#rhaenyra vs aegon is kind of ridiculous

[pearls-n-opulence]

It kind of unnerves me when I see greens speak of Aegon as if he’s a precious, fun loving fratty momma’s boy when he’s actually just a gluttonous rapist. I get liking characters for complexity but genuinely what do you like about a rapist.

Rhaenyra gets a lot of criticism as a character, some of which are valid. She is a hothead. She is irresponsible. She is at times bloodthirsty. But for all that criticism I see greens give for Rhaenyra, I hardly see towards Aegon. They’re two sides of the same coin (except not really because Rhaenyra never had any 12 year old paramours). However, only one gets considered unworthy of their father’s heritage.

Rhaenyra can’t have bastards because god forbid a woman have sex out of wedlock. But Aegon can use his own out of wedlock children in violent forms human entertainment. And if having bastards is enough to disqualify someone from being the ruling monarch, Aegon and Aemond shouldn’t rule either right? But of course, for some “obviously non-gender related reason” Aegon can rule while Rhaenyra can’t.

Aegon is praised and loved for the same reasons Rhaenyra is not. Aegon is also a hothead and irresponsible. Aegon is also shown to have his own bloodlust. However Aegon not showing any full interest in his responsibilities as king is seen as fun and playful while with Rhaenyra it’s childish.

Even down to very appearance Rhaenyra is criticized more. Rhaenyra gets tons of fatshaming posts making crude remarks on her gained weight but Aegon and his wife get fuck all. At least Rhaenyra has her six pregnancies as an excuse, what excuse does Aegon get for being a fatass?

It isn’t about gender until it is. It’s about liking complexity and flaw in characters until it isn’t.

[serymn31]

HotD S2E3 raw reaction

I hate watch House of the Dragon with the expectation that it will be bad and ridiculous, with Rhaenyra bias, and I don't expect too much. For me, this episode was less dull than the first two and had its comedic moments. Spoilers ahead.

House of the Dragon or House of the TIME SKIPS? Seriously, this is a lazy trick. The Blackwoods vs Brackens started out as a street fight then BOOM, all of them are dead in the battlefield. They could have given us an epic battle and showed us more about this conflict, about two houses who just needed the flimsiest excuse to kill each other. The two new faces were pretty good for their short screen-time too. Bracken Twink has a lethal face card too. Hope they kept them longer but of course this show will kill anything that will make it interesting.

HARRENHAL is my goth dream and Alys finally showed up and she’s beautiful! I don’t know why there were people who are against Gayle’s casting but with her show look she’s perfect for Alys.

We get a vision scene with young Rhaenyra sewing back Jaehaerys’s head, but this show can’t give us an interaction between Helaena and Jeahaerys when he was alive. Who are MOTHER AND SON.

I actually like that they showed us more of Baela and Rhaena. Rhaena is probably my team black favorite, frustrated, misunderstood, and her family doesn’t value her because she has no dragon yet. Also, have I said FUCK CORLYS yet? This shows that everything is not sunshine and rainbows in Team Black.

Rhaenys is a weird character but I kind of have a soft spot for her. Maybe because I love to see a woman of Eve Best’s age on screen. In this episode, it feels like Rhaenys knows that it won’t end well for her? And she still fought for Rhaena’s claim for Driftmark.

Aegon and Aemond in the brothel. Peak sibling energy from Aegon right there.

Aegon doesn’t look that bad actually when he’s moving in the armor. In the photos he looks like a bug.

JAEHAERA SIGHTING

GOD Gwayne is so CUNTY. What a spoiled bitch! I actually like how Criston put him in his place and reminded him that there’s WAR

Rhaenyra disguising herself to talk to Alicent personally? I agree on most of the criticisms of this scene but from a dumb lesbian POV this was gold. It was so FUNNY. Rhaenyra is flustered and obviously didn’t think this through. “I will be slain but not before I kill you.” It was hilarious.

Damn, why is this always about Viserys? Why do we have this dumb misunderstanding on Alicent’s part. Whether what Viserys wanted or not, Aegon has a pretty strong claim too. However, Alicent was right. There’s really no turning back and its too late for Rhaenyra to stop it.

Good on Rhaenys for reminding her that Aemond’s eye was cut out which indirectly lead to this tragic turn of events

I would like to see an interaction with Helaena and Aegon but Helaena baby, it’s okay for you to grieve. I feel like Jaehaerys’ death is continually being minimized by the writers. Also Helaena’s room is a dream.

That’s it. I actually spoiled myself on tumblr before I watched and let’s see if I still have the attention span for next week’s episodes.

[alleyskywalker]

"I'm happy/mad that HOTD aged Alicent down."

Guys. Seriously, the amount by which they aged her down is pretty negligible. It's not stated explicitly, IIRC, how old she is in the show, but assuming she's the same age as Rhaenyra (15ish in E1), she was only aged down by 3 years. Like, ok, sure in real world terms there's some difference between an 18 yr old and 15 yr old marrying a man pushing 30, but this doesn't seem to be the main/only issue for everyone, and in every other way the 3 years difference is functionally negligible. (And in any case, the 18/29 age gap is still significant, and Alicent is still a very young and, likely, inexperienced woman at that age who wouldn't have had much more agency in this society than at 15-16.) Given than adulthood in Westeros occurs at 16...again, the aging-down is kind of *shrug*

You know who's age got changed in an ACTUALLY significant way though? Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra who was about 9 when her father remarried and about 10 when Aegon was born. (Funny enough, she was close to the same age as Catelyn was at Edmure's birth. Cat had also been raised as Hoster's heir until then - he just didn't make any formal announcements about it.)

So if you want to be happy/mad about someone's age change, it should be hers, not Alicent's. Because 9 and 15 is a big difference in a very functional way. And it affects a LOT of things. Even re: Alicent - a 15 year old and an 18 year old can be friends. It's different if the age gap is closer to 10 years. But also things like...of course it sounds a lot more ridiculous to propose marriage between Rhaenyra and Aegon when their age gap is closer to 15-16 years than 10, instead of Viserys making a political blunder because he's playing favorites with his children. Of course it make sense for an ailing Viserys to cling to his choice of heir, who is already an adult (vs a toddler), for practical reasons, and not just because he loves only one of his children way more than the others. As an older-teenager/in-universe adult, Rhaenyra can do badass #Girlboss moves like the confrontation with Daemon (which would not have really been a possibility in book canon).

Like regardless of whether you like or dislike the changes the show is making, I don't really get the fixation on "aging Alicent down" when that's not really the impactful age-change here.