunfyre and Aegon won three battles against three dragons and survived them all. They were literally undefeated.

Say whatever you want about Aegon but that man dived head first into battle even if he was at the brink of death and emerged triumphant every single time.

Fire cannot kill a dragon and all that, I guess. Isn’t that right Targ stans?

[darklinaforever]

Mother & Daughter ! 💕

[pureworlds]

just so fucking precious