#r’hllor

[pyat-pree]

the fiery heart of r’hllor

[asoiafreadthru]

A Game of Thrones, Daenerys I

When he was gone, Dany went to her window and looked out wistfully on the waters of the bay.

The square brick towers of Pentos were black silhouettes outlined against the setting sun.

Dany could hear the singing of the red priests as they lit their night fires and the shouts of ragged children playing games beyond the walls of the estate.

For a moment she wished she could be out there with them, barefoot and breathless and dressed in tatters, with no past and no future and no feast to attend at Khal Drogo’s manse.

[angelwingtrap]

Victarion being pleased with his big meaty brain for coming up with religionmaxxing (sacrificing to nine gods at the same time) is a great time to reflect on how Victarion is the second most normal son of Quellon Greyjoy.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Viki’s subs are thus far a nice change from Netflix and YouTube (thank you for suggesting them, @kaminatokazuya and @omphaloscapti!) but

1.) Viki’s content is DRM-blocked so I can’t take screencaps, which means I can’t provide evidence that

2.) “Zewu-Jun” is BRILLIANCE OVERGROWTH LORD, which is causing me to picture kudzu but shiny.

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Gosh I just love how Jon and Mel are paralleled in how they choose to ignore truths in relation to visions and prophecy because it’s a very interesting collision of two separate arcs: Jon’s - the deconstructed hidden prince/chosen one - and Mel’s - the deconstructed prophetess/wizard.

Like both are given the same information (i.e., that Jon may be the reincarnation of a legendary fiery-sword wielding hero) and both choose to deny the truth in this information because of one reason or the other: Jon has the tendency to ignore all the magical aspects in his life, mostly because he doesn’t want to be a super special magic boy, and Mel has already decided that the hero in question is some balding, middle-aged weirdo. But there exists a commonality between them since neither one knows of Jon’s true parentage, and so both think he’s just some random guy.

It’s very funny because we learn that Mel has been seeing visions of Jon every time she looks into her flames.

The flames crackled softly, and in their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain. Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again.

And we know that it’s been happening quite frequently because she gets another vision of Jon (in her POV chapter) and goes “oh god not him again!”

“What do you see, my lady?” the boy asked, softly.

Skulls. A thousand skulls, and the bastard boy again. Jon Snow.

So poor Mel is a little frustrated because she’s not looking for Jon. She’s looking for Stannis because she believes that he is Azor Ahai.

Yet now she could not even seem to find her king. I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R’hllor shows me only Snow.

So she looks for Azor Ahai and only sees Jon Snow, but she never once thinks “hmm it’s super frustrating to keep seeing this weird emo teen but maybe there’s something deeper to it. Like there has to be a reason why I see him in place of my king, right?” And then she talks to Jon in a later chapter and confirms that she is seeing him whenever she looks for Mance or Stannis, as per my previous post, and both of them come out of that conversation being the very definition of “no thoughts, head empty ”. They’re just not going to think about it; and both end up focusing on other aspects of the visions and not the larger theme.

And then there’s this conversation between Jon and Val (in Jon VIII, ADWD) that honestly encapsulates the sheer comedy of a powerful wizard who is sent by destiny to go find this magical prince and missing him, and how the magical prince in question gets really frustrated with the wizard because he thinks that the wizard’s visions are dumb and useless.

In this conversation, Val suggests that Mel may know about Jon switching Dalla’s and Gilly’s babies because of what she sees in her fires.

“And keep [Gilly’s baby] away from the red woman. She knows who he is. She sees things in her fires.”

Val is essentially suggesting that Mel is attuned to the truth because of her prophetic insight. But Jon doesn’t think so.

Arya, he thought, hoping it was so. “Ashes and cinders.”

He hopes Mel can see the truth of Arya’s whereabouts, but what he actually thinks is different. He dismisses Mel’s supposed truth as mere “ashes and cinders”. And it’s so funny because this is a huge miscommunication. Jon is no doubt thinking of Mel seeing “only snow” (we learn from a later chapter that this is the answer Mel always gives) but it seems so silly so he twists that into “ashes and cinders”.

But the problem starts with Mel, honestly. She isn’t able to understand that the king she finds in her fires is Jon Snow and so when she relays the information back to him, she does it in such a vague manner, so Jon thinks she means literal snow (like frozen water, that snow). Except Mel means Jon Snow. She sees Jon Snow in her fires but refuses to ponder further on why she should see him in place of Stannis.

There is such hilarity in a wizard going on a great quest to find a prophesied prince and failing because she at some point found this other guy and convinced herself that he was the prophesied hero all along, even though he didn’t fit at all. So when she is ultimately led to the prince she’s looking for, she mistakes him for some random guy even when her visions actually tell her, “No Mel, wait! This is your guy!! This is your king! Hello?!”

But then, even if she somehow got clued in on said random guy being the prophesied prince, it’s a little too late because he’s already mistrustful of her anyway and doesn’t take her seriously. So he ironically asks her, “have you seen the king in your fires?” And she says, “I’m seeing you when I search for the king”. And literally neither one of them goes, “hey wait a minute?!”

And you know what’s even more frustrating? Some completely unrelated person somehow manages to get to the truth of the matter! (Sort of…). Val somehow manages to understand that what Mel sees is true. In fact, Val is even more correct than she realizes because when Jon dismisses Mel’s visions as “ashes and cinders”, Val counters that with:

“Kings and dragons.”

