#tati ooc

[rhaegxr]

𝐎𝐎𝐂; Early sinday rhae gif icons 👀

i meaaaaaan those last three have interesting expressions ok woops but also let me add how that there is my hc for rhae's physique so even better.

[vaedar]

𝐎𝐎𝐂; 𝙾𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚘𝚝𝙳 𝚂𝟸 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚢

Okay, so I wanted more Valyria and dragon lore and that new season 2 opening delivered on both, if only a little bit. Below cut, I will try to break down the first sequences of the opening pertaining Valyria with some theories. As always, a reminder that these things are just my interpretation to be used only in this RP blog, and it is in no way to be considered canon unless so specified.

(Doesn't really contain spoilers about HotD, only the use of the first 3 opening theme scenes to elaborate on dragon lore/valyria theories).

The first one is pretty straightforward. Valyria was built on blood, and so that shows here, which transitions into the next scene, where we see Valyria (particularly, the Anogrion, which we are told was the 'source of power' of the valyrian bloodmages) be formed or 'weaved' from this first sequence of the blood.

We then get the blood continuing the path down to the figure that looks almost like a sphynx, with wings of fire, body of a dragon/lizard creature, and a valyrian head. This is reminiscent to the song Daemon sings to Vermithor, especially with the next sequence:

We see a valyrian seemingly 'offering' themselves to the creature, while apparently being stabbed, with their blood gathered in a bowl. We also see glass candles, three to be specific. Again, the number three, like the song tells of a 'winged leader, fire breather, two heads to a third sing'. In the original english song (not the literal translation) it's more clearly stated:

"One who breathes fire, one who bears wings, but two heads need three, and a spell that sings."

The song is describing a ritual, more specifically, a bloodmagic ritual:

"Follow my voice blood magic old the price has been paid as the fires foretold.

In visions of flame listen to me the spell that needs three is made whole through me."

What I initially take from this all is that we're being shown how the dragon bond was formed. This could also explain why Daemon sings this to Vermithor as a way of 'appeasing' the dragon, as it was once part of the spell/bloodmagic used to bond with the dragons. It would seem that the ritual requires a union of dragon and human blood (DNA?) for the bond to happen, which explains various aspects about Dragonlords and dragons themselves.

The intermarrying to keep the blood pure. GRRM has said that not all valyrians practiced this, only/mostly the Dragonlord or noble families. If only the blood of that original valyrian that was part of the ritual to bond with the dragons is what works then, of course, you would have to preserve that blood as pure as possible. However, does this mean that only certain dragons (from the lineage of that original dragon that bonded with the original family member) can bond with that family? Can this be used as an explanation to why the Cannibal ate other dragons, because he was hatched from an egg that was already there from the original valyrians that founded Dragonstone and not Targaryen bonded dragons? Does this confirm that Dany's eggs are Dreamfyre's? Maybe, maybe it's coincidence. I personally prefer to not take it as coincidence, especially for the sake of lore building.

The miscarriages and 'dragon/lizard babies'. If the dragon bond is through a magical fusion of human and dragon blood, then this means Dragonlords have dragon DNA in them, which of course, would probably not make for a great combination sometimes. And we get the deformities and dragon features in the unborn babies from that dragon DNA overpowering the human. It's no surprise that miscarriages can also be common because of some 'error' or incompatibility on the cellular level (magic can only do so much I guess?).

The creation of dragons. In TWOIAF and F&B both we are given the possibility that dragons were actually created. In the song/spell, I believe we are given a little hint to support that theory in the very first stanza: "One who breathes fire, one who bears wings, but two heads need three."

One who breathes fire = fire wyrms. We are told these are essentially blind, wingless, worm-like lizards that live under the Fourteen Flames. This can be supported with the appearance of Caraxes, the Blood Wyrm (the dragon looks like a winged worm pretty much), and the 'dragon' that hatched to little Laena Velaryon (a wingless wyrm, maggot-white and blind). One who bears wings = wyverns. We are told they are reptiles that look like smaller dragons since they have wings, but they don't breathe fire. They are wild in Sothoryos, where we know Valyrians liked to 'experiment' with creatures (because maybe a certain civilization already did as much? little bit more on that below).

In the rest of the song, we have the "But two heads need three" and "The spell that needs three is made whole through me". That second one is particularly interesting to me with the 'made whole' part. It could simply be symbolic only to the dragon bond, since the literal translation of the song says "To bind the three, to you I sing". I think this can be taken as in a fusion of three DNAs are needed to create the dragon, as much as three 'heads' are needed to forge the original dragon bond of a valyrian Dragonlord lineage.

