dulcewrites - Tumblr blog

[dulcewrites]

queen alysanne targaryen at her wedding, 51 AC

rhaenys and visenya, alyssa velaryon, rhaena and company

[dulcewrites]

I think the thing that shocks me the most about the discourse, if you can even call it that, around book Alicent vs show Alicent, is the idea that people think book Alicent had full autonomy over all her choices and she wasn’t a “victim” like show Alicent.

Now first, I put victim in quotations bc the way people who do not like her have almost bastardized that word. Alicent is a victim, and those things (rape, abuse, neglect) were done to her. That says everything about the men who did that do her and nothing about her. But people are hellbent on throwing Alicent, a woman in a violently patriarchal environment, being victimized back at people as if it is moral flaw of hers. Which is just terribly ironic bc the same folks who say Alicent “did it to herself” or “deserves what she is getting” also seem to think the crux of the story isn’t about generational trauma catching up with itself, how far people will go for power, or even how all girls and women are harmed - albeit to different degrees. But more the fact that Rhaenyra is the only woman to be harmed - and the only harm done is not getting the throne easily. Those same people wouldn’t be caught dead admitting that Rhaenyra is also a victim in the way they shit on Alicent for being. From the father who sets her up fail, to the baby daddy that’s been eyeing her since she was barely 18, to the uncle that grooms her. It takes away from the fantasy projected onto Rhaenyra if she too is surrounded by men that use her and she never escapes that.

Second, it’s funny how F&B gets heralded by some as this exploration of how history is skewed depending on who is telling it. But people can’t read between the lines (you honestly don’t even have to do that much work) with book Alicent. Showing 14 year old Alicent being preyed on, 16 year old Alicent being pregnant with her second child, and 18 year old Alicent being raped is somehow the show needlessly making Alicent a victim. But reading about a 13 year old bathing, dressing, and taking care of a king who mistakes her for the daughter he abused and neglected, and then that same girl, at 18, marrying another king that killed his previous child bride is just girl bossism on book Alicent’s part?

People hate conceptualizing the idea that (even book) Alicent is caught in patriarchal trappings bc to some that takes away from Rhaenyra’s plight…. Bc they can’t wrap their heads around several women *gasp* all going through hardships, and that ultimately people will respond to trauma differently depending on tools/knowledge they have at their disposal. Alicent neither being gleefully evil nor picking herself up by her bootstraps to somehow end years of patriarchal violence is not the neat box they want for her.

[dulcewrites]

instead of continuously over-donating to ao3 when those running the site are racist zionist sympathisers who shut down support of palestine from its volunteers 1 / 2 (among myriad other issues that u should NOT be funding) please direct your attention to these incomplete fundraisers for people in gaza and various tangible operations doing work. this is a call that if u have donated even a cent to ao3 to a) match that in your donations to palestinians/causes and b) stop donating so uncritically and unconditionally to ao3, pressure them. id like to direct u to @end-otw-racism

fundraiser masterpost by @el-shab-hussein

mona

care for gaza

help gaza's children

operation olive branch

the palestinian children's relief fund

unrwa

the palestinian red crescent society

buy an e-sim / donate for mass buying

[dulcewrites]

dowager queen alyssa velaryon, at the golden wedding of 49 AC.

visenya and rhaenys

[dulcewrites]

Thinking about the parallels/smiliarities between Maeve and Alyssa Velaryon (a clear through line I’m trying to have).

- Velaryon woman that marries a Targaryen prince

- Political strife during their marriage

- (pseudo in Alyssa’s case) step daughter to a woman who moves to put her son on the throne.

- Marriage is a political match

- caught in family turmoil revolving around half siblings

- described as having “charm, wit, and kindness”. (“According to Septon Barth, above all else Alyssa desired to be loved, admired, and praised”)

- married to men that had their abilities as king doubted (by others and themselves)

- married to men with deep and complicated attachments to their mothers

[dulcewrites]

Mended Hearts is posted ❤️

[dulcewrites]

Excalibur (1981) | dir. John Boorman

[dulcewrites]

Mended Hearts is posted ❤️

[dulcewrites]

[dulcewrites]

Sooooo… I’ve been sitting on this Alicent x oc fic for a minute (didn’t think it was my best work tbh) but I think I’m gonna post it tomorrow??? Alicent is a girl kisser truthers rise!