Oh!

So, according to Val, not only can Mel see the truth, but she can also see the truth of who is a king and/or a dragon.

The king Mel sees is also a dragon, as he is one of the last surviving Targaryens in the world. Where Jon dismisses Mel’s visions, Val somehow takes the narrative’s voice here and goes “oh it’s not just Snow she sees, she also sees that he is a king and a dragon”.

As if this wasn’t comedic enough, Jon gets a vision towards the end of the book that literally connects the dots.

Burning shafts hissed upward, trailing tongues of fire. Scarecrow brothers tumbled down, black cloaks ablaze. “Snow,” an eagle cried, as foemen scuttled up the ice like spiders. Jon was armored in black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. As the dead men reached the top of the Wall he sent them down to die again. He slew a greybeard and a beardless boy, a giant, a gaunt man with filed teeth, a girl with thick red hair. Too late he recognized Ygritte. She was gone as quick as she’d appeared.

- Jon XII, ADWD

He dreams of himself as the fire-sword wielding hero Mel has been so crazy about, and then he wakes up to his pet bird calling him “KING” basically affirming everything Mel has been seeing throughout the entire book. And he does the most Jon Snow thing imaginable. He completely ignores it! We get zero commentary to this, same as we got zero commentary from him then Mel said that she saw him every time she tried to look for Mance or Stannis.

Really, both the chosen one and the great wizard are failing quite miserably. They get information much in the same way (Jon gets a prophetic dream, and Mel gets her prophetic visions) but they both decide to ignore whatever they’re seeing. The chosen one is annoyed that the wizard’s visions are useless, the wizard is annoyed that the totally-normal-boy-who’s-definitely-not-the-chosen-one-not-like-Stannis-is-anyway isn’t listening to her, and poor Val is off to the side going “hey, doesn’t anyone else think its important that Mel really does see kings and dragons?!!”

And honestly, Mel’s inability to get it even when the answer is right in front of her becomes even funnier when we take this exchange into account:

[…] all of them seemed surprised to hear Maester Aemon murmur, “It is the war for the dawn you speak of, my lady. But where is the prince that was promised?”

“He stands before you,” Melisandre declared, “though you do not have the eyes to see. Stannis Baratheon is Azor Ahai come again, the warrior of fire. In him the prophecies are fulfilled. The red comet blazed across the sky to herald his coming, and he bears Lightbringer, the red sword of heroes.”

- Samwell IV, ASOS

I- 😭

Mel accuses Maester Aemon of being too blind to see the truth, not knowing that the narrative has damned her as well. Unlike Aemon, she has actually set her eyes on the promised prince but she’s the one who has been too blind to see.

[xenonwitch]

I just discovered that with her most recent posting of TB&TG and her hitting of the 1.5 million words in a single work mark…

That @sweetestpopcorn has officially earned the Bronze medal in the ASOIAF fandom for single fic word count 🥉

That means, for at least this brief moment in time, Popcorn is…

THE BRONZE BITCH!!!

(Given she controls Daemon’s life and has written more about him than anyone else it’s a very fitting title for her imo)

(I will leave you with that. And, no I will not be taking any comments at this time.)

[libradoodle1]

That video you made is so hot! You’ve put together all the best clips of Kit 😍 I just can”t stop watching. Thank you for making it and sharing with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can thank Erika for being born and giving me an excuse to make it!

I think his fans really needed a clip of all his hot scenes in one spot, amiright? And the song just speaks the truth 🍑. The man is too hot that I wasn’t even able to use ALL of his sexy gifs. I think my laptop couldn’t handle it and would self-combust 🔥

[myladysapphire]

Red

you are a priestess of R'hollor, sent to dragonstone to assure the bloodline of the prince who was promised. And though you are welcomed by the queen, prince Jacaerys only looks at you with trempidation, seeing your place at his mothers side to be some ploy. But luckily for you there is always a way for the red priesstes to sawy others to their cause.

based of this request

word count: 1,476

CW: MDI 18+,smut, p in v, oral (m reciving), not proofread!

Jacaerys Veleryon x red priestess!reader

Masterlist

dividers by @zaldritzosrose

authors note: defintly canon divergant, and does not follow the plot of hotd or got.

You had been sent to Dragonstone before the dance of dragons to treat with Rhaenyra. Sent on a mission by the cult of R’hllor to ensure the bloodline of the prince who was promised survived.

And though you had quickly won over Rhaenyra, winning a seat on her council, you had yet to win over her son and heir.

With years of wisdom, and a skilled seer, she saw you as a key advisor and so your advice was greatly valued by her.

But the prince Jacearys was weary of your presence. Not taking kindly to just how quickly you had found yourself on the council, or to how close you and his mother had grown.

But what he was most weary about was just how enthralled by you he was.

The second he had seen you he was enchanted, his eyes always roaming over to yours. At dinners he always found himself seated beside you, his yes drawn to your low-cut red dress.

You were always in red. Your gowns a deep blood red, matching the blood ruby of the necklace always clasped around your neck.

The gem seemed to glow, as if enchanted, and all Jace could ever imagine was taking it off and replacing it with his hand as he filled you with his cock.

Perhaps it was the teasing smile you would give him whenever you spoke, or how you seemed to always match his heated glare with your own.

But nevertheless, his thoughts were filled with lust and desire, all for you.

“My prince” you greeted, as he walked into his rooms to find you seated on his desk.