The 'three' aspect is the base of a lot of things throughout the whole of ASOIAF, it's not exclusive to just one particular thing, or even the prophecy itself. So I do believe that it's possible it can apply to both the dragon bond and the creation of dragons. I would go as far as to wager that the hidden symbolism behind the Targaryen three-headed dragon is not just to represent the conquerors, but the original recipe of the 'three ingredients' (for lack of a better term) necessary for dragon creation, dragon bonding, and all else that the three symbolism is used for valyrians and bloodmagic. Let us not forget that the 'Fire and Blood' the Targaryens use is also based on Valyrian culture as a whole, not exclusive to the Targaryens alone, as Fire and Blood are what valyrian magic was rooted on.

However, it's important to note that we are also given in books how dragons pre-date Valyrians, and the existence of ancient Dragonlords before the founding of the Valyrian Freehold. What is an even older civilization that started out great but descended into brutality and slavery, that also practiced incest, dark arts (like manipulating DNA of creatures?), necromancy, bloodmagic, etc.? The Great Empire of the Dawn.

It's an old and pretty possible theory that GRRM might be giving us clues through Dany's dream of those 'gemstone eyed kings' that valyrians are either directly descended from this civilization or are its inheritors, and it's from their legacy that valyrians 'learned' how to forge the dragon bond ( and other magical aspects, including valyrian steel, which is also very likely forged through bloodmagic ). It could be valyrians did not create dragons but instead this older civilization ( that, interestingly, occupied the east of Essos, very likely Asshai, which is often used as the place from where dragons 'originate' from).

All of these things tie into the show's theme regarding prophecy but also how dangerous dragons are, because everything that made Valyria powerful is built on bloodmagic. I will not go into details because I don't want to use spoilers, but I believe that opening tapestry was purposely done to support these theories exposing the 'wrongness' of the dragons and their power. And how eventually, bloodmagic always has a price.

[0fmanynames]

𝐎𝐎𝐂; Me here thinking on who to use for Sauron's discord tupper collection of him as Zigûr and then the lightbulb finally turns on and I remember a dude I've been using for years in dark!au's... Perfect death cult leader vibes.

[cxnqueror]

𝐎𝐎𝐂; Well, thank you for making me feel even older, Tumblr...

Btw, I've been writing Aegon on discord and doing stuff for him on another site and after HotD... Yes, might try to do stuff here to.

[ga1adriel]

i am absolutely slow as hell here at the moment, but my time has been super limited (as per usual) and i've been prioritising what's bringing me joy in my writing and development of galadriel on discord. my inner eye of sauron is fixed upon on my drafts box and i have not forgotten anyone, i'm just trying to live, laugh, love between work and home life.

[razorfst]

help how is this giant walking thirst trap machine of a man so fucking adorable??? him and his dad are just 😭😭😭

[we-are-a-dragon]

DM: The BBEG begins chanting again. He slices the dagger across the back of his hand and lets his blood run over the wooden eye. The townsfolk start to groan again.

Lyra (playing Hesty): I wonder... Could I try to take the eye off him?

M (playing WA): *eyes light up* God, yes. I was thinking about putting out his candle, but that's even better.

DM: You don't need to make a check to put out the candle, you can just snuff it.

M: I do that, then.

DM: BBEG snarls with displeasure.

Lyra: I make a grab for the eye.

DM: You miss, unfortunately.

M: I also want to grab for the eye.

DM: As he leans away from Hesty, you reach up and snatch it from his hands.

M: Yes! Now what?

Adam (playing Harriet): Throw it to me!

Hamish (playing Hunter): Oh my god, play keep-away with the BBEG.

M: Yes! I throw it to Harriet.

DM: He roars with anger.

Adam: I run to the side door and attempt to leave.

DM: As you run into the corridor, you come face to face with the two Faceless who Gregor locked out earlier, who have circled around the hall.

Adam: Oh, shit! I run back into the hall and use the front doors instead!

DM: Alright, you have left the hall with the main ritual item. That certainly puts a spanner in the BBEG's plans.

[sharkeaten]

i love waking up n scrolling thru my dash like it’s the morning paper. kisses to u all and ur hcs

[starscrxssed]

[OOC] - talk of the harbingers on my dash makes me think about this little one, and what sort of relationships he would have with them and/or how little Xinfu would see them.

[rhaegxr]

𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒

Was Rhaegar a dreamer? Before House of the Dragon aired, I did not have him as a dragon dreamer, but once the show gave us new info (such as the Conqueror being a dreamer), I figured a change was in order. Recently, we’ve gotten more info that has helped me better shape that headcanon, so I will elaborate on that in this post. As always, the disclaimer: all things I post here are for RP purposes. In no way am I saying this is book canon or that others should consider it so, or that I am expecting others to accept it. 

We were recently given, in show, the little detail of how Daenys the Dreamer got her prophetic Doom of Valyria dream the night after she claimed a young Balerion. Then in season one, we learn that Aegon I Targaryen, also rider of Balerion, had a prophetic dream about the Long Night (which prompted him into conquest). Then we also learn that Viserys I Targaryen, the last rider of Balerion, had that single one-time prophetic dream, and he only rode on Balerion once. We know that the dreamers aspects (and very likely the Daenys claiming Balerion and then dreaming bit) come from GRRM, so what is he trying to tell us viewers/readers?