[dulcewrites]

He estado muy ocupada ultimamente.

No he tenido tiempo para dibujar, pero igual quería compartir estas ideas a pesar de que no están terminadas, no quiero que se me olviden jeje

Rhaenyra y Laena de jóvenes <3

[dulcewrites]

Olga Orozco, from Engravings: Torn from Insomnia: “To Destroy the Enemy,” // Anne Carson, The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides // Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica I’m Dune // Olivia Cooke and Tom Glynn-Carney as Queen Alicent and Prince Aegon II in House of the Dragon // Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale // Wenzel Tornøe details // The Trojan Woman

Cassandra Devereux, Queen Consort of the Seven Kingdoms // Queen of Ash and Bone // Queen of Grief

[dulcewrites]

As someone who loves angst and pain, I listened to the poetry in Beyonces ‘Lemonade’ (the poetry written by award an Shire) and ofc thought about fmo reader bc it’s one of my favorite series going on right now.

“Apathy”

So what are you gonna say at my funeral, now that you've killed me? Here lies the body of the love of my life, whose heart I broke without a gun to my head. Here lies the mother of my children, both living and dead. Rest in peace, my true love, who I took for granted. Most bomb p*ssy who, because of me, sleep evaded. Her god listening. Her heaven will be a love without betrayal. Ashes to ashes, dust to side chicks.

“Denial”

“I tried to change. Closed my mouth more, tried to be softer, prettier, less awake. Fasted for 60 days, wore white, abstained from mirrors, abstained from sex, slowly did not speak another word. In that time, my hair, I grew past my ankles. I slept on a mat on the floor. I swallowed a sword. I levitated. Went to the basement, confessed my sins, and was baptized in a river. I got on my knees and said 'amen' and said 'I mean.' I whipped my own back and asked for dominion at your feet. I threw myself into a volcano. I drank the blood and drank the wine. I sat alone and begged and bent at the waist for God. I crossed myself and thought I saw the devil. I grew thickened skin on my feet, I bathed in bleach, and plugged my menses with pages from the holy book, but still inside me, coiled deep, was the need to know ... Are you cheating on me? Cheating? Are you cheating on me?”

All of the poems here really recommend checking them out. Could be really great inspiration for more of fmo reader and how her religion could tie into themes of shame, self-blame, misogyny, sex, loyalty, cycles of abuse/silence/peace keeping, etc that was touched on by Shire in their works. Also lmk if I’m simply doing too much 🫶🏾 bc sometimes my own mind just wanders and I could just be very out of touch to how fmo reader is.

Not doing too much at all!! I love this and love when you guys send me stuff that reminded you of my work.

Lemonade and the poems are something in general that I’ve had in the back of my head for fmo. I think Anger might be my fav:

If it's what you truly want ... I can wear her skin over mine. Her hair over mine. Her hands as gloves. Her teeth as confetti. Her scalp, a cap. Her sternum, my bedazzled cane. We can pose for a photograph, all three of us. Immortalized ... you and your perfect girl.

I don't know when love became elusive. What I know is, no one I know has it. My father's arms around my mother's neck, fruit too ripe to eat. I think of lovers as trees ... growing to and from one another. Searching for the same light.

Like this is so fmo reader is hurts. The ‘all three of us’ reminds me of when someone sent in the princess di/Charles/camila parallel. That line makes me think about Diana saying “there was three of us in the relationship”. And it’s still like that to this day even with Diana passing. Their lives, legacies, and worlds will forever be linked and that’s so tragic (for Diana idc about the other two they are going to hell lmao and deserve to be constantly reminded of what they’ve done)

“I think of lovers as trees… growing to and from one another. Searching for the same light.” It kind of goes hand in hand with how much of this is about generational issues/trauma. Just cycles and cycles of the same bs bc no one knows how to break it

[dulcewrites]

TEAM GREEN IN NEW PROMOTIONAL STILLS OF HOTD SEASON 2

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[dulcewrites]

"Can't wait to see where you take this story" well I can't wait to see where this story takes me either

[dulcewrites]

Sylvia Plath, from a letter to Aurelia Plath written c. February 1953 featured in The Letters of Sylvia Plath Volume I: 1940–1956