“Did the guards let you in?” he asked, moving towards you. He seemed unsure of your presence, still unsure of what to make of you, of your place by his mother’s side.

“no” you said, smirking.

“Then how- “

“It matters not, my prince” you said as he came to stand before you. “Do you hate me so much that you cannot even stand my presence?” you teased.

“I do not hate you” he denied.

“Then what is it, hmm? Is it that you are jealous?” you said, moving your face closer to his.

“Jealous of what?” he said, not unkindly.

“I do not know my prince, perhaps it is that your mother chooses my council over your own…” you trailed of noticing his angered face. You smiled slightly. “Do not worry, sweet prince, you have no need to be jealous.” You hand moved to his chest.

“And why is that” he mused, swallowing slightly as you started to caress his chest.

“I only act in your interest” you said, motioning him to sit, on the chair in front of you.

“My interest”

“Yes...you are the future king, are you not?”

He nodded, slowing as you began to open your legs.

“I only wish to protect the realm, and as king is that not your duty?” you asked, your legs open fully know, your bare cunt on display.

“It is...yes” you dropped your hand from his chest, moving it to play with skirt of your dress.

You smiled, “did you know that as a babe I was gifted to the temple of R’hollor, bound to serve the lord of light before I could even talk…and then my skills as a seer were discovered.” You said as moved your hands to your shoulders, teasing Jace as you toyed with the sleeves of your dress, pulling them down ever so slightly.  “And as a seer I see many things, do you know what one of those things was?”

He shook his head, his eyes drawn to your cleavage.

You smiled, teasingly, “you on the iron throne, your curls” you moved to touch his curls, threading them through your fingers, as you pulled his face closer to yours “your brown eyes, and the conquers crown before your brow, the very image of a king” your mouths were so close, so close that you were sharing each other’s breaths.

“And as a king, you can have whatever your heart desires…any wife…any lover” you whispered, and as the word lover left your mouth, his lips descended on yours.

It was a heated kiss, fuelled by the envy he had felt for you, the desire he had felt, and the pure lust he had dreamt of.

You moaned into his mouth, a pure unfiltered moan, which caused Jace to act.

He stood from his chair, pushing you back on the desk. He pulled up of what little of your dress remained on you.

His body covered yours and he continued to kiss you, his hands flying to your side as he pulled you towards him. His tongue teasing your lips before plunging into your mouth.

His hips ground against yours, his clothes cock rubbing against your bare cunt, as you laid on the table, his tongue dominating your mouth.

He pulled back Sharpley, settling back his in seat, taking in your naked from.

As you sat up, he drew you towards him, his eyes firm.

“Anything I desire?” he questioned.

You nodded,

Breath heavy.

He laughed slightly, “and if I wanted you off my mother s council? If I only wanted, you by my side and not hers?”

“Then I would do as my king bids” you said, moving of the table, to settle between his knees.

Your hands toyed with the laces of his breeches.

He smirked, “good.” He titled his head, “then your king bids you to suck his cock” he said, as your hands tore into his breeches, his cock springing free.

Taking him into your mouth, he let out a low moan.

His hands coming to grasp your head as he began to thrust his hips into your mouth, fucking your face, as you sucked on his cock.

His hips moved fast, and before you knew it the sour taste of cum filled your mouth.

Swallowing, you looked him in the yes, moving to sit in his lap. But Jace acted faster, turning you around and bending you over the table.

He was completely naked now also.

You could feel his chiselled chest against you back as he entered you.

Bounding hard and fast, as you desperately gripped to the table.

His cock filled you in the most pleasurable of ways, hitting that one sweet spot again and again.

Moans spilled out of your mouth as you peak hit you. It was quick and sudden, but it seemed so was Jace’s, as you soon felt his seed spilling it you.

he leant his head against your back as you both caught your breath.

Taking in the moment, as his seed spilled out of you and hit the floor.

You turned around to face him, taking in his dishevelled naked form.

“My prince- “you started, breath heavy.

“Was your vison true?” he questioned, interrupting you.

“As true as I can believe, my prince”.

“Jace, please, call me Jace”.

“Jace” you smiled, “I was sent here for a purpose, I am on your mother’s council for a purpose, and that is to ensure her bloodline, to ensure you sit on that iron throne after her”.

“Why? You came is so abruptly, and before I knew it my mother favoured your advice over my own- “

“Because I knew of the prophecy”.

“The prophecy?” he asked confused.

“The prince who was promised?” you asked, unsure of how he did not know, “the prince that was promised was prophesied five thousand years ago, it was said that he shall be Born amidst salt and smoke, beneath a bleeding star." You said, thinking his mother surely must have told him, “It is believed he shall be Azor Azhai, the lord of light reborn. Your ancestor Aegon the conquered dream to of him, it is believed he shall come from your bloodline.”

“This is why my mother trusts you? Because of a prophecy” he said, not believing you. “I had thought you a witch, enchanting us all”.

You laughed, “not quite my prince, though the lord of light blesses some with magic, he only blessed me with sight and this gem” you said, grasping the gem between your fingers.

“I’ve always wondered about that gem, what does it do?” he asked, reaching for it. You gently slapped his fingers out of the way.

“Only time shall tell you that”.

He smirked, “so you are a witch?” he laughed.

“No…” you trailed of your hand still gripping his.

“I must tell my mother!” he said dramatically, “first a priestess of R’hollor and now a witch! Whatever shall she think?” he said, teasingly.

