jedimaesteryoda

[jedimaesteryoda]

That's actually a good point. The same people who killed Aegon and Rhaenys also killed the guy who resigned in protest "rather than countenance the murder of children." That shows a clear delineation between factions.

Unfortunately, I don't think Dany will learn the full truth until she reaches Winterfell. She will later realize like Oedipus "But the blinding hand was my own."

"The day Lord Stark lost his head, I was there, watching. Afterward I went into the Great Sept and thanked the seven gods that Joffrey had stripped me of my cloak." "Stark was a traitor who met a traitor's end." "Your Grace," said Selmy, "Eddard Stark played a part in your father's fall, but he bore you no ill will. When the eunuch Varys told us that you were with child, Robert wanted you killed, but Lord Stark spoke against it. Rather than countenance the murder of children, he told Robert to find himself another Hand." "Have you forgotten Princess Rhaenys and Prince Aegon?" "Never. That was Lannister work, Your Grace." "Lannister or Stark, what difference? Viserys used to call them the Usurper's dogs. If a child is set upon by a pack of hounds, does it matter which one tears out his throat? All the dogs are just as guilty. The guilt …" The word caught in her throat.

I admit for a lot of fans, we have seen characters badmouth Ned before, but it's usually by unlikeable characters like Cersei, Joffrey, Viserys or Jorah or even pre-changed Jaime. This time it's by one of our most beloved characters.

Daenerys overlooked that Barristan included Ned's beheading when he told the tale of how he turned his back on the Baratheon regime, and mentions that right before entering the Great Sept to be thankful for being stripped of his cloak. That at least infers that Barristan didn't see his execution as a good thing.

She basically responds that Ned got what he deserved. While Barristan usually goes along with her when condemning the Baratheons or Lannisters, he does the opposite with Ned and actually defends him.

He mentions that Ned resigned in protest over Robert's decision to have her assassinated "rather than countenance the murder of children." One would at least infer that Ned had some standards from that. When she points to the Sack of King's Landing, Viserys told her it was the work of the Starks and Lannisters, but Barristan corrected her, saying that it was just the Lannisters and Ned had nothing to do with that.

He should have followed up by mentioning Ned's reaction to the fate of Aegon and Rhaenys where it took the literal death of his sister to reconcile him with his king. I doubt Barristan didn't know about Ned and Robert's public blowout. But Daenerys didn't seem in the mood to listen as she was already doubling down.

It's noticeable that she responds "Viserys used to call them the Usurper's dogs." Even though she recognizes him as an abuser and a bad king, a lot of the narrative he indoctrinated her with her still resides within.

She's overlooking that Jorah himself once said "Ned Stark a traitor? Not bloody likely. The Long Summer will come again before that one would besmirch his precious honor." Jorah was exiled over Ned wanting to execute for selling his smallfolk into slavery when she herself had slavers executed. And she once thought to herself that Barristan would have forgotten more than Jorah and Viserys ever remembered.

It is a lapse in judgment, but one must remember that she is still age-wise a high schooler, and unfortunately, that kind of defensive reaction isn't uncommon even among full-grown adults. When people are presented new information that challenges their pre-existing beliefs, they can get defensive and double-down. She has shown a willingness to listen about the "rest", but stopped Barristan in the middle of talking about her father's madness. This is especially difficult for her given this is an issue very personal to Daenerys since it is about her own family that she never knew and herself by extension. This is the legacy she inherited and she identifies with.

She grew up a largely homeless orphan in a miserable life of poverty and abuse with the dream of returning home being the only dream she had or was allowed. In her mind, had it not been for the Usurper and his dogs, she would have enjoyed a much happier life as a princess with the family she never knew. They were responsible for taking from her more than just her crown, but the life and home she could have had.

Daenerys keeps the narrative that her royal family was overthrown and murdered by the Usurper and his dogs, and forced her and her brother into exile. They were also on the run from hired knives which were just Viserys's fevered imagination. The story ends when Daenerys comes and takes back the Iron Throne, righting the wrongs done and bringing justice to the land.

Barristan's words about Ned complicate that narrative. It invites unwanted questions such as "if Ned was so honorable, then why did he rebel against his king?" It suggests the possibility that Ned might have had justifiable reasons for rebelling against her father, a road she doe not wish to ride. Instead of being a black and white story of heroes vs villains, it means there were both sets on both sides.

The idea of her father being a mad tyrant who burned people in wildfire, violated the feudal contract and turned his own bannermen against him would be a lot for her emotionally. We saw her reaction to learning the truth of Aerys actually being mad as she starts to wonder "Am I mad? Do I have the taint?"