Let’s check what we do have in books about dreams, starting with the wolf dreams the Stark children experience. They all seem to first receive these dreams when/after they get their direwolves. Direwolves are magical creatures, such as dragons are. Magic in the ASOIAF world appears to be connected, like a worldwide magical network that weakens and gets stronger. Something magical in one place can affect it everywhere (the birth of dragons after a century, for example, had ‘shockwave’ sort of events around the world). There are even certain places that Melissandre alludes to as magical ‘hinges’ of the world, with The Wall being one of them. Magic, in a sense, is almost a consciousness in that worldwide magical web; we can even consider the weirwoods as an ‘access panel’ to it for greenseers to be able to tap into. 

Using another Stark example of that magic having a ‘consciousness’ that connects all magical creatures/places, we have a passage on Jon and Ghost in books. Jon describes ‘It was Ghost who knew what to do’, with Ghost being there when he wakes from his recurrent Winterfell crypts dream. He starts getting this dream when reaching The Wall. The magic, through his bond to a magical creature, is trying to tell him a ‘truth’ about who he really is, and shows him the crypts because likely the truth is found there—Be it figuratively or literally. This is likely because the truth of his identity (half Stark, half Targaryen) will play a big role in the Long Night. This, in itself, is a headcanon, but since it’s a pretty widespread one, I am using it as an example to better explain my reasoning. 

We know that dragonlord families practiced interbreeding to keep the bloodline pure, because their blood is what enables them to bond and ride dragons. Some of them experience dragon dreams. So I do think it’s safe to say ( for the sake of the Ice/Fire parallel themes of ASOIAF ) only the Starks or those of First Men blood are able to bond with direwolves, and like them, the Stark children experience wolf dreams. And so it’s why they receive these kinds of dreams, because their magical bond to those magical creatures bestows the dreams upon them. Of course, we have characters in books and show that have had other prophetic dreams through other means, be it greensight or coming into contact with hinges or magical things (such as weirwoods), or even simply practicing magic ( like the Red Priests, the maegi, and so forth). 

And we come again to how characters like them have pointed out a resurgence of magic that makes them ‘stronger’ (after Dany’s dragons hatch). Which again alludes to the theory of magic being a worldwide web kind of thing, interconnected, with certain places, items (like glass candles, horns), elements (fire, ice, blood, etc.) and creatures serving as conduits to it. Going also by the theory of Valyrians and First Men blood being able to bond with the creatures, it would also make sense if they are more innately ‘sensitive’ to certain hinges or conduits or concentrations of magic, such as The Wall and the weirwoods; even without being ‘trained’ (as Red Priests or maegi are). We also know that ‘king’s blood’ plays a role. 

Now, after exposing all this, I do believe GRRM might be further supplementing these clues through the show bits. And I do think the message is that: dragons give the dragon dreams. Of course, we know dragons eventually go extinct but Targaryens (or those with Targaryen/Valyrian blood) continue to have dragon dreams—But the dragon eggs remain. The tradition of placing dragon eggs in the cradles of Targaryen babies continued. We know of a few of those people who had an egg or were possibly in proximity to eggs, to have been given dragon dreams. Among those dreams were the ones pertaining to the return of the dragons, and this drove a few (if not all) the dreamers into trying to fulfill what they saw. 

Dragons seem to definitely be an important part in the Long Night prophecy, so what if this obsession is also magically spurred, in a way? Even in Fire and Blood, we are told dragons seem to have an intelligence that men can’t understand—Can it be that, like direwolves, they are conduits connected to the worldwide magical network? The same that is stirring with the impending coming of the Long Night? Even Quaithe tells Dany that the dragons ‘remember’, and implies that perhaps they are trying to make Dany ‘remember’ who she is—In the same way Ghost is trying to make Jon learn the truth of who he is and is pointing to where he might find out. Because it’s all an important part of the prophecy, the Long Night, and whatever roles big or small they might have in it. 

After all this, let’s finally go back to Rhaegar and the actual reason why I wrote it. I am 99.9% certain Rhaegar has dragon dreams (always leave that .1% because this is GRRM, wouldn’t past him to just change stuff or add something that changes everything as he has done before). I used to be like a 50-50 before House of the Dragon (applied it only to AUs), and then maybe an 85%, but after the Daenys and Balerion info, I am very certain now. We are even directly given in books where and when he had those dreams: Summerhall. 

In a previous headcanon post regarding his birth, I did include the dreams as a possibility of why he was going to Summerhall but now it has been elevated into a certainty. We know Rhaegar was born during the tragedy at Summerhall, where a great fire killed half the Targaryen family. We’re not given the ‘what exactly happened’, and this is probably on purpose because it might be revealed in some big way or something later on ( because if the theory of what happened is true, then dark stuff went on there ). But we do have the bits of that half message, how there were seven eggs, the blood of the dragon was gathered and pyromancers with wildfire, before the fire went out of control, a ‘treason’ happened and Dunk saved someone ( Rhaella and -unborn or not- baby Rhaegar ). 

Here we have all the elements for the same egg hatching ritual Dany’s dreams told her to do: eggs, fire and blood sacrifice. Who was going to be the sacrifice? Unborn baby Rhaegar. Just as unborn Rhaego (oh yes, the name similarity is more than just ‘to honor her brother’ on purpose and very GRRM) was the sacrifice that gave life to the dragons in the eggs. But what matters for the purposes of the headcanon is; the eggs. We are not told what happened to those eggs so I do believe it’s not far reaching to say at least one of the eggs is still there. 

So what would happen if a Targaryen prince, already marked by the magical yet tragic circumstances of his birth, visits said ‘haunted’ place with only his harp, and comes in proximity to the egg while he sleeps under the stars? 

“Whenever he came back he would bring a song. When you heard him play his high harp with the silver strings and sing of twilights and tears and the death of kings, you could not but feel that he was singing of himself and those he loved.” --Daenerys IV, A Storm of Swords

His songs were tragic things (like prophecy?), and it felt like he was singing about himself and those he loved because of the emotional intensity in them. And that’s because he probably was, in a way. He did think himself the Prince that was Promised at some point until Aegon’s conception, after all. He was a musical individual and it would make perfect sense for him to ‘record’ or translate his dreams into song—Much like how we get in the show Helaena’s drawings on the walls and sketchbooks. For Helaena, we are told it was a way of escapism, so I can easily see the same being for Rhaegar (who already shows escapist tendencies). And speaking of dreamers and similarities, I do think there are bits throughout books that connect possible dreamers in personality terms. But I won’t get into that here. 

However, we know that Rhaegar read of the prophecy in some scroll or book, and that is what prompted him to ‘become a warrior’. I have already explained this bit in the birth post for him as well, but I think him being a dreamer only adds to it. We know he ‘grew up with a complex fascination for the ruins’. So what if when he first visited Summerhall, he was still a young teenager yet to read about the prophecy? What if when he first visited, he had a certain dream that had him want to learn more about what exactly happened in the place he was born? And what if when he learned of it, his dreams, his birth, his very existence, has a whole other meaning that he embraces through the prophecy? This, I believe, all fits with traits that previous dragon dreamers had displayed, subtly or not. And when paired with the show bits we are given about dragon dreamers being apparently bestowed the dreams by dragons (or eggs, as book might suggest), then it rounds up nicely, in my RP opinion.

Again, this is all headcanon for the purpose of RP as I portray Rhaegar, but thanks to the show’s supplemental info paired with the book equivalents; there’s too much coincidence to just think it’s nothing more than that. Of course, if/when we are given more info from GRRM himself or when/if Winds of Winter comes out, I will adjust as needed to fit canon as much as possible. For now, it’s fun to weave these threads we have been given together into a bigger tapestry through the magic of RP. And as always, if you read all this, thank you!

[vaedar]

𝐎𝐎𝐂; It's Vaedar beckoning valyrian muses in their dragon dreams...

But really under cut, appreciate this gif that I think is my all time fave for him.

[0fmanynames]

Same, Saublob, same.

[lapisdex]

//Rex is just 0 - 3 when it comes to kids accepting his partner

[orphicflames]

ok hello. i am awake. the padres won yesterday despite our closer insisting on making it "interesting" and stressing me the fuck out when i had been awake for the previous 20 hours straight. gonna go play some stardew to chill before trying to write. let's fucking go.

[kingoftheocean-marvin]

id rather be a butterbitch than a bitchboy xoxo

- 🦋

what does that MEAN

[we-are-a-dragon]

Adam (playing Harriet): I shoot at the gelatinous cube.

DM: Your arrows pierce its goopy form and you have the sense that you have damaged it, before the slime envelops the arrows and sucks them inside.

Marijn (playing Winnifred): I want to... insult it? I can knock it prone.

DM: Though you don't think it understands what you said, your magic does flip it over.

Hamish (playing Hunter): How do you knock a gelatinous cube prone?

DM: I kind of imagine that it has a foot, like a slug or a snail.

Hamish: That makes sense.

M (playing WA): I'm going to stab it again.

DM: Your dagger slashes through a strand of goo and the entire cube denatures. Congratulations, you have slain the gelatinous cube and are now standing in a widening puddle of bright green acidic slime.

Adam: Gross! I don't want to step in that!

M: I go into rubbish bin mode and get out of there asap.