And you shut him up with a kiss, your hand reaching down to his cock once more.

And soon his cock was filling you over and over again, all through the night.

Talks of prophecy and thrones long forgotten.

taglist

@apollonshootafar @flrboyd @theanxietyqueen17 @dark-night-sky-99 @zillahvathek @leavesmealobe @winter-soldier-101 @bunbunbl0gs @ka1afbr @tesha-i-guess @aemondwhoresworld @RAYNETARGARYEN2 @cloboboo @now-i-have-a-new-obsession @littlebirdgot @eddieslut69 @aegonswife @beebeechaos @jennifer0305 @rosedurin @berightback1409 @barnes70stark

to be added to taglist

[patrocles]

🐺ASOIAF Themed Asks 🐉

(feel free to include TWOIAF as well!)

Favorite Great House

A minor (or extinct) house you need more lore on

Favorite sigil/house words

Favorite Valyrian sword

A dead female character you need to save

Which book or character did you not like at first but eventually grew on you?

Which Free City are you retiring to?

Build your own Kingsguard with any characters alive or dead

Build your small council with any characters dead or alive

A quote so good it makes you crazy

Favorite bastard

Who are you traveling the ravaged Riverlands with?

A death that still hurts to think about

Who are you bringing back from the dead with the power of R’hllor?

Favorite parent

Favorite sibling dynamic

Favorite theme

A mystery you need solved NOW

A theory you’ve adopted as canon

A theory you pray never comes true

A moment that made you cry

A character so queer-coded you’d argue it to GRRM’s face

Two characters you need to interact

A ship that gives you the absolute ick

A crackship?

Favorite “problematic” ship

Favorite canon ship

If you write fic, is there a ship or au you would like to write for, but haven’t yet?

If you read fic, what’s a trope or interpretation of your fave that you absolutely can’t stand? Which AU/trope will you read every time?

A POV character you wish wasn’t

Who would you elevate to a POV character?

A fancast you absolutely can’t stand

A fancast that just IS a character

What’s something people get wrong about your favorite character?

A character you just don’t get the hype of

What’s something you wish GRRM handled better? (a character/theme/world building etc)

An event/era in TWOIAF that you would love to see a film/tv adaptation of

Is there a house would you fit in with based off your own looks? A house you would fit in with based off your personality/ideals/vibes etc?

Your Drunk History topic (a character/theory/event/etc)

Be honest, are you still waiting for TWOW?

[prophecyofwinter]

Se Riña Qilōni Iprattan Se Jēdar | III

Aemond Targaryen x Reader

Summary | Saera Targaryen daughter of Jaehaerys I ran away from Westeros to escape her fate. 45 years later her daughter Y/N Targaryen, with invitation from King Viserys wishes to go back.

Tags | Slowburn, TargCest, Smut, Standard ASOIAF content, Aemond and Reader are First Cousins Once Removed, tags to be added

Prologue | Chapter II | Chapter IV | Masterlist

Chapter III | High Lord , Low Lady

You were so unfathomably nervous, your palms were sweating and your head was full, all the advice you’d received back home flew out the window.

Normally you were so confident and headstrong, where did it all go??

How are you supposed to present yourself? Gods, what do you do with your hands? Do you hold them folded? Behind? Held to your chest?

Walking through the dock only made your heart race faster as you were nearing closer by the second. You straighten yourself up and mentally ask for R’hllor’s blessing as you are stopped in front of a carriage by guards.

You gaze at the carriage itself, made of dark wood with curved arches overhead and crisscrossed cutouts for windows.

“Prince Aemond of House Targaryen!”

You become stiff as wood as the doors of the carriage are opened by a guard. Ducking under the door frame is a man with long straight white hair wearing all black leather. When he stands straight you notice his sharp features, most distinguishably the eyepatch on his left eye. You try not to stare too much to not offend.

By the time you process him fully he is already in front of you, blocking the sun from your eyes.

“I-It is a great pleasure to finally meet you Prince Aemond.” You sputter out, your nerves taking over your vocal cords. He was honestly very handsome, it was unfortunate you hadn’t heard anyone speak much of his looks besides the lost eye.

Without replying he simply grabs one of your shaky hands and brings it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to the back. He comes back up to make eye contact, his purple eyes gazing into your own. You might pass away on the spot, the wrath of the sun burns on you tenfold in the moment.

“Your beauty truly precedes you Y/N. I wanted to personally welcome you to Kings Landing. As your soon-to-be betrothed I felt it was my duty to be the first person you met.” He speaks to you in a low tone, he is rather close to you so he does not need to talk loud. His way with words didn’t help at all, you could feel a slight wetness forming between your thighs.

He holds out his leather covered arm for you to grab onto. As you do, you could feel his toned muscles through the leather. You pray you haven’t made an absolute fool of yourself acting like a blushing virgin, which you were but.

“Thank you Prince Aemond, you’re too kind…”

“No need to thank me, it is simply what I must do.” He says with the same tone as before giving your arm a gentle caress. You can’t help but wonder if there’s multiple meanings to that.

He leads you to the carriage passing through the line of knights, they all look stiff and they stare forward. You thought they would look scarier, they just look like normal men. The soldiers and guards in Volantis look like beasts, scars so bad you couldn’t even tell there’s a face behind their helm, going through withdrawal if they have not killed an infant in a week. They reek of blood, booze and cum.