Her reaction to the full truth would be hard. She'd be asking questions like if her father wasn't the hero or rather the villain, and was guilty for the things he did then what will that make her in trying to regain the Iron Throne? Does that mean she is just as guilty as well? Is she a villain as well?

It will likely be a while before she learns the whole truth about Robert's Rebellion and the person of Ned Stark. It will not be a comfortable experience for her as it means unlearning much of what she knew and grappling with the actual legacy. She will likely be forced to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that Ned was a good man when she learns of the other remaining Targaryen that he hid and raised.

[jedimaesteryoda]

When Victarion comes to Meereen, he'll undoubtedly look down on the Meereenese and Yunkish, seeing them through his uber-macho, xenophobic, racist lens as inferior. He would look on their dreaming of the past Empire of old Ghis with contempt in a demonstration of his hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance. The Meereenese and Yunkish nobles will likewise see him as a savage Westerosi.

Before you came Meereen was dying. Our rulers were old men with withered cocks and crones whose puckered cunts were dry as dust. They sat atop their pyramids sipping apricot wine and talking of the glories of the Old Empire whilst the centuries slipped by and the very bricks of the city crumbled all around them.

When we still kept the Old Way, lived by the axe instead of the pick, taking what we would, be it wealth, women, or glory. In those days, the ironborn did not work mines; that was labor for the captives brought back from the hostings, and so too the sorry business of farming and tending goats and sheep. War was an ironman's proper trade. The Drowned God had made them to reave and rape, to carve out kingdoms and write their names in fire and blood and song.

Aegon the Dragon had destroyed the Old Way when he burned Black Harren, gave Harren's kingdom back to the weakling rivermen, and reduced the Iron Islands to an insignificant backwater of a much greater realm. Yet the old red tales were still told around driftwood fires and smoky hearths all across the islands, even behind the high stone halls of Pyke. Theon's father numbered among his titles the style of Lord Reaper, and the Greyjoy words boasted that We Do Not Sow.

Ironborn and the nobility of Slaver's Bay are actually more similar than either are willing to admit. They are both slave societies that are constantly looking backward to long gone glory days. The Ironborn themselves pine for the days of the Old Way when they were an independent kingdom and conquering empires while their castle of Pyke literally crumbles around them.

They whine about their subjugation under Targaryen rule and longing to be free and go back to the original state of affairs with Aeron saying "And from this kingsmoot shall emerge a man to finish the work King Balon has begun and win us back our freedoms." What were those freedoms? It was the freedom to kidnap people and force them into slavery to do the physical labor so their masters wouldn't have to work. The freedom to maintain a system of sexual violence against captive women. It was a society built on systematic violence and subjugation of foreign peoples.

In the case of the riverlands and the overwhelming majority of the population of the cities of Slaver's Bay, the dragons served as tools of liberation and freedom. While plenty of Southerners saw Lee's surrender at Appomattox as an end to the Old South, the slaves saw it as the end of an era of racist slave subjugation.

The Ironborn saw the arrival of Aegon and his dragons as bringing woe, symbolized by the death of their king and his house in the conflagration at Harrenhal that signaled the end of the Old Way and their independence, and the beginning of their subjugation under the "weak" greenlanders. While in contrast, the riverlords saw it as freeing them from the tyrannical rule of Harren and the Iron Islands. The nobility of Meereen and Yunkai see Daenerys and her dragons as an existential threat to their way of life. The slaves in Slaver's Bay in contrast saw the arrival of Dany and her dragons as the end of their bondage.

There were no slaves in the Iron Islands, only thralls. A thrall was bound to service, but he was not chattel. His children were born free, so long as they were given to the Drowned God. And thralls were never bought nor sold for gold. A man paid the iron price for thralls, or else had none.

Victarion doesn't see thralls as slaves because they couldn't be bought or sold even though it's basically the same process of kidnapping people and forcing them into a life of unpaid labor and involuntary servitude including sexual violence for women, but it doesn't count as slavery. It's basically "it's not slavery like those people." This is the same guy who says once a man flees battle, he ceases to be a man when he did the same thing at Fair Isle years ago.

The Meereenese nobles will in turn see him as a savage for his brutal acts and being Westerosi even as the Sons of the Harpy murder, rape and mutilate freedmen, they nail children to signs and enjoy viewing their games in the pit as public entertainment. It even extends to their hired help with one nobleman carving out his sellsword's liver just for the way he looked at his wife. Their society is at least as violent and brutal as the Ironborn's, and arguably moreso given the number of slaves, but they hide it behind an elitist veneer of gentility and splendor.

