#the hag's brutally honest opinions

[reginarubie]

For the brutally honest ship opinion, what do you think of Viserys/Aemma? Fandom has romanticized them so much (and so has the show), but I just can't get over the fact that Aemma begged him to stop, crying that she doesn't want to die, while Viserys cut her in two for his male heir. She also mentioned that she doesn't want to go through the ordeal of pregnancy again, implying reproductive abuse that Viserys repeated with Allicent. Fandom is determined to make him Ned 2.0, but I don't see it

Ciao nonny,

For my brutally honest opinion about Aemma/Viserys…

… people really romanticise them so much? I mean the scene about her death is on the top three of unwatchable/unreadable scenes of the whole franchise (GoT and HotD). It’s up there with Talisa’s death in GoT and the mention of the way Elia was killed in asoiaf and the grief and vengeance Oberyn and Doran still feel for it.

Or maybe I am just overly sensitive over it because I am a woman and seeing people killing a babe in the womb and the mother or opening a woman to get the child out of her… it was crude and raw and whilst plausible of the time and characters is in my opinion unwatchable and kinds of make unredeemable the men involved.

Aemma begged for her life, and whilst it’s true she might have died anyway and this way the babe would have a chance, for how little… she pleaded, she begged him, told him she wanted to live, and he ignored that to get his son.

He didn’t even comfort her properly. He just ignored her fear, her pain and her terror. The whole exchange they have before the birth also enlightens us to the sheer abuse Aemma suffered and accepted because they taught her it was her duty to give him male heirs (‘the queen was ever mindful of her duty’)

The same abuse, but worsened, that Alicent suffered. Because not only she suffers that very same abuse, but she manages to give him three sons. All healthy and living through infanthood and into adulthood. She does her duty, as a wife and mother and still Viserys overlooks the sons she gave him in favour of Rhaenyra.

She suffers that abuse, she overcomes it, she does her duty and manages to give him what he wanted and still her children are almost nothing to him.

Even on his bed, during his illness he calls Rhaenyra “my only child” as if he doesn’t consider Alicent’s children as his, the sons he so much wanted and that she gave him. He forces himself to hold court to defend Rhaenyra, he would not have done the same for any of Alicent’s children.

He ignores his own son’s cut/off eye because Rhaenyra’s honour was put in discussion for the truth.

And whilst Viserys might have done well by Rhaenyra (defending her beyond defence, and loving her and making up for the years he overlooked her) he does not do the same for his other children.

And whilst in Fire and Blood it’s said that before dying he spent an evening with Helaena and his grandchildren, telling them stories that was cut off from the show and for good reason since he’s barely seen interacting with any of his children by Alicent if not to defend Rhaenyra.

Also, people like to think him of the new Ned because of the way they framed his interactions with Rhaenyra (which reminds them of Ned/Arya)… and it was intentional, and in some ways it was similar (Viserys laughing with her about her quirks and being indulgent with her, his rage but love even though Rhaenyra is being difficult for the standards of the time and context, his unwavering support of her claim despite her dishonourable for the context and time actions).

Though if they are paralleling him and Aemma with Ned “my lady you’re holding your hands strangely, who harmed you?” Stark and Catelyn “Ned loves my hair” Stark I’m gonna throw a right fit.

Anyone who knows me a little bit knows I adore Ned and Cat, despite their fragilities and faults… and to even anyone is imagining Viserys could be paralleled with Ned outside of the Ned/Arya parallel they are severely mistaken.

Even worse if they want to parallel Viserys “I want so badly a son that I'm going to have it at any cost (my wife's life cost), then when I have him I'm gone ignore him” with Ned fucking Stark who raised and loved the son of a man he most probably hated who might have or not abducted his sister, and has for sure secluded her away from her family against which he was fighting because of the love he bore his sister, protecting him even against his own best friend... I don't think they have been paying attention.

Since this can become pretty difficult and also triggering I'm putting the rest under the cut.

I give you the antithesis. Ned Stark with Lyanna Stark and Viserys Targaryen with Aemma Arryn and if any of you wants to argue that that doesn't count because it should be between Ned and Cat and Viserys and Aemma just remember that:

Lyanna had only been sixteen, a child-woman of surpassing loveliness. Ned had loved her with all his heart.  — Eddard I, AGOT

Whoever Jon's mother had been, Ned must have loved her fiercely, for nothing Catelyn said would persuade him to send the boy away. — Catelyn II, AGOT

So, just shut the hell up if you're gonna argue Ned&Lyanna are not good term of paragon, also because we don't know what exactly caused Lyanna to bleed to death, she could've had a difficult birth same as Aemma did, she could have had a premature birth (like it happened with Visenya daughter of Rhaenyra), so many things could've gone wrong, still it is about a woman laying on her deathbed, during the birth of her son and the man who loves her standing beside her as she dies.

Ned and Lyanna So, the scenes begins with Ned running up the stairs of the Tower of Joy to reach a screaming Lyanna. When he barges through the door Lyanna is shown in a bed of blood, her whole middle covered in vivid blood, sweaty and pale, scared, delirious. Yet she recognizes her brother, whom she loves and missed even though delirious, and she's so much out of it that in a first moment she is afraid he might be a dream.

What does Ned does? He abandons his sword at the feet of the bed and runs to his sister's bedside, kneeling at her side and when Lyanna asks him if he's a dream, Ned assures her that no, he's not a dream and he's really there and to drive the point through he grabs her hand.

Then, as he caresses her forehead and holds her hand, she tells him she missed him and Ned, who has fought a bloody war, has lost his father and brother both because of Aerys, tenderly tells her he missed her too.

He does all he can to comfort her.

And when Lyanna tells him she wants to brave, even though he is holding back his tears he tells her she is.

Lyanna is clearly terrorized, not only has she just given birth mostly alone after months of seclusion and possibly abuse; not only with the grief of her father and brother dying because of Aerys madness and her situation with the fear for the man she loved (? maybe) and the other people she loved for sure (her brothers and her mother); she knows she's about to die so we can only imagine how difficult and traumatic the birth might have been for her; she's scared for herself and she's terrorized for her son who faces a terrible death if word ever got out of who he is.

What does Ned does? He tells her she's not going to die (comforts himself as much as he is comforting her) and goes out of his way to try and save her (demands water for her, which is a kindness and a help for women who have just went through childbirth; and demands she's seen by a maester, asking for his presence and apparently Rhaegar left his pregnant lover/wife without Maester? Anyway digressing). Lyanna on the other hand knows what it is that truly scares her, Jon's fate.

So she begs him to listen to her and he does. She begs him to protect her boy, to promise to protect him. She entrusts her son in his arms, and by Ned's words themselves:

He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes. Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his. Ned could recall none of it. — Eddard I, AGOT

Another proof of how much Ned loved her is that he remembers perfectly Lyanna's last words, the way she died comforted by the truth her brother would protect her son, and thus her son was safe from any harm, but from that moment on (until presumably he was given Jon) he had held onto Lyanna, and he was so grief-stricken he could not recall what happened until Howland Reed had disentangled him from his sister.

Arguably Ned in the end did everything and more to ensure Lyanna died peacefully. Aemma would've probably died anyway (and both Lyanna and Aemma were put in a situation in which childbirth was even more dangerous than normal by their Targaryen husbands/lovers abusers for some damn prophecy, the same one mind you) yet Viserys failed not only for the sheer abuse he put her through (which I have already said) but for the way he handled the moment of her death. Viserys failed miserably where Ned managed the only possible success that day, ensuring his sister had peace as she died and ensuring her last wish was honored by keeping her child safe.

Again, Aemma might have died anyway, but first of all Viserys put her in that condition, despite being aware that their pregnancy had been always difficult and took a toll on her health, despite know how much it hurt and weighted on her. Still, Viserys didn't even manage to comfort his own wife, I'm pretty sure they could've given her milk of the poppy to ensure that she did not feel as much the pain and also making sure she staid still, something that did not happen. Aemma fought as Viserys and the midwives kept her still and down. She fought to survive, she fought because she didn't want to die and no one comforted her.

And I've cut out the worst of Aemma's death scene, the part in which she struggled and fought, and pleaded and begged to be listened to, to be comforted, to be helped, to be saved. Because as I've said it's pretty hard for me to see, and I think it might be pretty hard for anyone with a bit of sensibility.

Tbh, both men were put in a terrible situation, the difference?

Ned was not the one to put Lyanna in that situation to begin with, and especially from what we know of his character he would not have put his wife in that situation either. The Stark motto ‘Winter is coming’ is as much as a prophecy as ‘the dragon dream’, still Ned did not live his whole life with the only intention to father children that would defend the North. His children defended the North because Ned taught them their duty. Males and females.

Ned managed to comfort his dying sister, Viserys did not comfort his dying wife. Or did not find the right key to comfort her. Aemma died afraid and struggling to save herself. Lyanna died peacefully knowing her family still loved her, that they loved her enough to look beyond the parentage of her son to keep him safe because of the love they had for her. That Ned bore her.

Put into an impossible situation, Ned managed to do the only thing he could do. He made sure his sister died peacefully and feeling loved, knowing her son safe.

Aemma died struggling for her life, her child being torn from her womb at her husband's choice, fearful for the fate of the child she was carrying and grief stricken for all the grief the pregnancies duty and Viserys imposed on her caused.

So yeah, we respect no man who would put his wife/lover/woman through all of that for any reason, even less for a damn prophecy (you'll find no apologist's behavior toward Rhaegar and Viserys here) in this household.

Tbh considering him the new Ned means people have not really paid attention to the whole matter. Viserys is the new Rhaegar and the abuse Aemma and Alicent suffered is the same abuse Elia and Lyanna suffered at Rhaegar's hands.

So, yeah, this turned pretty long...but I really, really hate this paragon and I really don't think people should overlook the abuse Viserys put Aemma and Alicent through only because his love stories (especially the one with Aemma) are shown only by his eyes. It's a POV trap which makes you believe that the love he bore Aemma is enough to overlook the abuse he doesn't see as such. But it is there.

And if people wanna parallel Viserys (aka Rhaegar 2.0) to Ned… I just have to say

As always, thank you for your ask! And sending all my love ~G.

[pokelec]

A Dead By Daylight Novice Reviews All the Killers' Trailers (and makes suggestions for what they'd change)

Reveal trailers are paramount for an audience's first look at new characters. First impressions are everything, so your trailer for your shiny new character needs to be perfect for what's in store for the video game! I started playing DBD a month-ish ago but watched all the trailers for the killers before I started playing, and watching some of them got me to thinking about how I would have changes some of the trailers. Some require no changes, while others I think need an overhaul.

Disclaimer: This is in my personal opinion, is not objective at all, and I'm only doing this because this is something I've been thinking about for a month and need some sort of release or else my brain will implode.

Under a read more bc this gets long.