Westeros must be a very peaceful place if their army’s look like this.

When you approach the carriage, one baby faced guard opens the door for you both. Aemond loosens his hold on you, just holding you by your hand to guide you up the carriage steps.

“Ahem.”

Oh right.

Your brother steps forward, armor making a soft clang with every step. He must’ve polished his red armor today, the shine on it must be bright enough to blind a man. He stands tall and proud, a few paces away from you and Aemond.

“Oh, apologies. This is my half-brother Vaegon. My mother- Our mother sent him with me to make sure I settle in okay.” You looked to Aemond, gesturing to your brother slightly annoyed. You were trying to balance yourself properly on the steps, one foot on the first step and the other on the second step.

“Ah, that’s quite alright. Sending a young woman such as yourself across the sea shouldn’t be done alone.” Aemond states and rubs your hand with his thumb, still holding it. He gestures to you to enter the carriage, then turns to your brother with a tight lipped smile.

“Vaegon was it? You have my thanks for accompanying my betrothed to Kings Landing. You may walk with the rest of the guards to the Red Keep.” Aemond said as he stepped into the carriage himself, smile faltering only slightly.

Vaegon opened his mouth to protest but was met with the carriage doors shutting in his face.

Now it was just you and Aemond, alone…

You pinched at your dress while attempting to keep eye contact with him.

You feel a jolt of movement and you know the carriage has begun to make its journey up to the Red Keep.

“Apologies, my Prince for my state of dress. I haven’t brought any handmaidens with me. If I had known how much of a struggle clothes of this country were to get into I would’ve brought someone to help.” You say flipping your eyes between his eyes and the top of his head.

Aemond sits back into the plush seating crossing his arms and legs. His gaze burns into your skin, you can see his eye start at your collar bone and trail down to your open cleavage.

You hadn’t expected to be reduced to a mess just in his presence. Your plans of confidence dwindled and anxiety replaced the space it left.

“Apologizing this much is unbecoming if you wish to become a lady. No one here will treat you well if they see how nervous you are. As for your dress, it’s not that different from what some ladies wear during the hotter months, just less… openness. You’ll have proper clothes tailored to you soon enough.” His tone has become blunt, compared to what he was like moments before with his sweet gestures.

“Please forgive- I mean! I just have never been alone with a man like this before. Especially a man like yourself, my Prince. I’ve spent most of my life in the company of other women… I do not wish to embarrass myself further.” You attempt to compose yourself in a more becoming manner. Straightening your back and folding your shaky hands in front of you instead of picking at your skirt; eye contact is something you’ll have to work on.

Aemond lets out a hum of…? You can’t quite tell. Aemond makes no move to continue the conversation, instead opting to stare at you, as though he can read your life story just by a glance.

Will it always be this unsettling? Maybe your hopes were set too high? You two are strangers, surely he is just as nervous as you are.

Neither of you exchanged any more words for the rest of the carriage ride. The sound of the horses' hooves clopping on the stone floor and the sounds of common folk around the city being the only sounds you hear for the rest of the ride.

You let out a soft breath when the carriage rocked to a halt. You look out the window and the first thing you notice is a red haired woman dressed in a dress of green and gold, you knew with absolute certainty that this must be Queen Alicent.

Suddenly, Aemond grabs your arm, tugging you to him to grab your attention. His purple eye stone cold staring into your pair, you felt small and helpless like a beggar girl begging for bread.

“Pull yourself together and present yourself properly. This is my mother, the Queen. Do not make anyone regret allowing you here.”

————

🏷️: @toodlesxcuddles @blackgirlmagicforever @yourwonkywriter

[asoiafreadthru]

A Game of Thrones, Daenerys I

The nine-towered manse of Khal Drogo sat beside the waters of the bay, its high brick walls overgrown with pale ivy.

It had been given to the khal by the magisters of Pentos, Illyrio told them. The Free Cities were always generous with the horselords.

“It is not that we fear these barbarians,” Illyrio would explain with a smile. “The Lord of Light would hold our city walls against a million Dothraki, or so the red priests promise…yet why take chances, when their friendship comes so cheap?”

[goodqueenaly]

How do you think Melisandre will react when she discovers that Stannis isn't actually Azor Ahai reborn? What about the Queen's Men?

Perhaps the better question to ask - although it might amount to about the same thing - is what Melisandre and the Queen’s men (not to mention Selyse herself, and Shireen) will do as TWOW opens - namely, in light of both the bombshell news (or purported news) from the pink letter that Stannis is (again, supposedly) dead, as well as the assassination of Jon. If, as Ramsay’s letter to Jon so bluntly asserted, Ramsay had slain Stannis after seven days of battle, then the hopes of both Melisandre and the Queen’s men might seem, perhaps to use an apt turn of phrase, snuffed out: Stannis obviously could not be the hero chosen by R’hllor to save the world if he was already dead, and at the hands of so mundane and temporal an enemy as Roose Bolton’s bastard son. That Stannis isn’t in fact dead, as I very much believe is the case, does not really matter; so far as anyone at the Wall knows, the would-be apocalyptic champion of the Lord of Light is currently lying dead in the snows around Winterfell.