It's telling that their modern heroes are both losers. The Meereenese slavers' hero is Harghaz, whom they gave the sobriquet of "the Dragonslayer" even though he didn't slay a dragon, but the opposite. Harghaz got himself slain by a dragon, and just pissed off Drogon, leading to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of people by dragon and being trampled as people tried to get away. Likewise, Balon is regarded as a hero who "made us great again" when his failed rebellion resulted in the loss of much of his fleet, and an invasion of the Iron Islands where they got to taste the Old Way applied to them this time with many families, both common and noble, suffering losses with places like Lordsport burned to the ground. Even Asha states he didn't gain them independence but defeat.

Their leaders are also woefully incompetent. Balon failed in his first rebellion and his invasion of the North was doomed from the start as their conquests are already being overturned. Once Balon dies, they already turn to infighting. The Yunkish lords earned the scorn of their sellswords for being a cavalcade of incompetence to the point of comical and they immediately start infighting once Yurkhaz dies. The only reason they won the Battle of Astapor was because of the sellswords they hired, and their incompetence has resulted in at least one of their company willing to turn his cloak.

Their heroes suck. Their leaders suck. Their societies suck. They are brutal societies cloaked in glory and splendor to hide the mass suffering that is required to maintain them. Their end was marked with arrival of dragons which exposed the weaknesses underlying their sick societies.

Just like with the slavers' society, Daenerys's arrival will coincide with the final end of the Old Way.

[jedimaesteryoda]

Is Brienne a tourney Jouster?

She is undoubtedly good at the melee, but I don’t think that we have ever seen her joust. She would have undoubtedly ridden at rings and trained at jousting as a knight, but like her forebear Dunk, her skill is likely less at jousting and more at melee. It would work thematically as well in separating her from the knights of summer.

[jedimaesteryoda]

True, I think that is no small part due to his sexism with women in his life having been either his wives or his slaves/concubines exemplified by his words "Choose from amongst my servingwomen. None will dare refuse you." Serra herself was there simply to produce a Blackfyre heir for Illyrio as part of their grand plan.

In other words, women are there to serve him. He saw Daenerys in the same manner as simply someone to be sold to Drogo to serve as part of the grand plan, a pawn to be sacrificed.

Aegon would be devastated at the news since it means his identity and whole life story are a lie. He's merely a puppet with his life path decided for him before he was born. His dad also wasn't the James Dean of Westeros but the gone to seed Pentoshi. I think Serra would have preferred Aegon staying in Essos.

Aegon was always the plan and Illyrio may regret having ever given her those dragon eggs as a wedding gift and not slit her throat while she was beneath his roof. Or more likely, turned her into his concubine like he once considered.🤮

He'll be sleeping with fishes.

"In Volantis they use a coin with a crown on one face and a death's-head on the other. Yet it is the same coin. To queen her is to kill her. Dorne might rise for Myrcella, but Dorne alone is not enough. If you are as clever as our friend insists, you know this."

It's so ironic that Illyrio of all people says this. He tells Tyrion the truth that crowning Myrcella would be putting a target on her head while at the same time plotting to put his own kid on the Iron Throne.

He unwittingly admitted the mortal danger a child is placed in when you put a crown on their heads, and he does not seem concerned about the risk he would be putting Aegon in. He does not see this because like the narcissist he is, he's telling himself that he's different compared to the other players, he's S-M-A-R-T.

Yet, he does not ask one question: what happens if the actual heir of House Targaryen decides otherwise? He has never managed to get a handle on Daenerys as she keeps surprising him. He didn't expect her to last in the Dothraki Sea, but instead of dying, she hatched three living dragons. He expected her to take his escort back to Pentos. Instead, she gets an army of Unsullied and freedmen and sacks Slaver's Bay and conquers Meereen. Now, he expects her to marry and support Aegon. That plan has come to ruin as well.

Whenever he expects her to follow a set path, she veers away and gets stronger in the process. He hasn't even fully recognized that he is dealing with a powerful political force that he cannot control. Worse, Aegon does not seem to be following his plan either, and chose to go without Daenerys.

His greed and underestimation of Daenerys will ultimately come back to bite him as he is unwittingly setting his inexperienced son up for a war against a powerful player with dragons.

[jedimaesteryoda]

Who do you think was the "rare beauty" paramour of Arianne's great-uncle Lewyn Martell?

Believe it or not, I've often pondered on that question myself. All we got to go on is that she was in King's Landing during Aerys's reign and she is "likely old now." She was also likely Dornish.

That doesn't narrow it down a lot, but we'll likely find out later in the story. There have been suggestions.

I don't think it was Olenna as some have offered as she was already married in Highgarden by that point. I don't think it's Septa Lemore either. Others suggested Ashara Dayne but Arianne would know her identity and that she's dead, ie she didn't get a chance to grow old.