The Trapper - The first trailer! For a first trailer, I think this one is pretty spot on. It follows a lot of beats of slasher movies, in terms of following a survivor that's gonna be killed, her encountering dead bodies, and the suspense of the killer looking for her. Considering Dead by Daylight is effectively a playable horror movie, I think this is a perfect intro to the game. As for what this means for the Trapper, aka our Jason substitute, I think it showed him off alright! We saw his bear traps and got a good look at him doing this thing. Pretty good, all things considered!

The Wraith - The Wraith, Hillbilly, and Nurse all features gameplay as the means of showing off what the killers can do. The Wraith's isn't too bad, since it does show off his Wailing Bell power enough for people to understand "This is a killer that can turn invisible, and you may not know he's right next to you until it's too late". I wish it has a more cinematic style, but I'll be forgiving here because DBD was still young when this was made. I also thing it showed the new map, Autohaven, pretty well. I'm not too big of a fan of ending the trailer with his mori, but that could be because I don't find his mori exciting.

The Hillbilly - Next is our Leatherface expy! This one feels shorter, still using gameplay to introduce our new killer but at least shows off his chainsaw wielding and hints at the map associated with him. I like the shot of him revving his chainsaw underneath the tree with the animal carcasses! I don't mind the ending with his mori here because even if it's off screen, getting cut with a chainsaw is brutal enough to leave a lasting impression. Again, I wish it had the cinematic style, but it's fine.

The Nurse - I think the Nurse's trailer is the weakest of the three gameplay-focused trailers. The text intro is... fine, but I honestly think it fits the Doctor more. It does an okay job of showing us her Blinking mechanics, but it also doesn't? Like we see her teleporting to Nea, but it feels lackluster. I do like the ending shot of dead Nea as the Nurse just blinks away. I'm not quite sure how to change this trailer to be more effective in my opinion, if I'm being honest.

The Shape/Michael Myers - Our first franchise killer, and a perfect trailer. The first second in, we hear John Carpenter's legendary Halloween score. Even non-horror fans will quickly pick up which killer this is. The suspense of Laurie see Michael, Michael coming up the stairs, and especially the shot of Laurie and Michael being on opposite sides of a door is *chef's kiss*. We see enough of the Shape to be satisfied and eager for his release. It's the perfect trailer for him AND Laurie imo.

The Huntress - Ah, the Huntress. She is my favorite killer to play as, and I probably have the majority of my playtime on her. Unfortunately, I think her trailer leaves a lot to be desired. It's the start of the 'let's look at the killer from different angles, have them turn around to the camera, and then attack the viewer' trend of DBD trailers. I call for a complete rewrite! Here's what I would have done:

The map is Mother's Dwelling. Two survivors (David aaaand idk Dwight?) are running and hides behind some trees. We hear the Huntress's lullaby get louder, and we see the bottom half of her and her axe as she walks past the survivors. The lullaby gets quieter, and the survivors take a sigh of relief. Then, a hatchet is thrown and lodged into Dwight's head! David screams and runs. We then see our full look at the Huntress as she picks up the body. Her signature lullaby continues as the trailer ends.

The Hag - The Hag's trailer also follows a similar formula to the Huntress' trailer. There is an animation bump, so we get to see the Hag's emaciated appearance in full detail. I'm not too mad about that, since the Hag's appearance is unsettling enough to cause viewer distress and curiosity more than the Huntress' would. However, because this is a DBD original killer, we need to see what her deal is with her trailer. Thus, I propose this:

On the swamp, Ace is repairing a generator but hears another survivor (Dwight?) get hooked. Ace goes to rescue him, but we see as he steps on a rune in front of the poor survivor. The illusion of the Hag pops up, jumpscaring poor Ace (and the audience) but disappears. Ace then rescues Dwight for real, but Dwight quickly runs away. Why? Because the real Hag is behind Ace and lunges at him, biting his neck. Trailer ends.

The Doctor - I now realize that my taste in writing DBD trailers is 'have the survivor do a thing, they think the killer is near, they then relax, and only then are they attacked by the killer'. It's a bit stereotypical, but again, we're dealing with a game centered on the horror genre, so that's why I'm okay with it.

I mention this because that's effectively the story beats the the Doctor's trailer follows. Instead of attacking Feng, however, the Doctor just looks at her run and stares menacingly. Even though we don't see the Doctor's shock therapy powers here, I think the long look at the killer is still effective because of his design. A first reaction I (and other reactors) experienced went from the initial "OMG the killer is here, run girl!" to "Why tf are his own eyes and mouth held open like that A Clockwork Orange scene?!". We also don't linger for too long on him either, so I think this trailer works well enough.

The Cannibal/Leatherface - Another franchise killer, this time good ol Leatherface! This trailer is a little different, using text to draw up suspense. I do like the reveal of "What is his mask made of? YOU.", but I would've loved to have seen some actual Cannibal action, or at least his in-game model doing his Texas chainsaw massacring thing.

The Nightmare/Freddy Kruger - Oh, c'mon, we got one of the most well known characters in horror in this little video game, and all we get for his trailer is some scratch marks and a 'killer does nothing but stand there menacingly and attack the camera' trailer?! I do like the detail that when we see him, it's DBD's version of the dream world, but we could've at least featured a survivor falling asleep and then seeing him for themselves.

(Also kinda sad it's the reboot version of Freddy instead of the Wes Craven version and the survivor is Quentin instead of Nancy Freaking Thompson, but I guess we should be happy he's in the game at all)

The Pig - Largely, I think this trailer is pretty good. I'm not too big of a fan of Amanda just standing there menacingly near Dwight, but I do like everything else. I especially love the security camera shot of the famous Saw bathroom and the cutaway when Dwight's reverse bear trap activates (but we still see a good bit of gore!). It feels very Saw-like.

The Clown - This trailer is pretty good! Even though we don't see the Clown in much action, we get a lot of visual storytelling with the bottles, the circus, and the ring of fingers, all leading up to the reveal of his face. The diagetic music from Kate is a nice touch, too.

The Spirit - This one is alright. There is a lot of focus on Adam, but it does build up tension to when the Spirit reveals herself. My biggest problem with it is the ending card that is used for her. Yes, I know that's traditional for the end of these trailers, but her pose and expression is kinda meh after the face she makes when she's about to attack Adam. Seriously, that couple of seconds haunts me (sorry) otherwise.

The Legion - My other favorite killer to play! It's so funny how I didn't like Legion when I first heard of them but now they're my favorites. I love how the trailer emphasizes that the new killer(s) looks similar to survivors and the brutality of when Frank reveals himself and stabs Jeff. However, the trailer does a disservice to the other members of the Legion. C'mon, that's their whole shtick!

My recommendation would be to end with a shot of Julie, Joey, and Suzie joining Frank (and obviously getting a good look at them) and surrounding Jeff right before they all stab him. This is a little disingenuous since you can't play as all four of them at once (unless you count that one Blighted skin...), but you also can't disguise yourself as a survivor, so... Yeah. They are The Legion! They act as one! Treat them as such in their trailer, dammit!

The Plague - The Plague's trailer is interesting. Even though we don't see her in action, I think it's fine because seeing her puke on people during her trailer might be a bit off-putting. Just a bit. We still get some storytelling with her whispered prayers, the candles and incense thingy, and, of course, her face. I think because the Plague's design is inherently unique among all the killers so far, she can get away with the 'let's just tease the audience by looking at the killer and nothing else' trend.

The Ghost Face - Not too much I can complain about with this one. I do like the wtf factor of 'wait, why is a DBD trailer at a modern day warehouse???', especially if you're watching a trailer playlist like I first did. It all makes sense when you learn it's Ghost Face, though! Also, justice for that poor cashier.

The Demogorgon - RIP Stranger Things DLC. I don't watch this series, but I really like the Hawkins Lab map and I'm going to be sad when it's gone. :(

I love this trailer! When I hear the Stranger Things music, it actually gives me chills. I'm legitimately so sad the DLC will be gone from the stores, but I do own them myself. I need to actually sit down and play Demo, Steve, and Nancy one of these days. Why am I crying? No, I'm not kidding, why is this trailer making me cry? Renew the contract, Netflix, please! I don't want this stuff to disappear forever!

(Is it weird that I've been nagged on for years to watch Stranger Things but it's Dead By Daylight that's actually convincing me to watch it?)

The Oni - This is an interesting case. The "main" theme of this trailer is the contrast of modern day Japan's Yui and her motorcycle vs the literal ancient samurai Oni. I think it works out, and again, I think the presentation makes up for us not seeing too much of the new killer.

The Deathslinger - Oh boy, do I love my cowboys! This trailer is nearly perfect. We establish the western setting quickly over the sounds of some poor bastard in pain. The reeling in of the chains and the closeup of The Redeemer is so great. My biggest complaint with this trailer is that we linger a bit too long on the Deathslinger's face at the end. Yeah, he's creepy with his eyes and his disjointed jaw, but you can only look at a horror for so long before you want to move on.

The Executioner/Pyramid Head - I like this trailer! I haven't played Silent Hills, but I'm at least somewhat familiar with the premise and Pyramid Head. I love the shot of him passing the classroom door window and the sword cutting a rift through the ground. Yeah, my lack of SH knowledge makes me unable to recommend any changes here.

The Blight - I have no changes to suggest. The Blight's transformation is super horrific, reminding me of the typical depiction of Jekyll and Hyde. Honestly, he is so much more terrifying in his trailer and in lore than in gameplay.

The Twins - No changes needed. BHVR is really starting to hit their stride with these trailers! Seeing Victor come out of Charlotte's body is amazing.

The Trickster - We depart from all of the other trailers by using an K-POP music video style. It does a good job at referencing some of his story beats (namely torturing/killing people, recording their screams, and using them in his music), but it doesn't really make me afraid of the Trickster. Sure, it fits with his theme, but I would have preferred seeing more of him, y'know, instead of just looking pretty and making faces? I still wouldn't change the art style of the trailer, though. It's fitting enough for him and a breath of fresh air from the doom and gloom.

The Nemesis - No change needed, mostly because I'm not too familiar with the Resident Evil series, but seeing Jill, the twink Leon, and Nemesis on-screen is a very cool moment. Also can we get an F in chat for Meg?

The Cenobite/Pinhead - This is a perfect trailer. We got the Lament Configuration, we got the chains pinning up Dwight, we got Pinhead himself! What more can I ask for?

If you actually made it this far, thank for reading? I don't think I really contribute anything to the fandom with this analysis, but DBD has been living rent free in my brain for the past month, so I may as well write something, eh?

[thearvariblues]

The Demon’s Dilemma

Also on AO3. ;)

Crowley knew that something wasn’t right the moment he opened the door to his flat. It wasn’t the fact that it was unlocked. He never bothered to lock it in the first place. No one would ever try to rob him – and if they did, well, Crowley wouldn’t be the one to suffer the consequences, right?

No, the problem was the… the overwhelming feeling of love he felt in the air. Contrary to Aziraphale’s belief, Crowley was able to feel it. Sometimes. He was able to feel Aziraphale’s love, at least. That was how he knew the angel was in his flat, doing things he definitely shouldn’t be doing.