Melisandre, in her sole chapter, had already faced the trouble of vague portentous guidance on Stannis as Azor Ahai. More to the point, Melisandre had also already received at least some indication via her fiery visions that the identity of Azor Ahai was indisputably linked to Jon Snow. Consequently, I think she may realize or believe she now understands, as TWOW opens, that she had been focusing on the wrong person as Azor Ahai. Stannis was clearly not “the Lord’s chosen, the warrior of fire”, as she put it to Davos, since the apocalypse was still nigh; clearly, what R’hllor was trying to tell her was that the person to look for was Jon. Now, the fact that Jon had also recently been killed may not seem as big a stumbling block to Melisandre as it might objectively, in terms of the identity of a universal savior; Melisandre may not have ever brought anyone back from the dead (so far as we know), but as Thoros and Moqorro demonstrate, the ability of R’hllor’s priests (and presumably priestesses) to defy even death in the name of their god is a substantial power indeed. I have a feeling Melisandre is going to move quickly to return Jon to the land of the living via her fire magic (with the unconscious bonus, perhaps, of having Jon’s “soul” still be preserved in his wolf in the interim).

As far as the queen’s men go, the death of Stannis may seem more like a political tragedy than a cosmic one. The true devotion of the queen’s men to R’hllor is a mixed bag: some truly converts to the new religion (like young Devan Seaworth), some devoted only for the cruelty the exercise of that religion allows (like Clayton Suggs), and some converts only in name (like the late Alester Florent). However, whether or not any given pro-Stannis aristocrat at the Wall feels a sense of cosmological devastation at the news of Stannis’ (supposed) death, all of them would know that their political prospects were now far from certain. In the patriarchal, misogynistic world of Westerosi politics generally, a preteen girl might have a very hard time asserting herself as queen in her own right; as a result, the queen’s men at the Wall might be pretty uncertain about what to do without the strong male warrior-king figure of Stannis behind whom they could rally.

And of course, that’s without the immediate problems at the Wall overtaking them all as well. Jon’s assassination was the acme of a chaotic day at the Wall: not only had Jon dropped his bombshell news regarding the letter from Ramsay, his planned march on Winterfell, and the planned mission to Hardhome, but Ser Patrek had taken the opportunity to challenge Wun Wun the giant to seize Val - which ended about as much as anyone might have expected. With Jon murdered out in the open, the Wall is going to be, to put it bluntly, a mess: anti-Jon conspirators with his blood quite literally still on their hands, pro-Jon brothers potentially retaliating against those conspirators, queen’s men rushing about to rescue and/or avenge Ser Patrek from Wun Wun, free folk realizing that their pseudo-leader at the Wall is now dead. Any questions of Stannis’ death, and the apparent failure of him to be Azor Ahai, may be subsumed in something like a miniature civil war breaking out at the Wall, and them being caught in it.

[the-lake-lily-alchemist]

Dany’s vision of Rhaegar in the HotU

So, I want to beat an already dead and over-beaten horse, and talk a bit about Dany’s vision of Rhaegar in the House of the Undying.

Now, I want to preface it by saying that I know this subject has been talked about thousands of times and it’s boring and tiring to talk about the same shit over and over again, but I just saw “Rhaegar is a prophecy-obsessed groomer/rapist” discourse on my twitter feed and thought I’d toss my two cents in.

Firstly, let’s look a bit at this vision as it appears in the books, shall we?

Viserys, was her first thought the next time she paused, but a second glance told her otherwise. The man had her brother’s hair, but he was taller, and his eyes were a dark indigo rather than lilac. “Aegon,” he said to a woman nursing a newborn babe in a great wooden bed. “What better name for a king?”

As we can see here, Dany, on her quest to find her children, stumbles upon this little moment long past. The text tells us that the three people shown here are Rhaegar, his wife Elia, and their son Aegon.

“Will you make a song for him?” the woman asked.

“He has a song,” the man replied. “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany’s, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door.

This passage specifically has been interpreted numerous times. The text tells us that Rhaegar thought that his son, Aegon, was The Prince that was Promised. However, Rhaegar looks up when he says the prophecy, and looks directly at Dany, as if talking to her.

This to me reads as not-very-subtly being told the answer to the prophecy. Dany is TPTWP, as the author tells us through vision-Rhaegar. Thus, she is made aware of the prophecy, part of which we can find in the title of the book series.

I’ve seen the theory that Rhaegar seeing Dany was a time-space continuum bubble, of the present looking at the past, or, for Rhaegar, the present glimpsing at the future. How I see it, however, is that when he says those fateful words, and looks up to meet his sister’s eyes, he becomes both the gods’ and the author’s channel to make Dany and the reader aware of the answer to the prophecy. He sceases to be just a vision of the past and becomes the gods’/R’hllor’s voice, informing Dany. He tells her about the PTWP prophecy, because she is TPTWP!

Thus, when he continues with this,

“There must be one more,” he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. “The dragon has three heads.”

we can infer that he’s saying this to Dany, because the gods want her to know this (and the author wants us to know this).

Mind you, these are visions, not just excerpts from the past/present/future. The conversation as it’s shown might not have taken place exactly like this, if it ever did. With how abrupt the cut from Rhaegar saying this to him going and playing the harp, I think he’s never said those words himself. Again, I believe that, in that moment (given that “There must be one more” and “The dragon has three heads” do not tie at all with the PTWP prophecy), it’s the gods using this vision of him to tell Dany (and the reader) an important message.

I shall say it one more time, just to be perfectly clear: IT’S NOT RHAEGAR TALKING ABOUT THE THREE HEADS AND A THIRD CHILD, IT’S THE GODS!