I think it's not at all unlikely that she was one of Elia's ladies-in-waiting. What better excuse to be at court?

I honestly don't know.

[jedimaesteryoda]

Her mother made to slap her, but Jaime stepped between them. "None of that," he warned Lady Sybell. "Sit down, both of you." . . . "No more than I want Joy to marry the son of some scheming turncloak bitch. She deserves better." Jaime would happily have strangled the woman with her seashell necklace. Joy was a sweet child, albeit a lonely one; her father had been Jaime's favorite uncle. "Your daughter is worth ten of you, my lady. You'll leave with Edmure and Ser Forley on the morrow. Until then, you would do well to stay out of my sight."

Jaime standing up for Jeyne and calling out Sybell is a satisfying moment, but it's undone a few pages later.

"Best keep some archers near Lord Westerling's daughter as well." Ser Forley seemed taken aback. "Gawen's girl? She's—" "—the Young Wolf's widow," Jaime finished, "and twice as dangerous as Edmure if she were ever to escape us." "As you say, my lord. She will be watched."

Jaime: Hitting defenseless maidens is not ok

Also Jaime: Shooting them with arrows is fine

It's some serious cognitive dissonance on Jaime's part. He clearly does not like their allies to the point that he likes his former enemies more. His dislike of Sybell and the Freys is hypocritical in the extreme. When he called out Meryn for hitting Sansa saying "Here, show me where it is in our vows that we swear to beat women and children," Meryn could have replied with "Show me where it is in our vows that we swear to push them out of windows."

Jaime himself had done the crime they are both guilty of: harming a child and violating guest right since he was still a guest beneath the Starks' roof. He had also betrayed his in-laws as they did by cuckholding Robert, and fighting against his brothers who are the rightful heirs under the Baratheon regime.

I'm not even getting into that he had threatened to have Edmure's baby thrown from a trebuchet even while saying he's ashamed about what he did to Bran.

Perhaps it's in line with the adage "we hate most what we see in others, we see in ourselves."

I'm not ashamed of loving you, only of the things I've done to hide it. That boy at Winterfell . . .

He's trying to be a Good Knight, but that doesn't change the fact that he's in service to a bad cause. He's supporting an illegitimate regime that came to power by lies, murder and massacres by violating guest right. His act of throwing Bran out the window was in service to his family just as his other acts against Jeyne and Edmure's child are. The thing keeping him from being a Good Knight is not realizing that the regime he supports is indefensible and not worth preserving, but that would put him at odds against his own family (except Tyrion).

Until he cuts ties with them, his hopes of being a Good Knight are a long shot.

[jedimaesteryoda]

As to Targaryen polygamy, Blackfyre supporters insist that Daemon I was promised he could have two wives by Aegon IV. That at least suggests that royal polygamy wasn't officially banned, just discontinued.

That and there have been polygamous marriages among the First Men under the Old Gods even to the present day.

A marriage under the Old Gods came with the extra benefit that the Faith could not set it aside since it's outside the High Septon's jurisdiction. Or at least, he could not do it without sending the message that he has dominion over non-believers and their religious customs.

Any marriage between Rhaegar and Lyanna would not have been valid simply because Rhaegar was already married to Elia. The Targaryens haven't done polygamy since Maegor who couldn't make it work despite having dragons. The North doesn't practice polygamy nor would the faith accept it. Otherwise why didn't they just come out and announce it?

In the moment, I think Lyanna insisted on a marriage by the rules of her own faith (vows before a heart tree), in the knowledge that there was historical precedent for Targaryens taking multiple wives.

Whether that's sufficiently binding is an argument for the Faith, the king, other family members and community leaders, and the general population of Westeros. Lyanna was a teenager who wasn't thinking about the details of precedent and what it takes to make a marriage effective to society at large. And Rhaegar? Significantly older, significantly more mature, with goals he appears to have considered greater than politics.

Again, it's just a theory of mine on what we know of Lyanna, northern marriage traditions, and the logistical possibilities for the discovery of R+L=J (a marriage ceremony by Northern standards takes the participants right beneath a heart tree and into Bran's magic visions). I think it makes the most sense given Lyanna's goals and entirely consistent with the author depicting a gap between romantic actions/narratives and harder politics.

[jedimaesteryoda]

While Gerold Hightower was obviously a very good fighter in his right own right and was described as having a stern demeanour, do you think it would have been challenging being the Lord Commander of generationally talented virtuoso’s like Arthur Dayne, Barristan Selmy, and later Jaime Lannister?

No, because Gerold Hightower was still the Lord Commander. Everyone was dutiful in according him the proper respect especially given he had commanded the royal forces to victory during the War of the Ninepenny Kings. You don't do that without commanding at least some respect.

