old-valyrian

[old-valyrian]

rhaegar + elia

[old-valyrian]

🌹

[old-valyrian]

"i want more complex women" you couldn't even handle catelyn stark. unlike cersei. who was the most advanced catelyn apologist within the text, she was cheering her on for wrongs she didn't even commit > "Catelyn Tully was a mouse or she would have smothered this Jon Snow in his cradle. Instead, she's left the filthy task to me." < she would've supported her wrongs, she wanted her to be more evil about it even. which is why it is a tragedy that she never knew the way catelyn spoke of her:

when she fantasises about killing you in a manner which signifies your worst, most oppressive fear 🥰

[old-valyrian]

love house tully. super cool castle surrounded by water aptly named riverrun. produced the truly insane cat/lysa/edmure sibling dynamic. the original petyr baelish haters since 270-something AC. "oh yeah that's gay uncle brynden". had several generations named for the muppets. lords of the trident in a three sided castle with three house words. fish sigil and they make it work. made catelyn tully stark like that.

[old-valyrian]

—do trees dream?

[old-valyrian]

Rhaenyra Targaryen — eldest child and daughter of Viserys I (born 97 A.C) Aegon II Targaryen — eldest son of Viserys I (born 107 A.C)

Thrones are won with swords, not quills. Spill blood, not ink. THE DANCE OF THE DRAGONS: 129-131 A.C

[old-valyrian]

you just know the scene of alicent walking through the grass will be preserved for eternity on thousands of pinterest boards

[old-valyrian]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (2022-) S02E06 | "Smallfolk"

[old-valyrian]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON — S2E5: Regent

[old-valyrian]

something something valyrian as a symbol of kingship and rule

daemon not understanding rhaenyra in his dream - entirely themed around the throne and inheritance and how daemon was passed up in favour of rhaenyra and the insecurities from that - even though he's shown in the show to have a perfectly functioning understanding of it

aemond and jace both growing up and taking the throne seriously and rule seriously, and clearly working on their understanding of valyrian while working on and proving their understanding/worthiness of their positions

aegon, who never wanted the throne and never wanted to rule, being forced into doing so by manipulation and finally (theoretically) being recognised by his father, even though he never wanted the crown in the first place, stumbling and not being fluid in speaking valyrian (even though he is clearly familiar enough with the vocabulary to understand aemond) because why would he have paid attention in his lessons when his attention was never on the dynasty to begin with?

there's also something so fascinating about how aemond appears to intentionally switch to speaking valyrian not in order to have a private conversation like it initially appears, but in an intentional effort to prove to aegon the point he is making about not keeping him informed of the plans being made (and therefore trying to prove aegon inadequacies as king), only for aegon to ultimately be right that he needs to be kept informed of developments, as we see how his involvement in rook's rest undoes the planning by cole and aemond because he simply didn't know the details of the plan.

[old-valyrian]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1.02 “The Rogue Prince” HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2.03 “The Burning Mill”

[old-valyrian]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S02E03 | dir. Geeta Vasant Patel

[old-valyrian]

ever thought about how aegon was alicent‘s first and her last left? your house is burning and your children are gone. except him. except him. he came back to her, unrecognizable, burnt and twisted, but he came back to her. she has him still.

i have done everything you’ve asked me to. i try so hard but it will never be enough for you. and it wasn‘t. she asked him to save their family, save the realm, save her. he didn‘t, he couldn‘t. he did come back to her. he had cursed her on the day he was born.

do you love me? you imbecile. i love those bones of you. i love you so much i have sacrificed everything to see you on the throne. i have sacrificed my youth. sacrificed my decency. sacrificed my oldest. i have sacrificed you. i love you. my oldest, my firstborn, my sacrifice.

and as he walks towards his mother like an animal to his butcher she plants a kiss on his forehead. her little sacrificial lamb, he came back. came back to her. did i do well mother? did i do enough? no. i love you. you came back.

i wonder who he thought about when the poison touched his lips.

[old-valyrian]

Otto realising that instead of selling off his own daughter and ruining multiple people’s lives for a king he doesn’t even like, he could’ve just waited until Rhaenyra became queen and she probably would’ve made the hightower house one of the most important anyway because of how much she cared for Alicent.

[old-valyrian]

Rhaenyra, born into a dynasty and birthright, the only thing she's ever known. She never had to be married to secure her position in society, she was born into it, regardless of her position of inheritance of the Iron Throne, and her father never treated her as anything other than a daughter. For Rhaenyra, the prospect of marriage has always been about finding a suitable match, not a better one, because there is no better.

Alicent, born to a noble house, very much its pawn and its future. Marriage is an alliance not only for her but for her family, and for the security and wellbeing of children who needed to be their father's more than hers because it was their father's house who would grant more security. For Alicent, even if only subconsciously, marriage has only ever been about safety, and duty.

And it explains why they're such different mothers. In Alicent's mind her children were never really hers, they were Viserys'. How could she be a mother to them, comfort them and raise them, when, as far as she knew, motherhood mattered less than childbirth? Her children, once separate from her body, were not and could not be hers.

Rhaenyra is her absolute foil. In contrast, for Rhaenyra's children, it was their mother that mattered most and her children could only ever be truly hers, more than their father's. She could afford to be their mother, and comfort and raise them, because she never had to deal with the prospect of her children being anyone else's.

And it's what makes the difference between Rhaenyra comforting Jace, and Alicent walking away from Aegon, so profound. Where Rhaenyra has always been able to be a mother to her son, as far as Alicent is concerned, Aegon has never been her son. He's been Viserys'. And now, not only does she lack the connection with him to offer him comfort, but she's entirely unfamiliar with the degree of his grief and loss because while Jahaerys was Aegon's son, Aegon was never truly hers.

[old-valyrian]

aegon "king of the people" targaryen

[old-valyrian]

While I still don’t think it was done perfectly, the more I think about it, the more I think Blood & Cheese was done well. With no Maelor, the change to “which one is the boy” makes sense, and even Helaena offering up her necklace, which I really didn’t like at first, makes much more sense now that I think about it. Cheese(?)’s “does she look like a fucking prince to you” line and all their talk of sons makes it clear to Helaena that offering herself up is not going to do any good, and doing so might risk making them angry and just make them kill both children. So then of course she offers up her necklace, they have to be doing this for money and it’s the only thing that might appeal to them. Then, once they make it clear both kids are dying if she doesn’t tell them which one is Jaehaerys, she points to him. They know she’s telling the truth because she looks so guilty and horrified but she has no choice, at this point she can only save Jaehaera. Even her running out makes sense, being unable to watch the fate her son has been doomed to, saving who she can save and wandering around, not even being phased by Alicent and Criston because she’s so guilt-ridden and so traumatized and so stunned and so out of it that all she can do is collapse to the floor and say “they killed the boy.” Not even Jaehaerys’ name, they broke her so thoroughly that she can only speak like them. Okay maybe it was actually done well.