“There must be one more”, because Rhaegar has three children, not just two. Dany is fated to meet Rhaegar’s third child (and very probably fall in love and marry said third child, but that’s another overly-beaten, dead horse), and we as readers have been getting clues about who this child is since book one.

In no passage is it stated or implied that Rhaegar sought to have another child. He doesn’t go on and say, “When the maester has cleared you, we shall try for a third.” or “Because you can’t get pregnant again, I shall look for another woman to bear my third child.” The theory that he wanted another one, presumably a girl, to name her Visenya, is just that, a fan theory.

“The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can flnd them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.” (ASOS, Dany VI)

It’s clear (or it should be) that “the dragon has three heads” it’s specifically for Dany to know that there are two people out there whom she can trust and with whom she shall stand “against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.”

It’s not about Rhaegar thinking that his children are “the three heads of the dragon”. It’s about Dany. You would think it’s obvious given that it’s her chapter, but whatever.

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

The way we discuss prophecy in fandom is genuinely fascinating. GRRM spends so much time showing how different characters have different interpretations of the same thing based on their own cultural contexts. He says that prophecy is tricky to navigate through multiple characters, showing that even the most careful practitioner can get almost everything wrong and fall victim to their own fallacies (see Mel). So tell me why the main takeaway for large parts of this fandom is “prophecy stupid, it doesn’t matter”. My brothers and sisters in R’hllor, GRRM didn’t invent multiple characters (three of whom are main POVs!!) who can see the future for this to be the conclusion. This is a FANTASY series. Please I’m begging, let us be serious 🥲

[syndrossi]

resonant ch27 dvd commentary

Favorite line:

The red priestess had thought Jon’s resurrection irrefutable proof of her god’s power, yet at times Jon had wondered if he was so different from the wights he faced across the battlefield: something dead, with fire breathed into him rather than ice, intended instead to be a puppet for R’hllor.

It's an interesting parallel, and one that I'm sure Jon has mused upon before. The dead are not allowed to rest; they are tools to be used by unknowable forces. Unlike the wights, of course, Jon is alive and has free will, but that doesn't mean his return to the living wasn't meant to serve a purpose, as the wights do.

Favorite detail:

The gifts! I had a lot of fun picking the first batch out. Rhaegar's gifts are pretty easy/obvious, and we even had Daemon musing last chapter about getting him charcoals and parchment. The book written by Aenar Targaryen will definitely be important/useful as they go through it. With the dragons left in the care of the Dragonkeepers, it's not a book that anyone has likely read in a century. Aegon or Visenya could very well have been the last to do so, other than Viserys briefly scanning it for information to reconstruct the hatchery in his model.

Meanwhile, the generational cartography is something that felt fitting for dragonriders to do. It is far easier to map something from a bird's eye view versus going about slowly on foot, though it requires recalling the details later, as dragonback is not the most stable position to draw from! One eagle-eyed commenter on the chapter guessed at Daemon's reasoning for Jon's gifts: in both chapters 24 and 26, he's shown interest in ship movement on dragonback and the landscape in general. So he gets a map and wooden model ships!

(Obviously Jon is attached to his bronze knife, but Daemon needs more lead time to have a Targaryen equivalent made.)

And the gifts also reflect aspects of Daemon that he shares with both children: a curiosity about the lay of the land and the movement of people and things below (a strategic eye), and his own interest in their family's history and dragons. Daemon's similarities to Jon are often more obvious, because their personalities on the surface are closer, but he shares many things in common with Rhaegar too!

Favorite dynamic:

The cousins, naturally. Aegon and Aemond's childish jealousy (enhanced by their existing dislike for their nephews) of their shiny new cousins spending time with other children, doing that thing that kids do where they demand you admit that they're your best friend obviously and far superior to any other friends.

Then we have Aemond "letting" Jon be Aemon so that he can be Rhaegar's brother instead, living out the dream of having a brother he likes and can relate to / have adventures with. While Aegon wants to buy "cool points" with his secrets.

And the sibling sabotage with Aegon's secrets, of course! With Otto as their grandfather and Viserys as their father, they are privy to some interesting conversations, which is a resource that Jon and Rhaegar can try to leverage in the future.

Meanwhile, no one has made any guesses yet as to the secret Aegon wants to show them...

Quick hitters:

I hate the flow of "Princesguard" but it's KINGSguard and QUEENSguard, so symmetry demands it. It's also very patriarchal (it's not called Princessesguard), but so is the Kingsguard tbh. I imagine "Princesguard" will be considered a neutral term.

I quite enjoyed delving into Jon's musings on the gods, and his conclusion that he'll pray to whoever keeps his family safe. It's a sentiment we've seen from him before, when Rhaegar has been in danger, where he throws out prayers to whatever god might listen.

Jon opens himself a little bit to Jon Redfort and receives a memory in return. A few folks on AO3 have wondered why Rhaegar can remember parts of Raymar's life but not Jon, and it comes down to Jon being very resistant to opening himself up that way. He keeps a very hard line of separation, which can make his emotions more volatile (Jon Redfort's emotions reach a boiling point that spills over).

I considered writing the gift-giving from Daemon's POV after I finished writing it in Jon's. I'm fond of the "least knowledgeable" POV principle, aka writing a scene from the POV of the character who knows the least about what's going on. Daemon lacks context on the candle, and he has no idea what the boys feel about his gifts, so we'd get his reads on both their reception of the gifts and what they're feeling about the candle. But it also felt reasonably fine from Jon's POV and I usually don't bother rewriting a POV unless I'm unhappy with a scene.