[jedimaesteryoda]

If Doran Martell had chosen either to remain neutral (publicly) or tacitly supported one of the Baratheon brothers, what arrangements do you think Tyrion and Cersei would make for Myrcella and Tommen in preparation for whoever was coming for the capital?

Myrcella and Tommen still would not have remained in King's Landing. Tommen would have still been sent to Rosby. Myrcella would have been sent somewhere else with Ser Arys, possibly somewhere in the Crownlands or Braavos.

[jedimaesteryoda]

Growing up in Oldtown with the Hightowers instead of Winterfell, how would Baelor Blacktyde’s military education have differed from Theon Greyjoy’s time with the Starks?

In Oldtown, he was in the same city as the biggest learning center in Westeros. He would have plenty of reading material about past battles provided they let him have them. Though, he did not seem the type for war due to the loss he suffered in Balon's first rebellion.

He still would gave been trained in the yard with the master-at-arms watching.

[jedimaesteryoda]

"The day Lord Stark lost his head, I was there, watching. Afterward I went into the Great Sept and thanked the seven gods that Joffrey had stripped me of my cloak." "Stark was a traitor who met a traitor's end." "Your Grace," said Selmy, "Eddard Stark played a part in your father's fall, but he bore you no ill will. When the eunuch Varys told us that you were with child, Robert wanted you killed, but Lord Stark spoke against it. Rather than countenance the murder of children, he told Robert to find himself another Hand." "Have you forgotten Princess Rhaenys and Prince Aegon?" "Never. That was Lannister work, Your Grace." "Lannister or Stark, what difference? Viserys used to call them the Usurper's dogs. If a child is set upon by a pack of hounds, does it matter which one tears out his throat? All the dogs are just as guilty. The guilt …" The word caught in her throat.

I admit for a lot of fans, we have seen characters badmouth Ned before, but it's usually by unlikeable characters like Cersei, Joffrey, Viserys or Jorah or even pre-changed Jaime. This time it's by one of our most beloved characters.

Daenerys overlooked that Barristan included Ned's beheading when he told the tale of how he turned his back on the Baratheon regime, and mentions that right before entering the Great Sept to be thankful for being stripped of his cloak. That at least infers that Barristan didn't see his execution as a good thing.

She basically responds that Ned got what he deserved. While Barristan usually goes along with her when condemning the Baratheons or Lannisters, he does the opposite with Ned and actually defends him.

He mentions that Ned resigned in protest over Robert's decision to have her assassinated "rather than countenance the murder of children." One would at least infer that Ned had some standards from that. When she points to the Sack of King's Landing, Viserys told her it was the work of the Starks and Lannisters, but Barristan corrected her, saying that it was just the Lannisters and Ned had nothing to do with that.

He should have followed up by mentioning Ned's reaction to the fate of Aegon and Rhaenys where it took the literal death of his sister to reconcile him with his king. I doubt Barristan didn't know about Ned and Robert's public blowout. But Daenerys didn't seem in the mood to listen as she was already doubling down.

It's noticeable that she responds "Viserys used to call them the Usurper's dogs." Even though she recognizes him as an abuser and a bad king, a lot of the narrative he indoctrinated her with her still resides within.

She's overlooking that Jorah himself once said "Ned Stark a traitor? Not bloody likely. The Long Summer will come again before that one would besmirch his precious honor." Jorah was exiled over Ned wanting to execute for selling his smallfolk into slavery when she herself had slavers executed. And she once thought to herself that Barristan would have forgotten more than Jorah and Viserys ever remembered.

It is a lapse in judgment, but one must remember that she is still age-wise a high schooler, and unfortunately, that kind of defensive reaction isn't uncommon even among full-grown adults. When people are presented new information that challenges their pre-existing beliefs, they can get defensive and double-down. She has shown a willingness to listen about the "rest", but stopped Barristan in the middle of talking about her father's madness. This is especially difficult for her given this is an issue very personal to Daenerys since it is about her own family that she never knew and herself by extension. This is the legacy she inherited and she identifies with.

She grew up a largely homeless orphan in a miserable life of poverty and abuse with the dream of returning home being the only dream she had or was allowed. In her mind, had it not been for the Usurper and his dogs, she would have enjoyed a much happier life as a princess with the family she never knew. They were responsible for taking from her more than just her crown, but the life and home she could have had.

Daenerys keeps the narrative that her royal family was overthrown and murdered by the Usurper and his dogs, and forced her and her brother into exile. They were also on the run from hired knives which were just Viserys's fevered imagination. The story ends when Daenerys comes and takes back the Iron Throne, righting the wrongs done and bringing justice to the land.

Barristan's words about Ned complicate that narrative. It invites unwanted questions such as "if Ned was so honorable, then why did he rebel against his king?" It suggests the possibility that Ned might have had justifiable reasons for rebelling against her father, a road she doe not wish to ride. Instead of being a black and white story of heroes vs villains, it means there were both sets on both sides.

The idea of her father being a mad tyrant who burned people in wildfire, violated the feudal contract and turned his own bannermen against him would be a lot for her emotionally. We saw her reaction to learning the truth of Aerys actually being mad as she starts to wonder "Am I mad? Do I have the taint?"

Her reaction to the full truth would be hard. She'd be asking questions like if her father wasn't the hero or rather the villain, and was guilty for the things he did then what will that make her in trying to regain the Iron Throne? Does that mean she is just as guilty as well? Is she a villain as well?

It will likely be a while before she learns the whole truth about Robert's Rebellion and the person of Ned Stark. It will not be a comfortable experience for her as it means unlearning much of what she knew and grappling with the actual legacy. She will likely be forced to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that Ned was a good man when she learns of the other remaining Targaryen that he hid and raised.

[jedimaesteryoda]

Rebuilding What Was Erased – A Message from Abedmajed in Gaza

My name is Abedmajed, and I live in Gaza with what remains of my once large and loving family.

In a single missile strike, we lost over 25 members of our family. They were not just names. They were mothers, daughters, sons, grandparents — people we shared meals with, laughed with, and built dreams with.

The missile hit our family home — the heart of everything we knew.

Among those killed were: 🕊️ My mother 🕊️ My sister 🕊️ My older brother His wife and their three daughters 🕊️ My uncle, his wife, and all their sons and grandchildren

We were left with nothing but rubble and grief. Yet somehow, my brother and I survived. And now, we carry the responsibility of rebuilding what was taken — not just for ourselves, but for our father, our surviving siblings, and the memory of those we lost.

💔 Why We’re Fundraising

This campaign is not just about survival. It’s about rebuilding a future — A family home, a shared life, a place where our father can rest safely, Where the next generation of our family can grow up knowing peace instead of trauma.

💬 The funds raised will help us:

🏗️ Rebuild our family home — which was completely destroyed 🛠️ Provide basic support for our father and siblings 🏡 Create safe, livable conditions for a family shattered by loss

🔒 How the Funds Are Managed

Due to the collapse of Gaza’s financial system, all donations are processed through my brother, who has a U.S. registered Stripe account. Funds are securely transferred to Gaza and distributed in cash here on the ground. We are transparent and ready to provide proof of every step.

🌱 Why Your Support Matters

We are not asking for charity. We’re asking for a chance to stand again, To rebuild something we can pass on to the children who survived.

Vetted By @gazavetters No:537

Your support gives us the strength not just to remember the ones we lost — but to honor them by continuing.

💬 If you can’t donate, a reblog means the world. 🕊️ From Gaza, with hope and dignity — thank you.

[jedimaesteryoda]

"In Volantis they use a coin with a crown on one face and a death's-head on the other. Yet it is the same coin. To queen her is to kill her. Dorne might rise for Myrcella, but Dorne alone is not enough. If you are as clever as our friend insists, you know this."

It's so ironic that Illyrio of all people says this. He tells Tyrion the truth that crowning Myrcella would be putting a target on her head while at the same time plotting to put his own kid on the Iron Throne.

He unwittingly admitted the mortal danger a child is placed in when you put a crown on their heads, and he does not seem concerned about the risk he would be putting Aegon in. He does not see this because like the narcissist he is, he's telling himself that he's different compared to the other players, he's S-M-A-R-T.

Yet, he does not ask one question: what happens if the actual heir of House Targaryen decides otherwise? He has never managed to get a handle on Daenerys as she keeps surprising him. He didn't expect her to last in the Dothraki Sea, but instead of dying, she hatched three living dragons. He expected her to take his escort back to Pentos. Instead, she gets an army of Unsullied and freedmen and sacks Slaver's Bay and conquers Meereen. Now, he expects her to marry and support Aegon. That plan has come to ruin as well.

Whenever he expects her to follow a set path, she veers away and gets stronger in the process. He hasn't even fully recognized that he is dealing with a powerful political force that he cannot control. Worse, Aegon does not seem to be following his plan either, and chose to go without Daenerys.

His greed and underestimation of Daenerys will ultimately come back to bite him as he is unwittingly setting his inexperienced son up for a war against a powerful player with dragons.

[jedimaesteryoda]

A while back I suggested that they do a Muppet version of the Tourney at Harrenhal. I fancast Kermit as Rhaegar and now I can't stop thinking about Rhaegar singing "Rainbow Connection" on his silver harp, no doubt thinking about Summerhall and prophecies.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered When wished on the morning star? Somebody thought of that and someone believed it, and look what it's done so far. . . . Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices? I've heard them calling my name. Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors? The voice might be one and the same. I've heard it too many times to ignore it. It's something that I'm supposed to be. Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me.

[jedimaesteryoda]

"Are you mad at me?” I blinked several times. “What? No, no, of course not. Why would I be mad at you?” She shrugged and looked down at Mouse’s mane. “Because you aren’t ever here. Never, ever.” Ow. The Winter Mantle is pretty amazing, but there are some kinds of pain it can’t do jack about.

Maggie's words hit Harry at his core, having lost his father at age five and gone through the system. The message he received was that he was hurting her by doing nothing when he cared for her so much that he risked his life to rescue her in Chichen Itza. He even had her live with the Carpenters thinking it was for her own good and safety even if it hurt him in not being able to have a relationship with his only child.

Harry has always been cagey, and can keep people at a distance thinking it's either for his own safety or their's. Yet, in true Harry Dresden-style he was so stuck inside his own head that he failed to consider Maggie's feelings. She wasn’t ignorant or stupid as she knew her dad lived nearby and would eventually ask why he never visited her. The only possibilities a kid would come up with are "Does he not want me? Was it something I did wrong? Is there something wrong with me?"

“Would you like to read me a story?” Mouse’s tail thumped enthusiastically against the wall. “Sure,” I said. And we read Where the Wild Things Are. When I finished, she said, “You didn’t do the voices right.” “Hmmm,” I said. “Maybe I’ll do better next time.” “I don’t know,” she said dubiously. “I guess you can try.” She looked at my face searchingly for a moment and then said, in a tiny voice, “Do you want to be my dad?” I went blind for a few seconds, until I blinked the tears away. “Sure,” I said. It came out in a tight croak, but when I said it she smiled at me.

*Tissues*

They were at heart both scared about the prospect of a father-daughter relationship. Harry didn't say it outright, but he was afraid to be a father, not because he didn't want to be a father, but he was afraid that he would mess up and hurt her as a lot of the people in his life seem to get hurt, and she was nearly sacrificed because she is his daughter. Maggy lost her foster parents and her mother, and she was afraid her father might disappear out of her life the way her last guardians did. Yet, she still wanted a relationship with him too.

Harry thought he was the only one making the sacrifice when in actuality keeping his distance was hurting her as well. In a tender moment, he reads to her a bedtime story and he doesn't realize it, but he has it in him to be a good father.

He figures that if Maggie is not safe with him then she is not safe anywhere, and that Maggie has needs besides physical safety. She needs her father in her life. It leads to an argument with his grandfather.

“Was it my fault?” she asked me, her voice quavering. “I wanted . . . wanted to talk to Grandpa, but I couldn’t make the words happen. I didn’t mean to make him mad and go away.” My throat grew tight and I closed my eyes before any tears escaped. “Not your fault, punkin. That was so not your fault. You did fine.” She clung to my neck, hard enough to be uncomfortable. “But why was he mad?” “Sometimes grown-ups disagree with each other,” I said. “Sometimes they get angry and say things that hurt when they don’t mean to. But it will pass. You’ll see.”

Poor Maggie. She wanted to get to know her great-grandfather as well, but Eb didn't give her a chance. After his wife's death, Eb pretty much developed a habit of self-sabotaging his familial relationships.

He pushed his daughter Margaret too hard, no doubt motivated by the fear of losing her like he did her mother. When he took in his grandson, even after Harry grew up and could fend for himself, Eb never told him he was his grandfather until Chichen Itza. (And don't get me started on his relationship with his other grandson.) He doesn't try to form a relationship with Maggie for the same reason, saying Harry should keep her safe.

“Boy,” he said, “don’t push me.” “Why? What are you going to do? Let me vanish into the foster care system? For my own good, of course.” The old man’s head rocked back as if I’d slapped him. “Mom died when I was born,” I said in a monotone. “Dad when I was coming up on kindergarten. And you just let me be alone.” Ebenezar turned from me and hunched his shoulders. “Maybe you thought you were protecting me,” I continued, without inflection. “But you were also abandoning me. And it hurt. It left scars. I didn’t even know you existed, and I was still angry with you.” I watched the children pursue Mouse. He could run for hours without getting winded. They were all having a ball. “She’s been through enough. I’m not putting her through that, too.”

Eb sees Harry in the same position he was years ago, a hit man for one of the magical nations now left a single dad after the death of her mother by vampires raising a daughter with the same name.

This is personal for Eb as he wanted a closer relationship with his grandson Harry, but kept that distance because he felt he needed to, even using the same reasons Harry used of "it's for their own good." Harry's words were exactly the worst thing Eb could hear: not only were his personal sacrifices not necessary but actually did more harm than good. (Harry his own wrt his assisted suicide and how ti affected Molly).

This is personal for Harry too, and his words while harsh were words Eb needed to hear. Harry lost what he thought was his only family when he was still very young. It landed him with the foster father from hell with Justin DuMorne, and almost cost him his head. Had Eb stepped in after Harry was orphaned, Justin might never have gotten to Harry. The Blackstaff might have been enough to deter him, and Harry would have enjoyed a much happier childhood.

Harry manages to learn from Eb's mistakes on that front, and is trying to give Maggie some semblance of the happy childhood that he never had. He's asking the question that Eb should have asked himself a long time ago "What does he/she want?"

Eb may be centuries-old, but he still has some growing to do. Harry is choosing to be an active father in Maggie's life, and she is better off for it. Maggie needs him too.

Harry may hopefully be for her what Malcolm was for him.

[jedimaesteryoda]

what's so great about the mummy 1999?

are you ready for this? 

it is the most wonderfully made, historically inaccurate, giddily fun, perfectly paced, goofy horror movie romance novel bullshit bonanza that has ever blessed the silver screen.

i mean it is just so beautifully full of every genre without being overwhelming.we’ve got: comedy, action, suspense, horror, romance, adventure, ancient aesthetics, and it’s a period piece. all perfectly balanced and blended into one movie.

and the characters are so LIT

we got our main babe, evelyn “motherfucking” carnahan, a super-klutz librarian, total history nerd, and certified badass/damsel in distress. she raises the dead on accident, because she cannot resist books, and has the guts to put that motherfucker back where he came from and literally saves the world.evie’s greatest hits: 

“what is a place like me, doing in a girl like this?!”

*after totally destroying the library* “i’ve just made a bit of a mess in the library.”

“no harm ever came from reading a book.”

evelyn: *upon opening the tomb* “i’ve dreamt about this since i was a little girl.”rick: “you dream about dead guys?”

“oops.”

then we’ve got rick “brendan fraser” o’connell, your not-so-typical battle hardened gun slinger with a heart of gold. he seems filthy, rude, and a complete scoundrel at first, but then he turns into a literal puppy, with massive heart eyes, that worships the ground evie walks on.rick’s greatest hits:

*screams at mummy*

*screams at sand*

*screams at things that are illogical to scream at*

*screams*

next is our Comedic Relief Character™, jonathan carnahan, who also rises above his trope. he’s there for the laugh sure, but is never useless. he actively helps to move the plot along and isn’t just there. he also is the farthest thing from brainless and annoying.jonathan’s greatest hits:

evelyn: “have you no respect for the dead?”jonathan: “of course i do, but sometimes i’d rather like to join them.” same.

oh and that time he was like “IMHOTEP” and saved his own ass like that was so smooth, y’all know what i’m talking about right??

then there is ardeth BAE. he is the audience rolling his eyes because *sighs* white people. he’s tired of these motherfucking mummies in this motherfucking desert. literally prettier than everyone.(he has a much bigger role in the mummy returns, but is still so fab here)

and of course THE MUMMY. imhotep. actual emo. literally carved some poetry into the back of his sarcophagus when he was buried alive with flesh eating bugs, because he is that Extra™. just wants to bring his girlfriend back to life so he can make out with her without it being treason. 

and all the side characters are also gr8.

now i wanna take a moment to talk about the romance. because it is so BEAUTIFUL. like usually in action movies it’s macho man undermines girl and they bone. not here. no time for that shit. 

rick and evie have such a great relationship based on mutual respect and affection. they both cater to each other’s strengths and cover each other’s weaknesses. they are the literally definition of: “those two. in a fight, they’re lethal. around each other, they melt”

what else, i could literally talk about this movie all day.

the special effects have held up pretty well.the music score is GORGEOUS.the costumes are amazing.the makeup, especially for anck su namun, OH WOW.the george of the jungle era brendan fraser sign me the fuck up.rachel weisz.

so many good things.

it’s just great.

#i secretly rate every action movie from 0 to the mummy

it’s a beautiful mess of a movie that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and transcends time and posterity as the alpha mummy movie, and to those who disagree i beseech you:

[jedimaesteryoda]

Did you ever get into the RTS game Stronghold: Crusader?

No, I am not one for video games. I'm not one those nerds, I'm more the bookish kind. If I do read about games, like DnD, it's usually more for the lore.