Crowley closed the door behind himself silently and sneaked his way through his own flat. He didn’t want the angel to hear him. Not before he was sure what was going on.

(He was sure, but he needed to catch the angel red-handed. Or green-handed. Whatever.)

Then he finally heard Aziraphale’s voice. He didn’t bother wondering why the angel was in his flat in the first place. After the Apocalypse-that-wasn’t, Aziraphale had started to come to Crowley’s place whenever he pleased. Crowley didn’t complain. It was nice to have his angel around. But he never suspected the angel might betray him like this.

“Oh, look at you, you beauty,” he heard Aziraphale say. “So gorgeous. Would you like more water?”

More water?! Crowley gritted his teeth. Seriously? It was even worse than he’d thought!

“You like it, don’t you?” Aziraphale’s voice continued. “And you? You are lovely, all of you. Oh, my darling, is that a spot? No, no, don’t be scared. We’ll sort it out in a second...”

And that was all that Crowley needed to hear.

He pushed open the only door that separated him from Aziraphale (and the plants the angel was currently spoiling rotten). He tried to look scary and dangerous, but he had a feeling he was failing spectacularly.

“Hello, angel,” he growled, because that was probably the only thing he could do to keep at least a little bit of respect. “Care to explain what in S...omebody’s name are you doing with my plants?”

No matter how edgy Crowley wanted to look, the angel still positively beamed when he saw him. Crowley fought really hard not to smile back at him, no matter how much he wanted to.

“Crowley,” Aziraphale said. “My dear boy, I’m so sorry. I thought you would be at home, but you weren’t, and then I saw these poor darlings and I thought I’d take care of them for you… They were incredibly thirsty, did you know? You really should water them more often, Crowley, I mean-”

“Yeah, well, thanks for your opinion, Aziraphale,” Crowley growled (once again, still hell-bent on keeping his cool facade). “But they’re thirsty for a reason, you see? Limited water rations make them appreciate the water they do get, and that in turn makes them grow better. Is that right, guys?” he said, addressing his plants.

They started to shake immediately.

“Crowley,” Aziraphale said, his voice full of disapproval. “Are you making them scared of you on purpose?”

“Maybe?” Crowley shrugged, taking a plant mister from Aziraphale’s surprised hand. “So what? It works.”

“Of course that it does. But kindness and water would work even better.”

“Sorry, angel, but I disagree,” Crowley growled and glowered at the smallest plant in the room, the one that was pretty new and still didn’t understand all the rules properly. “They must know that when they don’t behave like good plants should, they’ll end up in the garbage disposal.”

“Garbage disposal?” Aziraphale smirked. He had the audacity to sound amused. “My dear boy. You’ve been bringing the plants that don’t behave like good plants should to me for years.”

Crowley was very thankful for his sunglasses. That way the plants (and the angel) couldn’t see that his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“And you’re killing them off. He’s killing them off, you hear me?” he said, addressing the plants, but their trembling was already starting to lessen. “He kills them even more brutally than the garbage disposal ever could!”

It didn’t look like the plants believed him.

Especially when Aziraphale gave him a mischievous smile, the bastard.

“Oh, no, my dear. I’m giving them to the lovely old lady next door. She is very kind to them. Waters them whenever they want to. Tells them how beautiful they are. She has a special room dedicated to the plants, would you believe that?”

The plants had stopped shaking completely and now just stood there, listening to the conversation. It wasn’t as if they could just get up and leave.

“Aziraphale,” Crowley growled, taking off his sunglasses. “You’re gonna pay for thisss.”

The angel, completely undisturbed by Crowley’s snake eyes, raised his hand and gently stroked a leaf of the small plant Crowley really should have got rid of weeks ago.

“For what, my dear?”

He had the audacity to look almost innocent. Almost.

“You...” Crowley said, his voice quiet and menacing. “You come to my houssse. You ssspoil my poor plantsss rotten. And then you tell them my biggessst sssecret?!”

“Well, I’m sorry, Crowley,” the angel smirked (smirked!). “I just wanted to help, because your poor plants looked miserable. I had no idea they are supposed to be that way.”

“And why did you think I was bringing you the onesss that didn’t grow properly or… or weren’t green enough, or...”

“To… help them get better?” Aziraphale said, starting to look a little broken-hearted. “I honestly had no idea that it’s your way of threatening the ones you didn’t bring.”

“That’s jussst lovely, angel.”

“But now that I know,” Aziraphale muttered, straightening his back, “I shall not endorse it.”

“Meaning?” Crowley asked, lifting his eyebrows.

“That until you stop being so horrible to them, I shall not visit your flat. And it would probably be for the best if you didn’t come to my bookshop, either.”

“You’re bluffing. You wouldn’t.”

“What is it that humans say these days? Watch me, my dear.”

With that, the angel turned on his heel and left.

Crowley let him. He was sure the angel would come back. It might take a week. Maybe two. But he would come back.

Except that he didn’t.

Not a week later, not two weeks later, not a month later.

And Crowley, who’d got used to having the angel around almost every day, had to admit he was starting to go mad. Countless times, he wanted to call Aziraphale, invite him for a lunch or just tell him about his new evil demonic deed he thought of, so the angel could find a way to thwart him. (To be completely honest, he’d had about two new evil ideas during the whole month – not very good. More like terrible. He was lucky Hell wasn’t keeping an eye on him any more. He would be in big trouble if it did.)

Mostly, he just wanted to talk to Aziraphale.

Precisely thirty-five days (right, it was thirty-four days, sixteen hours and fifty-eight minutes, but he absolutely didn’t count every single one of them, nope) after Aziraphale left, Crowley found himself drunk nearly to oblivion on the floor by his plants, sniffling quietly.

The plants didn’t take Aziraphale’s absence any better than their master. During the past month, they kept withering, slowly but constantly, despite all of Crowley’s attempts to stop them from doing so. He’d tried everything – threats, withholding water completely, threats, regular watering, threats, all kinds of fertilizers, more threats… Nothing worked. It was almost as if the plants reflected his own mood. They looked exceptionally terrible today.

Crowley drunkenly kicked aside an empty whisky bottle and growled at the one miserable little plant that looked like it was almost beyond saving.

“Ssso what dyouwanmetodo?” he hissed. “I’m trying, you know. I’m doing my bessst!”

There was no reaction whatsoever.

“Ssss not like I’m the worst, is it? You could do much worse. You could be his plants. Trust me, he’s not like he seems. I’ve witnessed him nearly murder a whole garden full of flowers. A garden. Yeah, he’s kind and sweet and he means good and he’ll tell you how much he loves you, but he knows nothing about… about...”

Nitrogen levels in soil, he wanted to say. Fertilizers. Proper watering techniques.

Instead, he just sniffled again and gazed at the poor, probably dying plant.

“You miss him too, don’t you?” he asked. “Do you miss him like I do? No, you don’t, you can’t.”

Shockingly, the plants didn’t reply. Crowley licked his lips and sighed.

“You wanmeto go to him?” he muttered. “Say I’m sssorry? Will you get better if I do? Will you be okay again?”

The plants straightened their leaves a little.

“Not fair, guys. Not fair,” Crowley smirked. “I’m a demon, for… I’m a demon. I don’t say I’m sssorry!”

Again, no reply, but Crowley had a strange feeling that the plants weren’t really buying it.

It didn’t matter. He’d already made up his mind.

“Fine. Fine. You win. But remember, it’s because of you, not because I can’t live without him!”

No, they definitely weren’t buying it.

“Right. Right,” he sighed. “But I think I’m gonna have to… sober up first…”

Eighteen minutes later, Crowley walked into Aziraphale’s bookshop. He desperately tried to look cool and collected to hide the fact that he was very nearly trembling with nervousness.

“Aziraphale?” he called. “Angel, are you in here?”

An old lady who was currently inspecting a book glared at him.

Right. Customers. Well, he’d better try and drive her away.

“Angel,” he said again. “Sweetheart, where are you?”

The lady returned the book to its shelf, glaring even harder.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Crowley said with way more politeness than the old hag deserved. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen my partner? As in boyfriend. He’s the owner here and...”

The woman didn’t even let him finish before she stormed off with only a small “tsk!”.

The moment the door closed behind her (with a very loud and meaningful slam), Aziraphale emerged from behind a bookshelf.

“Crowley,” he said.

“Was that the only one or is there more of them?” the demon asked.

“The only one, fortunately,” the angel replied. “Thank you for that, my dear, by the way. The way she looked at the book… As if she wanted to buy it only to burn it. Poor Oscar. He doesn’t deserve that.”

Crowley watched the angel run his finger across the spine of the book the woman was looking at.

“Yeah,” he said. “You’re… welcome, angel. Even though you wouldn’t have sold it to her anyway.”

“Of course not. But it’s nice to see you coming to my rescue once again, so I wouldn’t have to be… unpleasant,” Aziraphale smiled.

“Right. No problem. As always.”

Crowley took a deep breath, biting his lower lip, as he gathered his courage to start talking. Really talking, about what he came to talk about. But he couldn’t. He could just stare at the angel.

It took Aziraphale quite a few seconds to realize that the conversation simply wouldn’t move anywhere if he didn’t make the first step – so he made it.

“How… how are the plants, my dear?”

Now, Aziraphale expected several different answers to this question, ranging from “all dead, gotta buy some new ones to torture” to “better than ever, thanks to me doing what you wanted me to”. What he definitely didn’t expect was Crowley to hug him like a boa constrictor and start sobbing into his ancient coat.

“Crowley?” he said quietly. “What’s wrong?”

“Missed you,” Crowley murmured, holding the angel even tighter.

“You or the plants, my dear boy?”

“Both,” Crowley clarified. “Can’t imagine. Dying without you.”

Aziraphale was tempted to ask “you or the plants?” again, but decided against it.

“Crowley,” he said instead. “Are you drunk?”

“Not as much as I was,” came the reply, murmured into the coat so thoroughly that it was hardly intelligible. “Please, angel, I’m sorry, so sorry, just stop being mad at me, I can’t survive you being mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you,” Aziraphale sighed, wrapping his arms around the demon as much as the situation allowed him. It wasn’t much, but he still felt the demon practically melt against him. “Now, my dear, you should let go a little, if you don’t want to discorporate me. And I sure hope you don’t, because I can’t possibly imagine explaining to Gabriel that I was crushed to death by an overly affectionate serpent.”

“I’d love to see his face if you told him that,” Crowley said, releasing the angel from his deadly grip. He made to take a step back, but Aziraphale’s arm around his waist stopped him. Crowley frowned. “Angel?”

“I said let go a little,” Aziraphale smiled. “Do you know you look absolutely dreadful?”

“I guess. Was a rough month.”

Aziraphale raised his hand and grabbed the rims of Crowley’s sunglasses, but didn’t take them off immediately – he waited for Crowley’s nearly invisible nod before doing it. The demon’s eyes were full of despair, but also hope – and love. A truly incredible amount of love. It made Aziraphale’s heart flutter.

“I’ll tell you what,” he smiled. “I will close the shop and we will get you back home, order a nice meal, have a glass of wine and take care of your lovely plants, what do you say?”

“You hate takeaway.”

“I’ll survive. I hope. That would be even more awkward to explain. Killed by horrible takeaway. Gabriel’s head would probably explode.”

“And it’s not even noon yet.”

“Oh, the shop’s been open for almost an hour now. I think that’s more than enough for one day, don’t you?”

Crowley grinned at that. “Oh, definitely, angel. Let’s go?”

“Just wait a second. I almost forgot I have a little something for you.”

When the couple got to Crowley’s flat, the plants that had been slowly dying an hour ago turned out to be as green and vibrant as ever. And the most vibrant of all was the little one, the one that clearly did understand the rules perfectly, but it just didn’t care. The obvious leader of the revolution.

“I hate you guys,” the demon growled while Aziraphale cooed at every single one of them, telling them how beautiful they looked today. “I really hate you all.”

“What was it, my dear?” Aziraphale asked.

“Nothing, angel. I was just about to introduce him to their new friend.”

(The friend being a brand new tiny potted plant – Aziraphale’s little something for Crowley.

“I expect you to treat it the same way you treat all the others, remember it, Crowley. Exactly. The. Same,” Aziraphale had said.

“Angel,” Crowley had replied. “You know I could never...”

“Yes. I know. Means you are going to have to treat the others better, doesn’t it?”

“Are you absolutely sure you’re not really a demon? Because this is something a demon would do.”

“Not a demon. Just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing.”

“Loving.”

“No, I clearly remember you said knowing.”

“Said, yes. But I meant...”

“I know, Crowley. I know.”)

“Oh. Right. I’ll leave you to it, then. I think you need time to explain the new rules, am I correct?”

“I guess,” Crowley sighed, resigned.

“Good demon,” Aziraphale said, brushing his fingers against Crowley’s as he passed him. “What would you say to some sushi, by the way?”

“Sushi would be great. I’ll be with you in a minute?”

“As long as you need, my love.”

A tremble ran through all the plants in the room – but they weren’t terrified, no. More like very, very excited.

The angel laughed and left. Crowley turned to the plants. He tried to look sinister, but the smile tugging at his lips was completely ruining it all.

“Now you listen to me, you traitorous, spoiled, backstabbing-”

“Crowley!”

Right. The angel could still hear him. Crowley sighed.

“You are beautiful and I love you all?” he tried.

“Much better, my dear. Keep going. You’re doing great.”

Crowley felt a shiver run down his spine. Right. Maybe this praise thing wasn’t really that bad…

A few hours later, a demon was lying on the brand new comfortable couch he’d miracled up, slowly dozing off, and a smiling angel was running his fingers through the demon’s red hair.

The demon was trying to convince himself that he would reinstate his reign of terror over the plants first thing in the morning. Or maybe in a week or so. He just had to wait for the angel to forget about the stupid new rules, and then he would be able to do anything he wanted and…

“Just look at yourself,” the angel murmured. “Six thousands years, and I still cannot believe how beautiful you are, Crowley.”

The demon opened his yellow eyes and smiled.

All right, all right. Maybe, just maybe, the plants didn’t have to be the most terrified in order to be the most luxurious, verdant and beautiful in London. Maybe just a little scared would do.

“Have I ever told you how much I love your eyes?” the angel asked. “Loved them since the garden, really.”

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, angel.”

The angel smiled and scratched the demon’s scalp. And the sound the demon made definitely wasn’t a moan.

“The question is – is it working?”

“Oh, yesss,” the demon hissed. “Don’t you dare ssstop.”

Maybe, just maybe, he was going to let the angel shamelessly manipulate him like this. For a while. A few months. A year, at most.

“I was thinking, my dear… I could spend the night. If you wanted.”

And just then, the demon knew he was going to be shamelessly manipulated for centuries. And the worst part was… he didn’t mind at all.

[laillakat]

Self Discovery 8

What do you want people to say about you behind your back?

I have thought about this for several days but I have been stuck. I’ve only ever had people tease me and bully me to varying degrees. Nowadays, the people from my past consider me a slut but the reality is I’m not. I laugh and make jokes about being a hoe but the reality is, I’m the farthest thing from a slut. Making jokes helps me cope with the nasty things people say. I am better than what people said about me in the past and I wish I could be known for who I am now. I practice white magic, love learning new things, go on adventures with friends, and went from being homeless to being in a great apartment with wonderful roommates. I am funny, compassionate, and a fighter. But I’m also a brutally honest person who doesn’t try to hurt the feelings of others, but I never sugarcoat things. I will fight back and talk back if I feel the need to stand by those who I feel the need to defend. Sometimes I find myself in trouble doing that, but I don’t regret standing up for what I believe in. I want people to talk about me in a way that is accurate. Everyone has their own take on things, a different perspective. My ex-girlfriend probably sees me as an evil hag. My mother probably sees me as a lost soul. My friends see me as a girl on the path for growth and getting better at figuring out life. They are the sweetest people on this earth. 

I think after so many years of hearing people talk about you in a way that is inaccurate, it makes you desensitized to the nastiness people think of you. We grow and change but the opinions of others don’t grow and change with you. Why should I care? But if anything, I’d like what people say about me to be accurate.

[hoggleswart]

8 for questions for millie !

WHAT’S A SECRET THEY’VE ONLY EVER SHARED WITH ONE PERSON? WHO WAS THAT ONE PERSON?

A lot of Millie’s character  /  reputation   (  her main survival instinct tbh  )   is about letting people believe what they want to believe without really bothering to correct them. It used to be because they didn’t care for anyone’s opinion   (  still don’t  )   and now, they’ve learnt there’s power in being an enigma. In keeping who you are, right down to the bone, somewhat of a mystery. Missing husband that people are presuming dead? Who is Millicent to tell them otherwise. That rumour that went around Hogwarts that she was part - hag? Sure, let them think so. Some say they saw Millie fighting on the good side at the Battle of Hogwarts. Others say they saw them defending Death Eaters. Millicent simply says it’s none of their business. They’ve somehow mastered the act of being brutally honest, while never really sharing any truth that matters. Very what you see is what you get, except no one is really sure who they’re seeing. Because of this, there’s honestly no easy answer to this question. Truthfully, there are a lot of things Millie hasn’t shared with anyone and it would take a lot to change that. That said, their cat knows everything, including what really happened between two lovers on vacation. 

[crackuzuarchived]

*Slides url under the door*

Send me your URL and I’ll tell you: @13lilypetals

I WANT TO SAY AGAIN SORRY I KEEP MESSING UP YOUR MUSES AND FORGETTING WHO YOU DONT HAVE.

My Opinion on;

Character/s in general: Only going off your Naruto characters, Madara and Izuna are precious, Itachi - as I said before, is perfect and must be protected at all costs, Ino is kinda forgettable but that’s normal for any girl written by Kishimoto, and Tsunade is a fucking scary old hag. I - I uh dont care for Tsunade.

How they play them: I mean, they only changed to multi-muse recently, so it’s easy t osay they’re new to these characters, but then again, I dont know how much practice they’ve had behind the scenes so I cant say anything. Going by what’s on their blog, I’m happy with it. I’m excited to rp more between my Sasuke and their Itachi.

The Mun: Very kind and open. So approachable. Easy to talk to and so forgiving.

Do I:

RP with them: A little bit, yes.

Want to RP with them: As said before, I would love to rp more between Sasuke and Itachi. Maybe explore Sasuke and Ino a little bit? But who knows.

What is my;

Overall Opinion: An incredibly kind and forgiving mun. Well worth the follow alone. So open to interactions and that’s just the canon characters - I haven’t even talked about Haruhi, though I’m really not comfortable with OCs, so I cant say I’ll be interacting with her any time soon..

**Note: Mun’s answer are all to be completely honest. Don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty

[olivemeister]

Hey! I'm the anon who sent this ask: "while i'm all for the blm movement and hate nazis, we have extremists in our community too"... and I just wanna say that I agree with a vast majority of your opinions! I'm really trying not to be disrespectful here, and I'm sorry if I come across that way. I only pointed out that we have bad people in our community too because I don't think we should just ignore them. They're part of the reason why some are against BLM and other great movements. (1/2)

You received a message saying that our movement was just as bad as the alt-rights. I disagree with this too!! Our movement is striving towards equality and ending police brutality, not murdering people because of their race. But I just wanna say maybe that anon who sent that message was talking about the very loud extremists within the BLM movement who simply want to hurt white people in any way possible. (2/2)

sorry it took me so long to answer this, i honest-to-god realized at like 3am last night “oh shit those asks”.

i guess my thought here is that our communities are already self-policing this stuff? that’s been my experience at least - adding onto the fact that the widl power imbalances in our society mean that rather than being real threats, shit like that coming from the side of the oppressed is more reactionary stress relief than an actual plan or goal - or even a joke that white people took seriously.

does that make it acceptable? ehhhh... it makes it understandable, and i don’t know that i can tell black people that their anger is wrong. me disapproving of something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s objectively wrong, so i guess all i can really reply to that with is “i don’t think it’s helpful to talk about wanting to kill white people” while keeping in mind that this anger is likely vital to the movement’s success. if people aren’t angry they won’t fight for what they deserve.

that said:

“They're part of the reason why some are against BLM and other great movements.”

mmmm questionable. in many cases they’re already disapproving of the movements toward equality, and this tiny minority (that in my experience is already being denounced and criticized by their larger group, a la feminists vs radical feminists who talk about killing all men - which, incidentally, is a great example of what i’m about to say) is blown out of proportion in order to be viewed as an actual risk and therefore a legitimate reason to oppose the group. it’s a tactic being used by smart, hateful people to try and popularize demonization of civil rights groups in order to hopefully turn the public at large against them. 

they did it with suffragettes (painting them as ugly hags who want to enslave men (and ironically revealing that the life of the average housewife is something that men in that era would consider to be basically slavery if it were their role)), they did it with the civil rights movement in the 50s (painting them as violent animals), they’re doing it now with groups like BLM. this is a repeated thing, it happened before and it’ll happen again - no matter how minuscule an extremist faction is or how many people in the larger group denounce them, the people in power will elevate them and amplify their voices in an attempt to turn public opinion against the whole movement. 

the problem as i see it is less the tiny percentage being used as an excuse and more the oppressing group looking for that excuse. if they didn’t exist, there would be a different excuse.

and it works, so i think it’s important to recognize it for what it is so that it won’t.

[lesenchantes-blog]

HEY RANDO HAG.

Send me your URL and I’ll tell you || Accepting

My Opinion on;

Character in general: I love Adam! He is very complex as a character and there are just ?? so many ways you can interpret him. How they play them: u r shit. JUST KIDDING. Obviously I love your interpretation? Even if I send you 90% crack, I think you like go to infinity and beyond with your characterization of Adam. The Mun: Who even are you??? Like I definitely haven’t known you for like ten years or anything it’s fine. 

Do I:

RP with them: Like on every single one of my blogs { and crack blogs }. #sorry, but you’re stick with me!Want to RP with them:  YEAH, reply to me. ;)

What is my...

Overall Opinion: HI KATHERINE. Love ya lots! Reply to me

**Note: Mun’s answer are all to be completely honest. Don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty

[thcrnedcrown-blog]

quietly drops my url into here if it's not too late ..

My Opinion on;

Character in general: I have a weak spot for dark muses so I’m in love. No joke here.How they play them: As far as I can judge it they are really well written tbh?The Mun: IDK?? but as far as I can judge it from the dash it’s a cutie uvu

Do I:

RP with them: No!!Want to RP with them: Of course but I’m also an old hag so- cries

What is my;

Overall Opinion: One of those blogs where I sit once in a while on and stalk it and just heart eyes at them.

**Note: Mun’s answer are all to be completely honest. Don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty

[reginarubie]

For the ship opinion ask : Corlys/Rhaenys? They're compared to NedCat for the apparent compatibility and equality present in their relationship despite the bastards that Corlys fathers during the course of their marriage (Of course, he also abandoned Rhaenys canonically after Laenor's death and refused to listen to her plea to name Laena's daughters as his heir over the bastard children of the woman who they think murdered their son). But he's isn't as bad as Viserys or Daemon so...?

Ciao nonny,

Again, everyone has a right to ship what they want and please keeping doing it.

Said so…

Will people just stop trying to find the new Ned Stark??? News flash, guys there is only one Ned Stark and Catelyn Stark is keeping him all for herself so just stop!

Only Jon and Sansa have an ounch of what made Ned and Cat, NedCat and all the others are just pretenders.

Yes it’s clear it was a match that by itself it could’ve been a winning one and a good one besides, but Corlys still fathered several bastards (something Ned didn’t fucking do, thank you and amen) and he literally abandoned Rhaenys when Laenor and Laena their children died so close to each other.

Ned fucking Stark protected Catelyn when she went off the rails and took Tyrion prisoner, claiming she did it by his order. The exact opposite of Corlys leaving a grieving Rhaenys.

Corlys was not only emotionally distant from Rhaenys but also physically. Ned whilst being physically distant from Cat was supporting and protective and near her emotionally.

Also, Corlys did not press for Rhaenys claim because he thought Rhaenys capable, but because of what the fact that she was rejected as queen meant that his blood no longer would rule from the Iron throne, which is why he accepted very easily when Rhaenyra was promised to Laenor.

Also, the name is more important to him than blood. He prefers Rhaenyra’s children which he knows are not his grandchildren over his granddaughters because of the name they sport. Rhaenyra boys are a) boys and b) Velaryon by name, instead Laena’s girls are a) girls and b) Targaryen by name; thus Corlys defends the Strong boys because they carry the Velaryon name over the Targaryen girls who carry also Velaryon blood.

That’s misogynist and tells us that Corlys never wanted Rhaenys on the throne because he loved her and supported her and believed in her capabilities but because of the prestige of being the consort of the first ruling queen of the Iron throne and the fact that his Velaryon blood would rule.

He also, on the same route of thinking supported Rhaenyra mostly because this way he and Rhaenys reached a common ground (the Velaryon boys by name would marry the Velaryon/Targaryen girls by blood) and he would be satisfied beyond the fact that his son whom was homosexual (which he did neither understand nor accept) had been killed in mysterious circumstances and his widow married like the next day, also I don’t think Corlys ever actually liked the way his brother wanted his “throne”.

Also by supporting Rhaenyra and with the fact her boys were promised to his granddaughters he also managed to put back his blood and name into the line of the Iron throne.

So, imo Corlys is only a very ambitious and cunning, prideful man. And whilst that doesn’t make him the worst husband ever, it doesn’t even put him in any kind of league with Ned Stark who loved and raised the son of the man he possibly hated out of love for his sister, against the man he loved as a brother.

I would say, for him and Rhaenys a 4/10. Rhaenys deserved a Ned Stark, who defended both his “bastard son” by keeping his secret and his defenceless daughter for both of whom he swallowed both pride and honour.

So anyone wanting Corlys to be the new Ned and Corlys/Rhaenys to be the new NedCat…

As always thank you for the ask! Hope you an amazing day! All the love ~G.

[reginarubie]

For the brutally honest ship opinion : Rhaenicent, Daemyra, Alicole and Harwin/Rhaenyra. Also, this has nothing to do with the ships, but I desperately need you to validate my hate for Corlys. He's an incredibly sexist man preferring strong bastards over his own granddaughters, but has the audacity to complain that the realm was just as sexist to Rhaenys. Also, he's so spineless, you think Rhae killed you son and your brother and you're still supporting her anyway? The latter

Ciao anon!,

Let’s start by the ships!

Rhaenyra and Alicent

Tbh, with the way they have acted and are framed in the show? Totally dig it, wether as some sexual tension, emotive tension or simply two souls who love each other but are torn apart by duty, flaws and conviction.

It has emotional depth. In book canon I understand things were pretty different, but using show as canon it is interesting and I can see why people would ship them. The friends who love each other (be it sexual or platonic) and are torn from each other because of society, duty, flaws and conviction … not only because of the world around them but because of them themselves… it’s interesting and I personally loved this change from the bookverse.

So, 8/10 as long as it remains true to the plot of the story and the characters.

Daemon and Rhaenyra

We have no respect for a grooming disrespectful meow meow in this household. For how cute he may act, all headnudges here and there, he is a grooming manwhore who was better off exiled for good.

And whilst I agree the actors played their part right (perhaps playing much in the direction of what fans had wanted Jonerys to be) I still can’t look past the fact he basically groomed her (and her whole “I am not sixteen anymore” line drives the point even more home) and Laena (who might I remind you is younger than Rhaenyra).

He also killed his first wife, ignored his second wife’s wishes and made her daughter feel inadequate because she was not a dragon rider and put hands on Rhaenyra.

Noh. Sure he supported her claim to the Iron throne (also because he himself thrives for power, look at the Black Queen until Rhaenyra gets Lucerys’ death’s news, he tries to force her hand and only backs down when she is forcefully pulling rank on him. He tries to be the head of the entire campaign, and she has to command her son to make sure Daemon’s commands are not followed without her say so which tells us much of how much she trusts him).

-100/10

Alicent and Criston

Chanson de geste ship, the eternal knight and the lady he champions passion filled gaze and pining and angst. Filled with the dark hues of the world of F&B, totally dig it despite their flaws and the way Criston changes during the years.

It makes sense.

Can I have more, ma’am and sir?/10

Harwin and Rhaenyra

Possibly the only not toxic relationship Rhaenyra has with a man.

They’re both adults, they have a consensual relationship with which both seem happy with (they are tear stricken when they have to separate) and tho it’s obvious Harwin would’ve liked to be more open with his children the rumours were there exactly because he acted very much like a father, more than Laenor did anyway. Harwin seems to accept Rhaenyra with all her quirks and flaws and loves her anyway.

Truly, I like them and despite the whole dishonourable matter caused by the marriage with Laenor and the society itself, forced to be lovers instead of man and wife in the context they are, I think they make a fine pair and he’s very supporting of her and she seems very earnest toward him, defending at least in private, what little rights she could give him.

8/10

Now onto the Corlys dislike know this. I am with you. I actually have another ask about him and Rhaenys and his whole character, so look out for that too because I am going to validate your dislike for him by my own opinion (for how validating that may be), so look out for that.

Corlys and Rhaenys, brutally honest opinion also why Corlys is NOT the new Ned, ffs.

As always thank you for the ask, hope you have an amazing day! Sending my love as always ~G.

[reginarubie]

If anything, Ned should be compared to Otto like these two dudes pushed their daughter to royalty for their own gain. At least Otto knows how to play the game, Ned just placed Sansa in the pit of vipers without any protection and lol haters still hate her for causing Ned to die? What 😆

Cia’ anon,

If you truly think the load of bullsh*t you have written you might have not paid attention neither to the series neither to the books. But, in good faith you truly are misconstruing I will explain my point of view.

Ned Stark did not want to go South, dude was traumatised by the South, and had refused Bobby B offer the moment it was uttered (pertaining both his naming to lord Hand and the marriage between Joffrey and Sansa). It’s Catelyn who convinces him of the need of him to go South to discover the truth after Lysa’s allegations became known about the death of Jon Arryn and thus accept Robert’s proposal.

Also, they betrothed, to be married when Sansa was old enough, a girl of 11 to a boy of 13/14. Also they betrothed a prince (not a king) to the daughter of the Warden of the North, who was one of the few eligible candidates for Joffrey’s hand.

Which is very much different than Viserys/Alicent both in the book and in the show (by book canon Alicent was 18 and Viserys almost 30, still big age gap but acceptable for the context… whilst in the show they gave us a forty something man and a girl of 16-18) in both cases Alicent/Viserys have a bigger age gap than Sansa/Joffrey and also a big gap in the experiences they led. Also Alicent was not near enough the best eligible match for Viserys, tho others would have been every worse on other aspects.

Viserys was a man grown, married already once and with a child and several failed pregnancies or children dead on his shoulders, whilst Alicent was a maiden of barely 18. Sansa and Joffrey were both very young, a teen and a very young teen (last of the pre-teen years) and inexperienced in the same way.

So no there is no bloody similarity between the match Otto brokered between Alicent and Viserys and the one Ned accepted between Sansa and Joffrey.

Also, the moment Ned realised the truth, and I mean the very same moment, he works to get his daughters (both of them) out of KL which meant breaking the betrothal between Sansa and Joffrey and he tells her as much, promising her a match worth of her. And he failed, dude failed so fucking hard, because he told Cersei expecting she rolled over and died, and let her children be haunted and robbed of what she feels is their birthright. He alerted his enemies of his future moves and they anticipated him and incapacitated him.

Also, Sansa had no part in Ned’s imprisonment or death. Or, what little part she had (little and almost completely non influential in the matter of things) was caused by Ned himself, as I have explained in the blaming game part II .

Ned went in a nest of vipers himself, he did play his cards wrong but dude had a goal in mind his whole life after the Rebellion. He did not play the game with the throne in mind, he played the game with the safety of his family in mind. He tells Catelyn to return North and prepare for war, to defend his people and his family.

And yeah, Ned played his cards wrong, but dude got one goal and he reached it. To this day no one but Howland Reed knows the truth about Jon’s parentage, hence the boy is safe. He swallowed his pride and honour to try and save Sansa.

Of the six children Ned Stark raised in his home, four are currently alive and kicking, laying low and sharpening their weapons to return for justice (Sansa in the Vale sharpening her wit and natural political suavity; Arya in Braavos learning to be a Faceless Assassin and learning the difference between vengeance and justice; Bran beyond the Wall honing his skills as green seerer and warg and never forgetting his duty; Rickon on a cannibal island with unicorns gathering better knowledge of people different from him and how to work together; Jon learned how to manipulate the situation he finds himself in to do his duty and gathering support against the enemies around them) and let’s count also Jon since we know he’s to be resurrected, so to six, he has five children ready to come back for justice and defend the North and do their duty.

In the game of thrones, you always claim half a victory. Robert got the throne but lost the woman he gained it for, Ned got most of his family alive but they are traumatised, Catelyn got to return and have vengeance for her family but it’s all an illusion and she lost herself completely…) there is no clear winning in the game of thrones. Bran got his skills but lost his legs, Sansa learned how to survive but she lost almost everything, same as Arya. Bran and Sansa got the throne, but Bran possibly in the books will get it after he sacrifices his powers and thus the ability to move permanently; Sansa became queen in the North but lost her dream (for now), Daenerys got the throne for a moment and she lost herself and everything; Cersei got the throne but lost all she cared for.

Yes, Ned could’ve played his cards better, he should have, much of his downfall was caused by his own stupid mistakes, but stop the slander.

If anyone is like Otto, that is Olenna Tyrell, who manipulated to get her granddaughter to marry a king she knows is gay so won’t make her happy to further her family’s position and later she chose another king whom she killed to get her granddaughter betrothed to a child who is more easily manipulated. Let’s say the truth:

Olenna and the Tyrells try to use Margaery apparent resemblance to Lyanna Stark to have Cersei exposed and Margaery married. Robert, a man who could be her father, also known to have a great number of bastards all so Margaery would become queen.

Bobby B died and Olenna and the Tyrells married Margaery to Renly who, again was pretty much older than her and gay, all because this way Margaery would be queen.

Renly died and the Tyrells betrothed her to Joffrey a king known for his cruelty and rumoured to be a bastard, all so that Margaery would be queen.

They killed Joffrey off (Joffrey who was around her age, so a possible good match for her, had he not been a cruel boy) because he would’ve been cruel and unstable and not easily influenced, and betrothed her to Tommen whom she basically starts to groom, who is a child and who has little to none experience whilst Margaery is older and more experienced. All because so Margaery could be queen to a king who would be easily influenced by her.

So, if anyone should be compared to Otto we have LF and especially Olenna and the Tyrells, certainly not Ned Stark whom as soon as he realised the truth decided to break off the betrothal and get his daughter back home, and who, again had betrothed his daughter to a boy around her age (perfectly acceptable for time and context) and who was a good match for the context and time and who was not far more experience than her by what he knew. And, as soon as the boy cruelty started to be seen, his bastardy was known and the truth of the war that would happened set into his mind Ned moved to get his daughter back home where she would’ve been safe, he just played his cards wrong.

And that is the truth we get by analysing both books and series. So, yes, if you truly believe what you’ve written I think you need a re-read and a re-watch.

Also, (dis)honourable mention to Corlys Velaryon who was a 37man marrying a 16yo princess for her position and because she fell in love with him, and supported Rhaenyra who was suspected of having played a part in his son’s death and her bastard children by another man all for his ambition by betrothing his true born granddaughters to them to get House Velaryon on the Iron throne permanently. As suggested by anon, here.

But, thank you for the ask (it was good to set straight a couple of points) and please stop it with the Ned Stark slander. It doesn’t make you look good to say things so easily disproved!

I hope you have a very nice day! ~G.

[reginarubie]

I really like your comparison between Vis-Aemma and Ned-Lyanna and how are they foils. Actually many fans had compared Vis-Aemma to Rhaegar-Elia with husband being prophecy obsessed, not caring about his wife health and then involved with younger girl for child. In books Aemma was 11 when she got married to Viserys and was pregnant in early years of marriage. Also she gave birth to Rhaenrya when she was 15 yrs. Vis-Aemma and Daemon-Rhea are also similar in show as both Targ males married Vale women and killed their wives.

Alicent-Vis in books was not that bad considering he was 29 and Alicent was 18 when they married and Alicent may have loved him. In show Alicent a teenager married an old man because of her father's ambition. Which is slightly similar to what happened to Lysa in books. She was forced to married Jon Arryn(old man) by her father.

Regarding Rhae-Corlys, I wanted to say that he was jerk to her in show. Bookwise it's creepy because Rhaenys was 16 when she decided to marry Corlys(37 yrs old) because she was in love with him.

Ciao nonny!,

Well thank you first of all! 😊

Also yes, I too think Viserys Alicent were somewhat less bothering for time and context of the story in book canon still, Alicent was a maiden and he, a man grown with several failed pregnancies, dead children and a daughter on his shoulders. Which by the standards of time and context? Acceptable to our modern sensibilities not so much. Also, Alicent was a good match but she was not the only good match, there was a better match for Viserys (politically speaking) tho that is even worse in my opinion (look at Laena Velaryon).

Also, what Rhaegar did was even worse because Elia was alive, her daughter and her son were alive and in health when he took Lyanna to his bed, a child of 14 (not 18) who may have or not loved him but that he essentially isolated from her family and from anyone else, sequestering as she was pregnant, half her family killed or fighting and she probably scared for her life.

God yes, that’s creepy. I hate how GRRM seems to want to pass the message that if the girls is okay with it then the match is fine. No, Rhaenys might have even fallen madly in love with Corlys but the same thing stands, he was twenty years her senior and much more experienced that she was and married her out of his own ambition as she was the heir apparent to Jaehaerys.

That makes him even worse. I had forgotten that detail, but God that makes everything ever worse and actually puts him on the same level as Otto as he accepted Rhaenys’ pursuing him because of his ambition and then later kept supporting Rhaenyra’s boys tho they were not Velaryons by blood to further his blood and his name on the throne, by promising them to Laena’s daughters to forward his ambition, I think I will add this to the ask about why Ned and Otto are not the same thing and who is the equivalent of Otto in asoiaf.

Thank you for the ask and hope you have an amazing day ahead! All the love ~G.

[reginarubie]

jon/@ry@

For the brutality honest thoughts thing

Ouch 😂 I did say brutally honest didn’t I?

My brutally honest opinion is:

Why? How?

I mean, ship what ya’ll wanna ship. I do ship Jon/Sansa, the whole idea of cousin incest is not something that bothers me in that social context.

Besides love is love.

But, as a shipper I have to say: IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE, tbh, and

WHY? WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE ARYA MISS OUT ON ALL SHE WANTS TO HAVE FOR JON, WHO BTW WOULD BE MISSING OUT ALL HE WANTS AS WELL IF THEY ENDED UP TOGETHER?

I don’t get why people ship it because to me they’re relationship is something so pure, and it just doesn’t sit well with me to see them romantically.

Arya and Jon love each other fiercely as siblings but their arcs and journeys do not parallel each other in the way they should if they were supposed to meet in the middle.

It is true that sometimes different roads lead to the same castle, but I don’t think it’s meant like some of the jonarya fans think it’s meant.

I adore ships in which one half is the answer to the other half’s dreams and questions. And Jon and Arya don’t have that.

Jon is someone that helps Arya ground herself as she is for him.

But Arya wants different things than what Jon wants and ultimately what is happening to them is moving them farther away from each other. Idealistically, morally and emotionally.

They are always going to love each other not just be in love with.

Drastically speaking Jon is to Arya (just like Robb, Bran, Rickon and Sansa as well as Ned and Cat) the roots she can use to ground herself as she explores and flies off to live her life how she wants.

But she’s not what Jon wants or would want in a partner. He liked Ygritte because she reminded him of Arya but it is not until Ygritte shows some traits that remind him of Sansa (beyond the red hair) that Jon really starts to get ensnared in that relationship. Basically she was a decoy of Sansa who acted enough as Arya to make him feel safe enough to be able to be around her, not like he was over-reaching.

As a reader of asoiaf neutrally speaking: TEXTUALLY IT DOESN’T HOLD ANY ROMANTIC SIGNIFICANCE

So yeah my opinion is that we are doing Jon and Arya both a disservice as characters and for what they represent to ship them together.

Their journey textually, in my opinion, is not meant to have the meet in the middle, it goes in completely different directions with a common matrix, them feeling like outsiders (which is what they bonded over), and the way move in the books shows us how little they’re meant to be together romantically and be more of a brotherly support to each other.

[reginarubie]

Hey have a couple for the ship thoughts questions:

Sansa and margs

Sansa and Dan

Jon and Dan

Dan and missandie

Jon's dad and mom ( for some reason I'm blanking on their names, all I can remember is R+l=j)

Ned and cat

Ned and asha dayne ( the rumoured lady that Ned loves ad beded but settled for cat)

Jamie and cers

Jemie and Brienne

Tyrion and tysha?? The one that truly loved him but he believed his family and treated her like... left her

-

Merlin and Arthur

Arthur and Morgan

Arthur and Gwen

Gwen and Merlin

gwen and that knight

steve Harrington and Nancy wheeler

Nancy wheeler and Jonathan

El and Mike

El and will

Will and Mike

nancy and Robin

Crissy and Eddie

Robin and Steve

Joyce and jim

Hi anon!,

For the series send me ships and I'll give my brutally honest opinion:

part I

part II

Let's go ahead and since in your ask you've divided it by fandoms let's do the same in my reply! A little premise, this doesn't meant to offend in any way the shippers of any of the ships I will be brutally honest about.

Ship what you wanna ship and enjoy what you wanna enjoy. This is just my opinion on why I like or not these ships.

ASOIAF

SANSA AND MARGAERY

To be brutally honest I don't hate it outside of canon.

In canon even though it can be considered one of the purest relationships Sansa lives (and it's because it's depicted by her POV) I really hope it never happens in any circumstances.

Albeit growing fond of Sansa we can't forget that Margaery is a manipulator who is doing the dirty job by gaining Sansa's friendship and loyalty to further forward her family's ambition and tho it's an ugly game the one they are playing, and as she is herself says in show!verse, because I can't recall that happening in book!verse at all, “women in our position should make the best of their circumstances” it makes the way Sansa honestly feels about her and their friendship sound even more like a fraud.

Sansa considers Margaery her truest friend in Kings Landing after Jeyne is taken away from her, and thinks that her presence and unfailing kindness changed everything for her. Because Margaery made her feel appreciated and loved and wanted, completely opposite as how Sansa has been treated as a pariah.

And all the while Margaery has been instead manipulating her to get through her, the claim to Winterfell and the North for her family at which point with a queen on the throne and a Warden of the North in the family, their riches and being the granary of the 7K, the Tyrells would have become virtually unstoppable.

I don't doubt Margaery grew fond of Sansa (what's not to grow fond of, of a girl who puts in jeopardy her life to tell you the truth, a truth you already know, about the king you're supposed to marry only so that you are spared the abuse she suffered?) as did Garlan who took the time to comfort her at her marriage feast.

Still, I feel like Margaery was succeeding in what Littlefinger has been trying to do all along. Using the right key she was managing to gain Sansa's loyalty and a Stark loyalty is a powerful thing (especially with the might of the North at their back).

It makes every moment shown between them in the show or in the book sound even worse and sour in my mouth.

Tbh Sansa is going to realize exactly how easily the Tyrells framed her for Joff's murder, uncaring if that threw her even further in the mouth of the lions (for however knowing of it Marg was). She'll probably always think fondly of Margaery for the kindness she has shown her, because that is who Sansa is, but I doubt she's ever going to trust her implicitly like she did in KL ever again in canon.

Sansa is afraid she's never going to be loved in any capacity beyond what her claim means to the people around her, it's why, I believe she's going to appreciate Jon all the more in canon because boy is out there defending her claim only because it's hers , no matter which last name she sports, going against his own ambition (which he himself describes as hunger) to instead defend her.

So... on a scale 5/10 in canon because of all manipulation going on. Outside of canon I am all for supporting relationships and as far as I am aware that is the nature of their ship outside of canon so: good for them!

By Dan I'm going to assume you mean Daenerys. So let's go ahead.

SANSA AND DAENERYS

Okay, time to be brutally honest here.

Had Daenerys be a male, Sansa would've been meant for her. It's why the whole Jon/Sansa and Young Griff/Sansa make historic sense.

Sansa is based off several historical figures, but mostly she's based off Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Tudor.

The heir to the dynasty which has been overthrown returning with the might of three dragons, and the girl (the eldest surviving child) who is the heir apparent to another great family/dynasty with two brothers presumed dead, the daughter by a lord beloved by the kingdom and beloved she herself. Soft and feminine, but with a will of steel. With a dubious relationship with her uncle (LF is her uncle by marriage).

It makes historic sense.

But in canon GRRM has gone with a different twist of this story and has created two Elizabeth's. Sansa and Arianne. I am a firm believer that Young Griff might really be Elia's son, and I think a marriage alliance with the Martells through Arianne would make sense, tho I think in the end Arianne is going to end up with Daemon Sand (a bastard with a valyrian name, would you look at that?). Kind of like Jon, who I refuse to believe might be considered trueborn, because in the show they might have given him several part of Young Griff's plot in the books and Sansa.

Also I believe that both the North and Dorne are going to go free (the swords of the northerners and the dornish are the only ones that are not in the Iron throne, which is symbolic and might mean they will break off the 7K and be the queen/princess guiding their people and beloved by them), beyond their romances.

To top of that, in canon, Martin has taken every care in the world to make Sansa and Daenerys as similar as he can, whilst making them completely different and setting them up to become moral and political rivals. He made Daenerys to be Cleopatra and Sansa to be her Octavian.

I actually wrote an entire post based mostly on show canon, but it also applies to book canon (even more actually) in which I give clues as to why they've been set up from the beginning to become political and moral rivals (might actually upgrade that one with visual clues and textual clues in the book at one point). You can find it here.

I think that the greatest part of Daenerys tragedy is that hers is the story of how an abused and how the trauma she endured has turned her to what she is slowly becoming. Had she had a better example to learn of, someone to look up to that might teach her the right ways she might have turned completely different. Had she known the real love of her family, she might have turned out differently. Had she had been able to get the help she needed to overcome her trauma and the coping mechanisms she had to use to survive, she might have turned out completely differently. But as it is, it didn't happen and that's the root of her tragedy.

And I think that that is also what differentiates her from Sansa. She's not a bad girl to start off, just like Sansa isn't...both suffer terrible abuse and survive but they have had different examples in their life and when Sansa knows plenty well the difference between love and fear, in Daenerys' journey they often overlap, which makes them fundamentally different in their core and ends up pitting them against one another.

So in canon -10/10; outside of canon, it can be very fun to write and read.

[I myself have a couple of fics about them, tho I've not dedicated near enough time to them as I should've. One is a twisted version of Robin Hood with Daenerys as Robin Hood and Sansa as lady Marian, and another is a modern AU.]

JON AND DAENERYS

In canon (both show!verse and book!verse) I believe that if it happens it's going to be about Jon pulling a 007 on us all, like he already did with Ygritte and the wildlings. It makes textual sense because again, Martin has taken all the care in the world to ensure that Jon and Daenerys are at the opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to rule.

Also, the answer to Jon's prayers and dreams is Sansa, not Daenerys. So a bit like the Jon/Arya ship it would take away everything he wants from him to ship him with Daenerys and at the same time Jon is not Daenerys type at all.

As I've already said and actually spoke about in another meta, in Daenerys' life love/power/fear overlap and her type is the rogue, dangerous men capable of doing anything, even killing without any remorse (Drogo and Daario).

BookJon is several time more interesting than showJon, he's petty and clever and politically astute (I mean, boy managed to get the Iron bank to give the Watch a loan whilst drunk and seventeen; and he swapped two children, possibly putting them both in peril in a desperate attempt to save them from an horrific death) also I think, after all he did to save Mance's son was to make sure neither baby could be sacrificed at Melisandre's call; when he gets whiff of Stannis sacrificing Shireen at Melisandre's counsel (or doing so because spurned by all of Melisandre talks about kingsblood) he is going to trust Daenerys even less, especially if what has been shown in the show (her meeting Kinvara and having the red priestess starting to claim she is the princess who was promised and Melisandre being in Dragonstone when Jon gets there or wherever they will have that encounter) happens in the books as well. Which I believe it might, since dragons are fire made flesh and the red priests and priestess think that fires washes all sins and terrors away.

So, beyond Jon loosing everything he ever wished for, it would go against Jon's own character ever falling in love with her, but it would be completely in character for him to go ninja undercover on her and do whatever it takes to get the dragons to defend Winterfell, the North and his family. What more, Jon is by now, bleeding out dead in the snows of Castle Black and as per my theory about resurrected characters in asoiaf (on which I am working on to post, I promise, to anyone still waiting for it) Jon died a Stark defender, that is the core of his identity and that is what he'll be in his most pure form when he returns to life, especially after being in Ghost for so long.

Also, the way they depicted in the showverse might actually be pretty telling of what may happen in book canon and that's terrible.

Also, not only would Jon loose everything he ever wanted, but the way I've seen this ship depicted (not that I've given it way too much attention beyond what I've written for them in historical AU) it always kind of makes Jon blend in the background and Daenerys get everything she wants sometimes even stepping on what Jon cares for, which is what they gave us in show canon. To Jon the most important part of his identity are the Starks. He is the youngest child biologically speaking, but he is one of the big brothers of House Stark, and that is his core. He died because he wanted to break millennia of neutrality of the Watch to save his sister. And often this ship ends up suppressing this side of Jon.

So -5/10 both in show canon and book canon.

DAENERYS AND MISSANDEI

I'll go ahead and assume you meant only show verse, because we've got more than enough of Daenerys with Irri in the books to be sick with it, and with the way Daenerys stops it not because Irri doesn't enjoy it but because her not enjoying it was blatant enough that her kisses tasted of duty; she didn't stop because she felt like it was wrong to use another human being that way, but merely because she herself did not enjoy being kissed as if it was a duty.

Show verse Daenerys and Missandei had that gal-to-gal friendship depicted with Daenerys even braiding Missandei's hair, which I don't think ever happened in the books, tho I may be wrong. And Missandei is the only one Daenerys goes back for to KL, even tho she lost a number of other allies (The Sand Snakes and Yara Greyjoy), so I can see why some people may find it appealing to their tastes for the way the show depicted it, plus they're both hot and determined young women.

Why I think it shouldn't be applied in the books? It'd make it essentially grooming on D part.

In the books to begin with Missandei is a child, younger than Daenerys whom Daenerys says she wants to protect, whom she takes into her service after buying her from the masters in Astapor and whilst (besides the slaves at the end of Dany X in AGOT) Missandei is the only other former slave Daenerys frees but she does so with the intention of gaining her loyalty long enough to gather information from her about the Unsullied and how to move once she had bought them. Which subsenquentially spurns her to make them ever loyal only to her, slaves in all, save in name, because she never truly frees them, what she does it overlap the concept of freedom with that of dracarys and being the dragon's, all with the scourge still in hand.

So, I can see some of the appeal in show verse and it's pretty wholesome as far as Daenerys' relationships go in being depicted in the show 6/10

RHAEGAR AND LYANNA

Talk about another man grooming a child into a relationship. Okay, I'll hold off the gun because we aren't given too much context here, but what we've got is that Rhaegar was a twenty-four years old man with wife and children, obsessed with a prophecy who essentially eloped with a girl of barely fourteen years of age.

Now whilst such an age difference wouldn't have been the greatest possible in that historical context what makes it worse is that Lyanna was a highly dedicated to her family and romantic young lady and that Rhaegar was already married and with two kids.

What happened was that either he abducted her (like Robert claimed) or persuaded her to elope with him (like the show would suggest). Possibly he married her in some kind of secret marriage (which would defeat the point of not causing a fucking war and would bastardize his children, which it's hinted that it's not what he wanted, since he believed Aegon, his son by Elia, to be the Prince who was promised) or not, but then he sired a child from her, didn't account for his crime and let his father execute his wife/lover's father and brother thus provoking a war and alienating his wife/lover from her family. He then took her and secluded her in a fucking tower in Dorne (the homeland of his left behind wife just to be even more of a jerk) not even once trying to amend the problems he had caused.

What we know of Lyanna as per reverse, is that she was fiercely loyal to her House and loved her father and brothers (the only line we know by her was “That is my father's bannerman you are kicking!” when she defended Howland Reed at Harrenhal and she then entered the tourney secretly to avenge him) and we have to believe that that same girl would just accept her husband/lover secluded her in Dorne and fought against her family and accept her father and brother had been brutally killed?

Not bloody likely.

What I think more likely is that Rhaegar might have taken a fancy to Lyanna because of her youth and her determination, for she might have reminded him of Visenya's temperament and since he wanted to recreate the whole Aegon and his sisters, with Elia unable possibly to carry more children he decided Lyanna would do for a mother, endangering a girl of fourteen whom may have been on her first cycles.

He might have then seduced her, which most handsome man of the 7K, a prince and basically fancying her for what other suitors may find disgraceful? Tho, we'd have to assume Lyanna didn't care that he had other children, tho she cared that Robert had sired a bastard girl before marriage, which again doesn't make any sense. But let's say Lyanna was young and easily seduced by such a man.

He very clearly then actually abduct her and seclude her in a tower whilst pregnant, alone and away from her family, warring in her and her father's name.

It appears to me that the only good thing coming from that particular ship was Jon. And believe me, Jon is not going to take well his parentage, even if he ended up being trueborn, because he prides himself of being Eddard Stark's son tho lowborn, I don't think the same might be said for Rhaegar.

-1000/10 we respect no jerk in this household and Rhaegar left his wife and children behind unprotected (his daughter died screaming for her dad, under whose bed she had hid... the same dad who left her behind to groom a girl barely older than her), and secluded a fourteen year old girl whom he had gotten pregnant, alone in a tower in Dorne to fight a war he lost, all for the sake of a damn prophecy. The jerkometer hits the stars with him. He can choke for the way he treated both Elia and Lyanna and his children.

Good thing he sons have taken after their mothers and the men who raised them more than him.

NED AND CAT

10000/10 would recommend. And this is my shipper heart speaking.

Tbh though they are one of the most wholesome and truest, healthiest relationship in all of asoiaf, even with the matter of Jon's parentage to settle between them, they loved each other. They learned to love each other and build their family, a family they died to protect. Trusted and respected each other.

I mean Neddie boy turned from lethal, dangerous direwolf to tail-wagging puppy the moment he saw his wife in KL, and noticed she had been attacked by the way she held her hands, that's the degree of attentiveness we want in a man, okay?

Cat last thought was the fact that Ned loved her hair and that she didn't want it ruined even in death. Ned was her rock, to the point that even dead he was her support system.

Ned defended her by justifying her actions in taking Tyrion in custody as if commanded by him and Ned-I-know-better-than-that-oaf-of-my-best-friend-the-king, idealistic Ned Stark listened to his wife when she told him to trust LF. Dumb move, but still it gives you the degree at which they trusted and relied on each other.

With their fragilities and flaws they are one of my most beloved ships in asoiaf.

NED AND ASHARA DAYNE

We know next to nothing to this, saved that people gossiped about it, and about the fact that Ashara might have been Jon's mother. May it be that it happened, may it be that it didn't.

I think that even if it did it was heartbreaking, sad and bittersweet.

I am sure that if Martin were to give us more info, or write about it it'd be pretty real and cutting in its depiction/mirroring of the time and context of asoiaf.

So, on trust I give it 7.5/10.

JAIME AND CERSEI

For how it's written like this fated, hateful, passionate and destroying relationship I have to tap my hat to GRRM and give it a 8/10 on the manner of how much I like the way it was written...meh. I think it's pretty interesting and that it is the root of much of the problems Jaime and Cersei actually face.

In a scale of how much I enjoy it, tho, I'd give it a 4/10, BUT with the theme of rape not withstanding which would crush it down at -1000/10.

Sorry I am more for healthy, supporting relationships, as much as possible in every fiction and context. But if it's someone else's cup of tea, good for them.

JAIME AND BRIENNE

Reverse Beauty and the Beast story, in which the one who looks like a beauty is a beast and the one who looks beastly is a beauty. Pretty interesting to read, also because I think its root is that Jaime sees bits of the himself he sacrificed for his father and the people of KL in Brienne's vision of the world.

Still...read again the whole bath scene and consider it closely (I did a step-by-step with Tyrion and Sansa wedding night here) is it really worth being shipped?

In some contexts it doesn't bother me much...in canon I think it's going to be heartbreaking for Brienne.

3/10 I'm giving it a 3 merely because despite sexualizing her internally during the bath scene, Jaime doesn't actually act on that, and returns to save her because he has dreamt of her and because the sodding idiot is so foolish he has followed her in the Riverlands like she was his guide-light. And in other context could be pleasing to read about.

TYRION AND TYSHA

I have actually written a series of several metas about it, you can find the first installment here, the others will be linked at the end. Anyway, I honestly hope Tyrion never finds her.

Since departing KL his whole mantra has been searching for Tysha and at every stop they make, even in a brothel where he rapes a young girl who looks like Sansa, he asks after her and asks himself “where do whores go?” which is what Tywin told him.

I hope he never finds her, because Tysha was no whore, no matter what they did to her. They were the whores in the equation, so I dearly hope he never finds her, because Tysha was not a whore to begin with. Tho, I'd really enjoy her freezing him out once he returns to her with that arrogant brazenness he has, which will lead him to realize he is exactly like the father he hated so much.

100/10 Tysha living off her life peacefully and freezing Tyrion out if he ever finds her.

-1000/10 their ship. I hope Tyrion ends up realizing he never found Tysha because he searched the wrong places all along.

And that was it for asoiaf. Let's step in the next one, Merlin!

MERLIN

So, I am assuming we are speaking of Merlin the tv series and not the legend, because then it'd get very messy, albeit interesting.

MERLIN AND ARTHUR

Just kiss already.

1000/10 whatever way we wanna see it, romantically as a friendship or simply two people caring for each other, the chemistry was off charts for starters (like c'mon “do you walk on your knees?” “No” “Let me help you” and all the “I could take you apart with one blow” “I could take you apart with less than that”...I mean and all in the first minutes of the pilot?) and it was just that pure.

Arthur thinking Merlin was the bravest man he knew. Braver than his father (who he idolized for a long time) braver than himself and braver than all the knights he was surrounded by. Arthur thanking Merlin, noticing Merlin's moods and believing in him. Accepting him also for his magic in the end and Merlin being satisfied with only being his servant for his whole life, Merlin never telling him the truth not because he thought Arthur may kill him, but because he didn't want to put Arthur in the position he had to chose between their friendship and the kingdom he was governing and the beliefs he had...

... it's just so wholesome and heartbreaking. There's a video on youtube with the parallels of the entire series and there is one with Merlin getting his hair messed by Arthur and then him passing by his resting site in the modern day bowing his head like he did that one time... I'm not okay, alright?

[Forgive me as I go cry in a corner for the next thousand years]

ARTHUR AND MORGANA

That one was really well delivered.

If they ended up with a last desperate, passionate kiss I would've found it believable that was how good they have depicted that love/hate relationship and whilst there was some chemistry and hints at it in the earlier seasons, I think one thing the show runners got right was their siblings energy.

10/10 if they went that way it would've be believable and c'mon everyone loves star crossed lovers who became each other enemy because of differing views and ideals and ended up killing each other. Twisted love story, here I come.

ARTHUR AND GWEN

My two favs in the same ship, am I gonna ship it? Honestly? Hell yeah!

1000/10 would recommend. Funny, dorky and passionate and romantic all the same time. Also pure enough that to their knowledge Gwen did cheat on Arthur (tho she never could explain why and no one explained to them her head had been tampered with, despite her snapping out of it almost as soon as it happened) and he forgave her, took her back and she forgave herself and they were true to each other. Honestly, heartbroken on their end.

Albeit how believable it was the way they depicted and delivered I am forever simping over Arthur fucking Pendragon naming her his heir (thus making the dynasty a dynasty by which standards both male and females could inherit) because he had faith in the world she had to build. And sad over my fav Guinevere finally have the power to make the changes she always advocated for, but loosing everything she held dear (her friendship with Morgana, her first love and the love of her life as well as Merlin, because we all know how griefstricken he must've been) to gain it, and still persevering with the grace and strength she had all through it all. No wonder Arthur fell in love with her.

Also, I don't know if you mean Lancelot or Leon for Gwen and the knight. So I'll give my opinion on both:

Gwen and Lancelot, 8/10 sweet and supporting but marred by Lancelot deciding to move away instead than staying with her and Gwen not asking as the supporting woman she is.

Gwen and Leon, 9/10 I feel like they would be the kind of people that might end up together when the love of their life has passed away and find comfort in each other, and love, albeit different, still strong and supporting. I can see them grow old together with Arthur not in the picture anymore.

Then, onto Stranger Things we go, I must say something tho. I am not this great fan of ST so my opinion is only based of what little I've seen on tumblr and on the few episodes I've seen. So it's not going to be as elaborated as the one we've seen until now, because I know the show less and thus I'm going mostly by feel and not by analysis.

STRANGER THINGS

NANCY AND STEVE

Soft, sweet, dorky and funny. 10/10 would ship them by what little I've seen. Tho I don't see them having a very long term, as in endgame, relationship. Friendship and support, crush? Seriously, of course. But somehow I get the impression at some point they would grow a bit apart romantically, but I might be wrong. Still I'd watch it gladly. So gimme it.

NANCY AND JONATHAN

Feels like it makes sense, good chemistry might be the actors who are together, I think?, anyway it seeps into the characters so it makes it believable. Also Jonathan seems like the kind of gloomy kid who has a heart of gold and would break generational abuse patterns. So 8/10 but only because I feel like the funny, dorky side of it might be a bit missing.

ELEVEN AND MIKE

They seem cute, still don't convince me for some reason. Feels a bit wrong to me. Don't ask me why, I've not seen enough to tell you clearly, just...they feel off, like they don't belong together romantically. Though it may be one of those slow-burn ships that gets more and more believable as time passes.

6/10

ELEVEN AND WILL

Sorry, I don't know why but it bothers me a bit, I find it...wrong? I don't know, by what I've seen they're better off as friends and I don't see that much chemistry between characters, the actors are adorable when they're out of character, but inside the story from what little I've seen... friends I can see, lovers...not so much. Again might be my impression is wrong because I've not seen the whole thing so I don't know.

It doesn't feel right to me.

5/10

NANCY AND ROBIN

From what I've seen cute and funny and easygoing as well as soft. Totally would love to see it if they ever went in that direction. Even if it's not endgame it feels plausible for that to happen, wether it be a one-sided crush, only a crush never acted upon or a love story.

8/10

CRISSY AND EDDIE

Again, by what I've seen between the serie and tumblr... YES! Give me more, now!

10/10 would love to see more of it.

ROBIN AND STEVE

Always gave me the vibe of partners in crime. Funny to watch, don't think it has any romantic hues, but even only for their dynamic as friends I'd watch several episodes in a row. So I'd give it a 7/10.

JOYCE AND JIM

Tbh I don't really have a disposition either in a sense or another with this one. A couple of badass shots, but I don't really have enough to form a brutally honest opinion, so I guess... 6/10?

MIKE AND WILL

Now this one has potential. I feel like whether they'll play it one-sided, both sided but doomed, or endgame it feels plausible and credible.

It feels cuttingly real. So 100/10 on ground of it feeling plausible, credible and the kind of love that even when unrequited might be enough to send you off the rails.

I think I've gotten them all. Feel free to point out if I missed one, sorry again if the brutally honest opinions on Stranger things are neither that brutal, neither opinions truly, but I'm not really into it, I've watched it sparsely and thus know almost next to nothing about them.

Hope you enjoyed and thank you for the ask!

[reginarubie]

In aswer to @maddiethefashionista reblog of Send me a ship and I’ll give you my brutally honest opinion…

Tommy and Grace

Enough said!

Heartbreaking, bittersweet and sad. Love it.

Jonsa

MEANT TO BE, PERIOD. The answers to each other’s prayers and dreams.

So sweet it’s going to hurt.

Also who doesn’t like a good chanson the geste relationship. I personally am here for it!

I wrote several pieces about them and the foreshadowing, showverse, bookverse and mythology parallels (can be found here)

Aemond and Mera

I usually don’t wanna influence readers with ships from my stories but…

Worth everything. A history nerd with a war criminal record and the only woman capable to get him on his knees.

10/10 would recommend

Adam/Belle

Love it! Because it shows young girls that you can be clever, independent, reliable and badass while being soft and not running away from love.

Shows people that softness and kindness is the key, and you don’t have to be aggressive to find your happiness. You just need to learn to respect each other, love each other and be kind to one another.

It’s not about putting each 50/50, it’s about both putting in 100% effort.