Harvest festival + ball name drop! It's about two months out for the start of the monthlong festivities, which gives interested knights of the land time to make the trek for the Princesguard tourney at its close (3 months from now).

The toy ships were a bit of a bust from Jon's perspective, since he's not actually all that interested in nautical matters aside from their implications for conflicts/supplies. But he wouldn't ever want Daemon to think so, so we'll see if Jon forces himself to play with them for his benefit later. 😅 Laenor+the Velaryon boys are more likely to be interested! (Laenor: You know, Daemon, if you ever need someone to teach you about seamanship...)

I really like the godswood as a setting. It's quite peaceful.

This chapter in general was quite peaceful, until Daemon dropped not one but two "famous last words" remarks at the end.

No deleted scenes or even deleted bits this time to share!

[juniorfor2]

I cannot believe that Ryan Condal seems to be making ANOTHER character in the show his mouthpiece (and for some bullshit magic explanation). Jace would never say, “our Valyrian histories, meant to gild us in glory.” Where does that work with his character, where has his characterization developed to make us think he would say such a thing? Oh wait, it hasn’t. Also, there would have been plenty of Valyrians who couldn’t ride dragons, why would they lie?

I had heard that Ryan Condal didn’t believe that one needed dragon rider blood to ride a dragon, but I didn’t think they’d be shoving it in so soon like that. And I knew that he fundamentally misunderstood magic in ASOIAF, but did he really have to be so weird about it. And just throw out all the lore?

One thing a writer MUST understand when it comes to magic, is that it must be grounded. It cannot have rules that are thrown out at a moment’s convenience, it must have very clear lines that are not to be broken. If a crystal ball gives someone visions, it can’t then two books later give someone the powers of a god. How magic works in a universe must be clearly understood by anyone who cares to take even a small amount of time.

GRRM, even with so many characters and different types of magic on different continents that isn’t always clear, manages to understand this where C&H don’t. He generally picks a certain area, and out of that area only a certain few that have the genes may access certain powers. Otherwise, it must usually be asked with blood magic.

Only the First Men have warging blood, but not everyone has the actual power. The genes passed through a few of the Starks (Bran, Rickon), and is more prominent in the free folk (Orwell, unnamed others, referenced as a normal part of life). NO ONE ELSE GETS IT THOUGH. Not the Lannisters, or the Baratheons, or the Targaryens (excluding Bloodraven because of his mom). ONLY those with First Men blood have the potential to access this power.

Out of all the Valyrian houses, only 40 houses were able to ride dragons. This points to the genes being fairly exclusive, they aren’t just mutating all the time to produce the genes/magic to ride dragons. Now, out of the 3 houses that fled the Doom, only one has the most prominent genes to ride dragons. If House Targaryen or another dragon-riding house ever married with the main Velaryon or Celtigar line pre/post Doom, then they also have carriers and occasional riders (Addam). BUT ONCE AGAIN, NO ONE ELSE CAN ACCESS THIS POWER. It is a power established through blood.

If that rule, after now being established in both the First Men and the Valyrians, is broken, then none of the lore makes sense and any magic can happen. There’s no way to make predictions in ASOIAF, no way to understand who gets to do what. Hereditary magic cannot be written and tossed aside for fun or random whim (looking at you Nettles. I know your ambiguity is important, but we know you’re not non-Valyrian cause that breaks the rules).

All other magic accessed, typically through R’hllor or the once of Dany’s fire magic, must be through blood or death. The sentence “only death pays for life” works for this. Dany got her fire magic by sacrificing Drogo, her son, and Mirri to the fire. Lady Stoneheart comes back, and kills the Frey men. Stannis summons a shadow monster, and kills his own brother.

GRRM UNDERSTANDS how magic must work when created. He knows it must be grounded, and he doesn’t even include that much of it to ensure it doesn’t get out of hand. Ryan Condal, however, does not.

Ryan Condal, and any other writers, throw around magic when convenient. The Iron Throne is insinuated to cut whenever someone makes a mistake in ep1. It shouldn’t say anything, because Aegon created it to be an uncomfortable seat and getting cut would be fulfilling that very purpose, but they give credence to a myth that GRRM has already implied is false.

“Cursed? It’s a throne made of swords!”

The White Stag shouldn’t mean a thing, but for some reason now it represents the rIgHtFuL ruler. Is there no such thing as a god ordained ruler for animals? Correct, but ignore that I guess.

Somehow making people experience magical hallucinations (they are magic, yes, Condal said it) is just shoved in with no explanation. How is Alys doing this, why is she doing it. Even Melisandre and Thorros of Myr had an explanation for their magic and a reason for using it.

And now in s2 ep5, the magic is just erased? It’s such a wishy washy conversation that I don’t even know. Now, it doesn’t matter if you have dragon blood? Or it must be thick? These people don’t know how genes work, so what are they saying and how would they know? The dragonseeds are already established to have the blood/genes, so what’s the point of the saying anyways for the audience? And why would bastards be recorded? There’s no reason. Everyone who married out of the family died or their children married back into the main line so they’re out too. It’s just incoherent.

Writers, you cannot be so irresponsible with magic. You must establish your rules, you must stick to them (preferably just grab GRRM’s rules). You need to be better. Even if you disagree with some of the rules or change them, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE.